Undefeated (9-0) Strikeforce Heavyweight Daniel Cormier will face what will undoubtedly be his toughest test to date in his young mixed martial arts (MMA) career as he takes on Josh Barnett this Saturday (May 19, 2012) in the finale of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix.

Cormier, a former Olympic wrestler, will look to derail the red-hot Barnett (who is on a nine-fight win streak himself) and earn the grand prix title in a tournament which at one time had fighters such as Fedor Emelianenko and Alistair Overeem participating in it.

The American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) trained fighter stepped up as a reserve and replaced "The Reem" after the former K-1 kickboxing champion was yanked from the tournament by the powers that be over at Zuffa, only to sign with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) two months later.

Now, looking to make the most of his opportunity, the wrestling prodigy looks to take out one of the most seasoned veterans in the heavyweight division and earn his one-way ticket to the UFC, though he may have to fight once more in Strikeforce should he prove victorious this Saturday night.

Appearing on "The MMA Hour," Cormier, looks ahead to his showdown with Barnett this weekend in San Jose and says "The Warmaster" will be making a huge mistake if he's basing "DC's" potential as a challenge based solely on his limited amount of fights.

Check it out:

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It looks like you've got some extra incentive to tune in for The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) Live this Friday night (May 18, 2012).

During today's Ultimate Fighter quarterfinals conference call, it was announced that UFC President Dana White will make the official announcement of Urijah Faber's next opponent, who will be stepping in for the injured UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz.

The announcement will be taking place during Friday's episode of The Ultimate Fighter on FX during the 10-11 p.m. ET window, likely during the live portion after both quarterfinal bouts have taken place.

It's widely accepted that with Cruz's extended layoff due to a knee injury, Faber will be battling for the interim title, so this opponent selection will be very important in terms of the future of the bantamweight division and the title picture.

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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will today (May 16, 2012) hold a media conference call to promote this Friday's (May 18, 2012) The Ultimate Fighter episode, which will air live on the FX television network at 10 p.m. ET nationwide.

The conference call will begin at 4:30 p.m. ET. Scheduled to attend will be the second half of the quarterfinalist fighters: Vinc Pichel, Chris Saunders, Al Iaquinta and Andy Ogle.

Al Iaquinta was the first pick of Team Faber and lived up to his billing by winning a pair of decisions, most notably defeating Myles Jury after having a third round forced. Chris Saunders pulled off a huge upset, sneaking past Sam Sicilia via split decision to advance to the quarterfinals.

Vince Pichel of Team Cruz had perhaps the best fight of the season thus far, earning a late submission victory over John Cofer while his opponent, Andy Ogle, also pulled off a huge upset, defeating the heavily favored Mike Rio via submission in their sweet 16 bout a few weeks ago..

We'll have complete updates of The Ultimate Fighter Live conference call after the jump:

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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweight "Cowboy" Donald Cerrone got himself right back into the 155-pound title hunt with an absolutely dominant display at the UFC on FUEL TV 3 event last night (March 15, 2012) at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia.

Fellow division stalwart Jeremy Stephens was on the receiving end of three rounds of punishment, primarily in the stand-up, en route to a unanimous decision loss, the second straight time the judges fell out of favor with the "Lil' Heathen."

For Cerrone, the lopsided performance put him at 7-1 over his last eight fights and washed away the bitter taste of defeat after getting outstruck by Nate Diaz at UFC 141 last December. But was it enough to convince you he's still a threat to the division crown?

For a more detailed breakdown of Cerrone vs. Stephens click here and for complete UFC on FUEL TV 3 results and blow-by-blow coverage of all the wall-to-wall action click here.

Stateside mixed martial arts (MMA) fans can now join the party.

The Ultimate Fighter (TUF), the promotion's popular reality television show designed to produce new and up-and-coming stars from a pool of undiscovered talent, is currently wrapping up its "Brazil" season on Globo, featuring Wanderlei Silva and Vitor Belfort as head coaches.

While TUF fans were able to catch a weekly live stream on UFC.tv, the series will now be shown in its entirety on FUEL TV beginning June 10, 2012 at 10 p.m. ET, with English subtitles. The delay in Brazil's broadcast debut was to avoid counter-programming TUF 15: "Live" which is currently airing every Friday night on the FX Channel.

At the conclusion of the season, which premiered back on March 25, Silva and Belfort will face off for Brazilian bragging rights, as will the finalists in both the featherweight and middleweight divisions.

Even though the UFC will tie a ribbon around the "Brazil" series before it concludes on FUEL TV, it should still provide its share of thrills.

Who's tuning in?

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) continues to populate its UFC on FUEL TV 4 fight card, recently adding a light heavyweight match-up pitting Octagon sophomores Nick Penner vs. Tom DeBlass for the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., on July 11, 2012.

The Score brought word of the booking earlier today.

Penner (11-2) saw his eight-fight winning streak snapped at the hands of Anthony Perosh at the UFC on FX 2: "Alves vs. Kampmann" event back on March 3. It was the just the second career loss for the Canadian up-and-comer, and the first by way of technical knockout.

Also looking to get back into the win column is DeBlass (7-1). The former Ring of Combat (ROC) heavyweight champion came up empty in his Octagon debut, suffering his first professional loss against Cyrille Diabate at the UFC on Fuel TV 2: "Gustafsson vs. Silva" event just last month.

One of these two talents falls into the dreaded 0-2 hole on July 11.

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"He was just as tough as I expected. I expected a good fight, I'm just upset with myself. When it got to the later rounds he hit me with some good shots, I think it was the fourth round? I was never completely out of it but when I came back to realizing what was going on I could have sat out. I was in the D'Arce position, I felt it, but I just didn't defend it right and I feel like I let myself down. I'm upset about that. I had a really long training camp. I put 100 percent of myself into the training camp. I'm trying not to get emotional, I just care so much and I let myself down. I deserved to win. My wife deserved for us to win. I felt like I was in the best shape ever, I just took some bad shots and made some mistakes. I'm gonna go back to the gym and work on it and come back and get a W."

Emotional UFC on FUEL TV 3 headliner Dustin Poirier reflects on his main event loss to Chan Sung Jung last night (May 15, 2012) in the "Fight of the Night" from the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia. "The Diamond" was cut down in the fourth round by "The Korean Zombie," who not only split the "Fight Night" jackpot with Poirier, but also kept one all to himself with his "Submission of the Night." To see what happened in the UFC on FUEL TV 3 network televised event check out our complete results and recap here along with video highlights here.

Easy come, easy go.

Hard-hitting heavyweight striker Sergei Kharitonov injured his neck and was forced to withdraw from his upcoming mixed martial arts (MMA) fight against Tony Lopez at the "2012 Glory World Series" on May 26 in Stockholm, Sweden.

Golden Glory head coach Martijn de Jong recently confirmed the change on Twitter.

Kharitonov (18-5) was last seen disposing of Mark Miller under the United Glory banner earlier this year in Russia. It was a nice rebound win (under kickboxing rules) for the former paratrooper, who was bounced from the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix with a submission loss to Josh Barnett back in 2011.

Stepping in to take his place will be Swedish "Sledgehammer" Llir Latifi (5-2-1), who was previously booked to throw hands opposite Jeremy Horn until "Gumby" blew out his knee.

Lopez (31-8) has been on an absolute tear under the King of the Cage (KOTC) umbrella, winning seven straight fights and securing seven violent finishes in the process. Just over half of all wins for "Kryptonite" have come by submission.

The revised United Glory fight card and line-up (via Buddha Sport) after the jump:

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