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Xenia MMA fighter’s undercard bout on Spike TV

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By Dann Stupp, Contributing Writer 8:32 PM Sunday, March 21, 2010

Milford resident Victor O’Donnell, a pro MMA fighter based at Mt. Orab’s Team Vision, was one of 28 middleweight fighters selected to compete on the upcoming 11th season of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s reality series, “The Ultimate Fighter.”

“TUF 11,” which features Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz as coaches, is in the final stages of production and debuts March 31 on Spike TV.

The show traditionally uses a standard tournament format with the winner (and most of the show’s top fighters) earning UFC contracts, though UFC president Dana White has teased some surprise format changes this season.

O’Donnell owns an 8-1 pro record with wins over notables such as UFC vet Forrest Petz (15-7), Ryan Sturdy (13-3-1) and Rafael Sapo (11-2). Coincidentally, the only man to beat O’Donnell – Constantinos Philippou (5-1) – is also on “TUF 11.”

As we mentioned last week in MMA Insider, West Chester Twp. resident and former UFC champ Rich Franklin is rumored to have joined the show as a replacement coach for an injured Ortiz. But due to the show’s strict confidentiality agreements, no one outside of the coaches, cast and production staff knows for sure what happened.

Xenia’s Brown on Spike TV

Speaking of “TUF” cast members, the area’s most accomplished reality-show contestant — Xenia native Matt Brown (11-7) — goes for his fifth win in six UFC fights when he meets Ricardo Almeida (11-3) at this weekend’s UFC 111 event in Newark, N.J.

The Saturday, March 27, event features two title fights and follows a string of UFC shows that were void of championship bouts and featured minimal starpower.

Although the UFC 111 main card airs on pay-per-view (10 p.m., $44.95), two preliminary-card bouts — including Brown vs. Almeida — air live on Spike TV (9 p.m.) as a one-hour “UFC Prelims” special.

Versus returns  to DirecTV lineup

MMA fans rejoiced this past weekend when DirecTV announced all-sports-cable station Versus has returned to its lineup. DirecTV pulled the Comcast-owned property in September after a dispute over carrier fees.

Versus has been a longtime home to World Extreme Cagefighting live events and WEC specialty programming. And this past Sunday, it aired its first UFC event as part of a new partnership between the cable station and Zuffa LLC, which owns the UFC and WEC.

WEC Vice President PeterDropick called it a “victory for MMA fans.”

Dann Stupp is editor-in-chief of MMAjunkie.com, voted best media outlet in the 2008 and 2009 World MMA Awards. For the latest mixed-martial-arts news, go to MMAjunkie.com.

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