MMA News 3-13-08 (Fedor to UFC? MMA on NBC, Baroni vs Hose

TFK · Mar 14, 2008

http://mmajunkie.com/news/3928/nbc-...ounce-partnership-mmajunkie-com-exclusive.mma

NBC and Strikeforce will soon announce a deal that will give the quickly growing mixed-martial-arts organization a weekly presence on major network television.

Sources close to the deal tell MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that a formal announcement of the partnership is expected within the next week. However, Strikeforce executives didn't return phone calls from MMAjunkie.com requesting comment.

The NBC-Strikeforce deal comes just weeks after CBS and ProElite, Inc. announced a formal partnership that will put four annual EliteXC events on primetime television. The first EliteXC-CBS event is expected to air in May. And though it won't be a live event, Strikeforce could actually beat EliteXC to the airwaves.

As part of the NBC deal, fight footage from past Strikeforce events will likely be shown in "highlights" shows, not unlike the Pride Fighting Championships shows that currently air on Fox Sports Net. The first Strikeforce show is expected to air in mid-April.

The program will likely air on late Saturday nights (early Sunday mornings) either immediately after or soon after the hit NBC series, "Saturday Night Live."

Although unconfirmed, there's speculation that the deal could possibly lead to live or, at the very least, tape-delayed Strikeforce events airing on NBC. However, other than the weekly highlights show, few other details of the deal are known at the time.

The fact that NBC signed a deal to air MMA isn't surprising; however, the fact that it was Strikeforce -- not MMA's powerhouse, the UFC -- might raise some eyebrows. NBC's interest in MMA reportedly peaked during the recent writers strike, when networks were desperate for specialty programming. In fact, the Strikeforce deal may have first been reached back in January, when NBC was in talks with a host of organizations, including the IFL, M-1 Global and the UFC.

Sources close to the deal tell MMAjunkie.com that talks between the UFC and NBC never really got off the ground. According to those sources, the UFC wasn't interested in a late-night timeslot, and additionally, NBC executives "weren't too keen" on working with UFC president Dana White.

Strikeforce, though, apparently saw the value in getting its fledgling brand on network television in a weekly slot. However, the partnership may not be an exclusive deal, meaning other organizations could still negotiate with the network.

Prior to the EliteXC and Strikeforce deals, the UFC had been in talks with both HBO and CBS, but those deals fell apart when White reportedly wasn't willing to concede creative control. During a pre-UFC 82 press conference, White said he wasn't willing to make a "bad deal" when asked about the failed negotiations.

As for Strikeforce, the NBC deal could help the organization grow from a regional hit to a international powerhouse.

After more than a decade of success promoting kickboxing events, the San Jose-based organization launched its MMA division in 2006. Its debut show was the first-ever MMA event sanctioned by the state of California. More than 18,000 spectators packed the HP Pavilion to watch Frank Shamrock defeat Cesar Gracie in the night's main event. Since that debut show, the organization has hosted nine other events, including one in September at the legendary Playboy Mansion, which was streamed live by Yahoo! Sports.

Strikeforce has emerged as one of MMA's big players while focusing on the local market. California-based fighters such as Shamrock, Cung Le, Gilbert Melendez and Josh Thomson sell out local venues while drawing international interest. The organization only recently left the state of California when it hosted a Feb. 23 show in Tacoma, Wash.

Strikeforce's next show, co-promoted by EliteXC, takes place March 29 in San Jose and features a Strikeforce world middleweight title fight between champ Shamrock and challenger Le. Additionally, Drew Fickett takes on Jake Shields for the first-ever EliteXC welterweight title, and Strikeforce world lightweight title-holder Gilbert Melendez defends his belt against Gabe Lemley. The event airs on Showtime.
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http://www.mmafightline.com/news/2008/313/fedor_emelianenko_318666.shtml

Sources close to negotiations between the UFC and Fedor's management have informed MMAFightline.com that the two sides are currently discussing a possible one fight deal that would bring Fedor to the cage, presumably to face Randy Couture.

It is unknown whether Couture would end his lawsuit and come back to the UFC to face Fedor if the UFC were able to offer such a fight, but Couture has stated on numerous occasions that this is the only fight that makes sense at this stage of his career.

It should be noted that nothing is eminent at this point and negotiations are in the general discussion phase. If made, however, the deal would be unprecedented. The UFC is notorious for locking up fighters in long term deals and not allowing them to leave as champions. We'll have more on this story as it develops.
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http://mmajunkie.com/news/3923/saturdays-icon-baroni-vs-hose-free-on-proelite-com.mma

Saturday's "ICON Sport: To Hell and Back" takes place Saturday at the Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, and the entire fight card will be available for free on ProElite.com.

The event features a headline bout between Phil Baroni (10-8) and Kala Kolohe Hose (5-1). The winner earns the ICON Sport world middleweight belt, which was stripped from former title-holder Robbie Lawler last month.

The live event -- the first for ICON in nearly a year -- begins at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

Baroni, a former UFC and PRIDE fighter, will make his ICON debut at the show. The 31-year-old hasn't fought since loss to Frank Shamrock in the main event of a June 2007 Strikeforce/EliteXC show. Baroni failed a drug test after the fight, and though he maintained his innocence, the California State Athletic Commission upheld a suspension (though it was reduced from 12 months to six). That suspension ended just last week.

Hose, a Hawaiian, had been promised a title shot before, but three previously scheduled fights with Lawler were canceled due to injuries suffered by the champ. In the meantime, Hose has pieced together five consecutive victories, including a televised "ShoXC" knockout win over Frederic Belleton (5-2) in January.

Lawler, who also holds EliteXC's middleweight title, won the ICON Sport belt with a fourth-round TKO of Frank Trigg nearly a year ago. However, Lawler had to pull out of the three ICON Sport events for various health-related reasons. With the fighter unable to defend his title, ICON Sport President T. Jay Thompson stripped Lawler of the title in February. Lawler said he understood his decision and hopes to reclaim the title sometime in the future.

ICON Sport was recently acquired by ProElite, Inc., EliteXC's parent company.

Saturday's full fight card includes:

Phil Baroni vs. Kala Kolohe Hose (for vacant ICON word middleweight title)

Augie Padekan vs. Jeremy Williams

Sadhu Bott vs. Bronson Pieper (for ICON state featherweight title)

Russell Doane vs. Tyson Nam

Wayne Perrin vs. Koa Ramos

Ross Ebanez vs. Brennan Kamaka

P.J. Dean vs. Eddie Rincon

Matt Comeau vs. Elias Delos Reyes

Alan Lima vs. David Padilla

Dwayne Haney vs. Zack Rapal

Jay Bolos VS. Nui Wheeler

Colin Mackenzie vs. Ricky Wallace

Wade Ke vs. Ikaika Moreno

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TFK

TFK · Mar 14, 2008

http://mmajunkie.com/news/3919/report-thiago-tavares-vs-matt-wiman-at-ufc-85.mma

Promising lightweight Thiago Tavares (13-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) will meet "The Ultimate Fighter 5" stand-out Matt Wiman (9-3 MMA, 3-1 UFC) in June at UFC 85.

The news comes from Sherdog.com, who confirmed the bout with Tavares.

UFC 85 takes place June 7 at the 02 Arena in London, England. Chuck Liddell meets Rashad Evans in the night's main event, and as MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) reported on Tuesday, Nate Marquardt and Thales Leites will also meet at the event.

After two victories in the UFC, Tavares suffered his first career loss to Tyson Griffin at UFC 76. He bounced back from the unanimous-decision loss for a victory over Michihiro Omigawa at UFC Fight Night 12 in January.

The 23-year-old is currently in Brazil training with the Minotauro team training center.

Although he was eliminated by eventual show runner-up Manny Gamburyan, Wiman has been on a tear since his time on "The Ultimate Fighter" reality series. The 24-year-old scored a first-round TKO over Brian Geraghty at The Ultimate Fighter 5 Finale, and he followed it up with a unanimous-decision victory over Omigawa (UFC 76) and a first-round submission of Justin Buccholz (UFC Fight Night 12).

His only UFC loss was to Spencer Fisher, which took place at UFC 60 -- months before he appeared on "TUF."
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http://mmajunkie.com/news/3918/m-1-loans-fighter-to-inaugural-dream-event.mma

With match-ups recently finalized for Saturday's inaugural DREAM event in Saitama, Japan, one participating fighter will be on loan from the fledgling M-1 Global organization. And no, it's not Fedor Emelianenko. Instead, it's the only other announced commodity of M-1 Global: Eddie Alvarez (12-1).

Alvarez, who is making his debut at 155 lbs., will be taking on Chute Boxe's Andre "Dida" Amade (6-2-1) in the first round of a star-studded 16-man lightweight grand prix. He discussed his contractual status and upcoming bout while a guest on Monday's edition of TAGG Radio (www.taggradio.com), a content partner site of MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com)

"Monte (Cox, M-1 Global CEO) is my manager, so verbally we agreed I'd fight for M-1 when their shows come," Alvarez said. "And I physically signed with (EliteXC), and they both agreed that I'm first and foremost for M-1, and then I'm with (EliteXC) also when I don't have fights for M-1. But now M-1 would be lending me out to whatever. It's a confusing situation. All I know is this is the opportunity of a lifetime for me, and I really want to, I'm glad that they're letting me do it so I can take full advantage of it."

Much of the recent discussion concerning M-1 Global has focused on their potential loss of heavyweight superstar Emelianenko, as contract negotiations have faltered between the two parties, according to a recent report from ESPN.com. It has been rumored that that loss could lead to the folding of M-1 Global, as there were no other reported fighters under contract with the promotion.

Cox, famous for working without signed contracts in place with his fighters, manages many of the world's best fighters, including UFC veterans such as Rich Franklin and Tim Sylvia (to name a few). Could other fighters follow Alvarez's lead?

"I just verbally agreed that I'd fight for M-1," Alvarez said. "I didn't physically sign anything. It was just like, 'I'm going to fight for M-1 when they come.' Monte seems like a straight-up dude, and he has my best interests in hand. What's going to come of M-1? I don't know."

Regardless of contractual status, Alvarez remains focused on the match-up at hand.

"I like Dida as a first round match-up for myself and for the fans because he's just kind of wild, aggressive," Alvarez said. "He likes to come at you. And the match-up's intriguing because I'm the same way."

In the meantime, while a permanent home may not yet be possible for the up-and-coming Alvarez, the cross-promotional opportunities he's encountered have given him a chance to prove himself among the world's elite. For example he recently headlined a Jan. 25 "ShoXC" event and defeated highly touted Ross Ebanez (17-6).

He knows the DREAM tournament could bring even more notoriety.

"Monte is lending me to DREAM to do this tournament," Alvarez said. "It's a huge opportunity, so I'm glad they're willing to work together."
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http://mmajunkie.com/news/3914/chuck-liddell-willing-to-fight-for-heavyweight-title.mma

First things first: Chuck Liddell wants to remain at 205 lbs. so he can reclaim his light heavyweight title. However, the former champ says he's willing to move up to the heavyweight division to fight interim champ Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira if the UFC makes the request.

Liddell talked about the possible move while a recent guest on Fight Network Radio.

"That's a possibility if they want to do it," Liddell told host Mauro Ranallo when asked about the fight with Nogueira. "If they want to set it up. I'm willing to do it."

Nogueira, the former PRIDE heavyweight champion, made his UFC debut in 2007. After a victory over Heath Herring, he took on Tim Sylvia at UFC 81 and won the organization's interim heavyweight title with a third-round submission.

UFC hall-of-famer Randy Couture is the organization's current heavyweight champ, but he resigned from the organization in October after a dispute with key UFC executives. The UFC maintains that Couture, in fact, retired from the sport, and UFC president Dana White said he won't strip him of the title until Couture fulfills the terms of his contract (fighting twice more in the UFC). Couture and his lawyers maintain that he's free to fight for other organizations when his contract expires in October. The matter will likely be determined by the courts.

In the meantime, the organization is moving forward with Nogueira -- for all intents and purposes -- as the UFC's current heavyweight champion. Fabricio Werdum was expected to get the next title shot, but as MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) passed along last month, the UFC instead scheduled him to fight Brandon Vera at UFC 85 in June.

The UFC has yet to schedule Nogueira for his first title defense.

Liddell, meanwhile, will fight Rashad Evans in UFC 85's main event. With a victory, he hopes he'll get a third shot at Quinton Jackson, who took his belt this past May at UFC 71, if he gets by Forrest Griffin in July (at UFC 86).

"I would definitely like it to happen before the end of the year," Liddell said.

However, he's not ruling out a fight with Nogueira.

"Honestly I would like to get my title back at light heavyweight and then talk about moving up," he said. "But if that came up, (that) too is a possibility."

As it stands, there may be no better time than now to move up since the UFC's heavyweight division is in a bit of disarray. A year ago, the division never looked so stacked. However, Couture recently resigned, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic suffered back-to-back losses and left the UFC, former champ Tim Sylvia lost to Nogueira in February, one-time contender Gabriel Gonzaga has lost two fights in a row, fringe contender Cheick Kongo was recently stopped by Heath Herring, and former title-holder Andrei Arlovski may be on his way out of the organization now that he's a free agent.
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TFK

TFK · Mar 14, 2008

http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2008/03/12/is-frank-mir-next/

With the recent news that Brandon Vera will be taking on Fabricio Werdum in June, Frank Mir looks to be the man to benefit the most. Coming off a 90 second win against Brock Lesnar, Mir appears next in line to challenge for the UFC â€œinterimâ€ heavyweight championship.
Interestingly enough, not even Mir is sure that he has earned the title shot. When asked if the in over Lesnar by itself was enough to earn a title shot, Mir replied:

With the way the heavyweight division is - one more win (is needed). One more win against a guy that is near the top, and Iâ€™ll probably be there,â€ said Mir.

But based on the current status of the heavyweight division, there are no other current heavyweights in the UFC that can be marketed for a title shot. Unless Andrei Arlovski suddenly resigns with the UFC, all signs point to former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir going against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for the championship sometime this summer.
<SCRIPT type=text/javascript></SCRIPT><SCRIPT src="http://tags.expo9.exponential.com/tags/FiveOuncesofPain/ROS/tags.js" type=text/javascript></SCRIPT>
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http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2008/03/12/anderson-silva-not-happy-with-yushin-okami/

Remember when I said a rematch between UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and Yushin Okami wasnâ€™t marketable? Well, thereâ€™s a chance I might have been wrong.

In a new interview with Josh Gross of Sherdog.com, Silva addresses a number of topics, including his thoughts about Okamiâ€™s DQ victory over Silva during Rumble on the Rockâ€™s 175 lbs. tournament in January of 2006.

In that match, Silva was disqualified after delivering an illegal kick to Okami. The kick in question took place when Silvaâ€™s right foot connected with Okamiâ€™s face while the two were on the ground with Silva on his back and Okami in top position.
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MMA News 3-13-08 (Fedor to UFC? MMA on NBC, Baroni vs Hose

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MMA News 3-13-08 (Fedor to UFC? MMA on NBC, Baroni vs Hose

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