In the UFC 103 headlining bout between former UFC champions Rich Franklin and Vitor Belfort, Belfort made good on his return to the UFC. The Brazilian rocked Franklin with a right, then dropped him with a left before forcing Yves Lavigne to call a stop to the contest with more punches to the downed [...]

Fighters weighed-in today at the Dallas Convention Center Arena for UFC 103 which will take place Saturday at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Pay-per-view headliner Rich Franklin made weight for the 195 catch weight bout weighing in at 195 pounds on the nose. Co-headliner Vitor Belfort missed weight by a quarter of pound and has two hours to lose the additional weight.

Cung Le has vacated the Strikeforce middleweight title he’s failed to defend since winning it early last year and contenders Jake Shields and Jason “Mayhem” Miller are now set to square off for the belt on November 7 on the undercard of Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers on CBS.

Recent Strikeforce acquisition, and top ranked heavyweight fighter Fedor Emelianenko will make his Strikeforce debut against Brett Rogers on national television. The promotions first event to be televised on CBS since striking their deal with the network will take place on November 7, 2009. The bout itself has been locked up for some time, though the date had yet to be finalized.

Following an early knockdown at the hands of Melvin Guillard in the UFC Fight Night 19 headliner, Nate Diaz took advantage of his first opportunity on the ground, forcing Guillard to tap to a guillotine choke in the second-round of the main event.

The finish capped off the Spike TV-televised card, which took place at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Despite a hard weight cut, UFC Fight Night 19 headliner Nate Diaz successfully made weight at Tuesday’s official weigh-ins for the event, weighing in exactly at the 156-pound non-title lightweight limit, while his main event opponent, Melvin Guillard, tipped the scale one pound lighter at 155. The rest of the 11-bout card also successfully made weight on their first attempt.

The UFC today announced its long-rumored UFC 106 event, which will take place on November 21 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Confirmed for the card was a headlining matchup between heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar and challenger Shane Carwin, as well as Tito Ortiz’s return to the Octagon against hall of famer Mark Coleman.

Following weeks of searching and speculation, it appears that the UFC has finally secured a main event for UFC 105 in Manchester, England. A light heavyweight matchup between Randy Couture and Brandon Vera is in the process of being booked for the event, according to BloodyElbow.

Negotiations to have middleweight contenders Dan Henderson and Nate Marquardt meet in the headliner have stalled, while a matchup between Matt Hughes and middleweight champ Anderson Silva also fell through for the November 14 event.

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira will make his UFC debut against Luis Cane at UFC 105 on November 14 in Manchester, England, according to Sherdog, which reports that the pair of Brazilians have agreed to the fight but that bout agreements are still pending for the light heavyweight mathcup.

A matchup between middleweight contenders Dan Henderson and Nate Marquardt is being planned to headline UFC 105 on November 14 in Manchester, England, with Fanhouse reporting on Thursday that the UFC is “looking to book” the fight but that bout agreements have not yet been finalized.

Both Henderson and Marquardt are eyeing rematches with 185-pound king Anderson Silva, who could be available to fight by November after failing to undergo a previously-reported elbow surgery that was to sideline him until early next year.

Two fights have been added to the December fifth scheduled The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale in Las Vegas, NV. Those fights include Kurt Pellegrino vs. Frankie Edgar and Dennis Hallman vs. John Howard.

Light heavyweights Matt Hamill and Jon Jones have agreed to meet at The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale on December 5 in Las Vegas, according to MMA Madness, with bout agreements pending for the matchup that would co-headline the Spike TV-televised event.

An upcoming Strikeforce event headlined by Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers could take place on October 10 in New Jersey, according to ESPN’s MMA Live. A venue was not revealed for the possible date, and it is not yet clear whether the UFC will attempt to organize a card to counter-program the Showtime-televised event.

UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva will soon undergo elbow surgery that will sideline him for the rest of the year, according to a Tweet from ESPN’s MMA Live.

With Silva now sidelined until sometime next year, it makes more sense than ever to have middleweight contenders Nate Marquardt and Dan Henderson fight in the interim.

A rumored heavyweight matchup between Frank Mir and Cheick Kongo slated for UFC 107 could be scrapped, at least if Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira gets his way, as the former interim title-holder, who bested Randy Couture at last weekend’s UFC 102 event, is calling for a rematch with Mir at the December 12 event in Memphis, Tennessee.