The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 7 cast clown, Matt Riddle (1-0), will meet up with Ryan Thomas (9-2) inside the Octagon at UFC 91: “Couture vs. Lesnar” at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 15.
It’s unclear at this time if the bout will be contested at welterweight (170 pounds) or middleweight (185 pounds).
Riddle — who on the show joked that he still lived with his mother, didn’t have a driver’s license and much more — is perhaps best known for shattering Dan Simmler’s jaw in the opening of the show, which coach Quinton “Rampage” Jackson quipped was the “Knockout of the Century.”
He was bounced out of the tournament-style show courtesy of a Tim Credeur armbar. He rebounded to score a unanimous decsion win over Dante Rivera at the TUF 7 Finale back in June — the first of his professional fighting career.
Riddle now trains at Arizona Combat Sports alongside WEC Lightweight Champion Jamie Varner, CB Dolloway, Ryan Bader and others, proving that he is serious about improving his mixed martial arts skills.
Thomas stepped up on short notice (12 days) to replace an injured Jared Rollins at UFC 87: “Seek and Destroy” in August to fight Ben Saunders. He lost that fight via second round submission (armbar), spoiling his debut for the promotion.
He is a 23-year-old part-time student at Eastern Illinois University who, prior to taking the Saunders fight, fought 14 times in 20 months.
UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre won his fight with UFC lightweight champion BJ Penn by a razor’s edge.
Their UFC 58 battle was another example in a running debate amongst mixed martial arts fans – should the most damaged fighter be declared the loser? St. Pierre definitely lost in that department – he spent a night in a Las Vegas hospital, badly banged up – but two judges ruled he had come out ahead on points, giving him the 29-28 nod.
Two-and-a-half years removed from that important bout, St. Pierre wants to eliminate all the "what ifs." In a recent video interview with MMAWeekly.com, he spoke about fighting Penn for a second time.
“I’m a different fighter than I used to be,” he said. “And he is as well. This time, I want to take him out. I don’t want to go to a decision. I want to finish him.”
The fight is not signed yet, but St. Pierre thinks it will be sometime in the next week.
He left for Albuquerque, N.M. to get some training in with Greg Jackson’s camp. Right now, he’s gathering information from a variety of sources before putting it all together in an MMA-only environment.
St. Pierre’s countryman and teammate, Patrick Cote, is neck deep in his preparation for Anderson Silva at UFC 90. The fight poses an interesting question for St. Pierre’s future. He has previously said he would be open to going up a weight division to face Silva. Given he won’t fight his teammate, would another Penn victory push him towards the middleweight champion?
With a brutal stretch of three cards in 15 days behind them, EliteXC can now shift their full attention to the upcoming Nov. 8 card in Reno, Nev.
With two title fights already on the slate for that evening, EliteXC officials had hoped to book a third. But as EliteXC Head of Fight Operations Jeremy Lappen recently told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com), the debut of the light-heavyweight title is still uncertain.
"Cyrille Diabate is not going to fight (Rafael) 'Feijao' for the title," Lappen said. "We offered him the fight, but he felt like he didn't have enough time to get ready.
"We're still looking for an opponent for 'Feijao.'"
Less than a week ago, EliteXC Vice President Jared Shaw told MMAjunkie.com that the organization hoped to debut the 205-pound belt with a Diabate (12-6) vs. "Feijao" (7-1) bout. With Diabate out of the matchup, it is unknown if the light-heavyweight title will still be on the line.
Shaw did say that when the title was first up for grabs, "Feijao" would be in the mix.
"When we are ready to introduce the light-heavyweight title, there is no doubt that 'Feijao' will be in a fight for that title," Shaw said. "He's without a doubt the No. 1 fighter that we have in the light-heavyweight division."
As for Diabate, Lappen said the Frenchmen does hope to meet with "Feijao" at a later date.
UFC newcomer Ivan Serati (10-2) will make his debut for the promotion in Dublin on the UFC 93 card on January 17. His opponent will be the Polish born Thomas Drwal (14-2) who has not fought since UFC 75 when he lost to Thiago Silva snapping his 13 fight winning streak.
Serati confirmed the fight with Fighters only and shared his thoughts on his opponent Drwal, and his UFC debut against Light Heavyweight contender Thiago Silva.
“He is very tough” Serati is quoted telling Fighters only. “in his last UFC fight I remember he gave Thiago Silva a very tough fight,” he remarked. “There is no doubt that the UFC is the cream of the crop, and it’s fighters are too.”
He also spoke about his fights and how he earned his way into the UFC by beating a majority of his opponents in the first round. He also spoke about a possible rematch with former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Vitor Belfort back at Cage Rage 21 when he lost to by TKO (Punches).
“when you look at my record, Serati said. “The vast majority of my wins have been in the first round. I feel that I have done enough to get my shot.”
“My only loss at light-heavyweight is to Vitor Belfort,” Serati said. “when I made my Cage Rage debut. I was very nervous during that fight and would love a rematch.”
M-1 GLOBAL and Affliction Entertainment joined forces to promote the Mixed Martial Arts all over the world…
Vadim Finkelchtein and Sergey Matvienko are the tycoons of M-1 and Donald Trump is one of the names of Affliction entertainment.
No need to say that this alliance means serious business.
Vadim:”I expected the Challenge of 2008 to be a success, but this came sooner than expected. The first TV broadcastings have been on air by HD-Net and they were well received.
From now on the Challenge can be seen weekly in more than eighty countries.
At the moment we are working towards the finals of 2008 in Russia in which the poule winners will fight for the Challenge Championship and the numbers two of the poules will face each other for the 3th place. The whole show will be covered by NTV, Russia’s largest National TV network.`
He continues: “ I’m very pleased with the high level of fighting that was showed in the Challenge up to now and I expect some of the fighters to become the future MMA-champions worldwide.
With Fedor and Alexander Emilianenko and Gegard Mousasi, M-1 already has some of the most spectacular MMA fighters in the world contracted and fighters like Jason Jones, Bogdan Christea en Jessie Gibbs from the Dutch team, Kirril Sidelnikov, Mikhail Zayats and Mikhail Malyutin from Russia, from France Karl Amoussou and Malik `Komodo`N´Diaye, Juan Manuel Suarez from Spain, Nakamura and Shirai from Japan, Puhakka, Tullerinta and Nurminene from Finland are ready to compete on the highest level and so are quite a few of the other teams.
Finally I want to say that for 2009 we will have sixteen participating teams divided over four poules and I´m sure that the 2009 Challenge will be even more thrilling than this year´s.
Affliction, M-1 Global and Golden Boys will work together.
Golden boys is the production company of Oscar de la Hoya and is the biggest moneymaking machine in the boxing business.
This means that mixed MMA and Boxing shows are no longer futuristic fiction.
So who knows; In the future we might see Fedor and Oscar in the same show.
MMA fighters in boxing.
It makes no sense to think that Fedor will ever do a boxing match, but M-1 is working to realize a fight for Andrey Orlovsky. Next to him, Gegard Mousasi and Alexander Emilianenko are eager to resume their boxing training also.
From Challenge to Dream Champion.
Gegard Mousasi started his MMA career five years ago whit Ino and Tayari Alberga. His standup skills were honed by Ino and with Tayari he trained groundwork. Nowadays he is training in the gym of Goksel Sahinbas. At the start of the M-1 Challenge he was still part of the Dutch team but after the first match against the World team he was invited to take part in the Dream Middle Weight Grand Prix which he eventually won. With only 23 years of age the young champion has a bright future in MMA and he is the only non Russian in the world who is allowed to train with the team of world’s best MMA fighter Fedor Emilianenko.
Mousasi: “ First I want to thank everybody that supported me to reach my goal of becoming the Dream Grand Prix Champion. I see this title as the stepping stone to accomplish my real desire and that is to also become the world champion in boxing.
Because M-1 is nowadays cooperating with Affliction and Golden Boys, I think this dream can come true.
In MMA I will go up to -93 kg. Not only to increase my strength, but if I fight between 85 an 93 kg in boxing, I have quite a wide range to test my skills before I decide in which weight class I enter boxing competition. Next to fighting I want to educate myself so I can understand the things that are happening in the world in a better way. By doing so I also hope that I can help and serve the people around me. Once again I want thank everybody that helped me to reach my goal. I thank God, my trainers, M-1 management and Fedor Emilianenko for helping me.”
Fate saved Alexander Emilianenko’s life.
Fate is a mysterious thing that has its own ways and even if you’re not religious you will have to agree that there is more between heaven and earth then the human mind can comprehend, How else could you explain that Alexander and Red Devil’s Mikhail Malyutin after being invited to some kind of combat Sambo tournament, were not on the plane that crashed near Perm in Russia early September. Everybody aboard was killed, but because the budget of the organizers was too small Alexander and Mikhail were called and told that they could not be afforded and that the tickets for the airplane had to be cancelled.
Sportel
Sportel is the most prestigious international sports convention for Television and New media.
We quote from their site sportelmonaco.com
After 18 highly successful years, SPORTELMonaco is universally recognized as the one indispensable, must-attend international Market for companies involved with any aspect of sports programming and sports content across all distribution platforms. Every October, high-level sports executives gather in the Grimaldi Forum for four days of intense meetings with clients and colleagues from around the world: four days of networking, deal-making, learning about new industry trends, forging new alliances and discussing future business possibilities. Whether you are interested in selling, buying, developing, producing or delivering sports content on a regional or global basis SPORTELMonaco 2008 is for you! .”
Joost Raimond from M-1: “For us this is a unique opportunity to come in contact with the best broadcasters across the globe. This will allow us to present our unique MMA content which includes the M-1 Challenge and the unique reality series “Fighting Fedor”.
IMA referees Global.
It is common knowledge that M-1 adopted the MMA rules of the International Mixfight Association and recruits the officials of this association for their events.
In 2009 The IMA will aim to get worldwide licenses in all the participating countries for their referees and judges. This means not only a lot of paperwork, but also the actual training in the ring and behind the judges table in the M-1 shows.
EliteXC completed its third show in three weeks last night from the Horseshoe Casino just outside of Chicago in Hammond, Indiana.
While it was a quality show, it was not anywhere near as strong as the promotion’s ShoXC event from two weeks ago in Santa Ynez, Calif., which many pundits believe was EliteXC’s strongest ShoXC event to date.
Last night’s show simply didn’t have as many exciting fights and lacked the same energy of the Sept. 26 show. Perhaps that is to be expected considering last night’s show did not have the benefit of a title fight to anchor the event and you can’t exactly snap your fingers and re-create the insane battle that David Douglas and Malaipet put on.
Controversy was also involved with the night’s semi-featured bout in which Mamed Khalidov TKO’d Jason Guida due to standing strikes at 4:53 of round 2.
For Guida, last night’s fight was an opportunity to redeem himself after failing to make weight on national television during the qualifying episodes for the current season of The Ultimate Fighter. However, he did very little in the fight to endear himself to fans.
At one juncture, a visibly winded Guida lost his mouthpiece during an exchange on the ground. The head official paused the contest in search of Guida’s mouthpiece and began to panic when he could not locate it. After a prolonged stoppage in which Guida was given time to rest, the referee finally found a replacement mouthpiece and instructed Guida to put it in.
Guida refused the referee’s instruction and the referee then walked to the cage door and informed officials he was about to disqualify Guida for refusing the replacement mouthpiece. Seconds later, Guida’s original mouthpiece suddenly reappeared.
Despite the extended rest, Guida was still gassed and was finished with only a few seconds remaining in thesecond round after Khalidov pressured him against the cage and began to unload on Guida, who did not answer any of Khalidov’s shots. The referee called a stop to the bout and an upset Guida actually pushed the official in protest of the decision.
Replays showed that most of the punches Khalidov threw actually landed on Guida’s arms as opposed to his face but the fact remains that Guida used a duck and cover approach while pinned against the cage as his defensive posture and failed to answer any of the strikes with punches of his own.
In addition to his stall tactics and decision to put his hands on an referee, Guida showed a continued lack of sportsmanship by storming out of the cage before the official decision had been announced to the crowd.
Following the bout, SHOWTIME color commentator Stephen Quadros commented that while Guida might be a likable person outside of the cage, his conduct inside of it told a different story.
Complete results are as follows:
Televised Main Card -
Dave Herman via TKO (strikes) over Kerry Schall at 1:06 of round 1
Mamed Khalidov via TKO (strikes) at 4:53 of round 2
Anthony Lapsley def. Mike Stumpf via majority decision
Alexander Shlemenko via TKO (knee) over Bubba McDaniel at 5:00 of round 1
Lyle Beerbohm via TKO (cut) over Rafaello Oliveira at 5:00 of round 1
Preliminary Card -
Matt Jaggers def. Orville Smith via unanimous decision
Jared McMahon submits Jacob Hey via rear naked choke at 3:11 of round 1
Tiawan Howard submits Johnny Hughes via rear naked choke at 3:42 of round 1
Josh Barnes via TKO (strikes) over Jeremy Norton at 2:22 of round 1
Deray Davis submits John Kuhner via rear naked choke at 3:53 of round 2
“NO – I have not lost my UFC contract. NO – I have not fired my coaching staff. NO – I am not going to step down and fight for smaller organizations. The loss last month was tough, but life goes on. People need to remember that I have only been fighting professionally for a year and a half. I have made great strides during that time, as well as faced some setbacks. My training will continue and we are looking at visiting some of the larger camps for additional training and strategy for my next fight. I have a lot to learn and am hoping to have everything straightened out before I enter the cage next time. So no worries, I am not going anywhere!”
UFC light heavyweight Houston Alexander addresses speculation that his status with the promotion is somehow in jeopardy after suffering three straight defeats. UFC President Dana White indicated before his most recent loss to Eric Schafer at UFC Fight Night 15 that the “Nebraskan Assassin” needed a win or would risk having to take fights in smaller organizations and win his way back into the Octagon for another opportunity to shine. It appears that the charismatic father of six will get at least once more chance to prove he belongs with the top mixed martial arts promotion in the world. Let’s hope for his sake he can make the most out of it.
It disgusts me. I’ve been busting my (expletive) for 10 years flying all over the planet to show everybody what a great sport this is and what amazing people are involved in it. Then CBS throws this guy who fights at people’s barbecues on the main event because they’re trying to compete with us, and he gets knocked out in (14) seconds by a guy who didn’t win ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ and couldn’t fight in the UFC. Then the guy turns around the next day and says, ‘The promoters actually paid me to not go to the ground with this guy. They paid me to stand up,’ which I’m pretty sure is illegal…. (Slice is) a joke. It was bound to happen. These guys have lost $60 million trying to get this thing off the ground. They’re building their promotion around a guy who can’t fight. It’s kind of (expletive) stupid, isn’t it? You’re in the fight business and you’re building your business around a guy who can’t fight…. When dirty people go out and do stuff like that, it hurts. Promoters have a bad rap as it is because of the last 100 years of boxing. We actually started to turn that around and were doing the right things and then you have these guys coming out and doing (expletive) like that. It hurts us.”
– UFC President Dana White comments via the Boston Herald on the firestorm that Seth Petruzelli created in the aftermath of his 14-second dismantling of Elite XC posterboy, Kimbo Slice, at Elite XC: “Heat” over the weekend. Petruzelli made some curious remarks that the promoters “hinted” before the fight, which was coordinated literally hours before showtime because Ken Shamrock — Slice’s original opponent — was scratched because of a cut, that it would be worth his while to keep the fight standing. Elite XC vehemently denied the statement and Petruzelli has since gone on to indicate that he was referring to a knockout bonus. The Florida State Boxing Commission has reportedly passed on investigating the situation at this time. Regardless, it has created quite a stir that could have global implications on the sport itself and not just Elite XC. Time will tell.
Strikeforce has confirmed that the once cancelled fight between Renato “Babalu” Sobral and Bobby Southworth is now back on and set to co-headline the upcoming Strikeforce card on Nov. 21 from the HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA.
Southworth will defend his Strikeforce lightweight title against a well rounded fighter in Renato “Babalu” Sobral.
The fight was originally set to take place at last months Strikeforce “At the Playboy Mansion 2′, but both fighters pulled out with injuries.
The main event on the card will be Josh “The Punk” Thomson defending his Strickforce lightweight title against an unknown opponent.
EliteXC consultant Gary Shaw adds some more fuel to the EliteXC fight fixing fire, contradicting EliteXC’s Head Of Operations Jeremy Lappan and his own son Jared “$kala” Shaw in a recent interview with the LA Times.
Elite XC consultant Gary Shaw said he wouldn’t hesitate to “go to a fighter and say, ‘We’re looking for a stand-up fight.’ You’re not asking him to throw a fight. You’re talking about a fan-friendly fight, not about protecting Kimbo.”
Shaw said he has urged MMA fighters in the past to maximize the action, to avoid an abundance of yawn-inspiring wrestling.
“Do I think that’s unethical? No,” Shaw said. “Because in MMA, you get bonus money for a knockout. I don’t see it as unethical . . . asking him to be TV and fan friendly.”
Ultimate Fighter 3 winner Kendall Grove is likely to return to the octagon in February, according to Fightline.com, which confirmed the return date directly with the UFC middleweight.
“I’ll start training again here soon and will be ready to go early 2009,” said Grove.
Grove and his girlfriend had a daughter, Khloe, on July 31st and he also recently opened a new MMA gym, which have been consuming most of his time, though the 185-pound fighter is confident he’ll soon resume regular training for an early-2009 return to the octagon, potentially at UFC 95 which is slated for February.
Grove rebounded from back-to-back first-round knockout losses to Patrick Cote and Jorge Rivera with a split decision win over the late Evan Tanner at The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale in June.
Boston, Mass. Oct 7th 2008 - World Championship Fighting returns to the Boston area for its fourth show of the 2008 season! Come see local MMA superstars John Benoit, Dan Bonnell, Nate Kittredge, Justin Torrey and more! More news about this show to be announced soon. Get your tickets now!
The action comes to you live Friday, November 14, 2008 at the Aleppo Shriners Auditorium in Wilmington, Mass. Mark your calendars now and don’t miss this opportunity to catch the hottest Mixed Martial Arts action on the East Coast! We’ll see you at the fights!
About World Championship Fighting: World Championship Fighting is a Boston based company specializing in live Mixed Martial Arts events. With major media coverage by ESPN, NBCsports.com and HDNet, World Championship Fighting has established itself as the premiere Mixed Martial Arts organization on the East Coast. Founded in June of 2006, World Championship Fighting continues to raise the bar of excellence in live Mixed Martial Arts events.
UK lightweight Abdul Mohamed (15-6-3) has signed with the UFC and will debut at UFC 93 on January 17th in Dublin, Ireland, according to MMA Junkie.
Mohamed, a former Cage Rage British lightweight champion, declined a deal with the promotion early last year but has now signed on the dotted line to make his octagon debut at the UFC 93, which is headlined by Rich Franklin vs. Dan Henderson and Mark Coleman vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.
No opponent has yet been announced for his UFC debut.
Unlike the early-2007 UFC offer which came on the heels of a six-fight winning streak, the UFC has signed Mohamed after he has won just two of his last five fights, including a Saturday victory over Ross Pearson. Prior to the recent skid Mohamed had won back-to-back bouts over Ross Pointon and Jason Ball.
