There are several rumored bouts that have yet to make it to confirmed status, so we thought we'd give you a quick rundown on some of the more prominent bouts that are being talked about.
B.J. Penn vs. Diego Sanchez: Seeing as Penn is the UFC lightweight champ, this one tops the list. It is definitely the bout that the UFC wants to put together and that both fighters want, but it always comes down to business. There is definitely a chance of this bout hitting confirmed status soon, but word on the street is that there are still some details to be ironed out and that no bout agreements have gone out, but don't be surprised to see this one top the card at UFC 105 when the UFC returns to Manchester, England.
Michael Bisping vs. Denis Kang: This one is all but a done deal. Bisping is always on the wish list when the UFC heads to England and UFC 105 is no different. Given that this bout makes sense at this point in each fighter's career, expect it to happen. It hasn't been signed off yet, but it should be in the coming days.
Jake Shields vs. Jason "Mayhem" Miller: This one also makes sense. Strikeforce has been hunting for a solid opponent for Jake Shields to face for an interim middleweight title while champion Cung Le is off making movies instead of fighting. And given Strikeforce and Dream recently making their working relationship "official," Dream lending Miller to Strikeforce for an interim title bout makes sense. A little less of a sure bet than the first two, but don't be surprised if and when this becomes official.
Most fight rumors in the MMA world have some basis in fact. But they usually leak out before any contracts have been signed. And any promoter will tell you, it ain't a done deal until there's ink on the paper. That's the case with all the above mentioned fights.
Down to the wire, plans can and often do change. So while there's a strong likelihood on all of these coming to fruition, don't take 'em to the bank just yet.
Michael Bisping talks about how he doesn't feel that Dan Henderson will give him too many problems in the Octagon at UFC 100, especially with his recent focus on wrestling.
Michael Bisping was MIA in a recent episode of The Ultimate Fighter, completely missing one of his fighters' bouts. Would you believe that it was a simple case of oversleeping?
So far, the UFC middleweight division has been kind to Michael Bisping. He's dispatched three opponents, got himself a coaching job on the ninth season of "The Ultimate Fighter," and has what could be the biggest fight of his career against Dan Henderson at UFC 100.
For Bisping, the fight is a testament to how far he's come. A few years ago, he was watching Henderson's Pride tapes.
But even by his standards, when it came to assessing his time in the light heavyweight division, it wasn't really broke before he fixed it.
"I mean, I had a good career," said during a recent UFC conference call for "TUF 9." "I only ever lost one fight and that was a split decision to Rashad Evans. So, I was definitely competitive. I do feel better as a middleweight. I think it's more my natural weight class and I feel faster and just my body type is more suited to be middleweight to be honest."
For now, his goal is to get into the top 5 of the 185 lb. class--that's a big enough task itself. Still, thoughts of a trip back to 205 may become a reality as he finds success or failure in the the upper echelon of the 185 lb. division.
Henderson can certainly relate. At 183 lbs. for most of his career, he ran into roadblocks in the form of Quinton Jackson and Anderson Silva and finds himself bouncing between the two weight classes.
Bisping thinks a trip to his old class would be different a second time around.
"I would like to go and fight heavyweight again and this time do it properly," he continued. "I've (learned) things about my body and about nutrition and diet and all kinds of things. I’ve gained experience in the sport. So, yeah, right now I’m focused on middleweight but there's no reason - I certainly wouldn't rule out fighting light heavyweight again in the future, further down the line."
Mark Ecko, founder and famed designed of Ecko clothing, could be in a serious financial squeeze according to report in the New York Post. Ecko has also recently stepped up and started sponsoring several prominent MMA fighters including UFC heavyweight champion, Frank Mir, TUF 9 coach Michael Bisping, and "Ultimate Fighter" winner, Nate Diaz.
The story says sources have indicated that Ecko has hired investment bank, Peter J. Solomon, to help refinance at least $170 million in debt that are owed to 2 key business partners.
Because of this debt, Ecko may be forced to sell off pieces of his businesses to help financial woes and pay off creditors.
According to the report, Ecko owed over $100 million to Li & Fung, a global trading company that helps manufacture his products, and that the rough holiday season played a major part in the recent struggle.
Ecko has also now apparently defaulted on a $70 million loan from commercial lender, CIT, and as quoted in the story from the NY Post, Ecko is "scrambling to avoid bankruptcy so he doesn't lose every stitch of equity he's got."
Sources told the Post that Ecko's executives and business partners are in a scramble to sell off pieces of the business to rivals in exchange for immediate cash. Apparently, Ecko is also trying to lease out space in his huge 280,000-square-foot headquarters on West 23rd Street, in New York City.
How this could affect the MMA fighters that Ecko currently sponsors is not known. Independent sources indicated to MMA Insider on Friday that the financial struggles felt by Ecko could partially be a reason why the clothing giant fell out of the running for their bid for the Elite XC assets, of which they were rumored to be in contention for.
The NY Post contacted Ecko chief marketing officer, Michael Golden, who stated, "we're pretty confident that this isn't an issue that's life-threatening at all, in our case, we have more than enough assets to pay off that term loan, and we have more than enough time."
Stay tuned to MMA Insider for more information on this story as it becomes available.
UFC president Dana White presents the latest edition of his UFC 93 video blog. In this episode, Dana plays the new UFC video game against Michael Bisping, and much, much more.
Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans, Michael Bisping, Joe Stevenson. The list goes on and on of fighters that made a start to a very bright future while competing on the "Ultimate Fighter" reality show.
The newest cast for the show, which will feature a U.S. team vs. a U.K. team, started tryouts in the last couple of weeks with record turnouts.
To give fans an idea of what the fighters go through during the initial phases of casting for the show, the team at Suckerpunch Entertainment (suckerpunchent.com) posted some insider's info about the tryouts to crown the next "Ultimate Fighter" and they have been gracious enough to share them with the MMAInsider.
According the report, the fighters first arrive and hurry to register, but then play a waiting game for the day's activities to start. The first round of action was a grappling exhibition in which fighters took on one another in the same weight class for 1 minute sparring sessions.
The fighters went all out for that one minute apparently.
The second round of action is a striking and stand-up clinic, with fighters displaying boxing and kickboxing skills while another fighter or teammate held pads with which to strike. During this time, UFC matchmaker and vice president of talent relations, Joe Silva, could be seen walking around the room looking at the fighters and talking to producers about possible selections.
After many hours of grappling and striking exhibitions, the cast of nearly 800 potential fighters was whittled down to around 100 participants called back for possible selection on the show.
There's still quite a bit of time before the season will begin filming so this tryout was obviously just the first stage to becoming a member of the ninth installment of the "Ultimate Fighter."
UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture recently addressed Michael Bisping with U.K. newspaper The Sun, saying he came away from the Brit's UFC 89 bash with Chris Leben impressed enough to believe that Bisping could one day challenge for the middleweight title.
"I really like him at 185 pounds, I think he looks really explosive," Couture told The Sun.
"He looks great at that weight class. He was impressive in his last fight against Chris Leben, who's not an easy guy to deal with."
Couture was especially impressed with Bisping's maturity in the Octagon. Despite Leben constantly moving in on him, and the ground going nuts, looking for a throwdown, Bisping didn't bite. He remained calm and stuck to his counter attacking gameplan. It paid off in the end with unanimous decision victory.
Bisping now steps into a coaching roll on Season 9 of The Ultimate Fighter on Spike TV. He will lead a contingent of British lightweights and welterweights against their American counterparts, likely to be coached by the winner of Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson at UFC 93.
UFC President Dana White's UFC 90 video blog. This first episode focuses on The Ultimate Fighter tryouts in London for season 9 including some great behind the scenes footage showing some of the fighters grappling and sparring. Plus a little bit with Michael Bisping talking about the stitches in his ear following his UFC 89 fight with Chris Leben.
Every time he turns around someone is asking Michael Bisping about getting a shot at the UFC middleweight title held by current king Anderson Silva. As he said after his win over Chris Leben at UFC 89, if he had a pound for every time someone asked, he wouldn't really need to be fighting.
"I'm happy with the way it's going," Bisping said at the UFC 89 post-fight press conference. "You've got to win your fights and that's what I'm doing. I just take it one step at a time. I don't want to get ahead of myself."
"Whenever it comes I'll be happy. If they said next fight, I'd be happy. If they said five fights, I'd be happy. As I've said, you've got to earn that right at a title shot. Have I done it yet? I probably haven't. I don't think I have. That's what I want to do. I want to earn it. I don't just want to be given it because I'm from the U.K. or whatever. I want to earn that right, and I want to beat the best guys in the division."
Chris "The Crippler" Leben went into UFC 89 with the intentions of knocking Michael "The Count" Bisping out, but found himself at the end of the Englishman's punches and unable to solidly connect with his looping strikes.
Frustration mounted in the waning moments of round two when Leben dropped his hands and walked in without defense into Bisping's jabs in an effort to get The Ultimate Fighter season three winner to exchange with him.
Leben would repeat the same tactic in the final seconds for round three. "He had landed more shots during the fight. I knew he had probably won those other rounds, so I said, I've got to draw him in somehow," explained Leben.
"I was playing ever card I had. At that point I was like screw the straight. I was trying to get him to come in and bang with me a little bit and maybe I can land that shot," he added. "Sometimes you do and sometimes you don't. This time I didn't. It was Bisping's night."
Chris Staab and Double Vision Productions created a web-based documentary series on Chris Leben, who is slated to face Michael Bisping in the main event of UFC 89 on Saturday, Oct. 18, in Birmingham, England. These are short five to six minute videos that give an interesting behind the scenes type look at Chris Leben and his Team Icon fighters in Hawaii.
In this fifth episode Chris gets tatted by world renowned tattoo artist Mike Ledger, and then works on his boxing skills.
Leading up to his UFC 89 bout with Chris Leben in Birmingham, England, Michael Bisping has started a video blog that has episodes on his official website, Bisping.tv.
This is great informal look at Bisping and what he's going through as the days narrow down and Saturday nears.
Continue to check back to the MMA Insider Blog for more video blog entries from Michael Bisping.
Leading up to his UFC 89 bout with Chris Leben in Birmingham, England, Michael Bisping has started a video blog that has episodes on his official website, Bisping.tv.
This is great informal look at Bisping and what he's going through as the days narrow down and Saturday nears.
Continue to check back to the MMA Insider Blog for more video blog entries from Michael Bisping.
Chris Staab and Double Vision Productions created a web-based documentary series on Chris Leben, who is slated to face Michael Bisping in the main event of UFC 89 on Saturday, Oct. 18, in Birmingham, England. These are short five to six minute videos that give an interesting behind the scenes type look at Chris Leben and his Team Icon fighters in Hawaii.
In this fourth episode Steve English (strength and conditioning coach at ICON Fitness Center) takes Chris and June to see his friends at Skydive Hawaii for a quick jump at 14,000 ft..
Leading up to his UFC 89 bout with Chris Leben in Birmingham, England, Michael Bisping has started a video blog that has episodes on his official website, Bisping.tv.
This is great informal look at Bisping and what he's going through as the days narrow down and Saturday nears.
Continue to check back to the MMA Insider Blog for more video blog entries from Michael Bisping.
Chris Staab and Double Vision Productions created a web-based documentary series on Chris Leben, who is slated to face Michael Bisping in the main event of UFC 89 on Saturday, Oct. 18, in Birmingham, England. These are short five to six minute videos that give an interesting behind the scenes type look at Chris Leben and his Team Icon fighters in Hawaii.
In this third episode Chris goes through some rigorous training with strength and conditioning coach Steve English.
Leading up to his UFC 89 bout with Chris Leben in Birmingham, England, Michael Bisping has started a video blog that has episodes on his official website, Bisping.tv.
This is great informal look at Bisping and what he's going through as the days narrow down and Saturday nears.
Continue to check back to the MMA Insider Blog for more video blog entries from Michael Bisping.
Chris Staab and Double Vision Productions created a web-based documentary series on Chris Leben, who is slated to face Michael Bisping in the main event of UFC 89 on Saturday, Oct. 18, in Birmingham, England. These are short five to six minute videos that give an interesting behind the scenes type look at Chris Leben and his Team Icon fighters in Hawaii.
In this second episode Chris takes a few members of the Icon Fight Team on a mission to the top of Koko Head Crater. The mission... to replace a damaged heavybag that has been a the top of the mountain for years.
Watch Chris Leben Evolution of an Icon: Episode 1.
Yes, we know this is a little dated, but this documentary on Marcus Davis and his fight team, Team Irish, gives some extensive insight into Davis' background. He talks in depth about his boxing career - more than 20 wins - and how his interest in MMA was sparked much like several other fighters... watching the UFC.
Marcus has made his fifth consecutive trip across the Atlantic for the UFC, as he is scheduled to fight undefeated Paul Kelly on Saturday night at UFC 89 on Spike TV. He is 6-1 in the Octagon, his only loss being a unanimous decision in a his last fight, to Mike Swick, at UFC 85. He looks to rebound against Michael Bisping's Wolfslair teammate at UFC 89 in Birmingham, England.
Our friends over at BetUs.com have odds up for many of the upcoming UFC and WEC fights. Of course, they've got a couple of lines for Saturday's UFC 89 event in Birmingham, England.
The latest odds for UFC 89 as of Tuesday evening have Michael Bisping favored over Chris Leben, and Brandon Vera over Keith Jardine.
Chris Staab and Double Vision Productions created a web-based documentary series on Chris Leben, who is slated to face Michael Bisping in the main event of UFC 89 on Saturday, Oct. 18, in Birmingham, England. These are short five to six minute videos that give an interesting behind the scenes type look at Chris Leben and his Team Icon fighters in Hawaii.
This first episode gives viewers an introduction to Leben and his surroundings at the Icon gym.
Since making his move to the middleweight division, popular British fighter Michael Bisping has had a very hard time keeping his name away from matchmakers across the globe putting him in a title fight against current UFC champion Anderson Silva.
Bisping takes the fans enthusiasm as a huge compliment, but also knows ultimately it's up to the UFC who he fights and when.
"Me personally, I take the compliment from it, but I don't read too much into it," Bisping said to MMAWeekly Radio recently. "Obviously, it's very flattering."
Never one to jump ahead of himself, the Brit admits that he'd always accept a title shot, but it's not something he wishes for yet at this point in his career as a 185-pounder.
"If a title fight was offered in my next fight, obviously I'd take it, but right now if I had a say in it, I wouldn't want that just yet," Bisping stated. "I'm still maturing as a fighter. I'd still want two or three more fights before I got that opportunity."
First things first, Bisping takes his shot at Chris Leben this weekend in England at UFC 89.
There's no denying that Chris Leben will be the one stepping into the lion's cage when he faces Michael Bisping at UFC 89 on Saturday night... and that's fine by him.
Bisping is far and away the biggest mixed martial arts star in England and the crowd will be whole-heartedly behind him when he and Leben enter the Octagon.
Leben addressed the crowd situation in a recent UFC conference call promoting the fight:
"Michael's a star over here and it's an honor to fight him over here. I wouldn't want it any other way. I've said it before, I'll say it again, I like being the bad guy. I really do.
There's nothing cooler than... he can make thousands of people scream, that's cool, but when, come the 18th, when I make 'em all go dead still and quiet, that's going to be something real special."
Of course, Bisping couldn't let that lie, and you could hear the Cheshire grin on his face through the phone line when he responded, "Well, just don't count on that experience."
This is the Ultimate Fighting Championship's official promotional video for UFC 89 in England. The Oct. 18 fight card features a main event of Ultimate Fighter alumni Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leben.
The main card is scheduled to air on Spike TV at 9 p.m. ET/PT on a tape delayed basis: -Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leben -Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (#8 Light Heavyweight in the World)* vs. Luiz Cane -Keith Jardine (#10 Light Heavyweight in the World)* vs. Brandon Vera -Marcus Davis vs. Paul Kelly -Paul Taylor vs. Chris Lytle
The wheels of justice slowed a bit Thursday as Quinton Jackson's pre-trial hearing was postponed until Oct. 24.
As Jackson prepared to exit the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana, Calif., with his lawyer, a female reporter from TMZ.com approached him asking for comment.
"Why you guys gotta do me like that?" Jackson told the reporter, glaring. "You guys always try to make me look stupid. That's the reason I don't talk to y'all. You try to make everybody look stupid. We're just people like everyone else."
An awkward pause ensued.
"I wrote that you were getting better," she responded, attempting her best smile. "Sometimes they just, you know, have to..."
Jackson continued glaring.
"He's the nicest client I've ever had," Jackson's attorney, Carol Lavacot, interrupted. "With my pro-bono mindset, I'd probably take the case for free. I've had thousands of clients, and he's the nicest one I've ever had."
Jackson finally smiled. "You're just being nice cause' I'm paying you a lot of money," he said with a laugh. The lawyer and reporter joined in nervously.
Whew, that was close.
When Jackson became a UFC star, his relationship with TMZ started cordial, but relations eventually soured. After the site posted some questionable off-the-cuff remarks of his outside a club, Jackson changed his tune. Things deteriorated further with TMZ's coverage of the car chase that landed him in the Orange County courthouse. Jackson was splashed all over the page, pictures of him arrested by Orange County police officers front and center.
Jackson just got back from the United Kingdom, where he helped Paul Kelly and Michael Bisping prepare for their fights at UFC 89 and 90, respectively. The former champ recently signed a management contract with Bisping's home gym, the Wolfslair.
Most celebrities chased by TMZ have more of a hate-hate relationship with the muckraking gossip site, so Jackson's reaction was not new. When your business is the superficial, you're bound to get on a person's bad side.
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