Ricco Rodriguez just boarded a plane for Japan to fight Ubereem at Dream 15

Around this time last year, Fedor boarded a plane bound for California to fight Josh Barnett at Affliction: Trilogy. Upon landing, he was given the news that Josh Barnett had tested positive for performance enhancing drugs and there will be no opponent to replace him. Not going to beat a dead horse, even if that horse took 3 non-refundable plane tickets out of the MiddleEasy travel budget and ritualistically set them on fire. In retrospect, the money would probably have been wasted on Nike Air Jordans and Costco-sized boxes of beef jerky, so we’re slowly getting over it. I mean it’s not like we were about to fly to Japan or anything…

Although news surfaced that Ubereem was scheduled to fight Ricco Rodriguez, the Strikeforce champion issued this statement a few days later:

“After my Brett Rogers fight on May 15, I decided to take time off and do media appearances — MMA expo in Canada, E3 expo, Strikeforce events — and enjoy some time off with my family. I knew Dream wanted me on the show, but I didn’t want to go back in training preparation. Then, they offered me a fight against Andrei Arlovski for the Dream heavyweight title. As I have said on occasions, fighting for a belt means something more, and I wanted that Dream title so much that So as a result, I agreed to lay off my media and holiday plans, and went back to training.

“During my training I found out that Andrei Arlovski was not going to be my opponent, and they changed opponents numerous times. I’ve heard names like Tim Sylvia and Minowa. At one point, I received notice that they had found a opponent but that the Dream heavyweight title was not on the line anymore. With all the changes and the title fight no longer a possibility, I simply had to turn down the opportunity.

“The next day, I immediately took a flight to San Jose to hype up my possible fight against the winner of Fedor Emelianenko or Fabricio Werdum. I then heard rumors that Dream had booked me in a fight against Ricco Rodriguez. I want to make it very clear that I never verbally agreed to fight him and I never signed a contract with Dream to fight him. I feel very sorry for Ricco Rodriguez’s camp if they still think the fight is on, and I apologize to my fans that have bought a ticket to see me compete. I hope this statement has shed some light on the unfortunate situation.”

Unfortunately, Ricco Rodriguez did not get that memo and he’s currently on a plane to Japan under the assumption that his fight with the Demolition Man is still going down in 3 days. Japanese MMA is notorious for last-minute matchups, and while Ubereem has made it clear he will not be fighting on that card, DREAM maintains that he is. Personally, I really want this fight to go down, so I’m going to believe DREAM. Chances are, I’ll doze off sometime around 6:00am during the broadcast and just assume I missed it. Then I’ll probably yawn, stretch, pour myself a bowl of fruit loops and assume Ubereem won via 1st round knee strikes. [Source]

Published on July 7, 2010 at 3:55 pm
Stay up-to-date with the latest MMA news, rumors, and updates by following the RED Monster on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, don't forget to add MiddleEasy to your Google News feed Follow us on Google News for even more coverage.

Related

Leave a Comment