General

Penn, Sherk Continue War of Words

The war of words between UFC lightweight kings B.J. Penn and Sean Sherk raged on yesterday, a little over a week until their highly anticipated showdown that will decide the organization’s true lightweight champion in Las Vegas.

Even before the bout was officially signed, Penn has been adamant about blasting Sherk with every chance he gets concerning Sherk’s failed steroids test last year under the watch of the California State Athletic Commission, a ruling that the Minnesota native still feels is wrong to this day.

“It’s hard for me, being a guy that’s never used performance enhancing drugs,” Penn said on yesterday’s pre-fight conference call for UFC 84: Ill Will. “You wake up every day after training tired and in pain and it kind of gets to you when you learn that someone is taking those kind of things. I’m a purist and I love this sport more than anythning. When someone goes ahead and perverts a sport as pure as this, I can’t take it.”

Even though the two both agreed that the conclusion of the fight would most likely result in the end of the bad blood and hard-feelings, Penn continued to push Sherk’s button as the call went on, even going as far as asking the former champion himself about his alleged use of performance enhancing drugs, prompting Sherk to strike back.

“I know what I did and I know what I didn’t do,” Sherk said. “I went above and beyond what I had to do in order to try and prove that I was innocent. Anyone that has followed the case and what I’ve had gone through will know that I didn’t do what they said I did.”

“I have fans who stand by me and who believe that I didn’t take steroids,” continued Sherk. “Then there are those who will think a certain way because of the way I look. I’ve looked the same for the past 10 years. Shit, I’ve apparently been doing steroids and I’ve been able to drop down to 155 lbs. Amazing, isn’t it?”

Moderating the banter was UFC President Dana White. While White was hesitant to give a definite opinion on the situation involving Sherk, he also stated that he can’t complain about the amount of animosity between the two.

“I’ve known Sean Sherk for a long time. I respect him as an athlete and as a man,” White said. “B.J. has his opinions of Sean and he’s going to let you know what they are. This happens sometimes. One of the cool things about this sport is the sportsmanship and everything else. But you know sometimes guys just rub each other the wrong way and it happens. Everything I just said about the two best fighters in the world facing each other in their prime, it doesn’t suck when they hate each other either.”

Additional conference call notes from yesterday are after the jump.

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Shaw Interested in Bringing Ortiz to EliteXC

With his days as a featured fighter with the Ultimate Fighting Championship coming to an end, Tito Ortiz, the one-time face of the organization, has mentioned that he’d like to take his services elsewhere following his upcoming fight against Lyoto Machida on May 24th.

One of the organizations in which Ortiz has expressed interest in Elite Xtreme Combat, headed by former boxing promoter Gary Shaw. Brash and out-spoken, Shaw is no stranger to giving his opinion when asked by the media and didn’t shy away earlier today when the potential of Ortiz shifting his career to EliteXC was brought up.

“In all my years in the fight game, I can see, touch, feel a superstar,” Shaw said this afternoon on a conference call promoting EliteXC’s network television debut on CBS later this month. “Everytime I see Tito Ortiz, he reeks of stardom. I think when his days in the UFC are over, that I can reincarnate him. Could you imagine Tito and Kimbo Slice in the cage together? I hope when his contract with the UFC is up that he will not be sitting across the table with me, but sitting with me at that table.”

“Please tell Tito that our door is wide open for him,” Shaw continued. “When his deal with the UFC is up, I’d love to talk with him and figure things out.”

Ortiz’s falling out with the UFC stems from his rocky relationship with the promotion’s figurehead, Dana White. The two have been at each other’s throats for years but things took a major turn for the worst after a proposed exhibition boxing match between the two fell apart and White opted to begin his verbal bashing of Ortiz in the media.

Ortiz has since stated multiple times that his fight against Machida will be his last with the UFC. (His current contract with the promotion ends this summer) Reasons for his departure circulate solely around White and his negative treatment of Ortiz as well as other contracted fighters on the organization’s roster.

Shaw mentioned that Ortiz wouldn’t have to worry about any kind of lack of respect from himself or others in the organization if he decided to sign with EliteXC.

“All of our fighters can attest to this, but we here at EliteXC put the fighters first,” Shaw said. “Our fighters are of the utmost importance to us. They come before the organization. The spotlight should be put on them. We treat everyone with respect and like they are a champion, regardless of who they are. Tito wouldn’t have to worry about that sort of thing if he decided to take his services to our camp.”

Additional conference call notes from today are after the jump.

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Arlovski Could Sign With Affliction Next Week

Despite various rumors circulating that Andrei Arlovski could very well be International Fight League veteran Ben Rothwell’s opponent at Affliction’s “Banned” show on July 19th at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, it seems that the Belarusian may not be able to sign with the popular California-based clothing company until May 19th.

The news comes from Josh Gross of Sports Illustrated. Gross speculates that Arlovski will not be able to officially get out of his contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship until next week when he successfully completes all remaining fights on his contract and waits out an exclusive negotiating period.

At the same time, the UFC will still have the ability to match whatever Affliction offers Arlovski. However, with the offer reported to be somewhere in the six-figure, three non-exclusive bout range, it seems very unlikely that Dana White will do so, especially after his comments to Yahoo! Sports Kevin Iole earlier this week.

“It’s funny you should ask me that,” White said when asked about Arlovski by Iole. “We were just talking about Arlovski. We want to sign him. It’s our intention to sign him. But I don’t know. We’re, well, I don’t know. We want to. Whether we will or not, I have no idea. We like Andrei and I know the fans like Andrei. I hope we can do something.”

Arlovski’s camp has offered no comment except to say that they are still in ongoing negotiations with the UFC, but all signs as of right now point to Arlovski being introduced at Affliction’s first-ever event-related press conference next Tuesday in Los Angeles.

Another thing interesting of note that Gross brought up in his column today - FOX Sports’ George Greenberg is expected to be in attendance at the press conference as well, potentially signaling that at least part of Affliction’s inaugural event may be televised on FSN in some capacity, also further confirming that any kind of relationship between the promotion and HDNet is rocky to say the least at this point.

HT: Cage Potato

TUF 7: Bad Blood Boiling

Things got right down to business during this week’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rampage vs Team Forrest. The first fight announcement came just seconds into the show as Quinton “Rampage” Jackson announces that one of his personal favorites on his team, Gerald Harris, will meet Forrest Griffin’s Amir Sadollah in one of the last remaining quarterfinals bouts.

Profile pieces on both Harris and Sadollah. Rampage harps on Harris’ impressive takedowns and slams, reminding him of himself. Sadollah isn’t very confident. He’s yet to have a professional fight under his belt.

Both fighters successfully weigh-in. Forrest tells Sadollah that will shave half of his head if he wins, attempting to instill some confidence as his fighter will be going up against a much-more talented wrestler than he. Fight time already.

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More Details on ESPN.com’s “MMA Live”

As we reported yesterday, UFC lightweight title contender Kenny Florian will serve as the host of ESPN’s newly-planned online mixed martial arts magazine show that will appear exclusively on the company’s official website and on mobile phones.

“MMA Live” will be a half-hour program covering all aspects of the sport, including news concerning various organizations around the world and upcoming events among other things. Florian will work alongside Jon Anik, who has already done some online MMA work for ESPN and Franklin McNeil, a reporter for the Newark Star-Ledger and a regular contributor to the UFC’s “Countdown” shows.

“It’s kind of a fast-paced show on the current news and events going on in the sport,” Florian told MMA Weekly. “There’s a whole lot of guys at ESPN that have been trying to get this done I guess for two years. Basically, I was contacted by ESPN about two weeks before my fight against Joe Lauzon and there was some interest. They finally got the okay to do an MMA show, and they were interested in using me for this show.”

“It’s strictly going to be on ESPN.com. It’s not going to be on TV as of right now,” Florian added. “Basically they’re going to do a run for three shows on ESPN.com and see what the response is, see how it does. Then if it goes well, we’ll do a regular thing on the Internet, and if it does even better, then possibly you’ll see it on TV.”

The show is slated to debut tonight on ESPN.com at 7:00 PM ET. MMA on Tap will have the video up if and when it becomes available.

Affliction to Visit New York and LA Next Week

Affliction, the popular California-based clothing company that recently announced it’s intention to enter the world of promoting mixed martial arts events, has officially announced it’s “Banned” show for July 19th at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

The show will be headlined by a heavyweight showdown years in the making as former PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko will take on former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia. The event will be available on pay-per-view in the USA in Canada, in both standard and high-definition, for $39.95.

The promotion will hold a pair of press conferences next week to announce further details regarding their inaugural show this summer. The first will take place at the Westfield Mall in Los Angeles on Tuesday, May 20th at 12:30 PM PT and then at the Trump Tower in New York City at 10:30 AM ET on Thursday, May 22nd. Both events are open to the public.

Four main-card bouts were the only fights confirmed in a press release sent out to the media today. Along with the aforementioned Emelianenko-Sylvia matchup, former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett will take on Pedro Rizzo in a rematch of their February 2001 bout, Team Quest founder Matt Lindland will return to action against Fabio “Negao” Nascimento, and UFC veterans Renato “Babalu” Sobral and Mike Whitehead will collide in a light heavyweight bout.

Ben Rothwell will also be in action at the event against an opponent currently yet to be determined. Various sources have been reporting that Andrei Arlovski may very well be Rothwell’s counterpart in the cage but it’s still unknown whether or not he will continue to free agency after finishing out the remainder of his deal with the UFC two months ago.

Contracts for a main card heavyweight clash between Aleksander Emelianenko and Paul Buentello have also reportedly been sent out to both fighters but have not yet been returned signed.

Affliction VP Tom Attencio has also confirmed four preliminary bouts that will take place at the event as well. IFL veteran Savant Young, who recently earned a huge upset win over former Shooto featherweight title contender Takeshi Inoue, will take on WEC and TKO veteran Mark Hominick in the most high-profile preliminary bout.

Additional dark matches include UFC veteran Justin Levens vs. Ray Lazama, Mike Pyle vs. Brett Cooper, and J.J. Ambrose vs. Patrick Speight.

Serious Crush: E:60 Profiles Gina Carano

Above is the segment that aired on last night’s episode of ESPN’s E:60 profiling EliteXC women’s star Gina Carano. The six-minute piece features comments from Carano’s mother and father, Shayna Bazler, and Tara LaRosa among others and also chronicles her entrance into the sport after competing in Muay-Thai competitions.

After the jump is the discussion that takes place after the profile piece. It’s ten-minutes long and basically rehashes the same points over and over. Jeremy Schaap talks until the last three minutes or so. The talk starts out well. Some valid questions are brought up and some legit issues discussed but eventually it just degenerates into the lame comparison of MMA to professional wrestling. Watch if you wish.

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Controversy Surrounds Casting for “Hamill”

It seems that controversy has surrounded the casting process concerning “Hamill”, an independent film set to feature the story of current UFC light heavyweight Matt Hamill and the hardships he faced growing up as a deaf athlete.

Hamill discussed the ongoing protests by the deaf community of his selection of Eben Kostbar, a non-deaf actor, to play the character of Hamill himself, in a recent interview with Thomas Gerbasi of UFC.com.

“I was really shocked by the reaction,” Hamill said in the interview. “I thought the movie would receive positive feedback from the deaf community because this movie is based on a deaf athlete and the life surrounding his deafness. It hurt at first, but I’ve come to realize that this is a small portion of the deaf community. With positive things, comes the negative things. If anything, it has kept me grounded.”

Kostbar was an easy selection for Hamill due to the fact that not only is he a personal friend of the former cast member of the third season of “The Ultimate Fighter”, but he is also fluent in American Sign Language and has a background in wrestling.

Protests of Hamill’s decision reached their highest point earlier this year when two casting calls at Gallaudet University and the Rochester Institute of Technology were canceled. It isn’t the first time that Hamill’s actions have been criticized according to the former Team Punishment member.

“An example of the criticism I have taken is that a lot of my taped interviews don’t show me signing,” said Hamill. “The camera is focused on my face, and not my top half where my hands can be seen, so they assume that I am only speaking and not signing. What they don’t realize is that I am signing, but my hands are cut off from the camera.”

Hamill bounced back from his first career loss to Michael Bisping last fall to score a first-round stoppage of UFC newcomer Tim Boetsch at UFC Fight Night 13 in April. No word as of yet on when the Loveland, Ohio native’s next fight will be.

The movie, which is set to begin filming this fall, is currently slated for a 2009 release. 

UFC Confirms Dan Hardy Signing

The Ultimate Fighting Championship today confirmed their previously rumored signing of reigning Cage Warriors welterweight champion Dan Hardy.

Hardy has won eight out of his last nine fights, his lone defeat being a disqualification loss to fellow UFC newcomer Yoshiyuki Yoshida last December. Hardy most recently scored a TKO win over Daniel Weichel on May 3rd. The Nottingham native also stopped Chad Reiner with strikes at a Cage Warriors event last month.

“It means everything to finally be at the pinnacle of mixed martial arts,” Hardy said on the UFC’s official website. “Even kids who have never taken a martial arts class in their life dream about fighting in the UFC - it is the Premier League of MMA and there was nowhere else I wanted to be. I cannot wait to step into the Octagon and showcase myself on the biggest stage in MMA.”

According to our friends at MMA Junkie, Hardy has signed a four-fight deal with the promotion and is expected to make his debut in the fall.

“I feel I’ve come to the UFC at exactly the right time,” Hardy said. “Since the UFC came back to England last spring, everywhere I’ve gone people have asked me when I was going to sign with the UFC and why I wasn’t in the UFC yet.”

Haselrig-McCall Off of “Primetime” Undercard (Updated)

Update 7:18 PM: Just one day after it was first reported that a heavyweight bout between Carlton Haselrig and Joe McCall would complete the undercard for Elite Xtreme Combat’s upcoming “Primetime” event on May 31st, Five Ounces of Pain has learned that McCall will be unable to compete at the event due to family obligations.

The undercard for Elite Xtreme Combat’s upcoming “Primetime” event on May 31st seems to be complete courtesy of a recently signed bout between former NFL All-Pro offensive lineman Carlton Haselrig and Fightfest veteran Joe McCall.

The news comes from our friends at Five Ounces of Pain, who have been fortunate enough to have the first word on just about all of the scheduled preliminary bouts slated to take place at the event.

Haselrig was originally rumored to be taking on IFL veteran Bryan Vetell at the event but Vetell reportedly backed out of the fight due to financial concerns. Haselrig was victorious in his MMA debut last month, stopping former IFL heavyweight title contender Shane Ott with strikes in the first round.

McCall remains undefeated thus far in his professional mixed martial arts career. He most recently scored a TKO win over Dominic Quarzzo at a North American Amateur Fight Series event last November.

Heavyweight sensation Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson is slated to headline the main card against PRIDE veteran James Thompson. EliteXC middleweight champion Robbie Lawler will also put his belt on the line against Scott Smith in a bout that will likely be a sure-fire war on the feet.

The current card for the event is as follows:

Main Card:

Kimbo Slice vs. James Thompson
Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith - EliteXC Middleweight Title
Gina Carano vs. Kaitlin Young
Phil Baroni vs. Joe Villasenor
Jon Murphy vs. Brett Rogers

Preliminary Bouts:

Nick Serra vs. Matt Makowski
Chris Liguori vs. Jim Bova
Wilson Reis vs. Justin Robbins
James Jones vs. Calvin Kattar
Carlton Haselrig vs. Joe McCall
Zach Makovsky vs. Andre Soares
Mike Groves vs. Joe Sampieri