The Ultimate Fighter 8 participant Junie Browning, in what is probably an attempt to rehabilitate his image along with refining his fight game, has joined up with Xtreme Couture, the gym run by UFC fighter Randy Couture, according to MMAWeekly as confirmed by representatives of the gym. As anyone who has watched TUF 8 already knows, Browning was pretty much the fighter everyone loves to hate.
With his move to Xtreme Couture, perhaps Browning can silence his critics as to whether he is taking his budding MMA career seriously. Browning joins an impressive stable of fighters at Xtreme Couture, which includes Tyson Griffin, Gray Maynard and Mac Danzig; also factor in that Couture and coach Shawn Tompkins making their presence felt will only make things better for Browning – assuming that he remains focused and not revert to his TUF 8 self.
Xtreme Couture is not just a training facility conglomerate anymore; now they’re officially a MMA promotion company. According to MMAWeekly.com, sources from within the training center have confirmed that Xtreme Couture will indeed host their first mixed martial arts event which will be held at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, NV on October 18. HDNet will be the broadcaster of the live event.
Scheduled to appear at the event are Mike Whitehead, Allen Goes, John Alessio, Gideon Ray, Jay Hieron and Mike Pyle. Hieron and Pyle were originally scheduled to fight at Affliction’s “Day of Reckoning” event on October until that event was re-scheduled for January 17; it is unclear as of this writing how Hieron’s and Pyle’s participation in Xtreme Couture’s event will affect their spot at Affliction’s next event. When updates become available, Octagon Buzz will have them for you, along with the most up-to-date MMA news.
About one week ago I wrote about IFL champion Dan Miller signing with the Ultimate Fighting Championship; Miller’s first opponent in the UFC has been revealed as according to Matthew Brothers of Fightline.com, Miller will make his UFC debut against Rob Kimmons at UFC Fight Night 15 on September 17 in Omaha, NE and will be televised on Spike TV, presumably on the undercard.
Miller is both the IFL and Cage Fury Fighting middleweight champion and currently trains with UFC regular Frankie Edgar at Planet Jiu-Jitsu. Meanwhile, Kimmons has won 12 of his last 13 fights and is 1-0 in the UFC, submitting Rob Yundt during the most recent “Ultimate Fighter” finale; he is also the lead instructor at the Kansas City branch of Xtreme Couture.
Who is Robert Drysdale, you ask? He is a MMA rookie who is expected to make his MMA debut later this year. Drysdale is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu expert and won the Abu Dhabi Absolute Division in 2007. In this interview with MMANews.com, Drysdale talks about his move to MMA, his goals in MMA, training with Xtreme Couture, what the pay is like in jiu jitsu and much more.
