Videos: Penn and Sherk Are Buds

From BJPenn.com via 5oz.: BJ Penn wakes up Heath Herring at home before flying to Santa Barbara with Sean Sherk for the taping of a reality show on NBC Sports. Who knows what it all means, but it looks like Penn and Sherk have buried the hatchet — assuming their beef was legitimate in the first place.

Here’s the second episode of “Chris Leben: Evolution of an Icon,” which features the Crippler working with his suspiciously attractive students and attempting to install a heavy bag at the top of a mountain.

After the jump, Joanne of the MMA Girls spends a lovely day with Jon Fitch that includes shopping at the Ecko store and lunch at what appears to be Panda Express.

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Fedor is the New Chuck Norris

(Props to reader “KellenAvalanche”)

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Videos: The Main Events

(Fedor Emelianenko vs. Tim Sylvia @ “Affliction: Banned”)

Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin video removed by request.

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Ben Fowlkes on the MMA Rated Video Show

At the “Affliction: Banned” weigh-ins, MMA Rated’s Ariel Helwani caught up with our own Ben Fowlkes to discuss the fights, Tim Sylvia’s chronic unpopularity, and BF’s strong personal connection with Ben Rothwell. Props to Fowlkes for resisting the urge to grab the mic from Helwani and shout out his long list of sponsors.

On a sadder note, it’s looking like my home base of Brooklyn, NY, is one of the many (or so I’m hearing) markets that’s not carrying the Affliction undercard live on Fox Sports Net. Total freakin’ bummer; holler if that’s happening to you too. In any event, I’ll still be posting live results for those first three fights, starting at 8 p.m. ET — I just won’t be able to do a play-by-play. But hey, Aleks isn’t fighting now, so who cares anyway?

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Donald Trump and Howard Stern Talk Affliction

MMA ambassador Donald Trump stopped by the Howard Stern Show yesterday to pump up Affliction: Banned. The audio is above; some highlights are below…

***

Trump: I’m supposed to come over here to talk about Affliction, which is like this big deal, I own a big piece of this company that’s putting on fights, you know, the MMA, they — speaking about blood, they beat the crap out of each other —
Stern: Wait a minute, be honest with me, how many times are you having sex with your wife?
Trump: A lot.

***

Stern: What’s [Fedor's] thing, karate, jiu-jitsu, what does he do?
Trump: Everything. His thing is inflicting death on people. He’s never lost. He’s abnormally strong…
Stern: How tall?
Trump: He’s not that big either, he weighs about 225 pounds, he’s fighting a guy who’s a great champion, who weighs 100 pounds more [Ed. note: Well, like 40 pounds more. But still!], and he’s like six inches, seven inches taller. And they’re not giving the other guy a great chance.

***

Trump: I’m looking at this Russian, Fedor — with a face like you don’t wanna touch, with ears like I’ve never seen before, muscles on his shoulders like I’ve never seen, his neck I think it’s 28 inches — and I said to the girls, “Let me ask you a question. If I worked out for a little while, do you think I could take this guy?” They go, “Yes Mr. Trump”…
Stern: There it is, money speaks.

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Robert “Buzz” Berry Retires After Cage Rage Injury

(Props: MMATKO. Fight starts at the 5:34 mark.)

It looks like Robert “Buzz” Berry’s beating last Saturday at the hands of Neil Grove could be his last. Berry (13-8), who suffered a second-round TKO loss at Cage Rage 27 and who has dropped three of his last four fights, announced his retirement last night via the Cage Warriors forums, writing the following:

Just to let you all know I have had to retire. After my fight with Neil Grove I was taken to the hospital and had to have surgery on my face. They have had to put two plates in, one in my cheek bone and one on my eye socket. So that is it, over for me.

Can I take this opportunity in congratulating Neil Grove on the fight and good luck in the future. Thank you to all my camp and other camps for their help over the years in getting me ready for fights. Thanks to all my fans in their support for me, it has always meant a lot. A real big thanks to John Close, he has been a diamond — we have been joined at the hip for a few years. Neil Wain has been a star for me and wish him all the best in his fight in the UFC. Thanks to the guys at Cage Rage for their part in my fighting and to anyone I have missed out: Thank you.

As you can see in the video from the Berry/Grove fight (above), Buzz was on the mat for about three minutes after the loss, in visible pain. Grove’s leg kicks were responsible for breaking Berry down during the fight, but his final flurry of punches turned out to be a career ender for the man who’d previously knocked out Ken Shamrock at Cage Rage 25 in March. With the win, Grove increased his record to 6-1; in the post-fight interview he called out Cage Rage British heavyweight champion Mustapha Al Turk, as well as (who else) Kimbo Slice.

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Rich Franklin Kicks Wanderlei Silva’s Ass

You may have seen the raw footage of this floating around a week or so ago, but here’s the edited, minute-and-change version of Rich Franklin battling Wanderlei Silva in Rock/Paper/Scissors. The contest was a special exhibition bout that opened the 2008 Bud Light/USA Rock Paper Scissors League Championships — think “click-clack” for white hipsters — which went down June 21-22 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. How ’bout Franklin’s bitch-scream at 0:41? In a way, I think this video is very similar to how an actual fight between Franklin and Silva would go: Silva would come out strong in the first round, then Franklin would rally in the second before smashing Wandy’s scissors with a rock.

Also worth watching:
Countdown to Affliction: Banned (full 30-minute version)
Checking in with Anthony Johnson and Jake O’Brien
Canseco vs. Sikahema (ringside view)
The World’s Worst Stripper (Not safe for retinas, eardrums)

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