Couture (17-10), a five-time champion in the light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions, returned to the 205-pound class on Saturday at UFC 105, scoring a unanimous decision win over Brandon Vera to snap a two-fight losing streak.

Coleman (16-9) is 1-1 since returning to the UFC in January, suffering a third-round TKO to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua before bouncing back with a unanimous decision over Stephan Bonnar in July. He had been slated to take on Tito Ortiz this Saturday at UFC 106, but was forced to withdraw from the bout with an undisclosed injury.

UFC 109, which takes place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center and airs live on pay-per-view, is expected to be headlined by middleweight champ Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort.

For the latest UFC 109 fight card, check out the MMAFrenzy.com UFC rumors section.

Pictured: Randy Couture

The injury was confirmed by Fanhouse on Tuesday, while Coleman’s manager, Mike DiSabato, issued a heated response to Fighters Only to comments Ortiz made earlier in the day that Coleman “sissied out” of the bout:

“Mark Coleman is not a talker, he is a fighter. He is a Hall of Famer who has fought a Who’s Who of great fighters. Tito says “sissy”? Please. He can prove Coleman is sissy on January 2nd if he wants. The only thing Coleman is afraid of when it comes to Tito is contracting swine flu from that dirty ass d-bag.  We all know where he lays his head down at night. Tito wants to get personal with a legend? OK, let’s get personal – we can all go to our porn collections and watch what Tito sleeps with night after night.

“Coleman has already asked UFC to push it back, but it is not in Mark’s hands as he will do what is good for UFC and what his employer thinks is best for the promotion. I got to think if Tito really wants to fight Mark he can ask Joe Silva to give him Coleman on January 2nd.”

Ortiz wrote earlier Tuesday that he planned to remain on the UFC 106 card and take on a replacement opponent, though the UFC has not yet announced the injury or their plans for the fight.

For the latest UFC news and UFC rumors stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com.

Coleman,coleman,coleman to bad he sissies out!!! Who’s next??? I’m kicking someone’s ass on Nov 21st!

A reason for Coleman’s withdrawal has yet to be disclosed and a replacement has not yet been named for the November 21 card in Las Vegas that’s headlined by a heavyweight championship bout between title-holder Brock Lesnar and challenger Shane Carwin.

Check out the MMAFrenzy.com MMA rumors section for the latest UFC rumors.

Headlining UFC 106 will be a heavyweight title bout between two behemoths, champion Brock Lesnar and challenger Shane Carwin. Also featured on the card is the return of Tito Ortiz who will be facing off against Mark Coleman.

Baroni, like Ortiz, will be returning to the Octagon after taking some time away. He has a 13-11 record, including going 3-5 in his previous Octagon bouts. Baroni’s services were reacquired by the UFC after the New York native was released by Strikeforce.

Sadollah was the winner of season seven of The Ultimate Fighter at middleweight. After winning the show, his first non TUF bout in the UFC was twice delayed by injury before he dropped down to welterweight, losing to Johny Hendricks. Sadollah will be looking to get back in the win column and improve his professional record to 2-1.

Davis was last in action in June at UFC 99 in Germany, suffering a unanimous decision loss to Dan Hardy. Prior to the loss, Davis had put together back-to-back wins over Paul Kelly and Chris Lytle, after losing to Saunders’ last opponent, Mike Swick, at UFC 85. The Las Vegas event will mark Davis’ first fight on American soil since his April 2007 victory over Pete Spratt in Houston.

Saunders was also last in action at UFC 99 against Swick, suffering a second-round TKO that ended a three fight win streak he had been on since his time on The Ultimate Fighter. As a contestant on season six of The Ultimate Fighter he lost a decision to eventual finalist Tommy Speer.

Dent was a cast member on The Ultimate Fighter 9 where he lost in the semifinals to eventual winner Ross Pearson. In his last outing he won “Submission of the Night” honors at the TUF 9 Finale in June for his first-round submission of Cameron Dollar, his fourth-straight victory, improving his record to 19-9.

Sotiropoulos was eliminated from The Ultimate Fighter 6 after losing in the semi finals to Tommy Speer, but has rebounded to win three-straight in the UFC over Billy Miles, Roman Mitichyan, and, most-recently in August, George Roop. Sotiropoulos’ win over Roop marked the Australian’s lightweight debut and improved his record to 10-2.

More UFC 106: Lesnar vs. Carwin Coverage

Tickets for the pay-per-view event are available beginning this week:

Fight Club TICKET Presale:
Starts Thursday, September 17 – 10 am PT

Newsletter TICKET Presale:
Starts Friday, September 18 – 10 am PT

Public TICKET On-Sale Date:
Starts Saturday, September 19 – 12 pm PT

The current rumored lineup for UFC 106 features:

• Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Shane Carwin
  UFC Heavyweight Championship
• Tito Ortiz vs. Mark Coleman
• Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Luis Cane
• Jon Fitch vs. Ricardo Almeida
• Phil Baroni vs. Amir Sadollah
• Marcus Davis vs. Ben Saunders
• Karo Parisyan vs. Dustin Hazelett

For the latest UFC 106 news and UFC 106 rumors stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com.

After completing his UFC contract last July in a loss to Lyoto Machida, Ortiz (15-6-1) considered offers with EliteXC, Strikeforce, and Affliction but ultimately mended his relationship with UFC President Dana White and re-signed with the promotion. “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” has not won since an October 2006 victory over Ken Shamrock, suffering losses to Chuck Liddell and Machida as well as a draw to Rashad Evans following the win.

Coleman (16-9), a former heavyweight who was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame last year, suffered a third-round TKO to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in his return to the UFC earlier this year, but bounced back with a unanimous decision over Stephan Bonnar at UFC 100 last month.

For the latest UFC 106 rumors check out the MMAFrenzy.com UFC rumors section.

White opened the call by addressing the UFC’s attempt to sign Fedor Emelianenko following the recent-collapse of Affliction’s MMA promotion, saying the UFC offered him an “amazing” deal that won’t be matched anywhere else and satisfied all requests except co-promotion. Though White expected a deal to get done, the two sides have thus far been unable to reach an agreement, though he says Fedor’s management at M-1 Global can call him anytime to accept the offer.

The first announcement by the UFC President was the signing of Belfort, who was scheduled to fight at Affliction’s recently-canceled “Trilogy” event against Jorge Santiago, a winner of four-straight who returns to the UFC for the first time since 2005 and moves up to 195-pounds* to face the light heavyweight contender Franklin.

White also announced that Henderson, Franklin’s original opponent for the UFC 103 headliner who is coming off a recent knockout of Michael Bisping, will instead wait to meet middleweight title-holder Anderson Silva in his next fight. A date for the matchup has not yet been set pending Silva’s fight against Forrest Griffin next Saturday at UFC 101, but could take place “very soon” if Silva suffers little damage in the bout.

Tito Ortiz’s return to the UFC was also made official during the press conference, with White saying the former light heavyweight champ could fight the Hall of Famer Coleman at the UFC’s New Year’s show.

Other announcements included:

• The UFC has signed a three-year deal with ESPN’s new UK network, with fights slated to be broadcast free and in HD in both the UK and Ireland.
• Former Affliction fighters Belfort, Paul Daley, Paul Buentello, Ben Rothwell, Chase Gormley, and Dan Lauzon were confirmed to have signed with the UFC, with Javier Vazquez, LC Davis, and Mark Hominick are signed to the WEC. Up to 10 more former Affliction fighters remain in talks to join the promotions.

Minute-by-minute notes from the media conference call, including additional details on the UFC’s negotiations with Fedor and other news and notes, can be found below.

2:00pm ET: The UFC conference calls generally start a few minutes after their scheduled star time so stay tuned as we’ll be underway momentarily.

2:03pm: The call is now underway.

2:05pm: The UFC has signed Vitor Belfort, who will headline UFC 103 against Rich Franklin. Franklin’s previously-scheduled opponent Dan Henderson is next in line to fight Anderson Silva, according to White.

2:07pm: The UFC has signed a 3-year deal with ESPN UK, starting with UFC 101 on August 8th.

2:08pm: White confirms that Tito Ortiz is returning to the UFC and will retire with the promotion.

2:10pm: Dana confirms the signing of a number of Affliction fighters, says many are signed with UFC and WEC with up to 10 more still in talks. Paul Daley, Ben Rothwell, Chase Gormley, and Dan Lauzon confirmed to have signed with the UFC, with Javier Vazquez, LC Davis, and Mark Hominick all signed to the WEC.

2:12pm: Ortiz, who is also on the call, says he was just cleared last week to resume full training following back surgery and hopes to fight before the end of the year, specifically mentioning the New Year’s show.

2:14pm: Belfort-Franklin will be at light heavyweight (205 pounds)

2:15pm: White says Mark Coleman is likely to be Ortiz’s first opponent when he returns, says Ortiz won’t get any easy fights but will be rusty after his time off.

2:17pm: Asked about what “co-promotion” means, White says M-1 wanted half but would not benefit the UFC.

2:18pm: Asked about an ESPN deal in the US, White says they’re always negotiating with networks but offers not details on rumored negotiations.

2:19pm: The Nate Marquardt-Demian Maia winner is “in the mix” at 185-pounds, but Henderson is definitely next.

2:25pm: Dana White says UFC “can’t be stopped”, is coming to TV in Russia and Japan among others.

2:29pm: Timeline for Henderson-Silva depends on Silva’s fight with Griffin, but could be “very soon” if Silva sustains little damage.

2:30pm: The UFC has “no interest” in Arlovski or Sylvia.

2:30pm: White says he’s working to fulfill his promise of base jumping off the Mandalay Bay since UFC 100 surpassed 1.5 million buys.

2:32pm: White says he “doesn’t know” about a rematch between Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell.

2:33pm: White says he’s “ready to make a deal” to bring Fedor Emelianenko to the UFC and was confident deal was going to happen, says M-1 can call him anytime.

2:38pm: White says major deal which was being worked on last month in Los Angeles should be finalized soon, but offers no details.

2:39pm: White says he “buried the hatchet” with Affliction, including Tom Atencio.

2:41pm: UFC 100 drew 25 million viewers, UFC 101 episode of UFC Unleashed had 18 million viewers in Mexico. Live event in the works for the country.

2:44pm: Co-promotion with M-1 will “never happen,” partially due to the Fertitta’s gaming license.

2:54pm: Dana says UFC showed Fedor and M-1 “nothing but respect,” offer allowed Fedor to fight Sambo “every Thursday night” if he wanted to.

2:57pm: Ortiz calls Strikeforce’s Scott Coker “an awesome guy,” but says there’s not enough competition in Strikeforce.

2:59pm: Dana says unlike boxing, UFC would put big fights on network TV if deal gets done.

3:00pm: Ortiz reiterates that contract with UFC runs until his career is over, wants to fight as long as possible.

–END–

* Dana White announced that Franklin-Belfort would be at 205-pounds, but Franklin updated his Twitter to say that the fight will be at a 195-pound catchweight at Belfort’s request.

Jeff Monson plead guilty to charges related to spray-painting graffiti on the Washington state Capitol on Tuesday, and was forced to surrender his passport as part of a plea deal, which may force his to withdraw from several upcoming bouts abroad. [The Olympian]

Pictured: Jeff Monson

[Kris Karkoski contributed to this post]

The UFC 100 fighters which were tested were Frank Mir, Brock Lesnar, Georges St-Pierre, Thiago Alves, Shannon Gugerty, Jon Fitch, Dan Henderson, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Mark Coleman, Tom Lawlor, Jon Jones, Dong Hyun Kim, and Dan Miller.

All of the fighters except Mir and Alves, who co-headlined the event against Lesnar and St-Pierre respectively, were winners at the pay-per-view event.

Click here to read MMAFrenzy.com’s UFC 100 recap and UFC 100 results, or check out our UFC 100 section for more event coverage.

[Pictured: Brock Lesnar]

The Nevada State Athletic Commission released the official fighter salaries on Monday for the pay-per-view event, which took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas in front of 11,000 fans for a $5.1 million live gate.

As previously reported, Lesnar received $400,000 to show with no win bonus for his second-round knockout of Frank Mir ($45,000) in the evening’s headliner. St-Pierre’s salary was comprised equally of a $200,000 is show money and a $200,000 win bonus for his unanimous decision victory over Thiago Alves ($60,000).

Dan Henderson ($250,000), Michael Bisping ($150,000), and Mark Coleman ($100,000) were also among the top salaries for the historic card, which drew widespread mainstream media coverage and could surpass 1.5 million PPV buys.

Remember, the salaries listed below are simply the figures the UFC is required to report to the NSAC and do not include sponsorships, ‘fight night’ bonuses, portions of pay-per-view revenue, which are received by top fighters such as Lesnar and St-Pierre, nor miscellaneous fees and taxes. For example, Lesnar, who officially earned $400,000, reportedly received more than $3 million from the UFC alone for his UFC 100 fight before his sponsorship revenue is included.

The total disclosed payroll for UFC 100 came in just shy of $1.8 million at $1,790,000.

The official salaries for UFC 100, as reported to the NSAC, were:

• Brock Lesnar ($400,000 – no win bonus) def. Frank Mir ($45,000)
• Georges St-Pierre ($400,000 – includes $200,000 win bonus) def. Thiago Alves ($60,000)
• Dan Henderson ($250,000 – $150,000 win bonus)* def. Michael Bisping ($150,000)
• Yoshihiro Akiyama ($60,000 – $20,000 win bonus)* def. Alan Belcher ($19,000)*
• Jon Fitch ($90,000 – includes $45,000 win bonus) def. Paulo Thiago ($8,000)
• Mark Coleman ($100,000 – $50,000 win bonus) def. Stephan Bonnar ($25,000)
• Jim Miller ($22,000 – $11,000 win bonus) def. Mac Danzig ($20,000)
• Jon Jones ($18,000 – $9000 win bonus) def. Jake O’Brien ($13,000)
• Dong Hyun Kim ($58,000 – $29,000 win bonus) def. T.J. Grant ($5,000)
• Tom Lawlor ($16,000 – $8,000 win bonus)* def. C.B. Dollway ($14,000)
• Shannon Gugerty ($10,000 – $5,000 win bonus) def. Matt Grice ($7,000)

* Salaries do not include $100,000 ‘fight night’ bonuses

Click here to read MMAFrenzy.com’s UFC 100 recap and UFC 100 results, or check out our UFC 100 section for more event coverage.

[Pictured: Brock Lesnar]