The Weekly MMA Roundup 8/30/2010: Belfort Gets a Fight, UFC 118 a Success

Vitor Belfort and Yushin Okami have both agreed to a title eliminator bout at UFC 122. Belfort knocked out Rich Franklin in the first round way back at UFC 103 in his last bout, while Yushin Okami just decisioned Mark Munoz earlier this month. The winner will get a shot at the winner of Anderson Silva’s rematch with Chael Sonnen.

Vladimir Matyushenko has resigned with the UFC in a deal that guarantees him four more fights in the octagon. Rumored for his next fight is a meeting with Jason Brilz at UFC 122. Matyushenko was most recently demolished early in the first round by Jon Jones.

Todd Duffee was forced to pull out of his scheduled UFC 121 bout with Jon Madsen with a lingering knee injury. Now veteran Gilbert Yvel has stepped up to fill in for him against Madsen. Yvel is 0-2 in the UFC losing to Junior Dos Santos and Ben Rothwell. Madsen is currently undefeated coming off of a stint in The Ultimate Fighter.

The fighter known as War Machine has been sentenced to one year in jail on charges stemming from a bar fight with a bouncer. It was not War Machine’s first charge for fighting in public, but he was able to avoid the maximum charge of time in prison. War Machine was a member of The Ultimate Fighter season six.

The UFC made their first entrance into Boston, Massachusetts this weekend and pulled in a live gate of $3 million and drew 15,575 attendees. I think it is safe to call the show a success.

There was not a single knockout or TKO at UFC 118 and I’m still trying to figure out that last time that happened. Obviously, there was no “knockout of the night” bonus, but the “submission of the night” went to Joe Lauzon and the “fight of the night” went to Nate Diaz and Marcus Davis. All three fighters pocketed an extra 60K for their efforts.

Fedor Emelianenko stated earlier this week that he wants to face Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem in his next fight. However, Overeem now says he does not want to face Emelianenko until he gets back in the win column, and will only defend his title against Fabricio Werdum. Instead of fighting either, it looks as though he will be competing in K-1′s 2010 Grand Prix and sitting out of MMA for the majority of the remaining year. Antonio Silva is the likely opponent for either Emelianenko or Overeem, whichever fights in Strikeforce first.