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UFC Morning Update: UFC 146 Heavyweight Bouts, Major TapouT Lawsuit

We may not have any UFC events to look forward to for the rest of March, but the MMA world isn’t sitting still. Yesterday was newsworthy on multiple fronts, with three big heavyweight bouts announced for May, a major lawsuit filed against a famous MMA …

Let’s get down to brass tacks, shall we?

Three Big Heavyweight Bouts Signed For May’s UFC 146

The UFC officially announced three big heavyweight fights for UFC 146, which takes place over Memorial Day weekend in Las Vegas.

The main event features Junior dos Santos defending his heavyweight title against top contender Alistair Overeem. The co-main event will see Cain Velasquez return to the cage to face Frank Mir, with the winner moving on to face the winner of Dos Santos vs. Overeem.

Earlier on the card, Roy “Big Country” Nelson steps in the cage with Strikeforce import Antonio Silva, who is making his UFC debut. The preliminary card features another Strikeforce signee making his debut, as Shane Del Rosario goes up against Brazilian jiu-jitsu wizard and former heavyweight title contender Gabriel Gonzaga.

If you like heavyweights, this may just be the event for you. The UFC has done an incredible job with their heavyweight division, creating intriguing championship bouts and setting up immediate contenders to face the champion.

Details of Lawsuit Against TapouT Revealed in Court Documents

Dan Diaz owned Hitman Fight Gear until the brand was purchased by MMA clothing powerhouse TapouT in 2008. Authentic Brands Group purchased Tapout and Hitman (along with Silver Star Clothing) in 2010. Shortly afterwards, Hitman disappeared from the market.

Diaz disappeared from the MMA scene, but on Wednesday it was revealed that he’s filed a lawsuit against TapouT. You can read the full text of the suit here. Among other things, the suit alleges that TapouT engaged in a practice of accepting bribes from vendors in exchange for contracts at “well over market rate.”

Diaz also alleges that Dan “Punkass” Caldwell, former TapouT vice president Gary Gallinot and company president Marc Stevens wrote checks out of company accounts to one another but neglected to financially support the children of TapouT founder Charles “Mask” Lewis after his death in a car crash in 2009. Diaz says that the company was over $14 million in debt when ABG purchased it for $12 million.

Needless to say, this one is going to get a lot uglier before it’s over.

Dana White Says He’ll Probably End Up Signing Hector Lombard

Bellator middleweight champion Hector Lombard hasn’t lost a fought in nearly six years. This summer, Lombard becomes a free agent, and UFC President Dana White is confident he’ll end up signing the mercurial middleweight.

I guess he’s pretty popular down here. I’ve been hearing all about him since I’ve been here. I hear he’s under contract though with someone else, so we”ll see. I’ll probably end up with him. If he wants to fight in the UFC, then we’ll probably end up with him.

White certainly has the financial resources to make Lombard a good offer, but Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney says White probably needs to hold his horses:

Hector remains our champion right now. We are in the midst of a pretty substantial negotiation relative to his future with the organization. I’ve said many times I think he’s the best middleweight in mixed martial arts so it’s not an easy negotiation by any stretch of the imagination.

We’ve got the right to match on any deal. We’re either gonna sign him before he goes out the to marketplace or he’s going to go out to the marketplace and we’re gonna have a determination as to whether we’re gonna match or not match and we’re gonna see where it ends up.

Urijah Faber Reveals Coaching Team, Special Guests For TUF Live

The Ultimate Fighter Live debuts on FX this Friday night, and coach Urijah Faber has revealed his coaching staff:

“The guys are coming out on the 6th so I’ve got my whole coaching staff. Master Thong, Fabio Prado, Dustin Akbari, Lance Palmer, Justin Buccholz, are all coming out to coach,” Faber told MMAWeekly Radio.

“Joseph [Benavidez] and T.J. [Dillashaw] and a couple of the guys are still in Australia, so they’ll be coming in a little bit later, and Danny Castillo and Chad Mendes, all the guys that are key players on our team right now will be coming out to train as well.”

Faber said he’d like to bring in Duke Roufus, Mark Dellagrotte, Phil Nurse and Mark Munoz to work with his team.

The re-booted reality series kicks off Friday with sixteen elimination fights to determine which fighters will go into the TUF house.

New Fights Announced

Here’s a quick look at all of the fight bookings revealed on Wednesday:

Antonio Silva vs. Roy Nelson (UFC 146)
Frank Mir vs. Cain Velasquez (UFC 146)
Alexander Gustafsson vs. Thiago Silva (UFC on Fuel 2)
TJ Grant vs. Carlo Prater (UFC on Fuel 3)
Michael Chandler vs. Akihiro Gono (Bellator 67)
Ryan Ford vs. Luis Santos (Bellator 67)

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Anthony Pettis Should Drop to 145, Face Jose Aldo for Featherweight Title

Anthony Pettis has the worst luck.After beating Benson Henderson to capture the lightweight title in the final WEC event, Pettis was promised a title shot against the winner of the Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard bout that was scheduled for UFC 125. Pet…

Anthony Pettis has the worst luck.

After beating Benson Henderson to capture the lightweight title in the final WEC event, Pettis was promised a title shot against the winner of the Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard bout that was scheduled for UFC 125. Pettis had all the momentum in the world, stemming from a highlight-reel “Showtime Kick” that turned him from complete unknown into an overnight fighting sensation.

But after Edgar and Maynard fought to a closely-contested draw, Pettis was left out in the cold, his title shot vanishing into thin air when Maynard was granted an immediate rematch. Pettis chose to face Clay Guida instead of sitting on the sidelines. He was young and had plenty of time left for title shots, so he didn’t see the point in waiting around to face the winner of Edgar and Maynard.

Pettis lost to Guida and was sent to the back of the line. And instead of fighting for the UFC title, he watched the man he dethroned at WEC 53 rack up three straight victories and earn a title shot in the process. He watched from his locker room backstage at UFC 144 while Henderson captured the UFC lightweight title.

All was well in Pettis’ world, though. UFC president Dana White announced after the event that Pettis would “probably” get the title shot, and the world would see a rematch of one of 2010’s most exciting fights. The WEC’s two best lightweights would square off for the biggest prize in the game.

And then everything changed. Edgar successfully campaigned for a rematch, hanging Pettis out to dry once more. If Pettis wants a shot at the UFC lightweight belt, he’ll have to wait until late 2012 or early 2013. Henderson and Edgar won’t roll it back until the summertime, likely July, and the winner of May’s UFC on FOX 3 main event between Jim Miller and Nate Diaz has been promised the next shot at the belt.

All of this leaves Pettis in a familiar situation: He can wait on the sidelines for up to a year if he wants the title shot, or he can take fights in the meantime and risk losing his title shot.

I’d like to propose something different; I think it’s a great idea, and you will too.

Pettis should drop to featherweight and challenge Jose Aldo for his championship.

It makes perfect sense, as Aldo is lacking the kind of big-name challenger he desperately needs. Hatsu Hioki might be a legitimate contender, but you’d be hard-pressed to find many fans that would be interested in seeing him take on Aldo.

Pettis fits the bill, though. Dana White wanted Edgar to drop down and take on Aldo, because it would create a new level of interest in the featherweight division. Pettis would accomplish the same goals. The stylistic matchup between him and Aldo would almost certainly make for an incredibly exciting fight.

Pettis has the perfect frame for 145. He isn’t a gigantic lightweight, and while the cut to featherweight would be much more difficult than his current cut to lightweight, it’s doable. After all, if Kenny Florian can make featherweight, just about anyone can.

It would also alleviate some of the logjam at the top of the lightweight division. It’s a good thing that the UFC has so many potential lightweight title challengers, but it’s a bad thing when deserving contenders are left risking title shots against competition of lesser stature simply because there are too many contenders.

Most importantly, it keeps Pettis in the spotlight. “Showtime” could be a true superstar for the UFC if he’s afforded the right opportunities, but it’ll be very difficult for him to reach that level if he’s continuously forced to wait on the sidelines.

And while I like the idea of Pettis going to Strikeforce to challenge Gilbert Melendez, I’m also aware that there’s very little chance that the UFC will take the risk of having one of their top lightweights lose to a Strikeforce fighter.

Melendez is deserving of the best challengers the UFC can throw at him, but I can’t imagine that many current UFC lightweights—especially ones near the top of the division—will be all that enthused by the idea of fighting in Strikeforce instead of the UFC.

The timing is right, and it’s a great opportunity for Pettis. The UFC needs to make this happen.

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Josh Koscheck Really, Really Does Not Like Javier Mendez or AKA

UFC welterweight Josh Koscheck’s split from Javier Mendez and the American Kickboxing Academy has been acrimonious, to say the least.Koscheck, who trained at the gym for nearly the entirety of his UFC career, announced his departure from the gym in a t…

UFC welterweight Josh Koscheck‘s split from Javier Mendez and the American Kickboxing Academy has been acrimonious, to say the least.

Koscheck, who trained at the gym for nearly the entirety of his UFC career, announced his departure from the gym in a tirade after his win over Mike Pierce at UFC 143. He didn’t mince words then and he’s not mincing words now, as you’ll see in this transcript from an interview Ariel Helwani conducted with Koscheck after the UFC on FOX 3 press conference in New York City yesterday:

For the record, he was never my coach. He tagged along here and there. I think that I’m in a better place now, and my Dethrone Base Camp Fresno gyms, they’re rocking right now. We’re rolling. I think that Bob Cook will always be the man over there. Bob Cook comes and trains with me a couple of times a week in Fresno, whenever he can. It’s good to be around real coaches that care, real coaches that put time in. Real coaches that will put the effort in to make your fighter the best they can possibly be. And I have that now. And I think that May 5th, you guys are going to get to see that.

Koscheck previously owned a pair of AKA-affiliated gyms, but has changed the name to Dethrone Base Camp Fresno.

Helwani asked Koscheck if Mendez ever served as his coach, even back in the early days of his career.

Of course he worked with me. Did I learn anything? Eh. It is what it is. I’m done with that chapter of my life and I prefer not to talk about it. I prefer to talk about Dethrone Base Camp Fresno. That’s where it’s at right now. I have a lot of good guys training over there right now. I have a lot of guys coming in and out who come in for a couple of weeks and then they roll out. It’s a good time to be on your own and be doing what you gotta do.

Koscheck then dropped another bomb, saying that he believes AKA would have produced more champions over the years if they had “real coaching”:

I think that the reason why everyone is so successful at that gym over there in San Jose is because of the training partners. I really, truly believe that it’s why guys have fought for world titles and why guys have fought for UFC titles, like Cain. Because of the training partners. I think that’s the number one reason. I think if you added coaching, real coaching, you would have seen a lot more champions out of that gym. I think in my career we’re going to see big improvements really quick.

Koscheck has maintained his long relationship with Jon Fitch, even saying he would retire if the UFC tried to force him to fight Fitch. Will Fitch or any of Koscheck’s former training partners help him out in his new venture in Fresno?

If they’re smart, they’ll come and get real coaching. I think they should. That’s up to them. The door is always open to those guys. I prefer to never set foot in the city of San Jose ever again.

Fitch and Koscheck might be able to maintain their friendship, but other former training partners at AKA aren’t being quite so nice. As Strikeforce heavyweight Daniel Cormier told MMAjunkie’s Steven Marrocco:

“Sometimes people grow apart, and it was just Josh’s time,” Cormier said.

“It’s just Josh – Josh being Josh,” Rockhold told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “We’ve always been a family. Josh has always been on the outside; he’s always been an outcast.”

With many fighters, it’s hard to separate what you see on the screen from the person away from the camera. That’s not the case with Koscheck.

Love him or hate him—and a vast majority of MMA fans and people involved in the industry do, in fact, hate him—Koscheck is what he is, and he’s not changing for Javier Mendez, you or anybody else.

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UFC 146: Heavyweight Destruction Derby with Overeem, Dos Santos, Velasquez, Mir

Are you an Affliction-wearing, beer-guzzling UFC fan who lives and dies by the action taking place in the heavyweight division?If so, May got a whole lot more interesting over the past twenty-four hours.The month kicks off at UFC on FOX 3 on May 5th, w…

Are you an Affliction-wearing, beer-guzzling UFC fan who lives and dies by the action taking place in the heavyweight division?

If so, May got a whole lot more interesting over the past twenty-four hours.

The month kicks off at UFC on FOX 3 on May 5th, where Pat Barry and Lavar Johnson will meet to determine who can take the most punches to the head before falling flat on their face. That’s going to be an exciting fight, to be sure, but the real intriguing stuff happens later in the month.

More specifically, the heavyweight division could go through a sea change of sorts at UFC 146 on Memorial Day weekend.

Over the past twenty-four hours, the UFC revealed a series of three top-flight heavyweight bouts. All will take place at UFC 146 in Las Vegas.

Let’s take a deeper look at one of the heaviest-hitting cards in the history of the UFC.

Junior dos Santos vs. Alistair Overeem (UFC heavyweight championship)

These are the two best strikers in MMA‘s heavyweight division, and it’s going to be a blast watching them trade leather with terrifying power. Overeem is unquestionably the better overall striker, which is to say he’s much better at the kicking game. But Dos Santos is the best pure boxer in the game and has lights-out power in his hands.

Dos Santos allegedly has an outstanding ground game, though at this point I’m not sure if that’s the truth or if that’s one of the red herrings we in the media are often fed to hype up a fight. I don’t think it’ll matter in this fight, regardless.

Cain Velasquez vs. Frank Mir

How Frank Mir finds himself on the cusp of yet another UFC title run is beyond me, but here we are, just two months from a number one contender’s fight.

Yep, the winner of this bout will move on to face the winner of the Dos Santos/Overeem main event for the heavyweight championship, which means Mir could potentially be a UFC champion in 2012. I never would’ve seen that coming a year ago.

I don’t believe he gets that far. Velasquez, despite his quick loss to Dos Santos, is still the most technical and skilled heavyweight in the world. He’ll prove it here and in destructive fashion. Don’t expect Mir to make it past the second round.

Roy Nelson vs. Antonio Silva

Poor Roy Nelson. Dude just keeps getting tough fight after tough fight. There are no easy shortcuts for Big Country, not when he continually avoids any real attempts by Dana White to move him to the light heavyweight division.

This is a winnable fight for Nelson, but it’s going to be a tough one. I don’t think Silva will put him away because, let’s face it, nobody puts Big Country away. Nelson will need to endure what will likely be another horrific heavyweight beating, but he’s a better overall fighter than Silva and should be able to do enough to get the win.

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Nate Diaz Thinks Nick Diaz Will Stay Retired from Mixed Martial Arts

You probably won’t be shocked to learn that Nate Diaz believes his big bro Nick will stay retired from mixed martial arts. It’s triathlon season, you see, and Nick has more important things to worry about than getting in the cage and losing decisions t…

The younger Diaz told Ariel Helwani all about it yesterday after the UFC on FOX 3 press conference in New York City, via MixedMartialArts.com:

Triathlon season is starting so he’s getting ready, getting in shape for that and concentrating on being in shape, being healthy and helping me out and coaching me for this fight [against Jim Miller]. Right now, I don’t think [we will see him back inside the Octagon]. He’s big on, like I said, staying in shape and just being healthy right now. He’s not worried about it. I think he’s retired. He hasn’t been into this whole fighting thing for some time…since everything that goes on with the funny wins and losses. And not just for him, but for people on our team. So, I just think he’s relaxed right now, you know?

I think he’s pretty set on his retirement, though. I kind of agree with him [about his decision]. It’s hard to say—he’s my brother. I’m not going to tell him to go fight somebody. I think he’s doing the right thing. He made enough money to just chill back, sit back and relax. People don’t understand: Nick never had nothing. He came from not much, so when he complained a lot about not making a lot of money it’s because there were so many people making more money than him, and he works 10 times hard than them. So, they definitely paid him enough money to not have to anything. He doesn’t need to fight.

In six months, we’ve gone from “Nick doesn’t make enough money” to “Nick has made enough money to just chill back.”

Nick isn’t a big spender. He’s downright frugal, actually, and his only major expense is likely the “medicine” he smokes on a daily basis. Nate is correct when he says that Nick doesn’t have to fight anymore. Nick Diaz would be just fine

But I still don’t buy it.

Nick Diaz will return to the cage by the early months of 2013 at the very latest, and if he only receives a six-month suspension from the Nevada State Athletic Commission, we’ll see him return much sooner than that.

His crazy talk may have you convinced, and his little brother may truly believe Nick will never return to the cage, but it’s going to happen at some point. The only question is when.

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UFC Morning Update: Sonnen Plays More Games, Fedor to UFC

Monday was a busy day in the world of mixed martial arts. We had another sweet UFC press conference at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Chael Sonnen tried to channel Jesse “The Body” Ventura circa 1990, and Fedor Emelianenko set the hearts of fanboys…

Let’s get right to the latest, shall we?

The Lead: Chael Sonnen Is What We Thought He Was

Oh, Chael Sonnen. We should’ve known you couldn’t have been serious when you issued an apology to Anderson Silva yesterday. We should’ve realized it was all just another ploy for you to release yet another pro wrestling interview like the ones from Don Owen’s Portland Wrestling that you grew up watching when you were a kid.

In case you missed it on last night’s episode of UFC Tonight, here’s Sonnen’s apology in full.

Actually, I did realize that last night’s outcome was the most likely one for this whole thing. That’s why I included it as Sonnen’s first potential reason for the apology during yesterday’s column.

The first and most likely scenario is that it’s simply another ploy by Sonnen. He’ll draw people into watching UFC Tonight under the guise of this apology, only to drop the proverbial hammer on Silva once again.

I know a lot of you hate any and all comparisons to professional wrestling, but I’ll still point out that this is an old tactic used in pro wrestling storylines designed to put even more “heat” on the bad guy, or heel.

Sonnen indeed dropped the proverbial hammer.

I’m a longtime fan of professional wrestling, or at least I was a fan of the stuff that was on television up until about 10 years ago. And so I understand that what Sonnen is doing here is the same thing he’s been doing for the past two years. Sonnen used his mouth to turn himself from “just another guy” into a championship contender.

All he’s really doing here is ensuring that the championship reign continues and that folks are still interested in seeing him fight Silva when June rolls around.

Monday’s Five Biggest News Stories

1. Henderson vs. Edgar rematch booked: Dana White met with Frankie Edgar after the UFC on FOX press conference in New York City yesterday and told the former lightweight champion that he’s going to get his rematch with Benson Henderson. The fight will take place this summer. As Jonathan Snowden said last night, it’s the right call.

2. Nogueira injured (again); Thiago Silva faces Alexander Gustafsson: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is one of the toughest and more durable fighters in the history of mixed martial arts. His little brother Rogerio? Not so much. The littlest Nog once again had to pull out of a main-event fight, leaving former opponent Gustafsson to face the monstrous (and possibly genetically altered) Thiago Silva in the main event of UFC on Fuel in Sweden in early April.

3. Dos Santos vs. Overeem confirmed for UFC 146: The biggest heavyweight fight of the year will officially take place on Memorial Day’s UFC 146 card in Las Vegas. The UFC made the bout official yesterday, and tickets for the event go on sale shortly.

4. Fedor Emelianenko hints at a move to the UFC: The Russian fighter says his next bout will be in “June or July” and says that his best potential opponents remain in the UFC. I firmly believe Emelianenko wants to be in the UFC; unfortunately, his interests are controlled by some the very shady men at M-1 Global.

5. Dana White says “hell no” to Tim Sylvia: White emphatically slammed the UFC’s front door in Sylvia’s face during yesterday’s press conference, telling a reporter “hell no” before he could even finish formulating a question about White allowing Sylvia to return. I’m not Sylvia’s biggest fan and I still wouldn’t mind seeing the former heavyweight champion get a shot at returning, if only to see what he’d do against a fighter like Lavar Johnson. Hint: Johnson would eat him for breakfast.

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