Bao Quach had been scheduled to fight Wilson Reis for the vacant EliteXC bantamweight (140 lbs.) title in the show’s main event. However, Reis informed Five Ounces of Pain this morning that Quach is off the card due to a facial injury.

According to Reis, King of the Cage flyweight (135 lbs.) champion Abel Cullum is expected to be named as Quach’s replacement. Reis also indicated that despite the opponent change, the vacant title will still be on the line.

Five Ounces of Pain also spoke with Ed Hsu, the manager of heavyweight Jon Murphy, who revealed that Murphy is no longer scheduled to face Shane Del Rosario on the show.

Hsu stated that Murphy is off the card for undisclosed reasons and that he was unaware if a replacement to face Del Rosario had been named.

In addition to the Reis vs. Cullum match, welterweights Matt Makowski and Erik Apple are set to square off while Malaipet Team Diamond and David “Tarzan” Douglas will do battle in a 160 lbs. lightweight contest.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com

MMAjunkie.com was the first to report the news on Wednesday.

Reis improved his record to 5-0 following a unanimous decision victory over Bryan Caraway during the SHOWTIME portion of EliteXC’s “Unfinished Business” on July 26. The 23-year renowned jiu-jitsu black belt is considered one of the top competitive grapplers in the world.

He’ll be facing an opponent in Quach, who improved his winning streak to nine following his unanimous decision victory against Mark Oshiro during ICON Sport’s “Hard Times” event on August 2. Originally known for being primarily a ground fighter, Quach’s standup has become highly respected under the tutelage of Colin Oyama.

The Sept. 26 event is also expected to feature bouts between heavyweights Jon Murphy and Shane Del Rosario as well as welterweights Matt Makowski and Erik Apple.

(Pictured: Bao Quach)

FiveOuncesOfPain.com spoke with EliteXC officials earlier in the week about the possibility of the matchup being finalized by week’s end. EliteXC has yet to officially announce the match but Reis informed his no Gi jiu-jitsu class at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu United in Jenkintown, PA on Thursday night that the fight had been finalized earlier in the day.

Reis improved his record to 5-0 following a unanimous decision victory over Bryan Caraway during the SHOWTIME portion of EliteXC’s “Unfinished Business” on July 26. The 23-year renowned jiu-jitsu black belt is considered one of the top competitive grapplers in the world.

He’ll be facing an opponent in Quach, who improved his winning streak to nine following his unanimous decision victory against Mark Oshiro during ICON Sport’s “Hard Times” event on August 2. Originally known for being primarily a ground fighter, Quach’s standup has become highly respected under the tutelage of Colin Oyama.

EliteXC’s “Showdown” on Sept. 20 will be broadcast on SHOWTIME and is also expected to feature Joey Villasenor, Dave Herman, and Cristiane Cyborg against opponents yet to be determined. Five Ounces of Pain also broke the news on Tuesday that Paul Daley will be in action on the show in a bout against undefeated Team Tiger Schulmann welterweight prospect Lyman Good.

On Thursday, FiveOuncesOfPain.com spoke with one of Reis’ managers at North County Fight Club, Matt Stansell. Stansell confirmed that a bout with Quach has been offered by EliteXC and that Reis is ready to accept and is already training for the potential fight.

Despite Reis’ desire to move forward with the fight, an agreement from Quach has not yet been secured and there is some concern whether he will accept the proposed fight.

Quach earned a shot to compete for EliteXC’s 140 lbs. title following a unanimous decision victory over Mark Oshiro during ICON Sport’s “Hard Times” event in Honolulu last weekend. However, he may not immediately accept the title shot.

Quach has won nine consecutive fights and has a non-exclusive contract with EliteXC. Sources have indicated to Five Ounces of Pain that he has been approached by Affliction in regards to possibly appearing on its Oct. 11 “Day of Reckoning.” pay-per-view in Las Vegas. According to Stansell, EliteXC is looking to schedule the potential Reis vs. Quach title fight on one of four cards set to take place between Sept. 20 through Oct. 20.

As of Thursday there was no word whether Quach had accepted EliteXC’s or Affliction’s offer. On Friday afternoon, Five Ounces of Pain attempted to contact Quach’s trainer, Colin Oyama, for comment but a voicemail was not immediately returned.

According to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Phil Baroni won via TKO at 51 seconds into the first round after landing an uppercut and a right hook that dropped his opponent, Ron Verdadero to the mat. According to the report, Verdadero immediately got up as the referee jumped in to stop the fight:

Shimada stops it as Verdadero QUICKLY gets back up. HORRIBLE STOPPAGE. Verdadero wasn’t even hurt. Oh man.

Also in action was Kala Kolohe Hose, who toppled his opponent Rolando Dominique via TKO in round two. With this victory, Hose rebounds from a stunning first round submission loss to Bubba McDaniel at the EliteXC: Return of the King show in June. Hose, from what the report says, doesn’t seem to have appeared too impressive but got the job done.

Also on the card was an apparent barnburner and a fight that the Star-Bulletin is calling Fight of the Year material between Mark Oshiro and Bao Quach for the ICON Sport North American championship. The fight was back and forth, with Quach having Oshiro in trouble several times with armbar attempts. It sounds like the fight was up and down, back and forth, and went everywhere that an MMA fight could go. Quach was able to secure a unanimous decision victory to become the new ICON Sport North American champion.

Also in action last night were Alberto Crane and Drew Fickett at Rage in the Cage 113. Crane is an ex-UFC fighter and Fickett is a veteran of the UFC and EliteXC. According to Sherdog, Crane apparently took care of business, getting his opponent, Adrian Valdez, to the ground quickly, then transitioning from an armbar attempt to a guillotine choke to force a tap in the first round.

Fickett didn’t fare as well, apparently coming into weigh-ins two pounds overweight:

Fickett came in over weight and had to run off two pounds, which may have taken its toll on him. Villa and his camp figured they would take full advantage of that by letting Fickett come out strong and then tire.

According to the report, round one was all Fickett with two head kicks, a takedown, and submission attempts from Fickett. But apparently he gassed early and in round two he paid dearly. Richard Villa came out firing with a hard right hand that dropped Fickett and he pounced on him from there, landing a barrage of strikes that forced a referee stoppage.

Full results for ICON Sport: Hard times can be found here. Full results for Rage in the Cage 113 can be found here.

Ticketmaster.com is no longer accepting ticket orders for the event and indicates that the event has been postponed. There is no word when or if the event will be rescheduled.

The event had been scheduled to air on pay-per-view through limited distribution.

One source indicated that poor ticket sales was the primary culprit but that injuries sustained by both fighters in the originally scaled main event was another setback.

The event was initially supposed to be headlined by a heavyweight clash featuring Kevin Randleman taking on Jeff Monson, however, Randleman was forced to pull out of the bout due to injury. He was replaced by former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez.

But the new main event of Monson vs. Rodriguez was compromised after Monson was injured fighting Josh Barnett during a World Victory Road show in Japan last month.

Monson was supposed to fight Mike Russow in the main event of Adrenaline MMA’s inaugural event this past weekend but was forced to pull out and was replaced by Jason Guida.

One source indicated to Five Ounces of Pain last week that the promoters of “Godz of War” learned early last week that Monson would not be available for their event either.

In addition to Monson, Randleman, and Rodriguez, a middleweight bout between former UFC middleweight champion Murilo Bustamante and UFC veteran Josh Haynes had been scheduled. Bouts involving Luiz Azeredo vs. Kamal Shalorus, and Milton Vieira vs. David Gardner had been on tap as well.

They are doing another season of Celebrity Rehab, and I hear there is going to be quite a cast on that show,” said Rodriguez.

While Rodriguez wouldn’t say who specifically is on the show, he did mention one person who is not.

I will not be back for the next season. Not at all. I am eleven months strong and very happy. It was a blessed opportunity to get to work with Dr. Drew.”

It’s great to see that Rodriguez is turning his life around. Now, let’s see if he can turn his fighting career around as well. The Ricco Rodriguez that lost a split decision to highly regarded Antonio Silva can be competitive against most heavyweights in the world. However, the big question that remains is if he will finally get his conditioning in control. At 31, he still has some time to do it.

Several alterations have been made to YAMMA Pit Fighting’s debut card on April 11 at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, NJ.

Two unnamed fighters originally slated for YAMMA’s eight-man single-night heavyweight tournament have been scratched from the card for unspecified reasons. However, when contacted by ProElite.com (SamCaplan.ProElite.com), Nick Lembo, the legal counsel for the New Jersey Athletic Control Board, indicated that YAMMA has submitted the names of two potential replacements.

According to Lembo, YAMMA has submitted the names of former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez and Red Devil Sport Club member Alexey Oleinik as tournament replacements. Lembo indicated that the NJACB has approved both fighters to be involved.

Rodriguez has received mainstream attention for his involvement on VH1′s “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.” He last competed on February 16, losing a split decision to Antonio Silva at EliteXC’s “Street Certified.”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REMAINDER OF THIS ARTICLE ON SAM CAPLAN’S PROELITE.COM BLOG

We are running our LIVE CHAT during the show, right now! The Pro Elite undercard starts at 7:30 p.m. ET and the main card starts at 10 p.m. on SHOWTIME! Join us!

WHEN: Saturday, February 16th 7:30 p.m. ET

WHERE: Five Ounces of Pain Live Results and Chat!

Main Card
• Kimbo Slice def. Tank Abbott via Knockout Rd 1.
• Antonio Silva def. Ricco Rodriguez via Decision
• Scott Smith def. Kyle Noke via Knockout Rd 2.
• Yves Edwards def. Edson Berto via Knockout (Knee) Rd 1.
• Brett Rogers def. James Thompson via TKO (Strikes) Rd 1.

Undercard

• Rafael Feijao def. John Doyle via TKO Rd 1.
• Yosmany Cabezas def. Jon Kirk via Submission (RNC) Rd 2.
• Dave Herman def. Mario Rinaldi via TKO (Strikes) Rd 3.
• Eric Bradley def. Mikey Gomez via Unanimous Decision.
• Lorenzo Borgameo def. Mike Bernhard via Submission (Triangle Choke) Rd 2.

Lots more EliteXC: Street Certified content here.

This will be the third different opponent advertised for a match with Silva for the Feb. 16 card. Shane Carwin was originally listed as Silva’s opponent on Showtime’s website but his name was removed with no explanation. Then, during a conference call to promote the main event between Kimbo Slice and Tank Abbott, EliteXC live events president Gary Shaw announced that Gary Turner of Cage Rage had been selected to face Silva.

The latest announcement regarding Rodriguez as Silva’s latest opponent comes on the heels of Rodriguez’s stint last year on VH1′s reality television show “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.” The show finished taping at the end of this past summer and Rodriguez’s first appearance on the show is scheduled to air this Thursday.

Rodriguez was once considered one of the top heavyweights in the world but allowed substance abuse problems to sidetrack his career. In addition to drug use, Rodriguez has also battled weight issues in recent years and was competing as a super heavyweight for an extended period of time.

Rodriguez began losing weight last year and competed once again as a heavyweight in a bout against Ben Rothwell during the IFL team finals this past September. Rodriguez lost via unanimous decision and drew negative attention to himself for spitting on Rothwell during the match after he became frustrated.

*                         *                         *

ProElite.com also announced that Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett is no longer scheduled to fight Victor “Joe Boxer” Valenzuela for King of the Cage on January 24.

According to the web site, Bennett is scheduled to be arraigned on January 22 following a recent arrest stemming from a domestic incident.

Bennett will be replaced by Matt Ver Halen on the 1/24 King of the Cage show. He is also scheduled to fight during the Internet portion of the Feb. 16 show but the ProElite.com report made no mention of his status for that card.

What does the show have to do with MMA? Well, one of the show’s patients is none other than former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez.

The following bio is listed for Ricco on the show’s website:

Rodriguez nick named Ricco “Suave” Rodriguez is an American mixed martial arts fighter with a professional MMA record of 26-7-0. He has fought in most of the major fight organizations–UFC, PRIDE, King of the Cage–and was renowned as the UFC Heavyweight Champion. Ricco has a daughter whom he raised as a single dad for two years.

Other “patients” include actor Daniel Baldwin, actor Jeff Conaway (who is in really bad shape!), former pro wrestler Chyna, porn star Marey Carey, and the annoying dude from Crazy Town (oh wait, that pretty much was all of them!).

They were talking about reviews for the show today on Howard Stern, and apparently some critics are very enthusiastic it. I watched a clip of the show on the VH1 website and I have to admit, I really liked it.

You can actually see a good portion of the show online by clicking here.

Fighting in the main event will be light heavyweights Renato “Babalu” Sobral and Vernon “Tiger” White. Since his ugly UFC 74 submission win over David Heath, Sobral has picked up a submission victory over Rodney Faverus at the inaugural Platinum Fighting Promotions event last month in the Philippines. White, on the other hand, is coming off of consecutive TKO losses to Mike Whitehead and Marcelo Tigre.

Also on the main card, former UFC heavyweight champ Ricco Rodriguez will take on Mike Kyle, who will make his return after being suspended for illegally kneeing (and then continuing an assault on) Brian Olsen at WEC 20. Ricco, who also won in December at the PFP’s Philippines event, might have his hands full with the powerful, knockout-loving Kyle.

Mark Kerr looks to pick up his second win in as many fights under the WCO banner, this time against against Rick Roufus, a legendary kickboxer who will be making his MMA debut. If you haven’t seen Roufus fight Michael McDonald (both of their fights were cool), you’re missing out.

Tickets are still available for those in – or traveling to – the San Diego and run from $23.50 to $153.50. According to MMAJunkie, WCO executives have stated that a portion of the event’s ticket sales will benefit those families devastated by the recent wildfires in the area.

Here’s the January 12th WCO “The Return” card in its entirety:

• Renato “Babalu” Sobral vs. Vernon White
• Ricco Rodriguez vs. Mike Kyle
• Mark Kerr vs. Rick Roufus
• Jimmy Ambriz vs. Wesley “Cabbage” Correira
• Joe Riggs vs. Gustavo Machado
• David Loiseau vs. Leopoldo Serao
• Tiki Ghosn vs. J.J. Ambrose
• Virgil Zwicker vs. David Mejia
• Fabio Costa vs. Carlos Fuentes
• Georgi Karakahyan vs. Armando Sanchez
• Tony Sylvester vs. Cain Velasquez

Now comes recent word that Rodriguez will be fighting in the main event of New Jersey-area fight promotion Battlcage Xtreme’s next card on Oct. 20 at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. According to the promotion’s website, Rodriguez will be fighting Kauai Kupihiea for the USKBA heavyweight title.

Battlecage Xtreme has also announced that Sean Sherk will be available to sign autographs and meet with fans and that Frankie Edgar and Kurt Pellegrino will be in attendance.

For more information on the event, just click here.

- Loretta Hunt from The Fight Network spoke with John Hackleman, the trainer for Chuck Liddell, who says he’s unaware of any retirement talk. In fact, he not only claims Liddell told him he’ll be back in the gym next Monday, but didn’t rule out a December fight for Liddell:

“He’s already said he’ll be back in the gym next Monday,” said Hackleman, who has coached Liddell for 16 years. “He’s going to fight again, hopefully as soon as possible, maybe in December. We’re looking at ‘Shogun.’”

- It was revealed during the UFC 76 post-fight press conference that Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s hand injury worsened during his UFC 75 title defense against Dan Henderson and that he’s unlikely to fight again in 2007. It doesn’t look like the UFC can fall back on a Forrest Griffin vs. Rampage UFC light heavyweight title match for UFC 79 on Dec. 29.

- According to John Pollock of The Fight Network, Karo Parisyan has confirmed he’ll be fighting Judoka standout Hector Lombard at UFC 78 in Newark, NJ.

- MMAJunkie.com broke the news that Dean Lister’s opponent at UFC 79 on Dec. 29 could very well be Jordan Radev, the dude who got wrecked by Drew McFedries at UFN 10.

- UFCDaily.com is reporting that Doug Evans will be fighting in a preliminary match on the UFC 79 undercard on Dec. 29.

- According to this week’s print edition of The Wrestling Observer, BodogFIGHT welterweight champion Nick Thompson is having contract issues with the company. He’s one of the most underrated fighters in the world right now (right up there with Jon Fitch) and would be a tremendous addition to any fight promotion’s talent roster.

- In case you missed it, Ricco Rodriguez confirmed on Inside the Cage Radio with Matt Cava and I this past weekend that he’s still under contract to EliteXC (although a debut match has not been scheduled) and that he plans to continue to fight at heavyweight for the time being. His ultimate goal in the next year is to fight at light heavyweight and he also challenged former friend Tito Ortiz to a catch weight fight at 225 lbs.

- In a previous interview with me for CBSSports.com earlier in the year, Joe “Diesel” Riggs claimed he was transferred from the WEC to the UFC per his request. During Inside the Cage, he indicated that was not actually the case and that the idea was actually pushed on him by Zuffa. Riggs has signed what he believes is a five fight contract with Strikeforce and he’ll make his debut for the promotion this Saturday at the Playboy Mansion against 41-year old Eugene Jackson. It’s a non-exclusive deal but he needs to get permission from Strikeforce to fight outside of it (hey, how about Riggs vs. Nick Diaz II?). Riggs also confirmed there’s a chance he could fight Cung Le if he beats Jackson but said that while he wouldn’t mind fighting Le, he’d love to fight Frank Shamrock.

- I came across this interview via a story on MMANews.com, but in an interview with IronLife.com, Pride lightweight Joachim Hansen indicated he is still technically under contract to Zuffa through the Pride acquisition but there are no immediate plans to fight for the company. It appears they don’t want to use him under his existing deal, and wanted to re-negotiate his contract for less money:

They offered me a fight some months ago – I wasn’t sure if they had bought Pride for what the hell was going on. They offered me a fight against Marcus Aurelio, they offered me half the salary of what I got in Pride. Obviously at the time they had already bought Pride, in my opinion they also bought my contract, so how can they offer me half the salary?

- According to The Fight Network, NSAC officially decided not too suspend Renato “Babalu” Sobral following his extended choke on David Heath following their match at UFC 74 on Aug. 25. However, he will not receive the $25,000 win bonus that the commission decided to withhold, which means he’s been fined $25,000 in essence. All because a guy called him a mother fucker?

- According to MMAjunkie.com, Jake O’Brien, who underwent what what considered at the time to be possible career-ending back surgery, will resume training next year.

There was some controversy in the match because at one point Ricco caught Rothwell in the groin area and the match had to be stopped. Ricco accused Rothwell of acting. You can check out the clip below (it takes place around the 2:59 mark):

There was additional controversy when it appeared that Ricco spit on Rothwell in the third round out of frustration:

You can watch the entire IFL finals tomorrow (Monday) night at 8 p.m. ET on MyNetworkTV. Matt Cava and I had a chance to ask Ricco to address the controversy during yesterday’s taping of Inside the Cage Radio. Scroll down a few entries to listen to this week’s show.

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OR you can copy and paste the following URL into your browser:

http://mmatakedown.net/MMA_Audio/Inside_the_Cage_Radio_9.22.07.mp3

Here’s a rundown of this must-listen show…

Segment One – EliteXC’s female MMA controversy:

Sam and Matt share their thoughts about the fallout from the Gina Carano vs. Tony Evinger match at last Saturday’s EliteXC “Uprising” from Tonya Evinger’s pre-fight comments, Mauro Ranallo’s in-fight comments, and Gina Carano’s post-fight comments and her weight cutting issues. The show takes a unique turn when Sam’s wife joins the show to give a female fighter’s perspective.

Segment Two – UFC lightweight fighter Kenny “The Finisher” Florian:

Kenny breaks down his victory over Din Thomas from UFN 11 this past Wednesday night and discusses how he scouted Thomas; Florian addresses whether he’d be ready for a hypothetical lightweight title fight in November and indicates when he plans to fight again; he reveals when a match between B.J. Penn and Joe Stevenson might take place; he reveals who Roger Huerta’s next opponent could be; Florian also broke down specific fighters in the UFC’s lightweight division and discussed who he considers the top lightweight fighters outside of the UFC (and he had some interesting things to say about Takanori Gomi).

Segment Three – Former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez:

Ricco comes out firing right out of the gate. He reveals he not only took a fight with Ben Rothwell at the IFL finals on short notice but that he had just gotten out of rehab shortly before the bout; he addresses the controversy surrounding the match with Rothwell head on and pulls no punches; Ricco clarifies his contract statuses with both the IFL and EliteXC; indicates his plans for what weight class he plans to fight at in the future; discusses his recent decision to sever business ties with MMA superagent Ken Pavia; indicates that he believes politics could be keeping him out of the UFC; addresses his fallout with Tito Ortiz and issues an official challenge; and much more! Ricco was just dropping bombshells left and right. He sounded hungry, healthy, and happy and it looks like the Ricco Rodriguez of old could be back. I think we’re going to be seeing him fighting for the big promotions on a regular basis again soon.

Segment Four – New Strikeforce middleweight fighter Joe “Diesel” Riggs:

Ricco was not an easy act to top but Riggs just might have done it. Joe let everyone know why he asked for his release from the WEC and why he wanted to go to Strikeforce; clarifies on the record once and for all whether he ever wanted to be assigned to the WEC in the first place; addresses rumors as to whether he will fight Cung Le if he beats Eugene Jackson on Sept. 29 at the Playboy Mansion; calls out a surprise opponent; discusses his past pain killer addiction and comments on drug use in MMA; and reveals the true story of the infamous Nick Diaz fight that took place at a Las Vegas hospital following UFC 57; and much more!

Matt and I were really happy with this show and we would love your feedback! Please leave comments here or e-mail me at SCaplan8@comcast.net and please spread the word about this week’s show.

And guess what, we might have one more guest to announce. Yes, it’s going to be a fun show.

Feel free to leave any questions you’d like us to ask Ricco or Kenny fight here.

The IFL has come up with one hell of a last minute replacement, because according to Ben Fowlkes, former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez will be stepping in for Sauer (who was replacing Bryan Vetell) against Rothwell.

Rothwell vs. Rodriguez is going to be a great match and one I’d love to be able to see live.

Speaking of the IFL, I conducted an interview with Shad Lierley last week and that should be appearing on MMAjunkie.com either later today or early tomorrow.

Loretta Hunt from the Fight Network is also reporting that Rodriguez is claiming he’s been approached to fight Antonio “Big Foot” Silva in a clash of super heavyweights at an EliteXC card in November.

Hunt is also reporting that Silva underwent surgery in June to remove a tumor from his cranial region and will be ready to compete again in October. Although the California State Athletic Commission never made an official statement, it is believed that Silva was prevented from fighting on the June 2 “Dynamite USA” card because of the tumor. He could be ready to fight as early as October.

It’s also interesting to note that Hong Man-choi was apparently not allowed to fight on June 2 because of a similar condition. However, he’s not going to have surgery and will be fighting on a K-1 MMA card on August 5 against “Big Daddy” Gary Goodridge. K-1 has talked about returning to the States but their decision to have Hong Man fight without addressing his medical condition could make getting licensed in the U.S. a little bit difficult.