Ortiz Re-Signs with UFC, Eyes Late 2009 Return

Former light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz has re-signed with the UFC, ending months of speculation regarding his future. UFC President Dana White, with whom Ortiz has enjoyed a well-publicized love-hate relationship, announced the deal on Friday during a teleconference. Terms were not disclosed.

“Tito Ortiz is still a guy fans want to see fight,” White said. “He’s ready to compete at 205 pounds. A lot of people love him, and a lot of people love to hate him. He’s back. Tito and I set all our differences aside. Tito Ortiz will retire in the UFC.”

Ortiz, who originally anticipated a September comeback, has targeted a return in November or December. White indicated Ortiz could possibly square off with UFC hall of famer Mark Coleman.

“Coleman comes to fight,” White said.

Ortiz (15-6-1), who underwent back surgery in 10 months ago, has not competed since he lost a unanimous decision to reigning light heavyweight king Lyoto Machida at UFC 84 in May 2008. Though he was dominated for much of the fight, Ortiz nearly submitted the unbeaten Brazilian with a third-round triangle choke, reminding his detractors that he remains a viable threat at 205 pounds.

Ortiz believes he has buried the hatchet with White.

“Time really cures everything,” Ortiz said. “Dana came to me and was a man of his word. Me and Dana made up.”

Once the face of the UFC, the 34-year-old Californian has not won a fight since he stopped UFC hall of famer Ken Shamrock on strikes nearly three years ago. Still, he counts victories against Brazilian legend Wanderlei Silva, one-time International Fight League champion Vladimir Matyushenko and former UFC titleholders Vitor Belfort, Forrest Griffin and Evan Tanner among his 15 career wins. Five of Ortiz’s six career defeats have come to current or former UFC champions.

The lure of the UFC’s deep light heavyweight division proved too great for Ortiz to turn down. Ortiz had reportedly drawn significant interest from Strikeforce.

“For me, personally, it’s about the competition,” Ortiz said. “Financially and everything, I’m OK. Competition was the biggest factor. If I fight for Strikeforce, who am I going to fight? The best fighters are in the UFC. I’m happy. You’ll never hear anything about money out of my mouth ever again.”

Ortiz declared himself fit for competition.

“I’m healthy,” he said. “There’s no more pain, no more numbness going down my legs. Everybody in the light heavyweight division better watch out.”

Ultimate Fighting Championship 103

On Saturday, September 19th, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will prove it as the organization brings one of the most talent-rich events of the year to the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas for UFC 103. Featuring four pivotal bouts with world title implications as well as a main event still to be announced.

The star power on the UFC card will which include:

• Tyson Griffin vs. Hermes Franca
• Josh Koscheck vs. Frank Trigg
• Efrain Escudero vs. Cole Miller
• Mike Swick vs. Martin Kampmann

Affliction Cancels ‘Trilogy’

A week of misfortune turned to disaster for Affliction Entertainment on Friday, as the promotion canceled Affliction “Trilogy,” which had been scheduled for Aug. 1 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

“Finding an opponent for the number one-ranked MMA heavyweight champion in such a short period of time was a huge endeavor, and I’m thrilled at the amount of fighters willing to take on this challenge,” Affliction Entertainment Vice President Tom Atencio said in a news release. “But in the end, we just didn’t have enough time to promote a new fight to our standards.”

SI.com reported the news first Friday morning, and Sherdog.com confirmed shortly after. The cancellation -- which could spell the end of Affliction's year-long run as a mixed martial arts promotion -- comes on the heels of heavyweight Josh Barnett's failed drug test, which forced him out of the “Trilogy” main event against Fedor Emelianenko on Wednesday. Barnett, 32, tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid and was denied licensure by the California State Athletic Commission.

Promoters scrambled to find a replacement opponent for Emelianenko and reportedly considered middleweight Vitor Belfort, light heavyweight prospect Muhammed Lawal and heavyweights Brett Rogers, Paul Buentello, Jeff Monson and Bobby Lashley.

Source

Is Barnett the new Barry Bonds?

A positive drug test sample by Josh Barnett has left the Affliction promotion scrambling for a replacement to face Fedor Emelianenko in the main event of the company’s Aug. 1 fight card from the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

Barnett and Affliction promoter Tom Atencio confirmed both the positive result to the California State Athletic Commission-administered test and that Barnett is off the card.

Barnett’s test came back positive for the metabolite 2a-methyl-5a-androstan-3a-ol-17-one, which is contained in the anabolic steroid Drostanolone, also known as Masteron. The steroid is normally used by athletes who are attempting to maintain strength while cutting weight, which makes it a strange choice for someone competing in the heavyweight division.

Barnett said he wanted to keep quiet as he prepares an appeal, and had nothing negative to say about the testing procedure.

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WARNING: Don't Fight GSP says Gatorade ad

KIM COUTURE talks about her divorce

EA Sports will let its game do the fighting

EA Sports has signaled it has little interest in engaging in a war of words with UFC president Dana White.  

White blasted the video game maker during the UFC 100 post-fight press conference, saying he was "at war" with the company and adding that any UFC fighter who agrees to appear in EA Sports' MMA titles will be banished from the promotion.  

The impetus for White's comments is EA Sports' push into the MMA video game market, something White claims the company had no interest in 18 months ago. 

"EA Sports told us, 'You're not a real sport,'" White said.  "'We wouldn't touch this thing. We want nothing to do with this.'"

However, Redwood City, Calif.-based EA Sports now has an MMA game due for release next year.  

My Bad, I thought You Were Dead.

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship contender Kimo Leopoldo is still alive. Just ask him.

“I knew I wasn’t dead,” Leopoldo told Yahoo! Sports in a phone interview on Tuesday evening, hours after he was falsely reported deceased by numerous media outlets. “So when I was reading this I wondered if I was jinxed or something was going to happen.”

Leopoldo, 41, even appeared at the Orange County Sheriff’s office in Santa Ana, Calif., late Tuesday afternoon to put an end to rumors of his death that spread rapidly across the Internet.

“It was really strange,” Leopoldo said. “I was surprised at how nasty it was. I guess it wasn’t a good thing. … I’ve always had strange things written about me but nothing this bizarre. I couldn’t believe it when I searched for my name and I wrote in ‘Kimo Leopoldo’ and it added the word ‘death.’ ”

Rumors of Leopoldo’s demise first appeared on MMA.tv’s popular forum, “The Underground.” The post reported that Leopoldo died in Costa Rica “of complications from a heart attack.”

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UFC 102 - Saturday August 29th

 

UFC 101 Declaration - Saturday, August 8th

 

Affliction Trilogy - Saturday, August 1st

 

Total Fighting Alliance 13

 

Mo' Kimbo!!!!!

UFC 100 Aftermath: What's Next For Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir, Georges St Pierre, Dan Henderson

Next for Lesnar: The appeal of seeing Lesnar against the winner of Randy Couture-Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira on Aug. 29 just deflated considerably -- both men are not as fresh as Mir and would probably be fitted for a toe tag during their prefight physical. Shane Carwin has the horsepower to make it interesting; fans will scream for a bout with Fedor Emelianenko -- and they should get it, just for history's sake -- but a demure and Russian-speaking opponent is not going to pull the attention the gleefully arrogant Mir did, cult following or not.

Next for Mir: One or two weeks of basement dwelling until the swelling goes down; the loser of the rumored Carwin-Cain Velasquez bout.

Next for Georges St. Pierre: A year off to build the requisite amount of muscle to challenge Anderson Silva -- and wait for a contender to emerge. (I like Mike Swick, but his chances against St. Pierre could not be any worse if he were blindfolded.)

Next for Dan Henderson: Yoshihiro Akiyama if he's lucky, Anderson Silva if he's not -- along with a UFC Hall of Fame slot.

Kimbo Slice talks about 'The Ultimate Fighter'

Even if "The Ultimate Fighter 10" cast includes four former NFL players, there was no doubt at last weekend's UFC fan expo that the star of the show is: Kimbo Slice.

The former YouTube street fighting sensation who helped take MMA to the masses on CBS stood in front of the 15 other cast members, flexing his muscles, flashing his gold teeth and wearing a 'do-rag atop that imposing bearded face.

How scary is Slice? A Spike TV makeup artist was telling me she once had to sit alone in a room with Slice as he stared at her. "You better say something or I'm gonna [wet] my pants," she told him.

Although shooting of living arrangements and fights has begun, UFC and Spike kept the fighters quiet about what has transpired so far in advance of the show's September premiere. The final fight will be Dec. 5 at The Palms hotel in Las Vegas.

Kimbo, too, was mum, telling reporters, "You'll see. It was interesting. I have no regrets."

He said the task of being stuck into a house with other fighters was "like taking a lion out of the jungle and putting him into captivity."

Was he happy with how he fought? "You know what? I come to fight, no holds barred. I'm going to knock the guy ... out or get knocked out."

UFC President Dana White, principal owner Lorenzo Fertitta and matchmaker Joe Silva declined to say if Slice will remain in the UFC win or lose in "The Ultimate Fighter," which guarantees its champion a six-figure UFC contract.

Slice's popularity is such it'd be hard to deny him entry even if a "The Ultimate Fighter" heavyweight disposes of him before the finals. He said he wants to continue fighting in the UFC.

"I'll leave that to the big boys," Slice said. "I don't sugar-coat it. People know my characteristics. I don't play games or sugar-coat anything. This is me."

-- Source

UFC 103 Matches Announced

UFC 103 will be held at American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX on Sept 19.

Rich Franklin, former UFC middleweight champion, is expected to headline the even, but his participation has not yet been confirmed.

The confirmed fights for the card include Mike Swick-Martin Kampmann, Josh Koscheck-Frank Trigg, Tyson Griffin-Hermes Franca and Cole Miller-Efrain Escudero.

The Swick-Kampmann bout will be a top contender’s match for a shot against Georges St. Pierre. Joe Rogan reported that UFC matchmaker Joe Silva said during Saturday's UFC 100 that the winner of this match would be next in line for a title shot.

Source

UFC 100: Henderson Knock's Out Cold Bisping

Former UFC Champ Plans Clean Comeback

Fresh off an early flight, Ricco Rodriguez arrives in Florida to headline WFC's "Battle of the Bay 8." The anticipated bout will take place at USF's Sundome in Tampa, Fla., on July 10 against Mario "Big Hurt" Rinaldi.

Rodriguez says Rinaldi has a similar fighting style. Still, he is confident he will have the win.

"For me it's more of a natural instinct." Rodriguez says on a phone interview. "It's like mathematics. If you study hard and prepare enough, it will come out on the test … If you're training the right way, it will come out naturally."

Rodriguez has been in the fight game for 10 years. The former UFC world champion is at a solid 247 pounds. Two weeks ago in Texas, he won by submission.

Las Vegas-based Rodriguez has nothing but love for L.A.

"Los Angeles has a big Latin boxing background. Mixed martial arts have grown like wildfire in Los Angeles. Jiu-Jitsu blew up. Los Angeles has got a great team and a great company. Training is at a top level," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez's history with L.A goes back to right after his high school wrestling days. He came to California and began training in the art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with the legendary Rigan and Jean Jacques Machado.

"It was awesome. It's a way of life. It's the art without fighting," Rodriguez said.

After Machado, Rodriguez traveled to different countries to learn from the best athletes in the world. His focus expanded to mastering more techniques and cross training. He competed and won many Jiu-Jitsu tournaments before moving on to MMA and winning the UFC heavyweight championship.

Friday's fight will be Rodriguez's first fight since becoming clean and sober and losing his UFC belt. His issues with addiction became public as a cast member of Vh1's "Celebrity Rehab."

"After recovery comes redemption," says Ricco. "I'm in great shape and ready for the ultimate comeback."

With all the excitement of a MMA fight, the bottom line is fans want to see is a knockout. And Ricco Rodriguez promises not to disappoint.

Source