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Junior dos Santos takes on Gabriel Gonzaga in a heavyweight match-up at UFC on Versus 1.

The EA Sports MMA team has released a bunch of sweet new screenshots for their upcoming title. For the first time you’ll see Nick Diaz, Cung Le and Scott Smith with their signature fighting styles along the different venues and a quick look at Bobby Lashley’s ring entrance. We should be getting some new gameplay footage soon too so keep your eyes peeled for that.

Check out more pics at the official EA Sports MMA website.

“If they think I’m going to go in there and get choked out or lay down and get my armbarred and all that, they got another thing coming to ‘em, you know what I’m saying? Like I said, yeah, you’re right, MMA is not like boxing because boxing is tougher, you know what I’m saying? I look at it like this, if a guy get in there and try to take me to the ground, he might see his head go into orbit. The head is going into orbit, for real. These guys in MMA, they good wrestlers and good grapplers and good kickers, like girls, but, you know, when it comes to throwing them blows, they ain’t got a chance in hell, you know what I’m saying? Then they say I don’t got a chance if I go to the floor. Hey, the only way you gonna know is if you tune in and watch. And that’s what I want you to do. Pay your $54.95, come see James Toney. If you hate me, come see me try to get beat, if you love me, you enjoy the ride, have a good time and eat your popcorn…Randy Couture, he respects my game like I respect his game. He’s the best at what he do in his sport; I’m the best at what I do in my sport. We gonna see who has the better style and everybody know it’s James Toney. If he tries to throw blow for blow with me, he definitely gonna get knocked out. That’s a given, you know what I’m saying? If he tries to take me to the ground, it ain’t going to be easy, you know what I’m saying? He’s still gonna get knocked out. Either way, it’s a lose-lose situation for him.”

—James Toney telling Fight Hype he’ll knock out Randy Couture wherever the fight goes

I’m not gonna lie, I couldn’t care less about James Toney fighting in the UFC (a boxer in their prime like Pacquiao, yes, Toney, no) and damn sure wouldn’t pay $55 just to see him, but if he fights Couture, it will be kind of entertaining to see what happens if Couture manages to put him in his clinch and dump him on the mat. Something tells me if that happens, it won’t be Couture who gets knocked out.

What do you think? Is Couture the right opponent for Toney? Would Toney knock him out?

Cheick Kongo and Paul Buentello face off in a heavyweight battle on Sunday, March 21, at UFC on Versus 1.

Inside MMA airs on HDNet every Friday night at 9PM ET.

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The main event for the not-yet-official-but-totally-happening-to-screw-with-Strikeforce  UFC Fight Night 22 card still hasn’t leaked, but all the speculation is still centering around Kimbo Slice. To add more fuel to that fire, Matt Mitrione was set to fight Kimbo Slice on May 8 at UFC 113, but now he’s not sure what the hell is going on.

“I have no clue what’s going on; the last 15 hours have been pretty crazy,” Mitrione said. “To be truly honest, I haven’t heard a thing from the UFC, and it’s frustrating me. It’s my understanding that it took awhile to get his paperwork signed, but I’m sure it’s signed.

“Then again, that doesn’t mean (expletive). When I was in the NFL I signed a contract, they signed a contract, and they can cut you whenever they want. I know that from first-hand experience.”

“I texted Joe Silva (Thursday) night and asked what was happening, if there was any danger of this being cancelled,” Mitrione said. “His response was basically that nothing was official and that I should keep preparing — that I’m still fighting in Montreal.”

If the UFC does put Kimbo Slice at the forefront of this card, the other question will be who is his opponent? Well, it doesn’t sound like it will be Matt Mitrione unless they’re just keeping him in the dark until they get a green light from Kimbo. The big rumor out there is James Toney, but after he was done telling MDS he isn’t worried about takedowns he said he’s positive he’ll fight this summer on a pay-per-view.

So for now it remains a mystery, but with only five or so weeks left to promote the event we should find out soon enough.

Update: Turns out Kimbo Slice won’t be a part of the UFC Fight Night 22 card after all. The UFC has officially announced Kimbo Slice vs. Matt Mitrione for UFC 113. Dave Meltzer says Kimbo was under serious consider for April 17, but apparently the UFC has decided to go in a different direction. What that direction is is anyone’s guess at this point.

If you thought live counter-programming was the only trick the UFC has up their sleeve for Strikeforce on April 17, you might be sorely mistaken. They may be going after Strikeforce’s ticket sales too.

The venue for the proposed UFC event has not been settled upon, though speculation centers on Vanderbilt University’s Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville. Tennessee Athletic Commission Executive Director Jeff Mullen told Sherdog.com the UFC had not yet applied for a permit.

For those that aren’t familiar with Nashville, the Bridgestone Arena and Vanderbilt University are literally only two miles apart. If Tennessee mixed martial arts fans have the choice between attending a UFC event live or a Strikeforce event, you know a lot are going to hit up the UFC show even if their card is weaker, and I wouldn’t put it past the UFC to give away boatloads of tickets if they have to just to screw Strikeforce. All is fair in love and war I suppose, but damn, that would just be downright mean.

By the way, Mike Swick will not fight Matt Serra on the card. He has a pretty serious arm injury that will likely need surgery. The other big rumor out there is that James Toney would make his debut against Kimbo Slice, but all actual reports on Kimbo and Toney suggest otherwise. The rumor is coming from Carmichael Dave who’s close with Dana White though, so you never know.

One other tidbit, and it probably goes without saying, but word is Strikeforce’s future with CBS may be heavily dependent upon the ratings of the Nashville show.

Update: More from Dave Meltzer:

On Thursday, UFC president Dana White confirmed a live show on the same date, “Ultimate Fight Night 22,” on Spike TV. While UFC countered an Affliction pay-per-view show in 2008 with a live event featuring Anderson Silva, if things don’t change this time, it will be the first time the two top promotions run major nationally televised events simultaneously.

No matches are confirmed for the UFC show, however. Thursday, White attempted to make Matt Serra vs. Mike Swick, but that will be impossible since Swick just suffered an arm injury and will likely need surgery. UFC sources indicated Kimbo Slice vs. James Toney was under consideration, but the talks hit snags.

No site has been confirmed for the UFC show, although it is known at least two locations are under consideration in the state of Tennessee, including Nashville’s Vanderbilt University.

So it’s definitely happening, the questions are with who and where?

Inside MMA airs tonight on HDNet at 9PM ET.

M-1’s Vadim Finkelchtein has confirmed there are “contract issues” with Strikeforce in regards to Fedor, however it sounds like everything is going to get worked out. From an interview with MMANews.su translated by TMR from the UG.