“On Friday, around 12:00, I’ve got a couple of big announcements to make about my career. So all of my loyal fans will want to stay tuned to my website because this is huge.”
– Former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia — who has one fight remaining on his current contract with the promotion — reveals via his official Web site that “huge” news about his career is forthcoming. Setting a date and time seems a bit strange … wonder what it could be?
The talent raid on the upcoming Strikeforce: “Shamrock vs. Cung Le” fight card continues with Nick Diaz being the latest fighter scratched from the March 29 event at the HP Pavillion in San Jose, Calif., according to MMAWeekly.com.
Drew Fickett — who was slated to challenge Diaz’ training partner, Jake Shields, for the 170-pound EliteXC title — will now fill-in and take on Jae Suk Kim. Shields bowed out of his bout with Fickett earlier this week because of a back injury.
There was no reason given for the Diaz withdrawal at this time.
Diaz and Shields join Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos (visa issues) and Joe Riggs (spinal injury) as high profile scratches from the show that will air at 10 p.m. ET on the Showtime premium cable network.
The showdown between Fickett and Kim will be featured during the televised portion of the broadcast.
More bad news for this show … Diaz is quite a draw. However, two titles will still be up for grabs in the Golden State this weekend.
Check out the most recent Strikeforce: “Shamrock vs. Cung Le” card after the jump. Hopefully, there are no more surprises.
Main card (Televised):
185 lbs.: Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Frank Shamrock vs. Cung Le
155 lbs.: Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez vs. Gabe Lemley
170 lbs.: Drew Fickett vs. Jae Suk Lim
265 lbs: Mike Kyle vs. Wayne Cole
185 lbs.: Joey Villasenor vs. Ryan Jensen
Under card (May not be broadcast):
170 lbs: Luke Stewart vs. Tiki Ghosn
Jesse Jones vs. Jesse Gillespie
Darren Uyenoyama vs. Anthony Figueroa
We’ll have total LIVE on-the-scene coverage of this show over the weekend. Definitely hit us up for all the latest news, results and recaps.
In the final episode of “What Would Kimbo Do?”, Ferg realizes he’s only a figment of Average Joe’s imagination, and wakes up next to Suzanne Pleshette. Wild, man…
WEC 33: “Marshall vs. Stann” will air LIVE tonight (March 26) from The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, on the Versus network at 9 p.m. ET.
The under card is already underway and results are beginning to flow below.
We’ll have a detailed recap of all the main card action later on this evening at the conclusion of the show, including the 205-pound showdown between WEC Light Heavyweight Champion Doug Marshall and challenger, Brian Stann.
In addition, top middleweight contender, Chael Sonnen will be in action a bit later on, taking on last-minute replacement, Bryan Baker. Ed Ratcliff and Maurice Hicks will also throwdown in a lightweight clash.
WEC 33 quick results after the jump.
Brian Stann defeats Doug Marshall via technical knockout (strikes) in round one Chael Sonnen defeats Bryan Baker via unanimous decision Marcus Hicks defeats Ed Ratcliff via submission (guillotine choke) in round one Steve Cantwell defeats Tim McKenzie via submission (rear naked choke) in round one Hiromitsu Miura defeats Blas Avena via knockout (punch) in round one Brock Larson wins via disqualification over John Alessio because of an illegal knee in round one Richard Crunkilton defeats Sergio Gomez via unanimous decision Alex Serdyukov defeats Ryan Stonitsch via submission (triangle choke) in round one
Chris Manuel vs. Kenji Osawa is ruled a draw
Logan Clark defeats Scott Harper via technical knockout (strikes) in round one
Enjoy the fights and remember to share your thought on the action in the comments section below.
B.J. won his first fight on August 24th of last year and his second was in January — both via TKO. Jones played in eleven games with the Giants during the ‘02 NFL season, then bolted (aka, was released) for the mighty Arena Football League. And now he’s on to MMA. Why, you ask?
He ultimately decided to test his competitive fire by transitioning into mixed martial arts after being exposed to the sport through competitive grappling and televised MMA events.
“Somebody introduced me to submission wrestling, grappling, and I got into that and I loved it, and did very well there,” Jones was quoted as saying in an ESPN.com article last year. “I wanted to do something more and I watched MMA on TV all the time, UFC and Pride, and I fell in love with it.”
— The IFL has added a fight to its April 4th Jersey card. Alex Schoenauer will face Jersey boy Brendan Barrett, increasing the fight card to ten bouts on a night that will see title defenses by Vladimir “The Janitor” Matyushenko, Jay “The Thorobred” Hieron, and Wagnney Fabiano. Matyushenko will defend against Jamal Patterson in a light heavy bout, Hieron against Mark Miller for the 170 belt, and Fabiano steps in with Shad Lierley at 145 lbs. The IFL also named two replacements for the show — Jason Black, reppin’ Miletich Fighting Systems, and Jim Miller of Renzo Gracie Academy.
If you’re Bob Meyrowitz, at what point do you just throw your hands up and say, “Alright, God didn’t want me to put together a new MMA league; I’m cursed, and my bowl-shaped ring surface is fucking gay.” Because if we were in his shoes, this would be that point.
According to TheFightNetwork, Gary Goodridge’s manager Dave Wallace has announced that Goodridge will not be fighting Eric “Butterbean” Esch in a headlining “Master’s Division” match at YAMMA Pit Fighting’s debut event on April 11th, and has chosen instead to focus on a May 9th fight against Eric Pele at a Maximum Fighting Championship card in Alberta, Canada.
“It is crazy! Last year may have been an upset but, believe me, it was no fluke. What is a ‘lucky punch?’ Who do these people think I was trying to punch in the face if not Georges? Seriously – where did the luck come into it? I got him hurt and didn’t let him off the hook. Seriously, you tell me, if you aim at something, and then hit it time and time again, was it luck or did you just do what you were trying to do?… All the pressure is on GSP. He has to live up to all this BS about him, he has to step into the Octagon with a man who punched his lights out last time. I’m rematching a guy I beat inside one round, where’s the pressure? No-one is looking at me to do anything, for whatever reason, so there’s zero pressure on me.”
UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Serra makes the case for his rematch with Georges St. Pierre at UFC 83 in Montreal, Quebec, at the Bell Centre on April 19. It’s hard to disagree with the statement above, which is not to say that Serra is going to win. He just makes a good point.
Good news, Potato Nation: MMA/American Gladiators star Gina Carano will be taking a break from making us cry. EliteXC announced today that Carano has been booked for their May 31st CBS debut, and will face Kaitlin Young, a 4-1 fighter hailing from the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy. Most notably, Young won an eight-woman HooknShoot tournament last November, knocking out three opponents in the same night, all within the first minute of the first round. [Ed. note: Holy fucking shit! Mo chuisle!] So basically, Gina’s gonna want to protect her face.
Also officially announced today is a bout between undefeated brawler Brett Rogers — who most recently knocked out James Thompson at “Street Certified”— and fellow heavyweight John Murphy. Meaning that the tentative main card, at this point, looks like this:
Kimbo vs. TBA (heavyweights)
Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith (for middleweight championship belt)
Gina Carano vs. Kaitlin Young (weight limit TBA?)
Phil Baroni vs. Murilo “Ninja” Rua (middleweights)
Brett Rogers vs. John Murphy (heavyweights)
Ooh, feel our goosebumps! The booking of Carano was clutch, as it adds a second mainstream-ish star to the network broadcast. We don’t know how much green Gary Shaw had to promise in order to lure the semi-estranged Carano back into the fold, but if it helps put EliteXC over with a skeptical CBS audience, it’ll be worth it. The only question is, has Crush been getting in enough MMA training between pugel-stick jousts and zip-line rides?
The wait is over as the WEC finally confirmed the date for arguably its biggest fight ever.
Urijah “The California Kid” Faber (20-1-0) will defend his featherweight title against MMA legend and former UFC lightweight champion, Jens “Little Evil” Pulver (22-8-1), at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, Calif., on June 1.
Although Faber is regarded as one of the top 145-pounders in the world, Pulver is undefeated in the division (8-0), submitting Cub Swanson in 31 seconds during his WEC debut back in December 2007.
Miguel Torres (33-1-0), fresh off a dominating performance against Chase Beebe to earn the 135-pound strap, will be on the card as well. He will make his first WEC bantamweight title defense against Mexican slugger Manny Tapia (10-0-1), who is coming off a split decision victory over Antonio Banuelos at WEC 32.
WEC 34: “Faber vs. Pulver” will air at 9 p.m. ET on Versus.
This should be one the biggest nights in the short history of the WEC, and it’s even a bigger plus for it to take place live on Versus. It’s hard to beat watching an MMA legend go against the future of the sport on free TV, right?
The talent raid on the upcoming Strikeforce: “Shamrock vs. Cung Le” fight card continues with Nick Diaz being the latest fighter scratched from the March 29 event at the HP Pavillion in San Jose, Calif., according to 
The wait is over as the WEC finally confirmed the date for arguably its biggest fight ever.
