UFC 140 will be in Toronto on Saturday December 10th at the Air Canada Center. It’s the second foray into what Dana White likes to call the Mecca of MMA. There are seven Canadians competing. One of the good ol’ Canadian kids on the card is London Ontario’s Mark Hominick who had a chance to talk to MMASucka.com about his seven month emotional roller coaster.
I am going to make this a short article as I am writing this in advance of being on a nice warm beach by the time you read this... The magic of the interweb!
I always wanted to keep this series of articles general and not make it about specific brands or promote any one in particular. However, when you have a rare situation like I experienced this week it needs to be noted when a new company and it's ownership group seem to have their finger on the pulse of what it takes to be successful in this business.
Jon Koppenhaver who is now known as War Machine defeated Roger Huerta in the main event of Ultimate Warrior Fighting 1 in Pharr, Texas. War Machine who is making his return to the cage following a one year stint at the George Bailey Detention Facility after being convicted of felony assault, defeated Huerta by TKO late in the third round.
George St-Pierre was in Toronto promoting his Fitness DVD, which is the #1 selling Fitness DVD by a Professional Athletic of all time. The welterweight champion spoke with Showdown Joe Ferraro of UFC Central about his Rush Fit DVD and his upcoming fight with Nick Diaz.
Kurt Pellegrino began his MMA career back in 2002 with a win over current UFC fighter Mac Danzig. Nine years later Kurt is calling it quits (for the second time) following a a first round technical knockout loss to Patricky Freire at Bellator 59. The event took place in front of his hometown crowd of New Jersey and following the loss Pellegrino took to the mic.
Dana White made plenty of claims that the Strikeforce lightweight champion, Gilbert Melendez was heading over to the UFC ASAP, however that will not happen at this point. On December 17, Melendez will take on Jorge Masvidal in the main event of a stacked Strikeforce card.
With no UFC this weekend, MMA fans are in for a definite treat with the Bellator 59 fight card. The card will feature two tournament finals, the first of which is the main event between Thiago Santos and Eric Prindle for the season five heavyweight final. The co-main event is the bantamweight finals between Alexis Vila and Eduardo Dantas. Rounding out the stacked main card are two former UFC fighters, Kurt Pellegrino will be taking on Patricky Pitbull and former TUF contestant Phillipe Nover will go toe-to-toe with Marcin Held.
The former Strikeforce, Dream, and K-1 Champion, Alistair Overeem will fight the former UFC heavyweight champion on December 30. Overeem is riding an amazing 11 fight win streak, which resulted in the UFC offering him an immediate title shot. However, he decided to opt out of that for the fight with Lesnar. The upcoming fight at UFC 141 will be a number one contender fight to see who will take on heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos at some point in 2012.
The UFC is set to take stage in Japan for the first time in nearly a decade. The organization will be heading over seas on February 25, 2012 and in the main event will be a lightweight showdown between Frankie Edgar and Ben Henderson.
The battle of the two of the toughest chins at heavyweight has been made for UFC 144. France's Cheick Kongo will be fighting the "Super Samoan" Mark Hunt in Japan on February 26, 2012.
