Although it may not have played as integral of a role as Canada, the UK was a significant player in the ufc’s growing international appeal and is now one of their most-lucrative international markets. UK fans don’t get fights that often, though, even though they usually pack into any arena where the UFC holds a live event. It’s also been a while since the UFC visited the UK. That’s all about to change, since the UFC is planning to host a numbered UFC event in the UK in the next few months. Here are all the details. ...

When Strikeforce first announced its Heavyweight Grand Prix, just about everyone was excited. A lot of people perceived it as an important step forward on the long road towards becoming a legitimate alternative to the UFC. It doesn’t get much better than having all the best Heavyweights in the division fight each other, and the tournament has already given us some very interesting outcomes. However, it’s recently been announced that Alistair Overeem, the Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, has been removed from the tournament in a very controversial move by the now Zuffa-owned Strikeforce. Here are all the details. ...

A while back, when I posted my “Fighter of the Half-Year” and “Fight of the Half-Year” picks, I said I wouldn’t do anything else since virtually everyone else was doing them as well and doing a whole lot of them, plus I was busy covering the multitude of UFC and strikeforce news and notes we as fans are bombarded with on a daily basis. But after reading this excellent article over at MMA Fighting, I got to thinking that I should make a special exception today, in order to highlight a gigantic shift in MMA that shocked the entire world. So here’s why I agree that Zuffa purchasing Strikeforce was the biggest news story of the year so far. ...

ufc fans will be in for quite a few treats and no tricks in October. It’s a month so jam-packed with good fights that it even warrants that bad of a pun. The UFC is currently scheduled to run three events in October: two Pay-Per-Views and a “UFC on Versus” card. With the super-stuffed UFC 136 a week after it and the mega-stuffed UFC 137 a few weeks after it, “UFC on Versus 6” will have quite a lot to live up to. Recently, several fights have been announced for the card. Here are all the details. ...

With several major match-ups all tentatively scheduled, both ufc 136 and UFC 137 have quickly become two of the biggest attractions for the remainder of the year. Both events have serious “Event of the Year” potential, and recently, both events have seen a slew of match-ups announced. It’s now being reported that two more interesting match-ups have been announced, featuring the second UFC fight of Anthony Pettis and the return fight of Brandon Vera. Here are all the details. ...

From top to bottom, ufc 133 has been a card plagued with problems. In the grand tradition of once-great cards that fall apart without a single fighter ever walking into the cage, the co-main event of UFC 133 is now off of the table. This is in addition to the two past instances where the main event changed. It's recently been revealed that Antonio Rogerio Nogueira was forced to pull out of his UFC 133 fight against Rich Franklin. Following that announcement the UFC scrambled and ultimately were unable to find a replacement opponent for the former UFC Middleweight Champion. It’s now been confirmed that Franklin has been taken off of the card as well and the new UFC 133 co-main event will feature Vitor Belfort vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama. Here are all the details. ...

Once thought of as an interesting idea that would only appeal to a small section of the fanbase, the Facebook broadcast of preliminary ufc fights have quickly become an event all to themselves. For years we would only be able to see prelims if Pay-Per-Views needed to fill time or if we bought the event on DVD. Now we get five, six, sometimes even seven free fights spread throughout Facebook, Spike TV, even ION Television every once in a while. And as expected, UFC 133 will feature its own Facebook preliminary stream. Here are all the details. ...

From its inception to its current standing, UFC 133 has been a card filled with many large changes. Now the main event is currently set to feature Rashad Evans taking on a resurgent Tito Ortiz in what will be the second fight between the two former UFC Light Heavyweight Champions. Rashad Evans has quickly emerged as the commanding favorite to win this fight, for several reasons. And what reasons are those? Here’s my take on just that: five reasons why Rashad Evans could beat Tito Ortiz. ...

I’ve been a fan of Jon Jones for quite some time… it’s hard not to rally behind a young upstart that demolishes, absolutely demolishes, everyone that’s put in his path. But recently, with Jones getting more and more of the spotlight, he’s been the focus of more and more interviews. In some of these interviews, he’s said some pretty strange things. It’s rubbed some people the wrong way, and he’s even been compared to LeBron James in terms of an outstanding athlete with a massive ego. Most of the time I simply think it’s haters hating, but thanks to a recent interview… I’m beginning to think they may have a point. ...

For the first part of my look at ufc 136 called “A First Look At UFC 136”, I took an in-depth look at three match-ups that would more than likely anchor the UFC 136 main card and undercard. It was the first three of six major match-ups that were all announced nearly at the same time for the increasingly-epic UFC 136 event. Now it’s time to focus on the other three matches, and they’re all huge: we’ve got Frank Edgar vs. Gray Maynard for the UFC Lightweight Championship, Jose Aldo vs. Kenny Florian for the UFC Featherweight Championship, and Melvin Guillard vs. Joe Lauzon. Let’s dive right in. ...

It took one day, one single day, for the upcoming ufc 136 card to go from a few matches to nearly complete. Yesterday, a grand total of six fights were all announced throughout the day for the upcoming event, with several major can’t-miss attractions scheduled for the card. It was news so huge that I’m going to have to break it up into two parts. So here’s the first part of “A First Look At UFC 136”, featuring the first three recently-announced bouts: Dave Herman vs. Mike Russow, Josh Grispi vs. Matt Grice, and Demian Maia vs. Jorge Santiago. ...

I wasn’t lying when I said it earlier today… UFC 137 is quickly shaping up to be the can’t-miss MMA event of fall 2010. In addition to Georges St. Pierre vs. Nick Diaz, a whole host of interesting match-ups are being added to this card. And in a story that’s only just broken, it’s now been revealed that Sam Stout will be fighting Dennis Siver in a key Lightweight showdown at UFC 137. Here are all the details. ...

The two men who gave two of the best performances of the recent and amazing “ufc on Versus 4” card have tentatively been scheduled to step inside the cage with one another. In one corner will be Matt Mitrione, the fast-rising Heavyweight that is a former “Ultimate Fighter” member and has been taking the lower-tier Heavyweight division by storm. In the other will be Cheick Kongo, the veteran Heavyweight journeyman that just gave us one of the greatest comebacks in MMA history. Here are all the details. ...

Ever since it was announced that Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney was interested in Nate Marquardt, there’s been a bit of a debate on whether or not Bellator should really sign the former UFC Middleweight Championship contender that quickly became the central point of one of the biggest MMA controversies of the year. Multiple Bellator fighters, including Bellator Middleweight Champion Hector Lombard, have vocally called out Marquardt. However, it now appears that Bellator won’t be able to sign Nate “The Great” after all. Here are all the details. ...

When it was announced that Tito Ortiz had decided to rethink his earlier refusal and accept the ufc’s call to rematch Rashad Evans, some of us were left scratching our heads and wondering what happened to Lyoto Machida. When it was announced that Phil Davis had to pull out of his fight with Evans, many sources claimed that Machida/Evans 2 was in the works. However, that fight hasn’t happened, and it’s interesting to note that the UFC and Machida seem to have two very different reasons for why this fight wasn’t made. Here are all the details. ...

Hello again fans and friends and welcome to the start of a new weekly series! The “Thursday Round-Up” will feature a variety of interesting stories from around the internet. So without further ado, here are some of the top MMA stories from around the web. A Great “ESP-XC” MMA Workout (MMA Training) The Worst Referee Ever (Fightlinker) An Interview With ufc Gym Vice President (Find MMA Gyms) Rich Franklin Talks UFC 133 (Fightline) Nate Marquardt Now Cleared To Fight (Five Ounces Of Pain) Well-Known Manager Alex Davis On Fight Management (MMA Junkie) Kazuo Misaki Signs With strikeforce (MMA Weekly) ...

In the past few days, the ufc has been consumed by a hunt to find Rashad Evans a new opponent for his upcoming main event fight at UFC 133. This is the second time Evans has been left without an opponent, both Jon Jones and Phil Davis were scheduled to face Evans before pulling out due to injury. One popular rumor pointed to a rematch between Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans, but apparently that’s not true after all. And after originally declining the fight, it now appears that Tito Ortiz has had a change of heart and will be stepping in to fight Rashad Evans. Here are all the details. ...

When you’re at the top or near the top of the food chain in the UFC, you can expect to be called out frequently by just about everybody, especially former champions. Right now, Junior dos Santos is widely regarded as the #2 Heavyweight in the UFC. Apparently that didn’t sit well with former champion Frank Mir, who recently said in an interview that he’s bigger and hits harder than JDS. Recently, JDS responded with some interesting comments of his own. Here are all the details. ...

Following his recent loss to Brendan Schaub, many fight fans wondered if we had seen the last of Mirko Filipovic. But it was recently announced that Mirko Cro Cop would fight at least one more time, fulfilling his current contract with the UFC. And should this be Filipovic’s last fight under the UFC banner or even his last fight period, at least the feared Croatian striker can go out knowing that he’s facing a top-division Heavyweight that’s a well-respected veteran. Here are all the details on Mirko Filipovic vs. Roy Nelson. ...

The many troubles of Rashad Evans continue. Here’s a quick rundown: Evans sat on the sidelines for months waiting for Mauricio Rua to heal up, then got injured and was replaced by Jon Jones. When Jones won the ufc Light Heavyweight Championship, Evans was set to face Jones before Jones got injured. Jones was replaced by Phil Davis, and in a story that just broke, it’s now been revealed that Phil Davis has also been injured. And although it’s not confirmed, one site states that Lyoto Machida could be Evans’ replacement opponent. Here are all the details. ...

What do we do about bad judging in MMA? It’s becoming an increasingly-larger problem, and it’s quite the paradox: the competence of most judges seems to be declining almost as rapidly as the sport of MMA is evolving. And yet there’s a recent report floating around that’s quickly swept several major MMA news outlets. Is it a breath of fresh air, a quick-fix solution with no lasting impact, or simply a band-aid on a shotgun wound? Here are my thoughts on what is being called the “half-point” judging system. ...

Now that he’s knocking out people left and right and solidifying himself as a top-division athlete, Melvin Guillard is calling out basically every top Lightweight under the UFC banner in order to get himself an eventual shot at the UFC championship. Guillard has called out people like Joe Lauzon and Jim Miller, and recently, he set his sights squarely on the man currently holding the UFC Lightweight Championship: Frank Edgar. Here are all the details. ...

It appears that the ufc is more than happy to accommodate fighter’s requests to fight other fighters… so long as the UFC itself likes that fight. Over the past few days, some interesting developments have taken place over the various Twitter accounts of several prominent UFC fighters. After trying (and failing) to set up a BJ Penn vs. Jon Fitch rematch, it now appears that BJ Penn will instead be facing Carlos Condit. Here are all the details. ...

When you’re a ufc fighter, there’s only one way to stay a UFC fighter: by winning fights. The UFC will give entertaining fighters some leeway if they lose in exciting, show-stealing bouts… but eventually, their clock will run out. And in the UFC, the dreaded three-fight losing-streak has become the unofficial standard for the UFC releasing fighters. Recently, it’s been revealed that the UFC has released both John Howard and Andre Winner, both of whom lost their three most-recent fights. Here are all the details. ...

Fans of strikeforce awoke to some shocking news today. It was reported on Strikeforce.com that Fedor Emelianenko would be heading to the ufc following his July 30 encounter with Dan Henderson. Emelianenko’s first opponent? None other than Anderson Silva, with the fight contested possibly at Light Heavyweight or, and this was a shocker, at Middleweight for the UFC Middleweight Championship. And in even bigger news, the winner would face Georges St. Pierre. It sounded too good to be true… and it was. Here are all the details. ...

Ever since he lost to Georges St. Pierre at UFC 129, many fight fans have been wondering what’s next for Jake Shields. The loss to GSP was the first in quite some time for the former Strikeforce champion, and it was honestly a bit of a blowout performance by the UFC’s premiere Welterweight kingpin. Recently, it’s been rumored that Shields would be headlining a UFC fight night card. We now have confirmation that Shields will be in the main event of UFC Fight Night 25, facing Jake Ellenberger. Here are all the details. ...

Pat Barry is many things. He’s a very skilled kickboxer. He’s a UFC fighter. He’s the man that recently had to deal with being on the receiving end of one of the greatest come-from-behind victories in both UFC and general MMA history. And above all else, Pat Barry is a genuinely good person. In a new interview, Barry gave his full, candid thoughts on his historic fight with Cheick Kongo. Here are all the highlights as well as my reaction to them. ...

Although it was once supposed to be called “Evans vs. Jones” and even "Aldo vs. Mendes", UFC 133 “Evans vs. Davis” has transformed itself into quite the respectable card. After sitting on the sidelines for a very long time in hopes that this exact thing wouldn’t happen, Rashad Evans puts his shot at the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship on the line while another man (Quinton Jackson) gets a shot at the championship. The fight card is also filled with several good veteran talents, from Antonio Rogerio Nogueira to Jorge Rivera to Vladimir Matyushenko. Barring any injuries from now until fight-time, here’s the complete line-up to UFC 133 as well as some of my early reactions. ...

Not many people are willing to challenge the word of UFC President Dana White, both inside and outside the UFC. Dana White says all manner of controversial things very regularly, but few fighters are willing to speak out against the man that signs their checks. Interestingly enough, one man that’s decided to do so recently is former champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. It’s pretty unusual that “Big Nog” makes himself a point of controversy, so here are all the details. ...

Ever since Nate Marquardt’s highly-published falling-out with the UFC, every fan of Nate “The Great” has been wondering where the veteran fighter will next call home. Strikeforce is obviously not an option due to it being owned by Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC. Upstart promotion Bellator FC seemed like the most logical step, although I openly wondered if Bellator would be able to afford the services of Marquardt. It now appears that they at least want to try: a new report says that Bellator will wait until Marquardt gets his licensing issues straightened out, but that the promotion is definitely interested in the former UFC Middleweight Championship contender. Here are all the details. ...