Issue 084

January 2012

SIX DEGREES OF DAN SEVERN

Linking the legendary moustache-wearing UFC Hall of Famer to any fighter in six people or less.

Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller

1. In 1997 before the advent of strict weight classes in MMA, heavyweight Dan Severn fought to a 20-minute draw with a circa 200lb Jeremy Horn.

2. On three occasions (armbar, guillotine, cut) Jeremy Horn has beaten current UFC middleweight contender Chael Sonnen.

3. En route to a decision victory back in 2002, Chael Sonnen reportedly slammed his opponent so hard they both went through the ring floor. The victim was Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller.

Suggested by Emmanuel Matkins. Think you can stump us? Best shots to [email protected]

ALDO, BELFORT, MENDES, JOHNSON, ETIM CONFIRMED FOR UFC 142 IN BRAZIL

A featherweight title fight between reigning champion José Aldo and challenger Chad Mendes is planned for the UFC’s second Rio event on January 14th 2012. A product of Urijah Faber’s Team Alpha Male camp, the 11-0 Mendes will be looking to snap the hometown man’s 13-fight win streak. A strong batch of undercard bouts supports Aldo’s first fight on Brazilian soil since 2007, with Brazilian veteran Vitor Belfort battling Anthony Johnson, who makes the one-off jump to middleweight from his typical 170lb home, and exciting strikers Terry Etim and Edson Barboza throwing down. UFC 142 will be held at HSBC arena in Rio, the site of the massively successful UFC 134 in 2011.

PAT CURRAN TO FACE JOE WARREN FOR BELLATOR BELT

Bellator featherweight Pat Curran will challenge for Joe Warren’s 145lb strap in February due to an injury to number-one contender Patricio Freire. A poor recovery from a broken hand after Freire won Bellator’s season four featherweight tournament in May, which awarded him the opportunity to battle for the belt, has scuppered his chances for the immediate future and instead Curran takes his place. Curran earned his spot with a tournament win of his own in August. Warren will be returning to 145lb for the first time since being knocked out in his bantamweight debut, his first (T)KO loss of his career.

The bout announcement follows the news that media giant Viacom has acquired a majority stake in Bellator. The deal lubricates the much-rumored move of Bellator content from MTV2 to the UFC’s former home of Spike TV in 2013, both owned by Viacom.

‘RAMPAGE’ JACKSON AND ‘KING MO’ BITTERNESS INTENSIFIES

Strikeforce light heavyweight ‘King Mo’ has stepped up the war of words between him and UFC 205lb’er ‘Rampage’ Jackson. Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal called out Jackson via the internet on multiple occasions since the latter become available after falling short in his challenge for the UFC light heavyweight strap. First, Lawal took to Twitter saying: “Let’s [fight] in Japan. I don’t like you and you don’t like me. I wanna fight you, you wanna fight me!”

Only days later Lawal, a stand-out Division 1 wrestler, spoke to MMA Fighting about his issues with Jackson, calling him a “b***h.” “This fool Rampage calls me out, and then people get mad when I respond? He’s a bitch in my eyes, because he didn’t respond… When’s the last time you heard me mention Rampage’s name before he mentioned mine? I don’t care about him. He wasn’t even on my radar. But now, he wants to say something about me, he’s on my radar now. We’re going to bang eventually.” 

In the ensuing weeks Lawal again took to the internet to offer a bout with the former UFC light heavyweight champion, a possibility since multiple Strikeforce stars have entered the UFC cage following the latter’s buyout of the former in March this year. In a video with Full Contact Fighter, Lawal stated: “Enough of the talk, let’s do the action. Let’s bang then, dawg. You’re talking about how you want to box, you can box me! I won’t take you down, you know what I’m saying?” At the time of going to press Jackson had yet to formally respond to Lawal’s barbs.

Aside from both men hailing from Tennessee they also each made their names fighting in Japan – Jackson in Pride and Lawal in Sengoku. The pair’s beef began when they got into a heated exchange during a public appearance together in 2009 and has continued through to the present day.

UFC president Dana White was ranked 38th in AskMen.com’s Top 49 Men list for 2011

Six UFC fighters earned a pleasant $5,000 pocket money for winning the Zuffa fighter Twitter contests in categories like ‘Most Creative’ and ‘Most Followers.’ Anderson Silva, ‘Minotauro’ Nogueira and Demian Maia won in two categories for $10,000