Fight Talk

Ken Shamrock gone from UFC roster

Ken Shamrock is one of the pioneers of mixed martial arts, but UFC President Dana White feels Shamrock is out of gas.

White announced that Shamrock has been released from his UFC contract, which had one fight left on it.

The record doesn’t lie – Shamrock has lost six of his last seven fights. Of course, he’s lost to Tito Ortiz twice, Kaz Sakuraba and Rich Franklin - not exactly a bunch of easy opponents. Shamrock’s last win was over Kimo Leopoldo in 2004.

Shamrock also served as a coach on the fourth season of The Ultimate Fighter. Now that Ken is out of his UFC deal, don’t be surprised if someone tries to set up a fight between him and his brother, Frank Shamrock.

Bodog started a new season of TV shows called “Paradise Lost” on the Ion network, a loose affiliation of local stations.

Bodog filmed the season in Costa Rica and is using the footage to build to a its upcoming “East Coast Collision” live event in Trenton, N.J.

Monday night’s show opened with a lightweight battle between Wisconsin’s Nick Agallar and Michigan’s Ryan Bow. At the beginning of the second round, Bow (18-8-1) cinched in the guillotine choke for the win over Agallar (18-4).

In a battle of light heavyweights, David Avellan survived a broken nose to beat Antony Ray (11-8) in Round 2. Avellan got the full mount and pounded his way to a TKO victory.

Next week’s Bodog show will feature Canadian middleweight Tyler “TNT” Jackson vs. Kyle Watson and a heavyweight fight between Michael Alden and Daniel Puder.

Shortly after returning from a pay-per-view in Northern Ireland, the UFC announced its plans for a September pay-per-view in London at the O2 Arena on Sept. 8.

UFC 75: Champion vs. Champion will feature UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. PRIDE light heavyweight champion Dan Henderson.

Jackson is coming off his big title win over Chuck Liddell. Henderson has a chance to steal all of Jackson’s newfound glory for himself.

Yesterday, the UFC added a fight to the London show featuring Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic against Cheick Kongo of France. UFC President Dana White said touted the match on ESPN as a battle of heavyweight strikers.

Another fight that was already announced was a battle of undefeated light heavyweights as Matt “The Hammer” Hamill takes on Michael “The Count” Bisping. Whoever wins might get a chance at the winner – or even the loser – of the Rampage-Henderson fight.

The war of words between Frank Shamrock and Phil Baroni finally got physical last Friday in San Jose, Calif. Shamrock thrilled his hometown crowd by winning the Strikeforce middleweight title.

Shamrock lost a point in the first round for illegal blows to the back of Baroni’s head. Baroni recovered in Round 2, landing some strong rights and a knee to the head. However, Shamrock bounced back to win with the rear naked choke at the 4-minute mark.

Shamrock wasn’t the only middleweight champion crowd that night, as Murilo “Ninja” Rua downed Joey Villasenor to win the Elite XC middleweight title. Rua used a flurry of right hands to win by TKO at 1:05 of Round 2.

Rua and Shamrock will both have to watch for a challenge from another middleweight, Cung Le. His superb striking display led to a win over Tony “The Freak” Fryklund early in the third round.

In other bouts, Edson Berto defeated Victor Valenzuela with a heel hook in 47 seconds;
Paul Daley beat Duane Ludwig by TKO in Round 2; Paul “The Headhunter” Buentello defeated Carter Williams by TKO early in Round 2; and Josh “The Punk” Thomson defeated Nick “The Ghost” Gonzalez with the rear naked choke.

B.J. Penn scored a convincing win over Jens Pulver in the main event of The Ultimate Fighter 5 finale show on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

Penn won in the middle of the second round, but the outcome of the fight was obvious from the start. Penn (11-4-1) turned in one of the best performances of his career as he avenged a five-year-old loss to Pulver (21-8-1).

Nate Diaz won The Ultimate Fighter 5 tournament over Manny Gamburyan, who had no choice but to tap out after suffering a separated shoulder.

Gray Maynard’s fight with Rob Emerson ended in a weird no-contest. At one point, Maynard slammed Emerson to the mat. Emerson tapped out with injured ribs, but Maynard knocked himself out on impact. Expect a rematch in their future.

In other bouts, Thales Leites beat Floyd Sword at 3:50 with an arm triangle; Roger Huerta beat Douglas Evans by TKO in Round 2; and Joe Louzon beat Brandon Melendez in Round 2 with a triangle choke.

Jens Pulver and B.J. Penn have been coaching this year’s hopefuls on The Ultimate Fighter 5. They will battle each other on the TUF 5 finale on Saturday night at 9 Eastern on Spike TV.

These two fighters met in January 2002, with Pulver (21-7-1) winning on a majority decision over Penn (11-4-1).

The final match of the TUF 5 tournament will put Manny Gamburyan against Nathan Diaz. Both fighters have records of 5-2.

The winner of the tournament will compete in the UFC’s deep lightweight division that includes Roger Huerta (19-1-1) and Doug Evans (6-0), who will fight each other on the show.

Other bouts on the show include Floyd Sword vs. Thales Leites in a middleweight battle and several fights featuring the other TUF 5 contestants.

Frank Shamrock (21-8-1) will battle Phil Baroni (10-7) will headline the Strikeforce/Elite XC pay-per-view on Saturday, June 22 in San Jose,Calif..

This is a pivotal moment in the careers of both men. If Shamrock wins, he could be looking at a leap into the upper echelon of fighters in the world. A win for Shamrock would also doom Baroni’s career. This may be Baroni’s last chance to win a big fight.

Strikeforce will also crown a new middleweight champion at Joey Villasenor takes on Murilo Rua. Villasenor (23-5) earned a title shot with a win over David Loiseau on Feb. 10, while Rua has won his last two fights in Britain’s Cage Rage promotion.

Carter “The Beast” Williams (3-1) will face his toughest test against veteran Paul Buentello (22-9), who has won 13 of his last 15 fights.

The pay-per-view will begin at 10 p.m., but you can check out some undercard bouts on www.proelite.com starting at 7:30.

Nothing is happening in PRIDE right now, as everyone is waiting to see what the new owner (UFC) will do with the company. This is a good time to look at the current champions in PRIDE.

Fedor Emelianenko (27-1) is the current PRIDE heavyweight champion and is considered by many to be one of the top fighters on the planet. The 30-year-old judo/sambo expert from Russia has held the title since March 2003, when he won the title from Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.

Dan Henderson (22-5) holds the middleweight and welterweight titles in PRIDE. Henderson won a tournament at Shockwave 2005 to win the welterweight title before adding the middleweight belt with a knockout of Wanderlei Silva on Feb. 24.

As if that weren’t enough gold for one man, Henderson will challenge Quinton “Rampage” Jackson for the UFC light heavyweight title on Sept. 8 in London.

Takanori Gomi of Japan holds the PRIDE lightweight title. He was awarded the title in 2006 after beating Hayato Sakurai at Shockwave 2005.

If you need a PRIDE fix, you can order “Decade” on in-demand pay-per-view. The show is a look back at the first 10 years of PRIDE.

PRIDE, Fedor Emelianenko, Dan Henderson

The International Fight League’s first season ended on Saturday in Las Vegas. The hometown Nevada Lions beat the Tucson Scorpions 4-1, while the New York Pitbulls can look forward to the playoffs after beating the Toronto Dragons 3-2.

The Final Four teams will do battle in the IFL semifinals on Aug. 2 at in E. Rutherford, N.J. The top-seeded Los Angeles Anacondas (3-0) will face the Quad Cities Silverbacks (2-1), while New York (3-0) will battle the Tokyo Sabres (3-0).

Toronto had a 2-1 lead on New York, but the Pitbulls got victories from Delson Heleno and Marcio Cruz to remain unbeaten.

The winning fighters for Nevada were Daniel Molina, Pat Healy, John Gunderson and Roy Nelson.

IFL Battleground airs every Monday night at 8 on your local MyNetwork TV station. To learn more about the IFL, go to IFL.tv.

Rich “Ace” Franklin stayed on track for a middleweight title shot by defeating Yushin Okami in the main event of UFC 72: Victory on Saturday in Belfast, Ireland.

Okami came very close to winning in the final minutes with a kimura, but Franklin finally managed to get out of trouble. All three judges scored the fight 29-28 in favor of Franklin.

Now that Franklin has defeated Okami and Jason MacDonald, he should get a chance to recapture the middleweight belt from Anderson Silva.

MacDonald also stayed strong with a TKO win over Rory Singer in Round 2.

In another featured fight, light heavyweight Forrest Griffin won a unanimous decision over Hector Ramirez. The judges all scored the fight 30-27.

Other results included middleweight Ed Herman over Scott Smith in Round 2 with the rear naked choke; and light heavyweight Tyson Griffin over Clay Guida on a split decision by one point.

Rich Franklin will try to continue his comeback when he faces Yushin Okami in the main event of UFC 72:Victory this Saturday on pay-per-view from Belfast, Ireland.

Franklin (21-3) lost the UFC middleweight title to Anderson Silva last October. He bounced back on March 3 with a win over Jason “The Athlete” McDonald.

He won’t have an easy time against Okami (20-3), who has won his last six fights, including all four of his UFC appearances.

In a light heavyweight bout, Forrest Griffin (13-4) will take on Hector “Sick Dog” Ramirez (6-2-1). Griffin is trying to recover from a loss to Keith Jardine on Dec. 30. Ramirez lost his UFC debut to James Irvin in November, so he needs a win to stay in the big show.

McDonald (19-8) will see middleweight action against Rory “Outburst” Singer, who lost his last UFC fight to Okami. In a battle of lightweights, Clayy “The Carpenter” Guida (21-4) will face Tyson Griffin (8-1).

If you’re planning on watching this show, keep in mind that it will air live from Ireland, so the start time is 3 p.m. Eastern. Learn about the entire card at http://72.ufc.com.

EXTRA: Manny Gamburyan and Nate Diaz advanced to the finals of The Ultimate Fighter 5 last night. Gamburyan defeated Joseph Lauzon, while Diaz beat Gray Maynard. Diaz will fight Gamburyan for the championship on June 23.

UFC 72, Rich Franklin, Yushin Okami

Frank Shamrock will fight Phil Baroni for the vacant Strikeforce middleweight title on June 22 on pay-per-view on June 22.

Shamrock, a former UFC middleweight champ, will be fighting in his hometown of San Jose, Calif. He had won 10 fights in a row, including a win over Tito Ortiz in 1999, before getting disqualified against Renzo Gracie on Feb. 10.

Baroni (10-7) lost four UFC fights in a row from 2003-2005. He moved to Pride and rebounded by winning four of his last six fights.

Other bouts scheduled for the PPV include Murilo Rua vs. Joey Villasenor; Carter Williams vs. Paul Buentello; Cung Le vs. Tony Fryklund; and Charles Bennett vs. Victor Valenzuela.

Other undercard bouts will air on www.proelite.com before the PPV goes on the air.

Leanr more about the show at http://www.strikeforceusa.net/news.asp?ID=33.

DON’T FORGET – Tonight, you can get a double dose of The Ultimate Fighter on Spike TV, starting at 10 Eastern. The winner’s of tonight’s semifinals will battle on the finale on June 23, along with a fight between coaches B.J. Penn and Jens Pulver.

The semifinalists are Gray Maynard, Manny Gamburyan, Joseph Lauzon and Nate Diaz.

Sam Stout showed he has a strong chin, but he couldn’t withstand the onslaught of Spencer Fisher in the main event of UFC Fight Night 10 last night in Hollywood, Fla.

Fisher (21-3) was busted open in the first round. However, he came back to avenge last year’s loss to Stout (13-2-1) by scoring a unanimous decision victory.

In another lightweight bout, Thiago Tavares of Brazil improved his record to 16-0 with a dominating win over Jason Black (22-3-1). Tavares caught Black in a triangle choke at 2:49 of the second round.

Jon Fitch (19-2) continued to make noise in the welterweight division by defeating Roan Carneiro of Brazil. Carneiro dominated Round 1 by taking Fitch down twice. Fitch bounced back in the second round with some strong punches before winning the fight with the rear naked choke.

The undercard featured a pair of dynamic knockouts. Drew McFedries (6-2) clobbered Jordan Radev of Bulgaria in 33 seconds of a middleweight bout. Welterweight Anthony Johnson only needed 13 seconds to knock out Chad Reiner.

“Hands of Stone” Sam Stout will take on Spencer “The King” Fisher in the main event of UFC Fight Night on Spike TV tonight at 9 p.m. This is a rematch from UFC 58: USA vs. Canada on March 3, 2006. Stout (12-2-1) won that fight on a majority decision.

Stout, a Canadian, lost his last UFC fight by tap-out to Kenny Florian one year ago. Fisher (20-3), a North Carolina native, lost by TKO to Hermes Franca on the Fight Night card in January. Both men need a win to get back in the hunt for Sean Sherk’s UFC lightweight title.

In the welterweight division, Roan Carneiro of Brazil (11-5) will battle Jon Fitch (18-2-1). This will be a battle of wrestling (Fitch) vs. Jiu Jitsu. Fitch has won five in a row, so another win tonight would make him impossible to ignore among the welterweights.

Bulgarian middleweight Jordan Radev will bring a 16-1 record into his fight against Iowa native Drew McFedries (5-2). Another top fight will feature Jason Black vs Thiago Tavares in the lightweight division.

This Fight Night card shows off the strength of the UFC roster. The company can give fans this level of talent for free and still expect them to pay for even bigger stars this Saturday night.

Here is your guide to keep up this week’s hectic week in UFC:

UFC Fight Night will air on Tuesday at 9 p.m. on Spike TV. The main event will be a battle at 155 pounds between Sam Stout (12-2-1) and Spencer Fisher (20-3).

Other featured fights include Jordan Radev (16-1) vs. Drew McFedries (5-2) at 185 pounds; and Jon Fitch (18-2-1) vs. Roan Carneiro (11-5) at 170 pounds. We will have a preview of the entire show tomorrow.

The Ultimate Fighter 5 will air back-to-back episodes on Thursday at 10 on Spike TV. The semifinalists ate Nate Diaz, Manny Gamburyan, Gray Maynard and Joe Lauzon.

Finally, UFC 72: Victory will air live on pay-per-view from Belfast, Ireland. Rich Franklin (23-2), the former UFC middleweight champion, will fight Yushin Okami (21-3). Other top fights.

In a battle of light heavyweights, Forrest Griffin (13-4) will fight Hector “Sick Dog” Ramirez (6-2-1). Also, Canadian middleweight Jason “The Athlete” MacDonald (19-8) will take on Rory “Outburst” Singer.