Liz Gunderson-Koll and Josh’s uncle, Brian Gunderson                     Photo by Stillwater Gazette’s Peter Cox

 The family of a man who died while on spring break in Mexico filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Washington County Court late Thursday. The civil lawsuit reveals new details from the medical examiner and a hotel worker about what happened to then 20-year-old Josh Gunderson before he died in March.

                                                                                                                                                                                     Josh Gunderson

Liz Gunderson-Koll says there are two other people who have information, but have chosen not to share it. Ashley Jones and Zachery Jensen were on the trip with Josh Gunderson.

  Jensen, who now appears on Spike TV’s The Ultimate Fighter The Heavyweights, fights for team Rampage and was defeated by team Evans member “Titties” Darrill Schoonover who holds a 10-1 record.   Jensen, who is 7-2, was choked unconscious in the first round of their exhibition fight.

                                                                                                                                        Zak Jensen

 The lawsuit alleges Jensen and Gunderson fought and then he died. 
Read more »

Thiago Alves

Former welterweight title challengers Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves will have to wait for their rematch, as an injury has forced the Brazilian to withdraw from a scheduled bout at UFC 107 “Penn vs. Sanchez” on Dec. 12 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tenn.

American Top Team owner Dan Lambert on Friday confirmed Alves’ withdrawal to Sherdog.com via text message. Lambert said Alves suffered a “small” tear to the posterior cruciate ligament in his knee.

“He wanted to fight regardless,” Lambert texted, after some confusion on Friday, when it was speculated Alves might remain in the bout after all. “You can’t miss 3-4 weeks training against a guy like Fitch to heal an injury. He’s out, but good to go after the first of the year.”

FiveOuncesofPain.com, which was first to break the news, also reported that a replacement for Alves will be sought.

This marks the second change in opponent for Fitch in little more than a week. He was originally slated to meet former middleweight King of Pancrase Ricardo Almeida, who pulled out of their UFC 106 clash with a knee injury.

Based at the American Kickboxing Academy, Fitch last competed at UFC 100 in July, when he earned a unanimous decision against the previously unbeaten and world-ranked Paulo Thiago. The 31-year-old Fort Wayne, Ind., native has posted 17 wins in 18 fights, losing only to reigning UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre in that span.

Still only 26, Alves has not appeared in the Octagon since his unanimous decision loss to St. Pierre at UFC 100 three months ago. The defeat snapped a seven-fight winning streak for the American Top Team-trained “Pitbull.” Victories against former UFC welterweight king Matt Hughes, the world-ranked Josh Koscheck and Karo Parisyan anchor his resume.

A lightweight title bout pairing champion B.J. Penn with “The Ultimate Fighter 1” winner Diego Sanchez will headline UFC 107.

 Roxanne Modafferi(courtesy of Fight Chix)

Modafferi will replace an injured Erin Toughill on 10-day’s notice. Toughill withdrew from the bout Wednesday due to “medical reasons.”

MMAWeekly.com was the first to report about the late replacement bout, which will be a rematch of the pair’s K-Grace 1 fight in Japan in May 2007. Both women fought three times that night in a tournament format, while Modafferi earned a split decision against Coenen after two three-minute rounds in the finals.

A product of Holland’s Golden Glory team, Coenen has been a staple of Japan’s women’s MMA scene since 2000 and has 16 career wins. Coenen, 28, lost a unanimous decision to Cindy Dandois at BOTE “Beast of the East” in Holland last January.

Modafferi, 27, a Delaware native, has studied MMA abroad in Japan for the last few years. She capped off a six-fight win streak with a unanimous decision victory against Chisa Yonezawa at GCM “Valkyrie 1” in November 2008.

The undercard bout is still expected to get airtime, if time permits, during CBS’s live telecast of the event starting at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT.

MAIN CARD
FEDOR “THE LAST EMPEROR” EMELIANENKO (30-1) VS BRETT “THE GRIM” ROGERS (10-0)
JASON “MAYHEM” MILLER (29-6) VS JAKE SHIELDS (28-4) - MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
GEGARD “THE DREAMCATCHER” MOUSASI (29-2) VS RAMEAU THIERRY “THE AFRICAN ASSASIN” SOKODJOU
FABRICIO “VAI CAVALO” WERDUM (12-4-1) VS ANTONIO “BIGFOOT” SILVA (13-1)

TIME: NOVEMBER 7, 2009 – 8:00PM/CT (PRELIMS AT 6:00PM)

HOW TO WATCH: LIVE ON CBS!

UFC 107: Penn vs. Sanchez promises fireworks!

Huston Alexander (14-4-1) reportedly announced on his Nebraska radio show on KOPW 106.9 that he’d be fighting TUF’s Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson (3-1-0) at UFC 107. As the media calls started lighting up the callboard, Alexander faded to black and issued no further information.

After three back-to-back losses to Thiago Silva, James Irvin and Eric Schafer, Alexander was granted rare permission to fight outside of the UFC at Adrenaline IV, which is promoted by his manager Monte Cox. Heavy-hitting Alexander got back to his winning ways with a first round TKO over Sherman Pendergarst.

Slice, on the other hand, Kimbo Slice is trying to gain traction after suffering losses to Seth Petruzelli at EliteXC: Heat and Roy “Big Country” Nelson on The Ultimate Fighter: The Heavyweights. Lucky for Slice, TUF bouts are considered exhibitions so, the loss was not added to his record. Slice is currently in Miami and training at American Top Team for his fight with Alexander.

Takanori Gomi (30-5) is a former Shooto Welterweight Champion and was the final holder of the lightweight title from defunct promotion Pride Fighting Championship. He is also a four-time All Japan Combat Wrestling champion.

Gomi wants to avenge a loss to current UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn that he suffered at Rumble on the Rock 4 in 2003 via Rear Naked Choke in the 3^rd round. Now, Gomi is waiting for the UFC to make it happen.

I do not want to talk about the UFC in a negative way. Mr. Dana White is a great leader, and I respect him. But, he is a difficult person to negotiate. I am a student of martial arts. I am a champion of MMA”.

The current status of the lightweight division is a point where Gomi does not hide his feelings. Hawaiian champion BJ Penn became the clear target of the Japanese fighter. However, he does not see this fight as palpable in times to come.

“I want to face BJ Penn again. He knows that I am the only one in the category that can knock him out. Would the two biggest champions fighting. Imagine how that would be? But it is a fight that may not happen in the foreseeable future.”

The Maximum Fighting Championship wasted no time in finding a top-notch opponent for the recently signed Thales Leites as another big-name former UFC middleweight vet has joined the fray.

Former Abu Dhabi world champion Dean Lister signed a multi-fight deal last night and immediately agreed to meet Leites at MFC 23: Unstoppable on Friday, December 4 at the River Cree Resort and Casino. The bout will be the main event of the fight card broadcast live throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico on HDNet Fights.

Dean Lister

“This is an outstanding matchup and I am particularly pleased that both Dean and Thales agreed to fight each other so quickly – no discussion, no delays. Just signed, sealed and delivered,” said MFC Owner/President Mark Pavelich.

“It is a great fight. Both guys have a lot to prove and both guys want the MFC title belt. There’s a lot at stake in this fight and that’s when things get very interesting.”

With the signings of Lister and Leites along with the return of Jason MacDonald, the recent main-event victory by Travis Lutter, and other names such as Bryan Baker and Solomon Hutcherson, the MFC’s middleweight division has suddenly become very deep in experienced talent.

“I couldn’t be happier about reloading our 185-pound division,” noted Pavelich. “For too long the division was pretty empty but now the cupboard is full – and full of names that the fans want to see fight.”

Lister (11-6) is one of the most-decorated submission fighters in the world of mixed martial arts, and he holds career victories over such notables as Jeremy Horn, Yuki Sasaki, and Alessio Sakara. Seven of Lister’s nine submission wins have come inside the first round.

The San Diego, California, product has numerous other grappling credentials on his resume. In addition to his Absolute Division championship at the 2003 Abu Dhabi, Lister captured victories in tournament superfights in 2003 and 2005, and he holds the event record with four straight wins in the ’03 event. Lister, a master of foot and knee locks, is a two-time U.S. national sambo champion, a four-time U.S. national champion in Machado Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and a U.S. national champion in Gracie jiu-jitsu.

Props to WWW.MMANEWS.COM.