MMA News and UFC Betting Odds

UFC 94: “St. Pierre vs. Penn 2″ is — believe it or not — just around the corner. The promotion today made the announcement that the colossal fight card is official for the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on January 31.

And that means, of course, that it is time to remind our loyal readers that MMAmania.com will provide LIVE updates of all the pay-per-view (PPV) action on fight night, beginning with quick results of all the prelim action and blow-by-blow, round-by-round results of the main card bouts.

The title of the event speaks for itself — headlining bout will be a rematch between two of the most talented fighters in the history of this sport. Llightweight champion B.J. Penn will step back up to the welterweight division to take a shot at 170-pound champion George St. Pierre in hopes of carrying both titles at one time.

Company President Dana White recently said that it would be the biggest fight in the history of the promotion. He is more than likely right on the money … literally.

Also on tap for UFC 94 is a light heavyweight match up of undefeated Brazilian contenders Lyoto Machida and Thiago Silva. The winner will likely get a crack at 205-pound title holder Rashad Evans (or Quinton “Rampage” Jackson” somewhere down the road in 2009.

Something else that’s interesting about this card and speaks volumes of just how stacked it is: Former welterweight number one contender Jon Fitch has been relegated to the under card in his bout with Akihiro Gono.

Here is the complete UFC 94 fight card:

Main event:

UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre vs. UFC Lightweight Champion B.J. Penn in a 170-pound title bout

Main card (Televised):

205 lbs.: Lyoto Machida (13-0) vs. Thiago Silva (13-0)
205 lbs.: Stephan Bonnar (11-4) vs. Jon Jones (6-0)
155 lbs.: Nate Diaz (10-2) vs. Clay Guida (24-9)
170 lbs.: Karo Parisyan (18-5) vs. Dong Hyun “Stun Gun” Kim (11-0-1)

Under card (May not be broadcast):

170 lbs.: Jon Fitch (17-3) vs. Akihiro Gono (29-13-7)
155 lbs.: Manny Gamburyan (8-3) vs. Thiago Tavares (13-3)
155 lbs.: Chris Wilson (14-4) vs. John Howard (10-4)
265 lbs.: Jake O’Brien (10-2) vs. Christian Wellisch (8-4)
170 lbs.: Matt “No Regard” Arroyo (3-2) vs. Daniel Cramer (0-0)

Many of our readers check-in before, during and after the broadcast to share their thoughts on the action. In the meantime, feel free to leave your fight predictions and other show-related thoughts in the comments sections below.

For all the latest UFC 94 information you can handle be sure to hit up our event archive right here.

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Clay Guida, Jon Fitch, Jon Jones, MMA News, Manny Gamburyan, Matt Arroyo, Nathan Diaz, Stephan Bonnar, Thiago Tavares, UFC 94, UFC Results, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), georges st pierre, karo parisyan, lyoto machida, ryoto machida, thiago silva

A previously reported welterweight matchup between Jon Fitch and Akihiro Gono signed to take place at UFC 94 on Jan. 31 in Las Vegas is still on tap, according to a report by MMAjunkie.com’s John Morgan. Morgan was present while Fitch made the revelation as a panel member during this week’s taping of “Inside MMA” on [...]

Jon Fitch, MMA News, UFC 94

UFC 87: “Seek and Destroy” went down at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota on August 9 and all the stars came out for an explosive night of nonstop UFC action.

Welterweight Champion Georges “Rush” St. Pierre defends his title against tough-as-nails Jon Fitch, and in one of the most anticipated fights in the history of the lightweight division, Kenny “Ken-Flo” Florian takes on Roger “El Matador” Huerta.

Also, Minneapolis’ own Brock Lesnar gets a rough homecoming in the form of “The Texas Crazy Horse,” Heath Herring. UFC 87 DVD also features Cheick Kongo, Demian Maia, and a clash between Ultimate Fighter stars Manny Gamburyan and Rob Emerson.

Main Card:
George St Pierre (16-2) vs. Jon Fitch (19-2)
Brock Lesnar (1-1) vs. Heath Herring (28-13)
Kenny Florian (9-3) vs. Roger Huerta (20-1-1)
Manny Gamburyan (8-2) vs. Rob Emerson (7-6)
Demian Maia (7-0) vs. Jason MacDonald (20-9)

Under Card:
Luke Cummo (6-5) vs. Tamdan McCrory (8-1)
Cheick Kongo (11-4-1) vs. Dan Evensen (10-2)
Andre Gusmao vs. Jon Jones (6-0)
Steve Bruno (11-3) vs. Chris Wilson (13-4)
Ben Saunders (5-0-2) vs. Ryan Thomas (9-1)

Running Time: 342 minutes

UFC 87: ‘Seek and Destroy’ is available for purchase in our DVD store for $14.99 by clicking here .

To check out our massive library of MMA DVD titles, including PRIDE DVD and UFC DVD click here . We also have Elite XC, WEC, Cage Rage, IFL, King of the Cage and other products for sale in our store. Looking for a title but don’t see it in our store? Email us and we’ll be happy to check its availability. Please keep in mind that we are only able to ship within the continental United States at this time.

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Heath Herring, Jon Fitch, Kenny Florian, MMA News, georges st pierre, roger huerta

UFC color commentator Joe Rogan took time out this past weekend to address the controversy surrounding Jon Fitch in a post on the legendary Underground forums at MixedMartialArts.com. “I think first and (foremost) that I’m happy Fitch didn’t get cut, or at least did and got brought right back on board,” Rogan began, before addressing criticism [...]

Jon Fitch, MMA News

Jon Fitch, MMA Fighting Videos

Props to MMARated for the video. Even bigger props to Jon Fitch for sporting his MMAmania.com T-shirt!

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Dana White, Jon Fitch, MMA News

Thanks to the level headiness of UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta, Jon Fitch in back in the UFC, according to MMARated. According to the report, Dana White and Fitch have yet talk since the drama broke 24 hours ago.

“Communication kind of broke down with Dana (White) so we talked with Lorenzo. (I) just got off the phone with him and we came to an agreement. We’re going to move ahead and I’ll be back in the UFC. We’re going to sign off on the video game and I’m back. It was never even about the agreement or the contract. It was the approach that we felt Dana was being a little bit hot-headed and was threatening us right off the bat. It didn’t seem like a professional way of doing things.”

Jon Fitch is set to take on Akihiro Gono at UFC 94 “St. Pierre vs Penn 2? on January 31 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

For the latest on UFC 94, check out our UFC rumors section.

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Jon Fitch, MMA News, News, UFC 94, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

After a tumultuous 24 hours, during which he was abruptly terminated, former number one contender Jon Fitch is back on the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) roster after a discussion with Zuffa co-owner Lorenzo Feritta.

MMAmania.com spoke to Fitch, who described the conversation as, “good, really good.”

He also added this via MMARated.com shortly after getting the good news:

“Communication kind of broke down with Dana (White) so we talked with Lorenzo. (I) just got off the phone with him and we came to an agreement. We’re going to move ahead and I’ll be back in the UFC. We’re going to sign off on the video game and I’m back. It was never even about the agreement or the contract. It was the approach that we felt Dana was being a little bit hot-headed and was threatening us right off the bat. It didn’t seem like a professional way of doing things.”

White and the management team at Zinkin Entertainment, which represents several of the fighters who train at American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) where Fitch is stationed, had an explosive falling out over business-related agreements just yesterday.

In short, White made it clear that the fighters at AKA needed to sign a video game agreement that would give the promotion exclusive lifetime rights to their likenesses or risk losing their jobs. It was the “your either with us or your not approach.”

So when Fitch’s management team attempted to negotiate the terms, which were nonnegotiable, White escalated the situation and cut ties with the camp, terminating the promotional contracts of Fitch and stablemate, Christian Wellisch, shortly thereafter.

The move sent shockwaves through the entire mixed martial arts community, which was made more alarming when the president of the company indicated that others could be next who did not want to be “partners.” He indicated that the AKA contingent was historically the most troublesome when it came to the business side of things and that, essentially, he no longer wanted to work with them … and their fighters.

That included Fitch, who is tied with Royce Gracie and Anderson Silva for the most consecutive wins in UFC history (eight). He even just recently lost a gutsy unanimous decision to welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre at UFC 87: “Seek and Destroy” on August 9.

The message was clear: No one (at AKA, anyway) was safe.

Fitch today took to the airwaves to please his side of the story, saying that his management team, in fact, eventually encouraged him to sign the the deal. But based on the way he was treated and the way the situation was handled, Fitch stood his ground and worked to find a solution to a situation that probably should have never happened.

That solution, of course, was Lorenzo Fertitta. He spoke with Feritta directly (he never spoke to White throughout the ordeal) to hammer out a resolution.

He signed the video game agreement and was reinstated shortly thereafter. In fact, he is once again scheduled to fight Akihiro Gono at UFC 94: “St. Pierre vs Penn 2″ on January 31 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

So in the end, cooler heads did indeed prevail. Now the focus can hopefully shift to what is really important, which is fighting … inside the Octagon.

THQ — the acclaimed video game development company — is scheduled to release “Undisputed” sometime in early 2009.

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Jon Fitch, MMA News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

Former UFC welterweight Jon Fitch was a guest during Thursday’s edition of Fight Network Radio with Mauro Ranallo and responded to a series of public comments that UFC president Dana White has made regarding his release from the organization. When asked if he felt the UFC was making a power play against his trainers and managers, [...]

Jon Fitch, MMA News

… and he’s clearly not as heated as last night but still miffed:

“This is not an attack on Jon Fitch. It’s not an attack on any one fighter. We have chosen not to do business with this camp called AKA. These guys have never, ever, ever treated us like partners. They’re always fighting over stupid, stupid (stuff) and negotiating over stuff that makes no sense. They’re negotiating like they’ve got Mel Gibson and this thing is the biggest movie ever being made. You know what I’m saying? The reality is, we’re not even sanctioned in Massachusetts or New York … (and) we’re going into all these different countries trying to do these different things. And I’ve got these guys that basically don’t want to be partners with me. You’ve got morons — morons — that are running these fighters’ lives. But to tell you the truth, one of the fighters from AKA called me and said, “Listen, I don’t care what these managers say or what they’re doing. I make my own decisions and my decision is, I’m with you. I’m your partner, I’m in.’ And this was before we even told AKA we wouldn’t be doing business with them any more. So this really isn’t an attack on Jon Fitch or any personal fighter. We’re just choosing not to do business with AKA any more. We’re not going to do business with them. And listen, there’s other guys out there that they can go do business with; they’re just not going to do business with me. Now there’s rumors out there, I know, about, ‘It’s over a video game deal. It’s over the ancillary rights agreement. It’s over this, that.’It’s over a lot of different things. It’s not one specific fighter or one specific thing. It’s about a lot of different things with a lot of these fighters. And you know what? This is more than just AKA. There’s other camps out there that we’re having trouble doing business with. And at the end of the day, this is a business. We run a business just like any other business. You come in, you do your job with your company and you get paid. And the guys that don’t want to do business with you — then go work somewhere else. It’s as easy as that. You don’t have to do business with us. There’s other people out there you can do it with.”

Check out the full article from USA Today right here. Draw your own conclusions in the comments section below.

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Dana White, Jon Fitch, MMA News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)