We give the UFC props for not shredding Houston Alexander’s contract as soon as he took his second consecutive first-round knockout loss last month against James Irvin, but even the most compassionate among us would agree — if it happens again, he’ll be heading out the door. D-Day for “The Assassin” is now looking like September 17th; MMA Junkie reports that Alexander has agreed to a bout against Eric Schafer at UFC Fight Night 14. Schafer made his Octagon debut at UFC 62 with a submission win over Rob MacDonald, but lost his next two bouts via TKO to Michael Bisping and Stephan Bonnar. “Red” has since rallied in the Gladiators Fighting Series organization, where he’s posted back-to-back wins. Alexander had reportedly been offered several fights in August and September before settling on the Schafer matchup.
In other UFC fight-booking news, MMAMania passes along a rumor that a middleweight match between Ed Herman and Alan Belcher will also be on the UFN 14 card. Both men are coming off losses, to Demian Maia and Jason Day, respectively. And speaking of middleweights, a fight between Alessio Sakara and Rob Yundt has been added to the undercard of The Ultimate Fighter 7 finale on June 21st. Rob Yundt lost his Octagon debut to Ricardo Almeida at UFC 81 after taking the fight on very short notice. Sakara is 3-4 with one no-contest in the UFC, and was most recently dropped by Chris Leben at UFC 82.
MMA Mania dug up some goods on some future bouts that have possibly been scheduled for UFC Fight Night 14 in September via a post from Duke Roufus at Wisconsin Combat Sports. According to Roufus, Eric Schafer will take on Houston Alexander in a light heavyweight clash.
This should be interesting because Schafer is a beast [...]
The Terror gets slaughtered, Chainsaw says “no mas,” and Demian Maia unleashes the Submission of the Night in the second round of his undercard fight against Ed Herman. Get ‘em while they’re hot; for more UFC 83 vids, hit up MMALinker.
If you’re going to leave comments and discuss the fights with all the other MMAmania.com readers be sure to do it on the main UFC 83 results post and not this one.
Wow … talk about a reception for UFC Welterweight Champion, Matt Serra, during the official weigh-in for UFC 83: “Serra vs. St. Pierre 2” this afternoon.
It was a downright hostile crowd at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, which is not surprising considering Serra’s opponent — and hometown star — Georges St. Pierre, as well as his “disparaging” remarks heading into this event.
I just can’t fathom what it’s going to be like tomorrow night when the fight actually takes place.
“If you’re pissed right now, wait until Saturday night,” Serra shouted over the crowd. Something tells me the Mounties should crack out the riot gear just in case that prediction is accurate.
Meanwhile, Michael Bisping and Charles McCarthy head a head-bumping, obscenity-swapping staredown. And there’s clearly no love lost between Jason MacDonald and Joe Doerksen.
Amazing stuff.
At any rate, here are the complete UFC 83 weigh-in results:
170 lbs.: Matt Serra (169.5) vs. Georges St. Pierre (169.5) 185 lbs.: Rich Franklin (185.5) vs. Travis Lutter (185) 185 lbs.: Michael Bisping (185.5) vs. Charles McCarthy (186) 155 lbs.: Mac Danzig (154.5) vs. Mark Bocek (154.5) 185 lbs.: Kalib Starnes (186) vs. Nate Quarry (185.5) — swing bout 185 lbs.: Jason MacDonald (185) vs. Joe Doerksen (184.5) 185 lbs.: Alan Belcher (185) vs. Jason Day (183.5) 185 lbs.: Ed Herman (185.5) vs. Demian Maia (184.5) 155 lbs.: Sam Stout (155.5) vs. Rich Clementi (155) 265 lbs.: Cain Velasquez (235.5) vs. Brad Morris (225.5) 170 lbs.: Jonathan Goulet (169.5) vs. Kuniyoshi Hironaka (170)
*Note: Fighters are allowed to weigh one pound more than the division limit in non-title fights.
The televised portion of the pay-per-view (PPV) event begins tomorrow (Saturday, April 19) at 10 p.m. ET. We will provide LIVE blow-by-blow, round-by-round coverage of the main card action at this time.
UFC 83 quick results, however, will begin to flow earlier than that here at MMAmania.com at about 8:00 p.m. ET with the prelim fights.
Tomorrow is going to be insane — it’s going to be absolute pandemonium inside the Bell Centre. Remember to hit us up for all the latest results coverage before, during and after the action.
Demian Maia will make his return to the eight-sided-cage this Saturday night in Montreal. He will clash with middleweight fighter and The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) season three runner-up, Ed Herman, at UFC 83.
Maia, who has won his first six career fights, will be in only his second in the UFC.
“I feel pretty good. I love the Octagon,” Maia told MMAMania.com. Maia made his UFC debut at UFC 77: “Hostile Territory,” when he tooled Ryan Jensen, submitting him via rear naked choke in the first round.
Herman will be one of Maia’s tougher opponents. Since losing to Jason MacDonald at UFC Fight Night: “The Final Chapter,” in fact, Herman has three straight UFC wins, including a knockout against Joe Doerksen at UFC 78: “Validation.” Herman also has wins against Dave Menne and Nick Thompson.
Maia acknowledges that “Short Fuse” will be a tough battle.
“He’s a very tough opponent, with good takedowns and ground game,” Maia said. “To win I need to play my best … and I’ll do it.”
Maia is certainly no slouch at the ground game. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner has won four of his six career fights by submission.
“BJJ is my life and if I never lost it’s thanks to my background,” Maia said.
Maia is also a 2007 Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) Submission Wrestling World champion and a runner-up in 2005. Maia would like to win the ADCC Title again in 2009.
“ADCC is the grappling world cup, the most important tournament with no gi in the world,” Maia said. “After UFC, the ADCC is the most important event for me. I want to win again in 2009.” Maia has also defeated UFC heavyweight fighter Gabriel Gonzaga in a jiu-jitsu match, among others.
Maia considers Rickson Gracie to be one of his biggest influences in his MMA career. He considers Gracie to be inspirational.
“He is one of the biggest BJJ icons, nowadays. He influences me not just a fighter but as person too,” Maia said. “I know him personally and he is a great person that gives me a lot of inspiration.”
With Herman on the horizon, a win would certainly make Maia more noticeable in the middleweight division. UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva has had a death grip on the division and appears to be holding on for just a while longer.
Maia would love an opportunity to fight Silva down the road.
“He is the best in the world,” Maia said. “A fight with him one day is gonna be a great honor. I respect him a lot.”
What’s important for Maia now is to leave Montreal on Saturday night with a win over Herman.
“It s very important,” Maia said. “I wanna get the title one day.”
His journey toward that goal will have to go through the Bell Centre this weekend … and Ed Herman.
(Ed Herman: The guy who’s about to lose to the guy who could possibly be worthy of facing Anderson Silva one day.)
With just over a month to go until UFC 83, a pair of fights have been added to the preliminary card, bringing the event to a thick 11 fights total. The UFC announced today that TUF 3 finalist Ed “Short Fuse” Herman will take on undefeated Brazilian grappler Demian Maia, who choked out Ryan Jensen during his UFC debut last October; Herman is riding a three-fight win streak, his most recent being a knockout of Joe Doerksen at UFC 78 in November. The news follows up a weekend announcement confirming that heavyweights Brad Morris (8-2) and Cain Velasquez (2-0) will both make their Octagon debuts at UFC 83. Morris is a heavy-handed Australian striker who’s done time in King of the Cage and Bodog Fight. Despite his very limited professional experience, Velasquez was previously shouted out by his American Kickboxing Academy teammate Jon Fitch as the dude who will “turn the heavyweight world upside down in another year or two.”
With these additions, the final lineup to the April 19th Montreal show looks like this:
MAIN CARD
Matt Serra vs. Georges St. Pierre (for welterweight title)
Rich Franklin vs. Travis Lutter (middleweights)
Nate Quarry vs. Kalib Starnes (middleweights)
Michael Bisping vs. Charles McCarthy (middleweights)
Mac Danzig vs. Marc Bocek (lightweights)
PRELIMINARY CARD
Joe Doerksen vs. Jason MacDonald (middleweights)
Jason Day vs. Alan Belcher (middleweights)
Rich Clementi vs. Sam Stout (lightweights)
Kuniyoshi Hironaka vs. Jonathan Goulet (welterweights)
Ed Herman vs. Demian Maia (middleweights)
Brad Morris vs. Cain Velasquez (heavyweights)
So many middleweights, so little hope of ever beating Anderson Silva…
Ed Herman (14-5) and Demian Maia (6-0) are set to meet at UFC 83 on March 8 in a middleweight tilt, according to GracieMag.com.
Here’s a snip from Maia:
“I got back to Sao Paulo today; I was vacationing in California with my wife, where I also shot some Jiu-Jitsu dvds. I’ll be back at the UFC on March 8th to fight Ed Herman, who I don’t know, but my manager brought me a tape with some of his fights to analyze, but I haven’t had time to watch yet.”
Maia is a ridiculous Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner. In fact, he is the current Abu Dahbi Combat Club (ADCC) U87Kg Champion. During his Octagon debut at UFC 77: “Hostile Territory” in October 2007, Maia put on a grappling clinic against Ryan Jensen, submitting him via rear naked choke in round one.
Herman is on a three-fight win streak after recovering from back-to-back losses to start his UFC tenure. The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 3 185-pound finalist most recently avenged a loss from earlier in his career against Joe Doerksen at UFC 78: “Validation” in November 2007, knocking out “El Dirte” in he final stanza.
“Short Fuse” has five losses on his record and four of them come by way of submission. He’ll have to be real careful against a super talented jiu-jitsu threat like Maia if he wants to make it four wins in a row.
UFC 83 was supposed to take place at the Manchester Evening News (M.E.N.) Arena in Manchester, England. However, recent reports indicate that the location and venue are still undetermined (it could possibly be held in the United States). In fact, there’s even some speculation that the event has been postponed altogether and won’t take place on March 8.
Definitely stay tuned for further clarification.
Other rumored bouts on the mystery fight card include Michael Bisping vs. Charles McCarthy and Houston Alexander vs. James Irvin.
ESPN has several UFC 78: “Validation” post-fight interviews now available with other fighters such as Rashad Evans, Michael Bisping and Frank Edgar. To check ‘em all out click here.
We’re not going to get to see them, according to Nicholas Lembo, Counsel for the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board (NJSACB).
Other states such as Nevada, California and Ohio, among others, often publish the fighter purses as a matter of public record following mixed martial arts (MMA) events. The NJSACB, however, cites confidentially concerns as the reason it has never released numbers nor will it for UFC 78: “Validation” this past weekend.
Remember that the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, too, would not release the fighter payouts after UFC 69: “Shootout” in Houston on April 7, 2006.
However, during the post-fight press conference UFC President Dana White did announce individual bonuses for select bouts on the nine-fight card.
Here are the awards:
Fight of the Night: Thiago Alves vs. Chris Lytle ($55,000 each) Knockout of the Night: Ed Herman ($55,000) Submission of the Night: Akihiro Gono ($55,000)
Of course, these individual bonuses are in addition to the base salaries agreed upon in the fighters’ contracts (The same base salaries the NJSACB will not release).
UFC 78: “Validation” took place at the Prudential Center in Newark, N..J., on Saturday, November 17. For blow-by-blow, round-by-round coverage of the main card action click here. For a recap of the pay-per-view (PPV) event peep this.
