Joe Riggs Headlines August Rage in the Cage

Former Rage in the Cage heavyweight and middleweight title holder Joe “Diesel” Riggs will make his return to the promotion next month, headlining a scheduled event on August 26th at the Toyota Center in Prescott, Arizona.

Riggs replaced fellow longtime veteran Edwin Dewees, who was slated to fight in the night’s main event, but was granted contractual relief by the organization to challenge former PRIDE standout Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at this weekend’s Affliction: Banned event. Riggs will take on Matt Dempsey, who has not fought professional since March of 2005 when he submitted Troy King at a Courage Fighting Championships event.

Meanwhile Riggs was recently slated to take on rising welterweight prospect Luke Stewart at Strikeforce’s “Melendez vs. Thomson” event last month but was denied licensure by the California State Athletic Comission after disclosing his recent use of prescription drugs to state officials, of which Riggs was previously addicted to earlier in his career. He has not fought since injuring his back against Cory Devela in February.

The show’s co-main event will pit Lyle Steffens against Sal Azuela in a RITC light heavyweight title eliminator. The winner of the bout is expected to take on reigning champion Matt Lucas at a yet-to-be-announced event before the end of the year.

Meet Drake Dudley

Ever hear of Drake Dudley before? You’re about to now. Dudley is only 14 years old, yet has been training in various forms of martial arts - wrestling, Muay Thai, judo, boxing, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu - for almost a decade. He won a countless number of grappling tournaments and has even traveled to Brazil to train with Rickson Gracie. Yeah, I’m serious.

Late last night, ESPN.com’s front page featured Dudley’s face and the newest article the website has put out on his journey into becoming a professional mixed martial artist. It’s definitely a must-read to stay the least. Dudley will also be featured on “Outside the Lines” this Sunday morning at 9:30 AM ET on ESPN as well. The above video is a quick segment from Sunday’s interview. Dudley touches on why he enjoys training in MMA, the worst injury he’s ever suffered, and the growth of the sports itself because of the UFC.

MMA Fight Weekly - July 17, 2008

Here’s Thursday night’s segment of MMA Fight Weekly from NBCSports.com. The five-minute episode revolves around the two big-time events going on this weekend, Affliction: Banned, and UFC Fight Night 14. The main cards of the two shows are broken down fight-by-fight. Hosts Tiffany Simons and Mike Chiappetta also touch on the future of current UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture and why his current status with the promotion won’t really come into play if Affliction Entertainment fails to make it big after holding their first couple events.

Goodridge Tapped to Face Buentello

Longtime veteran and mixed martial arts pioneer Gary “Big Daddy” Goodridge has been cleared by the California State Athletic Comission as a replacement opponent for former UFC heavyweight title challenger Paul Buentello at tomorrow night’s Affliction: Banned show in Anaheim.

Greg Savage of Sherdog.com was able to confirm Goodridge’s participation with CSAC Executive Officer Armando Garcia. The part-time K-1 kickboxer was in-shape and in California for an event in San Diego that ended up being cancelled. His bout against Buentello is not yet official however. Both fighters are required to weigh-in at 2 PM ET tomorrow.

Goodridge is currently riding a two-fight losing streak, most recently dropping a lackluster unanimous decision to Terroll Dees at an Iroquois MMA Championships event in June. His last victory was a TKO win over Jan Nortje at K-1 Hero’s 8 in March of last year.

Buentello’s original foe, Aleksander Emelianenko, was forced off the card earlier this evening after failing to receive medical clearance and meet licensing requirements. It’s also been confirmed that although Justin Levens and Ray Lizama are indeed slated to compete at a catch-weight of 187 lbs, Levens failed to make weight (he came in at 189 lbs) and will be docked part of his purse.

UFC Fight Night 14 Weigh-In Results

The official-weigh in results for tomorrow night’s UFC Fight Night 14, (also being billed as UFC: Silva vs. Irvin) which will take place at The Palms Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, are below. All fighters made weight with the exception of headliner James Irvin, who weighed one and a half pounds over the light heavyweight limit at 207.5 lbs. However Irvin lost the extra weight and the bout is now official.

Irvin will fight in the main event against reigning UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, who will be moving up to light heavyweight for the first time in his career. Additional featured fights pit heavyweight convert Brandon Vera against Reese Andy in his debut at 205 lbs and a lightweight clash between former title challenger Hermes Franca and standout wrestler Frankie Edgar.

Main Card:

Anderson Silva (206 lbs) vs. James Irvin (206 lbs)
Brandon Vera (204 lbs) vs. Reese Andy (206 lbs)
Frankie Edgar (155 lbs) vs. Hermes Franca (155 lbs)
Jake O’Brien (236 lbs) vs. Cain Velasquez (236 lbs)
Anthony Johnson (170 lbs) vs. Kevin Burns (171 lbs)
Jesse Taylor (184 lbs) vs. C.B. Dollaway (186 lbs)

Preliminary Bouts:

Tim Credeur (185 lbs) vs. Cale Yarbrough (186 lbs)
Rory Markham (170 lbs) vs. Brodie Farber (171 lbs)
Brad Blackburn (170 lbs) vs. James Giboo (170 lbs)
Nate Loughran (183 lbs) vs. Johnny Rees (183 lbs)
Dale Hartt (156 lbs) vs. Shannon Gugerty (156 lbs)

Affliction: Banned Weigh-In Results - Buentello vs. Emelianenko Cancelled

The official-weigh in results for tomorrow night’s Affliction: Banned event, which takes place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, are below. All fighters successfully made weight with the exception of Justin Levens, who weighed-in four pounds over the middleweight limit. However it’s unknown whether or not his bout against Ray Lazama is being fought a catch-weight or not.

In more unfortunate news, the scheduled bout between PRIDE veteran Aleksander Emelianenko and one-time UFC heavyweight title challenger Paul Buentello has been scrapped. According to the California State Athletic Commission, Emelianenko failed to meet the necessary licensing requirements. A replacement opponent for Buentello will not be able to be found in time.

Tickets still remain on sale for the event. The pay-per-view portion of the card will begin at 10 PM ET and FOX Sports Net will be airing three preliminary bouts tomorrow night as well. The promotion intends to televise as many fights as possible, including those prelims that will not be featured on FSN, which will act as swing bouts for the PPV.

Main Card:

Fedor Emelianenko (230 lbs) vs. Tim Sylvia (263 lbs)
Andre Arlovski (241 lbs) vs. Ben Rothwell (264 lbs)
Josh Barnett (256 lbs) vs. Pedro Rizzo (242 lbs)
Matt Lindland (185 lbs) vs. Fabio Negao (185 lbs)
Renato “Babalu” Sobral (201 lbs) vs. Mike Whitehead (206 lbs)

Preliminary Bouts:

Vitor Belfort (185 lbs) vs. Terry Martin (185 lbs)
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (205 lbs) vs. Edwin Dewees (205 lbs)
Mike Pyle (171 lbs) vs. J.J. Ambrose (170 lbs)
Savant Young (145 lbs) vs. Mark Hominick (144 lbs)
Justin Levens (189 lbs) vs. Ray Lazama (186 lbs)

Marshall-Collins Headlines Tonight’s PFC

Former World Extreme Cagefighting light heavyweight champion Doug Marshall will take on fellow submission artist Phil Collins in the main event of Palace Fighting Championship’s latest show this evening at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore, California.

“It’s hard to keep raising the bar, but we keep trying to raise it,’’ PFC president Christian Printup said in a press release sent out to the media. “This is one of the most balanced cards we’ve ever had. We have established veterans with name value, and we have a lot of young talent. We’re not a small show anymore. I don’t care what anybody says.’’

Marshall, who received permission from World Extreme Cagefighting to fight in the event, will attempt to bounce back from his first loss in nearly two years, a first-round TKO defeat to current WEC title holder Brian Stann. Collins has won his last two bouts under the PFC banner, most recently submitting Mike Martinez in March.

The card will also feature a PFC light heavyweight title bout between Chute Boxe product Jorge Oliveira and top contender Isaiah Larson. Additional featured bouts include lightweight prospect Casey Olson going up against Tito Jones and Gladiator Challenge veteran Jaime Jara clashing with Dominique Robinson.

Continue reading "Marshall-Collins Headlines Tonight’s PFC"

Affliction: Banned Pre-Fight Presser

Here’s the final pre-fight press conference for tomorrow night’s Affliction: Banned event, which will take place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Tickets still remain on sale for the event. The pay-per-view portion of the card will begin at 10 PM ET and FOX Sports Net will be airing three preliminary bouts tomorrow night as well. The press conference video comes in four parts. The first part is above and the other three are after the jump.

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Gomi-Horodecki Remains Unsigned

A proposed lightweight battle between former PRIDE title holder Takanori Gomi and International Fight League standout Chris Horodecki has not yet been signed, leaving Gomi without an opponent heading into next month’s scheduled “Sengoku IV” event in Japan.

The news comes from MMA Weekly, which confirmed with Horodecki himself that the possibility of him fighting Gomi in August hasn’t gone past anything else than the discussions stage at this point. World Victory Road also isn’t the only promotion in which the Canadian may be appearing the near future either.

“My management is talking to DREAM along with some other organizations,” Horodecki said in the article. “To my knowledge nothing is finalized yet, so it’s just talk for now. I don’t think the IFL is officially done yet, so that and TKO’s card in October are two other options we’re looking at.”

“Of course, it would be an amazing honor to fight Takanori Gomi,” Horodecki continued. “He’s one of the best in the world. He’s got really heavy hands so I’d have to watch out for that. I’d definitely have to sit down and study his tapes and come up with a good game plan. It’s hard to comment anymore than that because I haven’t studied Gomi enough to say. I’m sort of in limbo right now, just enjoying my summer and training hard in London and at Xtreme Couture Toronto.”

TKO Championship Fighting figurehead Stephane Patry stated earlier this month that Horodecki could possibly be returning to the promotion to fulfill the last fight on his contract before the end of the year. We also can’t forget that the UFC is reportedly in discussions to purchase the almost-defunct IFL for a price estimated around $1 million. 

White Confirms UFC’s Venture to Chicago

It seems that the rumors are true - the Ultimate Fighting Championship will be traveling to “The Windy City” for the first time in the promotion’s history when they visit Chicago for a planned UFC 90 event on October 25th at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.

White confirmed the date and location during a recent interview with The Chicago Sun-Times.

‘’Chicago is a huge market for us,’’ White said in the article. ‘’We track pay-per-view buys for our events and ratings on Spike TV, and Chicago is a killer market for us. There are tons of fans in Chicago and around Chicago, and it’s going to be one of the places we hit often. It’s a great fight town, and we’re really pumped that we’re finally getting this done.’’

While White was unable to confirm any fighters for the card, one notable name who may not be able to compete is Illinois native Matt Hughes, who is currently recovering from multiple torn ligaments suffered in his recent loss to Thiago Alves and has stated that he will likely be out of action for 6-7 months.

Another potential bout for the card was a previously rumored matchup between welterweight contenders Alves and Diego Sanchez. The bout was said to be happening at England’s UFC 89 in October but Dave Meltzer has since learned that the bout is not even signed and will definitely not be added to the overseas card.

HT: MMA Junkie