Tuesday, June 2, 2009

TUF 10, Kimbo, Vitor, Chael & more... all the boys you love (and love to hate)

After a way too long hiatus I'm back and promise to make this more frequent. I know I've been lagging lately. Apologies. Let's get started shall we?

DANA'S "BIG" NEWS
Monday Dana announced (via his v*log)that Kimbo Slice (yes, the same street-fighting, Kimbo that Dana previously seriously talked trash on) will be joining the cast of The Ultimate Fighter 10- "The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights" where he can compete for a spot in the UFC. In the past Dana has said this would be the only way he'd ever even consider letting Kimbo fight under the UFC banner... but who of us thought it would ever really happen? Not I.

For the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter, Dana and the boys are switching things up. Originally there were supposed to be Middleweights and Heavyweights on the show competing for ultimately two titles. The cast will now feature only 16 heavyweights. Also veering from the norm all 16 fighter have automatically been accepted into the house- no fighting for beds this time.
Kimbo was featured in DW's v*log later in the episode commenting on how he feels about Dana talking trash on him, "the greatest revenge is success... 'know what I'm sayin'?" Yeah Kimbo, we get it... you want to win TUF so you can continue getting a steady paycheck. Unfortunately brother, past performances are suggesting you might be a free agent sooner than you'd like... know what I'm sayin'?

AFFLICTION III- A GOOD CARD?
That's right people... I said it, I'm genuinely excited to see who else is added to the Affliction III August 1 card because so far it's looking pretty good.
Thus far there have been 4 fights announced and/or confirmed. First, Chris Horodecki will face Dan Lauzon. The 12-1 "Polish Hammer" impressed many with his power in the ill-fated IFL and has be been a free agent since the organization went kaput early last year. Even if he doesn't finish a fight he always makes them interesting. The younger Lauzon brother is coming of a round 1 RNC over Bobby Green at Affliction's last outing in January. Winning all but two of his 14 fights, Dan has proven that he's good at the family business and may one day join older brother Joe on the UFC payroll.

Horodecki's fellow Team Tompkins teammate Mark Hominick (16-8-0)will go up against Kansans City boy L.C. Davis. Davis, an American Jiu-Jitsu Academy trained fighter is 13-2 with his only losses coming from Wagnney Fabiano and -most recently- Michihiro Omigawa. Fresh off the Omigawa loss (at Sengoku in March) Davis is looking to get back on the winning side of things.

The first of two fights I'm really looking forward to is Gegard Mousasi vs. Renato "Babalu" Sobral. Gegard is the former DREAM MW belt holder and Babalu is a 32-8 badass. Mousasi was originally rumored to be facing Vitor Belfort though a disagreement about what weight to meet at forced Affliction to scrap the bout and book the two with other opponents. Which leads to the other fight I'm really excited for at Affliction III.

PHOTO CREDIT: SENGOKU-OFFICIAL.COM & FIGHTTICKER.COM
Vitor Belfort vs. Jorge Santiago. Belfort is a UFC and PRIDE veteran who's January fight against Matt Lindland left "The Law" convulsing on the canvas. ATT's Santiago is 9-0 in his last nine fights and has finished every one of them... impressively might I add. Both Santiago and Belfort are skilled on the ground and standing so wherever this fight goes it will be an edge-of-your-seat battle.

No surprise here, the headlining event at Affliction III is Fedor vs. Josh Barnett.

CHAEL SONNEN CONTINUES TO PERPLEX ME
In this YouTube ramble Chael Sonnen began by quoting JFK's "Ask not what your country can do for you" speech and it's a tailspin from there. I get he's trying to rally the other "Zuffa employees" to stop being little beeches and complaining about everything but he takes it a little far when he starts comparing Dana to Warren Buffet. "If Warren Buffet wrote a book and Dana White wrote a book on business I would read Dana White's book every time." Really, every time? I also feel Dana is a tremendous businessman, but to liken him to Warren Buffet hold him on a pedestal higher than Everest is a little much.


I'll leave you with this video of Jens Pulver. Watch it and tell me you don't love him (even in that man-crush sort of way). He's just so humble and down to earth you can't help but like him. Good luck against Grispi Jens!!


Step on over to MMA Fanhouse to see Ariel Helwani's video interview with Forrest Griffin. Griffin talks his new book ("Got Fight?"), Machida, Silva and MMA in NY.
MMAFanhouse: Forrest Griffin Interview by Ariel Helwani

REMEMBER, WE'RE ON TWITTER!!
JOANNE = www.twitter.com/mmagirls
SAMANTHA = www.twitter.com/sxjohnson



Miss something? Comments? Questions? E-mail me: samantha.lynn.johnson@gmail.com


More to come soon...

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