After a year of impressive wins including reclaiming the UFC Welterweight Champion, Georges "Rush" St. Pierre has been nominated for Canadian Athlete of the Year by Sportsnet.ca, one of Canada's leading sports websites.

Sportsnet's other nominees are Calgary Flames' captain Jarome Iginla, Minnesota Twins' All-Star Justin Morneau, tennis player Daniel Nestor and Paralympic wheelchair racer Chantal Petitclerc.

St. Pierre's year was highlighted by his second round TKO victory over Matt Serra in Montreal in April and a unanimous decision win over Jon Fitch in August.

Former UFC, IFL and WEC middleweight fighter Justin Levens and his wife were found dead on Wednesday afternoon. The bodies of Levens and Sarah McLean-Levens were found in their condominium in Laguna Niguel, California by the woman's mother, who then called authorities, according to Jim Amormino, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Authorities said the bodies were found in a bedroom and a gun was also found at the scene.

Amormino said homicide investigators are looking into the case as a possible murder and suicide. There were no signs of a struggle, he said.

Levens fought in several different MMA promotions over the past few years including UFC, IFL and WEC. The former Marco Ruas' Vale Tudo student was scheduled to compete at Affliction: Banned in July of this year, but due to delays at the event, the fight was scrapped at the last minute. He later returned positive results for the painkiller Oxymorphone as part of his pre-fight drug testing. He was fined $1,000 and suspended until January 15, 2009.

Levens (9-8) had a promising career early on, winning his first seven fights and landing himself in the UFC, but he was never able to string together more than two wins from that point on. Levens's career ends on a five-fight losing streak and eight losses out of his last ten fights.

Coincidentally enough, Levens had actually once fought the late Evan Tanner at UFC 59. Tanner also found dead earlier this year due to dehydration in a California desert.

Levens, born in Philadelphia on April 18, 1980, was 28 at the time of his death. His wife, Sarah, was 25.

We also want to send out our sincere apologies to the Levens' family, friends and relatives.

TOKYO (AFP) — Japan's Olympic judo heavyweight champion Satoshi Ishii plans to join the US-based Ultimate Fighting Championship next year, bypassing domestic competitions.

The 21-year-old university student disappointed Japan's judo circles last month when he announced a switch to the cash-laden world of mixed martial arts three months after his gold-medal feat in his Olympic debut in Beijing.

"I have had UFC on my mind as my ultimate goal," Ishii was quoted as saying by the Nikkan Sports daily Wednesday.

"I had thought about fighting a few matches in Japan at first. But if this were train travel, my credentials would be an express ticket. I wonder why I should bother to go by a slow train," he said.

Ishii said UFC was "what (US) Major Leagues are to baseball."

"There are many strong fighters in the heavyweight rank. I think it's the real thing."

But Ishii, due to graduate from Tokyo's Kokushikan University in March, said he had not yet started talks with UFC.

UFC, packaged as a no-holds-barred sport with matches fought in a octagonal caged ring, is considered the largest mixed martial arts promotion in the world with growing popularity worldwide via television.

"I want to go to the United States around next March and make sure I can get used to the environment and go on without accumulating stress," he told the daily. "I'll make my debut next summer or autumn at the earliest."

Ishii, relatively small for a judo heavyweight at 181 centimetres (six feet) and 110 kilograms (240 pounds), has long expressed his wish to compete in mixed martial arts, which combines techniques from judo, karate, kick-boxing and wrestling.

He had been reportedly lured by DREAM and other Japanese mixed martial arts organisations.

Ishii was one of the only two Japanese who made the podium in men's judo as Japan registered a record-low Olympic medal haul in the sport at the Beijing Games.

Japan's judo establishment fears that Ishii, who has irritated judo purists with his no-holds-barred style, could inspire others to follow him into a sport full of colourful figures, in which his earnings could easily top 100 million yen (one million dollars) per match. (AFP)

World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) bantamweight fighter Will Ribeiro was in a motorcycle accident early Tuesday morning and is currently comatose in a hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, according to a report by Frank Curreri on WEC.tv.

Ribeiro's manager, Ed Soares, confirmed the news.

Soares said one of his assistants in Brazil told him Ribeiro was riding as a passenger on the motorcycle and was not wearing a helmet. The street they were riding on was slick due to rain. Ribeiro was rushed to a local hospital and underwent emergency surgery.

"My assistant said that the doctor said for sure that he (Ribeiro) has lost sight in one of his eyes," Soares told WEC.tv. "He's still in a coma. After surgery the doctor said there is a 50-50 shot that he will come out of it (survive)."

Ribeiro (10-2), launched his professional career five years ago in his native Brazil. After a 9-1 start to his career, which included a 3-0 mark in Shooto, he made his WEC debut with a split decision victory over Chase Beebe in June.

Ribeiro currently ranked No. 7 in the world at 135 pounds, competed recently at WEC 37 in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 3, where he lost by submission to No. 2 ranked Brian Bowles.

The 25-year-old Brazilian is an extremely well-rounded fighter who grew up poor and lost his father at the age of 2. His mother also died, leaving Ribeiro to raise his 12-year-old sister.

"He's a very positive guy, very hard-working, a good person," Soares said of Ribeiro to WEC.tv. "He had had a very rough life. His mother passed away like seven years ago and he took over the care of his younger sister. He's like a father-brother-mother to her... I'm still crushed right now."

Three-time K-1 World Grand Prix and current K-1 Super Heavyweight Champion Semmy Schilt will return to fighting under MMA rules on the big stage at FieLDS Dynamite!! 2008 on New Year's Eve at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Schilt (25-14-1 in MMA) has found greater success in K-1 but has had an extensive career as a mixed martial artist. Beginning with Pancrase, Schilt moved onto the UFC and then PRIDE FC. His last major MMA appearance was at a K-1 HERO'S event in August 2006, where he won via triangle choke against Kim Min-soo. He fought in January of this year, knocking out a relatively unknown opponent at an event in Serbia.

In one of the three bouts added on Tuesday to the card, Schilt will face fellow K-1 fighter Mighty Mo. Mighty Mo, a Samoan-American kickboxer, has only three professional MMA bouts to his credit, winning all three by TKO or KO, and this will mark his first MMA action in a year and a half. Schilt and Mighty Mo have fought before under K-1 kickboxing rules. Schilt defeated Mo by decision in a K-1 Super Heavyweight title bout in June 2007.

The other two additions are Yoshihiro Sato vs Artur Kyshenko in a K-1 bout and Hideo Tokoro vs Daisuke Nakamura in a MMA bout.

There are also two previously announced high profile lightweight MMA bouts on the card. Joachim Hansen, who won the DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix earlier this year, will fight Gesias Calvancante and Shinya Aoki will square off with Eddie Alvarez.

Here is the current fight card for FieLDS Dynamite!! 2008:

• Semmy Schilt vs Mighty Mo (DREAM rules)

• Hideo Tokoro vs Daisuke Nakamura (DREAM rules)

• Yoshihiro Sato vs Artur Kyshenko (K-1 rules)

• Jerome LeBanner vs Mark Hunt (DREAM rules)

• Shinya Aoki vs Eddie Alvarez (DREAM rules)

• Kozo Takeda vs Tatsuya Kawajiri (K-1 rules)

• Musashi vs Gegard Mousasi (K-1 rules)

• Kazushi Sakuraba vs Kiyoshi Tamura (DREAM rules)

• Joachim Hansen vs Gesias "JZ Calvan" Calvancante (DREAM rules)

• HIROYA vs Shota Shimada (K-1 KOSHIEN Semifinal/K-1 rules)

• Ryuya Kusakabe vs Koya Urabe (K-1 KOSHIEN Semifinal/K-1 rules)

• Winner of HIROYA/Shimada vs Winner of Kusakabe/Urabe (K-1 KOSHIEN Final/K-1 rules)

UFC light heavyweight fighter Tim "The Barbarian" Boetsch has signed a new four-fight deal with the UFC and is ready to get back to competition.

Boetsch made his big league debut in the International Fight League (IFL) as a late replacement to fight Belarusian MMA veteran Vladimir "The Janitor" Matyushenko. He was given three days to prepare for the match, and fought the future champion to a decision. After this performance, Boetsch made his UFC debut at UFC 81: Breaking Point as a late replacement to fight David Heath. He was given ten days to prepare for the fight, and won by TKO in the first round. Boetsch received particular acclaim and a fan following for the way he threw Heath onto his head at the end of the fight. Boetsch next made his main card debut in the UFC as a replacement to fight Matt Hamill at UFC Fight Night 13 with six weeks to prepare for the fight. Though he opened a large gash on Hammill's lower lip, he found himself winded in the second round, leading to a TKO loss due to stikes from the ground.

Boetsch fought submission specialist Mike Patt at UFC 88: Breakthrough. For the first time in four fights, he did not enter the bout as a replacement for another fighter. he won by TKO in the 1st round.

Boetsch anticipates a March return to competition, though he is unsure of his next opponent. He is currently training at his gym, Triple Threat, in Sunbury, Pennsylvania.

"I'm real stoked," said Boetsch. "I'm excited to get back in there, secure my job for another year; that's always a good thing. I'm looking forward to getting in there and showing people the new an improved 'Barbarian'. And just continue to gain that experience and climb up the ladder."

Former WWE superstar Bobby Lashley won his mixed martial arts debut Saturday night at Mixed Fighting Alliance's inaugural show "There Will Be Blood" at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida.

Lashley took down and rained down right hands against fellow MMA newcomer Joshua Franklin, opening a cut that led to the fight being stopped 41 seconds into the fight.

Lashley, who trains with the American Top Team, is a former National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Wrestling Champion.

In the main event of the card, ten-year MMA veteran Jeff "The Snowman" Monson avenged a TKO loss to Ricco Rodriguez from UFC 35: Throwdown in 2002 by winning a unanimous decision against the former UFC Heavyweight Champion.