Issue 064

July 2010

‘King’ Mo wants Fedor fight

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker has mentioned that the organization’s light heavyweight champion, ‘King’ Mo Lawal, is most interested in battling with Fedor Emelianenko. “The fight ‘King’ Mo really wants, is he wants to fight Fedor,” revealed Coker. “King Mo could fight at heavyweight and that would be an interesting fight.” However, a more likely option could be ex-UFC contender Dan Henderson, another name Coker threw into the mix. King Mo beat the much-touted Gegard Mousasi to win the Strikeforce title in April. 

Couture looking for Rua fight after Toney

In a series of Twitter messages, multiple-time UFC champion Randy Couture has stated that after he fights boxer James Toney, he wants to challenge ‘Shogun’ for his light heavyweight strap. Couture toyed: “Did I miss something? Just finishing the deal for Toney and everyone’s talking about ‘Shogun’. Love to fight him but Toney first! 

“He must have called me out and I missed it. Great performance by Rua, I’d love a crack at him after Toney in Aug.” The light heavyweight Hall of Famer went on to say he wouldn’t mind fighting Rua at UFC 120 (speculated to take place in October). If Couture were to win the title it would make it his fourth reign as champion.   

Marcus Davis to battle Nate Diaz in Boston

A fight between ‘The Irish Hand Grenade’ Marcus Davis and Nate Diaz is set to take place in Davis’ home state of Massachusetts. UFC 118, due to be staged at the TD Garden in Boston, will likely see the two lightweights square off. Davis will enter the fight buoyed by a job-saving win against Jonathan Goulet, at UFC 113 in Montreal, and eager to please his hometown crowd.  

Sengoku shift to Unified Rules weight classes

Japanese fight promotion Sengoku have announced they have changed all of their weight classes to match those outlined in the Unified Rules. Typically, Japanese promotions have used their own weight classes based on a metric kilogram system and not the pound-based divisions used by most major international organizations. Sengoku explained the alteration is to make fighting with the company easier for competitors who compete internationally and to attract more foreign fighters. 

Shogun says Jon Jones is “very dangerous”

UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua has praised young standout Jon ‘Bones’ Jones even stating that he’s “too damn good.” Rua said: “He is a great young fighter, too damn good, and he’s coming with everything in our division.” 

The Brazilian predictably went on to compliment Jones on his wrestling. “I think he and Cain Velasquez are the two guys with the best wrestling in MMA today, together with Georges St Pierre. He’s a very good wrestler, very dangerous. He’s a guy who will give a lot of people trouble.” A potential fight between the two is likely to have MMA fans across the globe salivating.