Press Release

Thales Leites made quick work of Jesse Taylor, and Ryan Jimmo made a huge statement with a convincing victory at the Maximum Fighting Championship’s MFC 25: Vindication.

In front of more than 4,000 fans at the Northlands Expo Centre in Edmonton, Alberta, and live on HDNet, Leites (17-3) submitted Taylor with an impressive triangle choke at the 2:27 mark of the first round. Taylor (14-6) initially forced Leites to the mat with a double-leg takedown, but the Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, product scored big a strike from the bottom that opened a deep gash on Taylor’s eyebrow. That was the beginning of the end as Leites smoothly transitioned into the submission manoeuvre and forced the tapout.

It was a second straight win in the Maximum Fighting Championship for Leites and moved him to the top of the contender list for the MFC middleweight title.

In the night’s co-main event, Jimmo (13-1) surely shocked a number of mixed martial arts pundits as he dominated Wilson Gouveia (12-8) en route to a clear-cut unanimous decision. Jimmo showed his patented counter-striking in Round 1 and then thoroughly applied the heat on Gouveia in Round 2. Jimmo surprisingly took Gouveia down but instead of being caught up in the Brazilian’s jiu-jitsu skills, Jimmo unleashed a ferocious ground-and-pound assault. At one point, Jimmo had Gouveia stacked up in a neutral corner and rained down countless strikes that nearly forced referee John Braak to step in and stop bout. At the end of the round, a battered and bruised Gouveia needed help returning to his corner.

Jimmo continued to showcase a much more confident attack in Round 3, and despite getting caught with a punch from Gouveia in the early moments, he cruised to the win. A pair of judges gave Jimmo a 10-8 score in Round 2 and he finished with counts of 30-27, 30-26, 30-26 in his favor. Jimmo, who now fights out of Edmonton, Alberta, was given a huge ovation by the home-town crowd for the best performance of his career – a result which has tabbed him as the front-runner for a shot at the MFC light heavyweight title.

Meanwhile, former MFC light heavyweight champ Emanuel Newton showed that cleaning up his act outside the ring had a profound effect on his in-ring performance. Newton (13-6), who hails from Norwalk, California, utilized outstanding takedowns and control to take a unanimous decision from crowd favorite Dwayne Lewis (11-5). Newton, whose corner was anchored by MFC lightweight champ Antonio McKee, put a stop to his own three-fight losing skid while snapping Lewis’s own seven-fight win streak. The result was a bitter pill to swallow for Lewis who had more than 400 fans in the audience from his home town of Fort McMurray, Alberta.

In an entertaining welterweight encounter, veteran Pete Spratt (21-17) picked up the Knockout of the Night by stopping Luigi Fioravanti (17-7) at 4:02 of Round 3. Spratt took control in Round 2 doing most of his damage with brutal kicks to the body. In the third, Spratt dropped Fioravanti with a stiff jab and then pounced with a barrage that brought upon the stoppage. It was the second straight win in the Maximum Fighting Championship for the native of San Antonio, Texas, who captured the MFC’s 2009 Knockout of the Year in his last appearance at MFC 22 back in October.

Gavin Neil (8-1) picked up the Submission of the Night by coaxing a tapout from Richie Hightower (8-4) at 2:52 of Round 1. Hightower was done in by a wicked left hook from Neil and the Victoria, British Columbia, native moved quickly into a fight-ending rear-naked choke.
　
Other results:

Chase Gormley (7-2) def. Ryan Fortin (4-3) – Unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Chad Freeman (4-3) def. Mike Froese (3-3) – 3:48 Round 1, tapout via armbar

Keto Allen (4-0) def. Aaron Berke (4-2) – 2:58 Round 1, TKO

Jevon Marshall (1-0) def. Garret Nybakken (1-1) – 2:00 Round 3, tapout via rear-naked choke

Join us tonight as The MMA News brings you the live, Quick Updates for Maximum Fighting Championships latest event “MFC 25: Vindication” from the Northlands Expo Centre in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

MFC 25: Vindication will take place on Friday, May 7 at the Northlands Expo Centre in Edmonton, Alberta, and will air live on HDNet Fights throughout North America.

The preliminary action will begin at approx. 8:15 p.m. EST (5:15 p.m. PST) with the main broadcast card beginning at 10 p.m. EST.

Former UFC middleweight challenger Thales Leites will be facing former “TUF” fighter Jesse Taylor in the main event which will determine the top contender for the MFC middleweight title. Jimmo and Lewis, who are from Edmonton and Fort McMurray, Alberta, respectively, are two of the MFC’s most-popular fighters and both are in separate bouts which will go a long way to setting the stage for the next MFC light heavyweight title bout.

The MMA News will be keeping the spoilers off-of the main page. To see the live quick results for MFC 25: Vindication click

The full card for MFC 25 is as follows:

Main Card:

- Thales Leites def. Jesse Taylor via submission (triangle choke) – R1,2:27
- Ryan Jimmo def. Wilson Gouveia via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26)
- Emanuel Newton def. Dwayne Lewis via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Pete Spratt def. Luigi Fioravanti via TKO (strikes) – R3, 4:02
- Gavin Neil def. Richie Hightower via submission (rnc) – R1, 2:52
- Chase Gormley def. Ryan Fortin via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Preliminary card:

- Chad Freeman def. Mike Froese via submission (arm bar) – R1, 3:48
- Keto Allen def. Aaron Berke via TKO (punches) – R1, 2:15
- Jevon Marshall def. Garret Nybakken via submission (rear naked choke) – R3, 2:00

Does Lyoto Machida or “Shogun” Rua need to finish his opponent to be a successful champion? How long will Josh Koscheck wait before trying to take down Paul Daley? What are the chances of Kimbo Slice going 2-0 in the UFC? Is Alan Belcher ready to be a contender with a win over Patrick Cote? Should Ken Shamrock or Mark Coleman call it quits if they lose their upcoming fight?

Adam Tool here, and after a brief respite from high level mixed-martial arts action last week things kick back into full gear with UFC 113 on Saturday. I’m joined as always by my colleague Brendhan Conlan as we look up and down the card for all the issues that need grappling with. Once we’ve had our say you can feel free to leave your own opinions in the comment box below.

Using a percentage, how certain are you that Kimbo Slice will raise his record in the Octagon to 2-0 after this weekend’s clash with Matt Mitrione?

Adam Tool: I’ll go with 50%. We saw Kimbo make improvements to his overall game in the Houston Alexander fight, but he’s still got a long way to go if he wants to hang with the UFC’s elite heavyweights. Fortunately for him, Matt Mitrione is not in that group. Mitrione doesn’t have a lot of weapons in his arsenal but he does have some heavy hands. There’s a good chance these two will decide to trade blows early and often, and at that point it’s basically a coin flip as to who goes down first.

Brendhan Conlan: 35%. “A long way to go” might be the understatement of the year in terms of how far Slice must travel to serve as a competitive opponent for any “Top 10” heavyweight. In reality, the distance is equivalent to Heidi Montag’s trek towards delivering an Academy Award winning performance in a four-star film. Fortunately, as Tool said, Mitrione isn’t close to being an “elite” fighter at this point in his career, and furthermore Kimbo doesn’t need to be a world-beater in order to have a successful career. He simply needs to win more often than not while avoiding a razor blade at all costs.

The reason I’m giving the former NFL defenseman the slight nod in this bout is because I think he has more ways to win than Slice. Granted, some of Mitrione’s flaws have undoubtedly been masked by how little time he’s spent inside the cage, but I think I’ve seen enough of both fighters to have a basic idea of what each currently offers as a Mixed Martial Artist.

Kimbo definitely showed a few things against Houston Alexander (the slam, some ground work, mildly improved cardio) that hadn’t previously appeared in his arsenal but, as good as he looked, I couldn’t help but be concerned about what he didn’t display – knockout power. Alexander’s chin has been shown to possess a relatively loose on/off switch, and similar to his fight against an equally glass-jawed James Thompson, Slice wasn’t able to put him face down on the mat. The Miami native’s YouTube-based reputation as a devastating striker is slowly fading away in my mind, and if Kimbo can’t knock people out then what does he really have to threaten his adversaries with?

On the other hand, Mitrione has decent, albeit punishing, stand-up and is at minimum a comparable grappler to his opposition on Saturday night. I’d favor him in the submission and takedown departments, and I also think his boxing is a little more technical than Slice’s which should afford him the ability to land jabs while avoiding most of the wild blows the bearded brawler is known for throwing. Seth Petruzelli was able to rattle Kimbo’s brain off of his back foot, and I’m confident “Meathead” can do the same if not worse by landing one or two clean shots.

Approximately how many total minutes (or seconds) will Josh Koscheck keep things standing against Paul Daley before shooting in for a takedown?

Tool: If he’s smart it will be less than a minute. I know Koscheck has made some big improvements on his striking, and his ego might tell him to test the waters standing for a little while. Unless Koscheck didn’t watch any tape whatsoever on Daley, he has to know that this is a dangerous proposition.

While Daley has a clear advantage in the striking, there’s a much bigger gap between these two in terms of grappling ability and Koscheck would be a fool to not take advantage of that. We know that Daley has fallen victim to more than his fair share of submissions, and we also know that Koscheck is on another level in terms of wrestling ability. Koscheck recently choked out the heavy-handed Anthony Johnson, so is there any reason to think that he won’t look to do the same on Saturday?

Conlan: 94 seconds (because round numbers are boring). I believe Koscheck’s confidence in his striking will cause him to get a better look at Daley on his feet before committing to a ground war, but I also think he’s intelligent enough to recognize the opportunity in front of him, i.e. a likely title-shot and gig coaching the Ultimate Fighter, and won’t throw it away by playing to Daley’s primary method of attack.

More than just the fact eighteen of Daley’s twenty-three wins have been of the TKO variety, five of his losses have been by submission and two of the other three came in the form of decisions to above-average grapplers. There’s no mistaking “Semtex” is in serious danger of having his fuse snuffed if the Ultimate Fighter O.G. drags the action down to the canvas, while also recognizing Daley can easily straighten Koscheck’s trademark curls by knocking the blond out of them while standing. Based on that equation it would be silly for “Kos” to spend serious time doing anything other than attempting to take Daley down with the goal of finishing things horizontally as opposed to vertically.

Should Alan Belcher be considered the UFC’s top middleweight contender if he beats Patrick Cote?

Tool: It took me a while to answer this question, but only because I had to stop laughing first. Alan Belcher is a good fighter, and he’s able to consistently put on entertaining fights. But a title contender? No way.

We’re talking about a guy who has losses to Kendall Grove and Jason Day. He recorded a narrow split decision win over Ed Herman in a fight that many thought should have gone the other way. He beat Denis Kang, but only after getting his ass kicked for the first nine minutes of the fight. Yes he did score a nice win over Wilson Gouveia recently, but prior to that he came up short against Yoshihiro Akiyama (and despite what Joe Rogan might tell you, Akiyama deserved to get the decision). Personally I feel that the winner of the upcoming Akiyama/Wanderlei Silva fight would have a better claim for contendership.

A win over Cote would undoubtedly move Belcher closer to reaching the higher levels of competition, but I don’t think anybody believes that beating Cote puts a fighter right into the title contenders’ pool. It’s true that Cote is a former title contender himself, but then again so are David Loiseau and Nate Quarry. I’m looking forward to a great fight from these two on Saturday, but I don’t expect the winner to be talked about as a future contender on Sunday morning.

Conlan: Did your fit of laughter come before or after you penned the next topic? But I digress…

Perhaps not THE top contender, but I absolutely think Belcher should be considered among them. No, I don’t actually believe he’ll be given the opportunity based on the minimal push the bout has received from the UFC and the superior marketability of middleweights like the afore-mentioned “Axe Murderer” and Akiyama, as well as Vitor Belfort who the company seems intent on offering a title shot to regardless of how few wins he actually has at 185-pounds, but my case for Belcher is this…

Even if Tool thinks my opinion was influenced by Joe Rogan, or perhaps even by a batch of Rogan’s brownies, I feel Belcher beat Akiyama at UFC 100 based on aggression, ring control, and the actual damage dished out. I wasn’t horribly offended by the split decision but I didn’t agree with it. The win would’ve marked his third in a row instead of being the lone defeat in his last four Octagon appearances and brought his current record to 6-1 in the organization since losing to Grove three years ago. He may have dropped the actual bout to “Sexyama” but the performance still stands. A convincing victory at UFC 113 (in his opponent’s home-base of Montreal no less) would be an impressive achievement and comparable to what any other 185-pounder in the UFC has done in the division as of late. Were Cote, Thales Leites, Demian Maia, or current contender and friend-of-the-scorecards Chael Sonnen so much more qualified for the chance they received to dethrone Anderson Silva than Belcher would be with another win over a respectable opponent like “The Predator”? I don’t think so, and as such I think he and his oddly fascinating Johnny Cash tattoo deserve to be on the cusp of top contendership.

BUY/SELL – If he’s going to have a truly successful reign as champion, the winner of the Lyoto Machida/”Shogun” Rua title fight must finish his opponent.

Conlan: Sell, as I don’t see the relationship between finishing a single opponent and defining a fighter’s tenure as title-holder. The measure of a champion’s success involves the quality of competition faced and number of times the belt is put on the line. It doesn’t hinge on how a particular outcome was achieved so long as it was a victorious one.

While a second win over Rua would actually double the lone positive result found between the last three 205-pounders who entered the Octagon as UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, it would still only be his second defense of the belt and few can forget the first involved a questionable judges’ decision. Soundly beating “Shogun” on Saturday night certainly wouldn’t hurt how Lyoto’s reign is perceived by fans and media, but even memories of a shaky five-round performance will fade away as long as he keeps the strap around his waist for the foreseeable future. Likewise, if he drops his subsequent bout the UFC 113 result means very little no matter how highlight-filled it may be.

As far as the challenger goes, even if Rua wins in the most devastating of fashions he’ll still be a new champion with zero title defenses to his credit. If he loses the following fight, or even the one after that, why would it matter what he did against Machida in terms of labeling his reign a success when it clearly wasn’t?

Tool: I’ll go with buy, because if you think either man’s reign won’t be affected by this fight’s outcome then perhaps you should consider what would happen if this rematch ends the same way as the first fight. Should Saturday night’s main event end in another extremely narrow decision with one fighter getting the nod while everyone and their mother believes it should have gone the other way, the winner of the fight will never hear the end of it.

The success of a champion’s reign is obviously predicated on the quality of opposition he beats, but the methods of victory can play a huge role in the fans’ perception of a champion. Georges St. Pierre is the most dominant welterweight fighter in the world, but he’s currently facing a staggering amount of criticism for his inability to finish his opponents.

This rematch comes under the most auspicious of circumstances, as the results of their first fight gave us more questions than it did answers. I’m hoping that we see this fight stopped by the referee and not the buzzer so we can truly determine who is the better fighter and move on with all our lives.

Which of the six prelim fights at UFC 113 are you hoping to see on the live broadcast?

Conlan: The preliminary action I’m most looking forward to, Tom Lawlor’s entrance not withstanding, is the scheduled bout between Jonathan Goulet and Marcus Davis. Though neither is within a stone’s throw of title contendership or is likely to dramatically improve their standing in the immediate future, both are veteran fighters who prefer to strike and may be in a “loser leaves town” situation. UFC 113 will be Goulet’s first scrap since December 2008, while “The Irish Hand Grenade” is coming off a brutal knockout loss to Ben Saunders sustained at UFC 106 which also marked his second consecutive defeat in the Octagon. It makes me feel as though the pairing definitely has “Fight of the Night” potential based on their styles and the “must win” nature of the match-up. Additionally, Goulet is from Quebec so the energy of his Canadian countrymen in attendance should amp the drama up a notch when the cage door shuts.

Tool: I like the chances of Davis/Goulet making it on the live broadcast, as Davis’ heavy hands combined with Goulet’s paper mache chin should result in a rather brief affair.

I’ll go with the middleweight showdown between Tom Lawlor and Joe Doerkson. Lawlor should be on the main card simply by virtue of his crazy personality, but he’s also got some decent skills as a fighter too. His opponent is the very definition of a journeyman, with more submission wins than most guys have professional fights. Lawlor could look to rely on his wrestling, but I won’t be surprised if these two decide to stand and trade instead. It may not be the most evenly matched fight on the card, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be competitive.

It has been announced that Mark Coleman will face Ken Shamrock on an upcoming Australian card. Given the two men involved, is there any chance that the loser of this fight will retire afterwards?

Conlan: Of course there’s a chance – it’s just a very, very slim one. Other than satisfying any lingering competitive desire still burning inside, I’m sure both icons enjoy the spotlight fighting on the upper-echelon of a Mixed Martial Arts card provides as well as the financial rewards included. I doubt either man is remotely poor but I’m also willing to bet neither is lighting their cigars with crisp hundred-dollar bills either. Fighting is what they know, and, similar to a lot of other athletes in the twilight of their careers, they don’t seem willing to give up the sport they love until forced to do so.

So no, though their combined age is a decade short of a century and between them they’ve won a total of five fights since 2004, I don’t think Shamrock or Coleman will trade in their five-ounce gloves regardless of how their fight unfolds. It’s just too bad this match-up couldn’t have happened 10-12 years ago because both men were fearsome competitors in their respective primes.

Tool: I believe Shamrock will be the one to lose this fight, therefore the question I’m forced to answer is whether or not I believe the former WWF Intercontinental Champion will call it quits afterwards. I’m guessing not, because if Shamrock wanted to retire with some dignity he would have done it three years ago.

While Shamrock’s contributions to the sport are unmatched, his willingness to continue as a competitor long past his prime is profoundly embarrassing. His lone win in the last six years was against a guy that weighed nearly 400 lbs., and Ken needed steroids to get the job done. I won’t pretend that I know for a fact what Shamrock’s motivation is to continue on in the sport, but I’m sure there’s still some decent money to be made for somebody with his kind of name value. That being said, I wonder how much is enough when your legacy is taking a significant hit every time you fight?

It appears that two more match-ups have been set for UFC 118. A middleweight bout between Jorge Rivera (18-7) vs. Alessio Sakara (15-7) and a lightweight match featuring Joe Lauzon (18-5) vs. Terry Etim.

Not official, UFC 118 is expected to take place on Aug. 28 at the TD Garden in Boston, Mass. and will be headlined by a lightweight title rematch between new champion Frankie Edgar vs. BJ Penn.

MMA veteran Rivera has won his last three bouts defeating Nate Quarry via TKO at UFN 21 at his last UFC appearance. This will be Rivera’s fourteenth UFC appearance over several stints with the organization putting together an 8-5 record. The other two victories came over Rob Kimmons and Nissen Osterneck at UFC 104 and UFN 21 respectively.

Sakara is also riding a three fight win streak defeating James Irvin, Thales Leites, and Joe Vedepo in that stretch. The Italian middleweight has fought in the UFC ten straight times earning a 6-4 since his first fight in October of 2005.

Lauzon will look to erase a loss after dropping a unanimous decision to Sam Stout at UFC 108. The bout earned both men the “Fight of the Night” honor, Lauzon’s second and third “Fight Night” honor. He’s 2-2 in his past four with wins over Jeremy Stephens and Kyle Bradley, with the other loss coming at the hands of Kenny Florian.

British fighter Etim, is coming off a loss to Rafael dos Anjos in the UFC’s first Middle Eastern event, UFC 112. Dos Anjos submitted Etim with an armbar, earning the “Submission of the Night” for the event. An honor that Etim has won three times in his eight fights with the UFC, going 5-3.

No word on where these two bouts may end up being featured on Aug. 28.

The latest rumored card for UFC 118 now appears as follows:

- Frankie Edgar vs. B.J. Penn (for lightweight title)*
- Randy Couture vs. James Toney*
- Kenny Florian vs. Gray Maynard*
- Jorge Rivera vs. Alessio Sakara*
- Terry Etim vs. Joe Lauzon*

* – Not officially announced

Fighters Only was the first to confirm the Lauzon vs. Etim bout, while MMAjunkie.com has confirmed both matches.

A middleweight scrap between Alessio Sakara and Jorge Rivera will go down a UFC 118 according to MMA Junkie.com.

While the fight has yet to be signed, both fighters have verbally agreed to fight at the big show in Boston. Both fighters are coming off of three fight winning streaks in which they finished two out of their three opponents.

Sakara has been with the promotion since October of 2005 and has gone 6-4 in the promotion with victories over Elvis Sinosic, Thales Leites, and recently James Irvin.

The heavy-handed Italian originally started in the UFC at 205 pounds, but has gone 4-1 since making the move down to 185.

Sakara was originally scheduled to face Nate Marquardt at UFC 116, but pulled out after the death of his father.

Rivera was a competitor on the Comeback season of The Ultimate Fighter and is considered to be a fan favorite for his good fights. Rivera has gone 6-2 in the promotion since his return to the promotion with victories over TUF alumni Kendall Grove and Nate Quarry.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Edmonton, Alberta, Canada based promotion, Maximum Fighting Championship, has released a highlight video of some the best action from their events.

The MFC’s next event will be next Friday May 7th MFC 25: Vindication and will feature a middleweight title fight between Thales Leites vs. JT Money.

Two more bouts look close to being finalized for this July’s UFC 116 event with a middleweight bout between Nate Marquardt (29-9-2) vs. Alessio Sakara (15-7) and a heavyweight matchup featuring “TUF 10″ finalist Brendan Schaub (5-1) vs. Chris Tuchscherer (18-2) making the show.

UFC 116 will take place on July 3rd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will air on pay-per-view.

Bout agreements are in place for both fights but have yet to be finalized.

Middleweight Marquardt is looking to erase a loss after dropping a unanimous decision to Chael Sonnen at UFC 109. The fight against Sonnen helped to earn Nate “The Great” his second “Fight Night” honor after both men were awarded the “Fight of the Night” award and was also given the “Knockout of the Night” award for KOing Demian Maia at UFC 102. Marquardt had won three straight before the loss to Sonnen which included victories over Maia, Wilson Gouveia, and Martin Kampmann.

Marquardt will meet a fighter riding a three fight win streak in Sakara who earned a TKO victory over James Irvin at UFC Live: Vera vs. Jones event. He won a split-decision over Thales Leites last summer at UFC 101. Sakara has won nine of his fifteen victories by knockout.

Schaub earned his first UFC victory in his last fight by KOing Chase Gormley in 47 seconds at UFC on Versus 1 in March. He was a member of “The Ultimate Fighter” season 10 and faced Roy Nelson in the finals in December. He was KO’d by the former IFL champ in the first round to lose the Finale. All of Schuab’s victories have come via knockout and lasted no longer than 1 minute and 27 seconds.

Tuchscherer is 1-1 in the UFC like his opponent Schaub, and erased a loss in his debut by earning a majority decision over Canadian Tim Hague at UFC 109. The Minnesota Martial Arts Academy fighter has been known to train alongside heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar. Tuchscherer suffered an unfortunate loss in his debut after taking a crippling kick to the groin by Gabriel Gonzaga.

The current rumored UFC 116 card appears as follows:

- Brock Lesnar vs. interim champ Shane Carwin (heavyweight title-unification bout)*
- Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Wanderlei Silva*
- Kurt Pellegrino vs. George Sotiropoulos*
- Nate Marquardt vs. Alessio Sakara*
- Cheick Kongo vs. Roy Nelson*
- Brendan Schaub vs. Chris Tuchscherer*
- Stephan Bonnar vs. Krzysztof Soszynski*
- Matt Brown vs. Chris Lytle*
- Kendall Grove vs. TBA*
- Goran Reljic vs. TBA*

* – Not officially announced

HT: MMAjunkie.com

The finishing touches are currently being put in place to make a middleweight bout between Nate Marquardt and Alessio Sakara official for UFC 116.

The news of the bout was recently reported by MMAjunkie.com.

UFC 116 is expected to take place on July 3 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas while airing live on pay-per-view. Brock Lesnar is slated to face off with Shane Carwin in the main event of the evening to crown an undisputed UFC heavyweight champion.

Marquardt will be entering the match-up on the heels of a one-sided unanimous decision defeat at the hands of Chael Sonnen after going on a three-fight winning streak in the UFC middleweight division, while Sakara will be looking to improve upon a three fight win streak in the UFC that has included victories over the likes of Joe Vedepo, Thales Leites and James Irvin.

Press Release

All the talent in the world won’t get a fighter very far if he doesn’t complement his skills with all the necessary intangibles.

Emanuel Newton is easily one of the MFC’s most-talented fighters with an incredible amount of athleticism. But what Newton has lacked at this key time in his career is the mental game plan to keep himself on the right track. That, says trainer and MFC lightweight champion Antonio McKee, is about to change.

“He has improved so much. You’re going to see the Emanuel Newton who came to the MFC and beat up David Heath. You’re going to see the real ‘Hardcore Kid,’ ” said McKee, who will be in the corner of Newton (12-6) when he takes on Dwayne Lewis (11-4) in one of the featured fights at MFC 25: Vindication on Friday, May 7 at the Northlands Expo Centre in Edmonton, Alberta. The fight will also be part of the televised card airing live on HDNet Fights.

Newton had the distinction of holding one of mixed martial arts’ longest winning streaks when he captured the victory in 11 straight bouts between 2005 and 2008. That incredible stretch, which included his decisive second-round stoppage of Heath, culminated in his five-round verdict to take the MFC light heavyweight title from Roger Hollett at MFC 19.

But things spiralled downward for Newton from that point on. In his first defense of the championship belt, the Norwalk, California, product failed to recapture the attitude that garnered him title and he dropped a five-round decision to Trevor Prangley. Newton went on to lose two more fights including a three-rounder to Ryan Jimmo at MFC 23.

That skid has left Newton in an unenviable position. Has he become a thing of the past in the MFC’s 205-pound ranks, considering the rise of Jimmo, Lewis, and others who are riding high on impressive winning streaks?

McKee figures his protégé is nowhere near the end his mission because he has made an important life transition.

“He’s been drug-free for six months and training hard. Plus he’s got a baby on the way and think that’s really giving him something to fight for,” noted McKee. “He’s been improving every day. I think he’s going to bring an exciting fight and really bring the heat.

“He’s going to be aggressive. I think he’s looked at the mistakes he’s made and … he’s just hungry.”

The Lewis-Newton matchup fits alongside the rest of the huge lineup at MFC 25: Vindication including the main event of Thales Leites versus Jesse Taylor and the co-main event of Wilson Gouveia against Ryan Jimmo. Tickets for fight card are available through the MFC Ticket Hotline at (780) 504-2024 and via Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.ca and charge-by-phone (780) 451-8000.

The MMA News Opinion

With all of the negative attention that Anderson Silva has received over the past week, former WEC middleweight champ Chael Sonnen (24-10) looks to play the hero against “The Spider.” The fact made more poignant by UFC president Dana White’s announcement that he wants to book both fighters against one another for Silva’s next bout, which apparently will happen at UFC 117 in August.

Sonnen was supposed to be next in line for “The Spider” back in February, after Sonnen defeated Nate Marquardt at UFC 109, but Silva turned down the fight saying it wasn’t a fight he was interested in. The UFC then booked Vitor Belfort next, but that fell through after Belfort suffered a shoulder injury in training. So Silva was given yet another Jiu-Jitsu fighter in Demian Maia instead of someone who would stand and bang. You’d think they would have learned something after UFC 97 when Silva fought Thales Leites, so should anyone be that shocked?

The fact that Sonnen was passed over twice probably helped him to crank up the trash talk.

“[Silva is] really good, he’s really effective, and he’s as unpleasing to watch as grass growing,” Sonnen said. “That’s why they called me to get rid of this cancer of the company.”
– MMAjunkie.com

“I compare Anderson to Britney Spears. She shaved her head to get headlines. Britney Silva went up to 205, retired, etc. Nobody cares”

“You know what you’re getting (with SIlva). A guy who pretends he doesnt speak English, is a fantastic athlete, and acts like a fool. If you like that, go buy his t-shirt with the other two guys who like him.”
– Sports1140.com

“There’s people out there that need (to be) beaten up – he’s one of them. And I have a moral obligation to society to beat him up.”
– MMAjunkie.com

Now the question that I have is Chael Sonnen the guy we want to see in the octagon against Silva? He’s sure talking like he’s the guy to take the champ down, but we need to temper all of that talk with the fact that Sonnen is a politician.

He’s currently running for a seat in the House of Representatives for District 37 in Oregon. Selling himself to the public is what he does, which doesn’t necessarily make him the man for the job, it just makes him the guy shaking hands and kissing babies.

Gray Maynard just talked about the same exact thing with Yahoo! Sports. “I needed to be out there saying, ‘I want Penn, I want Penn, I want Penn,” admits Maynard. He feels that Frankie Edgar was given a title shot against BJ Penn because he didn’t sell himself hard enough to the fans and to the UFC.

Okay, let’s look at Sonnen’s record then. He’s earned 24 professional victories, 14 of which have gone to a decision, 4 by submission and only 7 by knockout. His last five conquests have all come via unanimous decision, this doesn’t sound like a fighter who’ll go into the octagon and finish “The Spider” to me. It sounds more like a match-up reminiscent of Silva’s bout with light-heavyweight Forrest Griffin at UFC 101 last summer, where we’ll watch Sonnen flounder around for the first minute before he get’s knocked the f*** out by Silva. I want to see Silva challenged not given another paper doll to tear through.

On paper, Sonnen’s record say’s he is the next guy but I just don’t feel that way. Yes mixed martial arts is a sport, it’s about competition, but the UFC doesn’t book fights based on competition generally, the UFC books fights on whatever they feel will sell, and Sonnen has done a great job of selling himself.