Press Release

MMA BIG SHOW PRESENTS LOCAL FAVORITES CHRIS BENNETT, MOJO HORNE, AND TJ BALL
AS THEY PUT IT ALL ON THE LINE AT “ALL OR NOTHING”

Event to take place live at Belterra Casino Resort & Spa on July 17th

Indiana (USA): MMA Big Show, one of the top fight promotions in the Midwest, will present its next exciting event, “ALL OR NOTHING,” which will take place on July 17th at Belterra Casino Resort & Spa in Indiana. In the main event, big-time local favorite Mojo Horne (7-2) will face one of his toughest tests to date, as he tangles with extremely experienced American Top Team product Lucas Lopes (19-8, fifteen finishes). Also featured on the card will be rising young local prospect “The Samurai” Chris Bennett (0-1 pro, 18-1 amateur), as he attempts to capture his first pro win from Brad Smith (1-1). Another notable local showcased on the fight card will be T.J. Ball (1-1), who will be looking to increase his pro experience against Danny “The Hammer” Surface (3-2). And making his return to Big Show will be Scott Cornwell (1-1), who made his Big Show debut last fall against UFC veteran Junie “The Lunatic” Browning (4-3). Tickets for “ALL OR NOTHING” are priced at $25, $45, and $75, and are available through Ticketmaster, as well as http://www.mmabigshow.com/. 21 and over only, please.

A training partner of Rich Franklin and a former MMA Big Show Middleweight Champion, Mojo Horne was glad to put 2009 behind him, as he suffered the first losses of his pro career. However, he ended the campaign on a high note, as he submitted Kevin Barkdull in the first round at November’s “ONSLAUGHT” event. Now back to his winning ways, Horne is looking to target his title once again in 2010. Standing in his way will be extremely experienced veteran Lucas Lopes. A veteran of 27 MMA fights, Lopes has
fought well-known competitors Sean Salmon and StrikeForce fighter Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos, and has defeated UFC welterweight contender Thiago Alves and former UFC fighter Antonio “Samuray” Mendes. Lopes is on a four-fight winning streak, including two straight wins in StrikeForce. Lucas is coming off a KO victory over Robert “Bubba” McDaniel, who previous defeated Mojo via ref stoppage after Horne’s nose was broken. This is Mojo’s opportunity to, in a way, avenge his loss to McDaniel, and come out ahead of a highly experience ATT fighter. Certainly, this will be a difficult test for Horne, but he’s ready to go out there and prove that not only can he beat a veteran like Lopes, he is deserving of a shot at “his” belt. “I’m hoping that if I win this fight, that I’ll be able to fight for my title again. From there, once I get my title back, Jason says he has some plans for me. So I’m excited about that.” What does he think about facing a competitor like his opponent? “I’ve seen some footage on him. He looks like more of a standup fighter. Don’t know much about his ground. The fight footage on him doesn’t show much about the ground. But I’m a firm believer in fighting the fight, not the fighter. So I’m just gonna go in there and do my thing.” And to the fans, Mojo had this to say: “I’m going to do my best for you guys, as I always do. Hopefully, I get the KO or submission, and everyone get’s their money’s worth.”

“The Samurai” Chris Bennett built a name for himself with MMA Big Show fans with his incredibly exciting fights. A real crowd-pleaser, he turned professional earlier this year after piling up eighteen amateur victories. Bennett, currently a 0-1 as a pro, is looking to rebound after a devastating loss to American Top Team’s Tony Simms and prove that he’s a serious contender against Brad Smith at “ALL OR NOTHING.” Additionally, T.J. Ball will be fighting the very tough Danny “The Hammer” Surface, who will be making his pro debut. Both fighters recently dropped to 185 lbs. from their former heavyweight status. As a result, this is going to be a war between two muscle-packed fighters looking to dominate.

Fearsome fighter Scott Cornwell put on a show in the main event of Big Show’s “ONSLAUGHT” in November of 2009. is a Cincinnati native who started learning Tae Kwon Do at the age of three under Master David Huffstutler. As a teenager, Cornwell quickly progressed through the ranks, and currently holds a 3rd degree black belt, winning several local and national tournaments. He also had a very impressive high school wrestling career, where he competed for multiple national teams in freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. His amateur mixed martial arts career began in 2007 while training under 4th degree black belt and renowned MMA instructor Rob Gerhardt, and he won his first five amateur fights, amassing an impressive record of 7-2. In preparation for his pro debut, Scott began additional training with Rod Housley at Team Vision while continuing to train and teach at Hamilton-Fairfield Tae Kwon Do. In short, Scott is an excellent striker and wrestler, and is well-versed in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Fans can bet on these fights through the MMA Big Show iPhone Fantasy Better, and can also watch the event LIVE on R&R Channel 354 on DirecTV at 8 PM EST on the 17th.

In addition, the Big Show Gym, a 19,000 square foot MMA & Fitness Facility will be opening on June 27th in Eastgate Mall in Batavia, OH. This new facility will opening softly on the 27th and will host a grand opening event approximately 30 days later, once all of the equipment and build-out has been completed. This gym will feature a full strength and cardio center, full MMA cage (the actual MMA Big Show Cage), BJJ mats, Muay Thai center, and will host a multitude of training and group classes such as Extreme Fitness Boxing, Zumba, yoga, aerobics and much more. Please visit http://www.bigshowgym.com/ for more information.

The MMA Big Show is currently looking for both national sponsors for its live national broadcasts as well as the gym.

The full fight card for “ALL OR NOTHING” includes:

Mojo Horne vs. Lucas Lopes
T.J. Ball vs. Danny Surface
Chris Bennett vs. Brad Smith
Scott Cornwell vs. James Baumgardner
Brendon Hampton vs. Josh Curry
Tyler Riley vs. Shannon Casey
Trevor Riley vs. Chris Anness
Joe Pegg vs. Marcus Lewis
Dave Coghlan vs. Eric Grifford
Jordan Seals vs. Jimmie Allen
Nikolas Hoobler- Scherff vs. Korey Comptan
TJ Wash vs. Dallas Rice
BJ Wulff vs. Justin Bruster
Shannon Powell vs. Phil Colston
Denver Myers vs. John Risley
Kirk Miller vs. Dom Steele
William Kimrey vs. Ryan Holubek
Michael Ormes vs. David Smallwood
Vic Sims vs. Colt Helton

Fight card is subject to change.

SAN DIEGO (July 8, 2010) – Two-time UFC heavyweight champion Tim “Maine-iac” Sylvia takes on former UFC and Strikeforce heavyweight title challenger, Paul “The Headhunter” Buentello, in the main event for the vacant Powerhouse World Promotions (PWP), LLC Heavyweight Championship, August 14 on Pay Per View live from Bren Events Center in Irvine, California.

“War on the Mainland,” presented by Powerhouse World Promotions, is being distributed by Integrated Sports Media at 10:00PM ET/6:00PM PT in North America on cable and satellite Pay-Per-View via iN Demand, DIRECTV, Avail-TVN and DISH Network, as well as Viewer’s Choice, Bell TV and Shaw PPV in Canada, for a suggested retail price of only $29.95. It will also be available in the United Kingdom via Primetime Live. The PPV card will also be streamed live on Internet PPV outside of the United States, Canada and United Kingdom by going to www.WarontheMainland.com and registering.

“This event started as a training clinic that we’re still holding August 8 in San Diego,” PWP CEO Brian Manna explained. “It’s a full day, training clinic – MMA, Jiu-Jitsu, striking, boxing kicking, etc. – at Manna’s Martial Arts in San Diego. Tony Martinez (President of Powerhouse) suggested we do a show. We discussed it with members of our team – Joe Moreira, Carlos Palomino, Rodolfo Gonzalez and Burdett Streeter – as well as Doug Jacobs (Integrated Sports Media) and (associate) Benny Ricardo. Pay per view made it an easier sell and we were able to raise capital for the show. Now, people from all over the world will be able to watch our show.

“The depth of our field is unmatched. We not only wanted to make sure that we had three really good fights like we do, but to insure that all of the fights on this show would feature high quality fighters, as well as competitive, entertaining matches. These fights are all very well matched from top to bottom. All of us (Team PWP) are old-school martial artists. We stepped into the ring against anybody that was put in there; the type of show we’re putting on August 14th and few like it exist today in MMA for the public.”

Sylvia (26-6-0), fighting out of Bettendorf, Iowa, is coming off of an impressive second-round submission of 5-time World’s Strongest Man, Mariusz “Dominator” Pudzianowski. During his sensational career, Sylvia (6-8, 300 lbs.) has defeated many of the world’s top MMA heavyweights and super heavyweights – Andrei Arlovski (2) Brandon Vera, Jeff Monson, Wes Sims, Ricco Rodriguez, Mike Whitehead (2), Ben Rothwell and Jason Lambert.

Buentello (6-2, 250 lbs.), fighting out of Amarillo, Texas, has notable victories against “Tank” Abbott, Gary Goodridge, Justin Eilers, Mike Kyle and Kirill “Baby Fedor” Sidelnikov.

Sylvia-Buentello is one of three PWP title fights (5 X 5, all other fights are 3 X 5). Former WEC titlist Jason “The Punisher” Lambert (24-11-0) faces 8-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu champion Allan Goes (17-3-0) for the vacant PWP Light Heavyweight title belt, while former UFC title challenger Thales Leite (17-3-1) fights Strikeforce veteran Falinko “Niko” Vitale (27-9-0) for the PWP Middleweight crown.

In a Special Lightweight Attraction, former UFC lightweight champion Jens “Little Evil” Pulver (22-13-1), one of the most popular MMA fighters in the world, meets Diego “El Nino” Garijo (4-1-0).

Also fighting on “War on the Mainland” are Brazilian middleweight Gustavo “Ximu” Machado (18-8-1) vs. Rick Reeves (10-3-0), Mexican welterweight Jorge “The Naked Man” Ortiz (16-5-1) vs. veteran Terry Martin (19-8-0), and California lightweights Joao Silva (3-0) vs. Erin Beach (1-0). All fights and fighters are subject to change.

“We’re hitting the ground running,” Manna added. “People all over the world want to fight with us. We’re not interested in signing fighters to long-term contracts. We’re interested in the fighters being self-sufficient and stable. Burdett is a financial advisor and one of our goals is to aid fighters to become more aware of how to make their financial future more stable.”

Tickets, ranging from $35.00 to $110.00 reserved and $110.00 to $295.00 on the floor, are on sale at the Bren Event Center Box Office (10 AM/PT-6 PM/PT, Mon-Fri), going on line to www.bren.uci.edu or www.ticketmaster.com, or by calling 1.949.824.5000.

Doors open at 5:00 PM/PT, first bout 6:15 PM/PT, first PPV bout 7 PM/PT – 10 PM/ET. Go to www.WarontheMainland.com or www.bren.uci.edu for additional information.

Vendor opportunities and sponsorships are available by calling 1.858.798.1541.

Details, including a rather deep fight card, for a previously reported Powerhouse World Promotions' "War on the Mainland" event are coming together.

The event, which takes place Aug. 14 at the 5,000-seat Bren Events Center in Irvine, Calif., airs on pay-per-view for $29.95.

Three titles fights are part of the card, which is headlined by former UFC champ Tim Sylvia vs. former top Strikeforce title-challenger Paul Buentello for the vacant PWP heavyweight belt.

Details, including a rather deep fight card, for a previously reported Powerhouse World Promotions' "War on the Mainland" event are coming together.

The event, which takes place Aug. 14 at the 5,000-seat Bren Events Center in Irvine, Calif., airs on pay-per-view for $29.95.

Three titles fights are part of the card, which is headlined by former UFC champ Tim Sylvia vs. former top Strikeforce title-challenger Paul Buentello for the vacant PWP heavyweight belt.

Damian Grabowski

CHICAGO (July 8, 2010) — Bellator Fighting Championships announced today that the nationally televised mixed martial arts promotion will return to the Windy City for a Season 3 event at the historic Chicago Theatre on Aug. 19th.

Bellator 25 will mark the Chicago landmark’s second-ever mixed martial arts event — the first being Bellator 14 which took place on April 15, 2010. The Bellator 25 card will feature two quarterfinal fights in both the Season 3 Heavyweight and Women’s World Championship tournaments.

Headlining the Fox Sports Net event will be undefeated heavyweight sensation Damian “The Polish Pitbull” Grabowski who will make his U.S. debut in a quarterfinal heavyweight world championship tournament fight against knock-out artist Scott Barrett.

Grabowski, who was considered one of the top heavyweight free agents in the world before signing with Bellator, boasts a perfect 13-0 pro record. The Polish Pitbull has not only finished each of his opponents by TKO or submission, but not one of his opponents has yet to see the third round of a fight. His spectacular tenacity was on full display in April 2009, when he competed in a one-night, 16-man heavyweight tournament in an Austrian promotion that featured no-time-limit bouts. Grabowski dismantled each of his four opponents, winning the tournament with his longest fight lasting only 3:48 into the second frame. In his most recent fight last month Grabowski TKO’d the highly regarded heavyweight Michal Kita in the first round.

Barrett, who owns a four-fight win streak coming into the tournament, fought earlier this year at Bellator 19 where he knocked out formerly undefeated Ty Lee just 2:25 into Round 1.

Bellator 25 will also include an opening-round fight in Bellator’s World Championship Women’s Tournament featuring Zoila “The Warrior Princess” Frausto and the world’s No. 6-ranked flyweight, undefeated Jessica Pene.

Frausto was added to the tournament after she shocked the MMA world recently at Bellator 23 with her stunning KO of the world’s top-ranked and heavily favored Rosi Sexton. Sexton was subsequently forced out of the tournament due to a 60-day medical suspension from the Kentucky Boxing and Wrestling Authority. Pene debuted for Bellator in May 2009 with a first round TKO against Tammie Schneider at Bellator 5. Her unblemished record also features a submission victory over fellow tournament participant and No. 8 world ranked 115 pounder, Angela Magana.

In other action, Aisling Daly, the best female mixed martial artist in Ireland and the world’s No. 3-ranked 125 lbs. woman, will drop down to 115 lbs. to face 13-5 submission ace and No. 3-ranked flyweight Lisa Ward in the opening round of the World Championship Women’s Tournament. The 22-year-old Daly will make her U.S. MMA debut backed by a pristine 9-0 record, while Ward enters the fight with one win already coming under the Bellator banner. Just two weeks ago at Bellator 22, she dismantled Stephanie Frausto with a slick rear naked choke 2:01 into the first round.

The Bellator Season 3 Heavyweight and Women’s World Championship Tournaments begin Aug. 12 and will once again be televised LIVE in primetime every Thursday night on FOX Sports Net and during special weekend highlight shows on NBC, Telemundo and the cable network mun2.

For more information, visit Bellator.com, follow Bellator on Twitter @BellatorMMA or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Bellator.

Tickets are priced at $100, $75, $50, and $35, and go on sale at Ticketmaster.com beginning this Saturday, July 10th, at 12 noon.

Fresh off his TKO win in Strikeforce Challengers last week, SportFight founder and MMA superstar Matt “The Law” Lindland has put together yet another adrenaline-pumping night of mixed martial arts action at the Theater of the Clouds on Saturday, July 10th at 7p. SportFight XXVIII: Boiling Point will offer up a stacked fight card featuring some of the most skilled and exciting athletes from both the Northwest and beyond.

This installment of SportFight will also have a distinct international flavor, featuring two top Brazilian fighters: the nephew of Hermes Franka—Lucca Franka taking on Japanese sensation Eddie Matsuura.

There will be two belts on the line at Middle Weight, Casey Manrique takes on Damian Dantibo.

For the Heavy Weight Title, Daniel Stewart of Team Quest Faces the California sensation DJ Linderman.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had this much talent on a card before,” says Lindland, President of SportFight, LLC. “We’re flying in some top international fighters, in addition to some of the best free agent fighters out there. We’re talent deep, and we’re heavyweight deep. On paper, this could be one of the better shows that we’ve had.

“Top Matchups: Main Event – Heavy Weight Championship

Daniel Stewart (5-1), Team Quest/Newport, OR vs. DJ Linderman (7-1), Yreka, CA

“I like this heavy weight match-up – both these guys have power in both hands and they can both wrestle,” noted Matt Lindland. “This fight will be action packed. It’s scheduled for five rounds but don’t plan on this fight going to the judges’ card.”

Co-Main Event-Middle Weight Championship

Casey Manrique faces Damian Dantibo in this action-packed match-up as these two undefeated fighters meet up for the SportFight Middle Weight title

Fight Card: Main Event – Heavyweight Championship Heavyweight

Daniel Stewart (5-1), Team Quest/Newport, OR vs. DJ Linderman (7-1), Yreka, CA

Co-Main Event–Middleweight Welterweight
Casey Manrique (5-0), Springfield, OR vs. Damian Dantibo (5-0), Eugene, OR

Lightweight
Lucca Franka, Fortaleza-Brazil VS Eddie Matsuura, Omiya Japan fighting out of Fisticuffs Gym

Middle weight
Ray Armstrong, Battle Ground, WA VS John Clift Milwaukie, OR

More fights TBA

About SportFight
Founded in 2003 by Matt Lindland and Randy Couture, SportFight is the leading mixed martial arts promotion in the northwestern United States. Together with its subsidiary brands, “Proving Grounds” and “Clash at the Casino,” SportFight has produced more than 30 live MMA events in Oregon, Nevada and Colorado.

SportFight was Oregon’s first sanctioned mixed martial arts promotion and has served as a showcase for many of the sport’s emerging stars and best-known veterans, such as Sean Sherk, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Jeff Monson, Chris Leben, Ed Herman, Gesias “JZ” Calvancanti, Paul Daley, Chael Sonnen and Dennis Hallman. Furthermore, SportFight has graduated fighters to every major MMA organization, including the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Pride FC, K-1, the International Fight League, BodogFIGHT and Elite XC.

Check out SportFight TV every Saturday at 10 pm on Comcast SportsNet. SportFight has an extensive library of event footage and highlight compilations that are available on DVD at Wal-Mart, Hollywood Video and many other retail locations. For more information, visit HYPERLINK “http://www.sportfight.tv.\” www.sportfight.tv.

Tickets are priced at $132, $48, $35 & $20. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at the Rose Quarter Box Office (M-F 10a 5p), all participating Safeway/ TicketsWest outlets, by calling 877.789.ROSE (7673), or at ComcastTIX.com. For more information please visit RoseQuarter.com. Prices do not include service charges. For Groups of 10 and more please call 503.963.4400. To receive event notices, pre-sale opportunities, discounts and prizes join our free Rose Quarter CyberClub at RoseQuarter.com.

In what should come as no surprise, Brock Lesnar was the highest paid fighter during last weekend’s UFC 116 event from Las Vegas with a reported $400,000 paycheck for his efforts. In what should come as a minor surprise to many, his opponent Shane Carwin picked up $40,000 for his troubles, which means Lesnar was paid ten-times the amount Carwin was for his appearance in the main event of the evening.

Also among the highest paid athletes to compete at UFC 1116 were Chris Leben ($86,000), who also picked up a hefty “Fight of the Night” bonus check for his third round triangle submission of Yoshihiro Akiyama in a back-and-forth war between middleweights, and Chris Lytle ($52,000) who submitted Matt Brown with a nasty reverse triangle/straight armlock in a welterweight battle.

A full list of the disclosed fighter salaries for UFC 116 is below:

Brock Lesnar: $400,000 (no win bonus) def. Shane Carwin: $40,000

Chris Leben: $86,000 ($43,000 win bonus) def. Yoshihiro Akiyama: $45,000

Chris Lytle: $52,000 ($26,000 win bonus) def. Matt Brown: $10,000

Stephan Bonnar: $50,000 ($25,000 win bonus) def. Krzysztof Soszynski: $10,000

George Sotiropoulos: $24,000 ($12,000 win bonus) def. Kurt Pellegrino: $25,000

Brendan Schuab: $20,000 ($10,000 win bonus) def. Chris Tuchscherer: $12,000

Ricardo Romero: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus) def. Seth Petruzelli: $10,000

Kendall Grove: $50,000 ($25,000 win bonus) def. Goran Reljic: $5,000

Gerald Harris: $20,000 ($10,000 win bonus) def. David Branch: $6,000

Daniel Roberts: $12,000 ($6,000 win bonus) def. Forrest Petz: $6,000

Jon Madsen: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus) def. Karlos Vemola: $8,000

UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar ($400,000) and main-card winners Chris Leben ($86,000) and Chris Lytle ($52,000) were the top earners at this past weekend's UFC 116 event.

MMAjunkie.com recently requested and today received the list of disclosed paydays from the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

The total disclosed payroll for the July 3 show was $923,000.

(photo by Tracy Lee via Yahoo! Sports)

Let’s face it, last night Stephan Bonnar (12-7) was staring at his pink slip when he looked across the octagon at opponent Krzysztof Soszynski (19-10-1).

Going into the fight with three straight losses, having only won 2 of his last 7, Bonnar needed a victory badly.

Rematching Soszynski after his controversial loss at UFC 110 when an inadvertent headbutt cut “The American Psycho’s” head open which caused the referee to stop the fight. Instead of going to the scorecard to determine a winner, the referee awarded “The Polish Experiment” with a TKO win.

So, looking to avenge that loss and save his job, Stephan Bonnar was out their to put it all on the line, and that’s exactly what he did.

Earning the wrong end of several knuckle sandwhiches, Bonnar bloodied and fatigued, scored a good couple of strikes in the second. This forced Soszynski into the cage attempting to cover up to regain his composure, but “The American Psycho” landed a big knee to his opponents head sending the fighter to the mat. Bonnar quickly followed that up with several strikes causing the referee to step in to end the fight at 3:08 of the second.

Not only did Bonnar save himself from the chopping block but he earned himself a cool $75,000 for his effort after being awarded on of two “Fight of the Night” awards. Now the former “TUF 1″ finalist has earned himself some breathing room with the win and the bonus, as the UFC will have to really look hard at his next performance should he fall the next time he steps into the octagon.

Lemoore, Calif. – John Alessio didn’t stress too much over his opponent change for Friday, July 9’s Tachi Palace Fights “Stars and Strikes” mixed martial arts show at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore, Calif.

“I definitely want to first just say that I hope (Brad) Blackburn heals up soon and that I was really looking forward to that fight. I’m very happy that Tachi Palace Fights didn’t have me sitting around waiting for an opponent and they didn’t just cut the fight. They had some one right away and I really appreciate that,” said Alessio, who will take on War Machine in the co-main event at the Palace.

War Machine (11-3) will replace Blackburn, who had to withdraw from the bout because of a cut.

“War Machine has a good record at 11-3 and won six of his last seven fights. I will be ready, but I don’t see any problems for me in this fight. I don’t see any aspect of the game that he is better than me at. He is a tough dude and probably come in swinging to take my head off.”

This will be War Machine’s final fight before he is scheduled to spend a year in a San Diego jail, according to his Twitter account. War Machine was a cast member on “The Ultimate Fighter 6″ and previously was known as Jon Koppenhaver before a legal name change.

He was arrested May 30 outside Thruster’s Lounge in San Diego under suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.

“I’m glad I got this fight. I need to make some money to leave with my wife while I’m locked up. Took this fight on very short notice, but a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do. Jail is going to suck and be so boring can’t wait to get out and fight again,” said War Machine, who last saw action May 15 when he submitted Zach Light.

“I actually trained with Alessio all last year at Xtreme Couture. He’s a well-seasoned vet, real tough with great skills. We had many good sparring sessions the last year. I remember back when I was a youngster; before I ever started fighting I saw him fight in the UFC. John was young, but did great. I thought wow this dude is going to be good,” War Machine added.

Tickets can be purchased at www.tachipalace.com or charge by phone at 1-800-225-2277. Tickets may also be purchased at the Tachi Palace Gift Shop and start at a low price of just $30 for general admission seating.

If you can’t attend the fights you can watch them live on GoFightLive.tv at 6 p.m. PST. Cost of the stream is just $9.99.

In the main event, “Razor” Rob McCullough returns to his roots at the Palace in a catch weight bout with fast-rising star Isaac DeJesus of Fresno, Calif. DeJesus (9-1). DeJesus is the Tachi Palace Fights Featherweight champ and makes the jump up in weight to take on Huntington Beach, Calif.’s McCullough (17-6) at 160 pounds.

“I see this fight being great. Lots of face punching and submission scrambles. I’m looking for an early KO, so I can grab a beer and get back to eating all the junk food I can find before going away,” War Machine said.

This fight is a lot more pivotal in the career of Alessio (28-13), who carries a 4-fight win streak into the contest.

“I’m more ready than ever to fight. I’ve really worked a lot harder than I ever have this last year and trying to get back to the UFC. I’m putting everything into this and been working so hard,” Alessio said. “This is the type of fight that I feel can really put me back in the UFC.”

The 9-bout card is also packed with three title fights, as welterweight champ David Mitchell (10-0) of Santa Rosa, Calif. defends his belt against Lemoore, Calif.’s Poppies Martinez (18-6) and bantamweight title holder Cole Escovedo (16-4) of Fresno, Calif. defends against Oakdale, Calif.’s Michael McDonald (9-1). Also, Rancho Cucamonga Calif.’s Gabe Ruediger (16-5) and Albuquerque, N.M.’s Lenny Lovato (8-0) battle for the Tachi Palace Fights vacant lightweight strap.

Also, UFC veteran David Kaplan (2-3) of Las Vegas, Nev. takes on Oakland, Calif.’s Dominique Robinson (4-4) in a lightweight tilt; Olympic Silver Medalist Stephen Abas (1-0) of Fresno, Calif. makes his return to the Palace in a bantamweight bout with Lemoore, Calif.’s Joey DeLaCruz (1-0); Las Vegas, Nev. lightweight David Bollea (2-0), who is the nephew of wrestling superstar Hulk Hogan, takes on Visalia, Calif.’s Cody Gibson (3-0); and Coalinga, Calif. bantamweight Francisco Loredo (4-5) fights Soledad, Calif.’s Drew Bittner (3-0).