The card for the IFL's next show on May 16 at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn. is starting to take shape.

The show will feature three title matches as well as best-of-three camp vs. camp battles between Mario Sperry's World Class Fighting Center taking on Gary Marino's Team Bomb Squad and Matt Lindland's Team Quest doing battle with Team Prodigy.

Here's the card so far...

IFL heavyweight title: Roy Nelson vs. Branden Lee Hinkle

IFL middleweight title: Ryan McGivern vs. Dan Miller

IFL lightweight title: Ryan Schultz vs. Deividas Taurosevicius

Team Bomb Squad vs. World Class Fighting Center

Middleweight: Mike Massenzio vs. Danillo Villefort

Welterweight: John Howard vs. Marcello Salazar

Lightweight: TBA vs. TBA

Team Quest vs. Team Prodigy

Middleweight: Matt Horwich vs. TBA

Lightweight: Zac George vs. TBA 

Light Heavyweight: Aaron Stark vs. TBA 

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Sam Caplan

Lead Writer/Editor - ProElite.com

SamCaplan.ProElite.com

Former UFC and WEC competitor Mark "The Machine" Hominick is the latest fighter rumored to be attached to a tentative July 19 card in Dallas, Texas to be promoted in large part by clothing company Affliction.

The news comes courtesy of a press release issued by Canada-based MMA promotion TKO, which indicated during a recent announcement that Hominick has re-signed with them that he is also likely to compete for Affliction in July.

A two-time TKO featherweight champion with seven successful title defenses to his credit,  Hominick is 2-0 lifetime in the UFC with wins over Jorge Gurgel and Yves Edwards.

Hominick's WEC record is the exact opposite of that in the UFC, as he's 0-2 with losses to Rani Yahya and Josh Grispi. He became a free agent after submitting in the first round to Grispi during the WEC's February show in Albuquerque.

There is no word on a date for Hominick's return bout in TKO and no official announcement has been made by Affliction in regards to Hominick's reported involvement with the upstart promotion. In fact, no official announcement of any kind has been made in regard to Affliction's reported July debut.

While no official information pertaining to the show is available, Sherdog.com's Greg Savage reported last week that a main event involving former PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko and former two-time UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia is being discussed for the inaugural show.

Undercard bouts featuring the likes of Ben Rothwell, Andrei Arlovski, Aleksander Emelianenko, Josh Barnett, and Pedro Rizzo have been rumored as well.

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Sam Caplan

Lead Writer/Editor - ProElite.com

SamCaplan.ProElite.com

Here is the complete card for this Saturday's UFC 83 show at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.

Main card (PPV telecast): 

• Matt Serra vs. Georges St. Pierre for Serra's UFC welterweight title
• Rich Franklin vs. Travis Lutter
  
• Nate Quarry vs. Kalib Starnes
  
• Michael Bisping vs. Charles McCarthy
  
• Mac Danzig vs. Mark Bocek

Preliminary Bouts:

• Jason MacDonald vs. Joe Doerksen
• Ed Herman vs. Demian Maia
  
• Sam Stout vs. Rich Clementi
  
• Kuniyoshi Hironaka vs. Jonathan Goulet
  
• Alan Belcher vs. Jason Day
  
• Cain Velasquez vs. Brad Morris
  

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Sam Caplan

Lead Writer/Editor - ProElite.com

SamCaplan.ProElite.com

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Sam Caplan

Lead Writer/Editor - ProElite.com

SamCaplan.ProElite.com

Below is a press release issued by EliteXC on Monday....

LOS ANGELES (April 14, 2008) – Fans can continue to expect to see mixed martial arts standouts and fan favorites Kimbo Slice, Gina Carano and Robbie Lawler fighting for Los Angeles-based ProElite, Inc.’s live fight division, EliteXC, for a long, long time.

“I am proud and very excited to announce that Kimbo, Gina and Robbie have all re-signed with us,’’ EliteXC Live Events President Gary Shaw said today. Terms of the long-term, multi-year agreements were not disclosed.

Kimbo, Carano and Lawler are three of EliteXC’s most popular, talented and exciting fighters and all will be featured Saturday, May 31, in the first of four prime time events on the CBS Television Network in 2008.

Kimbo (2-0) of Perrine, Fla., and Carano (5-0) of Las Vegas will face fighters to be announced while the exciting Lawler (15-4) of St. Louis will defend his EliteXC middleweight title against hard-hitting Scott “Hands Of Steel’’ Smith (15-4) of Sacramento, Calif., in a slugfest that figures to be non-stop, toe-to-toe action.

The official lineup for the historic MMA card, the first on network television, will formally be announced in the next few days. The highly anticipated event will emanate from the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

“We’re extremely happy to get these deals done with Kimbo, Gina and Robbie,’’ Shaw said. “Fighters know EliteXC is the place to be and the organization to fight for, which is why we’ve always been able to sign or re-sign almost each and every one of our fighters.

“You don’t see our guys leaving. With us, it’s family and all about the fighters. Every fighter who has fought on an EliteXC card has come away being ambassadors for EliteXC.

 “Kimbo has already become an MMA star due to his incredible popularity on YouTube. His backyard street fights are legendary. No question Kimbo has made a successful transition from Street to Elite and is on his way to becoming a superstar and world champion.

“Gina became an instant star after her first fight for EliteXC and has gone on to gain even more national prominence. She truly is the face of women’s MMA, an inspiration to many up-and-coming athletes and is a perfect illustration as to why women do indeed have a place in this sport and with EliteXC.

“Robbie’s nicknamed ‘Ruthless’ – what more you need to know? He’s tough, hard-nosed and always been highly regarded. EliteXC is extremely proud to have Robbie as its world middleweight champion. Robbie has shown time and again that he’s one of the most thrilling fighters in any weight class in MMA.

“For sheer action and power, it doesn’t get better than ‘Ruthless’ Robbie Lawler versus Scott ‘Hands Of Steel’ Smith.’’

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Sam Caplan

Lead Writer/Editor - ProElite.com

SamCaplan.ProElite.com

Casting arrangements for the eighth season of "The Ultimate Fighter" are currently underway. An open casting call was held in Boston last Thursday with several hundred hopefuls showing up to try out for the show. Light heavyweights and lightweights were both called to appear in front of Spike TV and UFC executives.

While some of the fighters that showed up for the open tryouts will be cast, most of the show's participants usually come from video tape auditions.

While former IFL heavyweight Krzysztof Soszynski did not attend the tryouts, he received a call from the UFC to fly to Vegas, according to the Winnipeg Sun.

Soszynski received the call this past Friday just hours before he fought Marcus Hicks at Cage Wars 11. Despite some jitters upon hearing the news, Soszynski was able to bear down and dispose of Hicks at just 3:10 of round 1.

"It was huge," Soszynski is quoted as saying in the Sun in regards to his first match in his hometown in nearly three years. "Maybe it wasn't the slugfest they wanted. I had to play it a little safe, but I got the job done, which is the most important factor."

It might be too early to speculate, but I couldn't imagine Soszynski not getting picked for the show. A former pro wrestler, Soszynski entered the IFL with little MMA experience and was very green during his initial fights. However, during the latter half of 2007, Soszynski really showed signs of turning the corner. He has a look and the verbal skills needed to be a star in MMA if he gets the right exposure.

Incidentally, fellow former IFL fighters Dante Rivera, Mike Dolce, and Gerald Harris are all involved in the final cast of 16 for the current seventh season of "The Ultimate Fighter." 

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Sam Caplan

Lead Writer/Editor - ProElite.com

SamCaplan.ProElite.com

I justed wanted to pass along this FYI; IFL middleweight Tim Kennedy will appear on tonight's (10 p.m. ET/PT) premiere episode of "T.O.P. Army Fighter" on the Military Channel. 

For more info on the show, go to: http://military.discovery.com/tv/top-army-fighter/top-army-fighter.html.

Kennedy fought for HDNet Fights on Dec. 15, losing a long-awaited rematch to Jason "Mayhem" Miller via unanimous decision.  He fought two weeks later during the IFL's Wolrd Grand Prix finals on Dec. 29 and won.

Kennedy had been scheduled to fight Matt Horwich for the IFL middleweight title in February but was forced to withdraw due to military commitments. 

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Sam Caplan

Lead Writer/Editor - ProElite.com

SamCaplan.ProElite.com

With so much upheaval within the MMA scene, I decided to give my thoughts on whom I perceive to be the biggest free agents (or soon-to-be free agents) in the sport.

To find out who is on the list and where I think they will end up, just click here.

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Sam Caplan

Lead Writer/Editor - ProElite.com

SamCaplan.ProElite.com

"Chainsaw" Charles McCarthy, a.k.a Capt. Miserable, recently conducted an interview with CBSSports.com's Denny Burkholder.

During the course of the interview, McCarthy makes the bold proclamation that he's going to "choke out" Michael Bisping during UFC 83 this Saturday in Montreal.

"He's a decent kickboxer," McCarthy said to Burkholder. "(He's) real arrogant, and, you know -- not much else, really. He's gonna get choked out April 19."

Bisping is indeed a good kickboxer, but I think McCarthy might be selling his jiu-jitsu back game a little short.

Click here to read the article in its entirety. 

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Sam Caplan

Lead Writer/Editor - ProElite.com

SamCaplan.ProElite.com

Here is the updated tentative card for UFC 85 on June 7 in London, England at the O2 Arena:

        Main Card -

• Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans
• Brandon Vera vs. Fabricio Werdum
• Marcus Davis vs. Mike Swick
• Thales Leites vs. Nathan Marquardt
• Martin Kampmann vs. Jorge Rivera

         Preliminary Card -

• Roan Carneiro vs. Ryo Chonan
• Thiago Tavares vs. Matt Wiman
• Jason Lambert vs. Luis Cane
• Antoni Hardonk vs. Neil Wain
• Jess Liaudin vs. Paul Taylor
  

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Sam Caplan

Lead Writer/Editor - ProElite.com

SamCaplan.ProElite.com