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By Anthony De Franco  March 17, 2010, at 10:41 pm  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.
By Anthony De Franco March 13, 2010, at 12:45 pm 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...]
By Anthony De Franco March 9, 2010, at 6:42 pm Everyone wondered what was next for Paulo Thiago. After going 2-1 against the American Kickboxing Academy’s welterweight Triumverate, Thiago is considered an elite prospect and someone capable of making a run at Georges St. Pierre’s title. Up next for him will be Danish striker Martin Kampmann, according to the Las Vegas Sun.
“According to sources close to the negotiations, both sides have verbally agreed to the bout and should sign official agreements as early as next week.”
Thiago is coming off a victory over Mike Swick in which he showed good, powerful striking and the ability to finish via submission with a textbook d’arce choke. I’m not quite sold on him yet as a contender for a belt, but I am a beleiver that he can make some noise at the top of the welterweight rankings.
As for Kampmann, I’ve never been quite as high on him. At UFC 103, Paul Daley outstruck a guy who is supposed to be one of the most dangerous welterweight standup fighters in the world. Since then, He guillotined Jacob Volkmann at UFC 108, which proved exactly nothing to me.
Expect Thaigo to continue his assault on the summit of the Welterweight division.
By Anthony De Franco February 25, 2010, at 5:22 pm Sorry for the late start today, guys. I just got done rear-naked choking the Jon Fitch of spyware programs. The thing simply would not freaking die. Anyway, for those who are interested in non-mainstream MMA, we bring you this wonderful piece of news from Brazil.
Paulo Filho has pulled out of his bout at tonight’s Bitetti Combat card, according to Bloody Elbow and PVT. Filho pulled out of this fight a week ago, and then declared it was back on a day later. Now, he’s out again, and my head is spinning. This also comes on the heels of Jeff Monson not being able to get down to Brazil for the card. People have suggested his legal troubles (for vandalism, of all things) have prevented him from leaving the country.
Filho has long been dealing with emotional problems including depression. If you read his Wikipedia page, the last few years sound like the dude is roaming around in the woods lost. Jason will still make the claim that Filho could be the world’s most talented middleweight, but I think he’s crazy.
At this point, I think the writing on the wall is clear. Until Filho can prove to everyone that he is mentally ready to fight again, he should not be booked on another card.
By Anthony De Franco February 23, 2010, at 3:58 pm I find this fascinating, and thought about it when we were watching the fight, but didn’t say anything beacuse I thought I must be insane. However, more and more people are starting to jump on the idea that the aussie was circumventing the system and wearing grappling pants. From MMA Fighting:
During last weekend’s UFC 110, George Sotiropoulos turned in a star-making performance in a win over Joe Stevenson, but the victory also caused a minor controversy by some who questioned Sotirpoulos’ fight attire as flouting the rules.
Sotiropoulos wore fight shorts, compression shorts, knee sleeves and ankle sleeves that left little of his legs exposed, causing some to think he exposed a loophole in the rule prohibiting grappling pants.
Although the bout took place in Australia, MMA Fighting spoke with Nevada state athletic commission executive director Keith Kizer, who oversaw a previous UFC event in Nov. 2009 during which Sotiropoulos wore the same gear.
“We had a situation where one guy had ankle sleeves, but it was that material, non-slip rubber, so he wasn’t allowed to wear them,” Kizer said. “Equipment can’t give the opponent any kind of abrasion or pain, or allow the fighter wearing it an advantage to slip out of a submission or get one clinched in.”
I mean, really? Look at the picture:
Get more pictures like this from SHERDOG.COM
The dude has about four inches of exposed flesh on his legs. While he doesn’t make the same kind of living on leg locks that Aoki does, you can’t tell me that it wasn’t an advantage.
You know what they say: “If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.”
By Anthony De Franco February 22, 2010, at 2:37 pm Jason David Frank, Also known as the Green Ranger from The Power Rangers, just won his second professional MMA bout this weekend. Here is the complete video:
Now 2-0, Frank is dropping to Light Heavyweight for his next fight sometime in May. While it’s a cool story, Frank is 36 years old, and hardly a prospect.
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