The On Deck Circle

This week in MMA is a weekly feature submitted by Kyle Norton.

UFC Fight Night 13 – KenFlow – J-Lau
With WEC 33 wrapped up, Zuffa will launch its next event in five days. UFC Fight Night 13 is headlined by a lightweight showdown between BJJ black belt and Sityodtong Muay Thai fighter Kenny Florian and BJ Penn understudy Joe Lauzon. There are a number of great fights on the card, which could all potentially be main events. A more in depth breakdown will follow.

UFC Fight Night Televised Card
• Kenny Florian vs. Joe Lauzon
• Karo Parisyan vs. Thiago Alves
• Matt Hamill vs. Tim Boetsch
• Kurt Pellegrino vs. Nate Diaz
• Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard
• Houston Alexander vs. James Irvin

Kimbo Slice Goes Primetime at EliteXC
ProElite recently announced that Kimbo Slice will headline their CBS primetime debut against an undetermined opponent on May 31st. Also on the card will be a middleweight championship bout between “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler and UFC veteran Scott Smith and a middleweight contenders showdown between Murilo “Ninja” Rua and Phil “the New York Bad Ass” Baroni.

WEC 33 Review
U.S. Marine and fan-favourite, Brian Stann defeated Doug “the Rhino” Marshall to take the WEC light heavyweight championship. Stann looked to trade with his hands from the opening bell while Marshall attempted to use his kicks and clinch game to negate his challenger’s reach. In the midst of one exchange the U.S. Marine, Stann, caught “the Rhino” with a powerful left hook, sending him to the canvas. Stann quickly jumped on his opponent forcing referee Herb Dean to call a stop to the contest at 1:35 of the first round, making Brian Stann the new WEC light heavyweight champion. The ex-main event of the evening was a middleweight championship title bout rematch between Chael Sonnen and Paulo Filho until Filho pulled out of the fight in order to check himself into a drug rehabilitation clinic. Thomas Denny student Bryan Baker stepped in to fight Sonnen only to be taken down repeatedly and abused on the ground. Sonnen cruised to a very lopsided unanimous decision victory with two judges scoring the bout 30-25, meaning that Sonnen won two 10-8 rounds (also known as a beatdown). In a welterweight contenders matchup, John Alessio was disqualified for an illegal knee to a downed opponent. Brock Larson is technically the winner of the fight but it is yet to be seen if he will now be given a title shot again Carlos Condit.

Full WEC 33 Results
• Brian Stann def. Doug Marshall (TKO – 1:35, Round 1)
• Chael Sonnen def. Bryan Baker (Unanimous Decision – Round 3)
• Marcus Hicks def. Ed Ratcliff (Submission, Guillotine Choke –1:42 Round 1)
• Steve Cantwell def. Tim McKenzie (Submission, Rear Naked Choke – 2:13 Round 1)
• Hiromitsu Miura def. Blas Avena (TKO – 2:35, Round 1)
• Brock Larson def. John Alessio (DQ, Illegal Knee – 1:50, Round 1)
• Rich Crunkilton def. Sergio Gomez (Unanimous Decision – Round 3)
• Alex Serdyukov def. Ryan Stonitsch (Submission, Triangle Choke – 1:35 Round 1)
• Kenji Osawa vs. Chris Manuel (Draw – Round 3)
• Logan Clark def. Scott Harper (TKO – 4:37 Round 1)

Last Minute Changes at Strikeforce
Strikeforce has been forced to change on the fly as a number of their fighters have been forced to withdraw from bouts. Jake Shields was forced to pull out of his first EliteXC title defence against Drew Fickett due to a lower back injury. Nick Diaz was also forced out of his bout with Korean Spirit MC product Jae Suk Lim. Strikeforce has made the best of the situation by pairing Kim and Fickett to fight and postponing the Shields-Fickett title bout until June. Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos was also forced off the card but UFC veteran Ryan Jensen has stepped in to face Jackson’s Submission fighter Joey Villasenor. Although there have been a number of changes to this event over the past few weeks, it still looks to be a solid card, headlined by a San Jose showdown between Frank “I have something large stuck up my ass” Shamrock and local fan-favorite, San Shou fighter Cung Le. Top lightweight fighter Gilbert Melendez is also on the card and he will try to recover from the first loss of his career against Gabe Lemley.

Strikeforce Televised Fight Card
• Frank Shamrock vs. Cung Le
• Gilbert Melendez vs. Gabe Lemley
• Drew Fickett vs. Jae Suk Lim
• Mike Kyle vs. Wayne Cole
• Joey Villasenor vs. Ryan Jensen

HCF Sold?
MMA Weekly reported that large, Canadian MMA promotion Hardcore Championship Fighting has been sold to an, as of yet, unnamed buyer. An announcement will reportedly be made between this Saturday’s event entitled the Crow’s Nest and their next event.

The Crow’s Nest
Hardcore Championship Fighting throws down its next event Saturday in Gatineau, Quebec. Headlining the card will be a contest between former UFC middleweight contender David “the Crow” Loiseau and Vancouver product Todd Gouwenberg. Two other UFC vets, Rob MacDonald and Hector “Sick Dog” Ramirez will also be facing off in the Crow’s Nest. HCF will also host a ton of strong Canadian MMA talent with such fighters as Ben Greer, Sarah Kaufman, Brent Beauparlant, Len Tam and Myles Merola.

Big Props to My Nova Uniao Homies
Nova Uniao black belt Marlon Sandro knocked out Miki Shida late in round 2 at Pancrase Shining Tour 2 to take the number one contender’s spot in the featherweight division. Sandro will now get a shot at current champion Yoshiro Maeda who is widely considered a top-10 featherweight in the world. Also on the card was Hacran Dias who made his Japanese debut against the very experienced Takafumi Ito, who has 60 professional fights. It was a back and forth bout both on the feet and on the mat, which lead the judges to rule a draw. At only 23 years old, Dias has a very bright future in the welterweight division.

This week in MMA is a weekly feature submitted by Kyle Norton.