The Weekly Wrap: Sept. 12 - Sept. 18

Stacked November

A series of announcements by the UFC, World Extreme Cagefighting and Strikeforce completely filled the calendar for November, making it perhaps the busiest month to date for significant MMA.

The biggest news came from Strikeforce, which announced the Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers fight will air Nov. 7 on CBS. It will be the first time MMA has aired on the network since the final, ill-fated EliteXC event last October. Strikeforce acquired a contract to air fights on Showtime and CBS when it purchased much of EliteXC’s assets earlier this year; the promotion expects to broadcast as many as four events on CBS next year. EliteXC cards on CBS attracted up to five times the audience as those on Showtime. The first Strikeforce CBS card was targeted for early 2010, as the Emelianenko unveiling was expected on Showtime. The network, which CBS owns, had already put some of its advertising resources behind the fight.

Under Emelianenko vs. Rogers, Strikeforce has promised a deep lineup for the CBS presentation. CEO Scott Coker told MMAWeekly that middleweight champion Cung Le, who has committed to another movie role, has relinquished his title, allowing Jake Shields and Jason "Mayhem" Miller to clash for the belt on CBS. Gegard Mousasi and Cristiane Santos, both coming off emphatic wins on the highest-rated MMA event ever on Showtime back on Aug. 15, are also expected to compete. Though a venue has not been made official, the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Ill., just outside of Chicago, appears to be the frontrunner. In a logistical challenge for Strikeforce, the CBS show will go down the night after a Strikeforce “Challenger Series” event in Fresno, Calif., on Showtime.

The UFC was expected to launch a counter event once the Emelianenko-Rogers date was announced, but UFC President Dana White said the exit of Quinton "Rampage" Jackson from UFC 107 forced him to scratch those plans. The promotion had about 10 fights signed and ready to go for a third November date, according to the Wrestling Observer, but no viable main event. It was expected that UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva would be available to headline the company’s counter to Strikeforce, but White confirmed rumors that the Brazilian needs elbow surgery to remove bone spurs and will not be available for the rest of the year.

The UFC did announce Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera will headline UFC 105 on Nov. 14 in Manchester, England. The bout rests atop a free card on Spike TV, which will also feature Michael Bisping vs. Denis Kang and Dan Hardy vs. Dong Hyun Kim. In addition, the company has booked UFC 106 on Nov. 21 in Las Vegas, headlined by Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin.

If that was not enough for one month, Zuffa LLC announced WEC 44 will take place on Nov. 18 at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Featherweight champion Mike Thomas Brown will defend his title against Jose Aldo in the headliner.