LAS VEGAS -- Roy Nelson is slowly shedding the blubber around his midsection, but he still has a ways to go. Fabricio Werdum showed that tonight.

The Brazilian, fighting for the first time in the UFC since 2008, actually picked apart Nelson on the feet to cruise to a unanimous decision victory, 30-27 on all three cards.

"Roy is very tough and can endure a lot of beating, but I found his weak spots," said Werdum.

With a giant belly and a mullet, Nelson is the everyman, and the crowd at Mandalay Bay roared in approval of the Las Vegas native. He came into the fight at just 246 pounds, his lightest weight in years. But even minus the extra 20 pounds he used to fight with, Nelson was still taking big deep breaths midway through the second round. He was a sitting duck.

Werdum is generally regarded as one of the best Brazilian jiu-jitsu artists in the division, but no one's ever raved about his striking. He beat the heck out of Nelson on the feet. The 6-foot Nelson played perfectly into the 6-5 Werdum's gameplan of working head control to throw knees. Werdum opened a huge gash on Nelson's forehead.

"This fight was important to me. I trained hard every day for this fight. I had a good strategy going into the fight but the main thing for me was to come out with a victory," said Werdum. FightMetric had Werdum outlanding Nelson 91-26.

Nelson (16-7 , 3-3 UFC) took a beating to the chin and body along the cage over the first five minutes. It just got worse from there. An exhausted Nelson tried to throw the home run overhand right for the next 10 minutes. In doing so, he moved forward and kept ducking his head. Werdum landed more knees and pounded Nelson to the face with his jab.

Reality is that Nelson is a tweener. If he really got in great shape, he'd probably still weigh 220 pounds. That's too small for heavyweight and way too big for the 205-pound division. Werdum is a massive guy, but still quick enough to avoid the plodding Nelson.

"I never really dwell on losses. I think it makes you a better fighter depending on how you look at it. Yeah it sucks, but I'll get back in the gym and get better."

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/fabricio-werdum-triumphant-ufc-return-ufc-143-050710778.html

David Heath Delson Heleno Dan Henderson Josh Hendricks

Rafael Natal vs. Michael Kuiper Fight Video UFC 143 Prelim.

Source: http://www.mmatko.com/rafael-natal-vs-michael-kuiper-fight-video-ufc-143-prelim/

Houston Alexander Ricardo Almeida  Eddie Alvarez Thiago Alves 

Former heavyweight Karlos Vemola will drop to middleweight to take on New Jersey's Mike Massenzio in his home state at UFC on Fox 3 on May 15, the UFC announced today. UFC on Fox 3 is headlined by lightweight contenders Nate Diaz and Jim Miller and also features heavyweights Pat Barry vs. Lavar Johnson.

Source: http://mmafrenzy.com/27439/karlos-vemola-vs-mike-massenzio-added-to-ufc-on-fox-3/

Joachim Hansen Antoni Hardonk Dan Hardy Lee Hasdell

UFC on FOX 3 gets a middleweight addition with the announcement that Karlos Vemola and Mike Massenzio have verbally agreed to face off at the May 5th event. Vemola (8-2) will be dropping from light heavyweight for his forth appearance inside the Octagon. He has gone 1-2 with decision loses to Jon Madsen and Ronny [...]

Karlos Vemola vs. Mike Massenzio joins UFC on FOX 3 is a post from: MMA Interplay UFC News

Source: http://www.mmainterplay.com/ufc-news/karlos-vemola-vs-mike-massenzio-joins-ufc-on-fox-3-56856/

Joe Riggs Pedro Rizzo Colin Robinson Ricco Rodriguez

Hear from Dana White, Junior dos Santos, Shane Carwin, Kenny Florian, Diego Nunes, Sam Stout and Yves Edwards at the UFC 131 pre-fight press conference held June 9 in Vancouver, BC.

Source: http://mmalice.com/ufc-131/pre-fight-press-conference-video_8a40ea583.html

Ryuki Ueyama Caol Uno Alexander Ustinov Umer W Chheena

by Michael David SmithAfter some shuffling around of the upcoming UFC 130 fight card, Rampage Jackson has gone from taking on Thiago Silva in the co-main event to fighting Matt Hamill in the main event. He's not particularly thrilled with the change.

"Thiago Silva is the type of guy I would love to fight because he has great stand up and he comes to fight most of the time, so I was looking forward to fighting a guy like that," Jackson said on The MMA Hour. "Matt Hamill wasn't on my radar at all. I wasn't excited at all. But then again, not a whole lot gets me excited."

Jackson's comments about not being excited for the fight stand in contrast to the comments of Hamill, who said he plans to break Jackson's will. But Jackson says that the difference between their public comments is simple: Hamill needs to convince himself that he can beat Jackson, while Jackson already knows that he can beat Hamill.

 

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Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/05/17/rampage-jackson-not-excited-with-matt-hamill-for-ufc-130/

DaMarques Johnson Jon Jones Nathan Jones  Kevin Jordan

by Michael David SmithIn a blockbuster announcement Thursday afternoon, UFC President Dana White revealed that Brock Lesnar is once again suffering from diverticulitis and will not be able to fight at UFC 131. Instead, the main event on that fight card will be Junior dos Santos vs. Shane Carwin.

"I want to thank the UFC, I want to thank Mr. White and I want to apologize to Junior dos Santos and Spike TV," Lesnar said. "This is an unfortunate situation for me. I dodged a bullet about two years ago with diverticulitis, at that time not knowing what the problem was. ... Diverticulitis is something that never goes away. It's something I've dealt with since the first occurrence and I've been battling it."

 

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Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/05/12/brock-lesnar-out-of-ufc-131-junior-dos-santos-vs-shane-carwin/

Matt Hamill Volk Han Joachim Hansen Antoni Hardonk

Fight Day Live is coming back at you this Saturday for another star studded show from the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas for UFC 143: Condit vs. Diaz. Hosts Dave Farra and Megan Olivi will prepare you for all the fighting action on Saturday and the expert panel of Matt Brown, John Morgan and Larry Pepe will break down the pay per view card and give their opinion on who will take home the win.

Also slated for Fight Day Live are two interview, live on set. The first is with the number one contender to the women's 135-pound belt, "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey. Rousey is a human soundbite, so you won't want to miss that one. And also on set is crowd favorite Clay "The Carpenter" Guida.  Main event fighter Carlos Condit will also be featured in an exclusive one-on-one interview. Be sure and tune into Fight Day Live at 6 p.m. ET/ 3 p.m. PT.

Want to see Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit battle it out live at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada?  Of course you do.  Well, your chance at being a part of all the UFC fighting action is only a couple of clicks away.

Log onto HeavyMMA's Facebook page.  From there, you must "like" the page and leave a comment about how much you'd love to go to the show. The folks at will Heavy conduct a random drawing and the lucky winner will receive two tickets to the big fight card on Feb. 4.

It's that easy!  So head over to HeavyMMA's Facebook page now and good luck.

You can watch UFC 143 right here on Yahoo! Sports

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/ufc-143-yahoo-sports-heavy-present-fight-day-034756112.html

Ed Herman Heath Herring Branden Lee Hinkle Sam Hoger

CHICAGO -- Mike Russow did his city proud with a decision victory at UFC on Fox 2. The judges scored it 29-28, 29-28, 30-27 for Russow, causing loud cheers from the crowd at the United Center.

Russow started with a quick takedown. When they returned to their feet, Russow was aggressive, landing a combination before clinching up with Einemo. He moved inside with strikes, and then got another takedown. From there Russow controlled Einemo until the last five seconds, when Einemo briefly reversed position before the round ended.

The second round started much like the first, with Russow getting a quick takedown. Russow briefly stood up and towered over Einemo, but returned to controlling him on the ground. They were stood up with 22 seconds left in the round, but Russow returned to the takedown that served him well for the first two rounds.

Einemo was more aggressive in the third round, and nailed Russow with a knee and a punch. Russow got the takedown again, but had more trouble with it. When on the ground, Einemo came close to take Russow's back, but Russow slipped out of it. Russow controlled Einemo for most of the round, but the two were stood up with just over a minute left. Einemo hit Russow with a knee, then Russow used the next knee for another takedown.

Russow is a full-time member of the Chicago Police Department and took a month off from the department to prepare for this bout. He's now 4-0 in the UFC and 15-1 overall. Einemo, a member of the famed Golden Glory camp, has lost both of his UFC bouts.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/officer-mike-russow-takes-ufc-fox-2-decision-002431342.html

Marco Ruas Rodrigo Ruas Gabe Ruediger Mikko Rupponen

by Michael David Smith

When Brett Cooper last stepped into the cage, it was for a five-minute, five-round fight for a championship in the Lords of the Cage MMA promotion. Cooper had prepared to fight for 25 minutes, but things didn't go quite as planned: He knocked Keith Berry out in just 10 seconds (video above).

"He came in real quick and aggressive, I countered him with a punch and it was over," Cooper said. "It was a strange moment because it happened so fast. It was bittersweet. But that's why you train hard, so things come easy in the fight. But I wouldn't have been disappointed if the fight would have gone more minutes."

For the 23-year-old Cooper, who will fight Alexander Schlemenko Saturday at Bellator 44 on MTV2, trying to make it as a full-time fighter outside the UFC sometimes means not wanting to win a fight too quickly: The experience of getting more minutes in the cage can be good for a fighter's development, and Lords of the Cage isn't exactly handing out six-figure Knockout of the Night bonuses, like UFC fighters can earn.

 

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Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/05/13/brett-cooper-talks-fighting-in-bellator-life-in-mma-outside-the/

Roger Huerta Matt Hughes Matt Hume Mark Hunt