ProElite Officially Announces Signings of Andrei Arlovski, Top Prospect Mark Ellis

Filed under: ,

ProElite, the recently relaunched fight promotion that will host its next show on August 27 in Hawaii, has officially announced its first two hires.

The signings are former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski and MMA newcomer Mark Ellis. The pair of athletes are both heavyweights, but at very different stages of their respective careers.

While Arlovski is a former champ, he's fallen on hard times lately and has not won a fight since an October 2008 knockout of Roy Nelson. Since then, he's lost four in a row, dropping fights to Sergei Kharitonov, Antonio Silva, Brett Rogers and Fedor Emelianenko.

Notably, three of those losses came via knockout.

Arlovksi's opponent has yet to be named.

Meanwhile, the 24-year-old Ellis will be making his MMA debut at the upcoming event. The 6-foot-5, 255-pounder was the 2009 NCAA Division I heavyweight wrestling champion while at the University of Missouri. He currently trains at the well-respected American Kickboxing Academy gym in San Jose, California, alongside other heavyweight notables like UFC champ Cain Velasquez and Strikeforce contender Daniel Cormier.

Ellis' opponent was also not announced, but a previous report by Hawaii's KHON television station said he would be facing former University of Hawaii linebacker Jake Heun, who is 1-0 as a pro.

Other signings and match announcements should start to roll in fast and furious. On Wednesday, MMA Fighting broke the news that Reagan Penn -- brother of two-time UFC champ BJ Penn -- has also signed with the promotion and is expected to debut on the upcoming show.

The event takes place at the Blaisdell Center in Honolulu.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/07/14/proelite-officially-announces-signings-of-andrei-arlovski-top-p/

Rolles Gracie Royce Gracie Royler Gracie Ryan Gracie

Chris Horodecki inked for fight at Bellator 47

Ontario native Chris Horodecki will have an opportunity to fight in front of his friends and family in a little less than two weeks when Bellator visits the province for Bellator 47 and the semi-final round of the promotion?s ongoing ?Summer Series? featherweight tournament. Though not officially announced yet, the well-rounded lightweight will face Chris [...]

Source: http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2011/07/13/chris-horodecki-inked-for-fight-at-bellator-47/

Crosley Gracie Gregor Gracie Ralek Gracie Renzo Gracie

The Top 5 Most-Anticipated Fights For The Rest Of 2011 Spotlights Diaz vs. GSP, Jones vs. Jackson, And More

Now that 2011 is already halfway through, multiple websites and even the UFC have released their fair share of ?Best of the Half-Year? awards. I recently got in on the fun as well, but recently an additional thought hit me: there?s a lot of good fights heading our way! So since I?ve already looked back [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/07/08/the-top-5-most-anticipated-fights-for-the-rest-of-2011-spotlights-diaz-vs-gsp-jones-vs-jackson-and-more

Ebenezer Fontes Braga Chris Brennan Marcelo Brito  Rob Broughton 

5 Oz. MMA Link Club

Welcome back to another ediition of ?MMA Link Club?, Five Ounces of Pain?s weekly smorgasbord of offerings from our brothers and sisters in the MMA community. Enjoy? Dan Henderson Speaks About His Own Use of Testosterone Replacement Therapy (FightLine.com) Jon Jones Talks “Rampage” Jackson, Phil Davis, and More (NBCSports.com) Melvin Guillard Takes Issue with Frank [...]

Source: http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2011/07/14/5-oz-mma-link-club-51/

Urijah Faber Wagnney Fabiano Kevin Kimbo Slice Ferguson Paulo Filho

Countdown to UFC 131 - UFC

Full episode! Vancouver is on notice - heavy hands mean a big-time main event unlikely to go the distance in Junior dos Santos vs. Shane Carwin. Plus Kenny Florian vs. Diego Nunes and Demian Maia vs. Mark Muñoz - see what's in store!

Source: http://mmalice.com/ufc/countdown-to-ufc-131-video_460590e56.html

Kit Cope  Wesley Cabbage Correira  Patrick The Predator Côté  Randy The Natural Couture 

MMA on TV

Welcome to ?MMA on TV?, Five Ounces of Pain?s weekly update on the upcoming MMA-broadcast schedule. Miss the latest episode of ?MMA Live? or ?UFC Unleashed?? Wondering when Showtime, Spike TV, or HDNet are airing a replay of their latest offering or interested in finding out where to tune into live shows occurring over the [...]

Source: http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2011/07/11/mma-on-tv-45/

Yasubey Enomoto Mark Epstein Tom Big Cat Erickson Martinsh Egle

Sick of being bashed for his background, Cruz lashes out at Faber?s ?privileged? upbringing

Urijah Faber, challenging Dominick Cruz for his UFC 135-pound belt, is also challenging the champ's mental game. The battle before the real battle is being waged through media.

"He acts one way on camera and acts like Mr. Nice Guy, and plays me off like the bad guy. He can't expect to disrespect the things that I've done and want me to respect him back," Cruz told ESPNRadio1100's Pauly Howard (2:15 mark). "It comes down to, don't play the game of Mr. Nice Guy if your going to run your mouth."

In his exclusive Yahoo! Sports' UFC 132 blog, Faber has slammed Cruz, calling him a mental train wreck.

"[...] but the guy is an emotional mess. He goes from throwing himself pity-parties to praising himself for all that he brings to MMA," wrote Faber.

"He likes recounting his deprived upbringing (which doesn't sound that bad, in my opinion) and pondering how he could reach the heights he has with all that's wrong in his life."

Cruz fired back.

"He's talking about my upbringing. Not all of us had a lot of money growing up. Not all of us had the perfect life growing up and had our mom and dad to buy us a gym in the most beautiful part of California," Cruz said (3:23 mark). "I'm sorry my life wasn't as picture perfect as Urijah Faber. I had to work for everything I've got. I'm fighting for family as I speak."

Cruz says he grew up in a rougher part of Tucson, Az. Frankly, can someone else really judge someone's account of their childhood?

Cruz is right about the promotion. This is definitely "The Golden Child" vs. "The Brooding Outsider." It may mean better business if Urijah Faber can take the strap, but if Cruz actually has his mental game together, the UFC may not get its wish. So far the bettors and Las Vegas sportsbooks are of the belief that Cruz will retain his title. He's a minus-140 favorite.

You can watch UFC 132 right here on Yahoo! Sports

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Sick-of-being-bashed-for-his-background-Cruz-la?urn=mma-wp4166

Lee Hasdell Musse Hasselvall Daiki DJ taiki Hata He Peng

UFC 132 presser video: Faber really tweaking Cruz

It's a Urijah Faber we've never seen before. The former WEC 145-pound king has always been more about touting his own game than talking about his opponent. But there's something about Dominick Cruz that either drives him nuts or makes Faber think he can drive Cruz nuts. Faber's been digging at the current UFC bantamweight champ for months and it continued at yesterday's UFC 132 prefight press conference.

The history between the fighters dates back to 2007 when Faber (25-4) defeated a young Cruz (17-1) in a 145-pound bout at WEC 26. Cruz thought Faber rubbed it in after a quick victory via choke out. Faber doesn't argue that (0:48 mark).

"I don't think I was rubbing it in. I was kind of like 'good fight ... try again buddy.' He knows what I meant. He was right," said Faber.

Faber is enjoying the heat between the fighters.

"The reason it's a grudge match and all that, is you put Dominick and I in the same little neighborhood, we probably would've ended up fighting each other. [Because] of his bad attitude and me not taking crap, and being the badder dude. And that's what this all about. Like minded people, we're going to butt heads when it comes to the fight game and see who's boss," Faber said.

In spite of the victory four years, the Las Vegas sportsbooks have installed Cruz as a minus-140 favorite.

You can watch UFC 132 right here on Yahoo! Sports

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/UFC-132-presser-video-Faber-really-tweaking-Cru?urn=mma-wp4213

Dean Amasinger  Jimmy Ambriz Matt Andersen  Alex AndradeÂ