UFC eyes up Japan

Japan is a country that loves all things mixed martial arts. The home to some of the best fighters in the world, Japan has a long history of hosting major events and was the setting for some of the sport’s legendary fights.

The UFC last travelled to Japan in 2000, sometime before Dana White and Zuffa had purchased the company, but the UFC president says that the country could well be a part of their future as well as their past.

“The Japanese market has always been important to me,” White said in an interview following UFC 94. “It’s a very tough place to navigate and do business, but we’re going to do it anyway. They will not stop me from going into Japan.”

No plans for an event have been revealed, but White is known to have been in talks with big name Japanese fighters, such as Norifumi ‘Kid’ Yamamoto, Caol Uno, and Olympic judo heavyweight gold medallist Satoshi Ishii.

“There are two fights left on [Yamamoto’s] K-1 contract, and he told me his dream is to end his career over here with us,” White said. “Caol Uno, I love him. He’ll always be a part of the UFC. And yeah, we’re talking to Ishii also.”

Uno, a 12-year veteran of the sport, fought regularly in the UFC until 2003, fighting to a draw with current lightweight champion BJ Penn.

Strikeforce buys up ProElite

After a shaky couple of months where many MMA fighters were left in limbo, the ProElite situation has finally been resolved.

Strikeforce, the successful MMA event based in California known for promoting events featuring Frank Shamrock, Cung Le, Josh Thomson, and more, has bought up much of the assets of the now-defunct Pro Elite for the bargain price of $3million.

According to reports, Strikeforce paid off Pro Elite’s debt to CBS, the network that was an investor into the company and that broadcast the infamous Kimbo fights with James Thompson and Seth Petruzelli. Strikeforce have reportedly been in talks with Showtime about showing their events, which could happen as early as April this year.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker has said that they will continue to concentrate on hosting events in San Jose, Seattle, and the Playboy Mansion, but have no plans to expand through the rest of the country.

The Pro Elite assets bought out by Strikeforce include 42 fighter contracts and a library of 20 live events.

The Axe Murderer to Middleweight?

It’s been a rough couple of years for Wanderlei Silva. The once terrifying slugger has lost four of his last five fights, three of those by knockout.

The Brazilian, who now lives in Las Vegas, has said that he’ll drop to 185lb in a bid to restart his career. Silva hinted at a possible move in January 2008 after losing to Chuck Liddell, but stayed at 205lb after a rebound win over Keith Jardine.

Losing to Rampage Jackson by KO in December, Silva has reportedly said he will definitely now move to 185lb.

The Nightmare makes a nightmarish music video

Diego Sanchez has consistently been one of our favourite fighters to watch over the last few years, but it honestly felt that our eyes were bleeding when we stumbled across the abomination of a music video that bore his name.

Illfluent, a white-boy rap-metal duo with no dress sense, have put together something that can vaguely be called a song promoting none other than the Nightmare himself.

If you’ve got five minutes and fancy a laugh, check it out at http://tinyurl.com/cvphvx.

MMA on your iPhone

If you own an iPhone or iPod touch, then check out the new quiz application from the team behind MMA Trivia.

Featuring fun and challenging questions for all mixed martial arts enthusiasts, you’ll work through five rounds of action to see if you can become a real champion of MMA knowledge. Playing to the Apple technology, if you shake the iPhone you will get a random question.

One of the best features of the game is a bonus feature where you have to identify famous and interesting quotes from fighters.

MMA Trivia means that everyone can test (and develop) their mixed martial arts knowledge – you can even challenge your friends with the high score feature.

Whether you’re a fan of Kenny Florian or Kimbo Slice, there is something in this application for everyone.

Jon Jones is the runt?

At 6’4” and 215lb, you’d be hard pressed to describe Jon Jones as a ‘runt’, but that’s how he sees himself next to his two brothers.

“I’m kind of the runt of the family,” said Jon, describing how his two brothers, Arthur and Chandler, respectively weigh-in at 6’4”, 290lbs, and 6’6”, 230lb. The pair are professional American Football players. We wouldn’t want to meet that family in a dark alley!

Busy time for the UFC

In the period of January and February, Zuffa held a record number of fights over an eight-week period.

With four ten-fight cards held on consecutive weeks, one week off, and then another three events in a row (two with 11-fight cards, one with ten) that means a total of 72 fights.

It takes two to tango, so that means that a total of 144 fighters will have stepped into the Octagon, making Zuffa not only the biggest MMA promoters in the world, but the busiest too.

The Ultimate Talk Show

The February snow that brought the UK to a grinding halt stopped UFC rising star Dan Hardy from making his Ultimate Talk debut. The Nottingham born welterweight was snowed in, unable to make the journey down to London for the 30-minute show.

And Hardy wasn’t the only one to be affected by the bad weather. Ultimate Talk presenter Matt Teale also missed the show, and used his ‘snow day’ to build snowmen and snow angels with his kids.

There’s a busy month ahead for Ultimate Talk, the UK’s only UFC chat show. Keep up to date with all the latest news from the UFC, as it happens, on Ultimate Talk every Thursday at 7pm throughout March only on Setanta Sports News.

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