UFC popularity is skyrocketing

Wow. I've said it many times and I'm not the only one. MMA is the combat sport of the future. UFC 66 will make history tomorrow night with both attendance and pay per view sales. Sold out MGM Grand. $4 million live gate. $40 million in PPV sales. That means UFC 66 will be in a million living rooms tomorrow night. Look out boxing. MMA has arrived.

NEWS: UFC becomes fighting empire

Kevin Iole- LV Review Journal

The transition from the old Ultimate Fighting Championship to the new was completed May 27 in Los Angeles, when Matt Hughes destroyed Royce Gracie in less than one round.
Gracie was the Babe Ruth of mixed martial arts. He owned its most recognizable name and most storied wins.
But it was clear from the early seconds of the fight that Gracie was in well over his head.

read the whole story here >>

PRIDE Shockwave 2006 final fight card

• PRIDE Heavyweight Title Bout: Emelianenko Fedor vs. Mark Hunt
• Lightweight Non-Title Bout: Takanori Gomi vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida
• Mauricio "Shogun" Rua vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura
• Gilbert Melendez vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri
• Joachim Hansen vs. Shinya Aoki
• Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Ikuhisa Minowa
• Josh Barnett vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
• Akihiro Gono vs. Yuki Kondo
• Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Eldar Kurtandze
• Hidehiko Yoshida vs. James Thompson

UFC 67 All or Nothing

The winners from The Ultimate Fighter 4 will get their title shots on Feb. 3, 2007 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Georges St. Pierre will defend his title for the first time against TUF 4 welter weight winner Matt Serra and Anderson Silva will make his first title defense against Travis Lutter. TUF 4 alumni Patrick Cote and Scott Smith will also face off.

The fight card as of right now is:

• Georges St. Pierre vs. Matt Serra (Welterweight Title Bout)
• Anderson Silva vs. Travis Lutter (Middleweight Title Bout)
• Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Marvin Eastman
• Patrick Cote vs. Scott Smith
• Dustin Hazelett vs. Melvin Guillard

TUF 5 - BJ Penn and Jens Pulver

The 5th season of Spike TV's hit reality show The Ultimate Fighter will begin production in January '07, featuring coaches BJ Penn and Jens Pulver. It will also feature a cast of 16 lightweights and the live finale will not only feature the final fight but a Penn vs. Pulver rematch at 155 lbs. You may recall that Penn and Pulver faced off 2002 resulting in a win by Pulver.

Elite Xtreme Combat - Look out UFC

From LATimes.com:

Mixed martial arts groups to fight for fighters
Elite Xtreme Combat is introduced as a competitor to Ultimate Fighting Championship.
By Lance Pugmire, Times Staff Writer
December 15, 2006



Emerging as a potential challenger to Ultimate Fighting Championship, Elite Xtreme Combat, a new mixed martial arts organization — Showtime television contract in hand — was introduced Thursday.

Elite XC arrived on the scene the same week UFC announced its purchase of a second-tier mixed martial arts circuit known as World Fighting Alliance.



And in announcing the main event of its first card, Elite XC said that Frank Shamrock, who was UFC's first middleweight champion, would fight veteran Renzo Gracie on Feb. 10 in Southaven, Miss.



"I won't interfere with a contract, but we've been contacted by other fighters and I do want to work with other fighters," said Elite XC President Gary Shaw, a veteran boxing promoter. "If they're coming out of contracts, we'll talk."

Shaw had one of those conversations Thursday when unbeaten UFC heavyweight Brandon Vera (8-0) attended the Elite XC news conference at Hollywood's Roosevelt Hotel, and said he had only one fight remaining on his UFC contract.

"Whoever wants to take care of me the best," Vera, 29, said when asked what organization he would continue fighting with.

Read the full story here.

Rashad Evans Kicks Off 2007

The Ultimate Fighter 2 light heavyweight division winner Rashad Evans will return to the octagon to kick off 2007 for the UFC. He will fight Sean Salmon at the Hard Rock Live Arena in Hollywood, Florida on Thursday January 25th and the fight will be live on Spike TV.

Rashad is 14-0 in his MMA career and is still unbeaten in the UFC with impressive wins over TUF alumni Sam Hoger and Stephan Bonnar.

Both Evans and Salmon have impressive wrestling skills, Evans being a former Michigan State wrestler and Salmon wrestled at Ohio State.

UFC Fight Night Live Results

Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, CA

Televised Bouts:

• - Marcus Davis def. Shonie Carter via unanimous decision.
• - Karo Parisyan def. Drew Fickett via unanimous decision.
• - Josh Koscheck def. Jeff Joslin via unanimous decision.
• - Diego Sanchez def. Joe Riggs via KO at 1:45 of round 1.

Preliminary Bouts:

• - Logan Clark def. Steve Byrnes via unanimous decision.
• - Brock Larson def. Keita Nakamura via unanimous decision.
• - Luigi Fioravanti def. Dave Menne via TKO at 4:44 of round 1.
• - Alan Belcher def. Jorge Santiago via KO at 2:45 of round 3.
• - David Heath def. Victor Valimaki via split decision.

Strikeforce Results

Strikeforce "Triple Threat"
Friday, December 8, 2006
HP Pavilion in San Jose, California

182 lbs: Cung Le def. Jason Von Flue via doctor stoppage (cut) at 0:43 of round 1.

155 lbs: Josh Thomson def. Nam Phan via unanimous decision.

150 lbs: Gina Carano def. Elaina Maxwell via unanimous decision.

205 lbs: Bobby Southworth def. Vernon "Tiger" White via unanimous decision.

170 lbs: Duane "Bang" Ludwig def. Tony Fryklund via TKO at 3:37 of round 2.

185 lbs: Eugene Jackson def. Ronald Jhun via rear naked choke at 2:01 of round 1.

HWT: Paul Buentello def. Ruben "Warpath" Villareal via corner stoppage at 3:57 of ro und 2.

HWT: Daniel Puder def. Mike Cook via rear naked choke at 2:31 of round 2.

HWT: Rex Richards def. Kyle Leviton via kimura at 2:02 of round 1.

155 lbs: David Smith def. Sean Basset via referee stoppage (strikes) at 1:36 of round 3.

205 lbs: Scott Graham def. Drew Dimanlig via unanimous decision.

130 lbs: Anthony Figueroa def. David Barrios via unanimous decision.

185 lbs: Raul Castillo def. Andrew Montanez via referee stoppage (strikes) at 2:10 of round 1.

Bodogfight Strikeforce final fight card

The fight card for BodogFight's Strikeforce Triple Threat on Dec. 8th, 2006 at the HP Pavilion has been finalized. There will be 3 title fights and a few familiar faces, inlcuding TUF alumni Bobby Southworth and Jason Von Flue.

Here is the fight card:

STRIKEFORCE: TRIPLE THREAT
HP Pavilion
December 8, 2006

PRELIMINARY BOUTS

• Raul Castillo vs. Jeff Quinlan
• Anthony Figueroa vs. David Barrios
• Scott Graham vs. Drew Dimanlig
• Sean Basset vs. David Smith

MAIN CARD BOUTS

• Rex Richards vs. Kyle Leviton
• Daniel Puder vs. Mike Cook
• Paul Buentello vs. Ruben “Warpath” Villareal

Strikeforce U.S. Middleweight Championship

• Eugene Jackson vs. Ronald Jhun

• Duane “Bang” Ludwig vs. Tony “The Freak” Fryklund

Strikeforce World Light Heavyweight Championship

• Bobby Southworth vs. Vernon “Tiger” White

• Elaina Maxwell vs. Gina Carano

Strikeforce U.S. Lightweight Championship

• Josh “The Punk” Thomson vs. Nam Phan

• Cung Le vs. Jason Von Flue

PRIDE FC Shockwave fight card update

Confirmed Shockwave fights:

• Fedor Emelianenko vs. Mark Hunt
  
• Shinya Aoki vs. Joachim Hansen
• Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Gilbert Melendez
• Mauricio Rua vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura
• Takanori Gomi vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida
  

PRIDE for sale?

The Wrestling Observer newsletter has reported that Dream Stage Entertainment is shopping around for a buyer for PRIDE Fighting Championships, speculating that WWE may have been approached and UFC was definitely approached. Here's a piece from the newsletter:

"According to several different sources in both Japan and the United States, Dream Stage Entertainment has talked with various groups about selling the Pride Fighting Championships. Most of the prospective buyers are outside the country. Among them are a group from South Korea, as well as several different U.S. groups. It is believed WWE was approached and it is known UFC has been approached....

It's really a shame, because Dream Stage Entertainment elevated the quality of MMA...to an incredible degree....All of this stems from losing the Fuji Network deal in Japan a few months back...."

It will be very interesting to see what comes of this. We will definitely keep you posted as news develops.

BodogFight - Fedor Emelianenko vs. Jeff Monson

BodogFight has signed the PRIDE FC heavyweight champion, Fedor Emelianenko to fight UFC heavyweight contender Jeff Monson on March 3rd in St. Petersburg, Russia. Fedor is considered by most to be the best fighter in the world and will defend his title at PRIDE Shockwave 2006 on New Year's Eve. Jeff Monson was, until recently, the number one contender for the UFC heavyweight title, but lost his fight against Tim Silvia last month.

Fedor's fight on Dec. 31st will be his final fight on his current contract with PRIDE. His contract with BodogFight is for just one fight.

More about what MMA is all about

Here's some more general info about mixed martial arts from Wikipedia:

Mixed martial arts was originally based around the concept of pitting different martial arts and fighting styles against each other in competition with minimal rules, in an attempt to determine which system would be more effective in a real, unregulated combat situation. Modern MMA competition is an evolution of such events, but rules have been implemented to promote acceptance of the sport, while at the same time maintaining as much of the original no-holds-barred concept as possible. There is however no general sanctioning body for the sport, and the sets of rules vary according to the laws of individual organizations and localities (although there were attempts to make the sport, under the banner of pankration an Olympic sanctioned sport for the 2004 games in Athens).

The techniques utilized in MMA competition generally fall into two categories: striking techniques (such as kicks, knees and punches) and grappling techniques (such as clinch holds, pinning holds, submission holds, sweeps, takedowns and throws). Some unarmed hand to hand combat techniques are considered illegal in arguably all modern MMA competition, such as biting, eye-gouging, fish-hooking and small joint manipulation. Over the last ten years, strikes to the groin have become illegal in all sanctioned MMA organizations. The legality of other techniques such as elbows, headbutts and spinal locks vary according to competition or organization.

Victory is normally gained by judges' decision after an allotted amount of time has elapsed, a stoppage by the referee or the fight doctor (in the event that the competitor is injured or can no longer defend himself intelligently), a submission, by a competitor's cornerman (throwing in the towel), or knockout.

While MMA competition is occassionally depicted as brutal by the media, there has never been a death or crippling injury in a sanctioned MMA event in North America.

UFC 66 and PRIDE FC Shockwave fight cards

The updated UFC 66 (Liddel vs. Ortiz 2) for Dec. 30, 2006 from MGM Gran Garden Arena in Las Vegas is as followl:

• Chick Lidell vs. Tito Ortiz (205)
• Andrei Arlovski vs. Marcio Cruz (Heavyweight)
• Forrest Griffin vs. Kieth Jardine (205)
  
• Jason MacDonald vs. Chris Leben (185)
  
• Eric Shafer vs. Michael Bisping (205)
  
• Carmelo Marrero vcs. Gabriel Gonzaga (Heavyweight)
  
• Anthony Perosh vs. Christian Wellisch (Heavyweight)
• Tony DeSouza vs. Thiago Alves (170)

As of Dec 1 there are only 2 confirmed fights for the New Year's Eve PRIDE FC show, Shockwave 2006 in Japan. Emelianenko Fedor will defend his heavyweight title against 2001 K1 GP champ Mark Hunt and Gilbert Melendez will fight Tatsuya Kawajiri in the lightweight class.

UFC Fight Night 12-13 fight card

Here is an updated fight card for the Ultimate Fight Night airing live on Spike TV on Dec. 13, 2006 from Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in San Diego, California.

• Diego Sanchez vs. Joe Riggs
• Drew Fickett vc. Karo Parisyan
• Marcus Davis vs. Shonie Carter
• Alan Belcher vs. Jorge Santiago
• Dave Menne vs Luigi Fioravanti
• Victor Valimaki vs. David Heath
• Jeff Joslin vs. Josh Koscheck
• Keita Nakamura vs. Brock Larson
• Logan Clark vs. Steve Byrnes
  

TUF 1 Report

There's a really cool article today on UFC.com about some of the TUF 1 fighters and where they are now and what they've accomplished since the first season of The Ultimate Fighter on Spike TV. Most notably they point out that Diego Sanchez is the only fighter still undefeated overall in MMA and Mike Swick also remains undefeated in the UFC, each with 5 wins. Forrest Griffin is the third of what they call the "Top Guns" with only one loss in his 5 UFC fights, that being the loss to Tito Ortiz in April.

They also list the other fighters in 4 other categories: "A win or two away", "On the bubble", "Question marks" and "Off the radar. Kind of a "where are they now?" of TUF 1 fighters.

Leben will face Macdonald at UFC 66

In a middleweight fight on the UFC 66 card on Dec. 30th Chris Leben (16-2) will face Canadian Jason MacDonald (18-7).

Leben was beaten by current UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva in Silva's UFC debut. The loss came after a 5 win streak for Leben in the UFC. Leben quickly scored a win in his next fight against Jorge Santiago in August.

MacDonald submitted Leben's Team Quest teammate Ed Herman in October. This fight against Leben will be MacDonald's second in the UFC.

Read the full story from UFC.com here.

Bisping makes UFC return

Michael Bisping (12-0), who you may remember, won The Ultimate Ultimate Fighter 3 finally in the light heavyweight division will finally return to the octagon on Dec. 30th at UFC 66. He will fight Eric Schafer (9-1-2) who submitted Rob MacDonald in his UFC debut in August. The two were supposed to face off at TUF 4 finally but VISA issues prohibited the fight from happening.

The full story from UFC.com can be found here.

Of course, headlining UFC 66 will be the light heavyweight title bout between Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz.