Diaz-Noons II Proposed for October

A much-anticipated rematch between EliteXC lightweight champion K.J. Noons and Nick Diaz could take place at the organization’s third edition of “Saturday Night Fights” on CBS, which will take place on October 4th at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida.

Graciefighter.com, which is run by Diaz’s trainer and manager, Cesar Gracie, reported the news yesterday morning. However the site has also noted that there is a strong possibility that Noons’ camp may not accept the fight. If the proposal is turned down, Diaz could then set his sights on a DREAM welterweight title bout against Hayato “Mach” Sakurai, but the promotion’s officials have yet to pay Diaz following his win over Katsuya Inoue in May.

The feud between Noons and Diaz vaulted to an all-time high following Noons’ successful title defense over Yves Edwards at EliteXC’s “Return of the King” event in June, where a near-brawl broke out between the Diaz brothers and Noons’ father, Karl Sr. Order was restored relatively quickly and no one was injured. Still, a war of words has ensued between the two camps ever since.

Injury Forces Lister Out of UFN 15

Grappling wizard and current UFC middleweight contender Dean Lister has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled bout against Thales Leites at UFC Fight Night 15 on September 17th after suffering a knee injury during a recent training session.

Lister’s management team confirmed the injury with MMA Weekly earlier this afternoon. Lister is only expected to be out of action for a couple of weeks and his bout against Leites is said to be currently in talks to be moved to a yet-to-be-announced UFC event in Portland, Oregon in November. According to Lister’s management team, matchmaker Joe Silva was very understanding of Lister’s injury and will attempt to get him a future fight as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Leites tells Tatame.com that Lister’s withdrawal is now the second straight opponent that pulled out of a fight against him at the same event. Leites stated that newcomer Goran Reljic, who surprisingly stopped Wilson Gouveia at UFC 84 in May, also became injured in recent weeks as well.

“Now I don’t know who will I fight with”, Leites said in the article. “I was thinking and all the other guys from my division are with opponents. They said I’ll fight, but I don’t know against who.”

Report: McFedries-Massenzio Set for UFN

Miletich Fighting Systems product Drew McFedries will reportedly take on newcomer Mike Massenzio in a middleweight bout at the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s inaugural venture to Omaha, Nebraska for UFC Fight Night 15 on September 17th.

The news comes from Sam Caplan of Five Ounces of Pain, who has confirmed the bout with Massenzio’s manager, Gary Marino. Massenzio has also reportedly signed a four-fight deal with the UFC following his departure from the International Fight League.

McFedries last competed at The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale in June, where he brutally stopped veteran Marvin Eastman with strikes in the first round. Prior to that, McFedries has split his first four UFC bouts, knocking out Jordan Radev and Alessio Sakara while being submitted by Martin Kampmann and stopped by Patrick Cote earlier this year.

Massenzio suffered his second loss in twelve career fights back in May, when he was submitted by Danillo Villefort at the IFL’s last-ever show in Connecticut. The former standout collegiate wrestler also owns wins over current UFC middleweights Dante Rivera and Dan Miller.

Countdown to UFC 87 Sneak Peek

Here’s a sneak peek of next week’s “Countdown to UFC 87” show, which will premiere next Thursday, August 7th, at 11 PM ET on Spike TV. It seems that the show is going to focus on the personal lives of the fighters more than usual. Georges St. Pierre, Jon Fitch, Brock Lesnar, Heath Herring, Roger Huerta, and Kenny Florian will all be featured in the episode. Those that miss Thursday’s episode will be able to catch a replay later that night at 1 AM ET and then again on Saturday at 6 PM ET.

Nastula to Return at “Sengoku IV”

World Victory Road has announced that former Olympic judo gold medalist Pawel Nastula will return to action at the organization’s scheduled “Sengoku IV” show on August 24th in Japan. An opponent for Nastula has yet to be determined.

Nastula has not competed in mixed martial arts since losing to Josh Barnett via second-round submission at PRIDE 32 in October 2006. Following the bout, Nastula tested positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone and three other banned stimulants. He was suspended for nine months and fined $6,500.

The 38-year-old was essentially thrown to the wolves when he was signed by PRIDE in in the spring of 2005. Against top competition, Nastula dropped his first two fights to Aleksander Emelianenko and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, two of the world’s top heavyweights, at PRIDE Shockwave 2005 and PRIDE Critical Countdown 2005 respectively. His lone professional win came against Edson Draggo in July 2006. Nastula submitted Draggo with an armbar in the first round of their bout.

Tickets on Sale for EliteXC in October

Tickets are now officially on sale for EliteXC’s third edition of “Saturday Night Fights”, which will take place on October 4th at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida. The event will once again be shown on network televsion via CBS.

EliteXC heavyweight sensation Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson and female star Gina Carano remain the only fighters whose participation has been confirmed for the event. Former EliteXC middleweight champion Murilo “Ninja” Rua has also stated that he expects to compete on October 4th as well.

Those interested in attending the show can purchase tickets at Ticketmaster.com. Tickets are starting at $30 in all levels, including floor seating. Doors are scheduled to open at 6:00 PM ET on the day of the show for the show’s preliminary fights. Additional fighters for the card are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

Video Hype: Looking at the WEC Main Card

In the following set of videos courtesy of ESPN, seven of the fighters that will be featured on the main card of World Extreme Cagefighting’s next event on Sunday night discuss their upcoming bouts. In the video above, Carlos Condit talks about his title defense against crafty Japanese veteran Hiromitsu Miura. After the jump, Brian Stann, Steve Cantwell, Jamie Varner, Marcus Hicks, Brian Bowles, and Damacio Page all touch on their fights as well, which will all be televised live on Versus starting at 9 PM ET.

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ICON Returns Saturday With “Hard Times”

ICON Sport will put on their second event of this year in the form of “Hard Times”, which will take place this Saturday night at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center in downtown Honolulu, Hawaii. The event will not be streamed online but videos of the fights are expected to be put on ProElite.com following the show’s conclusion.

Kala Kolohe Hose, who defeated Phil Baroni to claim the vacant ICON Sport middleweight title back in March, will look to bounce back from a disappointing loss to Robert McDaniel at EliteXC’s “Return of the King” event in June against newcomer Rolando Dominique.

A streaking Bao Quach, who has won his last eight fights, will take on former ICON Sport bantamweight champion Mark Oshiro for the promotion’s newly created 140 lb. title in the night’s co-main event. Oshiro, who is also riding a seven-fight winning streak of his own, recently submitted Chris Willems at EliteXC’s Hawaiian event.

Fresh off a victorious debut at welterweight, Phil Baroni will look for his first win inside the confines of ICON Sport when he faces fellow veteran Ron Verdadero in a featured bout on the main card. Baroni scored a highlight reel knockout of Scott Jansen at Cage Rage 27 last month. Verdadero has dropped his last two bouts.

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Report: Marquardt-Kampmann Set for UFC 88

Former middleweight title challenger Nate Marquardt will reportedly take on Martin Kampmann when the Ultimate Fighting Championship travels to the Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia for UFC 88: Breakthrough on September 6th

The news comes from our friends at MMA Junkie, citing sources close to the fight. Both fighters have reportedly agreed to the fight, which will likely finalize the televised portion of the event’s PPV main card. A formal announcement of the bout is expected to come at some point next week.

Despite clearly beating Thales Leites in their middleweight bout at UFC 85 in June, Marquardt ended up losing a split decision to the Brazilian because of two costly point deductions. Prior to that, he bounced back from a failed title shot against Anderson Silva to quickly submit longtime veteran Jeremy Horn at UFC 81 in February.

Two years after being acquired from the now defunct WFA, Kampmann remains undefeated in the UFC. After quickly racking up three straight wins, Kampmann was forced out of action for over a year after suffering a knee injury that required multiple surgeries. However he was victorious in his return, earning a first-round submission of Jorge Rivera at UFC 85.

Strikeforce Returns to the Playboy Mansion

Strikeforce Vice President Mike Afromowitz has formally announced the California-based promotion’s next scheduled event, “Strikeforce At The Mansion II”, which will take place at the world-famous Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills, California on Saturday, September 20th.

The organization held the first-ever mixed martial arts event at the Playboy Mansion last September. Then-Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez fought for the first time after a forced eight month hiatus at the show, winning a unanimous decision over tough Japanese fighter Tetsuji Kato. UFC veterans Joe Riggs and Josh Thomson were also on the card, each earning first-round knockout wins.

While the organization has yet to announce any official participants for the card, Josh Thomson, Joe Riggs, Luke Stewart, Renato “Babalu” Sobral, Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos, and recent acquisition Kazuo Misaki all expected to be in action that night.

Details concerning the fight card are expected to be announced in the coming weeks. Those interested in attending the event can find contact information here.