Pat Miletich

Miletich Interested in Fighting Again

The trend where athletes call it a career once they get close to the age of 40 is slowly but surely coming to an end.

Now 38, Pat Miletich tells Steve Sievert of The Houston Chronicle that he might not be done just yet.

“I’ve had some offers to fight,” he said. “I’m considering it. I think a rematch with Renzo Gracie would be great, or a fight with Frank Shamrock. Frank’s somebody I’d thoroughly enjoy fighting.”

While I don’t think Miletich would fare very well in a fight against Shamrock, a rematch with Gracie would definitely be interesting, especially since he was doing well until he got caught in a guillotine choke only three and a half minutes into their fight in 2006.

CKA: Dec 28, 2007

Above is an official preview video for UFC 79 courtesy of the UFC as well as a preview for tonight’s UFC All-Access with Wanderlei Silva.

News and Notes

-White Chocolate Management has filed a lawsuit against UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and his manager, Juanito Ibarra because of a breach of contract the two had with the company.

According to Sherdog, WCM was forced to file a lawsuit after Ibarra went out of his way to block all incoming transactions and deals offered to Jackson:

WCM President Reed Wallace is asking for $10,000,000 in damages after being “forced into filing the lawsuit by Rampage’s manager Juanito Ibarra, who ‘bad mouthed’” WCM, according to a news release issued by the plaintiff on Thursday.

Wallace said that while the fighter remained friendly, the champion’s manager has “rejected or blocked all transactions and deals offered to Rampage from WCM. Ibarra then went behind WCM and contacted or had his agent contact those very same parties that WCM brought to the table.”

- The mother of UFC middleweight Drew McFedries was found dead in a Davenport, Iowa alleyway according to a report by The Quad-City Times:

The woman who was found dead in an alley in Davenport was the victim of a homicide, an autopsy revealed, though police are not saying exactly how. Agnes McFedries-Kennedy, 51, was found Saturday evening lying in the alley in the 1800 block between West 7th and West 8th streets. A couple returning to a residence near the scene discovered the body.

All of us at MMA on Tap would like to send our condolences to Drew and his family.

- Every long-time MMA fan loves to read about past adventures involving Lee Murray. Here’s Pat Miletich’s account of the infamous street fight between Murray and Tito Ortiz through the words of Matt Hughes via his new book.

Ever wonder why a lot of people don’t like Hughes? Be sure to check this out.

Touch of gloves to Fight Opinion for both of the finds.

- Din Thomas expects to return to action in March according to a recent interview with The Fight Network.

- Jarry Park has a preview of all of the New Year’s Eve MMA events going on.

Radio Schedule

If you haven’t already, be sure to listen to the Christmas radio specials that are out right now - Fightlinker, MMA News, Fight Opinion

12-1 PM EST - TAGG Radio
3-5 PM EST - The Savage Dog Show
3-5 PM EST - The Beatdown
3-4 PM EST - The Fight Network Radio
9-10 PM EST - MMAWeekly’s Sound Off
11 PM EST - Knockout Radio

ESPN Profiles Miletich Fighting Systems

Miletich Fighting Systems was profiled last night on ESPN’s newest program, E:60. The segment reviewed a normal day at Pat Miletich’s gym in Bettendorf, Iowa and showed certain fighters getting ready to compete in the IFL.

CKA: Sep 18, 2007

News and Notes

- MMA Junkie is reporting a lot of news lately…

The UFC has apparently signed former PRIDE, Shooto, and Pancrase veteran Akihiro Gono and has sent UFC welterweight Tamdan McCrory a contract proposing the fight according to McCrory’s manager:

“He’ll (be at) UFC 78 if he accepts the fight, which I assume he will considering he has fought top guys his whole career,” Ciotoli.

”(The UFC’s been) trying to get me on that card, being that I’m from the area and have a strong fan base in New Jersey,” McCrory told us last month.

Marvin Eastman has been forced to pull out of his scheduled bout against Demian Maia at UFC 77 after undergoing eye surgery:

“I had a weak spot on my retina for a long time, and about two weeks ago, it tore a little bit,” Eastman said. “It felt like sleepy eye. I went in to check it out last Wednesday at 3:30 p.m., and I was in surgery by 7. It’s fixed now, and I’ve got to chill a month and can’t fight until November.“

No word as of yet on a replacement opponent for Eastman.

Chris Lytle may be heading over to the WEC for a possible title shot against WEC Welterweight Champion Carlos Condit:

MMA fan favorite and “The Ultimate Fighter 4” welterweight runner-up Chris Lytle may be leaving the UFC for Zuffa LLC’s other fight promotion — the WEC — and may be in line for an immediate title shot.

In fact, a source close to current WEC welterweight champion Carlos Condit (21-4) first contacted MMAjunkie.com about the possibility, saying UFC and WEC officials were discussing the potential title fight. However, the WEC recently folded a proposed November event into its Dec. 12 fight card, and as of now, the organization has far more fighters than it has fight slots.

A reliable source tell us that a Condit-Lytle fight would happen no sooner than February 2008 — if then — because of the backlog.

- Brazilian MMA website Tatame is reporting that former PRIDE star Ricardo Arona may currently be in contract talks with the UFC.

Hat tip to UFC Mania for the Arona link.

- So Matt Hamill has a torn ACL? He also fought Michael Bisping with that torn ACL? Read what Adam Morgan and 411Mania have to say about that.

- It seems that the UFC has took down UFC Takedown:

Late last week, Matt Cava of UFCtakedown.com was issued a Cease and Desist by Zuffa, LLC. He has been told to remove his website. They specifically nailed him for using UFC in his URL as well as broadcasting illegal fight videos. September 8th’s UFC 75: Champion v. Champion videos as well as a fight between Ricardo Arona and Quinton Jackson were specifically mentioned. As of today, UFCtakedown.com no longer exists. In the meantime, Matt has been able to secure MMAtakedown.net for the time being.

- Brigham Young University has banned Versus from the school’s channel selection, citing costs and the broadcasting of MMA as the reasons:

BYU has banned access to Versus on its campus cable, citing cost and content issues such as ultimate fighting.

Touch of gloves to Fight Opinion for that one.

Radio Schedule:

Luke Thomas, Sam Caplan, and Matt Cava recap EliteXC: Uprising and preview UFC 76.

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

Media Links

Sherdog: Tale of Two Coaches
MMA Weekly: Catching up with Matt Lindland
Fight Opinion: Pro Elite pays big for KOTC & Cage Rage
Fightlinker: Kang forsakes America, may secretly be a communist
Bloody Elbow: How to Build a MMA Cage?
Houston Chronicle: Fitch gets his shot at UFC’s main stage
Daily Star: Dancing Iceman’s Hot Move
Chicago Sports: Keeping up with Montini’s Chase Beebe

EliteXC: Uprising Conference Call Notes

Showtime hosted a conference call earlier this afternoon in preparation for the upcoming EliteXC: Uprising event scheduled to take place on September 15th in Honolulu, Hawaii. The fighters featured on the call were ICON Middleweight Champion Robbie Lawler, EliteXC Middleweight Champion Murlio Rua through the use of an interpreter, Jake Shields, and Gina Carano. Other officials participating in the call were EliteXC President Gary Shaw and ICON Sport President T. Jay Thompson.

Continue reading "EliteXC: Uprising Conference Call Notes"

Hughes and Lawler Set to Leave MFS

Former UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes and current ICON Sport Middleweight Champion Robbie Lawler are set to leave Miletich Fighting Systems in Iowa to start their own gym in Granite City, Illinois.

MFS founder Pat Miletich confirmed the news on The Fight Network’s radio show earlier today.

“Matt’s been with me for almost a decade,” said Miletich on Fight Network Radio today. “We’ve had a lot of great years together. This is a natural progression for guys to eventually go out on their own.”

“I’m sure he’s had a lot of offers to do something like this and he got one close to home,” said Miletich. “I know it’s been tough on him driving up to Iowa all these years, spending the week up here and going home on weekends year after year.”

The gym will be named H.I.T (Hughes Intensive Training) and will officially open to the public in January of next year. Matt Pena and Rob Fiore are said to be two of the members of the gym’s staff. Various reports also have TUF 5 alumnus Corey Hill switching gyms to train with Hughes and Lawler as well.

Pat Miletich Talks IFL Finals

Pat Miletich, coach of the Silverbacks, talks about the IFL Finals, along with steroids and the UFC, with a shot at Dana White tossed in.

Markham Out of IFL Finals With Hand Injury

Rory Markham will be unable to compete for the defending champion Quad City Silverbacks due to a hand injury suffered in his recent TKO win over Chris Clements on August 2.

Markham was slated to take on Delson Heleno of the New York Pitbulls. Silverbacks’ head coach Pat Miletich has stated that he has not yet found a replacement to complete for Quad City at welterweight.

IFL Conference Call Notes July 18, 2007

Today the IFL held a national media conference call promoting their upcoming IFL: Semifinals show which is scheduled for August 2nd at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, NJ.

Present for the conference call was Kurt Otto, Pat Miletich, and Shawn Tompkins.

Summary of the conference:

• Next Wednesday the IFL will be announcing who will be competing in the Grand Prix. It will consist of the top four guys in each weight class and they will be competing for a belt. The IFL also plans on revealing the belt next Wednesday.

• The Grand Prix will consist of two different events and they are still currently trying to finalize where the two shows will be. They hop to have it finalized by Wednesday.

• When asked if the IFL has considered streaming upcoming shows on the internet or PPV, Otto said, “The IFL has always promised free MMA and at this point we feel that in order for us to do a pay-per-view we better have a very good reason to do it or offer something a little bit different then we already offer now in order to justify doing a pay-per-view.”

• Chris Horodecki and Jay Heiron are off the card because of injuries. Horodecki suffered a broken in his fight with Shad Lierley and replacing him will be Adam Disabato. Heiron’s injury was a recent one which occurred while he was grappling. His replacement will be TKO veteran Chris Clements.

• Ryan McGivern will not be fighting August 2nd due to a personal commitment. Miletich said “Ryan McGivern’s injuries stem from basically having to get married.” The wedding was already planned and paid for so McGivern had to bow out but he gave Miletich plenty of notice. Miletich wanted to replace McGivern with Lawler but was unable to as Lawler suffered a shoulder injury while helping Matt Hughes on TUF.

• When asked about how he feels to have Rory Markham back, Miletich said, “It obviously helps, he is one of our A guys. Rory’s fire and passion for fighting definitely is contagious so it’s definitely going to make a difference as it always has. Win or Lose, Rory goes out and people stand on their feet. That’s just the way he does things. It’s pretty amazing and rare when you find guys like that - a Horodecki, a Markham. Guys who will just go out and unleash and throw down with people because that’s what they love to do - they have a warriors heart, they’re not afraid to get hit, they’re not afraid to trade and throw bombs so you know that sort of mentality is contagious when you have guys like that, that fight in the manor, mentality and warrior spirit that they do.”

•Gerald Harris will be joining the Silverbacks to face Benji Radach.

• The IFL still pays injured fighters for training and preparing for fights but they don’t get individual/team win bonuses.

• The preliminary bouts will feature Mike Dolce vs. Nissim Levy and Dante Rivera vs. Lyman Good.

• Otto stated that there was a good possibility that Chris Horodecki and Bart Palaszewski would meet in the Grand Prix.

“60 Minutes” to Air Report on MMA

The IFL has announced that CBS’ “60 Minutes” will air a segment on mixed martial arts, featuring IFL coaches Pat Miletich and Renzo Gracie.

CBS’ “60 Minutes” will air a segment on the growing popularity of mixed martial arts, featuring IFL coaches and MMA legends Pat Miletich and Renzo Gracie this Sunday, December 10th at 7 p.m. EST.

The segment, done by “60 Minutes” reporter Scott Pelley, takes an in-depth look at the nuances of MMA and why it has become the fighting sport of choice for America and the world.