Today in MMA (5/7/2009)

Well, I haven’t done one of these in a while, but it’s always good to show some love to the guys who are talking on what seems to be a pretty slow day as far as stuff worth writing about.

Former top boxer (with an emphasis, in many minds, on the “former”) Roy Jones Jr. is looking to take on Nick Diaz, who seems to have forgotten what weight class he fights in. Sort of makes me wonder if Diaz is thinking that, as he gets older, he’s going to look to have to make the weight increase permanent. That said, we’ll see if he does end up making a run at one of the Strikeforce titles or if he continues to fight in these catchweight bouts against bigger opponents. Diaz will fight Scott Smith on June 6th in St. Louis.

Before UFC 100, the UFC will induct two fighters into it’s Hall of Fame. The MMAJunkie says White alluded to Chuck Liddell as a possible inductee, and other discussed candidates include the late former middleweight champion Evan Tanner. This will expand the Hall from five fighters to seven. The current list includes: Royce Gracie, Randy Couture, Ken Shamrock, Mark Coleman and Dan Severn.

Five Ounces has the full card for the “Ultimate Chaos” event, which will be headlined by Pedro Rizzo vs. Gilbert Yvel (which should be an awesome fight between two basass strikers) and Bobby Lashley vs. Bob Sapp (in what should be the weirdest bout since, well, about a month earlier when Sapp fought Ikuhisa Minowa). The card also includes Chris Horodecki, Din Thomas and the MMA return of Tom Atencio, the wealthiest shirt manufacturer with the balls to step into a cage. Also, my favorite submission grappling dummy, Danny Abbadi (from TUF 3) will appear on the card.

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira will be fighting in his home nation of Brazil for the first time in a long while. After being knocked out by Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou in February of 2007, Nogueira has strung together four straight wins, including a brutal TKO of Vladimir Matyushenko on the Affliction: Day of Reckoning card in Los Angeles.

And, in your bizarre news of the day: Dana White, Forrest Griffin and Kenny Florian will appear on the May 14th episode of Dr. Phil. While I will not be watching, I will be sure to search for youtube for highlights and post anything newsworthy from the segment.