Duane "Bang" Ludwig isn't the only fighter getting back to his feet.

UFC middleweight Jason MacDonald on Tuesday had two
three-inch screws removed his ankle and was cleared for light training.

MacDonald suffered a broken tibula, a dislocated ankle and bone and
ligament damage when John Salter took him down in the first round of
their fight at UFC 113.

With Phil Baroni out due to a collarbone injury, 6X UFC veteran Dan Miller will fill his shoes in facing off with John Salter at UFC 118.

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

News of Baroni’s injury was first reported by MMAJunkie.com and Miller’s substitution was subsequently revealed by MMADiehards.com.

Miller entered the UFC with a bang, racking up three consecutive wins before dropping his last three straight and will undoubtedly be fighting for survival in the promotion, while Salter has gone 1-1 since entering the UFC with a defeat at the hands of Gerald Harris and a recent victory over Jason MacDonald.

Click here to view the embedded video.

UFC middleweight fighter Jason “The Athlete” MacDonald is interviewed at his promotion Pure FC recently. He offers fans an update on his leg injury, which he suffered at UFC 113 last May, and talks about his return to the octagon.

HT: MMACanada.net

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - David Loiseau is grateful to the UFC for
giving him another look after he got caught in red tape.

Loiseau, 30, was booked on short notice to face John Salter at UFC 113
in Montreal before the Quebec Athletic Commission put a hold on his
fight license, which prompted UFC officials to give his slot to Jason
MacDonald.

But instead of shrugging their shoulders and saying, "Better luck next
time," UFC matchmaker Joe Silva rebooked the former middleweight
contender against Mario Miranda at Saturday's at UFC 115 event.

“The New York Badass” Phil Baroni (13-12) will return to the middleweight division against John Salter (5-1) at the end of August.

UFC 118 is slated for Aug. 28 at the TD Garden in Boston, Mass. It will feature a main event rematch between lightweight champ Frankie Edgar vs. former champ BJ Penn, and a co-main event heavyweight match between UFC hall of famer Randy Couture vs. boxer turned mma fighter James Toney.

Baroni’s fought his last few fights at welterweight made his return to the UFC in his last bout, dropping a unanimous decision to Amir Sadollah last November at UFC 106. Another loss for the New York native would certainly spell the end of his career under the UFC banner.

Besides dropping the fight to Sadollah, Baroni was defeated by Strikeforce welterweight Joe Riggs last summer at the Strikeforce – Lawler vs. Shields event. Before those losses, he’d won three straight under various promotions.

Salter is coming off a TKO victory over Jason MacDonald in Montreal at UFC 113. MacDonald suffered a broken leg after falling awkwardly in the first round. Before that bout, Salter had made his UFC debut losing to Gerald Harris at UFN 20 by TKO. That loss marked the first loss of his career and an end to his four fight win streak.

HT: MMAWeekly.com

Press Release

The Maximum Fighting Championship’s own developmental organization, Heat XC, is set to unleash another explosive show featuring two internationally known middleweights alongside a lineup of top prospects.

Heat XC 5: Punishment will take place Friday, July 16 at the Mayfield Trade Centre in Edmonton, Alberta, with a card headlined by a clash between crowd favorites David Heath and “King” Solomon Hutcherson. The two were initially slated to be part of the MFC 25: Vindication lineup until an injury sidelined Hutcherson, but it will now be the main event on the upcoming Heat show.

“Heat XC is growing into a much more prominent position and having a great main event to go with a strong lineup of up-and-coming talent is exactly how Heat XC will continue its rise to even greater heights,” said Mark Pavelich, Owner of the Maximum Fighting Championship as well as Heat XC under its banner of Pavelich Sports.

Heat XC has taken off with four consecutive sellouts and it shared the spotlight with its parent company at MFC 24: Heat XC. Not only has Heat XC started developing fighters for the Maximum Fighting Championship, it is truly standing on its own as a frontrunner on the Canadian mixed martial arts scene.

Heath (14-6) will make his debut at middleweight following a notable run in the light heavyweight ranks that included a first-round submission victory over the MFC’s former 205-pound champion, Roger Hollett. The Tulsa, Oklahoma, product shared the recognition for the MFC’s 2009 Fight of the Year for his toe-to-toe encounter with Mike Nickels at MFC 22. Hutcherson (11-6) captured his organization debut with a thorough three-round decision over Dave Mewborn at MFC 20 and then, after recovering from shoulder surgery, the Racine, Wisconsin, native dropped a controversial decision to Jason MacDonald at MFC 23.

“I said when I first booked the fight between Hutcherson and Heath that it would be an all-out war and it still will be – probably now an even a bigger battle since the animosity has had a chance to brew longer,” said Pavelich.

“Plus the fight now has the opportunity to really stand out on its own as the main event. I know that these two fighters will put on an effort worthy of main-event status.”

Heath personally called out this matchup back in February and both fighters have stated their definite willingness to get down to business.

“I don’t think it’s going to be about what game plan I have for him, it’ s more about what I think his game plan will be for me,” noted Heath.

“This fight is right up my alley,” responded Hutcherson. “The fans know we both like to bang. Heath’s a banger too so I think the fans are really going to get their money’s worth.”

A number of Heat XC’s top fighters will be on the card including Nick Hrynchyshyn, Jason Gorny, Dami Egbeyemi and Jason Kuchera. The card will also feature a rematch from the MFC 25 undercard between Garret Nybakken and Jevon Marshall plus a heavyweight clash that will pit longtime rivals against each other. Former minor pro hockey enforcer Marty Melnychuk, who registered over 300 penalty minutes in a season three times during his career, will settle the issue once and for all against massive Ryan Getschel in what will undoubtedly be a wild affair.

Tickets for Heat XC 5: Punishment are on sale now by calling the Ticket Hotline at (780) 504-2024 and via Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.ca and charge-by-phone (780) 451-8000.

Press Release

Centennial, Colo. – May 14, 2010 – Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®) and NCM Fathom are teaming up again to bring the raw excitement of UFC events to local movie theaters with UFC 115: Liddell vs. Franklin, broadcast LIVE in high definition on Saturday, June 12 at 10:00 p.m. ET / 7:00 p.m. PT. Former light-heavyweight champion and UFC legend Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell will take on former middleweight champion Rich “Ace” Franklin in the main event broadcast live from General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, to 337 select movie theaters nationwide.

Tickets for the live event in Vancouver sold out in less than 30 minutes, setting a record for the fastest sell-out in UFC history. Eager fans can catch all the action in their local theaters by purchasing tickets at www.FathomEvents.comand at presenting theater box offices. Visit the NCM Fathom website for a complete list of theater locations and prices (theaters and participants are subject to change).

“Our fans have told us they were thrilled to have UFC 111 in movie theatres,” said UFC President Dana White. “They loved watching it with other fans and the whole experience of seeing UFC in hi-def on the big screen. Now fans can see UFC 115 with Chuck Liddell vs. Rich Franklin, plus Mirko Cro Cop vs. Pat Barry and Paulo Thiago vs. Martin Kampmann in theatres on Saturday, June 12th live from the sold-out GM Place in Vancouver.”

UFC 115: Liddell vs. Franklin will be the first-ever fight between these legends and former champions. The 40-year-old Liddell was the light heavyweight champion from April 2005 to May 2007 and Franklin was the middleweight champion from June 2005 to October 2007. Select undercards will also be shown in theaters leading up to the main event including Mirko “Cro Cop” vs. Pat Barry, Paulo Thiago vs. Martin “The Hitman” Kampmann, Carlos Condit vs. Rory “The Water Boy” MacDonald and Gilbert Yvel vs. Ben Rothwell.

UFC and Fathom announced an agreement in February to present live UFC events on the big screen in high definition throughout 2010 beginning with “UFC 111: St- Pierre vs. Hardy” featuring Georges “Rush” St-Pierre vs. British bomber Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy, which took place on March 27 (St-Pierre defeated Hardy via unanimous decision). A survey of fans attending UFC111 in theaters overwhelmingly felt seeing the event in theaters was a great experience and better than they had expected. Fans also indicated that the value was excellent compared to watching UFC111 in other venues.

A fighter with dynamite in both fists and a champion who is known around the world, Liddell (fighting out of San Luis Obispo, Calif. / 21-7 professional record) has faced the best and beaten the best. With an amazing 10 knockouts in the UFC, with seven of those coming consecutively, Liddell is considered one of the greatest strikers in UFC history. With wins over Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Wanderlei Silva and Vitor Belfort, this UFC Hall of Famer has cemented a legacy for himself in the sport of mixed martial arts. Liddell is also known to fans as the coach on The Ultimate Fighter® Season 11, which airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Spike TV.

A former high school math teacher turned world-class mixed martial artist, Franklin (fighting out of Cincinnati, Ohio / 27-5-0 1 NC) holds memorable wins over Wanderlei Silva, Matt Hamill, Jason MacDonald and Nate Quarry. The former UFC middleweight champion holds 12 wins in the UFC, has moved up a weight class and looks to make even more noise in the light heavyweight division when he takes on one of the greatest fighters the UFC has ever seen.

“UFC fans were thrilled to see UFC 111 on the big screen and watching it in their local movie theaters gives them a feeling of being at the event – LIVE,” said Dan Diamond, vice president of NCM Fathom. “UFC 115 is shaping up to be a terrific bout and these fighters are sure to put on an amazing show for the fans who will see every armbar, heel hook, rear naked choke and tap out like never before on the big screen in high definition.”

The historic match-up will be shown in select movie theaters including AMC Entertainment Inc., Celebration! Cinema, Cinemark USA Inc., Clearview Cinemas, Goodrich Quality Theatres, Kerasotes Showplace Theatres, Marcus Theatres, National Amusements and Regal Entertainment Group movie theaters, as well as the Carolina Theatre (Asheville, NC), Palace Cinema 9 (South Burlington, VT) and Penn Cinema (Lititz, PA), through NCM’s exclusive Digital Broadcast Network – North America’s largest cinema broadcast network.

The event will be the first UFC fight held in British Columbia since the Vancouver City Council passed a bill to sanction mixed martial arts events in December 2009.

Canadian middleweight fighter Jason “The Athlete” MacDonald (24-14) had to undergo three hours of surgery on Monday evening to repair his left leg and ankle.

“I had three bad breaks — two on the joint of the fibula, the other was the tibia which was snapped clean off. The doctor explained to me the surgery took much longer than anticipated because he was having trouble keeping the ankle in the proper position because everything was so damaged. I ended up with 12 screws, four steel plates, which are permanent, and two bigger screws that are holding the ligament in place, which will hopefully be removed in three months.”

MacDonald broke it in the opening round of the first bout of UFC 113 in Montreal this past weekend. After kicking opponent John Salter in the head, both men came down awkwardly breaking the Canadians ankle. The fight was immediately stopped and Salter was awarded a TKO victory.

Although he lost the fight, MacDonald’s glad he did it under the UFC banner, great medical coverage and a boss that cares, as well, he’s been invited back by the promotion once he’s better.

“I spoke with Joe Silva that night and he relayed to me it was a freak accident and when it heals I would be given the opportunity to do it again. That makes me feel good. Now I just have to recover. The UFC has called me everyday since to touch base and see how I’m doing. It just goes to show they really do care about the fighters.

I’ve been in so many fights and never got hurt that I suppose it was bound to happen. You play with fire, you’re bound to get burned. But I don’t regret taking the fight. It could have happened any time. It could have happened in my next fight. It could have happened in my previous fight. And if I end up having to retire because of this, at least it’s where I would have wanted it to be. Going out while with the UFC.”

Check out the rest of Jason MacDonald’s blog over at Sportsnet.ca.

Photo courtesy of UFC.com.

The Quebec Athletic Commission has issued suspensions to all 22 participants from this past Saturday’s UFC 113 event, luckily only two fighters will have to sit out for longer than thirty days.

UFC 113 took place on Saturday May 8th at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on pay-per-view.

The longest suspensions were handed down to former UFC light-heavyweight champ Lyoto Machida, who is suspended for 60 days, and preliminary card fighter Jonathan Goulet who is suspended for 30 days.

Canadian fighters Patrick Cote and Jason MacDonald were only issued seven-day suspensions despite their injuries. Cote suffered a broken hand against Alan Belcher and has had surgery to repair some of the damage. While MacDonald broke his leg against John Salter in the opening bout of the event and has also had surgery.

The full list of UFC 113 medical suspensions are as follows:

- Lyoto Machida – 60-day suspension
- Jonathan Goulet – 30-day suspension

Seven-day suspensions were handed to

- Mauricio “Shogun” Ruah, Alan Belcher, Patrick Cote, Marcus Davis, Joe Doerksen, Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson, Tom Lawlor and Matt Mitrione.

Fourteen-day suspensions were handed to

- Joe Beltran, Paul Daley, T.J. Grant, Mike Guymon, Tim Hague, John Hendricks, Josh Koscheck, Jeremy Stephens, Sam Stout and Yoshiyuki Yoshida.

Not only did former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida lose his belt last Saturday night, but apparently he also walked away from the event with the dubious distinction of topping the list of medical suspensions issued by the Quebec Athletic Commission following UFC 113. Machida’s sixty-day vacation was mandated due to precautionary reasons stemming from his first-round knockout loss to current title-holder Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. The news was initially reported by MMAJunkie who earlier this week also relayed word from Machida’s manager, Ed Soares, stating “The Dragon” suffered a hairline fracture to his orbital bone during the fight.

Other notable suspensions from the invent include Jonathan Goulet, who was issued a 30-day leave from action, as well as seven-day suspensions for Jason MacDonald and Patrick Cote. MacDonald and Cote will in reality both be sidelined for far longer than a week after suffering broken bones in their respective bouts. MacDonald recently took to his Twitter to relay his professional diagnosis of both a fractured tibia and fibia, as well as a dislocated ankle, which required “twelve screws and four plates” to repair, while Cote broke his hand against Alan Belcher and will be out at least three weeks.

The following is the remaining list of suspensions stemming from the show:

Seven-Day Suspensions – Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Alan Belcher, Joe Doerksen, John Salter, Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson, Matt Mitrione, Marcus Davis, Tom Lawlor

Fourteen-Day Suspensions – Jeremy Stephens, Johny Hendricks, Joey Beltran, Mike “Joker” Guymon, Josh Koscheck, Paul Daley, Sam Stout, Tim Hague, T.J. Grant and Yoshiyuki Yoshida.