Quick recovery…

Thanks to Franco for the tip.

Barring any last minute injuries or weight issues, the fight card is set for December 3rd’s WEC 37 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV.  The card will feature MMAonTap’s #1 ranked bantamweight, WEC Champion Miguel Torres, taking on undefeated challenger Manny Tapia.  This fight has been a long time coming as Tapia has made it no secret that he’s wanted the challenge of taking on Torres.  Unfortunately, injuries have slowed Tapia in the past.

Main Card Live on Versus:
Miguel Torres vs. Manny Tapia for WEC Bantamweight Championship
Brian Bowles vs. Will Ribeiro
Wagnney Fabiano vs. Akitoshi Tamura
Joseph Benavidez vs. Danny Martinez
Justin Haskins vs. Johny Hendricks

Undercard:
Ricardo Barros vs. Mark Munoz
Blas Avena vs. Kevin Knabjian
Diego Nunes vs. Cole Province
Alex Karalexis vs. Bart Palaszewski
Cub Swanson vs. Hirouki Takaya
Shane Roller vs. Mike Budnik

Tickets go on sale tomorrow for Affliction Entertainment’s second PPV effort, Day of Reckoning.  The fight card will feature Fedor Emelianenko defending his WAMMA Heavyweight Championship against former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Andre “The Pitbull” Arlovski.  The event is set to take place on January 24, 2009 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. 

Main Card live on Showtime PPV
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski
Josh Barnett vs. TBA
Matt Lindland vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral
Chris Horodecki vs. Dan Lauzon
Vitor Belfort vs. TBA

Undercard live on HDNet
Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Paul Buentello vs. Kiril Sidelnikov
Brett Cooper vs TBA
Albert Rios vs Antonio Duarte
Mark Hominick vs LC Davis
Jay Hieron vs. Jason High

Main card:

Brock Lesnar def. Randy Couture - TKO (punch)
Kenny Florian def. Joe Stevenson - Submission (rear naked choke)
Dustin Hazelett def. Tamdan McCrory - Submission (armbar)
Gabriel Gonzaga def. Josh Hendricks - TKO (punch)
Demian Maia def. Nate Quarry - Submission (rear naked choke)

Preliminary bouts:

Aaron Riley def. Jorge Gurgel - Unanimous Decision
Jeremy Stephens def. Rafael dos Anjos - KO (punch)
Mark Bocek def. Alvin Robinson - Submission (rear naked choke)
Matt Brown def. Ryan Thomas - Submission (armbar)

Mixed emotions

In the second round Lesnar landed a punch that sent Couture to the mat.  Lesnar then jumped on Couture, landing a big hammer-fist, and then continued to punch and punch until the fight was stopped.  Four fights into his MMA career, and Brock Lesnar is the UFC heavyweight champion.  It was good to finally see a heavyweight championship fight, but with Lesnar becoming champ so fast it’ll be interesting to see how the former WWE star is received as UFC champ by MMA fans, and general sports fans alike.

Here are our predictions (after the jump, winners in bold) for tonight’s UFC 91 event.

The main card will be broadcast on pay-per-view and Yahoo! Sports starting at 10 PM ET. 

Continue reading "Tap Selections: UFC 91"

According to a press release from Affliction Clothing, original founder Todd Beard has resigned in the wake of the controversy involving Kim Couture and himself.

The board of directors of Affliction Inc. announced today that it received and accepted the resignation of Todd Beard as an employee of the company. Mr. Beard is one of the original founders of the clothing company based in Seal Beach, California. The resignation coincides with a public apology for comments made by Mr. Beard and directed toward Randy Couture and his wife Kim Couture regarding their business relationship.

Mr. Beard also disclosed that he will be seeking treatment for anger management and alcohol abuse.

According to Mr. Beard, “I would like to apologize for my comments that may have offended Kim and Randy Couture and Mr. Spira. I had a long-standing relationship with the Coutures and I was deeply and emotionally hurt by some of their recent business decisions. I have only the best of intentions for the success of the Affliction and Xtreme Couture clothing brands and understand that there are personal issues I must address.”

According to the board of directors, “We are delighted Todd has decided to address these issues and wish Randy Couture well.”

The Board of directors of Affliction Inc. also wanted to clarify that Affliction Entertainment Group LLC. (the promotion company) is not controlled by Affliction Inc. Mr. Beard to its knowledge, is nether an officer, director, or a shareholder of Affliction Entertainment Group LLC. as stated in several periodicals.

This was a vital move if Affliction wanted to continue in the MMA.  Mr. Beard’s felony past would have been a crucial roadblock in any further dealings with Donald Trump due to gaming license issues. 

We’ll start with the main event, Randy Couture vs Brock Lesnar

More videos after the jump.

Continue reading "MMA Live at UFC 91 - Preview Videos"

From ESPN, here’s this week’s installment of MMA Live with Jon Anik, Franklin McNeil, and Stephan Bonnar.  It features an in-studio appearance by UFC president Dana White to promote the upcoming UFC 91.

“Ultimate Fighter 7” winner Amir Sadollah has posted a statement on his official website regarding his withdrawal from his scheduled bout against Nick Catone on the main card of this weekend’s UFC 91 event due to injury:

To all my fans,

I really appreciate all the support you have sent my way and I am so sorry I am not able to fight this weekend. I trained harder for this than any other fight in my life and I was looking forward to this more than you know.

It started on Friday with a small mark on my leg. I immediately went to the doctor and he gave me medication and told me if it got worse to go to the hospital. Well, it got worse and on Sunday I went in and have been here ever since. I am hoping they will discharge me by Thursday.

Continue reading "Sadollah Issues Statement Regarding UFC 91 Withdrawal"

Former EliteXC heavyweight champion Antonio Silva is reportedly weighing an offer from Japanese promoter World Victory Road to fight in the organization’s “Sengoku VI” show on January 4, despite currently serving a suspension for a positive steroids test in the state of California according to Tatame.com:

(translated via Google) Suspended by the athletic committee of the United States on charges of doping, Antonio (Silva) can not fight in America before July 28, 2009, when it was terminating the suspension. After losing in the courts of the athletic commission, also saw the EliteXC, an event in which Silva was heavyweight champion, close the doors. With that the athlete had to get out of ATT demand for a new home, which has everything to be in Japan “I’m negotiating my way to Japan The Sengoku made me an offer to fight on January 4 and we are seeing that, “said Peza, who is entering the common justice against the athletic commission.

Silva was suspended for one year by the California State Athletic Commission after testing positive for the banned steroid Boldenone after his second-round TKO victory over Justin Eilers at EliteXC’s “Unfinished Business” show on July 26. An appeal of Silva’s suspension last month was unsuccessful.

If Silva does indeed decide to fight in Japan, bypassing his suspension and the potential sale of his contract, he could be in jeopardy of being unable to fight in the United States again. However as Bloody Elbow points out, Vitor Belfort did something similar and is now in the good graces of the US athletic commissions.