Heavyweight

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

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

CKA: May 14, 2008

Kenny Florian will reportedly serve as the temporary 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 according to Adam Swift of MMA Payout.

According to Swift, Florian will serve as the show’s host at least for the first two weeks of tapings. However it’s unknown whether the show will be UFC-based, something that apparently delayed the launch of the program, or if it will cover the entire world of the sport.

Affliction-HDNet Deal Still Possible

While it was previously reported that a potential deal between Affliction and HDNet that would have the clothing brand hold it’s first MMA show at the Dallas-based American Airlines Center fell apart, HDNet Fights CEO Andrew Simon says that the event could still possibly be televised on the digital cable network.

According to MMA Weekly, the event would not be permitted to take place at the home of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks due to a lack of time to substantially promote the show. However the potential of at least part of the event airing live or on tape-delay on HDNet is not out of the realm of possibility.

“We talk to everybody and I wouldn’t say that any conversation is dead yet,” Simon said in the report. “You just never know. You know how this sport works, one day you think you’re not working together and the next day you might announce something. Affliction… I would say, never say never.

ASU Shuts Down Storied Wrestling Program

Arizona State University has decided to shut down it’s storied wrestling program along with men’s swimming and men’s tennis as part of a financial cutback at the school according to MMA Weekly.

Normally this wouldn’t be the type of news to be reported on this site, but the school’s wrestling program has produced a slew of highly-touted MMA prospects in recent years, including current UFC fighters Cain Velasquez and C.B. Dollaway. Shoe-in hall-of-famers Dan Severn, Don Frye, and Dan Henderson all competed for the school as well in the past.

There may still be hope for the program. NCAA President Myles Brand is expected to hold a meeting later this month to discuss the possibility of protecting school sports that also take place in the Olympics, wrestling being one of them.

Bush Tests Positive for Marijuana

Heavyweight prospect George Bush has reportedly tested positive for marijuana following his first-round tournament loss to former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez at YAMMA Pit Fighting’s inaugural show last month in Atlantic City, New Jersey according to Sherdog.com.

“I just found out a few days ago, and needless to say, I’m very surprised and disappointed,” Bush said in the report. “I accept full responsibility for my actions, and I assure the fans that this will never happen again.”

While there won’t be any official announcement from the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board, (they don’t release drug-testing information to the media) Bush has confirmed that he has not been fined but has been suspended by the commission for 90 days.

Mir, Nogueira Tapped as Coaches for “TUF 8”

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight champion Frank Mir and the organization’s current interim title holder, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, have been selected to serve as the coaches for the upcoming eighth season of “The Ultimate Fighter”.

SpikeTV officials confirmed the previously rumored news this afternoon in a press release sent out to the media.

Mir will try to continue a successful road back from a near career-ending motorcycle accident when he takes on Nogueira at the conclusion of the show, which will begin taping later this week. He was originally slated to take on Team Punishment member Justin McCully in July, but was abruptly removed from the card once the UFC decided to use him on the popular reality show.

Mir is now riding a wave of two straight impressive performances. He slowly crept back into title contention after his submission win over former professional wrestler turned mixed martial artist Brock Lesnar at UFC 81: Breaking Point in February.

Meanwhile Nogueira became the first mixed martial artist in history to hold championship gold inside the confines of both the UFC and PRIDE Fighting Championships as he submitted former two-time champion Tim Sylvia to win the interim UFC heavyweight belt in February as well. With current champion Randy Couture all but finished with the promotion, the winner of the showdown with Mir later this year will almost surely become the sole title holder.

Mir has already made it known that he’d love to be a coach during a future season of the show and he’ll get his chance now. He wanted it to lead to a rematch with Tim Sylvia, but now that the Miletich Fighting Systems product has been released from the UFC, that won’t be happening anytime soon.

His fight with Nogueira will pit two of the world’s top heavyweight grapplers against each other. While Mir might be marketable because of his win over Lesnar and WEC color commentating job, casual fans aren’t all that familiar with Nogueira, who has only fought twice inside the promotion. It could be the making of a potential negative hit to ratings but rumor has it that the UFC has a plan to showcase the Brazilian and expose his personality to fans.

The winter season will mark the first time that the reality show has ever featured two heavyweights as coaches. It will also return to the show’s original format of featuring two separate weight classes - eight lightweights and light heavyweights (155 lbs and 205 lbs) will compete for the coveted six-figure UFC contract. The cast is expected to be announced sometime in September.

AFL Announces Card for “Bulletproof”

The American Fight League has announced the full card for the organization’s upcoming “Bulletproof” event on May 30th at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.

The show will feature a total of three title fights. Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Diego Saraiva, who is coming off of the loss of his Palace Fighting Championship lightweight title to Brian Cobb last week, will defend his AFL belt against Josh Cate.

AFL welterweight title Douglas Lima is slated to defend his strap against Brent Weedman and the vacant AFL middleweight title will be decided between George Lockhart and George Allen. UFC veterans Dan Christison and Junior Assuncao will also be in action.

The promotion has also stated that they will announce “two marquee signings” at the event as well. Both fighters will apparently be on hand at the show.

The full card for the show:

Diego Saraiva vs. Josh Cate - AFL Lightweight Title
Douglas Lima vs. Brent Weedman - AFL Welterweight Title
George Lockhart vs. George Allen - AFL Middleweight Title
Dan Christison vs. Sam Holloway
Junior Assuncao vs. Torrance Taylor
Robi Ramey vs. David Curby
Todd Duffee vs. Steve Banks
Ethan Garrison vs. Willy Smalls

HT: MMA Junkie

ProElite, DREAM Agree to Partnership

Elite Xtreme Combat parent company ProElite and Fight Entertainment Group’s DREAM yesterday announced a working partnership between the two promotions that will help bridge the once-distant gap between Japanese and American mixed martial arts.

The two sides made the official announcement yesterday at a pre-fight press conference for DREAM.3, which took place late last night in Japan. DREAM officials Keiichi Sasahara and Sadaharu Tanikawa were on hand to discuss details about the agreement along with ProElite’s William Kelly and ICON Sport promoter T. Jay Thompson.

“Last year’s Dynamite USA at the Los Angeles Coliseum was the largest attended mixed martial arts event ever in the USA,” Kelly said at the conference. “ProElite is delighted that we will be building on that by sharing fighters and referees and doing co-promotions in Japan and the US, and potentially the UK and Korea also. Japan is important to ProElite, and we have great US television partners, so we can bring DREAM to the American public.”

It’s expected that ProElite will also attempt to put at least one of the co-promoted shows on network television in the form of CBS.

According to MMA Weekly, ProElite contracted fighters that were mentioned as potential DREAM participants in the future at the press conference included Kimbo Slice, Jake Shields, and Robbie Lawler.

EliteXC fighters Nick Diaz, Jason Miller, and Eddie Alvarez all competed at DREAM’s third show yesterday in Japan, unofficially beginning the sharing of assets between the two organizations.

Ford, Gormley Victorious at MFC 16

Canadian welterweight prospect Ryan Ford remains undefeated after submitting Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran C.J. Fernandes with a first-round rear naked choke in the main event of Maximum Fighting Championship’s “Anger Management” show last night in Edmonton, Alberta.

The sold out crowd inside the River Cree Resort and Casino saw Ford swiftly take Fernandes’ just seconds into the fight. Fernandes’ experience played a big part in getting out of the dangerous position as he patently waited until he was able to reverse position and mount Ford on his back.

With the fighters too close to the ropes, the fight was moved back to center where Ford was able to take Fernandes’ back once again. The veteran fought off yet another choke attempt but Ford was eventually able to sink in his hooks and force Fernandes to tap.

The win has earned Ford a shot at the vacant MFC welterweight title at the promotion’s next event on July 25th. His opponent may be fellow undefeated rising star Matt Veach, who used superior wrestling and constant takedowns to hand Matt MacGrath his first professional loss in another featured fight on the card.

The co-main event saw California product Chase Gormley use dirty boxing techniques to keep BodogFight veteran Eric Pele against the cage and unable to mount any offense en route to a lackluster unanimous decision but the biggest win of his young career thus far.

Also victorious on the card was Aron Lofton, who bloodied and eventually submitted previously undefeated local prospect Jason Kuchera.

Complete results from the event:

Evan Sanguin def. Dave Nippard - TKO (Strikes)
Troy Sorenson def. Mike Tubbs - Submission (Rear Naked Choke)
Brandon Curts def. Sean Wright - Submission (Rear Naked Choke)
Mike Sorenson def. Jeremy Martin - Submission (Guillotine)
Gavin Neil def. Ryan McGillivray - Split Decision
Aron Lofton def. Jason Kuchera Submission (Guillotine)
Chris Camozzi def. Dwayne Lewis - Unanimous Decision
Ben Henderson def. Mike Maestas - Submission (Rear Naked Choke)
Matt Veach def. Matt MacGrath - Unanimous Decision
Chase Gormley def. Eric Pele - Unanimous Decision
Ryan Ford def. C.J. Fernandes - Submission (Rear Naked Choke)

Report: Four Prelims Signed for Affliction Show

On the same day that Affliction Clothing makes it’s official entrance into the world of promoting mixed martial arts events, details regarding four signed preliminary bouts for it’s upcoming planned “Banned” show on July 19th at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California have come to light.

The news comes from Sergio Non of USA Today, who confirmed the fights with Affliction VP Tom Atencio.

IFL veteran Savant Young, who recently earned a huge upset win over former Shooto featherweight title contender Takeshi Inoue last weekend, 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.

Atencio also informed Non that Ben Rothwell will indeed fight at the event but an opponent for the Miletich Fighting Systems product has yet to have been determined. Various sources have been reporting that former UFC heavweight champion 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 heavyweight clash between Aleksander Emelianenko and Paul Buentello have also reportedly been sent out to both fighters but have not yet been returned signed.

The potential fight card for the event now looks like this:

Main Card:

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Tim Sylvia
Josh Barnett vs. Pedro Rizzo
Matt Lindland vs. Fabio Negao
Mike Whitehead vs. Renato Sobral
Aleksander Emelianenko vs. Paul Buentello
Ben Rothwell vs. TBA

Preliminary Bouts:

Mark Hominick vs. Savant Young
Justin Levens vs. Ray Lazama
Mike Pyle vs. Brett Cooper
J.J. Ambrose vs. Patrick Speight

Imes Replaces Hinkle at IFL Next Week

NEW YORK - Mixed martial arts veteran Brad Imes (Sacramento, Calif.) will challenge Roy Nelson (Las Vegas) for the heavyweight championship as part of the nine-bout card as the International Fight League returns to the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., on Friday, May 16. Imes replaces Branden Lee Hinkle (Weirton, W. Va.), who was injured in training.

A training injury to Fabricio Camoes of Brazil also necessitated a change in a non-championship lightweight bout. Frank Latina (Middletown, Conn.) will battle John Franchi (Cortland, N.Y.). Jim Miller (Sparta, N.J.), originally slated to face Camoes, withdrew from the bout following the injury to Camoes.

Imes, known as “The Hillbilly Heartthrob,” trains with Miletich Fighting Systems in Iowa. He He has competed in several MMA organizations, and was notably a finalist in the second season of The Ultimate Fighter television series. Imes is 11-4 in his MMA career and will be making his IFL debut. May 16 will also mark the first IFL bouts for Latina (4-1 overall) and Franchi (3-0).

Continue reading "Imes Replaces Hinkle at IFL Next Week"

Rizzo: “I’m Fighting Barnett in July”

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship title contenders Pedro Rizzo and Josh Barnett will most likely collide in a rematch of their February 2001 bout when Affliction Clothing holds it’s first-ever mixed martial arts show on July 19th at a venue yet to be determined.

The news comes from Sherdog.com, which confirmed the fight with Rizzo himself. Barnett informed MMA Weekly on their nightly radio show that a fight with Rizzo was “pretty much a done deal.”

“I knew about this fight for some time, but was hoping to disclose it,” Rizzo said in the report. “I was hoping to face him due to the fact that he is one of the top five heavyweights, a very tough guy. This is my chance to return to the top, and I will seize it the best way.”

Despite inking a new three-fight deal with SUN Sports and Entertainment, the parent company of Art of War in December, the rematch against Barnett will be Rizzo’s first fight this year. The Brazilian has won his last two fights, most recently stopping fellow longtime veteran Jeff Monson with strikes in September of last year.

Barnett was part of the inaugural “Sengoku” show in March, submitting former judo standout Hidehiko Yoshida with a heel hook in the third round. Before then, the former UFC heavyweight champion had not fought since losing a unanimous decision to current UFC champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at PRIDE Shockwave 2006.

The part-time professional wrestler will first try his luck against Monson on May 18th in Japan before going up against Rizzo.

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. A number of other notable fighters are expected to compete on the card as well including Matt Lindland, Mark Hominick, Ben Rothwell, Andrei Arlovski and Aleksander Emelianenko.