Month: July 2016

UFC 200: Tate vs Nunes 7/9/16

DATE: July 9, 2016
LOCATION: Las Vegas Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada

Main Card

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Miesha Tate (c) vs. Amanda Nunes (#4)

Brock Lesnar vs. Mark Hunt (#8)

Daniel Cormier vs Anderson Silva (#5)

INTERIM FEATHERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Jose Aldo (#1) vs. Frankie Edgar (#2)

Cain Velasquez (#1) vs. Travis Browne (#7)

 

PRELIMINARY CARD (FOX SPORTS 1)

Cat Zingano (#3) vs. Julianna Pena (#5)

Johny Hendricks (#5) vs. Kelvin Gastelum (#12)

T.J. Dillashaw vs. Raphael Assunção

Sage Northcutt vs. Enrique Marín

 

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC FIGHT PASS)

Diego Sanchez vs. Joe Lauzon

Gegard Mousasi vs. Thiago Santos

Jim Miller vs. Takanori Gomi

Backstage News On Billy Corgan & TNA, Dixie Carter Thanks Fans For Final Deletion Success

Source: WrestlingINC

Regarding Billy Corgan being TNA’s new minority owner, Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that the Smashing Pumpkins frontman gave TNA money for their last set of TV tapings in exchange for a percentage of ownership, instead of a loan.

TNA has TV tapings at Universal Studios next week and then will return in mid-August. Those will be the final tapings before the September 11th Bound For Glory pay-per-view, which will also mark 15 years since the 9/11 terror attacks. As noted, a #1 contender for the World Heavyweight Champion at Bound For Glory will be determined via a “BFG Playoff” match featuring 8 former World Champions. That match will take place on the Thursday, July 21st Impact episode.

TNA and President Dixie Carter tweeted this graphic to thank fans for making “The Final Deletion” with Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy a success. As noted, this week’s Impact Wrestling episode drew 410,000 viewers, a new record for TNA on POP TV.

TNA Officially Announces Move To Thursday Nights, New Start Time

TNA announced that they are moving back to Thursday nights starting July 21st, two nights after WWE SmackDown moves to Tuesday nights. Impact Wrestling will now start one hour earlier at 8/7 CT.

TNA issued the following:

IMPACT WRESTLING on Pop MOVES TO ITS NEW REGULAR TIME SLOT on Thursday nights at 8/7c starting July 21 with a supersize extended episode. The adrenaline-pumping action-packed IMPACT WRESTLING serves as the kick-off to the Bound For Glory Playoff, where 8 IMPACT Stars, including former World Champions Drew Galloway, Matt Hardy, EC3 and other top stars compete to become the #1 Contender for the World Title.

Today Is the 20th Anniversary Of Hulk Hogan Forming The NWO With Hall & Nash

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the landmark WCW Bash at the Beach pay-per-view, which saw Hulk Hogan turn heel and join Kevin Nash and Scott Hall to form the nWo.

Hogan turned from hero to villain during the July 7, 1996, pay-per-view broadcast, when he fought for nWo in the main event. “You fans can stick it, brother,” he told the audience.

The night marked a turning point in the Monday night wars, as WCW Monday Nitro would go on to beat WWE Monday Night RAW for 83 straight weeks in the ratings. You can watch the infamous angle in the video below:

Miesha Tate vs. Amanda Nunes Promoted To Main Event At UFC 200

Source: Fox Sports

The women’s bantamweight title fight between Miesha Tate and Amanda Nunes has been promoted to the main event slot at UFC 200 and will headline the historic event on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

The new bout order for the card was announced on Thursday night following the addition of a light heavyweight special attraction, as Anderson Silva now faces Daniel Cormier in a non-title bout.

Tate and Nunes will headline the card with Brock Lesnar vs. Mark Hunt set as the co-main event of the evening. UFC president Dana White confirmed the move on Thursday night.

Tate and Nunes take the marquee spot less than a day after White announced that Lesnar vs. Hunt would be the new main event. According to White, after examining the card, the UFC decided that the women’s title fight deserved to be in the headline spot.

“Miesha is the woman who beat the woman who beat the woman. She’s the champ,” White said. “What she accomplished a few fights ago, you can’t disrespect that. She should be the main event. She deserves that.”

Typically, a title fight always would headline over a non-title fight on a UFC card, and the promotion decided to make that move after a hectic 24 hours.

The card shifted dramatically on Wednesday night after interim light heavyweight champion Jon Jones was pulled from his main event bout against Cormier following a potential doping violation from a drug test administered on June 16.

With Jones off the card, the UFC started making immediate changes, but the bout order was only finalized on Thursday after Silva was confirmed as a new opponent for Cormier.

TUF 23 Finale Tonight – 7/8/16

The finals for The Ultimate Fighter 23 are now set, as Khalil Rountree meets Andrew Sanchez and Amanda Cooper battles Tatiana Suarez. The card takes place Friday night and airs live on FOX Sports 1.

Rountree (4-0) and Sanchez (7-2) will square off in the co-main event in a light heavyweight contest, while Cooper (1-1) and Suarez (3-0) tangle in a strawweight finale. Both winners will be crowned Ultimate Fighters and earn a contract with the UFC.

The Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale features a strawweight championship match between Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Claudia Gadelha.

For the full card go to UFC.com

Anderson Silva replaces Jon Jones for UFC 200 bout against Daniel Cormier – DC issues statement On Silva

Source: TheGuardian.com

The UFC was able to salvage its signature event on Saturday by matching Daniel Cormier with the former middleweight champion Anderson Silva on Thursday evening. Silva replaces Jon Jones, whose light heavyweight fight with Cormier was suppose to headline UFC 200 until Jones was pulled from the card because of a failed drug test suspected to be for a performance-enhancing substance.

The fight will be three rounds and is not a title bout.

Silva gives the card a legitimate bout despite the face he is 41. In fact, a Silva-Cormier fight might actually be more interesting than Jones-Cormier. Jones looked sluggish in his return to the octagon this spring after a year’s absence due to a 2015 suspension following a hit-and-run incident. Silva lost a non-title fight to Michael Bisping in February in London and a 2015 victory over Nick Diaz was wiped out following a positive PED test.

Silva has always fought well when he has moved up to light heavyweight, but he is older now and has not been training for this bout. His last heavyweight victory was against Stephan Bonnar in a 2012 first-round knockout.

Earlier on Thursday, Jones tearfully apologized for his positive test in a press conference and said he did not knowingly take a banned substance. One of the card’s other top names, Brock Lesnar, called Jones’s positive test “unprofessional”. Nick Diaz’s brother Nate, when asked about the Jones suspension, said: “Everybody is on steroids.” Jones denies any wrongdoing.

Jones-Cormier was supposed to be the top fight of UFC 200, a continuation of their 2015 bout that Jones won in a unanimous decision. The two fighters have sniped at each other publicly. Silva-Cormier will not bring the same kind of rage, especially given the way Silva is saving the card by agreeing to fight.

Silva has not trained seriously for a fight in the two months since he had his gallbladder removed in the spring, which raises some concerns about the kind of fight he will have with Cormier and whether he should be fighting at all.

Miesha Tate v Amanda Nunes has now been promoted to the main event slot, while Lesnar is making his heavyweight comeback against Mark Hunt.

 

Cormier comments on facing Silva at UFC 200:

“I am honored to share the Octagon with the one of the greatest fighters of all time,” Cormier said in an exclusive statement to MMA Fighting. “This is a very tough fight for me, and I have to fight smart and to do my best in order to win this fight. Thank you Anderson for stepping up, and thanks to Dana White and the UFC for making this happen. Now let’s go do this.”

 

 

Lesnar vs Orton At SummerSlam

It was announced last night on SmackDown that Brock Lesnar will face Randy Orton at SummerSlam in Brooklyn, NY on Sunday, August 21st.

WWE.com issued the following:

The summer of dream matches continues Sunday, Aug. 21, when Randy Orton returns to the ring to lock horns with Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam. The blockbuster encounter was made official on tonight’s SmackDown.

Despite being two perennial main eventers who trained side-by-side during their formative years at onetime WWE developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling, The Apex Predator and The Beast Incarnate have only competed against each other once before in a WWE ring.  It happened in September 2002, when both were still WWE rookies. Lesnar, already a month into his reign as WWE Champion, took the victory that night.

Much has changed since that lone, fateful bout, of course. Lesnar has since emerged as a true world-beater and the conqueror of The Undertaker’s WrestleMania Streak, a fearless, 286-pound juggernaut who packs dynamite, and bad intentions, in his fists. One of the most dangerous men in combat-sports history, Lesnar remains the only individual to have ever captured the WWE Championship, UFC Championship and NCAA heavyweight wrestling championship.

The Viper, meanwhile, bears little resemblance to the gifted, if inexperienced, shaggy-haired Superstar who stood across the ring from Lesnar 14 years ago. Since his one and only match against The Beast, Orton has gone on to win an incredible 12 World Titles, establishing himself as one of the most decorated Superstars of his generation. Orton has also exhibited on more than one occasion a disconcerting ability to turn sinister at a moment’s notice. Such a dark, remorseless attitude may prove invaluable against a monster like Lesnar.

Adding further intrigue to the clash is that it is Orton’s first match since injuring his shoulder late last year. Having been out of action since November, Orton is assuredly interested in reasserting himself as WWE’s Apex Predator. There may be no better way to accomplish that goal than by taking down The Beast Incarnate. Yet, the question remains: Will Orton’s shoulder end up being a weakness against Lesnar?

Watch this historic showdown in its entirety when SummerSlam airs live from Brooklyn, N.Y., on the award-winning WWE Network Sunday, Aug. 21, at 7 ET/4 PT.

Brock Lesnar Opens Up About Returning To The UFC

In an exclusive interview Brock Leanar sat down with Megan Olivi to discuss his return to MMA.

The last time we saw Lesnar compete inside of the Octogan was at UFC141 in 2011 when he lost to Aliatar Overeem via TKO in the first round.
In the interview Lesnar explains that his last fight took place took place just 4 months after his surgery to correct his diverticulitis.

He says that he didn’t take enough time to recover and that diverticulitis defeated him, but in the 5 year layoff he was always hungry for returning to the Octogan.

What was the co main event is now the main event as Brock Lesnar will be taking on Mark Hunt in a 3 round heavyweight bout.

Lesnar is still under contract with the WWE and will be making his return to the company as part of the WWE Draft when smackdown goes live on Tuesday July 19th

You can check out the full interview below and to see Brock Lesnar take on Mark Hunt you can order UFC 200 live on PPV.

UFC 200 takes place live from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and it also fetuses two title fights as Miesha Tate defends her battemweight title against Amanda Nunes and Frankie Edgar and Jose Aldo go to war for the 2nd time as the interim featherweight title is up for grabs.

All of this and more goes down this Saturday July 9th 

Jon Jones Comments On His Removal From UFC 200 For Possible Failed Drug Test

Source: WrestlingINC

Jones made his first public appearance Thursday, addressing his removal from UFC 200 due to a possible failed drug test. The USADA informed the interim light heavyweight champion that his June 16 test came back for a violation of the policy.

Despite his past, this failed drug test was not due to recreational drug use, as it was an out-of-competition one that does not fall under the recreational banner.

Jones was asked by Chael Sonnen during the press conference in Las Vegas about the test in question, stating, “I would never take anything that would enhance my game. I wouldn’t cheat.”

A possible two-year ban from MMA stands in front of Jones if he is found guilty of using a banned substance. He stated that he would return to fighting even if given the suspension.