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The first details of UFC 116 are starting to leak out.

According to MMA Junkie, the event will likely take place in Las Vegas on July 3 and Brock Lesnar may headline.

The return of Brock Lesnar could come a day shy of Independence Day.

A well-placed UFC source told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that the promotion is targeting July 3 for an event date in Las Vegas. An event venue for the show, which will likely be UFC 116, has not been determined, and the UFC has not yet reserved the date with the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Frank Mir, Shane Carwin, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Cain Velasquez are all possible candidates to face Lesnar when he does return, though the Mir-Carwin winner will likely get the nod. If it is Mir and it happens in July, can you say deja-vu? Sounds a lot like UFC 100, doesn’t it? I wouldn’t mind seeing Lesnar and Mir go at it again as much as the next guy, but fighting the same opponent in three out of your six professional fights is a little much, isn’t it?

“When [Brock Lesnar] got sick it screwed up my training because he was such a driving force for me. I went into a depression for two to three days where I didn’t go to the gym, I got sick — I drove myself insane thinking we may possibly not fight again. I couldn’t live with that.”

—Frank Mir, via The Las Vegas Sun, expressing how badly he wants a rubber match with Brock Lesnar

Is Lesnar-Mir III really necessary? Eh, probably not, but it’s a huge fight for Mir’s career and he knows it. Seemingly every interview he’s done since Lesnar caved his head in at UFC 100, Mir has made the potential rubber match the focal point of the discussion. It’s a smart move on his part. Even though Mir won their first meeting, Lesnar didn’t leave too many questions about how a third fight would go. No one is asking for it, so if Mir wants it, he has to go out and get it.

That said, Mir has to get a few quality wins under his belt and that won’t be an easy task. If he’s as focused on Lesnar as it appears he is, he could very well look past one of them and then he’ll really have to something to feel sick about.

A few parting words from Frank’s father, Frank Mir Sr.:

“He’s always been a quiet kid, never one to boast about his ability,” said his father, Frank Sr. “He was content to be who he was. He wasn’t out there saying, ‘Look who I am, I can hurt you if I wanted to.’ He was just the opposite.”

Image via CombatLifestyle.com

Last Saturday night’s rating are in, and if you’re Strikeforce and Showtime, you’re probably happy campers right now.

Despite the UFC counter-programming with a replay of their biggest event in history, Strikeforce managed to draw the highest rating ever for a MMA broadcast on Showtime with 576,000 average viewers. The previous mark was held by EliteXC for their Kimbo vs Tank show which drew 511,000 average viewers. Naturally, since Spike TV is in a little more than four times the number of households as Showtime the UFC 100 replay still outdrew them.

Strikeforce’s event averaged 576,000 viewers (and peaked with 856,000 for the night’s main event at midnight). UFC 100 averaged two million viewers, and it’s 1.8 rating (513,000 viewers) was the highest-rated program in the male-18-34 demographic during its timeslot.

Additionally, Spike TV edged Showtime in that demo with 513,000 viewers to the premium channel’s 181,000.

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to tell exactly what kind of dent the UFC made in the Strikeforce/Showtime ratings, but it clearly wasn’t enough to keep them from having a record show. Whether the 576k would been closer to 900k (my hypothetical made-up number) had the UFC not countered, we’ll never know, but I have to believe Strikeforce and Showtime are considering this a success.

Obviously Gina Carano was the star of the show, but since she lost what does that mean for Cyborg? Will she become a draw now?

What will really be interesting to see later this year is what kind of numbers Fedor’s debut pulls in. He hasn’t proved to even be on the same planet as Gina in terms of drawing power yet, but his acquisition sure attracted a lot of attention, and not solely in the MMA media. Will his debut tank in the ratings or is he finally starting to get the attention he deserves?

Image via Showtime Sports

Here’s the E:60 piece that ESPN recently re-aired on Brock Lesnar with updated footage and commentary from UFC 100.

“The national enquirer of MMA reporters — that’s what I call them, right? — they’re just looking for something to put on their headlines or this and that. But I pretty much say how I feel, and I know a lot of reporters try to get a quote from you or create this controversy and things like that. But honestly, we’re so busy right now that the perceived battle or them taking the gloves off … it’s like everyday when I wake up, I’m focusing on what we need to do and that’s it. And I’m sure they wake up everyday just focused on what they need to do…And so the Fedor thing, I didn’t think that there would be that kind of reaction when we signed Fedor. And so you know, it happened and that’s it. But I have a show to do this Saturday, and we’re going to keep marching down the road and try to make Saturday the best event that we can, and were going to continue to try and build this business and create strategic alliances, look for sponsors and look for other relationships that make sense strategically. I’m just about going and building this business, and that’s what I’ve done for the last 25 years, and so to me it’s engaging and that perceived battle … that’s not what I’m about. I’m about building Strikeforce and building this business and moving this business forward and that’s all I’m going to focus on. I think it’s more the reporters try to blow up it more than it is and try to create that story and create this rivalry. I think that’s really more on the media side than it is from our business side.”

—Scott Coker, via MMA Fanhouse, blaming the media on the “perceived” UFC-Strikeforce war

Meanwhile, the UFC announced today that they’ll be countering Strikeforce’s card this weekend with six fights from UFC 100 including the main event Lesnar vs Mir 2. So you tell me, is this war merely a product of the media trying to create controversy or is the UFC breaking out the war chest?

Image via All Elbows

Strikeforce, M-1 Global, Fedor Emelianenko and Showtime held their joint conference call this afternoon. Here’s a rundown.

With all the hoopla surrounding Affliction “Trilogy” and who’s going to fight Fedor this piece on Lorenzo Fertitta and the UFC’s global expansion damn near slipped through the cracks.

Dana says he didn’t have much fun at UFC 100. Can’t blame him, between Hendo’s comment, Brock’s antics and Rampage and Rashad trying to throwdown in the crowd, my head would have been ready to explode too.

HT: Wand Fight Team

Bonus: Dave Farra from RawVegas.tv, Ben Fowlkes from CagePotato.com and Ariel Helwani from MMA Fanhouse take it to the mats at WFT after the jump. Funny stuff.

On this week’s edition of Fox Fight Game, the panel discusses all the UFC 100 fallout. More after the jump.