With Rogers Sportsnet and The FAN 590 focusing on delivering exceptional content from the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, “MMA Connected” and “The Showdown” have taken a two week hiatus; but news in the MMA world continues to come fast and furious.
UFC 110: Nogueira vs Velasquez goes down in Sydney, Australia this Saturday night (Sunday in the land down under), with the pay per view airing at the usual timeslot of 10pm EST.
Later this week I will give you my predictions and analysis for the full card, which features a main event between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Cain Velasquez, with the winner being placed on standby and potentially getting a crack at UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar in July.
The big news this past week has been the unfortunate withdrawl of Vitor Belfort from UFC 112, where he was scheduled to take on Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva. Stepping up to replace Belfort will be fellow Brazilian Demian Maia, who now finds himself in a difficult position as he prepares to opportunity of a lifetime.
Maia has done his fair share of travelling whilst prepping for his last few fights, but his past decisions are now going to affect his training camps moving forward. He recently spent time with the Nogueira brothers, but seeing as they are stablemates of Silva’s ( Team Blackhouse ), Demian will not be able to work with them. Then there’s Wanderlai Silva, who helped Maia with his Muay Thai, but “The Axe Murderer” recently stated he will be spending a fair amount of time with “The Spider”, so that option is now gone.
One option is to head down to Brazil and work with UDL, but they are very close with Anderson as well. Maia’s options are running thin, so unless he is able to look outside of his Brazilian MMA Box, he may have a difficult time prepping for this massive 185 lbs showdown. Rumours are swirling that he may hit up the American Top Team in Florida, but either way, look for the submission specialist to figure it out by week’s end.
During the UFC’s scramble to find a replacement for Belfort, rumours started swirling that Silva may instead fight at light heavyweight with Randy Couture’s name being bandied as a possible opponent. “The Natural” stated he did not receive the offer but did hint that a potential bout with Rich Franklin could be on the docket for UFC 115, set for June 12th in Vancouver.
If there was one fighter many MMA fans were hoping the UFC could bring in to face Silva, it would be Gegard Mousassi. While “The Dream Catcher” is locked in with Strikeforce for the foreseeable future, he recently parted ways with M-1 Global, the same management team that represents Fedor Emelianenko. With the departure, many are beginning the countdown as to when the Armenian will make his octagon debut. Pending the financial success of Strikeforce’s next two (or three) shows, don’t expect Mousassi in the UFC anytime soon, but I do believe he will be there in 2011.
In case you missed some of my latest Twitter and Facebook updates, one of my business partners, Sean Pierson, has recently signed on with Bellator Fighting Championships and will be part of Bellator’s season two welterweight tournament. Another one of our friends (and the man who I attribute the majority of my MMA skill set to) Antonio “Pato” Carvalho, has signed on with W-1 MMA and will be fighting Eddie Fyvie on March 20th in Montreal. Pay attention to both of these names, as Pierson is widely regarded as one of the best welterweights in Canada (and has been invited by GSP once again, to help prepare for his next bout). As for Carvalho, he was widely considered a top three featherweight just a few years ago, until a rash of injuries sidelined him for the better part of 2008 and 2009.
A few other Canadians making news are Nick Ring, a middleweight fighter who was once recruited by Pride FC and I worked closely with during the 2004 Abu Dhabi North American Trials in Vernon, BC. Ring has been selected as a cast member of The Ultimate Fighter Eleven, featuring coaches Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell.
The other Canadian about to make headlines appears to be Toronto’s Claude Patrick, a welterweight with blistering speed and a magical ground game. Patrick is poised to sign with the UFC, and will be a fresh infusion to the 170 lbs class. He has quietly built an impressive record on the grass roots level, and will now be jumping in with the sharks of the octagon (likely at UFC 115 in Van City), in a division which is arguably the deepest in MMA.
As for the latest news on “when” MMA will be sanctioned and regulated in Ontario, this near two decade story has once again been derailed. I have received encouraging news that lobbyist efforts are right on track and in fact, have taken major steps forward, some of which you will see on MMA Connected’s post-Olympic broadcast on March 01st. But as I say that, Premier Dalton McGuinty recently stated that this is not a priority for his government, thwarting any momentum that was gained.
On a personal level, dealing with this legalization issue since 1998 feels like driving a standard vehicle where every time you press the gas pedal, someone from the government always presses the clutch the moment you move forward. The vehicle still moves forward, rolling, but thankfully no one has pressed the brakes; wait a second…is it too late to retract that last statement about someone pressing the brakes?
-Joe Ferraro
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