The fight I most looked forward to, Debbi Purcell vs. Rosi Sexton did not disappoint and UK sensation Sexton made an impact in her first showing on US soil.
Sexton with her Cage Warriors title
ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP
Heath Herring recently sat down with MMA Junkie.com for an interview to discuss his fight with Brock Lesnar.
Herring claimed that he never did any trash talking which runs contrary to what Brock has said and what Dana alledgedly leaked to the press. Herring feels Lesnar got lucky with the punch that dropped him at the beginning of the fight and would like a rematch with Lesnar in the future. He cites Lesnar's inability to finish him as one of the reasons he thinks a rematch would go in his favor. Personally, I doubt that. Look how much better he got since his last fight. One Brock learns a couple of submissions, I have no doubt in my mind he would FEDOR Herring in a second meeting.
October is shaping up to be a big month for fighting. In additon to a rumored American Fight Leauge Card, as well as confirmed shows for EliteXC and
Strike Force, UFC has released their card for UFC 89, which will take place October 18th from Birmingham, England that will broadcast on tape delay for Spike TV.
Here's the full run down of the card along with some predictions.
Televised Bouts:
-Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leben (Leben, TKO, 2nd)
-Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva (Machida, decision)
-Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Luiz Cane (Sokoudjou, submission, 2nd)
-Brandon Vera vs. Keith Jardine (Vera, TKO, 2nd)
-Marcus Davis vs. Paul Kelly (Davis, TKO, 1st)
-Paul Taylor vs. Chris Lytle (Lytle, Decision)
Prelim Bouts:
-Dan Hardy vs. Akihiro Gono
-Jess Liaudin vs. David Bielkheden
-Sammy Schiavo vs. Per Eklund
-Terry Etim vs. Sam Stout
-Shane Carwin vs. Neil Wain
-David Baron vs. Jim Miller
By the time the roundtable comes up, I'll probably change most of those and I'll have opinions on the prelim bouts as well.
AFFLICTION
Former International Fight League(IFL) Welterweight Champion Jay Hieron has accepting an offer to sign with Affliction and is scheduled to fight at the October 11th "Day of Reckoning" pay-per-view event.
As rumors persist on UFC's involvement with the IFL, Affliction locks up another former champion to add to their roster. For those unfamiliar with Mr. Hieron, he is 15-4 and successfully defended his title earlier this year before seeking out a new employer once it was announced that IFL would be closing up shop. With the exception of Georges St. Pierre and possibly, Jonathan Goulet - fights that both ended in TKO losses - Hieron has yet to fight any opponents of note, yet IFL is in talks to have his first fight against a top ten Welterweight. All I can say is good luck.
After a successful debut with Affliction's first pay-per-view event, former UFC Light heavyweight Champion and current Rage Cage Light heavyweight Champion Vitor Belfort had to cancel his fight with Matt Linland due to a hand injury.
After defeating Terry Martin with a beautiful flying knee, Vitor showed his new bosses why he should have been on the main card in the first place. It is unfortunate that he is delayed that opportunity again. I believe this would have been a good fight for both guys.
IN BETWEEN ROUNDS
AMERICAN FIGHT LEAGUE
In more AFL signing news, 4-0 Emily Thompson is the newest member of the AFL roster.
I think ALF is doing a good job with their signings. For every big name (Bobby Lashley, Tara LaRossa) they sign, they also bring in fighters like Ms. Thompson who a division can be built around and produce good fights for the promotion. I do find it interesting that this young lady's career started in Alaska, which pardon my ignorance, just does not scream "make a living as a professional fighter here" to me. Not to discount any innate fighting skill she may have possessed prior to training with Nor Cal Fighting Alliance, but she won her debut without any formal training, so I believe that supports my feelings about the quality of fighters in our 49th state.
ELITEXC
In what is being said is an effort to focus on their October 3rd Saturday Night Fights event, EliteXC has canceled a Septemeber 20th show that would have taken place in Alburquerque, New Mexico.
Considering the pool of talent that EliteXC can dip into - which include fighters from King of the Cage, Cage Rage, Rumble on the Rocks, and Icon Sports - it seems odd that they would consider their New Mexico show would spread their resoruces too thin prior to the CBS show two weeks later. Not to sound pessimistic or anything, but this sounds more along the lines of poor ticket sales than "we don't want to spread our fighters over too many events."
Cage Rage, part of the umbrella of promotions that include EliteXC, has canceled their August 16th Contenders 11 event.
Apparently, they wanted to focus on a November show which will be air on United Kingdom channel Nuts, and are in the process of restructuring the promotion as a whole. It is never a bad thing when an organization acquires television, so good luck to all those involved.
Random Musing and Bruising
A little something from the AFL
Cro Cop approves
Another One Kick Knockout
OTHER MMA NEWS
Kim Couture has turned down an offer to sign with the American Fight League.
According to Ms. Couture, she did not agree with their pay-per-view business plan and was leery of their lack of a television deal. She also confirmed that her doctors have yet to clear her to fight despite how great she feels and how anxious she is to get back to fighting. Her immediate dream scenario is to fight on the under card of one of her husband's fights within the next year. If she's ready to go, I would like to see it too, but I really would love to see Randy back in action.
In addition to his fight with Makoto Takimoto on August 24th for the World Victory Road promotion, Frank Trigg has signed to fight Falianko Vitale at Strikeforces' October 3rd "Payback" event.
I have been a fan of Twinkle Toes for several months now. It's probably his uncanny resemblence to Kurt Angle and his great heel commentary at TNA events. But he is still capable of pulling out victories as his last opponent Edwin Dewees discovered and I look forward to seeing how well Trigg does this year amidst whispers of him becoming a professional wrestler. How awesome would would a team of Angle and Trigg be?
SHOWING PROPS
Like Ted Dibiase, Reul Mante realizes every man has a price, tries to assess Brock Lesnar's value in this week's MMA Spotlight
He's Hot, He's Spicy and he's giving away free stuff. 411's own Curry Man weighs in on the potential of 10 fighters in this week's Ground and Pound
Jeremy Lambert wants us all to Save a horse and ride a Herring. Did you know horses bite? I found that out the hard way as a kid. I bet Herring doesn't bite.
Adam Tool and his Fighting Stance reveal that Fedor is in fact, not the greatest fighter alive.
That's it for this weeks cats and kittens. Join me next week for more news pertaining to the world of MMA. Thanks for stopping by the Eight Sides of Steel.
" Her immediate dream scenario is to fight on the under card of one of her husband's fights within the next year."
_______________________________________
For all that is holy- NO!
The last thing Randy would need- after taking so long between fights, would be to step into the ring against Fedor- after watching his wife's face get broken.
Posted By: cyks (Registered) on August 18, 2008 at 02:58 AM
i can't stand watching chicks fight...with the notable exception of ultimate surrender matches...but alaska does have a fighting pedigree, remember paul the polar bear varleins (however the fuck you spell his name)?
Posted By: romano (Guest) on August 18, 2008 at 11:13 AM
they should televise the Carwin bout. He could be a star if they get him exposure. The KO from is last fight is the stuff mma dreams are made of!
Posted By: guest guest (Guest) on August 18, 2008 at 08:07 PM
Why don't they ever show akihiro gonos fights? I like that guy
Posted By: Omar (Guest) on August 18, 2008 at 10:18 PM
