Archive for May, 2009

Former UFC light heavyweight champions “Suga” Rashad Evans and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson will serve as coaches for Season 10 of “The Ultimate Fighter” premiering Wednesday, September 16 at 10:00pm, it was announced today by Dana White, UFC President. This season will showcase 16 heavyweights, the first time this weight class has been featured on “The Ultimate Fighter” since Evans himself was a cast member on Season 2. Read the rest of this entry »

The revolutionary www.fightengine.com state-of-the-art website has picked-up steam with the registration of the first “name” fighters, David “Tank” Abbott and Jimmy Ambriz, who have challenged combat fighting legend Bob “The Beast” Sapp through the site’s “KO The Pro” section.

Fight Engine is changing the way mixed-martial-arts fighters – professionals, amateurs and even neighborhood tough guys — market themselves and develop strong fan bases. Read the rest of this entry »

Andrei “Pitbull’’ Arlovski, Brett “The Grim’’ Rogers and Scott “Hands Of Steel’’ Smith participated in a national media conference call Wednesday to discuss their important fights on the eagerly awaited Saturday, June 6 “Lawler vs. Shields” card live on SHOWTIME (10 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the west coast) from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

Strikeforce will present the biggest, most significant mixed martial arts event in the history of the Gateway City. World-ranked fighters Ruthless” Robbie Lawler (middleweight) and Jake Shields (welterweight) will square off at a catch weight of 182 pounds in the main event. Read the rest of this entry »

Rising stars Cory “The One” Devela (9-2) and Luke Rockhold (4-1) will face off with each other in a middleweight (185 pound) battle at the Strikeforce Challengers mixed martial arts (MMA) event at the ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington on Friday, June 19.

“I feel like a million bucks,” said the 24-year-old Devela, one of the sport’s most promising young talents who hails from Bonney Lake, Wash., and is a member of the Dennis “Superman” Hallman led Team Victory that has pioneered a hybrid fighting style dubbed “Cowboy Karate.” “I know he’s mostly a submission guy and I’m strong at that so it should be a great fight.” Read the rest of this entry »

World Championship Fighting today released an updated fight card with some changes to the previously released featured bouts for their June 27th show live from the Shriner’s Auditorium in Wilmington, MA. WCF Previously announced a bout between Dan Keefe and Ronnie Wuest, but that bout has been scratched and both Keefe and Wuest have been matched with other opponents. Read the rest of this entry »

iBN Sports (Interactive Broadcast Network Sports), a premiere Internet-based broadcast sports television network, today announced that it has reached an agreement to broadcast upcoming mixed martial arts events for World Combat Sports Challenge (WCSC). The WCSC returns on Saturday May 30th to Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco, California with “The Awakening” where it last made history with the first all-women’s Muay Thai fight card. The upcoming May 30th event, in conjunction with MMA Jacked will be streamed On Demand starting on May 31st on http://www.ibnsports.com/ fight.asp where fans can view the action for free. Read the rest of this entry »

Dutch knockout artist Gilbert “The Hurricane” Yvel has relocated to the United States and plans to put his June 27th opponent, 3-time UFC heavyweight title challenger Pedro “The Rock” Rizzo, to sleep in the “Ultimate Chaos” co-feature live on pay-per-view from the Mississippi Gulf Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, Mississippi. Former WWE superstar Bobby Lashley (3-0-0) headlines against K1 and PRIDE combat fighting legend Bob “The Beast” Sapp (10-4-1) on “Ultimate Chaos, presented by Prize Fight Promotions and Fight Force International, in association with the Mississippi Gulf Coast Coliseum, Treasure Bay Casino and Budweiser. Read the rest of this entry »

- Lyoto Machida beats Rashad Evans by KO at 3:57, R2. (Machida captures UFC light heavyweight title)
- Matt Hughes beats Matt Serra by Split Decision (29-28 on all three cards).
- Drew McFedries beats Xavier Foupa-Pokam by TKO at 0:37, R1.
- Chael Sonnen beats Dan Miller by Unanimous Decision (30-27 on all three cards).
- Frank Edgar beats Sean Sherk by Unanimous Decision (30-27 on all three cards).
- Brock Larson beats Mike Pyle by Submission (Side Choke) at 3:06, R1.
- Tim Hague beats Patrick Barry by Submission (Guillotine Choke) at 1:42, R1.
- Kyle Bradley beats Phillipe Nover by TKO at 1:03, R1.
- Krzystof Soszynski beats Andre Gusmao by KO at 3:17.
- Yoshiyuki Yoshida beats Brandon Wolff by Submission (Guillotine Choke) at 2:24, R1.
- George Roop beats Dave Kaplan by Split Decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-27)

Fresh off his 24-second destruction of Mike Cook, former WWE superstar Bobby Lashley called his June 27th showdown against Bob “The Beast” Sapp in the “Ultimate Chaos” pay-per-view event headliner, live from the Mississippi Gulf Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, Mississippi, the “Battle of the Giants.” Read the rest of this entry »

Showtime Networks Inc. and world championship mixed martial arts (MMA) event promotion Strikeforce hosted a press conference Tuesday to discuss their highly anticipated June 6 “Lawler vs. Shields” fight card live on SHOWTIME (10 p.m. ET/PT) from Scottrade Center. Highlights from the press conference at Scottrade included an announcement by world-famous emcee Jimmy Lennon, Jr. that former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski (15-6) will make his Strikeforce debut and square off with undefeated prospect Brett “The Grim” Rogers (9-0) in an Affliction sponsored fight during the live televised portion of the fight card.

Knockout artist “The New York Badass” Phil Baroni (13-10) lashed out verbally about his welterweight showdown with powerhouse Joe “Diesel” Riggs (29-10) and former UFC Heavyweight Champion and two-time NCAA Division I National Wrestling Champion Kevin “The Monster” Randleman (17-12) was highly animated about returning to action for the first time in over a year to face “Iron” Mike Whitehead (23-6) in a light heavyweight matchup on the star-studded card. Read the rest of this entry »

SHOWTIME announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr., announced today that top-10 ranked heavyweight and former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski will face unbeaten heavyweight sensation Brett “The Grim” Rogers on Saturday, June 6 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis and LIVE on SHOWTIME.

The announcement was made at a kick-off press conference for STRIKEFORCE: Lawler vs. Shields at the Atrium at Scottrade Center. The heavyweight showdown, which will be sponsored by Affliction, will precede the main event fight between two of the most highly regarded fighters in the world, “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler and Jake Shields. Read the rest of this entry »

UFC fighter Mikey Burnett will officially announce his retirement next month in a public press conference in Las Vegas. After a long career with the UFC, Burnett is throwing in the towel after agonizing injuries sustained over the years.

Jamaica, New York May 16, 2009 – - UFC fighter Mikey “The Eastside Assassin” Burnett will officially announce his retirement in June during a public press conference at the Hardrock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Read the rest of this entry »

Former IBA Super Heavyweight and WWA Heavyweight Boxing Champion “Butterbean” Eric Esch will be making his independent wrestling debut in the North East on Friday night May 29 as Pro Wrestling Syndicate presents Brawl For Paul at The Garfield Boys & Girls Club on 490 Midland Ave in Garfield, NJ at 8pm. This is a special memorial show in honor of late PWS superstar Paul E Normus. The MMA veteran Butterbean has issued an open challenge for this event and with a locker room full of familiar wrestling names including “The Birdman” Koko B Ware, Sandman, Balls Mahoney, Kizarny, and Nunzio to name a few, it is anyone’s guess he will be answering the challenge of the man who already has KO’d professional wrestlers such as Sean O’Haire and Bart Gunn in a matter of seconds. Butterbean will be doing a Meet & Greet with fans from 7-8pm before the event kicks off. www.ProWrestlingSyndicate.com

Previously unbeaten hometown favorite Billy Evangelista lost by disputed, controversial second-round disqualification to Mike Aina Friday in the main event of the inaugural Strikeforce Challengers telecast on SHOWTIME. At the finish, neither fighter was satisfied with the outcome at the Save Mart Center.

Evangelista (9-1), of Fresno, was disqualified for “intentionally” kneeing Aina (12-6-1), of Hilo, Hawaii, in the head while the Hawaiian fighter was down. The rule is a fighter can knee a downed opponent to the body, but not the head. “I feel bad at what happened, but I am definitely planning to protest,’’ Evangelista said. “Nothing I did was on purpose. I thought I had timed the knee perfectly and that he was on his feet when it was delivered.’’

Said Aina: “No one likes a fight to finish this way. I don’t look at it as a win for me, and he should not look at it as a loss for him. It should have been a no contest.’’ The five-fight telecast aired on SHOWTIME at 11 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the west coast).

In other SHOWTIME fights: Sarah Kaufman (9-0) of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, remained unbeaten with a hard-fought unanimous decision over determined Miesha Tate (6-2) of Olympia, Wash., in a women’s match at 135 pounds; Lavar Johnson (12-3) of Fresno scored an 18-second, first-round knockout over Carl Seumanutafa (4-3), a Samoan based in San Francisco, in a heavyweight fight; San Antonio’s Aaron Rosa (12-2) registered a 4:29 first-round TKO (choke) over Anthony Ruiz (21-13) of Coarsegold, Calif., takes on in a light heavyweight bout and Bao Quach (16-9-1) of Huntington Beach, Calif., won a unanimous decision over Tito Jones (6-3) of Sacramento, Calif., in a featherweight scrap. Read the rest of this entry »

The 20 fighters who will compete in the eagerly awaited mixed martial arts fight card tomorrow/Friday at the Save Mart Center here all made weight Thursday at the World Sports Café.

In the main event of what will be a sensational event, undefeated lightweight sensation Billy Evangelista (9-0) will fight hard-hitting brawler and BJ Penn protégé “Iron” Mike Aina (11-6-1) in the inaugural, newly titled Strikeforce Challengers series from leading MMA promoter Strikeforce and premium television network SHOWTIME. The five-fight telecasts airs at 11 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the west coast).

Strikeforce Challengers is a proving ground for up-and-coming MMA fighters. The series is designed to provide today’s top prospects with the opportunity to step-up their level of competition and demonstrate their ability in a nationally televised event. Read the rest of this entry »