With UFC President Dana White surprisingly absent from Tuesday’s UFC 104 press conference at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, headliners UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida and challenger Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vowed to put their friendship aside and display unique styles in the October 24 showdown.

The UFC will hold a press conference on Tuesday at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles to promote its October 24 “UFC 104: Machida vs. Shogun” event, which takes place at the Staples Center in LA.

Though most of the focus at the press conference will be on UFC 104, White headed to Los Angeles on Monday with hopes of finalizing a deal with an undisclosed network to air a November event headlined by BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian. If finished, the deal could be announced as early as today.

Though UFC President Dana White stopped short of announcing a merger between the UFC and WEC at Thursday’s UFC 102 press conference, lighter weight classes are expected to be added to the UFC “real soon”.

White said the liklihood of lighter divisions being added to the UFC was “very good” and that they’d likely be added “real soon,” adding that the promotion is planning on three events per month in 2010 and needs the additional fights to fill the cards.

Dana White’s popular video blog series, which follows the UFC President leading up to the promotion’s events, has been discontinued and all of the vlogs have been removed from the UFC’s YouTube channel.

“I made the decision not to do the blogs anymore. I am the one that took them down. They were fun while they lasted, and thanks to everyone for the support,” White recently told CBS Radio host Carmichael Dave.

At the post-UFC 101 press conference it was announced that the event drew an official attendance of 17,411 to the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia for a Pennsylvania-record $3.55 million live gate.

The event’s “Fight Night” bonuses, next opponents for BJ Penn and Anderson Silva, and possible destinations for future UFC cards were also announced at the press conference.

UFC President Dana White was in Abu Dhabi yesterday on business when news broke that top-heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko would pass on the UFC’s lucrative offer by accepting a contract with Strikeforce that offered co-promotion.

“Fedor is a [expletive] joke. [He] turns down a huge deal and the opportunity to face the best in the world to fight nobodies, for no money. Fedor is a [expletive],” said White on Monday.

UFC President Dana White made several announcements during a Friday press conference, including confirmation that Vitor Belfort will be returning to the Octagon to headline UFC 103 against Rich Franklin, Dan Henderson is next in line for a middleweight title shot against Anderson Silva, and Tito Ortiz is officially returning to the UFC, likely facing Mark Coleman at the promotion’s New Year’s show.

As previously reported, UFC President Dana White will announce and discuss the latest UFC news during a Friday (July 31) conference call with the media.

Rumored announcements for the call include details on the UFC’s recently-formed “collaboration” with Affliction, the possible signing of Tito Ortiz, and a change in the UFC 103 main event, though none of the possibilities has yet been confirmed.

Though negotiations between Fedor Emelianenko and the UFC have apparently not begun yet, it appears both sides are willing to meet with hopes of bringing the top-ranked heavyweight into the Octagon.

M-1 Global President Vadim Finkelchtein believes that this weeks cancellation of Affliction: Trilogy could be used as an opportunity to jump start stagnant negotiations to bring Fedor to the UFC.

The UFC will soon make several major announcements, according to UFC President Dana White, who said during a charity radio appearance on ESPN 11oo in Las Vegas on Friday that the promotion will hold a press conference on July 31 to announce “a lot of crazy things”.

The presser could be used to offer additional details on its “collaboration” with Affliction, with the latest reports suggesting the UFC will acquire all of the former-promotion’s contracts except Fedor Emelianenko, or possibly a deal to bring the UFC to ESPN.

UFC President Dana WhiteThe UFC on Saturday issued a press release officially announcing its previously reported deal with Affliction, which folded its MMA promotion on Friday to join the UFC as a sponsor, saying that the companies had “agreed to a collaboration” that will benefit MMA and its growing fan base.

While Dana White stopped short of announcing that the UFC had re-signed Tito Ortiz while a guest on ESPN Radio 1100 in Las Vegas, it was clear that the long-time rivals had largely settled their differences and Ortiz could soon be competing in the UFC once again.

While on ESPN Radio, White declined to offer any official details on the promotion’s rumored deal with Affliction, which ceased promoting MMA events on Friday to become a UFC sponsor, but promised big things to come as the promotion is working on several major deals with its sights set on topping its record-setting UFC 100 event, which took place on July 11 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

Episode 6 of Dana White’s UFC 100 video blog is after the jump…