Andrei Arlovski Returns

Andrei Arlovski will return to the UFC, December 30th, against Marcio "Pan de Pano" Cruz.

Arlovksi is returning from leg injuries, and the loss to Tim Sylvia in 2 straight fights, for the Heavyweight title.

Marcio will return from a loss to #1 Heavyweight contender Jeff Monson. The main event of the card will be Chuck Liddell vs Tito Ortiz-MMA Mafa

Frank Shamrock Challenges UFC

Frank Shamrock has issued a challenge to the UFC's Dana White. Frank, who has long held a grudge with the UFC on treatment of fighters among other things, spoke in a video from his website http://www.frankshamrock.com.
Basically, if Dana White can beat Frank's friend and trainer Scott Coker in an MMA fight, Frank would fight whomever in the UFC free of charge! Even though Dana does have roots in boxing, and has a scheduled exhibition boxing match with Tito Ortiz coming up, this will not happen because, if Scott wins, Chuck Liddell would have to fight for free in the Strikeforce promotion.
A series of unlikely events but amusing none the less. Also, watch the entire video for all the details.
Good stuff as always from Frank. Take the challenge Uncle Fester!-MMA Mafia

Pride FC Comes To America

Pride FC finally arrives in America, October 21st with their 1st MMA show on our soil! A long time coming, many hardcore fans have waited their whole lives for this event. (No elbows, head kicks, or knees to the head will be allowed at this event per Nevada Athletic Commission rules)

*The stands may have been half empty, but the action was a good as any Pride FC event, and the card was excellent. Wanderlei Silva even got on the mic at one point, telling the UFC's Chuck Liddell, that he would return to Vegas in February to fight him!

Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko 23-1 vs Mark "The Hammer" Coleman15-7: What2Look4-Fedor is the best fighter in all the world, while Coleman is a multi-champion, possibly, past his prime. Both do most of their damage with ground & pound, though Fedor will have the advantage on the feet. Both men like to press the action and both display great power.

Result-Fedor wins by armbar in the 2nd after putting Mark Coleman's face through the meat grinder. Mark then brought up his children to meet the champion. Awkward considering the kids were crying at the wrecked appearance of their father. Anywho, the best fighter is back after a year long layoff, and looked as good and dominant as ever.

"Shogun" Rua 13-2 vs Kevin "The Monster" Randleman 16-11: What2Look4-Rua will be limited since his favorite weapon is the soccer kicks to the head which will not be allowed. Still, Rua will have youth on his side, and superior striking while standing. Randleman is no slouch with the hands (ask Cro Cop), and his bread and butter will be the ground and pound. Randleman will probably have trouble taking Shogun to the ground and must rely on his explosiveness to surprise Rua.

Result-Rua gets the sub win with a wicked knee bar. Randleman scored an immediate takedown, but Rua got his leg and put on a very painful ankle lock. Randleman grimiced in pain but fought through it, only to have Rua switch position for the knee bar win.

Josh Barnett 19-4 vs Pawel Nastula 1-2: Welcome home Barnett. What2Look4-Barnett has the all around game while Nastula is a Judo expert. Barnett will try to stand more than normal, and wear down Nastula for the eventual submission. Nastula will try to survive.

Result-Barnett battled through a tough fight he was losing badly. Pawel rocked him on the feet and did good on the ground and pound only to get caught by a brilliant ankle lock that ended the match.

Dan Henderson 20-5 vs Vitor Belfort14-7: What2Look4-Trade and grade! They guys have deadly hands and love to throw. Look for both men to open up with some strikes. Whoever gets rocked 1st, will go for the takedown. These guys are even on the ground and even on the feet.

Result-Henderson A decent fight with both guys putting out good effort. The problem was that, as usual, both men gassed and the pace slowed. Still, an entertaining bout with Dan outworking Vitor and scoring enough each round to win the decision.

Nakamura 10-5 vs Travis Galbraith 10-3: W2L4-Both of these guys will do most of their fighting on the ground. Nak is a judo specialist, while Travis lives by submissions. Travis is really talented, but has not fought near, no where near, the level of competition Nakamura has.

Result-Nakamura had the crowd behind him (surprisingly) and wanted to stand with the larger Galbraith. Both men landed good shots but it was Nak who seemed to hurt the other fighter. In round 2 of this really exciting fight, Nak landed a knee right in the face of Travis dropping him to the mat. He then followed up with hammer fists securing a nice TKO win.

Joey Villasenor 22-4 vs "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler 11-4: W2L4-One of the most interesting fights on the card. Both Americans need the win badly, and both love to throw down. Joey just has a much more superior game, and if he is smart, will just take Robbie down and submit him. If they stand long, Robbie's anvil like hands will KO anyone!

Result-Lawler Robbie came out fast and caught Joey with a good punch, and then a vicious knee that knocked Joey down. His eyes glazed already, Robbie landed some hard punches forcing the quick end to the bout. Very impressive for Lawler in his Pride FC debut!

Phil "NYBA" Baroni 9-7 vs Nishijima 0-3: W2L4-Nish is a Japanese Pro Boxer. Phil has heavy, heavy hands and probably for the 1st time in his career, he has the advantage if the fight goes to the floor where Nish knows next to nothing. Smart money says if Phil gets in any sort of trouble while they slug it out, he'll take it to the ground for a G&P win.

Result-Baroni by submission? Yes, that shows just how bad Nish is on the ground. They didn't throw punches at all. Phil just came out and took Nish down and slowly worked for the kimura victory. It was almost embarrassing to watch Phil win with a move he didn't even know the name of.

Sean O'Haire vs Butterbean: W2L4-Gee, I think Butterbean will want to slug it out, and Sean is a kickboxer (and former pro wrestler) who likes to do the same. Butterbean is near impossible to KO, and Sean has been KO'd twice in his short career. This is the freak show match the Japanese love to put together.

Result-Butterbean by KO Was there any doubt? Sean was rocked from the 1st punch and decided to make the obvious error and continue to stand. The Bean wins easily.

Pretty good show, though hardly anyone showed up, and we hope the PPV sales are good. This was still a much, much better event that anything the UFC has put on this year. Hopefully, the UFC fans will stay with Pride in the future.-MMA Mafia

This puts us at 18-7 on our picks in the last 3 events

UFC 64 Crowns 2 New Champions!

Anderson Silva has fought less than 2 rounds in the UFC and already has the Middleweight Championship. Silva demolished Rich Franklin with knee strikes to get the TKO win in the 1st round!

Sean Sherk won the Lightweight Championship as most expected, but it took him all 5 rounds and a unanimous decision from the judges. In his defense, Kenflo grabbed the fence and ran for all the rounds making it hard for Sherk to finish the fight.

Jon Fitch won a real war with Hironaka via decision. Keep watching Fitch climb the Welterweight rankings.

Carmelo Marrero used the lay and pray gameplan to get the split decision win over Kongo. This was a horrible fight. Now, Kongo is out of the Heavyweight title hunt.

Spencer Fisher defeated Dan "I KO'd Jens Pulver" Lauzon with a vicious knee to the mid-section, possibly making him the #1 Contender for the Lightweight title.

Yushin Okami defeated Kalib Starnes with a flurry of strikes to announce his presence in the UFC.

Clayton Guida got a victory in his UFC debut as well, stopping Justin James with a rear naked choke. A nice gritty fight with a lot of action and heart from both men.

Kurt Pelligrino beat Assuncao via rear naked choke.

Another pretty sad effort from the UFC overall. Kongo got screwed against a guy who didn't want to fight, just lay on him and get a weak decision. This screws the build up for Kongo, and the weak ass Heavyweight division continues its woes. Kalib Starnes is supposed to be a contender someday, and got owned, though Okami is no joke and could make some noise in the States.

Thought the winner of TUF4, gets the supposed next shot at Anderson Silva's new title, Marquardt, Swick, Lister, and Terrell, are all going to be vying for the next opportunity. And if Rich Franklin can get his badly broken nose fixed in time, he will surely demand a rematch. The Middleweight division is now open with the crowning of a new champ! -MMA Mafia

UFC Fight Night Ortiz/Shamrock 3

Tito Ortiz (14-4) vs Ken Shamrock (26-11-2) It was completely shocking as Tito managed to get with win with ground and pound. Still, the show got the highest ratings for the UPC on Spike to date so maybe they will bring bigger talent to free TV. After the fight, Ken made the effort to squash their feud and shake hands (though what could he do after 3 losses to the guy) and Tito kinda sorta was decent to Ken. The whole thing made me ill.
WINNER-Tito Ortiz by TKO (strikes)

Kendall Grove vs C. Price Chris Price looked quite green while Kendall seems to only be improving as he easily took Chris down and elbowed him until he tapped out. Kendall may have some effect in this division with his reach, but I think he has limited potential.
WINNER-Kendall Grove by tapout (strikes)

Ed Herman (10-4) vs Jason MacDonald (16-7) The "Athlete" Jason MacDonald looked fast, sharp, and strong as he manhandled Ed and choked him out with a triangle. Don't fault Ed too much as I believe Jason will become a legitimate contender in the 185 division.
WINNER- Ed Herman by tapout (choke)

Matt Hamill vs Seth Petruzelli A pretty competitive fight though Matt got the win with the old lay and pray tactic, while grinding his forearm into Seth's face. Neither guy looked good, though Seth did drop Matt with a punch. Matt shows very little action on the ground for being a super-wrestler, but he busted up Seth and got the lame win.
Matt by decision as expected.

Another correct pick as Nathan Marquart was able to submit Crafton Wallace. Where is Nate's title shot Dana?

Rory Singer got a decision win over a very game Josh Haynes and would later be "called out," by Kendall Grove. We shall see if this fight happens.

Thiago Alves got a big unanimous decision win over John Alessio to continue his career in the UFC. John may be heading elsewhere.

Tony DeSouza defeated Dustin Hazelett with a painful kimura to mark a successful return to MMA after being away for 5 years.

Marcus Davis got a win via guillotine over Forrest Petz.

We went 6 for 9 on our picks. Starting now, October 10, 2006, we will be keeping track of our prediction wins and losses so you can tell how smart we are.-MMA Mafia

MMA News & Rumors

Kazushi Sakuraba is recovering nicely, after a recent collapse during training. Sak is suffering from Vertebrobasilar insufficiency (VBI), or poor circulation of blood through the basilar and vertebral arteries. This caused his collapse and doctors have told him to stop training indefinitely. Kaz still wants to fight on the Hero's New Year's Eve card, but I fear he may face retirement or permanent injury. Get well soon Sak!

Frank Shamrock personally announced he will be fighting Phil Baroni December 8th (also Frank's birthday). This is a grudge match a long time coming, and will take place in either the IFL, or Strikeforce. Then in 2007, Frank's 1st fight with the new World Fighter, will probably be Renzo Gracie! Frank's dance card is filling up fast as he makes a full time return to MMA.

Mike Tyson will probably face striker Mark Hunt in an boxing exhibition for Pride at Shockwave. Tyson has embarked on his "world tour," visiting Vitali Klitschko in Russia, and scheduling a TBA opponent in Ohio October 20th. Tyson himself has claimed he is in "horrible shape" and admitted doing this tour to help pay his debts.

Lightweight fighter Yves Edwards has been released from the UFC after 2 straight losses. I expect Yves to bounce back soon, probably back in Pride. Yves is far more talented than many of the current UFC lightweights, but the losses have hurt his stock.

The latest juicy rumors, claim that Matt Hughes has been injured badly and will not face Georges St. Pierre at UFC 65 on November 18. More details as we get them.-MMA Mafia