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Thiago Silva, Phil Baroni Drop Out of Upcoming Fights Due to Injuries

(Remember, bend at the *knees* when you’re beating the crap out of Keith Jardine.)
Bad news for Team Brazil at UFC 117: Due to a back injury suffered in training, Thiago Silva has been forced to withdraw from his preliminary card matchup with Tim Boe…

Thiago Silva Keith Jardine UFC mma photos
(Remember, bend at the *knees* when you’re beating the crap out of Keith Jardine.)

Bad news for Team Brazil at UFC 117: Due to a back injury suffered in training, Thiago Silva has been forced to withdraw from his preliminary card matchup with Tim Boetsch. Silva had previously injured his back while preparing for his UFC 108 main event against Rashad Evans. After losing that fight by decision, the American Top Team light-heavyweight began a physical therapy program, but apparently it wasn’t enough to protect him from re-injury; no word yet on how long he could be sidelined. Stepping in to face Boetsch on 11 days notice is UFC newcomer Todd "Bulldog" Brown, who has compiled an 11-1 record in midwestern promotions. Boetsch is returning to the UFC after being cut last March, then winning three consecutive fights in smaller promotions.

Speaking of luckless s.o.b.’s, Phil Baroni is out of his UFC 118 fight with John Salter due to a collarbone injury. The fight was to mark Baroni’s return to middleweight after dropping two straight at welterweight, including a decision against Amir Sadollah at UFC 106. Baroni, who tends to get emotional on his Twitter account even in the best of times, had this to say: "I cant take it anymore. Im freaking out. anxiety im shot. beaten." Stay strong, NYBA…

Sonnen: ‘Full Time’ Fighters Are Just Too Lazy to Have Other Jobs

(Harnessing the power of local television. In the history of real estate, that strategy has never been beaten. VidProps: YouTube/Eluted)
Chael Sonnen took time out of his extremely busy schedule of lying about his Internet activities, letter w…

(Harnessing the power of local television. In the history of real estate, that strategy has never been beaten. VidProps: YouTube/Eluted)

Chael Sonnen took time out of his extremely busy schedule of lying about his Internet activities, letter writing, quitting on the Oregon Republican Party and acting pissy on television to sit down with the Houston Chronicle over the weekend. You know what that means: Set your watches to Crazy Time, kids. What pearls of wisdom did the multitalented middleweight drop on our unsuspecting asses this time? Well, Sonnen says people who claim to be “full time fighters” are lazy and that he has a strategy to defeat Anderson Silva on Aug. 7 at UFC 117 that has “never been beaten.”

Sonnen also inadvertently let slip how he’s managed to balance his pro fighting career and alleged other businesses, all while talking an uninterrupted line of shit about Silva during the past few months: He’s only training three hours a day.

Three Reasons Why Silva vs. Sonnen Will Suck (And Three Reasons Why It Might Not)

In hyping UFC 117’s main event, the UFC is doing their best to convince fans that Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen won’t be as painful to watch as Silva’s last three middleweight title defenses against Demian Maia, Thales Leites, and Patrick Cote. Sonnen has the perfect style to beat Silva (so the story goes) and Chael’s outlandish trash talk might even inspire the champion to actually handle his business in the cage for a change. Do you buy it? I’m not quite convinced yet — personally, I think all the factors that made Silva’s fight against Maia so awful are also present in the Sonnen matchup — but in the interest of fairness, I figured I’d lay out both sides of the argument. First, why Silva vs. Sonnen will be another infuriating bust…

1. Silva Will Want to Avoid the Mat at All Costs
From a technical perspective, what made Silva’s fights against Demian Maia and Thales Leites so dull? Silva understood that those fighters posed their only threats on the ground, and he simply refused to allow the fights to go in that direction, which is something you can get away with when you’re a genius on your feet. Silva can’t be baited into going to the mat if he doesn’t want to, and he won’t full-out brawl with a grappler, and run the risk of getting grabbed and taken down. So he keeps his distance, landing a punch to the knee once in a while just to keep himself entertained. As a wrestler, Chael Sonnen’s attack is a little different — he wants to be on top and grind you down — but winning fights still means landing a takedown and turning the action horizontal, and Silva knows that. So if you’re expecting a firefight between these two, keep dreaming. It’ll be another stick-and-move-and-move-and-move-and-move-and-move exhibition from the champ.

‘Sho Nuff’ vs. ‘Mr. Wonderful’ Added to UFC 117

(Phil Davis: Athletic, explosive, and built like some sort of alien.)
Due to an injury suffered in training, undefeated Bulgarian prospect Stanislav Nedkov will not be taking on Rodney "Sho Nuff the Master" Wallace at UFC 117 (August 7th, …

(Phil Davis: Athletic, explosive, and built like some sort of alien.)

Due to an injury suffered in training, undefeated Bulgarian prospect Stanislav Nedkov will not be taking on Rodney "Sho Nuff the Master" Wallace at UFC 117 (August 7th, Oakland). Stepping up on two weeks’ notice to face Wallace will be another exciting light-heavyweight, Phil "Mr. Wonderful" Davis.

Davis (6-0) has posted two consecutive victories during his time in the Octagon, scoring a lopsided unanimous decision against Brian Stann in his debut, and choking out Alexander Gustafsson in his latest appearance. Since the former NCAA wrestling champ has a growing amount of hype behind him, it seems somewhat odd that he would risk his momentum to take a short notice fight against an opponent who’s beneath him on the light-heavyweight ladder. (Although it’s never really a bad idea to pick up cage experience and an extra paycheck while scoring valuable brownie points with the UFC.)

Unlike Davis’s success in the Octagon, Wallace (9-2) has had a rough time of it so far, suffering back-to-back decision losses to Brian Stann and Jared Hamman. In other words, he needs a win here to save his job. Lotsa luck, bro.

Video Hype: UFC 117 Extended Preview, Roxy and Sarah Make Their Final Preparations

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)
"To talk about me is easy," Anderson Silva says in the above preview vid. "Try to beat me." Ah, there’s the rub. Chael Sonnen’s trash talk has been absolutely epic in the run-up to this fight, but it re…

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

"To talk about me is easy," Anderson Silva says in the above preview vid. "Try to beat me." Ah, there’s the rub. Chael Sonnen‘s trash talk has been absolutely epic in the run-up to this fight, but it remains to be seen if he can even back up one tenth of it in the Octagon. Meanwhile, Roy Nelson has finally earned Dana White’s respect with his knockouts of Brendan Schaub and Stefan Struve, and is "a definite contender for the heavyweight championship." To get his shot, he’ll have to become the first UFC fighter to endure the fists of Junior Dos Santos, who has been leaving a very impressive trail of bodies in his wake. It’s a matchup that guarantees excitement, as opposed to main event, in which…well, if Silva dances around and mocks his opponent for five more excruciating rounds, don’t act like you didn’t see it coming.

After the jump: E. Casey Leydon follows Roxanne Modafferi and Sarah Kaufman as they prepare for their 135-pound title match at Strikeforce Challengers, tomorrow night in Everett, Washington. The event kicks off on Showtime at 11 p.m. ET/PT.

UFC 117 Is Basically ‘USA vs. Brazil’

(Images courtesy of UFC and Wikipedia)
Are you noticing a pattern here? By bizarre coincidence, the top six fights at UFC 117 (August 7th, Oakland) all feature an American fighter taking on a Brazilian fighter. It’s not an official gimmick like UFC …

(Images courtesy of UFC and Wikipedia)

Are you noticing a pattern here? By bizarre coincidence, the top six fights at UFC 117 (August 7th, Oakland) all feature an American fighter taking on a Brazilian fighter. It’s not an official gimmick like UFC 58’s "USA vs. Canada" setup — in which the Yanks went 5-3 against the Canucks — but it’ll be an interesting theme for the night, and hopefully the UFC will make the most of it. (Sorry Chandella, but we’ve found your replacement.) I’ll go out on a limb and say Brazil takes this event in a 4-2 rout, with Fitch and Guida scoring the only wins for the home team. Your predictions?

After the jump: Joe Rogan runs down the Hughes vs. Almeida matchup, and Jon Fitch discusses his co-headlining rematch against Thiago Alves.