MMA News and Discussion Thread

[ACCBiggz]

What I'd do:

Penn vs. Huerta/Thomas/Fisher/Stevenson in Novemeber, in December I'd suspect Serra will lose the 170 title which will see him return to 155 and challenge Penn there. So as long as they can keep Penn at 155 and he wins, I don't see a major change in what can happen at 155.

I mean the Thomas/Fisher fight at UFN is basically a #1 contenders fight anyway, just have Penn there and announce that a new champ will be crowned as the winner faces Penn.

Also, I did a wiki of Nandrolone Metabolite:

The positive effects of the drug include muscle growth, appetite stimulation and increased red blood cell production and bone density.

Edited July 19, 2007 by ACCBiggz

[Toe]

I believe that Tim Sylvia was stripped of his title when he tested positive for steroids after fighting Gan McGee.

He was stripped of the title, suspended for six months, and fined $10,000 by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. So there is a precedence.

[ACCBiggz]

Josh Barnett before him as well.

[ACCBiggz]

UFC Fight Night 11

Mike Swick vs. Jonathan Goulet

Chris Leben vs. Terry Martin

[ACCBiggz]

The ACCBiggz MMA Rankings

Note: These are of course debateable by many, but this is how I view them.

Heavyweights

Champions: Randy Couture & Fedor Emelianenko

1. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

2. Mirko CroCop

3. Tim Sylvia

4. Josh Barnett

5. Gabriel Gonzaga

Many people are probably looking at this saying "Sylvia at #3 and Gonzaga at #5?!" Well yes. Cro Cop to me was the #1 (not including champions) prior to his KO loss. He put together a nice string of victories including the OWGP. He was the clear #1 and Gonzaga wasn't on the map, so he isn't going to fall far and Gabriel isn't going to shoot up the list. Sylvia has only lost in title matches... ever. Say what you want about the man, but he hasn't fought since that loss and he is a title contender (for now) in the UFC. I put Barnett above Gonzaga for having stiffer competition. If Gonzaga had the same record he does now with another fight or two against tougher men then he'd be at #4 if not about Tim, but he just hasn't been given that opportunity. However he is the UFC #1 contender by virtue of the Cro Cop fight and will challenge for the gold.

Light Heavyweights

Champions: Rampage Jackson & Dan Henderson

1. Shogun Rua

2. Chuck Liddell

3. Wanderlei Silva

4. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

5. Rashad Evans

Again, people are going "Nogueira and Evans!?" Shogun, Chuck, and Wandy (regardless of the two KO losses) are clear 1-3. Nogueira, regardless of his KO loss to Sokoudjou, is at #4 because of his body of work currently. I had a hard time choosing between Tito and Rashad, and I think Evans is better. Granted he would have lost if not for the cage grab, but I think the third round showed why he is better than Tito and Tito's recent wins over Forrest and Shamrock do not impress me. The #5 position at 205 is really wide open and if someone can string together victories and look good it could replace Rashad, but not right now.

Middleweights

Champions: Anderson Silva & Dan Henderson

1. Paulo Filho

2. Matt Lindland

3. Rich Franklin

4. Denis Kang

5. Yushin Okami

I think the five men are fairly agreeable. For the longest time Lindland was thought of as the #1, but I dropped him because when was his last 185 match. Yes he's fought Rampage and Fedor (lost both obviously), but he needs to get back to 185 (which he is fighting Prangley for the 185 Bodog belt) and be impressive.

Welterweights

Champion: Matt Serra

1. Georges St. Pierre

2. Matt Hughes

3. Hayato Sakurai

4. Josh Koscheck

5. Karo Parisyan

Sakurai may be going to 155, some people question if he can make that weight but if he can just imagine Mach vs. Penn. Without knowing if he is making that move he is still at #3 in the 170 division. Koscheck will get a major test against GSP in August and Karo sits on the outside looking in currently.

Lightweights

Champion: Takanori Gomi

1. BJ Penn

2. Gilbert Melendez

3. Vitor Ribeiro

4. Shinya Aoki

5. Tatsuya Kawajiri

First off, Sherk and Franca won't be fighting for a year so I just dropped them all together for the year being. Some may question putting Aoki here because of weight issues, but he fought at 161 in PRIDE and has fought smaller competition, I'll put him there until he starts fighting at 170 in the UFC (assuming they sign him eventually). Outside of that I was looking to put a UFC fighter in the top five, but it's just not going to happen outside of BJ. They have a lot of good YOUNG fighters who could be great, but in the present day there are a lot of lightweights that are fighting elsewhere.

Pound for Pound

1. Fedor Emelianenko

2. Kid Yamamoto (145)

3. Shogun Rua

4. BJ Penn

5. Dan Henderson

I really wanted to put GSP at #5, but I had to throw in Hendo. He has two titles in two different weight classes and may be the next 205 champion in the UFC. So why have him below BJ? Because BJ has incredible talent... freakishly great. I think these are the top 5 P4P fighters out there today regardless of where you put them in rankings.

[new_era]

Former WWE, WCW, ECW and TNA superstar Big Vito (Logrosso) is currently in training in MMA, he joins Sean O'Haire who recently just started his MMA career also.

Credit - WrestleZone

[Fitzy]

I was looking on MMAweekly's television guide and it shows that Elite XC's "ShoXC" debuts next Friday with the following lineup:

Main Card Bouts:

-Edson Berto vs. K.J. Noons

-Jefferson "Tanque" Silva vs. Aaron Rosa

-Jeremiah Metcalf vs. Aaron Wetherspoon

-Muhsin Corbbrey vs. Lee Gibson

-Scott Jorgenson vs. Chris David (swing bout)

Preliminary Bouts:

-Shayna Baszler vs. Jan Finney

-Brian Cobb vs. John Reedy

-Anthony Ruiz vs. Jason Geris

-Eric Beondo vs. Josh Neal

Basically that is just like "ShoBox" where it is the younger fighters getting a shot on TV.

And the next Elite XC card on Showtime is on September 15 with Jake Shields, Nick Diaz, and Gina Carano all fighting plus Bennett vs.Valenzuela which was scheduled for the Strikeforce/EXC PPV.

And in more non-UFC shows, the next two WEC cards are as follows:

WEC 29: AUGUST 5, 2007 ON VERSUS NETWORK

venue: Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada

-Paulo Filho (#3 Middleweight in the World)* vs. Joe Doerksen

-Carlos Condit (#10 Welterweight in the World)* vs. Brock Larson

-Jeff Curran vs. Stephen Ledbetter

-Eric Schambari vs. Logan Clark

-Tiki Ghosn vs. Blas Avena

-Craig Zellner vs. TBA

And WEC 30 has Jens Pulver already listed as fighting on it.

WEC 30: SEPTEMBER 5, 2007 ON VERSUS NETWORK

venue: Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada

-Jens Pulver vs. Cub Swanson

-"Razor" Rob McCullough vs. Rich Crunkilton

-Chase Beebe vs. Manny Tapia

-Urijah Faber vs. TBA

Edited July 21, 2007 by Wild Fitz Hickman

[crazedfan]

<3 more Gina Carano.

[ACCBiggz]

Pulver doesn't get a title shot right away? Pssh, F that.

Former WWE, WCW, ECW and TNA superstar Big Vito (Logrosso) is currently in training in MMA, he joins Sean O'Haire who recently just started his MMA career also.

Edited July 21, 2007 by ACCBiggz

[Enter Blue Guy]

The personal rankings seem fun and since I have time to spare, might as well have a crack at it.

Heavyweight

Fedor Emelianenko ©

Randy Couture ©

1. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

2. Mirko Cro Cop

3. Josh Barnett

4. Gabriel Gonzaga

5. Tim Sylvia

6. Andrei Arlovski

7. Fabricio Werdum

8. Aleksander Emelianenko

9. Brandon Vera

10. Sergei Kharitonov

Light Heavyweight

Dan Henderson ©

Quinton Jackson ©

1. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua

2. Chuck Liddell

3. Wanderlei Silva

4. Sokoudjou

5. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

6. Ricardo Arona

7. Tito Ortiz

8. Kazuhiro Nakamura

9. Rashad Evans

10. Jason Lambert

EDIT: fuck, I forgot about Jason Lambert, highly underrated.

Middleweight

Anderson Silva ©

Dan Henderson ©

1. Paulo Filho

2. Rich Franklin

3. Matt Lindland

4. Denis Kang

5. Kazuo Misaki

6. Nathan Marquardt

7. Robbie Lawler

8. Frank Trigg

9. Yushin Okami

10. Murilo "Ninja" Rua

Welterweight

Matt Serra ©

1. Georges St. Pierre

2. Matt Hughes

3. Karo Parisyan

4. Shinya Aoki

5. Josh Koscheck

6. Diego Sanchez

7. Jake Shields

8. Jon Fitch

9. Carlos Condit

10. Akira Kikuchi

I put Aoki as welterweight as he is the reigning Shooto 167 pound champion and has fought the majority of his career at that weight, except for recently in Pride.

Lightweight

Takanori Gomi ©

1. Hayato Sakurai

2. Gilbert Melendez

3. Vitor Ribeiro

4. Tatsuya Kawajiri

5. Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto

6. Gesias Calvancanti

7. Mitsuhiro Ishida

8. Joachim Hansen

9. Caol Uno

10. BJ Penn

BJ's been out of the 155 picture for so long and in that absence he hasn't done anything that would warrant me ranking him so high now that he is back. I'd favor him against any of the other fighters at lightweight, but for the purpose of rankings, even #10 is generous. But in terms of skill and credibility, I put him on the list anyways.

Edited July 23, 2007 by Enter Blue Guy

[Enter Blue Guy]

All from MMANews.com

The following is from the official MySpace Blog of UFC Lightweight champion "The Muscle Shark" Sean Sherk:

At the present time I cannot explain the positive drug test in Sacramento California. I know I have never used any steroids or any other banned substances, I am investigating possible causes of my positive test with my attorney. I have never cheated, all of my success has come from hard work and dedication to my sport!

[ACCBiggz]

Shogun needs a haircut.

[Enter Blue Guy]

A few excerpts stolen from an interview Sherdog.com conducted with Fedor's manager, regarding Fedor's status and negotiations with UFC and K-1....

Sherdog.com: As Fedor's manager, can you please fill us in on the current state of his contract negotiations.

VF:At the moment we are in negotiations with a number of organizations who have put offers on the table. I'll be blunt in saying that the UFC offer is the most financially attractive one. However they are very harsh in their terms and are not very flexible in actually negotiating them.

Fedor has now been the PRIDE heavyweight champion for four years and I think we have earned the right to negotiate a contract that suits both parties. Instead we are faced with a blunt "you are either in or you're out." This does not really suit us. If the negotiations continue in a similar manner, we'll prefer to fight for less money but with an organization which is more flexible.

The problem is that Fedor is the face of Combat Sambo in Russia. His popularity is at a level where he is acquainted with president Putin himself, in part because he is so successful and well known for Combat Sambo here.

Combat Sambo is a Russian sport that's not at a level of difficulty of MMA, but is hugely popular with our public. Fedor must represent Russia in Combat Sambo and at world championships, specifically the ones coming up in September. All we want him to do is compete something like once a year in Combat Sambo. But the UFC is not happy with that.

Their proposal has all kinds of clauses, all kinds of fines etc. that do not suit us. The UFC is not really that eager to communicate and negotiate. The negotiations are still continuing, and we will try very hard to get our demands met, if not Fedor will simply not compete in the UFC, even though that will be unfortunate as they currently have one of the, if not the, strongest, heavyweight divisions in the world.

Sherdog.com: As Fedor's manager, how long would you like to see his career progress for, and also who would you like to see him fight before he retires?

VF: He's only 30, there is lot's of time left to fight still. The UFC is of course fighting in the cage, not in the ring. And we'd prefer that he would not fight the very strongest opponent straight away. Of course we want to fight strong fighters, but would like an opportunity to grow, get a little used to the new format.

I have absolutely no doubt that right now Fedor is the strongest heavyweight in the world, and could beat anyone they throw at him, but we would nevertheless like an opportunity to develop a little, get used to the new surroundings. There are elbows now, etc.

Of course we want to fight with them. Though there are other opportunities, other organizations. There is the offer from K-1, a good offer, though a little less in terms of finances, mostly as they do not have the kind of revenue streams that the UFC currently has today, due to PPV.

But there are other factors. The UFC is only interested in Fedor; they are not considering other Red Devil fighters. K-1 is prepared to take our boys and provide other assistance as well, in developing the team. But we're not in a huge hurry. If Fedor is not signed for a while, I will organize a match here for him.

We have the resources and audience and television rights to make a good go of it here. The first large overseas organization that properly enters into Russia will do very well. But the UFC is not interested. They are only interested in North America and a few European shows.

I've tried to explain this to Dana White, I suggested working together as I believe there is a lot of potential in this part of the world for joint ventures to be hugely successful. Apart from Russia there are other former republics of the Soviet Union which will be good sources of revenue in the future also, as there is growing interest in the sport which will only increase over time.

[Fitzy]

The assistant coaches for Matt Hughes and Matt Serra, who will head two teams on the upcoming sixth season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” were today revealed by Spike TV.

“The Ultimate Fighter 6,” the latest installment of the popular reality series, debuts Sept. 19 at 11 p.m. ET/PT. The season premiere airs on Spike TV following a broadcast of UFC Fight Night 11. Subsequent episodes of the show will airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

Team Matt Hughes will feature Robbie Lawler (former UFC fighter and current Icon middleweight champion), Matt Pena (boxing coach) and Marc Fiore (wrestling coach).

Team Matt Serra will include Pete “Drago” Sell (UFC fighter/MMA coach) and Ray Longo (boxing coach).

----

Very interesting to see Robbie Lawler coach with Matt Hughes instead of getting someone else from MFS who competes in UFC to help train the guys. Maybe he is returning to UFC following this and it is just a way to help get him more recognition?

And in other news, the full Ultimate Fight Card for September is announced:

MAIN EVENT: Din Thomas vs. Spencer Fisher

Mike Swick vs. Jonathan Goulet

Chris Leben vs. Terry Martin

Nate Diaz vs. Junior Assuncao

UNDERCARD (May Not Be Televised)

Nate Quarry vs. Pete Sell

Gray Maynard vs. Joe Veres

Leonard Garcia vs. Cole Miller

Looks like a good show. Nate quarry is making his return to UFC since losing to Rich Frankin back in 2005. He recently got kicked out of Team Quest I read due to an ego problem apparently. I am sure this one will make TV if time allows due to Sell being on the Ultimate Fighter show following it plus it is a rematch from the original Ultimate Fight Night show as well.

[ACCBiggz]

Maybe he is returning to UFC following this and it is just a way to help get him more recognition?

[Enter Blue Guy]

The Frank Shamrock that came to fight Phil Baroni would get burned by Robbie Lawler, if Lawler is on his 'A' game.

[Fitzy]

I thought he was facing Ninja Rua in September to unify the Elite XC Middleweight/ICON Sport Middleweight titles? Well, that only is going to happen if they can buy ICON Sport apparently anyways. Did this fight get canceled recently or something?

[ACCBiggz]

Maybe it was Ninja. Regardless ICON/Strikeforce/EXC same thing....

[Enter Blue Guy]

Credit: MMANews.com

The following is an article from the Brazilian MMA magazine/website TATAME, which has been translated roughly from Portuguese to English:

TATAME TV: Wanderlei if fires to Brazil

In exclusive interview TATAME TV, the former-champion of the Pride, Wanderlei Silva counted a little of gone its for the United States. Wanderlei if fires to Brazil in this friday, when it embarks for Vacant Wools. “I am going of pressed heart to leave all my friends, my relatives, but I go there to obtain to open the doors for many Brazilians. With certainty, as soon as I will be established, who to want an aid, who to want a contact, am alone to enter in contact with me that I go to be to disposal of any one”, I said Wanderlei.

Wanderlei thanked its masters Rudimar Fedrigo, Rafael Cordeiro and Cristiano Marcelo and confirmed its estréia for December in octagon American of the UFC. “I went to estrear now in September, but had to this week I asked for to be postponed for December. Not yet I know against which athlete goes to be, but this little matters, never chose adversary and it is not now that it goes to start”, disclosed Wanderlei. It confers the interview in integrates here.

Edited August 1, 2007 by Enter Blue Guy

[ACCBiggz]

He's staying with me and I'm gonna train him.