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Alan Belcher Hoping to Return in September

Right now, much of the hullabaloo in the UFC middleweight division is, as always, circling around the division’s champ Anderson Silva, and just what’s in store for the demigod. Dana White has confirmed that Silva will in fact face long time contender Yushin Okami on August 27th, but after that, then what? (Yes, nearly everyone […]

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Right now, much of the hullabaloo in the UFC middleweight division is, as always, circling around the division’s champ Anderson Silva, and just what’s in store for the demigod. Dana White has confirmed that Silva will in fact face long time contender Yushin Okami on August 27^th, but after that, then what? (Yes, nearly everyone thinks he will win). Will he rematch the last dude to make him look mortal? Chael Sonnen? Or will the UFC finally put together the heralded, ‘OMG’ super fight with GSP? After all, there’s no one else in the middleweight division right?

Well there is another dude, who yes, most wouldn’t pick to beat Silva, but he could possibly give the champ one hell of a fight and that’s Alan Belcher. Remember him? The guy with the Johnny Cash tattoo that’s won five straight fights? (Eff that, you know he beat Yoshihiro Akiyama). MMA Weekly recently ran a story reporting that the bruising middleweight is finally set to return to action, after recovering from an eye injury that nearly ended his career. Belcher’s manager, Malki Kawa informed the outlet that:

“It looks like Alan will probably make his return sometime in September, is what I’m hoping for. It’s the date that we kind of targeted as the date that he wants to come back,”

That’s good news, as there’s no question that Belcher is one of the division’s more entertaining fighters, who in addition, likes to stir the pot occasionally with an interesting quote or two. Now, Belcher will need to get a couple big wins under his belt upon his return, but if he does, he could be right thick in the title mix no?

Vitor Belfort Warns Wanderlei Silva to “Talk Less and Fight More”

There’s no shortage of ‘this I gotta see’ fights on Wanderlei Silva’s horizon right now, which any true fan of caged violence understands is pretty sweet. Not only is Silva scheduled to fight Chris Leben on July 2nd, which of course should be fantastic, things are getting nastier between him and Vitor Belfort.
Now, if you’ve been following […]

There’s no shortage of ‘this I gotta see’ fights on Wanderlei Silva’s horizon right now, which any true fan of caged violence understands is pretty sweet. Not only is Silva scheduled to fight Chris Leben on July 2^nd, which of course should be fantastic, things are getting nastier between him and Vitor Belfort.

Now, if you’ve been following the drama between Silva and Belfort, then you know they aren’t exactly bestest buddies, and that both have apparently agreed to a rematch. That said, Silva reportedly wanted to throw down with Leben first, a desire which, while Dana White obviously got over his initial disapproval, isn’t sitting too well with Mr. Belfort. Speaking to Tatame recently, Belfort directed this ‘advice’ in Wandy’s direction, when asked for his thoughts about Silva’s decision to fight Leben.

“Well, my friend, what can I do? The thong is a men’s whip and he needs to learn to talk less and fight more. But, what I can do, right? That’s life, bro, I don’t care about it, I’m focused for my next challenge. I don’t care about names, I don’t pick my opponents, and I always focus 100% in my next fight, independently of who I’ll fight with.”

Okay…not sure where the thong thing is coming from in this particular instance, but Vitor must think Silva is ducking him. In a way, Silva is, but just for the time being, as clearly he must view Leben as somewhat of a needed tune-up fight. Regardless, things are looking up for “Axe Murderer” fans, although, is anyone else wondering if Leben could play the spoiler here?

“Minotauro” Nogueira Still Says Anderson Silva Fighting Yushin Okami; Moving to 205

Yushin Okami’s performances may not always wear out the edge of your seat, but really, what does the dude have to do to get a title shot? This is a man, a rather large and strong one at that, who has won ten times in the Octagon and is coming off wins over Mark Munoz […]

Yushin Okami’s performances may not always wear out the edge of your seat, but really, what does the dude have to do to get a title shot? This is a man, a rather large and strong one at that, who has won ten times in the Octagon and is coming off wins over Mark Munoz and Nate Marquardt. That’s not a bad way to go about becoming a contender, but despite Okami’s accomplishments, he’s still waiting to face Anderson Silva (yes, that DQ thingy aside).

So, when recently Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira told Tatame magazine that Silva was going to fight Okami at the upcoming August 27^th UFC in Brazil, the news may not have sent every MMA fan into thrilled hysteria, but it kind of made sense. Then, MMA Junkie cited sources who said the reports were “premature,” no doubt sending Okami’s booster club members into further despair. Well, in a more recent story from Fighters Only Magazine, the outlet is reporting that Nogueira has once again stated in another Brazilian mag that, yes, Silva is fighting Okami this August.

“The mystery about the UFC Rio card that takes place on Aug 27th starts to be unfolded. I have information in which my friend and current biggest phenomenon Anderson Silva will make the main fight of the event versus Japan’s Yushin Okami,”

Now hold on for the real WTF? news. Nogueira apparently went on to say that Silva could be moving to light-heavyweight, because of the lack of contenders available to him at 185. Say what? Aside from the rematch with Chael Sonnen, which everyone and their dog wants to see, hasn’t Anderson consistently said lately he’s not doing 205 anymore?

Gilbert Melendez Believes Accomplishments Greater Than Edgar’s and Maynard’s

Ok, so last night turned out to be yet another epic night for the Cesar Gracie lads, as both Nick Diaz and Gilbert Melendez defended their belts with first round, stoppage wins. While things looked a little dicey for Nick on a couple of occasions, after getting ‘invited’ to the mat by Paul Daley’s fists, […]

Ok, so last night turned out to be yet another epic night for the Cesar Gracie lads, as both Nick Diaz and Gilbert Melendez defended their belts with first round, stoppage wins. While things looked a little dicey for Nick on a couple of occasions, after getting ‘invited’ to the mat by Paul Daley’s fists, the welterweight pulled out the win in ‘this is effin awesome’ fashion. Gilbert’s performance? Well, it was a little bit more, shall we say, flawless, as he hardly worked up a sweat while viciously beating down Tatsuya Kawajiri.

Understandably, the lightweight champ was pretty amped up after the win, which lets remember, came over a guy in Kawajiri who dominated Josh Thomson this past December. Melendez has always maintained that he can hang with the UFC’s best, and certainly last night’s win only furthered his point. Speaking after his 19^th career victory last night, Melendez continued on this theme (thanks to MMA Junkie for the quote) saying:

“I know I’m not the UFC champion, but I’ve been around this sport a lot longer than Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard,” Melendez said. “If you look at the past and what I’ve accomplished, I’ve accomplished more.”…”Not to take anything away from those guys. They’re great fighters. I’m just trying represent my organization and my team.”

Melendez has been fighting since 2002 while Edgar and Maynard transitioned into 2005 and 2006 respectively, and “El Nino” was throwing down in Pride when most MMA fans hadn’t even heard of the current UFC stars. So, does this mean Melendez can beat either guy? Guess someone will just have to get them together and find out….

Carlos Condit Gets Fight With Dong Hyun Kim

Recently we gave Carlos Condit a cyberspace, double thumbs up for quickly doing the ‘pick, pick me’ when word came down that Jon Fitch was bowing out of his rematch with BJ Penn due to an injury. Nothing came out of it immediately, leading us to speculate that fight wasn’t happening, and now Penn has […]

Recently we gave Carlos Condit a cyberspace, double thumbs up for quickly doing the ‘pick, pick me’ when word came down that Jon Fitch was bowing out of his rematch with BJ Penn due to an injury. Nothing came out of it immediately, leading us to speculate that fight wasn’t happening, and now Penn has announced that he too is injured.

Who is Condit going to fight? Today the UFC has announced that the former WEC champ will take on Dong Hyun Kim on July 2^nd…yup, not exactly a guy that’s been blowing dudes out of the water in the first round, but still a reedonkously tough fighter nonetheless. Big, strong, judo black belts just seem to have a way of taking the fight right out of you; just ask Matt Brown, TJ Grant, Amir Sadollah and Nate Diaz.

So, while this fight may not produce the kind of fireworks that a Condit, Penn match-up would have, it’s still an intriguing bout. A win for either guy will say a lot about where they stand in the welterweight division, just as UFC boss man Dana White stated in the official announcement:

“A win over Condit would break Kim into the top ten and a win over Kim would bring Condit another step closer to a world title shot,” said UFC President Dana White.

Anyone else thinking Condit needs to keep this fight standing and then some? UFC 132’s shaping up nicely; Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber, Chris Leben vs. Wanderlei Silva, Evan Dunham vs. George Sotiroupolus and more.

Tatsuya Kawajiri Focused on Title Fight Despite Disasters in Japan

Yes, we’ve spent some time lately waxing on about how compelling this Saturday’s Strikeforce is looking, as not only is the card looking pretty sweet, there’s also some very interesting storylines behind the event. Unless you’ve been wandering the wild aimlessly for weeks searching for ‘Big Foot’ (no, not the dude that beat down Fedor), […]

Yes, we’ve spent some time lately waxing on about how compelling this Saturday’s Strikeforce is looking, as not only is the card looking pretty sweet, there’s also some very interesting storylines behind the event. Unless you’ve been wandering the wild aimlessly for weeks searching for ‘Big Foot’ (no, not the dude that beat down Fedor), you’re probably aware of the recent tragedies that occurred in Japan.

This Saturday, three of Japan’s more noteworthy fighters in Shinya Aoki, Hiroyuki Takaya and Tatsuya Kawajiri will be fighting on the Strikeforce card, with the latter taking on Gilbert Melendez for the promotion’s lightweight championship. So yeah, there’s no question that a few victories, or even some badass performances from any of the three, could lift some spirits back home. When asked about how the recent disasters affected Kawajiri’s training camp, the powerful lightweight told MMA Fighting:

“In the beginning I lost my concentration a little bit, but I had friends who helped me train and work out,” Kawajiri said, via a translator. “We’re still getting light earthquakes, and water’s cut off. We’re lacking gasoline, and for a while food was hard to get. Things have gotten better day by day. I have friends who helped me train and workout, and now I am in the best shape. Now I’m concentrated on the fight.”

And while we’re on the subject, DREAM released a really cool promotional vid about this weekend’s bouts featuring Kawajiri, Aoki and Takaya. You can check it out here. To wager a little money on this Saturday’s action head here.