[Centraal] MMA topic #16 Mainstream MMA

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ESPN's "E:60" program will feature Gina Carano, one of MMA's most recognizable female fighters, this coming Tuesday, May 13. The program airs at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.

Carano, who moonlights as "Crush" on NBC's "American Gladiators," next fights May 31 at "EliteXC: PRIMETIME," the first-ever live MMA event to air on major U.S. network television.

There, Carano meets HOOKnSHOOT champion Kaitlin Young. It will be the lone female bout on the "CBS ELITEXC Saturday Night Fights" card, which takes place at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

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At a pre-fight press conference held on Saturday in Japan for Sunday’s DREAM.3, officials from both Dream and ProElite, Inc. announced a working relationship between the two promotions that will include sharing of fighters and referees, as well as co-promoted shows in the future.

“In the last year ProElite and EliteXC and other brands have made a lot of progress, and some of our progress is due in part to our relationship with FEG and now with Dream,” said ProElite executive William Kelly. “We are sharing fighters. We are sharing referees. We intend to do co-promotions with Dream both in Japan and in the U.S.”

Kelly also mentioned possibly taking co-promoted shows between Dream and EliteXC to places like England and Korea in the future. He commented on the strong relationship between ProElite and television giants CBS and Showtime, and indicated that they will work to present EliteXC and Dream co-promoted shows on the networks.

ProElite also announced the intention of opening offices in Japan, with the hopes of putting on an EliteXC show there at some point in the future.

On the current Dream card set to take place on Sunday, two EliteXC fighters are already competing, as Nick Diaz faces Katsuya Inoue and Eddie Alvarez squares off in the second round of the lightweight Grand Prix against Joachim Hansen.

ProElite executive and former ICON Sport owner T. Jay Thompson also mentioned names like Kimbo Slice, Jake Shields, Robbie Lawler, and Jason Miller as other U.S. stars that the promotion would like to introduce to Japanese fans in the future.

DREAM.3 takes place on May 11 and will broadcast live in the United States on HDNet.

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Interim UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and former title-holder Frank Mir will serve as coaches on the eighth season of "The Ultimate Fighter," which debuts Sept. 17 on Spike TV.

Spike TV made the announcement on Monday.

The two fighters will not compete again until a tentatively scheduled pay-per-view match-up that will take place after the season is finished airing in December.

Casting has already begun for the show, which will begin filming this summer. Nogueira and Mir will coach rival teams that will include heavyweight and welterweight fighters.

Although rumors of Nogueira and Mir as potential coaches began in February, they really heated up last month, as MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) reported. Contracts were signed during the past couple weeks.

Nogueira (31-4-1), a former PRIDE heavyweight title-holder, defeated Tim Sylvia at UFC 81 for the UFC's interim belt. The UFC created the interim title after Randy Couture resigned from the organization in October. The main-event victory over Sylvia was Noueira's second straight win in the UFC -- and his seventh win in his past eight fights. Prior to accepting the coaching slot, he had been tentatively scheduled to fight in August.

Mir (11-3) won the title in 2004 but was stripped of the belt after suffering a motorcycle accident that kept him sidelined for nearly two years. He is 3-2 since the comeback, and he's won his past two fights, including a February 2008 bout with former WWE performer Brock Lesnar. He had been scheduled to fight Justin McCully July 5 at UFC 86, but the bout was recently pulled from the card.

"The Ultimate Fighter" debuted in January 2005, and to date, has featured more than 100 fighters from around the world.

In seven seasons of the show, "TUF" has never featured heavyweight coaches, and heavyweight fighters were featured only in the second season (though most cast members have since dropped to light heavyweight.)