Replacing Carano vs. D’Alelio on the televised card of the June 18th Showtime event will be the lightweight title eliminator between KJ Noons and Jorge Masvidal, which was originally slated for the prelims. The promotion may find a replacement opponent for D’Alelio, and will announce more details later. We’ll update you when we know more.
(Whatever’s wrong with her, it’s probably nothing that one of my famous back-massages couldn’t cure. #creeper)
Replacing Carano vs. D’Alelio on the televised card of the June 18th Showtime event will be the lightweight title eliminator between KJ Noons and Jorge Masvidal, which was originally slated for the prelims. The promotion may find a replacement opponent for D’Alelio, and will announce more details later. We’ll update you when we know more.
*UPDATE*According to a story by Loretta Hunt on SI.com, Carano actually passed all of her medical requirements to be licensed by the State of Texas (including a physician’s examination, an ophthalmologic exam and requisite blood test) for the bout with D’Alelio. A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Licensing — the department responsible for fighter licensing told Hunt that their office was contacted today by an unnamed party that informed them that the popular female fighter would not be fighting next week. No reason was specified.
“Gina Carano had met all of the state of Texas’ requirements and the agency received notice today that she was off the card,” Susan Stanford, the public information officer for the Texas Department of Licensing explained.
But Scott Coker said she wasn’t medically cleared to fight…
We’ve been burned by these “guest Octagon Girl” reports in the past, but this one seems to be coming from a higher authority:
UFC 131 in Vancouver will have a guest Octagon Girl by the name of Leah Dizon according to Arianny Celeste on Facebook yesterday. Leah, a singer and model was born and raised in Las Vegas but now resides in Tokyo, Japan. [via babesofmma]
We’ve been burned by these “guest Octagon Girl” reports in the past, but this one seems to be coming from a higher authority:
UFC 131 in Vancouver will have a guest Octagon Girl by the name of Leah Dizon according to Arianny Celeste on Facebook yesterday. Leah, a singer and model was born and raised in Las Vegas but now resides in Tokyo, Japan. [via babesofmma]
(Pokrajac chokes out James Irvin at UFC on Versus 2, but contracts the Sandman Curse in the process. Props: Francis Specker)
UFC 131 was never going to be remembered as the most stacked event of the year, but it did have a lot of crowd-pleasing names on it. Then, Brock Lesnar fell ill with a flare-up of diverticulitis, TUF 11 winner Court McGee tweaked his knee in training, and Mac Danzig’s chest injury snubbed out a compelling bang-up with Donald Cerrone. Throw in injury withdrawals from supporting players Anthony Perosh and Rani Yahya, and you’re left with a ghost-ship of a card that’s making Joe Silva work double-shifts.
Now, just days before the third UFC event in three weeks, the card continues to lose bodies. Due to an undisclosed injury*, Croatian light-heavyweight Igor Pokrajac has been forced to withdraw from his fight against Krzysztof Soszynski, and will be replaced on short notice by Mike Massenzio. (Pokrajac was already an injury replacement for Anthony Perosh, which means that this UFC 131 injury curse has affected K-Sos as much as anybody.)
(Pokrajac chokes out James Irvin at UFC on Versus 2, but contracts the Sandman Curse in the process. Props: Francis Specker)
UFC 131 was never going to be remembered as the most stacked event of the year, but it did have a lot of crowd-pleasing names on it. Then, Brock Lesnar fell ill with a flare-up of diverticulitis, TUF 11 winner Court McGee tweaked his knee in training, and Mac Danzig’s chest injury snubbed out a compelling bang-up with Donald Cerrone. Throw in injury withdrawals from supporting players Anthony Perosh and Rani Yahya, and you’re left with a ghost-ship of a card that’s making Joe Silva work double-shifts.
Now, just days before the third UFC event in three weeks, the card continues to lose bodies. Due to an undisclosed injury*, Croatian light-heavyweight Igor Pokrajac has been forced to withdraw from his fight against Krzysztof Soszynski, and will be replaced on short notice by Mike Massenzio. (Pokrajac was already an injury replacement for Anthony Perosh, which means that this UFC 131 injury curse has affected K-Sos as much as anybody.)
Best known as a middleweight, Massenzio was released by the UFC last year following consecutive stoppage losses to CB Dollaway and Brian Stann. He last competed on April 29th, scoring a 2nd round TKO over Nate Kittredge at a Combat Zone MMA event in New Hampshire.
In related news, a training injury has forced welterweight contender Martin Kampmann out of his scheduled bout against John Howard at UFC on Versus 4 (June 26th, Pittsburgh). Replacing him will be TUF 7 vet Matt Brown, who was slated to face Rich Attonito on the same card; Daniel Roberts will now come in to face Attonito. It’s a do-or-die fight for Brown, who has lost his last three fights — all by second-round submission.
* It’s nice to see that Sherdog has become as lazy as CagePotato, referring to Soszynski as ‘K-Sos‘. Add it to the list of phrases that we’ve popularized and then run into the ground.
(Bader beat him. K-Sos beat him. Lawlor beat him. Now he’s one of the toughest prospects in the light-heavyweight division — proving once again that shaving your head is always a good career move. Photo props to UFC.com)
Not to pee-pee on Tony Ferguson‘s parade, but winning The Ultimate Fighter is no guaranteeof success in the UFC. On the other hand, getting eliminated while in the TUF house is no guarantee of failure either. In fact, some of today’s most dangerous UFC contenders are guys who entered the promotion through the reality show, but didn’t even get to fight for the glass trophy. In the wake of Saturday’s TUF 13 Finale, here’s how I’d rank the Top 10 non-finalists from The Ultimate Fighter, based on their current standing in the promotion…
#1: Gray Maynard On TUF: Was choked out by Nate Diaz in the semi-finals of season 5. These days: Drew with Frankie Edgar in his first lightweight title challenge in January, but will get another crack at the belt later this year. His pair of title fights against Edgar follow an eight-fight win streak in the Octagon, which included a decision win against Diaz in a rematch last year.
#2: Josh Koscheck On TUF: Lost a split-decision to Diego Sanchez in the semi-finals of season 1. These days: A perennial top contender in the welterweight division, Kos will be one of the front-runners for the belt if GSP ever leaves the division; until then, he’ll just have to be content with being “right up there.”
(Bader beat him. K-Sos beat him. Lawlor beat him. Now he’s one of the toughest prospects in the light-heavyweight division — proving once again that shaving your head is always a good career move. Photo props to UFC.com)
Not to pee-pee on Tony Ferguson‘s parade, but winning The Ultimate Fighter is no guaranteeof success in the UFC. On the other hand, getting eliminated while in the TUF house is no guarantee of failure either. In fact, some of today’s most dangerous UFC contenders are guys who entered the promotion through the reality show, but didn’t even get to fight for the glass trophy. In the wake of Saturday’s TUF 13 Finale, here’s how I’d rank the Top 10 non-finalists from The Ultimate Fighter, based on their current standing in the promotion…
#1: Gray Maynard On TUF: Was choked out by Nate Diaz in the semi-finals of season 5. These days: Drew with Frankie Edgar in his first lightweight title challenge in January, but will get another crack at the belt later this year. His pair of title fights against Edgar follow an eight-fight win streak in the Octagon, which included a decision win against Diaz in a rematch last year.
#2: Josh Koscheck On TUF: Lost a split-decision to Diego Sanchez in the semi-finals of season 1. These days: A perennial top contender in the welterweight division, Kos will be one of the front-runners for the belt if GSP ever leaves the division; until then, he’ll just have to be content with being “right up there.”
#3: George Sotiropoulos On TUF: Was K.O.’d by Tommy Speer in the semi-finals of season 6. These days: Even though he dropped a decision to Dennis Siver in his last fight, his previous seven-fight win streak — which included high-profile wins over Joe Stevenson, Kurt Pellegrino, and Joe Lauzon — established him as a player in the lightweight division. He’ll return to action against Rafael Dos Anjos at UFC 132 next month.
#4: Melvin Guillard On TUF: Lost a unanimous decision to Josh Burkman in the quarterfinals of season 2. These days: Speaking of lightweight contenders, the Young Assassin has been on a tear lately. After going 3-0 in 2010, Guillard TKO’d Evan Dunham at “Fight for the Troops 2″ in January, picking up a Knockout of the Night bonus and some much-deserved respect. Next up on Melvin’s to-punch list: Shane Roller at UFC 132.
#5: Matt Mitrione On TUF: Was submitted by James McSweeney in the quarterfinals of season 10, where he was best known as “the dude with the brain damage.” These days: He’s done nothing but win since his time on the show, racking up a 4-0 Octagon record with victories over Big Baby, Kimbo, the Mexecutioner, and Tim Hague. Not exactly a who’s-who of heavyweight contenders, but he’s looked great so far. Mitrione’s next opponent will be Christian Morecraft at UFC on Versus 4, later this month.
#6: Matt Hamill On TUF: Was unable to continue after his unanimous decision win over Mike Nickels in the quarterfinals of season 3. These days: A constant presence in the light-heavyweight division, although his recent loss to Rampage Jackson doesn’t bode well for his future title prospects.
#7: Chris Leben On TUF: Was outpointed by Josh Koscheck in the quarterfinals of season 1, then was brought back as an injury replacement, and lost to Kenny Florian by doctor’s stoppage TKO. These days: Gearing up for a fight against Wanderlei Silva at UFC 132 that could re-establish him as a contender. His last fight ended in a TKO loss to Brian Stann that stopped an impressive three-fight win streak.
#8: Kyle Kingsbury On TUF: Like Leben, his time on the show resulted in multiple losses. Kingsbury was submitted by Ryan Bader in the elimination round of season 8, brought back as an injury replacement, and then submitted again by Krzysztof Soszynski in the quarterfinals. Kingsbury was given another shot on the finale card against Tom Lawlor, and was defeated by unanimous decision. These days: Incredibly, the UFC decided to keep Kingsbury around. It turned out to be a wise choice, as “Kingsbu” has gone 4-0 since the TUF 8 Finale, knocking off prospects like Jared Hamman, Ricardo Romero, and (last weekend) Fabio Maldonado.
#9: Matt Wiman On TUF: Lost a decision to Manny Gamburyan in the quarterfinals of season 5. These days: Riding a three-fight win streak, including victories over TUF 6 winner Mac Danzig and submission wizard Cole Miller, who also competed on TUF 5. His next fight will be against Dennis Siver at UFC 132. Damn, you noticing a trend here?
#10: George Roop On TUF: Lost to Phillipe Nover by submission in the semi-finals of season 8. These days: After dropping from lightweight to featherweight to bantamweight, then returning to featherweight, Roop is settling in at 145 with fantastic results. He’s gone 2-1-1 in his current featherweight campaign, with devastating knockout wins over Chan Sung Jung and Josh Grispi. His draw against Leonard Garcia — which should be considered a moral victory — won WEC 47′s Fight of the Night award.
White also released a statement on UFC.com clarifying that Rogan’s UG posts were not sanctioned by anybody but Joe himself, and they weren’t particularly appreciated by the company:
Joe Rogan recently made an offensive statement reflecting a personal opinion that does not represent the UFC in any way. I have addressed this directly with Joe.
(“This damn knucklehead. Always saying what the rest of us are thinking. Ah, well.“)
White also released a statement on UFC.com clarifying that Rogan’s UG posts were not sanctioned by anybody but Joe himself, and they weren’t particularly appreciated by the company:
Joe Rogan recently made an offensive statement reflecting a personal opinion that does not represent the UFC in any way. I have addressed this directly with Joe.
Okay, so it’s more of a ‘tweet’ than the kind of drawn-out statement you’d expect from a company president — honestly, the dude ate up more of his data-plan feuding with Bloodstain Lane on Saturday night — but it was a necessary gesture during a moment when emotions were pretty high on both sides of the debate; even a columnist for the UFC’s hometown newspaper is now calling for Rogan’s head.
One more quote from the Yahoo! piece, and then I promise I’ll leave you alone about this shit:
[L]ate Thursday, UFC spokeswoman Caren Bell privately called Hendricks and issued an apology. And while it is commendable that the UFC offered any kind of apology at all, it was made privately at a time when Hendricks was under heavy siege publicly because she stood up for what was right. A public apology would have meant more and carried far more weight.
Well, Hendricks got her public statement from White, though I wouldn’t categorize it as an “apology,” exactly. And personally, I disagree that any public statement would have carried more weight than either Joe or Dana calling Maggie up immediately afterward and saying “Hey, sorry, that was out of line. We cool?”
Instead, we have a female vice-president of communications tasked with calling up Maggie and apologizing for Joe Rogan calling her “cunty,” which just strikes me as awkward and bizarre. For his part, Joe Rogan downgraded “cunty” to “bitchy” in his own apology on the UG. In the MMA world, we call that a happy ending.
Strikeforce has also officially added Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal vs. Roger Gracie to the “Fedor vs. Henderson” main card; Rafael Cavalcante is expected to return against streaking prospect Ovince St. Preux, while Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos is slated to meet Belgian welterweight Tarec Saffiedine.
