Phil Cardella Returns to WEC August 9
Phil Cardella will be facing Ed “9mm” Ratcliff at WEC 42 on Sunday, August 9, according to MMAWeekly.com. Cardella is coming off a 42 second submission victory over Johnny Flores and is one fight removed from a split decision loss to Danny Castillo at WEC 39. MMAWeekly writes of the loss “Cardella was a winner in the minds of many fans and critics after his fight against Danny Castillo ended a split decision.”
Perhaps they read some of the thoughts from this site.
Ed Ratcliff has been quiet ever since his loss to Dallas’s Marcus Hicks in WEC 33 in March of 2008. Suffering injuries and dropping to lightweight, “9mm” is a tough and unorthodox striker.
Read more of what Cardella has to say about the matchup at MMAWeekly.com. Follow the other rumored fights for the card at MMAJunkie.com as well.
Sunday, August 9 is going to be a big day for the Testosterone Festival. Plan to spend it with us at Bikinis Bar and Grill on IH-35 in Austin. 3:00 is Come See Grown Men Cry, a competitive eating event, followed by The Fantasy Poker League at 6:00, then we will be gathering to cheer Phil on when his fight is hopefully televised that evening.
Here’s some video on Ratcliff for you to get a sense of what Ratcliff will try to bring to Cardella’s table.
Tribute to Joe Rogan’s Evan Tanner Tribute Beard
Huge props go out to Joe Rogan for not only growing but then talking about his Evan Tanner tribute beard. Evan Tanner is a former middleweight champion of the UFC from Amarillo who tragically passed away in the California desert a few weeks ago.
The UFC has always been loathe to take a moment to pay tribute to former UFC participants who have passed tragically. Heavyweight Gilbert Aldana passed away a couple years ago after a drowning accident while boating with his family. Seeing as Gilbert was only 0-1 in the UFC I can see how they would pass on the opportunity to give him a RIP moment.
Ryan Bennett is a former post-fight interviewer and founder of MMAWeekly, one of the first websites to cover MMA thoroughly in the wake of the “dark years” of UFC being off Indemand Pay-per-view. Ryan also hosted the first daily all-MMA radio show, that I’m aware of, and was a huge supporter of the sport. Ryan passed during a car accident on his way to covering an event in Las Vegas from his new home in Utah. Visit RyanBennett.org for more details on his tragic passing. Sad was Ryan’s passing (I still have mp3s of his final radio shows if anyone is interested) and sad was UFC’s decision to not pay tribute to a fallen former colleague.
For Tanner’s passing to go without some mention would be nearly unforgiveable. Rogan took time from the broadcast, seemingly without pre-planning on the part of UFC PPV producers, to say a few words about Evan. For those of us who cheered his stunning submission of Robbie Lawler or when he TKO’d David Terrell for the vacant middleweight championship, and those who were truly concerned when he suffered the highlight-reel KO slam from Tito Ortiz, those few words at the end of UFC 90 meant a lot.
Kudos Joe Rogan.
