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Couture vs. Franklin, PFF Coverage of UFC 110 & MMA Big Show and UFC 110 Predictions

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

MMA Update – February 18th 2010

Couture vs. Franklin- I have confirmed with sources close to Franklin’s camp that there are discussions of Couture vs. Franklin.  The fight could happen in either June or August depending on a few things on Couture’s end.  Many outlets are reporting this to be a done deal but as of now that is not the case.  Stay tuned to www.profighting-fans.com for more information as it becomes available.

Weekend MMA - ProFighting-fans.com has complete coverage of UFC 110 which includes predictions and a live blog of the UFC 110 results this weekend.  In addition, there are features on Cain Velasquez, Minotauro Nogueira, Michael Bisping and Wanderlei Silva currently on the site.  PFF will also provide a live blog from MMA Big Show in Indiana in a regional event that features Dave Hess vs. Jake O’Brien and Roger Bowling vs. Jerrod Appenzeller.  The event will be Roger Bowling’s last fight before he competes in Strikeforce.

Anderson Silva- The Spider had his tentacles set on The Phenom Vitor Belfort at UFC 112 but the much anticipated bout will have to wait.  Belfort was a scratched from the card due to a shoulder injury.  Instead of the explosive Belfort, Silva will instead face the elite grappling of Demian Maia.  Maia brings a different challenge but there is plenty of time for Silva to prepare as the event doesn’t take place until April 10th.

UFC 110- Cain Velasquez vs. Minotauro Nogueira and Michael Bisping vs. Wanderlei Silva are excellent co main events and our UFC 110 picks & predictions are live.  Each fight has a lot on the line for each of the four combatants.  For Velasquez it would continue his fast track to a title shot, for Nog, another trip to the top and a place in line at the title shot table.  Although Bisping bounced back from his devastating loss to Dan Henderson with an impressive victory over Denis Kang, many are still doubting the cocky Englishman.  There are few fighters on the planet who have an 18-2 record but are searching for respect.  With a victory over Wand, Bisping will be back in the title hunt.  For Wanderlei, a loss may be the end of the road in the UFC for the legendary striker.  With a victory, Wand will still get high level fights as he still sells tickets.  The event is very good top to bottom as it also includes Stevenson vs. Sotiropoulos, Jardine vs. Bader and Cro Cop vs. Rothwell. UFC 110 takes place on February 20th on PPV.

Scott Dryden
Editor-in-Chief www.profighting-fans.com


Posted in MMA General, UFC, UFC Rumors | Comments Off

Paul Buentello vs. Cheick Kongo set for UFC 1 on Versus

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

According to Paul Buentello’s Facebook page he will face Cheick Kongo on the UFC March 21 event live on Versus.  The bout will feature two combatants who desperately need a victory.  Kongo has lost two fights in a row, each to ground specialists in Cain Velasquez and Frank Mir.  He will find his perfect match-up in terms of style in the Head Hunter.  Buentello is coming off a disappointing loss to Stefan Struve at UFC 107.  For the fans that prefer striking, this fight will be a dream.

The main event features an outstanding bout between young gun Jon “Bones” Jones and Brandon Vera.  This should be an outstanding match.  Although Vera’s striking game is lethal he will not be able to match up with the overall talent of Jones.

For UFC previews and reviews visit ProFighting-fans.com.

Scott Dryden
Editor-in-Chief, www.profighting-fans.com

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Brock Lesnar & Dana White appear on ESPN’s SportsCenter

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

As first reported by Scott Dryden, ProFighting-fans.com Editor-in-Chief, Brock Lesnar will make his return to the UFC this summer according to Lesnar and Dana White. On SportsCenter this morning UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar and UFC President Dana White made an appearance to discuss Lesnar’s return to the UFC in 2010 as well as the issues that have plagued him these past several months.

Lesnar said he headed up to Canada for a hunting trip and felt as though “someone shot me in the guts” causing him to go to the hospital. After spending some time in a Canadian hospital he said he needed to get away from Canadian healthcare and headed to Bismark, South Dakota where he learned of his colon problems, basically he had a hole in his colon. Lesnar, having already lost 40 pounds, was told he would need a major colon surgery that would effectively end his fighting career and significantly change his day-to-day life and that there were only small odds of it healing naturally. A second opinion at the Mayo Clinic confirmed this diagnosis. As a result Lesnar decided to try and beat the odds, and beat them he did. With a changed diet and a more holistic approach towards his eating, Lesnar’s January 5 appointment showed that he has little remaining evidence of the hole in his colon that caused the problems. Having now had numerous colonoscopies and CT scans, Lesnar is training again and looking forward to getting back into the sport that he says he has grown to love. Thanking his wife, family and Dana White, Lesnar appears upbeat and eager to retain his UFC Heavyweight belt.

White stated that the Frank Mir vs Shane Carwin fight on the UFC 111 fight card will not only crown an Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion, but also produce the next opponent for Lesnar. He also mentioned that should something happen in this fight to the eventual winner, the Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs Cain Velasquez winner from UFC 110 would be next in line for a title shot. Of course both of these fights will also have a major impact on the Pro Fighting Fans UFC Heavyweight Rankings, but White said that Lesnar will fight again, likely this summer, to defend his belt.

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Anderson Silva’s return, Brock Lesnar will be back, James Toney to MMA?

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

MMA Update – 1-13-2010

Anderson Silva- It appears the Spider will return to action atop the UFC 112 fight card where he will face Vitor Belfort.  UFC 112 will be held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.   Belfort vs. Silva will be a tremendous match-up of two very quick strikers.  The difference will be Silva’s legs and length as the Spider will continue his reign.

Brock Lesnar- As reported here first, Brock Lesnar is likely to return in the very near future.  Our sources lead us to believe Lesnar will return in the June-July time frame.  However, on Inside MMA Randy Couture stated he has spoken with Brock and expects him back in the spring.  Either way the winner of Shane Carwin-Frank Mir will have their hands full when the Champ returns.

Gray Maynard- The Bully squeaked out a victory over Nate Diaz but looked worse for wear following the bout.  Maynard had difficulties dealing with the reach of Diaz and didn’t want any part of the Jiu-Jitsu practitioner on the ground.  Many speculate Maynard’s victory earns him a shot at BJ Penn but there is no way he is ready for the caliber of The Prodigy.

Herschel Walker- The former NFL star is making the media tour including appearances on Fox and Friends and The Howard Stern Show.  Can Walker make an impact?  For the latest Strikeforce news be sure to check out ProFighting-fans.com.

James Toney- According to Inside MMA the former boxing  champion is in discussion with Dana White about the possibility of competing in the UFC.  Toney, 41, compiled a career record of 72-6-3 with titles in multiple weight divisions.  Can Toney compete in the UFC?  At the very least he will have a punchers chance.

UFC 109- Two Hall-of-Famers will do battle in Las Vegas on February 6th when Mark Coleman battles Randy Couture.  This is a match-up that could have happened long ago but circumstances didn’t allow it.  Now, fans will get to see the two legends do battle.  As they both have done throughout their careers, Coleman and Couture will look to defy the odds once again in pursuit of a Light Heavyweight Title shot. Don’t miss our UFC 109 predictions to see what to expect at this Las Vegas event.

For coverage of all things MMA, visit ProFighting-fans.com.

Scott Dryden, Editor-in-Chief

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Brock’s Return, the Demise of Cung Le, Rich Franklin Rumors, Fedor and Henderson slated for April

Monday, December 21st, 2009

MMA Update – December 21, 2009

Brock Lesnar- It appears that Frank Mir will battle Shane Carwin for the UFC’s “interim”  Heavyweight title in March.  Many are speculating that Lesnar will be out for an extended period of time or his career may be over, but from what I’m hearing that isn’t the case.  Look for Brock to be back in the cage to face the winner of Mir/Carwin in the July/August time frame.

Cung Le- The legendary kick boxer dominated Scott Smith for the first two rounds and was well on his way in the 3rd when Smith landed a big punch.  Smith, known for his comeback wins, pulled out another shocker via TKO due to strikes.  What is next for Le?  If he devotes himself entirely to the sport he could still be a very good champion.

Dan Henderson- One of the sport’s biggest stars will make his Strikeforce debut in April 2009 on CBS.  It’s possible Henderson will battle Jake Shields for the Middleweight Title.  If it happens, this would be an interesting match-up.  However, Henderson’s overall game would be too much for Shields and he would add to his already impressive resume of titles.

Fedor- The world’s greatest fighter will be in the cage in April in front of a national TV audience on CBS.  Fedor could battle Alistair Overeem for the Heavyweight Title or could face Jiu-Jitsu specialist Fabricio Werdum.

Gilbert Melendez- Gilbert Melendez took on Josh Thomson for the Strikeforce Lightweight Title at Strikeforce Evolution.  It was worth the wait and lived up to the hype.  In what might be the fight of the year, both fighters gave everything they had with Melendez clearly winning the fight via a UD.  The rubber match should take place in the near future.

Jacare Souza- Jacare started his Strikeforce career with an impressive victory over MMA legend Matt Lindland.  Jacare, an impressive specimen, dominated the action forcing Lindland to tap out due to an arm triangle.

Mo Lawal- King Mo will soon be a household name.  The King easily dismantled Mike Whitehead showing off his athleticism and charisma.  The question is which weight class will King Mo compete?  He is a small heavyweight better suited for the light heavyweight division.  In either division Lawal will be a factor in Strikeforce’s future.

Rich Franklin- Rich “Ace” Franklin will likely return to the UFC Octagon in March/April of 2010.  The former Middleweight Champion will compete in the light heavyweight division.  There is plenty of speculation including a bout against Forrest Griffin.  More details to follow.

Make www.profighting-fans.com your first stop for accurate and thorough MMA news, previews/reviews and interviews.

Merry Christmas MMA fans,

Scott Dryden
Editor-in-Chief, www.profighting-fans.com

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BJ Penn’s Dominance, Brock Lesnar’s Return, Strikeforce on Showtime

Monday, December 14th, 2009

MMA Update – 12-14-09

BJ Penn- With his dominating victory over Diego Sanchez at UFC 107 this past weekend, BJ Penn cemented himself as the greatest lightweight in the history of the sport.  Penn left the cage unscathed with title secure in hand and a smile on his face.  Who is next for Penn?  There isn’t anyone in the UFC lightweight division that can hang with Penn?  Given his new conditioning program under Marv Marinovich, Penn may want to step back up to 170lbs and take another shot at GSP.

Brock Lesnar- Brock Lesnar was mentioned several times by Frank Mir leading up to UFC 107.  Mir stated he wants to destroy Lesnar and once again become the UFC Heavyweight Champion.  Look for Brock Lesnar to return to the cage in mid 2010 where he will first face Shane Carwin.  Mir is likely the first in line to challenge the winner.

Strikeforce- Strikeforce Evolution is on Showtime this Saturday December 19th.  The event features Cung Le’s return to the cage where he will face striker Scott Smith.  Le will have his hands full with the heavy-handed Smith but should make a glorious return.  Josh Thomson will finally battle Gilbert Melendez for the Strikeforce Lightweight Title.  Since his victory over Melendez, Thomson has had a bevy of injuries.  This should be a classic with both combatants having much to prove.  Matt Lindland will battle the dangerous Jacare Souza while Mo Lawal and Antwain Britt will also be competing.

UFC- The UFC finished up two very successful weekends with BJ Penn retaining his title over Diego Sanchez.  Frank Mir throttled Cheick Kongo in quick fashion.  Mir landed a solid shot knocking Kongo to the ground where he grabbed a guillotine choke which resulted in Kongo passing out.  The bulked up Mir looked very impressive as his sole desire is to get another shot at UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar.  Kenny Florian finished Clay Guida in impressive fashion landing several strikes before gaining the victory via tapout due to a RNC.

For a preview and recap of UFC 107 and Strikeforce Evolution coverage visit www.profighting-fans.com

Scott Dryden
Editor-in-Chief, profighting-fans.com

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Lesnar vs Carwin seems delayed well into 2010

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

ProFighting-fans.com Editor-in-Chief Scott Dryden has news on the UFC Heavyweight Championship fight originally scheduled for UFC 106 between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin.

According to Shane Carwin’s official website, not only is the fight against Brock Lesnar off for UFC 106 but it will not happen at as scheduled for UFC 108 either.  The following is from Shane’s official website:

Guys my manager Jason Genet just told me that UFC 108 is not happening. Brock has Mono and what the UFC has told me is that I have earned the title shoot but I have to wait for the title holder.

I hope Brock gets well soon. I highly suggest he get into a Max Muscle store because they have the best advice and supplements to support that advice. It really is the only way to make it through the grueling weather and training we live through.

Here’s to spending some time with the family and eating as much as I can at Thanksgiving.

Thanks to my amazing sponsors Max Muscle, Beaver Buzz Energy, PerformanceMMA, Nightrider Jewelry, MTX Audio, and Warrior Wear.

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Ultimate 100 Greatest Fights DVD, UFC Injuries/Card Changes and Main Events to air on Spike TV

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

UFC Update

11-03-09

UFC Rumors:
Rumors are abound that Kimbo Slice will face Houston Alexander at The Ultimate Fighter Finale on December 5th.  Although Dana White stated some time back that the only way the over hyped Kimbo will reach the UFC is by winning the show, the rumors appear to be true.  If so, it will be an interesting match between two fighters who have little skill on the ground.

UFC Injuries/Fight Card Changes: The UFC is starting to suffer what all other promotions go through, injuries and last minute card changes.  With the physicality of the sport in terms of training, the sport of MMA is bombarded with injuries and card changes.  The UFC’s depth usually is enough to overcome changes but in the case of UFC 106 where Brock Lesnar backed out, there wasn’t anything Dana White could do.  As result there will be two straight events without a title match nor a quality main event.  The UFC also has the injury to Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva, who had surgery on his troubling elbow, which will force him to be out until at least the early part of 2010.  Then of course there is the Rampage Jackson situation.  Jackson backed out of his scheduled fight against nemesis Rashad Evans so he could play the part of BA Baracus on the new movie A-Team.  In spite of all the controversy and bad luck, the UFC will still put together good events with quality fighters.
For interviews with participants of both UFC 105 and UFC 106 in addition to event previews/reviews and live blogs, keep visiting www.profighting-fans.com

DVDs: For you newbies to MMA, a great way to learn the history of the sport is to watch some of the early UFC DVDs including Pride Fighting Championships.  You can find them at the UFC Store and various retail outlets.  To quickly get acquainted with the biggest fights in the history of the UFC, purchase the new DVD UFC: Ultimate 100 Greatest Fights.  The DVD is available through the UFC’s website or you can find it on amazon.com

UFC Main Events: Strikeforce will have one of it’s biggest events in the history of their promotion as Fedor will battle Brett Rogers live on CBS November 7th.  To combat the hype and ratings, the UFC will air Main Events from free on SpikeTV.  The program will air on November 7th at 9:00 ET.  The program will consist of Randy Couture vs. Antonio Nogueira, Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin, BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian and Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort.

Scott Dryden
Editor-in-Chief, www.profighting-fans.com

Posted in MMA General, Strikeforce, UFC, UFC Rumors | 1 Comment »

Rampage Jackson Retiring? You be the Judge

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

Rampage Jackson on his Blog:

I’m done fighting..The UFC has done a lot for me but I think I have done more for them. The UFC bought WFA to get my contract & they saved my life, so I felt loyal to them. They pushed me into a fight with Chuck Liddel even when I clearly stated I wasn’t ready to fight for the belt because the American fans didn’t know me but I took the fight and didn’t complain & after I won the American fans booed me for the first time which changed the way I saw them & it hurt me deeply.

Then before I can even get out of the cage they announced that I was fighting Dan Henderson without even asking me. After I beat Dan Henderson, I made history in becoming the first undisputed champion in MMA but was never even given the pride belt in the cage & I was never promoted as the undisputed champ. Later Anderson Silva was.

Then they had me coach TUF season 7 and fight Forrest and the fight was very controversial & normally when a fight is that close & controversial there is normally an instant replay. I can name a couple of instances. Instead they offered me the Vanderlei Silva fight which I gladly accepted even though I know it was a very risky fight for me to take because of all the drama that was happening to me at the time. I fought that fight with a jaw injury and then a couple weeks later Dana called me and asked me to fight Rashad. For the first time I said no, I didn’t want to fight because it was such short notice & I wouldn’t have had a long break between camp. Dana talked me into fighting Rashad anyway but Rashad refused the fight and so I had to fight Jardine as a favor to the UFC instead of getting my belt back (which wasn’t even worth it to me financially).

Then I reinjured my jaw in the fight with Vanderlei & Jardine. Frank Mir gets hurt so they wanted to switch my fight from UFC 100 to the fight Frank couldn’t make it to but I couldn’t fight cause I needed jaw surgury. So they give Machida the fight against Rashad & they told me they want me to coach TUF season 10 against Rashad. That’s why I wanted Rashad to win so bad but when Rashad got knocked out I told them I wanted to fight Machida for the belt but Dana told me if I coach TUF against Rashad that I could fight Machida afterwards cause this was a different type of ultimate fighter show they were doing. After I signed the contract Dana then changes his mind & says I have to fight Rashad & even told me what to say in the press & so my fans think I was scared to fight Machida. After all that I still never complained & I did it all.

Then this movie role came about that I have been trying to get for over a year & as soon as I found out I was close to getting it, I called Dana right away & asked to push the Memphis fight back just a month or so. I told him what this movie role meant to me. I told him that I used to bond with my father watching the tv show as a kid when my parents where still married & it represents the memories I had with my father when we lived together. My dad became an alcohalic & addicted to drugs & we grew apart. But after my dad got his life back together, I was so proud of my dad & I told him I would always take care of him in the future & make him proud of me. My dad & I are still very big fans of the show & I am basically doing this for the childhood memories I had spending time in front of the tv with my dad. Dana went on the internet & mocked me because of that & I still did nothing. Dana & I finally talked & we made up & then after that he went back on the internet & said some bullshit & he was talking bad about the movie when information is not even supposed to be released & talking about payments which is not even true could really hurt my future acting career, which could very well last longer than my fighting career. I’m not like Randy Couture. My body has been getting so many different injuries that I wont be able to fight until my forties & neither do I want to fight that long. So I feel like my second career could be in jeopardy.. so I’m done fighting. I’ve been getting negative reviews from the dumb ass fans that don’t pay my bills or put my kids though college. So I’m hanging it up. I’m gonna miss all my loyal fans but hopefully they’ll follow me to my new career & I will gain more loyal fans along the way. & all you hater fans out there can kiss my big black hairy ass! & anybody that don’t like what I just said can come try to kick my ass!

I still feel the UFC is a great organization and I felt like I was very loyal to them but they didn’t respect my loyalty but I wish the UFC the best. I did a lot of things for them. I wish no bad blood between us but I have kids & a family back in Memphis to provide for & thats all that matters to me!

Source: http://www.rampage-jackson.com/

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Mike Swick Update: Swick out of UFC 103 bout with injury

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

PFF Editor-in-Chief Scott Dryden has confirmed with AKA that Mike Swick is injured; no replacement for Swick has been announced. Swick was scheduled to battle Martin Kampmann on September 19 at UFC 103 for the right to battle UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre for the title.

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