UFC Quick Quote: Is Frank Murr scurred to fight Brock Lesnar?

“I’m a little disappointed that [the fight against Frank Mir] got pushed back. In my mind … is Frank really hurt or is he just scared”… He won a make-believe belt from [Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro”] Nogueira. He is a former champion. But there’s no ifs, ands or buts about it — I’m the current champion.”

– UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar on a recent appearance on “Inside MMA”

“The way my leg feels now, in hindsight, I could have made May 23.”

– UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir remarks during yesterday’s WEC 40 Q&A session

– UFC champions Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir sound off about the knee injury to Frank Mir, which delayed their title unification bout at UFC 98 on May 23. The giants are now set to collide at UFC 100 on July 11. Lesnar questions whether or not Mir, who defeated Lesnar via first round submission in their first encounter, was serious enough to postpone the match. Simultaneously, Mir admits that he probably could have been ready to compete next month. This could be chalked up to being “better safe than sorry” rather than Mir being scurred. But I guess we’ll see on fight night when it all plays out once and for all.

‘Five Rounds’ with WEC Bantamweight Champion Miguel Torres (Video)

Michael Bisping ‘too quick’ and ‘too fast’ for Dan Henderson at UFC 100

Props: Telegraph.co.uk

Quoteworthy:

“Spending so much time around him has given me confidence. Obviously I grew up in MMA watching Dan Henderson fight and he was a hero for me. I watched him win two belts in two weight divisions [in Pride FC]. I am looking forward to the fight and I’m going in really confident that he is going to lose … in fact I know he is going to lose. I am going to win every minute of every round for the whole fight. I am going to be too quick for him, too fast. His striking is no where near my level. All I’ve got to watch out for is a big right hand and the clinch. As long as I avoid that I think it’s my fight to lose.”

The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 3 light heavyweight winner, Michael Bisping, keeps up the confidence as his showdown with Dan Henderson at UFC 100 on July 11 draws closer. “The Count” has been talking a good game to promote the middlweight showdown, saying previously that Henderson is “nowhere near his level.” In this interview, Bisping once again takes a shot at another top contender, Demian Maia, calling him a “one-trick” pony who he would “stuff like a Christmas Turkey” is the two ever met inside the Octagon. The winner of the match up between Bisping and Henderson, as well as Maia, are the front runners to challenge for the 185-pound title next. The next few months should be very interesting for the suddenly crowded middleweight class.

Sakurai Stuns Aoki, Monson and Shaolin Score Wins at DREAM.8

(Hayato Sakurai vs. Shinya Aoki. Listen for the Japanese version of Frank Trigg calling the action at the 1:20-1:27 mark of the video.)

The opening round of DREAM’s 2009 welterweight grand prix went down today at DREAM.8 in Nagoya, Japan, with Hayato Sakurai and Andre Galvao establishing themselves as early favorites to go all the way. In the evening’s main event, Sakurai was able to defeat Shinya Aoki for the second time in his career, reversing position after a slick takedown from Aoki, then unleashing a brutal series of knees to the head and punches that forced a stop to the action just 27 seconds into the fight. Aoki, who didn’t bother putting on weight for the match, hopefully learned that he’s better off at lightweight.

Elsewhere in the welterweight GP, Andre Galvao looked impressive yet again, taking out UFC/WEC vet John Alessio by armbar at 7:34 of the first round; the powerful jiu-jitsu ace increases his record to 3-0, with all wins by armbar. Jason High was able to bounce back to the W column with a quick choke-out of Yuya Shirai, while Marius Zaromskis edged out Seichi Ikemoto by decision after a 15-minute slugfest.

In the non-tournament bouts, Jeff Monson won for the third time in three weeks (!), using his significant grappling advantage over Sergei Kharitonov to sink in a north-south choke early in the first round. Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro was also victorious in his return to competition, controlling Katsuhiko Nagata for most of the first round of their match until a series of knee-strikes from Ribeiro opened up a nasty gash on Nagata’s head; doctors immediately went in to check the wound, and decided to stop the fight. And in a minor upset, Riki Fukuda — a late replacement for Dong Sik Yoon — was able to score a very close decision over Murilo Rua after a 15-minute standup battle.

Full results and more videos after the jump…

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DREAM 8 results and quick recap

Japan’s Fighting & Entertainment Group (FEG) this morning blew up the Nippon Gaishi Hall in Nagoya, Japan, for the DREAM 8 event that was stacked with a solid main card and plethora of intriguing match ups in its 2009 Welterweight Grand Prix.

The pinnacle of the event was of course the much anticipated showdown between Japanese mainstays and not-so-bitter rivals Shinya Aoki and Hayato Sakurai.

And like BJ Penn, “The Tobikan Judan” found out that moving up from lightweight to challenge the boys at welterweight isn’t as easy as it looks.

“Mach” would finish the fight quickly, putting an exclamation mark on the bout with some vicious ground and pound and deadly knees that would leave Aoki out cold before he even had chance to contemplate working some of his ground magic.

Speaking of grappling chops, jiu-jitsu phenom Andre Galvao progressed to the next stage of the tournament by dominating his fight on the ground and eventually submitting opponent John Alessio by armbar late into the opening stanza.

Marius Zaromskis and Seichi Ikemoto had an all-out war that saw its share of crazy moments, such as Zaromskis trying to backflip into Ikemoto’s guard. The bout would go the distance where all three judges saw in favor of Zaromskis for the win.

And the last spot in the Welterweight GP semifinals was earned by Jason High, who dominated Yuya Shirai from the get-go, coming out strong and landing a flurry of punches which would knock down Shirai and allow High to take his back and choke him unconscious.

In a carry over from DREAM 7, Daiki Hata garnered a decision victory over Hideo Tokoro for the final spot in the 2009 Featherweight GP.

“DJ.taiki” must now make a quick turn around and get set to compete again in just one month’s time at DREAM 9 where he’ll join the likes of Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto (17-1), Masakazu Imanari (16-6-1), Hiroyuki Takaya (10-6-1), Yoshiro Maeda (24-6-2), Abel Cullum (14-2), Joe Warren (1-0) and Bibiano Fernandes (4-2).

Heading up the non-grand prix portion of the card was submission specialist Jeff Monson, who made short work of Russian gladiator Sergei Kharitonov, forcing the Russian to tap with a north-south choke early into round one.

Making his debut for DREAM was former PRIDE standout Murilo “Ninja” Rua. Unfortunately it was not a successful outing and he was outpointed via decision by last-minute replacement Riki Fukuda.

Vitor Ribeiro got back into the thick of it after a 19-month layoff from competition. He faced off against Olympic Greco-Roman silver medalist Katsuhiko Nagata.

“Shaolin” would end up winning — although it probably wasn’t the most satisfying of victories. The bout was drawn to a close because of a cut sustained to Nagata.

Ribeiro looked to be suffering from a little ring rust. He had Nagata mounted and rattled off numerous submission attempts but the four-time CBJJ winner decided to ditch his bread and butter and instead focus on ground and pound, eventually leading to the fight ending laceration.

Here are the official results for DREAM 8:

Main card:
Jeff Monson (30-8) defeated Sergei Kharitonov (16-4) by north south choke (1:42-R1)
Katsuyori Shibata (3-6-1) defeated Ikuhisa Minowa (41-30-8) via unanimous decision
Riki Fukuda (14-4) defeated Murilo Rua (16-10-1) via unanimous decision
Andrews Nakahara (2-1) defeated Shungo Oyama (7-12) by TKO (Strikes) (2:09-R1)
Vitor Ribeiro (20-2) defeated Katsuhiko Nagata (4-5-1) by TKO (Cut) (7:58-R1)

Welterweight Grand Prix:
Hayato Sakurai (35-8-2) defeated Shinya Aoki (20-4) by TKO (Knees & Strikes) (0:27-R1)
Andre Galvao (3-0) defeated John Alessio (24-13) by armbar (7:34-R1)
Jason High (7-1) defeated Yuya Shirai (15-8) by rear naked choke (0:59-R1)
Marius Zaromskis (9-2) defeated Seichi Ikemoto (18-15-5) via unanimous decision

Featherweight Grand Prix:
Daiki Hata (11-5-3) defeated Hideo Tokoro (21-16-1) via unanimous decision

The event will be shown stateside courtesy of HDNet on Friday, April 10, at 10 p.m. ET. In the meantime, be sure to keep it locked in to MMAmania.com for coverage surrounding the second round of the DREAM Featherweight Grand Prix scheduled for May 26.

UFC Fight Night 18 replay on Spike TV today at 1 p.m. ET

Props: UFC.com

WEC 40 weigh in results for ‘Torres vs Mizugaki’

The official weigh-ins for WEC 40: “Torres vs Mizugaki” are complete for the event that is set to go off from the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois, this Sunday night (April 5).

All 20 fighters set to compete on the card tipped the scales on Saturday afternoon — though not everyone escaped the event without incident.

Lightweights Ben Henderson and Anthony Njokuani, as well as featherweight Jameel Massouh all needed a second attempt to hit their respective marks.

And featherweight Mike Budnik didn’t even come close. He plopped down at a hefty three pounds over the limit in his first and only attempt — forcing the bout to be converted to a catchweight of 149 lbs.

Bantamweight champion Miguel Torres will put his 16-fight winning streak on the line when he faces Japanese import and Shooto veteran Takeya Mizugaki in the main event.

WEC 40 is scheduled to air live on the Versus network beginning at 9pm ET on fight night.

Here are the complete WEC 40 weigh in results:

Main Card:
Miguel Torres (135) vs. Takeya Mizugaki (135)
Joseph Benavidez (134) vs. Jeff Curran (135)
Ben Henderson (156) vs. Shane Roller (156)
Rafael Assuncao (145.5) vs. Jameel Massouh (146)

Under Card:
Anthony Njokuani (156) vs. Bart Palaszewski (155)
Dominick Cruz (135) vs. Ivan Lopez (134.5)
Wagnney Fabiano (146) vs. Fredson Paixao (144)
Eddie Wineland (135) vs. Rani Yahya (136)
Akitoshi Tamura (135.5) vs. Manny Tapia (135.5)
Mike Budnik (149) vs. Rafael Dias (145)

Note: Fighters are allowed to weigh one pound more than the division limit in non-title fights.

Remember, MMAmania.com will provide live coverage of the action on fight night beginning with the 9pm ET telecast on Versus, as well as up-to-the minute quick results of the entire under card earlier in the evening.

Check in early and often.

In the meantime, feel free to leave your WEC 40-related thoughts and predictions in the comments section below. For more on WEC 40 be sure to hit up our archive for the promotion right here.

Thanks to CombatLifestyle.com for the weigh-in pic.

WEC 40: The Miguel Torres Show

It’s not just that Miguel Torres is the WEC’s 135-pound champ and considered the best in his weight class, it’s that no one has really even come close to defeating him. Sunday night’s fight fare will be another installment of the WEC – WEC 40: “Torres vs. Mizugaki” to be exact – and as the name implies, it’s another chance for fans and pundits around the world to gaze upon the greatest mullet-sporting fighter of our time. How will the man with 36 wins and only one loss on his record claim his victory this time? As he did with Manny Tapia and Yoshiro Maeda, will Torres use his superior striking to pick apart Shooto and Cage Force veteran Takeya Mizugaki on the feet? Or, as he did with Chase Beebe and Jeff Bedard, will Torres draw upon his superior submission game and force the Japanese wrestler to tap out? Does it matter? As usual, Torres is going to enter the cage in the UIC Pavilion in Chicago with his belt, and he’s going to leave with it not long after.

Although Torres may have the bantamweight belt well secured, top contender status is pretty much up for grabs. Enter aging jiu-jitsu ace Jeff Curran, making his 135-pound debut, and Joseph Benavidez, wrestler and training partner to Urijah Faber. Curran didn’t have much luck taking on Faber for the 145-pound title back at WEC 31, but his edge in experience should play a deciding factor when he and Benavidez clash. Look for him to snag a submission at some point, and when he meets up with Torres down the road, look for him to get forced into retirement.

As featherweight match-ups go, American Top Team ground specialist Rafael Assuncao could have had a tougher one, but apparently someone up there likes him, as WEC 40 will see him paired up against an experienced but overmatched Jameel Massouh. Massouh has racked up wins against mediocre talent in Pancrase and back home in Wisconsin’s Freestyle Combat Challenge, but Assuncao… Assuncao has epic grappling skills that have enabled him to defeat the likes of Joe Lauzon and Jorge Masvidal in his career. He’s going to get Massouh down and tie him in a knot.

At lightweight, Shane Roller and Benson Henderson will be two of the heaviest fighters on the card – but don’t expect heavyweight fireworks. Roller is an up-and-comer with solid wrestling and Henderson a lanky, submission-savvy scrapper. The smart money is on Roller, who’s beaten tougher competition in Mike Budnik and Todd Moore; however, with both men on the low end of the 155-pound weight class totem pole, a win or loss for either man won’t be earth-shattering.

There are, inexplicably, superior fighters lingering in the darkness of the preliminary bouts. Former IFL lightweight star Bart Palaszewski will be playing the role of last-minute replacement to take on no-namer Anthony Njokuani, bantamweight jiu-jitsu master Rani Yahya will be squaring off against the always-dangerous Eddie Wineland, and IFL featherweight monster Wagnney Fabiano will meet Fredson Paixao in the cage. Why these bouts are on the undercard defies logic. Hopefully, there will be time on the “Miguel Torres Show” for some of these match-ups to be shown.

DREAM 8 Preview

The card for Japan’s Fighting & Entertainment Group (FEG) next event, “DREAM 8″ has been finalized and is set to go down this Sunday, April 5, from the Nippon Gaishi Hall in Nagoya, Japan.

For fans in the states it will be broadcasted on HDNet at a later date — Friday, April 10, at 10 p.m. ET.

The event will kick off the promotions upcoming welterweight grand prix, which will, of course, boast the highly anticipated meeting between Japanese mainstays Shinya Aoki and Hayato “Mach” Sakurai.

The two have fought once before back at Shooto: “Alive Road” in 2005, which would see Sakurai garner a close decision victory over the “Tobikan Judan.”

Aoki will get his shot at trying to avenge that loss and will also be looking to make a statement as he moves up in weight from Lightweight (154 lbs.) in a quest for Welterweight (168 lbs.) supremacy.

Also competing in the tournament will be jiu-jitsu ace Andre Galvao, whose ground game may be able to give Aoki’s a run for it’s money should they meet somewhere down the line.

Galvao will first have to get past veteran of the sport John Alessio, which is no easy task especially for someone who’s still somewhat new to the world of mixed martial arts.

Rounding up the rest of the tournament will be Yuya Shirai clashing with Jason High and also Seichi Ikemoto up against Marius Zaromskis.

Important to note that Shirai and Ikemoto actually had to fight there way into the Tournament. With Shirai defeating Yoon Young Kim at DEEP “clubDEEP Tokyo: Protect Cup Final” While Ikemoto earned his spot by destroying Hidetaka Monma (15-9-3) at DEEP “40 Impact.”

Heading up the non-grand prix portion of the card will be submission specialist Jeff Monson who makes a quick return to action against Sergei Kharitonov. This will be Monson’s third fight in just 2 weeks.

He recently competed on Roy Jones Jr.’s boxing & mixed martial arts hybrid card ‘March Badness’ where he scraped a controversial decision over Roy Nelson (13-4) on March 21.

Then only a week later he would end up submitting Sergej Maslobojev (3-4) by anaconda choke at “Cage Wars Championship: Decade.”

Now he’s been put up to the task of facing off against the very dangerous Sergei Kharitonov. Who unlike Monson has had adequate time to rest for the bout … seven months to be exact. His last outing saw him give Jimmy Ambriz (13-11-1) a stern thrashing at ‘DREAM 6′ last September.

Featherweights Hideo Tokoro and Daiki Hata will conclude the opening round of the 2009 Featherweight Grand Prix that was held at DREAM 7.

“DJ.taiki” needed the extra month to recover from a recent eye injury, thus pushing his bout with Tokoro to April 5.

In his first trip to Japan since the demise of PRIDE, Murilo “Ninja” Rua will make his debut for DREAM against DEEP veteran Riki Fukuda after Strikeforce reportedly opted to pass on his acquired EliteXC contract.

Also on the card will be Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro who makes a long awaited return back to fighting.

He has not been seen on the mixed martial arts circuit since ‘K-1 Hero’s 10′ which took place in September of 2007. Where he would end up being the victim of a quick and thorough beatdown courtesy of Gesias “JZ” Calvacante.

The punishment received in that bout would result in a detached retina that required surgery and has kept Ribeiro on the sidelines ever since.

Now he ‘eyes’ a return to action and will meet Olympic Greco-Roman silver medalist Katsuhiko Nagata.

Here is the official card for “DREAM 8:”

Welterweight Grand Prix Quarterfinals:

Shinya Aoki (20-3) vs. Hayato “Mach” Sakurai (34-8-2)
Andre Galvao (2-0) vs. John Alessio (24-12)
Yuya Shirai (15-7) vs. Jason High (6-1)
Marius Zaromskis (8-2) vs. Seichi Ikemoto (18-14-5)

Featherweight Grand Prix opening round bout:

Hideo Tokoro (21-15-1) vs. Daiki Hata (10-5-3)

Main card:

Sergei Kharitonov (16-3) vs. Jeff Monson (29-8)
Ikuhisa Minowa (41-29-8) vs. Katsuyori Shibata (2-6-1)
Murilo Ninja (16-9-1) vs. Riki Fukuda (13-4)
Andrews Nakahara (1-1) vs. Shungo Oyama (7-11)
Vitor Ribeiro (19-2) vs. Katsuhiko Nagata (4-4-1)

WEC 40 weigh-in results; Budnik misses weight

Today’s weigh-ins for WEC 40 were held at a packed ballroom at a hotel near the UIC Pavilion, host to tomorrow’s event. The Chicago crowd was loud and raucous on their hometown boys Miguel Torres and Jeff Curran. Several young students from Torres Martial Arts were on hand to cheer for the leader of their gym. 

Miguel Torres  135 lbs. vs. Takeya Mizugaki 135 lbs.

Joseph Benavidez 134 lbs. vs. Jeff Curran 135 lbs.

Ben Henderson 156 lbs. vs. Shane Roller 156 lbs. 

Rafael Assuncao 146 lbs. vs. Jameel Massouh 145.5 lbs.

Anthony Njokuani 156 lbs. vs. Bart Palaszewski 155 lbs.

Dominick Cruz 135 lbs. vs. Ivan Lopez 134.5 lbs.

Wagnney Fabiano 146 lbs. vs. Fredson Paixao 144 lbs.

Eddie Wineland 135 lbs. vs. Rani Yahya 136 lbs.

Akitoshi Tamura 135.5 lbs. vs. Manny Tapia 135.5 lbs.

Mike Budnik 149 lbs. vs. Rafael Dias 145 lbs.*

*This fight will be fought at a catch weight of 149 lbs. 

Several fighters didn’t make weight on their first try and had to strip down in order to make weight, but only Budnik didn’t make weight.

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