Hughes rooting for GSP at UFC 83

THE CANADIAN PRESS

Former champion Matt Hughes will be watching UFC 83 from his home in Hillsboro, Ill., on Saturday. And he will be "kind of rooting" for Georges St. Pierre to beat Matt Serra.

"If GSP wins and Matt Serra loses, I've already asked the UFC if I could fight Serra," Hughes told The Canadian Press. "I just think him and I have some unfinished business so to speak with the reality show ("The Ultimate Fighter"). That's what I've asked for and kind of hoping for.

"But either way you know I'm not done fighting. And if Serra happens to pull out a victory, then I'll just go and I'll find somebody else to fight. I don't know who it'd right now, but we'll just see."

Hughes and Serra were pitted against each other on Season 6 of "The Ultimate Fighter," a TV show that revels in sparks between the two coaches. Serra took care of that, taking pleasure in needling Hughes throughout the series.

The two were supposed to fight in December at UFC 79, but Serra was sidelined by two herniated discs. St. Pierre stepped in for Serra, defeating Hughes for the second time in three meetings. After the mixed martial arts bout, Hughes said he had to think about his future, noting "I'm not going to come out here and be someone's highlight reel."

While he has since committed himself to keep fighting, he does not expect to get a shot at the winner Saturday night.

"The welterweight division is very tough right now and there's been a lot of guys kind of waiting to get that title shot. So I don't think I'll fight the winner, to be honest," he said. "This is not coming from the UFC, this is just coming from a guy that's been in the UFC for what seems like forever now. I just think they've got to give the title shot to somebody else. Maybe (Jon) Fitch or somebody like that."

While the 34-year-old Hughes has asked to fight Serra, there are other possible opponents in the welterweight ranks. Hughes points to Thiago Alves, a fighter he sees moving up the 170-pound ladder.

"If Thiago would be able to knock me off, then he'd definitely be ready for a title shot," said Hughes, considered a future Hall of Famer given his dominance as champion. "But he's somewhat unchallenged as well, because Spencer Fisher, I think, beat him early in his UFC days."

The 24-year-old Alves has a record of 18-4 and is coming off his fifth straight UFC win, an impressive TKO over Karo Parisyan earlier this month. That raised his overall record in the UFC to 7-2, with the losses coming to Fitch and Fisher.

Hughes (43-6 including 15-4 in the UFC) expects St. Pierre to reclaim his title Saturday, although he admits his handicapping is only right about half the time.

"To be honest I really think it's going to be one-sided... . GSP's been looking like he's really been concentrating on his ground game, taking people down," he said. "I don't know what he's going to do against Serra but I still think Serra's weakest on his feet. He's obviously a black belt and he's going to be surely concentrating on working on his back because one thing I don't think's going to happen is I don't think Serra's going to take GSP down.

"But obviously Serra's got some power in his hands and maybe Georges is a little leery of standing up with him and will just take him right down. But there's so many variables, I don't known what's going to happen. But I just think Georges will not underestimate and I think he'll end up being victorious."

The decision not to come to Montreal to watch the fight ringside was his wife's, Hughes said.

"I get a lot of support from Canada, that's evident from my website," he said. "But I've got a 20-month-old daughter and I really just am going to stay home. I'm going to watch the fight with my family at home. I asked my wife if she wanted to go up there. She said no and when she said no, I decided to just stay with the family as well."

While the focus is on Serra-St. Pierre this week, Hughes said the TV show has set the stage for his showdown with Serra. On a recent book tour to promote his autobiography "Made in America," Hughes said fans were talking up the fight.

"I started off the book in New York and Long Island area and if I had a nickel for every time somebody said `hey you can't retire until you beat Matt Serra,' I'd be a rich man right now," he said. "Even out there where I would have thought I was in Serra territory, I had a lot of support and he didn't have a lot of support. I was really surprised."

Hughes said wife Audra can't wait for the fight to happen.

"My wife wants me to fight Matt Serra just as much as I do," he said. "What she says is when I fight Serra, she wants blood. And my wife knows I can do it. So that's probably what's going to happen. I'm going to go in there with an angry attitude and like I fought Frank Trigg the second time, when I ended up getting on top of him I was pretty happy when he rolled back to me and was face to face with me and I got to punch him a few more times.

"And then I choked him out."

Kenny Ento defeats Jeff Terry in a PFC Non Title MMA Fight

4/17/08
On a night of Championship Boxing at The Tachi Palace Casino PFC Middleweight Champion Kenny Ento defeated Jeff Terry by submission ( Calf crusher ) in 1:29 of Rd1 of a NON-Title MMA bout.

Ento, who severly damaged Terry's left leg in the first round, applied heavy pressure in the second round, forcing Terry to verbally submit.

Ento improved his professional record to 10-3, and Terry dropped to 3-4.

Ento will defend his middleweight championship against Nate Loughran on May 8 in Lemoore.

Also Former K-1 kickboxer Dewey "Black Cobra" Cooper defeated "Mad" Mike Alderete by unanimous decision in a Boxing Matchup'

Quotes from the palacefightingchampionship.com Forum

After Fight Fighter Quotes

(Jeff Terry)
"Kenny you are a great fighter and i have much respect for you, But you won because you are a very technical Fighter, Not because i was afraid to stand up with you, I wasn't afraid, I am sorry if that is how it came off, i kinda was going with the flow. whatever the case is you won and you deserved to, i wish you all the best and hope good things for you, BTW my calf is killing me! Maybe i can come down and you can show me a few tricks. lol"

(Kenny Ento)
"the guy with the camera couldn't count. threw me off alittle.
and i think that i won by threat of stand-up. Jeff was tolerating the calf-crush pretty well.
And Jeff wish you the best."

DIAZ Vs. CORBBREY AT ELITE XC IN HAWAII

Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Nick Diaz has been tabbed to face ShoXC veteran Muhsin Corbbrey on June 14 in an Elite XC show scheduled to take place in Hawaii. The bout was announced by ProElite.com on Wednesday.

The two were initially scheduled to face one another in late April in Hawaii, but that show was canceled. Diaz was then tabbed to face Korean fighter Jae Suk Lim at Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Le, but was pulled off the card the week of the fight because he was unable to be licensed medically.

California State Athletic Commission director Armando Garcia stated that Diaz wasn’t licensed because he didn’t complete his medical documents in the alloted time to be licensed to fight.

EliteXC president Gary Shaw states otherwise for Diaz not being licensed, believing that he was prevented from fighting because Diaz disclosed that he uses medical marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Diaz comes off a stoppage loss to KJ Noons at EliteXC: Renegade, where he also lost a chance to become EliteXC lightweight champion.

Corbbrey comes off a submission victory over Bobby McMasters at a ShoXC show in October. The winner of the fight could very well become the next challenger for the Elite XC lightweight title.

Joey Villasenor fills in for 'Ninja' versus Phil Baroni

Joey Villasenor will replace Murilo "Ninja" Rua against Phil Baroni on the May 31 CBS-EliteXC "Saturday Night Fights," the promotion announced today.

Villasenor is stepping in for someone who defeated him in an EliteXC middleweight title bout last June. Villasenor has won two straight since, earning a split decision over Riki Fukuda in September and then knocking out Ryan Jensen last month.

EliteXC did not give a reason why Rua was removed from the card.

The event, headlined by Kimbo Slice vs. James Thompson, will air live for two hours on CBS at 9pm ET/PT from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.


Main Event:
– Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson vs. James Thompson

Middleweight Title Bout:
– Robbie Lawler (champion) vs. Scott Smith

- Gina Carano vs. Kaitlin Young
- Phil Baroni vs. Joey Villasenor
- Brett Rogers vs. Jon Murphy

UFC 83 LIVE PRESS CONFERENCE

UFC 83 SERRA vs ST-PIERRE pre-event press conference will be streamed live on UFC.COM and several other websites. Watch it on Rogers SportsNet on television in Canada.
04/17/2008 Noon ET / 9am PT

CALIFORNIA MOVING TO ADD AMATEUR MMA

LOS ANGELES – California State Athletic Commission executive director Armando Garcia hopes to make amateur mixed martial arts a reality by the end of this year.

At an informational meeting for promoters held Tuesday in Los Angeles, Garcia released a rough draft of proposed rules for non-professional competition. It was the second meeting on the subject since the CSAC began regulating MMA in March of 2006, designed to get feedback from the MMA industry on the shape of the new program.

Most of the proposed rules were similar to those in place for professional MMA in California, with a few notable exceptions.

Participants would be divided into eighteen separate weight classes, starting at flyweight (111.9 pounds and below) and ending at maximumweight (250 pounds and above). Fighters with less than 10 fights would be limited to three three-minute rounds. Fighters with 11 or more fights would be allowed up to five two-minute rounds upon approval of the commission.

Elbows and forearms to the head of a grounded opponent would be prohibited, as well as upkicks, neck cranks, hammer locks, slamming, and heel hooks.

Despite the revocation of many common techniques in today’s MMA, there was surprisingly little feedback from the promoters on hand. Garcia admitted he was taken aback by the silence that followed the suggestions.

“It’s been slow in coming,” Garcia. “I’ve been pushing this thing left and right, and there’s little to no feedback at all. People just sit there and they look at me and hear me talking, and go ‘great, great, great,’ and I’m asking (for feedback) and nobody says anything.”

The final draft of the amateur rules will be completed next week and presented for the commission’s approval as early as June. If approved, the program will likely take effect by December of 2008 or January of 2009.

Yoshiro Maeda Steps in to Fight Torres

Pancrase champion Yoshiro Maeda has won the 135-pound sweepstakes. The 26-year-old Japanese fighter will challenge WEC champion Miguel Torres June 1 at Arco Arena in Sacramento, Calif.

Torres confirmed the bout to Sherdog.com on Tuesday.

Originally scheduled to defend his title against undefeated Manny Tapia on WEC's upcoming June offering, Torres will fight Maeda after it was announced Monday that Tapia had sustained a right knee injury. The Millenia Jiu-Jitsu product will undergo arthroscopic knee surgery in the coming week.

Torres captured the WEC title in February in a scintillating grappling clinic against Chase Beebe. The 27-year-old bantamweight kingpin carries a gaudy 32-1 mark, having won his last 14 bouts, with 13 of those victories coming inside the distance.

Maeda, the reigning featherweight King of Pancrase, made his stateside debut in February. He stopped the rugged Charlie Valencia (Pictures) with a crushing kick to the body in the first round. The Valencia bout was also the Osakan's first at 135 pounds. Maeda had been slated to fight Damacio Page on June 1.