The Ultimate Fighting Championship and its parent organization, Zuffa, released a number of interesting news bits into the mixed martial arts world on Tuesday.

To begin, the UFC announced a matchup that was completely different than what the MMA Zone announced yesterday. Instead of facing Stefan Struve, heavyweight Brendan Schaub will now face off against MMA legend Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic at UFC 128 in New Jersey. Reportedly, contracts have been signed by both fighters to take part in this competition.

Schaub is riding a three fight win streak that includes a victory over one time UFC contender Gabriel Gonzaga. Schaub’s only defeat came at the Ultimate Fighter Season 10 Finale in 2009 when he faced off against Roy Nelson. During Schaub’s eight- fight career, he has only been out of the first round once.

With the first UFC event of 2011 less than a week away, some potential matchups have been announced for the New Year. Heavyweight prospects Brendan Schaub and Stefan Struve will face off while Anthony Johnson and Dan Hardy will touch gloves.

An anticipated matchup against Frank Mir has been nixed for Schaub, but he will instead face the rising Struve during a March UFC event. The matchup has not been announced by the UFC; however it has been confirmed by a number of MMA reporting organizations.

Brendan Schaub is coming off a unanimous decision victory against former UFC contender Gabriel Gonzaga. This three round contest was the first time that Schaub has fought outside the first round. Since his defeat at the hands of Roy Nelson at the Ultimate Fighter Season 10 Finale in 2009. This is Schaub’s only defeat in eight professional fights.

The year 2010 had some very impressive mixed martial arts competitions. Fans were blown away by exciting knockouts, submissions and come from behind victories. Still, out of all these fierce battles which stood out among the rest as the best of the year. Here are a few that will be talked about into 2011 and long after.

3. Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen – UFC 117 – 8/7/10

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has another match on tap for the UFC 128 event scheduled for Newark in March of 2011. Ricardo Almeida will face off against Mike Pyle in a welterweight fight.

Almeida, who fights out of Hamilton, New Jersey and operates a number of schools in the state, is coming off of a unanimous decision victory over T.J. Grant at UFC 124 in Montreal. Almeida also fought the last time that the UFC visited New Jersey when he defeated Matt Brown with a second round rear naked choke. Almeida is 4-1 in his last 5 UFC competitions.

Mike Pyle is coming off an impressive upset when he defeated John Hathaway at UFC 120 in the United Kingdom. The Xtreme Couture fighter is 3-2 during his UFC campaign. During his career Pyle has faced off against tough competition such as Jon Fitch, Shonie Carter, and Jake Shields.

A potential welterweight matchup may be on the horizon for two stars in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Welterweight contender Thiago Alves can be looking towards a fight against the hard-hitting Rick Story in 2011.

This past Friday, Alves confirmed on his official twitter page that he will be competing during a UFC event to be held in May. While his opponent has yet to be announced, many mixed martial arts news sites are pointing to Story as the man who will be standing across the cage from the one time title contender.

Alves is coming off his first win since 2008 with a strong showing against John Howard at UFC 124. During that fight Alves appeared to be in better shape and made the weight cut to 170 easily, thanks to using the Dolce diet. He pounded Howard with leg kicks and solid takedowns in route to a unanimous decision. Before this contest, Alves was defeated by Jon Fitch and current Welterweight champion, Georges St. Pierre.

Some major match announcements came to light on Wednesday as the mixed martial arts worlds prepares to enter 2011. Starting with UFC 126 this weekend, the New Year is set to bring fight fans a large number of exciting matchups and drama filled battles.

Overeem Faces Former UFC Prospect
The Dynamite: The Power of Courage 2010 will host an exciting matchup between two big names within the heavyweight division. Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem will face off against former UFC employee, Todd Duffee.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has released information about five fights that have been added to the UFC 126: Silva versus Belfort card. The event is scheduled to occur on February 5th which coincides with the UFC’s effort to host an event during Super Bowl weekend. This year’s show will take place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The biggest matchup announced was the showdown between Team Alpha Male prospect Chad Mendes and Michihiro Omigawa. The undefeated Mendes (9-0) will debut in the UFC after his WEC home has merged with the larger organization. Since his debut in 2008 Mendes has displayed an ever improving skill set, with wins over Cub Swanson, Erik Koch and Javier Vazquez to anchor his resume.

Since we all love to play games and we all love to get into the action as much as possible, we need to know what games to look for. You really do not want to spend your hard-earned money on a game that just is not what it claims to be. The disappointment that comes along with these kinds of games is not worth the price you pay for them.

What is worse, most stores will not let you exchange a game you opened and do not like for another game. They only allow you to exchange it for another copy of the same game if you are returning it for errors. This being said, you should know to look into some consumer reviews and some “top ten” lists. The greatest mixed martial arts games that have hit our store’s shelves in the last couple of years have taken the consumers by storm and have been cleared right off the shelves in no time. Most of these games tend to sell out far faster than the next delivery truck can reach these stores to replenish their stock!

The start of another week began with a variety of news items being released to the MMA public. These news bites come affect the future events for a number of MMA promotions.

Bellator Announces Light Heavyweight Tournament
Fresh off of last week’s announcement of the partnership with MTV2; Bellator has released information about its upcoming light heavyweight tournament. Set to be the fourth “season” of Bellator action, this tournament will feature a number of contenders fighting to become the Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion.

Six of the eight participants have been confirmed, however many have yet to be announced to the public. One major name that has been revealed as a competitor for the tournament is Daniel Gracie, one of the family’s most recent MMA participants. The first round matchups have not been announced at this moment as well.

Monday saw the announcement of another big matchup within the Strikeforce cage. Light heavyweight prospect Roger Gracie may be facing off against mixed martial arts veteran Trevor Prangley.

The ten-time world BJJ grappling champion, Gracie is considered one of the best prospects within the Gracie family to make an impact within the mixed martial arts world. Gracie has a 3-0 record that includes a victory over former UFC champion Kevin Randleman. During his grappling career, Gracie has won multiple championships and faced many of the world’s best in competition.

Shark Fight’s Light Heavyweight Champion Trevor Prangley has been the speculated opponent for Gracie. Prangley has a stout MMA resume that includes victories over Keith Jardine, Chael Sonnen, Travis Lutter and Matt Horwich. The last time the fighter from American Kickboxing Academy has competed is when he earned the victory over Jardine in September.