MMA News Thread

[Shogun Locc]

KENDALL GROVE - "THIS IS A MAKE OR BREAK FIGHT"

Stepping into the main event of The Ultimate Fighter 7 Live Finale this Saturday night, former Ultimate Fighter winner Kendall Grove has refocused his life to prepare for his match-up with Evan Tanner. He went home to Hawaii where he trained with good friend B.J. Penn, he’s got a daughter on the way in August and a school of his very own opening in September.



Coming off of back-to-back losses, Grove knows the importance of this bout, but he won’t yield to the pressure that he says cost him in his last two fights.



“Honest to God, I ain’t got no pressure coming into this fight,” said Grove in an interview with MMAWeekly Radio. “That’s what I did wrong in my last fight with Jorge (Rivera), I took into that fight like ‘aw, (expletive) I can’t get hit, I don’t want to get hit, I don’t want get hit.’



“That’s what screwed me up in the past is me putting all that pressure on myself. I’ve got to win. I’ve got to win. No, I’ve just got to go out there and fight. That’s all that matters.”



Grove said he went back to Hawaii to train with Penn and be with family and remember how to have fun with fighting like he always intended on doing. The camp has him at peak performance going in against Tanner.



“Every day is a learning experience, and just opened my mind up to a whole new different kind of training,” he stated. “I love it. My cardio is the best I’ve had it.”



While the Season 3 winner went home to Hawaii to train, his fight on The Ultimate Fighter Season 7 Finale will be a return home to the show where he fought and defeated Ed Herman to earn his contract with the UFC.



Now, Grove feels like many of the competitors on the show are there to be famous and not be fighters.



“Is it The Ultimate Fighter or the ultimate actors?” he commented with a laugh. “There are fighters that come on the show, but they do pick a lot of dramatic guys who want to be actors. They’re there for the wrong reasons. Every season there are game fighters who are there for one reason, and one reason only, and that is to fight and win. But you’ve got to understand there’s also guys there to pursue their acting career, to get their 15 minutes of fame on TV. That kind of makes us as other Ultimate Fighters look bad.”



And with this season focusing on middleweights, Grove’s weight class, he feels he may have a few challengers from the latest class of Ultimate Fighters.



“There’s 16 guys there I wouldn’t mind smacking up,” he said about this season’s cast.



The challenge in front of Grove right now though is former UFC middleweight champion Evan Tanner, and the Hawaiian takes this fight very seriously. He refers to Tanner as a “legend” and one of the best fighters to ever step into the Octagon, but he also knows just how important this fight is to both of them, coming off of losses in their last bouts respectively.



“This is a make or break fight for both of us,” stated Grove. “We’re both coming off devastating losses, make it or break right here. I think that’s what’s going to make it a good fight. Each one of us has everything to gain and everything to lose. I forget who told me this but ‘America is built on winning,’ and nobody likes a loser, so there you go.



“I lost twice and I hate it. The worst feeling in the world right there to get embarrassed, and that’s what happened in my last fight. I got embarrassed bad. I brought it upon myself and not taking anything away from Jorge, he’s a great fighter, great competitor, but it just wasn’t me.”



Grove will look to get back on the winning track when he faces Evan Tanner in the main event of The Ultimate Fighter 7 Live Finale on Spike TV, Saturday night, June 21.

 

[Shogun Locc]

ROTHWELL HAS THE INSIDE TRACK ON ARLOVSKI

You could say Ben Rothwell knows Andre Arlovski better than most. For several months in 2005 and 2006, Rothwell was Arlovski.

On three separate occasions – UFC 51, 59, and 61 – one of Rothwell’s training partners, Tim Sylvia, met Andre Arlovski for the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight title. In Sylvia’s preparation for the latter two, he had Rothwell play the part of the Belarusian.

Rothwell went to school, studying Arlovski’s strengths and weaknesses. Standing opposite his 6’8” cohort, he tried to re-create Arvloski’s fast hands, his graceful footwork. The more he mimicked the former champ, the more deeply he understood what Sylvia was up against.

“I was going to make sure Tim wasn’t going to see anything that he hadn’t seen already,” Rothwell recently told MMAWeekly.com. “So I understand Arlovksi.”

Of course, a fighter’s gym serves as a laboratory, and the real world can be different. But when Rothwell got word that he would be facing the man he was for that small epoch in time, he was ready to go.

Now all he has to do is put himself in Sylvia’s position. That’s not as easy as it sounds.

“When you’re in the ring doing it, it doesn’t really matter, because Tim obviously has things that he can do differently,” he continues. “Even though I was Arlovski, it doesn’t mean that I have someone to be Arlovski for me. It’s a whole new challenge for me. But at least I’m understanding what I’m getting in the ring with.”

If this all sounds like some weird transpersonal experiment in the fight game, it might be. In a sense, Rothwell is relying on his muscle memory for Arlovski’s feel, his rhythms. Doing that, he can train his body to counter the attacks he will face.

Rothwell is doing his best to find people who can do what he did a few years ago. Sylvia is still around, but is preparing to face an entirely different animal of fighter, Fedor Emelianenko, the same night the Kenosha, Wis. resident goes to war with Arlovski.

Rothwell’s coach, Pat Miletich, sees the bout as an extension of Sylvia’s trilogy.

“He’s 1-2 against Tim, from our camp, now he’s fighting another monster from our gym,” he said. “So you know he’s training hard and getting geared up to try and beat a guy from my gym. He’s well aware of Ben’s abilities.”

July 19 is Rothwell’s first appearance after a long period of limbo in his career. After going undefeated in the International Fight League, Rothwell left the organization near the peak of his popularity. As one of the IFL’s marquee fighters, he had gotten more exposure than anywhere before. He sees Affliction’s “Banned” as an opportunity to step back into the spotlight, and ultimately, give the fans a new guy to root for.

“If I go in and do it as I know I can and beat him, then it’s two great heavyweights,” Rothwell explains. “Because Andre’s already proven himself. Win or lose, Andre has fans, and I’m the guy that has the most to gain from this, and I want to go out and make that happen.”

Rothwell hesitates to name Arlovksi as his toughest challenge yet. It’s almost like he’s already faced the former champ; he respects him, but he’s also seen a lot of tough fights.

“I fought a 15 minute war with Tim (Sylvia) when we were both younger, and that’s obviously always going to be a super tough fight,” he said. “I’ve had some wars, there’s no doubt about it. Andre and I, we both have the type of fists that can end fights quickly. He’s been talking about it, saying we’re going to have a war. That’s what I hope happens.”

The best case for fight of the night will be if the two stand toe-to-toe. But with his outlook, perhaps gleaned from his inside information, Rothwell tells fans to expect the unexpected when they meet.

“Don’t be surprised if you see Andre shoot a double,” Rothwell said. “Don’t be surprised if you see Andre go for a submission. It’s a thing I know could easily happen, and I plan on presenting the same problems for him.”

 

[Shogun Locc]

DREAM 5: Lightweight Grand Prix finals and a whole lot more

The Japanese-based DREAM mixed martial arts promotion recently announced the semifinal bouts for the final two rounds of its lightweight grand prix tournament slated for the Osaka-jo Hall in Osaka, Japan on July 21.

The remaining fights are Shinya Aoki (16-2) vs. Caol Uno (25-10-4) and Eddie Alvarez (14-1) vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri (22-4-2).

Like grand prix’s of the past, the semifinal winners will compete in the finals the very same night, creating a sense of urgency in the opening round which (unlike domestic organizations) runs an exhausting ten minutes.

An early stoppage can leave a fighter fresh and fluid for a second battle. Yet a hard fought decision victory can leave that same fighter gassed before the finals even begin. Fortunately this is a lightweight contest and lightweight fighters traditionally have a better chance of maintaining their endurance.

Aside from the grand prix, Palace Fighting Championship (PFC) competitor Joseph Benavidez (7-0) will try and upset featherweight wrecking machine Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto (17-1).

The up-and-coming Benavidez last competed on May 8 at PFC 8 where he submitted the 3-8 Maurice Eazel via submission in the first round. Yamamoto on the other hand has been obliterating the competition since 2001 in both Shooto and K-1, with his lone loss coming from a cut he suffered against Stephen Palling back in 2002.

Also on the card, UFC and EliteXC headliner Nick Diaz (16-7) will fight PRIDE veteran Hayato “Mach” Sakurai (32-8-2) for the first-ever DREAM welterweight title - assuming Diaz doesn’t end up in jail after street fighting with bitter rival KJ Noons prior to that.

DREAM 5 is also set to showcase the overdue rematch between Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic (23-6-2) and K-1 superstar Jerome LeBanner (3-1-1). Cro Cop pulled out of his DREAM 4 grappling match against Ralek Gracie after suffering a minor knee injury so that he could devote 100% of himself to this bout.

Also scheduled to compete are Yoshihiro Akiyama (10-1) and Denis Kang (29-10-1), both against opponents yet to be named.

We’ll have more on this developing card as it comes together.

 

[Shogun Locc]

TUF 7 Finale Betting Odds

THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER: Season 7 Finale
June 21, 2008 - The Pearl at the Palms Casino, Las Vegas, NV

KENDALL GROVE +160
EVAN TANNER -200

LUIGI FIORAVANTI +365
DIEGO SANCHEZ -465

JEREMY STEPHENS +155
SPENCER FISHER -195

DUSTIN HAZELETT +160
JOSH BURKMAN -200

MARVIN EASTMAN +115
DREW MCFEDRIES -145

JEREMY HORN +120
DEAN LISTER -110

 

[Ethereal]

LOL @ Megadeth I didn't even know they were still around.

 

[Shogun Locc]

A chat with Rudimar Fedrigo

Owing some attention to one of the greatest leaders of the fight world in Brazil, GRACIEMAG.com decided to contact Rudimar Fedrigo to catch up on things, and the conversation paid off. Always helpful, Mestrao (Big Master), as his athletes call him, didn't hide his happiness for his team's latest results and analyzed the big names who have been making noise in events abroad, and of course spoke of the mood in his training center: "The academy is going really well. Everyone is training with high spirits every day," he began.

The next subject was Fabricio Werdum, who seems to have incorporated the trademark Chute Boxe aggressiveness his game was missing and made it to the top of the list of challengers for the belt. "Werdum is progressing very well, and is pleasing all his coaches. He has a great chance of fulfilling the academy's old dream, of becoming heavyweight champion. I would like for his next fight to be for the title, but let's wait and see. He is excited and has been on the right track. Chute Boxe has a personal project of making his a champion," the master stated.

Rudimar also spoke about Vitor Belfort's recent appearance at the team's headquarters in Curitiba. Vitinho has a fight set for July 19 at Affliction against Terry Martin, but should not be joining the team permanently.

"I haven't spoken with Belfort again. I found out through the press he would be doing the rest of his preparations in Rio. What happened was a welcome coincidence, but he only trained here one weekend, as he was just passing through the city. It was just technical training, but I like him, he's a great person and whenever he wants the doors are always open," he explained.

As the team is big, Rudimar carried on listing the achievements and talking about his pupils: "Luiz Azeredo was all set to travel today. It's a shame, but we're already looking at another American event for him," he said, referring to the cancellation of the Godz of War event, which would take place on Saturday.

"At Sengoku 3 we have Fabio Silva, who put in a great appearance and got the knockout, and Maicon Costa, who had an excellent appearance and pleased the public a lot. He had been winning but ended up getting caught at the end of the fight," he added.

There was still time for Rudimar to speak about some others who had been in the public eye: Daniel Acacio and Jiu-Jitsu instructor Cristiano Marcelo. So the Chute Boxe chief let out some first hand news: "Cristiano Marcelo and Daniel Acacio are talking with Sengoku and may be in the next event," he finished.

 

[Shogun Locc]

Wand glad for Galvao, Jacare and Ninja

Wanderlei Silva disembarks this Friday in Curitiba, with his spirits soaring. THe Brazilian put an end to his losing streak by knocking out tough Keith Jardine at UFC 84, and returned to the list of top challengers in the division. Enjoying a well-deserved break, Wand took some time to update his blog, and expressed his happiness for the successes of friends of his in the fight world.

"Wednsday I'm going to Los Angeles to personally congratulate Andre Galvao, who once again became world champion after getting the submission in all his fights and providing excitement for the crowd. Another who left no doubt about his performance was (Murilo) Ninja, who managed a great win over a tough adversary who was unbeaten in 16 fights. This fight showed the real Murilo Ninja. To end I cannot forget to mention Jacare's win, who is now in the Dream semifinals. I believe he will be champion of this tournament. This is only the beginning of his international career," said Wand.

That Dana White is a fan of the Brazilian's performances is already known, the beast revealed he is being sought after for a return to the octagon to star in yet another UFC event. "Meanwhile, here in (Las) Vegas, things are continuing to happen. I'm already being sought after for another bout. For now I only want to fight again in December, since it's the biggest event of the year and I should be ready to fight again by then," said the former Pride fighter.

 

[Shogun Locc]

DREAM had a post fight conference

On Jun 16, DREAM had a press conference at Hotel East 21 in Tokyo. Middleweight tournament finalists such as Ronaldo Jacare, Melvin Manhoef, Gegard Mousasi and Zelg BenkeiGalesik, and the lightweight tournament finalist, Shinya Aoki.

Sasahara:
Middleweight finalists are very competitive and I don't know who wins this tournament. I'm disappointed to see all Japanese fighters lost. I assume they learned how hard it is to survive in MMA. I was amazed to see Aoki's submission. His performance was stunning and his behavior was the best as usual. I hope he becomes a leader of Japanese MMA. I was reported to that Sakuraba broke an ulna on his right arm in the fight. He is taking an examination of right arm as well as his old injury on his knee in a hospital. I heard he was dejected; nevertheless I think he wants to come back when he is cured.
Aoki:
I thank Sasahara for letting me stay in this hotel to attend to this conference. I want to get a belt on July 21. Uno is always in style and has the opposite personality.
Ronaldo Jacare:
An event we had last night was awesome. I felt our fans enjoyed a lot. I was very glad to fight in such an event.
Melvin Manhoef:
It was a wonderful event last night. Our fans responded very good and I had good fights. DREAM is developing, so we could have a great event. I hope DREAM will be better and better.
Gegard Mousasi:
DREAM is a great event. I dreamed about fighting and winning in this event. I will make every effort to be a big fighter.
Zelg Benkei Galesik:
We had a great event. An atmosphere in the arena was more than what I expected. I'm glad to remain in the tournament. I go home and plan for the final. I think our fights will be very intense.

 

[Shogun Locc]

Sin City Sentinel: Tyson Training for MMA?

LAS VEGAS -- Word on the hot Vegas streets is that Mike Tyson is training again, but for what? The former heavyweight boxing champion and "Baddest Man on the Planet" has long been a source of speculation among MMA fans.

A source, who asked to remain anonymous, informed Sherdog.com that Tyson has been quietly "training his ass off" with a prominent strength and conditioning coach in the area. The source also stated that Tyson "is not going to do boxing anymore," but when asked if "Iron Mike" was going to try MMA, the source shrugged, "I don't know, I can't say."

In recent years, the rumor mill linked the 41-year-old Tyson with EliteXC heavyweight Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson, Quinton Jackson (Pictures) and Tito Ortiz (Pictures) among others. In 2006, he was a guest referee at a World Cage Fighting Championship bout in Manchester, England and signed an appearances-only contract with the now-defunct Pride Fighting Championships.

 

[Robby2Slobby]

LOL.. Tyson looks to weight like 320 right now. I don't think the dude is going to be fighting again anytime soon.

 

[heyzel]

Big For One’s Britches

by Alan Conceicao



case you were in a cave today, Dana White decided to both debase the “MMA media” and concurrently announce that the big world shattering announcement was that some guy who part owns the UFC is now going to work in the office full time. It was quite the press release that Kevin Iole made up for the event and submitted as actual journalism, and I’m sure the glorified bloggers that imagine themselves to be reporters are spending hours trying to determine how to compare it to the night Andre The Giant stole the WWF title.

What was of particular interest was the discussion by the Two Musketeers of Ultimate Fighting of a plan to take the sport globally whilst demanding an “NBA style contract” for the airing of the programming. In fact, the plan makes the UFC the biggest sports league (and by virtue of that, MMA the biggest sport) in the entire world. Meditate on that for a second, because I have. And boy, is it hilarious. In fact, let me go forth to talk about that.

To understand how absolutely, mindbogglingly insane this is, first consider that there is no sport on earth with any significant global presence that attempts to be both promoter and sanctioning body at once. None. Not golf. Not auto racing in any form. Not soccer. Not rugby. Not basketball. Not tennis. Everyone single one of those relies on a vast system of local promoters, team owners, managers, and independent sanctioning. Basketball on a global scale works under the Fédération Internationale de Basketball, not the National Basketball Association. Sure, the NBA is its most powerful “rival”, however when it comes to international tournament play or creating rules for the Olympics, FIBA is responsible for that. Soccer features massive governing bodies like the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and, of course, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), who are responsible for running and maintaining the world’s largest events (UEFA Cup and World Cup soccer tournaments). Automobile Racing on an almost universal basis answers to La Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), who in turn sanction and create the rules for the most popular forms of the sport on this planet (chiefly Formula One, WRC, and sports car racing).

Even organizations that the UFC has patterned itself after such as NASCAR are reliant on local track operators to advertise coming events of a local, regional, or national status. Other international sanctioning bodies also rely on the facilities to promote their event first and foremost as well as set up television coverage. One only has to look at how professional tennis and golf jump around the dial.

The UFC totally diverges from this. They demand control of TV production. They demand to promote the events. They demand to book the shows. They demand to sanction the shows. They demand to set up and maintain the TV coverage. They demand all of this come directly from the front office, and their reluctance to give up an iota of control has cost them lucrative contracts with, it seems, virtually every major network, ESPN, and HBO. Its cost them the ability to run Japan. It cost them Fedor Emelianenko (remember how his management wanted to promote UFC shows in Russia?) They’ve purposely alienated themselves from fighters within the sport in ways that no professional league has done since the civil rights movement.

Not only have they embarked on a path that, quite bluntly, has accomplished none of their major objectives in the last 2 years and put them in a position that they must run a money losing show in July, they’ve embarked on one that has never, ever worked at anything remotely close the scale they are discussing. Oh yeah, money. Remember that Dana and Lorenzo are talking about being “bigger than soccer.” Money is sort of important. To demand an “NBA style” contract would be to establish that they can generate NBA style revenues, which if anything, the UFC has proven without a shadow of a doubt that they cannot.

The NBA has 30 teams of players in 2 countries whom play 82 regular season games plus expansion games plus playoff games. This means that there are roughly 1500 games a year across the United States, and averaged during the 2006-2007 regular season a staggering 17,757 attendees. That is per game. That is over 21,000,000 in a season. The UFC can’t fill 1500 seat theaters at The Palms. Even with such immense drawing power, the NBA still cannot even hope to get the production demands the UFC is looking for. On TV, PPV revenues are up, but they have shown nothing but flat ratings for their weekly programming, and even spikes in programming are nowhere near NFL regular season levels of popularity, much less most network NASCAR races.

Of course, there’s more. To compete with the biggest sports on earth, it would require you pay people accordingly. SI did a wonderful job collecting data for the US and the rest of the world. Tiger Woods made a staggering $130,000,000+. Floyd Mayweather Jr, who apparently competed in a sport that is dead and nowhere near as profitable as the UFC, made the tidy sum of over $40,000,000. The Formula One world champion, a total unknown stateside, made $46,000,000 in salary alone. And yet Sports Illustrated thought so little of every fighter in the UFC that they listed none of their signed athletes there to be potential additions to the list (though, hilariously, guess who got the honor for MMA?). There is not a single fighter in the history of the sport to gross $10,000,000 in a single year.

Well, to be fair, Lorenzo made 9 figures last year. That is pretty damned impressive. Oddly, absolutely nothing has been said asking why someone would choose to leave what seems on the surface to be such a plum job to promote a fringe sport. Nothing. Such obvious questioning has instead been replaced with infinite optimism. That he may be sensing potential revenue problems for the casino chain he runs alongside his brother for a company that primarily operates to pull in locals in a town with imploding property values as the American economy begins what is forecasted by virtually all economists to be a long term slide gets tossed out the window. That as someone who has made hundreds of millions of dollars, he may not be willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars without hope of necessarily making it backfor sometime is ignored. Hell, not even fathomed, much less argued is the obvious fact that spending hundreds of millions of dollars when in the middle of a power struggle within your sport in order to gain power (which may only be accomplished through a horrific pyrrhic victory) may not be the best idea.

The more one thinks about it, the more questions arise. What history as a fight promoter does Lorenzo Fertitta have? His other attempts at branching out, such as Zuffa Music, have generally failed miserably, and the UFC itself was on the fast track to extinction before backing into a reality show concept they paid for largely out of pocket. What has he done to establish a link between himself and blue chip sponsors, networks, production facilities, et al? He can run a casino, but that certainly doesn’t mean he can run a fight promotion. People with as much or more money have come and gone. Dana at least had a history as a mediocre boxing promoter. What is there other than casino earnings to establish where Lorenzo fits in?

What exactly am I saying? Well, to put it succinctly, the pipe dreams put forth yesterday are some of the most absurd this sport has ever seen, and that’s quite the accomplishment. If the goal is to top all sports on earth, then there is no reason to believe that failure is anything but imminent. The only hope for such success is to completely change their business model, and I’d give James Irvin better odds of beating Anderson Silva than a conscious decision being made that would benefit themselves and the sport

 

[Shogun Locc]

James Giboo vs. Brad Blackburn at UFC Fight Night 14

James Giboo (11-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) and Brad Blackburn (12-9-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will meet at the recently scheduled UFC Fight Night 14 event, which is headlined by UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin in a non-title light-heavyweight fight.

Giboo and Blackburn, UFC welterweights newcomers, recently agreed to the bout, sources close to both fighters tell MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

The event takes place July 19 at The Palms Las Vegas and airs on Spike TV.

Giboo, an Iowa-based fighter who's fought in the Midwest's top regional promotions, is currently riding a six-fight win streak. The 30-year-old has balanced a fighting career with duties as a high school biology teacher and wrestling coach. The noted ground fighter has finished nine of his 11 career victories via submission, most by rear-naked or triangle choke.

Blackburn, a former IFL fighter based out of Seattle, trains under Maurice Smith with Andy Reese, who will meet Brandon Vera at the same July 19 event. The 31-year-old has lost just once in his past five fights, which included a victory over highly touted IFL welterweight Jay Hieron in June 2007.

UFC Fight Night 14 was announced just this week. It'll counter Affliction's debut show, which features a main event of Fedor Emelianenko vs. Tim Sylvia. The "Affliction: Banned" card airs first on FSN, and then the main card will be available on pay per view ($39.95).

 

[Shogun Locc]

Jesse Taylor: "I just spiraled out of control"

Jesse Taylor, "The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest" finalist who was kicked out of the competition due to a drunken, post-show Las Vegas rampage, says he has since cut alcohol out of his life.

Taylor discussed the situation in a video interview for SpikeTV.com, and in it, he says that when the show's producers flew him back to Las Vegas, he was told it was for a follow-up interview.

Instead, UFC president Dana White broke the news that Taylor had been kicked out of the UFC and that he would be replaced in a June 21 finale fight with Amir Sadollah.

"After I was called into Vegas to talk with Dana -- first off, when I flew in there, I had no idea," Taylor said. "They told me it was just a follow-up interview. So I showed up there, and it was quite a big shock -- probably one of the most devestating things to happen to me."

After the show had concluded taping, Taylor and a few of his castmates stuck around Las Vegas for an extra night on the town. However, White later received a surveillance video of Taylor kicking out a window of a limousine and, as he said, "terrorizing female guests" at Palace Station Casino, which is operated by UFC owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta.

Just prior to the incident, Taylor had earned a ticket to the finale by defeating Nick Rossborough, Mike Dolce, Dante Rivera and Tim Credeur in a six-week span.

"The impression I think that a lot of people might think is that I was so excited that I went crazy," Taylor said. "That's not the case. Most of it just has to do with I just -- when I start drinking sometimes -- I drink a little too much. That's been a downfall for me before."

A sense of celebration soon overcame him.

"I started drinking, started thinking about how good things are and just kept drinking and drinking," he said. "I just spiraled out of control."

Taylor, while admitting that he's since quit drinking, is still hopeful for a second chance in the UFC. During this past Wednesday's season-ending episode, White told Taylor to return home, clean up his life, and then to give him a call. Some viewers have interpreted the comments as White essentially offering Taylor a potential shot of fighting at a future UFC event.

"I was just pretty much out of control," Taylor said. "I'm not going to sit here and make excuses. I just want another chance. We're all human. What I did was crazy and out of control, and the only excuse I have is that I made a horrible mistake. And honestly, drinking is cut out of my life due to this."

After defeating Credeur, C.B. Dollaway took over Taylor's spot in Saturday's finale. However, come Saturday, Taylor won't need any reminders that it could have been him fighting for the "TUF" championship and a lucrative UFC contract.

"I know what I did," Taylor said. "I know how bad I [expletive] up. It's a horrible feeling. I hope no one has to go through what I went through."

 

[Shogun Locc]

Nick Diaz: “This is war to me…”

The ever-controversial Nick Diaz had some words to say to his rival K.J. Noons regarding what happened inside of the cage after Noons’ impressive title defense against Yves Edwards. From Yahoo! Sports:

“I’m not a punk and I don’t start (expletive),” Diaz said. “They brought me to the cage to do an interview about the rematch. I was doing my job. I didn’t go in there like some crazy psycho (expletive). It wasn’t staged. But it was all because of this (expletive) poser.”

“My car pulled up in front of the hotel and he and his girlfriend and his mom and dad were there,” Diaz said. “Right away, he put his mug on me. He was staring me down and trying to give the impression that he’s hard core. I flipped him off, but he’s standing over there like he’s flashing. I go, ‘What the (expletive) are you doing? I’m not the one doing (expletive).’ I couldn’t understand why this guy is putting his mug on me, but he had to act like he was some kind of a (expletive) tough guy in front of his girlfriend and his Dad.”

“This is war, this is life, and I take this very seriously,” Diaz said. “I’m not the one bringing my family into the ring and showing them off. I’m not the one who (showed up to the pre-fight news conference) in a (expletive) suit trying to act like I’m some kind of tough guy (expletive) rich kid. This is war to me and we have a serious situation on our hands now.”

 

[Shogun Locc]

Tyson Griffin on the Road to UFC 86 part 2

videolink: http://www.rawvegas.tv/watch.php?vID=802620753192a33725f37c1057edf2

 

[Shogun Locc]

Lorenzo Wants All The Money On The Table

Zach Arnold over at FightOpinion summarizes Meltzer's tidbits on Lorenzo's assuming the throne at Zuffa:


"Lorenzo Fertitta’s big role in the company will be on the merchandising side of the equation"
Not to beat a dead horse, but our past posts here and here elaborated on the need for an upgrade in this area. MMAPayout.com has spoken with people who have interviewed with Zuffa at the executive level in the past. One of the thoughts put forward to Lorenzo in these interviews was that Dana was dropping the ball in relation to merchandising and the like, so Fertita has been aware for a while that this area is a perceived weakness of Dana's.

The UFC has closed several merchandising deals recently, but some of those seemed to move at a glacial pace. The Jakks Pacific deal, for instance, took over eighteen months to consumate. It's possible that Jakks was slow rolling the UFC until their WWE deal was up, but I feel it was more of a case of merchandising taking a back seat in priorities by UFC brass. These delays have probably meant in the tens of millions in unrealized income that could have been brought in. With Lorenzo taking the reins in this area, look for the UFC to take a leap forward domestically and internationally in their revenue derived from merchandising.

 

[Shogun Locc]

Affliction Gate Update

Sergio Non at USAToday has an update:

Atencio might sound like a diehard MMA fan gleeful over his upcoming fantasy matchups, but he's not alone — 7,000 to 8,000 tickets have been sold so far, he said. If that figure is correct, it would mean that without any major marketing and with the show still a month away, Affliction: Banned is already close to hitting the live numbers of Elite XC's much-hyped May 31 event, which reported 8,033 paid tickets for a card that had a fraction of the Affliction line-up's cachet.
The Honda Center normally seats about 17,000 for most events but may use a slightly smaller configuration for this show, much like EliteXC did for their 5/31 show. The ticket sales so far have mainly been to the hardcore audience. From this point, the ability to sell more tickets will be a measure of how well their marketing efforts are reaching the casual and mainstream audiences.

 

[Shogun Locc]

Murilo Bustamante talks about Godz of War cancellation

The cancellation of the debut edition of the Godz of War, which was planned for this Saturday, June 21, at the , surprised not only the press, but the fighters that were scheduled for the show. The Brazilian Top Team leader, Murilo Bustamante, was with ready suitcases when he was informed about the cancellation. "Actually I do not know what happened, but they told that they had a problem with the Athletic Commission. Miltinho (Vieira) and I are very disappointed because we were believing a lot at the event. I had offers to fight at and at Affliction, but I chose to believe in this event. They will have to pay a fine for athletes, but even worse is the cancellation of the event", said Murilo, clearly annoyed with the situation.

Bustamante would fly last Tuesday to the with his student Milton Vieira, who also was in the card of the event, but now he will stay at waiting for new offers. "They said they will make the event on October, but I don’t know how things will be. For a while, I will stay at and I will only get out on July, when I will have some seminars at Europe ”, said the black belt.

 

[Shogun Locc]

Murilo Bustamante talks about Godz of War cancellation

The cancellation of the debut edition of the Godz of War, which was planned for this Saturday, June 21, at the , surprised not only the press, but the fighters that were scheduled for the show. The Brazilian Top Team leader, Murilo Bustamante, was with ready suitcases when he was informed about the cancellation. "Actually I do not know what happened, but they told that they had a problem with the Athletic Commission. Miltinho (Vieira) and I are very disappointed because we were believing a lot at the event. I had offers to fight at and at Affliction, but I chose to believe in this event. They will have to pay a fine for athletes, but even worse is the cancellation of the event", said Murilo, clearly annoyed with the situation.

Bustamante would fly last Tuesday to the with his student Milton Vieira, who also was in the card of the event, but now he will stay at waiting for new offers. "They said they will make the event on October, but I don’t know how things will be. For a while, I will stay at and I will only get out on July, when I will have some seminars at Europe ”, said the black belt.

 

[naner12]

Where/when do they air DREAM fights?

They air the fights live on HDNet from Japan. It usually comes on around 3-4 AM because of the time difference but so far the shows have been worth staying up.