XMMA has announced that Phil “The New York Badass” Baroni has pulled out of his Feb. 27 bout with Guillaume de Lorenzi. His replacement will be the vocal Jon “War Machine” Koppenhaver.

Koppenhaver has been a hot topic over the past week after being dropped by Bellator Fighting Championships for outrageous comments regarding President Barack Obama.

Koppenhaver, a native of Las Vegas, Nevada, possesses a mixed martial arts record of 6-2. Before his release from the UFC, Koppenhaver fought twice scoring a victory over Jared Rollins while falling victim to the ground game of Yoshiyuki Yoshida. Koppenhaver was last in action at Desert Rage 4 where he secured a KO over David Anderson.

Guillaume de Lorzeni possesses a mixed martial arts record of 5-0. de Lorenzi has scored quick, devastating victories over Jason Motard, Jay Jenkins, Keith Perrigon, and Iraj Hadin.

XMMA has announced that EliteXC veteran Cris “Cyborg” Santos has suffered a shoulder injury and has been forced to withdraw from her bout with Marloes Coenen at XMMA 7: Inferno.

Santos, a member of the famed Chute Boxe Academy, possesses a mixed martial arts record of 6-1. Santos is currently riding a six fight winning streak with stoppage victories over Shayna Baszler, Marise Vitoria, Elaine Santiago, and Chris Schroeder.

This past week it was announced that Strikeforce had purchased select fighter contracts from EliteXC and among them was Santos. It has been reported that Santos will appear on the April 11th Strikeforce show, possibly in a bout with fellow female star Gina Carano.

FiveOuncesofPain.com has learned that Canadian welterweight prospect T.J. Grant has signed a four-fight contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Grant’s UFC debut will come on April 18 at UFC 97 but no opponent has been announced at this time.

Grant, a native of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, possesses a mixed martial arts record of 13-2. Grant is currently riding a four-fight winning streak with stoppage victories over Beau Baker, Forrest Petz, Chad Reiner, and Mike Gates.

FiveOuncesofPain.com has learned that Canadian welterweight Jonathan “The Road Warrior” Goulet has turned down his proposed bout with Tamdan McCrory after he was unable to gain medical clearance for his injured knee.

A few weeks ago, FiveOuncesofPain.com broke news that Goulet was offered a fight with McCrory but the bout hinged on the fact that Goulet needed to receive medical clearance. Goulet suffered the knee injury last month during his first round TKO loss to Mike Swick at “UFC Fight for the Troops.”

Goulet, a native of Victoriaville, Quebec, possesses a mixed martial arts record of 22-10. Goulet holds UFC victories over Jay Hieron, Luke Cummo, Paul Georgieff, and Kuniyoshi Hironaka.

McCrory, a native of Courtland, New York, possesses a mixed martial arts record of 10-2. McCrory holds UFC victories over Pete Spratt and Luke Cummo.

XMMA has announced that EliteXC veteran Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos will battle Marloes Coenen at XMMA 7: Inferno on Friday, February 27 in Montreal, Quebec.

Santos, a member of the Chute Boxe Academy, possesses a mixed martial arts record of 6-1. Santos had an impressive year securing victories over Shayna Baszler and Yoko Takahashi. Santos was on a collision course with EliteXC star Gina Carano before the company ceased operations in October.

Coenen, a native of Deventer, Holland, possesses a mixed martial arts record of 16-2. Coenen owns victories over the likes Yoko Takahashi, Keiko Tamai, and Yuuki Kondo.

XMMA 7: Inferno will also feature UFC veteran Phil Baroni, Martin Desilets, Todd Gouwenberg, Steve Claveau, Kajan Johnson, and Doug Evans.

UFC veteran Phil Baroni has signed a contract with Xtreme MMA in Quebec, Canada to headline their upcoming card XMMA 7 on February 27 in Montreal, Quebec.

According to reports on CagePlay.com, Baroni’s XMMA debut will come against welterweight prospect Guillaume de Lorenzi.

Baroni, a native of Long Island, New York, made the drop to welterweight earlier this year and has since gone 3-0 with victories over Scott Jansen, Ron Verdadero, and Olaf Alfonso.

De Lorenzi possesses an unblemished mixed martial arts record of 5-0. de Lorenzi, a heavy handed striker, holds stoppage victories over Nordine Taleb, Iraj Hadin, Keith Perrigon, Jay Jenkins, and Jason Motard.

Since the collapse of TKO Championship Fighting in October, XMMA has filled the void in the Canadian market by signing notable names including Baroni, Christine “Cyborg” Santos, David Loiseau, among others.

XMMA 7 will also feature a light heavyweight bout between The Ultimate Fighter alumni Ryan Jimmo and Mike Nickels.

Since appearing on TUF, Jimmo has secured victories over Chris Fontaine, Jesse Forbes, and Rick Roufus.

In a recent interview with The Canadian Press, UFC president Dana White stated that the Ultimate Fighting Championship would be returning to Montreal, Quebec in the spring and has plans of securing a show in Ontario in 2009

White said, “We’re going to attack Toronto and we’re going to get that done. We want to get a fight done in Ontario bad. And we’re going to do a big stadium there too. We’re not talking 10, 15, 20,000, we’re going to do a big stadium in Toronto.”

That big stadium will be the Rogers Centre, formerly known as the Sky Dome. The Rogers Centre was opened on June 3, 1989 and is home to Major League Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays. The facility has a seating capacity of approximately 55,000.

When reports asked White about the Rogers Centre, he smiled and said “Maybe.”

Now there is no doubt that a show in Ontario would do massive ticket sales, especially if UFC welterweight champion Georges “Rush” St. Pierre was the headliner. With that being said, MMA still unsanctioned in Ontario and unless White can work some magic, it doesn’t look to be changing any time soon.

Prior to UFC 83, Ontario Athletics Commissioner Ken Hayashi was provided with an invite by Zuffa to witness Serra vs. St. Pierre II live but he declined the invitation saying, “I think it would be inappropriate to attend an event that we have determined to be illegal.”

Hayashi currently the largest roadblock to MMA is Ontario. MMA isn’t the only combat sport that has had issues with the commissioner. The kickboxing community has had their share of battles and though kickboxing is sanction, fighters are forced to wear standardized boxing gloves, fight in a traditional boxing ring and kicks are allowed but only above the waist.

When asked by SLAM! Sports about allowing kickboxing and not MMA, Hayashi said, “It’s still a stretch absolutely but that’s the limit the government feels comfortable with. (Kick boxers) can’t kick to the legs, they can’t grab, they can’t throw to the ground, can’t choke out, can’t put someone in a submission hold, can’t elbow, can’t knee… there is a difference.”

Mixed martial arts are currently banned because of Section 83.1 of the Criminal Code. Section 83.1 states that everyone who (a) engages as a principal in a prize fight, (b) advises, encourages or promotes a prize fight or (c) is present at a prize fight as a aid, second, surgeon, umpire, backer, or reporter, is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

That applies to all of Canada yet provinces such as Quebec, Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and British Columbia still host MMA events.

Over the past year, promoters have started hosting shows on Native Reservations throughout Ontario. Fighters such as Gary Goodridge, Dan Severn, and Eduardo Pamplona have been featured on cards hosted on sovereign land.

White feels confident the UFC can get something done saying, “This has been a successful sport now for almost 10 years. We’ve been a successful organization that can come in and put on a world-class sporting event. Why can’t we do it in Ontario? It makes no sense. It’s common sense that this is going to happen.”

It’ll be interesting to see if White and company can talk some sense into Hayashi and the Ontario Athletic Commission.

The Maximum Fighting Championship has announced that it has signed UFC veteran Derrick Noble to a three-fight contract.

Noble is a versatile veteran who possesses a mixed martial arts record of 22-11-1. Noble owns victories over the likes of MFC welterweight champion Pat Healy, Thiago Alves, Carlo Prater, and Jake Ellenberger. Noble has also been in the cage with notable names such as Chris Lytle, Josh Neer, Gideon Ray, and Eddie Alvarez though in a losing effort.

Noble will make his MFC debut on Friday, December 5 at MFC 19: Long Time Coming in a lightweight showdown with Ariel Sexton (5-1).

This past weekend, PRIDE and K-1 veteran Denis Kang got back on the winning track with an impressive 46 second knockout of UFC veteran Marvin “The Beastman” Eastman.

Both fighters spent the first twenty seconds of the bout feeling each other out with jabs before Kang moved in and landed a looping overhand right that put Eastman on the canvas. The victory is Kang’s second straight since he dropped consecutive bouts to Yoshihiro Akiyama and Gegard Mousasi. Kang currently has one bout remaining on his existing K-1 contract.

Also on Saturday’s card was a rematch between KOTC Canada heavyweight champion Tim Hague and Miodrag Petkovic. Hague gained his redemption as he earned a unanimous decision after three hard fought rounds.

Raw Combat: Redemption Results

Denis Kang def. Marvin Eastman – KO 1 0:46
Bibiano Fernandes def. Len Tam – Submission (Triangle Choke) 1 0:58
Trevor Stewardson def. Brendan Seguin – TKO 3 2:03
Tim Hague def. Miodrag Petkovic – Unanimous Decision
Ryan Ford def. Nabil Khatib – Unanimous Decision
Andrew Buckland def. Garett Davis – KO 1 1:43
Brad Cardinal def. Myles Merola – Submission (Triangle Choke) 1 4:15
Hardeep Singh def. Bernie Antle – TKO 1 2:29
Nathan Gunn def. Jaret Evans – Unanimous Decision
Matt Bagshaw def. Wes Jaya – Submission (Keylock) 1 4:13
Keto Allen def. Mike Rowbotham – Submission 2 1:40

Five Ounces of Pain has learned that Affliction has signed Canadian featherweight Dave Pariseau to a three-fight contract. No date or opponent was announced for his debut.

Pariseau is a veteran of TKO, XMMA, and Ultimate Cage Wars who possesses a mixed martial arts record of 7-6-1. Pariseau holds victories over the likes of Jason St. Louis, Jacob MacDonald, and Alex Popov. Pariseau has also been in the cage with the likes of Chris Horodecki, Martin Grandmont, and Kajan Johnson, all in a losing effort.

Pariseau was last in action at XMMA 3 where he scored an impressive 19 second rear naked choke over his foe, Justin Doyon.

UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre has been awarded his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt by Bruno Fernandes.

The Franchise Radio is reporting that St. Pierre received his black belt on Saturday at TriStar Gym which was the end of a monthly seminar being held by BJJ world champion Bruno Fernandes.

In an interview with GracieMag.com, St. Pierre said the moment ranks as one of the best in his life. “When I received my black belt in karate, when I conquered the UFC belt, and today.”

St. Pierre was last in action on Aug. 9 at UFC 87: Seek and Destroy where he beat on top contender Jon Fitch for five rounds. St. Pierre is currently rumored to be fighting UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn at UFC 94 on Jan. 31 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Since his last appearance in the cage, St. Pierre has kept busy splitting his training time between WAT in New York, TriStar Gym in Montreal and Greg Jackson’s in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com has confirmed through multiple sources that EliteXC has signed Jason Volpe and Nick Denis to contracts.

Denis, a native of Ottawa, Ontario, possesses an unblemished mixed martial arts record of 6-0. Denis currently trains at Ronin MMA and holds victories over the likes of Josh Kyrejto, Josh Gallant, and Chris Myra.

Jason “The Hitman” Volpe possesses a mixed martial arts record of 4-1. Volpe holds victories over the likes of Aaron Barnard, Dave Logan, Dustin Dickerson, and Lino Santoro. Volpe’s sole professional loss came to the hands of Jarid Bussemakers at KOTC: Brawl at the Mall 3.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com has learned that King of the Cage Canada heavyweight champion Tim Hague has signed a one-year contract with EliteXC. No date or opponent has been announced for Hague’s debut.

Hague, a native of Edmonton, Alberta, possesses a mixed martial arts record of 8-1. Hague holds victories over notable names such as UFC veteran Sherman Pendergarst, Ruben Villareal and Jared Kilkenny. Hague’s sole professional loss came via split decision to Miodrag Petkovic at HCF: Destiny.

Hague and Petkovic are currently slated to rematch at Raw Combat: Resurrection on October 25, 2008 at the Calgary Corral. Also featured on the card is a middleweight bout between Denis Kang and Marvin Eastman.

Canadian middleweight Jason MacDonald has signed a new four-fight contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The news comes from MacDonald’s blog where he said, “I signed a new contract with the UFC this week. It’s a new four-fight deal, so I’ll be looking forward to four more fights in the UFC and hopefully climbing my way to the top of the division.”

MacDonald, a native of Pictou County, Nova Scotia, has fought three times this year amassing a record of 2-1. MacDonald has scored stoppage victories over Jason Lambert and Joe Doerksen while dropping a bout to Demian Maia at UFC 87: Seek and Destroy.

MacDonald isn’t currently slated for any upcoming UFC cards but he did state that he feels Michael Bisping may be next on the horizon. “My gut feeling is I’m going to fight Michael Bisping, win or lose in his upcoming bout. I have no particular reason for that. Nobody has said anything to lead me to believe that. I just see that happening. But then again Alessio Sakara just had a good knockout so maybe they’ll think that is a good matchup, another striker vs. grappler matchup.”

Bisping is scheduled to battle Chris Leben at UFC 89: Bisping vs. Leben on Saturday, October 18 in Birmingham, England.

MacDonald has kept himself busy this year mixing his octagon time with coaching and promoting. MacDonald has been preparing the likes of Ryan Ford, Josh Russell and Ryan Machan for bouts at MFC 18: Famous while also working on promoting his new show, Pure Fighting Championship.

The Ultimate Fighter 8 contestant Ryan Jimmo will battle Jason Cecil at X Fights: Ontario vs. Maritimes on Oct. 4th at the Moncton Coliseum.

Jimmo, a native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, appeared on the premiere episode of The Ultimate Fighter 8 but unfortunately he failed to gain a spot in the house when he dropped a decision to Antwain Britt. Jimmo is a versatile striker who holds victories over Jeff Lundberg, Craig Zellner and Samir Seif.

There were rumors that Jimmo was going to fight Robert Smith or Chris Fontaine but X Fights decided to stick with the Ontario vs. Maritimes theme choosing journeyman Jason Cecil.

Cecil possesses a mixed martial arts record of 3-5-0. Cecil is brawler who holds victories over the likes of Josh Strickland, Geza Kalman, and Luc Desautels. Cecil has also dropped bouts to notable names including Roger Hollett, Brent Beauparlant, and Martin Desilets.

X Fights: Ontario vs. Maritimes will also feature a light heavyweight bout between undefeated prospects Dan Fowler (2-0) and Scott Fraser (1-0).

In a recent interview with TheFranchiseRadio.net, X Fights promoter Victor Theriault announced that Stephen “The Wonderboy” Thompson would be making his mixed martial arts debut on Nov. 15 at X Fights 2. Thompson is a world class kickboxer who is 51-0 and helped current UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre prepare for his Aug. 9 title defense against Jon Fitch.

Update: X Fights has announced that Ryan Jimmo will now meet Chris Fontaine in the main event at Ontario vs. Maritimes. Jimmo’s original opponent, Jason Cecil, was forced to withdraw after he suffered a broken nose at XMMA 5.

Raw Combat, a promotion based out of Calgary, Alberta, has announced that PRIDE and K-1 star Denis Kang will headline their upcoming event titled “Redemption” in a middleweight affair with UFC veteran Marvin Eastman.

Kang, a native of Vancouver, British Columbia, possesses a mixed martial arts record of 30-10-1. Kang holds victories over Akihiro Gono, Amar Suloev, Murilo Rua, and Mark Weir. Kang was last in action at Spirit MC 18: The Champion where he successfully defended his middleweight title against Jae Young Kim.

“We’re two athletic guys who like to get out there and swing. It’s going to be a very heated fight,” Kang explained in a press release. “There’s going to be a lot of desire by the both of us to win. I’m coming off a couple of losses and he is as well so we’re both going to be really hungry. Neither of us are going to take this fight lightly or take any shortcuts in training. That’s for sure.”

Eastman, a native of Las Vegas, Nevada, possesses a mixed martial arts record of 15-8-1. Eastman holds victories over Terry Martin, Rob Kimmons, Alan Belcher and Travis Wiuff. He last fought at The Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale losing to heavy handed Drew McFedries.

In the Raw Combat: Redemtion press release, Eastman said, “It’s been a long time since I’ve been up there. It will bring back memories. The people there were great to me. My objective is to finish the fight as fast as possible so it doesn’t go to the judges. He’s a popular guy, a top-5 middleweight and a great opponent but the bottom line is when we get in that cage, I don’t respect anybody.”

Also on the card will be King of the Cage Canada heavyweight champion Tim Hague who’ll be battling Miodrag Petkovic in a rematch of their Feb. 1st affair.

Raw Combat was formed earlier this year after Dave Houshiar left the now defunct Hardcore Championship Fighting. Their first event featured UFC veteran David Loiseau, Travis Galbraith, Bibiano Fernandes, and Carlo Prater.

Here are the official weigh-in results for UFC 88: Breakthrough which is scheduled to air tomorrow at 10 p.m. et live on pay-per-view:

Main Card:

• Rashad Evans (205) vs. Chuck Liddell (204)
• Matt Hamill (205) vs. Rich Franklin (204.5)
• Dan Henderson (185) vs. Rousimar Palhares (184.5)
• Nate Marquardt (185) vs. Martin Kampmann (184.5)
• Matt Brown (170) vs. Dong Hyun Kim (170)

Preliminary Bouts:

• Thiago Tavares (155) vs. Kurt Pellegrino (156)
• Tim Boetsch (205.25) vs. Michael Patt (205.25)
• Jason Lambert (185) vs. Jason MacDonald (185)
• Ryo Chonan (170) vs. Roan Carneiro (170)

TKO Championship Fighting has announced that UFC veteran Brian Gassaway will take on welterweight prospect T.J. Grant at TKO 35: Hioki vs. Quenneville.

Gassaway, a native of Chicago, Illinois, possesses a mixed martial arts record of 28-18-2 and has appeared in the UFC confines once losing to TUF 1 winner Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez. Gassaway’s record includes appearances in organizations such as King of the Cage, World Extreme Cagefighting, and Pancrase while he holds victories over Travis Fulton, Mark Hughes, and Jose “Pele” Landi-Jons.

Gassaway’s victory over Pele marked his debut in TKO and the bout ended in a gruesome fashion. While battling it out on the feet, Pele moved in and attempted a low kick only to have his right tibia and fibula snap. He immediately went down in a heap of pain and Gassaway was awarded the victory on the injury.

T.J. Grant, a native of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, possesses a mixed martial arts record of 11-2. Grant is currently riding a two-fight winning streak and regarded as one of Canada’s brightest welterweight prospects. Grant owns victories over notable names such as Mike Gates, Chad Reiner, and Stephan Lamarche.

TKO 35: Hioki vs. Quenneville will also feature UFC veteran Mark “The Machine” Hominick who’ll be battling WEC veteran Tommy Lee in a featherweight showdown. TKO 35 is scheduled for Friday, October 3, 2008 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec.

The Maximum Fighting Championship has announced that UFC veteran David Heath will headline MFC 18: Famous in a light heavyweight showdown with Emanuel Newton.

Earlier this month, MFC president Mark Pavelich announced that he had signed Heath to a multi-fight contract with the hopes that he’ll eventually meet up with MFC light heavyweight champion Roger “The Hulk” Hollett.

Heath, a native of Nowata, Oklahoma, possesses a mixed martial arts record of 9-3. Heath owns victories over notable names such as Victor Valimaki, Cory Walmsley, and Sean Salmon. Heath went 2-3 in the UFC and was released in February after dropping consecutive bouts to Lyoto Machida, Renato “Babalu” Sobral, and Tim Boetsch.

Emanuel Newton, a native of Norwalk, California, possesses a mixed martial arts record of 9-3-1. After starting his career 2-3-1, Newton has reeled off six straight victories including a stoppage of BodogFight veteran Kyacey Uscola.

Also slated to appear on the September 26th card is five-time UFC veteran LaVerne Clark who’ll be going up against welterweight prospect Ryan “The Real Deal” Ford.

MFC 18: Famous is scheduled for Sept. 26, 2008 at the River Cree Casino and Resort in Edmonton, Alberta.

(Pictured: David Heath)