This week’s "Hits from the MMA blogosphere":

To check out "Pals to tussle over Strikeforce lightweight belt" from Sergio Non’s Submissions and Strikes blog for USA Today, click here.





To check out "Melendez ready for war against Thomson" from Carlos Arias’ Keep Punching blog for the O.C. Register, click here.




To check out "Thomson ready to take on his friend" from Arias’ Keep
Punching blog, click here.





To check out "Strikeforce champion Cung Le goes Hollywood" from Jared Barnes’  Brawl Sports blog for the Houston Chronicle, click here.





To check out "Gary Shaw’s days at ProElite may be numbered" from Barnes’ Brawl Sports blog, click here.





To check out "FightTicker.com Exclusive: One-on-one with Houston ‘The
Assassin’ Alexander" from FightTicker.com’s Bryan Levick, click here.





To check out "Professors give MMA scholarly examination" from NBCSports.com’s David Avila, click here.

CBS and EliteXC announced that the next CBS Saturday Night Fights would be broadcast live from the Stockton Arena in Stockton, Calif. on Saturday, July 26 on the CBS Television Network.

The first installment of Saturday Night Fights left MMA purists yearning for more. We got the point. They wanted to lure the casual fan in, and they left the hard cores out to dry while they garnered a whole new audience. Were we happy about it? No, but Elite promised that the next fight card would be geared toward exposing the newly acquired fans to a pure version of the sport.

The first edition of Saturday Night Fights saw MMA fighters whose forte is to stand up and slug. Aside from Joey Villasenor, who has submissions to his credit but isn’t really known for submission prowess, there were no tapout specialists on the main card. The matchmakers wanted knockouts, and they put together a card chock full of fighters who win the majority of their fights by landing fists square on the jaw of their rivals.

Brett Rogers –87.5 percent of his fights won by knockout
Scott Smith – 84.62 percent of his fights won by knockout
Robbie Lawler – 80 percent of his fights won by knockout
Jon Murphy – 75 percent of his fights won by knockout
Phil Baroni – 70 percent of his fights won by knockout
Kimbo Slice – 66.67 percent of his fights won by knockout
James Thompson 64.29 percent of his fights won by knockout
Gina Carano – 50 percent of his fights won by knockout
Kaitlin Young – 50 percent of his fights won by knockout
Joey Villasenor – 47 percent of his fights won by knockout

The next card features an assortment of well-rounded fighters. Hopefully this is an effort to show new fans that MMA fights don’t have to end in brutal knockouts to be entertaining.

The fight card is:
-Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith – Rematch for the EliteXC Middleweight Championship
-Jake Shields vs. Nick Thompson
-Nick Diaz vs. Thomas Denny
-Antonio Silva vs. Sergei Kharitonov (rumored opponent) – EliteXC Heavyweight Championship bout

With any luck, I won’t have to read any articles by some over the hill dummy who will brand MMA as “Human Cockfighting” or “a glorified street fight” after this card takes place.

This is the type of card that a hardcore MMA fan expects to see, a blend of fighters with legitimate stand up, grappling, and wrestling skills.

Is it pure coincidence that the card is held in Stockton, California, the hometown of Nick Diaz? Probably not – EliteXC knew they hit gold when the brothers Diaz confronted the Noons family after KJ Noons stunning knockout over Yves Edwards. I am sure EliteXC is going to replay the post fight incident between Nick Diaz and KJ Noons the entire night in an effort to set up the hype for title fight rematch between the two rivals. This fight would hopefully take place in the third installment of CBS Saturday Night Fights.

Did Dana White keep good on his promise to Jesse Taylor?

When Dana gave Taylor the boot from “The Ultimate Fighter 7” finale, he told Taylor, in so many words, to grow up and get his head straight. Then maybe he would get a chance to fight in the UFC down the road

Well it appears that opportunity may come sooner rather then later.

According to a post made by Jesse Taylor on his Myspace account:

Okay yall, I first want to say Thank you for your support, kind words, and just everything. Im so busy these days with training and everything else it is very hard for me to get back to all you but again I do read all your comments and messages. Your peoples support helps me. and dont worry as well for I am JTMONEY and I am money, I will prevail, comeback and be better than ever.

Your guys favorite JTMONEY shirts went fast but Im gonna get them on my website www. yojtmoney. com by next week sometime and you can order one or five, there hot, sexy and you can train in them or hang them up or whatever. Ill also have special autographed JTMONEY shirts as well for a lil more money but well worth it. And yes this is me for I started this myspace years ago and I will be damned to have a manager or someone else run even though I am FLOODED but keep it comin yall.

ALSO THIS IS NOT THE END, JUST THE VERY BEGENNING, VERY GOOD NEWS AHEAD PLEASE SUPPORT THE MONEY MAN I WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN STAY POSTED AND FOR MORE UPDATED INFO FREQUENTLY CHECK THE WEBSITE FOR I KEEP PEOPLE UPDATED THERE MORE.

GOOD NEWS AHEAD AND A GREAT FIGHT ACOMIN! LOVE YALLLLLLLLLL

JT MONEY go to www. yojtmoney. com.

PEACE OUT!!!

Gotta love the money man.

The Ultimate Fighter 7 champion Amir Sadollah issued a sincere note to his fans today via his myspace account:

I just want to say I am blown away by the amount of support and love I’ve gotten from all you guys. I appreciate every bit of it, and Ive gotten so much of it in fact, its hard to respond to everyone. Just know Ill try my best to respond to everyone I can, but trust at very least Ive read it all and been touched by all the kind messages and well wishes. I’ll try to respond if at all possible, but if not just know I saw what you sent me, and i am grateful for you taking the time of your day to write me.

Thanks guys,

Amir

I am really glad Amir took the TUF title home. Amir is one of the more well rounded fighters to come out of “The Ultimate Fighter” series, and he is a very likable guy as well. He is the type of fighter that you want to see win, unlike some others who have won the show cough Michael Bisping cough. Amir has legitimate talent, and I think he will be a shining star in the years to come.

To check out “Amir Sadollah’s Ultimate Fighter Blog (Episode 12)” for the OC Register, click here.

To check out “Pre-fight analysis for ‘The Ultimate Fighter 7’ finale” from Larry Vollmer Jr.’s Inside the Octagon blog for The Journal News, click here.

To check out “The Diaz Bros. Bring the Ruckus” from Jared Barnes’ Brawl Sports blog for the Houston Chronicle, click here.

To check out “Exclusive: Nick Diaz sounds off about everything” from Carlos Arias’ Keep Punching blog for the O.C. Register, click here.

To check out “Exclusive Urijah Faber interview (w/video)” from Barnes’ Brawl Sports blog, click here.

To check out “Sanchez looks to streak back to the top” from NBCSports.com’s David Avila, click here.

To check out “Analysis: Whether to bet on favorites in non-UFC fights is an easy decision” from FightTicker.com’s Pramit Mohapatra, click here.

To check out “July 19 shows have UFC competing against its own history” from Sergio Non’s Strikes and Submissions blog for USA Today, click here.

To check out “Ultimate Hodge Podge?” from Tom Kim’s Ultimate Fan blog for the Seattle Post Intelligencer, click here.

To check out “Big John McCarthy on UFC vs. Affliction and MMA rules” from Arias’ Keep Punching blog, click here.

SPIKE TV’S “GAMETRAILERS TV WITH GEOFF KEIGHLEY” TO UNVEIL WORLD PREMIERE OF THQ’S UFC 2009 TRAILER
 
Tune-In to Spike TV On Friday Night, June 20th, at 1:00am ET/PT As Geoff Keighley and UFC President Dana White Debut Adrenaline-Filled Gameplay Footage
 

Spike TV’s “GameTrailers TV with Geoff Keighley” (GTTV) today announced they will world premiere the first gameplay footage trailer from THQ’s UFC 2009, on Friday night, June 20th, at 1:00amET/PT in HD.  Taking place in an authentic Ultimate Fighting Championship® setting, the game details the action, intensity and attitude of a UFC live event. Join Geoff Keighley and UFC President Dana White as they deliver the highly-anticipated trailer and reveal two key fighters in the game.  
 
“It’s always an honor when GTTV has the opportunity to debut the first look at a brand new game, and unveiling THQ’s UFC 2009 trailer is no exception,” said Geoff Keighley, host of GTTV.  “This game trailer takes fans into the Octagon™ with some of the best UFC fighters in the world and will leave their ears ringing with excitement.”  
 
UFC 2009 is the first videogame to be released as a part of THQ’s agreement with the world’s leading mixed martial arts organization, which continues to experience sold-out crowds at live events, grow its worldwide pay-per-view audience and reach its key demographic through the Spike TV reality television series “The Ultimate Fighter®,” now in its seventh season.  The videogame is expected to feature a number of UFC fighters and champions, as well as all other UFC event content, including the famed Octagon.  UFC 2009 is tentatively scheduled for release in spring 2009.  
 

After the most controversial finale in “The Ultimate Fighter” history, we get to see a rematch between Amir Sadollah and CB Dolloaway to determine “The Ultimate Fighter 7”, live from the Palms Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Televised Bouts:

-Evan Tanner vs. Kendall Grove
-Diego Sanchez vs. Luigi Fioravanti
-Spencer Fisher vs. Jeremy Stephens
-Amir Sadollah vs CB Dolloway

Here are my predictions for the fight card.

Middleweights – Evan Tanner vs. Kendall Grove

After almost a two-year layoff, the former UFC middleweight champion had a tough task ahead of him, and was sent to the canvas in round 2 for his efforts when he battled Yushin Okami in his return to the UFC. When Evan Tanner made hiscomeback, I was pretty surprised to see that he would be facing Yushin Okami. If I were making matches, I would have had Tanner fight Grove first, and then square off against Okami, provided he was successful against Grove. But I don’t make the matches, I just write about them. Kendall Grove is on a 2 fight-losing streak. He needs to win this fight, but I don’t see him winning it. I think Tanner has seen the best of his career, but I also think he has too much experience and gas in the tank to be defeated by Grove. Grove has no punching power. He has pretty slick submissions, but Tanner has won 63 percent of his fights by submission, so I don’t see Grove putting Tanner to sleep or knocking him out. I think Grove has been over rated since winning TUF 3. This is a must win fight for both fighters, and I look for Tanner to be victorious.

Prediction: Evan Tanner – TKO Round 2

Welterweights – Diego Sanchez vs. Luigi Fioravanti

Once upon a time, Diego Sanchez was running through the competition, and was working his way up the ladder for a title shot.

After losing back-to-back matches to Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch, Sanchez rebounded successfully with a knockout victory of UFC newcomer David Bielkheden. This is a really good fight for Diego. He needs to rack up a few more wins to get back in the good graces of his fans and to work his way back up to title shot contention. Luigi Fioravanti hits pretty hard. He has 7 KO victories. Sanchez has never been knocked out or submitted, so I don’t see Fioravanti dropping Sanchez. Fioravanti has also had trouble with the bigger names in the UFC, guys like Jon Fitch and Chris Leben. I think Sanchez will find a way to get this fight to the ground and use his superior grappling ability to choke Fioravanti out.

Prediction: Diego Sanchez – Submission – Round 1

Lightweights – Spencer Fisher vs. Jeremy Stephens

This is going to be a slug fest. Both of these guys are known to stand up and bang it out, and I expect nothing less from this bout. Spencer has some submission skills, but I never see him pursuing the take down and trying to pull off a submission. There isn’t much else to say about this fight. Someone is going down, or it’s going to be a slug fest to decision. I’m going TKO/KO Fisher.

Prediction – Spencer Fisher TKO/KO Round 2

Amir Sadollah vs. CB Dolloway – Winner is declared “The Ultimate Fighter 7”
The first bout between CB and Amir was pretty exciting, but it showed huge gaps in both of their arsenals. CB Dolloway’s stand up needs some serious work. He throws his punches hard , but he also lets his hands flail and never brings his fists back to his face/ leaving his chin wide open for counter strikes. Tim Credeur was able to capitalize on this a few times in his fight with Dolloway, landing crisp jabs and crosses square on the chin of CB.

Of the two fighters, Amir obviously has the better stand up . He is more fluid on his feet and his combinations are crisp. Amir likes to throw flying knees and superman punches, and was taken down numerous times for his efforts in his first fight with Dolloway. He has to watch out for that this time around. Luckily for Amir, Dolloway sat in Amir’s guard and never did a lot of damage, aside from the one elbow that split Amir open. Amir was constantly looking for submissions and eventually pulled a very slick arm bar off.

I think that Amir is the all around better fighter of the two. Dolloway has more power and better wrestling, but his stand up leaves much to be desired and his ground and pound was not vicious enough to neutralize the very active guard of Amir. I think we are going to see a more patient Amir Sadollah in the finale. I think he will work punch/kick combinations without attempting the superman punches and flying knees in the clinch. I have to believe that he is drilling his sprawls and take down defense hardcore. If he can neutralize CB’s take downs, this fight is his for the taking. Both of these guys are good, but Amir just impresses me all around.

Prediction: Amir Sadollah – Unanimous Decision

Jesse “JT Money” Taylor has issued an apology, of sorts, via his myspace blog.

If you watched TUF7 last night, you saw Dana White give Taylor , originally a finalist, the boot after Taylor kicked the window out of a limosine and caused a ruckus inside a Las Vegas casino.

The apology reads:

I want to apologize peoples. [expletive] happens. My head is up, Ill prevail, thank you for the support. Keep the faith. and once in awhile check out www.Yojtmoney.com, stay tuned this is not the end, and drunkness is for fooools.

Stay up

JTMONEY, www.yojtmoney.com

Yahoo Sports writer Kevin Iole is reporting that co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta has resigned his position as president of Station Casinos to take on a more active role in expanding the UFC’s international endeavors.

Fertitta is expected to focus on developing the international business of the company as the UFC expands into Germany and other European countries, the Philippines and other Asian countries, Australia, and South America.

As mentioned by both Fertitta and company president Dana White in Iole’s report, the move is not a result of White’s performance as president of the company, but rather an indication of how much growth the company has undergone and intends to sustain in the future.

In one of the most stunning twists in the history of the Ultimate Fighter, for the first time, a competitor who endured through six weeks of living in seclusion with fifteen other mixed martial artists in the Las Vegas desert, and defeated three of his house mates for the right to fight for a guaranteed six figure contract with the UFC®, will not be participating in the show’s live finale.

The show is 90 minutes, and will air on SpikeTV at 10PM ET.