While the transition to fighting came easy for Jake Shields, his road to the top of the sport was anything but. For over ten years, Jake fought around the world in various mixed martial arts promotions and competed in hundreds of grappling tournaments, before finally signing with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

While he has dealt with an immense amount of adversity to get to this level of the sport - being broke, not having insurance, and raising a daughter as a single father - he has attributed his ability to succeed and overcome these obstacles to the strength and loyalty of his team around him.

It is commonplace in mixed martial arts for fighters to switch gyms and change affiliations between fight camps, but Shields and his teammates at Caesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu have remained devoutly loyal to one and other over the years. The "skrap pack" which consists of Shields, UFC fighters Nick and Nate Diaz, and Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez, is arguably the most successful fight team in MMA today.

Today a press conference was held to announce an exciting new partnership between the Jackson's MMA Series and EXPO New Mexico.

According to Jackson's GM Ricky Kottenstette the move will further improved the visibility of the promotion and the sport within Albuquerque.

"Bringing the series to the heart of Albuquerque will benefit the city while affording more fans the opportunity to see first rate MMA," Kottenstette told the media in attendance.

As Jake Shields continues his move back to middleweight strength training remains a very important part of his rigorous workouts. The Ultimate Fighting Championship contender talked to Dylan Falduto about how an active vegetarian lifestyle has allowed him to successfully compete in multiple divisions.

"Everything is going really good. I'm in the early fight prep. Just doing a lot of fundamental striking and wrestling. Lifting a lot of weights. I am trying to bulk up, because I am moving up a weight class."

Along with strength and conditioning, Shields finds himself eating much more liberally as he prepares for his return as a middleweight. "I work out so much so I have to make sure I eat a lot. I try to eat about six meals a day. I take a couple protein shakes. I use Sun Warrior protein. I drink one shake in the morning and one at night, and just try to eat as much as possible."

Combat Sports Club returned to the Santa Ana Star Center on July 28, 2012, for the Combat Sports Expo 2012 and Southwest Grapplefest 7.

The event featured not only the regular regional grappling championships for men, women, and children of all ages and skill levels in both Gi and NoGi; but also showcased its first CrossFit competition, Westside Power Gym's Strong Man demonstration, and a mitts exhibition by Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA fighters Isaac Vallie-Flagg, Buddy Roberts, Tim Means, Travis Marx, Diego Brandao and Jodie Esquibel, with assistant striking coach Brandon Gibson.

Combat Sports Club's declared core purpose is "to facilitate the safe development of its athletes and to foster camaraderie and sportsmanship through fair competition." Grapplefest participants included not only area Jiu Jitsu schools like Santa Fe BJJ, ABQ BJJ, Gracie-Barra BJJ, Flow Roller BJJ, Alchemy BJJ, but also mixed martial arts gyms like Team 4Corners, Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA, Mean1 MMA, FIT NHB, J5 MMA, Lovato Total Fitness, Fitness Kicks, ABQ Kickboxing, Bio Dog MMA, and Judgment MMA.

While the world's most premier athletes are testing their abilities in London at the most prestigious sporting event known to man, the Olympics, U.S. Army Soldiers are also preparing to do battle at Fort Hood, Texas.

The 2012 Army Combatives Championship ends today, July 28 after beginning earlier this week. The four-day event kicked off July 25 with weigh-ins. On Thursday competitors squared off in the preliminary rounds and those who succeeded moved onto the semi-finals yesterday.

At 4 p.m. today, the final rounds will be held at Abrams Physical Fitness Center. The tournament will begin with third place fights in each weight class, followed by championship fights. Going into the final rounds the current standings are as follows:

Josh "Pitbull" Torres won a hard-fought victory over the more experienced Joe Gomez after six rounds of action as the main event at Chavez' Promotions "Warehouse Rumble 2: Friday Night Fights" at the YDI Wool Warehouse, on July 27, 2012.

Torres (8-2-1 of Team Tapia in Albuquerque) easily took the first and second rounds, landing overhands and hooks followed by uppercuts on the taller opponent, but Gomez (18-7-1 of Bloomfield, NM) landed his own fair share of jabs and body shots.

The second and third rounds saw more bodywork and hooks landed by Gomez, while Torres spent more time defending. Torres came back in the fifth round, using more angles, landing a few big left hooks, but Gomez chin was solid, and countered nearly every shot, though not with the same power.

Fight Party, one of the south's longest running and most prestigious MMA promotions, will be the first sanctioned professional mixed martial arts fight to take place in Montgomery, Alabama when it invades the Convention Center on Saturday.

Packed with five professional bouts, two advanced contests, and three amateur fights Fight Party is to be headlined by three-time Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Rodney "Shonuff" Wallace against Aaron "Tex" Johnson in the 185-pound division.

The night's main event, which will put the organization's middleweight title up for grabs, is surrounded by rumors that a possible UFC contract is also on the line for the winner of Wallace vs. Johnson.

With countless grappling titles to his name Genesis BJJ black belt Tony Tipton is another aspirant tackling the new venture of professional mixed martial arts.

Fully aware of the tough road that lies ahead the ambitious Texan looks forward to the rollercoaster ride the MMA world will take him on as he looks to attain his desired goals in the sport.

USCS Reporter Monta Wiley got the opportunity to speak with Tipton and get an in-depth glimpse of this rising prospect's plans on bringing a new flavor of excitement to the mixed martial arts scene.

Wrestling is a sport unlike most as a series of transitions are required to defeat an opponent. In all sports a key to winning is in transition, but none more than wrestling.

The third sanctioned sport by the NCAA, behind track and field, wrestling is a battle between two hungry athletes where rest is for the weary and will cost a wrestler a victory.

A series of moves is important to success, which comes from a wealth of knowledge, practice, hard work, and excellent coaching. One of the biggest faults of high school wrestlers is being unsure how to perform a skill correctly at a certain point.

Corey Hill, scheduled to participate in the XFC 19: Charlotte Showdown main event on August 3, received a call last night from XFC President John Prisco that his opponent Jason South has dropped from the fight for personal reasons.

Prisco extended the invitation to replace South with 14-5-1 Mike Bronzoulis, to which Hill quickly agreed saying "Let's do this!" The change, announced publicly today via XFC staff, comes just a few short weeks before the promotion ventures into Charlotte, North Carolina for the first time.

Bronzoulis is a Strikeforce and Legacy FC veteran with 20 professional fights that include 14 victories. He has earned a reputation for his fan friendly style of fighting which boils down to constant forward movement combined with precision power striking.