Jonathan Goulet (22-9) will face undefeated welterweight Paul Kelly (7-0) at UFC 85: Bedlam which takes place at the O2 Arena in London, England, on June 7, according to a report from Canada’s TKO Extreme.
Goulet is riding a two-fight winning streak after a recent TKO stoppage of Kuniyoshi Hironaka at UFC 83. Prior to that he choked out Paul Georgieff in the first round at The Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale.
Opposing him will be England’s Paul Kelly, who won his UFC debut with a unanimous decision victory over Paul Taylor at UFC 80. Prior to that decision, Kelly has stopped all of his fights - five of them in the first round.
It should be an interesting match-up as Goulet (who does have 11 TKO victories) will try and use his experience to manhandle the younger Kelly (who trains at the Wolfslair Academy).
UFC 85 features the main even between former welterweight champion Matt Hughes and Thiago Alves. Also scheduled to battle are Michael “The Count” Bisping and Chris “The Crippler” Leben.
To check out the remaining UFC 85 card click here.
Kevin Iole has an interesting article over at Yahoo Sports in which he compares the recent salaries from a boxing and UFC event(s). With all the scuttlebutt stemming from the Randy Couture lawsuit and other deposed fighters, it’s interesting to see how the two stack-up.
From Iole:
I called the Nevada Athletic Commission and got the payment verification sheets for the last two major boxing shows (Bernard Hopkins-Joe Calzaghe on April 19 and Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez on March 15) as well as for the last major UFC show in the state, UFC 81 on Feb. 2.
According to state records, Hopkins and Calzaghe were each paid $3 million for their work. The next highest-paid fighter on that card was Audley Harrison, who made $20,000. There were nine fighters who made $5,000 or less, including two men, Marcos Mendias and Jermell Charlo, who made but $1,500. Pacquiao made $3 million and Marquez $1 million for their epic rematch, but there were five fighters of the 14 on that show who made $3,500 or less.
At the UFC show, the lowest base pay for any of the 18 fighters on the card was the $4,000 that Kyle Bradley made. The UFC also paid out $60,000 bonuses that night for knockout of the night, submission of the night and fight of the night. Plus, most of the fighters had bonuses for winning, so the opportunity was there for them to double their pay, which was not for the boxers.
It’s interesting to note that aside from the main event, the lower-tier salaries don’t seem to be much different. In fact one can argue that the incentive-based bonuses may actually push the UFC ahead of boxing in terms of salary for undercard fighters.
Matt Lindland is a busy man these days. He’s a fighter; a trainer; and a promoter. And if all goes according to plan, he could become a State House Representative in Oregon.
Lindland, running as a conservative republican, recently launched his campaign, which you can find out more about at MattForOregon.com. In the meantime, [...]
It took two fights for Shinya Aoki to defeat the uber-talented Gesias “JZ” Calvancante in the DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix - and he doesn’t even get to advance to the next round for his efforts.
The “Tobikan Judan” was first injured against Calvancante in their initial meeting at DREAM 1 back in March when an illegal elbow from JZ put Aoki on his back and unable to continue.
The bout was ruled a no-contest and both fighters were slated to face off again at DREAM 2 last Tuesday to determine who would advance to the Grand Prix semifinals. Again, Aoki suffered a facial injury but this time was able to finish the fight and outpoint the Brazilian for the win.
Despite the victory, the injury is reportedly too severe to allow Aoki enough time to recover before the semifinals at DREAM 3 on May 11th - barely two weeks away.
The first choice for a replacement was of course Calvancante, but Sherdog.com is reporting that JZ was unable to reach acceptable terms with the organization and has already left Japan.
While surely a disappointment for Aoki, no question this development has DREAM officials in a panic, with just two weeks to find a suitable replacement.
According to Sherdog, Shinya Aoki will not be continuing on in DREAM’s lightweight grand prix due to a facial injury suffered during Tuesday’s fight with Gesias “JZ Calvan” Calvancante. There had been much speculation that Calvancante would step in to replace the injured Aoki and continue on in the grand prix but that now seems [...]
On the Savage Dog Show today, Greg Savage is reporting that he received a text message from American Top Team, informing them that Shinya Aoki will not be able to continue in the lightweight grand prix and will be replaced by JZ Calvancante at DREAM 3 on May 11th.
FiveOuncesOfPain.com has learned that former New York Giants fullback Jarrod Bunch has turned down an opportunity to fight former Pittsburgh Steelers All-Pro offensive tackle Carlton Haselrig during the undercard of EliteXC’s debut CBS show on May 31.
Haselrig, who won his MMA debut against former IFL heavyweight Shane Ott on April 19, is without an opponent [...]
"The fight in the bar scene is probably the most realistic I'd seen, up until that point. Chuck Norris kicked butt for about 30-seconds, when a bunch of bad guys worked as a team. They tackled him, held him, then beat him to near death. The rest of the film is typical, but that scene stands out. Also Chuck works out in the gym and looks pretty sharp!"
Best quote? "When I want your opinion, I'll beat it out of you." That was Norris' character Eddie Cusack.
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