(I’ve got some bad news — Joe *is* the show’s token hot chick. / Photo by Esther Lin)

Spike TV has just released the full cast list for Fight Master: Bellator MMA, the upcoming reality show in which 32 fighters compete under the direction of four well-known coaches — Randy Couture, Frank Shamrock, Greg Jackson, and Joe Warren — for a spot in an upcoming Bellator tournament. The inaugural welterweight season will premiere on Wednesday, June 19th at 10:00 PM, and features a few notable names among the lesser-known prospects. For instance…

Joe Riggs: By far the most experienced fighter in the field, Riggs has competed extensively for the UFC, WEC, and Strikeforce. His sole Bellator appearance in May 2011 resulted in a knockout loss to Bryan Baker. Riggs is currently on a five-fight win streak.

Marcus “Lelo” Aurelio: The Capoeira expert’s flashy kicks have resulted in some must-see knockouts. Six of Aurelio’s career wins have come within the first minute of the fight. However, his Bellator debut last November resulted in a decision loss against Chris Franck.

Chris Lozano: The “Cleveland Assassin” has competed in three different Bellator welterweight tournament seasons since 2011, but has been unable to progress past the semi-finals. In a way, this is like a Comeback season for him.

Andy Uhrich: Good to see you again, buddy!

Several of the other cast-members have also competed previously in Bellator, including Josh Quayhagen (who’s already gone 3-1 for the promotion), Darryl Cobb, Frank Carrillo, and Jason Norwood. Check out the full cast-list after the jump, and click here to watch a teaser video for the show featuring the coaches and fighters.

“Day-bow-bow“

Bellator’s welterweight division just became far more interesting.

Earlier this morning, the organization announced that it had signed Marcus “Lelo” Aurelio (no, not Maximus), an explosive Capoeira fighter from Brazil. If the name sounds familiar, it should: He’s the guy from the infamous Capoeira kick knockout video from 2009. And the equally awesome flying switch kick from last August, for that matter.

After getting caught in a triangle choke during his first professional fight, Lelo has gone on to win six straight. None of his fights have ever gone the distance, and his only submission victory was a rear-naked choke over Canadian Muay Thai champion Ken Tran at Battlefield Fight League 7 last March. His most recent effort saw him KO Matt Dwyer with a slam just thirty seconds into their bout in April.

It’s easy- perhaps even a bit lazy- to compare the embattled MMA fighter Drew Fickett to the similarly troubled Scott Hall. In their primes, both men performed on their respective sport’s biggest stages against recognizable names. In Fickett’s case, this meant a run in the UFC and notable victories over Dennis Hallman, Kenny Florian, Josh Neer, Josh Koscheck and Kurt Pellegrino.

Yet it’s arguable that both men are more famous for their self-destructive, chaotic lifestyles outside of sport than they are for their accomplishments. Both men have well documented struggles with addiction, have been fired from major promotions over their drunken antics and have attempted to stay relevant in their respective sports with increasingly tragic results.

Case in point: Last night’s ShoFIGHT 20, which took place on the campus of Drury University in Springfield, Missouri. The show was essentially a who’s who of washouts from bigger promotions, which included (aside from Fickett) John Gunderson, Karo Parisyan, Kendall Grove, Lyle Beerbohm, Marcus Aurelio, Charles Bennett, “Smilin’” Sam Alvey and Roli Delgado. This card saw Fickett matched up against submission specialist Jonatas Novaes.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/DiggedyDrake)

Somewhere Steven Seagal is claiming he invented this knockout.

(Props: TheBattlefieldFight via MiddleEasy)

And here we have Marcus ‘Lelo’ Aurelio scissor-kicking Jose Cornejo’s head in mid-air like he was trying to score the winning goal for Brazil. The stoppage came just 43 seconds into their meeting at Saturday’s Battlefield Fight League event in Vernon, British Columbia, Canada. Fun fact: Lelo is the very same dude who pulled off that insane capoeira kick knockout against Keegan Marshall in 2009. Good lord, get this guy on TUF already.

(Jon Jones photobombs the staredown – Video courtesy of YouTube/MCLHEA)

All of the fighters scheduled to compete on Thursday night’s MMA Live 1 card set for the John Labatt Centre in London, Ontario, Canada made their respective contracted weight limits except for two, who hit their marks the second time after an hour in the sauna.

Main event participants Ryan “The Real Deal” Ford (169.4) and Karo “The Heat” Parisyan (171) shared a private conversation during an intense staredown, which concluded with the two welterweights exchanging a pat on the back and a smile,  breaking the tension in the room.

(There’s no quit in MacGrath, which should make for a barnburner against Aurelio Thursday night – PicProps: TopMMANews)

Matt MacGrath’s biggest weapons might just be his drive and determination.

Much like how he doesn’t let his full time job as a chef and obligations of being a father and husband prevent him from training twice a day, the 31-year-old New Glasgow, Nova Scotia native has never let his status as an underdog prevent him from winning fights he was picked to lose.

A typical day for MacGrath starts at around 4:00 am when he gets up to get ready for work at 5:00 am at the provincial Board of Health in Prince Edward Island. When he gets off at 1:00 pm, he heads home for a brief rest before heading to hone his skills at one of several gyms he trains at to work . Depending on his work schedule the next day, he may make the four-hour trek to his main camp at Titans MMA in Halifax, Nova Scotia. If he has to work the following day he may opt to work out closer to home in the afternoon and evening with family time sandwiched in between training sessions. He says it’s a lot of work balancing work, training and family, but he feels that the sacrifices and perseverance will pay off sooner than later.

(Aurelio teaching Dunham to keep his hands up.)

Heading into his MMA Live 1 welterweight bout with Matt MacGrath on May 19, Marcus Aurelio says he has a lot to prove to a lot of people, most notably himself.

The seasoned 37-year-old PRIDE, DREAM and UFC vet who is 4-2 in his last six outings is unhappy with the two blemishes he incurred on his record and is looking to erase them from the minds of fans with an impressive showing against MacGrath.

Although a hard-fought split decision loss to top tier UFC prospect Evan Dunham at UFC 102 back in 2009 left him with a bad taste in his mouth and without a job, his last loss against Shinya Aoki at DREAM 16 last September upset him more.

Aoki refused to engage on the feet and seemed content to take the decorated Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt down and hold him there before washing, rinsing and repeating the process the whenever Aurelio would get back up. Although he relishes the opportunity to avenge both losses, he says that he would rather do so in North America.

“I want to fight Evan Dunham again. I respect that kid a lot. The fight was so close. I almost had him in a choke. If I held it a little bit more, I would have had him. At the end of the fight, they gave him the decision and I respect that and I respect him a lot, but I definitely want to fight him again for sure. The fight with Aoki was frustrating. He got me in a good position and he stole the fight. He never tried to strike or exchange jiu-jitsu with me. I only had one chance in the fight when he shot and I sprawled and I almost took his back and after that I almost got his arm. The rest of the fight was boring,” Aurelio points out. “I hope I can fight him again and maybe we can do a better fight. The way I see it, if the fight was in America like in the UFC, after a minute [of stalling on the ground] they would say, ‘Okay guys, time to stand up.’ They should have stood us up, but in Japan Aoki is the big kid and they would never do that. He’s the biggest name in Japan so they wouldn’t risk him losing on the feet where he is the weakest. He was avoiding striking with me. The rules and the referees over there are always going to help him for sure.”

(MacGrath could raise his stock immensely with a win over a veteran like Aurelio.)

Cory MacDonald was hoping that his fight at MMA Live 1 against Marcus Aurelio would be his coming out party of sorts that would propel the highly-touted Kingston, Ontario native up the Canadian welterweight rankings. Unfortunately for MacDonald, he will have to wait for his opportunity to open the eyes of fans, pundits and possibly the powers that be at the UFC, as he has been forced to pull out of the May 19 London, Ontario show for undisclosed medical reasons.

Stepping in for McDonald on just over one week’s notice to face Aurelio (20-9) will be always game Halifax, Nova Scotia native Matt MacGrath (10-5). Although he is just 2-3 in his last five outings, each of his losses in that span came against UFC veterans in Kalib Starnes, Jonathan Goulet and Claude Patrick. MacGrath defeated TUF 9 quarter finalist Dean Amasinger at MMA: The Reckoning in Orillia, Ontario April 2.

(What, this??No, it’s not sparring; it’s physiotherapy.)

When Marcus Aurelio dropped out of SHINE Fights’ lightweight grand prix with an elbow injury less than a day after it was announced that all fighters who competed on the unsanctioned card would receive between 60 and 90-day suspensions that would be enforced by all of the membership bodies governed by the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC), a lot of MMA fans and pundits (including this one) called bullshit.

It appears we were all right.

Less than two weeks after pulling out of SHINE’s 155-pound single-night tournament, Aurelio says his arm has has recovered enough to let Shinya Aoki try to rip it off Saturday night at DREAM 16 in Nagoya, Japan.

"I was doing everything right, so my arm is back," Aurelio told MMAjunkie.

Heading into his fight this weekend against UFC newcomer Cyrille Diabate, Luis "Banha" Cane tells TATAME that he feels that he is better prepared than ever thanks in large part to his recent move to Elite Mixed Fighters, a team helmed by his fellow former American Top Team mate Marcus "Maximus" Aurelio and coach Andrei Benkei. 

"My life is going well, the new camp is serious and I had no problems training with guys that were my teammates before like former UFC fighter Marcus Aurelio in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, Andre Benkei as strength and conditioning coach and wrestler Chris Bohn."

Cane and Aurelio (who switched camps earlier in the year to head up the gym’s Brazilian jiu-jitsu training duties) aren’t the only former ATT fighters who have left the acclaimed Coconut Creek facility in 2010.

(I know what you’re wondering, and yes, the carpet matches the drapes. Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.)

God damn this economy. After some hard decisions, the UFC has been forced to cut four members of its workforce. MMA Survival has noticed that the following fighters have been removed from the UFC.com Fighters section…

Hermes Franca: Franca’s TKO loss to Tyson Griffin at UFC 103 was his third defeat in four fights. Franca missed weight for the contest by an embarassing four pounds, and put in an uninspired performance while sporting some seriously jacked-up hair. Franca previously served a one-year suspension for steroids. It was only a matter of time.

Chris Wilson: The Professor kicked off 2009 by losing to John Howard at UFC 94. Then, he was the victim of a terifying robbery in Brazil, was forced to drop out of UFC 98 due to incomplete paperwork, and was finally choked out by Mike Pyle at UFC Fight Night 19. It was Wilson’s third Octagon loss in four attempts, and now he’s been released by the organization. So, not the greatest year for Chris, really.

(Photo courtesy of daylife.com.)

Yesterday, we mentioned that the UFC had made the unexpected decision to bring back old-timer Dennis Hallman after a four-year absence from the organization. Now we’ve learned that the UFC has re-signed another hardy veteran, adding a fight between 38-year-old Vladimir Matyushenko and Igor Pokrajac to UFC 103. A one-time UFC light-heavyweight title contender, Matyushenko went 3-2 in the UFC from 2001-2003, scoring wins over Yuki Kondo, Travis Wiuff, and Pedro Rizzo. Since then, the Janitor has gone 9-1, became the IFL’s light-heavyweight champion, and most recently won a decision over Jason Lambert at Call to Arms 1 in May. It was also reported that 35-year-old PRIDE/UFC vet Marcus Aurelio will be returning later this month at UFC 102. Between Vlad, Aurelio, Hallman, Ortiz, and the possibility that Chuck Liddell isn’t quite retired, it’s clear what’s going on here: TUF 11: Last Call. The coaches will be Chuck and Tito, the minimum age will be 33, and the winner will receive $100,000 in prescription medication.

(When Jon Fitch says he’s going to wear your ass like a hat, it’s not a threat — it’s a guarantee.)

According to a report on MMA Mania, Jon Fitch will begin his road back to title contention with a fight against Akihiro Gono at UFC 94 (January 31st, Las Vegas). Fitch, who most recently dropped a unanimous decision to welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre at UFC 87 in August, was previously scheduled to face Gono in March, but a hand injury forced “The Japanese Sensation” to drop out of the match; Gono went on to lose a decision to Dan Hardy at last month’s UFC 89. The UFC’s Super Bowl weekend card will be headlined by Fitch’s old nemesis GSP facing BJ Penn, as well as Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva.

In other UFC news…

— Apparently back-to-back losses were enough to get Marcus Aurelio‘s contract shredded. Five Ounces of Pain reports that the American Top Team fighter has been let go following unanimous decision defeats at the hands of Tyson Griffin (at UFC 86) and Hermes Franca (at UFC 90). Though Aurelio has had an impressive career and holds victories over Takanori Gomi, Masakazu Imanari, and Rich Clementi, he leaves the Octagon with a 2-3 UFC record.

(Amir Sadollah could be part of Couture/Lesnar’s supporting cast.)

— UFC lightweight Gleison Tibau has been forced to pull out of his UFC 90 match against Hermes Franca due to a shoulder injury; replacing him will be Franca’s longtime friend Marcus Aurelio. Franca and Aurelio trained together at American Top Team before Franca left the camp, which led to a feud between Franca and ATT.

— During an appearance at Combat Sports Challenge 26 in Colonial Heights, Virginia, TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah revealed that he expects his next fight to be at UFC 91 in November. His opponent should be announced in the near future.

— UFC 91 will also reportedly feature a heavyweight bout between Gabriel Gonzaga and UFC newcomer Josh Hendricks. Gonzaga is coming off a first-round submission win over Justin McCully at UFC 86 in July, which snapped a two-fight losing streak. Hendricks is a vet of various regional promotions who’s 9-0 with one no-contest in his last ten fights.

— Michael Bisping thinks that Quinton Jackson’s next fight will be in December, against either Wanderlei Silva or Mauricio Rua: “[E]ither way, revenge is the dish that’ll be served up on the night! I’m sure whoever he gets in December, everyone at the Wolfslair will be behind him 100 per cent and fingers crossed he’ll get his revenge.”

— The UFC recently reunited eight castmembers from The Ultimate Fighter‘s first season to film an upcoming TV special. MMA Junkie provides some advance highlights, like when Joe Rogan asked the cast how much better they did with the women after being part of the show:

“If you’re in a relationship you want out of, now is the time to speak up,” Stephan Bonnar shouted, laughing.

When no one was willing to talk, Rogan called them “a bunch of (expletives).”

Forrest Griffin, now the UFC’s light heavyweight champion, broke the tension by shouting, “Hey, I don’t know about you guys, but I was doing pretty good with the women before.”

(“Maximus” could be battling T-Griffin at UFC 86.)

We mentioned yesterday that lightweight Tyson Griffin would likely be fighting at UFC 86 — the event featuring a headlining battle between Rampage and Forrest Griffin on July 5th. An opponent had not been named, although we suggested it could be Nate Diaz due to Nick’s bro recently calling Tyson out. It now looks like Griffin’s opponent will be Marcus “Maximus” Aurelio.

Griffin is 11-1 and is riding a three-fight win streak. His only loss was to Frankie Edgar 14 months ago. He last fought at UFC 81 when he beat Gleison Tibau via decision — on a side note, Tibau will take on Joe “Daddy” at the same event. Griffin has spent about half his career in the UFC, while Aurelio has three UFC fights under his belt to go with his years in PRIDE. The 16-5 “Maximus” hails from American Top Team and has won his last two — the most recent being an armbar victory over Ryan Roberts at UFC Fight Night 13. Previously, he fell three times in a row, although all was to top talent: Clay Guida, Takanori Gomi, and Mitsuhiro Ishida. The Brazilian is — what else? — a BJJ specialist and more often than not, finishes fights. He has 10 subs among his 16 wins, compared to three decisions. All of his losses were via decision.

This could be one of the best match-ups on the card, which currently looks like this (although not all are confirmed):

– Quinton Jackson vs. Forrest Griffin
– Josh Koscheck vs. Chris Lytle
– Joe “Daddy” Stevenson vs. Gleison Tibau
– Frank Mir vs. Justin McCully
– Tyson Griffin vs. Marcus Aurelio
– Justin Buchholz vs. Corey Hill
– Melvin Guillard vs. Dennis Siver
– Ben Saunders vs. Jared Rollins
– Cole Miller vs. ???
– Steve Bruno vs. ???

And speaking of Joe “Daddy” and “Maximus”, Joe’s newborn son has been named Maximus. For what it’s worth, my aunt had a cat also named Maximus. It had chronic diarrhea and was blind in one eye.

Here’s a preview clip from tonight’s episode of Inside MMA, in which Ricco Rodriguez discusses his participation in YAMMA’s debut event (April 11th, Atlantic City). We’ve already established that the fight surface is a big bowl, but even Ricco still doesn’t know what the enclosure is going to be like, and doesn’t expect to find out until he gets there. For the record, if it turns out to be Plexiglass, Bas Rutten came up with that idea first. Also, horse-jockey Gary Stevens throws in his two cents, God knows why. (Props to TheMMAPost for the video.)

Bonus: Marcus Aurelio’s armbar of Ryan Roberts on Wednesday was damn nasty…

…and Manny Gamburyan is kind of a dick.

(Props: BloodyElbow)

(Seriously, click it.)

A new link on UFC.com (shown above) is soliciting applicants for the eighth season of The Ultimate Fighter, which will apparently focus on the big boys and the wee ones. The link takes you to TUF‘s standard application; the deadline is just two weeks from now, so if you’re actually thinking about giving it a shot, get movin’. Or just sit on your ass and let life pass you by, either way.

In other Octagon news…

— Jason “The Punisher” Lambert will likely be returning to the cage at UFC 85 (June 7th, London) against Luis Arthur Cane. Both men are coming off of losses — Lambert due to an out-of-nowhere comeback knockout at the fists of Wilson Gouveia at UFC 80, and Cane due to an illegal-knee disqualification loss against James Irvin at UFC 79.

— Lanky TUF 6 weirdo Ben Saunders may be returning to the Octagon at UFC 86 (July 5th, Las Vegas, headlined by Rampage vs. Forrest). Saunders is 5-0-2 professionally, and has been training with the murderer’s row at American Top Team.

— Speaking of ATT fighters, Marcus Aurelio may actually be facing UFC newbie Ryan Roberts at UFN 13 rather than Jim Miller. Spencer Fisher is definitely still injured.

(Props: MMA Junkie)

(Fisher…out!)

First, a blown-out knee threw a monkey wrench into what was going to be the most interesting fight of UFC 85. Now it’s Ultimate Fight Night 13‘s turn to lose a highly anticipated bout, as a shoulder injury has forced Spencer Fisher to withdraw from his match against Marcus Aurelio on April 2nd. Said Fisher’s manager Monte Cox:

“Marcus Aurelio is not the kind of fighter you want to fight at 80 percent. [Fisher] was willing to fight but we decided it just was not a smart decision.”

Aurelio is now expected to face Jim Miller, a 10-1 lightweight who has never set foot in the Octagon, and whose sole loss came at the hands of Frankie Edgar at a Reality Fighting event in 2006. Should be a……………….ah, sorry, nodded off for a second there.

In related news, 6-0 middleweight Bryan “The Beast” Baker has stepped in to face Chael Sonnen next Wednesday at WEC 33, which will be headlined by a light-heavyweight title fight between Doug Marshall and Brian Stann. Paulo Filho is still drying out in a Brazilian rehab facility, working the program and taking it one day at a time.

UFC Fight Night 13 - tentatively scheduled for April 2 – will now also feature a lightweight showdown between Spencer Fisher and Marcus Aurelio, reports MMA Junkie. Sources have confirmed that both fighters have agreed to the fight, although nothing has been signed. We do know that UFC Fight Night 13 will be the lead-in for “The Ultimate Fighter 7” season premiere and it’s rumored to go down in Colorado.

Spencer Fisher is 31 and owns a record of 20-4, with three of those losses happening in the UFC. He lost a decision to Frankie Edgar at UFC 78, but did rock Sam Stout at UFC Fight Night 10 to avenge his earlier loss to “Hands of Stone” (incidentally, a nickname trying so hard to sound tough that it might make our next worst nicknames list). Marcus Aurelio is three years older than “The King Fisher” (get it? The Fisher King!) and had lost three fights in a row before getting back on track – also at UFC 78 - when he TKO’d Luke Caudillo in the first round. He stands at 15-5, but hasn’t been too impressive in his two UFC fights.