Ultimate Fighting

Four fights added to UFC Minnesota card

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The UFC announced four more fights for UFC 87: Seek and Destroy, the event slated to take place August 9 at the Target Center.

One addition to the lineup is Cheick Kongo, a heavyweight up-and-comer who was recently defeated by Heath Herring, who will face Minnesotan Brock Lesnar on the same card. There will also be a lightweight contest between Hermes Franca and Frankie Edgar.

Probably the most exciting is the battle of Ultimate Fighter alums Ben Saunders and Jared Rollins. Let's home it finds its way onto the PPV broadcast.

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Posted by Kevin Hoffman at June 14, 2008 7:53 AM | Comments (0)

 

St. Paul's Brett Rogers will be next to fight Kimbo Slice in EliteXC

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Although MMA purists may be loathe to admit it, Kimbo Slice is a major household name. The other day at Best Buy, the cashier noticed me buying a DVD with Kimbo on the cover, and launched into a detailed story about watching the fight with her younger brothers. When's the last time a young, female store clerk asked you about George St. Pierre or B.J. Penn?

This despite the fact that Kimbo's last fight, broadcast on CBS, was absolutely awful. In a tailor-made matchup against a tomato can whose famous for charging at his opponents with his chin out, Kimbo barely survived to the third round, where he managed to eke out the win thanks to a controversial early stoppage.

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Posted by Kevin Hoffman at June 12, 2008 10:19 AM | Comments (9)

 

Dana White to make major UFC announcement ... with Brock Lesnar?

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Speculation has been swirling about an upcoming major announcement from UFC president Dana White.

White has said he wanted to tell UFC employees first and that what he is going to announce will have a major impact on the direction of the sport.

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Posted by Kevin Hoffman at June 10, 2008 11:50 AM | Comments (4)

 

Brock Lesnar to face Heath Herring at UFC 87 in Minnesota

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The UFC officially announced this week that Brock Lesnar will face Pride veteran Heath Herring at UFC 87: Seek and Destroy.

Lesnar was originally scheduled to face Mark "The Hammer" Coleman, but the UFC Hall of Famer went down with a knee injury during training.

Herring has been something of a mixed bag since coming to the UFC from Japanese arch-rival Pride. He lost an absolutely awful fight to relative no-name Jake O'Brien at UFC Fight Night 8, but looked close to finishing heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 73 before foolishly allowing Big Nog back on his feet, where he was able to control the action for the next two rounds and win via unanimous decision.

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Posted by Kevin Hoffman at May 31, 2008 8:30 AM | Comments (1)

 

Sean Sherk defeated by B.J. Penn--should the Muscle Shark drop down to 145?

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Minnesota native and former UFC champion Sean Sherk was defeated in a dominating performance by "The Prodigy" B.J. Penn last night.

Sherk looked tentative all fight and surprisingly seemed content to keep it on the feet even though he has never been known for his striking and had a significant reach disadvantage to Penn, who was able to jab from a distance. Although Sherk's strategy was to try to drag the fight into the championship fourth and fifth rounds to put Penn's cardio to the test, the Prodigy stopped him at the end of the third with a devestating knee followed by strong ground and pound that left Sherk unable to continue.

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Posted by Kevin Hoffman at May 25, 2008 3:31 PM | Comments (3)

 

Title fight at Target Center: UFC 87 to feature GSP vs. Fitch

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After much speculation, the UFC has announced the match that will headline UFC 87 at the Target Center: a welterweight title fight between George St. Pierre and Jon Fitch, a wrestler with an eight-fight win streak.

“He’s a very, very tough guy,” said St-Pierre of Fitch. “I’m gonna have to train hard and be very well prepared because he may be my toughest fight yet.”

“The whole goal is to get the belt and be in the position where guys can’t duck me, run away, or say they don’t want to fight me,” said Fitch. “If I have the belt, there’s no excuse, and if you say you’re the best, then we’re gonna fight. This is gonna be a tough fight, but I’m gonna make sure I’m sharp that night, and wherever the fight needs to go, that’s fine with me.”

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Posted by Kevin Hoffman at May 22, 2008 7:24 PM | Comments (3)

 

UFC 87 at Target Center main event has yet to be announced

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When the UFC announced it was coming to the Target Center, a lot of fans thought that the Brock Lesnar vs. Mark "The Hammer" Coleman fight would be the main event. There was even some criticism about putting a relative rookie like Lesnar in a headlining position while at the same time dissing the competition for employing Internet streetfighting legend Kimbo Slice. Well, it turns out that there's a main event yet to be announced, as was made clear by this just-released promotional material:

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Posted by Kevin Hoffman at May 21, 2008 8:08 AM | Comments (4)

 

Minnesota UFC champion Sean "Muscle Shark" Sherk set to defend title

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Minnesota's own Sean "The Muscleshark" Sherk is set to defend his title Saturday against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist B.J. Penn.

Penn, nicknamed "The Prodigy," won the interim UFC lightweight belt, a title created after Sherk tested positive for steroids and had to serve out a suspension.

If Sherk needed any motivation for the fight, he need only read Penn's recent remarks:

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Posted by Kevin Hoffman at May 20, 2008 4:00 AM | Comments (3)

 

Manny Gamburyan gets award for cheapest shot in MMA

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Via Bloody Elbow, an MMA blog:

1) Pretend like you're going to show good sportsmanship with the traditional fist bump.
2) Kick your defenseless opponent in the chest with an awkward heel kick.
3) If at all possible, be 5' 5" while doing so.

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Posted by Kevin Hoffman at April 6, 2008 11:04 PM | Comments (2)