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MMA fighter Keith Richardson was going to explode and the warning signs were there. Richardson needed an outlet for his pent-up aggression. In the barely contained brutality of mixed martial arts, better known as MMA, the Rock Hill resident and Long Island native ironically found peaceful.

The former York Comprehensive High School state champion wrestler is readying for his biggest professional MMA fight yet against Lawson McClure at Charlotte’s Grady Cole Center. The 145-pound event will be nationally televised live on AXS TV starting at 7 p.m. It is a part of Xtreme Fighting Championships 19.

For his professional advancement, it is an opportunity and he might not have had in a different field. Richardson witnessed the deaths of friends and comrades, leading to the torturous angst that so often hounds combat zone veterans, during several tours in Iraq as a corporal in the infantry, Richardson witnessed the deaths of friends and comrades.

MMA emerged as a vent for the stress for Richardson. He’s one of a growing number of professional mixed martial artists who have military backgrounds. After the United States winds up combat operations in Afghanistan, bringing soldiers back to civilian life; it is a trend that will only increase. Back home, Richardson said he was aimless and restless, a dangerous combination.

The trainer at Modern Warrior MMA with Richardson, Tyrel Graham served in the Army from 2004 to 2007 with the 82nd Airborne from Fort Bragg. In 2005, he was serving in Iraq when his convoy was attacked. He sustained shrapnel wounds and multiple gunshots.

For Richardson, MMA was a natural fit. Winning the 125-pound state title as a junior in 2001, before falling in the 130-pound state title match as a senior, he was a talented wrestler at York Comprehensive High. He turned down potential college wrestling scholarships to enter the Marines after graduating in 2002. This led to three tours of duty in Iraq over four years.

From many veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Richardson’s memories from Iraq aren’t dissimilar. He was shot at by unseen enemies and troops serving with him were killed. All of these things are still in his head. Richardson cited that he rarely gets nervous before a big fight because of his wartime experience.

November 3rd at the James E. Bruce Convention Center in Hopkinsville, KY, MMA fans could witness the two owners of Clarksville’s mixed martial arts gyms are in the early stages of planning a clash in the cage.

Clarksville’s SSF Submission Academy owner Ron Dayley, 43 has been challenged by the former professional fighter John “The Saint” Renken, 39, owner of Clarksville Mixed Martial Arts Academy to a showdown in the cage.

Renken said that he would see if Dayley shows up. He added that he will pay Dayley’s plane ticket, entry fee and he will pay to have Dayley matched up with him in the first bracket.

On July 6th when Dayley joked about the fact that Renken’s wife Jen was once knocked out in 19 seconds of the first round in a professional fight and this escalated the tensions between the two former fighters, although, their history was already bitter. The comment provoked a fiery response from Renken.

Renken has been challenging Dayley all over the internet. He is hurling insults for the heck of it by saying that Dayley is a cowardly “computer warrior,” hiding behind a computer. Renken and his followers have speculated that he is afraid to sign on to fight him since Dayley has not publicly responded. However, according to Dayley, this is not the case.

“He gave me two dates to fight that he knew I couldn’t take because of Gumball and XFC,” explained Dayley. “Then he offered October, which I said was fine. Then it turns out the show he wanted did not have a venue or something like that, so he goes and tells people I am turning him down. He is claiming my guys are calling him saying my back is messed up, which is total B.S.”

Renken has a professional record of 16-30-5 and he retired in 2006. Some of his fights were in open weight classes, weighing only 160 pounds. He fought guys over 300 pounds and had done well. While, Dayley has incomplete records but his gym has been far more successful than Renken’s.

Clarksville fight fans are bracing for impact if the clash does indeed take place, although neither fighter has signed the contract yet.

Dennis Bermudez picked up a unanimous decision victory in the first televised preliminary fight at UFC on Fox 3. He used his excellent wrestling to completely control Pablo Garza for 15 minutes at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J. He picked up his first win in the UFC and ended a three-fight-losing streak will do that to a 25-year-old featherweight.

Bermudez, a Saugerties, N.Y., native who now lives in Massapequa and trains at Long Island MMA said that when he started fighting he said that he was going to be in the UFC one day and now win this win, he said he would not just be in the UFC rather he will be there to make his name known.

Garza (12-3, 2-2 UFC) will certainly remember that name. Garza found himself in the air on at least four occasions. His 145-pound body wrapped up in the arms of Bermudez and at a fast and thunderous pace, he was thrusted to the canvas. Bermudez needed to get inside to be effective. Bermudez faced a seven-inch height disadvantage against the 6-1 Garza, besides his wrestling skills. On eight of nine takedown attempts against Garza, Bermudez was successful, at least half of which ended with body slams.

MMA fans already know that a slam may let the current opponent know Bermudez is here to fight. On Season 14 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” he was a finalist. He lost by submission to Diego Brandao in December. UFC president Dana White said that Bermudez was a tough kid and looked good. He added that the people that are coming off ‘TUF’ are going to learn and start working their way up for bigger and bigger fights.

Diaz earns title shot. With superior boxing skills that led to a submission victory in the second, lightweight Nate Diaz picked apart Jim Miller in Miller’s home state. Diaz said that he just went out there, fought hard and got started and he happened to get the win.

Diaz (16-7) had a one-arm guillotine chokehold on Miller, late in the second round. Diaz sat back on the canvas, rolled Miller (21-4) end over end and locked in the guillotine, after his body to keep Miller in the chokehold and in front of him. It was the first time Miller was finished in a fight.

White said Diaz will await the Ben Henderson-Frankie Edgar winner later this year and Diaz is next in line for a title shot.

In the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the UFC Hall of Fame recognizes the most important figures, beginning in 2003 there have only been eight men awarded the ten-pound piece of glass validating their life’s work.

The Minnesota native, Brock Lesnar is a once-in-a-generation style athlete and he had a certain level of magnetism that drew eyeballs years before he graced a professional wresting ring. Lesnar was a national champion racking up a collegiate record of 106-5 and a four-time All-American collegiate wrestler.

He was recruited into the scripted soap opera world of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) where he would become one of their biggest stars, despite being a prime candidate to win an Olympic gold medal for the United States at the 2000 games in Sydney.

It was all over for Brock Lesnar, after the most difficult two-and-a half minutes of his professional MMA career. Not just the savage abuse he was taking from Strikeforce/K-1 champion Alistair Overeem, but his time in MMA altogether. Lesnar said during his post-fight retirement speech at UFC 141 that he had difficult couple of years with his disease.

One did not hear much from the former UFC heavyweight champion for the majority of 2012’s first quarter. The moment he walked past the curtains, it was as if he had fallen off the face of the Earth. He walked toward the ring on WWE Raw last Monday. UFC president Dana White gave his blessing and Lesnar stepped inside the squared circle to a hero’s welcome. He tricked John Cena with a handshake, and applied his F-5 finishing move. As per the $5 million deal he reportedly struck with Vince McMahon, it was the first of a rumored 30-35 appearances over the next twelve months that Brock will be required to make.

Lesnar is on it to make a return to the WWE as he has inked a one-year deal with a lot of zero’s and at 34-years-of-age it’s all but set in stone that Lesnar will never step foot in a real fighting circle again. He has done enough to join the elite-class in the UFC hall of fame. You cannot deny the impact that he had on this industry, although the big knock against him joining the class is that despite his impressive resume he fought less than ten times with a less-than-flattering 5-3 record.

The star-power of Lesnar pushed it over the top although the Ultimate Fighter and he will always be credited for turning the corner for the organization and rightfully so. The MMA community is plagued with pro wrestling fans and his name value put on a pay-per-view poster sold, whether hardcore fanatics like to admit it or not, in fact he cracked the one-million buys ceiling on three separate occasions, a feat that nobody has even come close.

For women, women’s mixed martial arts were openly opposed by the Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White. However, with last year’s purchase of Strikeforce, the UFC’s parent company, Zuffa LLC, inherited the division. Earlier this month when former judo bronze medalist Ronda Rousey defeated Miesha Tate for the bantamweight championship, the women became the focal point of Strikeforce. The competitors headlined one of the promotion’s cards on Showtime and they were engaged in months of bad blood and arguments.

Tate said before the fight that when all of women’s MMA is based on one fight because that is the fight that is getting exposure. There’s added pressure in the fact that a lot is riding on our shoulders for the future of women’s MMA therefore it does not matter about the smaller fight cards and how people see it and whether they respect it or not. He added that what is important is that the performance should be good.

A new promotion emerged on the national scene, buoyed by the surge in popularity in women’s MMA. On April 28 in Kansas City, Kan; Invicta Fight Club will make its debut and it is a promotion built solely on women’s MMA. Invicta, which had been in the works well before the Rousey-Tate bout, came about through the efforts of Shannon Knapp, who held numerous positions in various MMA companies, including a stint as a matchmaker in Strikeforce.

Knapp helped the launch the new promotion and he capitalized on the uncertainty. The lack of depth in women’s MMA was perceived as the Invicta’s largest challenge to its launch. Many of the top fighters are spread out with both Strikeforce and Bellator featuring competition. Knapp said that she is working diligently to organize a better distribution of weight classes and to discover more talent. She said that she could take all information that she can acquire over the years and try to build a platform and bring some organization to this side of the sport so that she can create depth.

Invicta signed several notable women, including former Strikeforce contender Liz Carmouche and former Strikeforce champion Marloes Coenen. The latter lost her title to Tate last year. Twelve bouts are already planned for the card. Coenen will headline the inaugural event against Romy Ruyssen.

The inaugural card will be freely streamed live over the Internet at www.invictafc.com and Invicta plans 2 additional shows in 2012 and 4 shows in 2013.

Georges St. Pierre has been at the top of the UFC for years now and although he bobbled for a minute with a few of his opponents, he has never been in jeopardy of giving up his belt.

St. Pierre has two losses on his resume and he avenged them both with little effort. UFC President, Dana White is having difficulty finding anyone willing to step into the Octagon with St. Pierre. For updates on any up coming fights for Mr. St. Pierre check back here or go to jimfeist.tv.

Jake Shields and Josh Koscheck both struggled in their chances to take on the Welterweight UFC Champ. St. Pierre’s toughest matchup in recent history was B.J. Penn but St. Pierre prevailed in predictably boring wrestling matches in both fights.

St. Pierre is huge in his native Canada and when the UFC stages events north of the border, St Pierre is front and center whether he is on the fight card or not. St. Pierre has become the most popular athlete in Canada and it has made him a hated champion by hard-core UFC fans, who feel St. Pierre uses the system and is not a pure MMA fighter.

Who is next in line for St. Pierre? Please no more rematches for St. Pierre. Carlos Condit was next in line for St. Pierre before he fell out and Nick Diaz is another possible opponent if he can keep his nose clean, literally and figuratively.

What the UFC needs to do with St. Pierre is to create a six-man tournament with St. Pierre fighting the No. 6 seed first and then taking a bye on the next fight before he fights the fighter who worked their way to him for the final. This would give a little suspense and create some buzz for St. Pierre’s talent.

To legalize professional mixed martial arts in New York, the state Senate voted 42-18 on Monday. As it was considered too violent, after an Ultimate Fighting Championship in Buffalo, MMA has been banned since 1995.

The Senate voted for the bill authorizing the New York State Athletic Commission to regulate the mix of boxing, grappling, judo and kickboxing the way it regulates boxing with new Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, a Rochester native, on hand.

A Utica Republican and sponsor Sen. Joseph Griffo said with rules and protections for fighters, 45 other states have sanctioned the popular sport that has evolved from its rough early days. With events at New York venues it will generate money for the state he further added.

By saying injuries to fighters in other states appears underreported and that the sport is a bad example for children, Sen. Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat, voted no. Studies have shown that so called “ground and pound” punches, where a fighter punches an opponent already on the ground, can result in bruising blows, some at 910 kilograms of force, she said.

Before the vote, the 6 foot 4 inch, 205 pound Jones, 23, known for stunning strikes with his elbows, met several senators with a gentle handshake.

Supporters said the sport will bring in much needed revenue to the state as well as would help create jobs. To lift the ban on the sport in the past lawmakers there have killed several bills. The Assembly may yet vote out the measure.

Tim Boetsch’s first fight in the middleweight division will be against Kendall Grove at UFC 130 May 28 in Las Vegas.

Get UFC betting Odds for this bout closer to UFC 130.

Boetsch, who formerly fought in the light heavyweight division, is 12-4 and coming off a loss to Phil Davis via submission at UFC 123. Boetsch was an accomplished amateur wrestler and is strongest on the mat. He also incorporates Jeet Kune Do into his style. Six of his career wins have been by knockout and five have been by submission.

Grove, the winner of The Ultimate Fighter 3, has a 12-8 career record, but he’s had up and down performances in his last five fights, going just 2-3 in that span with losses to Ricardo Almeida, Mark Munoz and Demian Maia. He is 6-5 since defeating Ed Prince in the finale of The Ultimate Fighter 3, the fight that earned him his UFC contract. Grove uses Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Muay Tai styles, but has won seven of his fights via submission and just two by knockout.

Although Grove has struggled some of late, he’s a bit younger than Boetsch and has the advantage of being a career middleweight fighter. Since this will be Boetsch’s first fight at the new weight, it’s unclear how the weight loss will affect him.

Former NHL enforcer Donald Brashear makes his mixed martial arts debut in June 2011. Brashear will step into the cage against Martin Trempe at Ringside MMA 11 in Quebec City.

Both the 27 year old Trempe (0-2) and 39 year old Brashear have most recently skated in the Ligue Nord-Americain de Hockey, a Quebec senior circuit that highlights on ice brawling.

In the semi pro Ligue Nord Americaine de Hockey (LNAH), the 39 year old Brashear is currently playing hockey. For the Montreal Canadiens, Vancouver Canucks, Philadelphia Flyers, Washington Capitals and New York Rangers, he played in the NHL.

Between 1993-94 and 2009-10, the six foot three 237 pound Brashear collected 2,634 penalty minutes in 1,025 NHL games. By adding 120 assists he also scored 85 goals. For instigating a fight and attempt to injure, he was suspended for five games earlier this season by the LNAH.

By first round TKO Trempe (0-2) lost both his MMA fights. In a matchup of former UFC fighters, middleweight Patrick (The Predator) Cote will take on former light heavyweight Todd Brown in the Ringside 11 main event.

Brashear has signed a one year contract with the promotion according to Champoux. After the June 4 fight both parties can part ways though. Both of Trempe’s fights haven’t gone passed the first round. In November he quit between rounds and lost via TKO in January.

Two of UFC’s biggest stars, Randy Couture and Lyoto Machida, will face each other during the UFC’s first-ever card in Toronto, Ontario, which was just recently sanctioned.

In UFC lines, get Odds for this bout closer to UFC 129 which takes place April 30.

Couture has said this will be his last MMA fight as he plans to retire to pursue his acting career. Although Couture has shown advanced skills in boxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and submission holds during his career, he’s primarily known for his ground game. He’s an excellent wrestler who often takes opponents down, establishes position on top of them and knocks out opponents by pummeling them with a series of blows.

Couture, who is 47-years-old, has already appeared in small roles in several films, including The Scorpion King 2, The Expendables and Invincible.

Machida is a former light heavyweight champion, is currently ranked in the top five light heavyweights in the world. Machida employs a Shotokan Karate style. He uses a wide stance and quick strikes, often catching opponents off guard.

Although Machida has had an impressive career. He’s the only fighter to ever beat Rashad Evans and his exciting style has earned him a lot of fanfare. But he’s also struggled at times against fighters who have strong ground games. Couture’s ability on the mat will be a great test to see if Machida has improved in that department. If he can beat Couture, he might be in line for a title shot again soon.