Tuesday, March 01, 2011

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 "UFC On Versus." The event takes place on March 3 from the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky, and will be broadcast on Versus at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. The main event of the evening features a welterweight battle between Diego Sanchez and Martin Kampmann. Keep it here at MMA Spot for all of your UFC video coverage.

Bellator Fighting Championships’ highly anticipated fourth season will premiere this Saturday, March 5, live on MTV2 beginning at 9pm ET/PT from the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino in Lemoore, Calif.  Bellator 35 will feature the quarterfinal pairings in the Season 4 Welterweight Tournament, including: Rick Hawn vs. Jim Wallhead, Jay Hieron vs. Anthony Lapsley, Chris Lozano vs. Lyman Good and Brent Weedman vs. Dan Hornbuckle.  A Spanish-language telecast will air on MTV Tr3s on Sunday, March 6, at 8pm ET/PT.

The UFC is proud to confirm the remaining bouts for its first-ever event in Louisville, Kentucky on Thursday, March 3. The fastest growing sports organization in the world heads to the KFC Yum! Center with a loaded card featuring explosive bouts between top UFC contenders. In addition to the main event welterweight fight pitting Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez against Martin “Hitman” Kampmann and the middleweight clash between Mark Munoz and CB Dollaway, UFC officials confirmed today nine additional bouts set to take place in the Bluegrass State.

If there is something to be learned from the UFC’s two ventures into Australia over the past year, it is that there is a very real demand for the world’s premier MMA organization to hold even more events Down Under. The UFC has now sold out the Acer Arena twice (this last time in an incredible two hours) and the reviews have been exceedingly positive. Zuffa would presumably have to rate this latest international show as a rousing success.

Monday, February 28, 2011

While Canada is one of the world’s meccas of MMA, there is no doubt that the UFC has found another regular home Down Under, as UFC 127 became the second consecutive successful show for the organization in Australia. It’s pretty safe to say that we can pencil in an event for the promotion in Australia every February, and officials also hinted at a stadium show in the near future.

March will be a time to sit down on your couch with a nice big bowl of popcorn and your remote handy to enjoy a healthy dose of fights. The best part—it won’t hurt your wallet, as just one pay-per-view event is scheduled for the month. The rest can be seen on basic or premium cable, including events from UFC, Strikeforce, Bellator, Shark Fights, Titan FC, and M-1 Challenge.

The M.E.N. Arena in Manchester, England opened its doors to U.K. MMA fans Saturday evening as the British Association of Mixed Martial Arts staged their fifth event at the impressive 21,000-seat capacity venue. With the show being aired on free television via SyFy this was the participating fighters chance to display their talents before a wider audience—and they did not fail to impress.

“UFC 127: Penn vs. Fitch” is in the books after the promotion’s recent event Down Under. The Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia played host to a night of bouts in which the cageside judges played a crucial role. But before we go any further we have to ask our favorite post-event question: What did we learn?

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Cage Warriors Fighting Championship returned to London for the first show of their 2011 campaign on Saturday, as the famous HMV Forum was near capacity for another quality Cage Warriors event. The fans in attendance were treated to the same high caliber show that has made Cage Warriors one of the most respected brands in all of international competition. Although the card had been through a run of changes over the final days leading up to the event, matchmaker Ian Dean managed to persevere and put together a fan friendly and competitive event.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Tonight's "UFC 127: Penn vs. Fitch" event will be broadcast on pay-per-view from the Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia.  The event features a  welterweight  main event matchup between former champion B.J. Penn and the ultimate grinder Jon Fitch. Also featured will be two division-shaping bouts with Dennis Siver taking on George Sotiropoulos and Michael Bisping meeting up with Jorge Rivera. Catch all the live blow-by-blow action as we bring you live coverage of the main broadcast card round-by-round.

Friday, February 25, 2011

When rumors first surfaced that the UFC was on the verge of signing three fighters from the famed Wolfslair Academy, many U.K. fight fans had their fingers crossed that one of them would be light heavyweight Tom Blackledge. Those that have followed the English fighter know of his dynamic fighting style and ability. Despite his 10-6 record, Blackledge is always a split-second from ending a bout—likely why he was one of the recent acquisitions for the world's premier MMA promotion. MMA Spot’s Jamie Kennedy had the pleasure of speaking to Blackledge from his training camp in Sydney, Australia, where the heavy-handed striker could hardly contain his joy in the thought of making his debut against native Australian Anthony Perosh.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

February is proving to be an interesting month for MMA in the Carolinas. Young fighters with tremendous potential will be competing this month and fans in multiple regions have the opportunity to catch some quality MMA shows live. Two events of note include King MMA's "Caged Chaos II," and Carolina Fight Promotions' CFP 15.