Fight Coverage: Top Headlines Of The Week (September 17th-23rd)

(Photo by Esther Lin via MMA Fighting)

After 46 days without an event, the UFC returned to pay-per-view last Saturday night with UFC 152: Jones vs. Belfort in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The organization’s tenth pay-per-view event of the year featured two championship bouts that saw Jon Jones retain his light heavyweight belt against Vitor Belfort while Demetrious Johnson outpointed Joseph Benavidez to become the first ever UFC flyweight champion. Six of the 12 bouts on the card were finished inside the distance with Jones, T.J. Grant, Evan Dunham and Cub Swanson walking away with $65,000 post-fight bonuses.

As usual with all UFC events there was plenty of news in the lead-up and fallout that have mixed martial arts fans talking.

If you have been living under a rock and happened to miss any of them, here are the top headlines from September 17th – September 23rd.

• UFC 152: Jones vs. Belfort went down last Saturday night from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada. Jon Jones defended his light heavyweight championship against Vitor Belfort by fourth-round submission. Other main card winners included Demetrious Johnson, Michael Bisping, Matt Hamill and Cub Swanson. Click the link for complete UFC 152: Jones vs. Belfort Event Results.
• To hear from most of the UFC 152 winners, watch the UFC 152: Jones vs. Belfort Post-Fight Interviews.
• Jon Jones wants to fight Dan Henderson after retaining his light heavyweight championship against Vitor Belfort at UFC 152.
• UFC President Dana White said Jon Jones “absolutely, positively 100 percent” knew that the entire UFC 151 fight card would be canceled if he didn’t fight injury replacement Chael Sonnen on short notice.
• The Strikeforce organization canceled Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Healy, planned for Saturday, Sept. 29 at Power Balance Pavilion in Sacramento, Calif. late Sunday night after Gilbert Melendez withdrew from his main event bout against Pat Healy due to injury.
• Mac Danzig appeared on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast with UFC color-commentator Joe Rogan.
• Episode two of “The Ultimate Fighter 16” aired Friday night on FX. Neil Magny defeated Cameron Diffley in the welterweight elimination fight of the season to give Team Carwin a one to nothing lead in the competition. For complete results from the second episode of “TUF: 16”, click here.
• As usual, ZUFFA officials unveiled a slew of fight announcements for future events over the past week. For the latest on all upcoming UFC and Strikeforce cards, check the rumors section.

This article was written by Mike Bohn, founder and lead writer of FightCove.com. You can follow Mike on Twitter at @MikeBohnMMA. Also, be sure to follow @FightCove on Twitter and “Like” Fight Cove on Facebook.