Weigh-ins for ‘UFC 159: Jones vs Sonnen’ took place today at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. All 24 fighters made weight with the exception of Nick Catone who has been fined 20 percent of his purse, but the fight will go on as scheduled.

A very high-energy weigh-in overall with a mixed bag of entertainment. The champion Jon Jones delighted the crowd when he threw them his new pair of Nike sneakers into the seats. Imagine if you came home to your significant other with one brand new sneaker, “No, I swear, it’s Jon Jones’ shoe that I caught at the UFC weigh-ins today”.

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Fighter Profiles
Erick Silva (14-3-0-1)
Jason High (16-3)
John Hathaway (17-1)
Ildemar Alcantara (18-5)
Leandro Silva (11-0-1)

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UFC on FUEL TV 10: Nogueira vs. Werdum 2

Overview
The little hyped but much anticipated match between two of the most promising young welterweight prospects, Erick Silva and John Hathaway, never had a chance to happen unfortunately. John Hathaway was forced to withdraw from the fight because he is suffering from Ulcerative Colitis. He explained the withdrawal over Twitter today (@ufcjohnhathaway):

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Fighter Profiles
Matt Mitrione (6-2)
Brendan Schaub (9-3)

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UFC on FOX 8: Johnson vs. Moraga

Overview
Two wrongs don’t make a right, but apparently they do make a fight. Matt Mitrione’s wrong came at us a few weeks ago when he called transgendered fighter Fallon Fox a “lying, sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak”. He should have saved the name calling for Schaub, but he didn’t and the UFC had to issue a statement and suspend him. Apparently though, Dana has spoken with Mitrione and feels he’s learned his lesson and is now ready to compete again.

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Fighter Profiles
Miesha Tate (13-4)
Liz Carmouche (8-3)

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UFC on FOX 8: Johnson vs. Moraga

Overview
Miesha Tate has been doing some serious fighting as of late. In 2011, she won the Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight Championship with a 4th round arm-triangle choke submission over Marloes Coenen. She then lost the belt in her first defense against Ronda Rousey via, what else, a first round armbar submission. Her next fight was an even more fierce battle against Julie Kedzie where Miesha was rocked with a head kick early in the third but managed to quickly come back and submit Kedzie with an armbar. This all set up the big match with Cat Zingano at the TUF 17 Finale. Winner gets Rousey and a cush TUF 18 coaching gig. Unfortunately for Tate, she lost a war of a fight against Cat where she just ate too many knees late in the third. No shame in the loss for Miesha though who fought like a champ, which seems to have earned her a quick matchup in her home state of Washington against the tough and scrappy Carmouche.

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Fighter Profiles
Demetrious Johnson (17-2-1)
John Moraga (12-1)

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UFC on FOX 8: Johnson vs. Moraga

Overview
UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson will be defending his UFC flyweight belt for just the second time since winning the inaugural title back in 2012. His first defense was against John Dodson at UFC on FOX 6 where he defeated Dodson by unanimous decision in what was a 5-round marathon of a battle that won “Fight of the Night” honors. Johnson was rocked a few times early in that fight, but battled back and used his superior cardio to wear down and beat Dodson in the later rounds. I think Johnson pretty much sealed the deal that night on having the best cardio in the business. Johnson and Moraga were supposed to meet at the TUF 17 Finale a few weeks ago, but Johnson was forced to withdraw from that fight due to injury.

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Fighter Profiles
Norman Parke (17-2)
Kazuki Tokudome (12-3-1)

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UFC 162: Silva vs. Weidman

Overview
Norman Parke will fight for the first time since winning TUF: Smashes this past December. It was at UFC on FX 6 where Parke earned the title of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ after beating fellow countryman Colin “Freakshow” Fletcher by unanimous decision. Parke has now won 7 in a row and 17 of his last 18, and of those 17 wins, 12 have been by submission and 3 by knockout. Norman was actually scheduled to fight against Jon Tuck at this past weekend’s UFC on FOX 7 event, but Tuck was forced to withdraw just a week prior due to an injury he suffered.

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The 13-bout event card for upcoming UFC on FUEL TV 10: Nogueira vs. Werdum 2 was made official today. The headliner of Nogueira-Werdum along with Silva-Cavalcante, Silva-High (Jason High replaced John Hathaway), and the TUF Brazil 2 finals match, were all previously announced and official. It’s the nine other fights that were made official today. Those matches include:

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[UPDATE: Jorge Masvidal replaces Reza Madadi against Michael Chiesa, new match added to UFC on FOX 8 in Seattle, Washington July 27]

Fighter Profiles
Michael Chiesa (9-0)
Reza Madadi (13-3)

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UFC on FOX 8

Overview
Michael Chiesa has been pretty perfect in his MMA career. When he was 7-0 back in 2011, he joined the cast of ‘TUF 15: Live’ and went on to win every one of his matches while in the TUF house. He then went on to win the whole season with a victory over Al Iaquinta by first round rear-naked choke submission at the TUF 15 Finale. Following the Iaquinta win, he posted his 9th overall win last time out at UFC 157 with a very impressive second round rear-naked choke submission over Anton Kuivanen. Chiesa’s fighting style is quite obvious. He grinds you down with his wrestling, and then submits you. It’s obvious, yes, but has proved unstoppable so far, and he showed in the Kuivanen fight that he’s getting even better at it. The Spokane native will now have the opportunity to continue his perfect run in front of his home state of Washington.

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Fighter Profiles
Yves Edwards (42-19-1)
Spencer Fisher (24-9)

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UFC on FOX 8

Overview
Yves Edwards will be fighting for the 18th time inside the Octagon. The well-rounded “Thugjitsu Master” has been around a while and is still bringing it strong, even at 36 years of age. He’s gone 3-3 in his last six fights, which is not terrible, but more importantly they’ve been exciting matches. Edwards won Submission, KO, and Fight of the Night honors in that period with four of the six fights finishing by way of submission or knockout. He’s coming off a split decision loss though to Isaac Vallie-Flagg at UFC 156, so Edwards is looking to get back on the winning side of things.

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The UFC published it’s latest ‘Fighter Rankings’ following the UFC on FOX 7 event this past weekend: http://www.ufc.com/rankings.

Nate Diaz took the biggest tumble with his loss to Josh Thomson. He fell two spots down to #6 and has now lost two fights in a row. His next fight will be crucial to win if he wants to remain in the Top 10. Nate has flirted with the idea of moving weight classes but hasn’t announced anything formal as of yet.

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