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VIP AUDIO: A look at the main card and whether any undercard fights deserved a spot over the two that round it out - Penick and Bent (Day 13)

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:49:20 PST

Today's VIP exclusive audio brings a discussion on the main card for UFC 100 and whether or not they chose the correct fights to fill out the main card. Torch Editor Jamie Penick and Torch Columnist Jason Bent also discuss the merits of three undercard bouts that could make a main card on almost any other show.

To become a VIP member and gain access to all daily VIP audio shows leading up to UFC 100, plus our pre-event Audio Roundtable, post-event Audio Roundtable, and seven daily post-event UFC 100 updates, plus VIP-exclusive UFC 100 articles and ad-free access to all regular MMATorch articles, CLICK HERE

UFC 100 MEGA-COVERAGE AUDIO SERIES SO FAR:

VIP AUDIO: Looking back on the first season of the Ultimate Fighter and that show's importance to the UFC then and today - Penick and Bent (Day 12)

VIP AUDIO: Profile of Thiago Alves' MMA career, from promising young fighter to the most dangerous challenger(Day 11)

VIP AUDIO: Discussion on fighters representing multiple countries at UFC 100 - Penick and Bent (Day 10)

VIP AUDIO: Profile of GSP's MMA career, part three, focusing on second Penn fight and GreaseGate (Day 9)

VIP AUDIO: Profile of GSP's MMA career, part two, focusing on UFC 69-UFC 87 fights (Day 8)

VIP AUDIO: Profile of GSP's MMA career, part one, focused on early career before first title win (Day 7)

VIP AUDIO: Profile of Frank Mir focusing on ups and downs of his career - Penick and Pelkey (Day 6)

VIP AUDIO: Lesnar vs. Couture - should it have happened and what was learned - Penick and Keller (Day 5)

VIP AUDIO: Lesnar's controversial statements make headlines again - is he bad for MMA's image? (Day 4)

VIP AUDIO: How much does Lesnar-Mir fight mean if they don't beat Fedor - Penick and Pelkey

VIP AUDIO: Profile of Lesnar's MMA career, part one, focused on first three MMA fights - Keller and Penick (Day 2)

VIP AUDIO: Introduction to what's planned for the next four weeks of UFC 100 Mega-Audio! (Day 1)

Visit www.mmatorch.com/vip to access the VIP site or sign up as a new VIP member!

VIDEO: ESPN's MMA Live for July 2nd - UFC 100 preview; Jacob "Stitch" Duran

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:55:41 PST

ESPN's latest episode of "MMA Live" sees host Jon Anik joined by Pat Miletich and Franklin McNeil to discuss, among other things, next weekend's UFC 100 event. (App users, video available at MMATorch.com).

UFC NEWS: UFC 101 already breaking records in Pennsylvania

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:16:18 PST

The UFC 101 event coming to the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, PA, on August 8th has already broken the state's live gate record, and the show's not even sold out yet.

According to the UFC's Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner on MMAJunkie.com, the event has already sold 14,000 tickets since they went on sale in late April/early May, and it has resulted in more than $3 million in ticket sales.

That figure makes it the largest gate for an event in Pennsylvania history. The card is headlined by the Lightweight Title bout between B.J. Penn and Kenny Florian. It also features Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva jumping up for a second time in the UFC to 205 lbs. to face former Light Heavyweight Champion Forrest Griffin.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: The UFC's continues it's dominance in the live gate and attendance areas for all of these new venues they bring events to. Breaking record after record with each new location is just becoming commonplace, and it's a testament to the fighters and the product that the UFC is bringing on a consistent basis. This event will set the stage for more events on the east coast as the clear view of what the UFC can bring to a city. New York needs to be on notice for what this card is going to bring to the city of Philadelphia monetarily.

AFFLICTION NEWS: Trilogy's HDNet prelim card adds Javier Vasquez vs. L.C. Davis

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:14:04 PST

The HDNet preliminary portion of Affliction's "Trilogy" event on August 1st continues to fill out with the addition of a featherweight bout between Javier Vasquez and L.C. Davis. Vasquez first discussed the bout with Sherdog Radio, but MMAJunkie.com reports that the bout is close to being finalized.

Both fighters come into the event with identical 13-2 records. Vasquez just fought last weekend on the much maligned "Ultimate Chaos" pay-per-view. He defeated last second replacement Mark Kergosian in 19 seconds after confusion on the day of the weigh-ins led to his original opponent, Din Thomas, going to the hospital. Both having given conflicting comments on what took place at the weigh-ins, but nevertheless the bout didn't take place and Vasquez was left highly disappointed by the entire ordeal.

Vasquez will now face Davis, a veteran of Sengoku and the IFL along with Affliction, who is coming off his second career loss in a bout with Michihiro Omigawa this past March.

The preliminary bouts for Affliction: "Trilogy" air live on HDNet prior to the pay-per-view portion of the card on August 1st from the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. The pay-per-view is headlined by the WAMMA Heavyweight Title bout between Fedor Emelianenko and Josh Barnett.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: This is a very good featherweight match-up for the undercard. For those that actually have access to HDNet this will be a very good lead in to the pay-per-view broadcast. Of course, with the way the last two pay-per-views have gone it'd be nice of them to replay prelim fights if they've got the time as the pacing has not been very good on either event. It got better with the January event but considering the limited reach of the HDNet station they're missing out on a larger potential audience for these fighters by not fitting in prelim fights when there's time.

UFC QUOTABLES: Alan Belcher wants to "make a statement" in fight with Akiyama

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:58:49 PST

"I know my advantages, but I think they're kind of slim, and I'm going to have to work hard and especially to win the way I want to. I want to make a statement...I'm getting offensive with my jiu-jitsu...The Kang fight was probably the first time that I felt comfortable in attacking and not trying to stand up, so it gave me a lot of confidence to know where I'm at on the ground...I still don't think I've hit my full potential, and I think this could be my breakthrough fight...I'm definitely not going down as someone's stepping stone."

-Alan "The Talent" Belcher talks to MMAWeekly.com about his upcoming bout with Yoshihiro Akiyama and the opportunity he has to break out.

Penick's Analysis: Belcher for sure can't be counted out of this bout, and as it's likely the opening bout for the pay-per-view the two of them should set a great tone for the rest of the night. Belcher is sounding very confident in what he's bringing to the table in this fight while smartly not going overboard with it. Every fighter in their head believes they can go out and win every fight, though some of them trick their brains into believing that's the case. Belcher simply seems ready, and that should make for a great bout with Akiyama because of it.

APP USERS - Important MMATorch and UFC 100 Coverage Information

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:12:22 PST

After receiving a couple emails and seeing a couple critical reviews in the iTunes store of our new MMATorch VIP website, I wanted to chime in and address some concerns and hopefully clear up some potential confusion.

While we have created an MMATorch VIP website and will be offering a paid MMATorch App soon (more on that in a moment), nothing about MMATorch's free App has changed or will change. If anything, we are amping up our quantity of news coverage and commentary compared to just a couple months ago.

The VIP version of MMATorch was created primarily as a web-based option for people without iPhones so they could access much of our MMATorch UFC 100 Mega-Coverage App (again, more on that in a moment) on the web or other smart phones. In order to make website visitors aware of our VIP site and its expansive content, we are putting up the lead paragraph or two of our print VIP features - just as Variety and ESPN and other major websites do with premium subscription options.

The success of a premium subscription MMATorch service has the potential to actually lead to an even better free App, as the more successful a subscription-based service is, the more man-hour resources can be dedicated to the entire MMATorch brand.

We absolutely appreciate the tens of thousands of you who visit us throughout each week and would not do anything to cut back on the coverage that has made us such a success in our first six months as a free App!

The VIP-based UFC 100 Mega-Coverage consists primarily of five features:

(a) Daily Audio Updates focused on a particular aspect of UFC 100 (a fighter, a particular fight, a controversy, predictions, etc.).

(b) In-depth fighter profiles with analysis of the key fights in their career (a feature never previously featured in MMATorch's free App or free Website).

(c) Additional text Roundtables focused on subjects revolving around UFC 100.

(d) Expanded, lengthier fight previews from the staff (the same quantity of fight previews will be featured as always in the final days before UFC 100 - the ones you're seeing snippets of are part of the 21 straight days of expanded UFC 100 preview content that has not been featured before this early or in this format).

(e) History pieces about what brought us to UFC 100 (again, a new feature not part of the free App before).

We would love to bring all of this to you for free, but the ad market alone is not enough to support the time being poured by our staff into this UFC 100 Mega-Coverage (with UFC 101 Mega-Coverage up next!). We believe you get what you pay for in life, and we believe the package of UFC 100-related content being offered for just $5 online for a full month of VIP access is an incredible bargain... Less than the price of most glossy newsstand magazines! Heck, less than the price of a footlong sub that's gone in five minutes!

Now, as promised, an update on the MMATorch UFC 100 Mega-Coverage App. As you probably know, Apple just upgraded iPhone/iPod software. That led to thousands of App developers updating their Apps and submitting them to the iTunes store at the same time a few weeks ago, at the same time we submitted our UFC 100 Mega-Coverage App. That. unfortunately and unexpectedly, has led to a huge backlog in new Apps being approved by the iTunes store. We are very frustrated and disappointed it's not in the iTunes store by now. Although there is nothing we can do to get it pushed through the system faster, we can offer in the mean time a phone-friendly VIP website that features virtually the same content - audio and text - at about the same price-point.

Although it's not customized for the iPhone like the App is, it is quite iPhone friendly (I look at it all the time on my iPhone). It's got a simple layout, free of any ads. So if you've been waiting for this App to be available (which we mentioned here a few weeks ago when asking you to choose our cover art), you might want to instead opt for the web-version this week instead. For $5 you'll get 30 days of access to the VIP website including instant access to everything already posted, but that 30 days will include the beginning of our UFC 101 Mega-Coverage. We are willing to offer you a refund of your VIP subscription if you subsequently buy the UFC 100 App in the next ten days (just provide us with email proof of purchase), so that way you aren't doubling up if you don't want both web and app access. This way, you can get in on all of the UFC 100 Mega-Coverage in the mean time, since we have no idea when the App will be available (we've got our fingers crossed it'll make it through the system before UFC 100 takes place!)

Jamie Penick and the team have been doing a fantastic job with the UFC 100 coverage on the VIP site. Thank you for those who have already become a VIP member. Your support is very much appreciated, and the feedback so far has been really rewarding given what we've put into this so far - and we're just over one-third of the way into it at this point.

If you subscribe now, you will have access instantly to the first dozen VIP Audio Updates, all of which can be downloaded to your iPhone, iPod Touch, or regular iPod, or just listened to in Quicktime on Safari on your iPhone on-the-go. Subscriptions are available via Pay Pal. You can get more info by visiting www.mmatorch.com/amember on Safari on your iPhone (sorry for no hotlink capability here) and clicking the sign-up link or visiting MMATorch.com on the web and clicking the sign-up link. The URL of the VIP website itself is "mmatorch.com/vip" - so once you're a member, you can "bookmark" it on your iPhone within Safari and create a button for your screen just for it so you're always just one click away from the listing of UFC 100 Mega-Coverage audio and text features. The cool part is you can also access all of the VIP features on any computer or laptop just by logging in - and you'll have ad-free access to not just the VIP features, but all of the other regular free website and free app articles.

Just to let you know what an incredible effort the MMATorch team has put in so far, in the first 12 days of our 21 day VIP countdown to UFC 100, we have posted over 50 new articles and 12 daily audio discussions (Jamie Penick hosting with a rotation of guests) specifically about UFC 100 and its fighters. We really believe you will be blown away with the depth of coverage and quality of the features.

If you prefer to wait (and can stand to wait!), the UFC 100 Mega-Coverage App should be in the iTunes store any day now (we hope!), so keep an eye out for that. We will let you know here as soon as it becomes available.

I'll leave you with this final assurance: The free MMATorch App's daily content has not and will not change. As you might on ESPN, Variety, and other major websites, you will see previews of VIP articles on the main listing of this free App (with "VIP" listed in the headline), but those are not articles or audios that would have been offered at this time or in that format on the free App or free Website before. Right here on the free App and free Website, we will still be providing you with our usual great UFC 100 coverage next week leading up to the event, live coverage as always during the event, and analysis of the fallout after the event. So if you choose to support what we do with a five-spot by becoming a VIP member, you'll get ten times the coverage we usually provide. But if not, don't despair! We're still here doing the same thing we've always done, and you will not be left empty-handed or feeling slighted compared to what you're used to.

Thanks for your continued support!

Wade Keller, supervising editor and founder
MMATorch

VIP AUDIO: Looking back on the first season of the Ultimate Fighter and that show's importance to the UFC then and today - Penick and Bent (Day 12)

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:20:28 PST

Today's VIP exclusive audio is a trip down memory lane to the first season of the Ultimate Fighter. Torch Editor Jamie Penick and Torch Columnist Jason Bent look at the most pivotal show in the UFC's history and the fight between Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin that was the catalyst to push the UFC towards where it is today.

To become a VIP member and gain access to all daily VIP audio shows leading up to UFC 100, plus our pre-event Audio Roundtable, post-event Audio Roundtable, and seven daily post-event UFC 100 updates, plus VIP-exclusive UFC 100 articles and ad-free access to all regular MMATorch articles, CLICK HERE

UFC 100 MEGA-COVERAGE AUDIO SERIES SO FAR:

VIP AUDIO: Profile of Thiago Alves' MMA career, from promising young fighter to the most dangerous challenger(Day 11)

VIP AUDIO: Discussion on fighters representing multiple countries at UFC 100 - Penick and Bent (Day 10)

VIP AUDIO: Profile of GSP's MMA career, part three, focusing on second Penn fight and GreaseGate (Day 9)

VIP AUDIO: Profile of GSP's MMA career, part two, focusing on UFC 69-UFC 87 fights (Day 8)

VIP AUDIO: Profile of GSP's MMA career, part one, focused on early career before first title win (Day 7)

VIP AUDIO: Profile of Frank Mir focusing on ups and downs of his career - Penick and Pelkey (Day 6)

VIP AUDIO: Lesnar vs. Couture - should it have happened and what was learned - Penick and Keller (Day 5)

VIP AUDIO: Lesnar's controversial statements make headlines again - is he bad for MMA's image? (Day 4)

VIP AUDIO: How much does Lesnar-Mir fight mean if they don't beat Fedor - Penick and Pelkey

VIP AUDIO: Profile of Lesnar's MMA career, part one, focused on first three MMA fights - Keller and Penick (Day 2)

VIP AUDIO: Introduction to what's planned for the next four weeks of UFC 100 Mega-Audio! (Day 1)

Visit www.mmatorch.com/vip to access the VIP site or sign up as a new VIP member!

UFC NEWS: Shane Carwin vs. Cain Velasquez coming to UFC 104

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:45:46 PST

A huge heavyweight bout looks to be on the way to the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA on October 24th, as multiple reports state this afternoon that Cain Velasquez and Shane Carwin have agreed to face each other on the event.

Carwin himself all but confirmed the fight on his Twitter this afternoon with two posts, the first of which was: "Looks like I'll be fighting October 24 in LA. Excited to know."

He then updated that statement with, "Oops I was not supposed to say anything. Got to get used to people watching me. No bout agreement yet. Looks like Cain and I if all goes."

Carwin last fought at UFC 96, where he knocked out Gabriel Gonzaga in the first round. At 11-0, Carwin's gone past the two minute mark in his fights once, in his debut, he's finished all eleven opponents. He's spent a total of 3:24 in the Octagon in his three UFC fights.

Velasquez defeated Cheick Kongo last month in Germany at UFC 99, taking him down multiple times throughout the three round bout and delivering a ton of punishment after recovering from some near knockout blows early in the first and second rounds. Undefeated himself, he's another that has been groomed as an up and coming contender in the heavyweight division.

UFC 104 will air live on pay-per-view, headlined by a Light Heavyweight Championship bout between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.

Penick's Analysis: This is a massive heavyweight bout for the UFC, but I'm not entirely sure I would have set it up now. Both could have eventually gone undefeated into separate heavyweight shots, and now one will need to get set back a peg. Still, it will definitely prove which one of them is ready for a shot at the title, as the winner will more than likely be getting a crack at Lesnar or Mir.

UFC NEWS: TUF 10 cast to be officially revealed at UFC Fan Expo

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:22:52 PST

The full cast of the tenth season of the Ultimate Fighter, featuring coaches Rashad Evans and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, will be revealed during next week's UFC Fan Expo leading into UFC 100 in Las Vegas. It was announced today by Spike TV.

On Friday at the Fan Expo the full cast will be revealed at 1PM ET, and will stick around to sign autographs from 2-3PM ET.

This season, of course, features a 16 man heavyweight tournament, and will feature Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson along with former IFL Champion Roy Nelson and four NFL veterans.

The show began taping at the beginning of June and will begin airing on Spike on September 16th.

ENNIS: Lay of the Land 7/1/09 - The Heavyweights

By: Shawn Ennis, MMATorch Senior Columnist — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:44:47 PST

The Fight: Brock Lesnar (Champion, 3-1) vs. Frank Mir (Interim Champion, 12-3)

The freak of nature meets the suddenly-cardiotastic jiu jitsu ace in a rematch of two of the most hotly-contested minutes you'll ever see. Lesnar vs. Mir is as good as it gets in the heavyweight division when there's no Fedor around, if nothing else simply by virtue of selling a fight.

The Stakes: The Undisputed UFC Heavyweight Title

The grandest prize in the sport. Fedor may be the best heavyweight around, but like it or not, the UFC heavyweight title means something, and it's the only promotional heavyweight title that does.

Upcoming Contender Fights

As is usually the case, the heavyweight division is not so active in the upcoming months (at least in the sense that not much has been announced.) There's one little fight that might interest you, however, coming up at UFC 102. It's the fight that I thought would determine the champion when this mini-tournament began: Randy Couture (16-9) vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (31-5-1). Believe it or not, this could very well be a title eliminator fight. I think it will depend on how both men perform, and how the winner looks in victory. There's enough intrigue to sign a rematch of either Lesnar-Couture (was it a lucky punch? Will Couture have a better gameplan this time?) or Mir-Nogueira (was the stoppage a fluke? Was it because Big Nog was sick?), but there are probably a lot of nebulous intangibles that go along with whether the winner here would automatically get a title shot. Now, should the winners turn out to be Couture-Mir or Nogueira-Lesnar, you can just about bet the house that your title fight will be one of those combinations come time for the next defense.

Other Future Possibilities

Should neither Couture nor Nogueira get a title shot, the next viable option is likely Shane Carwin (11-0). I put him in my "Step or Two Away" section in the last Lay of the Land, and he certainly took that step toward contention when he knocked out Gabriel Gonzaga (10-4) in March. There are a few things that could possibly keep Carwin from getting a title shot, though. First off, there's the question of timing. Carwin's last fight was in March at UFC 96. I would imagine the UFC will want to headline their end-of-year PPV with a heavyweight title fight, at least if Lesnar wins as he's probably the bigger draw of the two (although if Mir wins in impressive fashion, he certainly improves his drawing power as well.) Would they give Carwin a nine-month layoff between fights when he's challenging for the title? Or would he need to have another fight, say at UFC 103 in September? And if he does fight in September, who would he face? The most obvious answer for a title eliminator would be Cain Velasquez (6-0), but he just fought at UFC 99, and if Velasquez were to win a title eliminator in September, that would put him on track for three fights in six months with the final fight being for the belt. That may be a bit much. That's in addition to the fact that Velasquez only has six fights, and with a little more experience he could be an absolute wrecking machine. They may not want to spoil the inevitable Carwin-Velasquez showdown just yet. (Of course, there's always something to be said for striking while the iron is lukewarm.) No, if I were a betting man I'd go with the winner of Couture-Nog and the winner of Lesnar-Mir battling it out for the title come the end of the year. There is a third possibility, however, and it's even less likely. But it's fun to talk about, so come with me on this journey for a second.

Let's just say that Josh Barnett (24-5) happens to be able to take out the near-invincible Fedor Emelianenko (30-1) in August at the third Affliction event. What if the UFC could sign Barnett to a contract at that point? Is there a better heavyweight in the world to make into a superstar without having him set foot in the cage before a title fight? I don't think so. I think between Barnett's talking ability and the abundance of highlights that Zuffa owns with the Pride library and their own archival footage, Barnett could be the most marketable challenger to the heavyweight crown out there. I can't even fathom the awesomeness of pre-fight hype for an end-of-year Barnett vs. Lesnar or Barnett vs. Mir title fight. Like I said, it's a slim chance, but it's fun to think about.

In Other News…

There are not a lot of newsworthy happenings coming up in the UFC heavyweight division outside of the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter. Part of that is due to the thinness of the ranks. There's a lot of talent out there, but most of the bigger names are already under contract to other promotions, and there's not a ton of buzz about up and coming blue-chip talent that could challenge the top of the ranks in the next little while. The race at this point is to see who can make the most marketable stars of tomorrow among the heavyweights. There's never been a transcendent, widely-known world's greatest heavyweight in MMA (Fedor is the best, no doubt, but no one knows who he is), and whoever finds that guy first is going to be sitting on a cash cow. In the meantime, the UFC has guys on the rise like Junior dos Santos (8-1), Tim Hague (10-1) and maybe a guy like Stefan Struve (17-3), but it remains to be seen whether any of these prospects will pan out in the long run. So, even while the division is experiencing a jolt at the moment toward the top of the division, we'll see what happens after the next one or two title fights.

STRIKEFORCE NEWS: Riggs vs. Diaz II a possibility for August 15th event

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:46:04 PST

Multiple reports this week are stating that Nick Diaz and Joe Riggs are being talked about for a bout on the August 15th Strikeforce on Showtime event. The bout is not a lock, however, per Strikeforce executive Mike Afromowitz via MMAJunkie.com, as he says the door simply hasn't been closed on the possible bout.

If it comes to fruition, it would be a rematch from a bout the two had at UFC 57 in 2006, which also featured one of the most infamous post-fight stories in MMA history. With both fighters bruised and battered after Riggs' unanimous decision victory, the two reportedly got into a second fight in the emergency room that needed to be broken up by police.

Both fighters have been finding success in recent fights, with Riggs picking up two in a row with his most recent win over Phil Baroni and three wins in his last four.

Diaz has looked stellar, going 9-1 with one no contest in his last 11 since a three fight losing streak in the UFC. The loss was to K.J. Noons, a stoppage due to cuts, and the no contest was an overturned victory due to a failed drug test for marijuana in his system. He's recently emerged as one of the faces of Strikeforce, defeating Frank Shamrock in the first Strikeforce on Showtime main event this April, and most recently choking out Scott Smith after unleashing a record number of strikes on him in their bout last month.

The August 15th event on Showtime is set to air live from the HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA, headlined by the Strikeforce Women's 145 lb. Title bout between Gina Carano and Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: I don't understand putting this bout together at this time, as outside of getting revenge on the 2006 loss I don't see what Diaz has to gain in this fight. He's setting himself up as a contender for someone's title, though he'd need to pick a division first, but he's a much improved fighter from their first bout and looks today to be a notch or two above Riggs in the pecking order. On top of that, Riggs must have had great recovery time on those broken hands from his Baroni fight if he's able to turn around for an August bout. Still, from an entertainment standpoint, picking up from their 2006 feud could make for an entertaining war of words and a heated fight.

UFC 100 Prediction and Betting Contests!

By Matt Pelkey, MMATorch Columnist — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:29:46 PST

All of us are guilty from time to time of improperly using hyperbole. This isn't one of them. On July 11th, the UFC will put on the biggest show in MMA history with their 100th numbered event. Two huge title fights will cap off the evening, but even before that we'll be treated to another near pay-per-view quality main event in Henderson vs. Bisping, not to mention the UFC debut of Yoshihiro Akiyama, a fight between UFC legend Mark Coleman and the guy that was this close to being in Forrest Griffin's shoes in Stephan Bonnar, and a showcase fight for the future of the light-heavyweight division in Jon "Bones" Jones. Good stuff indeed.

But we'll be waging our own battles here at MMATorch. Newly crowned prediction champ (and Torch editor) Jamie "The Boss" Penick will put his (imaginary) belt on the line against none other than your humble host, me, Matt Pelkey. If that's not a battle for the ages, I don't know what is (ok, so neither of us have performed particularly well in the contests over the last year or so, but let me have my moment, k?).

On the betting side, Scott "The Fountain of Youth" Hart managed to keep his betting title despite losing all $1000 at UFC 99, and he moves on to UFC 100 to battle Adam "I'm Not Quite Ready to call him 'Savant', but its getting close" Fabbro. Good luck to everyone challenging for a belt, or trying to keep their grubby paws on their current title! All is not lost for the rest, though. That's why we have the pool. For anyone new to the site or unfamiliar with the contests, everyone not involved in one of the two title matches gets thrown into a pool. The best performer in the prediction and betting pool (its two DIFFERENT contests for anyone confused by that) will be named the #1 contender for the next show, in this case UFC 101. Got it? So that's what the Torch has lined up for the big show, but what about the UFC?

PREDICTION CONTEST:

I'm pretty sure everyone knows how this works by now, but just in case...Basically you pick the winners of each fight, including method (e.g. KO, submission, decision) and round. The winner is the one who picks the most fights correctly. Ties will be broken by who had the most number of rounds and methods correctly predicted. In case anyone is wondering, only rounds and methods in fights where you predicted the correct winner count. So here's the line-up. Good luck to all!

Frank Mir (+175) vs. Brock Lesnar (-215)

Georges St. Pierre (-290) vs. Thiago Alves (+230)

Jon Fitch (-365) vs. Paulo Thiago (+285)

Dan Henderson (-225) vs. Michael Bisping (+185)

Yoshihiro Akiyama (-340) vs. Alan Belcher (+260)

Mark Coleman (+250) vs. Stephan Bonnar (-325)

Mac Danzig (+160) vs. Jim Miller (-200)

Jon Jones (-500) vs. Jake O'Brien (+300)

Dong-Hyun Kim vs. T.J. Grant

C.B. Dollaway vs. Tom Lawlor

Matt Grice vs. Shannon Gugerty

BETTING CONTEST:

As you can see, there's a number attached to each fighter. That number represents how much money you can make off each fighter. The way it works is, if a fighter has a positive number he's an underdog. The positive number means if you were to bet $100 dollars on him, you would make the amount of the positive number. For example, if you were to bet $100 on Mir and he won, you would make back the hundred you bet, plus $175 for a total payout of $275.

If the fighter has a negative number, that number represents how much you would have to bet to make $100 on the fighter. For example, if you bet $215 on Lesnar and he won, you'd make back the $215, plus a $100 profit, for a total payout of $315.

Each contestant has $1000 in theoretical money. You can bet it on as many fighters as you'd like, but you have to bet on at least three. The most you can bet on a single fighter is $500, and bets have to be in multiples of $100.

Obviously the three fights at the bottom don't have lines on them. There weren't any available at the time, but there should be as we get closer to the show. I'll update this as soon as I see lines for those fights, so if you plan on betting on them, hold your entry til I get all the lines up. If not, feel free to send me your picks as soon as you want.

I'm setting a deadline of 3p.m. (EST) next Saturday the 11th to get all your picks in.

Note: In the event that one of the #1 contenders fails to show for their title shot, the champ will defend against the next best performer from the previous contest. You've been warned, so bring your A game everybody! The betting lines are courtesy of Sportsbook.com.

As always you can submit your picks one of three ways: by emailing me at matt6buckeye@hotmail.com, posting them on the message boards, or by leaving them in the comments section right down there. Again, good luck!

AFFLICTION QUOTABLES: Paul Buentello loves "being counted out."

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:05:20 PST

"Everybody's already counting me out. I've gotta be able to do this, and be able to do that, and I love being in that position...I don't like being in the top position. I love being counted out...Everybody knows I don't have the skill. I don't have that look. But I guarantee, and everybody knows, if I show up to fight, I'm gonna bring it...That's one of the things that makes it interesting. [Yvel] don't care, and I've been through some really tough fights and I don't care what happens. I'm going to let my hands go no matter what. Yvel's going to bring it 110 percent and I'm going to match him every step that he goes."

-Paul Buentello talks to MMAWeekly.com about being the underdog for his upcoming fight with Gilbert Yvel at Affliction: "Trilogy."

Penick's Analysis: This is going to be an absolute brawl, as it's likely neither guy will be looking to take this one to the ground. Yvel's got sick power, as he showed last weekend against Pedro Rizzo, but Buentello's no slouch in that department himself. This will be ugly, it will be brutal and it will probably be a lot of fun to watch.

AFFLICTION NEWS: Mark Hominick vs. Deividas Taurosevicius coming to "Trilogy" undercard

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:43:16 PST

Two featherweights that haven't fought since mid-2008 will be returning to action on August 1st for Affliction's "Trilogy" event at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. According to a report from MMAJunkie.com, a bout between UFC and WEC vet Mark Hominick and IFL vet Deividas Taurosevicius is set for the preliminary card and the HDNet broadcast.

Hominick won his last bout in July of 2008 at Affliction's debut event, Banned. The Xtreme Couture fighter submitted Savant Young in the second round.

Taurosevicius has been out of action longer than that, having last competed with the IFL in May of last year. A decision loss at that event brought an end to a six fight winning streak.

Affliction: "Trilogy" airs live on pay-per-view on August 1st, headlined by the WAMMA Heavyweight Championship bout between Fedor Emelianenko and Josh Barnett. The preliminary card is set to air prior to the pay-per-view broadcast on HDNet.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: This is a solid prelim bout for the HDNet broadcast. Hominick's had an up and down career but has looked very impressive many times, and looked especially so against Young last year at "Banned." Taurosevicius had picked up wins over Young, Dan Lauzon and the WEC's Bart Palszewski before losing his last bout with Ryan Schultz. They should be fairly evenly matched coming into August 1st.

VIP AUDIO: Profile of Thiago Alves' MMA career, from promising young fighter to the most dangerous challenger(Day 11)

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:31:17 PST

Today's VIP-exclusive audio show features a profile of the #1 contender in the welterweight division, Thiago Alves. Torch Editor Jamie Penick and Torch Columnist Jason Bent discuss the career of Alves and how he's grown into perhaps the most dangerous fighter Georges St. Pierre has ever faced.

To become a VIP member and gain access to all daily VIP audio shows leading up to UFC 100, plus our pre-event Audio Roundtable, post-event Audio Roundtable, and seven daily post-event UFC 100 updates, plus VIP-exclusive UFC 100 articles and ad-free access to all regular MMATorch articles, CLICK HERE

UFC 100 MEGA-COVERAGE AUDIO SERIES SO FAR:

VIP AUDIO: Discussion on fighters representing multiple countries at UFC 100 - Penick and Bent (Day 10)

VIP AUDIO: Profile of GSP's MMA career, part three, focusing on second Penn fight and GreaseGate (Day 9)

VIP AUDIO: Profile of GSP's MMA career, part two, focusing on UFC 69-UFC 87 fights (Day 8)

VIP AUDIO: Profile of GSP's MMA career, part one, focused on early career before first title win (Day 7)

VIP AUDIO: Profile of Frank Mir focusing on ups and downs of his career - Penick and Pelkey (Day 6)

VIP AUDIO: Lesnar vs. Couture - should it have happened and what was learned - Penick and Keller (Day 5)

VIP AUDIO: Lesnar's controversial statements make headlines again - is he bad for MMA's image? (Day 4)

VIP AUDIO: How much does Lesnar-Mir fight mean if they don't beat Fedor - Penick and Pelkey

VIP AUDIO: Profile of Lesnar's MMA career, part one, focused on first three MMA fights - Keller and Penick (Day 2)

VIP AUDIO: Introduction to what's planned for the next four weeks of UFC 100 Mega-Audio! (Day 1)

Visit www.mmatorch.com/vip to access the VIP site or sign up as a new VIP member!

UFC NEWS: Kingsbury vs. Al-Hassan at UFC 104 in October

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:24:58 PST

The UFC's return to Los Angeles and the Staples Center for UFC 104 on October 24th has a new undercard addition, as MMAWeekly.com reports that light heavyweights Kyle Kingsbury and Razak Al-Hassan have agreed to face each other on the event.

Kingsbury was a cast member on the eighth season of the Ultimate Fighter, though he was defeated in his first round bout after making it to the house. He then lost a decision to Tom Lawlor at the Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale last December.

Al-Hassan has also been out of action since December, though it's amazing he'll even be ready by October. In his bout with former WEC Champ Steve Cantwell at the Fight for the Troops event, Hassan was on the receiving end of one of the most gruesome looking submissions in UFC history when he refused to submit to a deep armbar and had his arm bent at the elbow the opposite of it's intended direction.

He was recently cleared to begin training again and amazingly suffered no career threatening injuries from the hold.

UFC 104 is set to air live on pay-per-view from the Staple Center in Los Angeles, CA, on October 24th, headlined by a Light Heavyweight Championship bout between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: The armbar loss for Hassan was one of the most brutal things seen in this sport. It looked worse than Frank Mir's arm break of Tim Sylvia and was on par with Corey Hill's leg break from that same night in terms of cringe-worthiness, and it's very good to see that he didn't suffer any permanent injury from it. Kingsbury's going to need a win in this fight or the American Kickboxing Academy product will likely find himself outside of the Octagon.

WEC NEWS: Varner squashes rumor of injury-forced retirement

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:41:30 PST

Jamie Varner spoke to Ariel Helwani at MMA FanHouse today to put to rest a report that was making waves today. The Youngstown Vindicator attributed statements to WEC general manager Reed Harris in a report on the upcoming September event, featuring a bout likely for an Interim Lightweight belt between Donald Cerrone and Ben Henderson, that stated that Varner would be stripped of the belt shortly and may never fight again.

Varner told FanHouse that the report was "bulls**t." He went on to say he's spoken with the WEC's matchmaker Sean Shelby and expects to fight late this year or early next year. The initial plan was to have a rematch with Cerrone, but Varner had to bow out recently as a broken hand he suffered in their bout in January was not healed enough and he was not cleared by doctors. He said originally he was cleared to weight train too early and it led to the hand not healing properly.

Further, Helwani spoke with Harris to clear up his statements and he stated, "My comments were really designed to allow Jamie to certainly come back when he was healthy, and this interim belt was done based on the fact that there's no timetable for his return...Right now, we're just waiting for Jamie to heal up, and as soon as that happens his camp will notify us, and then we could begin to schedule another fight for him."

WEC 43: Cerrone vs. Henderson takes place on Wednesday, September 2, from the Covelli Centre in Youngstown, Ohio. The card will air live on Versus.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: A collective sigh of relief is let out by many fans to see that the Vindicator article was false, as Varner's a very good young fighter and it would have been a damn shame for his career to be cut that short from injuries. The Interim belt is fine until Varner's ready to go as it allows for a five round bout between Cerrone and Henderson to set up the shot at him when he's able to return. Varner's getting a lot of flack from people these days, but the fact is if you're not cleared to fight there isn't a whole lot else you can do about it. We can only hope he's good to go by January so we can finally see that long awaited rematch with Cerrone.

WEC NEWS: Full fight card released for WEC 42 on August 9th

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:10:25 PST

WEC returns to action on August 9th in Las Vegas for another in a run of great events capped off with yet another title fight as Miguel Torres defends his WEC Bantamweight Title against Brian Bowles. The organization has now released the full card for the event from The Joint at the Hard Rock Casino and Hotel, and both the main card and undercard are packed with some of the best the WEC has to offer.

In addition to the excellent Bantamweight Title bout to headline the night, the main card also features two very big bantamweight bouts in the form of Takeya Mizugaki against Jeff Curran and Joseph Benavidez against Dominick Cruz. The main card is rounded out by a bout between Ricardo Lamas and Danny Castillo, two fighters with combined 13-1 record. The full card for the August 9th event on Versus is below:

Main Televised Card

-Miguel Torres (37-1) vs. Brian Bowles (7-0)
-Joseph Benvidez (10-0) vs. Dominick Cruz (13-1)
-Ricardo Lamas (6-0) vs. Danny Castillo (7-1)
-Takeya Mizugaki (11-3-2) vs. Jeff Curran (29-11-1)

Preliminary Card

-Leonard Garcia (12-4) vs. Jameel Massouh (21-5)
-Fredson Paixao (8-3) vs. Cole Province (5-1)
-Marcus Hicks (8-2) vs. Shane Roller (5-2)
-Ed Ratcliff (6-1) vs. Phil Cardella (8-3)
-Rani Yahya (14-4) vs. Kenji Osawa (15-8-2)
-Diego Nunes (12-0) vs. Rafael Dias (12-5-1)

UFC QUOTABLES: Akiyama on Belcher and training for the cage

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:08:47 PST

"They've made a cage here in Japan, and that's where I'm practicing to transition from the ring to the cage. The ring, with the ropes, will stretch, but in the cage, the mesh doesn't, so my defense and such are different...Alan is known to be good at striking, is young and is known to have a black belt. Alan Belcher also has more experience than I do, so really, I can't find a weakness in my opponent."

-Yoshihiro Akiyama speaks via translator to Sergio Non at USA Today on his upcoming bout with Alan Belcher at UFC 100.

Penick's Analysis: Akiyama is set to make his debut in the U.S. on July 11th and will be looking to avoid the the set backs many of his Japanese counterparts have experienced coming over to the cage. Having one built for training is a great start, but it'll be a whole different thing once he actually steps in there with Belcher. He clearly knows he's got a tough opponent on his hands and doesn't seem to be overlooking him at all either. This should be a good fight at the outset of the pay-per-view.

BENT: The Only Thing Bigger Than UFC 100...(VIP)

By: Jason Bent, MMATorch Columnist — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:00:07 PST

Is it?

Jared Fogle's Old Pants?

Lee Murray's Bond?

The 'Affliction: Banned' Fighter Payroll?

* * *

Or is nothing bigger than UFC 100?

UFC 100 is nearly as big as its coverage and is certainly the biggest MMA event to ever take place. Well, unless you really, really believe that Affliction knocked the ball out of the park with "Banned" and a Megadeth performance. No competent company has ever accumulated this amount of talent and presented them on one card or event, ever.

UFC 100 is the equivalent of Bob Arum, Don King and Cedric Kushner getting together to bring us Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather, Jr., Ricky Hatton vs. Oscar de la Hoya and Wladimir Klitschko vs. Vitali Klitschko with Mike Tyson on hand to ring the bell between rounds. If you want to know why MMA has eclipsed boxing, one only needs to look closely at the UFC and just this past year's events...

...The rest of this article is available exclusively to MMATorch VIP members. For just $5 a month or $45 a year, you can become VIP and get daily VIP updates regarding UFC 100 and daily audio updates focused on UFC 100

MMATORCH VIP SIGN-UP

Or visit www.mmatorch.com/vip on the iPhone to sign-up.

VIP AUDIO: Discussion on fighters representing multiple countries at UFC 100 - Penick and Bent (Day 10)

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:11:03 PST

Today's VIP-exclusive audio show brings a look at the multiple nations represented by the fighters at UFC 100, including five nations represented on the main card alone. Torch Editor-in-Chief Jamie Penick and Torch Columnist Jason Bent discuss the many positive effects this conscious or otherwise selection of fighters will have on the UFC and MMA going forward.

To become a VIP member and gain access to all daily VIP audio shows leading up to UFC 100, plus our pre-event Audio Roundtable, post-event Audio Roundtable, and seven daily post-event UFC 100 updates, plus VIP-exclusive UFC 100 articles and ad-free access to all regular MMATorch articles, CLICK HERE

UFC 100 MEGA-COVERAGE AUDIO SERIES SO FAR:

VIP AUDIO: Profile of GSP's MMA career, part three, focusing on second Penn fight and GreaseGate (Day 9)

VIP AUDIO: Profile of GSP's MMA career, part two, focusing on UFC 69-UFC 87 fights (Day 8)

VIP AUDIO: Profile of GSP's MMA career, part one, focused on early career before first title win (Day 7)

VIP AUDIO: Profile of Frank Mir focusing on ups and downs of his career - Penick and Pelkey (Day 6)

VIP AUDIO: Lesnar vs. Couture - should it have happened and what was learned - Penick and Keller (Day 5)

VIP AUDIO: Lesnar's controversial statements make headlines again - is he bad for MMA's image? (Day 4)

VIP AUDIO: How much does Lesnar-Mir fight mean if they don't beat Fedor - Penick and Pelkey

VIP AUDIO: Profile of Lesnar's MMA career, part one, focused on first three MMA fights - Keller and Penick (Day 2)

VIP AUDIO: Introduction to what's planned for the next four weeks of UFC 100 Mega-Audio! (Day 1)

Visit www.mmatorch.com/vip to access the VIP site or sign up as a new VIP member!

UFC NEWS: Kampmann vs. Swick "likely" for UFC 103 in Dallas

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:04:15 PST

A welterweight tilt between two fighters looking to catapult into the title picture looks likely for September's UFC 103 event in Dallas. MMAWeekly.com reported Monday that Mike Swick and Martin Kampmann have agreed to face each other at the event, believed to be coming to the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, TX on September 19th.

Swick defeated Ben Saunders earlier this month in Germany, and at 14-2 wants to make a run at the next level of competition in the welterweight division.

Martin Kampmann is in the same spot, coming off an impressive victory himself over the final WEC Welterweight Champion Carlos Condit in April. Since losing a middleweight bout to Nate Marquardt, Kampmann has made the drop to 170 lbs a very successful one thus far.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: This is a great fight for these two to find out which one takes that next step toward being a future title contender in the UFC's welterweight division. Both have made the drop from the middleweight division in the last year and a half, and both have looked equally as impressive as the other throughout their careers. The winner of this bout will definitely make a case for being in the top 5 welterweights in the UFC.

BENT: UFC 100 Mega-Coverage - Preview & Predictions for Georges St. Pierre vs. Thiago Alves (VIP)

By Jason Bent, MMATorch Columnist — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:47:34 PST

The co-main event of UFC 100 features Georges St. Pierre defending his UFC Welterweight Championship against the most dangerous opponent possible in Thiago Alves. Georges St. Pierre is widely considered the best welterweight in the world, if not one of the best fighters in anyone's pound for pound listing, and Thiago Alves is a crushing striker who has torn through some of the very best in the division with ease. What we truly have on our hands is a much better bout than was St. Pierre vs. Penn from UFC 94, but obviously one without the mega marquee value of that particular fight.

Penn vs. St. Pierre came with gads of sizzle but delivered absolutely no steak for those wishing for an epic battle, as it was a one-sided beating from start to Penn's finish on his stool. B.J. Penn has all of the skills in the world but when two equally skilled fighters face off, it usually will come down to which of the two is bigger or stronger and St. Pierre was both on that night in January. Penn asserts that this victory was achieved due to the fact that St. Pierre was greased up like a low rent Chippendale, but there have been no further findings to back this up and no efforts at all to investigate the matter further and alter the decision of the bout.

...The rest of this article (this is the first two out of over 20 paragraphs of an in-depth preview and breakdown) is available exclusively to MMATorch VIP members. For just $5 a month or $45 a year, you can become VIP and get daily VIP updates regarding UFC 100 and daily audio updates focused on UFC 100

MMATORCH VIP SIGN-UP

Or visit www.mmatorch.com/vip on the iPhone to sign-up.

UFC NEWS: UFC enters China with new television deal

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:17:35 PST

The UFC announced on Monday a new television deal that will substantially increase the viewership of MMA's #1 promotion. They have scored their first television contract in China with Inner Mongolian Television, known also as NMTV.

The station is available in 80 million homes throughout China, according to the announcement, and could reach up to 240 million viewers in the country.

NMTV will begin airing weekend timeslots of UFC programming, with 16 hours per month of shows such as "The Ultimate Fighter," "UFC Unleashed" and "UFC All Access." The network also has an option to air recent pay-per-view broadcasts.

Penick's Analysis: This is a big step in the UFC's continued goal to globalize both the sport and more specifically their brand. While there's still a large majority of the Chinese population that won't have access to this, it's a start and will begin the development of more fans and likely future fighters out of the provinces of China.

UFC NEWS: Jorge Rivera inks four fight contract extension

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:08:33 PST

37 year old UFC veteran Jorge Rivera recently inked a new four fight contract extension according to a report from the Boston Herald. He finished out his previous contract with a victory in his tenth UFC bout against Nissen Osterneck this April.

Rivera's faced some of the best of the best the middleweight division has to offer en route to his 16-7 record. His UFC career dates back to UFC 44, where he defeated David Loiseau. His next bout was a loss against the fast-becoming-infamous Lee Murray in Murray's only UFC bout. It's been a .500 career in the UFC for Rivera since, with some wins and losses outside of the organization added to that as well, including a bout with Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva in 2005.

In recent years he's defeated the likes of Edwin Dewees and Kendall Grove, while dropping bouts to Martin Kampmann, Terry Martin and Chris Leben. The Herald report states he's looking to a fall return.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: Rivera is a game veteran who has put on some very good performances in the past. He's nearing the end of his career and has openly contemplated retirement but it seems he's going to make a go at the fight game a little longer. He is 7-3 in his last ten fights and definitely has some gas left in his tank, so we'll see what he can do come the fall.

MMATorch Viewer's Guide: One stop guide to MMA on TV for the week of June 29th

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:10:42 PST

Welcome to the Torch Viewer's Guide here at MMATorch.com. Every Sunday (or Monday!), check back here for a listing of MMA action on television for the coming week. We'll provide station and program information as it's available for all of the action on national stations each week. So let's get to it! All programs are from TV Guide listings and HDNet listings and are subject to change. Here's what's on tap for the week of June 29th, 2009:

Highlights For the Week:

Wednesday, July 1st, Versus 8PM & 11PM ET- WEC 41: Replay airings of Urijah Faber vs. Mike Brown II event from Sacramento.

Sunday, July 5th, Spike 9PM ET - UFC's Ultimate 100 Greatest Fights: The countdown of the top 100 fan voted UFC fights begins with numbers 100-76.

Monday, June 29th, 2009

- SPIKE 9PM ET - UFC Unleashed: "Luke Cummo vs. Joe Stevenson; Brad Imes vs. Rashad Evans; Tito Ortiz vs. Evan Tanner."

- SHOWTIME 2 10PM ET - ShoXC: Noons vs. Berto - "K.J. Noons vs. Edson Berto in a lightweight mixed-martial-arts bout in Santa Ynez, Cal."

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

- VERSUS 1AM ET - WEC Wreckage: "Eric Schambari vs. Logan Clark in a middleweight bout. Also: Chris Manuel vs. Kenji Osawa in a bantamweight fight; and Alex Serdyukov vs. Ryan Stonitsch in a welterweight duel."

- VERSUS 2AM ET - WEC Wreckage: "A compilation of past bouts, including: Jose Aldo vs. Jonathan Brookins; Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Cub Swanson; and Urijah Faber vs. Mike Brown."

- HDNET 4PM ET - "HDNet Fights - Champions & Challengers, Vol. 1:
Relive some of the biggest moments from HDNet Fights as we look back at several championship battles. Title tilts from the IFL and SportFight are featured in this episode. Wagnney Fabiano, Roy Nelson, and Josh Queen are among the champs putting their belts on the line."

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

- VERSUS 2AM ET - WEC Wreckage: "A compilation of past bouts, including Marcus Hicks vs. Scott McAfee in lightweight action; Hiromitsu Miura vs. Blas Avena and Brock Larson vs. John Alessio in welterweight fights; and Jose Aldo vs. Alexandre Nogueira in a featherweight bout."

- HDNET 4:30AM ET - "HDNet Fights - Champions & Challengers, Vol. 1: Relive some of the biggest moments from HDNet Fights as we look back at several championship battles. Title tilts from the IFL and SportFight are featured in this episode. Wagnney Fabiano, Roy Nelson, and Josh Queen are among the champs putting their belts on the line."

- HDNET 4PM ET - "HDNet Fights Presents - World Victory Road: Sengoku 8 Featherweight Grand Prix 2nd Round - The Sengoku Featherweight Grand Prix is down to its final eight competitors. The marquee matchups for the second round include Top 10 featherweight Hatsu Hioki facing a stern test in wily veteran Ronnie Mann, and Marlon Sandro meeting up with Nick Denis in a battle of undefeated fighters."

- VERSUS 8PM ET - WEC 41: "Urijah Faber vs. Mike Brown in Sacramento, CA. Also features Jose Aldo vs. Cub Swanson and Jens Pulver vs. Josh Grispi."

- SPIKE 9PM ET - UFC Fight Night 16 - Fight For the Troops: "Mixed-martial-arts action from Fayetteville, N.C., to benefit the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, which is looking to finance a traumatic-brain-injury treatment center for the U.S. military. Features Josh Koscheck vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida"

- VERSUS 10PM ET - WEC Wreckage: "A compilation of past bouts, including: Mike Budnik vs. Greg McIntyre; Scott Jorgensen vs. Frank Gomez; and Rob McCullough vs. Donald Cerrone."

- VERSUS 11PM ET - WEC 41: "Urijah Faber vs. Mike Brown in Sacramento, CA. Also features Jose Aldo vs. Cub Swanson and Jens Pulver vs. Josh Grispi."

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

- VERSUS 1AM ET - WEC Wreckage: "A compilation of past bouts, including: Mike Budnik vs. Greg McIntyre; Scott Jorgensen vs. Frank Gomez; and Rob McCullough vs. Donald Cerrone."

- HDNET 4:30AM ET - "HDNet Fights Presents - World Victory Road: Sengoku 8 Featherweight Grand Prix 2nd Round - The Sengoku Featherweight Grand Prix is down to its final eight competitors. The marquee matchups for the second round include Top 10 featherweight Hatsu Hioki facing a stern test in wily veteran Ronnie Mann, and Marlon Sandro meeting up with Nick Denis in a battle of undefeated fighters."

- HDNET 4PM ET - In This Corner - Featuring Eddie Alvarez: "Eddie Alvarez, a young fighter from Philadelphia, heads to the Far East for the Dream Lightweight Grand Prix to find stardom. Helping to punch Alvarez's ticket to the big time are action-packed fights against Andre Amade, Joachim Hansen, and Tatsuya Kawajiri."

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

- HDNET 4:30AM ET - In This Corner - Featuring Eddie Alvarez: "Eddie Alvarez, a young fighter from Philadelphia, heads to the Far East for the Dream Lightweight Grand Prix to find stardom. Helping to punch Alvarez's ticket to the big time are action-packed fights against Andre Amade, Joachim Hansen, and Tatsuya Kawajiri."

- HDNET 8PM ET - M-1 Affliction Challenge: "Team Japan vs. Team England: A series of nation versus nation events with 5 fighters per nation in different weight classes. Featuring Team Japan vs. Team England, from Tokyo, Japan."

- HDNET 9PM ET - Inside MMA: "Kenny and Bas are joined by top MMA trainers Shawn Tompkins, Ricardo Liborio, and Greg Nelson. In Kruck's Korner, Ron takes on various fighters in a buffalo wing eating contest for charity."

- HDNET 10PM ET - HDNet Fights - "Stars and Strikes: A tribute to MMA fighters who have served in the United States Military."

- HDNET 11:30PM ET - M-1 Affliction Challenge: "Team Japan vs. Team England: A series of nation versus nation events with 5 fighters per nation in different weight classes. Featuring Team Japan vs. Team England, from Tokyo, Japan."

Saturday, July 4th, 2009

- HDNET 12:30AM ET - Inside MMA: "Kenny and Bas are joined by top MMA trainers Shawn Tompkins, Ricardo Liborio, and Greg Nelson. In Kruck's Korner, Ron takes on various fighters in a buffalo wing eating contest for charity."

- HDNET 3AM ET - Inside MMA: "Kenny and Bas are joined by top MMA trainers Shawn Tompkins, Ricardo Liborio, and Greg Nelson. In Kruck's Korner, Ron takes on various fighters in a buffalo wing eating contest for charity."

- HDNET 4PM ET - HDNet Fights - "Stars and Strikes: A tribute to MMA fighters who have served in the United States Military."

- HDNET 5:30PM ET - Inside MMA: "Kenny and Bas are joined by top MMA trainers Shawn Tompkins, Ricardo Liborio, and Greg Nelson. In Kruck's Korner, Ron takes on various fighters in a buffalo wing eating contest for charity."

Sunday, July 5th, 2009

- HDNET 4:30AM ET - HDNet Fights - "Stars and Strikes: A tribute to MMA fighters who have served in the United States Military."

- SPIKE 3PM ET - UFC Unleashed: "A replay of Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva from UFC 79."

- SPIKE 4PM ET - UFC Unleashed: "Chuck Liddell vs. Randy Couture; Mike Swick vs. Steve Vigneault; Renato Sobral vs. Chael Sonnen; Sobral vs. Mike Van Arsdale."

- SPIKE 5PM ET - UFC Unleashed: "Andrei Arlovski vs. Tim Sylvia ("UFC 51"); Chuck Liddell vs. Renato Sobral ("UFC 62"); Matt Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre ("UFC 65")."

- SPIKE 6PM ET - UFC Unleashed: "A compilation of past bouts"

- SPIKE 7PM ET - UFC Unleashed: "A replay of Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva from UFC 79."

- SPIKE 9PM ET - NEW - UFC's Ultimate 100 Greatest Fights: "Nos. 100-76 of the top fan-selected UFC fights."

VIP INFO: List of All VIP-Exclusive UFC 100 Themed Articles and Audio Shows Already Available For Members

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:49:45 PST

LIST OF VIP-EXCLUSIVE ARTICLES PUBLISHED SO FAR IN THE FIRST EIGHT DAYS OF OUR 21 DAY MEGA-COVERAGE COUNTDOWN TO UFC 100

ROUNDTABLE: Which undercard fight are you most looking forward to?

ROUNDTABLE: Did the right five fights make the main card? Is there an undercard bout more deserving?

Fighter History: Jon Fitch

Fighter Profile: Jon Fitch

Fighter History: Michael Bisping

Fighter Profile: Michael Bisping

HISTORY: UFC 100 Countdown - "How we got here" - UFC 22 - Excellence in the early years

Fighter History: Dan Henderson

ROUNDTABLE: Fantasy booking time - what would your ultimate UFC 100 card look like?

Fighter Profile: Dan Henderson

HISTORY: UFC 100 Countdown - "How we got here" - UFC 17 - Henderson's beginning

HISTORY: UFC 100 Countdown - "How we got here" - UFC 10 - Coleman debuts

PENICK: July 11th determines the "Best Heavyweight in the World" to the mass majority

Fighter History: Thiago Alves

Fighter Profile: Thiago Alves

HISTORY: UFC 100 Countdown - "How we got here" - UFC 5 - Gracie vs. Shamrock Superfight

KELLER: Evaluating the UFC 100 online official preview show focused on top three fights

Fighter History: Georges St. Pierre

Fighter Profile: Georges St. Pierre

ROUNDTABLE: What is the best camp in MMA today?

BENT: UFC 100 - I Don't Know How To Put This, But It's Kind Of A Big Deal

Fighter History: Frank Mir

Fighter Profile: Frank Mir

HISTORY: UFC 100 Countdown - "How we got here" - UFC 1 - The Beginning

ROUNDTABLE: What faces are on your "Mt. Rushmore" of MMA?

Fighter History: Brock Lesnar

Fighter Profile: Brock Lesnar

UFC 100 MEGA-COVERAGE AUDIO SERIES SO FAR:

VIP AUDIO: Profile of GSP's MMA career, part three, focusing on second Penn fight and GreaseGate (Day 9)

VIP AUDIO: Profile of GSP's MMA career, part two, focusing on UFC 69-UFC 87 fights (Day 8)

VIP AUDIO: Profile of GSP's MMA career, part one, focused on early career before first title win (Day 7)

VIP AUDIO: Profile of Frank Mir focusing on ups and downs of his career - Penick and Pelkey (Day 6)

VIP AUDIO: Lesnar vs. Couture - should it have happened and what was learned - Penick and Keller (Day 5)

VIP AUDIO: Lesnar's controversial statements make headlines again - is he bad for MMA's image? (Day 4)

VIP AUDIO: How much does Lesnar-Mir fight mean if they don't beat Fedor - Penick and Pelkey

VIP AUDIO: Profile of Lesnar's MMA career, part one, focused on first three MMA fights - Keller and Penick (Day 2)

VIP AUDIO: Introduction to what's planned for the next four weeks of UFC 100 Mega-Audio! (Day 1)

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VIP AUDIO: Profile of GSP's MMA career, part three, focusing on second Penn fight and GreaseGate (Day 9)

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:43:16 PST

Today's VIP-exclusive audio show concludes MMATorch editor Jamie Penick and MMATorch Columnist Matt Pelkey's discussion on the career of Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre, focusing on his bout with B.J. Penn at UFC 94 and the controversy that followed.

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UFC 100 MEGA-COVERAGE AUDIO SERIES SO FAR:

VIP AUDIO: Profile of GSP's MMA career, part three, focusing on second Penn fight and GreaseGate (Day 9)

VIP AUDIO: Profile of GSP's MMA career, part two, focusing on UFC 69-UFC 87 fights (Day 8)

VIP AUDIO: Profile of GSP's MMA career, part one, focused on early career before first title win (Day 7)

VIP AUDIO: Profile of Frank Mir focusing on ups and downs of his career - Penick and Pelkey (Day 6)

VIP AUDIO: Lesnar vs. Couture - should it have happened and what was learned - Penick and Keller (Day 5)

VIP AUDIO: Lesnar's controversial statements make headlines again - is he bad for MMA's image? (Day 4)

VIP AUDIO: How much does Lesnar-Mir fight mean if they don't beat Fedor - Penick and Pelkey

VIP AUDIO: Profile of Lesnar's MMA career, part one, focused on first three MMA fights - Keller and Penick (Day 2)

VIP AUDIO: Introduction to what's planned for the next four weeks of UFC 100 Mega-Audio! (Day 1)

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NEW: UFC 100 MEGA-COVERAGE VIP MEMBERSHIP NOW OFFERED - CLICK FOR DETAILS

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:50:32 PST

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Bobby Lashley beats Bob Sapp; Gilbert Yvel victorious at "Ultimate Chaos" (Video)

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:17:17 PST

If you missed last night's semi-entertaining debacle of a pay-per-view event, "Ultimate Chaos" from Biloxi, MS, the two main bouts on the card delivered in different ways. For Bobby Lashley, he defeated Bob Sapp with a submission from strikes without letting Sapp move from the bottom after a big takedown off the bat. Also, in the co-main event, Gilbert Yvel knocked Pedro Rizzo out cold to earn another payday with Affliction on August 1st against Paul Buentello. Both fights can be seen below (App users, video is available at MMATorch.com):

Bobby Lashley vs. Bob Sapp

Gilbert Yvel vs. Paul Buentello

STRIKEFORCE NEWS: Tito Ortiz claims he's close to signing four fight deal and could fight in October

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:08:43 PST

If Tito Ortiz is to be believed, there's a large possibility we may see him back in action before this year is out. A report at FiveOuncesOfPain.com states he's saying he's close to signing a four fight deal with Strikeforce and could debut this fall.

The comments are reportedly from Ortiz while being the guest of honor at last night's UCFC "Clementi vs. Jensen" show in Pittsburgh at the Mellon Arena.

Ortiz told the crowd in the Mellon Arena that he was not only close to signing a contract with Strikeforce, but that he could also face Renato "Babalu" Sobral at a Strikeforce event in October.

He also reportedly stated he'd like his fourth and final contracted fight to be a catchweight bout between himself and Fedor Emelianenko.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: Until the pen touches paper being guided by Tito's hand it's hard to put much merit into any signing discussion, even from Tito himself. Last year alone he was "close" to signing deals with EliteXC and Affliction that never came through, so again until he steps into a ring or cage again people will only briefly speculate on the possibilities. A bout with Babalu would definitely be a good one, but he'd be crazy to fight Fedor.

OTHER NEWS: Lashley eyes September return after victory over Sapp

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:55:59 PST

Bobby Lashley is very much looking to get back into action after his quick win over Bob Sapp at last night's "Ultimate Chaos" pay-per-view. After Lashley stated in his post fight interview that he would like to fight two more times during the year, MMA FanHouse reports that his next bout is likely to come in September.

The report states that Lashley has agreed to fight once again for Prize Fight MMA, one of the promoter's of the "Ultimate Chaos" event. Though no date or location has been set, the report states a likely date of September 26th.

Lashley moved to 4-0 with the dominating win last night, taking Sapp down immediately and using his superior wrestling to control Sapp and throw punches before Sapp ultimately tapped out to the strikes.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: Lashley's taking a smart approach to his MMA career thus far. Because he's got some name value due to his time in WWE it may have been easy for him to be pushed into a more high profile spot somewhere too fast and too soon. Because he's taking it slower and continually getting himself acclimated to the fight game he's setting himself up for future success as he brings his overall game up to speed with his natural athletic ability.

WEC NEWS: Fabiano likely for WEC 43 event in September

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 11:13:36 PST

WEC featherweight Wagnney Fabiano could return to action at the as-of-yet unnanounced WEC 43 event, likely coming in September, according to a report from MMAJunkie.com.

The 12-1 professional an 8-0 run from his time in the IFL, where he was a Champion, and his two fights in the WEC. As one of the topped ranked featherweights, and a teammate of Jose Aldo, Fabiano is on the short list of fighters jockeying for a spot at the Featherweight Title currently held by Mike Brown. He last fought in April, defeating Fredson Paixao.

WEC 43 is expected to play host to a bout between Donald Cerrone and Ben Henderson, which could possibly be for an Interim Lightweight Championship with the Champ Jamie Varner sidelined with injuries.

Penick's Analysis: Fabiano's ground game is phenomenal, but with his teammate Aldo being the flashier, seemingly more devastating fighter, there's a possibility he gets passed over for a crack at the title. That is, unless one of them decides to drop down to bantamweight, which has been talked about in many circles as an option for one of them. Either way he makes a good addition to any card just for the chance to see what he can do.

STRIKEFORCE NEWS: Roger Gracie to make his American MMA debut on August 15th event

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 11:05:01 PST
2-0 Heavyweight prospect Roger Gracie will be making his debut in America on Strikeforce's August 15th event, according to a report from GracieMag.com. No opponent has been named for this first bout, and it has not yet been officially announced by Strikeforce.

Gracie defeated Ron Waterman in his debut fight with BodogFIGHT back in 2006 and then in May of last year he defeated Yuki Kondo at a Sengoku event. Both fights ended in submissions by the Jiu Jitsu black belt.

He most recently competed and won a second "absolute black belt" in the Jiu-Jitsu World Championship.

Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg airs live on Showtime on August 15th, headlined by the Strikeforce Women's 145 lb. Championship bout between Gina Carano and Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos, and also featuring Heavyweight Champ Alistair Overeem in action as well as a Lightweight Title bout between Josh Thomson and Gilbert Melendez.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: Gracie's only got two professional fights but he's got a lifetime of jiu-jitsu experience that will make him a very dangerous heavyweight no matter who he's facing. The name alone says enough, but he should be an exciting addition to this August 15th card.

PENICK'S "ULTIMATE CHAOS" BLOG: Live on-going thoughts on Lashley-Sapp pay-per-view from Mississippi

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:47:11 PST
Bob Sapp and Bobby Lashley headline tonight's "Ultimate Chaos" MMA pay-per-view from Biloxi, MS, and we'll have thoughts and results from the event live here throughout the night. The card features Gilbert Yvel against Pedro Rizzo in a heavyweight tilt, and also a bout featuring Affliction Entertainment VP Tom Atencio in his second mixed martial arts bout. The show begins at 9PM ET.

-The show has a bit of an old school UFC feel to the presentation, set with full UFC 1 style graphics. Col. Bob Sheridan and Seth Petruzelli are on commentry here tonight.

-Fight One: Danny Abbadi vs. James Orso

Round One - Abbadi worked the knees in the clinch really nicely early in the first round. Orso's got some heavy hands and landed some good shots in a couple of spots. Orso got a nice takedown in the middle of the round and eventually got in a really nice elbow. Abbadi held his guard closed and controlled Orso pretty well for a while, doing a nice job of avoiding too much damage. Orso took round one with the takedown and some good attempts at ground and pound.

Round Two - Abbadi surprised with a nice combination and rocked Orso. Nice follow up until Orso clinched in. Orso got a weak takedown. Orso doesn't seem to have a whole lot of enrgy on top here. Abbadi did a nice job to get a transition and then get out of a submission attempt from Orso. They finally got back to their feet after a while and Abbadi landed a couple more punches. Orso got another weak takedown late when Abbadi went for a kimura. The round could have gone either way, as Abbadi did some damage standing and Orso had the takedowns. Orso didn't do much on top though.

Round Three - A gassed Orso has some heavy hands here and he landed some very good, very hard shots. Abbadi locked in a very tight guillotine halfway through the round but couldn't finish it. Orso tries to sit up in Abbadi's guard to land some ground and pound but just flails a couple shots to the body. Orso is probably going to take this fight simply from being on top and landing some intermittent shots. Abbadi's not getting himelf back to his feet. Both guys are very tired in this last minute and Orso finishes by throwing shots as Abbadi tries to throw some at him from the bottom.

-James Orso wins by unanimous decision.

-The crowd shots show a lot of empty seats here and a seemingly semi-enthused crowd.

-John Harris coming down to the cage with a bullet-proof vest and a train-robber bandana was quite funny.

-Fight Two: John Harris vs. Brandon Harder

Round One - Harris came out like a bat out of hell and landed a bunch of punches. Harder clinched for a bit but they separated with Harris landing another three or four hard shots. Harris is really controlling Harder until Harder picked him up and slammed him. That didn't last long with Harris getting right back up. They had a great exchange of flurries on the cage and Harris continued the assault with more knees. Harder lands a couple of hard right hands that seem to rock Harris and both guys are getting tired here. Harder again rocks Harris. Harris went back to the Thai clinch and landed some knees to the face, but he doesn't have much gas left in the tank right now. Harder grabs a guillotine and takes Harris down but can't hold on to it. Harder ended the round on Harris' back trying for a choke. Hell of an opening round. This ain't world class stuff but both guys are no doubt giving it everything they've got.

Round Two - Harder got Harris down right off the bat but Harris managed to go for an armbar and transition to where he got himself in top position. Harris overpowered and got to mount. Harris throws shots from the mount but both guys are so fatigued at this point. Harder got a really tired Harris off of him and then he moved in and got the full mount himself. He unloads a ton of shots from the top and then locks in an arm triangle, choking Harris unconscious. The two have a respectful discussion amongst themselves as Harder helps Harris to his feet. Good fight between two early in their career professionals.

-Brandon Harder wins by arm choke at 4:31 of the second round. The announcer had trouble with the mic and announcing the winner. This is amateur hour for $30 bucks here, people.

-Fight Three: Tom Atencio vs. Randy Hedderick

Round One - Atencio rushed in after getting hit with a couple of leg kicks. Hedderick held a tight Thai clinch and Atencio held him up against the cage. Hedderick got some space and rocked Atencio with a couple of shots. Hedderick pounced and dropped Atencio with another shot and threw down some more shots to Atencio on the ground. Atencio worked back to his feet however and looked to be recovered. He landed a good leg kick on Hedderick and a good combination of his own. Late in the round Atencio got dropped with a kick to the body while going for a spinning back fist. He nicely transitioned off his back to get back standing. They traded shots again. Atencio landed a couple of punches and Hedderick stuck his chin straight out to take a few more shots as the round ended. The crowd is loving him right now. The replay showed Atencio out on his feet after a shot and then snapping right back into consciousness.

Round Two - Atencio was out extra aggressive on Hedderick early. A minute in Atencio got a nice trip, but Hedderick got back to his feet. Hedderick looks to be very tired here and his punches have no pop on them. Hedderick weakly shot in and Atencio stuffed it and took Hedderick's back, but Hedderick countered right out of it into side control. Atencio got back to his feet again. Hedderick's nose looks to be broken, bleeding badly. Atencio gets another takedown and throws punches down. Hedderick barely survived that round.

Round Three - Scratch that, Hedderick tells his corner he can't finish and they stop the fight before the bell.

-Tom Atencio wins via tko (corner stoppage) after two rounds.

-The t-shirt seller has a hell of a chin, looking like he got rocked with a couple of flash knockout shots in the first round. He called out Dana White because Dana about saying something about Hedderick and saying he couldn't say anything because he doesn't have the balls to step in the cage. The announcers discussed that Atencio would fight again if Dana Would step in the cage with him.

-Fight Four: Brett Cooper vs. Waachiim Spirit Wolf

Round One - Cooper elicits laughs by flailing his arms. They hung in the clinch against the cage for a good minute before Spirit Wolf broke out with a punch. Spirit Wolf is getting the only shots in early but neither is doing a whole lot yet. Spirit Wolf landed a big right uppercut and then another flurry before Cooper clinches him again. A little bit later Spirit Wolf caught him with a huge right hand and knocked him out, but got in a few more shots to Cooper on the ground before the ref stopped it. Cooper got to his feet and stumbled around the cage for awhile. They need to get a doctor to that man.

-Waachiim Spirit Wolf wins by KO at 3:41 of the first round.

-They keep bringing in sponsors after the fight to have them plug their stuff. They're just wasting time now.

-They run the full preview video for Lashley vs. Sapp, they are really taking their sweet time on this show.

-Fight Five: Chris Horodecki vs. William Sriyapai

Round One - They exchange a little bit early before Horodecki gets a takedown and gets Sriyapai's back and locks in his hooks. Sriyapai holds him off pretty well but Horodecki holds his hooks in nicely. Sriyapai rolls over and Horodecki throws some good punches. Sriyapai rolls again and Horodecki still has the hooks in. Sriyapai is doing a really good job of keeping his chin down but he can't get out of the position. Horodecki finally locks it in with just over a minute left and gets the submission. That was a great job by Horodecki of keeping his hooks in and never giving up on grabbing that choke. Great performance and he's no worse for the wear when he's looking to fight on the Affliction show.

-Chris Horodecki wins via rear naked choke at 4:05 of the first round.

-Fight Six: Mark Kergosian vs. Javier Vasquez

Din Thomas came in a half pound over the limit, they were going to let him fight at that so he began rehydrating and then they came back and told him he needed to make the weight. He became ill while trying to re-cut the weight and had to go to the hospital, so Kergosian steps in here.

-This ring announcer is awful. Multiple times he's tried to play to the crowd while exiting the cage after announcing the fighters.

Round One - Kergosian shot in right off the bat and Vasquez held him off. He grabbed a standing guillotine, then dropped to lock it in. Kergosian flipped through but Vasquez held onto it on top of Kergosian and forced him to tap quick.

-Javier Vasquez wins via guillotine choke at :59 of the 1st round.

-Vasquez is upset even after the win because he didn't get to fight Din. He thanked Mark for taking the fight or he wouldn't have gotten a chance to fight. He said hopefully they can make the fight with Thomas down the line. He said very few guys can even touch him at 145 lbs.

-This interviewer likes to put his arm around everyone tonight. It was a little creepy with Vasquez there. Oh, and then back to the sponsor again, this time an owner of a Buffalo Wild Wings. Why are these guys getting brought into the cage? Just mention them on the broadcast and you're good.

-Fight Seven: Colin McKee vs. Lance Thompson

Round One - McKee comes straight out and shoots in. Thompson throws a couple of high knees in the clinch to stuff him. McKee tries to drag him to the ground but Thompson gets right up to his feet. McKee finally got the takedown and Thompson gave up his back. McKee held on as Thompson tried to stand up and somersault him off. Thompson finally transitioned out and got on top and then they scrambled to their feet. Thompson shot in but McKee stuffed it. They stood up and separated briefly before Thompson got a takedown. Thompson moved to the full mount but McKee pushed him off into guard again. McKee managed to get back to his feet again and they grappled right away. McKee got him down and took Thompson's back again. He started throwing a few shots and the ref stepped in and stopped it. Thompson just tapped to the strikes, though the blows didn't seem that bad.

-Colin McKee wins via submission to strikes at 4:16 of the first round.

-Thompson walked out of the cage and to the back before the official announcement was made.

-Fight Eight: Gilbert Yvel vs. Pedro Rizzo

Round One - Yvel landed a couple of good kicks early before a third was caught and Rizzo tripped him up and got into Yvel's guard. Rizzo landed some hard elbows and then postured up to throw some more shots. Yvel's trying to cover up as best he can and finally he kicks Rizzo off of him. He gets after Rizzo with a ton of shots and throws a high kick. He then tossed Rizzo to the ground and unleashed four or five major shots that knocked Rizzo out cold. The ref should have stopped it before the last three shots. This is a scary looking scene for Rizzo. Yvel asks the crowd for quiet and kneels by Rizzo until he comes to. Rizzo got back to his feet after a little bit and looks to be ok. That was a bad, bad KO for Yvel. Big power there, but no not "Fedor-esque" as the Sheridan said.

-Gilbert Yvel wins via KO at 2:10 of the first round.

-Here's the in cage announcer to put his hands on Yvel. Yvel said he's heading to the hotel and the after party, then he's got Buentello at Affliction and then he wants to go to the UFC to make a run at the "big ass belt." He said he's now starting to learn the MMA part of the game, as opposed to his old days where he just would go in and fight.

-Main Event Fight Nine: Bobby Lashley vs. Bob Sapp

"Let the beating's commence" - Ring Announcer

Round One - Sapp came out at Lashley and Lashley shot in, picked him up and took him down. Lashley threw a few shots and tried to improve his position. He got into the half guard and threw a couple of short elbows. Sapp holds Lashley's damage off here by grabbing his wrists and stalling him. Lashley again tries to throw the short elbows. Lashley gets in a good right hand after the crowd started booing. Sapp threw a couple of left hands from the bottom. Lashley continued throwing right hands from the top. Lashley postured up and landed three big right hands and Sapp appeared to tap out. The ref didn't stop it and Lashley threw a bunch more shots and Sapp tapped again. Alright then. Good performance from Lashley, did exactly what he needed to do there and basically dominated Sapp there.

-Bobby Lashley wins via submission due to strikes at 3:17 of the first round.

-Sapp said he thought he was going to get out but Lashley caught him in the eye and he couldn't see. Sapp said he had no excuses, Lashley got him down and took control and he deserves credit. Lashley said he was expecting Bob to throw bombs and he needed to get him down. He said he stuck with his gameplan and went out successful. Lashley said the first thing you need to do is win and he was expecting to be standing later in the fight but he wanted to wear him down with the ground and pound. Lashley said each match he's getting better, and he said if you're not looking at me now you better start looking. He said he's got more tests but he wants to get at least two more fights this year and keep moving up.

Alright, first off, the good from the show tonight: they aired nine full fights here on the card, and while none were of the highest caliber almost every one was entertaining. The Harder-Harris fight was an awesome back and forth battle between two guys just wanting a win, Tom Atencio showed he could take a punch or three and keep coming, Chris Horodecki got out of his bout unscathed and can fight on August 1st and then Spirit Wolf and Gilbert Yvel gave the fans a couple of huge KO victories. Top that off with Bobby Lashley and a very impressive showing of his ground and pound ability and it was a successful show.

The bad: The ring announcer was really bad, and they had multiple issues with the audio in the cage. The sponsor interviews got a little ridiculous and the post fight interviewer was the epitome of "hands-on," and then the video packages they had were UFC 1-esque, to steal Col. Bob's overuse of "-esque." But on the flipside, Col. Bob and Seth Petruzelli, along with Doug Ferguson, still did a decent job of calling the action despite the hyperbole. They were certainly less annoying than Mauro Ranallo and Stephen Quadros for Strikeforce.

So overall, this was a successful show, and if you plopped down $30 bucks for it, even if it wasn't entirely worth it, it wasn't a complete waste of money. Thanks for sticking with the live blog tonight, stick around this week for an exciting new Torch announcement and more coverage and commentary around the world of MMA as we come to UFC 100 on July 11th.

MMA News: Bobby Lashley defeats Japan MMA legend and former NFL player Bob Sapp

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 21:26:26 PST
Bobby Lashley defeated Bob Sapp in tonight's "Ultimate Chaos" PPV event in Biloxi, Ms. Lashley charged Sapp and took him down easily less than five seconds into the fight and then controlled him for a couple minutes and drew a Sapp tapout after pummeling him with a series of punches from a mount position.

Lashley said after the fight he wants to fight two more times this year. He said he'll test his stand-up in other fights, but this fight was about taking Sapp down and grinding out a win.

For full details, visit Jamie Penick's full fight card results.

"Ultimate Chaos" Live Blog - Lashley vs. Sapp

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:32:45 PST

Bob Sapp and Bobby Lashley headline tonight's "Ultimate Chaos" MMA pay-per-view from Biloxi, MS, and we'll have thoughts and results from the event live here throughout the night. The card features Gilbert Yvel against Pedro Rizzo in a heavyweight tilt, and also a bout featuring Affliction Entertainment VP Tom Atencio in his second mixed martial arts bout. Click here for full report...

UFC QUICK CLIP: New UFC 101 promo (Video)

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 17:07:47 PST
UFC 101: Declaration comes live on pay-per-view August 8th from the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, PA. The first TV spot for the event is below (App users, video is available at MMATorch.com):

STRIKEFORCE NEWS: Fighter payouts released for 6/19 Challengers event

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:00:57 PST
The official fighter payouts have been released by the Washington State Athletic Commission, per MMAJunkie.com, for the June 19th Strikeforce Challengers event from the ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington.

The full disclosed payroll was just shy of $200K at $198,500 with Joey Villasenor, Tim Kennedy and Jorge Gurgel being the top earners of the night. The full disclosed payouts are below:

-Joey Villasenor: $48,000
-Evangelista Cyborg: $10,000

-Tim Kennedy: $20,000
-Nick Thompson: $15,000

-Jorge Gurgel: $20,000
-Conor Heun: $4,000

-Sarah Kaufman: $8,000
-Shayna Baszler: $8,000

-Luke Rockhold: $7,000
-Corey Devela: $7,500

-Dennis Hallman: $10,000
-Justin Davis: $2,000

-Brian Caraway: $6,000
-Alex Zuniga: $1,000

-Lyle Beerbohm: $6,000
-Duane Ludwig: $15,000

-Landon Showalter: $3,000
-George Stork: $1000

-Len Bentley: $1,500
-Marques Daniels: $1,500

-Steve Hadsel: $3,000
-Taylor Roberts: $1,000

Penick's Analysis: These payouts are right around what the payroll was for the last WEC event, which is certainly interesting to think about, considering what was on the line there with Versus in more homes than Showtime. Still, it was definitely top heavy here and Villasenor picked up a good chunk of change for the win. From a business standpoint, the lower payroll is very much geared towards successful events as they can build the Strikeforce brand without overpaying their roster.