MMA News from Cagewriter

The Boston crowd didn't like this one. And the television audience watching on Spike probably couldn't have enjoyed it much either. Using a plodding style Nik Lentz isn't broke the spirit of Andre Winner halfway through the fight and was able to pull the upset on the runner-up from Season 9 of "The Ultimate Fighter". Lentz took a unanimous decision, 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28, for his third win in the UFC.

Lentz (20-3-2, 3-1 UFC) had zero interest in trading punches and kicks with Winner, who is one of the faster strikers in the lightweight division. His goal the entire fight was to score the takedown. He wasn't very successful until the final round but he was able to control Winner by clinching with him against the cage. In the third, Winner (11-4, 2-2 UFC) finally hit the deck and had trouble getting up. Lentz scored the mount with a minute left in the fight but didn't do much with it. Asking where the rest of the details are? There was much beyond that to describe.  

Non-televised results:

Mike Pierce def. Amilcar Alves via submission (cross-body armbar) - Round 3, 3:11.
Greg Soto def. Nick Osipczak via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).
Dan Miller def. John Salter via submission (anaconda choke) - Round 2, 1:53.

Hey, do you want to listen to someone ignorant but powerful speak about MMA? Here you go!

New York assemblyman Bob Reilly is a guest on HDNet's Inside MMA on Friday evening, and he says that the violence in the cage is not good for society. He tries to address violence in other sports, like football and boxing, but is unsuccessful at explaining how the violence on the football field is different than the violence in the cage.

We've discussed Assemblyman Reilly and his lack of understanding of MMA several times before, so there is no need to rehash why he is wrong. I give Reilly credit for meeting his opponents on their field, but it's a shame that he didn't walk in with an open mind.

Watch the full report on Inside MMA on HDNet at 9 p.m. ET. 

It was even worse than we thought. James Toney called out mixed martial arts and begged for a fight, but what he showed in the Octagon could barely be called a fight. The out-of-shape boxing legend came out with his left hand at his side and was very stationary. He was a sitting duck for UFC veteran and Olympic-level wrestler Randy Couture, who scored a takedown just 11 seconds into the fight. Toney was helpless on the mat, where Couture moved to a dominant mount position and eventually slapped on an arm-triangle choke to finish the fight in just over three minutes.

"I think, in reality, if he's only been training nine months, it's a real short order to pick up everything," said Couture (19-10). "I give real credit to James. He took the risk. All us MMA guys love boxing. Hopefully there's a whole bunch of boxers who will love MMA."

By the reaction of the fans at the TD Garden in Boston, MMA diehards don't like boxers. As Couture was mauling Toney on the canvas, a chant of "UFC, UFC" filled the arena. 

It was a pretty embarrassing display by Toney. It was almost as if he didn't drill at all  on what to do if he was taken down. Frankly, the weigh-in was a sign of things to come when Toney weigh-in a career-high 237 pounds. He was nearly 20 pounds lighter for his last boxing match in Sept. of 2009.

Couture did whatever he wanted from the top and it was clear Toney hadn't learned any technique to try and extricate himself from the position. According to Compustrike, Couture landed 38 strikes to just six for Toney.

Couture, speaking during the postfight interview with UFC color analyst Joe Rogan, said he saw this coming. "No surprises. This is exactly what we trained to do. I worked on that arm triangle for over a year."

That's when Couture's grappling coach, Neil Melanson, walked over to his fighter and gave him a black belt suggesting that he'd just earned it.

Toney was gracious in defeat and surprisingly said that he wasn't done with MMA.

"He just caught me. He caught me sleeping. I'll be back. I ain't gonna quit," said Toney, as he was booed by the Boston faithful. "My ground game's alright. He fought a great fight. Randy Couture’s a great fighter."

Toney was a great boxer, piling up 72 wins against just six losses, but he's far from his prime. It's next to impossible for a boxer to cross over to MMA without at least a few years of training in all elements of the sport. And that probably only applies for a guy still in his boxing prime.

As we wrote about last night, Joe Warren won the Bellator featherweight championship with a shocking comeback. Watch as Bellator commentator starts to say that he scored the first round 10-8 for Soto, then is interrupted by Warren's quick right to knock down Soto.

With that, Warren won the Bellator featherweight title, proclaiming himself the "baddest man on the planet." In the space of a year and a half, he's moved from being a world champion wrestler to a champion fighter. 

Though he has 17 wins, including 12 submissions, Gabe Ruediger has left two lasting impressions on most fight fans. One is when he was dismissed from "The Ultimate Fighter" for failing to make weight and two, when Melvin Guillard knocked him out with a body shot.

But now, Ruediger wants to make a different impressions. Instead of being the guy who ate ice cream cake the night before a weigh-in, he wants to be the man who beats his TUF castmate Joe Lauzon.

Since he's been out of the UFC, he has left Team Quest, rehabbed a neck injury, and claims he's in the best shape of his life.

I was looking at pictures of the last UFC I was in and I can’t believe the difference in me. But everything, really. My striking is much improved. You look at a number of my recent wins, which came by submission, but I set them all up with punches. It has been a long, arduous journey. I’ve matured. I don’t think I was ready for TUF. Skills wise, I was. But mentally I let it get to me. I think if I would have gone far there I would have started partying and stuff. Now, I’m all about the fight.

Ruediger got his chance at Lauzon because Terry Etim dropped out of the scheduled bout three weeks ago. 

MMA fan and new Boston Celtic Shaquille O'Neal was one of the many stars in attendance at UFC 118 in Boston on Saturday night. He was joined by Glen "Big Baby" Davis, who wore a shirt with a picture of Octagon Girl Arianny Celeste on it.

New England Patriots Tom Brady and Wes Welker were also in the building, but it was O'Neal who showed off his MMA moves for the camera. He is no stranger to MMA, having trained for years. O'Neal even made an appearance at the UFC Fan Expo on Saturday, and has even asked UFC president Dana White for a chance to fight in the Octagon. 

MMA isn't for everyone. We know that. Too often when folks from the 50-plus demographic speak about the sport they complain about the violence and the blood. So it cames as no shocker that there was complaining from veteran writers like Bob Ryan and Dan Shaugnessy. But they took a different stance both pointing out that they didn't see what all the excitement was about.

"In all honesty, I’m just telling the truth. The biggest revelation I got from spending that evening at the Garden was how astonishingly BOOOOORRING this thing is," Ryan said CSN's New England’s "Sports Tonight". "It is the most overrated … I do not remotely understand the appeal. There isn’t enough blood, there isn’t enough action."

Ryan said the first fight on the pay-per-view between Marcus Davis and Nate Diaz was solid but he didn't enjoy the ground work in the later fights.

"The fans don’t like the wrestling," said Ryan, who is now an expert after taking in one live MMA card.

Ryan also knows how knowledgeable each of the 15,000-plus in attendance were.

"There are a sophisticated few martial arts experts who appreciate when there is a well-executed martial arts move to create a submission, yes, that is not the majority, it’s a small minority," said Ryan.

Apparently, Ryan spoke with lots of fans to find out what they enjoy.

"The people want to see boxing, slugging, and they want to see when a guy gets down his face punched, that’s what gets them excited. It is the most boring nonsense," said Ryan. "Most of the fights in the early, and granted it was described to me as batting practice, the early bouts, are guys in wrestling matches in which they were bad collegiate wrestling with nothing happening."

Who gave Ryan that description? Someone on press row? We'd love to know what MMA media regular says the early fights are "batting practice".

This is why shows like CSN's "Sports Tonight" and ESPN's "Around the Horn" are unbearable at times. The panel is made of older media dudes who are speaking for the fans yet most haven't had anything beyond a 10 second conversation with a fan in 10 years. 

The crew on the embedded CSN video was mostly pro-MMA. Longtime boxing and NFL scribe Ron Borges has more than given MMA a fair shake. He's the "expert" on this panel. Sadly, you can't count on one hand the number of boxing writers who've really embraced MMA.

Check out the lead host Mike Felger, he describes the Davis-Diaz fight as sort of gruesome and then says he loved it!

Quotes via Fight Opinion

It takes a special kind of narcissism to wear a shirt with a picture of yourself on it. Luckily for MMA fans, James Toney is exactly that kind of narcissist.

Just look at that thing. Not only is Toney wearing a shirt with a picture of himself on it, but check out his likeness on the shirt. His gloves say "MMA" while his body looks slightly more svelte than in recent pictures of the boxer-turned-mixed martial artist. 

Even with all that, the most ridiculous aspect of the shirt is the price. If you want it, you'll have to cough up $49.98 for it.

There's no city in the country that's into its baseball team more than Boston. The Red Sox take center stage from March-September and then it's time for the New England Patriots. Between excellent sports-radio stations and powerhouse newspapers, Boston is huge on its sports. If you're without a calendar, it's August, there's roughly 30 games left in the MLB season and the Pats are two weeks away from the season opener. So it wouldn't have surprised anyone if UFC 118 got little coverage this week.

Instead, the town's media has embraced the event like no other city in the U.S. has in the past. Both the Boston Herald and Boston Globe have had multiple staffers writing stories since early in the week. And even WEEI, one of the top-five sports-radio stations in the country, has devoted ample time to UFC guests and the event. It's a great step forward for MMA.

So if Boston can do it, with all that's going on in town, what was the issue in the past with Portland, San Francisco/Oakland, San Diego, Cincinnati, Columbus, Atlanta and Nashville? During those UFC stops, the promotion was fortunate to get an advance newspaper story on the Friday before the event and most of the sports-radio stations half-assed UFC fighter interviews, if they chose to put someone on at all.

The real egg is on the face of the most recent host cities San Diego and the Bay Area. UFC president Dana White flipped out before UFC 117 earlier this month. He exploded on Twitter over a reported run-in that his public relations people had with the San Francisco Chronicle.

The paper chose to completely ignore the event. White's diatribe and the Chronicle's decision to pass on the event sparked a spirited discussion on sportsjournalists.com, where most of the participants sided with the newspaper and said MMA was still a fringe sport.

The Chronicle's decision and the way the event was covered in San Diego reflect an odd shift for MMA. The West Coast was really where the sport got its initial push, but now it seems like the media outlets are hesitant to take the coverage to the next level. Meanwhile, when the UFC has gone east, cities like Boston and Philadelphia have been all over it. Why is that? 

Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole, a longtime veteran of the newspaper business, disagrees with newspaper editors who refuse to take MMA seriously and says it's just a matter a time before the policy changes.

Just when you thought Anderson Silva had a lock on the MMA comeback of the year for his win over Chael Sonnen, Joe Warren won the Bellator featherweight championship with an unbelievable comeback. 

Returning Bellator champ Joe Soto dominated Warren in the first round, landing punch after punch. After all the shots that Warren took, there was no good reason for Warren to be standing. Soto taunted his Warren, moving his hands away from his face. Warren, a former world champion wrestler, couldn't get Soto to the ground. Warren tried for a spinning back kick, but after he slipped, Soto shook his finger at Warren.

The tide changed in the second round, with Warren knocking Soto down with a big righ, following up with unanswered ground and pound, and then when they returned to their feet, Warren finished the fight off with a huge knee. The fight was stopped at 0:38 of the second round.

The fight changed so quickly that Soto asked his corner, "What happened?" 

"It was all about refocusing. You can't stop me. I'm the baddest man on the planet," Warren said.

Bantamweight tournament semifinalists set

Ed West moved onto the semifinals of Bellator's bantamweight tournament with a 30-27, 29-28, 29-28 unanimous decision over Bryan Goldsby. West kept the fight moving, attacking Goldsby's legs early in the fight. West was able to maneuver Goldsby into several submissions throughout the fight, but couldn't finish on any of them.

Zach Makovsky won a unanimous decision, 30-27 on all three judges cards, over Nick Mamalis. Makovsky outgrappled Mamalis, controlling him throughout the bout.

"I expected an all-around war. After I won the first round, I realized how I could control the fight from on top," Makovsky said after the fight.

Ulysses Gomez claimed the final bantamweight tournament spot with a split decision over Travis Reddinger. Gomez survived a late arm bar attempt from Reddinger to win the fight. 

Jose Vega, West, Mavovsky and Gomez are the bantamweight semifinalists. 

Taking a look at the best and worst of the UFC's first foray into Boston.

No. 1 star -- Frankie Edgar: Few champions have ever had to win two fights to be considered a champion, but that's exactly what Edgar had to do. After beating former lightweight champ B.J. Penn at UFC 112, Edgar was given the task of doing it again at 118. Not only did he respond to the challenge without complaint, he fought better than he did at 112, decisively beating Penn in all five rounds of their bout. 

No. 2 star -- Randy Couture: Since his bout with James Toney was billed as boxing vs. MMA, Couture had the job of defending MMA's honor. "Captain America" handled the job deftly, taking down Toney and beating on him before submitting him. 

No. 3 star -- Nate Diaz: In his second fight at welterweight, Diaz survived a Marcus Davis barrage early in the fight, added a deformity to Davis' head, and then guillotine choked Davis until he passed out. Though Diaz said he wants to return to lightweight, welterweight seems like a natural home for him.

Dishonorable mention -- Kenny Florian: Fighting in front of hometown fans, Florian was incapable of getting an offense going against Gray Maynard. A win here would have given Florian a shot at the lightweight belt. He even had Dana White saying that he choked in the big fights. 

There's confidence, trash talk and fight hype and then there's what James Toney does. Toney is pulling out all the big guns for his MMA debut at UFC 118. The heavyweight boxer sounds like he's got Floyd Mayweather's career behind him. Toney (72-6, 44 KOs) told Heavy.com that he's the undisputed heavyweight boxing king, he's a banger and the knockout king. That's all great but let's pitch this fight against Randy Couture based on some facts.

Toney is far from the undisputed heavyweight boxing king. Just because you've moved over to the MMA world doesn't mean you can outright fib about your boxing career. It is true that the Klitschkos have avoided Toney. But can you blame them. It's certainly not out of fear. There's simply nothing to gain and those fights wouldn't sell. Toney was at the end of his rope in boxing before he started harassing UFC president Dana White to allow him into the Octagon. Part of that was also because of his conditioning. It's hard to sell an out-of-shape 235-pound Toney as a legitimate boxer. Toney is also a tough sell because he's not a power puncher. He can call himself the knockout king but fact is until he knocked out the unknown Matthew Greer in his last boxing match, he hadn't scored a knockout since late 2003.

This isn't meant to rip Toney because his move to MMA has been a blessing. He's gotten a chance to introduce himself to a whole new audience. Not enough MMA fighters understand how to hype a fight. And yes, Toney may be a little over the top but he does know the basic concepts of the fight game. The fight itself is important but so is promoting the sport before the brawl goes down. The match does present some intrigue but hopefully people don't buy into Toney's hype too much and come away disappointed if he gets dumped on his head and loses in 60 seconds. 

In anticipation of UFC 118, boxer versus grappler has been talk all week long . James Toney will try to pull the upset on Randy Couture. But don't forget the card also features Marcus Davis against Nate Diaz. If there's anyone who understands how hard the transition is from the ring to the cage, it's Davis.

There was a time when Davis was in Toney's position. No, he was never on the level that Toney has been in boxing but after 18 pro bouts wearing the big gloves, Davis moved over to MMA. Since he possessed only one legitimate weapon, Davis was in over his head during Season 2 of "The Ultimate Fighter".  

"There's nothing that James Toney can do to Randy Couture other than punch him and knock him out," Davis told Hardcore Sports Radio (audio). "He's basically going into this fight completely one-dimensional."

"Randy will do what he wants to do to him," said Davis. "There's five ranges of fighting - kicking, punching, trapping, grappling and ground fighting. Those are five different ways a fight can be fought at and all Randy has to do is shutdown the punching range. That's it! And that's easy to do especially for somebody when this is all that they ever do."

Davis knows first hand what it's like to bring so few weapons to the Octagon. It was so bad for him on TUF 2 and then the TUF 2 Finale, he was close to walking away from the sport. And that was against MMA prospects. Toney is facing a 13-year veteran of the sport. 

"His first professional MMA fight, his first one, is going to be against one of the greats," said Davis. "That's like me just jumping into professional basketball and playing a game of one-on-one against Michael Jordan. It's just not gonna happen."

That's a bit of an exaggeration but you get the point.

Toney has also talked about facing Brock Lesnar if he wins on Saturday night and says that he's still balancing a boxing career. Davis said that's not possible. Then host Mauro Ranallo threw out Strikeforce fighter K.J. Noons as an example. Noons (10-2 MMA) has also boxed professionally 13 times. Davis wasn't impressed. 

"If he came to the UFC in the 155-pound division, he would be eaten up and spit out. He wouldn't make it here," said Davis. "He wouldn't be able to come in here and box and fight MMA, wouldn't happen."

Aside from pro boxing careers, Davis and Toney share one other thing in common, they both celebrated a birthday on Tuesday. Davis, 37 said he expects a better birthday gift on Saturday night than Toney, 42, will be getting.

You could see this storyline coming from a mile away. Josh Koscheck and Georges St. Pierre are the coaches for Season 12 of "The Ultimate Fighter" and battle lines have been drawn.

Do you side with the brash, cocky dude or the humble, respectful one? In this preview video, the UFC brings on board some of its biggest stars like Randy Couture, Kenny FLorian, Matt Hughes, B.J. Penn and Jon Jones to talk about why they love the show.

Other fighters like Dan Hardy, Ryan Bader and Chael Sonnen select which coach they think will do the best job. Bader likes Koscheck. Sonnen chooses GSP. Hardy goes one further saying if he were on Koscheck's team he'd ask to leave.

It looks like another good season with plenty of heat and even an appearance by Mike Tyson!  

TUF 12 debuts next Wednesday following Ultimate Fight Night 22 from Austin, Tx.

Strikeforce confirmed Wednesday that Nick Diaz will return to the cage on Oct. 9 in San Jose to defend his Strikeforce welterweight title against an old foe, K.J. Noons. They will headline a card that will also feature a title scrap between Sarah Kaufman and Marloes Coenen, and a bout between American Kickboxing Academy standout Luke Rockhold and Matt Lindland.

The Diaz vs. Noons matchup is puzzling. Though the two have bad blood, started in their Elite XC days, Noons is a lightweight. He beat Jorge Gurgel at lightweight last weekend, was Elite XC's lightweight champ, and has never fought at welterweight for Strikeforce.

Of course, Strikeforce gave Brett Rogers a title shot after he lost to Fedor Emelianenko, so logic may not be its first course of action in matchmaking.

That doesn't mean that there isn't plenty to get excited about on this card. Coenen will be fighting for the first time since she was TKOed by Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos, and Kaufman offers an interesting matchup. Rockhold is an exciting young fighter, and Lindland will be a good test. Even the Diaz/Noons bout has potential if Noons can add to his size between now and Oct. 9.

What happened to all the hard work? We heard James Toney had gotten himself into shape. You can crow about being in the best condition of your life but the scale doesn't lie. Toney stepped on stage Friday at the UFC 118 weigh-in and checked in at a ridiculous 237 pounds. That matches his heaviest weight ever as a boxer. It's 20 pounds heavier than his last boxing match just 11 months ago against Matthew Greer. Keep in mind, Toney spent most of his boxing career between 160-175 pounds. At barely 6-feet tall, 237 pounds is a lot to carry.

Toney takes on the UFC legend Randy Couture on Saturday night and needs to be light on his feet, try to avoid Couture's takedowns and take advantage of the speed in his hands. Toney didn't help his cause by showing up at a blubbery 237.

And with all the smack-talking Toney has done lately, this certainly doesn't look good for the 42-year-old boxer. Also not looking good was Toney as he removed his pants (pictured to the right). He gave the crowd at the TD Garden a little extra show when part of his rear end was exposed. The MMA fans in attendance let loose a hearty laugh. 

Many experts already weren't giving Toney a chance, anyway. Couture has been installed a minus-800 favorite to win the fight. Even UFC president Dana White admits that he's out to make an example of Toney, who's been talking trash about mixed martial artists and White for years.

"What people don't realize is that this started back in 2002," White told the Opie and Anthony Show on XM. "When we first bought the company, when Tito Ortiz was the big name in the UFC at that time. (Toney) came out and started talking all sorts of smack about the UFC and Tito. He wanted to fight one of these guys back then."

Toney turned up the heat at the end of 2009 when he stalked White before UFC 107. Less than a month later, he crashed the postfight press conference at UFC 108 in Las Vegas.

Toney holds a boxing record of 72-6-3, but will step into the Octagon for the first time. Couture enters the fight with 28 professional MMA fights. He was also an Olympic-level wrestler throughout his 20's. Toney just began working on his wrestling and other elements of MMA at the start of 2010.

All 20 fighters made weight without any issues. 

UFC 118 weigh-in (Courtesy MMA Junkie)

Pay-per-view card
Frankie Edgar (154) vs. B.J. Penn (154) -- for lightweight title
Randy Couture (220) vs. James Toney (237)
Kenny Florian (156) vs. Gray Maynard (156)
Marcus Davis (170) vs. Nate Diaz (171)
Demian Maia (184) vs. Mario Miranda (185)

Spike card
Joe Lauzon (156) vs. Gabe Ruediger (155)
Nik Lentz (155) vs. Andre Winner (154)

Non-televised card
Dan Miller (185) vs. John Salter (185)
Nick Osipczak (171) vs. Greg Soto (170)
Amilcar Alves (171) vs. Mike Pierce (171)

Mark Hunt's back is against the wall. A veteran of kickboxing, he's a big fan favorite in Japanese MMA circles. But because he hasn't worked on his ground game, his one-dimensional style has led to a rough run lately in MMA. Hunt has lost five straight and hasn't won since 2006 yet he's making his UFC debut in September at UFC 119. Why? Dana White said Hunt's inclusion was part of the PRIDE purchase back in 2007. Good news for White is that Hunt isn't just going to take the money and run.

He told Sherdog back in July that he felt like he'd wasted much of his career and hadn't taken his conditioning seriously. By the looks of the picture on the left Hunt (in the middle) has been working his butt off. He's routinely fought at around 290 pounds. Hunt is also down at American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Fl., one of the better grappling/jiu-jitsu gyms in the country.

No one's saying James Toney could've beaten Randy Couture if he'd worked a little harder before UFC 118. But he could've at least given himself a shot to stay off the deck longer than 11 seconds had he not come in at a career-high 237 pounds. Clearly, Hunt has no interest in a producing a Toney-like performance.

Former UFC fighter Jeff Monson is also in the photo (on the left). He looks a bit slimmer. Monson has been talking with Strikeforce about fighting for the promotion in October down at 205 pounds. 

Tip via Fightlinker

In an odd way, Roger Huerta is proving you don't need the UFC marketing machine to promote yourself to casual and non-MMA fans. The former UFC prospect is only 1-1 since leaving the promotion but has gotten plenty of national attention.

The reason? It wasn't exactly part of some grand plan. At 2:15 a.m., Huerta happened to stumble upon what looked like a man hitting a woman outside an Austin bar in Texas. Huerta stepped in to beat the snot out of the unsuspecting dude, who was reported to have been a former University of Texas linebacker. According to TMZ's Harvey Levin, the Huerta fight video was one of the biggest stories of that week on the site. Considering that TMZ is normally dealing with the likes of Mel Gibson, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Justin Bieber, for anything concerning an MMA fighter to compete with that mix is pretty impressive. Huerta was invited to appear on TMZ's afternoon webcast and talked about the incident.

"I approached the man and said, "You don't do that. You don't hit a woman," said Huerta. "The video doesn't show what happened next, but he said, '[Expletive] you. I'll knock any [expletive] out I want.' The tape also doesn't show that he swung at me two or three times right after that."

"All you see is me bouncing up and down. He has already swung at me at that point. Then the guy takes off running. I chased him down and you saw what else happened ... I can't talk about what exactly happened because it's a legal matter. If the same thing occurred, I would do it all over again. I have no regrets."

It's interesting to note that Huerta had to often restrain himself from going into too much detail. There are still plenty of legal hoops to jump through. Huerta says he do it again but you wonder if he'd like to erase the end of the brawl where he apparently got pretty vicious? The appearance actually makes you wonder who's handling his case. It's a little surprising that a lawyer would allow him to speak at all on this sort of platform. 

These TMZ videos are unique. There's no real setup. Check out the beginning. It looks like Levin is ready to ask Huerta to beat up a faulty chair. 

Quotes via Fightlinker

Mixed martial artists get pretty good attention from the local Las Vegas media but back in April, Mike Whitehead made the local news for all the wrong reasons. He was accused of sexual assault.

The female accuser and a friend hit Whitehead's home for barbecue. The women asked to stay at Whitehead's home feeling like they had too much to drink. That's when the alleged trouble began: 

The report said Whitehead told the women that they could sleep in his bed. One of the women said she awoke to find her pants down and Whitehead having sex with her in the bed. Although she repeatedly demanded that he stop, he didn't for about three minutes, according to the police report.

After the alleged incident, Whitehead sat in a chair in the bedroom, police said. The second woman, who had been next to the woman on the bed, said she witnessed the alleged assault, according to the police report. The second woman alleged that Whitehead groped her during the incident, the report said.

Whitehead turned himself in to Las Vegas authorities where he was charged with sexual assault, attempted sexual assault and open and gross lewdness.

According to the Las Vegas Sun, Whitehead's day in court, a preliminary hearing, will take place on Sept. 28.

The timing couldn't be worse for Whitehead, who's developed a good reputation as a Las Vegas-based trainer and training partner for some high level MMA fighters. The 29-year-old is still fighting as well. He's won 16-of-18 fights. His only two losses during the run came against former Strikeforce light heavyweight champ Muhammed Lawal and Babalu Sobral. Since the arrest and allegations, Whitehead fought again coming away with a win over another former UFC fighter Chase Gormley on July 10.

Whitehead was a cast member on Season 2 of the UFC's "The Ultimate Fighter" but lost his only fight with the promotion against Keith Jardine at UFC 57.

B.J. Penn is always the star of the show but not this week at UFC 118. The Hawaiian lightweight legend has willingly taken a back seat to James Toney. The boxer's talk and promotional acumen has carried the card. But make no mistake about it, Toney against Randy Couture, from a pure fighting standpoint is a sideshow (Sherdog's pro's picks have it 50-3 for Couture) compared to the UFC lightweight title rematch between champ Frank Edgar and Penn.

Penn lost the first matchup via unanimous decision back at UFC 112. In typical Penn fashion, he's tried to drum up some drama and angst heading into the fight but it's just not that easy against Edgar, who is pretty benign with the spoken word. So the issue again for Penn is motivation. Is he fired up? Will he alter his style and work harder for the victory? If not, he'll have two losses in a row and then what motivates him to come back and get better?

Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole breaks down the big fights and betting odds from Boston.

UFC 118 betting odds (Courtesy Venetian/Lagasse Stadium in Las Vegas)
Official plays in bold

Frank Edgar (+300) v. B.J. Penn (-400) - UFC lightweight title
James Toney (+500) v. Randy Couture (-800) - Light heavyweight
Gray Maynard (+125) v. Kenny Florian (-155) - Lightweight
Mario Miranda (+190) v. Demian Maia (-240) - Middleweight
Marcus Davis (+190) v. Nate Diaz (-240) -Welterweight
Nik Lentz (Even) v. Andre Winner (-130) - Lightweight
Gabe Ruediger (+300) v. Joe Lauzon (-400) - Lightweight
Greg Soto (+110) v. Nick Osipczak (-140) - Welterweight
John Salter (+250) v. Jim Miller (-330) - Middleweight
Amilcar Alves (+240) v. Mike Pierce (-320) - Welterweight

A title shot is on the line when Kenny Florian and Gray Maynard lock horns at UFC 118. UFC president Dana White confirmed that yesterday. The winner will get the victor from the B.J. Penn-Frank Edgar. This is a heck of an opportunity for Maynard, who enters the cage for just the 10th time in his career. Maynard has added to game over the years but he's still a wrestler by trade. The last time we saw Kenny Florian face an elite former college wrestler, he basically spent the entire time on his back against Sean Sherk. But that was almost four years ago and Florian is a much more well-rounded fighter now.

Who's helped Florian shore up the holes in his wrestling game recently? UFC welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre. 

"I don't think you can get a better (training) partner at this point (to work on your wrestling). George really is at the top of his game. His wrestling is second to none," said Florian co-trainer Firas Zahabi, who is also the trainer for GSP (1:45 mark). "He's never competed as a wrestler, not very much (but) his wrestling, don't be mistaken, it's the best. Nobody's watched GSP train more than I have and I've seen him go with top level wrestlers and I'll tell you, he has taken everyone he's ever wrestled or sparred with down repeatedly."

While on ProMMARadio (1:02:30 mark), Florian raved about how much St. Pierre has helped him with his grappling.

"I consider him the best wrestler in mixed martial arts," said Florian (Audio clip). "He's about 200 pounds right now, very quick, very strong. I've been training with him for the last three fights. I know I'll be ready. Georges has helped me so much with my wrestling and overall game that I feel like this is the best point to meet a guy like Gray Maynard."  

The transformation from solid jiu-jitsu and striking artist to a complete fighter hasn't happened overnight for Florian. 

"Beating a guy like Gray or stopping his wrestling in one training camp is not going to happen. That's the reality of it. So I've been working on it for a long time now," said Florian (14-4, 11-3 UFC). "I've also been working a lot with John Cholish, who wrestled over at Cornell, he was an All-American there. I've been bringing a lot of guys in."  

This fight could come down to Maynard's work with boxing coach Gil Martinez. If Maynard (9-0, 7-0 UFC) can't score the takedown then he'll need to outstrike Florian. That won't be easy. After working heavily over the last few years with boxing coach Peter Welch, Florian is a good volume puncher, who's broken down several opponents on the feet before getting them down and finishing fights via submission.  

When Dana White travels to England for UFC 120, he will stop in at Oxford University. He will speak to the members of the world-renowned Oxford Union debating society.

"Anyone who knows anything about me knows I always speak my mind and am very passionate about what I do, and the Oxford Union was founded on exactly those principles," White said in a statement released by UFC. "I'm looking forward to meeting the students, and I know they have a reputation for asking tough questions and expecting straight answers from their guests. That's exactly what they'll get from me."

Yes, the same place that hosted Mother Teresa, Winston Churchill and Robert Kennedy will now host the foul-mouthed chief of the UFC.

White isn't afraid to speak up, a trait that has gotten him in trouble from time to time. But how will the Union members respond to White's tactics?

Though they have been around since 1823, the members of the Oxford Union aren't all fuddy-duddies. A bar is part of their facilities. MMA has exploded in popularity in England, and the Oxford members likely have plenty of questions for White about the sport.

Not only that, Churchill was known to drop a dirty word or two in his day. 

At Jon Fitch's wedding, UFC welterweight contender Josh Koscheck took a break to tickle the ivories. What song was he singing? My guess: "You're So Precious To Me." Take a shot at a caption in the comments, and read on for winners from last week's contest.

First place: Hey kid...Only quitters wear that kind of glove. -- Rob R

Second place: Tom Lawlor contemplates why he spent all that money on the "Mark Coleman Conditioning Experience" -- chris

Third place: "WTF? I thought this was GARY Coleman. Who is Mark Coleman?" -- Es

After his stint on Season 5 of "The Ultimate Fighter", Gabe Ruediger never got to fight again in the UFC. Maybe now he wishes he had waited a little while longer. Joe Lauzon, returning from a knee injury, slammed, punched, elbowed and finally armbarred Ruediger. It was just over two minutes of absolute domination as Lauzon won via submission in the first round.

"Welcome to Boston," yelled Lauzon, who hails from nearby East Bridgewater, Mass. "I'm glad I got to fight here in Boston. I wanted to take his arm and that's exactly what I did."

There was absolutely no ring rust from Lauzon, who was returning from a knee injury in January. Lauzon (19-5, 6-2 UFC) set the tone early with a big right and pushed Ruediger against the cage. That's where he got a hold of Ruediger and slammed him to the mat. Ruediger scrambled well but was still getting hit by big shots. He got to his knees and took some massive shots to the face as Lauzon punched underneath his arms. Ruediger actually got to his feet but was nearly suplexed as part of another slam to the mat.

This time Lauzon didn't let him up. That's when he unloaded with some huge elbows to Ruediger's face. He bailed at that point giving up his back where Lauzon converted it to the finishing armbar.

Update: Lauzon won $60,000 for the submission of the night.

Ruediger's reputation took a beating from his appearance on TUF 5. He was pictured eating and relaxing before his first fight and then couldn't make weight. He was quite the drama queen and quit before ever making it to the scale. UFC Dana White booted him from the TUF house and dismissed him from the show. The UFC elected not to give Ruediger an official fight after the season was over.

He then hit the minor league circuit while Lauzon, also a cast member that season, went on to become one of the hottest prospects in the UFC's 155-pound division. Lauzon went 5-2, winning four postfight award bonuses. Ruediger (17-6, 0-2 UFC) was a fill-in tonight for the injured Terry Etim. We'll see if he gets another shot. This one was pathetic and he once again showed a minor lack of class when he refused to shake Lauzon's hand following the fight.

Kenny Florian's been there before. The UFC lightweight lost a title fight very early in his career against Sean Sherk and then ripped off six straight wins. Maybe he was a little hard-headed for his next shot against B.J. Penn. Florian stuck with a flawed gameplan and lost in the fourth round via rear-naked choke. He now knows it's important to stay grounded and he thinks Gray Maynard had better follow the same advice. 

"I definitely sense a sort of cockiness. A different attitude than what he's shown in the past," Florian said of his opponent at UFC 118 (0:22 mark). "I've been there too. We  fall victim to it. I think he's overlooking me. I think he's already looking towards the title. He's definitely on the cocky side."

At just 9-0 in MMA, Florian wonders where Maynard's cockiness is coming from. He also wants to see how Maynard deals with adversity. 

"Gray's never encountered that type of pressure. He's never never encountered when someone's kind of beating down on him," Florian told Larry Pepe from ProMMA Radio (2:57 mark) "He's always been the aggressor. He's always been the bully. It's easy to have fights like that when you're winning the fight the whole time. How is he going to respond when he's getting beaten down?"

Maynard's never really been beaten down but he was frustrated to no end in his last fight against Nate Diaz. Diaz's incessant chatter in the Octagon took Maynard out of his game. If that screwed with Maynard's head, what happens if he's actually losing the fight? 

"How's he going to respond when he's hurt and he's hurt again and he's hurt again," said Florian. "And he's losing every minute of every round. What's that gonna feel like for him?"

Maynard has been a lot more outspoken in the lead up to this fight. Part of that is the realization that guys like Dan Hardy, Paul Daley and even Diaz moved up the ladder a lot faster by self-promoting more heavily. Florian doesn't see that it's just a ploy by Maynard to push the fight and his image. He's been insulted by Maynard saying that he can beat Florian in every aspect of MMA. 

"If he doesn't respect my skills, he's gonna be in trouble," said Florian. He suggested Maynard will be full of excuses if he loses the fight. "It's gonna be one of those things where (Maynard says), 'I don't understand what happened or Kenny got lucky. Or I made a mistake and I'll be back and better than ever before.' I don't get that. It's created a lot of motivation for me."

Florian doesn't talk a lot of trash but he decided to fire back at Maynard a little (6:10 mark). 

"I don't think he's the most exciting fighter," Florian said of Maynard. "I don't jump up and down when there's a Gray Maynard fight going on, but I do respect his skills."

This is a huge fight in the lightweight division. The winner has a good shot at meeting the winner of Frank Edgar-B.J. Penn. From a promotional standpoint, you'd have to think the UFC would love to see Maynard victory.

Check out Pepe's entire interview with Florian here.