Fedor vs Fabricio Werdum Rescheduled to May

"An M-1 Selection press conference was held today.

Vadim Finkelstein announced that Fedor's Emelianenko's next bout was rescheduled from April to May. His opponent remains the same: Fabricio Werdum."

That is the news from bloodyelbow.com. This is interesting now because does this infact mean that we will see Dan Henderson and Jake Shields tangle on Showtime instead of CBS. I'll be following this and try to see what is going on.

Askren vs Thomas 1st announced Bellator Welterweight Tourney Fight

After rounding out the field yesterday Bellator Fighting Championships wasted no time in setting the first match for their Welterweight Tournament. It pits two former collegiate wrestlers against each other as former 2-time NCAA D-1Champion  Ben Askern (3-0) will take on UFC and Strikeforce veteran Ryan Thomas (10-3). The fight will take place as a part of the April 8 card which will air live on Fox Sports Net. Askren may be the fighter coming into Bellator with the most hype mainly because of his amazing wrestling credentials, but he also has the jiu-jitsu to stay up to par with some of the best as he is a purple belt that competed and won a match in last years Abu Dhabi Combat Club tournament. In this fight he will take on 2 fight UFC veteran Ryan Thomas, who in his two UFC fights came up short against Ben Saunders and Matt Brown. This is an interesting match-up which places Askren against the toughest competition he has faced yet in his young career. It will be interesting to see how Askren steps up to the plate.

KJ Noons to return to MMA at DREAM 13

KJ Noons (7-2) will make his long awaited return to the mixed martial arts world after beating Nick Diaz for the Elite XC Lightweight Title. Noons sat out all of last year from the mma game to try his hands in boxing. It was successful endeavor as he went 4-1 in his time.  The time now comes for Noons who was the last man to defeat Diaz to make a comeback to the world of 4 oz. gloves. His return though will not be an easy one as he meets Andre "Dida" Amado a Brazilian Mauy Thai specialist who was one time one of the best at the Chute Box academy. The fight will take place at DREAM 13 March 22 in Japan. The card is expected to be headlined by Joachim Hansen and Bibiano Fernandes going head to head for the DREAM Featherweight Championship.

NAAFS Returns to Southern Ohio with Pro-Am March 27

 

The premier fight organization in Ohio the NAAFS will return to southern Ohio with Caged Fury 10 on March 27. This is going to be a pro-am card with the main event taking place in the pro series lightweight division pitting 2008 National Amateur Lightweight Champion Josh "Buzzsaw" Johnson (9-0) out of USA Martial Arts taking on longtime NAAFS Vet and hometown boy John "Mongoose" Myers (10-7) out of Instigator Fight Team in a match that is sure to bring fireworks to Claymont High School. Also on the professional portion of the card 2009 National Amateur Featherweight Champion Doug Kulbis (0-0 pro 8-0 amateur) out of Evolve MMA will make his pro debut against Brandon "X-Man" Hance (0-1 pro 6-2 amateur). Also one of Northeast Ohio's most popular fighters Brian "The Predator" Rogers (6-3) out of Strong Style Fight Team will take on out of stater Tom "Vulgar" Jones (19-10) in what should be a great Middleweight clash. Here is the rest of the card

135 lbs – Brandon Inskeeps 1-1 (Dragons Den MMA) vs. Lee “The Kid” Kreisher 0-1 (Vander Fighting Systems)

National Amateur Series Bouts

265 lbs – Jason “Rampage” Rauch 9-1 (Main Street MMA) vs Nathan Bryant 6-1 (Ground Zero Fighting Systems)

185 lbs - Milan Wesley 4-2 (Strong Style Fight Team) vs Joe Tennant 2-1 (Ground Zero Fighting Systems)

170 lbs – Ray Halasz 3-0 (Strong Style Fight Team) vs Travis Soto 5-1 (Vander Fighting Systems)

155 lbs – Bill Elek 2-0 (Strong Style Fight Team) vs Wally MacDonald 4-0 (Empire Academy)

125 lbs – Deanna Beison 0-0 (Strong Style Fight Team) vs Katie Knight 1-0 (Dragons Den)

135 lbs – Shawn Goolsby 3-3 (Vander Fighting Systems) vs Mario Micale 3-3 (Evolve MMA)

170 lbs – Cory Ferris 0-0 (Fountain’s Kickboxing Academy/Vander) vs Mike Wolfath 0-0 (Main Street MMA)

145 lbs – Jason Schmucker 3-2 (Team Fight House) vs. Johnny Anderson 2-0 (Main Street MMA)

170 lbs – Adam Trisler 0-1 (Cambridge MMA) vs. AJ Materna 1-0 (Main Street MMA)

170 lbs – Manny Soto 2-0 (Vander) vs TBA

145 lbs – Josh Kissinger 2-1 (Team Instigator) vs TBA

135 lbs – Christopher Smith 0-0 (Vander Fighting Systems) vs TBA

Tickets can be purchased for this show by going to naafs.com

 

Bellator rounds out Season 2 Welterweight tournament

Bellator has closed out their lineup for their season 2 welterweight tournament with the additions of Brett Cooper (10-5) and former UFC veteran Ryan Thomas (10-3).  These two will join Jim Wallhead (18-5), Dan Hornbuckle (19-2), Jacob McClintock (6-0), Ben Askren (3-0) and Sean Pierson (9-4) in a star studded tournament. The winner of the tournament will receive $100,000 and a title shot against season 1 winner and Welterweight Champion Lyman Good (10-0). Stay tuned for match-ups as soon as they are released.

Stephan Bonnar to protest UFC 110 loss

After a loss to Krzysztof Soszynski at UFC 110 Stephan Bonnar will protest the outcome of the fight. After being hit with an accidental headbutt Bonnar was sliced open and bleed like a faucet causing the doctor at ringside to stop the fight. I agree with Bonnar on his decision to do this because it wasn't any damage that Soszynski did on purpose that caused the stoppage and in my book the fight should be changed to a no contest, and these men should rematch on a Spike TV or Versus card to cater to the fans that know these two from The Ultimate Fighter.

Dan Henderson vs Jake Shields Confirmed for Strikeforce in April on CBS

"Dan Henderson and Jake Shields have agreed to meet in Strikeforce with the middleweight title on the line in April. Shields confirmed the bout when speaking to MMAWeekly Radio on Tuesday night."

...

"Now, both Shields and Henderson have a deal in place to put the two middleweights in the cage together in April, although according to the current Strikeforce champion, while a date and venue have been given to the fighters, the actual broadcast has yet to be determined."

"I have a date (and) venue, but they told me to hold that back," said Shields. "Hopefully CBS. I think it's CBS. There's a slight possibility of Showtime because they're still (working it out). I don't know the rest of the card or any of that yet. But me and Dan's on, and I'm hoping it's on CBS."

That's the word from MMA Weekly, and this is one of the worst kept secrets in MMA, but the thing is this could be the headliner on Strikeforce's second show on CBS. This is bringing back memories of a Robbie Lawler vs Scott Smith on Elite XC's second CBS show matching a UFC vet vs a tough challenger although Henderson coming off a KO of the year could bring in more press, but can he bring in the press that Strikeforce needs? Sound off here.

Was Frank Mir out of line?

"I like to think that just for the reason that I’m pretty candid when I speak about things. A lot of individuals are so worried about being politically correct and you know a lot of fighters you know we’re all together I hear them, "Oh, don’t say that because you know the fans won’t like you!" I’m like you know what dude, I’ve realized a long time ago you’re going to have fans who love you and fans that hate you and I’d rather go ahead and say what’s on my mind than to sit there and come up with some PC you know "Oh you know the guy’s a great fighter and I have a lot of respect of him!" And if I don’t mean it, then why is it even coming out of my mouth because whose interested in hearing that?

You see the same cookie cutter responses. "Oh, who do you want to fight next? Well, whoever the UFC deems me, I just want to fight anybody!" I’m like man, I’ve heard that a thousand times! I want to fight Lesnar. I hate who he is as a person, I want to break his neck in the ring, I want him to be the first person that dies due to Octagon-related injuries. That’s what’s going through my mind."

That my friends is what former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir had to say in a radio interview Friday. Looking at this in context this is a pretty terrible thing to say and since Friday Dana White has made Mir apologize, but looking at this from another perspective is what Mir said really all that much different than what one BJ Penn said last year when he told fans he would fight Georges St. Pierre "To the Death." What do you fans think sound off here.

Bellator announces Featherweight Tournament matchups for Season 2

Today Bellator announced their first match-ups on their second season. The match-ups are a part of the featherweight tournament and will be fought on back to back Fridays April 8 and April 15. The match-ups are as follows on April 8 Joe Warren (2-1) vs. Eric Marriott (17-2) and Georgi Karakhanyan (12-1-1) vs. Bao Quach (17-9-1). These fights are both very interesting with us getting our first chance to see super stud wrestler Joe Warren back in action taking on a much more seasoned Eric Marriott who might have the one thing that Warren is weak at which is submissions. We will see how this match-up plays out. The second fight on April 8 will bring together former Elite XC veteran Bao Quach who has won 11 of his past 12 fights with the lone loss to WEC fighter LC Davis. He will take on Georgi Karakhanyan who is a former pro soccer player and dangerous fighter. The next set of fights will take place on April 15 between Wilson Reis (9-1) vs. Shad Lierley (5-2) and Patricio "Pitbull" Freire (12-0) vs. William Romero (5-0). Reis and Lierley easily has the biggest upside as a match-up that pits a former NCAA Champion wrestler in Lierley and a very well rounded fighter in Reis whose only loss is to Bellator season 1 champion Joe Soto, and in the Romero and Freire fight someone will have to leave with a loss. The match-up will pit the Brazilian Jiu-jitsu black belt in Freire and Canadian sensation Romero in what will be a great fight. These fights will air live on Fox Sports Net affiliates and the winner of the tournament will get an eventual title shot against current Featherweight Champion Joe Soto and $200,000. This will be an interesting tournament that most true MMA fans will keep an eye on.

WEC's First Pay-Per-View Turning Out to be Stellar

It seems that World Extreme Cagefighting is going all out in it's very first $44.95 pay-per-view event. As many fans have said that it will take an amazing card to pay the hefty price tag it seems that the WEC is committed to doing that for the fans. As we already have seen two title fights added to the card in Urijah Faber vs Jose Aldo for the Featherweight title and in a rematch of one of the best fights from 2009 Donald Cerrone will face Ben Henderson for the Lightweight title. When these fights were announced it was also announced that former WEC Featherweight Champion Mike Brown would be taking on former Ultimate Fighter runner up Manny Gamburyan in a featherweight tilt that may determine the next challenger for the title. Though in the past two days it seems that the WEC has gone all out by adding two great lightweight fights to the card. The first one being former champion Jamie Varner taking on former Olympic wrestler Kamal Shalorus in a match-up that could mean a title shot for Shalorus. The other match-up pits former Oklahoma St. All American wrestler Shane Roller up against mauy thai sensation Anthony Njokuani in another match-up that could see the winner dreaming of gold in the near future. Add those with a bantamweight showdown between Demacio Page and Antonio Banuelos and the WEC has put together one hell of a main card, but is it worthy of the hefty price tag?