Dave Herman

Herman Blasts Frye at Shark Fights 6

Former EliteXC heavyweight standout Dave Herman picked up what was arguably the biggest win of his young career on Saturday night, needing only a minute to dispatch of MMA pioneer Don Frye in the main event of Shark Fights 6 in Amarillo, Texas.

The elder Frye pushed for a takedown early on, but Herman was able to stay on his feet and battered the veteran with a flurry of punches that forced the quick stoppage. The win was the second in a row for Herman while Frye has now fallen in three of his last five appearances.

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Weekend Preview: Arona Returns at Bitetti Combat, Horn Headlines Arena Rumble & More

Former PRIDE Fighting Championships standout Ricardo Arona will return to active competition for the first time in over two years when he takes on fellow veteran Marvin Eastman at Bitetti Combat 4 this Saturday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

It will be the first fight for Arona since losing three out of four bouts under the PRIDE banner, including a brutal knockout at the hands of a streaking Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou at PRIDE 34 in April 2007. Eastman is coming off of a second-round TKO of Aron Lofton at a Maximum Fighting Championship show in May.

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Alvarez Wins, Masvidal Upset at Bellator V

Philadelphia native Eddie Alvarez secured his spot in Bellator Fighting Championships’ first-ever lightweight tournament finals on Friday night, controlling upstart opponent Eric Reynolds for over twelve minutes before submitting him with a rear-naked choke in the third round of their main event attraction.

Strikeforce veteran Jorge Masvidal was expected to meet Alvarez in the finals but will instead be watching the remainder of the tourney as a spectator. Masvidal played down the skills of Toby Imada during the weeks before their semi-final fight, but ended up succumbing to an impressive modified triangle choke in the third round of their fight.

A number of notable veterans were also in action on Bellator’s fifth event. Former EliteXC heavyweight standout Dave Herman picked up a much-needed win over Josh Barnes. Dan Evensen also scored a second-round stoppage of Raoul Romero while fellow UFC veteran Sherman Pendergarst fell to Total Combat product Joey Beltran.

Complete results from the event:

Eddie Alvarez def. Eric Reynolds - Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), R3
Toby Imada def. Jorge Masvidal - Submission (Triangle Choke), R3
Dave Herman def. Josh Barnes - TKO (Strikes), R2
Dan Evensen def. Raoul Romero - TKO (Strikes), R2
Joey Beltran def. Sherman Pendergarst - TKO (Strikes), R1
Justin Edwards def. John Troyer - Submission (Guillotine Choke), R1
Matt Jaggers def. Peter Dominguez - Submission (Choke), R1
Waylon Lowe def. Frank Carabello - Unanimous Decision
Jessica Pene def. Tammie Schneider - TKO (Strikes), R1

Santiago, Kitaoka Win Belts at Sengoku; Gomi Falls Again

Jorge Santiago and Satoru Kitaoka each claimed vacant belts in their respective divisions while former lightweight king Takanori Gomi continued his fall from grace, losing his second straight fight at World Victory Road’s “Sengoku No Ran 2009” event in Japan on Sunday.

Santiago choked former PRIDE Grand Prix winner Kazuo Misaki unconscious in the third round of their fight and picked up his ninth straight win. Kitaoka meanwhile, was victorious in arguably the biggest fight of his career, quickly submitting Gomi with a heel hook just over a minute into the show’s main event.

Complete results from the event:

Jorge Santiago def. Kazuo Misaki - Submission (Rear-Naked Choke)
Satoru Kitaoka def. Takanori Gomi - Submission (Heel Hook)
Sanae Kikuta def. Hidehiko Yoshida - Split Decision
Antonio Silva def. Yoshihiro Nakao - TKO (Injury)
Eiji Mitsuoka def. Sergey Golyaev - Submission (Armbar)
Muhammed Lawal def. Yukiya Naito - TKO (Strikes)
Mu Bae Choi def. Dave Herman - TKO (Strikes)
Maximo Blanco def. Seigo Inoue - KO (Foot Stomps)
Hidetada Irie def. Minoru Kato - TKO (Strikes)

Fighters on the Move: Herman, Russow, Mishima & More

More details are coming out regarding a potential deal struck between promotional newcomer Bellator Fighting Championships and ESPN Deportes to produce a reality show that could air starting in April of next year. In turn, so is a list of fighters that may be involved with the show as well.

According to MMA Junkie, former EliteXC employees Hector Lombard and Dave Herman have both reportedly been sent offers from Bellator regarding their possible inclusion on the show. However talks are only in the preliminary stages.

Japanese-based World Victory Road has also indicated that they would like to use Herman on their “Sengoku VII” show in January. Two fighters that have competed overseas in the past year - Eddie Alvarez and Jorge Masvidal - round out the list of approached fighters known at this time.

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Herman Stops Schall at ShoXC in Indiana

“PEE WEE” STANDS TALL YET AGAIN, PUTS AWAY SCHALL IN AN INDIANA MINUTE IN MAIN EVENT ON SHOXC

HAMMOND, Ind. (Oct. 11, 2008) – Promising, unbeaten heavyweight Dave “Pee Wee’’ Herman of Bloomington, Ind., improved to 12-0 with a 1:06, first-round TKO over Kerry “Meat Truck’’ Schall (21-11) of Cincinnati, Ohio, in the main event Friday on ShoXC: Elite Challenger Series.

Schall got Herman’s attention with a huge overhand right hand approximately a half-minute in.

But the shot only seemed to invigorate and anger Herman, who retaliated with a vengeance. He connected with a series of knees that dropped Schall and then finished off the veteran, who complained afterward about a low blow, with three punches while he was down and defenseless.

“I may have got hit, but I didn’t feel it,’’ said Herman, who improved to 3-0 for EliteXC and 2-0 on Showtime. “I don’t care who I fight next but I hope it is as soon as possible. Actually, I would like to fight on the EliteXC Nov. 8 card on Showtime.’’

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Herman-Schall Headlines Saturday ShoXC

Undefeated heavyweight prospect Dave “Pee Wee” Herman will take on former “Ultimate Fighter” contestant Kerry Schall in a bout that will headline the next edition of ShoXC: Elite Challenger Series, which takes place this Friday night at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana and will be televised live on Showtime.

Additional main card bouts will feature banished ‘TUF’ competitor Jason Guida making his EliteXC debut against Mamed Khalidows and King of the Cage welterweight champion Anthony Lapsley taking on Mike Stumpf.

The complete card for the event is after the jump.

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Evening News and Notes - Sept. 16, 2008

Here’s a little mix of news and notes that we missed over the past few days…

Jackson-Silva III Likely for UFC 91

Amidst lingering rumors that the two were set to rematch later this year, it seems that former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson will reportedly indeed take on longtime PRIDE middleweight title holder Wanderlei Silva at UFC 91 on November 15 according to MMA Junkie.

Sources within the Wolfslair camp, which Jackson recently joined after parting ways with trainer Juanito Ibarra, have said that Jackson has agreed to the fight and has already begun training. Attempts to contact Wolfslair co-owner Anthony McGann for confirmation by MMA on Tap were unsuccessful.

Jackson and Silva have fought on two separate occasions and Silva was victorious in both fighters. Silva stopped Jackson with strikes in the first round of their original meeting at PRIDE Final Conflict 2003 and then scored a second-round knockout of him at PRIDE 28 four years ago.

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Shaw Reveals EliteXC’s Upcoming Event Schedule; Garners Response from Noons

Despite rampant speculation that EliteXC and the multiple promotions owned under parent company ProElite are in potential financial trouble, EliteXC Vice President Jared Shaw is denying the reports, at least when it comes to the home of Kimbo Slice and K.J. Noons.

“EliteXC will not be going on Sept. 20,” Shaw said in a report on MMA Junkie this morning. “I’m the vice president of EliteXC, so I don’t really know all the matters that occur with the Cage Rages or ICONs of the world. But I can tell you that EliteXC is fully functional and fully healthy. Some things happen on a larger scale not necessarily that we’re not privy to, but we’re busy working on other events. For EliteXC we just felt that we needed to clear the runway for a big landing on Oct. 4.”

Those other events Shaw speaks of apparently include four more shows over the next three months, starting with the latest edition of ShoXC: Elite Challenger Series on September 26th, which will be headlined by Wilson Reis taking on Bao Quach for the vacant EliteXC featherweight belt.

“We have a large schedule of mixed martial arts fights coming up,” Shaw said. “We have Sept. 26 in Santa Barbara - our ShoXC featuring that world title fight (between 140-pound fighters Bao Quach and Wilson Reis). Oct. 4 (we’re) on CBS featuring Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano. Oct. 10 on Showtime, ShoXC will feature the heavyweight phenom, Dave Herman. And we will be back on Nov. 8 with another tremendous Showtime show.”

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The “Unfinished Business” Fallout Continues

The negative fallout from EliteXC’s second show on CBS is continuing. Yesterday the UFC and Spike TV blasted the organization for drawing lesser numbers on their network television broadcast than a replay of UFC 84: Ill Will in certain demographics last Saturday night. Gary Shaw and Doug DeLuca’s resignation from ProElite were also announced on Tuesday as well.

One of the things EliteXC heads DeLuca and Jeremy Lappen continually harped on in the weeks leading up to the event was the tremendous ticket sales they were enjoying. DeLuca stated that five days out from the event, they had already sold half of the available tickets and were expecting a sellout.

“We’re definitely well over half sold already,” DeLuca said during a pre-event conference call on July 22. “That was as of the weekend. I know we picked up a full head of steam on Monday. I’m really not too sure where ticket sales are at exactly, but we are fully expecting it to be a complete sell out.”

It turns out that DeLuca fibbed a bit.

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