Bloody Elbow, for MMA and UFC news

The UFC dropped a bombshell today with the release of former Welterweight contender Jon Fitch. Many fans lashed out at the promotion's decision to retain fighters with worse records recently. Dan Hardy, who was kept on the roster after losing 4 consecutive fights, was a prime target. This is how Hardy responded to that criticism.

With his PSAC suspension just lifted, Nate Marquardt now responds to his recent critics in an interview with MMA Junkie: "Some of the fighters that think they're so cool and tough by kicking a guy when he's down – as far as my career, this has been one of the worst times of my life, and these guys are calling me a cheater and talking crap – I've taken note as to who those guys are, and I'm going to come for them. Eventually, I'll get them. I don't care if it's in a superfight or if they want to come down to my gym. I'll beat them up for free." "I think you know who these guys are – Ben Askren, B.J. Penn, Paul Daley, Hector Lombard, cowards talking crap about a guy when he's in such a situation. They're trying to take advantage of the situation. They're bullies. Those are the guys I want to beat up." "I'm not putting the blame on everyone else," Marquardt said. "Everyone had their little piece of fault, but I accept my part in the blame. The fault that I had, I take responsibility for. There are a few little things that if I could go back in time and change them, I wouldn't be in this position. There's things I'm doing now that will prevent this from ever happening again or ever becoming an issue. "The truth is going to come out over time. It has already started to come back. I was under suspension for literally less than three weeks, and my suspension was lifted. I didn't get any fines. This hasn't happened before in this sport, and it shows that I wasn't cheating. I have hope. There are crap-talkers like B.J. Penn who want to kick a guy when he's down, and I would love to fight that guy."

The UFC has signed Swedish judo specialist, Papy Abedi (8-0), who was the #1 ranked middleweight on BloodyElbow.com's world scouting report. Abedi's manager confirmed the news with Sherdog and also suggested that Abedi will drop down to 170 lbs for his UFC debut, which has no date or opponent scheduled yet. Photo: Simen Kjellin

Following his dominant decision victory over veteran, Nick Thompson, at Bellator 40 last night, reigning Bellator welterweight champ, Ben Askren, revealed to Sherdog that he would be moving to Milwaukee to train full-time with Duke Roufus's team, alongside Anthony Pettis, Erik Koch, and Pat Barry: "I will, for the first time in my life, be a full-time professional fighter. I am gonna move to Milwaukee to train under Duke Roufus. If you thought I was okay now, I might get a little bit better now that it’s full-time." Thompson, meanwhile, suggested that he would be retiring from active MMA competition following a 53-fight career: "I’m a fan of Ben Askren and it was an honor for this to be my last fight." -- photo via Keith Mills/Sherdog.com Bellator 40 coverage

Another day, another opponent for Amir Sadollah at UFN 24. First it was Duane Ludwig, and now James Wilks has bowed out of a fight with the TUF 7 winner due to injury. In their place, TUF 9 runner-up DaMarques Johnson will step in and meet Sadollah on the Spike TV-televised main card, according to UFC.com UFC Fight Night 24 coverage

Fresh off a submission-of-the-night performance at UFC 121, Daniel "Ninja" Roberts (11-1, 2-1 UFC) will face Greg Soto (8-1, 1-1 UFC) in a welterweight bout at UFC 125 on New Years Day. Roberts announced the booking on his Twitter account. UFC 125: Resolution coverage Photo: UFC