UFC Mid Year Awards

Well that's the lead in that was on the UFC's website. They had listed a bunch of fights in certain categories.

They started with the 5 best knockouts of the year, then went to the 5 best submissions, then finished up with the 5 best upsets of the year so far.

It's a great idea to keep the fans updated with what has happened over the course of the year but less than half of the fights mentioned were even televised. Not even televised on pay per view. The only mention of these fights is if we actually had to look it up on the internet and hope the story was accurate.

The UFC keeps talking about their networking privelages and how SpikeTV allows them blocks of time yet they're not using it to their full capacity, and I believe there's a reason. Greed. It's aggravating that all of these awesome fights have yet to be shown on UFC Unleashed. Oh sure, they'll show them on UFC 'On Demand'. That's right folks, you had to pay $45 for a pay per view and now you have to pay even more to watch the undercard. If I see Matt Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre 2 anymore I'm gonna vomit. I have just about every UFC Unleashed fight committed to memory because they show the same 15 fights over and over again.

I'm all for people being smart businessmen but now it's just a matter of greed. I don't think the UFC has a reason to feel threatened by the smaller organizations but they're not doing a very good job of keeping the current UFC fans happy by continually stomping on our wallets.

Honestly, when was the last fight card that had a really stacked event? I'm not talking just 1 or 2 fights, when were all 5 that we're privelaged to see so stacked that you would very willingly shell out the money for the pay per view???

To check out the mid year awards and read about the fights you never got to see, check out www.ufc.com.

UFC 84 Replay to Combat July 26th EliteXC Event

EliteXC will hold its second nationally televised CBS event on July 26, and the UFC will again counter EliteXC's offerings with its own content on Spike TV.

The UFC and Spike TV put together a Chuck Liddell tribute to counter the first EliteXC-CBS event in May, and this time, they'll replay UFC 84, one of the biggest MMA events of the year.

A replay of that May 24 event will counter "EliteXC: Unfinished Business," which features a main event of EliteXC middleweight champion Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith.

The EliteXC event, which takes place at the Stockton Arena in Stockton, Calif., features three fights on Showtime (beginning at 8 p.m. ET) before switching to CBS at 9 p.m. ET for four additional fights. Earlier this year, EliteXC struck a deal with the network to put four events on CBS Saturday primetime over the next year. (On Thursday, ProElite Executive Chairman Doug DeLuca confirmed that talks have already begun to expand the deal.)

In addition to Lawler vs. Smith, other notable fights include Jake Shields vs. Nick Thompson (for the first-ever EliteXC welterweight title), Nick Diaz vs. Thomas Denny, and a Showtime title fight as Antonio Silva and Justin Eilers meet for the new EliteXC heavyweight title.

The UFC and Spike TV's block of programming actually begins at 4 p.m. ET/PT with a replay of the July 19 UFC Fight Night 14 event, which is followed by "UFC Unleashed" and "Ultimate Knockouts 5." Then, at 9 p.m. ET/PT, UFC 84 reairs. The pay-per-view event featured UFC lightweight champ BJ Penn vs. Sean Sherk, Wanderlei Silva vs. Keith Jardine, Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida and other fights.

UFC 84, which took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, drew a solid crowd of 14,773 for a hefty live gate of $3,732,000 -- the fourth highest in Nevada history.

Donald Trump: Affliction is an Obvious Threat to the UFC

Donald Trump, a real-estate and TV mogul who's long been involved in promoting boxing events, apparently wanted to prove that his affiliation with Affliction Entertainment isn't simply a ceremonial title.

Today, Trump put on his promoter's hat and was the focus of a media conference call to promote the July 19 "Affliction: Banned" event at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.Although completely respectful of the UFC and Dana White, Trump made it very clear that he believes the world's top MMA promotion is threatened by the upstart Affliction organization -- and that they have many reasons to be.

During the call, Trump was asked about White's recent comments regarding Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio. In a recent interview, White said Atencio has "an attitude problem" and is simply a "T-shirt guy" in over his head when it comes to MMA.

Trump wasn't about to jump into the name-calling.

"Tom's done an amazing job, and so has Dana White," Trump said. "As far as I'm concerned. Dana's been very respectful of me and very nice to me, and I always will be to him. I think he's done a terrific job."

Trump prides himself on being a ruthless and cut-throat business man. However, he said he doesn't really understand the UFC's decision to counter "Affliction: Banned" with a UFC event on the same night. "UFC: Silva vs. Irvin," which offers a rare opportunity for fans to watch Anderson Silva on free basic cable, kicks off on Spike TV at the same time Affliction goes live on pay per view.

"I think it's probably not great for the sport, although a lot of people will be watching, and I have a feeling we're going to top them (the UFC) because we have the better fighters," Trump said. "I don't know if it's a good business strategy. ... I wouldn't do it. I don't think I'd go about it that way."

However, like Atencio, Trump believes the counter-programming is proof that the UFC sees Affliction is a viable threat.

"It shows that they're taking [Affliction] very seriously," Trump said. "Obviously, they consider this a threat and they take it seriously, but you know, again, [we're] a group of people with a lot of money who like this particular sport, and I can see someone wanting to [counter us]."

Trump, who admitted he's taken a more active role in Affliction than he first envisioned, said the UFC does have reason to worry. Trump lauded Affliction's upcoming event, which features Fedor Emelianenko vs. Tim Sylvia, and said the show has already sold out (though on Monday, Atencio said approximately 8,500 of the approximately 13,000 available tickets had been sold as of "a couple weeks ago").

Additionally, he made it clear that Affliction has already garnered the interest of the world's top fighters, which is another threat to the competition.

"We have very good fighters, and we're getting ... more and more," Trump said. "All the fighters want to sign with us, so [UFC executives] are taking it very seriously."

One such fighter is Tito Ortiz, a former UFC light heavyweight champion who's had a very rocky relationship with the UFC, and specifically, White. After a loss to Lyoto Machida in May, Ortiz had fulfilled the terms of his UFC contract, and he said he was free to begin negotiating with other companies 30 days after the fight.

Ortiz is no longer among the top 10 fighters in the world, but his name recognition and marketability remain among the highest for any MMA competitor. Fights featuring Ortiz -- even ones in just the past couple years -- remain among the organization's most lucrative. However, because of his disdain for White, Ortiz has said he's likely to leave the UFC for another organization.

Ortiz was a contestant on a recent celebrity edition of Trump's reality show, "The Apprentice," and the unlikely duo forged a friendship.

"I think Tito is terrific," Trump said. "He not only was a nice guy and very different from the way he is in the ring, he was really talented, really smart, and yes, I think he likes me a lot. And I like him a lot. That doesn't mean he signed a contract (with Affliction), but I think Tito would love to deal with us."

Trump, who repeatedly said that famed TV producer Mark Burnett raves about Affliction (future TV deal, maybe?), also confirmed that he's in the company for the long haul. With its hefty fighter payroll and optimistic pay-per-view projections, many consider Affliction flirting with financial disaster.

However, Trump said the company is in great shape.

"This first fight has been amazingly successful; I hope it's going to be a great evening of fights, and I think it will," Trump said. "We're continuing to go along, and I'd predict that [Affliction will] get bigger and bigger and better and better. Again, it's a very strong group of people in terms of the finances, so that's never going to be a problem."

Anderson Silva to Face Yushin Okami after July 19th Fight

After making his light heavyweight debut against James Irvin at next week's UFC Fight Night 14 event, UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva (21-4 MMA, 6-0 UFC) will return to 185 pounds to defend his title against top contender Yushin Okami (22-4 MMA, 6-1 UFC).

Ed Soares, Silva's manager, confirmed the plans.

However, Soares said that a date for the Silva-Okami fight won't be determined until after the July 19 fight with Irvin.

Silva and Soares want to have a better idea of the fighter's health status before committing to a date for the fight with Okami. (However, sources close to the event tell TAGG Radio and MMAjunkie.com that the UFC has tentatively targeted UFC 88, which takes place Sept. 6 in Atlanta, for the fight.)

Silva, who's 6-0 in the UFC (with six stoppages), has made short work of the UFC's middleweight division, posting three consecutive title defenses (and a victory over Travis Lutter in a non-title affair) after defeating former champ Rich Franklin for the title in October 2006.

When the UFC needed a headliner for UFC Fight Night 14 to counter Affliction's debut show (a star-studded affair that also takes place July 19), Silva agreed to take it. The UFC and Spike TV have since launched a marketing campaign that lets fans know they can watch "the world's best fighter" on free basic cable. "Banned," meanwhile, comes with a $39.95 pay-per-view fee.

However, Soares, who also manages top UFC light heavyweight contender Lyoto Machida, said that Silva doesn't expect to make a run at the 205-pound title, and instead, will only move up when it satisfies their goal of "being involved in some of the biggest fights in UFC history."

"[Silva] doesn't want to make a run at the (light-heavyweight) championship because his friend Lyoto is in the line for it," Soares said. "He doesn't want to fight Lyoto, and Lyoto doesn't want to fight him."

Despite his perfect 13-0 overall record and 5-0 mark in the UFC, Machida likely won't get the first crack at new UFC light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin, who won the title this past weekend at UFC 86. Soares said that Machida will likely have "one more fight" before he gets a shot at the belt. (Soares said Machida's fight will take place in October, an opponent has been determined, but it hasn't yet been signed.)

As for Silva, Soares repeatedly stressed that he wants his fights to be "events."

"We'll take it one step at a time," Soares said. "But what he's looking forward to fighting the best in the world and creating events. At this point in his career, he wants every fight to be an event."

The 205-pound division could provide that with superstars such as Chuck Liddell, Quinton Jackson and Griffin providing interesting and marketable fights with Silva.

However, Soares said the middleweight division will remain Silva's focus.

"As the (middleweight) contenders come up, he's still going to defend the belt," Soares said.

AFTER AFFLICTION, FEDOR TO FIGHT 2 MORE IN 2008

As the July 19 date for his showdown with Tim Sylvia at Affliction quickly approaches, Fedor Emelianenko already has two more fights planned for 2008, according to his manager Vadim Finkelstein.

"Two more fights are planned for Fedor in 2008,” said Finkelstein in an interview on the M-1 Mix Fight official website. “The first one in October in the context of the next Affliction show in conjunction with M-1 Global, and the second one at New Year’s Eve in Japan."

It is more than likely that his final fight on New Year’s Eve will be fought under an FEG sponsored show, which runs both DREAM and K-1.

No opponents were mentioned for either bout, although the Affliction bout is likely to pit him against one of the other top heavyweights that are also fighting on July 19. Josh Barnett clashes in a rematch with Pedro Rizzo and Andre Arlovski makes his first move outside of the UFC in the past eight years, when he faces former IFL star Ben Rothwell.

At the moment, the consensus top-ranked heavyweight is in final preparations for his fight against Tim Sylvia, which will be contested for the vacant WAMMA heavyweight championship, making the heavyweight super fight a five-round bout. It will take place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

The main question Affliction is gonna have will be that with all their top talent fighting on their debut card, who is left in the wings to carry the promotion over the next few? With only a handful of fighters under contract, it could only mean that MMA is a step closer to cross promoting to match up with the best fighters. Of course that excludes the UFC.

Ultimate Fight Night to Rival Affliction

Dana White must have felt a little heat when he saw the fight card for Afflictions first event scheduled to take place on July 19th.

He has scheduled a decent fight card on the same night live on SpikeTV, which also has the debut of Middleweight champ Anderson Silva making his lightheavyweight debut when he takes on James Irvin. The fight is a bit gimmickie but it will draw viewers which will certainly combat Afflictions 'Banned' which is on pay per view.

The UFC is the only organization that has the money and star power to combat rival organizations fight cards. This could make things very interesting over the next couple years as Dana White will always be looking for events to out do other organizations. It could make for some good fight cards in the future, that is until the UFC monopolizes MMA.

Affliction has some big names on the fight card but most of the fights are pretty lopsided on paper.

Main Card:

Fedor Emelianenko (27-1) vs. Tim Sylvia (24-4)
Andrei Arlovski (12-5) vs. Ben Rothwell (29-5)
Josh Barnett (21-5) vs. Pedro Rizzo (16-7)
Matt Lindland (20-5) vs. Fabio Negao (8-3)
Renato 'Babalu' Sobral (29-7) vs. Mike Whitehead (20-5)
Aleksander Emelianenko (13-3) vs. Paul Buentello (25-10)

Forrest Griffin Wins Lightheavyweight Title from Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson

After nearly a half hour of nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat, back-and-forth action, Forrest Griffin (16-4 MMA, 9-2 UFC) -- the UFC's original "Ultimate Fighter" -- staked claim to UFC gold by defeating former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton Jackson (24-6 MMA, 3-1 UFC).

The five-round championship bout capped off Saturday's UFC 86 event at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

Early leg kicks that hobbled his opponent gave Griffin the advantage he needed for a close -- but unanimous -- decision victory.

After taking the opening round with crisp striking, including a right uppercut that floored Griffin, Jackson felt the gears shift in the second.

"He jacked my leg up," Jackson said.

The former champ was referring to Griffin's stinging leg kicks. Jackson was knocked off balance in the first round, but the kicks really did damage in the second, when back-to-back blows forced him to retreat. However, Griffin gave his opponent a chance to recover when he took the fight to the ground. There, Jackson fended off a fairly ineffective ground and pound to get to the third round.

"The second round, when he had me on the ground the whole time, I was resting up," said Jackson, who suffered his first loss in more than three years.

After splitting the first two rounds, Griffin and Jackson fought through three very close final rounds. (In fact, MMAjunkie.com had the fight scored 48-47 in favor of Jackson). However, Griffin's submission attempts and aggression earned him the unanimous-decision victory on the scorecards that meant the most. The ringside judges had it 48-46, 48-46 and 49-46 in favor of Griffin.

However, the new champ was forced to shake off a number of stiff punches to survive the five-round fight. Jackson staggered him on a few occasions.

"Every [expletive] punch hurt," said Griffin, who was also forced to deal with a cut above his eye midway through the fight. "Hell, everything hurt."

Aside from Matt Serra, who won a special "comeback" season of "TUF" geared toward already-established fighters, Griffin becomes the first fighter from the UFC's reality series to capture a championship.

OTHER MAIN CARD FIGHTS

In a clash of styles, neither Patrick Cote's stand-up nor Ricardo Almeida's Brazilian jiu-jitsu proved superior. However, Cote (13-4 MMA, 4-4 UFC) was aggressive enough to take the fight's final two rounds on two judges' scorecards for a split-decision victory over Almeida (9-3 MMA, 2-3 UFC).

Almeida scored takedowns and delivered enough punches from above to win the first round. However, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu's energy level slowly depleted throughout the fight, which allowed Cote to avoid takedowns and connect on punches in the final two frames. The judges gave the Canadian scores of 29-28, 28-29 and 29-28.

The winner of the fight was reportedly promised a future title shot with UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, though it may not come until after the title-holder first meets top contender Yushin Okami. However, even with his fifth consecutive victory -- four of which came in the UFC -- Cote did little to prove he could hang with the UFC's seemingly indestructible 185-pound champ.

Cote, though, did display effective takedown defense, solid conditioning and a superior game plan to grind out the victory and improve his stock in the division.

In his first fight since a title loss to BJ Penn in January, Joe Stevenson (29-8 MMA, 6-2 UFC) rebounded for a remarkable second-round submission victory over Gleison Tibau (15-6 MMA, 3-3 UFC).

Tibau took the opening round, though the action stalled for nearly two minutes after he was unable to do anything with an omoplata. Stevenson simply waited out that first round, and when the opportunity presented itself in the second, he locked in a guillotine choke as Tibau shot for a takedown. His opponent simply drove into the choke, and Stevenson needed just seconds to force the tap-out once he was put on his back.

With his 7-year-old son watching him live for the first time, Stevenson claimed the victory at 2:57 of the second round.

In one of the year's bloodiest fights, Josh Koscheck (11-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) used takedowns and elbow strikes to slice and dice his way to a unanimous-decision victory over Chris Lytle (25-16-5 MMA, 4-8 UFC).

Koscheck opened a thumb-sized cut above Lytle's right eye in the second round, and dozens of additional elbow strikes caused the wound to gush blood for the final eight minutes.

Even early in the fight, Lytle failed to gain any advantage with his stand-up. Koscheck continually skirted the blows and easily secured the takedowns. After the fight, Koscheck admitted he had plans to stand and trade with the part-time pro boxer, but rather quickly, the four-time All-American wrestler opted instead to take the fight to the ground.

"The game plan -- well, my game plan was to stand, but my coaches etched out a game plan, and I executed it right," Koscheck said.

In the end, the judges gave him the unanimous-decision victory via scores of 30-26, 29-27 and 30-28.

In the night's first televised bout, Tyson Griffin (12-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) used everything in his bag of tricks to batter Marcus Aurelio (16-6 MMA, 2-2 UFC) for a full 15 minutes.

Despite giving up a significant reach advantage, Griffin mixed up punches and kicks from all angles to keep Aurelio constantly guessing. Leg kicks, lunging body shots and an extremely effective left-uppercut-right-hook combination let Griffin control the fight from the opening bell.

Despite his opponent's wrestling prowess, Aurelio's best shot at victory was getting the fight to the ground. He struggled to get the takedown, though, and the few times the fight did hit the ground, Griffin slipped out of every submission attempt only to deliver more punishment.

"I was just trying to raise up to rain down some big shots," Griffin said. "I landed some good ones."

All three judges had it 30-27 for his unanimous-decision victory.

PRELIMINARY CARD

Gabriel Gonzaga def. Justin McCully via submission (kimura) -- Round 1, 1:57
Cole Miller def. Jorge Gurgel via submission (triangle choke) -- Round 3, 4:48
Melvin Guillard def. Dennis Siver via KO (punches) -- Round 1, 0:36
Justin Buchholz def. Corey Hill via submission (rear naked choke) -- Round 2, 3:57