Author James Begley (Staff Writer)

Coalition Fight Music announced earlier today that the group has finalized a strategic partnership agreement with Shark Sports Management. The new partnership agreement will allow the Atlanta-based sports agency to offer Coalition Fight Music’s vast array of marketable services to the company’s growing list of clients within the MMA industry.

The UFC is all set to make its return to Nottingham, England for UFC on Fuel TV 5 on September 29th, and has just added a heavyweight bout, which will serve as the main event between rising heavyweight stars Stefan Struve and Stipe Miocic. Both Struve and Miocic are carrying some serious momentum coming into this fight, as Struve is currently riding a three fight victorious streak, and Miocic has yet to taste defeat in his professional career, standing at an impressive 9-0, including all three of his UFC appearances.

It’s probably safe to assume that when the announcement of Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy vs. Duane “Bang” Ludwig was made official as an addition to UFC 146, that many didn’t think that the fight would go the distance. Ludwig holds the record for the fastest KO in UFC history, and is widely considered to be one the best “pure” strikers in the sport, while Hardy also shares a penchant for standing and trading shots, regardless of whether he’s on the losing end or not.

No competitor in MMA desires to be on the losing end of a record-breaking performance. In the case of Donald Cerrone, he didn’t take his loss to Nate Diaz at UFC 141 well, and it certainly showed in his outstanding performance against Jeremy Stephens at the UFC on Fuel 3 event Tuesday night. Cerrone is back in the saddle, so to speak, as he picked Jeremy Stephens apart in their hotly contested bout main card bout.

At last week’s pre-fight press conference for UFC 146, six of the event’s participants were selected for random drug screens. Today the NSAC revealed that all but the number one UFC heavyweight contender Alistair Overeem had passed their pre-fight test. Overeem’s T/E ratio (Testosterone to Epitestosterone) was 10-to-1, which is far over the 6-to-1 limit the NSAC allows for maintaining/obtaining a license, and it now appears as though he will not be competing for the UFC heavyweight title on May 26th at UFC 146.

Season 6 for the Bellator organization is in full swing now, and the 63rd event featured the beginning of this season’s welterweight tournament, as the eight competitors narrow the field down in the four scheduled main card match-ups.

The Tony Ferguson curse has struck once again, as it has been announced that Ferguson’s second scheduled opponent for the UFC on FOX 3, Thiago Tavares has also been forced to withdraw from his bout with Ferguson. Tony’s first scheduled opponent was Dennis Hallman, who was forced out the contest with Ferguson due to a pre-fight injury, and now that Tavares has suffered a similar situation, Michael Johnson has stepped up to face Tony at the upcoming UFC event.

It doesn’t take a master's degree for MMA fans to have already put two and two together in reference to the UFC welterweight division as of late. Nick Diaz has his appeal process pending, and still hasn’t stated as to whether or not he’s going to keep fighting and the new interim champ Carlos Condit has decided to wait out Georges St-Pierre’s injury rehab. Which leaves us with the obvious conclusion that Jake Ellenberger and Martin Kampmann need to fight.