In the Cage – 11.5.12

Each day, The MMA Corner will provide a recap of results, event announcements, fight matchups, and injuries/cancellations from throughout the world of MMA.

The UFC and Fox just went public with a number of key dates that will accompany two recently announced event cards on the UFC’s 2013 schedule.  In addition to UFC 156 this February, and UFC on FX 7 this January, other events have been revealed. Apart from the full card for UFC on FX 7 and the Jose Aldo-Frankie Edgar featherweight title tilt, no fights stand officially as a part of any of the upcoming cards, though a long-awaited showdown between Anthony Pettis and Donald Cerrone has been targeted for the promotion’s return to Chicago, the host city for UFC on Fox 6.

The full schedule is as follows:

Saturday, Jan. 19    Brazil    UFC on FX: BELFORT vs. BISPING
Saturday, Jan. 26    United Center, Chicago, Ill.    UFC on FOX
Saturday, Feb. 2    Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, Nev.    UFC 156: ALDO vs. EDGAR**
Saturday, Feb. 16    International Event    UFC on FUEL TV
Saturday, April 20    City to be announced     UFC on FOX
Saturday, April 27    Prudential Center, Newark, N.J.    UFC: JONES vs. SONNEN**
Saturday, July 27    City to be announced     UFC on FOX
Saturday, Dec. 14    City to be announced     UFC on FOX

They call it “the bite heard around the world”, but it didn’t help Team Carwin’s James Chaney to keep from tapping out to Jon Manley of Team Nelson. Nevertheless, the recent episode helped to snap a skid of low ratings, pulling in 1,100,000 viewers, thus tying it for the season’s most-watched episode. In addition to Manley’s win over Chaney, UFC president Dana White stopped by the house to motivate the fighters to compete as though they wanted to make the finale’s final (almost complete) card, and Shane Carwin defeated Roy Nelson in the coaches’ challenge, though time will tell if Carwin can deliver the same verdict on Dec. 15 when he and Nelson square off in the season’s finale.

Though it may not come off as a surprise to many, “Suga” Rashad Evans opens as a -345 favorite over the +265 underdog Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Though unconfirmed by the promotion, the bout remains on tap for a spot on the UFC 156 card in Las Vegas this February. The bout will mark Evans’ first fight since losing at UFC 145 to current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, while Nogueira will come off of a long layoff following his UFC 140 win over Tito Ortiz.

Bellator 79 turned in excellent performances from season-seven heavyweight tourney finalist Rich Hale, season-seven featherweight tourney finalist Shahbulat Shamhalaev, and welterweights Douglas Lima and Ryan Ford, However, the stellar night of action saw 154,000 viewers witness the action live on MTV2, Epix in HD, and Spike.com.  That number equals the exact same viewership totals for Bellator 78 the week before.