Each day, The MMA Corner will provide a recap of results, event announcements, fight matchups, and injuries/cancellations from throughout the world of MMA.
Strikeforce’s May event features Melendez-Thomson rubber match, Kyle vs. Cavalcante
The May 19 “Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Cormier” event has added two fights to its main card.
Lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez will defend his belt against former champ Josh Thomson. The fights have split a pair of previous meetings.
Also on deck will be light heavyweight bout between one-time champ Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante and Mike Kyle.
The event will take place from the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., and is set to air live on Showtime.
Charlie Brenneman vs. Erick Silva tabbed for UFC on FX 3
Welterweights Charlie Brenneman and Erick Silva will lock horns at the June 8 UFC on FX 3 event.
The location of the fight is still yet to be announced. A fan vote in the Harley-Davidson Hometown Throwdown promotion will determine the venue and host city.
The main card will air on FX. It is expected that the preliminary card bouts will be shown on both Fuel TV and Facebook.
Bellator 64 set for Caesars Windsor on April 6
The card of Friday’s Bellator 64 event is set. As expected, a welterweight title bout between champion Ben Askren and season-five tournament winner Douglas Lima headlines the night’s action from Caesars Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
Also on the card will be a season-six featherweight semifinal between Brazilians Marlon Sandro and Alexandre “Popo” Bezerra and the first two fights in the season-six bantamweight tournament. Travis Marx takes on Masakatsu Ueda, while Rodrigo Lima battles Hiroshi Nakamura.
Filling out the card will be former WEC lightweight Chris Horodecki facing off with Mike Richman, in a pair of middleweight bouts Nordine Taleb meets Matt Secor, while Elias Theodorou locks horns with Rich Lictawa, Kyle Prepolec and Lance Snow will square off in a catchweight bout, at welterweight Josh Taverine meets undefeated Chad Laprise, and Taylor Solomon fights Jason Fischer at lightweight.
The event will be broadcast live on MTV2 starting at 8 p.m. ET. The preliminary card will be streamed on Spike.com starting at 7 p.m. ET.
Gian Villante slated to meet Derrick Mehmen on May 19
Light heavyweights Gian Villante and Derrick Mehmen are set to battle at “Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Cormier” event. Villante revealed the matchup, but the promotion has not confirmed it.
The event takes place May 19 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. No word on whether the Showtime broadcast will include the fight.
TUF Live ratings dip slightly
The fourth episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Live on FX was watched by an average of 1.1 million viewers last Friday night.
The show has bounced between 1.1 and 1.3 million viewers over the course of its current season, with the debut having the largest amount of viewers.
Bob Sapp to face Mariusz Pudzianowski at KSW 19
Polish promotion KSW has revealed that World’s Strongest Man Mariusz Pudzianowski will fight longtime MMA sideshow Bob Sapp at its May 12 event.
The super heavyweight bout will headline the event which takes from the Atlas Stadium in Lodz.
Sapp has lost five in a row and eight of his last nine. The fighter hasn’t been to the second round in more than 10 years. , The 38-year-old is also expected to compete in a kickboxing match on April 22 and an MMA bout in Australia on May 18.
Photo: Gilbert Melendez (Esther Lin/Strikeforce)
