Alessio Sakara

Linhares to Replace Sakara Against Palhares at “TUF 10 Finale”

It appears that M-1 veteran Lucio Linhares will be headed to the UFC. The Brazilian middleweight has reportedly been selected to replace an injured Alessio Sakara against Rousimar Palhares at “The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale” on December 5 in Las Vegas.

Multiple outlets are reporting the news, including MMA Junkie, which cites sources close to Linhares. Nor M-1 Global or the UFC have yet to officially comment on the potential signing.

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Fight Announcements: Hamill-Vera at UFC 101, Cavalcante to Return at DREAM.9 & More

A light heavyweight bout between Muay Thai expert Brandon Vera and “Ultimate Fighter 3” standout Matt Hamill will likely take place at UFC 101, which is slated to take place on August 8 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Both fighters have agreed to the bout and the paperwork is expected to be finalized in the coming days. [MMA Madness]

Two-time K-1 Hero’s middleweight tournament champion Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante has reportedly agreed to face Japanese veteran Tatsuya Kawajiri at DREAM.9 on May 26. Cavalcante has not fought since dropping a unanimous decision to Shinya Aoki in the first round of last year’s DREAM lightweight grand prix due to injury while Kawajiri last submitted Ross Ebanez at DREAM.7 earlier this month. [Sherdog]

Former professional boxer and American Top Team member Alessio Sakara will reportedly return to action at UFC 99, which takes place on June 13 in Cologne, Germany, against Brazilian grappler Rousimar “Toquinho” Palhares. Sakara last competed at UFC Fight Night 15 last September, where he scored a highlight reel knockout of Joe Vedepo while Palhares recently decisioned Jeremy Horn at UFC 93 in January. [MMA Weekly]

UFC Fight Night 15 Live Results

We will be going live at 5:30 PM ET with live results of tonight’s UFC Fight Night 15 event, which takes place at the Omaha Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska. The broadcast of the show’s main card starts at 8 PM ET on Spike TV and will be followed by the eighth season premiere of “The Ultimate Fighter”.

The event is headlined by Nate Diaz taking on Josh Neer. Mac Danzig will face fan-favorite Clay Guida in the co-main event. Additional featured bouts include Nebraska native Houston Alexander against Eric Schafer and Alan Belcher meeting Ed Herman.

Be sure to leave comments throughout the night. Detailed live results are after the jump. 

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UFC Fight Night 15 Weigh-In Results

The official weigh-in results for tomorrow night’s UFC Fight Night 15, which takes place at the Omaha Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska, are below. All fighters successfully made weight.

The event is headlined by Nate Diaz taking on Josh Neer. Mac Danzig will face fan-favorite Clay Guida in the co-main event. Additional featured bouts include Nebraska native Houston Alexander against Eric Schafer and Alan Belcher meeting Ed Herman.

Main Card:

Josh Neer (155 lbs) vs. Nate Diaz (155 lbs)
Mac Danzig (155 lbs) vs. Clay Guida (155 lbs)
Houston Alexander (205 lbs) vs. Eric Schafer (205 lbs)
Alan Belcher (185 lbs) vs. Ed Herman (185 lbs)

Preliminary Fights:

Joe Lauzon (155 lbs) vs. Kyle Bradley (155 lbs)
Ryan Jensen (185 lbs) vs. Wilson Gouveia (185 lbs)
Drew McFedries (185 lbs) vs. Mike Massenzio (185 lbs)
Alessio Sakara (185 lbs) vs. Joe Vedepo (185 lbs)
Rob Kimmons (185 lbs) vs. Dan Miller (185 lbs)
Brad Morris (205 lbs) vs. Jason Brilz (205 lbs)

Report: Sakara-Vedepo Likely for UFN 15

One-time Italian professional boxer Alessio Sakara will try to pick up his first win at middleweight when he reportedly meets newcomer Joe Vedepo at the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s inaugural venture to Omaha, Nebraska for UFC Fight Night 15 on September 17th.

The news comes from our friends at MMA Junkie, who have learned that both fighters have verbally agreed to fight and bout agreements are in the process of being sent out according to a source close to the matchup. The bout will likely take place as one of the card’s non-televised preliminary bouts.

After splitting his last six fights as a light heavyweight, Sakara opted to move down to the middleweight division earlier this year. However his debut fight in his new weight class didn’t go as planned - Sakara suffered a first-round TKO loss to Chris Leben at UFC 82 in March.

Vedepo meanwhile, has fought primarily in smaller shows based out of the midwest. He most recently became the Midwest Cage Championship middleweight belt with a third-round submission win over Brian Green in June. Vedepo’s lone loss came at the hands of ICON Sport veteran Mario Miranda at a Carnage at the Creek in April.

Report: Yundt-Sakara Set for TUF 7 Finale

Alaska Fighting Championship veteran Rob Yundt will try to pick up his first UFC win when he reportedly tangles with former professional boxer Alessio Sakara on the undercard of The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale on June 21st.

The news comes from MMA Weekly, who has confirmed the bout with sources close to both fighters.

After spending the beginning of his professional career in Alaska, racking up six straight victories, Yundt made his UFC debut in February as a last-minute replacement opponent for returning veteran Ricardo Almeida. Yundt was handed his first loss, being submitted by Almeida in the first round.

After splitting six fights at light heavyweight, Sakara, one of the newest members of Florida-based American Top Team, opted to drop down to middleweight. However his 185 lb debut wasn’t successful, as the Italian was stopped by fellow heavy-hitter Chris Leben in March.

Along with a stacked undercard full of UFC veterans, the show will feature a welterweight battle between Diego Sanchez and American Top Team product Luigi Fioravanti as well as the middleweight finals of the reality show.

Former UFC middleweight champion Evan Tanner will collide with Kendall Grove, the middleweight winner of the show’s third season, in the night’s main event.

UFC 82 Thoughts and Notes

Some brief thoughts and notes from last night’s UFC 82: Pride of a Champion…

Full audio of the post-fight press conference here courtesy of Steve Cofield. Sam Caplan gives his take here, here, and here. Michael Rome here. Brian Knapp here.

Official news and numbers

Let’s get straight down to the facts. The official attendance inside the Nationwide Arena was 16,431. The live gate is expected to be somewhere around $2.2 million.

Fight of the Night honors went to Anderson Silva and Dan Henderson, who each received $60,000. Silva also earned $60,000 for submission of the night. Chris Leben won the same amount for his stoppage of Alessio Sakara.

Josh Koscheck and Yushin Okami both suffered separate hand injuries in their fights. Both Koscheck and Andrei Arlovski completed the last fights on their respective contracts with the UFC and are now officially free agents.

Silva looks unstoppable

I said before last night that if Anderson Silva dispatched of Dan Henderson easily, then I’d go ahead and claim that he is unstoppable. He is. He’s completely cleaned out the entire middleweight division. I was long a proponent that guys using the Team Quest style of fighting were bad matchups for Silva but obviously that isn’t the case. Silva shows us an entire new dimension of his game every time out.

While a rematch against Okami (who is now pretty much the top contender unless the UFC plans on bringing someone else in or creating a new plan) is intriguing, it’s pretty much set in stone that Silva would pick him apart on the feet. I don’t necessarily agree with Dana White’s constant statement that Silva is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport completely, but I will say that he’s getting dangerously close to achieving that honor.

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Silva Submits Henderson; Becomes Undisputed

Anderson Silva passed his toughest test yet as champion with flying colors, submitting former Olympic wrestler Dan Henderson and successfully defending his UFC middleweight title for the third straight time, becoming the second undisputed champ in mixed martial arts history while doing it.

Even in defeat, Henderson perhaps gave the best performance against the champion to date. After an exchange on the feet to start the fight, Henderson was able to take Silva down and control him on the mat until the end of the round.

Although Silva did a good job of keeping a tight guard and preventing Henderson from doing any significant damage, the Team Quest co-founder used a number of hammer fists and the constant disruption of Silva’s breathing pattern to take the lead on the judge’s scorecards.

Silva heeded advice to crank up the pressure at the start of the second round, waving Henderson towards him and then stunning him with a mix of kicks, knees, and punches. A dazed Henderson swung wildly while trying to keep himself from falling over and then came up short in a takedown attempt.

Silva (21-4) capitalized by pouncing on his opponent. After softening him up with punches from inside his guard, Henderson (22-7) gave up his back and was forced to tap out via a rear naked choke moments later.

“My hat goes off to Anderson Silva,” Henderson said during a post-fight interview. “He was definitely the better fighter tonight. I controlled him well and beat him up a little bit in that first round and he came back ready to get after me in the second. He dazed me a little bit on the ground and then he got me in the choke.”

“I think I should have been more aggressive,” continued Henderson. “I didn’t fully execute my gameplan.”

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UFC 82: Pride of a Champion Weigh-In Results

The official weigh-in results for tonight’s UFC 82: Pride of a Champion are below. All fighters successfully made weight.

UFC 82 features a main event, middleweight title unification bout between current UFC title holder Anderson Silva and PRIDE champion Dan Henderson.

The show will also include a heavyweight affair between Cheick Kongo and Heath Herring as well as the return of former champion Evan Tanner as he takes on Japanese sensation Yushin Okami.

Main Card:

Dan Henderson (184.5 lbs) vs Anderson Silva (185 lbs)
Heath Herring (248 lbs) vs Cheick Kongo (233.5 lbs)
Yushin Okami (184.5 lbs) vs Evan Tanner (185 lbs)
Chris Wilson (169.5 lbs) vs Jon Fitch (170 lbs)
Alessio Sakara (185 lbs) vs Chris Leben (185 lbs)

Preliminary Fights:

Jake O’Brien (231.5 lbs) vs Andrei Arlovski (241 lbs)
Luigi Fioravanti (170.5 lbs) vs Luke Cummo (170 lbs)
Dustin Hazelett (170 lbs) vs Josh Koscheck (169.5 lbs)
David Bielkheden (170 lbs) vs Diego Sanchez (169.5 lbs)
John Halverson (155 lbs) vs Jorge Gurgel (154.5 lbs)

Video of the weigh-ins are after the jump, courtesy of ESPN:

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Previewing UFC 82: Pride of a Champion

Here’s a little preview breaking down tomorrow night’s UFC 82: Pride of a Champion, fight-by-fight, including detailed predictions along the way.

UFC 82 features a main event, middleweight title unification bout between current UFC title holder Anderson Silva and PRIDE champion Dan Henderson.

The show, which will take place at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, will also include a heavyweight affair between Cheick Kongo and Heath Herring as well as the return of former champion Evan Tanner as he takes on Japanese sensation Yushin Okami.

A total of ten fights round out the card.

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