Here are some of the latest and greatest MMA Weekly News as of June 7, 2010:
The Sunday Junkie: June 6 edition
But this week's winner, Jason Szewczyk, focused on another popular subject: UFC president Dana White and the state of MMA media. UFC News. If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get …
Publish Date: 06/06/2010 13:00
http://mmaufcnews.com/the-sunday-junkie-june-6-edition/
UFC 115: Liddell vs. Franklin pre-event preview and predictions …
Franklin' goes down over the border in Canada this coming weekend. The notoriously energetic Canadian MMA crowd will no doubt be out in force as the Vancouver crowd are treated to their first live UFC event [...] … June 7, 2010 All MMA News, Exclusives, UFC No Comments. The UFC pays a visit to Vancouver, British Columbia for the first time ever as 'UFC 115: Liddell vs. Franklin' goes down over the border in Canada this coming weekend. The notoriously energetic Canadian …
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Publish Date: 06/07/2010 11:53
http://www.mmabay.co.uk/2010/06/07/ufc-115-liddell-vs-franklin-pre-event-preview-and-predictions-preliminary-card/
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson Jokes About “The Whole Gay Thing …
Apparently, the G-bomb has become inexplicably acceptable in the MMA world because nothing was made of Rampage's consistent usage of the word to describe his bitter rival Rashad Evans in order to promote UFC 114. However, Rampage is now …
Publish Date: 06/07/2010 10:21
http://www.5thround.com/39352/quinton-rampage-jackson-jokes-about-the-whole-gay-thing-because-its-comedy/
World's Number 1 Ranked Female Fighter Megumi Fujii Makes National …
CHICAGO, Ill. (June 7, 2010) — Japanese MMA sensation Megumi Fujii, widely regarded as the No. 1 pound-for-pound female fighter in the world, will make her U.S. television debut on Thursday night on FOX Sports Net as part of the LIVE …
- Image via Wikipedia
Publish Date: 06/07/2010 9:30
http://www.prommanews.com/2010/06/07/worlds-number-1-ranked-female-fighter-megumi-fujii-makes-national-tv-debut-at-bellator-21-on-june-10/
Tweets on The Latest MMA News and Fights:
By MMA_Aruba at 06/07/2010 12:57
By boxingmmaff at 06/07/2010 10:33
By SportsPope87 at 06/07/2010 14:25
MMA Fights and News in Youtube:
Nanaimo's Nick Hinchliffe Talks To CHEK.TV Prior To Bout With Craig "Farmer" Brown at Aggression MMA III in Vernon, BC Nick Won That Fight By Submission, Rd. 3
Wanderlei Silva celebrates 4 fights 4 wins with Wand Fight Team
Wanderlei Silva and his fighters Jorge Lopez, JJ Mix and Michelle Gutierrez at MMA Xplosion at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, 4 fights 4 wins for Wand Fight Team
UFC 115 predictions by Joanne of MMA Girls
for the June 12th fights live on pay per view.
Guerreros De Tucson - Commercial
June 19th is "Guerreros De Tucson" where 20 Warriors of Tucson will battle it out in a MMA Cage brawl. The best MMA show in Arizona just got better as we have a new setup for the Cage! It has been moved off he stage and right on top of the crowd for …
Gunner Weir Vs Carson Desario. 155 Mma fight.
Gunner Weir Vs Carson Desario. 155 Mma fight.
“I’ve never changed my tune on him, I’ve never changed my mind,” was Dana White’s straight answer to the question.
But.
Listen to the rest of the interview and you’ll see the difference in melody now that he’s “climbing in bed with him.”
It was just last year when Dana White led the pack of those who were so critical of Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Fergusson. He called Kimbo a “joke,” a “bum,” “he sucks,” and all sorts of unimaginable demeaning description of the YouTube street-brawling sensation. We also remember White saying Kimbo Slice “will be murdered if he fought in the UFC.”
Now that Kimbo Slice is going to fight to join the UFC via season ten of the Ultimate Fighter, listen to the interview…
“I know he’s a fighter. I know Kimbo is a fighter. The guy fights… he fights. You know, we see him fight in the streets. He’s had professional mixed martial arts fights.” This sounds like someone pitching for Kimbo. Perhaps as a measure, White adds, “Is he a mixed martial artist? We’re gonna find out.”
Here’s more…
“I respect him for coming in and doing the Ultimate Fighter. I respect him, you know. And I did talk a lot of sh@t about him, and he’s here to prove himself.”
“That’s one of the things I respect about him is that he’s honestly…legitimately trying to get into mixed martial arts and trying to get into the big show.” Now, that’s a lot of “respect” as a word coming out of Dana’s mouth talking about Kimbo. How time flies! He even talked about the guy getting some offers in boxing and, not unlike a concerned friend, he said there’s no money in boxing unless you fight a Mayweather or a Pacquiao. Then he proceeded in praising Kimbo Slice’s manager for really taking good care of him.
All in all, we sense a sweeter tune…a love song, in fact, coming from Dana White as regards to Kimbo Slice. In fairness to the guy who made UFC MMA’s biggest outfit, he can easily say he didn’t change his tune. In fact, he reminded us of what he said before, “The only way this guy will ever get to the UFC is through the Ultimate Fighter.”
Interestingly, Dana White and the Fertitta brothers have been griping about the lackluster treatment the so-called “real media” (White’s terminology) gives to mixed martial arts. This gives us the feeling that the UFC triumvirate is revving up their efforts at marketing the sport to a wider audience base. What better way to do this than to have the name that earned the highest rating in the history of MMA television – Kimbo Slice.
The fact that The Ultimate Fighter’s format was changed– from requiring wannabe TUF fighter to win a qualifying fight – to simply handpicking the 16 contestants, speaks so much about what Dana White and company want.
This also makes it difficult for us not to think that Kimbo would linger longer in the show by not having him fight early on. Why risk eliminating Kimbo Slice so soon? Just having this hulk do his reality drama without the fight, would be enough to keep the ratings sky high – this will not be a very bad idea.
However, what if Kimbo proves to still possess his crowd-drawing powers, would TUF or UFC fake a Kimbo Slice win so he could join the ranks of UFC gladiators to further boost UFC’s popularity?
How would the fans react to a Kimbo Slice win? Would they cry “fake”? Would it backfire? We see a lot of questions arising from this change of tune. The more reason for us to watch TUF 10.
Dana White, I see what you did there!
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Check out the MMA weekly table below, we could clearly see that this is an ultimate test for “The Natural.” Lesnar’s time will come, but this bout is all about Couture. All the drama of Stallone’s surprise “Rocky” reprise, and the bloody breath-taking grandeur of Russel Crowe’s “Gladiator” fight scenes COULD all be rendered puny by UFC91 on November 15, 2008 (barring any repeat of the Kimbo-Petrucelli 14-second letdown). That’s just five days from the day we posted this!
This is quite an intriguing scenario: is Randy Couture’s superior skills, brought about by his more than a decade of fighting experience, going to be more than enough to compensate for the wear and tear his body must have been enduring from more than a decade of punishment?
Besides that, Couture hasn’t seen a real fight for the past 15 months, while Lesnar has been busy with two bouts this year alone, the latest being barely three months ago. Ring rust!
Couture says, he’s got his own gym, his stable of warriors (Forrest Griffin, et al) that he can pick to fight with every week. He might not have gone up the octagon with all the klieg lights, but his gym’s ring is just about as real as anywhere in the world–with or without the cameras and ring announcers.
Couture’s buddy, Matt Lindland believes that if Couture would just keep Lesnar’s power puches in early rounds at bay, he could make use of his ground and pound stopping power. Those pro-Couture say he toppled Sylvia, so he can demolish Lesnar just the same. However, let us not forget that while Sylvia’s kickboxing was no match to Couture’s ground game, Lesnar could give a better match considering that he too is a wrestler—and a bigger one at that.
That could make all the difference in the world.
Less than two weeks and the mma weekly team will all go the biggest fight in UFC history, the Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar face-off. And don’t you start grumbling about not having the Couture vs. Fedor fight. It’s a dream fight alright, but Fedor still has to settle contract matters with Affliction. And, if Dana White is to be believed, it won’t be long now. White said, “I would be horrified if Affliction was still in business by January.” That settles it then.
Now back to the Couture vs. Lesnar dream fight.
It’s going to be held on November 15, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. That’s less than 3 weeks before the biggest boxing event featuring boxing legends Oscar de la Hoya and people’s champ Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao. Another event that’s sure to burn a hole in my pocket!
OK, back to the Couture vs. Lesnar dream fight. This time…really!
Dana “it’s good to be” White is rubbing his palms now as he counts millions, “The thing is going to do over a million pay per view buys” as fans would jockey for the best view of the 5-found UFC heavyweight championship. The eventual winner will take on the winner of the Frank Mir vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogeira tiff which is also expected to be a great bout. Sorry dudes, no matchup with Fedor yet.
The Mir-Nogueira fight is for the UFC Interim Heavyweight championship which will be held in December. If we get lucky, we may have the Couture-Fedor dream fight early next year—that is, if Couture doesn’t suddenly decide to succumb to old age.
We can never tell. He may get some heavy beating from the largely larger foe in Lesnar who 13 years younger, and is 40 lbs bigger than Couture’s 224 lbs when he goes inside the octagon less than two weeks from now.
However, “The Natural,” who has been away for quite some time, was actually busy retooling his game. Remember March 2007? When people said he just couldn’t make a win happen with someone as big as Tim Sylvia, and he proved everyone wrong? Today, the same story is being rehashed, but with a different character. This time, it is with a much younger, more formidable-looking phenomenon called Brock Lesnar.
“The Natural” has actually been very busy sharpening his skills. He has been simulating his fight with Brock Lesnar,, “I brought Josh Hendricks in: He’s actually fighting on the same card against Gabe Gonzaga…He’s a 245-pound guy with a wrestling background…. I’ve got guys like Mike Whitehead and a bunch of other guys that walk around 240, 250 with good, solid wrestling backgrounds… We’ve got a good crew. They’re pushing me and ganging up on me. It’s hard to find guys like Brock that are that size and move the way he moves.”
Now, this is going to be exciting.
It seems like it was only yesterday when MMA Weekly first witnessed Gina Carano slugging it out with Julie Kedzie. If it were your first time to watch a mixed martial arts fight, and one of the first fighters you’d see inside the octagon was Kimbo Slice, you’d surely have a very different idea (humungously different from the real deal) of what real mixed martial arts is all about.
Conversely, it was my first time to watch women mixed martial artists to actually fight, and Gina Carano was the first woman I saw slugging it out inside the octagon. The result was a very positive impression of what women mixed martial arts is all about. The two women, Gina and Julie were simply dynamite! I would even say that they fought better than some of the male MMA gladiators I’ve watched all these years!
With the folding up of Elite XC, Gina Carano’s fate as a fighter hangs in uncertainty. This should have been a great opportunity for her to hop on to a bigger, more respected MMA organization: the UFC. Unfortunately, Dana White have expressed reservations about female MMA warriors. He must share what most of us guys think about women in MMA.
The first time I heard about female mixed martial artists, I thought, “Phooey! If I want to see a catfight, I’d go to some underground sleazy joints that feature mud wrestling.” Truth is, I am somewhat against the idea of seeing women’s faces getting beaten, bruised, and bloodied. Hey, they’re supposed to be supple and soft, right? Besides, Americans, and the world in general may not want to see women (warriors or not) beaten down the mat.
Seeing that fight between two women a couple of years back made me change my opinion. The women–real women, not the hulky muscled type with masculine faces only their mothers would love—fought like real fighters that they are. Watching them fight would make you change your old-fashioned perception of women as the weak, lesser specie of the humankind. No, no, no. Gina and Julie were real fighters. Women MMA fighters have to thank Gina Carano and Julie Kedzie for giving the female version of the sport a very good first impression to the world.
It’s a shame that the possibility of seeing Gina Carano fight again remains an uncertainty. Unlike in her case, Kimbo Slice seem to have a better chance of getting on the UFC bandwagon. Dana White just made a turn-around about his stand about how to deal with the internet sensation. While White previously said Kimbo is not an MMA artist, he said Kimbo can fight in the UFC. “The offer’s out there if he wants to take it, (but) he won’t win it.”
If ever, there’s still the issue about Kimbo’s and Gina Carano’s contract with Elite XC to deal with before they could consider a UFC fight. With Gina Carano’s popularity now, a trip to Hollywood tinseltown may be a lot easier.
We were a bit saddened by Kimbo Slice’s demise. OK, the guy just got his 15 minutes of fame, and like a shooting star, Kevin Ferguson shone so bright everyone wanted a piece of his ass—for different reasons.
Some wanted to fry him and expose who he really is: “a punk-who-beats-lame-punks-in-alleyways who thinks anyone, even a punk like him, can be a mixed martial artist.” What were they thinking? Everyone knows who he is!
On the other hand, some just love the appeal of his story—a Cinderella story. And these people were not rooting for him for his skills (or the lack of it) in mixed martial arts. They were rooting for the person—the underdog. Everyone loves an underdog (or at least a lot of people do). You will be surprised to know that even hardcore MMA fans (there were a large number of ‘em!) rooted for this internet sensation.
Kimbo Slice was a spice to the otherwise almost faceless warriors from these MMA stables. Oh yes, we have the MMA big names but you will be totally dishonest with yourself if you’d deny that not a single one of the lot have grown as big as Kimbo’s in terms of popularity.
Kimbo Slice did to MMA what MMA warriors failed to do.
Kimbo Slice have increased the number of MMA fans in a matter of months when true-blue royal-blood warriors failed to do it in so many years. Heck, MMA has just even barely risen from the underground image it has as a blood-sport of…well, blood-thirsty spectators.
The Fertitta brothers and Dana White may have done so much in the improvement of MMA as an industry but it took a cash-strapped Elite XC (with their poster boy Kimbo) to bring the sport to a broader fan base.
White has done a lot to bring where MMA is right now. However, we suggest that he should reconsider his position about identifying MMA as more of a sport of ground games, and driving away those who prefer standup fighting to kick-boxing events. Let’s face it, outside of those true-blue MMA fans, not many spectators would relish the prospect of naked men hugging each other on the mat.
Now you have MMA in prime time TV (at least for three shows).
Kimbo Slice was a TV producer’s dream.
Kimbo Slice was a marketing gold find. He was a marketer’s dream, offered in a silver platter, with all of his YouTube fans in tow.
Kimbo Slice was a marketing masterpiece that Elite XC, and CBS mishandled.
We’re not fooling anyone here. Kimbo Slice is a not a mixed martial arts fighter. Anyone who thinks he was, we pity them. Kimbo Slice was a marketing gimmick that brought that much-needed ingredient to a young and thriving MMA industry.
Even a marketing bit-player could tell you that an exciting sport such as mixed martial arts could not make it to the big time if it lacks an attraction. Call it the “freak show” element, call it the Gina Carano appeal, you would need a package that anyone could visualize. Heck, this is what World Wrestling Federation personalities used to succeed. You have the Mr. T magic, you have the Undertaker, you have the most obnoxious personalities. These “actors” became popular (as much as the body-slamming WWF was) not because of their wrestling skills but more because of their colourful (dark, ugly, or nice) personalities.
It’s all about the drama.
Hardcore MMA fans should continue talking about skills. But we should not neglect talking about marketing the sport too. We need it—even the gimmickry.
For anything to prosper, including MMA (which is still in its infancy) it should not be afraid of change. That’s how entities turned out to be in their superior forms now—by evolving.
Those who refused have joined the dinosaurs.
What a letdown.
Official records say it was 14 seconds, but that was just the record. The spectators swear it was impossibly…and shockingly shorter than that. The Kimbo Slice circus top has folded….on all fours!
They may deny it but the Kimbo Slice formula (keeping the Kimbo Slice franchise a hot item by pitting him with “beatable” but interesting opponents – “tomato can” is too much of a term, we don’t want to dishonour the warriors with this derogatory term–uhurm!) is becoming more a fact that urban myth.
They had the dinosaur-old Ken Shamrock fitting the bill for this formula. Elite XC couldn’t be happier with the prospect that this Kimbo Slice vs. The 44 year-old Ken Shamrock could bail them out of their tight financial fix. After all, this match is the last telecast of their contract with CBS, and we do not know yet how CBS is feeling with this partnership with cash-strapped Elite XC. What happens after this bout? After the Elite XC – CBS three-show contract?
With the way things were going, there was no indication to the negative, as far as the CBS contract is concerned—until that accidental cut that Ken Shamrock inflicted on his eye while doing some light training. “Oh, he’s so old, he’s brittle!”
They should have sued that Shamrock sham for letting this accident happen to him! Oh, how they must all have hated Ken Shamrock for letting them down. Why didn’t Elite XC do a UFC85 “Chuck Liddel-Mauricio Rua” dancing-chair repeat?
Remember? Rua was injured so Evans was brought in. Liddel hurt his hamstring so Irvin was brought in..and so on and so forth. The match was altogether scrapped, and both Evans and Liddel have to consummate their unfinished business on UFC88.
Why didn’t they just “injured” and excused Kimbo so he could live another day to face a more suitable (read: defeatable) opponent? Or maybe a Slice-Shamrock at another date—with or without the CBS contract? But they didn’t! And Kimbo was sliced!
What a letdown.
After that 14-second flash-in-the pan (not unlike the Kimbo fame) tussle, true MMA fans rejoiced. Newbie MMA curiousity-seekers incredulously asked, “That’s it?!!!” and the suits of CBS rushed back to their boardroom to brainstorm another show– perhaps a reality show about community organizers, or about old guys wanting to take a shot at becoming a president? Meanwhile, EliteXC employees start scanning the morning paper’s classifieds for job vacancies. Oh, how they all hated that Seth Petruzelli pizza, or something.
Elite XC have banked all its rolls on the Kimbo Slice franchise. It played a hangman’s game and they played till the noose was wrapped around its neck. What’s next?
Some wise-ass suggests that with Gina Carano’s fame still alive and hot as hotcake, Elite XC could concentrate on becoming the world’s women-only MMA organization. Or perhaps, they should get Chuck Norris as their new poster boy.
(We are not fans of Kimbo Slice, to set the record straight. We just love the way he helps turn things out for MMA. We’re sure a lot have the exact opposite opinion on this—they just HATE how Kimbo Slice turn things out for MMA! Har! Har!)
Just a couple of days more and we will see what fate hangs for the second most popular Mix Martial Arts organization in the United States. Elite XC fields Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano for its third and last live broadcast with CBS, and the network TV ratings games will determine the company’s perilous make-or-break situation as it broadcasts its fight over CBS from the BankAtlantic Center on October 4.
The Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano headliner is an obvious attempt to make a repeat of that first broadcast with CBS last May 31 (which also happened to be the first mixed martial arts fight to be aired on network television). This move is quite the most obvious and the most expected from the suits of Elite XC and CBS (whoever is really running the show). After all, the formula they used gave that card an astounding success in the ratings game with a 3.0 rating and 4.85 million viewers.
While that May 31 bout was hugely successful, a lot of feedbacks from hardcore MMA fans were largely negative. They complained that the bout did give the new fans of MMA a wrong impression of what mixed martial arts is all about, they complained of too much fanfare and pizzazz on the show, and they complained about an MMA nobody, Kimbo Slice, being the headliner instead of some true-blue MMA warrior. Elite XC and CBS must have been convinced by all these complaints that they fielded “true-blue” MMA fighters on their second telecast.
It was a costly mistake.
It turns out the “Biggest Fight in MMA” history works with a Hollywood formula: casting is number one. You see, movie-goers wouldn’t be interested in watching a movie starred by our regular “true-blue” MMA gladiators.
On the other hand, cast a show with someone like Kimbo Slice who is more of a celebrity both in and out of the mixed martial arts world. While at it, throw in the beautiful Hollywoodish Gina Carano and you have a blockbuster. All the showbiz elements are there: Kimbo Slice looks like a thug but a lot of people know him as a good person who’s just down on luck (at least before the MMA break), a good father of six kids who is given a shot at making it big in the MMA. Sounds like a good movie characterization and plot to me.
Take Gina Carano, stand her beside Eva Mendez or Hillary Swank, and I’ll pick “my” Gina Carano any day of the week.
Let’s face it, Elite XC is not like our UFC where real fighters get to be appreciated by “real” MMA fans. Elite XC is doing mixed martial arts a favour by introducing the sport to a wider audience, not without some sacrifices. You will know when more newbie MMA fans are present, when the crowd boos ground games and delights at fist fights. Let’s just hope that the CBS telecast on October 4 (which we are sure would be a success) would be able to change Elite XC’s luck.
And Oh, by the way, it’s not me writing this blog. It’s my Hollywood reporter alter-ego pinch-hitting for me. The Dr. Jekyll to my Mr. Hyde. Cheerio!
The main event of UFC Fight Night 15 that took place at the Omaha Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska had Josh Neer walking out to the tune of Stone Sour’s “Bother” (which we find a bit melancholic, by the way) while a visibly pumped up Nate Diaz walks alongside his brother Nick.
Both fighters are coming strong with their winning streak where Nate Diaz boasts of 10-2 for MMA and 5-0 for UFC, and Josh Neer coming in confident with his three-fight win streak. It was indeed a fight in a tight enclosure.
The first round found Neer getting the initiative on the first half, starting with a leg kick and an attempt for a ground play but Diaz was able to escape and get back on his feet. It was Diaz who was mostly on the offensive towards the end of the first round where he was pounding Neer from halfguard.
Neer tried to intensify his attempts at suppressing Diaz on the second round but Diaz proves to be slick he always gets away. On the third round Diaz tried to come out with a combination of punches and takedowns. It was obvious the two are evenly matched it took the judges to decide (on a split decision 29-28, 28-29, 29-28) that Diaz wins.
Diaz, as what he usually does, praised his opponent and warned all future challengers.
Here are more highlights:
- Eric Schafer (12-3-2) def. Houston Alexander (8-4, 1 nc) Alexander, having lived in Omaha since 1980 was obviously the crowd’s favourite but was not match to Schafer’s 6’3” height and a 4” reach advantage. Alexander did a good start with a knee that obviously hurt Schafer badly. It was Alexander’s lack of sufficient ground game that did him in. This could be his last for the UFC.
- Jason Brilz (16-1-1) def. Brad Morris (10-4) by TKO (strikes) at the second round. Brilz, all fired up in front of his own townfolks dominated the game from the time the bell rang. It was obviously a one-sided bout that the referee decided to put a stop to it and raised Brilz’s hand which have been busy hammering away at the hapless Australian.
- Clay Guida (24-6) def. Mac Danzig (19-5-1) via unanimous decision. Guida has been known for his high-energy fighting style and this is what he exactly used in this bout. He was a bit overwhelmed by Danzig at the beginning of the first round but he was able to eventually turn the game around.
- Alan Belcher (12-4) def. Ed Herman (16-6) by split decision
- Alessio Sakara (17-7, 1 nc) def Joe Vedepo (9-2)
- Wilson Gouveia (11-5) def. Ryan Jensen (13-5)
- Joe Lauzon (16-4) def. Kyle Bradley (13-6, 1 nc)
- Mike massenzio (11-2) def. Drew McFedries (7-4)
- Dan Miller (9-1, 1 nc) def. Rob Kimmons (21-4)
It all started rather like an “unfinished business” bout for Rashad Evans (17-0-1) and Chuck Liddell (21-6).
Unfinished business indeed, and more.
UFC85 was like a merry-go-round of warrior when Evans was brought in as a replacement for Mauricio Rua (who was injured) to face Chuck Liddell. Liddell have to excuse himself for his injured hamstring. With both original fighters (Liddel and Rua) out of the game, James Irvin’s name was thrown into the card to fight Evans, the replacement. Shortly after, Irvin cries “ouch!” when he broke his foot. He has to be replaced again.
UFC organizers must have gone tired of this endless musical chair and finally said, “What the heck! Let’s remove the card altogether!”
And then comes the fateful UFC88.
It was not difficult to root for the hugely popular Chuck Liddell—who could easily be the greatest 205 pounder gladiator of all time. After, all he defeated Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz twice. However, the fight—that dynamite bout—that kept everyone’s butt off the chair the whole time, was nothing short of a tremendous surprise you could easily shout “Holy S*&%$t!” even if your grandma was in front of you.
Evan’s assault of Liddell was spectacular.
His gameplan was more than what Liddell could have expected. That one punch knockout that felled Liddel is worth more than any Rocky Balboa slow-mo shots shown over and over again.
That shocking finish, at 1:51 of the second round, was when Evans was being backed by Liddel into the cage. Evans threw a left jab, and Liddel was throwing an uppercut. Evan’s quick overhand right follow-up was unexpected and it landed before Liddell’s uppercut found its mark. Evan’s right on Liddell’s chin was all it took to send Liddell crashing to the canvass. Ref Herb Dean immediately stopped the fight.
Evans got a knockout bonus of $60,000 plus an unplanned immediate championship title shot against Forrest Griffin. He now belongs to the 205 lbs elite of the UFC. Lucky bastard!
This is a huge setback for Liddell. He must have his comeback fast and a rematch with someone like Keith Jardine would do him good, or else he’s got nowhere to go in this division. He has lost much in his last four fights and we hate to see this as the beginning of the end of his career.
Here’s the rest of the fight results:
Light Heavyweights:
Rich Franklin (26-3) def Matt Hamill (6-2) by Referee stoppage at 0:39 of the third round
Middleweights:
Dan Henderson (23-7) def. Rousimar Palhares (17-2) by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Nathan Marquardt (30-8-2) def. Martin Kampmann (13-2) by Referee stoppage from punches in 1:22 of the first round.
Jason MacDonald (22-10) def. Jason Lambert (23-9) by a rear naked choke at 1:20 of the second round
Welterweights:
Dong Hyun Kim (11-0-1) def. Matt Brown (10-7) by split decision
Tim Boetsch (8-2) def. Mike Patt (15-3) by TKO at 2:03 of Round 1
Ryo Chonan (12-8) def. Roan Carneiro (14-9) by judges’ split decision
Lightweights:
Kurt Pellegrino (18-4) def. Thiago Tavares (17-3) by unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27,29-28)
