Weekly MMA Update: Ortiz/Liddell, Shamrock To WWE? UFC's New Direction
    Submitted by Matthew Boone on Thursday, January 16, 2003 at 3:52 PM EST


    UFC NEWS

    The following stories were derived from MMANews.com with help from MMAWeekly.com, Sherdog.com, and MMARingReport.com:

    WHO'S NEXT FOR MATT HUGHES?

    Matt Hughes is 99% likely to defend his UFC Welterweight title against the 5th rated Welterweight in the world - Sean Sherk.

    Fans have wanted to see these two impressive grapplers get it on for quite a while, and Hughes has been anticipating the match since November. Prior to UFC 40: Vendetta, Matt Hughes told us during an appearance on our audio program, "WrestleZone Radio" the following:

    Matt Boone: You've gone on record saying you wouldn't fight anyone from your own team, like a Robbie Lawler, and I'm sure you not one to look past an opponent, but if you get Castillo this Friday, who is left for you?

    Matt Hughes: Sean Sherk, I believe is the next guy in line. He's in the top 5 in the world, I think he's number 5. He would be next. He's got a wrestling background and we'll see. Like you said, I'll try and not look past it, but he is who I would think would be in the running for the next title shot.

    Sean Sherk has a flawless record of 22-0 in mixed martial arts competition, with his last fight in the Octagon being a win over Benji Radach. Many are doubting that he'll be able to overcome Hughes, who had an incredible year in 2002 with 2 victories over Carlos Newton, a win over Hayato Sakurai, and the win over Gil Castillo at UFC's last pay-per view.


    PAT MILETICH'S CHOICE WORDS FOR BOBBY HOFFMAN

    There is some controversy between Pat Miletich and Bobby Hoffman over a recent interview Hoffman conducted with an internet website. Miletich made the following response:

    "In regards to Bobby Hoffman's interview and his statements about myself and Monte Cox, I wouldn't expect anything else from a guy like Bob.

    We, as a team, tried on numerous occasions to get Bob to train at least one or two times a week. I asked him constantly to come and train with the team and he always had an excuse. He probably trained with the team 10 times in two years... and we never charged him a dime. Hoffman has a severe anger control problem and I think Eddie Millis at the Shark Tank would agree with me that the guy is absolutely un-trainable.

    When Hoffman threatened to kill my wife and Monte's wife and kids... and he did so in front of one of our fighters... I went out and bought a weapon to put in my desk just in case he showed up at the gym, which is where my wife's chiropractic clinic is located. That's how serious I took his threats.

    Finally, Hoffman is just f*cked up in the head. If you don't believe us, hang out with him for a while... I dare you to. Then you can judge for yourself."

    To read the full interview with Bobby Hoffman, more comments from Pat Miletich, as well as comments from Monte Cox, head to MMANews.com.


    UFC RELEASES IVAN SALAVERRY

    With a UFC Record of 1-1 and a MMA record of 8-2-0, Ivan Salaverry is the latest to be released in Zuffa's attempt to slim down roster size and save money.

    Salaverry's only UFC victory came off of 3rd round TKO of Andrei Semenov at UFC 37: High Impact. His one loss came via unanimous decision to top ranked Middleweight Matt Lindland.


    RICCO RODRIGUEZ IN ESPN MAGAZINE

    Ricco Rodriguez is featured briefly in the ESPN Magazine that is on newsstands everywhere.

    On page 32, there is a small article on how Ricco grew up around funeral homes since his family owned three of them. He also told a couple of humorous stories on his experiences around the family business at age 12.

    There is also a pretty interesting note from Rodriguez, apparently he will be training Vin Diesel (Fast and Furious, Triple X) for his next movie. Diesel was Rodriguez's guest at UFC 40: Vendetta last November.


    PRIDE DEATH DOESN'T CHANGE BUSTAMANTE'S STATUS

    Nothing changes with Murilo Bustamante's status with UFC.

    Apparently, many thought that with the unfortunate passing of PRIDE president Naota Morishita, and the financial troubles facing the company, that Bustamante would be staying with UFC. That doesnt' appear to be the case.

    Bustamante still has high-dollar offers on the table from various Japanese shoot-fighting organizations, and UFC has made it pretty clear that they will not be matching any lucrative money offers for the Middleweight champion at this time. There is no bad blood between the two, so the door is always open for Bustamante to return to the Octagon in the future.


    VLADIMIR MATYUSHENKO PREPARES FOR PEDRO RIZZO

    We reported a while back that Vladimir Matyushenko is looking to rise through the ranks at Heavyweight after a run at Light Heavyweight. Matyushenko said he always felt weak as a Light Heavyweight, and feels he can take his game to the next level at Heavy.

    Matyushenko has his sights set on a fight with dominant striker, Pedro Rizzo. Matyushenko hopes to propel himself into title contendership with a win over Rizzo, who is coming off an upset loss to Gan McGee at UFC 39.


    CASTILLO CHALLENGES LOSS TO HUGHES

    Gil Castillo said he has continued to fight the decision of his November 22nd loss to Matt Hughes.

    Castillo lost the fight after the conclusion of the first round due to a cut on his eye that caused vision damage. Castillo, claiming it was an accidental headbutt, feels the fight should have been declared a no contest and has taken his case to the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

    Pancrase has attempted to put together a Gil Castillo vs. Nathan Marquardt fight, which would be a rematch from their fight with the IFC about a year and a half ago. Shooto was attempting to put together a Hayato Sakurai vs. Gil Castillo fight.

    Castillo has many options, but he said he would love to continue fighting with the UFC.

    When asked if he wants a rematch against Hughes, Castillo replied: "Hell yeah. I trained many months for that chance to fight for the title, I would love the opportunity if Matt wanted to give me a shot, if not, I want it at least changed to a no-contest."


    KEN SHAMROCK/WWE UPDATE

    There have been no negotiations between Ken Shamrock and WWE since small initial talk after his last MMA bout in November, a loss to Tito Ortiz. WWE isn't budging on wanting Shamrock to work 150-200 dates per year, and they are not willing to provide the lucrative downside guarantee that Shamrock is seeking.

    In addition to all of that, WWE feels it would be hard to bring him back under his original wrestler gimmick, "World's Most Dangerous Man" and have him work the shoot-style, now that it's common knowledge that he was destroyed in his last UFC fight.


    UFC NOT GOING TO JAPAN

    It doesn't look like UFC will be heading to Japan in the Spring as first rumored. There were some discussions about holding a show in Japan, but the next three shows going through June of 2003 are seemingly set in their respective venues.

    UFC 41 will be in Atlantic City, New Jersey in February, UFC 42 will be in Las Vegas, Nevada in April, and UFC 43 although not confirmed, is likely to take place in Florida in June.

    With that being said, the earliest UFC could bring a pay-per view to Japan would be in August, if at all. England has also been negotiating with UFC about bringing them back for another pay-per view.


    UFC CHANGING FIGHTER CONTRACT STRUCTURE

    When asked why so many fighters were being released lately, Ian Freeman and Ivan Salaverry being the most recent examples, UFC President Dana White said, "everybody's complaining about long term deals. Well now we're only going to have like 13 guys who have long term deals with us and the rest are all gonna be 1 fight deals."

    With that said, it looks as if UFC is making drastic changes this year to avoid the problems that other companies are facing lately, such as PRIDE Fighting Championship. UFC will be letting their fighters, with the exception of a few, fight for outside promotions, which was something many complained about in the past.


    UFC BRINGING BACK MORE LEGENDS?

    When asked if UFC plans on bringing back fighters from the past as seen with Ken Shamrock, and the latest being Tank Abbott. UFC President Dana White offered the following response:

    "Not really. You know, we're bringing Tank back. I had no intention of bringing Tank Abbott back. It just happened, you know. It just ended up happening. I met him. I liked him. I liked what he had to say. And it's not like we're throwing Tank back in there against some nobody that he should squash. I mean Tank's fighting a tough fight. So if Tank wins this fight against Frank Mir he's gonna deserve respect. You know?"


    CHUCK LIDDELL SIGNS TO FIGHT TITO ORTIZ

    Chuck Liddell has officially signed to fight Tito Ortiz at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, this April for UFC 42.

    Zuffa will now wait for Tito Ortiz to sign the dotted lines, and if all goes as planned, this fight should come off. No word on if UFC met the rumored $400,000 asking price from Ortiz to take the fight with Liddell.



    PRIDE NEWS

    The following stories were derived from MMANews.com with help from PrideFC.com, MMAWeekly.com, and Sherdog.com:

    SAKURABA WANTS POWER IN PRIDE

    Looks as though Kazushi Sakuraba and Nobuhiko Takada are attempting to get some sort of power position with PRIDE.

    Apparently, Sakuraba and Takada are claiming that the late Naoto Morishita wanted the two to take his place if he ever left Dream Stage Entertainment. Whether or not anything comes of this has yet to be seen.

    On a similar note, Naoto Morishita's funeral is scheduled for January 16th at 1:00PM JST.


    PRIDE UPDATES FANS ON THEIR STATUS

    The following is a message from PRIDE Fighting Championship:

    "To the fans of PRIDE,

    As has already been reported, the President of our company, Naoto Morishita, died on January 9th. We would like to sincerely apologize for any concern and worry that this may have caused to you.

    The PRIDE series, however, will be held as previously announced and all of our company members are focused on this goal. Details of PRIDE's future events will be available to all on this site once they have been announced. We ask for your continued encouragement and support."

    PRIDE Fighting Championships


    FUNERAL NOTES FOR NAOTA MORISHITA

    The following is from PrideFC.com:

    Dream Stage Entertainment is holding a company sponsored funeral for the late Naoto Morishita on January 16, 2003 from 1-2 pm at Aoyama Sougi-Jo, 2-33-20 Minami Aoyama, Minatoku, Tokyo, 011-81-3-3401-3653.

    There will be a farewell service immediately following from 2-3 pm. Call DSE for details, 011-81-3-5775-5700 or fax 011-81-3-5775-5851.


    PRIDE 25 MATCH RUMORS

    The following are rumors for the PRIDE 25 card:

    Pride 25 Rumors - Tokyo, Japan

    Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs Emelianenko Fedor

    Don Frye vs Bob Sapp

    Mario Sperry vs TBA

    Ausserio Silva vs Hirotaka Yokoi

    Nino Schrembri vs Tokimitsu Ishizawa

    Tom Erikson vs Gilbert Yvel

    Kenichi Yamamoto vs Paulo Filho

    Takashi Sugiura vs Ron Waterman


    PRIDE/DSE GETS NEW MANAGEMENT

    Nobuyuki Sakakibara is the new lead official for PRIDE, but Hiromichi Momose will be the main boss for Dream Stage Entertainment, the parent company of PRIDE.


    BOB SAPP VS. MIRKO CROCOP AT PRIDE 25?

    Earlier we mentioned that Bob Sapp vs. Don Frye was a strong possibility for PRIDE 25. It looks as if Mirko Filipovic will be next in-line to challenge "The Beast", not Don "The Predator" Frye.


    DON FRYE WANTS HIDEHIKO YOSHIDA

    There is a lot of talk of Don Frye working for Riki Choshu's upstart WJ Pro organization. Frye is also showing interest in fighting Hidehiko Yoshida at PRIDE's May pay-per view at Osaka Castle Hall. Don Frye, along with other foreign fighters such as Gary Goodridge, Mark Coleman, Vanderlei Silva, and Kevin Randleman will be at Naoto Morishita's funeral today.




    RANDOM MMA NEWS

    The following stories were derived from MMANews.com with help from Sherdog.com, PuroresuPower.com, IchibanPuroresu.com, and WrestlingObserver.com:

    JENS PULVER PREPARES FOR LIFE OUTSIDE UFC

    UCC has released the promotional video for their "UCC 12" show in two weeks featuring one of the best Lightweights in the world, Jens Pulver battling out with Duane "Bang" Ludwig in his first of what is expected to be four fights in four months.


    DAN SEVERN APPROACHES 50, STILL FIGHTING

    "War At The Shore" Kickboxing and Mixed Martial Arts World Championship will be held at the Tropicana Casino And Resort in Atlantic City, NJ on Friday, January 17, 2003.

    Headlining the event will be UFC Champion Dan "The Beast" Severn against Pat Stano. The match was suppose to happen in June of 2002, but was canceled due to Dan Severn getting a muscle injury.

    Tickets are available at The Tropicana Box Office and at www.ticketmaster.com.


    JEREMY HORN, WIUFF FIND SUCCESS AT ICC

    Here are the results for ICC 1 - Retribution from Minneapolis, Minnesota:

    Dennis Stull def. Damien Decorah (Submission)

    Brad Spent def. Maurice Walker (Submission)

    Carlos Armanqui def. Brandon Foxworth (Submission)

    Josh Raferty def. Kareema Bennett (Decision)

    Kelly Kobald def. Lisa Huffman (TKO)

    Jorge Gurgel def. Gin Minajev (Submission)

    Billy Rush def. Sam Morgan (Submission)

    Greg Wikan def. Kerry Schall (TKO)

    Travis Wiuff def. Brian Shephard (Submission)

    Jeremy Horn def. Travis Fulton (TKO)


    FORREST GRIFFEN PULLS OUT OF KOTR TOURNY

    Forrest Griffen originally planned to fight at the upcoming King of the Cage 4-man heavyweight tournament. The tournament, which features Bobby Hoffman, Paul Buentello, and Brian Hawkins, will have to do without Griffen as he has claimed to have injured his hand during training. At this point it's doubtful he'll compete, according to Sherdog.com, and his replacement is currently unknown.


    SMASHING MACHINE REPLAY SCHEDULE

    A replay of the incredible "Smashing Machine" documentary profiling mixed-martial arts as a whole featuring Mark Kerr and Mark Coleman will air on HBO again this coming Wednesday night at 10:00PM Eastern Time. It will also rerun on this coming Friday night at 10:00PM Eastern Time on HBO2. The film has received nothing short of rave reviews for the moving story on the life of Mark Kerr.


    MARK COLEMAN TRAINING FOR PRO WRESTLING

    Perry Saturn has been training UFC legend Mark Coleman in California recently for Antonio Inoki. Coleman, who signed a deal to work some pro wrestling dates with New Japan Pro Wrestling, will have a match with tag-partner Kevin Randleman on January 19th.


    LATEST ON JOSH BARNETT IN NEW JAPAN

    Josh Barnett does not have an annual contract with New Japan, but does have a certain amount of dates guaranteed in his deal.

    Apparently, Barnett will be teaching some of the Japanese wrestlers how to do certain submission holds. Everyone in New Japan Pro Wrestling is seemingly happy with what Barnett has done in the company thus far.



    PRESS RELEASES

    UFC issued the following press release to MMANews.com this week:

    UFC KNOCKOUTS PPV THIS FRIDAY

    LAS VEGAS, January 14, 2003…The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will offer fight fans the best knockouts in its history when it premieres Ultimate Knockouts 2, a one-hour pay-per-view special, starting at 10 p.m EST/7 p.m. PST, Friday, January 17, on iN DEMAND, DIRECTV, TVN and Bell ExpressVu. The suggested retail price is $9.95 and the show will be available on re-play until February 6.

    Ultimate Knockouts 2 will re-capture the UFC’s most memorable knockout moments by everyone’s favorite fighters including Middleweight top contender Phil Baroni, British Middleweight Mark Weir and new Welterweight star Robbie Lawler.

    UK2 also will feature Heavyweight Champion Ricco Rodriguez, legendary Heavyweight Tank Abbott and other UFC stars and legends such as current Middleweight Champion Murilo Bustamante, Heavyweight Pedro Rizzo, former Heavyweight Champions Randy Couture and Bas Rutten, Light Heavyweight Vanderlei Silva and Heavyweight Don Frye. Abbott will return to the Octagon Friday, Feb. 28, at UFC 41: Onslaught after a four-year absence and Rodriguez will defend his heavyweight crown for the first time against undefeated contender Tim Sylvia on the same card.

    Replay Schedule:
    iN DEMAND
    January 17 iN1 10 p.m. EST/7 p.m. PST
    January 18 iN2 9 p.m. EST/6 p.m. PST
    January 19 iN1 1:30 a.m. EST/10:30 a.m. PST
    January 19 iN2 6 p.m. EST/3 p.m. PST
    January 20 iN2 11 p.m. EST/8 p.m. PST
    January 22 iN2 4 p.m. EST/1 p.m. PST
    January 22 iN1 10 p.m. EST/7 p.m. PST
    January 25 iN1 8 p.m. EST/5 p.m. PST

    DIRECTV
    January 18 All Day Ticket service
    January 20 All Day Ticket service
    January 27 All Day Ticket service
    January 29 All Day Ticket service
    January 31 All Day Ticket service
    February 2 All Day Ticket service
    February 6. All Day Ticket service

    Bell ExpressVu
    January 20 9 p.m. EST/6 p.m. PST
    January 20 11 p.m. EST/8 p.m. PST
    January 27 9 p.m. EST/6 p.m. PST
    January 27 11 p.m. EST/8 p.m. PST

    King of the Cage issued the following press release to MMANews.com this week:

    KOTC 21 - TOURNAMENT BRACKETS

    LOS ANGELES, California -"King of the Cage," the hottest brand of no-holds-barred fighting, is coming to the Santa Ana Star hotel and casino in Pueblo City, New Mexico!

    "King of the Cage: Invasion" is proud to feature eleven bouts in all on a stellar fight card. Four of MMA’s finest Heavyweights will battle tournament style for the most coveted prize in Mixed Martial Arts, The King of the Cage World Heavyweight Championship. KOTC World Super Heavyweight Champion Jimmy “Titan” Ambriz, and KOTC World Lightweight Champion Javier “Mr. Showtime” Vazquez put their titles on the line against two extremely tough competitors. Also on the card… bruiser John Alessio takes on “Mr. International” Shonie Carter, Tony “The Bull” Galindo returns to the cage to fight the Razor Sharp fists of Joey Villasenor. This event promises to go off with a bang, so mark your calendars get ready for an “Invasion”

    FIGHT CARD:

    Javier Vasquez Vs. Alverto Crane
    Jimmy Ambriz Vs. Johnathan Ivey
    Shonie Carter Vs. John Alessio

    4-Man Heavyweight Tournament
    1. Bobby Hoffman (Bad Seed)
    2. Paul Buentello ( Crazy Bob)
    3. Brian Hawkins (Gomez Academy)
    4. Forrest Griffen (The Hardcore Gym)

    Joey Villasenor Vs. Tony Galindo
    Keith Jardine Vs. John Copenhaver
    Thomas Shulte Vs. Frank Marquez
    Deigo Sanchez Vs. Steve Ruiz
    Seth Petruzelli Vs. Jason Godsey

    "King of the Cage: Invasion" will be held on Friday, February 21st, 2003 from the Santa Ana Star in Pueblo City, New Mexico. Gates open at 4:30pm PST, fights start at 5:30pm. In addition, "King of the Cage: Invasion" will be televised on pay-per-view! The pay-per-view broadcast begins at 6:00pm PST/9:00pm EST and is available via DirecTV, The Dish Network, TVN, Bell Express Vu, and Viewer’s Choice. For more information on pay-per-view availability, check your local listings.

    For tickets, go to www.ticketsplus.net or call 1-800-585-3737.



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