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Breaking News: Nate Marquardt cut from UFC, UFC on Versus Main Event Scrapped

Nate Marquardt has reportedly failed a medical and will not be fighting on Sunday's UFC card.

The main event for UFC on Versus has been changed recently with the substitution of Rick Story for an injured Anthony Johnson. Now with this recent development Cheick Kongo vs. Pat Barry will become the main event Sunday night.

Also on twitter Dana White has posted a 11-second video stating not only has Nate Marquardt failed his medical and will not be fighting, he will no longer be fighting in the UFC. “Not only is he out of this fight, out of the main event on Versus, he will no longer be with the UFC." said Dana White via twitter.

Story (13-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC) will now face Charlie Brenneman (12-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC).

There has been no clear reason reported on why Marquardt did not pass his medical examination. Many have guessed that weight was an issue, since he was moving down to 170 for the first time in his career. There also is some rumors about drug testing. Best thing to do is to hold off on any judgement and see what actual facts we can find.

Breaking News: Floyd Mayweather Jr. agrees to fight Victor Ortiz

Floyd Mayweather Jr. will end his 16 month vacation to fight Victor Ortiz on Sept. 17th. There has been no venue set but will likely be in Las Vegas. This had been placed on Boxrec for a while but there was no official word until Floyd himself confirmed.

In typical Floyd fashion he tweeted Tuesday afternoon, "My fans have been waiting long enough. Floyd Mayweather vs. Victor Ortiz. Sept 17, 2011 for the WBC world championship"

Mayweather (41-0, 25 KOs) hasn't fought since winning a unanimous decision over Sugar Shane Moseley. The last time he fought a southpaw was Zab Judah (current IBF junior welterweight champion) and Zab gave Floyd some trouble in the early rounds with his straight left.

Ortiz (29-2-2, 22 KOs) just came off the biggest win of his career defeating previously undefeated Andre Berto in a slugfest this last April. Ortiz brings an interesting style that will surely pressure Floyd into fighting. He comes forward, throws a decent amount of punches and has a relatively porous defense.

An immediate question that pops out to me deals with Ortiz always being fast starter and Mayweather being a notoriously slow starter. Mayweather has shown in the his history a tendency to get his in the early parts of his fights (see Moseley, Judah, Corley). While all of those fighters weren't able to put Mayweather away, Ortiz isn't the fighter that likes to let off the gas pedal (sometimes to his own peril see fight with Maidana)

Of course Mayweather's decision to fight Victor Ortiz will come under fire of critics who want to see the mega matchup between him and Manny Pacquiao. However, this is a good fight for any boxing fan. There are great storylines. There are great strategic questions. There's going to be There is going to be some good boxing.

Breaking News: Amir Khan to fight Zab Judah

Amir Khan and Zab Judah has agreed to fight on July 23rd according to Kathy Duva, promoter of Judah. It will be a unification fight with both fighter's belts on the line.

Khan (25-1, 17 KOs) was in talks to fight Timothy Bradley, widely regarded as the top 140 pounder in the division, and even rumored to fight Erik Morales, who recently lost a tough decision against Marcos Maidana. However, when Bradley inexplicably waived on a 1.4 million dollar payday to avoid Khan, Zab Judah (41-6, 28 KOs) was eager to pounce at the opportunity.

It will be Khan's 5th defense of his belt while Judah will be defending his newly minted IBF belt for the first time. It will be televised on HBO and fought in Las Vegas. Judah's camp was trying vehemently for a Atlantic City venue, but gave in to Golden Boy's Vegas demands.

It is going to be a 55-45 split, which coincides with this writer's opinion to the matchup in this fight. Amir will be facing someone for the first time with hand speed that is comparable to him. Also, while many feel Amir proved that his chin has improved from the Marcos Maidana fight, the questions still linger.

I am excited for this matchup as it will also feature a matchup of great trainers in Freddie Roach vs. Pernell Whitaker.

Breaking News: Marquez Agrees to 3rd Fight With Pacquiao

Yesterday, Bob Arum told ESPN.com that he came to an agreement with Juan Manuel Marquez (52-5-1, 38 KOs) to fight Manny Pacquiao (53-3-2, 38 KOs) for a third time. Arum says that the fight will be at a welterweight catch weight of 144 pounds.

Juan Manuel Marquez has been pushing for a third fight against Pacman, currently ranked #1 Fight Knights P4P, since his razor thin decision loss in 2008.

The main questions surrounding Marquez will be: What does JMM have left in the tank (He is 37)? And how will the weight gain effect him? It would be hard to see Juan Manuel Marquez hurting Pacquiao in any fashion considering he was already considered light puncher at his current lower weight. Will his boxing skills still have the answer for Pacquiao?

Some other interesting storylines that are arising from this is the never ending Golden Boy versus Top Rank rift. Bob Arum is saying that he will be cross promoting the fight with Marquez’s own promotional company. Apparently, Golden Boy had an opportunity to match the Top Rank offer (essentially finding another opponent that paid the same amount): $5 million in guaranteed money, a cut of pay-per-view profits and a guaranteed $10 million plus a cut of pay-per-view if he Marquez wins. Hard to see that type of money coming from fighting anyone not named Floyd Mayweather (already fought in 2009) or Manny Pacquiao.

Another storyline is one that in an even broader spectrum, the sport of boxing. Alas, many of the people who aren't in the sport day in and day out simply wait for the next Pacquiao fight to go to nowadays. After the last Pacquiao fight, many were critical of the performance of the main event, calling boxing boring and a letdown. Will this fight be of the same pace? Doesn't the Floyd Mayweather V Marquez fight seem like something that could happen again?

Other fights also recently announced:

Less heralded fights were also announced recently for us boxing junkies.

Paul Williams (39-2, 27 KOs) will return to the ring July 9 on HBO against Nobuhiro Ishida (23-6-2, 8 KOs). The Punisher has been inactive since his devastating KO loss against Fight Knight P4p #3 Sergio Martinez. Ishida is of course coming off his amazing upset of James Kirkland last April. It’s nice for Ishida to get a payday after his, frankly speaking, fluke win over Kirkland. This fight shouldn’t last long and Williams hasn’t fought this low skill competition since Santos Pakau.

Lucian Bute (28-0, 23 KOs) signed to fight in front of his home crowd in Montreal for the first time since 2003. He will be defending his IBF super middleweight belt against unbeated Jean-Paul Mendy (29-0-1, 16 KOs). Bute has been on an tear with 5 KO victories since he went the distance with Librado Andrade in that controversial fight late 2008. This fight will continue him on his collision course with Super Six favorite Andre Ward.

Kermit Cintron (32-3-1, 28 KOs) is returning against Carlos Molina (18-4-2, 6 Kos). Should be an good one. Cintron is returning from his strange loss to Paul Williams after falling out of the ring. Many questioned his heart and there were whispers of the four letter q word… Quit. Molina is coming off an impressive TKO victory over Allen Conyers. This will likely be the co feature on the Brandon Rios V Urbano Antillon card July 9th at the Home Depot Center.

Cornelius “K9” Bundrage (30-4, 18 KOs) of Contender fame is reached an agreement to defend his IBF Light Middleweight Title (which he won last fight against Cory Spinks) against Sechew Powell June 25th. This is a rematch of a very entertaining little fight. See the video here.

Breaking News: Lesnar out of 131

Another day, another injury that torpedos a main event. Brock Lesnar was scheduled to fight Junior Dos Santos in a Heavyweight title eliminator in UFC 131. The winner was to fight current heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez. Looks likes we will have to wait again as Lesnar's diverticulitis has acted up.

Replacing him will be Shane Carwin, the heavy puncher that ironicly, Lesnar recently pulled of out a fight with as well. No news yet on when Brock will return, however, the PPV numbers will likely suffer. Regardless of what you think of him, Lesnar is a huge PPV draw. If you follow the economics of the UFC at all, Lesnar's last three fights have all done over a million PPV buys and is the top 3 bought events in UFC history.

Breaking News: Maynard V Edgar 3 is off!

The injury bug has hit the UFC again. As reported here previously the UFC schedule has been wrecked by injuries.

This time, both fighters, Greg Maynard and the champion, Frankie Edgar both pulled out of their main even at UFC 130 scheduled for May 28th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.. They were scheduled to fight for Edgar's belt and settle the score after what has been a very entertaining two fights.

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Matt Hamill has now moved to the main event and Frank Mir vs. “Big Country” Roy Nelson is the co-main event.

I don't know if UFC plans to have the same number of PPV buys with the main event going to the wayside, but perhaps a $10 discount? I think that way be wishful thinking..

Breaking News: Jon Jones hurt. Withdraws from UFC 133 vs Evans

ESPN is reporting that Jon Jones has a torn ligament in his hand and has withdrawn form his match against Rashard Evans in UFC 133. This is another in what may be an alarming recent injury streak that has hurt the UFC cards. Recently Jon Fitch (UFC 132), BJ Penn (UFC 132), Court McGee (UFC 131), Brad Picket (UFC 130), Thiago Silva (UFC 130) have all pulled out of their matches citing injury.

Rashard Evans will be fighting replacement Phil Davis. Davis (9-0-0) defeated Antonio Rogerio Nogueira by unanimous decision during his most recent bout in March.

No answers yet to the time table of the freshly minted light heavyweight champion's return. However, Evans plans for a title shot may be derailed if not by a loss, by injury and scheduling.

FK

Zuffa buys Strikeforce!!

Wow. Breaking news in MMA as Zuffa, parent company to UFC, buys Strikeforce.

UFC Dana White confirms to MMAfighting.com that they made the purchase. While this news brings a certainty to which logo displayed we will see at the end of all of our PPV broadcasts it also bring a lot of questions.

Will this mean an the inevitable UFC takeover much like it did to Pride, WEC?

It seems like Dana White has two strategies when it comes to rival companies: Wait for them to die or when it starts gaining steam buy them out. In this writer's opinion, this may not be the best business strategy. While Strikeforce was gaining reputation, I don't think they were making fans of the UFC not watch UFC fights. MMA fans will watch good fights regardless of venue. If the UFC continues to provide good exciting MMA fights that people want to see they shouldn't be concerned with the other organizations. Who wants to play football in the Arena Football League? No one is going to stop watching the NFL because they now have arena football to watch. No one is going to stop watching the NBA because the NBDL started a team in their city.

Which fighters will come over if they do merge?
Fedor in the UFC cage?
Does Paul Daley come back?
Does Dan Henderson come back?
Allistar Overeem?
Nick Diaz?
Jacare?


Is this good for MMA?

I think this is a very debatable issue. I'll let the commenters and their comments take care of this one.

UFC 127 Penn vs Fitch

UFC 127 Penn vs Fitch

Watching the UFC 127 right now.  Updates and thoughts after the fights.  Sorry for the past 2 weeks of lack of updates of the MMA world.  Updates will be posted up soon.

PS.

If anyone is looking for a stream to watch UFC 127 and doesnt already have one.  Dont miss it UFC 127 go check it out!!!!!

Streaming Links

sportshunter.tv  (link 1 works)
atdhenet.tv

No Klitschko VS. David Haye.. for now..

Again, David Haye(25-1 23KO) and Wladimir Klitschko(55-3 49 KO) have agreed to disagree. Bernd Boente, Klitschko's manager announced that their talks have fell apart and Wladimir will be once again fighting Derek Chisora (14-0 9KO) on April 30th.

The talks fell apart apparently because of television scheduling.

Unfortunately, this just makes boxing fans care less and less about the heavyweight division. Eventually, when these two fight there will be some excitement. Until then, who really is interested in what David Haye has to say? Who is really interested in watching Klitschko demolish another challenger?

There are only a few fighters I want to see in the heavyweight division. If Haye was really serious about not getting the public's attention he should fight Adamek. They are both smaller men for their weight division and Adamek has proven that he can fight with all the big boys. However, I think Adamek is in the same position as Haye. Why take a hard fight when you can just fight nobodies (Audley Harrison, Vinny Madalone, etc) and make a good payday in your home country?

Until we as fight fans STOP paying and watching these types of fights they simply will continue with their paths. Paths that unfortunately don't cross.

Breaking News: Strikeforce Heavyweight Tournament Announced!

Showtime has announced a heavyweight tournament! It is formally announced as the Strikeforce Heavyweight World Grand Prix.

It kicks off on February 12th with two of the first round matches taking place in the IZOD center. Ex UFC champion Andrei Arlovski (15-8) takes on Sergei Kharitonov (16-4). On the other side of the draw, Fedor Emelianenko (31-2) clashes with Antonio Silva (15-2).

There are great match ups in this tournament with perhaps the deepest heavyweight tournament in MMA history. The tournament boasts two ex-UFC champions in Josh Barnett and Arlovski, reigning Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion (as well as K-1 and Dream champion) Alistair Overeem, Fedor, and the Fedor slayer Fabricio Werdum.

This may be the only weight division that Strikeforce has a realistic chance to compete with the UFC and they are showing it in dramatic fashion.

With a closer look at the brackets, Fedor will be either fighting Overeem or have a rematch with Werdum if he gets through the first round. The Overeem Fedor match has been something that MMA fans around the world have been asking for and we will finally have a chance to see it. Personally I thought that Overeem and Fedor deserved to be on other sides of the draw.

However, this should not take away from the promise of great heavyweight MMA action for the remainder of the tournament. Props to CEO Scott Coker for putting together such an amazing tournament.

Schedule:
Feb 12 - Fedor V Silva, Overeem V Werdum
April - Barnett V Rogers, Arlovski V Kharitonov