Bad Luck Chuck.
It's been an interesting (to say in the least) year for Chuck Liddell, all out side the cage too. It seems that his career at the moment is destined to be riddled with circumstantial bruises. Hardcore MMA followers across the states scrambled for a pair of 'Depends' following the announcement of Shogun vs Chuck at UFC 84. It was a fight that had fireworks all over it. Legend vs Prodigy. A match-up from heaven, only to live a week. Shogun out with knee injury. Now we were all glad we we're wearing diapers, I shit myself hearing the replacement for Shogun was who? None other than Rashad "I'll Out Last You" Evans, who's unbeaten record looks impressive on paper, but with 7 of the last 11 victories coming from judges. Calling Evans a 'finisher' is a bit of a stretch. So the fight lost serious clout, now is more a stocking stuffer than headline. If that weren't it, latest word is now The Iceman, after suffering an extensive hamstring pull is forced to pull out as well. The Fighting Gods have been so unkind.
But, there is always a silver-lining.
-Chuck is already in a verbal pissing match with a potential dream fight, Kimbo. Enough has been said to have both sides seeking proper steps to set up a possible bout. Providing Kimbo's Prime Time Slice with CBS does well in May, this could almost make up for not seeing Shogun and Liddell in the first place.
-James Irvin, proven banger has stepped up to fill the spot for Chuck. Irvin has been known to dismantle people, ask Marcus Houston or Terry Martin. At least one person in this fight will be looking to end it.
"No Rest for No Love"
Following an impressive win at over K-1 Veteran Sam Stout at UFC 83, Welterweight Rich "No Love" Clemeniti ops for no downtime. The three war in Montreal was taken after a decision, Clementi left one battle to prepare for the next. Scheduled for the upcoming UFC 84, Clementi is set to toe off with a UK star of Terry Etim in Las Vegas come this May 24th. With recent wins over Melvin Guillard, Anthony Johnson, and now Sam, Rich seems to have found a stride. Great on the ground, and hands to show we're secretly hoping Mac Danzig and Clementi cross paths in the center of the octagon.
Cro Cop Next Stop
Dream 4 has officially declared the next showing of Cro Cop. Today Dream announced that Mirko and Jerome LeBanner (an explosive striker) will be meeting each other June 16th in Tokyo. Lebanner is 3-1-1, hardly enough to strike fear in the Croatian.
Fighting with Fedor.
Yes we mean M-1, but not quite what you may think. Yes, the same M-1 that supposedly contracted Fedor Emelianenko, up until they realized he'd never signed any contracts. "Oh yeah, that formality." The same company has released a statement of a new reality show in the works for the Russian, titled: Fighting with Fedor. The (Ultimate Fighter Knock Off) show will feature 16 fighters who are all competing (twist) to fight Fedor.
Heavyweights will pummel each other, to in hopes of finding the one among them worthy enough to get KO'd by one of the most all-time winning MMA fighters to date.
(FYI, Fedor now sits at 28-1-1.)
Just makes it hard calling the winner of that show, a 'winner'.
Zuffa Companies Unite
And lastly UFC and WEC announce future plans. UFC will push for the heavier weight classes, while the WEC will focus on the lower weight classes. Dana White @ MMAAnalyst with more clarification.
White says the UFC has no plans to introduce a 145-pound weight class. “That’s why we bought the WEC (World Extreme Cagefighting).”
In fact, he said they are going to take steps to make the two circuits more distinct. “We’re going to make the WEC the smaller weights and the UFC will be the heavier weights. We’ll probably take some of the guys in the higher weights, the champions over there and bring them into UFC. We’re still trying to figure that out.”
WEC features 135-(bantamweight) and 145-pound (featherweight) weight classes as well as 155, 170, 185 and 205. The UFC has 155, 170, 185, 205 and heavyweight.
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