Friday Link Club: UFC 144 Preview, State of Japanese MMA

MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani hits the streets of Tokyo to figure out the state of Japanese MMA. UFC 144 Gallery: 12 GIFs of Frankie Edgar and Ben Henderson Being Awesome | Cage Potato UFC 144 Main Event Breakdown: Frank Edgar vs. Ben Henderson | MMA Fighting UFC 144: Strengths and Weaknesses of Each Main Card [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mmaconvert/~3/UzdfbS0sfkM/

Per Eklund Jason Ellis Aleksander Emelianenko Fedor Emelianenko

WWE reveals location of next year?s Wrestlemania, confirms Rock will see action at event

With this year?s Wrestlemania only a few months away WWE has already started planting seeds for next year?s epic event, as the organization landed in East Rutherford, New Jersey earlier this week to announce MetLife Stadium will play host to Wrestlemania 29. The venue plays home to the NFL?s New York Jets and Superbowl Champion [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/02/17/wwe-reveals-location-of-next-year%e2%80%99s-wrestlemania-confirms-rock-will-see-action-at-event

Luciano Azevedo  Ba Te er  Ryan Bader  Siyar Bahadurzada

Derek Brunson out of Strikeforce fight with ?Jacare? due to injury

Strikeforce?s March 3 event took another hit after it was revealed earlier today surging middleweight prospect Derek Brunson had been pulled from the lineup after an inability to pass a set of required medicals. Though no specifics were given on his condition it was revealed the injury was minimal in nature. Though the card recently [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/02/21/derek-brunson-out-of-strikeforce-fight-with-%e2%80%9cjacare%e2%80%9d-due-to-injury

Chris Dolman Edson Drago  Tomasz Drwal Joe Hybrid Duarte

Josh Koscheck vs. Johny Hendricks on tap for UFC on Fox in May

When Johny Hendricks knocked out Jon Fitch in 12 seconds at UFC 141, he showed he was ready to be put in the elite of the UFC's welterweight division. Now, he'll have another shot at one of the division's best. UFC president Dana White announced on Sunday Hendricks will take on Josh Koschek at the UFC's May card on Fox.

Koscheck's last two bouts were a tight split decision over Mike Pierce at UFC 143 and a knockout of Matt Hughes at UFC 135. Before that, he lost a championship bout to Georges St. Pierre.

Hendricks is riding a three-fight win streak, with the KO over Fitch, a TKO over T.J. Waldburger, and a split decision over Pierce. His last loss was a decision to Rick Story in December of 2010.

This is also a bout that will make college wrestling fans happy. Two former Division I champions will meet in the Octagon for the first time. Koscheck was a national champ and four-time All-American for Edinboro, while Hendricks won two national championships and four All-America honors for Oklahoma State.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/josh-koscheck-vs-johny-hendricks-tap-ufc-fox-162121236.html

Bao Ligao  Josh Barnett  David Baron  Phil Baroni

CM Punk challenges musician Chris Brown to a fight, calls him a ?sad, cowardly little boy"

WWE Champion CM Punk is known for his habit of unleashing the occasional ?pipe bomb? involving the use of a microphone, cylindrical in nature like a pipe, to put adversaries on blast with his world-class promo skills. However, after the video he released in response to a Tweet by musician Chris Brown, Punk may garner [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/02/24/cm-punk-challenges-musician-chris-brown-to-a-fight-calls-him-a-%e2%80%9csad-cowardly-little-boy

Hiroyuki Abe Cyril Abidi  Daniel Acacio Bernard Ackah 

UFC 144 Preview: Joe Lauzon/Anthony Pettis and Hatsu Hioki/Bart Palaszewski

MMAFrenzy kicks off our main card coverage of UFC 144 with a pair of breakdowns of Saturday's card. Each day we will breakdown a pair of fights leading up to our breakdown of the UFC lightweight title fight between Ben Henderson and champion Frankie Edgar. Today's feature previews two main card matchups, with a lightweight battle between Joe Lauzon and Anthony Pettis, along with a featherweight showdown between Bart Palaszewski and Hatsu Hioki.

Source: http://mmafrenzy.com/27651/ufc-144-preview-joe-lauzonanthony-pettis-and-hatsu-hiokibart-palaszewski/

Phil Baroni Don Barr Pat Barry  Vitor Belfort 

Yahoo! Sports and Heavy present UFC 144 Fight Day Live!

Fight Day Live is back on Saturday, Feb. 25 (6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT). The UFC's official pre-show, hosted by Dave Farra and Megan Olivi, will prepare you for all the fighting action at UFC 144 including the big UFC lightweight title fight featuring champion Frankie Edgar and challenger Benson Henderson.

As always, you'll get the inside information from our panel of experts, Matt Brown from HeavyMMA, John Morgan from MMAjunkie and Joe Ferraro from UFC Connected. We'll also sit down with UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre to get an update on his recovery from knee surgery, and Carlos Condit, who chats about his battle with Nick Diaz.

And finally, we'll go inside the training camp of Jake Shields. Be sure and tune in on Saturday.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/yahoo-sports-heavy-present-ufc-144-fight-day-155355718.html

Rashad Evans Urijah Faber Wagnney Fabiano Kevin Kimbo Slice Ferguson

Jon Jones misses his friendship with Rashad Evans

Since Rashad Evans and Jon Jones stopped being training partners last year, the two have spewed nothing but vitriol at each other. But as UFC 144 and their title bout nears, Jones talked about how he misses their friendship with the Score in Chicago.

"We trained together and we had good times, but this competition has come between our friendship, which sucks," Jones told host Laurence Holmes. "I do miss being friends with the guy. But it's business, and he's coming after my championship. I've gotta do what I've gotta do. It might be a little awkward punching him in the face, but I'm sure the first time he swings at me, it will get reactionary."

Though fighters quite often forget their pre-fight squabbles after bouts, Jones says a renewed friendship is unlikely. He just wants respect between the two.

"I'd like to get to a point of being cordial, but to be friends again is not necessary. There's thousands of wonderful people in the world I can meet. After all that's been said, we can just live our lives. Respect is all that's necessary for me."

Hoping for respect between the two didn't prevent Jones from taking a few digs at Evans and how he performed in his win over Phil Davis.

"I don't know if it's because of changing camps, but his body looked a little softer. He couldn't finish Phil Davis, a guy who is pretty much a rookie. [Ed. note -- Davis has 10 fights.] I got even more motivated to out-train him."

Jones thinks that if the same Evans who fought Davis shows up in Atlanta in April for their bout, it will be another title defense.

"Rashad's been in the game for almost 10 years now [Ed. note -- Eight years], and he didn't really show why he's the No. 2 ranked athlete. We didn't see any legit boxing combinations, no kicking, no powerful double-leg dives. He was really just out there existing. If that's the same fighter who comes out when we fight, easier day for me."

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/jon-jones-does-miss-friendship-rashad-evans-140911098.html

Jon Olav Einemo Per Eklund Jason Ellis Aleksander Emelianenko

Edson Barboza vs. Evan Dunham Booked for UFC 146

An exciting matchup between two top lightweight contenders in Edson Barboza and Evan Dunham has been added to UFC 146, which is set to take place on May 26th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Both are off to an impressive start in 2012, with each one earning a victory in January. UFC President Dana White announced the matchup today on Twitter.

Source: http://mmafrenzy.com/27636/edson-barboza-vs-evan-dunham-booked-for-ufc-146/

Gesias JZ Calvancante  Luiz Cane  Dos Caras Jr   Phil Cardella