My MMA Resource

After two-and-a-half years of waiting, Strikeforce heavyweight champion
Alistair Overeem finally makes his return to U.S. soil. As
MMAjunkie.com recently reported, the champ is likely to meet Brett
Rogers at a May 15 event in St. Louis.

Since winning his belt with a submission victory over Paul Buentello,
Overeem extended his win streak to six and then took on PRIDE veteran
Kazuyuki Fujita at the co-promoted DREAM/World Victory Road “Dynamite!!
2009″ event on Dec. 31.

In this week’s installment of HDNet Fights Video Vault, we present a
video of the full heavyweight clash to see if Fujita could pull off the
upset.

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MMAjunkie.com editor-in-chief Dann Stupp recently joined WatchKalibRun.com’s Cage Cast podcast, and the episode is now available for download.

Stupp joins WKR editor and Cage Cast host Zak Woods to discuss this past weekend’s WEC 47 event, why the Arnold Sports Festival provides such a great sports partnership, and what’s in store for Zuffa LLC and Ohio.

To download and subscribe to the podcast, and to check out one of the Web’s top MMA blogs, go to www.watchkalibrun.com.

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UFC lightweight title contender Frankie Edgar will take the stage prior
to the March 20 weigh-in for “UFC on Versus 1: Vera vs. Jones” at
1STBANK Center.

Edgar will be the UFC’s guest at the UFC on Versus 1 Fight Club Q&A
session, a fan-driven interview opportunity that accompanies every UFC
event.

Check-in for the Q&A, which is only open to UFC Fight Club members,
begins at 1:30 p.m. MT local time (3:30 p.m. ET), and the session with
Edgar runs from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. MT local time.

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In anticipation of their UFC 111 main-event fight, UFC welterweight
champion Georges St-Pierre and challenger Dan Hardy will be featured in
“UFC Primetime,” a three-part special that airs on Spike TV.

The first episode debuts on Spike TV tonight at 10 p.m. ET/PT, while
parts two and three will air in the same timeslot on March 17 and March
24, respectively.

UFC 111 takes place March 27 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., and airs on pay-per-view.

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With the addition of the lightweight scrap between Rob Emerson and Nik Lentz, the 11-bout card for “UFC Fight Night 21: Florian vs. Gomi” is now complete.

The Spike TV broadcast will be headlined by an enormous lightweight matchup between former two-time UFC top contender Kenny Florian and Japanese sensation Takanori Gomi. Speaking of big, opening for them is a heavyweight affair between “The Ultimate Fighter 10″ winner Roy “Big Country” Nelson and Stefan Struve.

Gomi owns an impressive 31-5 record, but has struggled to find consistency since PrideFC’s demise. His exciting style and success made him a fan-favorite overseas, with his most impressive performance coming in a magical scrap against former Shooto teammate Hayato “Mach” Sakurai at Pride Shockwave 2005.

Florian looked sensational in his last outing where he submitted an always-game Clay Guida in the 2ndRound of their UFC 107 contest. The win bumped his record to an impressive 12-4, with all but one of his W’s ending before the final bell.

Nelson captured “TUF: Heavyweights” crown after he knocked out Brendan Schaub in the 1stRound of their “The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale” contest. Prior to the win, MMA’s biggest gut was riding a two-fight losing streak, however still owns an impressive 14-4 mark overall.

After getting waxed by Junior Dos Santos in his Octagon debut at UFC 95 last February, Struve has rolled off three straight victories. The youngster was last seen taking a surprising unanimous decision over MMA veteran Paul Buentello at UFC 107, bumping the 21-year-old’s record to 19-3.

Here is the complete roster that will be participating inside the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina on March 31st:

Preliminary Bouts:

Charlie Brenneman vs. Jason High
Gerald Harris vs. Mario Mirada
Gleison Tibau vs. Caol Uno
Rob Emerson and Nik Lentz
Yushin Okami vs. Lucio Linhares
Jake Volkmann vs. Ronys Torres
Rafaello Oliveira vs. Andre Winner

Main Bouts:

Ross Pearson vs. Dennis Siver
Nate Quarry vs. Jorge Rivera
Roy “Big Country” Nelson vs. Stefan Struve
Kenny Florian vs. Takanori Gomi

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Stephan Bonnar lost an appeal to change the result of his UFC 110 loss to Krzystztof Soszynski.

The Combat Sports Authority of New South Wales ruled this past Tuesday
that the official result ruling the fight a TKO win in favor of
Soszynski stands.

“A review was held … and the Combat Sports Authority of NSW did not
seek to interfere with the referee’s decision,” wrote Craig Waller,
Executive Director of the Combat Sports Authority of New South Wales,
in an email sent to MMAjunkie.com late Tuesday night.

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Stephan Bonnar has lost an appeal to change the result of his UFC 110 loss to Krzystztof Soszynski.

The Combat Sports Authority of New South Wales ruled this past Tuesday
that the official result ruling the fight a TKO win in favor of
Soszynski stands.

“A review was held … and the Combat Sports Authority of NSW did not
seek to interfere with the referee’s decision,” wrote Craig Waller,
Executive Director of the Combat Sports Authority of New South Wales,
in an email sent to MMAjunkie.com late Tuesday night.

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For those that still aren’t sold on the UFC 111 main event between welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and Dan Hardy,”UFC Primetime: St-Pierre vs Hardy” debuts tonight on Spike TV at 10PM ET/PT to help sway your vote.

The last two episodes of the three-part “UFC Primetime” special can be seen on successive Wednesdays, March 17th and March 24th, during the same timeslot.

GSP was featured in the only other “UFC Primetime” edition for his highly anticipated rematch against Penn last January. The UFC was hoping to duplicate the success that boxing experienced when they ran “De La Hoya-Mayweather 24/7″ on HBO.

The show will provide exclusive coverage of the two fighters are they prepare for their 5Round affair inside the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on March 27th.

Check out Spike TV’s official trailer for “UFC Primetime: St-Pierre vs Hardy” below:

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The official betting lines for “UFC 111: St-Pierre vs. Hardy” were posted earlier this week by our friends over at BetUS. As expected, Georges St-Pierre is a favorite heading into his defense against Dan Hardy, but -800???

That’s right, the welterweight champ is an early 8-to-1 favorite to retain his crown against Hardy, who checks in as a 5-to-1 ‘dog.

The last time GSP was such a heavy favorite was in his first title defense against Matt Serra at UFC 69 where he went as high as -1600, and we all know how that night turned out for the “Frenchie.”

Even in their mulligan at UFC 83 when most expected St-Pierre to violently avenge his humiliating loss, which he ultimately did, he was still only -450 at gametime. So, it’s a little surprising the gambling Gods have rated the champ at -800 when he meets Hardy.

There’s really only one way to beat MMA’s baddest 170-pounder (Please See: Puncher’s Chance), and Hardy would certainly prefer nothing more than an all-out shootout as it would greatly increase the likelihood of him landing that one fortuitous strike.

If GSP can wrestle his way to another win, like he has in his past six dominant contests, then it will be obvious why he’s such a big favorite because Hardy will never get a chance to tee off. However, Hardy will be afforded a few opportunities to land leather before the champ takes him to the mat.

On a side note, it’s interesting to see former heavyweight champ Frank Mir is only -155 against Shane Carwin, who is a slight underdog (+125) in his first UFC title fight.

Here are the current betting lines for the scraps going down inside the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on March 27th:

Rousimar Palhares -240
Tomasz Drwal +190

Ricardo Almeida -155
Matt Brown +125

Jim Miller -400
Mark Bocek +300

Thiago Alves -140
John Fitch +110

Ben Saunders -150
Jake Ellenberger +120

Frank Mir -155
Shane Carwin +125

Georges St Pierre -800
Dan Hardy +500

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John Alessio talks about his recent Ring of Fire win, as well as replacing Carlos Newton at the W-1 show in Canada on March 20…

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