Hawaiian Fighting Arts

After Gerald Harris used a jarring body slam to knock out Dave Branch at UFC 116, Strikeforce women’s welterweight champion Sarak Kaufman did the same to Roxanne Modafferi at this past weekend’s Strikeforce Challengers 9 event.

Under the unified rules of MMA, using a slam to break free of an opponent’s guard or submission attempt is perfectly legal.

But in our latest “Ask the Fight Doc” installment, MMAjunkie.com medical columnist Dr. Johnny Benjamin weighs in on whether the competitive benefits outweigh the injury risk.

Veteran fighter Duane “Bang” Ludwig hit the bag today for the first time since he suffered a grisly broken leg in a first-round loss to fellow lightweight Darren Elkins at UFC on Versus 1.

Ludwig said his doctors recently cleared him to begin physical therapy and light training after removing a screw from his left fibula, which broke when Elkins took him down in the first round of the March 31 fight.

With his bone now “healed,” the UFC fighter says a move to welterweight is imminent.

Ratings for this past weekend’s Showtime-televised Strikeforce Challengers 9 event proved solid as the show averaged an audience of 197,000 viewers, an industry source today confirmed with MMAjunkie.com.

The peak audience actually came for the night’s co-main event, a title
fight between women’s welterweight champ Sarah Kaufman and challenger
Roxanne Modafferi that spiked with 254,000 viewers.

The fight actually topped the Shane Del Rosario vs. Lolohea Mahe headliner, which drew 226,000 viewers.

As expected former UFC light-heavyweight champions Lyoto Machida and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson have agreed to meet for an upcoming fight.

MMAjunkie.com first reported the matchup and November event date, which is expected to be UFC 123, earlier this month.

Today, Machida confirmed the fight via Twitter, though he didn’t specify the fight date.

A lightweight bout pitting Danny Castillo against promotional newcomer Dustin Poirier is a late addition to the upcoming WEC 50 card.

WEC officials today formally announced the bout.

WEC 50 takes place Aug. 18 at The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas and features a headliner between bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz and Joseph Benavidez.

Matt Riddle has two little reasons to fight harder this Sunday at UFC on Versus 2: twin girls who came into his life this past month.

The thing is, he’s not sure if they’ll give him an extra boost inside the octagon when he faces DaMarques Johnson at Sunday’s event at the San Diego Sports Arena. It would be nice, but he’s not counting on it.

Instead, he’s counting on a nice payday so he can take his little ones on vacation. Where’s the family headed? Pennsylvania, where his parents live.

Former WEC champ Urijah Faber’s future, including a recently scratched bout with Takeya Mizugaki that still could place in the following months, is still up in the air.

That’s according to sources close to the fighter, who told MMAjunkie.com that nothing has been decided as far as a return date or opponent.

Faber, one of the WEC’s biggest stars, was slated to make his bantamweight debut and fight Mizugaki at next month’s WEC 50 event. But “The California Kid” was forced off the card in June due to an injury.

After he was forced off next month’s UFC 117 event and a fight with Rodney Wallace, undefeated UFC newcomer Stanislav Nedkov now meets fellow light heavyweight Steve Cantwell at UFC 120.

A source close to the event today told MMAjunkie.com that verbal agreements are in place and that bout agreements should be finalized shortly.

UFC 120 takes place Oct. 16 at The O2 in London, England.

World Extreme Cagefighting officials today formally announced the upcoming WEC 51 card, which features a championship headliner between featherweight title-holder Jose Aldo and Manny Gamburyan and a co-headliner rematch between Donald Cerrone and Jamie Varner.

“WEC 51: Aldo vs. Gamburyan” takes place Sept. 30 at the 1STBANK Center in Broomfield, Colo.

Other officially announced bouts include Miguel Torres vs. Charlie Valencia, Leonard Garcia vs. Mark Hominick, and Chan Sung Jung vs. George Roop.

Strikeforce women’s welterweight champion Sarah Kaufman’s slam-knockout
of title challenger Roxanne Modafferi continues generating interest.

In fact, the Showtime-televised Strikeforce Challengers 9 co-headliner earned a spot on ESPN “SportsCenter’s” Plays of the Week.

The vicious knockout earned the No. 4 spot on the internationally broadcast top-10 list.