UFC - Ultimate Fighting Championship (topic ufficiale)

Just months after making MMA history, Strikeforce 145 pound women’s champion, Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos has admitted she would consider jumping ship to rival promotion, the UFC, if the opportunity came her way.

Speaking to Tatame Magazine, Santos said:

“I imagine myself there... I’m happy on Strikeforce, but would be one more open door. Who knows in the future...”

“Cyborg” will likely defend her title for the first time against Marloes Coenen on January 31st at a yet to be announced event in Miami, Florida.

UFC President, Dana White has admitted he was impressed by UK welterweight, Dan Hardy last night in Manchester, England which saw “The Outlaw” outpoint Mike Swick on route to becoming the number one contender.

Speaking to MMAWeekly.com, Dana said:

“My opinion going into this fight is that Mike Swick was one of the most underrated fighters in that weight division, because Mike’s been, when I say inconsistent, he's been inconsistently fighting cause he's always getting injured. Mike Swick's a really good fighter. I always say about him and (Yushin) Okami, they're both highly underrated.”

“He handled Swick easily, that is impressive. He did something I didn't expect him to do tonight, he whooped Mike Swick's ass. I did not expect that to happen.”

“Dan could have finished that fight. Dan could have knocked him out. He had a couple opportunities, more than a couple opportunities, to knock Mike Swick out tonight. He's going to get better every time he gets in there. I think he could have finished that fight tonight, he just didn’t.”

It is understood that UK fans will miss out on supporting their home grown hero on home soil after Dana revealed the fight will most likely go down in Las Vegas, Nevada at some point next year.

It has been confirmed today that WWE Executive Vice President of Global Media, Shane McMahon met with a number of high ranking officials over at Zuffa’s headquarters a week ago, possibly to discuss him moving into the world of MMA.

When the Wrestling Observer questioned UFC President, Dana White about the meeting he declined to comment.

Shane, who will be leaving his post in the WWE as of January 1st, is known to be interested in getting involved with the mixed martial arts world and with Dana last month admitting they would consider selling 10% of the promotion off to the right investor it could mean that we see a McMahon step into the octagon sometime soon.

GSP vs Silva sarebbe un gran match come catchweight ma credo, giustamente, che Anderson sia orientato più a salire che a scendere di peso. A questo punto potrebbero iniziare una gestione a la Spider anche per il canadese, sarebbe Georges a dover salire e magari a dover sfidare un paio di buoni fighter prima di una title shot. Anche perché a livello middle un po' di competizione c'é e comunque il brasiliano a 205 libbre sarebbe già pronto per affrontare un campione.

Fuck fear drink beer, 16/11/2009 12.42:

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GSP vs Silva sarebbe un gran match come catchweight ma credo, giustamente, che Anderson sia orientato più a salire che a scendere di peso. A questo punto potrebbero iniziare una gestione a la Spider anche per il canadese, sarebbe Georges a dover salire e magari a dover sfidare un paio di buoni fighter prima di una title shot. Anche perché a livello middle un po' di competizione c'é e comunque il brasiliano a 205 libbre sarebbe già pronto per affrontare un campione.

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Gente come GSP o Silva, secondo me, cambiando di categoria non han bisogno di nessuan trafila per acceder al titolo.
Se vuole andare nei middle e battersi con Silva per il titolo, GSP lo può tranquillamente fare, per tutto ciò che ha dimostrato in questi anni.

E del resto, con Penn si è usato quel metro di misura quando è andato per il titolo nei Welter... ;)

UFC middleweight star, Michael “The Count” Bisping has admitted to feeling the nerves on Saturday night in Manchester, England when he squared off with Denis Kang and said he’s ready to face the next challenge that the UFC wants to throw his way.

Speaking to MMAWeekly.com, Bisping said:

“Obviously (I’m) very happy with the performance tonight. I was so nervous going into this fight, I’ve never been this nervous before in my life. Obviously coming off a very disappointing loss in the last fight and it was a lot of pressure, I’ve had a lot of critics doubting me. A lot of people writing up the fight saying I was exposed and this and that.”

“I was supposed to fight Wanderlei Silva. I said great, no problem. He couldn’t fight so they gave me Denis Kang, great, no problem. I’ll fight anyone the UFC said, I’ll fight. I just keep doing my job, doing what I do, keep trying to win fights.”

“It will only be a couple of weeks till I get the e-mail telling me who the next opponent is, and it will start all over again.”

Things are not looking so clear as to who his next opponent will be with a string of top middleweights including Wanderlei Silva, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Demian Maia and Nate Marquardt all scheduled for fights in February 2010. This leaves the UFC with an interesting dilemma of either making “The Count” wait for his next fight or push him in against someone lower down in the middleweight rankings.

UFC “Hall of Famer” Randy “The Natural” Couture has given his thoughts on the latest victory in his long and illustrious career, this time over Brandon Vera at UFC 105 in Manchester, England, admitting it was a close call on the night.

Speaking to MMAWeekly.com, Couture said:

“It was a tough-ass fight. I wouldn’t have been terribly disappointed had the decision gone the other way. He did a great job against the fence making it real difficult to get ahold of his hips and take him down. He countered the high single that I take a lot of guys down with. I had to kind of shift gears.”

“My corner said, hey, it’s a (stalemate) in the clinch, you’ve gotta start opening up and start fighting inside, trying to short punch, off-balance him, throw the hands more and throw some elbows, and I think that made a big difference at the end of the second round and in the third round. But it was a close fight.”

“Could I have done some things better, could I have opened up more, yeah, but Brandon’s a dangerous guy. I don’t want to stand around in front of Brandon. My game plan was to get in his face and pressure him a lot. I’d hoped to be more effective in the clinch against the fence, and that’s a credit to Brandon.”

“But I take nothing away from my performance. I went out there and did what I trained to do. My conditioning was great, I felt strong through all three rounds, and was able to get it done.”

Couture has certainly moved himself onto the periphery of a title shot which could be granted should he put together back-to-back wins. With many fans calling for him to rematch Tito Ortiz should “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” get past Forrest Griffin this weekend in Las Vegas the next few months could be very interesting for “The Natural”.

Dai dai, Ortiz asfalta Griffin, va contro Couture, asfalta anche lui e di nuovo giro titolato.

E' incredibile, mi stava sulle scatole Ortiz ma da quando ebbe quel litigio con Dana, tutto è cambiato. Da "Dans is my bitch" in poi è diventato il mio mito!!!

Spero davvero in un futuro rematch con Machida.

The following fighters took home $40,000 bonuses from their performances at UFC 105, which took place earlier today, and will air in the US at 8PM ET:

* Fight of the Night: Michael Bisping and Denis Kang
* KO of the Night: Dennis Siver
* Submission of the Night: Terry Etim

By defeating a top-level fighter such as Swick, White said Hardy has earned the right to the title fight. And he used an unexpected fighter to make his case: Yushin Okami.

"I have a lot of respect for Mike Swick," White said. "Mike Swick is a very good fighter. He's only lost to Okami since he's been in the UFC, at 185 (pounds), and Okami is one of the most underrated fighters in the UFC - and it went to a decision."

Swick lost a shot at the middleweight title with his loss to Okami in 2007. In fact, perhaps prompted by the defeat to a bigger opponent, Swick dropped to welterweight after the bout.

But to hear White build up Okami as a world-beater should raise more than a few eyebrows. After all, the decision-prone Japanese fighter has excelled in the UFC but is often relegated to un-aired preliminary cards and has rarely been discussed by White as a legitimate middleweight contender – even as he posted an 8-1 record in the UFC from 2006 to 2008. (Unfortunately for Okami, this new love comes just a few weeks after he dropped a decision to Chael Sonnen, so he's unlikely to get that long-awaited title shot anytime soon.)

In queste dichiarazioni si capisce quanto sia falso White. Non ha mai calcolato Okami. Il giapponese ha avuto uno score pauroso, sempre amtch come first contender (nella preliminary card) ma mai uan shot. E ora che ha perso con Sonnen (così da poter giustificare il NON main event) viene chiamato in causa per giustificare la grandessa di Swick e di conseguenza la grande vittoria di Hardy.... Bleah!

Bah, certo che pure Okami ha avuto più di un paio di infortuni ultimamente eh....va bene che White è un idiota, ma non è che dice sempre cose sbagliate, cosi come per Swick anche per Yushin se non ci fossero stati tutti quei momenti morti magari una shot arrivava.
Voglio dire, l'hanno data a Machida non vedo perchè dovrebbero non volerla dare a qualcun altro...


Comunque stavo per guardare Swick v Hardy ma son stato interrotto...ho visto solo le entrate....madonna quanto mi sta sui coglioni Hardy, è più forte di me, a pelle mi sta davvero antipatico.


Ah, la news di Shane....bah, personalmente continuo a credere che sia impossibile che facciano spazio a qualcun altro per ruoli di un certo livello, figuriamoci on air....al massimo sarà una collaborazione per espandersi globalmente e a livello di marketing, ma cosi su due piedi non vedo cosa possa dare la WWE e il wrestling in generale di positivo all'UFC, piuttosto mi sembra il contrario.

Okami mi è sempre piaciuto ma se non ha mai avuto una title shot è perchè è stato battuto da Franklin e poi ha subito una serie di infortuni: il primo di poco conto prima di UFC 90, ppv in cui è stato sostituito da Coté (che aveva 5 vittorie di fila) e il secondo decisamente più lungo che lo ha tenuto lontano dall'ottagono quasi un anno.

Il rematch Ortiz vs Couture ci potrebbe stare, anche se non sarebbe il massimo per Tito tornare incontrando due fighter che aveva già incontrato... Poi si passa a Liddell?

Va beh a parte tutto per lo meno allontanerebbe Couture dal titolo lh, anche se per me il Randy visto con Vera si porterebbe a casa l'incontro. Io Couture lo vorrei contro Coleman nella battaglia delle cataratte!

Comunque se concordo sul fatto che Hardy non sia prontissimo per il titolo dall'altra parte mi chiedo chi sia più legittimato di lui per andare contro GSP... Forse il vincente tra Kos e Rumble, più il secondo del primo sempre che sia in grado di tenere le 170 lbs (già due volte le ha segate ampiamente e sarebbe un bel rischio).

faccio un appello ufficiale a white:
ti prego licenzia delgado, prima che qualcuno lo uccida nella gabbia!

qualcuno è riuscito a vedere il match etim gugerty?
solo un secondo volevo tornare sul match tra couture e vera, questo commento sul blog, di mmatko.com mi ha fatto ridere e pensare "wow I wish I could just push people up against the cage, and lean on them and get wins. WTF!"

infine, se volete vedervi un main event coi controcoglioni, guardatevi cotto vs pacquiao!!!!

Mamma che sgorbio :

DAN HARDY INTENDS TO PUT A BEATING ON GSP

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"I had a few opportunities [at UFC 105] and did not go after them. I handled (Swick) and hurt him several times. I have all the skills to cause (Georges St. Pierre) a lot of problems, and he is only human. He’s a great athlete very good at winning and putting together a gameplan; but he is not a fighter like me. And I’m going to get in there and my intention is to hurt him, put a beating on him. In a 25 minute fight, it’s a long time to keep my hands off his chin."

Number one Welterweight contender Dan Hardy joins a long list of former challengers who also believed they had what it takes to dethrone reigning 170-pound Champion Georges St. Pierre. "The Outlaw" is fresh of a unanimous decision victory over fellow surging Welterweight Mike Swick at last Saturday's "UFC 105: Couture vs. Vera" event in Manchester. Does Hardy, who only has one finish in four Octagon appearances, have the skill set to beat "Rush?" Or does he simply need a full gas tank and a well-placed bomb?

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credit: MMAMania.com

UFC lightweight, Terry Etim took another step forward in his octagon career on Saturday night, tapping out Shannon Gugerty in the second round and picking up a $40,000 “Submission of the Night” bonus in the process, but if you ask the Liverpool native for his assessment he’d be the first to tell you that he still has a long way to go.

Speaking to MMA Unlimited, Etim said:

“At the moment I’m happy fighting and happy winning. I hope that I’m showing everyone that I’m improving with each fight and when the UFC feel that I’m ready I’m sure that they will put me on the main card. I’m still only twenty-three. I’ve got a long way to go to get better still.”

With a four fight winning streak under his belt, the call to a main televised card maybe just around the corner for the Team Kaobon trained lightweight.

No, World Extreme Cagefighting is not merging with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Although run independently since Zuffa LLC, the UFC's parent company, added the fight promotion to its offerings in late 2006, the WEC has long been attached to rumors that its roster will be folded into the UFC.

WEC co-founder and current general manager, Reed Harris, said the latest report of a merger is "a lie."

Over the weekend, a Brazil-based Web site cited a "source close to the WEC" who said a WEC-UFC merger is planned for early 2010. Harris, though, said there is absolutely no truth to the report and suggested the outlet decided to "make up stories" to draw traffic to its Web site.

"No one at (the) WEC would ... make an announcement that we will merge in January when we have a show scheduled in Ohio in March," Harris wrote on the popular MMA forum, The Underground, in reference to a March 2010 WEC event planned to coincide with the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus.

Harris also said such news would be issued through a bigger media outlet but reiterated there are no plans for a merger anyway. Harris is also a guest on Tuesday's edition of MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio) and will answer questions about the organization's future.

Although the two promotions formerly promoted fights in the same weight classes, the WEC, which airs on Versus, eventually folded its heavier weight classes into the UFC in late 2008 and early 2009. The WEC now operates bantamweight, featherweight and lightweight divisions, and a flyweight class is expected to be added in 2010. Currently, the UFC also promotes a lightweight division, though the WEC's is geared more toward prospects, such as Donald Cerrone and Benson Henderson (though former UFC fighter Jamie Varner's is the WEC lightweight champ).