The Official MMA Thread

[Stickman]

**The UFC had one of the greatest crowd in the promotion’s history on Saturday from The O2 in Dublin, Ireland with 9,500 on hand and a tremendous gate figure of $1,400,000. UFC president Dana White stated this was the most successful Fight Pass card they have ever run with the service receiving a giant spike in subscribers yesterday. The atmosphere was electric, specifically for the Irish fighters, who all won their fights and couldn’t have gone better from that aspect. It was a tremendous show and below are the results:
*Patrick Holohan over Josh Sampo by rear-naked choke at 3:06 of Round 1
*Nikita Krylov over Cody Donovan by TKO at 4:57 of Round 1
*Trevor Smith over Tor Troeng by unanimous decision (29-28 all)
*Cathal Pendred over Mike King by rear-naked choke at 3:33 of Round 2
*Neil Seery over Phil Harris by unanimous decision (30-27 all)
*Ilir Latifi over Chris Dempsey by TKO at 2:07 of Round 1
*Norman Parke over Naoyuki Kotani by TKO at 3:41 of Round 2
*Ian McCall over Brad Pickett by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
*Gunnar Nelson over Zak Cummings by rear-naked choke at 4:48 of Round 2
*Conor McGregor over Diego Brandao by TKO at 4:05 of Round 1

All of the Irish fighters on this card came across as superstars and all of them had something to say when Dan Hardy interviewed them. Parke challenged Diego Sanchez for his next fight, Seery told a heartbreaking story of his nephew recently passing away, Pendred spoke of attending UFC 93 and vowing to fight on the next Irish card, Holohan got the crowd buzzed from the start and did a great post fight speech and it was capped off by McGregor listing off all the Irish wins on the card and adding that “we’re not here to take part, we’re here to take over”.

**Cathal Pendred and Mike King received the $50,000 bonus for fight of the night with Pendred nearly finished in the first round but King was so tired on top of him that he could barely throw any strikes while mounting the back and Pendred came back and submitted him in the second round. Conor McGregor and Gunnar Nelson received the performance of the night bonuses.

**Dana White indicated that McGregor will likely fight in Las Vegas next with Dustin Poirier looking to be his next fight unless there are any injuries to prevent either from fighting the other. McGregor says he wants a fast turnaround and believing he will be the featherweight champion by the end of the year, which would take a miracle with Jose Aldo set to fight Chad Mendes later this year and even if an injury occurred it would be tough to have McGregor take that spot.

**UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis was a guest on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani today and confirmed that his fight with Gilbert Melendez will be taking place on December 6th in Las Vegas, Nevada on pay-per-view.

**Below is the full episode of the UFC’s Road to the Octagon, previewing this Saturday’s card in San Jose, California:

[Stickman]

**The UFC announced on Thursday that Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta met with Nick Diaz and have extended his contract by three fights with Diaz stating he is ready to come back and fight and getting past his contract issues with the promotion. The fight they are targeting is one between Diaz and Anderson Silva but Silva will not be ready to fight until February and could lead to Diaz fighting prior to that card.

**The weigh-ins for the UFC on FOX 12 card take place at 7pm Eastern tonight from San Jose, California and will be airing live on Fight Network.

**Bellator 122 takes place tonight from Temecula, California and is a bit of transition card for the promotion as most of the fights were booked prior to the regime change but Scott Coker will be at the show tonight with the following main card bouts kicking off at 9pm Eastern on Spike TV:
*Brandon Halsey vs. Brett Cooper in the finals of the middleweight tournament finals
*Andrey Koreshkov vs. Adam McDonough in the welterweight tournament finals
*Phil Baroni vs. Karo Parisyan
*Egidijus Valavicius vs. Liam McGreary in the semi-finals of the light heavyweight tournament

**The UFC has announced that Amir Sadollah will return to fight for the first time in two-years against Nico Musoke on the October 5th card in Stockholm, Sweden. Sadollah hasn’t fought since September of 2012 when he dropped a unanimous decision to Dan Hardy and has been sidelined with a variety of injuries. He won season seven of TUF in 2008 and all of his pro fights have been inside the UFC.

**Combate out of Brazil was the first to report that Joe “Diesel” Riggs is returning to the UFC and will replace Mike Rhode on the September 13th card in Brasilia when he meets Paulo Thiago. Riggs left the UFC in 2006 and lost three straight fights in 2011 before going on a six-fight win streak that he will look to extend against Thiago. Riggs was also the winner of the first (and probably only) season of Bellator’s Fight Master last year.

**On Wednesday it was announced that Alexander Gustafsson had torn his meniscus and as a result he is out of the main event for UFC 178 for September 27th where he was to challenge Jon Jones in a rematch for the light heavyweight title. In to replace Gustafsson is Daniel Cormier, who is forgoing knee surgery on his LCL to take the fight and is the best replacement you could hope for on that loaded show.

**The Nevada State Athletic Commission held their hearing on Wednesday with both Chael Sonnen and Vitor Belfort appearing in front of the commission with varying degrees when it came to the respective outcomes. Belfort was given a conditional license with a unanimous vote dependent on the fact his next fight would be in Nevada and that he will be heavily tested until the day he retires. As soon as the license was granted, the UFC sent out a press release announcing Chris Weidman vs. Vitor Belfort for December 6th in Las Vegas for the middleweight title. Belfort was facing a suspension and a fine for his second test failure in the state after being randomly tested this past February and his levels were above the allowable limit. Belfort’s defense was that he was travelling and instead of spreading out his two weekly doses, he took one big shot the day before he was tested and was caught with elevated levels.

In the case of Sonnen he was suspended for two-years and ordered to pay for the cost of flying in a doctor to appear in front of the commission and his travel expenses as well as assist the NSAC when it comes to doping and educating them. Anthony Marnell III was the commission member who wanted to throw the book at Sonnen and suggested a lifetime ban, which they negotiated down and agreed to two-years, which effectively ends the career of Sonnen, who will be 39-years old by that point. The interesting question is how long Sonnen will be considered damaged goods and a lightning rod before a promotion hires him as an analyst, which he is free to do tomorrow if someone is willing to hire him.

**The UFC 178 card on September 27th will also feature Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier in a featherweight bout coming off of McGregor’s win over Diego Brandao this past weekend. That show is a big one, which also features Dominick Cruz returning after close to three-years to fight Takeya Mizugaki and Cat Zingano also returns on that show to fight Amanda Nunes. Today on The MMA Report Jeremy Botter stated that he’s been told another big fight is being targeted for that show as well but it’s unknown who that involves.

**Matt Brown is receiving some criticism today after he was asked when he might be the betting favorite (as he goes in to so many of his fights as the underdog) and he replied:

Maybe if I'm champ and they put me up against a retard or something.

[Stickman]

**Saturday night was the UFC on FOX 12 card from the SAP Center in San Jose, California in front of an announced crowd of 11,482 and gate of $735,317 (the last time they ran the building was for the FOX 7 card in April 2013 headlined by Benson Henderson vs. Gilbert Melendez and drew 13,506 and gate of $1.33 million) and below are the results from the card:
*Noad Lahat over Steven Siler by unanimous decision (29-28 all)
*Joanna Jedrzejczyk over Juliana Lima by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
*Gilbert Burns over Andreas Stahl by unanimous decision (29-28 all)
*Tiago Trator over Akbarh Arreola by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
*Brian Ortega over Mike De La Torre by rear-naked choke at 1:39 of Round 1
*Tim Means over Hernani Perpetuo by unanimous decision (29-28 all)
*Patrick Cummins over Kyle Kingsbury by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-25, 30-24)
*Jorge Masvidal over Daron Cruickshank by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)
*Bobby Green over Josh Thomson by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) – closest fight on the show and I scored it 29-28 for Thomson but both Round 1 and 3 were very close and this was nothing like the decision Thomson lost to Benson Henderson earlier this year
*Dennis Bermudez over Clay Guida by rear-naked choke at 2:57 of Round 2
*Anthony Johnson over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira by TKO at 0:44 of Round 1
*Robbie Lawler over Matt Brown by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 48-47)

**The bonuses went to Lawler vs. Brown for fight of the night with Dennis Bermudez and Anthony Johnson earning the performances of the night for $50,000 apiece.

**The UFC has a significant stretch of three-weeks behind shows as they won’t run another event until August 16th with the Fight Night card in Bangor, Maine headlined by Ryan Bader vs. Ovince St. Preux due to the cancelation of UFC 176 next weekend. It is still a packed month as they run August 16th, hold a doubleheader on August 23rd with shows in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Macau on the same day and finish out August with the UFC 177 card on August 30th in Sacramento featuring T.J. Dillashaw vs. Renan Barao for the bantamweight title and Demetrious Johnson vs. Chris Cariaso for the flyweight title.

**The overnight number has the FOX card averaging 2,020,000 viewers but that only measures from 8-10pm Eastern and also doesn’t include west coast viewership so between the west coast and the fact the main event went well past 10pm eastern the final number should be a bit higher than the overnight figure.

**UFC president Dana White confirmed at the post fight press conference that the Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes featherweight title fight will take place October 25th in Rio de Janiero, Brazil for UFC 179. White also stated they have a date for the rematch between Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler but couldn’t announce it yet.

**Bellator returned on Friday night for a card in Temecula, California featuring a ton of first round stoppages on the card with the following results:
*Linton Vassell over Virgil Zwicker by rear-naked choke at 1:07 of Round 1
*Sergio Rios over Stephen Martinez by TKO at 0:20 of Round 2
*Saad Awad over Joe Durate by TKO at 1:18 of Round 1 – with all the stoppages this ended up airing on Spike TV with Awad applying a triangle and hammering Duarte with elbows and the referee stepped in to stop it with Duarte protesting it but it was a just stoppage
*Fernando Gonzalez over Karl Amoussou by unanimous decision (29-28 all)
*Kelly Anundson over Philipe Lins by TKO (knee injury) at 1:40 of Round 1 in the semi-finals of the light heavyweight tournament
*Bubba Jenkins over Poppies Martinez by TKO at 4:10 of Round 1
*Augusto Sakai over Matt Frembling by TKO at 3:32 of Round 3
*Karo Parisyan over Phil Baroni by TKO at 2:06 of Round 1
*Liam McGeary over Egidijus Valavicius by TKO at 2:10 of Round 1 in the semi-finals of the light heavyweight tournament and they had Kelly Anundoson come into the cage after the bout as they both shook hands and hugged
*Brandon Halsey over Brett Cooper by armbar at 2:09 of Round 1 in the finals of the middleweight tournament to get a future title fight against Alexander Shlemenko
*Andrey Koreshkov over Adam McDonough by unanimous decision (30-27 all) to win the welterweight tournament (for the second time in his career) and challenge Douglas Lima in the future

**Bellator’s next card is September 5th in Uncasville, Connecticut and is a loaded card headlined by Pat Curran vs. Patricio Freire for the featherweight title and that is the show that goes head to head with the UFC card in Ledyard, Connecticut.

**Urijah Faber will in fact be fighting on the September 20th UFC Fight Night 52 card in Saitama, Japan against Masanori Kanehara in a bantamweight bout.

**The UFC has announced that TUF Latin America will debut on Monday August 25th at 10pm Eastern on FOX Deportes and will also stream on UFC Fight Pass with coaches Cain Velasquez and Fabricio Werdum. The season will feature featherweights and bantamweights fighting for two UFC contracts.

[Stickman]

MMA comin in handy.

[Stickman]

**UFC president Dana White confirmed on ESPN Tuesday night that Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz will headline the Super Bowl weekend card on January 31st 2015 in a five-round bout, which will be contested at middleweight. Both men have had lengthy layoffs with Diaz last fighting in March of 2013 where he challenged Georges St-Pierre for the welterweight and Silva last fighting at UFC 168 last December where he broke his tibia and fibula during his second fight with Chris Weidman. This comes less than a week after it was announced that Diaz had resolved his issues with the UFC and signed an extension onto his existing contract.

**The final numbers for this past weekend’s UFC on FOX 12 card saw the show average a 1.5 rating and 2,500,000 and peaking for the main event between Robbie Lawler and Matt Brown, which averaged 3.4 million viewers. Dave Meltzer has a thorough rundown of the night’s numbers on the MMA Fighting website.

**Jeremy Botter of Bleacher Report reported one of the strangest reasons for a fighter pulling out of a fight. Joe Riggs was scheduled to fight Paulo Thiago on September 13th in Brasilia but has been forced to withdraw after accidentally shooting himself while cleaning his gun and injury his upper thigh and hand. The tweet of the day went to Chad Dundas (also from Bleacher Report):

Just a thought: Nick Diaz re-signs with the UFC & the next day Joe Riggs decides to make sure his firearm is in working order. Coincidence?

[Stickman]

So the Jon Jones, Daniel Cormier Staredown went well.

**Below is Kevin Casey’s statement following his positive drug test after UFC 175 for Drostanolone:

I apologize to @UFC & the NSAC for my irresponsible action. I made a bad decision trying to cut weight. We are competing in a cleaner sport.

**Combate out of Brazil is reporting that Glover Teixeira has verbally agreed to fight Phil Davis on the UFC 179 card on October 25th in Rio de Janiero on the same card where Jose Aldo will defend the featherweight title against Chad Mendes.

**Tickets for the UFC’s debut in Halifax, Nova Scotia go on sale to Fight Club members on Wednesday August 20th and then to the public on Friday August 22nd. There will be a press conference in Halifax on Tuesday August 19th at the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame with Tom Wright, Rory MacDonald, Tarec Saffiedine, T.J. Grant and Jason Saggo on hand.

**Russell Doane and Yuri Alcantara have been added to the UFC Fight Night 51 card in Brasilia on September 13th in a bantamweight bout.

[Stickman]

**The Taunton Daily Gazette is reporting a horrific series of acts allegedly committed by former UFC fighter Josh Grispi towards his wife with a police officer calling it the worst case of domestic abuse he has ever seen. Grispi was first arrested last Friday on charges of assault on his wife and was released with bail set at $2,000. Grispi was arrested again on Monday for assault and domestic abuse and this time no bail was set and he has been sent to the Plymouth House of Correction. Gripsi allegedly trained his pit bull to attack his wife and resulted in the pit bull attacking his wife and hospitalizing her and then when his home was searched by authorities, they discovered a pot farm, weapons and ammunition including unsecured weapons and ammunition close by to his three-year child. Grispi’s updated list of charges now include two counts of battery and battery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, two counts of violating a restraining order, animal cruelty, malicious damage to a motor vehicle, drug possession to cultivate marijuana and improper storage of a large capacity of firearm near a child. Grispi came over to the UFC from the WEC in early 2011 and was scheduled to fight Jose Aldo for the featherweight title but Aldo was injured and instead fought Dustin Poirier and was his first of four straight losses in the UFC and was cut in early 2013 and has not fought since.

**Sherdog’s Todd Martin has written a great five-part series on who would be included with the formation of an actual MMA Hall of Fame. Todd put a ton of work into this and he did a great job. Below are the links to all five parts:
Part 1 (Inaugural Class) - http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles/1/ ... lass-71439
Part 2 (The Shoo-Ins) - http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles/1/ ... oIns-71497
Part 3 (Best of the Rest) - http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles/1/ ... Rest-71501
Part 4 (Borderline Candidates) - http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles/1/ ... rt-1-71535
Part 5 (Borderline Candidates, Part 2) - http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles/1/ ... rt-2-71579

**Below is the UFC’s statement regarding Monday’s brawl between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier:

Their actions were clearly a violation of the UFC's code of conduct. The Nevada State Athletic Commission has requested a video copy of the incident, and the UFC is cooperating fully with them in order to come to a quick resolution when it comes to possible penalties for both fighters.

**Alexander Gustafsson underwent knee surgery Monday for a torn meniscus, which is the injury that forced him out of the rematch with Jon Jones on September 27th.

**UFC lightweight Mark Bocek announced his retirement on Tuesday night after a ten-year professional career including being a member of the UFC since July of 2007. Bocek came in with a strong grappling background and went 8-5 during his UFC tenure including fighting on the first Toronto card at the Rogers Centre in April of 2011. Bocek missed all of 2013 due to injury and returned this past April and defeated Mike De La Torre in Quebec City at the TUF Nations Finale.

**The UFC has officially added a bantamweight bout between Raphael Assuncao and Bryan Caraway as well as a strawweight bout between Paige VanZant and Kailin Curran to the October 4th Fight Night card in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Assuncao was in consideration for the next bantamweight title fight when the UFC decided to go with the rematch between T.J. Dillashaw and Renan Barao so the winner of that fight could be close to the top for a future title opportunity.

**Matthew Riddle is off of the August 22nd Titan FC card in Fayetteville, North Carolina where he was scheduled to headline the card against Ben Saunders for the vacant welterweight title. 40-year old veteran Jose “Pele” Landi-Jons will be stepping in to fight Saunders in the main event.

**The UFC has announced that Gunnar Nelson will face Rick Story in the main event of the October 4th Fight Night card in Stockholm, Sweden and airing on Fight Pass.

**With Jordan Mein losing his opponent in Brandon Thatch for August 16th and Demian Maia being forced out of his bout with Mike Pyle on August 23rd, the UFC has taken the healthy fighters and now Mein will fight Pyle on August 23rd in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

**Gym Rescue featuring Randy Couture and Frank Shamrock will premiere this Sunday night at 10pm Eastern on Spike TV. The premise will see Couture and Shamrock going to various gyms and offer their advice for failing businesses. These were taped months ago and they have three episodes in the can.
See the trailer here

[Stickman]

Heyman: Brock Lesnar finally healthy, would consider UFC return if WWE situation changes


By Anton Tabuena

Paul Heyman, a long time pro wrestling staple and manager of Brock Lesnar, was a guest at The MMA Hour so naturally one of the talking points was his polarizing client. According to him, the former UFC champion is finally healthy after that long battle with diverticulitis:

"He had a clean bill of health, finally. Brock was not ready for the Overeem fight, and I think that's fairly obvious. A liver kick, well placed, will drop any human being on the face of this planet. A liver kick from Alistair Overeem, at that size and weight -- no matter how he achieved it -- is going to drop any human being. Brock was unhealthy walking into that fight with Alistair Overeem. I don't think that Brock has ever truly understood nor accepted until he got past it, the severity of the illness that took him down. Brock, once he got past the Overeem fight, had all these treatments, switched treatments and doctors and finally got a clean bill of health."

While there were discussions of a mega-fight between him and Fedor Emelianenko that ultimately died down when 'The Last Emperor' retired, Lesnar is currently under contract with the WWE where he serves as one of pro wrestling's biggest draws. Heyman says Brock would consider a return to MMA, but only if his current situation changes of course:

"If a change of circumstance happens, and it’s a no-brainer to get Brock back into the cage, I’m sure it’s something he would consider. At this moment, it’s not a topic of conversation because things are going so well in WWE."

So while it's unlikely that Vince McMahon and the WWE brass would let him go, there are a few fighters already angling for a money fight with Lesnar. Among them is his last conqueror in Alistair Overeem who 'believes' Lesnar is coming back, and wants first dibs on that payday when he does.

It's probably not going to happen, but if we're playing matchmaker, I certainly wouldn't put him in again against Overeem on any potential comeback fight. Since they're roughly the same age, and both 'names' need a win after a rough stretch and a layoff, I'd rather put a PPV headlined by Lesnar vs. Nogueira.

[Stickman]

This is gonna be a fuckin fight.

[Stickman]

**Bellator sent out a release that they have released War Machine (Jon Koppenhaver) after allegations that he physically assaulted two people, including his girlfriend, Christy Mack. War Machine (his legal name) is wanted by authorities and still on the loose. TMZ reported the news on Friday and since that time War Machine has tweeted Mack and refers to the incident that led to the attack.
Christy Mack released a statement yesterday regarding the attack that occurred Friday night at her home by Koppenhaver . Mack included a series of extremely graphic photos of the injuries and among her injuries were 18 broken bones, two breaks in her nose, missing teeth, an inability to chew, no vision in her left eye, slurred speech, a fractured rib, ruptured liver and cannot walk on her own due to an injury to her leg. She also stated that Koppenhaver stabbed her and attemped to rape her before she escaped the home while he was in another room and seek help and eventually get to the hospital. Koppenhaver remains on the loose with authorities seeking him. This is one of the most disturbing stories you are ever going to read about. She also is putting up a $10,000 reward for anyone with information in helping to find Koppenhaver.

**The Metamoris event went down Saturday night from Los Angeles featuring Andre Galvao submitting Chael Sonnen in the main event as well as Josh Barnett submitting Dean Lister with only seconds remaining in the 20:00 match. The rest of the card saw Barret Yoshida and Jeff Glover go to a draw in the surprise match, Vinny Magalhaes drew Keenan Cornelius, Saulo Ribeiro (world renowned grappler and former coach for Diego Sanchez) drew Rodrigo Medeiros (who was Brock Lesnar’s jiu-jitsu coach when he was an active fighter) and Garry Tonon submitted Kit Dale with a guillotine.

**The UFC has announced that Chan Sung Jung will return to the octagon on October 4th to fight Akira Corassani in Stockholm, Sweden. “The Korean Zombie” has not fought since UFC 163 in August of 2013 where he suffered a separated shoulder during his bout with Jose Aldo in Brazil. Corassani is coming off a loss to Dustin Poirier from the TUF Nations Finale this past April in Quebec City.

[Stickman]

well shit.

Jon Jones injured; Daniel Cormier fight moved to Jan. 3


By Ariel Helwani

Fans will have to wait a little longer than expected for one of the most-anticipated fights in UFC history.

Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier for the UFC light heavyweight title has been moved from Sept. 27 to Jan. 3 due to an injury suffered in training by Jones earlier this week. The news was first reported on FOX Sports 1's "America's Pregame."

According to sources with knowledge of the situation, Jones suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee and a sprained ankle during a wrestling practice on Monday. It is unclear at this time whether he will require surgery.

"It's very disappointing," Cormier told MMAFighting.com. "I started to train very hard. It's a little discouraging, but now I have time to get completely healthy. I don't know how hurt Jon is but we have to remember that I took this fight with a pre-existing (knee) injury. I could have fought through it, I just wish he would have done the same."

As a result, Demetrious Johnson vs. Chris Cariaso for the UFC flyweight title has been moved from the UFC 177 co-main event on Aug. 31 to the main event of UFC 178, per the UFC.

Jones vs. Cormier was always a fight that interested the MMA community, however, it reached a whole other level of mainstream interest after Jones and Cormier brawled in the lobby of the MGM Grand last week and were then caught on camera threatening each other.

UFC 178 has seen several changes over the last few weeks, as well. The event was originally scheduled to take place in Toronto, then it was moved to Las Vegas with Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson as the headliner, and then Cormier replaced Gustafsson after the Swede injured his knee.

In a press release on Tuesday, the UFC announced that they are offering refunds to fans who bought UFC 178 tickets expecting to watch Jones vs. Cormier upon request at point of sale only. The deadline for refunds is Aug. 22.

According to sources, the UFC felt that the Jan. 3 date -- slated to be UFC 182 in Las Vegas -- was the earliest that made sense for the fight.

[Stickman]

**UFC welterweight Mike King is the latest fighter to fail a drug test as he tested positive for the steroid Nandrolone following his loss to Cathal Pendred on July 19th in Dublin, Ireland. As a result King will not receive his $50,000 bonus for fight of the night and has also been cut by the organization. King released the following statement to MMAFighting.com after the news broke:

Following my bout against Cathal Pendred at UFC Fight Night Dublin: McGregor vs. Brandao on July 19, 2014 I tested positive for the banned substance Nandrolone.

The consequences for my conduct are truly significant: the life changing $50,000 Fight of The Night bonus I was awarded has been taken away, I have been informed that my UFC promotional agreement is being terminated, I have been placed on a nine month suspension, and I have publicly humiliated myself.
I accept full responsibility for my actions and decisions and make no excuses.

I want to apologize to my opponent and friend Cathal Pendred, the UFC, Dana White, Lorenzo Fertitta, coaches, team mates, management, friends, family, and most importantly my fans.

I believe in the power of redemption and second chances. I will work tirelessly to prove I am a trustworthy person who deserves the honor of competing at the highest level in the sport I love.

**UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will be undergoing surgery on Thursday for his torn meniscus that he suffered in training this week along with a sprained ankle. The injury has forced the UFC to move the Jones vs. Daniel Cormier fight to January 3rd of next year with Demetrious Johnson vs. Chris Cariaso being moved from UFC 177 to headline the September 27th card at UFC 178.

**Chael Sonnen was a guest on Chris Jericho’s “Talk is Jericho” podcast today and goes into detail about his recent series of drug test failures, which led to a two-year suspension handed out to Sonnen by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Sonnen admits he tried to “game the system” and didn’t think he would be tested for another 44-days.

[Stickman]

MMA fighter War Machine arrested by U.S. Marshals after weeklong manhunt


Marc Raimondi

FOX Sports

The manhunt is over.

MMA fighter War Machine has been arrested Friday in Simi Valley, Calif., by U.S. Marshals after being on the run for more than a week following the alleged assault of his girlfriend, a U.S. Marshals spokesperson told FOX Sports. War Machine, whose birth name is Jonathan Koppenhaver, was at Simi Valley City Jail on Friday afteroon pending his extradition to Nevada.

The former UFC competitor had seven arrest warrants out, five of them for alleged felonies, according to TMZ.

War Machine's ex-girlfriend Christy Mack, a well-known adult-film actress, is accusing him of horrifically beating and nearly killing her in the early morning hours of Aug. 8. The alleged assault resulted in 18 broken bones around her eyes, a broken nose, missing teeth, a fractured rib and ruptured liver, Mack wrote in a statement on social media.


Mack said she and War Machine broke up in May. Last week, War Machine entered her Las Vegas home in the middle of the night and found another man there. Mack said War Machine attacked the other man, who has been identified as reality show star Corey Thomas in reports, and threw him out of the house.

Then, Mack said, War Machine beat her and "sawed much of my hair off with [a] dull knife." He threatened to rape her, but could not perform, Mack said. Mack said she fled the home naked, begging for neighbors to help her. One did and took her to the hospital.

The story has gotten national attention and earlier this week reality-show star Duane "Dog" Chapman, better known as "Dog the Bounty Hunter," announced he would be aiding in the search for Koppenhaver. Chapman advised War Machine to turn himself into authorities Monday. He and his family members have been tweeting at Koppenhaver all week.

It was not Chapman who found the fugitive, but the U.S. Marshals. The Marshals developed information that said War Machine had fled Las Vegas and was in California.

War Machine was found at an Extended Stay America Hotel, according to the Simi Valley Police Department (h/t KTLA). TMZ reported he did not put up a fight. Inside the room, there was a small amount of cash and pizza, a release said. War Machine is originally from Simi Valley.

He was captured by Nevada FIST, a permanent task force led by U.S. Marshals with help of law enforcement officers from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, the Nevada Department of Public Safety, the Nevada Department of Corrections and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

"This is yet another example of how our joint agency efforts are apprehending fugitives who think they can hide," District of Nevada U.S. Marshal Christopher Hoye said in a release.

Police went to War Machine's home in San Diego on Friday morning to remove two of his exotic snakes, per TMZ. "Dog the Bounty Hunter" was there, an officer told the website.

War Machine has denied the accusations on Twitter.

[Stickman]

**Here are the results from the UFC Fight Night card last night in Bangor, Maine in front of 5,329 and a live gate of $321,470:
*Frankie Saenz over Nolan Ticman by unanimous decision (30-27 all)
*Tom Watson over Sam Alvey by unanimous decision (29-28 all) – Alvey had a huge third round and unloaded a flurry onto Watson, who amazing kept standing but it was the strongest round of the three for either man
*Sara McMann over Lauren Murphy by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) – I had McMann winning the first two rounds but Murphy was very active off her back and outstriking her with elbows to the side of the head. McMann relied on her takedowns and then using elbows and forearms on top but this was a very close fight despite the long odds going into the fight
*Jussier Formiga over Zach Makovsky by unanimous decision (29-28 all) – Clear cut rounds one and two for Formiga and then Makovsky won the third but Formiga used great positioning to get the back of Makovsky but never had him in danger of submitting him
*Thiago Tavares over Robbie Peralta by rear-naked choke at 4:27 of Round 1 – Tavares is enormous at 145 and dominated this fight but getting to his back, flattening him up and while Peralta defended throughout the round he was eventually caught with the choke and Tavares looked very good
*Shawn Jordan over Jack May by TKO at 2:03 of Round 3 – Jordan was cut badly under the right eye as May is a powerful striker but Jordan didn’t fatigue late in the fiht and subdued May with his takedowns and controlling him on top and got the finish
*Alan Jouban over Seth Baczynski by KO at 4:23 of Round 1 – great back and forth with Jouban connecting with a head kick and Baczynski coming back and dropping Jouban, shortly after Jouban connected with a short uppercut and knocked out Baczynski
*Tim Boestch over Brad Tavares by TKO at 3:18 of Round 2 – this was an incredible finish with Boetsch way down and on his way to a decision loss when he caught Tavares with a left hook and stunned him, knocked him down with a right and finished him for the big come from behind win in his home state of Maine
*Ross Pearson over Gray Maynard by TKO at 1:35 of Round 2 – Maynard looked good in the first round, he was getting his jab off and finding success with the left but in the second round Pearson had his rhythm and Maynard walked into a right hand and Pearson saw he was stunned and followed up with a combinations and put him down
*Ryan Bader over Ovince St. Preux by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 48-47) – not a particularly great fight as Bader resorted to his takedowns that he was scoring all fight long, St. Preux constantly left his hands down and would charge in every now and then with limited success. A good win for Bader but you didn’t get the sense either would fare well right now with the upper echelon of the division.

**The following were the recipients of the $50,000 bonuses handed out after the card:
*Fight of the Night – Alan Jouban vs. Seth Baczynski
*Performances of the Night – Tim Boestch and Thiago Tavares

**UFC president Dana White noted after the card that running a card in Bangor, Maine didn’t make any sense financially but he really wanted to run this card in Maine because he grew up there.

**The UFC comes back with a double header next Saturday with an early show that day from Macau featuring Michael Bisping vs. Cung Le and then later that night they are in Tulsa, Oklahoma with Benson Henderson vs. Rafael dos Anjos in the main event.

**The next season of TUF featuring the all women’s strawweight season to crown a champion debuts on Wednesday September 10th on FS 1 and the finale will be taking place Friday December 12th in Las Vegas at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

[Stickman]

**Wanderlei Silva and his lawyer, Ross Goodman, requested a delay in his hearing before with the Nevada State Athletic Commission with his lawyer arguing that the NSAC had no right to subject a non-licensed fighter in Silva to a random drug test back in May. Silva is currently in Toronto where he is scheduled for a number of appearances and his original hearing today has now been moved to a future date. After Silva avoided the random drug test, he was removed from his bout with Chael Sonnen at UFC 175 and replaced by Vitor Belfort and then it was Sonnen who was randomly tested and came up positive for a number of banned substances and the fight(s) fell apart.

**Both Kevin Casey and Robert Drysdale were issued temporary suspensions today from the NSAC for their failed post fight drug tests from UFC 175 and the TUF 19 Finale respectively. They will appear at the next hearing for a formal punishment to be granted.

**Daniel Cormier reported on UFC Tonight on Wednesday that the UFC is working on putting together a middleweight bout between Lyoto Machida and Luke Rockhold at a future date. Rockhold has won his last two fights and coming off a submission win over Tim Boestch at UFC 172 while Machida is coming off a decision loss to champion Chris Weidman at UFC 175 last month.

**It was a big day for Eddie Alvarez on Tuesday as Bellator granted their lightweight champion an unconditional release from his contract (believed to have one more fight left on the deal and may have called for it to be a pay-per-view) and allowed him to sign with the UFC later that day. The UFC was quick to announce that Alvarez will debut in the fight they always wanted, with Donald Cerrone, at UFC 178 on September 27th in Las Vegas. When it appeared that Alvarez wouldn’t be signed in time, the UFC went ahead to pulled Bobby Green from his fight with Jorge Masvidal to fight Cerrone at UFC 178 and now leaves Green without an opponent for the show. Alvarez was a two-time Bellator lightweight champion and was the first key signing by the promotion and featured on their very first card in April 2009. He will be most associated for his pair of fights with Michael Chandler from November of 2011 in perhaps the best fight in Bellator history and then another tremendous fight in their rematch last November with the two splitting wins.

**With the addition of Alvarez vs. Cerrone, the main card of UFC 178 will be headlined by Demetrious Johnson vs. Chris Cariaso for the flyweight title and also feature Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor, Tim Kennedy vs. Yoel Romero and Cat Zingano vs. Amanda Nunes. Dominick Cruz will be headlining the prelim portion of the card on FS 1 against Takeya Mizugaki.

**The weigh-ins for the UFC Fight Night 48 card in Macau, China take place early Friday morning at 4am Eastern time. The card takes place early Saturday with the following lineup and runs on Fight Pass:

MAIN CARD (9am Eastern Saturday morning)
*Michael Bisping vs. Cung Le
*Tyron Woodley vs. Dong Hyun Kim
*Brendan O’Reilly vs. Zhag Lipeng
*Ning Guangyou vs. Jianping Yang in the TUF China featherweight final

PRELIMINARY CARD (6:30am Eastern)
*Wang Sai vs. Danny Mitchell
*Shinsho Anzai vs. Alberto Mina
*Yuta Sasaki vs. Roland Delorme
*Colby Covington vs. Wang Anying
*Royston Wee vs. Yao Zhikui
*Elizabeth Phillips vs. Milana Dudieva

**The weights for Fight Night 49 from Tulsa, Oklahoma take place on Friday at 5pm Eastern and will be airing on Fight Network. Here is a look at Saturday night’s card from Tulsa:

MAIN CARD (10pm Eastern on FS 1, Sportsnet 360)
*Benson Henderson vs. Rafael dos Anjos
*Mike Pyle vs. Jordan Mein
*Francis Carmont vs. Thales Leites
*Max Holloway vs. Clay Collard
*Valmir Lazaro vs. James Vick
*Tom Niinimaki vs. Chas Skelly

PRELIMINARY CARD (8pm ET on FS 2, Sportsnet 360)
*Alex Garcia vs. Neil Magny
*Tony Martin vs. Beneil Dariush
*Matt Hobar vs. Aaron Phillips
*Ben Saunders vs. Chris Heatherly

FIGHT PASS CARD (7:30pm Eastern)
*Wilson Reis vs. Joby Sanchez

**Cage Warriors 71 on Friday afternoon at 1pm Eastern from Amman, Jordan will be airing live on Fight Network.

**Bellator has announced the signing of Talita Nogueira, who joins Marloes Coenen and Julia Budd in the promotion’s 145-pound women’s division.

[Stickman]

**Here are the results from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 48 card from Macau, which ran on Fight Pass in front of an announced crowd of 7,022 at the Cotai Arena:
*Milana Dudieva over Elizabeth Phillips by split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28) – this was a debated one as Dudieva took her down numerous times in the first two rounds and would end up on bottom with her guard and Phillips would land strikes, I had it 29-28 for Dudieva
*Royston Wee over Yao Zhikui by split decision (29-28, 27-30, 29-28) – this was really bad as I felt Zhikui won all three rounds with the closest being the first where Wee ate a number of shots and then got the takedown and controlled his back but did little damage, lost the position and Zhikui ended the round strong with more strikes
*Colby Covington over Wang Anying by submission (strikes) at 4:50 of Round 1 – Covington is a former wrestling teammate of Jon Jones and was very strong, took him down easily and was aggressive with strikes all round long
*Yuta Sasaki over Roland Delorme by rear-naked choke at 1:06 of Round 1 – Sasaki is very dangerous once he gets your back and did so quickly in this fight and this could be it for Delorme with the company
*Alberto Mina over Shinsho Anzai by TKO at 4:17 of Round 1 – if you enjoy sloppy striking that actually gets worse as they get more tired, this was your fight. Anzai was very tough and took a lot of strikes but this was as low a level of striking as you will see in the UFC
*Wang Sai over Danny Mitchell by unanimous decision (29-28 all) – Mitchell is a BJJ black belt but stood with him for the majority of the first two rounds and lost both before having a good third round
*Ning Guangyou over Yang Jianping by unanimous decision (29-28 all) to win the TUF China featherweight contract – I scored it 30-28 with a 10-10 third round as NOTHING happened, the crowd hated the fight and Guangyou was just as frustrated, punching the cage after the fight, the third round was the worst round between both UFC shows
*Zhang Lipeng over Brendan O’Reilly by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) – Lipeng showed notable improvements from the last time he fought, the first round was close but Lipeng dominated the second and third rounds including busting open a hole beneath the lip of O’Reilly and there was lots of blood from the opening
*Tyron Woodley over Dong Hyun Kim by TKO at 1:01 of Round 1 – Woodley connected with an overhand right as Kim was going for a spinning back fist and a follow up strike sent him down and Woodley got the stoppage
*Michael Bisping over Cung Le by TKO at 0:57 of Round 4 – they had a very good fight with Le holding his own throughout the fight. Le’s two eyes were busted badly and both almost swollen shut after the fight. Le claimed Bisping poked him during the fight but the replay showed a clean shot by Bisping during the strike in question. It was a matter of Bisping’s volume against Le’s body shots and Bisping got the finish in the fourth after a huge series of shots to start the round.

**There was not fight of the night award given out but instead they gave performance bonuses to Bisping, Woodley, Mina and Sasaki for $50,000 each.

**After the fight Bisping challenged Luke Rockhold and was smart on his part as that would detour Rockhold from the title picture and puts Bisping in a spot where he could make a major leapfrog within the division although Rockhold would be a big favorite in that fight.

**Here are the results from the second UFC card on Saturday, which took place in Tulsa in front of an announced crowd of 7,119 and a gate of $452,075 at the BOK Center:
*Wilson Reis over Joby Sanchez by unanimous decision (29-28 all) – Reis is cutting down from bantamweight after a loss to Yuri Alcantara in his last outing. Sanchez looked good even in losing and won the second round with a left hook and then aright head kick, which knocked Reis down twice. Reis was able to get the takedown at will and move to his back throughout the fight and won the first and third.
*Ben Saunders over Chris Heatherly by omoplata at 2:18 of Round 1 – This was amazing as Saunder was taken down, used his rubber guard and got an omoplata applied and got the tap, very rare to see in high level MMA
*Matt Hobar over Aaron Phillips by unanimous decision (29-28 all) – Hobar used his takedown ability and despite Phillips being tough, had no answer when he would be put on his back and Hobar controlled the majority of the fight this way
*Beneil Dariush over Tony Martin by arm-triangle choke at 3:38 of Round 2 – Martin won the first round but tired in the second and Dariush got the takedown and transitioned to the head and arm choke with relative ease
*Neil Magny over Alex Garcia by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) – This was a good win for Magny, who is very lengthy with a reach of 80” in the welterweight class. Garcia tweaked his knee eating a jab in the opening round but continued on. Magny out grappled him and wasn’t a riveting fight but Garcia is a tough guy and Magny is now 4-0 this year
*Chas Skelly over Tom Niinimaki by rear-naked choke at 2:35 of Round 1 – Great performance from Skelly, he is a Team Takedown fighter and will be worth watching when he fights tougher guys at 145. Skelly got the takedown and as Niinimaki was going for a guillotine, Skelly had a beautiful step over and just had his way with him as he applied the choke from the side
*James Vick over Valmir Lazaro by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) – Lazaro took a lot of shots in this fight and Vick was just a better technical striker and also has a chin on him, Lazaro also tired in this fight
*Max Holloway over Clay Collard by TKO at 3:47 of Round 3 – this was an awesome fight, in particular the first round before Collard just got too tired as they were throwing everything at one another. Collard can take a lot and is only 21-years old but has had 85 amateur boxing fights and took this fight on really short notice and Holloway is really finding his rhythm in the UFC and won three straight and is only 22-years old himself
*Thales Leites over Francis Carmont by KO at 0:20 of Round 2 – Carmont won a dull opening round with little happening and then Leites burst into the second with a flurry and dropped Carmont with a right uppercut and that is three straight losses for Carmont
*Jordan Mein over Mike Pyle by TKO at 1:12 of Round 1 – Mein hit a left hook to the side of the head and then another to the jaw and Pyle plummeted to the mat and Mein finished him quickly
*Rafael dos Anjos over Benson Henderson by TKO at 2:31 of Round 1 – dos Anjos was matching his strikes and pressing forward and hit a flying knee followed by a big left that dropped Henderson and he looked out of it, I had no issue with the stoppage even though the crowd booed the stoppage

**Like the Macau card there was no fight of the night bonus given out and instead four performance bonuses were given out to dos Anjos, Mein, Leites and Saunders for $50,000.

**James Lee Mein, the father of Jordan Mein, was arrested in Tulsa on Friday prior to the weigh-ins where he was charged with sexual battery. The elder Mein also corners his son and was banned from doing so after the arrest and was let out on Saturday morning following his bond being posted. Lee Mein will appear in court on Friday in Tulsa.

[Stickman]

**The weigh-ins for UFC 177 take place later tonight at 7pm ET and will be running on Fight Network for tomorrow’s event. Below is the full card for the show in Sacramento, California at the Sleep Train Arena:

MAIN CARD (10pm ET on pay-per-view)
*T.J. Dillashaw vs. Renan Barao for the bantamweight title
*Tony Ferguson vs. Danny Castillo
*Bethe Correia vs. Shayna Baszler
*Ramsey Nijem vs. Carlos Diego Ferreira
*Yancy Medeiros vs. Damon Jackson

PRELIMINARY CARD (8pm ET on FS 1)
*Lorenz Larkin vs. Derek Brunson
*Henry Cejudo vs. Scott Jorgensen
*Ruan Potts vs. Anthony Hamilton
*Joe Soto vs. Anthony Birchak

FIGHT PASS CARD (7:30pm ET)
*Chris Wade vs. Cain Carrizosa

**UFC featherweight Max Holloway has taken the spot of an injured Chan Sung Jung to fight Akira Corassani on October 4th in Stockholm, Sweden in the co-feature bout on that card. Holloway is 3-0 thus far in UFC and coming off a TKO win over Clay Collard from this past weekend in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

**Bellator has announced their full card for their September 19th card on Spike TV from Fresno, California with the following main card bouts for the televised portion:
*Doug Marshall vs. Melvin Manhoef
*Brian Rogers vs. James Irvin
*Martin Stapleton vs. Goiti Yamauchi
*Raphael Butler vs. Javy Ayala

[Stickman]

**The UFC 177 card was thrown into chaos yesterday with both Renan Barao and Henry Cejudo off of the card due to weight cutting issues and forcing the UFC to re-book the main event and go ahead with eight fights for tonight’s pay-per-view in Sacramento. The end result is that bantamweight Joe Soto will step in to fight champion T.J. Dillashaw onjust over 24-hours notice with his original opponent, Anthony Birchak, off of the card. Barao was cutting weight and having problems with the cut. His Nova Uniao camp stated he was dizzy getting out of a bathtub and hit his head on the wall and was taken to hospital and ruled he could not fight as a result. Cejudo, who was set to make his UFC debut and was an gold medalist at the 2008 Olympic Games had to stop cutting weight after his body shut down and wasn’t close to the 136-pound limit for his bout with Scott Jorgensen. Here is the updated card for tonight’s show, which will also feature three bouts on FS 1:

MAIN CARD (10pm ET on pay-per-view)
*T.J. Dillashaw vs. Joe Soto for the bantamweight title
*Tony Ferguson vs. Danny Castillo
*Bethe Correia vs. Shayna Baszler
*Carlos Diego Ferreira vs. Ramsey Nijem
*Yancy Medeiros vs. Damon Jackson

PRELIMINARY CARD (8pm ET on FS 1, Rogers Sportsnet)
*Derek Brunson vs. Lorenz Larkin
*Ruan Potts vs. Anthony Hamilton
*Cain Carrizosa vs. Chris Wade

**UFC president Dana White held a media scrum yesterday and stated that Renan Barao would not be receiving another title fight in his next bout as a result of pulling out of this card at the last minute. White also said that for Henry Cejudo to remain in the promotion he will have to fight in bantamweight or will not remain with the promotion. This is not the first time Cejudo has had weight cutting issues as he missed weight in his last two fights with Legacy FC.

**James Irvin has been forced to withdraw from his fight with Brian Rogers at Bellator 125 on September 19th with Brett Cooper stepping in to replace Irvin.

**The UFC is trying to put together a fight between Hector Lombard and Tyron Woodley for November 8th in Australia with Dana White stating that Lombard wants the fight and doesn’t care about fighting a teammate while Woodley won’t take the fight. White is playing this back and forth out in public and trying to paint Woodley into a corner in order to take the fight but as of yet, Woodley isn’t biting.

**White also noted in the media scrum that he released Stephan Bonnar from his existing deal so he could go fight with Bellator and seemed to have no interest in having Bonnar come out of retirement to fight for the UFC. It is expected that Bonnar will fight Tito Ortiz later this fall on Spike TV.

[Stickman]

**The UFC 177 card from Sacramento Sat night had an announced crowd of 11,100 and a gate of $700,000 (so tons of reduced tickets and freebies in the market given the number in the building compared to the gate). Below are the results from the show:
*Chris Wade over Cain Carrizosa by guillotine choke at 1:12 of Round 1
*Anthony Hamilton over Ruan Potts by TKO at 4:17 of Round 2
*Derek Brunson over Lorenz Larkin by unanimous decision (30-27 all)
*Yancy Medeiros over Damon Jackson by reverse guillotine choke at 1:54 of Round 2
*Carlos Diego Ferreira over Ramsey Nijem by TKO at 1:53 of Round 2
*Bethe Correia over Shayna Baszler by TKO at 1:56 of Round 2
*Tony Ferguson over Danny Castillo by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
*T.J. Dillashaw over Joe Soto by KO at 2:20 of Round 5 to retain the bantamweight title

**The fight of the night bonus went to Ferreira and Nijem with Medeiros and Dillashaw earning the performance of the night bonuses, all worth $50,000.

**Bethe Correia has done a great job is positioning herself within the women’s bantamweight division all from the four finger horseman deal she did after the Jessamyn Duke fight. It has given her a direction and a reason people want to see the fight with Correia now knocking off two of Ronda Rousey’s teammates and Rousey also wanting the fight. If you take away her post antics from her last two fights she would swimming in a sea of obscurity in that division and instead she has separated herself after only three fights in the UFC.

**They were really pushing Raphael Assuncao on the broadcast, as the next likely challenger for T.J. Dillashaw (they fought last October with Assuncao getting a split decision victory but Assuncao also has a fight with Bryan Caraway on October 4th to get past first).

**Dana White stated at the press conference after the show that it would be up to Renan Barao and his team if he wants to continue fighting at bantamweight or move up and based on Barao’s reaction during an interview with Joe Rogan on the show, he’ll be staying at that weight. White did state that Henry Cejudo will not be offered that same option and will have to fight at bantamweight if he wants to stay in the UFC with flyweight off the table for him.

**UFC president Dana White spoke on the FS 1 prelim portion of the card regarding the gate figures. White took a shot at journalist Dave Meltzer stating that Meltzer has predicted a $500,000 gate when it ended up being a $700,000 gate. For those that read last week’s Observer, what Meltzer reported was that ten-days out the gate was $550,000 and made no prediction of what the final number would be. Meltzer has since written a response and given his side of the story.

[Stickman]

**Jon “War Machine” Koppenhaver appeared in a Las Vegas court this week and pleaded “not guilty” to 32 felonies he is now facing with authorities adding numerous felonies that date back months. Koppenhaver will remain in custody and return to court on October 17th where he faces up to 25-years in prison with no chance of parole. Koppehaver was arrested after being on the run for a week after he allegedly attacked former girlfriend Christy Mack and a friend of hers with numerous injuries sustained by Mack, which hospitalized her. Koppenhaver was immediately released from his Bellator contract after news of the crime became public.

**Tonight is the UFC Fight Night 50 card from Ledyard, Connecticut with the prelims at 7pm ET and the main card at 10pm. All the fights will air on FS 1 and in Canada they will be pre-empted due to Smackdown on Sportsnet 360 with no airing scheduled this weekend so fans will have to watch the card on Fight Pass.

MAIN CARD (10pm ET on FS 1)
*Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. Gegard Mousasi
*Alistair Overeem vs. Ben Rothwell
*Matt Mitrione vs. Derrick Lewis
*Michael Chiesa vs. Joe Lauzon

PRELIMINARY CARD (7pm ET on FS 1)
*Nik Lentz vs. Charles Oliveira
*John Moraga vs. Justin Scoggins
*Rodrigo Damm vs. Al Iaquinta
*Chris Camozzi vs. Rafael Natal
*Chris Beal vs. Tateki Matsuda
*Chas Skelly vs. Sean Soriano

**Charles Oliveira had to forfeit 20% of his purse after coming in at 150 pounds for his featherweight bout with Nik Lentz. Oliveira cited a stomach virus he was battling all week for the problems he had cutting the weight. This is a rematch from 2011 where the two fought to a no contest after Oliveira delivered an illegal knee.

**Here is the main card lineup for the Bellator 123 event tonight in Uncasville, Connecticut and airing on Spike TV at 8pm ET:
*Pat Curran vs. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire for the featherweight title
*Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal vs. Dustin Jacoby
*Bobby Lashley vs. Josh Burns
*Lavar Johnson vs. Cheick Kongo
*Tamdan McCrory vs. Brennan Ward

**Invicta FC presents their first card on Fight Pass tomorrow night in Kansas City headlined by Michelle Waterson (who has been doing media everywhere this week) defending her atomweight championship against Yasuko Tamada.



**The news was first reported by Dave Meltzer at MMA Fighting on Wednesday evening that Jim Ross will make his MMA broadcasting debut on October 3rd for the Battlegrounds pay-per-view event alongside Chael Sonnen. The card will feature an eight-man, one-night welterweight tournament along with a non-tournament bout featuring Ryan Couture vs. Jonny Carson. The pay-per-view has clearances on InDemand, DirecTV and Dish Network in the U.S. and Bell TV in Canada.

**A flyweight bout between Ian McCall and John Lineker has been added to the UFC Fight Night card on November 8th in Brazil. Lineker has won 5 of his last 6 fights but has missed weight on three occasions inside the UFC but has made weight in his last two. McCall has been dealing with a hand injury for the past year and is coming off a win over Brad Pickett from this past July.

**Randy Couture will be paired with Karina Smirnoff on the upcoming season of Dancing with the Stars on ABC. Other celebrities on the upcoming season include Alfonso Ribeiro, Tommy Chong and Lea Thompson.

**One FC has announced that Brandon Vera will make his promotional debut for the organization on December 5th at the One FC 22 event in the Philippines. No opponent has been announced as of yet with Vera last fighting in August of 2013 where he was stopped by Ben Rothwell in the third round of their heavyweight bout. That fight should have been changed to a no contest after Rothwell’s level of testosterone was above the allowable limits following the fight but the fight was not changed to a no contest.