A fighter many consider the most underrated - and under-appreciated - lightweight in MMA today finally will get the chance to prove he's world class.

Antonio McKee is UFC bound.

The news was confirmed today by sources close to the organization, who told MMAjunkie.com the veteran has signed a four-fight deal and will soon make his octagon debut.

The flow of massive wrestlers into mixed martial arts continues, and
former Oklahoma State Cowboy Jared Rosholt is the next heavyweight ready
to make the plunge.

Team Takedown boss Ted Ehrhardt revealed on Thursday to MMAjunkie.com Radio that Rosholt has joined brother Jake, WEC
lightweight contender Shane Roller, and UFC welterweight Johny Hendricks
on the Team Takedown roster.

"We have signed a new fighter - Jake's brother, Jared Rosholt," Ehrhardt
said. "He's a three-time All-American, and he finished second in
nationals this year."

Thomas Gerbasi, UFC - For light heavyweight prospect Ricardo Romero, who makes his UFC debut this weekend against Seth Petruzelli, everything that happens from Saturday night on will always link back to family.

Korean Top Team middleweight Dong Yi Yang will soon
make his debut for the UFC.

The world's biggest mixed martial arts promotion today announced that
Yang is the newest member of its roster, and an announcement regarding
the 27-year-old's debut first fight in the octagon will be announced at a
later date.

Yang joins WEC featherweight Chan Sung Jung as Korean Top Team fighters
currently under contract with Zuffa, LLC, the parent company for both
the UFC and WEC.

James Toney is set to make his Ocatagon debut as part of the co-main event of UFC 118 when he takes on Randy Couture and Toney has said that after taking out Couture he wants to knock out current WBA Heavyweight Champion David Haye. Haye, recently interviewed by Yahoo!Sports, had some interesting thoughts on Toney’s debut MMA match:

“Six months of training isn’t going to be enough. As a UFC fan, I know two or three years wouldn’t be enough. How many times has Toney sprawled in his life? 500? How many leg kicks has he taken in his life? 300? How many Kimura attempts has he defended? 140? Even if he’s done double that amount, he wouldn’t have nearly the experience needed to win a UFC fight….And I hit a lot harder and I’m so much faster than James, and I couldn’t land a punch on fighters when all they wanted to do was take me down to the ground. James is a much more static fighter than I am, and is going to get thrown on his back immediately by Randy. I admire Toney’s spirit and boxing skills. But he’s delusional here.”

Haye, who says he has trained in mixed martial arts, seems pretty on the mark with his comments. Most MMA enthusiasts agree that Toney has a punchers chance of winning, but that if Couture takes the fight to ground expect it to end early. We still have some time to wait before we find out.

The name “Jose Aldo” warrants both fear and respect among featherweight fighters these days, but how much praise does a champion’s training partner deserve before he’s even made his WEC debut?

At “WEC 49: Varner vs. Shalorus“, fight fans will get an opportunity to draw their own conclusions about Renan Barao — training partner of the current WEC champ and a 20-1 Brazilian fighter whose current 20-fight win streak dates all the way back to his pro debut — but while all the hype seems to surround Barao for his upcoming WEC bantamweight debut, people shouldn’t be too quick to count out the challenger, Anthony Leone.

One of several undefeated fighters from Team Bombsquad, Leone himself is no stranger to trading punches with champions. At 21, he left Long Island, NY and headed to Hilo, HI to study MMA under former UFC Lightweight Champion B.J. Penn. Since then he’s compiled an undefeated record of 8-0 and is just as eager as Barao to get his name out there this Sunday at WEC49.

“My opponent is pretty good. He’s 20-1, with a 20-fight win streak, I know that, but he’s never really faced a wrestler or somebody who will switch it up on him like I can,” Leone said. “All the guys he’s fought are mostly Muay Thai fighters… I don’t know, I think he’s got a lot of hype behind him.”

Leone on the other hand has been winning quietly the last two years, jumping back and forth between the 145 and 155 lb. divisions, but always in the mix with the best around and consistently coming out on top by submission or decision.

Before coming back from Hawaii in 2008, Leone turned to the popular MMA forum The Underground in search of a quality camp to join when he got home to New York. Right away, all signs pointed to Cortland based Bombsquad.

“That was all Zack,” said Leone. “We met on The Underground and he asked me, ‘What type of opponents are you looking for?’ Then he gave me three options; an easy opponent, a hard opponent or whoever we put in front of you. I said, ‘I don’t really care.’ I was 1-0 at the time and feeling pretty good. The rest is history.”

Leone has kept busy since he got back to the mainland and has been in and out of the cage just about every three months for his entire career, but it wasn’t until he took a single fight at 135 that he got noticed by the likes of the WEC.

He and his manager had decided a few months back that the WEC was just too stacked at 145 to make a run at a featherweight contract, so when a new promotion called the XCFL offered Leone a title shot and a chance to drop to 135 for a fight with undefeated Boston Sityodtong prodigy in Teteki Matsui, he jumped at the chance.

The result was a bantamweight debut that contained more memorable moments than most’s career highlight video.

Leone revealed new found speed and the same kind of power against Matsui. He took him down with slams from the front as well as behind, unloaded straight left and right punches at an incredible pace and ate more than one headkick as well as an illegal knee to the head while he was down.

“I had to cut 30 pounds to make 135,” said Leone. “I think i got a lot faster but those guys [in the WEC] are so much faster too. It’s got its ups and downs.”

The real difference in the wrestler’s game came when he moved Upstate so he could train with the Bombsquad full time. He explained there were people to roll with in Long Island but nothing could match the sparring he received day in and day out with his brothers at arms in Cortland.

“Moving up to Cortland has been great for me,” he said. “Back when I used to train in Long Island we’d mostly work on my wrestling or jiu-jitsu, but not spar. Then, I come up to Cortland and we’re forced to spar atleast three or four times a week. I never used to like to get hit, but now I’m used to it. I’m never scared to get in cage and take a shot. I know it’s going to happen — I know I’m going to get punched — it’s just a matter of doing it back to him.”

As World Extreme Cagefighting continues to gather up the most talented fighters under 155 pounds, more and more exciting fights have found their way onto the undercard. This weekend’s event will feature Wagney Fabiano along with Raphael Assuncao and Diego Nunes competing in the featherweight and bantamweight divisions, and fight fans can’t afford to miss Barao and Leone.

Michael DiSanto, UFC - I remember Chuck Liddell's UFC debut against Noe Hernandez at the Mobile Civic Center deep in the heart of Alabama at UFC 17 on May 15, 1998. I'll admit it. I didn't pay much attention to the 28-year-old kickboxer from San Luis Obispo, California on that night.

Two preliminary bouts scheduled for the upcoming “The Ultimate Fighter 11″ Finale on June 19 have gone separate ways.

A lightweight match between John Gunderson (22-7) and Mark Holst (8-1) was made official, while another lightweight match between Darren Elkins (12-1) and Charles Oliveira (12-0) was moved to UFC on Versus 2 in August.

The “TUF 11″ Finale is set for June 19 at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas and will feature the finalists from the season. The headline event features a light-heavyweight bout between Matt Hamil and Keith Jardine.

Gunderson lost his UFC debut against Rafaello Oliveira at UFC 108, dropping a unanimous decision in the fight. The defeat ended a three fight win streak.

While opponent Canadian fighter Holst will make his UFC debut against Gunderson and has won his past three fights. He won the XKL Lightweight Championship title against Corey Hill in his last fight.

UFC on Versus 2 event is set for Aug. 1 at the EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah and will be headlined by a light-heavyweight bout between rising star Jon Jones vs. Belarusian Vladimir Matyushenko.

This will be Elkins second UFC on Versus appearance, having made his UFC debut at the first event against Duane Ludwig earning a TKO (Injury) in the first round. It was the third straight victory for the lightweight.

Oliveira is making his promotional debut against Elkins and has yet to lose in his professional career. The Brazilian has only left one of his 12 professional wins in the judges hands with 6 T(KO)’s and 5 submission victories.

Dutch heavyweight Gilbert Yvel (36-14-1) wants to look past his UFC debut last January against Junior dos Santos. Dos Santos rocked Yvel early in the first round of their UFC 108 match to end the fight at 2:07 via TKO.

“Losing is always very bad,” Yvel said. “Walking out of the cage or ring not a winner, it’s just like, I failed. It’s the worst thing ever. And OK, you can lose, but to be done so quick without even putting up a good fight — it was just terrible.”

Taking the fight with only a months notice and having to prepare over the Christmas period were not factors that would help Yvel in the fight.

“I started with two sparring partners. One got knocked out in our first session and the other I did three rounds and he didn’t show up anymore,” Yvel said. “Everybody was doing the Christmas thing.

“But we wanted to get in the UFC and this was our chance. I knew the conditions weren’t right but I said I didn’t care. I will fight prepared or not prepared. Sometimes you have to work with the things you’ve got.”

Now Yvel has had three months to prepare for his next fight. He’ll be meeting former IFL heavyweight Ben Rothwell (30-7) at UFC 115 this coming Saturday in Vancouver, Canada on the pay-per-view card of the event. Rothwell is also coming off a loss in his UFC debut, having been TKO’d by Cain Velasquez in October.

Both men will be fired up and ready to put on a good performance as both their UFC careers will most likely be on the line.

If Yvel is victorious over Rothwell, the heavyweight will have taken his first steps to achieving his goal of wearing UFC gold around his waist. If, one day, he has to go through dos Santos to do it, then that will only make it that much sweeter.

“I sincerely hope Dos Santos will become the champ so I can beat him,” Yvel said. “He beat me in my debut and I honestly think he’s doing really well right now. I can see him becoming the next champ. It would be great to avenge myself and take the belt from him when he’s at his high point.”

HT: LasVegasSun.com for the quotes and to Sam Morris of the Las Vegas Sun for the photo.

Bantamweight Anthony Leone has signed a four-fight deal with World Extreme Cagefighting and makes his promotional debut later this month when he meets fellow promotional newcomer Renan Barao on the WEC 49 preliminary card.

Ryan Ciotoli of Bombsquad Sports Management today alerted MMAjunkie.com of Leone's signing and debut. A source close to the event said verbal agreements are in place, though bout agreements have not been signed.

WEC 49 takes place June 20 at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.