The contracts that Fedor has at this point in time would allow for such a fight to take place, and specifically the Randy fight, so we're free to make that happen if the opportunity presents itself.
...[A]nd the UFC knows that. That's not a secret and we've always been very open that the Randy-Fedor fight is something special. It's not your ordinary contract fight, as far as any fight can be ordinary.
The upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship show in England has lost one of its marquee fighters. MMAWeekly.com has confirmed that Thiago Silva has been forced out of his upcoming bout with Lyoto Machida at UFC 89 on Oct. 18 due to injury.
Thiago Silva has been very impressive in all of his UFC fights. He still sports an undefeated record in the Octagon, holding wins over fighters like Houston Alexander and Antonio Mendes.
MMAWeekly.com confirmed with sources close to the fight that Silva has been dealing with a back problem that will keep him out of the bout.
With the loss of Silva, the UFC will likely try to find another solid opponent for Machida as the fight was slated to be one of the bigger bouts on the Spike TV broadcast.
No word as of this time who will replace Silva, but the UFC still has more than six weeks until the fight, giving matchmaker Joe Silva plenty of time to work on a replacement.
There's only one man who will be available for the job: Mauricio Rua.
A last-minute back injury has forced welterweight contender Karo Parisyan to withdraw from his UFC 88 bout with Yoshiyuki Yoshida. Saturday's UFC 88 card (pay-per-view 10pm ET / 7pm PT) will continue with nine bouts.
Coming up at UFC 88, Martin Kampmann has a huge fight against Nathan Marquardt. With four straight victories (over Jorge Rivera, Drew McFedries, Thales Leites, and Crafton Wallace), Kampmann could see himself in the middle of the title picture with an impressive victory.
Looking at the current roster of UFC middleweights -- is there really a top contender out there? Of course, one of the main reasons there isn't a top contender is that Anderson Silva has convincingly beaten most of them.
Patrick Cote gets the next shot, but does anyone give him much of a chance? After that, there's Yushin Okami or possibly Paulo Filho and that's only if Filho would ever agree to fight his training partner and friend.
Therefore, Kampmann finds himself in a pretty good spot. With a big victory against Marquardt and possibly one more (maybe against Filho if the WEC and UFC middleweight divisions come together), Kampmann could get a match with the UFC's top fighter in Silva. Of course, those are two very difficult fights for Kampmann to win.
UFC 91 just got a big boost, says MMA Rated, with the addition of Quinton Jackson vs. Wanderlei Silva. The card is expected to play host to Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar, making the addition of this bout qualify as a co-main event. Silva is coming off a stunning KO of Keith Jardine at UFC 84 whereas Jackson is returning from a decision loss to Forrest Griffin. A win all but secures a title shot...after Chuck, of course.
MMA Junkie reports that Jeremy Stephens will take on UFC newcomer Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 91. Stephens recently lost a close decision to Spencer Fisher.
Fightlinker asks the question...and then answers it:
Chuck Liddell was on the Big O and Dukes show today, and it was a pretty entertaining interview. One thing that stuck out and kinda made me go hmmm was Chuck's attempt at a rhetorical question: "Who would deserve a title shot more than me?"
Someone should tell Chuck that rhetorical questions only work when the obvious answer is the answer you want it to be. In this case I can think of a few people who deserve a shot before you:
Quinton Jackson: Beat you handily twice, lost the belt in a controversial judges decision. You're fucking lucky he went loopy and played bumper cars with God on the freeway, Chuck.
Lyoto Machida: Perfect record, 5 wins in the UFC. The closest he's ever come to losing was with that Tito Ortiz triangle choke. Past that he's looked pretty damned un-not-winnable-against. I'd use 'unbeatable,' but considering his bullshit 'elusive' style, I don't think he deserves it. One thing he does deserve though if he beats Thiago Silva is a title shot. Chuck, you're lucky there's about a 1 in 1000 chance of Machida pulling off anything other than an ultra-boring decision.
Now lets look back at Chuck Liddell who's fighting Rashad Evans. Rashad f------- Evans. And somehow beating Evans = title shot? Machida's gotta beat Silva. Jackson is gonna have to beat Shogun or Wanderlei. Both these guys have harder opponents than Chuck, yet Chuck still thinks he's the most deserving of a title shot.
Yeah, yeah. We can't expect fighters to be modest - we all saw Cheick Kongo ask for a title shot with a straight face, after all. But we can still call them out when they do it.
According to a new report by MMA Junkie, Florida-based promotion Xtreme Fighting Championship has outdone both the UFC and EliteXC, selling upwards of 11,000 seats. When the promotion returns on September 13th to highlight ex-UFC favorite Gan McGee, the promotion expects to hit 15,000. In the case of Florida, it's the XFC clearing the way for the UFC, not the other way around.
MMA Junkie reports that a bad wrist will keep Jeremy Horn from facing Wilson Gouveia at UFC Fight Night 15. Instead, Ryan Jensen (0-2 UFC) will take his place.
