Is Cain Velasquez the future of the UFC’s heavyweight division? His AKA teammate Jon Fitch thinks so, and the rest of the MMA world will find out in less than a month when he takes on Brad Morris at UFC 83. In the meantime, do some scouting by watching this December 2006 clip from Bodog Fight: St. Petersburg, which shows Velasquez’s second pro fight against Jeremiah Constant. We suggest watching the first four seconds (huh huh), then skipping to the start of the fight at 5:15. Morris might not roll over like Constant did, but the dude definitely seems to have potential…
Nick “The Goat Thompson” will face off in a rematch with Eddie Alvarez when Bodog Fight presents HooknShoot at the Evansville Coliseum in Evansville, Indianna on November 24th.
This news comes from a Bodog press release, a copy of which can be found here.
These two fought for the welterwight title back in April at Bodog Fight: Clash of the Nations. “The Goat” would score a second round TKO and claim the title and also add the only blemish to Alvarez’s MMA record.
Alvarez is ready to avenge this lone loss and also settle a feud that begun back in April, after some alleged comments made about Alvarez’ son by Thompson in a post fight drunken rant.
“Nick got drunk after our fight and said some things he shouldn’t have,” said Alvarez. “He made some remarks about my son, Eddie Jr., and I plan to make him pay.”.
According to Gary Herman of 15 rounds.com, Trevor Prangley commented during the Strikeforce festivities at the Playboy Mansion this past weekend that talks are in motion for him to defend his BodogFIGHT middleweight title against Matt Lindland.
The match has not been signed yet and there are no indications of when or where it might take place. BodogFIGHT, which sponsored this past Saturday’s Strikeforce show, has changed its business model somewhat.
It is believed going forward the promotion will sponsor events promoted by other companies and lend fighters under contract to BodogFIGHT out. A match between two Bodog fighters, Jorge Masvidal and Matt Lee, took place on the Strikeforce card.
If Prangley vs. Lindland is signed, there’s a very real chance it could possibly take place on a future Strikeforce card (the next one is in November) or on the card of another promotion.
I just wanted to say our thoughts and prayers should go out to BodogFIGHT women’s champion Tara LaRosa, who made the following announcement through a bulletin sent via her MySpace account:
I don’t know how to write this.
I talked to Adrian, my boyfriend, on Monday August 20th. He was giving me grief about not doing enough cardio, we talked about what we would do when he got home. I told him my intenerary for the coming weeks. I gave him shit for being short, he gave me shit for not being able to tap him in close to 2 years. I told him I had been playing with playing with the rubber guard, and that I was working on adding the twister into my arsenal… to which he replied “that’s great, but you have to get me to the ground first.” …LOL he’s a really good wrestler, greco mainly. He had to go, someone in the background needed help with something, he’d call again later in the week.
My boyfriend, SFC Adrian M Elizalde was killed when an IED hit his truck on Thursday August, 23rd. He was 30 years old.
I found out at 3:30pm PST on Friday, 24th. I was in my hotel room in Vancouver, Bodog had brought me up to do some promo stuff and commentary for the season 6 shoot. For those of you that were up there, this is why I had sunglasses on throughout the fights, and why I would get up and leave periodically. The only people that knew were Jessica Aguillar, who had been 3 doors down and found me in a heap on the floor of my hotel room, and the staff. I didn’t want any of the fighters to know, I didn’t want anyone upset or distracted in any way before their fights.
Adrian was my hero in so many different ways. I used to tell him he was “my superman.” Adrian meant so much to me, I loved him so much. He was everything I had ever wanted….. I had hoped we’d spend a lifetime together.
-Tara LaRosa
It’s really sad news. We’ve lost a lot of brave men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan and I just hope we bring everyone home soon.
BodogFIGHT has announced that it will start airing on The Score in Canada on September 4. Bodog will be airing every Thursday on The Score on every Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET. There will also be a repeat Thursday.
Tomorrow night at 11 p.m. ET on ION television in the States will be another installment of BodogFIGHT: New Jersey. The main event for the show will be a bout between Jorge Masvidal and Yves Edwards. I saw the match live and it was one of the better fights on the show.
Masvidal really impressed me and he’s someone that you could be hearing more about in the future. If reports are true that Bodog is making cutbacks and Masvidal becomes available, he’d be a great fit for either the UFC, WEC, or EliteXC.
This was the week I was supposed to finish my column of the “Ten Biggest Overachievers in MMA” as a followup to my “Ten Biggest Underachievers in MMA.” However, I had an urge to speak out about the current status of Fedor Emelianenko and weigh-in with my two cents about where he should fight next and why.
You can read my Op/Ed piece on Fedor by clicking here.
BodogFIGHT has made some changes to its taping schedule on August 24-25 in Vancouver. The most notable change is that former UFC heavyweight Assuerio Silva is no longer slated to fight…
Full Card (subject to change):
145 lbs & under
Sami Aziz (Sweden) vs. Hiroyuki Abe (Japan)
JR Sims (USA) vs. DJ Taiki (Japan)
155 lbs & under
Rodrigo Damm (Brazil) vs. Ryan Bow (Japan)
Per Eklund (Sweden) vs. Rafael Dias (USA)
Darren Elkins (USA) vs. Santino Defranco (USA)
Chris Ade (Canada) vs. Koji Oishi (Japan)
Chad George (USA) vs. Matteus Lahdesmaki (Finland)
170 lbs & under
Nick Thompson (USA) vs. Mark Weir (UK)
Piotr Jakaczynski (Sweden) vs. Dan Hornbuckle (USA)
Chris Wilson (USA) vs. Ray Steinbeiss (USA)
Diego Gonzales (Sweden) vs. Steve Berger (USA)
185 lbs & under
Tim McKenzie (USA) vs. Yuichi Nakanishi (Japan)
Kyacey Uscola (USA) vs. Gegard Mousasi (Netherlands)
Steve Byrnes (USA) vs. Alexander Shlemenko (Russia)
205 lbs & under
Antony Rea (France) vs. Steve Steinbeiss (USA)
Heavyweight
Todd Gouwenberg (Canada) vs. Constantin Gluhov (Russia)
Andrew Pederson (Canada) vs. Scott Lincoln (USA)
Dan Evensen (USA) vs. Dominic Richard (Canada)
Kristof Midoux (France) vs. Brad Morris (Australia)
If a recent article by Media Life is an accurate indication of ION’s feelings about BodogFIGHT, then it looks as though the feeling about not wanting to continue a contractual relationship past Februay could be mutual as Calvin Ayre has issued a statement in response to the article:
“Since its inception in 2006, Bodog Fight has become one of the heavy-hitters in the world of mixed martial arts, offering fans a unique combination of action and allure from exotic locations throughout the world.
In fact, a fifth installment of the cutting-edge series is scheduled to debut August 21 in the U.S. on the ION Television Network, which has helped introduce the program to viewers in more than 90-million American homes.
A sixth season of Bodog Fight will be shot later this month in Vancouver, Canada for broadcast on ION from October 9, 2007 to February 5, 2008, thereby fulfilling the contract agreed to by both parties.
It is our intention to re-evaluate this relationship when this current deal expires to determine whether it is in the best interest of both going forward.”
I came across a link on Zach Arnold’s FightOpinion.com in regard to an article on the Media Life Magazine web site discussing the ION network.
I won’t summarize the article too much, because who really cares about ION? However, there was this interesting tidbit in the piece:
The network has also been airing martial arts show “Bodog Fight” in late night since last year, but the brawling competition was too much of a departure for the network, says Burgess. It’ll probably go off the air once Bodog’s deal with ION ends in February.
Not good, to say the least. Hopefully Bodog’s upper management will start listening to the middle management and changes to the program can be made and prep the show for a new broadcast partner. No more beaches and no more fighters demonstrating submission holds on scantily clad females. It’s time to get serious and pattern the show after something that you’d see on ESPN Friday Night Fights. Make it look like a live telecast emanating from a small theater with young and up and coming fighters. The more of a sports telecast it resembles, the more suitors it will have.
Bodog needs to find a direction. If they can get some momentum going then the issue of whether ION wants them want back would be moot because they could easily outgrow the network.
Kurt talked about the semifinals that were just held on Thursday, the possibility of doing live shows in the future, why Bart Palaszewski qualified for the lightweight WGP instead of Shad Lierley, and much more.
Paul was extremely candid in addressing reports that claim Bodog is making cutbacks and in giving his thoughts about who would be favored if a match between Tara LaRosa and Gina Carano was ever signed.
Matt and I also discussed the big stories in MMA right now, including Sean Sherk and Hermes Franca’s appeal hearings before CSAC on Monday, our early thoughts on UFC 74, whether Liddell vs. Jardine is a legitimate main event, and much more!
Special thanks to our producer, John Floyd, and also to Matt, who did all the post-production work in getting the show posted.
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