Quick Hits: Liddell Rumored to Return Against Franklin, Jackson-Evans Expected to Headline UFC 107, and More
Posted by Kris Karkoski on Jun 25, 2009 at 9:55 am ET65 Comments
- Former EliteXC lightweight champ KJ Noons will return to MMA in 2009, likely with Strikeforce.
- Dana White is featured on the cover of the first-ever UFC magazine.
- Former UFC fighter Lee Murray, who was accused of a record $92 million robbery in 2006 in the UK, was released from a Moroccan prison on Wednesday only to be re-arrested on Thursday to be tried under Moroccan law at the request of British authorities.
- According to rumors, Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans are likely to headline UFC 107 on December 19 in Las Vegas. Main events aren’t yet rumored for Fight Night 19 (September 16 – Oklahoma City), UFC 105 (November 14 – Manchester, England), UFC 106 (November 21 – Las Vegas), or The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale (December 5 – Las Vegas).
- A possible headliner for one of the upcoming events is Chuck Liddell, with rumors swirling in recent days that the former UFC light heavyweight champ won’t retire and will instead return for at least one more bout, with Rich Franklin mentioned as a possible opponent.
- WEC and PFC lightweight veteran Poppies Martinez has signed with Strikeforce and will make his debut at the promotion’s August 15 event featuring Gina Carano vs. Cris Cyborg.
- Perhaps in an attempt to dismiss rumors fueled by Diego Sanchez’s recent interview that he could pull out of his August 8 lightweight bout with Kenny Florian, BJ Penn’s latest video blog is brief, simply showing the UFC lightweight champ stepping on a scale and weight in at slim 166.8 pounds ahead of the 155-pound bout.
- In a recent interview with Knuckled Up, WEC lightweight contender Donald Cerrone, who has just one fight remaining on his current contract, says that a move to the UFC is possible and that he wants to fight Cole Miller.
- With his broken hand now healed, Houston Alexander is working on his ground game with veteran Jeremy Horn in preparation for a fall UFC return.
- Following the recent demise of Setanta, the UFC’s new television partner in the UK could be ESPN.
- Early UFC fighters Mikey Burnett and Pat Miletich could rematch at a to-be-announced Strikeforce event in Oklahoma.
- Weigh-ins for UFC 100 will take place at 7pm ET on Friday July 10 and will air live on MMAFrenzy.com.
- Yoshihiro Nakao vs. Choi Mu Bae and Clay French vs. Eiji Mitsuoka have been added to the card for Sengoku Ninth Battle, which takes place on August 2 in Saitama, Japan.
- Hopes to have MMA regulated in New York before year-end have been dashed after the 2009 legislative session ended earlier this week before a decision was made on the bill.
- Aleksander Emelianenko will take on Blagoi Invanov, the 2008 Combat Sambo champion who defeated his brother Fedor en-route to the title, at a September 29 event in South Korea.
- In an appearance on HDNet’s “Inside MMA,” Cyrille Diabate, who appeared as the Team US striking coach on the ninth season of The Ultimate Fighter, says he expects to make his UFC debut this year.
- Lyoto Machida, Randy Couture, and Fedor Emelianenko are some of the fighters who could be featured in EA’s mixed martial arts video game.
- The UFC will return to Germany in early-2010, with an event scheduled for April in Oberhausen.
- PRIDE veteran Ricardo Arona will resume his career on September 12 in Brazil.
- The UFC awarded TUF 9 coaches Dan Hendersona and Michael Bisping new Land Rovers.
- Wanderlei Silva, who lost a close decision to Rich Franklin earlier this month at UFC 99, wants to fight twice more before the end of 2009.
[Pictured: Chuck Liddell]
Loading ...
Franklin vs Lidell…? Says a lot about how relevant Dana and Silva think rich is to the LHW division.
HOuston training with horn is great for his ground game. I couldn’t have thought of a better training partner for that area of his game. Wonder how much he can help “the assasin” improve his ground game.
I highly doubt the UFC will be ok with Machida and Couture appearing in the the new ea sports mma game.
If Jackson and Evans headline the last event of the year, then it’s not going to be as “ultimate” as i thought since the ufc has a “big” card every december. I understand though since all the title are on the line in the summer time.
“Wonder how much he can help “the assasin” improve his ground game.”
Considering where his ground game is now, it shouldn’t be too tough.
The “Ultimate” card is usually closer to New Year’s. Given where the titles are lining up, probably the lightweight belt and/or welter/heavyweight belt and a Superfight will also be on it.
if im not mistaken machida is under exclusive contract with the ufc for video game rights, as is all the ufc fighters on the undisputed video game. that being stated I dont think machida will be on the EA game, that exclusive rights crap is the reason why couture is not on the undisputed game.
chuck-rich will end with an early ko of chuck. rich cant hang with the top 5 guys less the top 10. maybe rich could beat jardine, but thats the only win I see him getting.
rampage-rashad should have fought at 103 or 104, dont put that off until december, then we would have to wait until march or april to see a 205 championship bout. forrest will be ready to go by december for a title shot. [hint hint ufc]
I wonder who wandy will fight in his debut at 185. he could do some damage in that division imo.
I think diego should just shut-up for a while. I dont see him beating ken-flo or bj. even if bj comes in off bj will still sub diego, and kenny will muay thai the crapp out of him. diego couldnt finish guida, therefore diego gets to fight maynard, or edgar next with the winner getting a title shot.
Couture is not on the Undisputed game because he’d already signed exclusive rights to EA for Red Alert while he was in a contract dispute with the UFC.
I dont see a big KO for Chuck Chris if anything Richs chin has looked better than Chucks lately. Although i agree that Rich cant beat any top 205ers to say that he cant hang with chuck is a bit much. I see the fight likely going to a Dec or even a stoppage for Rich. His haed movement and footwork looked realy solid in that first round with Wandy. He just kepst getting dragged in to a brawl. So if he can stay away from that i think he can be a pretty effective technical striker.
The reason Their putting off the rampage and Rashad fightis so that it happends after TUF and that it doesnt take any steam out of the season by them allready fighting.
Wandy vs anybody will be awesome. I love watching that guy fight and am realy happy that hes sticking around. Him vs a returnig Belfort would be nasty.
Noons being back is intresting although i dont care for the guy i think he could be a threat to Thompson/Mendez.
Although it cant hurt i think its a bit late in his career for Houston to start learning Bjj. It just seems lately that guys well over 30 arent adapting to the new breed of MMA fighters. Good for him though.
Dude are you like a mind reader or something???
Is your real name Charles Xavier???
Or it could be your making good sense. IMO
You figured me out Onlytrue1. Dont tell anybody though I heard they have a thing against trolls and mutants here.
Yo what do you guys mean by “troll”? It’s been a common term recently and i’m curious.
Should i let you answer this one FR? lol.
A “troll” is someone that makes random off topic comments, engages in fighter bashing, engages in bashing other commentators, and generally speaking seeks to cause trouble.
Thanks Justipedia knew you or FR would have fun with that one. :p
Thanks for letting me know what a “troll” is.
Carls,
What about answering that question would be so funny? I’m a little confused.
They had a bit of an experience with them in the past but were pretty good here now though
oh gotcha thanks bro. Gotta admitt that it was a little difficult for me earlier on when all this “grease gate” stuff was going on to not bash bj :) But i get it!
Im pretty sure we were all on the same boat for that one. :p
Mike Chiappetta (?) is reporting that Lee has been re~arrested after being denied extradition……………. The British put in a formal request to have him tried for the robbery in Morrocco…
As far as Chuck possibly fight Rich later this year well honestly I just don’t want to see it… Chuck being able to ko Rich is a possible but most likely Chuck might end up like Nate Quarry while facing Rich… I think that this might just be Chuck full filling his contract duties but I don’t know… I would assume that Chuck wants to go out with a W, but I just don’t care for this bout… Best of luck Chuck
KJ Noons fighting in StrikeForce mehhhhhh I guess
UFC 107 (rumored Jackson v Evans) will be the first time in UFC history that two black fighters will be the main event, just fyi on that there
Poppies is 16~5~0 (1NC) and fights as a LW
Diego shhhhhh no one wants to hear from you
Penn @ 166 with 50 days to go til UFC 101 isn’t half bad, I can’t wait for UFC 101
Cerrone v Miller wouldn’t be half bad of a fight imo
Cyrille getting a shot in the UFC huh interesting
The return of Arona is good, he also is entering grappling tourney’s… He has expressed his desire to come to the UFC
Two fights in 6 months for Wanderlei hey whynot sounds good to me
o and Lyoto I doubt will be in the EA game, Courture signed with EA while on hiatus from the UFC (remember the year of broken promises, I won’t forget) sooo that is why Couture wasn’t able to be in Undisputed..
Updated the story to reflect new information on Murray.
;-) it’s what I do Mr. Admin :P
Liddell won’t have as easy a time with Rich as you think. Let’s not forget Rich has a very underrated ground game where he would at least IMO put Chuck in the most trouble. Yeah I know about the “Great sprawl” chuck has but, he still can be taken down. Also Rich has one of the best left body kicks in the game witch Jardine took Liddell apart with. I really think The Iceman needs to hang it up he gains nothing out of this fight to me at least but then who am I. That is a long time before they fight {Shad vs Page} I would have liked to see it before then but, I’m sure Dana knows what he’s doing I think. $92 million dollar bank heist I’m IN
Evans vs Jackson won’t be the “main event at 107 i GUARANTEE it. That will be the year end ppv so there will for sure be a title match. Title matches always are main events. Just look at ufc 79…liddel vs wandy most anticpated matchup…main event went to gsp vs hughes and that was for an interim title haha. Evans vs Jackson will end up probably being the most aniticpated fight, but it wont be main event. book it
Nice point there, and well then without knowing what the “title(s)” fight its going to be then I’m not sure that Evans v Page would be the most anticiapated match on that card…. Like you pointed out @ 79 (fun card by the way) it was clear that the most anticipated match was Wanderlei v Liddell {Chuck’s last win 12/29/07} but GSP got to destroy Hughes (I taaaaaaapp I’m taaappppiiinnnggg) for the main event, which felt like a bonus match for me.. But if say The Greatness (GSP) loses his belt @ 100 and fights back to a title shot against Alves for the main event of the end of the year card I would say that would be the most anticipated fight
Liddell vs. Rich, Frankilin has waaaayyy more to lose if this fight happens, and I don’t see Chuck beating him anyway, he’ll just make himself look a lot worse. He can beat Franklin, but i feel it’s too risky. If Chuck were to get knocked out,he’d look like a joke and if Rich loses, it’ll be a huge loss being that Liddell is not a contender and he’s old, i don’t see either fighter gaining too much from this fight. If anything Liddell should fight Houston Alexander, that fight would be a good matchup.
Like Jazzkok said, Rampage vs Evans for December would take away from the year end PPV “ultimateness” because usually the year end PPV has a title fight and should have a title fight as the main event IMO.
I honestly don’t care if Couture is featured in the EA game because but if is featured it’ll help sales.
I don’t mind seeing Wanderlei fight 2 more times this year, but be careful what you wish for Wanderlei because it just might happen and it can backfire on you, and you can’t afford to keep losing.
By what it seems lately beating chuck ang hughes get you title shots so maybe this could be a good thing for Rich.(execept for Jardine though)ha.
LOL true true!!
I think Chuck Liddell will lose again please retire. This fight would make since because chuck and liddell both beat wanderlei in a close fight.
I suppose you meant, “This fight would make sense because Chuck and Rich both beat Wanderlei in a close fight.”?
ya thanks.
I wanted to see Rich/Liddel like when Rich first returned to lhw. Now it is just pointless. BUTTT I’d watch it anyway.
Glad to Hear H. Alexander train’n bjj but at the age of 37 may be a lot to late. Plus his cardio needs work and his chin soooo it aint looking to good him. Although none of his fights have went past the 1st rd He has lost his last 3 fights and 1 of those was by Eric the red Schafer.. 1 more loss and bye bye Houston.. I hate it cause he comes to fight hard.
Wandy IMO does not Need to fight twice more. He has lost his last what 2 fights and is 1 outta 4 in the ufc. Time to re-evaluate his style and why he keeps losing.
Penn finally is taking the training super serious and is not taking Ken/Flo lightly. Ohh boyyy!!
Ya Housten Alexander needs work on his cardio. Like every fought that he lost he rocks them but then gets gassed and loses
I think he needs to work on alot more than his cardio. But it would be a good start. I will never forget when he KOed Jardine though i pretty much fell off the couch.
If Liddell wants to fight one more time and go out on a win, he should ask for Houston Alexander. The fight can be a big draw if properly promoted and it would be and awesome fight simply because both guys are pretty much at the end of the road,both guys have ko power and both guys have weak chins. This fight couldn’t be anymore exciting, i think it’s the best fight senario for Chuck and even Alexander.
franklin is still a contender so he should wait a bit OR fight someone else, but Chuck doesn’t make sense for him at all if he plans to make a run at the title.
If BJ Penn comes ready for his fight with Florian, then Florian is going to have a tough night.
Florian is going to have a tough night now matter how you shake it marvel. But I dont believe that BJ will mop the floor with him no matter how good of shape he is in. I dont think he looked overly impressive against pulver, and he was in great shape for that fight and I dont think he was any more dominant over stevenson than Kenny was. Bj will come prepared cause he knows he has to. This is his belt, and its going to be a great fight whatever shape he is in, although it obviously will affect the outcome.
I think if anybody is going to beat BJ it will be Kenflo.And it’s kinda funny that both BJ and Kenflo finished Joe Daddy yet Diego couldn’t.
i’m not a Bj Penn fan at all, but truth be told, he’s waaayy above all the other 155′ers in every aspect of MMA. The guy is top notch in mostly all of his game. Ken-flo is really good and has improved greatly,BUT Bj Penn is still more powerful,quicker and is just more complete as a fighter and even though i’m rooting for Florian for the upset, he does have a shot at beating Bj Penn, but i honeslty feel that the guy is too good for 155′ers right now, i don’t like Penn, but i’m just being honest. He’s not going to destroy Florian, but Florian MUST come in prepared regardless.
well diego just tried to KO him which nobody has done yet. but his fight w/ guida made me think he has better stand up but he should take people done more and use his Jui Jistu
i think Diego Sanchez’s overall game can be enough for him to beat most guys at 155. he can beat Florian and Penn. His wrestling is awesome, he has the best gNp at 155 and his striking has moved up from neeehh to kinda decent, and the guy is always in good form and is always hungry to beat someone down.
He didn’t finish Joe Daddy because i feel the weight cut got to him because if you look at him in the Guida fight, he looked ripped and more solid, but against Joe Daddy he looked weak and too skinny.
He didnt finish him becasue Joe had titanium in his chin for that fight. Watch it again Marvel the shots Stevenson took on the chin were incredible. Pretty much the same could be said for the Guida fight. I think those uppercuts and that kick would put half the UFC’s roster to sleep regardless of weight. Best GnP at 155 right now, I would have to give to Bocek.
I agree that Alexander would have made a lot more sense than Franklin for Liddell’s [most likely] farewell fight.
It almost seems like Franklin has sort of blown off any championship aspirations he may have once held. Either that, or they were murdered along with the rest of him by Anderson Silva in 2 lopsided bouts. I guess he’s content, or has determined that the best he can do in the UFC, is to take these sort of semi-super fights for decent paydays against popular but aging fighters until things break his way.
Most seem to agree that regardless of the outcome, this will be Liddell’s last hurrah, so if he wins it makes for a nice sports story, but really de-rails Franklin IMO.
If Franklin loses, where does he go from there? How the Hell can the UFC promote a fight with a guy that lost to an aging Liddell, who has looked awful in his last few fights for the most part, I’m sorry to say. Also, if the Iceman were to win, would it prompt him to want more fights?
If Franklin wins, he gains [other than a nice payday] next to nothing, as he should win, and fairly decisively, at this stage of both of their careers. A win over Liddell leaves Franklin in the same promotional no man’s land where he is now. He can’t go forward, because his prospects against the top tier 205′ers look bleak. He can’t go back, because Silva is there just waiting to Thai box him to death again, even if they agreed to fight a 3rd time.
I hate to say this, because it sounds so disrespectful towards a fighter I have a lot of respect for, but Rich Franklin really reminds me of the fat kid left standing when the music stops in a game of musical chairs…
yeah, if Franklin fights Liddell, win or lose he’s stuck in the same spot. Because he just beat Wanderlei, Franklin should fight a top contender next which would determine whether or not he’ll compete for the title in the future. Liddell also win or lose,does not gain much rather than self satisfaction of going out with a win against a high profile fighter such as Franklin.
Franklin needs to really step up to the plate at this point in his dying career and try to take out a top 205′er and make a run at the title to cement his legacy in the UFC. He has a decent shot at making a run at the title but fighting Liddell destroys that completely.
Like I said above, Liddell vs. Alexander should happen and makes the most sense for everyone involved.
jcohl
So what do you suggest Franklin should do,give up his fighting career and go back to teaching?
It says wanderlei wants to fight 2 more times before the end of 09.
Any ideas hes gonna fight. I hope he fights Cote, but i forget when he is returning. maybe Alan Belcher if he wins his next fight, he’s on a roll.
man a fight with Cote would be crazy. Although I think that would end in favor of the “predator”. It just doesnt seem like you can hurt that guy. Some of the hardest hitters at 185 couldnt even rock him, Anderson, Leben and Mcfedries for example. It would be a good fight but Cote hits hard and can take an even harder hit, spelling the end for Wandy.
“Cote hits hard but can take even harder hits”
that reminds me of Rocky Balboa it’s not about how hard you can hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit
Cote is supposed to return this fall, and I think him v. Wanderlei would be good. I also think it would be fun to see Wanderlei take on Belfort for Belfort’s rumored re-debut, or see Wanderlei KO another former TUF fighter in “Da Spyder”.
Oooohhh… Me likey Wandy beating “Da Spyder”‘s noodle into Bolivian.
I will throw this out there just because his name is mentioned so frequently, and weigh it against the opinions of the collective.
Maybe a good MW test for Wanderlei Silva would be Demian Maia.
A Maia win would make it all but impossible, in spite of the current grappler-bias in title fights, to deny him a deserved title shot. It would also be a good opportunuity for Maia to show the promotion how he’ll fare against a top shelf striker, with an eye on Anderson Silva.
A Wand win really energizies his MW quest and sets up a huge main event down the road. Also, a Wand win doesn’t necessarily kill off Maia, just sets him back a few steps, which is basically where he is now anyway with the current mindset in the UFC front office towards submission grapplers and main event/title bouts.
I guess 2 problems with this match-up are that:
A)Maia might be too much too soon for the new MW Wand, and getting beat too quick or too badly basically finishes off Wand’s MW title hopes before they really get launched, and…
B)the promotion might not want to put Maia into any situation where he could justifiably demand a title shot after beating Wand, because of the aforementioned anti-grappler bias.
Just an idea…
or C) Maia trains literally @ Wanderlei’s gym and well with Wanderlei himself, like today rightnow they might be training together, when Maia is in the US he is training with Wanderlei… It would be a sick fight but it is not going to happen, good idea tho
Ya i think ive seen wandy in his corner a couple times.
Or D because Maia is supposed to fight Marquardt next, not Wanderlei.
I think if they HAD to, maia and wanderlei would “man up” and fight. Unlike some ww’s…….:D
ya no kidding jazz
* :)
As far as Wandy goes the fight that would interest me most would be against Nate. He looked amazing in his last fight, and although Gouvea isnt exactly a top notch striker, i knocked over my beer when Nate was throwing those nasty combos. Nate vs Wandy would be gnarly.
Chuck vs Rich? as much as i love Chuck and hate to say it, he doesnt belong in the same octagon as Rich. i really hope that he doesnt start to develop a “Tim Sylvia legacy” which is what will happen if he keeps fighting contenders as such. im not ruling out the fact that the fight can go either way, but im definately not interested in this bout.
So who would make an interesting fight for Rich now? Forest? Silva? Rua? all the top LHW fighters are already on the roster for their next fights, so maybe they just dont want Rich having a long layoff between fighting Wandy and his next opponent?
I guess at the end of the day its a money fight for the UFC and if chuck realy wants to fight that bad let him. But ya Franklin doesnt realy move up in the rankings or anything with this fight. But i guess in the eyes of the casual fan it could be a bid deal by beating chuck.
I’m not too sure that many people are interesed in watching another Cuck Liddell fight. It’s obvious that he wants to fight again, but if that does happen, he does not deserve nor should he fight a contender. By UFC standards he should be in the pre-lims, but yeah i know he’s “The Iceman” so there’s no way in hell he’ll be in hte pre-lims,but non the less he should not fight Franklin, the fight is not interesting and it would not be a big draw.
However, i’m betting that people would be interested in Wanderlei vs Liddell 2, maybe Wanderlei, but i know that Wanderlei is moving down to 185, but i’m sure if they offered him Liddell,he’ll make the jump back to 205.
The most logical fight for Chuck was the one i said earlier which is Houston Alexander. Think about it, both guys are entertaining win or lose, both guys are very popular and it’s just an interesting fight that i’m sure many people would rather see than Chuck-Frankilin. Alexander and Liddell are both on their “last” fight and have a must win thing going on so it makes perfect sense and i’m sure this fight can be waayy better than Chuck-Franklin.
Chuck in the pre-lims man i laughed when i read that. could you imagine that convo between Dana and Chuck.lol. Although the fight would make sense Marvel its just not going to happen, The UFC wants to put on super fights and clssics as often as possible it seems. they could sell a PPV with that fight alone and if it does happen im expecting it to be on UFC 103. I know what you mean dude but if you wanna talk about pre-lims that may be where we find houston on his next outing. Allthough i hope not.
maybe rich will get a title shot after beating chuck probaly wont ,but what i’m noticing is that when ever someone beat him that get a title shot. like rashad and now shogun ,but also rashad did up winning the title so maybe not a bad disicion.
I’m not trying to say that Franklin isn’t necessarily deserving of opportunities for advancement within the UFC, but I’m not sure its justifiable to give him, a relatively new entrant into the LHW division, a title shot after beating an aging Liddell.
No disrespect to either fighter intended.
I doubt the UFC will be OK with their fighters appearing in an MMA game.. well guess what.. they own their likenesses and can put them in any games they want.. that is of course assuming that none of the UFC fighters were ACTUALLY RETARDED ENOUGH to sign over their likenesses to the UFC.
The reason I would guess those specific UFC fighters have been mentioned is because they are fighters who would not be stupid enough to do that. I mean, we all know Randy reads his contracts.
And some of the morons around here wondered why Jon Fitch was concerned about that particular part of his contract?
Well maybe you got growin’ some brains now durrr?
Personally I think it is unforgivable the UFC would ever REQUEST owning another persons likeness let alone demand it.. WOW YALL WOW PUNCH YOURSELF IN THE BALLS K THNX BUH BYE.
You obviously have no clue about business.
No like I said.. sure it will line the UFC’s pockets but when looking at an organization that obviously isn’t struggling all they are doing is going after the same market they already have.. it is unlikely that Kimbo is going to bring in new UFC fans as most people interested in Kimbo/MMA are already fans.. all they are doing is an obvious money grab with little integrity behind it.
It is a money grab and that is all it is.
On the topic of the video game likeness rights.. I think it is fairly unprecidented for a organization to ask to own those rights.. if you notice the player acssociations for repective sports are always listed in credits for other sports games because the players get money for it.
Get all up ons k.
But not at all unprecedented for a video game company to do that, which is what happened, and was the reason why Randy didn’t sign the for Undisputed, he had already signed his video game likeness away to EA for Red Alert.
BJ’s keepin his belt. anderson’s gonna be 24-5… nah jk about silva. but bj’s got that sh@t. whats up with the shogun machida fight??? how does shogun deserve a title shot. he beat lidell’s old @ss, coleman, and rampage in 05. what makes him special?… well i guess no one else bein avaiable could be the reason. i just dont think the kids ready
liddell vs franklin im sorry but liddells done, franklin would throw him all around the octagon now, if liddell comes back he will lose his reputation as one of the greatest fighters of all time. i like liddell but he should not fight rich. and rampage backed out of a title fight with machida to do tuf 10 thats why shogun has a shot,but machida wont be beat for a long time unless anderson silva quits being a bi**h about fighting lyoto machida, what the hells up with that anyway (oh hes my friend hes like a brother to me) says anderson f**k that its no diffrent than playing football or any other sport for that matter against each other. i mean thats what your there for to compet against the best lyoto and anderson would make a hell of a fight (i think)