“The Ultimate Fighter 8″ lightweight winner Efrain Escudero will return to the octagon on April 1st to take on Jeremy Stephens at UFC Fight Night 18.

Stephens recently announced the matchup on MySpace.

The 155-pound bout is the first fight unofficially confirmed for UFC Fight Night 18, which has not yet been officially announced by the UFC. A location for the event has not yet been revealed, though MMA Junkie reports that Nashville and Las Vegas are likely destinations for the event, which is likely to act as a lead-in for the debut of “The Ultimate Fighter 9″.

World Extreme Cagefighting has finalized the lineup for WEC 38, which takes place on January 25th at the San Diego Sports Arena in San Diego, California.

The Versus-broadcast event is headlined by a lightweight championship bout featuring current title-holder Jamie Varner putting the 155-pound title on the line against Donald Cerrone. A rematch featuring featherweights Urijah Faber and Jens Pulver co-headlines the event, while Danillo Villefort vs. Mike Campbell and Jose Aldo vs. Fredson Paixao round out the main card.

Ed Ratcliff vs. Anthony Njokuani, Edgar Garcia vs. Hiromitsu Miura, Dominick Cruz vs. Ian McCall, Scott Jorgensen vs. Frank Gomez,Blas Avena vs. Jesse Lennox, and Charlie Valencia vs. Seth Dikun are slated for the untelevised preliminary card.

Lightweight Matt Grice will return to the octagon on Feburary 7th against George Sotiropoulos at UFC Fight Night 17 in Tampa, Florida, according to MMA Weekly.

Grice, who took time off from fighting to graduate from the police academy, announced in November his intention to return to the octagon in early-2009. Plans for a tune-up bout outside of the UFC have apparently been scrapped as Grice and Sotiropoulos will both end extended layoffs with a 155-pound matchup on the evening’s preliminary card.

UFC lightweight Josh Neer was charged on Thursday with driving while intoxicated and eluding police after allegedly hitting two cars in Des Moines, Iowa on Thursday morning before leading authorities on an 15-minute chase that exceeded 100 miles-per-hour. Neer was apprehended after police used spike strips to stop the vehicle, though he is now free on $7,000 bond.

Neer (21-7-1), who holds a 3-4 record inside the octagon, returned to the UFC in early-2008 with a unanimous decision victory over Din Thomas, but dropped his most-recent bout to Nate Diaz at UFC Fight Night 15 in September. “The Dentist” is scheduled to return to action against Mac Danzig in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 17 on February 7th.

11 of the 20 fighters who were in action at UFC 92 have been issued medical suspensions by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

The December 27th event took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas in front of a crowd of 14,166 (9,701 paid), which generated a live gate of $3,468,440 million.

The suspensions included Forrest Griffin, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and Wanderlei Silva.

Additionally, the NSAC drug tested 12 fighters who participated on the UFC 92 card. Tested were Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Frank Mir, Brad Blackburn, Matt Hamill, Antoni Hardonk, Yushin Okami, Cheick Kongo, Quinton Jackson, CB Dolloway, and Patrick Barry.

“The Ultimate Fighter 6″ cast member Troy Mandaloniz (3-1) will make his welterweight debut at UFC 95 on February 21st in London against Britain’s Paul Kelly (8-1), according to MMA Weekly.

Diego Sanchez vs. Joe Stevenson headlines UFC 95, which also features Nate Marquardt vs. Wilson Gouveia, Dan Hardy vs. Rory Markham, and Stefan Struve vs. Junior Dos Santos.

Welcome the MMAFrenzy.com’s coverage of FieLDS Dynamite!! 2008, which took place on New Year’s Eve at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

MMAFrenzy.com’s coverage of the massive card, which boasted eight kickboxing matches, including Badr Hari vs. Alistair Overeem and Musashi vs. Gegard Mousasi, as well as ten MMA bouts, including Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic vs. Hong Man Choi and Eddie Alvarez vs. Shinya Aoki, includes quick results and fight videos.

A planned fight between Gesias “JZ” Calvancante and Joachim Hansen has been scratched from the card as Hansen failed to be medically cleared for the contest due to a reported “head injury”, for which he is receiving treatment at a hospital.

Join us after the jump for complete FieLDS Dynamite!! 2008 coverage and discussion…

The World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts (WAMMA) has announced that it will recognize the winner of the New Year’s Eve lightweight bout between Eddie Alvarez and Shinya Aoki, WAMMA’s number 2 and 3 ranked lightweights respectively, as WAMMA’s first-ever lightweight champion.

The bout is slated to take place on December 31st in Saitama, Japan at the Saitama Super Arena during FEG’s “FieLDS Dynamtie!!”.

UFC lightweight champion BJ Penn is currently WAMMA’s top-ranked lightweight, but WAMMA Chief Operating Officer Michael Lynch, in a press release announcing the title match, explained that the winner of the upcoming bout is still deserving of the title.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, through UFC.com, on Sunday apologized for his upset loss to Frank Mir but vowed that he’ll return a better fighter and will reclaim the heavyweight title.

“I apologize to all my fans for my fight on Saturday, and I’m very disappointed with what happened, but I promise that I’ll be back stronger and better in 2009,” said Nogueira. “I’ve come back before, and I’m going to get the title back. I’ve got a lot of respect for Frank Mir, he fought a great fight and was the better man that night. I was ready to fight, but he got to me before I was able to get to him.”

Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir used surprisingly superior striking to batter Nogueira in the opening round of their co-headliner, knocking Nogueira to the canvas twice before the round concluded. Early in the second round Mir overwhelmed Nogueira with strikes, finishing off the Brazilian for the first-time in his legendary career to claim the promotion’s interim heavyweight title.

Japanese Olympic Judo Gold Medalist Satoshi Ishii, who was cageside for UFC 92 on Saturday, has entered exclusive negotiations with the UFC, the promotion has announced.

Ishii earned the gold medal this fall in Beijing in the men’s over 100-kilogram division. It was widely anticipated that he’d sign with a Japanese MMA promotion for his MMA debut, but in early-December he announced his intention to immediately fight in the UFC. In an effort to make his wishes a reality the UFC brought Ishii to Las Vegas this week to train at Xtreme Couture alongside 5-time UFC champion Randy Couture and attend Saturday’s pay-per-view event, where he was featured during the unaired preliminary bout between Yushin Okami and Dean Lister.

The trip appears to have had its intended effect with Ishii and the UFC now exclusively working towards a contract that will likely see Ishii debut in the octagon in 2009.