ULTIMATE FIGHT NIGHT UPDATE
All the bouts have been announced for Ultimate Fight Night on Thursday, April 6th from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Ultimate Fight Night will air live on Spike TV at 9pm ET.
Televised Bouts:
- Joe Stevenson vs. Josh Neer
- Stephan Bonnar vs. Keith Jardine
- Chris Leben vs. Luigi Fioravanti
- Rashad Evans vs. Sam Hoger
Undercard:
- Luke Cummo vs Jason Von Flue
- Josh Burkman vs. Jon Fitch
- Trevor Prangley vs. Chael Sonnen
- Josh Koscheck vs. Ansar Chalangov
- Brad Imes vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
THE ULTIMATE FIGHTERS: REVEALED
The following is the cast for The Ultimate Fighter 3. The list has made its way around the ‘net for the last few days, but I’ll give credit to MMAfighting.com, since that’s where I saw it first.
Light Heavyweights
- Kristian “The Weather Underground” Rotharmel – The 33-year old is a former high school teacher from New Orleans. According to Spike TV, Rotharmel has a record of 40 wins and 3 losses.
- Matt Hamill – An accomplished wrestler who trains with UFC Middleweight champion Rich Franklin. Hamill is deaf. He has a record of 2 wins and no losses.
- Michael “The Count” Bisping – British fighter with a professional record of 10 wins and no losses. Holds the Cagewarriors light heavyweight title.
- Tait Fletcher – 34-year old fighter who is Joe Rogan’s personal bodyguard. Has a professional mma record of 3 wins and 1 loss.
- Josh Haynes – 28-year old fighter who trains with Team Quest.
- Noah Inhafer – 24-year old student at the University of South Dakota. According to Spike TV, Inhafer has a record of 22-4.
- Jesse Forbes – 21-year old who trains with Drew Fickett. Has a mma record of 2 wins and no losses.
- Mike Nichols – 2005 Pan Am Games Gold medalist in Jiu Jitsu.
Middleweights
- Kalib Starnes – Canadian fighter with a record of 8 wins, no losses and 1 draw.
- Danny Abodi – Orlando native who holds a professional kickboxing record of 14 wins and 1 loss.
- Solomon Hutcherson – Has a professional mma record of 10 wins and 2 losses.
- Ross “The Gladiator” Pointon – British fighter with a record of 4 wins and 6 losses.
- Ed “Short Fuse” Herman – Trains and teaches at Team Quest. Has a professional record of 14 wins and 2 losses. Holds wins over former UFC fighters Dave Menne and Nick Thompson.
- Rory Singer – Has a professional record of 9 wins and 5 losses. Former roommate of Forest Griffin.
- Mike Stine – Tiger Schulmann Karate fighter with a record of 3 wins and no losses.
- Kendall Groves – Hawaiian fighter with a record of 7 wins and 3 losses.
Season 3 premieres Thursday, April 6 at 10:00 pm ET.
HORN OUT, LEVENS IN
Jeremy Horn has withdrawn from UFC 59: Reality Check, due to a back injury. Sherdog.com reported on Friday that World Extreme Cagefighting’s Justin Levens would be signing a deal today to replace Horn in the Middleweight fight against Evan Tanner. This might not be the most ideal situation for the Light Heavyweight, but it’s a hell of an opportunity for Levens. Justin Levens will join fellow WEC fighter Scott Smith on the UFC 59 card. I predicted back in January that both fighters, who faced each other at WEC 18, would appear in UFC in 2006. That has nothing to do with this story. I just wanted to brag. Moving on…
SPOILER ALERT
Rumor has it that UFC President Dana White will be introducing Quinton “Rampage” Jackson as the newest edition to the UFC Light Heavyweight division at UFC 59. The rumor started after Jackson posted a video on his official website where he walks in a room wearing a UFC title belt and asks everyone in “internet land” how they like his new beltbuckle (see photo above).
After talking about his website, Jackson adds, “This year is gonna be the bomb, the UFC is doing some good things, they on TV and all that type of stuff. Sounds good to me, cause they be makin’ a lotta money, and y’all know what I can do with that money. I can do a whole lotta things with that money.”
I f*ckin’ love this guy. Rampage is exactly what the UFC needs right now, especially with the departure of Randy Couture. This year just keeps getting better and better.
UFC AND SPIKE EXTEND DEAL
Spike TV and UFC announced on Wednesday that they will extend their partnership for an additional 2 years. This means that Ultimate Fight Live will air 4 times every year from now until 2008 and we can expect 4 more seasons of The Ultimate Fighter.
Spike TV and the Ultimate Fighting Championship(R) organization have agreed to a new, two-year extension of their strategic partnership, it was announced jointly today by Doug Herzog, President, Spike TV and Dana White, President, Zuffa, LLC d/b/a Ultimate Fighting Championship(R). The deal positions Spike TV as the exclusive cable home of one of the fastest growing brands in sports, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, through 2008. The deal was brokered by the Endeavor Agency. The main components of the deal are four new seasons of the hit reality series, The Ultimate Fighter(TM), ten Ultimate Fight Night Live fight cards, and 26 episodes of UFC Unleashed.
“We are thrilled to continue our relationship with the hottest brand in sports, The UFC,” said Herzog. “The deal is a testament to the incredible passion and foresight that Dana White brings to the sport of mixed martial arts.”
“In Spike TV, we have found a television partner that understands and embraces our sport that is on the verge of overtaking boxing as the #1 combat sport in America,” noted White.
In 2005, 95.7 million viewers saw at least 1 minute of UFC programming on Spike TV (The Ultimate Fighter/UFC Unleashed/Ultimate Knockouts/UFC Fight Previews/Ultimate Fight Nights/UFC All Access), which translates to 34.4% of the U.S. population or 1 in 3 Americans.*
The new Spike TV deal includes the following:
* Seasons 5 through 7 of the highly successful reality series, The Ultimate Fighter. (5 and 6 will run in 2007 and season 7 will run in 2008).
* Ten live fight cards, Ultimate Fight Night Live, hosted by Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg, featuring many of the biggest names in the sport. Four will be in ’07 and four in ’08. The deal also includes two more live fights this year.
* 26 one-hour episodes of UFC Unleashed, hosted by Mike Goldberg, featuring the greatest fights in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, many of them never seen before on basic cable. The series features the biggest names in the sport including Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Matt Hughes, Ken Shamrock, Rich Franklin, Tank Abbott, Andrei Arlovski, Royce Gracie and Tito Ortiz. Spike TV will run 13 in 2007 and 13 in 2008.
Season 3 of The Ultimate Fighter kicks off Thursday, April 6 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT with UFC legends and bitter rivals Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz serving as coaches. Season 4 will premiere later this year.
I’M SO METAL, I HAVE RUST
I took offense to a recent front page feature here at IP, naming Tom D’Errico as IP’s resident metalhead. The dude quoted song titles from Ratt and Warrant in his latest article. I demand that he be stripped of his “metalhead” status immediately. Apparently someone was busy teasing their hair in 1989 when I was in the pit at L’Amour’s, seeing Sepultura’s first New York gig.*
*Don’t get yer panties in a bunch. We can’t all be The King of Old School.
