UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva makes the next defence of his title against rival Chael Sonnen when the Ultimate Fighting Championship travels to João Havelange Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The rematch, announced today, takes place at UFC 147 on June 23rd.

UFC officials hope to set a new attendance record with the event. The mark to beat of roughly 55,000 fans was set this past April at UFC 129 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. UFC 147 also features a second rematch when Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva battles Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort once again.

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The North American Allied Fight Series returned to Chapparells Community Center in Akron, Ohio tonight for NAAFS: “Midwest Combat Challenge 19.” The amateur fight card was headlined by an all-Ohio welterweight battle between unbeaten prospects Joshua Lasich and Dave Lastafka.

Tonight’s event also featured a total of five women’s bouts. In 120-pound main card action, Rebecca “Trainwrecka” Gruitza faced Ashley Delk, while “Rowdy” Ronda Gale took on Ricardo Almeida understudy Rachel Sazoff at 115. MMARising.com has live play-by-play for tonight’s NAAFS card.

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I’m so very excited to be fighting for Invicta Fighting Championships on their inaugural card in April. They have done such a great job with promoting the event so far. Seeing all of the other fighters be so enthusiastic about Invicta FC is inspiring as well. Thank you to everyone for the support!

The first week of my camp got off to a frustrating start. I was coming off of a minor knee injury that seemed to get tweaked in every practice. Last week was awesome, though, and I didn’t feel it at all. I have five weeks left in my eight-week training camp and I am feeling stronger every day.

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Unbeaten Finnish prospect Katja Kankaanpää picked up the biggest victory of her young MMA career tonight in the main event of Botnia Punishment 11 in Seinäjoki, Finland. Kankaanpää defeated final Valkyrie Featherweight Champion “V.V” Mei Yamaguchi by Unanimous Decision after three rounds.

Kankaanpää looked to have a significant size and strength advantage over her opponent, and she used it to reverse Yamaguchi’s takedowns as the fight progressed. After a dominant second round, Kankaanpää closed out round three with a big takedown en route to the well-earned decision win.

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A planned bout between European prospects Maiju “Mai” Kujala and Lena “Hunter” Ovchynnikova has been officially scrapped from the Lappeenranta Fight Night 7 card on April 14th in Finland. LFN promoter and matchmaker Jukka Paananen discussed the cancellation with MMARising.com today.

Kujala was forced out of a fight with Julianna Carneiro Lima earlier this month after struggling to make weight. She cited a medical issue as the cause and had planned to be ready to compete against Ovchynnikova, but will instead take time off to recuperate before returning later this year.

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Hi! My name is Jessica Penne and this is my first blog for my Invicta FC 1 fight on April 28th. When I received an offer to be a part of an all-women’s card, I was excited. Not only do I have the privilege of fighting on the card, my opponent Lisa Ellis and I have the honor of being in the co-main event.

I had been hoping for some time that an organization supporting WMMA would come to fruition. Now, thanks to Janet Martin and Shannon Knapp, female fighters have a great opportunity to show our stuff. I think that there are talented women in this sport that deserve a platform to perform on.

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Welterweight standouts Jake “The Juggernaut” Ellenberger and Martin “The Hitman” Kampmann will face off in the main event of The Ultimate Fighter Live Finale on June 1st in Las Vegas, Nevada. UFC officials announced the bout today and the winner could advance on to a 170-pound title fight.

Ellenberger has won six straight fights inside the Octagon since suffering a contentious Split Decision defeat in his September 2009 UFC debut. He has knocked out 17 opponents to date. Kampmann has earned victories in four of his past six bouts and submitted Thiago “Pitbull” Alves on March 3rd.

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Former UFC middleweight title challenger Demian Maia drops down to 170 pounds to face once-beaten South Korean standout Dong Hyun “Stun Gun” Kim at UFC 148: “Cruz vs Faber 3” on July 7th in Las Vegas, Nevada. The featured welterweight bout was announced by UFC officials today.

Also confirmed for the card this week was a light heavyweight trilogy bout between former UFC champions Forrest Griffin and “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Tito Ortiz, as well as a middleweight showdown pitting Japanese veteran Riki Fukuda against rising star Constantinos “Costa” Philippou.

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