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A very interesting couple of days coming up all around the world for MMA heads this weekend. Of course the weekend is headlined by UFC 110, marking the promotion's debut from down under. However, this is truly a global weekend in the sport, with solid cards emanating from Japan (ZST! 23) and in a move upstaging the UFC, Xtreme Kombat League will be staging a card in the United Arab Emirates. Rumour has it that the card will be headlined by Christopher Lambert and Linden Ashby, and the promotion will be changing their name to the Mortal Kombat League.

It was July 28th, 1931, and a man billed as “Melody Jackson” had just lost his professional boxing debut. Stopped in three rounds by no more than a journeyman in Al Sorvino, it seemed unlikely that an impressive amateur career consisting of 58 wins from 62 fights, would successfully translate to the harsh world of professional boxing. Dropping two of his next three bouts (both by four round decisions), Henry Armstrong could easily have taken this as proof he was not cut out for the professional ranks. But the man who would go on to be known as “Homicide Hank”, possessed just as much pertinacious will in life as he did in the ring. Armstrong would ride out those early losses and go on to become a bona fide boxing legend.

After solid outings from Strikeforce and the UFC (main event aside) over the past two weekends, this weekend is going to serve to recharge the MMA batteries before the Octagon ships down to Australia for the first time for UFC 110 next weekend. However, in the meantime we're left with quite the void this weekend, and that made it difficult to find a fighter to preview from the upcoming slate of fights. As such, with the trusty bag of tricks always in hand, it's time to take a trip back to the midwest for a classic Hook N Shoot fight from 2000.

In the second edition of the FLD Grappling Spotlight, we are going to take a closer look at arguably the best grappler on the planet at the moment, Braulio Estima. Born in Recife, Brazil, Braulio’s first experience with martial arts came as a youth through judo, which he was inspired to study by the gold medal winning Brazilian Olympic team. Eventually his interest extended to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu which became his true passion as an athlete and martial artist.

After a rather lengthy hiatus, the folks over at Zuffa LLC are finally bringing us UFC 109: Relentless, and once again, FightLockdown’s writing staff will be giving you an idea of what to expect. On the panel tonight are David Anthony, Jamie Hughes, Joshua Taylor, Jack Barrington, and Brad Taschuk. See what’s on their minds, after the jump!

Tomorrow night at the BankAtlantic Center, Showtime will be broadcasting Strikeforce: Miami, which looks to provide us yet another night of exciting fights! Giving you your forecast for tomorrow are Joshua Taylor, Jamie Hughes, David Anthony, Brad Taschuk, and Miles Hackett. Find out what’s on their MMA radars, after the jump!

This week at FLD, our own Jamie Hughes managed to score some time with Brazilian sensation, Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante, one of the most charismatic and exciting LW fighters in the mixed martial arts world. In this interview he discusses his road to recovery, his future fighting plans, The Ultimate Fighter, and he even lists some of his favorite fights from 2009! Read on to find out what's on JZ's mind!

After a relatively slow start to the year - NYE cards and UFC 108 aside - the MMA slate is finally starting to pick up a little bit as we close out January.

Recently, on the FLD forums, I happened across a thread started by a new member, Gregory Bayne. In it, he explained how he was making a documentary that is still in need of funding, following former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver prior to his upcoming bout at WEC 47, with a chance to delve into his personal life and thoughts on his beginnings. His future fight with Javier Vazquez may well be his last, and it is fair to say that Jens’ career has fallen upon increasingly hard times of late, as he has lost his last four outings and been stopped in his last three. It is easy to dismiss his urge to further compete as ‘foolhardy’, or to stereotype him as just another fighter refusing to let go and acknowledge that his time has passed. Watching the short introduction clip to the documentary, however, makes such dismissals quickly pass.

Japanese MMA was once the center of all things great, wonderful, and bizarre about modern mixed martial arts, but recently, it seems that the magic, and to a degree the fan support, has somewhat faded. Gone are the days of attendances breaching 70,000 and millions watching at home in anticipation of the main event of a stacked PRIDE FC card. Don't get me wrong, I am not for one minute insinuating that Eastern MMA is no longer any good, but one cannot but help noticing that the two main promotions, World Victory Road and DREAM, are struggling to captivate audiences and fans as much as PRIDE used to. Perhaps this is down to Japanese fans having more of an interest in K-1 at the moment, as recent viewing trends have indicated. However, in my honest opinion, I feel this disconnect exists between Japanese fans and the sport due to the fact that there isn’t a single, unified MMA body, which one promotion would cover. The talent is divided and, consequently, so is the attention of fans. Simply put, the Japanese MMA scene needs uniformity and cohesion, an antagonistic stance between Sengoku and DREAM prevents this from occurring.