It’s no secret that Dan Henderson and his employer the UFC have been in an disagreement in the past few weeks over the issue of Henderson’s contract renewal. In a nutshell the MMA veteran and dual Pride Champion think he is worth more then he was previously earning, on the other hand the UFC which is the biggest MMA promotion on earth doesn’t want to pay anymore then they have to.
An unnamed member of Team Quest, Henderson’s training camp has spoken with Fighters Only Magazine about the contract negations and expects an agreement will be struck “at some point”.
Another issue in the contract talks was thought to be that Henderson demanded an immediate rematch and title shot with middle weight champion Anderson Silva which he felt he earned after his knock out victory over Michael Bisping at UFC 100. Recent reports have indicated that Vitor Belfort will be the next piece in the Anderson Silva puzzle, not Henderson.
With Anderson Silva possibly being tied up for the next six months, there only leaves one logical fight for Dan Henderson in the middle weight division. That opponent is Nate Marquardt who earned a place in line for a title shot after making short work of Demian Maia at UFC 103. Dan Henderson vs. Nate Marquardt would be a middle weight title shot eliminator.
Henderson previously had a closed mind towards a potential show down with Marquardt but according to a source inside Team Quest, Henderson isn’t “dead against fighting Marquardt, if that’s the only fight that the UFC is looking for from hum in the immediate future.”
Kalib Starnes, will return to fighting and face off against Bellator middleweight champion, Hector Lombard, at a Cage Fighting Championship event on Oct. 9 in Queensland, Australia.
Kalib Starnes (9-3-1) is a UFC veteran made notorious by a poor performance against Nate Quarry at UFC 83. Starnes has returned to fighting since that infamous event, defeating Chris Cisneros at Destiny MMA – Pier Fighter 1.
Hector Lombard (21-2-1) will return to the CFC where he won the middleweight champion and is 5-0-1 in six fights for the organization. Lombard hasn’t lost since 2006 where he was defeated by Gegard Mousasi. Hector Lombard was a perfect 3-0 in Bellator’s middleweight tournament and won the Bellator middleweight title against Jared Hess. Lombard is still under contract with Bellator and will fight in their second season.
CFC 11 has been cancelled due to both main and co-main withdrawals.
The UFC’s most promising import, Yoshihiro Akiyama who has fully recovered from an injury to his eye that required surgery after his “Fight of the Night” victory over Alan Belcher at UFC 100 has revealed his plans to train at Xtreme Couture MMA to Sherdog.com.
Akiyama will be travelling to Las Vegas in October to work on his striking with Shawn Tompkins. This will not be the first time this pair has worked together as Tompkins said “he first worked with the 2006 K-1 Hero’s tournament champion behind the scenes at UFC 97 last April in Montreal”.
The former coach of the Los Angeles Anacondas of the now defunct promotion International Fight League didn’t have the answer to who Akiyama’s next opponent would be. Fightburger.com has heard on the grape vine that a middle weight match up between Yoshihiro Akiyama and Wanderlei Silva is being considered.
Wanderlei Silva who is also recovering from surgery and is expected to return to the octagon in February 2010 and Fightburger.com has been the first to speculate that his return may coincide with the UFC’s first trip down under to Sydney, Australia. Other chatter doing the rounds about this potential fight indicate that it could take place at UFC 108 in January. With big name fighters expected already on the UFC 108 card, Wanderlei Silva vs Yoshihiro Akiyama would surely make this the most stacked UFC card in a long time.
Fightburger.com considers that this rumour may have some merit as Tompkins has worked with Wanderlei Silva previously and Akiyama could be training with Tompkins in preparation for the rumoured showdown.
Stay tuned to fightburger.com for all MMA news, rumors and gossip.
UFC welterweights Mike Swick and Dan Hardy got rumors swirling yesterday that they may be facing off against one another in the near future. Dan Hardy posted on his facebook page, “The universe is in my favour at the moment! MMA Fans prepare for some big news over the next few days!” Then Swick posted on his Twitter, “Hey guys, no I am not fighting Hughes or GSP next. I do have some really cool news but can’t say just yet… Stay tuned!”
The fact that the two posts were relatively close together in time, and talked about potential future match-ups led many to believe that a bout between the two was being organized. This morning, UFC President Dana White confirmed the bout to MMAFanhouse and added that the winner would be top contender to Georges St. Pierre’s championship.
As yet, White made no mention of when the potential bout would take place, but UFC 105 in November seems to be the likely candidate. Both fighters have spent time in training camps recently, and Hardy was already scheduled to be on the November 14 card in Manchester, England fighting Dong Hyun Kim. However, telegraph.co.uk reported that Kim suffered an injury which made Hardy available to face Swick.
Swick was last in action gaining a TKO victory over Ben Saunders at UFC 99 in Cologne, Germany. He had been scheduled to fight Martin Kampmann at UFC 103 in a battle for number one contendership, but suffered a concussion in training which prevented him from competing in the bout.
Hardy also last fought at UFC 99, where he earned a split decision victory over Marcus Davis. Hardy is now 3-0 in his UFC career, and is quickly growing in popularity. With a win over Swick in their upcoming bout, Hardy could really boost hist standings within the company.
Stay tuned to Fightburger.com has more news unfolds.
Lightweights Jason Dent and George Sotiropoulos, both former contestants on “The Ultimate Fighter,” have agreed to square off at UFC 106 on November 21 in Las Vegas, according to sources close to Fightburger.
Dent (19-9), a cast member on The Ultimate Fighter 9 who lost in the semifinals to eventual winner Ross Pearson, won “Submission of the Night” honors at the TUF 9 Finale in June for his first-round submission of Cameron Dollar, his fourth-straight victory.
Sotiropoulos (10-2) was eliminated from The Ultimate Fighter 6 after losing in the semis to Tommy Speer, but has rebounded to win three-straight in the UFC over Billy Miles, Roman Mitichyan, and, most-recently in August, George Roop.
UFC 106 is headlined by Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin and also features Tito Ortiz vs. Mark Coleman and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Luis Cane.
Wanderlei Silva recently spoke with fighters only magazine about his much awaited return to the octagon since his loss to Rich Franklin at UFC 99. Silva revealed that he thinks he will be returning to the octagon in February 2010 but did not make mention of a possible opponent.
Fight Burger is speculating at this point that MMA fans in Australia are going to be served up a real treat by being able to witness the legendary Axe Murderer in action. Although no official announcement has been made by the UFC, the world’s premier mixed martial arts organization’s worst kept secret is that it will be holding an event for the first time down under at the Acer Arena is Sydney in February or March of 2010.
Stay tuned to fightburger.com for all MMA news, scandals and gossip.
After decades of ring action, Dream will officially introduce Japanese MMA fans to the world of the cage. The organization will debut “The White Cage” for their Dream.12 event on October 25th.
Dream had previously stated they had a “surprise” for their fans and have just dropped the bomb after months of teasing. DREAM.12 will take place in a six-sided fenced surface, similar to the UFC’s Octagon but with two less sides.
Thus far, nine participants will be competing at “Cage of the Rising Sun,” including lightweight sensation Eddie Alvarez, Paulo Filho, Katsunori Kikuno, Yoshiro Maeda, Andrews Nakahara, Alistair Overeem, Kiyoshi Tamura and Marius Zaromskis.
Potential opponents for the nine participants were not revealed.
DREAM.12 will mark the second of two October shows for the company as DREAM.11 is slated for October 6th and features the organization’s “Super Hulk” tourney, as well as the finals of their Featherweight Grand Prix.
Both events are expected to air on HDNet in North America, however no official word on if they will be live or not.
Could it be over this soon for Big Country? We already know that Kimbo will be fighting in the finale. On a scale of 1-10, how much will you freak out if he shocks the world on Wednesday?
Badr Hari, Alistair Overeem, Jerome Le Banner, Semmy Schilt, and Remy Bonjasky were among the winners at Saturday’s K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 Final 16 kickboxing event in Seoul, South Korea.
The winning fighters now advance to the K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 Finals on December 5 in Kanagawa, Japan, where they’ll participate in a one-night, eight-man tournament to crown the 2009 K-1 World Grand Prix champion.
The complete results for K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 Final 16 were:
Badr Hari def. Zabit Samedov via KO — Round 1
Alistair Overeem def. Peter Aerts via unanimous decision
Jerome Le Banner def. Musashi via unanimous decision
Semmy Schilt def. Daniel Ghita via unanimous decision
Ewerton Teixeira def. Singh Jaideep via unanimous decision
Ruslan Karaev def. Kyotaro via unanimous decision
Errol Zimmerman def. Glaube Feitosa via unanimous decision
Remy Bonjasky def. Melvin Manhoef via unanimous decision
As report by the LA TimesUFC president Dana White has revealed plans for a mega fight between Ander Sliva and Vitor Belfort at UFC 108. Both fighters have apparently verbally agreed to fight each other at the new years event. Also sources at bloodyelbow.com have made mention of a possible bout between Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva.
Both Silva and Belfort have come off victories by destroying their opponents in the first round.
Stay tuned to fightburger.com as we will keep you up to date on all UFC 108 developments.
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