Here’s a little taste of Brock Lesnar’s appearance on ESPN’s E:60 tonight at 7 pm EST (which is like, now). The interview seems to be taking place in a barn for some reason. I’m sure it will all make sense when we see the whole thing. In other news…
- Luke Cummo was arrested and charged with “driving while impaired with drugs” in Lynbrook, New York last week. He wasn’t drunk, but was reportedly tested for a drug that officials would not name. Fightlinker says Cummo claimed, at least briefly, that he got a contact high from being in a room full of people smoking pot, and this was exacerbated by eating a bunch of chicken wings. Seriously. He’s pleaded not guilty, and we really hope he decides to represent himself in this case because that would be awesome.
- Matt Hughes says on his website that he talked to UFC matchmaker Joe Silva this week and he may finally get his shot at Matt Serra in April. He also went bowhunting and bagged a deer.
- The UFC sent out a press release today officially announcing three fights for the stacked UFC 92 event on Dec. 27. As expected, Rashad Evans/Forrest Griffin, Wanderlei Silva/”Rampage” Jackson, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira/Frank Mir are on tap. Said Evans:
“Forrest fights from the heart just like me, and everyone underestimates Forrest until they get in there with him, like me. I think he and I are going to be like Ali vs. Frazier – this will be the first time we meet, but it won’t be the last, so I want to set the precedent.”
ST-PIERRE vs. FITCH @ UFC 87: SEEK AND DESTROY
AUGUST 9
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Las Vegas, NV (USA) — The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s initial trip to Minnesota on August 9th just got bigger with today’s signing of the UFC® Welterweight Title bout between Champion Georges St. Pierre and number one contender Jon Fitch, which [...]
“I fought in Canada two weeks ago versus a Canadian. So that big 22,000-people crowd was booing my name. How would you feel about that? It was awful. If I fought the same guy in Madison Square Garden things could’ve been different.” — Matt Serra, addressing New York state legislators yesterday.
Racked with guilt over Serra’s loss in Canada and moved by his eloquent oratory, the New York State Legislature declared that the ban on MMA competition would be lifted immediately; furthermore, MMA would henceforth be recognized as New York’s official sport, and May 6th would be known as “Matt Serra Day.”
No, not really. But the UFC is making a heavy push to get New York to fall in line with the other 32 states that now sanction MMA competition in the U.S., sending Serra, Matt Hamill, and Zuffa’s Executive Vice President/general counsel Lawrence Epstein to plead their case in Albany. “We need to educate people about the sport and I think when people have certain perceptions, when confronted with evidence, those perceptions change,” said Epstein, who cited MMA’s increased safety measures since the sport was banned in New York eleven years ago by Governor George Pataki. The UFC lobbyists were also eager to point out the economic incentives enjoyed by UFC host cities, claiming that UFC 82 generated over $11 million in revenue for Columbus, Ohio.
“We’re battling everyday and I think we’ve come a long way, and you know there are always going to be those who don’t investigate this or look at it as deeply as we’d like them to. I guess we will continue to have that, but I think we’re over the hump.”
(Crazy Anderson Silva wallpaper courtesy of Olieng.net)
Over the last couple weeks, Matt Serra came crashing back down to Earth, Rich Franklin got his balls back, Shinya Aoki smothered JZ, and Denis Kang went out like a bitch. So if you haven’t swung by our Power Rankings section lately, please do so. In particular, the lightweight, middleweight, and pound-for-pound lists were freshly updated today. And you may be surprised at how high I ranked Travis Wiuff in the heavyweight division for going all the way at YAMMA 1…
Anyway, give ‘em a look and let us know if you see things differently.
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.
“Mr. Sunshine” Steve Cofield has the “raw” audio feed from the UFC 83: “Serra vs. St. Pierre 2″ post-event press conference.
Georges St. Pierre, Matt Serra, Rich Franklin, Michael Bisping, Nate Quarry, Mac Danzig and UFC President Dana White all participated.
Serra talks about the stoppage, admitting that St. Pierre was beating him up but he seems a bit confused regarding the referee’s decision to step in and stop the fight in the waning seconds of round two.
Check it out:
He also talks about it in a post-fight locker room video here.
Main Card
Georges St. Pierre def. Matt Serra via TKO (knees to the body), 4:45 of round 2
Rich Franklin def. Travis Lutter via TKO (strikes), 3:01 of round 2
Nate Quarry def. Kalib Starnes via unanimous decision (high-stepping and goofy-punches)
Michael Bisping def. Charles McCarthy via TKO (unable to answer bell), 5:00 of round 1
Mac Danzig def. Mark Bocek via submission (rear naked choke), 3:48 of round 3
Undercard
Jason MacDonald def. Joe Doerksen via TKO (strikes), 0:54 of round 2
Jason Day def. Alan Belcher via TKO (strikes), 3:58 of round 1
Demian Maia def. Ed Herman via submission (triangle choke), 2:27 of round 2
Rich Clementi def. Sam Stout via split decision
Cain Velasquez def. Brad Morris via TKO (strikes), 2:10 of round 1
Jonathan Goulet def. Kuniyoshi Hironaka via TKO (strikes), 2:07 of round 2
All three Best of the Night bonuses went to undercard fights, and they came in at a whopping $75,000 each. As we saw in a brief clip at the end of the broadcast, Demian Maia picked up the Submission of the Night bonus for his mounted triangle choke of Ed Herman. Jason MacDonald earned the Knockout of the Night for beating down Joe Doerksen (we’ll get the video up soon), and somewhat surprisingly, Jonathan Goulet and Kuniyoshi Hironaka each got the Fight of the Night windfall for their match, which didn’t strike us as all that exciting when they showed it after the main event. It’s too bad they couldn’t give Nate Quarry a few bucks for “Best Humiliation of a Cowardly Opponent of the Night,” but we’ll just have to console ourselves with the fact that Kalib Starnes is probably getting his UFC contract torn up as we speak.
Georges St. Pierre got his revenge on Matt Serra’s upset victory last year by defeating him in the rematch by TKO in round 2 at UFC 83 tonight. GSP controlled the entire fight, opting to use his quick takedowns and wrestling to keep the fight on the ground and pound Matt Serra out. The final [...]
As Ferrall might say, this “beautiful matchup of warriors and freaks ready to dance” is about to pop off, so pour yourself some iced tea or red wine and settle in. Click the “MORE” link and refresh the page every few minutes for round-by-round updates. Montreal residents, let’s get ready to riot!
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.
