Page 534 - Top MMA News and Mixed Martial Arts Headlines

Wanderlei Silva’s next fight will be with Michael Bisping, a well-placed Las Vegas source has told Fighters Only. The fight may headline the UFC’s first event in Australia, which takes place in February 2010. Verbal agreements for the clash have been given, although Fighters Only understands that bout agreements are not yet drawn up. The fight will not be official until these are signed and returned by both men. Bisping is coming off a win over Denis Kang at UFC 105 while Silva is coming off a decision loss to Rich Franklin at UFC 99. That fight took place at a catch weight of 195lbs and while Bisping operates at middleweight now, he too is a former light-heavyweight, making a catch weight meeting a possibility.

Add your comment  

Because Rashad Evans and Thiago Silva lost so convincingly to Machida already, the winner of their UFC 108 showdown will still need another victory over a big name to regain credibility.

Add your comment  

If the lack of depth on last Saturday's UFC 106 card didn't alarm you, it should. Sure, UFC has a giant roster of fighters that they don't have to pay unless they fight. However, the talent pool has shrunken considerably over the last year and it's due in part to injuries and an over-abundance of live events. For MMA fans like you and I, having more shows is fine with us. We love MMA and will watch anything - but we're also the hardcore fans. We're not the ones putting our money on the line to promote it.

Add your comment  

After being out one year due to a serious leg injury that was viewed as career-threatening, former TUF 5 contestant Corey Hill could be returning to MMA as soon as January. He reportedly plans to return January 23 for "Raging Wolf" in Niagara, NY. Hill is still under UFC contract but it appears he will be given similar treatment that they gave Houston Alexander, who was given permission to take a couple of fights in outside promotions while under UFC contract.

Add your comment  

Spike TV has released the ratings for it's broadcast of 2 UFC 106 prelim fights Saturday. The 1 hour broadcast drew 1.3 million viewers, down slightly from the first 2 such airings, which did 1.4 million viewers each. Spike did claim that the broadcast won the target men 18-34 and men 18-49 demos, beating a college football game on ESPN.

Add your comment  

Better Know a Judge: Lester Griffin, the Guy Who Scored It 30-27 for Forrest UFC 106's Griffin/Ortiz rematch was a tricky one to judge, not just because the first two rounds were fairly even, but because it was contested both on the feet and on the ground — and as we've seen many times in the past, MMA judges can have vastly different opinions on the relative value of each aspect of a fight. In the end, Glenn Trowbridge saw it 29-28 for Tito Ortiz, while Marcos Rosales had it 29-28 for Griffin. The deciding vote was cast by a guy named Lester Griffin, who, from his angle, witnessed a one-sided shellacking. His 30-27 score for Forrest Griffin was later described as "crazy," "outrageous," and "insane" by Dana White. Some interesting footage of "stick fighting" that I've never seen before...very interesting.

Add your comment  

The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Monday announced a lightweight bout pitting Mark Bocek against newcomer Joe Brammer for “The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights” finale, confirming an earlier report from MMAWeekly.com. Brammer takes the place of Matt Veach, who recently stepped into a feature bout position against Frankie Edgar when Edgar’s original opponent, Kurt Pellegrino, had to withdraw due to a back injury.

Add your comment  

Josh Burkman, a cast member from "The Ultimate Fighter 2" who was once one of the UFC's most promising welterweight prospects, returned from a 13-month layoff and posted a first-round stoppage victory over the weekend. Burkman (19-8) defeated "TUF 5" cast member and fellow UFC vet Brandon Melendez (22-15) via first-round TKO at the Nov. 20 Throwdown Showdown 5 event in Utah.

Add your comment  

A handful of notables, including former UFC heavyweight title challenger Pedro Rizzo, one-time top UFC heavyweight contender Jeff Monson and PRIDE veteran Murilo "Ninja" Rua, have been announced for the next installment of Bitetti Combat. Bitetti Combat 5 takes place Dec. 12 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Rizzo (17-9), who defeated Monson via unanimous decision at Bitetti Combat 4 in September, meets Dutch PRIDE veteran Valentijn Overeem (26-24) in the night's headliner. Overeem, who's defeated the likes of Renato "Babalu" Sobral (2000) and Randy Couture (2001) during his 14-year career, is the older brother of Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem. Rua (17-10-1), who looks to build off a 39-second knockout of Alex Stiebling at the latest Bitetti Combat show, takes on M-1 Challenge vet Jason Jones (14-7). In other bouts, Monson (31-9) meets WEC vet Glover Teixeira (7-2), veteran Travis Wiuff (57-13) looks for his fourth straight win when he meets Brazilian Fabio Maldonado (12-3), and "The Ultimate Fighter 6" runner-up Tommy Speer (13-4) meets Eduardo Pamplona (12-2), a winner of seven straight.

Add your comment  

Unfortunately it seems that the TUF 10 fighter affectionately nicknamed "Titties" by Quinton Jackson" will have to put his MMA career on hold after the show. Darrill Schoonover announced yesterday that after he fights on 12/5 at the TUF 10 Finale-of course he can't reveal his opponent yet-he has been recalled by the Army and will return to active duty. He's been out for nearly 2 years after 4 years active service, meaning he's within the window that he can still be recalled, and while he's not 100% sure where he's going, he says it's probably Afghanistan. He hopes to be back and resuming MMA in about a year. Come back safely when it's over, big guy.

Add your comment  

Spike TV today confirmed that cast member Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson is scheduled to compete at the Dec. 5 live finale for "The Ultimate Fighter 10." MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) previously reported that Ferguson (3-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) meets Houston Alexander (9-4 MMA, 2-3 UFC) in a catch-weight bout, but Spike TV officials won't announce his opponent until after a two-hour, season-ending Dec. 2 episode of "TUF 10," which is the latest edition of the UFC's reality series. Spike TV has teased the possibility of Ferguson, who lost an opening-round matchup to former IFL champion Roy Nelson in the third episode of the series, as possibly re-entering the competition as an injury replacement. The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale takes place at the The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. The night's main card, including a Jon Jones vs. Matt Hamill headliner, airs on Spike TV.

Add your comment  

This past week's broadcast of "WEC 44: Brown vs. Aldo" on Versus scored a 0.5 household rating and averaged an audience of 414,000 viewers. MMAjunkie.com today confirmed the ratings information with Versus officials. WEC 44 took place Nov. 18 at The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Jose Aldo topped WEC featherweight champion Mike Brown in the night's main event, and Manny Gamburyan edged Leonard Garcia in the co-headliner. The WEC 44 ratings were similar to those for WEC 43, which drew 419,000 viewers. The Oct. 10 event, which took place at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, featured Benson's Henderson's decision victory over Donald Cerrone in the night's main event.

Add your comment  

The NSAC has posted the official UFC 106 results on its website, which also include the medical suspensions coming out of the event.

Add your comment  

The NSAC has revealed the fighter payouts from UFC 106. The total disclosed payouts were $1,021,000 with the biggest share-$250,000-going to both Forrest Griffin and Tito Ortiz. Both Fabricio Camoes and Caol Uno only earned show money with no win bonuses because their fight went to a Draw.

Add your comment  

UFC 107 takes place on Saturday, December 12, at the FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee. The latest UFC 107 fight card and event info can be found in our fight cards section.

Add your comment  

Looking back at this past Saturday's UFC 106, SI.com's Ben Fowlkes and I discuss the hot topics coming from the big fights. We look at what the future has in store for Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz, worthy opponents for Georges St-Pierre, Amir Sadollah's performance against Phil Baroni and the next step for Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.

Add your comment  

Or simply put, Take 4. Strikeforce will try once again to have Josh Thomson vs. Gilbert Melendez to unify the Strikeforce Lightweight and Interim Lightweight Titles at SF Evolution on December 19 according to GracieFighter. The rematch of their first title fight, won by Thomson, has been postponed 3 times already due to Thomson injuries, forcing an Interim title to be created that has been held-and defended once-by Melendez.

Add your comment  

While Jose Aldo's 145-pound title win made waves in the WEC's featherweight division, the ripple effect has spread to the bantamweight class, as well. MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) has learned from sources close to the WEC that former featherweight contender and Aldo's Nova Uniao teammate, Wagnney Fabiano (12-2 MMA, 2-1 WEC), will make the drop to 135 pounds for his next fight. A date for Fabiano's bantamweight debut has not been set. It was Aldo, at just 23 years old, who was originally considering a move to the 135-pound division to make way for Fabiano's run at the title. But with Aldo's current 6-0 run in the WEC, including an impressive win over former champ Mike Brown at this past Wednesday's WEC 44 event, it's now Fabiano who will seek the Nova Uniao team's second title belt.

Add your comment  

Yoshihiro Akiyama has been spending some time training with the stars at Xtreme Couture, and that's where FanHouse caught up with him last week. Akiyama talked about facing Wanderlei Silva in 2010, whether he would ever consider dropping down to welterweight, the legend that is "Sexyama," and his unique entrance music.

Add your comment  

"The fight could have gone either way," White said. "(But) 30-27? I mean that's crazy." White was referring to the official scorecard of judge Lester Griffin, who awarded Forrest all three rounds of the fight, resulting in the 30-27 total. "The 30-27 score is outrageous," White said. "It's insane." White considered the opening frame of the fight the closest of the the three rounds. Griffin landed the better shots on the feet and fended off two takedown attempts, while Ortiz scored an early takedown and landed a few blows before his opponent escaped to the feet. "It was a close first round," White said. "The first round was tough to score. As soon as that fight was over, all of us that were sitting down were like, 'That was a tough round to score.'" take on the situation (includes a video interview with Marc Ratner).

Add your comment