Another addition of the “UFC on Versus” installment will be making it’s return August for the fifth-time.
There, heavy handed strikers and fan favorites Dan Hardy and Chris Lytle will meet in the main-event of the evening.
It wasn’t too long ago that both these men were considered to be some of the top contenders in [...]
Las Vegas is buzzing about what sounds like a wacky real-life movie plot and now it's reached another level with the inclusion of UFC star Tito Ortiz.
Keith Harriman is facing 12 felony counts connected to a plot to have his 27-year-old son killed. He'd complained of not having the money to hire sufficient legal representation, so putting up the money to cover his $500,000 bond was out of the question. That was until Ortiz came into the picture.
The former UFC light heavyweight champ posted the necessary money on the down low, but because of Harriman's claims that he's indigent, a district judge forced him to reveal who posted the bail.
Ortiz, a former Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight champion, apparently has a relationship with Keith Harriman's brother, Wayne Harriman, a used car dealer in Las Vegas.
According to published reports, Wayne Harriman helped bridge a rift between Ortiz and UFC chairman Dana White that led to a six-fight contract.
Ortiz has gotten himself involved in a wild story.
At a preliminary hearing in February, Dominick Harriman testified his father wanted him dead because he told insurance fraud investigators his father's $160,000 burglary loss claim was a scam to feed a crack cocaine addiction. Dominick Harriman also said his father was angry because he had slept with both his dad's ex-girlfriend and his ex-wife.
Dominick Harriman was shot at least nine times Aug. 27 at the used car dealership where he worked for his uncle, Wayne Harriman, at Nice Cars of Nevada, 3401 S. Decatur Blvd. The shooter has not been identified.
Ortiz spent a few days in Las Vegas last week around the UFC's Fighter Summit at the Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa.
The undercard fighters are setting some standard for the stars at UFC 129 to live up to. After three awesome finishes to begin UFC 129, Ivan Menjivar kept pace by smashing Charlie Valencia's nose and finishing the fight via TKO just seconds later. After nearly seven years away, Menjivar made a triumphant return to the UFC with a bantamweight win at 1:30 of the first round.
The 5-foot-6 Menjivar fought all over the world since a UFC 48 loss to Matt Serra. That fight was at 155 pounds, but at just 5-foot-6 Menjivar was fighting way out of his true weight class. Along the way, Menjivar faced much bigger fighters like Hideo Tokoro, Joe Lauzon, Caol Uno and Bart Palaszewski. Back in 2002, he even faced the current UFC 170-pound champion Georges St-Pierre.
He was the bigger fighter tonight and that was evident the first time he and Valencia clinched. Menjivar (23-8, 1-1 UFC) got his left arm free and landed a huge elbow across the face of the Californian. Valencia (12-8, 0-1 UFC) went down immediately where Menjivar unloaded 13 more shots. Referee Big John McCarthy and UFC color analyst said they thought Valencia's nose was broken.
Patrick edges Roberts to close out Facebook stream
Claude Patrick tested himself against an excellent jiu-jitsu practitioner and showed he can grapple with the best of them. The Canadian used a well-rounded attack to outpoint Daniel Roberts, 29-28 on three scorecards, to win fight No. 5 at UFC 129.
The Nick Diaz-Jeff Lacy fight may never materialize. Either way Diaz has struck a nerve in the boxing world. The MMA champion at 170 pounds has been asking for a boxing match against high level boxers for a year or so. Lacy stepped up and sounded insulted that Diaz, who is 1-0 as a pro boxer, would have the gall to call him out.
"I really don't understand what was going through his mind. I understand he may love a challenge [but] I'm up for this more than you would ever know," Lacy told ESPN1100 in Las Vegas. "I don't want to down talk the sport, I love MMA, but when you have people talking about it's taking away from boxing, no."
Lacy isn't impressed with the technical skills of most MMA fighters when it comes to their boxing.
"It's a 'Toughman' contest when they're striking. Two fighters standing up going blow for blow. That's not boxing. Boxing is not Toughman. You're using skill, dancing around what you can see, but can't hit."
Lacy got testy when he was told the pressure's on him.
"How would you figure the pressure's on me when this is something I've been doing all my life? It's somehting I can close my eyes and do," Lacy said. "There pressure's on him to step over, just like the pressure was on James [Toney] to step over to something he's never done before."
Lacy doesn't think Diaz can box with him.
"This is something I love to do, and I've dealt with way better technical fighters than this guy Diaz, is gonna present to me," Lacy said. "I've dealt with a lot of different styles. He's stepping into my ring, but it's gonna be tougher for me? I don't think so."
Lacy isn't worried about Diaz's chin and knows that the Strikeforce welterweight champ also cuts easily.
Check out the rest of the conversation as Dave Cokin and The Telegraph's Gareth Davies say Diaz has no shot of winning this fight. Davies said the fight won't last three rounds.
It may not come off at all if Diaz's ego is soothe by Zuffa management. When the news emerged that Diaz had signed a boxing bout agreement, his camp was quick to point out that it won't take the boxing match in October if the MMA star is given a shot at UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre.
UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre has returned to training after recovering from an eye injury suffered at UFC 129. The Canadian, who defeated Jake Shields via unanimous decision in Toronto, was poked in the left eye and suffered hyphema -- bleeding in the eye -- that required prescription drops, a temporary eye patch and rest to make a full recovery.
Bruno Fernandes, who is one of St-Pierre's jiu-jitsu coaches as well as a doctor of ophthalmology in Montreal, told MMA Fighting that St-Pierre's vision was drastically compromised by the injury, which reduced his capability of seeing out of his left eye to about 10 percent.
"We don't really measure vision in terms of percentage but he lost field of vision, clarity and depth perception," Fernandes said. "When you have hyphema, it is like looking through a really dirty window. Your vision is significantly impaired, and it is amazing he was even able to fight with such a degree of impairment."
When Brett Cooper last stepped into the cage, it was for a five-minute, five-round fight for a championship in the Lords of the Cage MMA promotion. Cooper had prepared to fight for 25 minutes, but things didn't go quite as planned: He knocked Keith Berry out in just 10 seconds (video above).
"He came in real quick and aggressive, I countered him with a punch and it was over," Cooper said. "It was a strange moment because it happened so fast. It was bittersweet. But that's why you train hard, so things come easy in the fight. But I wouldn't have been disappointed if the fight would have gone more minutes."
For the 23-year-old Cooper, who will fight Alexander Schlemenko Saturday at Bellator 44 on MTV2, trying to make it as a full-time fighter outside the UFC sometimes means not wanting to win a fight too quickly: The experience of getting more minutes in the cage can be good for a fighter's development, and Lords of the Cage isn't exactly handing out six-figure Knockout of the Night bonuses, like UFC fighters can earn.
The UFC is officially making their Wisconsin debut on August 14 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, as they confirmed the venue for UFC on Versus 5 on Tuesday. In addition, they've added a major lightweight fight to the card, as Jim Miller will take on Ben Henderson.
Henderson, the former WEC Lightweight Champion, made his UFC debut last month at UFC 129 in Toronto, defeating Mark Bocek in front of a hostile Canadian crowd at the Rogers Centre. The clear decision win against a high end fighter in Bocek inside the Octagon helped Henderson to shed the idea that he perhaps wasn't on par with the UFC's fighters because of his level of competition in the WEC, and he takes another step up against one of the best fighters in the division.
Miller has won seven straight fights in the UFC and nine out of his ten appearances in the Octagon. His sole loss in the UFC came against current title challenger Gray Maynard by decision, and his only other career loss came also by decision against now Champion Frankie Edgar. Miller most recently defeated former WEC lightweight Kamal Shalorus by TKO, handing Shalorus his first career loss.
Penick's Analysis: This is such a great fight in the division. WIth Edgar and Maynard sidelined with injury, I'm slightly surprised that Miller is getting put into a fight when he could potentially be put into another one at the top of the division, but this is still huge. Henderson takes another step up and can prove just how legitimate he is in the division if he can pull off what will have to be considered an upset. This is a fantastic fight and a really exciting addition to the UFC's first trip to Milwaukee.
Last week’s UFC Fighter Summit not only brought the world’s best mixed martial artists to the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas, but it also united two soul mates that promised to live happily ever after. Immediately after Vladimir Matyushenko completed his final class on Twitter, he tied the knot with his main squeeze, Stella. [...]
Dana White pointed out accurately that Toronto's UFC 129 at Rogers Centre was a special case.
The UFC won't be putting on mega-events at a stadium every quarter. It has to be perfect match. That's why we were a little surprised to see the future Houston event in October mentioned as a candidate for a stadium show.
Sources tell Brawl Sports that if Brock Lesnar wins his bout against Junior dos Santos at UFC 131 next month, the company will give serious consideration to running the UFC event at Reliant Stadium and not the previously-reported Toyota Center. If dos Santos wins, they'll almost certainly run Toyota Center. The winner of that UFC 131 bout will face Cain Velasquez in a bout that will almost certainly take place in Houston.
Jeremy Botter throws a little cold water on the idea by mentioning two important notes:
1. Filling a stadium the size of Reliant won't be easy. While Lesnar has historically been the best pay per view draw on the planet, he's not a very good live draw. They'll need more than just a heavyweight title fight to fill that card.
2. There's just one small problem: the Texans have a game scheduled against Oakland the next day. While I've seen the UFC brass tear down an arena in just a matter of hours, I can't imagine they'd be able to get an entire stadium ready for a football game the next day at noon. It simply isn't possible, not with the amount of bleachers and video screens they would be bringing into the stadium for a custom setup.
Botter thinks an NFL lockout is all but a certainty and says the Oct. 8 date at Reliant Stadium could open up. I'd be shocked if the NFL lockout reaches October, but you never know. I'd also be a little surprised if Lesnar beats dos Santos. He's got a lot of ground to make up in the stand-up game. If Lesnar didn't like getting hit by Cain Velasquez, imagine his reaction to the power and speed of JDS.
UFC welterweight champion 
