(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…
Strikeforce’s “Melendez vs. Thomson” event goes down tomorrow at the HP Pavilion in San Jose. You can watch the main card live on HDNet beginning at 10:30 p.m. ET; here’s what you’ll be seeing…
Gilbert Melendez (14-1) vs. Josh Thomson (14-2) [for lightweight title]
With five straight wins in Strikeforce and an impressive ground game, Josh “The Punk” Thomson would be a credible threat to Gilbert Melendez’s Strikeforce belt, except for two things — he’s still recovering from shoulder surgery, and he and Melendez are longtime training partners, which means the champion already knows his game a little too well. It won’t be a gimme, but El Niño’s relentless aggression will likely win the day, as it usually does; though maybe he’ll go easy on his friend and let it go to a decision.
Bobby Southworth (8-5) vs. Anthony Ruiz (20-10) [for light heavyweight title]
205-pound champion Southworth actually lost his last fight against Anthony Ruiz, via TKO due to cut at “Strikeforce: Four Men Enter, One Man Survives” in November. For unclear reasons — and if you know, please enlighten us — the match was a non-title fight, and it set up tomorrow’s rematch for the championship. Though Southworth hasn’t fought since, Ruiz has scored wins against Jimmy Ambriz and Brad Imes. Submissions are Ruiz’s kryptonite (eight of his ten losses come from chokes and armbars), so Southworth would be wise to get it to the ground before he’s stuffed again by Ruiz’s sharp striking. Still, I see Ruiz taking it by decision and earning the belt he should already be wearing. Fun fact: Southworth picked up a no-contest against James Irvin at “Strikeforce: Revenge,” when both men fell from the cage at the 17-second mark of round 1.
Nam Phan (14-4) vs. Billy Evangelista (6-0)
With a mix of punching power and ground fluency, Billy Evangelista is a promising talent in the lightweight division, and Nam Phan definitely represents the next step up in competition for him. A Strikeforce newcomer, Phan is coming off of back-to-back TKO victories; he’s lost just twice in his last 11 fights, to Gesias Calvancante and Josh Thomson. Both guys will be coming out looking to prove themselves, but I’d have to give the nod to Phan based on experience.
Luke Stewart (5-1) vs. Joe Riggs (27-10)
It was originally supposed to be Shonie Carter up against Luke Stewart, but Mr. International broke his knuckle and Joe Riggs was sent to fill in. Riggs hasn’t been in the cage since his back exploded during his Strikeforce at the Dome bout against Cory Devela in February; he had spinal cord surgery shortly after, and I wonder if his return is still too soon, especially considering he took the fight on a week’s notice. All six of Luke Stewart’s pro fights have been in Strikeforce, all his wins are by stoppage, and he’s coming off his first defeat, a decision loss against Tiki Ghosn. It’s hard to call, but if Riggs is less than 100%, he’s going to have a tough night ahead of him.
Jeremiah Metcalf (8-4) vs. Raymond Daniels (0-0)
Metcalf is being given a third chance to prove himself in Strikeforce, after being submitted by Luke Stewart in October 2006, and again by Dennis Hallman last November; he’s riding a three-fight win streak in smaller shows and is ready to get back on that horse. Daniels has the hype behind him in this match. Undefeated as a pro kickboxer, he built up an 18-0 record in Chuck Norris’ World Combat League (check out some of the destruction here). The guy could be the next Cung Le, which works out nicely because Cung Le doesn’t seem to be particularly interested in being Cung Le these days. Daniels via highlight-reel knockout.
And the undercard looks like this:
Miesha Tate (1-1) vs. Elaina Maxwell (2-2)
Chris Cariaso (6-1) vs. Anthony Figueroa (4-2)
Jesse Gillespie (1-1) vs. Dave Martin (0-1)
Bobby Stack (4-1) vs. Jose Palacios (3-0)
Brian Caraway (4-2) vs. Alvin Cacdac (4-3)
Cyrillo Padhillo (1-2) vs. Jesse Jones (2-0)
Eric Jacob (1-3) vs. Alexander Trivino (1-0)
Jorge Interiano (0-0) vs. Travis Johnson (0-0)
— In a match where the loser may have to re-think their current career path, Kendall Grove and Evan Tanner have been booked to face each other at the Ultimate Fighter 7 finale on June 21st in Las Vegas. Grove, the middleweight winner from the third season of TUF, has dropped back-to-back contests against Patrick Cote and Jorge Rivera, while Tanner has lost three of his last four UFC matches, most recently a second-round KO loss to Yushin Okami at UFC 82. By the way, Tanner’s blog is back up, after being taken down temporarily in the wake of his gambling bender post.
— Kenny Florian will join Mike Goldberg in the broadcast booth at UFC 83 (April 19th, Montreal), filling in for Joe Rogan, who will be unable to attend due to previous obligations. We look forward to a new voice constantly correcting Goldberg, as well as less references to the “rape choke.”
— Kim Couture won her first MMA match on Saturday in Portland, Oregon, taking care of Jessica Cruz via ground-and-pound TKO at 1:43 of the third round. “It was a good fight for Kim because Cruz was scrappy,” Randy Couture said. “You don’t want your first fight to be too easy, but you don’t want to be over your head either. It was a perfect first fight.” Speaking of Randy, he addressed his future in a new interview with MMAMadness, saying “More than likely, I will end up signing with HDNet and Affliction. Realistically, that is the best option.”
— You know that skinny, nerdy looking new UFC ref who handled the Hamill/Boetsch and Maynard/Edgar fights at UFN 13? Well, apparently he has an open marriage.
The love/hate relationship between Joe Riggs and his agent Ken Pavia is a matter of public record. In fact, Pavia has enough admiration for Joe Diesel that he has no problem blowing up the dude’s spot once in a while, as in his latest column for MMA Junkie. Though this story about Riggs’s run-in with a paraplegic grappler isn’t quite on the level of the Ricco Rodriguez car-accident switcheroo, it’s still pretty amazing. Check it:
[Nick] is a son of a bitch who is 200 lbs. of super-human upper-body strength and walks on his hands because he has no legs, literally…The first time Pat Miletich [told Riggs] to roll with him he thought it was a joke. Diesel playfully obliged and got into his guard. Nick proceeded to clap his stubs, which end mid-thigh, into Joe’s jugular vein and twist his arm off. He said his neck was sore for two weeks as a result. Joe said he got pissed and cursed at him. He said, “Let’s go again.” This time Nick grabbed him in a leg lock and was so strong that Joe was forced to tap again. But Nick, who apparently didn’t like to be cursed at, said “not yet Joe” and torqued it further. That kind of stuff doesn’t go ever well among fighters.
Now, Joe was really heated and demanded to try again. Well, he lasted a little longer — like a minute — before it was tap No. 3…Diesel was so upset that he stormed off to the locker room and showered up. In came Nick walking on his hands and Joe, in an act of retribution, proceeded to pee on the shower floor.
Nick then forced Joe to shampoo his hair for him. No, not really, but I like the visual.
By the way, Riggs is pain-free after undergoing a procedure yesterday to freeze three nerves in his lower back that were pinched by an out-of-place disc suffered in his fight with Cory Devela, and wants to get back in the cage as soon as possible. As Riggs told Pavia: “Make sure Devela doesn’t fight anyone else. I don’t want him exposed before I smash him.”
I’d like to congratulate everyone who put money on +450 underdog Jan Nortje in his Strikeforce headlining match against Bob Sapp last night — you are officially smarter than a 5th grader. Video of the fight will be posted early this week in case you missed it (and honestly, how many of you subscribe to HDNet?) but wow, what a performance. The Beast rushed out after the bell and immediately got caught with a punch, then clinched and pushed Nortje into the fence. After some fat-man hugging, the two super-heavyweights separated and Sapp stuck Nortje with some stiff jabs. But as soon as Notje got the chance to throw some leather, Bob winced, ran in the other direction, and fell to the mat, where Nortje pounded him until the ref stopped it at 55 seconds into the first. Classic Sapp. Now are you ready to retire, dickhead?
But it wasn’t all slapstick comedy at the Tacoma Dome. Joe Riggs had to be carried out on a stretcher after his submission-via-agony loss to Cory Devela. Riggs and Devela clinched early in round 1, and Devela broke the stalemate with a hip throw that slammed Riggs hard onto his back. Not only was the pain immediately apparent on Riggs’s face, but he barely had the strength to tap out; the ref called it at 1:22 of the first round. Unable to get to his feet, paramedics had to remove the former UFC fighter from the cage. Making the scene even more brutal, Riggs’s entire body seemed to spasm involuntarily while he was laid out. For a guy who was previously addicted to painkillers, Riggs will have a tough road ahead of him, even if the prognosis is just a few slipped discs. We’ll update you when you know more.
In the evening’s other notable match, 46-year-old former UFC heavyweight champ Maurice Smith spolied the MMA debut of 41-year-old kickboxer Rick “The Jet” Roufus. Roufus was totally lost once Smith shot in for a takedown, and Mo’ was able to get full mount and tap Roufus with an armlock at 1:53 of round one. It was the second fight in Smith’s current farewell-tour; he stepped away from the game in 2000, but returned to action with a TKO victory over Marco Ruas at an IFL event last May.
The night’s other matches weren’t nearly as exciting, unless you dig slow three-rounders fought by guys you’ve never heard of. But here’s how they turned out:
Eddy Ellis def. Steve Berger via unanimous decision
Jorge Masvidal def. Ryan Healy via unanimous decision
Mychal Clark def. Josh Bennett via TKO (doctor’s stoppage), end of round 2
Lyle Beerbohm def. Ray Perales via submission (guillotine choke), 1:19 into round 3
Mike Hayes def. Matt Kovacs via unanimous decision
Zach Skinner def. Scott Shaffer via unanimous decision
Nathan Coy def. Dave Courchaine via KO (punch), 1:46 into round 1
Another injury has forced a fighter on the February 23rd Strikeforce At the Dome card to pull out of his fight. Yesterday, Brad Blackburn went down with a shoulder injury. MMAWeekly reports today that middleweight journeyman Cedric Marks has also tweaked his shoulder, and will be replaced by UFC veteran Joe Riggs, who will face 7-1 Washington-native Cory Devela. After a long stint in the Rage in the Cage organization and other regional shows, Riggs worked his way up to the UFC where he compiled a 4-4 record. His most notable match was a November 2005 fight against Matt Hughes that was scheduled to be for the welterweight title; Riggs failed to make weight, the match was downgraded into a non-championship fight, and Riggs lost anyway. His last fight was a first-round knockout victory over Eugene Jackson at a Strikeforce event last Sepember.
You know what I love so much about covering MMA? There’s never a shortage of news to cover. Here are some stories that are being reported around the ‘Net:
- Loretta Hunt from The Fight Network spoke with John Hackleman, the trainer for Chuck Liddell, who says he’s unaware of any retirement talk. In fact, he not only claims Liddell told him he’ll be back in the gym next Monday, but didn’t rule out a December fight for Liddell:
- It was revealed during the UFC 76 post-fight press conference that Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s hand injury worsened during his UFC 75 title defense against Dan Henderson and that he’s unlikely to fight again in 2007. It doesn’t look like the UFC can fall back on a Forrest Griffin vs. Rampage UFC light heavyweight title match for UFC 79 on Dec. 29.
- According to this week’s print edition of The Wrestling Observer, BodogFIGHT welterweight champion Nick Thompson is having contract issues with the company. He’s one of the most underrated fighters in the world right now (right up there with Jon Fitch) and would be a tremendous addition to any fight promotion’s talent roster.
- In case you missed it, Ricco Rodriguez confirmed on Inside the Cage Radio with Matt Cava and I this past weekend that he’s still under contract to EliteXC (although a debut match has not been scheduled) and that he plans to continue to fight at heavyweight for the time being. His ultimate goal in the next year is to fight at light heavyweight and he also challenged former friend Tito Ortiz to a catch weight fight at 225 lbs.
- In a previous interview with me for CBSSports.com earlier in the year, Joe “Diesel” Riggs claimed he was transferred from the WEC to the UFC per his request. During Inside the Cage, he indicated that was not actually the case and that the idea was actually pushed on him by Zuffa. Riggs has signed what he believes is a five fight contract with Strikeforce and he’ll make his debut for the promotion this Saturday at the Playboy Mansion against 41-year old Eugene Jackson. It’s a non-exclusive deal but he needs to get permission from Strikeforce to fight outside of it (hey, how about Riggs vs. Nick Diaz II?). Riggs also confirmed there’s a chance he could fight Cung Le if he beats Jackson but said that while he wouldn’t mind fighting Le, he’d love to fight Frank Shamrock.
- I came across this interview via a story on MMANews.com, but in an interview with IronLife.com, Pride lightweight Joachim Hansen indicated he is still technically under contract to Zuffa through the Pride acquisition but there are no immediate plans to fight for the company. It appears they don’t want to use him under his existing deal, and wanted to re-negotiate his contract for less money:
They offered me a fight some months ago – I wasn’t sure if they had bought Pride for what the hell was going on. They offered me a fight against Marcus Aurelio, they offered me half the salary of what I got in Pride. Obviously at the time they had already bought Pride, in my opinion they also bought my contract, so how can they offer me half the salary?
- According to The Fight Network, NSAC officially decided not too suspend Renato “Babalu” Sobral following his extended choke on David Heath following their match at UFC 74 on Aug. 25. However, he will not receive the $25,000 win bonus that the commission decided to withhold, which means he’s been fined $25,000 in essence. All because a guy called him a mother fucker?
- According to MMAjunkie.com, Jake O’Brien, who underwent what what considered at the time to be possible career-ending back surgery, will resume training next year.
Sam and Matt share their thoughts about the fallout from the Gina Carano vs. Tony Evinger match at last Saturday’s EliteXC “Uprising” from Tonya Evinger’s pre-fight comments, Mauro Ranallo’s in-fight comments, and Gina Carano’s post-fight comments and her weight cutting issues. The show takes a unique turn when Sam’s wife joins the show to give a female fighter’s perspective.
Segment Two - UFC lightweight fighter Kenny “The Finisher” Florian:
Kenny breaks down his victory over Din Thomas from UFN 11 this past Wednesday night and discusses how he scouted Thomas; Florian addresses whether he’d be ready for a hypothetical lightweight title fight in November and indicates when he plans to fight again; he reveals when a match between B.J. Penn and Joe Stevenson might take place; he reveals who Roger Huerta’s next opponent could be; Florian also broke down specific fighters in the UFC’s lightweight division and discussed who he considers the top lightweight fighters outside of the UFC (and he had some interesting things to say about Takanori Gomi).
Segment Three - Former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez:
Ricco comes out firing right out of the gate. He reveals he not only took a fight with Ben Rothwell at the IFL finals on short notice but that he had just gotten out of rehab shortly before the bout; he addresses the controversy surrounding the match with Rothwell head on and pulls no punches; Ricco clarifies his contract statuses with both the IFL and EliteXC; indicates his plans for what weight class he plans to fight at in the future; discusses his recent decision to sever business ties with MMA superagent Ken Pavia; indicates that he believes politics could be keeping him out of the UFC; addresses his fallout with Tito Ortiz and issues an official challenge; and much more! Ricco was just dropping bombshells left and right. He sounded hungry, healthy, and happy and it looks like the Ricco Rodriguez of old could be back. I think we’re going to be seeing him fighting for the big promotions on a regular basis again soon.
Segment Four - New Strikeforce middleweight fighter Joe “Diesel” Riggs:
Ricco was not an easy act to top but Riggs just might have done it. Joe let everyone know why he asked for his release from the WEC and why he wanted to go to Strikeforce; clarifies on the record once and for all whether he ever wanted to be assigned to the WEC in the first place; addresses rumors as to whether he will fight Cung Le if he beats Eugene Jackson on Sept. 29 at the Playboy Mansion; calls out a surprise opponent; discusses his past pain killer addiction and comments on drug use in MMA; and reveals the true story of the infamous Nick Diaz fight that took place at a Las Vegas hospital following UFC 57; and much more!
Matt and I were really happy with this show and we would love your feedback! Please leave comments here or e-mail me at SCaplan8@comcast.net and please spread the word about this week’s show.
