O'Reilly Rips UFC, Shamrock-Ortiz II Card Finalized, De La Hoya's

By Matt Boone on June 22, 2006 at 4:42 PM EST

The following is your MMA and boxing update for today. All information comes courtesy of www.MMANews.com.

Oscar De La Hoya's Future

Oscar De La Hoya finally announced his future plans for the sport of boxing in terms of being an active fighter yesterday at a press conference.

The biggest draw south of the Heavyweight division confirmed his interest in a super-fight with the pound for pound king of the sport Floyd Mayweather Jr. DLH claimed if he can't fight Mayweather, he doesn't want to fight anyone. He also mentioned that if Mayweather's father, who actually trains De La Hoya, doesn't work his corner than he won't take the fight. Basically, Mayweather's father has to help De La Hoya beat up his son or there is no fight with Mayweather Jr. And if there is no fight with Mayweather Jr., De La Hoya said it would be hard to get him back in the ring.

For the full press release with more specifics and other info, click here.


O'Reilly Rips The UFC

UFC president Dana White and current Middleweight champion of the company Rich Franklin were recently guests on the "O'Reilly Factor" show. It was not a positive piece on the sport to say the least.

O'Reilly ripped UFC right off the bat, using the typical "bloodspot" type claim as to why the sport is bad. The typical response was thrown out that boxing is more dangerous, and that no one has ever died in a UFC competition.

O'Reilly continually took shots, refusing the budge even when relevant arguments were introduced. He literally laughed them off.

You can read a complete word-for-word transcript of the appearance and/or view the entire segment via video clip online, both by clicking here.


UFC 61 "Bitter Rivals" Finalized

The following is an updated look at the upcoming UFC 61 "Bitter Rivals" pay-per view scheduled for July 8th from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada:

UFC Heavyweight Title:
-Tim Sylvia (c) vs. Andrei Arlovski*

Grudge Rematch:
-Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock*

Undercard:
-Frank Mir vs. Dan Christison*
-Yves Edwards vs. Joe Stevenson*
-Josh Burkman vs. Josh Neer*
-Hermes Franca vs. Roger Huerta
-Drew Fickett vs. Kurt Pellegrino
-Jeff Monson vs. Anthony Perosh
-Gilbert Aldana vs. Cheick Kongo

* - The only fights at this point guaranteed for the live PPV (meaning they definitely won't be a non-televised preliminary bout) are Sylvia/Arlovski III, Ortiz/Shamrock II, Mir/Christison, Edwards/Stevenson, and Burkman/Neer. The rest will probably be preliminary bouts.

MMANews.com - Dana White Confirms Interest In Brock Lesnar For UFC, NEW Radio Show, + UFC 61 Coverage & Updates!! **CLICK HERE**