UFC 94: St. Pierre vs Penn II...everything you could possibly want

UFC® lightweight champion BJ Penn looks to be the first fighter in history to hold two UFC® championships at the same time when he faces Georges St-Pierre for the UFC® welterweight championship at UFC® 94: ST-PIERRE VS. PENN 2, live on from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, January 31, 2009.

Live on Pay-Per-View at 7pm PT/10pm ET

ESPN MMA Live UFC 94 Preview


UFC Prime Time - Episode 1 (Part 1)

UFC Prime Time - Episode 1 (Part 2)


UFC Prime Time - Episode 2 (Part 1)

UFC Prime Time - Episode 2 (Part 2)


UFC Prime Time - Episode 3 (Part 1)

UFC Prime Time - Episode 3 (Part 2)


Links:
UFC 94 Official Site
UFC 94 Breakdown: The Main Card - Sherdog.com
Performify's Picks for "UFC 94: St. Pierre vs. Penn II" - MMAJunkie.com
RANDY COUTURE'S TAKE ON UFC 94 GSP VS. PENN 2 - MMAWeekly.com

Happy 2009

Hope everyone had a great and memorable New Year. Enjoy the weekend before getting back to the grind of 09 on Monday.

Today's videos come to us from New Year's Eve on ESPN. Red Bull put on an event called New Year No Limits in which daredevil Robbie Maddison jumped his motorcycle onto the top of the Arc de Triomphe in front of Paris Las Vegas. Daredevil and rally driver Rhys Millen became the first person to backflip an off-road truck in the air.

Robbie Maddison's 2008 New Year's Eve jump


Rhys Millen's truck backflip

Lesnar Takes the Title

This past Saturday was UFC 91: Lesnar vs Couture. I posted about it last week, noting Brock Lesnar's amazing physical gifts and his amazing athleticism. Well looks like strength and speed have prevailed over strategy and experience. Brock Lesnar connected with a glancing blow off Randy Couture's temple in the 2nd Round on Saturday and before Couture had a chance to even breathe Lesnar was all over him with, as Joe Rogan said, "hammerfists from hell."


What's possibly more impressive than Lesnar's size and speed is the fact the UFC has proven tough economic times won't affect their business.

After garnering the fourth-largest live gate in company history at "UFC 91: Couture vs. Lesnar," the UFC has shown it can thrive in economic conditions that have forced other promoters out of the industry.

But while EliteXC's recent demise has left an apparent programming void on network television, UFC President Dana White said at Saturday night's post-UFC 91 press conference not to expect the world's largest MMA promotion on CBS any time soon.

"Network deals are what's helping put these other companies out of business," White said. "Just because you get a network deal doesn't mean it's a good deal. When we get a good network deal, we'll be on network television."

When pressed further as to when a good deal might arise, White pointed to the current difficult financial situation in the U.S. as a reason why the process might take some time.

"(We are) not very close (to a network TV deal) now with this market like this," White said. "The economy is bad. I don't know if anybody else in this room feels it as bad as some of the other people in this country we live in, but the economy is really bad right now.

"There's no money out there. Sponsors aren't spending as much money as they used to. They've cut way back. Some sponsors are pulling out of advertising. Some sponsors are going out of business. It's really scary times right now." [MMA Junkie]

Links:
UFC 91 Salaries
UFC 91 Pictures
Lesnar Punch Blindsided Couture
Brock Lesnar: "Inexperience has gotten me this far"

A Little UFC 91 Hype

This Saturday is UFC 91 featuring the main event fight of Randy Couture vs Brock Lesnar. In a nutshell, Randy Couture is probably the most famous and most beloved mixed martial arts fighter of all time. He was the first inductee into the UFC Hall of Fame and has fought the who's who list of MMA legends. Brock Lesnar is a former WWE wrestler who was an NCAA National Champion wrestler in college. After passing up a major contract extension with the WWE he tried to realize his dream of playing pro football (after not having played since high school). He tried out with the Minnesota Vikings and made the practice squad. Apparently during the try out Lesnar showed off his elite level athleticism by running at 4.7 second 40 yard dash and recording a 35 inch vertical jump while weighing in at 295 pounds.

Go behind the scenes as 3-time UFC® Heavyweight Champ Randy "The Natural" Couture and wrestling powerhouse Brock Lesnar prepare for the biggest fight in mixed martial arts history! Can the legend prevail? Or will a new hero rise? [UFC Channel]

Brock Lesnar All Access Part 1

Brock Lesnar All Access Part 2

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update - Dana White's UFC 91 Video Blog
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Weekend Preview - WEC 35

So I will try to make this Weekend Preview a weekly thing. I will give everyone a sporting event, movie, TV show, or something else I'm looking forward to during the weekend.


This weekend, the winner is WEC 35. World Extreme Cagefighting, a Zuffa (UFC's parent company) owned fight promotion, will be holding an event Sunday, August 3rd at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. Three of the WEC champions will be defending their titles, so its definitely an event worth watching.


I attended the last WEC event at Arco Arena in Sacramento and got to watch hometown fighter (and UC Davis wrestling alum) Urijah Faber defend his Featherweight title against Jenz Pulver. The event was awesome and both the Faber/Pulver fight & the Torres/Maeda are in the discussion for fight of the year.


The schedule of fights is:
Main Card Bouts:
-Carlos Condit (#9 Welterweight in the World)* vs. Hiromitsu Miura (for WEC Welterweight Title)
-Jamie Varner vs. Marcus Hicks (for WEC Lightweight Title)
-Brian Stann vs. Steve Cantwell (for WEC Light Heavyweight Title)
-Brian Bowles vs. Damacio Page
-Micah Miller vs. Josh Grispi

Preliminary Bouts:
-Brock Larson vs. Carlo Prater
-Blas Avena Vs. Dave Terrel
-Kenji Osawa vs. Scott Jorgensen
-Greg McIntyre vs. Mike Budnik
-Todd Moore vs. Shane Roller


The main card bouts will air live & free on Versus at 6PM......TUNE IN AND CHECK IT OUT