Lightweight King of Pancrase Maximo Blanco looks for fourth straight win when he meets recent Strikeforce title contender Rodrigo Damm at Sengoku Raiden Championships 13.

Sengoku officials today announced that fight, as well Japanese Olympic judoka silver medalist Hiroshi Izumi vs. promotional newcomer Chang Seob Lee.

Sengoku Raiden Championships 13 takes place June 20 at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan.

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Technorati Tags: additions, among, Blanco, Championships, Damm, Maximo, Raiden, Rodrigo, Sengoku

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – WEC featherweight champion Jose Aldo’s first title defense wasn’t exactly a nail-biter. But it didn’t come close to UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva’s much-maligned UFC 112 performance, said UFC president Dana White.

The UFC figurehead conceded a finish would have been nice, though. After a night filled with barnburners, Aldo’s decision win ended WEC 48 on a conservative note.

“Obviously the main event is always the big topper,” White said of Aldo’s fight with Urijah Faber. “I think [Aldo] could have finished that fight. I think he was being very – I’ll call it extremely cautious.”

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Technorati Tags: 135pound, Aldo's, bids, champ, Dana, Jose, nonfinish, open, White

With the biggest World Extreme Cagefighting event now in the books, this week’s edition of The Sunday Junkie – our weekly reader-feedback feature – focuses heavily on that WEC 48 show.

Fans discussed champ Jose Aldo’s dominating win over Urijah Faber and why the show was worth the pay-per-view price tag – but also why the WEC and its sister promotion, the UFC, missed a golden opportunity to push the WEC brand.

However, when it came to picking this week’s winner (or more precisely, co-winners), two submissions stood above all others. Learn why “CopperHeart” thinks judges’ scores – including Aldo vs. Faber – may not always be based on merit. Additionally, read Ujas Mandavia’s idea for an officiating change that could revolutionize how inactive stand-up fighters are treated.

The pieces are in place for World Extreme Cagefighting’s biggest show yet, but Saturday’s “WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber” event still has a cloud of uncertainty.

Will MMA fans spring for another $45 pay-per-view offering? Have Zuffa, LLC’s efforts to give the event a UFC flavor sparked additional interest? Can local draw and WEC superstar Urijah Faber prove a PPV hit when he faces dominant featherweight champ Jose Aldo live from Sacramento, Calif.?

In our official event preview, MMAjunkie.com’s Steven Marrocco discusses some of the ramifications of Saturday’s historic card and the three headlining fights – including two championship bouts – that could usher in a new WEC era.

MMAjunkie.com Radio offers a little bit of everything with today’s guest-filled show, which includes UFC 113 fighter Joey Beltran, who takes on Tim Hague, and Marc Fiore, a head trainer/co-founder with Matt Hughes at the fast-rising H.I.T. Squad team.

Also joining the show are Fighters Only executives Rob Hewitt and Gary Alexander, as well as Lance Turner, the winner of this week’s edition of The Sunday Junkie.

MMAjunkie.com Radio begins at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) live from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. Listen to and watch a video stream of the two-hour show at www.mmajunkie.com/radio.

All 16 fighters slated for Thursday’s Bellator Fighting Championships 15
event, including headliners Dan Hornbuckle and
Tyler Stinson, who meet in the first round of the
promotion’s season-two welterweight tournament, are now official for the
event.

The weigh-ins took place Wednesday at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville,
Conn., which also hosts tonight’s event.

The event airs live on FOX Sports Net (or on a few hours’ delay if
preempted by local sports programming), and highlights packages air
Saturday on NBC, Telemundo and mun2.

The fourth episode of “The Ultimate Fighter 11: Team Liddell vs. Team Ortiz” airs tonight on Spike TV at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

This serves as tonight’s discussion thread for the episode, in which the season’s third and fourth preliminary-round matchups take place.

Follow along with tonight’s episode on Spike TV, and discuss it in the comments section of this thread. We’ll then have an episode recap posted following the show’s conclusion. (West Coast viewers take note: the comments section will obviously have spoilers for tonight’s episode.)

Welcome to MMAjunkie.com’s recap for episode No. 4 of “The Ultimate
Fighter 11.”

The middleweights-only season of the reality show, which features former
UFC champions Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz as coaches, airs each
Wednesday (10 p.m. ET/PT) on Spike TV and features 28 UFC hopefuls vying for the famed “six-figure” contract.

For a full rundown of the latest episode, including the show’s fight
results, check out the summary. (Warning: Episode spoilers are
included.)

Hard-hitting welterweights Matt Brown and Chris
Lytle have been targeted for a UFC 116 matchup.

MMAfighting.com
was the first to report the match-up today, and MMAjunkie.com has
subsequently confirmed that at least one fighter has agreed to the bout
with the intention to sign a contract.

UFC 116 is expected to take place July 3 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena
in Las Vegas, though the promotion has yet to formally announce the
card. A heavyweight title match between returning champion Brock Lesnar
and interim heavyweight champion Shane Carwin is the expected headliner.

MMAjunkie.com Radio today welcomes a pair of recent big-fight winners;
Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez and UFC 112 winner
Phil Davis each call in to the program.

Melendez discusses his five-round shellacking of DREAM lightweight
champion Shinya Aoki while Davis reflects on his recent impressive win
over Alexander Gusatfsson and considers what’s next in line on his fast
rise to superstardom.

MMAjunkie.com Radio begins at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) live from the Mandalay
Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. Listen to and watch a
video stream of the two-hour show at www.mmajunkie.com/radio.