December 2007 Archives

Now that's just downright goofy.

Earlier this year, boxer Floyd Mayweather puts down MMA, saying “UFC ain’t shit,” he said. “It ain’t but a fad. Anyone can put a tattoo on their head and get in a street fight.”

Dana Ward responds, in Harold Howard fashion ("If you're comin' on, come on!") and says, if you want to step into the Octagon, we've got Sean Sherk ready to go.

Mayweather then backs off of his statements with this in May:

"I apologize to the UFC, sometimes we say things that we shouldn't have said and I'm man enough to admit that," said Mayweather. "I apologize to the Fertittas, Lorenzo and Dana White. I respect MMA fighters and what they do in the UFC. I have no plans of fighting in mixed martial arts."

The latest is that Mayweather is actually considering fighting in MMA. So, when he had big money coming his way in boxing, it was convenient to put MMA down. Now that he sees that MMA is on the rise, especially with billionaire Mark Cuban at the helm, he sings a different tune. What a phony.

Saturday, December 22, 2007
by Sherdog.com Staff

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is discussing a deal with billionaire Mark Cuban that could put the best boxer on the planet in a mixed martial arts bout.

If an agreement is reached, Mayweather would join HDNet Fights, Cuban's fledgling MMA promotional arm, ESPN reported Friday.

"Floyd is considering fighting with HDNet Fights," Cuban told ESPN.com. "We are going to let him visit some gyms to talk to some folks about what it would take to learn. He knows it won't be easy. But he is getting involved with MMA and HDNet Fights one way or another. He is pumped about it. He wants to go on to the next big thing. Floyd is a brilliant marketer. He follows the money."

The undefeated Mayweather, a five-division world champion regarded as one of the purest pugilists in boxing history, stopped English challenger Ricky Hatton on Dec. 8 to retain his welterweight title.

Cuban and Mayweather, who struck up a friendship during the taping of ABC's "Dancing with the Stars," met Thursday in Las Vegas to discuss a possible role for the boxer with HDNet Fights.

According to ESPN.com, Leonard Ellerbe, a close Mayweather associate, said a move from the sweet science to MMA is something that seriously interests the boxer.

"When Floyd makes his move, obviously it's going to be a mega event," Ellerbe told ESPN. "We don't have a timetable. Floyd is taking some time off, but Floyd understands what is involved. You have to take time to go out and understand what you're getting involved in, and he's ready to do that."

Mayweather, 30, was part of two events in 2007 that generated 3.25 million pay-per-view buys and $200 million in revenue. A defeat of Oscar de la Hoya in May broke PPV records with 2.4 million subscriptions. In all, Mayweather made $50 million for his bouts with de la Hoya and Hatton.

"If I said there's a guaranteed $30 million payday, Floyd would be lacing them up," Cuban told ESPN.com. "If not, I could see him working to train and develop and invest in MMA fighters, knowing the upside. He can teach them how to be a better boxer and add to their other skills."

Should he decide to compete in MMA, Mayweather would immediately become the best boxer to test himself in that arena. Others such as Francois Botha (Pictures), Art Jimmerson, Melton Bowen and James Warring fared poorly in their respective MMA efforts.

Mayweather would likely compete in MMA's 145-pound featherweight division, which is currently dominated by WEC champion Urijah Faber (Pictures).

Randy Couture - probably the most talked-about fighter this year.

Where to start? It's been a wild and wooly year in MMA. I'm just gonna throw it all out here. If I missed anything, let me know and I'll add it.

-- Zuffa, UFC's parent company, buys PRIDE, then buries it.

-- When PRIDE was still alive, Dan Henderson beat Wanderlei Silva for the middleweight title.

-- Silva took some time off, left Chute Boxe in Brazil, moved to the U.S. where he hopes to eventually build his own fight team, and signed with the UFC. He's scheduled to fight Chuck Liddell on Dec. 29.

-- Speaking of Liddell, he lost his UFC light-heavyweight title to Quinton Jackson, then lost a decision to Keith Jardine.

-- Henderson signed with the UFC and put his PRIDE middleweight title on the line against Jackson. The fight went five rounds, but the decision went to Jackson.

-- Matt Serra upsets Georges St. Pierre for the UFC welterweight title.

-- Randy Couture beat Tim Sylvia for the UFC heavuweight title, then successfully defended it against Gabriel Gonzaga, who had made headlines months earlier by knocking out Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic with a right high kick.

-- Couture then resigned from the UFC, citing disrespect from Dana White, saying they should have been paying him more money. The UFC said Couture low-balled the amount he told the media the UFC were paying him. Randy also was pissed the UFC could not broker a fight between him and Fedor Emelianenko.

-- Speaking of Fedor, after months of negotiations with UFC, the former PRIDE heavyweight champ signed with Russian-based, but US-backed M-1 Mixfight. Fedor is scheduled to fight Hong Man Choi on New Year's Eve.

-- On NYE, Fedor will be fighting on a card called Yarennoka! which is being co-promoted by M-1 and the staff of PRIDE fired by UFC.

-- There was the rise of Rio Heroes, a Brazil-based organization that is a throw-back to the old UFC - no gloves, no time limits. Rio Heroes built a solid following with its free Internet-only events.

-- California-based EliteXC acquires UK-based Cage Rage, Hawaii-based Icon and California-based King of the Cage.

-- Brock Lesnar, a former collegaite wrestling star, WWE wrestler and (briefly) a Minnesota Viking, signed with the UFC and is scheduled to fight Frank Mir in early 2008.

-- Mark Cuban, billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks, gets into MMA, setting up fights on HDNet Fights, and producing a weekly MMA news show. It has also been announced that he will broadcast Yarennoka! on HDNet, which he owns.

-- Pro MMA fighter Sam Vasquez dies about six weeks after fighting. His death is still being investigated.

-- The Rua brothers, Murilo Ninja and Mauricio Shogun, also left Chute Boxe, and might possibly move to the U.S. And how about Forrest Griffin's upset over Shogun? Nobody thought that was gonna happen, since Rua was the #1 light heavyweight in the world at that point.

Here's the first of what I hope is several installments of 2007, the Year In Review. First we have the year in pictures:

Fedor is not one to sit on his ass, as this combat sambo fight, filmed earlier this year, shows.

From sherdog.com forums:

UFC Reject M-1 Offer To Co-Promote Couture-Emelianenko By Jason Perkins (Don't ask me who jason perkins is, i have no frickin' clue)

December 20, 2007 -- According to Randy Couture, the UFC has turned down an official offer from M-1 to run a co-promotion featuring a fight between Randy Couture and Fedor Emelianenko.

“We got an official offer from M-1 to the UFC to do a co-promotion for the Couture-Emelianenko fight, and they (UFC) rejected that offer,“ Couture told Brawl Sports. “Really, the only thing standing in the way for that fight right now is Dana and the UFC. Obviously, M-1 is happy to do a co-promotion like that. It only serves to help them. I think the UFC is looking at it the other way, and it’s like why do we want to help out another organization? The fans want to see that fight. At some point, you have to put that first.“

Ted's Take: Gotta agree with him. Hopefully, that's where the sport is ultimately headed, co-promotion, like - I hate to say it - boxing. That's the only way you can truly figure out who is the best in the world, when you have title unification fights.

Word is that Randy is just waiting for his UFC contract to expire in 2008, so we might see Couture vs. Emelianenko after all, maybe late 2008? (crosses fingers).

... with everything else going on in MMA, I'm not sure how much I care anymore. But, I found this interesting, so here goes --

From Five Ounces of Pain:

The IFL held a conference call on Wednesday that was hosted by league commissioner and co-founder, Kurt Otto. The call was scheduled to alert the media about the league’s plans for the 2008 season.

Here are the highlights from the call:- Kurt Angle’s name was brought up towards the end of the call. Otto confirmed that the promotion hosted Angle during the Team Finals in Florida that took place in September and said that he’s had talks with Angle’s manager, Dave Hawk.

In response to Angle’s previous statements that he’d be fighting for the IFL in the future, Otto said he thinks that Angle might have experienced “buyer’s remorse” and is having second thoughts after watching the fights up close.

He said if Angle wants to compete, he has three guys specifically in mind as potential opponents. When pressed, Otto would not name those three guys. He also indicated that if Angle fought for the IFL, it likely would be in a pay-per-view situation.

Got the latest on K-1's New Year's Eve event,

-Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Masakatsu Funaki
-Kid Yamamoto vs. Rani Yahya
-Joachim Hansen vs. Kazuyuki Miyata
-Melvin Manhoef vs. Yosuke Nishijima
-Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Hideo Tokoro
-Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Zulu Jr.
-Musashi vs. Bernard Ackah (K-1 Rules)
-Masato vs. Choi Yong-Soo (K-1 Rules)
-Bob Sapp vs. Bobby Ologun

Here's what I think is a recent picture of Funkai on the K-1 Web site:

Looks like an MMA movie called "Never Back Down" will be out in March. And I gotta say, it's the Karate Kid all over again.

Here's how it goes ... new kid pulls into town, falls for beautiful girl who, you guessed it, is dating the biggest d--- at their high school. 'Course the d--- can fight, and beats the snot out of new kid.

New kid seeks some training, but instead of Mr. Miyagi and karate, we have Djimon Hounsou ("Gladiator", "Blood Diamond", "Amistad") as new kid's mentor, who runs an MMA dojo.

Beautiful girl falls for new kid because she's sympathetic over d--- beating him, and new kid beats d--- in their rematch. Yay. My only question is, will we see the return of "The Crane" and the evil Cobra Kai karate school?

Here's a scathing "newspaper" story about MMA I just found. I went to Australia two years ago, loved the country, loved the people there. Most of the newspapers there are top-notch. The Herald-Sun, I wouldn't even use to line my bird's cage.

Shannon Deary

December 16, 2007 12:00am
ULTRA-violent Fight Club-style brawls -- in which opponents elbow, knee and beat each other -- are coming to Melbourne.

The brutal new fight "sport" locks combatants in a 2m-high metal cage for no-holds-barred, mixed martial arts battle -- even choking, stamping, punching and kicking after an opponent is floored.

Overseas, fighters have had arms and legs smashed, ankles snapped and some have been killed.

Instead of protective gloves, combatants wear small mitts to allow them to grab opponents in headlocks and submission holds in front of baying crowds.

Contests have been likened to scenes in Brad Pitt's controversial blockbuster movie, Fight Club, in which secret gatherings of men bashed each other to stamp their masculinity in an era of feminism.

Promoters of the Sydney-based X-Agon Reality Fighting Super Series have revealed plans to bring the "bloodbaths" to Melbourne next year.

The State Government has approved the series provided it does not breach combat control laws.

However critics have demanded the "vicious free-for-alls" be kept out of Victoria.

Promoter Ivan Abrahams described the sport as more technical than boxing and safer than cycling and rugby.

"It is very technical, very controlled and it is full-on. There is no greater test of man versus man," Mr Abrahams said.

"The minute you can no longer intelligently defend yourself, the fight is stopped," he said. "As far as 'dangerous', it's a nice story, but simply not true."

Australian Medical Association public health chairman Associate Professor John Gullotta said the sport invited serious injury and possibly death.

"The AMA would absolutely oppose the introduction of cage fighting to Victoria," he said. "It opposes any sport that aims to inflict injuries to the head and knock people out."

American fighter Sam Vasquez died this year after being knocked out in a sanctioned fight. After the bout, Vasquez had surgery twice to remove blood clots from his brain, but died after suffering a stroke.

The Melbourne contests will be regulated by the Professional Boxing and Combat Sports Board.

A spokesman for Sport Minister James Merlino said X-Agon would be monitored to ensure it met the provisions of the state's Professional Boxing and Combat Sports Act.

"There are a number of requirements that have to be met under the Act before events are approved and contestants are registered to compete, many of which relate to safety," the spokesman said.

"Applications to stage an event must satisfy the Professional Boxing and Combat Sports Board, while the Minister can also determine what types of combat sports can be held under the Act."

To read the email I sent Shannon, go to the next page.

The full UFC 79 - Nemesis site is up and running. You gotta check it out. Click here to get there.

The site's got some cool features to get you psyched for the event. For Silva vs. Liddell, they trace the history - with video clips - of three fighters the two have both fought. Example: Liddell beat Tito Ortiz twice, but Silva lost to him once. Silva beat Quinton Jackson twice, but Liddell lost to him twice. Interesting stuff.

For Hughes vs. St. Pierre, they examine the two fights these two former welterweight champions have had; Hughes' victory at YFC 50 and St. Pierre's win at UFC 65. They also have a clip of Matt Serra's demolition of St. Pierre earlier this year.

Looks like it's official, former PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko will be fighting Hong Man Choi at Yarennoka! the New Year's Eve event in Japan.

Choi is best-known for the beating he recieved at the hands of pro wrestler-turned-MMA fighter Brock Lesnar, and for the sugery he endured to stave off his gigantism - the guy is 7'2" and 350 after all!

The fight has been rumored for weeks, with MMA purists decrying the match, saying Fedor's just fighting a can. We'll see. First of all, Fedor's going to have to ovecome a serious height and weight disadvantage - he's only 6' and 233 lbs.

But I'd be willing to bet those same people will tune in anyway, just to see what some have called the greatest heavyweight fighter in the world do what he does best.

The Zuffa-owned WEC has an event on the Versus Network tonight, starting at 9 p.m. There's two championships on the line - Faber's featherweight title and Filho's middleweight strap. Plus, you've got Jens Pulver's debut. Should be good.

-Urijah Faber (#3 Featherweight in the World)* vs. Jeff Curran (#7 Featherweight in the World)*
-Paulo Filho (#2 Middleweight in the World)* vs. Chael Sonnen
-Jens Pulver vs. Cub Swanson
-Doug Marshall vs. Ariel Gandulla
-Brian Bowles vs. Marcos Galvao
-Charlie Valencia vs. Ian McCall
-John Alessio vs. Todd Moore
-Bryan Baker vs. Eric Schambari
-Alex Karalexis vs. Ed Ratcliff

Here's a preview vid:

Just a final reminder that there is a free Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu seminar at Gold's Gym North on North George Street in Manchester Township tonight from 8 - 10 p.m. George McGinnis, who will be teaching with Brad Souders, said sweeps in the gi will be covered.

Anybody catch Rio Heroes' live event last night? I tried to watch as much as I could at work (don't know if I should be admitting that, although I do have this blog, so ...) and read on Sherdog.com there was some sick fighting going on inside the cage. Drop me a message if you watched it. Thanks.

Comedian KC Armstrong, formerly of the Howard Stern Show, is the vice president of promotions for Rio Heroes, the bareknuckle vale tudo organization out of Brazil. Hear what KC has to say about this new promotion and what they have planned for 2008. Click the play button on this little box to hear the interview:

powered by ODEO

Rio Hereos' next event is on Tuesday, 12/11. Click here to get a free pass to the streaming live event.

KC has an Internet show, called KCTV, where you get a heavy dose of laughs, babes and uncensored commentary. Click here to get a little KCTV.

From The Wrestling Observer:

UFC officials confirmed today that Sean Sherk has been stripped of his lightweight championship due to California upholding the steroid test result in the hearing on 12/4.

Jerod Phillips, who owns York County-based MMA clothing line Pimp My Triangle, is building an MMA team, starting with pro fighter Biff Walizer. Here's a photo of Biff with a Tap or Sleep hoodie. Niiice. To check out what else Jerod has for sale, click here.

Just got this e-mail from Todd Reid:

Hello all,

I wanted to let you know that Brad Souders is giving a
free BJJ seminar next Wednesday at Gold's Gym North
York at 8PM (or perhaps a bit earlier--best to get
there by 7:30PM). The subject will be sweeps from
various positions.

Brad says he hopes this free seminar will raise
awareness of the MMA/BJJ school he and George McGinnis
will be starting in March 2008 and will give folks a
chance to meet Brad, George, and all the guys who
currently train at Gold's North York and to get a
taste of the curriculum and teaching style they'll be
employing.

Hope you all can make it.

Thanks.

Todd

Note from Ted: Souders earned his blue belt in BJJ under his cousin Eric Grove. He recently added three stripes under Rogerio "Tatu" Taborda and said he hopes to make purple by the end of '08. Souders has affiliated the school he and McGinnis plan to open with Tatu's school in Scranton; Tatu will also come down to York to train with students here.

Rogerio "Tatu" Taborda

Will Mark Cuban be a force in MMA? He might be, now that he has this guy on board:

From sherdog.com:

HDNet on Friday announced two deals, including a multi-fight partnership with M-1 Global to broadcast Fedor Emelianenko international bouts, that will put live mixed martial arts on the network throughout December.

The Russian heavyweight, widely considered the top fighter in the division, makes his HDNet debut as part of Dec. 31’s Yarennoka! card from Tokyo, Japan. Up to nine fights could make the live broadcast, HDNet Fights CEO Andrew Simon told Sherdog.com, which airs live at 6 a.m. EST.

The broadcast, which features a showdown between Gesias Calvancante and Shinya Aoki as well as other top-10 ranked lightweights, will be repeated later in the day.

“This announcement reinforces our commitment to becoming the home for live MMA action,” HDNet founder Mark Cuban said in a prepared statement. “No one else but HDNet will have the return of Fedor live from Japan. On December 15, we’ll also have ’HDNet Fights: Reckless Abandon’ live from Dallas featuring superstars Jason ’Mayhem’ Miller and Frank Trigg and then we’re ending the month halfway across the world in Japan with the return of the world’s best fighter — Fedor. What could be better?”

From mmaweekly.com:
ULTIMATE FIGHTER 6 LIVE FINALE: DECEMBER 8, 2007 ON SPIKE TV
venue: Palms Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada

Main Card Bouts:
-Clay Guida vs. Roger Huerta
-TUF Welterweight Tournament Finals: Mac Danzig vs. Tommy Speer
-George Sotiropoulous vs. Billy Miles
-Jared Rollins vs. Jon Koppenhaver

Preliminary Bouts:
-Ben Saunders vs. Dan Barrera
-Matt Arroyo vs. John Kolosci
-Jonathan Goulet vs. Paul Georgieff
-Troy Mandaloniz vs. Richie Hightower
-Dorian Price vs. Roman Mitichyan

Main card airs live on Spike TV from 9:00 PM to 12:00 AM (ET/PT) on Saturday, December 8

From bloodyelbow.com:

“Yarennoka!“ Shaping Up Nicely
By Nick Thomas, posted on Thu Dec 06, 2007.

Yarennoka has announced a couple more matches for it’s Dec 31st Saitama Super Arena Event. Talk about a solid card:
-Hayato “Mach“ Sakurai (#2 Lightweight) vs. Hidehiko Hasegawa
-Gilbert Melendez (#3 Lightweight) vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida (#9 Lightweight)
-Tatsuya Kawajiri (#4 Lightweight) vs. Luiz Azeredo
-Shinya Aoki (#5 Lightweight) vs. Gesias “JZ“ Calvancante (#6 Lightweight)
-Kazuo Misaki (#8 Middleweight) vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama (#10 Middleweight)
-Fedor Emelianenko (#1 Heavyweight) vs. TBA
-Ricardo Arona (#9 Light Heavyweight) vs. TBA
-Aleksander Emelianenko (#10 Heavyweight) vs. TBA
-Joachim Hansen vs. TBA
-Mark Hunt vs. TBA
-Roman Zentsov vs. TBA

Like himor hate him, think he's bad for the sport, or will help in bringing greater exposure to it, amateur wrestler/WWE wrestler/short-lived NFL lineman Brock Lesnar will take on Frank Mir at UFC 81 on Feb. 2. Here's part of the event's poster:

12.03.2007 - Who will make the cut? Hi-TEST Tryouts 07-08 #1...COMPLETE!

Overcoming the weather and traffic, mixed martial artists arrived at the New Alhambra Arena yesterday to participate in the first in a series of Hi-Test Tryouts. The participants were intense and focused as they worked to impress an accomplished judging panel, featuring former Muay Thai Kickboxing World Champion, Rami Ibrahim (Sitan Gym - New York), Stephen Haigh, owner of the Fight Factory (Philadelphia), Angel Cartagena (Muay Thai Kickboxing Trainer and owner) and Shaun (instructor) of Body Arts Gym (Philadelphia), current Bodog Fight 135lb Women’s Champion, Tara LaRosa, and former Martial Arts Instructor and current Octane MMA consultant, Ed Quinn.

By design, the circuit was intense, testing skill as well as endurance. Over the next month, the Octane MMA selection committee will be reviewing the footage and judges’ notes to see who in the group made the cut and earned a spot in the Octane MMA Preseason.

Octane MMA plans to schedule another Hi-Test Tryout in January 2008 with a specific date to be determined. Continue to register and submit your applications on-line, and if you are unable to attend the tryouts, the please send in your non-returnable media footage for review. Octane MMA thanks everyone that came out yesterday to participate, assist, and support us in taking yet another step towards making MMA in PA in 2008 a reality.

To go to OctaneMMA's Web site, click here.

Here's a new site to check out - ultimatemmavideos. The guy who maintains it gives you a good mix of fights, like new ones from Cage Rage - Murilo Rua vs. Xavier Foupa-Pokam, plus some good ones from a few years back like Georges St. Pierre vs. Karo Parysian, Nick Diaz vs. Robbie Lawler and Sergei Kharitonov vs. Pedro Rizzo. Click here to get there.

Here's an e-mail I received from Todd Reid, who trains with George McGinnis and Brad Souders:
Team: YMMAA (York Mixed Martial Arts Academy)

On December 2nd a small team from the local area traveled to D.C to compete in the US Grappling Championships. Among the competitors was George McGinnis of Manchester and Brett Myers of York.

McGinnis competed in the Executive (No Gi) division at 179.5 pounds, earning second place and then went on to win gold in the executive Gi division. McGinnis also managed to deliver two shut-out victories and two submissions during his combined five matches.

Myers fought in the men's No Gi 160 - 169.9 pound division, winning his first match (via advantage points) but fell short of his third place finish by a close third round match that went to points.

The fighters would like to thank NHBGear.com, Miles Muffler and Gold's Gym for the continuous sponsor support.

Congrats guys, keep the subs coming.