MMA

The year is half over, so we're giving out some MMA half year awards. Today we'll discuss the best fight of the year so far.

Behold another exciting edition of FightHouse Radio. This week, MDS and I welcomed two great guests to the show. First, UFC welterweight contender Jon Fitch talked about preparing for his fight against Paulo Thiago at UFC 100 and evolving as a mixed martial artist. Later, we were joined by veteran Ricco Rodriguez to discuss his busy fight schedule and training with Michael Bisping for his bout against Dan Henderson at UFC 100. Enjoy!

The conventional wisdom says that the main event at UFC 100 will come down to Frank Mir's technique and agility against Brock Lesnar's power. And Mir says the conventional wisdom is right.

The year is half over, so we're giving out some MMA half year awards. Today we've got the best knockout of the year so far in MMA.

The UFC Fan Expo taking place next weekend in Las Vegas in conjunction with UFC 100 has added some star power, as the UFC has announced a series of grappling matches and appearances by Kimbo Slice and the rest of the cast of The Ultimate Fighter 10.

The grappling matches feature some of the best jiu jitsu players in the world, and I'm personally most excited about seeing Vinny Magalhaes, who appeared on the eighth season of The Ultimate Fighter. Magalhaes lackst the striking to compete in the UFC, but he's amazing on the ground. He'll be fun to watch, although the UFC hasn't yet said who he's facing.

Frank Mir is getting ready to fight a 275-pound behemoth when he takes on Brock Lesnar for the heavyweight title at UFC 100. But Mir's biggest concern isn't Lesnar's weight. It's Lesnar's reach.

Strikeforce announced Wednesday that they will be holding a press conference at the WaMu Theatre inside New York City's Madison Square Garden on July 14 to hype the August 15 fight between Gina Carano and Cristiane Santos. The event is also open to the public.

Call me crazy, but I think that this is a historic moment for Strikeforce, mixed martial arts and, more specifically, women's MMA.

Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez have verbally agreed to an Oct. 24 matchup and are likely to meet in the co-main event at UFC 104, sources close to the matchup confirmed to FanHouse.

Reports of the two fighting at UFC 103 appeared in recent days, but the UFC has apparently settled on the following event for the key heavyweight bout which may determine the next title challenger. No bout agreements have been signed, but little appears to stand in the way of the matchup.

Carwin and Velasquez are two of the organization's fastest-rising heavyweights and both boast unbeaten records.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has a 265-pound limit for its heavyweight division, but that weight limit usually doesn't matter because most fighters weigh well under 265 pounds. For UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, however, it's a little bit different.

It was the YouTube highlight that put the upstart Bellator Fighting Championships on the map, and it was an easy choice for our MMA Submission of the Half Year: Toby Imada choking out Jorge Masvidal with an inverted triangle.