Nick Ring vs. Riki Fukuda Inked for UFC 127 February 27 in Australia

("The Promise" and "Killer Bee" will clash down under.)
CagePotato.com has learned from a source close to the fight that a middleweight bout between The Ultimate Fighter 11 standout Nick Ring (10-0) and Kazuo Misaki’s Grabaka teamma…


("The Promise" and "Killer Bee" will clash down under.)

CagePotato.com has learned from a source close to the fight that a middleweight bout between The Ultimate Fighter 11 standout Nick Ring (10-0) and Kazuo Misaki’s Grabaka teammate, Riki Fukuda (17-4) has been signed for UFC 127 February 27 in Sydney, Australia.

The fight will be the first for Ring since the undefeated Canadian notched a majority decision win over eventual TUF 11 winner Court McGee while filming the show in January. After the bout, Ring, who had been competing with a lingering knee injury, was forced to pull out of the competition due to a torn ACL which would require surgery. The favorite to win the competition, the 30-year-old has been rehabbing the joint since having it surgically repaired in April and has been training in Montreal at Tristar Gym with fellow UFC fighters, welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and longtime training partner Rory MacDonald.

Fukuda, who, like Ring,  will also be making his Octagon debut at the event down under, is the DEEP middleweight champion and has not lost since 2008. An EliteXC and DREAM veteran, his most notable victory is a unanimous decision he won over Murilo "Ninja" Rua at DREAM 8 in 2009. The 29-year-old native of Tokyo who has only been finished once in his career surprised many when he took veteran Joe Doerksen to a decision in his first bout in 2004.

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Jon Fitch Chasing BJ Penn’s AKA Reputation

Filed under: UFCJon Fitch’s upcoming fight against B.J. Penn at UFC 127 on Feb. 27 will be an opportunity for the longtime American Kickboxing Academy member to fulfill a personal mission within his gym.

“Coming out of AKA,” Fitch said Monday on The M…

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Jon Fitch‘s upcoming fight against B.J. Penn at UFC 127 on Feb. 27 will be an opportunity for the longtime American Kickboxing Academy member to fulfill a personal mission within his gym.

“Coming out of AKA,” Fitch said Monday on The MMA Hour. “B.J. has kind have been the older brother or the older cousin that you never really knew, but everybody always talks about.”

Before Fitch arrived at the San Jose gym around 2003, Penn had already left the gym to branch out on his own, but not before leaving a lasting impression with AKA owner Javier Mendez and then-AKA star Frank Shamrock, among others.

“It’s kind of like I’ve been chasing that reputation my whole career,” Fitch added. “It’s a huge thing for me to fight B.J. Penn.”

Matt Hughes Says Loss to Penn at UFC 123 Pushed him One Step Closer to Retirement

(Well, it could be worse, I guess; my kid could be a Brock fan.")
Well, it looks like Matt Hughes may be taking his KO loss to BJ Penn at UFC 123 a bit harder than we thought.
The former UFC welterweight champ wrote on his blog this week that the …


(Well, it could be worse, I guess; my kid could be a Brock fan.")

Well, it looks like Matt Hughes may be taking his KO loss to BJ Penn at UFC 123 a bit harder than we thought.

The former UFC welterweight champ wrote on his blog this week that the outcome of the fight has him more closely considering retirement.

Here what Hughes’ thoughts are on the situation:

"A lot of people have been asking about the fight and how I am doing. Of course, the fight didn’t go like I had planned it. I knew BJ was going to be in shape, but I didn’t know he was going to come in with a game plan and really look for my tendencies. I think BJ knew I was going to come in throwing my jab and I think he had a game plan for that," Hughes explains. "He hit me with a hard right hand that I never saw coming. It’s funny how styles make fights and I’m not at all like Frankie Edgar. So it just kind of stinks that BJ came off two losses and then ended up beating me in less than 30 seconds. I knew BJ was going to be tough that first round. I was trying to get him into the second and the third round where I could wear on him, slow him down and soften him up a little bit; but it just didn’t go that way."

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Wednesday Morning MMA Link Club

(Jeez, Georges, casual Friday? Vid courtesy of ESPN.)
Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail [email protected] for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…
– Helwani vs. Dundas: MMA Awards…

(Jeez, Georges, casual Friday? Vid courtesy of ESPN.)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail [email protected] for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

– Helwani vs. Dundas: MMA Awards Edition (Versus MMA Beat)

– ‘Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu’ Media Conference Call Highlights (LowKick)

– UFC-WEC Merger Brings Excitement, Warning About Jobs on the Line (MMA Fighting)

– CSAC’s George Dodd Pokes Holes In Chael Sonnen’s Rumored Testosterone Defense (MMA Convert)

– Prodigimon: Which BJ Penn Will You Get on Fight Night? (MiddleEasy)

– Mike Swick and Frank Shamrock Engage in Online War of Words (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Anthony Pettis Discusses ‘Fast Track to a UFC Title’ (FIGHT! Magazine)

– Alistair Overeem Discusses Steroid Accusations With Michael "The Voice" Schiavello" (MMA Scraps)

– Sean McCorkle Addresses Internet Fame, Trash Talk, and Stefan Struve (Heavy.com/MMA)

– Joe Rogan Calls MMA Writer a ‘F*ggot’, Internet Explodes (SBNation.com/MMA)

Four Rubber Matches That Absolutely Need to Happen

(We should all be that fired up, at least once in our lives. Props: UFC.com)
When BJ Penn knocked out Matt Hughes at UFC 123, one of the greatest rivalries in MMA history finally got its conclusion. And while not every two-fight series needs an immed…

BJ Penn UFC 123
(We should all be that fired up, at least once in our lives. Props: UFC.com)

When BJ Penn knocked out Matt Hughes at UFC 123, one of the greatest rivalries in MMA history finally got its conclusion. And while not every two-fight series needs an immediate tie-breaker — the Internet has already informed Dana White what we think of Lesnar vs. Mir III — there’s something incredibly dramatic and satisfying about a good rubber-match. Off the top of our heads, here’s a few others we’d like to see…

Jason "Mayhem" Miller vs. Tim Kennedy
Tim Kennedy Jason Mayhem Miller MMA photos
History: Kennedy def. Miller via decision @ Extreme Challenge 50 (2/23/03), Miller def. Kennedy via decision @ HDNet Fights: Reckless Abandon (12/15/07)
Why it needs to happen again: Look, I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for Jason Miller to agree to a catchweight fight with Nick Diaz under 185 pounds. Mayhem hasn’t even fought for Strikeforce since he squashed Tim Stout in April, and Kennedy is still without an opponent himself after dropping a decision to Jacare Souza in August — and he’s already mentioned that he wants another go-round with Mayhem. Strikeforce has two talented, unattached middleweights at their disposal with a storyline already in place. It doesn’t take rocket appliances to figure this out, guys.

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Pace Not Slowing for BJ Penn, but He Says He May Retire at 35

Filed under: UFC, NewsJust weeks away from his 32nd birthday, BJ Penn shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, it took less than two hours from the time he knocked out Matt Hughes at UFC 123 until the time the UFC announced he’d be facing Jon Fitch in …

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Just weeks away from his 32nd birthday, BJ Penn shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, it took less than two hours from the time he knocked out Matt Hughes at UFC 123 until the time the UFC announced he’d be facing Jon Fitch in the main event of UFC 127 in February.

That bout will mark the sixth fight for Penn in 18 months, a pace he hasn’t approached since he was a 22-year-old UFC rookie and fought six times in 16 months from May 2001 to September 2002.

Yet despite his good health and the recent flurry of activity, Penn says he’s not likely to fight much longer.