heavyweights
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(Eilers, jobbing in the “fat guys with shirts” circuit.)
Sam Caplan at 5oz. reports that a verbal agreement has been reached for a bout between EliteXC heavyweight standout Antonio Silva and Justin Eilers, which would go down at EliteXC’s second CBS broadcast on July 26th. Jared Shaw indicated that the league’s vacant heavyweight belt would “more than likely be at stake,” though he stopped short of an actual confirmation.
Let’s just say this is a step down from those Sergei Kharitonov rumors. A 19-6-1 veteran of various MMA leagues, Eilers won his Octagon debut against Mike Kyle at UFC 49 (8/21/04), but was bounced out of the league after consecutive losses to Paul Buentello, Andrei Arlovski, and Brandon Vera (all by first-round KO/TKO). Since then he’s gone 10-1, but hasn’t beaten anybody noteworthy, unless you consider Sherman Pendergarst and Jimmy Ambriz noteworthy.
In short, he’s a successful journeyman, but doesn’t quite deserve to fight for a major title on network television. If this is the best heavyweight EliteXC can scare up right now — and honestly, where the hell is Roy Nelson? — they’d be much wiser to save the credibility of their heavyweight strap while it’s still non-existent, and use Silva/Eilers as a non-title squash match to open the CBS broadcast, introducing viewers to the scary power of Bigfoot. If Silva does well, fans would surely welcome him back to fight for the title against someone legitimate. We’ll keep you posted…
Written by admin on June 30th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on CBS and heavyweights and Jared Shaw and Rumors and Antonio Silva and EliteXC and Justin Eilers and MMA.
(Gonzaga’s game-plan begins to fall apart at UFC 80; photo courtesy of UFC.com.)
How far the mighty fall: Once the UFC’s #1 heavyweight contender, Gabriel Gonzaga will reportedly be facing Team Punishment journeyman Justin McCully in his next bout, at UFC 86 (July 5th, Las Vegas). McCully will be looking for his second win in the Octagon, after defeating Antoni Hardonk by decision at UFC Fight Night 9 in April 2007; he hasn’t competed since then. The match is particularly important for Gonzaga, who’s been on a two-fight skid since knocking out Mirko Cro Cop at UFC 70. Not only did Gonzaga lose big matches to Randy Couture and Fabricio Werdum, he didn’t look impressive in either bout, leading some fans to question his heart. Fighting McCully is Napao’s last chance to redeem himself; if he doesn’t have a successful showing, you can bet he’ll be a victim of the UFC’s ongoing roster cuts.
In other UFC news…
— Due to a busted ankle, Alessio Sakara has been forced to withdraw from The Ultimate Fighter 7 finale (June 21st, Las Vegas). Replacing Sakara in his middleweight bout against Rob Yundt is Rob Kimmons, a 20-3 veteran of an alphabet soup of regional leagues who will be making his UFC debut.
— Yes, you heard that right. Karo Parisyan is the “gatekeeper” of the UFC’s welterweight division, according to Dana White. Ouch, buddy!
— The UFC just sent a cease-and-desist letter to Tito Ortiz for wearing the UFC’s championship belt on the cover of his new autobiography, This Is Gonna Hurt. The belt is “intellectual property of the UFC…as such, its use in promotional materials requires the company’s approval per the terms of its standard contract.” Now who’s the bitch?
Written by admin on June 4th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Alessio Sakara and heavyweights and Rob Kimmons and Justin McCully and News and UFC and Gabriel Gonzaga and MMA.
Another high-profile matchup has been added to Affliction’s July 19th debut card (Location TBA), as Josh Barnett confirmed last night that he’ll be taking on Pedro Rizzo. It’ll only be Barnett’s second match on U.S. soil since UFC 36 (3/22/02), where “The Babyface Assassin” knocked out Randy Couture to win the UFC’s heavyweight belt, but was stripped of the title directly after for failing a steroid test; Barnett then re-launched his career in Japan, where the drug policies were, shall we say, less judgmental.
Adding to the drama is the fact that the two fighters have previously met. Barnett suffered his first career loss at UFC 30 (2/23/01) against Rizzo, who knocked out the Seattle native in the second round. Said Barnett:
“[A]fter he knocked me out with one of those really nice, well put together Pedro Rizzo right hands, I stood right there for the challenge and said you know what, I’m going to come back here, I’m going to fight him again and next time I’m knocking his ass out. So I’ve got to make good on my promises and I’ve got to stick to my word.”
Regarding Affliction 1’s current lineup — which includes Fedor Emelianenko vs. Tim Sylvia, and Matt Lindland vs. TBA — Josh was his usual sardonic self:
“As much as I love my buddy Fedor, it’s going to suck for him because I’m stealing the show.”
Barnett is consistently ranked among the world’s top ten heavyweights by any MMA news outlet with an opinion (this one included), despite the fact that he hasn’t had an impressive win since 2006. Beating Rizzo would help remind American MMA fans who he is, but a bout with the Brazilian UFC/PRIDE vet isn’t quite the return match we were hoping for. Rizzo has gone 2-2 since leaving the UFC in 2003; true, he scored both of his recent wins last year, but he’s also old enough to have fought Tank Abbott at Ultimate Brazil. Is anyone else getting a “Masters Superfight” vibe from this one?
Video of Barnett vs. Rizzo at UFC 30 is after the jump…
(more…)
Written by admin on May 6th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Affliction and heavyweights and Pedro Rizzo and News and UFC and Josh Barnett and MMA.
(…or group-gropes.)
With the UFC’s heavyweight division utterly bereft of legitimate contenders to face Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, the organization may need to start thinking creatively. And if they need Chuck Liddell to bail them out, Liddell would be up for it.
On Fight Network Radio, Chuck said he’d be willing to fight Minotauro for the interim big-boy belt if the UFC requests it. “If they want to set it up. I’m willing to do it,” he said. “Honestly I would like to get my title back at light heavyweight and then talk about moving up, but if that came up, (that) too is a possibility.”
Though Liddell is aching for another crack at Quinton Jackson, a win over Rashad Evans technically shouldn’t put him any closer to a title shot, and Chuck probably wouldn’t fare any better in a third match with Rampage than he did in their first two fights. He had a great run as the light-heavyweight champ — instead of chasing past glory, why not shoot for a new accomplishment and take on Nog at heavyweight? Especially if we’re talking about an immediate title shot (well, after Chuck gets through Rashad Evans, of course). Big as he is, Nogueira is beatable. And Rampage has Chuck figured out. Simple math, people.
Written by admin on March 11th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on heavyweights and Iceman and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria and News and UFC and Chuck Liddell and MMA.