Written by Penny Buffington

UFC 87: Seek and Destroy will air live Saturday August, 9 2008 from the Staples Center in Minneapolis Minnesota. Taking place will be a bout that is being referred to as the fight of the year. Lightweight mixed martial artist Kenny Florian will take on Rodger Huerta. Kenny has a MMA record of 9 wins and 3 loses. Rodgers mixed martial arts record is 22 wins 1 lose and 1 draw.

 On Thursday the 8th in Minneapolis I spoke with Kenny. Kenny is well aware Rodger is a dangerous opponent he tells me he plans to, "Fight a smart fight. I have to be smart out there." Rodger is well known for not giving up on a fight. He has proven more then once in previous fights as well as in his personal life he refuses to give in.

Written by Penny Buffington

August 7, 2008

 
 
 

The UFC held it's first ever press conference that was open to the public at The Mall of America in Minneapolis Mn. on August, 7th. 2008. A massive crowd of cheering fans welcomed UFC vice president Dana White along with Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and the fighters Brock Lesnar, Heath Herring, Kenny Florian, Rodger Huerta, Jon Fitch and Georges St Pierre. The fights will air live on PPV Saturday, August 9th.



Jon Fitch is an undefeated welterweight who will be fighting against The UFC World Welterweight Champion - George St Pierre. Jon stated, "I am going to take that belt." George told the crowd, " I'm in the best shape of my life. I am glad to be fighting Jon Fitch. I want to be the best and I want to fight the best." This five round bout for the title will be the main event of the night.

Interview with “Big” John
Written By Penny Buffington
7/9/2008

Mixed Martial Arts fans all time favorite ref. Big John McCarthy retired this year from the duties we loved to watch him perform. Since UFC 2 fans have just assumed he was a permanent fixture in the octagon. Personally I found it surprising and was interested in getting to know why he left the fast growing sport.  This is what he told me. “There were a lot of things that lead up to my decision. I was frustrated with the way some things were being handled in mixed martial arts. There was people being put into positions that had the authority to have a say on the fighters fights themselves.  There was people that were judging that had no idea what they were looking at. There was people that were refing that didn’t understand what they should do at given times and in certain situations, because they didn’t understand what the fighters were doing.  That bothered me. When I went to people and talked about it, it was always… [Well don’t worry about it. We are growing and we’re expanding and things are going to get better.] It never did anything to make it better. I just looked at it, after awhile, I felt like I was being a hypocrite.  He went on to explain,” It started out with MMA, from the very beginning, was a learning process for me and for everyone. But there came a certain point where if you didn’t understand the sport, then you shouldn’t have been a part of it. If you had the ability to be part of an athletic commission and get put into a space where you have the actual power to affect a fighter’s life or livelihood and you were doing that without understanding what that fighter was doing. That was what really got me frustrated. That was the biggest thing. That was a huge part of it. The other part of it was there were certain things that happened within the UFC that I was kind of working with. I didn’t particularly like. That was just a small part of it. That said to me, you know what, it’s time for me to walk away.”

 
Interview with Frankie Edgar
 
Written By Penny Buffington
July 26, 2008

UFC: Silva vs. Irwin aired July 19th on Spike TV. On that fight card aired Hermes Franka Vs Frankie Edgar. I spoke with Frankie after his win. Here is what he said, “The fight went really well. I dominated all 3 rounds executed a game plan and it worked pretty well for me. I knew he was dangerous for the fact he is a heavy hitter and really crafty on the ground. I knew I was going to have to smart fight and just avoid some of those things. Frankie says he is, “A little banged up. There was a pretty big knee at the end of the round. Blasted me in the nose but I’m good. It’s a little stuffed up.”