Fight Coverage: Top Headlines Of The Week (October 15th-21st)

(Photo by Mark J. Rebilas via US PRESSWIRE)

Although the Ultimate Fighting Champion (UFC) nor Strikeforce held events over the past week, there has been no shortage of news to keep mixed martial arts fans talking after the surprising announcement Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen would coach the 17th season of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show.

If you have been living under a rock and happened to miss any of them, here are the top headlines from October 15th – October 21st.

• Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen were announced as coaches for “The Ultimate Fighter 17″. The show begins taping on Oct. 29 and following the season on April 29, Jones and Sonnen will fight for the UFC light heavyweight championship.
• The UFC held a media conference call Wednesday afternoon to announce the seventeenth season of their hit reality show, “The Ultimate Fighter”. UFC President Dana White and “TUF 17″ coaches Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen were on the call to answer questions from the media.
• FX Executive Chuck Saftler announced on the call that “TUF 17″ will move off Friday nights and air on a weekday.
• Following the announcement of “The Ultimate Fighter 17″, Dan Henderson said he believes the Jon Jones vs. Chael Sonnen match up degrades the sport.
• The UFC officially announced UFC 155: Dos Santos vs. Velasquez II For Dec. 29 in Las Vegas.
• Phil Davis replaced Chael Sonnen to fight Forrest Griffin in the UFC 155 co-main event.
• Matt Riddle and Francisco Rivera, who both fought at UFC 149, failed their post-fight drug tests, had their wins from the event ruled a no contest and were suspended for 3-months.
• UFC middleweight Anderson Silva said he is not interested in fighting Jon Jones, but if he did, the bout would have to take place at a catchweight.
• UFC President Dana White said Alistair Overeem is likely to fight the winner of UFC 155′s heavyweight championship bout between Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez.
• Episode six of “The Ultimate Fighter 16” aired Friday night on FX. Team Nelson’s Colton Smith defeated Team Carwin’s Eddy Ellis in the fifth welterweight elimination fight of the season to give Team Carwin a three to two lead in the competition. For complete results from episode 6 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 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.