Jon Jones proved that he is not only the man to beat in the UFC’s light heavyweight division, but it’s starting to look like he may just be the best mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter on the planet.

Looking forward, it’s highly likely “Bones” will be slated to take on Dan Henderson in his next title fight, as rising star Alexander Gustafsson lurks in the wings waiting for his big chance at greatness.

That much appears to be inevitable, but what about the rest of the pack?

After the jump, we’ll talk about the matches to make for the winners from UFC 145’s main card.

Can we really call Rory MacDonald a prospect anymore? This kid is running through a “who’s who” of fighters in the welterweight division. It’s not title shot time, but it’s not as far away as he made it sound in his post-fight interview.

Certainly, the UFC will be careful in bringing him along, but he’s got to get a big name in his next fight. No disrespect to Che Mills, who is a very serviceable fighter and a guy who was made to look worse than he actually is in his fight against MacDonald. It’s just time for “Ares” to fight the upper echelon of the division.

In a couple of weeks, Johny Hendricks will face Josh Koscheck at UFC on Fox 3, in East Rutherford, New Jersey. I’d love to see MacDonald get the winner. Truthfully, I think he beats either guy, but it’s a test that needs to happen. If he wins and does it convincingly, he’d have to be considered a top five guy, and maybe even a fight or two away from a title shot.

Ben Rothwell made his re-emergence to relevance with a very nice KO win over Brendan Schaub on Saturday night. He looked great, not just in how he fought, but his physique and conditioning were unlike we’ve ever seen of “Big Ben.”

I’d love to see him fight a fellow UFC 145 winner in Travis Browne. So much size and raw power in one cage. It would be potentially fantastic. Someone’s going to sleep in that one.

Michael McDonald is a guy who is causing quite a stir in the bantamweight division. His perfect mixture of speed, power and grappling make him a serious force to be reckoned with at 135 pounds.

Miguel Torres is, by far, the biggest name he’s fought and defeated in the UFC, so he needs an opponent who is a level up, but not too far up the ladder. Not yet, anyway.

How about T.J. Dillashaw? He’s coming off a nice win over Walel Watson and is continuing to improve with each outing. He’s a strong wrestler, so I think it makes for an interesting stylistic match up. Truthfully, it would be nice to see the UFC to go out and grab some more talent for this somewhat thin division. With that said, I don’t hate this match up. It’d be fun to watch.

Eddie Yagin won a close decision victory over veteran Mark Hominick. I have to say, his toughness and the absolute bombs that he throws had me super impressed. From a well-roundedness perspective, he has plenty of room to grow, but this guy throws haymakers with bad intentions. That’s the kind of thing that sells tickets and makes any fight interesting.

I think Erik Koch makes for an interesting potential opponent. He’s riding a four fight win streak and is also fairly new to the UFC. He is more of a submission specialist than anything else, so both fighters would be tested by each other’s opposing background.

Mark Bocek scored his second consecutive win with a nice decision victory over John Alessio at UFC 145. Call me lazy, but I’d like to see him in there with another fellow UFC 145 winner, Mac Danzig. They both are at similar places in their careers. Each fighter is solid on the ground, though the nod probably goes to Bocek in that category.

Danzig is an explosive fighter who, when at his best, he’s going to give anyone in the division a tough time. A win puts either guy in contention to land a big name opponent. A loss is not earth chattering or career ending. It makes sense to me.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — If Friday’s weigh-ins are any indication, Southern California’s ardor for the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s heavyweight titleholder hasn’t dimmed since his last appearance in the area more than a year ago.

A crowd that organizers estimated at slightly more than 2,000 roared for Cain Velasquez as he stepped onto the scale in the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium to make this weekend’s main event official. Against challenger Junior Dos Santos in Anaheim, Calif. at the Honda Center, Velasquez on Saturday (9 p.m. ET, Fox) will attempt his first defense of the belt he won at the same venue in October 2010.

Velasquez’s embrace of his heritage as the son of a Mexican migrant worker makes him a popular figure in the Latino community. With several people brandishing Mexican flags or wearing them as capes, the audience on Friday was louder than any gathering at weigh-ins for UFC’s events in the United States over the last few months.

Their noise went both ways. Boos directed at Dos Santos drowned out an attempt by a small contingent of his fans to chant his “Cigano” nickname. But the challenger expected it; he attended the event last year that saw Velasquez overwhelm Brock Lesnar to win the title.

“They were really going crazy for him in Anaheim last year,” Dos Santos told USA TODAY soon after his fight with Velasquez was announced. “But in a fight, my focus is my opponent. … It really doesn’t matter what the crowd is doing because at that moment in time, I’m not paying attention to them.”

Coming off a hiatus that lasted 13 months because of a partially torn rotator cuff, Velasquez on Friday weighed 249 pounds, his heaviest in eight UFC bouts. But his weight has been inching higher throughout his career as a pro fighter; he weighed 235.5 pounds for his first UFC fight in April 2008, 238 pounds in October 2009, and 244 pounds for his victory against Lesnar.

Dos Santos on Friday weighed 239 pounds, within the 234-to-240-pound range of his previous seven UFC bouts.

Both of them are among the smaller heavyweights in UFC these days. The winner of their bout on Saturday will face 278-pound Brock Lesnar or Alistair Overeem, who weighed 256 pounds in his last fight.

All the fighters for this weekend’s card made the cut on the first try Friday. The full line-up for Saturday’s event:

• Heavyweight championship (265-pound maximum): Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos

• Lightweight (155-pound maximum): Clay Guida vs. Ben Henderson

• Featherweight (145-pound maximum): Pablo Garza vs. Dustin Poirier

• Featherweight: Ricardo Lamas vs. Cub Swanson

• Welterweight (170-pound maximum): Clay Harvison vs. DaMarques Johnson

• Bantamweight (135-pound maximum): Darren Uyenoyama vs. Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto

• Featherweight: Robert Peralta vs. Mackens Semerzier

• Bantamweight: Alex Caceres vs. Cole Escovedo

• Welterweight: Paul Bradley vs. Mike Pierce

• Light-heavyweight (205-pound maximum): Matt Lucas vs. Aaron Rosa

10/31/2011

With Rory MacDonald pulling out of UFC 140 due to injury, prelim fighter Claude Patrick stepped up as a replacement and will now face Brian Ebersole on the pay-per-view portion of the Canadian card.

This left Patrick’s original opponent, Rich ‘The Raging Bull’ Attonito (10-4) without an opponent of his own.

Now, MMAjunkie.com is reporting that UFC newcomer Jake Hecht (10-2) has agreed to meet ‘The Raging Bull’ on a months notice.

UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida is scheduled to take place on December 10 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario. This bout between Attonito vs. Hecht will certainly take place on the nights preliminary card.

Attonito debuted with the UFC as a middleweight on season eleven of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ and has since gone 3-1 in the Octagon. ‘The Raging Bull’ dropped to welterweight last June for his last fight, defeating Daniel Roberts by decision at the UFC Live: Kongo vs. Barry show. That win erased a loss on his record after losing to Dave Branch by decision at the TUF 12 Finale.

Hecht is riding a three fight win streak with wins in places such as Amman, Jordan and Cork, Ireland this past year. The Missouri fighter holds two victories by knockout, five by submission, and three by decision over his career.

( International Journalism Review, www.IJRnews.com August 8th, 2011) Brett Roberts, BAMMA’s promoter, has risen in the MMA promoter world to be a well recognized upper echelon leader based on numbers and fan base alone.  In fact, his fights have set industry records with the percentage increase in fans and fighter talent as well.  This fact is coupled with the witnessing of some of the most organized and exciting events in the sport according to many MMA experts.

When an organization delivers great performances one after the other, many industry leaders take notice.  In fact, the promoter showed us how sponsors are jockeying to get their advertising spots because of the recognized success. The latest deal between Anderson Silva and Nike is only helping the Bamma vision.

BAMMA is in the midst of several PPV  and TV deals that will be announced soon. Also, BAMMA is in final negotiations to partner with MMA’s ProFightNetwork to be the home of their MMA forum.  Details of these negotiations were not revealed at this time.

Although there are several promotions with success stories in their own capacity, most promotions are lucky to break even when all is said and done. Roberts has broke a profit in rapid form and he has done this in a very short time giving his credit and success to God, hard work,  a solid business plan, and the people around him.

However, what makes BAMMA and Roberts stand above the rest and in a position to be elevated to possibly the next UFC,  is the ethics he brings with him and his organization.  Several IJR interviews, including last nights,  have all revealed his mission to bring class to MMA where everyone that is involved with it,  is proud and valued in a special way.

This means every fighter, fan, sponsor, or venue is actually seen not only as important, but is actually treasured by BAMMA.  Those that are involved with his organization never have to question the promotion’s integrity.

With Strikeforce, now UFC, sitting all alone at the top of the MMA sport in regards to revenue and brand recognition, the MMA community naturally  looks for the new up and coming candidate to replace a consistent UFC filler program.  WEC, Pride, and StrikeForce have all gone to a level where they became popular enough to coexist with the UFC and to warrant concern by the UFC.

All three of these threats were eventually bought out by the MMA powerhouse “The UFC”.  Dana White, the UFC president, shares the same motto as Roberts in that they both keep moving forward.  Bellator would most likely be the seasoned MMA experts choice to be the next UFC acquisition, however, don’t be surprised if BAMMA is on the Dana White and Zuffa LLC radar soon.  The question will be in the air as to not  if,  but rather when, will BAMMA have to choose between money, ethics, and the shared motto for their organization.

Sara Finland / Senior Journalist / IJRnews.com

For information regarding this article, contact Sara Finland at InternationalJournalismReview@gmail.com 347 882 4943

Main Card (Showtime)

Dan Henderson defeats Fedor Emelianenko via Ref Stoppage (TKO – Strikes) – Round 1, 4:12
Miesha Tate defeats Marloes Coenen via submission (Arm Triangle) – Round 4, 3:04
Tim Kennedy defeats Robbie Lawler via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Tyrone Woodley defeats Paul Daley via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Tarec Saffiedine def. Scott Smith via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)

Preliminary Card

Gabriel Salinas-Jones def. Bryan Humes via submission (D’Arce choke) – Round 3, 1:19
Derek Brunson def. Lumumba Sayers via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 4:33
Alexis Davis def. Julie Kedzie via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Tyler Stinson def. Eduardo Pamplona via KO (punch) – Round 1, 0:15
Gesias Cavalcante def. Bobby Green via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

By Chris Howie
MMANEWS.COM Staff Writer

Dan Henderson is the current Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion, so it may come as a surprise that Hendo DOESN’T have a champions clause in his contract, therefore he is a free agent following his first round knockout of Fedor Emelianenko this past weekend.

Henderson talked about his position following the bout and where exactly he could be going from here post fight:

“I think that could be interesting going forward, a unification fight with the winner of that contest would be a good match,” Dan Henderson told Telegraph Sport from his home tonight.

“I’m the Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion, I’ve beaten Fedor, and I’m unemployed, so we’ll have to see what the talks are now after I’ve had a few weeks off. It’s not a bad position to be in though.”

“I’m not really looking to go back to middleweight (vs. Anderson Silva). I’m happy at light-heavyweight. It’s where I feel most comfortable.”

profightnetwork 2011

An injury to Paul Taylor has forced the lightweight off of next months UFC on Versus 5 event. Stepping in as a replacement will be Charles ‘do Bronx’ Oliveira (14-1, 1NC) who will take on Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone (15-3, 1NC) in what could potentially be “Fight of the Night” for the Milwaukee event.

The bout was made official Wednesday night at www.UFC.com.

“Days after Donald Cerrone replaced an injured John Makdessi on the Milwaukee fight card, Makdessi’s original opponent Paul Taylor has also been injured.”

“Charles Oliveira, fresh off his Fight of the Night performance June 26, will step in to fight Donald Cerrone on August 14. Cerrone – no stranger to Fight of the Night bonuses himself – also turned in a dominant win in June, his at UFC 131 over Vagner Rocha.”

UFC on Versus 5 (aka UFC Live: Hardy vs. Lytle) is scheduled to take place on Aug. 14 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and represents the first UFC event held in that state. The Cerrone vs. Oliveira bout will likely stay on the preliminary card and will likely lead into the Versus televised event on a Facebook video stream.

Cerrone has won four straight since his last loss, a WEC lightweight title loss to former champ Ben Henderson in April of 2010. So far ‘Cowboy’ has won both of his UFC bouts, earning a one-sided affair against late replacement Vagner Rocha at UFC 131, and earning a second round submission win over Paul Kelly at UFC 126 in February. The win over Kelly earned both fighters the “Fight of the Night” bonus, the sixth such bonus under Zuffa owned promotions.

Oliveira is coming off a “No Contest” decision against Nik Lentz last month at the UFC on Versus 4 card in Pittsburgh. Oliveira landed an illegal knee to Lentz head in the second round, which was missed by the referee, allowing the Brazilian to secure a rear-naked choke submission. Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission execs who were on hand at the event immediately stated they would look into the result of the fight, eventually overturning the result to a “No Contest”.

The losing streak continues for Strikeforce heavyweight Brett Rogers. Less than two weeks after being choked out by Josh Barnett at “Overeem vs. Werdum”, the Grim was arrested yesterday for allegedly beating the crap out of his wife in front of their daughter. MyFoxTwinCities.com (via CagePotato reader Jerry T.) has the report…

DAKOTA COUNTY, Minn. – Major-league Mixed Martial Artist and Apple Valley, Minn. resident Brett Rogers was arrested and jailed in connection with assaulting his wife Wednesday in their south metro home. She was reportedly strangled, punched repeatedly in the head and face and lost a tooth in the struggle.

Brett Charles Rogers, 30, has been charged with assault in the third degree, domestic assault by strangulation and pattern of stalking conduct — all felonies — in Dakota County. He was also charged with endangerment of a child, a gross misdameanor.