Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight-turned-middleweight Anthony Johnson may have to turn light heavyweight.

That's because "Rumble" was unable to make weight for his 185-pound contest against Dave Branch for the Titan Fighting 22 main event tonight (May 25, 2012) at Memorial Hall in Kansas City. Prior to the weigh ins, officials were forced to change this evening's headliner to a 195-pound catchweight fight.

The final tally? Johnson 194.2, Branch 189.2.

I guess things didn't go the way they predicted in Titan's March 23 press release:

In preparation for his upcoming fight with Branch, Johnson has brought on JC Santana, strength and conditioning expert and founder of the world renowned Institute of Human Performance in Boca Raton, Florida, located near the Blackzilian's new training camp in Delray Beach. Santana will closely work with Johnson on a new weight, diet and strength and conditioning program leading up to his May 25 fight.

"Anthony Johnson has the potential to be one of the biggest stars in the sport, I don't think anyone in the world doubts that including me and so I'm proud to have him as my client," said Santana. "Starting today, I am going to be responsible for anything that goes into Anthony's body. This is a make it or break it camp for Rumble, he has hired me, and we are not going to be messing around. This is a very disciplined and progressive situation and everything that goes into his mouth we are going to monitor, and he is going to weigh in every day. For me, the next eight weeks is Anthony's fight. When he takes the cage on May 25, in my mind, he's already won."

Johnson failed to make weight for his UFC 142: "Aldo vs. Mendes" co-main event against Vitor Belfort earlier this year, tipping the scale at a whopping 197 pounds, a full 11 pounds over the 186-pound contractual limit.

It was the third time "Rumble" missed weight in his UFC career. The first came against Rich Clementi at UFC 76 and then again opposite Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC 104.

UFC President Dana White had seen enough.

Have you?

He's back.

It's been over two years, but longtime Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) veteran Din Thomas finally returned to mixed martial arts (MMA) action at "Pure MMA 2" last Saturday night (May 12, 2012) in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, submitting up-and-coming featherweight prospect Cody Bollinger via first-round submission (armbar).

"Dinyero" was originally supposed to compete at "Fight Time 7" from the War Memorial Auditorium last October in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, but ended up in the hospital after totaling his car on the way to the arena.

Thomas (26-8) is currently riding a four-fight win streak, which includes a submission victory (triangle choke) over Dustin Pierkin at Headhunter Productions "The Patriot Act" back in Feb. 2009 followed by a technical knockout win (knee) over Gabe Lemley at "March Badness" just over a month later.

Is this the beginning of his MMA rebirth?

Complete Pure MMA 2 event results, courtesy of MMA.tv after the jump.

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LAS VEGAS, Nev. (May 11, 2012) - All 24 fighters, including main event opponents Joe "Stitch ‘Em Up" Schilling (12-2, 10 KO's) of Los Angeles, Calif. and Simon Marcus (26-0, 19 KO's) of Toronto, Ontario Canada, made weight yesterday at Body English at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino for the Lion Fight Muay Thai VI: Schilling vs. Marcus II, WBC championship full-rules Muay Thai event at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Saturday, May 12, live on LionFightPromotions.com.

Schilling, the WBC Light Heavyweight Champion, and Marcus, an unbeaten top contender, both tipped the scales at 174 pounds for the highly-anticipated rematch to their first meeting at The Joint on Feb. 25 when Marcus scored a controversial, first-round TKO victory in a winner-take-all contest.

The live stream of the 12-bout card, which will be facilitated by Go Fight Live, will begin at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on LionFightPromotions.com and can be purchased for a one-time credit card charge of $14.99.

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Competing in grappling tournaments for over 16 years and studying the art since the age of 16, second degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) black belt, Braulio Estima, is one of the most decorated mat wizards in the world today.

With a long list of credentials and accomplishments in jiu-jitsu, including multiple victories in the esteemed Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) with plenty of gold medals to prove his dominance, Estima is set to take on his newest challenge in the form of crossing over to become a full blown mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter later this year.

Making Imperial Athletics his permanent training camp, "The Blackzilians," which includes such fighters as Rashad Evans, Alistair Overeem, Antonio Silva and Jorge Santiago, among others, are some of the select fighters that are helping this submission master make his MMA debut.

But before he trades his Gi in for a pair of 12 ounce gloves, Estima will compete at the first ever World Jiu-Jitsu Expo (which is the brainchild of Renzo Gracie) this weekend (May ,12, 2012) in Long Beach, California.

His opponent?

None other than former Strikeforce Welterweight Champion and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 170-pound title contender, Nick Diaz.

Appearing on The MMA Hour, Estima talks about how his match with Nick, one he wanted, came to be and that he wants to be the first person to submit Diaz and says people should not be so quick to count out Diaz in the match.

Those comments after the jump.

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LAS VEGAS (May 8, 2012) - Undefeated 19-year-old prospect Guilherme Bertholdo (6-0), the nephew of UFC Middleweight Champion and pound-for-pound great Anderson Silva, will look to extend his perfect run in Muay Thai's amateur ranks and move one step closer to turning professional when he faces off with Chris Lazaro (7-2) of Las Vegas, Nev. in a welterweight (147 pounds) matchup on the undercard of the Lion Fight Muay Thai VI: Schilling vs. Marcus II full-rules Muay Thai event at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on Saturday, May 12, live on LionFightPromotions.com.

"I am excited to finally test my skills against top level amateur opponents," said Bertholdo, a member of Black House Team Nogueira, the famed training camp that is also home to Silva and is headed by MMA legends and twin brothers Antonio "Rodrigo" and Antonio "Rogerio" Nogueira in San Diego, Calif. where he trains under Kru (trainer) Alex Palma.

In Brazil, Bertholdo took up Karate and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at an early age before relocating to San Diego with his family. While his father has schooled him Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and helped Bertholdo attain the rank of purple belt in the submission fighting discipline, Bertholdo has gravitated to the sport of Muay Thai due to his love for kicking and punching.

"Striking is my passion," he said. "My Kru (trainer) has really taught me to use my hands and angles and, because of this, I've learned to appreciate the beauty of Muay Thai. MMA is a sport that I eventually will focus on in the future but, for now, I want to sharpen my striking and compete in an all-striking sport."

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Longtime mixed martial arts (MMA) veteran and all around Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) wizard. Renzo Gracie, has not seen action inside a cage or a ring since his loss at the hands of Matt Hughes at UFC 112 two years ago.

That, however, hasn't stopped him from keeping busy in the MMA world---Jiu Jitsu to be exact. In fact, the sixth-degree black belt created and is the president of the first-ever World Jiu-Jitsu Expo, which is set to go down on May 12, 2012 in Long Beach, California.

The expo will feature many of today's top jiu-jitsu practitioners from all over the world who will convene in Long Beach to see who indeed is the slickest submission artist of them all.

The inaugural show will feature a very intriguing "superfight" as former Strikeforce Welterweight Champion and recently retired Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) contender Nick Diaz will take on one of the best Jiu-Jitsu players in the world in second degree black belt, Braulio Estima, at 180 pounds.

Estima, who is currently preparing for his MMA debut later this year with the help of UFC Light Heavyweight contender Rashad Evans and the rest of the "The Blackzillians" down in Florida, is one of the most decorated grapplers in the sport today. Estima has won the prestigious Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) championship twice, and is a three-time world champion with 13 gold medals in total while competing at the Pan American Championships, European Championship and Nogi Pan American Championships.

Basically, he's an all-around certified submission badass.

Though he doesn't have quite the same credentials as Estima, Diaz, who is a black belt under Cesar Gracie, is no slouch when it comes to the submission game. Nick currently has nine victories via submission under his belt, though he has proven that the stand-up game is his preference.

So how did his match-up with Braulio come to be? Appearing on the most recent edition of The MMA Hour, Renzo reveals that Diaz himself asked for the bout, stating that he wanted to be matched up against the best and Gracie goes on to say that the match will be a very tough test for the Stockton slugger.

Check it out:

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I made the trip up to Milwaukee, Wisconsin late last week and it wasn't for the Bellator event, the UFC on Fox 3 show or even MFC. It was for a local show called the North American Fighting Championship which has become a hotbed for up-and-coming talent out of the Roufusport Gym.

The night was headlined by a welterweight bout featuring Duke Roufus product Rick Glenn against journeyman Charon Spain. Glenn looked in control, scoring multiple trip takedowns and barring a big flurry from Spain at the end of the first round, was never in any trouble.

In the second stanza, Glenn started quickly, hurting Spain on the feet and then pummeling him on the canvas to score a quick technical knockout (TKO) victory to improve his record to 10-2-1. Glenn is now unbeaten in his last eight fights and could be getting a promotion in the near future.

I've got plenty of other highlights of the action including a HUGE upset as well as comments on the Sergio Pettis fight after the jump.

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Ulysses Gomez is one of the better non-Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) flyweights in the world.

Being forced to compete at higher weight classes, the dangerous athlete has continued to have success and even held multiple championships at 125- and 135-pounds for Tachi Palace Fights in California.

"Useless" was slated to compete on this weekend's Tachi Palace event at 125 pounds, but was forced to pull out because of injury.

Thankfully, the Mark Laimon Cobra Kai-trained fighter's interview with MMAmania.com was interesting enough that it stands on its own. I spoke to Gomez about his goals as a Flyweight, the importance of family, his doubts and even his opinion on steroids and testosterone replacement therapy in MMA.

Check it out:

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