MMA News and UFC Betting Odds

Props: Five Ounces of Pain

“I wouldn’t call it bad blood. I spoke with Coleman after our first fight and we got somewhat into terms. However, as a fighter I want to prove that our first fight was an accident and I didn’t like the way he celebrated it like if it was a totally legit win. I think he is a great fighter, a legend. He is a great wrestler but I think I’m better at jiu-jitsu and striking. Plus, I have better cardio. I think it’s a good match up for me in theory. I feel great. I’m well-trained, in good shape and have little weight to cut for the fight. I’m feeling fast, my cardio is good and I have been working a lot on my power. It was really good to get back to my Muay Thai roots. You never really know what can happen in a fight and I respect Coleman but obviously I have to be confident. I see the fight ending with a submission from the bottom, or a knockout standing up.”

-Former PRIDE light heavyweight Mauricio “Shogun” Rua talks about his upcoming rematch against Mark Coleman at UFC 93 at The O2 in Dublin, Ireland, on January 17. “The Hammer” defeated Rua in controversial fashion at PRIDE 31 back in 2006 when an awkward landing broke the Brazilian’s arm less than a minute into the fight. It was a bitter “fluke” loss for the 2005 Pride FC Grand Prix Champion and one that he has been out to avenge ever since it happened.

addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fmmamania.com%2F2009%2F01%2F16%2Fconfident-mauricio-rua-has-no-intentions-of-going-the-distance%2F'; addthis_title = '%26%238216%3BConfident%26%238217%3B+Mauricio+Rua+has+no+intentions+of+going+the+distance'; addthis_pub = 'brok3llc';

MMA News

The much ballyhooed three-part series titled “UFC Primetime,” which featured an in-depth look at the colossal UFC 94 welterweight title fight between current champion Georges St. Pierre and former welterweight and current lightweight champion BJ Penn, debuted on January 14 on Spike TV to impressive ratings.

The 10pm ET debut garnered 880,000 viewers and added another hefty 614,000 viewers in the replay that immediately followed at 10:30pm for a viewing total of 1,494,000 according to MMAWeekly.

In comparison, last year’s highest rated episode of UFC Countdown scored 782,000 viewers. Episodes two and three will air on January 21 and 28, respectively.

UFC 94: “St. Pierre vs. Penn 2″ takes place January 31 live on pay-per-view from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada and also features the highly anticipated showdown between light heavyweight unbeatens Lyoto Machida and Thiago Silva.

For more on UFC 94 click here. Be sure to also hit up our “UFC Primtetime” archive right here for video teasers of the episodes.

addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fmmamania.com%2F2009%2F01%2F15%2Fufc-primetime-scores-a-combined-14-million-viewers%2F'; addthis_title = 'UFC+Primetime+scores+a+combined+1.4+million+viewers'; addthis_pub = 'brok3llc';

MMA News, UFC 94

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is continuing its push across the United States as it gears up for a possible seventh event in Louisiana planned for some point in the summer of 2009 according to the Shreveport Times.

In addition to the events already in line for Las Vegas, Zuffa is shooting for 3-4 shows overseas and 5-6 events stateside - not including UFC Fight Night 17 in Tampa, Florida on February 7 and UFC 96 in Columbus, Ohio on March 7.

From UFC vice president of regulatory affairs Marc Ratner:

“Louisiana and New Orleans is on our radar. We’ve already had a couple of different dates, but had conflicts. We’ll keep looking and find a date that works for everyone. We like to go to places we haven’t been for a long time. We have good pay-per-view numbers and TV ratings in Louisiana. We’re very bullish and confident we would have a good crowd.”

Louisiana has been in a rebuilding phase since Hurricane Katrina battered most of the state in 2005. Sporting events ranging from football to basketball have helped draw tourists back to the ravaged state and improve local morale.

Chairman of the Louisiana Boxing and Wrestling Commission Alvin Topham sees another UFC event as a way to keep that momentum going.

From Topham:

“I have a good rapport with the Fertitta family. They told me there were interested in coming to Louisiana and putting on a show sometime this summer. They understand our situation. We helped the UFC when they needed our help.”

The UFC could be headed back to the Bayou. Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more information on where and when.

addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fmmamania.com%2F2009%2F01%2F15%2Fufc-eyes-possible-return-to-louisiana-for-summer-of-2009%2F'; addthis_title = 'UFC+eyes+possible+return+to+Louisiana+for+summer+of+2009'; addthis_pub = 'brok3llc';

MMA News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fmmamania.com%2F2009%2F01%2F15%2F%25e2%2580%2598mma-live%25e2%2580%2599-episode-36-video-on-espn-previews-ufc-93%2F'; addthis_title = '%E2%80%98MMA+Live%E2%80%99+episode+36+video+on+ESPN+previews+UFC+93'; addthis_pub = 'brok3llc';

MMA Live on ESPN, MMA News, UFC 93

Props: Graciemag.com

“I’ve got news, I want to fight at ADCC 2009. My idea is to talk to the organizers and see if there’s a possibility of my being invited, for all the titles I’ve won at the event. I don’t really want to go through the trials in Rio, especially since it’s already too close to the event to be able to train properly. That’s why my idea is to go straight into the main tournament, to go right up against all the toughest from around the world. I even called up Paulo [Filho] to see if he’d get motivated about participating, but he says he doesn’t want to. So I came up with the organizers’ Email, and I’ll be contacting them to see about an invite. I’m excited.”

-Former PRIDE light heavyweight standout and ADCC champion Ricardo Arona aims for a return to the grappling tournament that made him famous in 2000 and 2001 by leapfrogging his way past the trials right into the main tournament. Nothing is certain at this point, but the Brazilian sounds as if he’s ready to get back to competition. He has not seen action since a knockout loss to Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou at Pride 34: “Kamikaza” in April 2007. It was his third loss in four fights — a tough stretch for a very talented fighter.

addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fmmamania.com%2F2009%2F01%2F15%2Fricardo-arona-eyes-return-to-abu-dhabi-combat-club-in-2009%2F'; addthis_title = 'Ricardo+Arona+eyes+return+to+Abu+Dhabi+Combat+Club+%28ADCC%29+in+2009'; addthis_pub = 'brok3llc';

MMA News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fmmamania.com%2F2009%2F01%2F15%2Fufc-93-video-blog-with-dana-white-episode-five%2F'; addthis_title = 'UFC+93+video+blog+with+Dana+White+%28Episode+four%29'; addthis_pub = 'brok3llc';

Dana White, MMA News, UFC 93, UFC Videos, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

Props: MMA Payout

addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fmmamania.com%2F2009%2F01%2F15%2Fget-abs-and-attitude-with-gsp-in-the-new-mens-fitness%2F'; addthis_title = 'Get+Abs+and+Attitude+with+GSP+in+the+new+Men%26%238217%3Bs+Fitness'; addthis_pub = 'brok3llc';

MMA News, georges st pierre

“Dana White was making a big deal out of nothing. He makes it out to be that [BJ] is on vacation, not training and not taking [the fight] seriously. This fight is the most serious fight of all time. We’re not playing around…We’ve got a good training camp here…Dana doesn’t understand because he’s not a fighter. We don’t want [BJ] burning out or peaking at the wrong time…I saw [UFC Primetime] and I laughed because we know what we are doing. [Dana] will pull out drama in anything he does. He’s not a drama queen, he’s a drama king.”

-BJ Penn head trainer Rudy Valentino responds to InsideFighting about the infamous phone call Dana White made to “The Prodigy’s” brother JD Penn on Wednesday night’s SpikeTV premiere of UFC Primetime. White was calling to check up on the Penn brothers after he got wind of an apparent vacation that BJ was taking at a critical time in his training for his upcoming superfight with Georges St. Pierre on January 31. Valentino insists it was much ado about nothing and White is simply creating drama where none exists.

addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fmmamania.com%2F2009%2F01%2F15%2Fufc-quick-quote-dana-white-is-a-drama-king%2F'; addthis_title = 'UFC+Quick+Quote%3A+Dana+White+is+a+drama+king'; addthis_pub = 'brok3llc';

Dana White, MMA News, UFC 94

The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) announced today that 12 of the 20 competitors who were tested for illegal/banned substances after competing at UFC 92: “The Ultimate 2008″ have all passed with flying colors.

Newly-crowned UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Rashad Evans, Forrest Griffin, interim heavyweight champion Frank Mir, Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira, Brad Blackburn, Matt Hamill, Antonio Hardonk, Yushin Okami, Cheick Kongo, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, CB Dolloway and Patrick Barry were all screened for performance enhancers such as steroids, as well as drugs of abuse like cocaine and marijuana, among others.

Results of those tests all returned negative.

The NSAC also officially reported that UFC 92 sold 9,701 tickets for a live gate $3,468,440. More than 4,460 complimentary tickets were issued and 657 went unsold for the promotion’s year-end event.

UFC dished out a hefty $1,381,000 in fighter salaries for the pay-per-view (PPV) event and another $180,000 in additional bonus money for four participants who delivered outstanding performances.

Evans defeated Griffin via third round technical knockout to capture the 205-pound crown in the UFC 92 main event. Mir came one step closer to once again becoming the UFC heavyweight champion of the world with an awesome performance against Nogueira to claim the interim division title.

And Jackson scored revenge against his nemesis, Wanderlei Silva, with a brutal first round knockout.

For complete results and coverage of “The Ultimate 2008” click here and here.

addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fmmamania.com%2F2009%2F01%2F14%2Fufc-92-drug-test-results-come-back-clean-from-nsac-for-the-ultimate-2008%2F'; addthis_title = 'UFC+92+drug+test+results+come+back+clean+from+NSAC+for+%26%238216%3BThe+Ultimate+2008%26%238242%3B'; addthis_pub = 'brok3llc';

MMA News, UFC 92, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

– Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic recovers from knee surgery following his bout against Hong Man Choi at Field’s Dynamite!! on New Year’s Eve and is expected to be out at least three to four months. Considering the Croat’s status as a fighter and politician in Croatia you would think he’d be recovering in style. From this pic it looks like Cro Cop’s government-subsidized medical insurance left him on the mend in the basement hallway of Sveti Duh next to the morgue.

addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fmmamania.com%2F2009%2F01%2F14%2Fno-cop-mirko-filipovic-recovers-from-knee-surgery-in-state-of-the-art-healthcare-facility-pic%2F'; addthis_title = 'No+Cop%3A+Mirko+Filipovic+recovers+from+knee+surgery+in+state-of-the-art+healthcare+facility+%28Pic%29'; addthis_pub = 'brok3llc';

MMA News, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic