Sunday, September 20 1:56 pm PT: TOKYO -- Yoichiro Sato took a questionable technical knockout win over Yoshitaro Niimi in the Shooting Disco 10 “Twist & Shooto” main event on Sunday at Shinjuku Face.
Niimi was eager to get in and throw hands with Sato, but his lunging punches only earned him stiff left hooks and right straight counters from Sato. Though Niimi got the fight down briefly, the punches combined with the hard low kicks that Sato slammed into Niimi’s legs left little doubt by the end of the first frame that Sato was in control.
UFC president Dana White spoke about a potential matchup between middleweight champion Anderson Silva and former light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort after the latter pounded out Rich Franklin in the main event of UFC 103.
Speaking at the post-fight press conference, White said he felt Belfort was ready for the challenge and that it made sense to put him in with Silva right away. Belfort admitted he is friends with Silva, but feels he is ready to fight for the championship.
Silva’s manager Ed Soares informed Sherdog.com that Silva would indeed be going under the knife in the near future,
Sunday, September 20 12:01 am PT: The UFC heads to Texas tonight for its hundredth-something
broadcast. And since there’s all the chance in the world the audience
in the arena will be armed, it had better be good.
Already, local news has gotten cranky about their presence, with
Dallas Morning News columnist Tim Cowlishaw getting his diapers
in a sailor's knot over it. Cowlishaw passed on a ringside seat
offered by UFC brass in order to watch a college football game on
television. If only some kind of recording device were available.
Sunday, September 20 12:00 am PT: Ben Smithdefeated Kiane Sabet for the inaugural superfight heavyweight title Saturday to conclude Ultimate Challenge “Mayhem” at the Troxy theatre in London.
Nightclub entrepreneur Sabet, in his first professional fight for a decade, began strongly, utilizing his superior strength to brush off Smith’s repeated takedown attempts and land some solid strikes.
However, when Smith succeeded in taking the fight to the ground, it became clear that Sabet’s prolonged period of inactivity had not been spent grappling. Smith effortlessly transitioned from side control to mount, locking in an arm-triangle choke that Sabet aided in tightening by rolling Smith on to his side. Sabet succumbed to the choke at 3:09 of the first round.
