VISALIA, CA –RingSport.com Fans of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighting in California’s central valley will be treated to a night of excitement at PureCombat’s “Bombs Away!” event on Friday, June 6^th in Visalia.

Headline MMA Event

In the headline event of the evening Champion Brett ‘Fudoshin’ Cooper will defend his title against Dustin ‘the Rooster’ Arden. The co-main event pits former professional boxer turned MMA fighter Hector ‘the Pride of Tulare’ Alatorre, Jr. (boxing record of 15-3) in a rematch with Elvis Franco of Hanford.

After the past weekend’s WEC dual championship defenses at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, CA by WEC Featherweight Urijah Faber and Bantamweight Miguel Torres, central valley fans are hungry for more MMA action, and PureCombat predicted tickets would sell out by mid-morning on Friday.

The MMA Promoter

www.RingSports.com caught up with promoter Al Joslin recently in an audio conference who said “We’re so honored to be promoting fights in the central valley of California. It’s a real honor to be able to work here near our home in the valley as well as throughout the rest of California and the Western states. We’re promoting MMA nationwide and are actively growing into places like Michigan and Florida. This country is really ready for MMA on a mass scale.”

The MMA Fights

At “Bombs Away” in total, 9 bouts will take place with 18 of the nation’s best mixed martial arts fighters. Doors will open at 6 PM, and fights begin at 7:30 PM.

Former UFC Heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell attended PureCombat’s recent MMA event in Stockton in early May as a spectator, and many in the crowd appeared excited to be at the same event as such a legend in the sport. The crowd was frequently on its feet during a well planned evening full of exciting and brutal mixed martial arts competitions.

“Big Daddy” Joe Stevenson from the UFC® and The Ultimate Fighter® fame will be on hand at this event to do the live commentating and quick interviews in the cage with the opponents following their fight.

Don’t miss the action for the upcoming event Friday the 6^th in Visalia!

FOR TICKETS: call (559) 713-4040 or online at www.PureCombatMMA.com

Event sponsored by BudLight, SpecterGear, and www.RingSports.com

By Patrick McGilvray

SACRAMENTO, CA –RingSports.com WEC Featherweight Champion Urijah Faber of Sacramento defended his world champion mixed martial arts (MMA) title against a worthy competitor in former UFC Lightweight champion Jens Pulver on Sunday night on cable’s Versus TV at Sacramento’s Arco Arena.

The 33 year old veteran Pulver appeared to be on the defensive for most of the fight with the younger and seemingly fitter 29 year old Faber. Fighting in front of an adoring sellout hometown crowd at the Arco Arena, Faber seemed eager to press his opponent in ways that many did not suspect. Known for his ground game and fierce elbows, Faber chose to stand up and exchange punches and kicks with Pulver for much of the fight.

Faber was rocked on a few occasions by Pulver’s punches, and, to his credit, Pulver absorbed many powerful punches and kicks from “The California Kid,” without losing his will to fight. But, on the overhead screens between rounds Pulver looked somewhat out of his element and the judges affirmed this appearance by handing Faber an overwhelming 45-15 unanimous victory.

Fighting at 145 lbs the two MMA warriors showed the crowd that they were there to prove their skills and earn each other’s respect. Faber took Pulver to the ground numerous times, but failed to secure a knockout or submission from the experienced Pulver. In the post-fight interview Faber thanked his supporters including his team that trains with him at his gym, www.UltimateFitness.pro

The other biggest fight of the night, and a definite crowd pleaser, was that of WEC Bantamweight champion Miguel Torres and Japan’s Yoshiro Maeda. This bought was a hard-fought victory that ended with the champion retaining his title after the fight was stopped because Maeda’s right eye was so swollen that he could not see out of it at the end of the third round.

The disappointed Maeda clearly wanted to continue fighting and protested the referee’s decision. But, Torres, showing true character, honored his opponent with a hug and walked him around the ring raising his hand. This display of sportsmanship thrilled the crowd almost as much as the arguably most spectacular moment of the entire night when the two fighters had each others’ ankles in a dual attempt at submission via an ankle lock.

The other fights at the event ended as follows:

Mark Munoz vs. Chuck Grigsby – Munoz by knockout in the first round (punches)

Rob McCullough vs. Kenneth Alexander – McCullogh via split decision
Donald Cerrone vs. Danny Castillo – Cerrone via submission in the first round (armbar)
Mike Brown vs. Jeff Curran – Brown via unanimous decision
Will Ribeiro vs. Chase Beebe – Rebeiro via split decision
Jeremy Lang vs. Tim McKenzie – McKenzie via knockout (guillotine choke)
Luis Sapo vs. Alex Serdyukov – Serdyukov via TKO after end of round 1
Jose Aldo vs. Alexandre Nogueira – Aldo via referee stoppage in second round (elbows)
Dominick Cruz vs. Charlie Valencia – Cruz via unanimous decision

About RingSports.com - www.RingSports.com is the internet presence for the 19 year old RingSports magazine. With deep roots in boxing and a future in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), RingSports.com brings fight fans across the planet news and exclusive interviews from fighters. For more exclusive interviews and news coverage please see www.YouTube.com/RingSports and visit our site as we continue to provide unique stories to MMA fans worldwide. Please check back to our site frequently as it is constantly being updated and will soon provide fans and fighters an entire line of apparel and gear to support the MMA lifestyle.

This story was sponsored by www.TheHomeBuyingCenter.com

By The Canadian Press

LAS VEGAS — There is bad blood in the main event, star power in the rest of the card and a number of promising newcomers. UFC 84: Ill Will offers up an intriguing mixed martial arts menu Saturday night.

B.J. (The Prodigy) Penn defends his lightweight crown against former champion Sean (The Muscle Shark) Sherk in a bout set against a backdrop of the positive steroids test that cost Sherk his belt. Sherk has denied doping but that hasn’t stopped Penn from pushing Sherk’s buttons in advance of the fight, labelling him a coward and a cheat.

Sherk (35-2-1) is a relentless wrestler who repeatedly smashed through the guard of jiu-jitsu black belt Hermes Franca last time out at UFC 73 in July 2007, when both fighters failed drug tests. Penn (13-4-1) is also a black belt but is considered in a class of his own when it comes to jiu-jitsu. And he showed surprising power in his January win over Joe Stevenson for the vacant title, stunning Stevenson with the second punch of the fight.

“I see both of these guys as having the potential to win this fight, for sure,” said lightweight contender Kenny Florian. “I don’t think it’s one of those fights where there’s a clearcut winner.

“Sherk makes for an interesting matchup against B.J. I think the first two rounds are going to be critical. He needs to be able to put enough pressure on B.J. to really wear on him and B.J. needs to get the job done in the first couple of rounds.”

Sherk, 34, is a workout freak who has gone five rounds in three of his last five UFC fights (including a win over Florian for the vacant title at UFC 64). Penn, 29, has had cardio issues in the past but seems to have got his act together since returning to the 155-pound lightweight division.

Still Sherk is unconvinced that Penn has a new gas tank.

“He says he just woke up one day and decided ‘Hey, I think I’m going to start training harder,”‘ he said. “Maybe he did, maybe he woke up and decided he was going to start training harder but it really is a 24-hour a day, seven-day-a-week commitment. There’s no off time.

“For me, I don’t even take time off my diet. I diet for 14 weeks straight, same crappy food all the time and that’s what it takes to get great cardio and I just don’t think he’s done that. We’ll find out Saturday night but I don’t think it’s going to be as good as he says it is.”

“All I can say is I trained as hard as I could . . .I feel ready,” answers Penn.

Stevenson and Jens Pulver weren’t able to test Sherk’s theory. Neither made it to the third round.

“The way that B.J. fights, I’m not even sure he’s concerned with that (cardio),” said Florian, who could face the winner for the title if he survives Roger Huerta at UFC 87 in August. “He just goes the good old blitzkrieg, as soon as the fight starts.”

Sherk, for his part, has had trouble putting opponents away. That could cost him against Penn, who won’t be giving up many freebies in the cage,

Elsewhere, Tito (The Huntington Beach Bad Boy) Ortiz makes his UFC swan song before heading over to greener pastures elsewhere in the MMA world. UFC president Dana White, who once managed Ortiz, loathes the former light-heavyweight champion and has done him no favours with a farewell date with unbeaten Brazilian Lyoto Machida (12-0).

Ortiz made his feelings known at Friday’s weigh-in when he wore a T-shirt that said “Dana is my Bitch!” White did not attend the weigh-in.

It will be the 21st UFC fight for the 33-year-old Ortiz, who will be mighty motivated to leave the organization on a win. Ortiz (16-5-1) is the bigger man, but is on the downside of his career. Machida, 29, is hitting his prime.

“He’s the new breed of mixed martial arts fighter,” said Florian. “He’s good everywhere. … He poses a lot of problems for Tito Ortiz.

“I think maybe the younger Tito Ortiz, I’d give him more of a chance but right now Tito definitely has his hands full.”

“Lyoto is a very complete fighter,” said fellow Brazilian Wanderlei (The Axe Murderer) Silva.

Silva, who sees Ortiz’s chances as 50-50, has his own challenge in Keith (The Dean of Mean) Jardine on Saturday. The former Pride star has lost his last three fights, although admittedly they were to Chuck (The Iceman) Liddell, Dan Henderson and Mirko (Cro Cop) Filipovic.

At UFC 79 in December, Silva (31-8-1) was unable to handle the reach of the bigger Liddell. Jardine (13-4-1) is also bigger so there will be more of the same Saturday. Plus the Dean of Mean has renowned trainer Greg Jackson in his corner.

“I think he’s going to win and he’s going to shock a lot of people,” said welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre, who often trains with Jardine.

Another 205-pounder worth watching Saturday is unbeaten Brazilian Thiago Silva, who took down Houston (The Assassin) Alexander at UFC 78. Thiago Silva (11-0) is big and has a mean streak. He’ll be looking to show off his trademark throat-slashing gesture with a win over UFC newcomer Antonio Mendes (14-2) of Brazil.

One-time NFL prospect Shane Carwin (8-0) makes his UFC debut in a heavyweight tilt with Christian Wellisch (9-2). The 33-year-old Carwin, an engineer to Wellisch’s lawyer, is six foot three inches and 260 pounds of lean beef.

“He’s phenomenal. He’s a big monster,” said Jackson. “He boxes well, he wrestles well. You’re going to be real impressed with him.”

Another newcomer is 24-year-old Croatian light-heavyweight Goran Reljic (7-0), who is matched up against Wilson Gouveia (10-4). The six-foot-three Reljic has matinee ideal good looks to go with a purple belt in jiu-jitsu under Roger Gracie. Gouveia, who hold a black belt and is coming off a KO over Jason (The Punisher) Lambert, will test his skills.

Canadian-born middleweight Ivan Salaverry (12-5-1), who now calls Seattle home, faces Rousimar Palhares (16-1) in the Brazilian grappler’s first UFC fight

Mixed martial arts (MMA) fans are eagerly anticipating the biggest Featherweight title fight in the history of the sport on June 1, 2008 as “The California Kid” Urijah Faber defends his WEC featherweight title belt against Jens “Lil Evil” Pulver.

The match between the current WEC Champion Faber and former UFC® star Pulver will be broadcast on the Versus network and promises to be an explosive contest between two world-class fighters. The match will be broadcast on June 1 at 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT). A preview “WEC Outside the Cage: Faber vs. Pulver” will be broadcast May at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET.

Faber is currently the top-ranked featherweight MMA fighter in the world with a record of 20-1. he earned the WEC Featherweight title in March of 2006 and has successfully defended it four times since then. His most recent victory came when he choked out Jeff Curran in December of 2006 in the fight’s second round. For an exclusive interview with Urijah Faber please see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z98DUcCzbVY

Jens Pulver has a record of 22-8-1 and was the first lightweight champion in the UFC®. Pulver is undefeated in his last eight fights in the 145 lb division. Pulver has a long history in MMA as well as boxing and all indications are that he takes this fight very seriously.

Also on the card for the June 1 event will be Miguel Angel Torres (33-1) defending his WEC Bantamweight champion belt versus Yoshira Maeda (23-4-2). Another fight that will be on the same card will be WEC Lightweight champ Rob McCullogh who is defending against Kenneth Alexander. Mark Munoz will also fight Chuck Grigsby the same night.

Order your tickets for this great fight at TicketMaster.com

by George Wong

There´s also a concern thTo The recent meteoric rise of MMA, (mixed martial arts), but more specifically, the UFC the last three years has been dogged by one major question: Is it merely a fad or a bonafide trend? This is a fair question with all things that seemingly come out of nowhere like the UFC has.

Four years ago, nobody outside of the hardcore fans knew who Chuck Liddell, Georges St. Pierre, Rampage Jackson or Tito Ortiz were. Now, it´s hard to find an 18-25yr old male who doesn´t know these guys. But in order for the sport to continue its rise or maintain its trajectory, several things must come together.

Recent numbers for their main revenue stream, pay-per-views, have been very strong. UFC 79, 82 and 83 rank in the UFC´s top 10 grossing pay-per-views. This, in spite of the UFC recently having raised their pay-per-view prices by five dollars. These numbers can be attributed to their headline fighters. More on these fighters later. UFC 79 had the long-hyped “dream match” of Chuck Liddell vs Wanderlei Silva and Matt Hughes vs Georges St. Pierre in a contender elimination match. UFC 82 was built around basically one fighter, Brock Lesnar. Lesnar carried lots of fame/fans from his pro wrestling days with him into the octagon, and it showed. It was a relatively weak card but the promotion was based on his match with Frank Mir. UFC 83 speaks for itself, the very first UFC card in Canada, with Canada´s top MMA fighter Georges St. Pierre challenging the wise-talking New Yorker who dethroned him a year ago.

Getting back to the headlining fighters, Chuck Liddell is 38 years old. Matt Hughes is 34 and has “two to three” fights left before he retires. Wanderlei Silva is 32, but has lots of miles on him, and he´s not a very big name in the States. Heavyweight Champ Randy Couture is 44 years old and is entangled in a legal dispute with the company. Brock Lesnar has a pro record of 1-1 even though he is already 31 years old and is untested in MMA. Of these fighters, only Georges St. Pierre is young, at age 26 has a long career ahead of him. The company needs to find ways to build new headliners and it appears it had done a good job so far. Forrest Griffin, Roger Huerta, Anderson Silva, Rampage Jackson and “second tier” fighters Diego Sanchez, Jon Fitch, Kenny Florian are just a show a similarity, look at pro wrestling. In its heyday of the late 90s, it´s top stars were the Rock and StoneCold Steve Austin. Now its top star is John Cena. While Cena is a star, he´s nowhere near the Rock and Austin´s level, and the business has reflected as much.
e UFC may be burning out its home base, Las Vegas. They had to heavily “paper” or give away free tickets to its UFC 81 show to make the live crowd larger even though pay-per-view for this show was strong. Multiple cards may have worn the novelty off, but the UFC is smart enough to expand and take their show on the road.

The last major concern is the lack of a major network television deal. The UFC has been in negotiations with several networks, bu the stumbling block appears to be how the show will be presented. The UFC wants to use its own announcers while the networks want to use their people. The UFC believes their own people got them there, and want their own people announcing their own product and rightfully so. Until this last hurdle is cleared, there´s no guarantee of smooth sailing. A niche network like SpikeTV doesn´t cut it.

 Michael David Smith

On Thursdays post about which fight various MMA writers most want to see, FanHouse commenter Drew asked, “MDS, you watched ESPN.com Original series MMA Live???? discuss it after viewing it.”
So there you have it, the premier episode of MMA Live, a 30-minute show that appears to be taped in an ESPN studio in Bristol, just like SportsCenter and ESPN’s other studio shows, but that is shown only on ESPN.com, not on television.

I liked it a lot. Host Jon Anik and analysts Kenny Florian and Franklin McNeil offered good analysis of all the major issues — Fedor Emelianenko’s upcoming Affliction fight, Tito Ortiz’s upcoming final UFC fight, whether Randy Couture will ever have another fight, and so on.

I also like the fact that this is ESPN covering mixed martial arts as a sport and not as a spectacle. That is a very good sign that there are people at ESPN who “get it” when it comes to MMA.

Will the show succeed? Will it ever move off ESPN.com and onto TV? I don’t know. There are three commercial for Toyota Trucks during the show, so I assume it’s bringing in some revenue, but I also as

After a sold out event in February, Cage Combat Fighting Championship (CCFC) returns on Saturday May 17^th at the Grace Pavilion in Santa Rosa, CA. with Mayhem. Twelve scheduled fights including 3 title fights will be showcased that night. Plus, special guest appearance by UFC veteran Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller.

The main event will feature a heavyweight title fight with the newly crowned champion Rick “The Savage” Cheek (4-1) taking on Buddy Roberts (4-1) out of Ken Shamrock’s Lion’s Den. Cheek captured the title by knocking out Richard Blake, which was the 1^st time Blake had been knocked out. “This is going to be a war between to two knockout artists, don’t blink or leave your seat. This one won’t go the distance, I guarantee it” says Todd Middendorp, Co-Owner and Matchmaker for CCFC. “Roberts was suppose to fight Cheek for the belt last time, but had to pullout due to illness. So we decided to give him the opportunity again to face Cheek for the belt. He accepted without hesitation” added Middendorp. Look for fireworks to go off in this main event as each has the capability to KO their opponent at any moment.

Middleweight Champion David Mitchell (6-0) makes the first defense of his title in front of his hometown against Sacramento’s Jeff Morris (5-4). Mitchell one the belt at CCFC 4 Meltdown with a unanimous decision, but has since been sidelined by injuries. “Mitchell was suppose to defend his belt at the last show, but had minor knee surgery back in the beginning of December that sidelined him for awhile”, says CCFC’s Middendorp. “He faces a tough challenge in Morris. Morris’s record is deceiving; one may look at his record with 4 losses and think Mitchell is being given an easy title defense.” Not so says Middendorp, “All of Morris’s losses have been in title fights or against number one contenders” With Morris’s KO power look for Mitchell to bring this fight to the ground where he can put his Gracie Jiu-Jitsu skills to work.

In what has all the makings of fight of the night, undefeated Welterweight Champion James Terry (5-0) from Cung Le’s Team USH makes his first title defense against Jeremiah Metcalf (7-4) from Team Voodoo. At CCFC 6 Annihilation Metcalf had the KO of the night against Josh McDonald who had never been knocked out in any of his fights. “Metcalf is someone my brother and I had been trying to sign for awhile. I have followed his career since the beginning. He’s always been willing to fight the best at any moment. He was a champion in another organization and basically got his belt screwed away from him. We jumped at the opportunity to bring this talented fighter into our organization to provide our fans with a great title fight”, Middendorp added. “Terry is going to have his hands full in his first title defense, but so far in his career he has always come through every challenge. He is trained by a champion in Cung Le, so he knows what it takes to rise above and win” With a rich talent pool in Cage Combat’s Welterweight division, look for tough title defenses for whoever comes out on top that night.

Also scheduled to appear at Mayhem; undefeated fighters Danny Castillo (4-0) from Uriah Faber’s Ultimate Fitness, KY Hollenbeck (1-0) out of World Team USA, and Heavyweight fighter JC Cearley (3-0) from Shingu Academy will be tested that night. You will not want to miss Mayhem on Saturday May 17^th at the Grace Pavilion in Santa Rosa CA, doors open at 5:30pm the first fight at 7pm. Tickets are priced as low as $50 and can be purchased at all TicketMaster locations or at www.TicketMaster.com. For more information visit www.CageCombatFighting.com.

Friday, May 9th, 2008, PURECOMBAT arrives at the Stockton Memorial Civic Auditorium with BRING THE PAIN! This card features 12 full contact cage fights, headlined by a bout for the PURECOMBAT World Middleweight Championship.

In the main event, Jaime ‘El Cucui’ Jara takes on the King of Stockton, Steve Heath for the
PURECOMBAT World Middleweight Title. Jara, fighting out of Sacramento’s Team Carnage, has held world titles in four different weight divisions, and hopes to add one more belt to his collection. A high school wrestling standout known for his jujitsu acumen and power striking, Jara is one of the most feared cage fighters in northern California. Heath, the King of Stockton, is a ten year veteran of mixed martial arts, an expert in jujitsu. He registered a first round submission win in his last bout, defeating Phil ‘the Pain’ Collins. These two modern day gladiators will stop at nothing to be crowned the PURECOMBAT World Middleweight Champion.

In the co-main event, lightweight UFC veteran Kelly Dullanty clashes with Oregon’s Lance Wipf. Dullanty, training out of Werneck’s Brazilian Jujitsu, steps back into the cage after a six year absence. A dominating and well-rounded fighter, Dullanty’s only loss came at the hands of current UFC Welterweight World Champion Matt ‘the Terror’ Serra. Wipf, a college wrestler, comes into this bout riding a four win streak. Representing the Havuk Skwod, he intends to make Dullanty’s return to the cage an unpleasant one. This will be Wipf’s toughest opponent in his professional career, but he hopes to capitalize on Dullanty’s ring rust to capture a win over the UFC veteran.

There also will be a woman fight, featuring Stocktons own Jennifer Tate.

Don’t miss a night of brutal mixed martial arts action as 24 of the nation’s top fighters step into the cage in Stockton, CA’s Memorial Civic Auditorium. Friday, May 9th, the doors open at 6pm and fights start at 7:30pm. For tickets, call Stockton Tickets at (209) 373-1700 or go online at www.purecombatmma.com