The fallout from UFC 124 has claimed its first victim, as Five Ounces of Pain recently learned the promotion parted ways with Joe Doerksen as a result of the 33-year old’s split-decision loss to Dan Miller at last weekend’s event.

Though the bout remained hotly contested throughout, the defeat was the second in a row for Doerksen who had been on a seven-fight win streak, including a Rear-Naked Choke over Tom Lawlor at UFC 113, prior to his most-recent stint in the Octagon.

News of the submission-savvy Canadian’s cut was confirmed with sources close to the fighter.

The UFC 124 loss marked only the tenth time Doerksen had seen the judges’ scorecards in a career spanning ten years and featuring sixty total fights. He exits the organization with an overall record of 46-14 and past victories over respected competitors like Patrick Cote, Ed Herman, Chris Leben, and even the infamous Lee Murray. Now a free agent, and regardless of his status in the UFC, Doerksen is still considered to be one of the better middleweight grapplers competing in the sport today with 33 of his wins coming by way of tap-out.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFCSimilar Posts:

• Travis Lutter could fight Joe Doerksen in November (UPDATED)
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• L.C. Davis not among WEC group headed to the Octagon
• Tim Kennedy “having a hard time” finding an opponent, looking at DREAM
• Patrick Cote signs new deal with the UFC

C.B. Dollaway and Joe Doerksen are on tap for the UFC's first trip to Indiana.

The middleweights have agreed to face each other at UFC 119, which takes place Sept. 25 at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. MMAjunkie.com today confirmed that verbal agreements are in place but that bout agreements have not been signed for the fight, which was first reported by topmmanews.com.

It's not clear if the fight will be part of the night's main card or preliminary card.

How likely is it that Fabricio Werdum will beat Fedor Emelianenko? What event from the past ten days did you enjoy most from top to bottom? Will Cris “Cyborg” Santos beat Jan Finney faster than her husband beat Marius Zaromskis a week-and-a-half ago? What’s next for newly crowned Ultimate Fighter Season 11 champion Court McGee?

Keyboard warrrrriors….come out to plaaaay-yay!

If you’re reading these lines you’ve made it through another work-week and are back in the friendly digital confines of “Grappling with Issues”, our site’s resident Friday feature highlighting insight and opinion from Adam Tool and myself on six subjects plucked from the Mixed Martial Arts landscape. However, just because we staffers get the fancy set-up, please don’t feel precluded from dishing out your own thoughts on each matter in the comments section at the bottom of the column…

Best overall event – “Strikeforce – Los Angeles”, “Sengoku 13″, “TUF 11 Finale”, or “WEC 49″?

Adam Tool: I should probably start by saying that since I have neither a)HDNet or b) insomnia, I have yet to see Sengoku 13. I’ve been trying to track down a copy online but thus far I have been unsuccessful, so I’ll have to make my pick from the other three events which I did see.

Of those three my pick would be WEC 49. In terms of fight quality there was plenty of good stuff to be had on all three cards. While thinking back on those events I can’t point out a single fight which I considered boring, but it was the action in the WEC cage that kept me closest to the edge of my seat. The only knock I can make against WEC 49 would be the unsatisfying result rendered in the evening’s main event, but that only came about as the result of the incompetent judging of Cameron Quwek, the lone judge who scored every single round for Kamal Shalorus. Some blame could also be leveled against referee Josh Rosenthal, as I still can’t understand why he didn’t take another point away from Shalorus for the third low blow delivered in the final frame. Other than that though, WEC 49 was a barrage of non-stop action and tremendous performances from everyone involved.

I would also have to give the edge to WEC 49 in terms of the show’s pacing. During the two and a half hour event we saw seven fights, with what seemed like a minimal amount of commercial interruption. The Ultimate Fighter Finale featured five fights over the course of two hours, with some interminable commercial breaks, endless shilling of upcoming Spike programming, and an extremely dull interview with Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin. Strikeforce: Los Angeles was well-done from a production stand-point, but I still don’t understand why the show’s producers chose to air backstage interviews in between rounds of some of the fights. On top of that we saw once again that Strikeforce has no interest in promoting new stars of the sport, as the event ended a half-hour early without a single preliminary fight shown.

Brendhan Conlan: Though each broadcast featured moments of brilliance I tend to side with Tool as far as WEC 49 being the strongest overall show in the bunch. Sengoku’s action was top notch but primarily involved talent 1% of the English-speaking audience could have picked out of a line-up prior to it airing, Strikeforce had some highlight-worthy moments but also had issues related to the card’s E3-specific production and promotion’s continuing trend of going off the air early without promoting undercard competitors, and save for Court McGee’s story and a fun scrap between Keith Jardine and Matt Hamill the Ultimate Fighter Finale was one of the least memorable in recent history. The scoring in Varner vs. Shalorus certainly detracted from the fight’s result but not from the entertaining battle that occurred during the fifteen minutes prior. Other than that, viewers were treated to the continued ascension of Josh Grispi as a top featherweight, late-replacement Danny Downes showing a ton of heart en route to a third-round submission loss at the limbs of Chris Horodecki, an edge-of-your-couch affair between Will Campuzano and Eddie Wineland, and a whole lot more.

True/False – Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos will beat Jan Finney tomorrow night faster than her husband beat Marius Zaromskis ten days prior?

Tool: I’ll go with “false,” although I have little reason to justify it. A quick peak at Finney’s record online reveals two things two things: 1) her nickname is “Cuddles” (seriously?) and 2) she’s only had one TKO loss on her record which came in the second round. Despite her unimpressive record and the overwhelming odds against her, I think it’s safe to assume that Finney is not the easiest opponent to put away. Cyborg is clearly the toughest opponent “Cuddles” has faced in her career and it would certainly be no surprise if the Strikeforce Women’s Middleweight Champion finishes this fight in under two minute, but unless Finney makes a crucial error (flying knee anyone?) I believe she’ll last a bit longer than Zaromskis did.

Conlan: Zaromskis lives and dies on his feet, as evident by four of his five career losses coming by way of TKO, so it was inevitable he or “Cyborg” (XY Chromosome version) was going to sleep sooner than later in their bout. That’s not the case with Finney – ahem, “Cuddles” – so I think I’ll also have to go with “false” on this. Granted, Santos is unlike any other striker let alone overall fighter in women’s MMA. However, Finney has been in the ring against a few females with above-average hands (Erin Toughill for example) and remained conscious throughout save for a single loss to Julie Kedzie. Her grappling is good enough to lock onto “Cyborg” if need be and her stand-up is decent, so as long as she avoids going toe-to-toe with the champ she should be able to make it past the 2:38 mark.

Should Cung Le retire from MMA and focus on acting if he loses to Scott Smith a second time?

Tool: To be honest, I’m not really sure. Thus far Le’s acting career has yet to really take off. He’s played smaller roles in some big-screen releases, although his work in the film Tekken has yet to be seen here in America. He would probably have better luck in Asian cinema as a straight-forward martial arts action star, as there’s little call for someone with his particular talents in the current Hollywood system.

While Le took a large chunk of time off from MMA to focus on acting, the loss to Smith seems to have re-lit the competitive fire within him. He certainly believes that he’s a better fighter than Smith (and up until the final seconds of their first fight, he was) and with the (presumably) impending departure of Jake Shields the door could be wide open for Le to try and regain the Strikeforce Middleweight Championship. After all, he never lost the belt. Of course he never had a chance to lose it since he didn’t defend it, but that’s beside the point.

Le could very well lose to Smith a second time. It’s unlikely, but certainly possible. He’s pushing 40 years old so he doesn’t have all the time in the world to get better in the sport, and as such retirement from competition probably isn’t too far off anyways. His exciting fighting style and built in fanbase in the San Jose area will allow him the opportunity to continue on as long as he wants, but if he’s trying to be the best in the world then his chances to do so will live or die on Saturday night.

Conlan: I’m a firm believer fighters should hang up their gloves when they are ready to do so unless there are health-related reasons at play. Yes, Le is 38 and power/speed are typically the first thing to deteriorate with increased age. Yes, he’s only been in the ring three times since June 2007. Yes, he’s a one-trick pony as far as being 100% stand-up based. However, losing his rematch with Smith would only drop him to 6-2, and it’s not as if “Hands of Steel” is some out-of-shape, over-the-hill can they plucked from the street. He’s got 3X as many fights as Le and beaten some notable opponents in his career. He has the striking to put any adversary to sleep and a solid jaw of his own to boot as indiciated by Smith’s only career TKO losses coming to Robbie Lawler in 2008 and James Irvin in 2004. If he walks away victor again this Saturday night it should in no way be considered a slight on Le’s talent but rather a credit to his fellow soft-spoken Californian’s. As Tool said, Le is a huge regional draw and possesses an incredibly entertaining style, so as long as he is still interested in stepping into the ring and competing he should be allowed to do so.

Using a percentage, how much of a chance do you give Fabricio Werdum of beating Fedor Emelianenko?

Conlan: 1%. Don’t get me wrong – Werdum is a world-class competitor on the mat and has some solid Chute Boxe-based striking to compliment the skill. He’s beaten a number of ranked opponents and only been finished once in eighteen fights. However, we’re talking about frakking Fedor here. He’s weathered punches that would have dropped most for the count and worked his way out of any tough position he’s ever been put in. He’s gone to decision less than 1/4 of the time he’s fought, is on a ridiculously long win-streak, and…well…I probably could have stopped at “frakking Fedor”, because the reality is if you’re reading this paragraph you already know the Russian phenom’s resume. There will always be a chance Werdum could perfectly time a punch and pull a “Matt Serra”, so he at least deserves “1%”, but beyond that I don’t see there being any way he comes away from the event as the first fighter to legitimately beat Emelianenko.

Tool: I’ll be a bit kinder to Mr. Werdum and go with 10%. Obviously I’m still backing Fedor to win, but Werdum does have at least one avenue to victory. His striking isn’t quite good enough to give Fedor trouble, but there can be little argument that he’s one of the best pure grapplers in the heavyweight division. Fedor has never really been close to being submitted, but then again it’s been a long time since he’s faced anyone that’s on Werdum’s level in BJJ. I still can’t see Fedor tapping out, but if there’s any opponent in the world that can do it I think it’s Werdum.

Do you think that Jamie Varner and Kamal Shalorus should have an immediate rematch?

Conlan: Though I’m typically in favor of immediate rematches when a particularly poor decision is rendered, this situation is different because Varner is going to miss a good deal of time with his broken hand/foot. Shalorus, however, was relatively uninjured after their original bout and isn’t scheduled to sit on the sidelines beyond his regular recuperation/training period. Based on that, it’s likely he’ll be ready for action before Varner is so it doesn’t make sense for him to twiddle his thumbs while waiting for the former lightweight champion to recover. As such, I could see a date with Donald Cerrone at a future event.

However, if WEC is determined to pair him with Varner again, I have a suggestion on how “The Prince of Persia” can kill his new-found time. There’s a new James Bond movie on the horizon that’s certain to need evil henchman and if ever an individual was born with the physical attributes to play a role…

Tool: Let’s also not forget that the recent Prince of Persia film was a resounding success, so perhaps Shalorus could have a role to play in a potential sequel? Shalorus vs. Gyllenhaal: book it!

As for the topic at hand, I believe that a rematch should be made as soon as both fighters are healed up and ready to go. I can point to no less than three reasons why this should happen. First, this bout was intended to determine the next #1 contender for Ben Henderson’s WEC Lightweight Championship. That honor will likely now go to the winner of the upcoming Shane Roller/Anthony Pettis bout, but right now there’s a serious lack of competition for the company’s “Smooth” young champion.

The second reason I would like to see a rematch is due to the decision rendered in the first fight. Clearly a draw does nothing to further either man’s career, but on top of that it’s a decision that has not sat well with a majority of the fanbase. Just about anyone that watched that fight could tell that Varner won, but obviously that’s not the case. Look at it this way; if it hadn’t been for the point deduction in the second round Shalorus would have won a split decision, and the controversy would have been even greater.

Finally I say match these two up again because their first meeting was simply a great fight. Groin shots aside, these two kept things competitive for the majority of the fifteen minutes. Shalorus’ strategy of staying in the pocket and slugging it out with Varner may not have been the best gameplan but it certainly kept things entertaining. I say let’s have rounds four, five, and six.

Who would you like to see Court McGee matched up with for his first post-”TUF” fight?

Conlan: I have a feeling McGee may actually drop to welterweight for his next in-Octagon appearance since he’s only 5′11 and size is crucial in a promotion as deep in talent as the UFC. It also makes sense considering a number of past seasonal champions have done the same thing. The Ultimate Fighter is a great opportunity and often fighters are willing to risk competing against bigger guys to earn a contract, plus it makes maintaining/making weight easier.

As far as when Court will be in session again (you’re welcome Mauro Renallo), there are ton of opponents at 170 pounds for “The Crusher” to, well, crush. He clearly can’t be matched against one of the division’s top fighters but he also deserves better than a “gimme” dubya. Amir Sadollah seems possible based on his status as a former TUF winner himself and the fact that, at 3-2, the master of “Baboo Baby” technique could use a semi-winnable fight. Season 9 champ James Wilks is also in a similar position but ended up on the right side of a decision at UFC 115 instead of the wrong one, as Amir did at UFC 114.

Tool: I’m not so sure that McGee will drop down in weight, since he’s not yet announced any plans to do so. I’m going to try and pick someone at middleweight, and furthermore I’ll try to follow the UFC’s traditional model of giving their “TUF” champs a somewhat “lesser” opponent in their first post-show fight.

With that in mind my pick goes to Joe Doerksen. Doerksen is the very definition of a journeyman fighter, with enough name value to provide McGee a nice little boost with a win. At the same time if McGee comes up short in this fight it’s a bit more understandable given the fact that he’s facing an opponent with such a depth of experience. Stylistically the two match up well, as neither man is technically proficient in striking even though they are willing to stand and trade. McGee would have the wrestling advantage, but Doerksen could present a problem with his jiu-jitsu skills.

New York, NY, June 7, 2010 – Spike TV presents an encore presentation of the “UFC 113: MACHIDA VS SHOGUN 2” fight card on Saturday, June 26 at 9:00 PM ET/PT. The night’s main event featured two of the world’s best light heavyweights go toe-to-toe, with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua avenging his controversial loss to Lyoto Machida at UFC 104 by knocking out Machida via KO in the first round, and emerging from the Ocatgon™ with the UFC light heavyweight belt around his waist.

“UFC 113: Machida vs. Shogun 2” took place at the sold-out Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec on Saturday, May 8, and featured some of MMA’s heaviest hitters, including Kimbo Slice, Sam Stout, Marcus Davis, and Patrick Cote, among others. Spike TV’s telecast will include the following bouts:

· Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
· Kimbo Slice vs. Matt Mitrione
· Sam Stout vs. Jeremy Stephens
· Joe Doerksen vs. Tom Lawlor
· Marcus Davis vs. Jonathan Goulet
· Patrick Cote vs. Alan Belcher

For the latest news, information and videos on “The Ultimate Fighter” and the UFC on Spike TV, log onto ultimatefighter.com.

Spike TV is available in 98.6 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks. A unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), MTV Networks is one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. Spike TV’s Internet address is www.spike.com and for up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs, visit Spike TV’s press site at http://www.spike.com/press.

UFC middleweight fighter Joe Doerksen (45-12) was the only Canadian fighter to walk away with a victory in Montreal at UFC 113 last month. He stepped in for an injured Tim Credeur at the event and defeated Tom Lawlor by submission in the second round of their preliminary card fight.

Doerksen had already made a previous agreement to appear at a Canadian Fighting Championship 5 in Manitoba before the Montreal event. The UFC has allowed Doerksen to honor his previous agreement and will now face Shawn Marchand in the main event of the Canadian show.

Here is the press release.

It’s Fight Week For CFC 5

There is less than a week before CFC 5 and fans are excited to see one of Canada’s top promotions live on June 4th. With no MMA in Manitoba the past few months, fans are anxiously awaiting the chance to see the best fighters that Manitoba has to offer including Joe Doerksen.

Joe Doerksen is coming off his victory of Tom Lawlor at UFC 113. Doerksen submitted Lawlor in the second round and was the only Canadian out of seven to win in UFC Montreal this year. Incredibly, the UFC has allowed Doerksen to honor is agreement to fight on CFC 5 and fans will be the ones to benefit. Doerksen will be taking on Shawn Marchand in the main event. Marchand is an up and coming Canadian fighter who already is the Middleweight champion from a maritime promotion. Doerksen should not overlook this Ontario fighter as Marchand has not lost since 2007 and is looking at this fight as his opportunity to knock off a UFC veteran.

Not only will Doerksen be fighting in his hometown, but “Fight of the Night” Eric Perez will be in the Semi-Main Event of CFC 5. Perez has been victorious in the three CFC fights that he has appeared in and he has also walked away with a Fight of the Night performance on each occasion. “I like a war,” says Eric Perez, “I want this one to go three rounds and I knock him out late in the third.” Perez is not the only one who likes to put on a show. Former Ballroom Zombies singer, Robin Black is no stranger to entertaining fans. Black is coming back to Winnipeg to challenge Perez in a fantastic Bantamweight matchup.

In another battle of Bantamweights, Winnipeg’s Roland Delorme will put his undefeated record on the line against Regina’s Sean Quinn. This fight has not received as much attention as the previous mentioned fights, but, rest assured, this one has Fight of the Night written all over it. This is a battle between two nationally ranked fighters in their weight division. Delorme has come off two consecutive victories over Remi Morvan – the last one at CFC 4. Quinn is a tough fighter who has also appeared in the Canadian Fighting Championship. Quinn took out the tough Francois Lacombe at CFC 3 last year. Expect big things from these two fighters!

Fan favorite Lance Cartwright will also be returning to the Steel Circle. The Snake is fresh off his supporting actor appearance in the prison-based action movie “Locked Down” and promises to bring his crowd-pleasing brand of MMA back to the CFC. He will be facing Steve Skinner, who like the previously mentioned Marchand and Black, is an MMA champion of a Moncton promotion. The Snake will have his hands full on June 5th.

Fans can purchase tickets to see Joe Doerksen, Robin Black, Eric Perez and the rest of the CFC 5 fighters this Friday, June 4th for as little as $40. You can get VIP seats by calling 772-2599 or General Admission through Ticketmaster.Remember that this event is now open to fans sixteen years old.

The rest of card will be just as entertaining with local Winnipeg fighters Dominick Blais, Mark Durant, Dwight Sutherland, and Agostino DeNatale returning to action. Ronson Sabourin and Travis Gervais will also make their hometown CFC debut.

Here is the full card for the event:

Main Event

Joe Doerksen vs Shawn Marchand

Semi-Main Event

Robin Black vs Eric Perez

Roland Delorme vs Sean Quinn

Lance Cartwright vs Steve Skinner

Dominick Blais vs Matt Spisak

Mark Durant vs Jesse Ronson

Dwight Sutherland vs Guillaume Fortier

Ronson Sabourin vs Chris Myra

Agostino DeNatale vs Kyle Anderson

Travis Gervais vs Justin Bloomer

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.

Canadian middleweight Joe Doerksen has a scroll-length resume and online band of followers to match.

But he's the first to admit his performances didn't always measure up, especially when he fought inside the octagon. His nerves got the best of him, and going into his most recent gig at UFC 113, he was just 1-4 in the world's biggest fight promotion.

This time around, something changed.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Matt Mitrione is pleased with his performance against Kimbo Slice on the PPV portion of UFC 113. He talked about all of his submission attempts and gives props to the former YouTube star for toughing it out.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The only Canadian to earn a victory at UFC 113, Joe Doerksen talks about his win over Tom Lawlor and the fact that he was toying with retirement just weeks before he got the call.

Click here to view the embedded video.

An ecstatic Alan Belcher is very happy with his performance tonight against Patrick Cote but still feels the best is to come. With the victory he feels he’s ready to face Anderson Silva.

HT: MMAFighting.com

Thomas Gerbasi, UFC - Middleweight prospect Tom Lawlor had the better entrance, but Manitoba veteran Joe Doerksen had the better exit in UFC 113 prelim action at the Bell Centre Saturday night, as he roared back from a shaky first round to submit The Ultimate Fighter season eight alum in the second stanza.