Drew Fickett

Ficket Falls Again at C3 Fights

Former UFC welterweight contender Drew Fickett has continued his fall from grace, losing for the fourth time in his last five bouts to relative unknown Tyler Stinson at a C3 Fights event this past weekend in Newkirk, Oklahoma.

In other action, WEC veteran Eric Schambari scored a first-round submission win over John Bryant and one-time EliteXC fighter Wayne Cole stopped opponent Hector Andrade in the first round of their bout.

Complete results from the event:

Tyler Stinson def. Drew Fickett - TKO (Strikes), R1
Eric Schambari def. John Bryant - Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), R1
Wayne Cole def. Hector Andrade - TKO (Strikes), R1
Bruce Redenbaugh def. Joel Traves - TKO (Strikes), R3
Dustin Blake def. Josh Robertson - Submission (Kimura), R1
Brandon Hastings def. Fred Mitchell - KO (Punch), R1
Lacey Schuckman def. Tammie Schneider - Submission (Choke), R1
Rudy Bears def. Charles Jones - TKO (Strikes), R2
Tracy Willis def. Nick Smith - TKO (Strikes), R1
Ferrid Kheder def. Calvett Huzinger - Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), R1

 

Weekend Recap: Hioki, Taylor Victorious

In recapping other events besides EliteXC and Strikeforce that took place this past weekend, Hatsu Hioki retained his TKO featherweight championship with a first-round submission of Thierry Quenneville at TKO 35 Saturday night in Montreal.

The win was Hioki’s first inside the confines of TKO since he earned a majority decision over Mark Hominick at TKO 28 back in February of last year. Also victorious on the main card were “Ultimate Fighter” contestant Noah Thomas who submitted Adrian Wooley to claim the vacant TKO bantamweight belt and former hockey enforcer Steve Bosse, who scored a first-round TKO of Sebastien Gauthier.

Just like Don King, boxing mainstay Sycuan Ringside Promotions co-promoted it’s first-ever mixed martial arts event Saturday night in San Diego along with local organization Total Combat. Jesse Taylor stopped fellow UFC veteran Drew Fickett in the first round with strikes in the show’s main attraction.

Complete results from both cards are after the jump.

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Cooper-Speight Finalizes Affliction II Card

A welterweight bout between IFL veteran Brett Cooper and undefeated prospect Patrick Speight will reportedly finalize Affliction’s “Day of Reckoning” card, which will take place on October 11th at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of UNLV according to a report by MMA News.

Affliction VP Tom Atencio was said to have confirmed Cooper vs. Speight as the final bout to be signed for the event yesterday. Both fighters were originally scheduled to be part of Affliction’s “Banned” show on July 19 but were removed from the card due to unknown reasons.

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Report: Hieron-Fickett Likely at Affliction II

Former IFL welterweight champion Jay Hieron could reportedly take on fellow UFC veteran Drew Fickett at Affliction’s “Day of Reckoning” show on October 11th in Las Vegas.

Fickett’s manager, Alexander Oxendine has informed Sherdog.com that his client has verbally accepted the bout, although talks are still ongoing and nothing is set in stone.

Hieron has not competed since successfully defending his IFL belt against former U.S. Marine Mark Miller in April. He became the IFL’s first-ever welterweight champion after defeating Donnie Liles and Delson Heleno in consecutive fights. The Long Island native is currently keeping in shape by training at Xtreme Couture.

Although he has been fairly active this year, especially in recent months, Fickett has been embroiled lately in a feud with MFC President Mark Pavelich after breaching a contract he had with the organization by accepting a last-minute fight in a Strikeforce show in June. Fickett was upset by Richard Villa in his Rage in the Cage return last month but bounced back to defeat Joe Manzello just six days later.

Crane Victorious, Fickett Upset at RITC

In Rage in the Cage’s first-ever event outside of the state of Arizona, the performances of two UFC veterans went from one side of the spectrum to the other as skilled grappler Alberto Crane scored a first-round submission win over Adrian Valdez while Drew Fickett was upset by Richard Villa.

Crane quickly scored a takedown against Valdez in the opening seconds of their bout. He then put his superior submission skills to work, locking in an armbar. Valdez was able to fight out of the hold but an attempt to stand back up saw him get caught in a guillotine that eventually forced him to tap out.

Meanwhile Fickett, who reportedly had troubles cutting weight prior to the fight, came out strong in the first round. He continually landed an array of strikes and had Villa’s back for the rear naked choke in the closing seconds of the round. However Villa rebounded in the second, dropping Fickett with a right hand and then pounding away with a number of unanswered strikes until the referee was forced to stop the fight.

Continue reading "Crane Victorious, Fickett Upset at RITC"

Shields-Fickett Looking Unlikely

It was only a little more than three months ago when Jake Shields and Drew Fickett were set to battle it out in order to crown EliteXC’s first-ever welterweight champion. Their March date was squashed after Shields suffered a back injury during the week leading up to the bout, forcing Fickett to take on Jae Suk Lim instead.

A fight between the two was tentatively scheduled for this past weekend’s “Return of the King” event, but concerns involving Shields ability to be ready in time for the fight began to mount. Then unexpectedly, it was Fickett who fell victim to the injury bug, suffering a knee injury during training. Or did he?

Five Ounces of Pain points out that while Fickett signed on to fight rising Canadian prospect Ryan Ford at a Maximum Fighting Championship event in July, his most recent fight, a submission win over Jeff Horlacher at a Rage in the Cage event just ten days go, has flown under the radar.

Why would Fickett take a fight on June 7th if he was supposedly too injured to be able to compete against Shields one week later?

While his injury healing up quicker than expected and Shields deciding against fighting this past weekend could have happened, Shields camp says that isn’t the case according to the latest post on their graciefighter.com site.

Apparently EliteXC officials have been unable to get in contact with Fickett and are now considering releasing him from his contract, a move that would go against the type of employee Fickett has been to other organization’s in the past.

In addition, Shields will now be fighting in one of the featured bouts on EliteXC’s next network television event on CBS on July 26th. Two current welterweight champions in different organizations are being discussed as potential opponents for Shields: BodogFight welterweight champion Nick Thompson and reigning IFL welterweight title holder Jay Hieron.

CKA: May 2, 2008

Shields vs Fickett Delayed Again

EliteXC has announced that the Welterweight Title fight between Jake Shield and Drew Fickett has been delayed once again.  Originally scheduled for the undercard of the Frank Shamrock vs Cung Le event, the bout was put off due to Shields suffering a back injury.  It had been rescheduled for EliteXC’s June 14th card in Hawaii, but now word comes that Drew Fickett suffered a knee injury. 

Just last week, Shields was quoted as saying he was not sure whether he’d be physically ready by June 14th.  Now this announcement.  Considering the need for EliteXC to start filling their second US network primetime show in late July, this is pretty convenient.  It would look bad for Shields to be the one who is injured again, so maybe EliteXC “encouraged” Fickett to ask for the delay.  It would certainly not be below EliteXC’s Gary Shaw to do something of that nature. 

At this point, the June 14th EliteXC show is still scheduled and will include a lightweight title fight between Yves Edwards and champion KJ Noons, as well as Nick Diaz.

Aoki? JZ? Anyone?

Fresh off his victory over JZ Calcavante in Tokyo on Tuesday at the Dream 2 show, Shinya Aoki’s further participation in the Lightweight Grand Prix is once again clouded.  Before the rematch with JZ ever occurred, Aoki has expressed concerns over whether he would be able to fight in the 2nd round of the GP just two weeks after the JZ rematch.  Now rumor has it that he suffered some facial injuries and will not be allowed to continue whether he wants to or not.  Originally this rumor of the injury was spread by Calcavante’s ATT team.  But it was confirmed by the FEG USA head, Mike Jogan, to USA Today.

Aoki “wants to go on, but it’s up to the doctors,” said Mike Kogan, head of U.S. promotion for Dream’s owner, Fight Entertainment Group. The examination is scheduled for later on Friday — keep in mind that Japan is 13 to 18 hours ahead of North America — so Aoki’s fate could be known several hours from now.

American Top Team made it known that JZ was asked to continue into the next round in place of Aoki but that the fighter and FEG could not come to a financial agreement.

Le Breaks Shamrock in Instant Classic

SAN JOSE – In a bruising battle of Bay Area rivals, undefeated Cung Le broke the right arm of defending champion Frank Shamrock en route to capturing the Strikeforce middleweight title with a thrilling, give-and-take, crowd-pleasing third-round TKO Saturday on Showtime.

The long-awaited, eagerly anticipated mixed martial arts event, presented by EliteXC and Strikeforce, attracted an enthusiastic, well-behaved crowd of 16,326 at the HP Pavilion that produced a gate of more than $1 million. Those in attendance included EliteXC standouts Kimbo Slice, Jake Shields, Nick Diaz and Phil Baroni.

The fight card aired on Showtime at 9 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the west coast).

Gilbert Melendez (14-1) of San Francisco successfully defended his Strikeforce lightweight belt with a second-round knockout over hard-trying but outclassed Gabe Lemley (11-7) of New London, Iowa, in a second world title match on a five-bout telecast.

In other televised scraps, Drew Fickett (32-5) of Tucson, Ariz., earned a shot at the vacant EliteXC welterweight crown against Jake Shields by submitting Korea’s Jae Suk Lim (9-4) in the first round; super heavyweight Wayne Cole (11-6) of Oklahoma City, Okla., submitted (armbar) Mike Kyle (9-6-1) of San Jose in the first round and EliteXC standout Joey Villasenor (25-6) of Albuquerque, N.M., knocked out Ryan Jensen (11-4) of Omaha, Neb., in the first round.

In the top non-televised fight, Tiki Ghosn (10-7) of Huntington Beach, Calif., registered an upset three-round decision over previously undefeated welter Luke Stewart (5-1) of San Francisco by the scores of 30-27 and 29-28 twice.

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CSAC Causes Fickett to Replace Diaz

The California State Athletic Commission has surprisingly ruled that Nick Diaz will not be permitted to fight at this weekend’s Elite Xtreme Combat and Strikeforce co-promoted “Shamrock vs Cung Le” show, which will take place at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.

Why? Well it depends who you ask. While MMA Weekly first broke the news late last night, Sherdog has since learned that there is quite the discrepancy as to why Diaz will not be competing.

According to CSAC Executive Officer Armando Garcia, Diaz failed to submit medical papers in time.

“He did not turn in his medical information in time for the fight,” Garcia told Sherdog’s Josh Gross. “They were just turned in today.”

EliteXC Live Events President Gary Shaw says different. According to Shaw, the issue has nothing to do with a deadline for Diaz’s medical papers and everything to do with the fact that the Stockton, California native owns a medical marijuana card, stemming from Diaz’s case of Attention Deficit Disorder.

“He never mentioned anything about late medicals,” said Shaw. “And if there were late medicals it wasn’t because of Nick Diaz and it wasn’t because of EliteXC. Nick does what you ask him, and you punish him? It’s like if you have a Ferrari and a police officer gives you a speeding ticket before you turn the key.”

Diaz’s adventures with marijuana have gotten him in trouble before. After submitting former PRIDE lightweight champion Takanori Gomi in April of last year, Diaz’s enormous upset was changed to a no-contest after the Nevada State Athletic Commission found that the amount of marijuana in Diaz’s system during the fight gave him a competitive advantage.

Drew Fickett, who was originally slated to take on Jake Shields for the EliteXC welterweight title before Shields suffered a back injury during training, will now step in and take on Diaz’s scheduled opponent, Jae Suk Lim.

Shields-Fickett Scrapped

The highly-anticipated EliteXC welterweight title showdown between Jake Shields and Drew Fickett scheduled for this weekend’s co-promoted event with Strikeforce has been scrapped.

EliteXC parent company ProElite officially announced the cancellation on their website earlier this afternoon, citing an injury Shields suffered during training as the reason why the Cesar Gracie product will be unable to compete. Five Ounces of Pain reports that Shields has pulled a muscle in his back.

The fight was slated to take place on the television portion of a card which features a main event middleweight contest between former UFC middleweight champion Frank Shamrock and decorated Sanshou kickboxer Cung Le.

Shields was victorious over Mike Pyle in his last fight at EliteXC: Renegade in November. The bout was originally slated to be for EliteXC’s welterweight belt but that idea was scrapped once Pyle decided not to sign a contract extension with the promotion.

After spending over two years under the Zuffa banner, Fickett decided to explore new opportunities and submitted both Anthony Lapsley and Mark Weir in separate HDNet Fights and Cage Rage events. No word as to whether or not a replacement opponent will be found for Fickett in time.