The fight will be part of UFC Fight Night 17, scheduled for February. You can read Sadollah’s statement about his injury here. Staph infections are becoming more common these days and it’s better to get them checked out and treated before it becomes worse.

Post from: EveryJoe

Sadollah Vs. Catone Rescheduled

Starting with the main event. Brock Lesnar came out hungry and proved that he’s not just a hyped up former WWE cash draw. While I like Randy Couture I just had a feeling that Brock’s size and (real) wrestling background was going to be an issue. When you pit two wrestlers up against each other and one weights about 40 more pounds than the other size is certainly going to be a factor. Brock defended Coutrure’s take downs well and Randy’s in ring stand up experience worked well to keep Lesnar at bay. All it took was a big right from Lesnar in the second round that stunned randy very briefly and sent him to the ground. Brock capitalized on this and made quick to jump on the downed Couture and start hammering away with fast, short and powerful hammer fists and punches. Couture tried hard to cover up and defend himself but the fists were coming in too fast for him to break away and make an attempt on a good defensive maneuver. The ref stopped the fight and Lesnar became the UFC Heavyweight Champion in only his 3rd fight in the UFC. This win doesn’t come without conversation of people arguing that Lesnar should have earned his spot for the title shot like so many others before him as opposed to being tossed in because it would be a huge crowd and money draw. Either way, there is nothing you can do now besides see what happens next. He may lose in his first defense of the title and have to work his way back up that way.

UFC.com said that Lesnar’s first title defense will take place early next year against the winner of the Mir/ Nogueira fight next month. Bot of these fighters have great Jiu-Jitsu skills and Brock lost to Mir in his UFC debut. I think Lesnar was looking for and expecting a quick win in that fight but Frank Mir played it just right and caught him in a submission. I don’t think Lesnar will let that stupid mistake happen again. Nogueira is no newcomer to fighting big guys either but his speed is slower than Lesnar and I think that will play a key roll if that fight takes place.

Kenny Florian proved to be an underestimated fighter and a skillful combatant with his win over Joe Stevenson with a rear naked choke. I honestly think that Stevenson was so not intimidated by him and was a bit overconfident. Kenny actually made it look very easy.

Gabriel Gonzaga made short work of Josh Hendricks with a big right that sent Hendricks to the matt. Gonzaga jumped in and went to work throwing punches to the face of a face-down Hendricks who after the first punch thrown by Gonza was tapping.

Demian Maia made quick work of Nate Quarry with his amazing Jiu-Jistu in the first round and Matt Brown looked exhausted after his win over Ryan Thomas, which he took on very short notice.

The fights were moving fast and they showed some under-card fights to kill time, even after the main event. Dustin Hazlett beat Tamdan McCrory with a great submission by an interesting straight arm-bar. Jeremy Stephens took Rafael dos Anjos out in the second round with a monster uppercut that looked like he threw from behind his knee and caught Dos Anjos square on the jaw.

Image Source: Newscom.com

Post from: EveryJoe

UFC 91, A Night To Remember

 

UFC has announced the the welterweight co-main event fight between Kenny Florian and Joe Stevenson at UFC 91 will be for the No. 1 contender fight foe BJ Penn’s lightweight championship.

The winner of the fight will be guaranteed a shot at Penn’s title after the Penn Vs. St Pierre welterweight championship fight at UFC 94.

Flooian goes in to this match with a victory over Roger Huerta at UFC 87 by unanimous decision. Before this fight happened Dana White said the winner of that bout would most likely get a title shot. However after Florian’s win B.J. Penn was scheduled for a fight for the welterweight title against GSP and Florian was scheduled to fight Stevenson who lost to Penn by submission early this year.

Read more about this at MMAJunkie

Image source: Newscom.com

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Co-Main Event Fight At UFC 91 To Be A Lightweight No. 1 Contender Fight

Matt Brown’s last fight was lost by decision at UFC 88 to Korean fighter Dong Hyun Kim. Brown was a promising candidate on The Ultimate Fighter 7 but lost to Amir Sadollah, who also went on to win the season and a six figure UFC contract.

Matt Brown has only has two weeks to ready himself for this undercard fight.

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Matt Brown To Replace Matt Riddle At UFC 91

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ESPN First Take Lesnar Vs. Couture

You have Randy Couture:  A veteran octagon fighter since UFC 13, with 15 win and 8 loses. 6′ 2" tall and 220 pounds. He’s held the UFC heavyweight championship 3 times and the Light-Heavyweight championship twice.

Then You Have Brock Lesnar: A rookie MMA fighter who made his debut into the MMA in June of 2007 with his first win in his first professional fight. He went on to lose his first fight in the UFC against Frank Mir earlier this year. However he made an impressive win by decision over Heath Herring (Who has over 40 fights under his belt) back in August. Lesnar weighs in 45 lbs more than Couture and an inch in height.

So you have a literal newby who most think might not have a chance, unless by dominating Couture with his size. And you have Couture who has fought much bigger fighters than himself with more experience than Lesnar. Like I said though. This could go either way and I would want to bet on Couture but something tells me that it might not be that easy if Lesnar has been training right. You can catch UFC 91 live on PPV November 15th.

Randy Couture (220) vs. Brock Lesnar (265)
Kenny Florian (155) vs. Joe Stevenson (155)
Amir Sadollah (1858) vs. Nick Catone (185)
Gabriel Gonzaga (242) vs. Josh Hendricks  (246)
Dustin Hazelett (170) vs. Tamdan McCrory (170)
Alvin Robinson (155) vs. Mark Bocek (155)
Jeremy Stephens (155) vs. Rafael dos Anjos (155)

Image Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/news/2008/10/08/ufc-91-couture-vs-lesnar-poster-revealed

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UFC 91 Card and Poster

Other fights confirmed for the even are Dustin Hazelett vs. Tamdan McCrory and Kenny Florian vs. Joe Stevenson

Image used with permission from Newscom.com

Post from: EveryJoe

UFC 91 Tickets Go On Sale Saturday September 20th

We have all heard it before when it comes to Randy Couture. “He’s too old, not big enough, not strong enough, his time has passed” only to be silenced by the MMA legend. Randy has returned to the UFC with a new contract, all personal and business issues apparently ironed out with the UFC. Randy left the UFC in Oct of 2007 partially out of frustration the company did not sign Fedor Emelianenko. While Randy still remains hopeful a deal can eventually be worked out to fight the widely regarded greatest Heavyweight in the World, there is another perhaps far more dangerous obstacle in Randy’s path than any contract stipulation.

The 6’3 265 Pound Brock Lesner, will face Randy at UFC 91 in November. Lesner the former professional wrestling WWE Champion, has taken the MMA world by storm since making his UFC debut in Feb of 2008. Lesner a former real NCAA heavyweight champion in 2000 is a beast of an athlete. Perhaps the most devastating combination of size, strength and athleticism, MMA has ever seen. Lesner got off to a bit of a rocky start when he was submitted by former UFC heavyweight Champion Frank Mir. After thoroughly dominating the early action, Lesner made a rookie mistake and was submitted via knee bar by the Brazilian jiu-jitsu, expert.

He would rebound 6 months later at UFC 87 against Heath Herring. A fighter with a resume of 42 fights, including bouts with some of the most experienced fighters in the game like current UFC Heavyweight Champ Antônio Nogueira and was coming off a big win over current contender Cheick Kongo. Lesner dropped Herring with a massive right hand to start the fight, damaging Herring’s eye and dominated the entire 15 min fight on the ground. Brock’s overwhelming physical talent has many in the MMA world buzzing whether or not Randy at age 45 has enough left to tame the young lion once more?

This bout will be a classic tale of Experience VS Youth. Randy’s been down this road before. Few gave him a shot against Chuck Liddell in their first fight; others doubted he would defeat Tito Ortiz. Randy’s greatest act of defying his age and the odds came at UFC 68 when he moved up in weight and dominated 6’8 then Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia. Randy will go into UFC 91 the favorite, likely thanks to his ring savvy and experience but still the doubters remain. For even the Great Randy Couture, will one day succumb to father time and look old inside the octagon. The day will come when Randy can no longer defy the odds. Does the younger, stronger, bigger man in Lesner have what it takes to finally make Randy look every bit of his 45 years? It sure will be fun finding out in November.

Photo credit: Newscom

Post from: EveryJoe

How Much Longer Can Randy Couture Defy Father Time?