Fight Talk

Fightfest is coming to Columbus tonight (Sept. 29) at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, 400 High St.

Wes Sims and Josh Shockman, a pair of UFC veterans, will both compete on the show, while UFC veteran Sean Salmon and Pride star Eric “Butterbean’ Esch will be on hand to sign autographs.

Doors will open at 7, and bell time is 8 o’clock.

The IFL is looking for fighters for the 2008 season.

Tryouts will take place on Oct. 13 at the L.A. Boxing Gym in Costa Mesa, Calif.; on Oct. 20 the L.A. Boxing Gym in Mamaroneck, N.Y.; and on Oct. 27 at a Chicago location to be announced.

The sessions will begin at 11:30 a.m. local time, and the IFL is looking for guys who have had at least one professional fight.

If you missed the Elite XC show from Honolulu two weeks ago, you can check it out today (Saturday) on Showtime at 2 p.m. Eastern and Pacific.

Even if you don’t subscribe to Showtime, the channel is airing for free on cable this weekend, so you can check out the fights.

The main event of the show is a battle between Robbie Lawler and Murilo “Ninja” Rua.

Renzo Gracie’s New York Pitbulls won the IFL championship over the Quad Cities Silverbacks. The team did not win anything in 2006 but never lost in 2007.

The starting lineup for the champions consists of lightweight Erik Owings (3-2), welterweight Delson Heleno (12-3), middleweight Fabio Leopoldo (5-3), light heavyweight Jamal Patterson and heavyweight Bryan Vetell (3-2).

Two big upsets rocked the crowd in Anaheim at UFC 76: Knockout on Saturday night.

The biggest stunner was a split decision victory by “The Dean of Mean” Keith Jardine over Chuck Liddell.

After an even first round, Jardine started to get the better of “The Iceman” in Round 2. Jardine finished the fight with more strong punches, and the judges gave him the win 29-28, 28-29, 29-28.

Forrest Griffin turned in an outstanding performance as he upset debuting PRIDE star Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.

One point made the difference as Jon Fitch eked out a split decision victory over Diego Sanchez. The deciding judge scored the fight for Fitch 29-28.

In other bouts, Tyson Griffin defeated Thiago Tavares by unanimous decision; and Lyoto Machida downed Kaz Nakamura.

Chuck Liddell will compete in the main event of “UFC 76: Knockout” Saturday night at 7 on pay-per-view.

Liddell is a heavy favorite to defeat “The Dean of Mean” Keith Jardine. If Liddell loses, it will be difficult for him to get into position to recapture the UFC light heavyweight title from Quentin “Rampage” Jackson.

Also, PRIDE veteran Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (16-2) will make his UFC debut against Forrest Griffin (14-4). The winner could be in line to face the Liddell-Jardine winner or possibly the champion, Jackson.

Other fights include welterweights Jon Fitch (19-2-1) vs. Diego Sanchez (19-1); light heavyweights Lyoto Machida (10-0) vs. Kaz Nakamura (11-6); and lightweights Tyson Griffin (9-1) vs. and Thiago Tavares (13-0).

Kenny Florian stepped to the front of the group of lightweight contenders when he beat Din Thomas with the rear naked choke in the first round. Florian took advantage of an apparent knee injury and is now a strong contender for Sean Sherk’s UFC lightweight belt.

Chris Leben won a close fight in the third round over Terry Martin. Leben was on the verge of losing when he popped Martin in the jaw with a left hand. Leben nailed Martin again to end the fight.

In other fights, Nate Quarry beat Pete Sell on a third-round TKO. and Nate Diaz defeated Junior Accunsao with the guillotine choke.

Kenny Florian will fight Din Thomas in the main event of UFC Fight Night tonight at 9 p.m.

Other top fights on the show include Chris Leben vs. Terry Martin (middleweights), Junior Assuncao vs. Nate Diaz (lightweights) and Pete Sell vs. Nate Diaz (middleweights).

After the show, the new season of The Ultimate Fighter will begin. This season’s coaches are Matt Hughes and Matt Serra.

The New York Pitbulls are one victory away from the IFL championship. They scored a 3-2 win over the Tokyo Sabres in the IFL semifinals in East Rutherford, N.J.

Middleweight Dan Miller, heavyweight Brian “The Philosopher” Vetell and lightweight Deividas Tauresevicius won the first three fights to lock up the win for New York.

The Pitbulls will take on the Quad Cities Silverbacks for the IFL title on Sept. 20 in Hollywood, Fla.

Robbie Lawler won the Elite XC middleweight title with a TKO of Murilo Rua of Brazil on Saturday night.

Lawler improved his record to 15-4, while Rua dropped to 14-8-1. Showtime televised the card from Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Gina Carano defeated Tanya Edinger with the rear naked choke, while Nick Diaz won a split decision over Mike Aina.

In another close fight, Joey Villasenor eked out a split decision win over Riki Fukuda.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban announced the debut of his new MMA promotion, HDnet Fights.

The first show will take place on Oct. 13 at the American Airlines Center, the home of Cuban’s basketball team, the Mavericks. Eric Paulson vs. Jeff Ford will be the main event.

As you may have guessed, the fights will be televised on HDnet.

Illinois recently became the latest state to legalize the sport of mixed martial arts.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed the legislation this week, and the sport will be legal as of June 1, 2008.

Don’t be surprised if promoters trip over each other to book shows in Chicago in the second half of next year.

Fightfest, America’s fastest-growing mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion, recently signed to air on television in 50 countries around the world.

Fightfest: The TV Series began one year ago on SportsTime Ohio, and it has since been picked up on Dish Network and Direct TV.

Now, Fightfest will be seen all over the world in the United Kingdom, Taiwan, the Philippines, South Africa and 46 other nations.

The deal calls for 40 episodes, beginning in October.

In the United States, Fightfest is expanding its TV clearances into Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois.

“This will put us into 800 million homes worldwide,” said Fightfest president Corey Fischer of Fischer Entertainment Group.

UFC popped a record 3.1 rating on Saturday night for the UFC 75 show from London that saw Quinton “Rampage” Jackson beat Dan Henderson to unify the UFC and PRIDE light heavyweight titles.

While it was a questionable decision to give away such a big show for free, UFC attracted a lot of new fans who will be likely to order pay-per-views in the future.

Less than two weeks after its free show on Spike TV, UFC will come right back with a pay-per-view event called UFC 76: Knockout on Sept. 22.

Chuck Liddell will try to bounce back from his UFC light heavyweight title loss to Quentin Jackson last May. “The Iceman” will take on “The Dean of Mean” Keith Jardine in the main event.

In another light heavyweight fight, Brazilian star Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will face Forrest Griffin. Rua will become the latest PRIDE star to make his UFC debut.

Also, Jon Fitch will battle with Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez in a welterweight fight.