The Future of Fighting Blog

UFN 13 is perhaps the most stacked of any Fight Night in history. The show’s impressive line-up includes Kenny Florian vs. Joe Lauzon, Houston Alexander vs. James Irvin, Stephan Bonnar vs. Matt Hamill, Thiago Alves vs. Karo Parisyan, Marcus Aurelio vs. Spencer Fisher, and Sami Schiavo vs. Clay Guida.

The show is going to be 3 hours long! Going to three hours means we will get to see at least the pay-per-view minimum five bouts. Although with that card, we will more than likely get six to seven. (I mean does anyone really expect Alexander vs. Irvin to go longer than sixty seconds?)

Looking at that line-up, there isn’t a single fight that does not belong on television. UFN 13 is set to air on Wednesday, April 2.

After a week full of last-second changes and the usual pre-fight message board hysteria, EliteXC and Strikeforce will put together another joint event this Saturday at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif.

While the Showtime-televised headliner (9 p.m. ET/PT) is the long-awaited middleweight title clash between Frank Shamrock (Pictures) and Cung Le (Pictures), we’ll also get to see the stateside return of the man they call Tequila, MMA’s answer to Vinnie Jones and plenty of Gary Shaw-approved action.

So read on and discover how MMA relates to Lara Flynn Boyle’s weight, Howard Hughes’ brain and the Amish.

No, seriously. All bases are covered, and I even remembered to do that whole prognostication thing this time around.

Frank Shamrock (Pictures) vs. Cung Le (Pictures)

Self-professed MMA legend Frank Shamrock (Pictures) and sanshou disciple Cung Le (Pictures) aren’t fighting just to determine who will hold the Strikeforce middleweight title. Also up for grabs is the oh-so-delicious right to serve the loser heaping platefuls of Grade A crow.

Neither man has been particularly shy about ratcheting up the pre-fight smack talk, and on the rare occasions that they’ve remained silent, their vociferous fan bases have more than picked up the slack.

In Shamrock’s case, his fans and self-promotion have been the only things keeping his once great career alive. At one time the sport’s pound-for-pound kingpin, Shamrock (24-8-1) helped carry the UFC through its pay-per-view dark age but never caught any of the post-Zuffa windfall thanks to his difficult relationship with Dana White.

Long stretches of inactivity were exacerbated by Shamrock’s diva-like behavior and excessive contract demands. Those requirements were ultimately satisfied by Strikeforce because of its need for a name attraction that could reel in the booming California MMA community.

Shamrock has certainly succeeded as one of Strikeforce’s local meal tickets, but his in-cage exploits have left something to be desired. An utterly pointless knockout win over MMA neophyte Cesar Gracie (Pictures) set the table for a match with Renzo Gracie (Pictures) that Shamrock lost via disqualification.

To hear Shamrock tell the story, you’d think he was putting on the performance of a lifetime, but Renzo appeared to be on his way to debunking the Shamrock legend.

Regardless, a rematch never materialized and Shamrock instead went on to thrash Phil Baroni (Pictures) thanks to the “New York Bad Ass” once again forgetting the importance of conditioning as it relates to physical activity.

The task of knocking Shamrock from his lofty perch now falls on the shoulders of the lone Strikeforce acquisition who can challenge Shamrock’s frenzied fans with equally rabid supporters of his own.

Of course, throwing double roundhouse kicks with regularity will endear you to many a fan, and Cung Le (Pictures) (5-0) has had no issues thus far incorporating his flashy and unorthodox sanshou techniques into MMA.

One of America’s finest sanshou competitors, Le has managed the transition to full-blown fighting quite well. He has dispatched a rogue’s gallery of MMA veterans, including Sam Morgan (Pictures) and Tony Fryklund (Pictures), with relative ease.

The days of careful matchmaking and star building are at an end, however. Against Shamrock, Le puts his undefeated record on the line against an opponent who not only holds an edge in big-fight experience but also is well equipped to test the effectiveness of Le’s unconventional style.

Say what you will about Shamrock — I certainly have — but the man is a master strategist who excels at finding the holes in his opponent’s style. When there are no holes to be found, Shamrock’s willingness to ride out the action and rely on his conditioning to win the day is well documented.

Those are two factors that do not bode well for Le, who has shown in past bouts that his offensive grappling skills are about as strong as Liza Minelli‘s grip on reality. In other words, relying on spin kicks and the odd suplex here and there won’t get the job done for five rounds against an opponent as versatile as Shamrock.

Even if Le can keep Shamrock at bay with those crowd-pleasing kicks and throws, we’ve seen MMA’s Mr. Sanshou show signs of suspect conditioning in the past. Particularly against Sam Morgan (Pictures), who made it to the third round despite spending most of the bout flailing about like a subpar interpretive dancer.

The early going could be interesting while Le gets his Jean Claude Van Damme on, but it’s a matter of time before Shamrock takes his undersized quarry to the mat and exposes Le’s nonexistent grappling ability.

Expect to hear all about Shamrock’s win during his post-fight interview, news conference, media tour and subsequent hijacking of every known broadcast spectrum in the world.

Current World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight Leonard Garcia was arrested on Tuesday in connection with an investigation into an alleged drug trafficking ring, according to a report by KCBD in Lubbock, Tex.

If convicted, three of the suspects could face up to 40 years in prison and a $2 million fine, while the others arrested could face life in prison and up to a $4 million dollar fine.

Five years, eleven fights, and five titles after joining the Ultimate Fighting Championship, it appears that Tim Sylvia is leaving the Octagon.

Since Fedor Emelianenko’s exit from M-1, the organization is without marquee talent. Despite Sylvia’s hot/cold relationship with fans, Cox is likely to be first in line for his services.

NBC has partnered with Strikeforce to air a weekly fight series called “Strikeforce on NBC,” the network announced Thursday. The show will premiere April 12 from 2-2:30 a.m. ET/PT, following “Poker After Dark.” “Mixed martial arts has exploded onto the sports scene,” said NBC Universal Television Executive Vice President Jerry Petry in a news release. “Its athletes are tremendous competitors, and the sport is one of the fastest growing in the world. As a leader in this arena, Strikeforce will be able to deliver some of the finest and most intense action ever seen on broadcast TV.” Kevin Cusick of KC Productions will produce the series in conjunction with Carr-Hughes Productions. Each episode will feature fights from Strikeforce, highlights and fighter profiles. The premiere will include a June 2006 bout between Cung Le (Pictures) and Brian Warren (Pictures), Duane Ludwig (Pictures)’s December 2006 match against Tony Fryklund(Pictures) and a profile of Le. “It’s truly an honor to have the opportunity to bring the Strikeforce mixed martial arts product to one of the longest-standing and most well-respected national television platforms,” said Strikeforce Chief Executive Officer Scott Coker. “NBC has a history of popular late Saturday TV, and in the ‘80s NBC’s ‘Saturday Night’s Main Event’ show helped catapult the popularity of professional wrestling. Strikeforce is looking to follow in suit and establish a legacy of its own on the network.”

Dream on Thursday announced some of the match-ups for the first round of its Middleweight Grand Prix set to start on April 29 at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan.Despite speculation that he would not be participating, legendary fighter Kazushi Sakuraba will return to action after back-to-back wins to face the relatively unknown Andrews Nakahara. In his last fight out, Sakuraba finished Masakatsu Funaki by kimura during the K-1 New Year’s Eve show to close out 2007.Former Pride middleweight, Denis Kang will face Gegard Mousasi in another first round match-up. Kang will be returning for the first time since suffering a knockout loss to Yoshihiro Akiyama. Mousasi is currently riding a seven-fight win streak, competing in multiple promotions including Bodog Fight and Hardcore Fighting Championships. The final bout announced pits Kiyoshi Tamura against Masakatsu Funaki. Tamura most recently defeated Hideo Tokoro at the K-1 New Year’s Eve show. As previously mentioned, Funaki lost to Sakuraba in his last fight, which was his first professional competition in over seven years. Other fighters expected to participate include Yoshihiro Akiyama, Dong-Sik Yoon, Taiei Kin, Shungo Oyama, and Ikuhisa Minowa.More bouts are expected to be announced soon. 

Nick Diaz (Pictures) will not fight Saturday night in San Jose, Calif., nor will he collect the $50,000 purse he was set to receive for his bout against South Korea’s Jae Suk Lim (Pictures). California State Athletic Commission executive officer Armando Garcia made that determination Wednesday. Why? It depends on whom you ask. ”He did not turn in his medical information in time for the fight,” said Garcia, confirming an MMAWeekly report that Diaz was removed from the Showtime-televised card. “They were just turned in today.” Late Wednesday evening, however, EliteXC President Gary Shaw, who promotes Diaz, disputed Garcia’s account. ”He never mentioned anything about late medicals,” said Shaw. “And if there were late medicals it wasn’t because of Nick Diaz and it wasn’t because of EliteXC.” The issue, as described to him by Garcia, said Shaw, was Diaz’s prescription for medical marijuana, which is legal in California based on the Compassionate Use Act of 1996. ”He’s got a medical marijuana card,” confirmed Diaz’s manager Cesar Gracie (Pictures), who mentioned Attention Deficit Disorder as the cause for the prescription. ”Nick is a naturalist by heart,” said Gracie. “He thinks Ritalin is an amphetamine. He thinks that’s really bad for you. People with ADD are kind of hyper, so he has trouble sleeping. He got the medical marijuana card and he takes his pot to go to sleep and be more focused. It’s completely legal in California. Voters voted it in. The commission is actually supposed to obey that, so this will probably open up a legal case. If it was something small, OK, f—- it, whatever. But if they’re not even going to allow him to test clean, that doesn’t make sense. That’s overstepping their boundaries.” Completing paperwork on March 10 in the Los Angeles offices of Dr. Richard Gluckman — in an effort to renew his license to fight in California, Diaz underwent a battery of tests including MRI, EKG, ophthalmological, neurological, bloodwork for HIV, Hepatitis B and C, and a comprehensive physical — the 24-year-old from Stockton, Calif., noted his use of medical marijuana. Not the first mixed martial artist to list marijuana as prescribed medication on CSAC forms, Diaz included the information, said Gracie, in case a positive test arose out of the CSAC’s strict anti-doping regulations, which began almost one year ago. (Earlier this month, the California commission fined and suspended Toby Grear (Pictures), who cited the use of Marinol based on a medical marijuana prescription.) Two and a half weeks later, Garcia said he first learned of Diaz’s medical marijuana usage. As with any mention of prescribed medication taken by fighters applying for a license, Garcia said an investigation was required to determine the reason for the prescription. ”If you’re a fighter and you know you’re going to fight in a state that has a commission and they test for drugs — they have a doping program — you have to tell them way ahead of time, not three days before the weigh-in or the fight,” Garcia said. “You have to give the commission the opportunity to evaluate your ailment and the reason you were prescribed a certain drug. And if you don’t do that, you’re risking not fighting.” Shaw, who said the responsibility for filing medicals to Sacramento rested with Dr. Gluckman’s office, called Diaz’s acknowledgment of marijuana usage “entrapment.” ”He does what you ask him, and you punish him?” said a puzzled Shaw. “It’s like if you have a Ferrari and a police officer gives you a speeding ticket before you turn the key. ”It wasn’t about lateness because I say you definitely can’t pull him off if your own doctor sent it in. We have guys getting licensed today, so you know it’s an outright lie.” Garcia declined to comment on Shaw’s recollection of their conversation. Scheduled to appear on a televised bout on the undercard of Frank Shamrock (Pictures)’s tilt with Cung Le (Pictures), Diaz’s ouster from the HP Pavilion-housed event forced EliteXC to put together a bout between Lim and Drew Fickett (Pictures), who was left without an opponent when Jake Shields (Pictures) dropped out Tuesday because of a back injury. (The winner between Fickett and Lim will fight Shields for the vacant EliteXC 170-pound title.) Diaz should return to action on June 14 in Hawaii, said EliteXC Vice President Jared Shaw. The brash 160-pounder is no stranger to mixing marijuana and MMA. In March of last year the Nevada State Athletic Commission suspended, fined and stripped Diaz of his win over Takanori Gomi (Pictures) after testing positive for THC levels more than three times the accepted limit.

World Extreme Cagefighting on Wednesday officially announced the highly anticipated featherweight showdown between current champion Urijah Faber and challenger Jens Pulver. The bout will headline the promotion’s June 1 event at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, Calif.

A featherweight bout between Top 10 fighter Jeff Curran and American Top Team’s Mike Brown is also expected on the card, but has not been confirmed by the WEC.

Phil Baroni has singed to face Murilo “Ninja” Rua as part of the first ever ElilteXC-CBS Saturday Night Fights show taking place in New Jersey on May 31, independent sources close to the fight have confirmed to MMAWeekly.com

The middleweight bout will serve as part of the undercard to a main event featuring EliteXC heavyweight Kimbo Slice against an as of yet unnamed opponent. EliteXC has also announced a title bout between Lawler and Scott Smith as part of the May 31 fight card.

Jake Shields (Pictures) will not fight Drew Fickett (Pictures) in San Jose, Calif., this Saturday.

The ranked welterweight withdrew from his EliteXC 170-pound title fight Tuesday morning after his father and manager, Jack Shields, determined that a weakened lower back could hamper the highly-regarded San Franciscan during the bout.

“I kept going back and forth thinking I could tough it out and get through it hurt,” said Shields, who told Sherdog.com the injury occurred last week as he performed cardio drills with a heavy hammer. “I felt maybe when I’m warm and suck it up, it wouldn’t hurt during the fight. I thought I could ignore it. But my dad was worried I’d throw it out bad doing that.”

Bed ridden for several days, Shields, 29, said the injury improved to the point where he could walk on his own, but “can’t quite workout.”

Shields, a newly promoted Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Cesar Gracie (Pictures), was scheduled to fight Fickett in a featured bout on the Showtime-televised co-promotion between EliteXC and Strikeforce.

“I was in great, great shape,” said Shields (20-4-1). “I was feeling unstoppable until I threw my back out. But I guess it’s better to dominate Fickett than go out there and lose because I’m hurt.”

EliteXC promoter Gary Shaw told Sherdog.com that Fickett (32-5) would likely moved to the undercard. According to Fickett’s manager, Bryan Hamper of XR Fighting Management, event promoters are in the process of looking for a licensed opponent to fight the 28-year-old Arizona-based UFC veteran.

A new date for Shields-Fickett has not been determined, said Shaw, who confirmed it will not take place on the May 31 card on CBS.

Tommy Messano contributed to this report