By John Moody                  (Go to the Video Page for interviews with Dana White, Frankie Edgar... more) (produced, shot, edited) Chris Weidman (205lbs) is not yet known to the wider world of MMA ... but that may change radically in 2011. Weidman is a former 2x All American wrestler from Hofstra who beat Ryan Bader and Phil Davis during his days on campus.  After college, Weidman joined up with Team Serra Longo and has rolled to four wins in the Ring Of Combat. Most impressive, however, was his run at the 2009 Abu Dhabi grappling tournament in Barcelona Spain where he beat Daniel Tabera, while competing well with Andre Galvao and Vinny Magalhaes in defeat.  This was after just eight months of Jiu Jitsu training. The Baldwin, Long Island native, who trains regularly with Gian Villante, (Strikeforce Heavyweight) will not be on the "up and comer" list much longer. Story Update 4:40pm 2/10: Weidman has standing contract offers from Strikeforce and Bellator.  Both are pending review by Team Weidman. Click through to watch the video. ...

While the ufc is the largest and most popular organization on the planet in the realm of mixed martial arts, other promotions are now giving the chance for the true veterans of the sport to either start all over again, or continue their way back to the top. Israel FC, an upstart promotion out of--you guessed it--Israel has began to take on a steady stream of veterans in for their promotional debut in what is turning out to be an all star cast of competitors. ...

Fighters.com tenth-ranked heavyweight Aleksander Emelianenko (13-3) beat Brazilian Silvao Santos (1-1) into the fetal position in the first round at M-1 Challenge in St. Petersburg Thursday. Emelianenko's teammates Amar Suloev (24-7) and Roman Zentsov (17-12) also scored wins for the home team, while Japanese fighters "Andre" Yuta Watanabe (8-1-3) and Ken Hamamura (14-4-4) picked-up victories on foreign soil. In the same kind of Finkelsteinian matchmaking that has kept "The Last Emperor" Fedor Emelianenko (27-1) from meaningful MMA for over two-and-a-half years, li'l brother Aleks was paired with Santos whose only other professional MMA appearance ended in a split decision victory over that notorious gatekeeper to top ten contention, Edson Conterraneo (3-1). Note my sarcasm. The big Brazilian circled Russia's finest before a shot stuffed and swept by Aleks into a textbook uchi mata makikomi toss landing Emelianenko in Santos's half-guard. Strong Santos stood out of Emelianenko's half-mount, but into a near standing guillotine the Russian wrenched like a neck crank. Emelianenko muscled Santos into a corner, released the choke, and hopped into a flying knee that effectively ended the fight. Santos shot forward for a desperate single-leg lunge, but Emelianenko sprawled and pummeled the Brazilian with a series of rights as the referee dove to Santos's rescue. Emelianenko's middleweight Red Devil Sport Club stablemate, Suloev, bounced back from a second round TKO to Chael Sonnen (20-9-1) last July to TKO Jacek Buczko (11-4), who hadn't fought in two-and-a-half years, in the first round. Heavyweight Zentsov also rebounded from an '07 stoppage loss to deal undersized Daniel Tabera (9-1-2) of Spain his first "L" in a two-round decision. DEEP middleweight vet Watanabe dealt Ansar Chalangov (7-4) his fourth consecutive defeat in a first-round rear naked choke.  It was Watanabe's first fight out of country. Welterweight Hamamura also ventured out of the "Land of the Rising Sun" for the first time to TKO Russia's Islam Karimov (5-4-1) in the second round. The event also saw Akhmet Sultanov (2-0) submit multi-promotion veteran Katsuhisa Fuji (8-14-1) in a first-round armbar. Besiki Gerenava (5-0) won a decision over Pancrase vet Yuji Sakuragi (9-10-1). U-File Camp's Daisuke Nakamura (13-9) decisioned Juri Ivlev (4-3). Victor Nemkov (1-0) debuted with a triangle choke submission of fellow rookie Christian Bombay (0-1). Team Scandinavia's Jarno Nurminen (2-1) forced Ji Hoon Kim's (1-6) corner to throw in the towel in the first round. Heavyweight Fin Toni Valtonen (15-7) submitted South Korean Seung Hyun Choi (0-2) in a rear naked choke in the first round. Hyun Gyu Lim (2-1-1) knocked out Brazil's Lucio Linhares (7-3) in the first round. Lightweight Janne Tulirinta (7-2) TKO'd Doo Won Seo (1-2) in round two. Finally, lightweight Niko Puhakka (11-6) of Finland submitted Jong Man Kim (3-5-2) in a triangle choke in round one. ...