Should the UFC allow Tito Ortiz to drive racecars?

One can only imagine Dana White's reaction when he heard Tito Ortiz wrecked his car. The good news is that Tito came away unscathed and it was a race car he was driving during a practice run for a celebrity event. But it's begs the question - why is one of the most injury-prone guys in MMA putting himself at risk?

TMZ posted the photo of Tito's trashed Toyota Scion. The gossip website claims Ortiz wrecked the car twice during a Tuesday practice run for the "Fueled by Fame" Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race on Apr. 16.

Ortiz, who has a history of neck and back problems, already bailed on a 2011 fight against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at Ultimate Fight Night 24. He's scheduled to face Ryan Bader in July at UFC 132.

If Tito goes through with the race it is for a good cause.

On behalf of each celebrity racer, Toyota donates $5,000 to Racing for Kids every year and another $5,000 to the winning racer's charity of choice. Racing for Kids, a national nonprofit program benefiting children's hospitals throughout the country, (in this case, Miller Children's Hospital in Long Beach and Children's Hospital in Orange County, Calif.), was created as a way to connect sick children with their favorite celebrities and race-car drivers. Toyota has donated more than $1.9 million to various children's hospitals since 1991, on behalf of this race and its participants.

Additionally, a $15,000 donation will be made in conjunction with the 14th-annual "People Pole Award." Sponsored by People magazine, the award honors the pole-position winner of the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race qualifying session on Friday, April 15.

Other celebrities racing include Anthony Anderson, Jillian Barberie Reynolds, Tyson Beckford, Kevin Eubanks, Dennis Haysbert, Megyn Price and Kimora Lee Simmons. The race takes place on the downtown streets of Long Beach, Ca. Insert your Quinton Jackson joke here.

Tip via Cage Potato

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Should-the-UFC-allow-Tito-Ortiz-to-drive-racecar?urn=mma-wp1004

Marco Ruas Rodrigo Ruas Gabe Ruediger Mikko Rupponen

Forrest Griffin vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua II confirmed for UFC Rio in August [UPDATED]

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

GriffinForrest_150_16_1.jpg

In keeping with the theme of rematches from year's past at UFC Rio, GracieMag.com reports that Forrest Griffin and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua are expected to meet on the card.

Citing sources close to the UFC, the report states that the fight has gained steam in recent days and is expected to be finalized soon.

The two met in late 2007 in Rua's UFC debut. Coming in after a lauded career in Pride, Rua was considered by many to be the #1 light heavyweight fighter in the world. Griffin, the Ultimate Fighter season one winner, was expected to be a tough challenge, but one that Rua would get through to get a shot at the UFC Champ.

However, Griffin shocked the world with a fairly one-sided fight, going into the third round ahead on the scorecards and finishing Shogun with a rear naked choke.

Since that fight, both fighters have captured and lost the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. Griffin has had a rougher road, losing to Rashad Evans and Anderson Silva in back-to-back fights, but he turned things around with a decision win over Tito Ortiz. He then picked up another decision win over Rich Franklin at UFC 126 in February after a 15-month injury layoff.

Shogun remained out of action after the loss to Griffin until January of 2009. After a rough win over Mark Coleman, Shogun knocked out Chuck Liddell to get a shot at then Champ Lyoto Machida. Their first but was one by Machida by a very controversial split decision, and in the rematch last year Shogun knocked him out to finally capture the UFC title.

However, in his first title defense, Shogun was battered and beaten by 23-year-old Jon Jones last month, losing by TKO in the third round.

UFC Rio will be headlined by the Middleweight Championship bout between Anderson Silva and the last man to hold a win over him, Yushin Okami. It takes place from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 27.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: I love this fight. Forrest had to get out some of the ring rust in the fight with Franklin, but if he's able to get back into the cage without a lengthy layoff here, this should be a very good fight. I don't know what Shogun we're going to see, because part of the loss to Jones was that he was simply made to look really bad. That came because of Jones' ten-second-in flying knee to the jaw, and Shogun wasn't the same from then on. With Forrest's win over Shogun having been continually altered with revisionist history saying he beat a "lesser" Shogun, this will be an opportunity for him to pull it off again. For Shogun, it's a loss he can attempt to avenge. It's really a great rematch, and one I think we would have possibly seen for a title eventually had Jones not been called upon earlier than expected. But really, in front of the Brazilian fans, this will be another really good fight for the card, and it vaults the winner right into the thick of things at the top of this crazy 205 lb. division.

UPDATE: UFC President Dana White has confirmed the fight for the UFC Rio card in comments made to MMAFighting.com.

[Forrest Griffin art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_9081.shtml

Sergei Kharitonov Min Soo Kim Dong Hyun Kim Kevin Knabjian

Exclusive pictures from Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley

Check out our exclusive photo gallery from Tracy Lee, including a very bloody Keith Jardine, an emotional Shinya Aoki, UFC executives at Strikeforce, and dogs and cats living together in harmony.*

*No dogs or cats are pictured in this gallery. Everyone knows dogs are better, anyway.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Exclusive-pictures-from-Strikeforce-Diaz-vs-Da?urn=mma-wp1134

Kenny Florian Jesse Forbes Xavier Foupa Pokam Hermes Franca

Strikeforce Champ Gilbert Melendez Brutalizes Tatsuya Kawajiri

by Michael David SmithStrikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez made short work of Tatsuya Kawajiri on Saturday night, pummeling him with powerful strikes and finishing him with brutal elbows to the head on the ground to win a first-round technical knockout.

Melendez beat Kawajiri in a close decision in Pride in 2006, but there was nothing close this time around: Melendez dropped Kawajiri with punches in the opening seconds of the first round, blasted him with knees in the Thai clinch, took control on the ground and eventually finished the fight with vicious elbows.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/04/09/strikeforce-champ-gilbert-melendez-brutalizes-tatsuya-kawajiri/

Yoshihiro Takayama Daiju Takase Oleg Taktarov Akitoshi Tamura

UFC on Versus 4 tickets on sale this week

Tickets for the UFC's Steel City debut go on sale this week.

The event, UFC on Versus 4, takes place June 26 at Pittsburgh's Consol Energy Center. The night's main card, including an Anthony Johnson vs. Nate Marquardt welterweight headliner, airs live on Versus.

Tickets go on sale Saturday, though a pre-sale period begins Thursday.


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mmajunkie/~3/8C1QBHqda6Y/ufc-on-versus-4-tickets-on-sale-this-week.mma

Joe Lauzon Mo Lawal Ruthless Robbie Lawler Eric Lawson