***spoilers*** UFC News and Discussion Thread

[Benjamin]

And with Saffiedine out, Lawler steps in to fight Ellenberger. That man is a beast, it'll only be like a month and a half since that war with Hendricks. I hope he knocks Jake's silly ass off.

Really seems fated that we won't get Saffiedine / Ellenberger. How many times has that fight been rescheduled, 3 times or something? Or only 2? Feels like three, and they can never seem to get it. It's like Rua / Evans from 2011.

[Gazz]

Everyone should watch Metamoris 3. Eddie Bravo vs Royler Gracie.

Kneeslides, Lockdowns, Electric Chairs, the fucking Vaporizer, sweeps, reversals and a 50/50 guard scramble that looked like this..

[Benjamin]

Gazz is right, it was crazy. I thought for a second Bravo had it for sure with the vaporizer.

[EddieG]

WSOF spoiler

Paul Harris actually let go straight away

[Cymbols]

In women's MMA news, Paige VanZant won't be competing on TUF 20 even though it previously said that she would. Instead, she has been outright signed to the UFC as she is only 20 and fighters must be 21 to enter the TUF house because of the availability of alcohol in the house. Never thought about that before.

Will Campuzano, Walt Harris, Mike Rio and Cody McKenzie have all been removed from the UFC roster page and are likely released.

Oh, and they've announced the cast for TUF 19. Spoilered if people don't want to see it-

• Middleweights: Matthew Gabel, Lyman Good, Eddie Gordon, Mike King, Dhiego Lima, Adrian Miles, Tyler Minton, Cathal Pendred, Ian Stephens, Adam Stroup, Nordine Taleb, Hector Urbina, Bojan Velickovic, Tim Williams and Roger Zapata.
• Light-Heavyweights: Corey Anderson, Kelly Anundson, Anton Berzin, Josh Clark, Chris Fields, Jake Heun, Tyler King, Todd Monaghan, Cody Mumma, John Poppie, Doug Sparks, Daniel Spohn, Josh Stansbury, Matt Van Buren, Daniel Vizcaya and Patrick Walsh.

[Rich]

They actually released the teams by accident a while ago so I already know who got in to the house :/

[Cymbols]

Yeah, luckily I've mostly forgot the teams since the leak but I'm pretty sure that

Cathal Pendred

got in. Would think that he's an early favorite.

[Benjamin]

They actually released the teams by accident a while ago so I already know who got in to the house :/

Yeah this annoyed me too. Now the first two episodes will feel even longer.

[HC]

So Cormier/Henderson is confirmed for 175, with the kicker being the winner is next-in-line for a shot after Gus. Now I know Cormier will almost certainly take it, but I'd love to see Hendo pull off the miracle and get that title shot he should've gotten a few years ago.

[Benjamin]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w174TmBHlSg

Ronda on the set of Entourage.

EDIT: Oh, and I kind of want McGregor to get matched up with someone with a little more importance that freaking Cole Miller. I guess it makes sense from a promotional standpoint, but with the 145lbs division so dire with fresh challengers, they should really look into speeding McGregor's progress.

Edited April 3, 2014 by Benkid

[Rich]

No need to rush McGregor, from a promotional stand point they don't need him right now, why not build him as the most legit threat to Aldo as possible? I mean its unlikely he will be good enough right now to stand a chance, just give him time and let him continue to build a fan base.

[Benjamin]

And so the UFC has released Jake Shields. Really disgusted with that. Even the Fitch release had a little more merit than this.

[Cymbols]

Wow. Yeah, he looked terrible against Lombard, but prior to that he was coming off of wins against Maia and Woodley. Wow.

[EddieG]

We are heading to Auckland, New Zealand for #UFCFightNight: Te Huna vs Marquardt June 28th! http://t.co/8D3PQb0bi0 pic.twitter.com/R48NU8Rk2n

— UFC (@ufc)

April 7, 2014

[Gazz]

The pre-order bonus for the new UFC game is Bruce Lee.

[Benjamin]

Sonnen versus Silva is now the co-main of UFC175, the JDS fight headlines the May 31st Brazil card. Don't know what they're doing, guessing something happened to Sonnen or Wandy.

173 is now fucked like mad. Unless they bring in a new co-main.

[Rich]

Sonnen versus Silva is now the co-main of UFC175, the JDS fight headlines the May 31st Brazil card. Don't know what they're doing, guessing something happened to Sonnen or Wandy.

173 is now fucked like mad. Unless they bring in a new co-main.

How?

It has a title fight and the guy who just lost a narrow decision in a title fight at welterweight in the co-main... Seems ok to me

[Benjamin]

Yeah, okay, maybe not fucked, I'm totally over-dramatizing, but Barao has not drawn well in the past. UFC 149 was always going to do below average, but both UFC 165 and UFC 169 had two title fights, yet did poorly as well. Granted, that Jones' fight was his least bought one (probably because at the time everyone thought Jones was unstoppable), and the same for Aldo, but if those two cards could pull only 200K+ buys, I'm guessing this one to go the way of the Aldo versus TKZ fight.

I'm sure Robbie Lawler would help some, but I think JDS would definitely have drawn, even if just a tad, more. The average MMA fan in America is going to think twice before dropping $60 for this

[Rich]

If they get 200K they aren't doing bad though, for a card which has had injury issues, its not like anybody on the card is on on mega money and bonuses, it will just mean that the subsequent cards will hopefully do better. As a medium PPV doesn't matter much to UFC (as I have stated before) as they make their money now on tv distriubtuion of the events internationally, and in all likelihood will still make money at the gate.

[Rich]

Bagautinov vs Mighty Mouse will headline UFC 174