— UFC 85 has been given the official title of “Bedlam.”
— Wacky middleweight Jason “Mayhem” Miller has been booked to fight Katsuyori Shibata at DREAM.3 (May 11th; Saitama, Japan). Shibata is a former pro wrestler whose 2-3 MMA record includes a loss to Kazushi Sakuraba and a win over a dude named Ice Man. DREAM.3 will also feature the quarterfinals of their lightweight grand prix. (Well, maybe.)
— The lineup of WEC 34: Faber vs. Pulver (June 1st; Sacramento, CA) has been finalized. Besides the much-anticipated headlining bout, the main card also features Miguel Angel Torres defending his bantamweight belt against Yoshiro Maeda, and former WEC lightweight champion “Razor” Rob McCullough taking on Kenneth Alexander.
We had neither the time nor interest to watch YAMMA live, so if you want a more detailed recap of the sad spectacle than we had in our results post, we recommend going here or here. But if you want the entire depressing, cut-rate experience boiled down into three minutes, look no further than the “Masters Superfight” between Eric “Butterbean” Esch and Patrick “Pillbottle” Smith. Cheers to Smith for dodging Butterbean’s infamous haymakers; jeers to Esch for not being able to get to his feet after slipping. Smith simply got down next to the 416-pound beached whale and dropped punches until Dan Miragliotta decided that the 200 audience members had gotten their money’s worth. If only ‘Bean could have fallen onto the revolutionary YAMMA incline instead — who knows what could have happened…
I can’t help it. It’s not UFC, most of the fighters might not be “top contenders” these days, and maybe it’s just a bit cheesy, but I am super excited about tonights YAMMA Pit Fighting debut. They’ve done a super job at making two “superfights” that I am anxious to see. I never thought I’d get to [...]
If there’s one lesson that can be taken from the recent arrest of MMA veteran Patrick Smith, it’s this: Always bring along your prescriptions if you plan on leading police on a wild high-speed chase while taking your crotch rocket out for a spin.
As previously reported, 45-year-old Smith agreed to face Oleg Taktarov at next month’s YAMMA Pit Fighting debut after Don Frye backed out of the match due to a shoulder injury. But, according to MMAJunkie:
[J]ust hours after the announcement, KXII TV 12 in Sherman, Texas, reported that Smith had been arrested after a high-speed police chase. Smith was clocked at speeds of up 130 mph while fleeing on his sports motorcyle, police said. He’s been charged with felony attempting to elude, possession of a prescription drug without a valid prescription, and reckless driving.
It’s not yet clear whether Smith will still be able to compete in the YAMMA event, but in case Bob Meyrowitz needs to find another replacement, Teila Tuli, Ron van Clief and He-Man Gipson are available and ready to work.
Bonus: Patrick Smith pounds Scott Morris’s face into burger at UFC 2. Fight starts at the video’s 3:30 mark and ends shortly after.
According to FightFinder, he fought as recently as 10/27/07, and has fought five times since September of 2006, winning 4 out of 5, his only loss being a kneebar submission. I knew he had fought K-1 for a while, even scoring a super fast knockout against the legendary Andy Hug. Patrick Smith was a Taekwondo mad man, an excellent striker.
Personally, I think Patrick Smith was one of the most exciting fighters in the early UFC days, I first remember seeing him smash Scott Morris’ face in with vicious elbows, then I believe it was his fight with Rudyard Moncayo where he opened up the bout with a sweet straight kick to the torso that sent Moncayo flying backwards into the cage.
So anyway, I’m glad to see that he is fighting MMA again. I think it would be great for the UFC to have him back in the octagon, perhaps in some kind of “Legends” event or something.
