Bryan Alvarez:
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Dave Meltzer:
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-- UFC 100 is today. You may have heard. Line-up and weights from last night:
1. Shannon Gugerty (156) vs. Matt Grice (155)
2. Tom Lawler (184) vs. CB Dolloway (186)
3. Dong Hyun Kim (171) vs. TJ Grant (170)
4. Jon "Bones" Jones (206) vs. Jake O'Brien (206)
5. Mac Danzig (154) vs. Jim Miller (155)
6. Mark Coleman (205) vs. Stephan Bonnar (205)
7. Jon Fitch (170) vs. Paulo Thiago (170)
8. Alan Belcher (186) vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama (185)
9. Dan Henderson (185) vs. Michael Bisping (186)
10. Georges St. Pierre (170) vs. Thiago Alves (170)
11. Brock Lesnar (265) vs. Frank Mir (245)
-- Let's look at our buyrate poll:
How many buys do you expect UFC 100 to get?
1.2 million to 1.3 million 17.4%
1.3 million to 1.4 million 17.2%
1.4 million to 1.5 million 14.6%
1.5 million to 1.6 million 12.9%
More than 1.8 million 9.1%
1.1 million to 1.2 million 8.4%
1.0 million to 1.1 million 7%
700-800K 3.8%
1.6 million to 1.7 million 3.6%
901K-1 million 3.1%
1.7 million to 1.8 million 1.5%
801-900K 1.5%
-- I'm predicting 1.5 million. Dave is predicting 1.3 million. Lance Storm is predicting 1.3-1.5 million. Former WWE creative writer Court Bauer is predicting, get ready, 2 million. UFC is actually predicting significantly less, in the 1 million range. Personally I think they're out of their minds low-balling it that much. I believe Dana said if the show did 1.5 million he'd do a back flip off the Mandalay Bay. If it only does 1 million, maybe I'll do a back flip off the Mandalay Bay.
-- Regardless of the buyrate, this will be the most-watched live UFC event in history as the live airing on Televisa alone should hit 10 million viewers, plus every person I've talked to has said the get-together record at their house for this show is being set.
-- The number two trending topic on Twitter today is UFC 100, above both BRUNO (the movie, not the wrestler) and Michael Jackson. This is a pretty huge deal as it means the buzz is incredible for the show.
-- Randy Couture's public picks for tonight (he's told people otherwise on at least one of these privately) are Brock, GSP and Henderson.
-- The weigh-ins got a lot of talk on ESPNews last night. They aired them live starting with the Henderson fight, but cut off before Rogan had a chance to interview Mir. Well, he didn't have much to say anyway. The anchors were joking about how they didn't want to see weigh-ins with guys in little shorts. Maybe they suggest trying to make weigh in a full track suit. There was no mention of the show on the overnight broadcast. It was mentioned on the overnight Sportscenter, though, if you can believe this, the co-anchor actually said something to the effect of: "If you're one of those people who holds your nose at the smell of mixed martial arts, take a whiff of this! Do you smell that? It's money, and tons of it! Tomorrow night's pay-per-view event is expected to draw over one million pay-per-view buys. It's headlined by a heavyweight title fight, but that's where MMA smells like boxing. You know, WBA, WBO, IBF, and so on. The fighter who is recognized as the best heavyweight fighter in MMA is not going to be in Vegas on Saturday night. His name is Fedor, and he's got a beef with the UFC, so he won't fight for them." They also plugged the date at the end of the show, and one of the anchors said he knew a great sports bar they could watch it at and the other anchor, Neil Everett, blew him off saying, "Uh, I'll pass." Nice. They changed it for the second airing, with Everett instead saying he had to go to Gold's Gym instead, then flexing and grunting.
-- For those attending the live show, the start time is officially 4:30 PM today (I believe 5 PM was originally listed). Doors open at 3:45.
-- Dave Meltzer and I are in Vegas for the show and we have a new Wrestling Observer Radio up right now for subscribers looking at the weekend, the Hall of Fame, Fan Expo, the weigh-ins and more. We'll be back very late tonight with our post-UFC recap show, plus we'll have the audio of the post-show press conference up very shortly after it concludes as well. Dave and Ben Miller will both be doing ongoing play-by-play on the front page during the show, and hopefully the site holds up because this should be a record-breaking day on the site.
-- Steve Khan with a recap of Dana on Off the Record yesterday: Landsberg quotes Dana White saying that Kimbo Slice sucks. Landsberg asks if he’s in Ultimate Fighter just for the hype. White says Landsberg isn’t reading any of his other quotes because he has stated before that the only way Kimbo would get into UFC is if he won Ultimate Fighter, so Kimbo took him up on it; White was “horrified” by the Rampage Jackson interview incident with Heather Nichols, but also won’t talk to Jackson about it; White says Mirko Cro Cop claims he never signed in Japan and they’re working on getting him back. White says the Japanese guys in the fight business are crooked, sneaky and liars; He claims progress is being made on legalizing MMA in Ontario and called Canada the Mecca for MMA which he never saw coming. He feels by the middle of next year they’ll do an event in Toronto and thinks it’ll be the biggest MMA event ever in North America; Says Chuck Liddell will retire; He was interested in Gina Carano and maybe we’ll see women in UFC soon; Hopes he’s alive to see MMA become an Olympic sport; Would like to see instant replay if it was doable, but it’s tough.
-- You can listen to it here
-- Another Dana interview in rare form here
-- A look at Mark Coleman here.
-- Dr. Evil's son, Seth Green, will be the Raw GM this Monday, at least as of yesterday. Apparently he's a big wrestling fan and has appeared on some of the MSG Classics shows as a little kid in the crowd taunting the heels. They're doing a tie-in with WWE as Hunter will also be a guest on Green's Robot Chicken season premiere on July 26th at 11:30 PM ET on Cartoon Network.
-- John Cena was married today to his high school sweetheart. Photos here. His father did the ceremony.
-- Impact did a 1.2 Thursday, ECW did an 0.7, which is probably better than I would have expected in the time slot, and Superstars did an 0.8.
-- Full TUF 10 cast as revealed yesterday:
Zak Jensen – standout wrestler at Augsburg College
Marcus Jones – former 1st round NFL draft pick who had a six-year career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Scott Junk – Division II All-American football player at Southwest Oklahoma State and fought in UFC 76.
James McSweeney – former international kickboxing and Muay Thai champion
John Madsen – defeated Brock Lesnar in a high school wrestling match
Matt Mitrione - played for New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings
Roy Nelson – former IFL Heavyweight Champion
Demico Rogers – high school football and wrestling star
Brendan Schaub – played for Buffalo Bills and Arena Football’s Utah Blaze
Darrill Schoonover – decorated Army veteran
Wes Shivers – former member of the Tennessee Titans and Atlanta Falcons
Wes Sims - fought two heated battles with former UFC champ Frank Mir at UFC 43 and UFC 46
Kimbo Slice – former EliteXC heavyweight contender and YouTube sensation
Abe Wagner – played linebacker at Michigan Tech and has a degree in mechanical engineering
Mike Wessel – UFC veteran and former strength and conditioning coach at University of Arkansas
Justin Wren – All-American high school wrestler
-- Frank Mir has an interview talking about what it means to be on UFC 100 here
-- And Bisping is here talking insults
-- M Aldren writes: I will try and find the interview/blog but regarding the line on the UFC 100 Count Down where Rogan says something like: "Brock Lesnar lives in the woods. He has a TV for hunting shows. When he isn't fighting he's KILLING Deer." He ripped that off Paul Heyman in something he wrote or said in his deal at The Sun at www.the-sun.co.k/wrestling
-- ROH on HDNet tonight has Brent Albright vs. Claudio Castagnoli in a flag match, D-Lo Brown vs. Alex Payne, Jerry Lynn & Erick Stevens & Kenny Omega vs. Austin Aries & Kenny King & Rhett Titus, and Roderick Strong vs. Jay Briscoe.
-- Dana has a video apology to UK fans regarding the TV deal here.
-- Vintage Kurt Angle interview here
-- Chris writes: I was flipping channels and stopped on MTV, it appears that Ffrmer TUF castmate Danny Abbadi from Season 3 will be on an upcoming MTV show called "Is She Really Going Out With Him!" Essentially it's a lame show about girls who are dating complete douchbags. There is a narrator that is really annoying and the preview says he's a professional fighter and all the women LOVE him. It airs Monday at either 5 or 5:30.
-- Larry writes: I don't know how many e-mails you got but Jon Favreu (of Swingers and director of Iron Man fame) played the UFC fighter that dated Courtney Cox's character, Monica, on the show Friends.
-- Jim Cornette will be signing books at the 9th Annual Shane Shamrock Cup tournament at The New Green Room 2401 North Point Blvd. Dundalk, MD tonight.
-- Xtreme Intense Championship Wrestling presents "MADE IN DETROIT" THIS SUNDAY, July 12th (5:30p) @ The Ritz (24300 Hoover bt. 9 1/2 & 10 Mile) in Warren, Michigan feat. Jimmy Jacobs vs. The DBA in a Fans Bring The Weapons Match, SHIMMER Womens Wrestling Star Sassy Stephie vs. Japanese Womens Wrestling Star Hailey Hatred, plus The House Of Truth, Toby Klein and more! For more info, visit www.myspace.com/xicw
-- Paul Lazenby is the guest on Ed in San Antonio's radio show here
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