MMAjunkie.com's Dr. Benjamin on "The Fight Show" with Mauro Ranallo today

MMAjunkie.com medical columnist Dr. Johnny Benjamin is a guest on today's edition of "The Fight Show with Mauro Ranallo."

Dr. Benjamin joins Ranallo to discuss the latest medical issues within the sport, including the massive hematoma suffered by Mark Hominick at this past weekend's UFC 129 event, as well as Georges St-Pierre's vision problems.

Catch the segment at 2:30 p.m. ET (11:30 a.m. PT) on The Score, which is available on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 158 or online at Radio.TheScore.com.


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mmajunkie/~3/5dP7X30sybs/mmajunkie-coms-dr-benjamin-on-the-fight-show-with-mauro-ranallo-today-20110506.mma

Randy Couture Chuck Liddell Quinton Jackson Forrest Griffin

Houston Chronicle reports next UFC stadium show could be at Reliant

Dana White pointed out accurately that Toronto's UFC 129 at Rogers Centre was a special case.

The UFC won't be putting on mega-events at a stadium every quarter. It has to be perfect match. That's why we were a little surprised to see the future Houston event in October mentioned as a candidate for a stadium show.

Sources tell Brawl Sports that if Brock Lesnar wins his bout against Junior dos Santos at UFC 131 next month, the company will give serious consideration to running the UFC event at Reliant Stadium and not the previously-reported Toyota Center. If dos Santos wins, they'll almost certainly run Toyota Center. The winner of that UFC 131 bout will face Cain Velasquez in a bout that will almost certainly take place in Houston.

Jeremy Botter throws a little cold water on the idea by mentioning two important notes:

1. Filling a stadium the size of Reliant won't be easy. While Lesnar has historically been the best pay per view draw on the planet, he's not a very good live draw. They'll need more than just a heavyweight title fight to fill that card.

2. There's just one small problem: the Texans have a game scheduled against Oakland the next day. While I've seen the UFC brass tear down an arena in just a matter of hours, I can't imagine they'd be able to get an entire stadium ready for a football game the next day at noon. It simply isn't possible, not with the amount of bleachers and video screens they would be bringing into the stadium for a custom setup.

Botter thinks an NFL lockout is all but a certainty and says the Oct. 8 date at Reliant Stadium could open up. I'd be shocked if the NFL lockout reaches October, but you never know. I'd also be a little surprised if Lesnar beats dos Santos. He's got a lot of ground to make up in the stand-up game. If Lesnar didn't like getting hit by Cain Velasquez, imagine his reaction to the power and speed of JDS.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Houston-Chronicle-reports-next-UFC-stadium-show-?urn=mma-wp2045

Karn Grigorian Karen Grigoryan Kendall Grove Clay Guida

Frankie Edgar Excited to Face New Challengers from Strikeforce, WEC

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As part of the UFC's 'Super 7' presentation last week in Toronto, lightweight champion Frankie Edgar recalled what he had to overcome in his second fight against Gray Maynard at UFC 125, his upcoming third fight against Maynard at UFC 130 and the stacked lightweight division in and out of the UFC.


Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/05/06/frankie-edgar-excited-to-face-new-challengers-from-strikeforce/

Eric Butterbean Esch Efrain Escudero Rashad Evans Urijah Faber

Villasenor vs. Camozzi set as Shark Fights 15 headliner in Albuquerque

The up-and-coming Shark Fights promotion is leaving Texas for the first time.

Officials today announced their May 27 event, Shark Fights 15, will take place at Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho, N.M. It's the first of what are expected to be numerous shows outside of Texas.

Headlining the show are middleweight notables Joey Villasenor and Chris Camozzi.


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mmajunkie/~3/B-b5n4ovBpI/villasenor-vs-camozzi-set-as-shark-fights-15-headliner-in-albuquerque.mma

Yushin Okami Bobby Ologun Andy Ologun Alan Omer

Randy Couture expects to be added to roster of next "UFC Undisputed" video game

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

CoutureRandy_210_49.jpg

The THQ-produced UFC Undisputed video game franchise has had one glaring absence on the game's fighter roster since it's debut back in 2009: UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture.

But that may be changing by the time the next iteration hits store shelves, as Couture says it's a likelihood that he'll be in the next version of the game.

Couture attempted to leave the company back in 2007 in an attempt to get a fight with Fedor Emelianenko after the organization failed to sign "The Last Emperor," and while he was embroiled in a legal battle with the UFC over his contract, he signed on with the EA Sports MMA game. That signing meant he wasn't able to be used in either of the UFC's initial "Undisputed" offerings, released in 2009 and 2010, respectively, and Couture instead appeared with Emelianenko on the cover of EA Sports MMA last year, as well as being featured heavily in the game as both a fighter and one of the in-game trainers in career mode.

Now, in comments made to ESPN.com, Couture has revealed that his contract for that game is up, and he's in talks with the UFC to be a part of the "Undisputed" franchise going forward.

"We've talked about me being in the video game this time around," Couture said. "Obviously, all that stuff with EA Sports happened in a transition period, before I came back [to the UFC.]

"That deal is over now and the [THQ] game is getting ready to come out with a new version. Obviously, they'd still like to include me, me being a guy in their Hall of Fame. It's certainly something we're looking at trying to work out and I think it will probably happen."

Couture faces Lyoto Machida this weekend at UFC 129 in what he says will be his last fight regardless of the outcome. Couture says that his often contentious relationship with Zuffa brass has been smoothed over, and he's ending his time in the organization on good terms.

"I think both Zuffa and myself have come to a much stronger relationship," Couture said. "We have a better understanding of each other and they've left me alone to do my thing while I still comply with rules and regulations they set forth for other fighters."

THQ is reportedly planning an early 2012 release for the next edition of UFC Undisputed, though no firm release date has been set.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: I'm curious to see what happens next with EA Sports' game and the Undisputed franchise. The gameplay mechanics in the EA game were very good, but it didn't have the roster to sell really well and hook casual fans. On the flip side, there were a lot of fans that found the Undisputed games repetitive and lost interest despite the roster. With Zuffa purchasing Strikeforce, I don't know if EA will attempt to make a second game or not, and the UFC is locked in with THQ for a lengthy extension to their agreement. It would be interesting to see if there would be any possibility of EA and THQ working together for a mega-MMA game, but I wouldn't hold my breath on that. Still, getting Couture into the UFC game would be a good move, as he should be a part of that roster as one of the organization's Hall of Fame members.

[Randy Couture art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_9173.shtml

Kevin Randleman Randy Couture Josh Barnett Ricco Rodriguez