Heavyweight fighter Stefan Struve has had an interesting UFC career so far. After signing a four-fight deal with the UFC in 2008, Struve has already fought three times in the Octagon this year and isn’t looking to slow down anytime soon. After making his debut with the company at UFC 95 in February in a losing effort against top ranked UFC heavyweight Junior dos Santos, Struve has claimed two consecutive submission victories in the Octagon over the likes of Chase Gormley and Denis Stojnic.

Struve will be looking to expand upon his winning streak in the UFC after signing a new deal with the company. The British publication, Fighters Only Magazine, is reporting that the UFC has signed Struve to a new four-fight contract that will pay him a lot more as well as keep him under the UFC label until 2011.

Struve’s next fight should be an interesting one. He’s currently rumored to replace the injured Todd Duffee in a fight with Paul Buentello at UFC 107 on December 12 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee. If that fight is indeed signed, it would mark the fourth consecutive time that he will have competed in the Octagon this year.

Struve has been fighting professionally since 2005. Since that time he has gone an impressive 18-3 with 14 victories coming via submission. If he is able to pick up another victory in the UFC, it may not be long before we start mentioning his name when we start discussing who the top heavyweight fighters in the UFC are.

About a week ago, we all learned that the upcoming Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Rashad Evans fight at UFC 107 was off. Then yesterday news came out that “Rampage” was actually retiring from MMA to focus on his acting career. This left many people wondering who Evans would face next seeing as he was set to battle Jackson once their coaching stints on the “Ultimate Fighter” came to end.

That answer may have came when Evans sat down for an interview with MMA.Fanhouse.com and revealed that he could face Thiago Silva either sometime in December at UFC 108, or sometime in early-2010.

During the interview, Evans mentioned that Silva glared at him after his victory over Keith Jardine at UFC 102 in August and he interpreted that as a sign that Silva wanted to “take him on.”

If the fight is indeed signed, it would be a battle between two competitors with only one professional loss on their record. The irony in that is, both fighter’s only loss came at the hands of current UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida.

Evans (13-1-1) faced Machida at UFC 98 in May and lost the UFC light heavyweight title after getting knocked out in the second round. Before that loss, Evans had run up an impressive win streak that featured wins over Forrest Griffin, Chuck Liddell, and Michael Bisping.

Silva (14-1) lost to Machida at UFC 94 in January. He was knocked out in the first round with only one second left on the clock. His UFC resume is impressive as well with wins over Jardine, Houston Alexander, and James Irvin among others.

The last few weeks have been difficult for the Ultimate Fighting Championship as far as trying to find a good main event for the upcoming UFC 105 show in Manchester, England on November 14, but it looks like the UFC may have possibly found their headline fight.

According to the British tabloid, The Sun, it looks like the main event of UFC 105 could now feature a light heavyweight battle between “The Natural” Randy Couture (16-10) and Brandon Vera (11-3).

In the past few weeks, the UFC has been struggling to find a decent main event fight for UFC 105 ever since they decided to move the upcoming UFC lightweight title fight between BJ Penn and Diego Sanchez to UFC 107 in December. The company decided to move the lightweight title fight after Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was forced to delay his much-anticipated bout with Rashad Evans so he could take time off in order to film his role as “B.A. Baracus” in the forthcoming “A-Team” movie.

The UFC was also reportedly considering a Nate Marquardt vs. Dan Henderson main event for the show, however a contract dispute between the UFC and Henderson has forced the company to look elsewhere for a main event. The company then asked Rashad Evans if he would interested in facing Couture on the show, but he declined the fight in order to focus on an upcoming battle with “Rampage” in the near future.

A Couture/Vera fight would mark the second time each man has fought in the past four months. They both recently fought at UFC 102 in Portland, Oregon on August 29. On that card, Vera managed to pick up a unanimous-decision victory over Krzysztof Soszynski, while Couture dropped a hard fought decision to former UFC interim heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.

At the post-UFC 102 press conference, the UFC had announced that they had signed the 46-year old Couture to a six-fight extension. Couture then mentioned that he would be interested in fighting in both the light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions. If this match-up does indeed go down, it will mark the first time Couture has appeared in the UFC’s light heavyweight division since losing to Chuck Liddell at UFC 57 back in February of 2006.

In the past, when the UFC puts on shows in England, they tend to pack the card with numerous British fighters who are happy to be fighting in front of their home crowd. Well, UFC 105 will not be any different.

According to Fighters Only Magazine, England’s own Terry Etim (13-2) is expected to face Shannon Gugerty (12-3) on the November 14 show currently set for the Manchester Evening News Arena in Manchester, England.

This will be Etim’s seventh appearance in the Octagon in just over two years and his third appearance this year. The lightweight fighter is currently on a three-fight win streak in the UFC with his last win coming against Justin Buchholz at UFC 99 where he picked up the victory in the second round with an impressive Brabo choke.

Gugerty on the other hand is coming off a very impressive win at UFC 100 where he defeated Matt Grice with a guillotine choke in the first round. That victory improved Gugerty’s overall UFC record to 2-1.

The UFC has yet to officially announce anything for UFC 105, but below is a full list of bouts that are expected to take place:

Michael Bisping vs. Denis Kang

Dan Hardy vs. Dong Hyun Kim

Matt Brown vs. James Wilks

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. To Be Announced

Aaron Riley vs. Ross Pearson

DaMarques Johnson vs. Peter Sobotta

Andre Winner vs. Roli Delgado

Terry Etim vs. Shannon Gugerty

For the past few months MMA fans have highly anticipated the showdown between rivals Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans. The two recently completed filming for the upcoming season of “The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights” (which is set to debut on Spike TV on September 16) and were set to face off against one another at UFC 107 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee on December 12. However, those plans have apparently changed.

According to The Vancouver Sun, Jackson has had to delay the fight with Evans due to scheduling conflicts between the UFC 107 card and Jackson’s role as “B.A. Baracus” in the upcoming “A-Team” movie, which is set to begin filming in Vancouver in a few weeks.

Due to the scheduling conflicts, “Rampage” will not be able to put in a full-time training camp in preparation for his bout with Evans and has apparently asked the UFC to move the fight back to early-2010. This could put the UFC’s light heavyweight division at a stand still. With UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida defending his title against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 104 on October 24, the winner of the Evans/Jackson fight was expected to be named the #1 contender. If the UFC still expects to name the winner of that fight the #1 contender, that could mean the winner of the Machida/Rua fight may face a lay off of up to more than six months.

With the Evans/Jackson fight being postponed, it is now expected that UFC 107 will be headlined by a UFC lightweight title fight featuring BJ Penn defending his title against Diego Sanchez as well as Frank Mir squaring off against Cheick Kongo in a highly anticipated heavyweight battl, although nothing has been made official at this time.

Last month, UFC president Dana White shocked the world when he announced that “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Tito Ortiz would be returning to the UFC after over a year-long absence. After speaking out publicly regarding the UFC’s pay scale as well as flirting with MMA promotions all over the world for the past year, it’s looking like we will finally see Ortiz return to UFC action sooner than we thought.

While Ortiz has hinted at a possible fight with Mark Coleman in recent interviews, Fighters Only Magazine is now reporting that Coleman agreed to the bout earlier today. The two former UFC champions have reportedly agreed to fight at the currently unannounced UFC 106, which is rumored to take place on November 21 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Much like Ortiz, Coleman made huge news himself last year when he announced his return to the UFC after a ten-year absence from the company. He went on to face Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 93 and lost via third-round TKO in a fight that saw “The Hammer” come close to defeating him numerous times. Then the UFC hall-of-famer followed that performance up with a very impressive unanimous-decision victory over Stephan Bonnar at UFC 100 this past July.

Ortiz last saw action at UFC 84 in a losing effort against current UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida. Ortiz managed to take Machida to the distance and even came close to finishing him off during the fight. It’s widely believed that Ortiz is the one fighter who has come the closest to defeating Machida and it will be very interesting to see if he can earn a rematch with “The Dragon” in the near future.

While DREAM 10 is set to go down tonight in Saitama, Japan, DREAM officials have wasted no time in confirming the company’s next event before tonight’s event even gets started.

According to MMAJunkie.com, previous reports of DREAM 11 being held in September are inaccurate and that the event will actually be held on October 6 at the Yokohama Arena in Kanagawa, Japan.

While the promotion didn’t officially confirm any bouts, it is expected that the company will hold the semifinals of the “Super Hulk” open-weight tournament which features Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Gegard Mousasi, Hong Man Choi and Ikuhisa Minowa.

That’s not the only tournament currently rumored for the show, as the semifinals and finals of the 2009 featherweight grand prix are expected to be added to the card as well. While match-ups have yet to be officially announced, we know that Bibiano Fernandes, Hideo Tokoro, Joe Warren, and Hiroyuki Takaya are all still remaining in the tournament.

It is also expected that Jason “Mayhem” Miller and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza will do battle for the third time for the vacated DREAM middleweight title. The two faced off at DREAM.4 where “Jacare” picked up a unanimous decision victory over “Mayhem”. The pair then faced off again at DREAM.9 in a fight that went to a “no contest” after Miller kicked Souza with an illegal kick to the head.

It’s been over a year since we last saw “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Tito Ortiz (15-6-1) compete in an MMA fight. After losing to Lyoto Machida at UFC 84 in May of 2008, Ortiz decided to part ways with the UFC and hasn’t seen any action since.

According to Ortiz, he’s about to become the latest member of the Strikeforce family.

The former UFC light heavyweight champion was a guest of honor at last night’s UCFC “Clementi vs. Jensen” show in Pittsburgh at the Mellon Arena. In between fights, Ortiz entered the ring and announced to the crowd that he was extremely close to signing a four-fight deal with the Strikeforce promotion. Not only that, but he also mentioned that he could face Renato “Babalu” Sobral at a Strikeforce event in October.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of all was when Ortiz announced to the crowd that if he does sign the four-fight deal with Strikeforce that he would like his fourth fight to be a catchweight bout against the #1 heavyweight in the world, Fedor Emelianenko.

At one time, Ortiz was considered one of the best fighters in the world. Upon making his MMA debut at UFC 13 back in 1997, Ortiz compiled a 5-2 record with the company before defeating Wanderlei Silva for the UFC light heavyweight title.

Ortiz went on to hold the belt for three years before losing to Randy Couture at UFC 44. Since then Ortiz has had a very rocky relationship with the UFC and it’s owner, Dana White.

After losing to Machida last year, Ortiz decided it was time to move on with his career. Since then he has appeared as a “special guest” for multiple MMA promotions such as EliteXC, Strikeforce, and Affliction. He has also mentioned a number of “rumored” deals with other MMA promotions in the past, but nothing has yet to come to fruition. Perhaps this time we will finally see the return of one of MMA’s true “bad boys”.

When EliteXC folded months ago, UFC president Dana White had publicly stated that the only way EliteXC heavyweight Kimbo Slice would get a shot in the UFC was if he wanted to compete as a cast member on the UFC’s flagship show, The Ultimate Fighter.

Well, according to Kevin Iole of Yahoo.com, that’s exactly what’s about to happen. Dana White has reportedly confirmed that Kimbo will appear as a cast member on the tenth season of Spike TV’s The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights which is set to begin filming shortly and will feature former UFC light heavyweight champions Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans as competing coaches.

One big change in the show is that the sixteen competitors on The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights will not have to fight in order to secure a spot in the house like in previous seasons. This move could have been made to guarantee that Slice will not be forced to fight early and will kept around to help increase ratings as much as possible.

Slice hasn’t fought in MMA competition since the last EliteXC show in October. He was scheduled to face Ken Shamrock in the main event on the card, however Shamrock was cut during training and was forced out of the bout. EliteXC officials then scrambled to replace Shamrock and ended up choosing relative unknown Seth Petruzelli. Petruzelli then proceeded to knock Kimbo out in front of a record 6.5 million viewers in just a matter of seconds.

The UFC is set to announce Slice’s appearance at a media day on Tuesday at the UFC Training Center in Las Vegas

Back in 2006, Tim “The Maine-iac” Sylvia was on top of the UFC’s heavyweight division. He had just defeated Andrei Arlovski for the second time and as the UFC heavyweight champion he didn’t really have many other challengers in the heavyweight division.

Of course that all changed when Randy “The Natural” Couture announced he was coming out of retirement to fight Sylvia for the UFC heavyweight title. Needless to say, Couture ended up winning the heavyweight title from Sylvia after a five-round war at UFC 68. He then went on to defeat Brandon Vera at UFC 77 via decision but dropped his last official UFC bout to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 81.

It was after the submission loss to Nogueira that Sylvia announced that he was leaving the UFC to explore other options in the MMA world.

Just a few weeks later, the “Affliction” clothing company had announced that they were going to promote their first MMA show. Not only that, but the main event would feature #1 heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko facing the former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia.

MMA fans all over the world were ecstatic to see Fedor finally square off against some “top 10 competition”. However, once the fight actually went down, Fedor knocked Sylvia down quickly and submitted the former champ with a rear-naked choke in just 36 seconds.

Sylvia had now dropped three out of his last four fights and was left questioning whether or not he still had what it takes to be a “top 10 heavyweight fighter”. Was Sylvia’s MMA skills diminishing or was he just a victim of bad match-ups?

We may find out soon enough. According to the UK-based “Fighters Only” magazine, Sylvia is scheduled to fight for a “very high profile” MMA organization in August. In the report, Sylvia mentions that he currently has the contract at home but he’s not allowed to give us details on which company he may be fighting for or who he may face.

If Sylvia is added to the Affliction III card, a possible opponent for him could be none other than former UFC rival Andrei Arlvoski. Sylvia still has plenty of dislike for Arlovski and has expressed an interest in facing him again in the near future. The two fighters faced each other on three separate occasions in the UFC with Sylvia winning the last two fights. However, as of right now both fighters are scheduled to compete in June. Sylvia is set to make his professional boxing debut against Ray Mercer on June 13 while Arlovski is set to face Brett Rogers at a Strikeforce show on June 6.

Other possibilities for the former UFC heavyweight champ include an unlikely return to the UFC, or a more likely signing with Strikeforce to boost their heavyweight division.

PRIDE veteran Takanori Gomi was once considered the best lightweight fighter in MMA. It really didn’t matter what set of MMA rankings you looked at, Gomi use to reign supreme atop the lightweight division. However, things took a turn for the worse for Gomi after he dropped two consecutive fights while competing for the Sengoku promotion in Japan.

At Sengoku 6 in November, Gomi dropped a split-decision to Sergey Golyaev in what was considered a huge upset. He then tried to get back on the winning side of things when he met Satoru Kitaoka for the Sengoku lightweight title at the promotion’s “No Ran 2009” show in January. However, the stars once again didn’t line up for Gomi as Kitaoka was able to submit him with an achilles lock just 1:41 seconds into their fight.

It didn’t appear as if Gomi was the same fighter he once was and perhaps he needed a change of scenery. That’s exactly what he got when it was announced that Gomi would return to the Shooto promotion for the first time in over six years. Gomi got his start in Shooto and was looking to get back on the winning track when he faced Takashi Nakakura at Shooto’s “Tradition Final” show which was held earlier today at the JCB Hall in Tokyo, Japan.

Gomi entered the ring looking more ripped than ever before and got back to his roots in the bout with Nakakura as he punished the challenger with vicious boxing combinations before ultimately bringing a conclusion to the bout late in the second round with a hail storm of five ounces of pain.

Rumina Sato dominated Takeshi Inoue for the bulk of the contest between the highly regarded 143 pounders by utilizing his distance and technical striking. Midway through the first period Sato dropped Inoue and rushed in to finish him but failed to capitalize as Inoue rose to his feet and battered Sato with a flurry of punches in the clinch that ultimately brought a conclusion to the electrifying brawl.

A full list of results from the show are listed below:

Megumi Fujii def. Won Bun Chu via submission – Round 1

Akiyo Nishiura def. Takumi Ota via unanimous decision

Kotetsu Boku def. Yutaka Ueda via TKO – Round 1

Kenichiro Togashi def. Tetsuji Kato via majority decision

Mizuto Hirota def. Mitsuhiro Ishida via KO – Round 1

Willamy Chiquerim def. Yusuke Endo via submission – Round 1

Takanori Gomi def. Takashi Nakakura via KO – Round 2

Takeshi Inoue def. Rumina Sato via TKO – Round 1

With James Irvin on the shelf due to a torn meniscus he suffered during training, UFC officials were forced to find a replacement to fight Drew McFedries at UFC 98 on May 23.

According to a report from the U.K. based “Fighters Only Magazine”, the UFC has decided that Irvin’s replacement will be none other than French-born fighter Xavier “Professor X” Foupa-Pokam.

Foupa-Pokam, 20-10, recently made his long awaited UFC debut at UFC 97 on April 18 in a losing effort to highly ranked middleweight Denis Kang.

The Cage Rage and Palace Fighting Championship veteran is looking to get back on the winning track. He was on a 7-fight win streak which included wins over Kyacey Uscola, Andrey Rudakov, among others. Before dropping a decision-loss to Kang at UFC 97, it had been over 16 months since Foupa-Pokam was on the losing side of a fight. Murilo “Ninja” Rua was able to submit “Professor X” with a rear naked choke back at Cage Rage 24 in December of 2007.

The fight between Foupa-Pokam and McFedries could very well be considered a “loser leaves UFC” fight. If McFedries is unable to secure a victory it would mark his third straight loss in the UFC and with the company looking to cut people who they don’t feel are “title contenders”, the loser of this fight could very well be shown the door.

UFC 98 is scheduled to take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The show will be headlined by Rashad Evans defending his UFC light heavyweight title against Lyoto Machida. In addition to Evans vs. Machida, the televised card will feature Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra, Dan Miller vs. Yushin Okami and Frank Edgar vs. Sean Sherk.

Irvin vs. McFedries was originally scheduled to appear on the televised portion of the show, however since the UFC has yet to confirm Foupa-Pokam’s appearance it is currently unknown which fight will now be shown on the pay-per-view.

After losing in the finals in last season’s light heavyweight tournament on The Ultimate Fighter, the UFC still had high hopes for Vinny Magalhaes. After all, the man is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu as well as a two time Brazilian National heavyweight champion.

However, after suffering a second consecutive loss in the UFC to Eliot Marshall at UFC 97 on April 18, Magalhaes will be looking for a new place to fight.

According to the latest print edition of “The Wrestling Observer”, the UFC has decided to release Magalhaes mainly because the company is trying to build new contenders in each weight class. The fighters who don’t have potential according to the UFC will be sent packing.

Magalhaes entered season 8 of The Ultimate Fighter with plenty of hype due to his impressive background in BJJ. He was widely considered one of the favorites to win the light heavyweight tournament. While on the show, he went on to defeat Lance Evans, Jules Bruchez, and Krzysztof Soszynski. In the finals he ran into the undefeated Ryan Bader who got the win with an impressive TKO victory in just a little over two minutes; ending Vinny’s dream to become the The Ultimate Fighter.

After weeks of rumors, it looks like UFC 101 may have finally got it’s main event. According to a report from BJPenn.com, the UFC lightweight champion is expected to defend his title against number one contender Kenny Florian at UFC 101 on August 8 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The report mentions that Florian has already signed a bout agreement and that Penn’s camp has received the bout agreement and are expected to sign it as soon as possible.

Florian became the number one contender to Penn’s title after defeating Joe Stevenson at UFC 91 back in November. That win marked Florian’s sixth consecutive win in the UFC and brought his overall record with the company to 9-2 since joining the promotion back in 2005, after competing on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter. Since losing in the finals of TUF to Diego Sanchez, Florian has earned victories over the likes of Kit Cope, Sam Stout, Roger Huerta, Din Thomas, and Joe Lauzon.

His expected opponent, B.J. Penn, has had an interesting last few months. After losing a second time to UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre at UFC 94 in January, Penn’s camp filed a complaint against the champion accusing St. Pierre’s camp of “greasing” their fighter up between rounds. However, it now appears as though Penn’s camp is ready move on with the fighter’s MMA career.

After winning the third season of The Ultimate Fighter, the UFC had high hopes for England’s own Michael Bisping. Well, after going 7-1 with the company over a 3-year period that includes wins over Matt Hamill, Eric Schafer, and Chris Leben, Bisping is about to be rewarded.

According to a report from British MMA magazine, Fighters Only, the UFC has offered Bisping a new eight-fight, two-year contract.

The news could not come at a better time for Bisping who has been busy taping season nine of The Ultimate Fighter the last few weeks. Bisping is set to coach a team of fighters from the United Kingdom as they battle a team of fighters from the United States coached by Dan Henderson. The show is set to debut on Spike TV on Wednesday, April 1. Bisping will then face Henderson at UFC 100 in July, with the winner expected to be named a top challenger for Anderson Silva’s UFC middleweight title.

Bisping is currently 17-1 since his MMA debut in 2004, and the man has never been finished. His only professional loss came at the hands of current UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans, who defeated Bisping via split-decision back at UFC 78 in 2007.

The UFC has decided to part ways with PRIDE FC veteran Akihiro Gono following his decision loss to Jon Fitch at UFC 94 in January. The loss was Gono’s second consecutive loss in the UFC and it dropped his overall record with the company to 1-2.

It doesn’t look as though Gono will be out of work for long though. According to the latest print edition of The Wrestling Observer, Gono is currently in negotiations with the Japanese-based Sengoku promotion. If Gono does sign with Sengoku it would mark the first time since 2006 the Japanese MMA veteran has fought overseas.

Gono has fought all over Japan in his long illustrious career. Since his MMA debut in 1997 he has competed for the Shooto, Pancrase, and PRIDE promotions among many others. His signing with the UFC in 2007 was huge news for PRIDE fans as Gono became a fixture for the company following wins over Hector Lombard, Gegard Mousasi, and others.

If Gono signs with the promotion, he could be added to Sengoku 8 on May 22 at the National Yoyogi Stadium in Tokyo, Japan.

Former PRIDE and Shooto champion Takanori Gomi has hit a rough spot in his MMA career. The 29-5 fighter was at one time considered the #1 lightweight fighter in the world, however after dropping two consecutive fights to Sergey Golyaev and Satoru Kitaoka for the Sengoku promotion, Gomi is planning a return to the organization where he started out.

According to a report from Japan-MMA.com, Gomi will be making his return to the Shooto promotion for the company’s final 20th Anniversary “Tradition Series” show on May 10 at the JCB Hall. Gomi is expected to face Shooto champion Takashi Nakakura. Nakakura is currently 11-2-1 in his MMA career and is riding a 5-fight win streak. His last loss came at the hands of Mitsuhiro Ishida back at a Shooto event in 2005.

Gomi made his MMA debut back in 1998 for the Shooto promotion and competed with the company for over 5 years. He compiled a 12-0 record with the promotion over that time before dropping his final fight to Joachim Hansen back in 2003. After that loss, Gomi ended up signing with PRIDE and never looked back.

In addition to Gomi vs. Nakakura, Shooto’s final “Tradition Series” show is expected to feature bouts between top 10 featherweight “Lion” Takeshi Inoue vs. Rumina Sato and Koutetsu Boku vs. Yutaka Ueda.

After defeating David Gardner at DREAM 7 on March 8, it appears as though popular Japanese fighter Shinya Aoki is wasting no time in returning to action.

MMAWeekly.com is reporting that in the opening round of the DREAM welterweight grand prix, Aoki will face fellow Top 10 fighter Hayato “Mach” Sakurai at the upcoming DREAM 8 show on April 5 at the Nippon Gaishi Hall in Nagoya, Japan.

Since DREAM started up in March of 2008, Aoki has gone 6-1-1 with the company including wins over Gesias “JZ” Calvancante, Caol Uno, and Eddie Alvarez. Aoki is now widely regarded as the #1 lightweight fighter in the world, but is no stranger to competition in the welterweight division.

Sakurai has a pretty impressive record with DREAM as well going 3-0 with the company with wins over Hidetaka Monma, Kuniyoshi Hironaka, and Katsuyori Shibata. His last loss came at the hands of the UFC’s David Baron who defeated Sakurai at a Shooto show back in May of 2008 with a guillotine choke in the first round.

This will mark the second meeting between Sakurai and Aoki. Aoki defeated Sakurai via unanimous-decision at a Shooto show back in August of 2005.

After publicly stating his interest in bringing Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic back to the UFC in January, UFC President Dana White may have just missed his chance to bring the Croatian heavyweight back to the company.

According to a report from British MMA magazine, Fighters Only, Filipovic has been offered a new three-fight deal from DREAM/K-1 that would include a fight with Alistair Overeem conducted under K-1 rules, as well as a possible future match-up with Fedor Emelianenko.

Filipovic had stated in recent weeks that he was considering a move back to the UFC where he went 1-2 with the company back in 2007. After drawing a ton of hype upon his debut in the UFC where he defeated Eddie Sanchez via first round TKO, “Cro Cop” went on to drop his next two consecutive bouts to Cheick Kongo and Gabriel Gonzaga which then led to his mutual release from the company. Filipovic then headed back to Japan where he has gone 2-0-1 since then.

The report also states that DREAM is looking to run a heavyweight grand prix this year that could include Emelianenko, Filipovic, Semmy Schilt, and others.

Just one week after losing to Junior dos Santos at UFC 95, Dutch heavyweight Stefan Struve (16-3) is wasting no time in looking for his first win in the UFC.

According to a report from British MMA Magazine Fighters Only, Struve and British welterweight Paul Taylor (9-4-1) have both been offered fights for UFC 99, however their opponents are currently unknown and bout agreements have yet to be signed.

Struve is a young heavyweight prospect who’s loss to dos Santos at UFC 95 was his first loss in his last six fights. He signed with the UFC in December after earning five consecutive victories in 2008 where he finished all of his opponents via submission.

Taylor was rumored to face Matt Brown at UFC 95 where he was looking to improve upon his 2-3 record in the UFC. Unfortunately Taylor suffered broken ribs in his loss to Chris Lytle at UFC 89 and wasn’t fully recovered in time to face Brown.

UFC 99 is set to go down on June 13 at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany and will feature a main event of Rich Franklin battling Wanderlei Silva in a special catch weight bout.