Archive for December, 2006

Las Vegas – In his tenure as UFC® World Light Heavyweight Champion, Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell has sent a legend into retirement (Randy Couture), avenged a defeat (Jeremy Horn), and annihilated his number one challenger (Renato Sobral). But when the man standing across the Octagon™ from Liddell is his former training partner and friend Tito Ortiz, all bets are off. When these two 205-pound stalwarts collide on December 30, the New Year’s Eve fireworks are going to begin one day early this year. The Ultimate Fighting Championship® organization proudly announces UFC 66: LIDDELL vs. ORTIZ 2 live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena Saturday, Dec. 30. Read the rest of this entry »

By Federico Murillo: With Jermain Taylor holding the WBC and WBO middleweight titles, along with a bronze medal in the 2000 Olympics, it would seem apparent to many that he is the best among the top middleweights in the division. However, he has looked less than unbeatable since turning professional, struggling to beat an old Bernard Hopkins, and getting fought to a standstill by Winky Wright. However, the other top middleweights, Edison Miranda, Winky Wright, Arthur Abraham and Felix Sturm, all appear to be of equal talent, and may even be arguably better than Taylor. Though one thing is certain, none of them are without faults, as evidenced by their uneven performances during their careers. However, each of them appear to be steadily improving with each fight, and working on their problem areas. Read the rest of this entry »

By Manuel Perez: According to the latest boxing gossip, IBF/WBO Super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe (42-0, 31 KO’s) is considering a fight with recently retired former middleweight & light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins, (47-4-1, 32 KO’s) possibly to take place in July 2007, and to be shown on HBO PPV. In truth, however, aside from a few boxing diehards that are infatuated with either of the fighters, this would probably turn out to be a real stinker of a fight. Though, I can see why Hopkins would want to take the fight, considering it would give him another shot at a huge payday, possibly amounting to millions of dollars, while at the same time, due to his advanced age of 41-years old, giving him a ready made excuse if he were to lose to the 34-year old Calzaghe. Read the rest of this entry »

Pavia, Ciscone & Associates, LLC, in conjunction with MMAagents.com, is pleased to announce that Mike “Quicksand” Pyle has signed a three-fight deal with the new Showtime organization, Elite Xtreme Combat. Pyle is scheduled to fight Ross “The Boss” Ebanez on Showtime cable at the first-ever EXC event on February 10, 2007.

Pyle was most recently competing in the IFL organization, where he was a starter for the Los Angeles Anacondas. With a 12-4-1 record, Pyle holds wins over Jon Fitch, Shonie Carter and Gustavo Machado. Read the rest of this entry »

By Bryan Amador: Former middleweight and Cruiserweight champion James Toney (69-5-1, 43 KO’s) fights meets up with Samuel Peter (27-1, 22 KO’s) on Janaury 6th, 2007, in an mandated WBC heavyweight eliminator bout, in which the winner gets the right to fight Oleg Maskaev, the WBC heavyweight champion. For those unaware, this is a rematch for them, ordered by the WBC because of their previous fight, a 12-round split decision victory for Samuel Peter, being so controversial. In point of fact, it appeared to most boxing critics that Toney had done enough to win the decision in the bout. However, perhaps the judges were swayed by the two occasions were Toney was briefly stunned by huge shots thrown by Peter in the early rounds of the fight. Read the rest of this entry »

NEW YORK, DECEMBER 26, 2006 – International Fight League, Inc. (OTC.BB: IFLI), the world’s first team-based professional mixed martial arts league, will give its fans another way to ring in the New Year, with an evening of exciting MMA action on Fox Sports Net. The IFL “World Team Championship” final between the Wolfpack, based in Portland and coached by Matt Lindland, and the Silverbacks, who train in the Quad Cities and are coached by Pat Miletich, will air on Fox Sports Net on Dec. 31 in most markets. The Wolfpack-Silverbacks matchup will be a tape delay of the “World Team Championship” that will take place Friday, Dec. 29 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn Read the rest of this entry »

NEW YORK, December 22, 2006- International Fight League, Inc. (OTC.BB: IFLI), the world’s first team-based professional mixed martial arts sports league, announced today that it has entered into definitive private placement agreements with certain institutional and accredited investors to sell 19,376,000 shares of common stock, at a price of $1.25 per share. IFL expects that the net proceeds of the private placement will be approximately $22 million after deducting the placement agency fees and all estimated offering expenses. Read the rest of this entry »

With millions of viewers watching on Spike TV, Karo Parisyan won a unanimous decision over Drew Fickett (30-27 on all three scorecards) after three grueling, bloody rounds at Ultimate Fight Night 7 on Wednesday night at the Miramar Marine Corps Base in San Diego.

Parisyan is best known for his highlight-reel judo tosses, but “The Heat” stood with Fickett for most of the fight and was able to control the pace while landing the heavier strikes. When it did go the ground, both fighters showed their ability to scramble as the nearly 3,000 Marines inside the spacious airplane hangar roared with each change of position. The UFC honored it as the “Fight of the Night,” with Parisyan improving his UFC record to 6-2, and 16-4 overall. Read the rest of this entry »

By Henry Stewart: It’s hard to believe that it’s been 8 long months since we last heard from former two-time heavyweight champion Chris Byrd (39-3-1, 20 KO’s), yet it’s true. After being brutally destroyed in a one-sided, 7-round destruction by Wladimir Klitschko in April 2006, Chris Byrd has seemingly disappeared, almost as if he is hiding his head in the sand like an Ostrich, perhaps ashamed. However, there’s no shame in losing his title to Wladimir, for he is considered the best fighter in the heavyweight division. Anyway could see going into this fight that Byrd was going to have a tough time because of his lack of size and power. Read the rest of this entry »

(HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – Dec. 14, 2007) — At a jam-packed press conference Thursday at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, SHOWTIME and Pro-Elite, Inc., officially announced the formation of Elite Xtreme Combat (EliteXC). Beginning Feb. 10, 2007, Los Angeles-based EliteXC will exploit the growing phenomenon of mixed martial arts by staging world-class live events on SHOWTIME.

Legends Frank Shamrock, regarded by many to be the first true mixed martial artist in combat sports, and Renzo Gracie, a prominent member of the most famous family in martial arts, will make history when they collide in the featured attraction on SHOWTIME at the Desoto Civic Center in Mississippi. Their match will mark the first time an MMA event has aired live on premium television. Read the rest of this entry »

NEW YORK, December 14, 2006- Two of the International Fight League’s (OTC.BB: IFLI) legendary coaches, Renzo Gracie, world Jiu-Jitsu champion and coach of the IFL’s New York-based Pitbulls team, and Pat Miletich, coach of the IFL’s Moline, Illinois-based Silverbacks team, were prominently featured in Scott Pelley’s report on the growth of Mixed Martial Arts on “60 Minutes” on Sunday, December 10, on CBS. The show earned a top-five ratings finish for the week. The show also finished first in its time period in households, viewers and adults 25-54. Read the rest of this entry »

By Richard Rodriguez: Roy Jones Jr. (50-4, 38 KO’s), the former middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight champion, has expressed an interest in fighting Wladimir Klitschko, according to the latest boxing news around the net, further saying “No one can whoop me.” Jones, 37, last fought on July 29, 2006, easily winning a 12 round decision over Prince Badi Ajamu, in Boise, Idaho. However, before this, Jones had lost his last three bouts, suffering horrific knockout loses to Antonio Tarver, (2nd round stoppage loss) in May 2004, and Glen Johnson (9th round stoppage loss), in September 2004. Read the rest of this entry »

By Henry Stewart: According to the Russian website “Kommersant,” a fight is being arranged between Oleg Maskaev (34-5, 26 KO’s), the WBC heavyweight champion, and Wladimir Klitschko (47-3, 42 KO’s), the IBF heavyweight champion, with the fight possibly taking place in Moscow, Russia. Apparently, the promoter of Maskaev, Dennis Rappaport, is trying to arrange for the bout to take place, possibly in April 21, 2007. At this point, however, nothing has been ironed out. Before this fight can take place, it needs to be approved by both the WBC and IBF, since both fighters have mandatory challengers that they are required to fight early in 2007. Read the rest of this entry »

By Jason Kim: Unknown to many boxing fans is a hidden gem, a fighter by the name of Ivan Calderon (27-0, 6 KO’s) who fights in the Minimum weight class (formerly known as the “straw weight division), the lowest weight class in boxing, with an upper weight limit of 105 lbs. Much like the Junior Flyweight (108 lbs.), Flyweight (112 lbs.), Super Flyweight (115 lbs), Bantamweight (118 lbs), Super Bantamweight (122 Lbs), and Cruiserweight division (200 lbs), these weight classes are largely ignored by the fans mostly because of their inability to identify with fighters of such small stature, many of whom are smaller than the average fan’s Mother. Read the rest of this entry »

HOLLYWOOD, CA (December 11, 2006) — SHOWTIME and Pro Elite will host a Hollywood news conference This Thursday! December 14, at Cinegrill at The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (7000 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90028) to announce the highly-anticipated new generation of mixed martial arts plus details on the very first SHOWTIME broadcast of the MMA event, which is scheduled for Saturday, February 10, 2007. Read the rest of this entry »