Pete Sell (7-4) and Josh Burkman (9-6) are penciled in to clash in a welterweight bout at UFC 90: “Silva vs. Cote” at the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Ill., on October 25, according to TriStateFighter.com.
Matt Serra – Sell’s mentor and coach – broke the news in a recent radio interview of his fighter’s 170-pound debut against “The People’s Warrior” in the “Windy City.”
“Drago” has endured a recent string of bad luck inside the Octagon, losing his last three fights. He had Scott Smith all but finished in their epic battle back at The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 4 Finale; however, he was iced with a Hail Mary punch when he went in for the kill.
He then dropped a unanimous decision to top 185-pound contender Thales Leites at UFC 69: “Shootout” and was knocked out in his next appearance by Nate Quarry in the third round at UFC Fight Night 11 after dictating the pace of most of that fight.
Sell should have a size and power advantage over most of his opponents in the 170-pound division – he’s a big guy who can pack a punch. This decision to test the welterweight waters is perhaps his last chance to prove that he belongs in the premier mixed martial arts promotion on the planet.
Burkman, too, has not had much recent success within the eight-sided cage. In fact, he has lost three of his last four fights and the lone win over Forrest Petz during that span was a controversial split decision.
To his credit, Burkman has not been in against any marshmallows during the rough stretch — Dustin Hazelett, Mike Swick and Karo Parisyan are all very talented fighters and very tough opponents.
It is also very important for him to bring home the win, making this a fight that could provide some very serious action as both fighter press for a convincing finish.
To check out the latest UFC 90 card and fight rumors click here.
53 Comments »
lol Pete Sell…
Pete Sell is a Warrior.. don’t let his record fool you.. He puts it all in the cage.. I have nothing but respect for him.. he was 1part of what was one of the best fighting ending KO’s in UFC history.. I would jsut like to see more Jits from him.. he tends to always bang. If you look at his UFC record.. 10 out of 10 other guys would not be booked to fight in a future UFC event.. but Dana knows what he gets in a Pete Sell.. a FIGHT! and Josh Burkman.. coming off his lossto Dustin..and Pete to Nate will make for an exciting match.
Pete Sell is much better than his record suggest. Like phil said, he is a WARRIOR in every sense of the word. Win or loose, you got to keep bringing a guy like this back. I also agree that he should start using his jits more. His jits is better than he has showed. I f I remember correctly, he submitted a heavily favored Baroni in his first UFC fight back in the day. Being Serra’s main man, I know that he has better jits then he shows, but he is just a bad ass who wants to Brawl. Win or loose he makes it exciting and I cant wait to see him KNock Burkman’s head off!
A great fight down the line would be Sell vs. Leben
Yep.. that would be a good 1.
Although I respect Sell, he’s great to watch no matter who he is fighting ( ie: Nate Quarry fights were the sh*t.), I like Burkman. Even though he has lost his last couple, he still remains respectful and classy through each one. I just hope he steps up his game and does well throughout the remainder of the year.
If I were to bet money on the fight, I would lean toward Burkman, I believe he is in a position of urgency and needs to take home a win, or go home. I guess the same is for both fighters. But, Burkman has an unspoken edge.
Randy Colture is about to be on the Adam Corolla show if anyone wants to listen. Just go to listen live.
http://adam.freefm.com/
A submission over Ja-Baroni from a decent jiu jitsu guy wouldn’t exactly be a big surprise.
MMAMANIA, this feature totally sucks. The reply to this comment feature. You know viewers only read the first 10 posts or so. And, that sucks for the viewers who visit frequently and like to leave comments as soon as a story hits. Then somebody can just reply to the one of the 1st comments about and hour after the story posts and get their comments on top of everybody else. Not a fan of this feature.
I agree, there is some position highjacking, but what are you going to do? I still read most of the post and not just the first 10.
OK, for those that missed last nights ESPN “E:60″ Episode, I will give you a recap of the infamous, Lee Murray story.
Lee Murray committed the Biggest Cash heist in the History of the WORLD!!!! He was the mastermind behind the whole thing and him and his crew made off with 90 million dollars in cash because thats all they could carry. They filled a HUge U-haul type truck with just stacks of money. If they had more room they would have made off with 360 million. Currently Murray is in Turkish prison on other charges and Britain is really pressing for his extradition to be held on charges in the British courts. However, there is no extradition treaty between Britain and Turkey and since Murray’s father was from Turkey, they see him as a Turkish citizen and they are trying to protect him. Courts will rule later this year on weather they will extradite him to Britain or not. Seems to me like they wont.
The Espn piece was done well. It featured interviews with long time friend Mark “the Beast” Epstein and trainer Pat Miletich. Pat talked a lot about Murray and what a bad ass he was. He even gave a recap on the famous Alley brawl between Murray and Tito Ortiz. According to Miletich, TIto swung on Murray, Lee ducked a hook from Tito and lit tito up with like a lightning quick 5 punch combo which all punches landed right on tito’s chin “Bone on Bone”. Tito then fell to the ground where Lee then Kicked him in the head 2 times (GOD I WOULD HAVE LOVED TO HAVE BEEN THERE TOO SEE TITO GET MESSED UP).
It was a very interesting segment done by ESPN!
Speaking of ESPN, I hear that ESPN or ESPN2 are close to giving a time slot to Kenny Florian’s “mma live” show that is always posted on the net. that would be HUGE for mma to finally get its own news show on ESPN!!!! MAINSTREAM!!!!
I heard.. IT”S ABOUT TIME!! + MMALIVE is already ESPN formatted.. with (Kenny) expert anaylsis!! I would love it.
Speaking of off-topic..
dont you have anything to say about the actual posts ever?
LOL
I MISSED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was a great show. BTW, Lee’s father is from Morraco, not Turkey and Lee is being held in a Morracan prison.
yeah, u r right. My bad!
Lee Murry has nothing on Danny Ocean!
Hope Burkman crushes Sell. Hate Sell and for some reason like Burkman. Should be a good fight though, both guys usually bring it.
Seriously…do we really want to see a guy, Sell, who has lost 4…that’s right…FOOOOUUUURRRRRR straight!!?? Yeah, yeah warrior…WHATEVER…some warrior he is. Not the kind of warrior I’d want to take to battle…hypothetically of course. He loses – period. I’m Sooooo not into this fight at all!!
Obviously undercard material.
It shouldn’t even be televised. Woo hoo…a guy on a 2 fight losing streak and a guy on a 4 fight losing streak. Yippie freaking skippy!
This is going to be a good scrap, and I give it to Sell. He’s a tough bastard and he’s always putting on good fights, how can you not be into watching this one?
I’m not interested for the same reason I stated before. 4 L’s in a row! I can’t understand why the UFC would book a fighter on such a horrific losing streak. I don’t care if his fights are exciting fights or not. I wanna watch contenders not brawlers. IMO, Sell is WEC or EXC material…not UFC material as he’s proven over his last 4 loses. To clairify, I’m not a hater…just not into watching a guy that continues to not impress.
look at cote he lose his first four and now he is getting a title shot. Sell has talent he just needs to start living up to his potential sort of like cote has done recently
Cote worked his way back by reaching the TUF 4 Finale and has won 4 straight since then.
Actually, he’s lost 3 straight. And as long as he can still bring it in a fight, sure, I’d love to see him attempt to rebound from his current losing streak. Wanderlei was down 3 straight too – does that mean you didn’t want to see him fight Keith Jardine?
ACTUALLY…it’s FOUR!
Loss Nate Quarry Knock Out UFC® Fight Night™: Din Thomas vs Kenny Florian Sep-19-2007 3 0:44
Loss Thales Leites Unanimous Decision UFC® 69: SHOOTOUT Apr-7-2007 3 5:00
Loss Scott Smith Technical Knock Out The Ultimate Fighter® 4 Finale Nov-11-2006 2 3:25
Loss Nate Quarry Technical Knock Out UFC® Fight Night™ 1 Aug-6-2005 1 0:42
Sherdog disagrees with you –
Loss Nathan Quarry KO (Punch) UFC Fight Night 11 9/19/2007 3 0:44
Loss Thales Leites Decision (Unanimous) UFC 69 Shootout 4/7/2007 3 5:00
Loss Scott Smith KO (Punch) UFC Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale 11/11/2006 2 3:25
Win Landon Showalter Decision (Unanimous) ROC 10 Ring of Combat 10 4/14/2006 3 5:00
Apparently Pete got a fight in after the first Quarry loss. So that’s 3 MMA losses in a row.
http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Pete-Sell-7795
then Sherdog knows something that the UFC doesn’t…
http://www.ufc.com/PeteSell
If you pay close enough attention, you’ll realize ufc.com only lists their record within the UFC.
Ohhhhh…now that I was unaware of. Thanks for the insight!
Sell always brings it. I think he would have a much better record if he went to the ground more, training with Serra his ground game is probably better than most people realize. He likes to stand and bang and that makes for some great fights but in my opinion he will have a much longer career if he wasn’t so one dimensional.
Sell will win this fight! I don’t see how Burkman wins.
why is josh burkman still in the ufc?
i could not possibly care less about a fight.
sell is too much of a meathead to ever be any good in the octagon, and burkman relies on others to make his fights exciting.
Seriously, WTF… The only thing Burkman has ever contributed was being on the recieving end of one of the sickest armbars in UFC history, courtisy of Mclovin.
burkmans fights are almost as boring as machida’s. hopefully he will step it up out of desperation. sell is an exciting fighter, that matters alot to most of the mma crowd, including me.
everybody bashes Jorge Gurgel for being an idiot inside the cage, because he stands up instead of using his black belt in jitsu. Minus Phil Baroni, when has Pete Sell ever attempted a submission? He always stands up and bangs and he does not fight smart. I am a huge fan of Drago don’t get me wrong, and I hope he beats the daylights out of Burkman for the win, but Drago is not a smart fighter.
I’d say his strength is in his stand up anyhow, he’s playing his game which is brawling, the guy has one punch KO power so he likes to throw the dice. He may not come in with the most intelligent game plan but imo he’s playing to his strength.
He is a black belt in jitsu, he can easily submit people and control them on the ground. That is his strength, Drago just wants a fun fight for the fans, just like Jorge, Josh Haynes, anda couple of other fighters, this brawling style only hurts you unless your name is Chris Leben.
Burkman is a bum. He is not even a gatekeeper. He’s the guy the gatekeepers keeps denying access to entry. He needs to be in the WEC or the EliteXC or anything other than the UFC.
About to go on lunch right now, but yesterday I posted that betting early on certain fights is advantageous because you get your money in before the odds start to sway. Yesterday I got Chuck at -260. Today, he is already at -280.
I also put in a parlay on Chuck/Franklin. I see the majority of the money going on these two fighters, hence thier odds will worsten. Right now a parlay on them two is paying out close to even!!!!!!!! I think I might have to lay down more than I originally did…
Man I don’t even remember last time Burkman won, I can’t even remember him doing anything more then a “swing for the fences” right hand that he throws. Nothing against him but those guys have been past by and no longer have a place in UFC. I mean there is still a place for pure strikers, its harder now but thet can still hang around UFC, but he isn’t even that.
Wow! I couldnt care less for a fight… Two has-been.. wait did they used to be something? Hello preliminary card
Sell!! Yes! I’ve always been a huge fan of his, happy to see him getting another chance. I think he will win this one, but Burkman is no pushover. Should be a good fight. Both guys are fighting with alot to lose.
loser leaves town possibly ? …i would like to see sell win but it always seems like he is getting caught or he makes a dumb mistake and ends up losing (smith quarry) …. and burkman looked pretty good vs. hazelett until the sub. soo maybe if sell uses this ground game that i hear joe rogan speak of every time sell fights sell will win ha…
Pete Sell has a bulbous, Tweety-Bird shaped head…
I’ve always thought he looks like toad from the super mario brothers video games.
Yeah, these guys haven’t done well in their last few fights, but records aren’t everything. Two mediocre fighters can put on a good show while highly ranked fighters can put us to sleep (e.g., Sanchez vs. Koscheck). That being said, neither of these guys are moving up in the ranks. I think the only reason UFC is keeping them around is so they don’t show up as the main event for an Elite XC show on CBS. I imagine that, considering how Scott Smith went from UFC undercard-filler to Elite XC headliner, the UFC will hang on to fighters with mediocre records (Burkman, Sell, Sakara, Guida) just to keep them out of the hands of Affliction and EliteXC. This might be behind their recent pick up of IFL talent who aren’t expected to contend in their weight classes (Blackburn, Horwich, Andy). Great for the fighters, though. Gotta love competition.
Sell is moving down to welterweight to derail Baroni’s career again.
hahahaha sell will own Baroni again
i think sell is a former roid head, literally he has the classic skull bone plate shift pattern that a lot of abusers have. Joe Rogan has a pretty good melon going to.