It all starts with Brock Lesnar. The former UFC heavyweight champion was scheduled to square off against Brazilian striker Junior dos Santos in the main-event of the evening for UFC 131. However, the wrestling powerhouse is currently in his second-battle with diverticulitis, an intestinal disease, that has since sidelined him for the foreseeable future. Shane Carwin took Lesnar's place, though the power puncher was originally scheduled to meet with newcomer Jon Olav Einemo. Carwin was then replaced with Dave Herman to take on Einemo, though Herman was originally scheduled to meet with Joey Beltran. Now, "The Mexecutioner" will meet with Strikeforce vet Aaron Rosa, who will be making his octagon debut now after the huge heavyweight shuffle. ...

Shark Fights, a well respected regional promotion, is upping-the-ante as they now intend on making "Shark Fights 13" main card, a pay-per-view affair. ...

Strikeforce welterweight prospect “T-Wood” Tyron Woodley (6-0) will headline Strikeforce's Challenger Series 5 at Memorial Hall in Kansas City November 20 versus local star Rudy Bears (10-3), Strikeforce officially announced Thursday. ...

Light heavyweights "Feijao" Rafael Cavalcante (7-2) and Aaron Rosa (10-3) have agreed to fight at Strikeforce Challenger Series 5 at Memorial Hall in Kansas City November 20, Fighters.com has confirmed with a source close to one of the fighters. No contract has been signed, but the fighters have agreed to the matchup. ...

Chicago's "Bartimus" Bart Palaszewski (29-11) snapped a three-fight losing streak with a right high kick that left "Grinder" Jeffrey Cox (9-6) unconcious against the fence at 1:27 of round two Saturday night at Adrenaline MMA in Hoffman Estates, east of Chicago. After a paced and cautious first round for both fighters, "Bartimus" began working kicks in the second, first a solid body shot, then snapping at Cox's leg. During the final flurried exchange, Palaszewski wheeled a wide left hook to Cox's body, backing Cox into range for the right high kick finisher. Palaszewski literally lept out of the cage upon the stoppage "W". In the main event, Michael Russow (10-1) manhandled late replacement for "Snowman" Jeff Monson (24-8),  Jason Guida (17-16), tapping Clay's big brother in a standing neck crank against the fence at 2:13 of round one. "I hope he's OK," Russow related after the stoppage. Hometown hero Rory Markham (14-4) said, "Let's get serious.  That guy just jumped over me!" after "Silent Assassin" Jay Ellis (5-19) launched a flying knee at the opening bell, indeed, flying right over Markham.  "So, I decided I was going to keep it on the ground." Markham pounced on Ellis; but, Ellis swept to Markham's guard, which Markham climbed into a triangle tapout at 57 seconds of round one. ...

Fighters.com was live in Hoffman Estates, east of Chicago, Friday for the Adrenaline MMA weigh-ins. Late main event replacement for "Snowman" Jeff Monson (24-8), former middleweight Jason Guida (17-5) weighed-in at 241.5 pounds, and it didn't look like he found heavyweight girth in the gym (unless "The Gym" is the name of a pizzeria in Little Italy.) Guida's opponent, Chicago police officer Michael Russow (9-1) looked svelte at 243.2 pounds. Middleweights Terry Martin (16-4) and bleached blond Daiju Takase (7-11-1) made their weight class at 185.2 and 185.8 pounds repectively. IFL veteran Rory Markham's (13-4) opponent, Jay Ellis (5-18), will give up nearly twenty pounds to Markham in their 180-pound catch weight match-up.  Markham weighed 180.1 pounds and Ellis weighed 161.6 pounds. Fighters.com's third-ranked heavyweight "Maine-iac" Tim Sylvia (24-4) attended with his girlfriend, who didn't weigh-in but stood about 5'1" next to 6'7" Sylvia, and chided "Meat Truck" Kerry Schall (21-9), shouting, "Meat Trick!" as Schall weighed in. ...

Thursday Adrenaline MMA, formed of the American executives from the now defunct M-1 Global promotion, issued it's official fight card for the promotion's Chicago premier 14 June. As reported by Fighters.com, the main event matches grappler "The Snowman" Jeff Monson (24-7) versus wrestler Michael Russow (9-1) in a mat struggle. "The Snowman" will fight Russow just two weeks after taking on Fighters.com's third-ranked heavyweight "Babyface Assasin" Josh Barnett (21-5) at Sengoku II in Tokyo. UFC fighter turned boxer Terry Martin (16-4) will fight Japanese middleweight Daiju Takase (7-11-1) before his hometown crowd. Martin comes off UFC losses to "Crippler" Chris Leben (18-4) and "Beastman" Marvin Eastman (15-7-1), but won his boxing debut 12 April with a knockout of Ricardo Upchurch (0-2 in boxing). Lightweight jiu-jitsu player Alberto Crane (8-2), who lost both of his UFC fights, will bounce back matched against King of the Cage vet Clay French (15-2). IFL lightweight standout "Bartimus" Bart Palaszewski (28-11), who's taken three tough losses consecutively, will rebound in his hometown versus Jeffrey Cox (9-5), who lost his UFC debut to "Pitbull" Manvel Gamburyan (8-2) last month in Denver. Also on the card to be held at the Sears Centre: "The Freak" Tony Fryklund (14-9) v Brian Gassaway (28-17-2) Taiwan Howard (4-1) v Rory Markham (13-3) James Giboo (11-2) v Mark Miller (8-3) "Herc" Antoine Hayes (6-5) v "Meat Truck" Kerry Schall (21-9) Rob Kimmons (20-3) v Hector Urbina (11-4) Aaron Rosa (10-2) v "Killing Fields" Ron Fields (22-25-1) Dom O'Grady (4-0) v Mike Stumpf (9-1) Joe Jordan (39-12-2) v Ryan Williams (5-2) Christian Reynosa (6-2) v John Hosman (7-3-1) ...

The rules are abundantly clear: in mixed martial arts, a fighter is not permitted to deliver an elbow in a downward motion (ceiling to floor).  Nor is a fighter allowed to strike an opponent behind the back of the head. “The Diamond” Malaipet Sitprapom (3-2) did both in the closing seconds of the first round against “Wildman” Thomas Denny (26-16) Friday in the main event of ShoXC: Elite Challenger Series on Showtime, and was disqualified. "I’m sorry because I came here to fight, but this is MMA and you have to follow the rules," said Denny, who could not continue after he was nailed by three blatant elbows to the back of the head.  "I may have been dazed but I wasn’t knocked out.  One thing I could not do, however, was move my neck." Knowing his advantage on the ground, Denny took Malaipet to the ground in the opening seconds and kept him there for more than four and a half minutes of the initial five-minute session. At one point in the 160-pound fight, it appeared that Malaipet would get choked out, but he rallied to work his way out of it and managed to continue.  Denny quickly locked him up again and tried to take matters back to the ground.  A frustrated Malaipet then committed the three flagrant fouls. Denny was given a few minutes to recover, but when he couldn’t the fight was called at the 4:51 mark. "Malaipet was tough because I thought I had him with the rear naked choke," Denny said.  "But I will definitely fight him again.  I was totally dominating." A world-class superstar Muay Thai kickboxer with reportedly more than 300 Muay Thai fights, Malaipet had a three-fight MMA winning streak end. "I definitely want to fight him again," Malaipet said.  "If he wants to do it at 150 pounds, I’ll fight him any time, any place.  This wasn’t my type of fight.  But there was no way I was ever going to tap out." In other televised bouts, Conor Heun (7-2) won an unpopular, unanimous decision over Marlon Mathias (5-2); Jaime Fletcher (6-3) recorded an upset points victory over Aaron Rosa (10-2); Shane Del Rosario (4-0) scored an opening-round knockout over Analu Brash (1-2); and Mark Oshiro (10-1) knocked out previously unbeaten Chris Cariaso (6-1) in the first round. ...