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It had been expected that the 19,000-seat Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh would play host to UFC on Versus 4 and UFC officials confirmed the news today. The event will take place on June 26. Pittsburgh beat out Wisconsin and Ohio as possible host sites.

Tickets will be going on sale for UFC on Versus 4 on Saturday, April 23rd. Here is a look at the current fights confirmed for the card:

Pat Barry vs. Cheick Kongo
Rich Attonito vs. Matt Brown
Manny Gamburyan vs. Tyson Griffin
Joe Stevenson vs. Javier Vazquez

In this new series, we will take a look at the newest additions to the UFC roster, the Bantamweights and Featherweights. The series is used to show the established fighters, ready to fight for the title, down to the new up and comers. For the next few weeks, I will try and post atleast two fighters a day. Leading up to the first title defense in the Featherweight division at UFC 129.

Featherweight UP AND COMER #20 – Raphael Assuncao

At 13 – 1 and 26 years old , it was no surprise when Raphael Assuncao was invited to the WEC. He had wins over Joe Lauzon, Jorge Masvidal, Nick Mamalis and a 13 second stoppage over Joe Pearson. Assuncao entered the UFC with a 16 – 3 record, but was viciously stopped by Eric Koch at UFC 128 in Newark, New Jersey.

After starting his career with the WEC 2 – 0, Assuncao faced his toughest challenge in Urijah Faber. In the fight, Faber used his strength and superior wrestling to eventually submit Accuncao in the third round. After a loss to Diego Nunes, Assuncao bounced back with a win against L. C. Davis before he was merged into the worlds largest MMA promotion.

With a new lease on life, Assuncao looked to keep his momentum against Manvel Gamburyan at UFC 128. An injury to Gamburyan kept things from going as smoothly as he wouldve liked. Assuncao accepted a short notice fight against Eric Koch, who was 12 – 1 with a three fight win streak. The fight ended quick with Assuncao looking at the ceiling just 2:32 into the first round.

Assuncao looks to bounce back in the middle of 2011, and start a new trek back to his chance at the featherweight title. Look for him to be a gatekeeper in the division, who has faced a lot of the top guys in the division. His record can be deceiving, and hopefully we see this submission ace back to winning ways soon.

UP AND COMERS

# 21 – Alex Caceres
#20 – Raphael Assuncao

In this new series, we will take a look at the newest additions to the UFC roster, the Bantamweights and Featherweights. The series is used to show the established fighters, ready to fight for the title, down to the new up and comers. For the next few weeks, I will try and post atleast two fighters a day. Leading up to the first title defense in the Featherweight division at UFC 129.

Featherweight UP AND COMER #21 – Alex “Bruce Leroy” Caceres

Alex Caceres first entered into our lives as a member of the lightweight cast on The Ultimate Fighter 12, as the brash and cocky Bruce Leroy. Entering the house with a 7 – 3 record, he won his first fight against Jeff Lentz and lost his next fight to eventual finalist, Micheal Johnson. The 22 year old, was then invited back at Ultimate Fight Night 24 where lost by a quick Rear Naked Choke in the first round to Mackens Semerzier.
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Marc Stevens returns to action Friday, April 8^th, 2011 at Gruesome MMA, against Charles Mullins. The event takes place at the Pikeville College Gymnasium in Pikeville, Kentucky and features former Strikeforce fighter Billy Vaughn fighting UFC and King of the Cage vet Joe Jordan. Mullins, fighting out of West Virginia. is making his pro debut, after going 9 – 1 as an amateur with all nine fights coming by way of submission.

Stevens is remembered for his stint on Season 12 of The Ultimate Fighter, where he made the record books for fastest KO on the show in the preliminaries. After being Josh Koscheck’s, first pick Stevens drew Cody McKenzie as his first round opponent. This fight was just as quick as his first, as he lost via Guillotine Choke just 18 seconds into the first round. Stevens saw a glimmer of hope when he was pick as the wild card, only to lost by the same move to Englishmen Aaron Wilkinson.

Even with the set backs, Stevens took a four fight win streak into his fight with John Cholish at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva. Once again submissions proved to much on the big stage, as Cholish submitted him by Kneebar. Though Stevens showed spots in the bout where he could take over, he never seemed to be able to pull the trigger as he had in the TUF prelims.

In all of his fights Stevens shows promise in the stand up game, and is able to control where the fight takes place. I see him being able to control this fight and look for an easy finish. He should really look to keep this fight standing, as Mullins excels in his weakness, but he shouldn’t have a problem with that. I expect Stevens to be able to control Mullins and grind out a decision.

Where do you think he stacks up with the rest of the worlds lightweights? Do you want to see him make his way back to the big show?

According to UFC.com, two exciting brawlers will go toe to toe at UFC 132 in Las Vegas. PRIDE legend Wanderlei Silva is facing off against TUF alum Chris Leben in a middleweight fight that fans have been calling for.

The 4th of July fireworks will kick off early in Las Vegas when “The Axe Murderer” faces “The Crippler” in a UFC 132 bout almost guaranteed not to last the three round distance.

“Two fan favorites will go to war as Chris ‘The Crippler’ Leben has verbally agreed to face Wanderlei ‘The Axe Murderer’ Silva in Las Vegas July 2nd,” said UFC President Dana White.

UFC 132 is set to take place on July 2nd and will be headlined by a bantamweight title fight between champion Dominick Cruz and number one contender Urijah Faber.

Here is the rumored UFC 132 fight card:

Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber [Main event for the bantamweight title]
B.J. Penn vs. TBA
Wanderlei Silva vs. Chris Leben
Ryan Bader vs. Tito Ortiz
Melvin Guillard vs. Shane Roller
Evan Dunham vs. George Sotiropoulos
Matt Wiman vs. Dennis Siver

“The Dean of Mean” will get another shot at the big show.

Strikeforce officials today announced Keith Jardine (17-9-1 MMA, 0-0 SF), a 13-time UFC veteran, has agreed to step in one just one-week’s notice to face Gegard Mousasi (30-3-1 MMA, 2-1 SF) at “Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley.”

The slot became available when Mike Kyle broke his right hand in training and was forced to withdraw from the contest.

The news broke earlier today that top ranked welterweight Jon Fitch has been forced out of his UFC 132 rematch against BJ Penn with a shoulder injury. Word is that Greg Jackson’s Carlos Condit will step up in competition and be Fitch’s replacement.

Condit is currently riding a three-fight win streak defeating the likes of Jake Ellenberger, Rory MacDonald and most recently a highlight reel knockout over British slugger Dan Hardy. Penn would be the toughest test to date for the former WEC welterweight champion.

Penn vs Condit would likely still serve as the events co-main event to a bantamweight title fight between champion Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber.

Season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter debuts tonight on Spike TV. Leading up to the show, Brock Lesnar has been on a media tour and doing his best to promote the upcoming season. In a very honest statement, Lesnar admits that a few of the fighters were “not so great,” but he believes the best came out on top.

“There was great talent and not so great talent,” said Lesnar. “It becomes very evident in the show. The cream rises to the top, and the guys that are supposed to win, win. It was pretty well etched in stone.

“It really is a short period of time that you’ve got these guys. You’ve really got to manage your time well with them. Five-and-a-half weeks is a short period of time, and there’s a lot of fighting going on in that period. If these guys bring bad habits to the table or they lack experience in one area, you’ve got to be pretty creative to figure that out really fast.”

Lesnar was asked if he would be open to going through the experience again an he responded, “I don’t know if I would or not. Looking back from the beginning of the show I was hesitant just because I didn’t want to get out of my comfort zone too much, but we had a great group of guys. It was a good opportunity for me to learn as well. I probably wouldn’t do it again, no, but I did enjoy it.”

When the Nevada State Athletic commission released the information that Thiago Silva delivered a urine sample that was not consistent with human urine following UFC 125, people were stunned and confused. There had been reports for a while that Silva failed his drug test, but no one could have imagined that Silva would have submitted an altered sample.

Today, Silva released a statement and excepted full responsibility for his actions. It was a good move by him and even though he was cheating, he keeps my respect for manning up and owning his mistake.

To read Silva’s full statement, continue after the jump.
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