Our friends over at Cage Potato (boo-urns) are hyping up UFC 100 with an old Thiago Alves KO. Here at Fightlinker (yaaay), we’re gonna do the same; June 2006’s prelim match between Jon Fitch and Alves should really get you guys going. By the way, which one seems more likely to happen: GSP getting smashed like 155er Jeff Cox or doing the smashing like former Light Heavyweight Fitch?
New blood meets old in our latest installment of HDNet Fights Video Vault.
by Ariel HelwaniFiled under: WEC
Jamie Varner's mixed martial arts career is not in jeopardy. The WEC lightweight champion's broken right hand has still not healed since his January title defense against Donald Cerrone forcing the organization to book an interim title match between Cerrone and rising star Ben Henderson. Jamie Varner: I'm Not Retiring originally appeared on MMA FanHouse on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:50:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
(Props: 'SmashedAceHole' on the UG. Fight starts at the 3:03 mark.)
Before he was the UFC's #1 welterweight contender and a Fight! magazine cover-boy, Thiago Alves was just a young scrapper whose last name was consistently butchered by announcers and commentators. Alvs's Alvarez's Pitbull's eighth pro MMA match took place at a King of the Cage event in Cleveland back in February 2005, where he faced then-undefeated Jeff Cox, who entered the cage sporting maroon Aokipants and a hairstyle that might be described as a "nohawk." After missing a head kick, Alves grabbed a Thai clinch and found Cox's snooze-button with a knee to the chin. He then fired punches into Cox's grill until Herb Dean dove on to stop the abuse. Alves caught the attention of the UFC with the 15-second KO win, and would make his Octagon debut eight months later. All Cox got was the shame of waking up in Cleveland wearing red tights.
by Michael David SmithFiled under: UFC
Lyoto Machida: Fighter of the Half Year originally appeared on MMA FanHouse on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:55:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
A light-heavyweight bout between Kyle Kingsbury (7-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) and Razak Al-Hassan (6-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC), originally targeted for UFC 102 in August, will instead take place in October at UFC 104.
World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) will soon stage an event in Ohio for the first time ever, announcing today via Vindy.com that the Covelli Centre in Youngstown is the target for a show on Sept. 2, 2009.
WEC General Manager and Founder Reed Harris had this to say about the decision:
“We looked at a number of areas because we want to go and grow in new markets. Youngstown is a great fight town. We also looked at Pittsburgh and Cleveland, but we felt Youngstown would be a centralized venue.”
Lightweights Donald Cerrone and Benson “Smooth” Henderson are expected to headline WEC 43, competing for the interim division title that is now up for grabs with Jamie Varner sidelined indefinitely with a hand injury.
“Cowboy” most recently blasted rising prospect James Krause at WEC 41 en route to a dominating first round submission (rear naked choke). Henderson — who scored a quick technical knockout of Shane Roller in his last appearance at WEC 40 in April — has finished both his fights in the WEC and holds an impressive record (9-1) overall.
Expect more fights to be added to WEC 43 in the coming weeks and months ahead.
Tickets are scheduled to go on sale July 9, 2009, for those who may want to catch the event up close and personal. Of course, the WEC 43 main card will also air live on Versus at 9 p.m. ET on fight night.
(Oh, please. In my day, we'd fight with three broken hands. Photo courtesy of Brawlin.net.)
Jamie Varner's technical split-decision over Donald Cerrone at WEC 38 counted as a win on his record, but it sure didn't feel like one. Varner left the cage that night with a broken hand, a broken foot, impaired vision from the illegal knee that ended the match, and heaps of abuse from fans who thought he should have sacked up and finished out the last three minutes of the fight, which he was leading on the scorecards. Five months later, Varner is still feeling the after-effects of that brutal five-rounder. Last week, he Twittered the disappointing news that his hand is still fractured, and with no return date in sight, reports began emerging that his cowboy-hat-wearing nemesis and Benson Henderson would fight for an interim lightweight title. And then, things got even worse.
As company executives hinted earlier this year, World Extreme Cagefighting will, in fact, make its Ohio debut in 2009.
As executives hinted earlier this year, World Extreme Cagefighting will, in fact, make its Ohio debut this year.