UFC

Thiago Alves vs Matt Brown lined up for Aug 17th, UFC on FOX Sports 1 in Boston.

A fit Alves is a danger to all, be good to see him back.

UFC headed from ESPN to BT Sport.


UFC has agreed to a new three-year television deal with British Telecon (sic) Sports in the U.K., effective in August, and lasting until 2016. BT Sports will replace ESPN U.K. as the home of UFC. ESPN U.K. doesn't have a lot of penetration, being a pay channel, and aired almost all UFC programming live, which meant it started 2-4 a.m. That's great for servicing the super hardcore fans, who were able to get all the PPVs free with a subscription to the channel, and hardcore U.K. sports fans are used to staying up all night to see major events from other parts of the world. But you aren't going to get casual fans to do so. UFC was looking for a deal that would include airing programming in prime time, both taped matches and magazine shows. UFC officials were not talking about this deal, which at press time was not officially announced. Over the weekend, when Garry Cook, who handled a lot of the media in Sweden, was asked about the subject, he said he had nothing to say, just saying the deal hasn't been announced but a deal was on the verge of being announced. British Telecon Sports is a new channel being built on the back of a three-year contract with the English Premier League, the top soccer league in the country, which is the closest thing to their NFL. BT is getting 38 games per season, a lot of them high profile. Sky is still the place to be for sports and for whatever reason, they haven't made a deal with UFC. ESPN U.K. is about to become non-existent, selling their assets to BT.


Full story: http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2013/4/13/422...n-purchase

The full details of the BT channel will be out on Thursday, I hope it can be purchased by Sky customers for a similar price to ESPN, I doubt it though given the 38 Premier League games they've got.

Apparently the first show on there will be UFC 163 Aldo v Pettis, which I believe is currently scheduled for August 3rd in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

I've not forgot about the predictions table by the way, I've been keeping the scores but haven't had time to post it, hopefully in the next week?

Former UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion Shane Carwin Announces Retirement

Former UFC interim heavyweight champion Shane Carwin on Tuesday announced that he has hung up his gloves for the final time, announcing his retirement via his official Twitter account.

“Officially retired 2day:-) thank you to my family, friends and fans! #dreambig GOD BLESS!!!” he wrote.

Carwin made his way to the UFC in May of 2008 on the strength of eight first-round finishes in his first eight fights as a professional.

He never looked back, winning his first four fights in the Octagon, keeping his streak of first-round finishes intact. Carwin defeated Christian Wellisch, Neil Wain, and Gabriel Gonzaga before demolishing Frank Mir for the interim UFC heavyweight championship in March of 2010 at UFC 111.

Carwin lost his interim belt to returning heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar in July at UFC 116.

He was then slated to fight Roy Nelson, but had to pull out of the bout due to back and neck pain that he eventually had neck surgery to alleviate. The injury and surgery sidelined him for the remainder of 2010 and the early part of 2011.

Carwin returned on June 11, 2011, at UFC 131 for the longest fight of his career. He took Junior dos Santos the full three rounds before losing a unanimous decision. It was the only time in Carwin’s career that one of his bouts went the distance.

It would also end up being the final bout of his career.

Carwin initially intended to return to the Octagon in late 2011 or early 2012, but succumbed to another surgery, this time on his back.

Midway through 2012, Carwin was tapped to coach The Ultimate Fighter 16 opposite Roy Nelson. He fulfilled his coaching obligations, but had to back out of their planned fight at the TUF 16 Finale scheduled for December.

This time it was Carwin’s knee that put him out of action.

During his career, Carwin amassed a 12-0 record – winning every fight in the first round – en route to becoming a UFC champion, before slipping to a final 12-2 resume.

All the while, he remained the same blue-collar, hard-working engineer that he was when he began his journey. Carwin always held his family up as his greatest achievement before anything he ever accomplished in the cage.

Was always a favourite of mine big Shane, frightening at his best, could ko any man alive. Top lad and an absolute warrior. Wish he could've finished Lesnar that night for the undisputed title, was so close! All the best to him for the future.



Thanks for the memories!

sup guys, iam back damn broadband went a bit dodgy took a bit to sort

sucks about Carwin, but he's not young for a fighter and has had some massive injuries the fact he has aother job to go to probably makes the decision easier for him.

Just read BT sport will be free for bt broadband customers, not sure weather that will be just online or on sky aswell. just noticed this morning channels 413 and 414 have changed to btsports. they also have some epl and motogp so this could be a pretty good if the do it right.

Yeah broadband can be a bitch sometimes 199lives, thats been.... Still is my problem for not being around much too.

Anyway, here's a few snippets of info I've picked up.

MMA on BT Sports:

BT Sports will be free for anyone who subscribes to BT broadband at £10 or £15 per month. If, for whatever reason, the customer does not want to purchase the broadband from BT, the channel will be available at a cost of £15 per month with an extra charge of £3 a month for HD. BT Sports will be accessible via three different methods, BT Infinity, via a sky digital platform (free to BT customers or at a cost to sky subscribers) and via BTSport.com.
http://www.thefightlounge.co.uk/news/bt-...ilability/

Mark Hunt gears up for JDS with fight against US customs:

Mark Hunt is struggling to get out of the airport in New Zealand having been arrested whilst helping out a few "Dickhead" mates, he's Tweeted his anger about the subject.

More on UFC on BT Sports.

http://www.mmajunkie.com/news/2013/05/uf...-structure

£12 a month if you're adding it to your Sky package. Just a few quid more than ESPN now.

Dan Hardy Wants to Fight Again, but Wolff Heart Keeps His Future Uncertain

UFC welterweight Dan Hardy’s fighting future remains up in the air following his diagnosis of Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.

The diagnosis came prior to his scheduled April 20 bout with Matt Brown on the UFC on Fox 7 card.

“It’s called Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, but I don’t have the syndrome because I’ve never had any symptoms. I only have the pattern, which means I have a second heart beat, but it’s never caused a problem,” said Hardy on a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast.

Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, or WPW syndrome, is the presence of an extra, abnormal electrical pathway in the heart that leads to periods of a very fast heartbeat (tachycardia), according to MayoClinic.com.

Symptoms of the heart irregularity can include palpitations, dizziness, light-headedness, fainting, tiring easily during exercise, and anxiety. If a person with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome also has a very rapid heart rate, more-serious symptoms can develop, including: chest pain, chest tightness, difficulty breathing and sudden death.

A catheter-based procedure, known as ablation, can permanently correct the heart rhythm problems.

“People have that done when they have symptoms, when they have palpitations and dizziness. People have panic attacks and stuff. I’ve never had anything, nothing at all,” explained Hardy.

A person may have an extra electrical pathway in the heart, but experience no fast heartbeat and no symptoms. This condition, called Wolff-Parkinson-White pattern, is discovered only by chance when a person is undergoing a heart exam for other reasons, such as pre-fight medicals. Wolff-Parkinson-White pattern is harmless in many people.

“What they’re telling me at the moment, I’ve got to go back and get some more tests done for like a second opinion with a different person, but basically the way I understand it right now is if I want to continue fighting, to get cleared, I have to have the ablation,” said the 30-year-old British fighter. “But because I’ve never had any symptoms, and I’m perfectly fine, I don’t see the point in letting someone go in and start burning my (expletive).”

“If it was causing a problem and that’s the solution then I would have it done, but it’s not,” Hardy added.

Hardy is healthy. His resting heart rate is 42 beats a minute. The issue with clearing him to compete is the potential risk of a cardiac event occurring during a fight.

“The problem is the main heart rate can only go up to about 220 beats a minute, but the secondary cells that produce the second heart rate, the heart beat is limitless. That can go to whatever. So if I’m at 12 minutes into a fight and I’m full of adrenaline and completely exhausted and my heart rate can’t keep up, there’s the potential for the other one to kind of take over,” explained Hardy. “But the chances decrease after like 25 (years of age), and the chance of it happening is like 0.6 percent.

“The problem is they don’t know whereabouts in my heart it is. They’ve got to go look for it, so they didn’t say they could fix it. They said they want to study it.”

Hardy’s next step is to have more tests done with a leading cardiologist.

“I’m going to go back and get some more tests done. Lorenzo (Fertitta) has a special cardiologist that he wants me to go and see, so I’m going to get that done and kind of see what my options are,” he said. “I don’t see the point in having a surgery done if I have to have it done to carry on fighting. It just seems pointless to me.”

Facing the very real possibility of his fighting career being over, Hardy remains hopeful that he’ll someday be able to compete again.

“I want to get cleared to fight. I would like to be able to fight again.”

UFC on FX: Belfort vs. Rockhold ESPN Live 2AM Saturday/Sunday

Main card
Middleweight - Vitor Belfort vs. Luke Rockhold
Middleweight - Ronaldo Souza vs. Chris Camozzi
Lightweight - Rafael Dos Anjos vs. Evan Dunham
Middleweight - Rafael Natal vs. Joao Zeferino
Preliminary card
Featherweight - Hacran Dias vs. Nik Lentz
Lightweight - Francisco Trinaldo vs. Mike Rio
Lightweight - Gleison Tibau vs. John Cholish
Welterweight - Paulo Thiago vs. Michel Prazeres
Bantamweight - Yuri Alcantara vs. Iliarde Santos
Light Heavyweight - Fabio Maldonado vs. Roger Hollett
Preliminary card (Facebook)
Flyweight - John Lineker vs. Azamat Gashimov
Flyweight - Jussier Formiga vs. Chris Cariaso
Lightweight - Lucas Martins vs. Jeremy Larsen