Full Contact Talk: MMA discussion

It has been rumored for a while that veteran boxing promoter Don King was interested in entering the mixed-martial-arts business. Some would say such a move is necessary with talk of professional boxing’s decline in national popularity and shrinking pay-per-view sales. But of course the MMA-verus-boxing debate is a fiery topic and the verdict is still out with regard to boxing’s economic survival and fanbase statistics.

On Saturday, September 27 in Concord, North Carolina, Vengeance Fighting Championship makes its debut under the distant umbrella of Don King Productions via DonKingTv.com which is the internet branch of King’s promotions. At first glance the Vengeance FC card featuring two icons of MMA in that of Jeff Monson and Mark Kerr, seems like a potentially entertaining night of mixed-martial-arts. But Don King’s low profile and near vacant marketing for this event paints the picture that King’s debut MMA promotion is simply a testing of the waters.

Also consider that Don King’s entrance into MMA is a polarizing concept to many. Maybe King is aware of this situation thus explaining why King is also co-promoting a boxing card with Golden Boy Promotions featuring Ricardo Mayorga and Shane Mosley in Carson, California on HBO the same night. King has been criticized for many years within the boxing world. And such criticism is turned up in volume amongst a large majority of the MMA community. But no matter the potential criticism of Don King, thus far the debut Vengeance FC card is respectfully stacked.

Personally, I am very excited to see Jeff Monson and Mark Kerr clash as well as BJJ legend Carlson Gracie and John Savage. The following video is a Vengeance FC commercial currently running on television in the North Carolina market.

Fight Card as follows:

Jeff Monson vs. Mark Kerr

John Savage vs. Carlson Gracie

Denis Gomes vs. Carmelo Marrero

Cale Yarbrough vs. Andy Curtiss

Rodney Wallace vs. Quince St. Preux

Ryan Lamareaux vs. Mackens Semerzier

Jeremiah Brandon Brown vs. Matt Covan

Brian Keller vs. Steve Linton

Chris Herring vs. Joel Wyatt

Hallie Hair vs. Ryan Bedini

Rusty Haun vs. Tony Moenich

Nick Blake vs. Patrick Needham

Mike Turner vs. Nate Davis

Sylvain Bynum vs. Jeff Bricker

The official Vengeance FC website

Welcome to the first edition of “This Week In MMA.” Each week, Full Contact Talk will filter through stories of interest within the world of mixed-martial-arts and hopefully provide our readers with everything they need to know as fans of the sport. All at a glance, of course.

A Petition For Evan Tanner

There’s now a petition circulating around the Internet which asks the UFC to induct Evan Tanner into the Hall of Fame. As covered earlier this week by FCT, veteran MMA fighter Evan Tanner died tragically while on a camping trip in the desert mountain area of Palo Verde on the border of California and Arizona. Tanner’s passing is a tremendous loss to the mixed-martial-arts community and his life story is deservingly receiving a lot of media coverage. The petition that is currently online is well into the thousands of signatures. If you’d like to sign your name and show support of the efforts to get Tanner inducted, you may find the petition here.

Mixed-Martial-Arts Meets Politics

Former UFC Fighter, Jeff Monson. No, I am not talking about Matt Linland’s political aspirations or John McCain’s coining of MMA as “Human-Cock-Fighting” all those years ago. UFC veteran and Abu Dhabi legend Jeff Monson was involved in protests at the Republican National Convention on September 1, 2008, outside of Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. Monson, a highly acclaimed submission fighter, is also a very vocal anarchist. Those not aware of Monson’s background might want to hold out before deeming him as some unenlightened member of a political fringe movement. Monson has a BA degree in psychology from the University of Illinois and a master’s in psychology from the University of Minnesota, Duluth. Now living and training with American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida, Monson grew up in Olympia, Washington, and has long been involved in political protests. FCT could not find any reports of Monson being arrested or involved in any violent activiites but the photos in the gallery below have lit up the Internet and stirred more gossip and conclusions than a typical episode of “TMZ.”

Jeff Monson’s Official Website

UFC 88: A Shock And A Success

UFC 88 visited Atlanta for the first time on September 6, 2008, and received widespread response from fans. According to Kevin Priest of Philips Arena, the UFC 88 event was the largest single-day sporting event in the history of the venue. And it would have been the biggest-selling event period if it were not for a puffy-haired pop singer from New York City. According to UFC President Dana White during the post-fight press conference, Barbara Streisand beat out the official UFC box office for record sales at Philips. White jokingly vowed to return again to Atlanta and TKO Streisand in the future.

The UFC 88 main event also delivered a massive shock to fans around the world when heavy underdog Rashad Evans knocked out former light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell in the second round. It was rumored prior to the bout that the winner of this fight would win a title shot at former Georgia resident Forrest Griffin. Dana White later confirmed during the press conference that Evans would indeed get the fight in the coming months. Ironically, after UFC 88, Forrest Griffin co-hosted an after-party for Rashad Evans at Pure nightclub in DeKalb County along with Kieth Jardine who also holds a recent win over Chuck Liddell. Although merely an ironic coincidence, Forrest was a member of Liddell’s fight team on the debut season of Spike TV’s “The Ultimate Fighter.” But I guess the irony thickens when considering that Griffin is currently a member of Xtreme Couture and coached by Randy Couture, who also holds both a win and losses to Liddell in an epic number of famous past UFC title fights. Hey, MMA is a small, small universe at times.

A massive amount of UFC 88 photos can be found at Tracy Lee’s Combat Lifestyle website, including scenes from the post-fight parties.

The MMA Grapevine

On the UrDirt website, Lyoto Machida (who is hovering closely to a UFC title shot in the future) made some interesting comments about his fight that was pulled from the UFC 89 card because of an injury to Thiago Silva as well as who he thinks will win between Forrest Griffin and Rashad Evans.

“There’s no way to find and opponent now, and I’ll have to wait another event to fight. I don’t know who’ll I face, UFC didn’t say anything yet, only that I won’t fight at UFC 89.

“It’s sad because I was focused, training hard and prepared, but this kind of things happens. I changed my training now, I’m doing more Karate and working out, doing less MMA stuff.”

Lyoto Machida regarding UFC 88 and a title fight between Forrest Griffin and Rashad Evans:

“I was surprised, because I believed that Chuck would win. But anything can happen and that punch was perfect. Now he’s [Liddell] in a delicate situation.”

“I believe that Griffin has a better game to beat Rashad. No demerit for Rashad, he’s a great fighter, but I think that Griffin has a better MMA game to win this fight.”

MMA Leftovers

In other recent news, reports have it that Karo Parisyan injured his back while grappling with Rashad Evans the day before the UFC 88 event. Karo was pulled from the UFC 88 card leaving Yoshiyuki Yoshida without a fight. Unfortunately, a large collection of Japanese media flew to Atlanta exclusively to cover Yoshida. Karo’s return to the cage and Yoshida’s next opponent are not yet known.

And of course we’re flogging a dead horse at this point, but what weekly MMA report would be thorough without at least mentioning Randy Couture’s return to the UFC and the end of his long legal battle with the company. Couture now brings his heavyweight title back to life, leaving Antonio Nogueira’s interim belt apparently as nothing more than a souvenir. Fans were split with a heavy tilt toward outrage when it was quickly announced that Couture would face former WWE superstar Brock Lesnar for the title at UFC 91. Lesnar, with only three professional MMA bouts to his credit, sparked criticism from many fans who cited that the winner between Frank Mir and Antonio Nogueira better deserved the shot at the UFC heavyweight title.

And speaking of Mir and Nogueira, the two veteran fighters launch the eighth season of SPIKE TV’s “The Ultimate Fighter” as team coaches on September 17 along with a night of fights at Ultimate Fight Night 15 live in Omaha, Nebraska. More to come on the new season of TUF and UFN 15 this week from Full Contact Talk.

Stay tuned!