HDNet has five sets of tickets to give away (hotel and airfare not included) for Affliction "Trilogy," where Josh Barnett will take on Fedor Emelianenko. Go here to make your pick and enter to win.
Tuesday, June 30 4:39 pm PT: If this doesn’t build character, it’ll sure build a civil suit: The Newark Advocate reports that a Columbus, Ohio teen is in fair condition after stumbling backward and through a glass window during an MMA training drill Monday evening.
Jesse Nyhart, 16, was alleged to have been holding a training bag so classmates could practice their offense: One strike caused him to lose his balance and backpedal 12 feet through the glass. He suffered several lacerations and is now recovering in a Columbus-area hospital.
Freak accident, but not the first time a martial artist has suffered because site owners don’t think a bunch of flailing bodies should require some bars over nearby windows. Vitor Belfort had to drop out of a 2001 fight with Tito Ortiz when he shot an arm through a window in his gym.
Tuesday, June 30 12:41 pm PT: ESPN Radio 1100 squeezed UFC president Dana White for details on rumors Chuck Liddell could be making his return on September 19’s UFC 103 card in Dallas against Rich Franklin -- this comes after April’s bout with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and White being adamant Liddell was giving it up.
“Who knows? We’ll see what happens,” White said. “I can’t retire him, but he gave me his word he was going to retire.”
I’m not calling Liddell an untrustworthy guy, but considering how the majority of combat athletes have to be dragged kicking and screaming from competition, I’m not sure how much weight White expected his word to have.
Tuesday, June 30 10:18 am PT: Talking with Steve Cofield this week, interim UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir insisted that opponent Brock Lesnar’s size would be more a liability than anything in their July 11 unification bout.
"Honestly, I think big guys are easier to fight,” Mir said. “They don't move as fast, they get tired quickly and they're not as technical.”
Tuesday, June 30 7:48 am PT: It’s nice to be in demand: According to Japanese blog Nightmare of Battle, Sengoku athlete Takanori Gomi is being courted by several major stateside promotions for a summer or fall engagement.
The hold-up is -- what else -- money. Gomi is apparently balking at the discounted rate being offered by promotions mindful that he’s not much of a draw in the U.S. at this point. I wouldn’t hold my breath for resolution, either: Several Japanese athletes have flirted with overseas competition in the past, only to decide they’re better off financially staying put.
Tuesday, June 30 7:46 am PT: It is still undecided if Akihiro Gono will get to fight alongside his teammate Kazuo Misaki on Aug. 2, but he at least has an opponent now.
Sengoku parent company World Victory Road announced Tuesday that Gono's return to Japan at the promotion's "Ninth Battle" card at Saitama Super Arena would see the charismatic Grabaka representative take on tough Midwesterner Dan "The Handler" Hornbuckle in a welterweight affair.
Tuesday, June 30 12:53 am PT: Fighting, as Dana White has been repeatedly fond of saying, crosses all language and cultural barriers. If you’re human, odds are you get a primal, cathartic kick out of watching two strangers go at it. (”Strangers” being the operative word: Watch a family member or friend fight and odds are you’ll feel your stomach trying to climb out of your throat.)
According to a news release circulated Monday, the UFC is again gambling on White’s adage holding true: They’ve reached a deal with Chinese TV network NMTV to broadcast the promotion’s content “up to 16 hours a month.” If that’s met with a warm reception, it seems likely organizers would consider staging a live event there at some point in the future.
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