Lex’s reminder: Don’t forget to check out the blog tonight for UFC 92 discussion.

Bobby Lashley says he wants to go to the UFC, but it looks like he’s got a long road ahead of him.

During a recent live chat on AOL Sports’ MMA Blog, a reader asked UFC President Dana White if Lashley would be coming to the UFC. White’s first response, apparently, was “who?” (more…)

Tonight’s UFC 91 event features what many are calling the biggest MMA fight in history: former WWE Champion Brock Lesnar v. UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture for all the marbles.

Dana White has gone on record predicting that tonight’s UFC 91 card will garner 1.2 million buys, setting a new UFC record. Of course, with Brock Lesnar on the card, it’s a distinct possibility that WWE fans could push this card to that level.

I just found out yesterday that this PPV costs $49.95. That’s up from the $44.95 I paid for UFC: 88 featuring Rashad Evans v. Chuck Liddell. As excited as I am for tonight’s fight, I think $50 is a pretty steep price to pay for any MMA fight, especially considering that there’s always the possibility of the fight not making it out of the first round.

Ben Fowlkes, MMA writer for CNN/SI, makes a great point about tonight’s card:

But the UFC’s mistake is in pinning all its hopes on the main event, hoping fans won’t notice the lackluster undercard. It’s more like something you’d see on a boxing pay-per-view: one big fight, and the rest mostly filler. That’s simply not the UFC at its best. It’s the opposite of the strategy that got the organization to this point, one of stacking cards with compelling bouts like they’ve done with December’s UFC 92 card.

That’s why if UFC 91 doesn’t live up to White’s expectations (and it almost certainly won’t) he can’t blame Lesnar and Couture, but rather the mediocre lineup he’s backing them with.

So know this if you do buy tonight’s show: outside of the main event, this is not the UFC at its finest. Here’s tonight’s televised card:

• UFC Heavweight Championship: Brock Lesnar v. Randy “The Natural” Couture (c)
• Lightweight bout: Kenny Florian v. Joe “Daddy” Stevenson
• Heavyweight bout: Gabriel Gonzaga v. Josh Hendricks
• Middleweight bout: Demian Maia v. Nate “Rock” Quarry
• Welterweight bout: Dustin Hazelett v. Tamdan McCrory

Discuss UFC 91 here, and cast your prediction for tonight’s main event in the podcast poll:

The sideshowRaheem Rant is new and improved, so improved in fact that I renamed it and created a new intro. From now on it will be myself sideshowRaheem and fellow PWBite Jade discussing the latest news stories from the world of pro-wrestling and MMA. In our first episode together Jade and I talk about last weeks much improved episode of TNA Impact, Dana White’s “Big Announcement”, Ring of Honor’s “Big Announcement”, the controversial statements Carlito made during an interview oversees, the WWE’s mid-card, the upcoming daft and a bunch of other stuff too. It’s a packed hour of wrestling talk which I think is what a lot of you wanted so enjoy.

P.S.

YOU TO COULD BE APART OF THE PWBITE RANT. How you ask? If you’ve been apart of this blog for awhile just shoot me an email at “sideshowRaheem at yahoo dot com”(I spelled it out to prevent spamers from grabbing it) and put “PWBite Rant” in the subject or you can contact me through my Official Facebook Page. I’m looking to add 2 more people to the podcast so we have 4 people every week in a round table discussion if I get more then 2 emails we will have to rotate guests. Please keep in mind you have to be available to record on Tuesday or Wednesday probably between 6pm and 8pm EST.

-sideshowRaheem

Dana White has been plugging a “big announcement” for what seems like weeks, now. Today, we finally got that announcement, and in my opinion, it was more like a big disappointment.

If you haven’t heard, the big announcement was that UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta has resigned as president of Station Casinos in Las Vegas to work with the UFC full-time. Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole broke the story earlier in the day.

Dana White claims that this move is huge–he’s right, it’s a big deal. Dana also thinks that fans on the Internet will view the announcement as a letdown–he’s right on that account, too. Here’s what Dana told Yahoo!:

“The Internet may not consider this huge news, but what the people on the Internet think is huge and what I think is huge are two different things. But you know what? I think I have a pretty good track record. I think this is maybe the biggest day in UFC history. I’m so excited, I can’t begin to explain it to you. This is an historic day for me and this company.”

It may be a historic day, but it definately wasn’t the mind-blowing announcement everyone thought was coming. Perhaps the biggest news in this story is actually a bit buried. Here’s a quote from Fertitta:

“Think about this for a second: India has 350 million men between the ages of 18 and 34, and that’s our key demographic,” Fertitta said. “The magnitude of these markets is staggering. Dana has been doing a phenomenal job with this company, and I’ve been doing what I could given my responsibilities (at Station Casinos).

“The UFC is going to have a global footprint in the not-too-distant future. We’re already working on furthering our position in Brazil. This is getting so big that it demanded I spend more time with it.”

It sounds like we might see UFC cards held in Brazil and India in the not-to-distant future.

In case your even thinking about wasting your money on next weeks WWE One Night Stand PPV remember there’s a pretty good card for tonights UFC 84 Ill Will.

Main Card Bouts:

• BJ Penn(c) vs. Sean Sherk
• Wanderlei Silva vs. Keith Jardine
• Goran Reljic vs. Wilson Gouveia
• Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida
• Thiago Silva vs. Antonio Mendes

Preliminary Bouts:

• Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura
• Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs. Jon Koppenhaver
• Rousimar Palhares vs. Ivan Salaverry
• Shane Carwin vs. Christian Wellisch
• Dong-hyun Kim vs. Jason Tan
• Terry Etim vs. Rich Clementi

Of course this is will be Tito Ortiz’s last match for the UFC and the last thing Dana White wants it him going out with a win over the undefeated Lyoto Machida. In case you didn’t see it check out what Tito at Fridays weigh-in:

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=wSf-3O9pCKA]

-sideshowRaheem

One of the biggest discussions coming out of UFC 83 was the performance–or lack thereof–of Canada native Kalib Starnes. Starnes appeared to spend the majority of his fight running away from UFC vet Nate Quarry. The phrase “running away” may sound like a bit of a stretch, but believe me, it’s not–the dude had his track shoes on.

By the end of the fight, his home country crowd had turned on him. Quarry ended the fight by mocking Starnes’ tactics, doing the “running man” dance as he chased Starnes. Quarry even covered his face with one hand and punched wildly at the air with the other. If you didn’t get a chance to see it, here’s a YouTube video of the scene (which will probably be taken down soon):

Starnes didn’t take kindly to this, and cursed at either Quarry, his corner or the fans–it was hard to tell who he was yelling at. Regardless, it was a pretty ugly outburst that was captured by the PPV cameras. (more…)

In what you’ve got to consider as horrible news for UFC fans in England, Chuck Liddell has torn his hamstring and will miss his fight against Rashad Evans in London at UFC 85. The event will take place on June 7. The UFC provided the following picture of Liddell’s injury on their website:

After seeing that picture, it’s obvious why Liddell will be out of UFC 85. So far, no timetable has been provided for Liddell’s recovery. Dana White had the following to say on UFC.com:

“Unfortunately, Chuck Liddell tore his right hamstring during training last week, and being the warrior that he is, he still wanted to fight, which is the reason why everyone in the world loves him,” said Dana White, UFC President. “But I wouldn’t let anyone fight with his leg looking that way. Let him heal and come back and fight when he is 100 percent.”

White continued, “We’re adding fights to the card and rearranging it so the UK fans won’t have to worry, we’ll still be bringing an amazing card to London and the O2 Arena. The UFC® always delivers.”

Let the speculation begin. What fights can possibly make up for the loss of Chuck on this card?