Friday, August 20, 2010

When former UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn steps into the Octagon next Saturday night for his rematch with Frankie Edgar, he will be doing so as an evolved fighter. In fact, the journey that he is on is an admittedly winding path with peaks and valleys—and his highly contested unanimous decision loss to Edgar at UFC 112 helped make him a better fighter. Penn says the fighter that we see at UFC 118 will be a different fighter from what we have seen in the past.

Strikeforce returns to Showtime on Saturday night with its first trip to the Lonestar State, and a host of the organization’s biggest stars will be competing. Two titles will be decided on the night, and two other fighters could get one step closer to title shots in the very near future. Two preliminary fights will be streamed live on Sherdog.com for the first time, a move that shows that the organization may finally realize that it needs to develop some of its own stars.

Wednesday night WEC brought its frenetic brand of fisticuffs to The Pearl at the Palms in Las Vegas, Nev. with WEC 50. The event showcased contenders for its lightweight-and-below divisions, while a recently crowned champ faced his first title defense. As always, it’s time to answer our favorite post-event question: What did we learn?

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Spike TV will showcase three former cast members of “The Ultimate Fighter,” including the winner of “The Ultimate Fighter 11,” Court McGee, in live undercard bouts from “UFC 121: Lesnar vs. Velazquez” on Saturday, October 23 at 9:00 p.m ET from the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.  In the evening’s first televised bout, “The Ultimate Fighter 4” finalist Patrick “The Predator” Cote will battle season eight’s Tom Lawlor. Following that bout, McGee, in his first fight since winning the TUF crown this past June, takes on veteran Ryan Jensen.

Top European Middleweight prospect Dragan “Gagi” Tesanovic has officially been added to the Bellator roster. Tesanovic brings a perfect 7-0 record to the promotion with five wins coming via technical knockout or knockout.  Tesanovic regularly displays a dangerous clinch game and very technical ground skills. One of the fastest rising prospects at 185 pounds, Tesanovic was recently named one of the top ten European prospects.

Ulysses Gomez, has emerged as an early favorite to win this Bellator FC's bantamweight tournament. The current Tachi Palace Fights flyweight champion, will be making the move from 125 pounds to 135 pounds to take on Travis Reddinger on September 2. "Useless" recently sat down with MMASpot.net to discuss signing with Bellator, his chances in the tournament, and his U.S. national soccer team brother.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Bellator announced today the official main card fights for Bellator 26 which is taking place at the Kansas City Power and Light District in Kansas City, Mo. on Aug. 26, marking the third appearance at the venue this year. In an opening round season three heavyweight tournament fight, Mike “300” Hayes takes on Russian submission specialist Alexey Oleinik.  Oleinik, a judo black belt, is not only one of the most respected fighters in Russia, but also one of the most dangerous heavyweight submission fighters in the sport.

The remaining unannounced undercard bouts for "UFC 118: Edgar vs Penn 2" will feature the following matchups: Demian Maia vs. Mario Miranda, Nate Diaz vs. Marcus Davis, Joe Lauzon vs. Gabe Ruediger, Andre Winner vs. Nik Lentz, Dan Miller vs. John Salter, Nick Osipczak vs. Greg Soto, and Mike Pierce vs. Amilcar Alves. 

UFC President Dana White announced today that the "UFC FAN EXPO" in Boston will feature four grappling superfights, two of which will feature high-level black belts Rolles Gracie and Gregor Gracie of the Renzo Gracie Academy based out of New York City. 

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Bellator today announced that Bellator second season featherweight semi-finalist Georgi Karakhanyan will take on UFC Veteran and submission specialist Alvin Robinson at Bellator 28 in New Orleans on Sept. 9.  Karakhanyan is coming off of a loss to current Featherweight Tournament Champion Joe Warren at Bellator 18 last May.  Prior to that defeat, Karakhanyan was on a nine fight win streak that dated back to May of 2008, including a first-round highlight reel knockout of Bao Quach at Bellator 13.

Bellator today announced the official addition of Zach Makovsky to the season three bantamweight world championship tournament. Makovsky enters the tournament with an impressive 9-2 record, while currently riding a three fight win-streak.  The Philadelphia-based fighter last competed at Bellator 21 in June 2010 against Eric Luke where he secured  a fight-ending Kimura with just 30 seconds left in the second round.

As with past UFC events, MMA Spot will be bringing our readers coverage of press conferences, weigh-in events, post-fight press conferences, exclusive video, and behind-the-scenes moments leading right up to "WEC: Cruz vs. Benavidez." The event takes place on August 18 from the Pearl At The Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, and will be broadcast live on Versus at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. The main event of the evening features a bantamweight championship bout between Dominick Cruz and Joseph Benavidez . In addition to the main event, WEC includes a possible top contender bantanweight bout between Brad Pickett and Scott Jorgensen.