If Saturday night’s The Ultimate Fighter 3 Finale wasn’t enough to feed your desire for fighting action, there’s plenty more where that came from.
ULTIMATE FIGHT NIGHT 5: THIS WEDNESDAY
The main card bouts on Ultimate Fight Night 5, which airs live this Thursday on Spike TV, will be Anderson Silva vs. Chris Leben, Stephan Bonnar vs. Rashad Evans, and Luke Cummo vs. Jonathan Goulet. It remains to be seen if any of the other bouts make it to TV this week. The following is the complete card:
- Anderson Silva vs. Chris Leben
- Stephan Bonnar vs. Rashad Evans
- Luke Cummo vs. Jonathan Goulet
- Josh Koscheck vs. Dave Menne
- Jorge Gurgel vs. Mark Hominick
- Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves
- Jason Lambert vs. Branden Lee Hinkle
- Justin Levens vs. Jorge Santiago
- Kristian Rothaermel vs. Rob MacDonald
I’ll have my analysis, possibly minus predictions, early Wednesday.
UFC 61 UPDATE
UFC 61: Bitter Rivals will air live on pay-per-view on Saturday, July 8th from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The full card is as follows:
- Tim Sylvia vs. Andrei Arlovski
- Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock
- Cheick Kongo vs. Gilbert Aldana
- Frank Mir vs. Dan Christison
- Josh Burkman vs. Josh Neer
- Joe Stevenson vs. Yves Edwards
- Kurt Pellegrino vs. Drew Fickett
- Jeff Monson vs. Anthony Perosh
- Hermes Franca vs. Roger Huerta
I’ll have a full preview, with my not-quite-expert analysis, next week.
NO ROGAN AT UFC 61
Joe Rogan will be missing UFC 61 due to a prior commitment with Comedy Central. Randy Couture will be joining Mike Goldberg to call the action. However, Rogan is not gone from UFC. He will resume his pay-per-view duties at UFC 62 in August.
ALL ACCESS WITH TITO
Tito Ortiz will be featured on the next UFC All Access special on Spike TV. The show will focus on Ortiz’s preparation for his UFC 61 fight against Ken Shamrock.
The special will premiere on Monday, July 3rd at 10:00 PM. Immediately following UFC All Access will be the UFC 61 countdown special, which will air from 10:30 PM to 11:30 PM.
LIONS, BILL? FUCKING LIONS?!
For those who don’t know me personally, I consider myself a moderate conservative. That said, I cannot stand extremists on the right or the left. Many people call out Bill O’Reilly as a hardline Republican, but I just like to call him a know-nothing bag of douche.
UFC President Dana White and UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin went toe-to-toe, figuratively, with Mr. O’Reilly this past week. Rather than trying to explain what an uneducated assclown Bill is, I’ll let you see for yourself.
PULVER BACK IN UFC
Former and first-ever UFC Lightweight champion Jens “Little Evil” Pulver will return to the Octagon soon. In addition to fighting, Dana White says that Pulver will probably be a coach on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter.
HORN AND UFC PART WAYS
This should come as no surprise to anyone, but UFC has opted not to renew their contract with Jeremy Horn. Horn, who is looking to fight as a Middleweight now, was told there is no room for him in that division in UFC. According to manager Monte Cox, “As long as Jeremy stays at middleweight and Rich [Franklin] holds the title, there’s really not much of a future for him in the UFC. He and Rich won’t fight, so all he would be doing is picking off their top contenders, which doesn’t really make sense for them.”
MR. MCMAHON WEIGHS IN ON UFC
In an article by R. Thomas Umstead for Multichannel News, WWE chairman Vince McMahon commented on the recent success of the UFC:
WWE chairman Vince McMahon also recognized the UFC’s efforts, but warned that the franchise’s momentum could fade if Zuffa fails to build new, marquee stars for the sport.
“It could be difficult for [UFC] going forward because they’re in a situation much like boxing where they don’t control the outcomes of their events,” said McMahon. “They don’t quite know what they’re doing in terms of building characters.”
But White said UFC’s momentum won’t be pinned down by a lack of star power anytime soon. He added the Ultimate Fighter reality series will continue to unveil up and coming superstars, whose careers fans will be able to track through its live events.
“The bottom line is that this isn’t a fad,” White said. “People who watch this are much like boxing fans and I believe they will stick around and watch this just like they watch boxing over the past 100 years. It’s not a fad or peaking, but its continuing to grow.”
MMA: BACK IN MY HOME STATE
Good news from Sherdog.com:
Ending nearly two months of uncertainty for the sport in Ohio, the state athletic commission this week voted unanimously to remove the moratorium placed upon mixed martial arts events in the Buckeye State.
Along with the immediate reinstatement of MMA, the Ohio Athletic Commission, led by Executive Director Bernie Profato, approved a new set of rules designed to raise the bar for fighter safety, including officially adding the two weigh-in system that debuted at March’s Gracie Fighting Championships and making a five-rope ring mandatory for all contests not held in a cage or fenced in area.
According to the commission’s website, “The director and the commission members felt in removing the moratorium they would be recognizing the efforts of many who have helped raise the standards in Ohio and wish to continue to be one of the leading states in the sport of Mixed Martial Arts.”
This week’s progress, which comes on the heels of the news that the Colorado State Athletic Commission put an end to amateur competition in its state, could clear a path for the International Fight League’s Columbus Razorclaws, coached by PRIDE and UFC tournament champion Mark Coleman, to run a show in the Ohio’s capital this winter.
MATT HUGHES: HERO TO MANY
‘Nuff said.
MUTANT MAILBAG
I wanted to address all of the “Where the f*ck have you been?” e-mails. I’ve spent the last two weeks working on my own website, which left me with very little time to contribute here. I appreciate all of the interest in my whereabouts, but one e-mail in particular made my week.
This e-mail is in its entirety, unedited, and uncut.
From: Jcann123@aol.com
Sent: 06/19/2006
Subject: u suckany boston boy would whip ur ass!!!!
Could they? Wow, you really got me there.
Is this guy for real? First of all, for those who don’t know, he’s referring to a column I did in October of last year. Second of all, The 1996 AOL lingo is enough to make me vomit. Sir, if you’re above the age of 13 and still typing like that, be a man and put the gun in your mouth already. Your parents could use the extra room in their basement.
I hope this guy, Sean Gannon, Bill O’Reilly, and Jim Lampley all slip in a puddle of AIDS.
QUICK PLUG
White Trash Devil is finally f*cking back! If you like heavy music, check out the site, and join us on our forum.
See? Told ya it would be quick.
