Author: MMA Fighting Newswire

TORONTO – MMA Fighting’s E. Casey Leydon was on the scene Wednesday at Xtreme Couture gym and filmed this highlight package from open workouts, featuring Jon Jones, Brian Stann, Vitor Belfort and Demetrious Johnson. Check it out below.

Bellator needs a new heavyweight champion.

Cole Konrad, who was undefeated in his MMA career, officially announced his retirement Thursday afternoon.

“I can’t say enough good things about my time with Bellator,” Konrad said in a statement. “I enjoyed every second of my time in the cage, and having a boss like Bjorn was a pleasure. Bellator does things the right way, and if I ever find myself back in the cage, there is no doubt in my mind it will be with Bellator.”

According to the release, Konrad plans to become an agricultural commodities trader.

“There are very few fighters in MMA who can completely control a fight like Cole Konrad could,” said Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney in the statement. “Cole’s a very smart and gifted individual, who will continue achieving excellence in everything he does. I wish Cole, his wife and family the very, very best as he moves into this new stage of his life. Cole was a great Bellator Champion, and now Sam and I will determine exactly how and when the new Bellator heavyweight champion will be crowned.”

Konrad, who was a two-time NCAA Division I national champion at Minnesota, last fought for Bellator this past May when he submitted Eric Prindle in the first round with a kimura.

Frankie Edgar will be getting an immediate title shot when he drops to featherweight after all.

Edgar has replaced Erik Koch in the UFC 153 main event and will face Jose Aldo, MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani has confirmed. USA Today was the first to break the news.

Koch suffered a knee injury recently and was forced to withdraw from the fight, according to Helwani.

Edgar (14-3-1) has lost his past two fights to UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson. He was expected to make his featherweight debut later this year before the injury to Koch.

Koch apologized to his fans on Twitter, stating “I’m sorry guys this has been one crazy year for me deff a hard one, I just wanna thank all of you guys for the support means the world to me.”

Aldo (21-1), who has won 14 straight fights, was critical of former UFC champion Edgar recently in an interview with Tatame.

“He said he wants to drop to featherweight, so I’m hoping he does that to end this story,” Aldo told Tatame.com. “He’s welcome here so that we can shut him off and he goes to the lightweight or bantamweight classes.”

UFC 153 is scheduled for Oct. 13 at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Stephen Thompson and Besam Yousef will square off at UFC 154, according to UFC Tonight on Tuesday.

Both fighters are coming off their first career MMA loss. Yousef (6-1) was submitted by Simeon Thoresen at UFC on FUEL TV 2 this past April, while Thompson (6-1) lost a unanimous decision to Matt Brown at UFC 145 in April as well.

UFC 154 will be held Nov. 17 at the Bell Centre in Montreal. Georges St. Pierre vs. Carlos Condit is expected to be the main event.

In case you missed it Friday night, watch below to see Attila Vegh’s first-round knockout of Travis Wiuff to win the Bellator light heavweight tournament and earn a shot against Bellator champion Christian M’Pumbu.

MMA Fighting has Bellator 73 results for this Friday’s Bellator event at the Harrah’s Tunica Hotel and Casino in Tunica, Miss.

In the main event, Travis Wiuff will face Attila Vegh in the light heavyweight tournament final and main event. In the co-main event, Marcos Galvao will face Luis Nogueira in the bantamweight tournament final.

Check out the full Bellator 73 results below.

Main Card:
Attila Vegh def. Travis Wiuff via first-round KO
Marcos Galvao def. Luis Nogueira via second-round KO
Mike Wessel def. Ryan Martinez via split decision
Mike Mucitelli def. Matt Van Buren via submission (triangle choke)

Undercard:
Cosmo Alexander def. Harry Johnson via second-round TKO
Brian Albin def. Jacob Noe via first-round TKO (doctor’s stoppage)
Kelvin Tiller def. Amaechi Oselukwue via TKO
Andy Uhrich def. Joe Williams via unanimous decision
Zach Underwood def. Chris Coggins via unanimous decision