PreView's blog
Hazelett vs. Saunders on Tap for UFC 96
By Brian Furby, FightTicker.com blogger
Sherdog.com is reporting that Dustin Hazelett and Ben Saunders are close to signing bout agreements for a match-up at UFC 96. This will mark a quick turnaround for both fighters, as Hazelett recently defeated Tamdan McCrory at UFC 91, and Saunders recently beat Brandon Wolff at UFN 17. According to Sherdog.com:
Intimidation Cage Fighting: Shattered Update -- New Main Event
By Brian Furby, FightTicker.com blogger
From an email I received today from Steve Stanton (the ICF promoter), I can confirm that at the Intimidation Cage Fighting: Shattered event on January 24th in Florence, KY, the main event featuring Roger Bowling vs. Grant Sarver has been pulled from the card.
Taking its place as the main event will be an amateur light heavyweight title match-up between FightTicker.com member and current ICF champ George Oiler (aka nofee) and T.J. Ball.
- Login or register to post comments
- read full story
Freddie Roach Not Impressed With Fedor's Striking
By Brian Furby, FightTicker.com blogger
In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Freddie Roach, one of the world's most sought-after boxing trainers, stated that he is not impressed by current WAMMA Heavyweight champion and FightTicker.com's # 1 ranked Heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko's striking. In speaking to SI's Josh Gross, Roach stated that he thinks Fedor's lack of technique in his striking will help Arlovski give Fedor his first MMA loss in over eight years. From the article:
December 2008 Highlight Video
By Brian Furby, FightTicker.com blogger
I found the following video today while looking around some of the other MMA blogs. It's by a guy with the handle "Facey", who has his own blog, FightFace, where he has put together a number of entertaining highlight videos. This is the first in a series he's going to do, chronicling the biggest MMA moments month-by-month.
- Login or register to post comments
- read full story
"All Access" to Feature Rich Franklin
By Brian Furby, FightTicker.com blogger
MMAJunkie.com is reporting that the UFC Original Program "All Access" will once again be featuring Rich Franklin as he trains to meet Dan Henderson at UFC 93. This will be the second time Franklin has been featured on the show. According to MMAJunkie.com:
- Login or register to post comments
- read full story
Dana White the Humanitarian: The Exception to the Rule
From Sherdog.com:
White has a softer side, too, as he showed in wake of the gruesome injury suffered by lightweight prospect Corey Hill at UFC Fight Night 17 in December. Hill snapped his lower leg when he kicked opponent Dale Hartt early in the second round and had to be stretchered out of the cage. He later underwent surgery and was hospitalized for a number of days. UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta and White called Hill together at the Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in Fayetteville, N.C., and wished him a speedy recovery. Their goodwill did not end there.
In addition to paying for Hill’s medical expenses, the UFC left one of its employees behind to stay with him at the hospital for the first six days of his stay. When Hill was released from the hospital a week and a half later, the UFC paid for Hill and his family to remain at a hotel, so he could visit with doctors again before leaving for home.
In short, White’s about as complex and interesting a figure as we have anywhere in professional sports. Where he falls on the good-versus-evil spectrum depends on the day.
I think Dana should get props for how he and the UFC have handled the situation, but as the title of my post implies, I feel their handling of this is an exception to the general rule on how fighters' medical issues are handled, and that is what is sad.
Intimidation Cage Fighting: Shattered on January 24 in Florence, KY
From ICF's Web site:
On January 24th ICF will be back at Turfway Park to bring you "Shattered" our biggest event yet.
Undefeated Cincinnati pro Roger Bowling will take on Toledo's Grant Sarver in the main event. There will be 2 title matches for the evening. 9-0 Matt Egner will be defending his ICF Lightweight belt against Steven Muldrow. Newly crowned and undefeated Light Heavyweight champ George Oiler will take on undefeated T.J. Ball. "Ruthless" Ron Mitchell makes his ICF return to the cage against Mark Crawn.
There will also be a womens match for the night. Team Vision's Jami Miller will go up against Buffi Hayes. This will be an awesome match so you won't want to miss this one.
I'll be there to do a live blog and talk to some of the fighters after the event. ICF put on a great show last time so I'm looking forward to this one.
As you may have noticed in the description, FightTicker.com member nofee (aka George Oiler) will be defending his ICF light heavyweight title on this card.
-PreView
Frank Mir Knows how to Play the Mental Game
From MMAJunkie.com:
If you asked enough people in and around his camp, you would have heard about an injured back, refusals to train and even claims Mir was desperately looking for a way out of the Dec. 27 fight.
Just a few days after a shocking TKO of Nogueira and the unveiling of his new and effective stand-up game, Mir admits that the rumors were out there -- largely because he was the one issuing the false reports.
.....
"Every fighter gets injured a lot during training camps," Mir said. "One thing I've learned not to do is – I don't really give any validity to my injuries. Some of my injuries are fake. I've faked a few injuries in the past but not to pull out of fights or anything. It's just there a lot of rumors out there, and when I hear them, I help people out. ... 'Go tell people and put it on the Internet.'
"That way when a real, legitimate injury goes through, people question whether I'm really hurt or not."
Not a bad idea on Mir's part -- always keep people guessing. I don't think this caused Nogueira to train any differently, but I'm sure it at least caused him to question what Mir was going to be capable of once they got in the cage. I'm interested to see what Mir might try before the Lesnar re-match.
-PreView
UFC 93 Preview Video
I'm really looking forward to the Henderson-Franklin fight. It will be interesting to see how they both do when they're not fighting a guy named Anderson Silva.
-PreView
Assist: BloodyElbow.com.
Stephens vs. Escudero Possible for UFN 19
From MMAJunkie.com:
"The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir" lightweight winner Efrain Escudero (11-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) will likely make his first post-"TUF" appearance against Jeremy Stephens (14-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) in April at UFC Fight Night 19.
Stephens released news of the fight with a recent MySpace bulletin.
MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) confirmed that the bout has been agreed upon (but not signed) with a source close to Stephens, but Escudero could not immediately be reached for comment.
Should be an interesting match. Stephens has faced some quality opponents, so it should be interesting to see how Escudero does in his first post-TUF finale performance.
-PreView
