The weigh-ins for “UFC 128: Shogun vs. Jones” takes place on Friday, March 18 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Prior to the official weigh-ins, former UFC light heavyweight titleholder Chuck Liddell will host a special Q&A for UFC Fight Club members.

UFC champions Frankie Edgar and Dominick Cruz will be signing autographs along with TUF 1 finalist Stephan Bonnar.

The Q&A begins at 2 p.m. ET. The doors will open to UFC Fight Club members at 1 p.m. ET. The weigh-ins will begin at 4 p.m. ET with the door opening for the general public at 3 p.m. ET.

You can watch the live UFC 128 weigh-in video stream here at Heavy.com.

UFC 128 is headlined by the UFC light heavyweight title bout between champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Jon Jones.

Read more MMA headlines.

I, like many of you, watched the sad scene of Chuck Liddell getting knocked out by Rich Franklin at UFC 115 on Saturday night.
The consensus of the broadcasters and many of the fans is that it was Liddell’s last fight. After all, the man has now lost five of his last six and three of four of those losses have come by knockout.

While you have to be concerned for Liddell’s health and mental state after the repeated KO’s, I think the UFC owes it to Liddell for one last fight.
This wouldn’t be just any fight, it would be a fight with his rival, Tito Ortiz. And no matter the result, Liddell would retire after that fight.

I mean the poor guy spent a month of his life listening to Ortiz talk unwarranted trash about him with the thought that he would get a chance to shut Ortiz up one more time, only to see Ortiz back out with an injury that he somehow hadn’t noticed until the show was about to wrap up.
Liddell has already KO’d Ortiz two times yet Ortiz still seems to think he is better than Liddell and will gladly tell anyone that asks him about it. Liddell would love nothing more than to plant another right hand on Ortiz’ big head.

You really wouldn’t have to worry much about Liddell’s health with this fight either as Ortiz doesn’t have punching power and Liddell has tremendous takedown defense. Ortiz would pretty much be a sitting duck for Liddell.

Liddell was the face of the UFC during its boom into mainstream media and he has always done what the organization has asked. It would be nice to see the UFC pay him back one last time by giving him this fight. Liddell deserves a chance to ride off into the sunset by beating one of the most hated fighters in the promotion.

Photo from fOTOGLIF
]]> http://www.scoresreport.com/2010/06/14/despite-another-ko-loss-liddell-deserves-one-last-fight/feed/ 0 http://www.scoresreport.com/2010/06/12/ufc-115-picks-predictions/ http://www.scoresreport.com/2010/06/12/ufc-115-picks-predictions/#comments Sat, 12 Jun 2010 23:42:54 +0000 Drew Ellis http://www.scoresreport.com/?p=41166

UFC 115: Liddell vs. Franklin takes place tonight from the General Motors Palace in Vancouver, British Columbia. The card is pretty solid but not overwhelming. Here are my thoughts on each of the main card bouts.

Light Heavyweight Bout – Chuck Liddell (21-7) vs. Rich Franklin (27-5) – Both of these guys are past their prime and looking for another win to add to their career list. Liddell looks to be in great shape for the fight but unless he changes the way he fights, he is probably in trouble. Franklin is a more technical striker and he utilizes body kicks, which Liddell will have trouble with. I expect Franklin to use his jab to keep Liddell and bay and slowly wear him down before scoring a big punch that leads to a finish in the third round.

Heavyweight Bout – Mirko Cro Cop (26-7) vs. Pat Barry (5-1) – This should be a very entertaining fight as neither fighter wants it to go to the ground and both are excellent with their kicks. Unfortunately for Cro Cop, he has lost his killer instinct that made him a star and his apprehension will allow Barry to set the tone with his brutal leg kicks. Look for Barry to win this fight by a TKO in the second round.

Welterweight Bout – Paulo Thiago (13-1) vs. Martin Kampmann (16-3) – Kampmann seems to be getting overlooked in this fight as he is a tough guy to beat and he is very well-rounded. Thiago is probably over-confident in his striking after his last win over Mike Swick, but that will play into Kampmann’s favor. Look for the Dane to get a decision victory as he dictates the pacing and location of the bout.
Heavyweight Bout – Ben Rothwell (30-7) vs. Gilbert Yvel (36-14-1) – These are two big sluggers that are going to probably tire themselves out early in the fight. The key to victory will be the bigger size and better wrestling skill of Rothwell, who should be able to use his weight to lay on Yvel and tire him out quicker. Once Yvel is gassed, look for Rothwell to pounce and score a second round TKO win.

Welterweight Bout – Carlos Condit (24-5) vs. Rory MacDonald (10-0) – There is a lot of promise in MacDonald, who is just 20-years-old, but he is stepping up in competition with this fight against the experienced Condit. Condit will be ready anywhere the fight goes and MacDonald still has some learning to do before he can get into contender status. Look for Condit to out-class MacDonald on their feet and on the ground as he scores a decision win.

Ellis previewed UFC 115 for Bullz-Eye.com, which you can read here. Below is a taste of the preview and a gallery dedicated to the fight. Enjoy!

The main event of Saturday’s card features two former UFC champions when Rich “Ace” Franklin and Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell meet. At one time, both were considered among the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, but now, the two are thought to be past their prime.
Liddell (21-7) is making his return to the octagon after being away for over a year. His last fight was a first round knockout loss to current light heavyweight champion, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.

Liddell won the UFC Light Heavyweight title back at UFC 52 against Randy Couture. That win was part of a seven-fight win streak that saw Liddell defend his title four times before running into Quinton Jackson. “Rampage” knocked out Liddell in the first round of that fight, which started a string of four losses in five outings for Liddell.

The problem that Liddell has been facing is that he was so successful for a stretch earlier in his career that he believed he didn’t have to continue to evolve. He continued to rely on his punching power, while his opponents found new ways to gain the upper hand on him. As Liddell refused to change, wins subsequently turned to losses and now, a loss to Franklin will end his career. (Or so says UFC President Dana White.)

The road hasn’t been much different for Franklin (27-5), who won the UFC middleweight title at UFC 53 by defeating Evan Tanner. From there, Franklin put together some dominant wins over mediocre talent in Nate Quarry and David Loiseau.

Read the full UFC 115 Preview at Bullz-Eye.com.

The main event of UFC 115 next weekend would have been one of the biggest fights ever five years ago. Former champions Rich Franklin and Chuck Liddell will meet in a fight where in all reality, the loser should retire. The winner won’t have much of anywhere to move up the ladder and the loser will really only deserve to be on a PPV undercard.

It is amazing how quickly things have changed in MMA and looking back just five years ago to see who the UFC champions were and where they are now. On June 4, 2005, the UFC held UFC 53: Heavy Hitters where Franklin won the middleweight title over Evan Tanner. As of that show, here is a look at who the UFC champions were and how their careers have quickly headed south.

Heavyweight Champion – Andrei Arlovski: At UFC 53, Arlovski defended his title for the first time defeating the late Justin Eilers by TKO in the first round after Eilers blew his knee out. It was Arlovski’s fifth-straight win at the time, all of which were by stoppage. Arlovski followed that win with a one-punch KO of Paul Buentello at UFC 55 and was largely considered the most dominant champion in the organization. However, a bizarre loss to Tim Sylvia at UFC 59, in which Arlovski has Sylvia beat but then was caught with as straight jab that led to a TKO loss, started the downfall of his career. Another loss to Syliva led to a five-fight winning streak, but the fighter was never quite the same. He lost his aggression and confidence and has since lost three-straight fights and is almost an afterthought in MMA. His most recent fight was a decision loss to Antonio Silva, which was a sad performance where he never showed the aggression that made him the dominant champion of five years ago.

Light-Heavyweight Champion – Chuck Liddell: At UFC 53, Liddell was prepping for his first title defense after winning the title for the first time at UFC 52 by beating Randy Couture. Liddell would successfully defend his title four times, winning by KO in all four fights and emerging as a dominant champion. Many thought Liddell was unbeatable because he couldn’t be taken down and his punching power was greater than anyone’s. But, as striking evolved, Liddell did not. His career began its amazing downfall at UFC 71 when Quinton Jackson knocked him out in less than two minutes. That was followed by a loss to Keith Jardine where he came up short on the striking game. A decision win over Wanderlei Silva gave him some hope to return to title contention, but back-to-back KO losses to Rashad Evans and Mauricio Rua have shown that Liddell can’t keep up with the prime fighters of today. Once considered the most explosive finisher in all of the UFC, Liddell hasn’t had a KO win since Dec. 30, 2006.

Middleweight Champion – Rich Franklin: Franklin was young and a rising star when he won the title at UFC 53 over Tanner by TKO. He followed up the title win with two dominant title defenses before running into Anderson Silva at UFC 64, where he was dismantled in a shocking display. Franklin sprinkled in wins over mediocre fighters like Jason MacDonald, Yushin Okami, Travis Lutter, and Matt Hamill, but was again dominated by Silva in a title rematch and also lost a close decision to Dan Henderson. Franklin defeated Wanderlei Silva last June, but was KO’d in the first round by Vitor Belfort back at UFC 103. Clearly out of the title picture in any weight class, Franklin has proven he is good enough to defeat the mid-level fighters, but doesn’t have what it takes to beat the elite, leaving him floating around in shark-infested waters.

Welterweight Champion – Matt Hughes: Just recently inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame, Hughes has long been called the most dominant welterweight champion in UFC history. As of UFC 53, Hughes had just defended his title against Frank Trigg at UFC 52 and would go on to win his next three fights before running into the younger and more-talented Georges St. Pierre at UFC 65. Hughes was one of the best wrestlers in MMA during his reign, but his boxing ability was sub-par to say the least. As fighters became well-rounded, Hughes became a sitting duck. St. Pierre destroyed him on their feet to take his belt and a rematch a year later went even worse as GSP out-wrestled the wrestler and made him scream “I Quit” to an armbar. That was followed up with another KO loss, this time to Thiago Alves. Since, Hughes has tried to avoid younger opponents, knowing he can’t hang with them anymore. He has since won two fights over elder fighters like Matt Serra and Renzo Gracie, but it is clear that Hughes will never contend for the title he held for so long, again.

Lightweight Champion – Vacant – Next Champion – Sean Sherk at UFC 64: A lightweight champion wasn’t crowned in the UFC until UFC 64 when Sherk defeated Kenny Florida in a wrestling display. Sherk had one title defense before testing positive for steroids and being stripped of the title. Since then, Sherk has lost two of his last three fights. Like Hughes, Sherk is a dominant wrestler, but his striking game could use work and caused him to lose to quicker-handed B.J. Penn and Frankie Edgar. With his prime behind him, Sherk’s career is at a standstill.

The big trend to all of these fighters is that many of them were very one dimensional where today’s fighters are skilled in all major areas. It will be interesting to see in five years where today’s champions careers are headed.

Photo from fOTOGLIF
]]> http://www.scoresreport.com/2010/06/05/what-a-difference-5-years-makes-in-mma/feed/ 0 http://www.scoresreport.com/2010/05/22/top-5-ufc-rivalries/ http://www.scoresreport.com/2010/05/22/top-5-ufc-rivalries/#comments Sat, 22 May 2010 22:09:49 +0000 Drew Ellis http://www.scoresreport.com/?p=40060

With the much-anticipated fight between Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans taking place next Saturday, I decided to look back and think of other fights that had this much animosity between the two competitors. Here is my list of top five rivalries in the UFC since the Zuffa inception:

1. Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock – While the fights were pretty lopsided, you could always feel the heat and rage between these two. Tito was a showboat and Ken was mister intensity. They never really had a chance to be friends. The first fight really did a lot to help the UFC land a network television deal and bring more attention to the sport. Then, the two added to their rivalry with their coaching appearance on The Ultimate Fighter Season 3. Too bad for Ken he lost all three fights to Ortiz, but the rivalry was still classic.

2. Matt Hughes and Matt Serra – This rivalry is about two guys that want to be the Alpha Male. Serra is always playing the disrespect card and Hughes is an honest jerk. Hughes dominated the UFC Welterweight division for years and had no problems talking about how inferior his opponents were while Serra shocked the world a few years ago and Hughes called his title reign a “fluke”. These two also coached opposite one another in The Ultimate Fighter Season Six, which led to a fight at UFC 98 that Hughes narrowly pulled out. Still to this day, Serra has preached for a rematch and still proclaims his dislike for the future Hall of Famer.

3. Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz – This rivalry was once about two of the top stars in the sport wanting to be considered the best but has now come down to simply one guy hating the other. Liddell accused Ortiz of ducking him as champion years ago until both were ultimately defeated by Randy Couture. The two finally met at UFC 47 and Liddell KO’d Ortiz in dominant fashion. Liddell would go on to win the title, while Ortiz continued to cry for a rematch, and ultimately earned it at UFC 66. The result wasn’t much different, as Liddell again KO’s Ortiz. The two are currently in the twilight of their career and Ortiz is still looking to settle the score. They opposed each other as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter Season 11, but the planned fight after the show was scrapped when Ortiz had to leave the show. I’m sure the talking is far from over and the two will likely meet again.

4. Georges St. Pierre and B.J. Penn – You won’t find a guy that is more gracious in the octagon than UFC Welterweight Champion, Georges St. Pierre, but that is exactly why B.J. Penn hates him. The former champion of the welterweight and lightweight divisions has done all he could to soil GSP’s name. It all started at UFC 58 when St. Pierre won a controversial split decision over Penn. Penn immediately cried foul and wanted a rematch but ultimately dropped down to a lighter weight class. Still with GSP in his sights, Penn dominated the lightweight division while throwing snide remarks toward GSP, accusing him of steroid use and being a quitter. It all came to a head when the UFC matched the two up again in a champion vs. champion fight at UFC 94. St. Pierre left no doubt in that fight, dominating Penn for four rounds before Penn couldn’t continue. Instead of accepting defeat, Penn accused St. Pierre of “greasing” in order to make him slippery on the ground and nullifying Penn’s jiu-jitsu ability. Penn even took his claims to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, but St. Pierre was never found guilty or punished. Still, Penn won’t stop talking about it and he has clearly become an enemy in St. Pierre’s mind, which is tough to do.

5. Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir – This rivalry started quietly as an intro fight for Lesnar into the UFC. Mir rejuvenated his career by beating Lesnar with a knee bar and the trash talk started from there. Lesnar vowed revenge while Mir was his usual, cocky self, talking about tearing off Lesnar’s skin, you know, the usual trash talk. In the rematch at UFC 100, Lesnar destroyed Mir and after the fight, instead of offering a hand of respect, Lesnar chose to scream at Mir like he was his child. Mir has elected to not learn his lesson, promising to end Lesnar’s life inside the octagon. I don’t think Lesnar will be intimidated, but these two truly hate each other.

Honorable Mention: Nick Diaz vs. Joe Riggs (Any time you fight in a hospital after your cage fight, that is some hatred), Frank Trigg vs. Matt Hughes (Always good for trash talk), Rampage Jackson vs. Wanderlei Silva (brutal knockout wars), Tim Sylvia vs. Andrei Arlovski (Three fights and a girlfriend exchange).

My hands were sweaty, my face was red but I wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass.

“Dana, could you tell me where you see Jose (Aldo) on your pound-for-pound list.”

The question was simple enough. I mean I ran it through my head a million times in a little over two minutes. The wording, the timing, the tone all needed to sound just right. After all, this question was directed at Dana White, President of the UFC and WEC.

Following Saturday’s WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber pay-per-view event, which was sponsored by AMP Energy, White and select fighters addressed the media. And there I was, covering my first MMA live event thanks to the people at AMP Energy.

At 27, I have been a dedicated MMA fan for seven years. Having seen the early days of Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock, I was re-introduced to the UFC with Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture at UFC 43 and have been hooked since.

But I am not just a fan, I am a sports writer, and have been for about 10 years now.

I knew that the opportunity of covering MMA for Bullz-Eye.com and The Scores Report was one I wanted to be a part of because I knew that I could do it objectively and with the respect and knowledge that MMA fans want from their writers. I’m not just a fan. Still, even having interviewed some of the top athletes in the world, my eyes were locked in with White’s as he awaited my question.

As any MMA fan knows, if White thinks you asked him a stupid question, he will let you know and he will probably sprinkle in a few expletives to describe his feelings.

So I asked my question.

“There is no doubt that (Aldo) is one of the best in the world, period,” White responded. “That is of all fighters, not just in his weight division. He’s definitely on the pound-for-pound (best fighters) list.”

My heart slowed down as White moved on to the next question. I conquered my fear. Shoot, I conquered many fears on this memorable trip, and they all added up to me realizing that this could be the first of many questions I would ask of White in my lifetime.

AMP Energy provided me with a first hand look at what goes on at a MMA pay-per-view event this past weekend. I got to see many fighters I have watched for years at their most vulnerable moments. The moments that aren’t caught on camera, and what I took away is that they are just people like you and me. We all have our oddities and quirks. I saw Ben Henderson just moments after the biggest win in his career, having defeated Donald Cerrone for the WEC Lightweight Championship, running sprints in the halls of Arco Arena.

I saw Cerrone, disgusted with his loss taking the tape off his hands with his head down. He had just spent three months of his life training every day for Saturday night, only to see himself lose in a matter of minutes.

I saw Leonard Garcia and Chan Sung Jung sitting across from one another backstage, both bloodied and beaten after having had a 15-minute war in the cage that I will never forget. The two were even laughing with each other about the beating they gave one another.

I saw a number of fighters like Jake Shields, Chael Sonnen, Chuck Liddell, Nate Diaz and many others like White, announcer Bruce Buffer, and even the ring girls dedicate time to taking pictures with fans to show their appreciation for their unwavering support of the sport.

And that is just what I saw.

I got to meet AMP Energy fighters Urijah Faber and Joseph Benavidez, who were both tremendously gracious and respectful despite being asked to do yet-another interview. Faber alone had just stepped off the scales to qualify for his title fight, yet made it a point to speak with the media members that AMP had brought to Sacramento.

Later that same day, as Faber headed home to host a pre-fight barbecue, he signed countless autographs and took countless photos with fans as they flocked his car while he left Arco Arena. Faber’s teammates Mark Munoz, Danny Castillo, and Justin Buchholz gave us a tour of Ultimate Fitness. The three allowed me, as a reporter, to get a better understanding of what fighters are thinking heading into the cage.

All of these interactions were amazing, but being live in Arco Arena during the PPV was incredible.
The sheer passion and energy in the crowd was unforgettable. The chorus of cheers as Faber entered the arena was as loud as anything I have ever heard and felt. (Believe me, I have had the unfortunate experience of covering competitive cheer, so I know loud.)

My body was shaking through the vibrations of the stadium due to the volume of the roar. The same could be said about the “boos” for Aldo as he followed Faber into the cage. Each punch, knee, and kick can be clearly heard and almost felt in person. You truly gain a new respect for the sport being there live and I am thankful for that experience.

The travel was long, stressful, and tenuous, but the time in Sacramento made it all worth it. I was a fan of MMA before, and now I will always be a fan. But, more importantly, I hope to continue to be an objective reporter for the readers and offer fresh perspectives and behind-the-scenes glimpses of every event I attend in the future.

Who knows? Maybe next time I won’t feel like I’m going to crap my pants when Dana White is staring daggers at me from the podium.