Dan Hardy drama in the USA

CageWarriors welterweight champion defended his title against challenger Diego Gonzales on the recent CW: Strikeforce event (full report on page 58). The win put in motion a trip to the US to fight on Ohio-based promotion Fightfest in a groundbreaking unification bout. Facing US opponent Forrest Petz, Dan would fight for both the CW and Fightfest titles.

Unfortunately, the trip didn’t quite go to plan. Dan returned to the UK without his title and sporting a 6-month ban from MMA competition. In what has been described as a five-round war with Petz (10-2-0 going into the fight), Hardy claims he was robbed in a decision that is currently being investigated.

“I broke his nose in three places in the first round,” said Hardy, “But Herb Dean wouldn’t stop the fight.” Pictures show Hardy covered in Petz’s blood, but it is said Petz recovered and floored Hardy a few times through the contest. Hardy had full mount on Petz, is said to have come close with submissions and out worked the slugger in the stand up exchanges. “I spoke to the judges afterwards, and they basically said they were only qualified to judge amateur boxing.”

The 6-month suspension came when Hardy did not take a mandatory drug test (required by all title bout contestants). Hardy claims he was not told when he would need to take it, and was left waiting in the arena post-event for a doctor that never showed.

Feeling the commission unfairly treated him, he successfully appealed the ban, which was officially lifted on 24th April, 10 days after the contest. Dan is now available to fight once again, and is keen to rematch Petz for the title he lost. Petz is unable to fight until medically cleared to do so due to the severity of the fracture of his nose.

Rampage – not UFC, so where?

THERE HAVE been numerous rumours in circulation of Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson signing with the UFC. Rampage has gleefully stoked these whispers, appearing in a video playing with a mock-UFC title belt.

Rampage has since posted on his personal forum that the UFC hasn’t offered him a contract, and that he will be making an announcement soon of who he is signing with. A point of interest though, is that Rampage and ‘The Fight Professor’ Stephen Quadros have signed as commentators of the new International Fight League.

Forrest fighting Ken instead of Tito

The fighters included in the next season of Forrest Griffin is to replace the injured Tito Ortiz and face Ken Shamrock. Ortiz suffered a badly injured knee in his fight with Griffin on 15th April, and will not be able to face Shamrock as scheduled at the end of the TUF series. When Griffin heard about Ortiz’s withdrawal, he personally called Dana White and offered his services. He will face Shamrock in July.

Olaf post WEC KO

As reported in the last issue of Fighters Only, Olaf Alfonso was victim of a brutal knockout that left him unconscious in the ring for almost five minutes. Since then, Olaf appeared on a video released by the WEC, the promotion he was KO’d on, talking about his recovery. “I’m feeling good, except my pride is a little hurt,” said Alfonso. “I didn’t expect to lose, until then I thought the fight was going really well. I came out in the second round looking to do a little more damage. The medical technicians checked on me and took me out to the ambulance.” “Everything was fine, and I came back to watch the rest of the fights. I guess I should have come out to the cage to say hi to everyone but I was still tired and a little groggy. I want everyone to know, there was no damage. I’ve got no cuts, no jaw injuries, no head injuries, no neck injuries.”

Arlovski to get immediate rematch with Sylvia

Tim Sylvia will not have much time to celebrate his win over Andrei Arlovski as he he is scheduled to face Arlovski for a third time in July. Speaking on a Sacramento radio station, UFC president Dana White said that the two will fight for a third time on July 8th for the heavyweight title. Apparently, Sylvia requested that Andrei get an immediate rematch to put any allegations of a fluke to rest.

Bang Ludwig to drop to 155lb for next fight

Scheduled to appear on the next Strikeforce event (the promotion that recently saw the return of Frank Shamrock), Dwayne ‘Bang’ Ludwig will drop to 155lbs to fight Josh Thompson. Thompson (8-2-0) of the AKA gym in California, is coming off a decision loss to Clayton Guida. The three-time UFC veteran is noted as a top submission grappler, whereas Ludwig regularly competes in both MMA and kickboxing, even appearing in the world famous K-1 Max GP.

Drago to UFC?

EDSON DRAGO recorded Cage Rage’s fastest ever KO on April 22nd, dropping Tengiz Tedoradze in only five seconds. Rumours now abound that the former amateur boxer has caught the eye of the UFC.

Always on the lookout for a good heavyweight with decent hands, the UFC would do well to sign Drago. A former training partner of Minotauro, the former PRIDE HW champion has said that it is near impossible to submit him.

A former Brazilian national amateur boxing champion, Drago’s MMA record is 8-0-0. His boxing record is said to be a total of 36 fights with 32 wins, 27 of those by way of KO.

Pain & Glory 2006

TO BE HELD at SENI06, the UK’s biggest Martial Arts expo, Pain and Glory 2006 will be a fight event consisting of MMA, Muay Thai and kickboxing bouts.

Confirmed MMA matches will see a number of interesting matches. The well known Ian Butlin of Huddersfield, a veteran of CageWarriors and Cage Rage, will take on a man relatively new to the MMA game in Harvey Harra. Harra is a former kickboxer with a long and distinguished record in the sport. He is said to have had one (unrecorded) MMA bout, which he won. Butlin will be returning to the ring after a long layoff due to a badly broken hand.

Paul ‘The Terminator’ Taylor of Supreme Team will take on the Japanese fighter Yuki Sasaki (a PRIDE and Shooto veteran). Taylor is known as an explosive kickboxer and is also returning from injury.

The other two MMA matches sees London based Dave van Gasse of Gracie Barra face the powerhouse that is Charlie Francis of Ronin, while Christian Smith of Tap or Snap will take on Dutchman Andre Fyeet of Team Schrijber.

Fightfactor- have you got what it takes?

FIGHTFACTOR is a TV show currently in pre-production that is calling on all manner of fighters. A reality TV show which will see contestants fight under kickboxing and limited MMA rules, they are in direct negotiations with TV channels and are said to be close to securing a prime-time slot for their show.

With top coaches on board (including Ian Freeman and Mark Weir) the closing date for applications will be May 15th 2006. Fightfactor will be at SENI 2006 at the NEC on May 6-7th, where more information will be available. If you wish to apply, you can do so on www.fightfactor.com

Mayhem Miller returns to MMA

ICON SPORT announced on April 23rd that the indefinite suspension placed on Jason Miller has been lifted. Miller was suspended in January after falling foul of the law just prior to Christmas (see previous Fighters Onlys for the full story).

Mayhem is to return to the ring in an open-weight bout against the 6’ 7” Stefan Gamlin. Gamlin is a 370-pound former football player, with a 0-2 record in MMA. They will meet on May 26th in Hawaii.

Silva: UFC, K-1 or Cage Rage?

Cage Rage middleweight champion Anderson Silva is slap bang in the middle of a three-way bidding war.

The fan favourite, who defended his title on April 22nd in London (see page 24 for a full report), was rumoured to have agreed to a one-year deal with Cage Rage. Within hours of this news being posted on a MMA website, the UFC launched a press release titled “There’s A ‘Spider’ in The House”.

Referring the Silva’s nickname of ‘The Spider’, the UFC claimed they had signed Silva to their 185lb division. “Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva, a feared striker with deadly hands and feet, has inked a multi-fight deal with the premier MMA organization in the world,” read the release. “UFC fans should start getting ready for this explosive middleweight to make his mark in the division currently ruled by Rich Franklin.”

Fighters Only can exclusively reveal that Silva has NOT signed any contract as yet, and is currently considering his options. “He hasn’t signed anything, its all bullshit” said Silva’s UK agent, Alex De Souza. “He was sent a contract from the UFC before his fight on Cage Rage, but he hasn’t even read it properly yet.”

Silva has yet to put ink to any contract offered by him. So far, the offers are a one-year deal with Cage Rage, a multi-fight deal with the UFC or an unspecified agreement with K-1. At present, insiders say that Silva is leaning towards the offer from Cage Rage. 31-year-old Silva, a Muay Thai specialist, is a favourite with the UK fans, and there is no doubt his style would go down well with both the US and Japanese audiences. His blend of precision striking and deadly ground game make him an excellent addition to any promotions roster. A veteran of over five years in MMA, Silva holds victories Hayato ‘Mach’ Sakurai, Carlos Newton, Jorge Rivera, and Jeremy Horn.