Dana White loves Canada. Just ask him. “Any time I come into Canada, I’m happy, believe me…. I know it sounds like I’m kissin’ Canada’s ass all the time … I love Canada, man! Not only do I love Canada, I love the media up there … and the fans are so passionate and crazy up there about mma it’s just so much fun for me.”

So fun that the UFC is in the preliminary planning stages of setting up a Canadian version of The Ultimate Fighter.

“It’s a no-brainer up there,” White confirmed recently. “Not only is the fanbase huge – and there’s so many rabid fans in Canada – there’s a ton of talent coming out of Canada. For us to be able to focus on Canada itself and put together an Ultimate Fighter just for Canada and for the Canadian fans … I like it,” he said, with a big grin on his face.

It’s unknown yet if Dana White will run the show, as he does with the original, or if new UFC Canadian commissioner Tom Wright will be the host. Wright is a great business man, but I am not sure he would be suitable to head this show. They may have to find another surrogate, as Dana White already has a lot of responsibilities taking up his scarce time.

UFC 115 will be held in Vancouver, BC, Canada on Saturday June 12, 2010. It is the first sanctioned mma event to be held in the province of British Columbia and the fourth sanctioned event in all of Canada, where the sport is technically illegal, due mostly to outdated laws.

Dana White, president of the UFC, has said repeatedly that Canada is the second largest market, outside the United States, for mma. This is backed up by phenomenal pay-per-view buys across the country. (The sport is illegal to stage in Canada, but not Read more »

Kimbo Slice

After Kimbo Slice was less than spectacular against Matt Mitrione, UFC president Dana White has reportedly cut the YouTube streetfighting sensation from the UFC.  When asked about Kimbo’s performance at UFC 113, White reportedly stated that “he’s done … and we’ll probably cut him from our UFC roster.”

Can somebody remind me please, what was the purpose of signing Kimbo Slice to the UFC in the first place?  Now, I do know that the UFC has cut fighters who have been disappointing in their output and performance as a fighter.  One recent example was Rolles Gracie, of the famed and revered Gracie family.  Gracie was clearly not prepared physically and mentally to fight in the UFC.

Perhaps I shouldn’t try and separate the two scenarios, however.   I can’t say that I would totally blame Kimbo for his inability to put together a win streak in the UFC.  Kimbo has improved his mma skills, and the truth is that he’s still borderline amateur skills for mma competition.  But a situation like Kimbo is different and should be viewed accordingly.

For one, you have Kimbo fight a guy who outweighed him by at least 45lbs.  Kimbo hasn’t evolved enough to believe that he should only be focused on fighting at 205lbs, and possibly a catchweight of 215lbs, as in his first UFC fight against Houston Alexander.  And then, you cut him after he goes just 1-1, yet there are other fighters with the UFC who have far worse win percentages, and have been unspectacular as well.

Perhaps Kimbo is better off without the UFC.  His skill level as an mma fighter isn’t up to par with the UFC’s cut-throat mentality.  There’s no real minor leagues for such talents inside the UFC.   It almost seems that Dana White wants to appease the fanboys with a keyword who have always called Kimbo a sideshow or a guy who’s only fighting in the UFC because he can draw more of an audience than 90% of the fighters in the UFC.

Situations like this really make me want to root for James Toney to take out Randy Couture.  And hopefully, Strikeforce will come calling for Kimbo.  There’s thousands of fans who want to see him fight!

You mean to tell me that there’s actually an UFC ppv event this Saturday.  Surely, I’m not the only one that has had this notion slip through there list of things to do this weekend!    After the last UFC ppv events (UFC 109:  Couture vs. Coleman) overall fight card, fans were left somewhat bored.  I must admit however, that Bruce Buffer (acclaimed ring announcer) did a marvelous and manic-like job of announcing the fighters and their credentials.  It was the best part of this entire fight matchup.  Nonetheless, many mma fans didn’t expect too much from that particular main event.

It’s good that the UFC has a quick turnaround event, which is happening this Saturday, February 20….@9pm(Chicago Time).  The UFC 110 is in Australia, which means that it will be Sunday @ 2pm down under.  The unusual start time was simply to amuse the American and Canadian audiences.

There is very little hype, seemingly, about UFC 110.  The overall matchups are good:

MAIN CARD

• Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Cain Velasquez
• Michael Bisping vs. Wanderlei Silva
• George Sotiropoulos vs. Joe Stevenson
• Ryan Bader vs. Keith Jardine
• Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic vs. Anthony Perosh

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Chris Haseman vs.  ??????????
• Stephan Bonnar vs. Krzysztof Soszynski
• Brian Foster vs. Chris Lytle
• C.B. Dollaway vs. Goran Reljic
• Igor Pokrajac vs. James Te Huna

Dana White, President of the UFC, made sure to include a few fighters of Australian descent.  This is a good and easy marketing move.  Besides, it only seems appropriate.  George Sotiropoulos, James Te Huna, Chris Haseman, and Anthony Perosh are all from Australia.  Sotiropoulos vs. Joe Stevenson looks to be a great matchup.  Since 2006, Sotiropoulos has only lost to the Japanese star Shinja Aoki.  And Stevenson is looking to get another title shot at BJ Penn. Stevenson has been quite impressive in his last 2 fights.

Heavyweight title contender Cain Velasquez (7-0) faces the living mma legend in  Antonio Rodrigo “Big” Noguiera (32-5).   The winner is almost a clear shot to fight Brock Lesnar (Champion) for the belt sometime this summer.

Both Cain Velasquez and Joe Stevenson are of the American-born Latino culture. Cain has a tatoo across his chess that reads “BROWN PRIDE.”  This tatoo has come under some small disagreements amongst viewers.  And with Joe “Daddy” S.  you may have to search his myspace page to verify that he’s indeed of the Hispanic background.  Stevenson is proud… Read more »

Catching Up with the latest news and happenings of fighters……

Heath Herring, UFC & Pride Veteran

Heath Herring, aka The Texas Crazy Horse, is one of the most interesting personalities of the current mma world. He’s known for his crazy hair colors, his “dramatically-driven” ring entrances and a likable toughness to take the fight to any fighter out there. As a heavyweight, he has one of the top submission win percentages, amassing 16 total wins by way of submission.

He has went the distance with Brock Lesnar, Vitor Belfort, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (twice).   And it took ten straight minutes for Fedor Emelianenko to take him out in a match in 2002, when Herring was just 24 years of age.  In my opinion, Herring has some very good fights left in him.  And surely Dana White, President of the UFC, wouldn’t mind having his infectious personality around for say, 3 more fights…..which are the remaining fights he has left on his UFC contract. Read more »

On Rampage Jackson’s official website, he just posted a wholehearted diary of recent events that have lead up to his (tentative) decision to leave the ufc and fighting as a whole. He made some very strong comments against Dana White. It’s nice to see hear about some of the happenings behind the scene, and Rampage didn’t hold any punches in keeping it real.     Read more »

Do you think Brock Lesnar is a bully, considering that he’s bigger and stronger than all of the guys he face?

*It may be difficult to make a case that the current UFC heavyweight division (205-265lbs) should be split apart into 2 separate weight classes, considering that it’s not unusual to see a smaller heavyweights defeat bigger heavyweight. One of the greatest mma’ers ever, Royce Gracie, regularly defeated guys that were at least 30 pounds heavier.

It goes without saying     Read more »