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UFC 110: Nogueira vs. Velasquez is on Sunday, February 21, 2010 in Sydney, Australia -  meaning that this event takes place at 10:00pm ET, on Saturday February 20.

Main Fight Card

• Heavyweight Bout:  Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs.  Cain Velasquez
• Middleweight Bout:  Wanderlei Silva vs.  Michael Bisping
• Lightweight Bout:  Joe Stevenson vs.  George Sotiropoulos
• Light Heavyweight Bout:  Keith Jardine vs.  Ryan Bader
• Heavyweight Bout:  Mirko Filipović vs.  Anthony Perosh

The long expected bout between Yoshihiro Akiyama and Wanderlei Silva will not take place at this event. Instead, Silva will face Michael Bisping.

Several Australian fighters have been thrown into the card, making the first event to be held in Australia also one of the fastest to sell out.

A bout between Nate Marquardt and Chael Sonnen which was expected to take place on this card was moved to UFC 109. A bout between Keith Jardine and Rich Franklin was being discussed. Jardine will instead fight the Ultimate Fighter 8 Winner Ryan Bader.

• Lightweight Championship bout: United States B.J. Penn vs. United States Diego Sanchez
• Heavyweight bout: United States Frank Mir vs. France Cheick Kongo
• Welterweight bout: United States Jon Fitch vs. United States Mike Pierce
• L ightweight bout: United States Kenny Florian vs. United States Clay Guida
• Heavyweight bout: United States Paul Buentello vs. Netherlands Stefan Struve

UFC 101 takes place this Saturday August 8th from Philadelphia. It will feature a main event between lightweight champion BJ Penn and number one contender Kenny Florian. In addition, UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva will step up once again to compete at light heavyweight against former 205-pound champion, Forrest Griffin, in a three-round, non-title special attraction.

Here is the complete UFC 101 fight card:

Main event:

UFC Lightweight Champion BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian

Main card (Televised):

205 lbs.: Forrest Griffin vs. Anderson Silva
185 lbs.: Amir Sadollah vs. Johny Hendricks
185 lbs.: Kendall Grove vs. Ricardo Almeida
155 lbs.: Kurt Pellegrino vs. Josh Neer

Under card (May not be broadcast):

155 lbs.: Shane Nelson vs. Aaron Riley
170 lbs.: John Howard vs. Tamdan McCrory
185 lbs.: Alessio Sakara vs. Thales Leites
170 lbs.: Matt Riddle vs. Dan Cramer
155 lbs.: George Sotiropoulos vs. Rob Emerson
170 lbs.: Danillo Villefort vs. Jesse Lennox

Can Tiger Woods do it again? Tiger Woods is in the unique position of not only being the defending U.S. Open champion but also the last player to win this championship at Bethpage Black.
Check out our Golf page for more info.

The shadow of last year’s final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer looms large over Wimbledon 2009. The greatest match of all time they called it. How do you top that? Well, we may never know as news reports say that Nadal may not compete in this year’s event. See our Tennis page for details.

The Belmont Stakes takes place this year on Saturday, June 6th.

ESPN is reporting that Rachel Alexandra owner Jess Jackson said he was uncertain Monday morning of the Preakness champion’s status for next month’s Belmont Stakes after the filly worked out at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

Rachel Alexandra worked half a mile in 50 seconds and galloped out a fifth furlong in 1 minute, 4 seconds, an unspectacular time on a sloppy track for the star filly, who won the Kentucky Oaks by 20 1/4 lengths on May 1 before beating Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird by a length in the Preakness.

Mine That Bird trainer Chip Woolley backtracked on his demands for a Monday commitment from Calvin Borel, the jockey who guided both horses to their championship runs.

“We’re going to hold off naming a rider for for a few more days, out of respect for Calvin and them,” Woolley said. “We’re going to give them a little more time.”

Jackson said if Borel decides to go with another mount, Robby Albarado would ride Rachel Alexandra. Albarado is Jackson’s regular A-list rider who rode Curlin to great riches and fame.

Mike Smith rode Mine That Bird in the Preakness but has a conflict and will not be available for the Belmont.

Borel, wearing a Rachel Alexandra cap, and his agent, Jerry Hissam, met with Jackson early Monday. Hissam said they would have “no comment at this time” as they came out of Asmussen’s barn.


Triple Crown for Borel?
It is not possible for a horse to win the Triple Crown this year, but it is possible for jockey Calvin Borel; he won both the Kentucky Derby (on Mine that Bird) and the Preakness Stakes (on Rachel Alexandra) this year. To date, it is not certain which beast he will ride on June 6th.

See our Belmont Stakes Page for full details.

Possible Belmont Stakes Contenders

Silk	Horse	Owner	Trainer
	Charitable Man	Mr. and Mrs. W. K. Warren Jr.	Kiaran McLaughlin
	Chocolate Candy	The Craig Family Trust	Jerry Hollendorfer
	Brave Victory	Robert LaPenta	Nick Zito
	Dunkirk	Mrs. John Magnier, Michael B. Tabor, and Derrick Smith	Todd Pletcher
	Flying Private	Robert C. Baker & William L.  Mack	D. Wayne Lukas
	Luv Gov	Marylou Whitney Stables	D. Wayne Lukas
	Mine That Bird	Double Eagle Ranch & Buena Suerte Equine	Bennie Woolley Jr.
	Miner’s Escape	Robert LaPenta	Nick Zito
	Mr. Hot Stuff	WinStar Farm	Eoin Harty
	Rachel Alexandra	Stonestreet Stables and Harold McCormick	Steve Asmussen
	Summer Bird	Kalarikkal K. and Vilasini D. Jayaraman	Tim Ice

Opening Day of the 2009 MLB Baseball Season has come and gone and began with the time-honored tradition of Cincinnati’s Findlay Market Parade, the 90th edition a little cold and a little damp, but red and white all over, same as it ever was.  See our baseball page for full details.

February 21st (Saturday), 2009 At The Chevrolet Center, Youngstown, OH

(PPV) Kelly Pavlik (34-1) vs. Marco Antonio Rubio (43-4-1)

(For The Ring Magazine World Middleweight Championship)
(WBC and WBO Middleweight belts)

World middleweight boxing champion Kelly Pavlik (34-1, 30 knockouts) is defending his title against Mexico’s Marco Antonio Rubio at Youngstown’s 7,000-seat Chevrolet Centre.

Pavlik will enter the ring four months removed from his lopsided non-title loss at 170 pounds to Bernard Hopkins, a masterful performance in boxing and defense by the 43-year-old Hopkins that diminished Pavlik’s star in the eyes of many fight fans.

Pavlik, however, said being from Youngstown has ingrained in him to “keep hope and work through it. You always struggle through things living in northeast Ohio, you gotta put it behind you. That’s the most important thing I’ve learned from [the Hopkins loss].”

The Pavlik-Rubio fight will be televised on pay-per-view as a doubleheader featuring former weltertweight champ Miguel Cotto’s fight against Michael Jennings — Cotto’s first bout since his July title loss to the now-disgraced Antonio Margarito.

At Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
Miguel Cotto (32-1) vs. Michael Jennings (34-1)
(The Ring Magazine #2 Welterweight vs. Unranked)
(WBO Welterweight belt)

Michael Jennings has warned American boxing fans to be prepared for a surprise when he takes on Miguel Cotto at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.

Their fight for the vacant WBO welterweight title has been written off as a mere launchpad for Puerto Rico’s former two-time champion Cotto (32-1, 26 KOs) to regain a belt after losing the WBA version in an epic 11th-round stoppage by Antonio Margarito last summer.

Little-known Englishman Jennings (34-1, 16 KOs) has never fought outside the United Kingdom, or at this level, before while Cotto, three years his junior at 28, will be entering his 14th straight world title bout.

See our Boxing page for more…