Video analysis: UFC may announce FOX card fighters today, who will it be?

On Thursday, the UFC sent out a late press release to announce that Dana White has a Friday teleconference for the media at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT. It was simply slugged "UFC PRESIDENT DANA WHITE TO MAKE MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT TOMORROW?"
major announcement.

Yahoo! Sports' lead MMA writer Kevin Iole joined us to break down the possibilities at the UFC's debut on FOX on Nov. 12.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Video-analysis-UFC-may-announce-FOX-card-fighte?urn=mma-wp6513

Tank Abbott Hiroyuki Abe Cyril Abidi 

Video analysis: UFC may announce FOX card fighters today, who will it be?

On Thursday, the UFC sent out a late press release to announce that Dana White has a Friday teleconference for the media at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT. It was simply slugged "UFC PRESIDENT DANA WHITE TO MAKE MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT TOMORROW?"
major announcement.

Yahoo! Sports' lead MMA writer Kevin Iole joined us to break down the possibilities at the UFC's debut on FOX on Nov. 12.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Video-analysis-UFC-may-announce-FOX-card-fighte?urn=mma-wp6513

José Aldo  John Alessio  Houston Alexander

UFC on Fox debut features heavyweight title fight: Velasquez vs. dos Santos

UFC is coming out guns-a-blazing for its network television debut Nov. 12. Dana White announced today that the UFC's heavyweight title fight between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos, tentatively planned for UFC 139 on Nov. 19, will be moved to the UFC on Fox card.

In a unique twist, the Fox show will be just one hour long and feature one five-round fight.

"It's the most prestigious championship in all of sports, the heavyweight title. There's nothing more exciting than when you know it's going to be great heavyweight fight," said an excited White.

The UFC president said the early part of the hour will be used to introduce the sport to the new viewers. If the fight turns out to be a quick victory for either fighter, Eric Shanks, president of Fox Sports, confirmed that the broadcast may show a replay of an earlier fight to fill the back end of the time slot.

This is the most excited we've heard White sound in a long time. That said, he's also grounded enough to realize that the work ahead is just as important as the work he's done over the last 10 years to get his company in a position to make it to network television.

"We're getting the opportunity from Fox to become mainstream. We're not sitting around patting ourselves on the back saying 'look we made it!' Now's the time to work. Now's the time to deliver," White said. "Everything we've done the last 10 years, we actually need to step it up to another level and deliver even bigger and better now that we're on the No. 1 network in the country."

The show at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Ca. will feature a full fight card for the ticket buyers in attendance. The rest of the card will be televised somewhere.

Shanks said Fox is going to pull out all the stops for the live show in Anaheim.

"[We're] launching the UFC on Fox with a Super Bowl-style red carpet and tailgate party with every star in Hollywood and every dignitary we need to get out there ... outside the event."

White said the goal is to blow away the EliteXC/CBS debut of Kimbo Slice on network television. That card did a peak of six million viewers. Fox Sports chairman and CEO David Hill said he wouldn't predict numbers, but he sounded confident in his new product.

"One of my golden rules is never predict ratings because it's a zero sum game," said Hill. "If I was a betting man, which I am, I'd probably put a couple bucks on the fact that we will [surpass the CBS numbers]."

White was even more blunt about expectations.

"I'm not going to be too cocky here and trump what David Hill said, but I'm expecting to blow that number out of the water," said White.

Shanks confirmed that promotion for the card across the Fox family of networks will start tomorrow during FX's college football games. Fox only found out about the fight in the last 36 hours.

UFC 139 loses its main event, but the card is still scheduled to move forward in San Jose. White said the cards at both UFC on Fox 1 and UFC 139 are still major works in progress. White didn't sound worried.

"Having a free fight on Fox leading into a pay-per-view the week before sure doesn't suck," said White.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/UFC-on-Fox-debut-features-heavyweight-title-figh?urn=mma-wp6530

Cyril Abidi  Daniel Acacio Bernard Ackah 

Jeff Monson Says It's Bittersweet to Get Fedor Emelianenko Fight Now

Though Fedor Emelianenko's M-1 Global management team has yet to confirm it, Jeff Monson told MMA Fighting he's absolutely fighting the Russian heavyweight in St. Petersburg on November 12, and will head to Russia for a pre-fight press conference on September 16.

And no, he's not kidding himself. He knows exactly why, after unsuccessfully angling for a fight with Emelianenko for years, he's finally getting it now.

"I think basically it's that he lost a couple and [M-1 Global] want[s] him to fight a guy with a name, but obviously they feel confident in the fight," Monson said. "...Obviously, they think if he fought someone without a name that would look bad, and if he lost again that would also look bad."

For the 40 year-old Monson, it's a little bittersweet to get this fight only now, and only after Emelianenko was cut from Strikeforce following a three-fight losing streak, he admitted.

"I wish it was a year ago," Monson said. "But I've said this before, he's the best heavyweight of all time. Granted, he's lost a couple in a row here, all against good guys, but other than that [TKO via cut] that wasn't really a loss, what'd he go, ten years without losing? Nobody's ever done that, ever. And he beat the best of the best. That was back when Pride definitely had the best heavyweights, and he beat everybody in Pride, and he finished people."

And the fact that Emelianenko's management called up Monson when they needed a beatable opponent with some name value? Monson's not exactly taking it as a compliment, but he'll still take it, he said.

"The thing is, he's the only guy allowed in the ring with me. I feel confident. I would never take a fight I didn't think I could win. It's a fight I've wanted for a long time, and no one's going to determine what happens in the fight except me and him. Regardless of why they gave it to me or whether my management thinks I can win it, when the bell rings that's not going to mean anything."

Though he lost his last fight to Strikeforce heavyweight Daniel Cormier in June, Monson said he is still under contract to the organization and is taking this fight with Strikeforce's permission. Still, Monson's plan to eventually cut to light heavyweight remains unchanged, even though he'll fight Emelianenko at heavyweight.

"I will never fight another heavyweight fight for Strikeforce," he said. "It will all be at 205 [pounds]. But this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. It's just one of those things where you can't turn it down."

Weight isn't likely to be a major factor in this fight anyhow, Monson said. Emelianenko is just a shade taller than Monson, but both men will likely come into the fight hovering somewhere in the 230-pound range.

This one is less about establishing a future at any particular weight class, according to Monson, and more about fulfilling a career goal and taking a swipe at one of the sport's greats.

"I've never been in the ring with someone where I was like, it's an honor to be in there with this guy, but it is," he said. "That doesn't mean I'm not going to try and beat him, but it is an honor to fight him."

 

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Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/09/08/jeff-monson-says-its-bittersweet-to-get-fedor-emelianenko-fight/

Houston Alexander Ricardo Almeida  Eddie Alvarez