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MMA

Strikeforce Will Air Unopposed on April 17th…

After all the talk of who the UFC was going to use to counter Strikeforce’s CBS card, it looks like the answer was no one.

According to MMA Fighting, the San Jose based company will get to run it’s card completely unopposed.

Strikeforce has the spotlight to itself.

The long-rumored UFC event expected to counter the promotion’s April 17 CBS offering will not take place, MMA Fighting has confirmed.

Earlier this month, the UFC explored the option, going so far as to inform likely broadcast partner Spike TV that the show was a go, but the company has apparently reversed course, and a Spike source said the network has been told by the UFC that the show is no longer happening.

At the time, rumors of potential matchups pitting Mike Swick against Matt Serra and Wanderlei Silva vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama were quickly extinguished for various reasons, making finding a headlining act a challenge.

So, what does the mean for Strikeforce? Well, for one, they won’t have to worry about half their audience tuning into Spike TV instead. The other is that they now have no one to blame but themselves if this card bombs in the ratings. They were the ones that couldn’t get Fedor on the card because of his bloodsucking management team. They were the ones who decided having three title fights was more important than have five good ones. They were the ones that decided that Bobby Lashley should be on the undercard.

Personally, I think we are at a pivotal moment in the history of Strikeforce. If they prove they can draw without Fedor, suddenly all the bargaining power is in their hands. If not, then they are going to be faced with a situation where they have to cave to The Last Emperor’s every demand.

Nonethless, every single one of you should watch Gilbert Melendez defend the pride of our country against the Shinya Aoki and his stupid magic pants on April 17th. I’m a firm believer that it could be fight of the year.

MMA

Lashley Is On Strikeforce’s CBS Card…

According to MMA Junkie, Bobby Lashley will take place in his sixth pro fight during the undercard of the CBS broadcast of Strikeforce’s next card.

No opponent has been determined, though an announcement could come within the next week.

With three title fights already booked for the CBS-televised card, Lashley (5-0) may be part of the night’s un-aired preliminary card.

… A fourth fight could be shown via delay on the CBS broadcast, time permitting. Sources said the Lashley fight is expected be that featured bout.

Lashley on the undercard? Are we serious here? This guy is supposed to be one of the top draws in the company, and we are sticking him on an undercard?

The reason is because Strikeforce is selling this card as having three title fights. Well, that means that you have to set aside a half hour or more for each of those fights. With at least 90 minutes of a 120 minute broadcast taken up, there is no guarantee that another fight will even be possible. Can they run over? Not unless they want to piss off every single CBS affiliate in the country.

They should have saved Lashley for the next card and put him on CBS the next time around.

MMA

Paulo Filho To Fight Hector Lombard For Bellator...

Paulo Filho is fighting in America once again.

According to Brazilian magazine, TATAME, Filho will take on Bellator champion Hector Lombard at the company’s May 20th event. Just warning you now, everything through the link is in Portuguese. Enjoy.

Filho made news last month when he bailed on a Bitetti Combat show just hours before the weigh-in. He later said that he never agreed to financial terms with the company. Filho is also infamous for antics like this other places, as he seems to suffer from serious depression and other mental instabilities. However, he does have a sweet new face tattoo.

Lombard won the Bellator middleweight title by defeating Jared Hess in last year’s tournament final. Since then, he 3-0 including a win over former UFC punchline Kalib Starnes.

How do I feel about the fight? I’d rather just post you a tweet from SI’s Josh Gross.

RT @MTFIII @SI_JoshGross – Your thoughts on Filho vs. Lombard at the 5/20 Bellator show? … Believe it when I see it.

MMA

UFC 2010: Undisputed Q&A Breakdown: Round Two

Each week, THQ has decided to answer some questions that the public has about UFC 2010: Undisputed. Since most game sites aren’t exactly versed in Mixed Martial Arts, We’re here to breakdown what the answers mean to us fans.

A quick note before we get started this week. If you are amongst the people leaving questions (which you should do), then please think about what you are writing. Far, Far too many people are focusing on the wrong things. I’ve seen some pretty rediculous questions on the thread, including beating on already unconscious opponents, and having UFC 1 style matches with no rules. Let’s think people.

Now, on to the questions!

XPlicit asks, “When you notice your opponent is rocked can you rush them as hard as you can and throw with all your might wasting every last bit of energy just to finish that person.”

You will get a bonus after you rock an opponent. We implemented the new “Adrenaline Rush” system into fights which should make things pretty interesting. You will not be conferred a movement speed bonus, but your fighter will have his energy replenished. This means you can execute the full array of moves without worrying about getting gassed yourself. We wanted to give the player that feeling of mastery and dominance that comes with rocking an opponent and following through on it in the real Octagon — from playing with it and testing it, it brings a ton of excitement to Undisputed 2010.

Interesting development. One of the complaints that was common last year is that every rocked situation ended the same the way. The winner would just stand over the helpless loser throwing bombs until the fight was stopped. The “Adrenaline Rush” would seem to indicate that the stamina boost will be necessary to try and finish fights, which means there will be someway to recover from being rocked.

Fornez1 Asks “How will escaping submissions work with the new system? will you always wind up in an advantages position or will sometimes you escape to standing and sometimes escape to side mount(for example)”

Last year, when you failed a submission, you’d almost always end up in a tough situation — usually on your back or with a player in control. We wanted to move away from this system and towards more of an organic, and realistic submission escape system. There are a number of positions that you can escape into that are beneficial, neutral, and even disadvantageous depending upon what has been happening during the fight. In keeping it real as it gets, escapes will never result in only side control or a full guard.

Another complaint from last year addressed. Fighters never really escape submissions and wind up in dominant positions. Last year, so many subs would be reversed into side mount that it often was worth it try for the submissions. This should also take away some of the predictably from a game that was stiff last year.

SleepyWeasel asks “In the new Career mode, does your fighter age at all? Or does he stay the same age throughout the entire career?”

Your fighter, and all other fighters will age. Aging occurs in two ways. As your fighter becomes more experienced at certain skills and moves after training, it’ll become easier and easier to better maintain your proficiency in that field. For example, once you get so good at wrestling, you don’t have to train as extensively to keep up your skill as a wrestler. On the other hand, we’ve implemented a decay system that’s a function of your age. Once your fighter gets up there in the years, you’ll find that you need to focus on maintaining your core stats through your weekly training routine a bit more to stay fresh in the Octagon. Along your career mode playthrough, you’ll even see the greats of the UFC retiring.

Yes. Thank goodness. Last year’s career mode was underutilized in many different ways. One of the main ones was that once you became champion, you fought the same people over and over again. As fun as it is beating down B.J. Penn, I wanted some new blood for my fighter to face. This year, it seems that the divisions will be thinned out by retiring fighters and re-stocked with new talent. One big step for a better career mode.

Kurowski God asks “Are there different “rocked” stages, like you hit with a head kick, maybe he gets more rocked then a good right hook.”

In this year’s game, we shared that you can be rocked from any position and by almost every move. While these moves, and by extension the rocked states that they’ll be causing, will look different depending upon what you do (head kick, uppercut), being rocked will not have varying degrees of ‘rockiness’ or grogginess. What’s important is how the player who rocked the other executes his next few moves. If you have your combos down and have excellent timing, you’ll be able to quickly level some devastating moves on your groggy opponent — you might even knock him out. These ‘follow up’ combos are going to be tough to execute, as any other button inputs after the rocked animation will derail the combo. But the skilled player who uses caution and foresight when he knows his opponent is struggling will get an awesome payoff.

This seems to relate to the first question of the day. It seems that some skill will be needed this year to finish a rocked opponent. It’s no longer enough to just land the big punch and pound out every opponent. This should lead to longer fights and more decisions.

Check back Tomorrow afternoon for the full B.J. Penn Trailer!

MMA

Liddell v. Franklin To Counterprogram Strikeforce CBS Card on April 17th

Is the Iceman coming back sooner than we thought?

According to Fighters only, his return may be roughly a month away. Chuck would forgo his UFC 115 fight with Tito Ortiz to take on former middleweight champion Rich Franklin on April 15th. This, of course, is the same day that Strikeforce will be on CBS, with the main event being Dan Henderson v. Jake Shields.

Chuck Liddell will be fighting Rich Franklin in his next bout and not rival TUF 11 coach Tito Ortiz, Fighters Only has heard from a reliable source. The switch was initially reported to us just under two weeks ago but was only a rumour at that time.

However, the rumour hit message boards late last night and an industry source confirmed that Liddell will indeed be facing former middleweight champion Rich Franklin. The fight is to headline an April 17th Fight Night event which will counter Strikeforce’s show on the same date.

Bloody Elbow (which is just an awesome site) is quick to point out that Fighters only is credentialed by the UFC, which means that this claim probably has some legitimacy to it.

Let’s look at what this does for the UFC. First off, they will lose the UFC 115 main event between Ortiz and Liddell. This fight had a chance to be a big PPV moneymaker, so there are some who will question Zuffa’s logic. Instead, they will put the Iceman on free cable, and some that he draws some eyes over from CBS.

Inside the cage, this should be an interesting fight, and it’s a win-win for Dana White. If Liddell loses, he will likely retire, which Dana publicly said that he would like Chuck to. That would mean that Franklin is back on the map in the light heavyweight division with a win over someone who, at the very least, is still a name.

If Liddell wins, then Chuck will likely be given another fight, and that one would not be free. Even if Liddell isn’t a championship caliber fighter anymore, he is still a name that can make money.

It’s also an interesting test of Liddell’s drawing power. Can Chuck still draw like The Iceman could a couple of years ago or are people going to think of him like they do LaDanian Tomlinson nowadays and react with general apathy?

If this fight goes off, there are a lot of interesting dynamics involved

[Update: (1:37 PM) Okay, maybe not. MMA Junkie is now reporting that Liddell and Franklin will take place as the main event of UFC 115, not on a new card scheduled for April. They also are reporting some other strange news...]

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