Red Mosquito

*Damon Martin of FOX Sports reported that the injury to Daniel Cormier is an injury to the interosseous membrane of his left leg in his shin. It is an injury that doesn’t require surgery but he needs to rest the injury and it is not expected that Cormier would be able to fight at UFC 200 and pushes the possible fight with Jones beyond summer. Cormier is expected to be able to fight again by around August or September according to a source close to the fighter.

**Below are the results from the World Series of Fighting card on Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nevada:
*Abu Azaitar def. Danny Davis Jr. by unanimous decision (29-28 all)
*Vinny Magalhaes def. Jake Heun by unanimous decision (29-28 all)
*Jon Fitch def. Joao Zeferino by unanimous decision (50-45 all) to become the new WSOF welterweight champion
*David Branch def. Clifford Starks by unanimous decision (49-44 all) to retain the WSOF middleweight title

**UFC.com has announced a championship fight for UFC200:
After submitting Holly Holm in March to win the UFC women's bantamweight title, Miesha Tate isn't wasting any time getting back into the Octagon, as she will defend her crown for the first time against Brazil's Amanda Nunes on the historic UFC 200 card at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 9.
A women's MMA pioneer, former Strikeforce champion Tate added UFC championship gold to her trophy case when she handed Holm her first pro MMA loss with a stirring fifth-round finish. Now eager to extend her current five-fight winning streak in her adopted hometown of Las Vegas, Tate is putting everything on the line against the fourth-ranked Nunes, who has defeated Shayna Baszler, Sara McMann and Valentina Shevchenko in her last three bouts.

**Miesha Tate has also signed a new contract with the UFC, with her management company posting a photo of the contract being signed. Tate’s new deal will replace the older one, coming off her championship win over Holly Holm at UFC 196 last month.

**It was first reported by FOX Sports that UFC lightweight Tony Ferguson has been forced to pull out of his scheduled fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov on April 16th in Tampa at the next UFC on FOX card. Ferguson later confirmed the news and stated that doctors had discovered blood and fluid in his lung. It is unknown at this time if an opponent will be found for Nurmagomedov with Ariel Helwani reporting that the UFC is seeking a replacement and Nurmagomedov could still fight on the card later this month.

**Yoel Romero and his team have announced that they have agreed to a settlement with USADA and agreed to a six-month suspension for the middleweight, retroactive to his failed out-of-competition drug test failure from this past January. Romero tested positive for an unknown substance and it was later revealed that it did come from a tainted supplement, which Romero’s team was able to prove to USADA. Romero’s suspension will keep him on the sidelines until July 12th and will be able to fight after that period. In a statement, Romero also stated he would be pursuing legal against the supplement company in question.

**Bellator has announced their second Dynamite card for Friday June 24th in St. Louis, Missouri and will be headlined by Quinton Jackson fighting Olympic gold medalist Satoshi Ishii at a 215 pound catchweight. Similar to last year’s Dynamite, the card will be a mix of MMA and kickboxing bouts and air on Spike TV.

**The UFC has announced a radical concept for the 24th domestic season of Ultimate Fighter, which will premiere at the end of August on FS 1. The season will feature a 16-man flyweight tournament with the winner will get a flyweight title fight on the TUF Finale in December. The tryouts for the season will take place April 25th in Las Vegas and you must have three pro fights (the required minimum for all TUF seasons). Unlike prior season, the finals of the TUF tournament would have to be taped and then the challenger for the title will be revealed on the final episode. Demetrious Johnson will be defending the flyweight title against Henry Cejudo on April 23rd at UFC 197.

Can't say I'm thrilled with the Tate vs Nunes fight. After watching Nunes fight at UFC 196 and call out for a title match I remember thinking that she was way below the calibre of Tate/Holm/Rousey. This should be an easy win for Tate

Pretty much. They may have their reasons but they really should have Rhonda or Holly fighting for the belt at that big of an event.

**After the UFC had made it official that Miesha Tate will defend the bantamweight title against Amanda Nunes on July 9th at UFC 200, Lenny Fresquez, who is the manager of Holly Holm, has stated publically that Tate was offered Holm or Nunes and opted for Nunes, however Tate’s management is disputing that story and stating that the Holm rematch was never on the table for Tate. There are positives and negatives depending on the party, for Tate she has just signed a new deal with the UFC and while it isn’t known what cut of the pay-per-view she will be entitled to, being on UFC 200 is going to be a major financial win for Tate and fighting an opponent that is dangerous but also one where Tate should be favored to win. With a Tate win, you can easily headline a card with Tate and Holm or go to the third fight with Ronda Rousey. If Nunes wins, it eliminates the high ceiling that any of those title fights have with Tate involved and it would be difficult to envision a Nunes vs. Holm fight headlining a show without some big support. It is also possible they would just go to a Rousey vs. Holm non-title bout if that were the outcome in July. There is so much that is unknown because the timetable for Rousey’s return cannot be guaranteed.

**The UFC has also officially added a women’s bantamweight fight between Cat Zingano and Julianna Pena for the UFC 200 card, and had been reported last week and was assumed to be official. Zingano last fought at UFC 184 in February of 2015 and was defeated by Ronda Rousey in 0:14 on a card that did big business on pay-per-view. Pena won TUF Season 18 as a member of Miesha Tate’s team and has since gone 3-0 in the UFC with her last win over Jessica Eye last October at UFC 192.

**With Tony Ferguson off of the UFC on FOX card in Tampa next weekend, the UFC has found a late replacement to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov. Darrell Horcher, who is the CFFC lightweight champion out of the New Jersey promotion, will make his UFC debut on less than two-week’s notice. Nurmagomedov has not fought since April 2014 and very much wanted the fight, regardless of the opponent. There had been back-and-forth discussion of a fight with Donald Cerrone, which ultimately didn’t get signed and Cerrone is still scheduled to be fighting Patrick Cote on June 18th in Ottawa, Ontario. Nurmagomedov and Horcher will remain on the main card with Rashad Evans and Glover Teixeira serving as the new main event.

**A flyweight fight between Paddy Holohan and Willie Gates has been added to the UFC Fight Night card on May 8th in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

**Frank Mir was alerted by USADA that his post-fight drug test has been flagged for a possible violation, following his fight with Mark Hunt on March 19th in Brisbane, Australia. Mir has addressed the suspension on his weekly podcast and stated that he was flagged for a metabolite of a banned substance, which would indicate use and that according to his research the substance would stay in his body 4-6 weeks and has no idea how this got into his system. Mir stated he was randomly tested on February 2nd and was clean and stated it wouldn’t make sense to get on this substance after February 2nd, given how long it would stay in his system. Mir did note that he takes Adderall and has a TUE to allow use of it and that was not the source of the drug test being flagged. Mir has also released the following statement:

To all my fans and supporters,

I recently been notified by USADA that the test I took on the night of the fight came back for a substance that I did not take. I don’t know how that is possible as I did not take any performance enhancing drugs (PED) to compete. I have never tested positive for a banned substance since joining the UFC and becoming a 2x champion. I ask all of you to hold judgement against me until all the facts have been revealed.

**Marc Raimondi has a very important story on the UFC 199 card taking place in California and the new weight cutting restrictions that have been introduced by the California State Athletic Commission. This will be the first UFC card in the state since the new initiatives where fighters will have the option of weighing in as early as 10am on the Friday before they fight or they can opt to weigh in at the usual time. This is an attempt to allow fighters to have more time to properly rehydrate themselves after a survey was conducted and it was a huge number of fighters that were deemed dehydrated as they went into a fight. On top of that, fighters need to pass certain gravity tests in order to go ahead be allowed to fight after they weigh-in. This will be a big story to watch ahead of UFC 199 on June

**Former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre attended the Toronto Raptors game on Tuesday night and was interviewed by Rod Black of TSN. St-Pierre was asked about a possible return to fighting and he stated that he was “talking” with the UFC and that is all he could say. St-Pierre has not fought since November 2013, where he defeated Johny Hendricks in a super-close decision and later vacated his championship, but has never said that he is retired.

**Dhafir “Dada 5000” Harris speaks with ESPN about what happened in his fight with Kimbo Slice back in February and the medical issues following the fight.

**Dave Meltzer reported the television figures for this past Sunday’s UFC Fight Night card from Zagreb, Croatia. The main card averaged 781,000 viewers, which was headlined by Junior dos Santos and Ben Rothwell. The preliminary card averaged 443,000 viewers, which also aired on FS 1.

**A sad story to report is the passing of 28-year old Joao Carvalho, who died on Monday following a TKO loss this past Saturday night for the Total Extreme Fighting event in Dublin, Ireland. Carvalho was stopped in the third round by Charlie Ward, who fights with the Straight Blast Gym out of Ireland and Carvalho was taken to the hospital and underwent brain surgery. The TEF (Total Extreme Fighting) team has sent out the following statement:

The TEF Team is deeply saddened by the news of João Carvalho’s death. Last night 11th of April, mixed martial artist João Carvalho passed away after 2 days of the best medical care and treatment in Beaumont Hospital following his three round TKO stoppage defeat on Saturday 9th April at the National Stadium in Dublin.

Following the referee stoppage João, who was representing Portuguese club Team Nobrega, was assessed by doctors and medical staff at the onsite medical office as per normal procedure. It was determined that he should be sent to hospital. In hospital he received emergency treatment and transferred to ICU later that evening. Formal hospital medical reports and procedures are still being carried out. João was 28 years of age.

Cesar Silva, CEO of TEF said “We extend our most sincere condolences to the family of João Carvalho’s and his teammates in Team Nobrega. Our thoughts and prayers are with them. We’d also like to thank all sports fans for their concern and support. We will give whatever support we can to Joao’s family.”

“We have been in contact with his family and they have requested that we all understand their need for privacy at this difficult time.

**Following an internal investigation regarding sexual assault allegations against BJ Penn, the UFC has opted to allow Penn to fight at UFC 199 on June 4th with Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports reporting the news on Tuesday. Penn is scheduled to fight Dennis Siver at the card in Inglewood, California in a featherweight bout and will be Penn’s first fight since July of 2014, where he was defeated by Frankie Edgar at the TUF 19 Finale event in Las Vegas. The UFC’s Chief Operating Officer Lawrence Epstein gave the following statement to Yahoo regarding the investigation of Penn:

We have taken a look at the available facts, which aren’t too substantial, and there are two stories of what happened. To date, there has [been] no action at all taken by any law enforcement agency. We decided to allow B.J. to fight. However, we are going to continue to monitor to the situation. If new information, more information, becomes available to us, obviously, we reserve the right to re-evaluate.

**The third season of TUF Latin America will be feature former light heavyweight champions Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin as the coaches. The season will be debuting on Fight Pass this August and a finale card is set for November 5th in Mexico City, Mexico.

**Here are the results from the UFC on FOX card on Saturday night from Tampa, Florida in front of 11,273 and a gate of $1,057,000 at the Amalie Arena:
*Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos def. Omari Akhmedov by TKO at 3:03 of Round 3 – This was a very good fight and a strong finish from Dos Santos and two earned fight of the night honors.
*Cezar Ferreira def. Oluwale Bamgbose by unanimous decision (29-27, 29-28, 29-28) – Bamgbose won the first round and then tired and had no answers for Ferreira’s takedown and top game. Ferreria is now training with MMA Masters after leaving the Blackzilians.
*John Dodson def. Manny Gamburyan by TKO at 0:47 of Round 1 – Dodson has so much speed coming up from 125 and showed off the power in his left hand as well. He caught Gamburyan with left hands and overwhelmed him with repeated lefts before it was stopped.
*Michael Graves def. Randy Brown by rear-naked choke at 2:31 of Round 2 – Graves looked very good, was able to take Brown down, got his hooks in and secured a rear-naked choke for the win.
*Santiago Ponzinibbio def. Court McGee by TKO at 4:15 of Round 1
*Raquel Pennington def. Bethe Correia by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) –
*Michael Chiesa def. Beneil Dariush by rear-naked choke at 1:20 of Round 2 – Chiesa lost the first round and was getting tagged with punches and leg kicks but came back very strong in the second round. Chiesa got the back and was patient in trying to lock in a choke and finished him with a neck crank. Chiesa said he wants to fight Tony Ferguson next.
*Cub Swanson def. Hacran Dias by unanimous decision (29-28 all) – Swanson won the second and third rounds convincingly and nearly stopped Dias in the third after a head kick and strikes near the end of the fight.
*Khabib Nurmagomedov def. Darrell Horcher by TKO at 3:38 of Round 2 – Nurmagomedov looked great, he won the fight with his big slams to take Horcher down and worked on top from side control and eventually took the back of Horcher and finished him with strikes.
*Rose Namajunas def. Tecia Torres by unanimous decision (29-28 all) –It was a very close fight with two very good strikers and Namajunas is a completely different fighter from the first time these two fought in 2013.
*Glover Teixeira def. Rashad Evans by KO at 1:48 of Round 1 – Teixeira backed him to the cage and connected with a left hook that sent him down and then put Evans out with a follow up right hand, a solid win for Teixeira and he challenged Anthony Johnson to fight next. Evans was really down at the press conference and constantly said he was embarrassed by the loss and will have to evaluate a lot of things after this loss.

**The fight of the night bonus went to Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos and Omari Akhmedov and the performance bonuses went to Glover Teixeira and Michael Chiesa, all for $50,000.

**Last night’s show did 2,130,000 on the overnight ratings for FOX with the final number to be released in a few days. The overnight number doesn’t take into account the West Coast prime time viewership or the overrun (which was small as the main event didn’t last long).

**Bellator held their first card in Italy on Saturday with the Bellator 152 event and also taped the first Bellator Kickboxing event (which airs next Friday night on Spike TV). The 152 show was a very fast paced show with all finishes up until the main event. The highlight was the Alessio Sakara win as he was the big Italian star, who was hired specifically to fight on this show by the promotion and was treated like a superstar by the crowd and they exploded when he finished Brian Rogers and will likely earn him another fight with Bellator. Below are the main card results:
*Daniele Scatizzi def. Daniele Miceli by TKO at 3:20 of Round 1 – Perhaps the funniest part was the post-fight interview where Scatizzi said something inappropriate (which Spike censored the Italian words of Scatizzi) and the translator didn’t know how to repeat what he said and scolded Scatizzi for what he said.
*Anastasia Yankova def. Anjela Pink by armbar at 1:35 of Round 1 – Yankova is a prospect for Bellator and Pink was making her pro debut and that was one-sided.
*A.J. McKee def. Danilo Belluardo by TKO at 2:44 of Round 1 – McKee has a lot of personality and did a great post-match interview with Jimmy Smith.
*Alessio Sakara def. Brian Rogers by TKO at 2:29 of Round 2 – The crowd was the best part of the fight and these two had went back-and-forth while the fight lasted but Sakara started lighting him up with big strikes and then got the stoppage.
*Patricky “Pitbull” Freire def. Kevin Souza by unanimous decision (30-27 all) – Souza was a late replacement for Derek Campos and was recently cut by the UFC. Not a very entertaining fight and you usually expect fireworks for a Freire fight.

**Fedor Emelianenko will return and fight on June 17th in St. Petersburg, Russia for the “Fight Nights” promotion and he is scheduled to fighter former UFC fighter Fabio Maldonado. Combate out of Brazil reported the news and will take place after Maldonado goes through a fight with Felipe Dantas on May 6th. Emelianenko returned to action this past December after a 3 ½ year layoff and defeated Jaideep Singh at the Rizin Fighting Federation card on New Year’s Eve in Japan. Maldonado is a light heavyweight fighter and was cut by the UFC last year after consecutive losses to Quinton Jackson and Corey Anderson.

**UFC featherweight Diego Brandao was arrested in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Friday night after an incident at a strip club in the city. The Albuquerque Journal reports that Brandao left the “Knockouts” establishment after an argument with a DJ and returned twice that night. The final time he returned, Brandao allegedly had a gun and pointed it at various people and eventually hit an employee with the butt of the handgun. Brandao is facing a charge of aggravated battery and three counts of aggravated assault and a bond has been set at $15,000. Brandao last fought at UFC 195 this past January and was submitted by Brian Ortega and then Brandao failed an in-competition drug test with marijuana metabolites found in his system, above Nevada’s allowable limit.

**Here are the results from the Rizin Fighting Federation card that took place in Nagoya earlier this morning and featured a tag-team grappling event as the main attraction:
*Kanako Murata def. Natalia Denisova by unanimous decision
*Hisaki Kato def. Yuta Watanabe by TKO at 1:04 of Round 1
*Kirill Sidelnikov def. Chris Barnett by split decision
*Daron Cruickshank def. Shinji Sasaki by TKO at 4:36 of Round 1
*Rena Kubota def. Cyndi Alves by unanimous decision in a “Shoot Boxing” rules fight
*Wanderlei Silva & Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Hideo Tokoro went to a 15:00 draw in their grappling bout
*Gabi Garcia def. Anna Malyukova by armbar at 2:04 of Round 2
*Teodoras Aukstuolis def. Jaideep Singh by unanimous decision
*Karl Albrektsson def. Vadim Nemkov by split decision
*Jiri Prochazka def. Kazuyuki Fujita by KO at 3:18 of Round 1

So McGregor is retiring?

E.H. Ruddock wrote:So McGregor is retiring?

Conor McGregor may or may not be retired. But, either way, he won't be fighting at UFC 200.

UFC president Dana White announced Tuesday on ESPN's SportsCenter that McGregor has been pulled from the marquee card because he refused to attend a press conference this week in Las Vegas to promote it. The news comes on the heels of a cryptic tweet about retiring young from McGregor earlier Tuesday.

"Obviously we still have a good relationship with Conor," White said. "I respect Conor as a fighter and I like him as a person. But you can't decide not to show up to these things. You have to do it."

White said McGregor didn't want to come to the press conference, because he was in Iceland training and didn't want to ruin his preparation for the fight with Nate Diaz on July 9 in Las Vegas. White added that only McGregor knows for sure if he is really retired.

Now, though, it appears that McGregor won't be fighting after all. White said Diaz is flying into Las Vegas on Tuesday and they will discuss a new opponent. White said there would also be another fight added to the UFC 200 bill in addition to that.

In the earlier tweet, McGregor said he's "decided to retire young." McGregor, 27, is the UFC featherweight champion, but was not defending the belt against Diaz. That fight was slated for the welterweight division.

Diaz really did rock his world. Shattered it really.

**Here are the results from the UFC 197 card on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in front of an announced crowd of 11,352 and a gate of $2,300,000:
*Kevin Lee def. Efrain Escudero by unanimous decision (29-28 all) – Lee won the first and third rounds.
*Marcos Rogerio de Lima def. Clint Hester by arm-triangle choke at 4:35 of Round 1 – When de Lima took him down, Hester didn’t have any answers off his back and took some major strikes before the submission was applied.
*Walt Harris def. Cody East by TKO at 4:18 of Round 1 – Harris landed a big counter left and put East down and finished with more strikes on top.
*James Vick def. Glaico Franca by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) – Vick poked Franca in the eye in the first and the referee didn’t catch it, it led to the most damage of the round with Vick landing a lot of strikes and then continued with his striking in Round 2 and 3.
*Carla Esparza def. Juliana Lima by unanimous decision (30-27 all) – Lima did land a pair of big shots standing but was then taken down and despite being on her back, landed two big up kicks, which to me were more impactful than the ground strikes from Esparza. Esparza used her wrestling in the second and third as Lima tired.
*Danny Roberts def. Dominique Steele by unanimous decision (29-28 all) – This was a close fight and came down to the third as Steele won the first and Roberts won the second. Steele landed a big left near the end of the fight and followed with knees to the head and that gave him the third on my card, this was the most debated decision on the card.
*Sergio Pettis def. Chris Kelades by unanimous decision (30-27 all) – Pettis looked very good in this fight, much quicker with his footwork and even tried to shoot takedowns on Kelades.
*Yair Rodriguez def. Andre Fili by KO at 2:15 of Round 1 – Rodriguez scored with a flying head kick and will be a knockout of the year candidate. Rodriguez is really talented and is very smooth with his flashy style of kicks and this was easily his biggest win to date.
*Robert Whittaker def. Rafael Natal by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) – The closest round was the second where Natal was lighting Whittaker up with leg kicks but Whittaker outstruck him in all three rounds and Whittaker ended the fight by landing a right head kick. This is Whittaker’s fifth consecutive win.
*Edson Barboza def. Anthony Pettis by unanimous decision (30-27 all) – Barboza was outstanding in this fight and his striking may have never looked better. He stuck to a strategy of patience in the pocket, utilizing his left hook and timing Pettis perfectly and this went on for three-rounds. Barboza obliterated the leg of Pettis with inside leg kicks.
*Demetrious Johnson def. Henry Cejudo by TKO at 2:49 of Round 1 to retain the UFC flyweight title – Johnson looked incredible in this fight, he started scoring with knees to the body, landed a big elbow against the cage and then chased down Cejudo and crushed him in the mid-section with a knee and sent Cejudo down and finished him with strikes. This was one of those performances that will change people’s opinion of Johnson if they aren’t already sold on his style and could easily make the case he is the top fighter in the world.
*Jon Jones def. Ovince Saint Preux by unanimous decision (50-45 all) to become the UFC interim light heavyweight champion – It was not a flashy performance from Jones, he was tentative throughout the fight and won this fight by timing his kicks and being selective with his strikes. His best round was the fourth round, which could have been a 10-8 as he was landing big shots on top of Saint Preux when the round ended. Saint Preux broke his arm in either the third or fourth round.

**The Fight of the Night bonus went to Danny Roberts and Dominique Steele and the Performance bonuses went to Demetrious Johnson and Yair Rodriguez for $50,000 each.

**UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier stated on the broadcast that he would like to fight Jon Jones at UFC 200 but has to be cleared by his doctor first. Cormier has an appointment on Monday and will go from there regarding his ability to get back to training and prepare for July 9th.

**The UFC has a two-week break and then are back Sunday May 8th with their card in the Netherlands with Alistair Overeem taking on teammate Andrei Arlovski. That card will begin that day at 11am Eastern and the main card is airing on FS 1 at 2pm Eastern.

**The New York Post looks at the Fertitta brothers and the cash influx they will see when Red Rock Resorts goes public next week.

**Below are the main card results from Bellator 153 on Friday night from Uncasville, Connecticut in front of an announced crowd of 9,043 and a gate of $687,269:
*Michael Page def. Jeremie Holloway by toe hold submission at 2:15 of Round 1 – Page is one of their key guys they are building up and not rushing him, super fun style to watch and won with a submission you will rarely see at this level
*Brent Primus def. Gleristone Santos by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) – Just about everyone disagreed with this decision and felt Santos won the fight to the point that both Sean Grande and Jimmy Smith said the same.
*Evangelista Santos def. Brennan Ward by heel hook at 0:30 of Round 1 – Santos has been fighting since 1997 and this is only this third traditional submission win (he has an additional two submission wins from strikes) and surprised many people with the quick submission over Ward, who had won four straight coming into this fight.
*Patricio “Pitbull” Freire def. Henry Corrales by guillotine at 4:09 of Round 2 – Pitbull locked on an air tight guillotine in the second and got the tap and was his first fight since losing the featherweight title to Daniel Straus last November.
*Andrey Koreshkov def. Benson Henderson by unanimous decision (50-45 all) to retain the Bellator welterweight title – This was a one-sided beating by Koreshkov, who was much bigger than Henderson, who should be fighting at lightweight, even though it’s a big cut down for him. Koreshkov hit Henderson with tons of big strikes, including a flying knee, brutal shots to the body and landing with his right hand. Both the first and fourth rounds were on the border of being 10-8 rounds and you can easily score them as such. This was the biggest win of Koreshkov’s career and I’d be surprised if Henderson fights at 170 again anytime soon unless they need a late replacement to save a card. Henderson had nothing but praise for Koreshkov and even posted a photo of the two together at the hotel following the fight.

**Bellator immediately announced that Michael Page will be fighting Fernando Gonzalez on July 16th in London, England after Page’s win over Holloway. Page lives in England and that card was a natural to place him on. They also announced a light heavyweight fight between Linton Vassell and Francis Carmont for the July 16th event, which is headlined by Kimbo Slice vs. James Thompson and Josh Koscheck vs. Paul Daley.

**From Rory MacDonald, who has been very outspoken of late and is facing free agency after his next fight:

My opinion @TheNotoriousMMA did the right thing, us fighters could learn a thing or 2 bout knowing r worth. also we should support each other.

**It is now official that Daniel Cormier will fight Jon Jones in the main event of UFC 200 on July 9th in their rematch for the light heavyweight title. The announcement was made by UFC president Dana White on “Good Morning America” Wednesday. There are now three scheduled title fights on the card with Cormier vs. Jones, Miesha Tate vs. Amanda Nunes for the women’s bantamweight title and the interim featherweight title fight between Frankie Edgar and Jose Aldo.

The way this has played out with the UFC and Conor McGregor, it is hard to rule this as anything but a power play that was won by the UFC. It's hard to see a resolution at this point that would put McGregor back on the card and would represent the biggest payday of McGregor’s career, given the intrigue for the rematch with Nate Diaz and the enormity of it headlining UFC 200, which would boost the pay-per-view because of its status. The UFC on the other hand will now almost surely doing a million buys for this card and possibly more, McGregor will fight again and when he does that will be another big show for the company and while the UFC won’t do the business for UFC 200 that a McGregor main event would bring, the overall business of UFC 200 and a subsequent show with McGregor this year could be a net positive after all is said and done as compared to McGregor fighting on 200.

**Dana White, Daniel Cormier, Jon Jones, Miesha Tate, Paige VanZant, Chuck Liddell and Bruce Buffer all appeared on “Good Morning America” for a heavy focus on the UFC, complete with the hosts going through training techniques in an octagon that was set up in the studio.

**The UFC held a press conference in New York City today with Dana White, Daniel Cormier, Jon Jones, Miesha Tate, Amanda Nunes, Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar on hand. The majority of the questions were directed at Cormier and Jones with the two constantly trading insults. There were a few questions about Conor McGregor but nothing like last week’s press conference and White left things by stating he respected McGregor a lot and he will fight at another card. White also said they are not done yet with the UFC 200 card.

**The preliminary card from UFC 197 averaged 835,000 viewers on FS 1 this past Saturday. The prelims featured Sergio Pettis defeating Chris Kelades in the featured bout on the free broadcast going into the pay-per-view.

**There is a legitimate retirement coming out of the SBG Ireland camp as flyweight Paddy Holohan has announced he will be ending his career due to a rare blood disease that he has hidden throughout his career. Holohan posted his retirement statement on his Facebook page and noted he has a rare blood disorder called Factor XIII, which affects the clot stability in the blood. Holohan noted that it isn’t a disease that can be transferred to others and was only a risk to himself, which he didn’t inform the UFC or his camp of. He stated that the UFC became aware of the disease through a third-party and forced them to remove Holohan from his upcoming fight on May 8th with Willie Gates in Rotterdam. Holohan began fighting professionally in 2007 and fought throughout Ireland for various organizations. Holohan lost an elimination fight for TUF 18, but would still be brought in by the UFC and debuted in July 2014 at the UFC’s debut card in Dublin, where he submitted Josh Sampo with an unbelievable crowd that night with those two in the opening fight. Holohan would go 3-2 in the UFC and last fought in October of last year, where he was submitted by Louis Smolka in the main event of a Fight Night event in Dublin.

**Ariel Helwani at MMA Fighting is reporting that Yuta Sasaki will take the spot of Paddy Holohan on the upcoming UFC Fight Night card in Rotterdam against Willie Gates.

**Sherdog was the first to report that the UFC has released Diego Brandao from his contract following a series of incidents at a strip club earlier this month. Brandao is facing multiple felony counts after he was accused of hitting an employee at the strip club with the butt of a gun. Brandao also failed his post-fight drug test after testing positive for marijuana metabolites after he was defeated by Brian Ortega at UFC 195 this past January. Brandao was the winner of TUF Season 14 and went 6-4 during his tenure with the promotion. His most high-profile fight came in July 2014, where he replaced Cole Miller to headline a Fight Pass card against Conor McGregor in Dublin, Ireland and was stopped in the first round.

**Cezar Ferreira is taking the spot of Scott Askham on the TUF 23 Finale card on July 8th in Las Vegas and will fight Anthony Smith. The UFC announced the change with Askham unable to fight on the card due to visa issues.

**Below are the first two episodes of Embedded that the UFC has put out for UFC 200:



**A fight between Valerie Letourneau and Joanne Calderwood has been announced for the UFC Fight Night event in Ottawa, Ontario on June 18th. The most interesting point is that the fight will take place at 125lbs, which is not a weight division in the UFC. It could be a one-off at this weight or suggest that the UFC is exploring a third weight class for the women. Letourneau is a massive strawweight and her weight cut is always tough to get down to 115 and would likely welcome a weight class. For the longest time, it was believed that less weight classes are better because you can keep track of all the champions but as time goes on and the IV ban has come into effect, it just isn’t fair to the fighters to not address additional weight classes when there is such a giant difference between some of the divisions. Benson Henderson is a perfect example of someone who had a hard cut down to 155 and yet when matched with a traditional welterweight in Andrey Koreshkov, was greatly undersized last week for his Bellator debut and would benefit from a weight division at 160 or 165.

**Bellator noted that the main event between Andrey Koreshkov and Benson Henderson averaged 973,000 viewers and peaked with 1.1 million viewers this past Friday at Bellator 153. The overall show average was 618,000.

**The UFC has added a lightweight fight between Joseph Duffy and Mitch Clarke for the UFC Fight Pass event on Thursday July 7th during International Fight Week in Las Vegas. Clarke has not fought since April of last year where he was defeated by Michael Chiesa and Duffy is coming off a loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 195 this past January.

**World Series of Fighting has announced that they have signed former UFC heavyweight Shawn Jordan. Jordan fought in the UFC from 2012 until this past October with a 6-4 mark inside the promotion and is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Ruslan Magomedov, which ended a three-fight win streak. Jordan’s contract with the UFC expired after the Magomedov fight.

**Very sad news as Bellator fighter Jordan Parsons passed away yesterday at the age of 25, following a hit-and-run incident this past Sunday in Delray Beach, Florida. Parsons was getting to set to fight later this month at the Bellator event in San Jose, California. Parsons had his right leg amputated after being admitted to hospital and was fighting for his life. Police are still searching for the driver of the vehicle that struck Parsons and left. Bellator sent out the following statement:

It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of a dear member of the Bellator family, Jordan Parsons. Jordan was an exceptional athlete and a rising star in the sport. But more importantly, he was an exceptional young man. Jordan was hard-working, dedicated, intelligent, and a pleasure to be around. He represented all the reasons we love this sport. It is a terribly tragic loss and our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends, and teammates.

**An injury to Josh Thomson has forced him to withdraw from his lightweight fight with Michael Chandler on May 14th in San Jose, according to FloCombat.com. The fight was the co-feature on the show underneath the main event between Phil Davis and Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal.

**Lavar Johnson, who fought for the UFC, Strikeforce and Bellator, was recently sentenced to five-years in prison for domestic battery after he was arrested last summer over a physical dispute with his spouse. The judge noted a pair of prior incidents involving Johnson. Johnson is 38 years old and has been fighting since 2004. He came over from Strikeforce in 2012 and fought in the UFC until the following year with a 2-3 mark and was let go after two losses and tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone after a February 2013 loss to Brendan Schaub at UFC 157. From there, Johnson went to Bellator and went 1-3, his last fight was in September 2014, where he was submitted by Cheick Kongo at Bellator 123.

**A heavyweight fight between Roy Nelson and Derrick Lewis has been added to the UFC Fight Night card on Thursday July 7th during International Fight Week in Las Vegas. Lewis has won his last three fights and Nelson recently snapped a three-fight losing skid with a decision win over Jared Rosholt.

**The UFC will be holding their annual Hall of Fame ceremony during International Fight Week. The ceremony will take place at the Fan Expo on Sunday July 10th and will feature inductees into the four respective wings – the Pioneers, the Modern Era fighters, the contributors and the fight wing (for a an individual bout). The ceremony will stream live on Fight Pass.

**Globo is reporting that the UFC is working on adding a lightweight bout between Gilbert Melendez and Edson Barboza for the July 23rd card on FOX in Chicago. Melendez has not fought since June of last year, where he dropped a decision to Eddie Alvarez and then failed his post-fight drug test and was suspended for a year. Barboza is coming off a huge win over Anthony Pettis at UFC 197.

**Yahoo has reported that World Series of Fighting has put together a “Brother vs. Brother” fight for their WSOF 32 card on June 30th in Everett, Washington. The fight will pit Caros and Ben “Phoenix Jones” Fodor against one another. The two are adopted brothers and will fight at a catch weight of 162 pounds.

**Red Eye Chicago reports that a bantamweight fight between Eddie Wineland and Frankie Saenz has been added to the UFC on FOX card on July 23rd at the United Center. Wineland hasn’t fought since July of last year, where he was defeated by Bryan Caraway by decision. Saenz had a seven-fight win streak stopped by Urijah Faber is last outing at UFC 194 this past December but gave Faber a lot of problems throughout the fight.

**There were a number of possible fight announcements made on Wednesday night’s edition of UFC Tonight:

The UFC 201 card is scheduled for Saturday July 30th in Atlanta, Georgia at the Phillips Arena and they are working on a main event between Robbie Lawler and Tyron Woodley for the welterweight title. Woodley would be the most deserving, although many were calling for a rematch between Lawler and Carlos Condit after a super-close fight at UFC 195 this past January. Woodley does hold a victory over Carlos Condit from March 2014, but hasn’t fought since January 2015, when he defeated Kelvin Gastelum. Woodley was set to fight Johny Hendricks last October but Hendricks was taken to the hospital during fight week due to weight cutting issues and the fight was pulled from UFC 192.

The UFC’s next card on FOX is set for July 23rd in Chicago and they have announced that Edson Barboza will fight the returning Gilbert Melendez on that show. Melendez is coming off a one-year suspension after he failed his post-fight drug test after a loss to Eddie Alvarez at UFC 188 in June 2015. Barboza is coming off the biggest win of his career as he defeated Anthony Pettis recently at UFC 197.

The same card is Chicago could also feature a women’s bantamweight fight between Holly Holm and Valentina Shevchenko, which means they are putting both Miesha Tate and Holly Holm at risk in their next fights rather than going to the guaranteed big money rematch between the two. The main event of the Chicago card looks to be a light heavyweight fight between Anthony Johnson and Glover Teixeira, which is the fight Teixeira proposed after his win over Rashad Evans.

**Bellator has announced that Saad Awad will be fighting Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos next weekend at the Bellator 154 card in San Jose, California. Santos just defeated Brennan Ward on April 22nd in an upset. They have also announced that Adam Piccolotti will now fight Ray Wood on the card.

**The UFC has announced they will return to Germany for a Fight Night card in Hamburg on Saturday September 3rd at the Barclayland Arena. The promotion has previously held cards in Oberhausen, Cologne and two events in Berlin within the country and last ran a show in the country in June of 2015.

**Below are the results from yesterday’s UFC Fight Night event in Rotterdam and their first event in The Netherlands:
*Ulka Sasaki def. Willie Gates by rear-naked choke at 3:30 of Round 2
*Leon Edwards def. Dominic Waters by unanimous decision (30-27 all)
*Kyoji Horiguchi def. Neil Seery by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27) – Horiguci looked great in this fight, a world of difference in speed but Seery was very tough and ate a lot of strikes throughout this fight
*Reza Madadi def. Yan Cabral by TKO at 1:56 of Round 3
*Josh Emmett def. Jon Tuck by split decision (29-28 all) – Emmett suffered a compound fracture of his finger and showed the bone coming out. Emmett took the fight this week after Nick Hein pulled out.
*Magnus Cedenblad def. Garreth McLellan by TKO at 0:47 of Round 2
*Rustam Khabilov def. Chris Wade by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
*Karolina Kowalkiewicz def. Heather Jo Clark by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) – They have a close first round and Kowalkiewicz’s striking took over throughout the latter two rounds.
*Nikita Krylov def. Francimar Barroso by rear-naked choke at 3:11 of Round 2
*Germaine de Randamie def. Anna Elmose by TKO at 3:46 of Round 1 – The crowd was incredible throughout for de Randamie and she finished the fight with a knee to the body that sent Elmose down against the cage and ate a right hand before the stoppage.
*Gunnar Nelson def. Albert Tumenov by submission at 3:15 of Round 2 – The first round was great, the difference was Nelson’s ability to take Tumenov down and twice mounted him, the second was in the second round and got to the back and locked on a neck crank and got the tap
*Stefan Struve def. Antonio Silva by TKO at 0:15 of Round 1 – Silva charged in and ate a right hook and went down from a knee to the body, Struve continued with elbows to the side of the head and the fight was stopped. Silva protested the stoppage but he wasn’t responding from the repeated elbows.
*Alistair Overeem def. Andrei Arlovski by TKO at 1:12 of Round 2 – Overeem hit a flying kick to the chin, dropped Arlovski with a left and then finished him with strikes on top.

**The Delray Beach Police Department announced on Saturday that they have arrested 28-year old Dennis Wright, in connection with the hit-and-run incident last weekend that killed 25-year old fighter Jordan Parsons. The department stated that Wright has had his license suspended on six occasions and hit Parsons in a crosswalk, just after Midnight ET last Saturday night. They also stated that Parsons was wearing headphones and may have affected his ability to hear the vehicle coming. Wright was being followed by his friends in another car and none of the vehicles stopped with Wright later attempting to have his vehicle restored and the body shop refused to do so. An anonymous tip provided to the police gave them the name of Wright. Wright has been arrested in the past for driving under the influence, disorderly intoxication, marijuana possession and assault on an officer or firefighter.

**Here are the results from Saturday night’s Invicta FC 17 card from Costa Mesa, California and airing on UFC Fight Pass:
*Laura Howarth def. Alexa Conners by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
*Rachael Ostovich def. Ariel Beck by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
*Christine Stanley def. Shannon Sinn by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
*Megan Anderson def. Amanda Bell by TKO at 4:59 of Round 1
*Kaline Medeiros def. Aline Serio by TKO at 4:04 of Round 2
*Charmaine Tweet def. Latoya Walker by TKO at 3:41 of Round 1
*Angela Hill def. Livia Renata Souza by split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47) to win the Invicta strawweight title
*Tonya Evinger def. Colleen Schneider by unanimous decision (50-44, 50-44, 49-45) to retain the Invicta bantamweight title

**There is a bogus story going around linking Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor to a boxing fight with one another, which takes all of two-seconds to dismiss knowing that McGregor is under contract to the UFC and doesn’t have a prayer of happening as long as that contract exists.
Still, that's not stopping both of them from hyping it up.

**ESPN’s Darren Rovell reported a story that has the potential to be a game changer in the industry with the possible sale of the UFC. The news of a sale was first reported by Jonathan Snowden at Bleacher Report back in March and Rovell has since done further reporting and led to Wednesday night’s report. Rovell’s story states that the UFC hired Goldman Sachs to shop their financials and there are four suitors on the table, which are WME / IMG, China Media Capital (which Snowden reported in March), The Blackstone Group and Dalian Wanda Group, the latter of which Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting is reporting is the frontrunner. The story states that the sale could be in the neighborhood of $3.5-4 billion dollars with the Rovell story stating that Goldman Sachs has represented their earnings from 2015 in the $200-$250 million range. 2015 was a massive year for the company given the pay-per-view success of holding three cards with Ronda Rousey and two big pay-per-view events headlined by Conor McGregor along with escalators in the FOX deal and other worldwide television revenue. The FOX deal is important because their deal with the UFC comes due at the end of 2018 and the potential buyer could inherit a giant rights increase if the UFC property is valued at the level of other live sports properties by the end of next year, which is always a concern when discussing the increase in live sports fees and when there will be a reduction in sports networks rights fees.

The current ownership of the UFC consists of Lorenzo & Frank Feritta, Dana White and the Abu Dhabi based Flash Entertainment, which bought a 10% stake in the company in 2010.

**UFC president Dana White is denying the story that the UFC is up for sale and the UFC’s Dave Sholler issued the following statement:

As a private company, we don’t discuss speculation or rumors related to our business

Below is a quote from Dana White in 2010 when the Flash Entertainment deal was announced, which will likely be cited a lot over the next few days:

I think that I’m gonna have a certain amount of time here and then my time will be done and I will have done my part. And then somebody else will carry it on after me. I don’t look at this like I’m gonna be here forever.

**UFC president Dana White appeared on the Dan Patrick Show today to address the stories of the sale. He stated they were not for sale but stated they would obviously listen if a $4 billion offer came their way. When Patrick asked about selling a partial stake in the company, White more open to that being a possibility and citing their plans of expansion in counties such as China and Japan. White also noted that if the UFC were ever to be sold, it would likely coincide with him walking away at that point. White also came out stating that Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz sounds like “a good idea” for UFC 202 later this summer after originally stating McGregor would fight the winner of Frankie Edgar and Jose Aldo later this year. White stated he would be having dinner with McGregor next week.


Dan Patrick also spoke to ESPN’s Darren Rovell on the story he reported:


**Anderson Silva is off of the UFC 198 card this Saturday in Curitiba, Brazil after dealing with stomach pain and going to the hospital. While being checked on, it was decided that Silva would have to undergo gall bladder surgery to have his gall bladder removed. Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting reported Wednesday that he underwent the successful surgery and while it isn’t a long recovery process, there is no way he could fight. The UFC has since announced that they have removed Uriah Hall from the card and will not replace Silva with a new opponent and they have moved the Bryan Barberena vs. Warlley Alves fight to the pay-per-view portion of UFC 198. It is a notable hit to the card as Silva was the biggest star on the show but it is a very loaded card. The live event aspect won’t be hurt as the tickets are sold and it is such a big card in Curitiba. On pay-per-view, this may cause the number to take a hit even though Silva was in a support role on the show but meant more than the main event in my opinion.

**With the move of Barberena vs. Alves to the main card, they have moved Yancy Medeiros and Francisco Trinaldo to the FS 1 prelims on Saturday night.

**The UFC is expecting more than 22,000 people to attend the UFC 198 weigh-ins this Friday in Curitiba, Brazil.

**The UFC is seeking out a new opponent for BJ Penn for the UFC 199 card on June 4th. BJPenn.com was the first to report that Dennis Siver is off of the card due to an undisclosed injury. This will be Penn’s first fight since July 2014, where he was defeated by Frankie Edgar and then announced his retirement from the sport. Penn has been training out of Albuquerque, New Mexico throughout the year with the Jackson-Winkeljohn camp.

**The UFC 198 weigh-ins are taking place at 3pm Eastern on Friday afternoon and will air live on Fight Network. The promotion is expecting 22,000 people in attendance for the weigh-ins.

**Ariel Helwani at MMA Fighting reported that Cole Miller is expected to take the spot of the injured Dennis Siver on the UFC 199 card against BJ Penn on June 4th in Inglewood, California. Miller fought twice in 2015 with a decision loss to Max Holloway and then had a no contest against Jim Alers due to an accidental eye poke that Miller sustained during the fight. Penn has not fought since July 2014, where he was stopped by Frankie Edgar and then announced his retirement. Penn has been working out of Albuquerque, New Mexico at the Jackson-Winkeljohn camp since announcing his plans to come out of retirement. The new fight was officially confirmed on UFC Tonight on Wednesday night.

**The UFC has announced their plans for the next season of Ultimate Fighter. The teams will be coached by flyweights Joseph Benavidez and Henry Cejudo with all of the fighters competing at flyweight and coming from outside the UFC. The winner of the tournament will fight Demetrious Johnson for the flyweight title on the finale card in December. The 24th domestic season will premiere on FS 1 on Wednesday August 31st.

**Below is Episode 3 of UFC Embedded heading into UFC 198 on Saturday night:

**Here are the results from the UFC 198 card on Saturday in front of an announced crowd of 45,207 at the Arena de Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil:
*Renato Moicano def. Zubaira Tukhugov by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
*Sergio Moraes and Luan Chagas fought to a split draw (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) – Chagas only took the fight on 14-days’ notice.
*Antonio Rogerio Nogueira def. Patrick Cummins by TKO at 4:52 of Round 1 – This was the best Nogueira has looked in a long time and stunned Cummins with repeated strikes and finally the referee stepped in and stopped the fight towards the end of the first round.
*John Lineker def. Rob Font by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 29-28) – Lineker is not big for the division but has a lot of power. He has the potential to be a player at 135 and if he could have made weight, would have fought for the flyweight title.
*Francisco Trinaldo def. Yancy Medeiros by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 29-26) – Trinaldo won the first round 10-8 and you could argue the third round was another 10-8. This received fight of the night and did deserve it but it was more the ability of Medeiros to keep taking punishment and surviving than a back-and-forth fight.
*Thiago Santos def. Nate Marquardt by KO at 3:39 of Round 1
*Demian Maia def. Matt Brown by rear-naked choke at 4:31 of Round 3 – Maia dominated the entire fight with his grappling by taking Brown down repeatedly and securing his back, he finally got the choke near the end of the fight.
*Bryan Barberena def. Warlley Alves by unanimous decision (29-28 all) – Alves won the first round and nearly got the win with a guillotine. Barberena came back and won a close second round and definitely won the third. Barberena was a huge underdog in this fight.
*Mauricio “Shogun” Rua def. Corey Anderson by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) – In both the first and second rounds, Shogun was losing the round and then dropped Anderson at the end. He definitely did enough to win the first because he followed with more shots and Anderson was in a lot of trouble.
*Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino def. Leslie Smith by TKO at 1:21 of Round 1 – Cyborg was hitting her with incredible accuracy, knocked her down and the referee stopped it. It was an early stoppage but Cyborg was lighting her up and the fight wouldn’t have lasted much longer anyway. Smith did have a valid argument when comparing other fights on this show that were given a lot more leniency before being stopped.
*Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza def. Vitor Belfort by TKO at 4:38 of Round 1 – Jacare took Belfort took and cut him by his left eye, the fight was re-started after the doctor checked on the cut and Jacare was on top and finished him with big shots.
*Stipe Miocic def. Fabricio Werdum by KO at 2:47 of Round 1 –Werdum was connecting a lot in the early part and then charged at Miocic and was put to sleep with a right hand as Miocic was backing up and the fight was over.

**The Fight of the Night bonus went to Francisco Trinaldo and Yancy Medeiros and the performance bonuses went to Stipe Miocic and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza.

**A strange incident occurred after the UFC 198 card involving welterweight Matt Brown and a former coach named Rodrigo Botti. Brian Stann wrote on Twitter that Brown was randomly attacked by someone he thought was a fan and later learned to be Botti, as the two had a falling out and were involved in an assault investigation last year. After Botti hit Brown, he was chased down by Brown’s friend, Vinicius Lemos and he attacked Botti and it was caught on camera. MMA Fighting reports that Botti is planning to press charges against Lemos.

**The UFC will return on Sunday May 29th for a Fight Night event from Las Vegas, which is headlined by bantamweights Thomas Almeida and Cody Garbrandt.

**Bellator 154 also took place on Saturday night and aired on Spike TV from the SAP Center in San Jose, California with the following main card results:
*Andre Fialho def. Rick Reger by KO at 2:11 of Round 1 – Fialho just destroyed him standing and knocked him down several times before the fight was stopped, he says he wants to be the welterweight champion.
*Adam Piccolotti def. Ray Wood by rear-naked choke at 3:17 of Round 1 – Wood was the replacement for Jordan Parsons, who was scheduled to fight on this card and Parsons was mentioned throughout the broadcast and the show was dedicated in his memory. This was a good fight while it lasted and Wood did his best to defend after Piccolotti got his back.
*Josh San Diego def. Jeremiah Labiano by unanimous decision (29-28 all)
*Saad Awad def. Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos by TKO at 4:31 of Round 1 – This fight went way too long. Santos attempted a knee bar and Awad got on top and unloaded with shots and finally it was stopped.
*Phil Davis def. Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) – This was a very close fight. Davis will now challenge Liam McGeary for the light heavyweight title in his next fight.

**The UFC announced during the pay-per-view that Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira will be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame this year in the Pioneers class. The induction ceremony will be on Sunday July 10th to conclude International Fight Week and will be streamed on Fight Pass.

**Bellator announced on Saturday that they have stripped Will Brooks of the lightweight title and will allow for his contract with the promotion to expire. Brooks and Bellator had been at odds for some time and Brooks’ contract had one fight remaining and was set to expire in July. The promotion has announced that Michael Chandler and Patricky “Pitbull” Freire will fight for the vacant title on June 24th at the Dynamite II card in St. Louis, Missouri.

**Bellator also announced on Saturday that they have stripped inactive heavyweight champion Vitaly Minakov of the title. Minakov has not defended the title since April 2014, but has been fighting in Russia and Bellator finally made the decision to strip him of the title, however they have not cut Minakov from his contract.

**Bellator returns with a card next Friday night from Boise, Idaho on Spike TV and will be headlined by Rafael Carvalho vs. Melvin Manhoef for the middleweight title and also features Pat Curran vs. Georgi Karakhanyan.

**The UFC announced today that lightweight Carlos Diego Ferreira has been flagged for a possible USADA drug violation and has been removed from his fight with Abel Trujillo on May 29th in Las Vegas. They are planning on finding a new opponent for Trujillo as Ferreira has received a provisional suspension.

**The Las Vegas Review-Journal was the first to report that Gray Maynard will make his featherweight debut on the TUF 23 Finale card on Friday July 8th in Las Vegas against Fernando Bruno. Maynard is 37 –years old and fought twice for the UFC lightweight title when Frankie Edgar was the champion in 2011. Maynard has lost his last four fights going back to May 2013 and last fought in April 2015, where he dropped a decision to Alexander Yakovlev.