Posts tagged WanderleiSilva at FanHouse

Two of the UFC's most popular fighters, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Wanderlei Silva, are close to signing on for a fight at UFC 91, MMA Rated is reporting.

If the Jackson-Silva fight happens, it would make UFC 91, quite simply, the biggest card in the history of mixed martial arts. The main event at UFC 91, Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Couture, might be the most anticipated mixed martial arts fight of the year, and Jackson vs. Silva is a main event-quality fight.

Other fights slated for UFC 91 include Kenny Florian vs. Joe Stevenson (which is probably the best lightweight fight the UFC can put together as long as B.J. Penn is planning to move up to welterweight), Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Josh Hendricks, Amir Sadollah vs. Nick Catone and Jeremy Stephens vs. Rafael dos Anjos.

I was skeptical when UFC President Dana White said the Lesnar-Couture fight would generate the most pay-per-view buys in MMA history. But if Rampage-Wanderlei is added to the card, I think UFC 91 will break the record set by UFC 66 and become the biggest card the sport has ever seen.

Although nothing formal has been announced, it appears that UFC 91 is beginning to take shape as a solid fight card on November 15 in Portland.

UFC President Dana White has confirmed that Kenny Florian will fight Joe "Daddy" Stevenson in a lightweight fight. Although it's a little disappointing for Florian that he won't get to fight champion B.J. Penn, that's the best lightweight fight UFC can put on while Penn plans his move up to welterweight to fight Georges St. Pierre.

Another fight on the card is likely to be Brock Lesnar vs. Cheick Kongo. The Pioneer Press is reporting that Lesnar will fight in November, which must mean the UFC 91 show, and Kongo is everyone's pick to be his next opponent. Other than the upcoming heavyweight title fight between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir, Lesnar-Kongo is the biggest heavyweight fight UFC can put together.

After losing his UFC light heavyweight title belt to Forrest Griffin last night, what's next for Quinton "Rampage" Jackson? A few possibilities:

Rematch with Forrest Griffin: Rampage asked for a rematch after the fight, but I don't see it happening right away. I think Rampage can get a chance at winning his title back in 2009, but he'll have to win at least one fight before that, most likely against ...

Wanderlei Silva: Rampage fought Silva in Pride twice, losing both. Getting a victory over his nemesis would remove the biggest hole from Rampage's resume and position him to get a shot at Griffin's title next year.

Mauricio "Shogun" Rua: Until he lost to Griffin, Rua was considered by many mixed martial arts fans to be the best 205-pound fighter in the world -- thanks in large part to his knockout win over Rampage in 2005. If Rua's knee ever gets healthy again, a Rua-Rampage rematch in the Octagon would be a great fight.

Sokoudjou: Stylistically, a fight between Rampage and the African Assassin would be a fascinating one. But is Sokoudjou a big enough name to go into the Octagon with Rampage in a main event?

Now that Forrest Griffin is the UFC light heavyweight champion, who does he fight next? A few possibilities:

Rematch with Quinton "Rampage" Jackson: After last night's fight, with its somewhat controversial decision, this is a distinct possibility. The person who will make the decision, UFC President Dana White, said after the fight, "Rampage wants a rematch. Forrest said he'd give him a rematch. A rematch would probably be good for everyone involved. But there's a lot of different things involved."

And yet I don't see it happening. The UFC's light heavyweight division is so stacked that I just don't think White wants to let an entire year go by with only Jackson and Griffin fighting for the title. I think someone else is going to get the first crack at Griffin's belt. And that someone else will most likely be ...

UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton Rampage Jackson, who will defend his title against Forrest Griffin Saturday night at UFC 86, is almost universally regarded as the best fighter in the world in his weight class.

But he does have one rather large hole on his resume: Wanderlei Silva has whipped him twice. When they were both fighting for Pride in Japan, Silva beat Jackson with a first-round technical knockout in 2003 and a second-round knockout in 2004.

So Griffin, who like Silva trains at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas is picking Silva's brain in preparation for Saturday night's fight. He tells MMA Weekly:

"The one thing he said was immediately grab the head and throw the knee instead of trying to set it up and make the perfect... bam! Grab and go, start throwing, don't sit there and let him think about it."

Obviously, it can't hurt for Griffin to get some tips for Silva. But Griffin also notes that, You really got to be a specific guy with a specific skill set and specific cardio to fight like Wanderlei," adding, "I can't emulate his style."

I think Griffin will have the right game plan when he fights Jackson, thanks in part to those consultations with Silva. But I think Jackson is the more powerful fighter and the better fighter, and Griffin's game plan won't be enough.

This morning I noted the report that UFC wants to put a live fight between Wanderlei Silva and Brandon Vera on Spike on July 19 in an effort to undermine Affliction's pay-per-view debut.

But Dave Meltzer of Yahoo reports that Silva's camp has turned it down, saying the Axe Murderer, who last fought at UFC 84 in May, can't be ready to fight in a month. So it appears that Silva won't be on a Spike card -- unless UFC President Dana White can find a way to persuade him.

But that doesn't mean the Spike card won't happen, as Meltzer reports that other fighters are being approached about the possibility of doing the show. It's not clear how likely it is for a live UFC show on Spike is, but it certainly hasn't been ruled out.

If it does happen, the Affliction show will be a bust. I don't know if I'm quite as pessimistic about Affliction as Michael Rome of Bloody Elbow, who says Affliction is likely looking at less than 40,000 pay-per-view buys, but I do think that the folks at Affliction had better be prepared to lose a lot of money on their first show.

If getting good talent, headlined by Fedor Emelianenko, is seen as the first step in a long-term effort to create a strong MMA organization, fine. But if Affliction thinks it's going to turn a profit on its July show, Donald Trump is in for a very unpleasant surprise.

Last week I noted that UFC could put a serious hurt on the upstart Affliction mixed martial arts promotion by putting a show on Spike on July 19, the same night that Affliction has its first pay-per-view.

I suggested that Brock Lesnar would be a good headliner for such a card, but that is apparently not going to happen: UFC says it's committed to keeping Lesnar on the UFC 87 card in his hometown of Minneapolis.

However, there are more indications that UFC is, in fact, getting ready to put a show on Spike July 19. Sherdog is reporting that UFC has tentatively scheduled a show on Spike in Las Vegas, with Wanderlei Silva taking on Brandon Vera in the main event.

For UFC, it makes perfect business sense to take on Affliction in this manner. Affliction is going to have an awfully hard time selling Fedor Emelianenko for 50 bucks when UFC is offering Silva for free.

UPDATE: Report: Wanderlei Silva Turns Down July 19 Spike Show; Will UFC Still Take on Affliction?

Notes on a trip to Las Vegas.

I had a seat about 10 feet from the Octagon for Saturday night's UFC 84 show, and what I'll take away from it, more than anything else, is the sound. Punches land to faces with thuds. Kicks land to sides with thwacks. The Octagon itself turns into a drum when a fighter is slammed to the canvas.

I'll also remember the sheer noise of it all: The fighters' entrance music, the music played between fights, the introductions and the post-fight interviews were all pumped into the MGM Grand Garden Arena at earsplitting decibels. At 31, I must be older than the target UFC demographic, because I spent much of the night thinking the music was too loud. The guy next to me in press row wore earplugs.

My own reactions to the sounds aside, UFC 84 was terrific night of fights. A few other thoughts are below.

It's Saturday night of Memorial Day Weekend. Plenty of people are out partying while I'm here at home in front of the TV. Upset about it? Not at all. I'm looking forward to a night filled with high-quality fighting at UFC 84 from Las Vegas.

I hope you are too because it promises to be a helluva night. The main event, B.J. Penn defending his lightweight title against the former holder Sean Sherk, is well worth the price of admission. Luckily, we get more bang for our buck with Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida (and Dana White) in Ortiz's final match as a UFC fighter. Yesterday's weigh-in stoked an already raging fire and tonight all could bubble over again. I'm hoping for an Ortiz win, just because the interview would be an absolute classic.

FanHouse's Michael David Smith is at the event, 10 feet from the Octagon he tells me, and reports that it's a wild scene. So kick back, grab a cool one (I'm drinking Imperial, the national beer of Costa Rica!) and join us after the jump.

Tonight, starting at 6 P.M. Eastern time, we'll be liveblogging the weigh-in for tomorrow night's UFC 84 card. The main event is a lightweight title fight between B.J. Penn and Sean Sherk. Other bouts of note include Tito Ortiz's farewell to UFC against Lyoto Machida and Wanderlei Silva vs. Keith Jardine. As a bonus, you'll be able to watch the whole weigh-in via FanHouse while Michael David Smith chimes in from Vegas.

We'll be liveblogging tomorrow night's event as well so be sure to stop by and follow all the action.

UPDATE: The weigh-in doesn't begin until 7PM so our coverage will begin shortly before.