MMA News and Notes

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*The most amazing bit of news that came out of UFC 66 is the fact that Chuck Liddell handled Tito Ortiz with a torn medial collateral ligament. In the Nevada State Athletic Commission's post-show report, Liddell was listed as having an injured knee, without specifying which one, and the Iceman himself isn't saying which one was hurt. Liddell did confirm to Josh Gross of Sherdog.com in an Internet radio interview over the weekend that he hurt an MCL.

Liddell injured his knee in training for the fight, but didn't want to ruin the biggest show in UFC history by pulling out, and didn't even tell UFC president Dana White about the injury until after the fight.

*On the other hand, Georges St. Pierre suffered a knee injury in training for his Feb. 3 welterweight title defense with Matt Serra and has pulled out. This is the second time in St. Pierre's last three scheduled fights he's pulled out with a training injury. This means by the time he's back, GSP will have fought only once in the span of a year. Serra declined to take another fight on the show, not wanting to risk losing and blowing his guaranteed title shot.

Former champ Matt Hughes, who took his title-losing fight with St. Pierre just eight weeks after beating B.J. Penn, is expected to face Chris Lytle at UFC 68 in March. Hughes says on his website he asked for Diego Sanchez as his opponent, and while I have no reason not believe him, I haven't been able to confirm that with anyone associated with Sanchez.

*If UFC 66 hits its predicted buy rate of 1.2 million homes, Ortiz and Liddell would likely end up with somewhere around $3 million each when all is said and done. UFC reportedly pays out 25% of their share of the PPV gross (the amount left after the cable and satellite companies take their half off the top) as a bonus to their PPV headliners. Under this formula, Liddell and Randy Couture both ended up with about a million for their UFC 57 match, which drew about 400,000 buys. That doesn't include whatever sponsorship and endorsement money Ortiz and Liddell lined up.

*Why is Eddie Sanchez the first UFC opponent for Mirko Cro Cop? No one has told me this, but this is just a hunch: Sanchez, who is 8-0, is a strong, wild puncher. In his UFC debut on the undercard of UFC 63 against Mario Neto, the two slugged it out in the first and then Sanchez took it in the second with a devastating overhand right.

Styles make fights, and UFC wants to show off Mirko's skills to an American audience before they put him into the title picture. With Sanchez, there's a strong chance this turns into a standup slugfest, maximizing the opportunity for one of Mirko's highlight-reel left kicks. And at the same time, Sanchez, while not an A-list fighter, isn't a tomato can, either, and has a puncher's chance.

*It is about time for UFC to start cracking down on fighters grabbing the fence, which is supposed to be a foul. There have been several recent instances of fighters clutching the cage to interrupt the flow of the fight -- Ken Florian grabbing with both hands to avoid being slammed by Sean Sherk comes to mind -- but rarely has it been more flagrant than what Andrei Arlovski pulled in his win over Marcio Cruz. The rule is on the books, start enforcing it.

*Is the unbeatable aura of PRIDE heavyweight champ Fedor Emelianenko starting to crack a little? The Russian menace had some bad moments against Mark Hunt in his title defense on Dec. 31 in Saitama before finally winning with a kimura in 8:16. Granted, Fedor wasn't able to train at full speed due to a toe injury, but Hunt, while a respected vet, isn't considered a top-10 pound-for-pound fighter, and he had Fedor in trouble in several instances.

*No such questions for PRIDE lightweight champ Takanori Gomi. The Fireball Kid ran right over Mitsuhiro Ishida. Could Northern California's Gilbert Melendez be in line for a shot? It might be a bit soon for that, but with each succeeding fight, including his unanimous decision win over Tatsuya Kawajiri last week, he looks more and more like one of the top lightweights in the world.

*One thing you'll never see in UFC is an unconscious fighter being dragged back into action to absorb more of a beating, as happened to Hidehiko Yoshida in his loss to James Thompson at the PRIDE show. If the video of that one gets in the wrong hands and taken out of context it will set MMA back to about 1997.

*I'm going to moderate a forum titled "Mixed Martial Arts: Fighting Its Way into the Mainstream" on Wednesday at a meeting of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Sports Marketing Network at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza. Panelists include UFC vice-president Craig Borsari, IFL founder Gareb Shamus, and XBox executive Bill Neilsen. For more information, go here.

*We're going through a few changes in our MMA coverage on the site. It will take some time, but the end result will be far more coverage of the sport. In the meantime, some time over the next couple days we'll unveil the first FOXSports.com MMA pound-for-pound Top 10 list.

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gzwprez said:

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*On the other hand, Georges St. Pierre suffered a knee injury in training for his Feb. 3 welterweight title defense with Matt Serra and has pulled out. This is the second time in St. Pierre's last three scheduled fights he's pulled out with a training injury. This means by the time he's back, GSP will have fought only once in the span of a year. Serra declined to take another fight on the show, not wanting to risk losing and blowing his guaranteed title shot.

This fight will most likely happen at UFC 69, granted GSP is fully healed.

*Why is Eddie Sanchez the first UFC opponent for Mirko Cro Cop? No one has told me this, but this is just a hunch: Sanchez, who is 8-0, is a strong, wild puncher. In his UFC debut on the undercard of UFC 63 against Mario Neto, the two slugged it out in the first and then Sanchez took it in the second with a devastating overhand right.

Styles make fights, and UFC wants to show off Mirko's skills to an American audience before they put him into the title picture. With Sanchez, there's a strong chance this turns into a standup slugfest, maximizing the opportunity for one of Mirko's highlight-reel left kicks. And at the same time, Sanchez, while not an A-list fighter, isn't a tomato can, either, and has a puncher's chance.

One name: Kevin Randleman. Nobody even thought Kevin had a puncher's chance, but he knocked out Cro Cop with one swift shot. Chances are you are going to see Cro Cop win by Mortal Kombat-like fatality, but anybody can beat anybody on any given day.

*It is about time for UFC to start cracking down on fighters grabbing the fence, which is supposed to be a foul. There have been several recent instances of fighters clutching the cage to interrupt the flow of the fight -- Ken Florian grabbing with both hands to avoid being slammed by Sean Sherk comes to mind -- but rarely has it been more flagrant than what Andrei Arlovski pulled in his win over Marcio Cruz. The rule is on the books, start enforcing it.

I agree with this 100%. It's not like it happens every fight, but you'll spot it at least once on every card. One of the worst had to Tim Sylvia using his tree trunk arms to grab on the fence just Assuerio Silva was just about to suplex him. Honestly, it's the nature of fighting in the cage, sometimes it's just instinct to grab the fence when you're in danger. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure sometimes it's blatantly cheating too. Either way, I firmly agree that refs should be more on top of giving fouls for this.

*Is the unbeatable aura of PRIDE heavyweight champ Fedor Emelianenko starting to crack a little? The Russian menace had some bad moments against Mark Hunt in his title defense on Dec. 31 in Saitama before finally winning with a kimura in 8:16. Granted, Fedor wasn't able to train at full speed due to a toe injury, but Hunt, while a respected vet, isn't considered a top-10 pound-for-pound fighter, and he had Fedor in trouble in several instances.

The thing with Fedor is has been training and fighting injured for the last 3 years or so. He hasn't been the most active fighter... far from it actually... but when he does fight, nobody dominates quite like he does. He's the best pound for pound fighter of all-time. On top of Fedor being injured, Hunt is a freak. The guy is as about as pure street fighter as you can get, but he's a natural at MMA. I mean, he doesn't get enough credit for his win over Cro Cop. Get Hunt a good MMA camp to train with and the results will be disgusting.

As for Fedor, apparently he wants to take a year off. Good. So it's not bad enough the Pride Heavyweight title gets defended like once every 2 decades, we get to add another year on top of that. And when he comes back, I'm sure we'll all be thrilled when a guy like Giant Silva gets a title shot rather than Josh Barnett or Nog.

Seriously, Pride needs to do something about the amount of title defenses they give, because a title being defended once a year is not acceptable.

*One thing you'll never see in UFC is an unconscious fighter being dragged back into action to absorb more of a beating, as happened to Hidehiko Yoshida in his loss to James Thompson at the PRIDE show. If the video of that one gets in the wrong hands and taken out of context it will set MMA back to about 1997.

This is probably one of the the worst things Pride has ever done. It's been a horrible year for them. It's not bad enough that their popularity is already sinking, but they are exposed as having Yakuza connections, they lose countless sponsorship, advertising and tv deals, lose big name fighters, and rumors of the comany being sold ran wild.... Then, on the biggest show of the year, in front of the largest viewing audience of the year, a fighter, who has taken a hell of a beating in the first place, falls out of the ring and lands square on his NECK, what do you do? Well, they literally drag him back in the ring, looking about half dead, have him take an even worse beating, then watch him get carted off in a strecher after the bout. I don't care if it's Japan and there is some retarded fighting spirit or whatever, I was surprised Yoshida isn't in a wheelchair after what happened, or worse. It doesn't matter if Yoshida wanted it to continue or whatever, if he can't physically reenter the ring under his own power, the fight is over. And people complain about the way UFC conducts business.

Elijah

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HBO will televise three Ultimate Fighting Championship cards in 2007 and holds an option for three more broadcasts, respected boxing scribe Thomas Hauser reported Monday. According to the report on SecondsOut.com, HBO's UFC cards will air at midnight on to-be-determined dates.

Hauser's report confirms the long-rumored deal between HBO and UFC, though the agreement did not come without objections from HBO Sports President Ross Greenberg. "He did everything in his power not to televise mixed martial arts," Hauser wrote of Greenberg. "But in the end, he had no choice."

Speaking last week with Hauser, Greenberg said he's not a "big" fan of the UFC — and one would presume MMA — but also conceded he wasn't much of a boxing fan when he joined HBO. "I recognize the fact that UFC appeals to a fan base and demographic that boxing doesn't have right now," Greenberg told Hauser.

Greenberg's predecessor, Seth Abraham, voiced his displeasure to Hauser over UFC's association with HBO.

"I think it's ridiculous for HBO to televise UFC," Abraham said. "When I was at HBO, we had discussions once or twice a year about professional wrestling. We all agreed that it would get good ratings and we also agreed that it would tarnish our boxing franchise. I feel the same way about UFC. Boxing has a storied history. When HBO attaches itself to boxing, it attaches itself to Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Muhammad Ali. It attaches itself to history, achievement, and glory. UFC has none of those things, and it will tarnish HBO's boxing franchise. Will UFC get good ratings? Probably. But so would naked boxing."

Despite the wishes of HBO's current and former sports chiefs, HBO chairman Chris Albrecht, hoping to court younger viewers to the premium cable network, "insisted on the telecasts," Hauser reported, after being pitched by UFC-hired Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel.

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Randy Couture, the only two-division champion in UFC history, is expected to announce a return to active competition this Thursday, reports the Wrestling Observer.

Since hanging up his gloves after a second consecutive knockout loss to UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell in Feb. 2006, "The Natural" has repeatedly suggested he would return to the Octagon under the right circumstances. That could mean facing UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia, 30, in March, a separate report from MMAweekly indicated Tuesday evening.

Two weeks ago, Couture told "Beatdown" on the Sherdog Radio Network that should Tito Ortiz defeat Liddell on Dec. 30 he would face the "Huntington Beach Bad Boy" if given the opportunity. Liddell's third-round technical knockout appeared to derail any plans of a Couture comeback.

The UFC, which is rumored to have heavily lobbied the 43-year-old two-time UFC heavyweight champion to return to the cage, will likely promote Sylvia-Couture for its March card in Columbus, Ohio. Couture (14-8-0) has not fought at heavyweight since succumbing to Ricco Rodriguez in 2002. In his next bout, Rodriguez gave up the heavyweight belt to Sylvia.