Top MMA News and Mixed Martial Arts Headlines

LAS VEGAS – While he's still interested in dropping from heavyweight to light heavyweight, Daniel Cormier has a fight in mind before that happens: the Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira-Fabricio Werdum winner.

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MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET) Cain Velasquez (240) vs. Antonio Silva (263) - for heavyweight title Junior dos Santos (239) vs. Mark Hunt (264) James Te Huna (206) vs. Glover Teixeira (205) T.J. Grant (155) vs. Gray Maynard (156) Donald Cerrone (155) vs. KJ Noons (156) PRELIMINARY CARD (FX, 8 p.m. ET) Mike Pyle (170) vs. Rick Story (169) Dennis Bermudez (146) vs. Max Holloway (145) Colton Smith (170) vs. Robert Whittaker (171) Khabib Nurmagomedov (158.5)* vs. Abel Trujillo (155) PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook, 6:35 p.m. ET) Nah-Shon Burrell (172)** vs. Stephen Thompson (170) Brian Bowles (135) vs. George Roop (135) Estevan Payan (145) vs. Jeremy Stephens (146) * Nurmagomedov has two hours to cut to the lightweight max of 156 pounds. ** Burrell has two hours to cut to the welterweight max of 171 pounds.

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Michael Bisping says it's "cheating," Vitor Belfort and Chael Sonnen are on it and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White says he will "test the shit" out of fighters who need it. Of course, I'm talking about the highly-debated and always controversial testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) that seems to be constantly grabbing mixed martial arts (MMA) media headlines. Now, former No. 1 UFC welterweight contender, Jon Fitch, is giving his take on the issue, labeling the treatment a "joke." Furthermore, Fitch has come to the conclusion that TRT is simply a way to allow former steroid abusers to re-boost their testosterone. The former Purdue Boilermaker also calls "bullshit" on any MMA fighter using the age-old excuse that they need the treatment in order to complete with the younger fighters. Using himself as a prime example, the 35-year old says his testosterone levels are just as good as any of the young stars of today thanks to the simple fact that he didn't "wreck" his body with any performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). Speaking to Fight Hub TV, Fitch touched on TRT as well as looked ahead to his debut with World Series of Fighting (WSOF) and talked about his sudden and unexpected release from the UFC ranks. "HA! TRT? It is a joke. This is devised to let guys who have used steroids in their past re-boost their testosterone since they abused their bodies when they were younger. The guys using it, the ones who use the excuse of, ‘I am too old to compete with young guys,' - that's bulls***! I am 35 years old, and I promise, I would and will bet money that my testosterone levels are just as good as a younger fighter. You know why? Because I have not wrecked my body with steroids, never used ANY type of PED and train healthy and properly to compete."

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UFC Light Heavyweight champ Jon Jones is in Russia where he met MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko but he's not letting any of the would-be challengers to his throne off the hook, taking time out for shots at Alexander Gustafsson and Daniel Cormier.

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LAS VEGAS – Jon Jones has been one of the UFC's most active champions, but his length of time for his return after his most recent title defense may turn out to be lengthy. Jones (18-1 MMA, 12-1 UFC) injured his toe in his UFC 159 win over Chael Sonnen (27-13-1 MMA, 6-6 UFC). But now it appears the damage could have him on the shelf for perhaps even a half-year.

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LAS VEGAS – UFC President Dana White said the promotion currently has no plans for Vitor Belfort's next fight, but it could include a title shot – and it could happen in Las Vegas. "There's no plans right now with Vitor," White said at Thursday's pre-UFC 160 media day. "He just fought. We'll see what happens. "It would make sense for [Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman] fight, and that's not far away. Those two fight, and we see what happens, or Vitor could fight again. I don't know. But he could fight either one of those guys."

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From his upbringing in a small Italian community in Pittsburgh – complete with the smallish houses, mountains of food and family-run businesses – Mark Cherico was very familiar with support with no questions asked. Granted, he had experienced a difficult period in his life with some poor decisions, but that only came after losing his father to colon cancer when he was in the sixth grade. By the time he was in his early 20s, he got another dose of that unconditional support, and it came at the right time. "Right after high school, I was working at a Giant Eagle as a prep cook, and I thought I would end up doing culinary arts," Cherico told MMAjunke.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "I got off work one day, and my neighbor was coming out of his truck with a big bag of gear. "I asked him what it was for, for boxing or something? He said he trained mixed martial arts. I knew about it, and I thought it sounded like it would be good to try. He said, 'OK, I'll meet you in your garage in an hour.'"

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A featherweight match-up between top ten ranked fighters Dustin Poirier and Erik Koch has been added to the UFC 164 fight card in Milwaukee.

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A heavyweight bout between Mariusz Pudzianowski and Sean McCorkle looks to serve as the KSW 23 co-main event

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LAS VEGAS – After Ronaldo Souza's impressive UFC debut this past week in Brazil, questions quickly turned to who might be next for the Brazilian middleweight. And now we apparently have the answer. Souza (18-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC) will be booked for a fight against onetime middleweight title challenger Yushin Okami (29-7 MMA, 13-4 UFC). UFC President Dana White revealed the planned booking on Thursday to reporters during a media event for UFC 160 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

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The carioca fighter Thales Leites is back in the UFC. Athlete team Nova União, who has challenged fellow Anderson Silva for the middleweight belt, has confirmed his return to the organization in an interview with COMBATE.COM on Thursday. - Has signed about a week and a half, and my prediction is to fight when they call me. Would you like to fight in an event in Brazil and not hide the desire to fight at UFC Rio, where my training partner Jose Aldo will make the main event, and of course for being in my city. Would combine business with pleasure and accomplish a dream, returning to UFC in Rio would be very pleasurable - said.

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UFC Lightweight John Cholish is claiming on twitter that he still hasn't been paid for fighting Gleison Tibau at UFC on FX 8 despite assurances that the money would be wired to him on Monday.

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It's a sad state of affairs when a fighter even has to address such silliness, but following speculation that he took a dive at this past weekend's UFC on FX 8 event, Luke Rockhold felt the need.

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Very bitter. They always claim that they treat the fighters so well. Yeah, they treat the top five percent of the fighters well – the ones that are on the main card all the time. They don’t treat the rest of them very well. The healthcare plan is horrible, with a $1,500 deductible per injury – the catastrophic-injury insurance is not even really good insurance. There’s no retirement fund, there’s no signing bonus. You start off at six-and-six, you’re really not making too much money because you’re self-employed, so you’re paying the self-employment tax and you’re paying the regular tax and income tax. So you’re paying twice as much in tax.

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Although currently slotted to challenge Anderson Silva for the UFC middleweight title, Weidman recently reflected back to a time when he almost signed with Bellator. His story could have been much different were it not for a legal-savvy uncle.

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Just when you thought you had seen every article possible about an MMA fighter, up pops this one. Former UFC lightweight Waylon Lowe, currently with the World Series of Fighting Promotion, has sued a sex shop after a ‘penis gel’ permanently disfigured his genitals. Philly.com has the scoop: ‘A famous fighter says the Kama Sutra Pleasure Balm Prolonging Gel was far from pleasurable, and instead burned and scarred his genitals so badly last fall that he remains permanently disfigured and dysfunctional.

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featherweight fight previously scheduled for UFC on Fox 7 looks to be re-scheduled for UFC 164 on August 31st. Ariel Helwani reported on last night's edition of UFC Tonight that Mendes and Guida still want to fight each other and that the UFC wants to make it happen:

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Matt Serra won't say he's officially retired, but he might never fight again. The former UFC welterweight champion recently told Newsday that a recent health scare put his life into perspective, and right now, he doesn't see much reason to continue fighting. That is, unless his longtime promoter finds its way through a legal quagmire that has kept it out of Serra's home state of New York. A fight in Madison Square Garden is the only thing on his competitive bucket list. "But at the same time, if that doesn't happen, I definitely consider myself done," Serra told Newsday. "It's hard to say the 'R word.' I might never say the 'R word.'"

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Alistair Overeem's return to the octagon has been shifted from UFC 164 to the promotion's debut event on FOX Sports 1. Mutiple sources close to the event today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that Overeem (36-12 MMA, 1-1 UFC) is set to meet fellow standout heavyweight Travis Browne (14-1-1 MMA, 5-1-1 UFC) at UFC on FOX Sports 1 1, which takes place Aug. 17 at TD Garden in Boston. Although the fight will be part of the night's main card and a major attraction, it won't even be the main event, UFC President Dana White subsequently told MMAjunkie.com. That assures at least one other significant bout will be added to the card.

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After a recent scouting trip to the United Kingdom, three top English fighters are heading to Bellator. The organization today announced it has signed Martin Stapleton, Rob Sinclair and Paul Sass to long-term contracts, though terms of the deals weren't disclosed. Debut dates also haven't been announced, though tournament entries are possible. According to the head of the company, this is likely a play to get Bellator on U.K. television.

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