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Wow, what a card! I caught the whole 3 hours of UFC 105 live on ESPN at Sharkey’s Pool Bar in Bournemouth last night. There was a few other UFC followers in the bar but I reckon they need to advertise better. Within the Manchester MEN Arena it was a whole different story, the atmosphere judging from the live ESPN broadcast was electric.

Previous to UFC 105 I wasn’t aware of  the reason for the Hardy versus Swick bout receiving the high billing, it was in fact to decide the numebr one challenger for Georges St Pierre’s welter weight crown. I can’t see Hardy beating GSP but it’s brilliant to see a Brit challenge for the UFC gold. GSP isn’t unbeatable though.

Wish I put money on Couture now, thought it would go his way, winning on points. Funny Vera thought he won though, Couture controlled the majority of the fight.

Superb to see Bisping back on top form!  Loved the bit with him and his son post fight.

Andre Winner’s knockout of Delgado looked brutal, it’s a shame he leapt in administering further damage when the guy was already out of it. At least he didn’t look as smug as Dan Henderson at UFC 100, when he did similar to Brit Mike Bisping.

Overall an excellent result for the Brits, I loved it!

A full card report will follow soon from fellow BluRayMMA.com contributor Julian ‘Twosheds’ Radbourne, so keep your browser pointing in this direction.

Visit UFC.com to view the unaired prelim bouts.

UFC & MMA blog by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

Brock Lesnar is in extremely bad shape and it will be some time as to when he will fight again.

Lesnar, 32, went to Canada last week to try to get some rest, collapsed, and was rushed to the hospital. He has mono and also something else that he has requested confidentiality with the UFC as to what it is. Dana White said tonight that he promised Lesnar to keep the disease private, and said he doesn’t have cancer or AIDS. It is, however, extremely serious and there are at least two things wrong and there may be more.

Dana White is heading to Minnesota and will be working to get Lesnar to the Mayo Clinic or equivalent medical facility for treatment.

Also, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira has a very serious staph infection and his fight with Cain Velasquez at UFC 108 is off. Nogueira will need an IV to hopefully get the infection out.

With Lesnar out indefinitely, Shane Carwin has undergone knee surgery, so he will not be available to face Velasquez at UFC 108.

We can also report that Shane McMahon had a meeting at the UFC offices recently. Dana White, when asked for more information, responded, “No comment.”

Source: The Observer.

That’s hope we hear some positive news on Lesnar’s health situation soon and hope he is getting the best health care available.

The meeting between Dana White and Shane McMahon formerly of the WWE sounds intriguing. We’ll have to wait to hear more on that one.

UFC & MMA blog by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

Would Team Rampage’s last hope Marcus Jones finally gain a victory for them?

Scott Junk is in bad shape following the beating he took from Matt Mitrione. Wes Simms once again winds up fight winner Mitrione, declaring the guy a party pooper and spraying him while he rests with a can of silly string.

Also this episode we discovered gentle giant Marcus ‘The Darkness’ Jones is scared of spiders, during one of the funniest moments from the current season of the ultimate fighter.

Michael Wessel shares his thoughts of his wife, who is battling cancer while he’s on the show. He’s having a tough time emotionally and writes to her everyday.

Rashad says Wessel can beat the bigger competitor Jones, Mike Tyson style utilising his heavy hands.

Mean while in the Rampage camp, the enthusiastic Big Baby Marcus is hungry to learn from coach Quinton. Rampage is loving how he gets so happy, enjoying improving his grappling skills.

Aside from the training for the big showdown Brit James McSweeney draws a cartoon picture of Marcus Jones, displaying it for all to see but another TUF 10 contestant takes it upon himself write underneath it “sucks balls. This act does not go down well with family man and NFL veteran Jones.

Darrill Schoonover continues to receive stick from Rampage, as calls him titties. Rampage decides to apologise and shake Darill’s hand but makes matters worse by copping a feel of the Team Rashad member’s man boobs.

Mike ‘White Tyson’ Wessel vs. Marcus ‘Darkness’ Jones

Wessel comes out banging but Jones is swift to neutralise the shorter fighter’s attack, getting him to the canvas. Jones is quick to attempt submission holds, aiming for a tapout win. Marcus takes Mike’s back looking to secure a rear naked choke. Wessel turns out to gain top position but Marcus seizes advantage sinching in an armbar grabbing the tapout win in under 60 seconds of round 1.

Marcus’ win is the most impressive of the season so far.

Wessel is sad for his loss, he wanted it for his wife but it’s good thing he can now devote time to her.

With the preliminary round of the competition now over the result is 7-1 in favour of Team Rashad.  Time to pick the fights for the next round.

Rampage gets to pick Titties, ahem Darill Schoonover versus Marcus Jones.

Here are all 4 matchups:

Roy vs. Justin

Brendan vs. John

James vs. Matt

Marcus vs. Darill

Following the picks Rashad offers Rampages eliminated fighters to train alongside his team. Team Rampage want no part of it despite what they would gain from the experience. Soon another confrontation ensues between coaches Ramapage and Rashad.

As the episode closes we get teased once more with the possibility of a Kimbo Slice comeback in episode 9.

Watch The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights Saturdays 11pm on FIVE USA,  in the UK on Freeview 31, Sky 174, Virgin Media 150 and Tiscali 30. Wednesdays on Spike TV in the US.

UFC & MMA blog by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

The Friday the 13th video blog from Manchester.

Includes the weigh ins.

UFC & MMA blog by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

See Dana greet and hand out free tickets to the lucky lads in London for the Manchester UFC event.

UFC & MMA blog by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

Saturday 14th November, Manchester.

This UK card is free for fight fans in the US, who see it live on Spike TV.

Once again another stacked card from the Ultimate Fighting Championships. Get ready for a big one as the UFC makes a highly anticipated return to our fair isle with more world class octagon action. We are in for a rare treat, as the legendary UFC Hall of Famer Randy ‘The Natural Couture’ lands on British soil plus there will tons of hopeful Brits battling it out in the big league from the Manchester MEN Arena.

Here is a peek at the top of the of the UK card.

Randy Couture vs Brandon Vera

Randy Couture and Brandon Vera collide in a light-heavyweight showdown. This is Randy Couture’s first matchup back in the light-heavyweight division since stepping down a weight bracket following 2 losses in a row. One he got pounded on by the powerful champ, The Vanilla Gorilla – Brock Lesnar and the second a close contest against tougher than leather Brazilian veteran Minotauro Nogueira. It is fair to say Randy fought the best and put up a damn good spirited fight in both octagon outings but he knew the time had come to step down a division.

Now the former heavyweight and light-heavyweight title holder is intent on another crack at UFC gold, this time he wants the light-heavyweight strap once more. To work back up the ladder first he must defeat heavy hitting young gun Brandon ‘The Truth’ Vera.

So here we have the story of age versus experience, can the youthful Vera beat the canny dirty-boxing Couture? Vera is a dangerous Muay Thai Kick-boxer, both guys can utilise the clinch work here, striking at close quarters. I see Couture relying heavily on his strong wrestling background and gaining the advantage on the canvas. The fight may well go the distance in favour of the Hall of Famer – Couture. Randy is an inspiration, who seems to magnificently defy Father Time, coming back following defeat, still competing at the elite level. Has he still got it? That question will be answered Saturday night.

Mike ‘Quick’ Swick vs Dan Hardy

It’s interesting to note despite Bisping’s pulling power Dan Hardy is receiving higher billing on the UK card. Mike Bisping is one of the most recognised fighters who made a name for himself via season 3 of the Ultimate Fighter, then went on to further success with the ranks of the Zuffa owned league. Hardy however is the new kid on the block now making a name for himself getting noticed due to impressive performances inside the cage.

Much like fellow Brit Bisping, Dan knows how to sell a fight bringing his own heat doing all the smack talk when required. Previously we’ve seen Hardy talk the talk and back it all up when it came down to the crunch in octagon action paired up with Marcus ‘Irish Hand Grenade’ Davis. Hardy riled up Davis pre fight, then beat the Irish American, Hardy showed what a true sport he was but sore loser Davis did not display the same qualities afterwards. With Hardy it is all business, the guy wants to entertain and get noticed.

Dan’s opponent will be Mike Swick, who most recently beat Ultimate Fighter alumini Ben Saunders. It will be interesting to see how Hardy fares as he steps up against Swick. Let’s hope his momentum continues.

Michael Bisping vs Denis Kang

The pressure in on for Mike Bisping, on the rebound from the devasting knockout loss at the hands of Dan Henderson back on July 11th at UFC 100. Bisping is embarrassed at his loss handed to him by Henderson but the Brit has nothing to be ashamed of, Henderson is one of the all time greats from Pride FC. Canadian Kang also another tough veteran of the Pride squared-circle. Kang is a man hoping to capitalise on the pressure. Bisping is ever confident, having none of it, intending to prove the doubters wrong. Here’s hoping our countryman Mike Bisping has taken enough time to recover from the devastating KO he received from Hendo at UFC 100 and will be returning to form on his north-western home turf in Manchester.

Also featured on the card will be TUF 9 Team UK winners James Wilks and Ross Pearson.

MAIN CARD

Randy Couture vs Brandon Vera

Mike Swick vs Dan Hardy

Michael Bisping vs Denis Kang

James Wilks vs Matt Brown

Ross Pearson vs Aaron Riley

PRELIMINARY CARD

Terry Etim vs Shannon Gugerty

Paul Taylor vs John Hathaway

Nick Osipczak vs Matthew Riddle

Paul Kelly vs Dennis Siver

Alexander Gustafsson vs Jared Hamman

Andre Winner vs Rolando Delgado

UFC 105 Countdown starts at 7pm on ESPN and ESPN HD, then watch UFC 105 live at 8pm in the UK .

UK EXCLUSIVE – Two of England’s own battle it out before the live broadcast of UFC 105 – see Paul Taylor and John Hathaway go head-to-head free on UFC.com at 7:30pm.

You can also view this huge MMA event live world wide at UFClive.com

UFC & MMA blog by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

UFC & MMA blog by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

Dana White announces that he will be Twittering off tickets!

Try saying that double fast!

UFC & MMA blog by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

A little bit later than planned due to health problems (I’ve got an infection in the left side of my jaw! Send get well messages to the usual address), we’re now going to take a look back at the recent Strikeforce/M-1 Global Fedor v Rogers show, shown on Bravo here in Britain on a one day delay. Is the Russian heavyweight really the best MMA fighter in the world?

The show began with heavyweight action, two Brazilians going up against each other with Fabricio Werdum taking on Antonio Silva. This was a great way to start the show. Silva tried to keep the fight upright in the first round, scoring with some good shots as he tried to stay away from Werdum’s ground game. This plan worked well in the first round, but as the fight went on Werdum began to stamp his authority on the fight, taking it to the mat and showing some good ground work. Naturally, the fighters began to tire in the third round, but this didn’t seem to stop their progress, and with the fight going the three round distance, Werdum took the unanimous decision. Nice stuff here, and a very enjoyable fight.

Then it was down to the light heavyweight division, with Gegard Mousasi facing Thierry Sokoudjou. The great fight action continued with this one. Both men looked good in a first round that was fought at a rather frantic pace, and Sokoudjou in particular looked quote impressive. Sadly, the man from Cameroon couldn’t keep his momentum going into the second round, with Mousasi soon getting the win after some good ground and pound work. A nice TKO win for the Dutchman here, but Sokoudjou can also be proud of his efforts in this one.

The third fight saw Jake Shields and Jason Miller fighting it out over the vacant Strikeforce Middleweight title. This was the title that Cung Le recently vacated when he retired, an retirement that hasn’t actually lasted that long, as he’s making a comeback next month. Anyway, back to the matter at hand. We got a tremendous display of ground fighting in this one, as Shields put on a great performance, although his excellent work wasn’t to the liking of the crowd at times, as they rained down a chorus of boos as he went to work. Miller look good as well, but as the fight went on it was obvious that Shields was the better fighter, although he just couldn’t get that final submission move. It really came as no surprise that Shields got the unanimous title winning decision, and although his fighting style wasn’t to everyone’s liking, this was a fine example of how you can get an exciting fight without a big knockout punch of quick submission victory.

The main event saw Russian sensation Fedor Emelianenko facing Brett Rogers. It seemed that everyone thought that Fedor would get a quick and decisive victory in this one, but I guess that Rogers didn’t read the script, especially in the first round when a left hook from the big American bloodied the Russian’s nose. Later on in the round Rogers’ ground and pound almost got him the win, but Fedor eventually escaped, almost getting the win himself with an arm triangle. The decisive moment came in the second, when Fedor’s big right hand sent Rogers crashing down to the ground. A brief moment of ground and pound followed, before the referee quickly stepped in and called a halt to the proceedings, giving Fedor the much anticipated victory, and capping off another fine performance from the Russian.

In conclusion – This is by far the best Strikeforce show I’ve seen, and the best MMA show outside of the UFC I’ve seen this year. Four outstanding fights, and a show that finished on a high note as Fedor got the expected win. But that big question is still waiting to be answered – is Fedor still the best heavyweight fighter of all time? Well, I’m afraid that, for me, this fight didn’t really answer that question. Strikeforce may be giving him a bigger platform, but that question won’t really be answered until he steps in to the UFC cage.

Review courtesy of Julian Radbourne @ www.twoshedsreview.com

UFC & MMA blog by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com