Shaping up to be a good one. Happy to finally see Kang in the UFC. Marcus Davis vs Chris Lytle could likely end up being the fight of the year…I’m expecting fireworks!
Dan Henderson vs. Rich Franklin
Mark Coleman vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
Marcus Davis vs. Chris Lytle
Alan Belcher vs. Denis Kang
Thomasz Drwal vs. Ivan Serati
Andre Gusmao vs. Antonio Mendes
Abdul Mohamed vs. TBA
Tom Egan vs. John Hathaway
*Update*
Fitch is now back in the UFC after conversing with Lorenzo Fertitta via phone. Fitch has agreed to sign the video game licensing agreement and claims the disagreement had little to do with the agreement itself and more to do with the tactics of Dana White.
John Fitch was cut from the UFC for refusing to sign an agreement allowing the UFC full exclusive lifetime rights to his name and likeness for use in their video game. Other at risk of released from their contracts are veteran Josh Koscheck and up-and-comer Cain Velasquez. This is just insane to me… What does this have to do with their existing contract?
A lawsuit was filed today in Las Vegas against Randy Couture, claiming he failed to pay the production company, TOAST of New York, for an event hosted by Xtreme Couture GI Foundation. The suit indicates that Couture has only paid $50,000 of the $175,000 total bill.
Seems as though the outside distractions are mounting, hope this does not interfere with the Lesnar fight this weekend… First, the recent tension with Afflicition and Todd Beard and now this…
Pride Bushido and Dream veteran, Denis Kang (31-10-1), and agreed to terms that will land him a 4 fight deal with the UFC.
With this signing, the UFC hopes to further break into the Korean market. Born in Canadan, Denis Kang is of Korean descent and one of the more popular fighters in South Korea.
Denis Kang to UFC
Spencer Fisher vs. Shannon Gugerty
Anderson Silva vs. Patrick Cote
Marcus Aurelio vs. Hermes Franca
Sean Sherk vs. Tyson Griffin
Thales Leites vs. Goran Reljic
Dan Miller vs. Matt Horwich
Pete Sell vs. Josh Burkman
Rich Clementi vs. Gray Maynard
Fabricio Werdum vs. Junior Dos Santos
Diego Sanchez vs. Thiago Alves
Ulitmate Fighter exile, Jesse Taylor (7-3), beat UFC veteran Drew Fickett (35-7) at Total Combat 32 in El Cajon, California. Taylor manage a 1st round TKO stoppage after gettign the early take down and opening a wicked cut on Fickett’s forehead.
Ok, so Couture is back and is taking on Lesnar. Interesting matchup…style-wise, may be a bad match up for Couture, although I’m still not confident Lesnar has the cardio to hang with the pace that Randy brings. This is how the card is stackin up so far.
Randy Couture 16-8-0 Las Vegas, Nevada vs Brock Lesnar 2-1-0 Webster, South Dakota
Main Card
Lightweight (155lbs)
Kenny Florian 10-3-0 Westwood, Massachusetts vs Joe Stevenson 29-8-0 California
Heavyweight (265lbs)
Gabriel Gonzaga 9-3-0 Rio de Janerio, Brazil vs Josh Hendricks 14-4-0
Middleweight (185lbs)
Amir Sadollah 1-0-0 Richmond, Virginia vs TBD
UFC 88: “Breakthrough” fight card was finalized, takin place at the Philips Arena,Atlanta, GA on Saturday, September 6.
Main event:
Chuck Liddell (21-5) vs. Rashad Evans (11-0-1)
Main card:
205 lbs.: Rich Franklin (23-3) vs. Matt Hamill (4-1)
170 lbs.: Karo Parisyan (18-5) vs. Yoshiyuki “Zenko” Yoshida (10-2)
185 lbs.: Dan Henderson (22-7) vs. Rousimar Palhares (8-1)
185 lbs.: Nate Marquardt (26-8-2) vs. Martin Kampmann (16-2)
Under card:
155 lbs.: Thiago Tavares (13-2) vs. Kurt Pellegrino (15-4)
205 lbs.: Tim Boetsch (7-2) vs. James Lee (13-3)
170 lbs.: Matt Brown (7-6) vs. Dong Hyun “Stun Gun” Kim (10-0-1)
170 lbs.: Roan Carneiro (12-7) vs. Ryo Chonan (14-8)
185 lbs.: Jason Lambert (23-8) vs. Jason Day (17-7)
Can’t say there are many fights that jump out at me. The two fight I’m probably looking most forward to are the Marquardt vs Kampmann fight and the Karo vs Yoshida fight. The fight I couldn’t care less about is the Liddell vs Evans fight. Two counter punchers, should be a real barn burner!!
- Welterweight Bout: Luke Cummo vs. Tamdan McCrory
McCrory by Decision (Unanimous). Judges scores: 30-27, 30-27, 29-28.
- Heavyweight bout: Cheick Kongo vs. Dan Evensen
Kongo by TKO (Strikes) at 4:55 of Round 1.
- Light Heavyweight bout: Andre Gusmao vs. Jon Jones
Jones by Decision (Unanimous). Judges scores: 30-27, 29-28, 30-27.
- Welterweight Bout: Chris Wilson vs. Steve Bruno
Wilson by Decision (Unanimous). Judges scores: 30-27,30-27,30-27
- Welterweight Bout: Ben Saunders vs. Ryan Thomas
Saunders by Submission (Armbar) at 2:28 of Round 2.
- Middleweight bout: Jason MacDonald vs. Demian Maia
Maia by submission (rear naked choke) at 2:44 of round 3.
- Lightweight bout: Kenny Florian vs. Roger Huerta
Florian by Decision (Unanimous). Judges scores: 30-27,30-27,30-27
- Lightweight bout: Manny Gamburyan vs. Rob Emerson
Emerson by KO at 0:12 of round 1.
- Heavyweight bout: Brock Lesnar vs. Heath Herring
Lesnar by unanimous decision. Judges scores: 30-26,30-26,30-26.
- Welterweight Championship bout: Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch
St. Pierre by unanimous decision. Judges scores: 50-43, 50-44, 50-44.
*Wow…some great fights all around. Two guys that really surprised me were Lesnar and and Fitch. I had a hunch Lesnar might own power Herring early and earn a TKO, but never thought he could get in there and go three rounds. Even standing, he was incredibly calm and relaxed. I really expected him to blow his wad inside of the first 3 minutes. He is now a force in the heavyweight division imo.
Now Fitch…I think there were only a handful of people that thought he could possibly out-wrestle GSP… Like most, I excpected GSP to be the superior wrestler, but also figured Fitch to be one deminsional. I figure Fitch would break mentally once he could not impose his norml gameplan and GSp would eaily bang him out on the feat. Fitch showed some amazing heart and proved that he is a complete fighter that can hang with the best in the game… There is no doubt in my minf that he will be a champion one day.
