Cage Face

Recently former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin (25-5) talks with the Boston Herald about making another run at division gold while negotiating a possible June 12 fight against living legend Randy Couture at UFC 115 in Vancouver:

"It’s not signed yet, but we’ve been working Randy now for a while. We’ve talked June, then we talked August and now we’re talking June again. I think we’re having problems with Randy’s scheduling. So I really don’t know what the plan is at this point. I’m at a point now where I’ve fought enough fights and it’s time for me to make a title run again and see where that takes me. That’s where my focus is now. The last show I went to was New Year’s Eve and I happened to be sitting next to Randy that night. We’re sitting there joking around. He and I went to the Middle East together. It’s not somebody that you necessarily look to for fighting. My standard answer when they say, `Hey we want you to fight so and so?’ is I say `How does Randy feel about that?’ If he’s cool with it professionally, great. That doesn’t mean we’re not going to be friends when it’s all said and done."

"I was never putting on an April 17 show. The media started calling me and asking me so I just let it ride. Let (Strikeforce) sweat it. (Expletive) them. You want to compete with us? Let’s do it. These guys consider themselves competitors and I like to compete. So, I can’t always tell (media) exactly what’s going on. But I really, really, really dislike these guys and Showtime. We’re going to fight until someone goes away and, believe me, it’s going to be them. Dan Henderson is fighting [expletive] Jake Shields. Come on. Are you serious? Jake Shields is 170 pounds, and he's their (185-pound) champion? Jake Shields is on the last fight of his contract, so they're feeding him to Dan Henderson right now because they want to get rid of him because he's going to go away, or they're going to have to pay him some big money to stick around or whatever the deal is. It's such [expletive] bush-league [expletive], and you guys know it. They're a [expletive] joke. If Jake Shields could pull that off, that would be incredible, and good for him. He's going to get paid because what's going to happen is we would love to take him from there, and I'm sure they'd love him to stick around. I will help drive that [expletive] number right up through the roof and let the Showtime boys pay him a lot of money so that Jake can stick it right up their ass. 'I just choked out Dan Henderson, and now you [expletives] are going to pay me for trying to stick it up my ass. I'm going to stick it up yours.'"

Tickets for UFC 114, which is slated for the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 29, will go on sale to the general public on Saturday, March 27 at 1 p.m. ET.

UFC Fight Club members and UFC Newsletter subscribers, naturally, will be able to scoop up tickets prior to them being available for public consumption.

"Jackson vs. Evans" is expected to feature a 205-pound grudge match between former light heavyweight champions and Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 10 coaches "Sugar" Rashad Evans and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.

Tickets for Strikeforce: "Heavy Artillery" at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo., on Saturday, May 15, will go on sale to the general public beginning Friday, March 26 at 10:00 a.m. CT.

However, "Strikeforce Insiders" e-newsletter subscribers will be afforded a special pre-sale ticket purchase opportunity that begins Tuesday (March 23) at 10:00 a.m. and ends on Thursday (March 25) at 10 p.m. CT.

CHICAGO, Ill. (March 19, 2010) – With its first Season 2 event now less than three weeks away, Bellator Fighting Championships today revealed the Round 1 matchups for its much-anticipated, nationally-televised lightweight (155 lbs.) tournament.

The four fights will take place during Bellator’s first three Season 2 events on April 8th, April 15th and April 22nd.

Fighter pairings for Bellator’s featherweight (145 lbs.) and welterweight (170 lbs.) tournaments have already been announced. Matchups for the middleweight (185 lbs.) tournament will be announced later this month.

The lightweight (155 lbs.) matchups are as follows:

ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP® DEBUTS LIVE ON THE BIG SCREEN  NATIONWIDE IN HIGH DEFINITION WITH UFC 111: ST-PIERRE VS. HARDY  ON SATURDAY, MARCH 27

NCM Fathom and UFC® Announce Partnership in First-Ever Year-Long Series of In-  Theater UFC Events Beginning this March in More than 300 Select Movie Theaters

Centennial, Colo. – Feb. 22, 2010 – For the first time in UFC® history, UFC fans can head  to their local movie theater and take in all the action in the Octagon™, live and broadcast in  high definition on the big screen starting with UFC 111: St- Pierre vs. Hardy on Saturday,  March 27 at 10:00 p.m. Eastern / 7:00 p.m. Pacific.

by Marcos S. Villegas

Sydney, Australia--Heavyweight wrecking machine Cain Velasquez continues to be the most talked about heavyweight by insiders in and out of mixed martial arts. His destruction of living legend Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in just one round gives credence that we may very well be looking at the next Lesnar killer. It took one round and exactly two minutes and twenty seconds for the Mexican-American fighter to put away "Minotauro," who spoke of Velasquez as "One of the best fighters in the heavyweight division." From the start of the fight Nogueira was completely overwhelmed, with Velasquez jabs setting up textbook combinations that could of came straight out of a instructional striking how to. Kicks to the legs, constant head movement, powerful jabs and punches in bunches put Velasquez's completeness as a mixed martial artist on display this night. The left hook was of significant importance as the American Kickboxing Academy standout would unleash it and score each and every time a Nogueira straight would come his way. Nogueira took those hooks flush on the chin a few times before finally crumbling; after throwing a straight right hand that was immediately countered by a three hook combination. The former Pride and UFC heavyweight champion buckled to the mat and Velasquez followed up with five straight shots to the face to put away the Brazilian.