THE MMA WEEKLY WRAP UP for the week of 5-19-2008

Hi and welcome back for another exciting edition of the MMA Weekly Wrap Up, where we bring you all of the Internet's latest news, events, and video clips from the world of Mixed Martial Arts.

While the Heavyweights usually garner most of the attention, this week is particularly exciting for the Lightweight divisions as two big organizations have their best facing off in two enormous events. Let's start with the UFC...

WAR OF WORDS ALMOST OVER AS PENN IS SET TO FACE SHERK AT 'ILL WILL' 84

The former UFC 155 pound champion, Sean “The Muscle Shark” Sherk, who lost his title earlier due to a positive steroid test, will finally have a chance to redeem his title when he faces current UFC Champion BJ “The Prodigy” Penn at UFC 84: Ill Will this Saturday, May 24th.

Both fighters have been jawing at each other this week like Obama and Hillary; with BJ calling Sherk a "cheater," and Sherk denying that Penn has a rightful claim to the title. With strong fighting styles on both sides, this could be an electrifying match.

Also on the card are Wanderlei Silva, against Keith Jardine, and a highly anticipated fight between the undefeated Lyoto Machida against (Dana White's favorite employee) Tito Ortiz.

We'll keep the buzz for the Penn/Sherk fight buzzing with this preview video clip:

WEC FEATHERWEIGHT TITLE UP FOR GRABS IN FABER VS PULVER MATCH UP

Not to be outdone by the UFC, the World Extreme Cagefighting organization has put their Featherweight title on the line for a fantastic bout between Jens Pulver and Urijah Faber in
Sacramento, CA on Sunday, June 1st. The Event can be seen on Versus television (Find your local channel for the event here.)

This could be an incredible match as Faber is in tremendous shape and on the top of his game, while Pulver is a wildly unpredictable fighter. Anything could happen!

Here's a some of training interviews from both camps to get you pumped.





MMA'S 'RING BARBIE' TESTS POSITIVE FOR STEROID USE

Okay, this story took me a little bit by surprise. See, I have two young daughters and I'd love to eventually have one (or both of them) decide to enter the ring in some kind of MA event.

Now, if I had a boy, I might worry that he might be tempted to try some kind of physical enhancement drug, like steroids, to get an edge... but with girls, I had no fear of that ever happening.

Well, that illusion was shattered this week.

One of EliteXC's newest female fighters, Carina Damm (9-3-0), was discovered to have an unusually high level of the drug Nandrolone, after her last fight at Femme Fatale Fighting 4, held on April 3 in Los Angeles. The results were reported by the California State Athletic Commission.

The levels of the drug are reported to be quite high. CagePotato.com tells us that the natural level of Nandrolone in an athlete can be as high as 6 ng/mL, while Damn was found to have a level of 37.9 ng/mL! (UFC Champ Sean Sherk was suspended when he was found with a level of 12 ng/mL.)

With the explosion of MMA popularity and a slowly growing interest in female competitors, this news should really come as no surprise. Still, it's an extremely sad situation.

Here's clip from one of Carina's losses to a very capable Rosie Sexton (one of my very favorite Bodog fighters).

Check out the pre-fight interview; at one point she says, "The most important thing to me is winning... I want to be the Champion." -If only we could know how far she would be willing go to to make that happen.




EMMY AWARD WINNING REPORTER RISKS LIFE, LIMB, AND REPUTATION TO BRING US THE FUNNIEST 'KIMBO SLICE' INTERVIEW YET

Okay, here's the deal... almost every week, I find some interesting clip or interview with the current MMA sensation Kevin 'Kimbo Slice' Fergusson. However, I usually can't use the material because it violates this sites PG-13 sensibilities. (We try to keep foul language to a minimum, and well... Kimbo doesn't.)

So I'm always on the lookout for television interviews so we can bring you clean material, or at least something with all the bad words 'beeped' out.

Well, as luck would have it, someone at KCAL 9 in Los Angeles thought it would be a good idea to send their Emmy award winning journalist, Sharon Tay to Bas Rutten's Elite MMA gym to interview Kimbo Slice before his Primetime debut on CBS, May 31st.

What happens next is this poor reporter's worst nightmare.

I'll let you watch the disaster for yourself before offering my commentary.

One of my favorite highlights from this clip is at 2:15 when Tay takes off the focus mitts and sniffs her fingers with a disgusted look. -Hey Sharon, if you think that's bad, there's a few other places around the gym that probably smell much worse!

But the very best scene comes at 2:30 when Kimbo has her place him in a very reluctant rear choke. He posts her arm out and explains that he could now break it in two places.

When she says, "let's not do that," he instead throws he over his shoulder and places her into a very sweaty side mount. I'm pretty sure she had to take a two hour shower after that interview!
In another rather awkward Kimbo television appearance - This time, for some reason, at the Country Music Awards (Yeah, I know... Huh?), Kimbo gets on stage to help present an award.




While his appearance was hilarious, I don't think it's for the reason that that the promoters hoped. What's next; Kimbo on Seseame Street? Maybe 'The View'? Or what about 'The Bachelor'... hey wait, that just might work!

Anyway, that's all for this week. Check back again soon. With all of the upcoming events, we're sure to have plenty to discuss.

Respectfully,

Rick