~ Get your popcorn ready! ~

The UFC is coming to Chicago and we have the full rundown of all the activities and festivities planned for the week.

Check out fighter appearances, autograph session, after-parties and so much more. Come on over to our Meetup page for the full schedule!

Watch UFC 128 at a local bar in Chicago with other cool fans.  It’s quite the experience watching with others.   For more information on where to meet up with other exciting and new UFC fanclub members….Read More!

#1 Jose Aldo; Brazilian

This is a list of the top bantamweight, featherweight and lightweight fighters of the WEC (World Extreme Cagefighting). These guys may be small in stature, but they have warrior attitudes that are as big as the big guys—if not bigger!

The WEC has the most elite “little guy” fighters in the world. It’s unfortunate that these guys don’t receive the compensation and recognition as the bigger guys, especially those in the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). The WEC is a smaller organization, owned by Zuffa, which also owns the UFC.

Over the years, the WEC has dissolved it’s higher weight divisions, watching its fighters go to the UFC. The WEC ended up being the exclusive home for elite bantamweight and featherweight fighters, though their lightweight division was often looked at as a sort of farm league for the UFC.

With the recent absorption of the WEC into the UFC, this will be the final WEC rankings leading up to the final WEC event, WEC 53, to be held Thursday December 16, 2010. Look for our new “little guy” rankings in the new year.

~Top 20 WEC Little Guys Ranking~
~Bantamweight/Featherweight/Lightweight~
~Fighters~
[post-WEC 53]

Lightweight Champion
Featherweight Champion
Bantamweight Champion

~Honorables~

PR=Previous Ranking
CR=Current Ranking
H=Honorable

Every time a non-American fighter is fighting an American in the United States, we hear the chants of “USA! USA!” At UFC 124 in Montréal, Canada, there are seven – count ‘em, seven! – Canadians on the card. You can very well expect to hear the partisan crowd chanting “Canada! Canada!”

Canadians are a humble and soft-spoken bunch, as a matter of course. But put a group of us together in a room with a fellow Canuck to cheer on and we become suddenly patriotic. We showed this during the Olympics. And now we are ready to show the world once more, via UFC 124.

Canadians are going to support the UFC and mma regardless of who is on the card. Just look at UFC 115! While it’s not necessary for the UFC to add Canadian fighters to every event held in Canada, it is a nice gesture, and it recognizes the talent coming out of Canada.

At UFC 124, only one Canadian made the main card but, as Dana White will tell you, he is the most famous Canadian athlete ever. His name is Georges St-Pierre and he goes by the nickname “Rush”, but many know him simply by his monogram, GSP. He is arguably the pound-for-pound best mma fighter in the world. And he is headlining this event, defending his Welterweight Championship for the fifth time, this time against Josh Koscheck.

“Kos” has been talking a lot of trash about GSP in the lead up to this fight, including some humorous confrontations during the filming of the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter, in which they coached opposing teams. But St-Pierre just lets his opponents talk a big game and then makes them eat their words in the octagon. He doesn’t return the trash talk.

Although St-Pierre is a mild mannered, quiet, respectful person, the reason he doesn’t return the trash talk is most likely because his mother tongue is French. Getting into a war of words in a language one doesn’t fully comprehend is foolish. It would be like getting into the cage with a wrestler and not knowing how to defend against it – which is something Koscheck did three years ago when he lost a unanimous decision to St-Pierre in a bout to determine who would fight for the Interim Welterweight Championship.

There is no question Kos learned his lesson then and he will be ready for GSP’s ground game, to the extent that most are expecting a standup battle. If I hadn’t seen the determination and dedication in St-Pierre’s eyes, I might actually believe Koscheck could beat him. But St-Pierre is a student of mma, always learning. He is very technical and that means he has studied every move Koscheck could possibly make and he has the tools to defend or attack. Georges himself compared it to golf. In golf, you do everything you can do to be prepared and then you take your swing. Once the ball is in the air, there is nothing more you can do. St-Pierre has done all the training and now, there is nothing more he can do. The fight will proceed and he has either prepared properly … or he will lose.

The rest of the Canadians are on the undercard. Two of the fights will be shown live and free on UFC.com but the rest will be for the exclusive viewing pleasure of the paying audience – which itself will set a record for the highest attendance (expected to be broken again in April with an event held at the football stadium in Toronto).

Joe Doerksen

John Makdessi will make his UFC debut against Pat Audinwood and Jesse Bongfeldt will make his UFC debut filling in for fellow Canadian Jason MacDonald, who suffered an injury during training. He will face Rafael Natal.

Also stepping up as an injury replacement is UFC first-timer Sean Pierson, who destroyed Ricky Goodall in the first round at a W-1 event in October. TJ Grant is 3-2 in the UFC and looking to improve that record on home soil against Brazilian Ricardo Almeida.

Joe Doerksen and Mark Bocek have their work cut out for them in their internet-streamed preliminary bouts, against Dan Miller and Dustin Hazelett, respectively.

Any one of these fights has the potential to make the winner a household name. For Canadians, we hope to be talking about all of our fellow countrymen in a favourable light for years to come.

Main Card

Pay-Per-View

• Georges St-Pierre (c) vs Josh Koscheck for the Welterweight Championship
• Stefan Struve vs Sean McCorkle
• Jim Miller vs Charles Oliveira
• Joe Stevenson vs Mac Danzig
• Thiago Alves vs John Howard

Preliminary Card

Live streaming on UFC.com

• Mark Bocek vs Dustin Hazelett
• Joe Doerksen vs Dan Miller

Non-televised

• Jesse Bongfeldt vs Rafael Natal
• Matt Riddle vs Sean Pierson
• TJ Grant vs Ricardo Almeida
• Pat Audinwood vs John Makdessi

Saturday, on Spike TV

This weekend marks the inaugural merger of the UFC and WEC. The WEC (World Extreme Championships) is a subsidiary of Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC. WEC carried only the lightweight (155), featherweight (145), and bantamweight (135) divisions. The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 12 Finale will mark the beginning of the merger of the smaller weight divisions into the UFC.

The WEC has long served to shed light on the smaller weight divisions. However, with the rising success of the WEC over the past few years, it has become apparent that the timing of this merger of the two elite mixed martial arts organizations is indeed the perfect opportunity to incorporate the bantamweight and featherweight divisions into the UFC’s lineup. The UFC has carried the lightweight division for over a decade.

The first UFC bantamweight fight was at UFC 26, in June of 2000. Popular American fighter Jens Pulver defeated Joao Roque, of Angola, via unanimous decision. It should be noted that the bantamweight division during this time in the UFC was for any fighter under 155 pounds. UFC 28 was the last time they held a bantamweight fight. On Saturday, for the first time ever, the UFC will begin carry the featherweight division.

TUF is an American reality television series that focuses on mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters, produced by Spike TV and the UFC. The show features largely unknown, professional mma fighters living together in Las Vegas, Nevada, and follows them as they train and compete against each other for a prized contract with the UFC. Generally, two separate series are put together each year. However, in the Finale, other mma fighters that may have name recognition and more experience fill out the fight card.

TUF Finale, Saturday December 4, 10pm ET

Airs live in USA on Spike TV (and eventually airing on Rogers Sportsnet in Canada at various times across the country)

Main card

• [155]: TUF 12 Series Finals: Jonathan Brookings (TUF) vs. Michael Johnson (TUF)
• [205]: Stephan Bonnar vs. Igor Pokrajac
• [185]: Demian Maia (5th ranked mw) vs. Kendall Grove
• [170]: Johny Hendricks vs. Rick Story
• [145]: Nam Phan (TUF) vs. Leonard Garcia

Preliminary card

• [155]: Cody McKenzie (TUF) vs. Aaron Wilkinson (TUF)
• [145]: Tyler Toner vs. Ian Loveland
• [155]: Sako Chivitchian (TUF) vs. Kyle Watson (TUF)
• [135]: Will Campuzano vs. Nick Pace
• [145]: Fredson Paixão vs. Pablo Garza (TUF)
• [185]: Rich Attonito vs. Dave Branch

Popular fighters being absorbed into the UFC from the WEC include:
-Jose Aldo [145 champ]
-Ben Henderson [155 champ]
-Dominick Cruz [135 champ]
-Urijah Faber
-Miguel Torres
-Mike Brown
-Donald Cerrone
-Chad Mendes
-Jose Benavidez
-Anthony Pettis
-Eddie Wineland
-Cub Swanson
-Brian Bowles

WEC 52 fight card starts at 9pm (EST) in the United States on Versus. In Canada, you can catch the fights live on The Score.  Everywhere else, you can jump online and watch at UFCLIVE.com.

The stage is set today for WEC 52 in Las Vegas, Nevada for a top tier showdown of two of the best smaller weight division fighters in the world.  Available free on the Versus cable channel, former WEC featherweight champion “The California Kid” Urijah Faber (23-4; 7 ko’s, 12 submissions) faces off against Japanese mixed martial artist Takeya Mizugaki (13-4; 4 ko’s, 1 submission) in the main event of the night.

Who is Takeya Mizugaki?

A veteran mixed martial artist of 19 professional fights, Takeya Mizugaki—the 6th ranked bantamweight in the world—has been fighting in mma since 2005.  Before making his WEC debut against then-bantamweight champion Miguel Torres, all of Mizugaki’s fights were in Japan.  (He has a record of 2-2 in the WEC.)

If you didn’t know much about Mizugaki before the Torres fight, he surely made you a believer in his talents, even in defeat, as he lost a close five round decision to Torres.   He was the first fighter to ever push the established mma standout Torres to 5 rounds.

The Mizugaki/Torres fight was one of the best and technically sound fights I have ever witnessed.   The fight won top honors, including Fight of the Night, and was a finalist for the 2009 Fight of the Year.  It is considered by many as perhaps the best bantamweight fight ever.   In four fights with the WEC, Mizugaki has won two Fight of the Night honors.  He has, however, come up on the losing end both times.

I had never seen two mma fighters with so much boxing talent.  This fight was a standup war for the entire 5 rounds.  Both guys were brutally relentless in going after each other. It would seem that Mizugaki should have more than just four knockouts to his credit considering his above-average boxing skills where he usually has a clear advantage over his opponent.   I’d encourage everyone to seek out footage of the Mizugaki/Torres fight.

Does Urijah Faber still have the mojo?

I am tempted to assume that the casual fan will readily concede that Urijah Faber(currently the 4th best featherweight) will be able to get past Takeya Mizugaki, based on mere exposure to Faber alone. However, I am throwing caution to the wind in saying that Faber will have to bring his A-game in order to contain Mizugaki.

Despite having a record of 2-3 in his last five fights, Faber is still heralded as the “posterboy” for the WEC (World Extreme Cagefighting).  Many still see him as the face of the WEC.   He first won his featherweight (145lbs) belt at WEC 19 in March 2006.  He defended his belt an unprecedented five times, before succumbing to Mike Brown at WEC 36 in November 2008.

Tonight’s fight will be Faber’s debut at bantamweight (135lbs).  He’s hoping to regain the spirit of winning with his drop in weight class.  With the recent announcement of the UFC/WEC merger, a win by Faber will add to the glamour of introducing the ultra-popular fighter into the massive mainstream UFC fan base.

Fight Analysis

One of the biggest intrigues of this matchup is that both guys need a win to stay afloat in title contention possibilities.   We can only guess how long it would take Faber to get a title shot if he wins as a 135 pounder.  But given his pedigree, if he wins a couple at this weight class, it won’t be long before he’s fighting for another WEC title.  Correction: he’d be fighting for the UFC bantamweight belt.

Faber is the better wrestler of the two.  However in his last few fights, Faber hasn’t been as effective with his takedown and grappling skills.  He has faced many injuries in his past few fights as well.  A talented and all-around and exciting fighter, his fighting disciplines include collegiate wrestling, kickboxing, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.  Faber is a very good standup fighter, and likes to take chances with crowd-pleasing attacks.  He’s very elusive, quick, and hard to finish.

As mentioned by Miguel Torres recently on an episode of MMALive (ESPN), Mizugaki is very strong, hits hard, and has very good takedown defense.   This fight with Faber will be entertaining, especially for the casual fan.   Mizugaki is an excellent striker.  Each of his four WEC fights have gone the distance.

I suspect this fight will also go the distance, which will favor Urijah Faber.   Faber however, should be very careful with Mizugaki’s boxing and shooto skills.  Mizugaki has no problem standing in the middle of the ring and throwing punches all night long.   At times, he’s willing to take a few punches just to get in a few punches of his own.

Top 20 MMA Little Guys Rankings

WEC 52

Main Card (Versus and The Score)

• Urijah Faber vs Takeya Mizugaki
• Chad Mendes vs Javier Vazquez
• Erik Koch vs Francisco Rivera
• Joseph Benavidez vs Wagnney Fabiano
• Damacio Page vs Demetrious Johnson

Preliminary Card (not televised)

• Raphael Assunção vs LC Davis
• Anthony Njokuani vs Edward Faaloloto
• Zach Micklewright vs Dustin Poirier
• Clint Godfrey vs Michael McDonald
• Cub Swanson vs Mackens Semerzier
• Yves Jabouin vs Brandon Visher

UFC 121: Lesnar vs. Velasquez

Date: Oct 23, 2010
Location: Anaheim, California
Venue: Honda Center
Broadcast: Pay-per-view
Time:  9pm Eastern(USA)

Official fight card

Main card

• Heavyweight Championship bout: Brock Lesnar(c–No. 1 HW)) vs   Cain Velasquez(No. 4 HW)
• Welterweight bout:   Jake Shields(No. 3 MW, No. 8 PFP) vs. Martin Kampmann(No. 6 WW)
• Welterweight bout:   Diego Sanchez vs. Paulo Thiago(No. 7 WW)
• Light Heavyweight bout:   Tito Ortiz vs. Matt Hamill
• Heavyweight bout:   Brendan Schaub vs. Gabriel Gonzaga

Preliminary card (Spike TV)

• Middleweight bout:   Court McGee vs. Ryan Jensen
• Middleweight bout:   Patrick Côté vs. Tom Lawlor

Preliminary card

• Welterweight bout:   Mike Guymon vs. Daniel Roberts
• Lightweight bout:   Sam Stout vs. Paul Taylor
• Middleweight bout:   Chris Camozzi vs. Dong Yi Yang
• Heavyweight bout:   Jon Madsen vs. Gilbert Yvel

~Where To Watch UFC 121 Locally, on Payperview~

~Where To Watch UFC 121 Locally, on Payperview~

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The leading cutman in combat sports

There is a guy who gets as much air time during the UFC’s pay per view events as Dana White. You have no doubt seen him countless times, his face is very recognizable – right down to the trademark Tom Selleck mustache.

His name is Jacob Duran, though most fight fans know him simply as “Stitch”, for he is the pre-eminent cutman in mma. He also works with heavyweight boxing champions Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, among others. Stitch is recognized as the best, most popular cutman in the business. You can see him before the fight starts, preparing a fighter, or in between rounds working on the Read more »