The ?24 hours of MMA? begins tonight with HDNet?s Titan Fighting

Football has to take a back seat this weekend. That's not entirely true, but it has some company with a jam--packed fight weekend. Outside of short break Saturday morning, there's live fighting on television from tonight at 10 p.m. ET until late Saturday night/Sunday morning.

The ?24 hours of MMA? begins tonight with HDNet?s Titan Fighting

Titan Fighting 20 - Kansas City (Friday 10 p.m. ET)

Brett Rogers make his return after serious issues outside the cage to fight UFC veteran Eddie Sanchez. Former lightweight WEC champ Jamie Varner is also back.

Strikeforce Challengers 19 - Las Vegas (Showtime 11 p.m. ET/PT)

The card features prospects like Lavar Johnson and Lorenz Larkin. Ryan Couture and veteran Jason High are also on the televised portion live from the Pearl at the Palms in Las Vegas.

The ?24 hours of MMA? begins tonight with HDNet?s Titan Fighting

DREAM 17 - Saitama, Japan (HDNet Saturday 3 a.m. ET/Midnight PT)

DREAM's had a light slate in 2011, but returns with a great card. It features the quarterfinals of a bantamweight tournament headlined by Bibiano Fernandez, Abe Cullum and Hideo Tokoro. Former WEC 135-pound contender Antonio Banuelos (18-7, 8-4 WEC) also makes his DREAM debut. Other feature fights include Shinya Aoki vs. Rob McCullough and Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Joachim Hansen. Gerald Harris, Ikuhisa "Minowaman" Minowa and Caol Uno are also fighting.

UFC 135 preliminary fights -Denver (Facebook 5:30 p.m. ET)

Junior Assuncao vs. Eddie Yagin
Takeya Mizugaki vs. Cole Escovedo
James Te Huna vs. Ricardo Romero

Bellator 51 prelims - Canton, OH (Spike 7 p.m. ET)

UFC 135 undercard fights -Denver (Spike 8 p.m. ET)

Tony Ferguson vs. Aaron Riley
Nick Ring vs. Tim Boetsch

The ?24 hours of MMA? begins tonight with HDNet?s Titan Fighting

Bellator 51 main card - Canton, OH (MTV2 9 p.m. ET)

Like DREAM, Bellator has its own 135 tournament kicking off. Joe Warren, the promotion's 145-pound champion, begins his quest for the bantamweight title as well. If he wins the tournament, he'll get a date with champion Zach Makovsky.

Joe Warren vs. Alexis Vila
Wilson Reis vs. Eduardo Dantas
Chase Beebe vs. Marcos Galvao
Ed West vs. Luis Nogueira

UFC 135 main card (pay-per-view 9 p.m. ET)

Jon Jones vs. Quinton Jackson
Matt Hughes vs. Josh Koscheck
Travis Browne vs. Rob Broughton
Nate Diaz vs. Takanori Gomi
Ben Rothwell vs. Mark Hunt

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/The-24-hours-of-MMA-begins-tonight-with-HDNet-?urn=mma-wp7164

Hiroyuki Abe Cyril Abidi  Daniel Acacio Bernard Ackah  Terrance Aflague

Dunham and Rocha notch UFN 25 wins

Dunham and Rocha notch UFN 25 wins

One fighter got back on the right track while another earned his first UFC win as the preliminary card concluded at Ultimate Fight Night 25 in New Orleans on Saturday night.

Dunham outclasses Bailey

Shamar Bailey showed tremendous heart in a decision loss to Evan Dunham. Dunham showed strong striking early, as he used short punches to control Bailey early in the first round. Bailey responded, showing striking that has improved from his time on "The Ultimate Fighter." Bailey then ended the round with a takedown. Dunham threw a strike after the horn sounded to end the round, but it was inadvertent. Dunham was not penalized.

In the second, Dunham continued to favor a left-right combo that befuddled Bailey. Dunham peppered in kicks in between throwing punches and stuffing takedowns. Bailey continued to withstand Dunham's shots in the third, but he didn't create enough offense to win the round. As the fight neared its end, Dunham teed off, throwing a bevy of kicks and punches but still couldn't knock Bailey down. Bailey continued to move forward and push for a takedown. Dunham won the fight 30-27 on all three cards.

Rocha's jiu-jitsu catches McKenzie

Though Cody McKenzie is known for his guillotine, he fell to Vagner Rocha on a rear naked choke submission. McKenzie lampooned Rocha early in the round, motioning for Rocha to come in and fight. When Rocha attempted a takedown, McKenzie tried to use his signature guillotine to stop the fight, but it didn't work. Rocha used his position to try for a Kimura. He couldn't finish, but he held onto McKenzie to move into a rear naked choke. Again, McKenzie got out and worked his way back to his feet before the round ended.

In the second, McKenzie showed great defense to nearly every submission attempt Rocha threw at him, but didn't have the same good fortune as Rocha took full mount with less than two minutes in the round. McKenzie turned to get away from Rocha's strikes, but gave up his back. Rocha applied a textbook rear naked choke, and McKenzie was forced to tap at 3:49 in the second round.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Dunham-and-Rocha-notch-UFN-25-wins?urn=mma-wp6972

José Aldo  John Alessio  Houston Alexander Ricardo Almeida  Eddie Alvarez

Reminder: Win tickets to UFC 135 from Edge and Cagewriter

Reminder: Win tickets to UFC 135 from Edge and CagewriterToday is your last chance to win tickets to UFC 135 from Edge Shave Gel. Here are the details: Visit Cagewriter's Facebook page, and like us. Then, post on our wall why you should have the Edge in getting to see the fights. We'll pick a random winner from the wall posts. Get your entry in by Thursday, Sept. 22 at noon ET. You also still have time to vote for the new face of Team Edge. Choose between Phil Davis, Chad Mendes, Brian Stann and Michael McDonald.

We'll announce the winner of the tickets to UFC 135 Thursday at 4 p.m. ET on the Cagewriter Facebook page. You have to be able to pick up tickets at the Pepsi Center Will Call with a picture ID. Good luck, and thank you for reading Cagewriter!

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Reminder-Win-tickets-to-UFC-135-from-Edge-and-C?urn=mma-wp7134

Yoshihiro Akiyama  Gilbert Aldana  José Aldo  John Alessio  Houston Alexander

?British spy? Jones admits he spied on Camp Jackson ? sort of

Score one for Jon Jones. With all the tomfoolery surrounding the MMA version of "Spygate," Jones fired back in mocking fashion this week. Joining 106.7 The Fan's Luke Thomas, Jones did an entire interview using a phony British accent. Why you ask?

"I'm British, being a double agent is what we do," said Jones.

Jones never broke character. It seems like the 24-year-old is handling the Jackson mind games in stride.

In our RawVegas.tv UFC 135 betting odds piece, Larry Pepe (ProMMARadio) and Damon Martin (MMAWeekly) talked about the mental side of the fight and made selections using the Las Vegas numbers.

Tip on Jones interview via MMAFix

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/-British-spy-Jones-admits-he-spied-on-Camp-Jack?urn=mma-wp7154

Gilbert Aldana  José Aldo  John Alessio  Houston Alexander Ricardo Almeida 

?Feijao? returns with a bang at Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov

CINCINNATI -- Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante took out Olympic wrestler Yoel Romero with a deluge of impressive striking at Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov on Saturday night.

A very tentative beginning was broken up in the first round by a  leaping kick from Romero. It didn't do much, but it was pretty. Cavalcante made the first contact, landing a whipping leg kick. Romero continued to move around, leaping out of the way for most strikes. Referee Dan Miragliotta finally stopped the bout to warn Romero that if he didn't engage, a point would be deducted.

In the second round, Romero threw a kick that landed in Cavalcante's crotch. After a break Romero unloaded, hitting Romero with several unanswered punches. Cavalcante tried to answer back with kicks, but Romero deftly moved out of the way from them. He pinned Cavalcante against the fence. After Cavalcante took Romero down, the Cuban pushed him off, then quickly returned to his feet.

Cavalcante threw a kick that missed but then he spun around with a backfist that knocked Romero to the ground. Feijao followed him there with ground and pound. Romero somehow got back to his feet, but Feijao didn't let up. He threw knees and punches until Romero fell to the ground. He then landed one last to knock Romero out at 4:51 in the second round.

For Feijao, this was his first fight back since losing the Strikeforce light heavyweight belt to Dan Henderson. Though his first round was slow, he showed a great chin in surviving Romero's onslaught, and then having the striking skill to end the fight.

This was just Romero's fifth fight. Though his credentials are top-notch, he still clearly has much to learn about striking.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/-Feijao-returns-with-a-bang-at-Strikeforce-Bar?urn=mma-wp6763

Houston Alexander Ricardo Almeida  Eddie Alvarez Thiago Alves  Andre Amade 

Title belts, illegal kicks and more notes from the Strikeforce press conference

CINCINNATI -- Scott Coker started the Strikeforce post-fight press conference by pointing out that it was filled with unbelievable fights. More notes from the press conference:

-- Main event winner Josh Barnett quickly got to the heart of questions about the Strikeforce heavyweight championship by asking that his Grand Prix final match with Daniel Cormier be for the Strikeforce belt.

"Why don't we sweeten the pot? Why not put the belt on the line? The people that he had to step over to get it a real belt."

Coker asked Barnett to slow down, saying, "Let's keep it one step at a time." They expect that the fight will take place in the first quarter of 2012. Cormier's hand was wrapped up and said that he did hurt it, so the timing rests on his health.

-- Rockhold said that his prediction of a 4-0 night by American Kickboxing Academy was not just to hype the fights. Having trained with the fighters who all won, Rockhold said that they were all ready.

"It sucks to get hit by Mo," he said of Lawal.

-- Rockhold's win was in one of the tightest fights of the night. His opponent, Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza asked for a rematch. Coker said it's not a bad idea, but Rockhold didn't seem as keen on it.

-- Mo Lawal, who was fighting for the first time in over a year, mentioned earlier in the week that he was unhappy with the buzz surrounding his fights. He pointed out how Strikeforce delivered again.

"I'm glad to be back. Tonight was a great night of fights. I'm speechless because there were so many great fights. Strikeforce, we always put on great fights," he said.

-- Pat Healy said that he wasn't surprised when Maximo Blanco peppered him with illegal kicks to the head. "I don't want to say he's cheap, but he's had a few incidents."

-- Lawal wants to win to fight for the Strikeforce light heavyweight belt, unless it's vacant.

"If Dan has belt, I want it. But if it's vacant, I don't want to fight for no vacant title. Real talk," Lawal said.

Coker was unsure if that can happen because Strikeforce is still negotiating with Henderson.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Title-belts-illegal-kicks-and-more-notes-from-t?urn=mma-wp6819

Hiroyuki Abe Cyril Abidi  Daniel Acacio Bernard Ackah  Terrance Aflague