Lights Out Radio

Sherdog.com is reporting that the imminent arrival of Hurricane Ike next week has caused the postponement of WEC 36, which was scheduled for Sept. 10 from the Hollywood Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla.

The card was to be headlined by a WEC Featherweight Championship bout between Urijah Faber and Mike Brown.

Hurricane Ike is currently a Category 3 storm that is churning through the Atlantic which appears to be on a collision course with Florida or the east coast. As of Friday night, the storm had sustained winds of 115 mph and should strengthen en route.

This is really unfortunate. While safety is clearly the No. 1 priority here, this sucks. I can honestly say I was looking forward to this card more than any other WEC card ever. The event has been rescheduled for Nov. 5.

Today there was a teleconference between UFC officials, and members of the media… including Matt Bishop, Sports Editor of The State News (and coincidentally host of Lights Out Radio)! It turns out that the estranged UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy “The Natural” Couture will be back in action against rising star Brock Lesnar on November 15th. Not salivating yet? It’s for the title!! Even though Nogueira is still slated to fight Frank Mir for the Interim Heavyweight Title, the winner of the two contests will fight for the Undisputed Title afterwards in what will no doubt be another blockbuster.

“What about Fedor?” you might be asking?

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MINNEAPOLIS — I was live today at the UFC 87 weigh-ins and it was quite the interesting experience. Quinton Jackson and Wanderlei Silva were both in attendance and got huge reactions when they came out in front of the crowd. It seems Wanderlei will be in the corner of Demian Maia for his fight against Jason MacDonald. If Maia can add some wild muay thai skills to his already amazing submission game, we could have a future world champion in our midst.

Interestingly enough, every single fighter made their weight and did not take advantage of the extra one pound. Luke Cummo came to the scale and didn’t strip anything off and weighed in at 167.

Georges St-Pierre and Jon Fitch both look ready to go tomorrow night. While I believe GSP will win this fight, I think it will be one of his toughest tests to date. Fitch can make history, though, if he wins this fight by becoming the first fighter to win his first nine UFC fights. Winning eight in a row is a huge accomplishment in itself and he should go down in UFC lore if he beats GSP for the title tomorrow night.

There was a pretty good crowd at Target Center. I’m curious to see how vocal the crowd is tomorrow. St-Pierre was the overwhelming crowd favorite, even moreso than local boys Brock Lesnar and Roger Huerta.

This was also my first weigh-in experience and the UFC does a great job of keeping the crowd engaged before the fighters hit the scales by playing the event’s countdown show beforehand. Watch that great program made the time fly by.

Had the chance to sample some Xyience energy drink on the concourse and it’s not too bad.

I believe I spotted the family of Jon Fitch in the common area of a shopping center. They were all wearing his stuff and the older gentleman in the group (presumably his dad) was wearing a Toe 2 Toe cap, one of Fitch’s biggest sponsors.

After that, we walked by the fighter’s hotel, the Marriott City Center, and I caught a photo with official UFC cutman Jacob “Stitch” Duran. Real nice guy and was accomodating to all fans, as I saw him taking pictures with a ton of people at the weigh-in itself.

All in all, a good day. Getting the entire experience has really enhanced this event for me. From the press conference yesterday to the weigh-in today to the event tomorrow, the UFC really does a good job in letting each fan get their money’s worth. Now it’s just up to the card itself to deliver. Should be a good one!

LIGHTS OUT RADIO UFC 87 COVERAGE:
UFC 87 Photo Gallery
UFC 87 Preview Show

MMAMania.com is reporting that the Ultimate Fighting Championship will present a free rebroadcast of May’s UFC 84: Ill Will on SpikeTV to counter EliteXC: Unfinished Business, which will air on CBS on July 26. The card, which features an EliteXC Middleweight Championship bout between champion Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith, will now go head-to-head with a UFC Lightweight Championship bout between BJ Penn and Sean Sherk.

According to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, the July 19 UFC show will emanate from The Pearl at The Palms in Las Vegas.

MMAJunkie.com is reporting the event will be headlined by a light-heavyweight bout between current UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva and James Irvin. A lightweight clash between former title contender Hermes Franca and Frankie Edgar is expected to be the co-main event.

UPDATE: MMAJunkie.com is also reporting a heavyweight tilt between the newly re-signed Jake O’Brien and up-and-coming prospect Cain Velasquez has been signed for the card.

A lot of big news bits have popped up since we went to press with our UFC 84: Ill Will Preview show.

• The first Affliction card keeps on growing as Aleksander Emelianenko has been signed to face one-time UFC Heavyweight Championship contender Paul “The Headhunter” Buentello. Also, Affliction has announced the signing of Antonio Rogerio “Minotoro” Nogueira, the twin brother of UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira
• UFC 85 keeps getting a makeover. This time, Luiz Cane will step in for James Irvin (broken foot) to face Rashad Evans on the night’s main card. The bout was originally slated to be Mauricio Shogun against Chuck Liddell, then Evans versus Liddell, then Evans/Irvin and now this. Cane was supposed to face Jason Lambert on the card. There’s no word if Lambert will be getting a new opponent.
• In a fight that should excite grappling fans, rising star Demian Maia has signed to fight Jason MacDonald at UFC 87 in August. Both fighters are coming off second round stoppage wins at UFC 83. Maia TKO’d Ed Herman with a triangle choke who MacDonald KO’d Joe Doerksen.

Here are the latest happenings in the world of mixed martial arts:

• EliteXC women’s star Gina Carano will be profiled on ESPN’s “E:60″ documentary program Tuesday, May 13 at 7 p.m. ET. The show will highlight her training in preparation for her upcoming bout on CBS Saturday Night Fights again Kaitlin Young.
• EliteXC lightweight contender Nick Diaz will make his return to the ring May 11 for DREAM, where he will battle Katsuya Inoue in an eliminator bout for the DREAM Welterweight Championship. Diaz has not fought since November, when he fell by TKO (cuts) to K.J. Noons in a fight for the EliteXC Lightweight Championship. For more on DREAM’S May 11 card, see Sherdog.com.
• EliteXC will have to wait a bit longer to crown a welterweight champion, as this time, Drew Fickett has been forced to pull out of the June 14 title bout with Jake Shields. The two were originally supposed to meet March 29, but Shields had to pull out due to injury. Now it’s Fickett who’s hurt. The card will go on, though, as Noons is scheduled to defend his lightweight title against Yves Edwards.