The move was expected but the timing wasn’t. Last night UFC President Dana White dropped a twitter bombshell that the UFC 146 headliner Alistair Overeem has been replaced by Frank Mir, who will know face the UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos on May 26th.
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.
The calendar has turned to April which means MMA fans survived the month-long absence of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Despite some great action from Bellator to fill the void, the action of March did little to the April ranks.
The May UFC 146 fight card will offer up an experience unlike any other the worlds biggest Mixed Martial Arts promotion has every done, an all heavyweight main card. Following past announcements of four other heavyweight bouts for the May 26th card, the UFC today added a fight between Mark Hunt and Stefan Struve and confirmed that for the first time in UFC history, all five main card bouts will be heavyweight fights.
MMA fans knew it would be just a matter of tick tocks before the entire Strikeforce heavyweight competitors would start to migrate to the UFC, following the announcement that Strike force would be doing away with the largest weight class in their organization. So far the heavyweight imports have fared well in their octagon appearances, as they are 4-0 since the latter part of 2011. Former Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem has already made his statement, when he flattened Brock Lesnar at UFC 141, and is now set to challenge Junior Dos Santos for the title at UFC 146.
Last month’s rankings saw little movement within the ranks but that was more than made up for this by all the movement this month. The March MMA fighter rankings saw two new fighters crowned #1, two fighters move up into the #2 spot and a total of 16 changes overall.
The heavyweight division got a bit of a jolt Wednesday night as Stipe Miocic and Stefan Struve walked away with impressive victories at UFC on Fuel TV: Sanchez vs. Ellenberger. As part of the night’s main card the two fighters walked away with early knockouts, Miocic earning Knockout of the night honors.
Alistair Overeem has taken the UFC heavyweight division by storm with his debut performance that saw him demolish former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar in the first round at UFC 141. Although Overeem has had some public troubles as of late that has not stopped the triple heavyweight title holder from moving forward in his quest to obtain the UFC heavyweight championship, as he is to face current champ Junior Dos Santos at UFC 146.
UFC on FOX 7: Henderson vs. Melendez Weigh-in Pictures
Due to a previously scheduled Arena Football game at the HP Pavilion, today’s UFC on FOX 7 weigh-ins were held less than a mile away at the California Theater. The small theater was completely filled with cheering fans and all the fighters they came to see made weight.
The Ultimate Fighter 16 Finale Weigh-in Pictures
Amidst everything else going on, the UFC has themselves a busy day today with the UFC on FX 6 taking place in Australia and The Ultimate Fighter 16 finale weigh-ins. All 24 fighters made weight today for tomorrow’s event that will crown The Ultimate Fighter 16 welterweight winner.
UFC on FUEL TV 4 Weigh-in Results and Photos
SAN JOSE, Cal. – Still recovering from Saturday’s UFC 148, MMAValor.com was inside the HP Pavilion for today’s UFC on FUEL TV 4 weigh-ins. A few of the fighters would need to step onto the scale behind a towel but all 22 fighters on the UFC on FUEL TV 4 fight card made weight.
TUF Live Finale Live Results and Event Pictures
The long grind of the first live version of The Ultimate Fighter ends tonight at the TUF Live Finale in Las Vegas. Featuring 12 of the 16 TUF Live contestants, the 10 bout card will be headlined by an important match-up in the welterweight division between Jake Ellenberger and Martin Kampmann.
TUF Live Finale Weigh-in Results and Pictures
All the fighters for tomorrow’s TUF Live Finale were on weight as they stepped onto the scales inside the Pearl at the Palms. The 20 fighters, including 12 of the 16 TUF Live fighters will begin entering the Octagon tomorrow starting at 2:45pm PT / 5:45pm ET.
