This past weekend was just the beginning of what will be a very active couple of months in the MMA world. Here are some of the highlights:
The IFL was in Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun Arena this past Friday night for what were some exciting fights. Headlining this card was a Heavyweight Championship battle between Champion Roy “Big Country” Nelson and former UFC fighter Brad Imes. Nelson defended his belt by TKOing Imes at 2:55 of the first rd. “Big Country” has not been defeated in over a year and has won his last 4 fights by (T)KO. As good as Nelson has been, it’s hard to know how good he is until he fights a top Heavyweight. I’m sorry but Imes is not that guy.
Dan Miller pulled off an upset when he submitted Middleweight Champ Ryan McGivern via kneebar. Miller improved his record to 8-1 with the victory. It was the 2nd time in McGivern’s career he has lost to a kneebar. Miller is certainly a guy to keep an eye on.
Ryan Shultz retained his Lightweight belt with a victory over Deividas Taurosevicius by unanimous decision. I’m not sure this should have been unanimous, as this was a very close fight. My thinking is, if you’re the challenger you can’t leave it up to the judges they usually go with the champ.
Overall, a good night of fights.
Sengoku 2 Ariake Colosseum Tokyo, Japan
It’s good to see Kevin Randleman back in action. After being out with a nasty staph infection along with other ailments, he returned to defeat Ryo Kawamura by unanimous decision. It would be nice to see “The Monster” fighting back in the states. I’m not sure about the UFC but he would add a lot to the Elite XC roster.
Headlining this card was heavyweight Josh Barnett who defeated Jeff Monson by unanimous decision. This guy is a top heavyweight in any organization and with the UFC’s heavyweight division thinning out; Barnett would be a great addition. Dana White has stated he wants the best fighters and Barnett is right up there.
Speaking of the UFC they just announced UFC 87 Seek and Destroy: This will go down August 9th at the Target Center in Minnesota. Headlining the card will be the Brock Lesner-Mark Coleman fight. The other confirmed fights are Kenny Florian-Roger Huerta and Cheick Congo-Dan Evenson. It will be good to see Coleman back in the Octagon although I can’t help but feel he’s only been brought in to give Lesner a big name to beat. Florian and Heurta should be a great standup fight and if it hits the ground their both great there as well.
Interestingly, President of EliteXC Gary Shaw recently said, “I think I can reincarnate Ortiz” obviously speaking of Tito. As most know Ortiz has stated his upcoming fight with Lyoto Machida will be his last in the UFC as long as Dana White is their President. My question is, if Tito is still under contract with the UFC and Shaw is basically saying he wants to sign him, would that be considered tampering? I’m not sure, but EliteXC could certainly use Ortiz’s marketability. Who knows maybe we’ll be seeing an Ortiz-Kimbo Slice fight by the end of the year? Can you imagine the pay-per-view numbers that would bring in?
