Josh Barnett

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.

Barnett-Monson Signed for Sengoku II

UFC and PRIDE veteran Josh Barnett will fight a familiar face in the form of good friend and part-time training partner Jeff Monson at World Victory Road’s upcoming second “Sengoku” show on May 18th at the at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, Japan.

The organization announced the bout this morning on their official website.

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 fight was a rematch of their Open-Weight Grand Prix bout in September 2006 where Barnett came away with a razor-close, split decision over the Brazilian.

Monson last fought in December, winning a unanimous decision over Hakim Goram at Platinum Fighting Productions “Ring of Fire” event. Barnett served as Monson’s coach for the team vs. team portion of the show.

The Amercian Top Team member is currently scheduled to fight seven days apart in June - Monson is advertised as fighting Mike Russow on June 14th at Adrenaline MMA’s debut show and then again on June 21st at Global Fighting’s upcoming event in Charlotte.

Barnett Slated to Compete at Sengoku II

UFC and PRIDE veteran Josh Barnett will fight for the second time this year at World Victory Road’s upcoming second “Sengoku” show on May 18th at the at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, Japan.

The organization announced Barnett’s participation late last night.

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 fight was a rematch of their Open-Weight Grand Prix bout in September 2006 where Barnett came away with a razor-close, split decision over the Brazilian.

An opponent for Barnett will be announced in the coming weeks.

Repeating History

With Fedor Emelianenko’s summer showdown with Tim Sylvia hopefully all but set in stone, it’s refreshing to see the popular Russian taking on an opponent that is highly ranked in the eyes of just about everyone.

Emelianenko’s last true challenge came against Mirko Filipovic in PRIDE almost three years ago (or against Mark Hunt if you had him ranked high enough) and MMA media and fans alike have spouted constant criticism ever since.

The Fedor-Sylvia matchup brings along with it many potential positives. Along with the fact that one of mixed martial arts’ hypothetical dream bouts is about to be signed, sealed, and delivered, fans longing for a promotion to become a viable alternative to the two Zuffa-owned organizations may finally have a prospect in Affliction Clothing and those working with them.

The rumored roster alone gives them at least an outside chance.

However the appearance of initial success also has the possibility of ending badly for some, possibly for all who were irked at the situation surrounding the world’s top heavyweight. Is it possible that Fedor’s next fight could cause history to repeat itself?

Continue reading "Repeating History"

WVR: Sengoku Quick Results

A full recap of the event will come later today…

Nick Thompson def. Fabricio Monteiro - Unanimous Decision
Ryo Kawamura def. Antonio Neto - Unanimous Decision
Evangelista Santos def. Makoto Takimoto - Submission (Heel Hook)
Kazuyuki Fujita def. Peter Graham - Submission (North-South Choke)
Kazuo Misaki def. Siyar Bahadurzada - Submission (Guillotine)
Takanori Gomi def. Duane Ludwig - TKO (Cut)
Josh Barnett def. Hidehiko Yoshida - Submission (Heel Hook)

“Sengoku” Begins a New Era for MMA in Japan

For those of you in North America, a new era of mixed martial arts will take place over in Japan while you are sleeping Tuesday night. World Victory Road will hold it’s inaugural show titled “Sengoku” Wednesday at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan.

The show will feature a main event between former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett and former Olympian Hidehiko Yoshida. Former PRIDE lightweight champion Takanori Gomi and one-time K-1 kickboxing standout Duane “Bang” Ludwig will clash. Kazuo Misaki will also compete on the card.

A definite mix of former PRIDE veterans and other notable fighters that have competed in various organizations around the world make this event intriguing.

Main Card

As far as the main event goes, both Barnett and Yoshida will be attempting to shake of a good amount of ring rust as neither fighter has competed since PRIDE: Shockwave 2006 on New Year’s Eve two years ago.

Barnett lost a unanimous decision to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in a rematch of their Open-Weight Grand Prix bout at the event. Yoshida was stopped with strikes by heavyweight slugger James Thompson.

While Barnett has been staying in shape thanks to a regular schedule involving professional wrestling appearances and grappling matches, Yoshida is a complete question mark conditioning wise. In reality though, it won’t matter very much in this fight.

Even though the two are former training partners, it shouldn’t be much of a chess match. Look for Barnett to dominate Yoshida and pick up an easy win.

Continue reading "“Sengoku” Begins a New Era for MMA in Japan"

WVR Books Barnett-Yoshida for “Sengoku”

World Victory Road has announced that former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett and Japanese legend Hidehiko Yoshida will meet in the main event of the promotion’s inaugural show titled “Sengoku” on March 5th at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan.

Reports that Yoshida would be facing Roger Gracie and that Barnett was expected to take on Aleksander Emelianenko seemed to be premature. Sherdog is reporting that Gracie will be in attendance at the event but will not be competing. Instead sources have said that the promotion will announce his participation at it’s next event in May, possibly against the winner of Barnett-Yoshida.

Neither fighter has competed since PRIDE: Shockwave 2006 on New Year’s Eve two years ago. Barnett lost a unanimous decision to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in a rematch of their Open-Weight Grand Prix bout in September 2006.

Yoshida was stopped with strikes by heavyweight slugger James Thompson at the event.

CKA: Jan 24, 2008

Good morning bitches! More coverage of last night’s UFC Fight Night to come later on this morning.

Calvancante and Aoki Set to Try Again; Masvidal Added to “Strikeforce At The Dome”

It seems like Gesias Calvancante and Shinya Aoki will finally meet at a K-1 show in Japan in March. American Top Team’s manager Richie Guerrero (who manages Calvancante as well) announced the matchup yesterday during an interview on TAGG Radio.

The two were originally set to face off at Yarennoka! on New Year’s Eve but Calvancante was forced to pull out of the fight after suffering a knee injury during training. The injury occurred on the same knee that he had knee surgery on this past fall.

Guerrero also revealed that lightweight contender Jorge Masvidal will be competing at the “Strikeforce At The Dome” show next month as well. Masvidal does have an opponent but the name was unable to be announced at the time.

Aleksander Expects April Fight With Barnett

Aleksander Emelianenko, who will be fighting in M-1 Global’s first U.S. show in April along with his brother Fedor, expects to take on former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett.

Emelianenko made the announcement via his official website.

Fedor is expected to take on part-time K-1 kickboxer Semmy Schilt but Jeff Monson has also been rumored as a potential opponent. The show will most likely take place right outside of Chicago at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.

Touch of gloves to MMA Junkie for the find.

Frank Edgar Returns at UFC Fight Night 13

I missed it and I’m sure a lot of other people did but apparently UFC play-by-play announcer Mike Goldberg stated that Frankie Edgar would be part of the UFC’s next “Fight Night” in Denver, Colorado in April.

Edgar, who has not lost yet inside of the UFC, still remains undefeated in his professional mixed martial arts career as well. Edgar is coming off of a dominating performance over Spencer Fisher en route to a unanimous decision win at UFC 78.

Props to Combat Hooligans for catching that.

Miscellaneous Notes

BodogFight has released the full card for it’s February 1st event in Las Vegas. The Sun is reporting that Brock Lesnar, win or lose, may be tapped to headline the UFC’s June show in London England due to his overseas popularity because of professional wrestling. Roger Gracie may be fighting Hidehiko Yoshida at Sengoku in March.

Radio Schedule

Radio Schedule

Fightlinker went live with The Low Blow last night, recapping UFC Fight Night 12. Hilarious.

12-1 PM EST - TAGG Radio
2-3 PM EST - The Lights Out Show
3-5 PM EST - The Jordan Breen Show
3-4 PM EST - The Fight Network Radio
9-10 PM EST - MMAWeekly’s Sound Off
11 PM EST - Knockout Radio

Five MMA Things I Want for Christmas

Since it’s Christmas Eve and there’s not a lot of news going on, I thought why not make a list of MMA-related things that I’d like to see next year.

These are in no particular order…

1. Randy Couture vs Fedor Emelianenko - I’m not the only one that wants to see this. EVERYONE wants to see this. It’d be the biggest fight ever. Since Fedor opted to sign with M-1 Global instead of the UFC, we are going to have to wait until at least October to learn whether or not Couture’s contract with the UFC is really finished or that’s he going to have to fight twice more in order to finally get out.

Hopefully what Couture says holds true. If not, Dana and company have to work out some kind of working partnership with M-1, at least for the sake of the fans if nothing else.

2. The return of Evan Tanner - Now that Tanner has officially signed a new four-fight deal with the UFC, it’s only a matter of time before he is finally set to step back into the Octagon. I’m not doubting that it’s going to happen by wishing for it. I just want to finally see it take place.

The guy has battled some personal demons over the past two years and I’m sure that the majority of MMA fans would like nothing more than to see Tanner achieve his dream of fighting again in the UFC. On top of that, Tanner says he has the goods to knock off Anderson Silva. Ask anyone to make a list of fighters that could beat Silva and you’ll see Tanner on there almost every time.

3. Floyd Mayweather in MMA - After months and months of putting MMA down and then deciding that he might want to try it, it’s time to put up or shut up for boxing’s best pound for pound fighter. If he fights under Mark Cuban’s HDNet Fights banner, money won’t even be an issue. If Mayweather does go into MMA, I think that he’ll try to spin it for all it’s worth. Based on the fact that he has zero experience, the athletic commission is going to force the matchmakers to put Floyd up against another fighter that has not fought professionally and has very little amateur experience, most likely a guy that Mayweather could knock out in the first round.

It’ll probably be an exhibition bout too. After that Mayweather will declare that boxing is superior to MMA and will never step into a cage again. Then a slew of professional MMA fighters will call him out and he’ll try to explain that he has no reason to go back and fight again in MMA. Still, it’ll definitely be fun to watch.

4. Josh Barnett and Takanori Gomi to sign somewhere - Ever since the demise of PRIDE, these two have been nowhere to be found. While Barnett kept some of the spotlight on him in 2007 with his war of words with Dana White and his submission grappling match a few days ago, he still hasn’t fought in an MMA bout since losing to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira nearly one year ago.

Gomi’s loss changed to a no contest against Nick Diaz was the former PRIDE Lightweight Champ’s only bout in ‘07. Since then, he’s been competely silent. These two are among the elite in their respective weight classes and aren’t getting any younger. It’s time to sign somewhere and get fighting again.

5. The UFC video game to come out in ‘08 - Yes, I know that it’s slated for a 2009 release but it could be finished early, right? It was UFC Throwdown’s release in 2002 that got me into the world of MMA. We haven’t had a new game since Sudden Impact in ‘04. The trailer for THQ’s new project looks amazing and I can’t wait. While I’m at it, Sam Caplan has a great article on UFC: Throwdown and what he hopes THQ will include in the new game coming out.

Gracie, Shamrock, Barnett and Chivichyan to Coach in Upstart Promotion

MMAWeekly is reporting that a new MMA promotion has surfaced in Las Vegas which plans on utilizing the team format with MMA legends as the coaches.

Platinum Fighting Productions has named the event Ring of Fire and announced that the coaches will be Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, Josh Barnett and Gokor Chivichyan.

Team Gracie

Cleber Luciano (1-2)
Jorge Patino (20-10-1)
Daniel Sarafian (1-0)
John Marsh (7-6)
Katrine Alendal (0-1)

Team Shamrock

Evan Dunham (4-0)
Kyacey Uscola (13-10)
Mike Whitehead (19-5)
Ricco Rodriguez (26-7)
Tonya Evinger (4-3)

Team Barnett

Koji Oishi (15-7-4)
Yuki Kondo (47-20-6)
Renato Sobral (28-7)
Jeff Monson (23-7)
Ginele Marquez (5-7-1)

Team Chivichyan

Karen Darabedyan (2-0)
August Wallen (2-1)
Rodney Faverus (24-13-3)
Hakim Goram (3-1)
Amanda Buckner (10-4-1)

The debut event titled Ring of Fire: Manila is scheduled to take place Dec. 9 at Araneta Stadium in the Philippines. Each team will battle in four events set to take place in the Philippines, Macau, Japan and China. The two best teams will then battle in the Ring of Fire finals in December 2008.

Ring of Fire: Manila
Dec. 9, 2007
Team Barnett vs. Team Chivichyan

Koji Oshi vs. Karen Darabdeyan
Yuki Kondo vs. August Wallen
Renato Sobral vs. Rodney Faverus
Jeff Monson vs. Hakim Gouram
Ginele Marquez vs. Amanda Buckner
Zach Light vs. TBA