MMA Daily Buzz: UFC 118 (Allegedly) Fills Up, Don King Gets All Up In Shine's Business & More

Lesnar vs. Carwin Official

Puny humans cower in fear – the UFC officially announced Lesnar vs. Carwin for the unified, bonafide, undisputed, unadulterated Heavyweight Championship of the World at UFC 116 on July 3 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Blogosphere Books UFC 118 Before Event Is Announced

The MMA blogosphere has a large chunk of UFC 118 booked before Zuffa’s gotten around to announcing the card. How embarrassing would it be if they just decided to go straight from UFC 117 to UFC 119? At any rate, the card is rumored to be taking place at TD Garden in Bahston, Mass. on Aug. 28. MMAJunkie reports that TUF 9 loser Andre Winner will face Nik Lentz on the undercard, Nate Marquardt will take on Rousimar Palhares, and New Englander Jorge Rivera will square off against Alessio Sakara. @Greg_Soto reported on Twitter that he signed a contract to fight Nick Osipczak at UFC 118, and Fighters Only is reporting that Joe Lauzon will face Terry Etim on the same card. With all of these American vs. Brit fights taking place in Boston, you have to wonder if Dana White is going to show up to TD Garden in a tri-corner hat and packing a muzzle loader.

Other rumored bouts in the works in the works include Dennis Hallman versus Ben Saunders at UFC 117, new WEC signee Renan Barao versus Clint Godfrey at WEC 49, and Mike Massenzio versus new middleweight Briann Stann. Heavy.com reports that Stann vs. Massenzio will take place at UFC on Versus II.

Leave Ricardo Mayorga Alone!

(Props to Pound4Pound.)

According to MMAPayout, Don King issued a cease and desist order to Shine Fights, claiming tortious interference because he claims to have a valid promotional contract with Shine Fights III headliner Ricardo Mayorga. Shine Fights’ Devin Price told Steven Marocco that the fight is happening no matter what. Regardless of how this issue gets resolved we can mark this down as another reason to keep MMA and boxing as far apart as possible. On its worst day MMA can’t carry boxing’s jockstrap when it comes to frivolous claims, suits, and generally shady business practices.

Randleman Out of Gracie Fight?

Sherdog’s Loretta Hunt is reporting that because of “nasty ass people who can’t wash their butts,” Kevin Randleman may be out of his May 15 Strikeforce bout with Roger Gracie. The former UFC Heavyweight Champion and Pride vet told Hunt that he has been ill and fears he may have contracted staph for the second time since 2007. Hopefully it’s not staph but if it is, we hope Randleman gets it cleaned up soon. Good luck and godspeed, Monster.

Saul She Wrote

Bellator’s next event takes place tomorrow night at Boston’s Wang Theatre and a Boston-area fighter just earned himself a spot on the promotion’s roster. According to a press release from the promotion, undefeated Sityodtong fighter Saul Almeida won an open tryout in Boston and will be booked on an event during Bellator’s third season later this year.

MMA Live On Air

Tomorrow night will also see the televised premiere of MMA Live in its new weekly timeslot, 1 a.m. Fridays (or late Thursday night if you prefer) on ESPN2. The MMA Live crew will also bring the MMA Nation special weigh-in and pre-PPV editions before major events.

Dream A Little DREAM

Dream honcho Keiichi Sasahara gave a pretty revealing interview to Daniel Herbertson over at MMAFighting. They talked about “The White Cage” and recent losses suffered in America by top Japanese fighters. According to Sasahara, “Japanese fighters need to train for the cage as it is a completely different experience.” A little wrestling wouldn’t hurt, either.