Thursday, July 30 5:12 pm PT: Javier Vazquez will square off against IFL veteran L.C. Davis in a featherweight bout on Aug. 9 at WEC 42 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
The bout had originally been scheduled to take place at Affliction “Trilogy” on Aug. 1 in Anaheim, Calif. However, Affliction cancelled the event on July 24.
Vazquez, a former King of the Cage and Gladiator Challenge champion, said the bout will kick off a five-fight contract he agreed to with the promotion on Thursday.
Thursday, July 30 3:21 pm PT: The on again, off again Josh Thomson-Gilbert Melendez bout is officially off Strikeforce’s Aug. 15 card. A text message sent by organization spokesman Mike Afromowitz stated that doctors would not clear Thomson for the fight.
Melendez (15-2) will now square off against Mitsuhiro Ishida in a five-round rematch for the interim Strikeforce lightweight title. Ishida (18-5-1) defeated Melendez in a 2007 New Year’s Eve contest in Japan, giving him his first defeat as a professional.
Thursday, July 30 2:28 pm PT: As part of her media gauntlet in anticipation of an August 15 bout with Cristiane Santos, Gina Carano recently spoke with ESPN the Magazine staffer Ryan Hockensmith; a preview of their August 10 issue may prompt some male discomfort. You’ve been warned.
"I try not to schedule fights the week I'll be on my period,” she told Hockensmith. (Who, I presume, nodded solemnly and tried not to shift in his seat.) “Making weight is hard enough and during our period, we may retain around seven pounds of water weight. Plus bruises hurt more, you're bloated and cramping and emotionally, it's tougher to battle through the training.”
Carano also mentioned she wears three sports bras during a fight. Considering the rash of low-blow interruptions in events, maybe male combatants would do well to consider a three-cup rule.
Rashad Evans joins MMA Live to help breakdown the collapse of Affliction and the impact on their fighters. In addition, will Tito Ortiz return to the UFC? The crew discusses that idea, as well as a preview of Sengoku 9 and an interview with Miguel Torres.
Thursday, July 30 10:38 am PT: Forrest Griffin has roughly 10 days before he steps in the ring with Anderson Silva, and as per the usual, he’s preparing with a mixture of self-deprecation and buried confidence.
“I was watching tapes and saying, ‘Man, he’s making really good guys just look really bad,’” Griffin told a UFC.com camera crew. “How do you beat Anderson Silva? I’m going to try to push the pace a bit, [offer] some intelligent aggression.”
This fight could come down to Griffin simply being too damn big, strong, and hardnosed for Silva to deal with. James Irvin -- who last fought Silva at 205 -- chose to play Silva’s Muay Thai game, which is roughly as intelligent as opposing a machete with a linoleum knife. If Griffin can force Silva to carry his weight for a round or two and stay out of trouble on the ground, winning a decision is not that unthinkable.
M-1 antagonist Vadim Finkelstein regurgitated what he’s been saying for years: that there’s no opportunity to pair up with the UFC unless they agree to a “co-promotion” with M-1, which is not unlike petitioning McDonald’s for a job while insisting you wear a Five Guys t-shirt on duty. (And that analogy is being far too kind to M-1.)
Typing, hearing, or reading the words “Fedor” and “UFC” is the same sentence is beginning to wear on my nerves, and I suspect the same is true for most of the sport’s fanbase. Emelianenko might be able to squeeze a year or two out of fighting stray heavyweights in Japan or on Strikeforce/CBS -- presuming that network would help with his purse demands -- but even casual observers understand that the majority of threats in his division are under Zuffa’s banner.
I’m behind Emelianenko in any efforts to squeeze Zuffa for every ruble they’ve got. Like any fighter, the only pension he owns is the one he makes for himself. But being reduced to a pawn -- and worse, irrelevancy -- in his management’s efforts to broadcast their M-1 brand could wind up being one of the ugliest footnotes in the sport’s short history.
