Once again the injury bug has hit and had a major effect on a UFC event, this time however it may be a positive. It was revealed on Thursday night that Erik Koch was injured and out of his fight against UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo at UFC 153. It’s a cruel twist of fate for Koch as he was originally to challenge Aldo at UFC 149 last June but the champ had to withdraw due to an injury of his own. Taking Kochs place will be none other than former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar who is fresh off a controversial split decision loss to current UFC 155 pound champ Ben Henderson at UFC 150 earlier this month. It comes as no surprise that Edgar accepted the fight as he recently said “I think I would take the fight. If I had a full camp to prepare, and this guy only had eight days, I think I would, but you don’t know. I think it all depends on match-ups and everything.” in regards to Jon Jones recent decision to decline a late replacement fight against Chael Sonnen. It seems surreal that just a week ago UFC president Dana White and many fans were in an uproar after Jones decision and are the complete opposite in regards to Edgar. This will be Edgars first fight in the featherweight division and what better way to make a debut than in a matchup fans have hypothesized about when both were champs of their respective divisions.   I can be reached at ScienceOfViolence@Gmail.com & https://twitter.com/916Chris

  As the Summer comes to a close and the weather begins to cool down it seems the fight schedule has followed suit. This leaves me with little to write about thus I’ve come up with an idea for a new article I will post occasionally title “916Chris’ Quick List”. In this column I will provide a list and brief description on a variety of random subjects regarding both Boxing and MMA. The inaugural edition is about 5 young boxers whom I believe have the potential to be future stars as well as fan favorites in boxing. Without further adieu in no particular order…     1. Jose Benavidez Jr. – At only 20 years of age Jose Benavidez Jr. is already well on the road to stardom. Benavidez had a stellar amateur career including winning multiple national championships as well as becoming the youngest ever National Golden Gloves champ at age16. Rather than pursue the Olympics Jose decided to turn pro and signed a promotional deal with Bob Arums Top Rank. Having already trained with multiple Trainer Of The Year winner Freddie Roach along with sparring with some of boxings best at the Wild Card gym Benavidez is ahead of most fighters his age. With a current record of 16-0 and intangibles that can’t be taught the sky is the limit for the Mexican-American prospect.  

  Just when you thought things couldn’t get any more confusing in regards to the UFC and Jon Jones next title defense they just did. After Dan Henderson withdrew from the UFC 151 main event and Jones declined to fight Chael Sonnen the entire event was canceled and the UFC light heavyweight champ was scheduled to face Lyoto Machida for a second time at UFC 152 on September 22 in Toronto, Canda. Or so we thought. Word came down later in the night that Machida had turned down the offer to fight Jones. In step Vitor Belfort. The former light heavyweight champion offered to face Jones and perhaps exhausted by lack of other options UFC president Dana White accepted Belforts request and as of now Jon Jones will defend the light heavyweight championship against Vitor Belfort at UFC 152. Belfort was originally set to take on Alan Belcher at UFC 153 in October. The other interesting note to come out of today is that UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva offered to headline UFC 151 against any light heavyweight aside from Jones. Why Sonnen wasn’t given another opportunity to possibly face Jones in place of Belfort is beyond me but the way this days gone nothing should be too surprising.  

  If you are an MMA fan and were on Twitter last night you probably read rumors of Dan Henderson injuring his knee and possibly pulling out of next Saturdays main event against UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones at UFC 151. Those rumors were confirmed today during a conference call with UFC president Dana White where he stated that Henderson did have to withdraw due to a partial tear to his MCL. Even more notable was the news that Chael Sonnen was willing to take Hendersons place but Jones declined it. This infuriated Dana and he had no problems voicing his displeasure with Jones decision saying less than flattering remarks about both Jones as well as his coach Greg Jackson, about whom White said “…this guy is a fucking sport killer!”. With both Jones vs Henderson and Sonnen off the table, for the first time under the ownership of Zuffa an entire UFC is canceled. As of now Jon Jones will defend his title in the main event in a rematch against Lyoto Machida on September 22 in Toronto, Canada at UFC 152. The previous main event for UFC 152, Joseph Benavidev vs Demetrious Johnson for the inaugural UFC flyweight championship will now serve as the co-main event.   The initial backlash and accompanying furor has mostly been directed towards Jones for not accepting the bout against Sonnen. The prevailing thought is why would Jones decline a fight regardless of opponent when he will be fully prepared whereas Sonnen would’ve had little to no time to do so himself. Surely Jones and his team have their reasons and whether or not others, including Dana White disagree with it there is no option but to live with it and move on. The downside aside from not getting to see Hendo [...]

The Good Ronda Rousey – Outside of Ronda Rouseys first title defense there was little fanfare heading into this weekends Strikeforce event but as we’ve seen time and again low expectations are easy to exceed and they certainly were in this instance. The main event saw Strikeforce womens bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey retain her title by submitting former champ Sarah Kaufman by armbar just 54 seconds into the fight. In other words it looked like all of Rouseys previous bouts and ended in the same exact way, with her on the winning end by armbar. Ronda recieved a loud response from the crowd before the contest but with it ending so swiftly the fight almost seemed anticlimactic. Regardless “Rowdy” rolls on in search of her next challenge, or at this rate, victim.   Miesha Tate vs Julie Kedzie – Of course Rousey wasn’t the only woman to shine on Strikeforce as former champion Miesha Tate and Julie Kedzie put on the fight of the night in fast paced affair. Kedzie came out guns blazing landing punches and kicks on Tate, who attempted to fire back. The Greg Jackson fighter not only won but had the former title holder on the defensive for the majority of the opening frame. The tide turned in the second round once Tate fiinally got the action to the ground where she attempted to submit Kedzie with a rear naked choke. Julie escaped and eventually got back on her feet but the round was Tates. In the third Kedzie dropped her opponent with a high kick and attempted to finish her with punches from top position but Tate maintained her composure and caught Julie in an ambar. Kedzie tried to find a way out of it for well over a minute but was unable to escape [...]