Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG) — the parent company of fighting entities DREAM and K-1 — closed out the 2008 fight campaign with a bang, promoting its blockbuster “FieLDS Dynamite!!” card today from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

And the action more than loved up to the intense hype.

World-ranked lightweight Shinya Aoki needed just minutes to tap top division up-and-comer Eddie Alvarez with a painful-looking heel hook to become the first-ever WAMMA Lightweight Champion. He’ll more than likely not set his sights on a rematch with Joachim Hansen at some point in 2009.

That is, of course, when “Hell Boy” is able and ready to compete — the Norwegian was scratched from his highly anticipated bout against JZ Calvancante at the absolute last minute with a reported head injury.

Speaking of head injuries, heavyweight Mark Hunt probably has one after getting floored by middleweight Melvin Manhoef in just 18 seconds. It’s difficult to say what is more impressive: Manhoef taking the fight (and winning) on a literally a day’s notice after Jerome Lebanner pulled out or the way he did it, knocking the iron-chinned Samoan out cold.

Impressive all the way around.

So, too, was the entire 18-fight “FieLDS Dynamite!!” card … especially the way in which Alistair Overeem demolished Badr Hari. Check out the complete results after the jump!

Read the rest of this entry »

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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently confirmed several bouts for its first-ever event in Dublin, Ireland, on January 17, 2009.

UFC 93: “Henderson vs. Franklin,” which will take place at The O2, features the highly anticipated light heavyweight clash between former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin and former Pride FC dual welterweight and middleweight champion Dan Henderson.

In the co main event of the evening, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will look to once again begin establishing himself as the top 205-pound fighter in the world when he rematches the most recent UFC Hall of Fame inductee, former UFC heavyweight champion and 2000 Pride FC Open Weight Champion, Mark Coleman.

Here is the most recent official card:

Main event:

205 lbs.: Rich Franklin (24-3) vs. Dan Henderson (23-7)

Main card (Televised):

205 lbs.: Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (16-3) vs. Mark Coleman (15-8)
185 lbs.: Denis Kang (31-10-1) vs. Alan Belcher (13-5)
170 lbs.: Marcus Davis (15–4) vs. Chris Lytle (26-16–5)
185 lbs.: Rousimar Palhares (8-2) vs. Jeremy Horn (80-18-5)

Under card (May not be broadcast):

170 lbs.: Martin Kampmann (13-2) vs. Alexandre Barros (13-5)
205 lbs.: Eric Schafer vs. Antonio Mendes (15–3)
205 lbs.: Ivan Serati (10-2) vs. Tomasz Drwal (14-2)
170 lbs.: Thomas Egan (3-0) vs. John Hathaway (9-0)
155 lbs.: Nate Mohr (8-5) vs. Dennis Siver (12-6)

UFC 93 is scheduled to air on Spike TV, providing fans with an awesome opportunity to check out a great fight card at no cost to them … talk about a great way to kickoff the New Year!

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WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres is coming off a thrilling second round stoppage of previously unbeaten Manny Tapia at WEC 37 earlier this month. The victory was his second consecutive successful title defense since winning the strap back in February.

As the champ you always have that target on your back, but even before that fight ever went down there was one fighter in particular, former 145 pound number one contender Jeff Curran, who was making it clear that he wanted to be the next one to fight Torres. The champ addressed that situation recently in an interview that was posted on WEC.tv.

Here’s a snip:

“Jeff had approached me a little while back and told me he was planning to drop to 135 and I told him that is awesome. He wanted me to make like a marketing campaign to help him hype the fight, to have like a WEC in Chicago with me and him on the card, like the way Urijah and Jens did (in Sacramento). I told him I don’t have a problem with that. Then we didn’t speak for a while … So I’m in the middle of trying to train for Manny Tapia and Curran starts calling me and his agent starts calling me and they’re trying to get me to hype a fight with Curran — in the middle of me training for Tapia. I thought that was very disrespectful to Manny Tapia and myself. I can’t promote a fight with somebody else until I finish the current fight that I have on my plate. I didn’t like that.”

Curran recently announced his plans to drop down from the featherweight class to compete at 135 pounds and has been lobbying hard since the move for a shot at Torres. His side of the story was similar, but obviously told with a different perspective.

Here’s a snip from an interview he did with fiveouncesofpain.com not too long ago:

“I told him we could hype it up. It’s not like we’ve got to go out and trash talk each other. He was in agreement with me and it started to approach the end of the year and we saw Mike Brown beat Urijah Faber and it got my wheels turning. I sent him a text and said ‘Once you go through Tapia, you should give me a call and we’ll do this up and get something going.’ His assistant called me and said that he was training for a fight and that he would call me as soon as he got back from out of town… Then a week later his agent called my agent and started bitching about me calling and bothering Miguel and stuff and that Miguel is too good to fight me. I sort of got thinking that maybe all of this fame has gotten to Miguel’s head and that he doesn’t remember he doesn’t have as good of a shot of beating me as he thinks.”

He makes a good point. Curran has long been considered one of the top lighter weight fighters in the world. He’s been around the fight game for a long time and has fought some of the best in the business. He was already a dangerous opponent at 145 pounds, at 135 he could be really sick.

Torres added this about the possibility of fighting Curran sometime down the road:

“I respect Jeff Curran. I’ve known him a long time. We were just acquaintances, but from what I have seen he is a good guy, he runs a good gym and I’ll be more than happy to fight him. It’s just that I think Brian Bowles deserves a shot first. He’s on a roll in the WEC and it’s his turn. After this fight, if Curran wins his first fight (at 135) and then they give him a title shot then I would love to fight him. But I think it would be unfair to give Jeff the next title shot with him just coming down to 135. I think it would be a slap in the face of Brian Bowles.”

Apparently the WEC agrees with Torres and plans on giving Bowles his well deserved title shot in April. As stated by Torres, Bowles is on a roll and has won all four of his fights under the WEC banner by some sort of stoppage. He’s one of the fastest rising stars in the bantamweight division right now and is an easy choice for the number one contender.

In fact, Torres needs to be very careful that Bowles doesn’t become the forgotten man amidst all this Jeff Curran talk. He’s a very dangerous threat to Miguel’s title reign.

That doesn’t mean Curran wouldn’t be deserving of that role as well, but he still needs to get his feet wet at 135 pounds. He’ll certainly have to fight at least once, maybe twice, in the division before getting his crack at whoever the champ is probably sometime late this summer. But apparently that doesn’t seem to bother him too much and he’s already planning on fighting again real soon.

Here’s a snip from him on what his plans are:

“I am discussing fighting whoever they give me for the Jan. 25 WEC and I don’t know who that would be, but I don’t mind fighting once (before getting a shot at the belt).”

As of right now the WEC has not officially added Curran to the January 25 “Varner vs. Cerrone” card. We’ll let you know if and when that happens. Stay tuned.

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World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) today made the fight card for its next event final.

WEC 38 will go down at the San Diego Sports Arena in San Diego, California on Sunday, January 25. The action will air live at 9:30 p.m. ET on the Versus network.

Lightweight champ Jamie “C-4″ Varner will put his 155-pound gold on the line against undefeated Greg Jackson-trainee Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. This will mark Varner’s second title defense in the WEC since capturing the title from “Razor” Rob McCullough back in February.

Also taking place on the card will be a rematch from one of the most watched fights in the history of the promotion between former 145 pound champ Urijah “The California Kid” Faber and Jens “Little Evil” Pulver. In their previous meeting Faber won a five round unanimous decision over Pulver at WEC 34 in June.

As always, the WEC has put together a solid under card full of exciting match ups as well. Check out the fight card in it’s entirety for WEC 38: “Varner vs. Cerrone” below:

Main event:

WEC Lightweight Champion Jamie “C-4″ Varner (15-2) vs. Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone (9-0)

Main card (Televised):

145 lbs.: Urijah “The California Kid” Faber (21-2) vs. Jens “Little Evil” Pulver (22-10-1)
170 lbs.: Danillo “Indio” Villefort (8-2) vs. Mike Campbell (4-0)
145 lbs.: Jose Aldo (12-1) vs. Fredson Paixao (8-2)

Under card (May not be broadcast):

170 lbs.: Edgar Garcia (6-0) vs. Hiromitsu Miura (9-5)
155 lbs.: Anthony Njokuani (9-1) vs. Ed “9mm” Ratcliff (6-1)
135 lbs.: Dominick Cruz (11-1) vs. Ian McCall (7-1)
170 lbs.: Blas Avena (4-1) vs. Jesse Lennox (9-1)
135 lbs.: Frank Gomez (5-0) vs. Scott Jorgensen (5-2)
135 lbs.: Seth “2 Quick” Dikun (6-2) vs. Charlie Valencia (9-3)

Again, the main card action will air live on the Versus network beginning at 9:30 p.m. ET on fight night. You definitely don’t want to miss this kickoff event of 2009 for the WEC.

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Traditionally the UFC likes to end the calender year with a bang … and 2008 was no different as UFC 92, which featured two world title fights, took place live at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 27.

The main event of the blockbuster card featured TUF season one winner and light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin defending his title against undefeated TUF season two winner “Sugar” Rashad Evans. Sugar took out the champ in the third round with some brutal ground and pound to become the new 205-pound kingpin in the UFC.

The other title bout on the card was between TUF season 8 coaches Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir for Nogueira’s interim heavyweight crown. Mir put on a boxing clinic and floored to Brazilian several times before finally finishing him off in the second round with strikes. Afterward he wasn’t shy about calling out Brock Lesnar — the current UFC heavyweight champion — and the two will no doubt meet sometime in 2009 to unify the belts.

The fight getting third billing on this card was perhaps the one most fans were looking forward to the most as former UFC light heavyweight champ Quentin “Rampage” Jackson and ex-Pride champ Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva locked horns for the third time. Silva had previously defeated Rampage twice in Japan, but Jackson finally got his revenge on this night when he landed a beautiful fight ending left hook that left The Axe Murderer snoring in the first round.

It was another great year end show for the UFC. Check out the full results from UFC 92: “The Ultimate 2008″ below:

Rashad Evans defeats Forrest Griffin via technical knockout (strikes) in round three to become UFC Light Heavyweight Champion
Frank Mir defeats Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira via technical knockout (strikes) in round two to become UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson defeats Wanderlei Silva via knockout (strikes) round one
Cheick Kongo defeats Mustafa Al-Turk via technical knockout (strikes) round one
CB Dollaway defeats Mike Massenzio via technical knockout (strikes) in round one
Yushin Okami defeats Dean Lister via unanimous decision
Antoni Hardonk defeats Mike Wessel via technical knockout (strikes) in round two
Matt Hamill defeats Reese Andy via technical knockout (strikes) in round two
Brad Blackburn defeats Ryo Chonan via unanimous decision
Pat Barry defeats Dan Evensen via technical knockout (strikes) in round one

Next up for the UFC is UFC 93: “Franklin vs. Henderson” which will go down at the O2 Arena in Dublin, Ireland on January 17. It will be the kickoff event for what is primed to be a great year for the promotion. Don’t miss it.

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The official weigh-ins for UFC 92: “The Ultimate 2008″ are in the books for the year end show for the promotion. The action is set to go down tomorrow night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada and will air live on pay-per-view (PPV).

There are two title fights being featured on the card. The main event pits 205-pound kingpin and “The Ultimate Fighter” (TUF) season one winner Forrest Griffin against undefeaed TUF season two winner Rashad Evans. And the interim heavyweight title will be on the line as well when rival coaches from TUF 8 — Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir — face off for Nogueira’s gold.

All 20 fighters competing tipped the scales today in what was the last of the formalities before fight time tomorrow night.

Here are the complete weigh-in results for UFC 92: “The Ultimate 2008″:

Rashad Evans (203) vs Forrest Griffin (205)
Frank Mir (251) vs Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (246)
Wanderlei Silva (203) vs Quinton Jackson (206)
Mostapha Al Turk (237) vs Cheick Kongo (233)
Mike Massenzio (184) vs CB Dollaway (186)
Dean Lister (186) vs Yushin Okami (185)
Mike Wessel (260) vs Antoni Hardonk (246)
Reese Andy (206) vs Matt Hamill (205)
Brad Blackburn (170) vs Ryo Chonan (171)
Patrick Barry (233) vs Dan Evensen (242)

*Note: Fighters are allowed one extra pound in non-title bouts.

The PPV broadcast will air on PPV at 10 p.m. ET tomorrow night. Definitely don’t miss this event — the UFC likes to go all out for their year end shows!

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Former UFC and Elite XC heavyweight number one contender Justin Eilers was shot and killed late tonight after a domestic dispute took a tragic turn for the worse during a family gathering in Nampa, Idaho.

James Robert Malec — Eilers’ mother’s boyfriend — is being charged with second degree murder in the case.

The full details surrounding the shooting were not revealed by authorities on the scene. However, according to Eilers’ long time manager Monte Cox via a report on Sherdog.com, he had gone to Malec’s house for a Christmas gathering with friends and family.

While at the home he got into an argument with an ex-girlfriend that was there. The spat escalated to the point where Eilers had to be restrained and was asked to leave. It was said then that Eilers refused to leave, which prompted Malec to retrieve his gun. He then shot Eilers once in the chest once the situation escalated.

His mother, ex-girlfriend and young son were believed to be in the room at the time of the incident.

Rescue workers on hand attempted to revive Eilers, but were unsuccessful. He was pronounced dead from a single gun shot wound to the chest on Christmas night. He was just 30 years old.

As a professional he held a solid record (19-7-1) in mixed martial arts. He was riding a nice streak of success after winning 10 of his past 12 fights and Cox said, “he was really getting his fight career together.”

His last fight was a second round technical knockout loss to Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva for the vacant Elite XC heavyweight title five months ago at Elite XC: “Unfinished Business.” “Bigfoot” tested positive for steroids following the bout.

Eilers also once faced and lost to Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski in a match for the UFC heavyweight title at UFC 53: “Heavy Hitters” back in June of 2005.

He was well respected as a fighter and a person in the MMA world. He will surely be missed.

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So today I finished my very last final and very last paper for the semester. It’s quite a relief. I am going to wrap gifts for charity in a few hours so I am just staying put at school until then because I don’t want to drive home in the snow. So I went to the bookstore to get my textbooks for next semester and grab something for lunch. There isn’t much of a selection, but I tried to make it as free of sugar, saturated fat, and cholesterol as I possibly could. I took forever because I kept reading the ingredients and nutrition facts on every label. Anyways, I ended up with some scalloped potatoes and ham and a slab of cheese. It wasn’t a great meal, but it wasn’t too bad for me. Besides, I figured I should celebrate my freedom by not worrying too much about my fat intake today.This brings me to my topic: Disordered eating. Like eating disorders, disordered eating is simply a set of abnormal eating behaviors that may or may not be brought on by body image issues. However, these are not disruptive to everyday living or relationships. Orthorexia Nervosa, a type of disordered eating, was what I just learned about a few weeks ago in nutrition class. It is characterized by healthy eating habits taken to the extreme. For example, feeling guilty after eating something not very nutritious. Or not eating cake on your birthday because you are afraid of getting fat. I am writing about this because I think some people reading this might have it. I believe I have a mild form of it because I tend to read ingredients and nutrition facts on everything. I am afraid to eat anything with high fructose corn syrup or partially hydrogenated oil in it. However, I do allow sugar in my diet in the form of cereal and granola bars.Anyways, the whole point of this is not to over-worry about your health. What’s the point of life if you can’t enjoy the food in it?

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Spike TV will showcase several rising stars in the UFC with the first-ever “UFC Fight Night” at the University of South Florida (USF) Sun Dome in Tampa, Fla., on Saturday, February 7, 2009.

The cable television special, which will feature a lightweight battle between Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Hermes Franca and The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 5 semifinalist, Joe Lauzon, will air live from 9 to 11 p.m. ET. , ET/PT. Mac Danzig (“The Ultimate Fighter 6” champion), Amir Sadollah (“The Ultimate Fighter 7” champion), and undefeated heavyweight Cain Velasquez will also appear on the card.

Lauzon made an impressive debut in the UFC with a knockout over Jens Pulver at UFC 63 in September 2006. Lauzon, from suburban Boston, gained further acclaim as a standout fighter on Spike TVs mixed martial arts reality series. However, his road to a UFC title shot hit a speed bump when he dropped a matchup to current number one lightweight contender Kenny Florian this past April. Lauzon rebounded with a win against Kyle Bradley in September and is determined to continue his ascent in the UFC’s lightweight division against Franca.

The 33-year old Franca — who hails from Fortaleza, Brazil, and trains in Jupiter, Fla. — had won eight straight mixed martial arts bouts prior to losing to then lightweight champion Sean Sherk at UFC 73 in Sacramento last summer. He returned to the Octagon this past July after serving a year-long steroids suspension, dropping a tough decision to Frank Edgar before getting back on track with a win over Marcus Aurelio at UFC 90 in October.

Even though Mac Danzig was a standout mixed martial artist in the “King of the Cage” promotion, it wasn’t until he dominated TUF 6 in 2007 that he gained national acclaim. Since claiming the season title with a win over Tommy Speer last December, Danzig has a 1-1 record, including a recent loss to Clay Guida in September on Spike TV. He currently trains with Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Danzig needs a victory over Neer to continue his path to a lightweight crown.

Nicknamed “The Dentist,” the 25-year old Neer is a native of Des Moines, Iowa, training with the renowned Team Miletich. Neer won an impressive decision over UFC veteran Din Thomas in April, but saw his three-fight win streak end in September with a split-decision loss to Nate Diaz in the main event of a “UFC Fight Night” on Spike TV in Omaha, Neb., in September.

In heavyweight action, one of the division’s most promising talents, Cain Velasquez, looks to spoil the debut of UFC newcomer Denis “The Menace” Stojnic. Velasquez, with an impressive pedigree as a two-time All-American wrestler at Arizona State University, is anything but one dimensional inside of the Octagon. One of the most explosive strikers in the UFC, Velasquez has been dominant in compiling an undefeated record. In fact, none of his bouts have lasted more than one round with all four ending via technical knockout because of strikes. Looking to end Velasquez’s win streak is Stojnic — a heavyweight hailing from Sarajevo who has had similar success on the European mixed martial arts circuit.

Also on the card, in middleweight action, Amir Sadollah will enter the Octagon for the first time since winning TUF as he battles UFC newcomer Nick Catone. Sadollah made the mixed martial arts world take notice as he steamrolled through the competition en route to winning TUF 7 Finale against C.B. Dolloway via armbar this past June. Since then, the 28-year old Sadollah has given up his surgical technician’s job in Richmond, Va., and moved to Las Vegas to train full time with Team Couture. Sadollah aims to keep his perfect record intact against the undefeated Catone, fighting out of Toms River, N.J., who is making his UFC debut.

The entire fight card will be announced shortly.

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At a press conference yesterday in Southern California, Affliction MMA announced the finalized lineups for its “Day of Reckoning” event at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., on Saturday, January 24.

This will mark the second event in the young history of the organization — the t-shirt company debuted with its first mixed martial arts event back in July with “Banned.”

The show is set to be a dual telecast between HDNet, which will air five under card bouts, and pay-per-view (PPV), which will air the six-fight main card featuring the highly anticipated fight for the WAMMA heavyweight title between champion Fedor Emelianenko and challenger Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski.

The HDNet portion of the event will be capped off with a light heavyweight showdown between Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Vladimir Matyushenko.

Here are the full lineups for both the HDNet and PPV telecasts:

Main card (only on PPV):

265 lbs.: Fedor Emelianenko (28-1) vs. Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski (14-5)
265 lbs.: Josh Barnett (23-5) vs. Gilbert Yvel (35-12-1)
185 lbs.: Matt Lindland (21-5) vs. Vitor Belfort (17-8)
205 lbs.: Renato “Babalu” Sobral (31-7) vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (5-3)
155 lbs.: Chris Horodecki (12-1) vs. Dan Lauzon (10–2)
265 lbs.: Paul Buentello (26-10) vs. Kiril Sidelnikov (4-2)

Under card (aired on HDNet):

205 lbs.: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (15-3) vs. Vladimir Matyushenko (21-3)
170 lbs.: Jay Hieron (16-4) vs. Jason High (6-0)
145 lbs.: Mark Hominick (16-8) vs. LC Davis (12-1)
145 lbs.: Albert Rios (10-3) vs. Antonio Duarte (11-1)
265 lbs.: Brett Cooper (7-4) vs. Patrick Speight (7-1)

The main card will air live on PPV beginning at 9 p.m. ET while the HDNet portion of the broadcast will kick off around 7:30 p.m. ET.

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