A true UFC fan must be waiting for the ultimate showdown to take place at UFC 141 on 30^th December. Well, if you still have not got it, I am talking about the bout to take place between Brock Lesner and Alistair Overeem. These two huge independent circuit superstars (The former had a successful WWE career as well) will fight it out for becoming the No.1 contender to the UFC heavyweight championship. The winner will ultimately face Junior dos Santos, who knocked out Cain Velasquez last November to win the championship.

The bout between Lesner and Overeem has already garnered huge hype among the fans and the recent comment made by Overeem has only helped to boost the same. The 31 year old fighter, who is considered to be one of the top five heavyweights in the world now, stated that he can definitely match power with Brock Lesner. Not only that, he pointed out that the official UFC Poster publicizing their match has side by side measurements of the two and it clearly indicates that Overeem is a bigger man.

Overeem incidentally is yet to lose a match in UFC and already has a 10-0 winning streak. According to him, he was not lucky enough to born as a great MMA fighter, but, he worked hard, trained a lot and that has helped him to become great. He also added that he made many sacrifices throughout his life and it’s his time to claim the gold by winning the UFC Heavyweight Championship.

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Who do you think is going to win the bout between Overeem and Lesner? I would appreciate if you vote for your favorite and also share your ideas on why that person will win. If you are a fan of Brock Lesner, you can check out this book written by the former WWE wrestler himself.

Dana White is fine with Brock Lesnar being featured in the upcoming game of WWE, titled as WWE 12. According to him, it will help Brock make some good money, help WWE to create a great video game and as WWE is the history of Brock Lesnar, he would never mind if Brock makes a merchandise deal with WWE. However, he isn’t that comfortable with the idea of Lesnar returning to WWE for wrestling; even if it is for a single match.

In recent months, chances of Lesnar featuring in a WWE match were widely anticipated. Some even reported that Dana White himself is keen on Lesnar participating in a WWE match as it will give his brand a better exposure. However, Dana has put all rumors to rest and confirmed that he won’t allow Brock Lesnar to participate in a WWE match as long as the wrestler has a signed contract with UFC.

Lesnar, after a super successful stint with WWE from 2002 to 2004, went on to fight for UFC. Using his mainstream appeal and great wrestling skills, Lesnar became one of the major stars in the independent wrestling circuit and soon became UFC World Heavyweight Champion.

Brock Lesnar will be back soon. The former WWE and UFC Heavyweight champion will be returning to the independent circuit against Alistair Overeem, the former Heavyweight champion at Strikeforce.The match will take place on 30^th December this year at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas. The winner of this match is expected to face the winner of Junior dos Santos vs. Cain Velasquez for the UFC Heavyweight Championship.

This will be Lesnar’s first official match after being diagnosed with intestinal disorder diverticulitis and undergoing colon injury. Brock probably will start training for this match pretty soon; however we are yet to hear any words from him regarding this high-voltage heavyweight match.

Overeem on the other hand, is all set to face Lesnar and describes this match to be an important stepping stone for him to take the next leap. UFC should expect packed houses for this match. The match, as soon as the announcement was made, has become a rage among fans and the excitement level is only expected to increase with passing time.

From the time he entered an independent circuit arena for the first time, he always had a dream of facing his personal hero and now that dream of Chris Leben is going to be fulfilled. At UFC 132, Leben will get a chance to square it off against Wanderlei Silva. The match has been officially confirmed by both UFC and Leben’s manager Gary Ibarra. Silva won his last match, contested around 14 months ago against Michael Bisping. Bisping was however very vocal about the result of that match as he believed he should have been the winner after the fight of three rounds. Leben, on the other hand lost his last match at UFC 125 against Brian Stann in January, 2011. Leben’ s loss surprised many as the MMA fighter had 3 impressive wins in 2010 over the likes of Aaron Simpson, Yoshihiro Akiyama and Jay Silva. Incidentally, UFC 132 will be headlined by Urijah Faber and Dominick Cruz as the two will square it off against each other for the bantamweight title.

MMA is gradually drawing some serious attention and now-a-days its fan following is gradually increasing. The current TRP of UFC televised programs is a genuine proof of the popularity of this form of sport. Last Wednesday, the two-hour episode of “TUF 12” gained a strong 1.3 rating with an average audience of 1.7 million viewers. The statistics is officially confirmed by Spike TV.

This was episode no 11 of “TUF 12” and the rating fell just short of the season high record of 1.9 million viewers. UFC gained this rating only in the last couple of episodes prior to this one. The televised episode of last Wednesday saw the booking of “TUF 12” Finale when Michael Johnson won over Nam Phan in a split-decision win. Jonathan Brookins, on the other hand, managed a unanimous-decision victory over Kyle Watson, a popular MMA blogger.

“The Ultimate Fighter 12” Finale will be aired on Spike TV live on Saturday.

The final fight card for Saturday’s TUF 12 Finale is now officially ready. There had been some recent inclusions to the card which includes a bout between Jonathan Brookins and Michael Johnson to determine “The Ultimate Fighter” 12 champion. There is also another match that has been booked between Nam Phan and Leonard Garcia for the featherweight bout.

This event is scheduled to take place at The Pearl located at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. The main card of this event will be aired on Spike TV. In the televised event, TUF 12 Finale is headlined with a match of light heavyweight Stephan Bonnar against Igor Pokrajac. Two other matches, a middleweight fight between Demian Maia and Kendall Grove and a welterweight bout between Johny Hendricks and Rick Story, are also scheduled to be aired.

The TV broadcast may include some six-fight preliminary card if time permits which includes “TUF 12” cast members like Cody McKenzie, Sako Chivitchian and Aaron Wilkinson. But Alex Caceres, a notable performer, is not performing in the “TUF 12” Finale. Some sources say he was scheduled to meet Phan but was forced to step down due to a late injury. He, will, however, fight for UFC in future. The full line-up for “TUF 12” Finale is as follows:

MAIN CARD

* Stephan Bonnar vs. Igor Pokrajac

* Jonathan Brookins vs. Michael Johnson (“TUF 12″ championship)

* Kendall Grove vs. Demian Maia

* Rick Story vs. Johny Hendricks

* Leonard Garcia vs. Nam Phan

PRELIMINARY CARD

* Rich Attonito vs. Dave Branch

* Pablo Garza vs. Fredson Paixao

* Will Campuzano vs. Nick Pace

* Kyle Watson vs. Sako Chivitchian

* Ian Loveland vs. Tyler Toner

* Cody McKenzie vs. Aaron Wilkinson

The opponent of John Salter for UFC 118 has been changed yet again! Salter was scheduled to meet Phil Baroni. But Baroni recently forced to step out from the scheduled bout for his collarbone injury which left Salter with a no-compete situation initially. But Dan Miller came forward and he is now scheduled to meet Salter in the event’s preliminary card.  The official announcement, however, is yet to be made by the UFC officials.

Last-minute opponent change in a pre-scheduled bout is nothing new to Salter. Recently, during UFC 113 in Montreal his pre-scheduled opponent Nick Catone was forced to withdraw his name due to a back injury. Initially, UFC veteran David Loiseau was thought to be Catone’s replacement. But Quebec’s athletic commission took him off the table. Finally, Salter was scheduled against another UFC veteran Jason MacDonald on a short notice of one week. Salter, however, won the match when MacDonald broke his leg in the very first round of the match.

UFC 118 is scheduled to take place on 28th August, 2010 at the TD Garden in Boston. A lightweight title rematch between former champion B.J. Penn and current champion Frankie Edgar is the featured headliner of the pay-per-View. The updated status of the UFC 118 event is as follows:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view)

# Champ Frankie Edgar vs. B.J. Penn (for lightweight title)

#  Randy Couture vs. James Toney

# Nate Marquardt vs. Rousimar Palhares

#  Kenny Florian vs. Gray Maynard

#  Marcus Davis vs. Nate Diaz

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike TV)

#  Gerald Harris vs. Alessio Sakara

#  Terry Etim vs. Joe Lauzon

PRELIMINARY CARD

#  Nik Lentz vs. Andre Winner

#  Dan Miller vs. John Salter**

#  Nick Osipczak vs. Greg Soto

#  Amilcar Alves vs. Mike Pierce

** Yet to be announced officially

May 28, 2010 will remain as another special day in the history of MMA as the second ever UFC Fan Expo kicked off at Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. The inauguration day saw the unveiling of the wax figure of Chuck Liddell, a globally acclaimed MMA legend and UFC Hall of Famer. In fact, Liddell is the first ever MMA personality who earned the honor of making it to the legendary wax museum of Madame Tussauds.

The wax museum of Tussauds is based in London, England. But the museum has a branch at The Venetian Hotel Casino and the figurine will be on display there. The wax figurine was on display only for 25 minutes and was later transported to the Madame Tussauds museum in Vegas. The museum officials confirmed that the sculpture costs approximately a stunning amount of $300,000! It will be kept for display in a UFC octagon inside the museum.

The 40 year old MMA legend has earned an UFC Hall of Fame in 2009. In the figurine, Liddell stands in a celebratory post and wears a UFC Championship belt. The legendary fighter will first see this idol at a special VIP ceremony in July. He is currently working as a coach on the “TUF 11”. Choosing Liddell as the first representative of MMA in the Tussauds was not a surprise at all. His legendary title run in the “Light-Heavyweight” division is still an unbeaten record and “The Iceman” is still one of the most respected and popular fighters in the sport.

Michael Bisping and Dan Miller, the two competitors in UFC 114’s co-main event are in contrasting frame of mind. Fans believe this will make Saturday’s event at MGM Grand Garden even more interesting. The last year was a nightmare for Dan Miller in his personal front. His newborn son, Daniel Miller Jr. is having some serious health problems. Miller lost his beloved daughter in last May. To make the situation even worse, his UFC career is also standing in a crucial juncture. In his two recent performances against Chael Sonnen and Demian Maia; Miller fell short by his standards as he lost both the matches. He believes this will be his last chance to prove his worth in this promotion. In an interview, Miller made it very clear that I spite of all the turbulences in his personal life, nothing other than Michael Bisping will be in his mind in those 15 minutes on Saturday night.

Michael Bisping, on the other hand, looks a lot more prepared and confident for the match. He was the champion of “The Ultimate Fighter” (TUF) season three. In spite of his recent loss against Wanderlei Silva in last February, he feels confident to take Miller out this time. Bisping has failed to be a popular guy among the fans and critics. Since his arrival as a competitor in TUF 3 and his tenure as a coach in TUF 9, the fighter has been criticized a lot. But it seems such criticisms won’t affect him anymore as he looks totally focused for his bout against Miller. His girlfriend has recently given birth to their third child and the fighter misses his dear family very much. Bisping has plans to visit his family after the event and spend some quality time back home.

The speculations are now proved to be true. UFC has now officially declared a middleweight matchup between John Salter and the returning UFC veteran Jason MacDonald for the upcoming UFC 113. MacDonald was not scheduled for the match from the beginning; he is a late replacement for David Loiseau who was forced off the card recently due to a delay in getting the license. In fact, Loiseau himself was not the first choice for the match either; he replaced Nick Catone as he was forced to stay away from the ring due to his back injury.

UFC 113 is taking place in Montreal, Canada on May 8, 2010. No wonder this event is heavy on Canadian fighters. This is UFC’s third venture in Canada and the previous two cards, in Vancouver and British Columbia, were a huge success in the history of MMA. MacDonald is an accomplished performer in UFC and has won three “Submission of the Night and one “Knockout of the Night” award already in his ten appearances. Salter, on the other hand, has lost in his octagon debut against Gerald Harris at UFC Fight Night 20. The official UFC 113 matches are:

MAIN CARD

• Alan Belcher vs. Patrick Cote
• Champ Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (Light Heavyweight Title)
• Jeremy Stephens vs. Sam Stout
• Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson vs. Matt Mitrione
• Paul Daley vs. Josh Koscheck

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Jason MacDonald vs. John Salter
• Joe Doerksen vs. Tom Lawlor
• Joey Beltran vs. Tim Hague
• Marcus Davis vs. Jonathan Goulet
• Mike Guymon vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida
• T.J. Grant vs. Johny Hendricks