While the UFC's first-ever trip to Australia certainly delivered on
in-cage action, "UFC 110: Nogueira vs. Velasquez" didn't do too bad at
the box office, either.

At the UFC 100 post-event press conference, UFC president Dana
White said the event drew 17,831 attendees to Acer Arena in Sydney,
Australia, for a reported $2.5 million gate.

While attendance figures outside of North America are rarely certified
by local commissions, the reported figure marks the highest total ever claimed by the UFC for an event outside of North America.

After the UFC's first trip to Abu Dhabi suffered a major subtraction on
Thursday with the announcement that Vitor Belfort had been forced to
withdraw from the card, the organization made one official
today.

The UFC officially announced that John Gunderson (22-7 MMA, 0-1 UFC)
meets Paul Taylor (10-5-1 MMA, 3-4 UFC) at UFC 112 in a bout that was
originally reported by MMAjunkie.com.

UFC 112 takes place April 10 in Abu Dhabi at Concert Arena at the Ferrari World theme park on Yas Island.

With just three fights officially announced for the UFC's first-ever trip to the United Arab Emirates, "UFC 112: Invincible" already has the makings of one of the highest-profile cards in the history of the promotion.

But with Anderson Silva prepared to defend his title against Vitor Belfort and lightweight champ B.J. Penn locking up with Frankie Edgar at the April 10 event, many U.S.-based fans wondered exactly how they were going to be able to see the UFC's first-ever open-air event.

Unsurprisingly, the answer is on pay-per-view.

Coming off a TKO victory against James Wilks in November, the “Immortal” Matt Brown (13-7 MMA, 4-1 UFC) took a trip to Oahu, Hawaii to add some “aloha” to his fight game in preparation for his bout with Ricardo Almeida (11-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC) at UFC 111.

FiveOuncesofPain.com recently had the chance to catch up with Brown at the Hawaii Martial Arts Center & Central Oahu Jiu Jitsu Academy to gather his thoughts on a number of issues, including his upcoming bout with the “Big Dog”.

Taking the advice of Matt Hume without very much persuasion, Brown jumped on a plane; destination Hawaii, to begin training with Haru Shimanishi.

“Matt [Hume] suggested I come out here,” said Brown. “He said we would like Haru’s style, and we do.”

While the majority of Brown’s two week trip revolved around training and preparing for his next fight, he still managed to sneak in some time for himself.

This was Brown’s first trip to Hawaii only the second time in his life that he had seen the ocean first hand.

Like many visitors to Hawaii, Brown has given surfing a shot, explaining, “I’m pretty close. I can actually catch waves now.”

When speaking of his trip to the island paradise as a whole, Brown explained, “It was great, man. I got some really good training, I got to see Hawaii, and I did a lot of fun things.”

In addition to working on his stand-up game with Haru, Brown was exposed to some great BJJ and had the opportunity to roll with students of BJJ Black Belt Kai Garcia. Some other notable grapplers that Brown had the opportunity to roll with included up and coming fighters Mario Miranda and Olympic gold medalist Satoshi Ishii.

Brown is currently intent on building upon his current three fight win streak in the UFC, but he’s going to have to go through decorated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Ricardo Almeida to do it.

“He’s one of those guys I watched all the way back in Pride,” said Brown. “I have a lot of respect for him. He really is a great fighter.

“Hopefully it can be an exciting fight. I think it would be a huge jump in my career, with a victory over him. I don’t think it’s any secret, I want this fight on the feet, and he wants it on the ground. It’s kind of the classic striker versus grappler match-up. Hopefully he changes his mind and decides to be a striker for a day (laughs).”

When asked about fighting on Almeida’s home turf of New Jersey, Brown said, “It makes no difference to me. I’ve fought many guys in their own hometowns.”

After all, his last fight was in James Wilks’ hometown.

“The cage feels the same whether you’re in, you know, Las Vegas, Australia, England, or wherever.”

Brown doesn’t like to make predictions about his fights. He believes that predicting his fights can lead to false expectations or negative pressure. The one thing Brown was certain of was he would “perform well and do his job”

However, after some nudging he did offer, “It could end so many different way. I’m gonna wear him out and finish him with some sort of TKO.”

Brown will leave Hawaii at the end of January and return home to Las Vegas, where he will gather some items and head back to Seattle. There he will start fine-tuning his game plan with his coaches in Washington in preparation for his fight in March.

The UFC's fourth trip to North Carolina appears to have found a home.

UFC Fight Night 21 is expected to take place at the 9,600-seat Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, N.C., on March 31, though UFC officials have yet to confirm the event or the venue.

A lightweight match-up between Kenny Florian and recent Japanese import Takanori Gomi is expected to headline the show, which serves as a lead-in for "The Ultimate Fighter 11" season debut on Spike TV.

The UFC's second trip to The Garden State has another fight to its lineup.

A middleweight match-up pitting submission ace Rousimar Palhares (10-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) against the heavy-handed Thomasz Drwal (17-2-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) will be finalized shortly for UFC 111, sources close to the situation told MMAjunkie.com. Both fighters have agreed to the match-up and are expected to turn in bout agreements this week.

UFC 111 is set for March 27 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Initial reports from WEC officials indicate the
WEC's third trip to ARCO Arena in Sacrmento, Calif., earned another
solid live gate.

At the evening's post-event press conference, WEC general manager Reed
Harris reported that Sunday's "WEC 46: Varner vs. Henderson" event drew
10,027 fans for a live gate of $550,000.

Official live gate numbers will be released by the California State Athletic Commission later in the week.