UFC.com has announced three additional bouts for October 18th’s UFC 89.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship(R) (UFC(R)) has added three thrilling bouts to the organization’s next UK super-show. It has been confirmed that Rameau Sokoudjou will collide with Luiz Cane in a battle of light-heavyweight strikers, Japanese submission expert Akihiro Gono will take on on highly-regarded British debutant Dan Hardy and steel-fisted heavyweight Shane Carwin will exchange bombs with England’s own Neil Wain.

There are definitely some quality match-ups in there, however I am slightly disappointed that I might not to get to see Sokoudjou vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua anytime soon. Who knows, maybe if the “African Assassin” comes out of the Cane fight unscathed (which I doubt) we may get to see him take on Shogun in December.

UFC 89 is headlined by a middleweight contest between Michael Bisping and Chris Leben and is set to take place on October 18th at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England.

The current rumored line-up is as follows:

• Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leben
• Thiago Alves vs. Diego Sanchez*
• Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Luiz Cane
• Dan Hardy vs. Akihiro Gono
• Shane Carwin vs. Neil Wain
• Paul Kelly vs. Marcus Davis*
• Jess Liaudin vs. David Bielkheden*
• Samy Schiavo vs. Per Eklund*
• Sam Stout vs. Terry Etim*

*Indicates rumored bout as foretold by MMA Weekly.com.

Read more UFC 89 content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com

MMA Junkie has learned the recipients of the traditional UFC Fight Night bonuses.

• Forrest Griffin and Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson each earned a $60,000 “Fight of the Night” bonus for their 5 round war
• Melvin Guillard received $60,000 for “Knockout of the Night” after his 1st round KO over Dennis Siver. (Guillard’s KO was also the only (T)KO of the night)
• Cole Miller earned “Submission of the Night” and $60,000 for his 3rd round triangle choke over Jorge Gurgel.

Congratulations to the winners. It’s hard to argue with any of the choices.

Read more UFC 86 content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.

Dave Meltzer has the official scorecard for the Jackson vs. Griffin bout.

They are as follows:

Adalaide Byrd who scored it 48-46, gave 4 and 5 to Jackson and Griffin 1, 2 and 3 with 2 as 10-8

Nelson Hamilton had it 48-46 with 1 and 4 for Jackson, and Griffin getting 2 10-8

Roy Silbert had it 49-46 with only round 4 for Jackson

I would have liked to have seen a camera from Adalaide Byrd’s point of view. If she wasn’t sitting behind a giant pole or Shaquille O’Neal then she needs to get her eyes checked. Roy Silbert takes second place in terms of being a nutty judge for scoring the first for Griffin with Nelson Hamilton not placing at all because he at least scored the fight logically.

Thoughts?

Originally scheduled for UFC 85, a welterweight clash between the always tough Ryo Chonan (14-8) and the perennially perplexing, Roan Carneiro (12-7) will now take place on September 6th, at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta as a part of UFC 88.

The news comes from our good friends over at MMA Junkie.

Chonan had to pull out of the UFC 85 clash due to a rib injury, leaving Carneiro to take on a replacement fighter in the form of the unheralded Kevin Burns. In a surprising turn of events, the BJJ black belt was submitted by the lowly Burns. However, Carneiro finds himself in a rare position in which he could all but erase the result of the Burns’ fight by winning the fight he against the opponent he was originally set to face.

Chonan, on the other hand, is coming back from an injury to find everything is where he left it as the fight he had to cancel due to injury is still there, glaring back at him. It will be an important fight for “Piranha” as he failed to impress in his debut where he was on the wrong end of a Karo Decisyan.

UFC 88 is headlined by a light heavyweight showdown between Chuck Liddell and Rashad Evans.

Read more UFC 88 content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.

MMA Weekly is reporting that a welterweight clash between Diego Sanchez and Thiago Alves will most likely take place on October 18th as a part of UFC 89.

From MMA Weekly:

While the welterweight division looks towards a championship match in August between current titleholder Georges St. Pierre and Jon Fitch, the weight class will continue to build towards a new top contender as MMAWeekly.com has learned that American Top Team knockout artist Thiago “Pitbull” Alves is slated to return on Oct. 18 to face former “Ultimate Fighter” winner Diego Sanchez.

The bout was confirmed to MMAWeekly.com by sources close to the fight. There is currently a verbal agreement with actual bout agreements for the contest expected to be signed in the next few days.

Both fighters looked impressive in their most recent outings with Sanchez showing some much improved stand-up in a third round TKO of Luigi Fioravanti at last month’s Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale while Thiago Alves overpowered former long time welterweight champion Matt Hughes at UFC 85 in a second round TKO. Albeit after failing to make weight for the encounter.

I for one wouldn’t be surprised if Thiago Alves has been specifically been told by the UFC management that he needs to make 170 lbs. (as opposed to the allowed 171 lbs.) or else they will not risk him in a future title bout if he proves victorious.

UFC 89 is currently set for October 18th at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England. The event is currently headlined by a middleweight clash between Michael “The Count” Bisping and Chris “The Crippler” Leben.

Read more UFC 89 content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.

That’s the word according to the official Xtreme Couture website.

“The Phenom” Vitor Belfort is at Xtreme Couture training for his upcoming bout at Affliction: Banned. Vitor will be taking on Terry Martin in his debut at 185lbs. Vitor has spent most of his career fighting at 205lbs which is about what he normally weighs. Meaning he was going in the cage and ring against opponents 10-15 pounds heavier than him at fight time. He says he feels faster and lighter at 185 and is looking to make an immediate impact on the division.

I found this piece of news interesting as I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Belfort actually has nightmares about Randy Couture. The first beating Couture gave to Belfort is something I don’t think he ever fully recovered from mentally and the third fight between the two was another psychological beatdown of epic proportions.

But I guess training with the guy that dished that type of punishment out to you is a way for you to gain some form of confidence back and who knows, with tips from Couture and a new weight class for Belfort to begin anew in, maybe we’ll see the destructive Belfort of old?

I know, I’m a sucker for punishment.

Read more Vitor Belfort content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.

In the traditional pre-fight interview with UFC.com, UFC 86 competitor, Melvin Guillard, spoke about his last fight (against Rich Clementi at UFC 79) and his new outlook on fighting.

From UFC.com:

“My last two fights had affected me badly,” said Guillard. “My dad had just died, so my mind wasn’t really into fighting and my heart wasn’t there but I want it to be there. Now I’m back and I’m ready.”

“The loss I got from him (Clementi) I can’t base that and say that Rich is a better fighter than me because technically we got in a street fight and technically I beat the s**t out of him. But now I’m over that, I’m more mature now, I don’t care. I just want to get better and get my rematch inside the ring and I’m going to leave it like that.”

“I just want to be a legend in the sport, I want to be a champion, and I want to be a hall of famer,” he said. “It ain’t about the money to me anymore. Fighting to live, fighting to survive, it ain’t about that anymore. Now it’s about just having fun, and right now I just need to get back to having fun and winning fights.”

Now I don’t want to nitpick but the whole article sounds like the leftovers from the article put up before UFC 79. It all basically reads the same stuff about how Guillard had turned the corner, the leaf and the magical life pancake but in the end he was still the same fighter in the cage and ended the whole saga by calling Clementi a “mat rat” in a post fight interview.

But like all Guillard fights it will be interesting to see if he will actually be able to capitalize on the undisputed potential he possesses.

Read more Melvin Guillard content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.

MMA Junkie is reporting that a lightweight clash between Joe Lauzon (16-4) and Kyle Bradley (13-5) has been agreed to and will take place on September 17th at the Omaha Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska as a part of UFC Fight Night 15.

Both fighters will be coming off of losses with Lauzon losing to Kenny Florian back in April at UFN 13 and Kyle Bradley losing in a welterweight contest against the ever tough Chris Lytle.

This is a good match-up in my mind as both fighters were fairly hot prospects going into their last bouts. Lauzon looked to be holding his own in his match with a highly ranked lightweight in Florian while Bradley didn’t get to show much in the whirlwind of fists that was Hurricane Lytle back at UFC 81.

The current rumored card for UFN 15 looks like this:

• Mac Danzig vs. Clay Guida
• Nate Diaz vs. Josh Neer
• Houston Alexander vs. Eric Schafer
• Ed Herman vs. Alan Belcher
• Joe Lauzon vs. Kyle Bradley

Read more UFN 15 content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.

Bouts for July 19th’s UFC Fight Night 14 are getting reported thick and fast all around the MMA Blogosphere.

Sherdog.com has the latest with sources close to them saying that Brandon Vera (8-2) will take on former IFL fighter, Reese Andy (7-1) at 205 lbs. The fight will be pegged as the co-main event of the evening.

Andy has spent the majority of his career in the IFL organisation. He went 5-1 in the organisation with his latest performance being a split decision victory over Krzysztof Soszynski in June of last year.

Another solid match-up for the ever more alluring UFC Fight Night 14.

Read more UFN 14 content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.

MMA Mania is reporting that a welterweight match-up between Anthony Johnson (5-1) and Kevin Burns (6-1) has been signed for July 19th’s, UFC Fight Night 14.

Both fighters are coming off very impressive victories in their most recent outings. Anthony Johnson destroyed TUF 6 finalist, Tommy Speer at April’s UFN 13 via first round highlight reel knockout. Kevin Burns on the other hand came out of nowhere to submit BJJ specialist, Roan Carneiro earlier this month at UFC 85: Bedlam.

The UFC has done some impressive scrambling so far to put together a decent looking fight night card. Currently, the card looks like this;

• Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin
• Brandon Vera vs. Reese Andy
• Hermes Franca vs. Frankie Edgar
• Jake O’Brien vs. Cain Velasquez
• Anthony Johnson vs. Kevin Burns

Read more UFN 14 content at FiveOuncesOfPain.com

MMA Junkie has gotten word that the UFC have re-signed Jake O’Brien and that he will take on undefeated heavyweight prospect, Cain Velasquez at the newly created UFC Fight Night 14 scheduled for July 19th.

If you remember, Jake O’Brien’s contract was cut after his loss to former UFC heavyweight champion, Andrei Arlovski earlier this year. There was a small outcry over the UFC’s hasty decision to cut the fighter but it was more or less drowned out by the “good riddances” from many a fan who were against O’Brien’s stalling tactics while inside the cage. However it looks like when it comes to filling a fight card on short notice it seems certain past indiscretions can be forgotten.

Velasquez made his UFC debut on the un-televised portion of UFC 83. He made very quick work of Australian, Brad Morris winning by first round TKO.

UFC Fight Night 14 will be headlined by a light heavyweight contest between current UFC middleweight champion, Anderson Silva and James Irvin.

Check out more UFC content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.

I know you are all probably sick of hearing about Dana White’s “huge” announcement and just want to hear what it actually is but alas, you, like the rest of the world will have to wait until Tuesday to get the full story.

In the meantime however, Mark Chalifoux from the Baltimore Sun recently conducted an interview with the UFC president. In an excerpt from that interview, which can be found here, White discusses this Tuesday’s announcement and in my opinion seems rather taken aback by the commotion triggered by his comments on ESPN last week.

From the Baltimore Sun:

Dana White: I’m doing it Tuesday. Let me tell you how out of [expletive deleted] control that thing is. I was talking to ESPN and [the reporter] was talking about competition and I said, ‘Let me tell you what. People have been trying to compete with the UFC for years, even before we bought it. The last big one everyone thought was a big threat … was the IFL. They went public, raised 800-[expletive deleted] million dollars, then they were talking about doing fighter benefits and stuff. They got the first network deal and those other guys weren’t the first on. They got time on 60 Minutes with us when 60 Minutes did their piece on us, and now the IFL is gone. They are [expletive deleted] down, their stock is worth half a cent (Editor’s note: IFLI closed today at $0.02). That’s what we were talking about that day and I said I’m going to make an announcement to my employees that shows everyone exactly where this business is going in the next couple years.

I said I wanted to make the announcement to my employees, so it’s not even like I was making a big announcement to the media. If I was doing that I would’ve had a big news conference and then gone off to London. I wanted to wait until I was back to do it.

It’s a big [expletive deleted] announcement, it’s a big [expletive deleted] deal but I got a lot of other stuff we’re working on right now. It was never anything I said I was going to announce to the media.

Thoughts?

Read more Dana White content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.

The UFC’s official website, UFC.com, has announced four additional bouts for August 9th’s UFC 87: Seek and Destroy.

A heavyweight tilt between Cheick Kongo (11-4-2) and UFC newcomer Dan Evensen (10-2), a very intriguing lightweight bout between Frankie Edgar (8-1) and Hermes Franca (18-6) and two welterweight fights featuring Chris Wilson (13-4) vs. Steve Bruno (11-3) and Ben Saunders (5-0-2) vs. Jared Rollins (6-4).

It is interesting to note that both Chris Wilson vs. Steve Bruno and Ben Saunders vs. Jared Rollins were originally rumored to take place on next month’s UFC 86.

UFC 87 is set to take at the Target Center, MN and will feature a welterweight title fight between Georges St. Pierre and Jon Fitch as a main event with a lightweight number 1 contender battle between Roger Huerta and Kenny Florian and a heavyweight bout between Brock Lesnar and Heath Herring serving as co-main events.

Read more UFC 87 content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com

Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic has pulled out of his scheduled grappling match with Ralek Gracie at Dream 4 due to some nagging injuries.The news comes from MMA Weekly via a report on Croatian news site, Dnevnik.hr.

The report states that Cro Cop decided against the grappling match because he wanted to rehab some nagging injuries and focus on a July 21st MMA bout likely to be against former K-1 champion kickboxer, Jerome LeBanner at Dream 5.

Although the grappling match probably wouldn’t have been the most enthralling of contests I was still intrigued to see it and now I’m slightly disappointed that it has been cancelled. I knew I should have been suspicious when Mike Huckaby posted up a completed fight card for Dream 4 up more than two days out from the event. In retrospect that finished fight card now just looks like a deformed Minowaman taunting me.

Read more Mirko Cro Cop content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.

Brandon Vera was a very angry man at the post fight press conference, video of which can be found here.

Vera was very disappointed at Fabricio Werdum’s comments at the post fight press conference with Werdum stating that he didn’t want an immediate rematch with Vera and that he should “go to the queue again” which according to Vera is in direct contrast to comments he made directly after the fight.

When asked about his thoughts on the fight and what he thought he deserved after it, Vera replied:

I’ve got a lot to say about that fight. That ref sucks.

I’m kinda disappointed in Fabricio, he said yes, earlier in the cage, right after. At least that’s what I thought. He shook his head like, “yeah, we’ll do it again”. Now he’s telling me to get back in queue. I understand why he doesn’t want to fight me again. I hope you win that title Fabricio because I’m really looking forward to fighting you again. I don’t agree with that stoppage and ah… yeah, I’m pissed.

There are plenty more post fight interviews over at UFC.com  if you want to get the thoughts of many of the other fighter’s on the card.

Read more Brandon Vera  and UFC 85 content  on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.

MMA Junkie has got the traditional UFC “Fight Night” bonuses for yesterday’s UFC 85: Bedlam.

The bonuses were set at $50,000 which is $25,000 less than last month’s UFC 84: Ill Will. They were awarded as follows:

• Thiago Alves earns $50,000 for KO of the night after his 2nd round TKO over former UFC welterweight champion, Matt Hughes.
• UFC newcomer, Kevin Burns earns $50,000 for submission of the night after his 2nd round triangle choke of Roan Carneiro.
• Both Matt Wiman and Thiago Tavares earned $50,000 for their exciting two round scrap which Wiman won via KO.

I personally disagree with Alves earning KO of the night based on the fact these bonuses are up to the UFC’s discretion and he should not be rewarded with anything extra after failing to make weight, regardless of any injury that may of hindered his training. In my opinion Luis Cane should have earned that award as he knocked Jason Lambert down cleanly three times in their fight before the referee intervened.

Read more UFC 85 content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.

There has been much said, post-fight, about EliteXC: Primetime’s main event between Kimbo Slice and James Thompson. The majority of which surrounds fight-fixing conspiracies, premature stoppages, phantom taps, why Kimbo will never be a top 10 heavyweight and how terrible it was that that fight was the main event on MMA’s first network card.

Much of the criticism levelled at the main attraction pre-fight was that Kimbo Slice was undeserving of the role of ambassador for mainstream mixed martial arts because of his lack of experience and his backyard brawling background and that the fight would be just be an early first round knockout and would be more about showcasing Slice than it was MMA.

A quick first round knockout wasn’t what we saw on Saturday night though and I for one am glad that I got to see 10 minutes and 38 seconds of back and forth MMA action instead. Granted, the fight wasn’t filled with the cleanest of exchanges and grappling transitions but in my opinion it was a lot better viewing than the much predicted alternative.

If Slice/Thompson went as everyone expected it to go then MMA’s first foray into the world of network television would of come across to the novice viewer as just sloppy kickboxing with the occasional tackle.

The hardest part, I think, of introducing MMA to the uneducated public is getting the public to understand the intricacies of the ground game. If MMA is going to have any sort of staying power or longevity as a mainstream sport it needs an educated fan base. You can only dish up less than technical stand-up war after stand-up war for so long until the product becomes stale and in my opinion what gives MMA its lure is the contrast between the intensity and power of the stand up and the technical and tactical battle of the ground. Surprisingly, Kimbo/Thompson probably ended up helping the education of the newer audience in the details of the ground more so than any other possible fight could.

Like it or not, the overwhelming majority of people that tuned in yesterday that haven’t watched an MMA event most likely did so in order to watch Kimbo Slice. Now if you had only very limited knowledge about MMA beforehand and were only tuning in to watch Kimbo Slice you would be very eager and interested to learn what was going on when Thompson was on top of Kimbo. The commentators did a good job of explaining what Kimbo needed to do in order to get out of the bad situations he found himself in and what James Thompson was trying to do. For an MMA newcomer and Kimbo fan that would resonate more deeply than it would if it were two BJJ blackbelts rolling in the main event.

With any luck that fight planted seeds in the minds of many newcomers so that the next time they stumble upon an event they will be able to see and recognise those positions and will be able to get more insight and enjoyment out of that fight/event.

And now for something completely different.

While all the hype and focus was on the strangeness that was EliteXC’s network debut yesterday, the WEC held their weigh-ins for their biggest card ever.

The full weigh-in results for WEC 34: Faber vs. Pulver are as follows:

Main Event – WEC Featherweight Championship
Jens Pulver (145) vs Urijah Faber (144.5)

WEC Bantamweight Championship
Yoshiro Maeda (135) vs Miguel Torres (135)

Undercard
Kenneth Alexander (155.5) vs Rob McCullough (155.5)
Chuck Grigsby (204.5) vs Mark Munoz (205.5)

Donald Cerrone (155.5) vs Danny Castillo (155)
Mike Brown (145) vs Jeff Curran (144.5)
Will Ribeiro (135) vs Chase Beebe (136)
Jeremy Lang (183.5) vs Tim McKenzie (184.5)
Luis Sapo (170) vs Alex Serdyukov (169.5)
Alexandre Nogueira (145.5) vs Jose Aldo (145.5)
Dominick Cruz (135) vs Charlie Valencia (135.5)

Read more WEC 34 content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.

A welterweight clash between Team Quest fighter, Chris Wilson and UFC debutant Steve Bruno, originally set for July’s UFC 86 has been postponed to August’s UFC 87 according Wilson’s personal website.

From ChrisWilsonMMA.com:

I just found out my fight has been postponed. The rescheduled date hasn’t been finalized but appears to be bumped to the next UFC show, UFC 87 headlined by St. Pierre vs Fitch in Minnesota of all places. What a great card to fight under, eh?

In the end, it is frustrating to have to wait longer to get paid but it will give me more training time coming off of the birth of my daughter so it’s probably for the best. Frankly, I’m just glad to fight, period. I guess I can wait one more month.

Any chance Bruno had of fighting me before I got back into shape has just vanished. Bruno’s fanboys will be terribly distraught when he gets destroyed

No word yet as to why the bout has been postponed but I’m sure a reason will surface in the coming week.

UFC 87 is headlined by a welterweight title fight between current champion, Georges St. Pierre and the very tough, Jon Fitch. A No.1 contender match-up in the lightweight division between Roger Huerta and Kenny Florian is also set as well as the return of Brock Lesnar against Heath Herring.

Read more UFC 87 content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.

MMAPayout.com is reporting that former UFC heavyweight champion, Andrei Arlovski will host a media day/workout session this Tuesday, May 27th.

From MMAPayout.com:

MMAPayout.com received a report that free agent heavyweight superstar Andrei Arlovski will be holding a media day/work out session this coming Tuesday the 27th in Los Angeles. Wild Card Gym in Hollywood will be the site of the presser/workout as Andrei works with famed boxing trainer Freddie Roach and strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza for the assembled members of the media.

Can’t say for sure but I’m pretty damn certain that Arlovski will use this platform to announce his future plans and most probably his departure from the UFC and a bout with Ben Rothwell at Affliction: Banned in July. If this is indeed the case the UFC heavyweight division has taken another huge, albeit expected, blow.

Read more Andrei Arlovski content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.