Junior Dos Santos vs. Gabriel Gonzaga co-headlines the March 21st UFC on Versus event
A heavyweight bout between rising prospect Junior Dos Santos (10-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) and perennial contender Gabriel Gonzaga (11-4 MMA, 7-3 UFC) is set for the March 21 "UFC on Versus 1: Vera vs. Jones" card.
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Brock Lesnar's fighting future to be revealed next week via press conference
UFC President Dana White has revealed that both he UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar will hold a joint press conference next week in Las Vegas to discuss Brock's future as a mixed-martial-artist.
White confirmed the news to MMAfighting.com recently on a trip to New York, refusing to elaborate on the nature of the press conference, only saying Lesnar’s future would be out in the open. Confusing yet very positive reports have surfaced recently with Randy Couture revealing previous conversations with the champ and that he's already back in training and may be fighting by spring.
Lesnar required surgery to repair damage inflicted by intestinal diverticulitis. The promotion recently announced that number one contender Shane Carwin will battle former champion Frank Mir at UFC 111 in his absence and we may finally know by the end of next week if that bout will be contested for an interim title or the true title (if the Minnesotan is forced to surrender the belt in anticipation of a long or permanent absence).
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Belfort's manager confirms UFC 112 title fight with Silva
Following months of speculation on the fate of a postponed bout between middleweight champion Anderson Silva (25-4, 10-0 UFC) and challenger Vitor Belfort (19-8 MMA, 8-4 UFC), the pieces are finally in place for an April fight.
Fabiano Farah, Belfort's manager, confirmed with MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com) on Wednesday that Belfort meets Silva at UFC 112 on April 10 in Abu Dhabi. UFC president Dana White recently said he hoped the fight would take place on the overseas card.
The middleweight bout originally was scheduled to take place at UFC 108 on Jan. 2 but was shelved when Silva suffered complications from elbow surgery and was unable to train properly for the fight.
Silva recently began hard training again and is "very fired up" to face Belfort, according to manager Ed Soares, who declined to confirm the bout.
Belfort and Silva were on-again, off-again training partners in the original incarnation of fight team Black House formed in Brazil in 2006.