After this past weekends TKO defeat to Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva in the opening quarterfinal round of the Strikeforce Heavyweight World Grand Prix tournament, Russian fighter Fedor Emelianenko (31-3-1) said that maybe it was time for him to retire in an interview immediately after the loss.
Now word has come out from the Russians camp that he’s changed his mind and has a “few more fights” ahead of him before that happens.
The update was Tweeted by vk_valetudoru today, who also posted the photos of the smiling Russian, whose mood seems to have picked up since his loss to “Bigfoot” on Saturday.
- Fedor just said he is not quiting, he will have “few more fights” ahead of him. Pictures are coming, stay tuned.
Another Tweet also states that Fedor’s manager, Vadim Finkelstein, will push for the Russian to “travel around the world and train with different coaches,” this after criticism has surfaced that “The Last Emporer” past training camps have failed to properly prepare him for his last two opponents.
An article by BloodyElbow.com also posted these quotes from the fighter and his Sambo coach.
“I rushed to declare my retirement. I will fight more. Possibly, I will return to the Heavyweight Grand-Prix. I am capable of having a few more fights. I didn’t make any analysis yet on why I lost. I need to recover, I can’t see very well yet.” – Fedor Emelianenko, after returning to Russia
“It’s very nice that Fedor still has his fighting spirit, he is ready to rip everyone apart right now. Yes, his eye is swallowed, but it will heal. Most importantly for him not to have any psychological pressure. After this, he will train with a triple effort.” – Vladimir Voronov, SAMBO coach.
UFC President Dana White took some time to visit with Joe Lozito on Monday in New York City. Those of you not familiar with Joe’s story, while traveling on the subway Lozito faced down a Brooklyn man accused of going on a 28-hour stabbing and carjacking frenzy which left four people dead over the weekend. He helped to subdue the man, a Maksim Gelman who cut Lozito several times during the struggle, using a move he learned from watching years of the Ultimate Fighting Championship to take the knife wielder down.
White rewarded Lozito for his efforts with an opportunity to attend the UFC 128 card in Newark, N.J. with him on March 19.
The Neveda State Athletic Commission cleared all thirteen fighters tested for performance enhancing drugs and other banned substances as part of the UFC 126: Silva vs. Belfort event which took place earlier this month.
Those tested by the NSAC include Vitor Belfort, Donald Cerrone, Jake Ellenberger, Rich Franklin, Forrest Griffin, Demetrious Johnson, Jon Jones, Kyle Kingsbury, Chad Mendes, Mike Pierce, Anderson Silva, Paul Taylor and Miguel Torres.
UFC 126 took place on Feb. 5th at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event was headlined by a UFC middleweight title bout between current champ Anderson Silva and challenger Vitor Belfort. Silva used a rarely seen front kick to surprise Belfort in the first round to win by knockout defending his title for a record eight straight time.
MMAWeekly.com also noted that the results for UFC 125 participant Thiago Silva still haven’t been released by the NSAC. Silva’s drug test from the event failed to turn a “negative result” and are still currently under scrutiny.
The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board wasted little time in releasing their list of medical suspensions from Saturday night’s latest Strikeforce event.
Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva took place on Feb. 12 at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The main card aired on Showtime while the preliminary card was shown on HDNet live. The event opened the initial quarterfinal round of the Strikeforce heavyweight World Grand Prix tournament.
Six fighters from the Showtime televised main card received suspensions with headliner Fedor Emelianenko receiving the longest suspension.
Fedor received an indefinite suspension pending a CT scan of the head and facial bones. He was on the wrong end of opponent Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva’s ground-and-pound, being pounded so severely that his right eye was swollen shut at the end of the second round forcing the cageside doctor to put an end to the fight in Silva’s favor.
Tournament quarterfinal participant Andrei Arlovski, who was knocked out by Sergei Kharitonov in the first round, also received a suspension and will be out for 30 days.
The full Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva medical suspensions are as follows:
Fedor Emelianenko: suspended indefinitely pending CT scan of head and facial bones. Also suspended 90 days for head strikes
Andrei Arlovski: suspended 30 days for knockout
Chad Griggs: suspended 30 days for hematoma on ear
Gian Villante: suspended 30 days for precautionary reasons
Don Carlo-Clauss: suspended 30 days for laceration healing
Anthony Leone: suspended indefinitely pending clearance by ear, nose and throat doctor for damage to nose; also suspended 90 days for healing.
MMA Live looks back at UFC 126 and Anderson Silva’s ridiculous front-kick knockout of Vitor Belfort. Plus, Jon Anik goes 1-on-1 with Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem
Fighter weigh-ins took place for the Strikeforce and M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Silva event today at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, N.J., the same venue for tomorrow nights action.
A total of twenty fighters took to the scales, while all of the Showtime broadcasted heavyweights made weight or their bouts, two preliminary fighters failed to hit the mark.
Headliner Fedor Emelianenko (230) came in weighing 34 lbs less than his opponent Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva (264), while co-tournament fighters Andrei Arlovski (242) and Sergei Karitonov (250) had no issues with their weights.
Saturday’s event marks the opening quarterfinal round of the Strikeforce heavyweight World Grand Prix tournament and will be see the preliminary bouts delivered by HDNet, Showtime will carry the main card on their network.
The full Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva weigh in results are as follows:
Main card
Heavyweight Grand Prix quarterfinal bout: Fedor Emelianenko (230) vs. Antonio Silva (264)
Heavyweight Grand Prix quarterfinal bout: Andrei Arlovski (242) vs. Sergei Kharitonov (250)
Heavyweight Grand Prix reserve bout: Shane Del Rosario (248) vs. Lavar Johnson (243)
Heavyweight Grand Prix reserve bout: Chad Griggs (229) vs. Gianpiero Villante (227)
Heavyweight Grand Prix reserve bout: Valentijn Overeem (239) vs. Ray Sefo (249)
Preliminary card (HDNet)
Lightweight bout: John Cholish (155.75) vs. Marc Stevens (156.5)+
Welterweight bout: Igor Gracie (170.75) vs. John Salgado (170)
Welterweight bout: Sam Oropeza (169.75) vs. Don Carlo-Clauss (170.4)
Featherweight bout: Anthony Leone (146.2)* vs. Josh LaBerge (145.75)
Featherweight bout: Kevin Roddy (145.75) vs. Jason McLean (145.5)
+ – Sholish has agreed to the weight difference
* – Leone was given one hour to lose the weight
Fifteen of twenty-two competitors from January’s UFC 125 event were submitted to drug testing. On Wednesday the Nevada State Athletic Commission cleared fourteen of those fighters.
The only fighter who has not been cleared is UFC light heavyweight Thiago Silva whose sample was still being processed according to NSAC Commission Executive Director Keith Kizer who informed MMAjunkie.com earlier today of the fourteen who passed.
Kizer did not confirm to them that it was Silva’s sample that was still under scrutiny but he was the only fighter of the fifteen who was not cleared. Those fighters include Phil Baroni, Clay Guida, Dong Hyun Kim, Chris Leben, Diego Nunes, Dustin Poirier, Daniel Roberts, Brian Stann, Jeremy Stephens, Brad Tavares, Brandon Vera, and Jacob Volkmann.
Silva is expected to meet Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 130 in May but an earlier report had Jackson being rebooked to fight Rashad Evans. Currently that is just speculation as no one in Evans camp has confirmed being offered a fight with Jackson, Silva himself has come out saying he’s healthy and will be ready to fight.
UFC 125 took place on Jan. 1st in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and was headlined by a UFC lightweight title bout between champ Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard, which ended in a draw with both men meeting again to decide the championship at UFC 130.
On Monday the Nevada State Athletic Commission released the medical suspensions for this past weekends UFC 126: Silva vs. Belfort event.
Facing the longest sentences from the Commission were main card fighters Forrest Griffin (foot injury) and Jake Ellenberger (hand injury) who were both given six month suspensions. Both fighters can be cleared by a doctor before August.
UFC 126 took place this past Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
A total of ten fighters received suspensions including Griffin and Ellenberger.
The full list of UFC 126 suspensions are as follows courtesy of MMAWeekly.com:
Vitor Belfort suspended until March 23, with no contact until March 8.
Forrest Griffin must have right foot x-rayed and if positive, must be cleared by orthopedic doctor or no contact until August 5, 2011.
Carlos Eduardo Rocha suspended until March 23, no contact until March 8 due to scalp laceration.
Jake Ellenberger must have both hands x-rayed and if positive must be cleared by orthopedic doctor or no contact until August 5, 2011.
Paul Kelly suspended until March 23, with no contact until March 8 due to right eyebrow laceration.
Michihiro Omigawa suspended until April 7 with no contact until April 7 due to right eyebrow laceration and head blows.
Chad Mendes suspended until March 23 with no contact until March 8.
Gabe Ruediger suspended until April 7 with no contact until April 7 due to right eyebrow laceration and TKO.
Ricardo Romero suspended until March 23 with no contact until March 8.
Kenny Robertson suspended until March 23 with no contact until March 8.
During the post fight press conference for UFC 126: Silva vs. Belfort, promotion President Dana White announced the winners of the “Fight Night” bonuses for their work at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
Pocketing an extra $75,000 were Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, Donald Cerrone and Paul Kelly.
UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva was awarded the “Knockout of the Night” bonus for his stunning one kick knockout of challenger Vitor Belfort in their main event bout. Not that Silva likely needs the money, and with three (T)KO’s from the preliminary card, Silva’s front kick knockout shocked fans around the world by dispatching Belfort in just three minutes. Many had expected an exciting couple of rounds from both fighters.
The “Submission of the Night” went to Jon “Bones” Jones who could probably use the money since he was involved in a car accident recently. Jones looked very good against an undefeated Ryan Bader, stopping several of his opponents takedowns and securing a guillotine choke from half-guard in the second round. The win has earned him a shot at Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and the UFC light heavyweight title as fellow teammate, Rashad Evans, has been forced out of his title fight due to injury.
Donald Cerrone and Paul Kelly earned the “Fight of the Night” for their fight on the Spike TV broadcasted “UFC Prelims” special. Despite the fact that Cerrone controlled both rounds of the fight, it was still an exciting bout with the “Cowboy” using a rear-naked choke to submit the Brit after gaining Kelly’s back from mount position.
Updated: Dana White reported a total of 10,893 fans for the Las Vegas event for a gate total of $3.6 million.
It’s fight day as we count down the moments to the first bout of UFC 126: Silva vs. Belfort and the media have pulled all the stops for tonight’s show.
The live pay per view kicks off at 10PM EST (7PM PST) and the UFC is offering fans a unique experience at UFC.tv, it’s how I’ll be catching the live event as I do my best to bring the readers the latest from UFC 126.
The UFC is offering fans the chance to watch three preliminary bouts before the ppv kicks off.
Fans can watch Norifumi “KID” Yamamoto vs. Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson on the UFC Facebook page by clicking “Like” and tuning at 8:25PM EST (5:25PM PST).
Then prelim fighters lightweights Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone vs. Paul Kelly and featherweights Chad Mendes vs. Michihiro Omigawa will square off on Spike TV beginning at 9PM EST (6PM PST).
But if your itching to get into the action before any of the live televised fights take place, well we’ve got the links to fix that itch!
PRE-EVENT COVERAGE
- Follow UFC President Dana White on his Twitter page (@DanaWhite) who is a notable Twitterer on event days. You can also follow the Official UFC Twitter page (@UFC) who offers some interesting coverage and updates for everything UFC.
- Heavy.com is currently streaming their live MMA Fight-Day coverage with interviews and event analysis. Notable’s already interviews on the program include Tito Ortiz, Miguel Torres, Urijah Faber, and reporter Ariel Helwani. Well worth checking out for coverage leading up to tonight’s event.
- Event analysis begins at 7:30PM EST (4:30PM PST) at ESPN.com with ‘MMA Live’ who provide expert insight and exclusive interviews.
- ESPN also offers their Prefight show beginning at 8PM EST (5PM PST).
- If your looking to get hyped for the event, watch Countdown to UFC 126: Silva vs. Belfort here at this LINK.
EVENT COVERAGE
- Not merely interested in the ‘Quick Results’ for UFC 126, you can catch live round-by-round coverage at Sherdog.com beginning at 7:15PM EST (4:15PM PST) with the first preliminary bout.
- Looking to join in and offer your opinion on each fight, ESPN offers fans a chance to join the conversation with their own media members and others over the internet.
- Read what others are saying on the internet about each fight by checking out the MMA Underground forum board or join us on our forums at MMAFans.net.
- Check out streaming video from the locker rooms of the Mandalay Bay Events Center as the fighters warm up for their bouts at UFC.com/multicast/
POST EVENT COVERAGE
- Watch the UFC 126 post-fight press conference via streaming video after the event at UFCLive.com.
- Check out post fight analysis at ESPN.com with their ‘MMA Live’ program beginning at 1AM EST (10PM EST).
