April 16th, 2008
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The EliteXC June 14 show in Honolulu, Hawaii, got a little sweeter today with the addition of Nick Diaz and Muhsin Corbbrey, according to FiveOuncesOfPain.com.
The two were originally scheduled to fight in April at a show in Hawaii, but the show ended up being canceled. Diaz was then switched to the March 29 EliteXC/Strikeforce co-promoted event in San Jose where he was given a different opponent (Jae Suk Lin).
That fight, however, also never went through for Diaz, which may or may not have had something to do with his medical marijuana card in California. Either way, he’s now back to fighting Corbbrey in Hawaii, only this time it’s on a much bigger show with a much better card.
Corbbrey is a fiery competitor and a well rounded fighter. He’s won both fights for the organization and has an impressive overall record (7-2), but he’s not a huge named opponent for Diaz.
“Diablo” should — on paper — win this one if he plays his cards right, putting him in position to fight the winner of the lightweight title fight taking place that same night between division champion, KJ Noons, and Yves Edwards.
Noons won the vacant title back in November by defeating Diaz with a technical knockout (cuts). Diaz has since had surgery to repair the scar tissue that caused those cuts and is salivating for a rematch.
He’ll have to take care of business first against Corbbrey. Not to mention Noons has a tough out himself that night with Edwards — he seems reborn after a terrible stretch during which he lost five of six fights.
Drew Fickett and Jake Shields are also slated to square off in the main event that night to determine the first welterweight champion in EliteXC history.
Two title bouts and a Nick Diaz fight … count me in.
Written by admin on April 16th, 2008 with comments disabled.
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The same day Elite XC issued a press release that the main card was set for “Saturday Night Fights” on CBS we already have a change in the line up.
Murilo “Ninja” Rua has been scratched for the show at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on May 31 and has been replaced with Joey Villasenor (25-6) who will tangle with Phil Baroni (10-9) in a 185-pound scrap.
No reason was given for the switch.
“Dream Smasher” is on a two-fight win streak since losing to “Ninja” via technical knockout in a bout to determine the first EliteXC middleweight champion back in 2007.
The Greg Jackson-trained fighter most recently knocked out Ryan Jensen in round one during the Strikeforce: “Shamrock vs. Cung Le” show last month.
Baroni, on the other hand, is on a two-fight losing skid. He was stopped by Kala Hose last month in a slugfest, missing out on the Icon Sport middleweight title. The erratic yet charismatic fighter has lost four of his last six fights.
This match up might actually favor Baroni a bit more than a fight with Ninja. “The New York Bad Ass” prefers to brawl and Villasenor is not one to back down. He could have had some real trouble with Ninja’s tight Brazilian jiu-jitsu skills.
“Saturday Night Fights” marks the debut of MMA on network television. The two-hour show will air LIVE on CBS from 9 to 11 p.m. ET.
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Episode three (which has already won me over with its title “The Heebie-Jeebies”) starts us off with a quick recap of the middleweight elimination tournament from episodes one and two including the bone-crunching knockout of Dan Simmler.
After narrowing down the field from 32 to 16, the pace begins to slow a bit as the guys pile into the TUF house and set up shop. Mike Dolce makes it clear that they’re not just reality TV stars anymore - they’re real fighters.
Having diligently watched seasons 1-6, I can say (not unjustly) that Dolce doesn’t speak for everyone in the house.
Matt Brown immediately knocks me from my editorial perch by countering: “We all had to fight our way in here so there’s no reason to ever discount anybody.”
Touche Mr. Brown.
Day one at the gym means team selections and no selection would be complete without the Dana White coin toss. Watching him assign Coach Griffin the color brown kind of had me hoping Forrest would go into a rant about color association like Mr. Pink from Reservoir Dogs.
No such luck.
Coach Rampage (Team Blue) gets his choice between first fighter or first fight and he wisely chooses first fighter. That fighter is CB Dolloway who impressed Rampage with his TKO victory over David Baggett on episode one.
I find it unusual that the producers would opt to show just the highlights of his fight during that episode considering he was selected #1 for Team Blue. Anyway, an undaunted Coach Griffin picks Tim Credeur without hesitation which makes me think he may have been Forrest’s first choice anyway.
Here’s how the teams stack up:
Team Blue (Rampage):
CB Dolloway
Matt Riddle
Paul Bradley
Daniel Cramer
Gerald Harris
Mike Dolce
Jeremy May
Brandon Sene
Team Brown (Griffin):
Tim Credeur
Amir Sadollah
Jesse Taylor
Matt Brown
Cal Yarbrough
Dante Rivera
Nick Klein
Luke Zachrich
The winning teams control the fights until they lose. Both Forrest and Rampage seem content with their picks. Rampage affectionately refers to Team Brown as Team Brown-Nose. I waited for Griffin to counter with Team Blue-Balls but once again he left me hanging.
Uh, no pun intended.
Paul Bradley gets into the Team Rampage huddle and no one can seem to concentrate since Bradley is sporting a gruesome skin deformation on his neck. Normally man-law would direct you to pass this off as a hickey but this looks more like untreated eczema.
Not surprisingly the rest of the group is already treating him like a leper and Bradley gets a one-way pass to the doctor. I quietly nod to myself as the episode title starts to make a lot more sense.
Team Blue has its first group training session and Rampage admits that this is just as much a learning experience for him as it is the cast. He introduces his coaches Zack Light and the incomparable Juanito Ibarra - who has the uncanny ability to tell what a person is eating by their spit.
Yum.
Dana White brings in a dermatologist that he’s known his whole life to examine Paul Bradley. I would question why Dana has known him his whole life but I wish to continue working in this field so I’ll just let it go.
“Bad News” Bradley gets the thumbs down from the doctor as it turns out to be a form of herpes that is indeed contagious. Like most medical oddities, Bradley gets exiled to a dark corner and is forced to run off his sins on the treadmill.
Over at Team Brown, Forrest basically admits that he’ll never be a coach but does know how to run a training camp. With him is jiu-jitsu coach Cameron Diffley, Muy Thai coach Mark Beecher and wrestling coach (and TUF alum) Gray Maynard.
Forrest leaves his guys with a nice piece of wisdom regarding the hard work and suffering they’re in for: “The juice is worth the squeeze.” We also learn that Forrest hates clapping. But not as much as Dana hates Herpes. He calls Paul Bradley into the office and hands him the pink slip.
Afterwards they move to fight selection and since Coach Griffin has control he puts Jesse Taylor against Mike Dolce. Jesse admits to looking like “Big” John McCarthy and Nicolas Cage - only better looking. Forrest calls him a meathead but likes his potential.
Mike Dolce gets his Hughes on and conducts a little bible study before training. Rampage thinks Dolce is only a few inches taller than a Hobbit. Anyone from Dolce’s hometown of Belmar, New Jersey may find that remark complimentary.
With Bradley gone that means there’s an opening for a new competitor. It’s still early in the season so it may not be much of an adjustment. Dana looks to Rampage for his pick and he first selects an injured alternate and then picks someone who’s already on the show. I guess Rampage doesn’t like to bog himself down with the finer details.
Comedy ensues but they eventually settle on Patrick Schultz who as you may remember got choked out by Luke Zachrich in episode two’s back-and-forth elimination bout. Not everyone is impressed by the selection, Dana included.
Rampage stops by the house to boost his team’s morale. He gets Matt Riddle to admit he’s still living at home with no job and no driver’s license. Internet trolls have finally found their champion. The team sees Jackson’s visit as a mental victory.
It’s fight day and Taylor and Dolce size each other up. Since we skipped the weigh-ins I’ll assume each fighter came in where they needed to be. Before I can wonder why there is a gratuitous Burger King logo in the center of the Octagon, Dana announces that BK will be coughing up $5k for the winner. Having sampled the 700-calorie Enormous Omelet breakfast sandwich, I hope for the winner’s sake the five grand is not in the form of a BK gift certificate.
Team Blue’s Mike Dolce (4-4) vs. Team Brown’s Jesse Taylor (6-2)
Round 1: Taylor shoots and gets stuffed. He gets back to his feet and pulls off a nice spin move before wrestling Dolce to the ground. Taylor quickly gets his back and works diligently for the rear naked choke. Dolce miraculously survives and rolls out of it but Taylor is still clinging to his back. They fall to the mat and Taylor works for the RNC again. Dolce twists into a nice reversal and is now on top landing elbows. Taylor muscles his way out of it and gets himself into top position. Good back-and-forth action. Dolce gives up his back and Taylor flattens him out. He tries again for the RNC but Dolce sees it coming and escapes. Taylor now in side control. Both guys staying busy but expending a lot of energy. The round ends with Taylor on top landing bombs.
Round 2: The ring girl has just KOed half of the viewing audience with her two biggest assets. Taylor opens with a shoot and Dolce goes down easily. An exhausted Dolce is starting to take punishment. He tries to escape but Taylor methodically lures him into another RNC. This time Dolce is too gassed to defend and gets that glazed-over look before Herb Dean can step in to save him.
Jesse Taylor defeats Mike Dolce via submission (rear naked choke)
After the fight Jesse pukes into a bucket. No word if Coach Ibarra was immediately able to identify its contents. There may have been a time in my life when vomiting on screen would have bothered me but after watching Gabe Ruediger grimace his way through a colonic in season five I think I’m pretty much desensitized at this point.
Taylor gets an additional $5k for the stoppage. Rampage is visibly deflated after opening up with a loss but Mike Dolce is surprisingly upbeat and knows a lot can still happen in six weeks.
Overall it was a decent episode. The format was more in line with what we’re used to from seasons past but a decent fight is all we can hope for and this week’s episode delivered in that sense.
Stay tuned next week as Rampage steps up his training, Riddle and Rivera verbally spar, and Burger King hands away some more hardboiled cash.
See you then!
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The main card lineup for the highly anticipated mixed martial arts (MMA) debut for EliteXC on CBS was announced earlier today.
Keep in mind there will still be some under card bouts announced at a later time, but for now here’s the televised portion of the May 31 card:
Main event:
Kimbo Slice vs. James “The Colossus” Thompson
Main card:
EliteXC Middleweight Champion “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler vs. Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith
Gina “Conviction” Carano vs. Kaitlin Young
Phil “The New York Badass” Baroni vs. Joey Villasenor
Brett “The Grim” Rogers vs. Jon Murphy
We already knew about most of the fights, but the Brett Rogers heavyweight showdown against Jon Murphy was made official with this announcement.
Rogers most recently knocked out Thompson at “Street Certified” in Miami on February 16, which is ironic since Thompson is now in the main event and Rogers is at the bottom of the main card.
This could be some foreshadowing by EliteXC Live Event President, Gary Shaw, and the promotion. Perhaps they’re looking build Rogers as a formidable opponent in front of a national television audience so that he can challenge Slice his next time out.
That’s a solid match up, and one that could be a very tough fight for Kimbo. Rogers is a monster and Kimbo could have some serious problems with that size disadvantage.
First and foremost, however, Slice and Rogers need to take care of business on May 31.
In particular, Rogers should not look past Murphy. He used to play middle linebacker for the Syracuse Orangemen and knows a little something about competing and hitting. He has a since put together a solid MMA record (4-2), including a win over Sherman Pendergarst.
EliteXC has thus far done an admirable job putting this event together. Most of the fighters on this card have competed in other organizations with some of the best fighters in the world.
Put simply, these are quality fighters and quality matches.
The action next month will take place live from The Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., and will air on CBS from 9 - 11 p.m. ET.
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(Thanks to BloodyElbow.com for the assist.)
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(Big Nog insists on riding this gentleman everywhere, and it is his privilege to serve the champ in such a fashion)
An unofficial source tells Cage Potato that the coaches have been signed for the next season of The Ultimate Fighter, and they are none other than UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and former champ Frank Mir.
Of course, this means that Mir will be getting the next shot at the heavyweight strap, and that the title will be out of circulation for a looooong time while they film, edit, and air the show.
This latest revelation might also shed some light on why the UFC has been purging its heavyweight roster. With this development off in the distance, they have less need for guys like Tim Sylvia and Jake O’Brien hanging around the water cooler down at the Zuffa headquarters.
While we’re a little disappointed that we won’t get to see Sylvia coach his own TUF team and try desperately to get them to like him, at least this might help introduce Big Nog to some of the newer fans of the sport. Next thing you know all the kids will be going crazy for the butterfly guard. Don’t think it can’t happen.
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There’s a rather revealing article on Forbes.com that delves into the history of Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta — majority owners of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) — and their rise to the top of the mixed martial arts circuit.
It’s laced with hyperbole; therefore, read with caution and consider these “facts” carefully:
Price the Fertittas paid for UFC in 2001: $2 million
Value today: $1 billion-plus
UFC estimated 2008 sales: $250 million
UFC is estimated to control 90% of the mixed martial arts industry.
UFC pay-per-view buys in 2001: 145,000
UFC pay-per-view buys in 2007: 5.1 million
The average UFC pay-per-view event draws 3 million male viewers between 18 and 49–often the same as a big college football GAME.
UFC employs 275 fighters.
Most make more than $100,000 a year.
Superstars make millions.
The average ticket price of a live UFC event in 2007: $250
That’s right, according to the feature the Fertittas say that they have turned down billion dollar offers for their promotion, which is rather remarkable if indeed accurate.
Check out the entire piece when you have some time.
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(If MMA were like this, Fightmetric would be perfect.)
Fightmetric wants to change the way you think, watch, and talk about MMA.
Their plan is very simple: they’ve created a litany of categories by which to keep stats in every fight, scoring the action based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative judgments, which they use to come up with a fighter’s TPR (Total Performance Rating), thus measuring his effectiveness and the quality of his performance.
Oh, wait. That isn’t simple at all. It’s really, really complicated.
Here’s the thing about Fightmetric: it’s not a bad idea, just an unnecessary one. I give them credit for being ambitious and creative and somehow managing to push their analysis onto Yahoo! and AOL. And I like that they’re trying to do something new. Seriously, I do. But at the same time, I just don’t see the point.
In a recent article on Yahoo! Sports, Fightmetric’s Rami Genauer performed an impressively thorough analysis of George St. Pierre’s career stats. Turns out, GSP has a median TPR of 90. Can you believe it? 90!
In case you’re wondering, that’s apparently pretty good. At the same time, it’s hard to foresee a time when internet forums will be abuzz with people arguing about the TPR’s of their favorite fighters.
Some of the stats seem legitimately interesting. For example, did you know that GSP is successful in 80% of his takedown attempts? That’s much better than the “average success rate” of 48%. His opponents are successful in taking him down only 17% of the time.
But what does that really tell us, that GSP has good takedown defense? Seems like I knew that just based on casual observation. Sports stats are useful primarily for purposes of nuanced comparison. In baseball, a guy with a .330 average is considered more valuable than someone hitting .280.
But comparing stats in fighting is more difficult because of the variable created by matchmaking. GSP, for example, has spent the majority of his career facing pretty tough competition. A TUF winner who gets fed tomato cans for a year and a half might have even better takedown stats, but it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a better fighter.
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Though CagePotato launched in October 2007 with the tagline “MMA News, Gossip, and Girls,” lately our site has become “MMA News, Videos, The Occasional Insightful Interview, Videos, and Videos.” And we’re totally cool with that, but it’s good to revisit our scummy roots once in a while. Thus, we present our official list of the ten sexiest women to ever walk around cages while holding numbered cards. Feel free to debate the order in our comments section, but your arguments will most likely fall on deaf ears.
10. Christie Cartwright (WEC)
9. Rebecca Love (WFA, WEC)
8. Edith Labelle (UFC)
7. Laura Jones (Cage Rage)
6. Rachelle Leah (UFC)
Now that that’s out of the way, here are the best of the best…
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