MMAConvert.com

Brett says he is ready for his second fight in Bellator.

Brett Rogers has found a new home in Florida.

The former Strikeforce heavyweight contender enlisted with the folks at American Top Team in preparation for his upcoming Bellator heavyweight tournament fight.

Rogers will meet Alexander Volkov in the quarterfinals on October 5 at Bellator 75.

I’ve found a new home here at American Top Team and owe a lot of thanks to them. Coming here has changed my outlook on my career and life, in general, and I’m going to show the world that.

Rogers (12-4) stormed on the scene, winning his first 10 professional fights. He earned a TKO victory over Andrei Arlovski, which placed him in a match with Fedor Emelianenko.

Fedor, however, halted the train, as did Alistair Overeem. Rogers is just 2-4 with one no-contest in his last seven fights, and was released by Strikeforce after a domestic violence charge.

Now, training with ATT in Florida, and with his legal troubles in the past, “Da Grim” is hoping to become a star again.

A few people stuck by me when the chips were down and helped me get through a terrible period in my life. It’s because of their support that I have a second chance to shine and become something great.

A 1-4 record in his last five fights, and a past charge of domestic violence were not enough to keep Bellator from signing Brett Rogers to a contract, officials announced recently.

Rogers, who won his first 10 bouts, has lost to the likes of Josh Barnett, Fedor Emelianenko and Alistair Overeem since a win over Andrei Arlovski. He was also jailed for 60 days because of an incident with his family last year.

Rogers will debut at Bellator 72 against an opponent still to be determined by Bellator.

“I am incredibly thankful to Bjorn Rebney and Bellator for giving me and my family this opportunity,” Rogers said. “I feel that I am still one of the top heavyweights in the sport.”

Rogers was once a tire-service member at Wal-Mart before embarking on an immediate rise up the heavyweight rankings. However, it all came crashing down after the domestic violence charge, as Strikeforce released him. In his last fight, Rogers was defeated by Eddie Sanchez at Titan Fighting Championships 20.

Photo credit: Showtime

It looks like a pair of Fedor Emelianenko’s former foes will square off in Japan this New Year’s Eve.

Heavy.com is reporting that Tim Sylvia and Brett Rogers will meet in a heavyweight bout at DREAM New Year! 2011 in Japan.

Tim Sylvia and Brett Rogers will fight on Dream’s New Year’s Eve show at the Saitama Super Arena just north of Tokyo. Sources close to the negotiations on Wednesday confirmed the fight booking to Heavy.com. The fight has not yet been announced by Dream.

The report also notes that a rematch between Fedor and Sylvia was considered, but the fight never came together.

If the Sylvia-Rogers fight pans out, Rogers will be at a disadvantage preparation-wise when he steps in the ring with Sylvia. Rogers was sentenced yesterday to 60 days in jail in connection to a third-degree felony assault charge stemming from a domestic abuse incident with his wife. He’ll likely only serve 14 days of that sentence, so he should be released a couple weeks before the fight, but he will lose two weeks of training.

On a related note, MMA Junkie is reporting that a women’s fight between Karla Benitez and Megumi Fujii is also in the works for the DREAM card.

Image via Esther Lin for Strikeforce

Brett Rogers has finally received his punishment for the third-degree felony assault charge he plead guilty to following the domestic abuse incident with his wife earlier this year.

According to TwinCities.com, Dakota County District Judge Karen Asphaug sentenced Rogers to 60 days in jail and three years probation.

Brett “Da Grim” Rogers, 30, of Apple Valley, pleaded guilty to felony third-degree assault in Dakota County District Court. Two felonies of domestic assault by strangulation and stalking were dismissed, as well as a gross misdemeanor charge of endangering a child.

This morning, District Judge Karen Asphaug also ordered Rogers to three years probation with several conditions, including having no contact with his wife until he completes a domestic abuse program and his probation officer approves the contact. Rogers also cannot use alcohol and drugs.

Here’s the kicker. The judge said he’ll likely only have to serve two-thirds of jail sentence and the 26 days he already spent will count towards the 60 days, so he’ll only have to spend a grand total of 14 more days in jail. That’s the US legal system for ya.

Rogers’ defense team requested to postpone his sentence until after a fight Rogers has scheduled on Dec. 31, but they were denied. I don’t feel bad for him.

So Brett Rogers is back in jail.

The Apple Valley Patch reported today that Rogers was arrested for “violating the terms of his pre-sentencing release” in relation to his domestic abuse case that is awaiting sentencing.

Brett Charles Rogers, the mixed martial arts heavyweight fighter from Apple Valley who pleaded guilty last month to assaulting his wife in June, was arrested this morning on an outstanding warrant.

A warrant for Rogers’ arrest was issued Sept. 30 after he failed to comply with conditions of his pre-sentence release. He was arrested at 6 a.m. Monday.

He was scheduled to make a first appearance following his latest arrest Monday morning in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.

I’m still a little confused about what Rogers did to violate the terms of his release, but the crazy part is it’s not even the first time he’s got himself in hot water since he was arrested for allegedly beating his wife. A miscommunication between the courts and his legal team resulted in an arrest warrant in mid-September, but that was ultimately withdrawn. The second warrant, however, was not after it was suspected that Rogers violated a protection order against his wife.

As part of a plea agreement that was made last month, Rogers agreed to plea guilty to felony third-degree assault in exchange for having the charges of domestic assault by strangulation, harassment and endangering a child dropped. With the agreement in place and his sentencing still looming, you would think Rogers would have avoided getting in trouble at all costs, but apparently not.

He’s looking at a maximum of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. His attorney was confident after the deal was made that Rogers wouldn’t see jail time, but with these other arrests, you have to wonder if his optimism is waning.

UFC Fight Night 25 predictions and quick picks for ‘Battle on the Bayou’ | MMA Mania

The Walk Out – UFN 25: Shields vs. Ellenberger | Five Ounces of Pain

UFC Fight Night 25: The Two Jakes Preview | LowKick

Jake Shields Says That Jake Ellenberger’s Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Isn’t That Great | Bleacher Report

Brett Rogers Pleads Guilty to Assault and Has Other Charges Dropped As Part of Plea Deal in Domestic Abuse Case | Cage Potato

Dominick Cruz shares his exclusive training diary as he prepares for UFC Live 6 | NBC Sports

The Truth About Fighters and Sponsors | MMA Fighting

Dan Henderson may well be the P4P best troll hunter in America | MiddleEasy

Mike Whitehead Must Register as Sex Offender After Striking Plea | 5thRound

Why Carlos Condit vs. GSP is a better fight than Nick Diaz vs. GSP | Fight Opinion

MMA Promotion ProElite & UFC Hall of Famer Featured on CBS’ Hawaii Five-0 | MMA Payout

M-1 Global officially announces return in October on Showtime 
| TheFightNerd

I learned two things this weekend. 1) Moving sucks, and 2) moving with a hangover really really sucks. Like pretty much the worst thing ever. So yeah, now that we’ve established that I’m a total idiot, let’s run down the Labor Day weekend news, shall we?

— A new promotion in the Asian market called ONE FC kicked off their first show over the weekend. The promotion has been getting a lot of buzz in the past month, mainly because they’re claiming they’re going to be the “the king of MMA in Asia,” but as with most debut events, things didn’t exactly run like a well-oiled machine. In other words, they have a lot of work to do if they’re going to emerge as the top dog in the East. MMA Fighting’s Daniel Herbertson has all the details.

— Following three straight losses to Chris Leben, Michael Bisping and Vitor Belfort, Yoshihiro Akiyama has finally decided to drop to welterweight. He hopes to return to action at the UFC’s Japan event next February.

— Speaking of the UFC’s Japan event, Fight Opinion’s Zach Arnold has a story up explaining why their decision to run there is more personal than professionally motivated.

— Jon Jones made some interesting comments about the belt and (not) being the champion.

“As a warrior I think it’s dangerous to become obsessed with accolades and belts and rank and stature. I think it’s more about the day-to-day lifestyle of being a warrior. I don’t think there’s really, when it comes to fighting, there’s really no destination; it’s really about the journey. If I had my choice, I probably wouldn’t even touch the belt before the fight and I probably won’t touch the belt before the fight. It’s something that’s in my past already. I beat Shogun and that has absolutely nothing to do with beating Rampage Jackson. I kind of feel as if there is no champion in this fight. It’s two guys looking to win a belt that no one has ever worn before and I’m destined to bring that belt home.”

So dramatic…

— Brett Rogers will return to action against Eddie Sanchez in the Titan FC 20 main event. Rogers, along with his wife and kids, did an interview with Inside MMA’s Ron Kruck in what turned out to be a calculated attempt to repair his image in the MMA community. The piece showed Rogers playing with his kids in the park and Rogers, with his wife by his side, saying that every marriage has it’s ups and downs and they’re no different. Rogers maintains his innocence, but couldn’t talk about the specifics of his domestic violence case while it’s still pending.

— Dana White is expecting their FOX debut to blow Kimbo Slice’s CBS ratings (6.12 million viewers) out of the water. That remains to be seen, but if it doesn’t, don’t blame FOX. They already started promoting the event during their baseball broadcasts this past weekend.

— Nate Marquardt is expected to return to action in December at BAMMA 8.

— Shogun’s manager, Eduardo Alonso, is hoping to land Shogun a fight with Tito Ortiz on New Year’s Eve.

“I’ve been hearing some rumors, but until now there’s nothing concrete about UFC. If it depends only on my plannings, he’d fight on December 31st, it’d be great. I’d really like him to fight Tito Ortiz since he’s an icon of the sport and will soon retire”, explains the manager.

“He didn’t have the chance to fight (Randy) Couture, something Lyoto had the luck and credits to do, but I’d like to see this fight. It came from Tito himself, who challenged him, but we’re realistic. I know it’s not much likely, so it’s only left for us to wait. Everybody knows Shogun doesn’t pick his opponents, so we’re opened to discussion. To me, the date (December 31st) is more important than the opponent”.

— Both Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos are ecstatic about the opportunity to fight on FOX.

Velasquez: I said “Great.” It’s definitely a big thing with them having that partnership, and then for us to be on that first fight on Fox is a big thing. So I said yeah. I was all for it… They told me about it last night and wanted to know if I was OK with it. It’s a great opportunity.

JDS: The first words that came to my head were euphoria and happiness. I was ecstatic. I feel privileged and honored to be part of such an important piece of UFC history. I was very, very pleased with the invitation.

— King Mo likened Strikeforce to a dying cancer patient on The MMA Hour.

“It feels a little weird, because it’s not the same. It’s like a cancer patient, like a dying cancer patient. That’s how I feel like the organization is. We’re just waiting for it to die, to pass. As long as I can get my fights in and they’re still around, I want to get them in.”

Sad, but true.

— A Swedish website is claiming that Alistair Overeem is on his way to Las Vegas to sign a UFC contract, however Overeem says that report is “WRONG!” When will it be right?

— Anderson Silva says he took painkillers for a shoulder injury before his fight with Yushin Okami.

“A month before the fight, I hurt my shoulder training with Junior dos Santos and stepped in feeling pain in Rio. I had to take painkillers and advised the Athletic Commission about the medicine I took. I talked to my doctors a lot. I did MRI right after and began to feel pain on the shoulder and the medics released me. They told me that was not too bad. It is a small lesion, in manguito (rotador) muscle I think, but it bothers me. I will take some time resting to do the treatment.”

— Josh Barnett says Antonio Silva is only a decent fighter because of his massive size.

Happy Labor Day everyone!

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

Inside MMA Archive

More segments after the jump.

(more…)

Inside MMA airs tonight on HDNet at 9:00 PM ET.

Inside MMA Archive