Belfort vs. Overeem

• Vitor Belfort (209 lbs) vs. Alistair Overeem (210 lbs)
• Cung Le (184 lbs) vs. Brian Warren (280 lbs)
• Bobby Southworth (203.5 lbs) vs. James Irvin (209.5 lbs)
• Duane Ludwig (154 lbs) vs. Tyson Griffin (155.5 lbs)
• Josh Thomson (154.5 lbs) vs. Harris Sarmiento (154 lbs)
• Clay Guida (155 lbs) vs. Gilbert M (154 lbs)
• Daniel Puder (219 lbs) vs. Tommy Tuggle (247.5 lbs)
• Eugene Jackson (184 lbs) vs. Mike Seal (186.5 lbs)
• Jared Hamman (204.5 lbs) vs. Scott Graham (191 lbs)
• Bill Duvall (181 lbs) vs. Luke Stewart (185.5 lbs)
• Juan Miranda (155 lbs) vs. Clint Corona (155 lbs)
• Sean Basset (155 lbs) vs. Chris Aramante (158 lbs)

As MMA fans, we’re living in pretty interesting times, as exciting moments of our sport, moments that may be remembered for ages to come, seem to be taking place one after the other.

On the heels of UFC 60’s Royce Gracie and Matt Hughes bout, we were treated right away with PRIDE’s Bushido "Survival" Welterweight Grand Prix, this time with 16 fighters in a tough first round that made it hard to predict a certain favorite to move on, let alone to win it all.

With Strikeforce’s upcoming June 9th "Overeem vs. Belfort" showdown, all eyes will be turned to California to see if the promotion can match the success of the 18,265 attendance record they had at their first event. Then there’s the IFL and its unique league format, and soon the UFC will back with another fight night that will finally see Anderson Silva’s Octagon debut, a debut that was meant to happen five years ago against Carlos Newton. The list goes on and on, proving that our sport is growing and the only thing we can do at Full Contact Fighter is keep pumping out the news, keeping the beat loud and clear, as the rhythm never ceases from Brazil!

• Although older brother "Ninja" didn’t perform as well as he had hoped this past weekend at PRIDE Bushido, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua is on the mend after being sidelined last February from an elbow fracture against Mark Coleman at PRIDE 31. In a recent Muay Thai training session observed by FCF, Shogun was surprisingly explosive, working the pads with great motivation. Shogun also managed to get in some groundwork and MMA training with his brother last Thursday in Japan in preparation for Ninja’s bout. While in Japan, Shogun also negotiated a new contract with PRIDE, details forthcoming in this column.
• This time around, some of the Brazilian Top Team’s key figures had to stay in Brazil and couldn’t follow teammates Murilo Bustamante and Paulo Filho to their PRIDE Bushido outings. Nogueira brothers, Rodrigo "Minotauro" and Rogerio "Minotoro," who will be taking part on the next PRIDE card, had to stay home and train, along with the "Zen Machine" Mario Sperry, who tended to the brothers’ preparations. As part of their training, both Nogueira brothers are now in Belo Horizonte, capital of the state of Minas Gerais, doing a lot of boxing training with coach Luis Carlos Doria and Vitor Belfort, who’s also taking the chance to sharpen his preparation for his bout at the upcoming Strikeforce event with a rematch against Alistair Overeem. The famous fighting twins turned 29 years old on June 2.