Anthony Johnson

Anthony Johnson Arrested

MMAFrenzy.com is reporting that UFC welterweight Anthony Johnson was arrested on June 27 on multiple charges stemming from an alleged domestic violence incident involving his ex-girlfriend.

According to reports, Johnson allegedly struck his girlfriend and then damaged a cell phone so she was unable to contact police.

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Fight Announcements: Johnson-Brown Set, Hamman Tapped to Face Feijao & More

Here are your fight announcements for the evening of April 23, 2009.

— A welterweight bout between rising contenders Anthony Johnson and Matt Brown has been confirmed for the main card of “The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale”, which will take place on June 20 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Johnson was last seen earned a first-round TKO of Luigi Fioravanti at UFC Fight Night 17 in February while Brown recently scored a brutal stoppage of Pete Sell at UFC 96 last month. [UFC.com]

— ShoXC veteran Jared Hamman has been tapped to replace Renato “Babalu” Sobral against rising Brazilian light heavyweight prospect Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante at Strikeforce’s “Lawler vs. Shields” event on June 6 in St. Louis, Missouri. Sobral was forced to withdraw from the bout after learning that the expected birth of his daughter was going to fall too close to the date of the fight. Former UFC heavyweight champion Kevin Randleman reportedly turned down an offer to face Cavalcante. [Sherdog.com]

— Takeya Mizugaki, who received loads of praise after his showing against Miguel Torres at WEC 40 earlier this month, is reportedly likely to face former featherweight title challenger Jeff Curran in a bantamweight bout planned for WEC 42 in August. The fight has not yet been signed, but the promotion as well as the fighters are said to all be interested in the matchup. [MMA Fanhouse]

Johnson Says Howard “Backed Out” of TUF9 Finale Fight

According to Anthony Johnson, he doesn’t have an opponent anymore for his scheduled fight at The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale in June. John Howard, whom Johnson was supposed to face, has reportedly “backed out” of the fight for reasons that Johnson isn’t aware of.

From The MMA Fiend via Johnson’s recent interview with the Sports Action Network:

I was supposed to fight John Howard for the Ultimate Fighter Finale, but supposedly he backed out, so uh, I don’t know. I don’t know why he backed out, you know, he’s a fighter, he fights for the UFC, he shouldn’t back out of any fight. But it’s up to him. If he don’t think he’s ready for the competition don’t sign up for the UFC, you know what I mean?

The rumor was that Dustin Hazelett would be stepping in to face Johnson, but many have pointed out that he’s recovering from surgery to repair a torn ACL. (Remember he was scheduled to face Ben Saunders at UFC 96?) He’ll probably be out for the rest of the year. The Fiend also notes that Howard’s decision to pull out of the fight may have something to do with his contract, which has him making $5,000 to show and $5,000 to win and is standard for a UFC newcomer without much prior experience, but nothing has been confirmed.

TUF 8 Finale Lineup Set

The full lineup for the Finale of the Ultimate Fighter 8 reality series has been set.  The live telecast will be on SpikeTV from The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, NV on Saturday, December 13 at 9:00pm EST.  There are five fights set for the broadcast at this time.  In what may be a first in a long time, all 16 participants who competed while living in the TUF house will be on the card.

Main Card
Efrain Escudero vs. Phillipe Nover for the TUF 8 lightweight finale
Ryan Bader vs. Vinicius Magalhaes for the TUF 8 light heavyweights finale
Wilson Gouveia vs. Jason MacDonald
Kevin Burns vs. Anthony Johnson
Junie Browning vs. Dave Kaplan

Preliminary Card
Shane Primm vs. Krzysztof Soszynski
Jules Bruchez vs. Eliot Marshall
Kyle Kingsbury vs. Tom Lawlor
Shane Nelson vs. George Roop
John Polakowski vs. Rolando Delgado

 

Silva Cruises Through Irvin in Las Vegas

Moving up to the light heavyweight division proved to be no problem at all for pound-for-pound phenom and current UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, as he made quick work of hard-hitting striker James Irvin in the main event of UFC Fight Night 14, which was organized promptly to counter Affliction Entertainment’s debut show happening just one state over.

What was expected to be somewhat of a test for Silva, who has completely cleaned out the UFC’s 185 lb division of viable contenders, proved to be nothing at all. After exchanging kicks with Silva early, Irvin attempted to go inside with a high kick. Unfortunately for him, it was caught, allowing Silva to come right down the pipe with a straight right hand. Irvin was sent crashing to the canvas. Silva pounced on him, landing unanswered punch after punch until the final one finished Irvin off for good.

After the fight, Silva, who originally expressed uncertainty when questioned if he would like to remain at light heavyweight, stated that he’d be willing to do whatever Dana White and the UFC asked of him. It’s the exact way of thinking that landed him an impressive win over Irvin.

“It doesn’t matter where I have to fight, at middleweight or light heavyweight, I’ll do whatever the UFC wants me to do,” Silva said. “I want to help setup the biggest fights I can and I want to be a part of them. I’m here to challenge myself and test my skills against the best fighters in the world.”

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UFC Silva vs. Irvin Live Results

We will be going live at 7:00 PM ET with live results of tonight’s UFC: Silva vs. Irvin event, (also known as UFC Fight Night 14) which will take place this evening at the Pearl Theatre inside the Palms Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The show’s main event features reigning UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva moving up to the light heavyweight division to take on fellow heavy-hitter James Irvin. Additional main card bouts include 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.

Be sure to leave comments throughout the night. Details live results are after the jump.

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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)

Silva-Irvin to Headline July “Fight Night”

It seems that the Ultimate Fighting Championship will be going ahead with their rumored July 19th event in Las Vegas after all, a move that will put the world’s top organization in the spotlight on the same night that Affliction Clothing’s puts on their event in California.

The news comes from Dave Meltzer of Yahoo! Sports, who has confirmed with Dana White that the event will take place at The Palms Resort and Casino in Las Vegas and would be televised live on Spike TV.

Even more interesting is the show’s main event, which will feature reigning UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva moving up to light heavyweight for the first time in his career to battle fellow heavy-hitter James Irvin in a sure-fire slugfest on the feet.

According to Meltzer, the fight against Irvin will serve as a “test-run” for Silva to see how he would fare in a higher weight class. The current plan involves Silva defending his middleweight belt later this year, most likely against top contender Yushin Okami, but could eventually lead to a showdown against Chuck Liddell in the near future.

A lightweight bout between Hermes Franca and Frankie Edgar has also been moved from the promotion’s August “Seek and Destroy” event to this one, which will now be deemed “UFC Fight Night 14” according to our friends at MMA Junkie, who are also reporting that Jake O’Brien, who has re-signed with the company, will take on Cain Velasquez and a welterweight bout between Anthony Johnson and Kevin Burns, which we broke news of yesterday, has also been moved to this card as well.

Brandon Vera, who was tentatively slated to take on former PRIDE champ Wanderlei Silva until Silva turned down the fight, will now take on IFL veteran Reese Andy in his debut at light heavyweight according to Sherdog.com. All five of the aforementioned bouts will likely make up the televised portion of the card.

Johnson-Burns Likely for UFC in August

A welterweight bout between rising prospects Anthony Johnson and Kevin Burns will likely take place when the Ultimate Fighting Championship travels to the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota for their upcoming “Seek and Destroy” event on August 9th.

MMA on Tap has learned through a source close to the potential bout that both fighters have verbally agreed to fight. Bout agreements have been sent out and are expected to be signed and returned by the end of the week.

Both Johnson and Burns have made waves lately in the MMA world with a couple of surprising performances and will now meet at the height of their respective young careers. After splitting his first two fights in the UFC, Johnson bounced back from a December submission loss to Rich Clementi to knock out “Ultimate Fighter” runner-up Tommy Speer at UFC Fight Night 13 in April.

Burns impressed many in his UFC debut earlier this month, submitting skilled grappler Roan Carneiro with a second-round triangle choke earlier this month at the UFC’s cursed “Bedlam” event in London, England. The win also earned him “Submission of the Night” and a $50,000 bonus.

The event is headlined by newly crowned UFC welterweight champion George St. Pierre’s first title defense against top contender Jon Fitch, who has won his first eight bouts with the promotion. A bout between lightweight contenders Roger Huerta and Kenny Florian will also take place. Former professional wrestler Brock Lesnar will return to action against longtime veteran Heath Herring as well.

Florian Stops Lauzon in Denver

The ‘Battle of Boston’ went in Kenny Florian’s favor last night as he relentlessly pressured fellow Massachusetts native Joe Lauzon before ultimately stopping his foe with an onslaught of unanswered strikes during the latest edition of UFC Fight Night at the at the Broomfield Events Center in Denver, Colorado.

What originally was booked as a friendly matchup between two lightweight contenders slowly evolved into a heated exchange of pre-fight trash talking. The tension between the two was evident from the start of the fight as an intense staredown changed into a quick exchange of punches.

Lauzon quickly down Florian down in the first minute. An unorthodox attempt by Florian to use elbows from the bottom was foiled by referee Herb Dean after one of the blows cut the back of Lauzon’s head open. Florian then used solid submission defense to escape knee bar and heel hook attempts before eventually closing out the round delivering strikes from the top position.

Florian turned up the heat at the start of the second round. A swift body kick led to Florian scoring a takedown and transitioning to half-guard. The veteran of the inaugural season of “The Ultimate Fighter” then rained down unanswered punches and elbows on Lauzon for nearly two full minutes. Despite a good job of covering up and limiting damage, Dean decided that Lauzon had enough, moving Florian even closer to another shot at the lightweight title that was once in his reach.

“Joe’s a great competitor and I knew it was gonna be a tough fight,” Florian said after the bout. “That’s what I wanted.”

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