UFC 127 Ties UFC 115 For Sellout Record

<B>By MATT MOLGAARD<BR> MMANEWS.COM Staff Writer</B><BR><BR> UFC officials have announced that the promotions return to Australia for UFC 127 has sold out in just 30 minutes. The lightning fast ticket sales matched the record set by UFC 115, which took place in Canada on June 12th. The event was headlined by a light heavyweight clash between former champions Rich Franklin and Chuck Liddell.<BR><BR> UFC 127 will be held at the Acer Arena in Sydney, and is headlined by a welterweight clash between perennial contender Jon Fitch and former champion B.J. Penn. Both men have come up short in clashes with welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre; a win for either man could line up another shot at the 170 pound title.<BR><BR> Also on tap for UFC 127 are bouts pitting Michael Bisping versus Jorge Rivera, George Sotiropoulos versus Dennis Siver and Carlos Condit versus Chris Lytle.<BR><BR>

Source: http://www.mmanews.com/home.php

Mikhail Avetisyan Luiz Azeredo  Luciano Azevedo  Ba Te er 

Takeya Mizugaki vs. Francisco Rivera targeted for UFC on Versus 3

A bantamweight bout between WEC imports Takeya Mizugaki and Francisco Rivera will be part of March's UFC on Versus 3 event.

Over the weekend MMAjunkie.com confirmed the planned matchup, which MMAWeekly.com first reported.

UFC on Versus 3 takes place March 3 and airs live on Versus. As MMAjunkie.com first reported, the show could take place in Louisville, Ky.


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mmajunkie/~3/0-P7hitoRbk/takeya-mizugaki-vs-francisco-rivera-targeted-for-ufc-on-versus-3.mma

Vitor Ribeiro Aaron Riley Joe Riggs Pedro Rizzo

Jorgensen thinks Cruz is looking for excuses and will run the entire fight

Dominick Cruz has a way of getting under his opponent's skin. Just 25-years-old, he's a master of winning the mental war before the fight hits the cage. Scott Jorgensen isn't falling for Cruz's game. The WEC 135-pound says he'll be getting hand surgery following the fight and be sidelined for up to six months.

"In my opinion that's retarded. It's almost like he making an exuse for a loss, already. 'Oh my hands hurt. I gotta get surgery anyway,'" Jorgensen told ProMMARadio. "Maybe he's playing mind games, I really don't care." 

Jorgensen says Cruz is already shot mentally just days before they meet at WEC 53.

"He's looking for sympathy and he's building a built-in excuse. He’s thinking about losing … already has that seed in his head," said Jorgensen (2:35 mark). "That little bit of doubt may be too much for him. Come fight night, he has to make a decision. And I think I know what his decision already is. He’s looking for an easy way out (once the fight gets going)."

The 135-pound WEC champ has stymied recent opponents with his ducking and darting style. Too often, Cruz's victims got frustrated, went into chase mode and were made to look silly. Jorgensen isn't interested in playing Cruz's game on the feet.

"No matter who I fought, they look like they got beat up. I leave guys bruised, battered and I think that intimidates Dominick because he's never faced that," said Jorgensen. "A lot of running is what I feel like he's going to be trying to do. You can’t evade somebody from your back,"

The challenger is warning fans that if the fight is boring, it's not going to be his fault.

Cruz and Jorgensen meet in Phoenix on Thursday (Versus 9 p.m. ET/PT). The winner will be officially awarded the UFC bantamweight title. Check here for the entire 20-plus minute conversation with Jorgensen. 

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Jorgensen-thinks-Cruz-is-looking-for-excuses-and?urn=mma-296097

Ryan Schultz Pete Sell Andrei Semenov Ivan Serati

Takeya Mizugaki vs. Francisco Rivera targeted for UFC on Versus 3

A bantamweight bout between WEC imports Takeya Mizugaki and Francisco Rivera will be part of March's UFC on Versus 3 event.

Over the weekend MMAjunkie.com confirmed the planned matchup, which MMAWeekly.com first reported.

UFC on Versus 3 takes place March 3 and airs live on Versus. As MMAjunkie.com first reported, the show could take place in Louisville, Ky.


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mmajunkie/~3/0-P7hitoRbk/takeya-mizugaki-vs-francisco-rivera-targeted-for-ufc-on-versus-3.mma

Ben Mortimer Curtis Mostat Gegard Mousasi Mark Munoz

Koscheck suffered broken orbital bone, surgery upcoming

Josh Koscheck didn't get to fly away in a helicopter like he had hoped. And now, it'd be hazardous to his health to do so.

Josh Gross at ESPN.com confirms that the welterweight challenger suffered a broken orbital bone during his one-sided loss to Georges St. Pierre.

"Jab" St. Pierre used a stiff left throughout the first round to bust up Koscheck. With just five minutes gone by in the fight, Koscheck's right eye was almost completely shut.  

Koscheck's trainer Bob Cook said the fighter extended his stay in Montreal and will head to Boston for surgery on the eye.

He cannot fly home to San Jose, Calif., because an air pocket formed behind the broken orbital bone, making air travel dangerous. UFC officials arranged for Koscheck and Cook to drive Sunday afternoon from Montreal to Boston, where the 33-year-old fighter is expected to undergo surgery Monday or Tuesday.

The injury is similar to the one boxer Antonio Margarito suffered during his brutal beatdown at the hands of Manny Pacquiao

Koscheck couldn't see out of the eye and GSP took advantage of it, landing jabs and left hooks whenever he wanted to in the fourth and fifth rounds. After the fight, UFC analyst Joe Rogan offered a hand shake to Koscheck. The fighter ignored the offer, but it was clear the fighter couldn't see Rogan's hand out of his right eye. 

Late in the fight, Koscheck was experiencing considerable pain. Between rounds, Koscheck was wincing and jerking his head away anytime his cornermen tried put an ice bag on the eye.

The American trash talked for months, leading up the welterweight title showdown against the French-Canadian St. Pierre. He joked before the fight that if he pulled the upset, he'd need to leave city via helicopter from the top of the Bell Centre. 

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Koscheck-suffered-broken-orbital-bone-surgery-u?urn=mma-294879

Tarec Saffiedine Alessio Sakara Kazushi Gracie Hunter Sakuraba Hayato Sakurai

Rhadi Ferguson (Kimbo's Cousin) vs. Ion Cherdivara added to Strikeforce Challengers 13

Rhadi Ferguson vs. Ion Cherdivara added to Strikeforce Challengers 13 by MMAjunkie.com Staff on Dec 20, 2010 at 11:20 am ET Four-time judo national champion and 2004 U.S. Olympian Rhadi Ferguson...

Source: http://ninjashoes.net/forum/showthread.php?71661-Rhadi-Ferguson-(Kimbo-s-Cousin)-vs.-Ion-Cherdivara-added-to-Strikeforce-Challengers-13&goto=newpost

Kalib Starnes Joe Stevenson Luke Stewart Denis Stojnic

UFC NEWS: Josh Koscheck undergoes successful eye surgery in Boston

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

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Josh Koscheck underwent successful surgery on Monday to repair a broken orbital bone on the right side of his face, according to a report from ESPN's Josh Gross.

The injury was suffered during Koscheck's five round decision loss to Georges St. Pierre at UFC 124 in Montreal last weekend. Koscheck was forced to drive to Boston to undergo surgery, which was delayed until this week due to severe swelling, after air pockets formed behind the break. Because of that, he was unable to fly home to San Jose, Calif.

Per the report, he could fly home as soon as Thursday, though he may not be able to return to training at 100% for another four months.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: Thankfully it sounds like all went well with the surgery, and now Koscheck will just be on to recovery once he can get back home. At least he'll be able to return home to his family for Christmas this week. When he gets back to training and recovering physically in 2011, he'll have a lot of options in the welterweight division in terms of opponents. Though he was handled by GSP in their title fight, he's no different than any of the other fighters in the division that have run up against the Champ.

[Josh Koscheck art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_7904.shtml

Sherman Pendergarst B J Penn Anthony Perosh Seth Petruzelli

A TUF Pill to Swallow: No Chael or Wanderlei for "The Ultimate Fighter" Season 13, Brazil Soon to Come

Many are still left wondering what the future holds for the popular long-running UFC reality TV show ?The Ultimate Fighter?. The coaches for the landmark thirteenth season of TUF have yet to be announced, although a new report indicates that Dana White will announce the coaches either today (December 16) or tomorrow (December 17). Another [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/12/16/a-tuf-pill-to-swallow-no-chael-or-wanderlei-for-the-ultimate-fighter-season-13-brazil-soon-to-come

Yoon Dong Sik Gilbert Yvel Ishkhan Zakharian Roman Zentsov

PARK: Breaking down a potential super fight between Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva

By: Chris Park, MMATorch UK Specialist

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As another welterweight title bout is confined to the records books, Georges St. Pierre walked away the victor following yet another shut-out five round decision at UFC 124 in Montreal.

The carousel of welterweight contenders has almost gone full circle, with Koscheck the first to fall in a queue of fighters desperate for what would end up being a second humbling defeat at the hands of the Canadian phenomenon.

With fans frustrated by the lack of challenge that the welterweight division seems to present to St. Pierre, the super fight of all super fights is now more relevant than ever before. UFC President Dana White has recently spoken the words the MMA world have been craving by stating that the pound-for-pound title fight "will happen" sooner or later.

Georges "Rush" St. Pierre vs. Anderson "The Spider" Silva is the one fight that would be an absolute must see for MMA fans worldwide and would likely be the biggest fight the UFC will have ever put together. Both athletes have staked their claim as the No. 1 fighter on the planet, but neither case is conclusive, meaning the only way to decisively settle the debate would be to pair these men in the centre of the Octagon.

While GSP crushed B.J. Penn during their Champion vs. Champion clash back at UFC 94, it was in fact Penn who was moving up in weight to take on the much larger welterweight king. On that note, GSP has never competed beyond his own 170 lb. division.

Silva, on the other hand has cleared out the entire middleweight division and even made two trips to light-heavyweight to tackle James Irvin and then Forrest Griffin, in what will go down as two of his most devastating career victories.

A jump of 20 lbs. made no difference to Silva; if anything the Brazilian thrived as his larger opponents attacked, while he sat back awaiting his opportunity to strike. While Silva has found great success, winning all 12 of his UFC bouts, the opposition he has faced outside of his weight class are not at the same championship level that B.J. Penn competes at, so until he and St. Pierre square off no one will ever know who is the true pound-for-pound best fighter on the planet.

Despite St. Pierre displaying tremendous boxing technique against Koscheck last weekend, the Muay Thai skills of Anderson Silva would prevail should a toe-to-toe war break out between these two.

Silva would not fear the stand up threat of St. Pierre, while the Canadian would find it far more difficult to land that predominant jab and control the Octagon - in the manner he did against Koscheck - meaning he would likely approach this fight with a totally different game-plan to the one displayed at UFC 124.

As was witnessed at UFC 117, Anderson Silva had anything but a quiet night when he tackled Chael Sonnen. Silva was repeatedly taken down by Sonnen and quite literally beaten up for the first time in his career. It appeared Silva had no answer for the American's incredible wrestling skills, but with minutes remaining submitted Sonnen via triangle choke to retain his title.

With the natural wrestling ability that St. Pierre possesses, and the success Sonnen found for the majority of his bout with Silva, one would be forgiven for assuming that St. Pierre would use the that bout for reference and subsequently rely heavily on his own wrestling skills to topple the Brazilian.

Despite being a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black-belt under the Noguiera brothers, Anderson Silva doesn't base his offensive plans on this skill. Instead it has been used more as a "get out of jail free card" with the comeback against Sonnen being the prime example of this.

As well as Sonnen, Silva submitted Dan Henderson to unify the titles as the UFC and PRIDE merged, while St. Pierre has also had submission success, seeing off the likes of Frank Trigg and Matt Hughes. GSP has also come within a whisker to finishing a number of his opponents during his reign, and this aspect of his game can be credited for helping achieve several of the decision victories on his record. For this reason it would be St. Pierre that would be more comfortable and therefore would benefit the most should this go to the ground.

Anderson Silva has proven that he is deadly when given the opportunity ? finishing 10 of his 12 opponents in the UFC ? and he has also proven that he has the chin to go with the offensive flair that he possesses. While the loss to Matt Serra means St. Pierre will always have that question mark over his "chin," and with the fact that four of his last five have gone to the judge's scorecards, this would steer you away from the belief that a stoppage victory for GSP could be on the cards.

It makes more sense for "Rush" to avoid the clinch, avoid a stand up battle and take this to the ground, while Silva would like nothing better than to lock those fingers around the back of St. Pierre's neck and rekindle the type of viciousness that he displayed when dismantling Rich Franklin.

As well as the various aspects that both of these men display, there is one crucial factor in all of this, and that is weight that these two would agree to tip the scales at. While a welterweight bout is unimaginable, a showdown at middleweight would heavily favour the much larger, Silva and that makes it difficult hard to visualise St. Pierre winning in those circumstances.

Should the bout take place somewhere in the region of 175-180 lbs. - in the true spirit of the occasion - then the playing field would be significantly leveled, and as a result of meeting at this catch weight there could be no question that whoever comes out on top would be rightfully crowned the undisputed pound-for-pound king.

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Chris Park is the MMATorch UK Specialist and guest columnist at ESPN.co.uk. Please email any comments or questions to Chris at; mmatorchuk@gmail.com or look us up at http://www.facebook.com/mmatorchuk2 our new MMATorch Facebook home for UK Fans!

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/ukscene/article_7856.shtml

Chris Brennan Marcelo Brito  Rob Broughton  Mike Brown