Matt Kaplowitz's Podcast

When you get a press release from the UFC saying that Dana White is holding a conference call to make a "major announcement" in the next 20 minutes, you drop everything and get your butt on that conference call!

Dana White went right into business to make the announcement, and it was not a happy one. White announced that former UFC heavyweight champion and current coach on this season of "The Ultimate Fighter" Brock Lesnar has been diagnosed with diverticulitis and will be out of his UFC 131 main event fight against Junior Dos Santos. Replacing Brock will be Shane Carwin in the match-up. Full audio from the conference call may be heard above.

Brock, who was on the line, stated that he had felt the symptoms for the last three months and that it has never completely left his system. During the course of his training camp for UFC 131, Brock came down with another infection and was unable to train at 100%, and will either have to have surgery to cure him of this ailment or continue antibiotics and hope it does not return again. When asked what option he has chose, Brock has not decided on which route to go yet but did say he spent 14 hours in the mayo clinic yesterday with doctors doing tests and discussing options.

Brock made it clear that he was not retiring from MMA, saying "There's a solution to every problem, and I have to find this solution to fix this problem... this is not the end of Brock Lesnar, this is just a speed bump in the road." Dana White remarked that he and Lesnar have been taking things one thing at a time and the situation "sucks", but he is glad it is not life-threatening and looking forward to his return in the octagon. Diverticulitis is a common digestive disease particularly found in the large intestine. Diverticulitis develops from diverticulosis, which involves the formation of pouches (diverticula) on the outside of the colon.

The full audio of the conference call can be heard above with all of the details from this conference call in glorious MP3 form! We at TheFightNerd.com wish Brock a speedy recovery and good luck in this, the most important fight of his life.

Here is the full audio from the conference call to promote Strikeforce's CBS card on April 17, 2010 from Nashville, TN with guests Jake Shields, Dan Henderson and Gilbert Melendez. Shields and Henderson will be meeting for the middleweight title while Melendez will defend his lightweight title against Shinya Aoki. Also on the call was Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker.

Featured on the card as well is Gegard Mousasi defending his Light Heavyweight Title against "King Mo" Muhammed Lawal and Jason "Mayhem" Miller taking on Tim Stout.

Conference Call to discuss their upcoming bout in the main event of Spike TV’s “UFC Fight Night”

Full audio from todays Strikeforce Press call. Check out thefightnerd.com after for more MMA news and original videos!

From Strikeforce: Superstar Nick Diaz, DREAM Welterweight Champion Marius “The Whitemare” Zaromskis, STRIKEFORCE 145 pound Women’s Champion Cris Cyborg, and submission expert Marloes Coenen discussed the upcoming STRIKEFORCE MIAMI mixed martial arts (MMA) fights scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 30 at BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla., LIVE on SHOWTIME® (10 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the west coast).

The 26-year-old Diaz (20-7), a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and native of Stockton, Calif, will take on DREAM welterweight (170 pounds) champ Zaromskis (13-3) in the main event and first STRIKEFORCE welterweight championship bout in history. Diaz, who will put a five fight win streak on the line, is making his first start since he submitted hard-hitting Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith on June 6, 2009. The highly explosive, 29-year-old Zaromskis, who hails from Siauliai, Lithuania, has won his last three fights on first-round knockouts via head kick.

STRIKEFORCE 145-pound women’s champion Cyborg (8-1) will defend her crown against submission expert Coenen (17-3). Cyborg made history on Aug. 15, 2009 when the 24-year-old native of Brazil stopped superstar Gina Carano with a punishing barrage of strikes in the first round of their meeting to become the first-ever STRIKEFORCE women’s champion. The long-awaited showdown between Carano and Cyborg also marked the first women’s main event in the history of any major MMA promotion. The 28-year-old Coenen, a member of Holland’s Team Golden Glory and mixed martial artist since the age of 14, made a successful STRIKEFORCE debut and avenged one of her three career defeats by overpowering and submitting Roxanne Modafferi with an armbar in the first round (1:05) on November 7, 2009.

Also on the STRIKEFORCE: MIAMI card, football legend Herschel Walker will make his professional MMA debut as he begins the next stage of his athletic career against once beaten Greg Nagy. Undefeated heavyweight Bobby Lashley (4-0) will face an opponent to be announced.