Thompson, a veteran of PRIDE and EliteXC, is 2-7 in his last nine bouts though he still has a strong fan following in England. Thompson’s last outing came against Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson. After three hard fought rounds the bout was stopped when Thompson took a flurry of punches from Slice which popped his cauliflower ear and left him dazed.

Piotr Kusmierz is a relative newcomer to MMA with a record of 1-1. Kusmierz holds a TKO victory over Anton Schutte with his sole blemish coming to Stav Economou at Cage Rage 27: Step Up.

Also scheduled to appear is UFC veteran Ross Pointon who’ll be battling Ch’e Mills for the Cage Rage British welterweight title. Pointon (6-10) is coming off an impressive submission victory over Ross Mason at Cage Rage 26: Extreme.

Ch’e Mills is a Cage Rage veteran who has amassed an impressive record of 6-1 with 1 no contest. Mills holds victories over Marius Zaromskis, Ross Mason, and Afran Saeed.

Update: Villefort contacted 5 Oz. of Pain and informed us that the fight between he and Rosholt is in fact on for Sept. 10.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com broke the exclusive news earlier this morning that Team Takedown members Jake Rosholt, Johny Hendricks, and Shane Roller all have signed multi-fight contracts with World Extreme Cagefighting.

In the past few hours, sources have revealed exclusively to FiveOuncesOfPain.com that Rosholt and Hendricks will debut for the Zuffa-owned promotion on September 10. Rosholt will be facing American Top Team member and former IFL fighter Danillo Villefort.

When contacted via text message by Five Ounces of Pain, Villefort indicated on Wednesday afternoon that he didn’t yet know whether the matchup had been finalized. However, we did confirm through an outside source that the talented jiu-jitsu black belt recently signed a five-fight contract with the WEC.

As for Hendricks, the former NCAA champion from Oklahoma State could be on a collision course with Alex Serdyukov.

While the event has not been officially announced by the WEC, the card is expected to be held in Hollywood, Fla. at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. The show will on a Wednesday and will be broadcast on the VERSUS network start at 9 p.m. ET.

In addition to the possible Rosholt vs. Villefort and Hendricks vs. Serdyukov fights, the event is expected to be headlined by WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber taking on Mike Brown. Other expected bouts include Paulo Filho defending his WEC middleweight title against Chael Sonnen; Donald Cerrone vs. “Razor” Rob McCullough; and former NCAA champion Mark Munoz taking on Steve Steinbeiss.

Rosholt, Hendricks, and Roller all wrestled for amateur wrestling powerhouse Oklahoma State and are all members of Texas businessman Ted Ehrhardt’s “Team Takedown.” Team Takedown signed the three fighters to exclusive management contracts in which the fighters draw a salary and have their training expenses paid for by Ehrhardt. In exchange, Ehrhardt is entitled to a share of the fighters’ earnings.

Rosholt, perhaps the crown jewel of the three fighter acquisitions by the WEC, is a middleweight fighter with a 4-0 record. The 25-year old was a three-time NCAA champion at OSU and was also a four-time NCAA All-American. He was recruited out of high school after winning three State championships.

The charismatic Hendricks is 3-0 in his young career as a professional mixed martial artist. The 24-year old welterweight was a two-time NCAA champion and a four-time All-American at OSU. He is also a former three-time Big 12 conference champion as well as a three-time State champion while in high school.

Roller, the oldest member of Team Takedown at 27, is 3-1 as a pro lightweight. While at OSU, he was a three-time NCAA All-American and a former Big 12 conference champion. He was a four-time High School State champion.

Debut dates for the trio of fighters have not been set. Although information pertaining to their first fights for the WEC could be made available within the next several days. The WEC’s next event will be held on Aug. 3 in Las Vegas and will be followed by an event on Sept. 10, most likely to be held at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

Rosholt will likely become an instant contender for the WEC middleweight title that is currently held by Paulo Filho. Meanwhile, after several wins, both Hendricks and Roller could become title contenders in their respective weight classes as well.

In other Team Takedown-related news, Rosholt and Hendricks are scheduled to be featured on the VERSUS MMA-themed reality television show “TapouT” on Aug. 20.

(Pictured: Jake Rosholt)

Finalized for the Feb. 15 card are bouts involving Masters of the Cage light heavyweight champion Jake Rosholt and former Oklahoma State University standout Johny Hendricks.

Rosholt is signed to fight Chad Jay while Hendricks is slated to face off against Blake McDaniel.

So far, HDNet Fights has yet to formally announce fights for the card but matchmaker Guy Mezger had previously indicated that Rosholt would in fact be fighting for the promotion in February.

In addition to Rosholt and Hendricks, there’s also a possibility that Jason “Mayhem” Miller and Frank Trigg could have a rematch stemming from their ICON Sport bout from 2006 in which Trigg defeated Miller via TKO at 2:53 of round two.

Both Trigg and Miller won their respective bouts during the most recent HDNet Fights card on Dec. 15.

Here are the official results for Team Takedown:

- MOTC light heavyweight champion Jake Rosholt defeated Christopher Clark at 4:07 of round 2. Rosholt is now 2-0.

- Eric Bradley lost to James Head at 1:47 of round 2 via TKO. Bradley’s record is now 1-1.

- Johny Hendricks was successful in his pro debut, winning via TKO at 1:54 of round 3 against Victor Rackliff.

- Shane Roller suffered an upset in his pro debut, losing to Jake Pruitt via TKO at 2:15 of round 3.

Official results for fights involving non-Team Takedown fighters:

- IFL veteran Wayne Cole defeated Heath Johnson via TKO at 1:00 of round 1.

- Cody Senseney submitted Warren Walker at 0:55 of round 1.

- Tim Estes won via TKO against Marcus Lanier at 1:45 of round 1.

- Cole Province submitted Aaron Williams at 3:20 of round 4.

- Former NCAA wrestling standout Paul Bradley defeated Mike Van Meer at 3:58 of round 1.

- Jared Hess defeated Dominic Brown via TKO at 2:37 of round 1.

Additional notes:

- The official attendance was 1,652.

- UFC referee John McCarthy served as the guest referee on the card.

- Eric Bradley and Shane Roller both received medical suspensions through Oct. 28.

One of their prospects – two-time NCAA champion Johny Hendricks, from Oklahoma State – is about to get his first test this Friday. Though he’s been wrestling almost since he could walk, Hendricks has only been training in MMA for three months. Fortunately for him, those three months were spent at Randy Couture’s Las Vegas gym – just one of the perks of signing with Team Takedown.

“It’s great,” said Hendricks. “I wake up every day, train hard for three hours, and then I go home and rest. Later I come back and train again, and I don’t have to worry about anything besides training and getting better…Everything’s been like sunshine.”

It’s an advantage that most up-and-coming MMA fighters don’t get. In a world where even some experienced fighters have to work full-time jobs just to get by, Team Takedown’s model is a new way of building MMA stars.

But the big question is, will their substantial investment in these young fighters pay off?

At the moment, they don’t seem to be in a big hurry to turn a profit. Hendricks is starting his MMA career in Oklahoma City’s “Masters of the Cage” organization, facing off against jiu-jitsu fighter Victor Ratcliff (2-0). Despite his wrestling experience, he says he is well aware that the big time is still a long way off.

“I need more fight time before I can get in there with guys at the level of the UFC or IFL or Bodog,” said Hendricks. “I need that time to figure out what kind of fighter I am, what I need to work on. Right now I don’t know what kind of fighter I am.”

Hendricks’ move marks a larger trend in MMA. After the recent success of wrestlers like Josh Koscheck and Matt Hamill, more NCAA champions have to be considering a move to professional fighting instead of vying for one of the precious few spots on an Olympic squad.

But just because a few wrestlers have made the transition, doesn’t mean it will necessarily work for others. In Hendricks’ case, he’s fighting not only to further his own career, but he has the expectations of his management team – created by businessmen Ted and Doug Ehrhardt, along with Tim McBride – to shoulder as well, though he claims he isn’t feeling that pressure just yet.

“I put enough pressure on myself. Anything I do I want to win, want to be the best at. The way I look at it is basically like a scholarship. I want to do well for them, but I always want to do well. I’m just focusing on doing what I need to do to get my hand raised.”

What he needs to do obviously involves learning the other facets of MMA that his wrestling background might not have prepared him for.

“I train a lot of jiu-jitsu. That’s been my main focus. I’ve been working tons of jiu-jitsu. I haven’t even taken a shot for a long time. I’ve just been focusing on my striking and jiu-jitsu.

“I’m focusing really hard on my ground-and-pound skills, working on transferring from position to position, and working on hitting people from wherever I’m at. Wherever the fight goes I want to be ready, but I know I’m probably going to do what I do best and that’s wrestling.”

Friday’s bout could mark the first phase of a major sea-change in MMA. If Team Takedown proves successful in their bid to turn wrestlers into fighters, there’s no telling who might follow their lead.

Before anyone can call them geniuses, though, their fighters have to prove the validity of their vision in the ring. Hendricks will get his chance in Oklahoma City, along with teammates Jake Rosholt, Shane Roller, and Eric Bradley. Whether or not they help change the sport of MMA, these wrestlers turned fighters are worth keeping an eye on.

Note: For those interested, Friday’s bouts can be seen on the web via pay-per-view at watchthisfight.com.

Ben Fowlkes is the editor of the IFL’s official website and is a special contributor to CBSSports.com. Ben also maintains his own blog, The Fighting Life.

Roller, who trains out of Guy Mezger’s Lions Den affiliate in Dallas, is scheduled to face Jake Pruitt in a 155 lbs. bout.

Meanwhile, Hendricks, who trains with Team Takedown teammates Jake Rosholt and Eric Bradley in Las Vegas at Xtreme Couture, will be fighting Victor Ratcliff in a match scheduled for 170 lbs.

In addition to the pro debuts of Roller and Hendricks, the 11-fight Masters of the Cage XVI card is also expected to feature Bradley and Rosholt along with several other former amateur wrestling standouts.

Bradley and Rosholt made their debuts last month on a Masters of the Cage Card with Bradley defeating Troy Allison in the first round and Rosholt winning the MOTC light heavyweight title with a first round defeat of Dusty “Dream Killer” Miller.

Hendricks was an NCAA Division I champion at 165 pounds in 2005 and 2006 while competing for Oklahoma State.

He is a member of Team Takedown, which is a fight team started with the intent of helping standout wrestlers from the collegiate ranks convert to MMA.

Other members of Team Takedown include fellow OSU alums Jake Rosholt and Shane Roller along with former Penn State wrestler Eric Bradley.

Hendricks, Rosholt, and Bradley all train with Randy Couture at Xtreme Couture in Vegas while Roller is currently training with Guy Mezger at the Lions Den locations in Dallas.

Both Rosholt and Bradley made their debuts on July 21 at a Masters of the Cage event in Oklahoma. Rosholt submitted Dusty Miller at 3:40 of the first round while Bradley tapped Troy Allison at 2:41 of the first.

Bradley is also signed to EliteXC and will be fighting on a future card.