Fantasy TUF 9: Episode 5

Episode 5 featured not one but two fights as Michael Bisping picks Andre Winner to fight Santino Defranco. Defranco was unable to take Winner down and puled guard. Defranco attempted an omo plata but Winner was able to escape and land 27 unanswered shots to win in the 1st by ground and pound. Next, Dan Henderson picked his best fighter, DaMarques Johnson, to face Dean Amasinger. During training Amasinger is warned to watch the triangle choke (that's foreshadowing). On fight day Bisping is a no-show (wtf?). Once the fight starts it hits the ground and Johnson is able to quickly secure the triangle choke for the submission victory.

-(Team Alli & Mike's) Andre Winner def. (Team Alli & Mike's) Santino Defranco via TKO (punches) in Round 1 for 10pts.
-Team CJ, Team Jen, Team Jon, Team Roxanne, and Team Tommy each receive 1pt for having Michael Bisping as their coach.

- (Team Dan's) DaMarques Johnson def. (Team Roy's) Dean Amasinger via submission (triangle choke) in Round 1 for 10pts.
-Team Alli & Mike, Team Dan, Team Maria, Team Roy, and Team Steve each receive 1pt for having Dan Henderson as their coach.

Anderson Silva vs Forrest Griffin at UFC 101

Holy Hell! These are my two favorite fighters. Who am I going to root for? Who will I bet on? I am so torn. But this fight will kick so much ass!

The Ultimate Fighting Championship will apparently scrap a UFC 101 bout between former UFC light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin (16-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC) and top contender Thiago Silva (13-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) in favor of a Griffin vs. Anderson Silva (24-4 MMA, 9-0 UFC) match-up.

Sources close to the organization today told MMAjunkie.com a meeting was held last week to discuss the Anderson Silva vs. Griffin bout and that verbal agreements may now be in place.

Anderson Silva, fresh off a heavily criticized title defense over Thales Leites at UFC 97, will now move up a weight class for the non-title fight with Griffin.

Although not officially announced by the organization, UFC 101 takes place Aug. 8, most likely at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. The event also features a UFC lightweight title fight between title-holder B.J. Penn and top contender Kenny Florian.

Rumors of the potential Anderson Silva vs. Griffin bout began showing up last week after some cryptic emails were sent to a variety of MMA news outlets. The flames were fanned when seemingly unsubstantiated reports of the rumored fight were posted on a few MMA message boards over the weekend.

Although the fight is now close to official (but not signed), a source close to Thiago Silva told MMAjunkie.com the fighter was unaware his fight with Griffin had been scratched. Even as of this morning, the fighter was apparently under the impression he was still scheduled to fight Griffin at UFC 101.

MMAjunkie.com first reported in March that the UFC had lined up the Thiago Silva vs. Griffin fight, which many considered a bout that would determined the light heavyweight division's No. 1 contender after Quinton Jackson. Jackson is scheduled to fight the winner of a UFC 98 bout between current champ Evans and Lyoto Machida later this summer.

The source isn't sure if Thiago Silva will remain on the UFC 101 card with a new opponent or if he'll be shifted to another event.

As for Anderson Silva, UFC officials wasted no time scheduling him for his next fight. He most recently fought on April 18 as a headliner for UFC 97. He entered the fight as a significant favorite, and though he won a lopsided unanimous-decision victory, Anderson Silva was criticized for what seemed a conservative game plan in which he opted not to follow Leites, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, to the ground.

UFC President Dana White called the fight "embarrassing" and "disappointing," and he openly questioned if Anderson Silva needed another challenge at 205 pounds. The fighter, who picked up a UFC record ninth straight victory with the Leites win, moved up to 205 pounds in July 2008 for a non-title fight with James Irvin, and the Brazilian striker has made no secret of his intentions to move up a weight class again in the future.

The UFC has apparently obliged.

Update #1: Kevin Iole reports that Dan White said the fight has been signed.

Update #2: Sherdog has also confirmed the fight.

The Buffer at UFC 97

Fantasy TUF 9: Episode 4

Last night featured the first of the eight quarterfinal fights. Dan Henderson got to pick the first fight and chose (Team Maria's) Mark Miller vs (Team Jen's) Nick Osipczak. The prank wars start with Team US writing on some of Team UK's clothes. While training Miller admits he's not much for game planning, but Coach Diabate does advise him that Osipczak's kicks are nothing to worry about (This must be what foreshadowing sounds like). Once the fight starts the action goes back and forth for the first round. Then in the second round Osipczak lands a high kick and KTFO's Mark Miller for the win.

-(Team Jen's) Nick Osipczak def. (Team Maria's) Mark Miller via knockout (high kick) in Round 2 for 9pts.
-Team CJ, Team Jen, Team Jon, Team Roxanne, and Team Tommy each receive 1pt for having Michael Bisping as their coach.

-Episode 4 Recap

Fantasy TUF 9: Prelim Wrap Up

The Preliminary Round of The Ultimate Fighter is over and here is where we stand.

32pts Team Roy (3 Fighters)
28pts Team Jen (2 Fighters)
27pts Team Tommy (2 Fighters)
27pts Team Maria (2 Fighters)
27pts Team Jon (2 Fighters)
27pts Team Alli & Mike(2 Fighters)
18pts Team Roxanne(1 Fighter)
18pts Team Dan (1 Fighter)
18pts Team CJ (1 Fighter)
3pts Team Steve (0 Fighters)

Here are the fighters that made it to the Quarter Finals.

Lightweights:
(Team Maria's) Richie Whitson
(Team Tommy's) Jason Dent
(Team Tommy's) Cameron Dollar
(Team Alli & Mike's) Santino DeFranco
(Team Jen's) Jeff Lawson
(Team Jon's) Ross Pearson
(Team CJ's) Martin Stapleton
(Team Alli & Mike's) Andre Winner

Welterweights:
(Team Roy's) Jason Pierce
(Team Maria's) Mark Miller
(Team Dan's) DaMarques Johnson
(Team Roxanne's) Frank Lester
(Team Roy's) David Faulkner
(Team Jon's) James Wilks
(Team Jen's) Nick Osipczak
(Team Roy's) Dean Amasinger

Tonight's Episode will have the first of the eight Quarterfinal fights.

Fantasy TUF 9: Episode 3

Last nights episode featured Rob Browning living up to the Browning name. In just one episode he throws eggs, tries to pick a fight, and uses the shower for a urinal. This episode has the last two prelim fights. In the first fight, Kiel Reid knocks himself out while trying to slam Frank Lester. Lester applies the kamura to an unconscious Reid. Lester torques the kimura awkwardly and violently, and referee Steve Mazzagatti rushes in to stop the fight. In the second fight the much bigger Jason Dent is able to beat Rob Browning via ground and pound, and just like that Lil Junie is gone.

-(Team Roxanne's) Frank Lester def. (Team Alli & Mike's) Kiel Reid via technical submission (kimura) in Round 1 for 10pts.
-(Team Tommy's) Jason Dent def. (Team Steve's) Rob Browning via TKO (strikes) in Round 1 for 10pts.
-Team Alli & Mike, Team Dan, Team Maria, Team Roy, and Team Steve each receive 2pts for having Dan Henderson as their coach.

-Episode 3 recap
-DaMarques Johnson's blog on Episodes 1-3

Next week begins the quarterfinal match-ups. Good Luck everyone.

UFC 97

UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva returns to the Octagon on Saturday, April 18th to defend his crown against number one contender Thales Leites in the main event of UFC 97. The pound for pound king has already defended his title more times than anyone in UFC middleweight history and will battle Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Leites, the winner of five in a row. Silva will also be looking to make history. A win on Saturday would give Silva the all time UFC record for most consecutive wins (9) passing UFC Hall of Famer Royce Gracie (8) and John Fitch (8). A win would also tie Silva with Matt Hughes and Tito Ortiz for most consecutive title defenses in UFC history with 5.

Also featured in the UFC's return to Canada is the light heavyweight showdown fans have waited for years to see, as UFC legend Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell squares off against Brazilian superstar Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in what promises to be one of the most explosive bouts of 2009. (OK that is all hype, but this would have been a bad ass fight two years ago. In reality the winner of this fight stays relevant in the UFC Light Heavyweight division, and loser will have seen his best days behind him). Here is the full fight card:

Anderson Silva(-500) Vs. Thales Leites(+350)
Chuck Liddell(-180) Vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua(+150)
Krzysztof Soszynski(-160) Vs. Brian Stann(+130)
Cheick Kongo(-300) Vs. Antoni Hardonk(+220)
Steve Cantwell(+200) Vs. Luiz Cane(-250)

Eliot Marshall(+120) Vs. Vinicius Magalhaes(-150)
Denis Kang(-450) Vs. Xavier Foupa-Pokam(+325)
Jason MacDonald(-115) Vs. Nate Quarry(-115)
David Loiseau(-120) Vs. Ed Herman(-110)
Mark Bocek(-330) Vs. David Bielkheden(+250)
Ryo Chonan(-250) Vs. TJ Grant(+200)
Sam Stout(-115) Vs. Matt Wiman(-115)

-The official fight card

-Pros Pick: Silva vs Leites

-Sherdog breaks down UFC 97

Fantasy TUF 9: Making Thing Right: Part 2

Steve has picked Rob Browning and will drop Christian Fulgium, Roxanne has picked Frank Lester and will drop Ryan Biglar, and Tommy has picked up Jason Dent and dropped Josh Souder.

Tonight's episode should have the final two Team US prelim fights.
(Team Alli & Mike's) Kiel Reid vs (Team Roxanne's) Frank Lester
(Team Steve's) Rob Browning vs (Team Tommy's) Jason Dent.

Friday Fight Links

-MMA Live: Episode 48

-Following three consecutive losses in the WEC and five losses in his past six fights, Jens Pulver (22-11-1) will return to competition to fight Josh Grispi (12-1) at WEC 41.

-Shinya Aoki vs Hayato "Mach" Sakurai from Dream 8

-A middleweight bout between veteran UFC middleweight Chris Leben (18-5 MMA, 8-4 UFC) and recent WEC transplant Jake Rosholt (5-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) will take place in August at UFC 102.

-A Sherdog article on Frank Mir's WEC color commenting (personally, I think Mir does a good job).

Fantasy TUF 9: Making Things Right

The UFC began filming TUF 9 in January, and the list of fighters that we used to make our picks was issued by the UFC to media outlets in March. The list was supposed to be the original 32 fighters that fight in the prelim round to get into the TUF house. Well in turns out that (Team Roxanne's) Ryan Biglar and (Team Tommy's) Josh Souder are nowhere to be found. Also, Team Steve had all three of his fighters eliminated.
So here is the plan. There are still two more Prelim Team US fights. And the three teams will get to drop one of their current fighters and pick up one of the availbale fighters.
-(Team Alli & Mike's) Kiel Reid vs. (Undrafted) Frank Lester
-(Team Jon's) Jason Dent vs. (Undrafted) Rob Browning

Since I already had two fighters make it to the Quarterfinals I will drop Jason Dent from my team and that will make three fighters to chose from. So Tommy, Roxanne, and Steve will get to choose from the available fighters if they want to. Since Steve and Roxanne did not have any fighters make it to the quarterfinals, Steve will pick first, then Roxanne, and then Tommy. So email me which fighter you want to pick up and which one of your current fighters you want to drop. Be warned that if you drop a fighter, he will no longer earn you points. The deadline for the pick is Tuesday at noon.

The available fighters are:
Jason Dent (155Lb)
Rob Browning (155Lb)
Frank Lester (170Lb)

Fantasy TUF 9: Episode 2

Last we saw the UK fighters on weight, relatively disease free, and ready to fight. This weeks episode featured the US fighters who were not so ready. (Also apparantly the "official" fighter list released by the UFC may not have been accurate. I will try to figure out something to fix this). The episode starts with (Team Roy's) Jason Pierce passing out during Dan White's "Do You Want to be a Fucking Fighter" speech. The next Team US setback comes in the medical evaluation process, as (Undrafted) John-David Shackelford is sporting a sizable herpes lesion on his forehead (how does that even happen?) and he gets the boot. Next, (Team Steve's) Christian Fulgium is unable to make weight and quits the show, which costs Team Steve 5pts. With Fulgium and Shackelford already gone, the episode will carry on with just six elimination bouts. White warns the two fighters left without opponents not to get too comfortable, new fighters will be on the way. With all the drama over it is now fight time.

-(Team Maria's) Mark Miller def. (Team CJ's) Kevin Knabjian via TKO (punches) in Round 2 for 9pts.
-(Team Roy's) Jason Pierce def. (Undrafted) Steve Berger by decision for 7pts.
-(Team Dan's) Damarques Johnson def. (Team Dan's) Ray Elbe via TKO (punches) in Round 1 for 10pts.
-(Team Maria's) Richie Whitson def. (Team Jen's) Paul Bird via submission (rear-naked choke) in Round 1 for 10pts.
-(Team Alli & Mike's) Santino Defranco def. (Team Maria's) Waylon Lowe via submission (rear-naked choke) in Round 2 for 9pts.
-(Team Tommy's) Cameron Dollar def. (Team Dan's) Tom Hayden via submission (rear-naked choke) in Round 2 for 9pts.
-Also, Team Alli & Mike, Team Dan, Team Maria, Team Roy, and Team Steve get 6pts for having Dan Henderson as their coach.

That leaves us with two more prelim fights on next week's episode. It also leaves Team Steve with no fighters, and Team Roxanne and Team Tommy both had fighters that for whatever reason were not on the show. I will try to come up with some kind of solution this afternoon.

Friday Fight Links

-ESPN's MMA Live: Episode 47 features Bobby Lashley in studio

-Sherdog breaks down WEC 40: Torres vs. Mizugaki which is this Sunday night on Versus.

-Tyson Griffin, Rafael dos Anjos, Aaron Simpson and Rob Kimmons each earned $30,000 "fight night" bonuses for their performances at "UFC Fight Night 18: Condit vs. Kampmann."

-Forrest and Amir will both fight at UFC 101 in Philly

-Yahoo sports will be revisiting the first 99 UFC's as a build up to UFC 100. Here is the story about UFC 1.

-The TUF 9 Series Premiere draws 1.8 million viewers. This was the most watched episode since the Season 5 premiere and was the most-watched program in its timeslot (10:15-11:15 p.m.) among all cable programs, including an NBA game that aired on ESPN, among males 18-34 and 18-49.

Fantasy TUF 9: Episode 1

Last night was Episode One of the new season of The Ultimate Fighter. It featured the prelim elimination round for the UK fighter. The winners would fly out to Las Vegas, join Team Bisping, and enter the TUF house. Here is what happened.

Lightweights:
-(Team Alli & Mike's) Andre Winner defeated (Team Roxanne's) Gary Kelly by KO in the 1st round for 10pts.
-(Team Jen's) Jeff Lawson defeated (Undrafted) James Bryan by armbar in the 1st round for 10pts.
-(Team CJ's) Martin "The Ear" Stapleton defeated (Undrafted) Dan James rear-naked choke in the 1st round for 10pts.
-(Team Jon's) Ross Pearson defeated (Team Tommy's) AJ Wenn by TKO in the 2nd round for 9pts.

Welterweights:
-(Team Jon's) James Wilks defeated (Team Roxanne's) Che Mills by heel hook in the 1st round for 10pts.
-(Team Jen's) Nick Osipczak defeated (Team Steve's) Tommy Maguire by TKO in the 1st round for 10pts.
-(Team Roy's) Dean Amasinger defeated (Team CJ's) Alex "Meatstick" Reid by decision for 7pts.
-(Team Roy's) David Faulkner defeated (Team Steve's) James Bateman by heel hook in the 1st round for 10pts.

Also Team CJ, Team Jen, Team Jon, Team Roxanne, and Team Tommy receives 8pts for having Michael Bisping as their coach.

The UK fighters are now set. Next week the US fighters will fight the prelim elimination round to see who joins Team Henderson and enters the TUF house. I will keep track of the updated fantasy scores on the sidebar to the right.

Fantasy TUF 9: The Teams

Here are the complete team rosters after the draft. The first TUF 9 episode is tonight at 10pm. Good luck.

*Update: I have adjusted the rosters to show the pick ups made after episode 2.

Team Alli & Mike
-Santino Defranco
-Andre Winner
-Kiel Reid
-Dan Henderson

Team CJ
-Martin Stapleton
-Kevin Knabjian
-Alex Reid
-Michael Bisping

Team Dan
-Ray Elbe
-Tom Hayden
-Damarques Johnson
-Dan Henderson

Team Jen
-Jeff Lawson
-Nicholas Osipczak
-Paul Bird
-Michael Bisping

Team Jon
-James Wilks
-Ross Pearson
-Michael Bisping

Team Maria
-Mark Miller
-Richie Whitson
-Waylon Lowe
-Dan Henderson

Team Roxanne
-Che Mills
-Frank Lester
-Gary Kelly
-Michael Bisping

Team Roy
-David Faulkner
-Dean Amarasinghe
-Jason Pierce
-Dan Henderson

Team Steve
-Tommy Maguire
-Rob Browning
-James Bateman
-Dan Henderson

Team Tommy
-Jason Dent
-Cameron Dollar
-AJ Wenn
-Michael Bisping

Undrafted
-James Bryan
-Dan James
-Ryan Biglar
-Christian Fulgium
-Josh Souder
-John-David Shackelford