MMA Thread

[clovett]

The UFC Fight Club members got a treat in Cologne before UFC 99. Dana White was the Q & A speaker and pulled no punches. Two fighters who he's been on the outs with, Frank Trigg and Josh Barnett, were brought up. White was asked about his middleweight signing that would blow people's minds. A fan asked if it was Trigg.

"That wouldn't blow anyone's mind" laughed White about one of the promotion's newest imports.

White did say he was meeting with the aforementioned mind blowing middleweight this week. Seems like a lot of hype for someone who probably won't blow anyone's mind.

He did surprise many by saying Josh Barnett, who has been long thought to be on permanent exile from the UFC, would be welcomed back if he knocks off Fedor Emelianenko at Affliction 3 on August 1.

"If Josh Barnett beats Fedor, obviously I'd be interested in signing Josh Barnett," White said. "If he beat Fedor, obviously, he's one of the best in the world."

As far as other fighters outside the UFC, White said he's got an open door for Nick Diaz . He also said Bobby Lashley could be a candidate but he needs to keep winning fights on the lower levels.

With White, you know it's not all going to be positive. He once again smashed Affliction VP Tom Atencio.

[Warner2BruceTD]

bouts for ufc 102 made official

Randy Couture vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Nate Marquardt vs. Demian Maia
Keith Jardine vs. Thiago Silva
James Irvin vs. Wilson Gouveia
Chris Leben vs. Jake Rosholt
Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Chris Tuchscherer
Todd Duffee vs. Michael Russow
Matt Veach vs. Evan Dunham

good fights. tuchscherer is a training partner of brock lesnars and was runner up to travis wiuff in the yamma HW tourny.

Yuk.

I have no interest in Couture/Nog.

Nate vs. Maia is interesting, but I bet it ends up being a snoozefest.

I like watching Jardine, against anyone.

Irvin & Gouveia are both jobbers. Loser will probably be fired.

Leben is always fun, but Rosholt will probably take him down and lay on him.

Those last three fights are straight up garbage. If Gonzaga dosen't land a head kick to Fedor with one second left in a round, he's not even in employed by Dana at this point.

[The Buddha]

Yuk.

I have no interest in Couture/Nog.

Nate vs. Maia is interesting, but I bet it ends up being a snoozefest.

I like watching Jardine, against anyone.

Irvin & Gouveia are both jobbers. Loser will probably be fired.

Leben is always fun, but Rosholt will probably take him down and lay on him.

Those last three fights are straight up garbage. If Gonzaga dosen't land a head kick to Fedor with one second left in a round, he's not even in employed by Dana at this point.

You mean Cro Cop sir?

[calgaryballer]

You mean Cro Cop sir?

Knowing W2B, he meant Fedor. Mirko getting head kicked by a mid-level guy like Gonzaga puts a huge dent in one of the wins of Fedor, and then Dana could go 'See, I told you he wasn't good. Took him 20 minutes to decision CroCop and my guy knocked him the fuck out'

[clovett]

mayhem/jacare 3 in september

[Liquidrob]

Gina Story on Sherdog, she wasnt down with Dana's plan and went with Strikeforce

Thursday, June 18, 2009
by Loretta Hunt

Gina Carano doesn’t want to go it alone -- which is why the sport’s first female superstar said she opted to renegotiate her contract with the fast ascending Strikeforce promotion rather than entertain an offer with the UFC.

The San Jose-based promotion announced that it had re-signed the undefeated raven-haired fighter during its June 6 event broadcast on Showtime. Carano (7-0) meets rival Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos (7-1) on Aug. 15 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. Not surprisingly, the 145-pound championship bout will be the first-ever women’s match to serve as a headliner for a major U.S. promotion.

“Strikeforce is taking female fighting seriously and I feel like I’m definitely part of something, rather than a freak show one-woman act here,” Carano told Sherdog.com Tuesday.

It didn’t have to go this way. After the collapse of Pro Elite last October, Carano and a slew of other capable fighters were very much in need of a new home.

Carano, 27, met with UFC owners Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White in February, the day before Strikeforce announced a multi-year broadcast deal with Showtime.

In recent years, White’s take on women’s MMA had been both steadfast and adamant: he didn’t want to see it in the Octagon. But Carano’s star power –- she fought two EliteXC events on CBS and stole the show as the quiet and sultry assassin “Crush” on NBC’s “American Gladiators” revival in a year’s time –- even blinded White after a while.

“I think she’s got all the tools, so what I’m willing to do is bring Gina into the WEC,” White told the press last November. “We could do fights whenever there’s a challenger for Gina.”

Carano admits she was tempted to join the sport’s No. 1 promotion.

“I had an option to go and be a part of something great, something that I think every fighter looks at, you know, the UFC and thinks this is it, this is what you want to do,” said Carano. “The UFC is like the older brother, like where you always wanted to do, so to actually have the option of being the first female to be a part of that was great.”

Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos will
be a stiff test for Gina Carano.Strikeforce obtained Carano’s contract in February through an assets acquisition deal it had made with Pro Elite, whose funds had run dry. Carano would likely have had to take her battle to the courts to dispute the acquisition. Luckily, Carano thought about more than herself in making her decision.

“I thought I’d been putting in work here at Showtime and women are finally starting to get recognition,” she said. “There’s this Cyborg fight that everybody’s stoked on, and I just felt that if God really wants me to be a part of something, then I feel like being part of something as a group with all of the other female fighters and building something up, rather than being this one-person show is going to be better for the females that come after me. I decided to stay and fight. I feel a part of something and I think that’s more important than just looking out for me.”

Of course, a pay raise doesn’t hurt either. Four months of closed-door negotiations between Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker and Carano’s reps at the L.A.-based Wasserman Media Group eventually yielded a new multi-fight agreement Carano said she’s “happy with.” Carano was paid $25,000 for her last victory over Kelly Kobold in October –- a bout that 5.2 million viewers ogled on CBS.

At one point, Coker politely referred to Carano’s re-negotiations as a “holdout” at (training) camp.”

“It wasn’t about trying to hold out,” said Carano. “Once we all buckled down and got talking, it got done immediately. But there were certain things I needed to get organized with my management and a bunch of other things. There’s just things that I needed to get organized with myself and we needed to go through the contract and be very specific. I was in a good negotiating spot and they didn’t rush anything, so it went along as it should have.”

Whatever the price his organization shelled out for “The Face of Women’s MMA,” Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker will likely come out the biggest winner.

Carano has been a conductor for positive press and broke through mainstream barriers when she was named one of Yahoo’s Top 10 Influential Women of 2008, alongside New York State Senator and former first lady Hilary Clinton, vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, media guru Oprah Winfrey, and movie star and humanitarian Angelina Jolie.

“I think that this will be a fight that will be right up there with the Shamrock-Cung Le fight,” said Coker. “I think it’s going to be right up there with the big boys.”

Coker said the Aug. 15 event could be among his top two all-time draws. Coker said Strikeforce sold over 18,000 tickets for its Frank Shamrock-Cesar Gracie face-off in March 2006. Tickets for Carano-Cyborg went on sale Monday.

“Showtime and CBS have been building up this fight for the last year and a half,” said Coker. “People were waiting for this fight six, eight months, a year ago. They did all the promoting and the marketing and the building up the stature of this fight. We’re the lucky ones that get to promote it.”

[Liquidrob]

Frank was telling me that she 'Wanted Frank Shamrock type money' a month ago

but Frank said 'Only Frank Shamrock gets Frank Shamrock type money' lol

I wonder what she ended up getting, I'm sure it must have been pretty good for her to sign and fight Cyborg

[EmpireWF]

Frank was telling me that she 'Wanted Frank Shamrock type money' a month ago

but Frank said 'Only Frank Shamrock gets Frank Shamrock type money' lol

I wonder what she ended up getting, I'm sure it must have been pretty good for her to sign and fight Cyborg

Frank Shamrock still gets "frank shamrock type money?"

Carano is one of the few real draws (at least, TV-wise) they have.

[Liquidrob]

Frank Shamrock still gets "frank shamrock type money?"

Carano is one of the few real draws (at least, TV-wise) they have.

his next fight he will be getting close to 400k again and he will still probably sell close to 15k in tickets, so that would be a yes to that question

lets see what Gina can do in August, its at the HP just like where Frank fights, Josh and Gil will help, but she is clearly the headliner

[CrimsonGhost56]

his next fight he will be getting close to 400k again, so that would be a yes

and that would be against who?

[Liquidrob]

and that would be against who?

not sure yet, I'm pushing for Scott Smith, I think its the way to go at this point, both coming off losses, Scott like to stand there and trade, would be easy to sell, Smith has had a lot of air time and comes across as a nice guy

[EmpireWF]

Didn't Jake Shields challenge Frank? Maybe someone else, seems like the kid has been challenging everyone under the sun lately.

[Liquidrob]

Didn't Jake Shields challenge Frank? Maybe someone else, seems like the kid has been challenging everyone under the sun lately.

yeah, Jake did, he trying to latch onto Franks star and wallet, but Frank makes that decision, not Jake, he can challenge all day long and it wont mean much

[EmpireWF]

lol can't blame the guy for trying to make more money

[The Buddha]

Knowing W2B, he meant Fedor. Mirko getting head kicked by a mid-level guy like Gonzaga puts a huge dent in one of the wins of Fedor, and then Dana could go 'See, I told you he wasn't good. Took him 20 minutes to decision CroCop and my guy knocked him the fuck out'

Ummmm......alrighty then.