DEEP 31 card on August 5th finalized

With the addition of the Hidehiko Hasegawa / Dong-Hyun Kim bout, the DEEP 31 IMPACT card on August 5th in now final.

DEEP 31 full card:

• Masakazu Imanari (Team-ROKEN) / Jong-Man Kim (CMA Korea)
• Yoshihiro "Barbaro44" Tomioka (Club Barbarian) / Makoto Ishikawa (PUREBRED Omiya)
• Takeshi Yamazaki (Team Grabaka) / Yoshisuke Kitada (Paraestra Chiba)
• Yusuke Kawaguchi (Blue Dog Gym) / Iro Zeki (Freelance)
• Hisae Watanabe (Freelance) / Miku Matsumoto (Club Barbarian) (DEEP Female Lightweight Title match)
• Hidehiko Hasegawa (SK Absolute) / Dong-Hyun Kim (CMA Korea)
• Ryuichi Murata (Yoshida Dojo) / Sojiro Orui (SK Absolute)
• Kazunori Yokota (Team Grabaka) / Anthony McDavitt
• Yuya Shirai (Team M.A.D.) / Kozo Urita (Seiken Kaikan)
• Keigo Takamori (Samurai Sword) / Dong-Yi Yang (CMA Korea)

Future Fights:

• Takafumi Otsuka (AACC) / OZ (Combat Sports Circle OZ)
• Minoru Tavares Tuchiya (Hard Combat) / Toshiaki Saiki (Paraestra Tokyo)
• Tarou Shimazaki (U-File Camp) / Takao Nakajima (Team Barbosa Japan)

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DEEP Welterweight champ Hasegawa takes on Dong-Hyun Kim at DEEP 31

But not in a fight for the title, DEEP recently has become famous for matching up their champions with Koreans in non-title fights. This has backfired before though, Su-Hi Ham defeated Hisae Watanabe at DEEP 28, and this maybe another one of those times. Dong-Hyun Kim is coming of a 6 fight winning streak, most recently knocking out his opponent in 11 seconds at CMA Festival 2.

Saeki was quoted saying that a future title fight between the two was dependent on the result of this fight. Being Korean in DEEP you have to work twice as hard.

DEEP 31 IMPACT takes place on August 5th in Korakuen Hall, Tokyo.

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Jean-Claude Van Damme portraying Mark Coleman in new movie?

In a movie adaptation of the documentary The Smashing Machine, which followed Mark Kerr around, Jean-Claude Van Damme is supposedly starring in the role as Mark Coleman. I'd like to know what went through their heads when they came up with that idea...

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Zuffa releases Shogun promo video, "forgets" about Rampage

Zuffa released a Mauricio "Shogun" Rua highlight video to hype the upcoming Shogun / Forrest Griffin fight at UFC 76 (interestingly though it says PRIDE FC Worldwide in the intro text, I guess this is because technically PFCWW LLC owns the right to the footage and not Zuffa).

Noticeably missing are stomps and his dismantling of Rampage. Coincidence? This is Zuffa we're talking about so probably not.

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New Takanori Gomi to HERO's talk

You might remember the rumors about PRIDE lightweight champion Takanori Gomi signing with HERO's that floated around some weeks ago.

Now the rumor is back, and with a little more information to back it up. In an interview for the upcoming beach wrestling event on the 29th. Gomi spoke about his desire to fight for HERO's within the year, he confirmed that there is an offer from FEG, and if he was satisfied with it then he wants to fight for them.

I say good for him, UFC is most likely a dead end for most of the Japanese fighters anyway. Now lets hope others will follow him instead of just sitting idle and waiting.

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Yoshida believes in PRIDE - sends his fighters to the UFC

Yoshida's VIVA JUDO! camp was held yesterday in Kamisu, Ibaraki, with 120 kids participating. Yoshida trained with the kids for about one and a half hour. Yoshida said in an interview that he wouldn't fight for anyone else then PRIDE, even if there were offers from other organizations and he had to sit out for the rest of the year and wait.

And yet he's sending his fighters to the UFC, Michihiro Omigawa will face Matt Wiman at UFC 76, and it was rumored that Kazuhiro Nakamura was going to face Chuck Liddell before they booked Keith Jardine instead.

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CMA Festival 2 results, Minowa victorious in return

The second installment of the DEEP co-promoted CMA Festival 2 event took place today in Korakuen Hall, Tokyo. The event, headlined by Ikuhisa Minowa whom also celebrated his 10th year in MMA, saw Japanese fighters pitted against Koreans out of the CMA Korea camp.

Minowa, outweighed by over 20 pounds, defeated Min-Seok Heo in the main event when the Korean's corner threw in the towel after the first round. Other noteworthy results were PRIDE prospect Dong-Hyun Kim's eleven seconds knockout over Maejima from a left straight, and Su-Hi Ham's decision win over Megumi Yabushita, despite being outweighed by 15 pounds (fight was under kickboxing rules).

Full results, winners in bold:

• Ikuhisa "Minowaman" Minowa (Freelance) / Min-Seok Heo (CMA Korea) (TKO, corner threw in the towel, R1)
  
• Kousei Kubota (Sakaguchi Dojo) / Do-Won Seo (CMA Korea) (Judges decision 3-0)
  
• Megumi Yabushita (Tomoegumi) / Su-Hi Ham (CMA Korea) (kickboxing rules) (Judges decision 0-3)
• Takayo Hashi (Wajyutsu Keisyukai Tokyo) / Hi-Jin Ei (CMA Korea) (Judges decision 3-0)
  
• Kazue Matake (Wajyutsu Keisyukai Tokyo) / Yeon-Ju Ei (CMA Korea) (Submission, 4:07 R2)
  
• Ken Hamamura (CMA Kyoto Seikeikan) / Dong-Ho Han (CMA Korea) (TKO, 3:37 R1)
  
• Jyunpei Hamada (Makoto Gym) / Yang-Dong Lee (CMA Korea) (TKO, 3:14 R1)
  
• Naoki Matsushita (MB3z) / Su-Han Han (CMA Korea) (Judges decision 0-3)
• Yoshiyume Chodo (CMA Ikusa Gym) / Yoon Ho (CMA Korea) (Judges decision 2-1)
  
• Takanori Onda / Ji-Hun Kim (CMA Korea) (TKO, 3:36 R1)
  
• Yukiharu Maejima (CMA Ikusa Gym) / Dong-Hyun Kim (CMA Korea) (KO, 0:11 R1)
  
• Hisashi Kudo / Yuhan Quoniam (CMA Korea) (Heel hook, 0:30 R1)
  

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Takanori Gomi vs KID Yamamoto ...in beach wrestling?

Sportsnavi is reporting that Takanori Gomi and Norifumi "KID" Yamamoto are both being supervisors in the annual beach wrestling event on July 29th in Odaiba, a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay.

Wikipedia describes beach wrestling this way:

Beach wrestling is standing wrestling done by wrestlers, male or female, inside a sand-filled circle measuring 6 meters in diameter. There are only two weight categories, heavy and light. The objective is to throw your opponent or take your opponent to his or her back. The wrestlers wear swimsuits rather than special wrestling uniforms. Wrestlers may also wear spandex or athletic shorts.

And if you want to organize a beach wrestling event of your own, eHow has you covered.

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War of Words, Dana White shoots back from the hip

It started with an editorial written on Sherdog by Josh Gross, calling out Dana White to do something about the rampant steroid use in MMA. Well now Dana has responded, in the most juvenile way he could.

He's hurling personal insults all around and commenting negatively on how people looks. Dana White, the public figure and leader of a multi-million company, spewing insults on a Internet message board.

But if you look at the bigger picture this is what the UFC core audience, the UFC marks, wants to see and agrees with. They're young males who reads this and goes "yeah he really told those fags!", thinking the UFC can do no wrong.

Dana White's post:

My response to idiot Gross:

Its funny how when bad things happen, you love to call me out and say that I need to jump in and fix it. All the positive things that Zuffa has done over the past 6 years and you write me an open letter telling me to fix the problem of fighters using steroids? You are the biggest idiot I have ever met in this industry. Josh "holier than now" Gross writes a letter full of insults and sarcasm about what my company and I have accomplished since buying the UFC- like it was some easy chore. This is the same scumbag who released the finalists of TUF season 4 before it even aired. Josh, before you start trying to fix my company, worry about the potential lying, corruptions and inaccuracies at your own shitty website.

To all the fighters out there that fight for me or another promotion: these fan boy websites come kissing your ass when they want to shoot video of you or get an interview so they can make money off you. But when you make a mistake, they will be right there to kick your teeth down your throat. One of the great things that has happened over the past 6 years is that real media covers us now. So when these fan boy self proclaimed MMA websites want to do video interviews or any other kind of interview to make themselves money tell them to stop calling you and leave you alone. They are not doing you any favors- they are making money off of you. I have not let Sherdog into a UFC event in years. And the UFC is doing just fine.

Anyway, back to steroids- every athlete on this planet knows what's going on with steroids right now and we make it very clear what the athletic commission will do to them if they are caught. In fact, to my knowledge, athletes competing in combative sports are the only ones in the world who get drug tested by the government, that's a pretty high standard to meet. Imagine if every NBA, MLB or NFL athlete was drug tested by the government every time they competed? That's a very high standard yet UFC fighters face government drug testing every time they enter the Octagon.

Everyone knows that it hurts me and my company badly when one of my fighters tests positive for steroids. Listen Josh "save the whales" Gross- I can't save the world by myself. So roll your boss back into the ocean and write a letter "Attention all promoters." When your product is human beings, there are always going to be problems and nothing is ever going to be perfect.

Gross, you have no clue the stuff I deal with on a daily basis with fighters. Myself and the UFC are adamantly opposed to the use of steroids or any other kind of drugs. Most of these guys that fight in the UFC are my friends and I care about them. My job isn't to smash them publicly and ruin their lives. Apparently, that's your job. My job is to help them through whatever problems they might have- professional or personal.

I don't know if anyone has ever seen Josh Gross but the guy has never done anything athletic in his entire life. And you only have to see Jeff Sherwood and his staff to know the same thing about them. These people don't know the first thing about the demands and challenges that professional athletes are faced with. I have my own opinion of Sherdog and Gross and how they run their business but I don't write open letters to the public about it. So for these goofy supposed fan boy clowns to sit around and write letters about what I need to do with my company and my athletes is fucking hilarious.

You guys just keep selling DVDs and chasing my guys around for video interviews so you can make more money and keep eating and I will handle the UFC and it's fighters.

Dana White

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Battle of the Juicers. Both Sean Sherk and Hermes Franca test positive for steroids?!

First Hermes Franca for Drostanolone, a couple of minutes later Sean Sherk for Nandrolone Metabolite.

I'm speechless and disgusted, stop ruining my favorite sport you fuckers. This is one bullet you can't dodge Dana.

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Shinya Aoki vows continued commitment to PRIDE

Shinya Aoki and Hayato "Mach" Sakurai were on Samurai TV today. Both said they didn't know when they're fighting next or when (the correct term should probably be "if" ...) the next PRIDE event will be held. Aoki however declared that he wasn't looking to join another promotion and was still committed to fight for PRIDE in the future.

I have to say Aoki has bigger faith in Zuffa then I do, but then again it is rumored that Joe Silva would love to see more exciting jiu-jitsu guys in the UFC...

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A not so great night for HERO's

Tanigawa had teased with a big announcement, believed to be the signing of former PRIDE lightweight Takanori Gomi. But the event came and went with no Gomi announcement at all. This should be promotion 101, don't say and hype things you can't deliver on, you'll only make fans angry and create unrealistic expectations. The only "surprise" that came out of this event was that apparently Pancrase veteran Masakatsu Funaki will return on New Years Eve, something I can't imagine anyone being really excited about.

All in all it was a bad night for HERO's and the Japanese fighters. Newly signed Kyoshi Tamura lost a pretty lackluster decision, Hideo Tokoro and Kazuyuki Miyata lost and where eliminated from the 154 lbs tournament, and Ralek Gracie armbarred Katsuyori Shibata in the first round (Ralek Grace vs Funaki anyone?).

Full results, winners in bold:

• Alexandre "Pequeno" Franca Nogueira / Shuichiro Katsumura (KO, R2)
• Andre Dida / Artur Oumakhanov (TKO, R1)
• Ralek Gracie / Katsuyori Shibata (Armbar, R1)
• Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro / Kazuyuki Miyata (Arm Triangle Choke, R2)
• Kultar "Black Mamba" Gill / Hideo Tokoro (TKO, R1)
• Caol Uno / Katsuhiko Nagata (Unanimous Decision)
• Melvin Manhoef / Bernard Ackah (KO, R1)
• Taiei Kin / Kiyoshi Tamura (Unanimous Decision)

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Babalu fought the law and the law won

No he didn't fight with Lindland, but apparently UFC and Rings veteran Renato "Babalu" Sobral spit on a bouncer in Tampa which was enough for him to temporarily land in the local slammer.

At least the cops didn't have trouble identifying him since he sported a t-shirt with his own nickname.

Charge report can be found here.

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Yoon Dong Sik injured, Ackah vs Manhoef instead

Looks like everyones favorite Korean, Yoon Dong Sik, is injured and won't fight Bernard Ackah on the HERO's show this Monday. Stepping up to take his place is explosive Dutch striker Melvin Manhoef. Both fighters are coming off huge knock-outs, Manhoef against Ruslan Karaev under K-1 rules at K-1 Amsterdam and Ackah against Johnnie Morton at the debacle know as K-1 Dynamite!! USA.

Watch both knock-outs after the jump.

Melvin Manhoef vs Ruslan Karaev, K-1 Amsterdam:

Bernard Ackah vs Johnnie Morton, K-1 Dynamite!! USA:

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FEG expands their HERO's roster with Sokoudjou

Sokoudjou was close to signing with EliteXC. A verbal agreement between the two parties was in place, but all of a sudden FEG (and not K-1 as Sherdog's article noted) stepped up with "significantly more money" and snatched Sokoudjou away. Now significantly more money in relation to the reported $200k that EliteXC supposedly was going to pay Sokoudjou is quite a lot.

This however leaves a lot of questions, does this mean that FEG is serious about the heavier divisions? HERO's has recently signed two former PRIDE light-heavyweights, Sokoudjou and Alistair Overeem, and is possibly pitting them against each other in September. But after that there are not many more fighters to choose from, and their heavyweight division is more laughable then UFC's was a year ago.

There are more FEG signings that make little sense. A couple of months ago grappling ace Marcelo Garcia joined the promotion, but he has firmly expressed that he only wishes to fight at 170 lbs, a non existent division in HERO's. All this looks like preemptive strikes from FEG to prevent other promotions from signing the big names.

The alliance is broken, the gloves are off.

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E3 brings us UFC gaming goodness

A new trailer for THQ's upcoming UFC game for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 has emerged out of the gaming trade show E3. No release date yet (but sometime in 2007 probably since it's called UFC 2007), but damn it looks good.

Check out the Chuck Liddell/Rampage action below, I can't wait to Rampage slam everyone.

Ultimate Fighting Championship 2007 E3 Trailer

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Is Gomi to HERO's Tanigawa's big surprise?

Sherdog reported yesterday about Tanigawa hoping to reveal a big surprise this Monday on their HERO's card. The rumors flying around is that the surprise is PRIDE lightweight champion Takanori Gomi signing with the promotion. This rumor is coming only a day after Tamura signed with HERO's, and leaves one questioning if the PRIDE fighters now finally are up for grabs by anyone, and not Zuffa exclusives. Another consequence from this is that any belt unification Zuffa is trying to accomplish becomes meaningless when you don't have all the title holders under contract.

With Gomi possibly taking the step to HERO's this also opens up the question if other PRIDE fighters will do the same. Hayato "Mach" Sakurai and Marcus Aurelio is destined for the UFC, but there are a ton of high caliber light weights that are ronins at this point, Joachim Hansen, Gilbert Melendez, Mitsuhiro Ishida, Shinya Aoki and Tatsuya Kawajiri, just to name a few.

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Kiyoshi Tamura goes to HERO's, Sakuraba match-up finally within reach?

It was revealed today that the man with red pants, Kiyoshi Tamura, will fight on the upcoming HERO's card on July 16th. Tamura's fighting Taiei Kin, Kin latest saw action on the New Years Eve Dynamite card where he defeated Tokimitsu Ishizawa with a high kick.

The Tamura signing again opens up questions about a possible match-up with Kazushi Sakuraba, surprisingly not in PRIDE as was teased at PRIDE 34 but now in HERO's.

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DEEP 30 IMPACT Osaka results

Results, winners in bold:

• Jutaro Nakao (Freelance) / Kiuma Kunioku (Freelance) (Draw, 1-1)
  
• Seichi Ikemoto (Freelance) / Han Su Fan (CMA Korea) (Judges decision, 3-0)
  
• Tomoyuki Fukami (CMA Kyoto Seikeikan) / Henrik Kakiuchi (HARD COMBAT) (2R 2:21, Submission)
  
• Takeshi Hamamura (CMA Kyoto Seikeikan) / YABU (Freelance) (2R 0:57, TKO)
  
• Seigo Mizuguchi (Freelance) / Yusuke Sakashita (PUREBRED Kyoto) (Judges decision, 0-3)
• Motoki Takinishi (CMA Kyoto Seikeikan) / Kenta Nakamura (Zendo Kai Hiroshima) (Judges decision, 3-0)
• Isao Terada (ALLIANCE) / Kousuke Eda (PUREBRED Kyoto) (2R 2:40, KO)
  
• Kitazaki Shizu (Zendo Kai Hiroshima) / Hiroshi "Goodman" Tanaka (KSW Hachijyo Pro Wrestling) (1R 3:19, Submission)
  
• Atsuyuki Shimakawa (PUREBRED Kyoto) / Masahiro Toryu (PANCRASEism) (Draw, 0-0)
  
• Yukinari Tamura (Freelance) / VS Animal (PUREBRED Osaka) (1R 4:36, TKO)
  
• Miura Yasuaki (Zendo Kai Hiroshima) / Kazuhiko Wakita (Seidokaikan) (1R 1:37, Submission)
  
• Takuya Sato（PUREBRED Kyoto) / Arai Hira (Zendo Kai) (Draw)
  
• Taro Kusano (STG Osaka) / Rikiya Kawakami (Pancrase Inagakigumi) (Draw)
  
• Makoto Kamaya (CMA Kyoto Seikeikan) / Nobuhiro Yoshitake (Pancrase Inagakigumi) (Draw)
  
• Souyuu Tanabe (Renshi Juku) / Toru Harai (Mori Dojo) (2R 4:50)
  

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Josh Barnett free from DSE contract, UFC or Bodog next?

Josh Barnett wrote a blog post on his MySpace page declaring that he was finally free from his contract with DSE. It seems like it's down to either Bodog and UFC for him, though if he wants to be treated "like a valuable part of the organization" I'm not sure if UFC is the way to go.

Read the full post from Josh after he the jump.

The time has finally arrived to unleash the power of pro wrestling again on the MMA world. That's right, I am finally free from my former contract and open to hearing all offers. Great news for sure and coincidently just on the heels of my last blog explaining why I wasn't fighting. Somewhere I think I just heard a star imploding.

Of course the first thoughts are: will I or won't I fight in the UFC? Truthfully, I have spoken with Dana and Lorenzo recently and the UFC is well aware that I have no beef with them. There are no personal issues keeping me from signing with the UFC. I just have not received any offers from them yet.

Many have seen me on Bodog and may think I am automatically headed to or signed with them. While I have a good relationship with the promoters and have two fighters fighting next season, I have not signed any deals with Bodog.

I am looking to get back in the game and I want to be with a promotion that treats me as a valuable part of the organization. I hope I can find that kind of place this time around, not just for my sake but for all of my fans worldwide as well.

Now…who's ready to see somebody get buried into the canvas?

Source

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Fights announced for DEEP 31 IMPACT and CMA Festival 2

The busiest promotion at the moment in Japan, DEEP, is keeping a hectic schedule and announced fights for their CMA Festival 2 and DEEP 31 IMPACT cards.

DEEP 31 IMPACT
Returning to action is resident leglocker Mazukazu Imanari who faces Korean Kim Jon Man out of CMA Korea.

Also on the card, defending her lightweight title (which in this case is somewhere around 110 lbs), is Hisae Watanabe who puts her belt on the line against Miku Matsumoto. In Hisae's last DEEP appearance she was on the losing end against Su Hi Ham in a non-title bout, Miku later defeated Ham which is probably why she is getting the title shot and not Ham.

CMA Festival 2
Speaking of Su Hi Ham, Ham' fighting Yu Tsumiki at CMA Festival 2. The biggest attraction on that card is the return of Ikuhisa "Minowaman" Minowa who is headlining the card with a fight against Ho Min Soo.

Check out all the announced fights for DEEP 31 IMPACT and CMA Festival 2 after the jump.

CMA Festival 2 full card:

• Ikuhisa "Minowaman" Minowa (Freelance) / Ho Min Soo (CMA Korea)
• Kousei Kubota (Sakaguchi Dojo) / Su Do Won (CMA Korea)
• Yu Tsumiki (CMA Center Japan) / Su Hi Ham (CMA Korea)
• Takayo Hashi / I Heui-Jin (CMA Korea)
• Matake Kazue / I Yeon-Ju (CMA Korea)
• Naoki Matsushita (MB3z) / Kom Don Jon (CMA Korea)
• Jyunpei Hamada / Yan Don (CMA Korea)
• Tsuyoshi Onda Toku / Kim Ji-Hun (CMA Korea)
  
• Ken Hamamura (CMA Kyoto Seikeikan) / Han Don Ho (CMA Korea)
• Yoshiyume Chodo (CMA Ikusa Gym) / Ho Yun (CMA Korea)

DEEP 31 IMPACT announced fights:

• Masakazu Imanari (Team-ROKEN) / Kim Jon Man (CMA Korea)
• Yoshihiro "Barbaro44" Tomioka (Club Barbarian) / Makoto Ishikawa (PUREBRED Omiya)
• Takeshi Yamazaki (Team Grabaka) / Yoshisuke Kitada (Paraestra Chiba)
• Yusuke Kawaguchi (Blue Dog Gym) / Irozeki (Freelance)
• Hisae Watanabe (Freelance) / Miku Matsumoto (Club Barbarian)

Also scheduled to participate:

• Hidehiko Hasegawa (SK Absolute)
• Kazunori Yokota (Team Grabaka)
• Sojiro Orui (SK Absolute)
• Keigo Takamori (Samurai Sword)

CMA Festival 2 is taking place on July 23rd in Kourakuen Hall, Tokyo, and DEEP 31 IMPACT on August 5th in Kourakuen Hall, Tokyo.

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Streaming MMA on Joost

I just got a hold of a invite to the video streaming service Joost. What's interesting is that The Fight Network has an MMA channel there with a bunch of on-demand fights. The fights are from the events TKO 14 and 15, MECA 1 and Rumble on the Rock 4, with bouts such as George St Pierre/Pete Spratt, Jeremy Horn/David Loiseau, Luiz Azeredo/Anderson Silva and BJ Penn/Takanori Gomi.

The quality is decent and pretty much what you'd expect from streaming video, but what sucks is that they interrupt the fights every 5-10 minutes or so for commercials, and the commercials are in much higher quality then the real content which leaves you wondering why not everything could look that good.

To check it out sign up for Joost beta here.

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BJ Penn vs Diego Sanchez at UFC 74?

Sherdog reports that BJ Penn will fight against Diego Sanchez at UFC 74. So this means two things: BJ will not stay at lightweight, Mach Sakurai will not fight Diego Sanchez in UFC as was previously rumoured.

I don't see this as a fight that favors Diego at all, the only area where he might have an advantage is in stamina. And I'm not sure you want to build a game-plan based on BJ gassing out.

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Another one bites the dust, Baroni tested positive for steroids

This is getting so tiresome, these days it's uncommon that an event goes by and no one gets caught for anything. So the latest name to the wall of shame is Phil Baroni.

Baroni tested positive for Boldenone and Stanozolol Metabolites steroids, which Phil's agent Ken Pavia claims might've been ingested unknowingly. This of course reeks of bullshit, what athletes doesn't have all their intake heavily screened before they put it in their body?

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Rampage vs Henderson not a title fight?!

[Dana White] On the possibility of the Quinton Jackson-Dan Henderson fight being a unification fight:

"No. What we’re doing with that thing is we’re respecting both (the UFC and PRIDE) titles. The UFC title is the UFC champion and we’re respecting Dan as the PRIDE champion. Quinton will walk out with his belt if Dan wins and vice versa."

Source

Wait what? What is this, two men enter the octagon and one man leaves as a paper champion? Not only did this fight not make sense to begin with and now this.

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DEEP 30th Impact Osaka lineup

The 30th installment of DEEP Impact takes place in Osaka this Sunday, July 8th.

The card:

• Jutaro Nakao (Freelance) / Kiuma Kunioku (Freelance)
• Seichi Ikemoto (Freelance) / Han Su Fan (CMA Korea)
• Tomoyuki Fukami (CMA Kyoto Seikeikan) / Henrik Kakiuchi (HARD COMBAT)
• Takeshi Hamamura (CMA Kyoto Seikeikan) / YABU (Freelance)
• Seigo Mizuguchi (Freelance) / Yusuke Sakashita (PUREBRED Kyoto)
• Motoki Takinishi (CMA Kyoto Seikeikan) / Kenta Nakamura (Zendo Kai Hiroshima)
• Isao Terada (ALLIANCE) / Kousuke Eda (PUREBRED Kyoto)
• Kitazaki Shizu (Zendo Kai Hiroshima) / Hiroshi "Goodman" Tanaka (KSW Hachijyo Pro Wrestling)
• Atsuyuki Shimakawa (PUREBRED Kyoto) / Masahiro Toryu (PANCRASEism)
• Yukinari Tamura (Freelance) / VS Animal (PUREBRED Osaka)
• Miura Yasuaki (Zendo Kai Hiroshima) / Kazuhiko Wakita (Seidokaikan)
• Takuya Sato（PUREBRED Kyoto) / Arai Hira (Zendo Kai)
• Taro Kusano (STG Osaka) / Rikiya Kawakami (Pancrase Inagakigumi)
• Makoto Kamaya (CMA Kyoto Seikeikan) / Nobuhiro Yoshitake (Pancrase Inagakigumi)
• Souyuu Tanabe (Renshi Juku) / Toru Harai (Mori Dojo)

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More match-ups announced for July 16th HERO's card

Some more match-ups where announced for the HERO's card on July 16th in Yokohama Arena. It's worth to note that Pequeno / Katsumura is not a GP fight.

• GP: Gesias "JZ" Calvancanti (American Top Team) / Andre Dida (Chutebox)
• GP: Kazuyuki Miyata (Freelance) / Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro (Nova Uniao)
• GP: Hideo Tokoro (Reversal) / Kultar "Black Mamba" Gill (Revolution Fight Team)
• Ralek Gracie / Katsuyori Shibata (ARMS)
• Yoon Dong Sik (Freelance) / Bernard Ackah (Freelance)
• Shuichiro Katsumura (Katsumura Dojo) / Alexandre Franca "Pequeno" Nogueira (World Fight Center)
• GP: Caol Uno (Wajyutsu Keisyukai Tokyo) / Katsuhiko Nagata (New Japan Pro Wrestling / New Japan Factory)

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Keita "K-Taro" Nakamura forced to return SHOOTO Pacific Rim Middleweight title

The first Shooto Pacific Rim Middleweight title holder, Keita "K-Taro" Nakamura, was forced to return his title to the SHOOTO commission without even having defended it once. The reason is K-Taro signed an exclusive contract with the UFC (probably a three fight deal, of which he has fought twice so far) which doesn't let him fight elsewhere.

As a SHOOTO title holder you have to defend the title at least once everyone 12 month, K-Taro won his title on July 21st in 2006 in Hawaii after defeating Ronald Jhun by submission.

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