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Fronted by Luke Thomas. Note: while McCarthy is an employee of the athletic commission, it will be interesting to see how Zuffa treats him given their falling out.

via www.mmaontap.com

Both Sherdog and MMAontap are reporting on the return of Big John McCarthy to the cage.  McCarthy is apparently scheduled to officiate "selected bouts" at the Strikeforce event in San Jose, CA, on november 21.

According to MMAontap's article, McCarthy has had his officiating license renewed in California, but no information is yet available about whether he will apply for reinstatement in Nevada.

With the distractions brought on by the officiating in recent MMA events, it is great to see the best in the business coming back.  Big John *should* be the one in the Octagon for the Couture/Lesnar match, and hopefully whoever does get that one won't do anything to detract from the event itself and the subsequent discussion can focus on the event and not the officiating.

Welcome back, Big John.

Fronted by Kid Nate.

Mayhem Miller on his ProElite blog:

Wow, wtf. Kimbo loses a fight and its like Jesus fell off his damn dinosaur.

Mayhem thinks Kimbo is like Santa -- if you accept what he is and why you watch, you don't care about things like his actual MMA skills or legitimacy of the opponents, you just want the dude with the beard to hand out more presents.

I'm not a Kimbo fan, but I am a Mayhem fan.  And that first line made me spit my Diet Mountain Dew all over some pretty important paperwork.

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Fronted by Kid Nate

"Live from Omaha, Nebraska . . . "

I have to admit that I never thought I'd see the day where the UFC would come calling in Omaha, Nebraska.  There's a decent "local" scene, with events like Ring Wars and Victory Fighting Championship, and there's a good number of local gyms that do MMA training.  There have been a handful of local guys who've made it to the bigger promos -- Houston, Ryan "Tap-Out" Jensen, Jake Ellenberger (Bodog/IFL), etc.  But to see Dana White, Joe Silva, Arianny Celeste, Rogan, Goldberg, and the rest of the UFC gang come to Omaha was just more than I could have expected.  But last night, here they were.

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Fronted by Luke Thomas:

via www.evantanner.net

The former location of Evan's personal blog (before the one on Spike) has been transformed into a memorial site for fans and friends to gather and share thoughts, memories, and comments.

Evan Tanner dot net:

As many of you already know, Evan passed away in the desert on Monday, September 8th.  We have set up the site so that his many friends and fans can leave comments, and come together in this time of great loss.  We'll miss you Evan.

Fronted by Luke Thomas.

According to FightTicker the two have been offered a spot against each other on the November card that will feature Couture/Lesnar.

MMARated.com is reporting that a light heavyweight bout between Rampage Jackson and Wanderlei Silva has been offered to both fighters for UFC 91.The show will be held on November 15th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas,NV.

The show's main event between the returning Randy Couture against Brock Lesnar has had the MMA world abuzz this week and the addition of this fight could only help draw even more PPV buys to what may already be a record number when all is said and done. The card will also feature a lightweight bout between Kenny Florian and Joe Stevenson and a possible matchup between TUF season 7 winner Amir Sadollah and Nick Catone is also being rumored.

Silva has two previous victories against Rampage in the now defunct Pride organization.

It will be interesting to see which Rampage shows up. Will it be the man who rose to glory to defeat Chuck Liddell or will it be the disturbed man we have seen lately? I personally hope that Jackson can work through all of his troubles and give us a performance that could lead to "Fight of the Night" honors.

This could make for a great start to a huge card.  It'd be really interesting to see if Rampage can really be in the right mental state to take a fight with Silva by November, given all of his problems of late.  But if it goes, that'd be two huge fights to look forward to.

Fronted by Luke Thomas. Your's truly also has some crow to eat on this issue.

There, I said it. I said last week when I was confidently predicting that Herring would at least challenge Lesnar and trying to remind everyone that we had seen absolutely nothing from Lesnar yet to warrant all the ridiculous hype and predictions of domination in the heavyweight class that were everywhere, that if Lesnar actually did steamroll Herring I would come back, man up, and admit I was wrong. So I was wrong.

Lesnar earned a little respect from me with the way he absolutely dominated and controlled Herring.  He would have earned more if he could have finished him, but I was one of the guys saying that Herring is almost impossible to finish so I guess I can't have it both ways there.  After that first shot, though, it sure seemed like anyone with even a little bit of actual skill instead of just brute strength should have been able to get the job done.

Something I haven't yet seen much comment on is the knees.  I was impressed with Lesnar's use of the knees when he had Herring down.  More people should take advantage of those knees to the body and kidneys; devastating shots -- just ask Matt Serra how devastating they can be.

Whatever respect he earned, though, he completely lost at the end of the fight when he apparently forgot that he's not in the WWE anymore.  Nobody is going to convince me that it's "good" for mma or the UFC to have somebody acting like Lesnar did.  It's not "colorful" and it's not great to see somebody fill the "bad boy" role. He was basically just an ass.  I never really embraced Tito Ortiz doing it, either, but at least Tito Ortiz acted that way after things like big grudge matches (Shamrock) and after actually having been a world champion.  Lesnar is acting like the king of the world after going 1-1 against guys the UFC thought he would beat.  "Do you see me now?"  Douchebag.  Period.  And no matter what was written in the live reports, if you didn't think he was trying to insult Herring then you were watching something different than I was.  Pretending to "ride" him like a horse, pretending to lasso him, laughing and pointing.  That was ridiculous from somebody that has yet to prove he can do more than mash on a downed opponent.  I'll never be a Lesnar fan.

But I admit I was wrong in thinking Herring's experience would actually test Lesnar.

via www.heath-herring.com

Not to specifically plug another site, but there's a good interview of Heath Herring over at MMAmania.com With the recent talk around here about Lesnar and the Lesnar/Herring matchup, it's a pretty good read. Highlights:

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): Ever since your UFC 73 loss to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira you’ve seemed to have a renewed focus on getting your game to that next level. We saw a bit of that in your UFC 82 win over Cheick Kongo, where you came in lighter and in better shape and essentially snapped Kongo’s winning streak that looked, at the time, to be propelling him toward a potential title shot, given that he had just come off a win over "Cro Cop."

Can you describe a bit of how you came to the point where you realized you needed to make some changes?

Heath Herring: No, that was it, absolutely. Going back, watching the Nogueira fight, realizing how close we actually were in that fight. I was in horrible shape. I didn’t really train the way I probably should have for that fight. I got some good people around me and kinda got that belief in myself that I needed to really go, "Hey, I can really make a run at this still, and we can be real successful at this." So, I got a renewed vigor and a renewed focus.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): You’ve been working with a new strength and conditioning coach and nutritionist in Tony Aponte, who also works with fighters like B.J. Penn. In B.J.’s case, it kinda makes sense because he has to drop weight to compete in the lightweight division. But this is sort of uncommon for a heavyweight fighter, who typically can eat whatever they want.

Heath Herring: (Laughs). Right. Well, really to be honest with you, it makes sense. I think my cardio was the best it’s ever been in (the Kongo) fight. We actually beat a cardio monster in Kongo in that fight. So we beat him at his own game. Even finishing up in that third round we were going just as strong as we started off.

So I’m really looking forward to being able to bring that to the table here for the next one.

I think this is potentially a really big deal in this fight. Herring looked so much better against Kongo than he had in his last several fights. I remember the "Countdown" thing before that fight showing him and he was almost unrecognizable. He seemed very focused on conditioning. If he's continued developing in that regard, it'll be very very interesting to see how Lesnar can hang beyond one round.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): Since changing up your game, how has your diet affected your weight and body fat percentage?

Heath Herring: Great. I’m actually going to be coming in I think in the best shape I’ve ever been in for this fight. I’m feeling really, really strong, feeling good about it. So I think it’s the right decision for me.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): Are you lighter or just leaner?

Heath Herring: I’m actually going to be a little bit heavier, I’m more muscular, my body fat’s down. I’ll be weighing in about 250 for this fight. So I think it’s the right way to be going about it.

250 still seems pretty big. But if he's truly got his body-fat down and still appears as lean and fit as he did for the Kongo fight, this might be a whole new looking Herring.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): So the plan is to keep it on the feet?

Heath Herring: You know preferably, that’s where I’d like to be. I feel really good in the stand up. I think that’s my definite edge, my definite advantage there. But I think he’s going to try and take the fight down to the ground if he can.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): I was surprised to see how many submission wins you have. I think it’s something like 16, according to Sherdog.

Heath Herring: Yeah, it’s a lot more than that. They don’t even have half my fights on there. I think I’ve had more than 60 fights, but a lot of ‘em were small shows, so who’s countin’ at that point. Submissions come a lot easier when you go and you hit people. Guys are pretty quick to tap out when they’ve gotten the worse end of the stick sometimes. I’ve always noticed that that’s probably the best way to go.

Not a big surprise that he doesn't want Lesnar to get him down, lay on top of him, and drop those huge ham-fists on him or anything. But I think Herring's shown in the past his ability to work well from the guard and not be too susceptible to being put away down there. Interesting stuff. I think this has the potential to be a great Heavyweight fight. It could really tell us a lot about Lesnar's development, and should also tell us whether the Heath Herring that showed up for Kongo (who looked and performed much different than the Herring we saw in his previous several fights) is the one that's here to stay. I'm looking forward to this fight a lot.

Fronted by Luke Thomas. Note: Kimbo Slice has officially jumped the shark.

Move over Jack Black and Kung Fu Panda.  Kimbo Slice and Hulk Hogan are going to be in a 3-D kids' movie about misfit kids going to some martial arts academy to learn self-defense.  The movie is being produced by LA entertainment company "Stereo Vision," whose chairman was one of the guys who brought the world "Baywatch."

According to MSNBC Sports:

"We're very happy to have Kimbo Slice co-starring in 'Kung Fu U," Schwartz said. "He has an enormous media presence, and he'll fit right in with our star Hulk Hogan, and the other cast members in our made for kids 3-D movie."

Perhaps all of that backyard stuff from the YouTube days will pay off now as Kimbo moves to the "big screen."  Surely the Hulkster can give him some good acting pointers, right?  I've always thought Kimbo was a very loveable looking guy that was just perfect for a kids' movie.

The article over at Fightline has this quote:

It's a heart-warming romp where the rather weathered warriors come to the rescue for the kids, and in turn, the kids rescue the warriors’ seemingly lost souls from what had been their eternal apathy. It's a feel-good story that reminds us that we're all the same, no matter what our age, or where we came from, and that we should all stick together.

Coming Fall 2009.

More:

MSNBC Sports

Fightline.com

 

Thanks to  www.fightlinker.com for the perfect photo of Eilers.

Yep.  Silva's apparently NOT going to be fighting Sergei Kharitonov as was expected in a recent discussion here in the FanPosts at BE.  Nope.  Elite XC decided that the best way to put on a legitimate heavyweight championship bout was to go out and line up a fight with UFC legend Justin Eilers.

In many ways it's hard to sum this up better than FightLinker did:

 

Dear EliteXC,

If you ever wanted to know why a lot of MMA fans treat you like you’re a joke, please refer to the Antonio Silva vs Justin Eilers booking on July 26th for the EliteXC heavyweight title.

Thanks
Everyone

PS: Are you on drugs?

MMA Mania is a bit more optimistic about this matchup, noting:

Eilers is probably most known among the casual fans for his three straight losses over a year’s span in the UFC. From February 2005 to February 2006 he dropped three fights — each by first round technical knockout — to Paul Buentello, Andrei Arlovski and Brandon Vera, respectively.

However, Eilers is on a very impressive streak as of late, having won 10 of his past 11fights with the lone loss a decision to the hard-hitting Pedro Rizzo last March at The Art of War 1. It seems as though he’s targeted and fixed whatever holes in his game were leading to those knockout losses, and he’s once again ready for the big stage.

Finally, MMA On Tap suggests that Shaw's "excuse" for not matching Silva up with Rogers, Nelson, or Kharitonov had to do with fighters not wanting the fight or wanting too much cash to take on Silva:

Unfortunately, compared to the many names that have been floated around as possible opponents for Silva, this one is a bit disappointing when one considers it will likely be a title fight.  Rather than match Silva up against another EliteXC prospect like Brett Rogers, IFL Champion Roy Nelson, or Pride veteran Sergei Kharitonov, they chose to sign Eilers for a title shot.  Mr. Shaw says guys either refused the fight or priced themselves out of the market.  IMO, none of the rumored opponents would have refused the fight.  Thus pay was the only concern.  If as Shaw’s father has stated many times, that the fighter’s are first and foremost in EliteXC, that’s pretty weak that they refused to pay for a legitimate title contender. 

You can put me in the camp that thinks this is pretty weak.  Maybe Eilers really has fixed his problems, but it seems to me that this is a fight that can't really help EXC too much.  If Silva wins convincingly, it'll just be another example of putting one of its most recognizable heavyweights up against a sacrificial lamb.  If Eilers finds a way to win against EXC's alleged best heavyweight, then you've got the promotion having a "champion" that was run out of the UFC because he couldn't last past the mid-way point of the first round in three consecutive fights.

 

 

Photo via www.mmaweekly.com

MMA Weekly is reporting that Jake Shields and Nick "The Goat" Thompson will square off in the July Elite XC production for the Elite XC Welterweight Title.  The report has this to say about The Goat:

t will serve as the co-main event along with the previously announced title fight pitting a rematch between Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith for the EliteXC middleweight title.

Thompson, who most recently competed in Japan for the Sengoku promotion, comes home to the United States for one of the biggest match-ups in his career.

Having just returned from defeating Chute Boxe fighter Michael Costa on June 8, Thompson was settling in to take some time off and prepare for the bar exam, but the chance to face a high profile opponent and do so on network television put his mind back on fighting.

“Those were the two biggest things. One was I wanted to fight (Jake) Shields, that’s been my number one choice for a fight for a long time. Jake and I are the No. 1 and No. 2 guys not in the UFC and I think we both wanted this fight,” said Thompson in an exclusive interview with MMAWeekly.com “And two, to fight on CBS for the title is a huge opportunity, exposure wise.”

The Minnesota Martial Arts Academy standout was the last Bodog Fight welterweight champion and now he will fight Shields for the new EliteXC 170-pound title as the first bout on his new six-fight deal with the promotion.

 

MMA Mania also has a report of this scheduled fight.  The report has this to say about Shields:

Shields is a name that is quickly becoming one of the more recognized in the business.

After defeating Dave Menne in January of 2006, he went out three months later to beat Yushin Okami and Carlos Condit in the same night to win a Rumble on the Rock eight-man grand prix tournament. Needless to say, Shields opened up a lot of eyes and the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Cesar Gracie is on everybody’s top 10 welterweight list.

He’s on a nine fight winning streak of his own, including three straight wins under the Elite XC banner. He is one of the brightest stars Elite XC has on its roster and he was a shoe in for their first welterweight title fight.

 

This should be a really fantastic fight.  Both guys are very technical and capable of putting on a heck of a fight.  Added to the rematch of Lawler/Smith (if it lives up to the first fight), and this card is starting to shape up for some really good potential fights.

EDIT:  More from Yahoo! (Meltzer) and Fight Ticker

 

Photo via mmasplatter.com

Jason "The Ath-a-leete" MacDonald is squaring off against Demian Maia at UFC 87 in August.  I'm personally looking forward to the fight because I'm all over Demian Maia's jock and can't stand the aura of unwarranted arrogance that just exudes around MacDonald like that little cloud of dust always did around PigPen on the Peanuts cartoons.  I'm anxiously counting down the days until Maia either brings MacDonald to tears or puts him to sleep in some slick submission.

So I was very amused to be browsing various of the "lesser than BloodyElbow" mma sites and saw multiple stories reporting on MacDonald's recent blog entry about what he expects to happen in the fight with Maia.  Apparently MacDonald has himself convinced that he has an edge over Maia because Maia is just a great bjj practitioner while MacDonald is some kind of "well-rounded" mma machine.

MacDonald scribbles:

He’s a very high-level jiu-jitsu fighter, a five-time champion in fact. I’ve got a lot of respect for what he’s done in the jiu-jitsu world. But I think we’ve seen time and time again that good mixed martial artists have been able to defeat high-level jiu-jitsu guys. Take even the other night in London, where Kevin Burns, in his first UFC fight, was able to get a triangle choke on Roan Carneiro, who is a high-level black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Maia is not like B.J. Penn who is great in jiu-jitsu but also dominant in all other facets. He is still fairly new to the MMA side of things so I’m hoping to go out there and put on a strong mixed martial arts fight and do much like what Nate Marquardt did to Dean Lister.

I'm no Joe Rogan, but it seems to me that MacDonald is a below average striker who usually relies on his bjj and submissions to get over on people.  Hence the fact that he has 16 submission victories and only 3 k.o. victories in his career.  And when you compare Maia and MacDonald side by side in bjj skills, in my opinion MacDonald comes up seriously short.  And guess what, that's what the "experts" over at MMAMania.com AND Fightlinker think, too (although the folks at Fightlinker managed a few more references to penises and pornography than me).

Or at least that is what is very strongly suggested in the following SpikeTV Media press release:

New York, NY, June 18, 2008 – In one of the most stunning twists in the history of the Ultimate Fighter™, for the first time, a gladiator who endured through six weeks of living in seclusion with fifteen other mixed martial artists in the Las Vegas desert, and defeated three of his housemates for the right to fight for a guaranteed six figure contract with the UFC®, will not be participating in the show’s live finale.

Hat-Tip: FightTicker

Poll

Vote:

72%

Jesse Taylor

18 votes

12%

Amir Sadollah

3 votes

16%

C.B. Dollaway

4 votes

25 votes | Poll has closed

There's an article over at MMAWeekly.com recounting an interview The Crippler gave them about his recent stint in jail.  Some interesting tidbits about what the experience was like.

Leben said that despite all the images that people have about what being in jail is like, the experience was really just pretty boring for him:

For all the gripping images that jail sometimes conjures, it’s a monumentally boring experience. Especially for a guy like Leben, who isn’t exactly a mellow-yellow personality.

"It was claustrophobic," he said. "The roofs are really short, you’re breathing in all this recycled air, everything’s white concrete. You don’t have a lot of space; there’s no windows to see outside. Sometimes you have to sit down, take a deep breath, (and say) time will pass."

And it did, albeit like watching paint dry.

He also talked about having difficulty training and about how he was received by fellow inmates, being a big-time fighter and all:

There was no way for Leben to stay in shape. He was a highly trained athlete with nowhere to work out. He went old-school, doing push-ups and sit-ups in his cell. A modern MMA gym it was not. The prison administration wouldn’t even let him outside into "the yard." It’s not clear where he got this fact, but Leben said the jail had the distinction of being the third most dangerous in the nation.

"As soon as I started to do anything, everyone was like ‘what are you doing?’" he recalled. "Training martial arts probably isn’t the best thing to do around a bunch of felons."

You’d think that being a professional fighter might paint a target on his back, but Leben encountered more curiosity from his fellow inmates than anything else. They wanted him to show them some moves. Happy to oblige, he once demonstrated a choke on an inmate while 20 others watched.

"I told the guys it’s a blood choke, so you don’t have to squeeze hard," he said. "So I was just kind of choking him with one arm while he’s standing up. And I told him just tap when you start to feel like you’re going to pass out. Well, he didn’t tap, and at the time I’m going wow, this guy’s pretty tough, I’m surprised he hasn’t tapped yet. He just drops to the floor in the cell.

"Now I’m standing there with 20 prisoners around and they’re freaking out. This guy’s laying there, snoring like crazy. I’m like ‘it’s all right, it’s all right,’ then I realize they have cameras in here. I’ve just choked this guy out in jail – I could get in trouble for this. I kept telling them, ‘he’s fine, he’s fine,’ and it took this guy a minute to wake up. Finally he woke up and we had a laugh, and luckily I didn’t get in any trouble for it. That was beginning and the ending of my inmate coaching career."

Leben said he's looking to return to the Octagon sometime this fall.  And, according to another FanPost here at BE, his return will likely be in October against Bisping, the fight that was scheduled for UFC 85 but had to be canceled so Leben could do his jail time.

Fronted by Luke Thomas.

According to MMAMania.com , "the UFC will indeed go forward with a Spike TV event on July 19 despite some recent reports that claimed it wasn’t going to materialize":

As we mentioned in our previous report, promising heavyweight prospect Cain Velasquez is expected to compete on the July 19 card against a soon to be announced opponent. Brandon Vera — who we can confidently report is making the drop to light heavyweight — has been asked to headline the event.

There was some valid speculation that he would take on Wanderlei Silva; however, it appears that “The Axe Murderer” will not accept the bout because he does not have enough time to prepare. The hunt for someone to challenge “The Truth” is still ongoing.

In addition to Vera, Velesquez and others, there are a handful of fights already slated for other events that will be shuffled and added to this card. We’ll pass those along to you as soon as possible.

The UFC July 19 show will take place in Las Vegas — most likely at The Palms Resort & Casino.

Guess we'll have to stay tuned to see if it's another false alarm, but it looks like the July 19 UFC show might just be on afterall.

UPDATE:  It's a go, and UFC will announce the main event on Saturday night on Spike TV.  (Source:  Saucylv33 on the underground forums, a well-established UFC employee.)  The poster claims the main event is "exciting."

Oh for crying out loud Dana. Fronted by Kid Nate

via www.f4wonline.com

Figure 4 Weekly is reporting that Dana White's earth-shattering, life-changing, mind-blowing, gasp-inducing, cold-sweat-causing announcement about the future of life as we know it has been delayed, again. 

Coincidentally, it sounds like the committee vote in NY on that bill to legislate and regulate mma there is supposed to be voted on again tomorrow.  Surely no connection between the two, though, because if that's the announcement then it would be almost like Dana White overhyped the whole deal, and that can't happen with this announcement.

No source is provided, but here's the "blurb":

Dana White has moved the meeting for UFC employees to Noon tomorrow (Wednesday) for the big announcement.  So word should break shortly after that time.

 

via www.adrenaline-mma.com

 Potentially good news for fans who don't have HDNet but wanted to see the Adrenaline card this weekend.  According to Adrenaline MMA Online:

Adrenaline MMA announced Thursday it has entered into a partnership with Vividas, a leading developer and provider of video streaming technology.

Adrenaline’s debut event comes to the Sears Centre Arena on Saturday, June 14. The main event pits Chicago police officer Mike Russow – an up-and-comer in the heavyweight division – against Midwest Training Center’s Jason Guida, a veteran of nearly 40 professional bouts. A night of 14 fights begins at 6 p.m.

"Those MMA fans who can’t see the fights live or watch on HDNet will have the opportunity to see all the fights, including the preliminaries, live through Vividas. Our undercard is as loaded as our main event," Adrenaline CEO and President Monte Cox said.

As a specialist in streaming online events, Vividas will provide audiences the chance to view the event from their computer in high-quality, full-screen action. Vividas offers audiences a simple, hassle-free viewing experience at the click of a button.

"We are very excited to be working with Adrenaline as this is their first event broadcasted online. We believe that the MMA area is ideal for online content and feel honored that Adrenaline has selected us to broadcast some of the best talent in the business," says Iain Molland, CEO of Vividas North America.

For more information, check out www.adrenaline-mma.com and www.vividas.com .

 

The Adrenaline site does not mention the cost, but according to FightTicker.com:

Bob Clark, COO of Andrenaline MMA, has informed FightTicker.com that "there is a $12.95 charge" for access to this live online stream.

Adrenaline card:

 Main Card

Joe Pearson (22-9) vs. John Hosman (8-3-1)

Louis Taylor (4-0) vs. Adam Maciejewski (6-4)

Joe Jordan (41-11) vs. Ryan Williams (6-1)

Dom O'Grady (5-0) vs. Mike Stumpf (9-1)

Hector Urbina (11-3) vs. Dave Kleczkowski (6-3)

Aaron Rosa (10-2) vs. Ron Fields (23-24-1)

Herc Hayes (7-5) vs. Kerry Schall (22-9)

INTERMISSION

Jameel Massouh (15-3) vs. Clay French (14-2)

Jay Ellis (11-15) vs. Rory Markham (14-4)

Jeff Cox (9-6) vs. Bart Palaszewski (28-11)

Marcus Levesseur (12-1) vs. Mark Miller (9-3)

Forrest Petz (11-5) vs. Brian Gassaway (25-17-1)

Daiju Takase (7-11) vs. Terry Martin (16-4)

Main Event

Jason Guida (23-17) vs. Mike Russow (9-1)

 

Link for online stream: HERE

 

via mmamania.com

Apparently the contracts have been signed for the Fight Night bout in September. 

This has the makings of a really great battle for both of these guys.  If Diaz can be impressive again, he'll really move up the ranks quickly and maybe get his shot at Tyson Griffin in a very hype-able grudge match of former training partners (Griffin's lack of interest in such a fight notwithstanding).

Add in the rumored Guida vs. Danzig match and this card might be starting to shape up nicely for Omaha!

Last week there was a rumor that the UFC might make its first trip into Nebraska for the September Fight Night promotion on Spike.

According to mmamania.com, the date and location have now been confirmed:

Brace yourselves, Cornhuskers, because the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is set to invade Nebraska for the first time ever in just a few months.

That’s right, the mixed martial arts promotion is in the process of putting together a show — UFC Fight Night 14 — that will be held at the Omaha Civic Auditorium in Omaha on Wednesday, September 17. MMAmania.com confirmed the venue and location earlier this afternoon with multiple sources.

 

Early speculation on the possible fight card includes:

Nate Diaz vs. Josh Neer

Houston Alexander vs. Eric Schafer

Ed Herman vs. Alan Belcher

Rumors in the comments over at the mmamania post suggest the headline event might be Guida vs. Danzig.

As someone within driving distance of the Omaha Civic Auditorium, I am absolutely stoked at this possibility.  Anyone have an idea how much tickets usually go for on these free Spike Fight Night events?

Fun from the fan posts, promoted by Kid Nate.

Speculation seems to be the rage right now.  Will Anderson Silva fight Chuck Liddell (or somebody else) in either a LHW or a catch-weight bout?  Is Vince McMahon taking over the UFC?  Is Floyd Mayweather going to be the next great mma star?  Is the UFC coming to Fox? NBC?  ESPN?  Is it true that Dana White and Bill O'Reilly are going to get inside the octagon for a grudge match with knees to the head of downed opponents and soccer kicks all allowed?

In the midst of this speculating madness, nobody is talking about the speculation that should really be trumping all of this.  During last Saturday night's pay per view show, there was a promo for TUF that included something about one of the next two episodes including "THE MOST SHOCKING MOMENT IN TUF HISTORY."  I almost couldn't contain myself enough to watch the rest of the bouts that night wondering what would be the most shocking moment in TUF history.  So I figured somebody here at BE would have been all over it by now and figured it all out.  But there's nothing here; imagine my let-down.

In all seriousness, this is obviously most likely just more of the UFC over-hype machine.  But I'm still curious what it's going to be.  Anyone got thoughts, rumors, or inside info?

On the one hand I could see Amir knocking CB out as a huge upset of this season's Michael Bisping / Mac Danzig (ie. the guy seemingly pegged from day 1 as the eventual winner).  While that wouldn't be "that" shocking, it'd be enough to satisfy the UFC people to call it the "most shocking" ever.  I could also see  Jesse winning his semifinal match (which would be an upset in and of itself) and then getting baited into punching Jeremy May right in his face and getting kicked off.  Again, not "that" shocking, but it'd be the first time somebody had earned the right to be in the final match and then gotten kicked out for a non-injury deal.  I also seem to remember some rumors earlier in the season about Forrest/Rampage going at it at some point during the season -- I'm thinking I saw rumors of Forrest choking Rampage out and other rumors of Rampage knocking Forrest out -- so maybe that's what it'll be; maybe Forrest will win the "HORSE" game next week and make a joke and Rampage won't be able to restrain himself from engaging in a tussle or something.

Anyone?  This is very important stuff, afterall.