I had the opportunity to speak with the International Fight League light heavyweight champion Roy “Big Country” Nelson. Roy will defend his title against Brad Imes this Friday at the Mohegan Sun Arena ; the fight will air live on HDNet.

Roy talked about training for a late replacement in Imes, the desire to fight top 10 heavyweights like Fedor Emelianenko and Josh Barnett, and the IFL’s new six-sided ring, “The Hex”.

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I just got off the phone with 6’7” heavyweight fighter Brad Imes. You may remember Imes as a runner up in “The Ultimate Fighter” season 2; he lost a close split decision to Rashad Evans and was a hair away from becoming the “The Ultimate Fighter” from season 3.

Imes will be challenging IFL heavyweight champion Roy “Big Country” Nelson, and his making his debut in the International Fight League this Friday night at Mohegan Sun. We covered a few topics including his training for the fight, his contract with the IFL, his back to back gogoplata submission victories and much more.

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Friday’s fight card:
IFL Mohegan Sun
Friday, May 16, 2008 (order TBD)

Preliminary Bouts
155 lbs.: Frank Latina (Middletown, Conn.) (0-0 IFL, 4-1 overall MMA) vs. John Franchi (Cortland, N.Y.) (Team Bombsquad) (0-0, 3-0)
205 lbs.: Aaron Stark (Portland, Ore.) (Team Quest) (2-2, 5-4) vs. Lamont Lister (Philadelphia) (Team Bombsquad) (0-0, 5-3)
170 lbs.: John Howard (Boston) (0-0 IFL, 8-3 overall MMA) vs. Nick Calandrino (Emerson, N.J.) (Team Bombsquad) (0-0, 5-0)
155 lbs.: Zac George (Norman, Okla.) (Team Quest) (1-1, 12-2) vs. Josh Souder (Mason, Ohio) (Team Prodigy) (0-0, 10-6)
185 lbs.: Matt Horwich (Portland, Ore.) (Team Quest) (6-4, 21-10-1) vs. Joey Guel (Oregon) (0-0, 12-5)
185 lbs.: Danillo Villefort (Pompano Beach, Fla.) (World Class Fight Center) (0-0, 6-2) vs. Mike Massenzio (Paterson, N.J.) (Team Bombsquad) (0-0, 10-1)

Championship Bouts
185 lbs.: *Ryan McGivern (Bettendorf, Iowa) (Miletich Fighting Systems) (6-4, 12-5) vs. Dan Miller (Sparta, N.J.) (AMA Fight Club) (1-0, 7-1)
265 lbs.: *Roy Nelson (Las Vegas) (Lion’s Den) (5-1, 12-2) vs. Brad Imes (Sacramento, Calif.) (Miletich Fighting Systems) (0-0, 11-4)
155 lbs.: *Ryan Schultz (North Platte, Neb.) (Team Quest) (6-2, 19-9-1) vs. Deividas Taurosevicius (Lithuania) (Renzo Gracie) (3-0, 9-2)

*Current Titleholder

After episode 6 of the “The Ultimate Fighter”, I had the opportunity to speak with Jeremy May.

We discussed his knee injury, life inside the TUF7 house, life after The Ultimate Fighter 7, his thoughts on his fight with Matt Brown, and a few other topics.

After watching the show,I didn’t want to like Jeremy, but I came out of this conversation liking him a lot.

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A few weeks ago, I posted a blog about Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s appearance on the nationally syndicated Opie and Anthony radio show. I posted a few random comments made by the UFC light heavyweight champ. In one of those comments, Jackson said Wanderlei Silva refered to Wanderlei Silva as the “Chump Murderer”, not the “Axe Murderer”.

I just came across an interview published on www.fighthype.com. The interviewer, Percy Crawford, asks Rampage about the controversial comment made about Silva:

I didn’t call Wanderlei the “Chump Murderer.” I ain’t never said nothing like that. That is kind of disrespectful. I just said he was fighting chumps. If people want to put words in my mouth, they need to grow the hell up. I don’t care nothing about some fans getting mad because I’m being a fighter.

Later in the interview:

I can say whatever I want. I am in America and part of being in America is that we have freedom of speech, but I did not say Forrest Weakchin and Wanderlei Chump Murderer. I did not say those words.

This is where the discrepancy lies. I am not sure what controversial comments were said about Forrest, but Quinton blatantly calls Wanderlei “The Chump Murderer”.

I listen to Opie and Anthony every day. I remember this interview very clearly because it is not very often that Opie and Anthony book UFC fighters; when they do I make sure I listen very carefully.

According to the audio from the Opie and Anthony show, Quinton blatantly called Wanderlei “The Chump Murderer”.

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