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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

White said that he hate draws. He believes that draw is such a misuse of everyone’s time and energy and he desires definitely to explore the same.

However, in permitting such a rule, the State Athletic Commissions in this case would be the hindrance. The Nevada State Athletic Commission permits an overtime round after the contestants have gone two rounds and the judges score the fight an even draw. However, in Mixed Martial Arts events, championship bouts are having five, while non-title fights are three rounds.

White’s idea seems to be enormous, but many of the particulars would have to be worked out. Say to find out the judges have it as draw, they have to go to the cards. Some may even suggest going for an extra round to see if a winner can be recognized from the same.

This year alone, at UFC 125, we have seen Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard fight to a draw. In the main event at UFC 127, B.J. Penn and Jon Fitch do the same. If there were an additional round to break the tie, it would have been much more fulfilling for the fans. MMA can do with overtimes and tiebreakers to get an outcome of a bout, just like every other chief sport.

If Mr. White and company actually try to push for such a regulation to the commissions, it will be very fascinating to see. Things will make MMA even more exhilarating, if the commissions permit such a thing to happen.

Titan Fighting CEO Joe Kelly said that for the bout, John might be a little heavy, although the additional weight is all muscle. He added that John’s brawny amateur wrestling credentials will allow him to go in and compete with Bobby and it will help in neutralizing Bobby’s takedowns.

Kelly added that they had a contract with Jack to fight Lashley, but he went to MIA. He added that James was no longer returning their calls and he had missed several programmed media shoots. He said that they had to make the change as James made it profusely clear that he had no plans to show up on March 25 and fight against Bobby.

The online sports betting sites will post their MMA lines a little later.

Since August 2010, Lashley has not fought at the Strikeforce: Houston fight card, where he underwent his first career defeat to Chad Griggs.

The Titan Fighting card will take place on March 25 on HDNet and it will be a fascinating fight for both the wrestlers.



Sanchez last appeared at UFC 121 in October. He is a one-time lightweight title contender. At UFC 121, he posted a unanimous decision against Paulo Thiago and snapped a two-fight losing streak at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. The 29-year-old Jackson’s Mixed Martial Arts representative owns a stellar 11-4 mark inside the Octagon and he has delivered 15 of his 22 career victories by knockout, technical knockout or submission. Sanchez holds notable wins over one-time Strikeforce lightweight boss Clay Guida, reigning Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz, former Sengoku Raiden Championship middleweight kingpin Jorge Santiago and “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 2 winner Joe Stevenson. In 26 professional appearances, he has been finished only once, against B.J. Penn on a fifth-round cut.

This past October at UFC 121, Kampmann suffered a split-decision loss to Jake Shields n a fight billed as a No. 1 contender’s fight for the former Strikeforce champion. The stakes were not in favor of Kampmann. Jiu-jitsu black belt Shields out grappled Kampmann, in a back-and-forth battle. Kampmann’s striking skills seemed to be on hiatus that night.

Kampmann said that his training for the fight was good and to get people down, he knew his game and depended on it. He was fully prepared but he made some bad decisions in the fight. He added that it was the heat of the moment that made him commit mistakes. In the standup, he was little bit tentative and he was worried too much about the takedown. He was trying too hard to submit Shield, when he was himself on top on the ground, thereby gave away up top position.

At UFC 129, Shields now is slated to take on welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. Kampmann could have been there. He no more wants to give away any more fights and this will only be possible if during Thursday’s fight, he remains calm and make no mistakes.

Kampmann has stumbled in high-profile bouts, after dominating his early competition against Nate Marquardt, Paul Daley and Shields. He racked up critical wins over, Carlos Condit, Paulo Thiago and Thales Leites.

According to various UFC betting odds, the best odds for Diego Sanchez is +130 and for Martin Kampmann it is -175.

In two different weight classes, Penn (16-7-1) is one of two fighters in history to win UFC titles, winning the UFC Welterweight Champion and UFC Lightweight Champion.  Even though he is coming off of a first round knockout win over Matt Hughes at UFC 123, he has lost to the current champion at both weights twice.

Penn, who quickly earned a black belt in three years of training, is a practitioner of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He became the first non-Brazilian to win the black-belt division of the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship in Rio de Janeiro, a few weeks after being awarded with his black belt.

With his only loss coming to current welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre, Fitch is a dominant 21-3 since 2003. Since losing to St. Pierre with all five wins coming by way of unanimous decision, he has fought his way back into title contention by winning five straight.

Dana White has been hesitant to put him in the class of the top welterweight contenders, despite Fitch’s strong record. White mentioned his lack of connection with UFC fans as well as the manner of Fitch’s victories (he has not been involved in submission fight since June 12, 2007). Though, Fitch has a chance to fight in his second UFC Welterweight Championship of his career, with White’s recent announcement that the winner of the match would be the top welterweight contender.

Penn has rarely struggled when facing bigger opponents, although Fitch has a size advantage. As Fitch is in such incredible shape that he would be able to sap Penn’s energy in the next two rounds, Penn will probably need to take out Fitch in the first round, though.

In MMA Odds, Fitch is a -200 favorite and Penn a +160 underdog.

For this matchup in MMA betting, UFC odds have Silva as a -270 moneyline favorite.

Though 8Reigning Champion Silva was stretched to the limit by his last challenger Chael Sonnen, he has not lost a bout since 2006. For Silva’s middleweight crown, the hard-hitting Belfort possesses one of the biggest threats that he has faced.

Silva still holds one of the most complete skill sets in MMA, in spite of lackluster performances in several of his last few bouts. Even after having taken a beating, he has proven that he has knockout power, great submission skills, and the endurance to come from behind. Silva faces a big test in Belfort, who is ranked by many as the number one middleweight in the world.

Several years ago, which carried him to the top of the UFC light heavyweight division; Vitor Belfort is famous for his fast hands, and devastating knockout power. He has fallen short in big match ups on more than one occasion as well as he has shown to have poor conditioning in previous bouts. Belfort has the kind of power that can end a fight in the blink of an eye, in spite of this he remains a huge threat in the bout.

Who can impose their will during the bout, this match will boil down to him. Belfort may be able to stun Silva, who has slowed in the last two years, however the longer the fight goes on the more it favors Silva, if he can press the action early.