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After successfully defending the sport of MMA in the promotionally themed "UFC vs. boxing" co-main event in Boston on Saturday night, Randy Couture stopped by the ESPN television set for an appearance on their special "MMA Live" broadcast.

"Captain America" discussed his game plan for his near-flawless victory over boxing legend James Toney at UFC 118. Couture shared a lot of the same insight into his preparation and execution of what we saw in the cage at the TD Garden as he did during the UFC 118 post-fight press conference immediately after the big event. Where "The Natural" raised some eyebrows during his "MMA Live" appearance is when the discussion shifted to his plans for the future in the UFC. After facing the obligatory "how much longer can you do this?" age-related questions, Couture spoke about how he takes things one fight at a time, noting that the UFC continues to keep things interesting for him, consistently giving him the motivation to keep things going. In what seems like a note worth mentioning, Couture spoke at one point during the interview about how he was talking to the UFC about a potential fight against Croation kickboxing and MMA legend Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic.

Couture claimed the proposed fight was looking likely for the UFC event in November in Germany (UFC 122) prior to the offer for a James Toney fight that came out of nowhere, as well as the situation surrounding Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira's injury, which lead to CroCop filling in at UFC 119 for what will be the main event of the next pay-per view, a heavyweight battle against former champion Frank Mir. The CroCop-Mir bout remains official for UFC 119 in Indianapolis, and UFC 122 received a new main event this weekend in the form of a middleweight title eliminator between Vitor Belfort and Yushin Okami, but the fact remains, Couture's mention of a fight with CroCop raises a few questions.

First, with the exception of skipping the weight-cutting process to enable a unique match against Toney possible, Couture has made it pretty clear that he is a light heavyweight fighter. If that's the case, why was he entertaining a heavyweight contest with a fighter not even ranked in the top ten of the division. Couture's only non-main event fight in nearly ten years, outside of a single mandatory "bounce-back" fight against Mike Van Arsdale in 2005 (which he took simply to set up a title rematch against Chuck Liddell, which went on to be his very next fight) came against Toney on Saturday in Boston. So why would Couture seriously consider a return to heavyweight for a fight against a non-top ten opponent?

Former UFC Lightweight Champion Sean Sherk will be back in action at UFC 119 rising 155lber Evan Dunham and recently talked about his opponent as well as his desire to get back to the top of the lightweight scene in the UFC:

"I want to make a real legitimate run for another lightweight title and I have to be healthy to do that. I feel better now than I have in a real long time."

"I think Evan (Dunham) is tough, he's three dimensional. He's got some striking, some good wrestling and a black belt in jiu-jitsu. He's three dimensional. I think he's going to be a tough opponent; he's not going to lay down for me. He wants the win just as bad as I do."

"Stylistically, it depends on how he wants to fight me. He can press the pace and come at me or he can try to avoid me. ... I have several game plans. You have to have a plan A, plan B and plan C and change it up during the fight."

"I think this fight has the potential to be a good fight, hopefully we'll get some fireworks."

Fans wondering when Jon "Bones" Jones will be climbing back into the Octagon will have to wait until the winner of UFC 119's Ryan Bader Vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira bout takes place as Jones has gone on record that his next opponent will be the winner of that bout:

"Right now I'm waiting for Ryan Bader and Lil' Nog to fight each other and I'll fight the winner of that, and I'm predicting that I'm about two fights away from a title shot. I had a meeting with Dana and Lorenzo and that's kind of where were going with it. They didn't really say two fights. They said you know, you beat the winner of Bader/Lil' Nog, we'll give you one more fight. We'll see you know how you win the fights, depending on the fashion of the finish, then you know, we'll give you a title shot."

On August 15, 2010, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira had to pull out of his bout with Frank Mir due to an injury that will require surgery. It later was reported to be a recurring hip injury. Mirko Filipović has been lined up to replace Nogueira in the main event. Mirko has stated he does not expect to be 100% because of joining the card on late notice, but he did not want to let down his fans or UFC management.

More than two months after his disappointing UFC 115 loss to Rich Franklin, UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell (21-8 MMA, 16-7 UFC) is still waiting to decide what comes next.

During a special Q&A session at this past weekend's UFC Fan Expo Boston 2010 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Liddell said he hopes to make a decision in the next month or two, but he isn't ruling out a return to the cage.

And if he does come back, it won't be for a one-off affair.

"I don't know yet," Liddell said of his future. "I haven't taken too much time to think about it. I've been traveling. I've only been home two days in a row twice since my last fight, so I really haven't settled down.

"I get to be home for a month here coming up, so I'm going to go home and kind of figure out what I'm doing now."

Liddell remains one of the UFC's most beloved fighters, and in 2009 he was enshrined in the organization's Hall of Fame. But despite coming to UFC 115 in the best condition he's been in years, Liddell still suffered a first-round knockout to former middleweight champion Rich Franklin.

The loss was Liddell's third-consecutive knockout defeat, and he fell to just 1-5 in his past six outings.

The difficult stretch led UFC president Dana White in June to declare Liddell retired. When pressed by MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) to determine what he would do if Liddell insisted on further competition, White sheepishly stated he would consider releasing the "Iceman."

That statement fueled speculation that Liddell could take his services elsewhere if White held firm to his demands. But at the Q&A session, Liddell said fighting outside of the world's premier mixed martial arts organization didn't really appeal to him.

"[White] really kind of left it up to me," Liddell said. "I really haven't thought about it. Until I figure out what I'm doing and decide what I want to do, there's no reason to think about that.

"I mean really, if I come back to fight, I want to fight to be the best and prove I'm the best. The only place I can do that is the UFC."

During the hour-long fan-driven Q&A, the subject of a potential Liddell return to the octagon to "punch Tito Ortiz in the head" was brought up several times.

While Liddell said he'd be more than happy to face his arch-rival and complete the coaches fight from "The Ultimate Fighter 11" that never took place, the 40-year-old said if he returns, he's not limiting the list of potential opponents. He'll be looking to make a run at the belt, and that means he'll take on all comers.

"I'll fight whoever," Liddell said. "Whatever it takes to get back to a world title, if I decide to continue."

After watching UFC lightweight champ Frankie Edgar trounce former king BJ Penn for the second consecutive time, it didn’t take long for “The Answer” to be confronted with a multitude of anxious adversaries. Chiming in from the Far East is former Pride ruler Takanori Gomi, who is curious to find out just how strong little Frankie actually is.

“BJ, [Kenny] Florian have a jiu jitsu base so I had a hard time dealing with them, but the champion has a wrestling base so I can fight him calmly,” Gomi said during this week’s UFC Undisputed 2010 promotional event in Tokyo (Courtesy of NightmareOfBattle). “I’m aiming for the belt? Yes, I am. I think I can take the belt.

“Hmmm … I wonder if I’m stronger than the champ?”

“The Fireball Kid” was shooting blanks prior to his 64 second knockout of Tyson Griffin at “UFC on Versus: Jones vs. Matyushenko” last month. Before bumping his impressive record to 32-6 (1 NC), the Japanese sensation had dropped three of his last five contests. Although Florian whooped him in his Octagon debut at “UFC Fight Night 21,” Gomi claims the scrap against Griffin was his official stateside coming out party.

Despite his desire to challenge for Edgar’s hardware, slapping Griffin silly hardly justifies getting catapulted into a 5Round affair. With Gray Maynard earning his next dibs status this past weekend at UFC 118 with a lopsided win over the aforementioned Florian, Gomi sits and awaits his next assignment.

“I think my next opponent will be another aggressive fighter,” Gomi said of his fate.

The rumor mill has been fairly quiet on the Takanori front. However, how sick would a Penn vs. Gomi rematch be? BJ is coming off two convincing losses to Edgar, while Gomi believes his overall resume warrants a shot at the throne.

The Hawaiian submitted Gomi with a rear-naked choke at “Rumble on the Rock 4″ back in October 2003.

"We plan to organize an interim fight for Fedor. We are considering two options: Japan and Russia. We have a lucrative offer from the Japanese partners, who are interested in Fedor fighting on the New Year's Eve. This is the most interesting option for us. But we are also not excluding an option that Fedor Emelianenko will fight in Russia, sometime in December. We have to organize another fight for Fedor, as Fabricio Werdum is currently injured and no one knows when he will come back. Strikeforce have absolutely nothing against the rematch, that's exactly why we are planning the last fight on Fedor's contract to be against Werdum."

M-1 Global boss Vadim Finkelstein sheds some light on "The Last Emperor's" return to the cage. With the Strikeforce heavyweight division currently in limbo, it seems as though Fedor will be partaking in a fight on New Year's Eve in either Japan or Russia. It also appears that Emelianenko and M-1 are hoping to get a rematch against Fabricio Werdum in the Russian heavyweight's last fight under his current Strikeforce contract. Anyone oppose that notion?

Stephan Bonnar will always be remembered for his epic battle with Forrest Griffin on the live finale of the first season of the Ultimate Fighter. The fight launched the sport of MMA and Bonnar's career, but that doesn't mean the veteran isn't tired of hearing about it.

"Forrest, Forrest, Forrest! Do I get sick of hearing Forrest Griffin's name? Yeah real sick of hearing Forrest Griffin's name," Bonnar tells Mike Straka on this week's episode of "Fighting Words." "You know, it's great being known for a great fight, but God, I get called Forrest so many times, you know?"

Bonnar also opens up to Straka about facing criticism and the negatives that come with fame.

"You know when you get emails 'I hate your guts,'" he said. "Some people really passionately hate me. And I'm just gonna try to provide some entertainment but you know you... some people hate my guts and let me know it."

"The Natural" Couture. Always candid and always entertaining, James tells the story of making the deal with UFC president Dana White; he both praises and dismisses MMA legend Couture; he predicts the destruction he'll impart with 4oz gloves; he denies the cardio challenges he may face in the cage and he explains the ways he's "not going out." Regardless of what you think of him, James Toney makes you want to watch UFC 118.

Current UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar will defend his title for the first time this Saturday when he takes on BJ Penn at UFC 118 in Boston and despite winning the fight on all three judges score cards, many have stated that Edgar won the fight by fluke when he beat the top lightweight in the world.

Now, just days away from the rematch, Edgar seems to be second guessing even himself:

"Honestly, I really only watched it once and then I've been watching it here and there with my boxing coach and my teammates - just for studying for this next fight. I really don't gloat in the glory, in other words, because you're only as good as your last fight... I think the fact of how I got the title, beating the guy that's considered the best lightweight ever, I think that's probably the biggest accomplishment... We fought a five round decision, you know? It wasn't like I caught B.J. with a punch or a submission or anything like that. Who knows? Maybe [beating B.J.] was a fluke, but I don't think it was."

Nate Marquardt and Alessio Sakara were originally set to face each other at UFC 116, but the fight was cancelled due to the death of Sakara's father.. On July 23, Sakara's original opponent, Jorge Rivera suffered a broken arm in training and was replaced by Gerald Harris. On August 5, Sakara then bowed out due to an unknown injury and was being replaced by UFC veteran Joe Vedepo. On August 18, it was announced that the Harris/Vedepo bout had been scrapped altogether.

On August 2, 2010, the bout between Nate Marquardt and Rousimar Palhares was moved to UFC Fight Night 22 and promoted to the new main event. The original main event was scheduled to be Demian Maia vs. Alan Belcher, however, Belcher had to withdraw due to an injured retina. As a result of this, Maia has been moved to this card and will now face Mario Miranda.

The event will feature the MMA debut of professional boxer and current IBA heavyweight champion James Toney.



On August 5, it was announced that Terry Etim had suffered a broken rib in training and was pulling out of his bout with Joe Lauzon. Etim is being replaced by current Tachi Palace Fights Lightweight Champion and former UFC and TUF veteran Gabe Ruediger.

Phil Baroni was scheduled to face John Salter, but Baroni was forced off the card with an injury. Dan Miller will serve as Baroni's replacement.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (Aug. 25, 2010) – A grudge rematch that fans, media, and the confident fighters themselves have been clamoring for since the first fight ended in bloody controversy nearly three years ago, will take place on Saturday, October 9, when KJ Noons (9-1), fresh off a knockout victory last Saturday, challenges STRIKEFORCE World Welterweight (170 pounds) Champion Nick Diaz (22-7, 1 NC) in the main event at HP Pavilion here, live on SHOWTIME® (10 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast).

In the co-feature, undefeated STRIKEFORCE Women’s Welterweight World Champion Sarah Kaufman (12-0) will make the second defense of her 135-pound title against No. 1 contender and Dutch superstar Marloes Coenen (17-4).

Another featured fight will pit an emerging star from the STRIKEFORCE Challengers series, up-and-coming Luke Rockhold (7-1), against the vastly more experienced, 2000 Olympic Games wrestling silver medalist, Matt "The Law" Lindland (22-7), in a middleweight (185 pounds) contest.

Tickets go on sale to the general public this Saturday, Aug. 28, at 10 a.m. PT online at Ticketmaster.com, at HP Pavilion ticket office, or by phone at (800) 745-3000.

A special presale opportunity for “STRIKEFORCE Insider” e-newsletter subscribers begins today, Wednesday, Aug. 25 at 10 a.m. PT. Sign up to become a “STRIKEFORCE Insider” at http://www.strikeforce.com/insider.html.

Diaz has not lost a fight since he first faced Noons, losing via disputed first-round TKO on Nov. 7, 2007. Diaz has been devastating in recent outings notching seven in a row. The talented, outspoken, no-nonsense brawler also boasts a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt.

The always-dangerous Noons is an aggressive and prolific striker who has won his last six fights, including the thrilling slugfest against Diaz that ended when the cageside physician halted the proceedings due to excessive cuts around Diaz’ eyes.

Since that fight, there has been no love lost between the pair of brash fighters. Seven months after their first fight, on June 14, 2008, the fighters and their camp members nearly came to blows in the cage after the fighters registered victories in separate bouts.

“Nick has no class, he’s a bum, a piece of (expletive) and he and his team disrespected my family and I with their gestures and trash talk and tried to upstage my fight,’’ said Noons after the near-fracas.

Offered Diaz: “I’m sorry about what happened in the cage afterward, but I didn’t start it. His guys were talking (expletive) to us.’’

Diaz is coming off a first-round submission (armbar) over fellow superstar Hayato “Mach” Sakurai last May 29 at DREAM 14 in Japan. The six-foot, 27-year-old Diaz won the STRIKEFORCE title with a convincing first-round TKO (punches) over Marius “The Whitemare” Žaromskis on Jan. 30, 2010.

The 5-foot-11, 27-year-old Noons, who was born and raised in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, registered a spectacular, crowd-pleasing second-round knockout over Jorge Gurgel during last Saturday’s STRIKEFORCE: Houston, live on SHOWTIME.

Kaufman, a former ballet dancer, retained her belt for the first time with an explosive third-round body slam KO over Roxanne Modafferi at STRIKEFORCE Challengers in Everett, Wash., on July 23.

The personable, hard-hitting, 5-foot-5, 24-year-old Kaufman, of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, has scored knockouts in nine of her 12 victories.

Coenen, 29, will appear before an audience for the first time since suffering a hard-fought third-round TKO loss to Cris Cyborg for the STRIKEFORCE Women’s Middleweight (145 pounds) Championship at STRIKEFORCE: Miami last Jan. 30.

The game and courageous, 5-foot-9 Coenen gave Cyborg one of her toughest fights. A member of Holland’s Team Golden Glory, Coenen has been a mixed martial artist since the age of 14. She will be moving down in weight to challenge for the title.

Rockhold of Santa Cruz, Calif. will bring a six-fight winning streak into what figures to be the toughest assignment of his career. Many feel the 25-year-old is one of STRIKEFORCE’s next great middleweight stars. He has been victorious by submission in all but one of his wins. A member of Team AKA in San Jose, Rockhold won his last start with a first-round TKO (knees to body) over Paul Bradley on Feb. 26, in San Jose.

Lindland of Oregon City, Ore, brought home the silver in Greco-Roman wrestling. He’s fought the best in a 13-year MMAs career, including the famed Fedor Emelianenko. An All-American at the University of Nebraska before turning pro in 1997, Lindland holds victories over Pat Miletich, Jeremy Horn, former UFC welterweight champion Carlos Newton and remains one of only two men to submit Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Travis Lutter.

In his most recent fight, the six-foot-tall Lindland scored a third-round TKO over “King” Kevin Casey on May 21 during a STRIKEFORCE Challengers in Portland, Ore.

Showdown Joe Ferraro caught up with Randy 'The Natural' Couture before his UFC 118 bout with James Toney.

On Wednesday afternoon, M-1 Global released a statement in which Fedor Emelianenko was quoted as saying that he now wanted to fight Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem sooner rather than later.

But when MMA Fighting spoke to Overeem shortly thereafter, he said he had no interest in fighting anyone other than Fabricio Werdum under the Strikeforce banner, and that his next fight will be for K-1 in October.

A transcript of our conversation is below.

Have you decided when and where your next fight will be?

Yes, I'm going to fight in the K-1 tournament, so my first fight will be October for the Final 16 in Korea. If I win the fight, I will advance to the Final 8 in Japan. That fight will be in December.

Why isn't your next fight going to be for Strikeforce?

I've stated many times that Strikeforce was my number one priority, but after Fedor lost to Werdum, I had no intention of fighting somebody other than Werdum. I came to the States to challenge the winner of the fight and that was Werdum, so no need to fight somebody else. Furthermore, I like K-1 very much and there are not many opportunities to stay fighting in K-1, so I want to fight if I still can. One of my goals is to be K-1 champion and this is my chance.

Emelianenko has now said that he would like to fight you by the end of the year. Is that possible at this point?

No, unfortunately not. The reason is because if I enter the Final 16 and win, I will fight the K-1 Final in December. My decision was made because nothing was certain and Strikeforce and M-1 didn't act fast enough when I made my decision to start K-1 training. Now I read on the internet that Fedor and his management want to fight me all of sudden. Do they really need two months of thinking and negotiating? I think it's a little strange to be honest. If Fedor challenged me right after the fight it would have been something to take in consideration, but the M-1 management started to say that all the polls on several websites stated that people rather have a Fedor vs. Werdum rematch then a fight against me. There we have another lie by M-1 because every poll I have read stated the opposite and showed that everybody want to see Fedor versus me. Check their current poll at their own Web site (laughs).

Scott Coker recently hinted at the fact that Antonio Silva would be your next opponent. Does a fight against "Bigfoot" interest you?

No, not at all. When I fought Brett Rogers there was much criticism over how the champion could fight a fighter that lost his last fight. If you co-promote with people that have their own demands it's hard to make good and logical fights. If you look at another big MMA organization in the States, you can see that they have a clear road map of who's fighting who and which fighters are entitled to get a shot at the championship belt. Having a clear virtual ranking is one of the reasons they are successful because they can hype fights. You can debate if I'm the number one in Strikeforce using results of the past, but the fact remains that Fedor signed with Strikeforce and chose Werdum instead of me. We all know that in every organization Fedor is more than welcome to fight straight for the belt due to his stature and experience, but if his management decided that they would like a tune-up fight and then Werdum before fighting me they are taking a risk. Fighting in a organization is just the same as climbing a ladder. If you lose, you will fall a couple of steps down and if you win you go up. It's not fair to other fighters that are climbing the same ladder. So to make a long story short, I'm the champion, which means I'm number one, not based on ranking but because I'm wearing the belt.

Number two is clearly Werdum because of his win over Fedor and Antonio Silva. Fedor losing means he's number 3 and Antonio Silva, who came back from a loss against Werdum by defeating Arlovski is clearly the number 4. So in that case, Fedor should fight Antonio Silva and the winner of that fight should fight against the winner of a bout between myself and Werdum. It's just that simple -- it's not rocket science.

Does a part of you think that the Fedor fight will never happen now?

If Fedor stays in Strikeforce and beats Antonio Silva and I win my fight against Werdum, then there is a big possibility that I will face him. So I still think I will meet him in the cage eventually.

Do you still have an issue with the way M-1 has handled this situation?

Everybody knows that I'm not crazy about those guys. I personally think that they don't know how the US market works. They have a different mentality and culture. The way they use Fedor as a trophy is, in my opinion, not how a management team should work. They should have the interest of the fighter as the number one priority and sometimes I have the feeling that Fedor doesn't know what M-1 is demanding behind his back. I don't want to go in to details so I won't. All I can say is never have I witnessed a management manipulating and using the amount of tricks as Fedor's management has done.

Has this whole process been frustrating for you?

In the beginning I took it personally because of the things Vadim [Finkelstein] and M-1 we're saying in the media and I wanted to fight him bad, but now that he lost I was like, 'What goes around comes around.' So now I will move on and focus on my own career.

UFC 118: Edgar vs. Penn 2 is an upcoming mixed martial arts event to be held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on August 28, 2010 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The third UFC Fan Expo is expected to coincide with the event. The event will be the first the UFC has held in Massachusetts.



Main card

Lightweight Championship bout: Frankie Edgar (c) vs. B.J. Penn
Heavyweight bout: Randy Couture vs. James Toney
Middleweight bout: Demian Maia vs. Mario Miranda
Lightweight bout: Kenny Florian vs. Gray Maynard
Welterweight bout: Nate Diaz vs. Marcus Davis


Preliminary card (Spike TV)

Lightweight bout: Joe Lauzon vs. Gabe Ruediger
Lightweight bout: Andre Winner vs. Nik Lentz


Preliminary card

Middleweight bout: Dan Miller vs. John Salter
Welterweight bout: Nick Osipczak vs. Greg Soto
Welterweight bout: Mike Pierce vs. Amilcar Alves


Video Prediction


Background

Nate Marquardt and Alessio Sakara were originally set to face each other at UFC 116, but the fight was cancelled due to the death of Sakara's father.. On July 23, Sakara's original opponent, Jorge Rivera suffered a broken arm in training and was replaced by Gerald Harris. On August 5, Sakara then bowed out due to an unknown injury and was being replaced by UFC veteran Joe Vedepo. On August 18, it was announced that the Harris/Vedepo bout had been scrapped altogether.

On August 2, 2010, the bout between Nate Marquardt and Rousimar Palhares was moved to UFC Fight Night 22 and promoted to the new main event. The original main event was scheduled to be Demian Maia vs. Alan Belcher, however, Belcher had to withdraw due to an injured retina. As a result of this, Maia has been moved to this card and will now face Mario Miranda.

The event will feature the MMA debut of professional boxer and current IBA heavyweight champion James Toney.

On August 5, it was announced that Terry Etim had suffered a broken rib in training and was pulling out of his bout with Joe Lauzon. Etim is being replaced by current Tachi Palace Fights Lightweight Champion and former UFC and TUF veteran Gabe Ruediger.

Phil Baroni was scheduled to face John Salter, but Baroni was forced off the card with an injury. Dan Miller will serve as Baroni's replacement.

UFC 118 will also feature preliminary fights live on Spike TV.

UFC 118: Edgar vs. Penn 2 is an upcoming mixed martial arts event to be held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on August 28, 2010 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The third UFC Fan Expo is expected to coincide with the event The event will be the first the UFC has held in Massachusetts



Main card

* Lightweight Championship bout: United States Frankie Edgar (c) vs. United States B.J. Penn
* Heavyweight bout: United States Randy Couture vs. United States James Toney
* Middleweight bout: Brazil Demian Maia vs. Brazil Mario Miranda
* Lightweight bout: United States Kenny Florian vs. United States Gray Maynard
* Welterweight bout: United States Nate Diaz vs. United States Marcus Davis

Preliminary card (Spike TV)

* Lightweight bout: United States Joe Lauzon vs. United States Gabe Ruediger
* Lightweight bout: England Andre Winner vs. United States Nik Lentz

Preliminary card

* Middleweight bout: United States Dan Miller vs. United States John Salter
* Welterweight bout: England Nick Osipczak vs. United States Greg Soto
* Welterweight bout: United States Mike Pierce vs. Brazil Amilcar Alves

Mike Straka sits down with Jon "Bones" Jones - the fighter making a splash in the UFC's Light Heavyweight Division. Jones reveals the secret for his early success and discusses what's next.

Frankie Edgar shocked the MMA worl when he beat the most dominant lightweight in the world at UFC 112. Now, BJ Penn is looking for revenge and his belt

The Fight Network breaks down all the action for this Saturday's Strikeforce: Houston event on Showtime featuring Muhammed Lawal vs. Rafael Cavalcante for the Strikeforce light heavyweight title, Ronaldo Souza vs. Tim Kennedy for the Strikeforce middleweight title, plus Bobby Lashley vs. Chad Griggs and K.J. Noons vs. Jorge Gurgel



After Jake Shields vacated the Strikeforce Middleweight Championship, there was much speculation that there would be a tournament for the title. However, Strikeforce announced that Ronaldo Souza and Tim Kennedy will fight for the championship.

André Galvão was originally scheduled to face Nate Moore, however Jorge Patino has stepped in for the injured Moore.

World champion boxer James Toney beats up Randy Couture's toy prior to their UFC 118 matchup then has no shortage of words for Brock Lesnar, Joe Rogan, Jay Glazer or even Couture's "The Expendables" film.

The summer of 2010 Fighters Inc presented the Chuck Liddell UK Super Seminar Tour in association with 12 DVD.
Check out clips from the ground breaking tour and 12 available now on dvd.
Fighters Inc are proud to confirm the next Super Seminar series will hit London, Coventry & Liverpool with Alistair Overeem, coming soon.

Mirko Cro Cop will step in for an injured Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 119 against former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir but the former star of Pride and winner of the 2006 Pride Open Weight GP says that he likely won't be coming in at 100% when he steps into the Octagon on September 25th:

"I am aware that I am not going to be 100-percent for this fight because in this sport five weeks notice is basically last-minute notice. But I know the UFC had no other solution and so I could not refuse the owner of the UFC, who has made me financially secure, or the UFC fans, who I do not want to disappoint."

Urban myth or shocking truth?

Did Tito Ortiz once get knocked out by Lee Murray in a streetfight in London?

Some claim it HAPPENED... but what does Tito say when Michael Schiavello takes the Huntington Beach Bad Boy BY SURPRISE with this question from out of nowhere!!

Quote:
Patrick Cote: Michael Bisping is “arrogant and over-rated.”

Posted by Brendhan Conlan on Monday, August 16, 2010 at 9:17 am·

It’s fairly common for a fighter to fire a few verbal jabs at a fellow Mixed Martial Artist while preparing for an upcoming bout. However, the target of the trash-talk usually tends to be their actual opponent.

UFC middleweights Patrick Cote and Michael Bisping, both readying for their own respective match-ups at different future events, recently broke the aforementioned mold and have been engaged in an ongoing war of words through a series of conversations with Fighters Only Magazine.

The first shot was fired by Cote, who was asked about a potential scrap with Bisping and responded, “I’m not a big fan of him and I’ve asked for this fight since two years ago. I think we can make an awesome fight.” When pressed to elaborate on his dislike of “The Count”, the hard-hitting Canadian striker responded, “No reason. I just think he’s arrogant and over-rated. I just don’t like him.”

A few days later, Bisping was questioned about Cote’s statements and his reply, as fans might expect, was less than cordial.

“I think that’s pretty two-faced of him to be honest. I have met him a few times and he has been nothing but nice to me – to my face anyway. I’m surprised but not going to lose any sleep over it. Maybe all that horse meat has gone to his head. If he wants to try and make himself relevant again by trying to talk himself into a fight with me he can do (it), his time is his own. Personally if I was him I would spend it in the gym learning how not to get dumped on my head.”

Cote wasted no time responding to Bisping’s “cheap shots”, again talking to Fighters Only, and made sure to clarify the extent of having met the Ultimate Fighter Season 3 champion.

Said Cote, “Listen, we never had a conversation or something like that. We just met somewhere a couple times and I wasn’t nice to him, I was polite because I’m educated. Just because I don’t spit in your face doesn’t mean that I like you.”

The 30-year old striker also commented on the Brit’s closing remarks. On the subject of eating horse meat, Cote responded, “In TUF Season 4 I asked for horse meat and they said in the USA they don’t eat horse meat…it’s illegal. Fair enough, no problem. At least he remembers that from me in TUF. People already forgot that he was a coach [on the show] a couple years ago.”

Also, as far as Bisping’s advice in regards to avoid being dropped on his head (as was the case in his recent semi-controversial loss to Alan Belcher last May), Cote offered a training suggestion of his own.

“It’s funny, how can you learn to not get dumped on your head…by practicing a pile-driver again and again? I can say he should go to the gym and learn how to move on the good side to avoid being knocked out cold.”

Though the two are not slated to fight it stands to reason they could have a future date in the Octagon based on their developing grudge and upcoming schedule of activity. Bisping faces Yoshishiro Akiyama in London as the main event of UFC 120 in mid-October, while Cote takes on Tom Lawlor at UFC 121 a week later.

We’ve grown so accustomed to Randy Couture having his way inside the octagon, it’s a bit of a shock to see the UFC legend topple the box office. While this is not Couture’s first cinematic foray, it is his first legitimately successful one (I’m sorry, The Scorpion King and Redbelt weren’t exactly monumental successes).

“The Expendables”, an action project organized by one of the most recognizable action heroes today Sylvester Stallone, features a slew of action stars including Sly himself, Bruce Willis, Jason Statham, Randy Couture (obviously), Jet Li, Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren, and Mickey Rourke amongst a solid handful of others. It’s also been met with fair criticism and the numero uno slot at the box office this weekend.

“The Expendables” debuted in over 3,000 theatres and drew just over $35 million in ticket sales to take the top spot, toppling the number two film of the weekend “Eat Pray Love”, which earned a respectable $23 million.

“The Expendables” financially dominated this years “A-Team” which featured fellow mixed martial artist Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. The film debuted in June at number two earning $23 million in ticket sales.

Mirko ‘CroCop’ Filipovic will be stepping in for an injured Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 119, Fighters Only can confirm.

We broke the news of Nogueira’s withdrawal earlier and can now confirm that Filipovic is the replacement.

Nogueira’s injury is undisclosed at this point but a Brazilian source tells us it is one that requires surgery and is not an recurrence of the staph infection he suffered around the time of the first fight with Mir.

Filipovic’s inclusion in the UFC 1109 headlining fight was notified to Fighters Only by sources close to the event. It will be the first time that the Croatian legend and former PRIDE FC title challenger has fought Mir, a former UFC heavyweight champion.

He has fought two former UFC heavyweight champions in the past, going 1-1 with Kevin Randleman and 3-0 over Josh Barnett while fighting in PRIDE, the Japanese promotion which once rivalled the UFC in stature.

UFC 119 is an upcoming mixed martial arts event to be held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on September 25, 2010 at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. The event will be the first that the UFC has hosted in Indiana.

Anthony Johnson has been sentenced for a domestic incident with an ex-girlfriend which took place on June 27, 2009. Johnson was charged with domestic violence and two separate misdemeanor charges and has been ordered by an Alameda County, California judge to serve probation, participate in community service and undergo counseling for domestic violence.

Johnson pleaded no contest to the charge of domestic violence, a misdemeanor, and the other two misdemeanor charges were dropped.

His court-ordered probation will last for three years, he must participate in 8 hours of community service working with a local boy's club and must serve one day in county jail. The domestic violence counseling he must undergo will last for 52 weeks.

Johnson is due back in court on September 7th where he will required to pay court costs and prove his participation in the mandatory community service as well as the domestic violence counseling. No further charges will be filed stemming from the incident.

Johnson last appeared in the Octagon against Josh Koscheck at UFC 106 in November of 2009 where he lost via rear naked choke submission. Currently mulling over a move up to the middleweight class, there is no word yet on who Johnson will face when he returns to action or exactly when that will be.

Quote:
We'd put our usual "Ignore Franklin McNeil's inane ramblings,"disclaimer on this video, but after you hear him try to string a series of words together to describe how he was feeling during the Sonnen-Silva fight, it seems unnecessary.

"First time in a long time that I was actually a fan. I'm sitting there and I can't believe what I'm seeing. No one could have foreseen that particular outcome."

Which outcome is that, Anderson winning by submission against a guy who always loses by submission or you being asked to give your thoughts on it?

Sonnen's interview makes up for McNeil's deer in the headlights style of reporting.

Here's what he had to say about a variety of topics, including:

Whether or not he was surprised that he outstruck Anderson standing:

"I was a boxer growin' up. I never really talked about it. I had a real serious conversation with my father as a teenager about leaving wrestling and trying to make the Olympic team in amateur boxing. I fought 41 men and I've never been outstruck on my feet and I was pretty confident that Anderson wasn't going to be the first to do it, so I wasn't overly surprised."

What his game plan was for the opening round:


"We were able to control the action. One thing you'll notice if you watch Anderson's fights is it's pretty easy to get the jump on him right at the beginning of the fight. He takes a little bit longer of a feeling out process than most guys and he comes out very hard for the second round. We were prepared for that."

Knowing that he dominated the opening frame, how he approached round two:

"Going into round two, again, we knew he likes to come out hard in round two. The feeling out process is done. He doesn't lead with the jab, he leads with power knockout shots -- big flying knees. We were prepared for that. I wanted to meet him across the ring -- meet him in his corner and keep the pressure on him. Not only beat him physically, but try to take jhim out of the game mentally."

If he was surprised that the fight ended the way it did:

"It's important to stay busy. If you ever get on top in a fight, you want to maintain that position. I really thought that the only chance Anderson is going to have is to land one of the fancy and athletic moves he's known for from his feet. I didn't see there being any problems from the ground position...Anderson never touched me once in the fight that didn’t hurt. I never envisioned him winning the fight from the bottom."

How close he thought he was to winning in the third round:

"He stopped at one point...the referee even warned him that he needs to stay busy, and he looked at the referee like "I'm not busy; get me out of here."He didn't put his hands up. I thought there was a really good opportunity for victory there, maybe by TKO. He also groaned while I was striking him in the body. We had a real brief conversation where he let me know "That hurt." I was telling him, 'I can get you out of here, but you need to roll over and give me the choke.' He wasn't quite willing to do that."

If he felt Silva was going to quit:

"I did and I fell for it. He shut down and was completely in defensive mode. More often than not, that's a guy's way of telling you "I'm gonna stay in here and grind this one out for 25 minutes, but I concede you won tonight. He gave me that both verbally and physically, but he came back."

If he was celebrating in his mind heading into the final round:
"Absolutely. At this point I knew I'd beat Anderson. I've just got to beat out the clock and get the victory. I really though the fight was over. I never saw him winning from the bottom."

On the submission that lost him the fight:
"Basics are what win championships, not fancy moves. Two of the basics of submissions are you don't let your opponent control your wrist and you don't put your hand on the mat. I let him control my wrist. I underestimated him. I figured he had 23 minutes and he couldn't do anything to me, it's certainly not going to change now. That's a big mistake. I let him have my wrist . If I got my wrist back, we wouldn't be having this conversation."


What he thought about these comments Michael Bisping made about him after the fight:



“If Michael Bisping ever addresses me in public comments again, I’ll bury him where he stands.”


First off, I would like to thank Kevo for giving a guy like me an opportunity to be awesome. Next I would like to thank Arthur for giving me a quality MMA show to listen to (it's just missing me!). Next I would like to thank the people below me in the rankings for sucking at making picks. And last but not least Jesus....my plumber. Sink works great now.

Forrest Griffin talked about his new book, his plans for fighting, Jon Jones, and his fight against Anderson Silva.

Melvin Guillard, Diego Sanchez, Keith Jardine, Joey Villasenor, and Cub Swanson at practice!

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker talks about the upcoming MW tournament, Werdum, Overeem vs Fedor, Overeem vs Bigfoot Silva, Nick Diaz, Mayhem Miller, Dave Batista, Paul Daley, Mousasi, Manhoef

Former WWE Superstar Dave Batista talks with Danny Acosta about his transition from professional wrestling to mixed martial arts and his desire to be taken seriously as a legitimate fighter.

June 26th, 2010. That was the day Fedor Emelianenko showed the world he was human. It's been nearly two months since the night Fabricio Werdum ended a ten year long streak and many may be wondering when and where Fedor Emelianenko will return to action in an MMA ring or cage. "I would like to fight again this year in the fall." Emelianenko told. "I have been home in Russia spending time with family. I am also back to my regular training routine."

Being under contract with Strikeforce will likely lead to Fedor's next bout being in the United States but he made his career in Japan and that could also be the next place Fedor steps in the cage "Both Japan and the USA are amazing countries to fight in but the location has not been decided yet."

There are a few possible opponents for Emelianenko, most notably a rematch with Fabricio Werdum, a rematch Fedor sees on the horizon. "He is a strong talented athlete. I look forward to a rematch with him as soon as he is recovered and healthy to fight."

With Werdum out due to an injury and not expected to return until early 2011 it is possible, despite the loss to Werdum, that Fedor could challenge Alistair Overeem for the Strikeforce Heavyweight Title. Scott Coker has stated he would like to put the fight together and the Russian is open to a bout with the "Demolition Man". "I think Alistair is talented fighter who posses many skills in all facets of his game. I look forward to meeting him in the future."

Emelianenko doesn't intend on slowing down anytime soon and as long as he can bring it each time out it he plans on being a force in the heavyweight picture, "I will continue to fight as long as I can perform to the best of my abilities. I feel I am still doing so. After each fight I reflect on my performance and make decisions then."

So, as we've all made perfectly clear , we all want the GSP/Anderson Silva fight to happen one day. Dana has given a number of hints that he may just set it up some time in the future, and it would be, for sure, one of the biggest MMA fights in a very long time.

You can see it now - "...two of the most dominant champions of all time... the two pound-for-pound greatest fighters ever..." etc etc...

However, after watching 117 on Saturday, I had to think about how Silva would deal with the wrestling power of GSP, if the fight did take place.

We all knew Silva's weakness was wrestling, but Sonnen really blew this weakness wide open, clear for everyone to see. Pre-117, the thought of GSP/Silva excited me and I would predict that silva will come out on top, but after seeing how Sonnen dominated Silva on the ground, I see the same thing happening again (but without the submission, as GSP is far superior to Sonnen when it comes to sub-defence/BJJ in general).

Whilst I would be backing Silva for the matchup, I'm not sure how confident I would be about him coming out with the W.

// Hoffa

Comments!?

Thiago Alves hired nutritionist Mike Dolce, a veteran of "The Ultimate Fighter 7," to assure the UFC that he never again misses weight in the 170-pound class.

Alves finds out today whether the promotion will grant his wish.

"I think (at) 185, the guys are way too big for me," Alves said.

Alves weighed in at 171.5 pounds for a co-headlining fight against Jon Fitch this past Saturday at UFC 117 – a half-pound more than the one-pound overage allowed for non-title fights. He was fined 20 percent of his purse by the California State Athletic Commission, which oversaw the event at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif.

Fitch received 10 percent of the penalty and took home additional bragging rights with a dominant decision victory over Alves, who appeared sluggish and out of step throughout the fight. The two originally met in June 2006 with Fitch emerging victorious via second-round TKO.

Following UFC 117, White said Alves belongs at 185 pounds and told him such in a text message. Alves apologized but said he wasn't ready to pack on more weight.

"I'd like to see him at 185," White told. "It's just [expletive] to have him come in and train, and it's [expletive] to have guys make weight and guys not make weight, especially at this level."

White said Alves' weight gaffe likely cost him a potential shot at the winner of an upcoming welterweight title bout between current champion Georges St-Pierre and challenger Josh Koscheck.

Alves told reporters he was 177 pounds at UFC 117's pre-fight press conference and said he would make weight without issue. But when he stepped on the scale this past Friday, he came in heavy on his first attempt and shortly afterward chose to take the CSAC's fine.

"Could I have lost half a pound?" Alves asked. "I believe so, but it would have taken me a long time to get the half a pound to come off. So it was just easier for me at the time to let them take 20 percent of my purse. I wasn't happy or anything like that. But it was the smarter decision for me."

In hindsight, Alves said he was hurt by a 13-month layoff he endured at the hands of a knee injury and an arteriovenous fistula in his brain which twice delayed his rematch with Fitch. Previously, he vied for St-Pierre's welterweight belt in July 2009 and lost a lopsided decision.

"After my 'GSP' fight, I fought the next guy in line, who's Jon Fitch," Alves said. "I'm jumping from the top to the top. So I didn't perform at my best, but consider the facts. I think I did pretty good. But I think the biggest thing was the time off."

Alves is back in Coconut Creek, Fla., and will take the next week off before getting back to the gym. He plans to call on Dolce – founder of "The Dolce Diet" and trainer and nutritionist for UFC staples Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Michael Bisping – when he books his next fight.

"He's going to be taking care of all my nutrition and supplementation," Alves said. "Eight weeks out, he's going to move into my house and follow me through my whole camp. [I'm] going to fix things I need to fix at the gym and in my lifestyle."

The Brazilian fighter is not particularly jazzed about having an extra body in his house, but it's worth it in the end.

"I'll do whatever I have to do to get back on the winning track," Alves said. "I don't care."

He's sure the alternative is much worse.

"I'm too short (at middleweight)," Alves said. "That will be a big disadvantage for me to move to 185. I'm going to lose a lot of strength, also, because the guys are much, much bigger and taller than me. At 170, I'm good. I've got a good reach, and I'm sharper than most of the guys I fight.

"I want to apologize to all my fans. I've never been through this situation before. I hate it, and I'm never going to allow myself to get into this situation again."

Count Ed Soares among the people not excited to see "Silva vs. Sonnen 2" after his top fighter, UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva, survived a 23-minute beatdown at the hands of Chael Sonnen at UFC 117 last Saturday night in Oakland. Soares believes it's an open and shut case based on the fact that Silva finished the fight -- but fans may want to see another go-round simply because no one has ever dominated the Brazilian the way Sonnen did. How about it fight fans, Silva vs. Belfort -- or Sonnen? What gets your PPV dollars in early 2011?

"[Anderson] showed what a champion is made of. He fought through all of that adversity and through all of the things that were going on in there and he stayed focus and never gave up and that's the heart of a champion ... Once he tapped, Chael kept fighting. He didn't let go because he wasn't sure of what was going on. He wasn't going to give that position or submission up until he was sure. Once again, Chael tried to deny that he tapped until he told the ref, 'I believe you,' it's like, come on dude, that's the same shit you did with Filho and Babalu. If you're going to tap, then tap ... I mean, I don't necessarily think an immediate rematch is legitimate. It's not like he won by decision. You got submitted, man. Anderson got a few bumps and bruises, but let's be realistic, you're on a guy 23 minutes and you couldn't finish him? Why should he get a rematch?"

Fedor Emelianenko gave a seminar on 8-8-10 and demonstrated his warm up routine. Seminar held at Zealous Nation MMA. Fedor translation by Oleg Stavitsky, who fought Fedor in Combat Sambo.....twice.

UFC president Dana White is looking for Thiago Alves to move up to middleweight after failing to make weight for the second time in his UFC career.

Alves missed weight by half a pound and was fined 20 per cent of his purse, although the excess weight was irrelevant in the end as Alves spent most of the fight stuck underneath Fitch.

"Everybody else made weight. It wasn't the scale, he didn't come in on weight. We were just texting a few minutes ago before I came in. He said, 'I'm sorry about that, I'll come back stronger.' I said, 'Yeah, at 185 you will.' He said, 'No, I want to fight at 170,'" White told the post-fight press conference.

“He looked lethargic tonight; he looked slow. He doesn't belong at 170. He belongs at 185 pounds. That's where I'd like to see him, at 85. It's (expletive) to have guys make weight and have guys not make weight, especially at this level.

When you're in the UFC, your job is to make weight, end of story. I don't think that Thiago didn't not want to make weight, he [just] can't… It just screws things up. What happens if he did beat Fitch tonight and does make it to a title shot and then he doesn’t make weight for the title?”

As for Alves’ guarantees that he would never miss weight again, White was unconvinced - and unremitting in his belief that the American Top Team fighter should move up a weight class. “I guarantee you he can make 185. If he can’t fight at 185, then I don’t know what to tell you.”

Alves has missed weight twice (this weekend and against Matt Hughes at UFC 85) and also once tested positive for banned diuretics, drugs used to promote urination and often employed in a last-ditch effort to cut weight.

UFC 117: Silva vs. Sonnen was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on August 7, 2010 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California, United States.



Main card

* Heavyweight bout: United States Roy Nelson vs. Brazil Junior dos Santos

dos Santos defeated Nelson via unanimous decision (30–26, 30–27, 30–27).

* Welterweight bout: United States Matt Hughes vs. Brazil Ricardo Almeida

Hughes defeated Almeida via technical submission (modified front headlock) at 3:15 of round 1.

* Lightweight bout: United States Clay Guida vs. Brazil Rafael dos Anjos

Guida defeated dos Anjos via submission (jaw injury) at 1:51 of round 3.

* Catchweight bout (171.5 lbs): United States Jon Fitch vs. Brazil Thiago Alves

Fitch defeated Alves via unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, 30–27).

* Middleweight Championship bout: Brazil Anderson Silva (c) vs. United States Chael Sonnen



Preliminary card

* Welterweight bout: United States Ben Saunders vs. United States Dennis Hallman

Hallman defeated Saunders via unanimous decision (29–28, 30–27, 29–28).

* Heavyweight bout: Netherlands Stefan Struve vs. United States Christian Morecraft

Struve defeated Morecraft via TKO (punches) at 0:21 of round 2. This fight was broadcast on PPV following the Guida vs. dos Anjos fight.

* Light Heavyweight bout: United States Tim Boetsch vs. United States Todd Brown

Boetsch defeated Brown by unanimous decision (29–28, 29–28, 29–28).

* Welterweight bout: United States Johny Hendricks vs. United States Charlie Brenneman

Hendricks defeated Brenneman via TKO (punches) at 0:40 of round 2.

* Light Heavyweight bout: United States Phil Davis vs. United States Rodney Wallace

Davis defeated Wallace via unanimous decision (30–26, 30–27, 30–27).

* Welterweight bout: United States Dustin Hazelett vs. United States Rick Story

Story defeated Hazelett via TKO (punches) at 1:15 of round 2.


Bonus awards

Fighters were awarded $60,000 bonuses.[13]

* Fight of the Night: Brazil Anderson Silva vs. United States Chael Sonnen
* Knockout of the Night: Netherlands Stefan Struve
* Submission of the Night: Brazil Anderson Silva and United States Matt Hughes

Official UFC 117 fighter weigh-ins, where all but one competitor made weight on the show.

Today's festivities took place at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., the same venue that hosts Saturday's pay-per-view event.

Middleweight champ Anderson Silva (184.5 pounds) and fellow headliner Chael Sonnen (185) were on weight, but co-main-event fighter Thiago Alves was a half pound over and fined 20 percent of his purse.

Alves, who's struggled with weight-cutting in the past, weighed 171.5 pounds, a half pound over the 171-pound limit for his No. 1 contender's bout with Jon Fitch. Alves' fine is paid directly to Fitch.

Although reports surfaced earlier this week suggesting Alves was struggling with his weight cut, his manager, Malki Kawa, told MMAjunkie.com that the fighter weighed 177 pounds and expected no problems by the time weigh-ins rolled around.

The full weigh-in results included:

MAIN CARD

-Champ Anderson Silva (184.5) vs. Chael Sonnen (185)
-Thiago Alves (171.5)* vs. Jon Fitch (170.5)
-Ricardo Almeida (170.5) vs. Matt Hughes (170.5)
-Junior Dos Santos (240) vs. Roy Nelson (263)
-Rafael dos Anjos (156) vs. Clay Guida (156)

PRELIMINARY CARD

-Dustin Hazelett (169.5) vs. Rick Story (169.5)
-Phil Davis (205.5) vs. Rodney Wallace (206)
-Charlie Brenneman (171) vs. Johny Hendricks (171)
-Tim Boetsch (206) vs. Todd Brown (206)
-Christian Morecraft (263) vs. Stefan Struve (247)
-Dennis Hallman (171) vs. Ben Saunders (171)

* - Missed weight by half a pound; fined 20 percent of "show" money, which is surrendered to Fitch