The Day in MMA with Jake Chastain

Hello, fight fans. Welcome to another edition of The Day in MMA with Jake Chastain. Today’s top MMA news was quite explosive. Let’s start with what I found most informative: The UFC on FOX 3 presser was held today. We heard from Dana White on a ton of different topics, Nate Diaz and Jim Miller, Johnny Hendricks and Josh Koscheck, and few others fighting on the card. Most of the commotion revolved around the talks between Hendricks and Koscheck. Koscheck continued to live out his role of being “the heel”. I have to admit though; he’s pretty damn good at it. This card, which take place in New Jersey on May 5th, is shaping up to be a very interesting one with several contenders providing interesting storylines while vying to move up UFC ladder. This card will surely not disappoint. The entire press conference can be viewed at BJPenn.com

In other news we found out that the rematch that Frankie Edgar so desperately wanted with lightweight champion, Benson Henderson, has been granted to him. The two will fight in an immediate rematch sometime this summer for Henderson’s UFC lightweight strap. Edgar and Dana White broke the news via their trusty Twitter accounts. Once again, just when we thought we were out of the clogged-up phase of the UFC lightweight division, we’re right back to being clogged up again. Frankie Edgar, although I am fan, has undoubtedly become the rematch king. But I can’t blame him…considering the circumstances, I sort of think he deserves it too. We’ll see how the MMA world reacts and how quickly Henderson’s recent injuries heal up.

The heavyweight title fight between current champ, Junior Dos Santos, and number one contender, Alistair Overeem was made official by the UFC today. The two will collide for the UFC Heavyweight crown on May 26th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas for UFC 146. Don’t miss this fight. It will be unlike any heavyweight fight we’ve ever seen. Two of the purest heavyweight strikers we’ve ever seen, masters of their crafts, meeting for the belt. This one could be legendary.

Little Nog was recently injured in training for his upcoming fight with rising star Alexander Gustafsson. Noguira announced today that he is unable to compete and the UFC immediately reacted and replaced Little Nog with the always dangerous, Thiago Silva. Silva will be coming off of almost a year and half layoff due to a suspension involving a failed drug test. Gustafsson and Silva will now square off on April 14th for UFC on FUEL 2. Although the injury to Noguira is unfortunate the fight between Silva and Gustafsson seems a little more appealing to me. This should test both fighters and will likely move the winner into the light heavyweight title picture. Don’t blink during this one, fight fans.

We also received the viewing numbers for this past weekend’s fight cards. UFC on FX 2 drew in an average of 1.4 million viewers. The final tally of viewers was approximately 100,000 more than the UFC on FX debut. These numbers are very promising for the promotion and for FOX. And then the Strikeforce card which headlined the women’s title bout between Tate and Rousey drew in 431,00 viewers. This is neither the highest nor the lowest Strikeforce and Showtime have pulled in, but for a card that was headlined by women I think that these are pretty decent numbers. And Dana White today explained that he believes Rousey is going to be a huge star and a big draw in the future. As MMA continues to grow and evolve I think that the Rousey vs. Tate fight was a huge, positive step in the on-going process.

And in other news Benson Henderson said he doesn’t care who he fights next because he’s wants to line them all up and knock them all down, one by one. Jim Miller appeared on “Good Day New York” to promote his upcoming May UFC on FOX 3 fight with Nate Diaz (the video can be seen at BJPenn.com). And Rampage Jackson stated that he will fight one more time in the UFC and that’s it, but then suggested that he may continue fighting elsewhere. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out with the UFC organization as they look for a final fight to give Rampage.

And that just about wraps up the top news from the MMA world for today. For more in depth news, interviews, and coverage be sure to visit BJPenn.com or follow me on Twitter @jchastain45

Until next time; stay classy, fight fans.

-Jake Chastain
@jchastain45