Weekly MMA News Report- 7/4/09
After a little hiatus, the Weekly MMA News Report is back on Fightmania.com, with the rundown on some of the biggest stories of the last seven days. Here’s my take on some of the biggest news stories of the week, including the UFC bullying its way around the MMA world, Vitor Belfort possibly coming back to the UFC, the latest exploits of Lee Murray, and more.
–In case you missed my column earlier in the week, the UFC has apparently banned some more sponsors from its events, including One More Round, Dethrone, and Full Tilt Poker, among others. Then, word came out that the UFC will apparently blackball fighters from appearing in the organization in the future if they choose to appear in the upcoming EA Sports mixed martial arts videogame.
My Take: I gave my opinion in the column, but here’s the shortened version: it’s unfortunate that the UFC has become the big, bad bully in the world of MMA. I know fighting and team sports are two different things, but it’d be nice to see the UFC run with a bit more class and Dana White with less of a chip on his shoulder. To threaten fighters that the UFC doesn’t even have under contract is just beyond ridiculous.
–After the UFC bizarrely admitted in a video package to wanting to sign Vitor Belfort for a possible run at Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva, Belfort finally commented on the possibility of signing with the organization. Citing that the UFC is the “most recognizable event”, Vitor indicated that he’d like to be back with the UFC, which means that if he is successful in his Affliction bout against Jorge Santiago, don’t be surprised to see him back in the octagon.
My Take: I’m not going to get too excited about this, although it will be nice to see Belfort back in the UFC. Still, there are others not under UFC contract who would give Silva a good fight, as well: Robbie Lawler, Cung Le, even Matt Lindland. I actually may be more excited to see a possible Vitor Belfort-Wanderlei Silva rematch, in all honesty.
–In the latest twist of British fighter “Lightning” Lee Murray’s strange life, he was released from a Moroccan prison last week, then put right back in not long afterwards. Murray is most known inside the MMA world for his rumored knockout of Tito Ortiz in the infamous street fight in England, and a pretty solid MMA career. Outside of MMA, he’s known for his apparent part in the biggest bank robbery in world history.
My Take: The Lee Murray story is really unfortunate. Even before the bank heist, he had issues with being unable to get permission to come to the US to make a follow-up UFC appearance after his win over Jorge Rivera. Then, there were all of the crazy stories of frequent bar fights, and the time when he was stabbed and nearly died outside of a club in England. Who knows what will happen next in the crazy world of Lee Murray?
–In other news, Tito Ortiz is said to be “close” to an agreement to join Strikeforce, with Renato “Babalu” Sobral to be his likely first opponent. He says he’d like to face Fedor Emelianenko at a catch weight in the future. Also, Ricardo Arona is set to make his return as an active MMA fighter at Bitetti Combat IV against an unknown opponent, and an interim WEC Lightweight Championship will be up for grabs between Donald Cerrone and Ben Henderson, as champion Jamie Varner is injured.
My Take: Who can really believe what Tito says at this point? He’s made a lot of appearances at a variety of different events over the time since his exit from the UFC, and he always says he has a contract lined up, or big things in the works. So far, we’ve seen nothing. A fight with Babalu would be an interesting one, but a fight with Fedor? Be careful what you wish for, Tito.
It will be interesting to see how Arona does in his return to the sport. He always had talent, but his cautious approach to fighting and his rough patch that included devastating losses to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and most dubiously, Rameu Thierry Sokoudjou near the end of his Pride days didn’t help him further his career much. Will he be more aggressive and dynamic this time around? We’ll see. Meanwhile, Varner downplayed the interim championship, which is a good sign that he plans to be back at some point to defend his title, even though Reed Harris of the WEC has hinted that Varner could have a tough time coming back from his foot injury.
–MMA is all about the fights, and this past week saw a lot of matchups either leaked or officially announced. For instance, Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez will meet in the cage, Mike Swick and Martin Kampmann will fight at UFC 103, Joe Riggs will reignite his rivalry with Nick Diaz in Strikeforce, and Gilbert Yvel will meet Paul Buentello in a few weeks at Affliction’s third event.
My Take: These are all pretty good fights. Carwin vs. Velasquez could determine the number one contender for the heavyweight title, depending on what the UFC decides to do with the winner of Randy Couture and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Meanwhile, Mike Swick may find himself in line for a title shot if he can beat Martin Kampmann, and that should be a great fight. Swick has looked really good recently.
Hopefully Nick Diaz and Joe Riggs can bring at least some of the intensity from their hospital brawl after their UFC fight to the cage with them when they meet in Strikeforce. If so, we’ll be in for a great fight. Finally, I’m not sure what purpose Gilbert Yvel vs. Paul Buentello serves (as I can’t picture either one challenging Fedor Emelianenko at any point) but it will be an entertaining scrap.
Those are the biggest stories for this week. Next week, there will be plenty more with UFC 100 finally arriving!
by Jon Hartley for Fightmania.com
Tags: Anderson Silva, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Cain Velasquez, Dana White, Fedor Emelianenko, Martin Kampmann, Mike Swick, Nick Diaz, Randy Couture, Robbie Lawler, Shane Carwin, Strikeforce, Tito Ortiz, UFC, Vitor Belfort, Wanderlei Silva, WEC
