Hump Day Headlines with Stephanie Ann Cook

Vitor Belfort injured, forced off UFC 139 fight with Cung Le. Wanderlei Silva will replace Belfort. Jon Olav Einemo back in UFC despite his team, Golden Glory‘s ongoing with the promotion. Alistair Overeem announced his.

Vitor Belfort injured, forced off UFC 139 fight with Cung Le. Wanderlei Silva will replace Belfort.

Jon Olav Einemo back in UFC despite his team, Golden Glory‘s ongoing with the promotion. Alistair Overeem announced his split from the Holland-based team yesterday.

Welterweight, Mark Scanlon pulls out of UFC 138 bout with James Head for undisclosed reasons. John Maguire will replace Scanlon.

UFN 25 draws 1.8 million viewers on Spike TV to Bellator 50′s 114, 000 viewers on MTV2.

Eddie Alvarez injured. Bellator 34 Lightweight Championship fight against Michael Chandler on October 15th is now delayed.

And Now He’s Fired: Phil Baroni

(The record shows he took the blows / and did it hiiiiiiiis waaaaaaaay. Photo courtesy of UFC.com)
After suffering a first-round knockout at the hands of Brad Tavares at UFC 125 — his second-consecutive loss since returning to the UFC in N…

Phil Baroni UFC 125 walkout MMA photos Mark Coleman
(The record shows he took the blows / and did it hiiiiiiiis waaaaaaaay. Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

After suffering a first-round knockout at the hands of Brad Tavares at UFC 125 — his second-consecutive loss since returning to the UFC in November 2009, and his third-straight loss overall — it appears that Phil Baroni‘s latest stint in the UFC has officially ended. Versus’s MMA Beat passed along confirmation of his release last night. The firing was no surprise to Baroni, who intends to stay very active in 2011 and work his way back to the big leagues.

The 34-year-old currently holds an MMA record of 13-13, with a 3-7 lifetime record in the UFC. Baroni hasn’t tasted victory in the Octagon since declaring himself "the man" after storming Dave Menne at UFC 39 in September 2002. Tough break for the NYBA, but maybe we’ll finally get to see that rubber match with Minowaman.

Semi-related: Matt Brown, who has lost his last three fights in the UFC, all by second-round submission, is reportedly getting another shot against British welterweight Mark Scanlon (7-1, 0-1 UFC) at UFC on Versus 3 in March. Go figure.

UFC 122: The New Guys

(Alexandre Ferreira vs. Lew Polley, 2/29/08. Props: YouTube.com/IFL)
At this Saturday’s UFC 122 event in Germany, four men will begin their journeys from UFC preliminary card prospects to…whatever they end up becoming. For example, our first-eve…

(Alexandre Ferreira vs. Lew Polley, 2/29/08. Props: YouTube.com/IFL)

At this Saturday’s UFC 122 event in Germany, four men will begin their journeys from UFC preliminary card prospects to…whatever they end up becoming. For example, our first-ever "New Guys" column included a unknown kid by the name of Jon Jones. Our most recent "New Guys" column included a guy who got beat up by Rob Broughton then fired for steroid use. So, there’s a pretty wide swing here in terms of potential success. Let’s meet the latest batch of Octagon newbies…

ALEXANDRE "Cacareco" FERREIRA (LHW)
Experience: 18-6 record dating back to 1998, with 17 wins by first-round submission, including victories over Heath Herring, Bob Schrijber, Branden Lee Hinkle, and Fabio Maldonado. Has made appearances in Rings, the IFL, and Jungle Fight, among other promotions.
Will be facing: Vladimir Matyushenko (24-5, 5-3 UFC)
Lowdown: A stocky fireplug of a man, the 31-year-old "Cacareco" began fighting professionally while still in his teens. Ferreira comes from a decorated BJJ/luta livre background, and his grappling accomplishments include a 2nd-place finish in the 2003 ADCC Absolute Division tournament, where he placed ahead of Fabricio Werdum, Marcelo Garcia, Saulo Ribeiro, Marcio Cruz, and Jeff Monson.

This Q&A on UFC.com reveals that Alexandre’s favorite striking technique is the "takedown" (!) so don’t expect the guy to do much standing and banging. When asked which college he attended, Ferreira responded "Unfortunately I could not go to college; my college was my survival as a human." He hasn’t competed since a 70-second kimura victory over Walter Mazurkievicz last October. Ferreira was supposed to face Jamal Patterson at "Shine Fights: Mayorga vs. Thomas" in May, but that event famously imploded at the last minute.

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