UFC president Dana White revealed on Twitter this morning that a very interesting middleweight bout has been added to the May 5th UFC on Fox 3 card in New Jersey, as Brazilian leg-mangler Rousimar Palhares will meet Louisiana's own Alan Belcher:

Alan Belcher vs Rousimar Palhares fight added to FOX card!!!!!!

Many fans had called for this match-up given the recent successes of both men and their positioning in the upper echelon of the UFC's 185 lb. ranks. Belcher returned in September after over a year spent battling a potentially career-ending eye injury, and he quickly dispatched of the always-game Jason MacDonald. Although he's shown a solid ground game in addition to his dynamic muay thai, Belcher will want to avoid the ground at all costs against Palhares, who is one of the most feared submission artists in modern MMA, given his brute strength and penchant for crushing leg locks, along with his ability to snatch them from seemingly any position.

Alan "The Talent" Belcher (17-6)
W Jason Macdonald (submission - punches) - UFN 25
W Patrick Cote (submission - RNC) - UFC 113
W Wilson Gouveia (TKO) - UFC 107

Rousimar "Toquinho" Palhares (14-3)
W Mike Massenzio (submission - heel hook) - UFC 142
W Dan Miller (unam. decision) - UFC 134
W Dave Branch (submission - heel hook) - UFC on Versus 3

Here's how the UFC on Fox 3 card is shaping up:

-Nate Diaz vs. Jim Miller (5-round main event)
-Josh Koscheck vs. Johny Hendricks
-Alan Belcher vs. Rousimar Palhares
-Pat Barry vs. Lavar Johnson
-John Dodson vs. Darren Uyenoyama
-Anthony Ferguson vs. Dennis Hallman
-John Hathaway vs. Pascal Krauss
-Danny Castillo vs. John Cholish
-Louis Gaudinot vs. John Lineker
-Mike Massenzio vs. Karlos Vemola

UFC on Fox 3 coverage

UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta isn't generally a guy that breaks a lot of news. But during a late-night twitter Q&A with fans last week, he was a goldmine of information. One of the biggest pieces of information he dropped was when he was asked by a fan who was next for former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir. He answered with just one word:

Cain.

That, of course, is former champ Cain Velasquez, who dropped his title to Junior dos Santos at UFC on Fox 1 back in November. Fertitta didn't mention a timeframe for the bout, but the yearly Memorial Day event (UFC 146 on May 26th) and Independence Day event (UFC 148 on July 7th) seem like solid fits. There will be a Fan Expo at the July event, so it is likely to have a stacked card.

Mir is coming off his second victory over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 140, which was one of the best submissions of 2011. He has now won three bouts in a row, and has quietly crept back into contention for a title shot. Fabricio Werdum has been angling for a fight with Mir on twitter lately, but it looks like he will have to wait in line. The bout could possibly serve as a number one contenders matchup.

The aftermath of the Nick Diaz saga has led to a lot of confusion in the welterweight division. Will Carlos Condit defend his UFC interim welterweight title before Georges St. Pierre comes back? Who are the top contenders for that bout if it does happen? Well, one piece of the welterweight puzzle was revealed today by UFC president Dana White. Josh Koscheck will face Johny Hendricks at UFC on Fox 3 on May 5th. Here's what he said on twitter:

This bout makes all sorts of sense. Hendricks is coming off of a 12 second knockout of Kos's former teammate and good friend Jon Fitch. Koscheck defeated Mike Pierce via close split decision at UFC 143, while Hendricks did the same at UFC 133. Koscheck is a natural talker who is a good fit for a Fox show, and the winner of the bout will be a clear option for Condit if he does choose to defend before GSP returns. The only bad part is that this will be a three-rounder.

In short, excellent booking as usual from Joe Silva.

SBN coverage of UFC on Fox 3

Chinese UFC fighter Tiequan Zhang had been waiting for a new UFC 144 opponent for over close to two weeks, but he has one now. Zhang was originally scheduled to meet epic brawler Leonard Garcia on the card, but Garcia was forced out with an injury. It was widely expected that Nam Phan would fill the spot, and Phan even campaigned for the fight on twitter. Alas, it was not to be and Zhang will now face Shooto vet Issei Tamura (via UFC.com):

With Leonard Garcia sidelined due to injury, Japan's own Issei Tamura has agreed to step in and fight China's Tiequan Zhang on February 26 at UFC 144 in Tokyo. The 6-2 featherweight Tamura is a teammate of Kid Yamamoto, who is also fighting on the Saitama supercard.

It's rare that a guy gets his first UFC fight coming off a loss, but the Zuffa's hand was forced with the card coming up in under two weeks. Tamura has spent his entire career in Shooto, going 1-1 in 2011 with a knockout win over Sengoku vet Katsuya Toida in August and a decision loss to Guy Delumeau in November. Zhang lost in his last trip to the octagon, dropping a decision to Darren Elkins at UFC 136 in October.

SBN coverage of UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson

UFC middleweight Michael Bisping has left his longtime gym, Wolfslair MMA Academy in Widnes, England. The reasons are currently unknown, but he had been with the team for his entire UFC run. He addressed the rumors by sending a telegram to every member of the MMA media. Just kidding, he did it like everyone else does these days - on twitter:

The move was not completely unexpected. Bisping has talked about his plans to move to Los Angeles for a while now, and is currently training with Tiki Ghosn and Brady Fink in Huntington Beach. He is coming off a close decision loss to Chael Sonnen at UFC on Fox 2 last month, but his spirited performance earned him a lot of respect and cemented his position as one of the top middleweights in the world.

Now that the UFC has taken care of the main event for their May 15th Fuel card and by booking Dustin Poirier vs. Chan Sung Jung, they're getting around to booking the rest of the card. They recently announced the addition of three bouts on their website:

Verbal agreements are in for a trio of bouts at the UFC event May 15 in Fairfax that feature TUF fan favorites coming in off the injured list.

TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah will meet 11-2 Wanderlei Silva protege Jorge Lopez in a welterweight war. The matchup was originally slated to take place last weekend at UFC 143, but both fighters were injured during their training camps.

Lightweight Aaron Riley will throw down in his hometown against TUF 12 submission specialist Cody McKenzie.

Fans in Fairfax will also witness a middleweight matchup between 10-2 Dongi ‘The Ox’ Yang and 7-1 Brad Tavares.

All six of the fighters are coming off losses in their last bouts. Riley is also coming off a broken jaw that was suffered in his bout with Tony Ferguson at UFC 135. All three are expected to take place on the preliminary card, though the Sadollah fight could be placed on the main card, depending on what else gets booked. Here's how the card looks right now:

Dustin Poirier vs. Chan Sung Jung
Igor Pokrajac vs. Thiago Silva
Donald Cerrone vs. Yves Edwards
Tom Lawlor vs. Jason MacDonald
Jorge Lopez vs. Amir Sadollah
Cody McKenzie vs. Aaron Riley
Brad Tavares vs. Dongi Yang

SBN coverage of UFC on Fuel 3: Diamond vs. Zombie

While this has yet to be confirmed by the UFC or Roger Gracie, GracieMag has reported that the former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight has signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championships:

If this is true, Roger Gracie would be the most decorated Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighter to ever enter the Octagon with 10 IBJJF World Championships and two ADCC gold medals. Many consider Roger Gracie the best living grappler on the planet.

Gracie signed with Strikeforce in 2010 and had three fights with the San Jose based promotion.

Muhammed Lawal - Loss - KO - Round 1 - Strikeforce World Grand Prix: Barnett vs. Kharitonov

Trevor Prangley - Win - Submission (Rear Naked Choke) - Round 1 - Strikeforce: Diaz vs Cyborg

Kevin Randleman - Win - Submission (Rear Naked Choke) - Round 2 - Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery

While the loss to Lawal was a serious set back to Gracie, he has recently stated that has refocused his efforts on MMA. Earlier this week it was reported by Tatame that Gracie is also close to signing with the Blackhouse management group and, as suggested by the GracieMag tweet, training with UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva.

Additionally it was reported by Tatame that one thing Gracie's new manager would consider is dropping him to Middleweight. While the Brazilian started his career at Heavyweight, he has a very lean body type and heavy weight cuts are not part BJJ competitions, so it is possible Gracie could make the cut.

"To me, he has all the tools to build up a great MMA career, he just need some work, focused. I’m sure he’ll be a tough one to fight in MMA", compliments the manager, revealing the possibility of Roger dropping to the middleweight division. "He’s considering dropping, but it’s not set in stone yet".

He would be an interesting addition to the UFC Middleweight division. Gracie would very tall for the division at 6'4", he brings elite ground skills and solid takedown game to a division searching for new contenders.

Update by Tim Burke - Multiple sources are now stating that the reports might have been premature and that Gracie will not be going to the UFC after all. Stay tuned for further updates.

UPDATE by Kid Nate: Dana White scotches the rumor at the UG:

From: dfw jr
Posted: 2/11/12, 11:12 PM
Member Since: 1/1/01
Posts: 1165

not true

It didn't take long for kickboxing ace and undefeated MMA fighter Stephen Thompson to get his next fight after a first round knockout win in his UFC 143 debut. He'll take on fellow UFC 143 victor Matt Brown at April's UFC 145 in Atlanta, GA.

Thompson (6-0, 1-0 UFC) used a great head kick to knock out Dan Stittgen in the opening bout of UFC 143, but he'll face a much more experienced fighter in Brown (13-11, 6-5 UFC) who beat Chris Cope by second round TKO on the same event. After three straight second round submission losses, the 31-year-old came through and beat John Howard in a must-win situation.

Brown then proceeded to lose again by second round submission to Seth Baczynski in November before his recent win over Cope. While Thompson will likely want to keep the fight standing, he does have one submission victory in his young career. Brown has been submitted nine times in his career, but has never been knocked out.

The fight is expected to be on the Fuel prelims portion of UFC 145, headlined by Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans.