Fight Talk

Rashad Evans will put his 15-0 record on the line against one of the top fighters in the world, Tito Ortiz (15-5) at UFC’s pay-per-view tomorrow night in Sacramento. Calif.

The event is called “Stacked” because it also includes a pair of title fights. “Muscle Shark” Sean Sherk (35-2-1) will defend the lightweight title against Hermes Franca (18-5). Anderson “The Spider” Silva (18-4) will put the middleweight belt up against Nate “The Great” Marquardt (28-6-1).

Other top fights include Alvin Robinson vs. Kenny Florian; and Heath Herring vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
For the full lineup, go to http://73.ufc.com.

FIGHTFEST BONUS: Cleveland fans can watch Fightfest live tonight at 8:30 p.m. at the House of Blues. I’m one of the announcers for this group, and we’ll be taping the show for SportsTime Ohio, which is the Cleveland Indians network.

Top fights will include Taiwon “The Iron Dragon” Howard vs. Mohammed Abdul Rashad; and Matthew Brown vs. Dan Kolbasowski in a semifinal bout in the 170-pound tournament.

Just two weeks after UFC 75: Champion vs. Champion on Sept. 8 in London, UFC will deliver another pay-per-view at the Honda Center in Anaheim on Sept. 22.

No main event has been signed yet, but that event may mark the debut of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in the UFC.

Like Dan Henderson, Rua is a star from the PRIDE promotion, which UFC purchased in the spring. Rua (16-2) has won 12 of his last 13 fights, with his only loss coming to Mark Coleman when Rua suffered a broken arm.

Rua even holds a victory over current UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.

Also expected to fight on the Anaheim are Mike Swick and Evan Tanner. Swick won five fights in a row before losing to Yushin Okami in April. Middleweight slugger Evan Tanner (32-6) will be fighting for the first time since beating Justin Levens in April 2006.

Welterweight Antonio McKee won a unanimous decision over Mike Dolce to give the IFL’s Tokyo Sabres a 3-2 win over the Portland Wolfpack.

The Tokyo win aired on June 29 on Fox Sports Net and ensured the Sabres a spot in the IFL playoffs.

Also winning for Tokyo were heavyweight Orvil Palmer and light heavyweight Vladmir Matyushenko.

The IFL semifinals are set for Aug. 2 in East Rutherford, N.J. The matchups are the Sabres vs. the New York Pitbulls and the Los Angeles Anacondas vs. the Quad Cities Silverbacks,.

I do like the idea of the team concept, although it’s going to take a while to catch fire. The key is to build loyalty, so the fans really care about seeing their hometown team win.

You can start getting ready for Saturday’s big UFC pay-per-view with a pair of preview shows tonight on Spike TV.

The UFC lightweight title fight between “Muscle Shark” Sean Sherk and Hermes Franca will be the focus of the “Countdown” show at 10:30.

Also, “UFC All Access” will pay a visit to Sherk’s hometown in Minnesota at 11:30.

The Sherk-Franca title fight will be part of “UFC 73: Stacked” on Saturday night at 10 at the Arco Arena in Sacramento.

Other top fights on the show include Tito Ortiz vs. Rashad Evans; Heath Herring vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira; and middleweight champion Anderson Silva vs. Nate Marquardt.

Sean Sherk, Hermes Franca

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