MMA News and Notes 5/24

I warn you, this is probably the most massive post on MMA news in the history of this blog.

Take a tour around the MMA world with me. Eventually, there will be a CARE audio podcast for UFC 71 which was recorded last night. For the eventual written preview and to add your voice to the crowd, click here

Chuck Liddell fires back at boxers Floyd Mayweather and Bernard Hopkins.

I've got plenty more, but you'll have to click.



Sherdog.com sources say that the Pride Acquision has been finalized.

Randy Couture Steps Up to help troops.

Carmelo Marrero is ready for Wilson Gouveia and Light Heavyweight at UFC 71.

Ultimate Fighter ratings are flat at Midseason.

A report says that Pride Fighters are planning a class action lawsuit against Dreamstage Entertainment.

Welterweight Champion Matt Serra talks the Ultimate Fighter 6.

Mirko Cro Cop should return at UFC 75, Sept. 8 from London. Michael Bisping and Jess Liaudin are also expected to compete on that show.

In what I guess is a boxing tournament, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira took bronze in Spain.

Tim Sylvia is a Dancin' Fool

Josh Burkman is ready for the elite fighters at 170 LBS and given he's facing Karo Parisyan...he'd better be.

Andrei Arlovski has lost his title shot and he deserves it. Hey, at least he still has this

Kermit Sintron the man who answered Dana White's challenge to Floyd Mayweather to fight Sean Sherk has reportedly been offered a 3-fight deal with Elite XC.

Gina Carano joins Xtreme Couture.

Art of War 3 which was to take place June 30 on PPV has been postponed until August 18. Pedro Rizzo Vs. Jeff Monson is set to headline. Jeremy Horn and Jake Shields are set for undercard bouts.

It is time once again for Dear Don!

The IFL Playoff System may be more complicated than TNA's King of the Mountain.

Seattle Tiger Sharks Lightweight Shad Lierley has his sights set on undefeated L.A. Anacondas fighter Chris Horodecki.

A look back at IFL Chicago from this past weekend.

News and notes out of today's Observer News Update

--Dana White has a press conference this morning, mostly talking about the Sports Illustrated article and (he was beyond thrilled, saying he and Lorenzo
Fertitta walked all over New York holding the issue) as well as Saturday's show from Las Vegas. Among the key points:
*He is not interested in promoting a boxer vs. MMA fighter match because he knows what will happen, unless it's with a boxer the caliber of Floyd Mayweather.
Said he had never even heard of Cintron as a boxer and has no interest in him.
*He confirmed negotiations are back on with Kurt Angle. He said Angle tells him he's serious and if Angle is serious, he's interested. He said he doesn't
waste his time talking about deals that he thinks are going nowhere, but he also thought he had Angle once in the past.
*Said nothing new to report on HBO. But now he wants to control the production again, but still thinks a deal will be made
*Said in the end, they would finalize the Pride sale and promote shows in Japan. He said their business was a mess and it wasn't run as a business and it's
taking a lot of time to sort it out.
*There will be a major main event announced at the end of UFC 71. It will involve the Chuck Liddell vs. Quinton Jackson winner and a challenge that will
be issued for a dream match scenario. It will be the first so-called Super Bowl match (my words not his). At another point, White talked about Shogun Rua
being signed, but our impression is that it's another match. Doing the math, the opponent they are talking about is probably one of these three names--Wanderlei
Silva, Dan Henderson or Rua.
*When a reporter brought up Tito Ortiz thinking that since he's on Dana's bad side that he won't be getting a title match, he said, Tito was a pussy and
he needs to show up and fight Rashad Evans.
*He questioned Georges St. Pierre's mental toughness, saying he was so nervous backstage before the fight with Matt Serra. Said his physical ability is
second to none.
*Said he expects to run a live event in Mexico in early-to-mid 2008
*Said it was disgusting that New Jersey sanctioned the Ray Mercer vs. Kimbo Slice fight
*Ripped on Oscar de la Hoya as a promoter saying he should have loaded up the undercard, but respects him great for his ability to draw and said he expected
1.4 million to 1.65 million buys
*Said that before the Koscheck fight, that Diego Sanchez was diagnosed with Hepatitis C. At first he was planning on announcing his retirement before the
show, but further tests revealed he didn't have it, but they didn't know what it was. Said after the fight with Koscheck he was finally found to have had
a major staph infection, explaining his inability in the ring that night.
*On IFL, "It's a retarded concept."
*On Lesnar: "I'd love to have him."

On the 6/2 K-1 Dynamite USA show...Dave notes:

--We have nothing new confirmed regarding the status of the 6/2 Los Angeles Coliseum show. The belief from the K-1 side is that they expect an 11th hour
sanctioning and are proceeding as if the show is happening. Word on Kazushi Sakuraba should come today. According to sources close to the situation, Choi
Hong-man's medical condition is a tumor near the pituitary gland. FEG has told Tank Abbott, Ruben Villareal, James Thompson and Butterbean, who are all
represented to Valour Fighting, to be ready for a call. As of moments before this writing, they had made no indication which of the four they would pick,
and it is possible they have told others to be on standby. But they made the call at 4 a.m. last night to officially tell all of them to be ready.

Alex Marvez talks to Brock Lesnar

Injury Scraps Condit from First WEC Title Defense against Larson

May, 24, 2007
Thomas Gerbasi, WEC - It was announced today that due to an injury suffered in training camp, WEC Welterweight Champion Carlos Condit has been forced to
withdraw from his June 3rd title defense against Brock Larson at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. A replacement opponent is currently
being sought to face Larson, and will be announced shortly.

Stepping up into the main event slot for the June 3rd card, which will air on the VERSUS network, is the WEC Featherweight Championship bout between Urijah
Faber and Chance Farrar.

WWW.WEC.TV

NBC Sports has a Q&A with Dana White

Dana White on the record

Team Liddell is blown away by the shape Chuck Liddell is in entering Saturday's fight.

Sherdog has a preview of UFC 71.

The Card for Fight Night 10 looks like this

Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports has a piece bar room to brawling examining the road the Fertittas and Dana White went down that led them to purchase the UFC.

Chi Kong Lui asks if fighters should apologize for boring fights I see Chi Kong Lui, but I think, Hong Kong Phooey.

Long-time MMA Announcer and current IFL broadcaster Stephen Quadros weighs in on UFC 71.

David Mamet talks the MMA movie Redbelt in this fox news channel fight game video.

The prior 3 links come via Dave Doyle's MMA Blog for Fox Sports.

I think this will due for now, don't you?