(Video courtesy YouTube/MMANews.com)

If Jon Fitch has any clout left with the UFC since being fired and re-hired by the organization because of a dispute over signing over his likeness rights to the UFC Undisputed video game franchise, the American Kickboxing Academy fighter may get the winner of the UFC 121 welterweight tilt between Martin Kampmann and Jake Shields.

"The next time a title shot is coming around is probably going to be a while, so I’m kinda thinking I might wanna fight again before the title shot. The winner of Kampmann-Shields would be a perfect match-up. I’ve known Jake [Shields] for a long time. He’s a good friend of mine. I’m all about fighting the best guys in the world and we’ve known for a long time that this day would probably come where we’d have to fight. So be it."

If you recall, Fitch was supposed to get next dibs at the winner of the UFC 124 Kos-GSP showdown, but after his lacklustre win over Thiago Alves at UFC 117, Dana White reneged on giving him the next title shot, saying, "We’ll see," when pressed about it at the post-fight press conference.

(Video courtesy HDNet)

Cain Velasquez will be on the next edition of Mike Straka’s Fighting Words interview show tomorrow night and it’s seems that the undefeated American Kickboxing Academy product who is preparing to challenge UFC heavyweight kingpin Brock Lesnar October 23 at UFC 121 in Anaheim, California is prepared both mentally and physically for the fight.

Velasquez says that the biggest challenge in preparing for a juggernaut like Lesnar was finding guys to mimic his power, speed and wrestling skill set, but he feels he is ready.

"I think getting guys his size with strong wrestling credentials [into AKA] 
and really getting myself in bad positions and getting out of them. I don’t think it’s a point of avoiding those bad positions; I think it’s getting in those bad positions, getting out of them — really getting comfortable in those bad positions," Velasquez said. "You definitely gotta work on everything. You definitely gotta work on the stuff that [Brock] is really good at."

(Video courtesy TheMMAFix)

It looks like Dana White wasn’t thrilled with Jon Fitch’s less than enthralling performance in his win over Thiago Alves at UFC 118 last month, since the UFC president has now rescinded an earlier assertion that the winner of the bout would be next in line for a title shot at the winner of December’s Georges St-Pierre-Josh Koscheck showdown.

During an appearance on Comcast Sportsnet Washington’s The MMA Fix, White said the welterweight title picture is a bit murkier than it seemed a few weeks ago, which may be partially a result of Fitch’s conservative stall and brawl tactics he employed to decision Alves.

"I want to wait for Koscheck and St-Perre to happen and we’ll figure out who gets the next shot," White explained noncommittally.  "By then Jake Shields will have fought…Kampmann…you know…we’ll see what happens. A lot of it is timing too."

(What, me worry? / Photo courtesy of Darrell Stein)

Having signed with the promotion with only two MMA bouts under his belt, it’s clear that Cain Velasquez’s route to the UFC wasn’t as arduous as the paths most fighters take to make it to the big show, but considering he is still undefeated in the Octagon and is set to fight for their heavyweight title, it’s obvious that Zuffa’s gamble paid off.

In a recent interview with GracieMag, Velasquez, who will take on UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar at UFC 121 October 23 in Anaheim, Calif.  says that his "tryout" for the UFC wasn’t much more than an impromptu training session in Vegas set up by his manager, Bob Cook, who called Dana White and asked him to check out his star pupil.

According to Velasqez, the UFC president was so impressed with what he saw, he signed him without watching a single one of his fights.

("You ain’t my wife, but you’ll do for right now.")

The UFC has confirmed the pay-per-view lineup for their super-stacked UFC 121 event, which goes down October 23rd at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Tune in and you will see Brock Lesnar go for his third heavyweight belt defense against Cain Velasquez, Jake Shields attempt to leapfrog Jon Fitch on the welterweight ladder by smashing Martin Kampmann, and Tito Ortiz try to take advantage of Matt Hamill’s deafness-related lack of equilibrium. (Science!) Plus: Sanchez vs. Thiago, Schuab vs. Gonzaga, TUF 11 winner Court McGee stuffed onto the prelims and more. Tickets go on sale to the general public this Saturday at noon PT.

Fun fact, from the UFC press release: If Lesnar defeats Velasquez, he will tie Tim Sylvia for the most heavyweight title defenses, and will set the record for most consecutive heavyweight title defenses. And now, the lineup…

Main Card
Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez (for heavyweight title)
Martin Kampmann vs. Jake Shields (WW)
Paulo Thiago vs. Diego Sanchez (WW)
Tito Ortiz vs. Matt Hamill (LHW)
Brendan Schaub vs. Gabriel Gonzaga (HW)

(Video courtesy InsideMMA)

Just when you thought you had heard the most ridiculous thing come of Tito Ortiz’s mouth, "The Huntington Beach Badboy" goes and steps in front of a camera and raises the bar to new heights.

On the latest edition of Inside MMA, which will air Friday night at 9:00 p.m. ET, Ortiz explains the differences between the anatomy of the head of a deaf person, like his UFC 121 opponent Matt Hamill compared to that of someone who isn’t hearing impaired. 

(Props: dragonman34)

"UFC made the decision. I was bummed. I love Matt, I think he’s an awesome athlete, I think he’s an awesome person, but his time’s not now. You won’t see any shit-talking from me about Matt Hamill because I think he’s an awesome guy. But it’ll even make it a better fight when it comes October 23rd, when I cave his face in. No bad feelings. No bad emotions. Just punishment, and that’s what it’s about. So, we’ll see. October 23rd. As I look to beat down Matt Hamill. In a nice way. For once."

So says Tito Ortiz, after signing the contract to face his former pupil Matt Hamill at UFC 121. As he explains, his past dealings with Chuck Liddell taught him that business and competition should always come before friendship. But is the world ready for a trash-talk-free Tito? The oddsmakers currently have him as a solid +145 underdog in this match, which feels about right. As Ortiz has gone 0-3-1 since December 2006, he may need to score an upset to keep his job…

("Time it was and what a time it was…")

Contradicting earlier reports that had Tito Ortiz facing Forrest Griffin in a meaningless rubber match, MMAFighting.com has confirmed that Ortiz will instead face off against Matt Hamill at UFC 121 (October 23rd; Anaheim, CA). The Huntington Beach Blah Blah hasn’t competed since his split decision loss to Griffin at UFC 106, and hasn’t won a fight since his third TKO victory over Ken Shamrock in October 2006. Hamill is coming off his majority decision over Keith Jardine at the TUF 11 Finale, which got the Dean of Mean bounced out of the UFC. Technically, Hamill has won his last four fights, including the Jon Jones DQ. If you’ll recall, Hamill was a member of Team Punishment on TUF 3, so this fight will have extra significance when Hamill beats Tito’s ass. In other UFC 121 booking news…

(Corn’s in season? YES! YES! YES!)

According to  a report by pennyjomma.com, Diego Sanchez will remain at welterweight and will square off against dangerous Brazilian Paulo Thiago at UFC 121 October 23 in Anaheim, California.

Sanchez confirmed the fight with the website via text message:

"Lol it’s top secret jk !!! all you girls need to know is I’m fighting Paulo thiago oct 23 at 121. I am giving everything I have in the training camp this time around, I will show my fans and ufc that that last fight I was only performing at 70 % with no one to blame but myself. I have found my focus again I am excpecting [sic] a war. Luv you two awesome fans!"

(Yang vs. Nastula @ Sengoku 4, 8/24/08)

By CagePotato contributor Dallas Winston

CagePotato.com has learned that new UFC signee Dongi Yang, a.k.a. “The Ox”, will face Chris Camozzi at UFC 121 on October 23rd in Anaheim, CA. [Ed. note: "Dongi" is not a typo. Despite being previously listed as Dong Yi Yang, we're told that Dongi is the correct spelling of his name.]

Thus far, Yang has been a complete wrecking machine overseas, with an aggressive style eerily reminiscent of his Korean Top Team training partner Chan Sung Jung. He’s finished all nine of the fights on his flawless record by way of the crushing power in his heavy hands save for one submission (a triangle choke in his pro debut against Hyung Kyo Lee) and one TKO-via-exhaustion over former PRIDE fighter and standout judoka Pawel Nastula.

("Congrats buddy, here’s your piece of jagged f*cking glass." Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

MMA Junkie reported yesterday that TUF 11 winner Court McGee will return to the Octagon at UFC 121 (October 23rd, Anaheim) against Ryan Jensen. In doing so, the well-bearded Utah native follows a proud tradition of Ultimate Fighter winners who take on middling veterans directly after winning their six-figure contracts, and beat them (most of the time) before eventually dropping in weight (some of the time). As a helpful reference, we decided to put together a timeline of those first post-TUF fights, as well as some relevant statistics. Starting at the beginning…

Season 1 light-heavyweight winner: Forrest Griffin
First post-TUF opponent: Bill Mahood (0-0 in the UFC at the time)
Result: Griffin via submission (rear-naked choke), round 1
Is Mahood still in the UFC? No, the fight against Griffin was Mahood’s only Octagon appearance.
Does Griffin still compete at light-heavyweight? Yes

Season 1 middleweight winner: Diego Sanchez
First post-TUF opponent: Brian Gassaway (0-0 in the UFC at the time)
Result: Sanchez via submission (strikes), round 2
Is Gassaway still in the UFC? No, the fight against Sanchez was Gassaway’s only Octagon appearance.
Does Sanchez still compete at middleweight? No. Sanchez immediately dropped to welterweight after the show, and has spent the majority of his UFC career there.

(Video courtesy YouTube/ESPN)

Number one UFC heavyweight contender Cain Velasquez was on Friday night’s episode of MMA Live to talk about his upcoming UFC 121 showdown with heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar in October in Anaheim, California.

In the interview, the undefeated American Kickboxing Academy product, who has been sitting out since February waiting for his shot at Lesnar, weighed in on the champ’s win over Shane Carwin at UFC 116, the biggest hurdles he will face going up against a guy of Brock’s size,  strength and wrestling pedigree and the advantages he feels he needs to utilize to pull out a win in the fall.

(They don’t like smiling. Put that in your little notebook.)

Dana White confirmed with MMAFighting.com over the weekend that Brock Lesnar‘s expected title defense against Cain Velasquez will come at UFC 121, slated for October 23rd at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The meeting will come nearly four months after Lesnar’s comeback submission win over Shane Carwin at UFC 116, and eight months after Velasquez stormed through Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 110.

Though betting odds for the fight opened with Lesnar as a minor favorite (-125 to Cain’s -105), Lesnar has already moved as high as -160, due to money flooding in on the champ. At this point, the only other matchup reported for UFC 121 is a lightweight scrap between Sam Stout and Paul Taylor. In other booking news…