K.J. Noon has spent the past decade throwing leather in seemingly every other major promotion outside the UFC. This Saturday night in Las Vegas, the next chapter of his mixed martial arts career will begin, as he makes his long-awaited debut inside the Octagon at UFC 160.

It is a moment the former Elite XC lightweight champion has been waiting for, and when the doors to the Strikeforce organization officially closed back in January, the opportunity to enter the UFC presented itself.

The 30-year-old Californian is looking to make an immediate impact in the UFC lightweight division, and he will have the opportunity to do so when he squares-off with Donald Cerrone on Saturday night.

That being said, stepping onto the sport's biggest stage for the first time comes with a unique brand of pressure. And while Noons has a tremendous amount of experience competing in combat sports, there is little that he can do in preparation for fighting in MMA's most successful promotion. 

Read More »11

It's all UFC 160 talk on today's MMA's Great Debate Radio show with picks and predictions for the upcoming card as well as guests including K.J. Noons and Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson.

On today's show as well, we welcome in special guest co-host from the Talking Brawls podcast in Ireland Naill McGrath, as he takes a turn at the debate desk breaking down UFC 160.

K.J. Noons also stops by to preview his fight with Donald "Cowboy" Cerrene, and to document his long trip to finally land in the UFC.

After a year away from the sport, Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson drops by as well to talk about the long layoff he had dealing with an injury to close out 2012 and the expectations he faced after a spectacular knockout to start his UFC career.

Read More »0

There is no form of life you shouldn't expect in the Amazon jungle. Millions of different insects, more than a thousand species of birds and every amphibian you can imagine all call the rain forest home. From the electric eel to the jaguar, the natural predators are staggeringly beautiful— and dangerous.

But for all this bio diversity, one creature stands out, one that never belonged alone, starving and desperate in the world's least forgiving environment. The jungle is no place for a seven-year-old boy.

It's not like Bibiano Fernandes, the best fighter in the world not plying his trade in the UFC Octagon, didn't know hardship before his life stranded him and four siblings in the Amazon to fend for themselves. The jiu jitsu star grew up, after all, in the slums of Manaus, Brazil.

A city of more than two million souls, incongruously perched in the middle of the vast sea of trees, Manaus is home to both astounding beauty and unspeakable poverty. Fernandes didn't know much about the beauty. The famous Opera house was not for the likes of him, and the life of leisure enjoyed by the tourists who used Manaus as their homebase for treks into the jungle was completely foreign to his young mind.

Read More »15

The subject of fighter pay in the sport of mixed martial arts has been an ongoing debate for several years with no one coming to a consensus on whether the salaries are good, bad or otherwise.

Most recently, former UFC lightweight John Cholish, who retired following his last fight at UFC on FX 8, came out against what he perceived to be poor fighter pay structures, and it eventually led to his exit from the sport.

Cholish, who still works a full-time job as a commodities broker on Wall Street, says that he didn't even break even for his most recent fight where he traveled to Brazil to face Gleison Tibau on the undercard at UFC on FX 8.

He's spoken out quite a bit lately about the fighter pay issues since his fight on Saturday, but he doesn't expect many others to follow suit because of their need for the UFC paycheck.

Read More »46

With UFC 160 just a few days away, it's time for me to step back into the video studio and give you my preview for some of the big main-card fights.

In my latest video for Bleacher Report, I break down the main event between Cain Velasquez and Antonio Silva. Does Silva have a shot in his second crack at Velasquez? Are we in for another world-class beating like the one Velasquez handed out in the first meeting between the two last May? 

And what about the co-main event between former heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos and Mark Hunt? Does Hunt have a real chance of winning and completing the one of the greatest career turnarounds in mixed martial arts history?

I take a look at all of this and more. Watch the video, agree or disagree and let me know what you think in the comments below.

Read More »8

UFC 160 fighter T.J. Grant may be one of the most unassuming competitors you'll ever see step foot in the Octagon, but that's only until the cage door closes.

Outside of fighting, Grant is the epitome of the friendly Canadian stereotype, rarely having a bad word to say about anybody.  Inside the cage, however, Grant is a force of nature—especially since dropping down to the lightweight division, where he's mauled his way to the top of the weight class and now has the chance to earn a title shot with his next win.

Grant continues to slip under the radar sometimes because he's not always the most outspoken fighter on the UFC roster, but his fists certainly do plenty of talking for him.  For instance, in his last fight against Matt Wiman at UFC on Fox 6 in January, he unloaded a barrage of punches and elbows to win the fight by knockout in the first round.

There was nothing nice about Grant's forearm slamming into Wiman's head repeatedly until Wiman finally dropped to the canvas.  That win earned Grant his shot at former title contender Gray Maynard this weekend at UFC 160.

Read More »12

No offense to Junior dos Santos, but I want to see his head in the third row Saturday night, courtesy of a Mark Hunt uppercut.

I have no personal animus toward JDS at all, mind you. I enjoy watching him fight and have found him to be a class act—so save the indignant "hater" replies in the comments. I wish him all the best. Just not at UFC 160. And not against Hunt.

They say there's no cheering in the press box. But my press box is at home, on the couch, with a giant plate of chicken wings and the volume turned up to 11. My family's used to it, and I'm pretty sure my two cats, Jack and Jill, won't mind if I do my Lenne Hardt impression early and often. And so I will.

Putting into words my special relationship with Mark Hunt is hard. In truth there is no relationship, or at best, it's one that is completely one-sided.

Read More »83

Gegard Mousasi may not be able to fight again until the end of the year following knee surgery, but he's already eyeing potential matchups including the top fighters in the middleweight division.

It's been almost five years since Mousasi last fought at middleweight, and at the time he conquered the best of the best while competing in DREAM, including his grand prix tournament final against current top-10 ranked UFC fighter Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza.

Following that fight, however, Mousasi said the weight cut to middleweight was getting pretty tough, so he was going to try his hand at light heavyweight and heavyweight instead.  Mousasi went on to win nine out of his next 11 fights while picking up victories over notable names like Mark Hunt and Renato "Babalu" Sobral.

Now just one fight into his UFC career, Mousasi is re-assessing things and believes that a move back down to middleweight could bring him very close to a title shot with just a single fight in the division.

Read More »50