Former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez entered a heavyweight tournament in Russia and won his quarterfinal fight over Sengoku veteran Moise Rimbon.
A slimmed down Rodriguez, who recently stated that he is interested in dropping down to light heavyweight, defeated Rimbon by split decision (round two is in the above video), but pulled out of the tournament due to "high temperature," according to the promotion's Web site.
M-1 Challenge fighter Michal Kita won the tournament and finished his year with a record of 6-0.
Trevor Prangley crowned Shark Fights champion
UFC veteran Trevor Prangley was recently stripped of one title and over the weekend gained another.
Prangley was victorious against Marcus Sursa in the main event of Saturday's Shark Fights 7 in Amarillo, Texas. Prangley earned his ninth career submission victory and the promotion's light heavyweight championship by way of a rear-naked choke submission late in the first round.
Accepting the Shark Fights gig cost Prangley in October his job with Canada's Maximum Fighting Championship and his status as champion within that organization.
"I really don't have much to say about it other than we tried getting a fight date from MFC and also tried getting permission to fight," Prangley told FanHouse. "This is my job, I have a family to feed and I got a fight assigned from a pre-existing contract so legally I did nothing wrong."
Prangley improved to an overall record of 22-5 and has now won 11 of his last 12 fights since leaving the UFC.
Sengoku vet Sergey Golyaev wins Lightweight Grand Prix
Sergey Golyaev, who won a controversial split decision over Takanori Gomi at Sengoku 6 in November 2008, won a single-night, four-man tournament Saturday at Bushido Lithuania in Russia. Golyaev stopped Danny Van Bergen and won a split decision over Artiom Damkovsky.
Following his upset over Gomi, Golyaev lost in his next Sengoku fight to Eiji Mitsuoka in January. He won a tune-up in September to ready himself for last weekend's tournament.
Junie Browning keeps fighting
"The Ultimate Fighter 8" cast member Junie Browning was cornered by mentor Shawn Tompkins and defeated Scott Cornwell with a triangle choke in the main event of MMA Big Show on Saturday in Florence, Ind.
Browning's career was in jeopardy last month when he reportedly attempted to overdose and allegedly assaulted three nurses when treated at a hospital. He was promptly dropped by the UFC.
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