Former IFL welterweight champ Jay Hieron has reportedly verbally agreed to face Drew Fickett at the next Affliction event in Las Vegas on October 11. The real question is, will Fickett find some clever new way to screw it up? Fickett’s manager, Alexander Oxendine, seems open to that possibility:
“We’re in discussion with a few organizations and Affliction is one of them,” said Oxendine. “They are at the top of our list. As far as Drew is concerned, he’s made a great turnaround with his life and training. He is ready to move forward.”
If you don’t know, Fickett is the same guy who managed to get himself fired from MFC and booted off a Strikeforce card in one glorious weekend when he tried to breach his contract in the apparent hopes that no one would figure it out. They did, chaos ensued, and Fickett went on to lose via questionable stoppage in a Rage in the Cage event.
So now one of MMA’s favorite troublemakers is being offered a spot in Affliction against one of the tougher welterweights outside of the UFC, and he’s not sure if he wants to take it? Affliction should not only be at the top of his list, it should be the entire list. He should run down there and sign the contract in his own blood before they have a chance to change their minds. Let’s hope this is just a negotiating ploy by his agent. If Fickett ends up turning this down to fight in some small show at a fairground somewhere, we’ll know it’s time for new management. No, not Mark Dion, either.
(Mike Ciesnolevicz covers his nipples for the sake of decency.)
All the talk about Drew Fickett’s MFC/Strikeforce debacle raises the issue of whether fighters should be free to take bouts that are close together but in different organizations. Of course, breach of contract is a separate issue, but Mike Ciesnolevicz recently tested his durability by fighting twice in one weekend, in two different weight classes and in two different states.
Initially, that sounds impressive. Ciesnolevicz must be a very tough bastard or a very poor bastard to agree to that. First he beat Andrew Force in Decatur, Ill. in the Courage Fighting Championship on Friday night, then went up to heavyweight to beat Matt Anderson in Extreme Challenge 100 in Iowa on Saturday.
But check out what Ciesnolevicz had to say about his strategy after Friday night:
“I was trying to throw no punches, because I didn’t want to hurt my hands for (Saturday’s fight). (Saturday) I can go all out.â€
Now, I don’t want to pick on Ciesnolevicz for doing something that few fighters would even attempt, but maybe he’s unwittingly hit upon the reason people don’t normally fight twice in two days. By saying he was saving himself for Saturday, when he could go all out, he’s essentially saying that the people who paid to see him fight on Friday got less than their money’s worth.
It’s not so much that you can’t have an exciting fight if one guy is trying not to throw punches. Ciesnolevicz won by submission, so he must have known what he was doing. It’s just that when fans pay for a ticket they expect to see each fighter giving it everything he’s got. Whether they’re skilled or not, that’s the baseline requirement that fans typically show up with.
If Ciesnolevicz was trying to “fight safe” as he put it, that means he wasn’t giving the fans what they had paid for. It’s not that this is necessarily wrong, it’s just not a good idea.
It illustrates one of the many reasons why fighters don’t usually attempt this and why promoters try to keep them from even thinking about it. There are just so many things that can go wrong, and even when it goes right it’s not a recipe for a great show.
(Joe Riggs won’t be fighting tonight. Sucks, buddy. Photo courtesy of MMAWeekly.)
Yesterday, we passed along a Sherdog report that claimed Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva had agreed to face Sergei Kharitonov in an EliteXC heavyweight title fight. Awesome matchup, right? Unfortunately, EliteXC’s Jared Shaw refutes it, telling FiveOuncesofPain “That fight is 100 percent not happening.â€
When asked about whether an opponent was in place for Silva, Shaw indicated that one has been selected that is worthy of fighting for a title but that a deal was in the process of being finalized.
Worthy? Possibly. As worthy as Kharitonov? Probably not. But J. Shaw wasn’t quite finished peeing on our parade. Regarding previous reports that Kimbo Slice was slated to face Brett Rogers in October, Shaw said “A fight could possibly take place between Kimbo and Rogers within the next 12 months,†but nothing was official yet. And as for rumors that Gary Shaw was on his way out of EliteXC, Jared denied those as well:
“I’m not gonna lie to you; the Tim Russert episode really struck a cord with Gary. He has an extensive travel schedule and is a workaholic much the way Tim was… And (the) truth is he’s getting up there in age. So Gary is at a point now where he just can’t keep up the constant back and forth to California from his home (in New Jersey). And so he’s just taking a step back in his life, not in the company (and) not being pushed. Just taking some time to be healthy and enjoy everything he’s built from the ground up. The creator rarely gets to smile at his artwork because he’s so busy making more.”
Moving from EliteXC to Strikeforce, we mentioned yesterday that Joe Riggs had stepped in for Shonie Carter in a bout against Luke Stewart scheduled for tonight, despite having major back surgery just four months ago. Well, he’s still on painkillers, and that’s apparently a no-no. MMARated had the scoop:
According to Riggs’ agent, Ken Pavia, Riggs was not cleared to fight because he took a prescribed percocet three days ago and while there was a chance it would not show up in a drug test his camp felt it was only right to tell the CSAC. According to Pavia, Riggs’ camp was faced with a similar situation prior to his December 2006 fight against Diego Sanchez in San Diego where they informed the CSAC that he took a prescribed drug and nothing came of it. Same commission, different outcome this time around.
MMARated also claimed that Drew Fickett had been selected to replace Joe Riggs as Luke Stewart’s opponent, at a catch-weight of 178, but that bit of news is being contradicted by TKO Xtreme, who report that a contractual obligation is blocking “The Master” from taking the fight, and Luke Stewart is still without an opponent:
For weeks now, Fickett has been slated to face Ryan “The Real Deal†Ford at MFC 17: Hostile Takeover on July 25, 2008 at the River Cree Casino and Resort in Edmonton, Alberta. With the bout being only a month away, it would make no sense for Mark Pavelich and his staff to allow Fickett to fight and risk injury.
Good lord, who can keep it all straight? I think I’m going to start my drinking a little early today…
Remember when it was announced that an EliteXC welterweight title match between Jake Shields vs. Drew Fickett had been re-scheduled for June 14 in Honolulu, Hawaii?
Then remember when it was postponed after Fickett reportedly had suffered an injury?
Well, soon after it was announced that Fickett was scheduled to fight Ryan Ford for the vacant MFC [...]
I would take this as a clear sign that EliteXC’s welterweight belt is cursed by poltergeists and refuses to be possessed by mortals.
The championship fight between top 170-pound contender Jake Shields and challenger Drew Fickett for EliteXC’s vacant welterweight title has been postponed for a second time, as it was announced today that Fickett has injured his knee and will not be able to compete at EliteXC’s June 14th event in Honolulu, Hawaii. The two fighters were originally supposed to meet at “Shamrock vs. Le” on March 29th, but Shields pulled a muscle in his back days before the event, and Fickett took on Jae Suk Lim instead, winning by guillotine choke in the first round. Luckily, Shields doesn’t seem to be too disappointed by Fickett’s injury, as his back may not be 100% recovered yet anyway. As he told MMAWeekly:
“I think I could be okay to fight by (June 14), but I think opting for July would probably be the smartest thing. It would give me more time to rehab before jumping into sparring, and I think there would be a little more exposure with it being on CBS (in July).â€
The June 14th card still features K.J. Noons defending his lightweight title against Yves Edwards, as well as fights between Nick Diaz and Muhsin Corbbrey, Murilo “Ninja†Rua vs. Tony Bonello, Rafael Feijao vs. Wayne Cole, and Ron Waterman vs. Dave Herman.
Speaking of Diaz, the pot-abusing lightweight has joined the lineup of DREAM.3 (May 11th; Saitama, Japan), where he’ll take on Katsuya Inoue, a two-time welterweight King of Pancrase with a career record of 16-5-3. Reportedly, the winner of that fight will face Hayato Sakurai for DREAM’s welterweight title in July or September. (I guess not all the belts will be awarded via chaotic grand prix.) With this addition, DREAM.3’s mighty, mighty lineup is looking like this:
Lightweight GP Round 2
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Luis Buscape
Joachim Hansen vs. Eddie Alvarez
Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Caol Uno
Katsuhiko Nagata vs. [whoever fills in for Shinya Aoki]
Middleweight GP Round 1 Fight
Jason Miller vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Middleweight GP Reserve Fight
Melvin Manhoef vs. Kim Dae Won
There has been another setback involving the Jake Shields and Drew Fickett Elite XC welterweight title fight because of an injury. This time it is “The Master” who has the issue, sustaining an injury to his knee that will force the fight for the vacant welterweight tile to be scratched from the June 14 show in Hawaii, according to MMAWeekly.com.
Originally the two were set to meet at the Strikeforce/Elite XC co-promoted event in San Jose in March, which was headlined by Frank Shamrock and Cung Le. However, Shields hurt his back and had to withdraw less than a week out from the fight.
Fickett still went on to compete that night against Jae Suk Lim. He dominated with a first round submission and had an interesting in cage interview afterwards with Shields standing by.
In fact, Fickett predicted the fight on June 14 would end by death from rear naked choke.
Fickett looked great in that fight and a little psychotic afterwards, which was great because at that moment I was finally starting to believe he had a legit shot at being the first Elite XC welterweight champ.
At first this fight had its skeptics. Some felt Shields was superior in talent and confidence to Fickett and would just roll right through him, but now this fight has hype, and this fight is for real. The only thing … is it ever going to happen?
Here’s a snip from Gary Shaw, Elite XC live events president, on moving the fight again:
“Obviously the back injury happened (to Shields) and the easiest thing to do was move him to Hawaii to fight Drew. Unfortunately since then Drew Fickett has hurt his knee and he’s not going to be able to take that fight on June 14 and that will be rescheduled again.”
Shaw went on to say there was still a possibility Shields could fight a replacement fighter in Hawaii, like Fickett did in San Jose, but that was unlikely because he was still recovering from the original back injury.
Here’s Jake Shields on that:
“I think I could be okay to fight by (June 14), but I think opting for July would probably be the smartest thing. It would give me more time to rehab before jumping into sparring, and I think there would be a little more exposure with it being on CBS (in July).”
I have to agree with Jake on that one. I’m more interested in seeing him fight Fickett later than some has been or never will be replacement now. I was curious as to the reason this title fight wouldn’t be on a CBS broadcast anyway … it only makes sense to me to put this fight in front of as many viewers as possible.
Plus, with the KJ Noons and Yves Edwards title fight still a go for June 14 in Hawaii, I think that card will be just fine. Remember, Nick Diaz vs. Muhsin Corbbrey is also scheduled for that night, and there are other rumors involving Ninja Rua for Hawaii as well.
“I had to pull out of the March 29 fight due to a back injury. I just wanted to apologize to EliteXC, Drew Fickett and of course the fans. Pulling out of this fight is not something I wanted to do, but I’ll be back stronger. It’s just a minor setback and I’ll be taking the title soon. Thanks to to everyone for all of the support.”
– EliteXC welterweight contender Jake Shields — one of the best 170-pound fighters on the planet — shares his thoughts via his MySpace on withdrawing from the vacant title fight with Drew Fickett last Saturday. Fickett went on to beat the replacement — Jae Suk Lim — in pretty dominating fashion. Afterwards, Shields was called to the ring and it was announced that the two would finally get it on for the belt June 14 in Honolulu, Hawaii, at the Blaisdell Arena. EliteXC Lightweight Champion KJ Noons is also set to defend his EliteXC lightweight belt against Yves Edwards that night.
Cyborg, Shields, and Mean Mr. Munchies may be M.I.A., but tomorrow night’s EliteXC/Strikeforce show still has some very compelling match-ups going for it, including a main event that will pit the fan-hyped Cung Le against the self-hyped Frank Shamrock in a middleweight championship bout. You can catch the action on Showtime starting at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Here’s what the televised lineup looks like…
Shamrock vs. Le (for Strikeforce middleweight title)
Frank (24-8-1) has talked his usual trash about how he’s going to spank the relatively inexperienced Le (5-0), but trust us, it’s only for promotional purposes; Shamrock isn’t dumb enough to actually believe he’ll be cruising through an easy one tomorrow, and unlike his brother Ken, he’s not dumb enough to stand and trade with a superior striker. Le has the most devastating kicks in MMA right now, and he ended his last fight — against Sam Morgan last November — via the ultra-rare body-kick KO. But like other fighters who come from a kickboxing background, Le’s long-range kicks often leave him open for single-leg takedowns, and Shamrock could capitalize. He’ll certainly be looking to take the fight to the ground when the moment is right and finish Le by submission, and we think Shammy will succeed in the second or third round. If they really wanted to make this one interesting, the loser would have to accept eternal banishment from San Jose.
Drew Fickett vs. Jae Suk Lim (welterweights)
A.k.a., “The Battle of the Guys Who Were Supposed to Be Fighting Other Guys.” Rage in the Cage/UFC vet Drew Fickett (32-5) has choked out fighters like Josh Koscheck, Kurt Pellegrino, and Carlo Prater, and has generally faced much tougher competition than “The Korean Icepick” (9-3), who spent most of his career in Spirit MC. We’re loving Lim’s nickname, but it’s not going to help him much against the far-more-experienced Arizona native. Both men hadn’t been preparing to face each other, so it’s a bit of a wash, but judging from how Fickett’s done against guys with Lim’s skill level, we’d say a first-round submission victory is nearly inevitable.
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.
Just a taste of what Jake will have to deal with on Saturday. In his last fight at Cage Rage 24 (12/1/07), Drew Fickett faced the heavy hands of Mark “The Wizard” Weir, and was taking heaps of abuse while on his back before finding an opening and wrapping Weir up with a rear-naked choke. Unfortunately, Shields has never been submitted in his career — not an encouraging stat for Fickett, who relies heavily on his subs. Any predictions?
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