As a reminder, “Countdown to Aldo vs. Faber,” which previews this
Saturday’s first-ever WEC pay-per-view event in Sacramento, Calif.,
debuts tonight on Versus, with replays scheduled for Versus, MTV2 and
Spike TV throughout the week.
The hour-long special airs first at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT.
The program also airs tonight on MTV2 at 7 p.m. ET/PT and late
night/early Thursday morning at 12 a.m. ET/PT on Spike TV.
Josh Barnett may wait this one out.
The top-tier heavyweight is not on the agenda for a California State Athletic Commission’s Tuesday meeting in Los Angeles, which means his long-delayed appeal of a fight-license denial this past July may not be heard before he is cleared to reapply.
According to George Dodd, executive director of the CSAC, Barnett is free to reapply for a license on June 25, when he said the denial’s term ends. However, Barnett may still be asked to appear at a commission meeting before that license is approved or denied.
For the second-straight week, a major MMA event ended in controversy,
and for the second-straight week, readers sent in a record number of
entries to The Sunday Junkie, MMAjunkie.com’s weekly reader-feedback
feature.
While the “Strikeforce: Nashville” post-fight melee was a primary focus
of most readers this week, our winner took on a different hot topic.
With three decisions in three title fights at Saturday night’s event,
not to mention the recent five-round wins of Anderson Silva, Frankie
Edgar and Georges St-Pierre, are champions now simply fighting not to
lose?
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Gilbert Melendez has won four consecutive fights, avenged the only two defeats of his career, and on Saturday, defended his Strikeforce 155-pound title with a lopsided unanimous-decision win over Japanese star Shinya Aoki, who was widely regarded as the world’s No. 2 lightweight fighter.
The latest win came in a CBS-televised co-headliner at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
And it has many wondering, “Where does Melendez now rank among the world’s best?”
Related Blogs
While DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki has long
been considered among the best submission artists in mixed martial arts, “Tobikan
Judan” has also recently developed a reputation as one of the sport’s
biggest heels.
Never was that more apparent than when, after breaking former Sengoku
champ Mizuto Hirota’s arm this past New Year’s Eve, Aoki shot a middle
finger at his vanquished foe and stormed around the ring like a madman.
Now, Aoki meets Strikeforce champ Gilbert Melendez at
tonight’s “Strikeforce: Nashville” event, and “El Niño” says he might
just have to do a little breaking of his own.<
On a fight card that features three title fights, much of attention is focused on a “Strikeforce: Nashville” headliner between middleweight champion Jake Shields and UFC import Dan Henderson.
The fight carries a CBS-televised main card that includes lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez vs. Shinya Aoki and light-heavyweight title-holder Gegard Mousasi vs. Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
In our official event preview, MMAjunkie.com’s Steven Marrocco breaks down the championship tripleheader.
While Strikeforce’s return to CBS is nearly upon us, the UFC’s most
recent appearance on pay-per-view is still a hot topic among mixed
martial arts fans.
At the center of the discussion is the bizarre performance of UFC
middleweight champion Anderson Silva in the main event of UFC 112, a
bout that led UFC president Dana White to threaten to cut “The Spider”
if the Brazilian issued a repeat performance.
Silva’s manager, Ed Soares, recently told MMAjunkie.com he doesn’t think another lackluster bout is in the
cards for Silva, and he insists the camp’s relationship with White is
just fine.
After what will be a yearlong layoff, World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight contender Josh Grispi will look for his fourth straight WEC win when he meets fellow title hopeful L.C. Davis at WEC 49.
Grispi announced via Facebook that he’ll fight at the event, and sources close to the show today told MMAjunkie.com bout agreements are in the process of being finalized for the Davis matchup.
WEC 49 takes place June 20 at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
As expected Chad Mendes (6-0 MMA, 1-0 WEC) has replaced an injured Mackens Semerzier (5-1 MMA, 1-1 WEC) and meets Anthony Morrison (15-8 MMA, 0-1 WEC) on the preliminary-card of the April 24 WEC 48 event.
MMAjunkie.com passed along news of the change this past week, and WEC executives today made it official.
WEC 48 takes place at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, Calif.
Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez is open to an
immediate rematch in Japan with DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki,
regardless of whether he wins or loses in their first meeting on April
17 at “Strikeforce: Nashville.”
“An immediate rematch sounds cool,” Melendez told
MMAjunkie.com about a second meeting, the
possibility of which was first reported by MMAWeekly.com. “I would love
to fight him again.”
During a conference call promoting “Strikeforce: Nashville,” the
promotion’s second card broadcast on CBS, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said a rematch
between the two champions is fine by him and opens several interesting
possibilities in future bookings.
Powered by