Worldgolf.com is reporting that Chuck Liddell has committed to playing in the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament this July.

Other celebrities appearing in the tournament include Michael Jordan, Lawrence Taylor, Brian Urlacher and Alonzo Mourning.

What really caught my eye in this article is the fact that worldgolf.com is reporting that Liddell is indeed retired.

Liddell is a retired American mixed martial artist (MMA) who predominately fought for the UFC. In 2005 Liddell won the UFC light heavyweight title and defended it four times over the next two years. In 2009, he retired with an overall MMA record of 21-7. He is credited, along with fellow UFC fighter Randy Couture, for bringing mixed martial arts into the mainstream of American sports and entertainment.

Chuck Liddell has never openly committed to retiring. His management has not confidently stated his retirement either. Dana White tried to retire Chuck, but has recently pulled back stating that Chuck will probably fight again if he wishes to do so. “The Iceman” has one fight left on his UFC contract, and recent rumors have been circulating about a light heavyweight match up pitting Rich “Ace” Franklin against Liddell at UFC 103.

My friend just sent me this link from Stub Hub.

2 cage side UFC 100 tickets for only $100,000.00!

If you and a friend split it, that’s only $50,000.00 per ticket.

I am glad I purchased the UFC fight club membership and paid a meager $300.00 for mine.

MMAJunkie.com is reporting that Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio will choose not to offer Arlovski a new contract now that his original deal has expired.

Arlovski has been knocked out in devastating fashion in his last two fights.

I am curious to see if Dana White will try to scoop him up at a low cost. I don’t see too many organizations fighting over him. He wouldn’t make much of an impact in the UFC heavyweight division, but he still has a lot of fans and his name can add some pizazz to a PPV undercard.

Or maybe he will finally choose to pursue that boxing career he is so eagerly waiting to dive into.

This is a bit strange to me.

Nick “The Goat” Thompson (38-10-1) faces off against Tim Kennedy (9-2) tonight at Strikeforce Challengers series, live on Showtime. Betting websites have Thompson listed as the underdog.

Tim Kennedy is no slouch, but he has been inactive in the MMA world since December 29th, 2007. Thompson has won 14 of his last 15 fights, with the only loss coming at the hands of Jake Shields. Thompson is listed as a top 10 welterweight on many rankings websites.

Bodog has Tim Kennedy at -140 right now and Nick Thompson at +110. Is Thompson hurt? I don’t know. Maybe the oddsmakers know something we don’t, but I didn’t expect to see “The Goat” as the underdog in this fight.

The fight airs at 11pm ET. The main card is as follows:

-Joey Villasenor (26-6) vs. Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos (16-12)
-Nick Thompson (38-10-1) vs. Tim Kennedy (9-2)
-Conor Heun (8-2) vs. Jorge Gurgel (12-5)
-Sarah Kaufman (9-0) vs. Shayna Baszler (9-5)
-Cory Devela (9-2) vs. Luke Rockhold (4-1)

Eddie Alvarez is just one win away from capturing the Bellator Lightweight World Championship. With less than one week remaining until the season ending Bellator XII event at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, FL, the lightweight contender is preparing for the fight of his life. Alvarez (17-2) will take on Toby Imada (22-12) for a championship purse of $175,000 and the right to hold the first ever Bellator Lightweight World Championship title.

“This will be my best performance to date, I plan on going out and displaying every act of MMA, to show the viewers that don’t know what MMA is and don’t quite understand the sport…I want to display that Bellator fighting is here to stay and we’re going to put on exciting shows,” said Alvarez.

The 155 lb striker will take on Toby Imada in the headlining bout on June 19th in front of a packed house to close out the inaugural Bellator tournament season. The match up comes just weeks after both Alvarez and Imada respectively demolished their opponents at Bellator V in Dayton, OH. Alvarez managed to defeat Eric Reynolds via 3rd round rear naked choke while Imada unleashed the inverted triangle choke upon the stunned Jorge Masvidal to secure his title shot. The Philadelphia fight factory star will look to take home the first ever Bellator Fighting Championships Lightweight World Championship title in the same arena where his Bellator career began just three months earlier.

“I’m very self motivated, I’m very confident and I believe in my abilities to perform at a high level all the time,” said Alvarez.

It will take a very high level of performance from Alvarez when up against Imada on June 19th. His 30-year-old veteran opponent is perhaps best known for his submission of the year highlight victory over the heavily favor Jorge Masvidal. The tremendously athletic win is a sign that Imada wants the title more than anything and will stop short of nothing to achieve that honor. In his previous tournament victories Alvarez has been able to pace himself and control his opponents, ultimately choosing the exact moment that he wanted to end the fight and has effectively carried out each finish on command. Alvarez will headline the Lightweight World Championship at Bellator XII on June 19th in Hollywood FL. The fight will broadcast in primetime Saturday June 20th on ESPN Deportes.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that come June 19th that I’ll have my title and will continue to be a champion of Bellator,” said Alvarez.

Cris Santos was recently being interviewed by an MMA reporter. When asking Cris how long it would take to put Gina Carano to sleep while using a choke hold, “Cyborg” decided to give the reporter a demonstration so he could experience it first hand.

Check out the video here

Enjoy.

Awhile ago I heard that Tim Sylvia was looking to make his boxing debut against 48 year old “Merciless” Ray Mercer.

The commercial for the fight was down right awful, and provided MMA message board users a lot of laughs over the past few months.

The bout was originally scheduled to be a boxing match, but the athletic commissions stepped in, halted the match, and somewhere along the line it turned into an MMA fight. That fight took place over the weekend.

“This is my world,” Sylvia said. “He was going to pull out all the stops in boxing, all the little dirty tricks he has. He’s been doing this for 25 years. He’s going to come in and try to hurt me. Now I’m going to teach him a lesson.”

Well, things didn’t really work out that way. Mercer landed a crushing blow to Sylvia that blanked him 9 seconds into the match. What really impressed me was that Mercer went for the take down as Sylvia was falling and started pounding his face as he hit the canvas. Looks like ray was training a little more MMA technique then he led on to.

Check out the video here. I can’t find an official video, but you’ll get the point .

Tim Sylvia has now lost 4 of his last 5 fights.

UFC 99 airs tomorrow from Cologne, Germany.

UFC 99 Main Card Bouts:

-Wanderlei Silva vs. Rich Franklin
-Cheick Kongo vs. Cain Velasquez
-Ben Saunders vs. Mike Swick
-Dan Hardy vs. Marcus Davis
-Caol Uno vs. Spencer Fisher
-Mustapha Al-Turk vs. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic

UFC 99 Preliminary Bouts:

-Justin Buchholz vs. Terry Etim
-Dale Hartt vs. Dennis Siver
-Paul Taylor vs. Peter Sobotta
-Roli Delgado vs. Paul Kelly
-Stefan Struve vs. Denis Stojnic
-Rick Story vs. John Hathaway

Here are some notable  betting odds; I got these from bodoglife.com

Cain Velasquez -155
Cheick Kongo +150
Analysis: A little strange to see the UFC veteran Cheick Kongo the underdog in this fight, but he did take the bout on short notice and Cain Velasquez is steam rolling through the heavyweight competition. Kongo is hungry for a win because he feels a win would put him directly in line for a heavyweight title shot.

Kongo has steadily improved, and will be Velasquez’ toughest test to date.
If you like betting the underdog, this is a pretty good fight to drop a few bucks on.

Mike Swick -205
Ben Saunders +165

Analysis: No surprises here. Swick, the more experienced of the two fighters, is favored. This fight has fight of the night potential, as both guys are explosive and fast and are hungry for the knockout. In these types of fights, anything can happen, so , again, if you like to bet on the underdog…

Marcus Davis -215
Dan Hardy +175

Analysis: I love a good grudge match. This will be a stand up war, as both of these guys are predominately stand up fighters and really want to knock the other guy out. I wouldn’t bet against Marcus Davis. I think he is going to be a little too much for Hardy to handle.

Mirko Cro Cop -500
Mostapha Al Turk +300

Analysis: This fight has upset of the night written all over. Cro Cop has claimed he has rededicated himself to fighting and wants to make a run at the UFC heavyweight title. He has also faced very sub par competition since leaving the UFC. Mirko has virtually no ground game what so ever, and Mustapha likes to ground and pound his opponents.

I’d love to see a vicious old school Cro Cop knockout, but who knows.

NOTE: As i was typing this analysis, bodog just changed the odds on this fight significantly. Mirko is now at -375 and Mustapha Al Turk is at +285. Every 1 dollar spent on Mustapha will pay out 2.85.

Rich Franklin -150
Wanderlei Silva +120

Analysis: After losing 4 of his last 5, It’s no surprise Wanderlei is the underdog here. Still, he is Wanderlei Silva and has the ability to knock your head into the 28th row at any given time. I am really anxious to see this fight. The +120 isn’t enticing enough for me to drop serious dough on Wanderlei.

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MARKHAM, Ontario, Canada, June 11, 2009 – Round 5 figurines for Andrei “The Pit Bull” Arlovski, “Big John” McCarthy, Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira, comprising Series 3 of the popular mixed martial arts collectibles, are now available at retail, it was announced today by Round 5 C.E.O. Barron Lau and President Damon Lau.  They join the first two Round 5 Series which can be purchased in outlets throughout North America and online at www.Round5MMA.com.

“We are extremely pleased with the final products for Series 3,” said Damon Lau.  “Each of the athletes had extensive input into their development, and I know that fans will enjoy the ‘small touches’ that make Round 5 figurines unique.”

Round 5 also confirmed today that Series 4, scheduled for late July/Early August release, will now feature five athletes, Gina Carano, Dan Henderson, Cung Le, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Matt Serra.  The Fedor Emelianenko figurine, originally intended to be issued as part of Series 4, is going through an additional redesign and will instead appear as part of a future Series.

“We continue to work closely with Fedor and his team on making his figurine as accurate and true to his persona as possible,” added Lau.  “Consumers appreciate Round 5’s commitment to producing collectibles that capture each athlete’s individual style, and we look forward to completing the Fedor figurine with that goal in mind.”

Round 5 is also preparing for its large presence at the UFC Fan Expo in Las Vegas in July, where near-complete prototypes of Series 4 will be on display.

In addition to this week’s release of Series 3, Round 5 has issued two Series of four athletes each:   Randy Couture, Matt Hughes, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson and Tito Ortiz comprised Series 1 while Rich Franklin, Sean Sherk, Anderson Silva and Wanderlei Silva were released in Series 2.

Round 5 plans to release collectibles of two additional series of athletes later in 2009, one during each quarter.  Athletes to be represented in those series are yet to be announced.

Round 5 collectible figures may be purchased at leading retailers such as Walmart (Canada), Toys ‘R’ Us, FYE, Century Martial Arts, Sunrise Records, The Treadmill Factory and Hatashita International.  Other retailers can be found at www.round5mma.com/wheretobuy.php.

MMAweekly.com is reporting that COO of M-1 Global is interested in revisiting talks with the UFC in regards to a heavyweight match featuring WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko.

“I’d like to reach out with an invitation to Mr. Dana White, Mr. Brock Lesnar, and Mr. Frank Mir to come out to our show, the Trilogy show, and I’m sure we can arrange some front seat tickets, and they can watch a real championship fight. Hopefully we can follow up in the same lines as what the UFC has done for Mr. Mirko Cro Cop in a one-fight deal. I think we can make that happen for other occasions, and we’d like to make that happen.” said M-1 COO, Joost Raimond.

That is slightly backhanded. A real championship fight? I can’t wait to see Dana White’s video blog reaction to this.

Dana White has continually bashed Fedor Emelianenko for ducking the best heavyweights in the world, those heavyweights being in the UFC. In the story written by MMA Weekly, Raimond brings up a good point.

I’m not a sucker for statistics, but we did a little bit of homework, and we came up with an interesting fact. If you look at the UFC over history, if you include the interim heavyweight champions, they’ve had 17 champions in total. Mr. Fedor Emelianenko has done eight fights against UFC champions, against five different opponents. If we exclude his fights against Mr. Nogueira, who was a formidable opponent in his time, Fedor spent less than 15 minutes in the ring with these UFC champions and defeated them all.

I think the timing of this challenge is a little coincidental, seeing as this is Fedor will complete his three fight deal with Affliction at Affliction III. Is M-1 Global desperate to get Fedor signed somewhere? Affliction has asked their fighters to take pay cuts in the past, and it is unknown as to whether or not they will bring Emelianenko back for a second deal. Fedor could go to the Dream organization, but there are few notable heavyweights to oppose him there. Strikeforce is another candidate, but seeing as they just acquired EliteXC’s assets, I don’t see them having the extra cash lying around to spend on Emelianenko.

Bottom line is that Dana White doesn’t need to bring in Fedor. The UFC is tremendously successful without him and the high salary he commands.

Fedor’s representatives refuse to conform to Dana White’s contractual stipulations for Fedor, and that has led to problems in the past. I highly doubt White is willing to bend in order to sign Fedor.

Regardless, I am excited to see Dana’s profanity laced reaction to this invitation/challenge.