Alves (24-7) is a former contender to UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre. Most recently “The Pitbull” stopped Papy Abedi with a first round submission at UFC 138, helping get himself back on track after losses in three of his previous four bouts.

Kampmann (18-5) was last seen barely outpointing Rick Story at UFC 139. Prior to the victory “The Hitman” had dropped two straight decisions at the hands of Diego Sanchez and Jake Shields, keeping him from avoiding the chopping block, as well.

“The UFC is thrilled to return to Sydney for its third live event in three years,” said Marshall Zelaznik, managing director of UFC’s international development division. “Thiago Alves and Martin Kampmann are two seasoned mixed martial artists who are sure to go to war in the Octagon. I’ve got no doubt that our Aussie fans will be just as excited about our March event, especially as they’ll witness UFC history with the introduction of the flyweight division.”

Along with Alves-Kampmann, the first two matches in the UFC’s flyweight tournament will take place on the card, as Demetrious Johnson meets Ian McCall and Joseph Benavidez takes on Yasuhiro Urushitani. More fights and an official announcement concerning the FX card are expected by the UFC in the coming weeks.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

There is no location or venue planned for the second card on FX Network, and the Alves-Kampmann bout is the first announced fight.

Alves (19-8) rebounded from a loss to Rick Story at UFC 130 back in May to stop undefeated newcomer Papy Abedi with a Rear-Naked Choke in the first round. Since challenging UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre for the belt in 2009 “The Pitbull” has gone just 2-2 inside the Octagon and hasn’t nearly been the finishing machine he was once perceived as.

Kampmann (18-5) put an end to a two-fight losing skid by earning a decision victory over Story at UFC 139 earlier this month. “The Hitman” had suffered decision defeats to Diego Sanchez and Jake Shields prior to the win against Story.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

News of the match-up was first reported by MMAWeekly with Alves also publicly discussing the potential bout.

Kampmann is less than a week removed from his hotly-contested clash with Rick Story at UFC 139 where he came away with a Split Decision victory. The well-rounded Dane improved his overall record to 18-5 with the win, adding to past success against the likes of Paulo Thiago and Carlos Condit.

Comparably, the 19-8 Alves beat debuting Judoka Papy Abedi at UFC 138 by picking up the second submission win of his career with the finish coming in the opening round of action. The performance marked the first stoppage for “Pitbull” in more than three years after a stretch featuring five in a row including wins over Karo Parisyan, Chris Lytle, and Matt Hughes.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Alves, who will return to England this weekend to face UFC newcomer Papy Abedi at UFC 138, is looking to correct himself from a recent 1-2 skid inside the Octagon.

“The Pitbull” was stopped by Jon Fitch in 2010 before rebounding with a win over John Howard. However, he was unable to overcome Rick Story and now needs to make a statement against Abedi.

“I’m to the point in my life right now that I don’t want to lose any fights anymore and it’s up to me,” said Alves, in a recent interview with UFC’s website. “I control my destiny, and I took control of all my actions and everything that happens in my life.”

Alves said he learned a lot in the loss to Story, adding, “Just because I worked so hard in my training camp, I thought the fight was gonna be easy.”

This will be the second time fighting over in England for Alves, as he defeated Matt Hughes in one of his biggest wins ever in 2008. Alves, who missed weight for the fight, caught Hughes with a flying knee before finishing him with strikes on the ground in the second round.

UFC 138 takes place Saturday and will feature a main event pitting Chris Leben against Mark Munoz. The show will be televised via tape-delay on Spike TV.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Alves recently spoke to Tatame where he addressed his recent run in the Octagon and since reverting back to the same mindset he used to fight with.

“I used to fight with nothing to lose. I had no worries whatsoever, I just fought to have fun, but when you reach a certain level you have to worry more, you start focusing on your future and forget about the present,” Alves explained. “But it’s all learning. I have really high expectations, I want to be one of the biggest champions and I have to go through all of this to learn and mature. I have no excuses, no I have to work hard and go for it.”

It’s an attitude that has the American Top Team product aiming to avoid judges’ scorecards from here on out, an understandable approach considering his loss to Rick Story at UFC 130.

“I’ve learned a lot from my last fight. I’ll never let it go to the judges ever again. It took me a long time to start fighting, but I’ve learned what I had to learn, I’ve seen it all. Now I only have to trust my talent and on my team and go for it. I’ll try to knock (Papy Abedi) out or submit all opponents from now on. I’ll be aggressive again.”

In Abedi, Alves is referring to his next opponent – an undefeated Swede who should be more than happy to engage the former title-contender given his past performances including seven stoppages in eight total wins.

“He’s a left-handed and he used to fight at middleweight division, I think it’ll be his first fight on this division, so I’ll have an advantage on that matter. He seemed to be a good striker, but not that good. He’s a Judo guy, and he has never fought a top guy. I’m not underestimating him, I’m preparing myself as if I had a title fight.”

Alves will face Abedi at UFC 138 in Birmingham, England on a card headlined by Mark Munoz vs. Chris Leben. He holds an overall record of 18-8 with TKOs of Karo Parisyan and Matt Hughes, as well as a dominating decision win over Josh Koscheck at UFC 90.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

The UFC announced the match-up earlier today along with its addition to the organization’s latest overseas offering.

Alves’ stock has taken a hit as of late based on losses in three of his last four fights and a dry spell in the knockout department. In fact, hasn’t stopped an opponent with strikes since mid-2008 after earning a reputation for flattening adversaries with a powerful, multi-tiered attack over the years preceding his recent lackluster run. However, while the 27-year old “Pitbull” seems to have lost his bite as of late, his overall ability isn’t in question with past victories on his record over Karo Parisyan, Chris Lytle, Matt Hughes, and Josh Koscheck.

The debuting Swede has gone 8-0 with seven finishing performances in his career but will have been out of action for more than a year when he finally meets up with Alves in the Octagon. Abedi has won five of his fights by way of TKO.

Their battle in Birmingham, England is the third scrap attached to the event with the other pair involving a headlining tilt between surging 185ers Chris Leben and Mark Munoz and British bantamweight Brad Pickett taking on submission expert Renan Barao.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Alves mentioned the expected bout on Twitter, adding that he didn’t know who he would be facing but that it didn’t matter because “he’s going down”.

The American Top Team-trained striker had dropped two decisions prior to his win in Montreal, including a title-shot to Georges St. Pierre and follow-up fight with “Top 3” welterweight Jon Fitch. Alves improved his record to 18-7 with the win including successful performances against Josh Koscheck, Matt Hughes, and Chris Lytle.

According to a report on MMAWeekly, one potential in-ring adversary for the 27-year old is Rick Story with a targeted date of May 28 in Las Vegas. Story is 12-3 with wins in eleven of his last twelve bouts including the last five times he’s stepped into the cage. Though Alves will represent the highest-profile opponent Story has encountered in the Octagon, he has had his hands raised against a number of notable competitors such as Dustin Hazelett, Johny Hendricks, and Jake Ellenberger.

“Doomsday” will also be looking to erase the taste of defeat against his opponent, as Howard’s recent seven-fight win streak was put to a halt in the third round of his August scrap against Jake Ellenberger when a doctor stopped action due swelling around his left eye. He is 4-1 in the UFC and should provide a good test for Alves in all areas based on his wrestling and knockout power.

News of the match-up was reported by MMAWeekly.

American Top Team’s Alves had also won seven consecutive fights before running into “GSP” at UFC 100 in July 2009. He is 17-7 in MMA with eleven victories by way of knockout.

Also notable about his pairing with Howard is the division in which it is set to occur. Alves, who has struggled to make the welterweight limit more than once in the past, forfeited 20% of his salary at UFC 117 for an inability to cut a final half-pound. The lack of professionalism drew UFC President Dana White’s ire who, as a result, said he felt Alves’ next bout should be at 185 pounds.

UFC 124 is scheduled for December 11th at the Belle Center in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The card is currently set to be headlined by St. Pierre defending his welterweight championship against Josh Koscheck.

Five Ounces of Pain was informed early Friday morning that Alves was forced to withdraw from the fight due to an unspecified injury and that discussions to secure a replacement have already begun.

The news of Alves falling off the card comes as yet another blow to the UFC’s plans for UFC 107, as season 10 coaches of The Ultimate Fighter Rashad Evans and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson had originally been rumored to headline the event.

However, plans for Evans vs. Jackson were scuttled after Jackson accepted a role in the upcoming A-Team film adaptation. UFC officials quickly moved to transfer a planned lightweight title fight between B.J. Penn and Diego Sanchez to headline its Dec. 12 pay-per-view event and the rematch between Fitch and Alves was added soon after to augment the card’s depth.

Alves, 16-6, has not fought since losing a unanimous decision to current UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre this past June at UFC 100. Prior to the title fight, Alves had won seven consecutive bouts in the UFC.

Meanwhile, Fitch, also a former UFC welterweight title challenger, is 19-3 overall and has won two consecutive bouts following his title loss to St. Pierre at UFC 87 in August of 2008.

The news of the match-up was first revealed in a report on MMAJunkie.com before being confirmed by UFC President Dana White.

UFC 107 is set to take place from the FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee on December 12, airing live on pay-per-view.

Both men will be looking to place themselves back into title contention following mutual defeats to current 170 pound king, Georges St-Pierre.

Fitch has notched back to back wins over the likes of Akihiro Gono and Paulo Thiago following his failed bid at championship glory during UFC 87, while Alves will be returning to the Octagon for the first time since his loss at the hands of St-Pierre following a seven fight win streak in the UFC.

According to a recent report on MMAMania.com, Thiago Alves vs. Paulo Thiago is currently in the negotiation stages and verbally agreed to by at least one of the fighters.

UFC 107 is set for December 12th at the Fedex Forum in Memphis, TN.

Paulo Thiago is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Jon Fitch back in UFC 100, serving as his only defeat as a professional. This will mark the third tough opponent for Thiago, since debuting with a stunning upset knockout victory over Josh Koshcheck at UFC 95.

Thiago Alves, considered to be a top five contender in the welterweight division, is coming off a unanimous decision loss himself, to champion Georges St. Pierre. Prior to his loss to St. Pierre, Alves was riding a seven fight win streak, with notable wins over Matt Hughes, Karo Parisyan, and Josh Koshcheck as well.

UFC 107 has yet to be officially announced, but a previously expected main event pitting Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. “Suger” Rashad Evans is off due to Rampage’s recent jump into the acting world.

Even though UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre has faced some of the toughest men the world has to offer at 170 pounds during the course of his career, the dominant Canadian will be the first to tell you that he expects for his next title defense to be one of the toughest tests he has faced inside of a cage.

St. Pierre is just one week away from UFC 100 where he will meet one of the most dangerous welterweight strikers in the history of the octagon in Thiago Alves.

According to GSP in a recent video interview on UFC.com, the fight is his to lose.

“I have many ways to win that fight,” explained the ultra-confident champion. “I have more tools than he has.

“I’m going to be the one to dictate the pace. I’m going to be the one to control the fight.”

Alves is the most dangerous on his feet, with devastating kicks and heavy hands, but St. Pierre feels confident regardless of where the battle ends up.

“I think I can stand with him, I think I can wrestle with him, I think I can go on the ground with him, I can do everything with him,” said GSP.

Just because the defending champion isn’t overly worried about ultimately exchanging with Alves at some point, he’s no fool, St. Pierre plans on taking the fight where he needs to in order to leave the octagon with his had raised one more time.

“I’m a smart fighter,” said St. Pierre. “I’m going to fight against his weaknesses, not his strengths. The key for me is to win, and to win I’m going to do anything that I can.”

In just over a week twenty five year old Thiago Alves will be in the fight of his life as he takes on Georges St.Pierre at UFC 100 in a welterweight championship match that will validate one man’s claim to being the best fighter on the planet currently competing at 170 pounds.

Seven consecutive wins in the toughest welterweight division in the world have propelled Alves to the title shot he has coming to him next Saturday evening.

His last three bouts have been a progression of impressiveness as he knocked Karo Parisyan out of contender status at UFC Fight Night 13, pulverized Matt Hughes at UFC 85, and made Josh Koscheck look terrible at UFC 90.

The string of recent success in the octagon make it no mystery as to why the phenom from the American Top Team is feeling close to invincible heading into UFC 100.

“I don’t think [GSP] has any advantage in this fight,” said the abundantly confident Alves in a recent video interview on UFC.com. “The only advantage he has is that he has the belt and a bigger name.”

As far as the game plan goes for the most pivotal bout in the dangerous Brazilian’s career, it’s just going to be business as usual for Alves once the cage door slams shut.

“You want to take me to the ground? I’m going to get back up and I’m going to kick your ass as soon as you make a mistake,” the feared striker explained calmly.

“When that cage closes,I’m going to shock the world,” promised Alves. “I’m going to take the best pound for pound fighter and I’m going to knock him out, so don’t blink.”

I wanted to do more, I am a firm believer in karma and I truly believe that God forbid something happened to one of my children others would be there to help me. That is not the only reason I wanted to help, I truly hate to see children suffer. I myself spent the first three years of my life in and out of hospitals having surgery after surgery to battle a heart condition I was born with. To this day I do not know how my parents dealt with all the stress of having to raise four other children while spending the majority of their time in the hospital with me. Anyway, being a journalist has given me the ability to reach so many people that I normally would never have the opportunity to reach. Writing for FiveOuncesOfPain.com allows me so much exposure to a great community of MMA fans, fighters, trainers and other writers.

Richie Guerriero is the general manager at the American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida. He has been very generous to me setting up interviews with such fighters as WEC featherweight champion Mike Brown and UFC middleweight Denis Kang. Richie has been awesome and all I did was send an email asking for an interview. I decided to contact him and tell him about Christian’s plight. Without a moment’s hesitation he asked what he could do to help and sometime this week I will be receiving signed gloves from Mike Brown and Thiago Alves that I will be able to auction off and then donate the money to the Koehler family. Another man I have to give credit to is Eddie “Primo” Miranda who has gotten everything together and offered up some kind words for the family.

Both Richie Guerriero and Eddie Miranda have both expressed a sincere desire to help and have made it known that it was their pleasure and that if there was anything else they could do to please let them know. When I asked Richie to make a brief statement here is what he had to say: “We were all saddened to hear about this boys story. I hope in some small way we were able to help out. Our prayers and thoughts are with the young boy and his family during this trying time.” Eddie Miranda said “Please let the family know that we are hoping for the best and that if there is anything else we can do please let us know.” While it may not seem like a lot to some people I find it amazing that these fighters and trainers have gone out of their way to help someone they have never met. The two fighters that signed the gloves to be auctioned off are training for the biggest fights of their careers as Alves will be fighting Georges St. Pierre at UFC 100 in July for the UFC welterweight title and Brown will be defending his title from the man he took it from, Urijah Faber on June 7th.

I reached out to people locally and that I used to work with and most people never responded to my request for help, but these guys did, they did it without hesitation, without asking questions and they did it for unselfish reasons. They didn’t know I would be writing this story, all they wanted to do was help this family. I hope this story reaches other people who may have sick child or maybe it will reach someone looking to help out. One thing I am hoping is that it finds its way into the hands of some NY politicians who have repeatedly shot down legislation calling for MMA to be sanctioned in NY. Maybe they are still of the belief that these fighters are animals and that the sport is to gruesome. Take another look please and you will realize that these athletes are some of the most respectful, caring human beings that are alive today. They have hearts and souls and most of all humility. It seems to me that they are willing to do more for a family they have never met than most other people would even dream of doing.

To bid on the autographed gloves from two of mixed martial arts biggest stars for an extremely worthy cause you can visit the following links:

Thiago Alves Signed Glove:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=270379296786

Mike Brown Signed Glove:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270379302964

White also expressed the possibility of Alves eventually moving to middleweight in the future. He hinted at the scenario of Alves competing at 185 in response to a question about whether B.J. Penn would ever move up to middleweight to challenge UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

While White shut the door on a move to middleweight by Penn, he discussed how Alves is big for a welterweight and that he happens to be one fighter competing at 170 that he believes could handle the transition to 185 pounds.

A move to middleweight doesn’t appear to be in the cards for Alves anytime soon with him locked in to face the winner of St. Pierre vs. Penn, however, White said that a move could be possible if he’s able to win his next few fights at welterweight.

Alves is 9-2 during his UFC career but has had trouble making weight at 170 in the past. His most notable failure when it came to making weight took place at UFC 85 this past June, where he TKO’d former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes in round 1.

The fight with Hughes was contested as a catchweight bout with Alves weighing in the day prior at 174 pounds. According to published reports, he was unable to make weight because he injured his ankle in the weeks leading up to the fight and had to reduce his cardio training.

Even in spite of the injury, Alves has not always had an easy time of making 170. In fact, he even received a ninth month suspension from the Nevada State Athletic Commission in December of 2006 after testing positive for a banned diuretic leading up to his UFC 66 victory over Tony DeSouza.

It appeared as if Cote tweaked the knee during the second round while engaging with Silva but was able to shake it off and continue the round. During the opening moments of the third, however, the knee gave out on Cote and he was unable to continue the fight, awarding a disappointed Anderson Silva a TKO victory.

Before the accident Silva was more or less toying with Cote for the first two rounds, picking his spots and delivering vicious strikes almost at will when he wanted to, landing a nasty head kick, a vicious knee, and a straight left that rocked Cote’s head backward. Cote was unable to land anything significant but came out of the first two rounds almost unscathed except for a small cut on his forehead.

Both fighters were visibly disappointed with the outcome as Anderson Silva clearly wanted to finish the fight the right way and Cote was upset that his opportunity to shock the world had been taken from him due to an injury and not because Silva took it from him. There is no word on whether a rematch will take place at this point but it would seem only fair to both fighters, especially seeing as how Cote survived for two rounds against the sport’s most dangerous fighter.

In other action on the card, Thiago Alves won a unanimous decision victory over a very game Josh Koscheck. Alves caught Koscheck early on with a left hook that landed behind Koscheck’s ear and dropped him. It appeared that Alves might be able to finish from there but Koscheck was able to recover quickly and fight Alves tooth and nail until the end. Alves was able to pepper Koscheck’s legs with devastating leg kicks throughout the fight and also fended off all of Koscheck’s takedown attempts. It was an impressive win for Alves over a very legitimate welterweight contender. Alves proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is the clear cut number one contender for the 170 lbs. title in the UFC.

Gray Maynard was able to secure a unanimous decision victory over Rich Clementi in the third fight on the main card, using his outstanding wrestling ability to smother the crafty Clementi. Clementi never really threatened during the fight, on the feet or standing, and Maynard was able to take him down at will and neutralize Clementi’s ground game. The Chicago fans, who thought the fight was boring, booed Maynard during the decision and he apologized to them for a boring fight during the post-fight interview with Joe Rogan.

Junior Dos Santos shocked most of the MMA world in defeating Fabricio Werdum in the opening moments of the first round. Dos Santos landed an absolutely crushing uppercut right on Werdum’s nose that dropped the Chute Boxe fighter to the ground. From there Dos Santos pounced on Werdum and landed a couple more shots before the referee stepped in to stop the fight. Impressive UFC debut against a heavyweight who was widely considered one of the best heavyweights in the world.

During the event’s opening bout on the main card, Sean Sherk bounced back from his loss against B.J. Penn, winning a unanimous decision victory over Tyson Griffin in what went down as one of the best fights of the evening. Griffin and Sherk traded blow for blow in the standup game because neither fighter was effectively able to take the other fighter down and keep them there. Sherk was able to take Griffin down a couple of times but was never able to keep him there. Griffin was always able to get back to his feet, shrug Sherk off him, and away they went with the kickboxing match. The two fighters seemed to be almost mirror images of one another and that made for a great fight with lots of striking action. Sherk did enough with the takedowns and his standup to come away with the decision.

The official results of the card are below:

Pete Sell def. Josh Burkman Decision (Unanimous)
Hermes Franca def. Marcus Aurelio Decision (Unanimous)
Dan Miller def. Matt Horwich Decision (Unanimous)
Spencer Fisher def. Shannon Gugerty Submission (Triangle Choke) 3 3:56
Thales Leites def. Drew McFedries Submission (Rear Naked choke) 1 1:18
Sean Sherk def. Tyson Griffin Decision (Unanimous)
Junior dos Santos def. Fabricio Werdum KO (Punches) 1 1:21
Gray Maynard def. Rich Clementi Decision (Unanimous)
Thiago Alves def. Josh Koscheck Decision (Unanimous)
Anderson Silva def. Patrick Cote TKO (Injured knee) 3 0:39

Sanchez pulled out of the fight due to torn rib cartilage and will be replaced on the Oct. 25 fight card at the Allstate Arena by fellow TUF 1 alum Josh Koscheck.

Koshcheck had been scheduled to headline UFC Fight Night 16: “UFC Fight for the Troops” on Dec. 10 in Fayetteville, N.C. against Yoshiyuki Yoshida. A replacement for Koscheck in that bout is still pending.

“Right now I’m about 200,” Alves said. “That’s 30 pounds over my weight division, but it won’t be a problem for me to make weight.”

UFC President Dana White gave Alves a smirk when I asked the question, as if to say, “You knew this was coming up.” Alves said that the only reason he failed to make weight at UFC 85 was that he sprained his ankle 10 days before the fight and wasn’t able to do the cardio routine he usually does in the days leading up to the weigh-in.

Stupid ankles. Prior to his last bout, a dominating victory over Matt Hughes at UFC 85, Alves weighed in at 174lbs. and that fact led some to believe the weight advantage was the reason he won the match.

Alves next fights at UFC 90 in October against Diego Sanchez and everyone will be keeping a close eye on the weigh-ins. Especially considering a win would put Alves at the top of the welterweight contenders list but he’s not getting a title shot until he proves to the UFC that he can make the weight consistently. Outside of pulling out of a main event the day before, the UFC’s most hair-pulling situations involve people not making title fight weights.

With the mixed martial arts industry focused on the Zuffa v. Couture proceedings scheduled to begin with a preliminary hearing March 4 in Las Vegas, billionaire Mark Cuban and his HDNet Fights company has quietly entered the fray, opening a second front in the Couture-UFC war, Sherdog.com has learned.

On Wednesday, in district court in Dallas, HDNet Fights filed suit against Zuffa seeking a declaratory judgment concerning the contractual status of Couture under his Zuffa promotional contract. In an ironic twist, Zuffa’s co-defendant in the suit is technically none other than Couture himself.

…
The lawsuit filed by HDNet Fights asks the Texas court to provide the company with declaratory relief — a ruling on when Couture’s promotional contract will expire. A favorable ruling could clear the way for a highly anticipated showdown between Couture and Fedor Emelianenko this fall, potentially promoted by HDNet Fights.

The lawsuit is the first direct legal challenge of Couture’s promotional contract with the UFC. Zuffa’s lawsuit with Couture centers on his employment contract and its one-year non-compete clause, not his promotional contract. Zuffa has not entered the promotional contract into evidence in that case; however, it has offered the judge the opportunity to view it in private.

Read more about Mark Cuban and Randy Couture on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.

Maohapatra: What flaws do you see in the UFC‘s game that you think can be exploited?

Cuban: The biggest is that their contracts don’t adhere to the [Muhammad] Ali [Boxing] Reform Act. There will come a time in the not distant future when they will be required to.

The Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act of 2000 (full text) in general, restricts the types of contract that a boxer may be required to sign. For example, a boxer cannot be required to give away future promotional rights. The act also requires sanctioning bodies to reveal to state commissions information such as any fees charged to boxers by the sanctioning body and requires promoters to disclose a large amount of the financial information about bouts to the state commissions, as well as to the boxers they promote.

The legislation was enacted to provide legal protections to boxers as well as to assist states in regulating boxing as a sport. The need for the Act was due to boxing’s unique position in American sports, not having any organized league or rule-making body to ensure appropriate business practices, and due to the lack of protection offered to boxers from the various sanctioning bodies.

As the text of the legislation specifically mentions boxing, boxers, and boxing organizations, some have dismissed Cuban’s statements as not being applicable to the sport of mixed martial arts.

Bad Man Sports (www.BadManSports.com) was able to catch up with Mark Cuban to get a more detailed response to this issue. In an exclusive statement, Cuban says that the Ali Act does apply to MMA.

“Congress wanted to protect fighters. There is enough ambiguity in some definitions in the act, that it could easily be applied. Which means it comes down to how the appropriate politicians feel that the act can be applied to the benefit of their constituents. Meaning fighters and fans of MMA.”

When asked if this was simply his opinion or if he had sought legal advice, Cuban emphasized his confidence in the position.

“It won’t be hard to demonstrate how MMA fighters have been taken advantage of, particularly with contracts and how they are enforced, and to encourage action. “

Even if the government doesn’t change the way the UFC does business, Cuban feels that HDNet Fights will be offering fighters something that is more fair and that may be an advantage in the eyes of the talent.