The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Manchester, England for UFC 105 this Saturday and MMARising.com has a complete preview of the card, which is headlined by a light heavyweight bout between former two-division champion Randy “The Natural” Couture and Muay Thai standout Brandon “The Truth” Vera.
In other action, Mike “Quick” Swick meets British star Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy in a welterweight contender’s bout and England’s Michael “The Count” Bisping looks to rebound against Denis “Super Korean” Kang.
Round 5 MMA has completed Series 1 of their exclusive line of UFC collectible figurines, featuring some of the promotion’s top stars from the past and present. The set of six collectibles will be released in Toys ‘R’ Us locations in time for the holiday season and will be stocked in retailers across North America in January.
Rising Japanese star Saori Ishioka will return to competition at Jewels: “Sixth Ring” on December 11th and faces yet another difficult task when she meets reigning Freestyle Cage Fighting Women’s 125-Pound Champion “Slick” Sally Krumdiack in a featured bout.
Capped off by one of the more memorable main events of the year, Strikeforce’s historic CBS debut was a huge success and concluded with #1-ranked heavyweight “The Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko stopping previously undefeated knockout artist Brett “The Grim” Rogers in front of millions of worldwide viewers.
Capped off by another extremely controversial judging decision, Sengoku: “Eleventh Battle” once again saw underdog Michihiro Omigawa receive a gift on the scorecards in his main event bout with Hatsu Hioki, while Sengoku Middleweight Champion Jorge Santiago was knocked out by Mamed Khalidov in a non-title bout.
Strikeforce invaded Fresno, California for the fourth edition of their successful Challengers Series, which was headlined by an exciting lightweight battle between still-undefeated Billy Evangelista and former UFC star Jorge “J.G.” Gurgel. Elsewhere, Strikeforce veteran Luke Rockhold submitted TUF alum Jesse “JT Money” Taylor in welterweight action.
Reigning DREAM and WAMMA Unified Lightweight Champion Shinya “Tobikan Judan” Aoki may soon compete inside a Strikeforce cage, as the colourful submission ace will be attending this Saturday’s Strikeforce: “Fedor vs Rogers” event and aims to make his Strikeforce debut at some point early next year.
Another solid fight has been added to the December 19th Strikeforce event, as UFC veteran Matt “The Law” Lindland will take on former DREAM star Ronaldo “Jacaré” Souza in middleweight action. The bout will be part of the televised portion of the promotion’s year-end event at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.