Author: John Morgan [kingofabuelos]

UFC welterweight title challenger Dan Hardy won’t bring too many
surprises to the cage when he faces champion Georges St-Pierre at UFC
111 on March 27.

The British slugger’s striking attack has earned him a perfect mark in
the UFC, so why change things now?

In fact, Hardy said the only surprise will be finding out what round he
knocks out his Canadian foe, and “The Outlaw” is just fine with letting
St-Pierre choose his own fate.

Olympic gold medalist and former world champion boxer Ray Mercer will put on the four-ounce gloves once again on April 16 and face
undefeated super heavyweight Ron Sparks at a recently announced
King of the Cage event at Cobo Arena in Detroit.

The matchup was announced on the most recent edition of HDNet’s “Inside
MMA,” and the same network will air the event’s main card.

Mercer is best known to MMA fans as the man who knocked out former UFC
heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia at a June 2009 Adrenaline MMA event, while Sparks has fought exclusively on the local circuits since his 2006 debut.

Heading into his UFC 107 contest with Stefan Struve, much of the talk
surrounding Paul Buentello’s training camp – or rather, his lack of one.

Forced out of his normal routine at California’s American Kickboxing
Academy, Buentello scrambled to find a suitable training home.

But as his UFC on Versus 1 bout with Cheick Kongo approaches, little
word has escaped about where “The Headhunter” was getting ready.
Buentello recently said there’s a reason for that.

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight Roger Huerta (20-3-1
MMA, 0-0 Bellator) is set to test his mettle in Bellator Fighting
Championships’ season two eight-man lightweight tournament.

Sources close to the situation confirmed to MMAjunkie.com that the popular lightweight received his formal
release from the UFC this week, which opened the door to finalize a deal
with the upstart promotion.

Bellator has called a video press conference for Monday at 3 p.m. ET that
will stream live at Bellator.com.

In the early years of the new millennium, with the UFC struggling for
U.S. acceptance and PRIDE in its Japanese heyday, the companies toyed
around with the idea of co-promotion through fighter sharing.

The UFC has since changed courses on that thought, and you’re unlikely
to see a fighter under Zuffa contract ever appearing in another promotion.

But Strikeforce has recently partnered up with DREAM to exchange
fighters across the Pacific Ocean, and Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker
recently told MMAjunkie.com that he envisions a
flourishing relationship moving forward.

Strikeforce is targeting a heavyweight matchup between Daniel Cormier
(1-0 MMA, 1-0 SF) and newcomer John Devine (5-1 MMA, 0-0 SF) at
Strikeforce Challengers VII.

The potential preliminary card matchup was first reported by
Sherdog.com, and MMAjunkie.com has since learned
that the promotion is simply waiting on approval from the California
State Athletic Commission before announcing the matchup.

Featuring a heavyweight contest between Lavar Johnson and Lolohea Mahe,
Strikeforce Challengers VII takes place March 26 in Fresno, Calif.