The UFC is holding a press conference today (Dec.13) for UFC 142: Rio. Just days after UFC 140, Dana White flew to Brazil to promote the organizations first show in 2012. UFC 142 is set to go down at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on January 14, 2012.
This past week, the man they call "Ragin" Kajan Johnson auditioned for the upcoming Ultimate Fighter season. It has been known by many, including MFC President Mark Pavelich that Johnson's overall goal in MMA was to be a UFC champion and today MMASucka.com learned from sources close to the fighter that he was released from the MFC. The roster move has not officially been released by the organization.
Alistair Overeem will be having a phone conversation with the Nevada State Athletic Commission for reasons that have not been announced to the public yet. During the UFC 140 broadcast the MMA world was set a buzz due to a tweet sent out that stated Overeem would be out of his fight against Brock Lesnar at UFC 141 on Dec. 30.
If you ask anyone at MMASucka.com, I make the worst fight picks. We even have the numbers to back this up. I can admit that I choose my picks very emotionally, especially when it comes to fighters whom I have been cheering for years that I have invested money into purchasing their swag, and time in waiting in line ups for autographs. No matter how lop sided a match will be out of their favor, I am still hoping that they will come out on the positive side of "anything can happen". For UFC 140, I went an awesome 1-4 on the main card with the help of some great performances by Chan Sung Jung, Brian Ebersole, Little Nog and Frank Mir. Jon Jones was my only saving grace, but even he gave me a first round heart attack. Although I didn't do so well, I do see the silver lining. Through these wins, there are some very interesting match ups that now make sense for the UFC to put together.
Following his loss this past weekend at UFC 140, Lyoto Machida looks back and responds about his performance against UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. Jones was tested by Machida in the first round and in the second took him down landed a vicious elbow which eventually lead to his submission victory.
No matter how much Dana White wants to deny the rumours of Alistair Overeem being taken off the UFC 141 Main Event, those rumors are still flying. I’m of the belief that where there is smoke there is fire. It all started when Kevin Iole from Yahoo/Sports sent out a tweet near the end of UFC 140.
Dana was uncommitted on whether or not Miguel Torres would ever fight in the UFC again after the Twitter scandal, saying only "We'll see". He did appreciate Torres' statement after the fact, but left no confusion on how he feels about his decision:
"Nobody has any business making jokes about rape....It was from a TV show? Who gives a shit? This is not a TV show."
UFC 140 had some epic fights. Jon Jones retained his title against Lyoto Machida, Frank Mir stepped one step closer to title contention with a submission win over Big Nog and Lil Nog beat up Tito Ortiz. Thanks to our media friends MMAFighting.com, HeavyMMA.com and MMAWeekly.com for their post fight videos.
Dana White announced the formation of a 125 pound Flyweight division, with the first champion being decided in a four man mini-tournament. White had told the media that the first fights will be held on March 3rd, likely on pay-per-view, but the UFC website has them listed for the "UFC on FX 2" card. The first fights will be Joseph Benavidez vs. Yasuhiro Urushitani and Ian McCall vs. Demetrious Johnson.
Igor Pokrajac made short work of Krzysztof Soszynski, taking just thirty five seconds to knock out "The Polish Experiment". Coming off a six month layoff, he looked like a man possessed from the second Sosynski came within sight. The determination in his eyes was unmistakeable and his steely demeanor evoked memories of his mentor, the legendary Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic. To hear Pokrajac tell it though, it was just another day at the office.
