(Photo:Sherdog.com)Tim Sylvia had been posting some cryptic comments on his personal site regarding big news on the horizon and he encouraged those who were interested to tune into Inside MMA to find out the details. Well, it turns out the details are that the 2 time Heavyweight Champion in the UFC has come to an agreement with the UFC to let him out of his contract with 1 fight remaining, and to allow Tim to pursue other opportunities outside of the organization. The 6′ 7″ Heavyweight has signed an agreement with Adrenaline MMA(Basically M-1 Global), who are targeting a 1st show on June 14th in Chicago, Il.
Sylvia mentions that his decision was influenced by a desire to explore opportunities outside of the UFC as well as the welcoming concept of an ‘open’ agreement with Adrenaline MMA, where fighters are not exclusively limited to fighting with the organization. It is somewhat interesting timing for ‘the Maine-iac’s” departure from the UFC as in his recent fights, he seemed to be growing on a fan base which had always been hesitant to accept him as a good guy. Perhaps that was a part of it as well, that Sylvia felt he was being presented in a certain light within the UFC that he wanted to escape.
The other comment as presented by Sylvia, was that Fedor is out there and he would like to fight him, which wouldn’t likely take place is Sylvia remained with the UFC. Either way, it’s big news for MMA and it appears that the UFC will start losing some top level fighters to other organizations if they don’t up their compensation package soon.
In addition to Tim Sylvia, it was noted that Adrenaline MMA had signed Ben Rothwell, a former IFL Heavyweight to their roster as well. Rothwell, another giant at 6′5″ and 265lbs, brings a 13 fight win streak with him to the organization so he, like Tim Sylvia are real Heavyweight talents. Certainly more names will follow suit and we will keep you posted as the Adrenaline MMA news continues to break.
Check out the Inside MMA video where Tim Sylvia announced his departure from the UFC. The link is to a long video, but Sylvia’s announcement is in the first few minutes of the show.
The Ultimate Fighter 7 ‘ Team Forrest Vs. Team Rampage’ will be premiering this Wednesday, April 2nd @ 10pm EST, following a fantastically stacked 3hr Ultimate Fight Night event on Spike TV. The hugely popular series is banking on another big season, with it’s high profile coaches Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson and Forrest Griffin coaching their teams of Middleweight fighters in this tournament format show.
Even though this season hasn’t aired a single episode yet, Spike TV is advertising an open casting call for season 8 . The next season looks to be headed back to a dual weight class format, as the details indicate the tryouts will be for Lightweight as well as Light Heavyweight fighters.
The Open Call details are as follows:
Open Call: April 10 @ 9AM
Sheraton Boston Hotel
39 Dalton Street
Boston, MA
If there are any suckers for punishment out there who plan to make an appearance, you will need to have the following application form (tuf8application.pdf ) completed and submitted by April 5th.
No word on potential coaches for Season 8, but speculation is good entertainment in the mean time.
April 2nd is fast approaching and it is time to lock in the pre fight picks for this 3hr SpikeTV extravaganza. There are a bunch of serious Lightweight showdowns on this card and a sprinkling of Light Heavyweight and Welterweight matches to round out the event. Looking at the fighters that have been lined up for the show, I would be extremely surprised if this doesn’t go down as one of the best UFC events in a long time, not to mention that no PPV purchase is required for the SpikeTV showing.
The MMASPLATTER record is sitting solid near 75% over the past 2 years, so there will definitely be a majority of accurate picks here. As for the incorrect ones, feel free to try to identify them…. call them out for us and provide a comment about why you think your pick is correct. Comments are always welcome on this site.
Main Event
Kenny Florian over Joe Lauzon: Kenny Florian is a fan favorite, and rightly so with a 6-2 record in the UFC, including a handful of fights as a Welterweight prior to making the drop down to a more natural 155 pounds. Since migrating to the Lightweight division, Florian has only lost to former Champion Sean Sherk and even that was a 5 round war. Florian is a very well rounded fighter with good stand up skills showcasing highly effective kicks and a ground game that is top notch. Based on past performace, it is safe to say that few Florian is a top 5 talent in the division and looking to improve that ranking all the time by offering to fight the absolute best of the best.
Joe Lauzon is also an impressive Lightweight fighter. He has showcased a deceptively aggressive fighting style and a ground game that is solid and can only be improving with his ongoing training as part of BJ Penn’s crew in Hilo, Hawaii. Lauzon burst onto the UFC scene in 2006 as the presumed stepping stone for Jens Pulver in his much anticipated return to the UFC. Instead Lauzon proved his own talent and KO’d the former Champion in under a minute as jaws dropped all over the world. Lauzon then took some time to compete on The Ultimate Fighter reality series (like Florian) and did well although he lost to eventual runner up Manny Gamburyan in a frustrating defensive match against Manny’s well known ground and pound technique.
This one will come down to who can control the pace of the fight and who brings the most heart with them to the Octagon that night. Florian is patient and effective in the stand-up game. That should help him get through the first minute with Lauzon, which is likely to be an explosive one. Following that, look for Ken-Flo to work Lauzon’s legs via low kicks in a stand-up exchange and possibly challenge Lauzon’s Jiu Jitsu on the ground in the latter rounds. Again, I feel that this fight will be a lot about heart. Lauzon has not had a lot of pressure (comparatively speaking) in the UFC yet. His victory over Pulver was as a huge underdog and since then he has not exactly faced top tier talent in Brandon Melendez and Jason Reinhardt. Meanwhile Florian has faced warriors such as Diego Sanchez, Sam Stout, Sean Sherk and Din Thomas.
Bottom line… Locking in a win, for Kenny Florian (any way he can get it…) in what will no doubt be a great fight.
Kenny Florian and Joe Lauzon were independently interviewed in a set of posts on Sprawl.tv recently. The two fighters are scheduled to face off in a Lightweight showdown at Ultimate Fight Night 13 in Broomsfield, Colorado on April 2nd. In a tricky move, the interviewer turned the tables on the fighters a bit and seems to have been rather successful at sparking some pre-fight hype between the two.
The discussion with Lauzon was completed first and some basic topics were covered including how he feels about being the perceived underdog, even though he is technically a more experienced MMA fighter in terms of fight counts. Lauzon seemed to understand the public perception, attributing that view to the fact that Kenny has had more exposure and more UFC fights which would lead to a public assumption that Florian is a more experienced fighter.
The interviewer got the response he was hoping for, when finally asking Lauzon’s opinion of Florian’s behaviour after his victory over an injured (during the fight) Din Thomas. Lauzon responded,
“ I think that he rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. I mean it was a back and fourth fight. I kind of thought Kenny had the edge. Then the injury happens and Kenny starts jumping up and down yelling “I finish fights!” I thought it was completely unnecessary, especially when a guy gets hurt when he trips. I didn’t like it. It’s not like he got hurt by anything Kenny did. It was just a freak accident, and I thought it was completely unnecessary.”
Josh Neer is making his return to the UFC on April 2nd in Ultimate Fight Night ‘Florian Vs Lauzon’. The fight will be his first in the UFC since mid 2006, but don’t expect ring rust to be an issue. Neer has been active in other organizations since leaving the UFC with a losing 2-3 record , winning 6 of his last 7 fights while taking “a vacation” from the big show. Neer has the true essence of a fighter and a ‘do whatever it takes’ approach to winning that is more heart than science in the Octagon. So what has changed for Neer that will make this venture in the UFC more of a success?
For starters, Neer has dropped a weight class and is now competing at 155 pounds, where he was grinding it out as a relatively small Welterweight in his last tour of duty. As every fighter and most fans know, in the MMA world, the larger fighter has a solid advantage… and it is the basis for the weight cutting methodology that is core to the sport. In addition, the confidence of going on solid winning streaks in smaller shows should be enough to get ‘The Dentist’ in a winning frame of mind. That mindset can’t be underestimated when competing at the elite level of the sport.
In a UFC.com interview, Neer admits that he wasn’t in the proper state mentally during some of his prior UFC bouts;
“Mentally, I wasn’t into those fights,” said Neer of his last two UFC losses. (Josh Burkman and Nick Diaz) “Those guys are both tough and mentally I was drained. It seemed like when I was fighting in the UFC, I fought, and after I won everything was great. Then you turn around and a month later, I’ve got another fight. It’s just tough competition every time.”
Hopefully Neer can make a run in the Lightweight division. He is an exciting fighter to watch, mostly because he lets it all hang out and has that never quit attitude. Find a copy of his fight against Melvin Guillard if you want some proof. Fans see him on a fight card and they simply know that they are getting great value for their ticket money.
His first fight back in the UFC is against another solid fighter in Din Thomas. Thomas will bring his “A” game and will be looking to redeem himself after a loss to Kenny Florian where he suffered a knee injury en-route to a first round loss. No matter how much game Thomas brings to the Octagon on April 2nd, it won’t be an easy night…no-one enjoys a trip to see The Dentist.
The Marshall Vs Stann Light Heavyweight showdown is in the record books now and the win was a convincing one, with the highly regarded Stann securing a first round TKO over the Champion Marshall. This card had a mix of everything with plenty of first round finishes, including submissons, TKO’s, even a DQ in the case of John Alessio and the elusive Draw for the Manuel vs Osawa Featherweight match.
Check out the offical event results below (Courtesy of WEC.tv)
The WEC confirmed reports of a Featherweight shootout scheduled for June 1st, between two of the biggest names in the world for that division. Jens ‘L’il Evil’ Pulver will face off against Uriah ‘California Kid’ Faber in the June 1st event which is a fight that will satisfy many fans who have been waiting for the match since Pulver joined the organization.
Jens Pulver is most well known for his time in as the Lightweight Champion of the UFC years ago and more recently for his role as a coach in The Ultimate Fighter 5 reality series on Spike TV. In that series, Pulver faced off against long time nemesis BJ Penn in a coaching competition that culminated in a coaches showdown for the finale. Penn took the submission victory over Pulver, avenging a decision loss that had haunted him since the early days of his UFC Lightweight career.
Following that loss, Pulver joined the WEC at a more favorable Featherweight class, were he could potentially be the bigger, stronger fighter on any given night. Jens won his first bout over Cub Swanson in convincing fashion, securing victory via Guillotine Choke in 35 seconds of the first round. That win and Pulver’s career history earned him a shot at the current title holder, Faber.
Uriah Faber is as dominant a fighter as you will find in MMA today, currently riding a 12 fight win streak and showing no signs of slowing down. In fact, Faber has only one career loss in 21 fights and that loss was to the up and coming UFC Lightweight contender, Tyson Griffin in 2005.
It should be a great fight period, with Faber looking to show his dominance extends to even the most notable Lightweight talents in the game. Pulver on the other hand will be looking to make moves on the comeback trail, showing he can adapt with the times in a sport which has grown around him. He was able to break an 11 fight win streak with his last victory over Cub Swanson so he would certainly like to step it up and take Faber’s 12 fight streak as his next trophy in the fight game.
Update: Anyone looking for the event who doesn’t get Versus (I am receiving it through TSN in Canada)
The Fight Network has launched a new contest to win a prize package for UFC 83 in Montreal on April 19th. The contest winner, who will be announced on April 12, will win a weekend for 3 in Montreal and will attend UFC 83 with ringside seats and their own escort, former UFC referee extraordinaire, Big John McCarthy. To top it off, the contest includes entry to The Fight Network pre-party as well as the official GSP after party associated with the event.
John McCarthy retired from his role as the primary official for the UFC and accepted a position with the Fight Network in the capacity of ’strategic advisor’. McCarthy’s last officiated fight in the UFC was the TUF Finale including an epic showdown between Clay Guida and Roger Huerta in December 2007.
It’s a great promotion by the Fight Network, as the winner of that prize will be having a fantastic and memorable UFC weekend for sure.
You can enter the contest at the Fight Network site. Entries are permitted daily until April 11th and the winner will be determined via random draw.
Click here to enter the contest and either way, MMASplatter.com will see you in Montreal for UFC 83 weekend.
The fight announcements are continuing to roll in for the debut event from EliteXC in their new deal with CBS on Primetime network Television. With multiple fights including Robbie Lawler vs Scott Smith, Kimbo Slice vs TBA and Phil Baroni vs Murilo Rua already announced, MMAWeekly.com reports that EliteXC has stepped it up again by adding Gina Carano to the fight card. Gina, who has become the primary and public face of women’s Mixed Martial Arts over the past 2 years is a big addition to the card from a overall popularity and audience draw perspective, but also from the standpoint of promoting women in the sport of MMA.
Carano last fought in the Fall, choking fellow competitor Tonya Evinger into submission in the first round of the EliteXC ‘Uprising’ event. With a 5-0 record and looks that make you question whether she has ever taken a punch, Carano is one of the most appealing MMA athletes period in terms of public attention and marketing potential. She has been actively working in the American Gladiators remake that had it’s own debut on Jan. 8th of this year.
As a side note, Carano’s opponent in the EliteXC event will be Kaitlin Young who will be looking to rebound from her first professional loss in February. The first woman to beat Carano will certainly make a name for herself in MMA circles, so the opportunity is likely not lost on Young.
Main Event – WEC Light Heavyweight Championship
Brian Stann (204) vs Doug Marshall (204)
Ed Ratcliff (155) vs Marcus Hicks (156)
Bryan Baker (184) vs Chael Sonnen (186)
Steve Cantwell (203) vs Tim McKenzie (203)
Hiromitsu Miura (170) vs Blas Avena (170)
John Alessio (170) vs Brock Larson (171)
Sergio Gomez (156) vs Richard Crunkilton (156)
Ryan Stonitsch (171) vs Alex Serdyukov (169)
Chris Manuel (136) vs Kenji Osawa (134)
Scott Harper (186) vs Logan Clark (186)
The event has some interesting matches including the main event, a Light Heavyweight Championship bout between perrenial hardass (and impressively tattooed) Doug “The Rhino” Marshall and an undefeated 4-0 fighter and potential MMA poster boy, “All American” Brian Stann. John Alessio vs Brock Larson should be another great match on the undercard.
For those not familiar with the organization, WEC (World Extreme Cagefighting) is a solid organization that is owned, like the UFC, by Zuffa. Considerable effort has been made to promote the organizations as separate entities rather than treating the WEC as a feeder pool for the UFC. One benefit of that strategy is the inclusion of additional weight classes like the Bantamweight match between Chris Manuel and Kenji Osawa, that should be a treat to watch.
(Photo:Sherdog.com)Tim Sylvia had been posting some cryptic comments on his personal site regarding big news on the horizon and he encouraged those who were interested to tune into Inside MMA to find out the details. Well, it turns out the details are that the 2 time Heavyweight Champion in the UFC has come to an agreement with the UFC to let him out of his contract with 1 fight remaining, and to allow Tim to pursue other opportunities outside of the organization. The 6′ 7″ Heavyweight has signed an agreement with Adrenaline MMA(Basically M-1 Global), who are targeting a 1st show on June 14th in Chicago, Il.
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