During a Tuesday UFC press conference in Japan, middleweight Yoshihiro Akiyama announced that he’d be fighting Wanderlei Silva early next year, likely in February at UFC 110 in Las Vegas or UFC 111 in Sydney, Australia. The matchup, originally rumored for UFC 108 in January, would be featured on the UFC 110 card or could potentially headline the UFC’s Australian debut.

UFC middleweight Yoshihiro Akiyama, who earned a split decision over Alan Belcher in July in his UFC debut, will begin training with Shawn Tompkins and Xtreme Couture beginning in October, according to Sherdog.com.

Tompkins told Sherdog that he did not know who or when Akiyama would be fighting next, but Bloody Elbow’s Luke Thomas tweeted on Monday that Akiyama could fight Wanderlei Silva at UFC 108 on January 2 in Las Vegas.

13 fighters from the 11-bout UFC 100 card, which took place last Saturday and the Mandalay Events Center in Las Vegas, were tested by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for steroids and drugs of abuse and all of the tests were negative according to NSAC executive director Keith Kizer, who confirmed the results to MMAFrenzy.com on Friday.

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.

Frank Mir, Georges St-Pierre, Thiago Alves, and Michael Bisping were among the 13 fighters issued medical suspensions by the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Monday following their bouts on Saturday at UFC 100.

Mir, who suffered a second-round knockout to Brock Lesnar in the UFC 100 main event, must sit out until September 10 following the loss, while St-Pierre, who defeated Alves by unanimous decision in the co-headliner, could be suspended until January 8 due to a groin injury sustained in the victory.

UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar and welterweight title-holder Georges St-Pierre were the top earners at Saturday’s UFC 100 event, each taking home $400,000 for their co-main event victories.

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.

Yoshihiro Akiyama, Alan Belcher, Dan Henderson, and Tom Lawlor each earned record $100,000 Fight Night bonuses for their performances of Saturday at UFC 100.

“Fight of the Night” went to Akiyama and Belcher for their three-round brawl, while Henderson earned “Knockout of the Night” for his second-round KO of Michael Bisping and “Submission of the Night” went to Tom Lawlor for his 55-second guillotine choke of CB Dollaway.

Heavyweight title-holder Brock Lesnar became the UFC’s undisputed heavyweight champion on Saturday in the main event of UFC 100 by avenging the only loss of his MMA career with a second-round knockout of interim champ Frank Mir to cap off the historic pay-per-view event, which took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre retained his title with a unanimous decision over Thiago Alves and Dan Henderson scored a second-round knockout of Michael Bisping in UFC 100’s other top bouts.

All 22 fighters scheduled to compete tomorrow at UFC 100 successfully made weight on Friday at the event’s official weigh-ins, which were held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, the same venue which hosts Saturday’s pay-per-view event.

UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar weighed-in exactly at the 265-pound heavyweight limit, while interim title-holder Frank Mir came in 20-pounds lighter at 245. UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre (170) and challenger Thiago Alves (170) as well as TUF 9 coaches Dan Henderson (185) and Michael Bisping (186) also made weight without issue.

The UFC on Thursday officially announced five more bouts for its historic UFC 100 event. Added to the lineup were Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Alan Belcher, Jon Jones vs. Jake O'Brien, Dong Hyun Kim vs. Jonathan Goulet, CB Dollaway vs. Tom Lawlor, and Matt Grice vs. Shannon Gugerty.

Stephan Bonnar and Mark Coleman will meet at UFC 100, Shane Carwin will undergo surgery to repair a broken nose and will be out of action 6-8 weeks, Yoshihiro Akiyama could meet Alan Belcher at UFC 100, and more...

The UFC today announced the signing of Japanese middleweight Yoshihiro Akiyama.
“I’m excited to bring Akiyama into the UFC and I can see him making an immediate impact in the middleweight division,” said UFC President Dana White to UFC.com. “Besides his great judo and submission game, he’s a finisher, and UFC fans are going to love [...]

DREAM has finalized the fight card for DREAM 6, which takes place on September 23rd at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan and airs live in the US on HDNet.
The now-complete fight card features:

Winner of Manhoef-Mousasi vs. winner of Galesic-Souza
Middleweight Grand Prix Final
Melvin Manhoef vs. Gegard Mousasi
Middleweight Grand Prix Semifinal
Zelg Galesic vs. Ronaldo “Jacare” [...]

Joachim Hansen def. Shinya Aoki via TKO – Round 1, 4:19*
DREAM Lightweight Championship
Alistair Overeem def. Mark Hunt via submission – Round 1, 1:11
Yoshihiro Akiyama def. Katsuyori Shibata via submission – Round 1, 6:34
Hideo Tokoro def. Takeshi Yamazaki via unanimous decision
Kuniyoshi Hironaka def. Motoki Miyazawa via TKO (cut) – Round 1, 8:57
Joseph Benavidez def. Junya Kudo [...]

Fedor Emelianenko’s manager, Vadim Finkelstein, has announced that the top-ranked heavyweight plans on fighting two more times in 2008. The first bout will be at an October Affliction-promoted event and the second will come in December at a New Year’s Eve event in Japan.
UFC veteran Joe Jordan will take on Ryan Ford in the main [...]

Yoshihiro Akiyama (10-1) has been forced to withdraw from the upcoming DREAM middleweight grand prix, which kicks off on April 29th, after re-injuring a nasal fracture. Akiyama originally suffered the injury against Kazuo Misaki on New Years Eve in a bout that ended in a no contest following an illegal soccer kick by Misaki.
Here’s a [...]