It’s a fair statement that every fighter in the UFC is genuinely excited when they have a bout coming up just around the corner.

While it’s a job, it’s safe to say most fighters love what they do. So having the chance to ply their craft, earn a payday to provide for their families, and perform in front of thousands of screaming fans is a pretty enjoyable experience.

Now take that normal level of excitement for any UFC competitor, multiply it by a thousand, and you might be able to feel what Mike Swick is feeling as he heads into UFC on Fox 4 this weekend in Los Angeles.

Absent from the Octagon for over two years now, Swick returns on Saturday and the fact that he’s even able to step foot in the cage is already a bit of a miracle.

The former Ultimate Fighter season 1 cast member had been dealing with serious stomach ailments over the last couple of years, and after being misdiagnosed by doctors and dropping 30 pounds in the process, Swick wasn’t sure he’d ever fight again, much less be able to regain his health.

“I never thought about quitting, but there was a time where I thought my body wasn’t going to be able to handle this kind of training with my diet and health and all the medications and all the stuff I was going through at the time. All the experimental procedures and stuff they were trying to do to fix my condition,” Swick told MMAWeekly Radio.

“I definitely thought there was no way I’d be a professional athlete if this stuff got any worse or continued.”

At the time, Swick was eating a third of what he would normally eat during a training camp, and had less and less energy as time went on. Eventually he took it upon himself to start researching the illness and realized that he may not have what the doctors originally diagnosed him with.

“I didn’t know what was wrong and even through a couple of my fights at welterweight, there were some big scares. I didn’t know if I had something that was a lot more serious than it turned out to be and it’s scary. Anything that stops you from being able to eat, and has the effects that this has had, it’s a pretty serious thing,” said Swick.

Swick found out that he actually had esophageal spasms, which can cause sudden and severe chest pains and can affect a person being able to eat regularly.

Once he was diagnosed correctly, Swick started to eat again, put weight back on and the energy and the desire to fight returned in a hurry.

With his stomach ailments behind him, Swick was ready to once again pursue his UFC dream, but he then suffered a knee injury that put him on the shelf for an extended period of time, delaying his return.

Swick doesn’t deny that between the severe weight loss, the stomach issues he was having, and then coupled with a serious knee injury, times got tough. He was never ready to call it a career, however.

“Super tough. It is what it is. It was another hurdle and that’s what a hurdle is; it’s meant to be jumped. You’ve got to be positive about it and push forward, but it’s tough,” Swick said. “It’s tough when you’ve got to sit on the sideline and not compete in a sport that you love and been a part of for so long, and then just watch show after show after show as a fan. It’s great to be a fan, but after you’ve had 12 UFC fights, it’s hard to become only a fan.”

There was a lot of rest and a lot of rehabilitation, but once Swick’s body got back into form, he started to shape and craft himself back into the fighter that fans remembered from just a couple of years earlier.

“Absolutely amazing, one of my best camps. I do feel extremely healthy, I feel strong and fast, and I’m just ready to go,” Swick stated.

It’s safe to say Mike Swick always appreciated his job with the UFC, but like the Joni Mitchell song says “you don’t know what you got till it’s gone” and he appreciates this second chance more than anyone will ever know.

“I thought I had my career taken from me because of my health and my symptoms, and the things I was going through, and now I have that second chance and I’m going to make the most of it. It’s going to show on August 4,” said Swick.

“I’m going to fight every single fight like it’s my last fight.”

http://www.mmaweekly.com/mike-swick-fighting-every-fight-like-its-his-last

Cerrone vs. Guillard Is Just Business, But They’ll Still Punch Each Other In The Face


Flash back a couple years ago and you’d find Donald Cerrone and Melvin Guillard kicking and punching each other in a fighter’s gym in the middle of Albuquerque, N.M.

They were teammates at Jackson’s MMA, sweating alongside each other, helping one another prepare for their upcoming battles.

Cerrone has remained a staple of the Jackson’s camp, but Guillard has since moved on to find a different take on things to help him refocus his career, putting down roots with the Blackzilians in Florida.

On Aug. 11 at UFC 150: Henderson vs. Edgar II, Cerrone and Guillard will once again be kicking and punching each other, only this time it will be for the benefit of a paycheck at the end of the day.

But despite being on different teams at opposite ends of the United States now, there is no animosity. This is not a Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans feud spewing with venom.

Cerrone and Guillard remain friends. This is a simple business proposition for them.

“This fight between Melvin and I is nothing but professional, no personal beef or nothing,” Cerrone told MMAWeekly.com on Friday.

“Before I signed the contract, I was able to talk to Donald on the phone and we both agreed that hey, let’s go do this, let’s go get Fight of the Night,” Guillard added.

Actually, just saying that the two are still friends could be understating the situation.

Guillard and his wife have actually spent time out at Cerrone’s ranch in New Mexico.

“The one thing I respect about Donald is he’s always been straight up. He’s like family,” Guillard explained. “Right now, it’s just business, but that doesn’t mean we’re not gonna beat each other up.”

It may be “just business” for both of them, but the admiration between them runs deep, so much so that Cerrone spent much of his camp away from Jackson’s. He picked up and returned to Vail, Colo., where he first started preparing for his mixed martial arts career. There he trained with his old coaches and took advantage of conditioning by running up the ski slopes that range in altitude from more than 8,000 feet high to well over 11,000 feet.

A large part of that temporary move, however, had to do with the fact that he didn’t want Guillard to think he was taking advantage of his past teammate.

“I kind of went away from Greg on this fight a little bit and just trained my own thing. I didn’t want Melvin to think that Greg was giving me all his secrets and whatnot,” said Cerrone.

“So I just went away, went up to Vail to get my conditioning in order; ready to make some money.”

Friendship or not, fireworks are to be expected on Aug. 11 at the Pepsi Center in Denver. Both Cerrone and Guillard no only one way to fight: moving straight forward, full-bore.

So don’t expect anything less than Cerrone and Guillard living up to their promise of gunning for the UFC 150 Fight of the Night.

http://www.mmaweekly.com/cerrone-vs-guillard-is-just-business-but-theyll-still-punch-each-other-in-the-face

Matt Hamill Comes Out Of Retirement To Fight At UFC 152 In Toronto


The move to finish up the UFC 152 fight card slated for Sept. 22 in Toronto continued on Friday as UFC Canadian officials announced that Matt Hamill has come out of retirement to face Roger Hollett.

Following back-to-back losses to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Alexander Gustafsson, Hamill wrote on his official website, “Today is a sad day for me. After six years and 13 fights in the UFC, I’m ready to hang up my gloves and retire from this amazing sport.”

Now, one year later, Hamill plans to return, his 10-4 record in tow.

He squares off with Canadian Roger Hollett (13-3) as part of the supporting cast for Joseph Benavidez and Demetrious Johnson’s flyweight title fight.

Hollett makes his way to the Octagon on the heels of a five-fight winning streak, most recently fighting under the Bellator banner.

http://www.mmaweekly.com/matt-hamill-comes-out-of-retirement-to-fight-at-ufc-152-in-toronto

A Welterweight match up between Toronto’s own Sean Pierson and Dan Miller has been agreed upon for UFC 152 in Toronto as reported by MMAWeekly.com.

Pierson recently stopped a two fight losing streak when he defeated Jake Hecht by Unanimous Decision in June. Prior to that bout Pierson dropped a pair of fights to top ranked contenders Jake Ellenberger and Dong Hyun Kim. Pierson holds a respectable 2-2 record inside the Octagon after a decade on the regional circuit that saw him finish all ten of his victories.

Miller has a similar story to Pierson as he too is coming off a victory following a pair of losses to top competition. Miller rebounded from losses to Nate Marquardt and Rousimar Palhares to defeat Ricardo Funch via Guillotine in June. Miller is a veteran the Octagon, posting a record of 6-5 since entering the UFC.

http://topmmanews.com/2012/08/02/pierson-takes-on-miller-at-ufc-152-in-toronto/

A Featherweight bout between Canada’s Antonio “Pato” Carvalho and Brazil’s Rodrigo Damm has been announced for UFC 154 in Montreal, Quebec.

Carvalho (14-5), a Canadian MMA icon, spent many years overseas as the UFC had no Featherweight division, holds famous victories over the likes of Rumina Sato, Hatsu Hioki, and Takeshi Inoue. The Bruckman Martial Arts based fighter will go into this fight with a 1-1 UFC record having won his most recent bout by impressive KO over Daniel Pineda at UFC 149.

Similarly to Carvalho, Damm (10-5) took a long and winding road to the UFC. A former multiple time BJJ and Wrestling champion, Damm holds big wins over the likes of Kultar Gill and Jorge Masvidal, as well as unsuccessfully fought for the Interim Strikeforce LW Title against Gilbert Melendez. He made his UFC appearance on The Ultimate Fighter TV show, and holds a 1-0 record inside the Octagon with a Sub of the Night award winning victory over Anistavio Medeiros de Figueiredo at UFC 147.

http://topmmanews.com/2012/08/03/carvalho-to-face-damm-at-ufc-154/

Hominick vs. Garza Set For UFC 154 In Montreal, Lawlor vs. Carmont now official


A featherweight bout between Mark Hominick (20-11 MMA, 3-3 UFC) and Pablo Garza (11-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) is the latest addition to November's UFC 154 event, officials today announced.

Officials also confirmed middleweights Francis Carmont (19-7 MMA, 3-0 UFC) vs. Tom Lawlor (8-4 MMA, 4-3 UFC), a bout MMAjunkie.com (http://www.mmajunkie.com) previously reported.

UFC 154 takes place Nov. 17 at Montreal's Bell Centre. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FX and Facebook.

It's not clear where the above fights will land on the lineup.

Hominick finds himself in a must-win situation. After winning five straight fights in the UFC, WEC and Affliction, he earned a title shot with UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo at UFC 129. However, the Canadian kickboxer suffered a hard-fought unanimous-decision loss, and he's since followed it with a seven-second knockout loss to Chan Sung Jung and a split-decision defeat to Eddie Yagin.

He faces another down-on-his-luck fighter in Garza. After opening his UFC career with stoppage wins over Fredson Paixao and Yves Jabouin, the North Dakota-based fighter has suffered losses to Dustin Poirier and Dennis Bermudez. Prior to the Hominick booking, he was slated to fight Josh Grispi at this weekend's UFC on FOX 4 event but ultimately bowed out with an injury.

http://mmajunkie.com/news/29994/hominick-vs-garza-set-for-ufc-154-in-montreal-lawlor-vs-carmont-now-official.mma

Mitch Gagnon Leads Canadian Contingent In More UFC 154 Bouts


The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s focus on Friday remained on Canada with the company adding two more bouts to its UFC 154 fight card slated for Nov. 12 in Montreal.

The event is expected to feature Georges St-Pierre vs. Carlos Condit in a welterweight title-unifying bout in the main event. The promotion on Friday added even more Canadian seasoning to the card with Mitch Gagnon vs. Walel Watson and Antonio Carvalho vs. Rodrigo Damm.

Gagnon (8-2) is fresh off of a loss at UFC 149 in Calgary, so will be looking to rebound on his home turf in Toronto. He’ll square off against Watson (9-4), who is also in need of victory, perhaps more so than Gagnon, having lost his last two fights.

Carvalho (14-5) resides in Toronto and has the momentum of a victory over Daniel Pineda at UFC 149 on his side. Damm (10-5) is fresh off of a stint on The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil, and will be making the long trek North for the fight.

http://www.mmaweekly.com/mitch-gagnon-and-antonio-carvalho-lead-canadian-contingent-in-two-more-ufc-154-bouts

Bellator is going big – really big – on Oct. 5 at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Ind.

Bellator 75 will kick off the promotion’s Season 7 Heavyweight Tournament with all four quarterfinal bouts.

After numerous false starts, Eric Prindle and Thiago Santos are slated to finally square off in the Bellator 75 main event as part of the opening round of the tournament. Also slated for the tournament is Brett Rogers, who will square off with Bellator newcomber Ruslan Magomedov.

“From the sold out crowd to the incredible fights, our first visit to Horseshoe Casino in Hammond was something I will never forget, so getting back to The Venue was something I wanted to get done immediately,” said Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney. “Our heavyweights always bring a great show with huge power and big KO’s, so our fans in the Chicago area should be in for a great night of fights October 5.”

The Bellator 75 preliminary card will feature former WEC champion Chase Beebe.

The event will broadcast starting at 8 p.m. ET on MTV2 and in commercial-free HD on EPIX. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. ET, with the preliminary streamed live on Spike.com starting at 6:30 p.m. ET. Tickets went on sale Friday, Aug. 3.

http://www.mmaweekly.com/bellator-75-goes-big-with-heavyweight-tournament

Andrei Arlovski And Tim Sylvia Meet For The Fourth Time At One FC 5


Former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski is slated to make his One FC debut at the promotion’s “Pride of a Nation” event on Aug. 31 in the Philippines.

It will come against a different opponent than originally expected, however. Arlovski was expected to square off with Sao Palelei at One FC 5, but a recent shifting of gears now has him facing fellow former UFC champion Tim Sylvia, according to MMAWeekly.com sources.

Arlovski (17-9) has had a rough go of it since exiting the UFC in 2008. He started off by winning back-to-back bouts, but then embarked on a four-fight skid that left him searching. He has since rebounded with two recent victories before signing with One FC.

Arlovski was originally set to face Palelei, but the Australian tweeted that he would no longer be facing Arlovski because One FC wanted him to sign a five-fight contract and he refused.

In enters Tim Sylvia.

Sylvia (31-7) was recently in talks to face Daniel Cormier, but that fell apart when Strikeforce decided to put Cormier against another former UFC heavyweight champion in Frank Mir.

Now, Sylvia will head overseas for a fourth fight with Arlovski. Sylvia lost their first bout, but won back-to-back fights against the Belarusian at UFC 59 and UFC 61.

Sylvia is currently in the midst of a three-fight winning streak and has won seven of his last eight bouts.

Arlovski and Sylvia will fight on the One FC 5: Pride of a Nation fight card on Aug. 31 in Quezon City, Philippines.

http://www.mmaweekly.com/andrei-arlovski-and-tim-sylvia-meet-for-the-fourth-time-at-one-fc-5

Maximum Fighting Championship Teams Up With Commission To Begin Testing Fighters This October


The Maximum Fighting Championship will be the first mixed martial arts organization in Canada to put fighters through random drug testing when MFC 35: Explosive Encounter comes around in October.

Testing will be done in conjunction with the Edmonton Combative Sports Commission, and is something long overdue, explained MFC Owner/President Mark Pavelich, who made the announcement during a recent guest segment on “The Jason Gregor Show.”

“It’s been talked about for a long time with many commissions. Usually it’s been a matter of money – the commissions not wanting to do testing because of the cost,” said Pavelich.

“But working with the Edmonton Commission, we’ve found a way to make it cost-effective, and most important, it’s going to be something consistent. When testing athletes the message has to be consistent – don’t cheat because you will be caught, and now it will be sooner rather than later.”

When asked about the prevalence of performance-enhancing substances in MMA, Pavelich told Gregor that he believes as many as 50% of the fighters are currently using something that is prohibited.

“You are seeing more and more fighters getting caught and that is good for the sport,” added Pavelich. “The MFC and any Commission we work with are not out to get anyone. I would just like to see illegal substances out of the sport, and those who use them be penalized for doing so.”

Starting at MFC 35, random fighters – likely four or five per event including those in championship bouts – will be tested following their matchup. More details about the testing will be unveiled in the coming weeks.

http://www.themmanews.com/maximum-fighting-championship-teams-up-with-commission-to-begin-testing-fighters-this-october/