After 18 months away, knockout artist Kaitlin Young returns to mixed martial arts competition on December 11th against undefeated challenger Shana Olsen as part of the Treasure Island “Ironman” card at the Treasure Island Resort and Casino in Welch, Minnesota.
The 140-pound catchweight bout will be a featured attraction on the card and marks Young’s first fight since she was defeated by Gina Carano at EliteXC: “Primetime” on CBS in May of 2008 when the ringside physician stopped the fight after the second round.
Following a successful tenure as a light heavyweight in Sengoku, charismatic contender Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal will make his Strikeforce debut in the heavyweight division against UFC and IFL veteran “Iron” Mike Whitehead at Strikeforce: “Evolution” on December 19th.
After arguably being robbed of the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship at UFC 104, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will get a second shot at capturing the title when he meets Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida for a second time, but the rematch is not expected to take place until May 1st in Montreal, Québec, Canada.
World Extreme Cagefighting returned tonight with WEC 44: “Brown vs Aldo,” which was headlined by an entertaining WEC Featherweight Championship bout between Mike Brown and Jose “Junior” Aldo that saw Aldo capture the title in dominant and emphatic fashion.
Coming off of a controversial decision victory over Brandon “The Truth” Vera at UFC 105, Hall of Famer and former two-division champion Randy “The Natural” Couture will look to make it two in a row when he returns to the Octagon against fellow Hall of Famer Mark “The Hammer” Coleman in the main event at UFC 109.
The world’s top-ranked female fighter, Megumi “Mega Megu” Fujii, will return to action on November 23rd at Shooto: “Revolutionary Exchanges 3” at JCB Hall in Tokyo, Japan when she takes on veteran striker “Windy” Tomomi Sunaba in the lone women’s bout on the card.
With the loss of the originally scheduled main event between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Cain Velasquez, UFC 108 will now be headlined by a light heavyweight showdown between former champion “Sugar” Rashad Evans and fellow top contender Thiago Silva.
With plans to hold as many as three events per month in 2010, Zuffa, LLC is reportedly considering merging its Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) promotions into a single brand in order to add new talent and competition to its events next year.