After suffering an undisclosed injury during training, welterweight contender Martin “The Hitman” Kampmann has withdrawn from the upcoming UFC 111 card. In his place, rising star Jake Ellenberger will step in to face top prospect Ben “Killa B” Saunders. MMAjunkie.com first reported on the bout’s change earlier today.

Ellenberger stopped tough challenger Mike “Quicksand” Pyle in impressive fashion at UFC 108, while Saunders most recently picked up a brutal knockout win over “The Irish Hand Grenade” Marcus Davis at UFC 106.

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Former PRIDE and Sengoku star Hidehiko Yoshida will retire on April 25th. J-Rock entertainment announced today that the Japanese legend will compete in mixed martial arts for the final time in the headlining bout at an event known as “Astra.” Yoshida’s opponent has not yet been named.

The 40-year-old Yoshida cited a deterioration in his physical capabilities and apologised to the fans for no longer being able to compete at his best. The seven-year veteran planned to retire on New Year’s Eve, but will compete one more time at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo.

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Former EliteXC Featherweight Champion Wilson Reis will return to Bellator Fighting Championships for its upcoming second season. The highly-touted prospect came up just short in the inaugural Bellator Featherweight Grand Prix last year and he will look for revenge in season two.

Reis was pegged as the early favourite to win last year’s tournament, but he was upset by Joe Soto in the semi-finals at Bellator 6. He has since rebounded with a pair of victories and has withdrawn from a scheduled appearance for Sengoku in order to return to Bellator in April.

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship returned to Las Vegas tonight for UFC 109: “Relentless.” The event was headlined by a light heavyweight bout between UFC Hall of Famers Randy “The Natural” Couture and Mark “The Hammer” Coleman that was first set for UFC 17 in 1998.

In other main card action, Chael Sonnen defeated Nate “The Great” Marquardt in a middleweight title eliminator, while Paulo Thiago choked out Mike “Quick” Swick in a welterweight bout. MMARising.com has live play-by-play of all of the action on the decision-filled card.

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Capped off by a main event just shy of 12 years in the making, UFC 109: “Relentless” takes place live later tonight. UFC Hall of Famers Randy “The Natural” Couture and Mark “The Hammer” Coleman will square off in a light heavyweight battle of legends.

Elsewhere on the card, seven-time King of Pancrase Nate “The Great” Marquardt will look to get past the ever-controversial Chael Sonnen in order to get another crack at the middleweight title. MMARising.com has a full preview and predictions for every fight on the card.

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After her shocking upset victory over Marloes Coenen one year ago, Belgium’s Cindy “Battlecat” Dandois picked up right where she left off at M-1 Selection 2010 today. Dandois defeated Denmark’s Maria Hougaard Nielsen in just over one minute in the event’s headlining bout.

Dandois kept her perfect record intact in the brief but action-filled fight with Nielsen, but she did not have a chance to display new skills learned since the January 2009 clash with Coenen. With two fights to her name, Dandois now has her eyes set squarely on Strikeforce.

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A light heavyweight bout between former PRIDE ace Antonio Rogerio “Minotoro” Nogueira and ex-UFC champ Forrest Griffin is now planned for UFC 114 on May 29th. MMAjunkie.com first reported on the date change for the fight, which was originally targeted for UFC 113 on May 8th in Montreal.

Nogueira made a big impact in his UFC debut when he stopped rising contender Luiz “Banha” Cane in less than two minutes at UFC 106, but has been sidelined due to injury. Griffin rebounded from a pair of knockout losses when he edged old rival Tito Ortiz on the same UFC 106 card.

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After months of speculation, World Extreme Cagefighting has announced plans to hold its first pay-per-view event on April 24th at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California. The stacked card will feature at least two explosive title fights and will be available at a cost of $44.95.

Headlining the debut PPV event will be a WEC Featherweight Championship bout between Jose “Junior” Aldo and promotional posterboy “The California Kid” Urijah Faber. Ben “Smooth” Henderson will rematch Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone for the WEC Lightweight Championship.

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