Brock Lesnar’s UFC career came to a sudden end at UFC 141 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena on Dec. 30 after being stopped at 2.26: of the first round by Alistair Overeem. The 31 year-old British born/Holland based fighter landed a kick to Lesnar’s liver and sent him to his knee on the octagon floor and then followed it up with a flurry of punches that were mostly blocked.

Lesnar credited Overeem after the fight for being the better man, but said he’s had a rough time of it over the past couple of years due to suffering from a disease known as diverticulitis. It was his first fight in over a year after undergoing colon surgery. He then announced that it was his last appearance in the octagon and was retiring. The former pro wrestler made a quick impact in the UFC by winning the organization’s heavyweight title in his fourth bout.

The 34-year-old Lesnar thanked Dana White and the UFC and added that if he had beaten Overeem he was going to fight just once more anyway against heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos. He didn’t attend the post-fight media conference and sought medical attention for what he believed to be a broken rib instead.

The 31-year-old Overeem is a former Dream, K-1 champion, and Strikeforce champion who was making debuting in the Octagon against Lesnar. He raised his overall record to 36-11 with one no contest and is now unbeaten in his past 12 fights. It looks like he’ll be the next to face dos Santos for the title.

Dana White, president of the UFC, said he was a little stunned at Lesnar’s announcement since he had no clue the former champ was thinking about retirement. He said he understands the decision though due to his health and the fact he’s made quite a bit of money to live on.

Overeem was a slight underdog going into the fight due to his inexperience in the UFC, but he’s been fighting on the big stage for years now and obviously didn’t suffer from stage fright. He admitted that the UFC is a lot bigger than Strikeforce and K1, but he enjoyed every second of the event and the reception he received from the fans.

Overeem didn’t come out of the fight completely unscathed though as Lesnar cut his right eye early on with a superb jab. Overeem said he had a hard time seeing out of it and picked up the pace since he didn’t know how bad the cut was. He didn’t want the fight to end on a cut so a sense of urgency kicked in and it proved to be just what he needed.

He said he was a little sad that Lesnar was leaving the sport and hoped that he changes his mind. He said no matter if you love or hate Lesnar he always excites the crowd with his fighting style and statements. However, Lesnar may not be done with all combat sports since it’s been rumored that he may head back to the WWE to take part in this year’s Wrestlemania event.

Canadian mixed martial arts sensation Georges St. Pierre will be sidelined for at least six months with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. The ACL tear makes 2011 one of the worst in the career of the UFC Welterweight Champion as he’s had to pull out of two fights due to injuries. However, the native of Montreal said he’s going to come back as soon as possible and in the best shape of his life.

St. Pierre is one of Canada’s most popular athletes and also has a strong following in the U.S. He headlined UFC 129; the MMA organization’s biggest ever show, in April when he fought at the Rogers Centre in Toronto in front of 55,000 fans. He defended his title for the eighth consecutive time in that night against Jake Shields, but hasn’t been able to fight since.

Shields damaged St. Pierre’s eye during the bout and it took several weeks to heal. The Canadian was then scheduled to take on Nick Diaz in October at UFC 137, but Diaz went missing in action from a press conference and was taken off the card by UFC boss Dana White and replaced with Carlos Condit. St. Pierre then had to pull out of the fight due to a strained medial collateral ligament in his left knee and the fight was postponed until February.

Diaz then defeated B.J. Penn in a new main event on the card and was renamed the number one challenger for St. Pierre’s belt after accusing St. Pierre, of faking his injury. St. Pierre was slated to take on Diaz on Feb. 4 2012 at UFC 143, which is the annual Super Bowl show. But now that he’s out from six to nine months Diaz will take on Condit in the main event.

Dr. Sebastien Simard said St. Pierre hurt his knee while wrestling in training recently, but the pain didn’t go away. He then had an MRI which confirmed the champion had completely torn his ACL and had a small tear in his internal meniscus on his right knee. Simard said St. Pierre will have to have his knee surgically reconstructed and there’s no way he can possibly fight in his current condition. He added that he should be able to return to the octagon in between six and nine months as long as there aren’t any complications following the operation.

St. Pierre said he was on top of the world earlier in the year, but now he’s in a downward spiral that just seems to keep getting worse. But he said a true champion is able to deal with adversity and overcome his problems, which is what he aims to do. When he does finally fight again, it’ll be about a year and a half between fights. Because of this, St. Pierre will temporarily give up his championship and the Diaz vs Condit fight will be for the interim crown. It’s believed St. Pierre will fight the winner when he returns.

Georges St. Pierre is regarded as one of the best mixed artists around, especially by his countrymen in his native Canada, but even they will admit that his fights are a tad boring. Still, he’s regarded as one of the nation’s best athletes and has no problem selling out UFC cards wherever he fights. But the pressure’s on him now to raise his game to the next level as the UFC is counting on its starts to provide excitement for the fans now that it has a new television deal in place with Fox.

St. Pierre, the organization’s welterweight champion, admits that he’s not really that comfortable when dealing with the media, but realizes he’s going to have to deal with more attention and fanfare because of the unprecedented exposure the UFC is going to get. The native of Quebec has basically steamrolled through his weight division ever since 2008 when he won the championship belt for the second time. He’s disposed of all challengers along the way, but never really in an exciting fashion.

Right now, most UFC fans rank St. Pierre second when it comes to the world’s best pound-for-pound MMA fighters, right behind Anderson Silva of Brazil. The Canadian’s next scheduled fight is a highly anticipated and hyped grudge match against Nick Diaz of the U.S., and he said he wants to be known as the best pound-for-pound fighter of all time after the bout. But the 30-year-old realizes he may have to change his style slightly to achieve that recognition.

St. Pierre owns a fine record of 22-2 and has defended his belt six consecutive times and said he’ll remain in the sport until he feels he’s achieved his goal of being the best ever. He feels the UFC has changed a lot over the years since the time when head butts and groin strikes were deemed legal and his style is more suited to the new style of fighting where these attacks are outlawed.

He added that the new broadcasting deal with Fox will hopefully show doubters that the UFC has changed its style and cleaned up its act to some degree by banning some of the ultra-violent moves. He’s hoping that it can attract new sponsors and viewers by showcasing the organization’s talent on national television.

St. Pierre said the UFC is the perfect outlet for him since it allows him to showcase his fighting skills to a worldwide audience and make a good living at it. He admits that he’s not really a violent person, but everybody has a dark and violent side to them. He realizes he has to win and the only way he can do this is to inflict pain on his opponents, even though it’s not really within his character. Fans have noticed that St. Pierre sometimes lacks the killer instinct and they point to his last four fights as proof of this as they have all gone to the judges’ scorecards.

He said he definitely wants to reverse this trend against Diaz at UFC 143 and wants to knock him out or force him into submission. In fact, the easy-going Canadian seems to have made that his immediate mission and said Diaz is the most disrespectful person he’s ever met. St. Pierre said he understands the fans’ criticism of his fighting style, but he’s always looking to finish his opponents off instead of going the distance. However, he said it’s his aim to retain the title for as long as he can and he’ll take a win no matter how he achieves it.

St. Pierre will have the chance to show off his skills to the fans again on Feb. 4 when he takes on Diaz at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

With many of the world’s martial arts originating in Asia, most UFC fans figured it was just a matter of time before the mixed martial arts organization would head there to hold cards. UFC president Dana White recently confirmed that he plans on taking his show on the road to the Far East in the near future.

With a new American television deal in its back pocket, the UFC is pretty stable in the U.S. and Canada for the time being and also has its foot solidly in the door in Great Britain and Australia. Lorenzo Fertitta, CEO of the UFC, said the company is now planning on growing globally to make sure its long-term future is just as solid as the present.

Fertitta said the UFC plans on holding cards in Macau, China in 2012 and then the next year hopes to break new ground in Singapore as it makes its way across the Asian continent. He said the organization has been laying a lot of ground work in China and they’re going to dip their toe in the water to test things out, but are hoping it turns into something more permanent.

He said the show in Macau will depend on what dates work with local Chinese authorities and the broadcasters around the world, but it should take place next year. He added that the UFC recognizes Singapore as a growing market and they’ve been focusing on that nation for some time now for an event in 2013, possibly at the Marina Bay Sands, which is a popular Singapore casino-resort.

It took the UFC a little while to get up and running since the first few years of broadcasts weren’t on mainstream television networks. But you can now see UFC events in over 130 different nations across the globe. In America alone, the seven-year deal it signed with Fox in August rakes in close to $100 million each year. The first card aired on Nov.12 when heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez lost his title to Brazil’s Junior dos Santos by first-round KO in the main event.

Fertitta and his brother paid just $2 million for the UFC in 2001 and have turned it into one of the world’s most popular and recognizable sports organizations. However, some fans still see MMA as nothing more than sheer brutality with little skill and several American states refuse to sanction fights, including New York.

The company started out under the Fertittas with four employees in 2001 and now has about 300 people working for it with offices in Toronto, Las Vegas, London, and Beijing. They’re planning on opening another in Sao Paolo, Brazil and Mumbai, India in the next year or two. In addition, the pay-per-view numbers for the UFC were about 40,000 a year a decade ago and have now grown to approximately seven million, making the company the biggest pay-per-view provider in the world.

Fertitta realizes he’d have a better shot at cracking Chinese market if the UFC had a Chinese fighter to draw crowds. The country’s interest in the NBA rose rapidly when local player Yao Ming made it big and it could be the same scenario if the UFC can find a Chinese fighter that will be able to challenge the best the UFC has. Fertitta said several Chinese fighters will be brought over to train for a month in Las Vegas and it’s his organization’s job to find somebody with MMA talent or to help develop it.

Don King’s been called a lot of things during his 80 years on the planet, including murderer, cheat, and swindler. But love him or hate him he does know how to promote a boxing match. At least he used to. King’s boxing promotions have been suffering quite a bit over the past few years since a new era of boxing stars are raking in millions of dollars by using other promotion companies such as Top Rank and Golden Boy.

Back in his heyday though, King used to put on some of the best cards in history. Who can ever forget the “Rumble in the Jungle” in Zaire when Muhammad Ali shocked the world by knocking out George Foreman and the “Thrilla in Manila” when Ali and Smokin’ Joe Frazier went toe to toe for 15 rounds in one of boxing’s all-time greatest fights?

But these days it’s boxers such as Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Amir Khan who are making the big money and King doesn’t promote any of them. This could be why the senior citizen is now considering getting into the world of mixed martial arts (MMA) and wants to start promoting fights in that sport to compete against the UFC.

King sees the dollar signs spinning in his head when thinking about MMA and is impressed with the way that UFC president Dana White runs his organization. He says he’d like to get in on the action now and that’s the reason he wants to start up his own MMA promotion company. King, who’s always had a way with words and goes by his own dictionary, said he likes MMA because it’s “sophisticated barbarism.” But he said it’ll never be more popular than boxing.

He said he doesn’t have a name for his future MMA promotional company, but he’s definitely looking forward to being involved in the sport. He adds that boxing is committing suicide by not giving the public the fights that it really wants to see such as Pacquiao vs Mayweather. He places a lot of the blame for the downfall of boxing on big shot cable television executives and said they have too much power these days.

King said their experience lies in broadcasting not in sports promotion and they don’t know the first thing about boxing. He said all of a sudden they’re trying to become managers, matchmakers and promoters, but they don’t know a left hook from a right jab. He said the TV networks don’t usually put the best boxers against each other and when they do the public has to pay for it.

Surprisingly, King gave credit to his nemesis Bob Arum, and said he and Arum are the only ones who give the public what they want. Of course, that’s a pretty debatable statement when you consider his top boxers these days are Cornelius Bundrage, Ricardo Mayorga, and Tavoris Cloud, no disrespect to those fighters intended. In addition, King’s biggest event this year has been the Mike Marrone vs Guillermo Jones card which aired on something known as WealthTV.

It’s highly unlikely that King or anybody else is going to be able to challenge the UFC in the near future. That organization basically has a stranglehold on MMA cards and has signed its best fighters even though their paychecks don’t come anywhere near those earned by world-class boxers.

Toronto, Canada used to be a pretty good fight town years ago. The old Maple Leaf Gardens used to get packed to the rafters whenever the likes of Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, and Jimmy Ellis came to town.

But over the years the sport of professional boxing has become almost distinct there. You’ll get to see the odd pro card at some smaller venues just outside of the city, but they usually feature no-name fighters and those who have just entered the sport.

There’s no doubt that Toronto is a hockey town and the NHL’s Maple Leafs are the number one draw. Everybody else takes a back seat to the woeful Leafs, who last won the Stanley Cup in 1967; these teams include the NBA’s Raptors, the MLB Blue Jays, Toronto FC of MLS, the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, and the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL.

Strangely enough, the city drew some huge crowds in the past for wrestling events and is now the North American hotbed for the UFC. Dana White, head honcho for the UFC has noticed this and that’s the reason the missed martial arts organization is heading back to Canada’s largest city.

The Air Canada Centre will host UFC 140 on Dec. 10. The card’s headlining fight will pit Jon Jones up against Lyoto Machida. The first UFC event held in Toronto took place back in April at the Rogers Centre, the home of the Blue Jays, when UFC 129 took place. Toronto probably would have hosted a UFC event before that, but the local government banned MMA shows until the start of this year.

UFC 129 proved that Toronto area fans still love their fights as 55,724 of them showed up for the event, which is a UFC record. White and his organization made just over $12 million on the live gate as well as the usual pay-per-view sales.

However, UFC 140 will only be able to hold about 20,000 since the Air Canada Centre is a hockey rink and home of the Maple Leafs and Raptors. White didn’t say why a smaller venue was being used, but it could be because the UFC is slightly worried about ticket sales. The first event in Toronto featured Canadian hero Georges St. Pierre and since it was the first ever UFC card in Toronto it was guaranteed to be a sellout.

White might have a hard time trying to sell 55,000 tickets for Jones vs Machida and he knows it. He said the Rogers Centre will be used again when the UFC has the right fight to bring to town. He added that while Las Vegas is known as the boxing Mecca of the world, Toronto could be considered the same for UFC events.

Montreal was the first city to host UFC cards and it hasn’t been forgotten as White said he plans on hosting another event there in the near future. If he follows through on the promise, it’ll be Montreal’s fifth UFC show. White added that between Montreal, Vancouver, and Toronto, Canada is definitely the organization’s strongest market.

UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar proved for the second fight in a row against Gray Maynard just how much determination, toughness, and resiliency he truly possesses. When the fighters met for the third time during the UFC 136 main event in Houston on Oct. 8, millions of fans thought they were watching a replay of their famous second bout which took place in January.

This is because Maynard unleashed some bombs on Edgar and had him in serious trouble in the first round, but couldn’t finish the job. Like their second encounter, Edgar got stronger as the fight went on. However, instead of settling for a draw, like the last fight, Edgar stopped Maynard with a spectacular fourth-round TKO this time around.

Maynard managed to beat Edgar in their first match in 2008, and now after a trilogy of fights, they each have a win a draw and a loss against each other. But Maynard must be kicking himself for not winning all three of the bouts after having Edgar down and out on the last two occasions. Maynard is still the only man ever to defeat Edgar and now he’s finally avenged it.

Edgar was rocked halfway through the opening round with a tremendous uppercut and soon found himself on the mat after getting caught with a right hand from Maynard. Edgar’s face was bloodied and he seemed to be in a haze and was definitely in survival mode. He got up, but was decked again in a matter of seconds when Maynard connected with a vicious knee.

Edgar’s broken nose started pouring more blood, but he was on his feet again pretty quickly. Maynard took his time as he appeared confident it was just going to be a matter of time before he finished things off. Edgar survived the first-round beating though and started to press the action in the second round. He landed some good shots and was slowly, but surely working his way back into the fight.

Maynard picked up his pace again in the third round and both fighters looked pretty fresh. Edgar managed to land the harder shots in the round, but they were thrown one at a time instead of in flurries. Maynard looked frustrated as Edgar moved around the octagon with renewed confidence.

In the fourth round, it was still Edgar landing the better shots. He kept his composure when he couldn’t take his opponent down. Maynard was looking for a takedown as well, but Edgar fought him off and started to shoot out some effective leg kicks. After another failed attempt at a takedown by Edgar, he nailed Maynard with an excellent uppercut that sent him staggering to the fence. He followed it up with a big right hand to the head and then another which sent Maynard crashing to the mat.

Edgar then jumped all over his fallen foe with a barrage of punches which forced the referee to stop the fight at the 3:54 mark of the round in the official Fight of the Night. It was Edgar’s first TKO win in four years and it pushed his record to 14-1-1, while Maynard suffered his first defeat and dropped to 11-1-1, with one no contest.

Edgar may end up meeting featherweight champion Jose Aldo next or Gilbert Melendez, who’s the Strikeforce champion.

It looks like another aging mixed martial arts star is about to jump ship and try his hand at boxing. According to Rampage Jackson, he’s getting a bit bored with MMA and plans on lacing up the boxing gloves once his contract with the UFC expires. Jackson made the statement a few days after losing to Jon Jones on Sept. 24 at the UFC 135 event.

Jackson is the UFC’s former light-heavyweight champion and his days with that organization could be numbered anyway. Jones beat him by a submission in the fourth round and it doesn’t look like he’ll get another title shot in UFC. But Jackson said he isn’t completely finished because he wants to take on Forrest Griffin again in a rematch early in 2012. Griffin beat him by a unanimous decision in 2008.

Jackson said he’s not really into the style of fighting that the younger generation of MMA artists are. He’s not a big fan of ground fighting and complicated tactics, but would rather stay on his feet and slug it out with his opponents. If that’s the case, then he’s definitely making a wise move by trying out boxing. Jackson has knocked out some of MMA’s biggest stars in the past such as Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva and said that’s the type of fighting he prefers and he wants more of it.

Jackson was frustrated in his recent bout against Jones as his opponent stayed out of reach and didn’t want to mix it up with him. He said that he hates fighting people who are scared to fight because they’re constantly running. He added that in boxing the fighters have to at least stand in there with each other. He said he doesn’t care if he gets knocked out as long as it’s a fight and not a running event.

At the moment, he’s not leaving UFC though, even though he said he’s tried boxing and loves it. He’ll probably end up fighting in Japan in February and even though he’d like to take on Mauricio Shogun Rua it looks like he’ll be meeting Griffin again since Rua is set to meet Dan Henderson.

It’s unclear what weight Jackson would fight at in boxing. He competes at 205 lbs in MMA, but usually walks around at anywhere from 225 to 250 lbs. The heavyweight division in boxing could sure use some new blood, especially if it’s American. The division has been dominated by the Klitschko brothers of Ukraine for the last several years and before they took over, Britain’s Lennox Lewis was the king of the heavyweights.

Nobody’s sure if Jackson is serious about switching sports. Some fans feel he’s just frustrated after losing against Jones and is spouting off. If he is serious, he’ll definitely have to wait for his UFC contract to run out since it’s very doubtful that organization is going to let up box while he’s under contract.

We’ll probably have to wait until next February after his rematch against Griffin to see if Jackson still feels the same way.

With the UFC recently signing a seven-year deal with Fox TV for an estimated $100 million a season, boxing fans may see better quality cards on the horizon. It’s obvious that Fox and the UFC are taking direct aim at the squared circle with their first live event being scheduled for Nov. 12, which just happens to be the same night boxing’s pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao is taking on Juan Manuel Marquez.

Bob Arum, who heads up the Top Rank boxing promotion company, realizes boxing’s in for a bit of a wild ride now that it’s being challenged by network television. Arum’s the one who’s promoting the Pacquiao vs Marquez bout for HBO pay-per-view, but said he isn’t really too worried about the UFC and its new deal.

The UFC event starts at is scheduled to end at 10 pm on Nov. 12 as network TV requires the event to follow a stricter time frame. This means the show will be over by the time Pacquiao and Marquez enter the ring, enabling fight fans to check out both cards on the same night. It also gives MMA fans the opportunity to tape the UFC card and watch it after the boxing match.

Arum said he thinks boxing fans will tune into the Pacquiao fight regardless of what’s shown opposite it and feels the pay-per-view numbers might even rise due to the fact the UFC is going head to head with it. He also feels Fox will now put the pressure on cable and satellite operators to add the company’s smaller networks such as Fuel TV to their list of programming since UFC events will be shown on some of them.

When asked if he’ll put on a star-studded undercard to the Pacquiao fight, Arum said the plan was always to present a top-quality night of boxing from start to finish. However, the final details need to be worked out before the official card is announced. So far, the only fights announced for Nov. 12 are the Pacquiao vs Marquez showdown for the WBO welterweight title and Brandon Rios defending his WBA lightweight crown against an unnamed opponent.

But the pressure is on Arum to come up with a good undercard now to make sure boxing fans get their money’s worth. He said it would be announced after the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs Victor Ortiz bout on Sept. 17^th. In fact, boxing fans might be the winners when it comes to the new UFC deal as promoters know if they don’t come up with some good matchups they might just lose their audience.

This means more fights may now be shown on subscription channels such as HBO and Showtime instead of pay per view. It’s going to have to be a heck of a matchup to get fans to shell out $50 or more for a fight. Mediocre matchmaking will hopefully fade away.

Arum also said most UFC fans don’t watch boxing anyway, so going head to head won’t affect boxing. He said a good movie, Manchester United soccer game, or another boxing event might take away more fans than a UFC event will. He’s also confident the cable and satellite carriers will be sure to promote the Pacquiao fight full force since they’re up against the UFC on the same night.

It’ll be interesting to see what the ratings are for Nov. 12 and how boxing will react if they see their audiences dwindling in the future.

Mixed martial arts (MMA), holds events under the organization called the Ultimate Fighting Championship. These fights are no-holds barred types of “sanctioned combat”, but there are still judges that score these matches to determine a winner. There has been, for quite some times, large screens that allowed the judges better views, but due to the nature of the fighting cages, there are certain blind spots the judges have difficulty seeing around, and thus could alter the score and outcome of a match.

On Friday, May 20th, the Nevada State Athletic Commission, in a unanimous ruling of 5-0, decided that a petition for 7-inch screens that would provide a viewpoint for the judges to these previously blind spots was passed. The ruling goes into effect immediately, starting with the light-heavyweight fight on Saturday, May 28 at the UFC event between “Rampage” Jackson and Matt Hamill in Las Vegas. These cameras, which will be mounted on movable “arms” will be available for all UFC fights that take place in the state of Nevada from here on out.

Though this camera system has only been previously used in 3 UFC events, which took place in California, Vancouver, and Pennsylvania, many think this is a great way to ensure proper scoring of these events. Judges will know have a truly full view of all areas of the fighting arena, which means that scoring will be more on point and accurate. There will be no obstructed views that judges have to try to see around.

These screens will not be mandatory, meaning that judges can choose not to use them. Being attached to movable arms, they can easily be moved out of the way. The small size of the screen means the screen, in and of itself, will not be a distraction. The screens will be live during the action only. The screens also black out between rounds. There is also no replay function, which means the judges will not be using these screens to review the action, they are merely a tool to help provide for more consistent and accurate scoring during the entirety of the fight. These screens are also not equipped with audio, as they aren’t meant to do anything more than allow the judge a fuller view of the fighting arena.

While this is a fairly new change, it seems that it will make the overall scoring of MMA matches a lot easier and more consistent. It does not present a challenge to the judges or the fighters. And the fact that these cameras are optional, and not required, seems to me that it is a tool of choice, if the judges choose to utilize them. I think we should all be for more transparency – but not more complication – in the scoring of these fights, and these screens are a good step in that direction.