Jose Aldo became the WEC’s new featherweight champion on Wednesday with a second-round TKO of title-holder Mike Brown in the main event of WEC 44, which took place at The Pearl at The Palms in Las Vegas.

Also on the Versus-televised main card, Manny Gamburyan topped fellow featherweight contender Leonard Garcia by unanimous decision, newcomer Karen Darabedyan scored a split decision win over former lightweight champ rob McCullough, Shane Roller submitted Danny Castillo with a third-round rear naked choke, and Kamal Shalorus knocked out Will Kerr in the opening round.

Randy Couture and Dan Hardy each moved one step closer to title shots in their respective divisions on Saturday with unanimous decision wins at UFC 105 in Manchester, England. Couture edged Brandon Vera in the UFC 105 main event, while Hardy topped Mike Swick in the evening’s co-headliner.

Michael Bisping, Matt Brown, and Ross Pearson were also victorious on the UFC 105 main card.

Despite being bloodied in the opening seconds of the fight, top-ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko did what most predicted he would, scoring a second-round knockout of previously undefeated Brett Rogers on Saturday in the main event of Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers.

In the evening’s co-headliner, Jake Shields was crowned Strikeforce’s middleweight champion with a unanimous decision victory over Jason “Mayhem” Miller.

Michihiro Omigawa upset Hatsu Hioki on Saturday at Sengoku 11 in Tokyo, Japan, receiving a controversial split decision win in the evening’s main event. Also on the card, Mamed Khalidov extended his unbeaten streak to 18-straight by making quick work of Jorge Santiago, while notables Jorge Masvidal, Akihiro Gono, and Dave Herman also picked up wins.

Billy Evangelista remained undefeated on Friday in the main event of Strikeforce Challengers 4 in Fresno, California, earning a unanimous decision win over veteran Jorge Gurgel at the Showtime-televised card.

In other main card action, Shane Del Rosario, Luke Rockhold, Merrit Warren, and Thomas Diagne all earned victories.

Carolina Fight Promotions put on a great event at the Carolina Crown 2 in Raleigh, North Carolina Saturday night. The card featured seven amateur bouts and seven professional bouts, including two championship fights, and was headlined by former The Ultimate Fighter contestant Vinny Magalhaes defeating Kris Davis, who was a late replacement for Jason Guida, who pulled out of the fight due to a reported back injury.

Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem and Bellator lightweight title-holder Eddie Alvarez were among the winners on Sunday at DREAM 12 in Osaka, Japan.

Overeem submitted James Thompson with a guillotine choke in under a minute in the DREAM 12 main event, while Alvarez used an arm-triangle choke to defeat Katsunori Kikuno in the second-round of their featured matchup.

The “Machida Era” was extended in controversial fashion on Saturday, as light heavyweight champ Lyoto Machida was awarded a questionable unanimous decision win over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in the main event of UFC 104 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Cain Velasquez dominated Ben Rothwell in the UFC 104 co-headliner, while Gleison Tibau, Joe Stevenson, and Anthony Johnson also earned main card wins.

Ben Henderson was crowned the WEC’s interim lightweight champion on Saturday after earning a unanimous decision victory over Donald Cerrone in an instant classic that headlined WEC 43 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas.

Dave Jansen, Raphael Assuncao, and Damacio Page also picked up main card wins, while Anthony Njokuani, Scott Jorgensen, Mackens Semerzier, Eddie Wineland, Charlie Valencia, and Deividas Taurosevicius were victorious on the WEC 43 prelims.

MMA returned to the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Leemore, California on Thursday, as Tachi Palace Fights held its debut “Most Wanted” event at the venue that was formerly home to World Extreme Cagefighting and Palace Fighting Championship.

Rising featherweight Chad Mendes, a training partner of WEC star Urijah Faber’s, topped Mike Joy by unanimous decision in the evening’s main event, while War Machine (formerly Jon Koppenhaver) suffered a split decision loss to David Mitchell and Bellator featherweight champ Joe Soto submitted Mike Christensen with a gogoplata in other notable bouts.

Bibiano Fernandes upset Joe Warren in the DREAM featherweight grand prix semifinals then topped Hiroyuki Takeya in the main event of DREAM 11 on Tuesday to become the promotion’s featherweight champion.

In other notable action at the Yokohama Arena in Kanagawa, Japan, Shinya Aoki became DREAM’s lightweight champ by submitting title-holder Joachim Hansen in the closing seconds of their co-headlining matchup, veteran Kazushi Sakuraba easily submitted newcomer Rubin Williams, and Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou and Ikuhisa Minowa advanced to the Super Hulk tournament finale.

Mike Easton retained the Ultimate Warrior Challenge bantamweight title on Saturday in the main event of UWC 7: Redemption, topping Chase Beebe in a controversial split decision that capped off the card at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia.

In the evening’s co-headliner, Pat Runez was crowned the first-ever UWC flyweight champion by edging John Dodson on the judge’s scorecards after an entertaining five-round slugfest.

Travis Lutter edged hometown favorite Jason MacDonald on Friday in the main event of MFC 22, earning a unanimous decision win in the matchup of middleweight UFC veterans that capped off the HDNet-televised event at the River Cree Resort and Casino in Edmonton, Canada.

In other notable action, Antonio McKee topped Carlo Prated by unanimous decision in the MFC 22 co-main event, while John Alessio stopped Luigi Fioravanti with strikes in the third round of their featured bout.

Mike Campbell rebounded from back-to-back losses that sent him packing from the WEC in the main event of WCF 8 on Saturday, defeating Mike Medrano via first-round TKO to get back in the win column. Across the world in Russia, Team USA East and Russia Legion advanced to the M-1 Challenge 2009 finals.

Badr Hari, Alistair Overeem, Jerome Le Banner, Semmy Schilt, and Remy Bonjasky were among the winners at Saturday’s K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 Final 16 kickboxing event in Seoul, South Korea.

The winning fighters now advance to the K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 Finals on December 5 in Kanagawa, Japan, where they’ll participate in a one-night, eight-man tournament to crown the 2009 K-1 World Grand Prix champion.