MMA Hot Stuff

TUF 10 Finale Drug Tests Negative

Of the nine athletes that were tested for drugs/steroid use, all came back negative per the email I received from Keith Kizer (Nevada Athletic Commission). Those nine athletes that were tested were; Roy Nelson, Brendan Schaub, Matt Hamill, Jon Jones, Kimbo Slice (Kevin Ferguson), Frankie Edgar, Matt Mitrione, John Howard and Mark Bocek.  

The Ultimate Fighter Season Recap

So I'm a huge fan of The Ultimate Fighter. Frankly I think it's made many of the fighters I'd consider to be top tier, a household name before they even had a win in the octagon. I haven't missed a season, I've been known to watch past seasons in an entire marathon sitting (weekends at the ski cabin, bless you) and getting TUF dvds in my Christmas stocking always makes me a happy girl.

But this season I've found myself extremely busy and haven't been a religious viewer as I should be. Thankfully, my MMA-friend Laura (ladies you all know her wit found over at Lemondrop) is now mixing the two (wit and MMA) by writing for the UFC (hip hip hooray).

So if you're looking for a great recap of the entire season, please check out her article over at the UFC.com. 

As far as my personal opinion, I'm happy with the outcome. Some people question the quality of this season but I think it's sort of par for the course when you have heavy weights. A couple fights have been good but the personalities in the house are as entertaining as ever. Seeing Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans exchange in some verbal jabs only makes me want to see those two fight even more. Rashad has definitely proven he's a very different type of coach than Rampage. Or maybe it's better to say he's a coach and Rampage is not. You be the judge. Catch the two hour special Wednesday December 2nd.

For an extra thrill, here's a list of TUF 10 fighters and their twitter ids (if known).

Abe Wagner

Brendan Schaub

Darrill Schoonover

Demico Rogers

James McSweeney

Jon Madsen

Justin Wren

Kimbo Slice

Marcus Jones

Matt Mitrione

Mike Wessel

Rampage Jackson 

Rashad Evans

Roy Nelson

Wes Sims

Zak Jensen

UFC & Spike TV Announce Bouts for TUF Finale

UFC® AND SPIKE TV ANNOUNCE TWO EXCITING BOUTS TO BE FEATURED ON “THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER®: HEAVYWEIGHTS” FINALE SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5

Undefeated Jon Jones Takes On The Ultimate Fighter^® Alum Matt Hamill And Lightweight Contenders Frankie Edgar And Kurt Pellegrino Do Battle

Las Vegas, NV (USA) October 14, 2009 – The live finale of The Ultimate Fighter^®: Heavyweights on Spike TV will include two bouts showcasing four of the UFC’s rising stars.  Emanating from The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, NV on Saturday, Dec. 5 at 9:00 PM ET, the co-features announced today include a light heavyweight bout between Jon Jones and Matt Hamill and a lightweight matchup pitting Frankie Edgar against Kurt Pellegrino. 

Tickets for The Ultimate Fighter^® 10 Finale are $500, $350 and $250, plus any additional box office or service fees, and go on-sale Saturday, Oct. 17 at 12pm PT.  Please visit any Ticketmaster location, call 800-745-3000 or visit www.ticketmaster.com to purchase tickets.

UFC^® Fight Club^™ members will have the opportunity to purchase tickets to The Ultimate Fighter^® 10 Finale Thursday, Oct. 15 at 10 a.m. PT via the website UFCFIGHTCLUB.com. A special Internet ticket pre-sale will be available to UFC newsletter subscribers Friday, Oct. 16 starting at 10 a.m. PT. To access this presale, users must register for the UFC newsletter through UFC.com.

Despite being one of the youngest fighters in the UFC, the 22 year-old Jones has emerged as one of the fastest rising talents in the sport of mixed martial arts.  The Endicott, NY resident has a perfect 9-0 professional record, with his last three victories coming inside the UFC Octagon^™, the most notable of which was a unanimous decision over Stephan Bonnar at UFC 94 in January. 

Hamill (8-2) gained national attention as a standout performer on season three of The Ultimate Fighter.  The three-time NCAA wrestling champion with a devastating ground game has won his last two bouts in the UFC, including a knockout of Mark Munoz in the first round of their contest at UFC 96 in March.  This light heavyweight bout will also be a battle for bragging rights in upstate New York, as Hamill trains in Utica.   

Coming off an impressive victory over Sean Sherk at UFC 98 in May, Edgar (10-1) now ranks amongst the top 155 lb fighters in the UFC.  To continue his quest for BJ Penn’s lightweight crown, the Toms River, NJ product must defeat fellow New Jersey resident, Kurt Pellegrino.

The pride of Point Pleasant, NJ, Pellegrino (20-4) is coming off the biggest win of his career, a three-round decision victory over Josh Neer at UFC 101 in August.  His third consecutive win in the Octagon put him in the upper echelon of the 155 lb division, and a victory against Edgar would move him ever-closer to a title shot. 

Other bouts, including the finals of “The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights,” will be announced at a later date.  The two finalists will be competing for a six-figure contract with the preeminent mixed martial arts organization in the world, The Ultimate Fighting Championship®. 

Spike TV is available in 98.6 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks.  A unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), MTV Networks is one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. Spike TV’s Internet address is www.spike.com and for up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs, visit Spike TV's press site at http://www.spike.com/press.

For more information, or current UFC fight news, visit UFC.com, UK.UFC.com, GERMANY.UFC.com, UFCJapan.jp or UFCEspanol.com. All bouts live and subject to change.

About The Ultimate Fighting Championship®

UFC is the largest live pay-per-view provider in the world and the fastest growing main stream sports organization in history.  Owned and operated by Zuffa™, LLC, and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., UFC® produces over twelve live pay-per-view events annually that are distributed residentially through North American cable and satellite providers including iNDEMAND Networks, DIRECTV, DISH Network, Avail-TVN Entertainment, BellTV, SaskTel Max™, Shaw Pay-Per-View, and Viewers Choice. International distributors include WOWOW in Japan, Premiere Combate and SporTV in Brazil, with worldwide distribution via the Internet on UFC.com and Yahoo! Sports.  UFC content is distributed commercially through Joe Hand Promotions in the U.S. and Canadastar in Canada.  UFC programming is distributed in 132 countries, territories and jurisdictions, reaching 415 million homes worldwide.

 

Ultimate Fighting Championship®, Ultimate Fighting®, UFC®, The Ultimate Fighter®, Submission®, As Real As It Gets®, Zuffa® , The Octagon™ and the eight-sided competition mat and cage design are registered trademarks, registered service marks, trademarks, trade dress and/or service marks owned exclusively by Zuffa, LLC and licensed to its affiliated entities and other licensees in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other marks referenced herein may be the property of Zuffa, LLC, its affiliates or other respective owners.

Nominations for 2009 World MMA Awards closes on Wednesday

Who do you think was the BreakThrough Fighter of the Year? Best MMA Promotion? 

As a reminder, the nomination stage for the 2009 World MMA Awards closes this Wednesday (tomorrow), Sept. 30. 

The World MMA Awards, which is operated by Fighters Only magazine, is viewed as one of the most prestigious awards for the sport, awarding in 18 different MMA related categories

Nominees will be announced on Oct. 5, and final voting will then run until Dec. 5. Winners will be announced at a Dec. 30 "Oscars-style" black-tie ceremony, which streams live on Versus.com (and throughout January on Versus) from The Joint at The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. 

"Response to the World MMA Awards has been huge this year with thousands of fans worldwide taking part," Fighters Only CEO Rob Hewitt recently stated. "Nominations have been very diverse, and ... most of the categories are still wide open." 

The categories range from Fight of the Year to KO and Submission of the Year to Best MMA Brand and best MMA Media Source. MMA equipment manufactures also vie for a variety of categories. 

But before you place your vote I encourage you to take a minute and think about things. What makes someone the Best Fighter of the Year? Is it the number of wins? Is it the most vicious KnockOut? The biggest upset? Or is it because of heart and dedication?

Another category is Best MMA Journalist. I've thought a lot about this one (for obvious reasons). Always keep in mind the best Journalist may not be the one that breaks every 'story'... Sadly, fact checking has taken a back seat more often than not over being the first to the party. And then there are times the stories are known weeks before the story actually gets out but can't be discussed for confidential reasons. I personally take pride in the fact that while I consider many Fighters (UFC, WEC & Strikeforce) my personal friends, a lot of the information I hear I keep to myself. I'm so proud of what my friends have accomplished and there are times I know the information is just best left unsaid or unwritten. I want them to have time to train in private for a fight before it's publicly announced who their next opponent is. Who do you consider to be a Journalist that writes funny or interesting stories? Gives a different perspective than the 12 other sites that covered the same thing the day before.

So now that I've given you something to think about, please hurry and vote. 

Also, feel free to follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/MMAHotStuff

Fight Night Predictions

I'm always doing these last minute. But just so I can get them done here they are!!!

Ryan Jensen vs Steve Steinbeiss - Predicted Winner Ryan by Submission (choke) 1st round 2nd minute

Brock Larson vs Mike Pierce - Predicted Winner Brock by Submission (choke) 1st round 4th minute

Jeremy Stephens vs Justin Buchholz - Predicted WInner Jeremy by TKO 2nd round 4th minute

CB Dollaway vs Jay Silva - Predicted Winner CB by Submission (choke) 1st round 3rd minute

Chris Wilson vs Mike Pyle - Predicted Winner Mike by Unanimous Decision

Steve Cantwell vs Brian Stann - Predicted WInner Brian by TKO 1st round 3rd minute

Nate Quarry vs Tim Credeur - Predicted Winner Nate by KO 3rd round 2nd minute

Carlos Condit vs Jake Ellenberger - Predicted Winner Jake by TKO 1st round 2nd minute

Gray Maynard vs Roger Huerta - Predicted Winner Roger by TKO 2nd round 3rd minute

Nate Diaz vs Melvin Guillard - Predicted Winner Nate by Submission (choke) 2nd round 1st minute

I'm mmahotstuff on fantasy.ufc.com

Don't forget to listen to MMAScraps Radio immediately following The Ultimate Fighter tonight (west coast time). 

Kimbo Slice Heading To The UFC

Sort of. He's at least going to try for a contract with the UFC. Kimbo is one of the new contestants on The Ultimate Fighter 10 which began taping this week.I swear it was just a couple weeks ago I thought I saw an announcement that Kimbo was going to walk away from MMA because he wasn't into the training it takes to be a successful MMA fighter and was going to take a stab at boxing?

Whether you're a  Kimbo fan or not this is a sure way to get even more viewers to tune into TUF. Huge ratings win for the UFC.

I wonder who will be his coach, Rashad Evans or Quinton Rampage Jackson?

Here's an old video of Rampage giving his opinion of Kimbo: