Stephen Albanese/Tailstar.com
• The UFC announced this week that its first card from the Middle East, UFC 112 “Invincible" April 10 on Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island, will broadcast live in North America at 1 p.m. EST on pay-per-view. The card, which will be held in an open-air concert venue, will have the earliest American start time for a UFC broadcast. It will replay in the traditional 10 p.m. EST time slot.
• The UFC has signed two serviceable welterweight prospects and will pit them against each other at UFC Fight Night 21 on March 31. Charlie Brenneman, a training partner of Jim and Dan Miller at AMA Fight Club in New Jersey, has signed to face Jason High, who trains with Antonio McKee’s Body Shop in California and was a finalist in Dream’s welterweight grand prix tournament last year. Brenneman was a Div. I wrestler and is known as a winner on the first season of Spike TV’s "Pros vs. Joes” series that pits pro athletes against amateurs.
• In a big stature nod to World Extreme Cagefighting’s poster boy, the Sacramento Kings NBA franchise will hold a “Urijah Faber Day” at its Feb. 23 game at ARCO Arena. Fans who purchase two tickets to the game against the Detroit Pistons will receive a free Urijah Faber hoodie; the first 500 will be signed by “The California Kid.”
• NCM Fathom, the company that placed the Sept. 19 Floyd Mayweather-Juan Manuel Marquez boxing bout in movie theatres across the country, announced it is partnering with the UFC for four events this year. The first UFC event in movie theatres will be UFC 111 on March 27. The other cards have yet to be announced. The recent boxing experiment, a throwback to the days of closed-circuit sports event television, received mostly positive reviews.
• Bellator Fighting Championships announced that Wilson Reis will return to the promotion's featherweight tournament bracket this year. Reis, who was ousted by eventual champion Joe Soto last year, joins Bao Quach, Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, Georgi Karakhanyan, William Romero and Joe Warren in the tournament to decide a challenger for Soto's belt. Also announced this week was the signing of middleweight Matt Major, who was once featured on the "Tapout" reality show on Versus, and UFC veteran Ryan Thomas, a welterweight.
• Infamous "Ultimate Fighter" cast member Junie Allen Browning lost to Aaron Hall on Feb. 5 in Duluth, Ga. Browning's corner stopped the fight at his request. Browning had come in to the fight .8 pounds over the limit, and Hall demanded Browning lose the weight and a percentage of his purse instead of agreeing to a catch-weight. Browning, who was reportedly suffering from a groin injury, threatened to pull out of the fight.
• A Feb. 11 card in Japan saw one of the biggest MMA upsets so far this year. Yuka Tsuji, 115-pound champion of the Greatest Common Multiple “Valkyrie” promotion, was handed the second loss in her accomplished career via a swift first-round rear-naked choke against upstart Mei Yamaguchi. Tsuji is a perennially highly-ranked female fighter, and a bout against fellow stalwart Megumi Fuji has long been anticipated.