Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com
• The UFC has reached a deal with Noku to offer live events and its entire library of fights available through the company’s set-top box, which streams high definition quality programming from the Internet to televisions. UFC 114 on May 29 will be the first live event offered through the technology. Some 500,000 Noku subscribers will also have access to the UFC Vault of archived fights, as well as UFC weigh-ins and news conferences.
The Noku deal is especially significant considering UFC President Dana White has said the key to his vision for the company’s global expansion hinges on people growing accustomed to watching fights primarily on computers. Noku, a California company founded by the creator of the DVR, also has contracts with Netflix, Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association.
• WEC ring announcer Joe Martinez said this week he is leaving the promotion to take a job announcing for the Golden Boy Promotions boxing company. In addition, Heavy.com reported that Jens Pulver will permanently replace Frank Mir on the WEC commentary team. World Extreme Cagefighting will stage WEC 50 on Aug. 18 at The Palms in Las Vegas, MMAJunkie.com reported.
• The Dream promotion announced it will stage a light heavyweight grand prix tournament on July 10 at Saitama Super Arena. The tournament, originally planned for May 29, will feature Gegard Mousasi; no other fighters have been announced for the bracket. Shinya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Alistair Overeem, Katsunori Kikuno and Melvin Manhoef will also compete on the card. Fellow Japanese promotion Sengoku Raiden Championships announced it will launch its own tournament, at welterweight, on June 20.
• Wallid Ismail’s Brazilian promotion Jungle Fight has reached a broadcast deal with ESPN Deportes to air its events live. Jungle Fight 20 on May 22 from Sao Paulo will air at 9 p.m. EST. Bellator Fighting Championships had its season one television deal with the limited-reach station.
• King of the Cage stalwart Tony Lopez dropped his second straight fight and second title on May 14 in Mescalero, N.M., losing a split decision to Mike Kyle in the main event of a KOTC card titled "Honor." The event aired on HDNet.
Lopez, who trains with Team Oyama in California, was pushed as one of the faces of the long-running promotion when it got an HDNet television deal because he had won 16 straight fights and held the promotion's heavyweight and light heavyweight titles. He lost the heavyweight strap to Tony Johnson on March 26 and lost the 205-pound title on May 14. Kyle landed more and damaged Lopez's face in the fight, which was almost entirely 25 minutes of stand-up fighting.
Also picking up wins on the card were Donald Sanchez (split decision over Angelo Sanchez), Quinn Mulhern (round three rear-naked choke over Joey Gorczynski), Abel Cullum (round one rear-naked choke over Joshua Montoya) and Nick Gaston (round one TKO due to cut over Darrill Schoonover). Sanchez unified the promotion's interim and permanent bantamweight titles with the victory in a rematch of a split decision that originally went Angelo Sanchez's way.