MMA & Wrestling News/Current Events

[cyclonic]

Anyone looking forward to UFC 92?

[echoes]

hell yeah, best card i can think of in memory.

[echoes]

Of the 14,166 attendees, a total 4,465 "nearly a third of the overall crowd" were issued complimentary tickets, according to an email today sent to MMAjunkie.com by Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director Keith Kizer.

Only 9,701 were paid attendees.

However, despite a lower-than-usual percentage of paid attendees, UFC 92 still garnered a live gate of $3,468,440 just two days after Christmas. It was the fifth-highest gate total among the 12 events that have been held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in the UFC's 15-year history.

wow, this was totally unexpected, to me at least. it was prolly the best card of the year... maybe too many people were on vacation.

[echoes]

by John Morgan and Dann Stupp on Jan 05, 2009 at 4:44 pm ET
Popular Canadian fighter David Loiseau (18-8 MMA, 4-3 UFC) will return to the Ultimate Fighting Championship for the first time in two-and-a-half years after after agreeing to a new contract with the organization.

A source close to Loiseau today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that the fighter has accepted a UFC 97 bout with Ed Herman (14-7 MMA, 3-4 UFC), though the fight is not signed and could still fall through.

Although not officially announced, UFC 97 is expected to take place April 18 in Loiseau's home of Montreal, Canada.

The bout was first reported by CagePlay.com.

Loiseau, a former top UFC middleweight contender, eventually left the organization after a title loss to then-champ Rich Franklin and a subsequent decision defeat to Mike Swick. Loiseau, once of the UFC's most exciting fighters, then signed with the upstart EliteXC organization and promptly suffered his third consecutive defeat with a decision loss to Joey Villasenor.

Since then, though, Loiseau has gone 4-1, which included a TKO victory over "The Ultimate Fighter" and UFC veteran Solomon Hutcherson in his most recent bout in September.

Herman, meanwhile, has had a rocky road since his runner-up finish on "The Ultimate Fighter 3." After the loss to Kendall Grove in the live finale and a subsequent submission loss to Jason MacDonald in his following fight, Herman posted three consecutive victories (Chris Price, Scott Smith and Joe Doerksen) – all via stoppage.

However, Herman is 0-2 in his past two fights with a submission loss to Demian Maia and a close split-decision defeat to Alan Belcher is his most recent fight at UFC Fight Night 15.

this is awesome. he was one of my fav competitors back in the day.

[demonicus69]

WWE News!

on last night's smackdown taping victoria retired from the wrestling business. this is not an angle or work, it's real. she had her final match against michelle mccool. she apparantly gave wwe officials the news that she was leaving some time back. she has decided to pursue other career opportunities, like the custom car shop she recently opened in louisville kentucky.

[Gazo]

Like all women wrestlers............she wont be missed by me.......................even if she was the best of a bad lot...........possibly the best female "wrestler" of the WWE for years..........better than trish or chyna or any other....

However its still shit wrestling

[demonicus69]

recently there have been many releases in the wwe. but the most recent are sgt. slaughter and ron "damn" simmons. not that they really had anything to contribute to the wwe, but i'm sure going to miss those occasional damns. now if only simmons former partner in crime would get the boot too, but it won't happen anytime soon.

[Gazo]

Not a hope demonicus...........seems he is another member of the lick ass clique of vince.......along with the biggest one of them all HHH.Push them as much as you like but the fans dont really see them as "real" superstars.

Even though HHH claims he was in some of the most high profile matches as does JBL ..they forget to mention that it was their competitors that were the drawing factor.

Vince can put as many titles on those morons as he wants but history will show that they were not as popular as Austin.Rock,Undertaker,Flair or Hogan or even Bret Hart.

Bit of luck JBL might damage his back again and be forced to retire

[echoes]

Helio Gracie, the father of Gracie jiu-jitsu, is dead at the age of 95. Gracie passed in his sleep early Thursday in Itaipaiva, Rio de Janeiro, after he had been admitted to a local hospital a few days prior for stomach problems.

“He passed the way he always wanted to –- quick and fast,” said an immediate relative, who asked not to be identified. The relative said Gracie’s body would be buried on Thursday.

The youngest of Cesalina and Gastao Gracie’s eight children, he learned traditional jiu-jitsu by watching his brother, Carlos, teach it, but his small frame made it difficult for him to execute the moves. As a result, he adapted techniques to fit his limited physical ability and gave rise to modern-day Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Gracie was involved in two legendary fights. He lost to Masahiko Kimura -- a man who outweighed him by some 80 pounds -- in 1951 when Carlos threw in the towel after Kimura broke Gracie’s arm with the shoulder lock that now bears his name. Four years later, Gracie fought former student Valdemar Santana for nearly four hours and won by technical knockout after Santana succumbed to exhaustion.

His impact on the sport of mixed martial arts was profound. His son, Rorion, was credited with developing the concept that became the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and another of his sons, Royce, won the first two UFC tournaments in 1993 and 1994. Two other sons, Rickson and Royler, also competed in MMA.

Gracie is survived by his wife Vera; his sons Rickson, Royler, Rolker, Royce, Relson, Robin and Rorion; his daughters Rerika and Ricci, as well as numerous siblings, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren.

TJ DeSantis contributed to this report.

[Gazo]

his sons Rickson, Royler, Rolker, Royce, Relson, Robin and Rorion; his daughters Rerika and Ricci,

could you imagine Jonathon Ross reading that

[echoes]

The Sun out of the United Kingdom has posted a new article today that questions whether Maria was the last WWE Diva to pose for Playboy. With WWE gearing their content more towards a younger audience and producing more "PG-rated" content, it is likely that the tradition of a diva posing for Playboy before WrestleMania has come to an end. You can check out the article that includes a new photo shoot from Maria at this link. (Thanks to WNW reader Colm Gillespie for sending this link in)

[echoes]

Christian just returned to WWE on tonight's edition of ECW. ECW Champion Jack Swagger was out cutting a promo to open tonight's edition of ECW on Sci-Fi when the former TNA Champion made his return to WWE. Christian came out and issued a challenge to the winner of Jack Swagger vs. Finlay for the ECW Championship at No Way Out.

As we have been reporting here on WrestlingNewsWorld.com, Christian has been in talks with WWE for several months, however, contract negotiations broke down at one point. As we reported today on WNW Premium, Christian was widely expected to sign and is now under WWE contract.

WrestlingNewsWorld.com actually received a tip earlier this afternoon that Christian was in Fresno, California and would be challenging Swagger, however, we could not independently confirm it with our sources.

[Gazo]

They could have thrown him straight in to the mix with Edge and Hardy....................but NO....just cos he was TNA champ they will let him mess about in mid card just to make TNA look inferior.............typical.

I reckon the wasted yet another golden opportunity.......the ECW title is beneath him anyway...................the WWE sucks

[echoes]

for those of you following the developments of the ufc 97 fiasco (such as myself), here is some good news!:

UFC 97 event planned for the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, has reportedly been saved.

Lat week Canadian officials said the UFC could not conduct the April 18 "UFC 97: Redemption" card with the UFC's current rules.

However, according to corussports.com, a French-language website that has covered the series of events, the UFC will prohibit foot stomps at the commission's request, but elbow and knee strikes will not be banned for the upcoming pay-per-view show.


A Bloodyelbow.com reader translated and summarized the article:

I'll summarize for those who don't know French:

- Lorenzo Fertita & Marc Ratner met with Richard Renault (RACJ head of combat sports) and Denis Racicot (RACJ president) Tuesday evening before flying to Europe later that night.

- The event will take place as scheduled under the usual UFC rules except for foot stomps being disallowed.

- RACJ will hold a press conference (no details specified) explaining the decision.

[echoes]

Written by Ryan Gray on Mar 2, 2009 - 2:48:25 PM

The World Entertainment News Network is reporting that Hulk Hogan has talked to Vince McMahon about possibly working a match at WrestleMania 25 in Houston. According to the website, Hogan wrote the following message on his Twitter profile:

"I spoke with (Chairman of WWE) Vince (McMahon), he is open to me coming back and doing something, maybe at Wrestlemania. Stay tuned Maniacs."

WWE is yet to release anything official. You can read the article at this link.

Special thanks to WNW reader Shane Morrill for help with this story