Fight Talk

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.

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson unified the PRIDE and UFC light heavyweight titles with a win over “Hollywood” Dan Henderson at UFC 75 in London on Saturday afternoon.

The fight went all five rounds, with Jackson winning a unanimous decision to take Henderson’s PRIDE title.

“The Count” Michael Bisping may be Jackson’s next opponent. He won a battle of undefeated light heavyweights in a split decision over Matt Hammill.

In another light heavyweight fight, Houston “The Assassin” Alexander improved his record to 7-1 by knocking out Alessio Sakara in 1:01.

Mirko Cro Cop’s stock dropped even further, as the Croatian heavyweight lost by unanimous decision to Chieck Kongo of France by unanimous decision.

Also, “Irish Hand Grenade” Marcus Davis defeated Paul Taylor with an armbar in 4:14.

When UFC bought Pride earlier this year, it paved the way for the “Champion vs. Champion” show, which will air on Spike TV on Saturday night at 9 p.m.

Quentin Jackson (UFC) will fight Dan Henderson (Pride) to determine who is the undisputed light heavyweight champion of the world.

Jackson already made history when he dethroned Chuck Liddell in May. Henderson is coming off a win over Wanderlei Silva in February.

The winner will have a ready-made challenger when undefeated light heavyweights Michael “The Count” Bisping and Matt “The Hammer” Hamill square off.

Also, Mirko Cro Cop of Croatia (22-5-2) will face Cheick Kongo of France (20-3-1) in a heavyweight battle. Cro Cop will try to bounce back from his recent loss to Gabriel Gonzaga.

“Razor” Rob McCullough hung on to his World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) lightweight title at the Hard Rock Café in Las Vegas. He only needed 89 seconds to score a TKO win over Richard Crunkilton.

The show aired on Wednesday night on the Versus network.

Also, Chase Beebe retained his WEC 135-pound title with a unanimous decision win over Rani Yahya.

In other results, John Alessio defeated Marcelo Brito by unanimous decision; Miguel Torres beat Jeff Bedard in 2:30 with the triangle choke; and Brian Stann beat Jeremiah Billington by TKO in 3:07.

Spike TV will prepare fans this week for Saturday’s battle between Quentin Jackson and Dan Henderson.
A “Countdown to Jackson vs. Henderson” special will air at 10 p.m., followed by “Unleashed” which will replay a fight between Royce Gracie and Matt Hughes.
On Friday, Spike will air the entire UFC 70 pay-per-view, which featured Gabriel Gonzaga’s upset win over Mirko Cro Cop. Saturday will be an absolute smorgasbord of MMA action on Spike TV. A pair of “Unleashed” hours will begin at 7, and the big UFC 75 show will air on free TV, starting at 9.
If you’ve been meaning to get into UFC, but you haven’t wanted to plunk down the money for a pay-per-view, this is your opportunity.

Fight Talk is taking a break until after Labor Day. Thanks for your support!

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.