Nate Marquardt Reports GSP “Definitely Considering” Bout with Anderson Silva

Earlier in the year, many MMA fans were sent into an excited “OMG you guys” frenzy, when UFC top dog Dana White conceded that a bout between welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre and middleweight king Anderson Silva would likely happen. Yes, there were a few little hurdles on the horizon, namely dudes like Jake Shields […]

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Earlier in the year, many MMA fans were sent into an excited “OMG you guys” frenzy, when UFC top dog Dana White conceded that a bout between welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre and middleweight king Anderson Silva would likely happen. Yes, there were a few little hurdles on the horizon, namely dudes like Jake Shields and Yushin Okami (although only recently did the  UFC confirm Okami wasn’t going to get effed over), but things were looking golden for the much ballyhooed bout.

While discussion about the super fight certainly hasn’t disappeared, it’s kind of cooled, as the realities of what is entailed to put the fight together have set in. So, is GSP still thinking about doing this? Provided he prevails over the terrifying ground game of Shields later this month? Nate Marquardt recently told ESPN UK yes.

“I don’t know if [St. Pierre] is planning on moving up but I definitely know he’s considering fighting Anderson. I think that’s a great fight and I think he has the perfect style to beat a guy like Silva.”

Cool beans. Marquardt also revealed in the interview that it was actually Georges who got him thinking about dropping to welterweight. Of course, Marquardt is making the cut and will fight Anthony Johnson in June, which naturally, has already led to a round of ‘will you fight your teammate’ questions. Marquardt responded “I’m not thinking about it and if it’s ever an issue I’ll deal with it then.”

To bet on GSP vs. Shields, or any other tilts at UFC 129, head here.

UFC Deal With Full Tilt Poker Kaput After Government Seizure

If you haven’t heard about last week’s government shutdown of the U.S. online poker industry, you’re clearly not a card player, or you’re not blessed with the wonders of electricity.
On Thursday, we’ve learned that the UFC closed a rumored $15M+ advertising deal with one of the shut-down sites, Full Tilt Poker.
On Friday, online poker in […]

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If you haven’t heard about last week’s government shutdown of the U.S. online poker industry, you’re clearly not a card player, or you’re not blessed with the wonders of electricity.

On Thursday, we’ve learned that the UFC closed a rumored $15M+ advertising deal with one of the shut-down sites, Full Tilt Poker.

On Friday, online poker in the U.S. was wiped out, as was the ad deal.

How would you like to be the sales guy who lost out on that commission check?

Well, we’ve learned more about the details of the UFC, Full Tilt Poker deal here. For additional info about the U.S. kyboshing online poker click here.

Anderson Silva Says Yushin Okami Could Have Kept Fighting

 
Aside from a couple of nasty, ‘and that’s a wrap’ stoppage wins, it’s safe to say that Yushin Okami has struggled to entertain most fans with his grinding style. Like it or not, the guy is damn effective, and if he gets ahold of Anderson Silva for a prolonged time at UFC Rio, the living […]

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Aside from a couple of nasty, ‘and that’s a wrap’ stoppage wins, it’s safe to say that Yushin Okami has struggled to entertain most fans with his grinding style. Like it or not, the guy is damn effective, and if he gets ahold of Anderson Silva for a prolonged time at UFC Rio, the living highlight reel may not be so thrilling.

How the action will unfold aside, the good news is that it’s looking like the pre-fight road to Silva vs. Okami II is not going to be completely void of drama. While Okami isn’t exactly known for the smack talk, he is the last dude to defeat Silva, and the renowned Brazilian champ apparently is still a wee bit irked about that fact. In a recent interview with the LA Times (thanks to ESPN U.K. for the heads up), Silva talked about his DQ loss to Okami in 2006, and offered this:

“I was a little surprised with his reaction to that [upkick],” Silva said in the LA Times. “Do I think he could have continued? I do think he could have continued. But he had the rules in his favour. I did an illegal kick and he chose that it was better not to continue.”… “I respect everybody and have a history in the sport and I believe people need to respect me. When they cross that line of respect is when they don’t really understand what happens.”

Huh. Is someone calling somebody a coward? The article also mentions that apparently Silva referred to Okami in the past as a “samurai without honor”…now that’s gotta hurt. See, this Silva vs. Okami II bout is shaping up just fine.

Lyoto Machida Believes Different “Shogun” Rua Fought Jon Jones

It wasn’t long ago that everyone and their favorite keyboard (yes, including us), were falling over themselves to toss a heaping ton of praise on Jon Jones, after he demolished “Shogun” Rua at UFC 128 in March. After all, the 23 year-old-phenomenon hardly broke a sweat while dismantling the man that had beaten the man. […]

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It wasn’t long ago that everyone and their favorite keyboard (yes, including us), were falling over themselves to toss a heaping ton of praise on Jon Jones, after he demolished “Shogun” Rua at UFC 128 in March. After all, the 23 year-old-phenomenon hardly broke a sweat while dismantling the man that had beaten the man. Remember the heralded Machida Era? And how Rua ended it with a series of ‘nighty-nighty’ right hands?

While there’s no questioning the fact that Jones is quickly approaching ‘baddest dude on the planet’ status, you don’t have to be a member of the “Shogun” Boosters Club to concede that Rua didn’t exactly look like his old self in the fight. The guy did spend almost a year on the DL with yet another knee injury. Well, Lyoto Machida recently offered his opinion to Sherdog.com on how Rua looked against Jones, and not surprisingly, he didn’t see the same dude that beat him down last May.

“Shogun is a tough guy…I know Shogun has more to show than that. Maybe he failed to bring his game or maybe he felt the pressure of defending the belt for the first time. As I’ve said before, there are other factors we don’t know about, other factors that may have interfered. They changed opponents on him. That can interfere with a fight. I have no doubt he could have fought better. I’m sure if Shogun was the same fighter he was when we fought in Los Angeles the fight would have been much more difficult for Jones…”

Guess we’ll get a better idea on this when Rua rematches Griffin this August.

“Minotauro” Nogueira Still Says Anderson Silva Fighting Yushin Okami; Moving to 205

Yushin Okami’s performances may not always wear out the edge of your seat, but really, what does the dude have to do to get a title shot? This is a man, a rather large and strong one at that, who has won ten times in the Octagon and is coming off wins over Mark Munoz […]

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Yushin Okami’s performances may not always wear out the edge of your seat, but really, what does the dude have to do to get a title shot? This is a man, a rather large and strong one at that, who has won ten times in the Octagon and is coming off wins over Mark Munoz and Nate Marquardt. That’s not a bad way to go about becoming a contender, but despite Okami’s accomplishments, he’s still waiting to face Anderson Silva (yes, that DQ thingy aside).

So, when recently Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira told Tatame magazine that Silva was going to fight Okami at the upcoming August 27th UFC in Brazil, the news may not have sent every MMA fan into thrilled hysteria, but it kind of made sense. Then, MMA Junkie cited sources who said the reports were “premature,” no doubt sending Okami’s booster club members into further despair. Well, in a more recent story from Fighters Only Magazine, the outlet is reporting that Nogueira has once again stated in another Brazilian mag that, yes, Silva is fighting Okami this August.

“The mystery about the UFC Rio card that takes place on Aug 27th starts to be unfolded. I have information in which my friend and current biggest phenomenon Anderson Silva will make the main fight of the event versus Japan’s Yushin Okami,”

Now hold on for the real WTF? news. Nogueira apparently went on to say that Silva could be moving to light-heavyweight, because of the lack of contenders available to him at 185. Say what? Aside from the rematch with Chael Sonnen, which everyone and their dog wants to see, hasn’t Anderson consistently said lately he’s not doing 205 anymore?

Carlos Condit Gets Fight With Dong Hyun Kim

Recently we gave Carlos Condit a cyberspace, double thumbs up for quickly doing the ‘pick, pick me’ when word came down that Jon Fitch was bowing out of his rematch with BJ Penn due to an injury. Nothing came out of it immediately, leading us to speculate that fight wasn’t happening, and now Penn has […]

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Recently we gave Carlos Condit a cyberspace, double thumbs up for quickly doing the ‘pick, pick me’ when word came down that Jon Fitch was bowing out of his rematch with BJ Penn due to an injury. Nothing came out of it immediately, leading us to speculate that fight wasn’t happening, and now Penn has announced that he too is injured.

Who is Condit going to fight? Today the UFC has announced that the former WEC champ will take on Dong Hyun Kim on July 2nd…yup, not exactly a guy that’s been blowing dudes out of the water in the first round, but still a reedonkously tough fighter nonetheless. Big, strong, judo black belts just seem to have a way of taking the fight right out of you; just ask Matt Brown, TJ Grant, Amir Sadollah and Nate Diaz.

So, while this fight may not produce the kind of fireworks that a Condit, Penn match-up would have, it’s still an intriguing bout. A win for either guy will say a lot about where they stand in the welterweight division, just as UFC boss man Dana White stated in the official announcement:

 “A win over Condit would break Kim into the top ten and a win over Kim would bring Condit another step closer to a world title shot,” said UFC President Dana White.

Anyone else thinking Condit needs to keep this fight standing and then some? UFC 132’s shaping up nicely; Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber, Chris Leben vs. Wanderlei Silva, Evan Dunham vs. George Sotiroupolus and more.