UFC NEWS: Alessio Sakara vs. Maiquel Falcao coming to UFC on Versus 3 in March

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

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A middleweight bout between Maiquel Falcao and Alessio Sakara is coming to March's UFC on Versus 3 card, according to a report from MMAJunkie.com.

Sakara was supposed to fight last month at UFC 122 in Germany, but food poisoning made Sakara extremely ill the day of the fight, forcing him out of his bout with Jorge Rivera. He'll now attempt to make his return and move his current win streak to four fights.

Falcao made his UFC debut at UFC 123 last month with a decision win over Gerald Harris. Falcao nearly finished the fight in the first round, but outside of the end of that opening frame and a couple of minutes of action in the second round the fight was lacking in that department, and Harris found himself out of the UFC following the fight.

UFC on Versus 3 is expected to take place on March 3 at a yet-to-be-determined location and venue, headlined by a welterweight title bout between Diego Sanchez and Martin Kampmann.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: This is a good fight in the division. Falcao needs to put forth a much better effort than the UFC got from him against Harris, as he can keep his job with a loss if he leaves it all in the cage. For Sakara, he's won three straight, so this is another chance for him to keep that alive, but Falcao is a very tough competitor and will be a big challenge in this fight. It could definitely be an entertaining bout, though.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_7790.shtml

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STRIKEFORCE NEWS: "Mayhem" Miller insists Nick Diaz is ducking him, Cesar Gracie camp responds with statement

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

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The continued verbal spat between Jason "Mayhem" Miller and the Cesar Gracie camp - regarding a potential bout between Miller and Nick Diaz in Strikeforce - is escalating, as both sides have attacked the other once again this week.

This week's opening salvo came when Miller appeared on "It's Time! With Bruce Buffer" on the Sherdog Radio Network and ripped into the reasoning the Gracie camp has given for not taking a fight at middleweight.

"They've started spitting out, 'Oh, 178.' Meanwhile back at the ranch, Nick Diaz is saying, 'I'll fight middleweight. I'll fight middleweight.' OK, well, just not against me, right? That's how it is. He's bologna, this guy. These guys don't want to fight me. He doesn't want to fight me, so now he's like making it, 'Oh, Mayhem turned down the fight.' I didn't turn down a fight. I never got offered a fight."

"We've got an outstanding beef," Miller continued. "They trumped up this beef with him and K.J. Noons -- it was a 4-year-old beef. Man, Tito Ortiz was smashing Ken Shamrock back in the days they had that beef. This beef is brand-spanking-new. Let's do it now. Let's do it now. Stockton is a bunch of sissies. I'm at the table. I'm at the table with a plate of yams, sitting there ready to spank his ass, but he doesn't want to come to the table. He wants to sit in his bedroom with Cesar Gracie and cuddle."

In response to these latest statements, the Gracie camp issued a lengthy response at GracieFighter.com. That statement is below:

"As Jason Miller's rantings become more intense and pathetic, we found it important to refute his incoherent diatribe with reasoning that any child or even Jason Miller himself could understand.

Miller is now demanding a fight with Nick Diaz based on several reasons, none of which include the most fundamental of factors; actually earning a shot at the Champ by working your way up as a viable contender.

Miller has already lost to the only Team Graciefighter he has ever faced; Jake Shields. After the lopsided defeat, Miller was less than gracious, prompting Shields to respond,
'I'm on to bigger & better fights like always. I mean ur last real win was when you beat up your girlfriend and got arrested.'

Jake Shields then went on to defeat highly touted Dan Henderson. Henderson had routinely used Miller as a human mop to clean the mats with at Team Quest in Temecula, California.

After Shields' victory, Miller decided to demand a rematch he had no chance of ever earning. (sound familiar)

This time Miller was foolish enough to interrupt Shields on national television after the greatest win of his career.

Miller subsequently received a deserved thumping from some of Jake's team mates which even UFC President, Dana White, commenting on Miller stated, 'you've got this f^*@ing goofball running in saying 'Hey where's my rematch?', well what did you think was going to happen?'

Miller went on to use the post fight "jumping" as the basis for a match with Nick Diaz. Our camp offered Miller a fight at any weight behind closed doors with Diaz if Miller was not able to move on from his issues with him. Miller has instead crusaded for a payday fight. Publicity stunt?

Nick Diaz being the 170lbs Strikeforce Champion will fight anyone the organization puts in front of him. This includes Jason Miller. Miller has declined to make the 170lbs weight limit he has previously fought in.

Jason Miller has asked Nick Diaz to fight at a "catch-weight". Miller stated he would fight at the same catch-weight that Diaz had previously fought in. Strikeforce approached our camp with Miller's request and we accepted the same weight as Diaz's last catch-weight, 178 + a 1 pound allowance for 179lbs. Diaz has never fought over 180lbs. Miller then changed his mind and declined.

Now wanting the fight at 183lbs (184 with a 1 pound allowance), Miller told anyone that would listen that 'Diaz had fought on several occasions at 183lbs.'

Hoping that if he lied enough people would actually beleive him, Miller continues to lie.

Lastly, a desperate Jason Miller has pulled up an interview where Nick Diaz stated that besides 170lbs, he would be also interested in fighting at 155lbs, and 185lbs sometime in the future. Citing this, Miller has become manic in his insistance that Diaz is ducking him.

We wonder if Jorge Gurgel will next cite the same interview as a demand Diaz drops down to 155lbs immediately for a fight or he will also be ducking him?

As the Strikeforce Champion, Nick Diaz will fight at other weight classes, but only against relevant contenders and champions not irrelevant non-contenders.

When Dana White talks of GSP fighting at middle weight, he means against the Anderson Silva's of the world not the Mayhem Millers. If Miller ever signs with the UFC we would truly like to see Dana's reaction when the man he refers to as 'that F^@*ing goofball' calls out their Welterweight Champ to fight him, a non-contender at middleweight.

Good luck Miller."

Of course, both sides are likely wasting a lot of energy on one another when they can't come to an agreement on a weight to fight at, and Diaz will be moving on for a bout in January against someone other than Miller.

Penick's Analysis: One of the problems with this scenario is the fact that Miller would mark one of the more legitimate challenges out there for Diaz, despite the loss to Jake Shields. Diaz, while he's done nothing but win fights over the last four years and remains a supremely talented fighter, hasn't faced any top ten competition in that time span. Miller, while he's not near a top ten middleweight at this point, isn't much different in terms of level of opponent than anyone else he's going to face off against in the coming year. But right now, if the fight isn't going to happen they should both probably just move on.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/Affliction2/article_7838.shtml

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Source: http://www.fighters.com/12/09/on-the-road-again-strikeforce-releases-veterans-joe-riggs-and-joey-villasenor

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Source: http://www.fighters.com/12/08/on-to-ontario-ufc-announces-toronto-event-scheduled-for-april-30-2011-featuring-a-ufc-fan-expo

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