HeavyMMA.com writes that Jim Miller isn’t worried about title shots. His only concern is beating the dangerous Kamal Shalorus at UFC 128.

Mixed martial arts is a sport prone to speculation. We wonder who would win imagined match-ups across weight classes, how good an emerging young talent will be in two or three years, and where a win will put a certain fighter in the divisional pecking order.

Heading into UFC 128 this weekend, lightweight Jim Miller is the focus of some of that speculation, as he puts his six-fight winning streak and top 5 standing in the division on the line against WEC convert Kamal Shalorus. Many wonder whether a win, coupled with Dennis Siver’s upset win over George Sotiropoulos last month in Australia, would vault the Whippany, New Jersey native to the top of the list of contenders in the 155-pound division.

Miller is not one for wondering what it all would mean. He has one focus heading into his second UFC fight in his home state: earn a victory over Shalorus. The rest, he believes, will sort itself out.

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Former Sengoku star Jorge Santiago is returning to the UFC and according to HeavyMMA.com, he believes he has everything it takes to take down Anderson Silva.

Despite experiencing a great deal of success abroad over the last three years, Jorge Santiago is happy to be back in the UFC.

After departing the organization in 2006 following back-to-back losses, the Brazilian middleweight found his focus and piled up the victories, becoming one of the top 185-pound fighters outside of the sport’s premier organization. He followed up wins over UFC veterans Jeremy Horn and Trevor Prangley by claiming the Sengoku Middleweight Grand Prix, becoming the organization’s first and only middleweight champion to date.

His August bout with Japanese veteran Kazuo Misaki was a fixture on many Fight of the Year lists, but after facing just two opponents over the last two years and seeing the Japanese MMA scene crumbling around him, Santiago was granted his release. He quickly signed with the UFC, and is looking forward to facing Brian Stann in his return to the Octagon at UFC 130 in May.

“I couldn’t ask for a better opportunity,” Santiago told Heavy.com. “Come back to the United States, fight in the UFC, Brian Stann, an American hero, main card, May 28th. I couldn’t ask for a better opportunity, you know?”

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Jon Fitch is chasing B.J. Penn’s ghost at UFC 127 but as Spencer Kyte of HeavyMMA.com writes, he plans on finishing the legend and getting one more crack at the welterweight title.

Long before Jon Fitch became a part of the team at American Kickboxing Academy, the man he’ll face at UFC 127 was working with the same trainers who have helped make him one of the best fighters in the sport today.

Though the image many people have of B.J. Penn preparing for a fight has been crafted by various UFC Countdown specials showing the former two-division champion training in his native Hawaii, Penn indeed trained in San Jose, and Fitch has heard all the stories and uses them as motivation.

“It’s like chasing ghost almost, hearing stories about a guy you’ve never gotten to work with or train with or anything. When I first came to AKA was shortly after B.J. had left, and everybody who had trained him or trained with him was still around, and he was a pretty amazing athlete, so you’ve got a lot of stories about some of the things he’s done and what he’s capable of.

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Spencer Kyte of HeavyMMA.com chats with former TUF winner (and former light heavyweight champ) Forrest Griffin about hepatitis, being heckled by teenage girls and fighting Rich Franklin.

Heavy: I’ll be sure to include the fact in the interview.

Griffin: That is important.

Heavy: So that everybody is aware and everybody knows, Forrest Griffin does not have hepatitis.

Griffin: Actually, you just go ahead and tell all the single women that I do have hepatitis so they stay away.
Heavy: Perfect. I think my wife might want me to share that plan from now on too.

Griffin: Just drop it casually, like, whenever you’re talking to women. What I always do is the “you know my wife” thing, just to make sure it doesn’t get awkward. Then you can just drop my hepatitis things too.

Heavy: In the year-and-a-half I’ve been married, I’ve become very skilled at the “my wife and I” any time there are single women around. She’ll be glad to read that.

Griffin: Well there is some exciting news for me, are we recording this, because this is the good shit?

Heavy: I am, we are; we’re ready to go.

Griffin: Good. Alright, well, I actually just had a very uncomfortable experience. I guess I was going to Starbucks the same time the school here let out, and I got cat-called by a bunch of teenage girls. It wasn’t as fun as you would imagine. It was actually kind of degrading.

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Joseph Benavidez discussed his upcoming fight with Wagney Fabiano, as well as teammate Urijah Faber’s drop to the bantamweight division with Nate Lawson of HeavyMMA.com.

Following his disappointing, yet narrow split-decision loss to Dominick Cruz at WEC 50, Joseph Benavidez was looking to take some time off.

The 135lbs contender had just faced the top bantamweight on the planet, former champion Miguel Torres, and submission ace Rani Yahya all within one year. You could say he deserved a break.

However, when the WEC came calling for the Team Alpha male product to step in for former champion Brian Bowles against Wagnney Fabiano at this month’s WEC 52, Benavidez did not have to think long about cutting his time away from the cage short.

“When the fight came up with Wagnney Fabiano, it was kind of a no brainer,” Benavidez told HeavyMMA today. “I was definitely looking to fight before the end of the year. You know, definitely wanted to get in that third fight of the year. I had already taken some time off, and it’s kind of hard man. I’m just a fighter and when someone offers me a fight, it’s always something I want to do. I’m always training and it always feels like the right decision for me.”

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