The holidays are over. The New Year has begun. The Fury is back! Let’s get right to it…
UFC 80: Rapid Fire – The first UFC show of the New Year is this Saturday, headlined by a fight to fill the vacant lightweight championship. I’ll take BJ Penn over Joe Daddy, Gabriel Gonzaga over Fabricio Werdum, Marcus Davis over Jess Liaudin, Kendall Grove over Jorge Rivera, and Jason Lambert over Wilson Gouveia.
Matt Serra vs. Georges St. Pierre – Because I’ve been such a great customer, the UFC is throwing me a PPV for my birthday! Actually, it’s two days after my birthday (and thankfully not on the same day as my sister’s wedding), but it’s still kind of cool and it’ll be their debut show in Montreal, featuring Georges St. Pierre vs. Matt Serra. I’m as much of a nuthugger for Serra as the next Long Islander, but things don’t look good for “the Terror.” GSP has turned into a complete monster lately. Also rumored are Jason MacDonald vs. Joe Doerksen, the return of Shogun Rua, and Karo Parisyan vs. Thiago Alves in what could decide who’s next for a welterweight title shot (at least if Parisyan wins).
Fedor Emelianenko – What are the odds that Fedor Emelianenko is actually severely overrated? He was dominant in Pride, but Pride fighters really haven’t been all that impressive in the UFC. Mirko Cro Cop is 1-2. Shogun Rua, Fabricio Werdum, and Sokoudjou all lost their first fights. Antonio Nogueira barely beat Heath Herring, who he beat twice in Pride, and Herring is 1-2 in the UFC himself. Maybe the reason Fedor didn’t sign with the UFC, besides the ludicrous money he got from M-1, was because he didn’t want to find out if he was all hype himself. Granted, he did just beat a guy with a 1-0 record, but still.
Interim Heavyweight Title – In my absence, they finally announced Nogueira vs. Tim Sylvia for the heavyweight title…but it’s for the “interim” heavyweight title. Aren’t we all in agreement that Randy Couture isn’t coming back? The UFC can shame him for not finishing his contract as much as they wanted, I don’t think Couture is going to care that much as he’s rolling naked over the pile of money he’s going to get for the inevitable Couture/Fedor fight.
Dana White, this Bud’s for you…maybe – According to MMAPayout.com, the UFC is on the verge of consummating a deal with Budweiser. Apparently negotiation began as part of the CBS deal, but even though that deal is dead (or mostly dead), conversations continued between Bud, UFC, and Spike TV. To say that a deal with Budweiser would be huge is an understatement. As far as mainstream sponsors go, particularly when it comes to sports, it doesn’t get much more mainstream than Budweiser.
And now, since I know you missed the gratuitous Rachelle Leah pics…
