James Irvin will be eligible to return to action on April 19th after serving a 9-month suspension for testing positive for the banned painkillers methadone and oxymorphone following his first-round TKO loss to Anderson Silva at UFC Fight Night 14 on July 19th.

“My suspension’s up April 19th so I’ll fight on the first card after April… I’d love to fight Wanderlei [Silva]. There’s a few guys actually, but I’m gonna try to get to ‘85. I plan on fighting at 185 in April. There are a bunch of guys down there that I really want to beat up,” said Irvin in a recent interview.

Rich “Ace” Franklin never seemed all too enthused about coaching the ninth season of The Ultimate Fighter: U.S. vs. U.K., but now it seems he really, really doesn’t want to. His hints aren’t exactly subtle:

“I have not personally spoken to Dana, the UFC or any of the production people about the show,” Franklin said. “Six weeks in Vegas, I’ve gotten to the point where I could care less for staying in Vegas for that period of time. It’s time away from my family and time away from doing the things I can do to make money. The show doesn’t pay very well. … But anything the UFC asks me to do, I’m always on board for.”

World Extreme Cagefighting will feature a 125-pound flyweight division beginning in March according to MMA Weekly, joining existing bantamweight (135), featherweight (145), lightweight (155), and welterweight (170) classes.

The WEC shifted it’s heavier middleweight (185) and light heavyweight (205) divisions to it’s sister promotion, the UFC, in late-2008 to differentiate itself by focusing on lighter weight classes.

UFC President Dana White revealed earlier today that UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar and interim UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir are tentatively slated to meet in April to unify the titles.

“Mir took little damage in his fight with Nog, and Lesnar wants to fight him soon, so April may be the time and place for that. It will be good,” White told Fighters Only.

The promotion’s only major event currently scheduled for April is UFC 97 on April 18th in Montreal, Canada. Though the UFC has not yet finalized it’s return to the Bell Centre due to hockey playoff scheduling, the event is already rumored to include a middleweight championship fight featuring current title-holder Anderson Silva squaring off against challenger Thales Leites. David Losieau vs. Ed Herman and Jonathan Goulet are also rumored for the card.

It looks like the floundering U.S. economy is actually good for some things. A new ESPN.com article reports that the UFC is poised for yet another run at legalizing MMA in New York, with dollars and cents being at the forefront of the persuasive argument:

“The UFC also commissioned an independent economic impact study that showed a UFC event would generate $11.5 million for the city. [Dana] White said “We’re thrilled about the prospect of bringing our sport to New York and hope that legislators will recognize the tremendous economic opportunity it represents.”

“…Meanwhile, Gov. Paterson is cutting programs and paychecks to address a $15 billion deficit in the state budget, and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered $1.4 billion in budget cuts last month. Ignoring the income MMA and the UFC could bring to the state and city would seem fiscally irresponsible.”

The rumor mill has been churning over the last few days regarding upcoming match ups for the new year so check out the quick list and get yourself up to speed:

– Josh Koscheck vs. UFC newcomer Paulo Thiago at UFC 95 (Tatame)
– Lightweight wrestling machine Gray Maynard vs. Jim Miller at UFC 96 (TheGarv)
– Ben Saunders vs. submission artist Dustin “McLovin” Hazelett at UFC 96 (Sherdog)
– Ed Herman vs. returning UFC veteran David “The Crow” Loiseau at UFC 97 (CagePlay)
– Steve Bruno vs. TUF 7 alum Matthew Riddle at UFC Fight Night 17 (MMAJunkie)
– Josh Neer vs. Mac Danzig (re-confirmed after Neer’s DUI arrest) at UFC Fight Night 17 (MMAMania)
– Luigi Fioravanti vs. Anthony Johnson at UFC Fight Night 17 (MMAJunkie)
– Phil Baroni vs. Guillaume De Lorenzi will headline XMMA 7 (CagePlay)

Just when you thought it was safe to pull one over on the California State Athletic Commission, word comes down that Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva is getting slapped harder than Badr Hari after the K-1 GP Finals. According to Dave Meltzer of Yahoo!Sports, the CSAC has not taken kindly to Silva’s blatant disregard for the steroid-related suspension he received this past summer, and as punishment are now looking to revoke Silva’s fighter license. The commission is even going an unprecedented step further, fining Silva’s manager (Alex Davis of American Top Team) $2,500 just for negotiating the Sengoku bout which Silva won only two days ago.

So how bad would a revoking of Silva’s license really be you ask? This bad:

“A license revocation would mean Silva, and his corner men, would be banned from fighting in all U.S. commission states until California granted him a new license, which would be no less than one year from the date of it being revoked. Such an action would force whatever form EliteXC that potentially resurfaces this year to strip Silva of the title.”

Speaking to SI.com, famed boxing trainer Freddie Roach, who is currently working with Andrei Arlovski, commented on Fedor Emelianenko’s striking prowess, which is apparently none too impressive:

“He’s flat-footed, has no technique, but he can punch…That always helps. He’s accurate. He’ll follow you right to the floor, so he’s aggressive. But that aggressiveness can be used to our advantage, I think.”

I find it difficult to disagree with Freddie’s statement because, well, it’s true…for the most part. Despite all of his accomplishments, Fedor is yet another MMA fighter whose boxing is unorthodox and a bit looping. It is no secret that Emelianenko counts on power shots as opposed to carefully packaged combinations. But the fact remains that Fedor’s “slack” stand up has yet to make even the slightest dent in his domination of the MMA universe, despite not having the picture perfect jab-cross. Furthermore Feddie Roach, in all of his infinite wisdom, is simply incorrect in stating that Fedor has “no technique” whatsoever. Emelianenko does have a technique, it is just more tailored to mixed martial arts and not traditional boxing. And that technique works.

Bobby Lashley (1-0), Hector Lombard (18-2-1), and Alexis Vila (4-0) have each signed a one-fight contract with Palace Fighting Championships and will debut with the promotion on February 6th at PFC 13 at the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino in Lemoore, California.

PFC has also announced that Erin Toughill, who appeared as “Steel” on the second season of American Gladiators, will be in action at the event against Adrienna Jenkins.

Middleweight Dean Lister has been granted his release from the UFC after requesting that the promotion let him go, MMAWeekly.com reports.

Lister’s release was widely expected following his loss to Yushin Okami on the preliminary card of UFC 92 in December, however most felt the UFC would cut the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt. Perhaps sensing his inevitable release, Lister successfully requested to be cut and is already in talks with several other promotions, including Affliction and Dream.