Archive for the ‘ UFC 88 ’ Category

Here are the official weigh-in results for UFC 88: Breakthrough which is scheduled to air tomorrow at 10 p.m. et live on pay-per-view:

Main Card:

  • Rashad Evans (205) vs. Chuck Liddell (204)
  • Matt Hamill (205) vs. Rich Franklin (204.5)
  • Dan Henderson (185) vs. Rousimar Palhares (184.5)
  • Nate Marquardt (185) vs. Martin Kampmann (184.5)
  • Matt Brown (170) vs. Dong Hyun Kim (170)

Preliminary Bouts:

  • Thiago Tavares (155) vs. Kurt Pellegrino (156)
  • Tim Boetsch (205.25) vs. Michael Patt (205.25)
  • Jason Lambert (185) vs. Jason MacDonald (185)
  • Ryo Chonan (170) vs. Roan Carneiro (170)

After a long summer of non-stop MMA action we have had a little break here the past few weeks following UFC 87. The action is going to pick right back up, however, with UFC 88 this weekend. Will Chuck Liddell gain a title shot by beating Rashad Evans? Will Dan Henderson win for the first time since returning to the UFC? Will Rich Franklin gain a victory over childhood friend Matt Hamill in his return to 205 lbs.? Read below to see what the staff of 5 Oz. has to say about this weekend’s fights!

Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans

Caleb Newby: This is pretty easy. As numerous MMA pundits have said, Evans is the perfect stylistic matchup for Liddell. The only way Evans wins is either A) Liddell’s age catches up with him or B) Rashad runs the same gameplan as Jardine did to a tee without Liddell adjusting. Frankly, I don’t see it happening. This has the perfect makings for a setup fight for Liddell to get back into the title picture. Not a bad idea from Zuffa’s perspective. Get their money man into the limelight ASAP with about as safe a fight as they can book. While there are no gimmies at this level, this is about as close as one can hope for. Winner: Liddell – TKO, Rd2.

Adam Morgan: As Sam detailed in his article yesterday, Rashad Evans doesn’t stand a chance in this fight. As good a fighter as he is and as good as his wrestling skills are, he will not come close to putting Liddell in trouble. Liddell has made a living in the UFC off of beating the piss out of grapplers, some better than Evans. Liddell’s sprawl is top notch, he won’t be taken down, and if he does get taken down he will get right back up. He is so hard to get down and keep down. Evans will have a very tough time doing either. That will force him to stand and trade with Chuck and that is a losing battle. Chuck Liddell via TKO, round one.

Gary Herman: Rashad Evans is tailor made for Liddell. He is not a threat on his feet, and his only real strength is his wrestling. But Liddell’s wrestling defense is among the best in the game. The people that gave Liddell trouble: Wanderlei Silva, Keith Jardine, and Rampage Jackson all did so on the feet. The mat fighters like Randy Couture, Babalu Sobral, and Jeremy Horn all were beaten soundly by Liddell. I don’t see how Evans wins. Therefore, Liddell does. Liddell by 2nd round KO.

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On the eve of a welterweight clash at UFC 88 between Karo Parisyan and Yoshiyuki Yoshida, the UFC has announced that Parisyan has been pulled off the card due to a back injury.

With only slightly more than 24 hours before the card is scheduled to take place in Atlanta at the Phillips Arena, the UFC has scrapped the bout entirely and will not find a replacement for Yoshida. UFC 88 will now go on as a nine bout card as opposed to the previous ten scheduled bouts.

It is believed that the Parisyan vs. Yoshida fight had been one of the five fights scheduled to appear on this weekend’s pay-per-view portion of the card. The UFC did not immediately announce which bout from its preliminary card it intended to promote to the main card but the most logical candidates would be a welterweight bout between Matt Brown vs. Dong Hyun Kim or a lightweight bout between Kurt Pellegrino and Thiago Tavares.

Parisyan’s late removal from the card will no doubt fuel much speculation on Internet forums. He has been accused in the past of not training properly for his fights and he has admitted in recent interviews that he recently sought treatment for panic attacks.

Based on Parisyan’s recent revelation and his reputation for coming into fights with less than ideal preparation, several pundits had been picking Yoshida to upset him.

Yoshida made his UFC debut at UFC 84 in May, where he won via technical submission against Jon “War Machinda” Koppenhaver just 56 seconds into their fight after applying an anaconda choke. The victory extended his win streak to nine.

Coming up at UFC 88, Martin Kampmann has a huge fight against Nathan Marquardt. With four straight victories (over Jorge Rivera, Drew McFedries, Thales Leites, and Crafton Wallace), Kampmann could see himself in the middle of the title picture with an impressive victory.

Looking at the current roster of UFC middleweights - is there really a top contender out there? Of course, one of the main reasons there isn’t a top contender is that Anderson Silva has convincingly beaten most of them.

Patrick Cote gets the next shot, but does anyone give him much of a chance? After that, there’s Yushin Okami or possibly Paulo Filho and that’s only if Filho would ever agree to fight his training partner and friend.

Therefore, Kampmann finds himself in a pretty good spot. With a big victory against Marquardt and possibly one more (maybe against Filho if the WEC and UFC middleweight divisions come together), Kampmann could get a match with the UFC’s top fighter in Silva. Of course, those are two very difficult fights for Kampmann to win.

Nevertheless, Kampmann hopes to get in the cage with the middleweight champion.

“I’d love to fight Anderson Silva. He’s very good, but everyone can be defeated,” said Kampmann.

Kampmann has little doubt that a match-up with Silva would be a very difficult one.

“I think I’d win, but I know it’s a very tough fight.”

Rashad Evans is the heavyweight winner of the second season of “The Ultimate Fighter;” he has a strong pedigree as a former college wrestler; he trains with one of the best camps in the world at Greg Jackson’s MMA in Albuquerque, N.M.; and he’s undefeated with an 11-0-1 record.

He’s also going to lose in brutal fashion this weekend at UFC 88 against Chuck Liddell via first round TKO.

Evans fans will be up in arms when they read this but I’m not suggesting he’s not a good fighter. I’m simply making the case that he doesn’t have what it takes to defeat the former UFC light heavyweight champion.

Style-wise, Evans is tailor made for Liddell. During Liddell’s seven fight win streak that lasted from 2004-2006, he was matched up primarily against ground-based fighters that couldn’t pressure him in the standup. Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, Renato “Babalu” Sobral, and Jeremy Horn are all capable on their feet but they are all clearly better when it comes to the ground. Liddell not only handled them, but he handled them with relative ease.

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I don’t know why they’re calling this the UFC 88 video blog because nothing related to UFC 88 has happened yet. Almost the whole thing has been related to UFC 91 and the upcoming fight between Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar. Oh well. This video details their trip to Bristol, Connecticut to do a bunch of promotional stuff for ESPN for the Lesnar vs. Couture fight as well as their trip to the premiere of the new season of the HBO series Entourage.

PRIDE veteran James Lee has reportedly pulled out of his UFC 88 fight vs. Tim Boetsch, according to MMAjunkie.com.

While the UFC has yet to make an official announcement, MMA Junkie indicated that Lee was scratched from the card last week after sustaining an arm injury.

A replacement also apparently already has been secured in former BodogFIGHT veteran Mike Patt. Patt is a UFC newcomer who likely earned a shot to debut for the promotion after having won seven of his past eight fights.

UFC 88 is scheduled to take place on Sept. 6 in Atlanta, GA at the Phillips Arena and will be headlined by a light heavyweight bout between former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell and the heavyweight winner from season two of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Rashad Evans.

As expected, a middleweight matchup between Nathan Marquardt and Martin Kampmann has been officially added to the main televised portion of UFC 88, according to the UFC’s official web site.

Kampmann, who has an overall MMA record of 13-1, trains out of Xtreme Couture and comes from an outstanding Muay Thai background. However, his all-around game has really progressed and he’s now a threat to submit his opponents as well.

Marquardt lives in Colorado but prepares for his fights in Albuquerque, N.M. training under Greg Jackson. One of the most versatile fighters in the UFC’s middleweight division, Marquardt has a strong overall MMA record of 29-8-1 and is considered by many pundits to be a top-ten ranked fighter at 185 lbs.

UFC 88 will take place on Sept. 6 and will emanate from the Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. A light heavyweight bout between former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell and season two heavyweight winner of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Rashad Evans.

Jason Lambert is preparing to make his debut as a middleweight and has accepted a proposed bout against Jason “Dooms” Day in a non-televised preliminary bout to take place at UFC 88 on Sept. 6 in Atlanta, Georgia.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com confirmed the news today while speaking with Matt Stansell, one of Lambert’s managers with the North County Fight Club.

Lambert has an overall MMA record of 23-8 and a career UFC record of 4-3. He started in the UFC with an undefeated record of 3-0 with wins over Terry Martin, Branden Lee Hinkle, and Rob MacDonald before losing to Rashad Evans at UFC 63.

Lambert rebounded from the loss against Evans with an upset knockout over Renato “Babalu” Sobral during UFC 68 but currently finds himself in the midst of a two-fight losing streak. His most recent loss took place against Luiz Cane at UFC 85 this past June.

Day made his UFC debut at UFC 83 this past April following a controversial decision win over David Loiseau while fighting for the now-defunct Hardcore Championship Fighting promotion. Considered the underdog at UFC 83 against Alan Belcher, Day managed to pull off another upset by finishing him with a TKO at 3:58 of round 1.

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MMAjunkie.com is reporting that a middleweight matchup between Martin Kampmann and Nathan Marquardt is expected to round out the televised portion of UFC 88, which is scheduled for Sept. 6 at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Gerogia.

According to the report, the Kampmann vs. Marquardt bout could be officially announced next week.

Marquardt has a lifetime MMA record of 26-8-2 and is 5-2 lifetime in the UFC. He last fought at UFC 85 in June, losing a controversial split decision to Thales Leites in which Marquardt was docked a point for what the referee deemed an illegal blow to the back of Leites’ head. Prior to that, he had submitted Jeremy Horn with a guillotine choke during UFC 81 this past February.

Meanwhile, Kampmann is undefeated in the UFC with a record of 4-0 and 16-2 in his MMA career. His last three wins have come against Thales Leites, Drew McFedries, and Jorge Rivera. An outstanding Muay Thai fighter, Kampmann has become a well-rounded martial artist since joining Randy Couture’s Xtreme Couture gym in Las Vegas.

UFC 88 will be televised on pay-per-view and will be headlined by former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell taking on season 2 heavyweight winner of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Rashad Evans.

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Today the UFC confirmed on their website that Dan Henderson, Rich Franklin, and Karo Parisyan will all be making their return to the Octagon at UFC 88 in Atlanta, GA on September 6. The card is headlined by a light heavyweight bout between Chuck Liddell and Rashad Evans with the winner likely being very close to a title shot.

Dan Henderson, coming off a loss to Anderson Silva in March, will be stepping back into the cage against one of the UFC’s most highly touted international talents, Rousimar “Toquinho” Palhares. Henderson will be looking for his first victory inside the UFC since coming over after the collapse PRIDE. Toquinho recently steamrolled Ivan Salaverry in his UFC debut with a very slick armbar.

Rich Franklin, the former UFC middleweight champion, will be facing off against fellow Cincinnati fighter Matt Hamill in a battle at light heavyweight. Franklin is coming off a victory over Travis Lutter at UFC 83 and will be fighting at light heavyweight for the first time since he fought Ken Shamrock at the first ever Ultimate Fighter Finale. Matt Hamill recently beat Tim Boetsch at UFC Fight Night 13 in April and will be looking to make it two in a row since his loss to Michael Bisping last year.

Karo Parisyan will be looking to prove to the world that he’s still top shelf in the UFC’s most talented division when he takes on one of the best Japanese stars that the UFC has signed in recent months, Yoshiyuki Yoshida. Parisyan is coming off a knockout loss to Thiago Alves at UFC Fight Night 13, a fight that would have catapulted him into title contention should he have won. Yoshida recently made his UFC debut, throttling Jon Koppenhaver at UFC 84 in the opening moments of round one.

These three fights are an excellent addition to the card and it looks like UFC 88, even without a title fight, is shaping up to be one of the better events all year.

We’re a little late with this news, but in case you missed it, Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto is off of Monday’s DREAM.5 card due a knee injury. He had been slated to face Joseph Benavidez in Osaka, Japan at the Osaka Castle Hall.

Yamamoto indicated to the Japanese MMA media that he injured the knee while preparing for the bout vs. Benavidez. He indicated that while attempting a flying knee, he landed awkwardly on his right leg and heard a pop in his knee.

The official diagnosis is beleived to be a partial ACL tear, with Yamamoto being sidelined for at least six months.

In other DREAM.5-related news, published reports indicate that a heavyweight bout between Alistair Overeem and Mark Hunt has been added to the card.

DREAM.5 will be televised in the U.S. live on Monday morning at 2 a.m. ET on HDNet.