Passing the Guard 07.05.08: News, News, News

Posted by Stephen DeAugustino on 07.05.2008

With UFC 86 only a few hours away, make sure you are well informed with a solid preview of all the action, plus stay in the loop with all the best news from this week, including word of BJ Penn's move to welterweight, and the ruckus Drew Fickett's caused around the MMA world in a nutshell; not to be missed!

Happy late Fourth of July folks, and welcome to yet another edition of Passing the Guard. This week, we take a look at some of latest news in the MMA world, including word of BJ Penn's move to welterweight, Drew Fickett's move away from anywhere that has contracts, and Georges St. Pierre's move to the ESPY award stand. All that and more, but first, a quick look at tonight's fight, UFC 86.



Preview


UFC 86

Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Justin McCully
Former hype train and accomplished grappler Gabriel Gonzaga will look to set his two consecutive losses straight with a win over Team Punishment's Justin McCully. Gonzaga has had a rough time with things since his KO victory over Pride veteran Mirko Filipovic, suffering a TKO loss to former champ Randy Couture and then a second loss from Fabricio Werdum. Granted, both man are accomplished fighters, but the losses definitely blemish the positive outlook fans gave "Napao" after his big win over Cro Cop. A step down in competition, McCully is relatively new to the Octagon, fighting in his debut last year. McCully's best opponent would have to be Evan Tanner; the two met in Pancrase where Tanner claimed victory by way of Kimura. Gonzaga will be the heavy favorite, but as he himself proved to all of us, anything can happen inside that cage.




Tyson Griffin vs. Marcus Aurelio
This is a clear fight of the night candidate. With two of the best camps being represented and two of the best fighters in the lightweight division going at it, who can argue against that? Xtreme Couture product Tyson Griffin is sporting a very impressive 11-1 record with wins over Urijah Faber, Duane Ludwig, Clay Guida, and Thiago Tavares. Looking back to any of his bouts, it is hard to picture one that was not exciting as Griffin has a reputation for being as tenacious and unrelenting as they come. Aurelio, fighting under the American Top Team banner, is a seasoned veteran of the sport and is coming off of an amazing armbar finish over Ryan Roberts. Both men are accomplished grapplers, but the 2x Pan-Am champion in Aurelio will have the upper hand. It will be very interesting to see just where this fight goes.





Josh Koscheck vs. Chirs Lytle
Josh Koscheck was on his way to a title shot after his win over Diego Sanchez, but after a solid defeat at the hands of current king Georges St. Pierre, "Kos" was placed back on the lower end of the totem poll. After defeating Dustin Hazelett at UFC 82, Koscheck will look to continue his fight back to the top with a win over long timer Chris Lytle. Lytle has been in the fight game for a decade and has experience in every aspect of the sport, including a winning record in professional boxing. However, we saw Chris in trouble against Matt Hughes, who utilized take downs to pound out Lytle for a decision. Koscheck is a much better wrestler than Hughes is, so unless Lytle has improved his takedown defense significantly, we may see the veteran in trouble again. It is important to mention that Lytle is fairly dangerous in the submission game, but if Koscheck is good enough to avoid being submitted by Hazelette, I don't see Lytle having much of a chance either.




Joe Stevenson vs. Gleison Tibau
After meddling around at welterweight, Joe Stevenson made a good career call in his decision to move to lightweight, where he sat undefeated for a good amount of time. Then BJ Penn happened. Penn dominated every aspect of their fight, knocking Stevenson off the list for potential challengers in the near future. However, Stevenson has to start somewhere, and he will do so tonight against Gleison Tibau. Tibau has been fighting for a long time, claiming he started training when he was only 13. Tibau has fought most of his fights in his home country of Brazil, making his US debut at UFC 65. Holding a 4-2 record in the octagon with losses to Nick Diaz and Tyson Griffin, Tibau will be the underdog coming into this fight. This especially holds true as Stevenson has a similar aggressive, submission wrestling background that Griffin has. Will Gleison prove everyone wrong, or will Stevenson begin his long journey back up to the top? Either way, it will be very entertaining to watch.




Patrick Cote vs. Ricardo Almeida
In the second under card fight of the night that promises to be awesome, Patrick Cote will look to solidify his title contention with a win over Renzo Gracie student Ricardo Almeida. At this point Cote's UFC career can be compared to a sinusoidal curve; the Canadian started off with three losses before finding himself on "The Comeback", where he ended up putting on a poor performance against Travis Lutter. Now "The Predator" is back on the rise again putting together four consecutive wins over names like Kendal Grove, Jason Day, Scott Smith, and Drew McFedries. Despite how impressive his recent record may be, he will have his hands full with Almeida, who has bounced back and forth between Pride, UFC, and Pancrase through his career. Currently riding a seven fight win streak, Almeida is known for having some serious stopping ability in his submissions, or more specifically, his guillotine choke. While Almeida will be looking to replicate Lutter's submission victory here, Cote, a notable boxer and kick boxer, will be doing his best to copy the striking success that Andrei Semenov had in his win over Ricardo. The result will be one of the best fights of the card.






Quinton Jackson vs. Forrest Griffin
I was rather puzzled when I heard that Forrest Griffin was getting a shot at the belt after his win over Shogun. Yes it was a great performance by Griffin, but with such a stacked weight class, there are a few other names that come to mind that may have been more deserving than Forrest. Even Jackson and Griffin both comment on how odd the decision was. Regardless, it should prove to be a solid fight. Both fighters have come a very long way. After having a lukewarm career in Pride, Jackson made his move to the UFC where he put down current champion Chuck Liddell for the second time, as well as former Pride champion Dan Henderson in dominant fashion. Without question, Rampage deserves the title and the top spot in the light heavyweight rankings. Forrest's ascent into the spotlight may perhaps be even more impressive. After competing in the first ever Ultimate Fighter, Forrest was able to improve enough to beat out Mauricio Rua, the man who was at the top of the dog pile before Jackson. The thing that puts the fight into question is the fact that besides that win, Griffin really doesn't have much else; before the Shogun fight, Forrest was coming off losses to Tito Ortiz and Keith Jardine, as well as a so-so victory outing over Hector Ramirez. This has got to make Griffin the underdog, but I seriously doubt he cares too much about that. As he has shown before, he can contend with anyone that is placed in front of him.






News




WEC soon to drop light heavyweight and middleweight division?
According to Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports, the WEC may be letting go of its weaker weight classes, the light heavyweight class and middleweight class, in the very near future. Iole obtained the information after interviewing UFC president Dana White, who gave several hints about the decision. The WEC has always been known for it's great lightweight fighters, especially since it is one of the only organizations in America to provide a featherweight and bantamweight division. As a result, the middleweight and light heavyweight areas of the promotion have always been rather barren. However, there are a few big names prowling around in that area such as Paulo Filho, Chael Sonnen, and Doug Marshall, which leaves the question, what will happen to these guys? Apparently, Zuffa is considering moving them over to The Octagon to fulfill the rest of there contracts. The most interesting of any of these moves would have to be Filho, who is widely considered the next best middleweight behind fellow Brazilian and close friend Anderson Silva.
While the chances of the two fighting are slim due to the fact they have expressed disinterest in fighting in the past, some interesting match ups could be still be made with a fighter like Filho in the mix.




Georges St. Pierre nominated for the ESPY Awards

For the first time, the ESPY Awards will have a MMA fighter name an appearance for one of their awards. Being nominated for "Best Fighter", Geaorges St. Pierre will make MMA history as being the first to be nominated for the honor. UFC.com comments on the situation: "he has been nominated for the ‘Best Fighter' award following a 12 month period that has seen him decision Josh Koscheck, submit Matt Hughes, and TKO Matt Serra to regain his 170-pound crown." Previously, the accolade has only been presented to boxers, and it really shows; all of the other nominations for this year's award are known for their uncanny boxing abilities. St. Pierre's competitors will be Joe Calzaghe, Holly Holm, Floyd Mayweather Jr., and Kelly Pavlik. To vote for GSP, visit here.




Jesse Taylor and CB Dalloway to bump heads at UFN 14
What was previously a rumor has now in fact been confirmed by the UFC; Jesse Taylor will make his UFC debut against TUF 7 replacement CB Dalloway at Ultimate Fight Night 14. While the fight itself has been confirmed, it is still not known whether or not it will be on the live card, however it is hard to imagine this fight not being shown as both fighters are fairly popular from the show.

Jesse Taylor was originally slated to compete in the live finale of the show after he defeated Tim Credeur in the semifinals, however he was ejected from the competition for his misconduct after the television series was over. It was then that UFC president Dana White gave Dalloway and Credeur a second chance, with Dalloway taking the fight by decision. Dalloway would go on to lose by armbar a second time in the finals against eventual winner, Amir Sadollah.

With Taylor back, it is hard not to imagine a fight between himself and Sadollah in the near future, not unlike the Matt Hamill-Mike Bisping fight that we saw a little while ago. This especially holds true if Taylor can pull off a win over Dalloway, which should prove to be an entertaining fight due to the stylistic match up at hand between two accomplished wrestlers.

UFN 14 will take place on July 19th and will feature Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin, Brandon Vera vs. Reese Andy, and Frankie Edgar vs. Hermes Franca.








UFC 88 will see Franklin vs. Hamill at light heavyweight
Following what seems to be a reoccurring them in the UFC lately, middleweight standout Rich Franklin will make a move back to his original weight class of light heavyweight to face former TUC cast member Matt Hamill at UFC 88. The move has been very much talked about since Franklin's second loss to pound-for-pound great Anderson Silva. Franklin's last bout was a solid victory over Travis Lutter, while Hamill snatched victory from Tim Boetsch at UFN 13 earlier this year.

UFC 88 will take place at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta, GA on September 6th, 2008. The card will also feature Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans, Dan Henderson vs. Rousimar Palhares, and Karo Parisyian vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida.



Jon Fitch becomes a black belt going into UFC 87
Underdog Jon Fitch may have tipped the scales a little bit going into his title bout against current champion Georges St. Pierre, receiving his black belt in Guerilla ju-jitsu this past week. The honor comes under current American Kickboxing Academy ground coach Dave Camarillo, who invented the system himself as a combination of ju-jitsu and judo modified for MMA. Fitch will be only the sixth person to receive the belt, however after five years of training, will be the only person to start out as a white belt and work his way up. Camarillo comments on Fitch, saying "Fitch is the most dedicated martial artist I've ever worked with," says Camarillo. "He doesn't stop. He doesn't quit. He keeps coming."

A Division I caliber wrestler coming out of Purdue, Fitch has been known for his aggressive wrestling style inside of the cage. Fitch has also displayed great submission defense in his previous fights, so this news would definitely accentuate that. Whether it will be enough to best GSP is still up in the air, but it certainly will help to some extent.




Kazuhiro Nakamura released by UFC
Former Pride standout and judo great Kazuhiro Nakamura has recently been released by the UFC after his KO loss to Rameau Theirry Sokoudjou at UFC 84. Nakamura's loss to Sokoudjou would mark his third consecutive loss; both coming by way of decision, one by Lyoto Machida and one by Shogun Rua. This, combined with the fact that Nakaumra failed a post fight drug test that he failed to defend, much less overturn, was probably enough to spark the decision to drop the Japanese fighter from the organization. Without a doubt, Nakamura has reached a low point in his career; "Kaz" was once considered a top ten fighter, holding wins over Marilo Bustamane, Igor Vovchanchyn, and Kevin Randleman in Pride. It is still undetermined when Nakamura will fight next, or if he will ever fight again at all.




Joachim Hansen rumored to fight at DREAM 5
According to fiveouncesofpain.com, Norwegian lightweight Joachim Hansom will be competing at DREAM 5 as a reserve fight for the finals. While no opponent has been declared yet, it is also rumored that Kultar Gill will be taking up the fight against "Hellboy", which would prove to be an interesting match up between two great strikers. As alternates, the winner of the fight would take the place of any of the fighters in the semis that may not be able to continue into the finals.

Hansen was eliminated from the tournament last round with a hard fought loss to Eddie Alvarez in what may be the fight of the year. Gill was also previously competing in the tournament, until Kawajiri, who is also competing in the semifinals, eliminated him in the first round. The current semifinalists are Alvarez, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Shinya Aoki, and Caol Uno.

Along with the scheduled tournament bouts, a fight between Norifumi Yamamoto and Joe Benavidez will go underway, along with appearances by Denis Kang and Yoshihiro Akiyama. DREAM 5 will take place on July 21st.




Affliction fires back at UFC with counter-marketing
While not nearly as decisive as the UFCs decision to play UFN on the same days as "Banned", Affliction has taken steps against the MMA giant in attempts to draw more pay-per-view buys. Strictly a few snippets of counter-marketing, the ads probably won't do much, but it is good to at least see some attempt by the fledgling organization trying to stand up for itself. The main add is simply a series of quotes by well known UFC fighters or members complementing either the promotion itself or the biggest name on the card, Fedor.



Affliction: Banned will take place on July 19th, and will include Fedor vs. Sylvia, Barnett vs. Rizzo, Rothwell vs. Arlowski, and Whitehead vs. Sobral

Also, did anyone else notice that the trailer for TUF 8 and Affliction: Banned look the same? Here, check it out.








Drew Fickett causes more commotion after ElitceXC fiasco
Last week, it was reported that Drew Fickett was removed from the EliteXC as well as his title shot against Jake Shields due to contract violations. Now, Fickett seems to be at it again, this time involving Strikeforce and MFC, a Canadian fighting organization. Apparently Fickett was scheduled to duke it out up in the great white north, but instead took a fight at the last minute to take part in last weeks Strikeforce event. After MFC president Mark Pavelich took matters into his own hands, Fickett was denied his fight in Strikeforce as well as booted from MFC. Pavelich called Fickett and left the following voicemail, which Fickett and his management posted online for our enjoyment.

"It's Mark Pavelich calling from the Maximum Fighting Championship,

I've just received notice that Drew Fickett or you, I don't care which one of you fuckers did it, has signed a contract to fight in Strikeforce this fucking weekend. I'm going to get on a fucking plane soon and go where you're at and choke you the fuck out. I'm telling you right now, I've had enough of your fucking shit. First of all, I've sent you the fucking pictures and secondly, I placed Drew Fickett in a fight fucking months ago and five weeks prior to my main event of my fucking fight card. You're going to give me a fucking call tomorrow or I swear I'll get on a fucking plane and go right where you're at right now. You're pissing me off, I've been nothing but professional to you motherfuckers and you're doing this kind of bullshit, alright? Call me back, I'm fucking pissed."


In return, Pavlich, who saw fit to write a reactionary statement to justify himself, commented on the situation. Following the statement, I provided an interview from the good folks at MMARated that includes Fickett and his side of the whole story. A real must listen.

I would like to take this opportunity to offer a personal response to
comments and actions taken by Drew Fickett over the past 72 hours.

Drew had agreed to and signed a contract to fight on the Maximum Fighting Championship show on July 25 for the welterweight title against Ryan Ford. Over the last few days, Drew has caused severe problems and therefore we find him in complete breach of his contract.

We were shocked to learn Drew agreed on one day's notice to fight as a
middleweight in another organization's event this past Friday. When I contacted this other organization, its owner immediately cancelled Drew's fight when informed that he was under contract to fight on the MFC show and as part of Mr. Fickett's contract he was not allowed to take another fight up to five weeks before the MFC show.

When I learned of Drew's intentions to take this fight, I repeatedly attempted to reach Drew's manager to find out why. After numerous attempts to reach his manager went unreturned, I did leave a voice mail which has since been made public. I admit to being very upset, angry and frustrated not only by Drew's action but also by not being able to reach his manager and the tone of that voice mail reflected my feelings.

Shortly afterwards I realized that I should have taken a deep breath and calmed down before leaving that message and I profusely apologized to Drew's manager. I am not proud of that message but as the owner of a major fight organization I felt that I and my staff which works tirelessly to put on a first-class show were being treated very disrespectfully by Drew. If he had read his contract he would have realized he shouldn't have taken the fight and he should not have attempted to get away with it.

Then for Drew to post the private voice mail - which was not left on his
phone - was just ridiculous and petty.

This was the last straw in a series of unprofessional acts by Drew. He failed to send a promotional photo that we wanted to use for advertising the fight even after the MFC had sent him gloves and even went as far as being willing to book a photographer to take the pictures. He also failed to send any documents pertaining to his medicals, passport and border information.

Drew even stated in an email after the posting of the voice mail that he was still willing to fight in the MFC. But after that he added that he would want to be paid after the weigh-in one day before the fight. There is no question in my mind that Drew would have stiffed us completely and run off with our money without fighting as some sort of warped payback for the MFC protecting its investment in him and doing everything in its power to not allow him to fight within the five-week period prior to July 25.

We now completely understand why that despite his excellent record so many
organizations will not work with Drew and we have a pretty clear indication
why he has been banned by the UFC.

Drew Fickett will never fight in the MFC. As evidenced by his latest actions Drew clearly does not want to fight Ryan Ford for the MFC title despite signing a contract to do so.

The MFC has never had any problems with any fighters who do not breach
their contract nor have we had any problems with fighters with issues that we do control such as payment for fights, travel itineraries, etc. Fighters we have problems with are ones who are neurotic misfits with poor management who won't take responsibility for their actions, who won't live up to fulfilling their contracts and those who do not act as professional athletes.

I will take all steps necessary to settle this issue legally and I will also move immediately into replacing Drew Fickett with a top-level fighter to contend for the MFC welterweight title against Ryan Ford on July 25.

Mark Pavelich, Owner/President

Maximum Fighting Championship

Fickett InterviewUploaded by CAGETODAY

Gary Shaw replies to Jeff Monsons challenge
Last week heavyweight submission expert and veteran fighter Jeff Monson called out Kimbo Slice on YouTube, expressing his distaste for the fame and attention the internet star has received in the past month or so. Gary Shaw, president of EliteXC, has now fired back with a challenge of his own toward the agitated Monson.

"Get some wins and then maybe we'll put him in line down the road to face Kimbo," said Shaw to Fightline.com. "If we fought every person that's called out Kimbo or that wants to fight Kimbo we'd be fighting everybody from a 3rd grader in Duluth to a 65 year old in Boca Raton. So take a number, get in line and get some wins; then we'll talk."

Interestingly enough, Monson has stood against names like Josh Barnett and Tim Sylvia, and holds wins over names like Kazuyuki Fujita, Marcio Cruz, and Brandon Lee Hinkle. Compared to Slice's small record and recent poor performance, Shaw's statements are rather confusing. Regardless, it was fairly easy to see Shaw would not let Monson anywhere near Slice even before Shaw made this statement. While Brett Rogers did succeeded in the same fashion that Monson failed, by calling out Kimbo publicly, Rogers is definitely a step down in competition than a long timer like Monson. Regardless, Rogers will be Slice's toughest challenge yet.







Thiago Alves vs. Diego Sanchez likely for UFC 89
MMAWeekly is reporting that a verbal agreement has taken place between Thiago Alves and Diego Sanchez for an upcoming fight at UFC 89, and contracts are expected to be signed within the next few days. Sanchez is coming off a very impressive victory over Luigi Fioravanti at the TUF 7 Finale, where he displayed a great display of striking ability. Alves is also coming off of a very solid victory over UFC legend Matt Hughes. A win for Sanchez here would place him back into the top tier of welterweight competitors, erasing the doubts left by his losses to Fitch and Koscheck, while a win for Alves will most certainly put him in title contention. UFC 89 is slated to take place on October 18th at the NEC Arena in Birmingham, England.






BJ likely to take on winner of Fitch-GSP
It has been known for sometime that current lightweight champion BJ Penn was willing to make the move to welterweight for a rematch with former foe Georges St. Pierre, but now it seems even closer to coming into fruition thanks to a recent interview with FightersClub.tv. "Right now we're trying to set up a welterweight fight with me and maybe the winner of (Jon) Fitch and (Georges) St. Pierre, maybe at the News Year's show end of December, early January. We'll see what those guys are doing, how banged up they are." Said Penn when asked about the move.




Penn has bounced back and forth between the two divisions, first starting out at lightweight, then moving to welterweight where he upset then champion Matt Hughes. Penn was striped of the title after his move to K-1, however upon his return was given a rematch in which he was ousted by both Hughes and GSP. Now "The Prodigy" seems to have things together, claiming the lightweight belt after three stunning victories over Jens Pulver, Joe Stevenson, and Sean Sherk.

Penn seems to be following a current trend set by fellow UFC champions GSP and Anderson Silva, who have both stated they plan on competing regularly in the next weight class. A rematch with GSP may be harder than expected, with "Rush" trying to make his move to 185 and the winner of Roger Huerta and Kenny Florian on the heels of Penn, but as one of the most requested fights in the MMA community, it is hard to believe the fight won't happen eventually.




Well that about covers it for next week. Check back soon for all of your latest MMA news here at 411mania.com/mma, but until then, you have just Passed the Guard. Have a great weekend, enjoy the fights, and blow up something creative tonight with the left over fireworks. See ya!