- UFC Ultimate Fight Night is tonight. Complete line-up courtesy Dr. Keith:
UFC Fight Night - Thursday, January 25, 2007 - Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino - Hollywood, FL
1. Rashad Evans vs. Sean Salmon
2. Dean Lister vs. Nate Marquardt
3. Jake O'Brien vs. Heath Herring
4. Hermes Franca vs. Spencer Fisher
5. Ed Herman vs. Chris Price (Dark)
6. Din Thomas vs. Clay Guida (Dark)
7. Ross Pointon vs. Rich Clementi (Dark)
8. Seth Petruzelli vs. Hector Ramirez (Dark)
- This is the weakest line-up of any UFC Fight Night show to date, though I still suspect it'll do in the 1.25 to 1.3 range. Because of the timeslot (8:00 PM EST/PST), TNA was pre-empted to Wednesday night and will replay Saturday. Pros vs. Joes premieres afterwards (with Randy Couture, review here), so the idea is that the show must end on time to not cause any issues.
- From Dave Meltzer on the Observer site: Brian Fritz reported several things from the weigh-ins that just ended. The show is sold out, which is a hell of an impressive deal with the high tickets prices and the line-up. The biggest weigh-in news is that Chris Price weighed 192 for a 185 pound fight. He had been in the sauna all day and was shocked he was so far off. Ed Herman agreed to take the fight anyway. Everyone else made weight on the nose, aside from Din Thomas, who came in a few pounds under and wasn't happy he did so. There was a near pull-apart for the main event weigh-in. Evans put his head on Salmon as they were posing together. Somebody whispered something to the other and Dana White separated them as it appeared someone was about to shove the other. In the heavyweight match, O'Brien came in at 237 and Herring at 250. Herring had his hair rainbow-colored while Franca did the Ann Calvello look with green hair. Randy Couture, Diego Sanchez and Keith Jardine are already there. Dean Lister cut from 215 to make the 185 pound weight class.
- Brian Fritz, who will also be at the show, is our guest on Figure Four Daily Friday discussing the event, plus a ton of talk about TNA since he attends most of the TV tapings and PPVs. We'll also be joined for a few minutes by Buddy Wayne, who has a Bam Bam Bigelow story he'd like to share. We'll be recapping Ultimate Fight Night this weekend on the Bryan & Vinny Show with Admin Tony.
- Mike Coughlin has a big preview of the show here.
- In case you can't get enough MMA, Versus signed a deal to run the entire inaugural season of the World Combat League, which is Chuck Norris' group. He was doing a team format several months before IFL was formed.
- This has been the biggest week for audio in the history of this website, so very quickly, in case you missed anything, we have had: A Bryan & Vinny Show Tuesday recapping the Raw, Guerreros del Ring and Hogan Knows Best Shows; an Adam & Mike Big Audio Nightmare talking about, among things, their appearance on Figure Four Daily which has not yet occurred; a Figure Four Daily with Dallas Page from Wednesday talking the life of Bam Bam Bigelow and YRG; FOUR Dr. Keith Shows, including interviews with Missy Hyatt, Ace Steel and Iron Sheik; and we've got the Thursday and Friday Figure Four Dailies still to come. As mentioned elsewhere, all the Dr. Keith shows were free this week, but from this point forward the vast majority will be members-only. We'll probably be releasing one new Adam & Mike, Dr. Keith and Figure Four Daily free each month. Of course, as a member you get full access to ALL new and archived (last three months) radio shows, plus all the new and archived (260-plus issues) Figure Four Weekly newsletters. The new issue is already out with a huge story on WSX and biographies of Bam Bam Bigelow, Cowboy Lang and the Spoiler with exclusive comments from some of their friends for the former two. It's the biggest issue in 11-plus years (we broke the record again), and it's up for members right now. We'll have a full preview later this week. To sign up, please click here, or PayPal users can use the Quick Buy link at the top of this page to be online within 60 seconds. Rates start at just $6.95 per month (23 cents a DAY), so it's a steal. Thanks for your support!
- There is an article here about the women's pillowfighting league which calls itself similar to pro-wrestling just with real finishes, and is getting way more mainstream press than pretty much anything outside UFC right now.
- What great timing, the Tuesday after a weekend with two pay-per-views
- TNA announced that the Lockdown PPV will take place April 15th at the 10,000-seat Family Arena in St. Charles, MO.
- Don't forget, WSX will be quietly debuting Friday night at 11:00 PM EST/PST on MTV. They've got a bunch of digital playing cards up at their website right now.
- Sean Waltman is expected to be on Howard Stern Monday promoting WSX. I believe we'll be having Jack Evans on Figure Four Daily that day.
- Devin Cutting writes: The USA Network has released it's TV schedule for March and there are currently no plans for the USA Network to air the WWE Hall Of Fame ceremony on March 31st, which is the day before WrestleMania 23. In previous years, the Hall Of Fame ceremony has aired the night before WrestleMania at 11 PM. The USA Network currently has a Law & Order marathon on it's schedule for that night from 8 PM to midnight.
- There is a huge and intriguing interview with Dana White here. Pretty much a must-read for any MMA fans.
- Ortiz not wallowing in defeat; Ex-UFC champ looks ahead after KO by Liddell
- Irv Mushnick's "Wrestling Babylon: Piledriving Tales of Drugs, Sex, Death, and Scandal" is still scheduled for an April release date by ECW Press, which published Death of WCW.
- Lance Storm's blog on Bam Bam is here.
- Diamond Dallas Page's statement on Bam Bam is here.
- The ACW promotion, where Bigelow was one-half of the tag team champions, raised $1,200 for his funeral expenses. There is an article about it here.
- JR's latest blog is here.
- Frank Shamrock is holding open tryouts for his IFL team: San Jose, CA – Razorclaws coach Frank Shamrock has announced that he will hold open tryouts this weekend for his Shamrock Submission Fight Team in San Jose, California. The team fields fighters to compete in many of the world’s top MMA organizations, including his IFL squad, the San Jose Razorclaws. Though the team is based in northern California, many of its members live and work elsewhere when not training directly under Shamrock. Shamrock is apparently looking to fill some gaps in the team that just the past weekend lost a close 3-2 match to his brother Ken Shamrock’s Nevada Lions. Much was made of the rivalry between the two siblings, but the Lions notched the victory despite impressive wins by Razorclaws Clint Coronel and Brian Foster. The Lions themselves were formed after Ken Shamrock held open tryouts of his own before the season began, but this marks the first time that an IFL coach has opened his gym in the search for new talent after the first event. The tryouts will be held at the Shamrock Martial Arts Academy in San Jose, California this Saturday and Sunday, January 27-28, between 11 am and 3 pm. Most notably, Shamrock is looking to fill holes in his light heavyweight division, as well as adding alternates in other weight classes. Fighters of all classes and experience levels are welcome to try out, according to Shamrock’s spokesperson. More information about the team and the tryouts can be found at www.frankshamrock.com.
- Pioneering woman kickboxer Lilly Rodriguez dies in LA
- Edge knew wrestling was his fate
- Local boys make good story about the Briscoes
- Vocal Estrada applying old-school managerial moxie to modern WWE
- U.S. restaurants blast Kevin Federline TV ad
- Stallions Welcome Professional Wrestler D' Lo Brown As New Co-owner
- Bill Goldberg to Guest Star on SVU
- Martial arts fighter sues former N.J. Partners
- An interview with HILLBILLY JIM~!
- Assassin laments the doom of Bill DeMott
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