World renown artist Evan Showman made a bet with the Hurricane a few years back. The Hurricane was told that when he gets a knockout on a pay-per-view UFC card then he would earn a drawing. Well on July 3rd that dream became a reality with the vicious slam ko of opponent David Branch. The drawing is finished and personally autographed drawings will be available soon.

CLICK HERE TO EVAN SHOMANS WEBSITE AND ORDERING INFORMATION

The fight card for next week’s UFC 118 event is complete, UFC officials today announced.

The 10-bout lineup features a champion rematch between lightweight champ Frankie Edgar and B.J. Penn, and Randy Couture meets boxer James Toney in the UFC 118 co-headliner.

And though the bout originally was targeted for the preliminary card, MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) has since confirmed the removal of a Gerald Harris vs. Joe Vedepo middleweight bout from the night’s preliminary card.

UFC 118 takes place Aug. 28 at TD Garden in Boston. Two preliminary fights air as part of Spike TV’s “UFC Prelims” special, and then the main card airs on pay-per-view.

Lightweights bouts of Joe Lauzon vs. Gabe Ruediger and Nik Lentz vs. Andre Winner take the Spike TV slots, and 155-pounders Kenny Florian vs. Gray Maynard, middleweights Demian Maia vs. Mario Miranda, and welterweights Marcus Davis vs. Nate Diaz round out the PPV main card.

A source said Harris and Vedepo could be shifted to a later card (or cards, possibly against new opponents) and that “scheduling issues” were to blame for the UFC 118 cancellation.

UFC 118 is the UFC’s first-ever show in Massachusetts, which only recently became regulating MMA.

The full UFC 118 card includes:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view)

• Champ Frankie Edgar vs. B.J. Penn (for lightweight title)
• Randy Couture vs. James Toney
• Demian Maia vs. Mario Miranda
• Kenny Florian vs. Gray Maynard
• Marcus Davis vs. Nate Diaz

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike TV)

• Joe Lauzon vs. Gabe Ruediger
• Nik Lentz vs. Andre Winner

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Dan Miller vs. John Salter
• Nick Osipczak vs. Greg Soto
• Amilcar Alves vs. Mike Pierce

For more on UFC 118, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of MMAjunkie.com.

Ready for the challenge

Gerald Harris vs. Alessio Sakara keeps spot on UFC 118 “UFC Prelims” broadcast

A source close to the event today confirmed the news with MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

Harris vs. Sakara, as well as Terry Etim vs. Joe Lauzon, remain on the one-hour Spike TV broadcast, which precedes the night’s pay-per-view main card.

UFC 118 takes place Aug. 28 at Boston’s TD Garden and features a lightweight title rematch between current champion Frankie Edgar and former title-holder B.J. Penn.

MMAjunkie.com reported Rivera’s broken arm and scratch from the card – and the selection of Harris as a replacement – this past week. However, at the time, it was unclear if the bout would maintain its spot on the Spike TV broadcast.

Harris fights for the fourth time in 2010. After debuting for the UFC with a “Knockout of the Night” win over John Salter in January, Harris since has earned victories over Mario Miranda and Dave Branch. The slam-KO of Branch earlier this month earned Harris the evening’s “Knockout of the Night” award and also was featured on ESPN “SportsCenter” as one of the evening’s “Top Plays.”

Harris, a cast member on “The Ultimate Fighter 7,” fought his way back into the organization and – with his recent UFC wins – now owns a 10-fight win streak.

His opponent, Sakara, looks to extend a win streak of his own. After surviving a rough 1-3 stretch in the UFC in 2007, Sakara since has scored knockout wins over Joe Vedepo and James Irvin, as well as a split-decision victory over Thales Leites. Sakara had been expected to face Nate Marquardt at UFC 116 but was forced off the card due to his father’s death.

The latest UFC 118 card now includes:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view)

• Champ Frankie Edgar vs. B.J. Penn (for lightweight title)
• Randy Couture vs. James Toney
• Nate Marquardt vs. Rousimar Palhares
• Kenny Florian vs. Gray Maynard
• Marcus Davis vs. Nate Diaz

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike TV)

• Gerald Harris vs. Alessio Sakara
• Terry Etim vs. Joe Lauzon

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Nik Lentz vs. Andre Winner
• John Salter vs. TBA*
• Nick Osipczak vs. Greg Soto
• Amilcar Alves vs. Mike Pierce

 * – Not officially announced

For more on UFC 118, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of MMAjunkie.com.

Gif Courtesy of UFC.com

In middleweight action, Gerald Harris posted his 10th consecutive victory – and fifth straight via knockout – with a stunning third-round slam-KO of Bellator vet and UFC newcomer Dave Branch.

After besting his opponent standing and on the ground in the first two rounds, Harris, a former Division I national wrestling qualifier, set up the cage-jarring slam in the third. With Branch pinned against the cage and attempting a standing guillotine, Harris picked him up and slammed him to the mat.

Although he had an opportunity to unload additional punches on the Renzo Gracie black belt, Harris didn’t need to. Branch was knocked out cold by the blow at the 2:35 mark of the round, and Harris simply walked away from his unconscious opponent.

“He’s a good boxer and a tough guy, but I’m a new man now,” said Harris, who had to escape multiple triangle-choke attempts. “After ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ I became a much better fighter and a completely new man.”

Harris (16-2 MMA, 3-0 UFC), a cast member on “TUF 7″ who fought his way back into the organization earlier this year, now has finished nine of his past 10 opponents – seven in the first round. Branch, who went 2-0 in Bellator, falls to 6-1 overall and 0-1 in the UFC.

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Brendan Schuab def. Chris Tuchscherer via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 1:07
• Ricardo Romero def. Seth Petruzelli via submission (armbar) – Round 2, 3:05
• Kendall Grove def. Goran Reljic via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28)
• Gerald Harris def. David Branch via knockout (slam) – Round 3, 2:35
• Daniel Roberts def. Forrest Petz via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
• Jon Madsen def. Karlos Vemola via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

For more on UFC 116, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of MMAjunkie.com.

The UFC announced late Friday night that the Renzo Gracie product will be welcomed to the octagon by fellow middleweight Gerald Harris (15-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC) at UFC 116.

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) first reported Harris’ involvement with the July event, though “Hurricane” had been waiting on an opponent to be named.

Featuring a highly anticipated heavyweight title-unification match between current champion Brock Lesnar and interim title-holder Shane Carwin, UFC 116 takes place July 3 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs live on pay-per-view.

At 6-foot-1, Branch comes to the UFC on the strength of six-straight stoppage wins to open his professional career. In his most recent outing, Branch stopped Derrick Mehman (5-1 at the time) with a second-round rear-naked choke at Bellator 15 in April.

A New York native and Renzo Gracie black belt, Branch also owns wins over John Troyer (10-3 at the time), Dennis Olson (7-2) and Alex Aquino (5-2).

Harris, meanwhile, was first introduced to UFC fans as a cast member on “The Ultimate Fighter 7,” where eventual show champion Amir Sadollah defeated the Oklahoma native in the second round of the 32-man tournament. Harris was not asked back to the season’s live finale and was instead forced to fend for himself in various regional promotions.

After piecing together six-straight wins outside of the organization, Harris made his UFC debut this past January. Branch is the third-straight promotional newcomer Harris has faced in his UFC career.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Harris-scores-nasty-KO-finish-of-Miranda?urn=mma,231435

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Mario Miranda and Gerald Harris walked a dangerous edge for four and half minutes, in the end Miranda was the one who fell off the cliff first. Harris, a wrestler, and Miranda, a jiu-jitsu ace, stood for most of the fight. Harris landed a big right, that was there all night, and finished Miranda with a flurry of punches at 4:49 of the first round in the second fight at Ultimate Fight Night 21 at Bojangles Coliseum.

“I knew he was hurt so I said ‘I gotta finish this dude.’ I think I was losing the round for sure,” Harris told UFC.com. “So I just came with everything I had. I wasn’t pretty but I got the job done.”

It was obvious throughout the first round that both fighters were in jeopardy of taking a fight changing blow at any moment. Harris, with a low southpaw stance, was in danger of taking a vicious head kick while Miranda, holding his left hand too low, risked taking the counter right to the grill. Harris was dropped with 1:30 left in the first round. He survived some nasty shots as he defended on his knees.

“I got hurt pretty bad in the fight, but I get hurt in practice so I just kept my composure” Harris told UFC.com.

Once it got back to the feet, Harris finally landed that counter right. Miranda went down and as he scrambled he got drilled by another right that put him on his rear end and then one more right put him on his back. The referee jumped in quickly to save Miranda, who seemed to have his wits about him and didn’t want the fight stopped.

Harris has won his first two fights with the promotion. It was a long time coming. Harris was a cast member on Season 7 of “The Ultimate Fighter” and lost in the first round to the eventual champ Amir Sadollah. Harris was dominating that fight with his wrestling but got caught by a Sadollah knee. After that, he hit the minor leagues, went 7-0 and then went for broke by calling UFC president Dana White during a radio show appearance. His goal? To beg his way back into the promotion. White told Harris to call him at the office and the deal was done within a few weeks.

Source: Yahoo Sports

Gerald Harris meets undefeated UFC newcomer Mario Miranda at UFC Fight Night 21

MMA website MMAJunkie.com reports Middleweight Gerald Harris (14-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) meets undefeated UFC newcomer and highly touted prospect Mario Miranda (11-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) at next month’s UFC Fight Night 21 event.

UFC Fight Night 21, which precedes the debut episode of “The Ultimate Fighter 11,” takes place March 31 at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, N.C., and airs on Spike TV (source mmajunkie.com)

Ready for the UFC

A bout between middleweight Mike Massenzio (11-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) and “The Ultimate Fighter 7″ cast member Gerald Harris (13-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) is official for UFC Fight Night 20, and the card is now complete with 11 bouts.

Harris is a replacement fighter for injured Tim Credeur (12-3 MMA, 3-1 UFC) and competes on the night’s un-aired preliminary card.

UFC Fight Night 20 takes place Jan. 11 at the Patriot Center on the campus of George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., and the main card airs live on Spike TV.

With the Harris vs. Massenzio matchup, the event is now official with 11 bouts.

Earlier this month, MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) confirmed a report from MMAFighting.com about Harris signing with the UFC and taking the fight.

Harris appeared on “TUF 7″ (and suffered a loss to eventual show winner Amir Sadollah after the elimination round), but he didn’t compete at the show’s live finale. Instead, he had to work his way back into the promotion. And he did just that with his current seven-fight win streak, which included a recent first-round knockout of former UFC fighter Nissen Osterneck in September for the Shark Fights middleweight title.

While UFC president Dana White was a recent guest on MMAjunkie.com Radio, Harris called into the show and told the UFC executive he was ready to make his octagon debut. After hearing about Harris’ win streak and recent victory over Osterneck, White told him to call the offices so they could chat. The conversation evidently paid off, and UFC matchmaker Joe Silva offered him a spot on the upcoming card.

Massenzio, a state high school and national junior college wrestling champion, is a Ring of Combat and IFL veteran who made his UFC debut in 2008 with a submission victory over Drew McFedries. He then suffered a first-round TKO loss to C.B. Dollaway at UFC 92 in December 2008 but has been forced to sit out all of 2009 due to injuries.

The official UFC Fight Night 20 card now includes:

MAIN CARD
Nate Diaz vs. Gray Maynard
Evan Dunham vs. Efrain Escudero
Tom Lawlor vs. Aaron Simpson
Brad Blackburn vs. Amir Sadollah
PRELIMINARY CARD
Chris Leben vs. Jay Silva
Jesse Lennox vs. Rick Story
Nik Lentz vs. Thiago Tavares
Mike Guymon vs. Rory MacDonald
Kyle Bradley vs. Rafael dos Anjos
Gerald Harris vs. Mike Massenzio

Nick Catone vs. Steve Steinbeiss
Source: MMAJunkie.com