During Wednesday's press conference, UFC president Dana White confirmed that the long awaited rematch between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen will take place at UFC 147, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in front of 80,000 fans. No date has been confirmed, however, Tatame's sources guess it will either be held on June 16 or June 23.

The two last fought UFC 117 where Sonnen was beating the champ for four consecutive rounds until Silva threw a hail-mary triangle/armbar at 3:10 of the fifth round and submitted Sonnen. The fight won Fight of the Night, Submission of the Night and MMA Live's Fight of the Year. Since then, Silva has continued to remain the middleweight champion with a first round knockout against Vitor Belfort at UFC 126 and a second round TKO against Yushin Okami at UFC 134. Sonnen has been no slouch either. Since his loss to the spider, Sonnen submitted Brian Stann in the second round with an arm-triangle choke at UFC 136 and defeated Michael Bisping via unanimous decision at the UFC on FOX: Evans vs. Davis.

Also scheduled for this card is another rematch, Vitor Belfort vs. Wanderlei Silva. The two will be coaching against one another on the first international version of The Ultimate Fighter. The last time these two fought was at UFC Brazil, over a decade ago. Belfort knocked out Silva in just 44 seconds of the first round.

It is also expected that the TUF: Brazil featherweights and middleweights will be fighting on this card to win their UFC contract.

There is also a heavyweight fight scheduled for this card between Fabricio Werdum and Mike Russow. Werdum was last seen at UFC 143 against Roy Nelson where he won by unanimous decision in a very one-sided fight. Russow was last seen defeating Jon-Olav Einemo at UFC on Fox: Evans vs. Davis and remaining unbeaten in the UFC.

Invicta Fighting Championships announced today that rounding out their first fight card is undefeated Cat Zingano, who was last seen KO'ing Takayo Hashi via epic slam, will be fighting Anita Rodriguez at Invicta FC 1. Not only is this Invicta FC's first card, but it is also the first all pro women's mixed martial arts fight card. The fights will take place on April 28th in Kansas City, Kansas.

Headlining this fight card is Gal's Guide's 2011 Panty Dropper of the Year, Marloes Coenen, and she'll be fighting against Romy Ruyssen. We will also be seeing Olympic wrestling bronze medalist Randi Miller finally making her highly anticipated MMA debut.

The full fight card currently stands as:

Marloes Coenen vs. Romy Ruyssen
Jessica Penne vs. Lisa Ellis-Ward
Liz Carmouche vs. Ashleigh Curry
Kaitlin Young vs. Leslie Smith
Cat Zingano vs. Anita Rodriguez
Sarah D’Alelio vs. Shana Nelson
Sally Krumdiack vs. Sarah Schneider
Nicdali Rivera-Calanoc vs. Amy Davis
Michele Gutierrez vs. Sarah Maloy
Randi Miller vs. Mollie Ahlers-Estes
Ashley Cummins vs. Sofia Bagherdai
Jessica Philippus vs. Meghan Wright

P.S. Happy International Women's Day!!!

Yesterday, The Culinary Union came before the Nevada State Athletic Commission and presented before them a Bill of Rights for Professional Mixed Martial Artists. The Culinary Union said they would like the Bill of Rights for MMA fighters to be established to protect MMA fighters from exploitation.

The Culinary Union said that they had spoken with numerous MMA fighters and that they "feel exploited and undervalued." Moreover, "Many believe the sport of mixed-martial arts has been hijacked by business interests that are more interested in maximizing their own profits, and promoting their own brands, than in furthering the integrity of this sport."

The following are some of the concerns that were addressed in the Culinary Union’s presentation:

1. "Long-term, exclusivity contracts that bind an athlete to a single promoter, in some cases indefinitely." This includes "automatic renewal" and "championship clauses" in fighters’ contracts that automatically extends a fighter’s contract if they become champion. This makes it difficult for a fighter to negotiate for a pay increase and/or sign with other organizations.

2. "Limited control over image and likeness rights." Many organizations within their contracts require the fighters to relinquish their own image and likeness "in perpetuity." This effects what the fighters earn from various merchandise. It is also mentioned in the presentation that when two fighters had objected to this in their contracts, they were fired, and then subsequently rehired.

3. "Lack of financial transparency." Boxing promoters, under the Ali Act, are required to make financial disclosures to state athletic commissions, including copies of all written agreements with boxers. There are no similar requirements for MMA promoters and fighters. The fear is that MMA fighters are negotiating "in the dark" with the promoter and are unsure if they are being paid fairly.

The Culinary Union then presented their Bill of Rights for MMA Fighters and urged NSAC to have these Bill of Rights not just adopted, but adopted in every State.

The Bill of Rights for Professional Mixed Martial Artists can be found after the jump.

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Vitor Belfort spoke with Tatame after his submission victory over Anthony Johnson at UFC 142 and mentioned that he wasn't the UFC's first choice to fight Rumble at middleweight. He said:

"He’s a strong guy, feared in UFC. Dan Henderson refused to fight him, everybody declined it. He’s a guy who’s hard to match-up in this division, but I accepted it at a glance", reveals the Brazilian. "I have never feared any man… I thought it was good challenge and I said yes. I showed how I value the fans and the UFC".

Well, Dan Henderson heard this and responded to Tatame:

"That’s not true, this fight was never offered to me," Dan said through an interpreter, his BJJ coach Ricardo Feliciano. "Steroids might be killing Vitor’s neurons, he’s getting crazy to say something like that".

Back at Pride 32, Belfort lost by unanimous decision to Henderson. After their fight, Belfort tested positive for 4-hydroxytestosterone, an illegal substance. Belfort appealed to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, but to no avail. Belfort was suspended for nine months from the date of the hearing and fined $10,000.

Well, well, well. Is Belfort telling the truth, lying or getting crazy from the steroids, like Henderson says?

It was reported by MMA Fighting that Nick Diaz and Jim Miller will be fighting at UFC on Fox 3 on May 5 at New Jersey's IZOD Center.

Miller is coming off a fresh win against Melvin Guillard at UFC on FX where he submitted Guillard by rear naked choke in just two minutes of the first round.

Diaz is also looking great at his return to lightweight with a submission win against Takanori Gomi and a fight of the night win against Donald Cerrone.

Lightweight champion Frankie Edgar is set to face Benson Henderson at UFC 144 in Japan on February 25 and my best guess is that the winner of Diaz v. Miller will get the next lightweight title shot.

The only other fight on this card that was announced is between TUF 14 bantamweight winner John Dodson and Darren Uyenoyama. Both fighters will be moving down from bantamweight to fight at flyweight for this fight. Dodson was last seen TKO'ing T.J. Dillashaw at the TUF 14 Finale and Uyenoyama recently defeated Norifumi Yamamoto in his UFC debut.

In the words of Junior dos Santos, "I am very excite!"

Earlier this week, Eddie Goldman, the man behind "No Holds Barred," posted a letter he received from the National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence (NCDSV) organization. The letter was addressed to the New York State Assembly and it advocated that they retain the ban on mixed martial arts in New York.

The letter states:

"the UFC contributes to a culture of violence against women, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. Children, in particular, should not be exposed to the homophobic, misogynistic and violent language that has been permitted by the UFC."

NCDSV uses various quotes about women, rape and other hot-button topics from Dana White, Joe Rogan and various UFC fighters like Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Rashad Evans, Forrest Griffin, Michael Bisping, Frank Mir, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira as evidence to their position.

While their rhetoric was hateful and uneducated, it seems that the NCDSV is also being hateful and uneducated. It seems that the NCDSV has aligned themselves with all of the other organizations that would like to keep MMA out of New York, like the NYS Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the NYS Coalition Against Sexual Assault and the Culinary Workers Union. The NCDSV has added nothing new to the argument that the Culinary Workers Union had placed months before.

Moreover, it is amateur on their part to quote a handful of fighters as their reason for keeping a sport out of New York. Where are quotes from hundreds of other MMA fighters? What about the MMA fighters that have said that MMA has saved their lives? What about female MMA fighters? What about homosexual MMA fighters? What about, what about, what about…

I can go on all day about how I think these organizations are wrong, what the fighters said was wrong and how legalizing MMA in New York will not cause an increase in hate crimes--has it in any of the other states MMA is legal in? What's your opinion on all this?

The full letter can be read after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

Throughout the 14^th season of "The Ultimate Fighter," Diego Brandao, the shows only Brazilian contestant, spoke openly about growing up poor in Brazil and promising his father that he would take care of the family after he passed. Brandao also spoke about how if he won the show he would be able to afford a nice home for his mother and that it was his dream to do so. Well, he did win the show—he submitted Dennis Bermudez at the end of the first round at the TUF 14 Finale—where he won submission of the night and fight of the night honors, accruing $80,000 in bonus money alone.

Want to guess what he also did? Via Cagewriter, after he won, he returned to his native Brazil and bought his mother a brand new house. Congratulations to Brandao and to his family.

Brandao currently does not have a fight scheduled, but I am sure we will see him back in the octagon very soon.

OreganLive.com reports that former UFC lightweight Hermes Franca was sentenced to 42 months (3 1/2 years) in prison yesterday.

He was arraigned in May on seven counts of first-degree sexual abuse and two counts of second-degree unlawful sexual penetration. The remaining counts were dismissed.

Barros will also have four and a half years of post-prison supervision and must register as a sex offender.

Barros, a resident of Jupiter, Fla., turned himself in to Clackamas County Sheriff's Deputies in May after a warrant was issued for his arrest, stemming from a December 2010 encounter with one of his students.

Franca fought against Sean Sherk for the UFC lightweight title back at UFC 73 in July of 2007. He lost the fight and after the fight he tested positive for a banned substances and was suspended for a year and fined $2,500. His last fight was in April of 2011 for the IFL where he lost by KO early in the second round.

It was released just yesterday that former Strikeforce women's featherweight champion Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos had tested positive for anabolic steroids in her title fight against Hiroko Yamanaka on December 17. As a result of testing positive for the banned substance, the fight's result has been changed to a no contest (Santos had knocked out Yamanaka in just 16 seconds of the opening round) and Cyborg has had her license suspended for one year and was fined $2,500.

Santos has just recently released a statement via her Facebook regarding her failed drug test.

I am ultimately responsible for everything I put in my body, and at the end of the day, there is no excuse for having a prohibited substance in my system. I do not condone the use of any performance enhancing drugs by myself or any other professional athlete, and willingly accept the penalties and fines that have been handed down to me by the California State Athletic Commission and those of the StrikeForce/Zuffa organization.

While I was preparing myself for my last fight I was having a difficult time cutting weight and used a dietary supplement that I was assured was safe and not prohibited from use in sports competition. It was never my intention to obtain an unfair advantage over Hiroko, mislead StrikeForce, the Commission or my fans. I train harder than any fighter in MMA and do not need drugs to win in the cage, and I have proven this time and time again! My only mistake is not verifying the diet aid with my doctor beforehand, and understanding that it was not approved for use in the ring. Unfortunately in the end I suffer the consequences and must accept the responsibility for my actions.

I will do everything I can to show my fans that I can still compete at the professional level without the use of any prohibited substances, and ask God's forgiveness for my mistake.

Since Santos came onto the scene she has been fighting against numerous accusations about steroid use. I'm not sure if this statement actually helps her or not. Was it steroids or supplements?

Current UFC light-heavyweight and former champion Tito Ortiz will be guest starring on tonight’s new episode of CSI: NY titled "Clean Sweep" on CBS at 9:00 p.m.

Ortiz will be playing as, you guessed it, an MMA fighter. Ortiz’s character, Derek Petrov, is suspected in the murder of his last opponent, who beat him via cheap shot.

This isn't Ortiz's first foray into acting. Ortiz has previously guest starred on the TV show Numb3rs and has also 'starred' in various films, including Cradle 2 The Grave, The Crow: Wicked Prayer and Zombie Strippers (yes, that is the actual title of the film).

Catch a sneak peak of tonight’s episode and Tito’s (awful) acting.

Sarah Kaufman spoke with MMA Fighting regarding her opinion on the reports of a Miesha Tate v. Ronda Rousey title fight.

"I think it's terrible news. I put in my time and, being the former champ and having had two fights since the only loss of my career, I've definitely earned the right to fight Miesha Tate and fight for the 135-pound title with Strikeforce. Then there's Ronda, who's only been fighting for a year. Granted, she has her judo experience, but she hasn't fought anyone of a high caliber. She's fought at 145 pounds -- hasn't even competed at 135 pounds at all -- and for her to be given the opportunity to fight for the title, it's pretty ridiculous."

Wait, there's more.

"I've been pushing for the Miesha fight since I fought her. That's all I can do, is get in interviews and say what I think, which is that I deserve the fight. Maybe that's not what they want to hear. They want to hear, 'I'm the prettiest and you can market me and sell me to guys.' That's not my thing, and I won't do that. I'll present myself as an athlete and be feminine in my own way without being over the top."

Strikeforce has not officially announced Tate v. Rousey, but it seems that the fight will come to fruition. I completely agree with Kaufman – it is not fair to give Rousey an immediate title shot – and that Kaufman is more deserving of one. However, there are not that many women in the 135 pound division in Strikeforce. I understand that Strikeforce would want to go with the fight that people are more interested in seeing. Tate v. Rousey may get more viewers than Tate v. Kaufman and from a business perspective that may be the only thing they need. Also, this is Strikeforce. Tomorrow Keith Jardine will be fighting Luke Rockhold for the middleweight championship and Jardine has never fought at middleweight before and he came to a draw (in reality he lost that fight) in his last fight. As the old adage goes, it is what it is.

Brock Lesnar spoke to Sports Illustrated regarding all the talk that he cannot take a punch – he claims his chin has been tried and tested.

Well, how does Lesnar respond to critics that bring up his fights against Shane Carwin (whom battered Lesnar in the first round but seemed to punch himself out and then get submitted in the second round) and his fight against Cain Velasquez (who TKO’d Lesnar in the first round)? In both fights, when he was hit flush, he turtled up.

Lesnar responds classicly. "I think it's a bunch of bullsh--. The fights that I've gotten hit, I've stood and banged with Heath Herring, Randy Couture, Frank Mir -- I've taken a lot of shots. I mean, Shane Carwin. And I've yet to be knocked out. I had refs stop a fight for a submission and a TKO, which is a referee stoppage. I've never been knocked out cold."

I never viewed Herring, Couture and Mir as power punchers or knockout artists. I also don't think that being TKO'd as opposed to being knocked out cold should be considered that far apart, either. Getting TKO'd in a fight, to me at least, doesn't mean you have a great chin, especially when all he did was cover up. I'm not sure Lesnar is completely prepared to take on Alistair Overeem at UFC 141. I'm sure the dutch kickboxer and Strikeforce, Dream and K-1 heavyweight champion will try and test Lesnar's chin. Will he be ready?

As Lesnar said, "I wouldn't be in this position, doing what I'm doing, if I was that horrendous of a fighter. I've got faith, I've got confidence in my skills, and I've got confidence that I can beat this guy."

We shall see.

In this video, Courtnie Korpela of Red Schafer Mixed Martial Arts chokes out her male opponent with a rear naked choke which renders him unconscious at the Waukesha Open 4 at Waukesha MMA in Waukesha, Wisconsin on December 10, 2011.

The UFC announced (via MMAWeekly) that they will be returning to Australia with UFC Sydney: Alves vs. Kampmann on March 3, 2012. This will be the third time the UFC will hold an event in Australia and they have already set up three great fights. Not only will Aussie fans get to see two top welterweights in what is sure to be a great fight, but the UFC flyweights will be making their debut with a two-fight tournament.

Thiago Alves and Martin Kampmann are both coming off wins and the two will finally go head to head, or punch to punch, in the cage. Alves recently submitted Papy Abedi at UFC 138 in the first round and Kampmann is coming off a unanimous decision win against Rick Story (whom Alves lost a unanimous decision to).

We will also finally get to see our flyweights! Ian McCall, the Tachi Palace Fights Flyweight champion who is also currently ranked as the #1 flyweight in the world after defeating former #1 flyweight Jussier da Silva, will be making his UFC debut (and hopefully his fancy mustache) against Demetrious Johnson, who recently lost a unanimous decision to Dominick Cruz, the current UFC bantamweight champion.

We will also be treated to Joseph Benavidez, currently ranked as the #2 bantamweight in the world against the current Shooto bantamweight champion, Yasuhiro Urushitani, who hasn’t lost a fight since 2008.

The full card will probably be announced in the coming weeks and will be airing on FX in the States (the event is also known as UFC on FX 2).

Randy Couture recently spoke with ESPN about Brock Lesnar and his fight against Alistair Overeem.

It has been speculated by many that Lesnar will not be the same as before since having part of his colon removed due to his diverticulitis. Lesnar also hasn’t stepped inside the cage since over a year ago on October 23, 2010 at UFC 121, where he lost the heavyweight championship to Cain Velasquez.

However, Couture, having previously fought and trained with Lesnar, doesn’t think that Lesnar will be weakened after having surgery. Instead, Couture believes that Lesnar will be more dangerous since he’s been able to take his time and work on his other skills.

"I don't think his difficulties will affect his ability to fight. If anything, the time off has given him time to develop more tools and add new skills, rather than trial by fire the hard way in the cage. I think he's going to be better having had, for the first time, the time to change and realize his potential. Something about being stood in front of a guy who is that size, but can still move as fluidly as he moves is a very unique thing. You don't find guys like that, he's an anomaly. How do you prepare? You can't find partners to simulate that. It depends who has their way with each other in this one. If Brock closes the distance and gets his hands on Overeem, you're going to see Overeem on the bottom a lot. That's not a great place to be. If Brock's timid and allows Overeem to establish his range and throws those big knees, we've established that Brock hasn't made friends with being hit in the face yet. It's not flipping his trigger and letting him know the fight's on. Either way, it's a great fight and an exciting match-up, no doubt."

Lesnar is preparing for his UFC return which will be at the end of this month, on December 30, 2011, at UFC 141, where he will face former Strikeforce heavyweight champion, DREAM heavyweight champion and K-1 Grand-Prix champion, Alistair Overeem, in a five-round non-title fight.

Wanderlei Silva, the "Axe Murderer," current UFC middleweight fighter, former Pride Middleweight and Openweight Champion and all around badass, was interviewed by Tatame about his new job, being an Ultimate Fighter Coach and the expectations and responsibility it brings.

How are the expectations, since you’re living for a long time on the United States and will now be on a reality show in Brazil?

The expectations are great. The main idea is to show how is the life and the trainings of a fighter, make them focus and don’t get disturbed by the cameras or anything else, stay focused on the training. All athletes there I believe have a certain experience, so don’t let it get to them. That’s what I did on my last fight: I tried not to get so excited about the cameras the big screens, the fans, otherwise you lose focus. It’s a show, but they’re all there with one goal and I believe they need to focus to make it come true.

What about your rivalry with Vitor? Will it help you at some point?

There’re many things they do on the American show that I particularly don’t think it’s nice. I believe we gotta sell the sport as it is. Martial arts are about respect, discipline, posture. And that’s what they’ll see happening here, but it’s not going to be messy. Not in my side, at least. But people will have to sign a deal on which they say that if they mess up with me, it’ll get ugly (laughs).

You wanted to fight Vitor for a long time and now you’ll have the chance. How are the expectations?

The best possible. I believe I’m in a good place in my career, I’m a lot focused, I’m dedicating a lot and I guess it came on the right time. It’s been so long, and we’re not fighting in the same city anymore, because we fought in Sao Paulo, but it’ll show how the event has changed. As Vitor said himself, the last time we didn’t even have locker-rooms, so I warmed up on the bathroom, and now we have a big structure. That’s what happened with the sport.

How will be the feeling to see a guy from your team beating someone of Vitor Belfort’s team?

I wanna show the good side of the martial arts, show the positive aspects of practicing martial arts and make it popular to people who has never watched MMA in their lives, and maybe help people who do many things wrong, like doing crack and other drugs. Sometimes it happens because the guy doesn’t have anything to do, his friend starts doing it and he goes and does it. I guess we gotta bring these guys from the bad side and show them some things that are good, that’s my mission.

You said there won’t be mess around you at TUF’s house. Will you preach discipline?

No. Discipline is a part of martial arts. People used to say one thing and now they’re saying the opposite. I guess all martial artists must have a good posture, be respectful, and I’ll be hoping that.

The rest of the interview, where he discusses his rematch with Vitor Belfort, can be read over at Tatame.

Former Smackgirl openweight champion and ranked by MMARising as the #2 women’s featherweight, Hiroko "Cat’s Eye" Yamanaka, will be making her U.S. debut this Saturday night, December 17, at Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal against current women’s featherweight champion and #1 ranked women’s featherweight, Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos.

Many, including myself, believes that Cristiane Santos will be the safe bet and victor in this fight, however, during the Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal media conference call, Hiroko Yamanaka stated "I don’t feel like I’m overlooked or anything; all that I have in my mind is to fight."

I’m a bit surprised that she feels that way, since it seems that everyone has seemingly ignored Yamanaka’s chances at defeating Santos and the stats tell why. Cyborg’s last 8 out of 9 fights have ended in TKO/KO and Cyborg obliterated Hitomi Akano, the only person to defeat Yamanaka (Yamanaka later went on to avenge that loss).

Yamanaka may have the height advantage, which will prove to her advantage if she can keep Santos in the clinch, but Santos has shown that she uses her strength and power to defeat her opponents.

Yamanaka is counting on her fight experience to be successful against Santos. "I do feel like my experience will benefit me. I feel like I have a lot of good experience and it will benefit me in this fight."

Yamanaka was last seen defeating Bolormaa Erdenebileg at Jewels 15^th Ring on July 9, 2011 via armbar submission. Cristiane Cyborg hasn’t fought in the cage since her one-sided mauling against Jan Finney at Strikeforce/M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Werdum on June 26, 2010. Ring rust may be an issue for Santos; however, she’s been keeping busy and won gold at the 2011 World Jiu-Jitsu Championship as a purple belt.

We'll all have to wait and see the outcome of this fight Saturday night.

Who will be next for Jon Jones? Former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion, Randy Couture, tells ESPN that he thinks "It'd be interesting to see Danny against Jon Jones. At the ripe old age of 40 Danny is coming into his own. He's firing on all cylinders right now. He's got a tremendous wrestling background, he's got one of the best right hands in the sport, it'd be interesting to see how he'd deal with Jon and how Jon would deal with him. I don't see reach being a huge issue. I don't see Jon being able to stay on the outside and pick Dan apart. There's going to have to be an engagement at some point in that cage and we'd get to see what type of punch Jon can take."

Several things:

1. Jones will probably fight Rashad Evans next or even possibly Dan Henderson. Most people think Evans has a better shot against Jones since the two used to train together, which would give Evans the greater advantage, but on the flip side, Jones used to train with Evans which would also give him a greater advantage.

2. Henderson's reach is 71 inches. Jones' reach is 84.5 inches. Jones would have almost a 14-inch reach advantage. I'm really surprised that Couture doesn't think reach would be a "huge issue" for Henderson when Jones could be standing more than a foot away and tag him. [Note: Rashad Evans' reach is 75 inches, not that much better than Henderson's, but at least it's within a foot].

3. Lyoto Machida was able to close the distance and land a few shots on Jones that seemed to hurt him. What if Henderson did the same thing? Would Jones be able to recover that quickly?

4. I don't care what anyone says or thinks, I'd like to see Henderson fight Jones.

5. I think it's really cute that Randy calls Henderson "Danny."

The UFC's first international edition of its popular reality competition TV show, "The Ultimate Fighter" will take place in Brazil, and the coaches will be Brazilian MMA legends Wanderlei Silva and Vitor Belfort.

UFC president Dana White announced today at the UFC: Rio press conference that the UFC will have their popular show, "The Ultimate Fighter," take place in Brazil for the first time. It was also announced that Brazilian MMA fighters and legends, Wanderlei Silva and Vitor Belfort will be the coaches. The two legends will finally meet again. The last time these two faced each other in the cage was when the UFC first went to Brazil, back in October 16, 1998. In that fight, Belfort TKO'd Silva in just 44 seconds of the first round and Wanderlei has been asking for a rematch ever since.

There was no mention of where the rematch will take place but I think it is safe to assume it will probably be in Brazil.

TUF Brazil will begin airing in March on Brazil's Globo network. It's assumed that the show will air on Fuel TV in the U.S.

BJJ Nation reports that on Tuesday, in São Paulo, Brazil, Anderson Silva, the current middleweight champion of the UFC, was one of few awarded as Brazilian of the Year at the 12th annual Brazilians of the Year Ceremony. Various Brazilians were awarded, including artists, celebrities, professors and politicians. At the ceremony was the current and first female President of Brazil, Dilma Roussef. This is the first time a mixed martial artist has not only won the award, but the first time one has met the President of Brazil.

As odd as it may sound, I'm sure that Anderson Silva, undefeated in the UFC, has a lot in common with President Dilma Roussef, since she lived during Brazil's dictatorship era and has had a lot to fight for and against to become Brazil's first female president.

I find it amazing that in such a short time (since UFC 134, August 27, 2011), Brazil has quickly accepted mixed martial arts and mixed martial artists with both arms wide-open.

Tatame reports that billionaire Eike Batista, ranked number 8 on Forbes' list and the richest man in Brazil, will be sponsoring the Nogueira brothers in their upcoming fights at UFC 140, which is this Saturday, December 10th.

In a press release posted on his website, Batista said that "We increased our support of the national sport with the sponsorship of the brothers Rodrigo Minotauro and Rogerio Minotouro, MMA fighters, who’ll have their last fight of the year at UFC 140, when they’ll fight the heavyweight Frank Mir and light-heavyweight Tito Ortiz.**"

Globo has reported that the Nogueira brothers will be wearing the EBX logo, Batista's company, on their clothing.

I'm happy to see more fighters, especially internationally, even more so in Brazil, getting more sponsors. This can only be good for mma and ultimately, hopefully better for we the fans.

** This is a rough translation -- if I have erred please excuse and correct me -- I'm still working on my Portuguese.

SBN coverage of UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida

Variety has reported that MTV will be debuting a new mixed martial arts reality series called "Caged."

The show will focus on a diverse group of teenagers from a small town in Louisiana. Each have their own different struggles that they must work and cope with along with training and fighting.

I think MTV will do a good job and that they hopefully chose the right guys to follow. MTV had a young Frankie Edgar and Anthony Pettis on their network. Bellator also airs on their sister-channel, MTV2. MTV seems to at least appreciate MMA.

I suppose I have a bit of high hopes for this show. I don't think they chose a wild bunch and it sounds like they chose a couple of hard working teens. We’ll see how MMA will be portrayed on the show, but I'm looking at this positively. I think more mainstream shows like this will lead to more fans.

Caged will debut on January 9th, 2012 at 10:00 p.m.