Bellator FC’s tournament format is one of the promotion’s premiere calling cards. But one of the negatives of this format is that it leaves the champions with a sizeable layoff before they get the next chance to defend their championships. To fill that void, Bellator routinely puts its champions into non-title “super-fights”. Tonight, at Bellator 40, we’ll see one such fight: Welterweight Champion Ben Askren takes on Nick Thompson. But recently, Bellator made another non-title fight, and this time it will be the Heavyweight Champion that steps into the cage against a tough, multi-promotion veteran. Here are all the details. ...

It’s an unfortunate fact of life: the more popular something gets, the more it has a chance of developing a seedy underbelly. As Mixed Martial Arts continues to sweep the globe with the UFC leading the charge, there have emerged several “one and done” promotions hoping to make a quick buck by cashing in on the latest craze. Most of the time these promotions exist very briefly and quickly find out the cardinal truth of MMA: there are no overnight successes. This trend has unfortunately given rise to another trend: fighters not getting paid. And that’s exactly what happened at a recent event in the Dominican Republic featuring former UFC stars like the much-maligned Keith Jardine. Here are all the details. ...

Having proved to be a force to be reckoned with in the mixed martial arts world since moving up to the heavyweight division in 2007, Alistair Overeem has been brilliant both in the cage and in the ring. Making his run towards the Strikeforce heavyweight title in 2007 over UFC veteran Paul Buentello, "The Demolition Man" has shined in performances against Mirko Filipovic, Kazuyuki Fujita, and most recently Brett Rogers, which came via TKO in the first round last May under the Strikeforce banner, in defense of his title. While he has come into his own in the MMA world, Overeem may be finding that his success in MMA can account for his devastating rampage through the K-1 circuit, as a part-time professional kick boxer. ...

After dropping three straight fights, including a KO loss to aging pro boxer Ray Mercer, former UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim “The Maine-iac” Sylvia may finally be on the comeback trail. He’s still a long way away from becoming relevant again in today’s constantly-improving, constantly-evolving Heavyweight division, but at least he’s begun to get some wins under his belt. And speaking of belts, Sylvia’s most recent fight scored him the Powerhouse World Promotions Heavyweight Championship. For two rounds, Tim Sylvia fought fellow veteran and former UFC fighter Paul Buentello, and he did it by doing the last thing anyone who has seen a Tim Sylvia fight expected him to do: he adopted a superior gameplan and stuck to it. ...

Since heavyweight boxing champion “Lights Out” James Toney (0-0) signed to fight in the UFC, high profile heavyweights have stepped up to welcome Toney into the Octagon.  Among those heavyweights are The Ultimate Fighter 10 champion “Big Country” Roy Nelson (15-4) and former UFC champion “The Natural” Randy Couture (18-10). But, that reminds me of a story my friend's dad - good ol' Paul Heck - told me years ago.  He's a Vietnam veteran and told us how he enlisted to go to Vietnam.  They'd ask incoming soldiers to rank the top three destinations they would like to be stationed.  Seventeen-years old and seemingly invincible, Mr. Heck scribbled Vietnam atop his list.  He wanted to fight!  But, he didn't realize then that the military never sent soldiers to Vietnam if they listed Vietnam as their top choice.  The military figured that if you wanted to go to Vietnam you either had a death wish or would be too reckless in battle.  They wanted soldiers in Vietnam who wanted to come home alive.  So, Mr. Heck was stationed in The Philippines and served honorably. ...

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fans should prepare to hunker down for what will be a very long night of fights starting tonight at 8 PM EST/ 6 PST. UFC on Versus is the first event followed closely behind by five hours of DREAM 13. ...

Yesterday we found out that Strikeforce heavyweight champion "Demolition Man" Alistair Overeem will becoming back to the states to fight once again under the Strikeforce banner. His opponent is none other than Fighters.com sixth-ranked heavyweight Brett Rogers (10-1). ...

UFC's Versus debut March 21 north of Denver will feature a heavyweight slugger matchup between Cheick Kongo (14-6-1) and “Head Hunter” Paul Buentello (25-11). ...

UFC heavyweight "SkySkraper" Stefan Struve (22-3) joined Reverend Turk Vangel and Gary Friedman of MMA Gospel Radio last Wednesday to talk about his fight versus "Head Hunter” Paul Buentello (25-10) at UFC 107 in Memphis tonight. Gospel Radio: How is your training going? Stefan Struve : Training went good. I heard I was fighting Paul after my last fight and started training a week after that fight once I got home.  So, I feel even better for this fight than for my last one. ...

With UFC 107 just days away, MMA Gospel welcomes 6’11”, 21 year old “Skyscraper” Stefan Struve (22-3) to the show to talk about his upcoming battle with UFC veteran “The Head Hunter” Paul Buentello (25-10). Struve, on a two fight winning streak, welcomes Buentello back to the Octagon after an almost three-year hiatus. ...

American Kickboxing Academy heavyweight "Headhunter" Paul Buentello (27-9) will return to the UFC and fight American Top Team's Todd Duffee (5-0) at UFC 107 in Memphis December 12, according to a report at MMA Junkie. ...

Fighters.com Heavyweight Champion “Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko (29-1) could possibly fight "Snowman" Jeff Monson (27-8) instead of ninth-ranked “Babyface Assassin” Josh Barnett (20-5) at Affliction M-1 Global’s Trilogy in Anaheim 1 August.

"We are working on it now," a source inside "The Snowman's" camp told Fighters.com Wednesday afternoon. Monson is excited about the possibility, Fighters.com's source said.

Barnett has been denied a license to fight by the California State Athletic Commission after testing positive for "performance-enhancing substance," according to Affliction Veep Tom Atencio in Sports Illustrated Wednesday morning.

"Hurricane" Gilbert Yvel's (31-13-1) 2:10 dismantling of "Rock" Pedro Rizzo (16-9) at Fight Force International's Ultimate Chaos in Biloxi Saturday has earned him a promotion to the pay-per-view broadcast of Affliction M-1 Global's Trilogy 1 August in Anaheim.

Yvel will fight "Headhunter" Paul Buentello (27-9), who was originally scheduled to fight "Maine-iac" Tim Sylvia (24-5).

Buentello is coming off a third round TKO of "Baby Fedor" Kiril Sidellnikov (5-3) at Affliction's Day of Reckoning in Anaheim 24 January.

Six more bouts were made official Monday for Affliction Day of Reckoning 24 January in Anaheim. “Babalu” Renato Sobral (29-8) will fight “The Law” Matt Lindland (21-5). “Minotoro” Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (14-3) will fight “Janitor” Vladimir Matyushenko (21-3). “Headhunter” Paul Buentello (26-9) will face “Baby Fedor” Kiril Sidelnikov (3-1). “Machine” Mark Hominick (14-7) will face LC Davis (9-1). “Thorobred” Jay Hieron (13-4) will fight Jason High (6-0). Albert Rios (6-2) will face “Tigre” Antonio Duarte (7-1). Brett Cooper will also fight, although no opponent was named. ...

“The Grim” Brett Rogers (8-0) and “Headhunter” Paul Buentello (26-10) have agreed to fight at EliteXC’s 8 November event in Reno, Rogers’s trainer confirmed to Five Ounces of Pain Wednesday. Rogers TKO’d his last opponent, Jon Murphy (4-3), at 1:01 of the first round in May. Buentello last fought at Affliction’s debut event in July, where he won a unanimous decision over “Big Daddy” Gary Goodridge (23-18-1). Fighters.com interviewed Rogers in Minneapolis-St. Paul 25 September.  Rogers said then that he was waiting on a fight versus "Kimbo Slice" Kevin Ferguson (3-1), but hoped to fight in November. ...

HDNet Fights announced Wednesday that they will broadcast the welterweight match between Jason High (6-0) and “Quicksand” Mike Pyle (17-5-1) and the heavyweight match between “Headhunter” Paul Buentello (26-10) and Roy Nelson (13-2), happening 11 October at Affliction’s sophomore event. The Day of Reckoning broadcast will mark the beginning of a new deal between HDNet Fights and Affliction Entertainment. ...

It only took 36 seconds for "Last Emperor" Fedor Emelianenko (28-1) to leave "Maine-iac" Tim Sylvia (24-5) laid out on the mat in Anaheim, east of Los Angeles, Saturday night. Just thirty-six seconds to answer questions raised by Fighters.com about Emelianenko's two-year hiatus from top competition. At the bell, Sylvia exited his corner in an awkward, low crouch. Obviously...Emelianenko wasted no time blasting Sylvia with a left, right hook combo, followed by an uppercut. "I've never been hit that hard in my life," said Sylvia after the fight.  "He's not human." The "Maine-iac" dismantled to the mat; and, Emelianenko stuck in a rear naked choke that forced Sylvia to tap. After the fight, the Russian was nonchalant, but not arrogant about his destruction of one of the world's top heavyweights. The victory cemented him as the top heavyweight in the world, the top pound-for-pound mixed martial artist in the world, and perhaps the greatest mixed martial artist ever. ...

"Last Emperor" Fedor Emelianenko (28-1) def. "Maine-iac" Tim Sylvia (26-6) via submission (rear naked choke), 0:36 of round one. "Pitbull" Andrei Arlovski (13-5) def. "Big" Ben Rothwell (33-6) via KO, 1:13 of round three. "Babyface Assassin" Josh Barnett (26-5) def. Pedro Rizzo (16-8) via KO, 1:44 of round two. "The Machine" Mark Hominick (16-8) def. Savant Young (9-8) via submission (armbar), 4:25 of round two. "Babalu" Renato Sobral (30-7) def. Mike Whitehead (23-7) via unanimous decision (30-27; 30-27; 30-27) "The Law" Matt Lindland (21-5) def. Fabio Negao (8-4) via unanimous decision (30-26; 30-27; 30-27). "Minotoro" Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (14-3) def. "Babyface" Edwin Dewees (35-13) via TKO, 4:06 of round one. "Quicksand" Mike Pyle (17-5-1) def. JJ Ambrose (8-2) via submission (rear naked choke), 2:51 of round one. "The Phenom" Vitor Belfort (17-8) def. Terry Martin (17-5) via KO, 3:12 of round two. "Head Hunter" Paul Buentello (26-10) def. "Big Daddy" Gary Goodridge (23-18-1) via unanimous decision (30-27; 30-27; 30-27). ...

"Gary [Goodridge] doesn't turn down a fight," Goodridge's manager Steve Rusich told Fighters.com Friday night. MMA and kickboxing veteran "Big Daddy" Goodridge (23-17-1) will replace Fighters.com’s ninth-ranked heavyweight Aleksander Emelianenko(13-3) Saturday night in Anaheim, east of Los Angeles, versus “Headhunter” Paul Buentello (25-10) on Affliction's debut card. Besides managing "Big Daddy", Rusich and Goodridge are friends and Rusich had invited Goodridge to Anaheim to attend the Affliction event. "Last time [Goodridge] was in town he was on Inside MMA and he just happened to have his medicals done in case a fight came up," Rusich told Fighters.com. Friday night, a fight came up! As the weigh-in in which Emelianenko and Buentello didn't appear came to a close, an Affliction official told Rusich, "Don't go anywhere.  I might have something for you." A little bit later, Rusich's cell phone rang and Goodridge was asked to replace Emelianenko for "a very fair purse." Goodridge and Buentello will weigh-in before the event Saturday morning. ...

Fighters.com's ninth-ranked heavyweight Aleksander Emelianenko (13-3) wasn't allowed to weigh-in Friday in Anaheim, east of Los Angeles, before his Saturday night fight in Affliction with "Headhunter" Paul Buentello (25-10). A source in Buentello's entourage cited "medical issues" as the excuse given to them by Affliction officials. Spokesperson for Emelianenko, Ilona Kolesnichenko told Fighters.com, "Emelianenko  did not meet CSAC licensing standards.  There is nothing about medical issues!" "We were all lined up [to weigh-in]," Buentello explained to Fighters.com.  "He even waved to me." On stage just before Emelianenko was to take the scale, Affliction VP Tom Atencio was visably frustrated and talking hard-and-fast down the curtained walkway to the platform. After several tense moments, Emelianenko and Buentello were simply skipped and no official announcement was made to the crowd or media. ...

The heavyweight division paces like a heavyweight slog.  I'm tempted to switch to a semi-annual evaluation...but not until after this weekend. There were a couple of shakers this month, but no movers. In London 7 June, seventh-ranked "Vai Cavalo" Fabricio Werdum (11-3-1) played a samba on "The Truth" Brandon Vera's (8-2) noggin for a first round TKO. Werdum remains the top contender to "Minotauro" Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira's (31-4-1) UFC Heavyweight Championship. Of course, Big Nog' is pitted versus struggling, but dangerous former UFC Champion Frank Mir (11-3) in a made-for-TUF match-up in October. Werdum will probably draw the winner of 9 August's eighth-ranked "Texas Crazy Horse" Heath Herring (28-13) versus Brock Lesnar (1-1) fight, maybe on the same October UFC card to build the follow-up versus the winners. Also in action this rankings period, tenth-ranked "Napao" Gabriel Gonzaga (8-3) blew through confidence-booster Justin McCully (8-4-2) in Las Vegas 5 July to break a two-fight losing streak for the man who sentenced "Cro Cop" Mirko Filipovic (23-6-2) down a spiral the Croatian has yet to ascend from. ...

"Headhunter" Paul Buentello (25-10) told Fighters.com Thursday at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose that he's going to have fun fighting ninth-ranked Aleksander Emelianenko (13-3) 19 July in Anaheim, East of Los Angeles.  He assured that the fans are going to see two heavyweight slugging it out.   ...

Affliction confirmed on Tuesday two fights that will air on Fox Sports Net in the U.S. and The Fight Network in Canada on 19 July. Fighters.com's ninth-ranked heavyweight Aleksander Emelianenko (13-3) versus “The Head Hunter” Paul Buentello (25-10) will headline Affliction: Live, the one-hour telecast of Affliction: Banned’s undercard. Also announced was the light heavyweight match-up between “The Phenom” Vitor Belfort (16-8) and Terry Martin (17-4). Belfort versus Martin replaces the originally-scheduled bout between “Minotoro” Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (13-3) and “Tiger” Vernon White (26-32-2) on the FSN card.  White has since been replaced by “Babyface” Edwin Dewees (35-12; 1 NC). ...

Thursday afternoon in San Jose, Fighters.com was welcomed into Javier Mendez's American Kickboxing Academy by fight manager "Crazy" Bob Cook (5-0) to watch the pros sweat, twist, and roll on the mat. AKA is home gym to Fighters.com's top welterweight contenderJon Fitch(17-2), fourth-ranked "Kos" Josh Koscheck (10-2), lightweight "Punk" Josh Thomson (14-2), UFC heavyweights "Hungarian Nightmare" Christian Wellisch (8-4) and Cain Velasquez (3-0), Affliction heavyweight "Headhunter" Paul Buentello (25-10), and other professional fighters. ...

In boxing rankings, champions have mandatory defenses versus the number one challenger and voluntary defenses versus a top-fifteen challenger. Through no fault of his own of course, Fighters.com's Heavyweight Champion "Minotauro" Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (31-4-1) won't meet either threshold when he defends his UFC title versus Frank Mir (11-3). So, what's Fighters.com to do?  Second-ranked "The Natural" Randy Couture (16-8) admitted this week to Canada's Globe and Mail, "I'm also OK with the idea that [I may not fight again].  I may get a bad [court] ruling and I can't really see myself at this point going back and fighting two more times for the UFC if that's what the state says I have to do." Should 19 July's more competitive match-up between third-ranked "Maine-iac" Tim Sylvia (24-4) and sixth-ranked "The Last Emperor" Fedor Emelianenko (27-1) be for Fighters.com's Heavyweight Championship? Both Sylvia and fourth-ranked "Pitbull" Andrei Arlovski (12-5) climbed two spots on fifth-ranked "The Babyface Assassin" Josh Barnett's (22-5) inability to put away "The Snowman" Jeff Monson in Tokyo last month coupled with Barnett's submission of ninth-ranked Aleksander Emelianenko (13-3) falling off his two-year record. Of course, Arlovski officially announced today that he'll fight top heavyweight prospect Ben Rothwell (29-5) 19 July.  Rothwell steps-in well-hyped from the IFL and Arlovski looks to shake out of his funk. Barnett returns on the same undercard to seek revenge from a 2001 KO loss versus now largely irrelevant "The Rock" Pedro Rizzo (16-7) and Aleksander Emelianenko fights "The Headhunter" Paul Buentello (25-10) in my pick for fight of the night in Anaheim, outside of Los Angeles. This weekend in London, seventh-ranked "Vai Cavalo" Fabricio Werdum (10-3-1) and returning prospect "The Truth" Brandon Vera (8-1) will battle for the UFC's top contender spot. Eighth-ranked "Texas Crazy Horse" Heath Herring (28-13) will fill-in for injured "Hammer" Mark Coleman (15-9) versus the UFC's version of market-friendly "Kimbo Slice" Kevin Ferguson (3-0), former pro-wrestler Brock Lesnar (1-1), in a fight that shouldn't even be sanctioned, but only a big lug like Herring could find a way to lose. In July, tenth-ranked "Napao" Gabriel Gonzaga (8-3) has a lot to prove versus Justin McCully (8-3-2); and, McCully might be thinking the same thing. ...