TOKYO – Japan, meet “Sexyama.” Yoshihiro Akiyama said fans in the Land of the Rising Sun aren’t familiar with the tongue-in-cheek nickname that stateside fans have for him, and it’s been awhile since they’ve seen him at all. Nonetheless, he feels it’s his responsibility to show why American fans have taken such a liking to [...]

TOKYO – The traditional pre-event press conference for this week’s UFC 144 show takes place tonight, and you can watch a live video stream of the festivities here on MMAjunkie.com. Today’s event takes place at the Ritz-Carlton in Tokyo with UFC president Dana White and UFC 144 fighters Frankie Edgar, Benson Henderson, Quinton Jackson, Ryan [...]

Current Super Cage Combat middleweight champion Bristol Marunde has agreed to fight ex-Strikeforce titleholder Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza at next week’s “Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey” event. Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker today announced the new booking. Souza’s original opponent, undefeated Derek Brunson, was forced off the card on Tuesday after failing a pre-event vision test.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission today voted to formalize a temporary suspension issued to Nick Diaz in the wake of his positive drug test for marijuana. A formal disciplinary hearing is now expected at a date to be determined. Now-UFC interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit outpointed Diaz at UFC 143 on Feb. 4 in Las [...]

“Countdown to UFC 144,” the latest installment of the UFC’s customary pre-event show, debuted Tuesday on FUEL TV. Now, you can watch the full hour-long episode here. The show debuts Saturday’s big UFC 144 event, which takes place at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, with a lightweight-championship headliner between champion Frankie Edgar and challenger [...]

TOKYO – If UFC lightweights were reptiles, Ben Henderson would be Godzilla, and Frankie Edgar would be a GEICO lizard. But Edgar, who puts his UFC lightweight title on the line at Saturday’s big UFC 144 event in Japan, doesn’t believe size will be an issue at the event. After all, he’s used to being [...]

Strikeforce’s next major event could land in the promotion’s birthplace. Sources close to the event today told MMAjunkie.com that San Jose, Calif.’s HP Pavilion is targeted for a Strikeforce event on May 19, though the location has yet to be finalized. No matchups have been confirmed for the event’s fight lineup, which would include a [...]

TOKYO – Quinton Jackson says the old ‘Rampage’ is coming out for UFC 144, and that means the kind of high-flying action that first made him a star. Ryan Bader welcomes that when they meet Saturday in the co-main draw of the pay-per-view event, but he’s not going to fall prey to Jackson’s specialties. And [...]

When German Andreas Kraniotakes steps into the cage to fight, it’s a step down in craziness. It’s a controlled environment. “I’ve been a bouncer for 10 years,” Kraniotakes, who fights Dmitry Poberezhets at Cage Warriors 46, told MMAjunkie.com Radio. “I think I’m used to that aggression in the air and adrenaline.” But as much of [...]

Heavyweight headliners Andreas Kraniotakes (240 pounds) are Dmitry Poberezhets (236.9) have successfully made weight for Thursday’s Cage Warriors 46 event. Today’s weigh-ins took place in Kiev, Ukraine. The city’s Stereo Plaza hosts Thursday’s event, which includes a live main-card stream on MMAjunkie.com beginning at 2 p.m. ET (11 a.m. PT) following a one-hour Facebook preliminary-card [...]

TOKYO – As Anthony Pettis looks a few spots above his name on UFC 144′s fight card, he knows it could be he – not Benson Henderson – fighting for the UFC lightweight title in Saturday’s main event. Fourteen months after defeating Henderson in the WEC’s final event, Pettis now watches his former foe taking [...]

After a rescheduling, MMAjunkie.com Radio today welcomes to the show UFC veteran Michael Bisping. We also talk to Legacy Fighting 10 headliner Gerald Harris, UFC on FX 2′s Steven Siler, Titan Fighting 21 headliner Jorge Santiago, “Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey” fighter Roger Bowling, and UFC vet Daniel Roberts. MMAjunkie.com Radio airs from noon to 2 [...]