by Jeff Gorman
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.”
by Jeff Gorman
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.
by Jeff Gorman
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.
by Jeff Gorman
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.
by Jeff Gorman
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.
by Jeff Gorman
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.
by Jeff Gorman
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.
by Jeff Gorman
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.
by Jeff Gorman
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.
by Jeff Gorman
Paulo Filho of Brazil (15-0) won the vacant WEC middleweight title on Sunday night’s show, which was televised on Versus from the Hard Rock Café in Las Vegas.
Filko forced Joe Doerksen of Canada (39-10) to tap out to strikes at 4:08.
Also, Carlos Condit (21-4) retained the welterweight title over Brock Larsen (21-2) by submission at 2:21 in the armbar.
In other bouts, featherweight Jeff Curran beat Stephen Ledbetter by unanimous decision; lightweight Jamie Varner defeated Sherron Leggett by TKO at 4:08: and Hiromitsu Miura of Japan forced Fernando Gonzalez to tap out to strikes in the second round.
by Jeff Gorman
The Quad Cities Silverbacks will battle the New York Pitbulls for the IFL championship on Sept. 20 in Hollywood, Fla. Both teams won their semifinal team fights on Thursday night in New Jersey.
Quad Cities, coached by Pat Miletich defeated the Los Angeles Anacondas 4-1. The Silverbacks got wins from Mike Ciesnolevicz (light heavyweight), Rory Markham (welterweight), Bart Palaszewski (lightweight) and Ben Rothwell (heavyweight). Rothwell won his fight in 13 seconds.
New York is coached by Renzo Gracie. The Pitbulls defeated the Tokyo Sabres 3-2. Deividas Taurosevicius, Dan Wayne and Brian Vetell.
by Jeff Gorman
World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) will present a big show this Sunday night at 9 on Versus.
WEC is owned by UFC, and it features fighters in the lighter weight classes.
Carlos Condit (20-4) will put the welterweight title on the line against Brock Larson (21-1).
Also, Paulo Filho (14-0) will go after the vacant middleweight title against Joe Doerksen (27-8).
The last WEC show got good reviews, so this could be worth checking out. Learn more about this group at www.wec.tv.
by Jeff Gorman
Due to a neck injury, Travis Lutter is unable to face Ryan Jensen at the UFC 74: Respect pay-per-view on Aug. 25. Instead, Jensen will take on Thales Leites.
Lutter (9-4) won The Ultimate Fight 4 last year, but then lost to Anderson Silva on Feb. 3 at UFC 67: All or Nothing.
Jensen will be making his UFC debut after racking up an 11-1 record in smaller groups lie International Fighting Championship and Victory Fighting Championship.
Leites also sports an 11-1 record, with his only loss coming to Martin Kampmann on the night Lutter won TUF 4. Since then, Leites has defeated Pete Sell and Floyd Sword.
UFC 74 will be headlined by Randy Couture vs. Gabriel Gonzaga for the heavyweight title; and Georges St.-Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck.
by Jeff Gorman
Bodog continued its “Paradise Lost” series of TV shows from Costa Rica this week.
In the opening bout, Russian middleweight Andrei Semenov (26-8-2) clobbered Matt Ewin (17-9-1) of England in with a TKO in just 44 seconds. Semenov ended a four-fight losing streak.
Featherweight David “Doctor” Love (14-6-1) defeated Atsuhiro Tsuboi (5-9-1) of Japan with an armbar at the 4:03 mark.
The heavyweights entered the ring for the main event, as Mario “Big Hurt” Rinaldi suffered the first loss of his career after five wins. Roy “Big Country” Nelson put Rinaldi away with a TKO at 2:39.
Bodog airs every week on the Ion network of local stations.
by Jeff Gorman
Bobby Jones, who played football for the New York Giants, will make his mixed martial arts (MMA) debut for Fightfest on Aug. 24 at the Canton Civic Center.
Jones (6-foot-5, 265 pounds) played football and wrestled at Wadsworth High School and Penn State University. He was a two-time All-American selection in wrestling at Wadsworth.
In Canton, Jones will battle Jamie Sams from Washington Court House as Fightfest presents its “Night of the Heavyweights.”
Five other heavyweight fights will be on the Canton card, including a title defense by Fightfest heavyweight champion Tony Sylvester. He is a former Ohio State wrestler who has compiled a 9-0-1 record.
Akron boxer Joe McCall (2-0) will compete in another heavyweight fight.
Other local favorites on the show include Frank Costanzo, Justin Simms, Chase Minor and Brian Hensley.
Fans will get a chance to meet the fighters when Fightfest sets up the cage at Belden Village Mall near Macy’s on Aug. 17 and 18 at 2 p.m.
Tickets are available through Ticketmaster and at the Civic Center box office. Doors will open at 6 p.m. and the action will start at 7.
The show will be a live taping of the Fightfest TV series on SportsTime Ohio.
