MMA Live for March 18, 2010

Roger Huerta joins the show to discuss his recent signing with Bellator Fighting Championships.  Dan Henderson also checks in, about a month before his Strikeforce title fight.  They also offer up a complete preview of UFC Live: Vera vs. Jones.

Quick Hits: Ortiz, Mousasi, and Lashley news

Tito Ortiz out of TUF 11 and Liddell fight.

Last week, it was widely reported that something may have happened to Tito Ortiz causing his proposed fight with Chuck Liddell to be called off.  Rumor was that Rich Franklin would be stepping into his place.  Dana White vehemently denied the rumor, but more signs are pointing to that as being fact. 

Recent days have seen Twitter posts from both Tito and his girlfriend Jenna Jameson confirming that Ortiz was in the hospital, posting that it was that it was due to a severe case of the flu.  But another recent report on 5 Ounces of Pain suggests that Tito has stepped down due to disk herniations in his neck.  Seventeen months ago, Ortiz underwent back surgery on his lumbar (low back) spine to fix herniations there.

Dream’s May card shaping up nicely

Dream’s May 30 show is set to launch the Light Heavyweight Grand Prix.  It will feature returning Middleweight Grand Prix winner, Gegard Mousasi, pending the outcome physically from his April 17 matchup in Strikeforce with Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal.  Recently signed to compete in the tourney are two fighters whom Mousasi has defeated in Strikeforce, Renato “Babalu” Sobral and Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou. 

Also slated to make his return to the Dream ring is Marius Zaromskis, who last saw action in Strikeforce, suffering a TKO defeat at the hands of Nick Diaz. 

Lashley on Strikeforce’s April card

Bobby Lashley, now training full-time in MMA, has been added to Strikeforce’s April 17th card on CBS.  Strikeforce’s Scott Coker confirmed the news with MMAWeekly but declined to name an opponent pending athletic commission approval.  With three title fights headlining the card, the fight is expected to be the swing bout that may or may not make the airwaves pending time available.

UFC Undisputed 2010 Teaser Video

The UFC and video game giant THQ are once again preparing for the launch of their sophomore effort into MMA video gaming with the release of teaser videos.  The game this year will have competition in the marketplace with EASports releasing a video game as well.  But THQ has promised an revamped gaming experience like no other.  Second generation games often improve vast amounts over the initial offerings.

Stay tuned to MMAonTap as we will have some cool contests with prizes including free copies of the UFC Undisputed 2010 game as soon as it comes out!

Quick Hits: WEC 47 Gate, Karalexis-Pettis & More

- According to the Ohio Athletic Commission, WEC 47: Bowles vs. Cruz drew a live attendance of 8,700 and a gate of $401,000. The commission also announced that Brian Bowles, Dominick Cruz, Joseph Benavidez, Javier Vazquez, L.C. Davis, and Bart Palaszewski all passed their post-fight drug tests. [MMAWeekly.com]

- UFC veteran Alex Karalexis will battle Anthony Pettis in a lightweight affair at WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber. Karalexis and Pettis were originally slated to fight at WEC 43 but the fight was scrapped due to an injury. WEC 48 will mark the promotions first foray on pay-per-view as they showcase a world class card that includes Jose Aldo vs. Urijah Faber, Benson Henderson vs. Donald Cerrone, and Mike Brown vs. Manvel Gamburyan. [Sherdog.com]

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Versus Returns to DirectTV

Versus, the broadcaster of World Extreme Cagefighting, has reached a deal that will see the channel return to the DirectTV line up.

“We are pleased that both sides were able to work out a satisfactory deal to bring this programming back to our customers,” said Derek Chang in a press release. “We’re excited that we were able to come to a fair agreement that puts Versus back in millions of homes with DirectTV in time for our busy spring programming schedule. We look forward to super-serving these fans with NHL regular season and playoff coverage, our first live UFC event and much more.”

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Bellator Signs Roger Huerta

CHICAGO, Ill. — Roger Huerta, the top free agent in MMA and one of the sport’s brightest young stars, announced today that he has signed an exclusive contract with Bellator Fighting Championships and will compete in the promotion’s upcoming Season 2 lightweight tournament.

The 26-year-old Huerta (20-3-1) comes to Bellator in the prime of his career after a 3½-year run in the UFC, where he rose to international prominence with wins over top talents like Clay Guida, Leonard Garcia and John Halverson and became the first MMA fighter ever to be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

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Bellator Expected to Announce Signing of Roger Huerta

The Bellator Fighting Championships’ is expected to announced the signing of former UFC lightweight contender Roger Huerta. Huerta will compete in Bellator’s season two eight-man lightweight tournament.

According to MMA Junkie, Bellator has called for a video press conference Monday at 3 PM ET that will stream live at Bellator.com.

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HBO Exec Says No More Than Five Percent Overlap Between Boxing and MMA Audiences

“We’ve done a lot of research at HBO talking to all of our pay-per-view distributors and we haven’t found more than 5% overlap in the audiences. They’re two different businesses that co-exist. Sports that are thriving on our sport of boxing whether it’s on HBO or HBO pay-per-view, it has been growing significantly over the last 3 or 4 years and there is surprisingly little overlap between the consumer base.”

—HBO Senior VP of Sports Operations and Pay-Per-View Mark Taffet

Josh Barnett Returns at DREAM 13

DREAM has announced that PRIDE veteran Josh Barnett will be returning to the ring March 22 at DREAM 13 at Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan. According to the report, Barnett’s promotional debut will come against K-1 slugger Siala “Mighty Mo” Siliga.

Barnett was scheduled to face Fedor Emelianenko on August 1, 2009 at Affliction: Trilogy but both the bout and event were cancelled after Barnett tested positive for anabolic steroids.

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Updated: Liddell-Franklin Likely for June, White Issues Response

The rumblings of the UFC counter programming Strikeforce got much stronger today when it was reported that Chuck Liddell would be facing former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin at UFC Fight Night on April 17 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Liddell was originally reported to be facing Tito Ortiz at UFC 115 but according to Fighters Only, Ortiz is dealing with something that may significantly impact his future as a fighter and it’s not an injury.

Update: 2:38 PM: Sherdog.com and MMAJunkie.com are now reporting that the bout between Liddell and Franklin will now take place at UFC 115 in June, not the rumored show for April 17 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Update: 8:00 PM: UFC president Dana White has now posted a response on his Twitter saying, “Not true! We are doing Couture vs. Franklin, not Chuck.” Stay tuned for more.

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