TNA Knockouts Doing ?Custom Matches?, TNA-UK Update

– As noted earlier, TNA Wrestling has made iMPACT! available to UK viewers while their television situation in the country gets resolved. The following instructions were posted on the company website: “Log on to TNAondemand.com, click the launch button, then click on the Impact UK button on the bottom left of the page. This free service is only available for the UK.” – Reigning TNA Women’s Knockout Champion Madison Rayne and Angelina Love recently shot footage for the custom wrestling match website SlamminLadies.com. You can see a photo of the two ...

Source: http://www.ifight365.com/2011/01/tna-knockouts-doing-custom-matches-tna-uk-update/

Victor Valimaki Mike Van Arsdale Paul Varelans Jovany Anaconda Varela Tony Vartanian

Scott Coker Discusses Heavyweight Tourney, Re-Signing Emelianenko

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Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker faced his share of criticism in 2010 for the perceived difficulty in putting his heavyweight fighters in the cage together. That criticism came to a screeching halt on Tuesday, when MMA Fighting broke the news that an eight-man tournament had been finalized that would feature some of the promotion's biggest names.

The tournament, which begins on Feb. 12, is expected to run over several months and is expected to culminate with the winner as the Strikeforce heavyweight champion (more on that later).

Just hours after his big announcement, Coker spoke with MMA Fighting about the tournament, bringing Fedor Emelianenko back into the fold, the possibility of Strikeforce on pay-per-view and more.

Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/01/05/scott-coker-discusses-heavyweight-tourney-re-signing-emelianenk/

Colin Robinson Ricco Rodriguez Jason Reinhardt Eddy Rolon João Roque

UFC NEWS: UFC makes network debut as Ion Television to air three UFC 125 preliminary card bouts live on New Year's Day

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

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The UFC will air preliminary card fights for Saturday's UFC 125 event after all.

The organization on Tuesday announced a new television deal with Ion Television that will bring three of the preliminary card fights from Saturday's card in Las Vegas to the network.

"I am excited for our fans because I've been looking for ways to broadcast UFC prelims free and to as many homes as possible," UFC president Dana White stated in today's release. "Ion is the largest broadcast television station group in the U.S., and this deal will put the UFC prelims in almost 100 million homes."

The three bouts that will air during the hour long broadcast are Marcus Davis vs. Jeremy Stephens, Josh Grispi vs. Dustin Poirier and Phil Baroni vs. Brad Tavares, and the broadcast begins at 8:55 PM ET.

The Baroni-Tavares bout is the beneficiary of an online campaign by fans to get that bout on television, and in an interview with MMAJunkie.com, White said he's rolling the dice with three fights as they can't possibly fit all three in the hour if they all go to decision.

"The prelims we do air, there's only supposed to be two," White said. "Time-wise, it's impossible to pull off three if they all go to the distance. I'm going to roll the dice on this thing. Not only are we going to bring the prelims to the fans, but everybody has been hammering me for the Phil Baroni-Brad Tavares fight, so I'm going to do three fights. I'm going to give them that fight, too."

This move technically counts as the UFC's debut on network television. It's not CBS, NBC, ABC or FOX, but Ion Television is still a network station. It was founded in 1998 as PAX TV, and rebranded as Ion Television in 2007.

Penick's Analysis: This is great, great news. It's a curious move to go ahead with a lesser known station like Ion, and they're looking into whether they will make this a regular, long term thing with the network, but for this event it's great that fans will be able to see the fights. In the Twin Cities in Minnesota, Ion is available right next to the major network stations, so for fans flipping through on Saturday or looking through their guide they'd see that a UFC was on. But what type of viewership and this brings remains to be seen. It's a risky move overall, but an exciting and welcome one at the same time. They're definitely going to be banking on a quick finish in the Grispi-Poirier fight, as I can see both of the other two bouts making it to the scorecards. Still, this means three free fights at the least for fans, and a better chance for more fights to be seen on Saturday altogether.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_7953.shtml

Marcelo Brito  Rob Broughton  Mike Brown  Junie Browning Paul Buentello 

UFC 125 Results: Brad Tavares TKOs Phil Baroni

by Michael David SmithBrad Tavares made quick work of Phil Baroni at UFC 125 on Saturday night, struggling briefly in the first round but ultimately winning by first-round technical knockout to improve his professional record to 7-0.

Tavares backed Baroni up with leg kicks in the first minute of the fight, and Baroni, who prides himself on being a brawler, looked surprisingly tentative. But Baroni then stunned Tavares with a big punch that knocked him down, and for the next couple of minutes Baroni was in control.

 

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Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/01/01/ufc-125-results-brad-tavares-tkos-phil-baroni/

Justin Eilers  Jon Olav Einemo Per Eklund Jason Ellis Aleksander Emelianenko

Tarec Saffiedine predicts second round TKO at Strikeforce Challengers 13

Welterweight Tarec Saffiedine (10-2) talks about his upcoming main event fight with Tyron Woodley (7-0) at Strikeforce Challengers 13 on Friday, Jan. 7. The event takes place from the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, TN and will be shown live on the Showtime channel. Tarec Saffiedine predicts second round TKO at Strikeforce Challengers 13 is [...]

Tarec Saffiedine predicts second round TKO at Strikeforce Challengers 13 is a post from: MMA Interplay UFC News

Source: http://www.mmainterplay.com/mma-video/tarec-saffiedine-predicts-second-round-tko-at-strikeforce-challengers-13-52901/

Mauricio Rua Dave Menne Murilo Bustamante Evan Tanner Rich Franklin

UFC 125 Medical Suspensions: Broken Noses Hit Four Top Performers, Including Lightweight Champ Frank Edgar

ufc 125 ?Resolution? featured a great night of fights that ended with a fantastic main event between Frank Edgar and Gray Maynard. It was a hard-hitting night of action, with several great knockouts, some slick submissions, and easily one of the most heinous broken noses ever seen during the course of an MMA bout. But [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/01/04/ufc-125-medical-suspensions-broken-noses-hit-four-top-performers-including-lightweight-champ-frank-edgar

Josh Barnett Ricco Rodriguez Tim Sylvia Frank Mir Andrei Arlovski

UFC NEWS: Sadollah vs. Ludwig, Simpson vs. Miranda coming to UFC Fight Night 24 in Seattle

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

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Two more fights have been added to the UFC Fight Night 24 event, coming to Seattle, Wash. on March 26, as separate reports from MMAJunkie.com and MMAWeekly.com state that a welterweight bout between Amir Sadollah and Duane "Bang" Ludwig, as well as a middleweight bout between Aaron Simpson and Mario Miranda, are coming to the event.

Sadollah, the winner of The Ultimate Fighter's seventh season, has fought his entire professional career inside the UFC's Octagon, going 4-2 in six fights. He most recently bounced back from a loss to Dong Hyun Kim with a decision win over Peter Sobotta in Germany at UFC 122.

Ludwig, a ten year veteran of the sport with five times as many fights as Sadollah under his belt, made his return to the UFC in January after a four year absence from the organization. He went 8-5 in between UFC stints, but dropped his first two fights back in the Octagon in 2010. However, a split decision win over Nick Osipczak at UFC 122 saved his spot in the organization.

Simpson enters the bout with Miranda having lost two straight. His loss to Chris Leben at The Ultimate Fighter 11 finale was the first loss of his career, but he added a second when he dropped a decision to Mark Munoz last month at UFC 123.

Both he and Miranda are likely fighting for their spot on the UFC's roster, as Miranda himself holds just a 1-2 mark in the organization. Dropping his debut fight by TKO to Gerald Harris, Miranda delivered a similar finish to David Loiseau at UFC 115 in Vancouver. However, he was handed a second loss by Demian Maia by decision in August.

UFC Fight Night 24 is expected to air live on Spike TV, headlined by a light heavyweight bout between Tito Ortiz and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.

Penick's Analysis: Both fights are set up to help clear roster space for the UFC. Unless there are some spectacular performances out of them, Ludwig, Simpson and Miranda all may be up for release with a loss. Sadollah, as an Ultimate Fighter winner, will have more leeway with the UFC, but he can't afford too many losses himself. Ludwig is a highly experienced fighter who does have some left in the tank, so he'll provide another tough challenge for Sadollah, but that should be a good fight at 170 lbs. Miranda-Simpson should be highly competitive as well, but the loser will either have lost three straight, or lost three of four, so they're likely on their way out after this event.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_7988.shtml

Joe Doerksen  Chris Dolman Edson Drago  Tomasz Drwal Joe Hybrid Duarte

OTHER NEWS: Tim Sylvia replaces Todd Duffee against Abe Wagner at Titan Fighting Championship 16 on HDNet

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

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With Todd Duffee stepping up to face Alistair Overeem in Japan on New Year's Eve, Titan Fighting Championship has replaced him in a scheduled bout against Abe Wagner on Friday, January 28.

The organization today announced that former UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia has been tapped as that replacement, and he'll meet Wagner in the main event of the fight card in Kansas City, which will air live on HDNet.

This event is the debut for TFC on HDNet, and takes place from the historic Memorial Hall in Kansas City. While Titan wanted Duffee for the card, the promotion's CEO Joe Kelly stated they understood the importance of the Overeem fight to the 25 year old heavyweight.

"Titan is a fighter-friendly organization. We treat the athletes that work with us like people and not commodities," Kelly stated. "While we were excited to have Todd be a part of our HDNet debut, we also realize how important the Overeem fight was for him at this stage of his career. I have a long-standing friendship with Todd's manager, Monte Cox, and Titan's burgeoning relationship with HDNet is also very important. We didn't want to stand in the way of this great fight happening on New Year's Eve with everyone in the States also being able to watch on HDNet."

Tim Sylvia continues his recent nomadic run of fighting, appearing in his seventh different fight promotion in eight fights. He's found success recently, however, winning four straight fights entering this event.

"Tim is a two-time former UFC heavyweight champion and has headlined some of the biggest MMA shows in the history of the sport," said Kelly. "We're very fortunate to be able to add him to Titan FC 16 on such short notice. By letting Todd take the fight vs. Overeem, we are allowing ourselves to get to work with Tim on our Jan. 28 show and then still get to book Todd on a future show."

Wagner, an 8-2 professional who appeared on the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter, picked up his first win since the show in November when he scored a first round TKO win over Vinny Pallone.

Penick's Analysis: This is another fight Sylvia should win outside of the major organization's, and with it airing live on HDNet, Sylvia could work his way back to a major organization for the first time since losing to Fedor Emelianenko on the first Affliction show in 2008. The former champion has been toiling in relative obscurity on these smaller shows, but in winning four straight, and if he moves it to five straight, he'd be a good addition to Strikeforce or the UFC, as he can still be a challenge to prospective heavyweight talent.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/Other_News_4/article_7982.shtml

Adrian Serrano Dan The Beast Severn Frank Shamrock Ken Shamrock Sean Sherk