October 2007 Archives

Heavyweight fighter Brad Imes, who was runner-up in the second season of The Ultimate Fighter, has been on a tear since leaving the big leagues. Most recently, he's been featured on several major MMA Web sites for finishing his last two fights with the rare jiu-jitsu submission known as the gogoplata. He used it to submit Zak Jensen at the World Fighting Championship event on September 15, and again against Bo Cantrell at King Of The Cage - Arch Rivals on October 27.

Here's how Wikipedia describes it: "The gogoplata is executed from a guard. Specifically, it is usually executed from a "rubber guard," where the legs are held very high, against the opponent's upper back. The fighter then slips one foot in front of the opponent's head and under his chin, locks his hands behind the opponent's head, and chokes the opponent by pressing his shin or instep against the opponent's trachea."

Imes is reportedly the third fighter to use the move in a fight and the first to end two fights with it. Shinya Aoki was the first, using it to defeat Joachim Hansen at PRIDE Shockwave 2006. Nick Diaz used a gogo to defeat Takanori Gomi at PRIDE 33, although the decision was later overturned after Diaz tested positive for marijuana.

There's a lot of talk on the web about UFC 78, not all of it positive. Some say the card is weak, that Bisping vs. Evans is not a fight worthy of being a main event. I'll say this, on paper, it doesn't look to be - because neither fighter has yet to be truly tested in the Octagon - but the fighters can make it a real main event.

Well, the point of this post is to let you all know that UFC has a page on its Web site for 78 - Validation. It's got videos and all sorts of other cool stuff to get you hyped for the event. To find it, click here.

Here's an e-mail I received Saturday from Biff Walizer about this weekend's Garden State Grappling Championships tournament in Millville, NJ:

After losing a very close bout, George McGinnis brought a silver medal back to York from
the 170-184.9 weight class. Brett Myers won a gold medal in the 155-169.9 weight class. One of Brett's 2 wins on the day included a sweet submission victory with a triangle choke. I was able to win a gold medal in the 140-154.9 weight class. I went 3-0 on the day with one submission and two decisions. George and Brett both train in jiu-jitsu at Gold's Gym North.

Congrats guys, nice work in NJ.

End-of-the-year Mixed Martial Arts events have traditionally been big extravaganzas, where organizations try to showcase some of their best fighters in dream matches. Here's what's going on so far:

K-1 Hero's, the MMA branch of K-1 (the japanese kickboxing organization) will have its Dynamite!! show on Dec. 31, and will probably feature Dennis Kang, Melvin Manhoef, Dong Sik Yoon, Ikuhisa Minowa, Zelg Galesic, and maybe even Rickson Gracie and Masakatsu Funaki. With the guys I just mentioned, I'd have to say Hero's middleweight division is far stronger than the UFC's.

Lucky for the UFC, they've got several other strong weight divisions. On Dec. 29, UFC will present UFC 79 - Nemesis, which will feature Welterweight Champ Matt Serra vs. former champ Matt Hughes, plus Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva. Dean Lister, Rich Clementi and Melvin Guillard are also on the card.

Plagued by injuries and failed negotiations, the International Fight League is pushing forward with its grand prix, of which the semifinals will be shown live on My Network Television Nov. 3 at 9 p.m., and the finals will be Dec. 29.

Team Serra's Ben Saunders

This week's show opens with the fght announcement: Team Serra's Ben Saunders vs. Team Hughes Dan Barrera.

We see Team Hughes training, with Barrera going at it hard. "Oh, yeah, Barrera dude, dropped his knee on my nuts in training," Jared Rollins said.

Saunders says he is a Jeet Kune Do concepts (Bruce Lee's martial art) student.

Serra to Saunders: "I'm looking at you as one of the guys who can go all the way."

Saunders: "I get to go to war with somebody and it gets me really, really excited." Then later, he talks about the upcoming fight again, saying, "I get real giddy. I feel like a little schoolgirl."

Barrera is allowed to make a phone call to his wife because she had some kind of "medical situation," UFC Prez Dana White says.

Seems like she is suffering from panic attacks, as she tells Barrera she feels like she is dying, she hasn't slept in days, hasn't eaten in a week.

Barrera tells White there is also a "financial situation" too: he left his job as a firefighter to be on The Ultimate Fighter.

The Ultimate Fighter, UFC's reality show, has been a boon to the organization, and also to Mixed Martial Arts as a whole. I'm not a huge fan of reality shows, although I gotta admit, sometimes they're like a train wreck, you just have to look. Also, I've only seen maybe one full season of TUF, but for all you readers out there, I figured I'd watch "The 25 Tuffest Moments of all Time," or, if you're Dana White, it would be "of all times," like he said when hyping the Matt Hughes-Royce Gracie fight.

The Ultimate Fighter seems to follow the formula of other reality shows - stick a bunch of people from diverse backgrounds in one house and make them compete against each other. The result is insanity and profanity -- oh, and booze too -- probably the root cause of the first two. The catch is, unlike most reality shows, these guys can kick ass.

Anyway, The 25 Tuffest Moments opens with the comedy team of Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar, finalists in the LHW division of the first TUF season, who will host the countdown.

25 - TUF 1 - Chris Leben gets drunk and pees on "some Canadian's" pillow. Leben clarifies: "spritzed and rubbed it all over."

24 - TUF 4 - Shonie Carter telling Jorge Rivera over and over and over that he doesn't give a f---. It started because Carter was fighting someone from his own camp and didn't want to be around him, so he hitched a ride with the opposing team, which they had a problem with.
Bonnar comments, "I didn't really get the gist of his speech. Did Shonie give a f---?"

23 - TUF 3 - Mikey Burnett busts several huge holes in a wall by running into it repeatedly. The wall hits back, as soon Burnett has a good-sized gash on his nose.

22 - TUF 3 - Michael Bisping goes on a drunken rant, crying about Tito Ortiz showing favoritism to matt Hammil over him.

21 - TUF 3 - Hammil finds out a doctor has said he can't fight. He's heartbroken and pleads with Tito to let him fight. The guy's a warrior.

20 - TUF 4 - Edwin Dewees vs. Gideon Ray, known as the bloodiest fight on TUF. Dewees gets a cut on his forehead and pours blood. The thing is, he's on top of Ray, and his blood is getting in Ray's eyes and mouth. Despite the blood, Dewees pushes the fight and ends up winning the decision. "I think that fight should've been stopped," Ray says afterwards. Well, of course you do, you would've won then. But the thing is, by the end of the fight, the cut on Dewees' forehead had closed up. Go figure.

19 - TUF 3 - More drinking fun. Bisping and Mike Nickels decide they're going to shave off the eyebrows of a passed-out fighter. Didn't catch the guy's name, sorry ...

18 - TUF 3 - Tait Fletcher complains to coach Ken Shamrock about light sparring turning into hard-hitting, worried that people are getting beat up in practice and that it might hurt their performances in fights. Shamrock takes offense and yells at Fletcher.

17 - TUF 4 - Marc Laimon, one of the best jiu-jitsu guys around, but not an MMA fighter, disses Royce Gracie in front of Matt Serra, who used to train with the Gracies. Serra says Laimon shouldn't say anything about Gracie because he has never fought MMA. "You're like an expert swimmer who never got in the pool." Laimon was owned and looked dejected after that one.

Canadian LHW fighter Bill "The Butcher" Mahood did something not found too often in sports. When faced with a positive test for steroids, he didn't try to fight it, he admitted it.

Following Mahood's loss to Bobby Southworth at Strikeforce’s Sept. 29 event at the Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hill, Calif., the California State Athletic Commission stated that he had tested positive for the anabolic steroid Drostanolone.

“I did in fact start the use of an anabolic agent approximately the third week in August,” he admitted on mmaweekly.com. “This was at a time that I thought I was done fighting and was suffering from a chronic joint inflammation of my hip.”

“I still tested positive and for that I would like to apologize to Strikeforce, Bodog Fight, and the sport of MMA in general," Mahood said.

On June 25, the Pennsylvania Athletic Commission approved the rules and regulations for professional and amateur Mixed Martial Arts in the state.

That, it seems, was the easy part. Now, there is a long regulatory process where politicians and lawyers, (and maybe political lawyers and lawyering politicians) get to look at it and ask questions.

Earlier today, I spoke with Greg Sirb, director of the state athletic commission, who said that the rules/regs were with the Department of State's lawyers.

"We just want to make sure we have the right rules for pro and amateur levels," he said. "Unfortunately, the regulatory process in Pennsylvania does take a while."

Several months ago, Sirb estimated that the sport might be approved by early 2008. Yesterday, he pushed that estimate back to March 2008.

Martha Brown, an attorney for the Department of State, who acts as counsel for the state athletic commission, said she is preparing the rules/regs so they can be sent out to various committees and commissions.

Eventually, the rules/regs will make their way to the Independent Regualtory Review Commission and the State and House state government committees. When that happens, the rules/regs will be published in something called the Pennsylvania Bulletin. Their Web site can be accessed here.

After a 30-day period of public comment - where people can appear in front of the commissions or send their comments, possibly e-mail or snail mail - the legilature will then vote on the rules/regs.

So, we've got a ways to go. I know there are a lot of people out there - fighters, promoters, fans - waiting for the day when we can have MMA in Pa. It'll happen some day, and I'll keep you posted all the way (sorry for the rhyming, that was pretty lame).

Here is the first pro MMA fight for Ryan Shamrock, Pancrase/UFC/PRIDE legend Ken Shamrock's son. I watched the video - he gets a sick takedown and has some slick submissions. Proud papa is there at the end of the fight. We'll see what's in store for the (first?) second-generation MMA fighter.

UFC 77 - Hostile Territory weighs-in happened earlier today. Go to ufc's Web site here to view them.

To recap, other Web sites said Joe Rogan tripped on stage, Dana White had a big gut and that Anderson Silva's stare-down was killer. I watched the weigh-ins; seemed to me Rich Franklin returned the stare-down in kind.

Also, Josh Burkman had to get butt-nekked and still didn't make weight, although he reportedly lost the 1/2 pound he needed later.

If you live in York County, Pa., Hooter's on Route 30 is the place to catch the event.

Troy Mandaloniz

The show opens with Mac Danzig talking about last week's match between Team Serra fighter Richie Hightower and his Team Hughes teammate Blake Bowman: "Blake got tossed around the cage by a little turd with a mohawk."

Serra is reveling in another win, saying, "I know somebody who's feeling worse than Blake right now. His first name is c--k and his last name is head," referring to his nemesis, Matt Hughes.

Then we have Danzig getting mad at Bowman after they watch the finale of TUF 5, where Danzig's friend Andy Wang is defeated by Bowman's buddy Cole Miller.

Danzig later runs down Bowman, saying he's not a real fighter, blah, blah, blah. I mean, what is he going to do, attack Bowman, who has one leg in a splint?

Team Hughes fighter Paul Georgieff then learns that his cousin, 19, has just died. Dana White allows Georgie to leave to attend the wake and funeral, but tells him he has to fight first. WTF? Where do you think Georgie's head was at? Definitely not in the fight, but more on that later ...

Hughes to Georgie: "I have to have a win out of you. Have to."

The fight is set: It's Georgie against Troy Mandaloniz. Hughes thinks that Georgie will submit Troy.

Matt Hughes' trainer, whose name I don't know, tells Georgie, "You know you're gonna get punched," to which Georgie says, "I just don't like getting hit. I'm going into an engineering profession after this. I like to minimize damage, you know?"

I'm not sure the UFC was ready for this to come out (it's not on their Web site) but thanks to DirecTV, here it is. This fight has been in the making for YEARS and now it looks like it will happen. I'm a fan of both fighters, so it will suck to see one of them lose, but let's hope for an all-out brawl. I can almost guarantee it won't go three rounds; as they say, somebody's gettin' KTFO.

UFC 77 Hostile Territory takes place this Saturday in Cincinnati. To go off on something here ... I don't know where they get the names for these shows. "Stacked" was more like "Shallow" and "Knockout" didn't have any. Is Cincy any more "hostile" than say, Las Vegas, or Atlantic City?

Maybe it is if your name is Anderson Silva, who won the UFC middleweight belt from Rich Franklin several months ago by kneeing his nose around the side of his face. Franklin just happens to be from Cincinnati. So, will the crowd will attack Silva on his way to the octagon, and wear him down enough so that Franklin will have a shot at winning back the belt?

Seriously, Franklin is known as a striker, but in order to win, he needs to avoid Anderson's Thai clinch at all costs. Box the guy, stick and move, make Silva miss. Then get a take-down and ground and pound out a unanimous deicison. Supposedly, Silva has an iron chin, so a KO might be out of the question. But he has been submitted before, once by flying scissor heel hook and once by a triangle choke. Franklin trains with Jorge Gurgel, who I believe, is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt. This might be Anderson's Silva's Kryptonite.

So, if 2007 is the Year of the Upsets - Gonzaga over Cro Cop, Griffin over Shogun, Jardine over Liddell - than why not Franklin beating Silva?

Can you see these guys fighting MMA?

So, the WWE's having some sort of PPV this Sunday. Two "superstars" have a match where fans get to choose the "stipulation": wrestling, boxing or MMA.

WWE always follows whatever's hot, and right now (get used to it) MMA's on top. So it makes sense that Vince McMahon would put MMA in there as one of the stipulations for the match.

"So, will you, the fans, vote for a Wrestling Match and let both men compete in their comfort zone for a change? Will the WWE Fan Nation stuff the ballot in an attempt to see the Boxing Match that MVP backed out of? Or will Cyber Sunday see both men’s first foray into the world of Kimuras, Keylocks and Guillotine Chokes? VOTE NOW..."

As if the WWE's not gonna stuff the ballot box to what match they want.... I debated on whether or not to run this, because I don't want to give the WWE any more exposure, but I think more importantly, it shows that WWE can't ignore the popularity of MMA. They know there's a lot of cross-over, i.e., WWE fans who also watch MMA, and are worried that they will eventually lose those fans entirely.

Thanks to sherdog.com's ironjaw2 for the pic.

So we've heard that Randy Couture had been building his Hollywood resume and now he's got a feature role in what will no doubt be a critically-acclaimed masterpiece, The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian. ... all right, I kid, I kid.

Gotta admit, The Natural looks a little goofy in this suit. I'm just waiting - along with everyone else - for news that he's going to be fighting Fedor. Unfortunately that might not be until waaay after this movie comes out ... on DVD.

From sherdog.com's Web site:

By Mike Fridley (Mike@sherdog.com)

Joining the likes of "The Ultimate Fighter" and various other planned mixed martial arts-themed projects, ProElite announced plans Thursday to develop "multi-program MMA content for network TV" with the cooperation of Mark Burnett, who produces popular shows such as ESPN's "The Contender" and CBS's "Survivor."

The untitled initial reality series will focus on former professional athletes Jose Canseco and Herschel Walker, who will lead undisclosed sports stars to train mixed martial arts. The "team" of former greats will do battle with EliteXC talent, with the show's finale touting a "famous celebrity athlete match up."

Ted's Take: For all you pro wrestling fans out there, remember when the most dominant defensive player in the history of the NFL headlined WrestleMania? Lawrence Taylor's "performance" was sub-par as far as rasslin' goes. And that was scripted. What happens when the punches, take-downs and chokes are for real?

So, I'm not looking forward to see Jose Canseco's roided-out ass try to take on another aging sports star inside a cage/ring. From all that I understand, MMA is not something you just go to a short boot camp for. It's a serious sport. I love how all these guys who spend 10 years or more in different professional sports think they can just come in and pick up MMA.

To be fair, I think the show will bring in more exposure to the sport, and to EliteXC in particular, which is what parent company ProElite wants. I'll probably end up watching it, just so I can give you updates here, so you don't have to watch it.

Coming off last week's loss, which put his team down 2-1, Matt Hughes says, "I'm not happy." he then compares his team to rival Matt Serra's, "We're a team and they're not."

We go to a smiling Matt Serra, who also has last week on his mind: "I couldn't be happier," speculating that Hughes "tortured" his team for the loss.

"He's an egomaniac jerk. He's just such a d---," Serra says of Hughes

Serra has the pick this week and so he takes his guy Richie Hightower to fight Team Hughes' Blake Bowman.

Later, back at the house, Mac Danzig is talking to Bowman, who's portrayed as a comedian with little experience.

"I thought you broke a guy's orbital bone with a kick?" Danzig asks.

"It was an accident," Bowman said.

Bowman wonders what he's doing on the show, but figures, hey, might as well go with it.
"I can either sit there and stare at it or I can open the package and play with it," he said.

But, during training, Bowman feels something "pop" in his sternum, yet vows to fight anyway.

Also during training, Dorian Price, who was eliminated two weeks ago, has a dizzy spell and Hughes tells him to sit down.

This triggers a bit of a meltdown in Price - he's already been eliminated, and now he can't train?

So, who does Price take his anger out on? The camera crew, of course. He starts off by hitting a boom mike he believes was too close to him. Then, he stomps menacingly toward the crew when he notices they still have their camera on him.

Once he figures out he might be off the show, he turns soft-spoken and "yes sirs" UFC President Dana White.

White:"You're on a reality show, it's what you do ... If you don't act like a pussy, you won't come off as a pussy."

Threatening the camera crew is "not a professional; that's a thug," White said.

"I'm shutting the 'f' up for the rest of my time here," Price says later. Wise decision.

Then, we have about two minutes - if that - of a fight. Hightower gets a TKO on Bowman. Let's hope Bowman sticks around, though, 'cause the guy is funny.

Tune in next week - either here or on Spike - to see if Hughes can dig himself out of a 3-1 hole.

Another day, another bombshell in the wild and wooly world of MMA. Again, here's what's on The Fight Network Web site:

MMA Icon Walks Away From Promotion In Stunning Move

By Brian Knapp

At the height of its power and popularity, the Ultimate Fighting Championship today lost the man many recognize as the face of mixed martial arts. UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture announced his resignation from the Las Vegas-based promotion, leaving two contracted fights, his job as an on-air analyst and his heavyweight crown on the table.

In South Africa shooting scenes for his lead role in the upcoming feature film “The Scorpion King – Rise of the Akkadian,” Couture made the announcement official in a letter to UFC president Dana White. The UFC’s inability to land PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko played a prominent role in the decision to walk away, according to Couture.

“I appreciate this opportunity the sport of MMA and the UFC has given me,” the UFC Hall-of-Famer said. “However, I’m tired of swimming upstream at this stage with the management of the UFC. It only makes sense at this point in my career to fight Fedor Emelianenko, and since he’s now signed with another organization, I feel like it’s time to resign and focus on my other endeavors.”

His abrupt departure deals a significant blow to the world’s most visible MMA organization. Couture was not only a beloved competitor – White once called him “the greatest fighter in UFC history” – but also a revered spokesman for a company that had long struggled to gain mainstream acceptance.

“Randy’s contract was on a fight-by-fight basis, and that’s the way he said he was always going to take it – fight by fight,” said Matt Walker, Couture’s agent at The Gersh Agency. “His acting career is accelerating at an astronomical rate, and without the support he felt some of his peers were receiving in the fight business, this was the logical choice.”

Here's a list so far of what's available in the York, Pa. area for Mixed Martial Arts. Please let me know if there is anything to add to this list.

Central Pennsylvania Martial Arts Academy in New Cumberland. The school's MMA team is coached by sensei Mark Jovich. Go to their Web site here

York Shotokan Karate at 3195 E. Prospect St., York Township is led by Master Tony Abel. Go to his Web site here or call him at 757-2529.

George McInnis teaches jiu-jitsu at Gold's Gym North, 2340 N. George St., Manchester Township. The gym can be reached at 846-4700.

For boxing, go to Lincolnway Sportcenter, 2601 W. Market St., West York, where Julio Alvarez is the head trainer/owner. Phone number is 792-5425.

Also, martial artist and former WWF wrestler Steve Blackman has an MMA school in Harrisburg at 2200 Paxton St. Go to his Web site here or call him at 233-2399 or 919-2015.

This from The Fight Network's Web site:

PRIDE Heavyweight Champion To Headline First Show Under New Ownership

By Loretta Hunt (loretta@thefightnetwork.com)

PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko has committed exclusively to the new ownership of M-1 Mix-Fight Championship, which has been purchased outright by an undisclosed America entertainment-related company, according to a source close to the deal who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Established in 1997, the St. Petersburg-based M-1 held over 30 events under the ownership of Russian businessman Vadim Finkelstein, also the long-time manager of the much-sought-after Emelianenko. Finkelstein is also the proprietor of the Red Devil Sports Club, a facility and team that houses numerous Russian fighters, including PRIDE veteran Roman Zentsov and former UFC middleweight Andrei Semenov.

The source confirmed the new ownership has infused a substantial amount of capital into the organization. Finkelstein and others will stay on to assist in running the company, which will continue to promote under a variation of the M-1 name. The new M-1 will take more of a global stance, and Emelianenko (26-1) will headline its inaugural event as early as January or February, possibly in the U.S., the source said.
On March 27, Ultimate Fighting Championship majority owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta bought the assets of PRIDE, only to discover Emelianenko had previously signed a non-exclusive, non-transferable contract with its former owners, Dream Stage Entertainment.

As late as September, UFC president Dana White had insisted a deal with Emelianenko was imminent, though repeated negotiations between Finkelstein, colleague Apy Echteld and the Las Vegas outlet could not produce an agreement to bring the Stary Oskol resident to the famed Octagon. A major point of contention was White’s insistence Emelianenko sign an exclusive contract with the American promotion, which would exclude Emelianenko’s participation in Sambo competitions. Emelianenko is a three-time World Combat Sambo champion and ambassador for the sport in his homeland.

Undefeated in 24 fights (including one no contest), Emelianenko is widely received as the world’s top pound-for-pound fighter. The 31-year-old former Army firefighter rose to the top of PRIDE’s ranks by besting standouts like Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (30-4-1) and Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic (22-6-2). Emelianenko submitted 2000 Olympic Greco-Roman silver medallist Matt Lindland (20-5) at Bodog Fight “Clash of the Nations” on April 14 in St. Petersburg, Russia. He has not competed since.

A formal announcement of the purchase, as well as plans for the new organization’s first event, is expected by the end of this month.

Melvin Guillard

Rich Clementi

There's nothing like a good ol' rivalry to keep MMA interesting; nothing like seeing two fighters who can't stand each other go at it. We've had Wanderlei and Rampage, Ken Shamrock and Tito, Ken Shamrock and Don Frye ... heck, Ken Shamrock and just about anybody he's fought.

Anyway, here's two examples that are sure to provide some sparks in the near future:

From MMAweekly's Web site, we have Rich "No Love" Clementi vs. Melvin Guillard:

During an appearance on MMAWeekly Radio in March 2007, prior to his fight with Stevenson, Guillard commented on his feud with Clementi.

“This is a guy I came up under, I looked up to him. Rich, he gets on the Internet, because I became a lot more of a known fighter back home, even before the UFC, before I was on The Ultimate Fighter, I was a known fighter, I took his spotlight,” stated Guillard.

“When I got on The Ultimate Fighter, I guess he was jealous of that. He started saying some ... stuff on MySpace and talking about he knows how to beat me and he built my career, basically saying he made me who I am.”

The rivalry hit a fever pitch when, according to Guillard, Clementi approached him at an event. He again told Clementi they were going to fight and proceeded to punch him in the face.

While many stories came about after the fact, Guillard was quick to point out that he warned Clementi before the altercation ever came to a head.

The severity of the altercation is not known, but neither fighter has any love lost for the other. This grudge match will take place in the lightweight division at UFC 79.

Well, this week, we have the continuing saga of Ted's trouble with his VCR. I got so wrapped up in work (huh?) that I forgot to set the damn machine to tape the show so I could give all of my inane blatherings about it the next day.

So, Thomas Gerbasi from ufc.com will have to do for this week. Hit this up and Tom will give you a recap of the show in case you missed it.

York County fighters Mike "Dickie" Oberdick said both he and Adam King won in their fights at an amateur event called Cage of Vengeance in New Jersey on Saturday. It was the first official bout for both fighters.

In Oberdick's case, his fight lasted less than a minute.

"It turned out pretty well," he said. "It was a first round TKO in about 40 seconds."

Oberdick, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, was matched up against a striker in Angel Rivera Ortiz in the 210-249.9 weight class.

One challenge was that Oberdick only weighed in at 208 pounds "with street clothes on," he said, whereas Ortiz was about 220 pounds.

Oberdick said he started the fight off throwing a couple combos to get Ortiz backing up and confused, then clinched him against the fence. From there, Oberdick went for the take down.

On the ground, Oberdick tried to take Ortiz's back, but the Team Neglia member rolled onto his back. It didn't matter to Oberdick; instead of a rear naked choke, he went for a head and arm triangle to get the win.

Oberdick, 33, of York, works nights at a city bar, which leaves his afternoons free for training, he said. He trains with King and others, like Biff Walizer, at a private training club in York.

He plans to fight for Cage of Vengeance again, hopefully at a lower weight class, maybe the 195-209.9 division.

"We'll play it by ear," he said.

Gold medalist and TNA wrestler Kurt Angle puts up his fists

Angle Gets Fired Up Ringside At IFL Finals
09/28/2007
By Ben Fowlkes

When Olympic gold medalist wrestler Kurt Angle sat ringside at the IFL Finals last week, he couldn’t help but get caught up in the action. Several times Angle could be seen jumping out of his seat in excitement.

“I watch IFL on TV all the time, but this is the first event I’ve seen live,” Angle said. “I think the fighters are really good, even in the preliminary fights. I like watching it up close like this. You watch it on TV, it’s completely different.”

Rumors about whether Angle will step into the MMA ring himself have been swirling for years. His career as a professional wrestler has flourished, and many have speculated that he’d be reluctant to leave the life he’s worked so hard to build in that industry.

But to hear Angle tell it, the desire to compete still burns inside him.

“I love MMA. I always thought I could do it, but the opportunity has kind of eluded me. After I won the gold medal (at the 1996 Olympics) I thought about it, but back then you couldn’t make any money in it. So I joined the WWF. Then when I was ready to fight I broke my neck and I had to wait.”

Gilbert Melendez stalks Tetsuji Kato at the Playboy Mansion on Saturday.

-- Frank Shamrock's comment about Josh Thomson being the only openly gay MMA fighter. It sounded like he was trying to be funny, but it fell flat.

-- Gilbert Melendez showing the heart of a lion in his fight with Tetsuji Kato, when he clearly had injured his right hand.

-- Joe Riggs' utter dominanace over Eugene "The Wolf" Jackson.

-- Daniel Puder, while he won his fight against relative unknown Richard Dalton, still has a ways to go before jumping into the UFC heavyweight picture.

-- Too bad Bill "The Butcher" Mahood suffered what looked like a broken rib in his light heavyweight bout with Bobby Southworth. He may have given Southworth a tough time.

-- Renato "Babalu" Sobral made an appearance at the annoucing table, fresh from the UFC firing him for not releasing a choke hold in his last fight. Looks like he has a contract with Strikeforce. Hey, if Babalu can clean up his act and be a professional, I'm sure we're in for some exciting fights.

Hells Angel/stunt man/actor/bodyguard Chuck Zito poses with MMA fighter Josh "The Baby-Faced Assassin" at the Playboy Mansion.