Zuffa Adds Pieces to UFC 129 Puzzle

Two new preliminary contests have been added to the dance card at UFC 129 on April 30 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, as Canadians Claude Patrick and Ivan Menjivar will square off with Daniel Roberts and Charlie Valencia at 170 and 135 pounds, respectively. Nine bouts are now official for the event, which will air live on pay-per-view.

UFC 129 will be headlined by a welterweight title clash between dominant champion Georges St. Pierre and top contender Jake Shields. The show is expected to host 11 fights when the final card is released, as UFC President Dana White has previously stated that two more bouts --Randy Couture vs. Lyoto Machida and Jose Aldo vs. Mark Hominick -- were in the works.

Patrick rides a 12-fight winning streak heading into UFC 129 and has gone a perfect 2-0 while competing in the Octagon. The 30-year-old Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt submitted Ricardo Funch in his UFC debut in June and followed that victory with a unanimous decision win over “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 9 winner James Wilks at UFC 120 in London.

In Roberts, he faces a dangerous submission artist who has won his last three fights. After suffering a brutal knockout in his UFC debut, courtesy of John Howard, Roberts edged Forrest Petz in a split decision victory at UFC 116. The Cesar Gracie product finished his next two opponents, using his jiu-jitsu skills to submit Michael Guymon with an anaconda choke and Greg Soto with a kimura at UFC 121 and 125.

A 10-year veteran of the sport, Menjivar has competed against some of the best in the world. Recently, however, the Canadian has dropped three of his last four bouts. In his last fight, Menjivar put on an exciting performance in his WEC debut against game Brit Brad Pickett, but it was not enough to earn a victory. The 28-year-old will be making his first appearance in the Octagon since UFC 48 in 2004.

Though he has won three of his last four, Valencia’s last trip inside the cage was not a pleasant one, as he was picked apart and submitted in the second round by former bantamweight champion Miguel Torres at WEC 51 in September. Valencia is a nine-time WEC veteran and holds five of his 12 career victories by submission.


Source: sherdog.com

UFC Sues Justin.tv, Says 50,000 People Viewed UFC 121 Illegally

The UFC is using its status as the industry leader in pay-per-view television to also become the leader in cracking down on companies that allow people to watch pay-per-view events online, without paying.

Zuffa, the UFC's parent company, announced Friday that it filed a lawsuit against Justin.tv, for what it calls "Justin.tv's repeated and ongoing failure to meaningfully address the rampant and illegal uploading of video of live Pay-Per-View UFC events by members and users of the Justin.tv website.

Justin.tv (which did not immediately respond to a request for comment) calls itself "the easiest way to create live video and show anyone in the world." The site says that it respects copyright law and bans users who violate it.

In 2009 UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta and Justin.tv CEO Michael Seibel appeared together at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on illegal streaming of copyrighted television content. At that hearing Fertitta said he appreciated the steps Justin.tv had taken to stamp out copyright infringement, but he said he thought more could be done. In July of 2010 the UFC served a subpoena on Justin.tv to get the names of users who provided streams of UFC broadcasts.

In its announcement of the lawsuit, the UFC said that "the Justin.tv website is routinely exploited by users to broadcast illegally uploaded content, including UFC events." The UFC said more than 50,000 people watched live feeds of the UFC 121 and that the UFC hired contractors to get more than 200 UFC 121 live streams removed from Justin.tv.

"Zuffa has attempted to work on numerous occasions with Justin.tv over nearly a two-year period to encourage it to prevent or limit its infringing activities," UFC lawyer Donald J. Campbell said. "Regrettably, Justin.tv has not only turned a blind eye to the massive online piracy occurring on its website, we believe it has actually induced its users to commit copyright infringement thus leaving Zuffa no alternative but to take this fight to the courts."


Source: mmafighting.com

UFC President Dana White Plans to Take New York to School

While mixed martial arts has managed to peek its violent head through the mainstream door, the nation’s largest market keeps shutting the sport out. If knowledge is indeed power, then UFC president Dana White is about to take the state of New York to school.

“To be honest with you, I’m not frustrated. I’m a little baffled, but not frustrated,” White said during this week’s press conference. “We just got Ontario done in Canada, there’s absolutely no reason why [MMA] should not be in the state of New York.”

Like most businesses do prior to each year’s end, UFC head honchos listed their goals for the next 365 days. Clearly, having an Octagon showcased under MSG’s historic spotlight was priority numero uno.

“This is New York City, this is Madison Square Garden. Obviously we wanna be here. Absolutely,” White emphatically stated. “We’re committed to getting this thing done and educating everybody that needs to be educated to get this thing done here in New York.”

While the UFC has threatened to invade the NYC in the past, Thursday’s presser was the company’s most aggressive sales pitch thus far. Although White and Co. unveiled an impressive Power Point presentation, The Big Apple is an uphill battle that has only just begun.

“Can we continue to grow our business without the state of New York?” White rhetorically asked. “Absolutely. But why? Why would we not be in the state of New York when we’re everywhere else in the world?

“It makes absolutely no sense.”

Last June, New York Assembly Democrats stripped approval for MMA from a budget bill that lawmakers could have voted on. However, state assemblyman Dean Murray claimed during this week’s presser he contacted the Governor’s office to include MMA in this year’s budget.

If that doesn’t happen, Murray will try to bring it to the floor for a vote.

Source: 5thround.com