MMA Roundup: Dream New Year’s Card, Leben Suspended
There’s been a deluge of MMA news over the past few days, and as a pleasant surprise, much of it has to do with the actual sport itself and not so much the other crap. Dream’s New Year’s Eve show is starting to shape up, and we’re getting information on the UFC’s first events on FX and Fuel, as well as their second Fox show, too.
Of course, there’s plenty of that other stuff, too. You know, a fighter gets suspended, another gets arrested, another gets into a Twitter argument with a ring card girl after making fun of her figure…another day in the office, really.
Megumi Fujii added to Dream New Year’s Eve card
One of the best traditions in the colorful history of mixed martial arts in Japan is that of the New Year’s Eve mega-show. While the shows may not be the supercards that they once were now that MMA is struggling to stay alive in Japan, the card did add “Mega Megu” herself, Megumi Fujii. The formerly-undefeated Fujii won her first 22 MMA fights (18 by way of submission) before being completely robbed by the judges in a split decision loss to Zoila Gurgel (then Zoila Frausto) in the Bellator women’s 115-lb. title bout 13 months ago. Since then, she’s won two fights and will face the 6-1 Karla Benitez.
Other bouts include the world-ranked Shinya Aoki facing former training partner Satoru Kitaoka, himself a very talented lightweight. Aoki, like Fujii, has gotten back on track after a disappointing loss of his own to Gilbert Melendez in April of 2010. Aoki has won all six of his bouts since then, and interestingly enough the last three have been submissions by way of neck cranks.
Rounding out the card so far is Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Takeshi Inoue. Rumors have swirled about Fedor Emelianenko having been offered a fight on the card, but nothing has been signed so far. Obviously, that would be huge for the show, but I’m of the opinion that it’s already shaping to be a fun card even if “The Last Emperor” doesn’t make the trip to Japan to participate. Heavy.com has even reported that Tim Sylvia will face Brett Rogers on the card, which is interesting considering our next piece of news. Let’s just say for now that with Sylvia’s plodding style and Rogers’ legal issues, it may not be fight of the year material. Ahem.
Brett Rogers to serve ridiculously short jail sentence
As noted last paragraph, Rogers has some legal problems complicating his apparent fight with Sylvia. Here’s the skinny on that: “legal problems” in this case means “beating the hell out of your wife and getting a short jail sentence for it”. How short? Sixty days, or more appropriately, sixty freaking days for punching his wife in the face and apparently knocking out one of her teeth and breaking her jaw.
Seems a little light to me, but whatever.
Anyway, other lowlights of the story include that Rogers’ children were afraid to be in the house because he had apparently choked them in the past. I know Dream likes freak show fights, but this guy needs some serious help, not a fight on New Year’s Eve 18 days after serving jail for beating his wife up.
On second thought, maybe this is exactly what he needs. Let’s just hope Sylvia is up to the task. I’m sure many fighters would love to be in his shoes for this one.
Chris Leben suspended for one year by the UFC
In other disappointing news, Chris Leben, who had been on a nice run in the cage of late, has been suspended by the UFC itself following a positive drug test for painkillers after his recent fight with Mark Munoz.
If you recall, the fight took place in England, where the UFC hires independent companies to handle and administer drug tests. Therefore, it was the organization itself and not any athletic commission that handed down the suspension. Dana White is hoping that the suspension will give Leben time to get things straight:
“I like Chris and I want him to do well, but based on his actions, he’s been suspended for one year. If he needs professional help, we are going to be there for him. We want to see him succeed not only in the Octagon, but in his personal life.”
While I suppose the UFC could have let Leben off the hook or given him a lighter punishment, that likely wouldn’t have sit well with the various United States athletic commissions, nor would it have been received well by the media. Still, it’s hopeful that the UFC is sincere about wanting to help Leben work out his issues so that he can avoid such problems in the future. Here’s hoping he’s successful in that regard.
The UFC starts announcing cards on Fox family of networks
As part of the UFC-Fox deal, we’re not only going to get the UFC on Fox, but also on other Fox family networks, such as FX and (less excitedly) Fuel. Now, while you try to figure out whether you even get Fuel or not, here’s some info on how the first FX and Fuel cards are shaking up, as well as what to expect on the second UFC on Fox card, which will feature more than one minute of fighting.
The UFC’s debut on FX will happen on January 20 in Nashville, TN and will be headlined by what should be a great fight between Melvin Guillard and Jim Miller, two top ten lightweights. Other bouts that are known so far include Duane “Bang” Ludwig taking on Josh Neer and Christian Morecraft facing Pat Barry. A bout between Jorge Rivera and Eric Schafer has also been agreed to by both participants, according to MMAJunkie.
We even know the first fight on the second FX show, which apparently will take place March 3 from a currently-unknown location. Thiago Alves will be facing Martin Kampmann on that card in what should be a fantastic fight. Meanwhile, the first card on Fuel will feature Jake Ellenberger taking on Diego Sanchez in a welterweight fight, as well as Stefan Struve facing Dave Herman. The show will take place on February 15.
Finally, the second UFC card on Fox will somewhat head-scratchingly feature Rashad Evans facing Phil Davis for what apparently will be the number one contender’s slot in the light heavyweight division. Am I the only one that isn’t expecting a very entertaining fight there? Wouldn’t literally any of the three main events listed above be better bets for a great fight than Evans-Davis?
Sonnen lowers the bar yet again
When he’s not getting trolled by idiots on TV, our boy Chael Sonnen sometimes likes to just insult random people. Like Arianny Celeste, for example, whom Sonnen for no real reason decided to make fun of in an interview with Las Vegas Weekly, stating that the numbers on the cards she holds at UFC events indicate her IQ and not the current round. Ho, ho, ho! Clever!
Sonnen, who has previously said Celeste has “fat hips”, was taunted by Celeste over his impending bout with Anderson Silva, which Celeste believes Sonnen will lose in decisive fashion. Sonnen then replied with a sarcastic comment about Celeste being able to walk in a circle and hold a card up at the same time, to which Arianny replied with a quip about knowing her shapes perfectly well, including, wait for it…the triangle.
Get it? Because, you know…oh, forget it. This is garbage, anyway. The only really interesting part of this non-story is that the tweets detailed above have all been taken down. Now, I would assume that a man like Sonnen- who has never taken down anything he’s said on Twitter, though he has occasionally denied owning the account- would only take down something because of pressure from the boss-man. Having said that, how funny is it that tweets insulting an entire country can remain, but we can’t have a war of words between Sonnen and a ring card girl?
Tags: Aaron Simpson, Arianny Celeste, Brett Rogers, Chael Sonnen, Chris Leben, DREAM, Fedor Emelianenko, Phil Davis, Rashad Evans, Tim Sylvia, UFC, UFC on Fox 2, UFC on Fuel 1, UFC on FX 1
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