Morning Droppings

- First Horodecki, then Hieron. L.A.Anacondas welterweight and Long Island native Jay Hieron suffered an injury while training and will be sidelined for the August 2 IFL semifinals, for which he was scheduled to fight Silverbacks welterweight Rory Markham. Anacondas coach Shawn Tompkins will announce later today the replacements for both Horodecki and Hieron.

- UFC lightweight Roger Huerta will take on his third UFC newcomer in as many fights, as he is scheduled to fight Alberto Crane next month at UFC 74. Crane carries an impressive 8-0 record, with seven of those wins coming via submission.

- UFC.com is reporting that former UFC heavyweight champ Frank Mir will be returning to the UFC octagon for UFC 74 in a match against Antoni Hardonk.

- UFC veteran Marvin Eastman is rumored to face the hard-hitting Miletich fighter Drew McFredries in a middleweight showdown as part of the UFC 77 card, which will be headlined by a middleweight championship match between Anderson Silva and Rich Franklin.

- With Chris Leben out of the UFC Fight Night 11 match between him and Mike Swick, it looks like Jonathan Goulet will instead fight Swick. Both fighters have agreed to the fight, according to MMAWeekly. Yesterday, Goulet issued the challenge to Swick, who gladly accepted.

The Kodiak Kongratulates

- Hats off to BJ Penn. "The Prodigy" looked his absolute best last night and completely dominated Jens Pulver, getting the better of the stand-up exchanges and controlling the action on the ground. Was it me, or did BJ hold onto that choke a little longer than necessary?

- Roger Huerta, Joe Lauzon, Cole Miller, and Leonard Garcia won fights that they were supposed to win, so kudos to them.

- Kimbo Slice is on his way. He beat "Merciless" Ray Mercer last night with a standing guillotine choke in the first round. Now I want to see him fight a real mized martial artist.

- Mazel tov to Nick "The Mad Monkey" Serra, who took on a very tough Mike Varner and scored a second-round arm bar win to capture the Cage Fury Fighting Championship welterweight title.