It’s been a slow week, but the little bit of stuff I have should hold you over until next week. We really need a Spike TV special or something to hold us over until the 27th. Let’s try an Ask The Rev segment. Send me some questions and I’ll answer them in next week’s column. I’ll limit the subjects to MMA, pro-wrestling, and heavy music. Send your questions to ipintothepit at gmail dot com.
UFC 60 UPDATE
May is finally upon us, and the countdown to UFC 60: Hughes vs. Gracie is on. Only a handful of fights have been announced so far, but that’s nothing new for UFC. Quite frankly, the undercard could be Matt Lindland grappling an imaginary friend, and this would still be a great show. It’s an historic main event, and probably the first time in a long time that Royce Gracie is the underdog.
UFC 60 will air live on pay-per-view on May 27th from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA. The official card, so far, is as follows.
- Matt Hughes vs. Royce Gracie
- Brandon Vera vs. Assuerio Silva
- Joe Riggs vs. Mike Swick
- Diego Sanchez vs. John Alessio
- Melvin Guillard vs. Rick Davis
Guillard will be dropping to Lightweight (155 lbs) for his fight against Davis. Guillard is expected to stay at Lightweight, depending on how this fight goes for him.
GRIFFIN VS. SHAMROCK ORTIZ VS. SHAMROCK
All the MMA sites were buzzing on Friday about Ortiz vs. Shamrock II being back on. Tito Ortiz revealed that he has a fractured fibula in his left leg, but he is still willing to fight Ken Shamrock in July. Nothing is official, but apparently UFC President Dana White is as happy as a pig in shit. The fight is tentatively scheduled for UFC 61 on July 8th.
This whole situation with UFC and Ortiz is very strange. If Tito is legitimately injured, why the hell would UFC want him to fight in July? I mean, aside from the huge payday they’re expecting. The bigger question is why would Tito risk injuring his leg further? If he does beat Shamrock, it will put him one fight closer to challenging the Light Heavyweight champion. It doesn’t make much sense for Tito to risk that shot; especially if Liddell is still holding the strap.
If Ortiz vs. Shamrock II is such a huge draw, wouldn’t it be worth it to postpone the fight until Tito is 100%? If Ortiz loses this fight, the first thing he’ll say is that Shamrock only beat him because he wasn’t healthy. I have a love/hate thing for both Ortiz and Shamrock. I’m really excited about this fight, but not if it’s going to be half-assed.
WWE’S “NEXT BIG THING” TO K-1 HERO’S
It might not be UFC news, but I found this interesting as both a wrestling and MMA fan. Former WWE superstar Brock Lesnar is apparently headed to the K-1 organization to make his MMA debut for the August K-1 Hero’s show. According to MMAWeekly.com’s Ryan Bennet, Lesnar is trying to work out a deal for an MMA match against Bob Sapp.
Lesnar is a product of “too much, too soon.” If you don’t know his story, the WWE took this guy and pushed him to be a main eventer, kind of like what WCW did with Bill Goldberg. The difference being that Lesnar was an NCAA champ with great amateur skills, and a lot of raw talent for pro-wrestling. During his two year stint with the WWE, Lesnar signed a ridiculous multi-year deal for a truck-load of money. Then he decided he wanted to play professional football…despite the fact that he wasn’t a f*cking football player.
His football career took a massive shit, as most people expected, and then he decided he wanted to be a wrestler again…despite the fact that he had a no-compete clause with the WWE that prohibited him from doing so until 2010. Lesnar went to Japan, and the WWE sued. The two finally settled last week, and now Brock wants to compete in mixed martial arts…despite the fact that…you get the picture.
This guy is a big f*cking goof with awful tattoos. I just can’t take him seriously. I take fellow NFL wash-out Bob Sapp more seriously, and that’s even after seeing this Japanese commercial.
If you don’t know who Sapp is, he also had a failed pro football career. He got his start in competitive fighting in a Toughman fight against William “The Refrigerator” Perry. He defeated the The Fridge, went to Japan, dabbled in pro-wrestling, fought for Pride and K-1, and became a god to the Japanese people.
Lesnar and Sapp are a pretty close match in size, but Sapp has a slight height and weight advantage. Sapp also has a little something called experience. Look, I know everyone has to start somewhere, but Lesnar’s start will probably see him on his back, staring up at the lights. As dumb as all of this is, I just might have to watch this fight, if it ever happens.
This story reminds me; I saw a headline here at IP last night that caught my attention.
Let me guess, stupid, O’Haire lost. You stink.
THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER 3: WATCH IT, FUCKO
If you haven’t been watching The Ultimate Fighter 3, you need to start this week. If you’re worried that you won’t know what’s going on, don’t worry, the smart and sexy Shelly has you covered with recaps of episodes 1, 2, 3, and 4.
