This article has been submitted by Kyle “Free Lunch” Norton and is a weekly feature here at The ODC.

UFC Fight Night 13 Recap
Kenny Florian put himself one step closer to getting back into title contention on April 2nd with a win over the always-tough Joe Lauzon. Florian looked polished and vicious at the same time, finishing the fight with strikes from the mount. It’s hard to say where Florian stands in the lightweight rankings in the UFC due to the sheer amount of talent. Also on the card, Nate Diaz submitted BJJ black belt Kurt Pellegrino with a picture perfect triangle choke and in true Diaz form, Nate flexed for the cameras before finishing the choke. James Irving caught Houston Alexander with a gorgeous superman punch just eight seconds into their bout to set a new UFC record for fastest knockout. Gray Maynard put on a wrestling clinic and showed some solid striking, defeating Frankie Edgar by decision and Thiago Alves finished Karo Parisyan in round two by what some are calling an early stoppage by referee Steve Mazzagatti.

UFC Fight Night 13 Full Results
• Kenny Florian def. Joe Lauzon (TKO – 3:28, Round 2)
• Gray Maynard def. Frankie Edgar (Unanimous Decision)
• Thiago Alves def. Karo Parisyan (TKO – 0:34, Round 2)
• Matt Hamill def. Tim Boetsch (TKO – 1:25, Round 2)
• Nate Diaz def. Kurt Pellegrino (Submission, Triangle Choke – 3:06, Round 2)
• James Irvin def. Houston Alexander (KO – 0:08, Round 1)
• Josh Neer def. Din Thomas (Unanimous Decision)
• Marcus Aurelio def. Ryan Roberts (Submission, Armbar – 0:16, Round 1)
• Manny Gamburyan def. Jeff Cox (Submission, Guillotine Choke – 1:21, Round 1)
• Clay Guida def. Samy Schiavo (TKO – 4:15, Round 1)
• George Sotiropoulos def. Roman Mitichyan (TKO – 2:24, Round 2)
• Anthony Johnson def. Tommy Speer (KO – 0:51, Round 1)

Strikeforce-Elite XC Shamrock vs. Le Recap
Cung Le defeated the self-proclaimed ‘greatest mixed martial artist in history,’ Frank Shamrock in front of a sell-out crowd of 16,326 at the HP Pavilion on March 29th. The San Shou stylist used a hellacious barrage of kicks to keep Shamrock at a distance and punish his fellow San Jose native. Shamrock was unable to continue after the third round after having his arm broken by a Cung Le left kick. Le is a terrible match-up for almost any middleweight in the world due to his top-tier striking and strong wrestling skills. We are yet to see him work on the ground for any length of time, which is just the way Le has planned it. In other Strikeforce action, Gilbert Melendez recovered from the first defeat of his career by dispatching of Gabe Lemley in rather easy fashion by second round TKO. Drew Fickett appeared to be unaffected by his change of opponent, finishing Jae Suk Lim with a guillotine in the first round.

Strikeforce-Elite XC Shamrock vs. Le Full Results
• Cung Le def. Frank Shamrock (TKO, Broken Arm – 5:00, Round 3)
• Drew Fickett def. Jae Suk Lim (Submission, Guillotine Choke – 1:14, Round 1)
• Gilbert Melendez def. Gabe Lemley (TKO – 2:18, Round 2)
• Wayne Cole def. Mike Kyle (Submission, Armbar – 0:42, Round 1)
• Joey Villasenor def. Ryan Jensen (KO – 4:45, Round 1)
• Billy Evangelista def. Marlon Sims (KO – 0:39, Round 3)
• Tiki Ghosn def. Luke Stewart (Unanimous Decision)
• Darren Uyenoyama def. Anthony Figueroa (Submission, Guillotine Choke – 1:27, Round 1)
• Jesse Jones def. Jesse Gillespie (TKO – 0:35, Round 1)

Fedor vs. Sylvia Could be in the Works
A bout between Fedor Emelianenko and Tim Sylvia has been rumoured ever since Tim Sylvia was the UFC heavyweight champion. MMA fans have been waiting for a long time for Fedor to take on a top UFC athlete and it looks like the fight could come true. Sherdog.com reported that Emelianenko confirmed a bout with Sylvia was in the works and that he looks forward to the match. The Emelianenko Myth will either be validated or destroyed with this bout because it is his first meaningful fight since, arguably, 2005 when he took on Mirko Cro Cop. Mark Cuban and HDNet are rumoured to be involved.

Rematch at Dream 2
Shinya Aoki and Gesias Calvancante will try for a third time to produce a winner at Dream 2 on April 29th. The two were originally slated to meet at Yarennoka! on New Years Eve but JZ Calvan was forced to withdraw with a knee injury. The hype continued to grow leading up to a showdown in the first round of the Dream Lightweight Grand Prix, which ended in disappointment. Calvancante elbowed Aoki to the back of the neck (an illegal blow), rendering Aoki unable to compete. The Dream executive decided that a rematch would be needed to decide whom to advance to the next round of the tournament, leading to the April 29th fight. The winner will take on Katsuhiko Nagata in the second round of the Lightweight Grand Prix on May 11th in Saitama Japan in what is sure to be a very exciting night of fights.

TUF 7 Season Debut
Season 7 of the Ultimate Fighter debuted last Wednesday night following UFC Fight Night 13. The big twist of this season’s Ultimate Fighter is the fact that every contestant will have to fight his way onto the show in order to prevent ‘pussies’ from dropping out midway through the season. Without a doubt, this season hosts the two most entertaining coaches in the program’s history, Forrest Griffin and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. The highlights of the premier (for me) had to be Rampage being unable to spell what he wanted to write about a fighter and Forrest’s selection policy of choosing only fighters who were uglier than himself.

More Success from Nova Uniao
BJJ black belt and Nova Uniao mainstay Wagnney Fabiano defended his IFL featherweight championship on Friday, April 4th. Fabiano knocked out contender Shad Lierley in just 37 seconds with a beautiful cross-hook combination. The win moves Fabiano definitely into top-10 consideration in the featherweight division and he is poised to make a move up the rankings.

This article has been submitted by Kyle “Free Lunch” Norton and is a weekly feature here at The ODC.

This article has been submitted by Kyle “The Anti-Virus” Norton and is the debut of a new series on non-UFC MMA promotions.

As any hardcore MMA fan remembers, one of the most popular topics of debate in Internet forums was the UFC vs. Pride debate. Who had better rules? Who had the best fighters? Who put on the best events? As Pride Fighting Championships approached the date of its American debut, Pride 32 – The Real Deal, on October 21, 2006, questions were raised as to whether Pride could contest the Ultimate Fighting Championships in North America. The event was a moderate success with an attendance of over 11,000 and 8,000 paid tickets. Pride then followed up with Pride 33 – The Second Coming on February 24, 2007, which was, again, only a moderate success with similar ticket sale numbers (although, in my opinion, Pride 33 was the most exciting event in the history of MMA). Shortly after the Second Coming, Pride was purchased by the UFC’s parent company, Zuffa, for a paltry (rumored) $70 million. Pride FC was stripped of its fighters and summarily disbanded, leaving the world with only one major MMA power, the UFC.

The UFC retained their stranglehold on the MMA industry for the better part of 2007 but in recent months, new competitors have arisen and some are showing promise while others are not. This series of articles will examine the other big players in the MMA industry, discerning who are the contenders, the pretenders and even the dark horses. Today, I look at Elite XC.

Elite Xtreme Combat
Elite XC and their parent company, ProElite, recently made a huge splash by signing the first ever network TV, broadcast agreement, as discussed here. The three-year deal will bring professional MMA to primetime, network TV and give Elite XC a huge amount of exposure to the North American TV audience. The big question is whether they can turn this extra exposure into sponsorship deals, fans and dollars.

Elite was established in December 2006 in conjunction with Showtime Network Inc. (a subsidiary of CBS), 13 years after the Ultimate Fighting Championships’ inaugural event. Despite its youth, Elite XC quickly made a name for themselves in the mixed martial arts industry by not only acquiring strong fighters but also by acquiring entire promotions such at King of the Cage, Icon Sports and Cage Rage. Elite has also established working relationships to co-promote events with K-1, Strikeforce and Rumble on the Rock. One of Elite’s strongest partners is the California based Strikeforce promotion. It set a North American attendance record for mixed martial arts with its first show at the HP Pavillion in San Jose (a record which was broken by UFC 68 in Columbus, Ohio and will be again pushed by UFC 83 in Montreal, Quebec). Strikeforce has a huge amount of support in the California MMA community and they use a great deal of local fighters like Frank Shamrock, Cung Le, Gilbert Melendez, Paul Buentello and Josh Thomson.

One of the strengths of Elite XC is their strong management team consisting of ex-TV and live events producer Doug DeLuca, who acts as ProElite’s CEO, and boxing promoter/tycoon Gary Shaw, who is Elite XC’s director and president of live events. Elite may lack the top quality talent of the UFC but their management team knows how to promote an event and sell tickets as evidenced by their recent event “Street Certified,” which was very appropriately headlined by a showdown between David “Tank” Abbott and Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson. Kimbo Slice will now headline their primetime CBS premier against an unnamed opponent.

If Elite can continue to sign quality fighters and put together compelling events, they could soon garner a great deal of attention and visibility with their CBS TV deal, making them a contender to battle with the UFC.

Status: Contender

This article has been submitted by Kyle “The Anti-Virus” Norton and is the debut of a new series on non-UFC MMA promotions.

This article has been submitted by “The Anti-Virus” Kyle Norton.April 2nd will mark the thirteenth iteration of UFC Fight Night on Spike TV, headlined by a duel between fighters with two of the worst nicknames in the business, Kenny “Ken-Flo” Florian and Joe “J-Lau” Lauzon. This will be the UFC’s first trip to the state of Colorado since the Zuffa take over, being broadcast live from the Broomfield Event Center in Broomfield, Colorado. I won’t be breaking down the full card because there are eleven fights in total and only five will be aired. I also refuse to preview fights that are contested between fighters like Anthony “Rumble” Johnson, Roman Mitichyan, Tommy Speer or Jeff Cox.

Kenny Florian v. Joe Lauzon
Mark Delagrotte product Kenny “Ken-Flo” Florian takes on BJ Penn trained fighter Joe “J-Lau” Lauzon in Wednesday’s main event. Annoying monikers aside, this fight should be extremely exciting. Both fighters are very well rounded, have good cardio and look to finish fights. Joe Lauzon is on a six-fight win streak and three have come inside the Octagon including a stunning knockout of Jens Pulver. The strength of Lauzon’s game is definitely on the ground but he has been training diligently since the Ultimate Fighter with BJ Penn’s boxing coach, Rudy Valentino. Lauzon has better punching power than Ken-Flo and he may also hold the edge in size and takedowns but Kenny Florian will have something to say about that. Florian has really escalated his dedication to MMA since his loss to Sean Sherk and has improved his strength and conditioning on top of rounding out his already versatile skill set. This fight could really go anywhere depending on who gets the better of the early exchanges but I look for Kenny Florian to take a hard fought decision victory.

Karo Parisyan v. Thiago Alves
In another high-octane matchup, Karo “the Heat” Parisyan takes on American Top Team fighter Thiago “Pitbull” Alves. “The Heat” is one of very few fighters who have been able to seamlessly blend Judo into an MMA game. He is very dangerous in the clinch with strikes and throws and is a strong, unorthodox puncher. One thing that Alves may be able to take advantage of is Parisyan’s conditioning. Even though “the Heat” likes to do just that and put the heat on his opponents, he often gets flamed by that strategy and burns himself out by the third round (three heat references in one sentence, a new ODC pun record). Parisyan has consistently fought the best fighters in the welterweight division and this fight is no different. Alves has only lost once in his last seven fights (to Jon Fitch in June 2006) and is looking to put himself in possible title contention with a convincing win. “Pitbull” has very good striking at a distance and in the clinch as well as a strong ground game, as is the case with almost all ATT fighters. I expect an explosive fight with a lot of scrambles. Karo looked soft as always at the weigh ins so look for him to come out strong but lag in the later rounds allowing “Pitbull” to steal a decision victory.

Matt Hamill v. Tim Boetsch
Tim “the Barbarian” Boetsch steps in on short notice for the second fight in a row to take on Matt “the Hammer” Hamill. Boetsch fought David Heath at UFC 81 on very short notice and dominated the striker on the feet. Coming into that fight, Boetsch was said to be a wrestler with a good chin but he showed that he could mix up his hands and feet at range as well as use a strong clinch game in close. The weakness of his game, however, is definitely on the ground (especially off his back), which Vladimir Matyushenko showed in their IFL title fight. Matt Hamill is a similar case. Coming into the Ultimate Fighter, Hamill was a one-dimensional wrestler with a hunger to learn the MMA game. In his last fight, however, “the Hammer,” like Boetsch, showed a greatly improved striking game against Michael Bisping. A stalemate in the takedown game could grant us a very exciting showdown on the feet with a more than likely knockout. I feel that this knockout will come in the second round at the hands of Tim Boetsch, who will continue to impress UFC fans.

Kurt Pellegrino v. Nate Diaz
Fight fans will be treated with a well-needed dose of crazy Wednesday night. We were stripped of our opportunity to see Nick Diaz on Saturday night by the California State Athletic Commission but the other half of the “I Ain’t No Bitch!” Brothers, Nate Diaz, takes on Kurt “Batman” Pellegrino at UFC Fight Night 13. Training under Caesar Gracie, Nate Diaz has good boxing and very slick BJJ, as evidenced by his five submission victories in his last seven fights. His technical skills are complemented by a sheer love to scrap. I’m not sure if he is willing to throw down in a hospital like his older brother but he still lives to fight. In the other corner, co-founder of the Armory Kurt Pellegrino looks to climb back into title contention with a win over Diaz. “Batman” was one win away from a title shot when he lost to Joe Stevenson and needs to string a few wins together in the ultra-competitive lightweight class. Pellegrino is an explosive wrestler and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt. He is a very decorated grappler so we could see a real chess match on the ground. That being said, I expect this fight to take place mainly on the feet until someone gets hit hard at which point it will take a marked turn for the mat. I’m probably picking with my heart here but I think Diaz might be able to take a decision win with his better boxing and reach advantage.

Houston Alexander v. James Irvin
Houston Alexander is highly overrated but exciting and James “the Sandman” Irving is 2-3 in his last five fights with the one loss coming to Lodune Sincaid…therefore, he is a bum. Someone is going to get their head knocked clean off his shoulders in the first round of this fight and it’s probably going to be Irving. That’s all the analysis that this fight deserves.

Main Card Bouts:
Kenny Florian v. Joe Lauzon
Karo Parisyan v. Thiago Alves
Matt Hamill v. Tim Boetsch
Kurt Pellegrino v. Nate Diaz
Houston Alexander v. James Irvin

Swing Bout:
Frankie Edgar v. Gray Maynard

Preliminary Bouts:
Marcus Aurelio v. Ryan Roberts
Din Thomas v. Josh Neer
Manny Gamburyan v. Jeff Cox
Clay Guida v. Samy Schiavo
George Sotiropoulos v. Roman Mitichyan
Tommy Speer v. Anthony Johnson

This article has been submitted by “The Anti-Virus” Kyle Norton.

This week in MMA is a weekly feature submitted by Kyle Norton.

UFC Fight Night 13 – KenFlow – J-Lau
With WEC 33 wrapped up, Zuffa will launch its next event in five days. UFC Fight Night 13 is headlined by a lightweight showdown between BJJ black belt and Sityodtong Muay Thai fighter Kenny Florian and BJ Penn understudy Joe Lauzon. There are a number of great fights on the card, which could all potentially be main events. A more in depth breakdown will follow.

UFC Fight Night Televised Card
• Kenny Florian vs. Joe Lauzon
• Karo Parisyan vs. Thiago Alves
• Matt Hamill vs. Tim Boetsch
• Kurt Pellegrino vs. Nate Diaz
• Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard
• Houston Alexander vs. James Irvin

Kimbo Slice Goes Primetime at EliteXC
ProElite recently announced that Kimbo Slice will headline their CBS primetime debut against an undetermined opponent on May 31st. Also on the card will be a middleweight championship bout between “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler and UFC veteran Scott Smith and a middleweight contenders showdown between Murilo “Ninja” Rua and Phil “the New York Bad Ass” Baroni.

WEC 33 Review
U.S. Marine and fan-favourite, Brian Stann defeated Doug “the Rhino” Marshall to take the WEC light heavyweight championship. Stann looked to trade with his hands from the opening bell while Marshall attempted to use his kicks and clinch game to negate his challenger’s reach. In the midst of one exchange the U.S. Marine, Stann, caught “the Rhino” with a powerful left hook, sending him to the canvas. Stann quickly jumped on his opponent forcing referee Herb Dean to call a stop to the contest at 1:35 of the first round, making Brian Stann the new WEC light heavyweight champion. The ex-main event of the evening was a middleweight championship title bout rematch between Chael Sonnen and Paulo Filho until Filho pulled out of the fight in order to check himself into a drug rehabilitation clinic. Thomas Denny student Bryan Baker stepped in to fight Sonnen only to be taken down repeatedly and abused on the ground. Sonnen cruised to a very lopsided unanimous decision victory with two judges scoring the bout 30-25, meaning that Sonnen won two 10-8 rounds (also known as a beatdown). In a welterweight contenders matchup, John Alessio was disqualified for an illegal knee to a downed opponent. Brock Larson is technically the winner of the fight but it is yet to be seen if he will now be given a title shot again Carlos Condit.

Full WEC 33 Results
• Brian Stann def. Doug Marshall (TKO – 1:35, Round 1)
• Chael Sonnen def. Bryan Baker (Unanimous Decision – Round 3)
• Marcus Hicks def. Ed Ratcliff (Submission, Guillotine Choke –1:42 Round 1)
• Steve Cantwell def. Tim McKenzie (Submission, Rear Naked Choke – 2:13 Round 1)
• Hiromitsu Miura def. Blas Avena (TKO – 2:35, Round 1)
• Brock Larson def. John Alessio (DQ, Illegal Knee – 1:50, Round 1)
• Rich Crunkilton def. Sergio Gomez (Unanimous Decision – Round 3)
• Alex Serdyukov def. Ryan Stonitsch (Submission, Triangle Choke – 1:35 Round 1)
• Kenji Osawa vs. Chris Manuel (Draw – Round 3)
• Logan Clark def. Scott Harper (TKO – 4:37 Round 1)

Last Minute Changes at Strikeforce
Strikeforce has been forced to change on the fly as a number of their fighters have been forced to withdraw from bouts. Jake Shields was forced to pull out of his first EliteXC title defence against Drew Fickett due to a lower back injury. Nick Diaz was also forced out of his bout with Korean Spirit MC product Jae Suk Lim. Strikeforce has made the best of the situation by pairing Kim and Fickett to fight and postponing the Shields-Fickett title bout until June. Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos was also forced off the card but UFC veteran Ryan Jensen has stepped in to face Jackson’s Submission fighter Joey Villasenor. Although there have been a number of changes to this event over the past few weeks, it still looks to be a solid card, headlined by a San Jose showdown between Frank “I have something large stuck up my ass” Shamrock and local fan-favorite, San Shou fighter Cung Le. Top lightweight fighter Gilbert Melendez is also on the card and he will try to recover from the first loss of his career against Gabe Lemley.

Strikeforce Televised Fight Card
• Frank Shamrock vs. Cung Le
• Gilbert Melendez vs. Gabe Lemley
• Drew Fickett vs. Jae Suk Lim
• Mike Kyle vs. Wayne Cole
• Joey Villasenor vs. Ryan Jensen

HCF Sold?
MMA Weekly reported that large, Canadian MMA promotion Hardcore Championship Fighting has been sold to an, as of yet, unnamed buyer. An announcement will reportedly be made between this Saturday’s event entitled the Crow’s Nest and their next event.

The Crow’s Nest
Hardcore Championship Fighting throws down its next event Saturday in Gatineau, Quebec. Headlining the card will be a contest between former UFC middleweight contender David “the Crow” Loiseau and Vancouver product Todd Gouwenberg. Two other UFC vets, Rob MacDonald and Hector “Sick Dog” Ramirez will also be facing off in the Crow’s Nest. HCF will also host a ton of strong Canadian MMA talent with such fighters as Ben Greer, Sarah Kaufman, Brent Beauparlant, Len Tam and Myles Merola.

Big Props to My Nova Uniao Homies
Nova Uniao black belt Marlon Sandro knocked out Miki Shida late in round 2 at Pancrase Shining Tour 2 to take the number one contender’s spot in the featherweight division. Sandro will now get a shot at current champion Yoshiro Maeda who is widely considered a top-10 featherweight in the world. Also on the card was Hacran Dias who made his Japanese debut against the very experienced Takafumi Ito, who has 60 professional fights. It was a back and forth bout both on the feet and on the mat, which lead the judges to rule a draw. At only 23 years old, Dias has a very bright future in the welterweight division.

This week in MMA is a weekly feature submitted by Kyle Norton.

This Week in MMA is a weekly feature submitted by Kyle “Nortron” Norton.

• The first round of Dream’s Lightweight Grand Prix was contested this week at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan in front of a sell-out crowd of 19,000. The night showcased the exciting nature of Japanese mixed martial arts in Dream’s most talented weight class. Mirko “Cro Cop” also made his return to the Japanese ring with a dominating first round knockout of Tatsuya Mizuno. Dream 1 went off with only one major hitch, a No-Contest decision in the main event of the evening between Gesias Calvancante and Shinya Aoki. “J.Z. Calvan” elbowed Aoki twice to the back of the neck, causing numbness in Aoki’s arm. After ringside doctors called an end to the fight, Aoki gave a tearful speech apologizing to the fans.

*Shinya Aoki vs. Gesias Calvancante (No Contest – Illegal blow)
*Tatsuya Kawajiri def. Kultar Gill (Unanimous Decision)
*Eddie Alvarez def. Andre Amade (TKO – 6:47, Round 1)
Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic def. Tatsuya Mizuno (TKO – 0:56, Round 1)
*Mitsuhiro Ishida def. Jung Bu Kyung (Unanimous Decision)
*Katsuhiko Nagata def. Artur Oumakhanov (Unanimous Decision)
*Luiz Firmino def. Kazuyuki Miyata (Submission, Rear Naked Choke – 7:37, Round 1)
*Joachim Hansen def. Koutetsu Boku (Unanimous Decision)
Hayato Sakurai def. Hidetaka Monma (TKO – 4:12, Round 1)
Ikuhisa Minowa def. Lee Gwan (Submission, Kneebar – 1:25, Round 1)
*- Denotes Lightweight GP Tournament Bout• Dream also announced the first official participants for its Middleweight Grand Prix: Kazushi Sakuraba, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Masakatsu Funaki, Dong-Sik Yoon, Taiei Kin, Shungo Oyama and Ikuhisa Minowa. Dennis Kang and Tiyoshi Tamura have also been rumored as fighters but have not been confirmed as of yet. In a small sidebar, I believe this tournament would be a huge opportunity for the UFC to lease out Rich Franklin. The competition is not overly stiff, Franklin has no shot at beating Anderson Silva, and it would give Dana White and the UFC huge bragging rights (which they absolutely love).

• The floodgates seem to have been opened for mixed martial arts TV deals in the past two weeks. Since Elite XC signed an agreement with CBS, Strikeforce has signed an agreement with NBC and it is rumored that HDNet is in conversations with Dream for a similar deal. The UFC has stated that it is happy with their distribution situation via Pay-Per-View and Spike TV and that they will only sign a deal that makes sense to them (Dana White speak for “I do what I want!”).

• Rumors have been rampant in the past week over Anderson Silva’s request to box Roy Jones Jr. Silva and his management have stated that they wish to silence the boxing critics who question the skill and technique of mixed martial artists. Silva’s manager, Ed Soares stated, “It’s not just talk, we really would like to put that fight together.” Jones, who is currently out of the country, stated that he is “flattered and excited” by Silva’s request but fans will have to wait for a definite answer when Jones returns to the States.

• Paulo Filho was forced to withdraw from his March 26th title defense against Chael Sonnen, having checked himself into a drug rehabilitation center. The WEC middleweight champ has battled depression throughout his career but this is the first time he has been forced to withdraw from a fight. Sonnen has stated that he is still very interested in fighting on March 26th but an opponent has yet to be named.

• Hawaiian favorite Kala Kolohe Hose knocked out an unprepared Phil Baroni to win the Icon Sports middleweight championship on Saturday night. Baroni was close to finishing the fight in the first round when he knocked Hose down and followed up with vicious ground and pound but Hose was able to survive. Baroni appeared to have expended all his energy and could barely fight for the remainder of the bout. Hose battered his opponent until finally finishing Baroni in fifth round via strikes.

• In free agent news, Kazuo Misaki signed a non-exclusive, two-fight contract with Strikeforce and Heavyweight King of Pancrase Asseurio Silva vacated his title and signed with Canadian promotion Hardcore Championship Fighting. However, most importantly of all, my homie, BJJ black belt, Nova Uniao fighter, Jose Aldo has signed a 5-fight deal with WEC.

This Week in MMA is a weekly feature submitted by Kyle “Nortron” Norton.

This Week in MMA is a weekly feature submitted by Kyle Norton.

• Rumors have run rampant over the past few weeks regarding Fedor Emelianenko’s contract status with M-1 Global. Since its founding in October of 2007, M-1 is yet to run its first independent event, having only run a co-promotion with K-1 Hero’s on New Year’s Eve 2007. One of Fedor’s managers, Apy Echteld, told ESPN early this week that Fedor and M-1 would be splitting shortly, while M-1 president and CEO Monte Cox stated that the two sides continue to have a working relationship. The bidding war appears to be back on for the number one ranked heavyweight in the world and UFC president Dana White has stated that he is willing to re-open negotiations. White now has extra incentive to sign the Russian after Randy Couture stated intent to leave the promotion at the end of his contract and seek a fight with Emelianenko. Also interested in Fedor’s services are Dream, World Victory Road, Elite XC and the nameless dark horse promotion of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Affliction Clothing.

• Maricio “Shogun” Rua ruptured his ACL in his right knee early this week, forcing the ex-Chute Boxe star out of his June 7th date with Chuck “the Iceman” Liddell in London, England. Rashad Evans has stepped in to replace Rua and a win could secure “Sugar” a title shot against the winner of Quinton Jackson vs. Forrest Griffin.

• New Japanese promotion World Victory Road hosted its first event, named “Sengouku,” on March 4th, which was headlined by a Judo vs. Catch Wrestling showdown between Hidehiko Yoshida and Josh “The Baby-Faced Assassin” Barnett. Barnett controlled all areas of the fight, doing damage on the feet and finally finishing Yoshida with a heel hook in round three. Takanori Gomi made quick work of Duane “Bang” Ludwig, finishing him in the first round by a TKO (cut/broken nose). In other action, Kazuo Misaki defeated Siyar Bahadurzada by guillotine choke in the second round, Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos submitted Makoto Takimoto with a heel hook with nine seconds to go in the first round and Kazuyuki Fujita continued what he started at the weigh-ins the night before by taking out Peter Graham with a north-south choke just 1:32 into round one.

• Also in World Victory Road (WVR) news, it was announced at “Sengoku” that the promotion had signed heavyweight Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu phenom, Roger Gracie and former UFC heavyweight champion Kevin “the Monster” Randleman. Gracie has an extensive BJJ pedigree but only one mixed martial arts bout, an armbar victory over Ron Waterman in December 2006. Randleman is also coming off an extensive layoff since October 2006 due to a steroid violation and injury problems. The once feared Randleman is 2-7 in his last nine fights and is looking to get a fresh start in the WVR.

• After an amicable release from his UFC contract, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic has signed with Fight Entertainment Group’s Dream promotion and will make his return to the Japanese ring on March 15th against Yoshihiro Nakao, who last fought in Pride FC in April 2007.

• In a night of knockouts, Elite Xtreme Combat’s Cage Rage 25 – “Bring It On” threw down in London, England. Fans at the Wembley Arena were treated to seven first round knockouts. The main event of the evening was a bout between “the World’s Most Dangerous (Old) Man” Ken Shamrock, now back at heavyweight, and Robert “Buzz” Berry, a fighter who has never been to a decision in 18 fights. Shamrock proved why he never should have left WWE, suffering a knockout at 3:26 of Round 1 and looking tentative the whole fight.

This Week in MMA is a weekly feature submitted by Kyle Norton.

This article has been submitted by MMA specialist Kyle Norton. Normally it will appear every Sunday, but today is a special Wednesday debut.

Welcome to the delayed debut of This Week in MMA (TWIMMA). Every Sunday, I will cover the top stories from the week in mixed martial arts.

• Anderson Silva cemented himself as the best middleweight in the world with a submission victory over Dan Henderson at 83. You can catch a full breakdown of this Saturday’s event here.

• It was announced during Saturday’s broadcast that the UFC’s first ever heavyweight champion, Mark “the Hammer” Coleman, will be the next man to take on Brock Lesnar at UFC 87 in Minnesota on August 8th. This is a great move for the UFC because it could give Lesnar a win over a fighter with serious credentials (even though Coleman is washed up and hasn’t been a decent fighter since 2001) or if Coleman were to win, he would have a high profile win allowing the UFC to feed him to heavyweight champ “Minotauro” Nogueira.

• Also on Saturday was the season opener of the IFL’s 2008 season. The Miletich-trained Ryan McGivern became the new middleweight champion by defeating Team Quest’s Matt Horwich by decision. Roy Nelson held onto his heavyweight strap by knocking out Fabiano Scherner in the first round. And lightweight champion Ryan Schultz also held onto his belt with a snoozer of a decision over John Gunderson.

• New Japanese promotion World Victory Road will debut on March 4 in National Yoyogi Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. Titled “Sengoku,” the event will be headlined by the return of number 1 ranked lightweight and Japanese superstar Takanori Gomi taking on Duane “Bang” Ludwig. Also returning from lengthy year-long layoffs since Pride’s demise are Josh “The Baby-Faced Assassin” Barnett and Hidehiko Yoshida, who will meet in a heavyweight clash.

• K-1 owners Fighting and Entertainment Group and former Pride executives have teamed up to create a second new Japanese MMA promotion, Dream, which will premier March 15th with the first round of their Lightweight Grand Prix. The GP is absolutely loaded with six of the top ten lightweights in the world, including: Shinya Aoki, Gesias “JZ” Calvancante, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Joachim Hansen, Mitsuhiro Ishida, and Gilbert Melendez. Dream will also be hosting a Middleweight Grand Prix starting April 29th, in which it is rumored that Dennis Kang, Matt Lindland, Kazushi Sakuraba and Zelg Galesi? will all compete.

• The battle between Randy Couture and UFC’s parent company Zuffa raged on this week when Zuffa was granted an injunction against Couture “from engaging in any promotion or production of events or programming related to unarmed combat during the February 29, 2008 (International Fight League) event.” Xtreme Couture is supposed to have a team participating in this year’s IFL season, which has now changed its name (most likely temporarily) to Team Tompkins after striking coach and former IFL head coach, Shawn Tompkins.

• Montreal-based promotion TKO hosted a great night of fights on Friday, headlined by a bout between Brian Gassaway and Jose “Pele” Landi-Jons. Gassaway scored a TKO victory over Pele via one of the most brutal injuries seen in MMA history. Pele connected with a low kick and in turn snapped his shin bone, causing it to project outwards below his knee. Also on the card, Jess Bongfeldt defeated TJ Grant for the TKO welterweight title, which has previously been held by George “Rush” St. Pierre.

• In MMA business news, ProElite’s Elite Xtreme Combat signed a network TV deal with CBS, which you can read more about here. The UFC also made noise by signing a lucrative endorsement contract with the best-selling beer in the United States, Bud Light. They have signed on to a three-year contract that will make Bud Light the title sponsor of the Ultimate Fighting Championships. Both these moves bring mixed martial arts closer than ever to mainstream sports fans and show how lucrative the sport of MMA can be.

This article has been submitted by MMA specialist Kyle Norton. Normally it will appear every Sunday, but today is a special Wednesday debut.

This article has been submitted by Kyle “The Anti-Virus” Norton

Other than the main event, UFC 82 – Pride of a Champion lacked marquee bouts especially when compared to the recently announced UFC 84 card That being said, it was a great night of fights. The middleweight division crowned an undisputed champion, a new heavyweight contender emerged, and the welterweight picture got cloudier than ever.

Fight-by-Fight
Silva v. Henderson for the UFC and Pride Middleweight Titles
The main event of UFC 82 can most definitely be considered a super-fight. Anderson Silva and Dan Henderson were the number one and two ranked middleweights in the world and two titles were on the line, the UFC and Pride straps. Early in the first round, it was evident that both fighters respected their opponents striking ability, as they were slow to engage. After a brief exchange, Hendo took a body lock and Silva, taking him to the ground where he would control from half-guard and side control for the remainder of the round, working short hammer fists and scoring well with the judges. In the second round, the fighters engaged more readily and it was a big mistake for “Dangerous Dan.” Henderson got dropped with a combination of knees and punches and “the Spider” quickly jumped on top to finish the fight. It appeared Henderson was staying safe in half-guard until he turned away from Silva, giving up his back. The BJJ black-belt quickly secured Henderson’s back and ended the fight with a slick rear naked choke, making Anderson Silva the undisputed middleweight champion of the world and quite possibly the best pound for pound fighter in the world, as well.

Kongo v. Herring
In a clash of potential heavyweight contenders, Heath “the Texas Crazy Horse” Herring took on Cheick “Punch me in the stomach and break your hand” Kongo. Many fans were expecting a great stand-up war, which apparently Herring did as well. This was not the case, however, with Kongo scoring a number of double-leg takedowns. The fighters reversed and scrambled on the ground a number of times with Kongo coming out on top for the first two rounds. Knowing that the fight was close on the scorecards, Herring came out and dominated the third round from side-control, landing big knees to the body and some good punches. In the end, Herring took a deserved split-decision victory, saying afterwards that he had not expected to fight on the ground at all and didn’t train for it. One interesting note, Cecil Peoples, yet again, came out on the wrong side of the split-decision by awarding Kongo the victory. I’m not sure how long it is going to take the UFC to bring in proper judges but this guy needs to get his prescription checked.

Leben v. Sakara
Chris Leben and Alessio Sakara stood toe-to-toe and absolutely banged… for almost a whole round. Sakara was clearly the crisper striker of the two but Leben absorbed his best shots and continued to move forward and throw heavy leather. You can’t teach a fighter to have a granite jaw, so Leben should thank his freakish genes for this victory. He took a great deal of punishment for just long enough to land a bomb of his own, ending the fight at 3:16 of the first round. Leben isn’t the most technical fighter but he certainly gives the fans what they want to see, brawls.

Tanner v. Okami
Evan Tanner returned to the Octagon from his two-year bender to a very tough test in Yushin Okami. Okami looked better in his stand-up than he ever has in the Octagon with crisp punches from the outside. Tanner’s ring-rust was evident as he had a very difficult time with Okami’s patient striking game. The second round was again marked with strong one-two combinations from Okami until the fight entered the clinch. Tanner bullied Okami up against the cage where the lanky Japanese fighter grabbed a hold of a very tight Muay Thai clinch. Tanner tried to punch his way out, giving Okami space for a devastating, fight ending knee.

Fitch v. Wilson
Jon Fitch and Chris Wilson opened up the night and it was a relatively patented Jon Fitch performance, although he looked a lot less impressive than most expected. This was a tough fight for Fitch because he had a lot to lose and nothing to gain; even though Chris Wilson is a very tough and experienced opponent, he is unknown to UFC fans. I will say that Fitch looked OK in this bout. Wilson took the first round by using his reach and connecting with strong punches and kicks from the outside. In the second round, Fitch scored a number of takedowns and controlled on the ground but was unable to do any real damage. The third round was again a striking exchange, which was close but Fitch may have connected with better shots. To close the fight, Fitch scored a final takedown only to end up in a triangle choke with time expiring. All judges scored the bout in favour of Jon Fitch for a unanimous decision victory. In his post fight interview, Fitch called out the UFC welterweight champ(s) and requested a title shot, which he should reasonably get considering his 8-0 record in the Octagon.

Undercard
In under card action, Diego Sanchez and Josh Koscheck scored stoppage wins over tough fighters that didn’t really do much for their status as contenders in the welterweight division. Also in the welterweight division Luigi Fiorvanti defeated Luke Cummo by decision. Andrei Arlovski may have fought his last UFC fight, scoring a 2nd round TKO win over previously undefeated Jake O’Brien. Lastly, in yet another decision in his UFC career, Jorge Gurgel defeated John Halverson who is now 0-2 in the Octagon.

A Look Ahead
Who the hell is going to (want to) fight Anderson Silva? Silva is an absolute animal and just destroyed the one man who was widely considered his largest threat by far, in two rounds. The only middleweight that I see as being a threat to Silva’s reign is WEC champ, Paulo Filho. Even though they are both Zuffa contracted fighters, I don’t know if we will see that bout happen because the undisputed Silva is great for the UFC hype machine. Okami is another option for the UFC, which would be a good fight for Zuffa because it is low risk and would be a PPV main event.

The UFC was probably praying for Kongo to win his bout because it would give them a legitimate contender for the heavyweight belt. With the Herring win, however, Kongo sees his title shot evaporate and Herring emerges as a pseudo-contender even though he has lost to Nogueira three times already in his career. It looks like Werdum could now be in line even though he is 1-1 in the UFC and 4-3 in his last 7 fights because there is a real lack of contenders in the heavyweight division now that Randy Couture and Andrei Arlovski have decided to leave the promotion.

Diego Sanchez and Josh Koscheck both got back on track with wins over decent opponents. Jon Fitch should be without a doubt the number one contender for the UFC welterweight strap with a huge logjam after him. Diego, Koscheck, Karo Parisyan, Marcus Davis and Matt Hughes could all put themselves into the title picture with a few good wins, so things are looking as exciting as ever in the welterweight division.

Also of note, the UFC made a huge (not!) announcement during the event. The first ever UFC heavyweight champion, Mark “The Hammer” Coleman, will be the next man to take on Brock “Phallus Chest Tattoo” Lesnar at UFC 87 in Minnesota on August 7th.

This article has been submitted by Kyle “The Anti-Virus” Norton

This article has been submitted by MMA fighter Kyle Norton.

This Saturday, Dan Henderson will get a second chance to become a UFC champion and unify his Pride FC belt but this time around it will be in the Middleweight division. No other fight on this card needs any hype to sell this event because Silva-Henderson is a massive match for both hardcore and casual MMA fans. UFC brass (Dana White) are touting Anderson Silva as the pound for pound (P4P) best fighter in the world and while an argument could certainly be made there, he is yet to fight the best in the world. Enter Dan Henderson, who many consider exactly that – the best middleweight fighter in the world. Silva has beaten some tough opponents in his career but the only top 10 fighters he has faced are Nate Marquardt and Rich Franklin. This fight will go a very long way in cementing Anderson Silva as the world’s best middleweight and potentially the P4P champ as well.

Without a doubt, this is the most frightening man who has ever worked at McDonald’s. Since coming to the UFC, Anderson “The Spider” Silva has absolutely demolished everyone put across the Octagon from him. He has knocked out iron-jawed Chris Leben, submitted BJJ Black Belt Travis Lutter, buzz-sawed through former King of Pancrase Nate Marquardt and laid two embarrassing hurtings on Rich Franklin. In the past five years, Silva’s only losses have been a disqualification loss to Yushin Okami (for knocking him out with a vicious up-kick from his back) and a stunning flying scissor heel hook submission loss to Ryo Chonan with less than two minutes remaining in a fight that he had dominated start to finish. Needles to say, Silva is a frightening man to step in the cage with due to his surgical precision striking and dangerous jiu-jitsu skills. The ex-Chute Boxe fighter now trains with Black House with the Nogueira brothers, Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort (the old one that KO’d Wanderlei Silva, not that new guy who shares the same name and lost to Alistair Overeem…twice…seriously).

Across the cage from Silva will be the ever-fearless Dan “Hollywood” Henderson. Even though he has one of the cheesiest and least fitting names in all of MMA other than Tamdan “The Barn Cat” McCrory, he can indeed fight. Since he first appeared in the UFC ten years ago, Henderson has only fought top competition such as current UFC heavyweight champ Antonio Rodrigo Nogeuira, Wanderlei Silva, Renzo Gracie, Murilo Bustamante, Quinton Jackson and Ricardo Arona. Hendo is a true middleweight but he has taken fights all the way up to heavyweight. His last two fights came at light-heavyweight but Henderson has stated the cut will be no problem. “Hollywood” is an internationally decorated wrestler, competing in the 1992 and 1996 Olympics. In addition to Henderson’s effective Greco-Roman style wrestling, he is freakishly strong and has an extremely powerful right hand. Hendo is relatively wild on his feet but packs a ton of power in his punches.

This is a very difficult fight to predict because the two fighters could reasonably take a number of game plans. Henderson has shown that he will stand up with anyone in the world (see: Wanderlei Silva KO) but he could also want to take “the Spider” down and test his ground skills. Whatever strategy the fighters pursue, the clinch should be a huge factor in this fight. Henderson’s Greco-Roman clinch skills are on par with Randy Couture but Silva has punished every one of his opponents in the clinch so far. One of the big questions going into this fight will be if Henderson can connect on Silva. He has knockout power in both hands but is quite the opposite of Silva’s technical and precise striking, preferring to take the ‘Bull in a China Shop” route.

The fight goes down as part of UFC 82 tonight in Ohio, starting up on pay per view at 10pm.

The rest of the card is as follows (from MMAWeekly.com):
Cheick Kongo (#10 Heavyweight in the World) vs. Heath Herring
Jon Fitch (#4 Welterweight in the World) vs. Chris Wilson
Yushin Okami (#9 Middleweight in the World) vs. Evan Tanner
Chris Leben vs. Alessio Sakara

Undercard Bouts:
Andrei Arlovski (#5 Heavyweight in the World) vs. Jake O’Brien
Josh Koscheck (#5 Welterweight in the World) vs. Dustin Hazelett
Diego Sanchez (#8 Welterweight in the World) vs. David Bielkheden
Luke Cummo vs. Luigi Fioravanti
Jorge Gurgel vs. John Halverson

This article has been submitted my MMA fighter Kyle Norton.

This article has been submitted by steroid-free Kyle Norton.

Sean “the Muscle Shark” Sherk returns to action May 24th in Las Vegas after a less-than-voluntary nine month lay-off. After defending his title on July 4th, 2007 with a convincing decision win over Hermes Franca, the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC), suspended Sherk for testing positive for the steroid Nandrolone Metabolite. Sherk’s opponent, Hermes Franca, also tested positive for steroids following the fight and immediately accepted the ruling and apologized to his fans for taking Drostanolone, which he used in order to speed the healing process of an injured knee.

Within 24 hours of Sherk’s suspension, “the Muscle Shark” filed an appeal with the CSAC, stating that he did not use any illegal substances and had never even heard of the Nandrolone Metabolite drug. Both Sherk’s A and B samples tested for levels of 12ng/ml of nandrolone, which is an anabolic steroid naturally produced by the body. A normal adult will test for nandrolone at roughly 2ng/ml, while “an athlete with vigorous activity” may test with levels of up to 6ng/ml. Because Sherk tested with almost double the levels of a normal athlete, we can make two guesses about what happened. Either he used the drug (knowingly or not) or he is a freak of nature (maybe he really is a walking, talking, wrestling Muscle Shark). Based on Sherk’s well documented, disgustingly difficult workout routine (shown here), one could believe that his increased levels of nandrolone are simply due to hard work combined with a slight physical anomaly (similar to Lance Armstrong’s off the chart red blood call count).

Sherk has battled the CSAC for seven months now through their court of appeals, the media and the Internet. He has recently stated that he will never fight in the state of California again due to the unprofessional manner in which they dealt with his case. Sherk may have a point. Leading up to Sherk’s already once delayed hearing, Sherk’s lawyer, Howard Jacobs, submitted an evidence briefing to the head of the CSAC on the Friday before their Tuesday hearing. This brief was evidently either not delivered to the other officials or not reviewed by them before the hearing. This led to yet another delay in the hearing of Sherk’s case, which was now stretching into a five-month-long

process. Sherk and his lawyer also found procedural gaps in the handling of his urine (pee-pee) sample between the athletic commission and Quest Diagnostics (pee-pee

laboratory). Jacobs and Sherk then protested the inadmissibility of an independent polygraph test, which was administered and included in Jacob’s brief. California State does not allow polygraph tests to be used as evidence in criminal trials but allow them in certain other legal scenarios.

Following the October 30th hearing Sherk stated, “I was confident coming in here that the facts would speak for themselves, but after today, I’m not so sure.” One of the main issues Sherk has with the CSAC is their lack of rules and procedure, stating, “ They just messed up the entire thing and the whole time they basically told me, ‘Too bad. There’s nothing you can do about it. We don’t have rules, we don’t have regulations, and we can do whatever we want.’ That’s not a situation I’m ever going to let myself get put into again.” Through Sherk’s five-month battle with the CSAC, which reportedly cost him over $20,000, “the Muscle Shark’s” suspension was reduced from 12 to 6 months even though he brought more evidence before the commission than any athlete before him. Needless to say, Sherk was not satisfied with the reduction of his suspension. Sherk cannot contest the CSAC further but he has implied his intention to take the athletic commission or Quest Diagnostics to court.

One tactic that Sherk has used to clear his name is to have all of his supplements tested by an independent laboratory. One supplement tested positive for Nandrolone Metabolite, Xyience Xtreme Joint Formula. This finding should be significant for two reasons, one of which is obvious and one not so obvious. Foremost, steroids are banned substance and evidently Xyience including it in their products to unknowing customers (one of whom was Sean Sherk, thus lending credit to his claim of innocence). Therefore

Xyience could be held accountable for health problems, drug suspensions and a host of other issue that could arise. The second and more interesting aspect of that discovery is the fact that Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, who are the major shareholders of Zuffa (the UFC’s parent company), own a major stake of Xyience through a number of dummy companies such as Bevanda Magica and Zyen (which owns most of Xyience’s outstanding debt). In essence, through UFC-encouraged sponsorships, Sherk was given banned substances, which led to his suspension. You can’t blame Zuffa for not jumping to announce that they had a hand in bringing a product with steroids in it to market but they probably could have helped Sherk out a bit on this one.

Adding to Sherk’s aggravation, he was stripped of the UFC Lightweight Championship leading up to UFC 80 – Rapid Fire. Originally slated to be an interim title bout, BJ Penn defeated Joe “Daddy” Stevenson on January 19th by rear naked choke to take the undisputed UFC Lightweight Championship. Sherk will have his shot at redemption, however, when he takes on B.J. “the Prodigy” Penn at UFC 84 in Las Vegas on May 24th. This fight is already heating up with Penn and Sherk exchanging words through the media. In Penn’s UFC 80 post-fight interview, he stated confidently, “Sean Sherk, you’re dead.” Penn has also stated in interviews that he doesn’t believe Sherk is a real champion and that “his UFC title is no more real than Marion Jones’ gold medals.” To this Sherk responded, “He’s attacking me personally. He’s saying stuff about me that isn’t true. Yeah, it motivates me to train harder. I mean, I can’t lose a fight to someone who is talking smack about me. That’s just something I can’t do, so I’m going to train my ass off and make sure I win this fight.”

You have to feel for a guy like Sean Sherk. He has battled his whole career fighting either on small shows (which pay as well as Mexican sweatshops) because the UFC had no lightweight class, or as a 5’6” welterweight inside the Octagon (his only career losses have come at welterweight to Matt Hughes and George St. Pierre). When he finally makes a name for himself, the steroid drama blows up and puts his career on hold. Sherk has so vehemently denied using steroids that he has convinced many fans of his innocence, including myself. Sherk could have easily asked for a reduced sentence, gotten six months and never looked back but instead he has poured a ton of effort and money to clear his name. I, for one, have a newfound respect for “the Muscle Shark” for standing up for what he thought was right and not taking the easy way out.

This article has been submitted by steroid-free Kyle Norton.