Author: MMA Fighting Newswire

LAS VEGAS — UFC heavyweight and UFC 146 main card fighter Roy Nelson spoke to the media Wednesday at the open workouts. The established veteran discussed why it ‘pays to cheat’ in professional MMA, his willingness to pay for VADA testing of his next opponent, why UFC has a responsibility to clean up the sport and the difficulties in switching opponents last minute.

MMA photography pioneer Susumu Nagao – who has shot some of the most important and historic events in MMA history – spoke to MMA Fighting’s own photographer Esther Lin about an exhibition of his work at the World Jiu-Jitsu Expo in Long Beach, California. Nagao discusses how he got interested in MMA through Shooto and professional wrestling, his early impressions of Royce Gracie during the first UFC events, the stories behind some of his most famous photos, PRIDE’s spectacle and how much he misses it now, the special relationship he had with Carlson Gracie despite a language barrier and so much more.

A featherweight bout has been added to the UFC’s fourth outing on FOX as Michihiro Omigawa is set to face Manny Gamburyan as part of the UFC on FOX 4 fight card. Sources close to the situation confirmed the news with MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani.

Both fighters appear to be in must-win positions ahead of this pivotal bout.

Gamburyan, 31, has dropped three of his last four at featherweight. He most recently faced Diego Nunes at UFC 141 in December of 2011 where he ultimately lost by unanimous decision. Omigawa, 36, has also lost three of last four in the weight class. In his last bout he was defeated via unanimous decision to Yuri Alcantara at UFC 142 in January of 2012.

UFC on FOX 4 will take place August 4th, 2012 and will be held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The event will be headlined by a non-title middleweight bout between Brian Stann and former Bellator middleweight champion Hector Lombard.

At the Barnett vs. Cormier weigh-ins, all 18 fighters taking part in Saturday night’s Strikeforce event stepped on the scale Friday afternoon in San Jose.

The Strikeforce Heavweight Grand Prix finalists, Josh Barnett and Daniel Cormier, weighed in at 248 pounds and 238 pounds respectively. Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez and Josh Thomson both were 153 pounds for their contest.

Check out the full weigh-in results, and a weigh-in video of the main card, after the jump.

Main Card
Daniel Cormier (238), Josh Barnett (248)
Josh Thomson (153), Gilbert Melendez (153)
Mike Kyle (203), Rafael Cavalcante (206)
Nah-Shon Burrell (170), Chris Spang (169)

Undercard
Isaac Vallie-Flagg (156), JZ Cavalcante (156)
Guton Inocente (205), Virgil Zwicker (204)
Derrick Mehmen (205), Gian Villante (205)
Yuri Villefort (170), Quinn Mulhern (170)
James Terry (156.25), Bobby Green (155)

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Braulio Estima had plenty to say after Nick Diaz failed to show up for their superfight at the World Jiu-Jitsu Expo on Saturday night. The three-time world champion talked about his weight issues before the fight, how upset he was with Nick Diaz and more in the video below.

Andy Ogle secured the final quarterfinal spot on this season’s The Ultimate Fighter on Friday night.

The lightweight submitted Mike Rio with a rear-naked choke at the 4:19 mark in the second round, keeping his chances alive for the reality title.

“Mike is the nicest guy on their team so it was a pleasure to beat him,” said Ogle. “If I was going to lose, it would be great to lose to someone I really respect.”

“Andy fought a great fight. He was beating me to the punch – literally to the punch,” said Rios. “He made me chase him the whole time and my gas tank was empty.”

UFC president Dana White also announced the show’s first two quarterfinal showdowns after the fight. Joe Proctor will square off against James Vick, and Justin Lawrence will take on Michael Chiesa.