According to former WEC, now UFC, matchmaker Sean Shelby by way of Twitter, the upcoming season will feature bantamweights and featherweights with tryouts planned for March 21 in New Jersey.

Though no coaches were named the location and date are interesting given Urijah Faber’s scheduled bout with Eddie Wineland two days earlier in Newark, New Jersey at UFC 128. Faber’s popularity, success, and involvement in both the 135 and 145 pound divisions is well documented and he has been rumored for a coaching stint on TUF since the UFC absorbed WEC’s roster. Other possibilities could include Miguel Torres and Dominick Cruz.

While team-heads will be left up to speculation for the foreseeable future fans can still get their fix starting March 30 as coaches Brock Lesnar and Junior dos Santos help introduce the MMA community to the sport’s next Ultimate Fighter champion.

November 29 – December 5
All Times Eastern

Monday (11/29)

WEC 46: Varner vs. Henderson (Replay) on VS. at 12am
WEC WrekCage: Torres vs. Benavidez (Replay) on VS. at 2am
MMA:30 (Replay) on MAVTV at 5am
MMA:30 (Replay) on MAVTV at 10am
MMA:30 (Replay) on MAVTV at 3pm
UFC Fight Night: Evans vs. Salmon (Replay) on SpikeTV at 7:05pm
Strikeforce: Sobral vs. Lawler (Replay) on Showtime2 at 10pm

Tuesday (11/30)

WEC 51: Aldo vs. Gamburyan (Replay) on VS. at 12am
MFC: Breaking Point (Replay) on HDNet at 4:30am
WEC WrekCage: Henderson vs. Cerrone (Replay) on VS. at 5pm

Wednesday (12/1)

Best of King of the Cage (Replay) on HDNet at 4:30am
UFC Unleashed: Griffin vs. Jackson (Replay) on SpikeTV at 7pm
UFC Unleashed (Premiere) on SpikeTV at 8pm
The Ultimate Fighter 12: Episode 11 (Premiere) on SpikeTV at 9pm

Thursday (12/2)

The Ultimate Fighter 12: Episode 11 (Replay) at 12am
WEC 46: Varner vs. Henderson (Replay) on VS. at 5pm
WEC WrekCage: Benavidez vs. Cruz (Replay) on VS. at 8pm
WEC 52: Faber vs. Mizugaki (Replay) on VS. at 9pm

Friday (12/3)

WEC 52: Faber vs. Mizugaki (Replay) on VS. at 12am
MMA Live (Premiere) on ESPN2 at 12am
XFC 11: The Next Generation (Replay) on HDNet at 4:30am
Ultimate Combat Experience (Replay) on MAVTV at 7pm
Inside MMA (Premiere) on HDNet at 8pm
XFC 13: Unstoppable (Live Event) on HDNet at 9pm

Saturday (12/4)

Inside MMA (Replay) on HDNet at 12am
Fighting Words: Dana White (Replay) on HDNet at 1am
Ultimate Combat Experience (Replay) on MAVTV at 1am
Inside MMA (Replay) on HDNet at 1:30am
XFC 13: Unstoppable (Replay) on HDNet at 2:30am
Fighting Words: Dana White (Replay) on HDNet at 5:30am
The Ultimate Fighter 12 Marathon (Replays) on SpikeTV at 11am
WEC 52: Faber vs. Mizugaki (Replay) on VS. at 2pm
Ultimate Combat Experience (Replay) on MAVTV at 6pm
Inside MMA (Replay) on HDNet at 6pm
The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale (Live Event) on SpikeTV at 9pm
Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Sobral (Live Event) on Showtime at 10pm
WEC 50: Cruz vs. Benavidez (Replay) on VS. at 11pm

Sunday (12/5)

Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Sobral (Replay) on Showtime2 at 12:30am
The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale (Replay) on SpikeTV at 12:30am
WEC 51: Aldo vs. Gamburyan (Replay) on VS. at 1am
Bellator Highlights (Replay) on NBC at 3am
Best of King of the Cage (Replay) on HDNet at 4:30am
MMA:30 (Replay) on MAVTV at 11pm

According to Fighter’s Only Spike TV executives are looking for him to return to a coaching role on The Ultimate Fighter season ten.

Nothing has been offered and there are other options being considered but Spike officials have let the UFC know of their admiration for Jackson.

Filming is set to begin in the next month or so and with Rampage being the number one contender to the light heavyweight title a spot on TUF opposite the winner of the Rashad Evans-Lyoto Machida could work out. With Evans and Machida scheduled for May 23 the winner would be allotted a long break before having to fight Jackson. Having either Evans or Machida on would be great exposure for either one. Machida really needs the exposure as he is quiet and it was only until recently that the UFC put any focus on him.

Evans who was the winner of season two of The Ultimate Fighter also needs help as his personality is all that captivating. The fact that he has a brewing feud going on with Rampage will only help matters. It would mark the third time that a winner of the show would go on to be a coach as Evans would follow in the footsteps of season one winner, Forrest Griffin, who coached opposite Jackson on season seven. Michael Bisping who was the light heavyweight winner on season three is coaching against Dan Henderson on the latest installment of TUF in which eight British fighters are going up against eight American fighters.

Rampage could bring out the best in either Machida or Evans as he is as playful as he is serious. When he coached against Griffin he had moments where he was extremely angry and went as far as to threaten Griffin. He also had moments where he played around with Griffin when he shot him with water guns. Evans and Jackson had a face to face meeting at the end of Jackson’s bout with Evans’ teammate Keith Jardine at UFC 96. Evans and Jackson jawed back and forth for awhile and apparently this animosity carried over into a recent photo shoot that the two were scheduled for. Jackson was furious that he and Evans were together and had to leave the room to keep his cool.

The biggest question when it comes to Machida is how his English is coming along. Based on reports he is working very hard on learning the language. A spot on The Ultimate Fighter would be great for the Brazilian as not many people who aren’t hardcore fans are familiar with him and many fans who are do not like his style. Some say he is boring and that he does not take enough chances while others say he is extremely talented and will remain unbeaten for a long time to come.

With three UFC events scheduled for the month of December, the TUF 8 finale will feature more of the show’s eliminated cast in comparison to any season in recent memory.

Spike TV’s five-bout telecast will consist of the lightweight final between Phillipe Nover, FiveOuncesOfPain.com’s resident TUF 8 blogger, and former NCAA wrestler Efrain Escudero, as well as the light heavyweight final between another former NCAA wrestler, Ryan Bader, and jiu-jitsu black belt Vinicius “Vinny” Magalhaes.

Augmenting the TUF finals will be bouts featuring UFC veterans, with welterweights Anthony Johnson and Kevin Burns will compete in a rematch from their controversial first bout at UFC Fight Night 14. Middleweights Wilson Gouveia and Jason MacDonald will also square off as well.

Serving as the show’s opener with be a lightweight title between former Team Mir teammates, Junie Browning and Dave Kaplan.

The entire 10 bout card is listed below.

Televised Main Card:

• Phillipe Nover vs. Efrain Escudero
• Ryan Bader vs. Vinicius Magalhaes
• Jason MacDonald vs. Wilson Gouveia
• Kevin Burns vs. Anthony Johnson
• Junie Browning vs. Dave Kaplan

Non-televised preliminary card:

• Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Shane Primm
• Eliot Marshall vs. Jules Bruchez
• Kyle Kingsbury vs. Tom Lawlor
• Shane Nelson vs. George Roop
• Rolando Delgado vs. John Polakowski

FiveOuncesOfPain.com founder and publisher Sam Caplan will be at the event covering it for CBSSports.com. However, he’ll be conducting various interviews while in Las Vegas for FiveOuncesOfPain.com before and after the event.

Koppenhaver, who recently legally changed his name to “War Machine” over trademark issues, revealed the news in an exclusive interview with MMAjunkie.com.

The UFC has yet to formally announce the release but Koppenhaver indicated that he believes the move to cut his contract is based on his recent decision to decline a match and also a recent blog posting in which he commented on the death of former UFC middleweight champion Evan Tanner.

“What else is an underpaid fighter supposed to do at the end of his career?” Koppenhaver speculated in a bulletin distributed via his account on MySpace. “Cash in his 401K? Collect social security? Start to work some s— job for 10 bucks an hour? (This) s— ain’t boxing, and if you’re not Chuck [Liddell] or Tito Ortiz, you don’t get paid dick.”

Regarding his decision to turn down a recent offer for a fight, Koppenhaver revealed that UFC Vice President of Talent Relations Joe Silva offered him a match on an upcoming card vs. newcomer Brandon Wolff. Koppenhaver expressed that he was disappointed that a proposed match with Matt Arroyo was never finalized and that he was looking to fight a bigger name than Wolff.

“‘Who in the hell is [Brandon] Wolff?” was the response Koppenhaver gave his management, according to a quote on MMA Junkie. “So, I looked him up and made some phone calls. I’ve got a lot of friends in Hawaii — ‘Rude Boy’ (Troy Mandaloniz), Kendall Grove, my trainer. I got the same thing from everybody. They all said the guy is savage, sick, tough as hell, a really tough fighter and a really tough fight. Basically we all came to the conclusion that I have nothing to gain from the fight… I want to fight someone with a name. I said, ‘Give me Josh Burkman. Give me Dustin Hazelett. Give me someone with a name.’ ”

After declining to take the fight with Wolff, Koppenhaver campaigned for a fight vs. Matthew Riddle after learning that his originally proposed opponent, Mandaloniz, would not be able to take the fight. According to Koppenhaver’s comments, it appeared that he had worn out his welcome with Silva at that point.

“Joe Silva — he was pretty much on a power trip,” Junkie quotes Koppenhaver as saying. “He was like, ‘I already told you that I already have Wolff for War Machine. I don’t know who he is thinking he’s negotiating with me. You know what? I’m sick of this guy.’ Then he brought up the Evan Tanner thing. ‘He made a dumbass comment on Evan Tanner. He’s not supporting the UFC. You know what? War Machine is cut.’ And they cut me.”

Koppenhaver was officially 1-1 in the UFC. He won a “Match of the Year” candidate bout against Jared Rollins during the live season finale for TUF 6 last December when he TKO’d Rollins at 2:01 of round 3. He returned to the Octagon at UFC 84 this past May where he lost via technical submission while on the receiving end of an Anaconda choke administered by Yoshiyuki Yoshida.

The marathon will consist of all 12 episodes from the inaugural season, the season finale, and then conclude with a reunion show featuring many of the key players from the season one.

The reunion show will be hosted by Joe Rogan and will feature UFC President Dana White as well as TUF 1 veterans such as Forrest Griffin, Stephan Bonnar, Kenny Florian, Nate Quarry, Josh Koscheck, Diego Sanchez, Mike Swick, and Bobby Southworth.

I have not seen the reunion show but have spoken to some people that have and apparently things get interesting when Swick confronts Leben about why he allegedly refused to fight him during a UFC Fight Night event last year. Some other interesting revelations are made as well.

I just wish they had invited Jason Thacker back.

Boy did Forrest Griffin ever prove me wrong. And Rashad Evans just sealed the deal.

It’s become clear now that while the fighters on the show might not immediately jump into the UFC and conquer the best guys in their weight class, they will eventually be very competitive and be able to compete and defeat some of the major names in the sport. Just ask Quinton Jackson and Chuck Liddell about that.

Forrest Griffin is the UFC light heavyweight champion and while many people thought that he was a good fighter there weren’t many people that believed that he could take on someone the caliber of Jackson and beat him in a five round fight. The same goes for Rashad Evans. Rashad is athletic, his standup has improved, and his wrestling is very good but there are very few of us who thought he stood a chance to beat Chuck Liddell. Even fewer of us thought that he could beat him at his own game.

Not only have these two fighters catapulted themselves into the world title picture in the UFC but fighters such as Kenny Florian and Josh Koscheck have put themselves in almost everyone’s top ten lists at their respective weight classes. They have developed a lot more since they’ve been on the show but the fact of the matter is that they’re still considered “TUF’ers.”

What we’re seeing is that these fighters may be very raw on the show but with a little bit of development after the show and some experience under their belt, they’re going to be great fighters. Griffin, Evans, and Florian are all great examples of this, specifically Evans. On the show he was considered the underdog fighter yet continued to impress each and every time he fought and now he’s undefeated in MMA with a win over one of the best fighters to ever enter the Octagon in Chuck Liddell. And not just any win. A devastating knockout win.

What we’re beginning to see now is that some of the guys from season five of the show are beginning to evolve into big names at lightweight. Guys like Nate Diaz, Joe Lauzon, and Gray Maynard are beginning to show the world that they’re not just guys from a reality show but that they’re true to life good fighters. I believe we’ll see that to a much lesser extent with season six as Mac Danzig was the only fighter who blew the rest of the competition out of the water but the verdict is still out on season seven. Amir Sadollah was the ultimate underdog going into the season but he has proven himself to be very worthy of his spot in the UFC. C.B. Dollaway could very well evolve into an elite fighter at some point down the road. Matt Brown, while not the best fighter on the show, proved himself to be vastly improved during his fight with Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 88.

In short, the show works. While we may bag on it from time to time, the show has been validated by guys like Griffin, Evans, Florian, and Koscheck. While the fighters on the show might look rudimentary in skill at the time of the show, the scouting that goes on is obviously working. It may not happen right away once they enter the UFC but that should be expected.

Sometimes I think we expect too much out of the winners of the show too soon. Is Amir Sadollah going to challenge Anderson Silva at middleweight or GSP at welterweight right now? No. Could he do so in the future? Anything’s possible. Just ask Forrest Griffin.

MMAjunkie.com was the first site to report Liguori’s inclusion on the card, and FiveOuncesOfPain.com later confirmed the news through its sources as well.

On Tuesday afternoon, a source close to Bova’s camp informed FiveOuncesOfPain.com that the 26-year old fighter has signed a multi-fight contract with EliteXC and that his first fight is slated to be against Liguori.

Bova trains out of the Anthracite Combat Club in Minersville, PA, a fight gym in which fellow pro fighters Jon Murphy, Shane Ott, and Diego Jimenez are all also affiliated with.

After going 7-1 as an amateur, Bova has began his pro career with an undefeated 3-0 record. He made his professional debut at Battle Cage Xtreme 1 on May 12 of last year, defeating Joe Andujar via TKO at 3:22 of round 2. He improved to 2-0 after submitting Steve DeAngelis at 0:36 of round 2 during Extreme Challenge 78 in June.

His most recent fight took place last October for Combat in the Cage, where he won the promotion’s lightweight title after submitting Mark Getto with a rear naked choke at 3:59 of round 1.

For the past seven months, Bova has also been featured in our MMA Prospects section. He was also a finalist for the IFL’s draft tryouts in New York that were conducted last October.

While no fights have formally been signed for the event, FiveOuncesOfPain.com has learned that a proposed main event between Cage Rage welterweight champion Paul Daley and Jose Rodriguez is being discussed.

The bulk of the undercard would primarily be comprised of some of the top undiscovered talent from the Northeast corridor of the U.S.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com has also learned that promoters are trying to secure bout agreements for a match Jim Bova vs. Wilson Reis and also Aaron Miesner and Zach Makovsky in separate bouts.

Miesner and Makovsky are top prospects that train out of separate fight camps in Philadelphia.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REMAINDER OF THIS ARTICLE ON SAM CAPLAN’S PROELITE.COM BLOG.

New to the list are lightweights Jim Bova and Andre “Dida” Amade and featherweight Wilson Reis.

Click here to see the updated list.