Bloody Elbow, for MMA and UFC news

Tatame is reporting that UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo has parted ways with Ed Soares and Jorge Guimaraes (aka Black House). Going forward he will be solely managed by his coach Andre Pederneiras. Edit by Tim Burke - Ed Soares responds in an interview with Fighters Only.

Is Anderson Silva ducking Chael Sonnen? Jonathan Snowden asks the question at MMA Nation.

Lyoto Machida is ready to step back into the Octagon and has a few potential opponents in mind, as his manager, Ed Soares, tells MMA Weekly: "He's out here training, we're ready to go right now," said Soares. "He's ready to fight whoever, he wants to fight the best too." A few different names have been mentioned as possible opponents, including Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Forrest Griffin, while there are others that intrigue the former champion as well. One name that popped up was former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin, who just knocked out Chuck Liddell in June, and could be looking for a big fight at 205 pounds. Franklin and Machida actually fought in 2003 in Japan in what was Machida's third professional fight. "That could be a big fight," Soares said about a fight with Franklin. "At the end of the day that's the first guy who gave Rich Franklin his first loss, maybe Rich Franklin would like to avenge that. That could be a good fight." "You know what I think would be interesting is how about a Vitor Belfort?" said Soares. "Vitor Belfort/Lyoto Machida? I think Vitor now will get another fight before he fights Anderson Silva. Put it this way, anything can happen, you never know."

Manager Ed Soares tells MMA Weekly that Antonio Rogerio Nogueira is beginning to recover from his ankle injury and is seeking to return to action in March, possibly at UFC 111 in Newark: "After such a great performance and on the hurt ankle, he wants to heal it up since it is a lot more serious than we all expected," said Soares, who indicated that Nogueira shouldn’t have to sit on the sideline for long. Asked if Nogueira could be back in the Octagon as soon as the March 27 event in New Jersey, Soares replied, "We would love for the UFC to offer us something like that."

MMAJunkie: [Ed Soares] said Silva did, in fact, apologize for the performance. "He did say that," Soares said. "When I watch the fight again, basically what he said – and like I said, he made a long statement – he did say those things. He did say that. He said, 'I'm sorry I didn't make you happy. I know that you guys are the ones that are paying my salary.' That's what he said. But sometimes, like I said, I'm not a professional translator. I just try to do the best that I can. Sometimes those statements get long and I try to say the best, and I try to touch on the main points. Sometimes he says a lot of things, and it takes a while to translate it all." Photo via National Post.