Ricardo Almeida talks CFFC 6, UFC, his comeback

Ricardo “Big Dog” Almeida is making his return to MMA, and doing so via the CFFC cage. MMAWeekly recently caught up with the former King of Pancrase in a touching interview…

Notable comments from Almeida:

Joe Silva [UFC Matchmaker] invited me back to the UFC to be a part of TUF [The Ultimate Fighter] 4 for the chance to fight for the title. I remember Matt Serra called me and was like, “Let’s go together Big Dog; it will be like old times!” I loved fighting for the UFC, I think Dana [White, UFC President] and the Fertitta Brothers [Lorenzo and Frank, UFC Owners] are visionaries and revolutionaries, but 6 weeks away from my family [to tape the show] was a big turndown.

MMAWeekly: Why did you choose the CFFC over events such as the UFC, EliteXC or even the IFL?
Almeida: As far as why Cage Fury Fighting [Championships], there’s plenty of good reasons… CFFC is paying what I think is deserved of my time and dedication, as others agreed to as well, but again, that’s only one of the reasons… I always felt like I owed my students and local crowd a good live performance.
I instantly got along with CFFC President Felix Martinez, who made me a written proposal by email, and things just moved forward from there. So far it has been a great experience; I have a lot of faith in that organization. I think they are a great addition to the MMA scene.

I feel MMA is going through big evolution now, look at guys like Sean Sherk, Nick Diaz, Anderson Silva or Dan Henderson, they are amazing. I just want to be a part of this evolution, learn from being in there. Pressure — never! Motivation — tons!

CLICK HERE for the latest Cage Fury content.
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Wanderlei Silva video: this guy is violent

And I thought Anderson and Hermes had sick knees, Wanderlei defines violence in the ring.

Good luck Liddell, you’re gonna need it.

Couture’s take on UFC 73 (video)

Couture is a great spokesmen for UFC and MMA in general (Dana should take some lessons from him).

NBCSports has a quick interview to hear Randy’s take on the Tito/Rashad fight and how is training is going to defend his title against Gonzaga.

Click to watch video of Randy (takes you to NBCSports.com video player)

“Absolutely agree with Big John’s call on the fence”

“I was very impressed with Sean Sherk”

“Anderson Silva is as graceful as anyone you’ll ever see in the octagon”

Click for tons of UFC 73 content.

UFC 76: fight card

What: UFC 76
When: Sat. Sept 22nd
Where: Anaheim, CA
Fight starts: PPV starts at 10pm

• Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Lyoto Machida
• Jon Fitch vs. Diego Sanchez
• Mike Swick vs. Chris Leben
• Evan Tanner vs. ???

This card will be updated as fights are signed and confirmed.

Click for all UFC 76 content on UFCtakedown.

UFC 73: Ortiz vs. Evans video

Click for tons of UFC 73 content.
Click for Tito Ortiz content.
Click for Rashad Evans content.

Rich Franklin fears Anderson Silva

Holy crap this is funny. Besides Spider Silva, Franklin also fears horror movies.

Well done Fightlinker, well done indeed.

Dana White: BJ Penn is next for Sherk

The guys over at 15rounds.com have a laundry list of quotes from various Dana White interviews post UFC 73. The guy does a damn good job of keeping the MMA rumor mill churning.

“I am very confident that we’ll have an HBO deal very soon.”

“Cro Cop said if he beats Cheik Congo he wants Nogueira”

“Would like to make the Wanderlei Silva vs Chuck Liddell for September”

“Gurgel and Surata was fight of the night”

“Hayato Sakurai is joining the UFC. We’re ready as soon as he is. He’ll fight at 170.”

“BJ Penn is next for Sherk. In November”

“Hope to have Fedor fighting in the UFC at the end of 2007 or early 2008”

“Henderson vs Rampage will be for both belts. It is a unification bout. Undisputed champ.”

“Nogueira is one of the best fighters in the world. We’re going to put him in with someone very exciting”

“Silva is a killer. Marquardt is very good, but Silva came down strong.”

Saw this posted first on FiveOuncesofPain

Heath Herring got F*#@ed Up!

Looking at this picture you’d never guess that Minotauro Nogueira was the fighter that was nearly KO’d. Herring’s face is a disaster!

Reading the some of the message boards for post fight comments/opinions, I’m really surprised by a lot of the Herring/Nog reaction… why are so many fans giving Heath Herring so much respect?!? He hit Nog with a lucky kick that Nog ducked into (and it was NOT a high kick, it was waist level). In 3 UFC fights, Herring shows me NOTHING. He shows no killer instinct.

There are message board posts saying the ref should have stopped the fight… here’s how to stop a fight, jump on top of a downed opponent and pound away. That’s the only way to guarantee the ref will jump in there and stop the fight. Don’t stand back and ask the ref to make a judgment call. Awful. Herring should spend less time on his hair coloring and more time sharpening his jab.

CLICK HERE for tons of UFC 73 content.

BodogFIGHT: Eddie Alvarez vs. Matt Lee

What: BodogFIGHT PPV
When: Sat. July 14th
Where: Trenton, NJ; Sovereign Bank Arena
Fight starts: 7:30pm

Main Event:

• Eddie Alvarez vs. Matt Lee

Title Fights:

• Trevor Prangley vs. Yuki Kondo (Middleweight)
• Tara Larosa vs. Kelly Kobold (Women’s 135)

If I could be anywhere in the world this Saturday night, that place would be Trenton, NJ. Chances of getting mugged, beaten, stabbed or a combination of all 3 are very high, but that won’t stop me from hitting the capital city of Dirty Jerzey for a BodogFIGHT pay per view event.

UFC 77: fight card

What: UFC 77
When: Sat. Oct. 20, ‘07
Where: Cincinnati, OH; U.S. Bank Arena
Fight starts: PPV starts at 9pm

Main Event:

• Middleweight Champ Anderson Silva vs. Rich Franklin

Undercard:

• Tito Ortiz vs. Rashad Evans (rumored)

The undercard will be updated as fights are signed and confirmed.

Click for all UFC 77 content.

UFC 77: Cincinnati here we come

The Rich Franklin marks will be out in full force to support their hometown hero when the UFC returns to Cincinnati, Ohio on October 20th for UFC 77.

“Ace” Franklin will take on current Middleweight Champ Anderson “Spider” Silva, almost a year to the day from their first bout. Silva dismantled Franklin with crushing knee strikes from the clench at UFC 64 for a 1st round TKO. It’s Franklin’s only UFC defeat.

Cincinnati MMA fans are hardcore and should provide a great atmosphere for the PPV. At UFC 68, these fans set a record for the live attendance for an MMA event in the USA.

Sean Sherk training video

This is the UFC All Access training video of Sean Sherk. He is not human.

Watch it now before UFC gets it removed.

Click for all Sean Sherk content.

UFC 73: Sherk, Tito, Silva post-fight interviews

UFC.com did a nice job getting some quality post-fight interview videos up quickly. (they also got YouTube and DailyMotion to remove most of their copyrighted fight footage pretty quick too)

Check out Sean Sherk, Tito Ortiz, Stephan Bonnar, and Frank Edgar for some good post-fight banter. Click to view the UFC Video Gallery.

CLICK HERE for the latest UFC 73 content.

UFC 73: Sherk vs. Franca video

Clear your schedule for about 1/2 hour and Watch This Fight. Sherk gets crushed with 3 monster knees and keeps coming for more (his neck measures 27 inches). Franca is deflated by the 4th round.

Pass this around to your buds before the UFC orders them to take it down. Editor’s note: oops too late. By Sunday 7pm EST this clip was removed.

CLICK HERE for the latest UFC 73 content.

UFC 73: Edgar breaks nose, still TKO’s Bocek

UFCtakedown will have an exclusive interview with rising star Frank “The Answer” Edgar early this week. Edgar has cleared to massive 155lb hurdles in the form of tough guy Tyson Griffin (UFC 67) and jiu-jitsu expert Mark Bocek (UFC 73).

recap pulled from UFC.com
In the lightweight opener, unbeaten Frankie Edgar continued to impress, following up his February win over Tyson Griffin with a first round stoppage of Woodbridge, Ontario’s Mark Bocek.

With the exception of a broken nose and a flash knockdown scored by Bocek (4-1) in the second minute, Edgar (7-0) was in control the entire way behind crisp standup attacks and solid takedown and submission defense, never allowing his foe – a jiu-jitsu black belt – to get untracked. With the seconds ticking away in the opening around, an unanswered series of punches on the ground brought referee Jon Schorle in to halt the bout at 4:55 of the opening stanza.
CLICK HERE for all of our UFC 73 content

UFC 73: Silva vs. Marquardt video

Good quick fight. Watch it before UFC makes them take it down. Editor’s note: found a new clip, WATCH NOW before it gets removed.

CLICK HERE for the latest UFC 73 content.

UFC 73: results and recap

Main Card:
Champ Anderson Silva beats Nate Marquardt – TKO (strikes) Rd1.
    (click to watch this fight!)
Champ Sean Sherk beats Hermes Franca – unanimous decision.
Tito Ortiz vs. Rashad Evans – DRAW
    (click to watch this fight)
Antonio Minotauro Nogueira beats Heath Herring – unanimous decision.
Kenny Florian beats Alvin Robinson – tapout (strikes) Rd1.

Preliminary Card:
Jorge Gurgel beats Diego Saraiva – unanimous decision
Stephan Bonnar beats Mike Nickels – tapout (rear naked choke) Rd 1.
Chris Lytle beats Jason Gilliam – tapout (triangle choke) Rd 1.
Frankie Edgar beats Mark Bocek - TKO (strikes) Rd1.

Fight Grades:
Minotauro Nogueira vs. Heath Herring – B
Nog has beat Herring now for the third time (twice in PRIDE). Good. Herring could have stunned his critics (that includes me) and finished off Minotauro in the 1st round following a HUGE kick to the head. Rogan gave it the ole “right on the button”. Instead he decided to pull of and let the ref stand it up. Nog had no idea where he was, let alone the ability to stand under his own power… why did Herring back off?!?! How bad does it look like Herring threw this fight? He came in at a portly 259lbs. Geez man take a few laps and act like you care. Minotauro deserves big props for taking one hell of a shot to the face (think Sean Salmon) and regaining his composure to pull out the victory.

Sean Sherk vs. Hermes Franca - A
Franca got OWNED. Sherk displayed the true meaning of “to break his spirit”. The only time Franca was walking to and from his corner. Sherk showed incredible control over his opponent. He ate some of the biggest knee strikes you’ll ever see, and did so willingly b/c each knee to the face led to a takedown.

Poor Franca got a raw deal b/c not only did he ROCK Sherk 3 times with big-time knees to the face, he also caught Sherk deep in guillotine chokes… Franca put together a highlight reel in this fight. Too bad Sherk’s dominance lasted 24 minutes and Franca’s highlights spanned about a minute of time. The only way to get this belt from Sherk is for a striker with GREAT takedown defense to step in to the cage.

Tito Ortiz vs. Rashad Evans – C+  (click to watch this fight)
Are you kidding me? This was the fight the was promoted so heavily by the UFC? This was the result of all that buildup, all that smack talk, all that BS self promotion by Tito? And they actually want us to be hyped up for Tito/Rashad II?!?!

Two VERY SIMILAR fight styles. At certain points several minutes lapsed without a single punch throw. They jockeyed for double-leg takedowns for at least half the fight. Tito: where was the dirty boxing? Where were the nasty elbows, the dominant ground-n-pound? Rashad: didn’t you watch tape of Liddell beating Tito down? Didn’t you realize the guy hates getting hit with multiple shots?

This was a step back for Ortiz and a small step up for Evans.

Anderson Silva vs. Nate Marquardt - B+  (click to watch this fight!)
Would have liked this to go to 3 rounds to get our money’s worth from these two. Nate did a lot of talking in his UFC Countdown piece, only to get shut-up by Silva’s fists. We were really looking forward to seeing Nate take him down. And really looking forward to seeing some crazy knees from Silva. Entertaining none the less. (I hope Heath Herring was taking notes on how to finish a fight).

Spider Silva has deadly accuracy; Rogan is right, the man is surgical. He darts those fists straight into your face – Rock’em Sock’em robot style.

CLICK HERE for all of our UFC 73 content

Ricardo Almeida on CFFC 6 fight card

Ricardo “Cachorrao” Almeida (185 lb) has been signed to fight at CFFC 6 and will take on grappler Dennis “Superman” Hallman. Almeida has his own BJJ school in New Jersey and recently cornered both Dante Rivera and Gregor Gracie in their submission victories at CFFC 5.

Coming out of retirement (he’s only 30 yrs old), Almeida states “I felt the MMA chapter was not closed in my life, and I realized that if I were to fight again some day, it would have to be now,” he said. “Of course the fact that MMA has gotten so big helped, the direction the sport has taken is exciting.”

Read the release from GRACIE Mag here.

Almeida, a former King of Pancrase, has a submission victory over UFC Middleweight contender Nate Marquardt.

Kimbo Slice vs Tank Abbott is scheduled to main event CFFC 6.

CLICK HERE for the latest Cage Fury content.
CLICK HERE for the latest CFFC 6 content.

Tito & Jenna interview: lots of unintentional humor

This is gold. Interview on FOX News by an English guy that admits he knows nothing about ultimate fighting. The caption reads “Ultimate” Power Couple: Tito Ortiz and Jenna Jameson. So so bad.

Jenna actually says she loves Tito and that it turns her on to watch him fight because every girl wants the strongest toughest guy. Haha.

You can also watch Tito’s cranium expand during the clip. Rampage Jackson is right, Tito’s head is huge. So much unintentional humor here. A good way to waste 3 1/2 minutes.

CLICK HERE for all Tito Ortiz on UFCtakedown.

BJ Penn vs. Diego Sanchez: Penn denies rumor

UPDATED: B.J. Penn’s camp informed Sherdog.com that the 28-year-old Hawaiian would not face Diego Sanchez in August, though the possibility wasn’t ruled out for a later date.

Note to self: stop getting caught up in online rumors that get started by UFCjunkie and Sherdog.

Nonetheless, Prodigy vs. Nightmare would be a great fight. Established force against rising star. Who wouldn’t want to watch this fight.

Hopefully it would happen later this year.