October 1, 2007
NEW EPISODE OF FCF RADIO: SAM STOUT, STEPHANE PATRY AND DAN CHAMBERS

New episode of FCF Radio In this edition of FCF Radio, we break down last Friday night's TKO 30 card held in Montreal, Quebec, by talking to Sam Stout, Dan Chambers and Stephane Patry. Click here to listen/download

October 1, 2007
K-1 HERO'S UPDATE

Kang to Make Hero’s Debut October 28th
By FCF Staff

Kang

The official K-1 Hero’s website is reporting that highly regarded middleweight fighter, Denis Kang (29-8-1), will make his debut fighting for the organization October 28th, at Hero’s Korea 2007 card in Seoul, South Korea. For months now speculation has surrounded the American Top Team fighter’s free agent status, and whether or not the Pride veteran would decide to sign with a North American based promotion or one situated in Japan. In a FCF Radio appearance last month, ATT representative John Hartnett confirmed to FCF that Kang was almost certainly going to sign with Hero’s, with the hopes of competing sometime this fall. On account of Kang’s Korean heritage, the 30 year-old-fighter is a well known and popular sports figure in South Korea, which likely was a leading factor in Kang’s decision to continue competing overseas. No opponent for Kang’s Hero’s debut has yet been confirmed.

Hero’s has also confirmed that Yoshihiro Akiyama will return to competition at the October 28th event. Akiyama had been suspended indefinitely by the promotion after it was revealed he had used a moisturizing substance on his body during his bout with Kazushi Sakuraba last New Year’s Eve. As a result, the fight was declared a No Contest, and Akiyama has not competed since. Akiyama has since apologized for the incident. No opponent has yet been confirmed for the highly regarded, Judo practitioner.

October 1, 2007
HARDCORE CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHTING UPDATE

Correira Out, Bobish in to Face Aleks Emelianenko 0ct.19th
By FCF Staff

Hardcore Championship Fighting has announced this afternoon that Wesley “Cabbage” Correira will not fight Aleksander Emelianenko at the promotion’s upcoming, October 19th event, which will take place at the Stampede Corral, in Calgary, Alberta. Citing “unforeseen circumstances” as the reason for Correira being unable to compete, the HCF statement announced that Pride veteran Dan Bobish will now face Emelianenko in the card’s main-event.

Bobish (17-8) will head to Calgary on a 6 fight winning streak, and has not lost a bout since March of 2006, when he was defeated by IFL star, Ben Rothwell. Most recently Bobish stopped Nate Eddy for the TKO win at a North American Amateur Fight Series event in June.

“I see this as a huge stepping stone for me. I accept and look forward to the challenge”, Bobish was quoted in the release as saying.

Emelianenko (11-3) has won 2 fights in a row and is 3-2 in his last five bouts. During that stretch he defeated Jesse Gibson, Eric Pele, and Sergei Kharitonov while losing to Fabricio Werdum and Josh Barnett.

Some of the other bouts scheduled for the HCF, October 19th card include; Edwin Dewees (34-10) vs. Marcus Vinicios (4-3), Ariel Sexton (4-0) vs. Thomas Schulte (14-6), Sarah Kaufman (5-0) vs. Ginele Marquez (5-6) and Toby Johnson (5-1) vs. Garrett Davis (10-7).

October 2, 2007
DAVID LOISEAU

“The Crow” Loiseau: “I’ll Get Back to the Top”
By Kelsey Mowatt

Loiseau

FCF caught up with former UFC contender David “The Crow” Loiseau (15-7) today to get an update on the Canadian fighter, when he might be returning to action, and to get his thoughts on life as a promoter. Loiseau has not competed since May 11th, when he submitted Freddie Espicuetta with an arm-triangle choke at Art of War 2, ending a 3 fight losing streak. After going 4-1 in his first 5 UFC fights, defeating Mark Weir, Gideon Ray, Charles McCarthy and former UFC middleweight champ. Evan Tanner, Loiseau’s assault on the 185lb. division was finally halted at UFC 58 by the reigning champion at the time, Rich Franklin. At UFC 63 last September, another Unanimous Decision loss, this time to Mike Swick followed, and then another one was added to Loiseau’s record in February, this time against Joey Villasenor at Elite XC’s “Destiny” event. The win over Espicuetta could not have come at a better time.

“It was good, it was a good fight,” says Loiseau in recalling the fight with Espicuetta. “Freddie’s a very accomplished stand-up fighter and he’s very tough, you know? I was happy with my performance, slowly but surely I’ll get back to the top, I’ll eventually get back to the UFC and do my thing.”

Unlike some fighters who do not have there contract renewed with the UFC, Loiseau has consistently stated publicly his wish to return to the Zuffa organization. The Crow will likely have to put together a couple more wins one would think before the UFC comes calling once again. In the meantime, despite some disappointing performances against Swick and Villasenor, many fans still remember Loiseau for his cutting elbows and flying knees, and for that very reason, the fighter remains in high  demand.

“My manager Ken Pavia is looking in to what’s going on,” Loiseau say’s in discussing his immediate future. “He’s got a lot of offers for me to fight, but he just wants what’s best for me, so we’re just making sure, picking the right fight, the right moment. I had surgery on my hand in May, now I’m fully recovered, that’s why I haven’t fought in that long, I had surgery, but now I’m 100% and ready to fight, just looking for the right fight.”

In a FCF Radio appearance earlier this week, TKO Promoter Stephane Patry mentioned that his organization was “talking with David Loiseau” in discussing possible competitors for the promotion’s upcoming December show. According to the former TKO middleweight title holder, who was previously managed by Patry, Loiseau is unaware of any such discussions.

“I got my own federation in Montreal,” Loiseau’s tells FCF. “I’m promoting with Steve Claveau Xtreme MMA Promotions, if I fight in Montreal I’ll fight on my own show you know? I don’t know what he meant, but if I fight in Montreal it’s going to be on my own show.”

Loiseau and fellow professional fighter Steve Claveau jumped into the MMA promotion game last month, when they held there first Ring Xtreme Challenge event in Quebec City.

“I’m comfortable you know? I don’t do this full-time,” Loiseau says in regards to life as a promoter. “I’m a fighter before anything, first show went well. It was a 2000 seat venue, and it was sold out.”

According to Loiseau, Ring Xtreme Challenge has shows booked for the 16th and 24th of November, in Jonquiere and Victoriaville respectively, and UFC veteran Jonathan Goulet is scheduled to compete at the promotion’s first event next month. No opponent has of yet been confirmed.

In the meantime, Loiseau will continue to prepare for his return to MMA competition, and similarly to his long time friend Georges St.Pierre, has enlisted the help of Greg Jackson.

“Yes, yes, yes, because of my hand I couldn’t train much during the summer time,” says Loiseau in discussing his upcoming training with the highly regarded Team Jackson. “I should be going in the next few weeks to New Mexico.”

October 2, 2007
STRIKEFORCE UPDATE

CSAC Releases Strikeforce "At the Mansion" Salaries
By FCF Staff

The California State Athletic Commission released the fighter’s purses today for this past Saturday’s Strikeforce card, which was held at the Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills. Promoters are required by law to submit the fighter’s salaries to the athletic commission, however, the figures below only reflect what Strikeforce disclosed to the CSAC. Additional bonuses that might be paid out to a fighter for various reasons , outside of winning bonuses, are not  included in these numbers.

According to the CSAC figures, for defeating Tetsuji Kato in the card’s main event, Gilbert Melendez was paid $30,000, while his Japanese opponent, earned $6,000. Former UFC competitor Joe Riggs earned $29,000 ($14,000 for showing, plus $15,000 for winning) for his TKO stoppage of Eugene Jackson who made $15,000. Strikeforce Light-heavyweight Champion Bobby Southworth went home with $20,000 ($10,000 plus $10,000 for winning) after stopping Canadian Bill Mahood in the first round, who was paid $1000.

Other pay-outs of note; Daniel Puder earned $20,000 while his opponent Richard Dalton made $3,000, Josh Thomson took home $24,500 ($14,5000 plus $10,000 for winning) for defeating Adam Lynn ($6,000), Jorge Masvidal was paid $18,182.50 while his opponent Matt Lee earned $1,000 and Falaniko Vitale took home $20,000 for fighting Ron Fields ($7,000).

October 3, 2007
ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE

Evans vs. Bisping to Headline UFC 78
By FCF Staff

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has announced via its official website today that a fight between “Ultimate Fighter” winners Michael Bisping and Rashad Evans will headline UFC 78. “Validation” will take place at the Prudential Arena, in Newark, New Jersey, November 17th.

TUF Season 3 winner Michael Bisping (14-0) is coming off a controversial Split Decision victory over fellow TUF competitor Matt Hamill at UFC 75 last month. Although the win preserved the British fighter’s unspoiled record, the judge's decision was scrutinized by many MMA observers and fans alike. Bisping has gone 4-0 in official UFC competition, defeating Josh Haynes, Eric Schafer, Elvis Sinosic and the aforementioned Hamill, and could face his toughest test to date in Evans.

Evans (13-01-), who won TUF Season 2 competing at heavyweight, is also coming off a somewhat controversial result in his last fight. At UFC 73 in July, the Team Jackson fighter fought to a Draw with former light-heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz. Due to the fact questions remained after the fight as to who or whether or not one of the fighters had won the bout, many believed an immediate rematch between the two fighters was next. Prior to his fight with Ortiz, Evans won four straight fights after winning TUF 2, defeating Sam Hoger, Stephan Bonnar, Jason Lambert and Sean Salmon.

No other bouts for the UFC 78 card were announced.

October 3, 2007
ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE

UFC Confirms More Bouts for “Hostile Territory”
By FCF Staff

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has confirmed several more fights for the promotions upcoming, October 20th, “Hostile Territory” event. UFC 77 will take place at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio and will be headlined by a re-match title fight between middleweight champion Anderson Silva and former champ. Rich Franklin.                                                                                                   

Franklin

Two of the 185lb. divisions top contenders will battle on the 20th as Jason MacDonald (19-8) will face Yushin Okami (20-4). The Canadian is 3-1 in his first 4 UFC fights, defeating Chris Leben, Ed Herman and most recently Rory Singer at UFC 72 in June. MacDonald’s only loss competing for Zuffa thus far was to Franklin, a TKO stoppage at UFC 68. Okami won his first four fights competing in the Octagon, earning victories over Alan Belcher, Kalib Starnes, Rory Singer and Mike Swick. The Japanese fighter’s only UFC loss is also to the former champion in Franklin, who out-scored and outworked Okami for a Unanimous Decision victory at UFC 72.

Also confirmed for UFC 77 is a light-heavyweight bout between Stephan Bonnar (10-4) and Eric Schafer (8-3-2). The former “Ultimate Fighter” finalist, Bonnar, is 4-3 now in the UFC, and is perhaps most remembered for his epic battles with Forrest Griffin. At UFC 73 in July, Bonnar returned to competition for the first time in nearly a year, submitting Mike Nickels in the first round with a rear-naked-choke. Schafer is the less experienced of the two as far as UFC experience goes, at UFC 62 last August, the fighter submitted Rob MacDonald in the first round with an arm-triangle choke, while at UFC 66 last December, he was stopped in the first round with strikes by Michael Bisping.

At lightweight, veteran Jorge Gurgel (11-3) will meet Alvin Robinson (8-2) who will be fighting for just the second time in the UFC. At his UFC debut in July, Kenny Florian submitted Robinson with strikes in the first round. Prior to that, Robinson had won 3 straight fights. Gurgel is 2-2 in the UFC, after losing his first two bouts to Jason Von Flue and Mark Hominick; he has now won his last two, defeating both Danny Abbadi and Diego Saraiva by Decision at UFC 63 and UFC 73 respectively.

Rounding out today’s confirmations, lightweight Matt Grice (9-1) will take on the highly regarded veteran, Jason Black (21-3-1). After going 9-0 to begin his professional career, Grice finally encountered defeat for the first time at UFC 70 in April, submitting to a guillotine choke from Terry Etim. Black is also coming off a loss in his most recent fight, a triangle-choke tap-out to Thiago Tavares at Ultimate Fight Night 11 in June. The Pride veteran went 19-0 over a six year period before he lost his first fight, a TKO loss to Shonie Carter due to an elbow injury at a King of the Cage event in February of 2006.

The UFC 77 card now stands at 8 fights, Kalib Starnes vs. Alan Belcher, Josh Burkman vs. Forrest Petz, and a heavyweight contender bout between Tim Sylvia and Brandon Vera, were all previously confirmed by the promotion.

October 3, 2007
THE NORTHERN TOUCH

Lee and Jordan Mein: Father and Son Will Both Compete at RITC 26

Rumble in the Cage has confirmed that both Lee Mein and Jordan Mein will compete at the promotion’s upcoming October 27th event in Lethbridge, Alberta . Lee, the father of Jordan, has not competed since April of 2006, when he knocked-out Trevor Schmidt at RITC 16. In his last MMA bout prior to that, the veteran fighter was stopped by UFC Hall of Fame inductee Dan Severn in the second round, at Continental Fighting Championship 2 in November of 2004. The 40 year-old Lee is the head instructor at the Canadian Martial Arts Centre in Lethbridge.

Mein’s opponent will be another veteran fighter in Chris Peak (9-15). The Victoria native will be looking to end a four fight losing streak when he heads to Lethbridge , most recently at Alliance Fighting Championships 2 in June he was submitted by Brandon McDowell.

Son Jordan, (8-5, combined pro-am) is regarded by many to be one of Western Canada ’s most promising prospects. In his last fight on September 8^th at Ultimate Cage Wars 9, the 18 year-old fighter stopped Garret Vernoy in the first round with strikes. His opponent will be Adam Thomas (5-4), who holds a Unanimous Decision victory over Mein’s training partner, Tim Tamaki.

Jared Kilkenny (6-2) will be back in the cage only weeks removed from his last win, a KO victory over Raphael Bergman at RITC 25 on September 15^th. Taking on Kilkenny will be Dwayne Lewis (2-1), who is coming off TKO stoppage of Clay Davidson at Maximum Fighting Championship 13 in August.

Another notable CMAC fighter Dan Chambers (9-4), will also jump right back into competition on the 27^th after stopping Marcus Celestin in the first round at last weekend’s TKO 30 card. The undefeated Jason Randle (3-0) who also competed recently will be his opponent. On September 15^th, at RITC 25, Randle won via TKO stoppage versus Sean Bauer.

Also scheduled for RITC 26, CMAC’s Cody Petrovic (2-0) will battle Michael Richardson (3-2). RITC 26 will take place on October  27^th at the Enmax Centre.

Jason Day also informed FCF that the middleweight fighter is hoping to compete at RITC 26, but that they have been having difficulties finding an opponent for the 15-7 fighter. (combined pro-am) In Day’s last fight at UCW 8 in June, he submitted Jonathan Goulet in the first round with an arm bar.

Warrior Spirit Challenge Cancelled

Last weekend’s Warrrior Spirit Challenge card, scheduled to take place September 29^th, in Moncton, New Brunswick , was apparently cancelled due to an injury to main event competitor Dan Bobish. Promoter Johnny Powers has re-booked the Moncton Coliseum for May 10^th. Just this week, Hardcore Championship Fighting announced that Bobish will replace “Cabbage” Correira at that promotion’s upcoming October 19^th event in Calgary. Bobish is scheduled to face Aleks Emelianenko.

TKO 30

Incase you missed it, last weekend the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, hosted TKO 30 “Apocalypse.” Highlights of the card included; Sam Stout defended his TKO lightweight belt by knocking out Martin Grandmont, Jesse Bongfeldt secured the vacant TKO welterweight title by submitting Chris Clements in the second round, Mark Hominick stopped Ben Greer in the first round for the TKO victory, and TJ Grant submitted Stephan Dube in the first round to extend his record to 8-1.

MFC 14 Confirmed Bouts

The Maximum Fighting Championship has confirmed several bouts for the promotion’s upcoming November 23^rd card, which will be held at the River Cree Resort and Casino in Edmonton, Alberta . UFC and Pride veteran Aaron Riley (24-10-1) is scheduled to fight BTT Canada’s Fabio Holanda (5-5), Ryan McGillivray (5-1) will take on Steven Vujnovic (3-0), Donald Sanchez (4-2) will meet Ryan Heck (4-0) and Mike Sorenson (1-1) will fight Ryan Ford (2-0).

October 4, 2007
NEW EPISODE OF FCF RADIO: RENATO SOBRAL AND ALAN BELCHER

New episode of FCF Radio In this edition of FCF Radio we talk with Renato Sobral, who recently it was announced has signed with the Strikeforce organization, and Alan Belcher, who will be fighting Kalib Starnes at UFC 77, October 20th. (Warning: Explicit Language) Click here to listen/download

October 4, 2007
PALACE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE

Palace Fighting Championships Confirms Oct. 18th Card
By FCF Staff

Palace Fighting Championships announced this week that a fight between Thomas Denny and Olaf Alfonso has been added to the promotion’s upcoming card scheduled for October 18th. PFC 4 will take place on that date at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore, California. Alfonso (5-7) will be looking to end a five fight losing streak when he faces Denny; most recently the Pride veteran was stopped by Alex Karalexis at WEC 25 in January. The KOTC veteran Denny (22-15) is 3-2 in his last five fights and has won two in a row. In his last bout at KOTC “Collision Course” in August, he submitted John Cole in the second row with a rear-naked-choke.

Previously, PFC announced that the upcoming "Project Complete" card will feature 3 bouts with UFC veterans Lodune Sincaid, Scott Smith, and Justin Levens. Sincaid (11-4) will be taking on Jeremy Freitag (5-5) for the vacant PFC light-heavyweight title, while Levens (9-7) will also be competing for a belt, as he is scheduled to fight Kenny Ento (8-2) for the promotion’s vacant middleweight title.

Smith (12-4) will he hoping to make it 2-0 in PFC competition as he is scheduled to fight the undefeated Nate Loughran (5-0). At his PFC debut in March, Smith defeated Troy Miller by TKO, before returning to UFC competition in June, where he was submitted by Ed Herman at UFC 72. Most recently for Loughran, he submitted Phil Collins with a triangle choke at Cage Combat Fighting Championships in February.

The third title fight scheduled for the card will feature PFC Lightweight Champion Shad Smith (9-7-2) looking to defend his title against Poppies Martinez (11-3-1). The fight is a rematch from there PFC 2 bout in March, when Smith submitted Martinez in the third round with a guillotine choke.

In total there are 13 bouts scheduled for the October 18th, PFC 4, "Project Complete" card.

October 5, 2007
CAGE FURY FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP

Cage Fury Fighting Championship 6 Cancelled
By Jim Genia

(October 5th, New York City) The highly-anticipated match-up between Kimbo Slice and David “Tank” Abbott will have to wait. Cage Fury Fighting Championships 6, scheduled for October 12th at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, has been cancelled. In an official release from the promotion, CFFC president Felix Martinez said:

It is with deep regret that I have to announce the cancellation of Cage Fury's October 12th event. I did everything in my power to make this show happen for the fighters and the fans. However, I could not overcome the loss of a major investor for this show who decided to pull out at the last moment. With the loss of this investor, I cannot proceed with another first class event. It has always been my intention to provide the best combative sport entertainment that I could. I am very sorry for having to cancel this event and sincerely apologize to all the fighters, the fans and our dedicated staff.

While this is indeed a terrible blow to East Coast fans – many of whom were just as eager to see Ricardo Almeida’s long-awaited return to combat as they were to see Kimbo and Tank – it is hopefully merely a speed bump for the folks at CFFC, as the promotion has proven to be a powerhouse in the New Jersey MMA scene.

October 5, 2007
ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE

UFC Announces More Bouts for “Validation” Card
By FCF Staff

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has announced several more bouts for the promotion’s upcoming UFC 78 card, which will be held November 17th. Earlier this week Zuffa announced that “Validation”, which will take place at the Prudential Center, in Newark, New Jersey, will be headlined by a fight between former “Ultimate Fighter” competitors, Michael Bisping and Rashad Evans.

Houston Alexander (8-1) will hope to win his third UFC bout in a row next month when he faces the undefeated Thiago Silva (12-0). Alexander is coming off impressive TKO stoppages of Keith Jardine and Alessio Sakara at UFC 71 and 75 respectively, and has not lost a professional bout since 2001. Although Silva’s victories have not necessarily been as dominant as Alexander’s, the Brazilian is also 2-0 in the UFC. Like Alexander, Silva also competed at both UFC 71 and 75, defeating James Irvin and Thomas Drwal by TKO.

David Terrell (6-2) will make his return to the UFC Octagon to face Ed Herman (12-4). The highly regarded Jiu-Jitsu practitioner’s last appearance for the promotion was last April at UFC 59, when Terrell submitted Scott Smith in the first round with a rear-naked-choke. Prior to that, Terrell was stopped in the first round by Evan Tanner at UFC 51 in February of 2005. Herman is also coming off a victory over Smith, at UFC 72 this past June he submitted the former TUF competitor in the first round with a rear-naked-choke. Prior to that, at UFC Fight Night 9 in January, Herman also won by submission versus Chris Price, this time utilizing an armbar to get the win.

Hector Lombard (8-2) will have no easy task in his UFC debut when he faces welterweight contender Karo Parisyan (17-4). The Pride veteran, who went 0-2 competing for the Japanese promotion in 2006, is coming off back to back wins. Most recently Lombard submitted James Te Huna at Warrior Realm Reality Fighting 8 in March. Parisyan has remained atop the UFC welterweight division for quite sometime now, and one would think a title shot can not be far around the corner for the fighter provided he defeats Lombard. Parisyan is 8-2 in UFC competition, with his only losses thus far coming to Diego Sanchez and Georges St.Pierre. In his last two fights the Judo expert has looked impressive, working his way to Unanimous Decision victories over Drew Fickett and most recently, Josh Burkman.

The last bout confirmed this week by the UFC for “Validation” is a lightweight contender bout between Frankie Edgar (7-0) and Spencer Fisher (20-3). In his UFC debut at UFC 67 in February, Edgar defeated Tyson Griffin by Unanimous Decision in what was one of the year’s more entertaining bouts. At UFC 73 in July, the exceptional wrestler made it two wins in a row by stopping Canadian Jiu-Jitsu stand-out Mark Bocek in the first round. Fisher will head to UFC 78 healed up from a bout with staph, which prevented him from fighting Din Thomas at Ultimate Fight Night last month. The Miletich fighter is 3-2 in his last five fights; most recently he avenged a Split Decision loss to Sam Stout last March, by earning a Unanimous Decision win over the Canadian at Ultimate Fight Night 11 in June.

October 5, 2007
COMBAT IN THE CAGE

Combat in the Cage “Fearless Fighters Return” Preview
By Jim Genia

When: October 6th
Where: Sovereign Bank Arena, Trenton, New Jersey
What: Combat in the Cage “Fearless Fighters Return”

Promoter Ed Hsu’s Combat in the Cage returns, this time with an MMA marathon that features an amateur event in the afternoon and a pro card – headlined by ShoXC Elite veteran Jon Murphy – in the evening. Want to see some fast and furious grappling? Expect the lightweight title fight between Jim Bova and Mark Getto, the bantamweight title fight between Zach Makovsky and Emerson Souza, and the undercard bout between Tinh Tupy and Rick Desper to satisfy that need. Want to see some heavy leather thrown? Expect light-heavyweight contender Sean McCann, middleweight Muay Thai specialist Aaron Meisner, and, of course, heavyweight champ Murphy to provide the knockouts. Here’s a look at the full roster:

Combat in the Cage Heavyweight Championship
Jon Murphy (Anthracite Combat Club) vs. Jason Dolloff (Rumford Hardcore)
Combat in the Cage Light-Heavyweight Championship
Sean McCann (Team Endgame) vs. Tim Carpenter (Balance Studios)
Combat in the Cage Lightweight Championship
Jim Bova (Anthracite Combat Club) vs. Mark Getto (AFS/The Asylum)
Combat in the Cage Bantamweight Championship
Zach Makovsky (Fight Factory) vs. Emerson Souza (Emerson Souza)

Undercard
MW: Aaron Meisner (Daddis FC) vs. Chris Reedy (XFC)
WW: Judah Ciervo (Fight Factory) vs. Andrew Montanez (Emerson Souza)
BW: Tinh Tupy (Jersey Shore MMA) vs. Rick Desper (Ground Control)
FW: Wilson Reis (Daddis FC) vs. Diego Jimenez (Anthracite Combat Club)
MW: Nick Callandrino (Bombsquad) vs. Brett Linebarger (Daddis FC)
LW: Steve McCabe (Fight Factory) vs. Mike Schenk (XFC)
LW: Anthony Montanaro (Pitts Penn) vs. Baba Shigeyahu (Rhino Fight Team)
LW: Pat McGreal (Bombsquad) vs. Mike Groves (Fight Factory)

October 6, 2007
EXTREME CAGE COMBAT UPDATE
Hollett vs. Polley to Headline ECC 6
By Kelsey Mowatt

Extreme Cage Combat has announced the final card for the promotion’s upcoming October 20th event, “Hometown Heroes”, which will take place at the Halifax Forum in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Headlining ECC 6 will be a world light-heavyweight title fight between two undefeated fighters in Team Titan’s Roger Hollett (7-0) and American Top Team’s Lew Polley (5-0).

Hollett

Hollett has been capturing MMA headlines in his native Canada the entire year, going 4-0 in 2007. In February, Hollett’s first round knock-out of professional Canadian Football League player Mike Maurer grabbed mainstream media headlines, and then, perhaps more importantly from a MMA perspective, his first round stoppage of UFC veteran Victor Valimaki at MFC 13 in August, was also widely covered. All of Hollett’s 7 victories have come in the first round, with his last 4 coming way of strikes. He currently holds the ECC Canadian 205lb. title as well as the MFC World light-heavyweight belt.

Any fighter that comes from the world famous ATT camp should be considered a formidable threat, and in Polley, Hollett will face one of his toughest tests to date. The former 4 time AAU Greco All-American and 5 time Freestyle All-American brings a level of wrestling to the table Hollett has yet to face in his brief career. Most recently, Polley submitted Tony Souza with a Kimura at Ultimate Warrior Challenge 2 in June; his only fight in 2007 thus far. Prior to that, at a Real Fighting Championships event last November, he submitted Chris Baten in the first round. Considering this is a fairly high profile fight in Eastern Canada between two up-and-coming light-heavyweight fighters, it is not unlikely that the UFC will be monitoring the winner of this bout.

Polley’s ATT teammate, Mike Bruno (4-2) will also head north to Nova Scotia to face lightweight Shaun Krysa. Mike, the brother of fellow ATT fighter Steve, has lost two fights in a row; most recently he dropped a Unanimous Decision to Moses Baca at Pacific X-treme Combat in July. Krysa is also coming of back to back losses, in his last fight at MFC 12 in June; he was stopped by BTT Canada’s Fabio Holanda in the second round.

Some of the other bouts announced for ECC 6 include; Stjepan Vujnovic (3-0) will take on Travis Axworthy (3-1), Ryan Ford (2-0) will fight Adil Abbas, Ryan Jimmo (1-1) will battle Matt Acorn, and Adam MacDonald (2-2) will take on Johnny Rosco (0-1). In total, 11 bouts are scheduled for ECC 6.

October 7, 2007
TOTAL FIGHTING ALLIANCE

Grear Defends Lightweight Title at TFA 8
By Steven Marrocco

Saturday, October 6th- Santa Monica, CA: An estimated 800 fans took in the upstart Total Fighting Alliance this Saturday at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Though the fights outside the cage nearly stole the attention of the audience, all but one of the promotion's title holders managed to hold on to their belts.

Toby "Tiger Heart" Grear, who has apparently moved on from Legends training facility in Los Angeles, laid waste to challenger Joey Alvarado in the main event.

The two began with a call and response wave of kicks to the body and head. Grear tried for a big right high kick, but barely missed. It was a crafty thrust of his knee as Alvarado shot by that sucked the wind out of the challenger, sending him to the canvas. Grear couldn't easily get through Alvarado's bicycling legs, and stood up with a dismissive wave.

The same right high kick did the trick on the second try, slapping Alvarado down and setting up a few choice punches that Alvarado bowed out to at 2:19 of the first.

TFA 8 Full Results:

Aaron Miller def. Phillip Brown at 5:00 of Rd. 3 by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Aric Nelson def. Gilbert Salinas at 5:00 of Rd. 3 by Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Julian Rush def. Justin Shalk at 1:46 of Rd. 1 by TKO (Ref Stoppage)

Armando Sanchez def. Jeff Martin at 2:31 of Rd. 1 by Submission (Armbar)

Brandon Quaid def. Daniel Hernandez at 1:46 of Rd. 1 by TKO (Ref Stoppage)

J.J. Ambrose def. Cordero at 2:59 of Rd. 1 by Submission (Rear Naked Choke)

Toby Grear def. Joey Alvarado at 2:19 of Rd. 1 by Submission (Verbal Submission due to strikes)

October 7, 2007
COMBAT IN THE CAGE

Makovsky and Bova Victorious at Combat in the Cage’s “Fearless Fighters Return”
By Jim Genia

(October 6th, Sovereign Bank Arena, Trenton, New Jersey) Like Shooto in Japan or the WEC here in the States, promoter Ed Hsu’s shows have become the chosen battleground for the lower weight classes. Case in point: Combat in the Cage’s “Fearless Fighters Return”, which featured a slew of lightweights, featherweights and bantamweights squaring off for some non-stop action. Sure, there was a light-heavyweight title on the line, and two middleweights had a brief fisticuff, but ultimately, this CITC was all about the smaller guys throwing down. Highlights of the night included:

• The close, back-and-forth chess match between Pitts Penn scrapper Anthony Montanaro and Rhino Fight Team technician Baba Shigeyasu. Shigeyasu came away with the split decision, but it really could have gone either way.
• Anthracite Combat Club’s Jim Bova, who dethroned champ Mark Getto with a rear-naked-choke to capture the 155-pound crown.
• The war between Fight Factory’s Zack Makovsky and jiu-jitsu black belt Emerson Souza. These men battered each other for three full rounds in a bout that had more than its fair share of excitement, but it was Makovsky who came away with the 135-pound belt in the end.

Souza looking for a guillotine choke on Makovsky

Full results:

Makovsky wins bantamweight title

Combat in the Cage Light-Heavyweight Championship
Sean McCann (Team Endgame-204lbs) vs. Tim Carpenter (Balance Studios-205lbs)
Carpenter via triangle choke at 1:43 of Round One – Carpenter wins the belt after a controversial restart.

Combat in the Cage Lightweight Championship
Jim Bova (Anthracite Combat Club-155lbs) vs. Mark Getto (AFS/The Asylum-155lbs)
Bova via rear-naked-choke at 3:59 of Round One – Bova is the new CITC Lightweight Champ.

Combat in the Cage Bantamweight Championship
Zack Makovsky (Fight Factory-135lbs) vs. Emerson Souza (Emerson Souza-135lbs)
Makovsky via Unanimous Decision – Makovsky is the new CITC Bantamweight Champ.

Undercard
Aaron Meisner (Daddis FC-185lbs) vs. Chris Reedy (XFC-185lbs)
Meisner via ref stoppage due to unanswered strikes at 1:25 of Round One.

Tinh Tupy (Jersey Shore BJJ-135lbs) vs. Rick Desper (Ground Control-136lbs)
Tupy via Unanimous Decision.

Wilson Reis (Daddis FC-149lbs) vs. Diego Jimenez (Anthracite Combat Club-147lbs)
Reis via rear-naked-choke at 2:00 of Round One.

Steve McCabe (Fight Factory-155lbs) vs. Mike Schenk (XFC-155lbs)
Schenk via rear-naked-choke at 2:25 of Round One.

Anthony Montanaro (Pitts Penn-155lbs) vs. Baba Shigeyasu (Rhino Fight Team-155lbs)
Shigeyasu via Split Decision.

Pat McGreal (Bombsquad-147lbs) vs. Mike Groves (Fight Factory-148lbs)
McGreal via ref stoppage due to unanswered strikes at :42 of Round Two.

October 7, 2007
GRACIE PROVING GROUNDS

Gracie Proving Ground Results
By Michael Onzuka

Saturday, October 6, 2007
Blaisdell Arena

This card started off as a show of up-and-coming fighters, but after a number of changes due to fighters pulling out or getting hurt; there was a good mix of new blood and wiley veterans competing on the card. This MMA event was much different than your standard MMA events in regards to the stand up ruling, rounds, and judging criteria.

Relson Gracie wanted to allow the fighters more time on the ground to wear down their opponent so that the fighters could use more ground technique. This is great for the ground fighters, but many of the fans are used to many stand ups and a lot of action. The lack of stand ups caused some boos from the audience, but if there was no action, the referees were instructed to stand the fighters up.

The other item of difference was the judging and rounds. All the fights with the exception of one match, had 10 minute first rounds, 2 minutes of rest, and a 5 minute second round. At the rules meeting, the judges were to score the first round as a 10-8 round so that the fighter that won the first round would lock in a win unless the other fighter knocked him out, knocked him down, or submitted him in round 2. This is where some controversial decisions were rendered. The big question was that since the fight was allowed to remain on the ground longer, would the dominant ground fighter have an edge for the duration of the entire fight, and how that aspect of the fight would be judged against power punches and kicks during stand up exchanges.

The biggest controversy was with the Sugar Shane Nelson and Harris Sarmiento fight. Sarmiento was winning the stand up by tagging Nelson with numerous kicks and punches. Nelson on the other hand, took down Sarmiento a number of times and was consistently trying to pass Sarmiento's guard. Sarmiento was able to stop many take downs and also scrambled back to his feet on a few occasions. Nelson was able to control the top position, but did not land too many damaging blows. Nelson ended up winning the decision, but this decision caused a backlash of boos from the crowd who thought Sarmiento through his prevention of many take downs and power shots standing clearly won the fight.

Not many fights ended in a decision so the fights were not really impacted too much from the 10 minute first round. The fights that did go to a decision involved fighters in great shape that fought hard for the entire 15 minutes.

Other than the Nelson/Sarmiento fight, the fight to watch was Relson's son Rhalan Gracie who had his second fight in MMA and his first fight in Hawaii against rising star Koa Ramos of the Eastsidaz. This was a great match up, where on paper, excellent ground met excellent stand up. As we all know fights are not won on paper, especially in MMA as we have seen lately in the UFC with its many upsets. Ramos implemented a superb strategy of striking and moving and constantly tagged Gracie with some hard shots. To his credit, the young Gracie took all of Ramo's punches and kicks very well and did not look rocked. Ramos was utilizing different angles and circling, making him a hard target for a take down. Rhalan landed a couple of leg kicks, but Ramos remained aggressive in his stand up attack. Eventually Ramos threw a left hook and landed a right upper cut that ended the night for Rhalan with a knock out. This was a huge victory for the young Koa Ramos who is a fighter to be watched at 170 lbs.

Main Event
175 lbs
Rhalan Gracie (Relson Gracie) vs. Koa Ramos (Eastsidaz)
Ramos by KO at 2:44 of Round 1.

155 lbs
Harris Sarmiento (808 Fight Factory) vs. "Sugar" Shane Nelson (Nova Uniao)
Nelson by Unanimous Decision.

170 lbs
Bryson Kamaka (808 Fight Factory) vs. Israell Gomes (Relson Gracie)
Kamaka by TKO due to punches at 13 seconds in Round 1.

170 lbs
Jeramiah O'Neal (Relson Gracie) vs. Dave "The Tan Superman" Padilla (Jesus is Lord)
O'Neal by guillotine at 6:15 in Round 1.

170 lbs
Chris Henriques (Nova Uniao) vs. Kimo Wolfel (Eastsidaz)
Henriques by armbar at 2:16 of Round 1.

185 lbs
Fabio Prato (Relson Gracie Brown Belt) vs. Billy Hall (HMC)
Hall by Split Decision (18-19) (20-17) (18-19).

185 lbs
Ron Verdadero (Jesus is Lord) vs. Michael Brightmon (Gorilla House)
Brightmon by Unanimous Decision (19-18) x3

170 lbs
Pono Pananganan (Relson Gracie) vs. Ferrid Kheder (Team Quest)
Pananganan by Split Decision (18-19) (20-17) (20-17)

205 lbs
David Chew (Relson Gracie) vs. Kevin Grace (HMC)
Chew by rear-naked-choke at 5:55 in Round 1.

155 lbs (the only fight which was 3 x 3 min rounds)
Kana Hyatt (Lava MMA) vs. Duke Saragosa (808 Fight Factory)
Hyatt by TKO due to punches at 1:17 in Round 1.
Hyatt was literally a last minute replacement that came to the fight to watch the fight, but stepped up to fight when Saragosa's original opponent became ill.

155 lbs
Van Oscar Penogaroff (Westbrook Boxing/Da Kine Bail Bonds) vs. Gerald "G-Money" Arevalo (808 Fight Factory)
Penogaroff by guillotine at 3:11 of Round 1.
Another late replacement due to another fighter pulling out. Penogaroff had about 2-3 weeks notice.

205 lbs
James Stanford (Team Big Dogs) vs. Brian Harper (Team Quest)
Harper guillotine from the mount at 1:56 in Round 1.

155 lbs
Daniel Devers (808 Fight Factory) vs. Dean Lista (HMC)
Lista by rear-naked-choke at 2:11 in Round 1.

170 lbs
Jodi Mesiona (808 Fight Factory) vs. Kaika Sasaoka (Relson Gracie)
Sasaoka by armbar at 3:48 in Round 1.

October 8, 2007
NEW EPISODE OF FCF RADIO: JASON MACDONALD AND RYAN JENSEN

New episode of FCF Radio In this latest edition of FCF Radio we talk with Canadian middleweight Jason MacDonald, who will be fighting Yushin Okami at UFC 77, October 20th, and Ryan Jensen, who will me making his second UFC appearance that night, taking on Demian Maia. Click here to listen/download

October 8, 2007
BRITISH MMA NEWS

Across The Pond: British MMA News
By David West

Cage Rage: Contenders 7 Fight Card

Following the acquisition by Pro Elite, Cage Rage is staying busy, with a Contenders event on November 10, following by Cage Rage 24 on December 1st. The Contenders show, which will be held at The Troxy nightclub in East London, is headlined by a clash of fast-rising middleweights.

John Maguire, from Tsunami Gym in Cambridgeshire, has a style typical of the group of fighters competing under the Shooters MMA banner, led by August Wallen. Along with his team-mate and coach Robbie Olivier, Maguire likes to fight on the ground, looking for the takedown off the clinch, then working for the finish from a cross body crucifix pin. It is a style that served him well in his last fight against the iron-fisted slugger Jake Bostwick. Maguire’s opponent, Jon Hathaway, trains with Sol “Zero Tolerance” Gilbert at the ZT Fight Skool in Brighton. Hathaway showed excellent boxing when he picked apart and busted up Tarcio Santana at Contenders 5. He followed that up by battering another Brazilian, Charles Barbos, for three rounds at Contenders 6 in August, in a fight in which Hathaway’s hands maintained almost perpetual motion as he punched Barbos virtually non-stop from bell to bell. Given that Hathaway should know what to expect from Maguire, the deciding factor in this fight will be whether Hathaway can take Maguire out of his game plan. If he can draw Maguire into a punch-out, Hathaway could take his one, but he needs to stay off his back.

Other competitors of note on the same bill include Hathaway’s ZT Fight Skool stable-mate Jeff Hayes, who has looked very promising in his last two performances, showing strong wrestling and potent ground-and-pound. He’ll be facing the taller, leaner Marvin Arnold Bleau, who is coming off consecutive losses, including one by ground-and-pound, so Bleau will need to use his reach and avoid going to the canvas if he wants to get the victory.

James Elson made his debut at Contenders 6, fighting a wild back and forth brawl with kickboxer Steve Dossett, until Elson knocked out Dossett with punches from the mount in the second round. He’ll face Jake Bostwick, who’s tremendously popular for his fearless, aggressive style, but was out-grappled by John Maguire in his last outing. Elson will need to keep his hands up and his chin down or one of Bostwick’s haymakers will put him to sleep.

Rick Andrews, from the Elite Fighting System, will have his first fight of 2007 against Wesley Murch. Andrews, 3-4-0, was a regular face on the early Cage Rage shows, but losses to Dave Lee and Chris Freeborn put the brakes on his progress. Wesley Murch finds himself in the same position as Andrews. At 3-2-0, he lost his last two back-to-back and needs to get a win under his belt if he wants to work his way up to the big show.

Cage Rage Contenders 7 Fight Card

John Hathaway vs. John Maguire
Saied Gholamie vs. TBA
Jake Bostwick vs. James Elson
Darren Guisha vs. Attila Kubilay
Mark Smith vs. Steve Elliott
Charlie Francis vs. Glen Winslade
Jeff Hayes vs. Marvin Arnold Bleau
Jody Cottham vs. Scott Janson
Brett Bassett vs. Kym Farid
Micheal Pastou vs. TBA
Jason Young vs. Michael King
Rick Andrews vs. Wesley Murch
Edgelson Lua vs. Matt Lane
Giorgio Andrew vs. Danny Beevor

October 8, 2007
GUIDA VS. HUERTA

A Fight of the Night Candidate
By Steven Marrocco

The ink is still wet on the contract for the main event of The Ultimate Fighter’s sixth season finale, a showdown between rising lightweights Clay Guida and Roger Huerta. Scheduled for December 8th at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, the fight should produce the division’s next contenders.

The UFC’s PR department will have a tough time putting together a pre-fight trash talk segment. It’s hard to find an area that Guida and Huerta don’t speak highly of each other. The two have become friends, sharing locker rooms in their first formative year of UFC competition.

“He’s a buddy of mine, we get along real well. He’s a classy professional athlete,” Guida says of Huerta.

Guida

“Clay’s a great fighter, and he’s a good guy,” Huerta responds.

Not exactly the bad blood that Zuffa loves. But they both agree on one thing: this fight could be the fight of the year.

“A non-stop scramble,” Guida pictures the fight. “We’re going to use every inch of that cage. I wouldn’t be surprised if the gate flew open.”

“I’m going to agree with him on that,” Huerta says with a laugh. “You’re going to see two Tasmanian devils in there.”

Huerta has been on a tear as of late, stopping his last five opponents since his debut in the UFC. He is undeniably a future star of the UFC, if he isn’t already. Guida has had mixed results in the octagon, winning half of his four fights in the last year. On paper though, Guida has faced fighter’s of higher repute, recently stopping Pride import Marcus Aurelio at UFC 74.

The two’s previous opponents have solid credentials on the ground. In a sensational upset of 2006, Aurelio choked out Takanori Gomi at Pride Bushido 10. Huerta’s last opponent, Alberto Crane, was a world jiu-jitsu champion. Huerta still believes he has the advantage if the fight goes to the mat.

“I don’t believe Clay’s better at submissions than Roberto,” Huerta tells FCF. “Roberto was a world champion. Knowing that, it’s a huge factor where I won’t be afraid of doing some other scrambling moves where I won’t be cautious of being submitted.”

Guida, who just re-signed with the UFC for four fights, doesn’t go into specifics about the advantages he sees against Huerta. “I’ll find a hole in his game and exploit it,” he says.

Guida sees the fight largely as a repeat of his encounter with Tyson Griffin at UFC 72. Their three round war was a non-stop scramble of activity, one that many thought Guida won.

“I figured it was destined to happen,” Guida says. “Who doesn’t want to see two of the most exciting fighters go at it, especially in a main event.”

As a benefactor of the UFC’s promotional push into the mainstream, Huerta wants to send a message that he’s ready for title contention.

“The year’s almost over and I’m going out with a bang,” he says. “It’s amazing that I get to fight Clay because he’s that caliber of fighter that will stand toe to toe with me, will fight for every inch of position.”

It’s a hugely important fight for both fighters. Guida’s stock will soar with a televised main event victory over a rising star. For Huerta, a win over an established, gritty veteran like Guida could justify a title shot by next year.

Whatever happens, the prediction of “fight of the year” is not an understatement.

October 8, 2007
UNDERGROUND COMBAT LEAGUE

Underground Combat League: “Retribution”
By Jim Genia

(October 7th, New York City) The latest installment of the Underground Combat League – the Big Apple’s only MMA event – played out tonight before a packed house, and fans were treated to some fast and furious fighting. Highlights of the event included:

Mullero and Acevedo battling it out

• The seesaw battle between Jonathan Evans and Chaz Dimitropoulos, which saw Dimitropoulos stalk his prey around the ring with a plethora of strikes – until Evans turned the tables with some solid grappling and a smooth armbar.
• The dominant ground-and-pound game of Ryan LaFlare. Mitchell was tough, but he had no answer for LaFlare’s barrage of fists and elbows.
• Mike Mullero and Chris Acevedo, who beat on each other mercilessly. The bout ended with Mullero aggravating a recent arm injury and tapping out, but it was non-stop excitement throughout.

Full results:

Grappling
Terrence Shorts (Team Kalejavic-154lbs) vs. Jim Simon (Team Storm-155lbs)
Shorts via rear-naked-choke at :49 of Round One.

Jared Gordon (Rhino Fight Team NY-147lbs) vs. Kenneth Rivera (Rhino Fight Team NY-147lbs)
Gordon via armbar at 2:23 of Round Three.

MMA
Jonathan Evans (Rhino Fight Team NY-174lbs) vs. Chaz Dimitropoulos (Pit/Fighthouse-175lbs)
Evans via armbar at 2:44 of Round One.

Wendell Williams (freestyle-242lbs) vs. Lance (American Freestyle-205lbs)
Lance via ref stoppage due to unanswered strikes at 1:18 of Round One.

Joe Mitchell (Negron Evolution/Wat-191lbs) vs. Ryan LaFlare (KTFO-185lbs)
LaFlare via ref stoppage due to unanswered strikes at 2:13 of Round One.

Ruben Rivera (Ultimate Karate-210lbs) vs. Robert Cespedes (Ultimate Karate-235lbs)
Rivera via armbar at 2:57 of Round One.

Mike Mullero (Team United-185lbs) vs. Chris Acevedo (Ultimate Karate-180lbs)
Acevedo via tap out due to injury at 1:20 of Round Two.

October 9, 2007
INTERNATIONAL FIGHT LEAGUE UPDATE

Rothwell and Whitehead Out of IFL Grand-Prix
By FCF Staff

The official International Fight League website has announced that Ben Rothwell and Mike Whitehead will not compete in the league’s upcoming November 3rd, World Grand-Prix event as scheduled. According to the report, both Rothwell and Whitehead have failed so far to sign contract extensions for the upcoming 2008 IFL season, and as a result, will not be competing in this year’s tournament. Due to the fact the Grand-Prix is designed to crown 5 new champions in each of the IFL's weight divisions, a contract extension for 2008 is a pre-requisite for all of the tournament’s upcoming competitors.

Rothwell (31-5) is without question one of the league’s most dominant fighters, as the heavyweight has not lost in 9 IFL appearances. Most recently at the IFL Finals last month, Rothwell worked his way to a Unanimous Decision over former UFC champion Ricco Rodriguez.

Whitehead (18-6) has also been extremely successful competing in the league, winning all four of his  IFL appearances. Most recently the light-heavyweight stopped Vernon White in the second round for the TKO win at an IFL event in June.

Due to Rothwell’s and Whitehead’s withdrawal from the tourney, the IFL has restructured the opening round Grand-Prix match-ups. At heavyweight, Bryan Vetell will step in for Rothwell and take on Antoine Jaoude, while Roy Nelson will fight Reese Andy.

In the light-heavyweight bracket, Alex Schoenauer will now fight Vladimir Matyushenko for the IFL 205lb. belt on November 3rd, as Andre Gusmao has also withdrawn due to injury.

At welterweight, Mark Miller will be unable to compete due to a hand injury; so as a result, Brad Blackburn has stepped in to fight Delson Heleno while Jay Hieron will take on Pat Healy.

The opening round of the IFL Grand-Prix will take place November 3rd, at the Sears Center in Chicago, Illinois.

October 9, 2007
THE NORTHERN TOUCH

“Pele” vs. Ellenberger to Headline XFC 5

Extreme Fighting Challenge has announced that MMA legend, Jose “Pele” Landi-Jons (24-12), will fight International Fight League veteran Jake Ellenberger (15-3) in the main event of the promotion’s upcoming, November 3^rd card. EFC 5, “Revolution”, will take place at the CN Center in Prince George, British Columbia .

Pele, who has been competing professionally in MMA since 1993, relocated to the Lower Mainland in B.C., to train with the Revolution team in the hopes of injecting some new life into his career. Most recently, in BodogFight competition back in February, Pele submitted Mich McElroy in the second round with a kneebar.

Landi-Jons

Ellenberger is an up-and-coming welterweight fighter who won his first 13 professional fights before losing for a first time to Jay Hieron in IFL action last summer. Since that bout Ellenberger has gone 3-2, most recently, while competing for the Pat Miletich’s Silverbacks, he was submitted by Delson Heleno at the IFL finals last month.

In keeping with the XFC 5 name, “Revolution”, several other Revolution team members will also be competing on the card. Tim Thurston (6-3) is scheduled to fight Team Toshido’s Tim Jensen (4-1). Both fighters are coming off losses, at King of the Cage “Supremacy” in July, Thurston dropped a Unanimous Decision to Alex Sung, while Jensen incurred his first career loss in June, losing by Split Decision to George Kassimatis at Valley Fight 4.

Prince George fighter, and Team Revolution member, Kajan “Rajan” Johnson (8-7) will take on fellow TKO veteran, Dave Pariseau (6-3-1). In Johnson’s last fight at KOTC “ Megiddo ” in February, he submitted Jason St.Louis with strikes, while Pariseau is also coming off a victory over the MMA veteran, working his way to a Unanimous Decision over St.Louis at a TKO event in March.

Another of the card’s more interesting match-ups could turn out to be Chris Ade (13-12 combined pro-am) taking on Team Quest’s, Joel Thomas (10-2 combined pro-am). Ade, who had been one of Western Canada’s busiest fighters, has only fought once in 2007, a knock-out loss to Koji Oshi at BodogFight’s Season 6 taping in Vancouver this past summer. Thomas went 7-2 as an amateur before turning pro and has won 3 straight fights. Most recently he worked his way to a Split Decision over Mike Aina at Rise Fighting Championship in April.

Some of the other bouts confirmed for the XFC 5 card include; Ryan Chiappe (1-0) vs. Mike Neufeld (2-1), Eddy Ellis (10-12-1) vs. Neil Berry (5-5) and Jay Jenkins (3-2) vs. Victor Daychief (2-0).

Day to Fight Marchand at RITC 26

As mentioned in last week’s Northern Touch, Rumble in the Cage recently announced that father and son fighters, Lee Mein and Jordan Mein, would both be competing at the promotion’s upcoming October 27^th event in Lethbridge, Alberta. Father Lee will be fighting Chris Peak , while son Jordan, will take on Adam Thomas. This week the promotion has also confirmed that Jason Day (12-7) has been added to the card and will fight middleweight, Shawn Marchand (3-3). The bout will be a re-match for the two fighters, as Day stopped Marchand in the first round with strikes at a Maximum Fighting Championship event last fall.

Hollett vs. Polley ECC 6

In case you missed last week’s announcement, Extreme Cage Combat 6, scheduled for October 20^th at the Halifax Forum in Halifax, Nova Scotia, will be headlined by Roger Hollett (7-0) taking on Lew Polley (5-0). The bout will be for the promotion’s world light-heavyweight crown. Polley, who will be heading north to take on the current reigning ECC Canadian and MFC World Light-heavyweight Champion, is a well credentialed and experienced wrestler from American Top Team.

Other bouts announced for the card include; Mike Bruno vs. Shaun Krysa, Ryan Jimmo vs. Matt Acorn, Ryan Ford vs. Adil Abbas, and Travis Axeworthy will challenge Stjepan Vujonovic.

Upcoming Canadian MMA Schedule

King of the Cage: Oct.19th, Edmonton Events Centre, Edmonton, AB.

Hardcore Fighting Championship: Oct. 19th, Stampede Corral, Calgary, AB.

Extreme Cage Combat: October 20th, Halifax Forum, Halifax, NS.

Rumble in the Cage: October 26th, Enmax Centre, Lethbridge, AB.

King of the Cage: November 3rd, Stampede Corral, Calgary, AB.

Extreme Fighting Challenge: November 3rd, CN Center, Prince George, BC.

Ultimate Generation Combat: November 10th, Pierre-Charbonneau Centre, Montreal, QC.

Ring Xtreme Challenge: November 16th, QC.

Maximum Fighting Championships: November 23rd, River Cree Resort, Edmonton, AB.

Ring Xtreme Challenge: November 24th, QC.

October 10, 2007
FCF SURVEY

Give Us Your Thoughts...

We'd like to hear your picks for the October 20th UFC 77: Hostile Territory card, as well as your thoughts on the fights and the card overall.   The results of the survey and some of the commentary we receive may appear in the upcoming issue of FCF.

Click here to take the survey

October 10, 2007
KING OF THE CAGE UPDATE

French Ready to Take On Ireland Nov. 21st
By Kelsey Mowatt

King of the Cage Lightweight Champion Clayton French continues to prepare for his upcoming title defense against Jason Ireland. The title fight, which will take place on the KOTC “Bad Boys” card November 21st, at the Soaring Eagle Casino in Mt.Pleasant, MI, will mark French’s third bout as champion. On January 19th earlier this year, French defeated long time reigning champion and current “Ultimate Fighter” competitor, Mac Danzig by Split Decision, to become the current KOTC champ. Although French (13-2) has now won 5 straight fights and is gradually making a name for himself in the MMA world, it can be hard at times for lightweight fighter’s to get recognized in a sea of talented 155lb. fighters. French is keenly aware that a win over fellow Pride veteran Jason Ireland could be another key addition to his already growing resume.

“Yeah, he’s definitely a good opponent,” says French when asked about the attention that might be directed towards his upcoming fight with Ireland. “He’s been in there with a lot of tough guys, just got to be ready to go. Should be a really good fight, he’s a really tough guy and comes to bring it.”

Ireland is 3-2 in his last five fights, with his only losses during that stint coming to former KOTC lightweight champ Mac Danzig and Joachim Hansen, which was a spirited submission loss to the Norwegian fighter at Ireland’s Pride debut this past February. In fact, the veteran Ireland has only lost 4 fights since 2003, with his other two losses coming against UFC competitors in Jorge Gurgel and Dustin Hazelett. Most recently Ireland knocked out Mike McDonnell in the second round at KOTC “Explosion” in June.

“I’m going to do what I always do,” French says in discussing his plans for the upcoming fight with Ireland. “Usually I work the ground game and do some stand-up, keep constant pressure on them the whole fight. Look for submissions, look for the TKO and try to get him out of there as soon as possible you know?”

French’s comes from a highly credentialed wrestling background, as the former collegiate wrestler also coached the Eastern Illinois University wrestling team. On account of his grappling abilities, French feels he will be able to dictate where he would like his upcoming fight with Ireland to take place.

“Oh, without a doubt, without a doubt,” French tells FCF when asked if he feels his wrestling will be better than Irelands. “There are very few people in MMA that have a lot better wrestling than me. Just have to get well rounded, can’t just be a wrestler in MMA. I don’t foresee him getting me on my back at all, I’ll be able to dictate where I want the fight to go, if I want to take him down, I’ll take him down, if I want to stand with him, I’ll stand with him.”

French is coming off a submission win over Sam Jackson at Extreme Challenge 82 on August 18th, and prior to that, the KOTC champion faced Buddy Clinton in back to back fights. After there initial meeting in May, at KOTC “Damage Control” resulted in a Split Decision victory for French, the two signed for a rematch bout in August. At KOTC “Collision Course” on August 5th, French stopped Clinton in the third round for the TKO win due to a cut.

“I dominated the second fight with him in every aspect I thought,” says French when asked about his second fight with Clinton. “It should have been that way the first time I fought him, I just was my own worst enemy. I know what I can do, so I just went out there, took him down, passed his guard and elbowed him the whole fight. I mean he’s a really tough guy, has really good jiu-jitsu, so I got to give him props. I think he’s a tougher opponent for me than Jason Ireland personally, being how good his jiu-jitsu is. Once I pass Ireland’s guard, I don’t think he’ll be able to get it back which will be a bad situation for him.”

French’s fight with Ireland will be his last on his current contract with KOTC, and regardless of what transpires in the upcoming bout, French should remain a sought after free agent. Due to ProElite’s recent acquisition of the KOTC promotion, French admits he is excited about the possibility of re-signing with the organization.

“I do think I’m more apt to resign with King of the Cage since EliteXC bought them,” French tells FCF. “It’s going to work out well I think, fight purses are going to increase, more exposure, and with me being the champ at my weight class, that would be my fourth defense by the time I sign with them, it will give me a little bit more leverage in negotiations. I don’t see myself leaving right now, just because no one right now is knocking down the door.”

That situation might change come November 22nd provided French can get by Ireland. As far as a prediction for the fight?

“I’m going to say TKO second or third.”

October 10, 2007
SHOXC UPDATE

EliteXC Confirms Headliners for Oct.26 ShoXC
By FCF Staff

EliteXC has confirmed the headlining fights for the promotion’s upcoming ShoXC card, scheduled for October 26th. The lasted card in the Challenger Series will take place at the Chumash Resort and Casino in Santa Ynez, California, and as always, will be broadcast on the Showtime Cable Network.

In one of the card’s feature bouts, Javier Vazquez (11-2) will return to the EliteXC cage to take on J.C. Pennington (12-3-1). In February, Vazquez fought for the first time in over three years, defeating Adriano Pereira by Split Decision at EliteXC’s debut event. The former King of the Cage champion severely injured his knee in 2003 while fighting Alberto Crane, losing his belt by a Split Decision margin. After defeating Robert Emerson by Split Decision at a Shooto event in November that same year, Vazquez left competition until 2007. Prior to his departure, the Millenia Jiu-Jitsu instructor was considered to be one of the sport’s best prospects.

Pennington heads into his fight with Vazquez, 3-1-1 in his last five fights. After losing by Decision to Ruslan Mashukov at a No Love Entertainment event in February, Pennington recently fought to a Draw with Mashukov in a re-match this July. In between the two fights with the 145lb. No Love Entertainment champ, Pennington defeated Aaron Williams by Split Decision at Blood and Sand 1 in April.

The other main attraction for the October 26th ShoXC card will see the undefeated Aaron Rosa (9-0) take on another fighter with an unspoiled record, Jared Haman (8-0). Rosa has gone 3-0 in 2007; most recently the light-heavyweight stopped Jefferson Silva in the first round for the TKO win at ShoXC’s July 28th event. Prior to that, Rosa worked his way to a Split Decision victory over Matt Thomas at a World Cage Fighters event in June.

Hamman is coming off the highlight of his brief career. In July, Hamman won the International Fighting Championship’s cruiserweight tourney, by knocking out Roger Lloret first, and then, UFC and Pride veteran, Travis Wiuff. Hamman has been fighting professionally for just over one year, a TKO stoppage of Ray Lazama at California Extreme Fighting 1 last April, was his MMA debut.

The Showtime broadcast of the October 26th card will begin at 11:00 PM PST/ EST. According to the EliteXC site, the undercard for the event will be announced shortly.

October 12, 2007
FCF SURVEY
Give Us Your Thoughts...

Randy

What are your thoughts on Randy Couture retiring? Do you think it's a good idea? What do you think his reasons are? Do you think he's planning to join another MMA organization or focus on his acting career?   The results of the survey and some of the commentary we receive may appear in the upcoming issue of FCF.

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October 12, 2007
KIMBO, DIAZ TO ELITEXC

Pro Elite Signs Kimbo Slice
By FCF Staff

Less than a week after Cage Fury Fighting Championship cancelled its sixth card, nixing a headlining fight between Internet brawler Kimbo Slice and David "Tank" Abbott, Pro Elite has signed Slice to a multi-year contract with their promotion.

On Wednesday, Palace Fighting Championships offered Slice and Abbott an undisclosed sum to restage the bout on their Lemoore, California turf. Slice signed with Pro Elite the day after that offer was made.

Slice, whose real name is Kevin Ferguson, gained notoriety on the Internet with his bare-knuckle brawls. The backyard contests drew millions of hits on YouTube, a video sharing site. An exhibition bout with former heavyweight boxing champ Ray Mercer at CFFC 5 put him on the MMA map.

“Kimbo is a street fighting and Internet legend,” said EliteXC Live Events President Gary Shaw. “He is a brutal fighter who has a take-no prisoners approach. For those who have never seen him, they are going to witness perhaps the most vicious of all fighters. It is going to be very exciting for Mixed Martial Arts fans who have been anxiously waiting for him to step into the cage on SHOWTIME to see how Kimbo does as he continues to cross over into MMA."

Continuing their trend of locking up known commodities, Pro Elite also announced that Nick Diaz had signed a multi-year contract extension.

Diaz is scheduled to face City Boxing's KJ Noons on November 10th in Corpus Christi, Texas, the main event of EliteXC's "Renegade" card.

October 12, 2007
ACROSS THE POND: BRITISH MMA NEWS

Across The Pond: British MMA News
By David West

Cage Rage Announce Ninja and Professor X for December

Ninja

The headline fight for Cage Rage 24 has been confirmed as Murilo “Ninja” Rua versus Xavier “Professor X” Foupa-Pokam. The current Cage Rage middleweight World champ is Anderson Silva, but with Silva contracted to the UFC, it’s not clear when he’ll be able to return to defend his Cage Rage belt. However, Cage Rage promoter Dave O’Donnell said that the match between Rua and Foupa-Pokam is an eliminator, with the winner going on to fight for the world title, presumably against another contender if Silva is unable to return to the UK. Murilo Rua is coming off a loss to Robbie Lawler at Elite XC, which cost him his title there, so he may be hungry to get another belt. Prior to the Lawler fight, Rua won three in a row. He tapped out Mark Weir, beat Alex Reid when Reid cut his shin open, then stopped Joey Villasenor in June in a typically gutsy performance. France’s Foupa-Pokam is enjoying a five fight winning streak and looked sharp in his last outing, knocking out Pierre Guillet in the first round. Foupa-Pokam, who trains with Cyrille Diabate at the Snake Team, comes from a Muay Thai background and is extremely dangerous on his feet. His ground game has improved significantly since his arm bar loss to Ryuta Sakurai at DEEP and three of the five wins have been tap outs. With Rua possessing the aggressive style typical of Chute Boxe fighters, this one should be fast and explosive.

On the same bill, kickboxer James McSweeney will return for his second MMA contest against Poland’s sumo champion Robert Praczkow, in an interesting contrast of styles. McSweeney’s stand-up is superb – he battered Michael McDonald in a K-1 rules match at Cage Rage 21 – so if Praczkow can’t get McSweeney to the ground, he’ll find the flying knees coming thick and fast.

Professor X

After a quick submission loss to Mario Sperry, Lee Hasdell returns to face Ivan Serati, who was over-matched in his last outing against Vitor Beflort. Hasdell has experience on his side, having fought Fedor Emmelianenko and Renato Sobral in the RINGS organisation, and after the disappointment of the Sperry fight, he’ll be looking to take out his frustrations on the Italian. Before being dismantled by Belfort, Serati won his first five in short order via ground and pound, but Hasdell’s years of experience suggest Serati will not find him an easy mark.

Mark Weir will look to get some momentum back in his career against Drew Fickett. Once the top middleweight in Britain, Weir has only one victory in his last six contests and the Wizard is showing signs of losing his magic. Now fighting at welterweight, Weir may struggle against Fickett, a gifted grappler who has tapped out Josh Koscheck and holds wins over Kenny Florian, Kurt Pellegrino and Dennis Hallman. Weir will need to exploit his reach advantage and keep Fickett on the outside where he can pick him off if he wants to prove there are still some tricks left up his sleeves.

Full Card:

Murilo “Ninja” Rua vs. Xavier Foupa-Pokam

Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos vs. Paul Cahoon

Drew Fickett vs. Mark Weir

Marios Zaromskis vs. Ross Pointon

Tom “Kong” Watson vs. Mark Epstein

Dave Legeno vs. George Castro

Neil Grove vs. Robert “Buzz” Berry

Ivan Serati vs. Lee Hasdell

Abdul Mohamed vs. Robbie Oilvier

Robert Paczkow vs. James McSweeney

Ronnie Mann vs. Brad “One Punch” Pickett


Buzz Back In Action

Berry

When popular British heavyweight Robert “Buzz” Berry announced his retirement earlier this year, many were surprised that Berry was leaving the sport just as MMA’s profile in the UK was taking off. Then at Cage Rage 23, it was confirmed that Berry would be getting back into the cage on December 1st to face fast-rising newcomer Neil Grove, the 290 pound giant who demolished his last two opponents in a combined time of forty-four seconds. Under the tutelage of Peter McQueen, who was Ian Freeman’s first jiu-jitsu instructor, Berry has built a record of 11-6-0 and has only gone into the second round once in all his contests, with eight stoppages coming via his heavy hands. Berry spoke to FCF about why he walked away, what has brought him back and the new crop of British big men.

FCF: Why did you decide to retire in the Spring?
Robert Berry: “I had a few family issues and I got promoted at work. A bit of my time had to go to work and I didn’t have the time then to concentrate on my training, so I retired.”

FCF:  What is your day job?
RB:  “I work for a company called Tarmac, we lay roads and foot paths and house drives. I was promoted to foreman at the beginning of the year so I had to commit myself more to my job that anything else. I fit my training around my job.”

FCF:  What prompted you to get back in competition now?
RB:  “I enjoy it that much. It’s all right going to support an event but it’s nice to take part. I think there’s a still a lot in me in the fighting game so I’m concentrating and getting my mind back on what I like best.”

FCF:  Were you able to keep in shape during the break?
RB:  “Yeah, I’ve always trained, I was just ticking over. I haven’t kept up the high standard but I’m getting back up there. I’ve maintained my weight training, my size and my fitness level is coming right back up again. I’ll be ready for December.”

FCF:  Are you still training with Peter McQueen up in the North-East?
RB:  “I still train with Peter. I was up there last night. And John Close. I train more with John Close that I do with Peter. John was the one who taught me my stand-up. I’ve trained with him for years. I’ve gotten loads better with my hands. Where I’ve helped him with the ground side, he’s helped me with my boxing. I’ve been training with Tengiz [Tedoradze] and some of the guys down at his camp. I’m back to fulltime training now, seven days a week again.”

FCF:  Is it hard to find sparring partners your own size?
RB:  “It is, yes, up in the North-East it’s really hard to find guys my size who knows the game as well. It’s easy enough to find big lads but if they’re not well trained or well educated on the martial arts, its pointless training with them. So I’ve got to down to Doncaster, which is an hour and a half drive, to train with Tengiz, who is British champion. I’m going to start going back down there this Sunday. It’s just my fitness level I need to get back up there. Once I get my fitness level up, everything will come back easy.”

FCF:  What did you think of Tengiz’s last fight against Mustapha Al-Turk?  Mustapha’s corner thought their men should have got the decision.
RB:  “Tengiz wasn’t up to his usual standard fitness-wise. Apparently he’s been asked to go and fight for his country Georgia in the Olympics, so I’ve heard. He was over in Georgia for seven weeks before his fight doing television. Georgian television was at ringside and gave me an interview on what I thought about Tengiz as a fighter. I could tell in the first round, taking nothing away from Mustapha because he’s a good fighter as well, but Tengiz wasn’t himself. He was blowing a lot because he was over in Georgia and wasn’t training with the right people to prepare for that fight. I gave the first round to Mustapha, then the second and third round I gave to Tengiz, only because Tengiz took him down. He kept Mustapha down on his back and tried to punch. Mustapha thought he’d won it, but I said to him afterwards, ‘Keep your head up. If it hadn’t been for the title, you’d have probably won it but because it was for the title and he’s the champion, he keeps the belt. It’s no different in boxing. If it’s a draw in boxing, the champion keeps his belt.’ Mustapha did well, but not enough to win the belt.”

FCF:  You’ve picked a big guy for your first fight back – Neil Grove.
RB:  “He’s a giant and he’s a powerhouse. Six foot seven and nearly twenty-two stone [290 pounds], so he is a big guy. He’s a gentleman at the same time. I spoke to him down at Cage Rage, at the last show. Has he really been tested yet? No, because he’s done his job. The last guy he was up against, I think he was afraid of Neil’s size, plus Neil didn’t give him a chance, he just supplexed him and started smashing him. I think I’m a better boxer, a better puncher, than Neil, even though he’s a big lad and if he catches you he’ll knock you out like he did James Thompson, he will do damage. I think my stand-up is better than Neil’s and we’ve yet to see what he’s like on the floor. I’ll be looking to take him down and see what he’s like off his back. I’m confident. He’s had two good wins but my experience should beat him.”

FCF:  There are some new faces in the British heavyweight division – what are your thoughts on Gary Turner and James McSweeney switching to MMA from kickboxing?
RB:  “Gary Turner has really impressed me, especially with Edson Drago. He’s got a rock jaw and I don’t know why no one has tried to submit him, rather than try to ground and pound. James McSweeney, yes, he’s a good stand-up guy but he’s still learning the game on the floor. If you’re fighting a guy who’s good at stand-up, you’re not going to stand up with him. Take him down and bring his weaknesses out.”

FCF:  With Elite XC acquiring Cage Rage and raising the profile of the event internationally, was that a factor in your decision to come out back?
RB:  “Well, no, I didn’t realise they’d took over until after I’d phoned Dave O’Donnell and said, line me up. I only found out when I went to the last show, I’d already phoned Dave about getting me lined up for December. It’s good for Britain and the British fighters, hopefully we’ll get some of the top guys coming over here, and vice versa, put me over there. Get a bit more recognition for everyone. I’m pleased to be back and hopefully the rest has done me good. Sometimes a little lay off brings that hunger back. I can’t wait to get back in that cage, so let’s see if I can make some sparks. Time will tell and Neil Grove will tell in December. Hopefully he’ll be either knocked out or tapped out in the first round. If not, we’ll see what happens.”

October 12, 2007
RANDY COUTURE RETIRES

Couture to UFC: I Quit
By Steven Marrocco

Over the 10 years that Randy "The Natural" Couture fought in mixed martial arts, he built a career in the Octagon that turned him into an MMA legend. Now, according to a report by The Fight Network released Thursday, Couture is saying goodbye to the UFC.

According to a letter of resignation Couture sent to the UFC the same day, Couture stated he would not defend his belt, serve the remainder of his two-fight contract, or commentate any future bouts in the Octagon. Foremost in his mind were reports that #1 ranked Fedor Emelianenko had signed with the revived M-1 Mix Fight promotion, effectively ending his chance to cement his legacy in the UFC.

Couture was in South Africa filming a role in the upcoming movie "The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian" and sent the notice by fax.

UFC president Dana White released a statement on the UFC's website, saying he was unsurprised about Couture's departure.

"I met with Randy several weeks ago and he said that the only thing he had left to prove in his career and the only challenge left out there for him was Fedor (Emelianenko) because everybody thinks that Fedor is the best," White told reporter Thomas Gerbasi. "He hooked up with some Hollywood agent that I bitch slapped about a month ago, and these Hollywood agents are parasites, so unfortunately this guy is probably in Randy’s ear right now.

"Apparently Randy’s upset about something, and the timing of this thing is a typical Hollywood agent move while Randy’s out of town," White continued. "But he told me he wanted to retire anyway if he didn’t fight Fedor, and he can’t fight Fedor in another organization because he’s under contract to me. I’m very confident though that once Randy gets back in town, if we see each other we’ll work this thing out."

Couture's departure creates a massive void in Zuffa's short list of marquee talent. Not only was Couture the heavyweight champion, he was one of the most prominent ambassadors of the sport.

The issue at hand appears to be in Couture's current contract with the UFC. In the Fight Network report, Couture's agent, Matt Walker, claimed his contract was on a fight-by-fight basis. If Couture decides to try to sign with another promotion, like M-1, he could find himself in a legal battle with his former employer.

On the other hand, if Couture decides that his days of competition are over, it would mark the end of a movie-worthy career.

October 14, 2007
COMBAT ZONE 24

Come Ready or Don’t Come at All: Combat Zone Unleashes Three Rounds of Fury

By Derek Constable

October 13th, Revere , Ma. - Some younger fighters got more than they bargained for at Combat Zone 24, signing-up for fights they thought would be two four-minute rounds. (The standard in Massachusetts being two four-minute rounds, followed by a two-minute Round Three only in the case of a tie after two rounds). In reality however, all the fighters on Saturday were obligated to fight three four-minute rounds unless the fighters themselves ended the fights any sooner. No one disputed the change at the rules meeting but it definitely took its toll on one first-time fighter from Team Dominicci.

Kiplagott Stewart (Dominicci) and Parker Porter were an exciting match-up because both men were fighting in their pro debuts and weighed-in at over 215 pounds. Porter had an average build and was the smaller of the two, while Stewart was cut and had muscles on top of muscles. Stewart stole the first round with good boxing and really put a hurting on one of Porter’s eyes, cutting it early in the fight, but momentum shifted in Porter’s favor the second round as he started to abuse the larger Stewart with body shots. After the second round, it was clear Stewart didn’t want to leave his corner. His cardio was spent and he could barely lift his arms, but he came out for Round Three and accepted his beating like a man, getting knocked-out just 16 seconds into the third and final round with a ton of his fans in very the front row. Porter was a class act, fighting over half the fight covered in his own blood, but he weathered the storm and waited for the bigger man to tire out. Almost immediately after the knockout, he walked over to his opponent, shook his hand and said, “One hell of a job man!”

Nobody believed it was possible to do a back-flip off the cage in Club Lido with such a low ceiling, but it was also hard to believe that Dan “The Upgrade” Lauzon could fight in Massachusetts and not be the fan favorite. Lauzon got his cheers, but they paled in comparison to the giant uproar of applause given to his undefeated opponent Dave George (2-0). George clearly brought a lot of fans to the venue that night - but Lauzon shut-out the crowd and paced the cage like a loaded gun just waiting to fire as he awaited the opening bell. He stared down George as if he was looking through his opponent and already visualizing his ground-and-pound finish.

An instant after touching gloves, Lauzon was all over George. He came with a right, then he clinched and threw a wicked knee, following up with a guillotine choke. He jumped guard and tried to hold the choke as best he could, but George escaped, so Lauzon applied a double-armbar. When George escaped this submission there was a short scramble and Lauzon got on top where he hit his opponent with a flurry of punches, but George was able to work back to his feet for a moment before Lauzon swept him and took full mount. After Lauzon pounded it out for the TKO win, he did a tribute to pro wrestler Shawn Michaels, posing like the old-school wrestler while his “Heartbreak Kid” music played in the background.

Lauzon (L) Kneeing George (R)

Chris Reedy got out-maneuvered by Chandler Holderness in the main event. It was a pretty one-sided fight and definitely not the fight of the night. Holderness took Reedy down in the first round on the initial encounter and was not stood up once the entire four-minute round. Reedy had an active guard and was able to avoid any serious damage from his opponents many pinches, but lost the round hands down. In Round Two, while in a clinch against the cage, Reedy took a moment to stop and pose for the camera and got taken down again by Holderness. Reedy’s opponent began working his rubber guard and won by Omoplatta about half way through the second round.

Final results

Chandler Holderness def. Chris Reedy by Submission (Omoplatta)

Napoleon Andrade def. Nick Smith by TKO (Ref stoppage due to strikes) 1:56 R1.

Calvin Kattar def. Bub Pupa by TKO 0:50 R1.

Parker Porter def. Kiplagott Stewart by KO 0:16 R3.

Andrew Montanez def. Eddie Felix by Submission (Rear-Naked-Choke) in R1.

Jay Smolko def. Mike Tierney by Submission (Armbar) 1:36 R1.

Dennis Pignataro def. Jose Santiago by Submission (Guillotine Choke) 2:14 R1.

Dan Lauzon def. Dave George by TKO 2:46 R1.

Ken Stone def. Ben Manseau by Submission (Guillotine Choke) 0:30 R1.

Francisco Ferreira def. Chris Howes by Submission (Rear-Naked-Choke) 1:26 R1.

Randy Durant def. Richard Pasuy by first-round TKO.

Lee Metcalf def. Carl Wentworth by Submission (Rear-Naked-Choke) 1:55 R1.

Durant (L) Standing Over Pasuy

October 15, 2007
ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE

UFC Confirms Chonan vs. Parisyan
By FCF Staff

The official Ultimate Fighting Championship website has confirmed that Pride veteran Ryo Chonan will make his debut fighting for the promotion against Karo Parisyan at UFC 78. “Validation”, will take place November 17th, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Parisyan had been scheduled to fight Hector Lombard, however, due to visa issues, the Cuban fighter will be unable to compete at the event. Chonan (14-7), who is 4-1 in his last five fights, will be the latest Pride fighter to venture into UFC waters. Since losing to Paulo Filho by armbar submission at Pride Bushido 12 last August, Chonan has gone 2-0, defeating Ryuta Sakurai and Seo Do Wong in DEEP events. Chonan’s last win came in June, when he stopped Do Wong in the first round by TKO. Chonan also holds victories over Carlos Newton, Hayato Sakurai and Anderson Silva.

Parisyan (17-4) continues to work his way to a shot at the welterweight crown having gone 8-2 in his last 10 UFC fights. Most recently at UFC 71 in May, Parisyan defeated Josh Burkman by Unanimous Decision. Prior to that, Parisyan worked his way to another Unanimous Decision victory at Ultimate Fight Night 8 last December, when he defeated Drew Fickett.

According to Chris Lytle's agent, Ken Pavia, the former "Ultimate Fighter" competitor will face Thiago Alves at UFC 78 as well. There had been speculation recently that Alves might face Chonan at the upcoming "Validation" event, however, with Lombard out of the picture and Chonan now facing Parisyan, the veteran Lytle (24-14-5) will return to the Octagon officially for his tenth appearance. Most recently, Lytle submitted Matthew Brown in the second round with a guillotine choke at the United Fight League's August 11th event.

Alves (12-3) is coming off a September 19th verbal submission stoppage of Kuniyoshi Hironaka at Ultimate Fight Night 12, where the American Top Team fighter once again dismantled his opponent with a series of devastating leg kicks. Alves is 4-1 in his last 5 UFC fights, with his only loss during the stretch coming to Jon Fitch at Ultimate Fight Night 5 last June.

UFC 78 will be headlined by a bout between light-heavyweight contenders Rashad Evans and Michael Bisping. Other bouts confirmed for the card include Spencer Fisher vs. Frankie Edgar, David Terrell vs. Ed Herman, and Thiago Silva vs. Houston Alexander.

Parisyan

October 15, 2007
CSAC UPDATE

CSAC Suspends Mahood
By FCF Staff

The California State Athletic Commission announced today that it has suspended Bill Mahood for one year and fined him $2,500 for apparently testing positive for Drostanolone, a known anabolic steroid agent. Mahood’s suspension is retroactive to September 29th, when he fought Bobby Southworth at the Strikeforce at the Mansion event in Beverly Hills. Mahood verbally submitted early into the fight with Southworth due to an apparent rib injury.

The 40 year-old Canadian currently holds a record of 16-6-1 and has been competing professionally in MMA since 2000. As of press time, Mahood could not be reached for comment.

October 16, 2007
NEW EPISODE OF FCF RADIO: JAY HIERON AND JAKE ELLENBERGER

New episode of FCF Radio In this edition of FCF Radio we talk with International Fight League welterweights Jay Hieron and Jake Ellenberger, who both have upcoming fights in the month of November. Also on the program, hosts Kelsey Mowatt and Brendan Leier discuss Randy Couture's departure from the UFC and the upcoming October 28th K-1 Hero's card. Click here to listen/download

October 16, 2007
K-1 HERO'S UPDATE
Hero’s Confirms Kang to Fight Akiyama
By FCF Staff

The official K-1 Hero’s website has posted the card for the promotion’s upcoming October 28th event that will take place in Seoul, South Korea. Headlining the card will be a match-up between two fighters with Korean heritage, in former Pride contender Denis Kang (29-8-1) and renowned Judo expert, Yoshihiro Akiyama (9-1). Kang has not competed since March earlier this year, when he worked his way to a Unanimous Decision victory over Jung Gyu Choi at a Spirit MC event in South Korea. The October 28th bout with Akiyama will mark Kang’s Hero’s debut, after months of speculation as to where the highly ranked, free agent fighter might end up signing.

Kang

Akiyama is coming back to MMA competition after a 10 month lay-off due to his well documented “greasing” scandal that occurred in his fight with Japanese star, Kazushi Sakuraba, last December. Akiyama has since apologized for the incident several times. Prior to his bout with Sakuraba, he submitted Dutch striker Melvin Manhoef with an armbar at Hero’s middleweight tourney event last October.

South Korean fighter Dong Sik Yoon (2-4) is scheduled to fight Chute Boxe’s Fabio Silva (7-3). After going 0-4 to begin his MMA career, Yoon has now won back to back bouts, submitting Manhoef and Zelg Galesic at Hero’s events in June and September respectively. Silva is coming off a TKO loss to Manhoef in September, but prior to that the Brazilian fighter had won 6 straight.

Galesic (5-3) will hope to end a two fight losing streak on the 28th, when he faces Taiei Kin (2-1). Before the aforementioned loss to Yoon, Galesic was defeated by Makoto Takimoto at Pride 34 in April. Kin on the other hand is coming off a win, at a Hero’s event in July, he worked his way to a Unanimous Decision victory over Kiyoshi Tamura.

FEG also announced that Canadian, Carlos Newton (13-13), will head back to Japan to fight Shungo Oyama (6-10). Newton has not fought since February when he was submitted by Matt Lindland at an International Fight League event, while Oyama is coming off a KO loss to Manhoef at Hero’s grand-prix tourney last October.

Other bouts confirmed for the October 28th card include, Ikuhisa Minowa (36-25-8) vs. Min Soo Kim (4-6), Bernard Ackah (2-1) vs. Poai Suganuma (6-1), Yoshihisa Yamamoto (14-22-1) vs. Lee Tae Hyun (0-1), and grappling superstar, Marcelo Garcia, will make his MMA debut against Kim Dae Won (2-3).

Galesic (L) vs. Weir at Cage Rage 19

October 17, 2007
CSAC UPDATE

Strikeforce Fighter Adam Smith Fails Second Drug Test
By Steven Marrocco

He may not be world's best known MMA fighter, but this morning, Adam Smith, set a new precedent in California by failing his second drug test following the "Strikeforce at the Mansion" show on September 29th.

The light-heavyweight had recently tested positive for cocaine and marijuana. Added to the list today was a positive test for anabolic agents, including metabolites for Nandrolone and Stanozolol found in his system.

Smith becomes the first fighter in California to test positive for drugs of abuse and anabolic agents.

Smith's suspension for drugs of abuse was from the conclusion of the bout on September 29, 2007 to June 25, 2008 with a fine of $1,500. As a result of the second positive test, the California State Athletic Commission has extended his suspension period through the end of his licensing year on September 27th, 2008.

An additional 271 days has been added to that suspension, as well as a $2500 dollar fine, bringing his total suspension time up to 21 months with $4000 in fines.

CSAC rep Bill Douglas spoke to FCF this morning about the findings. Douglas said that the notification to media had been delayed several days in Smith's case because of it's unique circumstances.

"The thought process was, is this something that warrants a license revocation or an extended suspension," Douglas said.

When the CSAC consulted their legal team, they decided that a revocation was not in order.

"We’re not talking about someone who’s a repeat offender," Douglas explained. "Revocation probably would have been, in my opinion, too harsh. At the same time, you can’t sit there and give him a lesser penalty."

Douglas said that new language is currently being drafted to allow the changing of official results when a drug violation has been committed. However, California's legal system would likely delay any changes until next year.

"It could take as little as six months, as long as a year," Douglas admitted. "We have to conduct a study because it’s part of the rules and regulations of creating law in California. We have to do such things as economic impact on it, we look into other stakeholders in this business. It’s a laundry list of items that you have to run through. It was the exact same thing we had to do to legalize the ring in California."

To the commission, the findings were yet another indicator that there is a serious drug problem in MMA.

"We’re at over 40 athletes," Douglas finished. "And that’s not including the nearly 60 athletes we had under our old testing methods the prior year. So we’re in the triple digits in violations in essentially a year and a half’s worth of testing, which is really, really alarming."

October 17, 2007
CSAC UPDATE

CSAC Confirms Brawl 4 It All Card
By FCF Staff

The California State Athletic Commission released a statement yesterday, clarifying the upcoming Brawl 4 It All card scheduled to take place, October 20th, at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California. Apparently the CSAC has received an “extensive number of complaints” because, according to the official statement, “It appears the original card is still being advertised with athletes that will in no way be appearing at the event.”

The statement furthered that Jeff Monson, Nick Diaz, Mia St.John, Javier Vasquez, and Leland Chapman will not be appearing at the October 20th event as advertised. As a result,

“Refunds can be requested if the ticket was purchased with the intent to see a particular star who is no longer appearing.”

The CSAC has released the revised Brawl 4 It All card.

1. Vince Lucero vs. Cain Velasquez
2. Alex Serdyukov vs. Mark Moreno
3. Ruben Villarreal vs. Brad Imes
4. Jake Hattan vs. Charles Bennett
5. Matt Major vs. Marcus Gaines
6. Kyle Rideau vs. Khomkrit Niimi
7. Bo Cantrell vs. Bryan Pardoe
8. Gabe Rivas vs. Gabe Ruediger
9. Van Oscar Penvaroff vs. Eric Jacob
10. Shawn Klarcyk vs. Ed Lavelle
11. Arron Carvalo vs. Andrew Martinez
12. Chris David vs. Michael Pedro

October 17, 2007
PALACE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE

Sports Writer to Make MMA Debut at PFC 4
By FCF Staff

Hanford Sentinel sports writer, Jeremy Lachau, will make his MMA debut this Thursday, October 18th, at the Palace Fighting Championship in Lemoore, California. According to a press release sent out by the promotion this week, Lachau, who also writes for PFC, has been training for 17 months in preparing for his first fight. The sport writer of 8 years will fight Michael Satumbaga at a catch-weight of 165lbs.

“[Fight Club owner] D. Womack made a suggestion that I train for a week and write about it,’’ Luchau said in the PFC release. “And then I came back, and we talked about it some more, and than we talked about it with [Palace entertainment director] Christian Printup.’’

“Jeremy’s done a good job,’’ the statement quoted Luchau’s trainer, Jacob Jeff of Team Ochoa as saying. “He’s come a long way from when he first started.’’

Luchau’s opponent, Satumbaga, will also be making his MMA debut Thursday.

Thursday’s PFC card will feature 3 title fights as Justin Levens (9-7) will face Kenny Ento (8-2) for the vacant middleweight title, Poppies Martinez (11-3-1) will battle Brandon Jinnies (2-6) for the promotion’s interim lightweight belt, and Lodune Sincaid (10-4) will fight Jeromy Frietag (5-5) for the vacant light-heavyweight crown.

There are 13 fights scheduled for the card which will be hosted by the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino.

October 18, 2007
NEW EPISODE OF FCF RADIO: BART PALASZEWSKI AND SEAN SALMON

New episode of FCF Radio In this edition of FCF Radio we talk with lightweight fighter Bart Palaszewski, who will be participating in the upcoming November 3rd, IFL Grand-Prix, and UFC veteran Sean Salmon, who is fighting this Friday night at Hardcore Championship Fighting's event in Calgary, Alberta. Also on the show, hosts Kelsey Mowatt and Brendan Leier make their predictions for UFC 77. Click here to listen/download

October 18, 2007
BATTLE CAGE XTREME III PREVIEW

Moreno Looking to Continue His Reign Over BCX Heavyweight Crown
By Derek Constable
Photos by Zack Lynch

The Battle Cage Xtreme continues to improve with every appearance in New Jersey. At the first show, who could forget Matt Zaccarias and Tim Troxell’s bloody battle at featherweight or Carlos “The Tyrant” Moreno imposing his will on Todd Allee with a win by ref stoppage due to strikes in just 34 seconds? At BCX II, Dave Mastrogiovanni doubled the number of fights at the event and flooded the fight card with athletes from the Rhino Fight Team. The result was more ticket sales and three new champions -- all from New Jersey. Every Rhino competitor booked for a title match in the BCX’s new heptagon (seven-sided) cage left with a championship belt around his waist from Moreno (Elizabethtown) and Tom Gallicchio (Howell) down to Kevin Roddy (Bricktown) and Steve D’Angelis.

This time around at BCX III, Mastrogiovanni and matchmaker Gary Marino went out looking for a monster with some credibility to try and take down Moreno, what they got was Kevin “The Shaman” Jordan. The Shaman has a pro MMA record of 8-5. He’s won by TKOs, submissions and decisions and he’s lost all three ways as well. Jordan nearly went the distance with Gabriel Gonzaga in 2005 at UFC 56. The two men fought nearly three full rounds before Jordan was knocked out at 4:39 of Round Three. Moreno on the other hand is 7-1 with every win coming by way of a brutal TKO or tap-out due to strikes. He’s been busy this year, fighting in his third consecutive BCX event, while Jordan has only fought four times in the last two years.

Moreno

The match is certain to entertain the crowd and will most likely end by KO or TKO. Everyone loves to see two big men fight and settle things themselves in the cage. It will be interesting to see if Jordan can take the fight to the champ as no one has before, or will Moreno continue to rule over his new BCX Heavyweight title with an iron fist?

Newly crowned BCX Welterweight and Lightweight Champions, Gallicchio and Roddy, will get the night off but another emerging star from the Rhino Fight Team camp is Lester Caslow, who is scheduled to fight Ryan McCarthy. Caslow debuted on the scene fighting amateur for New Breed Fighting not too long ago and showed a lot of promise. It will be interesting to see if that talent rises to the surface on the professional level as well.

Nuri Shakir, a Massachusetts favorite, who once came to New Jersey to battle the undefeated Tamdan McCrory, will return to the beach for a fight with lightweight Jim Miller who will be stepping up for his fight at 170 pounds. Miller is now seeking a welterweight championship for the first time in his career and enters his USKBA bout against Shakir with only one loss to speak of against Frank Edgar (undefeated in the UFC). This match is a late addition to the fight card but sure to be one of the highlights of the night.

One more guy to look out for is Don Wagner. He’s a little older, but Wagner had the most exciting KO of the night at the last BCX event, delivering his punch in the midst of getting hit by a storm of strikes from his Glen Garibaldi. Wagner looked as if he’d all but lost in the second round of his last fight, but with his hands down and his head bouncing like a ‘bobbin-head doll’ on a dashboard, Wagner reached deep into his reserve tank and dropped Garibaldi with a single punch.

After the fight Wagner said, “My head is definitely harder than my hands. I’ve always been proud of that.” The former farmhand has no problem taking on a little pain in order to dish it out. He’s said in the past, he’ll let people inside on him all day, because if they’re an arms length away from him, then they’re one punch away from being laid out themselves.

The BCX is a fast-growing, cleverly-marketed MMA organization looking to make a name for itself on the shore of Atlantic City. The league’s got talent, star power, good officiating and since the addition of Marino to the staff -- excellent matchmaking. Look for the walls of Boardwalk Hall to shake as a “The Tyrant” and “The Shaman” showdown for a chance at BCX gold.

Fight Card

BCX / USKBA Heavyweight Title
Kevin Jordan vs. Carlos Moreno

USKBA Welterweight Title
Nuri Shakir vs. Jim Miller

BCX Flyweight Title
Josh Spearman vs. Nick Cottone

Roberto Conceptcion vs. George Sullivan
Ryan McCarthy vs. Lester Caslow
Don Wagner vs. Justin Haskins
Blair Tugman vs. Jason Frawley
Nick Calandrino vs. Mike Medrano
Brian Wright vs. Andrew Riddles
Damien Vitale vs. Brian DeMuro

Miller Receiving his CFFC belt from Nick Diaz

October 18, 2007
STRIKEFORCE UPDATE

Strikeforce Announces 185lb. Tournament for Nov.16th
By FCF Staff

Strikeforce has announced that the promotion’s next event, scheduled for November 16th in San Jose, California, will feature a four man, single elimination, middleweight tournament. According to the news release sent out by the organization, the winner of the tourney will be awarded a title fight with Strikeforce 185lb. champion, Frank Shamrock. The sanctioned 4 man tournament will be the first of it’s kind in California history.

“We’re very grateful that the athletic commission has given us the opportunity to produce a tournament format fight for our fans,” Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker was quoted in the release as saying. “This will be the first step in our efforts to produce more tournaments which, historically, have been a great way to challenge world class athletes and to determine who the best competitor is on any given day.”

The first confirmed participant in the tournament is Falaniko Vitale (23-7). The Hawaiian fighter is coming off a recent first round stoppage over Ron Fields at Strikeforce’s Playboy Mansion event, September 29th. Prior to that, Vitale submitted Steve Renaud in the first round with strikes at a X-1 event in August.

The November 16th event, which will take place at San Jose’s HP Pavilion arena, will have 10 bouts in total. Although no other competitors have been confirmed by the organization, the names of Joe Riggs, Luke Stewart, Cung Le, Bobby Southworth and Paul Buentello all appear on the event’s poster.

October 18, 2007
CAGE RAGE UPDATE

ProElite Announces Drug Testing for Cage Rage
By FCF Staff

ProElite has announced that the organization will begin testing for drugs in athletes that compete at Cage Rage events. According to an Elite XC news release sent out, the upcoming “Elite XC Presents Cage Rage 24”, December 1st event, will be the first Cage Rage event in which some of the promotion’s fighters will be tested for drugs.

“Anybody that knows me knows that my No. 1 priority is the health and safety of the athletes,’’ Elite XC Live Events President Gary Shaw was quoted in the release as saying. “I wholeheartedly agree and support Cage Rage’s decision. This ensures that the highest safety standards will be in place each and every time a fighter competes in an EliteXC, Cage Rage fight card in Britain.’’

The statement furthered that any fighter that appears on the British promotion will be subject to random testing which includes checking for anabolic steroids, stimulants, marijuana and cocaine. All title fight participants will be tested.

Shaw also announced that MRI scans and ophthalmologic inspections will be introduced in 2008.

ProElite, the parent company of Elite XC, acquired Britain’s Cage Rage promotion earlier this year. Cage Rage 24, which will take place December 1st in London, England, will be headlined by a middleweight fight between Murilo Rua and Xavier Foupa-Pokam. Some of the other bouts scheduled for the card include; Evangelista Santos vs. Paul Cahoon, Drew Fickett vs. Mark Weir, Brad Pickett vs. Ronnie Mann and Mark Epstein vs. Mark Watson.

October 19, 2007
ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE

UFC 77 Official Weigh-Ins
By FCF Staff

The Ultimate Fighting Championship held the official weigh-ins today for the promotion’s “Hostile Territory” event, which will take place tomorrow night at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio. All fighters made weight successfully except Josh Burkman, who came in half a pound heavy at 171.5 and as a result was given one hour to shed the extra weight. The event, which went off without any major incident, was highlighted by the main event participants Rich Franklin and Anderson Silva. The former champion Franklin received a thunderous welcome from his hometown Cincinnati fans, who then in turn, appealed to the crowd to “give it up” for the current champion in Silva. After both fighters made weight, the two engaged in a rather intense face off for the press with barely an inch to spare between each fighter’s face. Franklin weighed in at 184lbs. while Silva tipped the scales at 184.5.

Official UFC 77 Weigh-In Results

Lightweight- Matt Grice (9-1) 155lbs. vs. Jason Black (22-3-1) 156lbs.
Welterweight- Josh Burkman (19-4) 171.5 vs. Forrest Petz (13-4) 170
Middleweight- Demian Maia (6-0) 185 vs. Ryan Jensen (11-2) 185.5
Middleweight- Jason MacDonald (20-8) 184.5 vs. Yushin Okami (21-4) 186
Middleweight- Alan Belcher (10-3)186 vs. Kalib Starnes (10-2-1) 186
Lightweight- Jorge Gurgel (11-2) 155 vs. Alvin Robinson (9-2) 155.5
Light-heavyweight- Stephan Bonnar (13-4) 204 vs. Eric Schafer (9-2-2) 203.5
Heavyweight- Brandon Vera (8-0) 225.5 vs. Tim Sylvia (25-3) 260.5
Middleweight- Rich Franklin (24-2) 184 vs. Anderson Silva (19-4) 184.5

October 19, 2007
ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP
UFC 77 “Hostile Territory” Preview
By Dustin Lee DePue

MMA fans in Cincinnati, Ohio will converge this Saturday at the U.S. Bank Arena and attempt to parlay their collective karma into sweet revenge, as native son Rich “Ace” Franklin once again steps into the octagon to face middleweight champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva. The minds of “Ace” fans will no doubt be replaying, again and again, Anderson Silva’s revolutionary, incision-free rhinoplasty which he successfully performed on Franklin at the end of their first fight.

Franklin

Franklin has bounced back from the loss with two wins in a row. He busted up Jason MacDonald en route to a TKO and won a decision over Yushin Okami. For the rematch, Franklin has done due diligence, breaking down fight footage of the “The Spider” in an attempt to formulate a better gameplan. Franklin is still going to do what he does best, throw punches, but he’d be smart to avoid the clinch like it was a festering wound. He has stated that he will go the path of least resistance, although with Silva, there is nowhere to go where he can’t beat you.

Anderson Silva appears as confident as ever, and why not; with two first round stoppages in his last two bouts (Travis Lutter and Nathan Marquardt) and the middleweight belt around his waist, Silva is at the top of the heap at 185. He has so many weapons, particularly when standing, that Franklin will be in danger from bell to bell and at every moment in between. As strong as he is, and as good as he’s been at beating up his opponents, Franklin just isn’t as dangerous as Silva at any given moment in this fight.

If Franklin takes the fight to the ground he could avoid Silva’s fluid striking, however, Silva proved his ability to finish from his back when he forced a tapout from Travis Lutter by locking him up in a triangle and elbowing his head. Still, if Franklin does take it to the ground, he may be able to build points with ground control and elbows of his own from on top.

Whatever the outcome, expect fireworks from both fighters. Despite being classy guys—their mutual respect is evident in recent interviews they’ve given for the UFC— both Franklin and Silva know how to throw the heavy leather come fight time.

On November 18th, 2006 both Tim Sylvia and Brandon Vera fought on the UFC 65 card. Sylvia was the co-main event, defending his belt against Abu Dhabi champion Jeff Monson while Brandon Vera fought former heavyweight champion Frank Mir. The two fights couldn’t have been much more different. Sylvia won an uneventful five round decision that had fans questioning his passive gameplan while Vera came exploding out of the gate, overwhelming Mir and finishing him by TKO in just 69 seconds.

The winner of the Vera-Mir fight was to get a title shot against the winner of the Sylvia-Monson fight, however, contractual disputes between Vera’s manager and the UFC kept Vera out of the UFC for a full year, opening the door for Randy Couture to step in and take Sylvia’s belt.

With Randy Couture out of the UFC heavyweight picture and his belt now up for grabs, the match-up between Tim Sylvia and Brandon Vera will surely decide who gets a shot at the vacant heavyweight title.

Despite a one year layoff, Vera insisted in an interview for the UFC hat he is a better fighter now. That assertion will be put to the test against Sylvia, whose 6’8” 265 pound frame poses a challenge for any fighter, let alone for a guy who is six inches shorter and forty pounds lighter. What Vera lacks in comparative size though, he more than makes up for in speed, aggression and technique. Speed is what may prove to be the key for Vera: Sylvia has proven in his trilogy with Arlovski that he can be beaten by speed. Of course, he has also proven that he can beat speed.

It will be interesting to see how Vera handles Sylvia’s reach advantage and Pat Miletich’s sensible, no-frills, winning-first game-planning. It may take Vera some time to find his range and rhythm. One thing’s for sure, Sylvia isn’t going to stick his chin out and say, “Hit me with your best shot.” He’ll be looking to counter, using his reach advantage to hurt Vera as he moves in

Despite the flak that Sylvia has taken in the wake of the Jeff Monson fight it must be remembered that styles make fights and Vera’s aggressive stand-up game may bring out the best in Tim Sylvia.

After losing two fights in a row in the second half of 2006 and being suspended for using a banned substance, Stephan Bonnar (10-4) has come back and is looking to get his name into the 205 pound mix. He is off to a good start, having made short work of Mike Nickels at UFC 73. Now he faces Eric Schafer (8-3-2), who is 1-1 in the UFC, having beaten Rob MacDonald and lost to Michael Bisping. With a solid submission game, Schafer will be looking to take the fight to the ground. Although Bonnar trained extensively under Carlson Gracie, Sr, he has stated that he wants to keep the fight standing, where he feels he has the best chance of winning. To stack the odds in his favor, Bonnar has been training with Forrest Griffin and Randy Couture among others at Extreme Couture in Las Vegas, where Bonnar recently relocated to.
Middleweight Kalib Starnes (8-1-1) will take on Alan Belcher (9-3-0). Both fighters had wins at UFC 71, Starnes winning a decision over Chris Leben and Belcher quickly submitting Sean Salmon with a guillotine choke. Starnes showed that he can hang with a power puncher like Leben, couple that with his slick ground game and he will be tough to beat in this match. Belcher will likely want to keep the fight standing, where he has a shot at catching Starnes with a big punch.

It will be a battle of jiu-jitsu specialists when lightweights Jorge Gurgel and Alvin Robinson step into the octagon. TUF season two competitors Jorge Gurgel (11-3) looks to increase his winning streak in the UFC to three in a row, having defeated Danny Abaddi and Diego Saraiva at UFC 63 and 73 respectively. He may also be looking to get back into his submission groove; after submitting opponents in eight of his first nine wins, Gurgel hasn’t won by submission in over two years.

Alvin Robinson (8-2) makes his sophomore effort in the UFC after losing by TKO to Kenny Florian at UFC 73. Like Gurgel, Robinson has won eight fights by submission and should push the pace as he looks to notch his first win in the UFC.

UFC 77 Full Card

Middleweight Title Fight
Rich Franklin vs. Anderson Silva

Tim Sylvia vs. Brandon Vera
Eric Schafer vs. Stephan Bonnar
Alan Belcher vs. Kalib Starnes
Alvin Robinson vs. Jorge Gurgel
Jason MacDonald vs. Yushin Okami
Demian Maia vs. Ryan Jensen
Josh Burkman vs. Forrest Petz
Matt Grice vs. Jason Black

October 19, 2007
EXTREME CAGE COMBAT 6

Extreme Cage Combat 6 Weigh-Ins
By Peter Parsons

Halifax, NS – October 19 – The weigh-ins for Extreme Cage Combat 6 “Hometown Heroes” were held today at Bubbles Mansion in downtown Halifax. The main event will feature ECC’s first world title fight as Halifax’s own Roger Hollett (7-0) of Team Titans will do battle with American Top Team’s Lew Polley (7-1) of Coconut Creek, Florida.

Hollett, the current ECC Canadian Light-Heavyweight champion and MFC World Light-Heavyweight champion, was the first fighter to weigh-in today, tipping the scales at a ripped 204 pounds. Polley, however, was nowhere to be seen until about a half hour after Hollett weighed in. A dehydrated and weak looking Polley made his way to the scale with the aid off his ATT crew. Having to be held up by his trainers, an unstable Polley weighed in at 203 pounds.

Hollett	Polley being supported at weigh-in

FCF spoke with Polley about 20 minutes after the weigh-ins and the ATT fighter assured FCF that he is ready to go. “I feel jovial, a little excited now, a little rational, the belt is right next to me and I see Roger Hollett off in the distance, so I’m kind of getting up for it,” said Polley as he sipped his water.

In the semi-main event, Team Bueno’s Travis Axworthy (3-1) of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island will take on Team Boreland’s Stjepan Vujnovic (3-0) of Georgetown, Ontario for the vacant ECC Canadian Middleweight title. Axworthy, 3-0 in the ECC, is coming off of a quick knockout loss to UFC veteran Jonathan Goulet at TKO 29 in June. Vujnovic has won all three of his fights by first round submission including wins at ECC 1 and most recently at ECC 5.

The 11-fight card, sanctioned by the Nova Scotia Boxing Authority will take place tomorrow night at the Halifax Forum. Doors open at 7pm with fights starting at 8pm.


ECC 6 Weigh-in Results:

• Roger Hollett (204) vs. Lew Polley (203)

• Stjepan Vujnovic (185) vs. Travis Axworthy (185)

• Ryan Jimmo (230) vs. Matt Acorn (240)

• Shaun Krysa (155) vs. Mike Bruno (152)

• Pat McGrath (170) vs. Steve Rogers (168)

• Tannaya Hantleman (139.8) vs. Alexis Davis (137)

• Peter McGrath (150) vs. Jeff Harrison 153.8

• Johnathan Golaki (185) vs. Tim Kelly (184)

• Johny Roscoe (160) vs. Renee Allain (158)

• Ryan Ford (170) vs. Adil Abbes (169.8)

• Andrew Belyea (184) vs. Aaron Jollimore (184)

October 19, 2007
THE NORTHERN TOUCH

The Northern Touch: News and Notes from Canadian MMA
By Kelsey Mowatt

Carvalho to Fight Takaya November 8th

Shooto has announced that Antonio “Pato” Carvalho will fight Hiroyuki Takaya at the promotion’s “Back to Our Roots” card, November 8th, in Tokyo, Japan. Carvalho has not competed in a MMA match since May 18th, when he worked his way to a Split Decision victory over Hatsu Hioki. Since that bout Carvalho (10-2) has continued to train with Hiroyuki Abe’s ADCC team in Tokyo, and recently won a Shootboxing fight against Taiga Yamaguchi.

“I am fighting Takaya at a catch weight of 148lbs.,” Carvalho confirms to FCF. “Shooto really wanted to set this fight up. However, Takaya has had a little trouble with his weight since he has been fighting at 155lbs recently. So Takaya's management and the Shooto commission asked me if I would accept a catch weight for this fight. “

Although Takaya has 4 losses in 12 bouts, most of his losses have come against highly regarded fighters in Gesias Cavalcante, Gilbert Melendez and Genki Sudo. Most recently at a Shooto event in September, Takaya knocked-out Jarrod Card in the first round.

“I am very aware of what Takaya is capable of,” says Carvalho. “I believe this will be my toughest opponent I have ever fought. Takaya may be the heaviest hitter in this division. He has KO power with his left and right hand and can also KO you with his feet. His takedown defense is also superb. He is the 2003 Shooto rookie champion at 65kg (143.3). He was the first person to defeat Hatsu Hioki and did it in quite convincing fashion by knocking him down three times throughout the fight. He later made a transition to the 70kg division in Hero’s and has been fighting there for quite some time. He has recently decided to fight as a featherweight again and has a recent win in the Cage Force promotion here in Japan.”

Clearly Carvalho is well aware of what Takaya is capable of, and is preparing a game plan to deal with his opponents best attributes.

“I better bring my best game and be a complete fighter,” Carvalho tells FCF. “This is the first time I am fighting a guy that I may not have the firepower to deal with him standing. So I have to make sure my defense standing is good and I must make sure that my wrestling and jiu-jitsu is as solid as can be. Also, I intend to push the pace in this fight. I believe I have great conditioning and I usually get stronger later in the fight. I can never really tell how a fight will go. I just know I better be as prepared as possible in every aspect of the game.”

The Canadian featherweight, FCF’s 5th ranked 145lb. fighter, has risen to the top of the Shooto division on account of Carvalho’s victories over Hatsu Hioki, Rumina Sato and “Lion” Inoue. In fact, Carvalho’s last loss came at the hands of Inoue, leading many to suspect a rubber match between the two might be on the horizon.

“At this point, I am not even thinking about Lion Takeshi. I believe Takaya is even more dangerous than Lion. I would certainly love a rubber match with him if I can get past Takaya though.”

October 20, 2007
HARDCORE CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHTING

Emelianenko Submits Bobish, Salmon Stops Vinicius
By Brendan Leier

October 19th, Calgary, Alberta

On Friday night, the historic Calgary Stampede Coral witnessed two champions crowned, the coming of a Russian emperor, and the best haircut in MMA. Hardcore Championship Fighting returned to Calgary with a new slick production and flaunting a new depth of Canadian and international talent. The only thing possibly overshadowing the performance of new heavyweight signing Aleksander Emelianenko was the mere presence of his brother, Fedor, in attendance on route to New York City for a Monday press conference. Dan “The Beast” Bobish was chosen to play foil in the younger Emelianenko’s debut, but was himself foiled by a fit and incredible agile Aleksander. Bobish immediately disclosed his intentions to put the fight on the ground and was treated to an effective combination of punches for his troubles. A second Bobish shot was stuffed and saw the giant of a man go to the ground with Emelianenko in north-south control. In the scramble to return to standing, Emelianenko secured a tight guillotine choke that after some slight adjustment, ended the fight in the Russian’s favor.

Emelianenko Submitting Bobish

The first of two champions was crowned just as quickly when Thomas Schulte retained his tight triangle choke after enduring a vicious Ariel Sexton slam to win the HFC lightweight championship just 50 seconds into the first round.

Tough Canadian Sarah Kaufman, the second new champion of the night, in arguably the fight of the night, took two rounds to work through tough Josh Barnett protégé Ginele Marquez. Kaufman clearly demonstrated her balanced MMA game in checkbox manner with her exchange of blows, takedowns, and submission attempts. Her dominance standing in the second round led to some superior positioning and effective ground-and-pound, effective enough to grant her a TKO and a shiny new belt as the women’s bantamweight champion.

In other action, a fit Sean Salmon took on an up-and-coming uber-athlete and dance-fighter Marcus Vinicius. Salmon’s mid-week FCF Radio assurances of trading blows may have been a late scratch from the game-plan as Vinicius entered the ring nonchalantly turning mid-air cartwheels worthy of an anemia ninja. Plan B for Salmon was the ever effective two-step ground, then pound. After figuring out Vinicius' spectacular  guard, Salmon finished the fight via punches and elbows to a helplessly crucifixed Vinicius.

Fedor Emelianenko and Barnett at last night's HCF

Official Results:
Tim Smith def. Mike Rowbotham Decision (Split)
Garett Davis def. Toby Johnson Rd. 1 Submission (Rear-naked-choke) 3:02
Andrew Buckland def. Lucas Rota Decision
Myles Merola def. Juan Barrantes Rd. 2 TKO 1:04
Gerald Lovato def. Len Tam Decision Decision (Split)
Brad Cardinal def. Ryan Machan Rd.1 Submission (Kimura) 1:44
Sean Salmon def. Marcus Vinicius Rd. 2 4:20 TKO strikes
Thomas Schulte def. Ariel Sexton Rd.1 Submission (Triangle-choke) :50
Sarah Kaufman def. Ginele Marquez Rd.2 TKO (Strikes) 3:22
Gegard Mousasi def. Damir Mirenic Rd.1 TKO (Strikes) 4:46
Aleksander Emelianenko def. Dan Bobish Rd.1 (Submission Guillotine)

October 21, 2007
EXTREME CAGE COMBAT 6

Polley Defeats Hollett to Become ECC Light-Heavyweight Champion

By Peter Parsons

Halifax, NS – October 20 – American Top Team’s Lew Polley made the trek north shocking the Halifax crowd by taking the inaugural ECC World Light-Heavyweight title out of the hands of heavy favorite Roger Hollett, in the main event of Extreme Cage Combat 6 “Hometown Heroes.”

Polley came out strong silencing the raucous crowd with an early takedown landing him in side control. Hollett quickly gained guard where he began to work an effective high guard avoiding any offense from Polley, who was cautious of the potential triangle. Hollett did a good job of getting back to his feet at around the three-minute mark.

Polley kept Hollett off balance, feinting the takedown before landing a straight left on the button that buckled Hollett’s knees. Polley capitalized by jumping on Hollett and throwing countless punches forcing the ref to stop the fight at the 4:02 mark of the first round. The stunned pro Hollett crowd looked on as Polley was named the first ever ECC world champion.

October 21, 2007
ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE

UFC Signs Former Pro-Wrestling Star Brock Lesnar
By FCF Staff

The Ultimate Fighting Championship announced last night during the "Hostile Territory" pay-per-view, that the promotion has signed former professional wrestling star, Brock Lesnar. The Minnesota resident was briefly interviewed by UFC co-host Joe Rogan to announce the heavyweight’s arrival. Before becoming a major attraction in professional wrestling, the 6’3, 265lb. fighter put together a storied collegiate wrestling career, including being a 4 time All American and winning the 2000 NCAA National Championship.

Lesnar made his MMA debut earlier this year at K-1 Hero’s Dynamite USA event June 2nd, stopping Min Soo Kim in the first round with strikes. No information regarding when or who Lesnar will fight in his UFC debut was announced.

October 21, 2007
UFC 77 RESULTS

Twice Bitten: Silva Aces Franklin
By Dustin Lee DePue

Cincinnati, OH—Anderson Silva successfully defended his belt in what was one of the most thrilling fights of the year. As expected, Rich Franklin came in sharper than in their first meeting. He opened the fight throwing crisp double jabs and low kicks, trying to pepper Silva and keep away from his deadly clinch-work. Silva was calm, avoiding the majority of Franklin’s offense before moving in to clinch and landing a knee to the body. Franklin surely spent the last several months eating, sleeping and breathing his clinch escape and it showed as he spun violently to try to break free of Silva’s grip. Silva was able to hold on but Franklin quickly turned the situation into his favor by taking Silva to the ground. Silva immediately began to attack with up-kicks which distracted Franklin and never let him get any kind of base. Silva then popped back up to his feet.

Back on the feet Silva pressed the attack, scoring with knees to the body. His speed and grace were mesmerizing. He intercepted one of Franklin’s punches with a perfectly timed low kick that disrupted Franklins balance and nearly knocked him down. Franklin came back though with a right hand that landed. Silva moved into the pocket and both fighters teed off on each other. Franklin was fighting his heart out but was starting to show faint signs of fatigue. Silva made a move for the clinch. With one hand behind Franklin’s neck, Silva landed a big knee. Franklin returned fire and broke free. Facing each other in the center of the octagon, Silva dropped his hands to his side, bobbing and weaving past four or five punches and a high kick by Franklin. It was after this display of reflexes that Silva pulled out the big guns, a flying knee that put Franklin in serious danger with just seconds left in the round. Franklin tried to cover up but Silva was all over him with punches. A right hook landed flush on Franklin’s chin and dropped him to the mat, where Silva would surely have finished the fight were it not for the bell.

Franklin, dazed and disoriented, was helped back to his corner by his cornermen. The question now was how much could he recover in one minute? Not enough. As round two started Franklin showed the heart of a champion, pressing forward with punches, landing a left cross and making sure that if he went down, he went down swinging. Silva obliged, landing a hard knee followed by a series of punches that signaled the end for Franklin. Backed up against the fence, Franklin covered himself as Silva wrapped both hands behind Franklin’s head and delivered a punishing knee to the chin that dropped Franklin and prompted referee “Big” John McCarthy to step in and call the fight at 1:07 of the first round.

It’s no secret that these are two classy fighters and it was no different after the fight as both fighters showed great respect for each other. Silva praised Franklin’s fighting spirit and Franklin asked the crowd not to boo Silva, whom he said was a “great guy.” As he prepared to leave the ring, Silva thanked the crowd in English, hopefully convincing them that, while their hometown hero may have fallen, he has fallen to a great man who deserves their respect.

With such a devastating display of grace and power, Silva has to be considered for the title of best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. The big question now is who will be next fighter placed on the middleweight king’s chopping block?

Tim Sylvia earned himself another shot at the heavyweight title by winning a unanimous decision over Brandon Vera. Sylvia was able to stifle much of Vera’s explosive striking by keeping him pinned against the fence. Ironically, it was Vera who went for the clinch to start the first round, falling right into Sylvia’s gameplan. The fighters spent the majority of the first round working short knees and elbows from the clinch. The crowd didn’t like it, booing quickly and often, but it was a smart way for Sylvia to use his tremendous size and strength to wear down his opponent. Near the end of the round the fighters separated. Vera used the distance to unleash his trademark stinging low kicks and landed with a left hand. Sylvia, though noticeably slower than his undersized counterpart, landed a few punches of his own and an elbow as well as the round ended.

Vera opened round two with a high kick. Sylvia stuck to his gameplan by clinching and pushing Vera against the fence, thereby suffocating Vera’s offense. Midway through the round, Vera showed off his considerable wrestling skills by scoring a trip takedown on the big man. After a few uneventful minute on the ground, Sylvia made a move to his feet. As he fought to stand, Vera cracked his temple with a vicious knee. Unfortunately for Vera, Sylvia still had a knee on the ground and the contact was illegal. Sylvia, who appeared largely unhurt, was given time to recover with just thirteen seconds left in the round. Vera ripped Sylvia with a kick to the body and followed with two more kicks before the bell sounded.

Having suffered what he said after the fight was a broken hand in round two, Vera’s offense production in the final round dwindled. Sylvia took full advantage, sealing the fight in his favor by putting a lot of leather on Vera. Sylvia threw more punches in the third round than in each of his last two fights combined. He also snuck short elbows into his combinations, opening a cut on the top of Vera’s head. Sylvia seems to be finding a balance between safe and sensible strategy and crowd pleasing aggression, which we all hope he will further refine as he heads into a title fight.

Stephan Bonnar took another step forward on the road to re-establishing his presence in the 205 pound division by defeating former training partner Eric Schafer. Bonnar came out looking to utilize his more polished stand-up, firing off a few crisp one-two combinations in the first minute of the fight. Schafer clinched, where both fighters worked knees to the body. Wanting the fight on the ground, Schafer opted to pull guard. From inside Schafer’s guard, Bonnar was content to work his ground and pound while avoiding arm bar and sweep attempts. After a referee stand-up, Schafer picked up Bonnar and brought him back down to the mat, where he maneuvered to Bonnar’s back and began to work for the rear-naked choke. Bonnar escaped with seconds left in the round but Schafer clearly took the round.

In the second round Schafer quickly pulled guard again, however, Bonnar was more prepared this time and began to tag Schafer with hard shots. After moving to half-mount, Bonnar turned up the heat, landing repeated shots that forced Schafer to turn to his stomach. Bonnar continued to throw punches, forcing the referee to step in and call the fight at blank of round two.

Alvin Robinson scored his first UFC win by dominating Jorge Gurgel for two rounds en route to a unanimous decision. Robinson weathered a tough first round that saw Gurgel showing fans his excellent ground work. Gurgel out-positioned Robinson at every turn, staying on top of him while landing sporadic punches in a dominating display of ground superiority. In the second round, it was Robinson’s turn as he got in Gurgel's guard and loaded up heavy punches. Gurgel seemed intent on catching his opponent with an arm bar, eating a lot of punches in the process. Those punches added up, slowing Gurgel’s reflexes and dulling the precision of his movements, allowing Robinson to maintain the dominate position for the rest of the fight.

Alan Belcher’s muay thai training paid dividends as his elbows and knees were key elements in his victory over Kalib Starnes. Starnes showed he wasn’t afraid to stand and trade, popping Belcher with straight punches and keeping pressure on him early. Belcher returned fire, ripping Starnes’s thighs with leg kicks and knees to the head and body. Near the end of the round, one of Belcher’s knees opened a horrible cut above Starnes’s right eye. Reminiscent of Vitor Belfort vs. Marvin Eastman, it looked like the fight wouldn’t make it to the second round; however, after checking the cut between rounds, the doctor gave the okay for Starnes to continue on.

It didn’t last long into the second, however, as Belcher immediately honed in on the cut. Starnes wasn’t about to give up on the fight, he put together a nice combination but Belcher was the busier fighter. At 1:39, the doctor took a second look at the cut and called the fight. Upset at his corner, Starnes could be heard yelling that he had wanted to fight but the doctor told him he could see his skull.

Damien Maia showed why his jiu-jitsu has been much touted by those awaiting his UFC debut. The highly decorated jiu-jitsu champion wasted no time taking Jensen to the mat, where he quickly got to Jensen’s back and finished him with a rear-naked choke.

UFC 77 FINAL RESULTS

Middleweight Championship Fight
Anderson Silva def. Rich Franklin by TKO (ref stoppage due to strikes) 1:07 R2

Tim Sylvia def.. Brandon Vera by unanimous decision (29-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Alvin Robinson def. Jorge Gurgel by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-27)
Stephan Bonnar def. Eric Schafer by TKO (ref stoppage due to strikes) 2:47 R2
Alan Belcher def. Kalib Starnes by TKO (Doctor Stoppage) 1:39 R2
Yushin Okami def. Jason MacDonald by unanimous decision
Demian Maia def. Ryan Jensen by rear-naked choke 2:40 R1
Josh Burkman def. Forrest Petz by split decision
Matt Grice def. Jason Black by split decision

October 22, 2007
RANDY COUTURE UPDATE

Couture Press Conference Announced for Thursday
By FCF Staff

Randy Couture’s management sent out a news release today announcing that the former UFC Heavyweight and Light-Heavyweight World Champion will hold a press conference this Thursday in Las Vegas. According to the release, during the press conference which will be held for credentialed media only, Couture will:

"The Natural" Randy Couture

“…address his reasons for resigning from the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in every capacity. Randy will respond to the comments made by UFC President Dana White. Additionally, Randy will respond to Yahoo! Sports report that he makes between $3.25 million - $3.75 million per fight, which they continue to stand behind.

Afterwards, Randy will make himself available to answer questions concerning his relationship with the UFC, future plans, MMA as a sport or anything else pertaining to his resignation.”

Couture recently resigned from the UFC, citing salary issues and the failure of the promotion to sign Pride Heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko, as key reasons for his departure.

October 22, 2007
STRIKEFORCE UPDATE

Strikeforce Confirms Middleweight Tournament Participants
By FCF Staff

Strikeforce has announced the final three competitors for the promotion’s upcoming single-elimination, middleweight tournament, which will take place November 16th at the HP Pavilion in San Jose. According to the release, the winner of the tourney will “potentially” be awarded a title fight with current Strikeforce 185lb. champion, Frank Shamrock. The promotion has announced that joining the tourney’s first confirmed competitor, Hawaii’s Falaniko Vitale (23-7), will be Trevor Prangley (16-3), Jorge Santiago (13-7) and Yuki Sasaki (20-13-1).

Prangley has won five straight fights since exiting from the UFC last April and most recently he stopped Japanese veteran Yuki Kondo by cut at BodogFight’s “Alvarez vs. Lee” event in July. Santiago has also been having some success since departing from the UFC, at BodogFight’s “Clash of Nations” card in April he stopped Andrei Semenov in the second round with strikes, and most recently, the American Top Team fighter submitted the highly regarded Jeremy Horn at Art of War 3 in September. Japan’s Sasaki is 3-2 in his last five fights, most recently at a DEEP event in July, the veteran fighter submitted Bo Guk So with a first round armbar.

According to the Strikeforce statement;

“Each bout in the first-ever sanctioned mixed martial arts tournament in California, which will be completed over the course of the 10 bout fight card, will consist of two, five-minute rounds. If a draw is declared following the second round of a match-up, an overtime round will be added to the bout to determine a victor.”

No information regarding the specific tourney match-ups has yet been announced.

October 22, 2007
BATTLE CAGE XTREME III

Jordan's Knee the Difference-Maker in BCX Title Fight
By Derek Constable

October 20th, Atlantic City, N.J. -- Kevin “The Shaman” Jordan was able to upset and dethrone the heavyweight champ Carlos "The Tyrant" Moreno, but one thing he wasn’t counting on was a two-on-one fight with Moreno and his mom. In the night’s main event, Moreno clearly had the crowd in his corner as he came to the ring in his usual intimidating fashion, last time led by a muscle-bound man in a demon-like costume … this time marching behind a giant black-and-white American flag.

Jordan was taller and kept Moreno at bay for most the fight with straight kicks to the Tyrant’s midsection, connecting with one illegal blow to the groin, but Moreno stayed ahead on the scorecards by setting the pace of the fight in Round One and clobbering Jordan near the conclusion of Round Two. With just a short time left in the round, Moreno hit Jordan with a hard right hook and although he didn’t open a cut with the impact, Jordan began blinking immediately and couldn’t stop. Moreno used this to his advantage, closing the distance between the fighters, clinching, pushing off and sending the Shaman to the mat with some healthy punching. Moreno pounced on his fallen opponent and did his best to put the man into a coma, but when the referee jumped in between the two combatants no one in attendance could tell if the fight had ended or simply the round.

Both guys came out for a final third round and Moreno looked to pick up where he’d left off in Round Two. He took the fight with Jordan head-on and got caught in a Muay Thai clinch. From there, Jordan landed a serious knee to the head and Moreno fell to his knees, blood-pouring from his face due to a broken nose. He tapped out, but the ref didn’t see it right away and “Mama” Moreno went ballistic. She hopped the guard-rail, spun around a security guard and was able to make it all the way to the cage door. It was unclear whether Moreno’s mom was just looking to call the referee’s attention to her son tapping out or if she simply was on a mission to destroy the dread-locked warrior pounding-out her baby boy. No one could stop her though and if she could have figured out how to open that door there would have been three fighters in the cage for sure.

“It feels good to win,” said Jordan, the new BCX/USKBA heavyweight champion. “I got to admit he was catching me. He’s a hell of a competitor. I want to say thank you very much and I appreciate this organization.”

“He caught me. He took the fight, but it was me and my mistake more than his superior skill and technique over mine,” Skakir said later that night. “Not taking anything away from him. I think he’s a great fighter, but I think 9-out-of-10 times I would probably beat him.”

In addition to the exciting title fights, all three members competing for Team Bombsquad walked away winners with Nick Calandrino and Damien Vitale winning by Unanimous Decision, while Blair “The Roach” Tugman won by first-round submission in 1:01. Team Rhino newcomer Lester Caslow continued his undefeated streak (2-0) in the pros with a commanding win over Ryan McCarthy.

There are some new poster-boys for the BCX after this latest event, including the organization’s newest heavyweight champion Kevin Jordan. With one belt for each shoulder (BCX and USKBA) he should be terrorizing the Boardwalk for some time.

Final results:

BCX/USKBA Heavyweight Title:

Miller After Submitting Shakir

Kevin Jordan def. Carlos Moreno by tapout due to strikes in Round Three.

USKBA Lightweight Championship
Jim Miller def. Nuri Shakir by rear-naked choke 2:17 R3.

BCX 125-pound Championship
Nick Cottone def. Josh Spearman by guillotine submission 4:50 R1.

Blair Tugman def. Jason Frawley by rear-naked choke 1:01 R1.
Carlos Rodriguez def. Aaron Salisbury by KO 0:07 R2.
Nick Calandrino def. Mike Medrano by Unanimous Decision.
Andrew Riddles def. Brain Wright by guillotine submission 2:04 R1.
George Sullivan def. Roberto Consepcion by TKO 1:38 R1.
Damien Vitale def. Brian DeMuro by Unanimous Decision.
Lester Caslow def. Ryan McCarthy by Unanimous Decision.
Justin Haskins def. Don Wagner by TKO 0:51 R2.

October 23, 2007
K-1 HERO'S UPDATE

Hero’s Confirms Sakuraba vs. Funaki for New Year’s Eve
By FCF Staff

Sakuraba

The official K-1 Hero’s website has confirmed that Kazushi Sakuraba will face Masakatsu Funaki at the promotion’s New Year’s Eve event, Premium Dynamite 2007, in Osaka, Japan. Funaki (38-11-1) will be returning to MMA competition for the first time since 2000, when he was choked unconscious by Rickson Gracie. The 38 year-old Funaki began competing professionally in 1993, and over the following years fought the likes of Ken Shamrock, Frank Shamrock, Bas Rutten, Vernon White, Guy Mezger, Yuki Kondo, and Semmy Schilt.

Sakuraba (21-10-1) has already fought 3 times in 2007, with his one loss coming to Royce Gracie by Unanimous Decision at Hero’s Dynamite USA event in June. In February, the Japanese legend submitted Yuri Kiselov in the first round with an armbar, and most recently, Sakuraba utilized that same technique to submit Katsuyori Shibata in the first round at another Hero’s event on September 17th.

Up next for Hero’s on October 28th, the promotion will head to South Korea with a card that is scheduled to include Denis Kang vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama, Carlos Newton vs. Shungo Oyama, and Dong Sik Yoon vs. Fabio Silva.

October 23, 2007
M-1 GLOBAL PRESS CONFERENCE

M-1 Global Press Conference: Fedor and Monte
By Jim Genia

(October 22nd, New York City) The IFL has the team concept. ProElite has gobbled up smaller shows to make an MMA conglomerate. And now there’s M-1 Global – the newest organization on the block (actually, a re-branded version of Russia’s M-1 Mix-Fight) – which promises pomp, theatrics, Fedor Emelianenko, and that their champion will fight champions from other organizations. In a world dominated by the UFC’s brand, anyone who wants a slice of the pie must reshape his product to somehow gain a foothold in the market, and at this evening’s press conference at the offices of fashion designer and entrepreneur Marc Ecko, M-1 Global laid it all out on the table.

They don’t yet have a TV deal, and it will be a week to ten days before their roster of fighters is released, but they have managed to sign the highly-regarded and much sought-after Emelianenko. More important, however, is the fact that Monte Cox is their president and CEO – a man whose knowledge, insight and experience will undoubtedly prove indispensable. “We really want to work with all the other organizations,” said Cox, well-known as manager to a legion of top fighters. “People say that and give it lip-service sometimes, but we’re already in contact with other organizations.” Added the man who has also promoted scores of Extreme Challenge events and even co-promoted a UFC: “If Fedor’s our champion, it doesn’t mean he can only fight guys in our organization. For example, if Randy Couture were still with the UFC, we’d make an offer for Fedor to go to the UFC and fight Randy Couture. We’re not going to limit where he can fight just because he’s in that organization and not this organization. I think that’s where MMA has to head – it has to go in that direction. It can’t be groups fighting each other anymore. I think a lot of the organizations out there are ready to join us.”

Sitting beside Cox at the press conference were M-1 Global Chairman Mitchell Maxwell (“We’re looking to bring MMA’s version of ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ as quickly as we can to the public.”), Emelianenko’s manager Vadim Finkelchtein, and, of course, the Pride Heavyweight Champion himself. Through a translator, the fearsome Russian fighter voiced his approval. “At this table are people who are the best at what they do. I believe in them, and I’m really glad to be on this team.”

Now the question remains: when do we get to actually see M-1 Global’s product?

October 24, 2007
NEW EPISODE OF FCF RADIO: MATT LINDLAND AND CHRIS WILSON

New episode of FCF Radio In this latest edition of FCF Radio we talk with highly regarded middleweight fighter and Sportfight promoter Matt Lindland, as well as Lindland's Team Quest teammate Chris Wilson, who will be fighting Derrick Noble this Saturday at Sportfight XX. Click here to listen/download

October 24, 2007
CHECK OUT WHAT'S IN THE CURRENT ISSUE OF FCF

Check out what's in the current issue of FCF... Strikeforce at the Playboy Mansion: Melendez defends his belt The Fedor Saga: Speculation on the Pride Champ's future UFC 76: Underdogs upset the light-heavyweight division Shogun talks about his loss to Griffin Wanderlei Silva Interview: Building a new life Houston Alexander: The not-so-Silent Assassin has people taking notice UFC Fight Night: Kenny Florian Vs. Din Thomas - Undercard outshines main event Joinha: The "Don King" of Brazilian MMA Out of the Doghouse: Pitbulls defeat Silverbacks and win the IFL's World Team Championship Rothwell Out of IFL GP: Silverbacks star speaks out, Commissioner Otto responds Gina Carano: Eye of the hurricane Mo Team League: Minotoro's Avalanche defeats Rizzo's Tsunami to face Bustamante's Wildfires in the finals EliteXC Uprising: Lawler takes out Ninja to win title Cage Rage 23: Unbelievable Absolute Fighting Canada's debut event proves to be a success Combat in the Cage’s "Fearless Fighters Return": The little guys rule WCF: Lauzon and Cushman win big Gracie Proving Ground: Veterans and up-and-comers slug it out BCX 2: Rhino Team clobbers their way to championship belts In our monthly columns... Sports Medicine Doctor Michael Kelly discusses Anatomy of a Choke Hold. Physical Therapist and Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach Paul La Bounty discusses whether or not Coenzyme Q10 Helps Increase Exercise Performance or Recovery. In Matt Hume's techniques, Caros Fodor & Mawi Minas demonstrate a Face Push Counter in Muay Thai Clinch. Marco Ruas Biofile. Fight fans give their thoughts on Randy Couture's departure from the UFC. Every issue of Full Contact Fighter is jam-packed with fight news from the U.S. to Brazil to Japan. FCF travels the globe to bring the fights to you. Get yours today! Click here to order securely online with your credit card or print off the order form & mail it in with your payment

October 24, 2007
RING OF COMBAT UPDATE

Ring of Combat 16: “Beasts of the Northeast” Semi-Finals Preview
By Jim Genia

When: October 26th
Where: Tropicana Resort & Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey
What: Ring of Combat 16: “Beasts of the Northeast” Semi-Finals

In the opening bracket of promoter Lou Neglia’s Ring of Combat “Beasts of the Northeast” grand prix-style tournament, jiu-jitsu technician Brian McLaughlin needed only 32 seconds to snag an armbar, precision-puncher Erik Charles needed 32 seconds to score a knockout, scrappers Joe Aviles and Rich Boine went to war, and ROC champ Marc Stevens beat the stuffing out of Jordan Pergola. Now it’s time for the semi-finals. Who will emerge victorious on October 26th and move on to the tournament’s November 30th finals? At this point, it’s still anyone’s guess – but it’s a safe bet there will be plenty of action. Here’s a look at the ROC 16 full card:

Preliminaries:
LW: Chanti Johnson (Serra/Longo) vs. Anthony Montanaro (Pitts Penn)
WW: Riche Boine (Team Tiger Schulmann) vs. Doug Gordon (Team Rush)
WW: Anthony LaDonna (Serra/Longo) vs. Tom Velasquez (Team Endgame)
MW: Dan Whalen (MMAT) vs. Nick Catone (BJJ Shore Academy/Ricardo Almeida)

Beasts of the Northeast Semi-Finals
Lightweights:
Dave Sachs (Pittsburgh FC) vs. Joe Camacho (Team Renzo/AMA)
Brian McLaughlin (Hudson Valley JJ) vs. Joshua Key (Team Terrell Dungeon)
Welterweights:
Mark Berraciol (Real Fighting Dojo) vs. Andrew Calendrelli (Calendrelli/Bombsquad)
Charlie Brenneman (Cambria Martial Arts) vs. Joseph Aviles (Jungle Gym)
Middleweights:
Lance Everson (Boneyard) vs. Marc Stevens (TaiKai)
Erik Charles (Bombsquad) vs. Mike Massenzio (Ironhorse MMA)
Light-heavyweights:
Ricardo Romero (Advanced Martial Arts) vs. John Clarke (CTMMA)
Lou Pascavage (MFS/KOA) vs. John Doyle (Round One)

October 24, 2007
ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE
UFC Finally Locks Up Liddell vs. Silva
By FCF Staff

Ultimate Fighting Championship President, Dana White, confirmed on Spike TV’s 2007 Scream Awards last night that the promotion has finally signed a fight between Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva for December 29th. UFC 79, “Nemesis”, will take place that day at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, and will be headlined by a welterweight title fight between champion Matt Serra and former champ. Matt Hughes.

Liddell

“I’m excited this fight with Wanderlei is finally happening,” Liddell was quoted as saying on the official UFC website. “I’ve been saying for a long time that, given the chance, I would knock Wanderlei Silva out. I think this will be a great fight for the fans, and one that lives up to their expectations, because I’m going to hit him until he falls down and stays down.”

After years of speculation as to if and when the two feared strikers would ever face each other, the confirmation of the Silva, Liddell fight comes at a time of great adversity for the two former champions. Liddell (20-4) has now lost two straight fights to Quinton Jackson and most recently Keith Jardine, while Silva (31-7-1) has been knocked out in back-to-back fights against Mirko Filipovic and Dan Henderson. Without question, a win for either man on December 29th would go a long ways to re-assert their presence in the light-heavyweight title picture.

October 24, 2007
STRIKEFORCE UPDATE

Buentello and Overeem to Battle for Strikeforce Heavyweight Crown
By FCF Staff

Strikeforce has announced that Paul Buentello and Alistair Overeem will fight for the promotion’s vacant heavyweight title, November 16th, at the HP Pavilion, in San Jose, California. The title fight confirmation comes only days removed from Strikeforce announcing that the upcoming event will also feature a single-man elimination, middleweight tournament, featuring Trevor Prangley, Jorge Santiago, Falaniko Vitale and Yuki Sasaki.

Since exiting from the UFC last spring, Buentello (23-9) has won all 3 of his bouts competing for Strikeforce. After stopping Tank Abbot and Ruben Villareal at Strikeforce 3 and 4 respectively last year, Buentello added another win to his record at the Strikeforce, Elite XC, “Shamrock vs. Baroni” card in June, defeating Carter Williams by TKO.

Overeem (25-11) will be looking to end a 4 fight losing streak on November 16th, as the former Pride competitor was unable to defeat Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Ricardo Arona, Mauricio Rua or most recently, Sergei Kharitonov, during that stretch. Overeem’s last win in fact came in the Strikeforce cage, at the promotion’s second event in June of 2006; he worked his way to a Unanimous Decision win over Vitor Belfort.

October 25, 2007
ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE

Spike and UFC Extend Deal Until 2011, White Comments on Couture
By FCF Staff

The Ultimate Fighting Championship and the Spike Television Network announced today that the two organizations have agreed to a 3 year extension of their “strategic partnership.” During a media conference call today to announce and answer questions about the new agreement, as well as other current matters regarding the UFC, each company’s respective Presidents Dana White and Kevin Kay were on the line. Other matters discussed during the call included the recently announced upcoming bout between Wanderlei Silva and Chuck Liddell, the signing of former pro-wrestling star, Brock Lesnar, and of course, the recent resignation of Randy Couture.

In keeping with some of White’s prior statements regarding the Couture situation, the UFC President was quick to reiterate that the UFC legend is still under contract with Zuffa.

“He just signed a new contract with us 8 months ago,” White said.” I got him. He’s with the UFC, I don’t think Randy has ever said in any of the statements he’s making out there that he’s looking to fight for another organization, that’s all internet, goofy, bullsh** that you read on these chat rooms. Never has Randy said he’s trying to get out of his contract and go fight somewhere else. I’ve had a great relationship with Randy for a long time. Randy’s pissed off at me right now, he’s mad at me, it happens, I don’t know why he’s mad, we're hearing all kinds of different things. We’ll figure it out. Randy Couture’s not saying anywhere, unless he’s saying it on his press conference somewhere else, I haven’t heard him say he’s looking to fight somewhere else.”

When asked if a heavyweight title fight was in the cards for the UFC on account of Couture’s absence, White was not yet willing to concede that the Hall of Fame fighter would not be back in the Octagon at some point to defend his title.

“I don’t declare it vacant until Randy Couture tells me face to face that he’s retiring,” White said in responding to a question regarding the future of Couture and the heavyweight belt. “This isn’t one of those situations where I’m having an issue with a fighter that I don’t like, Randy Couture is a guy who I have a ton of respect for, I truly believe that we’re going to work this out and as far as I am concerned he’s the heavyweight champion, until he tells me otherwise.”

In response to a follow up question as to whether or not White would like to have a meeting with Couture, the UFC President said;

“Definitely, I left him a message when he was in South Africa, he’s pissed at me for some reason, and I’m going to give him sometime to cool down, and we’ll talk.”

As far as the particulars to the contract extension between Spike and the UFC, a news release today outlined the major components to the new deal which carries the partnership through 2011.

-Seasons 9 through 12 of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality television show
-12 live fight cards, (4 “Ultimate Fight Night” events per year on Spike TV)
-Two new seasons of a new, weekly live fight series (Details will be announced at a future date)
-39 Episodes of “UFC Unleashed” (Replays of UFC fights, hosted by Mike Goldberg)

Citing rating successes as one of the contributing factors to renewing the relationship between Spike and the UFC, the news release offered the following statement and ratings figures:

In 2007, seven live UFC fights on Spike TV have averaged more young men in the coveted 18-34 demographic (869,000) on cable than the more established ‘major’ American sports of basketball, baseball, football, hockey, and NASCAR including;

62% more than the NLCS on TBS
143% more than the NBA playoffs on ESPN
24% more than the NBA playoffs on TNT
123% more than MLB Sunday Night baseball on ESPN
48% more than NASCAR on TNT
31% more than NASCAR on ESPN
81% more than the NFL on NFL Network
595 % more than the NHL Stanley Cup Finals on Versus

October 25, 2007
CALIFORNIA STATE ATHLETIC COMMISSION

The Straight Dope: CSAC Releases Drug Testing Numbers
By Steven Marrocco

A week after the California State Athletic Commission broke the news of Strikeforce fighter Adam Smith's double positive test for steroids and drugs of abuse, representative Bill Douglas released a mid-year report on drug use in boxing, kickboxing, and MMA.

In a clear lead for total violations, MMA had 33 black marks opposed to boxing's eight and kickboxing's paltry 2. Of the events where testing occurred, boxing led the three sports with 56 tests, while MMA had 36, and kickboxing eight. Despite a far greater frequency of random and blanket testing in boxing, MMA's ratio of positive tests for drugs of abuse and steroids indicate an epidemic in the sport.

Douglas had two words for the findings. "Very scary!" he wrote to media today.

Elevated T/E ratios (an indicator of recent unspecific steroid use), Nandrolone Metabolite, and Stanozolol Metabolite were the steroids most frequently found in athlete's systems, while marijuana positives dwarfed all other drugs of abuse.

Nandrolone is widely used by bodybuilders and athletes as a muscle builder and recovery aid, while Stanozolol is used primarily for cutting weight.

When Douglas last spoke to FCF after Smith's positive test, the commission was hard at work on new legislation to punish athletes more stringently for drug use.

Though it could take up to a year to produce any legislative change, these figures will undoubtedly factor in to the study the CSAC conducts when drafting new laws. In only six months, California has outshone Nevada as a center for drug use in the sport of MMA.

October 25, 2007
INTERNATIONAL FIGHT LEAGUE UPDATE

IFL Announces Blackburn and Andy Out Due to Injury
By FCF Staff

Heleno (Top) Will Face Ray Nov. 3rd

The International Fight League announced today that two more of scheduled participants for the promotion’s upcoming, November 3rd, grand-prix event in Chicago, Illinois, have been forced to withdraw. Both welterweight Brad Blackburn and heavyweight Reese Andy will not be able to compete in their respective weight brackets due to injury.

Replacing Blackburn at 170lbs. will be former “Ultimate Fighter” competitor, Gideon Ray, who will face Delson Heleno. Ray (14-6-1) in fact faced Heleno in his last bout, losing to the Pitbulls’ welterweight by submission in June. Shane Ott (3-1) has been brought into replace Andy, and will take on the number 1 seed at heavyweight, Antoine Jaoude. In Ott’s last IFL bout in June, he dropped a Unanimous Decision loss to Roy Nelson.

October 26, 2007
NEW EPISODE OF FCF RADIO: CLAY GUIDA AND BENJI RADACH

New episode of FCF Radio In this edition of FCF Radio we talk with Clay Guida, who is scheduled to fight Roger Huerta December 8th, and Benji Radach, who will be competing in the November 3rd IFL grand-prix.   (Warning: Explicit Language) Click here to listen/download

October 26, 2007
THE NORTHERN TOUCH
The Northern Touch: News and Notes from Canadian MMA
By Kelsey Mowatt

“Mr.International” to Headline MFC 14

The Maximum Fighting Championship announced this week that “Mr.International” Shonie Carter will take on Brad Zazulak in the main event of the promotion’s upcoming, November 23rd event in Edmonton, Alberta. MFC Light-heavyweight Champion, Roger Hollett, had been scheduled to headline MFC 14; however, due to a knee injury he incurred in his TKO loss to Lew Polley at Extreme Cage Combat 6 last weekend, he will be unable to compete.

Carter

Carter is without question one of the sports most experienced competitors, and will arrive at the River Cree Resort and Casino with a record of 73-16-7. Since losing to Marcus Davis by Unanimous Decision at the Ultimate Fighter Finale last December, Carter has fought twice, defeating Kris Fleurstil and Joshua Tabil at XFO and Extreme Challenge shows in June and September respectively.

Zazulak carries a record of 2-0, and most recently at MFC 13, the Edmonton Miletich Fighting Systems fighter stopped Luke Harris in the first round with strikes.

“Brad is absolutely no pushover and Shonie better be ready to fight,” MFC Promoter Mark Pavelich was quoted as saying in the news release. “Brad has shown in past MFC events that he is ready for bigger challenges and he eagerly accepted the opportunity to face such an accomplished veteran. He’s going to have a lot of fans behind him but I know that Brad can carry the load and deliver.”

Other bouts confirmed for MFC 14 include; Ryan McGillivray vs. Stjephan Vujnovic and Ryan Ford vs. Mike Sorenson.

King of the Cage Canada

KOTC Canada has a couple shows coming up in the next month, with the promotion’s next card scheduled for November 3rd, in Calgary, Alberta. Headlining that event will be Mike Gates vs. Anderson Goncalves and Graydon Tannas vs. Stephan LaMarche. Tim Hague will also fight Jimmy Westfall, a fight that was originally scheduled for Brawl at the Mall 2, which took place last week in Edmonton.

Then on November 17th, KOTC will head to Nanaimo, B.C., where Travis Galbraith is scheduled to fight Nick Hinchliffe and Marcus Hicks will fight Chris Peak,

Incase you missed last week’s KOTC Brawl At the Mall 2 results, some of the highlights included; Nick Denis went to 4-0 by stopping Vancouver’s Dave Scholten in the 3rd round, Nick Hinchliffe also won by TKO over Marcus Hicks, and Aaron Bruce extended his record to 4-1 by knocking out Victor Bachmann.

Rumble in the Cage 26 This Weekend

Just a reminder that RITC 26 goes this Saturday in Lethbridge, Alberta, with a card that will feature an impressive 19 bouts. Both Lee Mein and his son Jordan are scheduled to compete, as Lee is set to fight Chris Peak, while Jordan will battle Adam Thomas. Some of the other bouts scheduled include; Jason Day vs. Shawn Marchand, Dan Chambers vs. Jason Randle, and Jared Kilkenny vs. Dwayne Lewis.

Freedom Fight Announces Jan.26 Card

Freedom Fight announced the card this week for the promotion’s next show, which will take place January 26th, at the Robert Guertin Arena, in Hull, Quebec. The card will feature 3 co-main events, at light-heavyweight, Craig Brown will take on John Cole, Stephan Lamarche will fight welterweight Dan Grandmaison, and lightweight Jeff Harrison is scheduled to meet Mauricio Veio.

Ultimate Cage Wars: X-Factor

UCW Promoter Krzysztof Soszynski has announced the card for his next event, which will take place November 30th at the Winnipeg Convention Centre. Soszynski, who recently decided to return to light-heavyweight, is scheduled to fight at “X-Factor”, however, no opponent has yet been signed.

Some of the bouts confirmed for the event include; Jordan Mein vs. Kevin Manderson, Wilf Betz vs. Bill Bolland, Dave De Lorenzi vs. Markhaile Wedderburn, and Jean Marc Lalonde vs. Rory McDonnell.

Soszynski (top) Taking On Dan Christison Earlier This Year

Legacy FC Announces Bouts for Nov.24 Card

Calgary continues to be the frequent home of MMA events as Legacy FC will hold its next card on November 24th, at the Victoria Pavilion in Calgary, Alberta. A few of the bouts announced thus far include Jordan McKay vs. Adam Farr, Cory Knapp vs. Josh Machan, and Jarid Bussemakers vs. Sean Bauer.

XFC 5: Hendo, Kang, BodogFight

BodogFight announced this week that XFC 5 will be streamed on the promotion's website live, pay-per-view. Extreme Fighting Challenge 5 goes November 3rd in Prince George, British Columbia and will he headlined by Jose "Pele" Landi-Jons taking on Jake Ellenberger. Also scheduled for the card, Kajan Johnson vs. David Pariseau, Tim Thurston vs. Tim Jenson and Ryan Chiappe vs. Mike Neufeld. The XFC has also announced that both Denis Kang and Dan Henderson will be in attendance as special guests.

October 26, 2007
COUTURE PRESS CONFERENCE
Excerpts from Randy Couture’s Press Conference
By Steven Marrocco

October 25: Randy “The Natural” Couture held a press conference today, at his Extreme Couture gym in Las Vegas, to give a statement on his departure from the UFC. In the hour-plus meeting, he broke down his decisions for leaving the organization in great detail. Couture said it was a “distinct possibility” he would never fight for Zuffa again, but also stated often that “anything is possible” in terms of reconciling with the company that gave him his career. Conversely, he said an audit of pay-per-view buys was on the way to find out the total number of buys in his fight with Gabriel Gonzaga.

Couture on respect:

“Historically, I’ve had issues with Zuffa and the company since they bought it in 2001. [I] got off on the wrong foot over the ancillary rights and signing away my name and image, which then led to the video game, and having myself pulled out of the video game, pulled out of the ad campaigns with Carmen Electra. Because I wasn’t willing to just sign those things away, like most fighters had done to date. I think that immediately put me on the outs with the manager, with Dana, and with the people who owned the company. And from that point on, I felt like I’ve been swimming against the current. I’ve been pounded out on several occasions, with Pedro Rizzo, Chuck Liddell on up the line, it’s been public knowledge, Dana’s said those things himself. I think more importantly, I think it’s the little things that make an athlete feel appreciated and weren’t done. Those things weren’t done from my perspective, but were done for a lot of other athletes. Everybody’s trying to make a big deal out of the money. This was never a money issue. It’s been a prevailing feeling of respect that wasn’t given for eleven years of my life trying to represent this sport with integrity, represent this sport in a particular way. For the owners before, and the owners now. And I’ve never felt like that was appreciated. Like I was put out there and used appropriately. I could cite a lot of examples over the years that made me feel that way, but it starts to sound petty.”

On the 13-15 million dollars it has been alleged Couture's UFC contract is worth:

“I have here my two bout sheets with Tim Sylvia and Gabriel Gonzaga that have the numbers on them that I was paid. You can start with Kevin (Iole, from Yahoo! Sports), he’s the one that stated some grossly inflated numbers about what I get paid. Now the only thing that’s not listed on that is what my pay-per-view cut is. Depending on what the sales of the pay-per-view are I get a piece of that. I’m one of the few athletes that have the power to negotiate for a piece of the pay-per-view. That amounted to about 500,000 dollars, at least to date, for the last Chuck fight and the Tim Sylvia fight. Those numbers are still out on the Gabriel Gonzaga fight because they take about 90 days to come in. So if you take the 250,000 dollars that’s on that bout sheet there and you add the 500,000 dollars that I generally get for pay-per-view that comes to, do the math. Certainly nothing in the neighborhood of 12 to 15 million dollars that was stated. I don’t know where those numbers came from. It doesn’t really matter to me, cause it’s never been about the zeroes. I would have fought anyway, and did fight anyways. But that was the final straw, the final insult, the final thing to me, to say you know what, they just don’t appreciate me.”

On White’s comments about Couture’s Hollywood-like departure:

“It’s been stated that my agent, my “Hollywood agent,” which is funny to me, because he’s not my Hollywood agent, my Hollywood agent is Brett Norsberg. He’s the one who gets me TV shows and movies and all those things. And I’ve been doing movies for five years now. This was my seventh motion picture, so it’s not like Hollywood, and motion pictures and that sort of thing is a new thing to me. I haven’t changed, I’ve been juggling, I’m a fighter first and foremost. Doors have opened through athletics that allowed me to enjoy doing some pictures and doing some acting and some of that stuff. And it’s getting better, certainly. Matt Walker is not my “Hollywood agent.” He doesn’t even get paid for my MMA contracts. He simply helps me perpetuate the brand that I’ve spent eleven years building. He helps me get endorsements, he helps me with my non-profit foundation that supports the GI’s. He’s my sports agent. And he’s done nothing but go to the UFC and help facilitate the UFC supporting a lot of the things that I try to do to represent the sport and represent myself in a positive way.”

On fighting for another organization:

“It’s not about leaving and going and fighting somewhere else. My loyalty has always been with the UFC. I was offered to fight Fedor over a year ago when I wanted to come out of retirement, for three million dollars in Bodog. It’s more than I’ve ever been paid for a fight. What did I do? I went to Dana and Lorenzo and say hey, this is what these guys are offering me to fight Fedor in their show. I would be interested in fighting again. And they said well, if you’re interested in fighting again, we need someone to fight Tim Sylvia. Fight for the Heavyweight Championship with us.”

On the state of his relations with White and Lorenzo Fertitta:

“I talked to Dana and Lorenzo on the phone yesterday afternoon. And those conversations weren’t shouting matches. I told them both, I’m not trying to hurt the organization, I’m not trying to burn the house down. I’m simply stating my feeling and where I’m at in this decision and why it was made.”

October 27, 2007
SHOXC RESULTS

Hamman Submits Rosa, Vazquez Wins, Announces Retirement
By FCF Staff

October 26: EliteXC and the Showtime Cable Network held the latest event in their ShoXC series last night at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California. In one of the card’s co-features, former King of the Cage champion Javier Vazquez submitted JC Pennington in the first round with a rear-naked-choke to extend his record to 12-2. Despite the fact that the win marked Vazquez’s second this year since returning to MMA action after nearly a four year absence, the renowned jiu-jitsu practitioner announced his retirement after the bout.

“I am better suited as a coach than I am as a fighter,” Vazquez was quoted as saying in an EliteXC release sent out today. “When the sport feels like it’s a job and you’re clocking in, then it is time to go. Win or lose, I knew this was going to be my last fight. I signed for this fight about a month ago. But I actually knew before that this would be it. I just wanted to give myself one more chance to make sure that I was doing the right thing.”

With the loss, Pennington’s record falls to 12-4-1. In the other main attraction, the quickly rising Jared Hamman remained undefeated by submitting Aaron Rosa in the second round with a rear-naked-choke. The win extends Hamman’s record to 8-0 while Rosa suffered his first professional loss, dropping his record to 9-1.

In other action from last nights ShoXC event; Malaipet worked his way to a Unanimous Decision over lightweight Kaleo Kwan, Mushin Corbbrey submitted Bobby McMaster with a guillotine choke, Shayna Bazler tapped out Jen Tate with an armbar, Chris Cariaso won a Unanimous Decision over Rick McCorkell, Giva Santana submitted Jaime Fletcher, and Shane Del Rosario submitted Amedeo Viola in the first round with a triangle-choke.

Elite XC will hold its next event November 10th in Corpus Christi, Texas. Headlining the card will be a bout between Nick Diaz and KJ Noons, while Kimbo Slice will make his debut for the promotion when he takes on Mike Bourke. Also scheduled for the card is a welterweight fight between Jake Shields and Mike Pyle.

October 27, 2007
RING OF COMBAT RESULTS

Ring of Combat 16: “Beasts of the Northeast” Tournament Semi-Finals
By Jim Genia

(October 26th, Tropicana Casino & Resort, Atlantic City) Sometimes you can predict them, sometimes you can’t. At Lou Neglia’s Ring of Combat 16: “Beasts of the Northeast” tournament semi-finals, the warriors who survived September’s opening round clashed to decide who goes on to the finals. Who came out on top? Well, if you thought the last middleweight tournament winner was going to make it, you were wrong. And if you thought the wrestler with just one pro fight under his belt was going to crumble against the far more experienced veteran, again, you were wrong. It was a night that had knockouts, submissions and wars – and while some of the outcomes were predictable, there were definitely a few upsets. Highlights of the event included:

Velasquez pummeling Ladonna

• The back-and-forth battle between Tom Velasquez and Anthony LaDonna, which saw the Team Endgame representative dominate Round One and the Team Serra/Longo representative dominate Round Two. But Velasquez snagged a lightning-fast heelhook in the final round, and that was all she wrote.

• Relative newcomer Mark Berraciol’s crushing right hook, which had the veteran Andrew Calandrelli dazed and confused at 0:35 of the first round.

• Rising star Mike Massenzio and his growing repertoire of submissions. This time it was a north-south choke, and opponent Erik Charles had no choice but to tap at 1:18 of the first.

Massenzio finishing off Charles

Full results:

Beasts of the Northeast Semi-Finals

Lightweights
• Dave Sachs (Pittsburgh FC-155lbs) vs. Joe Camacho (Team Renzo/AMA-155lbs)
Sachs via rear naked choke at 3:26 of Round Three.

Welterweights
• Mark Berraciol (Real Fighting Dojo-171lbs) vs. Andrew Calandrelli (Calendrelli/Bombsquad-171lbs)
Berraciol via KO at 0:35 of Round One.
• Charlie Brenneman (Cambria Martial Arts-169lbs) vs. Joseph Aviles (Jungle Gym-164lbs)
Brenneman via unanimous decision.

Middleweights
• Lance Everson (Boneyard-184lbs) vs. Marc Stevens (TaiKai-182lbs)
Everson via TKO – doc stoppage due to cut after Round Two.
• Erik Charles (Bombsquad-186lbs) vs. Mike Massenzio (Ironhorse MMA-185lbs)
Massenzio via north-south choke at 1:18 of Round One.

Light-Heavyweights
• Ricardo Romero (Advanced Martial Arts-204lbs) vs. John Clarke (CTMMA-206lbs)
Romero via TKO – Clarke could not answer the bell for Round Two.
• Lou Pascavage (MFS/KOA-206lbs) vs. John Doyle (Round One-203lbs)
Doyle via tapout due to strikes at 1:21 of Round One.

Preliminaries:
• Chanti Johnson (Serra/Longo-148lbs) vs. Anthony Montanaro (Pitts Penn-151lbs)
Johnson via TKO - doc stoppage due to cut after Round One.
• Eric Henry (Bombsquad-171lbs) vs. Doug Gordon (Team Rush/Elite BJJ-170lbs)
Gordon via majority decision.
• Anthony LaDonna (Serra/Longo-170lbs) vs. Tom Velasquez (Team Endgame-171lbs)
Velasquez via heelhook at 1:09 of Round Three.
• Dan Whalen (MMAT-183lbs) vs. Nick Catone (BJJ Shore Academy/Ricardo Almeida-184lbs)
Catone via rear naked choke at 0:58 of Round One.

Catone punishing Whalen

ISKA World Kickboxing Welterweight Championship
• Scott Mukaddam (Team Wolfpack-148lbs) vs. Chris Algieri (US Karate Academy-147lbs)
Algieri via unanimous decision after ten rounds.

October 28, 2007
K-1 HERO'S
Akiyama Victorious Over Kang
By Kelsey Mowatt and Kevin Jepson

K-1 Hero’s headed to South Korea for their latest venture this weekend, hosting “Olympia Hero’s Korea 2007” in Seoul. On account of both fighter’s Korean ancestry and corresponding popularity, a middleweight clash between Denis Kang and Yoshihiro Akiyama headlined the card. Kang, who has battled injuries over the last year, had only fought once in 2007, earning a Unanimous Decision win over Jung Gyu Choi at a Spirit MC event in March. Akiyama had sat out nearly all of 2007, due to the well documented “greasing” controversy that erupted in the aftermath of his No Contest bout with Kazushi Sakuraba, last New Year’s Eve.

Kang

The Judoka however made his return to action a triumphant one tonight, stopping the highly regarded Kang in the first round. Right around the half-way mark of the opening round, Akiyama caught Kang with a devastating right uppercut that sent the American Top Team fighter crashing to the mat. Another follow up shot to Kang quickly brought in the referee, giving Akiyama his 10th career victory (10-1). With the loss, Kang’s record drops to 29-9-1.

In other action from Hero’s Korea 2007; Shungo Oyama submitted Carlos Newton in the third round with strikes, Zelg Galesic stopped Taiei Kin in the first round, Poai Suganauma earned a first round TKO victory over Bernard Ackah, Dong Sik-Yoon earned his third consecutive victory by submitting Fabio Silva, and Kim Dae Won stopped the renowned jiu-jitsu practitioner Marcelo Garcia in the second round due to a cut.

October 29, 2007
NEW EPISODE OF FCF RADIO: FRANKIE EDGAR AND GARRET DAVIS

New episode of FCF Radio In this edition of FCF Radio we talk with lightweight fighter Frankie Edgar, who will fight Spencer Fisher at UFC 78, November 17th, and Canadian welterweight Garret Davis, who is scheduled to fight Eddy Ellis this Saturday at XFC 5.   (Warning: Explicit Language) Click here to listen/download

October 29, 2007
INTERNATIONAL FIGHT LEAGUE UPDATE
Healy Latest Addition to IFL “DL”
By FCF Staff

The International Fight League announced today that welterweight Pat Healy has injured his elbow and will be unable to compete in the promotion’s upcoming grand-prix event, scheduled to take place November 3rd, at the Sears Centre in Chicago, Illinois. Stepping in to replace Healy is the Razorclaws Donnie Liles (8-3), who will face the Anacondas Jay Hieron (11-4). Liles has not competed since May 19th, when he submitted Rodrigo Ruas with a keylock at the IFL's event in Chicago that month, while Hieron is coming off a TKO loss to Brad Blackburn at an IFL card in June. This weekend's bout between Liles and Hieron will be a rematch, as Hieron submitted Liles with a first round guillotine choke at the IFL's March card in Los Angeles. 

Hieron

Healy becomes the latest IFL fighter who will miss the grand-prix due an injury, just last week the league announced that both Brad Blackburn and Reese Andy had been forced to withdraw.

Beginning at 9PM EST/PST the IFL “World Grand-Prix” will air on MyNetwork TV, with the broadcast set to feature, among other bouts, the light-heavyweight title fight between Alex Schoenauer and Vladimir Matyushenko and the lightweight battle between Chris Horodecki and Bart Palaszewski. The league also announced this week that Silverback’s Coach Pat Miletich and his team will be featured in an edition of ESPN’s new “E:60” newsmagazine program.

October 29, 2007
EXTREME FIGHTING INTERNATIONAL

No Weak Links at EFI IV
By Derek Constable

October 27th, Springfield, Ma. -- No one could have foreseen the Boston Red Sox playing in the World Series the same weekend promoter Keith Gordon decided to move his Extreme Fighting International event from the modest Hippodrome to the bigger Mass Mutual center just around the corner, but in spite of the Sox playing baseball on prime time television, EFI IV: Battle in the Fields was a success -- still drawing the right kind of sports fans off the couch for a Saturday night filled with MMA action.

The venue was packed with fighters in and outside the cage as Ultimate Fighting Championship veterans Din Thomas, Gabriel Gonzaga and Tamdan McCrory were all corners at EFI IV and Rory Singer from The Ultimate Fighter show was even a color commentator.

It was a big night for Team Link out of Ludlow, Ma., as all three of the team’s fighters left the cage with their arms raised and one member even walked away with a championship belt.

October 29, 2007
UNTAMED 17

Untamed’s Newest Champ Leaves Venue On Stretcher
By Derek Constable

October 26th, Plymouth, Ma. -- Fight fans couldn’t go wrong at Untamed 17 with 14 fights to watch including a back-and-forth bantamweight title match for the main event between Leandro “Tatu” Escobar and Paul Gorman. The two 135-pounders were a perfect fit for the night’s final match-up as both men fought three solid rounds for the vacant Untamed title to end the evening.

Escobar took Gorman to the ground several times, but was unable to hurt him. He put Gorman in one or two submissions, but never had him in danger of tapping out. Gorman on the other hand tried to keep it standing and went after Escobar with high kicks and plenty of punches, but too often Escobar was able to transition the fight to the ground.

Gorman (L) Striking Escobar

Gorman worked well on the mat, fighting well off his back with hard elbows and even trapping Escobar in a solid armbar attempt for a moment, but Tatu played the position game on him and racked up too many points in the judges eyes. Gorman fought hard for three rounds and landed way more strikes, including a flying knee as time expired in Round Three, but after three full rounds two-out-of-three judges scored the fight in favor of Escobar and it was his hand that was raised.

Moments later, Tatu returned to his corner where he lied down and was seen by a doctor -- the end result of which was him leaving the venue on a stretcher in the back of an ambulance. The doctor accompanied Escobar and could not be reached for comment but it appeared as if Escobar suffered a concussion from Gorman’s flying knee at the very end of the fight. He was able to walk over to the referee to get his hand raised but unable to carry himself out of the cage following his victory.

Josh Watson, a former amateur competitor for Untamed, is just one of many fighters to come-up through the Untamed ranks. At Untamed 17 he faced Randy Smith an accomplished striker from Team Bombsquad with an average takedown defense. Watson defeated smith by TKO early in the second round, and worked him over pretty good in Round One. He cut Smith under his left eye and would’ve slammed him hard twice if Smith hadn’t grabbed the top of the cage on one attempt. Their fight was enjoyed by all at Memorial Hall and Watson proved once again that at pro, just as in amateur, any heavyweight facing him better lookout for his over-the-shoulder slams.

Glenn Brown and Hitalo Machado could have been a main event, but the fight didn’t last nearly as long as Escobar-Gorman. Brown and Machado pitted a wrestling expert from New Hampshire’s Green Mountain Boys (Brown) against a jiu-jitsu specialist (Machado) with American-Top-Team caliber skills.

Brown usually is able to work position and pass people’s guard with poetic ease, but Hitchado is his only opponent to date to cause him so much trouble. After a short stand-off, Brown tried for flying heel hook and while both men hit the mat it was Brown on the bottom. He grabbed hold of Hitchado‘s foot and was able to roll over securing a submission and nearly breaking his foot, but Hitchado got out of it and when the fighters returned to their feet he hit Brown good with an uppercut giving him a bloody nose.

Brown fought well for the remainder of the round, covered in his own blood and was the aggressor as he pushed the pace of the fight and continued to attack Hatchado, even taking him down and applying another submission attempt as time expired in the round. But shortly after the start of Round Two, Hitchado was able to take Brown’s back and when Brown bucked him off and tried to stand up, his right arm got trapped in an armbar and he tapped out at 1:20 of Round Two.

“I felt great. Better than I think I’ve ever felt in a fight. I just got caught in an armbar,” Brown said after the fight.

Two newcomers turning heads in their pro debuts were Chris Murphy and Pat Audinwood. Murphy rocked Audinwood more than a few times in the chin, but the guy just kept coming. After eating a number of crosses and even a wicked up-kick right to his jaw, Audinwood maintained his composure and was able to secure his first win as professional mixed-martial-artist by triangle choke at 1:40 of Round One.

Audinwood trains with Team Bombsquad and is the newest welterweight from the camp since Tamdan McCrory was called up to the Ultimate Fighting Championships. Murphy, his opponent, is a newcomer from American Top Team who flew out from California to fight in Untamed for his debut. He said after the fight he was amazed at just how tough Audinwood turned out to be and that he would return to New York for another fight on December 15th, on the same fight card where Full Force Productions will decide the new champions for Untamed’s vacant middleweight and welterweight titles.

October 30, 2007
ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP PRESS CONFERENCE
Fertitta, White and Mulkey Weigh In on Couture Resignation
By FCF Staff

The Ultimate Fighting Championship held a press conference today in Las Vegas, Nevada, in response to the comments Randy Couture made in his media conference last week. At the heart of the issue, of course, is Couture’s well documented recent resignation from the UFC. Last week the UFC Heavyweight Champion clarified his reasons for leaving the promotion stating that he feels slighted by the UFC on several fronts, one of which being, he believes the promotion is and has offered to pay other fighters substantially more money then the Hall of Fame fighter. Couture also maintained that his final decision to resign from the UFC was made due to personal issues with the promotion rather than financial. The former light-heavyweight champion has also gone on record citing the UFC’s inability to sign Pride Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko, as another reason for his recent resignation.

Couture

To respond to some of the issues Couture commented on last week, UFC President Dana White, co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta, and the promotion’s Chief Financial Officer, John Mulkey, all took part in today’s press conference.

Close to the beginning of the conference, Fertitta commented on Couture’s own press conference last week;

“I sat back and watched his press conference last week on TV, and I have to be honest with you, I felt that the statements he had made, so grossly misrepresented the facts that I felt that we need to protect ourselves. Because I felt that the statements were made in a way to hurt us, and the fact is you can only sit back and be silent for so long. The facts are the facts, and we have the facts. He made some statements relative to not getting a signing bonus; I immediately called our accounting department and said that doesn’t sound right. In fact, John’s got the check that he cashed on January 30th, after signing the contract.”

Mulkey proceeded to break down the financial particulars Couture was paid for his fights at UFC 68 and UFC 74. Couture came out of retirement earlier this year and entered into a new 4 fight contract with the promotion, a contract that contained promotional, ancillary rights, employment and bout agreements. According to Mulkey and the UFC, Couture was awarded $500,000 for a signing bonus “of which half was to be paid upon signing, and half upon completion of his first fight which was UFC 68.” Couture has maintained that any sum he has been paid under his new contract was not related to his resigning with the company.

Mulkey also furthered that Couture’s contract paid him $200,000 per annum for his employment agreement as well as approximately $56,000 in commentating fees in 2006. In respect to payment for Couture’s bout agreement, according to the UFC Couture was paid $250,000 for his purse at UFC 68, the second half of his signing bonus, and a pay-per-view bonus of $936,000 based on 534,000 PPV buys. In total, not including his signing bonus, Couture earned $1,186,000 for his win over Tim Sylvia to which Mulkey commented “As you may recall, Randy misrepresented his pay-view bonus which I believe he said was half a million dollars instead of $936,000 dollars.”

In regards to UFC 74, where Couture defeated Gabriel Gonzaga, Mulkey stated that Couture was paid $250,000 for his purse, a $35,000 bonus for getting “Fight of the Night”, and will receive a pay-per-view bonus based on an estimated 485,000 buys of $787,000. Thus according to the promotion, Couture will receive a total of $1,072,000 for the win. At Couture’s conference last week, the fighter disputed a report from Yahoo! Sports, Kevin Iole that he could make between 13-15 million dollars over his 4 fight contract. Today’s press conference did not disclose the financial particulars for any of the UFC’s other marquee fighters, however White did state that he never intended on paying Emelianenko more than Couture when the promotion was negotiating with the Russian heavyweight.

“Hell no I wasn’t going to pay Fedor more money than Randy Couture,” White said. “I don’t think Fedor is in the top five heavyweights in the world, you know, and I’m not saying that because I didn’t get Fedor, I’ve always felt that way about Fedor and I’ve always thought Randy Couture would beat Fedor. I was trying to make that fight for Randy Couture.”

White also elaborated on his opinion of Fedor Emelianenko as a fighter.

“I don’t consider Fedor the number one fighter in the world,” White said. “The reason I wanted to sign Fedor because Randy wanted him. Let me go through some history with you, 2005, he beats Mirko “Cro Cop”, after that he fights Zulu Jr., he’s a big huge star, anybody heard of Zulu Jr.? No cause he’s not a real guy. After that he fights Mark Hunt, who’s a kick boxer, and then he fights a 42 year-old Mark Coleman. Then he fights a 185 pound Matt Lindland who couldn’t beat Quinton Jackson at 205 but they thought it would be a good idea to have him move up and fight Fedor. Fedor is a farce. Randy Couture is the number one heavyweight in the world.”

As far as the immediate future, White maintains that the organization is looking to move forward and will be offering Couture another bout accordingly.

“We consider Randy Couture the heavyweight champion of the UFC,” White said in reiterating comments he made last week. “We’re going to offer him a fight, we’re going to offer him a fight right here, this week, to fight the beginning of the year, probably against Nogueira.”

White responded to follow up questions regarding an interim championship bout with;

“If Randy turns down the fight he’ll be turning down the fight because he’s going to retire, so yeah, if he retires we’d take the number one and number two contender to fight for the title.”

The UFC President also once again expressed his dislike for Couture’s “Hollywood agent”, and had this to say in regards to speculation that Couture’s management may be looking for a way out of the fighter’s contract;

“When you look at this whole situation, you only need this much common sense to ask yourself, what’s the end game here? This is a company that he’s been with for 11 years, before we owned it, he’s been with us for 7. What’s the end game here? The stuff he said was false, we’re showing it to you now, proving it, I don’t get it, I don’t know. We’ll find out where this is going.”

October 30, 2007
ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE

More Bouts Confirmed for UFC 78
By FCF Staff

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has confirmed 4 more bouts for the upcoming UFC 78 card, which will take place November 17th at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. “Validation” will be headlined by a light-heavyweight fight between former “Ultimate Fighter” winners, Michael Bisping and Rashad Evans.

At welterweight, veteran Chris Lytle (24-14-5) will return to the Zuffa Octagon for his 10th appearance to take on American Top Team’s Thiago Alves (12-3). Since losing by Unanimous Decision to Matt Hughes at UFC 68 in March, Lytle has won 2 in a row, submitting Jason Gilliam and Matthew Brown at UFC 73 and a United Fight League event respectively. Alves has won 3 fights in row, most recently he returned to competition for the first time in 9 months, stopping Kuniyoshi Hironaka at Ultimate Fight Night 12 in September.

Former TUF competitor Joe Lauzon (14-3) will be in the cage to take on lightweight veteran Jason Reinhardt (18-0). The Massachusetts’ fighter has now won 5 fights in a row, with Lauzon’s last win coming via submission in June over Brandon Melendez at the TUF 5 Finale. Reinhardt, who will be looking to protect his unblemished record when he makes his UFC debut on the 17th, is coming off a TKO stoppage of Theodore Reynol at a Courage Fighting Championship event in April.

In another lightweight tilt, Marcus Aurelio (14-5) will look for his first UFC win when he takes on Luke Caudillo (14-8). The former Pride competitor Aurelio, dropped a Split Decision loss to Clay Guida in his UFC debut at UFC 74 in August, while Caudillo lost by Unanimous Decision to Nate Mohr in his first Octagon appearance at Ultimate Fight Night 11 in June.

Rounding out the 9 fight card, the latest Pride fighter to head west, Akihiro Gono (27-12-7), will meet Tamdan McCrory (8-0). Gono, who has not fought in 2007, defeated Yuki Kondo in his last fight by Split Decision at Pride’s Shockwave event last December. McCrory made his UFC debut a successful one in his last bout, submitting veteran Pete Spratt with a triangle-choke at Ultimate Fight Night 11.

Other bouts previously confirmed by the UFC for the upcoming Validation card include; Houston Alexander vs. Thiago Silva, Ed Herman vs. David Terrell and Ryo Chonan vs. Karo Parisyan.

October 31, 2007
ELITE XC RENEGADE PRE-FIGHT MEDIA CALL

Shaw Confirms New Weight Divisions, Slice, Shields, and Noons Ready
By FCF Staff

ProElite held a media teleconference call today to field questions about the company’s upcoming Elite XC “Renegade” card, which will take place November 10th, at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. The card will be headlined by a lightweight title fight between Nick Diaz and KJ Noons and will also feature bouts with Jake Shields taking on Mike Pyle, and Seth Kleinbeck versus Kyle Noke.

Kevin Ferguson “Kimbo Slice”, was also scheduled to fight Mike Bourke on the 10th, however, Elite XC announced today that Bourke will be unable to fight due to a broken clavicle. Bo Cantrell has been confirmed by the promotion has his replacement.

Kimbo Slice

“I’m glad about it,” Slice said in regards to Elite XC signing him. “I pray to God, you guys, you know what I’m saying, that you were able to come through and snatch me up, you know, when the other show got shut down, it kind of upset me because I didn’t think I was going to get a chance to fight. All that hard training and hard work that I put into it, if I wasn’t able to bang it was kind of depressing for me.”

Slice had been scheduled to fight Tank Abbot at Cage Fury Fighting Championship 6 earlier this month before it was cancelled due to the loss of a key investor. The fighter also noted during today’s call that he would be willing to fight Abbot “in the parking lot”, if so required, and would also welcome a fight with Sean Gannon.

When asked for a statement about his upcoming fight with Diaz, Noons said;

“Like I said before, you know, Nick is the number one guy in the world because he beat Gomi, and I’m getting a great opportunity to face the number one fighter in the world for a title. I’m really excited, I’ve been training very hard and I’m really excited to make this the fight of the night, fight of the month, fight of the year whatever.”

As far as Shields and his thoughts on facing Pyle, Shields commented,

“I’m excited to be fighting for Elite again, and I’ve been training really hard. I think Mike Pyle is a rgood opponent, and I’m going to go out there and put on a good fight.”

October 31, 2007
THE NORTHERN TOUCH

The Northern Touch: News and Notes from Canadian MMA
By Kelsey Mowatt

TKO Announces Bouts for “Ultimatum”

TKO confirmed several bouts this week, including the main event, for the promotion’s upcoming December 14th, “Ultimatum” card. TKO 31 will take place at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. Headlining the card will be a heavyweight clash between the relative newcomer to the sport, Steve Bosse and former TKO heavyweight champ. Icho Larenas. Bosse, who is a noted hockey pugilist in the LNAH, has now gone 2-0 to begin his MMA career. In Bosse’s last MMA fight in September at TKO 30, he stopped Jody Burke in the first round with strikes. Larenas (3-3) has not fought since last September when he lost by doctor stoppage due to a cut vs. Krzysztof Soszynski at TKO 27.

In what should be an interesting welterweight clash between two noted strikers, Chris Clements (4-3) will take on Stephan Dube (6-2). After going 4-1 to begin his career, Clements has now dropped two in a row, most recently at TKO 30 he was submitted by Jesse Bongfeldt in a bout for the vacant TKO 170lb. title. Dube is also coming off a loss at TKO 30, submitting to a heel hook from TJ Grant in the first round. The loss ended a 6 fight winning streak for Dube.

Another bout of note confirmed for the December 14th card is Ben Greer (9-3) taking on Stephane Vigneault (9-4) at 145. Greer had won 9 fights in a row going into TKO 30 last month, but was stopped by Mark Hominick in the first round with strikes. Vigneault has not competed since January 2006 at TKO 24, where he lost by TKO to Damacio Page.

Other bout fights confirmed for the card include Syd Barnier vs. Mark Fraser, Bob Landry vs. Doug Evans and Ben Gallant vs. Shawn Thompson. According to the TKO website, Hominick and Martin Grandmont are listed as participants for the card; however, no opponents have yet been confirmed.

Rumble in the Cage 26

Lethbridge, Alberta, hosted the 26th installment of Rumble in the Cage last weekend, with a card that featured father and son, Lee and Jordan Mein both competing. Lee was stopped in the first round by the veteran Chris Peak, while his son Jordan submitted Adam Thomas with a first round rear-naked-choke. Jason Day earned his second win a row by stopping Shawn Marchand in the first round while his Canadian Martial Arts Centre teammate Dan Chambers also got the win, submitting Jason Randle with an armbar.

Other bouts of note included Jared Kilkenny earning a Unanimous Decision victory over Dwayne Lewis while Travis Briere submitted Adam Farr in the second round.

Extreme Fighting Challenge 5

Just a reminder that Extreme Fighting Challenge 5 goes this Saturday, November 3rd, in Prince George, British Columbia. It was also recently announced that the card will be available for pay-per-view via the official BodogFight site. The 13 fight “Revolution” card will be headlined by a welterweight bout between “Pele” Landis-Jons and Jake Ellenberger and will also feature David Pariseau vs. Kajan Johnson, Tim Thurston vs. Tim Jensen, Ryan Chiappe vs. Mike Neufeld, and Garret Davis vs. Eddy Ellis.

Denis Kang and Dan Henderson will also be in attendance. For more on Davis and his fight this Saturday, check out his interview on FCF Radio from earlier this week.

Canadians Head to IFL Grand-Prix

The International Fight League will host its first ever “World Grand-Prix” event in Chicago, Illinois this Saturday and 3 Canadian’s are heading to the U.S. to compete on the card. In one of the more highly anticipated bouts, Team Tompkins’ lightweight and London resident, Chris Horodecki, will take on Illinois’ Bart Palaszewski. Horodecki earned a tightly contested Split Decision win over the Silverback fighter in their first encounter back in February.

The Toronto Dragons will have two representatives at the grand-prix as both the club’s middleweight, Brent Beauparlant and lightweight Wagnney Fabiano, will be fighting. Beauparlant is scheduled to take on the Anaconda’s Benji Radach, while Fabiano is set to meet the Lions’ John Gunderson.