Bellator 43 Results: Another Solid Night Of Action

Yesterday, Bellator held its forty-third event. Amidst all the hoopla of Manny Pacquiao?s fight, I was regrettably unable to catch the original Bellator 43 broadcast. But I wanted to give this card the respect it deserves, so I waited to post my traditional results/commentary hybrid until after catching a replay of Bellator 43. So, with [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/05/08/bellator-43-results-another-solid-night-of-action

Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro Akiyama Gilbert Aldana José Aldo

Nice guys finish fights: Sanchez donates purse to autism awareness

Diego Sanchez has always been a colorful character in the MMA world. From his appearance on the first season of "The Ultimate Fighter" to his "Yes!" cartwheel to his ongoing verbal spat with Martin Kampmann, Sanchez keeps us entertained.

It turns out that he's a pretty nice guy, too. Sanchez participated in the UFC Fan Expo grappling tournament last weekend in Toronto. He won his first match, lost his second, and then donated all of his purse to a charity that promotes autism awareness. From Sanchez's original grappling coach:

Diego Sanchez is one of the greatest people I've ever met, not just for his beliefs and love for mma and grappling, he is also a world class philanthropist, as he impressed the entire audience donating his entire UFC Fan Expo 4-Man Purse to Autism and AutismRadio.org

Ahh, Diego. You're not the first fighter to do something insanely nice, but you should be proud to be on the list of good fighters who are also great people. Way to be awesome.

Thanks to Bloody Elbow for the heads up.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Nice-guys-finish-fights-Sanchez-donates-purse-t?urn=mma-wp2036

Todd Duffee Marvin Eastman Stav Crazy Bear Economou Yves Edwards

Marcos Galvao signs with Bellator, Slated For Season 5 Bantamweight Tournament

The Bellator Fighting Championships announced that they have signed Brazilian bantamweight Marcos Galvao to a long term contract. Galvao (9-4-1) is already lined-up to compete in the upcoming Season 5 bantamweight tournament. The winner of the eight man tournament will receive a title shot against champion Zack Makovsky. Galvao recently competed at Bellator 41 in [...]

Marcos Galvao signs with Bellator, Slated For Season 5 Bantamweight Tournament is a post from: MMA Interplay UFC News

Source: http://www.mmainterplay.com/bellator-news/marcos-galvao-signs-with-bellator-slated-for-season-5-bantamweight-tournament-54447/

Tadhg Steamfist Dixon Joe Doerksen Chris Dolman Edson Drago

Yelling Dana White takes fans at home on a prefight tour of Rogers Centre

It's going to be freaking loud tonight at UFC 129. Watch Dana White scream his way through a tour of Rogers Centre.

You can watch UFC 129 on PPV (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT) right here on Yahoo! Sports.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Yelling-Dana-White-takes-fans-at-home-on-a-prefi?urn=mma-wp1771

Steve The Snake Claveau Rich No Love Clementi Mark The Hammer Coleman Wes Soldier Combs

UFC debuts "UFC CENTRAL" this Saturday on UFC.TV prior to UFC 129

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The following Press Release was sent to MMATorch this evening...

UFC® DEBUTS ?UFC CENTRAL? THIS SATURDAY ON UFC.TV

Fans Encouraged to Watch UFC® 129: ST-PIERRE vs. SHIELDS Pay-Per-View on UFC.TV and Experience UFC Central?s Comprehensive Coverage of the Event

HOSTED BY TODD HARRIS, WITH FIGHT ANALYSTS STEPHAN BONNAR AND KENNY FLORIAN, AS WELL AS REPORTER MOLLY QERIM

Las Vegas, NV (USA) ? The Ultimate Fighting Championship® announced today the debut of UFC Central, a news and analysis show that will air just in time for UFC® 129: ST-PIERRE vs. SHIELDS this Saturday, April 30. Available live and exclusively on UFC.TV, UFC Central will be hosted by Todd Harris, along with fight analysts Stephen Bonnar and Kenny Florian. Molly Qerim will join the show as the backstage reporter during the entire broadcast.

UFC Central, which begins at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, will feature pre-fight analysis and be available for free during the first hour on UFC.TV. Once the UFC 129 live broadcast begins at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, UFC Central will only be available to fans that purchased the event for viewing on UFC.TV and will capture interviews with fighters on the fight card during the live broadcast as well as other analyst commentary.

UFC Central will be offered as a seventh video feed and fifth audio feed, leveraging UFC.TV's multi-camera view and multi-audio feed experience. During the live event, fans will have the option inside of UFC.TV to select UFC Central as the main broadcast; or, drag and drop it into Picture-n-Picture or Quad View so that UFC Central can be watched and/or listened to alongside the broadcast of the main fight card.

Immediately following the live broadcast, UFC Central will be offered for free at UFC.TV with post-fight analysis, making it the ultimate destination for the most comprehensive UFC 129 news.

?We are really excited for the debut of UFC Central this Saturday during the biggest weekend in the history of the sport,? UFC President Dana White said. ?The UFC.TV experience allows us to test many different types of programming options, such as UFC Central, with the end goal of making for a better fan experience. Nothing will get you closer to the full UFC event experience.?

UFC® 129: ST-PIERRE vs. SHIELDS, which is presented by TapouT®, will be available live on Pay-Per-View at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on UFC.tv for a suggested retail price of $44.99 US/$49.99 CAN for Standard Definition.

For more information, or current UFC fight news, visit UFC.com. All bouts live and subject to change.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_9175.shtml

Rich Franklin Ian Freeman Don Frye Tony Fryklund

Paulo Thiago, Rousimar Palhares latest Brazilians looking towards UFC Rio

The UFC?s forthcoming foray into Rio de Janeiro took another step towards finalization today when news surfaced of two more Brazilians filling individual slots on the August 27 line-up. While neither man has been officially announced for the event, it appears Rousimar Palhares and Paulo Thiago will likely be slated for action at UFC Rio [...]

Source: http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2011/05/03/paulo-thiago-rousimar-palhares-latest-brazilians-looking-towards-ufc-rio/

Tom Big Cat Erickson Martinsh Egle Eric Butterbean Esch Efrain Escudero

Polley questions his firing from “The Ultimate Fighter”

During Wednesday night's episode of "The Ultimate Fighter," Junior dos Santos fired his wrestling coach for contradicting and disrespecting him. Footage from the show appears to back dos Santos up, as Polley seemed to take a different tone than dos Santos in almost every situation.

Polley had a different take on the firing. He believes he was fired to free up room for another coach to come in.

If you watch the discussion between Junior and me, you will notice I asked, "Did I do everything you asked of me?" And Junior said "Yes." His said his reasoning was, "It was confusing and the vibe was bad." But he did not offer much in terms of reasons ... Back in the hotel room, I called my manager, and he told me he would reach out to Ed and the producers to see what if anything could be done. But Junior and his guys were telling me they needed my room and that I had to go.

Luiz Dorea, the coach who advised dos Santos to fire Polley, is Junior's longtime boxing coach and mentor. It's not surprising that dos Santos would follow his advice to relieve the tension. The room issue is surprising, because coaches come and go on TUF all the time. Also, they're staying in Las Vegas, the center of the MMA world. Was there really nowhere else for Polley to stay? Or did dos Santos want to show that he was the head coach?

Team dos Santos members are divided. Ramsey Nijem was happy to see Polley go.

I was glad -- that was a long time coming. I didn't have too many personal run-ins with Lew but he's just kind of an arrogant jerk. He thinks his way is the best way and I also thought he didn't give us the best advice for fighting. Lew said something about how Junior didn't like him because he's not Brazilian but that's not true. Junior is one of the nicest guys ever. None of us are Brazilian and he treated all of us fine because we're not jerks.

While Shamar Bailey, Nijem's roommate, said that he thought Polley was a good coach.

Lew was always making sure we were ready for our fights, mentally and physically. He always told us what we needed to work on to get better instead of just saying, "good job". He was a real dude through and through. Everybody is gonna act a little different while they get used to cameras being everywhere, including Ramsey. But to say Lew was just there for the cameras and disregard everything be did for us is pretty errant in my humble opinion.

The editing involved in pulling together a reality show means that viewers will never have the true story between dos Santos and Polley, but as head coach and the star of the show, dos Santos gets to do as he pleases in coaching. Polley may not like it, but in the process, he has picked up some notoriety. That's not too bad for a regional fighter with a 10-4 record.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Polley-questions-his-firing-from-The-Ultimate-F?urn=mma-wp2020

Shane The Engineer Carwin Jason Hollywood Chambers Ryo Piranha Chonan Dan The Sandman Christison

Video analysis: Iole sets the record straight on MMA vs. boxing salaries

With each passing day, MMA is getting closer to the interest shown towards mainstream sports. With that comes more transparency and a deeper look at everything that concerns fighters including their salaries. It was week reported last week by ESPN the Magazine that Brock Lesnar was the highest earner in 2010 at $5.3 million. If that's the true figure, it seemed a bit short of Manny Pacquiao's $32 million. Those are the top dogs, but what does that mean for boxers and MMA stars in the two-through-30 range?

This money talk in MMA even prompted HDNet's Inside MMA to get into the issue a few weeks ago about Nick Diaz. The suggestion was made that Diaz needed to leave MMA to get the money he deserves. Kenny Rice said Diaz might make as much in one boxing match as he's made in 16 of his 32 MMA fights combined (1:08 mark).

That was odd assertion considering Diaz just made $325,000 in his last two fights. Is that fair for a guy who's roughly the 15th biggest star in MMA?

Yahoo!'s MMA/boxing expert Kevin Iole checked in with us to explain how there's no middle class in boxing and that it's highly unlikely Diaz would fetch anything close to 175k for a boxing match.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Video-analysis-Iole-sets-the-record-straight-on?urn=mma-wp1483

Marcus Davis Tony DeSouza Edwin Dewees Nick Diaz

Jake Ellenberger Wants to Fight Jake Shields After Recovering from Hand Surgery

Jake Ellenberger already has his sights set on a matchup with welterweight title challenger Jake Shields just days after scoring his fourth-straight UFC win with a first-round KO of Sean Pierson, but first he'll need to recover from a broken hand.

Source: http://mmafrenzy.com/18404/jake-ellenberger-wants-to-fight-jake-shields-after-recovering-from-hand-surgery/

Tom Big Cat Erickson Martinsh Egle Eric Butterbean Esch Efrain Escudero

UFC targeting returns to Denver, Houston for major events this fall

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

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The UFC is looking to make a couple of return visits to some previous host cities this fall, as they are targeting UFC 135 for Sept. 24 in Denver, Colo., and UFC 136 on Oct. 8 in Houston, Texas. The Houston event is also expected to play host to the next UFC Fan Expo on October 7 and 8.

UFC President Dana White confirmed the Houston event during a Q&A at the UFC Fan Expo in Toronto on Friday, and MMAJunkie.com reports that the event is expected to take place at the Toyota Center, an 18,000-seat venue that hosted the UFC's first-ever event in Texas back in 2007 with UFC 69.

The September event does not have a set location or venue, according to a separate report from MMAJunkie.com, but the Pepsi Center in Denver is in the running for the event. In addition, Matt Hughes stated on his personal blog that he would be fighting Diego Sanchez on that date in Denver. The Hughes-Sanchez matchup was announced this week by the UFC to be coming "in the fall," though no specific date had been mentioned by the organization.

A trip back to Denver would be a historic return to the city where the UFC got it's start. The city hosted the first two Ultimate Fighting Championship tournaments in 1993 and 1994, but the organization hasn't been back to Denver since 1995's UFC: Ultimate Ultimate 1995 event.

If both of these events go through as planned, it will mark four events in five weeks, with Fight Night 25 coming Sept. 17 in New Orleans, UFC 135 on Sept. 24 in Denver, UFC 136 on Oct. 8 in Houston and what presumably will be UFC 137 on Oct. 15 in England.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_9193.shtml

Luiz Buscapé Firmino Spencer Fisher Jon Fitch Kenny Florian