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Kenny Florian Heaps Praise on Evan Dunham

It may have been overshadowed by Rich Franklin’s one-punch KO of Chuck Liddell at UFC 115 (it’s pretty hard to top the magnitude of that…Liddell was on Entourage after all…) but another of the card’s big stories was Evan Dunham’s decision win over Tyson Griffin, as it spoke volumes about the undefeated fighter’s potential. The Oregon […]

dunham aurelio

It may have been overshadowed by Rich Franklin’s one-punch KO of Chuck Liddell at UFC 115 (it’s pretty hard to top the magnitude of that…Liddell was on Entourage after all…) but another of the card’s big stories was Evan Dunham’s decision win over Tyson Griffin, as it spoke volumes about the undefeated fighter’s potential. The Oregon fighter has now gone 4-0 in the Octagon and also holds wins over TUF winner Efrain Escudero, Marcus Aurelio, and Per Eklund; people are starting to talk…

Now, if you haven’t closely monitored Dunham’s career and don’t want to take our word for it, consider what Kenny Florian said recently on ESPN’s MMA Live (thanks to MMA Fighting for the quote).

“Dunham beat one of the most successful lightweights out there, one of the toughest lightweights out there, and now he is an upper-echelon lightweight, no doubt about it,” Florian said.

Florian also credited Dunham for his jiu-jitsu and takedowns, praising the lightweight for his ability to take Griffin down (who knows a thing or two about wrestling) and controlling him there. In other words, based on the performance, it would appear as though Dunham has the tools to give a lot of guys trouble. Just a refresher, Griffin’s only other losses thus far in the UFC came against current champ Frankie Edgar, and former champ, Sean Sherk. Not bad.

Speaking of Florian, the UFC confirmed yesterday that, as expected, he’ll fight Gray Maynard, at UFC 118 in Boston. Wicked awesome no?

Paulo Thiago Concedes Poor Performance at UFC 115

You may or may not have been surprised by many of the outcomes at last weekend’s UFC; we’re fans of Chuck Liddell, but let’s face it, if you were really super-duper-shocked to see him get knocked out again, well, we’re guessing you make an X with your arms anytime you do something cool…
One of the more surprising performances on […]

You may or may not have been surprised by many of the outcomes at last weekend’s UFC; we’re fans of Chuck Liddell, but let’s face it, if you were really super-duper-shocked to see him get knocked out again, well, we’re guessing you make an X with your arms anytime you do something cool…

One of the more surprising performances on the card was Martin Kampmann’s UD win over Paulo Thiago, not necessarily because the Danish welterweight won, but how he won. Everyone should know that Kampmann’s no slouch on the ground, but really, to see him walk over a BJJ black belt like Thiago on the mat was pretty impressive no?

For Thiago, the loss was a definite setback, especially coming off his memorable ‘holy eff that was nice’ choke-out of Mike Swick in February. In a recent interview with the Brazilian publication Tatame, it sounds like Thiago is understandably disappointed with how things played out at UFC 115.

“I didn’t fought well at all, man. I couldn’t do it, I froze… I went forward on the beginning of the fight, but then I got stuck there. I don’t know what happened, but I couldn’t play my game and he won”, said Thiago. “I couldn’t make my game plan… Maybe I could have done better, but I didn’t. Now I have to study this fight, try to see my mistakes, improve my mental state and make it up with myself”.

It will be interesting to see who the UFC matches up against Thiago next and how he performs. As far as Kampmann, he reportedly wants a bout with Dan Hardy. Yes, that would be most satisfactory indeed.

Report: Chael Sonnen Withdraws from Oregon State Senate Race

Any regular reader of MMA Fix knows that we’ve taken great steps (not really, as nothing we’ve ever done could be categorized as ‘’great’) to cover Chael Sonnen’s amazing gift for entertaining / infuriating gab. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that he’s about to fight middleweight champ Anderson Silva, so naturally, that many more microphones […]

Any regular reader of MMA Fix knows that we’ve taken great steps (not really, as nothing we’ve ever done could be categorized as ‘’great’) to cover Chael Sonnen’s amazing gift for entertaining / infuriating gab. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that he’s about to fight middleweight champ Anderson Silva, so naturally, that many more microphones have been heading his way.

Now, like him or hate him, Sonnen has been involved in a wee bit of controversy lately, due to the fact that a writer from the Huffington Post, didn’t exactly care for a ‘tweet’’ that appeared on what was believed to be the wrestler’s Twitter account (calling the comments, which were directed at Silva’s manager Ed Soares, “racist and xenophobic”). Sonnen was running for the Oregon State Senate, and although there seems to be quite a bit of evidence to the contrary, the fighter and his campaign announced soon after that the Twitter account was a fake.

Well, Fight Magazine is reporting today that Sonnen has withdrawn from the senate race, and no, it apparently has nothing to do with ‘Tweetgate.’ According to the story, which includes a statement from Sonnen himself, he has dropped out of the race due to “a real estate case that requires a ruling. If the ruling is adverse, I would be disqualified from running for office until 2011” (In addition to ‘ultimate fighting’, Sonnen is also a real estate agent).

Huh. Well, as Sonnen also conceded, looks like he’ll have plenty of time to prepare for his August 7^th throw down with Silva now. Should be a good one.

Report: Thiago Alves Medically Cleared for UFC 117

If you’re having a bad day and are in need of some good news, MMA Junkie is reporting that Thiago Alves has been medically cleared to begin fighting again by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board, and as a result, the punishing welterweight will face Jon Fitch at UFC 117, August 7th. Just a […]

If you’re having a bad day and are in need of some good news, MMA Junkie is reporting that Thiago Alves has been medically cleared to begin fighting again by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board, and as a result, the punishing welterweight will face Jon Fitch at UFC 117, August 7^th. Just a refresher, in case your job entails inhaling computer duster hourly, Alves had been scheduled to fight Fitch at UFC 111, until pre-fight testing revealed an abnormality in his brain. The American Top Team fighter underwent successful surgery and is now free and clear to resume brutalizing dudes in the Octagon. The report from Junkie included this comment from the NJSACB’s Nick Lembo:

“Mr. Alves is medically cleared as of today to resume his career as a professional mixed martial artist in the UFC,” Lembo wrote in an email to MMAjunkie.com. “It is a pleasure to be able to clear Thiago and allow him to return to what he loves doing after all he has been through.”

Awesome. So, there you have it, Alves will finally get a chance to avenge his previous, 2006, TKO loss to Fitch. If you haven’t been keeping score, the only other guy to beat Alves since (over 8 fights which included bouts with Matt Hughes, Josh Koscheck and Karo Parisyan) is Georges St. Pierre. The only dude to beat Fitch in 13 Octagon appearances is also GSP, so yeah, this fight is kind of a big deal.

“Rampage” Jackson Says He Wants Rematch With Forrest Griffin Next

Since “Rampage” Jackson lost by UD to arch nemesis Rashad Evans at UFC 114 last month, there’s been a lot of speculation as what’s next for B.A. Baracus 2.0 (yes we’re aware that the Mr.T version graced the TV screen well before the internet ravaged the world). During Jackson’s ‘he said what now?’ tiff with […]

Since “Rampage” Jackson lost by UD to arch nemesis Rashad Evans at UFC 114 last month, there’s been a lot of speculation as what’s next for B.A. Baracus 2.0 (yes we’re aware that the Mr.T version graced the TV screen well before the internet ravaged the world). During Jackson’s ‘he said what now?’ tiff with Dana White, the former light-heavyweight champ maintained that he had always wanted a crack at Lyoto Machida, rather than coach TUF (and then fight Evans). This, coupled with the fact that White was recently quoted saying that Machida may fight Jackson next, led many of us to conclude that indeed, “Rampage” and “The Dragon” would soon throw down.

Well, you might want to hold on just a second there folks, as in a recent interview with the U.K.’s MMA Bay, Jackson had this to say when asked about who he wants to fight next:

“I want to rematch Forrest; you know what I’m saying? Forrest is a good fight; he has good strategy. It’s a fighter’s fight, stand-up and stuff like that. So I want to get a fight with Forrest. I heard that he would be available and everything, so I would like to go fight Forrest.”

“The main reason I want Forrest is not just because he beat me, but how he acted, like he really thought he won.”

If you recall, Griffin worked his way to a UD win over Jackson at UFC 86, in what was a pretty damn close fight. Jackson clearly didn’t agree with the decision, or apparently, how Griffin “acted” afterwards. To hear more from Rampage on the subject, check out the full interview here.

Dana White Says Chuck Liddell’s UFC Career is Over

Remember rolling your eyes as a kid when you were told that history was important to learn, because it ‘has a funny way of repeating itself’ (which is kind of an odd way of putting it, as often historical repetition involves war, atrocities, political scandal…you know, all that ‘funny’ stuff). Well if you watched UFC […]

Now you may also recall that after getting knocked out by “Shogun” Rua last year, UFC Pres Dana White wasted little time declaring that Liddell should retire. Chuck didn’t announce his retirement, however, did “Dancing with the Stars”, and yadda, yadda, yadda, showed up in tremendous shape for last night’s bout with Franklin. Unfortunately for Liddell of course, once again, he got laid the hell out…

So, naturally, White is once again calling for Liddell’s retirement. In the post-fight press conference last night, the UFC boss man offered this, when asked if Liddell should hang em up (thanks to MMA Junkie for the quote).

“Yeah, and I hope he agreed tonight,” the UFC president said. “I don’t think he won’t.”

Sounds familiar doesn’t it? Now due to similar things that were said last April, MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani pressed White on whether or not this time around, Liddell’s UFC career really is over; White responded with “I guarantee you tonight was the last night.” Well, if that is in fact the case (and really, this time it should be no?) it’s been a hell of a ride for “The Iceman.”