The MMA Update for Friday June 1st, 2007
Written by: Chris Howie
It's Friday. Everyone knows what that means, Weekend! Weekends = MMA action and this weekend is full of it. K-1/EliteXC Dynamite USA Live on Showtime PPV Saturday night and WEC hits VERSUS Sunday. Let's get you updated.
UFC 73: Stacked Officially Finalized
Well there is no denying the name of this card fits, it is indeed STACKED. Two Championship title fights, Tito Ortiz and Rashad Evans settle their differences, Big Nog is making his UFC debut, hell the whole card is good from top to bottom. Here it is:
-Anderson Silva (c) vs. Nathan Marquardt
-Sean Sherk (c) vs. Hermes Franca
-Tito Ortiz vs. Rashad Evans
-Kenny Florian vs. Alvin Robinson
-Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Heath Herring
-Stephan Bonnar vs. Mike Nickels
-Jorge Gurgel vs. Diego Saraiva
-Chris Lytle vs. Drew Fickett
-Frank Edgar vs. Mark Boce
Paulo Filho To Sign 4 Fight Deal With the WEC
This is interesting. I personally would rather see Paulo come straight into the UFC. Paulo is a top 5 Middleweight and I can't see why he wouldn't end up with the UFC, there was a rumour recently that Filho was offered the fight with Franklin for UFC 72 when Marvin Kampman was injured. So Paulo goes from possibly main eventing UFC 72 to signing a 4 fight deal with the WEC. If i had to guess I'd say he signs this deal but ends up fighting in the big show before the end of the year.
Dennis Rodman to fight in K-1
K-1 has decided to have Dennis Rodman to come in to be a media representative for this weekends Dynamite USA PPV on Showtime. K-1 is also trying to get Rodman into the ring for a fight which could happen has early as their show in Hollad this month. Yes, you are reading that correctly. The Worm could possibly be fighting in K-1, some things never cease to amaze me.
WEC Card Finalized
The full WEC Card for this Sunday is as follows:
-Urijah Faber (c) vs. Chance Farrar (WEC FW Title)
-Mark Hominick vs. Rani Yahya
-Alex Karalexis vs. Josh Smith
-Brock Larson vs. Kevin Knabjian
-Brian Stann vs. Craig Zellner
-John Alessio vs. Alex Serdyukov
-Micah Miller vs. Cub Swanson
-Charlie Valencia vs. Brian Bowles
-Mike French vs. Jeff Bedard
This isnt a bad card at all and will definately be worth checking out.
Gabe Ruedieger's Removal From EliteXC/K-1 Card
The reasoning behind Gabe's removal from the card on Showtime this weekend appears to be that CSAC commissioner Armando Garcia watched The Ultimate Fighter 5 and made the decision that Ruediger was “mentally unfit to fight”. This seems like it is a little harsh a punishment for something the CSAC watched on TV. Ruediger did make an ass of him shelf on natural television though so it could be understandable why Garcia believed he was mentally unstable. In any event Ruediger's hope of more face time from being on Spike TV has blown up in his face.
Howie's Picks
K-1/EliteXC Dynamite! USA:
-Brock Lesnar vs. Min Soo Kim – Brock Lesnar VIA Rd. TKO
-Royce Gracie vs. Kazushi Sakuraba – Sakuraba VIA Decision
-Mighty Mo vs. Ruben Villareal – Warpath Villareal VIA KO Rd. 2
-Melvin Manhoef vs. Yoon Dong Sik – Melvin Manhoef VIA TKO Rd. 3
-Johnnie Morton vs. Bernard Ackah – Johnnie Morton VIA Five Point Stance Rd. 1
-Jake Shields vs. Ido Pariente – Jake Shields VIA Submission Rd. 2
-Jonathan Wiezorek vs. Tim Persey – Persey VIA Decision
-Gesias Calvancanti vs. Nam Phan – Nam Phan VIA Rd. 1 Sub
-Hideo Tokoro vs. Brad Pickett – Tokoro VIA Rd. 3 Sub
-Katsuhiko Nagata vs. Isaiah Hill – Nagata VIA Rd. 1 TKO
WEC:
-Urijah Faber (c) vs. Chance Farrar (WEC FW Title) – Faber VIA TKO Rd. 2
-Mark Hominick vs. Rani Yahya – Hominick VIA Rd. 2 Sub
-Alex Karalexis vs. Josh Smith – Karalexis VIA Rd. 2 KO
-Brock Larson vs. Kevin Knabjian – Larson VIA Decision
-Brian Stann vs. Craig Zellner – Stann VIA Rd. 3 Sub
-John Alessio vs. Alex Serdyukov – Alessio VIA Rd.1 Sub
-Micah Miller vs. Cub Swanson – Miller VIA Decision
-Charlie Valencia vs. Brian Bowles – Bowles VIA TKO Rd. 2
-Mike French vs. Jeff Bedard – French VIA Rd. 2 Sub
Well that's it for this week. Make sure to check back Monday where I'll go over the results from this weekends action. It will also be the first edition of the MMANews weekly awards.
No mail from yesterday so no questions to answer today. Send some questions to [email protected] for a later time.
Make sure to check MMANews.com tommorrow night for the best live coverage on the web for Dynamite! USA.
DISCUSS THIS NEWS IN THE MMANEWS.COM FORUMS >>
