Author: MMA Fighting Newswire

We’ve known for a few weeks that the UFC’s long-awaited return to Cincinnati will happen May 10, and now we know who will be headlining the card. UFC Fight Night’s main event will feature Ohio’s own Matt Brown against Brazil’s Erick Silva. Fox Sports first broke the news of the fight on Monday afternoon, and UFC confirmed it shortly thereafter.

Cincinnati’s Brown (18-11) was supposed to have faced Carlos Condit back in December at UFC on FOX 9 in Sacramento, but a back injury forced him to withdraw from the fight. Now cleared to resume training, Brown will look to make it seven wins in a row in the UFC’s welterweight division, having last fought in August (a quick knockout of Mike Pyle). This will mark only the second time in his 16-fight UFC career that Brown has fought in his native Ohio. The last time he did was at UFC 96 against Pete Sell in Columbus. He won that bout via TKO in 92 seconds.

As for the 29-year old Silva (16-4-1), he will try and make it consecutive wins after knocking out Takenori Sato on February 15. Though the Brazilian has flashed a lot of potential in the 170-pound weight class, he’s been up and down for the last couple of years, going 3-3 since being disqualified against Carlo Prater at UFC 142 in January 2012. Of his victories, though, his last six have come via finishes (three subs, three KOs).

The last time the UFC went to Cincinnati was six-and-a-half years ago, when local former champion Rich Franklin tried to recapture his belt against Anderson Silva at UFC 77. Same as that time, UFC Fight Night 40 will take place at U.S. Bank Arena.

Other confirmed bouts for the card include a lightweight fight between Erik Koch and Detroit’s Daron Cruickshank, a bantamweight tilt between Ian Wineland and Johnny Eduardo, and a middleweight clash between Costas Philippou and Lorenz Larkin.

TUF champion Tony Ferguson has verbally agreed to face Katsunori Kikuno at UFC 173 on May 24, according to UFC officials Monday.

Ferguson, who has won of his five UFC fights, defeated Mike Rio via submission (d’arce choke) at UFC 166 this past October.

Kikuno has won six straight fights, including a unanimous decision win over Quinn Mulhern at UFC Fight Night 34.

Chris Weidman will defend his UFC middleweight title against Lyoto Machida in the main event.

This spring’s UFC Fight Night card in Cincinnati continues to come together, as Costas Philippou and Lorenz Larkin have verbally agreed to fight. The UFC announced on Sunday that the middleweights will clash on May 10 at the U.S. Bank Arena.

Philippou (12-4), who as of six months ago was closing into title contention with five straight victories, is now tasked with snapping a two-fight losing skid. The 34-year old dropped a decision to Francis Carmont at UFC 166 in Houston, and was knocked out midway through the first round of his main event bout with Luke Rockhold in January.

As for Larkin, he’ll also be looking to get back on track after losing a unanimous decision to Brad Tavares at that same UFC Fight Night card in Duluth, Georgia. The former Strikeforce fighter began his career at 12-0 but has since traded wins and losses. Before his loss to Tavares, Larkin bettered Chris Camozzi on the scorecards at the UFC Fight for the Troops card in Fort Campbell in November.

Though no headliner has been tabbed for the Cincinnati card, good action fights have already been booked in Erik Koch versus Detroit’s Daron Cruickshank and a bantamweight battle between Eddie Wineland and Johnny Eduardo.

The trilogy fight between Eddie Alvarez and Michael Chandler is set for May 17 on pay-per-view.

“When you put two of the greatest fighters on Earth in the cage together sometimes you get artistic majestry,” Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney said during the announcement during Friday’s Bellator 110.

Alvarez reclaimed the Bellator lightweight title when he defeated Chandler via split decision at Bellator 106 this past November.

“I think me and my team created a blueprint, a way to figure out Mike Chandler. I think we’ll leave up to his guys to make the adjustments,” Alvarez said.

Bellator 106 was supposed to be on pay-per-view but after Tito Ortiz, who was scheduled to fight Rampage Jackson in the main event, suffered an injury the event was aired on Spike TV.

Chandler won the Bellator lightweight title in the first fight between the two rivals via a rear-naked choke in the fourth round of their Bellator 58 clash on Nov. 19, 2011.

The last fight left a bitter taste in my mouth. I’m excited to do it again,” Chandler said. “It’s a chance of redemption for myself.”

A site for the pay-per-view was not announced.

UPDATE: Though no official location has been announced, Bellator officials did say that the site for the May 17 pay-per-view had been narrowed down to San Diego and Memphis. If the card is held in Memphis, there’s a good chance that Quinton Jackson would fight Muhammed Lawal on that PPV card. Jackson, who now lives in Southern California, is a Memphis native.

A lightweight contest between Erik Koch and Daron Cruickshank has been slated for the upcoming UFC Fight Night: Cincinnati on May 10, the UFC announced Thursday.

Koch, who has won three of his past five fights, is coming off a first-round knockout win of Rafaello Oliveira at UFC 170.

Cruickshank has also won three of his past five fights. He defeated Mike Rio via second-round TKO at UFC on FOX 10 on Jan. 25.

A main event has yet to be announced for this card.

With Thursday’s landmark decision by the Nevada State Athletic Commision to ban TRT, many fighters jumped to Twitter to react to the ruling.

Very happy to see TRT banned, absolutely a ridiculous idea to start with and a major factor of my personal retirement from fighting

— Brian Stann (@BrianStann) February 27, 2014

Sweet no TRT? Now if they could only detect the steroids that some people are obviously on!!!!

— Ike Vallie-Flagg (@IKEVF) February 27, 2014

We about to see a bunch of people fallin off. “WHYYYYY AM I SO TIRED?!”

— Marcelino Evil (@KCBanditMMA) February 27, 2014

No more TRT? Good.Sports shouldn’t be on a level playing field based on genetics and hard work. This is a huge step in the right direction.

— Tom Lawlor (@FilthyTomLawlor) February 27, 2014

@Scottjorgensen: Sounds like trt going bai bai. #nonflyweightproblems

— Scott jorgensen (@Scottjorgensen) February 27, 2014

Can’t wait to see some people’s knock outs and hard punches drop in half!

— Ike Vallie-Flagg (@IKEVF) February 27, 2014

I actually had some low T issues last fall. Doc tld me to sleep more & workout less. Not really what I wanted to hear but i feel much better

— Marcelino Evil (@KCBanditMMA) February 27, 2014

Stoked that TRT is a thing of the past in MMA. Good start by the new NSAC.

— Cody Gibson (@TheRenegade559) February 27, 2014

No more TRT . Yes my 400lb bench is going to come in handy now !!! #MMA

— Derek Brunson (@DerekBrunsonMMA) February 27, 2014

Glad that the NSAC banned TRT! No more Jesus juice allowed!

— Ulysses Gomez (@uselessgomez) February 27, 2014

TRT gone, about damn time

— Brett Cooper (@BrettCoopermma) February 27, 2014

I’m already chewing on bulls testicles seeing what that does to my test levels

— Ike Vallie-Flagg (@IKEVF) February 27, 2014

So TRT is now officially banned in Nevada. U could argue I only have one loss on my record. After I beat Kennedy I want my shot at the title

— michael (@bisping) February 27, 2014

The Nevada State Athletic Commission banned testosterone. It is a great day for the sport. I hope all states follow suit. #TRT

— Tim Kennedy (@TimKennedyMMA) February 27, 2014

TRT is finally banned, now we can only hope that 1 day we will have Olympic level drug screening in MMA. So we can catch the EPO, HGH users

— Vinny Magalhaes (@VinnyMMA) February 27, 2014

Ban on trt in Nevada? Hell ya haha good job nsac good fuckin job

— Cody Bollinger (@CodyBollinger) February 27, 2014

I’m okay with the Nevada Commission banning TRT… But if they start checking ice cream levels I am going to be really upset. #MMA #UFC @ufc

— Joe Lauzon (@JoeLauzon) February 27, 2014

Nevada just banned the use of synthetic testosterone for fighters. Shit just got real. Literally.

— Joe Rogan (@joerogan) February 27, 2014

I’m happy about the decision to ban TRT let’s see if it makes a difference to anyone’s performance.

— jimi manuwa (@POSTERBOYJM) February 27, 2014