Unbeaten heavyweight prospect Matt Mitrone will face his toughest test to date when he battles fellow striker Cheick Kongo at UFC 137 on October 29th. The targeted matchup was first reported by ESPN.com today. Both fighters are coming off of knockout victories at UFC Live 4 in June.

Mitrione stopped Christian Morecraft in the second round of their June bout and has won five times inside the Octagon. Kongo, meanwhile, rallied back from the brink of defeat to knock out Pat “HD” Barry in the main event of the UFC Live 4 card and is unbeaten in his last three UFC appearances.

Read More…

A leg injury has forced Japanese veteran Hayato “Mach” Sakurai out of his rematch against DREAM Welterweight Champion Marius “The Whitemare” Zaromskis on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan. Sakurai has been replaced on the card by Eiji Ishikawa. News of the change was made official today.

Sakurai had looked to avenge his stoppage loss to Zaromskis from just over two years ago, but will now be forced to watch from the sidelines due to the untimely injury. Ishikawa now enters the bout on just two days’ notice as a significant underdog, but he has won seven of his last nine fights.

Read More…

A bout between 2006 PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix Champion Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipović and former IFL champion Roy “Big Country” Nelson is in the works for UFC 137 on October 29th in Las Vegas, Nevada. Croatian sports site Gol.hr first reported on the heavyweight matchup earlier today.

Both fighters are currently in the midst of two-fight losing streaks and a third straight defeat could send the loser packing from the UFC. Filipović has struggled inside the Octagon, winning just four of his nine UFC fights, while Nelson is coming off of a lopsided loss to Frank Mir at UFC 130 in May.

Read More…

One day after Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis was forced to withdraw from his upcoming main event bout with “Suga” Rashad Evans at UFC 133, former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz has stepped in to face Evans for a second time. UFC President Dana White announced the news today.

Initial reports and comments from White suggested that another former UFC champion, Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida, would be rematching Evans on the card. However, Machida opted against taking on the short-notice fight and Ortiz will now enter the bout with less than four weeks to prepare.

Read More…

A PRIDE rules bout between Kaitlin Young and Elaina “Beef” Maxwell has been added to the newly-rescheduled Colosseo Championship Fighting 6: “Bushido” card on September 3rd in Sangudo, Alberta, Canada. A source close to the negotiations confirmed the fight with MMARising.com today.

CCF 6 was set to take place on July 23rd, but as noted by MMAjunkie.com, the event was postponed after necessary paperwork was not filed with the commission in time. All bouts on the card will use rules and weight classes in line with that of the former Pride Fighting Championships promotion.

Read More…

The recent string of MMA injuries has claimed another main event, as Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis has been forced out of his UFC 133 headliner against “Suga” Rashad Evans after suffering a knee injury. MMAFighting.com first reported on Davis’s withdrawal from the August card this evening.

According to a subsequent report from Tatame, the UFC has now contacted former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida and offered him a rematch with Evans on the card, but no decisions have been made as of yet. Machida knocked out Evans for the title at UFC 98.

Read More…

A welterweight bout between former two-division UFC champ “The Prodigy” B.J. Penn and final WEC Welterweight Champion “The Natural Born Killer” Carlos Condit is in the works for October. While not set, the tentative fight could take place at UFC 137 on October 29th in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Both Penn and Condit had publicly campaigned for the matchup on Twitter earlier this week. Penn was previously been set to rematch Jon Fitch at UFC 132, but injuries forced the fight’s cancellation. Instead, Penn may now face the surging Condit, who has won four straight fights inside the Octagon.

Read More…

Strikeforce and BodogFIGHT veteran Carina “Beauty But The Beast” Damm will next compete at Iron Man Championship 10 on July 21st in Salinópolis, Pará, Brazil. She will face Muay Thai champion Valentina Shevchenko, who has competed just twice in MMA and last fought in late September.

Damm has drawn criticism for frequently facing inexperienced opponents in her bouts in Brazil, and the matchup with Shevchenko marks Damm’s sixth straight fight in the country against an opponent with fewer than three MMA fights. Damm, a 22-fight veteran, ended a three-fight losing streak in May.

Read More…