Despite Ivan Salaverry retiring back in 2007, the fighter has decided to come back to the world of MMA as he prepares to fight on a BAMMA card May 21st against Matt Ewin. Salaverry will be replacing Phil Baroni who was forced to quit the show due to injuries.

Salvarry dropped two fights he had been scheduled for during 2006 and 2007 before calling it quits. It now seems that he still has fight left in his heart as he made the decision to come back to MMA. This is Salvarry’s first fight in more than 5 years.

A total of 16 fights have been planned for the evening including the main event between current BAMMA champ Murilo

UFC President Dana White and longtime boxing promoter Bob Arum are having a war of words in the wake of the UFC announcing its move to the Fox Network. As if it wasn’t bad enough for the sport of boxing that the UFC is striking deals with major networks in order to bring the product to the general public free of charge, the first event that will air on Fox is happening the same evening as Manny Pacquiao’s fight against Juan Manuel Marquez.

Although the UFC and boxing are certainly competing for the dollar of the general sporting public, White willingly modified the card for UFC on Fox 1, shrinking the televised action from several hours to only one in order to wrap up the highly-anticipated event before Pacquiao steps into the ring. Though obviously irked by the situation, Arum said in a published interview that the UFC event would have no impact at all on the Pacquiao pay-per-view fight, going on to add that Fox could garner a larger audience by showing a movie.

Naturally, White wan’t going to sit on his hands after being poked by the aging promoter, quickly sending a verbal volley directly at Arum that didn’t mince words. “You are a greedy pig, just like all the other guys who were involved in boxing. All you ever did was try to rip money out of it. You have never invested in the sport of boxing to make it better, to make it last, to create a future for boxing,” White said of Arum.

While the feud is noteworthy and even a bit entertaining, both men are wise and savvy enough to know that it creates media exposure, which is highly beneficial in generating revenue for both the UFC and professional boxing.

Millions of Ultimate Fighting Championship fans all over the world are counting the days until the late-November clash of two mixed martial arts titans at UFC 139. The headlining event will pit undefeated Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez against 9-1 challenger Junior Dos Santos in a match that is quickly becoming the most highly anticipated event the upper division has seen in years.

Velasquez has torn through the professional fighting world after overwhelming Brad Morris with punches halfway through the first round of his initial UFC fight. After a two-minute TKO of Jake O’Brien exactly three months later, the powers that be began to take notice. Velasquez has become a poster boy for the heavyweight division ever since.

A fight at UFC 121 in October of last year between Velasquez and Brock Lesnar was predicted by many to be a five round war, but Velasquez tagged the big man square on the chin early into the first round and a stunned and inefficient Lesnar took a steady pounding until the referee stopped the fight just over four minutes in.

Aside from a mental lapse that led to a submission and the only loss of his career, Santos has also been totally dominant over the course of his professional career. He will bring a seven fight winning streak into the November 19th match at the HP Pavilion in San Jose and expects to be adding another notch in his win column and the first notch in Valasquez’s loss column.

Although he has scored a TKO or forced submission in many of his 13 victories, Santos has shown versatility and endurance in winning his last two fights by unanimous decision, including a very impressive performance against Shane Carwin in UFC 131 earlier this summer.

Ronda Rousey is quickly making a name for herself in the world of female mixed martial arts. MMA fans that weren’t familiar with the 24-year-old Californian before last weekend’s Strikeforce Challengers 18 certainly are now, as Rousey used her unparalleled judo skills en route to a submission victory that took about as long as a typical television commercial.

After the fight went to the mat just seconds into the 1st round, Rousey maneuvered an overmatched Sarah D’Alelio into what has quickly become her signature armbar submission technique, which takes an opponent’s arm to the brink of breaking backwards, forcing even the most resilient combatant to tap out.

While there was controversy surrounding whether or not D’Alelio actually made a tapping motion, the victory was cemented in the quick-thinking mind of Rousey the moment she began to hear what she later referred to as “terrifying screams” coming from the 30-year-old.

The fight brings the professional record of Rousey to 3-0, which includes two separate 25 second submission victories and third that took all of 49 seconds. If present trends continue, D’Alelio will get to 7-0 before she chalks up a full round of professional action. All three submissions have been by way of an armbar, which Rousey has been able to execute thanks to incredible agility, stability and upper body strength.

The future is bright for the beautiful blond, who is certainly aware of the fact that looks can open doors for her in the fighting business. “My goal is to win and look good while I’m at it. I want to bring more attention to women’s MMA, which needs a face of the sport that people actually want to look at,” Rousey said bluntly in a recent interview, adding, “I’m going to try my best to be that person.”

In a move previously unseen in professional sports, Dana White and the Ultimate Fighting Championship are taking pay-per-view events and giving them away for free on network television. Details were released earlier today regarding a partnership between the Fox Broadcasting Company and the UFC, which has evidently been in the works for several years. Boiled down to its simplest form, the agreement will allow the general public free access to four major UFC events per year.

UFC enthusiasts have grown accustomed to shelling out about $30 for each of the events, which have steadily increased in annual frequency since the league was hatched in dimly-lit auditoriums and the back rooms of bars in the 1990s. Fans won’t have to wait for long to get their first taste of the network television action, as Fox’s inaugural UFC broadcast is set to take place on November 12th at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

The evening will mark the 189th UFC event, but has already been renamed in order to be more marketable as a network television program. Somewhat surprisingly, only two fights will air over the course of the 60-minute broadcast. This is likely a strategy that is aimed at easing the general public into the high-paced and high-stakes world of ultimate fighting. The combatants have yet to be announced.

It has come to light that the UFC has been looking for a network television partner since the turn of the century, but a major sticking point in the ongoing negotiations was creative and directorial control. Fox has agreed to allow the UFC to produce and present their events to the public on their own terms, while the UFC has promised to unleash a product that benefits from a complete metamorphosis of their broadcasting approach.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Brazil for the first time in 13 years when UFC 134 kicks off in Rio De Janeiro on August 27th.

The card is filled with Brazilian natives and is sure to feature tactics and strategies that hearken back to the dominant days of the Gracie family. All but one of the twelve scheduled fights features a native son, and a preliminary Bantamweight fight between Raphael Assuncao and Johnny Eduardo actually pits fellow countrymen against each other. Indeed, Dana White and the UFC’s legion of partial-owners have once again brewed up a potent concoction that is sure to send the local masses into a frenzy.

The event is headlined by 36-year-old legend Anderson Silva, who is hoping to score a memorable victory as he nears the inevitable end of a career that has made millions of Brazilians honored to call him their own. Silva will face Yushin Okami in a highly-anticipated showdown that is essentially a rematch of a fight gone wrong.

During a 2006 Rumble on the Rock tournament in Honolulu, Silva was dominating a spent Okami when he landed a kick to the face of the Japanese star that technically qualified as striking a downed opponent. The situation was incredibly unfortunate given the gravity of the match and the fact that Silva was a heavy favorite to win the event. The drama was ratcheted up when Okami passed on the chance to finish the fight and took advantage of the chance to garner a win by disqualification.

As usual, Silva has trained with a posse that features some of the biggest names in Brazilian mixed martial arts. The champ comes into the fight with a 34-4 career mixed martial arts record and has plans to add a 35th victory in a few weeks.

Rashad Evans came into UFC 133 in the best shape of his life and improved his career record to 16-1-1 after a 2nd round victory over Tito Ortiz. The fight marked the end of a 14-month layoff for Evans, which allowed many in the business to speculate that his best days were behind him. Determined to show that people have a bad habit of jumping to unrealistic conclusions, Evans benefited from the expertise of trainers and a nutritionist in the months leading up to Saturday night’s showdown.

While Ortiz was certainly deserving of the main event spotlight after shocking the mixed martial arts world with a 1st round submission of Ryan Bader at UFC 132, he remained a long-shot in the eyes of Las Vegas odds makers. Ortiz was never able to mount an effective attack, but did draw the attention of the raucous crowd during an attempt at a guillotine choke, which Evans was able to quickly wiggle out of. A few takedowns in the first and second round essentially sealed the judges interpretation of the action, but Evans left it out of their hands with a thunderous knee to the mid-section of Ortiz that was followed by a flurry of punches and stoppage at 4:48 into the 2nd.

Evans came into the fight at 204.5 pounds, and the chiseled state of his upper body spoke volumes about his remaning capabilities and his level of determination. A week prior to the fight, Evans was visited by WBC Light Heavyweight Champion Bernard Hopkins, who was very energetic and informative over the course of a ten minute cram session about footwork and landing quick hooks. The meeting was heavily covered by the media, who stood by as Evans seemed to soak up as much from the wily veteran as he could.

UFC 133 got off to a roaring start as Swedish newcomer Alexander Gustafsson battered aging warrior Matt Hamill, forcing a stoppage in the second round. Hamill had accepted the fight on relatively short notice after Vladimir Matyushenko had to withdraw due to an injury. While Gustafsson vs. Matyushenko would have likely been a competitive match that would have pushed the spatial limits of the Wells Fargo Center marquee, the Swede made short work of Hamill, who is one step closer to the end of his fighting career.

Gustafsson was clearly apprehensive about risking too much in the opening round, peppering Hamill with jabs as Hamill looked for a window to make a game-changing takedown. Time ticked away without much damage being sustained, leaving the live commentators to speculate that Hamill may have won the first round in light of Gustafsson’s trepidation. After a quick trip to his corner, Gustafsson came out with furious anger in the second round. Hamill’s lack of stamina was exposed as the 6’1″ Ohio native gasped for air in between attempts at going low. Gustafsson stunned Hamill with a flush right hand and forced the referee to end the bout moments later as he rained elbows down on the former NCAA wrestling champ.

The youthful sport of mixed martial arts is in the process of producing its first wave of aging heroes, many of whom will soon be commentators or hired storytellers. While this is obviously a product of the cycle of life, it remains unusual and a bit saddening to see a once dominant fighter just trying to hang on until the end of a round. Fighters like Hamill, Matt Hughes and Matt Serra are written into the folklore of the sport, but are quickly on their way out in a world dominated by youth.

K.J. Noons is one of the few men on Earth to compile at least 10 wins as a professional boxer, a professional kickboxer, and a mixed martial artist, but is the 28-year-old dynamo already in the twilight of his career? After a brutal three round fight against Nick Diaz in which Noons sustained a broken jaw and broken hand, he was faced with his first ever loss by decision in an MMA fight.

On Saturday June 18th, Noons will face George Masvidal at Strikeforce: Dallas for a chance to regain his confidence, swagger and title hopes. A win against Masvidal would mean a guaranteed shot at Strikeforce’s Lightweight title, which is currently held by Gilbert Melendez. A loss to Masvidal would mean two consecutive big-fight defeats and would certainly jeopardize Strikeforce’s long-term commitment to Noons. Three consecutive losses typically signals the final phase of a fighter’s career.

K.J. Noons has virtually everything a young man could want. With a chiseled frame, a beautiful wife and a successful career as a mixed martial artist, Noons has certainly led a charmed life since he was born on the island of Hawaii in 1982. If he is able to prevail victorious in this weekend’s match against Masvidal, the fighting pride of Hawaii would have a chance to summit the mountaintop of his sport. With a loss, he will likely fade into the mellow atmosphere and scenery of the island. At least until the idea of becoming a professional surfer gets into his head.

Urijah Faber, the long-haired, natural-foods junkie known as ‘The California Kid,’ recently made his way into the ranks of the UFC as a result of its merger with WEC in late 2010. Faber proved to be up to the task, pummeling a spry Eddie Wineland with elbows and fists over the course of three competitive rounds.

In true UFC fashion, Faber was immediately looking toward the next step in his journey during the post-fight interview. “I want to get that UFC belt. Dominick Cruz, hide your kids, hide your wife,’ said the fun-loving and laid-back Featherweight, in reference to the wildly popular ‘bed intruder’ video that went viral in 2010. Faber is no stranger to big fights, having several times fought for or defended a championship. In a handful of cases, Faber headlined cards at Sacramento’s Arco Arena, a locale that he grew up a few miles from and frequented as a child.

Faber will indeed get his chance to battle Cruz, who is actually a single man with no kids, in UFC 132 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. There is certainly a mutual respect between the two fighters, who are separated by seven years of age and two inches in height. Faber is the older and shorter of the two. Faber will be again pushing all of his chips to the center of the table in his 2nd UFC fight, knowing that a win will catapult him to the top of the sport.