"Minotauro" Noguiera scratched from UFC 108 main event

The hits just keep on coming.

The replacement fight for the scratched Brock Lesnar/Shane Carwin heavyweight title fight, has now been broken up as well for UFC 108 as Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Noguiera has suffered a severe staph infection and will be unable to fight undefeated Cain Velasquez in their No. 1 contender showdown.

If you're keeping score at home, that is two top heavyweights now down for the count -- Lesnar and Noguiera.

Once again, this is devastating news for the UFC which can't seem to buy a break these days.

"Nogueira got staph infection, bad, to the point now it’s in his bloodstream, and he’s probably going to have to be hospitalized and intravenously given the antibiotics," UFC president Dana White revealed at the UFC 105 post-event press conference.

"It’s crazy," White said, "In nine years of being in this business, we haven’t had this many injuries in one year."

So unless White can scrounge up some other sort of main event caliber of fight, it appears that the Rashad Evans/Thiago Silva fight will be promoted up to main event and perhaps some other fight will be put together to boost the main card.

However, this is probably more disconcerting to Noguiera. This is now the second time in just under a year in which the great Brazilian fighter has fallen victim to staph. Do they not clean the mats down there in Brazil? I don't get it. It doesn't seem to be affecting any other fighter from that camp so maybe Noguiera just doesn't like to shower?

Whatever the case maybe, Noguiera needs to recover from this and recover fully to continue to be a force in the heavyweight division. If for whatever reason he is unable to get back to 100 percent, he will be passed over by guys like Velasquez, Kongo and Dos Santos.

Brock Lesnar out indefinitely

Post UFC 105, Dana White talked about his heavyweight champion who has been scratched from two straight events and seemingly unable to shake whatever illness he has.

Speaking with the media during the post fight press conference at UFC 105, White indicated that Brock Lesnar will be out far longer than just UFC 108.

"He's in a hospital up in North Dakota somewhere right now," said White. "He went to Canada and some bad stuff happened to him, so we've got to figure it out.

"He doesn't want to talk about it publicly, but he's in bad shape. He's not well and he's not going to be getting well anytime soon."

Lesnar pulled out of the UFC 106 main event fight with Shane Carwin near the end of October when he realized the illness he had wasn't going away. The fight was then moved temporarily to UFC 108 and didn't stay there long when it was determined shortly thereafter that Lesnar still hadn't recovered.

Now the champ is hospitalized with an undisclosed illness and appears to be out indefinitely.

"I am worried about it," said White of his biggest star's medical situation. "You know, I can't really talk about it right now, but he's in rough shape. He's in really bad shape … and we're going to have to do some stuff to take care of this guy. He is not well and he's not getting any better.

"We're going to have to send him to the Mayo Clinic or to Scripps, or one of those really good hospitals to figure out what's wrong with this guy."

News and notes around MMA -- week of 11/14

Because I am just one person and I don't have a whole lot of time on my hands, I figured a compilation post of all the significant news pieces for this week (November 8th to November 14th) would make sense not just for me but for all my loyal readers out there that would like to get up to date with all the recent news but not have to spend an hour reading multiple long posts.

So without any more wasted time, here that is with my analysis of the news in italics.

• Strikeforce's Fedor vs. Rogers event was a successful one. "The Last Emperor" was valiantly contested by Rogers but in the end, came through with another crushing knockout. It was also successful in that the event garnered 5.46 million viewers on CBS in the 9-11 pm time slot and scored huge with the 18-48 male and overall demographic. Absolutely huge for the sport.
• UFC 105 goes down this weekend from London, England as Randy Couture looks to return to the 205 lb division successfully against Brandon Vera. The weigh-ins will be live on Friday at 12 pm EST/ 9 am PST. Check out UFC.com or channel 101 on directv for the broadcast.
• UFC 106, which goes down next Saturday, November 21st, will once again broadcast two undercard fights on Spike prior to the pay-per-view broadcast. This time around the two bouts will feature welterweights Marcus Davis and Ben Saunders and a middleweight tilt between Kendall Grove and Jake Rosholt. Once again, this is important for the sport and the UFC as a whole. Continuing with this program is a must because it benefits everyone involved and continues to gain exposure for the sport.
• Fedor Emelianenko will be out up to six weeks due to a hand injury suffered in his fight against Rogers Saturday night. His next bout looks to be against Fabricio Werdum who also won last weekend (defeated Antonio Silva) sometime in early 2010. Important for Strikeforce in that the sooner he recovers the better. They need to be able to showcase their top fighter and probably the third best fighter in the world currently, as often as possible. Six months between fights is not an option.
• With injuries to all title holders sans BJ Penn who is scheduled to fight Diego Sanchez at UFC 107 on December 12, the UFC is left with Big Nog vs. Cain Velasquez and Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva as main events for its year end showcase on January 2nd. UFC 108 was supposed to feature Anderson Silva defending his middleweight belt against Vitor Belfort but needs more time to heal his elbow and the Lesnar/Carwin tilt has been postponed further as well. It's certainly disappointing to have to wait as long as we will have to now to see the top fighters like Silva, Lesnar and GSP in action but injuries are a part of this sport and you just have to deal with it. Hopefully the UFC will continue to load up this card with solid fights like the two already mentioned.
• Nate Marquardt vs. Chael Sonnen has been scheduled for UFC 110 in Sydney, Australia. With Dan Henderson still in contract negotiations and unable to fight, apparently Marquardt wasn't willing to sit around and wait. It'll be another big time middleweight contender tilt between two fighters on a roll. This is also good for Hendo if and when he decides to sign with the UFC in that he'll most likely not have to fight Marquardt since the soonest he would be ready after this bout would be May.
• Lastly, the UFC 105 Countdown show aired on Monday, November 9th but here it is in its entirety. Check it out.

Fight Camp 360: Fedor vs. Rogers fight hype on Showtime

We're less than a week away from another big fight event and this time it is not being brought to us by the UFC. Strikeforce, now the main competition to the UFC's plan of MMA global domination since the departure of Affliction, is finally following up their June event with a couple of marquee fights.

The main attraction is a heavyweight bout between Russian superstar Fedor Emelianenko (30-1, 1 NC) who will be making his Strikeforce debut against the undefeated Brett Rogers (10-0) which has title implications. In the other main attraction, welterweight champion Jake Shields will defend his title against Jason "Mayhem" Miller.

Emelianenko, 33, will not only be making his Strikeforce debut but also his debut fighting within a cage. Often regarded by many analysts and fans around the sport as not only the top heavyweight in the game but even the sport's top pound-for-pound fighter.

In Rogers he will be facing an up-and-coming heavyweight with heavy hands but essentially zero ground game. Rogers is coming off a knockout win over former UFC heavyweight champ Andrei Arlovski who just so happens to also be Emelianenko's latest victim. However, "the Grim" is still widely considered to be relatively untested with just Arlovski being an opponent of any consequence to his ledger.

The reason why Emelianenko is so highly regarded is his outstanding all around game. Not only can the Russian strike with the best of them due to his incredible hand speed, he is extremely adept on the ground. There really isn't any weakness in his game other than his physical size. At 6'0" and a little over 230, he's relatively tiny for a heavyweight especially compared to the UFC's heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar who is 6'3" and usually 285-290 by the time of the fight.

So whether this fight -- on paper -- can be seen as your classic mismatch, it is still being paid close attention to by the mainstream MMA media because it is Emelianenko's latest fight and first since beating Arlovski way back in January.

As far as the Shields/Miller bout, well let's just say there's a reason that "Mayhem" Miller isn't on the UFC roster despite being around along time and having friends in the rival promotion. In another instance of fight hype making a fight out of a classic mismatch, Miller is perhaps the worst title contender to be challenging for the Welterweight crown.

The event will take place on Saturday, November 7th at the Sears Centre Arena in Chicago at 7 pm PST.

The Fight Camp video from Showtime:

UFC coming to Australia in early 2010

In continuation with its plans for taking the sport of Mixed-Martial Arts (MMA) global according to UFC president Dana White, recent reports indicate that the Ultimate Fighting Championship will indeed be going to the land down under in early 2010.

According to The Sydney Herald, a future event will be held at the Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia as soon as perhaps February 2010.

From the paper:

"Legal representatives of the company have approached the Combat Sports Authority to seek permission to stage a bout in February, with organisers understood to be looking at the Acer Arena in Sydney Olympic Park."

The arena -- built in preparation for the 2000 summer Olympic games -- can seat up to 21,000 fans.

Bringing the sport to Australia will be instrumental to its expansion. The land down under is home to some of the most physical sports in the world, including Australian Rules football and Rugby which are immensely popular to the nation's citizens.

If MMA would be appealing to any one country, it would seem that Australia would be that one. With the sport's talented athletes, awesome displays of technique and strength, not to mention the charisma of the fighters there would seem to be no reason why the people of Australia would not fall in love with it as so many people around the world already have.

The first step, however, is to bring it to them and it appears the UFC is now ready to do so.

UFC should ignore thoughts of middleweight No. 1 contender eliminator match

Every now and then in life things will break easy, making one's decision a whole lot simpler. Do I date the beautiful girl with no personality or the beautiful girl with the personality? Gee, let me think.. Or how about joining the gym that charges $30 a month with every amenity you need plus modern equipment or the gym that charges $40 a month that's really just a weight room with no pool, sauna, aerobics, etc. and run down? Another no brainer.

Every now and then.

But sadly, every now and then happens perhaps every 100 decisions you're faced with which is why you should never make decisions harder than they have to be.

Which brings me to the current middleweight No. 1 contender dilemma facing Joe Silva, Dana White and the UFC. They have a very positive situation: two very good fighters in line for a shot at perhaps the best fighter to walk the face of this planet.

They can do one of two things: 1) have Anderson Silva face Dan Henderson in October or November and then have the winner fight Nate Marquardt or 2) have Henderson and Marquardt fight each other in November or December with the winner facing Silva sometime in early 2010 while Silva waits idly.

Let's take a closer look at these scenarios.

If the UFC does scenario uno, Silva will fight as soon as possible, perhaps even in October at UFC 104 which needs a solid No. 2 fight now that the Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez fight has been disbanded and the two title fights would certainly give it that. Also, the UFC allows each contender -- both Henderson and Marquardt -- the opportunity to fight for the belt within the next six months.

So the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter keeps busy, both No. 1 middleweight contenders get to fight for the belt and the UFC sells two legit middleweight title fights in the span of six months if not less.

I think it's clear that this scenario pretty good for all parties involved -- the fighters, the fans and the promotion as a whole.

Now let's analyze scenario dos. Here the UFC puts on a No. 1 contender fight for Silva's belt sometime at the end of the year. With Marquardt just removed from a quick dismantling of Damien Maia on Saturday at UFC 102, his most likely return date would be sometime in December, hypothetically.

The UFC would probably be able to market the Henderson/Marquardt showdown alongside a main event like Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Rashad Evans at UFC 107 and call it "The No. 1 contender special" or something similarly catchy.

In the meantime, Silva gets to work on his tan down in Brazil. As nice as that vacation would be, I don't think Silva really needs it nor would want it over a chance to get to do what he does best -- fight.

If all things went according to plan in this scenario, a winner would emerge triumphantly and unscathed by injuries ready for a title shot against the pound-for-pound king sometime around March of 2010. If, however, there is any sort of hiccup as there is known to be on occasion in MMA, this neat and tidy option could see a title fight pushed even farther back or both contenders fall depressingly on their faces due to poor performances.

This scenario could still be good for one fighter (the one who wins the eliminator match), some fans (the ones who believe their favorite fighter -- either Marquardt or Henderson -- will still get a title shot) and ok for the promotion since they are selling a nice No. 1 contender match as a co-main event.

Clearly, not the same win-win as scenario one is though.

Sometimes it's nice to make things neat and clean. But it's also nice to walk away when you're ahead instead of losing your bankroll by continuing to play.

Memo to Dana White and Joe Silva: Don't mess with something good. Two title fights are better than one.

UFC eyes Vancouver, B.C., Canada for June, 2010 event

The big news coming out of the UFC camp in the build-up to UFC 102: Couture vs. Noguiera was that the UFC is eyeing a third trip to Canada in June of 2010 with the likely destination being Vancouver, B.C.

A trip to Vancouver, B.C. would be huge for both the city and the UFC. Being from there and having traveled to the city numerous times, I can personally attest to the passion for MMA that the people have up there. Plus, with the olympics set to hit the city in February of 2010, there probably is no city that is going to be more ready for a big time event, not to mention how much publicity it will give the UFC for doing a show just four months after the world's best winter sport athletes perform in the same building.

It will also be the UFC's second trip to the Pacific Northwest after this weekend's venture into Portland, Oregon. From all looks of it, the venture into Portland was a very successful one. The event was attended by 16,000 plus, drew a $1.92 million gate and had some very exciting fights.

The biggest obstacle right now for the UFC is the fact that the province of British Columbia doesn't currently sanction MMA. The UFC hopes that that will change within four months, giving the promotion plenty of time to plan a summer 2010 event for the second biggest city in Canada.

What makes the sport hard to ignore for the city and the province as a whole is the revenue that it will bring to a city that desperately needs some after all the expenditures dished out in preparation of it hosting the olympics. This event accompanied by a possible UFC fan expo will do just that for the city.

The target venue according to UFC president Dana White is GM place, home to the Vancouver Canucks and a 19,000 plus seat arena.

UFC to broadcast pay-per-view prelim fights on Spike

*UPDATE* Spike TV confirmed Friday that it will indeed televise the undercard fights for UFC 103: Franklin vs. Belfort on September 19th. However, contrary to the report published by the OC Register, Spike will air just one hour of uninterrupted coverage of the undercard with two fights guaranteed.

Those fights are Efrain Escudero versus Cole Miller which will be a match-up of previous winners of 'The Ultimate Fighter' and a middleweight slugfest featuring Tomasz Drwal and Drew McFedries.

Currently, the UFC 103 card is scheduled to feature eight undercard bouts. Spike TV's hour of coverage immediately prior to the 10pm EST/7 PST PPV broadcast will probably be enough to show between four and five fights depending on their length.
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In a move that could be a breakthrough for the sport of mixed-martial arts, the UFC apparently will begin broadcasting the undercard fights of its pay-per-view events with UFC 103 on September 19th on Spike TV according to the Orange County Register.

As things are now, the unaired prelims or "dark bouts" as they are sometimes referred to as, only reach the air of a PPV when there is extra time in a PPV broadcast created by early fight stoppages. These days, the UFC generally puts on six or seven fights on the undercard and rarely do more than one or two of them reach the air.

This could be huge news not only for all fighters on the UFC roster, but for the sport in general as it will give added exposure to the sport's best. If this is indeed the case, showing the undercard fights with no commercial interruption on Spike as essentially the lead-in to the PPV broadcast, all parties included will benefit. We are talking the fans, the sport, the fighters and certainly the UFC and Spike.

We are still waiting to get official comment from the UFC, however, make no mistake that when we get that word, I will bring you the latest and greatest from the organization.