Growing MMA promotion Strikeforce and NBC are reportedly on the verge of announcing a major partnership, according to MMA Junkie. Details of the expected venture are slowly coming out, but here is what we know so far: “As part of the NBC deal, fight footage from past Strikeforce events will likely be shown in “highlights” shows, not unlike the Pride Fighting Championships shows that currently air on Fox Sports Net. The first Strikeforce show is expected to air in mid-April.... Read Full Story

Lightweights Thiago Tavares and Matt Wiman will go toe-to-toe when the UFC comes to the O2 Arena in London on June 7th for UFC 85 according to Sherdog. Tavares (13-1, 3-1 UFC) is coming off a decision win over Michihiro Omigawa at UFC Fight Night 12. Prior to the recent win, Tavares lost a unanimous decision to Tyson Griffin at UFC 76 following victories over Jason Black and Naoyuki Kotani. Wiman (9-3, 3-1 UFC) was a contestant on “The Ultimate Fighter 5″ despite a UFC debut loss ... Read Full Story

Nate Marquardt and Thales Leites have again been booked to fight, this time at UFC 85 according to a report by GracieMag. The two were originally scheduled to fight in October 2006 but visa issues prevented the bout from taking place. They were again scheduled to square off at UFC 81 earlier this year but an injury suffered by Leites again postponed the fight. Marquardt (26-7-2, 5-1 UFC) has performed very well in the octagon, defeating the highly experienced Jeremy Horn in his last fight at ... Read Full Story

Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, who was previously rumored to be facing Yoshihiro Nakao at DREAM 1, will instead be taking on a different Japanese fighter by the name of Tatsuya Mizuno. The change was made after DREAM released their official fight card for the March 15 event several days ago. Tatsuya Mizuno (3-2) has only competed in Pancrase in his brief career, suffering losses to Thiago Silva and Assuerio Silva. In addition to the” Cro Cop”-Mizuno bout, DREAM 1 features ... Read Full Story

In a recent interview with Sherdog.com, Anderson Silva and Ed Soares (Silva’s manager) shed some light on Silva’s previous disqualification loss to Yushin Okami, a potential professional boxing crossover, and of course, the defeat of Dan Henderson at UFC 82: “He really wasn’t able to do anything once he took me down, and that’s what everybody was saying…Standing up I picked him apart. I feel every part of my game was effective in this fight.” Ed Soares adds that while ... Read Full Story

Rising 205-pound contender Thiago Silva will face off against fellow Brazilian and UFC newcomer Antonio Mendes, in a light heavyweight bout at UFC 84 in Las Vegas, Sherdog announced earlier this week. Silva was originally scheduled to face Rashad Evans at UFC 84 before Evans agreed to challenge Chuck Liddell at UFC 85, in place of the injured Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.  He will instead meet Mendes at the pay-per-view event. Silva (12-0, 3-0 UFC) is undefeated in his short but challenging MMA care... Read Full Story

“One that would be big for my heart and soul would be Josh Koscheck. The number one question that everyone always asks me is, ‘When are you going to kick that Josh Koscheck’s ass?’ So hopefully, maybe in June or July, we can go ahead and set that fight up.” UFC welterweight Diego Sanchez tells MMA Weekly that he hopes to face Josh Koscheck again later this year. Sanchez defeated Koscheck via split decision on the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter” but... Read Full Story

Many thought it was a peculiar and unwise move when ProElite announced that they had signed 44-year-old Ken Shamrock to a multi-fight deal. Perhaps those people had a point. Ken Shamrock didn’t make it out of the first round last night at Cage Rage 25 in London, where he got knocked out shortly after the 3 minute mark by Robert “Buzz” Berry.  Not to take anything away from Berry, but anyone who watched Shamrock in that fight probably thought of the word “retirement” at least once.  Afte... Read Full Story

Middleweight contender Martin Kampmann, sidelined for more than a year due to a knee injury, will return to the octagon on June 7 in London to take on Jorge Rivera at “UFC 85: Liddell vs. Evans”. Kampmann (20-2, 3-0 UFC) emerged as a prospect in the depleted middleweight division following three-straight UFC victories over Crafton Wallace, Thales Leites, and Drew McFedries and was booked to face Rich Franklin in the main event of UFC 72. While training for the bout, Kampmann suffe... Read Full Story

The complete, 32 fighter cast for the latest installment of The Ultimate Fighter reality series, “The Ultimate Fighter 7: Team Forrest vs. Team Rampage”, has been revealed by Yahoo! Sports. The entire 32 fighter cast, up from 16 in previous seasons, must fight immediately upon arriving in Las Vegas to earn a spot in The Ultimate Fighter house. UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and number-one contender Forrest Griffin will serve as the coaches of ... Read Full Story