mma news

Two of the top 10 pound-for-pound fighters in mixed martial arts were in the cage Saturday night at WEC 47. They just weren't the two we thought they were beforehand.

Prior to WEC 47, a lot of people had bantamweights Brian Bowles and Miguel Torres in their top 10 pound-for-pound lists. (Bowles was No. 7 on my list and Torres fell just outside the top 10.) But after Dominick Cruz beat Bowles and Joseph Benavidez beat Torres, the two WEC 47 winners are both on my list of the Top 10 fighters in mixed martial arts, which is below.

Chuck Liddell appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live Thursday night to talk about his famous naked workout video, which was part of a Reebok marketing campaign that has given Liddell a new level of exposure.

MMA veteran Claude Patrick is a happy man these days because he recently signed a multi-fight agreement with the UFC.

The 11-1 Canadian told SiriusXM Fight Club Thursday that he is still unsure when and where he will make his debut, but believes UFC 115 on June 12 in Vancouver, British Columbia, is a possibility.

Patrick said that he would love to make his debut in his home country, but just getting to the UFC should be considered a major feat because in July 2008 he was injured after being tasered in a hotel room following a Freedom Fight event in Gatineau, Quebec.

Jake Rosholt tweeted late Thursday that his next fight will be against Jeremy Horn at King of the Cage on April 16 in Detroit, Mich.

"I'm really excited about the fight!!!" Rosholt wrote.

The event from the Cobo Arena will be the third "Mark Burnett Presents King of the Cage" live card on HDNet.

A matchup between two WEC veterans and the participation of Josh Barnett were made official Friday for DREAM.13 on March 22 in Yokohama, Japan.

Although a rumor leaked hours before that Barnett would likely face kickboxer Siala "Mighty Mo" Siliga, DREAM event producer Keiichi Sasahara said the promotion is still determining an opponent.

The lone bout announced during the press conference was Yoshiro Maeda taking on Cole Escovedo.

The UFC has posted the full Countdown show for UFC on Versus 1 to its YouTube channel, and I think the most telling words are the five words that open the show, right after the standard introduction.

Those five words, spoken by Joe Rogan, are: "Jon Jones is a star."

Before his positive steroid test caused the fight to be scrapped, Josh Barnett was scheduled to fight Fedor Emelianenko in a heavyweight clash of the titans last summer. Now Barnett is just a week and a half away from a return to MMA after more than a year off -- and he's expected to face a slightly easier opponent than Fedor.

Josh Gross of SI.com reports that Barnett is likely to face Siala "Mighty Mo" Siliga at Dream.13 on March 22. That's a rather embarrassing step down in quality of opposition for Barnett, and a reminder of just how far Barnett has fallen since eight months ago, when he was regarded by many as the No. 2 heavyweight in the world and a real threat to Fedor.

Five days after taking the World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight championship from Brian Bowles when Bowles failed to answer the bell for the third round, new champion Dominick Cruz expressed surprise that Bowles quit fighting because of a broken hand.