August is shaping up to be a really busy month inside the Octagon for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, with two major events taking place just a few weeks apart. The fists (along with feet and submission attempts) will fly August 17th at Red Rock Casino for UFC Fight Night on Spike TV before the Aug. 26th pay-per-view card at Mandalay Bay.
Odds for the UFC Fight Night are scarce to say the least. Checking numerous offshore sites couldn’t produce odds on any of the fights, while the host casino is unable to post odds due to a conflict of interest.
The Fertitta brothers own Station Casinos (the host of the Aug. 17th event) along with the UFC, so no wagers can occur there during this card. This is a similar situation that the Palms Casino has for the National Basketball Association since the Maloof brothers own that casino along with the Sacramento Kings.
Despite the lack of a viable betting line on the fights, there are a couple of intriguing bouts that I’m surprised are not on the pay-per-view card a few weeks later. The Aug. 17th card will be a lead-in for the UFC’s popular television show on Spike TV called The Ultimate Fighter.
The show this season is called TUF 4: The Comeback that will feature UFC fighters that have fought in the Octagon before without a high level of success. The cast will consist of 16 fighters (eight middleweights an eight welterweights) that will compete against one another, with the final winner taking on the champion in his division.
Getting back to a couple major fights on the Aug. 17 Fight Night card, there are three matchups that could have a major impact on some pay-per-view cards down the line. The main event features Diego Sanchez (17-0) against Karo Parisyan (23-3) in a welterweight contest.
Sanchez has climbed the MMA ladder since becoming the Ultimate Fighter in the first season of the show, but faces his toughest challenge to date against Parisyan. Sanchez detractors will point to the level of competition he has faced, especially with back-to-back decisions against Nick Diaz and John Alessio in less than stellar fashion.
Parisyan is a judo specialist that was slated to fight welterweight champion Matt Hughes before pulling out with an injury. Parisyan has put together a stellar five-fight winning streak since falling to Georges St. Pierre on the scorecards.
In middleweight action, Chris Leben (15-2) returns to the Octagon hoping to get back on the winning track against Jorge Santiago (11-5). Leben appeared to be groomed for a shot at the title before being totally dismantled by Brazilian Anderson Silva in just :49 during Ultimate Fight Night 5 just two months ago.
Another intriguing middleweight matchup pits Dean Lister (8-4) against Yuki Sasaki (20-12-1). I’m actually surprised to see Lister on this card after the jiu-jitsu specialist scored an impressive first-round submission victory over Alessio Sakara in UFC 60: Hughes vs. Gracie.
It’s quite possible that 2006 will be remembered for the year that the UFC finally made it mainstream in American sports. There have already been nine UFC shows this year that featured everything from legend Randy Couture retiring to Tim Sylvia beating Andrei Arlovski twice to retain the heavyweight title.
There are still about seven shows remaining in the year that could possibly pit UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck ‘The Iceman’ Liddell against Pride champion Wanderlei Silva. There is also the highly anticipated rematch in the welterweight division with champion Matt Hughes squaring off against Georges St. Pierre in September.
Just to demonstrate how far the UFC has come since the Fertitta brothers bought the business back in 2001, there were just three shows during 1998 under the guidance of SEG. Those three events were held in such exotic locations as Louisiana, Alabama and Brazil because getting the sport sanctioned by states like Nevada was still years away.
Brad Young can be reached at byoung@vegasinsider.com.
