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Bellator MMA is branching out, announcing the acquisitions of three British fighters recently.

Rob Sinclair, Paul Sass and Martin Stapleton have all agreed to long-term deals with the promotion.

“Our talent development team does the best job in MMA by bringing hugely talented fighters to Bellator from around the globe,” Bellator CEO and Chairman Bjorn Rebney said. “The number one question I get from fans is ‘when will a UK television deal be completed with Bellator?’ With these three signings, along with a roster already featuring the likes of Paul “Semtex” Daley, Ronnie Mann and Michael Page, we are setting the table for making Bellator an every week televised occurrence in the UK.”

Sass is 13-2 in his career and holds victories over both Jacob Volkmann and Michael Johnson. He could make an appearance in a 2014 tournament, saying, “I’m incredibly excited to get the chance to compete with Bellator. After meeting with their staff and having a clear understanding of what’s next, I can’t wait to get into the cage and get into my first tournament.”

Sinclair is 33 and 12-2 in his career with 10 finishes. He has split his time training and working as an engineer and leaves BAMMA as the promotions champion to compete in Bellator. The BAMMA Twitter page stated he would be debuting in Bellator in September, and could return down the road to fight for the British promotion.

“This is something I’ve wanted for a long time, but the timing has just never been right,” Sinclair said. “After meeting with Bellator and talking to guys like Paul Daley and Ronnie Mann, it really seemed like the perfect fit. This chance with Bellator will give me the opportunity to fully train and prepare for fight like I should, and with a full camp in place, the lightweights in Bellator better be on notice.”

Stapleton is a former member of the Royal Marine Commando Unit. He won an eight-man, one-night tournament recently in his return to action.

“This is an awesome opportunity for me to get a chance to show the world what I’m capable of, and not to sleep on a guy like me,” Stapleton said. “I’ve worked my ass off over the last few years for this exact opportunity, and I’m not going to let it get away from me. The lightweight division in Bellator is stacked, and it just got a little deeper with me.”

Spike TV and Randy Couture are set to begin casting on the upcoming reality series, “Gym Rescue,” in the coming weeks.

The series, a spin-off of “Bar Rescue” will entail Couture and his team going to gyms and helping build them back up. Right now, according to Metal Flowers Media LLC casting producer Scott Hiller, the program is targeting Colorado, Minneapolis and the Philadelphia/New York City/New Jersey areas for gyms.

“Gyms can be of any type: fighting or fitness, climbing, gymnastics or yoga. The problems are of any kind and combination, too, such as failing marketing strategies, equipment in disrepair, staffing issues, poor management. A generous gym makeover is usually part of the show,” said Hiller, in an interview with FightLine.com. “This series will be exciting and moving to watch as the story of repairing a business unfolds. Struggling gym owners getting schooled by (Couture) and his all-star crew? These guys kick the crap out of ‘FAIL!’ That means you’ll see a lot of drama as a gym owner comes to terms with his failing business, but becomes incredibly uplifted throughout the process.”

Couture will be a main part of the show, which is expected to have “several episodes” and air later this fall. He is the owner of Xtreme Couture, which has three locations.

Bar Rescue is currently in its third season and has over 30 episodes.

Former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem will make his return to the Octagon on free TV, as MMAjunkie.com is reporting “The Reem” will face Travis Browne at UFC on FS1 1.

The event takes place August 17 from the TD Garden in Boston. Previously, Overeem had said on Twitter that he would be fighting at UFC 164, which is set for later in August.

Overeem (36-12) lost his last match, suffering a knockout defeat at the hands of Antonio Silva. “Bigfoot” is also the only fighter to defeat Browne (14-1-1), having stopped him last year.

After his loss to Silva, Overeem was scheduled to face Junior dos Santos. A training injury, however, knocked him out of the bout.

Bellator MMA will head to New Mexico on July 31, and will be bringing welterweight champion Ben Askren with them.

The card, which will go down from the Santa Ana Star Center, will boast Askren defending his belt against Andrey Koreshkov and the finals in the welterweight tournament between Douglas Lima and Ben Saunders.

“I’ll be 110% ready for this fight,” Koreshkov said. “I’ll make sure that Askren’s tactics to put everybody in the audience to sleep won’t work this time. Instead, I’ll keep everybody entertained by putting him to sleep.”

Askren is a perfect 11-0 in his career and is a former U.S. Olympian. Koreshkov finished 2012 with a 5-0 record, including three tournament wins to earn the shot.

“I’m really looking forward to getting back into that cage and putting on a show,” Askren said. “I feel like I’ve continued to mature and get better in every one of my fights, and July 31st should be no different. I don’t think Andrey has any ability to stop my wrestling and ground attack, so this will be another successful title defense.”

Another bout announced features Patricio Pitbull against Rob Emerson in the featherweight division. As always, the main card will air on Spike TV, while the prelims are streamed.

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

The loss of Renan Barao and Eddie Wineland has been filled, as heavyweights Roy Nelson and Stipe Miocic will square off as part of the UFC 161 main card in June.

The event takes place June 15 from the MTS Centre in Winnipeg. Barao was forced out of the main event when he suffered torn ligaments in his foot. The new headline fight features Rashad Evans and Dan Henderson.

Nelson (19-7) was viewed last week as a potential fill-in for this Saturday’s card if Mark Hunt couldn’t obtain a visa in time to face Junior dos Santos. “Big Country” has won three straight, including a finish of Cheick Kongo recently.

Miocic (9-1) suffered his first pro defeat at the hands of Stefan Struve in his last fight.

MMAjunkie.com first reported news of the fight late Tuesday night.

The last time Josh Barnett appeared inside the Octagon, he was being awarded the UFC heavyweight title.

However, Barnett was later stripped of the belt and left the promotion, taking his MMA – and pro wrestling skills – all over the planet.

Now, 11 years later, Barnett has signed back with the UFC, as MMAjunkie.com reported recently that “The Warmaster” has agreed to a multi-fight deal. No date has been set for his fight.

Barnett is 32-6 in his career and won four of his five UFC bouts. He is coming off a win in his last appearance with Strikeforce earlier this year after having his lengthy win streak snapped by Daniel Cormier.

Where do you feel Barnett fits into the UFC’s heavyweight landscape right now? Is he a contender right away, or does he need to prove himself with a win or two?

Right now, former interim UFC welterweight champion Carlos Condit knows he has a weakness in his game.

Condit, coming off back-to-back losses to Georges St-Pierre and Johny Hendricks, is focusing in on improving his wrestling – an area that hurt him vs. both GSP and Hendricks.

So, while the UFC wants to get him back in the Octagon as soon as possible, Condit’s manager sees more of this summer for a fight getting lined up.

“The UFC has been talking about a fight for Carlos Condit, but Carlos right now at this moment is looking to improve his wrestling,” said Malki Kawa on Great Debate Radio. “He’s really concentrating on that a lot. I’ll have a conversation with Carlos this week and figure out if he wants to do something in August or September.”

Condit has plenty of available fighters to meet at 170 pounds, as the division is one of the deepest in the UFC.

Photo credit: Twitter

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Vitor Belfort caught many off guard over the weekend when he asked that a reporter be “beat up” for questioning him about TRT after a win over Luke Rockhold.

To all my fans and to all the reporters that was there on the after press conference I would like to ask for forgiveness the way I answer about TRT I RECOGNIZE THAT I ANWSER IN A IMMATURE WAY BUT WAS THE 10 th time that that reporter ask the same question. No excuse!! I made a WORNG call and I am here to ask for forgiveness God bless all you guys love to do what I do and I am keeping moving UP SEEKING GROW AS A MEN OF GOD AND AS A FIGHTER “DONT DOUT ME I WILL PROUVE U WORNG” PEACE

Belfort, the subject of testosterone replacement therapy for the past several months, landed a spinning heel kick that floored the former Strikeforce champion. While he has said that all the testing has been done to keep his levels in-check, the idea that “The Phenom” gets the exemption doesn’t sit well with many.

Several years ago, Belfort tested positive for steroids and was suspended in Nevada. The Nevada Athletic Commission has said he probably wouldn’t be TRT-approved if a fight was scheduled for the state, but so far, Belfort has only fought in Brazil this year.

And just like that, UFC 161 and the fine folks in Canada have a new main event, as light heavyweights Rashad Evans and Dan Henderson replace interim UFC bantamweight champion Renan Barao and Eddie Wineland.

Barao suffered torn ligaments in his foot and was forced to remove himself from the June 15 card in Winnipeg.

Evans, a former UFC light heavyweight champion, enters looking to snap a two-fight losing skid to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Jon Jones. “Suga” is 17-3-1 in his MMA career.

Henderson, meanwhile, was defeated by Lyoto Machida earlier this year, dropping his overall record to 29-9. He has won four of his last five fights overall.

Barao is out of #UFC161 with an injury. Main event for 161 is now Evans vs Henderson.

— UFC (@ufc) May 21, 2013