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UFC On Fox 3 Fight Card: Jim Miller Vs. Nate Diaz Tapped For May 5th

2012-01-31T21:17:16Z

UFC on Fox 3 takes place May 5th, 2012, at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Less than a week out from UFC on Fox 2, promotion officials are already looking ahead.

The UFC's third primetime effort, UFC on Fox 3, has been confirmed for May 5th, 2012 at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Additionally, a pair of match-ups between lightweight contenders Nate Diaz vs. Jim Miller and bantamweight up-and-comers John Dodson vs. Darren Uyenoyama are slated for the network card.

UFC President Dana White announced the news via Twitter earlier this week.

Diaz (15-7) enters the big show after showing flashes of brilliance in recent destructions of Donald Cerrone and Takanori Gomi. The 26-year-old Stockton-native, a five-time "Fight of the Night" winner with a 4-2 record over his last six contests, would likely push his name into title contention with a victory.

Across the cage, Miller (21-3) hopes to do the same after re-righting his ship with a first-round submission of Melvin Guillard last weekend. Despite a grueling loss to Ben Henderson that prematurely halted his title run, the 28-year-old southpaw has ripped through nine wins in ten fights since mid-2009, and appears to be a man on a mission in the 155-pound division.

Dodson (12-5), meanwhile, charges back into the flyweight waters after storming to The Ultimate Fighter 14's bantamweight crown. The 27-year-old, known as "The Magician," emerged at the top of the season's heap with impressive victories over Brandon Merkt, John Albert, Johnny Bedford and T.J. Dillashaw, despite largely competing above his natural weight.

He'll face the 32-year-old Uyenoyama (7-3), a Strikeforce and DREAM veteran also looking to make a debut at 125 pounds. The winner of three of his last four fights, "BC" fought to a rigorous unanimous decision victory over Japanese superstar Norifumi Yamamoto as his introduction into the UFC.

UFC on Fox 3 fight card:

Lightweight: Jim Miller vs. Nate Diaz
Flyweight: John Dodson vs. Darren Uyenoyama

Tachi Palace Fights 12: Georgi Karakhanyan Defends Belt Against Micah Miller, Bubba Jenkins Fights Chris Gomez

2012-01-30T21:15:53Z

Tachi Palace Fights 12: Second Coming takes place March 9, 2012, at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore, California.

Tachi Palace Fights featherweight champion Georgi Karakhanyan will defend his newly-minted strap against "The Ultimate Fighter 14" alum Micah Miller at TPF 12: Second Coming, according to promotion officials.

A 26-year-old former soccer star out of California, Karakhanyan (17-3-1) racked up a 2-2 racked while reaching the semifinals in two of Bellator's 145-pound tournaments. Following a release from the promotion in mid-2011, "Insane" cruised to a three-fight win streak capped by a first-round triangle choke of Isaac DeJesus to claim the vacant Tachi Palace title.

Meanwhile, Miller (17-4, 1 NC), brother of UFC fighter Cole Miller, officially returns to action for the first time since late-2010, when he submitted DeJesus to capture his sixth victory in seven fights. Since then, the 24-year-old was infamously stunned by Steven Siler in the opening round of TUF 14.

TPF 12: Second Coming takes place March 9 at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore, California. The main card is expected to stream live online.

Is The UFC Making The Right Moves?

2012-01-30T19:44:16Z

Luke Thomas and Nate Wilcox discuss three recent events and what they say about the UFC's response to changing circumstances: the decision to cancel UFC 145 in Montreal; the decision to test new UFC fighters for PEDs before signing them; and the UFC's continued stubborn advocacy of SOPA even after it failed.

Its obvious that the UFC has entered a new phase of its history with the move from Spike TV to Fox/FX/Fuel and the loss of their two biggest pay-per-view draws Brock Lesnar and welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre. This is a critical phase in which the trajectory of the business for the next 18 months to 3 years will be determined.

Three unrelated events over the last week have made me suspect that the UFC might have hit an "inflection point" in the life of their business. For those of you who didn't take calculus, an "inflection point" is the point on a curve where it changes direction. For a fight promotion like the UFC an inflection point is a critical point in time that determines whether the next phase of the business will be one of growth, stagnation or decline.

The recent three events that may hint at the direction of the UFC's fortunes in the near term were:

The decision to cancel the planned March 24 UFC 145 pay-per-view from Montreal
While its a retreat, it's the most positive sign of all. This is the first time ever that the UFC has cancelled or postponed an already announced (pay-per-view) PPV. Since at least UFC 108 when the planned Rashad Evans vs. Quinton Jackson headliner was replaced by Evans vs. Thiago Silva, the promotion has pressed forward with numerous weak events after losing their planned headliner.

This is a classic case of swallowing their pride and doing the right thing for the business. After a three-year period in which even the weakest UFC sold 350,000+ PPV buys, the UFC's string of weak headliners in 2010 and 2011 saw their base fall to just over 200,000 PPVs.
The decision to begin testing fighters for performance enhancing drugs (PED)
The UFC has long relied on a strategy of pushing any responsibility for testing MMA fighters onto the athletic commissions of the states in which they compete. UFC President Dana White has often publicly commented to the effect that MMA is one of the most toughly regulated sports for PEDs due to the testing by athletic commissions. The fact that the UFC has long done its own testing in jurisdictions like Texas, Australia and England with little or no public regulation went unmentioned.

The recent announcement that the UFC will now test new fighters for PEDs before signing them is a long-overdue admission that there is too much to be done to clean up the sport to leave it to the athletic commissions. This willingness to confront PED use by fighters directly is a sign of a maturing business that's willing to confront difficulties before they explode.
The decision of the UFC to continue to publicly endorse SOPA after the failure of the legislation
Of course for every two steps forward, there's a big step back. The UFC has long supported the movie and recording industries in their lobbying efforts to crack down on Internet piracy. That's understandable since they believe that illegal streaming of their PPVs is seriously hurting their business. Unfortunately they supported the recent SOPA/PIPA legislation and continued to publicly do so after the bills were withdrawn in the aftermath of a massive online protest led by leading websites such as Reddit, Google and Wikipedia. UFC executive VP Lawrence Epstein wrote an op-ed in the Las Vegas Review Journal last Sunday continuing to advocate for the already defeated bills. I have to wonder what their strategy was in advocating for hugely unpopular legislation that had already been defeated.Regardless of their intentions, the result was that they came to the attention of a number of hackers who brought down UFC.com for much of Sunday. Even more ominously, online responses to the op-ed indicate that this is one issue where the UFC does not have the support of their fan base.

All-in-all these moves reflect an organization that is making moves to attack serious issues that present long-term threats to their business. Only time will tell if these are the right moves. Luke Thomas and I will discuss these points in our next video chat so put your thoughts and questions in the comments and we'll respond.

UFC On Fox 2 Post-Fight Press Conference, News And Updates

2012-01-29T05:30:48Z

A comprehensive round-up of all the post-UFC on Fox 2 news including breaking announcements, fight night awards, video highlights and more.

Join MMA Nation tonight as we bring you live video and coverage of the UFC on Fox 2 post-fight press conference. Tonight's press conference takes place at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois and is hosted by UFC President Dana White. Expected to be in attendance are middleweight headliners Rashad Evans and Phil Davis, middleweight contenders Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping, and various participants from the night's fight card.

UFC on Fox 2: Evans vs. Davis Play-by-Play

White and the panel will field a variety of questions from the media and discuss their performance following the conclusion of UFC on Fox 2's network broadcast. In addition, White will announce the event's live gate and attendance, as well as the "Fight Night" bonus winners.

Live video of the proceedings will be available for streaming under the "Free Live UFC Streams" tab in the video player below. For more results and analysis, follow MMA Nation (@MMANation) on Twitter.

UFC On Fox 2 Results: Rashad Evans Dominates Phil Davis

2012-01-29T03:24:21Z

Rashad Evans defeated Phil Davis after five rounds at UFC on Fox 2 he won every round on every judge's card for a unanimous 50-45 decision.

Rashad catches Davis' kick and lands several hard punches before Davis falls and now Rashad is on top. Evans passes to side control and into the mounted crucifix. Davis gets out and gives up his back. Davis stands up. Big right by Rashad. Big right hand by Rashad and Davis' legs almost give out. Very hard leg kick by Evans now. Righ hand by Davis. Rashad just misses with a big uppercut and a wild right hand. Right hand by Rashad. 10-9 Rashad, clean sweep.

Chael Sonnen defeats Michael Bisping by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28 x2).
Chris Weidman defeats Demian Maia by split decision (29-28 Weidman, 29-28 Maia, 29-28 Chris Weidman).

Evan Dunham defeats Nik Lentz by TKO (doctor stoppage) at 5:00 of round 2.
Mike Russow defeats Jon Olav Einemo by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27).
Cub Swanson defeats George Roop by TKO (strikes, referee stoppage) at 2:22 of round 2.
Charles Oliveira defeats Eric Wisely by submission (calf slicer) at 1:43 of round 1.
Michael Johnson defeats Shane Roller by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).
Lavar Johnson defeats Joey Beltran by KO (strikes, referee stoppage) at 4:24 of round 1.
Chris Camozzi defeats Dustin Jacoby by submission (guillotine choke) at 1:08 of round 3.

UFC On FOX 2 Results: Rashad Evans Vs. Phil Davis Round 4

2012-01-29T03:11:21Z

In the third round, the Penn State alumnus struck back, albeit a little bit. Davis clearly lost the first two rounds, but manage to land a takedown of his own in the third. He'll need more of that to win even one round. We have to

For more on today's results, follow Luke Thomas (@SBNLukeThomas) on Twitter.

ROUND 4 - front kick from Davis to open the frame, but it misses wildly. Body kick from Davis, but Evans is still stalking. Good jabs also from Evans and Davis shooting way from the outside. Davis finding his range with the jab. Pairs up the straight punches. Davis answers with a powerful kick to the body. Neither fighter finds their rangs. Rashad shoots in, gets top position. Davis turtles to his knees, Rashad on his back. Good scramble. Davis gets back to his feet. Evans controlling the cage. Good sprawl by Evans. Rashad lands a hard right.

UFC On FOX 2 Results: Rashad Evans Vs. Phil Davis Round 3

2012-01-29T02:59:30Z

In the first two rounds of UFC on Fox 2's Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis, the former UFC light heavyweight champion continued to press the action. Evans is up two rounds to none on our scorecards. Davis needs to regroup here.

For more on today's results, follow Luke Thomas (@SBNLukeThomas) on Twitter.

ROUND 3 - Davis attempts a single and it's stuffed. Davis trying to secure a takedown against the fence, but it's not doing and Evans is able to stand and puts Davis down. Evans, however, is able to secure a takedown of his late, but Davis continues to press to score points. Most of the damage and action was done by Evans, but he's now breathing hard and Davis was able to score.

UFC On FOX 2 Results: Rashad Evans Vs. Phil Davis Round 2

2012-01-29T02:52:45Z

If the first round of UFC on Fox 2's Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis, it was the former UFC light heavyweight champion who was able to do the most damage achieving mounted crucifix. Davis was able to survive, but Evans looked strong.

For more on today's results, follow Luke Thomas (@SBNLukeThomas) on Twitter.

ROUND 2 -The fighters clinch to start and Davis lands an inside leg kick. Both fighters jabbing but not landing anything of consequence. Davis appears to be breathing heavy already. Evans charges in for a takedown, but can't get it. They clinch briefly, but separate. Davis lands a hard knee to the body, but Evans still doing all the stalking. Evans rips shots to the body and Davis seems a little confused. A little less action this round, but the former champion seems to be in control. Evans catches another kick and moves into side control.

MMA Nation scores this round 10-9 Evans.