“It was really rough because I was a little bit chunky all through elementary and junior high so I would get called “fatso”,” recalled Ward. “I remember girls poking my belly and saying, ‘Pillsbury Dough-Girl’, and then hit me in the head. I joined the soccer team when I was little and like my first day there this girl comes up to me and says, ‘Pillsbury Dough-Girl’, and then takes the bottom of her hand and hits me in the head as hard as she could.

And the torment didn’t slow up one bit once the stocky teenager made the decision to join the boy’s wrestling team in high school.

“I got harassed,” admitted Ward. “The guys didn’t take it easy on me at all. If anything, I probably got it worse because I was a girl. I was always the smaller one so I always got kind of shoved around and the guys would say, ‘Hurry up! Don’t make us run more.’”

From the wrestling mat to the hallways of her high school, Ward couldn’t seem to catch a break among those her age.

“I was tortured in school,” said Ward. “I kept to myself a lot. The boys and the girls would make fun of me because I wrestled and they would just harass me every day.

“I never really had boyfriends. I didn’t date growing up. I remember the girls would say, ‘Oh, are you going to the dance with so-and-so? Aren’t you a lesbian?’, and I would just turn around and cry. I would cry all the way home. It sucked.”

However, with a ten year high school reunion rapidly approaching for the 27-year-old , Ward would be lying if she said she wasn’t thrilled about the prospect catching up with her childhood critics, stating, “I’m going to be pretty stoked to go to my 10-year-reunion and be like, “What’s up!” I’m excited about it.”

Far separated from the years of torment as a youth, Ward is currently respected as one of the best pound-for-pound female fighters in all of MMA.

With the biggest fight of her career rapidly approaching, the Washington-based submission specialist currently has her sites set on undefeated Irish power-puncher Aisling “Ash the Bash” Daly. The pair of top women’s mixed martial artists will clash in the biggest fight of either of their careers at Bellator 26 in Kansas City to determine the final spot in Bellator’s electrifying women’s tournament.

“Aisling just seems like a bully to me,” said Ward when asked her thoughts on the powerful undefeated prospect. “She’s strong and she likes to push the pace, and I think that’s a driving force for her. Most females don’t fight like she does. She just kind of seem like a powerhouse bully. She likes to get you in the corner and rough you up and thump on you. But the caliber of the opponents that she’s been beating up have mostly been new fighters so it’s really hard to gauge exactly how good she is.”

Ward will be entering tomorrow evening’s bout with a level of confidence that can only come from testing herself against many of the best in the business for more than six years with impressive results.

“I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a reality check for Daly,” said Ward. “First of all, the little girl has to make weight, and second, she has to fight me. I’m much more well rounded. I feel like I’m pound-for-pound one of the best females in the world so it’s going to be interesting.

“I’m nervous because we’re fighting and I’m nervous because she is tough, but in the back of my mind and in my heart, I know that I’m much better than she is.”

Ward and Daly are fighting for the last remaining spot in the Season 3 Women’s Tournament semi-finals. The winner tomorrow night will join fellow semi-finalists: World’s #1 female fighter Megumi Fujii, hard-hitting Zoila Frausto, and American Top Team product Jessica Aguilar.

“When I was a kid living in Florida my uncles and my dad used to get drunk together a lot,” said Vega. “One night we were outside, and there was this kid next door that always used to fight with my cousin, and they said, “We’ll give you a dollar if you go over there and punch that kid in the face”, so I went over there and punched him in the face and we got to fighting.”

Close to 15 years later Vega found himself pouring over MMA fight videos, while at the same time going on a tear through the amateur and professional ranks in his backyard of Missouri with literally not a single day of formal training under his belt.

All-in-all, Vega somehow managed to string together seven victories as a professional prior to ever stepping foot inside an MMA gym with all of his wins coming by way of submission, before a call from Bellator Fighting Championships recently gave the naturally gifted Vega the incentive he had been looking for to completely change his approach to the sport.

“I’m more complete now than I’ve ever been before,” boasted Vega in the days leading up to his bantamweight tournament fight with longtime rival Danny Tims at Bellator 26 this Thursday in Kansas City. “Up until right before my most recent win over Jarrod Card with Bellator I had been training myself by watching fight tapes and instructionals. Now I finally have someone watching over me telling me if what I’m doing is right or wrong.”

And the results spoke for themselves as Vega put the favored Card to sleep with a crushing punch that catapulted the budding 135 pound prospect directly into his current place in the Season 3 Bellator Bantamweight Tournament.

Standing in front of Vega this Thursday evening in the Bellator cage is a man that is far from a stranger to the self-taught Kansas City bantamweight – Tims.

The pair of Missouri-based fan-favorites first met at the amateur level in a closely contested battle that saw Tims’ hand raised in victory when the dust had a chance to settle. However, Vega didn’t exactly agree with the judges’ decision, stating, “Our first fight was in his hometown, and I don’t like to be a sore loser, but I got him to admit that I beat him right after that fight. I ended up losing a real close decision, but we all know why they gave him that, because it was in his hometown.”

There are two sides to every story, and Tims’ side to this one is that Vega is “crazy.” Tims states that he dominated the fight between the two from the beginning to the sound of the final bell.

The second time the pair met, the result couldn’t have been any more different.

“I fought him for the second time in the finals of a tournament in Sturgis,” said Vega. “In the second round he reversed me while I was ground and pounding him and I upkicked him right before he got up and he just turned around and tapped on the cage.

“I think I broke him mentally because he couldn’t take me down or do anything. He just quit.”

Again, Tims has a slightly different recollection of events when it comes to his second meeting with Vega, stating that dehydration at the end of a single-evening elimination tournament as the reason he tapped out, and stresses that the defeat had nothing to do with him breaking mentally.

This Thursday evening from the Kansas City Power and Light District, the score will be settled once and for all as Vega meets Tims for the third time in what is undoubtedly the biggest fight of either fighter’s professional career.

Vega will be entering the bout riding a wave of confidence and vows to silence his rival with his actions in the cage at Bellator 26.

“I’m sure that I can put him to sleep the same way I did to Jarrod Card if he decides to stand with me and I also believe I can submit him if the fight goes to the ground,” said Vega. “All of his submission wins are rear-naked chokes. You don’t see him throwing up triangles or armbars. It makes him one-dimensional. I’ve submitted people with triangles, gogoplatas, armbars, keylocks and a variety of other submissions, so I feel like I have a lot more options at my disposal in the submission department.

“There’s no way he’s going to take me down and grind me out. I see the same fighter that I fought at amateur. I don’t think he has any tools he can beat me with.”

Phil Baroni Pours His Heart Out About Recent Injury, Survival in UFC (MMAFighting.com)

FIGHT! Life: Dan Hardy – Daley & Koscheck (VIDEO) (Fight! Magazine)

Wanderlei Reflects On His Early Days of Fighting and the Hardships He Overcame With a Little Help From His Friends (CagePotato.com)

Japanese Shane Carwin looks surprisingly like the real Shane Carwin (MiddleEasy.com)

Sunday Night Could Be Turning Point for Matyushenko, Too (Versus.com)

War Machine speaks from behind cell walls; paints not so bleak picture (WatchKalibRun.com)

Guymon vs. Roberts Likely For UFC 121 In October (Heavy.com)

Aleksander Emelianenko Reaches Verbal Agreement with KSW, May Fight Mariusz Pudzianowski (MMAScraps.com)

UFC Fan Expo Coming To London During UFC 120 Weekend (MMAConvert.com)

According to MMAJunkie.com, Rothwell blew his ACL during the first takedown of the fight.

“It’s just one of those things where you hurt yourself, and you hear it, and you feel it, and you know it’s going to suck later,” said Rothwell, reflecting on the moment he knew he had severely damaged his ACL.

On Tuesday Rothwell had surgery to repair his ACL and a torn meniscus and currently expects to be out of action for about nine months.

“The average for something like this is six months to a year (of recovery), but [doctors] think that I’m going to be on the lower end of it,” said Rothwell.

“(Trainer) Matt Hume’s gone through a couple of knees and he thinks that nine months is what I should give myself until I feel like I’m really good and at 100 percent.”

“You knew when you asked him a question that you were setting yourself up for a boring answer, and you got one,” said Sonnen following Silva mentioning his recent training with Steven Segal to prepare for Sonnen in response to a question. “So what are you going to do? This is just Anderson yet again. He truly believes the answer he gave a few minutes ago, that people are putting in (money) to see a fight and not see anything else. He really means that. He feels like he’s taking the moral high ground. He couldn’t be more wrong.

“Does he know anything about business? Has this guy ever done anything? That’s not what people are tuning in to see. People don’t just want to see two people fight. They want to know why they’re fighting. He comes on here and says something stupid as though he’s saying some Nobel Prize-winning statement. He couldn’t have this industry more backward. It’s shocking that he actually believes it and stands there with his chest out like we should all pat him on the back and go, ‘Oh, good job, Anderson. You’re training really hard.’”

Now targeting his words like a bullet at the middleweight champion, Sonnen continued, “Well guess what, dummy. I’ve been training really hard since I was 9 years old, and I still have time to bring interest to people seeing me whip your ass on August 7.”

Unsurprisingly, Silva had little to offer in his defense.

“I don’t really have much to say because there’s really not much to say about this,” responded Silva. “What we’re going to do is we’re going to go out there on Aug. 7 and, winning or losing, I’m going to go out there an do my job, and I’m going to fight.

The pair will have the chance to settle the score during UFC 117 on August 7 from the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.

UFC 118 is set to take place on August 28 from the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.

News of Baroni’s injury was first reported by MMAJunkie.com and Miller’s substitution was subsequently revealed by MMADiehards.com.

Miller entered the UFC with a bang, racking up three consecutive wins before dropping his last three straight and will undoubtedly be fighting for survival in the promotion, while Salter has gone 1-1 since entering the UFC with a defeat at the hands of Gerald Harris and a recent victory over Jason MacDonald.

Tim Boetsch

After a back injury recently forced Thiago Silva out of an expected light heavyweight meeting with Tim Boetsch, UFC newcomer Todd Brown has seized the opportunity and stepped up to the plate to face Boetsch in his absence.

The pair will square off during UFC 117 on August 7 from the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.

News of Silva’s injury and Brown’s late substitution comes from a recent report from MMAJunkie.com.

Brown holds a professional record of 11-1 and most recently scored a first round TKO over Rodney Sleepers in November of 2009, while Boetsch, a 4X UFC vet, returns to the promotion following three consecutive wins since being released with an Octagon record of 2-2 in March of 2009. 

UFC 117 will be headlined by a middleweight title fight between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen.

Shine Fights

Shine Fights previous event, slated for May 15, had been canceled after North Carolina Athletic Commission officials determined financial issues could not be resolved in time for the event to go on as planned.

5 Oz. was also informed that the event is likely to take place from The Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia.

A single-evening lightweight tournament is currently being targeted for the event with a grand prize of $50,000. Lightweights reportedly being considered for the tournament include:

- Guillaume DeLorenzi

- Josh Shockley

- Marcus Aurelio

- James Warfield

- Richard Crunkilton

- Charles Bennett

- Carlo Prater

- Drew Fickett

The promotion is currently seeking approval for its one night tournament but approval is anticipated. Sources close to Shine are claiming the event will be televised on “pay-per-view” but sources close to 5 Oz. have indicated that the event will be available on Internet PPV as opposed to televised PPV.

Mayhem recently made the possibility of the bout public during a recent Joe Rogan podcast.

If the grudge match does come to fruition, it looks like it could possibly happen in October.

Check out Diaz on Mayhem in the video below:

“I’m all out of favors” – Nick Diaz, 2010

The event is slated to take place from The O2 in London, England on October 16 while airing stateside via tape delay on Spike TV.

New of the bout was recently confirmed in a recent report on MMAJunkie.com, stating that verbal agreements are in place on both sides.

Cantwell will be fighting to stay afloat in the UFC coming off of consecutive defeats to the likes of Luiz Cane and Brian Stann, while the Bulgarian-born Nedkov will be looking to improve upon his unblemished 11-0 record that already includes notable victories over Travis Wiuff and Kevin Randleman.

Strikeforce Challengers 9

The event is scheduled for this evening from the Comcast Arena of Everett in Everett, Washington.

Headlining the card will be a heavyweight bout between Shane Del Rosario and Lohea Mahe, while Sarah Kaufman will put her 135 lb title on the line against Roxanne Modafferi in the co-headliner.

A full list of weigh-in results from the main-card are below:

Shane Del Rosario (243.6) vs. Lolohea Mahe (264)

Sarah Kaufman (134) vs. Roxanne Modafferi (133.4)

Cory Devela (171) vs. Bobby Voelker (170.4)

Ron “Abongo” Humphrey (202.6) vs. Mike Kyle (205.8)

Thomas Diagne (156) vs. Caros Fodor (155.6)

Far from strangers, the rivalry between Mayhem and Diaz kicked off following Jake Shields defeat of Dan Henderson during “Strikeforce: Nashville” in April. Mayhem entered the cage during Shields post-victory comments and interupted Shields, asking the question, “Where’s my rematch, buddy?”. Also in the cage during Mayhem’s comment was fellow Cear Gracie fighters Nick and Nate Diaz, along with Gilbert Melendez, and needless to say, all hell broke loose. Fistacuffs were thrown, feelings were hurt, and a “grudge” was born.

“We’re trying to put Nick Diaz together,” said Mayhem during a recent Joe Rogan podcast. “We got a little grudge match.”

While nothing is set in stone at this point, Mayhem indicated that the if the fight was to happen, it would likely happen in October.

“I don’t know if it’s happening yet, but I like to run my mouth off and hopefully make it happen,” said Mayhem.

Mayhem recently rebounded from a decision defeat at the hands of Jake Shields to TKO Tim Stout in impressive fashion during “Strikeforce: Nashville” on April 17, while Diaz is currently riding a 7-fight win streak that includes notable wins over the likes of Frank Shamrock and Scott Smith.

There is no word as to what weight the bout may be contested at, as Diaz normally competes at 170 lbs and Mayhem is better suited at 185 lbs. A catchweight could be a possibility.

Chuck Liddell

The fight is headed to UFC 121 on October 23 from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

News of the match-up comes directly from UFC President Dana White, who confirmed the bout via text to MMAFighting.com.

Ortiz was Hamill’s coach during the third season of The Ultimate Fighter. “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” showed a soft spot in his heart for Hamill during the show and took him under his wing during training sessions.

The fight will mark Ortiz’ first return to action since suffering a split decision defeat at the hands of Forrest Grifin in a November 2009 return to action. Ortiz went on to coach the 11th season of The Ultimate Fighter where a neck inury forced him to the sidelines from the show and an anticipated showdown with longtime rival Chuck Liddell.

Hamill is on a four-fight win streak in the UFC, although a recent disqualification victory obtained over Jon Jones could be viewed as a defeat being that the TUF 3 veteran was pummelled from start to finish. Most recently Hamill handed Keith Jardine his walking papers with a majority decision victory at “The Ultimate Fighter: Team Liddell vs. Team Ortiz Finale”.

Set to headline UFC 121 is a heavyweight title fight between champion Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez.

Patrick Cote

UFC 121 is set for October 23 from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

News of the match-up came in a recent report on MMAJunkie.com, who confirmed through sources close to the event that bout agreements have been signed on both sides.

UFC 121 will be headlined by a heavyweight title bout between champion Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez.

Cote is currently reeling from consecutive defeats at the hands of Anderson Silva and Alan Belcher, while Lawlor is in an extremely similar position having suffered losses to Aaron Simpson and Joe Doerkson in his prior two outings.

UFC 121 is slated for October 23 from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Headlining the event will be a heavyweight title fight between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin.

News of the bout between Sanchez and Thiago was first reported by PennyJoMMA.com.

Both men are looking to rebound from recent defeats, as Sanchez is coming off of consecutive defeats at the hands of B.J. Penn at lightweight and John Hathaway in his return to welterweight, and Thiago most recently suffered a setback in the form of a unanimous decision loss to Martin Kampmann at UFC 115.

WEC 51 is expected for September 30 from the 1stBank Center in Broomfield, Colorado.

Varner recently made the news of the bout public via his official website, stating:

So my next fight will be a rematch with Donald Cerrone I hope to be the co-main sept 30. So any questions that were left after the last fight will be answered sept 30!

Varner ended up on the winning end of a controversial technical decision following an illegal knee from Cerone during the pair’s first meeting in January of 2009.

Both fighters are looking to get back into the win column, as Varner was recently submitted at the hands of WEC Lightweight Champion Ben Henderson before going a draw with Kamal Shalorus, and Cerrone also suffered a submission defeat to Henderson in his prior outing.

News of the bout came in a recent report from The Daily Telegraph.

UFC 120 is expected for October 16 from the O2 Arena in London, England.

Hathaway boasts a professional record of 14-0 with four consecutive victories in the UFC. The 22-year-old Brit picked up the biggest win of his career in his prior outing where he bested Diego Sanchez via unanimous decision at UFC 114.

Pyle is one of the most dangerous submission artists in the sport, with a career record of 20-7 and 17 submission victories to his credit. He is currently 2-2 since his arrival in the UFC, with his latest trip to the Octagon being a arm-triangle technical submission over Jesse Lennox at UFC 115.

Marc Stevens

FiveOuncesofPain.com recently confirmed Stevens’ involvement in the show through sources close to the situation.

Stevens sports an overall record of 12-5 and is currently riding a 4-fight win streak. His last appearance in the cage came in September of 2009 where Stevens submitted Al Buck with a first round rear-naked choke.

“The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck” will debut on Spike TV on September 15, 2010. Coaches Georges St Pierre and Josh Koscheck will clash at the conclusion of the season for the UFC Welterweight Championship.

Jake Shields

The former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion recently finalized his contract with the promotion and is expected to meet Martin Kampmann at UFC 121 in his highly-anticipated UFC debut.

News of Shields siging with the UFC along with the bout with Kampmann comes courtesy of Shields’ manager and father, Jack Shields, who passed on the information to MMAJunkie.com. The possibility of the bout was first reported by MMAFighting.

Apparently Shields wanted to debut in the UFC as a middleweight, but promotion officials preferred that he made his arrival at welterweight.

UFC 121 is expected to take place on October 23 from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

Shields is currently riding an impressive 14-fight win streak with his most recent victory coming in the form of a unanimous decision over Dan Henderson, while Kampmann is on a two-fight win streak in the Octagon with wins over Jacob Volkmann and Paulo Thiago.

UFC 119 has been booked for September 25 from the Conseco Field House in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Headlining the card will be a rematch between former UFC Heavyweight Champions Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Fighting alongside his brother in the co-main event will be Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, who faces off with the undefeated Ryan Bader in a light heavyweight attraction.

Also made official for the card today was a welterweight showdown between Matt Serra and Chris Lytle.

Tickets go on sale for the event on July 24.