Roundup: Post-UFC 84 News and Notes, New Matches For TUF 7 Finale and UFC 87, and More
By: Kris Karkoski | May 25,2008
- Wanderlei Silva, Rousimar Palhares, Goran Reljic, and Wilson Gouveia took home $75,000 bonuses for their efforts at UFC 84. Silva won “Knockout of the Night” for his 36-second KO win over Keith Jardine. Palhares was awarded “Submission of the Night” for his slick armbar win over veteran Ivan Salaverry. Reljic and Gouveia took home “Fight of the Night” for their back-and-forth battle that Reljic won via second-round TKO.
- UFC 84 drew a live gate of $3.7 million, the fourth best MMA gate ever in Nevada.
- The announced attendance for UFC 84 was 14,773.
- Tito Ortiz caused quite the commotion at the post-UFC 84 press conference. After reportedly being banned from the event, Ortiz showed up anyways and began fielding questions from reporters before the press event had begun. UFC officials reportedly attempted to stop Ortiz from answering question but ultimately allowed him to field questions briefly before the official press conference go underway. Ortiz was allowed to stay for the event, though four Las Vegas police officers were brought in should things get out of hand.
- Rob Yundt will take on Alessio Sakara at The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale.
- At UFC 87 Heath Herring will fill in for an injured Mark Coleman and take on Brock Lesnar, Clay Guida will face Mac Danzig, Jason MacDonald takes on Demian Maia, and Manny Gamburyan will be in action against an opponent to be announced.
- Adrenaline MMA has inked a deal with HDNet to air the promotion’s first three events on the network.
- Jeremy Lang has replaced Eric Schambari against Tim McKenzie and Danny Castillo has replaced Richard Crunkilton against Donald Cerrone on the WEC 34 fight card, which is takes place on June 1st.
- Ryan Ford will take on UFC veteran Drew Fickett at MFC 17 for the promotion’s vacant welterweight championship.
- DREAM has announced the official pairings for the second round of the promtion’s middleweight tournament. The matchups are Kazushi Sakuraba versus Melvin Manhoef, Jason “Mayhem†Miller versus Ronaldo “Jacare†Souza, Gegard Mousasi versus Dong Sik Yoon, and Zelg Galesic versus Taiei Kin.
- Antonio Rogerio Nogueria will fight Vernon White at Affliction’s debut event, “Banned”, on July 19th.
- ESPN The Magazine featuring Kimbo Slice on the cover is on newstands now.
- EliteXC President Gary Shaw revealed this week that the promotion is likely going to introduce a heavyweight title in 2008.
- MMA veteran Matt Lindland won the Republican primary for the Oregon House of Representatives by a 14-point margin and will not take on Democratic nominee Suzanne VanOrman in the November 4th general election.
- EliteXC will stage a ShoXC event in San Diego, California on June 27th. Hector Lombard will make his debut with the promotion at the event, Cyrille Diabate will face Jamie Fletcher in a main card bout, and King of the Cage middleweight champion Keith Berry will look to defend his title against Reggie Orr.
- UFC 88 will take place on September 6th at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
Tito…..what a penis. The guy is a hero to some people and could be to many others but acts like a jack off. I always thought Ken Shamrock was going over board but now I see another side of it all. He is an opportunist idiot like Gary Shaw.
On a side note…..ESPN is way off base as far as MMA goes when they are covering Kimbo Slice in regards to MMA.
Agreed. Just when you think it’s OK to like Tito he pulls stunts like these. Maybe Ken was right.
What are you talking about? Im not even a Tito fan but even i know he has as much a right to be there as anyone else. 11years he fought for the UFC, he paid his dues.
Heath Herring filling in for Mark Coleman to fight Brock Lesnar??? Poor Brock. lol. Looked as though they were doing everything they could to get Brock his first win. I liked Brock over oldman Coleman, but I don’t think he can strike with Heath. Brock better hope he takes him down quickly and doesn’t gass. Ya know Herring is going to want to stand!
Yea WANDERLEI!!!! I was so happy to see the shaved head…. and god I love his entrance! WANDY is BACK!
markus j you are an idiot what do you mean hope he doesnt gas do you even know who brock lesner is???? his cardio is through the roof and i am sure he will have no problem taking the texas crazy horse to the ground and knocking him sensless! heath better bring his A game cause he mir got lucky (well i guess there was a little skill in his win) and dont think brock will fall for that again his record is 1-1 so he is still learning. i believe he is only a blue belt bjj so its not like he has a wealth of knowledge there.
Keep the name calling to a minimum please.
I loved Wandy’s entrance music & shaved head. He was mfing back at UFC 84. I loved it.
I really wanted to see Mark Coleman vs Brock. I think Brock Lesner actually has a chance against Heath Herring, since HH has G&P style, instead of JJ. Ground & Pound is what Brock showed he was a very quick learner at.
I hate Heath Herring with a passion. I think Brock can beat this clown.
honestly, i see lesnar making pretty quick work of herring. actually i see brock doin that to alot of guys as long as they don’t know how to work that well on the ground cuz he showed that if he wants the take down, he’s got it. as for tito, it’s just another thing that no one but tito, dana and a few other people that know what happened should have anything to say about. it’s easy to see it as tito bein a jerk but at the same time, the guy may have really gotten a raw deal and just not wanted to sit back and take it. i’m inclined to think that he has reason to be pissed considering how many fighters are talkin about the way UFC treats its fighters.
WOW i cant belive wat im reading why the hell do people think lesnar is going to beat heath i see brock getting knocked the f*ck out inside 2min hes going to run in there like hes a big bad man an herring is guna knock him out with a kick to the head or straight right, brock cant hand with heath ide give kimbo more ov a chance!! wat happend to coleman anyway?
Colemamn tore his MCL in his knee.
The Axe Murder VS. The Spider. The fight needs to happen and the fans need to demand it. Wanderlei would be a great 185 pounder and he would take the fight to Silva. GSP VS. Penn, Wanderlie VS. Silva, and Iceman VS. Shogun Rua
i dont like tito at all, but he deserves to b at the press con. hes done alot for the ufc, and dana is a bigger jack-off than tito as far as I’m concerned. my opinion, dana has talked so much shit that now hes afraid tito is gonna beat his ass, which he rightfully should.
joel b: I hate to be the guy to break the news to you but your prepubescent idolization of Brock has blinded you to the fact that he is not an MMA fighter….he is a wannabe who will hopefully drag his steroid induced ass back to the WWE circus once he loses (again)
I hate everyone who is on the Brock Lesnar bandwagon. He had one fight, against a decent fighter (meaning not the top of the weight class) and got handled easily. People talking about how he can take people down, but that means nothing. Tito can take most people to the ground easily, but look where that has gotten him–a couple knock outs from Chuck an ass whipping from Randy and a tie with Evans. I am not buying Lesnar till he wins a real fight and Heath Herring doesn’t count. And back to Tito, he deserved, no the fans deserved the press conference.
Dr. S,
Did you watch the Frank Mir/Brock Lesnar fight? I’m a fan of both of these guys and Lesnar did not get “easily handled” as u put it. He was dominating until he got caught in a submission by a JJ guy. He’s not the first guy to be winning a fight and won’t be the last guy to be winning a fight to get caught in a submission. Stop being so biased and actually be an MMA fan. That’s what makes mma so exciting, the fact that anyone can beat anyone with one move or punch!
clay guida and mac danzig will be crazy
I did watch the fight, what I saw was an inexperienced fighter who did not know when to transition from punches to hammer fists and back to punches, and someone who seemed to not have a clue when it comes to eluding submissions. What I am saying is so many people make Lesnar out to be the greatest thing to hit MMA in years and he hasn’t shown anything other than an intimidating physique. I don’t think at his age he will catch up to the guys who have been doing this for years. He’ll never be able hang with people like Nog, Kongo, or even Vera (I am a little biased here as I truly believe Vera is one of the best young fighters in the UFC).
Dr. S,
Fair enough. I agree with you that Vera is one of the best up and coming young guys out there. You are right that Lesnar doesn’t have much experience but you do have to give it to the guy that at the very least he made that fight exciting. Love him or hate him I don’t think we will ever see a boring fight involving this guy and that is why we watch the ufc. For the Clay Guida’s, Roger Huerta’s, GSP’s who never stop and make fights exciting. I think lesnar can be that guy in the heavyweight division and his match up with Heath is great since Herring has a brawlers menatlity and a lot of his fights are exciting.