The Weekly Wrap: Aug. 1 - Aug. 7

Odds and Ends

• The Rich Franklin-Vitor Belfort main event for UFC 103 on Sept. 19 will be contested at a 195-pound catch weight. The weight was set upon an insistence from Belfort's camp, according to wrestlingobserver.com. UFC President Dana White had announced last week that the fight would take place at 205 pounds.

• 2008 Olympic judo gold medalist Satoshi Ishii made an in-ring appearance at Sengoku "Ninth Battle" on Aug. 2 to announce he would be making his MMA debut on the promotion’s Nov. 7 event. An opponent has not been named, but Sengoku top star and fellow judo gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida is expected.

• The UFC and its action figure partner, Jakks Pacific, announced a licensing deal this week with Round 5 MMA that will allow both companies to share the rights to market figures of fighters. Round 5 had locked up several of the most prominent names in MMA to exclusive deals –- including Randy Couture, Quinton Jackson and Tito Ortiz -- before the UFC had their deal with Jakks in place. The UFC figures are scheduled to hit retail shelves in the fall.

• The Association of Boxing Commissions emerged from their annual convention in New Orleans with clarity on some disputed MMA provisions. The commission voted to keep MMA’s weight class structure as it is, and not add a slew of new classes that were proposed last year to much controversy. Also, they voted to more clearly define the “back of the head” region that is illegal to strike. The new language reads:

“Strikes are not permissible in the nape of the neck area up until the top of the ears. Above the ears, permissible strikes do not include the Mohawk area from the top of the ears up until the crown of the head. The crown of the head is found where the head begins to curve… In other words, strikes behind the crown of the head and above the ears are not permissible within the Mohawk area. Strikes below the top of the ear are not permissible within the nape of the neck area."