Weigh-In Fail: Shonie Carter at Bellator 25

("Yep, just another day in the life of Mr. International. So who’s gettin’ it first, ladies?" Photo courtesy of MiddleEasy.)
Bellator 25 goes down tonight at the Chicago Theatre, featuring two opening- round bouts from the heavyweight tourn…

Shonie Carter Bellator 25 weigh-ins
("Yep, just another day in the life of Mr. International. So who’s gettin’ it first, ladies?" Photo courtesy of MiddleEasy.)

Bellator 25 goes down tonight at the Chicago Theatre, featuring two opening- round bouts from the heavyweight tournament, and a women’s tourney meeting between Jessica Pene and Zoila Frausto. MiddleEasy was on the scene at the weigh-ins, and passed along two important bits of information. First, that Shonie Carter came in six pounds overweight for his non-tournament bout against 8-7-1 journeyman Torrance Taylor, even after Carter removed his purple zoot suit. As MiddleEasy writes: "Bjorn Rebney, the founder and CEO of Bellator, seemed to work out a deal to give his opponent $100 for every pound Shonie was over out of his purse rather than the obligatory 20%. Mr. International eventually cut more weight to save himself some green." $100/pound? Torrance, you got screwed, buddy.

The second notable observation to come out of the weigh-ins is that Zoila Frausto, at 115 pounds, is the most ripped broad this side of Cris Cyborg. Photographic proof is after the jump…

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Mac Danzig’s Injury Forces More Changes to UFC Fight Night 22

(Poor vegan son-of-a-bitch can’t catch a break. Photo courtesy of MMABay)
Due to a chest injury suffered in training, TUF 6 winner Mac Danzig has withdrawn from his co-headlining rematch against Matt Wiman at UFC Fight Night 22 (September 15th, Austi…

Matt Wiman Mac Danzig UFC 115
(Poor vegan son-of-a-bitch can’t catch a break. Photo courtesy of MMABay)

Due to a chest injury suffered in training, TUF 6 winner Mac Danzig has withdrawn from his co-headlining rematch against Matt Wiman at UFC Fight Night 22 (September 15th, Austin). Danzig and Wiman previously met at UFC 115 in June, with Danzig losing by a controversial first-round technical decision; the referee stopped the fight due to a guillotine choke despite the fact that Danzig didn’t tap and wasn’t out, leading to an unfortunate "WTFIYP?" moment in the cage. It was Danzig’s fourth loss in his last five fights, and he’ll now have to wait a little longer to redeem himself.

Stepping up against Wiman at the Austin event will be TUF 8 lightweight winner Efrain Escudero, who’s coming off his unanimous decision victory over Dan Lauzon at UFC 114, and was originally supposed to face John Gunderson on the prelims. Now, Gunderson is expected to face returning UFC vet Yves Edwards (38-16-1, 6-4 UFC), who hasn’t competed in the Octagon since his TKO loss to Joe Stevenson at UFC 61. Since then, he’s made appearances in Bodog Fight, EliteXC, Strikeforce, and Shine Fights, and most recently scored a decision over Luis Palomino at last week’s Bellator event.

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‘WEC 50: Cruz vs. Benavidez’ Aftermath — Press Conference Highlights, Payouts, Villains + More

(Props: YouTube.com/Heavy)
— If you thought last night’s WEC main event wasn’t as close as the judges scored it, Dominick Cruz would respectfully agree with you. As the reigning bantamweight champ said after his fight with Joseph Benavidez (…

(Props: YouTube.com/Heavy)

— If you thought last night’s WEC main event wasn’t as close as the judges scored it, Dominick Cruz would respectfully agree with you. As the reigning bantamweight champ said after his fight with Joseph Benavidez (skip to the 2:59 mark above): 

"In my humble opinion, I thought I won all the rounds…I think that the crowd has a big part to play in the judges’ opinion sometimes. Also, he caught me with a real slick knee up against the cage that made me bleed real bad. I would assume the blood could have swayed the judges a little as well."

Benavidez was also surprised that one of the judges saw it his way: "I figured I didn’t do enough to win, but I wasn’t watching the fight, so when the judge did say my name it was quite a surprise. I was like "wow, could this happen? Is this, like, the work of God or something?" For the record, FightMetric gave every round to Cruz for outpointing Benavidez in striking (103-46 total) and takedowns (5-0 total).

— $10,000 performance bonuses were handed out to the following fighters…
Knockout of the Night: Newcomer Maciej Jewtuszko for using a spinning back elbow and a pair of nasty uppercuts to wreck Anthony Njokuani in 96 seconds.
Submission of the Night: Anthony Pettis for finishing Shane Roller via triangle choke with just nine seconds left in the fight, after wearing Roller down with his impressively-flashy striking attacks. (How ’bout that capoeira head kick in round one?)
Fight of the Night: Scott Jorgensen and Brad Pickett for their 15-minute smash-up which went all over the cage and didn’t slow down for one second. Round two was easily one of the best MMA rounds of 2010.

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Wednesday Morning MMA Link Club: Is It the Shoes?

(Cain Velasquez’s new Lugz commercial. Yeah, he smashed that. Props: YouTube.com/MMAFightClub)
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 …

(Cain Velasquez‘s new Lugz commercial. Yeah, he smashed that. Props: YouTube.com/MMAFightClub)

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…

– Punch Drunk Preview: WEC 50 (Heavy.com/MMA)

– Cro Cop Says He’s Not Ready for UFC 119 but Still Guarantees a First Round Knockout (MiddleEasy)

– Backstage: Ariel Helwani vs. Ed Soares (MMA Fighting)

– Total Fighter Payroll for Strikeforce Challengers Phoenix: $53,250 (MMA Convert)

– 10 Taekwondo Knockouts That Will Blow Your Mind (MMA Scraps)

– Shane Carwin still silent on steroid connection; media as well (Watch Kalib Run)

– Pettis: ‘Roller Doesn’t Want Any Part of My Stand-up’ at WEC 50 (Versus MMA Beat)

– Chael Sonnen Syndrome: Urijah Faber trash-talking his way to the WEC Bantamweight Title shot? (LowKick)

– Rafael Cavalcante: “I have been working hard for not just this fight, but for my dream, every day for six years.” (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Strikeforce Houston: Noons & Gurgel on Standing and Banging for a Title Shot (FIGHT! Magazine)

Epic Main Card Confirmed for ‘UFC 121: Lesnar vs. Velasquez’

("You ain’t my wife, but you’ll do for right now.")
The UFC has confirmed the pay-per-view lineup for their super-stacked UFC 121 event, which goes down October 23rd at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Tune in and you will see Brock Lesnar…

Brock Lesnar UFC Frank Mir
("You ain’t my wife, but you’ll do for right now.")

The UFC has confirmed the pay-per-view lineup for their super-stacked UFC 121 event, which goes down October 23rd at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Tune in and you will see Brock Lesnar go for his third heavyweight belt defense against Cain Velasquez, Jake Shields attempt to leapfrog Jon Fitch on the welterweight ladder by smashing Martin Kampmann, and Tito Ortiz try to take advantage of Matt Hamill’s deafness-related lack of equilibrium. (Science!) Plus: Sanchez vs. Thiago, Schuab vs. Gonzaga, TUF 11 winner Court McGee stuffed onto the prelims and more. Tickets go on sale to the general public this Saturday at noon PT.

Fun fact, from the UFC press release: If Lesnar defeats Velasquez, he will tie Tim Sylvia for the most heavyweight title defenses, and will set the record for most consecutive heavyweight title defenses. And now, the lineup…

Main Card
Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez (for heavyweight title)
Martin Kampmann vs. Jake Shields (WW)
Paulo Thiago vs. Diego Sanchez (WW)
Tito Ortiz vs. Matt Hamill (LHW)
Brendan Schaub vs. Gabriel Gonzaga (HW)

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And Now He’s Fired: Ben Saunders

(Killa B gets worked by Dennis Hallman at UFC 117. Photo courtesy of MMAFighting.)
Following back-to-back unanimous decision losses to Dennis Hallman at UFC 117 and Jon Fitch at UFC 111, Ben Saunders (8-3-2, 4-3 UFC) has been released from his UFC co…

Ben Saunders Dennis Hallman UFC 117
(Killa B gets worked by Dennis Hallman at UFC 117. Photo courtesy of MMAFighting.)

Following back-to-back unanimous decision losses to Dennis Hallman at UFC 117 and Jon Fitch at UFC 111, Ben Saunders (8-3-2, 4-3 UFC) has been released from his UFC contract. The American Top Team welterweight confirmed the news on his Twitter page, where he wrote the following:

Sorry everyone I tried to fight my best these past two fights but ended up getting out worked… the UFC has officially cut me… the good news is they told me to work on my wrestling and ground game and then come back… So that is all I am going to be doing… improving dramatically and show them I belong. It was a honor to fight for the @UFC and I will make it back into the mix in due time… no one ever said my dream of getting that belt would be easy… in fact I was denied it as even a possibility and told I was crazy since I was a kid… look how far I have gone feeding off the doubters and haters… it just makes me that much more hungry… I’ll be back! There isn’t a doubt in my mind.

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