“We Will Know TUF Coaches On Friday”, Randy Retiring?, UFC To Rio, And More

Added on Dec 15, 2010 by John Petit in

UFC & MMA

A quick run down of some news going on in the MMA world today. This one is fact heavy, but more in a blog form.

-UFC President Dana White says the next “The Ultimate Fighter” coaches will be known on Friday. He also made sure to halt the rumors that the coaches would be Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen. There has been speculation that this season will have lighter weight fighters from the WEC merger, but we will have to wait till the end of the week to know for sure.

-I follow plenty of fighters on twitter, and right before I went on the air for my podcast (www.blogtalkradio.com/mmarecap) I read a tweet from Randy Couture. The tweet sounded a lot like he was retiring from M.M.A. Here is the tweet here:

Of course I went On Air under the impression that Randy had retired, and it didn’t make sense. I had to figure it all out in my head on the air, and I couldn’t stop myself from asking: Why would Randy retire on twitter? Turns out, it was not a retirement after all. He has since made comments on how he would like to fight Machida or Shogun, and his lawyer has spoken up. Sam Spira said “There’s been no official announcement,There’s been no decision. Any announcements or decisions would be likely coordinated with the UFC.”

-As I previously reported on Sportsbettingworld.com the UFC was thinking about having another fight in Brazil. Its official “UFC Rio” will take place Aug. 27, 2011, at the 18,000-seat HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro. Dana White and the UFC held a press conference today inside Rio’s City Palace, the official residence of Mayor Eduardo Paes. White told the press “I’m sure many of you have seen it on television, but I’m telling you right now, when we bring this live event down here to Rio, it is the most exciting live sporting event you will ever see. I know, coming from me, it sounds a little biased, but I’m telling you, when we get you inside that arena, what I call ‘the virus’ will spread.”

-UFC, DREAM and Affliction vet Jason High is expected to take on Hayato Sakurai (35-11-2) on New Year’s Eve at DREAM Dynamite!! 2010. He must hope to come out unscathed, as he is supposed to fight 30 days later at Titan Fighting Championships 16: Duffee vs. Wagner. There is even talk he will fight again in March at MFC, but no opponent has been named yet.

-The story gets worse for the fighters who fought at the “Nemesis” show the other night. Seems all of the checks have bounced for the fighters, and as you can imagine there are a lot of angry fighters and managers. I am not sure who these things get sorted out in the Dominican Republic, but I image there will be plenty of empty pockets when this thing ends. There has been no real word yet as to whether or not Keith Jardine was “slick” in his fight against ‘Kiko.’