As reported last week, Frank Mir is out of UFC 98 against Brock Lesnar. Last Monday (March 2) he had his knee scoped and will not be ready in time for the May 23 fight. Their bout has been moved to the UFC 100, July 11, card and Evans will defend his title at 98. Dana has offered Rampage his title shot, but after feeling over-trained for this weekend he will take time to decide. First, Jackson must be cleared by a doctor and decide if he wants to go straight back to camp. Something else to consider: When Dana offered Rampage the match (in his locker room, post fight with Jardine) Dana explained that if Rampage would not take the 98 fight the title shot would go to Lyoto Machida. I guess the real question is how bad does he want it.
MONEY, MONEY, MONEY, MOOOOONEEEY
UFC has announced the bonuses for Fight of the Night and Knock Out of the Night (there were no submissions on the Ohio card).
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Keith "The Dean of Mean" Jardine won the Fight of the Night. Each will receive an additional $60,000.00. Taking home Knock Out of the Night is the Buckeye's own Matt The Hammer" Hamill.
DREAM 7
Dream7's feather weight grand prix's opening round is completed. The results are:
MasakazuImanari def Atsushi Yamamoto via Split Dec
HiroyukiTakaya def Jong Won Kim via KO
Yoshiro Maeda def Micah Miller via Uni Dec :-(
Tatsuya Kawajiri def Ross Ebanez via RNC
Shinya Aoki def David Gardner via RNC
Mitsuhiro Ishida def Daisuke Nakamura via Uni Dec
Abel Cullum def Akiyo Nishiura via Split Dec.
Joe Warren def Chase Beebe via Dr. Stoppage
Bibiano Fernandes def Takafumi Otsuka via Uni Dec
ANOTHER MMA MOVIE?
Variety.com reports Nick Nolte has been cast to star in "Warrior". Nolte is set to play a Viet Nam vet who recovers from alcoholism to train his boy in MMA. Sounds iffy, however, the director is the same who did "Pride and Glory" and "The Smashing Machine". "Warrior" is slated for a 2010 release date.
T.U.F. U.S v U.K
The names 36 members of the upcoming T.U.F. season have been released. This season required fighters to have at least 3 professional fights to even try out. After skimming the names most look to have, at least, an average of 5 and one (Ray Elbe) has 31 professional fights. Several fighters are veterans of UFC, IFL or WEC while others train with or are from current or ex fighter's camps (PENN MMA, Wolfslair, Miletich, etc.) Best news... I don't see anyone with the last name Browning!!
Courtesy Yahoo!Sports
U.S. welterweights
• Ryan Biglar (2-1): Biglar, 24, is a jiu-jitsu fighter originally from Guam who represents the Cobra Kai in Las Vegas.
• Ray Elbe (20-11): A Muay Thai fighter, the 25-year-old Elbe has spent the last three years working on his game in Phuket, Thailand. The most notable man he’s faced was Renato Verissimo, who knocked him out in 2003.
• Christian Fulgium (6-2-1): A wrestler, Fulgium represents the Gladiator camp in Lafayette, La.
• DaMarques Johnson (13-6): Johnson took up MMA training while in the military. Training out of Elite Performance in Salt Lake City, Johnson once faced former World Extreme Cagefighting welterweight champion Brock Larson, who submitted him in a 2005 bout.
• Kevin Knabjian (10-3-1): A wrester from Eastern Illinois University, the same school that produced UFC star Matt Hughes, the one-time WEC fighter trains at Gilbert Grappling in Chicago.
• Mark Miller (10-4): A Muay Thai fighter also based in Chicago, Miller trains at Dino Costeas MMA and Toro Muay Thai.
• Jason Pierce (9-0): A one-time collegiate soccer player, Pierce trains with the vaunted Miletich Fighting Systems camp in Bettendorf, Iowa.
• Kiel Reid (8-1): A native of Bettendorf, Reid also trains with Miletich, whose experience includes a 2004 fight against UFC veteran Luigi Fiorvanti.
U.S. lightweights
• Paul Bird (4-1): A striker, Bird trains at Des Moines (Iowa) MMA. He has fought in the Midwest Cage Championships promotion.
• Santino DeFranco (13-4): A wrestler and jiu-jitsu specialist, DeFranco has experienced fighting in the now-defunct International Fight League. He also helped coach Efrain Escudero, the TUF 8 winner.
• Jason Dent (19-9): A submission specialist, Dent runs his own gym in Mentor, Ohio, at Griffon Brawl. He is a UFC veteran who has losses to Roger Huerta and Gleison Tibau.
• Cameron Dollar (4-1): Dollar trains in Colorado Springs, Colo., and is a former teammate of TUF alums Cory Hill and Noah Thomas.
• Tom Hayden (4-0): A submission fighter, Hayden is trained by popular UFC veteran Jorge Gurgel in West Chester, Ohio.
• Waylon Lowe (5-2): Lowe, 28, also fights for Gurgel.
• Josh Souder (7-2): A member of Team Prodigy, Souder has faced castmate Jason Dent in 2005, losing by TKO.
• Richie Whitson (4-0): A native Alaskan who trains with Team Quest in Temecula, Calif., Whitson is a heavy-handed striker.
U.S. coach Dan Henderson: A two-time Olympic wrestler, Henderson is the only man to have simultaneously held two weight-class championships in PRIDE. He was the organization’s light heavyweight and middleweight champion and is one of the top fighters in the UFC.
U.K. welterweights
• Dean Amarasinghe (4-1): A grappler from Nottingham, England, Amarasinghe trains at Rough House Gym.
• James Bateman (2-1): A striker, Bateman trains at Grimsby NHB in Grimsby, England.
• David Faulkner (2-1): A member of the Wolfslair team that features U.K. coach Michael Bisping and UFC star Quinton Jackson, Faulkner is a submissions expert.
• Tommy Maguire (5-2): The 20-year-old Maguire is a striker who works with the Tsunami Gym in Wisbech, England.
• Che Mills (7-2): A tall welterweight at 6-foot-2, Mills works with ex-UFC fighter Mark Weir’s Range Fighting Gym.
• Nicholas Osipczak (3-0): Osipczak trains in London with Pancrase UK. He’s finished all of his fights in the first round.
• Alex Reid (10-9-1): Reid, 33, trains in London with the London Shoot Fighters. He’s faced notable opponents such as Murilo Rua, Tony Fryklund, Dave Menne and Jorge Rivera.
• James Wilks (5-2): Trained by veteran Eric Paulson in Orange County, Calif., the 30-year-old Wilks is a striker.
U.K. lightweights
• James Bryan (3-1): A striker, Bryan, 25, is from Somerset, England.
• Dan James (3-0): A striker from Swansea, Wales, he’s finished two of his three pro bouts.
• Gary Kelly (2-1): A striker, the 25-year-old Kelly trains alongside Bisping and Jackson at Wolfslair in Liverpool, England.
• Jeff Lawson (13-2): A submission fighter with 12 finishes, Lawson trains with Team Bulldog in Dorset, England.
• Ross Pearson (9-3): A striker, Pearson trains at Sunderland Jiu-Jitsu & MMA Club in Sunderland, England.
• Martin Stapleton (5-1): A Muay Thai fighter, Stapleton is a product of Quannum Combat Arts.
• A.J. Wenn (7-2): A well-rounded fighter from the Tsunami Gym, Wenn is from Cambs, England.
• Andre Winner (9-2-1): Winner is a member of the Rough House team in London and is coming off a loss and a draw in his two fights prior to appearing on the show.
U.K. coach Michael Bisping: Bisping was the light heavyweight winner on Season 3 of “The Ultimate Fighter.” He has gone on to become one of the world’s top middleweights. His only loss was a disputed decision to current UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans.
POST FIGHT PRESSER
"Rampage" Jackson came into Saturday's fight feeling over trained and looking for a KO. "The whole time I felt like I had to do somethin'. I hit Jardine with everything but the kitchen sink." Which normally doesn't work very well if there is no power behind what you're throwing. Near the middle of the third round is when it looked the worst. Rampage got a flurry in towards the end, but couldn't finish in time. "He [Jardine] went down -I think it was the first round- he wend down, I tried to pounce on him but he recovered and got up and he was pissing me off. Like, 'man, why don't you just stay yo' ugly ass down, let me knock you out?!'"
After the fight Jardine got some discouraging news, "One of the judges told me I lost the fight in the last 10 seconds. That's pretty hard to take." Hopefully, it's the cattle-prod he needs to train the hardest he ever has and keep winning. I'm sure all the talk of eventually "having" to fight Evans didn't help keep his mind straight either.
Carwin proved he really may be the future of the HeavyWeight division with his right hook (T)KO of Gonzaga just 1:09 into the first round. The Colorado boy remains undefeated with a 11-0 record and -what seems to be- insurmountable power. He's so big and SO powerful. It's hard to think what could stop him. I thought Gonzaga was big enough, strong enough and fast enough to at least make a good fight; however, Carwin proved me wrong.
With his Knock Out of the Night head-kick to Mark Munoz, Matt Hamill advanced to an 8-2 record and was "electrified" with the energy from his home-state patrons. In the post fight presser Hamill, when asked about his 'excessive celebration' while Munoz was hurt 'pretty seriously,' responded:
"First of all, my thoughts and prayers are for Mark Munoz. He's a great fighter and has a great wrestling background. I just got a little emotional, you know; but you have to understand. It's like when you go under water you feel like a bubble... But can you imagine over ten thousand people that are making all of the bubbles? That got into my body. It just got me really electrified, really excited." Aww, how can you not love him?Tomorrow: The reffing at 96. Beyond horrible? One time mistakes? I'll cover Yves Lavigne's response.
Missed something? Questions? Comments? E-mail me: samantha.lynn.johnson@gmail.com
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