Author: Chuck Mindenhall

UNCASVILLE, Conn. – The mystery of Joe Warren being pulled from his bantamweight semifinals tournament bout against Nick Kirk played into fight night at Bellator 98.

Warren was to make his 135-pound debut after his stint coaching on Spike TV’s “Fight Master” reality series. Just days before the bout was to happen, the Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulations deemed Warren unfit to compete after “reviewing the medical documentation submitted.”

MMA Fighting was told from a source close to the commission on Saturday night that Warren was “knocked out while sparring,” and that is “100 percent the reason he was pulled from the card.” This prompted the Tribe’s commissioner Mike Mazzulli to pull the plug on the bout upon seeing the medical report. The source said that he only learned of the situation on Wednesday, meaning the incident happened fairly close to the fight.

Bellator’s CEO and founder Bjorn Rebney wouldn’t go so far as to say the reason out of respect for Warren, but did say the former featherweight champion could be cleared in a couple of weeks.

“What [Mazzulli] did was, out of respect for Joe and for how long Joe had been prepping in Albuquerque with Greg [Jackson], Mike allowed Joe not just to get bounced out because of the medical results from the initial doctor,” Rebney told MMA Fighting. “He allowed Joe to get back and go to a specialist and then see if those tests would clear him at the higher, more involved level of testing. And they almost did.

“What I can tell you is, the specialist who tested him in Denver said, look, if it were my son I wouldn’t approve it. But there are circumstances that would cause me to approve it if you can wait three or four weeks and we can do the tests again That’ll answer any questions, and we’ll be 100 percent. And [Mazzulli] said, if we’re not 100 percent we’re not allowed to go.

“My assumption, and Mike’s assumption, is that within two to three weeks Mike will be able to take him off of suspension, so long as everything comes back clean.”

Warren has been the victim of a couple of vicious knockouts in the recent past, including the Bellator 60 loss to Pat Curran when he squandered the belt. He has since rebounded for a win over Owen Evinger at Bellator 80.

UNCASVILLE, Conn. – Bellator 98 went down at the Mohegan Sun, which featured a middleweight title fight between Alexander Shlemenko and Brett Cooper, and the quarterfinals of the season nine middleweight tournament. Here is a rundown of the action.

Alexander Shlemenko retains title after bloody war with Brett Cooper

The first time Bellator’s middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko fought Brett Cooper at Bellator 44 in May 2011, he had an easier time of it. This time, with Cooper filling in for the injured Doug Marshall, and with a belt the line, things were a lot more difficult.

In fact, almost too difficult. In a bloody war of back-and-forth war of attrition, where both fighters showed their threshold for 25 minutes of punishment, Shlemenko emerged the victor with a narrow unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47).

From the start it was toe-to-toe action, and each fighter landed big shots early and often. Both men were going for home runs early, too. Shlemenko set up a spinning backfist three times with jabs. Cooper had his moments too, and even buckled Shlemenko with a huge right hand to the temple. Shlemenko recovered and retaliated with a flurry of his own.

That set the tone for a war between the two. In the second round, Cooper put Shlemenko in trouble with a body shot and some hard uppercuts. Shlemenko went reeling across the cage, but a fatigued Cooper was unable to capitalize. Shlemnenko put up his arms to signal he was okay to referee Dan Miragliotta, and survived the round.

The third round was more of the same. Shlemenko ate a hard right hand and threw his hands up as if to say, “come on.” He then came in and snapped off a big right of his own. Cooper’s uppercuts were finding a home all night. By the end of the third round, it was arguable that the champion may need a finish to retain his belt.

In the championship rounds, Shlemenko downed Cooper with a big shot. But, as he’d done all night, Cooper answered the challenge and fired back. Both guys, bloodied and battered, traded punches for the rest of the fight.

With the victory, Shlemenko improves his record to 48-7, while Cooper — game in defeat — drops to 19-9.

Bellator newcomer Derek Anderson upsets Patricky Pitbull

Hard-hitting puncher Patricky Freire came in as a big favorite to end a two-fight losing streak against Bellator debutante Derek Anderson, but instead Pitbull’s streak now sits at three.

The 23-year old Anderson was able to withstand an early bit of trouble in the first round as Freire landed some big left hands and at one point had on a tight triangle. For his part, Anderson seemed to gain confidence as the fight went on, and was able to work his jab effectively all night. By the early second round Freire became visibly gassed and Anderson was initiatiing — and winning — most of the exchanges. In the third round, Anderson was able to work his jab and fire off combinations while Freire slowed down. The judges scored the fight unanimously for Anderson (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

The victory raises Anderson’s professional MMA record to 10-0, while Freire is now 10-5.

Perry Filkins chokes out Jeremy Kimball to kick off 185-pound tourney

Perry Filkins sank a third-round rear-naked choke on Colorado’s Jeremy Kimball to advance to the semifinals of the season nine middleweight tournament.

The fight was a back-and-forth affair early, with Kimball using a surprisingly agile array of kicks both high and low. Filkins got audibly fired up by the second round, and let his emotional surge takeover the fight. Towards the end of the round, he had Kimball flattened on his stomach and was close to finishing the fight with a barrage of punches. He asked referee Todd Anderson to stop it, but time ran out. By the third round, Kimball was completely outclassed. Filkins landed a series of big shots and eventually got Kimball’s back. He choked Kimball out at the 4:18 mark of third round.

Filkins, who trains with Gabriel Gonzaga, moves to 8-1 as a pro. The 22-year old Kimball drops to 10-4.

Brennan Ward plows past Justin Torrey

Connecticut’s Brennan Ward made a statement against Bellator veteran Justin Torrey with a vicious second-round TKO.

Ward was aggressive early, and after a scramble was able to gain top position and work his ground and pound. He was ultimately reversed, and Torrey spent the greater bulk of the first round dropping fists through Ward’s defense.

In the second round, with Torrey’s left eye nearly shut, Ward threw Torrey to the canvas and went to work. Torrey absorbed a few big shots, but got a little overzealous trying to put some mustard behind a punch, and ended letting Torrey up. But it was only a momentary reprieve for the 30-year old Torrey. After a big exchange, Ward took him right back down, and from there it was academic. Ward landed a sequence of big lefts before referee Todd Anderson called him off.

The official time of the TKO stoppage was 3:28 of the second round. The fan favorite Ward advances in the middleweight tournament.

Giva Santana retires after TKO loss to Jason Butcher

In what was a clash of seasoned grapplers, it was 28-year old Jason Butcher who caught stalwart Giva Santana with — of all things — a big punch. Butcher TKO’d the third degree Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Santana at the 1:12 mark of the second round.

Butcher, a brown belt who trains jiu-jitsu in Cincinnati with Jorge Gurgel, spent much of the first round on his back fending off Santana’s submissions. Santana tactically maneuvered into dominant positions after a takedown just 20 seconds in, and even got mount with a little over a minute to go, but Butcher was game. He was able to return the pressure late in the round.

In the second, Butcher was able to turn the fight into a kickboxing affair, and landed a big uppercut to put Santana in trouble. Butcher pounced on the fallen Santana and delivered a series of punches until referee Kevin McDonald stepped in to call him off.

Afterwards, Santana, who turns 42 in November, announced that he was retiring in the cage. He finishes his career with a record of 18-3, with 16 submission victories. Butcher remains undefeated at 7-0, and advances to the semi-finals of the middleweight tournament.

Mikkel Parlo advances after dominating Brian Rogers

Heavy-handed middleweight Mikkel Parlo was able to put his first professional loss behind him with a unanimous decision over Bellator veteran Bryan Rogers. The official scores were 30-27, 30-26, 30-26.

The fight began with fireworks, as both guys traded punches in several big exchanges. Rogers had Parlo rocked early on after a combination, but the Danish fighter was able to recover. The back and forth action prompted Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney to tweet out “Wow, don’t blink here.” The second round began where the first left off, with Parlo standing in Rogers’ wheelhouse. But Parlo took Rogers down about a minute in, and was able to stay busy enough to stay there for four-plus minutes working ground and pound.

Clearly fatigued, Rogers answer the bell, and came out swinging. But a minute in, Parlo took Rogers down again, and kept the fight there for a chunk of the time. Towards the end of the fight, Parlo hurt Rogers along the fence with a big punch, and followed that up with a body shot. Inside of ten seconds left it looked like he knocked Rogers out with a huge right on the ground, the fight ended in a decision.

With the win, Parlo (10-1) joins Jason Butcher, Brennan Ward and Perry Filkins in advancing to the semifinals of the season nine middleweight tournament.

Whenever the colors of the “Ultimate Fighter” franchise begin to bleed together a little bit the UFC gets to experimenting. Over the years we’ve seen the shake-ups: There was the live version. There was Kimbo Slice season, which produced the single most comical epiphany of all time (“The enemy is the inner me,” realized the back-alley brawler). There was the invisible season (purportedly TUF 16, which nobody can confirm because nobody watched).

And there was the “comeback” season, which regurgitated the likes of Shonie Carter and Matt Serra back into existence.

This season — the 18th — is sort of being rolled out as an evolution. It’s the first time we’ve seen an elixir of women and men in the same house. That the women are part of the enterprise isn’t so much a movement for fistic equality as a long-overdue inevitability. And this was all made possible by current UFC champion Ronda Rousey, who made up for Dana White’s concerns regarding divisional depth by containing multitudes, star appeal and armbars.

To spice things up, for weeks we’ve been tantalized with the drama going on with her and his archrival Miesha Tate, who slid in through the backdoor when Cat Zingano blew out her knee.

What’s to follow is hijinks, drama, and — everyone suspects — randy behavior, with Rousey shown in glimpses pouting over the action.

Here are five observations about the season’s debut show.

Reminiscent of TUF’s 1 and 4

Since it’s the first time the women have been showcased on TUF there is a greater concentration of talent in one room. Just like the very first TUF, when Forrest Griffin, Kenny Florian and Diego Sanchez were the players — back when “spritzing” was all the rage — the women on the show figure to factor into the UFC’s landscape when all is said and done.

Yet, because we’ve seen Tara LaRosa before, and Roxanne Modafferi in Strikeforce, there’s a sense of second chances. Or, second first chances, given that the ultimate prize is a contract with the UFC. That’s a far cry from Moosin.

And there was nothing disappointing in how things played out in that first show. Modafferi, who was riding in on a five-fight losing streak, won her fight to get in the house. LaRosa, on the other hand, lost to Sarah Moras. The veteran whom many consider one the pioneers of women’s MMA couldn’t punch her ticket to six weeks of utter deprivation.

The smiles and the storm clouds

It was a little strange to see the gleeful way in which Dana White passed along the news of Zingano having blown out her knee. Of course, he was mirthful not because of that, but because he got to roll out Tate as an alternative. Tate did her part by smiling at the confused Rousey like the proverbial cat that ate the canary.

Say what you will about Tate’s merit in getting that spot coming off a loss, but in a reality series where bad blood is fun and always watchable, this should be fun and pretty watchable.

It was even more fun to watch the surveying process as the fights unfolded to get into the house. There sat White between a chatty Tate and a brooding Rousey, who was taking copious notes and ignoring the small talk. Awkward.

A closer look at the other side of Rousey

One of the selling points that has come out entering this season is that Rousey is nervous about how she’ll be perceived by the public once the edited versions of this man-made reality hits the air. This, of course, translates to allure. What could she possibly mean? What does/did she do? What piece of canned scandal is giving her the fidgets?

We’ll have to tune in. But there’s something about her “sides” that’s still in the the process of sinking in. The stormy side was most in evidence in the first episode. At one point, while transfixed and soberly staring at the camera, she gave us a chilling glimpse.

“I am meant to retain this belt,” she deadpanned. “I’m going to retire undefeated.” It was ominous. It smacked of the time that Ivan Drago told us what was on his mind as Apollo Creed twitched and died behind him in Rocky IV.

“I cannot be defeated,” he said very icily. “I beat all man. Someday, I will beat a real champion. If he dies, he dies.”

White’s inspiration speech

Back in the day, when the whole TUF rat house was going up in flames and guys didn’t want to fight, Dana White came thundering onto the scene and gave his now iconic speech about “do you want to be a f—ing fighter.” That served as kindling to the fitness of those modern warriors, and they proceeded with no further outbursts.

This time White arrived with a speech at the ready, like Knute Rockne showing up in Mad Max.

“What you don’t want to be is that guy riding home on the bus tomorrow,” he said. “Do everything you can — punch, kick, knee, slam, go for submissions. If you ever fought a fight in your f—ing life, make that fight tomorrow.”

The producers were smart enough to put an ominous drone sound behind him as his temperature rose. This was most effective.

The dudes

Lost in the trail mix of all that’s going on, there are eight bantamweights on the men’s side. It’s become old hat to watch the guys fight to get into the house, but the UFC’s current 135-pound division is in need of fortification. A couple of the contestants looked pretty good, too.

One of them was David Grant, who came on like a dust devil after being docked a point for an illegal blow. Will anybody noteworthy emerge from this cast? We’ll find out as they ladle things out in weekly rations, but a couple of those guys looked like they’d give up everything they had to find success as a fighter. And, for this show’s purposes, that can’t be bad.

Now that the muzzle can come off, and Sean Sherk is retiring from the sport he’s been a part of since very close to its inception, he can explain some things. Things like why he turned into a boxer circa UFC 84 after being a grinding pestle for all those years before.

And, maybe more important, what took so long for the former UFC lightweight champion, who last fought at UFC 119 three years ago, to hang up the gloves?

“Well, it’s a hard decision to make,” he told MMA Fighting after announcing his retirement in a statement through his Training Mask brand. “I’ve been a part of this industry almost since the beginning, and I wrestled competitively since I was seven years old. So we’re talking 25 years of competition, probably longer than that – walking away from something you love isn’t easy to do.

“I just think it was time for the door to be closed, time for me to move on with some different things. I know the injuries aren’t going away, they’re not going anywhere and they’re not getting any better. It was just time for some closure.”

The culprit behind everything are Sherk’s hips. While training for his UFC 84 fight with B.J. Penn, he says he injured his hips and was never right again. That fight, on the heals of being stripped of his lightweight belt for testing positive for steroids after defeating Hermes Franca at UFC 73, saw Sherk undergo a shift in fight night philosophy.

Suddenly, the cardio juggernaut went from a relentless dictator of wills to becoming a vague boxer who was all too happy to stand and trade. The question that he was asked a million times since has been, “why did you stop shooting?”

“Now that I’m retiring I can tell the truth,” he says. “I know it’s always been one of the top questions. Obviously I couldn’t say anything because otherwise opponents would pinpoint that stuff, but I had MRIs done [ahead of the Penn fight] and found out that both of my hips were torn and that I was going to need surgery. The doctor basically told me at that point in time, ‘if you have surgery on this you’ll never be 100 percent again – you’ll lose your mobility, you’ll lose your quick twitch and some of the explosion, and you’ll lose some of the agility.’

“And to me it just wasn’t worth it, so I said, you know what, I’ll just deal with the pain. I said, I’ll just deal with this as long as I can. And that’s what I did. Gradually over the years my hips got worse and worse and worse. About two weeks ago I was told I needed hip replacement surgery. So that was the deciding factor right there. I went from needing surgery to fix torn labrums to needing total replacement.”

At the height of his career, Sherk — who fought earlier as a welterweight — was one of the most nihilistic, game-plan smashing wrestlers the game had known to that point. Standing a squat 5-foot-6 and with a reach of only 67 inches, he went by the nickname “the Muscle Shark,” which was apt for a guy who could have been the original prototype for Urijah Faber’s Team Alpha Male team in Sacramento.

Through his first 15 professional fights he worked as a machinist full-time in Minnesota, and he brought to the cage with him that same sense of cold industrial production. He continued to work part time while facing some of the biggest names of his era — names such as Matt Hughes, Nick Diaz, Benji Radach and Georges St-Pierre.

Like St-Pierre, he wasn’t a glorified collegiate wrestler, but he had the wrestling moorings from his high school days. He also had the dogged persistence of one, which he honed over the years through various wrestling competitions. In MMA, he was always willing to eat punches to drag the fight into his domain, which he did more often than not.

Sherk captured the vacant 155-pound belt against Kenny Florian at UFC 64 by taking him down punishing him for five rounds. The bout was as memorable for the blood as it was for his dominance. Florian cut Sherk open with a couple of sharp elbows from guard, but Sherk continued to plant his head into Florian’s chest and work his ground and pound. It was 25 minutes of vicious pace, and at the end of it Sherk found himself wearing the lightweight belt.

It was the crowning achievement of his career.

“Winning the UFC title, that right there changed my life,” he says. “I was working a part-time job all the way up until I fought Kenny Florian for the lightweight title. I was still working — I had to, there just wasn’t enough money in the industry to sustain having a house, having two kids, having the amount of bills that I have. I had to work between fights to pay my bills, and I trained my butt off to make sure I won those fights, because there’s obviously a big difference in pay when it comes to winning and losing.

“When I won that fight and won that world title, that just changed everything for me. That was the most definitive moment of my career by far.”

The fallout was a fight later when Sherk defended that belt against Franca. After his victory, it was revealed that he had tested positive for the steroid Nandrolone, and the California State Athletic Commission suspended him for a year. Though he was able to get the suspension reduced to six months through an appeal, the UFC stripped him of the title.

Sherk lost his return fight against Penn via TKO. Yet, even with his hips deteriorating, he still appeared in the Octagon three more times. The silver lining of the injury was it gave him a chance to showcase his boxing skills in the twilight of his career, which paid off in more ways than one.

Not only did he go 2-1 in his final three fights in the UFC, he took home fight of the night bonuses twice — in his victories over Tyson Griffin at UFC 90 in Chicago, and over Evan Dunham at UFC 119 in a razor-close decision. In between he dropped a unanimous decision to eventual champion Frankie Edgar.

“Those ‘fight of the nights’ are a big deal,” he says. “I started boxing when I was a kid, and I’ve been doing this steadily since 1993. So, I had a lot of years of boxing under my belt, and it was good to show that because there was a long period of time where everybody called me ‘one-dimensional.’ I wasn’t one-dimensional — I showed one dimension but I wasn’t technically one-dimensional. And it was gratifying. It’s nice to go out there and have 15,000 people standing up watching you fight. That’s really exciting.”

Sherk retires with a professional record of 36-4-1. He says he accomplished just about everything he set out to do in MMA. Just about, that is, as there are a few things he came up short on.

“My game plan was to compete until I was 40, and my last competitive fight was when I was 37, so I didn’t accomplish that goal,” he says. “The other thing was I wanted to win that world title one more time. I wanted to be one of the few guys in history who was able to win the world title twice, and I was not able to accomplish that goal either. But I can look back on my career and be happy with what I accomplished.”

In retirement, Sherk says he’ll continue to work at the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy with his longtime coach and training partner Greg Nelson, who has been with him from start to finish over the last two decades. Other than that? He says he’ll stay as busy as he did when that cage door latched.

“I actually started flipping houses this year,” he says. “So that’s kind of my new endeavor.”

Saturday night’s UFC 164 lightweight title bout between Benson Henderson and Anthony Pettis ended in such confusing non-dramatic fashion as to create drama.

Did Benson Henderson tap verbally when Pettis torqued that armbar in the first round, or did he physically tap? There was a brief three or four seconds when nobody really knew what happened as Pettis peeled off of Henderson and began to celebrate.

The third man in the cage for that main event was Herb Dean, and he was on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour to clarify the sequence of events.

“I saw [Pettis] lock the armbar in and [Henderson] was trying to defend it,” he told Ariel Helwani. “He was reaching across, and he went belly down. I was moving and trying to get into a better position and at that time, that’s when the tap came. And [Pettis] got up and immediately started celebrating. I guess where people weren’t knowing exactly what happened is usually they’re used to see me grab the guy and then wave it off. But he got up so quick that I didn’t get a chance to do that.”

As to whether or not he’d like for a fighter in Pettis’ position to wait for the referee to intervene, Dean said yes, because that’s the surest way to avoid controversy.

“I think people should always wait for me to touch them.” he said. “Just to be on the safe side I wouldn’t advise that fighter not to get up unless the referee has touched them.

“It all worked out but we have situations where guys stop fighting and the referee has not stopped the fight,” he said. “Then they have to start fighting again. We definitely don’t want situations like that, especially in championship fights.”

One can’t help but recall the bizarre incident with Rousimar Palhares against Dan Miller at UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro, a bout that Dean just happened to be refereeing. Palhares thought he had finished Miller with a heavy barrage of strikes, and, inexplicably, jumped up to climb the fence in celebration. Dean, who never touched Palhares or waved him off, asked Palhares back down so that he could reset the fighters. Palhares ended up getting the decision.

Fortunately, Dean said, this time there was no big controversy.

“The armbar was on tight, the arm was going,” he said. “I knew the tap was coming, and the arm bar was definitely done.”

The most interested observer of UFC 164’s main event between Anthony Pettis and Benson Henderson was probably T.J. Grant — the guy who was supposed to be standing opposite Henderson before getting sidelined with an injury.

Conspiracy theorists remember the circumstances in winking detail: Pettis was to fight for the featherweight belt against Jose Aldo in Brazil on Aug. 3, and Grant was to face Henderson in Pettis’s hometown of Milwaukee four weeks later.

Then Pettis hurt his knee, and had to pull out. A couple of weeks later, Grant got severely concussed in training, and Pettis — who recovered quicker than Vegas specialists could have predicted — was summonsed to take Grant’s spot. The whole thing seemed very tidy, but the UFC was able to put together a highly coveted rematch between Pettis and Henderson.

Now that those coincidences are behind us, and most realize that the circumstances were as real as they were convenient, the question becomes: Does Grant get the next crack at the 155-pound belt? Or is the tidal wave of Sunday morning matchmakers carrying Pettis back towards Aldo?

Grant spoke to MMA Fighting on Sunday and says he heard the immediate rumblings of a potential Aldo/Pettis superfight. Though he can understand the exhilaration that a match-up like that would drum up, he likes to point out that he’s an exciting fighter himself.

And, in the world of meritocracies, he deserves his shot.

“I’m pretty sure Aldo is a little banged up as well right now,” Grant said. “My opinion — I’m a fan, and I love watching UFC fights. I watch all of them, whether they’re people I’m potentially fighting or not, I enjoy it. Pettis against Aldo is an exciting fight.

“But, hey, I just won my last fight in two minutes. I knocked the [Gray Maynard] out. I knocked the guy out before that [Matt Wiman]. I feel like I’ve earned it. I feel like I’m the guy. I’ve been in the UFC a long time. I’ve never really gotten the push that I feel like I need but I’ve also built a lot of experience in fighting and haven’t been in the spotlight, which is nice too. But I’m ready to be there and I’m ready to go out there. Give me the opportunity man. I feel like I’ve earned it.”

Grant got a concussion in mid-July while training for his title bid with Henderson, which he says haunted him all summer long.

“I’ve begun some light workouts and I’ve had no setbacks in that regard,” he said. “You know, it’s kind of weird, concussions affect a lot more than just having a headache. I couldn’t play with my kid for more than a few minutes without being exhausted and being really nauseous. That was early in the summer. I feel like the worst is behind me and I’m just getting better. I know concussions affect your mood, and I’m a lot happier now. They’re all good signs.”

Though he has begun do light workouts without contact, he thinks he would be ready by UFC 168 in late December, and if not for then, then anytime from January on.

“There was a little bit of contact with Joe Silva in the past week,” he said. “Just seeing where I’m at and how I’m feeling. I’m starting to feel a lot healthier. It’s just been a crappy summer not getting to be a normal human being. Watching the fights this weekend, I wasn’t that disappointed anymore – I’ve already had that emotion go through me. I’ve already dealt with that. I’m just ready to get out there and start working my way back to get healthy.”

And as for fighting Pettis, rather than Henderson, he sees the obvious positives in a clash like that.

“[Pettis]’s a killer — he’s a finisher, and he goes for it,” he said. “And I’m not saying Benson doesn’t either — he’s a top dude. I feel like if Pettis came in healthy and his knee wasn’t affecting him, I thought he’d win the fight. I’m just excited because that’s the type of guy that I want to fight, the guy who’s willing to go out there and find out who’s better. We don’t need two or three rounds to figure that out. Let’s go out there and do it. I’m not trying to sound like a [Quinton] Rampage Jackson, but why do you need five rounds when you can sort it out in the first two or three minutes?

“That’s what I’m all about. Just going out there to fight. There’s a lot of strategy and everything, but I ain’t trying to win rounds punching a guy against the fence.”

There are, of course, circumstances. Not only is Aldo/Pettis being looked at as a potential blockbuster, but both guys are hurt. Aldo is out for the rest of 2013 with a broken foot that he suffered in his title defense against Chan Sung Jung, and Pettis heard his knee “pop” against Henderson. He left Milwaukee’s Bradley Center limping on Saturday night.

A lot will be determined upon learning the extent of Pettis’s injury. If the news comes back that he’s out for an extended period of time, Grant says that would be  open to other match-ups in the meantime.  

“If it’s an ACL or something like that, that’s nine months to a year,” he said. “I’d probably be looking to fight. I’ve been hearing my name a lot. Josh Thomson obviously wants to fight me, and you can’t fault the guy for that. And you know what? That’s another guy I’d like to fight because he’s exciting and he brings it. We’ll see what happens with Gilbert Melendez and Diego Sanchez, too. I’ve been a big fan of Gilbert’s for a long time. He’s been fighting since before I ever got in the UFC. Those guys all come to fight. But Pettis is the guy I want. I feel like I’ve earned my position. If he’s going to be on the shelf for a while, and I’ve got to fight somebody, it would be those other two guys.

“Again, I’m not specifically calling them out,” he said. “I want a healthy Pettis, and I want a healthy me, and I want us to get in there and do battle.”