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Marquardt vs. Palhares Taken Off UFC 118, Will Now Serve as UFN 22’s Main Event

(Rousimar Palhares finishes Lucio Linhares at UFC 107 last December. Five of Palhares’s last seven wins have come via heel-hook submission. Photo courtesy of MMAWeekly)
With Alan Belcher’s main event fight against Demian Maia at UFC Fight Night 22 (S…

Rousimar Palhares Lucio Linhares
(Rousimar Palhares finishes Lucio Linhares at UFC 107 last December. Five of Palhares’s last seven wins have come via heel-hook submission. Photo courtesy of MMAWeekly)

With Alan Belcher‘s main event fight against Demian Maia at UFC Fight Night 22 (September 15, Austin) nixed due to an eye injury, it’s now being reported that the Nate Marquardt vs. Rousimar Palhares feature scheduled for UFC 118 (August 28, Boston) will be pushed back two and a half weeks to serve as the Austin card’s headliner. Maia hasn’t been officially dropped from the UFN 22 lineup yet, though it seems likely that he’ll get a replacement opponent on a future event.

As for UFC 118, some shifting will need to be done to fill the empty main card slot, and potentially fill the hole that the replacement could create in the Spike TV Prelim broadcast. The lineup currently looks like this…

Alan Belcher Out of ‘UFC Fight Night 22’ Main Event Due to Detached Retina

("That’s it, go to sleeeeeeep." Alan Belcher and his little friend Johnny gang up on Patrick Cote at UFC 113. Photo courtesy of ESPN.)
UFC middleweight contender (and unapologetic baby-choker) Alan Belcher confirmed yesterday that he won’t …

("That’s it, go to sleeeeeeep." Alan Belcher and his little friend Johnny gang up on Patrick Cote at UFC 113. Photo courtesy of ESPN.)

UFC middleweight contender (and unapologetic baby-choker) Alan Belcher confirmed yesterday that he won’t be able to headline UFC Fight Night 22 against Demian Maia, due to a detached retina. As he wrote:

While I was in brazil I started losing my vision in my right eye. I saw a dr that told me to go back to u.s. immediately. My friend/surgeon from biloxi got me an emergency surgery scheduled in alabama now just trying to recover. No contact for 6 weeks. Sorry to my trainers. Sorry to ufc & demian Maia, I know he has been training specifically for me. Sorry to my fans as well. As long as I get released from dr I will try to make ufn 22 to see my fans and watch the fights

In response, Demian Maia tweeted: "I dont know who will be my oponent. I think I still in the UFN 22 main event, but Im not sure. Ill let you guys know…"

In other words, Chris Leben should probably start warming up. The current lineup of UFN 22 (September 15th, Austin) is after the jump.

‘Jones vs. Matyushenko’ Aftermath — End of Night Bonuses, ‘Fighting American’, and the Bones vs. Toney Dream Fight

(That reminds us, if you’re ever sitting next to Jon Jones on an airplane and his elbow is crowding your armrest, you’d better just let him have it. Photo courtesy of MMAFighting.com.)
— $40,000 performance bonuses were handed out to some very …

(That reminds us, if you’re ever sitting next to Jon Jones on an airplane and his elbow is crowding your armrest, you’d better just let him have it. Photo courtesy of MMAFighting.com.)

— $40,000 performance bonuses were handed out to some very worthy recipients after last night’s UFC Live: Jones vs. Matyushenko event. Scoring the Knockout of the Night bonus was Takanori Gomi, who starched Tyson Griffin 64 seconds into their fight with a sledgehammer right hook. The Submission of the Night went to Charles Oliveira, who owned Darren Elkins with a masterful triangle-armbar in another dramatic quick finish during the prelims. Fight of the Night bonuses went to Brian Stann and Mike Massenzio for their unaired preliminary bout. Stann battled back from an early deficit to finish Massenzio via third-round triangle choke. It was the first submission win of Stann’s career.

— Despite his through ass-kicking of Vladimir Matyushenko, Jon Jones is doing his best to stay humble and not let his ever-growing hype influence him. As he said during the post-event press conference:

UFC Live: Jones vs. Matyushenko — Preliminary Card Results

(Back from the grave: James Irvin yesterday [left], and in March [right]. Photos courtesy of CombatLifestyle)
Spoilers after the jump…
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(Back from the grave: James Irvin yesterday [left], and in March [right]. Photos courtesy of CombatLifestyle)

Spoilers after the jump…

Joe Warren vs. Joe Soto Featherweight Title Fight Slated for Bellator 27 in San Antonio; Season 3 Shaping Up

(In case you forgot who Joe Soto is, here’s his beatdown of Yahir Reyes from the featherweight finals at Bellator 10.)
Not counting their impending battle in a court of law, Bellator’s third season will be packed with compelling matchups. The tour…

(In case you forgot who Joe Soto is, here’s his beatdown of Yahir Reyes from the featherweight finals at Bellator 10.)

Not counting their impending battle in a court of law, Bellator’s third season will be packed with compelling matchups. The tournament-based fight club announced today that season 2 featherweight winner Joe Warren will challenge for Joe Soto‘s belt at Bellator 27 (September 2nd at the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio). Soto ran through Bellator’s inaugural 145-pound tourney last year, and most recently scored a TKO over Diego Saraiva in a non-title bout at Bellator 19, bringing his unblemished record to 9-0.

For its upcoming season, Bellator is focusing on big men, tiny women, and exiled UFC talent. Here’s a rundown of the notable matches that have been reportedly booked so far…

Zuffa Sues Agent Ken Pavia and Bellator Over ‘Theft of Trade Secrets’

(The little guy may look sweet, but he bit a toddler’s face at a birthday party later that day. Wasn’t the first time that Pavia’s done that, either.)
Prominent MMA agent Ken Pavia — whose client roster includes such well-known fighters as Mart…

(The little guy may look sweet, but he bit a toddler’s face at a birthday party later that day. Wasn’t the first time that Pavia’s done that, either.)

Prominent MMA agent Ken Pavia — whose client roster includes such well-known fighters as Martin Kampmann, Chris Lytle, Anthony Johnson, and Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Santos — is in serious hot water with the UFC. As first reported by Yahoo!’s Kevin Iole, Zuffa LLC has filed a suit alleging that Pavia passed along trade secrets and confidential Zuffa documents to upstart MMA promotion Bellator, which used the documents to help run its business. Bellator is named as a co-defendent in the suit, as well as other unnamed individuals and corporations that Zuffa alleges participated in breach of contract. From the Yahoo! piece:

According to the suit, filed Wednesday in Clark County District Court, Pavia delivered confidential contracts, including fighter agreements, to Bellator after being asked to do so in a July 4 email to him from Bellator founder Bjorn Rebney…

An email which Zuffa’s lawsuit alleges is from Rebney to Pavia on July 4 was attached as an exhibit to the 16-page suit. In it, Rebney writes, ” … You’ve been great about sending us ‘All’ of the seminal docs from the UFC, so that we can re-do them and implement them for Bellator.”