Dana White held a press conference in Brazil today to announce that the Anderson Silva/Chael Sonnen rematch will not be taking place in Brazil as was originally the plan. Silva and Sonnen were there as well. In this week’s Wrestling Observer, Dave Meltzer outlined the issues why Brazil was going to be hard to pull off:

There is a United Nations Conference in Rio de Janeiro the week of 6/23, which has led to two problems. One is that Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes doesn’t want a UFC event in town the same week. The second is that the hotel situation in the city, with that conference, is terrible. We’ve heard that UFC would have to put fighters and people associated with the show up in several different hotels if they could even get enough rooms, which is a major logistical issue. Another issue is they are booking a stadium and not an arena, so that’s between 46,000 and 60,000 people, which would mean a lot of people coming from all over Brazil, and if there are not enough hotel rooms open, they can’t come.

Instead, they will now headline the July 7th show in Las Vegas, UFC 148, which also features Urijah Faber vs. Dominick Cruz in the battle of The Ultimate Fighter Live coaches.

Check out F4W/Wrestling Observer and Bryan Alvarez’s post for the full recap of the press conference.

We’ve stopped doing these posts because there are so many shows these days and by the time we were able to get our thoughts out, the shows would be old news.

But, the guys wanted to get their thoughts out about the show.

Here’s what the FGB crew thought about UFC 145:

Duan
Thumbs In The Middle
Best Fight: Mark Hominick vs. Eddie Yagin
Worst Fight: Mark Bocek vs. John Alessio

This show was always going to be judged by it’s main event, and ultimately the fight couldn’t live up to the build.

Evans/Jones was at least tense for a couple of rounds before settling into a pattern it was destined not to stray from for the remaining three. Rashad wasn’t going to win a point scoring contest; that’s how it played out and he could do nothing to change the dynamic. It made for dull, one-paced viewing.

Boeck/Alessio in the opener was death – two guys who are just there in UFC having a horrible fight – the less said the better.

Now if you look past those two, there was actually a fair bit to like about the middle portion of the card: a pair of masterclasses from McDonald and MacDonald, the seventy second Schaub/Rothwell shootout, and a classic tear up between Eddie Yagin and Mark Hominick. The later being amongst the best UFC fights this year.

A painful opener and lackluster main event took from what was an otherwise decent show.

Alan
Thumbs In The Middle
Best Fight: Mark Hominick vs. Eddie Yagin
Worst Fight: Mark Bocek vs. John Alessio
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There was a little bit of news coming out of UFC 145 last night. But before we get to that, I wrote about Jon Jones and what might be next for him at Popblerd.com early this morning. Check it out.

- Rashad Evans said that while dropping to 185 isn’t out of the picture, he’s staying at 205 and wants to get back into title contention.

- Jon Jones’ next opponent will be Dan Henderson.

- As we already knew before yesterday, Frank Mir, not Alistair Overeem will face Junior Dos Santos at UFC 146. According an Ariel Helwani tweet, it’s because they believe Overeem will not prevail in his fight to be licensed.

- Dave Meltzer said early this morning that Overeem’s defense might be that he was taking erectile disfunction drugs and that’s what spiked his testosterone. Mike Sawyer has Meltzer’s quote. Meltzer also had a really good article about Overeem (before he was replaced) for Bill Simmons’ Grantland.

- As for Cain Velasquez’s new opponent, since Mir is facing JDS now, Dana tweeted this earlier today:

All the talking is done. It’s fight time.

1. John Alessio vs. Mark Bocek

Bocek got a trip near the cage and Alessio grabbed to cage, but still went down. Bocek was in side control, but then half guard. In Alessio’s full guard, he hit him with some nice elbows. Alessio hasn’t done anything yet. Bocek got Alessio’s back and had him in a body triangle but the round ended.

Alessio landed a nice combination. And then nice jabs. But he was taken down again. Nothing much is happening this round. Not a fantastic way to open up this show.

Bocek got him down and then his back. Alessio doesn’t have much of a chance here unless he gets a knockout. Bocek was workman-like the entire fight, though it wasn’t all that entertaining. He’ll get the unanimous decision.

Winner: Mark Bocek by way of unanimous decision

The scores were 30-27, 29-28, and 30-27.

2. Eddie Yagin vs. Mark Hominick

Strong striking by both guys early on. Hominick looked to be setting up a hook and got lazy. Yagin knocked him down with a straight right and nearly finished him on the ground. Hominick is controlling the standup, but he gets lazy and the smaller Yagin catches him. Fun first round, especially after the boring first fight.

After a nice back and forth, Yagin knocked him down again. He’s got a mouse on the left side of his left eye. His face is all messed up, but he’s doing a lot of damage too. And he’s in great shape to take all the punishment. These guys are pounding the crap out of each other. Yagin is throwing hard, hard punches.

Hominck is loading up on the lead right hand and Yagin is just eating it. He’s going body to head. Yagin can’t hit any kicks yet he’s still throwing them. Same with the spinning back fist. Hominick is the better fighter for sure, but the knockdowns will count in the scoring. He may have to get a 10-8 here to get the draw. Needs a knockdown. Hominick closed strong, but might get hurt by the 10/9 must.

Winner: Eddie Yagin by way of split decision

Both guys aren’t going to look very handsome tomorrow.

3. Michael McDonald vs. Miguel Torres
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Chris Tickle was drunk at the fight and was running his mouth and laughing after his team just lost. Dominick Cruz tells him to shut up. Cruz tells him to shut up for the week of the fight. Tickle tells Cruz to push him during the week of training for the fight. Cruz thinks Tickle is a good guy and has a ton of potential.

Justin Lawrence and Mike Rio went at it in sparring and there looked to be some heat in there. Cruz tells Lawrence that when he doesn’t dominate he takes himself out of it by being frustrated at himself.

Proctor talks about growing up with an alcoholic father. Faber says he’s quiet with a big heavy punch. Faber says Tickle’s standup isn’t all that technically sound and Proctor’s is.

Tickle triggered the door to spill water on Team Faber and it was Proctor who was soaked after walking through the door first.

The guys must be super board. They created a slip-n-side to goof off with. It’s Easter Sunday and Tickle is making turkey. He loves to cook. He says that mixed martial arts saved his life. He’s got two kids and is engaged to be married.

Cruz and Faber went back and forth a bit at the weigh-in, but there wasn’t much to say. Neither guy really has beef right now. Tickle weighed in while eating pizza.

Chris Tickle vs. Joe Proctor
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Roy Jones Jr. shows up at Rashad’s camp. If I had to guess, I’d have guessed that Roy was Rashad’s favorite fighter. Roy tells Rashad to stay in control. It’s his time. Jones should be on his clock.

Rashad says the relaxing and focusing is just as important as the training.

Jones’ brother Arthur says he’s never seen him more focused on something in his life. Jones’ wife says he told her two weeks out that he was ready and he usually only does it 3-4 days out.

Jones says he’s become a better man simply by preparing for the fight. He’s enjoyed the journey.

Rashad does media with Opie and Anthony and Jones does media with the MLB Network. All the media seems to be taking some steam out of Rashad, while Jones seems to be enjoying it a bit more. But both guys look to be sick of talking about their beef.

Evans says that he knows he’s going to make Jones quit. It’s just a matter of when. Jones thinks Rashad is living miserably. He says that when he wins, he’s going to be concerned about Rashad because what else will he have to fight for? Jones tells him to bring it, but he didn’t say if he was on Team Bring It or not.

The Verdict: Jones looks ready and Evans looks a bit bothered. But that probably relates to their personalities. Both look ready. It was a good final episode and Jones said the right things at the end.