Brandon Vera on possible title shot: This is like winning the lottery twice

UFC held a media conference call today in advance of UFC on FOX 4: Shogun vs. Vera which takes place this Saturday, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.Headlining is “Shogun” Rua, a former UFC Light Heavyweight champion. He won the title in 2010 but lost it in 2011 to Jon Jones. Since losing the belt, he had the 2011 “Fight of the Year” against Dan Henderson who will be fighting Jon Jones at UFC 151 in Las Vegas for the title. He is facing Brandon Vera for a match which now has title

Chad Mendes: A second fight against Jose Aldo would be completely different

UFC Featherweight Chad Mendes was the last man to face class champion Jose Aldo, and while that fight did not go exactly how Mendes had planned, it has given a wealth of valuable MMA title fight experience. The KO loss to Aldo remains the only blemish on Mendes’ 11-1 record, and he seeks to rebound strongly at this Saturday’s UFC 148 in Las Vegas. Facing Cody Mackenzie in preliminary card action, many believe Mendes will find himself in another Featherweight title fight one day. Speaking to Fightline.com,

Thumbs Down: 5 fights that didn’t happen in 2012

It is midway through 2012, and it seems to be a bad year for injuries in the UFC. Five important fights have been cancelled or postponed this year due to injury, surgery, illness or suspension. These things are all part of the fight game and have been since day one. The nature of the sport is brutal, but injuries are not isolated to fights. Most fighters suffer their injuries in training.  As well-rounded as a UFC fighter is expected to be, it is quite easy to “overtrain”, that is, put the body

Shane del Rosario chronicles return from serious car accident

Undefeated Heavyweight prospect Shane del Rosario sits at 11-0 with a ton of potential. While this is a spot that most MMA fighters would love to find themselves in, del Rosario is in fact coming off the roughest stretch of his young career. After defeating Lavar Johnson in Strikeforce in early 2011, del Rosario was in a debilitating car accident, suffering serious back injuries that took longer to heal than expected. This Saturday, he will make his way back to fighting on one of the biggest cards ever

Rich Franklin hoping for another run at the Middleweight title

Rich Franklin has not fought in the Middleweight division since 2008. That will all change on July 7 when he meets Cung Le at UFC 148, which is scheduled to take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
While fight at Middleweight, Franklin captured the UFC title, defeating Evan Tanner at UFC 53. He would defend the title twice, knocking out Nate Quarry and beating David Loiseau via unanimous decision. Franklin would lose the title in his next bout, falling to Anderson Silva at the 2:59 mark of

Anderson Silva: I don’t see anyone in Brazil that can beat Jon Jones

When looking at the UFC’s Light Heavyweight division at a macro level many have posited that, at this time, there are not any fighters out there that could beat the current Light Heavyweight Champion, Jon Jones.
One person that looked at the Light Heavyweight division at a more micro level was UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva. Silva, recently spoke to Portal TV about his feelings on how Brazilian fighters would fare against Jon Jones. “There’s not much to say about Jon Jones. I don’t see any