By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez has been under the radar so far this year after a shoulder injury suffered in his title-winning performance against Brock Lesnar required him to undergo surgery.

With Thursday's crushing news that Lesnar is out of his fight with Junior Dos Santos at UFC 131 with a resurgence of his diverticulitis, some good news for Velasquez that came out again flew under the radar.

According to a report from Heavy.com, Velasquez has been cleared to return to the gym in a limited capacity, and he's slowly beginning his comeback in hopes of a fall return, now against the winner of Dos Santos and Shane Carwin from next month's event in Vancouver.

"Yeah, I'm back in the gym. I'm limited in what I can do. I can't punch with my right hand yet,? Velasquez said. ?The doctor wants me to take two months to strengthen my right hand.?

Though he can't use that hand during the next two months, he says there's plenty of other things he can do to get himself closer to fighting shape during that time.

"I can run, I can do footwork. There's a lot of stuff I can do," he said. "In those two months, I can get my body ready for one-hundred percent training."

His return is tentatively slated for UFC 136 in October, expected to be the UFC's return to Houston, Texas for the first time since 2007.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: That's great news for Velasquez that he's back in the gym and getting himself back in shape. The year-long layoff is going to be a concern coming into his return fight, as he'll be facing a fellow top striker that will be fresher than he is, whether it's Carwin or Dos Santos. That said, if he can get himself in shape to go full on with his training by the time his camp needs to start for the fight then he should hopefully be able to work off a lot of that rust in the gym before he steps back into the cage. I can't wait to see him return, and regardless of whether he faces Carwin or Dos Santos, it's going to make for one hell of a title fight.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_9319.shtml

Grant Campbell Gesias JZ Calvancante Luiz Cane Dos Caras Jr

Randy Couture showed some guts taking on a scary fighter in his final MMA tilt. It didn't work out for the 47-year-old legend, but he got to walk out of the Octagon to a huge ovation from the crowd in Toronto and with his head held high. There may never be another fighter like Couture.

Couture took on MMA's great riddle in karate master Lyoto Machida. For six minutes, Machida confused Couture with his movement and counter-striking, then he pulled off an amazing front kick to put the former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion on his back. Couture was out and referee Yves Lavigne jumped on top to save him at 1:05 of the second at UFC 129.

Machida essentially pulled off the crane kick from "The Karate Kid" and, in doing so, knocked out one of Couture's teeth.

"I think I had all my teeth the last time we had this discussion," joked Couture with UFC analyst Joe Rogan. "I felt like I was standing still out there. He's a tremendous athlete."

Couture (19-11, 16-8 UFC) confirmed that he is done. He's made a pretty successful transition to acting. He was a cast member in Sylvester Stallone's blockbuster "The Expendables" and is part of the mix when "The Expendables 2" begins filming in September.

His impact on mixed martial arts is beyond description. After a decorated amateur wrestling career, he decided to transition to MMA when it was still very much an outlaw sport back in 1997. He was 34 at the time. During the growth years, Couture was a winner in and out of the Octagon. Along with winning five titles fights at light heavyweight and heavyweight, he did much of the media work necessary to spread the word about the legitimacy of the sport after it was purchased by Zuffa in 2001.

Machida, nearly overcome by emotion, thanked Couture for the opportunity to fight him.

"It was an honor [to fight him]. It was a dream when I was a child, I would like to fight this guy," Machida said. "He is a hero. This is the hero. Thank you so much."

Machida's amazing boot was the second front-kick knockout in the history of the UFC. The first came less than three months ago at UFC 126 when Machida's teammate Anderson Silva used a similar move to knock out Vitor Belfort.

Machida's kick was a variation of what Silva did. He faked a left kick and leapt into a right kick. Couture never saw it coming. After the fight, Machida thanked both his father and Steven Seagal for teaching him the kick. Silva also thanked the movie star following his fight. Seagal, an 80's and 90's action film star, has been working with some of the fighters from Blackhouse MMA based in Southern California. Many in and out of the game mocked on Seagal for accepting credit following Silva's win, maybe the kidding needs to subside.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Machida-ends-Couture-s-career-with-real-life-Ka?urn=mma-wp1848

Shinya Aoki Andrei Arlovski Ricardo Arona Noboru Asahi

Filed under: Bellator

As it continues to carve out a niche for itself as the No. 2 promotion in mixed martial arts, Bellator has once again signed a fighter who's big on talent and capable of bringing a great deal of excitement into the cage in former Olympic wrestling bronze medalist Alexis Vila.

Before we get into all the reasons Vila is an exciting addition to Bellator's bantamweight tournament, let's get the two big problems out of the way ...
1. He's old: He turned 40 in March.
2. He's tiny: In the Olympics he wrestled at 105 pounds and most recently fought in MMA at 125 pounds.

Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/05/17/bellator-adds-alexis-vila-to-bantamweight-division/

Frank Shamrock Tito Ortiz Randy Couture Vitor Belfort

Filed under: UFC, FanHouse Exclusive

UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar has begun treatment for a back injury with what could be a series of shots to address the problem. On Monday's edition of The MMA Hour, Edgar said that the injury that forced him out of his scheduled UFC 130 title defense against Gray Maynard was due to an extreme flare-up of an existing problem.

Earlier Monday, he had an epidural injection to address the pain. It will take up to four days to determine whether it worked. According to Edgar, the ultimate solution is something more invasive, but his doctors are trying to stem the pain and delay what might be inevitable.

"I think eventually I'm going to need surgery," said Edgar, who also suffered a rib injury in training. "Hopefully these shots will slow down the process and give me a couple more years without having to do the surgery."

Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/05/16/frankie-edgar-discusses-injury-that-forced-him-out-of-ufc-130/

Ian Freeman Don Frye Tony Fryklund Kazuyuki Fujita

Ryan Couture is carrying the torch for his family now. The 28-year-old son of legendary Randy Couture is the only family member actively fighting. His father lost some teeth and his final fight at UFC 129. Couture, the former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champ, called it quits and has moved on to a career in movies.

RawVegas.tv tracked down Ryan to check on how he's doing in preparation for his third pro fight against Matt Ricehouse (4-0) at Strikeforce Challengers 16 in Kent, Wa.

Couture doesn't have a dominant skill like his father did, but because he started training in all aspects of MMA, he may actually be the more well-rounded fighter. There's a good chance he never reaches the heights his father did, but he's already made an impressive considering he only began working towards an MMA career in 2007.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Ryan-Couture-video-Next-gen-Couture-tries-to-bu?urn=mma-wp2299

Josh Barnett Ricco Rodriguez Tim Sylvia Frank Mir

*** Watch Complete 1/2hr HD Episodes on http://www.MMAheat.com *** MMA H.E.A.T.'s Karyn Bryant spends a few minutes with former UFC Light Heavyweight Champ Lyoto Machida, right after his photo shoot and scanning session with Round 5. The Brazilian star tells us how he feels about having his own action figure, and then talks about his preparation for UFC 129, where he'll face Randy Couture. Lyoto gives his thoughts on Randy's legacy, what this fight means to him and what he did to make sure he's ready for such an important event. Be sure to visit http://www.MMAheat.com for more interviews and archived episodes of our 1/2 hour TV show. Nós falamos Português! * We're on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MMAheat * Follow MMAheat on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MMAheat * Follow Karyn on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/KarynBryant

Source: http://mmalice.com/ufc-129/ufc-129s-lyoto-machida-on-randy-couture-and-re-inventing-video_979eb192f.html

Kit Cope Wesley Cabbage Correira Patrick The Predator Côté Randy The Natural Couture

*** Watch Complete 1/2hr HD Episodes on http://www.MMAheat.com ***MMA H.E.A.T.'s Karyn Bryant catches up with UFC President Dana White, and gets his thoughts in the excitement of bringing UFC 129 to Toronto. Dana also talks about the fight between Randy Couture and Lyoto Machida, whether Strikeforce will be turned into a league similar to AAA baseball and what the UFC's plans are for their own television channel.Be sure to visit http://www.MMAheat.com for more interviews and archived episodes of our 1/2 hour TV show. Nós falamos Português! * We're on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MMAheat * Follow MMAheat on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MMAheat * Follow Karyn on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/KarynBryant

Source: http://mmalice.com/ufc-129/dana-white-video_987fe1f3a.html

Grant Campbell Gesias JZ Calvancante Luiz Cane Dos Caras Jr

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Every fighter from Saturday's UFC 129 event received a medical suspension of at least 14 days from the Ontario Ministry of Consumer Services' Office of the Athletics Commissioner, the governing body for the event at the Rogers Centre, according to a report from MMAJunkie.com.

Four fighters received 60-day suspensions for the injuries suffered in their fights on the card, as Georges St. Pierre, Mark Hominick, Randy Couture and Jason Brilz were all handed down the suspensions.

St. Pierre's suspension came due to the eye injury suffered in his victory over Jake Shields, while Hominick's suspension came due to facial swelling in his loss to Jose Aldo and Randy Couture and Jason Brilz were handed down the suspensions after their knockout losses to Lyoto Machida and Vladimir Matyushenko, respectively.

The full list of suspensions is below:

* Georges St-Pierre: Suspended 60 days due to eye injury and must have ophthalmologist's clearance before returning
* Jake Shields: Suspended 14 days for precautionary reasons
* Jose Aldo: Suspended 30 days due to lacerations
* Mark Hominick: Suspended 60 days for precautionary reasons and must have a new CT scan completed
* Lyoto Machida: Suspended 14 days for precautionary reasons
* Randy Couture: Suspended 60 days due to KO and must have a new CT scan completed
* Vladimir Matyushenko: Suspended 14 days for precautionary reasons
* Jason Brilz: Suspended 60 days due to KO and must have a new CT scan completed
* Ben Henderson: Suspended 14 days for precautionary reasons
* Mark Bocek: Suspended 30 days due to head laceration
* Rory MacDonald: Suspended 14 days for precautionary reasons
* Nate Diaz: Suspended 45 days due to left-eye laceration
* Jake Ellenberger: Suspended 45 days and must have X-ray due to possible hand injury
* Sean Pierson: : Suspended 60 days due to KO and must have a new CT scan completed
* Claude Patrick: Suspended 14 days for precautionary reasons
* Daniel Roberts: Suspended 14 days for precautionary reasons
* Ivan Menjivar: Suspended 14 days for precautionary reasons
* Charlie Valencia: Suspended 60 days due to KO and must have a new CT scan completed
* Jason MacDonald: Suspended 14 days for precautionary reasons
* Ryan Jensen: Suspended 14 days for precautionary reasons
* John Makdessi: Suspended 14 days for precautionary reasons
* Kyle Watson: Suspended 60 days due to left-eye laceration and KO and must have a new CT scan completed
* Pablo Garza: Suspended 14 days for precautionary reasons
* Yves Jabouin: Suspended 14 days for precautionary reasons

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_9219.shtml

Yasubey Enomoto Mark Epstein Tom Big Cat Erickson Martinsh Egle

Roy Nelson takes on Frank Mir in a heavyweight match-up on Saturday, May 28, at UFC 130.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mmaconvert/~3/V4dDrDD7VxU/

Cyril Abidi Daniel Acacio Bernard Ackah Terrance Aflague

Source: http://www.mmaforum.com/k-1-grand-prix-vbookie-betting/91069-badr-hari-vs-tony-gregory-its-showtime.html

Rashad Evans Lyoto Machida Mauricio Rua Dave Menne