UFC 123 to be held in Michigan at Palace of Auburn Hills

[pumpt73]

THANK YOU DANA WHITE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I finally don't have to drive to Columbus to see a UFC event!!!!!!!!!!!!!

source: www.sherdog.com/www.mmafighting.com


The Ultimate Fighting Championship will make its first visit to Michigan since the sport’s regulation in the state in March 2008.

UFC President Dana White told MMAFighting.com on Wednesday that UFC 123 will take place Nov. 20 at the Palace at Auburn Hills outside Detroit.

A light heavyweight bout between former champions Quinton “Rampageâ€￾ Jackson and Lyoto Machida is slated to headline the event.

The UFC’s previous owners, Semaphore Entertainment Group, brought UFC 9 “Motor City Madnessâ€￾ to the Kobo Arena in Detroit in May 1996, where it was met by political opposition from the county’s district attorney. With local officials protesting the event in court up until the day of the show, the presiding judge ruled that UFC 9 could take place only without the use of closed-handed punches and headbutts.

 

[Montana]

That's great news! I don't have to go all the way out to Vegas. I am there. Too bad, Brock isn't fighting, but the Rampage fight should be good.

 

[straight_edge76]

It looks like more and more cities are starting to realize what kind of cash cow the UFC is. It's good not only for the cities and UFC, but for MMA in general. Expansion is extremely important in the growth of the sports popularity, now I just hope that a UFC card comes to the Northwest somewhere in the near future, we have had MMA cards and stuff, but never UFC, which I would love to see live.

And yeah, UFC 123 should be great, I am really looking forward to Machida/Rampage. Hell for the rest of 2010 there are some pretty fucking awesome fights on the horizon for UFC you got Rampage/Machida, Cain/Brock GSP/Koscheck (I am soooo hoping that GSP gets beat) and even the rumored Silva/Sonnenn II, plus there have been the great fights of the past few months. I could see within the next few years MMA becoming a number 2 or 3 sport in popularity especially among the 18-34 male demographic in America.

 

[pumpt73]

As long as you're State Athletic Commission has MMA professionally sanctioned SE, you'll see it come to Seattle eventually. The UFC has already done Vancouver to great success, so they know what kind of crowd they will draw. I would like to see WEC get pushed in more cities as well. I think that would be a great thing for Zuffa to do. When you have a city say like Detroit (Auburn Hills) for instance, give them a WEC card first to test the waters, then bring a UFC event in. WEC is so fun to watch it just needs more exposure. I already priced tickets for some of the upcoming UFC events (119/121) and to get close to the cage it can run between $300-$600. The upper bowl is probably gonna be where Im at with tickets in the $100-$120 range.

Im with you as well SE. I think Kos can beat GSP. He does have to have the camp of his life though. Im not a fan of St. Pierre, but I have the utmost respect for that guy. To me, he's the Pound for Pound best in the World. Kos has already gone 15 minutes with him. The only thing is GSP seems to always do better in rematches. Go back to his Matt Hughes and BJ Penn fights. He learns from what happens. I don't see anyone giving Kos a chance, but I will say it right now, Im pulling for Koscheck in this fight. The reason I love the guy is because everyone else hates him. Plus he's improved so much since the first season of TUF. The only thing that sucks is that they put that fight in Montreal. To me, title fights should be in Vegas. Just my opinion.

But yeah, Im watching ufc.com for when tix go on sale. Also rumored for UFC 123 is the UFC return of Karo Parisyan vs. Dennis Hallman.

 

[straight_edge76]

I kind of figured the santioning rules with MMA and UFC were one in the same, but I wasn't 100% sure. We have had many small time pro promotions (I also recall King of the Cage coming awhile back but I missed it) and countless amatuer fights all over the state over the past few years, I have been to quite a few and the atmosphere is almost electric, I could only imagine what a UFC card would be like.

Many of my views on Kos/GSP are similar to yours, Kos I believe has all the skills and with a great camp he could do to GSP what Forrest Griffin did to Rampage way back when. I do believe that GSP may be overlooking Kos in a small way, but if we have learned anything throughout the last few years, and even last few months overlooking somebody could be the fatal flaw that ends someone's reign at the top of their weight class (look no further than BJ Penn).

 

[pumpt73]

Ok bro, if KOTC has come through, then the UFC can hold events. Some State Athletic Commissions do have different rules, but generally from what I've read, almost all go by the Unified Rules of MMA. You can find these on John McCarthy's website. I think eventually the UFC will hold at least one event in each state each year. With Fight Night, UFC on Versus, and WEC, there's plenty of Zuffa promoted fighting that each state can have. I really would love to see a WEC event live. I've already been to 2 UFC events in Columbus, Ohio during the Arnold Classic weekend, and it's madness. I just love watching WEC because almost every fight is explosive.

Im with you bro on GSP perhaps overlooking Kos. Kos is from Pittsburgh. That's a working class town. That kid is hungry and has come so far. The way I see it is this. If Matt Serra can catch St. Pierre, then I know Koscheck can do it. Damn Straight Edge, I think you and I may be the only 2 people I know of pulling for Koscheck in that fight. WAR KOSCHECK!!!!!!

 

[straight_edge76]

lol I was thinking the same thing. I know of people who aren't GSP fans, but they don't think Koscheck can beat him. Kos is always super prepared for his fights and if St. Pierre is overlooking him he will be caught and many of Dana White's plans with GSP and other fights, in other weight classes could be ruined (not saying anything solid, just speculation)

 

[pumpt73]

Amen bro. Every dog has it's day. Hell I don't think many people gave Edgar a chance to dethrone Penn. I had liked Edgar since his first UFC bout against Tyson Griffin, who at the time was probably top 5 or 6 in the World at 155. And Edgar just outclassed him. I mean since Edgar left Reality Fighting to come to UFC, he's fought nothing but solid talent. His last bout in RF was a win against Jim Miller. Now 8-1 in the UFC with 2 wins over Penn, Tyson Griffin, Mark Bocek, Matt Veach, Sean Sherk, Hermes Franca, and Spencer Fisher. This kid is tough. I think he beats Maynard this time. Add in Frankie's working with Ricardo Almeida now, so I think his BJJ should improve quite a bit.

Kos reminds me of Edgar. A tough as nails wrestler who's becoming a dynamite MMA fighter. Kos has really stepped up since his loss to Paulo Thiago. Honestly, I would have loved to see that rematch before GSP, but eh, no biggie. Man, can you imagine if Koscheck takes the strap off of St. Pierre in Montreal??? Oh man, I don't even want to imagine what Koscheck would say. It's strange, because when Koscheck first came out, I couldn't stand him. The bout that turned me on to him, was his first loss to Drew Fickett. I couldn't stand him up to that point. He had Fickett totally beaten, then with less than 30 seconds left, Fickett pulls out the submission, but Kos doesn't tap, he goes to sleep. Right there I knew he was going to change. I love how brash he is. Some people call him cocky, I call it confidence. If you don't have confidence going into a fight, then there's no point. And Kos has beat solid talent. Lytle, Trigg, Yoshida, Rumble Johnson, the first to beat Diego, and not many gave him a chance against Daley. That fight against Daley I think really got his confidence going. If GSP wins, it won't bother me, but Im definitely pulling for the underdog. Plus you know Dana would love to see one of his TUF fighters win a title. To date I think only Forrest has done it.

 

[straight_edge76]

Man, I am not going to lie, I didn't think Edgar could beat BJ to be honest, but he proved that he is just flat out a better fighter with that second win, I have always respected Frankie, and him beating BJ (one of my all time favorites) in two straight fights really impressed me.

I never noticed the Kos/Edgar comparison until you mentioned it. I feel that if Kos takes the strap in Montreal his post fight interview would dwarf the Lesnar post fight after 100, I think he could legitimately make him one of the 'villians' of mixed martial arts. At first I didn't like Josh either, but as his wins began to become more and more impressive I started to inch closer and closer top the bandwagon and hell, I am damn near driving it now lol.