UFC Roundup: Hughes Leaving MFS, UFC 74 Fighters Pass Drug Tests, and More
Posted by Kris Karkoski on Aug 30, 2007 at 10:51 am ET32 Comments
- One-time UFC fighter Dan Lauzon, the younger brother of Joe Lauzon from The Ultimate Fighter 5, will be fighting on September 21st against Wayne Harnois. Sam Caplan is reporting current and former UFC fighters Kenny Florian, Marcus Davis, Drew Fickett, and Jorge Rivera will be special guests at the event.
- Matt Hughes has left Miletich Fighting Systems and will be starting a gym of his own in the St. Louis area. Current Icon Sport Middleweight Champion Robbie Lawler will reportedly be joining Hughes in the venture.
- All 10 fighters who were tested for drugs at UFC 74 have come back clean for performance enhancers. The 10 fighters tested were Randy Couture, Gabriel Gonzaga, Georges St. Pierre, Josh Koscheck, Patrick Cote, Kendall Grove, Roger Huerta, Alberto Crane, Frank Mir, and Antoni Hardonk. Their tests for “drugs of abuse” are still pending.
- In addition to our report that Ryo Chonan will be coming to the UFC fellow Japanese mixed martial artists Kazuo Misaki and Akihiro Gono may also be making the jump according to Bloody Elbow.
- The official websites for UFC 75 (75.ufc.com) and The Ultimate Figter 6 (www.theultimatefighter.tv) have launched in recent days.
- UFC middleweight Martin Kampmann is eying an early 2008 return to the UFC from a major knee injury.
- Dana White has stated in numerous recent interviews that he expects the UFC to sign Brock Lesnar. No potential timetable on an announcement or debut has been given.
- Whitehas also stated that PRIDE is unlikely to be resurrected. While this was the general consensusamoung fans the UFC had typically brushed the issue to the side but has finally admitted it is unlikely to return.
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Matt Hughes starting his own fight team seems pretty cool. No matter how much people hate him; the guy can flat out coach. He should be very successful with his new figth team.
I wonder how successful Lesnar might be in the UFC? I wonder what his fighting weight is, too. I remember when he was with the WWE; he weighed 295 pounds. The guy is a physical specimen and should be fun to watch.
I hope Lesnar trains well and doesnt jump into fighting someone too good at first, he has potential and is still in his 20's i beleive, but going up against a top dawg at first would be foolish
I hate matt hughes i never did like him he is a good fighter i'll give him that but his personality takes away all that hes to cocky and b****es to much…..i hope serra knocks him silly…Brock lesnar coming to the UFC that sounds pretty cool…but c'mon people who else out there wants to see Kimbo Slice in the UFC heavyweight….i bet he can dominate for a long time unless the put him up against that big bear he fought in the bare knuckle boxing matches…that will be a huge draw for any company who has Kimbo. As far as the whole pride thing goes…got for Zuffa for gutting the company…Pride was the closest competition that the UFC had….now there is no one big enough to even challange the UFC right now
Peace ya'll
Serra is going to get clobberd. I dont think its going to be a close match. Hughes is in a different class than Serra. I dont think people hate Matt Hughes as much as everyone thinks. He is a hell of a fighter, and he tells it like it is. Just cause he doesnt say what everyone wants him to. As far as him leaving the MFS….. its kinda sad. I wish he would stay in Iowa…buuuut, i am sure that Pat is ok with it and has taught him everything he can. It should be interesting.
Hatred motivates people and Serra hates Hughes; it might be a closer fight than we think. Matt Hughes was sort of tentative to strike with Lytle and if Serra strikes with Hughes you never know Hughes might get clipped and then ground and pounded out.
Hey ravine, I believe that big bear that fought Kimbo Slice is Sean Gannon. Sean Gannon fought int he UFC oncel; he lost by TKO to Brandon Lee Hinkle in the first round.
FixXer, it would have been nice if Hughes stayed with MFS, but I guess he wants to be the one in charge now. I mean what more can Pat Miletich teach Hughes; I think Hughes pretty much learned all he could from him and now wants to move on and share his experience with other fighters.
Kenny Florian isn't a former UFC fighter…
Hopefully Kimbo will learn how to defend against knee strikes from Bas Rutten.
Hughes will whoop Serra and then setup the GSP v. Hughes III rematch in which GSP will recapture the title. GSP will then KO Sanchez, Penn or whoever else they put in front of him. can you believe GSP outwrestled a 4-time NCAA All American in Koscheck?
Hughes, will build himself a good team. If he already has Lawler, that's a good start. I think they are both dicks, but they are talented dicks. KIMBO SLICE? Are you kidding me. He is a street fighter. An internet hack. He beat Ray Mercer. Big deal, they shouldn't even have sanctioned that fight. He really isn't rught for the UFC.
Another thing. Apparently the UFC has let Babalu go for his actions at UFC 74.
Garth – That's why it says "Current and former" but right, he as well as Davis and Fickett are not former fighters.
Yeah the UFC has released Babalu, write coming up in just a minute.
Kimbo Slice?? Im with you on that one SCOTCHYDOW. Kimbo would not last a round…I would be suprised if he lasted a minute with the Heavyweight division in the UFC. How I would like to see him fight Couture…or Sylvia. He has no conditioning….just brute strength. Kimbo Slice is just another Tank Abbott. Lets see…where is Tank…. oh thats right…. losing in other MMA organizations talking about how the heavyweights in the UFC are weak…oh and dont forget Joe Rogan.
Brock said on sherdog his fighting weight would be 265. The UFC will toss Brock some easy-kills to pad the record, get some hype under his name before he makes it into a real spotlight vs a high ranking name. I can see Brock vs Tim..all the "grudge" and "bad blood", UFC will go ape **** in promoting that as if it will be a great fight…be it will be a 2rd TKO of Tim, if that long. Brock has the talent, I'm glad he is more than likely going to get a contract with the UFC – I just hope Fedor and Josh follow soon.
I wonder what Lesnar's walking weight is. He shouldn't have too much of a hard time cutting weight, since he has a wrestling background.
I wonder what low level UFC Heavyweights he might get. Maybe the UFC won't give him any weaklings and give some tough guys like Frank Mir or Marcio Cruz. Maybe the UFC gives Lesnar one dimensional fighters like Antoni Hardonk.
I wonder what kind of stuff will show up in Lesners blood test. He cannot be "natural". I hope he is though.
I think Matt Hughes just wanted to be closer to the farm. That and with his name and skills, it't right for him to have his own gym. I think you will see a lot more of this happening in MMA. Randy already left Team Quest to start his own stable of fighters in Vegas.
That is the reason for his new gym is to be closer to his family. He never was an actual team member of MFS and his leaving was fine. There are still plans for him to train in Iowa and other MFS fights to train at his gym.
I think steroids may actually be why the UFC shies away from him or they will require tests in advance of the fight to make sure he is not caught cheating afterwards creating a mess like we're in now with Sherk. I think eventually the UFC should require tests a month before a scheduled fight and if that comes back clean there is no reason anyone should test positive after a fight. He did pass his tests at his first MMA fight earlier this year if that means anything.He would be a very big heavyweight to say the least.
The UFC does not need Slice plain and simple.
I agree Kris that UFC doesn't need Slice, but it would be cool to have Slice be Lesnar's first victim.
I wonder who else from MFS will leave to start there own figth team and open their own gym? I had a question Kris; is Rich Franklin a member of MFS or does he just train with them sometimes? He has cornered Sylvia before, so I am curious to know if he is a member.
I just don't think his image as a street fighter would help the UFC garner mainstream attention and he is unproven like Lesnar but Lesnar has a more legitimate background.
Kris- did you hear what Bas Rutten had to say about the guy? I'm not in favor of one outcome or the other…the UFC has a pretty consistent skill level across the org, but people like a circus. that kid Jorge Masvidal is in a few videos beating up a "Slice Protoge". Didn't he just beat up Yves Edwards? Having a street fighting background doesn't automatically disqualify anyone from fighting in the UFC. Again, not that I'm wearing a big ol Kimbo sombrero yelling at my TV to bring him in. I don't even have a Kimbo fez. Though it would be cool.Â
Red – I haven't heard anything about Rich training with MFS. As far as I know he is basically training with Jorge Gurgel at his gym in Ohio so no, he is not part of MFS and I haven't heard anything to make me think different but if I hear anything I will pass it along.
Rich Franklin trained a lot with Billy Rush out of Utah, where he trained with Jeremy Horn. Jeremy Horn trains with Milititch quite often, so Franklin heads to Iowa occasionaly. You do see him cornering(and vice a versa) a lot of Milititch fighters, but Kris is correct about him mainly training with his good buddy George Gurgel at Gurgel's gym.
Thanks Kris for the heads up. I remember when I would see clips of Sylvia training; I saw Franklin in some of them. I remember in UFC 54; when Sylvia fought Teligman that Franklin cornered him. Once again I appreciate the info Kris.
No problem and props to Scotchydow for adding the additional information.
Right Garth, him training with someone like Bas means a lot. I think the UFC signed Gannon because (despite the street fight video) he has a background in boxing (golden gloves winner) and Judo (state champion) so, unlike Slice's lack of a tradition background (not that brawling doesn't count) Gannon was a bit more legitimate. Also keep in mind his lone UFC fight was in 2005 before the UFC had really started to pick up steam.
I think the UFC could sign Kimbo but I think it is a risky move and I don't know that the risk is worth the reward until he wins at least one more fight.
It would surprise me, if the UFC signed Kevin Ferguson a.k.a. Kimbo Slice, but he is no longer participating in underground fighting, so this helps to clean his image.
Red: the steroids issue Kris brought up is a problem…guys who test positive are pretty poisonous right now. So he'd have to be clean. And you do make a good point, he doesn't have to fight as Kimbo Slice. Kevin is a lot less disreputable sounding (as in, Kimbo is connected to so much street fighting). Although, having watched most of his fights, he's a pretty respectful dude once the fight is over, even during, considering he's trying to knock the guy's face in. Â
I agree with you 100 percent garth. Kimbo seems like a humble dude after his fights are over.