MMA Live Episode Eight

From ESPN, the full show of MMA Live with Jon Anik, Kenny Florian and Franklin McNeil. Some of this week’s topics include: UFC, Frank Mir, BJ Penn, Rampage Jackson, Fedor Emelianenko, Elite XC, Kimbo Slic, WEC and more.

MMA for Dummies Videos

ESPN.com now has six MMA for Dummies videos online.  Bas Rutten, Brad Blackburn and Kenny Florian each instruct in two of the clips.

Here’s Bas Rutten explaining how to pull off ‘The Exorcist’

For the other five, you can see them all here after the jump, or each individually on ESPN.com, which I’ll link to first:

Muay Thai Clinch
Ground & Pound Guard Pass
Staying On Your Feet
Arm Triangle Choke
Bas Rutten’s Neck Crank

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CKA: July 2, 2008

With the upcoming UFC Light Heavyweight Championship match between Rampage Jackson and Forrest Griffin on tap for this weekend, some interesting tidbits from the UFC have started to surface.  Let’s get to them.

Franklin to 205?

Ever since being handled easily for a second time by middleweight champion, Anderson Silva, there has been speculation on what would be next for former champion Rich Franklin.  Many figured Rich would move to light heavyweight, a weight class he had competed in before, including in the UFC.  Our great friend Ariel Helwani at MMARated have disclosed that Rich will indeed be moving up.  But even more interesting is the bout set for him, that being Matt Hamill of TUF 3 fame. 

The bout is set for UFC 88 at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta, GA on September 6, 2008.  It will likely be the co-main event just under the headline bout between Chuck Liddell and Rashad Evans. 

Jesse Taylor is back

Continuing on the rumored matchups, it appears that Jesse Taylor’s firing from the Ultimate Fighter will not be for long.  MMAJunkie has confirmed with both fight camps that Taylor will face the man who replaced him in the TUF 7 Finale fight, CB Dollaway, The fight will take place at this months UFN 14 card, set to broadcast live on SpikeTV on July 19, 2008. 

Taylor gained a good deal of press for all the wrong reasons when he became the first TUF finalist to be thrown off the show after he qualified for the Finale.  Taylor, in a drunken stupor, was seen via video tape kicking the window out of a limo and being verbally combative in various Las Vegas casinos via security video.  UFC President Dana White threw Taylor off the show after the completion of tapings.  Semi final losers CB Dollaway and Tim Credeur then fought with Dollaway advancing to the finals where he lost to Amir Sadollah for a second time. 

This card is significant in that it is being televised in direct competition to the Affliction PPV card featuring Fedor Emelianenko vs Tim Sylvia.  At this point the UFN 14 card look like this:

Main Card
Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin
Frankie Edgar vs. Hermes Franca
Brandon Vera vs. Reese Andy
Anthony Johnson vs. Kevin Burns

Preliminary Bouts:
Jake O’Brien vs. Cain Velasquez
Brad Blackburn vs. James Giboo
Rory Markham vs. Brodie Farber
Dale Hartt vs. Shannon Gugerty
Nate Loughran vs. Johnny Rees
Jesse Taylor vs. C.B. Dollaway

Report: Antonio Silva to Fight Justin Eilers

Our friend Sam Caplan over at FiveOuncesOfPain.com is reporting that EliteXC is expected to announce a fight between Antonio “Junior” Silva and Justin Eilers for their upcoming show on CBS on July 26.  Sam’s source is EliteXC Vice President, Jared Shaw.  It was later confirmed by Monte Cox, Eilers’ manager.

A verbal agreement for Antonio Silva to fight former UFC heavyweight title challenger Justin Eilers during EliteXC’s second-ever CBS telecast on July 26 has been secured.

EliteXC Vice President Jared Shaw revealed the news when contacted by FiveOuncesOfPain.com earlier this afternoon.

Five Ounces of Pain later contacted Eilers’ manager, Monte Cox, who indicated that it is their intention to FAX a signed contract to EliteXC officials later today.

It is still uncertain whether the Silva vs. Eilers fight will be for the vacant EliteXC heavyweight title, but Shaw indicated a belt will more than likely be at stake when the two square off.

Silva is one of the brightest heavyweight prospects in MMA.  He has recorded wins over Tengis Tedoradze, Ruben “Warpath” Villareal, Tom Erikson, and Wesley “Cabbage” Correia.  His most recent victory, a split decision over former UFC champion Ricco Rodriquez was disappointing in many respects, so I’d fully expect Silva to come out very strong.

Justin Eilers is a banger pure and simple.  His gameplan is to hit and be hit until someone falls.  While this has made him quite successful against the majority of competition (he is currently riding a 3 fight win streak, 10 out of 11), Justin has generally fallen short when facing high level competition.  His style has produced highlight reel KO losses against Andre Arlovski, Brandon Vera, and Paul Buentello while in the UFC.

Unfortunately, compared to the many names that have been floated around as possible opponents for Silva, this one is a bit disappointing when one considers it will likely be a title fight.  Rather than match Silva up against another EliteXC prospect like Brett Rogers, IFL Champion Roy Nelson, or Pride veteran Sergei Kharitonov, they chose to sign Eilers for a title shot.  Mr. Shaw says guys either refused the fight or priced themselves out of the market.  IMO, none of the rumored opponents would have refused the fight.  Thus pay was the only concern.  If as Shaw’s father has stated many times, that the fighter’s are first and foremost in EliteXC, that’s pretty weak that they refused to pay for a legitimate title contender. 

MMA Live Episode Seven

From ESPN, the full show of MMA Live with Jon Anik, Kenny Florian and Franklin McNeil.  UFC, Affliction, MMA in NY, EliteXC, it’s all in there:

Jeff Shamrock Signs Multi-Fight Deal With Strikeforce

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Jeff Shamrock, nephew of MMA Legend Ken Shamrock, has signed a multi-fight deal with world championship fight promotion, Strikeforce. Shamrock’s first fight under the San Jose based organization will be announced soon.

“I am definitely excited to have Ken Shamrock’s nephew as a part of the Strikeforce team,” said Strikeforce CEO, Scott Coker.  “Jeff possesses that incredible Shamrock strength that his family is known for. I expect great things from Jeff and look forward to his professional debut.”

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Forrest Griffin on Training for UFC 86, Coaching

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EliteXC: Return of the King Highlights

Showtime posted a video to their Youtube channel of highlights from June 14th EliteXC: Return of the King.

It’s a short video, not an in-depth recap, but if you’re wondering whether or not the mess at the end of the show made the cut: yup, there’s a snippet of that in there too.

July 19 UFC Fight Night Full Card

via MMAWeekly.com via Yahoo!

Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin
Hermes Franca vs. Frankie Edgar
Reese Andy vs. Brandon Vera
Anthony Johnson vs. Kevin Burns
Rory Markham vs. Brodie Farber
Brad Blackburn vs. James Giboo
Dale Hartt vs. Shannon Gugherty

EliteXC Returns to CBS July 26

LOS ANGELES — CBS and EliteXC announced today that the next CBS EliteXC Saturday Night Fights will be broadcast live from the Stockton Arena in Stockton, Calif. on Saturday, July 26 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.  The four-fight broadcast will be highlighted by the highly anticipated rematch between “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler and Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith for the EliteXC Middleweight Title.

The night of mixed martial action will begin with three live fights on Showtime (8:00-9:00 PT, ET/PT) including an EliteXC Heavyweight Championship match featuring Antonio “Big Foot” Silva.

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