MMA HQ – Mixed Martial Arts News and Analysis

Mixed Martial Arts is becoming more popular every day with events taking place almost every weekend so far in 2006. The next few upcoming weeks are no exception with a steady lineup of good MMA promotions taking place.

Tonight, March 17, WEC 19 – “Undisputed” takes place in Lemoore California. Gabe Ruediger will face Hermes Franca and Urijah Faber takes on Cole Escovedo, and they return of James Irvin vs. Lodune Sincaid.

Tomorrow night, March 18, Rage in The Cage 80 “Fight Night at The Fort” takes place in Arizona. Mike Whitehead, Danny Wren, and Benny Rodriquez are fighting.

The following night, March 19, King of The Cage “The Return” takes place in San Jacinto, California. Dan Severn and Charlie Valencia are two of the fighters on the KOTC card.

A few weeks later, on April 2, Pride Bushido 10 takes place in Tokyo, Japan. Bushido 10 looks like a decent card with several popular fighters: Takanori Gomi, Dan Henderson, Phil Baroni, Yuki Kondo, Murilo Rua, Jens Pulver, and Mark Weir.

A few days after that on April 6, UFC “Ultimate Fight Night 4″ takes place in Las Vegas. TUF 2 winners Joe Stevenson and Rashard Evens will make their UFC debuts, and UFC veterans Chris Leben, Stephan Bonnar, and Trevor Prangley will also fight.

A week after that on April 15, UFC 59 “Reality Check” takes place in Anaheim California. UFC 59 features the much awaited return of Tito Ortiz as he faces Forest Griffin. The UFC Heavyweight title is up for grabs as current champion Andre Arlovski takes on former champion Tim Sylvia. Jeremy Horn vs. Evan Tanner, David Terrell vs. Scott Smith, and Nick Diaz vs. Sean Sherk are a few other excellent fights on this card.

Two weeks after that on April 29, IFL “Legends 2006“ takes place with the inaugural IFL event. Will “team MMA” work in the USA? We’ll find out as Bas Rutten, Pat Miletich, Maurice Smith, and Renzo Gracie lead their teams in five different weight classes.

I take it you get the point. For those of use who have been MMA fans for a long time, there has been no better time than now. It may hurt the wallet a little more trying to catch all of these PPV’s, but we are starting to see MMA get into the “mainstream.” All I can say is enjoy each and every event.