Welcome to 5oz’s of Fury, my weekly take on some of the happenings in and around the world of mixed martial arts.
FEDOR IS COMING NOT COMING A NINJA WHO KNOWS?
Have you heard the one aboot how Fedor Emelianenko, the Pride Heavyweight Champion, the greatest fighter pound for pound, one bad mutha shutyomouth, was close to signing with the UFC before he wasn’t close to signing with the UFC? First, it was rumoured that a tentative four fight deal was reached for two-million a fight, and there was much rejoicing. Then we heard that a deal was not reached and two-million dollars was way off, and there was great sadness. If he does sign, UFC papa bear Dana White will give him an immediate title shot. If he doesn’t, where will he go? The IFL? Stop laughing.
WHO’S NEXT?
If they don’t sign Fedor, that leaves the pesky little problem of finding the next contender for current UFC champion Randy Couture. This is just one net nerds opinion, but I think it’s going to be the winner of the Brandon Vera/Tim Sylvia skirmish at UFC 77. Stay with me here. Vera was supposed to get the title shot against Sylvia, which eventually went Couture. Couture beat Sylvia. Vera is due a title shot. Sylvia is due a rematch. Since Vera vs. Sylvia is in October and Randy’s next title fight won’t be until February, that would give whoever 3-4 months to train. It makes sense, no?
WEC
There’s a whole lotta MMA on this week, and it starts Wednesday night on VS with another World Extreme Cagefighting show. I’ll be honest, I’m not familiar with anyone on the card, but if you are you’ll be excited to see “Razor” Rob McCullough vs. Rich Crunkilton, Chase Beebe vs. Rani Yahya, Jeff Bedard vs. Miguel Torres, John Alessio vs. Marcelo Brito, and Ian McCall vs. Coty Wheeler. I’m just trying to figure out why my cable company gives me WEC in HD, but not the UFC.
UFC 75 PREDICTIONS AND STUFF
I like Rampage Jackson over Dan Henderson, Michael Bisping vs. Matt Hamill, Cro Cop over Cheick Kongo, and Houston Alexander and Marcus Davis over whoever they’re fighting. SpikeTV is really lousy with the UFC programming this week. Besides UFC 75 on Saturday, there’s countdown to UFC 75 on Wednesday night and a re-airing of UFC 70 on Thursday.
ELITEXC
Then the following Saturday on the 15th, EliteXC returns to Showtime with a bunch of dudes fighting…and GINA CARANO! Isn’t she just the dreamiest? I mean, there’s also going to be Ninja Rua vs. Robbie Lawler, and that fight should be sick. But most importantly, we get to see Ms. Carano. There’s just something aboot a pretty smile and mad Muay Thai skills.
As a side note, did you know my buddy Kevin does the voiceovers for “Fight Girls?” Yes, we’re all very proud of him.
