Rising welterweight star Rory “Ares” MacDonald will compete in his native Canada for his next fight. The once-beaten British Columbian faces veteran Brian “Bad Boy” Ebersole at UFC 140, which is targeted for December 10th in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Verbal agreements are in place for the bout.

Also announced for the card today were a pair of bouts featuring two more Canadian prospects. Claude “The Prince” Patrick will face Rich “The Raging Bull” Attonito in a welterweight bout, while unbeaten Saskatchewan native Mitch Clarke takes on New Jersey’s John Cholish in lightweight action.

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Three additional fights have been added to the upcoming UFC On FOX 1 card on November 12th in Anaheim, California. Among them is a lightweight contender’s bout between former WEC champion Ben “Smooth” Henderson and one-time Strikeforce 155-pound titleholder Clay “The Carpenter” Guida.

In other action on the card, Japanese superstar Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto will clash with UFC newcomer Darren “BC” Uyenoyama in a bantamweight bout, while featherweights Cub Swanson and Ricardo Lamas square off at 145. All three fights were officially announced by the UFC earlier today.

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Former champions will collide inside the Octagon on December 30th in Las Vegas, Nevada. Brock Lesnar will face Alistair Overeem in a battle of former UFC and Strikeforce heavyweight titleholders. The bout was first reported by the L.A. Times and subsequently confirmed by UFC officials on Twitter.

Lesnar will make his return to the cage after a second bout with diverticulitis this year. He has not fought since losing his UFC title to Cain Velasquez last October. Overeem was released from his Strikeforce contract in late July despite holding the promotion’s belt and is unbeaten in his last 11 fights.

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Ukrainian prospect Lena “Hunter” Ovchynnikova moved her mixed martial arts record to a perfect 8-0 on Saturday in Mariupol, Ukraine. The multi-time kickboxing and MMA champion submitted Eugenia Kostina with an armbar at the Professional Association of Martial Arts Ukraine’s “President’s Cup.”

In Imatra, Finland, Strikeforce tournament veteran Maiju “Mai” Kujala earned her second straight win and fourth by TKO with a quick victory at Carelia Fight 7. Competing in front of friends and supporters, the Finnish standout defeated late replacement opponent Ieva Šležaitė by TKO in round one.

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An illness has forced Sheila “The German Tank” Gaff out of a planned bout with Angela Hayes on Thursday at Cage Warriors Fighting Championship: “Fight Night 2” in Amman, Jordan. NAAFS champion Aisling “Ais The Bash” Daly has stepped in on just three days’ notice to face Hayes on the card.

MMARising.com confirmed the change with a source close to the promotion today. Daly and Hayes will face off in a 132-pound catchweight. Daly was upset by Gaff in April, but captured the NAAFS title by submitting Jessica “Evil” Eye in June. Hayes brings three straight wins into her CWFC debut.

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Bellator veteran Jessica Penne will make her Shoot Boxing debut in Tokyo, Japan on Saturday against two-time Girls S-Cup champion Rena Kubota. The promotion officially announced the late addition to the card today and MMARising.com confirmed that Penne will depart for Japan this week.

Penne last competed in MMA in November when she submitted Amy “Lil’ Dynamite” Davis. The win got Penne back on track after her lone career defeat against Bellator champ Zoila “The Warrior Princess” Gurgel. Kubota, meanwhile, earned a second-round knockout in shoot boxing last month.

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Rin Nakai narrowly kept her unbeaten record intact today in Tokyo, Japan. The first and only Valkyrie open-weight champ battled England’s Danielle “The Curse” West to a Split Draw at Pancrase Impressive Tour 9 in a highly competitive bout that West surprisingly dominated in the later stages.

The event’s undercard featured a second women’s bout, which also ended without a victor. Veterans Naoko Omuro and Kayo Nagayasu fought to a Majority Draw after two rounds in a bout that saw both women land effective strikes. Omuro held a slight advantage in round two, but it was not enough.

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UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez will make the first defence of his new title against Junior “Cigano” dos Santos live on FOX television. UFC President Dana White announced the five-round fight earlier today. The bout takes place on November 12th at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

Velasquez and dos Santos were originally believed to be facing off a week later at UFC 139 in San Jose, but the fight was never officially announced for that date. Instead, it will now serve as the first UFC fight to air on FOX as part of the new seven-year agreement between the network and the UFC.

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