MMAWeekly.com is reporting that former IFL lightweight Jim Miller will take on PRIDE veteran David Baron at UFC 89: Bisping vs. Leben in Birmingham, England.

A few weeks ago, FiveOuncesOfPain.com reported that brothers Jim Miller and Dan Miller had signed exclusive four-fight contracts with the UFC.

Jim Miller currently trains at the AMA Fight Club and possesses an impressive mixed martial arts record of 11-1-0. Miller holds victories over Nuri Shakir, Chris Liguori, and Bart Palaszewski. His sole loss came to UFC lightweight contender Frankie Edgar.

Miller joins Matt Horwich, Andre Gusmao, Mike Massenzio, Brad Blackburn, Rory Markham, and Reese Andy as IFL fighters to join the UFC ranks in recent weeks.

David Baron, a native of Bois Collombe, France, possesses a mixed martial arts record of 16-2-0. In August 2006, Baron squared off against PRIDE lightweight champion Takanori Gomi losing by submission late in the first round. Since leaving the now defunct Japanese promotion, Baron has gone 5-0 scoring victories over Jason Ball, Johnny Frachey, Abdul Mohamed, Niek Tromp, and Hayato Sakurai.

UFC 89 is scheduled for Saturday, October 18, 2008 in Birmingham, England and will feature a main event of Michael “The Count” Bisping and Chris “The Crippler” Leben.

According to a report on MMAjunkie.com, brothers Jim Miller and Dan Miller have both signed exclusive four-fight contracts with the UFC.

Both Millers had valid contracts with the IFL, with Dan Miller holding the promotion’s middleweight title. This site reported last week that the UFC was in the process of acquiring the IFL, but an acquisition had yet to be finalized.

To date, no official statement about a possible acquisition has been made by the UFC or the IFL so it’s uncertain how the UFC could reach a contract agreement if at least limited assets had not been acquired.

Junkie’s report, which quotes AMA Fight Club’s Mike Constantino, both the manager and a trainer for the Millers, indicates that a debut date has yet to be set for either fighter.

Update: FiveOuncesOfPain.com spoke with Keith Kizer, the Executive Director for the Nevada State Athletic Commission, earlier this afternoon. According to Mr. Kizer, Belfort’s suspension ended in July of last year, increasing the possibility he will get licensed in California. However, Mr. Kizer indicated that Belfort has not yet satisfied the required $10,000 fine that was imposed at the time of his suspension. There are plans to notify the California State Athletic Commission that the fine has not yet been paid. Also, Mr. Kizer indicated that Belfort’s decision to compete in the UK for Cage Rage even though he was still under suspension by NSAC is only likely to affect him if he applies for license again in Nevada.

Affliction: Banned is quickly becoming MMA’s version of Woodstock.

As if the July 19 card wasn’t already stacked enough, the promotion’s website is indicating that a middleweight bout between former UFC fighters Vitor Belfort and Terry Martin has been added to the card.

According to the Affliction website, the Belfort vs. Martin bout is not guaranteed to be broadcast.

The 31-year old Belfort has not competed in the U.S. since losing to Dan Henderson at PRIDE 32 in October of 2006. After the bout, Belfort tested positive for a banned performance enhancing drug.

Belfort, a former UFC light heavyweight champion, ignored a suspension imposed by the Nevada State Athletic Commission and went to the UK to compete for the Cage Rage promotion, where he compiled a 2-0 record.

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MMA Rated has the scoop on some new details regarding Adrenaline MMA’s first show on June 14:

Already known was a matchup between Jeff Monson and Mike Russo but agent/promoter Monte Cox has informed MMARated.com that EliteXC fighter, Aaron Rosa, will be fighting on the card as well as IFL fighter, Bart Palaszewski. The Illinois-native Palaszewski will be facing former UFC fighter, Jeff Cox.

Also, former UFC fighter Terry Martin will face Daiju Takase in a middleweight battle.

Along with those two fights, the rest of the fight card looks like this according to MMA Rated’s post:

• Jeff Monson vs. Mike Russow

• Tony Fryklund vs. Brian Gassaway

• Terry Martin vs. Daiju Takase

• Rory Markham vs. TBD

• Aaron Rosa vs. TBD

• Bart Palaszewski vs. Jeff Cox

Monte Cox, manager for former UFC fighter Terry Martin, confirmed to FiveOuncesOfPain.com today that Martin won his professional boxing debut this past weekend in Villa Park, Illinois against Ricardo Upchurch via TKO at forty seconds into the first round.

Martin decided to try his hand at professional boxing in order to stay active before his May 17 fight with David Loiseau at Combat Fighting Championships in England, according to a report from our friends at Bloody Elbow.

UFC fighter Terry Martin will make his professional boxing debut on Saturday night in Villa Park, Illinois according to the Chicago Sun-Times:

‘‘Boxing was my first love,’’ Martin said. ‘‘I started in mixed martial arts after wrestling in college at Northern Illinois University.

‘‘It was a logical progression, but I’ve always had boxing in the back of my mind to get back to. Now’s a good time to get back to boxing, my training and sparring have been very good and I have no problem making weight. At this point I’m more excited about boxing than I am in MMA.’’

Martin will be fighting at 190 lbs. against Ricardo Upchurch, who is 0-1 according to any semblance of a record that I could find online. Apparently Martin has trouble making 185 lbs. in the UFC so fighting at 190 lbs. should be right up his alley. If anyone is in the Villa Park, IL area and has a chance to catch this fight this weekend, be sure to report back and let us know how things went for Martin in his pro debut.

HT: Bloody Elbow

MMAmania.com is reporting that Terry Martin and Marvin Eastman will be facing one another in a middleweight bout at UFC 81 on February 2 in Las Vegas.

Martin last appeared in the UFC at UFC Fight Night 11 on September 19 and was knocked out by Chris Leben in the third round.

Eastman has not appeared in the UFC since last February, when he lost to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson via second round TKO. He had been scheduled to return at UFC 77 on October 20 in Cincinnati against Demian Maia but Eastman pulled out of the fight due to an eye injury.

Roman Modrowski of the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that UFC middleweight Terry Martin is claiming he was falsely arrested in October of 2005. According to the report, Martin is suing Chicago’s mayor and area police officials and officers for misconduct, alleging that corruption within the Chicago Police Department led to Martin being arrested and prosecuted.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday.

To read the entire report, just click here.

Thanks to 5 Oz. reader Chris Schultz for the head’s up.

UFCjunkie.com has posted an interview it recently conducted with UFC middleweight Terry Martin. In the interview Martin accuses James Irvin of using steroids but really doesn’t have much factual evidence to go on:

UFCjunkie.com: So if you had the chance to fight Irvin again, you would?
Terry Martin: We’re headed in two different directions. I told people that guy sucked. He was lucky. What about that last fight? He was fighting and all the sudden his knee blows out? Like that? I don’t want to say it, but…

UFCjunkie.com: So you think he may have been on something? Steroids perhaps?
Terry Martin: Oh, come on now. You know that. No one’s knee goes out like that. And look at him. You know and I know that no body is shaped like that naturally — maybe close to that, but nobody has a body like that.

UFCjunkie.com: So you’re basing it off his looks alone?
Paper-thin skin and everything. Something’s going on. He’s was up to something.

Martin also revealed that he has signed a new four fight contract. He became a free agent after his last fight and the print edition of the Wrestling Observer reported that BodogFIGHT was interested in Martin’s services.

Martin has been impressive since dropping from light heavyweight to middleweight and with the current landscape of the division, he could earn a shot at the title with a win over Chris Leben at UFC Fight Night 11 on September 19.

Click here to read the entire interview.

Roman Modrowski is reporting in his latest column for the Chicago Sun-Times that Chicago-area resident Terry Martin has signed a bout agreement to fight Chris Leben at UFC Fight Night 11 on September 19 at the Pearl of the Palms.

Here’s Modrowski’s report:

Chicago’s Terry Martin signed a contract Monday to fight Chris Leben on Sept. 19 at the Palms in Las Vegas in a ”Fight Night Live” on Spike TV. ”Leben will sit there and bang with me, so this is perfect for me,” Martin said. ”He’s a big name, and it’s going to be on Spike, so it will be free and more viewers will see it.”

There’s no confirmation in the report as to whether Leben has in fact signed his bout agreement and there’s been no official announcement from the UFC.

The report is rather intriguing because Mike Swick made a recent claim in his blog that Leben turned down a chance to fight him at UFC Fight Night 11.

If this report is in fact true, it should be a very good matchup and one would assume it will make the telecast.

To read Modrowski’s full article, just click here.