Wanderlei Silva

UFC Announces Three Fights for “Ill Will”

The Ultimate Fighting Championship today announced three main card fights for UFC 84: Ill Will, which will take place on May 24th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The event will be headlined by a bad blood-filled UFC lightweight title bout that pits current champion B.J. Penn up against former champion Sean Sherk.

Penn claimed the vacant title with a bloody submission win over top contender Joe Stevenson last month at UFC 80: Rapid Fire. Penn has been vehement in his comments towards Sherk, who after successfully defending his belt against Hermes Franca last July, tested positive for steroids under the watch of the California State Athletic Commission and was stripped of his title.

The two exchanged barbs following Penn’s title win in January.

“Hey Sean Sherk, you’re dead,” Penn shouted during his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan.

Sherk, who was cage-side doing color commentary on the bout along with Rogan and UFC play-by-play announcer Mike Goldberg, stormed into the Octagon and picked up a microphone right after Penn made his comment.

“That belt belongs to me,” said Sherk. “You’ve got one more fight before you can be called lightweight champ.”

Former light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz will go up against an undefeated Lyoto Machida in a fight that will likely be Ortiz’s last with the UFC. The bout will be the final one on Ortiz’s current contract with the promotion.

According to Ortiz, he was expecting a rematch against former “Ultimate Fighter” winner Rashad Evans, whom Ortiz battled to a draw with at UFC 73: Stacked last summer in his last fight. Machida has yet to lose inside the confines of the UFC. He was last seen submitting Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou in December.

A showdown between former PRIDE light heavyweight champion Wanderlei Silva and former “Ultimate Fighter” contestant turned upstart contender Keith Jardine will also take place at the event. A bout between the two was rumored for well over a month.

The reasoning behind the bout is pretty much elementary at this point. After the UFC booked Rashad Evans and Ryoto Machida for scheduled bouts at the same event, it became likely that Silva and Jardine would be paired up. Both Silva and Jardine are coming off of fights against former champion Chuck Liddell. Jardine won a unanimous decision over Liddell last September but Silva ended up going the distance with Liddell in December and losing.

The bout will be Silva’s second inside the confines of the UFC since returning to the promotion after a seven-year stint in PRIDE. A win over Silva will move Jardine that much closer to a well-deserved title shot. 

Silva-Jardine Close to Becoming Official

A Las Vegas light heavyweight showdown between former PRIDE light heavyweight champion Wanderlei Silva and former “Ultimate Fighter” contestant turned upstart contender Keith Jardine is close to becoming official for UFC 84 in May.

The news comes from Silva’s official blog, where he stated yesterday that he was “on his way” to sign a bout agreement that would make a fight between himself and Jardine good to go.

A potential bout between the two has been rumored for well over a month. The reasoning behind the bout is pretty much elementary at this point. After the UFC booked Rashad Evans and Ryoto Machida for scheduled bouts at the same event, it became likely that Silva and Jardine would be paired up.

The event, which is slated to take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, is expected to be headlined by a lightweight title fight between B.J. Penn and Sean Sherk. Tito Ortiz will return to action at the event as well against Machida in what might just be Ortiz’s last fight in the UFC.

Both Silva and Jardine are coming off of fights against former champion Chuck Liddell. Jardine won a unanimous decision over Liddell last September but Silva ended up going the distance with Liddell in December and losing.

The bout will be Silva’s second inside the confines of the UFC since returning to the promotion after a seven-year stint in PRIDE. A win over Silva will move Jardine that much closer to a well-deserved title shot.

Touch of gloves to our friends at MMA Junkie for the find.

What’s Happened Lately?

As I’m sure regular visitors to this site have noticed, we haven’t had many updates since Saturday afternoon. A combination of David moving, others not being around, and myself coming down with the flu attributed to that. However fear not as we’re back in business. So here’s us playing catch-up once again, hopefully for the last time in a long time.

UFC 81 Generates Approximately 650,000 Buys

UFC 81: Breaking Point, which featured Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira defeating former two-time champion Tim Sylvia to win the interim UFC heavyweight belt and fellow former heavyweight title holder Frank Mir submitting one-time professional wrestler and WWE superstar Brock Lesnar, generated close to 650,000 PPV buys according to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer.

In my interview at Jarry Park leading up to UFC 81, I mentioned that the UFC would likely be pleased with the amount of buys the event would generate, mostly because of the mainstream popularity of Lesnar from his various ventures in professional sports. It turns out UFC 81 will now rank as the third-highest-grossing event in UFC history.

Future Fights Galore!

A good amount of upcoming fights have been revealed over the past few days. Lightweights Jeremy Stephens and Terry Etim will meet at UFC 84 in May according to MMA Junkie, who confirmed that both fighters have agreed to sign bout agreements. Five Ounces of Pain has learned that Doug Evans has been released from the UFC and has signed on with EliteXC, who will pit him against Wilson Reis in his debut in April.

Gracie Fighter has announced that Nate Diaz has been added to UFC Fight Night 13 on April 2nd, making that an unheard of eleven total fights on that card. MMA Junkie says that he’s expected to face Kurt Pellegrino. Major props are in order to our friends at Fightlinker, who have reportedly successfully petitioned to have Spike TV increase the broadcast time of the event from two hours to three.

Nick Diaz will return to action against Muhsin Corbbrey according to Five Ounces of Pain. Don’t believe what “Babalu” says, Tito Ortiz-Ryoto Machida is still on according to Ed Soares, who serves as Machida’s manager. Chris Fries of TAGG Radio’s Lights Out Show confirmed that the fight was still a go with Soares earlier today.

More Randomness

Wanderlei Silva says that he would consider a drop down to middleweight in order to rematch Dan Henderson. Denis Kang tells The Fight Network that he will participate in DREAM’s middleweight grand prix in April. Gracie Mag has details about the first toxicology report released concerning Ryan Gracie’s death. Paul Buentello tells MMA Weekly that he wants Kimbo Slice.

More on this Silva to Middleweight Nonsense

I’m not even sure how this whole notion got started but I was immediately engaged into conversion about Wanderlei Silva possibly moving down to middleweight the day after he lost a unanimous decision to Chuck Liddell at UFC 79.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. There is no logical reason why Silva should move down to 185 lbs. None.

Sam Caplan has an excellent piece on this whole thing and his take is definitely a must read. He goes on to dispute Jake Rossen’s comments from his column earlier today on Sherdog, which claims that a drop in weight for “The Axe Murderer” is “reasonable”. Not in my opinion.

Why fights against Rashad Evans and Tito Ortiz should be chalked up as automatic losses for Silva is beyond me, especially when Silva has defeated a fighter with a similar style yet more talent than the two in Quinton “Rampage” Jackson on more than one occasion.

So Silva has lost three fights in a row? Are we forgetting that those losses have come against Chuck Liddell and Dan Henderson, two of the top pound-for pound fighters in history, and a guy that isn’t even in Silva’s own weight class in Mirko Cro Cop? I think many people are.

I still don’t understand why Rossen claims that Silva is more physically suited for 185 lbs:

An inflated 205er (and you can read as much subtext into that as you wish), Silva’s frame seems more naturally suited for 185 pounds.

We’re talking about a guy here that walks around close to 230 lbs when he’s not fighting. Can anyone else think of any above-average fighters competing at middleweight that cut that kind of weight? Off the top of my head I can only think of one - Rich Franklin. The automatic thought that a fighter should drop down to a lower weight after suffering a couple of losses in a row is getting to be a little too prevalent these days and is absurd.

There are way too many potential matchups left for Silva in the UFC’s light heavyweight division that he has more than a good chance of winning and that would be fun to watch as well as compelling to fans. Silva is a young 31 and just recently hooked up with Xtreme Couture. The guys there have the ability to change his game dramatically. Who is to say that they won’t?

So let’s review. Should Silva drop down to middleweight? No. Will he drop down to middleweight? According to what he told Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports, no, he won’t:

As soon as Silva said that, though, he smiled. He anticipated the next question would be whether he’d consider a drop to middleweight, where the limit is 185 pounds and the fighters are much more his size.

But he quickly ruled that out.

“That’s way too much weight for me to lose,” Silva said. “I couldn’t do it.”

CKA: Jan 3, 2007

Interested in owning a UFC championship belt like the one above? How about the exact one above? Got $30,000 to spare? Well former UFC heavyweight champ Ricco Rodriguez is selling the title he won from Randy Couture at UFC 39 on eBay in hopes of raising money for a school Rodriguez will be opening down south.

Tim Sylvia calls Fedor a bad word

Former UFC heavyweight champion had some choice words for Fedor Emelianenko during a post-UFC 79 interview with Gary Herman of CBS Sports. When asked about Emelianenko, Sylvia stated that he feels the former PRIDE champ is ducking top competition:

“I think he’s being a (expletive),” said Sylvia. “I think Fedor is very good, but you have to fight the top level competitors all the time to keep that status, and he is just not doing that.”

According to Five Ounces of Pain, the bad word had something to do with a pussy, whatever that is…

WCO Releases Complete Card for “The Return”

The World Cagefighting Organization has released the complete card for WCO: The Return, which is set to take place January 12th at the San Diego Sports Arena.

The event is headlined by a main event between former UFC light heavyweights Renato “Babalu” Sobral and Vernon White and includes many other notable fighters competing as well. The full card is below:

Renato Sobral vs. Vernon White
Ricco Rodriguez vs. Mike Kyle
Mark Kerr vs. Rick Roufus
Jimmy Ambriz vs. Wesley Correira
Joe Riggs vs. Gustavo Machado
Virgil Zwicker vs. David Mejia
Davis Loiseau vs. Leopoldo Serao
Tiki Ghosn vs. J.J. Ambrose
Fabio Costa vs. Carlos Fuentes
Georgi Karakahyan vs. Armando Sanchez
Tony Sylvestor vs. Cain Velasquez

Touch of gloves to MMA Junkie for that find.

Sakara Joins American Top Team

Alessio Sakara has joined the ranks of ATT according to a statement made on the team’s official website:

To start off the new year, American Top Team is pleased to announce UFC fighter Alessio “Legionarius” Sakara has joined our team!

We are excited to have the opportunity to work with Alessio, who is known for his explosive stand up style of fighting. We look forward to working with Alessio and help him improve his overall mma game and take him to the top!

Sakara returns at UFC 80: Rapid Fire later this month when he takes on newcomer James Lee. The fight is expected to be Sakara’s last at 205 lbs as he has expressed plans to move down to the middleweight division following the fight.

Miscellaneous Notes

We will have a brand new MMA on Tap Top 10 posted later today. Our rumors page has been updated. Randy Couture will be hosting a charity poker tournament at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on January 12th. Couture, Jamie Gold, and Dean Cain are all expected to participate. Leland Rolling takes a look at what’s next for Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva. A matchup between Jake Bostwick and John Phillips has been added to Cage Rage 25 according to The Fight Network.

Radio Schedule

12-1 PM EST - TAGG Radio
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

Fightlinker was on BetUS’s radio show yesterday. Also be sure to check out the latest from Jarry Park - He’s Just J-Lau From The Block

UFC 79: Nemesis Medical Suspensions

The Nevada State Athletic Commission has released the official list of medical suspensions stemming from this past weekend’s UFC 79: Nemesis, which took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

The notable potential injury not mentioned on the list involved Nate Mohr, who had to be helped out of the cage after being submitted with an ankle lock by Manny Gamburyan. Various reports have made statements ranging from Mohr’s trainers hearing “a pop” to Mohr having a broken leg. Mohr has been medically suspended anyway until January 20th with no contact allowed until January 13th for precautionary reasons.

Chuck Liddell, Matt Hughes and Tony DeSouza have all been medically suspended until January 29th with no contact permitted until January 20th. Both Hughes and DeSouza have been suspended for precautionary reasons while Liddell has a laceration above his left eye.

James Irvin, who was knocked out by an illegal knee from Luis Cane, has been shelved until February 28th with no contact until January 13th because of precautionary reasons.

Both Wanderlei Silva and Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou have been medically suspended until February 13th with no contact permitted until January 29th because of laceration around their right eyes.

Soa Palelei and Doug Evans received the worst medical suspensions. Palelei has been suspended until June 27th unless a broken nose and broken left orbital bone suffered in his fight with Eddie Sanchez are cleared by an ophthalmologist. Evans has been suspended for the same length of time unless a broken left thumb is cleared by a doctor. If it is, he will still be suspended until February 13th with no contact until January 29th because of an additional cut above his left eye.

RawVegas Interviews Liddell After UFC 79

Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Chuck Liddell discusses his recent win over Wanderlei Silva at UFC 79, his future in the UFC, and the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter with RawVegas.

St. Pierre, Liddell Dominate at “Nemesis”

Georges St. Pierre came closer to cementing his status as the top welterweight in the world when he gave future UFC hall-of-famer Matt Hughes a drubbing over the course of two rounds before submitting his idol with an armbar during the main event of last night’s UFC 79: Nemesis.

Hughes was originally slated to face fellow Ultimate Fighter 6 coach and current welterweight champ Matt Serra but Serra was forced to pull out of the bout after suffering herniated discs in his lower back during training. Hughes was then given a selective list of opponents that agreed to step in and the former nine-time champion picked St. Pierre in an attempt to try and avenge a prior loss to “Rush” at UFC 65 last year.

However it was obvious from the start of the fight that it was only a matter of time before St. Pierre was going to come away with a win. The Canadian took Hughes down at will throughout the first round, mounting his opponent and connecting with a number of unanswered punches while his opponent held on for dear life.

Hughes found his way back to his feet a couple of times but St. Pierre quickly put an end to that with wrestling skills that have made him consider possibly trying out for the Canadian Olympic wrestling squad next year.

The second round started off much like the first and after mounting and taking his opponent’s back, St. Pierre locked in an armbar that caused Hughes’ face to grimace in pain. The Hillsboro, Illinois native then verbally submitted to referee Steve Mazzagatti, ending the fight.

Many fans showed concern when St. Pierre took the fight on short notice as he would only have a little over a month to prepare for the bout. Training wasn’t an excuse for Hughes during a post-fight interview with UFC color commentator Joe Rogan.

“I came in 120 percent,” Hughes said. “I really trained hard for this fight. I brought in some of the best people and we really had a good game plan. Georges is just a better fighter.”

Hughes also acknowledged that he “had some thinking to do” in terms of continuing his career.

With the win, St. Pierre becomes the interim UFC welterweight champion. He will now wait for Serra to fully recover from his injury and the two will unify the belts at some point next year.

Even though he deserved the win with a show of complete domination, St. Pierre refused to consider himself the welterweight champion, as that distinction is held by the last man to defeat St. Pierre inside the Octagon.

“That’s why I’m going to take off this belt,” St. Pierre said after the fight. “Thanks to the UFC for giving me that; it’s a good honor, but the real champion is Matt Serra. Until I get my belt back, I’m not going to consider myself champion. Matt Serra that night beat me fair and square. He was the better man and I made many mistakes and had a lot of issues that night. Next time when I fight him, it might be a different story and people will understand what I’m talking about.”

Continue reading "St. Pierre, Liddell Dominate at “Nemesis”"

UFC 79: Nemesis Live Results

We will be going live at 8:00 PM EST with live results of UFC 79: Nemesis, which is taking place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The event is highlighted by Matt Hughes and Georges St. Pierre battling for the third time in their careers for the interim UFC Welterweight Title and the long-awaited matchup between Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva.

Be sure to leave comments throughout the night.

Live results are shown after the jump. 

Continue reading "UFC 79: Nemesis Live Results"

Liddell Wants to Knock Out Silva

Chuck Liddell discusses his upcoming fight against Wanderlei Silva later tonight at UFC 79: Nemesis including why he needs to prove a point in this fight by knocking his opponent out.