Thursday, March 11, 2010

Shine Fights is excited to announce the official signing of a bout between former Bodog Welterweight Champion Nick “The Goat” Thompson (38-12-1) and Brazilian veteran Eduardo Pamplona (12-2). The bout will take place on the main card at “Worlds Collide: Mayorga vs. Thomas,” which will be held at the Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, North Carolina on May 15, 2010. “Worlds Collide” will be broadcast live on pay-per-view.

Bellator Fighting Championships made two more noteworthy additions to its upcoming season two middleweight tournament today with the signings of (9-1-1) Bellator season one tournament finalist Jared Hess and (18-4) MMA veteran Sean “The Destroyer” Loeffler.  Hess and Loeffler are the fourth and fifth confirmed participants in the eight-man middleweight tournament, joining Bryan “The Beast” Baker, Matt Major and Eric Schambari. Overall, the group boasts a combined winning percentage of .859 (55 wins, 8 losses and 1 draw).

For the WEC’s first foray into the world of pay-per-view, the promotion has begun putting together a card stacked top-to-bottom with bouts between some of the top fighters in MMA’s lighter weight divisions. “WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber” is scheduled to take place on April 24 at the Arco Arena; five fights have been signed alongside a few other announced bouts.

As the Ultimate Fighting Championship heads back to the East Coast, the fans have responded once again, and welcomed the UFC back with open arms. Tickets are officially sold out for "UFC 111: St-Pierre vs. Hardy", which is presented by TapouT and is taking place Saturday, March 27 from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Although “Strikeforce: Nashville” features an inordinate number of title fights for the promotion’s second CBS card, Strikeforce intends on adding a fourth bout to the televised portion of the event as well. With the title bouts having the potential of running the full 25 minutes, combining for a total 75 minutes of action, as opposed to the previous CBS event which held just over 65 minutes of total fight time, the logistics of adding another bout could prove difficult.

Light heavyweight standouts Antwain "The Juggernaut" Britt and Rafael "Feijão" Cavalcante will face off on the Strikeforce card scheduled for May 15.  The fight was confirmed by Britt's head trainer Buck Grant over Twitter.  Both fighters have won their previous fights in the organization, and a victory at this event would position the winner for a run at the 205 pound belt.

Former UFC light heavyweight competitor James "The Sandman" Irvin is scheduled to make his long awaited return to action and his middleweight debut against Alessio "Legionarius" Sakara. The bout has been moved to the main card of "UFC Live: Vera vs. Jones" scheduled for March 21, 2010 to be aired live on Versus.

UFC today announced it has reached a long-term agreement with ASN, the first 24-hour HD sports channel in Asia to distribute UFC programs in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Macau, Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. ASN will officially launch UFC programming on April 10 with "UFC 112: Silva vs Maia", a live event taking place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and featuring two world title fights.

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Two of the most dynamic UFC light heavyweights clash on Sunday, March 21, when Muay Thai ace Brandon “The Truth” Vera takes on dangerous 22-year-old phenom Jon “Bones” at the First Bank Center in Broomfield, Colorado for "UFC on VERSUS".  The fight will air live on VERSUS at 9 p.m. ET marking the debut of the world’s largest mixed martial arts organization on VERSUS and the first time that a live UFC event will air on a national sports cable network.

In anticipation of their world welterweight title clash at "UFC 111: St-Pierre vs. Hardy," UFC champion Georges St-Pierre and challenger Dan Hardy will be featured on "UFC Primetime," a weekly, three part series premiering Wednesday, March 10 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on Spike TV.  In the first episode, Hardy boastfully speaks about his chances of dethroning the champion, St. Pierre.

Monday, March 08, 2010

Toby Imada, whose jaw-dropping “Submission of the Year” helped put Bellator Fighting Championships on the map during its debut season, will return to the promotion for its upcoming season two lightweight tournament. Imada’s remarkable submission, an inverted triangle choke of the heavily favored Jorge Masvidal at Bellator V, became an overnight YouTube sensation (more than 650,000 people have watched it online to date) and took home honors for “Submission of the Year” from the 2009 World MMA Awards and virtually every major MMA news site.

Tyler Stinson, a 24-year-old native of Winfield, Kan., was the unanimous winner of an open tryout sponsored by Bellator Fighting Championships on Saturday, earning him a chance to fight in Bellator’s upcoming nationally-televised event at the Kansas City Power & Light District on April 29 Stinson was one of 72 fighters from as far away as New York, California, Texas and Arizona to travel to Lenexa, Kan., for the tryout, which was judged by Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney and a panel of other top Bellator talent executives. Participants included former veterans of the WEC, IFL and other top promotions.