Former UFC heavyweight and Strikeforce fighter recently talked about how happy he is to be back in the UFC. He feels that his time outside of the UFC helped him become a better fighter. For one thing he was the first guy to break Fedor's long lasting unbeaten streak, and secondly, the time away from the UFC improved his attitude toward training. Werdum says he is more professional now and takes his training more seriously. He believes this will give him the opportunity to fulfil his dream of becoming the UFC heavyweight title holder. To get back on track and achieve that dream he will first have to defeat Roy Nelson. Werdum acknowledges how tough Nelson is, given that Nelson went 3 rounds with the current champ Dos Santos and lost on points. To add to that not many people knew that Nelson blew out his knee in the first round of that fight.
Nelson is looking a lot fitter as he's changed his training and diet regime, shedding some weight and improving his endurance. The pair will meet at this weekend's UFC 143 headlined by Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz.
article: MMA Junkie
MMA Junkie has recently reported that the UFC managing director for international development Marshall Zelaznik said the company is "close" to securing a deal for TUF: Australia vs.
U.K.
If it goes ahead the series will likely be filmed in Australia later this year with the Brisbane Entertainment earmarked as the likely venue for the finale. The possible Brisbane location would be the first non-Sydney location for UFC in Australia, and only the second TUF series to be conducted outside of America (Brazil will be first).
No word yet as to who the possible coach could be for Australia.
Let the smack talking begin. Recent news from the UFC reveals that Mark Munoz will not be able to compete against Chael Sonnen due to injury. He will now face Michael Bisping on the Fox2 event slated for the 28th January. The winner of the bout will face reigning middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
Sonnen and Bisping, both notrious for their pre-fight trash talk, will no doubt live up to their reputations. Stylistically it should be an interesting matchup as a classic striker versus grappler contents. It remains to be seen if Bisping's takedown defence will be effective against Sonnen, who not so long ago dominated Anderson Silva for five rounds until getting submitted via triangle choke in the dying seconds of the fifth.
Other noteworthy fights will include Rashad Evans vs Phil Davis, Paul Sass vs Evan Dunham, and Dustin Jacoby vs Chris Camozzy.
According to this Brazillian website, Big Nog has recently revealed that fellow Brazillian Antonio "Big Foot" Silva will be joining the UFC and will face Cain Velasquez for his first bout.
Big Foot, who's last fight resulted in a KO defeat at the hands of Chris Cormier (Strikeforce), has since undergone surgery and will be ready to face Velasquez in a rumoured April event. Big Foot who has a respectable 16-3-0, including a stoppage win against Fedor, will have the size advantage over Velasquez who recently lost to Junior Dos Santos in the featured Fox Sports event.
Brock Lesnar recently announced his retirement from the UFC after his loss against UFC debutant Alistair Overeem.
Highly touted striker Overeem defeated Brock Lesnar in the first rounded with a solid liver kick which sent Lesnar to the canvas wincing in pain. Shortly after the fight Lesnar announced that he'd had discussions with his family prior to the fight and had agreed to retire if he would lose, else he would have stayed in the hunt for the belt.
Overeem will now face off against current UFC heavyweight title holder Junior Dos Santos.
Lesnar's departure from the UFC will be a huge loss for the organization due to his crowd pulling power, however it was obvious after his recent TKO defeats to Velasquez and Overeem that Lesnar still had a long way to go to become a complete and rounded fighter.
The long awaited return of the UFC to Australia has been scheduled for the 3rd of March, 2012. This will be the 3rd UFC event to be held in Australia and will headline welterweights Martin Kampmann and Thiago Alves.
The event will be hosted by the Sydney All Phones Arena, most likely to a sellout crowd like the last two events.
As a bonus, this will be the debut of the flyweight division in the UFC featuring bouts between Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson (14-2) taking on Ian "Uncle Creepy" McCall (11-2). In the second flyweight bout, Joseph Benavidez (15-2) will take on Japanese Shooto champion Yasuhiro Urushitani (19-4-6).
Although UFC 137 was a lack lustre event, with a number of fights going to the decision, and GSP unable to complete due to injury, it will be remembered as the event at which two legendary fighters hung up their gloves.
UFC 137 marked the retirement of legendary striker Cro Cop, and MMA protege BJ Penn. Although Cro Cop's never technically announced retirement after his 3rd round loss to Roy "Big Country" Nelson, he thanked his fans and the UFC for the support over the years and expressed his disappointment in not being able to go out on a win. Given it was the last fight on the Croatian Striker's contract, it seemed only appropriate that this was his swan song.
BJ Penn on the other hand appeared to surprise Joe Rogan with the announcement of his retirement, stating that he didn't want to go home "looking like this" to his children. Penn was convincingly beaten by the rangier fighter Nick Diaz, yet even though looking gassed half way through the second still managed to come out in the 3rd and trade.
The world of mixed martial arts is greatful for the contributions of these two fighters. Cro Cop will surely go down with one of the best highlight reals of spectacular knockouts, and BJ penn with his freakish rubberguard and dynamic fighting style.
After Dan Henderson's (28-8) recent re-signing with the UFC he is set to face Shogun Hua on the UFC 139 card as San Hose California.
This is Henderson's 3rd separate encounter with the UFC, having originally fought in the organization in 1997 before heading to Japan for several years, and once again returning to the UFC in 2007.
Since the UFC's acquisition of StrikeForce, the 41 year old will vacate his title, with most recently a notable win over Fedor Emelianenko.
Shogun Rua (20-5) after losing his title to Jon Johns is coming off an impressive first round win over Forrest Griffin.
The card will also feature a fight between Vitor Belfort and Strikeforce's standout Cung Lee.
According to MMA Weekly renowned MMA and Kickboxing trainer Sean Tompkins died in his sleep over the weekend. An autopsy has revealed that Tompkins had an enlarged heart and blocked arteries which resulted in a heart attack.
At 37 years of age Tompkins was widely recognized in the MMA and Kickboxing industry, having trained in many well known gyms including Extreme Couture. Tompkins was known for taking younger fighters under his wing and training them to world class level, including fighter such as Sam Stout, Mark Hominick, and Chris Horodecki.