Amir Sadollah

Fight Announcements: Leben to Return Against Rosholt, Sadollah-Hendricks Likely & More

Here are your fight announcements for the morning of April 7, 2009.

Chris Leben will reportedly return from a nine-month suspension for a positive steroids test when he takes on former collegiate standout wrestler Jake Rosholt at UFC 102, which is slated for August 29 in Portland, Oregon. Leben dropped a unanimous decision to Michael Bisping in his last fight at UFC 89. Rosholt recently fell victim to a quick first-round submission by Dan Miller in his UFC debut at UFC Fight Night 17. [MMA Junkie]

“Ultimate Fighter 7” winner Amir Sadollah will likely fight for the first time in over a year against Team Takedown member Johny Hendricks at UFC 101 on August 8 in Philadelphia. Sadollah announced his participation at the event during last week’s season premiere of “The Ultimate Fighter 9” and is said to have verbally agreed to a fight with Hendricks. Bout agreements are expected to be signed in the coming days. [Five Ounces of Pain]

A welterweight bout between rising prospects Tamdan McCrory and John Howard is currently in talks to occur at UFC 101 in August. McCrory recently bounced back from a dissappointing submission loss to skilled grappler Dustin Hazelett at UFC 91 to defeat UFC newcomer Ryan Madigan at UFC 96 on short notice. Meanwhile Howard picked up his first UFC win via a unanimous decision over Team Quest product Chris Wilson at UFC 94 in January. [MMA Mania]

UFC Headed to Tampa for February “Fight Night”

The Ultimate Fighting Championship will reportedly be headed to Florida once again for another “UFC Fight Night” card, which is currently slated to take place on February 7 at the USF Sun Dome on the campus of the University of South Florida in Tampa Bay.

Various fighters and officials involved with the event have confirmed the UFC’s choice over the last few days. The organization is expected to formally announce the show at the end of this week with ticket sales likely beginning as soon as this coming weekend.

MMA on Tap has confirmed that the event will be headlined by a pair of co-main events: Former UFC lightweight title challenge Hermes Franca will try to win his second straight fight against “Ultimate Fighter” season six cast member Joe Lauzon and the winner of the aforementioned reality show, Mac Danzig, will face Josh Neer.

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Sadollah Issues Statement Regarding UFC 91 Withdrawal

“Ultimate Fighter 7” winner Amir Sadollah has posted a statement on his official website regarding his withdrawal from his scheduled bout against Nick Catone on the main card of this weekend’s UFC 91 event due to injury:

To all my fans,

I really appreciate all the support you have sent my way and I am so sorry I am not able to fight this weekend. I trained harder for this than any other fight in my life and I was looking forward to this more than you know.

It started on Friday with a small mark on my leg. I immediately went to the doctor and he gave me medication and told me if it got worse to go to the hospital. Well, it got worse and on Sunday I went in and have been here ever since. I am hoping they will discharge me by Thursday.

Continue reading "Sadollah Issues Statement Regarding UFC 91 Withdrawal"

Sadollah-Catone Removed From UFC 91 Card

The Ultimate Fighting Championship announced today that “Ultimate Fighter 7” winner Amir Sadollah has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled bout against newcomer Nick Catone at this weekend’s UFC 91 event due to a leg infection.

The UFC attempted, but was unable to secure a replacement opponent for Catone, meaning that the fight has been removed from the fight card completely. A welterweight contenders bout between Dustin Hazelett and Tamdan McCrory has been moved up to the televised pay-per-view portion of UFC 91.

Report: Sadollah Could Face Catone at UFC 91

Amir Sadollah, the middleweight winner of the seventh season of “The Ultimate Fighter”, could reportedly take on USKBA middleweight champion Nick Catone in a featured bout at UFC 91 in Las Vegas on November 15 according to Five Ounces of Pain.

Sam Caplan states that bout agreements have not yet been signed but the fight could be finalized as soon as next week, citing two independent sources. Sadollah announced that he will likely fight at the event to those in attendance at Combat Sports Challenge 26 last weekend.

Although he came into the “TUF 7” house with no professional experience, Sadollah blasted through two of his housemates before submitting highly touted prospect C.B. Dollaway once during an exhibition on the show and then again in his first pro bout at The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale in June.

Catone remains undefeated thus far in his professional career, winning his first five bouts. He has also scored three straight first-round TKO wins, most recently beating Eric Tavares at Ring of Combat 20 in June.

Sadollah Likely to Return at UFC 91

Amir Sadollah, the middleweight winner of the seventh season of “The Ultimate Fighter” announced yesterday that he expects to return to action at UFC 91, which will take place at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon on November 15.

Sadollah announced that he will likely fight at the event to those in attendance last night at Combat Sports Challenge 26 in Colonial Heights, Virginia according to Sam Caplain of Five Ounces of Pain. Sadollah also added that he expects the UFC to inform him of his opponent shortly.

Although he came into the “TUF 7” house with no professional experience, Sadollah blasted through two of his housemates before submitting highly touted prospect C.B. Dollaway once during an exhibition on the show and then again in his first pro bout at The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale in June after finalist Jesse Taylor was temporarily kicked out of the UFC.

Following the conclusion of the show, Sadollah began training at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas along with Forrest Griffin, who served as Sadollah’s coach on the series.

TUF 7: Finale Live Results

Results from The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale:
Rob Kimmons def. Rob Yundt - Submission (Guillotine Choke)
Dean Lister def. Jeremy Horn - Submission (Guillotine Choke)
Matt Brown def. Matt Arroyo - TKO
Drew McFedries def. Marvin Eastman - TKO
Tim Credeur vs. Cale Yarbrough - Cancelled
Dustin Hazelett def. Josh Burkman - Submission (Armbar)
Matt Riddle def. Dante Rivera - Unanimous Decision
Spencer Fisher def. Jeremy Stephens - Unanimous Decision
Diego Sanchez def. Luigi Fioravanti - TKO
Amir Sadollah def. CB Dollaway - Submission (Armbar)
Kendall Grove def. Evan Tanner - Split Decision

Mini-commentary:
- Dollaway protested his loss, suggesting he didn’t tap out.  It did appear that he tapped once.  It resulted in a good-looking hanging armbar from Sadollah.
- Tanner could not solve Grove’s size.  He walked into a few punches, and looked surprised by the reach of Grove’s legs.  Tanner had a good third round, but nothing that compared to the first two, which easily went to Grove.  The split decision result was curious.

Live commentary:
Yahoo!
MMA Weekly
Bloody Elbow
Sherdog

Sadollah-Dollaway II Completes “TUF Finale” Lineup

Last night’s episode of “The Ultimate Fighter” showed us that everything isn’t always set in stone, especially when it comes to who will be fighting to become this season’s winner.

After Amir Sadollah pulled off a third-round upset of highly touted wrestler C.B. Dollaway, he was set to join Jesse Taylor in the finals of the reality show’s middleweight bracket for this season. However when a few of the fighters opted to stay in Las Vegas following the filming of the show, Taylor’s infamous drunken escapades continued.

Taylor smashed a limousine window, upset guests at Palace Station, a casino owned by UFC co-owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, and then gave security all they could handle on the fighter’s final night in Sin City. UFC President Dana White had seen enough and ultimately decided to kick Taylor off of the show, additionally asking Dollaway and fellow semi-finalist Tim Credeur to fight in another exhibition bout to decide who would go on to fight Sadollah in the finals.

Dollaway used his wrestling skills to earn a hard-fought unanimous decision over Credeur, moving on to rematch Sadollah this Saturday night. This season’s finale will see the fewest amount of ‘TUF’ cast members in history - only seven from this season will be on the card. The remainder will have a slew of UFC veterans complete a stacked undercard.

The show will also feature a welterweight battle between Diego Sanchez and American Top Team product Luigi Fioravanti. Former UFC middleweight champion Evan Tanner will collide with Kendall Grove, the middleweight winner of the show’s third season, in the night’s main event.

The complete card for the event is as follows:

Main Card:

Evan Tanner vs. Kendall Grove
Diego Sanchez vs. Luigi Fioravanti
Amir Sadollah vs. C.B. Dollaway
Spencer Fisher vs. Jeremy Stephens
Matt Riddle vs. Dante Rivera

Preliminary Bouts:

Josh Burkman vs. Dustin Hazelett
Marvin Eastman vs. Drew McFedries
Dean Lister vs. Jeremy Horn
Tim Credeur vs. Cale Yarbrough
Rob Yundt vs. Rob Kimmons
Matt Arroyo vs. Matt Brown