Mid-week news, rumors and more...

Injury Report:
Brian Bowels (7-0) will not be facing Miguel Torres April 5 at WEC 40. Members of ATT, Florida have confirmed Bowels suffered a back injury during training that he will not recover from in time for the fight. In his place will be Shooto veteran Takeya Mizugaki. Mizugaki (11-2-2) will be making his U.S. and WEC debut at the UIC Pavillion in Chicago, IL against Torres. The Japan-native -coming off a 5-win streak- will be facing the 35-1 Torres in a five-round title bout.

INKED:
The UFC has signed MiddleWeight stand out (rumored to be top-15) Yoshihiro Akiyama (12-1-2). No word yet on how long the deal is; however, the 33-year-old should make an impact once he debuts. He is a decorated Judo black belt with wins over some of some of K-1's best guys (Kang, Manhoef). While the UFC plans for a summer debut, with no word on who the opponent is all we can expect is an exciting fight. Akiyama has never had a fight go to decision, with 7 submissions and 5 (T)KO's.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered...
UFC's Fight Night 18 has announced the completion of the card. Follow this link. I'm most looking forward to the Ricardo Almeida - Matt Horwich & Cole Miller - Junie "Made-me-want-to-never-watch-TUF-again" Browning fights. (Cole better kick his ass!)

UFC has also signed an "Official Spirit" sponsor. Tequila Cazadores will be the "Official Spirit of the UFC" (WOW). *According to a recent press release, “Tequila CAZADORES will be featured nationally through Pay-Per-View broadcasts, digital and print media content as well as venue signage throughout the year. In addition, Tequila CAZADORES will host special adult consumer tastings, events, and promotions to support the Sponsorship.” (*courtesy CagePotato.com)

Strikeforece's April 11 show is coming together nicely. While Shamrock v Diaz is the headline; the card will also feature Melendez-Thomson II for the title. Also on the card is Jake Shields v. Joe "worst-tattoos-in-MMA" Riggs and Benji Radach v. Scott Smith.

GREASED:
Dana White thinks GSP was greased at UFC 94. However, though he thinks cornerman Phil Nurse was cheating, he lays no blame on the Canadian champion. Heard here: with Neil Davidson of the Canadian Press, White expresses his views on what happened. The President also ends with a thought that BJ should stay at 155 "We both know that."

On the same topic you can see Jacob "Stitch" Duran giving his thoughts. He has two theories: either the cornerman (Phil Nurse) is very good and trained like the -days-of-old, or he's really bad and doesn't know what the hell he's doing. Either way... it's been done before and -though cornermen are no longer allowed to have vaseline or apply anything to the fighters- it will happen again.

Regarding Penn, he will likely return late July or August. While Florian was initially told a date of July 11th, the champion wont have it. Big brother/manager JD Penn told Sherdog.com (via text) "No, it's too close to his last fight. He wants to spend time with his baby." His daughter, Aeva, was born in October last year. He spent most of her first few months preparing for the Jan. 31st fight with GSP. Again via text, Brother Penn added "We are still negotiating the fight. No date scheduled, but we are thinking late July or early August." Whatever BJ wants BJ gets I guess.
Timelines are not so easy to flex for the challenger, Florian. Unlike Penn, he comes from humble beginnings and budgets his paydays. A July/August pay day would put him 8-9 months out from his last fight (Nov. against Stevenson). However, he's willing to wait if in means he'll get the best Penn yet.

Forget something? Comments? E-mail me at samantha.lynn.johnson@gmail.com