Archive for August, 2009

With the next installment of the Strikeforce's Challengers series just less than four weeks away, the organization now has four bouts officially announced for the Showtime-televised portion of the card.

Strikeforce today announced that unbeaten prospect Tyron Woodley (3-0) meets seven-year veteran Zach Light (6-8), while undefeated local fighters Travis Calanoc (3-0) and Thomas Longacre (4-0) face off at the Sept. 25 event "Strikeforce Challengers: Kennedy vs. Cummings."

Headlined by a matchup between middleweight prospects Tim Kennedy and Zak Cummings, the event takes place at SpiritBank Event Center in Bixby, Okla.

With the next installment of Strikeforce's Challengers series just less than four weeks away, the organization now has four bouts officially announced for the Showtime-televised portion of the card.

Strikeforce today announced that unbeaten prospect Tyron Woodley (3-0) meets seven-year veteran Zach Light (6-8), while undefeated local fighters Travis Calanoc (3-0) and Thomas Longacre (4-0) face off at the Sept. 25 event "Strikeforce Challengers: Kennedy vs. Cummings."

Headlined by a matchup between middleweight prospects Tim Kennedy and Zak Cummings, the event takes place at SpiritBank Event Center in Bixby, Okla.

UFC president Dana White recently made his opinion quite clear on fighters who pursue film careers while still active in MMA.

But when it comes to semi-retired former champion Chuck Liddell's appearance on the ABC series "Dancing with the Stars," White's all for it.

White recently discussed his thoughts on Liddell's appearance, why he made a $10,000 wager that the "Iceman" couldn't shed a few pounds, and whether hes budged at all on the former champion returning to the cage.

Experts who study boring things that aim to depress us say you can't learn anything watching TV. I say "bollocks" (which is a word I learned watching the BBC). Watching UFC 102 with a finely attuned eye, there was much to be learned.

Here's my list of five things I surmised from Saturday night's fights.

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When the UFC visits Staples Center in Los Angeles on Oct. 24 for "UFC 104: Machida vs. Shogun," the organization will be making its first trip to California since July 2007 and its first visit to Los Angeles since May 2006.

Could the event also mark the return of veteran referee "Big" John McCarthy to the UFC for the first time since officiating the December 2007 bout between Roger Huerta and Clay Guida?

McCarthy is currently licensed as an MMA referee in the state of California, and today he told MMAjunkie.com he would be available for the October event should the commission assign him to the card.

Muhammad Lawal earned $40,000 and fellow headliner Mark Kerr earned $15,000 at this past weekend's "M-1: Breakthrough" event, MMAjunkie.com today confirmed with the Kansas Boxing Commission.

Lawal defeated Kerr via 25-second KO at the Aug. 28 event, which took place at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, K.C.

Additionally, a total of five fighters from the card were issued medical suspensions following the HDNet-televised event.

As Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira slapped on a choke, torqued it and looked to tap out Randy Couture in the main event of this past Saturday's UFC 102 event, one guy was backstage yelling at the nearest monitor.

"No, no!" he pleaded. "Get out, Randy! Get out!"

Couture ultimately escaped, but unfortunately, he'd go on to suffer a unanimous-decision loss at Portland's Rose Garden Arena. But it didn't matter to that backstage supporter, who secured a cool $60,000 once the fight went to the judges' scorecards.

With UFC 102 now in the books, the UFC will turn its focus to the next major pay-per-view show, "UFC 103: Franklin vs. Belfort," in two weeks.

That's the day "UFC 103 Countdown: Franklin vs. Belfort," the UFC's traditional preview show for the Sept. 19 headliner between Rich Franklin and Vitor Belfort, debuts on Spike TV.

The one-hour preview special debuts Sept. 14 (6 p.m. ET/PT), and replays are set for Sept. 17 (1 a.m.) and Sept. 19 (8 p.m.).

Toni Valtonen is a Finnish mixed martial artist who fights all around the world for Team Finland in the M-1 Challenge, including two fights in the United States this year. A veteran with a 19-9 record, Valtonen hasn't done much in the ring to distinguish himself from any of the thousands of other athletes who compete in MMA.

But he is now attracting attention for something unrelated to his fighting: Valtonen has a swastika tattooed on his shoulder and the words "white pride" tattooed on his back.

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MMAjunkie.com Radio kicks off a week of star-studded programming with a stacked Monday show.

Featured today are UFC 102 winners Brandon Vera and Jake Rosholt (who won the event's "Submission of the Night" bonus), "M-1: Breakthrough" main-event victor "King Mo" Lawal, and new HDNet MMA play-by-play man Michael Schiavello. Rosholt and Schiavello are both in studio.

PLEASE NOTE: MMAjunkie.com Radio begins at a later-than-usual time of 12:15 p.m. ET (9:15 a.m. PT) live from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino's Race & Sports Book. Listen to and watch the show at www.mmajunkie.com/radio.