Frank Trigg

Murphy Replaces Trigg in DREAM Grand Prix

DREAM parent company Fight Entertainment Group has announced that collegiate wrestler Ian Murphy will take the place of former UFC welterweight title contender Frank Trigg against renowned grappler Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza in a first-round middleweight grand prix bout.

The promotion made the change to the fight card earlier this week through their official website.

Despite being announced as participating at the event, Trigg revealed days later that although he had been in contact with DREAM officials about possibly fighting for the promotion, they had not struck a deal nor signed any sort of contract. The Xtreme Couture member also stated that a last-minute deal would not even be able to work out due to potential visa issues.

Murphy will be making his professional mixed martial arts debut at the event and at the time of publication, MMA on Tap was unable to confirm if he had any amateur experience at all.

Murphy is coming off of his senior wrestling season at Cal State Fullerton where he racked up a 27-9 record before losing in the first round of the 2008 NCAA Wrestling Championships. The Corona, California native is currently ranked as the top wrestler in the Pac-10 Conference and 11th in the country at 184 lbs according to USA Wrestling.

HT: Nightmare of Battle

Trigg-Jacare NOT Set for DREAM 2; Diaz Verbally Accepts Garcia Fight (Updated)

Update 3:30 PM ET: Frank Trigg revealed through his TAGG Radio show today and The Underground Forum that he has not signed with DREAM and not will be fighting Ronaldo Souza, who happens to be a training partner of his at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas.

DREAM parent company Fight Entertainment Group has announced four more bouts for the first round of the organization’s upcoming middleweight grand prix, which will currently take place on April 29th at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Former UFC welterweight title contender Frank Trigg will take on renowned grappler Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza in a first round bout. Addtional matchups include Zelg Galesic vs. Magomed Sultanakhmadov, Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Taiei Kin, and Dong Sik Yoon vs. Shungo Oyama.

Also, current EliteXC lightweight Nick Diaz has apparently verbally accepted a bout against Marcelo Garcia according to manager Cesar Gracie.

From Graciefighter.com:

Nick Diaz has verbally accepted to fight Marcelo Garcia at the next Dream show. (April 29th) Although Garcia inititially accepted the fight, there has been talk that the match will now be scrubbed. According to Dream promoters, Marcelo has now decided that he does not want the fight and it is unclear if Dream will be able to find an opponent in time for Nick to participate. Stay tuned.

The card for the event now looks like this:

DREAM Middleweight Grand Prix

Denis Kang vs. Gegard Mousasi
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Andrews Nakahara
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Masakatsu Funaki
Frank Trigg vs. Ronaldo Souza
Zelg Galesic vs. Magomed Sultanakhmadov
Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Taiei Kin
Dong Sik Yoon vs. Shungo Oyama

DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix

Shinya Aoki vs. Gesias Calvancante

Art of War, FSN Announce “GI Vs. Pro”

Art of War parent company SUN Sports & Entertainment Inc. has announced a deal with FOX Sports Net that will have the network air the promotion’s new television series, “GI Vs. Pro.”

The series, which will air nine new episodes over a three-month period on Saturday nights, will pit current and former MMA-trained armed services members against professional mixed martial arts fighters from around the country.

“MMA is on fire,” said FSN VP of Production Gary Garcia. “This show, featuring intense battles between elite, fine-tuned athletes, is the perfect brand extension for the U.S. military to hit their target demo right between the eyes.”

Jay Glazer and Frank Trigg, who have teamed up in the past as hosts of PRIDE Fighting Championships shows on FSN, will serve as the broadcast team for the series.

Art of War will hold one of the events that will be featured on the show on April 19th. Headlining the card will be Ron Faircloth challenging fellow heavyweight Damien Steely. Nick Agallar will take on Nuri Shakur in the co-main event.

Report: Trigg in Talks to Work for TNA Wrestling

It seems that Frank Trigg’s recent appearance with TNA Wrestling might not be a one-time thing after all. The promotion is currently attempting to land Trigg as a full-time color commentator.

From Rajah:

TNA Wrestling sent out a text alert to their TNA Mobile subscribers saying the company is in talks with Mixed Martial Arts star Frank Trigg to become a TNA announcer. Trigg is said to be a big wrestling fan and will be at Lockdown to add some insight and analysis on commentary during the Joe vs. Angle match.

Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe will be wrestling a MMA-related match at the company’s “Lockdown” pay-per-view this Sunday. Trigg was on TNA’s weekly Impact show last week to give his take on the match. UFC welterweight Marcus Davis also did a promo for the organization recently as well.

Touch of gloves to MMA Mania for the find.

Miller, Trigg Win; Ensure Potential Rematch

Jason “Mayhem” Miller and Frank Trigg were both victorious last night in their respective bouts, setting up a potential rematch of their ICON Sport middleweight title bout that took place just one year ago.

The 6,754 that packed into the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas saw a main event between Miller and Tim Kennedy live up to expectations as a very competitive bout. Kennedy came away with the first round on the scorecards, using superior striking and wrestling to keep Miller at bay. Kennedy came close to ending the fight when he secured Miller’s back and had an extended amount of time to try and sink in a rear naked choke. The opportunity was foiled when the horn sounded to end the round.

Both fighters came out of the gate firing away with punches and kicks to start the second. Kennedy (8-2) once again took control of Miller (20-5) from behind but Miller was able to reverse the position and put Kennedy on his back. Miller fired away with punches and elbows that opened up a nasty cut on the bridge of Kennedy’s nose. “Mayhem” started to pull away in the final stanza after securing an early takedown.

Kennedy’s cut was checked by ringside doctors on two different occasions but the bout was permitted to continue both times. The fight was restarted on the feet by the referee after the second check of the cut and gave Kennedy the opportunity to take Miller down. However Kennedy was unable to generate much offense because of multiple submission attempts by Miller. Miller rolled Kennedy to his back and pounded away on his opponent until the end of the fight. The judges convened and their scorecards all matched up as Miller was awarded a well-earned unanimous decision, finally avenging a loss to Kennedy earlier in his career.

When asked who he would like to take on in his next fight, Miller hysterically stated that he wouldn’t mind fighting HDNet Fights owner and famed billionaire Mark Cuban for each other’s wallets. While Cuban won’t be standing across the cage against Miller in his next fight, Trigg most likely will be.

Continue reading "Miller, Trigg Win; Ensure Potential Rematch"

HDNet Fights: Reckless Abandon Results

Marcus Lanier def. Lee King - Submission (Armbar)
Liam McCarty def. Jason House - TKO (Cut)
Jay White def. Patrick Castillo - Submission (Armbar)
Nissen Osterneck def. Freddie Espiricueta - Submission (Strikes)
Corey Mahon def. Chris Bowles - Submision (Armbar)
Pete Spratt def. Tristan Yunker - TKO (Cut)
Krzysztof Soszynski def. Robert Villegas - Disqualification
Yves Edwards def. Alonzo Martinez - Submission (RNC)
Frank Trigg def. Edwin Dewees - Submission (Kimura)
Jason Miller def. Tim Kennedy- Unanimous Decision

HDNet Fights: Reckless Abandon Live Blog

Tonight we will be going live at 7:30 PM EST, covering HDNet Fights: Reckless Abandon with one of our patented live blogs. Be sure to leave some comments throughout the night…

While you are waiting for the event to start, feel free to check out our coverage of the event which includes interviews, weigh-in results, and much more:

HDNet Fights II Weigh-In Results
A Chance for Revenge and Mayhem in HD
RawVegas Interviews Mir and Trigg
Rob Zombie’s ‘Halloween’ to Sponsor HDNet Fights
Report: Osterneck Tapped to Replace Dollaway
Dollaway Out of HDNetFights: Reckless Abandon
Report: Salmon Replaced Against Mayhem
Trigg-Dewees, Miller-Salmon Headline HDNet Fights

The card:

Jason Miller vs. Tim Kennedy
Frank Trigg vs. Edwin Dewees
Yves Edwards vs. Alonzo Martinez
Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Robert Villegas
Pete Spratt vs. Tristan Yunker
Cory Mahon vs. Chris Bowles
Freddie Espiricueta vs. Nissen Osterneck
Jason House vs Liam McCarty
Jay White vs. Patrick Castillo
Lee King vs. Marcus Lanier

Continue reading "HDNet Fights: Reckless Abandon Live Blog"

HDNet Fights II Weigh-In Results

Tristan Yunker failed to make weight for his scheduled welterweight bout against Pete Spratt. Yunker weighed-in at 174 lbs at the weigh-ins and was only able to get down to 173 lbs following the allotted two-hour time limit.

Yunker will now forfeit a percentage of his purse to Spratt and the fight will take place at a catch weight of 173 lbs.

Jason Miller (186 lbs) vs. Tim Kennedy (185 lbs)
Frank Trigg (183 lbs) vs. Edwin Dewees (185 lbs)
Yves Edwards (156 lbs) vs. Alonzo Martinez (156 lbs)
Krzysztof Soszynski (204 lbs) vs. Robert Villegas (205 lbs)
Pete Spratt (170 lbs) vs. Tristan Yunker (174 lbs)
Cory Mahon (155 lbs) vs. Chris Bowles (154 lbs)
Freddie Espiricueta (184 lbs) vs. Nissen Osterneck (184 lbs)
Jason House (184 lbs) vs Liam McCarty (185 lbs)
Jay White (256 lbs) vs. Patrick Castillo (241 lbs)
Lee King (155 lbs) vs. Marcus Lanier (154 lbs)

RawVegas Interviews Mir and Trigg

RawVegas had the opportunity to interview former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir and fellow UFC veteran Frank Trigg at a Las Vegas Grappler’s Quest event over the weekend.

Mir talks about his son competing at the event and his plan to defeat Brock Lesnar at UFC 82 in February. Trigg discusses his “Triggonomics” clothing line and his upcoming fight against Edwin DeWees this month.

Trigg-Dewees, Miller-Salmon Headline HDNet Fights: Reckless Abandon

DALLAS, TEXAS --- Mixed-Martial-Arts stars Frank Trigg and Jason “Mayhem” Miller are recognized as two of the sports top middleweights.  They, in fact, once squared off in an epic battle for the ICON World Championship, with Trigg coming away the newly crowned champ. 

On Saturday, December 15th, the non-stop warrior, Trigg, and the master of mayhem, Jason “Mayhem” Miller, will share top billing (in separate fights) on RECKLESS ABANDON, when Mark Cuban’s HDNet FIGHTS returns to the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

Let the lessons in Triggonomics and Mayhem begin.

Continue reading "Trigg-Dewees, Miller-Salmon Headline HDNet Fights: Reckless Abandon"