You are currently browsing the articles from MMA Factor written on
Props: Sun Sentinel
Note: This took place just yesterday about 20 minutes from Casa Mania and I totally spaced. Apologies.
Written by admin on March 3rd, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on UFC Videos and Randy Couture and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and MMA.
The fight between UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, and Forrest Griffin is set for UFC 86 on July 5, according to a report from Dave Meltzer at WrestlingObsever.com that was passed along via BloodyElbow.com.
The match up has been known for sometime now; however, the date, event number and location was unknown until this most recent news.
Jackson and Griffin are currently serving as opposing coaches on the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 7, which is set to debut on April 2 on the SpikeTV network. It’s a pairing of two extremely charismatic and colorful personalities who never seem to take themselves to seriously (sans the Griffin in-ring meltdown after the loss to Keith Jardine.)
However, Melzter also recently reported that Jackson and Griffin get into a heated confrontation at some point during this season — something that perhaps doesn’t seem possible, but certainly will add some fireworks if indeed accurate leading up to the Independence Day weekend event.
Both fighters used the taping of the show to recover from injuries in their most recent bouts. Rampage hurt his hand training for his winning performance against Dan Henderson and Griffin underwent shoulder surgery after his sensational upset victory over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.
With the long layoffs and madness that comes along with being a TUF coach, it’s safe to say that Rampage and Griffin will come to bang when fight night finally arrives.
Written by admin on March 3rd, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Forrest Griffin and UFC 86 and UFC Light Heavyweight Division and UFC Pay Per View (PPV) Events and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and MMA.
It’s been almost 48 hours since UFC Middleweight Champion, Anderson Silva, successfully defended his 185-pound title against Dan Henderson at UFC 82: “Pride of a Champion.”
In doing so the Brazilian extended his unbeaten streak inside the Octagon (6-0) and perhaps cemented his status as the top pound-for-pound mixed martial arts fighter on the planet (even though he doesn’t think so).
He also more or less wiped out the entire category, defeating top ranked fighters such as Henderson, Rich Franklin (twice), Nate Marquardt and Travis Lutter during his jaw-dropping stint with the UFC.
Henderson was supposed to finally be the man — who on paper — could at least take the “Spider” into deep water and test his resolve. He was a decorated Greco-Roman wrestler who had evolved into a dangerous all-around fighter thanks in large part to a devastating right hand.
He didn’t last 10 minutes.
During the post-event press conference, UFC President Dana White marveled at the performance and assured those listening that “exciting” things were planned for Silva going forward.
That’s a bit odd, considering that Yushin Okami is perhaps the only man left on the roster who has earned the opportunity to challenge for the belt. And “exciting” and “Yushin Okami” go together like mayonnaise and bananas.
It’s more like “methodical.”
As the last man to defeat Silva — albeit via an illegal upkick and disqualification — there is a bit of history there that could help sell the fight.
But could that match up alone sell out an arena and send pay-per-view (PPV) buys soaring? The short answer is no because neither fighter has really connected with the majority of American fans and because it might be perceived globally as another mismatch.
If the bout is indeed booked, and don’t get me wrong I think Okami could make it competitive, it would have to be packaged with a major draw such Chuck Liddell or Brock Lesnar. That’s not even taking into account that Okami, according to White at the post-event press conference, apparently broke his hand during the Evan Tanner fight this past weekend and the timetable for his return at this point is up in the air.
So what sort of “exciting” possibilities does that leave?
It certainly excludes Matt Lindland — perhaps the most talented 185-pound free agent out there. But there’s talk that the Henderson-esque fighter just inked a deal with another mystery promotion and, even before that, the UFC expressed there was really no interest in bringing him back into the fray anyway.
Denis Kang is another option, but there’s no way he’d be brought in (if that’s even possible) and given an immediate title shot. It’s also safe to say that the Robbie Lawler, Frank Shamrock and Frank Trigg ships have already sailed.
WEC Middleweight Champion, Paulo Filho, would be a great test, but he’s in the WEC because Silva is in the UFC. Silva and Filho are friends and training partners and have indicated in the past that a fight between the two would never happen.
Long story short, the UFC will more than likely have to find a challenger for Silva already on its roster. And the current list at middleweight, as we’ve explained, is a short one.
An interesting twist here is that Silva remarked after the Henderson win that he’d entertain the possibility of fighting in other divisions. In fact, he mentioned that he’d prefer to move down — not up — to test his luck elsewhere if called upon to do so.
The list of competitors at welterweight is robust with two names taking center stage: Georges St. Pierre and Matt Hughes. Both have expressed an interest in the past about fighting in the 185-pound class.
St. Pierre has some business to take care of first, which includes a showdown with Matt Serra at UFC 83 next month to determine the undisputed welterweight champion. If he wins it would seem unlikely that the UFC would pit two of its champions against one another.
Hughes on the other hand is on the downside of a remarkable career and is looking for a spark to jump start it once again. He also has countless fans and a high profile name that could create something of a megabout against Silva.
Win or lose he’d come off as a fearless former champion who stepped up to take on the most dominant fighter in the sport today.
But would the UFC really want to take that risk? Hughes has quite a legacy with the promotion as the most dominant welterweight champion of his time and he’s a sure-fire hall of famer.
Probably not … but anything is possible.
What’s more possible as I sit here and go through all the possible scenarios is a battle with the current UFC Lightweight Champion, BJ Penn.
“The Prodigy” also has a scheduled bout in the near future against Sean Sherk at UFC 84: “Ill Will” in May. He’s also the former welterweight champion and one of only two men (Randy Couture being the other) to hold two UFC belts in two separate weight divisions.
I know … he’s a reigning champion and I just ruled out St. Pierre on that same technicality if he is to defeat Serra. However, Penn has always expressed an interest to one day hold a title in every weight division, including heavyweight … so why not let him?
It would certainly be exciting. It would also help clear up that whole “pound-for-pound” thing.
Call me crazy.
Written by admin on March 3rd, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and MMA.
(I like my ‘chino enemas with extra foam.)
For those of you unaware, the UFC had an event on Saturday - UFC 82. We’ve given you results & commentary, payouts, 7/11 encounters, Chuck-Heads, and more. And to cap off our thoroughly kick-ass coverage of it all, here are the traditional Monday-after suspensions.
The Ohio Athletic Commission has revealed that only four of the fighters from the event have been slapped with medical suspensions. Each of the fighters who got the on-hold ruling lost via KO or TKO, although no broken bones or lacerations were reported. Since, Yushin Okami has been said to have broken his hand while KOing Evan Tanner and Josh Koscheck possibly might have broken his as well while dealing Dustin Hazelett his TKO and subsequent medical suspension.
Evan Tanner pulled a 60-day suspension, while O’Brien, Hazelett and Sakara all got 30-day suspensions. Overall, pretty tame suspensions for a major MMA event.
However, the best suspension announcement was Luke Cummo’s caffeine overload suspension. Fightlinker “broke” the story early today that Luke Cummo had received a three-month suspension for having “extremely elevated caffeine levels beyond anything the commission had ever seen before.”
“Normally we don’t pay that much attention to the level of caffeine in a fighter’s blood,” said OAC commissioner Warren Petty. “But Luke Cummo’s readings were off the chart. At first we thought there must be a mistake with the test, but follow ups showed that our original findings were accurate. This guy must have been tripping balls in the Octagon.”
Oh, you had us until tripping balls, although I wouldn’t put it past the made-up OAC member, Warren Petty, to say something like that. The story went on to say 3-liter coffee enemas were to blame, but luckily MMA Weekly was johnny-on-the-spot and squashed this one - not that anyone was buying it after “tripping balls”. However, OAC executive director Bernie Profato wasn’t too happy about the hoax story and had this to say about the matter:
“I’ll be contacting the state’s Attorney General office (on Tuesday) to see what options we have in this type of matter because this is absolutely not true.”
I’m sure Zuffa will be filing suit soon as well.
Written by admin on March 3rd, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on UFC 82 and Jake O'Brien and suspensions and Dustin Hazelett and Alessio Sakara and News and Evan Tanner and MMA.
So UFC 82 has rightfully dominated not only CagePotato the past 50-odd hours, but much of the MMA world as well. With Anderson Silva’s continued dominance in the bag, the UFC is already looking ahead. Way ahead. Although the date has not been confirmed by the NSAC, Dave Meltzer is reporting in his Wrestling Observer Newsletter that UFC 86 will go down on July 5th in Vegas. The event will be headlined by “TUF 7″ coaches, Rampage Jackson and Forrest Griffin. The two light heavies were named coaches for the seventh season of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series back in December, setting them up for a battle at the next UFC event following the end of TUF’s finale.
The light heavyweight fight - which will have Rampage’s title on the line - is so far the only fight “scheduled” for the UFC 86 card. As has been the case lately, once a date drops - be it official or rumored - scheduled fights start falling into place at a frequent pace. The event is four months away and with the recent UFC event cards, the show already has a lot to live up to. And let’s hope they told the 4-year-old who designed the UFC 84: ill will poster what he can do with his crayons and will get a real designer for the UFC 86 poster…like at least an eight-year-old who understands the upper-case/lower-case rule.
When reached for comments, Rampage just said something about “ass” and “whuppin”, while Forrest Griffin would only take questions on what his years were like playing Opie. Apparently Andy Griffith was a prick. Who knew.
(Props BloodyElbow)
Written by admin on March 3rd, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Rampage Jackson and UFC 86 and TUF 7 and News and Forrest Griffin and MMA.
Taken outside of the Nationwide Arena after UFC 82 was over. This dude was actually on crutches, which took some of the edge off his look. Still, the ubiquitous Liddell-hawk wasn’t my favorite hairstyle from the weekend. That honor goes to a gentleman I saw at the airport on Sunday…
Written by admin on March 3rd, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on mohawk and hair and Misc. and Chuck Liddell and MMA.
Props: UFC.com
Written by admin on March 3rd, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on UFC Welterweight Division and Georges St. Pierre and Jon Fitch and UFC Videos and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and MMA.
Even though it lacked late-night room service, the Holiday Inn where I slept after UFC 82 had free wireless Internet in the rooms. Connecting to their system took me to a homepage which featured this 15-minute workout video hosted by Matt Hughes, where the former UFC champ discusses the fitness program he uses to develop his core. If you’re like me, you have an ass like a veal and a spine bent from years of office jobs and astigmatism, so I was definitely interested in some core-blasting tips from Hughes. Unfortunately, he leaves the actual workout demonstration to his assistants, and just shows up to do the introduction and provide occasional encouragement like “You can do this; just picture those rock-hard abs you’ve always wanted.” His delivery, by the way, is as wooden as Pinocchio’s dick. If you’re interested, give it a look before Holiday Inn’s lawyers make us pull it.
After day 1, my ass is still rather veal-like, but I’ll keep you posted.
Written by admin on March 3rd, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on core and workout and Videos and Matt Hughes and UFC and MMA.
(The Crippler was rewarded handsomely for his blood-loss.)
The UFC paid out a chunky $932,000 in official salaries and bonuses on Saturday night, with Anderson Silva unsurprisingly coming out the big winner. The amounts are below; these figures don’t include any undisclosed “locker room bonuses” that are often given out to headliners and other fighters who put on noteworthy performances.
Anderson Silva — $260,000 ($70,000 to show, $70,000 to win, plus $120,000 in bonuses)
Dan Henderson — $160,000 ($100,000 to show, $60,000 for Fight of the Night bonus)
Andrei Arlovski — $170,000 ($105,000 to show, $65,000 to win)
Heath Herring — $140,000 ($70,000 to show, $70,000 to win)
Chris Leben — $110,000 ($25,000 to show, $25,000 to win, $60,000 for Knockout of the Night bonus)
Jon Fitch — $60,000 ($30,000 to show, $30,000 to win)
Diego Sanchez — $60,000 ($30,000 to show, $30,000 to win)
Cheick Kongo — $30,000
Yushin Okami — $28,000 ($14,000 to show, $14,000 to win)
Evan Tanner — $25,000
Josh Koscheck — $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 to win)
Alessio Sakara — $17,000
Luigi Fioravanti — $16,000 ($8,000 to show, $8,000 to win)
Luke Cummo — $16,000
Jorge Gurgel — $14,000 ($7,000 to show, $7,000 to win)
Dustin Hazelett — $12,000
Chris Wilson — $12,000
Jake O’Brien — $11,000
David Bielkheden — $8,000
John Halverson — $3,000
Underpaid: Josh Koscheck, who is still finishing out the indentured servitude of his Ultimate Fighter contract.
Overpaid: Luke Cummo, who didn’t do much that resembled work during his 15 minute grabass with Luigi Fioravanti.
(Props: MMA Mania)
Written by admin on March 3rd, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on UFC 82 and Pride of a Champion and salaries and Luke Cummo and News and Anderson Silva and Josh Koscheck and Dan Henderson and MMA.
Josh Koscheck vs. Dustin Hazelett, the best fight of the undercard. Awesome exchanges in the beginning, explosive finish at the end.
Andrei Arlovski vs. Jake O’Brien. Feel free to skip past the entire first round.
More fights after the jump…
Written by admin on March 3rd, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Alessio Sakara and Evan Tanner and TKO and UFC 82 and KO and knockouts and Andrei Arlovski and Chris Leben and Videos and Yushin Okami and Josh Koscheck and Heath Herring and Cheick Kongo and MMA.