Issue 005
July 2005
The Grudge Match
AT UFC 54: BOILING POINT LIDDELL TO TAKE ON HORN
In a much anticipated grudge match the light heavyweight belt is on the line while Randy Courture is hoping to bounce back against Mike van Arsdale. But, Chuck Liddell is looking to avenge his only career loss and defend his Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight belt at UFC 54: Boiling Point in Las Vegas on August 20. Six additional bouts will complete the eight-fight card.
GRUDGE MATCH
Liddell (16-3-0) who is fresh off his win over Randy Courture the previous light heavyweight champion at UFC 52 will have only one thing on his mind when he faces Horn – revenge. And it is quite easy to see why; Liddell’s first career loss on March 5, 1999 at UFC 19 was to Horn, a MMA veteran with a record of 85-13-5, executed a first-round arm triangle choke on the future champion. UFC 54 is the opportunity Liddell has been waiting for to wipe the slate clean. But Horn’s well-rounded skills and versatility will present a tough challenge for the champ in what should be a contest not to be missed.
THE REBOUND
Couture (13-7-0) is the only man to win UFC titles in two separate weight classes and has set his sights on climbing his way back into being a title contender in the light heavyweight division. He is one of the most popular fighters in the UFC today. He’ll have a tough battle with Van Arsdale (8-1-0), a world-class wrestler who hasn’t lost in seven years
Two more fights have been officially confirmed for the line up. The official card, so far, is:
Chuck Liddell vs Jeremy Horn (UFC LHW Title)
Randy Couture vs Mike Van Arsdale
Frank Trigg vs Georges St. Pierre
Matt Lindland vs Joe Riggs
Diego Sanchez vs Dave Strasser
Clearly this fight-card is starting to shape into what must be one of the finest UFC has put together in their last couple of shows.
See the next issue of Fighters Only for a full preview of UFC 54: Boiling Point
Babalu Recovering From Injury
It looked like it would be the fight of the night for UFC 54 with Babalu Sobral looked to square up against Randy Couture in a co-main event in Las Vegas in August.
But Sobral tore a rotator cuff in training and had to undergo surgery. According to Babalu’s camp the operation went well but he will need to rest and take it easy for the first couple of weeks and then go through six weeks of therapy.
He is expected to make a successful recovery. Babalu believes he will be healthy enough to fight in the October UFC card.
Tito oversees contest
The “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” was on hand to appear as the special guest referee at TNA wrestling’s Hard Justice PPV, May 15. In the headline match champion Jeff Jarrett competed against challenger AJ Styles, with Tito overseeing the contest. The former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion watched the preceding matches from a backstage position and reportedly enjoyed his time at the show. TNA officials were delighted with Tito’s work and both sides expressed interest in working together somewhere down the line
TUF 2 Filming Starts
NSAC Grants UFC Confidentiality Waivers; Couture Replaces Ford as “Challenge” Host
As participants converged on the UFC’s Official Training Centre to begin filming of the second season of The Ultimate Fighter, don’t expect to hear much from the set. The series, which brought knockout ratings for SpikeTV in its first showing, will chart the course of 18 fighters vying for two UFC contracts under the tutelage of coaches and UFC champions Matt Hughes and Rich Franklin, and Zuffa LLC has secured regulatory waivers to ensure its results remain a secret until airtime which begins at the end of August.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission has approved the UFC’s petition to keep the series’ weigh-ins and subsequent bouts closed to the public, as well as its results private until they air on Spike TV. The UFC was also granted flexibility with its general schedule of fights, and waived the regulation to provide the minimum twenty rounds required to hold an event in Nevada. Kirk Kendrick, COO and main counsel for Zuffa, also requested the same provisions for TUF’s third season, to begin shooting at the end of this year. Kendrick was told he’d have to submit a separate petition at a later time.
Unlike the previous season’s petition, all fights appearing as part of the series will be three five-minute rounds. A number of them were set up as two five-minute rounds, all of last season’s bouts, excluding its live finale, were deemed exhibitions that did NOT apply to the fighter’s professional records. The NSAC confirms that it will be at the promotion’s discretion to decide the status of this season’s bouts.
Top fighter and five-time UFC Champion, Randy Couture, has been named as a consultant for the “challenges” on the series. Not only will Couture assist in creating the tests that often decided who’d square-off next in the series, FCF has been informed he will also introduce the contests on-camera, replacing pop starlet Willa Ford, who was billed as last season’s host.
WEF Middleweight Champion Levine and Opponent Helwig Cited for Alleged Stimulant Steroid Use
Two more mixed martial artists have come under investigation in the US state of Nevada after routine post-fight drug testing conducted by the State Athletic Commission showed evidence of possible steroid and stimulant use.
In standard urine analysis tests after a World Extreme Fighting Middleweight Championship contest held on May 20 Marty Helwig tested positive for nandrolone metabolite while his opponent and defending champion Jamie Levine tested positive for the stimulants phendimetrazine and phenmetrazine. Both drugs are banned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC).
Phendimetrazine and its derivatives are often used in weight loss programmes but are also known to increase alertness, excitement and euphoria. It is also known to increase the pulse rate and blood pressure. Popular steroid nandrolone metabolite is often used for its muscle building properties.
Helwig and Levine are two of seven MMA competitors to be cited for illegal drug use by the NSAC. They were notified of the transgressions on June 3 and have 20 days to respond to the charges. A NSAC hearing scheduled for June 9 sought to ratify the temporary suspensions handed out to Helwig and Levine until a formal hearing is scheduled. It is believed that NSAC representative Keith Kizer anticipates this hearing will be scheduled for August.
UFC returns to MGM Grand, Las Vegas for UFC 54.
The hot summer is expected to get even hotter when UFC 54 Boiling Point takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on August 20. Tickets for the event went on sale on June 6.
Freedom Fight Productions has announced Freedom Fight 2005—a US vs Canada team event featuring world-class talent in four weight classes. The event will be held at the Robert Guertin Arena in Hull, Quebec on July 9, and will be broadcast as a special two-hour, prime time event on TSN and RDS.
UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck ‘The Iceman’ Liddell will be the US team captain, and ‘Big Daddy’ Gary Goodridge will take the reins for Team Canada. The event will be set up like an Olympic-style event, playing up the dynamic of two harmonious teams.
“With pay-per-view piracy on the rise and hockey season in question, we feel that TSN, RDS and our sponsors are going to be very happy with our viewing audience,” said Pete Rodley, producer. “The exposure on TSN, along with our prime time lead-in to WWE Monday Night Raw will open up the sport to a lot of new fans.”
Eilers out for at least 6-8 months. It will probably go down as the most injuries sustained in one fight in the history of the UFC by one fighter. And the news didn’t get any better for Justin Eilers.
Eilers has been told, following a series of tests that he tore both minuscus in his knee and he has no ACL whatsoever. This is on top of two broken hands, a broken nose, and a badly sprained ankle following his contest with Andre Arlovski at UFC 53 (see page 20).
According to sources close to the MMA fighter say will be out for a minimum of 6 to 8 months and could be out for up to a year.
Eilers is reported as saying he does want to come back from all the injuries and once he does, that he will cut weight and fight in the Light Heavyweight division.
Oleg Taktarov missing in dessert
A group of people including Russian former MMA fighter Oleg ‘The Bear’ Taktarov has failed to return from a camping trip in Namibia in south western Africa while making a documentary on witchcraft.
Los Angeles publicist Sherri Spillane identified the missing as Los Angeles pilot Christopher Banninger; British-born businessman Mike Edson; Russian actor and former fighter (11-5-2) Oleg Taktarov; South African athlete K.J. Lodge; and a sex therapist and radio host who goes by the name of Natasha Terry.
Spillane said that the five were brought by helicopter to a camping area on June 3 and were supposed to be picked up the following day but that due to a communications error the helicopter didn’t arrive until June 5 When the pilot did show up, he “found a note in a bag saying (the campers) were heading west toward the coast,” presumably on foot, Spillane said. It’s wintertime in Namibia, a hot, arid country with large tracts of desert. Conditions are warm during the day and can reach below freezing at night.
Dana Cyccone, secretary to the film company Edson, said the film crew had camped in a remote area near the Namibia-Angola border.
Spillane said the witchcraft documentary project “had been going haywire” when the crew decided to go camping. At one point, the crew had been chased out of a village, she said.
Penn in preliminary hearing
Former UFC Welterweight Champion and current K-1 MMA competitor BJ Penn has appeared in court in the Waikiki, Hawaii following a fracas in the town. (See FO issue 4). The local fighting celebrity was charged with assaulting District Six Waikiki police officer Richardson Pouoa in the first degree, as part of a multi-person altercation which started outside the Club Zanzabar on May 8, the venue where Rumble on the Rock 7’s after party was held.
It is believed, according to documents obtained by FCF, Officer Pouoa, working a Special Duty assignment that evening at the nightclub, contends Penn punched him on the “left cheek area of his face” and attempted to flee. At the time, Pouoa says he was attempting to break up a large fight outside the club. Pouoa has stated that Penn and others involved in the fracas did not comply with the Officer’s repeated instructions to leave the area and that he deployed police-issued O.C. spray in Penn’s direction from a distance of about four to six feet prior to the alleged assault.
According to an anonymous witness close to Penn that spoke with FCF, the officer pursued Penn to his car and held the vehicle door open, impeding the fighter’s exit from the scene. Attorney Green concurs that his witnesses have described the same scenario.
“The cop said something to BJ in the backseat and the cop was standing on the street and BJ had something to say to him and the cop reached into the car and blasted him in the face from probably half a foot full-on with mace,” Green explains.
“The one witness who I spoke with who was a security guard, who really didn’t know BJ that night, said BJ jumped out of the car like his head was on fire,” Green continues. “It looked to her like all he was trying to do was that his arms were waving and he was trying to clear his eyes and get the fumes away from him, and this cop grabbed him. I don’t think he had a clue who it was who grabbed him and he had just been punched and kicked earlier. So, there was no intention to hurt anybody and he certainly didn’t know it was a police officer.”
Penn’s preliminary hearing today to determine probable cause in the case should also introduce a circuit court arraignment date. Although Penn’s legal representation already entered a “non guilty” plea for his client at his initial court appearance on May 12th, the Honolulu Prosecutor’s office said a formal plea will be entered at the arraignment.
The Machine speaks...No Holds Barred!
This month my gripe is with those ass-holes that disrupt fight events by throwing bottles into the ring or trashing a venue just because their fighter gets KO’d.
Sure, we all hate to see our team mate, idol or loved one get hurt, but sometimes it happens and that’s the fight game. Do you not think that both fighters know this before entering the ring? How many times have you seen both opponents hug each other after a war and also after a KO? Me? — hundreds of times — that’s how many.
We also have to take into account the fact that if the shoe was on the other foot and it was your team mate that KO’d his opponent then you would all be jumping for joy and wouldn’t give a flying hoot about poor Joe Bloggs on the canvas.
If you can’t accept this then stay at home because you’re just mindless morons.
