Martial Arts News

For sale: Tito Ortiz's tush. At least, advertising space on the mixed martial arts fighter's shorts. Ortiz is making space on his shorts, T-shirt and robe available for ``logo placement opportunities'' for his upcoming UFC light-heavyweight title challenge to Chuck (The Iceman) Liddell at UFC 66: Liddell vs. Ortiz 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Only the shorts will remain on for the Dec. 30 bout, however. ``It's ...

Brazilian challenger Anderson (The Spider) Silva stopped champion Rich Franklin at 3:59 of the first round to claim the UFC middleweight title in dominant fashion Saturday night at UFC 64: Unstoppable. Silva (16-4) handed Franklin only his second losses in 24 mixed martial arts fights by softening him up with a series of devastating knees to the body while in a Muay Thai clinch. When the champion brought his hands down to protect his body, Silva went ...

India's weightlifting team, currently serving a one-year ban for a series of doping violations, could be reinstated if it pays a 40,000 euros (C$57,000) fine. India was banned by the International Weightlifting Federation until March 2007 after four of its weightlifters tested positive for banned substances within a few months. But the IWF said Friday it had offered India the option of paying the fine to help cover the rising ...

It's been nine fights and almost three years since Rich Franklin suffered the lone loss of his mixed martial arts career. But the consensus is the middleweight champion could have his hands full Saturday night with Anderson Silva at UFC 64: Unstoppable (available on pay per view) in Las Vegas. Franklin (22-1) is making his title defence at 185 pounds after taking the belt away from Evan Tanner at UFC ...

Mixed martial arts fighter Georges St. Pierre is getting his title shot. Again. The Montreal welterweight will meet UFC champion Matt Hughes on Nov. 18 at UFC 65: Bad Intentions in Sacramento, Calif. St. Pierre was to have fought Hughes at UFC 63 on Sept. 23 but had to pull out after suffering a groin injury in training. B.J. Penn replaced St. Pierre and gave the champion all he could ...

Nine Iranian weightlifters were banned from the World Championships after testing positive for excessive levels of testosterone, the president of the sport's governing body said Tuesday. ``Nine weightlifters reported positive at very high levels of testosterone and, for that, they have been banned from participating in the worlds,'' IWF president Tamas Ajan said. Ajan did not identify any of the nine who tested positive. Iranian state-run television reported Tuesday that ...

Matt Hughes exacted his long-awaited revenge on B.J. Penn, retaining the UFC light heavyweight title with a third-round stoppage Saturday at UFC 63: Hughes vs. Penn. In Saturday's other feature matchup, Montreal fighter David ``The Crow'' Loiseau dropped a unanimous decision to Mike ``Quick'' Swick. Hughes (42-4-0) delighted the sold-out crowd at Arrowhead Pond, pounding a fatigued Penn with close to 30 punches to the face after pinning the Hawaiian's ...

Matt Hughes has won 18 of 19 fights over the last 5{ years. And the UFC welterweight champion is not one short on confidence or self-belief. But Hughes has not watched tape of his loss to B.J. Penn in January 2004 at UFC 46: Supernatural, the lone blemish on his mixed martial arts record during that stretch. ``I have not actually (watched it), but I know what happened,'' Hughes said ...

The last time David (The Crow) Loiseau stepped into the Octagon, the mixed martial arts fighter from Montreal absorbed a 25-minute beating at the hands of UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin. It was not a pretty sight. By the end of the March 4 bout, Loiseau's face was so swollen it looked like Franklin had used a baseball bat. Loiseau, 26, can take some small solace from the fact that ...

Gareb Shamus knows boys and their toys. Shamus, 37, is the co-founder and CEO of the International Fight League. But he made his mark as the man behind the Wizard Entertainment Group. The New York-based group has grown from one magazine about comic books in 1991 to a company that publishes five magazines and organizes conventions around comics, games, toys and Japanese anime. His magazines _ Wizard, Toyfare, Inquest Gamer, ...