Quick Hits Coming From the World of MMA (January 9, 2011)

Added on Jan 09, 2011 by Brian Blake in

UFC & MMA

-On Thursday, the UFC made it official that Welterweight Champion, Georges St. Pierre, would put his title on the line against Jake Shields at UFC 129 which will be held at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada. The April 30 event will be the UFC’s first since the province legalized the sport back in August of 2010. It will be the second consecutive fight of GSP’s to take place in his homeland of Canada as he dominated Josh Koscheck in his native Montreal last month. Shields, who has won 15 in a row, is coming off of his UFC debut which took place back in October when he defeated Martin Kampmann via split decision.

-Dana White has been on a hot streak when it comes to giving fighters their walking papers. The organization recently released the likes of Brandon Vera, Jamie Varner, Marcus Davis, Antonio McKee, Todd Duffee, Efrain Escudero, Gabriel Gonzaga, Gerald Harris and Chris Horodecki.

-After missing out on a fight scheduled in December (opponent Shane Carwin was injured while training), it looks like Roy Nelson will finally make his return to the cage on May 28 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas where he is tentatively scheduled to take on former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir. The bout will be a part of UFC 130. Nelson dropped a decision to Junior Dos Santos in August in his last outing while Mir is coming off a last minute KO win over Mirko Cro-Cop in September.

-In other news regarding May’s upcoming UFC 130, it appears that his recent win over Brandon Vera will have Thiago Silva taking on the ever popular Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in a light heavyweight bout that could very well contain major title implications.

-Former WEC Featherweight Champion Mike Brown is hoping that the third time is a charm when it comes to earning a victory within the UFC. After the fighter known as “The Korean Zombie”, Chan Sung Jung was forced to withdraw from his upcoming bout with Rani Yahya due to an injury, it was announced that Brown would get a shot at redemption. Yahya and Brown are set to square off on the UFC: Fight for the Troops 2 on the 22nd of this month in Ft. Hood, Texas.

-The UFC on Versus series will return with their third event on March 3 in Louisville, Kentucky. The co-main event bouts will feature season one’s winner of The Ultimate Fighter, Diego Sanchez as he takes on Martin Kampmann in a welterweight contest while middleweights Mark Muñoz of Vallejo, California will step into The Octagon to face C.B. Dolloway. Other bouts expected to be included on the main card will be bantamweights Brian Bowles and Damacio Page as well as another middleweight tilt featuring Alessio Sakara who will face Maiquel Falcão.

-Due to Chael Sonnen’s recent legal woes stemming from money-laundering conviction, it was announced this week by the UFC that Nate Marquardt will serve as Sonnen’s replacement. Prior to his suspension, Sonnen was scheduled to face Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 128: Shogun vs. Evans on March 19 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.