[Sparty]

Here is the latest "rumors" for this card:

-Tim Sylvia vs. Brandon Vera [dependent on Vera's contract negotiations]
-Matt Hughes vs. TBA
-Rich Franklin vs. TBA
-Karo Parisyan vs. TBA
-Mike Swick vs. TBA
-Assuerio Silva vs. TBA

I'll most likely be there (especially if all these fighters are on the card). I went to the Vegas Pride show and I'll probably be at the Feb UFC fight to see Rampage & CroCop make there debuts.

 

[Sparty]

My bet is that if Fedor leaves Pride he will end up with Bodog fight. Yesterday's Pride fight was his last on that contract. He recently signed a one fight deal with Bodog to fight Jeff Monson in Russia this March. The other reasons are: (1)Bodog owner has tons of money and really wants to establish a major mma organization and (2) probably more importantly Bodog is a major sponsor for Fedor's gym (Red Devil). I know the bidding wars have already started and Bodog ownership has a lot deeper pockets than Zuffa, just depends how bad they want in mma.

I'm not exactly sure what the mma laws are currently in Michigan but I know in the past fights have been allowed (UFC fought at Cobo in 96).

 

[Sparty]

I've been to quite a few shows and they are a blast. On that note though I wouldn't spend the money on the rumored UFC 68 card (shown below). This looks like one of the worst cards I've seen in a long time for a major promoter (and I've been following mma since the old Pancrase days). There are a lot of big names but no big fights. I sure hope they add at least one interesting fight to this card. GSP recently pulled out of UFC 67 due to a knee injury so maybe we'll get lucky and they'll add him to this card which could be an interesting fight with Serra. Serra is way overmatched but his ground game is pretty good so he could make it interesting for a little bit.

UFC 68
Matt Hughes vs. Chris Lytle
-Tim Sylvia vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
-Rich Franklin vs. Jason MacDonald
-Jon Fitch vs. Luigi Fioravanti
-Mike Swick vs. Yushin Okami

-Karo Parisyan vs. TBA
-Joe Stevenson vs. TBA
-Assuerio Silva vs. TBA
-Martin Kampmann vs. TBA

 

[Sparty]

The Pride show in February could be pretty good. Pride is notorious for signing there fights late but the main event (Silva vs. Henderson) should be a war. The card also is rumored to have Gomi, Sakurai, Nog, and Arona which could be a nice card depending on who they are matched with. The Pride presentation is usually a step up from the UFC's (but the UFC is closing the gap). I have tickets to this Pride show but I still haven't decided if I'm going...dependant on the final card and the wifes attitude about me making another Vegas trip.

 

[Sparty]

I think a Koscheck vs. Parisyan fight makes sense. Parisyan hasn't looked that impressive in his last 2 fights (decision loss to Diego and a decision win to Fickett) and Koscheck has been on a nice little role against lesser opponents. Josh has really improved so it could be a competitive fight. I don't think they would put Diego against Karo again because the last fight was close and they will probably protect Deigo a little until he gets a shot at either Hughes or GSP.

If they put GSP on the card I may make the trip to Columbus. I've seen him fight a couple times live (first Hughes fight and the BJ Penn fight). He is one of my top 2 or 3 favorite fighters to watch.

 

[Sparty]

I saw that. It's preety insane. He only stayed retired (from the UFC 1 year). A couple months back he fought in a submission wrestling tournament.

I'm sure you guys also saw that Fedor resigned with Pride. They would have been in deep trouble if they lost him.

 

[Sparty]

It's actually not a new rule. Ohio implemented about a year ago and it goes for all contact sports (boxing, mma, etc...). The first event I think it was for was the Gracie/ Hammerhouse fightcard last year. Here is the actual rule:

This rule has caused some issues with boxing matches being cancelled or boxers fined because they didn't make the second weigh-in. Everyone on the UFC 68 card was made aware of this rule prior to agreeing to the fight. This is also a common rule for some amatuer wrestling tournaments. Since most of these guys have that background I don't see it making a huge difference. They will just have to be careful when they rehydrate (but 10 lbs is a fair amount). As stated Hughes and Franklin are known to cut large amounts (+20lbs) so they'll have to train accordingly for this event.

New Jersey is also enacting a similar rule this year. It's meant to protect the fighters because some of these guys make insane cuts which is proven to be unhealthy long term. Take Joe Riggs for example, at one of his past fights (either 56 or 57) he made weight for the fight at 170 and then was at 207 during an unofficial weigh in prior to the fight (he was at 203 after the fight at the hospital). That is insane and stupid.