The UFC has yet to announce a January event other than UFC 125: "Resolution" on New Year's day. However, according to DaMarques Johnson's website, he's been booked to fight Mike Guymon in Fort Hood, Texas on January 22.
The rumor is that date will hold the promotions second ever Fight for the Troops event.
"The Darkness" is perhaps best known not for his fighting but for having water squirted in his face by Michael Bisping during the "Ultimate Fighter" (TUF) Season 9. He battled his way to the finals of that season before being dominated by James Wilks in route to a first round submission loss.
He would bounce back in a big way.
His next two fights would see him earn two separate bonuses; Submission of the Night against Edgar Garcia and Knockout of the Night versus Brad Blackburn. Although he failed to make weight and lost via TKO in his last outing, he's still considered a hot young prospect with serious potential.
He'll get his chance to show it when he takes on "The Joker".
Guymon is the current King of the Cage Welterweight Champion who's had plenty of success outside the Octagon but struggled within it. He outlasted Yoshiyuki Yoshida but was felled twice in the first round in submission losses to Daniel Roberts and Rory MacDonald. Having lost two of three, this fight with Johnson takes on added importance.
Although not much is known about the as yet unannounced January 22 event set to go down in Fort Hood, Texas, it is expected to be headlined by a lightweight clash between heavy handed Melvin Guillard and long time veteran Yves Edwards. A heavyweight contest between Matt Mitrione and Tim Hague is also set to go down. Charlie Brennaman vs. Amilcar Alves are rumored for the card as well.
Stay tuned to MMAMania.com for more on this still developing event.
Mike "Joker" Guymon apparently has avoided his walking papers for now.
Fellow welterweight DaMarques Johnson recently posted news of an upcoming fight with the veteran at a currently unannounced Jan. 22 UFC event.
As MMAjunkie.com previously reported, the event is expected to take place in conjunction with Fort Hood in Texas, likely as a "UFC Fight for the Troops" event as UFC Fight Night 23.
"I think my feelings were a little hurt. I was hoping they could find somebody to replace [Carwin]. This is one of the biggest cards of the year, and I was in the co-main event, and I was really trying to make sure my knee was better. The UFC really pushed me hard to get through with my rehab so I could fight on this card. My doctors said I shouldn't fight again until February or March, but I stepped up because the UFC wanted me to. I stepped up for the UFC, and I hoped they would do the same for me. The thing is nobody wants to fight a fat guy like me. Cro Cop is a legend in this sport, and I would've loved to have fought him. I'd like to fight [Antonio Rodrigo] Nogueira for the same reason. I'd love to fight [Alistair] Overeem, Brock Lesnar or The Undertaker. [UFC President] Dana White asks people, 'So, you want to be a f---ing fighter?' I love to fight. I'm one of those guys."
Heavyweight Roy Nelson makes it known he's not happy with the UFC for pulling him off their annual New Year's card on January 1. He was originally scheduled to face off with Shane Carwin before "The Engineer" had to hit the shop for some repairs to his back. That surgery is scheduled for November 2 and there's been no timetable set for his return. That leaves "Big Country" without an opponent but the portly slugger is ready and willing to fight whoever the company puts in front of him. After opening his UFC career with two knockout victories, over Brendan Schaub and Stefan Struve respectively, Nelson was looking to rebound from a unanimous decision loss to current number one contender Junior dos Santos. Should the former International Fight League champion finish rehabbing his knee and wait for Carwin to get healthy? Or should the UFC find him a new opponent and get him fighting as soon as possible? Who would you like to see lock up with the big man?
The WEC has been the UFC’s #3 fantasy running back for some time. They may not have the consistent numbers of your number one and two, but every so often the number three goes off.
The WEC is just that, a solid revenue backup that has a great return here and there. One of the underlying stories behind the merger (that was bound to happen eventually), is the Urijah Faber story.
Once the biggest superstar and best athlete in the organization, this fighter could have had a huge impact on the timing of the combination of orgs.
The California Kid started his WEC career on fire. He wasted no time as he won hist first six fights. His fame and popularity grew with each win making him one of the most recognized MMA fighters in the world.
At the time, it appeared the WEC brass was putting more and more stock into Faber with each win. Eventually it seemed like Faber was carrying the WEC.
Faber’s incredible run was put on hold after his electric style resulted in a loss to Mike Brown.
Maybe it was a sudden rise in competition, maybe it was Faber aging, maybe it was his inability to stay healthy… Either way he has now lost 3 of his last 5. His two wins in this streak were against very beatable opponents in Lil Evil Jens Pulver and Raphael Assuncao.
The WEC is one of the most exciting MMA platforms in the world. Let’s face it, lightweights provide great fights. They are typically smaller, quicker, and in much better shape.
In all honesty it was simply time for this merger to happen. In the dollars and cents business, you have to play the what if game. What if Faber has lost that proverbial step and the rest of the division has caught up? The WEC could no longer put all of their eggs into Urijah’s basket.
The UFC management also understands that the former champ is banged up and have seen how injury can affect a fighter. Faber missed his last fight (WEC 50 in Aug) due to a knee injury.
The rumors are all leaning toward a November return, but at the lighter 135 pound weight class.
Urijah Faber is one of the fighters the UFC is the most excited to gain. His addition puts another top name into the best MMA organization in the world. If November is Faber’s last WEC fight is in November, it will more than likely take place in Sac-Town, and a win would more than set him up for a UFC debut.
MMA veteran Marcus Davis recently announced he plans to finish his career in the UFC lightweight division, with at least one lightweight saying he’d like a shot at the aging veteran.
Current UFC lightweight Jeremy Stephens wants to fight Davis and looks forward to an exciting fight.
Davis previously listed three opponents (Sam Stout, Dennis Siver and Spencer Fisher) as opponents he’d like to face, so it’ll be interesting what he thinks of the challenge from Stephens. The popular former pro boxer has two fights left on his UFC contract, and plans to take it one fight at a time.
Jeremey Stephens said he’d like to fight Davis and believes it would be a good matchup because unlike his fight with Melvin Guillard — which was a slower-paced fight — this fight could be a three-round slugfest.
In his last five fights, Stephens lost to Guillard, Gleison Tibau and Joe Lauzon, but beat Justin Buchholz and Sam Stout.
I don’t think the UFC will send Davis out by making him face possible lightweight contenders (from the UFC or WEC roster), and think a matchup will depend on what fans want to see. However, it’s up to him to show up to the fight in proper shape (and hopefully injury free) as he looks to end his career.
It’s unknown when a fight featuring Davis will be announced, but it’s worth noting the UFC has had the “Irish Hand Grenade” fight outside of the United States on eight different occasions. If possible, it’d be nice to give Davis a couple of different events to choose from as he looks to wind down his career.
The undead hotness of UFC Octagon Girl Arianny Celeste re-opens the debate on necrophilia.
Have a spooky day, Maniacs.
Trick, treat and when you come down from your sugar highs, feel free to discuss the latest mixed martial arts news or whatever else comes to mind (within reason) in the comments section below.
Pics, gifs, vids -- post them all, too, down below if you've got something festive. We know how good these open threads can get.
Preliminary card: Kyle Noke (17-4-1) vs. Rob Kimmons (23-5) Alexandre "Cacareco" Ferreira (18-6) vs. Vladimir Matyushenko (24-5) Pascal Krauss (9-0) vs. Mark Scanlon (7-0) Duane Ludwig (19-11) vs. Nick Osipczak (5-2) Seth Petruzelli (12-5) vs. Karlos Vemola (7-1) Kris McCray (5-1) vs. Carlos Eduardo Rocha (8-0)
This past week's UFC-WEC merger announcement is one of the biggest stories of 2010, and MMA fans discussed all aspects of it in today's edition of The Sunday Junkie, our weekly reader-feedback feature.
While it seems to be a positive for fans, can the same be said for fighters? Will they struggle to get booked fights? And why is the WEC lightweight title going to be unified instead of simply eliminated like the WEC's previously merged weight classes?
Additionally, could the merger open the door for women's MMA, and does it now make sense to make WEC star Urijah Faber a coach on "The Ultimate Fighter" reality series?
"It was a great feeling because after that fight I knew I put on such a poor performance, I wouldn’t have been surprised at all if (UFC president Dana White) said either (Jon) Fitch or (Carlos) Condit or something for the title shot. I wouldn’t have blamed him at all cause I was so mad at myself for putting on such a bad performance. I think it’s awesome that they’re still giving me the shot. Even though this wasn’t the best performance, I honestly do still feel I deserve a title shot, on a 15-fight winning streak, over some pretty decent opponents. .... I definitely plan on going up to Montreal and be watching to see who I’m fighting. Maybe I’ll pull a Koscheck and bash their hockey team or something like that. There’s a possibility of me fighting him in Toronto in that big 50,000 seat arena or whatever it is. You might as well make them hate you like Koscheck’s done."
Former Strikeforce champion Jake Sheilds (via MMA Weekly) feels he deserves a shot at the welterweight title despite a less than inspiring performance in his UFC debut against Martin Kampmann at UFC 121. He may or may not have been suffering from a back injury and struggled a great deal with the weight cut leading up to the fight. The Vegetarian-American managed to gut out a split decision and company President Dana White has stated his intentions to give him a shot at the winner of Georges St. Pierre vs Josh Koscheck at UFC 124 for his efforts. He's explicitly clear in his belief on who will win that fight and although he's a generally mild mannered guy, he says he has no problem playing the heel against GSP. Does he really deserve a shot at the welterweight crown after such an uneven performance? Or is his track record good enough to overlook it? Have at it, Maniacs.
The lighter weight classes of the WEC will make their UFC debut as early as December, as Leonard Garcia (1-2 UFC, 4-3-1 WEC) is scheduled to face Tyler Toner (1-1 WEC) in a featherweight bout at the TUF 12 Finale on 12/4, according to MMA Weekly.
Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker went on Sherdog Radio yesterday and denied having been contacted by Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney in regards to potential cross-promotional fights. This was in response to Rebney's claims that he had been texting and phoning Coker to try to set up potential fights between the promotions' respective lightweight, welterweight and middleweight champs.
Today Bellator PR agency sent the following email and attached screen shots purporting to be texts from Rebney to Coker. They included versions showing Coker's number which I have independently confirmed. Here is the email:
An article ran earlier today in which Scott Coker denied the fact that Bjorn Rebney had reached out to him multiple times in an attempt to discuss setting up a super-fight between Bellator Champion Eddie Alvarez and Strikeforce Champion Gilbert Melendez. This is inaccurate.
I have attached four (4) recent text messages sent from Bjorn's cell phone to Scott Coker over just the last week regarding this matter. The first set of attachments (1-4) reflects the accurate cell phone of Scott Coker and the second set of attachments (1.2-4.2) indicates Scott Coker's accurate name. Bjorn has additionally called Scott and left a collection of voice mail messages in an attempt to schedule a meeting where they could discuss this fight that Gilbert Melendez (Strikeforce Champion) asked for. You will see that each text message is sent to Scott's personal phone which you can confirm. This is same number Bjorn Rebney used to reach Scott previously.
Additionally, as you are probably aware, Bjorn attempted to reach Scott for a 3 week period during the time when Gilbert had initially publicly called for this bout to occur on June 25, 2010.
I have posted the screen grabs of the texts in the full entry.
Bellator boss Bjorn Rebney has been aggressively pushing for fights between his lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez and Strikeforce champ Gilbert Melendez. This last week Bellator middleweight champ Hector Lombard called out Strikeforce champ Ronaldo Souza, aka Jacare.
INTERVIEWER: "I'm not even going to say a question here, I'm just going to say a phrase. You can respond... Bellator vs. Strikeforce."
BJORN REBNEY: "I love it. I keep talking about it. I'm hopeful that it could occur. I'm hopeful that it could occur beyond just Eddie Alvarez vs. Gilbert (Melendez). I would love to set up a Welterweight fight, a big super fight at Welterweight. I would, you know, I would do anything to set up a Middleweight fight. I can only imagine that if there's hesitancy on their part in terms of taking a Lightweight fight that they're probably going to be very, very hesitant to take on a Middleweight fight as well. We would do it. We would do it without problem."
INTERVIEWER: "Co-promoting is not a problem?"
BJORN REBNEY: "No! Not only is it not a problem, but we wouldn't even have to do a typical orchestration of a co-promotional event where everybody argues and fights and scratches and claws. We would go to San Jose, I know some... I married a woman in my first marriage from San Jose, there's some spectacular restaurants and great hotels, we would make ourselves at home, we would come in and we would take three fights. It would be great. From a fan perspective, with the CEO hat off, I mean can you see Ben Askren fighting Nick Diaz? Can you see Eddie Alvarez and Gilbert Melendez? Jacare versus Hector Lombard?" ... INTERVIEWER: "What are your thoughts about a Bellator PPV?"
BJORN REBNEY: "I mean, I don't mean to keep going back to it, but you know, in and around New Year's and the kind of fights we're talking about in terms of the potential for co-promotion with Strikeforce, I think that would make for a spectacular PPV. I always look at stuff, I separate myself and I say, would I buy that? Would I pay for that? And there are some shows that I look at and go, ‘ehhhhh, probably not. And then are some shows that I look at and go, whoa, I would stay at home for that, you know, and I would irritate the kids, etc. and I would buy it and I would watch every piece of it. That's the kind of show that I would buy. So, that might have the makings of a PPV but it's going to take, it's just like a marriage, you know, you can't get into without the acquiescence of both parties so they need to say yes."
For his part Strikeforce boss Scott Coker denies that Rebney has contacted him. From Sherdog:
"Let's face it: Gilbert's fought everybody," Coker responded Friday. "He beat the guy that Eddie lost to. For them to say, ‘Oh, Gilbert's ducking him' -- come on, let's be real. Gilbert has ducked nobody, and neither has Eddie. These are two great fighters. The thing is, if Bjorn's serious about doing this, then there has to be a business component that has to be worked out. Unfortunately that hasn't started yet. It's just been a bunch of stuff in the media. He's chosen the media to use it as a platform to try to push this thing along, but I think it's maybe a PR move."
Coker explained that he understands why Bellator wants the matchup, but he questions Rebney's motives for lobbying publicly.
"It's very obvious to me he's using the media as a platform to try to do his business, but that's not how we're going to do business," Coker said. "If he wants to do business, call me or fly out here, come sit down with me. If there's a deal to be made, we'll try to make it, but I'm not going to do it in the media. That's for sure."
In the full entry there's a video of Rebey claiming that he's attempting to contact Coker daily. Plus my analysis and a lot about the checkered past of Bjorn Rebney.
This is a classic fight promotion situation, the sort of pointless bull that boxing fans have become so intimately familiar. Rebney is clearly using this situation to get attention for his tiny promotion. He's done a great job of that.
Bellator does two things well -- sign talented fighters and generate online news stories about their product. That's not to say they have a top notch PR operation or that they're easy to work with. Regardless, they do have a knack for getting more attention than, strictly speaking, they truly merit.
Strikeforce has absolutely nothing to gain by co-promoting with Bellator. The hardcore fan audience that is aware of Bellator and their roster of champs already watches every Strikeforce event anyway. Getting us lathered up with thoughts of Gilbert Melendez vs Eddie Alvarez, etc doesn't do anything to sell Showtime subscriptions, get Strikeforce back on CBS and certainly won't sell a significant number of PPVs.
The combined brand awareness of Eddie Alvarez, Hector Lombard and Ben Askren among casual MMA fans is virtually nil. Rebney is bringing nothing to the table here and he knows it. And that's why I tend to believe Scott Coker when he says Rebney isn't actually attempting to contact him.
Scott Coker may be doing a piss poor job of competing with the UFC. He couldn't get his biggest star, Fedor Emelianenko, to participate on his second CBS card in April. He paid a lot of money for Dan Henderson and pushed him as a virtually guaranteed victor over Jake Shields only to have Henderson flop on CBS and lose the fight.
But Coker's failings are the failings of an honest man. He's too weak, not too ruthless.
"That guy (Rebney) I worked with is suing me," Leonard says. "My company could have blossomed, but I had a cancer in my company."
This old piece from Total-MMA is the best one-stop shopping if you are interested in learning more about the very interesting history of Bjorn Rebney the boxing promoter. Here's how they sum up his ventures with Leonard:
Among them include a completely absurd business plan that pulled in 1/10th the expected revenue, a lawsuit with Joe Mesi, the signing Juan Carlos Gomez (who, as it turned out, was legally signed to Universum and also ended up resulting in a lawsuit), fraudulent weighins, confrontations with sportswriter Tim Graham, and more. You might think this is enough dirt to bury the company among MMA bloggers on its own, but believe it or not, there is actually more.
Read the whole thing, and be sure and check out the storiesby boxing writerCharles Jay and Thomas Hauser. It's not pretty. Those stories touch on pretty much every unseemly aspect of fight promotion from nasty lawsuits with fighters to allegations of fight fixing, fraud, and violations of federal law.
Mike "Joker" Guymon apparently has avoided his walking papers for now.
The WEC has been the UFC’s #3 fantasy running back for some time. They may not have the consistent numbers of your number one and two, but every so often the number three goes off.
This past week's UFC-WEC merger announcement is one of the biggest stories of 2010, and MMA fans discussed all aspects of it in today's edition of The Sunday Junkie, our weekly reader-feedback feature.
