Liddell Vs. Jardine set for UFC 76 in Anaheim

Confirmed by Dana White in the latest Kevin Iole column

Some will question the choice of opponent for Liddell post-Rampage but really there's not a lot of guys who are available to fight at that show that would be a compelling fight. Forrest Griffin might've been a better choice for box office but I can see why UFC wouldn't necessarily want to do that just yet.

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Liddell-Silva bout scrapped...again

UFC is even putting out a hit piece on Silva.

The bout was supposedly going to take place at UFC 76 and as the article states, terms were reached before Silva pulled out. He probably didn't feel like losing and given he's on a cold streak as it is...

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Vote in ESPN's 'Who's Now' competition

Ordinarily, I wouldn't even mention this but because I want some non-Benoit stuff and will take almost anything at this point, I give you ESPN's 'Who's Now' which seaks to find the most hip star in sports from a 32 person field. It is done in tournament style and will span through July.

Today's matchup pits #4 in the Mohommad Ali bracket Dale Earnhart Jr. against #5 Chuck Liddell.

Liddell is the only combat sports representative in the 32 person field.

So, if you are so inclined, click the above link and vote for him or something.

If you are not so inclined, then don't vote...I could not possibly care less either way.

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Vernon White: Chuck Liddell was in rehab before UFC 71 bout

for reasons that will be evident in a moment, I don't think White knows much of anything about what Chuck Liddell did before, during or after UFC 71.

However, in an interview at bloodyknux.com White made that exact claim.

A lot of people don’t understand is that I have a CAT scan that goes through my eye that shows where the finger entered my eye and where the bone was blown
out under my eye socket. It cost $38 thousand dollars to fix the eye. I have a silicon implant in my eye that’s screwed down so my eye doesn’t fall down
into my nasal cavity. As far as I’m concerned with all these idiots out there who don’t know what happened, they should keep their mouths shut until you
know the facts.

Everyone was saying, ‘I didn’t see a thumb go in, I didn’t see this, I didn’t see that.’ Just because it wasn’t a thumb, it doesn’t mean a finger didn’t
go into my eye. When you have interviews from other fighters stating that Chuck’s fingers have gone into their eyes. It doesn’t mean that he stuck his
fingers in the eye, but with the way he punches, his knuckles go in people’s eyes. I can’t bad mouth Chuck. He just came off a hard loss. Chuck just got
out of rehab, but I do have to say it was stupid for him to come out of rehab and fight Quinton the way he fought him. He should have fought a smarter
fight. Quinton’s my boy, I love you, and hold that belt forever.

White and Liddell have had bad blood with one another dating back to even before their UFC fight. Sam Caplan of FiveOuncesOfPain goes further

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Chuck Liddell admits to partying before UFC 71, makes no excuses for loss

In a Los Angeles Times article Chuck Liddell, love him or not, proves to be the anti-Tito Ortiz as he makes no excuses for his loss at UFC 71.

First, Liddell confirms that he was out partying the week of the event.

"It's nothing that I've never done before; it was just like any other fight," Liddell said. "I just go and hang out. I don't drink. I just kill time, hang
out with friends at whatever club they're at. I've been doing that as long as I've fought in Vegas."

Don't tell that to anyone at ESPN cause people like Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun Times would have you think an investigation need be launched.

More behind the cut:

On the loss, Liddell had the following to say:

Liddell dismissed the importance of his clubbing, insisting he's a nocturnal person who sleeps late, usually trains at night until about 9, then visits
with friends. He said he did the same things before beating Tito Ortiz twice in Las Vegas.

"If you lose, people are looking for a reason other than the fact I just got beat," Liddell said. "I obviously made a mistake [in the octagon]. I did something
I've been told for years not to do: throw a body shot to the outside like that. It seemed like [the opening] was there."

If the partying was a mistake, it was because it served as motivation for the Jackson camp.

Juanito Ibarra, Jackson's trainer and manager, said he was told early last week by members of Jackson's entourage that they had seen Liddell partying at
clubs such as the Hard Rock Hotel's Body English and The Mirage's Jet.

Ibarra seized on it as a motivational tool, arguing against Jackson's initial response of, "That's Chuck's business."

Said Ibarra: "That shows disrespect and I told Rampage that, 'He doesn't respect you, son,' I know I'm old school but if that was my kid out there I'd be
[upset.] If he thinks he's so good, that he can take me so lightly to think he can stay up so late … that's disrespect."

So, I guess you could argue that it did cost Liddell depending on how much stock you put in to needing motivating factors for a fight. Thing is, you'll never hear it from Liddell.

Somehow I don't think you'd hear the same things from Tito "The Huntington Beach Excuse Boy" Ortiz.

I pick on Tito because its easy.

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The ineffectiveness of ESPN's coverage of UFC 71

One of the benefits of Art and I combining our efforts completely instead of the way we had done so partially in the past is that each devoting less time to posting news because of the work of others allows us to work on other things. One of the things for me that I will be spending my time doing is writing more opinion pieces and this is the first step in that direction.

On the audio show referenced in our last post, Ric Gillespie talked about how ESPN doesn't make trends it follows trends and how the fact ESPN is covering UFC isn't as big a deal as many would make it out to be. It was a great discussion and led us off on to a few others. However, we never addressed the thing that I wanted to address on the show, so I'm going to do it now.

I found the quality of ESPN's coverage of the UFC and UFC 71 to be utterly horrible.

Click the cut to read more...sorry Ric!



Earlier today I was talking to OC Times periodic contributor Marcus Erickson and said that I wasn't happy with how ESPN handled UFC 71. At first he seemed surprised that I would say such a thing even though they spent so much time covering it. Sure, ESPN spent time covering the show, but was the time they spent time well spent?

My problem with ESPN's coverage is that they have too many people weighing in on a product that they're not familiar with. Now, I'm not saying that some of these sports writers who watched UFC for the first time shouldn't be allowed to comment on it. However, they didn't have enough people who were already familiar with the product to counteract ignorant opinion.

On Around the Horn Friday afternoon you had 2 sports writers looking at which was the bigger event of the weekend, UFC 71 or the Indy 500. One of them said it was the UFC while the other said it as the 500 and described the UFC as something to satisfy the blood lust. The writer then went on to explain what you could see in the UFC and specifically mentioned eye gouging and hinted at a few other things. The problem is that the other writer did nothing to point out that those things aren't legal in the UFC either because he didn't know it or couldn't be bothered.

On that same show Tuesday afternoon, the same writer that called it blood lust on Friday suggested that an investigation be launched in to Chuck Liddell because he was out partying the week leading up to the fight. Nobody bothered to point out, likely because they wouldn't have known, that this is hardly uncommon behavior for Liddell and it would've been a bigger news item if he hadn't done that. They then talked about the main event with one writer commenting on it and then admitting she actually didn't even watch and a couple more saying that because it was over in 2 minutes that it hurt the UFC.

Now, you can hold that opinion if you wish and I know several people who supposedly know what they're talking about that feel that very way. However, nobody was there to argue that people used to pay top dollar with the hopes of seeing Mike Tyson knock someone out in the first round. Nobody was there to point out that a UFC show typically provides a solid under-card of action, I don't think the under-card of UFC 71 was even mentioned once in the discussion. I've said this already, because the finish was decisive and clearly the right call it doesn't hurt the UFC in any way. If it had been a questionable ref stoppage then you've got a stronger case.

The thing is that this kind of coverage was all over the ESPN family of networks. The best segment on UFC 71 was the Lou DiBella Vs. Joe Rogan debate that led off Friday evening's SportsCenter. It was the best segment because you had someone in Rogan who actually knew what he was talking about. I'm not saying ESPN has to immediately get its coverage of UFC right from the start. However, that network knew for awhile that it was going to start covering the UFC and that was the best that they could come up with?

Now, in the future I expect that this may change a bit at least I hope so. ESPN has an agreement with Sherdog but I know for sure that won't last. ESPN will want to have its in-house reporters breaking news and writing for its site and being on its programs. This is so that they can have complete editorial control over everything said and printed and it can fit the ESPN format. Theoretically, if ESPN is still covering the UFC in a few years by then they'll probably have talked some fighters out of the Octagon and in to the studio. They'll really devote time to the product if someday they end up with the right to televise it. Notice how when they got the Arena Football League package you started to see many more tie-ins with that particular league? That's no coincidence.

If you were someone who had no idea what the UFC was going in to ESPN's coverage of this event, I shutter to think what your opinion of it would be if you only saw the coverage and didn't actually order the fight. Fact is that they gave it about as much CARE as they would if it were the WWE. ESPN as Ric said is a network that rides trends not create them, however it is also a network that can influence public opinion. When they let talking heads with no experience with the product weigh in without dealing with someone who has been around the product for longer it skews things too far in a negative direction. Perhaps that's what ESPN wants to happen. Maybe they're hoping the negative press will help UFC fade in to oblivion so they don't have to cover it anymore, I don't know you'd have to ask them.

Granted, I didn't see everything that they did and in general didn't have a problem with the naration of highlights of the event itself. I thought Brian Kenny as the moderator of the Rogan and DiBella debate was very well prepared and well informed. I'm not saying this was the worst coverage of a sporting event in the history of the world but I am saying its not a clear cut thumbs up and in fact, I'd give it a thumbs down.

Let me say for full disclosure that I don't watch ESPN very much anymore. I watch their NFL draft coverage every year, I watch certain football or baseball games if I enjoy the teams involved, but rarely ever watch shows like Around the Horn, Pardon the Interruption or SportsCenter. Fact is I'm not really a fan of the way they cover a lot of sports anymore. I used to watch ESPN so much you'd think it was the only channel my TV could pick up but that's no longer the case. I get my football news from other sources and that's true to a lesser degree for Baseball, Basketball and hockey.

I'm hoping ESPN will actually find people who know what they're talking about to counterbalance the uninformed analysts on these shows. However, I think you're kidding yourself if you think that ESPN's coverage did UFC any good other than the fact it was novel to see UFC covered on ESPN. The fact is that as Ric said ESPN covering UFC ultimately doesn't mean as much as people are leading you to believe, but the fact they're covering it at all was more effective than the actual coverage itself.
You might find it hard to believe this but I feel its true. Chuck Liddell being on ESPN last week did more for ESPN than it ever will have done for Liddell himself. Liddell was already UFC's biggest star and that loss on Saturday didn't change that in fact, it may have helped cement him as its biggest star. ESPN was looking to capitalize more on the cool factor of Liddell than Liddell will benefit from being on ESPN. Where's the proof that he was on ESPN made him any more popular than he already was? Please, show it to me if you can. I won't expect anything because you can't prove it. The only people who tuned in to ESPN to see Liddell were people that were either those who already watch the network or those who tuned in specifically to see Liddell because they like him and then once he was done they flipped channels.

Helping UFC is not why ESPN is covering the organization. Think about it, the fight night specials, the Ultimate Fighter 5 Finale and UFC Pay Per View events are still competitors with ESPN. Why would ESPN work hard to hype a show like the TUF 5 Finale when they've got a program going head-to-head with Pulver Vs. Penn? Why would ESPN do a lot of features on UFC 75 this fall when they're trying to push a Saturday night college football game which goes head-to-head with the PPV but airs on their own network? They may produce those feature stories but not to help UFC gain viewers but to get UFC viewers to watch ESPN programming. Its really that simple, so don't look at ESPN's coverage as the network doing UFC any sort of favor.

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UFC 71: Base Salary for the Main Eventers?

The L.A. Times reports that Liddell made $500,000 and Jackson $450,000 for last night's fight. This is just base pay as factoring in PPV bonuses those numbers will greatly increase.

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MMA News and Notes 05/27

Lets take a walk around the MMA world, in order to see what's up. Lots of post UFC 71 stuff for sure.

Jay Hieron is still hungry for IFL success.

More behind the cut.



Next in Line, Hendo's Back

Crushed Ice, Rampage KO's Liddell, to win Light Heavy Crown

Rampage Jackson knocks out Ice Man Liddell for the UFC Light Heavyweight title. (Video - CBS2.com)

Anything's possible Kevin Iole - Yahoo Sports

Houston Alexander stuns Keith Jardine Yahoo Sports

Ice Man Melted
NBC Sports

Rampage fits the bill, drops Liddell in first
Dave Doyle - FoxSports.com

Wanderlei Silva next for Liddell?
TSN

The important quote:

Liddell said after he planned to continue fighting, with UFC president Dana White saying Brazilian Wanderlei Silva would be his likely next opponent.

''I still love to fight. Nothing's changed. So yeah, I'll keep training and fighting. All stuff like this makes me want to do is get back in the gym and
train more. I was in great shape for this fight and I was healthy. I made a mistake. I'll be back.''

Did the shortness of last night's main event hurt UFC? Sam Caplan of FiveOuncesofPain.com argues that it did I argue that it did not.

I'll have more later.

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OCC Aftermath: UFC 71 'Liddell Vs. Jackson'

Here's what we've learned after tonight's UFC 71.

CARE Results:
Casey-Art-Ric: 4/5
Euan-Scott: 3/6

It is a rough night for all of us. Click the cut for more.



The first thing we learned is that if all members of CARE agree, you're screwed.

We all picked Din Thomas and he was victorious, same for Karo "The Heat" Parisyan. We all picked Chris Leben, Keith Jardine, Sean Salmon, and Chuck Liddell who lost.

If you're a favorite in a UFC main event, you're also screwed. Sylvia, St. Pierre, Mirko Cro Cop and Chuck Liddell.

Terry Martin is for real.

Fun fact, I had originally picked James Irvin, Quinton Jackson and Terry Martin to win their fights before changing my mind on all of them. I'd be doing much better had I not changed my mind.

Houston Alexander will never be made fun of again on a CARE podcast. The members of CARE will however accept people making fun of us for being dumbasses.

The upsets will continue for awhile longer, because this is the MMA version of the market correcting itself. Things will continue to be hard to predict with the influx of Pride fighters into the UFC.

It was a good show.

I wonder if we won't see Chuck Liddell at Heavyweight now. The fact is that the prospects of a rematch are greater now than if Liddell had one. Yes, I realize he is now 0 and 2 against Jackson, but the first fight doesn't mean anything to the majority of the MMA audience in the U.S. For most fans, all that matters is this guy took Liddell's belt and they want to see if Chuck can get it back. If Chuck had one to a majority of fans, he would've just beaten another challenger. I actually think a rematch could do a better buyrate than the show tonight.

Please, no hate mail. I'm not saying that what happens in Japan or Pride isn't important. I'm saying that most people watching MMA today are new fans and don't have any connection to that match which is why the champ looking to get his belt back still has a strong story in it even if the new champion already holds 2 victories over him.

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UFC 71 Live Round-by-Round Coverage

Thank you for joining us for our live Round-By-Round coverage of UFC 71 'Liddell Vs. Jackson'. Refresh your browser for the latest updates at the conclusion of each round.



Show is hosted as per usual by Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan.
Scott has joined me tonight, he and I have Pizza Rolls, hot dogs, pretzle sticks, and little Debby stuff for the food. You know the deal, Liddell has 1 loss to avenge and it is to Jackson. You only heard this 60 times during the preshow and then it was recapped in the opening so I reprinted it just in case you didn't get the point.

We may experience technical difficulties tonight, Lightning off in the distance and such.

The winner of tonight's main event will face Dan "Hollywood" Henderson, the Pride Middleweight and Light Heavyweight champion.

Middleweight Bout:
Chris "The Crippler" Leben: 26, 5'11, 185, 15-3-0
Vs.
Kalib Starnes: 32, 6'3, 186, 9-1-1
Referee: Mario Yamasaki

R1: Leven starts things nice with a high kick. Starnes will want to take this one to the ground. They end up in the clinch and Starnes attempts takedowns but Leben is able to defend against them. Starnes with a couple of nice kicks in succession Leven hits a kick and then slips down but gets back to his feet before Starnes can capitalize.
Yet another leg kick from Starnes and he's shown a willingness to keep this on the feet. Leben charges and throws some wild punches. They end up back in the clinch but Kalib still can't take him down.

We got a UFC 72 'Victory' promo. Expect more of them.

Leben swings wildly and this allows Kalib to take him down. Leben working fine from the bottom, Starnes not trying to pass guard. Starnes nails a couple of shots to end the round.

Scoring: Starnes did more damage, 10-9.

R2: Kalib Starts out the round hitting more of the kicks that were effective in round 1. Kalib connects with a big right and then takes Leben down again and is inside his guard. Joe Rogan says Leben is using the rubber guard...I prefer if the girl's on the pill to the rubber guard.
Starnes nails a few more shots but Leben is able to escape. Starnes hits a few knees and another right hand. Starnes hits an inside legkick and both he and Leben are getting tired but Starnes moreso. Starnes is covering up as Leben looks to throw combinations and Kalib is sucking wind badly with 40 seconds or so left in the round. Right from Starnes after a legkick from Leben. Leben still trying to press the action to close out the round.

Scoring: Starnes hit more big shots and took him down. Starnes won the round, 10-9.

R3: Leben starts the round with more aggression. Leben pressing the action and hits a kick to Starnes liver.

UFC 72 'Victory' AKA: Please buy this show, please?

Leben doing some nice work from the bottom but Kalib shifts in to Side Control. Crowd was booing the ground work but they were moving. 30 seconds left in the round and Starnes starts to finish the round strong.

Scoring: Probably Leben's round 10-9. Starnes' fight 29-28. A good fight!!

Bravo gave rounds 1 and 3 to Starnes and 2 to Leben. They were all tough to score, so I've got no issue.

Winner: Kalib Starnes (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)

Rogan with Starnes: Starnes thought Leben took the fight. Leben says screw the judges and the scoring, he thought it was a fun fight and it really was. It is time for the ever boring "Take us through the fight". They take turns saying hi to people. Adam Sandler, Kevin James and Mandy Moore are in the house.

UFC 72 'Victory' commercial. Please, please, please, please, buy this show...we'll give you money!!!

Light Heavyweight Bout:
"The Dean of Mean" Keith Jardine: 31, 6'2, 205, 12-3-1
Vs.
Houston "The Assassin" Alexander: 35, 6'0, 202, 6-1-0
Referee: Steve Mazagatti

Scott points out that Houston Alexander sounds like Teddy Long and he kind of does.

MMM, brownies!

Ric Gillespie says Alexander is the fighter most likely to be fustigated.

R1: Jardine hits a nice right hand to start things out. He has Alexander in trouble but Houston recovers and starts to ass whoop Keith Jardine. There was a fustigation here but it was Jardine that got fustigated. All members on CARE gave him 0 chance...we're all dumbasses. He absolutely malled Jardine and it was all she wrote.

Winner: Houston Alexander - 0:48 R1

Rogan with Alexander: This dude is awesome. Dear Houston: I'm sorry for anything I may have ever said or written about you. Sincerely: Me!

A Chuck Liddell feature airs, showing his onterage appearance.

Middleweight Bout:
Terry Martin: 26, 5'9, 186, 17-2-0
Vs.
Ivan Salaverry: 36, 6'0, 184, 11-3-1
Referee: Mario Yamasaki

Terry Martin comes out to Billy Jean by Michael Jackson.

R1: Action starts on the feet with kicks and stuff. Salaverry is taken down very very hard, and some hammer fists and the fight is over. Ric, Art and I are dumbasses...and morons.

Winner: Terry Martin - 2:04 R1

Rogan with Martin: He calls out Anderson Silva and says he's willing to stand and trade with him. Hey, its your funeral man!

UFC 72 'Victory' commercial airs. Ramirez-Griffin and Okami-Franklin are the featured bouts. Trouble is I think both will be good fights but neither is a main event really.

Welterweight Bout:
Karo "The Heat" Parisyan: 24, 5'10, 170, 24-4-0
Vs.
Josh "The People's Warrior" Burkman: 27, 5'10, 171, 19-3-0
Referee: Herb Dean

R1: Karo comes out swinging and connects with a right. Burkman nails a nice leg kick, Burkman backs Parisyan up against the cage. Parisyan answers with another right. Burkman keeps changing up his stance. Karo hits a nice right leg kick. Parisyan takes Burkman to the ground with a nice Judo throw. Parisyan is using effective counters to everything Burkman is throwing. Round 1 ends with Burkman trying and successfully avoiding Parisyan's Kamura.

Scoring: I give the round 10-9 Parisyan.

R2: Parisyan connects with a right hand early. Burkman tries a kick, Karo catches it and lands another right. Burkman swings and misses on a punch and the pace has slowed from the first round. Karo nails a couple of more rights after taking one from Burkman. Burkman is tiring at around the 2:30 point of this round. Parisyan hits a knee then a combination. Parisyan is just imposing his will on Burkman at around the 4:20 point in the round. Burkman is exhausted and yet Parisyan isn't able to finish yet but he is picking him apart.

Scoring: Once again, Parisyan won the round 10-9.

R3: Parisyan is in way better shape going in. Burkman swings and misses with another punch while Parisyan answers with rights. Burkman with a takedown and Karo starts to work from the back. He escapes and starts working for a Kamura. Parisyan not able to get it and its back to the feet. Parisyan has a bodylock and Burkman seems to have found his second wind as he's pressing the action. Karo misses with a high-kick and Burkman attempts another Takedown. Parisyan with a straight left and we're under the 40 second mark of the final round.

Fight Ends...

Scoring: Best round for Burkman but it might not be enough. 10-9 Parisyan. 30-27 for Parisyan.

Winner: Karo Parisyan (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

Rogan with Karo: he's been working on his conditioning. He begs Dana for his title shot, he says he's not going to get down on his knees (thank goodness, its been done). He thanks a bunch of people including Randy Couture and Manvel Gambaryan. He then sings a song about his judo throws and that's awesome in its badness. Even Rogan says his singing sucks. Awesome!

They run down the fight cards coming up through July 7, there's a lot.

We go to a preliminary bout.

Lightweight Bout:
Din "DinYero" Thomas: 30, 5'9, 155, 22-7-0
Vs.
Jeremy "Lil' Heathen" Stevens: 20, 5'9, 156, 13-1-0
Referee: Big John McCarthy

R1: Basically, Thomas controlled the round and Stevens made a late comeback at the end.
R2: Thomas locks in an armbar, Stevens tries to powerbomb out of it and the referee decides to stop the fight.

Winner: Din Thomas - 2:44 R2 via submission

Rogan with Thomas: Thomas says some things. I can't really tell...what he's talking about.

A trailer airs for hostile 2.
Light Heavyweight Title Bout:
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson: 28, 6'1, 205, 26-6-0
Vs.
"The Ice Man" Chuck Liddell: 37, 6'2, 205, 20-3-0
Referee: Big John McCarthy

R1: Crowd erupts when the action begins. Liddell backs away early getting Rampage to chace after. Jackson nails a combination and Liddell backs away. Rampage with a few blows and Liddell is down. Chuck looks like he's going to defend himself, but another blow puts him away.

Winner: Quinton Jackson - 1:53 R1 KO

Rampage is celebrating and now Rogan comes in.

Rogan with Rampage: Being the champion sounds good. He says it feels good, he taughts the fans that booed him. He says drinks are on the house if you can find someone to buy you one. He agreed with Chuck the stoppage was early...until he saw the replay. Dan "Hollywood" Henderson is up next.

Rogan with Chuck: He loves his kids, he's ok and he got caught. He'd take a rematch but it will depend on what the UFC does.

Dan Henderson comes out and he wants to fight Jackson. He'd be happy to make some money fighting his friends.

Continue Reading!

Even more UFC 71 articles

The Ice Man cometh
Arash Markasi - SI.com

hyped rematch pits 2 of UFC's top talent
James Melroy - Press Telegram

UFC's Dana White: We have finally arrived
David L. Hudson Jr. - FightNews.com

Prized Fighter
Carlos Arias - Orange County Register

At Weigh-ins, UFC Heavy with Attention
NBC Sports.com

to the MAXson: Setting the Record Straight
UNLVRebelYell.com

I'm sure I'll have more later.

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A couple of notes on the K-1 Dynamite USA show and UFC 71 weigh-ins

Dave Meltzer has a write-up on the UFC 71 weigh-ins including things that might not have been apparent on TV. You can read it by Clicking here

The K-1 show avoided one major disaster but is not out of the rough water yet. FEG got their temporary promotion license today but Kazushi Sakuraba is in danger of not getting clearance to fight.

Continue Reading!

More MMA Newsbits for 5/25

Yeah, there are some that don't involve the UFC.

The matchup next week between Tokyo's Savant Young and Portland's Ryan Schultz goes beyond the wrestling Vs. Striking debate

That's only one of the matches on the card for next week. Others can be found here

More behind the cut.



Chuck Liddell says Now, its my turn

An update on the Strikeforce PPV including a preview of Duane Ludwig Vs. Paul Daley is right here
The Strikeforce website is StrikeForceUsa.net

Sam Caplan of CBS Sportsline has a preview of UFC 71 here

The FoxSports.com preview of the main event is here
and the undercard is here

Is Mirko Cro Cop set to retire when his current UFC contract expires?

I'm linking this Caplan piece on the mystery fighter who will challenge the winner of tomorrow night's main event so you strictly MMA fans can read that first line.

Charles McCarthy and Cole Miller train the masses in MMA technique.

Here is a Q&A with Elite XC's Jake Shields. Shields is currently the #9 ranked Welterweight in the world according to MMAWeekly.com

Tim Kennedy is earning a reputation with IFL Fighters. The Chicago Red Bears Middleweight is a sparring partner of some guy named Chuck Liddell of whom you may or may not have heard.

I also predict that Euan will be a big fan of Mr. Kennedy. The reason? I quote...

"My game plan was pretty much to kick him in his head and knock him out," Kennedy said after the fight.

This man is Senshi!

Steve Sievert looks at the fact that Diego Sanchez nearly retired before his UFC 69 loss to Josh Koscheck.

Dana White is already talking Rua-Liddell.

Eric Schafer who was originally to fight Sean Salmon on this show but pulled out with a rib injury offered his predictions to the Baltimore Sun.

I think you've gotten enough tonight.

Continue Reading!

Ultimate Guide to UFC 71

Si.com has 5 things to say and what they mean so that you can sound like an expert when watching UFC 71 tomorrow. As a reminder, if you're not going to watch or want something entertaining to read when the show is over, I'll have live round-by-round coverage of the PPV event. I provide some of the most entertaining recaps on the 'net if I say so myself, which I do...but I also hear it from others.

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UFC 71 Weigh in results

Sorry for the delay, technical issues.

Preliminary Bouts:

1. Light Heavyweight Bout: Wilson Gouveia (204) Vs. Carmelo Marrero (205)
   
2. Lightweight Bout: Jeremy Stevens (156) Vs. Din Thomas (155)
   
3. Light Heavyweight Bout: Alan Belcher (205) Vs. Sean Salmon (205)
   
4. Light Heavyweight Bout: Thiago Silva (202) Vs. James Irvin (204)

Televised Bouts:

1. Middleweight Bout: Kalib Starnes (186) Vs. Chris Leben (185)
   
2. Light Heavyweight Bout: Houston Alexander (202) Vs. Keith Jardine (205)
   
3. Welterweight Bout: Josh Burkman (171) Vs. Karo Parisyan (170)
   
4. Middleweight Bout: Terry Martin (186) Vs. Ivan Salaverry (184)
   
5. Light Heavyweight Title Bout: Quinton Jackson (205) Vs. Chuck Liddell (205)

Word to the wise, if you've got a choice, never watch these on ESPNews. They didn't show weigh-ins for 5 of the bouts including the 4 preliminaries and Salaverry-Martin. The commercial break sucked as well.

Continue Reading!

Joe Rogan schools some boxing goof (Lou DiBella)

I wanted to comment on what led off the top of Sportscenter.

Brian Kenny who does a lot of Boxing for the Network led off with a look at Liddell and his UFC 43 loss to Randy Couture followed by his victory over Couture at UFC 52. Then they go back to UFC 19 and the loss to Horn before going back to UFC 54 and showing the avenging of that loss. Then highlights of the loss to Rampage in the Middleweight Grand Prix air. Kenny details how the UFC got started and mentions Royce Gracie.

More behind the cut.



Then they bring in Joe Rogan and some dufus boxing promoter who uses the human cock fighting line, while getting ready to take his place in the cock sucking line.

Rogan pointed out that boxing is only one aspect of fighting and that MMA allows all to be featured. Dufus boxing promoter said that it was easy when 1 company dominated a sport. He said that everything outside of UFC was garbage. Rogan ran down Bodog, EXC, Pride and IFL and said that they all had good fights. Dufus boxing guy had earlier accused Rogan of not being a boxing fan even as Rogan was providing more info on the top fighters in boxing today than you get from most boxing analysts.

Let me say that this is not a knock on boxing because I've got no problem with the sport. The people who run it are so wildly incompetant that I wonder if they're not even dumber than those running TNA Wrestling. Boxing's success is a result of the athletes themselves and exists despite the best efforts of those who control it.

Rogan's round 10-9. He was more prepared and knew what he was talking about.

Kenny then produced a graphic which showed that UFC had 223 million in PPV revenue last year, that the WWE had 200 million and HBO boxing 177 million. This was strictly a PPV revenue chart...and Kenny then pointed out that last year's 177 million was HBO's second best year ever which I'm sure made the boxing guy happy.

I want to offer ESPN one bit of caution.

The comparisons to Boxing and UFC make for great TV but they'd better be careful in how they present the sport of MMA. When you've got guys on shows like Around the Horn and PTI providing misinformation and treating the sport as a joke...the more you treat it as one the more your fans will see it as one and if they see UFC as a joke, then you're a joke for bothering to cover it. So the coverage ESPN provides and this is true for any sport, they'd better have people who know what they're talking about because ultimately if they don't it can reflect poorly on them. This is especially true for a sport that a lot of people are just getting familiar with, having an NFL analyst who is a complete idiot is not as harmful than having a complete idiot talking MMA because football is more familiar a sport and the fans have an easier time knowing who is and isn't a moron.

ESPN can make or break a sport depending on how they cover it. This fact is actually addressed in an Ombudsman's column on ESPN which you can read here

I did think ESPN was right to throw out the question of whether or not UFC was a fad like kick boxing or something that was here to stay. Their first major coverage earns a B+ I guess...but letting people with know knowledge of the sport continue to opine on it is in the end counter productive.

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More UFC 71 hype

Fighters make their picks for Liddell-Jackson though most of them don't make any.

Jackson is looking to melt the Ice Man

Again, more later.

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More MMA News and Notes for 5/25

Joe Lauzon's TUF 5 Episode 8 recap is here

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Ant Evans writes about the fire within the Ice Man's Belly.

Chuck Liddell is MMA's main man writes Kevin Iole.

The NY Times has an article from the edge of madness to fighting's mainstream chronicling the rough times in MMA's past.

Jackson takes aim at Liddell again.

Opportunity knocks for Houston Alexander

Dana White teases a big surprise for saturday He did not however, promise that there was nothing Vince McMahon could do about it.

I'll end this for now. I'll be back later with more, including coverage of the weigh-ins which you can watch on ESPNews, Yahoo Sports, NBCSports.com, UFC.com and a billion other places. A reminder that you can see and submit your picks for UFC 71 here currently, mine are the only predictions featured but the rest of CARE and the Jabronis should be around as well eventually. Any reader is welcome to join in the fun, just create an account and there you go.

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Early Friday 05/25 MMA Newsbits

You can read Jens Pulver's reaction to this week's TUF and all other episodes over at Inside Fighting.com

More behind the cut.



Chris "The Crippler" Leben is looking to bounce back from losses in 2 of his last 3 fights.

MMAWeekly has a recap of the Pre-fight UFC 71 Conference...here

Jason Probst of UFC.com breaks down the fight between Liddell and Jackson. This is really the only fight we on the CARE show found worthy of breaking down.

As a reminder, if you're brave enough...you can submit UFC 71 picks right here picks can be submitted right up until the start of the first preliminary fight.

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Liddell emerges as Mainstream Star, looks to avenge loss to Jackson

A good article surrounding the fight in the Miami Herald. Read it here

I really do like both Liddell and Jackson. I'm looking forward to this fight and have no routing interest either way.

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