Tim Boetsch

UFC 96: Jackson vs. Jardine Live Results

We will be going live at 8:00 PM ET with live results of UFC 96: Jackson vs. Jardine, which takes place at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The card will be broadcast live on pay-per-view starting at 10:00 PM ET.

The event is headlined by light heavyweight contenders bout between former champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and “Ultimate Fighter” alumnus Keith Jardine. A heavyweight clash between undefeated prospect Shane Carwin and former title challenger Gabriel Gonzaga will serve as the co-main event.

Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments throughout the afternoon and evening. Detailed live results are after the jump.

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UFC 88 Suspensions and Salaries

The Georgia Athletic and Entertainment Commission has released the official lists of medical suspensions and fighter salaries stemming from this past weekend’s UFC 88: Breakthrough event, which took place at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.

Rashad Evans scored a brutal second-round knockout of former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell in the show’s main event. Former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin and former PRIDE title holder Dan Henderson were also victorious in their respective bouts.

In terms of the fighter salaries, remember that this is only the base salary that a fighter received. Bonuses, deductions, and other undisclosed fees are not included.

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UFC 88: Breakthrough Weigh-In Results

The official weigh-in results for tomorrow night’s UFC 88: Breakthrough, which takes place at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, are below. All fighters successfully made weight.

The show is headlined by former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell going up against undefeated contender Rashad Evans. Former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin will also be moving back up to the 205 lb. weight class to take on former standout collegiate wrestler and one-time training partner Matt Hamill in the co-main event.

Main Card:

Chuck Liddell (204 lbs) vs. Rashad Evans (205 lbs)
Rich Franklin (204.5 lbs) vs. Matt Hamill (205 lbs)
Dan Henderson (185 lbs) vs. Rousimar Palhares (184.5 lbs)
Nate Marquardt (185 lbs) vs. Martin Kampmann (184.5 lbs)
Dong-Hyun Kim (170 lbs) vs. Matt Brown (170 lbs)

Preliminary Bouts:

Kurt Pellegrino (156 lbs) vs. Thiago Tavares (155 lbs)
Tim Boetsch (205 lbs) vs. Mike Patt (205 lbs)
Jason MacDonald (185 lbs) vs. Jason Lambert (185 lbs)
Ryo Chonan (170 lbs) vs. Roan Carneiro (170 lbs)

Reports: MacDonald to Replace Day at UFC 88

Jason Day has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled middleweight bout against Jason Lambert at UFC 88 after suffering an arm injury during a recent training session. He will reportedly be replaced by fellow Canadian veteran Jason MacDonald according to Sherdog.com.

Day suffered an elbow and biceps injury that will keep him out of action for an indefinite period of time states MMA Weekly. He is scheduled to have an MRI on his arm in the coming days, which is expected to give him a time-frame for his recovery.

Following his disappointing submission loss to Demian Maia at UFC 87 last month, MacDonald will be stepping in to face Lambert, who will be making his middleweight debut at the event, on short notice with a little less than three weeks of training time.

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Pellegrino-Tavares Added to UFC 88

A lightweight bout between former divisional contenders and skilled grapplers Kurt Pellegrino and Thiago Tavares has been announced along with an additional preliminary fights for the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s September venture into Atlanta, Georgia.

The organization confirmed the bouts earlier today.

Pellegrino is coming off of a devastating submission loss to “Ultimate Fighter 5” winner Nate Diaz at UFC Fight Night 13 in a bout that Pellegrino dominated up until the second round. Tavares established himself a dangerous lightweight contender following a surprising submission win over Jason Black last year but has since lost two out of his last three bouts. Most recently, Tavares was knocked out by Matt Wiman at UFC 85: Bedlam last month.

The other previously rumored bouts announced today included Ryo Chonan vs. Roan Carneiro, Dong-Hyun Kim vs. Matt Brown, and Tim Boetsch vs. James Lee.

Florian Stops Lauzon in Denver

The ‘Battle of Boston’ went in Kenny Florian’s favor last night as he relentlessly pressured fellow Massachusetts native Joe Lauzon before ultimately stopping his foe with an onslaught of unanswered strikes during the latest edition of UFC Fight Night at the at the Broomfield Events Center in Denver, Colorado.

What originally was booked as a friendly matchup between two lightweight contenders slowly evolved into a heated exchange of pre-fight trash talking. The tension between the two was evident from the start of the fight as an intense staredown changed into a quick exchange of punches.

Lauzon quickly down Florian down in the first minute. An unorthodox attempt by Florian to use elbows from the bottom was foiled by referee Herb Dean after one of the blows cut the back of Lauzon’s head open. Florian then used solid submission defense to escape knee bar and heel hook attempts before eventually closing out the round delivering strikes from the top position.

Florian turned up the heat at the start of the second round. A swift body kick led to Florian scoring a takedown and transitioning to half-guard. The veteran of the inaugural season of “The Ultimate Fighter” then rained down unanswered punches and elbows on Lauzon for nearly two full minutes. Despite a good job of covering up and limiting damage, Dean decided that Lauzon had enough, moving Florian even closer to another shot at the lightweight title that was once in his reach.

“Joe’s a great competitor and I knew it was gonna be a tough fight,” Florian said after the bout. “That’s what I wanted.”

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Let’s Play Catch-Up

A wealth of news and events have developed over the four days that we were sidelined due to those damn server gremlins. Here’s a little recap of everything that has gone on since then. The majority of the news is displayed after the jump.

Frye-Taktarov Booked for YAMMA Pit Fighting

Longtime mixed martial arts veterans Don Frye and Oleg Taktarov will headline the main event at YAMMA Pit Fighting’s inaugural show, which is slated to take place at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, NJ on April 11th.

Frye revealed the news during his weekly appearance on TAGG Radio.

“I hope (YAMMA) made the announcement because I just signed to fight Oleg Taktarov,” Frye said.

Quote courtesy of MMA Junkie.

EliteXC Reveals Complete Card for “Street Certified”

Elite Xtreme Combat has announced the complete card for their upcoming “Street Certified” event, which will take place this Saturday night at the University of Miami’s BankUnited Center. The event will be airing on Showtime.

The full card is below:

Main Card:

Tank Abbott vs. Kimbo Slice
Ricco Rodriguez vs. Antonio Silva
Kyle Noke vs. Scott Smith
Yves Edwards vs. Edson Berto
Brett Roges vs. James Thompson

Preliminary Fights:

Rafael Feijao vs. John Doyle
Jon Kirk vs. Yosmany Cabezas
Dave Herman vs. Mario Rinaldi
Eric Bradley vs. Mikey Gomez
Mike Berhard vs. Lorenzo Borgameo

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UFC 81: Breaking Point Thoughts and Notes

Some thoughts and notes from this past weekend’s UFC 81: Breaking Point.

I was right and wrong

I did pretty well in the predictions department. I knew going into the fight that Tim Sylvia was going to give Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira fits and that’s exactly what happened. However Nogueira has been tough to finish off all throughout his career and this fight didn’t turn out to be any different. No shame in losing for Sylvia. He hung in there with one of the best heavyweights in history.

I had a feeling that if Brock Lesnar was going to be submitted, it might have been by way of a leg lock/kneebar. Wrestlers always have been notorious for being too stationary with their legs while posturing up and working some ground and pound although a lot of fighters don’t really take advantage of it. It just goes to show how intelligent of a ground specialist Frank Mir is to keep his composure while getting pounded and still be able to pull off a smart move.

The only fight I took issue with was Rob Emerson’s split decision over Keita Nakamura. I actually thought that the fight was dead even at the end. I thought that Nakamura won the third round convincingly and that the first round was even.

More thoughts on the fights

Marvin Eastman surprised me while Tim Boetsch did not. While Eastman’s fight against Terry Martin wasn’t necessarily the most exciting, I was a tad happy to see that Eastman was able to take some power shots and still stay on his feet. Boetsch did exactly what I thought he would do against an average fighter in my opinion in David Heath.

Ricardo Almeida, Tyson Griffin, and Chris Lytle all did what I thought they would do. I talked to someone after the event who truly thought that Tibau beat Griffin, which is absurd. I wasn’t expecting that quick of a stoppage from Lytle but a stoppage win nonetheless. What’s going on with Jeremy Horn? I’ll have a piece on him up later today.

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A Tale of Two Comebacks: Nogueira, Mir Survive

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira became the first mixed martial artist in history to hold championship gold inside the confines of both the Ultimate Fighting Championship and the PRIDE Fighting Championships as he submitted former two-time champion Tim Sylvia to win the interim UFC heavyweight belt at last night’s UFC 81: Breaking Point.

The 10,583 inside the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas saw an eventful first round where Sylvia shook off a right hand flush to his face to knock Nogueira down with a right of his own. Sylvia pounced on Nogueira but was unable to finish him off. The Brazilian maintained his composure and scored a swift combination and a late takedown during the final seconds of the first round.

The pace slowed considerably heading into the second stanza. Sparing a near takedown by Nogueira, the round took place on the feet the entire time. Each fighter landed their fair share of jabs and combinations throughout the five minutes. Sylvia looked to land a pair of rights that hurt Nogueira with under two minutes left in the round but the slow pace provided very little opportunity to capitalize on.

A right hand by Sylvia caused Nogueira to pull guard at the beginning of the third round. The skilled ground specialist quickly swept Sylvia, transitioned to side-control, and then locked in a guillotine as his opponent tried to stand up. Sylvia didn’t put up much of a fight and quickly tapped out, giving Nogueira the interim title.

“He’s a true heavyweight,” Nogueira said of Sylvia during a post-fight interview. “He’s a giant. I got in many hard punches in this fight. I was waiting for a good opportunity to put him on the ground. I always try at least one submission. If that doesn’t work, I go for a second and it worked tonight.”

Although visibly discouraged after the fight, Sylvia showed a good amount of respect for his opponent’s efforts.

“It’s Nogueira,” Sylvia said. “Every fight he’s in, he gets his ass kicked for the first ten minutes. You start getting comfortable fighting him and next thing you know, he catches you in something. The guy is a legend in the sport.”

Nogueira also pleaded for current champion Randy Couture to return from his resignation from the promotion in order to unify the belts and put on a great fight for the fans. Only time will tell if Couture will continue his stance or give in to the demands of Nogueira and many other UFC officials.

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UFC 81: Breaking Point Results

Antonio Nogueira def. Tim Sylvia - Submission (Guillotine)
Frank Mir def. Brock Lesnar - Submission (Kneebar)
Nate Marquardt def. Jeremy Horn - Submission (Guillotine)
Ricardo Almeida def. Rob Yundt - Submission (Guillotine)
Tyson Griffin def. Gleison Tibau - Unanimous Decision
Chris Lytle def. Kyle Bradley - TKO (Strikes)
Tim Boetsch def. David Heath - TKO (Strikes)
Marvin Eastman def. Terry Martin - Unanimous Decision
Robert Emerson def. Keita Nakamura - Split Decision