UFC welterweights DaMarques Johnson (11-7) and Matt Riddle (4-1) appears to be in the works for UFC on Versus 2 event later this summer.

A report by MMAjunkie.com has confirmed that both fighters have made verbal agreements to meet at the August event. No word on whether this fight will make the broadcast portion of the event or not.

UFC on Versus 2 is believed to take place on Aug. 1st at the Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Johnson is riding a two fight win streak since after dropping his first UFC bout in “The Ultimate Fighter 9″ Finale to welterweight winner James Wilks last June. His last two victories have netted him an extra $140,000 for “Fight Night” bonuses after earning “Knockout of the Night” at UFC 112 against Brad Blackburn, and earning “Submission of the Night” at UFC 107 against Edgar Garcia.

Another “TUF” competitor, Riddle a veteran of “The Ultimate Fighter 7″ season, is 4-1 in the UFC winning his last bout against Greg Soto after the fighter used an illegal upkick at UFC 111. Soto was disqualified for the move giving Riddle the victory, this ended a one fight losing skid after a TKO loss to another “TUF 9″ fighter, Nick Osipczak at UFC 105.

The current rumored UFC on Versus 2 event card appears as follows:

- Jon Jones vs. Vladimir Matyushenko*
- Takanori Gomi vs. Joe Stevenson*
- Jake Ellenberger vs. John Howard*
- DaMarques Johnson vs. Matthew Riddle*

* – Not officially announced

Press Release

CHICAGO, Ill. (April 30, 2010) – Bellator Fighting Championships, the fist-of-its-kind tournament-style mixed martial arts promotion, will make its second 2010 stop in the Lone Star State next month when it comes to the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio.

The event-which will be broadcast LIVE and in prime time across the country on FOX Sports Net and during special weekend highlight shows on NBC, Telemundo and mun2-takes place on Thursday, May 27th at the historic theatre, which is located at 224 E. Houston Street in the heart of downtown San Antonio.

Tickets are on sale now at all Ticketmaster outlets and at www.ticketmaster.com.

The fight card for the event includes two semifinal round matchups in Bellator’s ongoing middleweight tournament: Siberian striker Alexander “Storm” Shlemenko (28-4) versus former all-American college wrestler and Bellator Season 1 middleweight tournament runner-up Jared Hess (11-1-1) along with former competitive power-lifter Eric Schambari (12-1) versus Southern California powerhouse Bryan “The Beast” Baker (12-1) in a rematch of their December 2007 fight in the WEC (which Baker won by split decision).

In addition, the evening will feature a special “Heavyweight Feature Fight” between 11-3 former UFC star Eddie Sanchez and EliteXC veteran Ralph Kelly as well as four “Local Feature Fights” between some of the top rising MMA stars from Texas .

“Bellator is thrilled at the opportunity to bring our brand mixed martial arts events and our television partners at Fox Sports Net, NBC, Telemundo and Mun2 to the thousands of passionate MMA fans in the San Antonio area,” said Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “Our two Main Event fights feature four of the most exciting middleweights out there right now including a man, Alexander Shlemenko, who I believe is one of the top fighters to come out of Russia in many years. It should be a great night of fights.”

Bellator, which became the first MMA promotion in history to be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks during its highly successful first season, announced late last year that it had formed a groundbreaking new TV distribution alliance for its second season that reaches virtually every home in the U.S. Bellator Season 2 began on Thursday, April 8th at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla. Bellator Season 3 begins August 12th. Both seasons run for 12 consecutive weeks.

Bellator is also hosting an event at the Verizon Theatre in Grand Prairie , Texas , (just outside of Dallas ) one week before the San Antonio event on Thursday, May 20th.

For more information, visit Bellator.com, follow Bellator on Twitter @BellatorMMA or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Bellator.

The Edmonton, Alberta, Canada based promotion, Maximum Fighting Championship, has released a highlight video of some the best action from their events.

The MFC’s next event will be next Friday May 7th MFC 25: Vindication and will feature a middleweight title fight between Thales Leites vs. JT Money.

On May 8th the two top light-heavyweight fighters will rematch one another for the UFC title between champion Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. Both men meet in the main event of UFC 113 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Check out some exclusive training photo’s from Tatame.com of Machida (click here) and “Shogun” (click here).

More photos after the jump Read more »

Rumors of a UFC light-heavyweight matchup came to light on Wednesday between fan favorite Jon Jones (10-1) and mma veteran Vladimir Matyushenko (24-4).

TheGarv.com was the first to report the news and has since been confirmed by MMAjunkie.com that both fighters have been approached about facing one another on Aug. 1st at UFC on Versus 2 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Jones’ headlined the first Versus show against Brandon Vera, dominating his opponent in the first round using his ground-and-pound to earn a first round TKO victory. He had been coming off his first professional loss after a disqualification loss to Matt Hamill for using illegal elbow strikes (12-6 motion) in their fight. Jones had been dominating Hamill up to that point and had the “Hammer” mounted when he used the illegal move.

Matyushenko, a former IFL light-heavyweight champion, has won his last three fights including two in the UFC. The Belarusian defeated Eliot Marshall at the same Versus event via split decision and earned a unanimous decision over Igor Pokrajac at UFC 103. Before that he lost to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at the Affliction: Day of Reckoning show.

The current rumored UFC on Versus 2 event appears as follows:

- Jon Jones vs. Vladimir Matyushenko*
- Jake Ellenberger vs. John Howard*

* – Not officially announced

Norifumi “KID” Yamamoto (17-3) has been removed from the “Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery” event according to Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, and may instead fight in Japan at DREAM.14.

During a conference call on Thursday, Coker informed reporters that after the collapse of DREAM’s 8-man light-heavyweight tournament, the Japanese promotion will require “KID” to help bolster a weak DREAM.14 card.

“I received a request from DREAM and that time we obliged, but I think they have some changes in their format for May 29 and I think he’s fighting on May 29,” said Coker.

The Japanese fighter had been scheduled to face Federico Lopez on the preliminary card of the May Strikeforce show. No word was mentioned on whether both men would meet in Japan or whether a new opponent would be found for Lopez.

Yamamoto has lost his last two matches dropping a unanimous decision to Masanori Kanehara on New Year’s Eve at the Dynamite!! 2009 event and losing a split decision to Joe Warren at DREAM.9 Feather Weight Grand Prix in May of last year.

“Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery” is set to take place on May 15th at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Miss. While DREAM.14 will happen on May 29th at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

If you missed the fight between Leonard Garcia and the “Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung from last weekends WEC 48: ‘Aldo vs. Faber’ event, here’s your chance to watch the highlights of their 15 minute stand-up brawl while it lasts, as Zuffa has a tendency to delete videos from WEC or UFC fights.

Props to Bdog7 for posting the video on the UG Forums.

Former Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion Renato “Babalu” Sobral (35-8) found himself without a fight with the news that DREAM would be canceling it’s light-heavyweight tournament. Fans of “Babalu” need not worry, the fighter has just agreed to meet Robbie Lawler (19-5) in a 195 pound catch-weight bout at Strikeforce: Los Angeles.

Strikeforce: Los Angeles will take place on June 16 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, Cali. The event coincides with the 2010 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).

Lawler had been scheduled to face “Bully Beatdown” host Jason “Mayhem” Miller but Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker noted that Miller’s participation would be unlikely as he expects the Tennessee Athletic Commission to suspend the middleweight fighter.

“Miller isn’t fighting because we believe, in speaking with the Tennessee Athletic Commission, that he will put under some type of suspension. After reviewing the tape (of the April 17 incident), we felt that Miller shouldn’t headline our next event. We will honor the Tennessee commission’s decision when it’s announced.”

Miller called out Strikeforce middleweight champ Jake Shields during the fighters victory speech at Strikeforce: Nashville and set off a brawl involving members of Team Cesar Gracie.

Coker also noted that with the cancellation of the DREAM light-heavyweight tournament, fighters Gegard Mousasi and Rameau Thierry Sokodjou who had planned to fight at the event, may fight for Strikeforce at either the May 29th or June 16th event.

Sobral hasn’t fought since his loss to Gegard Mousasi at Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg last Summer. That match also cost “Babalu” the Strikeforce light-heavyweight title. Before that fight, the Brazilian had won five straight matches which include wins over names such as Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Mike Whitehead, and David Heath.

Lawler won his last fight in spectacular fashion when he knocked out Melvin Manhoef at the Strikeforce: Miami in January of this year. Manhoef had been dominating the fight in the stand up but was caught with a huge right hook staying on the mat for several minutes after the bell. Lawler is 2-1 in his past three fights, which include the victory over Manhoef, a loss to Jake Shields in a 182 pound catchweight fight, and the successful defense of his EliteXC middleweight title against Scott Smith in July of 2008. Soon after EliteXC declared bankruptcy and folded the promotion.

HT: Sherdog.com

During the post fight press conference for ‘WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber’ UFC president Dana White talks about trying to organize an event in Afghanistan and the unique logistics of making a show happen in such a unique location.

HT: MMAWeekly.com

Well it would seem that UFC fighter Tito Ortiz and his life partner adult film actress Jenna Jameson, may be looking to patch things up after accusations of spousal abuse and drug addiction were tossed about this week.

In a statement by TMZ, both Ortiz and Jameson have withdrawn their allegations saying it was all “a big misunderstanding.”

Jenna, who accused Tito of injuring her during an argument, now tells TMZ, “What actually happened has now been dramatically distorted and misinterpreted and remarks that both Tito and I made after the police arrived reflect the state of shock that we were both in.” Translation — he didn’t hurt me.

As for Tito, we’re told he’s now backing off what he strongly insinuated … that Jenna is an OxyContin addict. We’re told Tito’s position now is that he found two OxyContin pills and may have jumped to conclusions. Jenna says the pills were very old. And, as we first reported, Jenna tested negative for drugs this week.

Tito’s lawyer, Chip Matthews, tells TMZ the whole thing was “a big misunderstanding.”

Meanwhile, if you can believe this, one of Tiger Woods alleged mistresses, Joselyn James, has released a statement saying that she’s saw Ortiz rough up Jameson on other occasions.

“I saw three separate situations myself,” James, a friend of Jameson’s, told the Daily News. “They would be partying, and she wouldn’t do anything in particular to set him off.”

The whole “misunderstanding” started early this week when Ortiz was arrested by the Huntington Beach Police Department at his home, which he shares with Jameson, for suspected spousal abuse. The incident seemed to escalate with the accusation by Ortiz, that Jameson was addicted to oxycontin, which was refuted a day later after Jameson was cleared via a drug test.

There now your as up to date as we are.

Props to Yahoo! Cagewriter for the nifty ‘Jennito’ acronym.

Tonight’s Bellator Fighting Championship 16 event features eight bouts which include four middleweight quarter final fights. The event takes place at the Kansas City Power & Light District in Kansas City, Miss.

The event will be distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates. Highlights will air Saturday on NBC, Telemundo and mun2.

Tonight’s show is headlined by middleweight fighters Bryan “The Beast” Baker (11-1), a WEC veteran, and Sean “The Destroyer” Loefller (14-3) who is riding a six-fight win streak.

See the full live results for Bellator 16 after the jump Read more »

This week, highlights and analysis from the WEC’s first PPV. Ben Henderson and Leonard Garcia check in to discuss their wins. Also, will Tito Ortiz’s legal issues impact his fighting future in the UFC? And details on MMA Live’s upcoming debut on ESPN2.

HT: ESPN.com