Forrest Griffin:
Posted by Brett Clendaniel on August 26, 2011 at 9:52 pm
Image by Getty Images via @daylife
The following are results from the official weigh-ins for Saturday’s UFC 134: “Silva vs. Okami”event, which emanates live from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
PPV Fights
-Anderson Silva (184 lbs.) vs. Yushin Okami (183 lbs.)
-Forrest Griffin (205 lbs.) vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (205 lbs.)
-Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (243 lbs.) vs. Brendan Schaub (247 lbs.)
-Ross Pearson (155 lbs.) vs. Edson Barboza (155 lbs.)
-Luiz Cane (204 lbs.) vs. Stanislav Nedkov (203 lbs.)
Spike TV Fights
-Spencer Fisher (156 lbs.) vs. Thiago Tavares (156 lbs.)
-Dan Miller (184 lbs.) vs. Rousimar Palhares (185 lbs.)
Facebook.com Fights
-Paulo Thiago (169 lbs.) vs. David Mitchell (171 lbs.)
-Raphael Assuncao (134 lbs.) vs. Johnny Eduardo (135 lbs.)
-Erick Silva (169 lbs.) vs. Luis Ramos (171 lbs.)
-Yuri Alcantara (144 lbs.) vs. Felipe Arantes (145 lbs.)
-Yves Jabouin (135 lbs.) vs. Ian Loveland (135 lbs.)
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on June 15, 2011 at 4:13 pm
Image via Wikipedia
Credit – MMAFighting.com
Jon Jones and Quinton Jackson have verbally agreed to square off at UFC 135 in September with Jones’ UFC light-heavyweight championship on the line.
The UFC confirmed that the two stars will meet at the event, which will be held at the Pepsi Center in Denver.
Jones had originally been expected to face Rashad Evans in August until deciding against participation after a flareup of a previously existing hand injury. Evans decided not to wait for Jones, instead opting for a fight with Phil Davis at UFC 133.
Later, doctors told Jones that he would not need surgery for the injury, but would need some time off, making him eligible to fight at the Denver card on September 24. Jones won the title in March with a third-round TKO of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.
Jackson, meanwhile, punched his ticket to a title match with a three-round unanimous decision win over Matt Hamill in the main event of UFC 130. With the win, Jackson improved to 32-8. He was a onetime light-heavyweight champ, winning the belt in May 2007 with a knockout of Chuck Liddell. He successfully defended it once before losing in a close decision to Forrest Griffin.
Jones is 13-1 with his only loss coming via a controversial disqualification.
Other bouts that have been verbally agreed to for UFC 135 include Matt Hughes vs. Diego Sanchez, Kid Yamamoto vs. Damacio Page, and Mark Hunt vs. Ben Rothwell.
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on April 15, 2011 at 1:37 pm
UFC has booked Forrest Griffin vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua II for UFC 134 in August.
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on March 21, 2011 at 7:23 pm
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Credit – MMAJunkie.com
Following the first professional setback of his career, Ryan Bader (12-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) has gotten his wish on a return opponent.
The winner of “The Ultimate Fighter 8″ now stands between Tito Ortiz (15-8-1 MMA, 14-8-1 UFC) and a possible pink slip.
UFC 132, which is expected to take place July 2 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, hosts the light-heavyweight fight, and it’s likely to get main-card treatment.
MMAWeekly.com today first reported the matchup. UFC president Dana White has since confirmed the bout with ESPN.
Bader this past month told the sports news giant that Ortiz was at the top of his list following a loss to newly minted light heavyweight champion Jon Jones at UFC 126.
Ortiz, meanwhile, was gunning for a third fight with Forrest Griffin after the two sparred on Twitter. The two split wins at UFC 59 and UFC 106.
But that fight was a fantasy replacement for the one Ortiz was supposed to fulfill. “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” was due to meet Antonio Rogerio Nogueira on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 24 before he suffered a bad cut in training that forced him to withdraw.
White said the March 26 fight was Ortiz’s last stand after a losing streak that extended nearly five years and four fights, with a lone draw to Rashad Evans at UFC 73 being his only ray of light. He most recently lost a unanimous decision to Matt Hamill this past October at UFC 121.
The UFC president said Ortiz’s must-win stakes may extend to the July 2 fight with Bader.
“The last [fight] was a must-win for Tito,” White told ESPN. “Tito lost his last fight and told me, he pleaded to me and Lorenzo (Fertitta), about how nobody has beaten him up, that he can still do this, to give him another chance, and this and that and everything else.
“We’ll see what happens.”
Prior to his setback against Jones, Bader earned the biggest win of his career when he outpointed Nogueira this past September at UFC 119. That followed a knockout win over Keith Jardine at UFC 110.
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on January 11, 2011 at 6:02 pm
The following story is courtesy of our friends at MMAJunkie.
After months of speculation and more than a dozen rumored names, UFC president Dana White today announced heavyweight contenders Brock Lesnar and Junior Dos Santos will be coaches on the upcoming 13th season of “The Ultimate Fighter.”
White made the announcement during a media call. “The Ultimate Fighter 13″ debuts March 30 on Spike TV, and a live finale is slated for June 4. The coaches meet in a season-ending fight at an event to be announced.
Although initially announced as a middleweight and welterweight season of the UFC’s long-running reality series, MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) reported earlier this week that producers instead opted to make “TUF 13″ a welterweights-only show.
Production begins this month in Las Vegas.
In an elimination round of fights, 28 hopefuls will fight for 14 official cast spots. The show uses a 32-slot tournament, which includes two “wild card” picks who earn a second life in the quarterfinals. Over the past couple months, many UFC veterans had been rumored for potential “TUF 13″ coaching slots, including Frankie Edgar, Gray Maynard, Frank Mir, Shane Carwin, Wanderlei Silva, Chael Sonnen, Chris Leben, Brian Stann, Dominick Cruz, Urijah Faber, Anthony Pettis, Jose Aldo and others.
Ultimately, though, officials went with the big men, Lesnar and Dos Santos. White said Velasquez’s recent shoulder surgery and long layoff opened the door for Lesnar and Dos Santos, which then “made all the sense in the world.” However, no interim title will be on the line when the coaches fight, though the winner gets an immediate title shot with Velasquez. Lesnar (5-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) is a former titleholder who lost his belt to current champ Cain Velasquez in October. The former WWE star has emerged as the UFC’s top pay-per-view draw, and his inclusion in “TUF” should translate to big ratings. Dos Santos (12-1 MMA, 6-0 UFC), meanwhile, recently claimed top-contender status by posting a 6-0 record in the UFC. Recent wins have come over Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, Gilbert Yvel, Gabriel Gonzaga and Roy Nelson.
“TUF” debuted in 2005 and proved a ratings hit. It also helped the UFC’s and MMA’s move into the mainstream. Since the debut season, the show has launched the career of more than 100 UFC fighters, and past cast members Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans and Matt Serra went on to win UFC titles.
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on December 27, 2010 at 3:45 pm
Based on Google search data from 2010 in the United States, here are the 45 most-popular wrestling and MMA personalities from the past year:
1. John Cena
2. Brock Lesnar
3. Georges St. Pierre
4. Anderson Silva
5. Edge
6. Jeff Hardy
7. Batista
8. Randy Orton
9. Hulk Hogan
10. Triple H
11. BJ Penn
12. Kimbo Slice
13. Cain Velasquez
14. Shane Carwin
15. Rey Mysterio
16. Shawn Michaels
17. Matt Hughes
18. Chuck Liddell
19. Rampage Jackson
20. Undertaker
21. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
22. Tito Ortiz
23. Steve Austin
24. Dana White
25. Rashad Evans
26. Randy Couture
27. Bret Hart
28. Frank Mir
29. Chael Sonnen
30. Fedor Emelianenko
31. Big Show
32. Gina Carano
33. Urijah Faber
34. The Miz
35. Herschel Walker
36. Chris Jericho
37. Jon Jones
38. Lyoto Machida
39. James Toney
40. Ric Flair
41. Dan Hardy
42. Matt Hardy
43. Sheamus
44. Forrest Griffin
45. Rich Franklin
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