Rousey reportedly signs with the UFC

It seems as if history has been made, several media sources are reporting that STRIKEFORCE Women's Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey has become the first female fighter to sign with ZUFFA's Ultimate Fighting Championship.

For now, it seems as if the best female fighter in the world will be joining the top mixed martial arts promotion in the world and automatically become the promotion's women's bantamweight champion. Once reports broke, first by media rumor mill, TMZ.com it became clear that reports of STRIKEFORCE's closure were imminent. Why else would they allow one of their top fighters to get out of their contract?

Whatever the reasoning or case may be, it has become more than evident that women's MMA is becoming to be taken seriously by some of the more important people in the sport.

As more news and reports break, there'll be more to these reports. Until then...

UPDATE: Since this was posted, Miesha Tate tweeted that she has also signed with the UFC.

Follow me on Twitter @NiteshDutt.

Strikeforce set for 'Night of Champions' in 2013

After injuries plagued the final two STRIKEFORCE events of 2012, the ZUFFA owned promotion will begin the new year with three title fights and one farewell fight for one dominating heavyweight.

Several injuries to top fighters forced SHOWTIME and STRIKEFORCE to cancel events on September 29 in Sacramento, Calif. and November 3 in Oklahoma City, Okla. The title fights on those cards have been rescheduled for Saturday, January 12, 2013 and will take place at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in OKC. The event will include title defenses by Gilbert Melendez, Nate Marquadt and Luke Rockhold.

STRIKEFORCE Heavyweight Grand Prix winner Daniel Cormier will also be on the card, in what will likely be his final appearance in the promotion.

Latest for MMA Valor: Sefo and NBC sports...

No UFC or Strikeforce? Bellator not doing it for you? Well, have no worries MMA fans. Introducing World Series of Fighting, the world’s newest MMA promotion which is set to make its debut this Saturday, November 3rd.

Unlike other MMA promotions,World Series of Fighting is debuting on a major sports network. NBC Sports has taken the leap of faith and is hoping to cash in on the debut promotion. Not only does WSOF have a partnership with NBC in-place, but they have a star-studded roster of former UFC fighters prepared to take the reins.

Starting at the top, President Ray Sefo is a well-known and well-respected name in the fight community. As a former K-1 and MMA fighter, Sefo is well versed in combat sports and knows what it takes to be a champion. This has helped in his quest to find the right fighters for WSOF...to read the rest click the link below.

http://mmavalor.com/2012/11/01/sefo-and-nbc-sports-bring-world-series-of-fighting-to-forefront/

White, UFC announce Jones/Sonnen as next TUF coaches

By now I'm sure almost everyone has heard and digested the shocking news that Chael Sonnen and UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones will be coaches for next season's The Ultimate Fighter and will fight next April.

If that was your first time hearing of that news, take some time to let it sink in. But, honestly where the hell have you been?

Now that you've had some time, let's go back and look at that. The UFC announced early Tuesday that Sonnen and Jones would be coaches for their TUF series, which means they'll fight soon after and it'll be for Jones's light heavyweight title.

The question on everyone's mind is, why? Why Sonnen? Why not anyone else?

Silva proves his greatness yet again

Not even three months ago, UFC 153 was on the verge of going the way of UFC 151. Thanks to UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva and UFC Light-Heavyweight Stephan Bonnar stepping, the card was saved.

Silva and Bonnar agreed to meet in a three-round LHW battle in Rio. Many questioned if Silva should take the fight and what it would mean for his legacy if he were to lose. For Bonnar, the opposite was just as true.

Always considered a mid-card fighter after his epic battle versus Forrest Griffin on the season one finale of The Ultimate Fighter, this could be the victory that launched Bonnar into "legendary" status.

After that loss, Griffin's career skyrocketed while Bonnar's stood still. Bonnar even hinted at retirement before he took this fight versus Silva.

Fitch returns with dominant performance

Back in December 2011, Jon Fitch returned to the UFC octagon after almost a year away. That return wasn’t a successful one as he was the victim of a Johny Hendricks KO. However, in his second return after a knee injury, Fitch made sure people remembered how dangerous of a fighter he was.

Going up against Erick Silva at UFC 153 in Rio, many thought Fitch would not be able to utilize his wrestling over the much quicker Silva. But, it was Fitch who proved to outlast and out fight the young Brazilian.

After a dominating first round that Fitch easily dominated with wrestling and ground and pound, Silva fought back and had several submission attempts in the second round. Fitch, who is well-known for his submission defense, fought out of both attempts and even controlled the final minute of round 2.

Coming into the third round the fight became a battle of conditioning. Fitch, who wrestled at Purdue University, called upon his background and incredible cardio to outlast Silva. Silva was noticeably gassed heading into the final round. He looked tired and awaiting the final bell to ring. Fitch took control of the third round early on and never let up.

Neal opens up about final amateur bout, move to professional

Amateur MMA fighter Joe Neal took some time out of his training schedule to talk to Mind of Nitesh about his final amateur bout as well as his future as a professional fighter, background and move down in weight class.

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8/25: Jake Shields interveiw

UFC Middleweight Jake Shields talks UFC 151 fiasco, El Nino one-year anniversary and possible bouts in his future.

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Gil talks one-year anniversary and bout with Bam Bam

Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez (@GilbertMelendez) took some time out of his gym's one-year anniversary to speak with me on Pat Healy, owning his own gym and other topics in MMA. The audio is a little rough due to echo in room and loud music.

Follow me on Twitter @NiteshDutt.

Cain, Nate get long-awaited title shots

In what has become the norm in recent years, the UFC has put together a stellar month of December in hopes of building momentum into the new year. 2012's December is scheduled to be one of the most exciting month of fights this year with two titles up for grabs and the return of a prodigy.

 It's been well-documented that the talent pool in Northern California is a whole lot deeper than most regions across America and two of the most promising fighters will be on display later this year. Gracie Fight Team's Nate Diaz and American Kickboxing Academy's Cain Velasquez are slated to headline two title fights this December.

Diaz, whose last fight was a submission win over Jim Miller at UFC on Fox 3, will get his long-awaited shot at Lightweight Champion Benson Henderson. It'll be his first-ever UFC title fight and just the second time in his career that he has a shot at gold.

After his victory over Miller on May 5, UFC President Dana White announced that Diaz would be next in line for a shot at the lightweight title. Up until last Saturday at UFC 150 his opponent was unknown. Henderson defeated Frankie Edgar in a rematch of their bout in February. Many feared that if Edgar had won then there'd be a third bout and Diaz would either wait or forced to put his "No. 1 contender" title on the line.

Return to middleweight a success for Shields

With lifelong friends and training partners in his corner San Francisco’s Jake Shields was more than ready to make his return to the middleweight division a successful one. His opponent, Ed Herman, looked to disrupt Shields’s return to a division Shields once called home.

Coming into the fight there was a lot of talk of how Jake would respond to a return to middleweight, but less about Herman’s current three-fight win streak. Herman looked to make people remember that as he controlled most of the first-round.

Herman kept Shields against the cage and foiled several standing guillotine attempts by the former Strikeforce middleweight champion. Shields, the #10 ranked Northern California MMA fighter, wasn’t quite able to fight his fight in the opening round as Herman kept it standing. But, as the fight continued that all changed.

Swick makes quick work of Johnson in UFC return

Roughly two-and-a-half years after his loss to Paulo Thiago at UFC 109, Mike “Quick” Swick made his return to the UFC after a health scare and countless setbacks. It took longer than expected, but Swick re-introduced himself to MMA fans in tremendous fashion.

This wasn’t supposed to be Swick’s return to the UFC. After being misdiagnosed with a stomach illness that made it difficult for Swick to cut weight and add muscle, he was in agreement to make his return at UFC Fight Night 23 against David Mitchell on January 22, 2011. Due to a back injury while training Mitchell was forced out of action and Swick, who was still recovering from his misdiagnoses, felt he wouldn’t be healthy enough to fight.

Then, it was announced that Swick would return versus newcomer Erick Silva on August 27 of last year. However, this time it was a knee injury to Swick that caused his return to be put on hold. Swick still continued to train at AKA in San Jose in hopes of putting all roadblocks behind him and get back inside the octagon.

Gracie lays out foundation for return of Diaz

Since his loss, positive test for marijuana and subsequent suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Nick Diaz has been anomaly in the world of mixed martial arts. He missed a Brazilian jiu-jitsu super-match against Braulio Estima in Long Beach and has had his passion for competing called into question on countless occasions.  

Today, via graciefighter.com, Diaz released a statement thru Cesar Gracie. In the statement, Gracie spoke about his admiration of Nick and his younger brother Nate. He talked about Nate’s rise in the UFC’s lightweight division and how much time Nick has been spending around the gym. Gracie said that “training and fighting is in his DNA.”

Gracie went on to reveal Nick’s future plans.

Faber's legacy reaches further than octagon

As far as the careers of fighters go, Sacramento’s Urijah Faber has had one of the more storied and respected careers in MMA’s short history. He heads into his interim title fight with Renan Barao with a 26-5 record with 14 submissions and 7 knockouts. Adding a UFC title to his repertoire would truly solidify his spot amongst the greatest lighter weight fighters ever.

Some would say that Faber needs this win to be remembered as a great fighter, but the truth is Faber’s legacy goes well beyond wins and losses. His reach is further than the WEC and UFC cages.

A child of self-described hippies, Faber spent his early years in a “radical Christian community” before moving to Lincoln, Calif. where he spent his formidable years. It was during those years that Faber fell in love with wrestling, which led him to a successful NCAA wrestling career at UC Davis. After college Faber’s passion for competition led him into the world of mixed martial arts and after a decade in the sport he’s becoming one of the faces of MMA.

UFC Primetime: Silva vs. Sonnen 2

UFC debuted this recent installment of their Primetime series focusing on the highly-anticipated middleweight bout between champion Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen. The fight takes place on July 7 in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Arena.

July to be raucous in Northern California

The month of June was relatively quiet on the mixed martial arts scene in Northern California, but with July right around the corner things are set to pick up.

There are two title fights involving Nor Cal fighters, both of whom are in our Nor Cal P4P top-10, and others with future title implications. Let’s take a look at five of the most-anticipated Nor Cal fights.

Urijah Faber (26-5) vs. Renan Barao (28-1) (UFC 149 on July 21): Sacramento’s Faber was originally scheduled to challenge Dominick Cruz for his title at UFC 148, but when Cruz tore his ACL during training Barao was called in as a replacement and the fight became an interim title bout. Another injury changed the venue of this fight. When UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo suffered a shoulder injury, he pulled out of his match at 149 against Erik Koch. Instead of replacing Aldo and having another interim title fight, which would mean three interim champions, the UFC moved Faber-Barao to 149 in Calgary.

What was slated to be the third chapter in the Faber-Cruz rivalry and co-main event UFC 148 has turned into the first-ever meeting between Faber and Barao, which will headline UFC 149 and be for the interim bantamweight championship.

Luke Rockhold (9-1) vs. Tim Kennedy (14-3) (Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine on July 14): AKA and Santa Cruz product Luke Rockhold makes his second defense of the Strikeforce middleweight title. This time his opponent will be much better than the aging Keith Jardine. The man Rockhold was supposed to face back January, Tim Kennedy, will be his opponent this time around. Kennedy was the odds on favorite to face Rockhold back in January, but a thumb injury sidelined him before that bout was announced.

This time around, both fighters are healthy and ready to do battle. There has been more anticipation surrounding this fight then Rockhold’s previous title defense, which he won via TKO in the first-round. Kennedy will pose a much bigger challenge than Jardine who was fighting at middleweight for the first time.

Mark Munoz (12-2) vs. Chris Weidman (8-0) (UFC on FUEL 4 on July 11): Not only will Vallejo’s Munoz be in action, but this card will take place in San Jose at the HP Pavilion. This battle of well-round middleweights could go a long way in determining who’s on the fast track to a title shot and who still has a ladder to climb.

Both are well-known for their wrestling ability and were NCAA All-Americans, Munoz at Oklahoma State and Weidman at Hofstra. The bout was officially announced on May 19 at Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Cormier in San Jose, where the bout will take place. During the short presser, each fighter relented that although both are known for their wrestling that the bout could be decided with strikes. Both are top-5 middleweights and could be on their way to a title shot with a decisive victory.

Chad Mendes (11-1) vs. Cody McKenzie (13-2) (UFC 148 on July 7): Mendes, who fights out of Team Alpha Male along with Urijah Faber, is looking to bounce back from his lone career loss to UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo. He will do so against a newcomer to the featherweight division, Cody McKenzie. McKenzie is coming off a submission victory over Marcus LeVessur and is looking to become a mainstay at 145 pounds. On the other side, Mendes is trying to show that his flash-TKO loss to Aldo was a fluke and that he should stay in title contention.

Cung Le (7-2) vs. Patrick Cote (17-7) (UFC 148 on July 7): Le was originally slated to face Rich Franklin at 148, but an injury to UFC 147 headliner Vitor Belfort forced the UFC to move Franklin out of this fight to face Wanderlei Silva in Brazil. Le’s new opponent is Cote, who will be making his return to the UFC after almost two years. Le is back in the octagon after a second round TKO loss to Wanderlei Silva at UFC 139 in November. While Cote is out to prove he deserves to stay in the UFC, many have wondered how focused Le will be. Many wondered if his movie career was a distraction in his UFC debut, but this time around he seems to be more focused on winning his fight and proving he is a fighter first and foremost.

There are many more fights in the month of July that include Nor Cal fighters, which should lead to an exciting month and an interesting top-10 for next month. 

Follow me on Twitter @NiteshDutt.

Sonnen bringing out trash-talker in Silva

Unless you've been under a rock, or not a fan of sports in general, then you haven't heard the war of words between UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva and #1 contender Chael Sonnen.

During a media call, Chael was questioned on when he would drop the WWE-type act and get serious about his bout with Anderson. Chael responed in true Chael form.

"I don't do characters, so I'm not really sure what that meant," Sonnen quipped back at reporters. "I got serious about this fight a long time ago. I've been training for combat since I was nine years old, and I've wanted to be the UFC champion since 1993. I couldn't think of a day in my life where this wasn't serious to me."

And, if you think Sonnen would refrain from throwing barbs in Silva's direction you'd be wrong. When asked if he thought the champ was a phony, he replied simply with an "agreed".

Before this could turn into "The Chael Sonnen Show", reporters remembered the champ was on the line. It was only a matter of time before he was asked a question.

Raiders' FB Reece takes a liking to MMA

Oakland Raiders' FB Marcel Reece spoke with MindofNitesh about his love of mixed martial arts and his training at Crispim BJJ in Pleasanton. Follow Marcel on Twitter @CelReece45.

Follow me on Twitter @NiteshDutt.

Injury takes out Aldo, Faber vs. Barao moved to 149

If injuries weren’t already an issue in mixed martial arts, fighters are now pulling out of fights at an alarming rate. This time an injury to one headliner affects two fight cards.

UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo was forced to withdraw from his title defense against Erik Koch, which was slated for July 21 at UFC 149. To replace the main event title fight is another title fight. Sacramento’s Urijah Faber will take on Brazilian Renan Barao for the interim UFC bantamweight title.

Faber was supposed to face UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz in what was slated as the co-main event at UFC 148, but with Cruz sustaining an ACL during training and was replaced by Barao. Now with injuries ravaging the 149 card, Faber-Barao was the smart choice to replace Aldo-Koch.

Before settling on Faber-Barao, a possible Chan Sung Jung vs. Koch fight was discussed but a postponement of Aldo-Koch was decided to be the best choice by UFC brass.

Of the original UFC 149 main card, only Cheick Kongo vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira remains in-tact. Michael Bisping, Thiago Silva, Thiago Alves and Yoshihiro Akiyama were all once slated to fight in Calgary, but due to injuries the card has undergone a drastic facelift.

NSAC suspends Diaz for one-year

The three month saga between Nick Diaz and the Nevada State Athletic Commission has finally come to an end. For Diaz supporters, the decision is quite the bitter pill to swallow.

Diaz, whose last fight was a loss to Carlos Condit on February 4 in an interim title match, had tested positive for traces of marijuana in a pre-fight drug test. He also announced his so-called retirement from the sport following the loss, but that doesn't play into this saga.

For months there was speculation about what would happen to Diaz and his career and if Diaz would even fight the positive test. Fans, media and promoters voiced displeasure and support for Diaz. His possible suspension became a hot topic in MMA and his use of marijuana became a topic that went beyond the MMA spectrum.

After several delays, his hearing was finally set for May 21st. Diaz was represented by Ross C. Goodman, who had the tasking job of convincing the NSAC to not discipline Diaz and that his client's marijuana use was strictly medical. But, if past hearings showed us anything, that would be very difficult.