http://cagedfire.com The Latest MMA News & Video Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:25:06 CST en http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=cesar-gracie-envisions-a-nick-diaz-return-to-ufc-but-says-fighter-deserves-time-off
Diaz (27-8 MMA, 7-5 UFC) manager Cesar Gracie doesn't know whether the fighter's retirement will stick following a decision loss to Carlos Condit (28-5 MMA, 5-1 UFC), but he anticipates it won't.

"I think Nick will miss fighting when he's not doing it for long enough, so I do see him coming back at some point," Gracie said. "Not now, but maybe end of the year, 2013, something like that."

In UFC 143's headliner, Condit earned a unanimous decision over Diaz to become the UFC interim welterweight champion and set a fight with undisputed champ Georges St-Pierre sometime this year. The pay-per-view event took place this past Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

Diaz said he would retire shortly after the decision was handed down. UFC president Dana White said he would understand if Diaz didn't wanted to retire, but also entertained the possibility of a rematch with Condit as St-Pierre healed from the torn ACL that scratched his scheduled meeting with Diaz and this past Saturday's event.

However, on Monday, Condit and his representatives weren't keen on the idea of an immediate rematch.

"That's fine," Gracie said. "I understand that. It's business. I think they want the GSP fight, and they understand that that's a very lucrative fight and it could have all kinds of beneficial ramifications for Condit.

"So he's looking at it from a monetary perspective. I didn't expect him to want a rematch, and the best thing right now is to just wish Carlos good luck."

A day earlier, Gracie wasn't as composed. He railed at the decision in an interview Monday with MMAFighting.com and accused judges of bias toward the former Strikeforce champion, whose personality is a polarizing force among fans.

Messages of outrage and support for the decision continue to pour onto social media sites, message boards and websites three days after the fight.

Gracie initially declined an interview with MMAjunkie.com, stating via text that he wanted to "lay low," but wrote he would try to talk Diaz out of retiring.

A day later, he's more optimistic that things will work out.

"Retirement means a lot of things," Gracie said. "It can mean you're done working for the rest of your life or it can mean something like what other people have done when they retire, just basically take time off and get out of the schedule. You retire for a set amount of time. I'm hoping it's that."

Gracie said that while he hasn't spoken to the UFC about Diaz, he has received calls from boxing promoters such as Top Rank that are interested in procuring the fighter's services. Before signing a lucrative deal with the UFC this past summer, Diaz signed a deal with promoter Don Chagrin for a possible fight with a top-ranked boxer.

However, the manager said Diaz hasn't expressed a desire to box since his unexpected announcement.

"They would love to see him go over there an box," Gracie said. "There's a lot of promoters who want him to do something like that, but right now, he's under contract with the UFC, so I don't think he could go to boxing even if he wanted to."

Gracie said that in a perfect world, Diaz would box and fight in the UFC. But he stressed the best thing for the fighter is time away from the sport.

Diaz's hasn't had more than six months off since he joined the ranks of Strikeforce in 2009, when the promotion purchased select fighter contracts from the ailing EliteXC. He often complained of burnout in the course of a streak that saw him win eight consecutive bouts and become one of the hottest commodities outside the UFC as the Strikeforce welterweight champion.

"He's had breaks before," Gracie said. "I think it was good for him. He focused on his triathlons. I think he does get antsy after a while. After about six months, the guy wants to fight. I think he's been fighting too many times, and I don't think he's got that in him right now. So I think an extended layoff would be a great idea for him."

Although off for now, a highly anticipated fight between Diaz and St-Pierre could happen in the future, the manager hoped. St-Pierre on Monday said he'd still like to fight Diaz, who brazenly called him out following a win over B.J. Penn at UFC 137.

"What people forget is Nick is only 28 years old," Gracie said. "He's a young guy at the peak of his career. He's a polarizing figure. But whether you love the guy or hate him, you want to see the guy fight. That's the biggest thing. He's definitely not boring. He puts people in the seats, and that's the bottom line.

"So a guy like that, he's going to be around, and I think the GSP fight will eventually happen someday."

Meanwhile, Gracie is moving on from his feelings while he waits to hear from Diaz.

"You can't change a decision," he said. "It's not going to happen, so why cry about it?"
]]> Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:25:06 CST cmrinc MMA News 1 http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=cesar-gracie-envisions-a-nick-diaz-return-to-ufc-but-says-fighter-deserves-time-off http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=jake-ellenberger-confident-he-can-stop-diego-sanchez- Event Information

UFC on FUEL TV 1: Ellenberger vs. Sanchez
Date: Feb 15, 2012
Location: Omaha, Nebraska
Venue: Omaha Civic Auditorium
Broadcast: FUEL TV and Facebook

MAIN CARD (FUEL TV)
Jake Ellenberger vs. Diego Sanchez
Dave Herman vs. Stefan Struve
Ronny Markes vs. Aaron Simpson
Philip De Fries vs. Stipe Miocic
T.J. Dillashaw vs. Walel Watson

PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook)
John Albert vs. Ivan Menjivar
Jonathan Brookins vs. Vagner Rocha
Sean Loeffler vs. Buddy Roberts
Anton Kuivanen vs. Justin Salas
Bernardo Magalhaes vs. Tim Means ]]> Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:21:00 CST cmrinc interviews 1 http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=jake-ellenberger-confident-he-can-stop-diego-sanchez- http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=with-debate-still-raging-on-condits-title-win-fighters-weigh-in-on-ufc-143-result
That support ultimately boiled down what they saw was more effective aggression and a superior gameplan.

"It's not a bar fight, dude," said two-time lightweight challenger Gray Maynard.

UFC 143 took place this past Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Its main card aired live on pay-per-view while preliminary-card fights aired on FX and streamed on Facebook.

Such a statement was repeated in various forms by several that spoke about the fight, which crowned Condit the new UFC interim welterweight title after judges ruled him the winner by scores of 48-47 and 49-46 twice.

"This isn't a street fight," said heavyweight Travis Browne. "If Diaz would have used his wrestling and taken Carlos down, held him down, and got him in those bad positions and made Carlos panic like he did in the fifth round, it would have been a totally different fight. I think it would have been a 50-45; he would have won every single round."

Indeed, grappling came into play just once during the five-round fight. Although Diaz attempted to take Condit down on several occasions, he was only successful getting the fight down during the final frame, where he threatened the former WEC champ with a rear naked choke.

The bulk of the fight played out on its feet, where Condit (28-5 MMA, 5-1 UFC) kept a stalking Diaz (27-8 MMA, 7-5 UFC) off balance with kicks and evaded when cornered against the cage.

That prompted several fighters under the Zuffa banner to blast both the decision and Condit on Twitter after the fight. However, most that spoke today agreed that Diaz was aggressive, but far from successful in doing the kind of damage done in previous fights.

"If Diaz would have been landing, then I would say that it would go to the aggressor," said featherweight Cub Swanson. "In a sense, it did look like Condit was running at times, but he was trying to get away from the cage. But he landed the majority. I would say on damage, I would weigh that heavier."

Maynard applauded Condit's deft use of the octagon in staying away from Diaz's flurries.

"Obviously, if you check out the tapes, Nick Diaz is good in the pocket because he's long and a lefty, so you've got to stay out of the pocket," he said. "It's not the best thing to watch, but it's a sport. There are some boring NFL games, but it happens. Carlos scored more points. Everything landed flush. Nick had a couple flurries, but nothing big, so you've got to add the points. The FightMetric (statistics) prove it.

"Looking at Nick, I think the past two years, he really hasn't fought anyone who's had a plan. It's like, well, I'm just going to go out there and fight, and [the Diaz brothers] are good at that. GSP is going to have a plan for Nick, too: Hit a couple of times, move off, he comes in, take him down, work position. Nick Diaz is tough and he fights hard, but when there's that much at stake, why would you do that?

"It's easy for people from their couches to say, 'Carlos, what the [expletive].' But it's a title fight."

Maynard attended the fight and said the consensus among fighters there was that Condit had pulled it off.

"If you look at the fight overall, it's easy to say Diaz won the fight," said lightweight Sam Stout. "But that's not how an MMA fight is scored. It's scored on a round-to-round basis, and if you look at the points, Diaz won the first two and Condit won the last three. I don't know how the judges scored it 49-46."

Stout said he scored it 48-47 for Condit for winning rounds 3, 4 and 5. Maynard gave Condit rounds 1, 3 and 4. Browne, meanwhile, had Condit winning rounds 2 through 4.

Not everyone was impressed by the new interim champ's plan, however.

"Carlos was passive," said lightweight Kamal Shalorus. "He didn't fight. He would throw something and run away, and those punches were not really hard. Diaz was pushing the pace all the time. The judges were 100 percent wrong. I don't know why they did that.

"Of course, Carlos threw some punches, but not like Diaz's. I believe Diaz won."

Rematch was the word in the minds of many after the fight, and UFC president Dana White said he was open to the possibility before the return of undisputed welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre, who is currently recovering from a torn ACL. St-Pierre has said he'll be ready by November, but that's far from guaranteed.

The fighters were lukewarm on that question.

"If people want that fight, then yeah," Maynard said. "But if they don't, I don't really care. He won, that's what the judges said, so what are you going to do?"

"I think it's a good candidate for a rematch," Stout said. "I don't think it necessarily needs to happen immediately. I just came off a very close loss, and I'm not demanding a rematch right away.

"It's part of the game. I've been on both sides of a lot of close decisions, and if you don't want to get put into those situations, then finish the fight. Dana tells us every time, 'Don't leave it in the hands of the judges.'"

Of course, there was no guarantee history wouldn't repeat itself. The first meeting wasn't exactly a barnburner.

For those angered by the decision, the solution was to put Diaz to the front of the line again.

"I think they're going to be a boring fight," Shalorus said of a Condit/Diaz rematch. "I think they should put Diaz with GSP. Diaz is going to be a better fight."

And in that, the debate over what's exciting and what's effective continues.
]]> Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:52:42 CST cmrinc MMA News 1 http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=with-debate-still-raging-on-condits-title-win-fighters-weigh-in-on-ufc-143-result http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=meisha-tate-on-rousey-shes-delusional For the first time since Cyborg vs Carano, women will be headlining a Strikeforce card as Miesha Tate takes on Ronda Rousey on March 3rd. Though the fight is still a month away the trash talking is already at full fervor. ]]> Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:49:07 CST cmrinc interviews 1 http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=meisha-tate-on-rousey-shes-delusional http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=coach-speak-trainer-reacts-to-condit%E2%80%99s-ufc-143-win Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:31:47 CST cmrinc interviews 1 http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=coach-speak-trainer-reacts-to-condit%E2%80%99s-ufc-143-win http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=ufc-reserves-las-vegas-mgm-grand-for-memorial-day-independence-day-events
Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer today confirmed via email with MMAjunkie.com; (www.mmajunkie.com) that UFC officials have served May 26 and July 7 for major events.

Both shows are planned for the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The numbering hasn't been set for the events, though the May 26 show likely will be UFC 146.

Although not official confirmation that the events will take place, the UFC traditionally holds annual shows on the holiday weekends, when Las Vegas draws tens of thousands of tourists during its peak season.

In addition to the fight event, a UFC Fan Expo will be held at the nearby Mandalay Bay Events Center from July 6-7.

The UFC has hosted events on the Fourth of July weekend the past six years (though one in 2009, which marked the historic UFC 100 event, took place on July 11 instead of the actual July 4 holiday). All but one took place in Las Vegas.

Additionally, The MGM Grand has hosted Memorial Day-weekend events the past five years.

No fights are rumored for this year's cards, though recovering heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos is expected to compete at one of the two. ]]> Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:25:27 CST cmrinc MMA News 1 http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=ufc-reserves-las-vegas-mgm-grand-for-memorial-day-independence-day-events http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=ufc-143-salaries
UFC 143 took place this past Saturday, Feb. 4, at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The main card aired on pay-per-view, and prelims aired on FX and streamed on Facebook.

Diaz suffered a decision loss to Carlos Condit ($110,000) in the night's main event. Condit earned the UFC's interim welterweight title and a future fight with recovering titleholder Georges St-Pierre with the heavily debated unanimous-decision victory.

Diaz earned a flat salary, so a victory wouldn't have netted him a win bonus. The same went with Fabricio Werdum ($100,000), a recent Strikeforce import who defeated Roy Nelson for the event's only other six-figure payday.

The full UFC 143 payouts included:

Carlos Condit: $110,000 (includes $55,000 win bonus)
def. Nick Diaz: $200,000

Fabricio Werdum: $100,000 (no win bonus)
def. Roy Nelson: $20,000

Josh Koscheck: $146,000 (includes $73,000 win bonus)
def. Mike Pierce: $20,000

Renan Barao: $22,000 (includes $11,000 win bonus)
def. Scott Jorgensen: $20,500

Ed Herman: $62,000 (includes $31,000 win bonus)
def. Clifford Starks: $8,000

Dustin Poirier: $24,000 (includes $12,000 win bonus)
def. Max Holloway: $6,000

Edwin Figueroa: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
def. Alex Caceres: $8,000

Matt Brown: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus)
def. Chris Cope: $8,000

Matt Riddle: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus)
def. via Henry Martinez: $6,000

Rafael Natal: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
def. Michael Kuiper: $6,000

Stephen Thompson: $12,000 (includes $6,000 win bonus)
def. Dan Stittgen: $5,000

Now, the usual disclaimer: The figures do not include deductions for items such as insurance, licenses and taxes. Additionally, the figures do not include money paid by sponsors, which can oftentimes be a substantial portion of a fighter's income. They also do not include any other "locker room" or special discretionary bonuses the UFC oftentimes pays. They also do not include portions of the pay-per-view revenue that some top-level fighters receive.

For example, as previously reported, UFC officials handed out additional $65,000 UFC 143 bonuses to Thompson ("KO of the Night"), Poirier ("Submission of the Night"), and Werdum and Nelson ("Fight of the Night").

In other words, the above figures are simply base salaries reported to the commission and do not reflect entire compensation packages for the event. ]]> Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:25:38 CST cmrinc MMA News 1 http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=ufc-143-salaries http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=cffc-13-results
The main event saw Bellator veteran Kenny Foster take on reigning CFFC featherweight champion Joey Gambino. With rumors swirling that a win over Foster could catapult the hot prospect to the UFC, Gambino delivered, retaining his belt in a 25-minute unanimous decision (49-48, 49-46, 49-47). After the fight, however, it was Gambino who left on a stretcher with what looked to be a broken forearm.

Gambino kept his gold.

The opening round carried with it a relentless pace as both fighters looked for the big shot early. The round was highlighted by a deep guillotine attempt from Foster that Gambino had to fight out of.

“Man, it’s hard to go back and account for all that wild first round, but it was a lot of calculated and miscalculated bombs getting thrown,” Foster told Sherdog.com after the bout. “On my part, I really just wanted to go out there and get a finish and initiate some good action off the rip, and I think he did too. It kind of started a firefight.”

The champion took the first three rounds on Sherdog.com’s unofficial scorecard, but Foster battled back to win the fourth and fifth. With so much of the discussion before the bout revolving around Gambino’s potential Octagon status, Foster came away impressed by the 23-year-old New Yorker.

“I saw his ground-and-pound and I saw his top work on the Internet before,” said Foster. “It was better than I thought. It was good on camera but, man, you don’t expect someone to be able to land that many shots and get that kind of velocity off in their shots from top. He’s good at creating space and has good ferocity from top.”

The evening’s other title tilt was for the vacant CFFC flyweight strap and saw “Angry Elf” Bryan Lashomb take on Sean “Shorty Rock” Santella, who fought at his natural weight of 125 pounds for the first time in roughly a year and a half. The fast-paced bout had plenty of action until late in the second round, when AMA Fight Club representative Santella claimed the belt with a kneebar submission.

Santella stretched out Lashomb.
The first round was a hectic one, highlighted by the Whippany, N.J., native chaining submission attempts on Lashomb from the opening bell. Santella went for takedown after takedown or pulled guard to bring the Old Dominion University wrestler to the mat, eventually getting the tap at 4:47 of the second.

“After watching a couple of his fights, I knew he was a really aggressive wrestler,” Santella told Sherdog.com after the title win. “Even though he’s got a great college backing, he was really aggressive coming out, so I thought I could use that to my advantage, because when people are really aggressive I could take them down. I’m not a great wrestler, but I wrestled in a tough state. I held my own. I have wrestling. I just felt that the more aggressive he was, the more of a chance I had to catch him in something.”

The win moves Santella to 9-3-1 with seven submissions and puts the 27-year-old back on track following an October loss to Aljamain Sterling at bantamweight. After competing in heavier divisions throughout his career, Santella has decided that flyweight is the best place for him. While a malfunctioning sauna made the drop difficult this time around, things went well for Santella inside the cage.

“This is the first fight I felt calm out there,” Santella said. “I knew what was going on. I recognized everything. Everything was going in slow motion, which is the way it should be. My other fights always seemed like they were in fast-forward.”

Morrison choked Haas early.
Anthony “Cheesesteak” Morrison was back in action in a featherweight bout against Jay Haas. The WEC veteran made quick work of Blackman MMA’s Haas, scoring a submission via guillotine choke at 3:37 of the first round.

At bantamweight, Denville, N.J., native Claudio Ledesma won a unanimous decision over Pedro Gonzalez with three 30-27 scorecards.

A week after taking part in Bellator’s open tryouts in Philadelphia, featherweight Jackson Galka submitted Terrell Hobbs with a guillotine choke at 3:54 of the second period.

“It gets easier every time,” Galka told Sherdog after his win. “It was just like another day to me. Walking to the cage, it was like, ‘Oh, here I am again.’ No nerves other than, like, I hope he doesn’t hit me with that overhand right.”

New York Combat Sambo welterweight Bradley Desir was in some trouble against BJJ black belt Luciano Cristovam early. After dropping the first round, the former Marine put Cristovam on his back in the second and pounded out a TKO win at the 2:43 mark.

MMA Institute welterweight Brian Nielson scored the first stoppage of the night, defeating Dustin Baker by rear-naked choke at 4:37 in the opening round.

In the opener, Travis Wynn won his MMA debut taking a unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26) over Marcus Daniels. ]]> Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:31:28 CST cmrinc MMA News 2 http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=cffc-13-results http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=gsp-opens-as-3-to-1-favorite-over-condit
While the fight is not by any means set in stone because Condit may end up defending his belt during the summer months while St-Pierre continues to recover from knee surgery, it’s still the fight everyone is buzzing about post-UFC 143.

Well the odds for the proposed fight have been made courtesy of Nick Kalikas from BetonFighting.com and St-Pierre will come into the bout as a sizeable favorite.

According to Kalikas, St-Pierre opens as a -315 favorite in the potential fight with Condit, and the challenger comes back as the underdog at +225.

The odds would have actually been a little bit more in St-Pierre’s favor, but with the champion recovering from major knee surgery, and by the time he comes back for a proposed November date he will have been out of action for more than a year and a half, the favor falls on Condit’s side a bit more.

“It would have been higher,” said Kalikas. “But the injury and time off has an impact on the number and Condit’s a legit threat.”

St-Pierre is targeting a late 2012 return date, but it’s unclear if Condit will sit and wait for him or take another fight and defend his interim belt in the mean time.

The most likely contender right now would be Jake Ellenberger if he can get past Diego Sanchez on Feb 15 in Nebraska. Should he win, it would almost seem like the perfect scenario for him to face Condit again in a rematch from a fight the two had a few years ago.

Condit edged out Ellenberger by split decision when the previously met. ]]> Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:33:25 CST cmrinc MMA News 1 http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=gsp-opens-as-3-to-1-favorite-over-condit http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=ufc-144-edgar-vs-henderson-preview Date: Feb 25, 2012
Location: Saitama, Japan
Venue: Saitama Super Arena
Broadcast: Pay-per-view

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view)
Champ Frankie Edgar vs. Ben Henderson (for lightweight title)
Ryan Bader vs. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson
Cheick Kongo vs. Mark Hunt
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Jake Shields
Joe Lauzon vs. Anthony Pettis

PRELIMINARY CARD
Tim Boetsch vs. Yushin Okami
Takanori Gomi vs. Eiji Mitsuoka
Hatsu Hioki and Bart Palaszewski
Vaughan Lee vs. Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto
Steve Cantwell vs. Riki Fukuda
Chris Cariaso vs. Takeya Mizugaki
Tiequan Zhang vs. TBA*
* - Not officially announced
]]> Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:47:45 CST cmrinc promos 1 http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=ufc-144-edgar-vs-henderson-preview http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=josh-koscheck-admits-he-had-no-motivation-for-mike-pierce-fight ]]> Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:36:52 CST cmrinc interviews 1 http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=josh-koscheck-admits-he-had-no-motivation-for-mike-pierce-fight http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=ufc-143-alex-caceres-will-appeal-ufc-143-loss Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:33:19 CST cmrinc interviews 1 http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=ufc-143-alex-caceres-will-appeal-ufc-143-loss http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=ufc-143-post-fight-press-conference-complete-unedited Sun, 05 Feb 2012 14:49:09 CST cmrinc interviews 1 http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=ufc-143-post-fight-press-conference-complete-unedited http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=ufc-143-banged-up-ed-herman-wants-top-10-opponent-next Sun, 05 Feb 2012 14:43:32 CST cmrinc interviews 1 http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=ufc-143-banged-up-ed-herman-wants-top-10-opponent-next http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=dana-white-believes-carlos-condit-deserved-to-win-ufc-143-main-event Sun, 05 Feb 2012 13:27:40 CST cmrinc interviews 1 http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=dana-white-believes-carlos-condit-deserved-to-win-ufc-143-main-event http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=ufc-143-carlos-condit-believes-he-won-first-four-rounds- Sun, 05 Feb 2012 13:07:58 CST cmrinc interviews 1 http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=ufc-143-carlos-condit-believes-he-won-first-four-rounds- http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=ufc-143-condit-on-throwing-spinning-shit-rematch-wdiaz Sun, 05 Feb 2012 11:22:08 CST cmrinc interviews 1 http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=ufc-143-condit-on-throwing-spinning-shit-rematch-wdiaz http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=anderson-silva-vs-chael-sonnen-ii-set-for-june-in-brazil
At Saturday night's UFC 143 post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White confirmed that both UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva (31-4 MMA, 14-0 UFC) and his nemesis Chael Sonnen (27-11-1 MMA, 6-4 UFC) have verbally agreed to meet in Brazil on an as-yet-undetermined date in June.

Silva was in Las Vegas for Saturday's fight card, and White said an agreement was reached during the event.

Bout agreements are expected to be finalized shortly.

Sonnen, of course, had stated he didn't believe Silva would ever fight him again following the pair's memorable UFC 117 matchup, in which the challenger dominated for four-and-a-half rounds before relenting to the champ. Since that fight, Sonnen has alternated between campaigning for a rematch and dismissing the need for one.

White, however, said the likelihood of the rematch was never in doubt.

"Chael's full of [expletive]," White said. "You guys need to stop listening to Chael."

Silva has remained mostly silent on Sonnen, citing his desire to let the victory speak for itself and his unwillingness to lend any more spotlight to the trashtalking extraordinaire that is his current nemesis.

Earlier this month, White confirmed that Sao Paulo was the most likely Brazilian city to host the June event, which is also expected to feature Vitor Belfort vs. Wanderlei Silva and the final bout of the first-ever "The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil" tournament.

However, White said a venue has yet to be determined. ]]> Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:07:31 CST cmrinc MMA News 1 http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=anderson-silva-vs-chael-sonnen-ii-set-for-june-in-brazil http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=ufc-143-bonuses
Thompson earned the night's "Knockout of the Night" award, Poirier picked up the "Submission of the Night" bonus, and Werdum and Nelson earned "Fight of the Night" honors.

UFC 143 took place at Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay Events Center. The main card aired on pay-per-view, and FX and Facebook carried the prelims.

Thompson earned his award with a vicious head-kick KO in the night's opening bout on Facebook. The striker, who moved to MMA after a 57-0 pro kickboxing record, blasted Dan Stittgen with a clean shot to head and prompted a first-round KO stoppage.

Poirier used a combination mounted triangle choke and armbar to get the first-round tap-out from injury replacement and UFC newcomer Max Holloway in a featured preliminary-card bout on FX. The featherweight contender now has won five straight fights, including four in the UFC.

Werdum and Nelson fought in the PPV co-headliner. Although Nelson was game and survived some vicious knees, Werdum ultimately took the unanimous-decision victory via 30-27 scores. It was his first fight in the UFC in more than three years following a recent stint in Strikeforce. ]]> Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:05:12 CST cmrinc MMA News 1 http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=ufc-143-bonuses http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=ufc-143-results
The Brazilian heavyweight outlasted and even out-struck fellow big man Roy Nelson en route to a unanimous-decision victory.

The fight co-headlined UFC 143 and aired on pay-per-view from Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay Events Center. Prelims aired on FX and streamed on Facebook.

Fatigue was an issue for both fighters, but Werdum landed when it meant most, and his improved standup paid dividends.

Nelson went head-hunting early, but Werdum tripped him with a low kick, pounced on his back and looked for the choke. Nelson, though, escaped and avoided the potential disaster. Once in the clinch, Nelson landed punches, but Werdum returned fire with big knees. Nelson briefly slowed the attack, but Werdum landed more knees to the nose. After breaking the stalled action, the ref called for the doctor to check Nelson's badly bloodied nose, but the fight was allowed to continue. On the restart, Nelson knocked Werdum to the mat with a right, avoided Werdum's high guard, and allowed him to stand. Werdum unloaded a nice punch-knee combo to close out a close but winning first round.

Werdum unloaded another big knee to start the second round, and he then pushed forward with punches and kicks. Nelson mixed in some uppercuts, but Werdum did more damage with low kicks, knees and lunging punches. The pace slowed, and Nelson mixed in some solid single shots, but Werdum clearly was the more successful fighter in the round.

Nelson was the aggressor to start the third round, and he slapped on a standing guillotine choke. Werdum positioned his way out of the submission and broke the hold. Werdum opened up with punches and knees as both fighters fought through fatigue. Nelson walked through the punches, but a badly bloodied face and slow reaction times gave Werdum far too many openings to continue the assault through the remainder of the round.

Following the 15-minute slugfest, the judges awarded Werdum a unanimous-decision victory via 30-27 scores.

"I know Roy Nelson is a tough guy, but I train knees everyday in Muay Thai," he said. "He didn't [hurt] me, but his punches were strong."

Werdum (15-5-1 MMA, 3-2 UFC), who defeated the likes of Fedor Emelianenko and Antonio Silva during a successful Strikeforce campaign, is now 4-1 over his past five fights. Nelson (16-7 MMA, 3-3 UFC) halts the momentum of a recent two-fight win streak.

Up-the-minute UFC 143 fight results include:
Fabricio Werdum def. Roy Nelson via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Josh Koscheck def. Mike Pierce via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Renan Barao def. Scott Jorgensen via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Ed Herman def. Clifford Starks via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 2, 1:43
Dustin Poirier def. Max Holloway via submission (mounted triangle-armbar) - Round 1, 3:23
Edwin Figueroa def. Alex Caceres via split decision (28-27, 27-28, 28-27)
Matt Brown def. Chris Cope via knockout (punches) - Round 2, 1:19
Matt Riddle def. via Henry Martinez via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Rafael Natal def. Michael Kuiper via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Steven Thompson def. Dan Stittgen via knockout (head kick) - Round 1, 4:13 ]]> Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:49:27 CST cmrinc MMA News 1 http://cagedfire.com/story.php?title=ufc-143-results