Tuesday, September 29 11:11 pm PT: When Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney announced that his ESPN Deportes-housed fight promotion would go on sabbatical in order to take advantage of a major (and still unannounced) new TV deal, he promised that his champions wouldn’t be left in the lurch. Lightweight title holder Eddie Alvarez fights on October’s Dream 11 card; now Hector Lombard has a date.
According to MMAWeekly, Lombard has a scheduled brutalizing of Kalib Starnes locked in for October 9 in Queensland, Australia. Considering the relative skills and career projections of each, this isn’t much more than a glorified sparring session. (You’ll remember that Starnes’ fight with Nate Quarry will go down in infamy as unwatchable thanks to his paralyzed offense. )
Tuesday, September 29 1:45 pm PT: There’s some irony to be found in Kimbo Slice’s media tour this week: only a year after Dana White described his EliteXC run as a farcical, desperate bit of circus, Slice is fielding media calls and appearing on the Jimmy Fallon show -- all in the service of his Wednesday fight under the UFC banner.
White’s out, of course, is that he always insisted Slice would only get an Octagon invite if he appeared on “The Ultimate Fighter” series, and that’s exactly what happened. But before Slice has thrown a single (public) punch, with no audience comprehension of what he did or didn’t do on the show, he’s been as prevalent a figure as any of the fighters on their roster. Curious push for a guy who White once believed would fail in a fight against his lightweight champion, B.J. Penn.
White’s time in front of a microphone often winds up being in total dichotomy to what happens later. It’s a promoter’s job to run up his product and run down the competition, but I wonder at what point his universal critique of everything not labeled “UFC” will become white noise.
Tuesday, September 29 9:52 am PT: I emasculated myself for the good of this space last week in order to provide thoughtful analysis of Chuck Liddell’s debut on “Dancing with the Stars,” a program meant for people who pet bunnies and go for Sunday drives. And I still haven’t stopped lactating.
Despite having the dancing agility of a crippled Quasimodo, Liddell has somehow made it to week two of the series. (A tap-by-tap of his training can be found here.) And if you thought you were disturbed last week, this week’s Tango with Liddell doing a full-on “Iceman” pose and wearing a Colorforms on his head might’ve given you a temperature.
I’d go on, but Colonel Kurtz said it best. The results show airs tonight.
Tuesday, September 29 9:26 am PT: Biting off a little bit more than what’s chewable: after spending several years sticking to a barely-bimonthly schedule, World Extreme Cagefighting President Reed Harris told MMAWeekly.com that his umbrella was planning on holding one show a month from now “until next summer.”
Considering their focus is exclusively on the 155 lb. and under categories, this would appear to be stretching product thin enough to cover a snare drum. But a little logic peeks through: with both Miguel Torres and Urijah Faber ousted as champions, the promotion effectively has twice as many headliners in those divisions as they did before. Title fights take top billing, but both Torres and Faber carry enough weight to carry their own cards.
That takes care of the event posters -- but trying to flesh out monthly dates with their current roster might mean some very flimsy preliminary bouts.
Tuesday, September 29 2:07 am PT: There are some people who are going to need a lot of convincing that Brett Rogers is a suitable contender for Fedor Emelianenko’s best-fighter-in-the-history-of-ever crown. And if they can’t muster it, then maybe they’ll at least appreciate the effort: Newsday spoke with Rogers recently, and his stature as a blue-collar entry came through loud and clear.
"Don't [piss] off a family guy," Rogers said. "This right now, this is what puts food on the table. I have to get in there and try to knock your head off. I don't care how it's going to go down, but that's all I'm thinking about."
What happens to Rogers if he performs the unlikely feat of dethroning Emelianenko? Probably an immediate rematch. Less cynicism? OK: more than likely, a bout with Fabricio Werdum, and -- later -- Roger Gracie, a name Strikeforce signed months ago but has been unable to exploit until recently.
