SOURCE: wrestlezone.COM
Tim Sylvia spoke recently with Steve Cofield of ESPN radio and had some interesting things to say about his former training partner, Brock Lesnar, including a prediction in his upcoming fight with Frank Mir at UFC 81. “I donât think heâs gonna have a future in mma,” said Sylvia. “I think Frank Mirâs gonna beat him. “Iâve trained with Brock. I think Frank Mirâs gonna submit him. Heâs a baby. Donât kick him because heâll get hurt. Heâs a hell of a wrestler man, the guy can wrestle and heâs strong, but he canât punch and he canât get kicked. And he donât know how to kick. He can only go straight forward. I think Mir will submit him.”
Fedor Emelianenko briefly touched upon the the possibility of fighting Randy Couture at the press conference for the Yarrenoka NYE event and had this to say: âI respect [Couture] very much, and itâs going to be a great honor to fight with him. I would also like to wait for that opportunity.â When asked if he thought the fight would take place Fedor responded, âYes, I think so. The fight will take place.” While it remains to be seen whether the fight will indeed take place, it certainly won’t be before October of 2008, as Couture is under contract with the UFC until that point.
Full fighter payout information from the Nevada State Athletic Commission: Georges St. Pierre ($160,000) def. Matt Hughes ($100,000) Chuck Liddell ($500,000) def. Wanderlei Silva ($150,000) Eddie Sanchez ($46,000) def. Soa Palelei ($5,000) Lyoto Machida ($60,000) def. Rameau Sokoudjou ($40,0O0) Rich Clementi ($28,000) def. Melvin Guillard ($10,000) James Irvin ($16,000) def. Luis Cane ($5,000) Manny Gamburyan ($20,000) def. Nate Mohr ($6,000) Dean Lister ($22,000) def. Jordan Radev ($5,000) Roan Carneiro ($10,000) def. Tony DeSouza ($7,000) Mark Bocek ($6,000) def. Doug Evans ($3,000) *These figures do not include fight or locker room bonuses
Matt Hughes â” Suspended until January 29, 2008. No contact until January 20, 2008. Chuck Liddell â” Suspended until January 29, 2008, with a left eye laceration. No contact until January 20, 2008. Wanderlei Silva â” Suspended until February 13, 2008, with a right eye laceration. No contact until January 29, 2008. Soa Palelei â” Must clear a nasal fracture and left orbital fracture with an ophthalmologist prior to returning to action or no contest until June 27, 2008. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou â” Suspended until February 13, 2008, with a laceration to his right eyebrow. No contact until January 29, 2008. James Irvin â” Suspended suspended until February 28, 2008. No contact until February 13, 2008. Nate Mohr â” Suspended until January 20, 2008, with no contact allowed until January 13. Tony DeSouza â” Suspended until January 29, 2008. No contact until January 20. Doug Evans â” Must clear left thumb by a physician or suspended until June 27, 2008. He must serve a minimum medical suspension until February 13 and no contact until January 29 because of a laceration to his left eyebrow.
Dana White addressed a number of issues concerning the state of the UFC at last Saturday’s post fight press conference. Among the highlights: White On The UFC’s Expansion: The two places we’re focusing on right now are New York and Mexico, so I’m hoping to be in both by 2009. White On Matt Serra’s Status: Matt Serra is very confident that he will heal quickly. I think he feels heâll be ready for April. That wouldnât suck. White On The Competition: This sport is like the â~Wild, Wild Westâ right now. The biggest guy [coming in] right now is Mark Cuban. Heâs got a lot of money and everyone is talking about what heâs going to do. Floyd Mayweather is walking around with $70 million in his pocket and we all know how Floyd loves to spend money, so Iâm sure Cuban is trying to get him to invest in it. I like it. The more money that comes into the sport the better it is to help grow the sport. More athletes get fights, make money, start their careers, and theyâll all end up in the UFC at the end of the day. White On Getting More TV Exposure: It’s taken longer than I’d hoped after the whole Spike thing started going well, but the bottom line is, we’re not going to cut a deal that doesn’t make sense. I don’t care who the deal is with. We did this whole thing on our own. Nobody helped us. Nobody was running up trying to finance us … so it’s going to be done on our terms. In the next few weeks weâre going to be making some announcements that are going to shake up the entire industry again.
