With the next installment of the Strikeforce’s Challengers series just less
than four weeks away, the organization now has four bouts officially
announced for the Showtime-televised portion of the card.

Strikeforce today announced that unbeaten prospect Tyron Woodley (3-0)
meets seven-year veteran Zach Light (6-8), while undefeated local
fighters Travis Calanoc (3-0) and Thomas Longacre (4-0) face off at the
Sept. 25 event “Strikeforce Challengers: Kennedy vs. Cummings.”

Headlined by a matchup between middleweight prospects Tim Kennedy and
Zak Cummings, the event takes place at SpiritBank
Event Center in Bixby, Okla.

With the next installment of Strikeforce’s Challengers series just less
than four weeks away, the organization now has four bouts officially
announced for the Showtime-televised portion of the card.

Strikeforce today announced that unbeaten prospect Tyron Woodley (3-0)
meets seven-year veteran Zach Light (6-8), while undefeated local
fighters Travis Calanoc (3-0) and Thomas Longacre (4-0) face off at the
Sept. 25 event “Strikeforce Challengers: Kennedy vs. Cummings.”

Headlined by a matchup between middleweight prospects Tim Kennedy and
Zak Cummings, the event takes place at SpiritBank
Event Center in Bixby, Okla.

UFC president Dana White recently made his opinion quite clear on
fighters who pursue film careers while still active in MMA.

But when it comes to semi-retired former champion Chuck Liddell’s
appearance on the ABC series “Dancing with the Stars,” White’s all for
it.

White recently discussed his thoughts on Liddell’s appearance, why he made a $10,000 wager that the “Iceman” couldn’t shed a few pounds, and whether hes budged at all on the former champion returning to the cage.

The UFC hits Los Angeles today, September 1st, with a full slate of events to get fans ready for October 24th’s UFC 104 event at STAPLES Center. First, at 8am PT, fans can tune in to hear UFC President Dana White on KROQ’s Kevin & Bean show. Then, at 9:20am PT, White will be joined by UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida and challenger Mauricio “Shogun” Rua on KTLA’s morning show. And finally, it’s the big event of the day at noon, as Machida, Rua, Cain Velasquez, and Ben Rothwell meet the media for the UFC 104 press conference. Watch it LIVE online at www.UFC.com/live at 12pm PT/3pm ET. This event, which will be held at Nokia Plaza on 800 W. Olympic Blvd, is open to the public.

In exciting news from the Land of The Rising Sun, UFC has partnered up with Japan’s #1 social networking / blog site, Ameba Blog, to create UFC/WEC fighter blog pages. Featuring an inside look into the daily lives of fighters such as Yoshihiro Akiyama, Yoshiyuki Yoshida, Takeya Mizugaki, and even Octagon Girl Logan Stanton, these blogs get you the inside scoop you can’t get anywhere else. Click below for direct links to each blog.

In exciting news from the Land of The Rising Sun, UFC has partnered up with Japan’s #1 social networking / blog site, Ameba Blog, to create UFC/WEC fighter blog pages. Featuring an inside look into the daily lives of fighters such as Yoshihiro Akiyama, Yoshiyuki Yoshida, Takeya Mizugaki, and even Octagon Girl Logan Stanton, these blogs get you the inside scoop you can’t get anywhere else. Click below for direct links to each blog.

When the UFC visits Staples Center in Los Angeles on Oct. 24 for “UFC
104: Machida vs. Shogun,” the organization will be making its first
trip to California since July 2007 and its first visit to Los Angeles
since May 2006.

Could the event also mark the return of veteran referee “Big” John
McCarthy to the UFC for the first time since officiating the December
2007 bout between Roger Huerta and Clay Guida?

McCarthy is currently licensed as an MMA referee in the state of
California, and today he told MMAjunkie.com he
would be available for the October event should the commission assign
him to the card.

Muhammad Lawal earned $40,000 and fellow headliner Mark Kerr earned
$15,000 at this past weekend’s “M-1: Breakthrough” event, MMAjunkie.com today confirmed with the Kansas Boxing Commission.

Lawal defeated Kerr via 25-second KO at the Aug. 28 event, which took place at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, K.C.

Additionally, a total of five fighters from the card were issued medical suspensions following the HDNet-televised event.

As Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira slapped on a choke, torqued it and looked to tap out Randy Couture in the main event of this past Saturday’s UFC 102 event, one guy was backstage yelling at the nearest monitor.

“No, no!” he pleaded. “Get out, Randy! Get out!”

Couture ultimately escaped, but unfortunately, he’d go on to suffer a unanimous-decision loss at Portland’s Rose Garden Arena. But it didn’t matter to that backstage supporter, who secured a cool $60,000 once the fight went to the judges’ scorecards.

With UFC 102 now in the books, the UFC will turn its focus to the next major pay-per-view show, “UFC 103: Franklin vs. Belfort,” in two weeks.

That’s the day “UFC 103 Countdown: Franklin vs. Belfort,” the UFC’s traditional preview show for the Sept. 19 headliner between Rich Franklin and Vitor Belfort, debuts on Spike TV.

The one-hour preview special debuts Sept. 14 (6 p.m. ET/PT), and replays are set for Sept. 17 (1 a.m.) and Sept. 19 (8 p.m.).