Sports Betting World’s UFC and MMA Notebook (February 22, 2011)

Added on Feb 22, 2011 by Brian Blake in

UFC & MMA

-In what might be one of the shortest lived releases from the UFC, it was announced today that light heavyweight contender Brandon Vera has been accepted back into the organization. The decision was made following his last opponent’s, Thiago Silva, failure to pass the post fight drug test resulting in the bout no being deemed a no contest. No opponent or date has been officially announced in terms of Vera’s comeback fight.

-Next month’s UFC Fight Night 24 card in Seattle will now feature replacement fighter Phil Davis in the main event as he takes on Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Nogueira was originally scheduled to face fellow veteran Tito Ortiz but that fight was scrapped once it was made public that Ortiz required stitches for a cut that occured following an accidental headbutt while training. Daley currently holds a record of 8-0 with half of those wins taking place in the UFC. The more experienced Nogueira sits at 19-4 and an official record of 2-1 within the UFC.

-Strikeforce and Showtime Sports recently announced that April 1 is the official date for the next edition of the Strikeforce Challengers series. As this is being written the only thing attached to the card that is official is the date. The venue along with any sort of matchups are still up in the air.

-Yesterday the folks over at Spike TV and Zuffa determined that the network will air the premier of Countdown to UFC 128 on March 15 at at 11 p.m. Eastern and Pacific time. The show will highlight some of the main event fighters for UFC 128: Rua vs. Jones which will be hosted by the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ the following Saturday, March 19. Light-Heavyweight Champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will defend his title against rising star and replacement challenger Jon “Bones” Jones after former champ Rashad Evans was forced to withdraw from the fight.

-For the second time the ION television channel will televise some preliminary bouts for UFC 127: Penn vs. Fitch this Saturday live from Sydney, Australia. Bouts with lightweights Ross Pearson and Spencer Fisher, 205 pounders James Te-Huna and Alexander Gustafson as well as middleweights Nick Ring and Riki Fukuda will all be shown live starting at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.