Brazilian import Amilcar Alves is scheduled to make
his UFC debut in a welterweight meeting with Mike Pierce at UFC 118.

The booking was first reported by MMANews.com and subsequently confirmed
to MMAjunkie.com by sources close to the event.

Though not yet officially announced by the organization, UFC 118 is
expected to take place on Aug. 28 at Boston's TD Garden. A lightweight
title rematch between new champion Frankie Edgar and deposed king B.J.
Penn headlines.

Phil Baroni will be moving back up to the middleweight division following a stint at welterweight to face off with the 5-1 John Salter at UFC 118.

The news of the bout was recently reported by MMAWeekly.

UFC 118 is expected to take place in Boston from the TD Garden on August 28.

A lightweight title rematch between Frankie Edgar and B.J. Penn is slated for the event, along with the MMA debut of James Toney against Randy Couture.

Baroni desperately needs a win coming off of back-to-back defeats at the hands of Joe Riggs and Amir Sadollah while sporting a career record of 13-12, while Salter will be looking to notch his second win with the UFC with an Octagon record of 1-1.

Phil Baroni will return to the middleweight division to fight John Salter in August at UFC 118.

MMAjunkie.com reported Baroni's spot on the card earlier this month, and according to MMAFighting.com, he's now agreed to fight Salter.

UFC 118 takes place Aug. 28 at the TD Garden in Boston with a main-event rematch between UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and ex-champ B.J. Penn.

Former two-time welterweight champion Matt Hughes became the eighth man to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame at the UFC Fan Expo in Las Vegas on Friday. He joins fellow inductees Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn, Randy Couture, Mark Coleman, Chuck Liddell and Charles “Mask” Lewis Jr.

Considered the most dominant welterweight champion in UFC history, Hughes made his octagon debut back in 1999. Since then he’s tasted victory an incredible seventeen times, more than any fighter in UFC history. He also boasts the record for most successful UFC title defences of all time (seven) and most consecutive UFC welterweight title defences of all time (five).

Hughes last graced the octagon at UFC 112, defeating Renzo Gracie via third round TKO. He also holds notable victories over the likes of Sean Sherk, B.J Penn, Royce Gracie and current champ Georges St. Pierre.

Hughes is next scheduled to meet Renzo Gracie protégé Ricardo Almeida at UFC 117 on August 7 in Oakland, California.

When Diego Sanchez steps in to the cage against
John Hathaway at Saturday night's UFC 114 event in
Las Vegas, it will be the first time "Nightmare" has competed at
welterweight since a June 2008 win over Luigi Fioravanti.

Sanchez made the move back to 170 pounds after a failed lightweight
title bid against B.J. Penn at UFC 107 this past December.

A winner of the original "The Ultimate Fighter," Sanchez said the return
to 170 pounds was always in the cards, and though he's done with
lightweight for now, he feels there's unfinished business with Penn.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship's UFC Fan Expo is on its way east.

The promotion today announced a third date for the highly popular event
to coincide with UFC 118 in Boston. The expo takes place Aug. 27 and
Aug. 28 at the Hynes Convention Center, a short trip from TD Garden,
which hosts the pay-per-view event.

UFC 118 features a lightweight title rematch between newly crowned
champion Frankie Edgar and recently deposed titleholder B.J. Penn. A
heavyweight fight between UFC Hall of Fame member Randy Couture and
boxer turned MMA fighter James Toney could co-headline.

Polarizing welterweight slugger Phil Baroni looks
for his first UFC win since 2002 when he returns to action at UFC 118.

MMAjunkie.com has learned from sources close to the
promotion that Baroni has verbally agreed to fight on the card, though
an opponent has yet to be determined.

Featuring a lightweight title rematch between new champ Frankie Edgar
and the recently dethroned B.J. Penn, UFC 118 is expected to take place
on Aug. 28 at Boston's TD Garden.

This past weekend Strikeforce lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez set the wheels in motion for a co-promotion bout with Bellator Fighting Championship 155 champ Eddie Alvarez.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said he’d be open to co-promoting the fight if the details could be worked out between the two MMA promotions. This comes on the heels of CEO Bjorn Rebney’s comments throwing his support behind the fight on the weekend.

“If the stars align and we can work out all the terms and conditions and timing, we’d do it. Of course we would. Why wouldn’t we? Let’s go do this.

“We’ve lent them three or four fighters already, and we had a brief conversation about (loaning) Roger Huerta, but the terms, conditioning, time just weren’t right,” Coker said. “But we’d love to work with them.””

This all started with Melendez on Friday night, speaking on HDNet’s “Inside MMA” the Strikeforce champ said he’d like to face Alvarez as he considers him to be one of the best, and that the fight could potentially determine a No. 1 lightweight.

“I think he’s an amazing fighter, and that’s why I call out Eddie Alvarez,” Melendez said. “Let’s unify those titles. I’d love to fight that guy and test myself. I think if I could beat him, I could be No. 1 and vice versa.”

Bellator CEO Rebney seemed very adamant that both promotions could work things out to make this fight happen and it’s a fight that Alvarez is on board for also.

“I will do everything I can to get Gilbert what he asked for,” Rebney stated. “Gilbert wants the fight, Eddie wants the fight, and I want the fight. All we have to do is get Scott Coker on board, and together, we can make this happen. Eddie wants to fight the best, and Gilbert wants to fight the best, and there is no reason why any promoter or network should stand in the way of that.”

It would definitely be interesting to rank the winner of this fight against the top ranked lightweight UFC fighters Frankie Edgar and B.J. Penn. Only time and the willingness of everyone involved will determine the rankings of the winner.

HT: MMAjunkie.com

Fresh from his victory this past weekend, Marcus the “Irish Hand Grenade” Davis (17-6) may step back into the octagon as soon as August against Nate Diaz (12-5).

UFC 118, not officially announced, is expected to take place on Aug. 28 at the TD Garden in Boston, Mass., the first visit by the UFC since state officially sanctioned MMA earlier this year. The event headliner should be a title rematch between champion Frankie Edgar and former champ B.J. Penn.

Both fighters have agreed to the bout and agreements are expected to be signed shortly.

Davis defeated Jonathan Goulet this past weekend at UFC 113 by TKO, erasing a two-bout losing slide. With losses to Ben Saunders and Dan Hardy, Davis could have been looking at the end of his time with the UFC if he had been defeated by Goulet in Montreal, instead he’ll have one more fight at least with the promotion.

Meanwhile, Diaz made his move to welterweight in his last bout against Rory Markham at UFC 111. Markham failed to make weight and both fighters agreed to a catchweight bout of 177 pounds. Diaz went on to win the match handily, earning a TKO victory at 2:47 of the first round.

Diaz is also awaiting word from the Tennessee Athletic Commission on a possible suspension and/or fine for his actions at the “Strikeforce: Nashville” event. Diaz participated in a brawl that broke after middleweight Jason “Mayhem” Miller called out Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields in the wake of Shields’ victory over Dan Henderson at the April 17 event.

HT: MMAjunkie.com

MONTREAL - UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar did the unthinkable when he outpointed former belt-holder B.J. Penn in their April meeting at UFC 112.

Now he says he's ready to do it again.

While some MMA fans have expressed their frustration that Penn has been
issued an immediate rematch of the massive upset, Edgar said he welcomes
the challenge and looks forward to proving the first result was no
fluke.