Rich Franklin V Vitor Belfort in UFC 103
Saturday, September 19th, 2009
Saturday night will be a very busy night and as far as Dana White is concerned, he wants to be the premiere attraction.
In case you don’t know it yet, UFC 103 will be this Saturday when Rich ”Ace” Franklin fights Vitor Belfort as both MMA fighters try to salvage what’s left of their UFC career.
However, there’s this one little sporting event happening on the exact same time that Rich Franklin and Vitor Belfort will hop inside the Octagon. It turns out that Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez are also scheduled to be in a ring this Saturday, and as expected, UFC president Dana White doesn’t like it one bit.
”Boxing is doing it to you again,” Dana White said on a newly released video from the UFC. ”They’re giving you the fight that you don’t want. Nobody asked for this fight with Mayweather and, what’s his name? What’s his name? Nobody even knows.”
Um… It’s Juan Manuel Marquez, and the entire nation of Mexico knows.
Of course, we can’t blame Dana White for feeling the way he feels about the whole thing. Rich Franklin is one of his major draws in the UFC and for a showboater like Floyd Mayweather trying to overshadow the UFC boss in what was suppose to be a huge Saturday payday is frustrating.
At least the guy’s still trying to woo you into watching this Rich Frankin – Vitor Belfort fight this Saturday, trying to rationalize why you should tune in to UFC 103 instead of the scheduled Mayweather – Marquez bout..
”On that same night, on that UFC card, you guys can all tune in and you can watch not one fight, you guys can watch five great fights that night for ten dollars less than what Floyd wants you to pay to see him run around in circles, and lay on the ropes, and move around and not fight.”
I have this feeling that the fight will be…
Randy Couture to fight next at UFC 102
Tuesday, August 11th, 2009
Randy ”the Natural” Couture returns for UFC’s next PPV event.
In case you didn’t know, the card for UFC 102 on August 29 in Portland has already been announced with two former UFC heavyweight champions headlining the event. In case you didn’t get that, former heavyweight champions Randy Couture and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira will meet inside the Octagon. Whoever wins this one could be billed as the no.1 contender for Brock Lesnar’s title.
It’s only fitting for both Randy Couture and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira to meet inside the Octagon now since the last time both fighters were inside the cage, they lost the championship belts once 
wrapped around their waists.
Brock Lesnar won the UFC heavyweight title by beating Randy Couture before Frank Mir could beat Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira to win the interim heavyweight title a month later. And since Lesnar already reunited the two heavyweight titles by beating the crap out of Mir in UFC 100, it’s only fitting for Dana White to go find himself a new no.1 contender for the now undisputed title.
Whoever wins this one could end that search.
‘’We’re extremely excited to be heading to Portland,’’ UFC President Dana White stated. ‘’When you get two mixed-martial-arts legends who are all heart and have wanted to fight each other for years, plus the fact that Randy has roots in Oregon, that tells me that not only will the crowd be electric, but it’s also a night where the fighters will be looking to cement their legacies.’’
Yup, since UFC 102 will be in Portland, you just…
Georges St-Pierre vs. Thiago Alves
Thursday, July 9th, 2009
It’s on at UFC 100.
On July 11 this weekend, UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre will defend his title against no.1 contender Thiago Alves at UFC 100, arguably the most anticipated event in the history of MMA.
It is understandable for people to pick Georges St-Pierre as the favorite to win and defend his title. After all, he’s been virtually carrying the welterweight division ever since he decided to have a career inside the Octagon.
Still, Thiago Alves remains confident that he’ll be able to get that title off of GSP’s waist. He even said that he’ll shock the world with, get this, a knockout victory over the biggest MMA star to come out of Canada.
Alves will rival St-Pierre in sheer size, as the two men are probably the two biggest fighters currently fighting in the welterweight division. But St-Pierre believes the Brazilian’s mass will not provide the difference in the contest.
Georges St-Pierre has been the better man in 11 of his past 12 contests, but many MMA observers agree with the champ in assessing Alves as his biggest test to date. St-Pierre admits there’s pressure as a champion in the UFC to keep his belt, but ‘’Rush’’ also finds that kind of pressure to provide extra motivation inside the cage.
With each win that St-Pierre collects, his legend and popularity grow, and the discussions of him as one of the all-time greatest double. And while some say the only real test for the 28-year-old lies in a 185-pound fight with the equally dominant Anderson Silva, St-Pierre believes Alves will provide all the challenge he needs.
‘’I’m always open to challenges, but right now I have the biggest challenge of my career ahead of me,’’ St-Pierre said. ‘’It’s Thiago Alves, so I’m not thinking about anything else. I made that mistake once in a fight before in my career, and it ended up being a loss on me. I learned a lot from that mistake, and I have never wanted to make that same mistake again.’’
‘’All of my focus is on Thiago Alves, and…”
Rich Franklin meets Wanderlei Silva
Monday, June 8th, 2009
In UFC 99, that’s the only fight you really need to know.
For the first time ever, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will host an event at the Lanxess Arena in Germany where former UFC middleweight champion Rich ‘’Ace’’ Franklin will face former Pride FC title-holder Wanderlei Silva in UFC 99: The Comeback.
Everybody from Germany are probably looking forward to this since ONE, it’s the first UFC event at Lanxess, and TWO, well, they don’t really have much of a choice.
You see, this Rich Franklin – Wanderlei Silva fight wasn’t really intended to highlight the show. UFC 99 was initially scheduled to have the B.J. Penn – Kenny Florian UFC lightweight championship match in the card’s main event but since Penn requested to have more time off from fighting, they had to reschedule the title bout, thus upgrading Franklin and Silva on top of the card.
Initially scheduled to co-main event UFC 99 with B.J. Penn and Kenny Florian, Rich ‘’Ace’’ Franklin and Wanderlei ‘’The Axe Murderer’’ Silva should have no problems putting up a show deserving of the top billing. They are after all, former MMA world champions.
Rich Franklin already lost to a Silva, Anderson Silva that is, TWICE. However, despite losing both meetings, those two fights are still considered by fight fans as two of the fights that define Franklin as a fighter. The guy just refuses to quit, it just so happened that he came face to face with a brick wall named Anderson.
Franklin’s opponent, on the other hand, is a whole different monster. Yup, Wanderlei ‘’The Axe Murderer’’ Silva is one of the tougher fighters you’ll see inside the Octagon and while he doesn’t have the technical skills an Anderson Silva possesses, he’s not called ‘’The Axe Murderer’’ for nothing.
Wanderlei Silva is probably on every fight fan’s list of the top fighters in MMA. For the last 12 years, Silva has dazzled fight fans with his relentless ground and pound and out-of-nowhere knockouts.
Don’t believe me? Just ask Keith Jardine…
SBG Global offers betting on the UFC
Thursday, May 28th, 2009
SBG Global has decided that it’s about time for them to tap (PUN INTENDED) into the MMA’s target market.
You read it, SBG Global is now letting their clients bet on the UFC and place their bets on some of the most gruesome battles that will be waged inside the Octagon.
And as far as the biggest one coming in a few weeks, the Octagon is being prepared for a collision between the newly crowned UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida and Quinton ‘’Rampage’’ Jackson.
Yep, after Lyoto Machida shocked the world last weekend by beating Rashad Evans for the UFC Light Heavyweight title, he now has this monster in Quinton ‘’Rampage’’ Jackson looking to put an abrupt end to his reign on top of the division. And while Machida may have put to rest all the talk that he’s a boring fighter when he defeated Evans, for Rampage Jackson, he’s still BORING.
Rampage Jackson said, ‘’Lyoto is a weird fighter. He’s kind of boring. I think that style works for him, the way he makes people run after him. I mean, he’s good, he’s undefeated, but he’s boring. If I was the promoter of a show I wouldn’t have guys like that fighting on my show.’’
Of course, current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida is no pushover.
Like what Rampage Jackson acknowledged, Machida IS undefeated. And while he may be boring to some, Machida has put up that undefeated streak by proving everybody wrong time and time again. He has also proven that an unbeaten fighter can continue to improve. If that doesn’t excite Jackson or any bona fide fight fan, then I don’t know what will.
But then again, any bona fide fight fan should…
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