(Duane, how many times do I have to tell you to STOP SLEEPING ON THE JOB??!!!!)
Well, well, well…it looks like the UFC has finally delivered a free card matchup that doesn’t make us yearn for the days of Arlovski/Sylvia III. Word just broke (and by just, we mean a good six or seven hours ago) that veteran strikers Duane “Bang” Ludwig and Che Mills have been paired up for UFC on FUEL 5, which goes down on September 29, 2012 at the Capital FM Arena in Nottingham, England and features a headlining matchup between heavyweight contenders Stefan Struve and Stipe Miocic. Mills broke the news via his Twitter:
After stringing together a pair of wins over Nick Osipczak and Amir Sodallah to save his UFC career, Ludwig again finds himself with his back against the wall. He has dropped his last two contests to Josh Neer (via Ambienotine) and Dan Hardy (via lead left hook of death) and could be looking at his final fight under the promotion if he is not successful against Mills.
(Duane, how many times do I have to tell you to STOP SLEEPING ON THE JOB??!!!!)
Well, well, well…it looks like the UFC has finally delivered a free card matchup that doesn’t make us yearn for the days of Arlovski/Sylvia III. Word just broke (and by just, we mean a good six or seven hours ago) that veteran strikers Duane “Bang” Ludwig and Che Mills have been paired up for UFC on FUEL 5, which goes down on September 29, 2012 at the Capital FM Arena in Nottingham, England and features a headlining matchup between heavyweight contenders Stefan Struve and Stipe Miocic. Mills broke the news via his Twitter:
After stringing together a pair of wins over Nick Osipczak and Amir Sodallah to save his UFC career, Ludwig again finds himself with his back against the wall. He has dropped his last two contests to Josh Neer (via Ambienotine) and Dan Hardy (via lead left hook of death) and could be looking at his final fight under the promotion if he is not successful against Mills. From all accounts, Ludwig is one of the nicest guys in the sport, so let’s hope he brings his A-game against Mills, who is coming off a loss of his own to welterweight wrecking machine Rory MacDonald at UFC 145. The loss snapped a five fight win streak for Mills, who kicked off his UFC career by almost kneeing off Chris Cope’s head at UFC 138. Luckily, we’ve managed to find the crappiest quality footage possible of that fight, which we’ve placed for you below.
One thing’s for sure, we won’t have to worry about either man’s grappling credentials (or lack thereof) coming into play. This should make for a hell of an addition to a card that has a distinct lack of drawing power at the moment, so who you got, Potato Nation?
(Cote has never been the same since the night he had a run-in with Rousimar Palhares’ doppelganger.)
When all is said and done for the human race, there will be three rivalries that stand above them all in the footnotes of history: America vs. The Brits, Germany vs. Everybody, and now, Canada vs. Vietnam. Though there hasn’t been a feud between the two on the level of the Hatfields and McCoys yet, things are about to change. Why, you ask? Well, it has just been announced that Canada’s own Patrick Cote will be returning to the octagon to face Vietnamese-born San Shou expert Cung Le at UFC 148. The war that will inevitably result from this pairing will easily go down as the most significant clash Canada has gotten into since the Hans Island dispute with Denmark in the early 80’s.
Since exiting the promotion, Cote has strung together four straight wins, including a most recent first round knockout of Shooto/IFL vet Gustavo Machado, a win that we speculated could earn him a trip back to the UFC. And damn it, it feels good to be right for once.
Check out a video of Cote’s most recent performance after the jump.
(Cote has never been the same since the night he had a run-in with Rousimar Palhares’ doppelganger.)
When all is said and done for the human race, there will be three rivalries that stand above them all in the footnotes of history: America vs. The Brits, Germany vs. Everybody, and now, Canada vs. Vietnam. Though there hasn’t been a feud between the two on the level of the Hatfields and McCoys yet, things are about to change. Why, you ask? Well, it has just been announced that Canada’s own Patrick Cote will be returning to the octagon to face Vietnamese-born San Shou expert Cung Le at UFC 148. The war that will inevitably result from this pairing will easily go down as the most significant clash Canada has gotten into since the Hans Island dispute with Denmark in the early 80′s.
Since exiting the promotion, Cote has strung together four straight wins, including a most recent first round knockout of Shooto/IFL vet Gustavo Machado, a win that we speculated could earn him a trip back to the UFC. And damn it, it feels good to be right for once.
Check out a video of Cote’s most recent performance below.
Cung Le has not fought since coming up short against Wanderlei Silva at UFC 139, in a fight that saw him dominate the first round with his patented kicks, only to end up on the wrong end of a controversial TKO stoppage in the second.
This is definitely an intriguing fight for both players involved. On one hand, Cote presents a lot of the same problems for Le that Scott Smith did, being a hard-hitting, yet slightly one-dimensional striker who will more than likely keep things standing. Unlike Smith, however, Cote’s chin is made of titanium, and he sure as hell won’t be attacking Le with the kind reckless abandon/stupidity that Smith did in the pair’s second encounter. Cote also has much better footwork, and will hopefully be able to avoid the spinning attacks of Le, which are responsible for more cases of sudden onset diarrhea than Lay’s WOW Chips. Given Le’s susceptibility to the KO (both his 2 losses have come that way), this could make for an incredibly entertaining, back and forth brawl that ends in devastating fashion.
UFC 148 goes down on July 7th, 2012 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
(This one is for The Number 23, and the next one is for that God damn penguin movie!)
Yep, that’s right. None other than former middleweight champion Rich “Ace” Franklin will be the man to fill in for Vitor Belfort against Wanderlei Silva in the main event of UFC 147. The fight will be contested at a catchweight of 190 pounds. Sound familiar? That might be because these two met at UFC 99 back in June of 2009 at a catchweight of just five pounds heavier (a.k.a Rumbleweight, Franklinweight, Moneyweight, or 195 lbs.). The fight was an action packed affair that saw “Ace” emerge victorious by way of unanimous decision.
Though this matchup will more than likely make for an exciting fight (being that their first scrap took home FOTN honors), we may be looking at the possibility of UFC 147 being demoted from a pay-per-view to a free card at this point. And here’s why.
(This one is for The Number 23, and the next one is for that God damn penguin movie!)
Yep, that’s right. None other than former middleweight champion Rich “Ace” Franklin will be the man to fill in for Vitor Belfort against Wanderlei Silva in the main event of UFC 147. The fight will be contested at a catchweight of 190 pounds. Sound familiar? That might be because these two met at UFC 99 back in June of 2009 at a catchweight of just five pounds heavier (a.k.a Rumbleweight, Franklinweight, Moneyweight, or 195 lbs.). The fight was an action packed affair that saw “Ace” emerge victorious by way of unanimous decision.
Though this matchup will more than likely make for an exciting fight (being that their first scrap took home FOTN honors), we may be looking at the possibility of UFC 147 being demoted from a pay-per-view to a free card at this point. And here’s why.
Sign #1: The card, or lack thereof
First, let’s take a look at the card as it stands. Which is to say, barely. The only announced matchups are as follows.
Other scheduled bouts:
TUF: Brazil featherweight finals
TUF: Brazil Middleweight finals Mike Russow vs. Fabricio Werdum
Felipe Arantes vs. Milton Vieira
Yuri Alcantara vs. Hacran Dias
Aside from a pair of fights that will determine the TUF: Brazil winners, we have a couple of fights featuring names that only the hardcore fans will even recognize *cough* Milton Vieira *cough* and a likely co-headliner of Werdum vs. Russow. Whoop-dee-fucking-doo. Although Werdum looked nothing short of outstanding his last time around, the same can not be said for Russow. Yes, the kid is on a ridiculous 11-fight win streak, including four straight in the UFC, but in terms of drawing power, he is still very low on the heavyweight totem pole. Plus, his previous victories over anyone not named Todd Duffee were boring as shit. And besides, even the finales of American TUF seasons are relegated to free cards. Now that UFC 147 lacks even the drawing power of its original coaches, we see no reason why the UFC would think this card is worthy of a PPV buy.
Sign #2 – Relevance
Look, we love Wandy and Ace. In fact, this match, as with their first, is one of those fights where we don’t want to see either guy lose, unless it’s by way of some insane windmill-style knockout, of course. But let’s be real here, nothing short of a Kurt Russell miracle would have to happen for either of these guys to come anywhere close to the middleweight belt. Even though this fight is at catchweight, 185 is where both men will be calling their home for the time being, and probably until they call it quits.
Anderson Silva gave Franklin a permanent black eye and enough nightmares to make a WW2 vet stir in his sleep in their pair of fights, and Wanderlei only delayed a forced retirement by beating Cung Le last November. To think that either of these guys are the next threat to Anderson is not only ludicrous, it’s downright laughable. Franklin most recently dropped a UD to Forrest Griffin at UFC 126, and considering how FoGriff fared against Anderson, we can use the power of MMA math to determine that Silva might just beat Franklin to death were they to meet again. This is not meant as a knock on either man’s career, but rather an accurate assessment of why no one will be forking over 50 dollars for a card headlined by such a matchup.
Sign #3 – It’s in a foreign country
OK, so this one’s a bit of a stretch, but it seems that even when a card falls apart in the good old US of A, the UFC seems reluctant to admit defeat and just give away a card to the people. On the other hand, can you remember the last time a card that aired in London wasn’t free? Neither can we. As of now, UFC 147 is scheduled to go down at the Estádio Jornalista Felipe Drumond in Belo Horizonte, Brazil and has already switched venues to make way for that pesky UN. All we’re saying is: mediocre card + foreign country = Fight Night in the making.
Sign #4 – Dana White has yet to make up for UFC 112
We haven’t forgotten your promise, DW. Now throw a couple more decent fights on this card and we can all forget the absolute turd that was Silva vs. Maia. Chop-chop.
So who’s stoked enough to shell out their hard earned cash on this one? To those of you who answered that last question with an emphatic “ME!”, can we borrow fifty bucks?
(The key to defeating Marcus Jones? A few drops of barbecue sauce on your glove, believe it or not.)
Ever since dropping a unanimous decision in a snorefest to Cheick Kongo at UFC 137, a loss that snapped a five fight win streak that included vicious (T)KO victories over Christian Morecraft, Tim Hague, and Kimbo Slice, TUF 10 veteran Matt Mitrione has been M.I.A. He hasn’t returned any of our phone calls, and he damn sure hasn’t left us any messages, so we just assumed he was taking a really long vacation on a mysterious, remote island that had yet to develop cell phone technology…like Australia. Because surely no one would willingly ignore us, right? RIGHT?!
…
Ahem. Well, most of you will be happy to know that “Meathead” will be returning to action at UFC on FOX 4 against Rob Broughton. Who is Rob Broughton, you ask? He would be the British gentlemen with the, let’s call it “Fedorian” physique, who is currently 1-2 in the octagon. After scoring a debut victory (via third round rear-naked choke) over a juiced up Vinicius Quieroz, “The Bear” has dropped a pair of unanimous decision victories to Travis Browne and Philip De Fries at UFC 135 and UFC 138, respectively. He also holds notable victories over Neil Grove (via decision), Robert Berry (via TKO), and James Thompson (via WTFdoyouthink).
Contain your excitement. CONTAIN IT.
UFC on FOX 4 goes down from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on August 4th.
(The key to defeating Marcus Jones? A few drops of barbecue sauce on your glove, believe it or not.)
Ever since dropping a unanimous decision in a snorefest to Cheick Kongo at UFC 137, a loss that snapped a five fight win streak that included vicious (T)KO victories over Christian Morecraft, Tim Hague, and Kimbo Slice, TUF 10 veteran Matt Mitrione has been M.I.A. He hasn’t returned any of our phone calls, and he damn sure hasn’t left us any messages, so we just assumed he was taking a really long vacation on a mysterious, remote island that had yet to develop cell phone technology…like Australia. Because surely no one would willingly ignore us, right? RIGHT?!
…
Ahem. Well, most of you will be happy to know that “Meathead” will be returning to action at UFC on FOX 4 against Rob Broughton. Who is Rob Broughton, you ask? He would be the British gentlemen with the, let’s call it “Fedorian” physique, who is currently 1-2 in the octagon. After scoring a debut victory (via third round rear-naked choke) over a juiced up Vinicius Quieroz, “The Bear” has dropped a pair of unanimous decision victories to Travis Browne and Philip De Fries at UFC 135 and UFC 138, respectively. He also holds notable victories over Neil Grove (via decision), Robert Berry (via TKO), and James Thompson (via WTFdoyouthink).
Contain your excitement. CONTAIN IT.
UFC on FOX 4 goes down from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on August 4th.
(And for my next trick, I will enter a state of comatose using only a roided man’s fists and sheer determination.)
On the heels of a devastating one-punch knockout at the hands of Muhammed Lawal in September, it looks like Roger Gracie will make his moderately-anticipated middleweight debut at an upcoming Strikeforce event in July. Rejoice. Across the cage from the Jiu-Jitsu phenom will be none other than UFC veteran and member of the undead army, Keith “The Dean of Mean” Johnson Jardine. Jardine has had a rough run of things as of late, dropping six of his last nine including a recent ill-fated title bid against Luke Rockhold in January.
But a matchup with Gracie is one that Jardine stands a better chance of winning than any fight in recent memory, believe it or not. Jardine has never been submitted in professional competition, and Gracie’s complete lack of the kind of striking game that has felled Jardine in the past might just make for a victory over a big name that has eluded “The Dean” since his UFC 89 split-decision win over Brandon Vera. In fact, the closest Jardine has even come to scoring an upset victory in recent years was his Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley performance that saw him fight to a majority draw with the heavily favored Gegard Mousasi.
Though it was previously reported that Gracie was on his way up to the UFC, those rumors were quickly squashed by UFC President Dana White, who stated, “[expletive] that [expletive] you [expletive] [expletive] Samuel L. Jackson [expletive] smartphone [expletive] hotspacho [expletive].” Something like that. *
In other fight booking news…
(And for my next trick, I will enter a state of comatose using only a roided man’s fists and sheer determination.)
On the heels of a devastating one-punch knockout at the hands of Muhammed Lawal in September, it looks like Roger Gracie will make his moderately-anticipated middleweight debut at an upcoming Strikeforce event in July. Rejoice. Across the cage from the Jiu-Jitsu phenom will be none other than UFC veteran and member of the undead army, Keith “The Dean of Mean” Johnson Jardine. Jardine has had a rough run of things as of late, dropping six of his last nine including a recent ill-fated title bid against Luke Rockhold in January.
But a matchup with Gracie is one that Jardine stands a better chance of winning than any fight in recent memory, believe it or not. Jardine has never been submitted in professional competition, and Gracie’s complete lack of the kind of striking game that has felled Jardine in the past might just make for a victory over a big name that has eluded “The Dean” since his UFC 89 split-decision win over Brandon Vera. In fact, the closest Jardine has even come to scoring an upset victory in recent years was his Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley performance that saw him fight to a majority draw with the heavily favored Gegard Mousasi.
Though it was previously reported that Gracie was on his way up to the UFC, those rumors were quickly squashed by UFC President Dana White, who stated, “[expletive] that [expletive] you [expletive] [expletive] Samuel L. Jackson [expletive] smartphone [expletive] hotspacho [expletive].” Something like that. *
In other fight booking news…
Coming off a brutal knockout loss of his own to Dan Henderson in December of 2010, Renato “Babalu” Sobral will return to the ring for the first time in nearly two years at OneFC’s “Destiny of Warriors” event, which goes down at the Stadium Negara in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on June 23rd. After signing with OneFC in December of 2011, Sobral was expected to face Melvin Manhoef and his explosive shins at OneFC 3, but pulled out of the bout to participate as Wanderlei Silva’s wrestling coach on The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil. Sobral is currently 36-9 in MMA competition, most recently sandwiching a win over Robbie Lawler between a pair of KO losses to Gegard Mousasi and Henderson, the former of which cost him the Strikeforce light heavyweight title.
(Sapp’s most recent effortattempt “showing” against James Thompson. How do you know it’s a Bob Sapp joint? Because the introductions are twice as long as the fight.)
In the difficult economic times that we are currently experiencing, Bob Sapp’s continual ability to stay employed as a “fighter” is nothing short of inspiring. And by inspiring, we mean infuriating. The man has fought nine times in the past three years, totaling just over fifteen minutes of ring time. There is not a doubt in any of our minds that the time he spent training for those fights was less than half of that. He has lost all but one of those contests, and word has it that the one man he defeated committed Sepukku shortly thereafter. Yet he continues to get work. He lost his last fight by submission due to (fake) leg injury, and tapped out to approximately two punches thrown by a BJJ expert in the fight before that. Yet he continues to get work.
Perhaps it is a sign, like the popularity of Jersey Shore or Nicki Minaj, that our culture has truly done a 180 in terms of what we consider worthy of our attention. Where in days past, it was a person’s abilities that brought them into the public eye, it seems now more than ever that we as a society are fixated with people who lack any discernable talent whatsoever.
Bob Sapp is living, breathing proof of this phenomenon.
Thankfully, it looks as if Sapp may finally be forced to take on a fighter who could make him reconsider his line of work altogether; someone who could possibly knock Sapp out cold before he gets the chance to call it quits. That man is none other than UFC veteran Soa Palelei, who is scheduled to take on Sapp at Cage Fighting Championships 21 on April 20th.
If there is a God, he will not allow Bob Sapp to walk away from this fight completely intact.
(Sapp’s most recent effortattempt ”showing” against James Thompson. How do you know it’s a Bob Sapp joint? Because the introductions are twice as long as the fight.)
In the difficult economic times that we are currently experiencing, Bob Sapp’s continual ability to stay employed as a “fighter” is nothing short of inspiring. And by inspiring, we mean infuriating. The man has fought nine times in the past three years, totaling just over fifteen minutes of ring time. There is not a doubt in any of our minds that the time he spent training for those fights was less than half of that. He has lost all but one of those contests, and word has it that the one man he defeated committed Sepukku shortly thereafter. Yet he continues to get work. He lost his last fight by submission due to (fake) leg injury, and tapped out to approximately two punches thrown by a BJJ expert in the fight before that. Yet he continues to get work.
Perhaps it is a sign, like the popularity of Jersey Shore or Nicki Minaj, that our culture has truly done a 180 in terms of what we consider worthy of our attention. Where in days past, it was a person’s abilities that brought them into the public eye, it seems now more than ever that we as a society are fixated with people who lack any discernable talent whatsoever.
Bob Sapp is living, breathing proof of this phenomenon.
Thankfully, it looks as if Sapp may finally be forced to take on a fighter who could make him reconsider his line of work altogether; someone who could possibly knock Sapp out cold before he gets the chance to call it quits. That man is none other than UFC veteran Soa Palelei, who is scheduled to take on Sapp at Cage Fighting Championships 21 on April 20th.
If there is a God, he will not allow Bob Sapp to walk away from this fight completely intact.
Since being bounced from the UFC following a third round TKO loss to Eddie Sanchez at UFC 79, Palelei has gone 7-1 and is currently riding a five fight win streak, with all of those victories coming by way of first round (T)KO. The last fight of Palelei’s we reported on was a brutal 28 second KO of Son Hai Suk at the AFC event that saw Bellator middleweight champion Hector Lombard submit TUF 7 finalist Jesse Taylor via second round heel hook.
One interesting fact heading into his fight with Sapp is that Palelei is expected to square off against 3-0 slugger Joe Kielur just six days beforehand. Let’s hope he doesn’t injure himself and is able to deliver the just beating Sapp truly deserves.
Also scheduled to throw down at CFC 21 are respectable MMA veterans Jeff Monson and Jim York. Monson was recently able to rebound from a unanimous decision loss to Fedor Emilianenko back in November with a decision victory of his own over Alexey Oleinik just ten days ago. York, a Sengoku and KOTC veteran, has not fought since scoring a first round TKO over Lucas Browne in November of 2010.
No other bouts are scheduled for CFC 21 as of this moment. Now here’s a video of Bob Sapp getting rag-dolled by a man one-third his size.
