Roundup: UFC 87 and UFN 15 Updates, Dana White Scales Back On Announcement, and More
Posted by Kris Karkoski on Jun 16, 2008 at 12:00 pm ET28 Comments
While much has been going on in the world of MMA this past week or so, we at MMAFrenzy.com would surely be remiss if we neglected to report some of the MMA news that has slipped through the cracks.
Here are some things you may have missed:
- Though superfluous in nature, it has been announced that Fedor Emelianenko and Tim Syliva will be fighting for the WAMMA heavyweight title at their July 19th showdown.
- EliteXC announced during their broadcast on Saturday that Scott Smith will rematch Robbie Lawler on CBS on July 26th.
- After causing quite a stir with an alleged “mind blowing” announcement, Dana White has scaled back on his words and claims that he never even planned on making such an announcement to the media.
- Four additional bouts have been added to the UFC 87 card. The newly confirmed bouts are Cheick Kongo vs. Dan Evensen, Frankie Edgar vs. Hermes Franca, Chris Wilson vs. Steve Bruno, Ben Saunders vs. Jared Rollins.
- Former UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk believes he will get another title shot after only one or two more fights.
- IFL CEO Jay Larkin made waves after openly insulting the UFC and the sport of MMA in general, while his promotion hangs in the balance.
- It has been rumored that UFC welterweight Matt Hughes is involved in the development of a new reality television program.
- In a recent interview, Guy Mezger detailed how PRIDE officials attempted to “alter” his fights while competing in the Japanese promotion.
- UFC lightweight Nate Diaz has been tapped to face Josh Neer at UFC Fight Night 15 on September 17th.
- Tito Ortiz recently discussed a move to heavyweight and hypothetical opponent Kimbo Slice, in a brief interview with Maxim.
- After a controversial split decision win over Nate Marquardt at UFC 85, Thales Leites has stated that he does not feel Marquardt deserves a rematch any time soon.
- Spike.com will be the new home of Evan Tanner’s personal blog.
- Former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell has reportedly gotten engaged. Liddell has also begun more heavily promoting his vested web-brand, MMAjacked.com.
Tags: Ben Saunders, Cheick Kongo, Chris Wilson, Chuck Liddell, Dan Evensen, Evan Tanner, Fedor Emelianenko, Frank Edgar, Guy Mezger, Hermes Franca, Jared Rollins, Josh Neer, kimbo slice, Matt Hughes, Nate Diaz, Nate Marquardt, Robbie Lawler, Scott Smith, Sean Sherk, Steve Bruno, Thales Leites, Tim Sylvia, Tito Ortiz
OH WOW I DIDN’T KNOW TITO IS WANTING TO MOVE UP… I THOUGHT FOR SURE HE WOULDN’T WANT THAT FIGHT WOW…
SEAN SHERK DOESN’T DESERVE ANOTHER TITLE SHOT. MAYBE IF IT WAS A BETTER FIGHT. BUT HE GOT DOMINATED.
Of course the announcement “isn’t as big as once thought” but i’m still curious to hear what it is.
I really hope that Tito moves up to fight Kimbo. Tito has fought more dangerous strikers and can probably match Kimbo’s strength. Let’s be honest, out of all of Kimbo’s internet fights and everthing i can only think of one guy he has KO’ed.
Is it me or does Sherk give off the impression that people owe him something because he didn’t grow up in a wealthy family and that he was “screwed” by the testing. There have been fighters fighting while he was on suspension to get their chance, i think he should have to wait and earn another shot.
rich franklin got destroyed by silva and got a rematch after 2 fights. chuck is gonna get a rematch (most likely) after he beats down rashad evans and he got knocked out in the 1st round against rampage. matt hughes got dominated by GSP and got a title shot at after just one fight!your logic doesn’t make much sense, yz.
as for kimbo vs. tito, i can’t decide who i like less so i’m hoping for a double-KO. hahah!
YEAH WHEN YOU PUT IT THAT WAY I GUESS YOUR RIGHT. BUT THERE IS STILL FIGHTERS THAT ARE BEFORE HIM. MAYBE AFTER HUERTA BEATS FLORIAN AND FIGHTS PENN.
Was that saying that Nick Diaz is going to be fighting in the UFC again?
Opps, just realized it was Nate nevermind…
YZFOXRACING- no need for all caps all the time my friend.
I’m a little disappointed that there isn’t an earth shattering announcement coming. As far as Sherk goes I wouldn’t be excited to see a rematch right away, but if BJ decides to abandon the lightweight division to go after the WW title I could see Sherk being in on the title shot.
I for one would love to see Tito vs. Kimbo, as long as Tito didn’t come into the fight with a near exploding ear.
I actually enjoyed the finals for the IFL. I will hate to see it go if it goes under.
I invested in the IFL way back when it was under a dime a share. I watched a few shows and didn’t think they were creating stars out of their fighters…they were putting all the attention on their coaches…who goes to a fight to see a coach in action??? does anyone go to a football game because of the coach??? Luckily I got out at $13 before the big crash. Bummer, they could have made it big IMO.
Oh and RLT…I agree on BJ… but if the does decide to go WW…he should have to defeat Hughes and the no. 1 contender to get a title shot. Hughes defeated him easily and i’m not sure BJ can handle the WW division like he can the LW.
I think B.J. would be crazy to move back up to WW. He should stay down and take on all challengers and really solidify himself as a true legend in the sport. IMO, he trains harder at 155 to keep the weight off and keeps him in better fight shape.
I can’t believe Thales Leites doesn’t believe Marquardt doesn’t deserve a rematch any time soon! Marquardt basically won that fight but had that point deducted when he didn’t even hit the back of the head. That pile driver alone is worth a rematch in my mind.
I don’t know if Penn can mentally stay at LW for much longer. He can’t sit still. He already wants St-Pierre and hes only defended his title one time.
Tito vs Kimbo ….. I don’t see Kimbo beating Bret Rogers, nevermind Tito Ortiz.
I bet the NY theory is it. Dana was going to announce the legalization of MMA in NY until it got voted down in committee. He f’d up by saying that it was an announcement that was going to “rock the MMA world” and now he knows it. Dana White should have known that even if the bill does pass committee there are several more steps if/until the bill gets signed into law. The UFC should at least have a decent political advisor.
If Kimbo fought Tito he would end up with a mouth full of bloody chiclets.
Dannyboy, question for you. How did BJ get dominated by Hughes? He destroyed Hughes for 2 entire rounds, almost submitted him more than once, and then gassed. I guess you only watched the third round on the internet, but truth is BJ dominated Hughes until he gassed. Now Hughes has not improved at all since then, but BJ has began to train harder than ever. SO, so start BJ with a rematch with Hughes could be a goodbye for Hughes and a welcome to WW for BJ. I would love to see it. The only problem is Hughes has lost his last couple in the UFC, will probably lose to BJ, then Dana can’t make money on the Serra rivalry. Poor Dana
Tim Sylvia is a very lucky guy to have the chance to fight Fedor. Affliction set this fight against Fedor up based on the big name and size of Sylvia. I do not think Sylvia is going to be ranked fighter very long. The sport is growing and more competition is evovlving. Fans should be prepared for a typical Sylvia match. Slow and boring while he leans on his opponent. Hopefully Fedor KOs the crap out of Tim within the first 30 seconds.
Dana- F u buddy! You put to rest all those other rumors last week and the announcement got pushed back to Tuesday. You’ve had all this time to put the whole issue to rest but chose to let it go on and on. A-hole! Some of us here have let this “announcement” get us excited and now we have the miserbale emotion f disappointment. I hope Santa $h!t$ in youy fire place so your house stinks when you wake up!
Jay Larkin- HAHAHAH……. You f-n moron!
Chuck- Congrats.
The WAMMA heavyweight title??? I think i’s fighting for the King Of Eddy’s House Welter Weight Belt this weekend!
I’d have to say regarding sherk deserving a title shot, it prolly will happen but I don’t think it’s the same case as what we’ve seen in the past with franklin and others. reason being, he had the title, got stripped, then got owned by bj. i could see if he was never stripped of the belt then it would be a regular deal, but for some reason that sticks out like a sore thumb and my feeling is that he lost the belt twice already. i know that technically speaking i’m wrong on that last sentence, but it’s the impression that I have and i think alot of people would feel the same way which is why it wouldn’t be as big a fight as some of the other matchups. plus, there’s like a jillion guys in that weight class that might not deserve a title shot yet, but by no means should they be considered out of the title picture. it’s not like HW or MW where anyone who’s halfway decent is gonna get a shot. I could think of probably 8 guys that I’d like to see in that position within like 1-2 fights, so why sherk thinks he can cut in line is a little beyond me. by the way, bisping is gay.
oh ya, and i kinda hope the tito kimbo think is just all rumor, because tito isn’t as good as he used to be and although i’d say he’s the favorite, he could lose the fight and then all hell would break loose about how great kimbo is and ufc is weak. fact is, tito wouldn’t be the guy i threw at kimbo to prove to the world that slice is a joke. i’d rather have him fight noguera, werdun, or lesnar. someone that will just be overwhelmingly favored in the bout.
tim will be submitted in the first round
i’ve put up 2 comments in the last two days. they’re not showin up for some reason, so fyi, everyone has missed out on some great material. to recap, i still hate bisping
this is a test to see something. if this comment posts, then that means i’m bein blocked as 2girls1cup. if that’s the case, why? if not, then both my computers are bein lame.
2girls - I’ll look into it for ya.
Sometimes our spam filtering has some false-positives, though considering how long and often you post here this one’s a bit surprising. Both the comments you left are up now. You can use your normal name again. If you don’t see the comment show up send me a message at mmafrenzy.com/contact and I’ll look into it for ya.
Don’t be afraid of Kimbo vs Tito. Probably the only instance that Dana roots for Tito ever. I would have to give the advantage to Tito on this one, and a Tito win ends all the hype. How do you hype a HW who loses to a fighter who wasn’t even top 10 in the UFC LHW division?
Tito Kimbo would be a nice CBS fight. I guess one day we will have a Dana White story….
tito is just shooten sh*t! He won’t fight Kimbo! If he losses then who is gunna want to watch him fight? he hasn’t won a fight in YEARS! Oh and before that he beat ken shamrock 3 times when shamrock was in his 40’s.Tito is the guy i love to hate, and hate to watch fight.he’s a Buster!
Kris, thanks for the heads up.