Hawaiian Fighting Arts

In a bout first reported by MMAjunkie.com, Rob
Emerson (9-8 MMA, 3-2-1 UFC) meets Nik Lentz (17-3-2 MMA, 1-0-1 UFC) on
the UFC Fight Night 21 preliminary card.

The UFC today announced the matchup, bringing the total number of fights on the card to 11.

Featuring a lightweight matchup between perennial contender Kenny
Florian and Japanese import Takanori Gomi, UFC Fight Night 21 takes
place March 31 at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, N.C. The main card
airs live on Spike TV and serves as the lead-in for “The Ultimate
Fighter 11″ season debut.

With three title fights planned for Strikeforce’s April return to CBS,
the producers of “Strikeforce: Nashville” could run into a real problem.

Properly timing three contests that could each potentially run 25
minutes – or 25 seconds – could leave the promotion with a bit of
downtime to fill.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker recently told MMAjunkie.com that in order to fill the void, the promotion will
likely air a preliminary card fight for the first time.

A lightweight match-up between Matt Wiman (11-5 MMA, 5-3 UFC) and Mac Danzig (19-7-1 MMA, 3-3 UFC) is expected for UFC 115.

Sources close to the bout told MMAjunkie.com on
Tuesday that both fighters have agreed to meet one another and are
expected to put pen to paper soon.

While not yet officially announced, UFC 115 is expected to take place
June 12 at GM Place in Vancouver, British Columbia. The night’s main
card airs on pay-per-view.

A welterweight matchup between Martin Kampmann and Paulo Thiago is currently in the works for UFC 115.

The potential bout was first reported by The Las Vegas Sun, and MMAjunkie.com has since confirmed that both fighters have verbally agreed to the fight, and bout agreements are expected to be finalized shortly.

While not yet officially announced, UFC 115 is expected to take place June 12 at GM Place in Vancouver, British Columbia. The night’s main card airs on pay-per-view.

DirecTV subscribers, stop reading now.

While U.S. subscribers of the satellite television service are still
waiting anxiously to hear if DirecTV and Versus will resolve their
differences in time for this month’s debut UFC event on the network,
the fight promotion is ensuring MMA fans worldwide will see the event.

The UFC recently announced that “UFC on Versus 1: Vera vs. Jones”
will air on a host of countries outside of the U.S., including
Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the U.K.

A potential slugfest between Alessio Sakara and James Irvin has been promoted to main-card status at UFC on Versus 1 and brings to four the number of televised bouts for the event, MMAjunkie.com has confirmed with event officials.

UFC on Versus 1 takes place Sunday March 21 at the 1STBANK Center in Broomfield, Colo.

It’s the first UFC card televised live on the cable channel, and light heavyweights Brandon Vera and Jon Jones fight in the evening’s main event.

In the past year, the California-based Strikeforce promotion has gone
from solid regional promotion to counter-programming-worthy opponent of
the UFC.

While the company’s handling of its champions and current relationship
with M-1 Global and Fedor Emelianenko have come under a bit of fire,
Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker recently told MMAjunkie.com that he’s just fine with the current path of his
fight promotion.

“I think every goal that we set out last year, we’ve done that and then some,” Coker said.

As other fight promotions scramble for relevance in the
U.S., the Ultimate Fighting Championship continues its own worldwide
expansion.

The UFC today announced a new long-term distribution agreement with All
Sports Network, a 24-hour high-definition sports channel in Asia.

The new deal provides UFC programming to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia,
Macau, Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and
Thailand.

Due to some special events at our home in the Mandalay Bay Resort &
Casino in Las Vegas, MMAjunkie.com Radio moves from its regular noon to
2 p.m. ET slot to a special evening time tonight.

With a special primetime start of 9 p.m. ET, it’s only appropriate that the man known as “Showtime,” WEC 47 winner Javier Vazquez, joins the program.

Listen to
and watch a video stream of the two-hour MMAjunkie.com Radio show at www.mmajunkie.com/radio.

It wasn’t that long ago that the WEC’s bantamweight division appeared
little more than a showcase for then-champion Miguel Torres.

My, how things have changed.

At this past weekend’s WEC 47 event in Columbus, Ohio, Joseph Benavidez
stunned Torres with a one-sided submission win and likely earned
himself a shot at the 135-pound title. But Scott Jorgensen also landed
one of the more memorable finishes in recent memory in his bout with
Chad George, and he made a legitimate claim for contender status.