Nate Diaz established a strong foothold in the UFC welterweight division this past Saturday when he submitted Marcus Davis at UFC 118.
It was Diaz’s second victory at 170 pounds after serving most of his six-year career in the lightweight class.
And though Diaz wants to avenge his losses there, trainer and manager Cesar Gracie thinks he should stay at welterweight – at least for the time being.
The first tournament matchup has emerged from Shine Fights’ fan-driven matchmaking.
Organization officials today announced UFC veteran Drew Fickett will meet the always-entertaining Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett in an opening-round matchup of Shine Fights’ single-night eight-man lightweight tournament.
Officials also announced that an injured Josh Shockley has been scratched from the field and that a replacement will be announced soon.
Less than a week after announcing KJ Noons would challenge welterweight champ Nick Diaz for his strap on October 9th inside the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California, Strikefoce has released the official trailer for the highly anticipated rematch.
Noons shocked the MMA world when he defeated Diaz to capture the EliteXC lightweight crown back in November 2007. Despite the countless of bong rips Diaz has admitted to legally taking, he still can’t seem to forget about the controversial loss.
The current/former boxer dominated Diaz in their first outing, dropping him with a right hand and landing a knee to the grill that opened up a gash on Diaz’s forehead. A disappointed Diaz immediately left the arena, but not before giving the bird to the cage-side doctor that opted to call the bout after the 1stRound.
Their original tango took place at 160 pounds. Diaz has since moved up to capture Strikeforce’s welterweight title, while Noons fights in the 155-pound division. Not only will Noons be forced to deal with a much improved striker, but the necessity to pack on some pounds in order to legitimately compete against the champ as well.
Please click the media player below to watch the trailer:
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PUJI Capital is conducting an internal review of Fighting and
Entertainment Group’s (FEG) assets and liabilities in advance of a push
to attract investors to the struggling fight promotion.
“The actions they’re taking are similar to an audit,” FEG’s U.S.
representative, Mike Kogan, told MMAjunkie.com on
Monday.
Kogan said the Japanese investment bank hopes to raise $230 million for
FEG, which operates MMA’s DREAM promotion and the K-1 kickboxing
organization, over the next five years. But with the company’s current
financial condition, that timeline may need to be shortened.
Strikeforce fighter Brett Rogers will meet fellow heavyweight Ruben “Warpath” Villareal at an October event in Canada.
The W-1 MMA organization hosts the show, “W-1: New Ground,” on Oct. 23 at the Halifax Forum in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The organization recently announced the 11-bout fight card for the show, and a Strikeforce official confirmed with MMAjunkie.com that Rogers received permission to compete at the event.
It was confirmed yesterday that UFC 124 will feature a significant underdog venturing into a foreign country in order to even the score. Haven’t we seen this before?
Fine, so the welterweight rematch between champ Georges St-Pierre and Josh Koshceck is nothing close to the awesomeness that was Rocky’s trip to Russia when he took down the invincible Ivan Drago, who just happen to kill (literally) his boy Apollo Creed in his last outing. Like Mr. Balboa, Koscheck will also be forced to enter hostile territory if he wants to avenge his loss.
The Gambling Gods had already pegged Koscheck as an early 3-to-1 ‘dog, so yesterday’s news that their rematch would go down in GSP’s backyard of Montreal, Canada certainly wasn’t what he was hoping for. While he would have preferred to receive his mulligan in front of his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Kos appears to be a-okay with where his next assignment will take place.
“Wherever the UFC wants the fight is fine with us. Montreal has great, enthusiastic fans and will provide a sellout crowd,” Koscheck’s PR manager, Heidi Seibert, told MMAWeekly.com. “Kos has been ready for this title fight for a long time and is looking to win on December 11th.”
The welterweights were serving as opposing coaches on “The Ultimate Fighter 12.” Once the lightweight tournament concludes in early December, Koscheck will be granted a shot to redeem his unanimous decision loss to St-Pierre at UFC 74.
GSP has steamrolled his last seven opponents en route to recapturing his 170-pound crown. Needless to say, the controversial challenger will have his work cut out for him if he’s trying to pull off the ‘If I can change, then you can change. Everybody can change’ celebratory speech.
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This past weekend’s “UFC Prelims” special on Spike TV drew a series-low 1.1 million viewers, officials today confirmed with MMAjunkie.com via email.
Nevertheless, the one-hour special drew a 0.83 household rating and was
the highest-rated cable program in its timeslot among men 18-49 and men
18-34.
However, in a rare occurrence, the ratings actually diminished throughout the broadcast, which could be blamed at least partially on a lackluster bout between Nik Lentz and Andre Winner that opened the Aug. 28 broadcast.
In a special edition of HDNet Fights Video Vault, we present an early candidate for 2010 Fight of the Year honors.
Earlier this month, Jorge Santiago, the middleweight champion of World Victory Road’s Sengoku organization, put his belt on the line in a rematch with Kazou Misaki at Sengoku Raiden Championship 14.
Like their first meeting in early 2009 for the vacant belt, Santiago vs. Misaki II proved an absolute barnburner that wasn’t decided until the fifth and final frame.
The Oxford University debate club of the Oxford Union Society has invited UFC president Dana White to address its members about the meteoric rise of mixed martial arts, most specifically the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
“As president of UFC, Dana has created a billion dollar global sports company in less than a decade and we look forward to hearing his take on the rise of the UFC and giving us greater insight into this phenomenon,” stated the club’s vice president Ash Sangha.
White will join the likes of Malcolm X, Ronald Reagan, Sir Winston Churchill and several other iconic figures when he hits the podium on October 13th.
“Anyone who knows anything about me knows I always speak my mind and am very passionate about what I do, and the Oxford Union was founded on exactly those principles,” White said in a statement. “I’m looking forward to meeting the students, and I know they have a reputation for asking tough questions and expecting straight answers from their guests. That’s exactly what they’ll get from me.”
It will be a monumental trip to London for Octagon brass, as the organization’s first international UFC Fan Expo will take place that same weekend, as well as UFC 120 on October 16th inside the O2 Arena in England.
Will the brash leader of the world’s premier MMA promotion meet his match? I doubt it, but I’m sure we’re going to learn some very interesting things.
“That’s the way you do it. That’s the way you debate!”
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Winston Churchill, Jimmy Carter, Albert Einstein, Richard Nixon, the Queen of England, Henry Kissinger, the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Bobby Kennedy, Stephen Hawking, Richard Dawkins, Clint Eastwood.
And UFC president Dana White?
Joining a long list of some of history’s most influential figures, White will address Oxford University’s famed Oxford Union Society in October, UFC officials today announced.
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