Issue 049

May 2009

Things we hear, things we see, things we know.

Rampage: bucks before bling  

With his decision win over Keith Jardine, Rampage will face the winner of Rashad Evans and Lyoto Machida for a chance to win his belt back. But before he thinks about picking up the gold, he must first pick up a check for $385,000, his purse (including declared bonus) from the UFC. Nice.

The Battling Brits  

UFC 95 saw UK fighters Dan Hardy, Terry Etim and Paul Kelly win in style. As TUF 9: UK vs USA gets underway, we’ll see a ton more British fighters in action. Let’s hope they can replicate the success of these guys!   

Muay Thai, the next step?   

Last month we noticed how submission grappling is on the decline. The heavyweight division is dominated by wrestlers, but the rest of the weight classes are full of strikers. Terry Etim, Matt Brown, Brandon Vera: all top notch strikers. Is Muay Thai the next component of MMA to enjoy a surge of popularity?   

Tito the tease?  

You know that saying, ‘fool me once, shame on you…’? You’d think we’d have learnt not to listen too closely to Tito Ortiz any more (he’s like the MMA equivalent of the boy who cried wolf) but he was quite vocal in telling people he’s going to fight in August, which would tie up with rumors of when Affliction are planning their next show.