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Gray Maynard Doesn’t Expect Any Trash Talking with Frankie Edgar

If someone had told you six months ago, that in September, people would be discussing whether or not Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard II is a marketable championship fight, many of us would have laughed and told buddy to piss off. Really, following BJ Penn’s violent and bloody stoppage of Diego Sanchez last December, who could […]

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If someone had told you six months ago, that in September, people would be discussing whether or not Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard II is a marketable championship fight, many of us would have laughed and told buddy to piss off. Really, following BJ Penn’s violent and bloody stoppage of Diego Sanchez last December, who could have imagined that as 2010 neared its end, not only would Penn not be the champ, he’d be one or two wins away from contending? That’s some crazy sh-t. Kind of like Fedor getting tapped out in the first round…

In terms of whether or not a rematch between Edgar and Maynard can move some serious PPV’s, well, yes, clearly neither guy has put together the resume yet of a legend like Penn, so things might cool down in the hype department. And don’t expect Maynard to engage in any Chael Sonnen like, ‘deconstructive criticism’ with Edgar to help sell the fight. Speaking to MMA Weekly recently the bruising wrestler stated:

“It’s great competition. He trains hard. He’s a cool guy too. It’s cool because his dad is always like ‘hey Gray!’ talks to me and stuff; nicest guy in the world. So trash talk ain’t gonna happen,” Maynard said. “But I guarantee you he’s going to train hard, and I’ll train, and it’s going to be a good fight.”…”It’s all business. Throw the trash talk out, it’s just all business.”

So as it looks now, scandalous comments aren’t going to be flying between these guys (and clearly Dad jokes are out), but that doesn’t mean the rematch can’t be a thoroughly entertaining and violent affair.

UFC 123 Headed to Auburn Hills, Michigan; “Rampage” Jackson vs. Lyoto Machida Headlines

Residents of Michigan State, who’ve had more than their fair share of sh—ty news to deal with over the last few years (during this tiresome run of ‘economic uncertainty’), have reason to smile today, as the Detroit Free Press is reporting that UFC 123 is headed to Auburn Hills. According to the report, the card is “almost certain” to take place November 20^th in the Detroit suburb, and will be hosted by the 20,000 seat plus Palace. The report included a comment from Dr. James Weber, chair of the Michigan Unarmed Combat Commission (versus armed combat commission….) who stated:

“Detroit deserves this. It is a boxing and MMA town. It would be a great boost to the economy and represents the character, fight and will of the people in this area. It is a dream of mine come true.”

Amen to that. What’s even better for Michigan MMA fans is that the expected headliner for UFC 123 is a light-heavyweight tilt between former champs Lyoto Machida and “Rampage” Jackson. We immediately jumped on board with that bout as soon as it was rumored to be next in line—not only could it be an outstanding fight from a talent / technical perspective, but both Rampage and Lyoto need a win big time.

MMA Junkie has also confirmed the location and date for UFC 123 in a follow up report.

Montreal to Host GSP vs. Josh Koscheck II

Heading into his first bout with Georges St. Pierre, Josh Koscheck likely wasn’t most Canadian’s ‘favori’ fighter to begin with, but after his post UFC 113 interview / antics (you may recall him declaring that the asses of both the Montreal Canadiens and GSP were going to get kicked), we’re thinking Kos might not be the […]

Heading into his first bout with Georges St. Pierre, Josh Koscheck likely wasn’t most Canadian’s ‘favori’ fighter to begin with, but after his post UFC 113 interview / antics (you may recall him declaring that the asses of both the Montreal Canadiens and GSP were going to get kicked), we’re thinking Kos might not be the right guy to give you a tour of the historic city.

Well, word has come today from MMA Fighting, that the rematch between GSP and Koscheck will in fact go down in Montreal, on December 11^th. Dana White reportedly confirmed the fight date and location to the outlet, and in a follow up report from MMA Junkie, they too have verified that the fight will take place in St. Pierre’s hometown.

While Koscheck may or may not be looking forward to returning to a city where likely 90% of the people hate his guts (Kos does seem to revel in pissing others off), this news absolutely guarantees a packed Bell Centre / house come December 11^th.Throw in the fact that each dude is coaching in the upcoming season of “The Ultimate Fighter” and you’ve got yourself some serious hype. Oh yeah, if the NHL isn’t part of your regular sport’s diet, the Penguins ended up being eliminated by the Habs…How many signs do you think will be pointing that lil nugget out at UFC 124? If GSP in fact loses that night though…wow.

Dana White Heaps Praise on Frankie Edgar

Frankie Edgar might as well had walked out to the Octagon last night with a Rodney Dangerfield bit playing, as despite being the UFC Lightweight Champion, it wasn’t like the guy was receiving a ton of respect heading into his rematch with BJ Penn. Of course, Penn has long been widely regarded as the world’s […]

Frankie Edgar might as well had walked out to the Octagon last night with a Rodney Dangerfield bit playing, as despite being the UFC Lightweight Champion, it wasn’t like the guy was receiving a ton of respect heading into his rematch with BJ Penn. Of course, Penn has long been widely regarded as the world’s best lightweight, as well as one of the sport’s best P4P fighters, so something must have been wrong with him in their first meeting right? Wrong.

Now it wasn’t like Edgar beat the holy living hell out of Penn last night in Boston, but it was a pretty damn convincing win, as the Jersey fighter once again outscored the Hawaiian on his feet and threw in a couple of takedowns for good measure. Speaking afterwards at the post-fight presser, Dana White took the opportunity to heap praise on the promotion’s lightweight champ, saying (thanks to MMA Bay for the quote):

“This kid just beat the s— out of BJ Penn for five rounds. Dominated him in every facet of the fight: on the ground, on top, on bottom, stand-up, everything. The kid’s got a heart as big as this room. He comes from wrestling, but his boxing is unbelievable, his jiu-jitsu was great tonight, his wrestling was sick. He picked BJ up and power slammed him. I guarantee you BJ Penn is banged up right now.”

You don’t have to sell this on us Dana; Frankie’s got our complete and total respect. Now it just remains to be seen whether or not Joe and Jane ’UFC’s kind of cool’ embrace the new champ, or get pumped for his first bout with Gray Maynard.

Official UFC 118 Weigh-In Results

If you were hoping for one final bit of drama just one day prior to UFC 118, alas, the weigh-ins this afternoon provided none of it. James Toney, who came in at 237lbs., had little to say to opponent Randy Couture or the Boston crowd, many of whom don’t evidently care for the boxing champ […]

If you were hoping for one final bit of drama just one day prior to UFC 118, alas, the weigh-ins this afternoon provided none of it. James Toney, who came in at 237lbs., had little to say to opponent Randy Couture or the Boston crowd, many of whom don’t evidently care for the boxing champ (“The Natural” came in at 220).

As far as main event competitors, lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and BJ Penn, they both weighed in at 154 for their rematch. Really, aside from a couple of rather stern looking stare downs, the only interesting bit today was Gabe Ruediger giving Joe Lauzon a cake with “Sorry About Your Loss” written on it. Yes, Gabe made weight, and no, he didn’t eat any of the cake.

Here are the official weigh-in results:

Frankie Edgar (154) vs. BJ Penn (154), James Toney (237) vs. Randy Couture (220), Gray Maynard (156) vs. Kenny Florian (156), Marcus Davis (170) vs. Nate Diaz (171), Mario Miranda (185) vs. Demian Maia (184), Joe Lauzon (156) vs. Gabe Ruediger (155), Andre Winner (154) vs. Nik Lentz (155), Dan Miller (185) vs. Jon Salter (185), Nick Osipczak (171) vs. Greg Soto (170), Amilcar Alves (171) vs. Mike Pierce (171).

To bet on tomorrow’s card head here.

Marcus Davis Predicts James Toney “Doing Nothing” Against Randy Couture

If there’s one man that knows what the hell he’s talking about in regards to the whole ‘boxing vs. MMA’ debate, it’s gotta be Marcus Davis. After all, before transitioning into the Octagon, the welterweight went 17-1 as a pro-boxer—that probably qualifies him as an expert no? (Although we’ve learned a thing or two from […]

If there’s one man that knows what the hell he’s talking about in regards to the whole ‘boxing vs. MMA’ debate, it’s gotta be Marcus Davis. After all, before transitioning into the Octagon, the welterweight went 17-1 as a pro-boxer—that probably qualifies him as an expert no? (Although we’ve learned a thing or two from playing UFC Undisputed immediately following EA Sport’s Fight Night…)

Of course, unless you’ve been having a spat with the internet, TV, and or any other form of communication, you know that renowned boxing champ James “Light Out” Toney is making his MMA debut Saturday against Randy “The Natural” Couture. It’s a pretty, pretty, pretty big deal in terms of settling the aforementioned, yet tired, debate, and while speaking to MMA Fighting, Davis had this to say about how he thinks Toney will fair at UFC 118.

“He ain’t doing nothing. He’s not going to do anything,” Davis said when asked about Toney’s chances. “Just like everybody who’s a journalist of MMA, a practitioner, a coach, or a fan, they’ll tell you, it’s got to be a one-punch victory and that’s it. If he gets pushed up against the cage, he’s going down on the ground. If they go down, he ain’t getting back up. Randy’s not going to let that happen.”

It’s hard to disagree with you Mr. Davis, and thank you for including the rest of us, non-bad-asses in your comments. Of course Davis will swap leather with Nate Diaz in Boston, Saturday, which in addition to several other bouts scheduled for UFC 118, could be wicked awesome. To bet, head here.