In late October Brock Lesnar withdrew from his title fight against Shane Carwin due to an illness. Later it became public that Lesnar was afflicted with mononucleosis but a new report indicates that things may be worse than a simple case of mono.
Dana White informed MMA Junkie of Lesnar’s health issues,
“[Lesnar] is in bad shape, and the reality is they don’t really know all that’s wrong with him,” White said. “He owns a bunch of property in Canada. He went up to Canada just to get away from his house, to go up there and just kind of chill out up there.
“He [expletive] dropped. He went down, and he had to go to the hospital. They ran every test on the planet on him, and they ended up finding out something else was wrong with him.”
It is beginning to look like the UFC heavyweight champion will be out of commission for an extended period. So what will the UFC do to fill their pay-per view schedule?
An interim title makes sense but who will fight for it? Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is out with a staph infection, Shane Carwin just underwent knee surgery and Frank Mir is fighting Cheick Kongo at UFC 107. That leaves Cain Velasquez as the last man standing. Could we see an interim title fight between Cain and the winner of Mir vs. Kongo?
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira has been forced to withdraw from his fight with Cain Velasquez due to a staph infection. Dana White informed the media at the UFC 105 post-fight press conference,
“[Nogueira] got staph infection, bad, to the point now it’s in his blood stream, and he’s probably going to have to be hospitalized and intravenuosly given the antibiotics,” White said.
Nogueira was slated to fight Cain Velasquez in a heavyweight number one contender fight for UFC 108.
Shane Carwin is a no go as a replacement fighter. White also told the media that Carwin recently underwent knee surgery (where the hell did that come from?) and will not be available.
The UFC awarded four fighters some additional cheddar for their special performances inside the Octagon on Saturday night. Michael Bisping, Denis Kang, Dennis Siver and Terry Etim each earned $40,000 in fight night bonuses at UFC 105.
Fight of the Night:
Michael Bisping and Denis Kang ($40,000/each)
Knockout of the Night:
Randy Couture and Dan Hardy each moved one step closer to title shots in their respective divisions on Saturday with unanimous decision wins at UFC 105 in Manchester, England.
Couture, fighting at light heavyweight for the first time since 2006, edged Brandon Vera in the evening’s main event, battling through stinging body kicks to control the pace of the fight while landing occasional combination to earn the unanimous nod of a very controversial decision. A decision that has yet again left fans scratching their heads at the judges..
With the win, Couture improves to 17-10, rebounding from back-to-back losses to Brock Lesnar and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and potentially earning a shot at the winner of the upcoming rematch between 205-pound title-holder Lyoto Machida and challenger Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. Vera falls to 11-4, snapping his two-fight win streak.
In the UFC 105 co-headliner, Hardy stunned Mike Swick early then rocked him again in the second and third frames to earn a unanimous decision victory.
Hardy ups his record to 23-6 with the win, including four-straight inside the UFC to earn a shot at welterweight title-holder Georges St-Pierre early next year. Swick drops to 14-3, snapping his four-fight win streak.
In other main card action, Michael Bisping rebounded with a second-round knockout of Denis Kang, Matt Brown scored a second-round knockout of James Wilks, and Ross Pearson earned a second-round TKO of Aaron Riley.
On the UFC 105 preliminary card, John Hathaway, Terry Etim, Nick Osipczak, Dennis Siver, Alexander Gustafsson, and Andre Winner earned victories.
The complete results for UFC 105 were:
* Randy Couture def. Brandon Vera via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
* Dan Hardy def. Mike Swick via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
* Michael Bisping def. Denis Kang via TKO (strikes) — Round 2, 4:24
* Matt Brown def. James Wilks via TKO (strikes) — Round 3, 2:27
* Ross Pearson def. Aaron Riley via TKO (doctor’s stoppage) — Round 2, 4:38
* John Hathaway def. Paul Taylor via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
* Terry Etim def. Shannon Gugerty via submission (guillotine choke) — Round 2, 1:24
* Nick Osipczak def. Matthew Riddle via TKO (strikes) — Round 3, 3:53
* Dennis Siver def. Paul Kelly via TKO (strikes) — Round 2, 2:53
* Alexander Gustafsson def. Jared Hamman via knockout (punches) — Round 1, 0:41
* Andre Winner def. Rolando Delgado via knockout (punch) — Round 1, 3:22
Stefan Struve has been tapped to fight a returning Paul Buentello on the main card of UFC 107 on December 12 in place of injured up-and-comer Todd Duffee, who withdrew from the fight last week due to an undisclosed injury.
After dropping his UFC debut to Junior dos Santos in February, Struve (18-3) has rebounded with back-to-back wins inside the Octagon over Denis Stojnic and Chase Gormley.
Buentello (24-10) returns to the UFC after going 3-1 in Strikforce and most-recently earning wins in Affliction over Gary Goodridge and Kirill Sidelnikov.
UFC 107, which takes place at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee, is headlined by lightweight champ BJ Penn vs. Diego Sanchez and also features Cheick Kongo vs. Frank Mir and Kenny Florian vs. Clay Guida.
Video game maker THQ has announced that it expects to sell 4 million copies of the hit MMA video game, “UFC Undisputed 2009.” The game is expected to play a prominent role regarding whether or not THQ will be profitable for this fiscal year.
THQ will be making a UFC video game annually, similar to their WWE game franchise. Although the question remains, can each UFC video game be as successful as the last?
Many experts point out that THQ could struggle with future releases because MMA is real, which could limit what the game maker can do to entice people to continue to buy upgrades to the game.
By improving gameplay and enhancing features on future releases, THQ could ensure the game’s profitability and long-term success.
Another avenue for profitability will be expanding their console market. THQ is expected to create a UFC game for the hand-held market, such as the PSPGo or Nintendo DS as well as adding something to the Nintendo Wii line.
Although most won’t admit it, there’s a chance that Fedor Emelianenko’s 26-fight winning streak might come to an end tomorrow inside the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. One person that isn’t gun-shy about speaking his mind is UFC president Dana White, who recently stated it could be a short night for the Russian if he’s not careful.
“You know what scares me about the Brett Rogers fight? Brett Rogers might knock him out,” White recently said during an interview with Fanhouse. “[Fedor] isn’t getting any younger, he hasn’t really been that active, he’s not the most physically fit guy you’ll ever see, and this guy Brett Rogers could end up clipping him, and then what does that mean?”
The only reason White is so concerned with his rival’s highly anticipated “Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers ” show is because they’re hosting a fight that most MMA fans would prefer not to see. White maintains that his organization houses the world’s top heavyweight champion in Brock Lesnar, and that is where Team Fedor needs to head if they intend to legitimize their fighter’s legacy in the eyes of the mixed martial arts world.
“I just think it’s terrible. I think that Fedor should be fighting Brock [Lesnar], that’s what I think,” White added. “That’s the fight that should be happening. If the media and fans and anybody, anybody has the perception that this guy’s the best fighter in the world, he should be fighting the other best fighter in the world.”
White also mentioned that it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing if Emelianenko were to keep his nearly nine-year winning streak alive. In fact, it would be much better for the UFC down the road, assuming he eventually agrees to fight inside an Octagon, if Fedor can maintain his aura of invincibility.
“The reality is, I hope that Buck (Brett) Rogers doesn’t knock him out,” White stated. “Because I want to get Fedor in the UFC. I want to see him fight Brock Lesnar.”
The official Light Heavy Weight Champion has undergone hand sugery due to bone spurs and fragments in his left hand. The sugery was anoucned as a success by Machida’s docotor in Brazil.
The Dragon won’t be able to train until at least mid January as he needs at least six weeks to fully recover his hand. This means fight fight fans won’t see the rematch between Machida and Shogun until possibly March, April or May, 2010.
Lyoto talks with Yahoo Sports about his recent win over Shogun:
Heavy weight champion Brock Lesnar has been forced to pull out of his upcoming title defence against Shane Carwin at UFC 106 which is to be held on November 21, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
Lesnar was forced to pull out due to a mystery illness which has kept him from training for a number of weeks; the bout is intended to be rescheduled from January.
The UFC was quick to promote the co-main event Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin II to the main event of the card, that fight to was also the victim of an injury with Mark Coleman pulling due to a knee injury.
Tonight at the Staple Centre in Los Angeles saw the biggest display of incompetent judging, as the Light Heavy Weight Championship was stolen from Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and handed to Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida.
UFC 104: Machida vs. Shogun Results:
Lyoto Machida def. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua via Unanimous Decision
Cain Velasquez def. Ben Rothwell via TKO (second round)
Joe Stevenson def. Spencer Fisher via TKO
Anthony Johnson def. Yoshiyuki Yoshida via KO
Ryan Bader def. Eric Schafer via Unanimous Decision
Patrick Barry def. Antoni Hardonk via TKO (Round Two)
Chael Sonnen def. Yushin Okami via Unanimous Decision
Jorge Rivera def. Rob Kimmons via TKO (Round Three)
Kyle Kingsbury def. Razak Al-Hassan via Split Decision
Stefan Struve def. Chase Gormley via Triangle Choke (Round One)
In late October Brock Lesnar withdrew from his title fight against Shane Carwin due to an illness. Later it became public that Lesnar was afflicted with mononucleosis but a new report indicates that things may be worse than a simple case of mono.
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