Former wec featherweight champion Cole Escovedo will now be making his long awaited return to the Zuffa banner...well, sort of. When "The Apachi Kid" reigned as the WEC 145-pound champ, Zuffa had yet purchased the company. Following a nasty case of staph in his spine, which left unable to compete for several years, Escovedo made his return to the cage in May of 2009 with a TKO win over current bantamweight prospect Michael McDonald, clinching the Palace Fighting Championships 135-pound title. Since then, Escovedo has gone 6-2 overall, most recently having submitted Steven Siler this past January with his signature triangle choke. Now, Cole finds himself in the ufc climbing back up the bantamweight ranks against fellow WEC vet Renan Barao at UFC 130. ...

It appears that DREAM isn’t going down without a fight. I’ve already written about the problems the Japanese-based MMA company has had with their upcoming “DREAM.16” event, with several fights getting cancelled, several fighters pulling out, and rumors of financial instability running rampant. But the promotion itself seems undeterred, or at the very least, they’re trying to go out with a bang. In a recent press conference in Tokyo, DREAM officials revealed three new fights that are now officially part of the DREAM 16 card. Here’s how it all breaks down. ...