Archived News Posts - 2008 Q4
K-1 "Dynamite!" Card Finalised
With health issues affecting Jerome LeBanner and Joachim Hansen, K-1 officials have announced the cancellation of Hansen's bout with Gesias Calvancante, while middleweight knockout artist Melvin Manhoef will replace LeBanner against Mark Hunt.The annual event, which is the most prestigious MMA and kickboxing event of the year, also pits legends Kazushi Sakuraba and Kiyoshi Tamura against each other after years of waiting. |
UFC 92 Results & Recap
Ending the year in dramatic fashion, UFC 92 saw two titles change, as Rashad Evans became the new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and Frank Mir captured the UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship, while Quinton Jackson defeated Wanderlei Silva.All three main events ended with stoppages, as Evans TKOed Griffin in round three, Mir stopped Nogueira with strikes in round two and Jackson knocked out Silva with a left hook in the first round. |
UFC 92 Predictions
As time ticks down until the UFC's best card of the year at UFC 92: "The Ultimate 2008," MMARising.com breaks down the card, which features two title fights and the third battle between former champions Wanderlei Silva and Quinton Jackson.In title fights, Forrest Griffin will defend the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship against "Sugar" Rashad Evans, while Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira defends against Frank Mir. |
Justin Eilers Shot & Killed
In a truly sad story, former UFC and EliteXC Heavyweight Championship title challenger Justin Eilers was found dead late on Christmas evening after a dispute led to Eilers's stepfather shooting him once in the chest with a large calibre handgun.The dispute stemmed from an earlier argument between Eilers and his ex-girlfriend, and tensions escalated between Eilers and his ex-sheriff stepfather, James Robert Malec. |
Fitch vs Gono At UFC 94
Returning to competition after his gruelling defeat against George St. Pierre, top welterweight contender Jon Fitch will battle "The Japanese Sensation" Akihiro Gono at UFC 94, but the bout will curiously be on the untelevised undercard.The odd decision to put this stellar fight on the underard, with Fitch coming off of a main event title fight, is likely as a result of recent issues between the UFC and fighters over name rights. |
The Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale Results
Capping off a wild and controversial season, The Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale featured some excellent fights and explosive finishes, with Ryan "Darth" Bader taking the Light Heavyweight crown and Efrain Escudero winning the Lightweight title.Also on the main card, Anthony "Rumble" Johnson got revenge with a highlight-reel knockout of Kevin "The Fire" Burns, while Wilson Gouveia defeated Jason "The Athlete" MacDonald. |
Adrenaline MMA II Results
Competing for just the second time in nearly seven years, MMA legend "The Croatian Sensation" Pat Miletich showed that he still has what it takes to compete, as he displayed solid striking and knocked out Thomas "Wildman" Denny at Adrenaline MMA II.Also on the card, heavyweight standouts Mike Russow and "Big" Ben Rothwell both notched quick stoppage victories, though the level of competition for Rothwell was highly questionable, at best. |
Sokoudjou vs Sobral At Affliction II
Barely a week after being cut from the UFC, powerful striker and former top-10 light heavyweight "The African Assassin" Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou has accepted a fight with Renato "Babalu" Sobral at the upcoming Affliction II event in January.The single-fight agreement will see Sokoudjou and current Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion Sobral battle in a traditional striker vs grappler matchup with top-10 rankings implications. |
UFC Fight Night 16 Results
In a night honouring the military of the United States, violence was the key topic on many people's minds, as Yoshiyuki Yoshida and Jonathan Goulet both suffered vicious knockouts, while Corey Hill badly broke his leg in a preliminary fight.Injuries and brutal knockouts aside, UFC Fight Night 16: "Fight For The Troops" was a solid event, and saw Jim Miller dominate Matt Wiman for three rounds in the night's first main card bout. |
MFC 19: "Long Time Coming" Results
After being sidelined for nearly a year with injury, Roger "The Hulk" Hollett finally made his first Maximum Fighting Championships Light Heavyweight Championship defence at MFC 19, but was dethroned by Emanuel "The Hardcore Kid" Newton.Also on the card were a pair of excellent battles, as British knockout artist Paul "Semtex" Daley defeated John "The Natural" Alessio, while Derrick "The Eraser" Noble submitted Ariel Sexton. |
World Extreme Cagefighting 37 Results
In yet another great night of fights, World Extreme Cagefighting once again showed why they are one of the premier promotions in North America, as a stellar WEC 37 card culminated with a very exciting WEC Bantamweight Championship bout.The main event saw champion Miguel Torres outstrike and outmatch Manny "The Mangler" Tapia en route to a high-impact second-round TKO that brought the cheering crowd to their feet. |
Barnett vs Yvel At Affliction II
Showcasing yet another heavyweight showdown, Affliction II will see the feared and always controversial Gilbert "The Hurricane" Yvel return to competition when he takes on #3-ranked heavyweight "The Babyface Assassin" Josh Barnett.Yvel (35-12-1, 1 NC), who has an amazing 30 victories by knockout, will look to keep the fight standing against Barnett (23-5-0), whose submission and wrestling skills are matched by few. |
K-1 Dynamite! Fights Announced
Setting the stages for its annual "Premium Dynamite!" New Year's Eve show, DREAM and K-1 parent company FEG has begun to announce fights for the stellar MMA and kickboxing event, including a rumoured bout between Eddie Alvarez and Shinya Aoki.The MMA portion of the card will finally pit Japanese legend Kazushi "The Gracie Hunter" Sakuraba against Kiyoshi Tamura, with the Aoki vs Alvarez bout as another top fight. |
Sokoudjou Cut From The UFC
After managing just one win in three UFC bouts, former PRIDE upset king and top-10 light heavyweight "The African Assassin" Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou has been cut from the UFC following his recent disappointing loss to Luis "Banha" Cane at UFC 89.Sokoudjou's departure comes soon after another top-10 star, heavyweight Fabricio "Vai Cavalo" Werdum, also departed the promotion after being knocked out by newcomer Junior dos Santos. |
Strikeforce: "Destruction" Results
Showcasing another excellent card, Strikeforce put on a solid show at "Destruction," which saw Renato "Babalu" Sobral become the new Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion, while Scott "Hands of Steel" Smith quickly knocked out Terry Martin.Also on the card, former UFC star Joe "Diesel" Riggs got a much-needed win, Kim "Sugar Free" Couture scored her first victory and Duane "Bang" Ludwig edged out Yves Edwards in a close fight. |
UFC 91 Results & Recap
While the card was filled with mostly meaningless fights, UFC 91 did provide a series of entertaining bouts, capped off by Brock Lesnar capturing the UFC Heavyweight Championship by defeating Randy "The Natural" Couture in the second round.Elsewhere, Kenny "KenFlo" Florian destroyed Joe "Daddy" Stevenson, while Dustin "McLovin" Hazelett submitted Tamdan "The Barn Cat" McCrory with an impressive omoplata armbar. |
Jewels: "First Ring" Results
One week after the Valkyrie promotion held its first event, the second of Japan's newest all-female groups, Jewels, debuted with an excellent card that featured #1-ranked female fighter Megumi "Mega Megu" Fujii quickly submitting Tomoko Morii.The night's main event featured a battle between karate champion Saori Ishioka and wrestling star Mika Nagano, with Ishioka emerging from the fight with a hard-fought Unanimous Decision win. |
UFC 91 Predictions
Just hours away, UFC 91 features mediocre and largely meaningless fights, but the event is capped off by a UFC Heavyweight Championship bout between Randy "The Natural" Couture and Brock Lesnar. MMARising.com breaks down the event's card.A highlight of the televised portion of UFC 91 is a very interesting welterweight battle between young guns Tamdan "The Barn Cat" McCrory and Dustin "McLovin" Hazelett, which should be excellent. |
Kang To Face Belcher At UFC 93
One week after finally signing with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Canadian star Denis "Super Korean" Kang has been slated to debut for the promotion at UFC 93 against the always confident Alan "The Talent" Belcher in Dublin, Ireland.The rumoured bout, which is expected to be confirmed later this week, provides Kang with an opportunity to compete against a credible UFC middleweight in his long-awaited debut. |
Valkyrie: "Valkyrie 1" Results
Rising from the ashes of SmackGIRL, one of Japan's newest all-female promotions, Valkyrie, made an immediate impact with their debut event, which concluded with former SmackGIRL 115-Pound Champion Yuka "Vale Tudo Queen" Tsuji defeating V Hajime.On the undercard, highly-touted Roxanne Modafferi defeated newcomer Chisa Yonezawa after taking the fight on very short notice when her superfight with Tara LaRosa was cancelled. |
World Extreme Cagefighting 36 Results
Despite an atrocious middleweight bout between WEC Middleweight Champion Paulo Filho and Chael Sonnen, WEC 36 was otherwise another great event for World Extreme Cagefighting, ending with Mike Brown becoming WEC Featherweight Champion.The middleweight bout, which was changed to a non-title fight after Filho missed weight by an incredible seven pounds, was filled with 15 minutes of non-action, with Sonnen as the victor. |
Filho Misses Weight For WEC 36
In a truly puzzling turn of events, Paulo Filho left many in attendance in disbelief at the weigh-ins for WEC 36, as the reigning WEC Middleweight Champion missed weight by a whopping seven pounds for his title defence against Chael Sonnen.As a result of the incredibly disrespectful and ridiculous incident, Filho's fight with Sonnen will now be a three-round non-title bout, which is a disappointing development, to say the very least. |
Denis Kang Signs With The UFC
Literally years in the making, the UFC has finally announced the signing of former top-five middleweight in the world, Denis "Super Korean" Kang, who is expected to debut in the promotion early in 2009 and will look to make an immediate impact.This comes years after original plans to feature Kang on Season Two of The Ultimate Fighter, but the PRIDE and Spirit MC veteran remains as one of the sport's top-ranked middleweights. |
Leben Suspended For Steroids
Just weeks after his main event loss to Michael "The Count" Bisping at UFC 89, Chris "The Crippler" Leben has been suspended for nine months from the UFC after testing positive for the anabolic steroid Stanozolol following the fight in England.In addition to the suspension, Leben must also forfeit one-third of his fight purse from the UFC 89 event, but he has openly admitted to his indiscretions and has accepted the consequences. |
World Victory Road "Sengoku VI" Results
World Victory Road's debut Lightweight and Middleweight Grand Prixs came to a conclusion with a series of great fights at "Sengoku VI" in Japan, but the card was marred by highly questionable scoring between Takanori Gomi and Sergey Golyaev.Despite dominating all of the first and third rounds, Gomi's apparent victory over Golyaev was snatched away by the judges, who somehow awarded Golyaev with a puzzling Split Decision win. |
UFC 90 Results & Recap
Though featured bouts featuring Thiago Alves, Josh Koscheck, Sean Sherk and Tyson Griffin were very entertaining, UFC 90 was largely a disappointment, and concluded with an unfortunate injury to Patrick Côté that prevented him from continuing.A lightweight battle between Gray "The Bully" Maynard and Rich "No Love" Clementi proved frustrating, as Maynard was booed loudly after employing the "lay and pray" tactic for three rounds. |
Kang Defeats Eastman At RAW Combat
Continuing his quest back to the Top 10 of the middleweight division, Canadian star Denis "Super Korean" Kang scored his second win in two months by knocking out former UFC contender Marvin "The Beastman" Eastman at RAW Combat: Redemption.The event, featuring many of the stars of the former Hardcore Championship Fighting promotion, was held in HCF's old home of The Stampede Corral in Calgary, Alberta, and was a great card. |
UFC 90 Predictions
Just one week removed from UFC 89, MMARising.com looks at this weekend's UFC 90 card, which is headlined by a UFC Middleweight Championship bout between champion Anderson "The Spider" Silva and challenger Patrick "The Predator" Côté.Also on the main card is a #1 contender's bout for the UFC Welterweight Championship, with Josh Koscheck stepping in on short notice to battle Muay Thai knockout artist Thiago "Pitbull" Alves. |
Emelianenko vs Arlovski At Affliction II
Ending weeks of speculation, Affliction has officially announced that #1-ranked heavyweight fighter "The Last Emperor" Fedor Emelianenko will face Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski at Affliction: "Day of Reckoning" on January 24th in California.Emelianenko (28-1-0, 1 NC), the former PRIDE Heavyweight Champion and current WAMMA Unified Heavyweight Champion, will face a tough test in ex-UFC champ Arlovski (14-5-0). |
ProElite Folds, EliteXC Event Cancelled
With controversy still swirling from their October 4th event, EliteXC's parent company, ProElite, has ceased operations, and the cancellation of the November 8th "Night of Champions" card has left EliteXC's talented fighters out in the cold.There are rumours of a potential union between the newly-formed Affliction MMA promotion and CBS, which could pick up where EliteXC left off, but the future right now is very much uncertain. |
UFC 89 Results & Recap
A night filled with decisions culminated with hometown favourite Michael "The Count" Bisping defeating Chris "The Crippler" Leben at UFC 89, while "The Dean of Mean" Keith Jardine and Luis "Banha" Cane were victorious in light heavyweight action.The undercard was dominated by upsets, as Jim Miller and Terry Etim both picked up victories, while Dan "The Outlaw" Hardy defeated "The Japanese Sensation" Akihiro Gono by Split Decision. |
UFC 89 Predictions
With UFC 89 just one day away, and airing live and for free on SpikeTV, MMARising.com breaks down the fight card, which is headlined by a middleweight showdown between Chris "The Crippler" Leben and England's Michael "The Count" Bisping.The undercard is also solid, with light heavyweight fights between "The Dean of Mean" Keith Jardine and Brandon Vera, and "The African Assassin" Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou and Luis "Banha" Cane. |
Kaufman vs Young Set For EliteXC
Adding to an already impressive lineup for their upcoming "A Night of Champions" event on November 8th, EliteXC has put together a women's bout between knockout artist Kaitlin Young and undefeated Canadian striker Sarah Kaufman.The bout will be Kaufman's first since her victory over Molly Helsel in March, as she was left without a promotion to compete for, while Young seeks to rebound from her defeat to Gina Carano. |
Major Changes To UFC 90
With less than two weeks until the event, injuries have forced a number of changes to UFC 90, as Goran Reljic, Diego Sanchez and Ricardo Almeida have all withdrawn. Drew McFedries, Josh Koscheck and Dan Miller have stepped in as replacements.While the injuries to the fighters are unfortunate, the additions of Koscheck, McFedries and Miller have ensured that the event will still be full of exciting welterweight and middleweight fights. |
Valkyrie Emerges In Japan
As veteran female promotion SmackGIRL remains on life support due to financial troubles, Greatest Common Multiple has announced that they will supplement their successful Cage Force promotion with an all-female division known as Valkyrie.The announcement comes amid speculation that SmackGIRL, the world's premier female MMA organisation, will soon close due to financial difficulties stemming from its ReMix Grand Prix. |
EliteXC: "Heat" Results
Capped off by one of the most shocking performances in recent history, EliteXC: "Heat" saw light heavyweight Seth "The Silverback" Petruzelli step in at the last moment for an injured Ken Shamrock and knock out Kimbo Slice in 14 seconds.Shamrock, who was inadvertently cut by a headbutt while warming up backstage in the hours before the fight, was denied clearance to compete, leaving Petruzelli with a golden opportunity. |
Carano Struggles With Weight...Again
In what has become somewhat of a farce, EliteXC postergirl Gina Carano once again struggled very badly to make weight for her bout at EliteXC: "Heat" tomorrow night on CBS, eventually narrowly making the limit after removing all clothing.The weigh-ins were not without conflict, as Jake Shields and Paul "Semtex" Daley went nose-to-nose and Ken Shamrock shoved Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson after Ferguson turned his back. |
