The Weekly Wrap: Jan. 2 - Jan. 8

Odds and Ends

• The future of the UFC’s top pay-per-view attraction will be determined in the next week, as tests will show how well Brock Lesnar’s intestine has recovered after surgery and changes to his diet. Lesnar is suffering from a painful and unpredictable intestinal problem called diverticulitis. If the dietary changes do not sufficiently improve Lesnar’s condition, additional surgery would be required that could put the UFC heavyweight champion on the shelf for two years. UFC President Dana White said the surgery would change the quality of Lesnar’s life forever, and had resorted to not commenting at all on the situation toward the end of the week.

The UFC announced that the Frank Mir-Shane Carwin fight on March 27 will be to crown an interim heavyweight champion. The bout could end up crowning a new permanent champion if Lesnar’s prognosis is not favorable.

• Georges St. Pierre made headlines this week by stating he’s seriously considering leaving the fight game in order to train to try to make the Canadian Olympic team for the 2012 Olympics. St. Pierre, who would wrestle at 185 pounds and would likely have to bow out of the UFC picture after his March 27 title defense against Dan Hardy to start training, said he doesn’t want to look back regretting not trying for the Olympics. His grasp of wrestling despite no high school or collegiate experience is revered. Randy Couture told The Las Vegas Sun that St. Pierre told him he was frustrated with the press attention his Olympic aspirations received, saying they were blown out of proportion.

• The UFC has penciled in June 12 for its debut event in Vancouver for UFC 115, according to MMAJunkie.com. Vancouver officials recently overturned a ban on the sport. The 19,000-seat GM Place arena is the leading candidate to host the card. The event is expected to do healthy business because Canada has higher interest in MMA per capita than just about any other country.

• The struggling Sengoku promotion looks to be setting up a 2010 calendar. Reports in Japan indicate the company has penciled in a March 7 date in Tokyo, to be followed by several events, including ones in July and November.

Sengoku was thought to be in financial trouble when its chief sponsor soured on the promotion after it could not secure a high-profile television slot for a New Year’s Eve event. Sengoku ended up working with rival Dream to put on a series of Dream vs. Sengoku bouts on Dec. 31. The fallout of one of those bouts --Shinya Aoki’s arm-dislocating submission of Mizuto Hirota -- led Sengoku to demand that Aoki be “severely reprimanded” for the tactic.

The 2010 iteration of Sengoku reportedly has no ties to the management company of Hidehiko Yoshida, which launched the group in 2008. Sengoku has Satoshi Ishii, the 2008 Olympic gold medalist in judo, under contract, and is interested in hosting his second pro fight in July. While he lost a decision to Yoshida, Ishii’s fight on New Year’s Eve drew the card’s peak television rating on Japanese network television.

• The Bellator Fighting Championships announced this week it had signed featherweight prospect Georgi Karakhanyan, a 24-year-old former pro soccer player on an eight-fight winning streak, to compete in its 145-pound tournament that starts in April. Also signed for the tournament is undefeated Canadian prospect William Romero.

Also in April, Toby Imada will face Jorge Masvidal in the first round of Bellator’s second lightweight tournament. It’s a rematch of a fight last year that ended in “The Submission of the Year,” an inverted standing triangle that put Masvidal to sleep.

• The UFC will counter Strikeforce’s first card of the year with a Spike TV special that will feature select fights from UFC 107, including B.J. Penn vs. Diego Sanchez. The two-and-a-half-hour broadcast goes up against Strikeforce “Miami” Jan. 30 on Showtime, headlined by Nick Diaz vs. Marius Zaromskis and Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos vs. Marloes Coenen.

• The first sanctioned MMA card in the state of Indiana took place Jan. 2 at the Hoosier Fight Club 2 in Hammond. The event saw UFC veteran Keith Wisniewski submit fellow Octagon vet Pete Spratt with a first-round rear-naked choke. The card was promoted Danielle Vale, a former winner of the Mrs. Indiana Beauty Pageant.

Another event set for the state is MMA Big Show, which dropped its three pro bouts after the Indiana State Athletic Commission would not approve them due to time constraints on both sides. Saturday’s MMA Big Show will proceed as an amateur-only event.

ISAC Director Wade Lowhorn told Sherdog.com that the regulatory body would not allow Gary Goodridge to compete in the state due to his Dec. 31 technical knockout loss to Gegard Mousasi in Japan. In addition, Lowhorn said the commission and the promotion are working together to satisfy new deadline requirements instituted on Dec. 1 for licensing and medical paperwork.