Mixed Martial Arts - Rashad Evans vs Michael Bisping

[Ser Barry]

They had to do something to salvage that card for casual fans. I can't see Ortiz doing much to Hendo despite the huge size difference.

Also, Huerta vs Guida at the December Fight Night. That should give us more of a clue how good Huerta is. I honestly can't call it given the paucity of most of his opponents.

[GSP]

Hendo/Ortiz? Where d you hear that. I thought the Evans rematch was all but finalized.

I think Ortiz would get licked in that matchup, but that's always worth watching.

[zelticgar]

Ripley,

i saw it on ufcmania.com this morning. nothing has been posted on mmajunkie.com yet so it may just be a rumor. I'd rather see Ortiz against Henderson anyway so hopefully it is true.

[Horus Ex Machina]

Interesting story on what Renzo Gracie does with his free time.

Did anyone catch Gilbert Melendez on the Yahoo Sports broadcast of Strikeforce?

[GSP]

Thanks Zelticgar,

still waiting to hear an official word on that. I've never checked UFCmania before. Is is a descent site?

If check the official UFC site and good old MMAjunkie everyday. Just wondering is UFCmania should be another regular stop.

[zelticgar]

it's decent, it is rare that it breaks anything outside of what you'd see on mmajunkie. i go there after i've checked junkie and sherdog.

[Horus Ex Machina]

MMA Weekly is also a good resource. I like to check there once a week for updates.

[Horus Ex Machina]

Bisping enough of a name for N.Y. area?

Dave Meltzer

FOXSports.com

The Ultimate Fighting Championship's light heavyweight division had a change of plans Wednesday, when frustration at Tito Ortiz not signing for a proposed match with Rashad Evans on Nov. 17 in Newark, N.J., led to the announcement of Michael Bisping as Evans' new opponent.

With tickets scheduled to go on sale Saturday for the first show in the New York metropolitan area since 2001, the company felt it imperative to finalize and announce a main event. Ortiz, who has one fight left on his current contract, is in the process of negotiating a new deal.

The main event for UFC 78 will mark the first time two winners of The Ultimate Fighter reality show will square off.

Evans, 15-0-1, won at heavyweight in Season 2, then dropped to light heavyweight. Bisping, 15-0, won as a light heavyweight in Season 3. However, both are coming off matches that left question marks.

Evans battled to a draw with Ortiz on July 7 in Sacramento, and the company had planned a rematch to settle the issue. Bisping gained a very controversial split decision win over Matt Hamill on Sept. 8 in London, in a match where most post-match polls indicated 80 percent or more viewers felt Hamill deserved the decision. UFC was also planning on rematching the two, but Hamill underwent knee surgery a few weeks ago to repair a torn MCL and won't be ready to fight until early 2008.

"This is a massive chance for me," said Bisping, a native of Liverpool, England.

He is the company's biggest drawing card in its European expansion efforts.

"I was gutted when Matt Hamill pulled out of the rematch, so (I) was buzzing when I got the call about fighting Rashad.

"There's no way I was going to turn this down. Two years ago I was watching UFC on TV and now I've got the opportunity to fight in the main event."

Bisping will have to brush up on his wrestling skills, something U.K. fighters tradiionally struggle with. The sport doesn't have much of a structure in the U.K., and British fighters bring in a weakness against those with wrestling backgrounds.

Evans would qualify. He wrestled at Michigan State University and although Evans never placed at nationals, he beat Greg Jones — one of the best college wrestlers of the past decade — in an NCAA tournament match in the only year the three-time champion didn't win nationals. He'd been unstoppable in UFC competition until facing Ortiz.

Bisping will likely go in as a significant underdog. He's planning on working with Kerry Kayes, Ricky Hatton's conditioning coach, to add strength. When looking back over the Hamill fight, he thinks he overtrained doing a 13-week long camp, feeling he peaked two weeks before the fight.

A second key fight in the company's scrambled but marquee division planned — but not officially announced yet — will be Houston Alexander (8-1, including a 48-second knockout win over Keith Jardine) vs. Thiago Silva (11-0, with nine knockout or TKO finishes and one submission, and only four matches getting out of the first round). It's a major test for both, and the winner will be in the mix as a championship contender.

Also debuting on that card is Hector Lombard, who represented Cuba in the 2000 Olympics in judo and placed fifth, and has sported an 11-2-1 record in MMA, mostly fighting overseas including with the defunct Pride organization. He faces UFC's best exponent of judo, Karo Parisyan. This will be the first time Parisyan will face someone with stronger judo skills, but Parisyan has more experience in MMA against higher level competition.

The show is deep with matches that look exciting on paper, including the UFC debuts of former Pride stars Akihiro Gono and Ryo Chonan. Gono faces Tamdan McCrory and Chonan faces Thiago Alves. Lightweights Spencer Fisher and Frank Edgar will fight, and both are coming off two of the best matches of the year after Fisher beat Sam Stout via decision and Edgar earned a close win over Tyson Griffin.

The rest of the planned show has David Terrell vs. Ed Herman and Jason Reinhardt, who comes in with an 18-0 record, against Joe Lauzon of Ultimate Fighter fame.

[Ser Barry]

Bisping will be destroyed. The rest of the card actually looks ok but that main event? Ugh.

Looks like Hendo/Ortiz is being set up though. Or, is Tito being asked to step up to HW to take on Couture?

In further news, Fedor's team are in the US around October 20th for a final round of talks with Zuffa. If nothing gets done then he will sign elsewhere as his other offers are running out of time, everyone wants him to headline their New Years events.

[Liffguard]

The other fights look cool but I will be watching that card purely for Lombard vs. Parisyan.

Edit: Please excuse the NHA

[Horus Ex Machina]

The other fights look cool but I will be watching that card purely for Lombard vs. Parisyan.

Edit: Please excuse the NHA

I guess it's an epidemic, but I've turned avatars off for work viewing.

[Devil Hanzo]

Anderson silva vs franklin:

How will this Pan out?

Silva has so far only shown a weakness in take down defense, but easily seems to compensate for it with a vicious ground game(he strikes on his back like he's got mount!!!)

Though maybe franklin can survive a stand up war with Silva if he prepares for it, but i doubt it.

[Horus Ex Machina]

Alot of people seem to think that Franklin should go to the ground with Silva. This doesn't make much sense to me since Okama nearly tooled Franklin when he finally went to the ground with him, and we all know what happened between Silva and Okami on the ground.

Alot of people want to refrence the Lutter fight with regards to Silva being vulnerable on the ground but even when Lutter got mount, there was never a point in that fight where I'm thinking "Oh my, Silva's in trouble". The only thing that was scary about that point in the fight was worrying about whether Rogan was gonna pop a vein while screaming "he's landing bombs" which he wasn't. Those shots were barely grazing Silva's head. Thankfully alot of that was finally put to rest in the Marquardt fight.

I'd say that Silva takes it in the standup and look for Franklin to come out aggressively and try to avoid a clinch by throwing heavily in the standup. Any way you try to stretch it, Silva is the better fighter and should win this matchup

[Devil Hanzo]

I think Silva's stand up is better then franklins as well, i think he(franklin) is in more danger then just the thai clinch.

I didn't say franklin would take him to the ground, merely that his weakness is take down defense.

[Ser Barry]

Frnklin thought he was the bigger man and intentionally looked for the clinch against Silva the first time. I have an inkling he won't be doing the same again. I think we will see a stand-up war and tbh that still makes Silva the favourite. That has not stopped me from backing Franklin though.

[Ser Barry]

MMA looks like it is getting it's biggest exposure yet in the UK. On Monday 8th October, Inside Sport on BBC1 will feature UFC including an interview with Rampage. It is on at 2315, right after TUF6 on Bravo which is handy.

This is the first time I have seen any coverage of UFC as a serious sporting organisation in mainstream media.

[Liffguard]

On Monday 8th October, Inside Sport on BBC1 will feature UFC including an interview with Rampage. It is on at 2315, right after TUF6 on Bravo which is handy.

Cheers for pointing that out. Must remember to watch that.

[Horus Ex Machina]

MMA looks like it is getting it's biggest exposure yet in the UK. On Monday 8th October, Inside Sport on BBC1 will feature UFC including an interview with Rampage. It is on at 2315, right after TUF6 on Bravo which is handy.

This is the first time I have seen any coverage of UFC as a serious sporting organisation in mainstream media.

My cousin lives in London, so I'll see if he tunes in. Or if he even cares. I hope that the UFC's efforts in the UK pay off.

[Oorag]

Don't know if this is quite the right thread, but while we're waiting for the next UFC:

I've been watching that Ultimate Weapon show on The History Channel, where two dudes study a bunch of different fighting styles. Last week's episode was the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program, and the hosts were talking to the guy who was in charge of teaching hand-to-hand combat to all the marines in Camp Pendleton. This guy made the claim that while Randy Couture could probably best him in the Octagon, he had a better chance of killing Couture in a street fight. So whattaya think? Is the pinnacle of sport fighting good enough to take on an elite commando who is "trained to kill?"

[BLU-RAY]

Don't know if this is quite the right thread, but while we're waiting for the next UFC:

I've been watching that Ultimate Weapon show on The History Channel, where two dudes study a bunch of different fighting styles. Last week's episode was the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program, and the hosts were talking to the guy who was in charge of teaching hand-to-hand combat to all the marines in Camp Pendleton. This guy made the claim that while Randy Couture could probably best him in the Octagon, he had a better chance of killing Couture in a street fight. So whattaya think? Is the pinnacle of sport fighting good enough to take on an elite commando who is "trained to kill?"

Well, while I'm sure Couture would beat the absolute tar out of 99% of folks in a street fight, he trains in nonfatal techniques, and doesn't have to worry about defending against fatal or "dirty" tactics; someone with no restrictions should be able, if at any point he forgets he's in a life-or-death fight, slip in a shot to the groin, throat, or eyes, that would help him take out Couture. Conversely, the same guy trying to fight within MMA rules would probably get his head handed to him. Two separate arenas and separate mindsets.. So I think what the guy says is pretty accurate.