On Friday, DREAM “Dynamite!! 2010” takes place at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. Featherweight champ Bibiano Fernandes meets Hiroyuki Takaya, welterweight champ Marius Zaromskis takes on Kazushi Sakuraba, and Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem meets recent UFC fighter Todd Duffee in a non-title fight live on HDNet.
And on Saturday, UFC 125 takes place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas with a pay-per-view title fight between lightweight champ Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard.
Walker gets Force date
After an injury forced him out off a Dec. 4 card, former NFL great Herschel Walker makes his second MMA effort on Jan. 29 at “Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Cyborg.”
Walker (1-0) fights Scott Carson (4-1) at the Showtime-televised event. The 48-year-old lifelong martial artist made a successful pro MMA debut in January. The bout provided Strikeforce a huge publicity boost and its highest rated event of 2010.
“He’s the first to practice and the last one to leave,” said Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, explaining why he puts the inexperienced Walker in TV slots. “He mops the floors and cleans the mirrors like everyone else. He’s not a prima donna in any way. He’s doing the right things (to be an MMA fighter).”
The Jan. 29 event also features welterweight champ Nick Diaz vs. Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos and middleweight champ Ronaldo Souza vs. Robbie Lawler.
UFC releases Hazelett
One local fighter is no longer employed by the UFC.
Dustin Hazelett, a West Chester Twp. resident who spent the past four years competing at welterweight and lightweight for the UFC, recently received his walking papers following a loss to Marc Bocek at UFC 124 earlier this month.
The 24-year-old Brazilian jiu-jitsu phenom went 5-5 in the organization with a series of high-profile wins. But he lost his past three fights.
A UFC official said the organization expects Hazelett (12-7) to pick up some wins in smaller promotions to earn his way back into the UFC.
Dann Stupp is editor-in-chief of MMAjunkie.com, voted best media outlet in the 2008, 2009 and 2010 World MMA Awards. For the latest mixed-martial-arts news, go to MMAjunkie.com.