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DREAM.15 to Feature Overeem vs. Rodriguez, Mousasi vs. O’Brien

(Ricco Rodriguez: From flab to fab.)
Two months after his beatdown of Brett Rogers at Heavy Artillery, Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem will return to competition at DREAM.15 (July 10th, Saitama), where he’ll take on former UFC heavy…

Ricco Rodriguez fat MMA
(Ricco Rodriguez: From flab to fab.)

Two months after his beatdown of Brett Rogers at Heavy Artillery, Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem will return to competition at DREAM.15 (July 10th, Saitama), where he’ll take on former UFC heavyweight champ Ricco Rodriguez in a non-title bout. While that may sound like Alistair is getting back to his Japanese squash-match roots, keep in mind that Rodriguez is on a seven-fight win streak since last July (six of which came by stoppage), including victories over veterans Travis Fulton and Moise Rimbon. He also looks a lot better physically these days (see above), and competed in the 218-pound division at last year’s ADCCs.

Can Rodriguez use Overeem as a springboard to a career rebirth? No, probably not — but he could impress a lot of people just by giving Overeem a tough fight and not spitting on anybody. In a related story, Ricco is no longer listed for that 7/18 Impact FC fight against Jeff Monson, which is unfortunate because you can bet that Paulo Filho and Ken Shamrock will be dropping out at the last minute…

Wednesday Morning Link Club: Yep, This Is Really Happening

(Props: UFC.com/JamesToney)
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…
– Was Fedor Another Victim of EA’s Cover Curse? (MiddleEasy)
…

(Props: UFC.com/JamesToney)

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…

– Was Fedor Another Victim of EA’s Cover Curse? (MiddleEasy)

– Shane Carwin: ‘One of Us Will Need Help Leaving the Octagon’ at UFC 116 (MMA Fighting)

– Spike To Telecast Weigh-Ins For UFC 116 Lesnar-Carwin (Watch Kalib Run)

– George Sotiropoulos Will Fight Anyone (Heavy.com/MMA)

– Three Strikes and You’re Out: How Groin Shots Are Changing the Outcome of Fights (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Photo Gallery: M-1/Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum (FightMagazine)

– Fedor Emelianenko’s Career in 69 Seconds (MMA Scraps)

MMA Loses Another Battle in New York; State Assembly Pulls Sport From Budget Bill

(So the UFC is too brutal for New York, but children are allowed to see "Mamma Mia"? Explain that one to me. / Photo courtesy of graciemag.com.)
NYDailyNews.com breaks the unfortunate turn of events:
ALBANY – The push to legalize ultimate …

(So the UFC is too brutal for New York, but children are allowed to see "Mamma Mia"? Explain that one to me. / Photo courtesy of graciemag.com.)

NYDailyNews.com breaks the unfortunate turn of events:

ALBANY – The push to legalize ultimate fighting in New York is on the ropes. Assembly Democrats stripped approval for the wildly popular violent sport from a budget bill that lawmakers will take up as soon as today.

Gov. Paterson sought to legalize mixed martial arts, saying fights could pull in more than $2 million in tax revenue for the cash-strapped state.

"The majority of voices who spoke about this issue in our conference were not supportive of approving it as part of the budget," said Assemblyman Steven Englebright (D-L.I.), a fight fan. Englebright said it’s a long shot the Assembly will revisit the issue. The state Senate has already approved the sport.

UFC Fight Booking Alert: Hardy vs. Condit, Gomi vs. Griffin

(Y’know, if you two got to know each other, you’d realize you aren’t so different after all.)
As first reported by MMA Weekly, Dan Hardy will return to the Octagon at UFC 120, tentatively slated for October 16th at the O2 Arena in London. After gett…

(Y’know, if you two got to know each other, you’d realize you aren’t so different after all.)

As first reported by MMA Weekly, Dan Hardy will return to the Octagon at UFC 120, tentatively slated for October 16th at the O2 Arena in London. After getting slept on for five rounds in his unsuccessful welterweight title grab against Georges St. Pierre in March, Hardy will look to rebound against Carlos Condit, who’s coming off a dramatic third-round TKO over Rory MacDonald at UFC 115; the stoppage came with seven seconds left in the final frame, and Condit would have likely lost the fight on points. No other fights have been reported for UFC 120, although the event is rumored to host the UFC’s first U.K. Fan Expo.

In other booking news, Tyson Griffin has stepped up to face Takanori Gomi at UFC on Versus 2 (August 1st, San Diego), replacing Joe Stevenson who suffered a knee injury in training. Griffin was most recently outworked by Evan Dunham at UFC 115, losing by split-decision. Gomi might be facing a must-win situation against Griffin, as he was choked out by Kenny Florian in his Octagon debut in March.

Pulver vs. Garijo, Sylvia vs. Buentello Slated for ‘War on the Mainland’

(Retirement is for quitters.)
A new report on Sherdog passes along more details on that "War on the Mainland" MMA/boxing hybrid event (August 14th; Irvine, Ca.) that will host Jens Pulver’s first post-WEC appearance. Following five straight…

(Retirement is for quitters.)

A new report on Sherdog passes along more details on that "War on the Mainland" MMA/boxing hybrid event (August 14th; Irvine, Ca.) that will host Jens Pulver‘s first post-WEC appearance. Following five straight losses in the WEC, Lil’ Evil will try to re-build against Diego Garijo, a 4-1 prospect from The Arena, who hasn’t competed since his insane brawl against Saad Awad at Bellator X last year. So good luck Jens, because this kid can really take a beating.

Though it originally appeared that Tim Sylvia would miss this event due to a foot injury suffered in the Maruisz Pudzianowski fight, Sherdog reports that Timmy will actually be headlining the card against recent UFC castoff Paul Buentello. Speaking of UFC castoffs, former UFC #1 middleweight contender Thales Leites will do battle with Hawaiian vet Falaniko Vitale at "War on the Mainland," Jason Lambert locks horns with old-schooler Allan Goes, and Terry Martin meets Jorge "The Naked Man" Ortiz.

If you’d like to check out the terrible-looking website for the event, go to www.waronthemainland.com. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

And Now He’s Fired Too: Keith Jardine

(Too weird to live. Too rare to die. Photo courtesy of MMAFighting.com)
We crossed our fingers and held our breath, but we were not able to stave off the inevitable. As first reported by MMAFighting, longtime UFC veteran Keith Jardine has been cut by…

(Too weird to live. Too rare to die. Photo courtesy of MMAFighting.com)

We crossed our fingers and held our breath, but we were not able to stave off the inevitable. As first reported by MMAFighting, longtime UFC veteran Keith Jardine has been cut by the UFC following his fourth consecutive loss, a majority decision against Matt Hamill at the TUF 11 Finale.

Jardine has competed exclusively for the UFC since entering the organization through The Ultimate Fighter 2 in 2005. Since his stint on the reality show, Jardine has gone 6-7 in professional competition, scoring notable victories over Forrest Griffin, Chuck Liddell, and Brandon Vera. But in recent years, the Dean of Mean repeatedly fell short against the elite of the light-heavyweight division, suffering defeats at the hands of Quinton Jackson, Wanderlei Silva, and Thiago Silva, among others. Said Dana White of Jardine’s release: "It sucks. I have nothing but respect for him and I hope to see him back soon."