Fight Talk

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Bodog’s latest TV show featured welterweight action from the promotion’s July 14 show in Trenton, N.J.

In the show’s only fight, Eddie Alvarez (11-1) downed Matt Lee (9-6-1) by unanimous decision. Alvarez is trying to position himself for a chance to win the welterweight belt back from Nick “The Goat” Thompson.
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Next week’s Bodog TV fights include James “Binky” Jones vs. Nick Agallar; and Yves Edwards vs. Jorge “Gamebread” Masvidal..

Former New York Giant Bobby Jones made a successful MMA debut with a 34-second win over Darby Hodge at Fightfest on Friday night in Canton, Ohio.

Dozens of fans came from Jones’ nearby hometown of Wadsworth to cheer on the former Penn State All-American.

The show was called “Heavy Hitters” and featured more heavyweight fights than usual.

Tony Sylvester, the Fightfest heavyweight champion, improved his record to 10-0-1 with a win over Matt Eckerle. Sylvester, a former Ohio State wrestler, declared that he was ready for a shot at the big time.

Akron boxer Joe McCall is another undefeated heavyweight. He improved to 3-0 with a win over Anthony Ferguson.

Randy “The Natural” Couture hit Gabriel Gonzaga hard and often, en route to a successful defense of his UFC heavyweight title on Saturday night at UFC 74: Respect.

Gonzaga lasted until early in the third round, when Couture pounded his way to a TKO win.

Georges St.-Pierre came back strong from his loss of the welterweight title with a unanimous decision win over Josh Koscheck. A loud group of Canadians led the crowd in going bonkers for GSP.

Roger Huerta dominated Alberto Crane, winning by TKO in the second round.

In other results, Thales Leitis beat Ryan Jensen with an armbar; Patrick Cote beat Kendall Grove by TKO; and Joe Stevenson beat Kurt Pellegrino by unanimous decision.

The UFC has added Tim Sylvia vs. Brandon Vera to the undercard of its Oct. 20 show in Cincinnati.

Anderson Silva will defend the middleweight belt against Rich Frankin in the main event.

Sylvia,, known as the “Maine-iac,” lost his UFC heavyweight title and a six-fight winning streak with a loss to Randy Couture on March 3.

Vera is 8-0, with his last win coming over Frank Mir in November 2006.

Jens “Lil’ Evil” Pulver blew out his knee during training, and he will be unable to make his WEC debut on Sept. 5.

Pulver was scheduled to face Cub Swanson, who will take on another opponent.

Pulver, a former UFC lightweight champion, was diagnosed with torn MCL in his knee. He was grappling with a sparring partner when he heard an “explosion” in his knee.

Another PRIDE star, Wanderlei Silva, will make his UFC debut before the end of the year.

Silva, the former PRIDE middleweight champion, signed with the UFC last week. He now competes as a light heavyweight, and fans are looking forward to a prospective fight between Silva and Chuck Liddell.

In his career, Silva has defeated Dan Henderson and Quinton Jackson, who will battle next month in London for the PRIDE and UFC light heavyweight titles.

UFC President Dana White called the signing of Silva “the highlight of my career with this company.”

Fightfest will set up its cage at the Belden Village Mall on Aug. 18-19 at Centre Court, just outside of Macy’s in North Canton, Ohio.

Fans can meet Bobby Jones, Tony Sylvester and the other fighters and ring girls at a special meet-and-greet on Aug. 19 at 2 p.m. Fans can ask questions, get autographs and buy merchandise.

Also, fans can purchase tickets to the next live Fightfest show on Aug. 24 show at the Canton Civic Center.

Fightfest has aired on SportsTime Ohio for the past year, and ESPN will be covering the show on Aug. 24.

The 6-foot-5, 265-pound Jones is a former standout in wrestling and football at Wadsworth High School and Penn State University. Jones also went to play for the New York Giants. He will take on Jamie Sams in his mixed martial arts (MMA) debut.

Sylvester will defend his Fightfest heavyweight title on the “Night of the Heavyweights” show. For more information, go to www.fightfest.tv.

Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez will fight Jon Fitch at the UFC 76:Knockout show in Anaheim on Sept. 22.

That card already features Chuck Liddell vs. Keith Jardine; and Forrest Griffin vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.

Sanchez won the first 17 fights of his career before losing to Josh Koscheck on April 7.

Fitch has compiled a record of 14-2, including 13 victories in a row.

Yesterday, we talked about the next four live UFC events. Well, we can now look another step down the road to the show on Oct. 20 in Cincinnati.

Anderson Silva will defend the UFC middleweight title against former champ Rich Franklin. This will be a rematch from Silva’s title win over Franklin from Oct. 14 of last year.

Also, Jason “The Athlete” McDonald will take on Yushin Okami in another middleweight battle. McDonald lost to Franklin on March 3, but he bounced back to beat Rory Singer on June 16.

Okami also lost to Franklin, on June 16.

UFC 74 – Respect – Aug. 25 in Las Vegas on pay-per-view
Randy “The Natural” Couture will defend the UFC heavyweight title against Gabriel Gonzaga. In a battle of welterweight contenders, Josh Koscheck will fight former champion Georges St.-Pierre.

UFC 75 – Champion vs. Champion – Sept. 8 on London on Spike TV
In a battle of light heavyweight champions, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (UFC champ) will take on Dan Henderson (PRIDE champ). Other top fights include Matt Hamill vs. Michael Bisping in a battle of undefeated light heavyweights, and Mirko Cro Cop in a heavyweight fight with Cheick Kongo.

UFC Fight Night – Sept. 19 in Las Vegas on Spike TV
The lightweights will compete in the main event as Kenny Florian takes on Din Thomas. Also, Chris Leben fights Terry Martin in a middleweight bout.

UFC 76 – Knockout – Sept. 22 in Anaheim on pay-per-view
Chuck Liddell tries to get back into contention for the light heavyweight belt as he takes on “The Dean of Mean” Keith Jardine. Plus, PRIDE star Mauricio “Shogun” Rua takes on Forrest Griffin.

Chris Lytle thrilled his hometown fans in Indianapolis with a win over Matthew Brown at the Conseco Fieldhouse on Saturday.

Lytle won with the guillotine choke at 2:49 of Round 2 to improve his record to 24-14-5. Brown, who hails from Columbus, Ohio, dropped to 10-6.

Lytle said after the fight that he gave up a chance to fight for UFC on Spike TV in order to take the Indianapolis fight.

The victory was the second in a row for Lytle, who beat Jason Gilliam on July 7 at UFC: Stacked.

Before that fight, Lytle lost to standout welterweights Matt Hughes and Matt Serra.

The IFL isn’t the only mixed martial arts league out there. The World Combat League (WCL) will begin taping a new season on Oct. 20 in Denver.

The Houston Enforcers celebrated their WCL championship by moving to St. Louis. The league was founded last year by martial-arts movie hero Chuck Norris.

The WCL TV show will air on Versus (formerly the Outdoor Life Network), which also brings you World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC).

Other franchises in the WCL include the Oklahoma Destroyers, Texas Dragons, Los Angeles Stars and Denver Fury in the Western Conference; and the Miami Force, New York Clash, New Jersey Tigers and St. Louis in the Eastern Conference.

Bodog finished its fourth season of TV shows on the Ion network on Tuesday.

The show began with a quick battle of middleweights. UFC veteran Chael Sonnen (19-8-1) needed just 14 seconds to make “The Wrecking Machine” Tim McKenzie (12-3) tap out.

While is appeared that Sonnen won with the anaconda choke, McKenzie revealed after the fight that he had given up because his rib popped out of place.

In the main event, light heavyweight Todd Gouwenberg (6-2) took a unanimous decision victory over Mike Patt (13-2) despite breaking his hand in Round 2.

Next week’s Bodog show will feature the best women’s fights in the promotion’s history.

Kenny Florian (8-3) will face Din Thomas (20-7) in a battle of lightweights on the next “UFC Fight Night” special on Sept. 19.

The show will air on Spike TV.

Thomas was originally scheduled to fight Spencer Fisher, but a staph infection has put Fisher on the shelf.

Also scheduled for Fight Night are a pair of middleweight fights: Mike Swick vs. Jonathan Goulet; and Chris Leben vs. Terry Martin.