Diaz, Monson, Krazy Horse, Leland Headline Extreme Cage Fighting October Card

I like the movie poster theme they went with here, and I pray to sweet Jehosefah that Dog the Bounty Hunter will not be fighting. I like the Dog, but come on now. I'm sure that he'll be there rooting on his son, Leland, in his pro MMA debut and I'm sure that he and his leather vest will be a hit with some of the San Francisco crowd.

Also meeting pro MMA competition for the first time will be female IFBA light heavyweight boxing champion Mia St. John. I've only seen her fight once, but based on her Howard Stern Sow interviews and her very fine work in Playboy, I like her a lot.

As for my man Nick Diaz, this is (I think) the first I've heard of him facing Jason Gilliam on October 20. Diaz is slated to face Mike Aina as part of EliteXC's "Uprising" September 15 card, so I hope he's not too dinged up when he faces Gilliam a few weeks later.

The action is scheduled for Saturday, October 20 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Here's what we have so far:

Jeff Monson vs. Chris Marez
Nick Diaz vs. Jason Gilliam
Brad Imes vs. Ruben Villareal
Leland Chapman vs. Eric Jacob
Mia St. John vs. TBA
Krazy Horse Bennett vs. Jake Hatten
Gabe Ruediger vs. Gabe Rivas
Bo Cantrell vs. Brian Pardo
Matt Major vs. Marcus Gaines
Dammaccio Page vs. Javier Vasquez
Aaron James Carvahallo vs. TBA
Sean Klarcyk vs. TBA

Is it me, or does Jeff Monson fight every other week these days?

Monson, USA Dominate World Grappling Championships

The finals for the first ever World Grappling Championships were held today in Antalya, Turkey, and the U.S. certainly seems to have set the bar for the international grappling community as it won 21 of the 35 medals and swept all nine gold medals in the final event.

Pride and UFC veteran heavyweight Jeff Monson captured gold in the 275- pound division. Monson, as well as each of the other nine American gold medalists, also earned gold in June at the USA Wrestling Grappling World Team Trials in Las Vegas.

Standout female mixed martial artist Tara LaRosa, the current 135-pound Bodog champion, also brought home a gold medal. LaRosa's boyfriend, Adrian M Elizalde, lost his life on August 23 while serving in Iraq, so I'm especially glad for her.

Capturing a silver medal for the U.S. men was IFL middleweight Matt Horwich of the Portland Wolfpack.

(Thanks go out to Dr. Randy Borum for passing on the final results of the World Grappling Championships.)

Morning Droppings

- Undefeated UFC lightweight and NJ native Frankie Edgar is reportedly in preliminary talks with the UFC about appearing on a tentatively scheduled November 17 card in Newark, NJ. Keep your fingers crossed! For more on this story, click here.

- I was just reading an MMAWeekly piece about heavyweight Jeff "The Snowman" Monson, who has two scheduled scheduled within a two-week period. I knew that, but I guess I forgot. Tomorrow, Monson will face Chris Guillen as part of the Golbal Fighting Championships, and on September 1, he will face Pedro Rizzo for the IFA championship. Damn!

- A GracieFighter.com post from early this morning explains that the exclusivity of Antonio McKee’s IFL contract, as well as the threat of legal action by the IFL, will prevent McKee from fighting Jake Shields in October. Shields is awaiting a new opponent.

- Eighteen-year-old Ryan Shamrock, the son of Ken Shamrock, is scheduled to make his MMA debut at a Ken Shamrock Promotions event on August 25.