Chael Sonnen News & UFC 130 Update
By Kevin Nelson
In this piece, I will be discussing the biggest news and notes concerning the sport of mix martial arts. In it we discuss what is going on in the big three of Bellator, Strikeforce and the UFC. Also what this means for the sport and the overall impact of the mix martial arts landscape.
Happy New Year to you all and here is hoping that 2011 will be an even bigger year in MMA.
With that, here are some of the storylines this week in MMA.
The UFC
-Chael Sonnen the Dirt Bag –
This week it was announced that the UFC has suspended Chael Sonnen for money laundering scheme as reported by our own Sean Farrell. Sonnen has pled guilty.
Sonnen was scheduled to meet Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 128. Now it is reportedly Nate Marquardt who will face Akiyama. Sonnen went from RSR favorite to dirt bag in a matter of days.
-A Fat Man’s Journey –
Roy Nelson and the UFC have reached an agreement with square ring promotions. Nelson was previously under contract with square ring and now is free to continue a fat man’s journey through the heavyweight division as he is set to face Frank Mir at UFC 130. It’s a compelling matchup between the two who have very good grappling skills and have actually met before in a grappler’s quest tournament by a score of 15-2 in 2003 with Nelson being victorious.
Although both fighters have grown, this matchup suits both of them and we will be all in for a treat.
-UFC 129-
Marcus Davis was released by the UFC after being knocked out by Jeremy Stephens in Davis’s first fight at lightweight. With the UFC 129 coming to Rogers Arena in Toronto the main event pitting GSP VS Jake Shields for the welterweight title just became that much more stacked of a card with the announcement that Randy Couture will face Lyoto Machida in a light heavyweight bout.
In another bout, Matt Hamill will be facing the undefeated Phil Davis. Other notable fighters on the card are Ben Henderson, Johnathan Brookins, Jason Macdonald, and Mark Bocek. Forrest Griffin is set to face Rich Franklin at UFC 126. April 19 is the date set for the book titled “The Viking the autobiography of Brock Lesnar.”
These are just some of the news for this week in the UFC.
Strikeforce
-Heavyweight Showtime Tournament-
Strikeforce has announced an 8 man tournament involving Fedor Emelianenko, Sergei Kharitonov, Antonio Silva, Josh Barnett, Brett Rogers, Fabricio Werdum, Allistair Overeem and Andrei Arlovski. The first few matches are set with Fedor facing Antonio Silva on Feb12 in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and the co main event is Sergei Kharitonov vs Andrei Arlovski. The other matches reportedly are Brett Rogers facing Josh Barnett and Allistair Overeem facing Fabricio Werdum. These two matches will not be on the February 12 card in New Jersey.
They will be scheduled tentatively some other date. As well as in the event of an injury the replacement fighters are Lavar Johnson and Shane Del Rosario who will meet each other at the Feb 12 card as an alternate in the event someone in the tournament gets injured. Also mentioned as a possible replacement is two time Olympian Dan Cormier. This if it comes to fruition because you never know with Strikeforce (see middleweight tournament) will even outshine the UFC, attention wise, as most people think that Strikeforce has the best heavyweights. The best part about it is that Overeem is the champ and could very well lose his title in the tournament.
Bellator
-Season 4 Fighters –
Bellator has announced its Season 4 Fighters in the welterweight division. As per usual with Bellator, the winner of the tournament gets a shot at the welterweight champion Ben Askren.
The fighters are Dan Hornbuckle, Lyman Good (Former Bellator welterweight champ), Jay Hieron, Rick Hawn, and Brett Weedman. The season starts in March on MTV2. No date yet has been secured for season 4 for the inaugural light heavyweight tournament. Daniel Gracie is the only current participant announced, but some other fighters rumored to be Raphael Davis and Tim Carpenter.