MMA News: March 3-9, 2008
MMA News: March 3-9, 2008By Jon Sattler |
Ever since Fedor Emelianenko's agent confirmed that the most dominant heavyweight in the world plans to soon part ways with M-1 Global, everyone’s been speculating where he'd end up. EliteXC—who just landed a prime-time broadcasting deal with CBS—officially tossed its hat into the ring. Its head of fighter promotions, Jeremy Lappen, says his company would be "absolutely interested in Fedor if he was a free agent." Although the Ultimate Fighting Championship is facing its heavyweight champion Randy Couture in court, UFC President Dana White says: "As much as we've gone back and forth on this, I would sign Fedor and do everything possible to get Randy in the octagon with him. I'd do anything because a) it's a great fight and b) I think Randy would smash Fedor." White isn't the only one from the UFC who wants a piece of Emelianenko. "I'd like to fight Fedor because I think he's overrated," Chuck Liddell says. "Fedor's a good ground-and-pound guy. He doesn't have one-punch power from his feet, so it'd be fun to fight him." Don't start placing bets on any potential Emelianenko-Couture or Emelianenko-Liddell fights, though. M-1's president and CEO, Monte Cox, isn't quite ready to give up his marquee fighter: "Fedor still belongs to M-1 Global." Tito Ortiz Fights Off Retirement Rumors HOLLYWOOD—Ignore the rumors that Tito Ortiz is retiring. At the premiere of the mixed-martial arts film Never Back Down, Ortiz said, "I'm not retiring. I'll be fighting for at least another three more years." And there's one man in particular he wants a rematch with: Frank Shamrock. Coupled with the news that Shamrock's promoter ProElite just landed a major broadcast deal, we could end up seeing Ortiz fight Shamrock on CBS.
ProElite Lands Major Broadcast Deal
The deal—the first of its kind for both a U.S. mixed-martial-arts promoter and a major U.S. TV network—won’t affect EliteXC’s relationship with CBS’s Showtime cable network, which began airing EliteXC events in 2007. The deal could also bring Black Belt Hall of Fame members and EliteXC fighters Gina Carano, Frank Shamrock and Ken Shamrock back to prime time. Stay tuned. |
