Just when you thought the drama between UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones and Rashad Evans couldn't get any weirder, it did. After a vague altercation at a Las Vegas nightclub, Jones shared text messages that Evans had sent him with our friends at Cage Potato.

Similarly, Evans talked about the Las Vegas incident on "Inside MMA," saying that Jones said he wanted to clear the air, and then went on to say that he wants Evans to be his first "highlight-reel knockout."

Two questions emerge from these two stories. 1) What the heck happened to Jones' phone? It looks like he's been practicing his spinning elbows on the screen. 2) Why are these two still bickering like schoolkids?

These are two grown men, calling each other names and then going to the media to complain about it. They both have important objectives in their career. Evans has a fight coming up with Phil Davis that, if he loses, will kill his shot at a bout with Jones and a chance at the title. Jones has to rehab his hand so that he can fight Evans, if he gets through Davis.They are so focused on each other that they may forget the task at hand.

Gentlemen, Cagewriter has a small bit of advice for you: Let it go. Move on. Keep your eye on the tasks at hand, and give the fans good fights in the Octagon, not meaningless wars of words outside of it.

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DREAM lightweight champ Shinya Aoki submitted Rich Clementi with a second-round face crank in their featured non-title bout, while Masakazu Imanari and Hideo Tokoro advanced to the finals of DREAM's Japan bantamweight grand prix at Sunday's "DREAM: Fight for Japan" charity event in Saitama, Japan.

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Nothing's bigger than the NFL and as much as the league's old farts hate to admit it, gambling has helped make it an American institution. Betting on the fights, used to be part of the reason boxing was so big, but with a limited schedule and fewer household names the betting handle on boxing has dropped significantly.

According to Rob Akers, an assistant sportsbook director in Las Vegas, that's where MMA's rise to prominence comes in,

"I think it's directly related to boxing's downfall over the last few years," Akers told the Las Vegas Sun. "Pacquiao is a one-man show. He's the only guy who can bring any handle and people want to bet on a combat sport. They are always going to find some way to bet on one and lately it's been the UFC."

Akers makes the numbers for the sportsbook at the Venetian and Lagasse's Stadium in Sin City.

Cantor Gaming, overseeing the books at the M, Hard Rock, Tropicana and the Cosmopolitan, is the new bully on the block in the Las Vegas and it's jumped all over MMA.

"The action has gone up like you wouldn't believe in UFC. On these Saturdays when we have these UFC cards, we do massive handles," said Mike Colbert, sports book director of Cantor Gaming. "You're talking to an absolute boxing guy here and I will be the first to admit that UFC is more popular betting-wise. I never thought I'd see the day where it's this popular."

Colbert said the handle on UFC events quadruples most big boxing matches. The MGM-Mirage is also in the business of booking MMA events, but does so carefully. The director of MGM's sportsbooks understands why MMA has blown by boxing.

"In boxing, most people can't even tell you who is on the undercard," Rood. "If you go to an MMA card, the buzz in the crowd and prior to that could be just as much about one of the first fights on the card. We try to put lines on as many fights as we can because of demand. The great thing about MMA is people are going for all the fights."

UFC 130 betting odds (Courtesy Lagasse Stadium Las Vegas):

Matt Hamill (+240) vs. Quinton Jackson (-320) - Light heavyweight

Frank Mir (-120) vs. Roy Nelson (-110) - Heavyweight

Rick Story (+170) vs. Thiago Alves (-200) - Welterweight

Travis Browne (-115) vs. Stefan Struve (-115) - Heavyweight

Jorge Santiago (+110) vs. Brian Stann (-140) - Middleweight

Miguel Torres (-130) vs. Demetrious Johnson (Even) - Bantamweight

Tim Boetsch (+130) vs. Kendall Grove (-160) - Middleweight

Rafaello Oliveira (+280 ) vs. Gleison Tibau (-360) - Lightweight

Michael McDonald (-300) vs. Chris Cariaso (+220) - Bantamweight

Renan Barao (-330) vs. Cole Escovedo (+250) - Lightweight

You can watch UFC 130 right here on Yahoo! Sports

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

A pair of high profile removals from this week's Titan Fighting Championships 18 event, set to air live on HDNet, left Titan officials in a bind, but they've found replacements for each loss and are good to go for Friday's event.

UFC vets Drew McFedries and Rory Markham were each forced out of the event at the last minute, McFedries due to being hospitalized with an infection late last week and Markham for taking a film role that is taking him out of the country prior to Friday's event.

However, the organization managed to snag the Rosholt brothers, UFC vet Jake and his younger brother Jared, to step in for the card, as they face John Ott and Kirk Grinlinton, respectively.

"We were extremely disappointed when the management for Drew and Rory informed us of the news. However, this is the fight business and having promoted fights since the age of 24, I've dealt with a lot of hurdles in promoting shows," said Titan CEO Joe Kelly. "While losing Drew and Rory from the show hurts, we took the news in stride I am very excited that the fans in attendance at Memorial Hall and those watching live on HDNet are going to see two future stars in this sport step up on short notice and test themselves."

Jake Rosholt, a three time NCAA Division I wrestling champion at Oklahoma State University, made his MMA debut in 2007 and has compiled an 11-3 record since. Two of his losses came during his three fight stint in the UFC, but since his release he's won five of six fights, with all five victories coming in the first round. Rosholt meets John Ott on the card, who in March moved up in weight to face Bobby Lashley, losing a three round decision. Their fight will take place at a 200 lb. catchweight.

The younger Rosholt was a standout at Oklahoma State himself, earning All-American honors multiple times. Since making the transition to MMA, the heavyweight has won two consecutive fights, and is making a name for himself as a submission grappler.

"When you look at brother acts in MMA, it's clear that Ken and Frank Shamrock are the best brother-tandem to have ever grace this sport," Kelly said. "However, when the respective MMA careers of the Rosholt Brothers have come to an end, I have no doubt in my mind that Jake and Jared will surpass the Shamrocks as the greatest brother duo in MMA history. I believe that Jake Rosholt will return to the UFC and eventually claim the middleweight title and those that I know who have seen Jared Rosholt train tell me that he is going to be a future UFC Heavyweight Champion. Having two future UFC champions compete together on national television so early in their respective careers is going to be special."

The event, taking place from Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Mo., airs live on HDNet beginning at 10PM ET.

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In news that is sweeping the internet, it has recently been confirmed that the California State Athletic Commission has decided to uphold the indefinite suspension of former UFC Middleweight Championship contender Chael Sonnen. With a vote of 4-1, the CSAC voted to uphold its suspension of Sonnen?s fighting license until it expires in June of [...]

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Filed under: UFC, FanHouse Exclusive, Bellator, Videos

The MMA Hour will be off on Monday due to Memorial Day, but the show returns on Tuesday at its usual 1 p.m. ET / 10 p.m. PT start time with another loaded lineup. Here's who you will hear from:

* Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren will be in studio to talk about his upcoming title defense against Jay Hieron.

* Clay Guida will discuss Saturday night's lightweight battle against Anthony Pettis.

* Mike Swick will talk about his long road back to the Octagon and his upcoming fight at UFC 134.

* Chad Mendes will explain why he chose to fight at UFC 133 instead of wait for Jose Aldo to get healthy.

* Kyle Kingsbury will discuss his TUF Finale fight on Saturday night against Fabio Maldonado.

* Heavyweight Travis Browne will discuss his first round knockout win against Stefan Struve at UFC 130.

Of course, we'll be taking your calls. Give us a shout at: 212-254-0193 or 212-254-0237.

*** You can now stream the show live on your iPhone or iPad by clicking here.

Watch the show live below beginning at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT. Subscribe to The MMA Hour on iTunes: audio feed here; video feed here. Download previous episodes here. Listen to the show via Stitcher here.

 

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The UFC's purchase of Strikeforce in March led to a widespread belief that Strikeforce's days as an organization are numbered. Though UFC President Dana White preached "business as usual" from the outset, there hasn't been much to suggest that Strikeforce will survive for a lengthy period of time.

The organization's deal with Showtime has the UFC hesitant to appear like they're poaching talent and bringing a collapse to Strikeforce, but a UFC deal with the network would be a potential way alleviate the need to keep appearances up. Along with that, the apparent imminence of a fight between Georges St. Pierre and Strikeforce's biggest name outside of Fedor Emelianenko in Nick Diaz could be the potential sign of the floodgates being open to crossovers into the UFC.

Add in to that comments from White in one of his most recent interviews, and I don't know that optimism on Strikeforce's future is in order.

Speaking with the Forbes Sports Money program, White discussed the organization's purchase of Strikeforce in March.

"The reality is that we continue to expand and grow. We do need more fighters," he said. "And, we love the content. The one thing that these guys have that do it right, and the ones that we usually end up buying, they have a great library, they have a stable of fighters, and if they have a name and a television deal like Strikeforce did, not a bad thing either."

While the acquisition made sense for them, keeping the smaller organization alive as a separate entity may only be a short term necessity, and White's comments on the matter don't inspire confidence that the smaller organization will be kept around for the long haul.

"The thing with Strikeforce is, when we acquired them they have a deal with Showtime," White explained. "We're working with Showtime now, which I've had a very rocky relationship with (laughs). Lorenzo is working with them right now. We're going to try to run this thing separately, and we'll see how it goes. We'll see if we can pull it off, if we can make it happen. If it didn't happen the worst case scenario that happens if we own Strikeforce is these guys roll over into the UFC."

That's about how things wound up working out after the purchase of Pride, and eventually with World Extreme Cagefighting. Whether it happens with Strikeforce sooner or later remains to be seen, but there were no sureties in White's statements in this interview. Check out the full piece below:

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Penick's Analysis: I'm in the camp that believes the UFC will absorb Strikeforce as soon as they're able. If that means they can work with Showtime to bring UFC events to the network in place of Strikeforce, that would be one big way to skirt the major issue they have in absorbing the organization right now. After already cleaning out the front office, and looking to begin the crossover fights with GSP-Diaz, it's just going to be a matter of time before Strikeforce is no longer an MMA promotion. It's an inevitability at this point.

[Dana White art by Travis Beaven (c) MMATorch.com]

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Filed under: UFC, Videos

LAS VEGAS -- Watch below as Quinton "Rampage" Jackson holds court at the UFC 130 post-fight press conference. Jackson talked about his entrance song choice and much more. Also, Roy Nelson and Matt Hamill talk about coming out on the losing end of their fights.

Watch the video below.

 

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We?re now only a few days away from UFC 130: ?Rampage vs. Hamill?. In the main event, former ?Ultimate Fighter? contestant Matt Hamill takes on his toughest test to date: former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton Jackson. The co-main event will also be an interesting match-up, as former UFC Heavyweight and Interim Heavyweight Champion Frank [...]

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