Rampage Expected at UFC 91?
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is expected to make his return at UFC 91. After going through some medical problems in recent months and being arrested for hit-and-run Rampage should step back into the ring against long time rival Wanderlei Silva this November, headlining UFC 91.
During the days of PRIDE Rampage and Silva had taken to the ring twice. In both fights the “Axe Murderer” defeated Jackson. In the UFC Wanderlei Silva recently defeated Keith Jardine to put an end to his 3 fight losing streak.
The fight between the two would be a great one for viewers to watch. They have their history and Rampage will be wanting to climb back up the LHW ladder to reclaim his title after recently losing his UFC light-heavyweight championship to The Ultimate Fighter 1 winner Forrest Griffin.
The only thing which could prevent this fight from happening is Rampage’s current court cases. After losing his title reports were flooding the Internet that he had been arrested for hit-and-run. After being bailed from jail by UFC President Dana White Rampage found himself heading to a hospital for observation less than 24 hours later. Jackson is currently awaiting his trial for felony evading, hit-and-run and reckless driving. Thats not all though one woman has since suffered a miscarriage after her vehicle was hit by Rampage’s.
Jackson has returned to the gym to begin training with a new trainer after he and Juanito Ibarra split. Juanito Ibarra did say before Jackson’s fight with Rampage that he would retire if Rampage lost.
Ultimate Fighter 8 Cast Revealed!
Sports Illustrated (SI.com) have released the list of cast members for the next season of The Ultimate Fighter on Spike TV. Ultimate Fighter 8 will feature 32 cast members 16 from the light-heavyweight division and 16 from the lightweights. The coaches this season will be UFC Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and fellow heavyweight Frank Mir. The next season is set to start this September 17th and to end December 13th with another live finale.
LIGHTWEIGHT
- Jose Aguilar
- Fernando Bernstein
- Junie Allen Browning
- Rolando Delgado
- Joseph Duarte
- Charles Diaz
- Efrain Escudero
- Brandon Garner
- David Kaplan
- Brian McLaughlin
- Wesley Murch
- Shane Nelson
- Phillipe Nover
- Ido Pariente
- John Polakowski
- George Roop
LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT
- Ryan Bader
- Antwain Britt
- Jules Bruchez
- Lance Evans
- Karen Grigoryan
- Jason Guida
- Ryan Jimmo
- Kyle Kingsbury
- Tom Lawlor
- Ryan Lopez
- Vinicius Magalhaes
- Eric Magee
- Eliot Marshall
- Sean O’Connell
- Shane Primm
- Krzysztof Soszynski
Rachelle Leah to Pose Nude in Playboy
The article over at MMARated.com will surely make every male MMA fan happy. Former UFC ring girl and current host of “UFC All Access” will be posing nude for Playboy. This will not be Rachelle’s first time in the magazine, she was once voted “Babe of the Month” in the October 2006 magazine. She was fully-clothed in her one page feature. Leah is currently considered the 76th sexiest woman in the world by FHM.
It is expected that the magazine where Rachelle Leah bares all will be released in around three months time.
UFC 88 Website Now Live
The official UFC 88 “Breakthrough” website is now live. Check out the site over at 88.ufc.com
UFC 87 “Seek and Destroy” Medical Suspensions
As with almost every event the UFC has some medical suspensions from UFC 87. This time around though it didn’t seem to be as many. Maybe the Minnesota Combative Sports Commission is a bit more lenient on the suspensions. All-in-all four fighters ended up being suspended for 30-day periods. Suspended fighters include Georges St. Pierre, Jon Fitch, Ryan Thomas who are all out due to cuts and Dan Evensen was also suspended for 30 days due to the KO he recieved.
UFC 87 “Seek and Destroy” Live Gate
UFC 87 was a success. It had a great card and all those fights on it turned out to be great to watch, some of them were absolute shockers though. This was the first time that a UFC event had been held in Minnesota and according to Dana White it probably will not be the last. The event brought 15,082 fans to the Target Center bringing $2,252,000 in gate money, setting the Target Center record.
UFC 90 Official Event Poster
Here is the official poster for UFC 90. Anderson Silva will be stepping into the ring as a middleweight once again to defend his UFC Middleweight Championship against Canadian Patrick Cote. As of writing this only three fights have been confirmed by the UFC for this event. The title fight mentioned above, a fight between welterweights Diego Sanchez and Thiago Alves and a light heavyweight battle between Thales Leites and the undefeated Goran Reljic.
UFC 87: “Seek and Destroy” Bonuses
UFC 87 gave mixed martial arts fans some all around great action. Only three fights can get the bonuses the UFC give out. The usual three are Fight of the Night, Submission of the Night and Knockout of the Night.
Each one of the fight bonus winners will take home an additional $60,000 on top of their paycheck amount (not yet known).
Fight of the Night: Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch
Submission of the Night: Demian Maia
Knockout of the Night: Rob Emerson
I would not disagree with any of these picks. Obviously Emerson deserved KO of the night with his 12 second fight. Demian Maia had no competition getting the only submission on the card. GSP Vs. Jon Fitch was a great fight, Fitch showed huge heart lasting all the way through the five rounds.
UFC 87 Event Preview
It’s the 1st of August. We are now only a week and a day away from UFC 87: “Seek and Destroy”. It is one of the UFC’s best cards in recent events featuring a title bout between new welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre and challenger Jon Fitch. Kenny Florian who is the current analyst on ESPN’s “MMA Live” will be looking to advance in the lightweight division as he takes on Roger Huerta one of the greatest lightweights around. The fight that I am most interested in seeing is the one between heavyweight hopeful and former WWE superstar Brock Lesner. He will be taking on MMA veteren Heath Herring. Herring has had is fair share of fights and will be looking to put a stop to Brock Lesners MMA hopes. The other two main card fights feature Manny Gamburyan vs. Rob Emerson in a lightweight bout and a middleweight bout between Jason MacDonald and Demian Maia will be the opening bout.
Reminder: UFC 84 on Spike TV Tonight
For all those that never got to see the UFC 84 PPV card it will air for free tonight on Spike TV. It features BJ Penn defending his lightweight title against Sean Sherk. The show is counter-programming to EliteXC’s “Unfinished Business”
You can watch UFC 84 tonight at 9 EST on Spike TV.