Sport’s best to shine at awards ceremony

Mixed martial arts has fought for years to gain mainstream acceptance.

It's pretty safe to say that's on the verge of happening as the sport won't get more mainstream than a lavish, televised awards show.

The heavyweights of the sport will gather at the Hard Rock Hotel to hand out awards ranging from fight and fighter of the year to best ring girl at the World Mixed Martial Arts Awards ceremony on Wednesday night.

The voting for the 18 awards was conducted online and all winners were determined by fan voting, which concluded on Dec. 5. "Fighters Only" magazine put the entire concept together and voting was done entirely on its Web site.

A lifetime achievement award, the only one not decided by fan voting, also will be given out.

The ceremony will be hosted by comedian John Heffron and will stream live at versus.com. It will air on the network at 9 p.m. on Jan. 6 on Cable Channel 38.

* KOSCHECK OUT -- Josh Koscheck will not be able to fight Paulo Thiago as scheduled at UFC 109 on Feb. 6 at Mandalay Bay.

Koscheck had hoped to avenge the loss he suffered to Thiago in February, but will not be able to compete due to an undisclosed injury.

The welterweight contender confirmed the news via Twitter on Monday.

"Well the news is out. I am not fighting feb 6 UFC 109. Do due to injury. I will be good to go back to training in a couple weeks I hope!!," the post read. "It's all good & I'll get my body rested & back to the top real soon."

Koscheck has won three of his last four fights, with the lone loss coming to Thiago by first-round knockout.

Mike Swick, a teammate of Koscheck at American Kickboxing Academy, has reportedly agreed to step in to face Thiago, who has split two decisions since defeating Koscheck in his UFC debut.

* JONES CASE CLOSED -- The Nevada Athletic Commission will not hear the appeal of a disqualification loss suffered by Jon Jones on the Dec. 5 UFC card at the Palms.

The light heavyweight fighter was disqualified when several of the elbows he landed during a barrage of shots on Matt Hamill were deemed illegal. Hamill could not continue and Jones was disqualified.

Jones' management filed an appeal of the fighter's first pro loss, but the office of Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto stated in a response "there is no protest procedure to challenge or overturn a decision based on the allegations made in your letter."

Jones' camp claimed that a shoulder injury suffered by Hamill was the reason the fighter couldn't continue, not the illegal blows. Also, there was some question about the communication efforts between referee Steve Mazzagatti and Hamill, who is deaf.

* FIGHTER ARRIVALS -- The main event fighters for Saturday night's UFC 108 card will stage public arrivals in the lobby of the MGM Grand today.

Rashad Evans and Thiago Silva, along with UFC president Dana White, will hit the lobby of the hotel at 1 p.m.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509.