Lest anyone thought a match between Randy Couture and Fedor Emelianenko would be magical, may I present the newest opponent for the current/former UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy “The Natural” Couture:
Mandrake the Magician.
According to TheBadandUgly.com, Couture was talking up his latest acting gig during a guest appearance on Ohio radio station 96.3 QFM. Here’s a snip:
The station had Randy Couture from UFC on and were talking to him about general UFC items when he said he was traveling to China in the next few weeks to start filming the movie Mandrake. He said he had quite a few scenes in the movie and that it was being billed as a cross between James Bond and Harry Houdini. He was pretty pumped about it.
The film stars Jonathan Rys Meyers in the title role as the 1934 comic strip character who relied on hypnosis and illusions to combat crime. The extent of Couture’s role is not yet known but credit for Couture for pursuing his acting career with such vigor.
“I truly believe he [Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira] is the best heavyweight jiu-jitsu fighter in the world today. I mean, he brings to the table being a former PRIDE heavyweight champion. He’s a stud. I’ve been watching him for a long time. I was watching Nogueira when I wasn’t even fighting, yet, when I was just training. When I started fighting, I was watching him and I was like, ‘Wow, I’d like to fight him one day. He’s really, really good.’ I truly believe he’s somebody I can go in there and beat and move me up in the rankings. Maybe, someday if everything goes right and we beat Nogueira, we can get Fedor (Emelianenko) to sign a fight. We’ll get to shut the world up after that.”
– Former heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia talks about his upcoming fight with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for the interim division championship at UFC 81: “Breaking Point” on February 2 from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar also chime in on their showdown during the pre-event media conference call. For the transcript click here and for audio go here.
“[The UFC] asked me who I want to fight next, and I told them if they offered me Anderson Silva tomorrow, I would take it. I’m not afraid of anyone in my weight class. I don’t want easy fights. I can wait if it means I’ll have a bigger name guy to fight on another card.”
With three straight wins inside the Octagon, middleweight Patrick Cote is setting his sights on UFC Middleweight Champion, Anderson Silva. “The Predator” just stopped Drew McFedries last night at UFC Fight Night 12. However, “Spider” has a huge showdown with Dan Henderson at UFC 82: “Pride of a Champion” on March 1. It’s safe to say that a match up between Cote and Silva is way down the road — Cote will more than likely need a few more wins to justify a crack at the 185-pound title. In the meantime, the Canadian will be a guest commentator at UFC 84 on April 19 in Montreal, Canada. Therefore, he will not fight on the first-ever UFC card north of the United States border as expected.
“First I want to apologize for the lackluster fight last night. I do take my fans very seriously and it obviously hurts to let them down. I am not the most experienced fighter out there yet and last night was a tough lesson I had to learn. There was a lot of pressure coming off a disappointing loss, cutting for the first time, and hosting a Main Event. I did gain a wealth of knowledge through this experience that will help me in my next outing. Though everyone here is saying how skinny I looked and this and that, I was 2 pounds lighter than when I fought Okami. The difference is that I bulked up after the Okami fight and then over cut myself the 2 months leading to this fight. Next time I will come in bigger and cut more at weigh ins. Burkman is strong and I wanted to prove that I could resist his takedowns and strength. I wanted to stuff his takedowns while gassing him then pick him apart on the feet. By the time the 3rd round came I let it get so close that just one takedown could have seen me going home with a loss and so I was more tentative than I should have been. I tried to look for the one punch knockout over using my usual combinations and flurries and deeply regret it now. Though I looked frail as some put it, I felt really strong at 170. My mistakes were mental. Believe it or not this whole experience made me a lot more confident about 170, my strength at 170, and dealing with what I had to go through leading up to this fight. You will see a much more confident me in my next fight and I hope to get back on track and put on the exciting fights I started my career with. I appreciate all the support and criticism.”
– Mike Swick issues a public apology via MMA.tv regarding his “lackluster” debut at welterweight last night against Josh Burkman during the main event at UFC Fight Night 12. Swick barely escaped with a majority decision over “The Peoples Warrior.”
(Thanks to MMAmania.com reader “Limey” for the assist.)
MMAmania.com (www.mmamania.com) has received the fighter payouts for UFC Fight Night 12 from the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) for the SpikeTV special event held on January 23 at The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.
The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 5 lightweight winner, Nate Diaz, was the top earner on the show, pocketing $30,000 for his first round stoppage of Alvin Robinson. Not far behind was Patrick Cote, who took home $28,000 for his win over Drew McFedries.
Here are all the UFC Fight Night 12 payouts:
Mike Swick — $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 to win)
Josh Burkman — $10,000 Swick defeated Burkman via majority decision
Patrick Cote — $28,000
Drew McFedries — $10,000 Cote defeated McFedries via technical knockout (strikes) in round one
Thiago Tavares — $18,000 ($9,000 to show, $9,000 to win)
Michihiro Omigawa — $5,000 Tavares defeated Omigawa via unanimous decision
Nate Diaz — $30,000 ($15,000 to show, $15,000 to win)
Alvin Robinson — $7,000 Diaz defeated Robinson via submission (triangle choke) in round one
Kurt Pellegrino — $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 to win)
Alberto Crane — $4,000 Pellegrino defeated Crane via technical knockout (strikes) in round two
Gray Maynard — $16,000 ($8,000 to show, $8,000 to win)
Dennis Siver — $7,000 Maynard defeated Siver via unanimous decision
Jeremy Stephens — $10,000 ($5,000 to show, $5,000 to win)
Cole Miller — $8,000 Stephens defeated Miller via technical knockout (strikes) in round two
Corey Hill — $16,000 ($8,000 to show, $8,000 to win)
Joe Veres — $3,000 Hill defeated Veres via technical knockout (strikes) in round two
Matt Wiman — $16,000 ($8,000 to show, $8,000 to win)
Justin Buchholz — $4,000 Wiman defeated Buchholz via submission (rear naked choke) in round one
Keep in mind the salaries listed above do not include fight bonuses, sponsorships, percentages and other unofficial payments. It also does not include deductions for expenses such as insurance, taxes, etc.
For example, the UFC often hands out extra cash for “Fight of the Night,” “Knockout of the Night” and “Submission of the Night.” We’ll pass along those figures as soon as possible. The total base fighter payroll for UFC 79 was $232,000.
For complete results and coverage of the UFC Fight Night 12 click here and here.
Diaz also mentions Kenny Florian, Kurt Pellegrino and Din Thomas specifically. He’s also a bit confused about the decision to let Joe Lauzon fight Florian when Diaz is the one who won The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 5.
Cardio machine Clay Guida (22-9) will return to action against Frenchman and UFC newcomer, Samy Schiavo (10-4), at UFC Fight Night 13 on April 2 at the Broomfield Event Center in Broomfield, Colorado.
MMAmania.com confirmed the match up with a source close to one of the fighters.
“The Carpenter” will look to erase the memories of a disappointing loss to Roger Huerta via submission (rear naked choke) his last time out at The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 6 Finale. It was a fight that he was winning up until a sudden shift in momentum at the start of the third round.
Huerta is now near the front of the line for a title shot and Guida will have to work his way back up the ladder, starting with the French Top Team fighter out of Avignon, France.
Schiavo is the winner of six straight and has not tasted defeat since 2005. He’s been a regular on the popular Cage Rage circuit throughout Europe for most of his professional mixed martial arts (MMA) career. His recent run has earned him a four-fight contract in the big show against one of the most exciting fighters to watch in the promotion.
Talk about a tough debut.
UFC Fight Night 13 features a lightweight showdown between Boston-area natives Kenny Florian and Joe Lauzon in the main event. Karo Parisyan will take on Thiago Alves, Stephan Bonnar is booked to fight Matt Hamill, and Frank Edgar is also lined up to participate on the loaded card.
To check out the latest UFC Fight Night 13 rumored card click here.
ProElite sent around a press release this evening, announcing that Tank Abbott will appear on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” tonight at 12:05 a.m.
