Author: kmowatt

What kinds of things may be surprising on a Monday AM? You’re super stoked to be back at work? Perhaps. You went the weekend without ingesting one beer? For the vast majority of us here at Fix, definitely. You find out that Spike TV is going to replay UFC 113 on June 26^th, the same night Strikeforce’s “Fedor vs. Werdum” event is scheduled? Ummm…not so much.

Yes indeedy, today comes word that the UFC will in fact counterprogram Strikeforce’s upcoming June 26^th event with a replay of UFC 113. If you’re hard pressed to recall what you ate for breakfast, much less a few weeks ago, that was the card where “Shogun” Rua sent a collective gasp around the world by pounding out Lyoto Machida. It was also the card where Kimbo Slice’s highly hyped and promoted run in the UFC came to an end courtesy Matt Mitrione.

Now of course, today’s news is less than shocking, as pretty much every time one of the UFC’s main competitors holds a big event, Zuffa gives it’s bestest TV buddy Spike a call. Will more people watch the UFC 113 replay? Of course. Will it actually draw viewers away from the Showtime broadcast of Fedor Emelianenko vs. Fabricio Werdum? Maybe. You would think the vast majority of  hardcore fans will tune in to see how “The Last Emperor” does. If you don’t know whose nickname that is…well, we’re guessing there’s a good chance you’ll be watching Spike come June 26^th.

To bet on Fedor vs. Werdum head here.

Heading into next weekend’s UFC 115 tilt between Chuck Liddell and Rich Franklin, a lot of attention will continue to focus on how Liddell looks before, during and after the fight. After all, when you’re one of the sport’s top draws, get KO’d in back-to-back fights, and your boss publicly declares you should never fight again; people are going to tune in. Of course Liddell’s stints on Dancing with the Stars, TUF, and a ‘hee-hee they’re nude’ Reebok commercial, are also why “The Iceman” probably hasn’t had this much hype since 2006.

Yesterday we posted some comments from Franklin, who, while crediting Liddell’s striking abilities, stated he believes he will have the advantage the longer the fight goes. Well, in an interview with MMA Fighting’s Mike Chiappetta, the 40 year-old Liddell had this to say about his conditioning:

“It’s the best shape I’ve been in for a while, yeah. I was sort of in shape since Dancing with the Stars, since I made that bet with Dana to get down in weight in September. In November, I started training camp to get ready to coach the show. I wanted to be in shape for the guys when I got there. I did kind of a mini-camp for seven weeks. I kept training and working out and went right back into camp after it ended. I made some changes and it’s put me in the best shape I’ve been in in a long time.”

Other topics Liddell tackles in the interview includes strategy for Franklin and Tito Ortiz dropping out of the bout. To read more head here. To bet on the UFC 115 fight click here.

As far as we understand (and we say this because 80% of our legal knowledge is limited to ‘don’t do ____ in front of a cop’), Jake Shields was off the market until today; meaning Strikeforce was the only promotion that could negotiate with its current middleweight champion. Now, as of this AM, no new deal with Strikeforce has been announced, meaning that other promotions (particularly ones with the letters U.F.C.)  are free to pursue Shields.

So was Shields kind of a restricted free agent and now he’s entered into true, ‘show me the money,’ free agency? Yes and no. According to a report from MMA Junkie, other promotions can now negotiate with Shields, however, Strikeforce still has the right to match that offer. The length of the ‘matching period’ is unknown, but, we’re thinking Dana White is probably familiar with that info as of today.

Really, barring some mind blowing, ‘I didn’t see that coming’ signing, where a promotion like Bellator FC picks up Shields (similar to its signing of Roger Huerta), it seems like most folks are expecting Shields to be UFC bound. Second on the list of predicted outcomes is that he remains with Strikeforce, but remember, White did take the dude to WEC 48. That’s gotta count for something…

If you’re an old school MMA fan (and if you’re thinking ‘dude I’ve been watching since Brock Lesnar made his UFC debut’ you’re not even close) then you might remember the days when David Loiseau was kicking and slicing his way to a title shot with then middleweight champ Rich Franklin. From his spinning back kick stoppage of Charles McCarthy at UFC 53, to his ‘those elbows can’t be good for anyone’ win over Evan Tanner at UFC Fight Night 2, “The Crow” bandwagon quickly filled up.

Of course, the good times didn’t last for Loiseau, and after really disappointing results against Franklin and Mike Swick, the Canadian was cut from the UFC. More recently, however, Loiseau has gone 4-1 in his last five bouts and will face Mario Miranda at UFC 115. Now according to an interesting interview with UFC.com, Loiseau has once again enlisted the services of  coach Kambalay “Peter” Sisomphou, the man who taught “The Crow” the fine art of elbow hacking (a Rated Mature skill Loiseau is rather infamous for).

“He’s the guy who showed me how to throw elbows,” said Loiseau of Sisomphou, a veteran of over 200 fights in Thailand who is credited by many with helping establish Muay Thai in Quebec in the 80’s. “He’s got a lot of knowledge, a lot of experience and it’s a blessing; I’m happy to have him back and it makes fighting fun again.”

Huh. Maybe things will get gory June 12^th? Maybe not. To bet on the bout head here.