Page 6 - Top MMA News and Mixed Martial Arts Headlines

The last time MMA fans saw K.J. Noons he was blasting his way through his firs title defense as the EliteXC lightweight champion, but lately the native Hawaiian has gone back to his first love, which is the sport of boxing. While no deal has been made yet, Noons says MMA fans shouldn't forget about him, because he'll be back, and it will be before the end of 2009.

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First bursting on to the mainstream MMA scene due to his stint on “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series, former King of the Cage champion Joe Stevenson quickly made a name for himself in his new home with the UFC. Winning the second season's welterweight title against Luke Cummo in what Dana White described as "...in my opinion, ladies and gentlemen, that was Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin, only on the ground,” a remark that speaks volumes of Stevenson’s character and ability.

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The former PRIDE and UFC champ talks about his injuries before facing Frank Mir and his UFC 102 battle with Randy Couture:

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Poppies "The Tachi Kid" Martinez (16-5), a former World Extreme Cagefighting fighter and Palace Fighting Championships title-holder, will further bolster Strikeforce's quickly filling lightweight division. Christian Printup, founder and president of the successful PFC organization, today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) Martinez will make his Strikeforce debut at the organization's Aug. 15 event in San Jose, Calif.

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Rumors about B.J. Penn possibly pulling out of UFC 101, recently fueled by Diego Sanchez's comments that he could be ready to fight Kenny Florian at UFC 101, took a hit today with Penn's latest video blog. The short, 19-second clip simply shows Penn, who defends his lightweight title against Florian at the Aug. 8 UFC 101 event, weighing in on a scale. With six weeks left until the event, Penn is shown weighing a svelte 166.8 pounds, fewer than 12 pounds over the 155-pound limit. "I better slow down and stopping losing too much weight," Penn says in the video. "I'm actually surprised the weight is coming off so quick."

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Billed as a "fight fan's dream event," the UFC's first-ever Fan Expo, scheduled for July 10 and 11 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, will feature an astounding amount of current and former UFC, PRIDE and WEC fighters. The organization today announced a list of more than 30 confirmed attendees ranging from Royce Gracie and Gary Goodridge to Junie Browning and Efrain Escudero. Tickets are currently available for the event on the 2009 UFC Fan Expo's official website. Advance-purchase tickets are $30 for July 10, $35 for July 11 or $50 for a two-day pass.

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Unless you bought a ticket for this past weekend's "Strikeforce Challengers: Villasenor vs. Cyborg" in Kent., Wash., you didn't get a chance to see lightweight Lyle Beerbohm's (10-0) first-round submission win over Duane "Bang" Ludwig. The preliminary card fight, Beerbohm's biggest win to date, didn't make it onto the evening's Showtime broadcast.

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10 years of fighting, four title belts, 31 wins and a couple of million dollars in his bank account. You might think it’s time for Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira to retire. The heavyweight legend says it’s not. In the following interview, Nogueira discusses his recovery since losing to Frank Mir, his upcoming bout with Randy Couture and his thoughts on Fedor Emelianenko, Wanderlei Silva and more.

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For the first time in nine seasons, “The Ultimate Fighter” featured a country versus country theme between the United States and the United Kingdom. Even though critics were quick to point out that Team U.S.A might not have been the strongest this time around, two Brits won their weight divisions, proving that MMA has arrived in the Old World as well. The U.K. is, without a doubt, the most advanced territory in Europe when it comes to mixed martial arts fighting at this time. However, there are tons of very promising talent from the other 47 European countries as well. Sherdog.com has compiled a list of the top ten Euro prospects to look out for. Qualification criteria was a maximum age of 23 years and no contract with a major promotion yet.

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According to the article the UFC has banned Dethrone, One More Round, and Rolling Stone. The UFC has also banned online poker sponsors for UFC 100 Full Tilt Poker, Ultimate Bet, and Party Poker. To make matters worse, companies will have to pay a $100,000 fee to the UFC to gain the ability to sponsor a fighter during a UFC promoted event.

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haha... this guy's life is amazing! Someone needs to make a movie out of his life also reported on espn

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A rumored heavyweight match-up between heavyweights Todd Duffee and Mike Russow is a done deal for UFC 102 in August. Sources close to the fight Wednesday confirmed the news to MMAWeekly.com, stating that bout agreements had been finalized. The bout will highlight the Portland, Ore., event's undercard.

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Jamie Varner posted a tweet on the status of his injury: I just got out of the Docs and hand is still fractured. I'm really upset. I thought I was ready, my hand doesn't even hurt, but the doc pulled the rug out from my feet...

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Now recovered from a broken hand that forced him out of a scheduled UFC 98 fight with Andre Gusmao, UFC light heavyweight Houston Alexander is planning a late summer or early fall return to the octagon. Alexander (8-4 MMA, 2-3 UFC), who's in a must-win situation after three consecutive UFC losses, never quit training after the injury. "We spent the down time working on techniques and ran him through a six-week speed and agility program, so other than not hitting anything and not getting to fight, we never missed a beat training wise," Alexander's trainer, Mick Doyle, told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

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Poppies "The Tachi Kid" Martinez (16-5), a former World Extreme Cagefighting fighter and Palace Fighting Championships title-holder, will further bolster Strikeforce's quickly filling lightweight division. Christian Printup, founder and president of the successful PFC organization, today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) Martinez will make his Strikeforce debut at the organization's Aug. 15 event in San Jose, Calif. An opponent will soon be signed for Martinez, who will compete on the night's preliminary card. Martinez enters Strikeforce with three wins in his past four fights (all in PFC) and seven in his past nine; only one victory went to a decision. He launched his career in 2003 with the WEC, where he went 8-2 before a move to PFC in 2007.

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Monikered as the "Man Who Beat Fedor", Blagoi Ivanov has an interesting set of tasks to deal with in the coming months. He'll make his MMA debut on August 2nd at Sengoku IX against former PRIDE fighter and pro-wrestler Kazuyuki Fujita after signing a three-fight deal with Sengoku, and he is also rumored as to potentially taking on Fedor Emelianenko's brother, Aleksander Emelianenko, in the new South Korean promotion Fighting Mixed Combative. In typical Japanese fashion, it seems that Ivanov is being thrown to the wolves quite early in his career, but there is a favorable chance that Ivanov could come out on top.

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The crowd of 21,451 that turned out for UFC 97 in April not only set a North American attendance record for MMA, it also topped this year's average home attendance of four Major League Baseball teams. The Washington Nationals, Florida Marlins, Pittsburgh Pirates and Oakland Athletics are each averaging less than 21,400 fans for their home games through this past Saturday.

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Without trying to beat a dead horse on the issue regarding judging, the discussion revolving around the current MMA judging model is definitely an intriguing debate. After The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 Finale's debatable decisions on both the main card and undercard, many fans have realized that some changes need to be made. Kid Nate made the argument that the Japanese judging system might be a better fit for MMA while Joe Rogan seemed to side a bit with its application as well.

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A heavyweight bout between UFC veteran Gabriel Gonzaga (10-4 MMA, 6-3 UFC) and octagon newcomer Chris Tuchscherer (17-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) has been officially added to the UFC 102 fight card. UFC 102 takes place Aug. 29 at the Rose Center in Portland, Ore., and features a heavyweight main event between former UFC champions Randy Couture and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.

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Early UFC pioneers Mikey Burnett (5-2) and first-ever UFC welterweight champion Pat Miletich (29-7-2) could meet at a future Strikeforce event in Tulsa, Okla. That's the word from Burnett, who posted on mixedmartialarts.com's popular forum, The Underground, that the fight, which would be a rematch from their first meeting 11 years ago, "is in the works." However, Strikeforce has made no official announcement about an upcoming show in Oklahoma, which would be its first in the state. A phone call MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) left with a Strikeforce executive was not immediately returned.

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