Injury Updates On Yoshida & Fujita From PRIDE OWGP Bouts
Hidehiko Yoshida was reportedly being checked on after his 7/1 bout with Mirko CroCop, a TKO loss in one round due to leg kicks, for a broken leg and torn knee ligaments.
Kazuyuki Fujita also had some misfortune in his 7/1 fight on the PRIDE card against Vanderlei Silva. During a tight armbar attempt, Fujita suffered a broken elbow. The injury won’t require surgery, but he will miss around three months of action. PRIDE president Nobuyuki Sakikabara hopes for Fujita to be healed up enough to return for the United States debut of PRIDE on October 21.
Chris Leben’s UFC Return Fight & More UFN 6 Notes
Sherdog.com is reporting Chris Leben will be returning to the octagon sooner than expected, as he’s rumored to be on the Ultimate Fight Night 6 card scheduled for August 17 at the Red Rock Casino.
Leben last fought only two weeks ago, losing a one-sided fight to UFC newcomer Anderson Silva at just fourty-nine seconds into the first round.
“The Crippler” will dust himself off, pick himself back up and according to Sherdog.com will fight Jorge Santiago on August 17 at UFN 6 on Spike TV.
Santiago also fought two weeks ago on the same show as Leben, he won his fight via knockout in just over two minutes of the first round of his fight against Justin Levens.
This bout is added to a card already featuring the announced main-event of Diego Sanchez vs. Karo Parisyan.
Our own Seth Petruzelli of CFZ Radio here on MMANews.com was scheduled to make his non-Ultimate Fighter debut in the UFC on the same card, but was forced off due to injury. Petruzelli will go into detail about that situation later today on Combat Fighter Zone at 8:00PM ET, 5:00PM PT at http://radio.mmanews.com. The show also features special guests Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Matt Lindland, opponents at the upcoming WFA “King of the Streets” PPV on July 22.
Dana White To Make Big Announcement Live On ESPN
The Herald offers this exclusive inside report of all the latest news and action from the Ultimate Fighting Championship. If something’s happening behind the scenes, or inside the octagon, you’ll read it here first.
What’s your next step after dropping a closely contested, high-profile decision in a potentially breakthrough bout? Well, if you’re Stephan Bonnar or Forrest Griffin, you get back to basics.
It just so happens that getting back to basics for these two UFC tough guys means squaring off in the octagon against each other. That’s what the light heavyweights will do at UFC 62 on Aug. 26, re-creating their action-packed showdown from April 2005 in the Ultimate Fighter Season 1 final. That match, which ended in a close decision for Griffin but six-figure UFC contracts for both men, was one of the best fights of ’05.
“I think it’s safe to say you can expect more of the same this time around. You’ll probably see the same entertainment as the first time, because we are both such aggressive fighters,� Bonnar said.
Bonnar-Griffin will be on the same card as the anticipated Chuck Liddell-Renato Sobral fight.
Bonnar (12-2) is trying to bounce back from losing a three-round decision to Rashad Evans last month. He has wins over such tough opponents as Sam Hoger, James Irvin and Keith Jardine. Griffin, meanwhile, lost a split decision to Tito Ortiz last April at UFC 59, a fabulous fight.
With those losses, both Bonnar and Griffin have hit a temporary road block. After Aug. 26, one of them will be back on the road to a title fight.
Behind the scenes look
“The Ultimate Fighter 4: The Comeback Season� will begin airing on Aug. 17 and Framingham’s Jorge Rivera will be providing the inside scoop right here in the Herald. The 34-year-old Rivera, who is originally from Milford, is one of the 16 fighters to take part in the reality show on Spike TV. The show airs for 13 weeks with the finale taking place in November.
After each episode airs, Rivera will share comments on the training, the coaches, his progress and his overall experience with Herald readers in this space. Stay tuned.
61 and beyond
Time to look back for a moment, before looking ahead. UFC 61 in Las Vegas on July 8 saw Ortiz hold off an impressive Griffin and Maine’s Tim Sylvia win the rubber match over Andrei Arlovski. It also was a good place to be seen from a sports and entertainment standpoint.
Among those taking in the action were Wayne Newton, WWE’s The Undertaker, Houston Texans quarterback David Carr, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Brad Penny and the band Linkin Park.
As far as looking ahead, expect a big announcement from UFC president Dana White tomorrow, live on ESPN. … Speaking of White, he will be in Boston later tomorrow through Wednesday for the annual CTAM, a big cable TV trade conference at the Hynes Convention Center. … Following last weekend’s show, the UFC was once again making some buzz on Yahoo’s Buzz Index, taking the No. 2 spot, just behind World Cup soccer.
Tickets on Sale Now for UFC 62: Liddell vs Sobral
The stakes couldn’t be higher when UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell defends his crown against Brazil’s Renato ‘Babalu’ Sobral in the UFC 62 main event at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on Saturday, August 26.
One of the game’s true superstars, Chuck ‘The Iceman’ Liddell has defended the crown he won from Randy Couture in April of 2005 twice, most recently with a second round knockout of Couture in their February rubber match. Sidelined since then due to a toe injury, Liddell knows that a victory on August 26 will lead to bigger fights down the road.
But Sobral is no one’s stepping stone, as evidenced by his ten fight winning streak since the first bout between the two, won by Liddell in November of 2002. In that almost four year period, Sobral has truly fought his way to the number one contender’s slot, submitting Travis Wiuff, Chael Sonnen, and Mike Van Arsdale in his last three UFC bouts, and even beating world-class combatants Jeremy Horn, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, and Trevor Prangley in a single night in 2003. Winning the world title has long been ‘Babalu’s dream, and he has no intentions of letting that dream slip away.
UFC: Shamrock-Ortiz main event ends in controversy
From raucous cheers to thunderous boos in a matter of seconds. That best described the two main events of UFC 61 on Saturday in Las Vegas.
Barely a minute into arguably the most anticipated matchup of the evening, the bout between Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock was stopped by referee Herb Dean, causing the fans at the Mandalay Bay Event Center to pelt the ring with debris.
Ortiz was on top of Shamrock and implementing his trademark “groundand pound� style, landing elbows to Shamrock’s face. The blows appeared glancing, however, with the 42-year-old Shamrock partially blocking most of them. But Dean, who was in close to the action, jumped in and separated the two fighters, calling a halt to the much-anticipated bout, thus giving Ortiz the victory.
As Ortiz celebrated, Shamrock looked on in disbelief and started again started after Ortiz, who was doing his “grave digger� celebration. The Octagon filled with cornermen, as well as security, in order to keep the two fighters separated.
Fans began to shower the ring with cups, ice and other debris, voicing their displeasure with Dean’s stoppage of the fight. Shamrock (26-11-2) was escorted from the ring by his handlers, the crowd cheering him loudly, while Ortiz (15-4-0) was roundly booed during his post-fight interview.
“Herb Dean did the right thing by stopping the fight,� Ortiz said afterward. “Shamrock wasn’t defending himself intelligently.�
Ironically, Shamrock entered the arena to a chorus of boos, unlike the reception that another UFC legend — Royce Gracie — at- received in May at UFC 60 in Los Angeles.
Those boos were quickly drowned out by the sound of Eminem blaring over the Event Center’s sound system. Ortiz entered the arena carrying a flag that had the U.S. colors on one side and Mexico’s colors on the other.
The two fighters had to be separated by officials even before the ring introductions were made as Ortiz, still carrying the flag, danced around the Octagon. Shamrock attempted to block his path, seemingly seeking out an altercation, but officials were able to prevent the two fighters from making contact.
The two fighters refused to touch gloves beforehand. Shamrock went on the immediate attack. At
the 4:30 mark, Ortiz took Shamrock down hard to the mat, his trademark ground-and-pound technique in full effect, where the fight would and the fight ended in controversy shortly thereafter.
Though Ortiz is 2-0 since returning to UFC in April, neither win has been without controversy. On April 15 at UFC 59 in Anaheim, Ortiz earned a split-decision victory over Forrest Griffin, a decision many fans inside The Pond questioned, despite the fact that Ortiz calls Orange County home.
In the other main event Saturday, heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia retained his title, winning a unanimous decision over former champion Andrei Arlovski.
Arlovski entered the Octagon to a chorus of cheers, while Sylvia was met with a smattering of boos, though as he approached the ring, more cheers could be heard.
No cheers would be heard by the end of the fight, however, as the fans voiced their displeasure at the slow pace of the fight. The first round looked more like a kickboxing match, with each fighter exchanging jabs and occasional right hands. With neither of their first two fights going the distance, both fighters appeared to be more cautious this time around.
In the second round, Arlovski was cut on the left side of his face, however the flow of blood was well away from his eye, so the fight didn’t appear to be in any danger of being stopped by referee John McCarthy. Both fighters were a bit more aggressive with the two exchanging blows midway through the round. Neither fighter appeared to gain an advantage. The crowd grew restless in Rounds 3 and 4 as neither fighter appeared to want to press the action. Arlovski began bleeding from under his right eye, but again, Sylvia was unable to capitalize and the bout appeared to be even heading into the final round.
Sylvia Outlasts Arlovski; Ortiz Gets Quick Win over Shamrock
LAS VEGAS, July 8 – The rubber match between Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski didn’t match the brief and explosive nature of their first two bouts, but Sylvia did enough to outlast ‘The Pitbull’ in their war of nerves before a sold out crowd of 12,400 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
Scores were 48-47 twice and 49-46 for Ellsworth, Maine’s Sylvia, who repeated his April 15th win over Arlovski. The Belarus native defeated Sylvia via submission on February 5, 2005.
“I definitely saw myself winning,� said Sylvia, 24-2. “Arlovski fixed his chin because I hit him hard many times. He’s a tough, tough guy.�
The pace was measured early, with Arlovski working his leg kicks effectively and Sylvia looking for the big bomb. With a little under three minutes left, Sylvia’s first heavy salvo rocked Arlovski briefly, but after a short clinch, ‘The Pitbull’ came firing back and fought with a relaxed ease as Sylvia appeared tense as he stalked the challenger.
The heavy punches kept coming in the second round, with Arlovski still scoring, but Sylvia answering by opening a cut on the left side of his foe’s head and the tense drama continued to play out in round three, with Sylvia starting to show the scars of battle via a mouse under his right eye as Arlovski again landed the cleaner blows between sporadic bursts of activity from the champion.
The fourth round saw the crowd get restless, and Sylvia responded by picking up the pace and opening up cuts under Arlovski’s right eye and on the side of his left eye, but the final round played out like the previous four, with both fighters having all too brief moments of scoring activity, and leaving the bout in the hands of the judges, much to the chagrin of the packed house.
In the UFC 61 co-featured bout, it may be safe to say that the feud between Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock is far from over as Ortiz made it two in a row over his longtime rival, stopping the UFC hall of famer with a series of forearm strikes just 1:18 into the first round.
The bout was not without its share of controversy though, as referee Herb Dean’s stoppage drew loud boos from the capacity crowd and prompted the Las Vegas police to enter the Octagon to keep an irate Shamrock from getting at Ortiz.
“Look at my face,� said Shamrock, 26-11-2 who stated his case to fans after storming from the Octagon. “See, no marks.�
But despite the protests, there was little doubt that the stoppage was just, after Ortiz landed five consecutive forearms on the head of Shamrock, who was not defending himself.
“I was just doing my job, dropping elbows,� said Ortiz, 15-4, the former UFC light heavyweight champion. “He wasn’t responding or defending himself and Herb Dean did his job.�
Shamrock looked to get the job done himself as he came out throwing heavy punches as he bulled Ortiz to the fence. But once Ortiz got his bearings, he picked Shamrock up and slammed him to the mat, leading to the fight ending series of strikes.
Ortiz stopped Shamrock in three rounds in their first meeting on November 22, 2002.
Josh Burkman scored the biggest win of his UFC career, earning a hard fought three round unanimous decision over Josh Neer in a welterweight bout.
Scores were 29-28 twice, and 30-27.
The two welterweights fought at a fast clip in the first round, trading strikes, with Burkman (18-3) holding a slight edge due to a knockdown scored with little over a minute left in the frame.
Neer (17-4-1) rebounded in the second as he controlled matters at close quarters and on the mat. But midway through the round, it was Burkman rallying with hard punches to the head. Des Moines’ Neer, bleeding from a cut around his left eye, disdainfully called for more, and when it appeared that the momentum was going to swing back to him, Burkman finished the round with a slam to the canvas.
Neer pushed the pace in the final round, and after some standup work, he got Burkman to the mat and attempted to lock in a triangle choke. Burkman responded with a thunderous slam and escaped further danger. Neer wasn’t done yet though, as he tried to work submissions on Burkman from the mat, but to no avail as the Salt Lake City native finished strong.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir won his first fight in over two years, eking out a three round unanimous decision over Dan Christison.
All three judges scored the bout 29-28 for Mir, who was sidelined for 16 months due to a motorcycle accident in September of 2004. His first comeback fight, on February 4, saw him get stopped by Brazil’s Marcio Cruz.
“I needed my confidence back as a fighter,� said Mir, whose last victory was his title-winning effort over Tim Sylvia on June 19, 2004.
The first round was a tale of two halves, as Mir dominated the first 2:30 with strong strikes on the feet as well as a takedown of his foe, and Albuquerque, New Mexico’s Christison roared back in the final stages of the round with an armbar attempt and some solid standup strikes of his own.
With Mir at 262 pounds, way over his prime fighting weight, fatigue looked to be an issue in the second for the Las Vegan, and Christison landed some hard point-scoring punches in the round. And once the fight hit the mat, Christison again was the more active of the two, even though he wasn’t in the dominant top position.
Perhaps sensing that the fight was slipping away from him, Mir came out aggressively in the final stanza, and once he bloodied Christison’s nose, he pounded away with both hands, looking for the stoppage, but it didn’t come, sending the bout to the judges.
Former welterweight Joe Stevenson made a successful jump to the 155-pound weight class with a bloody second round stoppage of Yves Edwards, whose cut forehead prompted a halt to the bout after 10 minutes of spirited action.
“I can do anything I want to at this weight,� said Stevenson, 30-7.
Showing why the lightweight division is the most exciting in the game, Edwards and Stevenson took turns in controlling the first round, with Edwards’ strikes dropping the Las Vegan to the mat, and Stevenson’s ground and pound piling up points in its own right. Edwards may have taken the round though with a triangle attempt in the final 15 seconds.
Stevenson got the first takedown of the second round and pushed Conroe, Texas’ Edwards (29-11-1) to the fence in order to pound away with his left hand, opening a nasty gash on the top of Edwards’ head in the process. After a break in the action for the doctor to inspect the cut, the fight resumed on the mat, with Stevenson firing away but Edwards hanging tough and even making it to his feet before the bell.
But though Edwards was ready to continue, the amount of blood from the cut forced referee John McCarthy to wisely call the bout on the advice of the ringside physicians just before the start of the final round.
Hermes Franca returned to the UFC for the first time since April 2, 2004, and won his fifth consecutive fight of 2006 with an impressive third round submission win over late replacement Joe Jordan.
“He’s a tough kid,� said Franca of Jordan, who replaced the injured Roger Huerta. “I tried to work my standup, and it worked well, but my jiu-jitsu’s better.�
Franca (14-5) came out bombing with kicks and almost got Jordan’s back early, but the Iowan hung tough and avoided any more serious damage in the opening round, which drew the ire of the crowd due to the lack of sustained bursts of action.
Picking up the pace in the second, Franca’s accurate strikes woke up the fans in attendance and drew a disdainful look from the iron-chinned Jordan (23-10-2). But practically all the offense in the bout was coming from the Brazilian, who potshotted the now bloody nosed Jordan.
Looking to end matters, Franca quickly got a takedown in the opening stages of the final round, and after passing on a kimura attempt, a transition into a triangle choke finally produced a tap out just 47 seconds into the round.
Olympia, Washington’s Jeff Monson, who caused a stir in the Mandalay Bay Events Center crowd by entering the Octagon to the strains of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’, impressively stated his case for a heavyweight title shot as he halted Australia’s Anthony Perosh in the first round.
“I deserve a title shot,� said Monson. “Arlovski and Sylvia are tough, but when I get the fight to the ground, it’s over.�
After a fairly tame opening two and a half minutes, the two grappling standouts stood and traded on the inside, and Monson (24-5) landed a hard knee and right hand and Perosh (5-2) fell to the mat. A follow-up barrage brought in referee Herb Dean, and the fight was halted at the 2:42 mark.
French kickboxing star Cheick Kongo made his UFC debut a successful one as he used a series of knees and uppercuts to stop Phoenix’ Gilbert Aldana via cuts in the first round.
The end came at 4:13, as a nasty gash over the right eye of Aldana prompted referee Yves Lavigne to halt the bout after consulting with the ringside physician.
“I’m happy to be here and to represent Europe,� said Paris’ Kongo, who lifts his record to 18-2-1. Aldana, who started strong behind two impressive slams to the mat but couldn’t stand with the technically superior striker, falls to 5-2.
UFC newcomer Kurt Pellegrino got a rude welcome to the Octagon, as Drew Fickett submitted the Point Pleasant, New Jersey native in the UFC 61 opener.
Pellegrino controlled the first round against the Tucson, Arizona veteran, both on the feet with his fast hands and on the ground with a solid but unspectacular ground and pound attack.
The less than scintillating pace dipped even more in round two, with neither fighting gaining a decided edge in some uninspired groundwork.
Pellegrino opened the third with a loud slam of Fickett, but a lapse of concentration on the ground allowed ‘The Master’ to lock in a rear naked choke that produced a tap out at 1:20 of the final round.
“I was biding my time, hoping that I could get his back,� said Fickett, who improves to 30-4. Pellegrino falls to 13-2.
Ultimate Fighting packing punch with fans, advertisers
NEW YORK — Shortly after a group of investors bought the nearly bankrupt Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2001, the company put on a pay-per-view bout.
But the fight ran over its allotted time. Angry viewers didn’t get to see the conclusion.
“It was a very bad start,” UFC President Dana White acknowledged. “It took us a long time to rebuild.”
UFC has since found its legs and it’s making money. The privately held Las Vegas-based company has been slowly bolstering its brand, forging a successful relationship with cable network Spike TV and reshaping attitudes about the violent sport.
More importantly to the bottom line, UFC has begun to attract impressive audiences with each of its pay-per-view fights, appealing to young men who yearn for a good slugfest in the absence of a strong heavyweight boxing card.
“This thing isn’t going anywhere,” White said. “This is the new combat sport.”
UFC is mixture of martial arts, boxing and wrestling. The best fighters have mastered elements of all three sports. The combat takes place over three rounds (championships are five) inside the UFC’s caged ring — named “The Octagon” — with judges scoring the bout.
Ken Shamrock
AP Photo/Jane Kalinowsky
Ken Shamrock is one of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s biggest stars.
But this is not Wrestlemania. The punches and kicks are real. The fighters are dead serious. The top ones train year-round to give the boisterous crowds a bone-crushing good time. The atmosphere at the fights rivals boxing matches. It’s a sport, albeit a bloody one.
“You have to be able to wrestle, strike and do submission,” UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell said. “You have to be good at all three or you won’t last long. The fighters have evolved.”
Already sanctioned in more than 20 states, UFC has ambitions as big as the casinos in which its fighters duke it out.
The organization wants to legalize the sport nationwide, including New York, one of the biggest and most lucrative fight markets, and take its show to European arenas starting with a London office slated to open in October.
The UFC surprised the boxing world, hiring Marc Ratner, longtime executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, and John Mulkey, a former managing director at Wachovia Securities and Bear Stearns Co.
Ratner, who began in May, serves as vice president of Zuffa LLC, UFC’s parent company, while Mulkey was named chief financial officer.
Ratner brings credibility to the UFC, which has been trying to prove it’s a safe and serious sport and one worthy of coverage.
Brazilian Royce Gracie, a Jiu-Jitsu master, helped start UFC in 1993. Back then, the no-holds barred UFC was brutal, with fighters using all sorts of now-banned practices like head butting.
Fights were held in small venues such as Indian casinos and backwater towns. Liddell said his first UFC fight was held about eight years ago in Louisiana in front of a couple thousand folks. Liddell, a slugger with a devastating right hand, couldn’t remember the town.
“Somewhere in the middle of nowhere,” said Liddell, who’s nicknamed “The Iceman.”
Ratner recalled watching CNN in the 1990’s while Ken Shamrock, one of the UFC’s biggest stars, debated the organization’s biggest detractor, Sen. John McCain of Arizona. After the show, Ratner remembered thinking Nevada would never allow the sport.
But it was Ratner, ironically, who helped thrust the UFC into the mainstream when he decided the sport had to be regulated while he was with the NAC. The commission approved the sport in 2001.
Out went bloody head butts and other vicious blows that could cause serious harm. In came a skilled and conditioned fighter.
“The biggest misconception that I’ve seen is that some people still think it’s anything goes and there are no rules,” Ratner said. “These guys are tremendous athletes.”
Still, the UFC struggled. The deep pockets of Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta — who bought the UFC for $2 million along with White — allowed the company to stay afloat.
White said UFC almost folded in 2003. But its fortunes began to change with a reality show on Spike TV called “Ultimate Fighter” that has given UFC its biggest stage, averaging 2.2 million viewers in its third season.
“Spike was a perfect fit for us,” White said. “We know who we are going after.”
The UFC’s emergence as the premier mixed martial arts sport in the country and the show’s popularity have made Liddell and other UFC stars wealthy.
That first fight in 1998 earned him $1,000. Now Liddell makes more than a $1 million a year from UFC bouts and lucrative sponsorships. And he doesn’t fight in podunk towns. His last fight was in Las Vegas in front of 12,000 people.
“I can’t complain,” the 36-year-old Liddell said. “The TV show has helped us grow.”
For Spike, the series brought in serious advertising dollars targeting men between the ages of 18 and 34, the network’s prized demographic. Burger King, the U.S. Army and Taco Bell are among the advertisers.
Kevin Kay, Spike’s general manager, said “Ultimate Fighter” was the network’s highest-rated program and biggest revenue generator.
But like Ratner, Kay worried whether UFC would repel advertising instead of attracting it, given its violent image.
“There was a lot of consternation,” he said. “Is it gonna work? Are advertisers going to run away from it?”
The reality show, along with other UFC programming, has allowed the UFC to create and market its stars, the fighters who will ultimately decide the company’s fortunes. Crowd pleasers such as Chris Leben and Forrest Griffin have become big draws.
“We’ve given them a huge television platform, and we helped them in their pay-per-view fights,” Kay said.
Company executives wouldn’t disclose what kind of audience their pay-per-view fights are generating but they did say recent numbers are at least comparable to World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the WWE had four events that averaged 482,000 pay-per-view buys in the fourth financial quarter of 2006.
However, UFC’s cable ratings lag well behind the WWE broadcasts on USA Network.
White thinks the UFC could generate a million buys one day very soon. Saturday’s rematch between Tito Ortiz and Shamrock, bitter rivals who starred in the latest “Ultimate Fighter,” was expected to tally more than a half million buys the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino in Las Vegas.
For the second time, Ortiz beat Shamrock.
The fight sold out, with ringside seats fetching $750. About 12,400 people attended and tickets generated a $3.5 million gate — a far cry from Zuffa’s first UFC fight in Atlantic City that drew less than 5,000 people, and a $217,150 gate.
While UFC attempts to conquer television, hurdles remain in getting the sport legalized across the country. In New York, the UFC faces a difficult battle; Gov. George Pataki opposes the sport.
The Fertitta brothers have poured millions into the UFC, and they haven’t seen a return on their investment yet.
But the Fertittas aren’t known for their bad bets. They made a fortune with Las Vegas-based Station Casinos Inc., a Wall Street darling.
“We saw this thing as a diamond in the rough,” White said. “We haven’t scratched the surface of this thing yet.”
Edson Drago vs Tengiz Tedoradze Cage Rage 16 video
What’s Next for Ortiz?
As Tito Ortiz rode on Interstate 15 from California to Las Vegas before his July 8th bout with Ken Shamrock at UFC 61, a smile came to his face.
“I’m home,� he thought. “It’s time to take care of business.�
Stepping into the Octagon in Las Vegas for the sixth time, the former UFC light heavyweight champion made quick work of Shamrock in their second meeting, stopping the Hall of Famer in a mere 78 seconds.
It was a bout that drew the ire of some fight fans for what they deemed to be a quick stoppage by referee Herb Dean, but from the moment Ortiz grabbed Shamrock moments into the bout and picked him up for a slam to the mat, there was little doubt about the outcome.
“I got a hold of him, and I thought, ‘you’re in trouble,’� said Ortiz at the post-fight press conference. “He really felt light to me, weak. I hit him with some really good shots, and Herb Dean did his job.�
After pushing Shamrock against the Octagon fence, ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ started to rein blows on his rival. Five slammed into Shamrock’s head without a response before Dean pulled Ortiz away.
“I was about three elbows away from really taking him out,� said Ortiz, who stopped Shamrock in three rounds in their first bout in 2002, and though the fans booed and Shamrock stalked the ring angrily, Dean’s actions may have possibly saved the courageous veteran from serious injury, as he was not responding to Ortiz’ attacks when the fight was halted.
Not that Ortiz’ post-fight antics – which included his trademark ‘grave digger’ taunt – calmed Shamrock down any.
“I’m a bad boy,� laughed Ortiz, who improved to 15-4. “I do that to tick people off and to get in his head. The last time I was really a gentleman and I didn’t say anything. I shook his hand and I didn’t put a t-shirt on, and he pretty much just spit in my face. I wasn’t gonna let that happen again. I don’t respect the guy. I don’t like him, I’ve never liked him, and on The Ultimate Fighter he crossed the line. When the show was all over, he shouldered me, and it was like high school.�
Well, last Saturday night was 3 O’clock at the schoolyard and Ortiz left no doubt as to who the better fighter of the two is.
But what’s next?
Expected to take on another nemesis, former friend and current UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell, in a rematch (Liddell stopped Ortiz in the second round of their 2004 bout) in February of next year, Ortiz’ plans for redemption may have to wait until he sees if Liddell can get past number one contender Renato ‘Babalu’ Sobral in their August bout.
But Ortiz wants to fight again before the end of 2006, making it three times in the Octagon for the year, something he hasn’t done since beating Evan Tanner, Elvis Sinosic, and Vladimir Matyushenko in 2001.
“I would love to fight in November,� he said. “Chuck’s gonna fight in August and maybe November – I need to get a fight between now and then. People don’t understand that when you take a year off or six months off, that ring rust really does matter. This time around I felt great because I just fought three months ago. I would love to be on the November card.�
An opponent for Ortiz later this year is a question mark though, especially with Liddell and Sobral tied up, and young guns like Rashad Evans, Michael Bisping, and Keith Jardine still a little green for the likes of Ortiz. A rematch with April opponent Forrest Griffin would be intriguing; a third match with Shamrock would not, no matter what you thought of the stoppage. Grappling ace Dean Lister would make an interesting foe, but the fact that the two are friends who have trained together makes that a no go. Maybe Italy’s Alessio Sakara – who lost to Lister in April – or rising contender Jason Lambert – who just beat Branden Lee Hinkle in June – can fit the bill, but right now, that’s all just speculation.
One thing’s for sure though; Tito Ortiz plans on staying a while.
“I don’t have anything else to fall back on right now,� said the 31-year-old. “It’s fighting, and I love to fight and I want to give the fans what they want to see. And just to clear up a lot of things, I won’t be going anywhere. I’ll be with the UFC the rest of my career.�
Phil Baroni to represent Pride
Pride FC’s Phil Baroni and Kazuyuki Fujita are set to accompany PRIDE Middleweight Champion Wanderlei Silva as the company’s representatives at UFC’s November PPV.
A salivating crowd at the Mandalay Bay Events Center witnessed Dana White announce the dream clash between Liddell and Silva this past weekend at UFC 60. It has since emerged that the Japanese promotion are sending a supporting cast of fighters to compete with UFC’s finest in November.
DSE President Nobuyuki Sakakibara, who accompanied Wanderlei Silva at UFC 60, revealed to Japanese press upon his return to the Orient that his compatriot Kazuyuki Fujita is set to compete at UFC’s November PPV.
In addition, PRIDE Bushido standout Phil Baroni has publicly announced his participation. The New York Bad Ass, a former UFC Middleweight who amassed a 3-5-0 record in his 4-year spell with the company, has informed fans that he will return to his former stomping ground to square off against a “top UFC 185 pounder�.
The prospect of a PRIDE vs. UFC card has remarkably emerged from redundant conjecture to reality, leaving appeased spectators anxiously awaiting the organisations inaugural battle in November.
