FiveOncesofPain couldn’t be any more excited to send two friends of the 5 Oz. family our sincere well wishes and congratulations and news upon hearing the news of their marriage.

Xtreme Couture Jiu-Jitsu instructor Neil Melanson and Strikeforce female title threat Erin Toughill have recently joined hands in wedlock during a private ceremony to cement their long term relationship in holy matrimony. The couple recently revealed the news of their marriage to FiveOuncesofPain.com.

Wedding bells couldn’t be playing for a more deserving couple as both Neil and Erin have endured a number of trials and tribulations that ultimately put both on the path to the state of happiness the couple currently reside in.

An elite level grappler that spent a great deal of time under the wing of submission master Gokor Chivichyan in Los Angeles, Melanson spent a small portion of his life blinded from Behcet’s disease (an immune disease that attacks and breaks down tissue and blood vessels on the body) before recently having the vision restored thanks to modern science and a handful of pain medicines.

After overcoming a dark period in his life that left Neil questioning whether he could live another day due to the prospect of living the rest of his years in a world without sight, Neil recently spoke with 5 Oz. about the 180 degree turn his life has recently taken, and the pivotal role Erin has played in his happiness.

“I’m doing what I love doing. I have books coming out, I’m working for the best gym in the country, and I have a great relationship with Erin Toughill,” explained Melanson. “I finally feel like I have a great partner in my life, so I feel very lucky. If anyone out there is sick, or is just going through a hard time, the only thing I would tell them is to just be patient, because time heals everything. Just hang in there, because it’s crazy how things can be so terrible one day, and just a short time later it can be so great. I try to always remember that.”

With a little known story of perseverance and adversity to shadow her husband Neil’s, Toughill grew up as a self described “lost kid”, as she would explain to 5 Oz. during an April 2009 conversation, ““I think like a lot of kids, I grew up in two different households because my parents divorced at an early age,” revealed Toughill. “I had a lot of anger from things I could not control with that separation.”

“I was what they called a “bad kid”. I went to five different high schools in three years before I graduated early. But through all that, I was an avid reader, and although school wasn’t for me, I still read books and learned a lot on my own.”

“I have lived on my own since I was seventeen, and prior to that, lived where I could at times. I was always, always getting into trouble and fighting. I was just a lost kid, you know?”

Unfortunately for Erin her troubled times were far from behind her upon graduation from her adolescent years. Five years ago her sister passed away in a car accident, and her father followed suit shortly after due to what could be considered a broken heart.

Which is why today is such a glorious day for both Neil and Erin; Two wandering souls that should finally be able to find peace, happiness and strength beyond their wildest imagination through one another.

Melanson is currently authoring a highly anticipated technique book entitled “Triangles From The Guard” which will be published through Victory Belt Publishing and coming to a bookstore near you in the very near future.

The latest edition of the Strikeforce Challengers series is taking place this evening from the Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas.

The main portion nof the card is set to air live on Showtime beginning at 11 pm ET.

The main event pits Tyron Woodley up against Rudy Bears, with other intriguing match-ups of Kerry Vera vs. Kim Couture, Erik Apple vs. Bobby Voelker, Aaron Rosa vs. Rafael “Feijao, and more.

Below is a full list of the weigh-in results for the card:

170 lbs.: Tyron Woodley (171) vs. Rudy Bears (170)

135 lbs.: Kerry Vera (135) vs. Kim “Sugar Free” Couture (136)

170 lbs.: Erik Apple (170.5) vs. Bobby Voelker (170)

205 lbs.: Aaron Rosa (206) vs. Rafael “Feijao” (205)

185 lbs.: Kevin Casey (185) vs. Chad Vance (185)

155 lbs.: Lee Gibson (155) vs. Joe Wilk (155.5)

145 lbs.: Brian Davidson (147) vs. Russel Patrick (144)

170 lbs.: Andrew Waters (171) vs. Nick Nolte (171)

185 lbs.: Darryl Cobb (184) vs. Gary Tapasua (185)

167 lbs.: Mike Chandler (166) vs. Rich Bouphanouvong (164)

190 lbs.: Dominic Brown (190) vs. Lucas Lopes (191.4)

FiveOuncesofPain.com had the opportunity to speak with Neil Melanson, a longtime friend and training partner to Karo “The Heat” Parisyan along with being the head Jiu-Jitsu instructor at Xtreme Couture, on the heels of Dana White’s recent announcement that the welterweight crowd pleaser would never fight for the UFC.

This afternoon Dana relayed via his Twitter account that this Saturday evening’s anticipated UFC 106 showdown between Karo and fellow submission specialist Dustin Hazelett had been cancelled, stating, “Pulled out of the fight the day before weigh ins again with a laundry list of excuses!!! Let the press ask karo why! Let him explain”.

When contacted in pursuit of the real story behind the recent situation concerning his close friend, Melanson first spoke with Karo in order to get his blessing for the true facts to come out. As the age old saying goes, “the truth shall set you free”.

“Karo’s had some problems with an addiction to pain medicine due to an injury he sustained a few years ago,” began Melanson, who essentially began training under Karo Parisyan years ago while under the guidance of grappling legend Gokor Chivichyan in L.A., only to evolve to a point with his own grappling where he eventually became the teacher. “Then when he started having these anxiety problems, it didn’t seem like the anxiety pills were helping him. The only thing that was helping him was the pain medication that he had been taking for his injuries. That’s when he just started down that slope.

“It’s just one of those situations where you have two guys that sit down to have a drink, and you have one guy that can go home and he’s fine, and the other guy has to go out and get wasted every single time because he’s an alcoholic. I think that maybe with the pills, that Karo is the second guy. Maybe he’s the guy that can’t take them here and there, or can’t use them effectively. It’s really hard on him.”

According to Neil, Karo had a plan to do things the right way this time around. A plan that, for so many reasons that could be extremely difficult for a person that hasn’t suffered from one form of addiction or another to understand, just didn’t seem to work out the way he had thought it would. That huge invisible monster that is chemical dependency had a plan of it’s own for the tormented Judo specialist that never seemed to take a backwards step during his years spent inside of the UFC’s Octagon fencing.

“He came out and saw me recently for a couple of days, and I still thought he had a little ways to go, but he looked, probably the best I’ve seen him in a year,” explained Melanson. “I was really optimistic about this fight. I was like, ‘This guy is back with it. He seems like he has a really good chance here’. Then I got caught up training Randy [Couture] during that time and he couldn’t make it out. He didn’t make it out to Greg Jackson’s either. I talked to his camp and they said that he was kind of hit or miss. If he showed up he looked pretty good, but for the most part he wouldn’t show up. So he’s had some problems.

“He told me that he was on pain medicine, but he wanted to get off. He had a plan and he was working his way to get off of it. About a month ago he was taking about half the amount that he usually does and he was pretty optimistic. He was really trying to push it. He was going through some withdrawals and he would try to push it as hard as he could to get off the stuff. He really had a plan to be off three weeks prior to the fight and he really wanted to clean up. He really wanted to do this right. It was really important to him and his family. I hadn’t spoken to him for just a little bit, and I guess he tried, but he couldn’t.

“He contacted me and told me about the situation, and I said, ‘Look, just sleep on it and we’ll talk about it tomorrow’. I met with Greg Jackson and we had a little conversation about everything. From there I called Karo and I just told him, ‘Well you’re better off being honest now than piss testing and getting in trouble with the commission’. He did the right thing there and told them. He messed up, but people shouldn’t hate him for it. The guy has a legit problem right now. He did the right thing; he didn’t cheat, he didn’t lie, he didn’t do anything wrong. He just had a problem that he tried to overcome and he couldn’t do it. I think that everybody can sympathize with that. Karo has put on great shows in the past, and I think that he felt a lot of pressure to do that again.”

While it can often be so easy to point the finger at what can be perceived to be the bad guy, often times the “bad guy” is nothing more than a man being tormented by demons and forces seemingly beyond his personal control.

“My heart goes out to him,” said Melanson. “I know he’s suffering right now. With the UFC dropping him, he’s a mess. He’s a complete mess. Just imagine what it’s like to have an addiction problem, and to lose everything like this all in one day. But at the end of the day he still did the right thing by coming clean and not trying to test, or fight, or lie, or anything like that. So before people start hating on him I hope they realize that when push came to shove, he did the right thing.

“He could have disrespected the sport by going out there and fighting. A lot of people try to beat the test somehow. He could have done a lot of things to make the sport look bad. He could have done that because he was greedy, or because he needed money, or whatever it was, but instead he did the right thing and he didn’t make the UFC look like jerks by testing dirty. I know Dana is saying some things right now because he’s really upset about it, but Dana cares about him. Dana has always been really good to him. I know he’s probably pretty upset, and I would be too. He’s pulled out of a couple of fights before, and if you’re a promoter that would piss you off pretty bad.

“Once he gets cleaned up and back on his feet, he’ll probably go out there and compete. If it’s not with the UFC it will be somewhere else. If Karo got clean and worked hard he’d be back in the top five again. He was ranked in the top five for his weight class for over three years. You don’t do that by being a slouch.”

While Karo never needed anyone to help him out inside of the cage during countless wars staged with the likes of Georges St. Pierre, Nick Diaz, Diego Sanchez or Matt Serra, God knows the 27 year old Armenian born mixed martial arts phenom needs help from elsewhere during his current, and most important fight.

Hopefully close friends like Neil Melanson and a tight nit family can give Karo the positive reinforcement and energy it’s going to take for the naturally gifted fighter to return to his old form of one of the most feared 170 pound fighters in the business; and if not that, at least to a place where he can rid himself of the shackles of chemical dependency and allow him to truly live once again.

Dana White dropped the bombshell earlier this afternoon via his Twitter account, twelve-time Octagon veteran Karo Parisyan has been cut from the UFC due to his having pulled out of his anticipated UFC 106 welterweight clash with Dustin Hazelett.

According to White, “Pulled out of the fight the day before weigh ins again with a laundry list of excuses!!! Let the press ask karo why! Let him explain.”

Well FiveOuncesofPain.com has had the opportunity to ask why.

Longtime friend and training partner to Karo, along with being the head Jiu-Jitsu instructor down at Xtreme Couture, Neil Melanson recently received Parisyan’s blessing to clear the air regarding the circumstances surrounding his recent withdraw from Saturday evening’s card.

Karo Parisyan has suffered from a brutal battle with an addiction to pain-killers for some time now. The Armenian born Judo specialist was first introduced to the widely addictive drugs following a severe hamstring injury sustained training for a scheduled welterweight title clash with Matt Hughes that never came to fruition. A long series of injuries following the injury that prevented what would have been the biggest fight of his career has created the monster that currently haunts Karo today.

Check back with FiveOuncesofPain.com shortly as we will have a much more expansive explanation of the details surrounding Karo’s removal from UFC 106 as explained through close friend Neil Melanson in the coming hours.

The way UFC President Dana White sees it, it’s not Dustin Hazelett’s fault that Karo Parisyan pulled out of the pair’s anticipated UFC 106 showdown with a “laundry list of excuses”, and accordingly the limb twisting submission wizard will not be punished financially.

White recently made the announcement that Hazelett will receive all of his show and win money regardless of Parisyan’s inability to fight as previously expected via his Twitter account, stating:

Dustin will be paid his full purse to show and win. Its not his fault.

Hopefully the UFC will manage to secure another fight for Hazelett at a UFC in the near future. As it currently stands, it has been four days past the one year anniversary of Dustin’s last trip to the Octagon, where he tapped out Tamdan McCrory with a nasty inverted armbar at their UFC 91 meeting.

Karo Parisyan has pulled out of his scheduled UFC 106 bout with Dustin Hazelett due to what UFC President Dana White has described as a “laundry list of excuses”.

White posted the news on his Twitter account about thirty minutes ago, stating:

Karo Parisyan has fucked over the UFC, the fans and his opponent again!!! He will not be fighting saturday or ever again in the UFC!!

Fans may recall a similar situation at UFC 88 when “The Heat” stepped down just prior to the weigh-ins when scheduled to take on Yoshiyuki Yoshida. And, though he was initially victorious against Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 94 in his next fight, the Nevada State Athletic Commission changed the result to a “no contest” a few months later when it had been determined Parisyan tested positive for a number of banned painkillers.

Apparently Parisyan removed himself from UFC 106 at some point today. The exact reasoning behind Karo’s withdraw from the card will likely be surfacing shortly. According to Dana:

Pulled out of the fight the day before weigh ins again with a laundry list of excuses!!! Let the press ask karo why! Let him explain.

Stay tuned to 5 Oz. for updates on this still developing situation

What was originally believed to be a simple case of mono has since been tracked back to a much more serious problem for current UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, but fortunately it’s not a problem that can’t be solved.

“He had a hole in his intestine,” said UFC President Dana White in a recent conversation with Dan Wetzel from Yahoo! Sports. “The (stuff) was leaking into his stomach. That’s what was causing him so much pain. That and he had abscesses.

“The doctor told him he hasn’t been right for a year. His immune system has been trying to fight this thing and that’s why he was susceptible to getting sick.”

While Lesnar’s situation has definitely improved due to his condition being diagnosed and finally having the opportunity to be treated properly, there just aren’t enough answers available right now to paint a clear picture of the champion’s current condition.

“We’ll find out more next week,” explained Dana. “We’re going to send him to the Mayo Clinic for a couple of days. I don’t know what to say. It’s looking better now than last week, but what that means, I don’t know.”

As far as Brock’s career inside of the Octagon is concerned, there are no guarantees at this point.

“We don’t know if he’ll ever fight again,” stated White.

Whether Brock fights again or not is definitely a question on the minds of MMA fans across the globe, but first and foremost the fighting community has come together in wanting Brock to live a healthy rest of his life; Something Dana feels confident he will be able to be.

At just twenty three years of age, Jose Aldo currently resides at the peak of mixed martial arts’ 145 pound division as the as the constantly developing phenom made picking apart one of the most respected fighters in the sport look easy as he TKO’d Mike Brown for the WEC featherweight title in the second round of this evening’s WEC 44 showdown between the two.

After a closely contested first round with both fighters feeling the other out, Aldo quickly established his dominance standing in the second round before Brown wound up on his back with Aldo raining down punishment that had the champion trapped, and inevitably forced the referee to call a halt to the contest.

Manny Gamburyan did what he had to in taking Leonard Garcia to the canvas repeatedly and avoiding any serious damage on the feet en route to a unanimous decision victory.

In what came as a minor surprise to many, Karen Darebdyan edged out Rob McCullough via split decision in a hard fought lightweight clash, Shane Roller dug down deep to catch Danny Castillo in a fight ending rear-naked choke in the third, and Kamal Shalorus turned Will Kerr into a highlight reel via TKO in the first.

A Full list of the results from WEC 44 listed below:

Jose Aldo def. Mike Brown via TKO – Round 2
Manny Gamburyan def. Leonard Garcia by unanimous decision
Karen Darabedyan def. Rob McCullough via split decision
Shane Roller def. Danny Castillo via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3
Kamal Shalorus def. Will Kerr via TKO – Round 1
L.C. Davis def. Diego Nunes via unanimous decision
Cub Swanson def. John Franchi via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 3
Antonio Banuelos def. Kenji Osawa via unanimous decision
Ricardo Lamas def. James Krause via unanimous decision
Frank Gomez def. Seth Dikun via unanimous decision

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will be getting his rematch with Lyoto Machida for the UFC light heavyweight championship, but it looks like he’s going to have until the middle of 2010 to get it.

UFC President Dana White has recently confirmed May 1 as the likely date for the anticipated showdown according to a recent report from Dave Metzel over at Yahoo Sports.

Apparently the two will face off in Montreal, Canada at an event yet to be announced.

The fellow Brazilian’s had been expected to rematch on January 2 during UFC 108 but a hand injury suffered in that bout by Machida forced the champion from the card.

There were many in attendance and watching at home that disagreed with the judges decision to award Machida with the victory in the pair’s first meeting during UFC 104 in October based on Shogun’s aggression combined with the fact that he landed more strikes during the bout, but the May date will hopefully give both men an opportunity to erase any doubt in what went down as one of the most controversial UFC title bouts in recent memory.

FiveOuncesofPain.com is here to bring you all of the latest breaking live results from WEC 44 as they take place.

WEC 44 is taking place from The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada, with the main card airing live on the Versus network.

Headlining the card will be a featherweight title clash between Mike Brown and Jose Aldo, along with appearances from fighters such as Leonard Garcia, Manny Gamburyan, Rob McCullough and more.

Below is a full list of the results from WEC 44:

Frank Gomez defeats Seth Dikun via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

Ricardo Lamas defeats James Krause via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Antonio Banuelos defeats Kenji Osawa via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Cub Swanson defeats John Franchi via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 3

L.C. Davis defeats Diego Nunes via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)

Kamal Shalorus defeats Will Kerr via TKO – Round 1

Shane Roller defeats Danny Castillo via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3

Karen Darabedyan defeats Rob McCullough via split decision (30-27, 27-30, 29-28)

Manny Gamburyan defeats Leonard Garcia via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28,29-28)

Jose Aldo defeats Mike Brown via TKO – Round 2

 

As 135 pound fighters such as Brian Bowles and Miguel Torres continue to demand an increasing amount of attention in the world of mixed martial arts due to their electrifying fighting styles, smaller men such as Patrick Runez are quickly being propelled into the limelight. At 7-0, 125 pound bluechip prospect Runez has established a reputation for himself as one of the flyweight division’s most promising talents.

A lifelong wrestler, Runez wound up a three-time NAIA All-American wrestler at the University of Mary in North Dakota before his collegiate career was all said and done. Upon graduation, the transition to competetive Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu seemed a natural one for Runez. He made a name for himself after moving to Arizona and hooking up with Arizona Combat Sports, who he would represent with great succes during submission tournaments across the nation. It wasn’t long before Patrick began mixing Trevor Lally coached kickboxing in with his impressive grappling skills, which made a transition to mixed martial arts a logical one for talented up and comer.

Throwing himself headfirst into the amateur flyweight division, it wasn’t until the weight class recently started to really blossom that Runez decided to make a stake as a professional. The results have been nothing short of impressive as training alongside respected fighters such as Ryan Bader, CB Dollaway and Jamie Varner have helped to form Patrick into the undefeated wrecking machine he is today.

Already one of the most respected flyweight champions in the sport, currently holding the UWC championship, a move to the WEC could be on the immediate horizon for Runez should the organization decide to expand their talent pool to include the dazzling 125 pounders.

FiveOuncesofPain: Tell me about your UWC title fight with John Dodson, did he end up being a bit tougher than you may have anticipated?

Pat Runez: To be honest with you, I thought the fight was going to go to the ground more. Also, believe it or not that was my first fight with five minute rounds, and it just had to be a five rounder. The difference between going three minutes to five minutes means the world out there as far as being in shape.

FiveOuncesofPain: Well yeah, obviously you can train for five minute rounds, but actually fighting for five, five minute rounds is an entirely different animal.

Pat Runez: Yeah, fighting it is a different thing. So that was a first for me and I really expected for myself to gas out more than I did. When I finished that fight my cardio felt just fine. I could have gone another couple of rounds, no problem.

FiveOuncesofPain: So was it a thing where you were having to pace yourself during the fight because you just didn’t know where you were at?

Pat Runez: Yeah, it was definitely a slower pace than I’m used to, and it was more cardiovascular.There was a lot of boxing involved in that fight, so for me it was pretty much just boxing, takedown defense and knees in the clinch. I think that had a lot to do with me not getting tired as much and still feeling fresh after five rounds.

FiveOuncesofPain: Right, but I’m sure that the fact that you were able to go all five rounds and not feel gassed should let you know that you don’t have to worry about pacing yourself as much in the future.

Pat Runez: Yeah definitely. Especially in the first round, maybe go all out a little bit more. I can’t pace myself, you know. If I don’t shoot or I don’t go to the ground and don’t grapple; I know if I can keep it up standing that I can pace that battle out a little bit better, and it will allow me to go a little bit harder.

FiveOuncesofPain: Do you feel like that fight will go a long way in helping you progress as a fighter?

Pat Runez: Yeah, definitely. I learn something from every fight and that one was no different. The first time I watched the fight, I just watched it to enjoy it, but the second time I watched it I’m already picking things apart and I’ve already seen at least ten things in that one that I know I can improve or do better on.

FiveOuncesofPain: Being a flyweight in a gym filled with big guys like Ryan Bader, Aaron Simpson and C.B. Dollaway? Who do you find yourself training with the majority of the time at Arizona Combat Sports? Do you spend a lot of time with Jamie Varner?

Pat Runez: We all work out together. We have a professional class that goes on, so we’re doing all of the same drills together, but when it comes down to sparring I try to go with guys that are under 150 pounds.

FiveOuncesofPain: Just with the timing aspect of it. The guys you’re going to be fighting are going to be so much quicker that you really need to get used to that rhythm.

Pat Runez: Exactly, you really need to have guys your size pushing the pace so you know exactly how it’s going to feel. You just have to with guys that are near your size. We’ve gt plenty of guys down at Arizona Combat Sports. My main training partner is John Veraga. He wrestled at Arizona State University and he’s going to be going pro this year in MMA. He’s thinking about going at either flyweight or bantamweight, and he’s going to be an animal once he breaks into the scene.

FiveOuncesofPain: Another addition of the ASU wrestling talent coming out of ACS huh?

Pat Runez: Yeah, exactly. People are going to have no clue. I feel sorry for his competition because he’s had one amateur fight and there’s just nothing on him right now. The first guy he fights isn’t going to be able to study up on him very much so I feel sorry for that guy. I also train with Jesse Moreng, who’s a WEC veteran; Ryan Diaz, who is just a phenomenal kickboxer and a King of the Cage champion that’s dropping down to 135 pounds. Actually one of my main training partners is a girl believe it or not. Her name is Elena “Baby Doll” Reid.

FiveOuncesofPain: Oh yeah, I know Elena. I actually went to her last fight up there at the Apache Junction when she TKO’d Michelle “The Karate Hottie” Waterson.

Pat Runez: Yeah, I was cornering her for that fight. She’s preparing for a fight right now as well.

FiveOuncesofPain: Wasn’t it Jamie Varner that actually cornered you in your last fight?

Pat Runez: Yeah, he’s been at every one of my fights except for one because he was fighting Donald Cerrone. Jamie teaches a class at ACS and I always warm up in that class. His boxing skills are just unreal, so that’s what I’m working on the most with him. But he just knows my game. He knows my wrestling game and he knows my jiu-jitsu game, and that’s why I like him in my corner.

FiveOuncesofPain: Now I’ve got to ask you because the last time I was down there at the gym I talked to Jamie a little bit about this match-up before Benson Henderson recently defeated Donald Cerrone; What are your thoughts on Varner vs. Henderson?

Pat Runez: I think Varner’s going to KO him. I think Varner’s going to handle him honestly, in my personal opinion. I think it’s going to be a good fight. I think Henderson is going to try to push his wrestling and grappling a lot, but I just don’t see him being able to stand up with Jamie. Also Jamie’s grappliing background is pretty extensive, so Ben’s not going to be able to just take him down like he did with Cerrone, and if he tries he’s going to gas himself trying.

FiveOuncesofPain: Tell the people that aren’t that familiar with the flyweights why they want to watch them.

Pat Runez: Well flyweight fights are going to be action packed from beginning to end, and most of the flyweights are really well rounded fighters. The pace of our fights are really unparalleled. With the smaller guys, a lot of times it’s harder to get that knockout, so that forces some really action packed wars.

FiveOuncesofPain: It seems like it’s always the lighter weight fights that end up resembling Rocky movies, because like you said, it’s just harder to get that knockout. So what ends up happening is you have to very skilled fighters just trying to kill each other the whole time. You see the growing interest in the 145 and 135 pound divisions because of fighters like Mike Brown, Urijah Faber, Jose Aldo, Brian Bowles and Miguel Torres, and it just seems that all of the reasons people like watching those fights, they’re going to like even more when watching the 125 pounders.

Pat Runez: Yeah definitely. When you’re watching it on TFV, if someone’s 145 or 125, you can’t tell the difference in size.

FiveOuncesofPain: Talk to me about the current state of the 125 pound division in the United States; Do you feel like you’re the best flyweight on American soil right now?

Pat Runez: I think there are some really tough guys out there, but right now there are really only two big regional promotions putting on quality flyweight fights, so outside of that, it can be hard to find a flyweight fight. Fortunately I was able to fight for one of the major titles recently when I won the UWC championship. I definitely think I’m one of the top flyweights in America. There are a lot of tough guys out there at 125 pounds but we’ll never know until we can get some of these Japanese guys over here to test them.

FiveOuncesofPain: What do you know, and what do you think of Jussier da Silva?

Pat Runez: I watched that fight where he beat Shinichi Kojima; he looks tough and he looks like he has a solid game, but I’d definitely like to get in there with someone like him and get after it. I think we’re all pretty even but you’re never going to know until you get to face one of them. I almost had a chance to face Rambaa Somdet, who is ranked in the top five at a lot of places, and that fell through because he got injured. That’s one of my major goals, to get one of these guys and to just get in there so we can know where we all stand. We’re never going to get to the top until we do that. But all of the American fighters, the top guys have really strong grappling backgrounds, and we’re all athletes, so there’s no reason we can’t compete with these guys.

FiveOuncesofPain: It’s almost like the current state of a lot of the lightweight rankings where you have these guys like Shinya Aoki, Joachim Hansen and Eddie Alvarez fighting each other and they’re all ranked in the top ten anywhere you look; and to me it’s just maddening because you have guys like Frankie Edgar, Gray Maynard and Tyson Griffin that can’t even break into the top ten at a lot of places. But until you have someone go over there and test them you just never know. I’d love to see how Shinya Aoki would be able to handle himself against a guy like Clay Guida.

Pat Runez: Yeah absolutely. There just needs to be more cross-promotion. Usually the guys you’re going to see ranked really high are fighting over in Shooto. Hopefully with the UWC now promoting the best flyweights stateside we can see some of the top competition competing against each other.

With the current landscape of the UFC’s heavyweight division seemingly in complete disarray with the recent news of it’s current champion, Brock Lesnar, being sidelined for an indefinite amount of time due to a nasty intestinal infection, it now seems as if a certain “Pitbull” out of Belarus could have a more profound impact on the promotion he sides with, now, more than ever before.

An unlikely candidate to be the most sought after free agent in the business having been knocked completely unconscious in his two previous outings in the cage, Andrei Arlovski has the type of star power and mass appeal that could serve to give either the UFC or Strikeforce a significant advantage in the ongoing, and ever crucial heavyweight war.

One could look to boxing as a prime example of the impact the biggest, most dangerous fighters have on combat sports. When there was a marketable, dominant champion such as Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali, or even an Evander Holyfield at the top of the heavyweight mountain, boxing flourished. On the other side of that coin, the title reigns of fighters such as Wladimir Klitschko or Larry Holmes can be viewed as dismal times for boxing, when the sport took a significant hit in it’s mainstream fan base.

The main point being, the heavyweights are as vital to mixed martial arts as they are in any of the other form of fighting sports. The general public grasps the concept that the reality of the matter is that big man generally beats little man, especially when we’re talking about the top athletes of the sport. Everyone wants to know who the absolute baddest man on the planet is. It’s been that was since the day’s of the Ancient Romans.

When you look at the talent pool of the heavyweight rosters over at the UFC and Strikeforce, without Brock it doesn’t appear that either side holds a considerable advantage. I’ll list the top guys in both organizations and you can be the judge.

UFC

• Shane Carwin

• Cain Velasquez

• Junior dos Santos

• Cheick Kongo

• Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

• Frank Mir

• Gabriel Gonzaga

• Todd Duffee

• Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic

Strikeforce

• Fedor Emelianenko

• Alistair Overeem

• Brett Rogers

• Fabricio Werdum

• Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva

• Shane Del Rosario

• Roger Gracie

• Lavar Johnson

Now granted, the current UFC heavyweight roster looks a little bit thicker than that of the competition, but throw Andrei Arlovski on the end of that Strikeforce list and things aren’t looking nearly as lopsided as before.

Andrei has a long history of getting paid well for his involvement in a televised scrap, and I’d imagine that the bidding war that ensues to pin down Arlovski will leave him as one of the highest paid athletes in the sport.

Can you think of a single fighter on either promotion’s list of heavyweights that you wouldn’t want to see Arlovski throw down with right now?

Arlovski vs. Velasquez; I’ll take it. Arlovski vs. Mir; That one’s been a long time coming. Arlovski vs. Overeem; You see where I’m going with this.

As soon as Andrei is secured to either promotion, any doubts as to the depth or the validity of the respective division would be almost instantly erased.

So let the games begin, and let the best heavyweight division of mixed martial arts emerge the victor.

While the verdict is still out the specifics of the severity of UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar’s current ailment that has forced him from his anticipated clash with Shane Carwin, UFC President Dana White has recently shed some light on the cloudy situation to the Associated Press.

“He’s in stable condition and should be released soon,” stated White.

It now looks as if the the mystery illness that was previously reported to be mono, is in fact a bacterial infection in his intestinal tract.

White further went on to state that Brock was not expected to make a return in the near future and that the UFC is currently considering an interim title while Lesnar is out.

Stay tuned to 5 Oz. as we continue to keep you up to date on the condition of the UFC heavyweight champion.

As the world turns, the news surrounding UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar’s current state of health continues to look more and more bleak.

News that something was up with Lesnar first broke when the larger than life champion was forced to withdraw from his anticipated clash with Shane Carwin due to what was believed to be a severe case of mono (mononucleosis). However, a recent report over at TMZ.com has quoted UFC President Dana White as stating that Lesnar’s current ailment is not mono as previously suspected, but something more severe.

White went on to state that Brock was currently suffering from an intestinal disorder that will require “major surgery”.

The UFC President is currently trying to have Brock transferred from the hospital he is currently staying at, to the globally renowned and respected Mayo Clinic.

As far as Lesnar’s career in the Octagon is concerned; it has become quite apparent that the only fight Brock should be focusing on right now is the one taking place within his body.

“There’s a possibility Lesnar will never fight again,” stated Dana.

5 Oz.’ thoughts and prayers go out to Brock and his family for a full and speedy recovery.

Stay tuned to 5 Oz. as we continue to keep you up to date on Lesnar’s status.

Face the pain, it’s time for a change. The saying goes that all good things must come to an end, and never has there been a finer example of this than the exhausted gladiator intro to the UFC brodcasts, complete with Stemm’s “Face The Pain”. This entrance has been around since what seems like the dawn of time. I’d be willing to bet that (counting Fight Nights and TUF Finales) the same introduction has been aired over eighty times at this point. I’ve been a UFC fan since Gerard Gordeau kicked Teila Tuli’s chompers out of his face, and maybe it’s because of this that the overplayed intro has the same effect on me as nails scratching across a chalkboard. I’m not going to lie, I used to get pumped every single time the gladiator dude would begin to don his armor…….. up to like 50 events ago. There may well be “no escape when I step to this” but quite frankly the opening montage is “ripping me into pieces”.

Ross Pearson just put himself on the UFC lightweight map in a big way. I was never blown away by Ross during his stint on The Ultimate Fighter. He looked to be a solid, well rounded fighter, but nothing really separated him from the rest of the UFC up and comers in my mind. All of that changed on Saturday evening as the Sunderland, England resident absolutely picked apart a six time UFC veteran with forty professional fights to his record like it was second nature. Aaron Riley is no joke, and he had Greg Jackson in his corner for the bout with Pearson, yet Pearson allowed him to have zero moments during the two rounds the one sided beating lasted. Pearson really impressed me with his vice-like clinch game, use of knees and elbows, technical boxing, takedown defense and overall strategy and composure in his first fight out of The Ultimate Fighter.

Enough with punching the unconscious guy already; I’m looking at you Andre Winner. By the way, impressive performance man. I was starting to become a fan, until you blasted Roli in the face twice as hard as you could when it was clear that he was unconscious. Is anyone else fed up with this nonsense? Delgado went down like a sack of bricks; it was clear he was out. To make matters worse, the way he slumped to the canvas, he was facing Winner, making it quite apparent to everyone in attendance that he was sleeping. Hellen Keller could have seen that. So what better time to tee off on a guy with two indefensible punches right? Wrong. That’s how people get seriously hurt in this business. One thing I’ve been able to observe in this sport is that fighters take note of that type of thing, and karma can most definitely be a b****. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before Winner himself takes a canvas nap, and he’s going to hope that his assailant uses more civil discretion than he did at UFC 105. Joe Rogan made note of the late shots a couple time following the knockout, but I would find it refreshing if Rogan would call the fighters out on their late hits during post-fight interviews in the future. Something like, “Is there something wrong with you? Could you not see that he was unconscious?” would suffice. Maybe it’s time to start fining fighters when this happens.

Getting clocked early in the first round was the best thing that could have happened to Michael Bisping. You just never know how someone is going to come back from a devastating knockout like the one Bisping received from Dan Henderson in his last bout. I was pleasantly surprised to see “The Count” come out looking much less tentative than he did in his bout with Henderson. Sure, Hendo is a harder puncher than Kang, but Denis is no pushover standing and Bisping looked like he hadn’t missed a step. Taking that right hand and coming back was huge for Bisping. He needed to get hit in this fight so he could gauge his chin and senses in general. Obviously he passed the chin check with flying colors; neutralizing Kang for the duration of the first round from his back, escaping the mount like it was second nature, and managing to throw up a couple submission attempts by the round’s conclusion. While Joe Rogan did a good job pointing out how well Bisping was doing defending in the opening round, I feel like he did an even better job when he concluded at the round’s end, “Excellent round for Kang”. In the second, Bisping did a tremendous job switching levels for the takedowns that ultimately forced the bout’s conclusion. Once he had Denis hurt, Bisping was like a shark in blood drenched waters and did a fantastic job sealing the deal. Easily the most impressive performance of Bisping’s career considering the circumstances.

What was up with referee Marc Goddard’s double standard in regards to the time allowed for Randy’s clinch and Vera’s takedown? Goddard allowed Randy to clinch Vera up against the cage while offering little to no offense for over two minutes on more than one occasions, yet when Vera scores a takedown he’s almost immediately being warned that he needs to work or they’re going to be stood up. I’m sitting there thinking, “Are you kidding me?”, and the next thing I knew it, he actually stood them up! I am still bewildered by his thought process and rationale in handling things the way he did on Saturday evening.

I had Couture vs. Vera: 29-28; Randy Couture. The controversy surrounding the scoring of this extremely lackluster headlining bout has left me scratching my head to some degree and I’ll explain why. Personally I had Couture taking the first, Vera taking the third, and I don’t really find either of those rounds to be disputable. So the round in question is obviously round two. So much has been made of the initial body kick that kicked off the combo that put Randy on the canvas, but it was the knee in the clinch that did the damage. The thing is, that blow didn’t come until right around the 2:10 mark, and up until that point Randy had been (as hard to watch as it was) controlling Vera against the cage. Once Randy went to the canvas Vera didn’t land a single blow of significance and the fight was brought back standing a mere 40 seconds later where Couture pressed Vera against the cage for the duration of the round, landing a few hard shots in the clinch just before the bell. That’s four minutes that Randy controlled that action and one minute for Vera. Randy’s overall control outweighed Vera’s moment in round two, but it wasn’t by a huge margin.

Whether he agreed with the decision or not, I feel like Joe Rogan was out of line screaming controversy at the end of what I considered to be an extremely close and hard to call fight. Alluding to the decision being terrible and something being wrong with the judging of the sport was just wrong in all kinds of ways. First of all, Rogan feeling Vera may have won is nothing more than his personal opinion. I personally felt like Couture won the fight by the narrowest of margins, but the fight wasn’t lopsided in either direction. It may very well have been a bad decision, but there’s no way that fight even ranks in the top fifty of the worst decisions in the history of the UFC. Why he chose to speak against this great injustice and deep seeded problem in this fight is beyond me. The last thing the sport needs is for people just tuning in recently to associate mixed martial arts with the terrible judging that has taken it’s toll on boxing in recent years.

Lightweight match-ups pitting Gray Maynard against Nate Diaz and Efrain Escudero up against Evan Dunham have been confirmed for the main portion of UFC Fight Night 20.

Maynard vs. Diaz will act as the main event, with Escudero vs. Dunham serving as the co-headlining attraction of the night.

The event has been scheduled for January 11 from the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia, airing live on Spike TV.

The bout between Maynard and Diaz will be a rematch to the pair’s meeting during their mutual stint on fifth season of The Ultimate Fighter. A bout Diaz won via second round guillotine choke.

Maynard has gone undefeated in his stint with the UFC, putting together six consecutive victories over the likes of Frankie Edgar, Jim Miller and Roger Huerta, while Diaz submitted Melvin Guillard in his last outing after a pair of losses to the likes of Joe Stevenson and Clay Guida.

The lightweight winner of TUF 8, Escudero recently knocked Cole Miller senseless in his first outing since the TUF Finale during UFC 103, while Dunham is fresh off of back to back Octagon victories over Per Eklund and Marcus Aurelio. Both men sport undefeated records.

It appears as though Dan Hardy is on his way to mainstream recognition following his impressive victory over Mike Swick during this past weekend’s UFC 105 card in Manchester. Not only did the relentless Brit put himself directly into title contention with the win, it now seems like he is in the running to be one of the two coaches on the next season of “The Ultimate Fighter“.

According to a recent report on the Telegraph.co.uk, Georges St. Pierre could be coaching opposite Hardy on TUF 11, as both men are currently being considered to fill the spots.

If the report is correct, the show would likely help to build their upcoming welterweight title clash at a yet to be determined date.

“I’d fight him [GSP] in Canada, Las Vegas, England, on the moon, or in the car park,” explained Hardy. “I want that belt.

“I have all the skills to cause him a lot of problems, and he is only human. He’s a great athlete very good at winning and putting together a gameplan; but he is not a fighter like me. And I’m going to get in there and my intention is to hurt him, put a beating on him. In a 25 minute fight, it’s a long time to keep my hands off his chin.”

With a big question mark hanging over the potential date of the highly anticipated heavyweight championship clash between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin due to the champion coming down with a nasty case of mono, it now appears that Lesnar’s current battle is taking place far away from the Octagon.

UFC President Dana White recently revealed the unfortunate news concerning Brock’s current medical situation when addressing the media following UFC 105, and it’s not sounding good.

“He’s in a hospital up in North Dakota somewhere right now,” explained Dana. “He went to Canada and some bad stuff happened to him, so we’ve got to figure it out.

“He doesn’t want to talk about it publicly, but he’s in bad shape. He’s not well and he’s not going to be getting well anytime soon.”

When asked if Lesnar’s current problem’s cant be attributed to the recent report of mononucleosis, White wouldn’t limit it to that alone, explaining, “He has other problems too. He is not good. He is very, very sick and he’s going to be out for a while.”

According to the UFC President, there’s no question about it; the situation is one for concern, and there are stills questions that need answering.

“I am worried about it,” explained White. “You know, I can’t really talk about it right now, but he’s in rough shape. He’s in really bad shape. We’re going to have to do some stuff to take care of this guy. He is not well and he’s not getting any better.

“We’re going to have to send him to the Mayo Clinic or to Scripp’s, or one of those really good hospitals to figure out what’s wrong with this guy.”

Stay tuned to 5 Oz. as we continue to keep you up to date on this still developing story.

Randy Couture survived a couple of scary moments during his UFC 105 showdown with Brandon Vera this evening in Manchester, England to end up on the winning side of things via unanimous decision.

Couture utilized his superior clinch control to dictate the pace of the bout, imposing his will on Vera despite being staggered with several hard kicks to the body from the dangerous Filipino-American striker, picking up the nod on all three judge’s scorecards with a unanimous score of 29-28.

Dan Hardy earned his crack at Georges St. Pierre and the UFC welterweight championshp with an impressive unanimous decision victory over Mike Swick. Hardy utilized a strong clinch game, durable chin and punishing stand up en route to his shot at the welterweight crown in the near future.

Michael Bisping overcame being controlled from the top by Denis Kang for the bulk of the first round to shift gears in the second and put away his foe in an impressive return to the Octagon. It was apparent that the end was near after Bisping followed a takedown in the second round with a barrage of punches that had Kang on queer street until a final ground and pound assault forced the bout’s conclusion.

The second round TKO over Denis Kang could easily be viewed as Bisping’s most impressive to date.

Matt Brown showed exactly why he’s widely viewed to be one of the grittiest fighters in the UFC as he fought his way out of a nasty James Wilks kimura attmmpt in the third round to pounce on his foe, stopping the Brit with a succession of punches on the ground that forced the referee to call a halt to the contest.

Also looking impressive during the main card of UFC 105 was the lightweight winner of TUF 9, Ross Pearson, as he had his way with the seasoned and respected Aaron Riley standing through the second round when a flying knee in the clinch forced a waterfall of blood from the face of Riley and the bout’s conclusion.

A welterweight championship clash between Georges St. Pierre and Dan Hardy is official for the near future as the UK based “Outlaw” took the fight to Mike Swick during this evening’s UFC 105 card to earn his crack at the crown.

Hardy was impressive this evening as he forced the action and imposed his will on Swick in the clinch, as well as during the exchanges, to come away with the most pivotal victory of his career in front of his hometown fans in England.

St. Pierre was on hand at the bout’s conclusion to extend Hardy his congratulations on the victory, and to promote the bout that Mike Goldberg confirmed at the conclusion of the Hardy vs. Swick clash.

There is no news currently available as to when St. Pierre vs. Hardy will be scheduled for, but stay tuned to FiveOuncesofPain.com as we keep you up to date on the match-up specifics.