Today's News

"Chuck you now look like the drunken frat guy at a party who hit on the wrong guy's girl and ended up on queer street…. There's now speculation that Liddell will try to get his cred back by challenging Anderson Silva. Chuck, my man, if you got any sense and you don't want to end up nose flat on the mat, you'd be wise to stay as far away from The Spider as possible."

- Jim Rome

Totally agree with this take on Rome's idiot quote.....Jim stick you making 25-38 year old single men horny for you

The Snowman Jeff Monson makes a trip to the RNC....how would you like to be those cops?

The Big Fight against Overeem has Cro Cop making promises....hopefully he can cash them

185 or 205, I'll take the best opportunity says Hendo

Checkout this video of Big John as an LAPD officer in the LA Riots of 1992

Jens Pulver updates his blog here

Joe Rogan on Evan Tanner

"Evan Tanner has left the rest of us trapped in this life and has moved on to the next stage of existence where he will undoubtedly find adventure beyond his wildest imagination.
In doing so he has left the world a little less interesting."

Checkout Joe Rogan's blog about Evan Tanner here

Petition to Get Evan Tanner into the UFC HOF

Bloody Elbow has a link to a petition to get Evan Tanner into the UFC HOF here

Patrick Cote: MMARated Interview

Gina Carano: Red Alert 3 via MMARated.com

More on Evan Tanner

If you haven't already heard, the sport of MMA lost a true warrior yesterday, Evan Tanner. Though not all details have surfaced, it appears that Tanner embarked on a trip to the desert, ran out of gas, attempted to walk his way out, and ultimately was overcome by dehydration in the mountains near Palo Verde, CA. The unfortunate circumstances of his death mirror the manner in which he lived his life both in and out of cage, which was loose and on the edge. Travelling in the desert alone is dangerous for even the most experienced of outdoors men, but Evan Tanner only did life one way. In the ring, Tanner was a throwback fighter, never one for a game plan he entered the ring with an "Anywhere, Anytime" attitude. His style in the ring screamed "Me Against the World" and he was very successful using it. He became the USWF Heavyweight Champ in 1997 and successfully defended his title seven times. He then headed off to the UFC, where he immediately faced Tito Ortiz for the light heavyweight title and lost, but he eventually took home the middleweight crown in 2005. Life outside the ring was a bit more difficult for the wild man. Tanner admits in his blog that he has battled substance abuse for much of his life and has every job known to man. Following a devastating loss to Rich Franklin, which cost him his UFC crown, Tanner could never seem to get back on the wagon. He attempted to start his own fight camp in 2006, which would essentially consist of seven or so fighters training and living in the same compound full time, but he was never able to get it off the ground. Disheartened and confused he spent nearly two years away from the fight game travelling around the US on his motorcycle. What was he doing? Where was he going? As one of his many fans I wanted to know what had happened to him and why he had left us with so many fights left in his career. In 2007, he returned to the UFC, but faced two of the strongest new competitors in the sport and lost. Had the game passed him by? Maybe. But maybe he was looking for something more than money and wins in the UFC. Perhaps his motorcycle trip was an effort to look deep within himself and find out just who he wanted to be, unfortunately, we will never know. I never met Evan Tanner, I can't say I know him at all really, just that I watched him put on a great show for the fans and do his best to build the sport to what it is today. Certainly we'll miss him as a fighter, but I am also sure that the people of the MMA world will miss the human being even more.

Matt Serra Interview from Cage Potato

http://view.break.com/568357 - Watch more free videos

Shogun Update

Rashad's crumpling of the Iceman has totally thrown the light heavyweight division out of whack and Shogun Rua seems to be lost in no man's land. Following the UFC 88 upset, Rua came out and said he wants Evans or Franklin next, but neither really makes sense to me. Evans is already locked in for a title fight with Forrest and Franklin is just beginning to test the waters at the 205 level. Since a Rampage versus Wanderlei Silva match up appears to be on the horizon, it is unclear who Rua will take on next. Two opponents that immediately come to mind are Lyoto Machida and Sokoudjou. Machida has battled his way to a 13-0 record and holds wins over many top fighters, but he doesn't seem to be the favorite of UFC brass or his fellow fighters because his style of fighting is considered overly defensive. Most experts say styles make fights and offensive juggernaut Rua might just be the opponent to find the chink in the defensive Machida's armor. Similarly, Sokodjou is a judo expert with knockout power, who likes to put on a show and when you combine that with Rua's relentless stand up, I think fireworks. No one doubts that Rua has the talent to take the title in the 205 lb division, but he hasn't fought in almost a year and he needs to beat a legit opponent to put himself back in top contender status. I think a win over either of these opponents would put him right near the top of title contention and set up a possible rematch between himself and Forrest Griffin, which would be a dream fight for the UFC.

Today's News

Evan Tanner Articles are linked below

UFC.com here

MMAonTap here

MMAWeekly here

Fightline here

MMAJunkie here

Faber talks about the WEC show cancelled for Sept. 10th

Medical suspensions for UFC 88

Hazelett v. McCrory at UFC 91

Current Odds for UFC Fight Night 15 are here

Body Found in Desert: Feared to be Evan Tanner (Updated)

According to MMAMania.com, a body has been found in the moutains near Palo Verde, CA and several people close to Tanner have confirmed it is him. Tanner was 37 years old.
Here’s a snip from IVPressOnline.com:

“Authorities have not confirmed if the body is that of missing mixed martial arts fighter, Evan Tanner, who had fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Tanner, 37, has been missing since last weekend. Tanner’s friends from Oceanside, where Tanner resides, had been texting him without reply since Wednesday before they reported him missing on Friday. On Sunday, a campsite was discovered in the Clapp Springs area of the Palo Verde mountains. Tanner’s motorcycle was found at the campsite. A body was found today when a sheriffs deputy was flying around the general location of the campsite. The Imperial County deputy coroner is being flown in to retrieve and identify body.”

Tanner spoke of an expedition into the desert on his blog for Spike in mid August:

“I’ve been gathering my gear for this adventure for over a month, not a long time by most standards, but far too long for my impatient nature. Being a minimalist by nature, wanting to carry only the essentials, and being extremely particular, it has been a little difficult to find just the right equipment. I plan on going so deep into the desert, that any failure of my equipment, could cost me my life.”

Cage Potato has confirmed that the body is Evan Tanner through his manager John Hayner:

“He was in a real positive state of mind, he wasn’t having any drinking problems or any of those types of problems. He was really feeling good about his life,” Hayner told CagePotato.com.

Hayner said that Tanner had gone into the desert on a motorcycle expedition and had run out of gas. Tanner was attempting to walk out of the desert, Hayner said, but apparently didn’t realize how far away from civilization he was and died of exposure in the triple-digit heat. Tanner’s empty campsite was spotted Sunday, and an aerial search located his body earlier this afternoon.

The bushwhackers send its sincerest condolences to the family and fellow friends and fans of Evan Tanner RIP

Liddell Follow Up

Steve Cofield at the Yahoo MMA Blog identifies the following as some of the biggest upsets ever in the the UFC. Now let's look at the aftermath of these fights....I am not sure I really agree and think the history may be a little short sighted. We will throw out Forrest and Evans because they haven't fought since their upset.

1. Randy Couture over Tim Sylvia at UFC 66
- Prior to the fight: Sylvia was an overwhelming favorite on a six fight win street with two defeats of Andrei Arlovski under his belt. Couture had not fought in over a year since going into retirement and had looked bad in his loss to Chuck Liddell
- Randy goes on to defeat Gonzaga in Smashing Fashion, retire and then unretire to fight Brock Lsnar
- Syliva beats an undersized heavyweight Brandon Vera(Decision), has some strong moments against Nogueira, but is submitted in the 3rd round of the interim title fight and then is slaughtered by Fedor in 13 seconds
- Overall: Experience defeats Overconfidence, Couture had a great gameplan and executed. He then proved it wasn't a fluke by destroying Gonzaga. Given how poorly Sylvia has looked since this fight it is my opinion that this wasn't that big an upset.

2. Gabriel Gonzaga over Cro Cop at UFC 70
- Prior to the fight: Gonzaga, while not an unknown, was certainly an unknown when compared the Cro Cop who was 2006 PRIDE Grand Prix Champion and had been expected to roll through everyone in the heavyweight division. Every expert had this fight setting up a fight between Couture and Cro Cop for the fight of the year.
- Gonzaga fought hard but was overwhelmed by Couture in his title challenge. Following Cro Cop victory he is 1-2.
- Cro Cop lost to Chiek Kongo in one of the dirtiest affairs I have seen and then bolted for Japan to get his head straight. Following the Gonzaga fight he is 1-1.
Overall: Regardless of how the fighters have performed since the bout I still put this in the top five upsets.

3. Rashad Evans over Chuck Liddell at UFC 88

4. Matt Serra over Georges St. Pierre at UFC 69
- Prior to the fight: Serra did a phenomenal job on the show, but following GSP's smashing of Matt Hughes everyone who follows the UFC felt like it might be years before he gave up his belt.
- Following the fight Serra was injured and the rematch needed to wait a few months, but once he returned he was promptly destroyed by GSP.
- Overall: Clearly this is a case of a fighter not being prepared for the fight and therefore it remains in the top five.

5. Forrest Griffin over Quinton Jackson at UFC 86

Honorable mention: Randy Couture over Chuck Liddell at UFC 43
I am not sure one HOF fighter beating another HOF fighter can ever consitute an upset given the fact that Couture was moving down in weight and had already been the UFC heavyweight champ. So out of the Top Five

Please give us your top five and reaction to Cofield's picks

Has Chuck Liddell Lost His Touch?

"It let everyone out there who didn’t already know that in mixed martial arts today, you have to be a damn near perfect sort of animal with little to no weakness if you are to stay at the top of the MMA food chain."

- Eric Shapiro from MMAFrenzy.com on Chuck Liddell. article here

In reviewing the fight it is pretty hard not to agree with what Eric has to say, but I think we disagree in what it means to be "at the top of the MMA food chain." To me, it is virtually impossible for fighters to have zero weaknesses, because success is as often dictated by style as it is by technique. You can be an excellent fighter technically and lose to a lesser opponent because your opponent's style presents significant issues from a game planning perspective. What does that mean exactly? Rashad is a extremely talented athletic fighter and when you combine talent with athleticism you get a lot of unpredictability. Now you can reduce the affect of unpredictability with experience, technique and training, all of which Chuck has done, but you can never totally zero it out. Despite what you thinking, I am not contending what Evans did was luck, because he used his unpredictability to his advantage and found a way to drop on of the top stand up fighters in the world. Perhaps this is really the story of the rise of Rashad Evans and not the fall of Chuck Liddell? Everyone thought Keith Jardine was ready to become a star after he beat Chuck, but last I checked Wanderlei Silva dropped him like a bad habit. The moral of the story is that unpredictability makes this sport great because almost anyone can win at anytime and even the best of the best can't totally zero out that possibility no matter how experienced or how hard they train. It ensured that both the young(Evans) and old(Couture) can find glory at anytime.

Matt Serra on Matt Hughes....

"The only thing I want to retire is Matt Hughes," Serra said. "I plan on retiring him."
MMAJunkie does some one on one with the Terror and he wants the fight to happen now....Why not? Hughes is coming of a disastrous loss to Thiago Alves and Serra got worked over by GSP in his title defense, it would certainly appear to be a great way for either fighter to get back on the right track. Given where that division is headed with larger and more well rounded fighters I am not sure that either of these guys will have a legit shot at the title again, but hey if Randy Couture can bounce back in his 40's then anything can happen.

Today's News

Matt Hughes blogs about this weekend's fights and some good croc hunting photos here

UFC event in Japan coming soon

MMAJunkie talks about how the Evans upset changes everything

MMAmemories has some interesting thoughts behind the hype or lack there of for the upcoming Affliction and Elite XC shows

Dana's UFC 88 Video Blog 9/6/08

Dana's UFC 88 Video Blog 9/5/08

Today's News

Paulo Filho: Fight with Anderson Silva "definitely out of my plans"

5 Oz. Interview with Rousimar Palhares: “Henderson can say whatever he wants; the fight will be decided in the Octagon”

Thiago Silva out of UFC 89 bout with Lyoto Machida

Strikeforce adds three fights to ‘Payback’ card

Wednesday's WEC 36 event moved to Nov. 5 due to Hurricane Ike

Strikeforce ‘Playboy at the Mansion II’ to stream live on Sherdog.com

Forrest Griffin pulling for Chuck Liddell at UFC 88

Alessio Sakara vs Joe Vedepo to fight at UFC Fight Night 15

Wilson Gouveia vs. Ryan Jensen UFC Fight Night 15 fight official with Jeremy Horn injured

LA Times article on TapouT

Tito Ortiz claims Juanito Ibarra ripped off Rampage

“Let me explain this to you because it really pisses me off that Ibarra has done what he has done, he is a thief,” said Ortiz. “I have been running training camps for seven years up in Big Bear California and the most that my camp has cost a fighter to attend is $35,000. Ibarra was charging Jackson $65,000 to go to Big Bear. I don’t understand that! He was being very disrespectful and taking advantage of Rampage. Including travel, training partners, food and lodging, the most ever was $35,000, maybe if you flew in more trainers… 40K. Where did that extra money go that Ibarra was charging? Rampage is really pissed and he feels betrayed that he was taken advantage of and I couldn’t agree more with him. I don’t care if Juanito reads this or hears about it anywhere, he already knows that he is blackballed. I don’t care who you are; fighters work very hard for the money they earn and I feel slighted for even knowing Juanito.”

-www.fiveouncesofpain.com

Nate Marquardt: MMARated Interview

Karo Parisyan: MMARated Interview

Dana's UFC 88 Video Blog 9/4/08

Rich Franklin: MMARated Interview

Jason MacDonald: MMARated Interview

UFC 88 Picks

Eric "Performify" Foster, MMAjunkie.com handicaps UFC 88

MMAMania.com predictions, preview, and analysis of UFC 88

The Staff of 5 Oz. Breaks Down UFC 88

Bloodyelbow.com's staff UFC 88 predictions

UFC 88 live weigh-in results

MAIN CARD

Rashad Evans (205) vs. Chuck Liddell (204)
Rich Franklin (204.5) vs. Matt Hamill (205)
Dan Henderson (185) vs. Rousimar Palhares (184.5)
Martin Kampmann (184.5) vs. Nate Marquardt (185)
Matt Brown (170) vs. Dong Hyun Kim (170)

PRELIMINARY CARD

Kurt Pellegrino (156) vs. Thiago Tavares (155)
Tim Boetsch (205.25) vs. Mike Patt (205.25)
Roan Carneiro (170) vs. Ryo Chonan (170)
Jason Lambert (185) vs. Jason MacDonald (185)