MMA Universe

Michael DiSanto, UFC - On Saturday, August 8, 2009, BJ Penn returns to the Octagon to defend his lightweight championship against former title challenger and universally regarded top contender Kenny Florian. Anytime the sport pits one of its champions against the undisputed No. 1 contender it is a must-see event. When that champion is attempting to tie the record set by a bitter rival, things become that much more interesting.

One-of-a-kind UFC® auction packages are now available online through WeAreLV.com, which is working in coordination with ESPN Radio 1100's "24-Hour Talk Show" to benefit The Caring Place and honor UFC® President Dana White as "Sportsman of the Year". The 24-Hour Talk show will begin on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 6am with a reception honoring UFC® President Dana White following at The Palms at 7pm. AUCTION Items include:1.Watch a private Ultimate Fighter fight with Dana White2.Be part of your favorite fighter's camp3.Two front row seats to a Pay-Per-View event BID NOW!

The clock is ticking to get your bets in for UFC 101 — it’ll be here before we know it.

The pay-per-view (PPV) event from the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pa., begins Saturday, Aug. 8 at 10 p.m. ET. That means, of course, that you should start to think about placing possible bets on the fight outcomes before it’s too late.

Therefore, here are the latest UFC 100 odds (- = favorite; + = underdog):

Bj Penn	-230	BET NOW
Kenny Florian	+180	BET NOW
Anderson Silva	-350	BET NOW
Forrest Griffin	+250	BET NOW
Kendall Grove	+135	BET NOW
Ricardo Almeida	-165	BET NOW
Josh Neer	-220	BET NOW
Kurt Pellegrino	+175	BET NOW
Amir Sadollah	-130	BET NOW
Johny Hendricks	Ev	BET NOW
Thales Leites	-350	BET NOW
Alessio Sakara	+250	BET NOW

Time to put up or shut up for all us keyboard warriors … get in on the action before it’s too late. For a little help with how to bet on UFC fights and what all the numbers mean check out this post right HERE (Disregard the UFC 85 references … all the information is still accurate and helpful.)

Remember that MMAmania.com will provide LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the main card action on fight night (Saturday, Aug. 8). It’s going to be an exciting evening of fights so don’t miss it. And remember to check us out for all the pre, during and post-fight UFC 101 coverage you can handle.

To check out our complete UFC 101 event archive click here.

“A new beginning starts tomorrow (Friday, July 31, 2009). I have stood my ground as a fighter and business man. Now my fans will get to see the best of me. New back, new mind, and new motivation. Every fighter will thank me later. Let the punishment begin!”

– Former UFC lightweight champion Tito Ortiz updates his fans via his personal MySpace.com page about big news on the horizon concerning his fighting future. It’s expected that UFC President Dana White will announce today at 2 p.m. ET that the “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” will return to the Octagon after a huge rift was apparently patched up at the fan expo earlier this month. Ortiz is coming off major spinal fusion surgery to correct a back problem that plagued him in his most recent bouts. His last appearance was in May 2008 — a unanimous decision loss to now 205-pound champion, Lyoto Machida. Speculation has swirled that Ortiz could return to competition as soon as UFC 103 on Sept. 19, but nothing is official at this time. Care to guess who may be the first to get punished?

1. Paul Daley signs four-fight deal with the UFC
2. Anderson Silva signs contract to fight Roy Jones Jr.
3. DREAM.11 Featherweight Grand Prix semifinal matchups announced
4. UFC Undisputed coming to Nintendo Wii in 2010
5. More (speculative) details about Fedor Emelianenko’s offers from the UFC and Strikeforce

Today, ESPN announced that it has reached an agreement with the UFC to air PPV events - in addition to other programming - on its new ESPN UK channel. The coverage will also extend to Ireland.

MMA Weekly with the details:

ESPN, the leading sports network in the United States, is set to launch in the U.K. and Ireland on Aug. 3… with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in tow.
 

The network issued the announcement Thursday, giving the UFC a new carrier in the U.K. and Ireland following the demise of its former partner Setanta Sports.

“ESPN’s aim is to serve UK and Ireland sports fans by bringing the very best of both domestic and international live sport to their living rooms. We are delighted to add UFC, TOP 14 ORANGE, the leading French Rugby Championship, the Australia Football League, EuroBasket and DTM to our growing portfolio of live sport,” said Jeroen Oerlemans, ESPN’s Vice President, TV Channels Europe, Middle East and Africa.

UFC U.K. Division President Marshall Zelaznik commented on the agreement, saying, ““We are ecstatic to announce that ESPN is the new home of the UFC in the UK and Ireland. ESPN is one of the most trusted and respected brands in all of sports broadcasting, and we are thrilled to be working with them as they launch their new channel in the UK and Ireland.”

The agreement begins with UFC 101 on Aug. 8 and encompasses all live UFC events including UFC Fight Night events, according to a report from Gareth Davies of the British newspaper “The Telegraph.”

He reports that in addition to live events, ESPN will also air UFC Unleashed every Thursday night.

Davies reports that ESPN will launch on the Sky and Virgin platforms for free for the first month, which encompasses both UFC 101 and UFC 102.

After that, ESPN will be available via subscription to Sky Sports customers for £9 (roughly $15 U.S.) per month, and for £12 (roughly $20 U.S.) for viewers that without Sky Sports, according to Sky.

Payout Opinion:

The UFC has succeeded in replacing Setanta as its television partner in the UK, but the agreement with ESPN UK is far from a slam dunk for the organization.

The good news is that ESPN UK will launch on both of the UK’s major television networks - Sky and Virgin Media - opening the channel to a potential subscriber base of over 20 million Britons. However, the bad news is that ESPN UK will be packaged as a premium subscription channel, not a base subscription channel; meaning that cable and satellite users will have to pay extra.

It remains to be seen whether ESPN UK’s new line-up - also prominently featuring 46 exclusive premiership football games - will be enough to draw interest in the channel, and thus create more exposure for the UFC.

Perhaps, with time, ESPN’s popularity and worldwide clout will allow it to position itself as a base subscription channel; providing the UFC with unprecedented access to millions of UK households.

Strikeforce confirmed earlier today that Interim Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez (15-2) will no longer rematch current Strikeforce 155-pound champ Josh Thompson at “Carano vs. Cybrog” on Aug. 15 because “The Punk” was denied medical clearance to compete.

Thompson — who is apparently still not completely healed from a broken left leg sustained while training to take on Melendez back on April 11 — will be replaced by Mitsuhiro Ishida.

It’s certainly more bad news for the injury-riddled fight card; however, “El Nino” is perhaps comforted in knowing that even though his opponent was switched, he still has the opportunity to exact revenge.

Melendez was out to avenge a decisive unanimous decision loss to “The Punk” from their June 2008 encounter. The loss was only the second of his sparkling 16-fight career, which includes notable wins over Hiroyuki Takaya, Clay Guida, Tatsuya Kawajiri and others.

His only other defeat came via unanimous decision to, you guessed it, Ishida, at Yarennoka on New Years Eve 2007. Ishida has since signed with Strikeforce and made a successful debut for the promotion with a first round submission win over Justin Wilcox last September.

Now the two will once again collide in a five-round title fight with Melendez’s interim belt on the line. It may not be Melendez vs. Thomson, but it’s the next best thing under the difficult circumstances.

The August 15 Strikeforce event will feature Gina Carano finally taking on Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Santos as well as Nick Diaz facing off against Jay Hieron for the newly-created Strikeforce welterweight championship.

For all the latest on the ‘Carano vs. Cyborg’ fight card click here.

… according to Joost Raimond, CEO for M-1 Global, in the latest report from Sherdog.com:

“I can say that the guaranteed — and the word ‘guaranteed’ is of great importance here — the guaranteed offer made by the UFC is less than what Fedor made before. The five-million (per fight) is way, way, way out of range. Half of that is even way out of range of what they offered…. And there were a number of provisions attached to that offer that made it very much less interesting. We made it clear that Fedor, now and forever is part, even part owner, of M-1 and those two cannot be separated. If the rest of M-1 is excluded from any kind of deal, it makes the deal difficult…. We had a very professional, productive and respectful meeting with the UFC. I think both parties walked away (knowing) even though a deal wasn’t made, that a very decent meeting was had.”

The Fedor Emelianenko circus sweepstakes continues with M-1 officials vehemently denying a report from
CBS Radio host Carmichael Dave that the Russian was offered a lucrative deal in the neighborhood of $30 million to compete inside the Octagon. Emelianenko and his M-1 counterparts today left the United States without confirmation of a striking a deal with the UFC or any other promotion for that matter, meaning that UFC President Dana White will likely not be making any Emelianenko-related announcements during the conference call set for Friday, July 31. I think … maybe …

Former number one UFC heavyweight contender, Jeff Monson, is facing up to 90 days in prison and a $21,894 fine after pleading guilty to malicious mischief for spray-painting an anarchist symbol on the Washington state Capitol building, according to Yahoo!Sports.

Perhaps more damaging is that fact that “The Snowman” had to surrender is passport, which essentially rules out an upcoming rematch against Pedro Rizzo at “Bitetti Combat” in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Sept. 12. In addition, the 37-year-old submission specialist had other plans to compete in Japan and Russia in early 2010.

Upon hearing the ruling, Monson asked the judge:

“Are you going to support my family now?”

Monson — who was actually photographed by ESPN the Magazine committing the graffiti-related offense — is scheduled to be sentenced in October.

Since his departure from the UFC, Monson has performed quite well against quality competition in lesser known events. In fact, the self-described anarchist has won seven of his last eight fights following the Rizzo loss back in 2007.

After stealing a controversial unanimous decision victory against Roy “Big Country” Nelson at “March Badness,” Monson made short work of Russian gladiator Sergei Kharitonov at DREAM 8, forcing the Russian to tap with a north-south choke early into round one.

The American Top Team (ATT) product also recently made headlines when he tossed his name into the hat to fight Fedor Emelianenko at Affliction: “Trilogy” on Aug. 1 when Josh Barnett was scratched because of a positive test for steroids. The entire event was eventually canceled.

With Affliction out of the fight business, and restricted from international travel, Monson has just a handful of choices at his disposal. One that he may want to consider is Strikeforce, which is looking for an opponent to challenge Fabricio Werdum on Aug. 15.

Get it while you can.

CNBC’s “Ultimate Fighting: Fistful of Dollars” premiered last night, taking viewers back inside the Octagon for a second look at the sport of mixed martial arts and the UFC, in particular.

The show was clearly designed for general audiences; thus, it didn’t divulge much in the way of facts or statistics that we have yet to hear or read about. I did, however, make a few quick notes on some of the more interesting business points from the segment:

- In 2008, the UFC generated nearly $275 million in revenue which represented an increase of 37% over two years.

- The UFC (or MMA in general) brought nearly $86 million in non-gaming revenue to the city of Las Vegas  in 2008.

- Tapout, the industry leading clothing label, has seen its revenues grow at nearly 300% since the beginning of 2007; the company generated $120 million in revenue in 2008.

Overall, the show was quite well balanced. It covered the wide spectrum of MMA - the NHB days, John McCain’s cockfighting, the Zuffa purchase of the UFC, new sanctioning/rules, etc. - but, it also took a look at the sport from multiple perspectives, including that of the fighters, apparel makers, sponsors, government, and UFC competition.

Upon reading about the planned feature - and its title - I envisioned some sort of cynical tone whereby they’d paint MMA promoters as a bunch of greedy, morally uninhibited scoundrals that had taken advantage of a new blood thirsty generation to attain significant profits. Definitely not the case here and well worth your time to check out the hour-long segment.

Props: Sherdog.com

Thanks to Tracy Lee of Combat Lifestyle for the pic. See more here.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has found a permanent home on ESPN for its live programming in the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland after an abrupt end to its partnership with Setanta Sports earlier this year.

“The Worldwide Leader in Sports” will launch its UFC programming on August 3 on both the Sky and Virgin networks in the UK and Ireland at no cost for the first thirty days.

Following the initial free period, Sky Sports viewers will be eligible to subscribe to ESPN for £9 per month, and viewers without Sky Sports can subscribe for £11.

First up on the docket will be a live broadcast of UFC 101: ‘Declaration’ on Saturday, August 8, followed by UFC 102: ‘Couture vs. Nogueira’ on August 29. UFC Unleashed will also air every Thursday at 10pm.

From UFC UK President Marshall Zelaznik courtesy of telegraph.co.uk:

“We are ecstatic to announce that ESPN is the new home of the UFC in the UK and Ireland. ESPN is one of the most trusted and respected brands in all of sports broadcasting, and we are thrilled to be working with them as they launch their new channel in the UK and Ireland. Over the last three years, the UFC has become as big a part of the sporting landscape in the British Isles as football and rugby, and for the worldwide leader in sports broadcasting came to us and we were able to reach an agreement so quickly is another testament that the UFC is an important part of the British sporting calendar.”

Starting with UFC 80 back on January 19, 2008, the Ultimate Fighting Championship struck a deal with international sports broadcaster Setanta Sports to bring the UFC to millions of homes in the United Kingdom.

That deal recently eroded because of the broadcaster’s financial instability following the dissolution of some of its English Premier League rights that left Setanta strapped for cash and on the prowl for some emergency funding.

It was unknown if UFC 99, scheduled for June 13 in Cologne, Germany, would even make the airwaves in the UK until just a day before the broadcast, jeopardizing the momentum of Zuffa’s Europe expansion.

The UFC was also forced to scramble to get airtime for UFC 100, their biggest show of the year. The pay-per-view eventually ended up airing via Sky TV on a defunct ‘Racing World’ channel.

The new deal with ESPN will not only solidify the presence of the UFC on UK television, it will also be a major step towards Zuffa’s goal of brand globalization.

Stay tuned to MMAmania.com as more details are expected to be announced over the next few days.

– Station filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

– We lowered our issue-level rating on the company’s senior secured debt to ‘D’.

– We revised our recovery rating on the company’s senior unsecured notes to ‘5′ from ‘4′.

NEW YORK, July 29, 2009–Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said today it lowered its issue-level rating on Las Vegas-based Station Casinos Inc.’s $900 million senior secured bank facilities to ‘D’ from ‘CCC’. We removed these ratings from CreditWatch, where we placed them with negative implications on Dec. 15, 2008.

In addition, we revised our recovery rating on the company’s senior unsecured notes to ‘5′ from ‘4′. The ‘5′ recovery rating indicates our expectation of modest (10%-30%) recovery for lenders in the event of a payment default.

We had previously lowered all other ratings on Station, including the corporate credit rating, to ‘D’ following missed interest payments on each of the company’s five senior unsecured and senior subordinated notes earlier this year.

The issue-level ratings downgrade follows yesterday’s filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Nevada by Station Casinos Inc. and various of its affiliates. Pursuant to an agreement with the company’s senior secured lenders, none of Station’s casino operating subsidiaries or affiliates were included in the Chapter 11 filings.

This rating action follows our Feb. 4, 2009, research report in which we lowered our corporate credit rating on Station and our issue-level rating on its 6.5% senior subordinated notes to ‘D’ following the missed Feb. 1, 2009, interest payment on the 6.5% senior subordinated notes. At that time, Station also announced a solicitation for votes from eligible institutional holders of its senior unsecured and senior subordinated notes for a restructuring plan under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. We also subsequently lowered our rating on Station’s 7.75% senior notes, 6.875% senior subordinated notes, 6.625% senior subordinated notes, and 6% senior notes to ‘D’, following missed Feb. 15, March 1, March 15, and April 1 interest payments on those notes, respectively.

Complete ratings information is available to RatingsDirect subscribers at www.ratingsdirect.com. All ratings affected by this rating action can be found on Standard & Poor’s public Web site at www.standardandpoors.com; select your preferred country or region, then Ratings in the left navigation bar, followed by Find a Rating.

Props: RawVegas.tv

By now it’s no secret that former PRIDE FC Heavyweight Champion and Affliction headliner Fedor Emelianenko is being vigorously pursued by most of the world’s mixed martial arts promotions following the untimely demise of his previous employer.

At the top of the list of possible suitors is Dana White, President of The Ultimate Fighting Championship, who no doubt sees the biggest pay-per-view of all time in his company’s future should he somehow finagle a heavyweight superfight between the Russian Rancor and Zuffa’s pale powerhouse, Brock Lesnar.

Our friends at Bloody Elbow posted a report from radio host Carmichael Dave stating that the UFC offered Emelianenko the most lucrative contract in the history of the sport, practically bending to every demand from his management team — except one:

- The UFC offered Fedor a six-fight, 30 million dollar contract.
- The UFC offered Fedor an immediate title shot.
- The UFC offered M-1 Global a cut of the championship PPV on top of Fedor’s purse anticipating Lesnar vs. Fedor as the biggest PPV in MMA history.
- Fedor was free to wear as many M-1 sponsored items as he wanted.
- The UFC would grant Fedor the ability to compete in combat Sambo tournaments.

So what’s the hold up?

Vadim Finkelchtein. “The Last Emperor” operates under the power of the M-1 Global President and Co-Owner for all his business dealings. Despite the bags of money that White and Co. have been leaving at the Russian’s doorstep, Fedor appears unmotivated to secure a deal.

From his July 29 press conference:

“The offer which was made by the UFC is not interesting for us. I completely trust Vadim and I completely trust our team in M-1 Global.”

Most of the mixed martial arts community has been screaming for some sort of forced intervention. What’s ironic is that most negotiations fall through because the star being courted is demanding an obscene amount of money.

In this case the negotiations are falling through because he’s rejecting an obscene amount of money. Welcome to bizarro world, where Finkelchtein is the anti-Boras.

Lest anyone think the MMA fan base has reacted inappropriately by storming the M-1 castle with torches and pitchforks, Fedor’s younger brother Aleksander Emelianenko has also called into question the true motives of Finkelchtein and whether or not he’s serving Fedor — or himself.

From his native Sports.ru:

“You can deal with UFC, I know that they have flexible contract system. All these talks about “strict” contract terms with signing with UFC, come ONLY from Vadim Finkelstein, who wants to push his owns business projects through Fedor’s fights.”

The M-1 camp quickly labeled him as a black sheep, lost in his brother’s shadow and unable to focus on his own career. But how much of that is bitter pie and how much of it is actual truth, like most things, doesn’t faze Fedor.

Also from his July 29 presser:

“Well I think that Aleksander unfortunately has no idea about the contracts. He didn’t have a chance to read the contracts and I did. I have a good relationship with Aleksander and not long ago we trained together, but sometimes I cannot understand [his] actions.”

If it’s of any consolation to Aleks, sometimes the mixed martial arts community cannot understand Fedor’s actions either.

Maybe we’ll see him inside the Octagon one day, maybe we won’t. Until then, it’s back to the speculation board as we try and figure out who the best fighter in the world might be.

Japan’s Fighting & Entertainment Group (FEG) announced earlier today the pairings for its featherweight grand prix semifinals as well as a tournament reserve bout, which are all set to go down at the DREAM 11 event scheduled for the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan, on Oct. 6.

The reserve bout will pit Kazuyuki Miyata (7-7) against Daiki “DJ.taiki” Hata (11-5-3).

Hata actually won his preliminary bout in the tournament garnering a unanimous decision over Hideo Tokoro at DREAM 8 this April, though he was unable to recover in time from a nagging eye injury he sustained earlier this year to compete in the quarterfinals. So the man he defeated, Tokoro, stepped up and took his place in the tournament.

First up in the semifinal action will be wrestling convert Joe Warren (2-0) taking on jiu-jitsu ace Bibiano Fernandes (5-2).

Warren made his debut in mixed martial arts in the tournament opening round at DREAM 7 this March where he defeated former WEC bantamweight champion Chase Beebe (12-4) via TKO (cuts). Then in only his second professional bout, he shocked the world when he bested featherweight superstar Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto (17-2) via decision win at DREAM 9 this May.

Fernandes’ path to the tournament consisted of garnering decision victories over Takafumi Otsuka (8-4-1) and Masakazu Imanari (16-7-1).

On the other side of the brackets will be hard hitting slugger Hiroyuki Takaya (11-6-1) who is coming off a impressive annihilation of Yoshihiro Maeda (24-7-2) at DREAM 9. He takes on fellow countryman, fan favorite and general underdog Hideo Tokoro (22-16-1).

DREAM 11 is expected to air in prime time on Japanese broadcasting network TBS. It will be last show on the promotion’s current television deal. And that’s likely the reason the card has started to become stacked in hopes of drawing much needed ratings.

DREAM event producer Keiichi Sasahara has stated that he aims to have lightweight standout Tatsuya “Crusher” Kawajiri and featherweight superstar Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto compete on the card separately against pending opponents.

However the latter “Kid,” while likely being a big ratings draw, is under heavy consideration for his participation in the event after suffering a vicious knockout loss to Korean import Jae Hee Chon at the K-1 World MAX Final 8 earlier this month.

Indeed, two title bouts are also in the works for DREAM 11.

It’s lightweight champion, Joachim Hansen, (19-7-1) who will make a return to action and defend his title for the first time against Japanese mainstay Shinya Aoki (21-4). And Jason “Mayhem” Miller (22-6) will battle it out with bitter-rival Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (10-2) for the vacant DREAM middleweight title.

Here is the current line-up for DREAM 11:

DREAM Lightweight title:
Joachim Hansen (19-7-1) vs. Shinya Aoki (21-4)

DREAM middleweight title:
Jason Miller (22-6) vs. Ronaldo Souza (10-2)

Featherweight grand prix semifinals:
Joe Warren (2-0) vs. Bibiano Fernandes (5-2)
Hiroyuki Takaya (11-6-1) vs. Hideo Tokoro (22-16-1)

Featherweight grand prix reserve bout:
Kazuyuki Miyata (7-7) vs. Daiki “DJ.taiki” Hata (11-5-3).

“Super Hulk” open weight grand prix semifinals:
Hong Man-Choi (2-2) vs. Ikuhisa Minowa (42-30-8)
Gegard Mousasi (25-2-1) vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (6-4)

Non-tournament bout:
Zelg Galesic (9-4) vs. Andrews Nakahara (2-1)

For more on DREAM click here.

Fans in the New York City area are encouraged to check out the first ever New York Mixed Martial Arts Expo held at the Long Island Marriot on Sunday August 2 from 10:30am to 3:30pm ET.

Sponsored by the Fighter Warehouse NY, the event will help push for sanctioning of MMA in the state of new York where it is currently unregulated. A full size cage will be on hand for live demonstrations from local MMA schools.

Also scheduled to appear are MMA stars of past and present including Ron Van Clief, Tim Kennedy, Jens Pulver, Andrei Arlovski, Clay Guida, Jamie Varner and Orlando Rivera.

For more information on the New York MMA Expo click here.