Lesnar vs. Velasquez Set for October 23rd in Anaheim + More UFC Booking News

(They don’t like smiling. Put that in your little notebook.)
Dana White confirmed with MMAFighting.com over the weekend that Brock Lesnar’s expected title defense against Cain Velasquez will come at UFC 121, slated for October 23rd at the Honda …


(They don’t like smiling. Put that in your little notebook.)

Dana White confirmed with MMAFighting.com over the weekend that Brock Lesnar‘s expected title defense against Cain Velasquez will come at UFC 121, slated for October 23rd at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The meeting will come nearly four months after Lesnar’s comeback submission win over Shane Carwin at UFC 116, and eight months after Velasquez stormed through Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 110.

Though betting odds for the fight opened with Lesnar as a minor favorite (-125 to Cain’s -105), Lesnar has already moved as high as -160, due to money flooding in on the champ. At this point, the only other matchup reported for UFC 121 is a lightweight scrap between Sam Stout and Paul Taylor. In other booking news…

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Wednesday Morning MMA Link Club

(Rule #17 of the Fighter Fist Pose: Never rest your head on the shoulder of a chubby man in a floral-print shirt, as it will completely negate the fist-pose’s power. / Photo courtesy of the TUF 11 Finale: Afterparty pics gallery on CombatLifestyle.com…

James McSweeney Ultimate Fighter TUF 11 UFC afterparty fist pose
(Rule #17 of the Fighter Fist Pose: Never rest your head on the shoulder of a chubby man in a floral-print shirt, as it will completely negate the fist-pose’s power. / Photo courtesy of the TUF 11 Finale: Afterparty pics gallery on CombatLifestyle.com.)

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– Fabricio Werdum: ‘I will choke Fedor in the first round’ (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Jan Finney Isn’t Going to “Cuddle” Cris Cyborg (FightMagazine)

– Ten Things We Learned From WEC 49 (Heavy.com/MMA)

– Biggest Story Heading Into UFC 116 Is Not Brock Lesnar, It’s Shane Carwin (WatchKalibRun)

– ‘Strikeforce: Los Angeles’ Fighter Salaries (MMA Fighting)

– Kendall Grove Says Spike TV Controls ‘The Ultimate Fighter’, Not the UFC (MiddleEasy)

– MMAScraps Radio: Cain Velasquez, Ben Rothwell and Chris Barnett (MMA Scraps)

James McSweeney to Appeal TUF 11 Finale Loss to Travis Browne

Filed under: UFC, FanHouse Exclusive, NewsBelieving that illegal elbows influenced the outcome of his fight Saturday, UFC heavyweight James McSweeney will look to appeal his loss to Travis Browne at The Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale card in Las Vegas.

M…

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Believing that illegal elbows influenced the outcome of his fight Saturday, UFC heavyweight James McSweeney will look to appeal his loss to Travis Browne at The Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale card in Las Vegas.

McSweeney’s manager Lex McMahon told MMAFighting.com Monday that they will file a formal request with the Nevada state athletic commission to have the loss overturned.

“James was doing very well in the fight until he got hit with a totally legal and fair shot by Travis that put him down,” McMahon said. “Once Travis got on top of him, he landed several blows that were elbows to the back of the head — well beyond what the referee came and told us was the acceptable zone, which was anything that was two knuckles past the ear.”

Falling Action: Best and Worst of WEC 49, TUF 11 Finale

Filed under: UFC, WECWhat a weekend. Two Zuffa events in two days, and sandwiched in between two Strikeforce cards on Showtime. It’s almost enough to make even the most hardcore fan take a night off to watch some “Top Chef” and wait for the testosteron…

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What a weekend. Two Zuffa events in two days, and sandwiched in between two Strikeforce cards on Showtime. It’s almost enough to make even the most hardcore fan take a night off to watch some “Top Chef” and wait for the testosterone levels to drop back to normal. Almost.

Rather than try to separate Saturday night’s action from Sunday’s – personally, the weekend’s all one bloody blur for me – let’s combine the two for a giant look at the good, the bad, and the staph-infected after the TUF 11 Finale and WEC 49.

James McSweeney Looks to Show Fans Something New at TUF 11 Finale

Filed under: UFCYou won’t hear this often in the fight game, but James McSweeney is pretty sure that breaking his hand in the opening moments of his first official UFC bout was one of the best things that could have happened to him.

Not that it felt t…

Filed under:

You won’t hear this often in the fight game, but James McSweeney is pretty sure that breaking his hand in the opening moments of his first official UFC bout was one of the best things that could have happened to him.

Not that it felt that way at the time. When it actually happened, during one of the first punching exchanges between McSweeney and Darrill Schoonover at December’s “Ultimate Fighter” Finale, what he felt was sickening pain.

“I knew it was bad. I felt a crunch, and I felt the pain move all the way up my forearm,” McSweeney said. “It wasn’t until two or three punches later that I really knew it was broken.”

The Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale: The New Guys

(Travis Browne’s knockout of Brian Campbell)
(Travis Browne’s knockout of Abe Wagner)
Along with the six TUF 11 castmembers getting a shot on the preliminary card of this Saturday’s Finale show, two Octagon first-timers will also be trying to m…

(Travis Browne’s knockout of Brian Campbell)

(Travis Browne’s knockout of Abe Wagner)

Along with the six TUF 11 castmembers getting a shot on the preliminary card of this Saturday’s Finale show, two Octagon first-timers will also be trying to make a big impression. Get to know them below, and tell us how you think they’ll fare in the comments section…

TRAVIS BROWNE (HW)
Experience: 9-0 record with appearances in Bellator, King of the Cage, and Gladiator Challenge. Five of his wins came within the first minute of the fight. Most recently scored a 35-second knockout of Aaron Brink at a GC event in February, which followed an eight-second knockout of Abe Wagner two weeks earlier and a nine-second knockout of Brian Campbell last November.
Will be facing: James McSweeney (4-4, 1-0 UFC)
Lowdown: At 6’6", 250 pounds, and with a Carwin-like habit of ending fights early, Travis Browne could make a very nice addition to the UFC’s heavyweight roster. Based out of the Alliance Training Center in San Diego, "Hapa" works as a professional dog trainer when he’s not knocking people unconscious. Browne was exposed to drug and gang culture in his native Hawaii at an early age, but escaped his rough upbringing and found a positive outlet for his aggression in jiu-jitsu. He was not selected to appear on Bully Beatdown, which really bothered him.

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