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.

The complete results for TPF 1: Most Wanted were:

• Chad Mendes def. Mike Joy via unanimous decision
• David Mitchell def. War Machine via split decision
• Joe Soto def. Mike Christensen via submission (gogoplata) — Round 1, 2:06
• Poppies Martinez def. Sergio Salcido via submission (guillotine) — Round 2, 3:21
• Ulysess Gomez def. Martin Sandoval via submission (rear naked choke) — Round 2, 0:36
• Leopoldo Serao def. Phil Collins via split decision
• Michelle Ould def. Jessica Rakoczy via TKO (strikes) — Round 2, 1:30
• Mike McDonald def. Carlos Garces via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 2:01
• Francisco Loredo def. Chris Tangonan via split decision

Ratings for the second episode of The Ultimate Fighter 10 dropped 29 percent to 2.9 million from the series record 4.1 million who tuned in for the TUF 10 debut. [Spike TV]

Pictured: Anderson Silva

Shine 2: American Top Team vs. The World

UFC veterans Roan Carneiro and Yves Edwards were both victorious at Friday’s  “Shine 2: American Top Team vs. The World” event, which took place at the James L. Knight Center in Miami, Florida. Representing ATT, Carneiro topped Jorge Patino in the headliner, while Edwards submitted James Warfield in the second-round in the co-main event. ATT went 4-0 on the card, as Luiz Firmino and Micah Miller also earned victories.

• Roan Carneiro def. Jorge Patino via unanimous decision
• Yves Edwards def. James Warfield via submission (triangle choke) — Round 2, 4:48
• Luiz Firmino def. Ryan Healy via unanimous decision
• Flavio Alvaro def. Jean Silva via majority decision
• Micah Miller def. Anthony Morrison via submission (arm triangle choke) — Round 2, 4:25
• Junior Assuncao def. Pete Grimes via split decision
• Herbert Goodman def. James Brasco via TKO (strikes) — Round 3, 3:24
• Brian Fuery def. Phil Friedman via submission (neck crank) — Round 1, 2:03

XFC 9: Evolution

War Machine, a cast member on The Ultimate Fighter 6 formerly known as Jon Koppenhaver, stopped Mikey Gomez with strikes in the third-round of the XFC 9 main event at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida. Also on the HDNet-televised card, Pablo Alfonso won the XFC bantamweight title with a fourth-round submission of Jason Goodall.

• War Machine def. Mikey Gomez via TKO (strikes) — Round 3, 0:19
• Pablo Alfonso def. Jason Goodall via submission (triangle choke) — Round 4, 2:40
• Bruce Connors def. Tim Snyder via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 2:00
• Julien Williams def. Jeremy Thurlow via submission (guillotine) — Round 3, 0:51
• Nate Jolly def. Frank Santore via unanimous decision
• Chris Barnett def. Daniel Perez via TKO (strikes) — Round 2, 0:47
• Gerardo Julio Gallegos def. Hayder Hassan via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 0:57
• Rey Trujillo def. Shah Bobonis via split decision
• Sean Bartlett def. Jesse Benton via submission (rear naked choke) — Round 1, 4:01

Vendetta FC: A Night of Vengeance

Minnesota Martial Arts Academy product Derrick Noble topped veteran Shonie Carter in the main event of Saturday’s Vendetta FC: A Night of Vengeance card, which took place Oranjestad, Aruba. The event also featured a eight-man tournament won by Rodney Wallace with a finals victory over The Ultimate Fighter 8’s Antwain Britt.

• Derrick Noble def. Shonie Carter via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Rodney Wallace def. Antwain Britt
• Antwain Britt def. Richard Hale
• Rodney Wallace def. Aaron Stark
• Richard Hale def. Evan Nedd
• Rodney Wallace def. Gregory Milliard
• Antwain Britt def. Carmelo Marrero
• Aaron Stark def. Angelo Araujo

Pictured: War Machine

Monson submitted Jimmy Ambriz in the first-round in the evening’s headliner, with Taylor and Sanchez also picking up first-round submissions of Ruben Barboza and Vince Lucero respectively. War Machine went to the third-round before submitting Erik Montano, while Whitson submitted Emiliano Vatti in the opening round.

Complete results for Total Combat 33 are available at Sherdog.

[Pictured: Jeff Monson]

Jon Koppenhaver

Virginia-based Ultimate Warrior Challenge on Monday announced that former UFC fighter Jon “War Machine” Koppenhaver will square off with Reshad Woods in a 175-pound catchweight bout at UWC 6: Capital Punishment.

UWC 6 is slated to take place on April 25th at the George Masion University Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia and is co-headlined by Mike Easton vs. Josh Ferguson and Jamal Patterson vs. Ryan Jimmo.

Jon Fitch

• Gray Maynard says he’d like to fight Diego Sanchez, Clay Guida, or Sean Sherk next. [MMA Junkie]
• Takanori Gomi will return to Shooto for the first time in almost six years to fight 154-pound champion Takashi Nakakura on May 10th at JCB Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
• Tito Ortiz says he’ll pass on Affliction, instead attempting to sign with Strikeforce. [Youtube]
• Former EliteXC lightweight champion KJ Noons suffered a unanimous decision loss over the weekend in his return to boxing. [MMA Junkie]
• Former EliteXC middleweight title-holder Murilo “Ninja” Rua has signed with DREAM and will make his debut for the promotion at DREAM 8 on April 5th in Japan. [Gracie Mag]
• Former NFL player and heavyweight prospect Rex Richards (8-1) will tryout for the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter. [MMA Junkie]
• Andrei Arlovski’s boxing debut has been postponed until May. [Sherdog]
• Gina Carano says her anticipated bout against Cris “Cyborg” Santos is likely to take place before the end of 2009. [MMA Weekly]
• Former WEC fighters Johny Hendricks and Danillo Villefort will be transferred to the UFC’s welterweight division. [Five Ounces of Pain and MMA Junkie]
• Bellator has announced the complete lineup for its April 3rd debut. [MMA Junkie]
• Kendall Grove is likely to fight at UFC 101 on August 8th in Philadelphia. [Five Ounces of Pain]
• Bellator’s third event will take place on April 17th in Norman, Oklahoma and will feature the first round of the promotion’s middleweight tournament, which includes notable Hector Lombard, with Brandon Vera’s wife Kerry Vera also slated to be in action in a non-tournament bout. [MMA Junkie]
• Jon Fitch has signed a five-fight contract extension with the UFC. [MMA Mania]
• Wilson Reis vs. Henry Martinez will headline Bellator’s second event on April 10th at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. [MMA Junkie]
• Ultimate Fighter cast members Jon “War Machine” Koppenhaver and Joe Scarola will fight for the welterweight and lightweight titles respectively at MMA Big Show’s June 10th “Conviction” event at the Belterra Casino in Belterra, Indiana.
• Alexandre “Xande” Ribeiro vs. Keiichiro Yamamiya and Makoto Takimoto vs. Michael Costa have been added to the official lineup for Sengoku Eighth Battle on May 2nd in Tokyo.
• New Jersey has refused to sanction a planned boxing bout between former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia and former boxing champion Ray Mercer, which was to headline Adrenaline MMA’s third show on May 30th in Atlantic City. This bout is now tentatively scheduled to take place in June at a location to-be-announced. [MMA Weekly]
• The Ultimate Fighter 7 teammates Matt Riddle and Dan Cramer are likely to square off at UFC 101. [Five Ounces of Pain]
• Welterweight bouts featuring Josh Koscheck against Chris Wilson at UFC 98 and Paul Taylor versus Peter Sobotta at UFC 99 have been officially announced.

Jon Koppenhaver

Jon Koppenhaver is a colorful character and when it comes to his Myspace blog he holds nothing back, truthfully putting his opinion on the site for everyone to read. After several recent posts cost him his job with the soon-to-debut Bellator Fighting Championships, he decided to try to clear some things up. The following are his newest comments.

“As you all know I post some very controversial bulletins, a few of which have affected my career in a very negative way. At this I feel the need to clear a few things up. First, I need to admit that my comment regarding Obama was completely out of line. In all sincerity I do not wish any harm done to the President and I realize that it was a very stupid thing to write so I am publicly apologizing to the President and to his supporters.

In the beginning of my career it was brought to my attention (by some ignorant advisors, which I now realize) that my image as a professional fighter is more marketable if I am controversial. Controversy does grab attention. Part of creating that controversy is consistently saying things in a public format that I know will cause a reaction. Along with my loyal fans, I know that part of my popularity as a fighter is that people want to see me get my ass kicked. I knew that my Obama bulletin would gain me more fans as well as make a lot more people hate me and that was exactly the reaction I was going for. Obama is one of the most loved people in the country right now.

Once I thought it through, it was too late. I removed the post an hour later. But the harm was done. So, at this point I’m being a man and I’m publicly admitting that I was wrong. What I wrote was stupid. So once again I want to reiterate the point that I really do not hope anything bad happens to him.

I also want to man up and apologize for my comments that I made regarding the Bellator Fighting Championship, ESPN and Disney. You can’t imagine the frustration of training day after day, week after week, year after year, to do one thing: FIGHT. I was really looking forward to showcasing my ability in that tournament. There’s no way for you to imagine the heartbreak I felt when I found out that I wasn’t going to be able to compete. Looking back now, I realize that if I ran an up and coming professional organization like Bellator, I wouldn’t want my event associated with a “wild card” posting crazy shit about the President either. I understand why they did what they did. I admit that. I’m still pissed that I can’t compete in the tournament, but there is no one I can be pissed at other than MYSELF.

The last thing I want to address is my recent arrest Saturday night. There is a lot of B.S. information online and I want to clear things up. I was not out drinking, and I wasn’t hanging out in that club. I was employed there. The incident occurred with a co-worker and a 300lbs. doorman at that. After discussing what really happened with my attorneys, I am confident that once all is said and done, it will be easy to prove that I did not commit any battery that night. I’d love to get into details, but I can’t right now.

A month ago I moved back to Las Vegas to take advantage of the training partners and resources at Xtreme Couture and I have been training harder and with more intensity and discipline than at any point in my life. I only have one real goal in my MMA career: to prove to myself and to the world that I am the best. I know that I can compete against the best in the world and I can beat them. All over the underground people are saying that my career is finished, that I’m self-destructing, and that I’m a “loose cannon.”

What I have to say to those people is this: WATCH ME. I am one of the hardest working fighters in MMA today. Though I admit I’ve made a couple of dumb decisions, I want the world to know that I will prove every critic wrong. I’ll fight wherever I can, and I’ll prove that I belong at the very top. I thank my supporters for sticking by me, and I dare my haters to bet against me.”

This sounds like a true apology from a man that is willing to change. The move to Vegas should be a good one with the training partners at Xtreme Couture providing him many great things, one of which could be much needed leadership. If he is serious about his fighting career then he definitely has some serious work ahead of him. Not only does he have to prove his worth to an organization, but also has to prove to the millions of MMA fans that he is a fighter to be reckoned with. If Junie Browning can fight in the UFC, so can Koppenhaver.

Apparently Machine (5-2) refused a fight with a “no name”, which naturally didn’t sit too well with UFC matchmaker Joe Silva. Machine also made some poorly worded remarks about the death of Evan Tanner on his MySpace blog, which ultimately resulted in his untimely release.

Machine on the “no name”:

“He said, ‘They want you to fight Brandon Wolff,’” War Machine said. “I said, ‘Who in the hell if [Brandon] Wolff?’…He has no name, no fans other than the guys in Hawaii, and I thought that if I beat him, then no one is really going to care because I beat someone with no name. And if I lose, everyone is going to say I lost to a guy with no name, so I said [expletive] that. I want to fight someone with a name. I said, ‘Give me Josh Burkman. Give me Dustin Hazelett. Give me someone with a name.”

Machine on Evan Tanner:

“What else is an underpaid fighter supposed to do at the end of his career?” War Machine wrote in the posting. “Cash in his 401K? Collect social security? Start to work some [expletive] job for 10 bucks an hour? (This) [expletive] ain’t boxing, and if you’re not Chuck [Liddell] or Tito Ortiz, you don’t get paid dick.”

“I still believe in my heart it was a suicide,” War Machine said. “Whether or not — maybe he didn’t shoot himself in the head, but I think he went up there maybe with plans not to come back. I just think he was a great fighter, he was a champion, and I guarantee you that he never made [expletive] for money. I guarantee you that he was at the end of his rope…He had nothing, dude. That could be the outcome for a lot of fighters, myself included. I for damn sure guarantee you that if I’m in my 40s and I didn’t make enough money and I don’t have my own gym to support myself or whatever, I’ll probably kill myself too.”

To sum things up, it seems the whole mess went down something like this:

“Joe Silva — he was pretty much on a power trip,” War Machine said. “He was like, ‘I already told you that I already have Wolff for War Machine. I don’t know who he is thinking he’s negotiating with me. You know what? I’m sick of this guy.’ Then he brought up the Evan Tanner thing. ‘He made a dumbass comment on Evan Tanner. He’s not supporting the UFC. You know what? War Machine is cut.’ And they cut me.”

While the man known as War Machine didn’t bring what one would call much needed depth to the welterweight division, I can’t say that I won’t miss his unique brand of entertaining craziness.

Best of luck to you, Machine.