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UFC 100 – July 11th, Mandalay Bay Centre, Las Vegas

The mammoth fight card UFC 100 is fast approaching, as I type there are under
4 days to go until the big one. UFC 100 is a monumental milestone for the
Zuffa owned Ultimate Fighting Championship organisation. This Saturday’s
pay per view event is more than just hype, once again matchmakers Dana White and Joe Silva have put together a stacked bill of highly anticipated clashes in the cage.

First of all let’s take a look at the triple threat lined up at the top of the
event for all you mixed martial arts junkies out there.

Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar – Heavyweight Title unification
You can easily label this one UFC the next generation as when you look back at what established the UFC originally was Royce Gracie vs Ken Shamrock,
a pro wrestler taking on a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu expert in a fight to see which
style was supreme. Now reaching the century history repeats itself as
once again a former pro wrestler battles it out with a BJJ expert.

Lesnar going in as defending champion has everything to prove. There are still many who do not feel he had earned his spot as top dog. As a former WWE wrestler The vanila Gorila has got to work harder to prove he is the real deal but ultimately getting the win is all that counts despite the opinions of others. Both fighters looked impressive in their last outings inside the octagon, but despite beating the best of the old guard – Randy Couture and Antonio Minotauro Nogueira it can be said that they were both past their best. It was clear Nog wasn’t in his best condition for their fight but Couture looked good but just did not have what was needed to beat the almost not human Brock Lesnar.

So going back to their first outing what has changed? Has Lesnar now got what it takes to avenge his loss to the interim champion? I am going to answer yes being slightly biassed as a fan of pro wrestling before getting hooked on MMA. I feel Lesnar since losing to Mir having fought and beaten both Heath Herring and the legend that is Randy ‘The Natural’ Couture now has the experience under his belt not to make the same rookie mistake getting caught in a heel hook. However there is still the possibility it could happen again. The clash of their opposing styles is the Yin and Yang principle used in traditional martial arts. You use your opponents
strengths to your advantage. That is what the power of Lesnar’s wrestling
versus Mir’s BJJ is – Yang versus Yin.

My prediction is a TKO win within the first 2 rounds for Lesnar.

Georges ‘Rush’ St Pierre vs Thiago Alves – Welterweight Title bout
GSP the welterweight champion and arguably the best pound for pound mixed martial artist in the world will face his tougest test yet in the form of
Muay Thai kickboxing specialist Thiago ‘Pitbull’ Alves. We all know St Pierre
is a well rounded fighter but he usaully enters the cage with the size
advantage, this time it is not the case. Alves a man naturally of 200lbs cuts
weight to 170lbs but come fight time he is back up there with an added 30  pounds. Both combatants are at the top of their game but the question is wether they will both be issue free. In the past GSP has lost mentally where as Alves’ had drug issues.

My prediction is GSP to win, the dude just keeps on improving and I would love to see him clash with Anderson Silva next year for a dream match.

Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping vs Dan Henderson – TUF 9 Coaches Collide 
A non title fight but like Lesnar versus Mir it’s another highly anticipated
showdown. Having built up via the recent Ultimate Fighter 9 which saw
Bisping’s Team UK beat Henderson’s Team USA by snatching both the lightweight and welterweight prizes in the Ultimate Finale. Bisping seen as the cocky Englishman by the Americans is the dynamic opposite of mild mannered Olympian Dan Henderson. Henderson a former PRIDE FC star in Japan and title holder does not have father time on his side. Bisping is younger and an ever improving fighter of the TUF generation of UFC star names.

I am hoping Bisping impresses with a TKO win elevating the Brit fighter to
title challenger status.

Time for all the talk to cease as all the questions will be answered in the
octagon on Saturday July 11th.

The rest of the card.

Jon Fitch vs Paulo Thiago

Yoshiro Akiyama vs Alan Belcher

Mark Coleman vs Stephen Bonnar

Mac Danzig vs Jim Miller

Jon Jones vs Jake O’Brien

Dong Hyun Kim vs Jonathan Goulet

CB Dollaway vs Tom Lawlor

Matt Grice vs Shannon Gugerty
Limp Bizkit will be performing on the weekend plus there is a grappling
competiton, fanfest, UFC Hall of Fame inductions including Mask the
recently passed away founder of Tapout Clothing plus much more happening.

You can read an interview with Mike Bisping on the Henderson trash talk at Mirror.co.uk
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/more-sport/mma-and-wrestling/2009/07/02/ufc-100-interview-exclusive-michael-bisping-s-fury-at-dan-henderson-s-trash-talk-115875-21489783/

Keep an eye the official UFC 100 website for videos and news build up.

http://100.ufc.com/

It appears to still be up in the air what channel will be airing UFC 100
in the UK but having just seen the Sky EPG fans in Ireland needn’t worry
since Setanta Ireland seems to be still on air scheduled to show the event
live at 3am despite the demise of the subscription channel back in the UK. Well I have my new Sky + installation booked ready for Saturday
with our package including Sky Sports  free for a month so all being well
I won’t have to wait to see this one.

Don’t forget if you want to take advantage of the latest offers from Sky
or Virgin Media join http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/DuaneDaStinge via the link in my signature and you will earn yourself upto £65 cashback in the process plus you’ll be supporting BluRayMMA.com as I’ll receive £2.50 as a referral.

UFC & MMA blog by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

http://twitter.com/BluRayMMA
www.myspace.com/dynamite_duane

http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/DuaneDaStinge

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to Gareth A Davies of the Telegraph newspaper the UFC TV channel deal for the UK will be announced Wedndesday or Thursday. You can read his UFC blog via the link below:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/garethadavies/100000366/ufc-fans-expectant-as-tv-deal-to-be-revealed-weds-or-thurs/

 

UFC & MMA blog by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

http://twitter.com/BluRayMMA
www.myspace.com/dynamite_duane

http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/DuaneDaStinge

It has finally been confirmed this morning, The Ultimate Fighting Championship no longer has a deal with Setanta Sports. The decision had to be made sooner rather than later as the UFC builds up to UFC 100.

As things stand Setanta is still in business but the ailing sports subscription channel is a sinking ship, Marshall Zelaznik made the right decision to jump now.

The question remains of where the UFC will find as their new home in the British Isles? Gareth A Davies of the Daily Telegraph speculates on a return to Bravo or a move to Virgin 1, Sky Sports or even Channel 5. Another possibility is Disney owned sports network ESPN who are buying the rights to the big football games.

Whatever channel the UFC moves to it is good timing to make the jump now rather than nearer July 11th, as no Brit UFC fan wants to miss UFC 100.

UFC 98 is fast approaching with just a week to go until May 23rd when the UFC return to Las Vegas and live PPV cage fighting action. The original plan for the main event was all set to decide the UFC Heavyweight championship between Interim champ Frank Mir and defending champion Brock Lesnar in his first title defence but as we all now know that fight is rescheduled for UFC 100 in July.  So we have a little longer to wait but the double main event heading UFC 98 looks wicked.

First off in the top slot Rashad Evans defends the Light Heavyweight crown against challenger Lyoto Machida. For Rashad this will be his first defence of the title against Machida, a very worthy contender. Machida is undeated in the octagon boasting a unique style of countering his opponents attack coupled with a fantastic ability to avoid taking punishment from his attacker. Evans versus Machida the Karate master will be interesting seeing as they are stylistic so different where Evans is a superb wrestler and excellent striker. Can Evans overcome Machida’s strategy or will Lyoto continuing his winning streak and add the UFC Light Heavyweight belt to his trophy cabinet?

Check out this highlight preview video at youtube.com to wet your appetite for their light heavyweight championship showdown next weekend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBzYdPq59kw

The co-headliner for UFC 98 will be the long-delayed welterweight
bout between Matt Hughes and Matt Serra. This one is a grudge match dating back to season 6 of The Ultimate Fighter where Serra and Hughes were the opposing coaches of the welterweight fighters. These guys just do not like each other, it’s as simple as that. Each fighter are two totally opposite characters. Hughes is the Mid-Western famer’s boy with Christian values, then we have Serra a loud mouthed Italian American hailing from New York. It’s fair to say both fighters need to prove themselves in this fight to climb back up to the challengers position for another shot at Georges St Pierre’s Welterweight belt. As with Machida and Evans here again Joe Silva and Dana White have booked another clash of styles which is what makes an exciting fight when you have wrestler against a BJJ submission specialist.  Personally I would love to see Serra take the victory due to how Serra comes across as a nice guy and Hughes is the villain you love to hate.

Follow the build up to Matt Serra versus Matt Hughes at UFC98.
If you enjoyed watching Serra on TUF 6 you will love this, he’s a great little character. Serra is a down to earth engaging guy you would want to go for a beer with.

Matt Serra UFC 98 Video Blog – Day 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb4bK8K2sUQ

Matt Serra UFC 98 Video Blog – Day 2, taped on 5/6/09
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvrkaRUTcCM

Matt Serra UFC 98 Video Blog – Day 3 Matt Serra UFC 98 Video Blog – Day 3 (Last Day, taped on 5/8)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhuCp5BUDo4

See Serra and his trainer make media appearances on TV and radio,
including a phone in to Setanta Sports Ultimate Talk from the gym.

Here is the finalised event card in full.

Main Card Bouts:
-Rashad Evans (16-0-1) vs. Lyoto Machida (14-0)
-Matt Hughes (42-7) vs. Matt Serra (11-5)
-Dan Miller (11-1) vs. Chael Sonnen (21-10-1)
-Sean Sherk (33-3-1) vs. Frankie Edgar (9-1)
-Drew McFedries (7-5) vs. Xavier Foupa-Pokam (20-10)

Preliminary Card Bouts:
-Brock Larson (25-2) vs. Chris Wilson (14-5)
-Yoshiyuki Yoshida (10-3) vs. Brandon Wolff (7-3)
-Tim Hague (9-1) vs. Patrick Barry (4-0)
-Phillipe Nover (7-1) vs. Kyle Bradley (13-6)
-Andre Gusmao (5-1) vs. Krzysztof Soszynski (17-8-1)
-George Roop (10-5) vs. David Kaplan (3-3)

You can watch UFC 98 live on Setanta Sports in the UK or on pay per view in the USA.

MMA blog by Dynamite Duane

duane@bluraymma.com

www.myspace.com/dynamite_duane

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Television’s toughest reality series returns for its ninth season as ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ premieres on Virgin 1, Sunday April 5 at 11pm.

 

Over 1000 of the best undiscovered mixed martial artists from two continents auditioned for the new season, all hoping to make it all the way to the finale, where one welterweight and one lightweight will win a six-figure contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship(R).

 

This season though, it is country v country as UK star Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping leads a team of British hopefuls against US Olympian and former two-division world MMA champion Dan Henderson’s United States team. The hit show is a 12 x 1 hour reality series with a multi hour finale based around the world’s leading mixed martial arts promotion, The Ultimate Fighting Championship(R).

 

Marshall Zelaznik, the President of the UFC’s UK Division, said: “This season will be the most exciting ever with not just a pair of six-figure UFC contracts on the line but also national pride. None of these fighters wants to let his country down and – with so much on the line – the fights themselves are the most spectacular in TUF history.

 

“I can think of no better mixed martial artist than Bisping to lead the British into battle. Not only is Mike the most successful fighter to emerge from the UK, but as a former TUF champion from season 3, Mike knows exactly what it takes to win this thing.”

 

Daniela Neumann, Director of Programmes for Virgin1, said: “The Ultimate Fighter is a very strong brand with a very loyal following. UK vs USA is the perfect way to bring the fighting brand to our audience. Of course we know who we are rooting for.”

 

Season nine of the wildly successful original series, “The Ultimate Fighter,” features 16 lightweights (155lbs, 11stone 1lbs) and 16 welterweights (170lbs, 12stone 2lbs).

 

In the first two episodes the 32 contestants must fight their way into the Ultimate Fighter House by winning a preliminary bout; only the winners will be flown to Las Vegas to the Ultimate Fighter house to live and train alongside UFC icons Bisping and Henderson.

 

During the six-week taping of “The Ultimate Fighter: United States Vs. United Kingdom,” the 16 men who survived the prelims endured a gruelling daily regimen of Jiu-jitsu, judo, Muay Thai, karate, boxing and wrestling. The intense competition between the fighters continues after they leave the gym as these modern day gladiators must live together in the same house, knowing that any day they may be called upon to fight each other in the famed UFC Octagon™.

 

Each victory brings the fighter closer to his dream of a contract with the world’s elite mixed martial arts organisation. The four finalists will square off in a live finale Saturday, June 20, when the two weight class winners will be declared “The Ultimate Fighter”.

 

 

 - The news is huge for MMA fans and the UFC in Blighty, giving the sport huge exposure on Virgin 1 a channel free to view on if you own a standard Freeview receiver or use Virgin Media or Sky. It is a fantastic deal giving the sport much needed exposure to the wider public of the UK. 

A good move from Virgin Media, Setanta and the UFC by giving the weekly reality TV style fight show for free giving TUF 9 an audience of over 22 million UK homes.

Plus it will give people a reason to subscribe to Setanta Sports to see the big events including the TUF 9 final and UFC 100 that is scheduled to feature Dan ‘Hendo’ Henderson and Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping in the battle of the team coaches.

So make sure you see it first this Sunday at 11pm on Virgin 1! If you do happen to miss and are a subscriber to Setanta Sport don’t worry as you can catch it again on Wednesday at 10pm.

 

All we need next is for Strikeforce to strike up a deal on British television. TUF on Virgin 1 is sure to do well so there is a possibility a competitor to Virgin 1 such as Channel 5 could pick it up.

What a great start to British summertime for mixed martial arts fans.

by Dynamite Duane

MMA results, reviews, news, views, previews and pundit predictions!

 

 

Welcome to bluraymma.com – sister website to blurayufc.com. A brand new website and a brand new place to catch up with the world of Mixed Martial Arts, all the big pay per view fights from inside the UFC octagon and between the ropes of Affliction’s squared circle. Not only that you will be able to hear all the latest news building up to the PPVs along with all the rumours plus views, previews and pundit predictions!

 

A little bit about me, I am a long time fan of pro wrestling having followed the WWF / WWE since the mid to later 80s so don’t be surprised if one or two pro wrestling references appear in my writing!  Not being one to enjoy taking a battering with the likes of Randy Couture or Brock Lesnar instead I practise the ancient Chinese art of Tai Chi Chuan. Other than that I love old school Hip Hop, Rare groove with a bit of classic dance music for my listening pleasures!

 

Without further a do let’s get started with a round up of the most recent MMA happenings.

 

MIR & LESNAR – UFC 100 & RASHAD HEADLING AT UFC 98

 

Following a whirlwind 24 hours of change, misinformation, and misdirection, the fog surrounding Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar’s UFC heavyweight unification bout – originally scheduled for UFC 98 on May 23 – has cleared.

 

After various statements that he was in contrasting others that he was out, Mir appeared on the UFC 96 pay-per-view broadcast to clear the air.

 

Mir confirmed the knee injury first reported by MMAWeekly.com, saying, “My knee finally just went. It’s an injury I’ve always just sucked up and went with. A week ago they scoped my knee and took out… bone fragments and some scar tissue.”

 

And with that, Mir versus Lesnar will now be pushed back to July 11 at UFC 100 in Las Vegas.

 

It’s not a move that Mir wanted to make, but he didn’t want any doubts cast on him when he faces Lesnar to unify the heavyweight championship. “I don’t want to go out there and have any excuses.”

 

With Mir versus Lesnar moved to UFC 100, Rashad Evans announced that he will step into the UFC 98 main event against one of two possible opponents, depending upon how Saturday night’s UFC 96 main event ends for Quinton Jackson and Keith Jardine.

 

If Jackson wins, Evans will face him in the UFC 98 main event. If Jardine wins, then No. 2 ranked light heavyweight Lyoto Machida will step in and face Evans, since Jardine is the champ’s teammate and training partner.

 

 

Source:

www.mmaweekly.com

 

So there you have it, Rampage will get his shot for the glory at UFC 98 versus

Rashad Evans the current reigning Light Heavyweight Champion and fight fans are going to have to wait to the big one double zero to see the UFC Heavyweight title finally unified when we get to Lesnar vs. Mir 2!

I for one cannot wait!