UFC Announces "Ultimate Auction" To Benefit The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund
Mostapha Al Turk Ryuki Ueyama Caol Uno Alexander Ustinov Umer W Chheena
Mostapha Al Turk Ryuki Ueyama Caol Uno Alexander Ustinov Umer W Chheena
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Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/Other_News_4/article_7982.shtml
Paulo Filho Mirko Cro Cop Filipović Luiz Buscapé Firmino Spencer Fisher Jon Fitch
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Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/Affliction2/article_8051.shtml
Antoni Hardonk Dan Hardy Lee Hasdell Musse Hasselvall Daiki DJ taiki Hata
Ricardo Almeida 'Really Not Happy' With UFC 124 Win Video by UFC 124Source: http://mmalice.com/ufc-124/ricardo-almeida-really-not-happy-with-ufc-124-win-video_4c61e9bec.html
Randy Couture Josh Barnett Ricco Rodriguez Tim Sylvia Frank Mir

If the fight stinks, at least the postfight posedown will thrill the fans at Dynamite!! 2010. Japanese promoters have delivered an opponent for Alistair Overeem on their year-end MMA card, it's fellow muscleman Todd Duffee. What a holiday gift to close out the year.
Duffee has been in limbo since his mysterious axing from the UFC back in September. The 6-foot-3, 252-pounder was considered one of the UFC's best heavyweight prospects. After putting a first-round beatdown on Mike Russow, Duffee gassed and was shocked via knockout in the third. Four months later, he was cut by the UFC with a 1-1 record.
FanHouse confirmed Thursday morning that the 25-year-old will face Overeem on Jan. 31 in Saitama, Japan (HDNet).
HeadKickLegend reports that Duffee will be paid $60,000 to show and an additional bonus if he pulls the upset. HKL also says Bobby Lashley turned down an Overeem fight over financial concerns.
Overeem, the Strikeforce heavyweight champ, is riding an eight-fight win streak that dates to 2007. His last MMA fight was a walkover in May against Brett Rogers in St. Louis.
On New Year's Eve, he'll be just 20 days removed from fighting three times in one night at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2010.
This is MMA fight No. 45 for Overeem and only Duffee's eighth. Is it too soon?
The youngster has everything to gain. Hopefully, he's corrected some of his gas-tank issues because Overeem can go hard for 15 minutes and has huge knockout power.
Duffee will also have to deal with a long trip to Japan. Let's hope he has only good things to say about DREAM's promoters on the way to the fight.
Tip via Bloody Elbow
Scott Morris Johnnie Morton Ben Mortimer Curtis Mostat Gegard Mousasi

(Somehow, screwing this guy over in a business deal would never cross our minds. PicProps: Top MMA News)
A couple years ago I interviewed UFC and Pride vet and all-around good guy Gary Goodridge as part of a project I was working on for another publication. At the beginning of our conversation I think I asked something innocuous like, “Hey Gary, how you doing?” to which Goodridge responded with an audible sigh and said: “Man, I’m broke as a joke and looking for a job.” I laughed. Nervously. During the course of our talk it became clear that “Big Daddy” wasn’t kidding. After nearly 50 MMA fights and 40 kickboxing bouts, the 15-year fight vet was pretty much at loose ends. He'd morphed into a cautionary tale – and a particularly heartbreaking one because he is such a nice dude – for all the young fighters out there who are living like they think those paychecks are just going to keep coming forever.
For obvious reasons, it was not at all surprising when Goodridge agreed to take on Gegard Mousasi at K-1’s New Year’s Eve Dynamite!! 2009 show on kind of ridiculously short notice, was further depressingly predictable that he lost that fight by ugly TKO inside of two minutes and unbelievably ridiculous that FEG took more than a year to send Gary his paycheck. Since this was so clearly an example of an aging fighter taking a fight he had no business taking simply because he needed a payday, the whole “getting paid” stage was a pretty important part of the equation. So, it warms even the blackest heart to report that Goodridge finally got his bread this week. Well, most of it.
Source: http://www.cagepotato.com/gary-goodridge-finally-gets-mostly-paid-k-1-dynamite-2009
Karo Parisyan Sherman Pendergarst B J Penn Anthony Perosh Seth Petruzelli
Not exactly the parting shot Varner was hoping for.
Jamie Varner and Chris Horodecki are the latest victims of one of the few downsides of the UFC/WEC merger: The promotion can only have so many fighters on a roster at once. The merger means the traditional post-fight cuts will be brutal, particularly in the lightweight division, which was supported by both the UFC and WEC.
Varner lost the WEC lightweight to Ben Henderson at the beginning of the year via a third-round submission that Varner mocked. The rest of 2010 was just as tough, as he fought to a draw with Kamal Shalorus, lost a grudge match to bitter rival Donald Cerrone and then was submitted by Shane Roller. Still, it's shocking to see a fighter go from the champ to unemployed in a year's time. From PunchDrunkGamer.com on Tuesday:
Jamie stated, “I am ready for 2011, there will be some changes in my game. It has been a nice ride with the WEC but its time for a change. Perhaps UFC will be in my future down the road...We shall see!”
Less shocking is Horodecki's cut. Though he was 2-2 in the WEC, his losses were spectacular. "The Polish Hammer's" debut in the WEC was wrecked by Anthony Njokuani's highlight-reel kick to the face. Horodecki won his next two, but then was submitted by a Cerrone triangle choke at WEC 53.
This is the reality of the post-merger UFC. In the past, a fighter would only be concerned about being cut if he lost two in a row, but now, every performance counts. Adieu, Polish Hammer and Varner. Horodecki, we'll miss that Goonies-esque face, and Varner, what will MMA be without you and Cerrone calling each other unsavory names?
Alexandre Franca Nogueira Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira Antônio Rogério Nogueira Karl James Noons Jan Nortje

UFC fighter Chael Sonnen is currently serving the last few months of a steroid suspension in California. He's expected to return to active fighting sometime in the spring or is he?
According to the Lake Oswego Review, his battle versus the federal government has ended with a guilty plea to money laundering:
A licensed Realtor from West Linn, Sonnen admitted before a judge Monday that he conducted a financial transaction designed to hide or disguise the ownership and control of proceeds of mortgage fraud, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release.
Update: According to the Oregonian, as part of his guilty plea, Sonnen agreed to give up his realtor's license and pay a $10,000 fine. The government is recommending two years probation.
Update II - Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer reports (Audio - 1:40 mark) that Sonnen is turning state's evidence. He's also scheduled to fight Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 128 in New Jersey on March 19.
The IRS issued a public statement:
"West Linn residents, and other residents throughout the Portland-Vancouver area, can rest assured knowing that federal law enforcement agencies take mortgage fraud very seriously because it played a major role in almost crippling this nation’s banking system just a few years ago," said Marcus Williams, a special agent in charge of IRS criminal investigations for the Pacific Northwest.
Money laundering carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
Sonnen's sentencing is scheduled for March 28.
Update III - Here is the full release from the U.S. Attorney's Office on Oregon. Sonnen's conspired with a mortgage broker to falsify repair work.
Sonnen, a licensed realtor in the State of Oregon, admitted that a financial transaction he conducted was designed to conceal or disguise the ownership and control of the proceeds of wire fraud. The scheme involved Joel Rosabal and Chadwick Amsden, employees of Crown Point Enterprises, dba Lighthouse Financial Group (Lighthouse), a mortgage brokerage service based principally in Vancouver, Washington, with operations in Oregon and elsewhere. Rosabal and Amsden submitted a materially false loan application on the buyer’s behalf to Decision One Mortgage, a subprime lending institution that is now defunct, for the purchase of residential property located at 11249 SE Rolling Hills Lane, Portland, Oregon. Sonnen acted as the realtor for the transaction. Sonnen submitted a false letter and Sales Agreement Addendum instructing the title company to pay loan proceeds to a plumbing company for repairs to the home. In fact, Sonnen knew and had negotiated with Rosabal that no repairs would be performed on the home and the funds designated to the plumbing company would instead be paid to the buyer as a cash incentive to purchase the home. This agreement was not disclosed to Decision One Mortgage. Once the loan was funded, the title company paid over $69,000 to the plumbing company and the plumbing company, in turn and at Sonnen’s direction, paid $65,000 to the buyer of the home.
Sonnen referenced a battle vs. the federal government during a recent interview with HDNet's Mike Straka (0:43 mark), but made no mention of this specific case.
Newspaper report tip via MMAScraps
U.S. Attorney's release via Bloody Elbow
Norifumi Kid Yamamoto Ryushi Yanagisawa Yoshiaki Yatsu Hirotaka Yokoi Hidehiko Yoshida
Fight Hub TV's cameras caught up with former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz as we asked him how he felt with Dana White's recent comments on Ortiz being possibly cut if he loses his next UFC match. Ortiz counters that even if he is cut, he will continue to fight and addresses that he will fight little Nog.