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Nick Newell is no longer the XFC lightweight champion despite not suffering a loss.

Newell, who was born without the lower portion of his left arm from his elbow down, was stripped of the title by the promotion for declining a planned future fight.

Newell (9-0) was expected to defend his belt vs. Scott Holtzman (4-0) next month at XFC 24. Holtzman will still compete for the title against an opponent yet-to-be-named.

“When negotiating with (Newell’s) management regarding this fight, they were telling me about being offered a lot of money to fight for another promotion,” Prisco stated on XFC’s official website. “We responded that if it’s about money, bring us the best offer and we’ll agree to match that offer. They did, we matched it, and we were again refused by Nick saying he only wants to fight ex-UFC fighters. “So I had to make one of the hardest phone calls that I’ve ever had to make as a promoter. I had to call Scott Holtzman and tell him that the current champion is unwilling to fight him for his earned title shot.”

It will be interesting to see where Newell goes from here, as the XFC was one of the few promotions to give him a shot.

The UFC will be one of 53 channels on a pay-for-play basis offered by YouTube.

“UFC Select” will cost $5.99 per month and provide viewers with eight new fights each week. Also, the 13th season of The Ultimate Fighter, featuring Brock Lesnar and Junior dos Santos, will be part of the initial offering.

A 14-day free trial is currently available for the channel.

Michael McBride, like many other high school wrestlers, saw mixed martial arts as a great tool to remain in shape.

And, like so many others, it quickly turned into more than just a hobby – it became an obsession.

McBride, a native of Webster City, Iowa, is currently booked to face Doug Jenkins on June 14 for Midwest Cage Championships in Des Moines. The bout is booked as the headliner for MCC 48.

With an unbeaten amateur and professional record (8-0 overall, 3-0 as a pro), McBride knows this opportunity to main event against a veteran of the sport like Jenkins (6-4) is a key one for his career.

“Jenkins is a South Dakota-native with some very impressive wins over high-level opponents,” said McBride, during a recent interview with MMAConvert.com. “I am really excited to get in there and test myself. I think a win over Jenkins will be a big step in my MMA career.”

For McBride, the ultimate goal is a spot in the UFC, competing amongst the elite in the world.

“UFC or bust,” he said, when asked about his future. “I have a family that I don’t like to take a lot of time away from and fighting definitely absorbs a lot of my time.

“Fighting has given me some opportunities that I wouldn’t have had. I have a strong Christian faith, so with fighting, I am able to reach some people that wouldn’t know Christ otherwise.”

With the end goal being the Octagon, McBride does understand that if he isn’t afforded that chance, he’ll move on to something else.

“If I get to a point where I am stagnant in my career, it will be time to move on to something else. I want fighting to be a career – not a hobby.”

Plenty of Iowa-based fighters have made it to the UFC, including Jeremy Stephens, a personal favorite of McBride.

“Partially because he is an Iowa boy and because he is incapable of putting on a boring fight,” he said, of his admiration for Stephens.

McBride is also a follower of the current UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson, who he had the opportunity to train with earlier this year.

“Benson carries himself very well and is a great role model for the sport,” he said. As for that razor-close decision win for Henderson over Melendez, despite obvious bias, McBride said he “had him winning.”

With his high school wrestling background, and a quick love for jiu-jitsu, McBride has reeled off eight submission victories since debuting in 2011. Six of those eight have come in the first round, and five of them under two minutes.

Despite it being just a couple of years ago, that first fight eludes the mind of McBride for the most part, saying he remembers “very little” from it.

“I had complete tunnel vision up until the fight got to the ground. Once the fight was on the ground, I was able to relax a little,” McBride said. “I ended up catching him in an armbar. It was a very scary experience. I couldn’t even watch the fights prior to mine. Everyone kept coming back to the locker room all beat up and all I could think was, ‘That’s going to be me.’”

McBride currently spends most of his training time at the Des Moines Jit-Jitsu Academy and Elite Edge, but he does work out at a gym in his hometown, as well. UFC veterans Kevin Burns and Joe Brammer frequent the training facilities, along with “a whole slew of talented fighters.”

Photo credit: Brian Frank Photography

Akira Corassani has decided to take the Chael Sonnen approach, as the Swede is calling for a match with Conor McGregor.

Corassani wants to face the Irish prospect in August at UFC on FS1 1 from Boston. UFC president Dana White confirmed following McGregor’s debut victory that he would likely be part of the card.

“I have a proposition. Conor McGregor, I here by challenge you to fight me, August 17, UFC on FOX Sports 1 in the TD Garden.”

Corassani’s video “call-out” even included a written contract that he signed.

Is this a match that interests you out there? Or were you thinking of a more highly-ranked fighter for McGregor’s second UFC fight?

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is participating in a sport that most say is ‘dead’, yet he is the highest paid athlete in all of sports. He has A-list celebrities like P. Diddy, Lil’ Wayne, 50 Cent attend his fights. He is able to generate over one million pay-per-view buys for 9 consecutive fights, averaging 1.06 million buys per fight. Yet, he is constantly accused of cherry-picking fights and refusing to participate in a superfight with Manny Pacquiao. Why is Mayweather so successful at marketing himself and why can’t the UFC create a similarly successful star?

You have to believe that Dana White would love to have an athlete with Mayweather’s drawing power working for Zuffa, LLC. However, because the UFC would rather spend time marketing itself instead of marketing specific fighters, they have struggled to maintain the same pay-per-view buy rates that they attained in 2010. Zuffa, LLC. believes that the UFC brand is enough to sell pay-per-views. And in some ways, they are right. The UFC name sells some pay-per-views. But not a lot. Brand name alone will not give them the record numbers they achieved at UFC 100. The UFC is still profitable but they have to hold more events to make similar profits that they made in 2010.

Mayweather will always take home a larger cut of profits than any UFC fighter does because he negotiates his own terms and doesn’t have to divide his purse.  But just comparing straight pay-per-view buys, it is clear that the UFC is clearly lagging behind a guy like Mayweather. Their biggest star, Georges St. Pierre, averages 750,000-800,000 buys per fight. Jon Jones, who is probably their most intriguing and exciting fighter, should be being marketed as the next big thing. Instead, the only promotion we saw for his bout with Chael Sonnen revolved around Sonnen’s bad schtick.

The UFC has a fighter in Jon Jones who can be just as dominant as Mayweather has been over the course of is career, yet the UFC would rather book their biggest rising star in a squash match with a middleweight. And on top of that, the undercard for UFC 159 was poor. The UFC needs to learn  name alone won’t create stars. And stars are what sells pay-per-views.

Photo Credit- Jayne Kamin-Oncea- USA Today Sports

Leslie Smith, who many felt defeated former Strikeforce female champion Sarah Kaufman last month, has signed an extension with Invicta FC – the all-female promotion based out of Kansas City.

Smith will return to the cage at Invicta FC 6 in July against Jennifer Maia, with the winner receiving a future title fight vs. flyweight champion Barb Honchak.

“We are excited to bring Leslie under the Invicta Fighting Championships umbrella for the long-term and to watch her compete in a new weight class that is becoming super competitive in our promotion,” said Invicta FC President Shannon Knapp. “Since we launched our live event series last year, Leslie has demonstrated incredible tenacity and athleticism by putting on some of the most memorable fights in our cage. She is a true warrior as is her opponent Jennifer Maia, so we are looking forward to an explosive matchup between two of the sport’s stars on what will be Invicta FC’s biggest fight card to date.”

Smith is 5-3-1 in her career and will be moving down from the bantamweight ranks. Maia is 7-2 in her MMA career.

Patrick Cote seems to have found himself a new home, as the former UFC middleweight contender recently confirmed news of a four-fight contract extension.

Cote, who defeated Bobby Voelker earlier this year in his welterweight debut, talked with Bleacher Report about a possible coaching job on the next international season of The Ultimate Fighter.

While things are still being worked out, officials have confirmed plans to have Canada face Australia on the reality series.

I’m ready for that. I really hope they are thinking of me. We’ve talked about my next fight, but nothing is signed, nothing has been decided. I appreciate the (Twitter) support from everybody (concerning TUF). Maybe it’s going to help.

Cote was a finalist on the fourth season of TUF, falling to Travis Lutter. He appeared on “The Comeback” season, which featured fighters searching for another opportunity inside the Octagon.

After getting beatdown by Jon Jones at UFC 159, Chael Sonnen seemed contrite and resolute in his idea that he would retire because he had no legitimate shot at being a champion. However, it is now being reported that Sonnen has called out Wanderlei Silva and looks to take on “The Axe Murderer”  at UFC on FOX Sports 1 before he calls it a career.

In many ways, this mirrors the end of Matt Hughes’ career when he took on BJ Penn and Renzo Gracie near the end of his career. Neither fighter was very close to title contention (at the time) and it was more of a fun matchup for Hughes. The Gracie matchup harkened back to the days of PRIDE when fans watched Gracie take on all comers in Japan. The matchup with BJ Penn was intriguing because Penn had returned to the Welterweight division and it served as the rubber match for their series.

In the same way, Sonnen is smart enough to realize that he can still cash in on his personality and make a few more paydays in the sport of MMA. Furthermore, there is minimal risk in taking on a guy like Wanderlei Silva. Silva has never had the strongest takedown defense. If they fight at 205 lbs, Sonnen will have a big size and wrestling advantage over Silva. The chances that Silva is able to beat him up on the feet is minimal because Sonnen’s powerful wrestling will put Silva on his back for much of the fight. Silva can always attempt to submit Sonnen, but Silva’s strong Jiu-Jitsu game has never led to too many submissions in either PRIDE or the UFC. All in all, it seems likely that Sonnen will take down Silva for three or five rounds and come away with paycheck and a unanimous victory.

Sonnen probably has a few matchups like this left in him before he calls it a career. Vitor Belfort in Brazil would sell extremely well, though that is a more dangerous matchup for Sonnen. Either way, he’s put himself in a position where he can cash in on his persona with some high profile, but ultimately irrelevant fights.

After Jon Jones handily defeated Chael Sonnen at UFC 159 on Saturday, I couldn’t help but wonder whether or not it was time for Jones to finally make a move to the heavyweight division. We’ve seen very little evidence that anyone in the light-heavyweight division will be able to compete with Jones’ combination of physical gifts and fight IQ. Now, certainly I would like to see Alexander Gustafsson take on Jones at light-heavyweight because he is a new contender and provides challenges in the striking game that we haven’t seen before.

After him though, what’s left? A rematch with Lyoto Machida? Phil Davis? Neither of them provide a compelling matchup for the fans or for Jones himself. Jones seems like the kind of fighter who is not content with simply beating up on over-matched opponents. He seems like a fighter who is willing to push himself to take on difficult athletic challenges in order to enhance his legacy. And, his body and frame seem well suited for moving up to heavyweight, while Georges St. Pierre has repeatedly said his attempts to gain muscle mass have proved to be taxing on his body. Furthermore, Greg Jackson, Jones’ head trainer, is prepared for a potential move to the  heavyweight division according to MMAFighting.

Jones may be a victim of his own dominance. The light-heavyweight division is also low on new challengers and the UFC hasn’t been able to develop any young challengers other than Gustafsson. Phil Davis was touted as a potential challenger but considering he couldn’t even finish Vinny Magalhaes in a pure striking match, it’s hard to imagine Davis surviving very long against Jones. Other than that, do we wait for a potential Dan Henderson matchup?

It would be best for Jones to move up to heavyweight and start making noise there. If he wanted to go the Anderson Silva route and just take a heavyweight fight or two between title defenses, that would be fine. Or, if he wanted to permanently put on the weight and make a run at Cain Velasquez’s title, that would be fine too. Either way, I don’t think there are many challengers at the 205 lbs. division; it would make sense for Jones’ career to take fights at heavyweight to enhance his legacy. It would also make himself and the UFC a boatload of money.

Photo Credt – Brad Penner – USA Today Sports

Robbie Peralta has become the latest UFC fighter to test positive for marijuana use, the promotion announced.

Peralta was found to have marijuana metabolites in his system after an April fight vs. Akira Corassani in Sweden. He lost the fight, falling to 2-1 in the UFC and 16-4 overall.

“The UFC organization has a strict, consistent policy against the use of any illegal and/or performance-enhancing drugs, stimulants or masking agents,” the UFC’s statement read.

Peralta will be suspended for six months retroactive to the date of the card, and must complete drug rehabilitation classes prior to being allowed to compete again inside the Octagon.