Jimmy Smith, Sean Wheelock return to broadcast Bellator's season-four tournaments

Despite previous reports that Jimmy Smith would not serve as a part of Bellator Fighting Championships' upcoming fourth season, the veteran color commentator will indeed return to the broadcast booth.

Bellator officials today announced that Smith will again serve alongside play-by-play man Sean Wheelock for this season's MTV2 broadcasts.

"With their wealth of experience, knowledge of the game and excitement for MMA, I truly believe that we have the best broadcast team in the sport," Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney stated in the official release.


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mmajunkie/~3/mOOu93MmYcg/jimmy-smith-sean-wheelock-return-to-broadcast-bellators-season-four-tournaments.mma

Assuerio Silva Paulo Silva Jay Silva Jean Silva

UFC NEWS: Kenny Florian to meet Diego Nunes at UFC 131 in featherweight debut

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

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Two-time Lightweight Title challenger Kenny Florian will make his featherweight debut at UFC 131 this June in a fight against Diego Nunes.

Florian revealed the matchup on the latest edition of ESPN2's MMA Live, on which he is an analyst.

The 34-year-old Florian is making the drop after a loss to Gray Maynard in his last fight in August. He was scheduled to return in a headlining bout at January's UFC Fight for the Troops 2 against Evan Dunham, but injury took him out of that fight and he decided to make the move down to one of the UFC's newest weight classes.

In Nunes he faces a very talented and successful featherweight. Nunes has won three straight fights since suffering his first and only career defeat to LC Davis by decision in the WEC. He brings a 16-1 career record into this fight, and he most recently picked up his biggest career win when he upset former WEC Featherweight Champion Mike Brown in his UFC debut on New Year's Day.

UFC 131 is expected to take place from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on June 11, and is also expected to feature TUF 13 coaches Brock Lesnar and Junior Dos Santos in the night's main event.

Penick's Analysis: This is a very solid featherweight fight. It's a big opportunity for Nunes, as he'll get on the pay-per-view card, and Nunes makes for a very tough test for Florian as he heads down to the featherweight division for the first time. This should be a very exciting fight, and this UFC 131 card is shaping up to be another really good offering from the UFC.

[Kenny Florian art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_8525.shtml

Murilo Ninja Rua Marco Ruas Rodrigo Ruas Gabe Ruediger

UFC NEWS: Weigh-in results for UFC 127 in Australia

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Weigh-ins took place tonight U.S. time for tomorrow's UFC 127 event from Sydney, Australia. All fighters made weight for the card, but the weigh-in event wasn't without it's drama, as co-main eventers Michael Bisping and Jorge Rivera nearly came to blows. Check out the full weigh-in results below:

Main Pay-Per-View Card

* B.J. Penn (167.2 lbs.) vs. Jon Fitch (169.8 lbs.)
* Michael Bisping (185.2 lbs.) vs. Jorge Rivera (184.8 lbs.)
* Dennis Siver (156.6 lbs.) vs. George Sotiropoulos (155.8 lbs.)
* Chris Lytle (169.8 lbs.) vs. Brian Ebersole (169.8 lbs.)
* Chris Camozzi (185.2 lbs.) vs. Kyle Noke (183.9 lbs.)

Ion Television Prelims

* Spencer Fisher (154.4 lbs.) vs. Ross Pearson (155.3 lbs.)
* Alexander Gustafsson (205 lbs.) vs. James Te Huna (204.6 lbs.)
* Riki Fukuda (184.8 lbs.) vs. Nick Ring (184.8 lbs.)

Facebook Prelims

Tom Blackledge (205.2 lbs.) vs. Anthony Perosh (204.6 lbs.)
Jason Reinhardt (145.2 lbs.) vs. Zhang Tie Quan (145.6 lbs.)

Unaired Preliminary Card

* Mark Hunt (262.2 lbs.) vs. Chris Tuchscherer (260.9 lbs.)
* Maciej Jewtuszko (154.4 lbs.) vs. Curt Warburton (155.8 lbs.)

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_8587.shtml

Dong Hyun Kim Kevin Knabjian John Kolosci Cheick Kongo

UFC NEWS: UFC confirms Rampage vs. Hamill, Alves vs. Story for UFC 130 main card in May

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

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The UFC has confirmed two more bouts for the main card of their Memorial Day Weekend event, as Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Matt Hamill and Thiago Alves vs. Rick Story are both official for UFC 130.

The card, taking place on May 28 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, features a headliner between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard for the UFC Lightweight Championship.

Rampage looks to get a title shot with a second straight victory after his November 2010 victory over former champ Lyoto Machida. Rampage, who hasn't fought for a title since losing the title to Forrest Griffin in July of 2008. A win over Hamill likely puts him next in line to face the winner of Mauricio "Shogun" Rua vs. Jon Jones.

Hamill looks to put his name in the mix of top contenders with a win over Rampage that would be his sixth straight win. He's coming off a victory over Tito Ortiz back at UFC 121 in October, and took this bout when Thiago Silva was removed from the fight.

Alves is out to build on one of his best career performances in a three round dissection of John Howard at UFC 124. The win halted a two fight losing streak to Georges St. Pierre and Jon Fitch, and he looks to make his way back into the title picture with a run.

Story enters this fight after a win over Johny Hendricks in December. Following the big win, his fifth straight, Story and his camp expressed a desire to fight top ten competition. They're getting just that in top five ranked Alves, and this fight marks Story's biggest opportunity in the UFC to date.

[Rampage Jackson art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_8528.shtml

Genki Sudo Amar Suloev Mike Swick Takashi Sugiura

Miami Hustle Prequel: The Story of the Sengoku King

From master MMA highlight reel maker Genghis Con comes this prequel to his Miami Hustle series titled “The Story of the Sengoku King.” It features Jorge Santiago, JZ Cavalcante, Jorge Masvidal and members of their camp preparing for Santiago’s fight against Kazuo Misaki last year in Sengoku. What an amazing fight that was.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mmaconvert/~3/SfF7MpDhso8/

Marcus Silveira Aaron Simpson Wes Sims Rob Sinclair

BELLATOR NEWS: Hector Lombard to meet Falaniko Vitale in non-title action at Bellator 44

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

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Bellator Middleweight Champion Hector Lombard will be back in non-title action in the upcoming fourth season, as MMAJunkie.com reports that he will meet Falaniko Vitale at Bellator 44.

Lombard captured the Bellator Middleweight Championship when he won the very first Bellator middleweight tournament in season one. He then clocked two straight knockouts in under a minute in non-title action in Bellator before defeating season two tournament winner Alexander Shlemenko by decision in their season three title bout.

Lombard has now won 16 straight fights, and is unbeaten in his last 21 fights dating back to a November 2006 loss to Gegard Mousasi.

Vitale makes his Bellator debut on a two fight winning streak. He returned to action in 2010 after a 17 month absence that followed a loss to Frank Trigg in Strikeforce in 2008. He brings a 28-9 record throughout a near 12 year career spent mostly in his home state of Hawaii.

No city or venue has been chosen for the May 14 event as of yet, but the fight is expected to headline the MTV2 broadcast.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: Lombard has been extremely successful in his MMA career, but it's hard to shake the thought that his talent is being wasted right now. He's fighting competition that is, honestly, beneath him at this point considering his record and the way he's looked in winning a lot of his fights. He could easily be plugged into Strikeforce or the UFC and compete with most, if not all, of the middleweights in either division. But being in Bellator, he's relegated to these types of fights. Vitale is certainly a much more credible opponent than "Whisper" Goodman was last August, but he's nowhere near a top 25 opponent in 2011, and someone like Lombard should regularly be fighting that level of opponent.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/Bellator/article_8548.shtml

Jason Reinhardt Eddy Rolon João Roque Kristian Rothaermel

UFC QUOTABLES: Jorge Rivera says he knew Michael Bisping would bite on UFC 127 trash talk

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

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"Honestly, when we asked for the fight, the people at the UFC were like, 'He might not take it. His camp might not take it.' I was like, 'Don't worry about it. I'll make sure he'll take it.' I knew he was going to bite. He took the fight and then I knew he was going to keep on talking...

I watch guys like Chael Sonnen, who was basically going through the same thing. He was a good fighter not getting the notoriety that he wanted. He starts talking a little bit, and the whole world starts watching. I'm thinking to myself, that's the one thing that I feel MMA can learn from boxing. We have to be able to get people to want to watch this fight. Nobody wants to watch something more than two people who don't like each other...

This is how I make my living. Yeah, I want to be known. Yeah, I want to have exciting fights. Yeah, I'm going to bring it every single time. I want to be recognized for that. So let me hype it up a little bit and watch me deliver on it."

-Jorge Rivera talks to Sherdog.com about the reasonings behind his verbal sparring with Michael Bisping ahead of UFC 127.

Penick's Analysis: Rivera certainly accomplished what he wanted to ahead of this fight. He got Bisping riled up, and we'll see on Saturday whether he did enough to throw Bisping off his game. But for a fight that didn't have a ton of heat or interest, he's certainly made it a more appealing and interesting fight than it was initially. So now he just needs to back up his trash talk with a good performance on Saturday in Australia.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_8570.shtml

Tom Murphy Lee Murray Gary Myers Chris The Pitbull Myra

STRIKEFORCE NEWS: Strikeforce expanding pay-per-view offerings in the U.K., Henderson vs. Feijao event to air live on March 5

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

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Strikeforce is expanding their televised offerings in the U.K., as the organization announced on Monday that their March 5 event will air on pay-per-view, according to Fighter's Only.

Strikeforce partnered with pay-per-view broadcaster Primetime for their February 12 kick off to the Heavyweight World Grand Prix, and entered into a deal to air four events for the tournament. Now, they will also air the Dan Henderson vs. Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante event from the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

The March 5 event will air at 3AM in the U.K., and will be available for £9.95. The card, which also features a Women's 135 lb. title fight between Marloes Coenen and Meisha Tate, will also be made available online at www.primetimelive.co.uk for the same price. Primetime airs on channel 480 on Sky.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: This is a good option for fans in the UK that want to catch the fights for Strikeforce, but with the 3AM air-time and pay-per-view nature of the event for fans in the U.K. it's not going to get a huge response. Still, the fact that they're airing their events in the U.K. is a step in them expanding further beyond their current reach, and that is a good thing.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/Affliction2/article_8542.shtml

Rashad Evans Lyoto Machida Mauricio Rua Dave Menne