— Our BFFs at Complex just posted an interview with Frankie Edgar, in which “The Answer” discusses entrance music, crotch rockets, being denied by The Ultimate Fighter, and unsanctioned no-holds-barred matches in the Bronx.

— Damon D (of BetUS fame) has a new sports blog called The House of Smack, and it’s kind of amazing. Learn about the relationship between UFC event names and shitty action movies, and then check out this list of balls-out hockey goalie fights.

— Frank Shamrock will be a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live! tomorrow (12:05am ET/PT, 11:05pm CT), hyping up his fight against Cung Le, which will take place the following night. Apparently, Frank will be giving MMA instruction to “Guillermo the Parking Lot Security Guard,” whoever that is. He’s also been droning on at Fightline.com for the last couple days. Where does he find the time to train?

— CombatLifestyle‘s Tracy Lee has an amazing set of photos from the WEC 33 afterparty. Doug Marshall doesn’t seem to be taking his loss too hard…

— Tomorrow, Tim Sylvia will announce that he’s leaving the UFC and has just booked a fight against Fedor Emelianenko. Well, maybe. If his “big announcement” just has to do with turkey hunting, we’re going to be very disappointed.

8. Tito Ortiz’s grave-digger routine

We don’t know how many times Tito must have practiced this thing in the mirror at home — but you have to admit it was pretty badass the first time you saw it. To be figuratively buried under the Octagon is the pinnacle of pwnage.

7. Phil Baroni’s soliloquy
A CagePotato favorite. And we quote: “I’m the best! I’m the best eva! I’m the fuckin’ best! I’m the man! I’m the man! I’m the man! [unintelligible], you’re next! I’m the man! I’m the best eva! Eva! I’m the man! Yeaaaaahhh! Yeaaaahhhh! I’m the best! I told you.”

(tie) 6. B.J. Penn can’t stop kissing Matt Hughes

We could have sworn smooching was outlawed back at UFC 15, along with headbutting, small-joint manipulation and hair-pulling. But nevertheless, B.J. Penn leaned over and planted a big wet one on Matt Hughes after stealing his welterweight belt at UFC 46, then did it again once Hughes was able to get to his feet. As a repressed Christian farmboy, the incident may have brought up some latent desires in Matt that he wasn’t quite ready to deal with.

(tie) 6. “B.J. Penn is leaving the building!”
Sometimes you get overwhelmed with emotion; sometimes you just really need to take a dump.

By CagePotato Guest Contributor Brian Knapp

What began as innocent play-acting between friends on a backyard trampoline evolved into an unlikely career for Joe Lauzon — an information technology specialist by trade, a mixed martial artist by choice. Never in his wildest dreams could Lauzon have envisioned the path he has taken.

“It happened by accident,” Lauzon says. “We’d been power bombing and choke slamming each other on a trampoline, and it eventually turned into a grappling match to see who could stop who. A couple of my friends started training in jiu-jitsu, and the next thing I know, I’m getting triangle choked every two minutes.”

His competitive interest piqued, Lauzon decided to train, too, and through that seemingly insignificant decision, the Brockton, Mass., native charted a new course.

“I was like, ‘enough of this,’ and I started training jiu-jitsu,” he says. “And when my friends started fighting, I started fighting. A couple of years ago, I never would have thought I’d be on a billboard in Times Square.”

Lauzon has covered great distance in a short time, emerging as a top prospect inside one of the UFC’s deepest divisions. He will tackle Kenny Florian in the main event at UFC Fight Night 13 next Wednesday, April 2 at the Broomfield Event Center in Broomfield, Colo. And right now, Lauzon’s stock has never been higher.

(Just throw a band-aid on it.)

Remember when Kazushi Sakuraba said “a small scab” on his leg was the reason he would not be participating in DREAM 2′s Middleweight Grand Prix? Well, the scab has been touched by an angel — or maybe he just decided to cowboy up — because Nightmare of Battle is listing three match-ups that have been announced for the GP, including one between Sakuraba and newbie Andrews Nakahara. The other two fights will see Kiyoshi Tamura versus Masakatsu Funaki and Denis Kang versus Gegard Mousasi.

Here’s the scoop on Andrews Nakahara: he’s a 24-year-old Kyokushin Karate fighter, but there is no MMA record for him yet. He was born in Brazil, is six feet tall, and likes intimate dinner conversation. He has done well for himself in Karate tournaments, according to Kyokushin4Life:

– All American Open Karate Championships 2007 (IKO-1) – 2nd Place
– All American Open Karate Championships 2006 (IKO-1) – 1st Place
– All American Open Karate Championships 2005 (IKO-1) – 2nd Place
– All American Open Karate Championships 2004 (IKO-1) – 7th Place
– 3rd World Weight Category Championships 2005 (IKO-1) – 1st Place
– 6th South American Karate Tournament 2004 (IKO-1) – 1st Place
– Brazilian Open 2004 (IKO-1) – 2nd Place
– South American Open 2005 (IKO-1) – 1st Place

How well all this may translate to a fight with an MMA vet like Sakuraba remains to be seen. Little else is known about Nak, so who knows how extensive his wrestling and ground work has been. Oh, and if you’re the sort that likes cruising around the websites of various dojos, go here to visit Nakahara’s dojo.

(Don’t bother Nick before his morning bong rip.)

The California State Athletic Commission determined Wednesday that Nick Diaz will not be cleared to fight Jae Suk Lim at Saturday’s Strikeforce/EliteXC event. Though CSAC executive officer Armando Garcia claims that Diaz’s medical information wasn’t submitted in time for the fight, Gary Shaw refutes this: “He never mentioned anything about late medicals,” said Shaw. “And if there were late medicals it wasn’t because of Nick Diaz and it wasn’t because of EliteXC.”

Diaz underwent the medical tests required to renew his California fight license on March 10th, and noted his prescription for medical marijuana at the time; this controversial element may be at the heart of the dispute. Said Diaz’s manager Cesar Gracie:

“Nick is a naturalist by heart. He thinks Ritalin is an amphetamine. He thinks that’s really bad for you. People with ADD are kind of hyper, so he has trouble sleeping. He got the medical marijuana card and he takes his pot to go to sleep and be more focused. It’s completely legal in California. Voters voted it in. The commission is actually supposed to obey that, so this will probably open up a legal case…If they’re not even going to allow him to test clean, that doesn’t make sense. That’s overstepping their boundaries.”

Steroids actually help my E.D., but I wouldn’t expect the CSAC to bend their rules just because I have a note from my doctor. According to EliteXC Vice President Jared Shaw, Diaz will return to action on June 14 in Hawaii. As for Saturday, Lim will now fight Drew Fickett, who was also left opponent-less after Jake Shields injured his back. The lineup, as it stands now:

Main Card:
Frank Shamrock vs. Cung Le (for Strikeforce middleweight title)
Gilbert Melendez vs. Gabe Lemley (for Strikeforce lightweight title)
Drew Fickett vs. Jae Suk Lim
Mike Kyle vs. Wayne Cole
Joey Villasenor vs. Ryan Jensen

Undercard:
Luke Stewart vs. Tiki Ghosn
Jesse Jones vs. Jesse Gillespie
Darren Uyenoyama vs. Anthony Figueroa

(Sergio Gomez swings at Rich Crunkilton in the goriest fight of the night. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Doug Marshall’s light-heavyweight belt ended up around another guy’s waist last night, as Brian Stann got the better of the Rhino in a brief but wild brawl at WEC 33. Marshall took it to the Marine early and seemed to have him in trouble after landing some power punches, but in the midst of the barrage Stann fired off a left hook that connected perfectly, sending Marshall to the mat. Stann threw up his hands in victory before realizing the fight hadn’t been stopped yet; after Stann landed a couple of finishing blows from the top, Herb Dean stepped in and called the match at the 1:35 mark. Afterwards, an emotional Stann told the crowd, “All my Marines came with me in this ring. You’re all here. This belt represents all of my Marines that were with me, that couldn’t be here, that died in combat with me.” The win brings Stann’s record to 6-0, with all six of his victories coming via first-round TKO.

Chael Sonnen was also dominant in his match with Bryan Baker, spending most of the fight brutalizing Baker with ground-and-pound, and scoring some dramatic takedowns. Though Sonnen wasn’t able to earn a victory by stoppage, the judges’ scores reflected how lopsided the action was: 30-26, 30-25, and 30-25.

Also notable was the three-round war between Richard Crunkilton Jr. and Sergio Gomez. An elbow from Crunkilton slashed the back of Gomez’s head in the first round, opening a gash that spit blood for the remainder of the fight. Though Gomez had his moments during the standup exchanges, Crunkilton’s takedowns, GnP, and submission attempts were too much for Gomez to handle, and the judges awarded Crunkilton a unanimous decision.

Full results are below…

— Brian Stann def. Doug Marshall via TKO, 1:35 of round 1
— Chael Sonnen def. Bryan Baker via unanimous decision
— Marcus Hicks def. Ed Ratcliff via submission (guillotine choke) at 1:42 of round 1
— Steve Cantwell def. Tim McKenzie via submission (rear naked choke) at 2:13 of round 1
— Hiromitsu Miura def. Blas Avena via TKO at 2:35 of round 1
— Brock Larson def. John Alessio via disqualification (illegal knee) at 1:50 of round 1
— Rich Crunkilton def. Sergio Gomez via unanimous decision
— Alex Serdyukov def. Ryan Stonitsch via submission (triangle choke) at 1:35 of round 1
— Kenji Osawa and Chris Manuel fought to a draw
— Logan Clark def. Scott Harper via TKO at 4:37 of round 1

UPDATE: Here’s the video of the main event. Notice the opening staredown, where Marshall seemed unable to maintain eye contact with Stann.

Sam Caplan: You made the accusation in an interview with MMAMadness.com that Ken Shamrock has been using steroids his whole life. MMAjunkie.com published a statement earlier this week in which Ken made a full denial of your claims. Do you stand by your statement?

Frank Shamrock: Oh yeah. Yeah. I apologize; I thought it was common knowledge. I don’t know why Ken would lie about it. I was the guy who picked him up after he had his bitch tits removed.

(Source: ProElite.com)

(Anderson working the hands.)

By CagePotato Guest Contributor Ben Fowlkes

Roy Jones Jr. refuses to let go of the idea of a boxing match with Anderson Silva. Ed Soares, Silva’s manager, says that he spoke with Jones personally on Easter Sunday and Jones expressed serious interest in the fight.

“He told me that he thought that this was a good fight and he wanted to make it happen,” said Soares. “I restated the situation we’re in, that at this moment we have a contract with the UFC, an MMA fight contract, but if there’s a way to make this happen we would love to.”

Now that it’s clear both Silva and Jones want the fight, there’s just one question: What does the UFC think? Turns out, they’re not so crazy about it. Not yet, anyway.

“We’ve spoken about it,” Soares said. “At first, I think there was a lot of resistance. They don’t seem too into it, to be honest with you. We’ve heard from certain people that there’s just no way that this can happen. But never say never, you know.”

Recently the jokesters over at Bodog went ahead and handicapped the bout, despite the fact that it’s only talk at this point, and they pegged Jones as a heavy favorite with a -2800 line. Silva is going off at +1400, which is understandable since he’s never had a real pro boxing match and Jones, you know, has had a few.

Soares, who may well be biased, warns us against underestimating Silva.

In the final episode of “What Would Kimbo Do?”, Ferg realizes he’s only a figment of Average Joe’s imagination, and wakes up next to Suzanne Pleshette. Wild, man…

(Alex Schoenauer, in his sleek IFL tank, joins the April 4th event.)

A signing and a fight addition today for two organizations. Check it out:

— The EliteXC is going the way of the UFC…by signing a former NFL cast-off. ProElite has the dish from Mike Camp, manager of former baller Bobby Jones. No not that Bobby Jones. The difference between Bobby Jones and other NFLers like Brock Lesnar, Johnnie Morton, and Bob Sapp is — he’s undefeated (2-0). Oh, and he doesn’t have a penis on his chest.

B.J. won his first fight on August 24th of last year and his second was in January — both via TKO. Jones played in eleven games with the Giants during the ’02 NFL season, then bolted (aka, was released) for the mighty Arena Football League. And now he’s on to MMA. Why, you ask?

He ultimately decided to test his competitive fire by transitioning into mixed martial arts after being exposed to the sport through competitive grappling and televised MMA events.

“Somebody introduced me to submission wrestling, grappling, and I got into that and I loved it, and did very well there,” Jones was quoted as saying in an ESPN.com article last year. “I wanted to do something more and I watched MMA on TV all the time, UFC and Pride, and I fell in love with it.”

Reminds me of the time when I grew a mustache after watching a rerun of “Magnum, P.I.” It’s coming in nicely.

— The IFL has added a fight to its April 4th Jersey card. Alex Schoenauer will face Jersey boy Brendan Barrett, increasing the fight card to ten bouts on a night that will see title defenses by Vladimir “The Janitor” Matyushenko, Jay “The Thorobred” Hieron, and Wagnney Fabiano. Matyushenko will defend against Jamal Patterson in a light heavy bout, Hieron against Mark Miller for the 170 belt, and Fabiano steps in with Shad Lierley at 145 lbs. The IFL also named two replacements for the show — Jason Black, reppin’ Miletich Fighting Systems, and Jim Miller of Renzo Gracie Academy.

(“Big Daddy” Goodridge)

If you’re Bob Meyrowitz, at what point do you just throw your hands up and say, “Alright, God didn’t want me to put together a new MMA league; I’m cursed, and my bowl-shaped ring surface is fucking gay.” Because if we were in his shoes, this would be that point.

According to TheFightNetwork, Gary Goodridge’s manager Dave Wallace has announced that Goodridge will not be fighting Eric “Butterbean” Esch in a headlining “Master’s Division” match at YAMMA Pit Fighting’s debut event on April 11th, and has chosen instead to focus on a May 9th fight against Eric Pele at a Maximum Fighting Championship card in Alberta, Canada.

YAMMA 1 has already lost headliner Don Frye, his replacement Patrick Smith (probably), and two undisclosed members of the heavyweight tournament who haven’t been replaced at this point. Of course, YAMMA’s official website still has the same fight card up. Tickets still available!

Click this link and listen to the song. If you can make it through the whole thing, you have ice-water in your balls.

Good news, Potato Nation: MMA/American Gladiators star Gina Carano will be taking a break from making us cry. EliteXC announced today that Carano has been booked for their May 31st CBS debut, and will face Kaitlin Young, a 4-1 fighter hailing from the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy. Most notably, Young won an eight-woman HooknShoot tournament last November, knocking out three opponents in the same night, all within the first minute of the first round. [Ed. note: Holy fucking shit! Mo chuisle!] So basically, Gina’s gonna want to protect her face.

Also officially announced today is a bout between undefeated brawler Brett Rogers — who most recently knocked out James Thompson at “Street Certified”— and fellow heavyweight John Murphy. Meaning that the tentative main card, at this point, looks like this:

Kimbo vs. TBA (heavyweights)
Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith (for middleweight championship belt)
Gina Carano vs. Kaitlin Young (weight limit TBA?)
Phil Baroni vs. Murilo “Ninja” Rua (middleweights)
Brett Rogers vs. John Murphy (heavyweights)

Ooh, feel our goosebumps! The booking of Carano was clutch, as it adds a second mainstream-ish star to the network broadcast. We don’t know how much green Gary Shaw had to promise in order to lure the semi-estranged Carano back into the fold, but if it helps put EliteXC over with a skeptical CBS audience, it’ll be worth it. The only question is, has Crush been getting in enough MMA training between pugel-stick jousts and zip-line rides?

Speaking of which…

Photo by Roger Williams

If you’ve watched an MMA event in the last decade, chances are you’ve seen Jacob “Stitch” Duran doing his thing — patching up fighters’ faces to give them one more round. The legendary cutman — who has worked thousands of fights in boxing, kickboxing, and mixed martial arts — recently took some time to chat with us about blood, living the cutman life, the worst gash he’s seen, and stitching Dana White’s mouth shut.

CagePotato: When did you decide you wanted to rub vaseline on guys’ faces and fix gashes for a living?
Jacob “Stitch” Duran: Well, it was actually when I saw my first pint of blood coming off of one of my kickboxers. I kinda’ smiled and said, “You know what, man, this is kinda’ freaky, not everybody does this.” I got hooked on it right from the get-go and that was about 1988.

Who taught you the trade?
I studied some of the legendary cutmen that were in the game — in boxing at that point — and tried to emulate some of the techniques they did. Really, I had no pattern. I didn’t know whether what they were doing was right or was wrong. I tried to ask some of the cutmen as I was up-and-coming and for the most part they kinda’ blew me off, “Hey, fuck you. You’ve got to learn just like me. I learned off my master. I’m taking this to my grave.” So I kind of studied on my own, I started asking a lot of questions to the ringside doctors, I read manuals on blood and arteries. For the most part it was on-the-job training.

Because of those things that happened to me, it’s important for those things not to happen to other people. I’m in the process right now of producing a DVD called “Cuts, Cornermen, and Confidence: Giving the Fighter One More Round”. It’s real important. I was going to do it when I was in boxing years ago and when I got mixed up with the UFC, I realized their are so many trainers that want to learn how to properly take care of the fighters. Wrapping their hands, working corners. And I think, as an instructor, I’m qualified to do it. I figured I might as well pass on some of the ideas and work experiences that I’ve gone through, so that these guys don’t have to go through what I went through. For the game to get better, we have to teach the trainers how to take care of the fighters — and give them that one more round.

An instructional DVD is great, because no one can just go to school and get a cutman degree, right?
Exactly. It’s going to be for the layman. It’s designed for the trainers, the fighter, the armchair quarterback — or the weekend warrior, we call them in this sport. Even if you train yourself, at least you can learn how to properly wrap your hands for training. My wife’s birthday is July 7th and I’m committed for it to come out before that, if not on that date.

Who gave you your nickname?
That came from my early years in kickboxing. I worked with this one fighter that got cut. I knew nothing. Really, that was my first experience working on a cut — I had no medications, so I just applied direct pressure on him and covered it up with vaseline. After the fight, I did what every other cutman would do: I put a butterfly on the guy to close up the cut. And he goes, “Hey, you saved me some stitches. Stitch.” So that’s where the name came from. You know what? That’s a pretty nice name. I was coming home from San Jose today and I was at the San Jose Airport, and this young kid was coming by in a TapouT shirt and he said, “Hey, Stitch!” So the name has penetrated to the fans. A lot of people don’t even know my real name!

Though they’ll be fighting in separate matches tonight, Brian Stann and Steve Cantwell previously faced off at WEC 26 (3/24/07), in a match that was stopped a little too early for Cantwell’s tastes. Check it out below for a preview of what Stann will be bringing to the Rhino in their title fight.

Bonus #1: The end of Doug Marshall’s first WEC title defense against Justin McElfresh, which was stopped at 2:16 of the first round.

Bonus #2: Blas Avena’s 29-second choke-out of Joe Benoit at WEC 30. Avena (2-1) takes on Hiromitsu Miura (8-4) tonight in a middleweight matchup.

(Doug Marshall will be hunting for his third title defense.)

WEC 33 goes down tonight at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas; if you have Versus, you can watch the action live starting at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m PT. Unlike the last two WEC events which featured three title fights each, only the light heavyweight belt is on the line at #33, with champ Doug “Rhino” Marshall — 7-2, and coming off a 55-second tapout victory over Ariel Gandulla at WEC 31 — facing Brian Stann, who has ended all five of his professional fights by first-round TKO. The complete fight card is below:

MAIN CARD
Doug Marshall vs. Brian Stann (light heavyweights)
Chael Sonnen vs. Bryan Baker (middleweights)
Ed Ratcliff vs. Marcus Hicks (lightweights)
Steve Cantwell vs. Tim McKenzie (light heavyweights)
Hiromitsu Miura vs. Blas Avena (middleweights)

UNDERCARD
John Alessio vs. Brock Larson (welterweights)
Sergio Gomez vs. Richard Crunkilton Jr. (lightweights)
Ryan Stonitsch vs. Alex Serdyukov (welterweights)
Chris Manuel vs. Kenji Osawa (bantamweights)
Logan Clark vs. Scott Harper (middleweights)

— BloodyElbow has weigh-in results and photos here.

— MMA Analyst posted (and yes, analyzed) WEC 33′s betting odds yesterday. Unsurprisingly, Chael Sonnen is the night’s biggest favorite, at -355 to Bryan Baker’s +285. Somewhat surprisingly, Doug Marshall is a +130 ‘dog, compared to Brian Stann’s -160 line.

— Websites that care a lot more than we do ran down the matchups here and here.

— While describing Doug Marshall, Sherdog dropped a David Draiman reference without any sort of explanatory clause or link. But I suppose if you’re reading Sherdog you’re already pretty well-versed in nu-metal singers.

(“Hey, shit happens, right?”)

Contradicting his earlier claims that M-1 Global’s relationship with Fedor Emelianenko was still A-OK, Monte Cox recently went on Sherdog’s Savage Dog Show to set the record straight: Cox and Sibling Entertainment have parted ways with Emelianenko, and the “M-1″ name is now wholly under control by Emelianenko’s managers. But even though their marquee fighter is gone, the former American faction of M-1 still intends to keep working towards putting on its first MMA show. As Cox told Sherdog:

“The group that formed M-1 Global is still together and we’re going to remain together and put on an MMA event. It won’t be under the name M-1 Global because that is definitely associated with Emelianenko Fedor and the Russians, and we’ve come to an agreement that we’re going to part ways…I am looking at June 14 to do our first show in Chicago…It won’t be the UFC. We don’t have that kind of money to throw away. Now, without Fedor, I expect the show in Chicago to turn a profit.”

Cox also admitted that Emelianenko never signed a contract with M-1 Global; Fedor only signed a letter of intent that prevented him from competing outside of M-1 Global during contract negotiations:

(Has anyone seen my bro?)

It’s late on a Tuesday and there’s a few things going on out there, so here’s a novel-like round-up from the day to keep you busy. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll say WTF?!

— Butterbean is fighting in the YAMMA debut on April 11th against Gary Goodridge. Exciting, no? But what inquiring minds want to know is what are the Round Mound’s plans after that? Answer: he wants to fight Kimbo! I’m not joking. He said it in an interview with FightHype that posted today. But according to the Bean, Kimbo’s people want no piece of his brand of ferociousness:

“They don’t want to fight me, I hit too hard! Kimbo doesn’t want to fight anybody that can knock him out and I’m the man that can do it. Kimbo doesn’t want to fight anybody that can hit and I can definitely hit.”

Butterbean also says he can take Kimbo’s punches. Sadly, this is a fight that could actually happen and no one — real MMAers, at least — wants to see it. Place your bets now: does Butterbean last longer than Tank Abbott did?

— Speaking of YAMMA, 5oz ‘o Pain is saying that Ricco Rodriguez and Alexey Oleinik will be stepping in as replacements in the 8-dude heavyweight tourney for the outfit’s debut event.

Two unnamed fighters originally slated for YAMMA’s eight-man single-night heavyweight tournament have been scratched from the card for unspecified reasons. However, when contacted by ProElite.com (SamCaplan.ProElite.com), Nick Lembo, the legal counsel for the New Jersey Athletic Control Board, indicated that YAMMA has submitted the names of two potential replacements.

Addict Ricco and Red Devil Club member Oleinik have been reportedly submitted as the fill-ins.

— The ratings for “Iron Ring” are — wait for it — pretty damn solid. Once again, I’m not joking. MMAPayout has the numbers:

Iron Ring was the fourth highest rated series premiere in BET history. Despite an 11:00PM post prime time slot, the program posted a 20% increase in viewers over its lead-in. As a result, BET has moved the series to 10:30PM starting with tonight’s episode. The series will now follow BET’s highest rated series, College Hill.

Who knew the ratings would be this good? Only one way to push it through the roof would be to throw Tyler Perry and his deal with the devil into the mix. Next on tap, there will be three fights in tonight’s installment. No rap war is scheduled. (Props: BloodyElbow)

(Sonnen: $250k richer.)

Real Estate hawker Chael Sonnen just picked up 250k. Not for a commission on a house sell, but on a soon-to-be-unveiled clothing line, Nasty Threads. The organization has signed Sonnen as their first sponsored fighter — to the tune of $250,000 for six fights, in a conditional contract. InsideFighting reports:

The money amount, exclusivity, accountability and organization seem to separate this endorsement contract from the typical MMA fighter sponsor deals, according to Sonnen.

“All of the athletes will be exclusive, from the shirts, shorts and hats they wear whereas a lot of guys now a days are like NASCAR drivers [with sponsors all over them],” Sonnen says.

“They are expecting things out of you. You realize that you are working with a professional and that this is a business deal and that does two things for me. One, there is a lot of clarity and a lot of confidence in them and two; I understand that they are expecting things from me. Certain things like I have to be a good person. If you are out in the world being a bad person you lose your contract. Usually that type of thing is exclusive to companies like Nike and more recognized athletes,” Sonnen says.

“Being a bad person?” What does that constitute? Because now my mind is racing and I think I just might be a bad person in Chael Sonnen’s eyes. But in my defense, that old lady could walk her self across the street. Anyway, the irony is not lost on his “bad person” comment since he is reppin’ a company called Nasty Threads.

On the good-humanitarian-side, the company will give some of every buck earned to support Autism.com and research for the condition. Sonnen will also donate 10% of his purses to the Autism cause. Chael believes this type of contract will change how sponsors deal with fighters from here on out. The company is really pushing him, too — he was given the keys to an office at Nasty’s HQ in Lake Oswego (reportedly somewhere in Oregon, but I don’t have an Altas handy).

Amazing for a guy of Sonnen’s level to score this type of deal. I wish we could watch the contract signing, just because…oh, wait, we have the video! Check out Chael Sonnen signing the contract below. Almost certainly made by the amazing team of Fred and smokin’-hot Sharon.

He may have gassed four rounds too early in his last fight, but Phil “New York Bad Ass” Baroni apparently did well enough to be offered a main card spot against Murilo “Ninja” Rua at EliteXC’s first CBS “Saturday Night Fights” show on May 31st. The older brother of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Murilo holds a 15-8-1 career record and was briefly EliteXC’s middleweight champion before losing the belt in his first title defense against Robbie Lawler. Coincidentally, Lawler will also be on the “Saturday Night Fights” card, facing Scott Smith in his first match since the Rua fight; he’d previously been inactive due to injuries. Kimbo Slice is still expected to headline the night against an opponent to be named later.

All we can say to Baroni is “good luck.” It’s not going to be easy to develop a pair of lungs by May, and Ninja definitely has the tools to take him out of his round 1 comfort zone. But his booking suggests that EliteXC is looking to stack their first CBS card with big personalities, and if he can stay on the treadmill until May, he might have a shot. Rua’s been knocked out in the first round before; maybe Baroni could make it happen again…

Sick new vid from ATT via TUF. It’s hard to name another fight team that’s as deep and consistent as Calvancante, Kang, Monson, “Dinyero,” Yves, Bigfoot Silva and the rest. Coconut Creek FTW.

It was bad enough when Mike Pyle’s contract disputes prevented Jake Shields from taking home a well-deserved EliteXC championship belt in November. Now it looks like his fight against Drew Fickett at this Saturday’s Strikeforce/EliteXC event — which many assumed would officially establish Shields as the welterweight title holder — won’t even happen.

It’s being reported that the Shields/Fickett bout is being postponed due to Shields pulling a muscle in his back while training last week. Says FiveOunces:

[Shields] flew to Los Angeles in order to meet with a specialist. While he had experienced some improvement with the injury, it was determined that he would not be ready in time for Saturday’s fight. A decision was then made to postpone the bout. A re-scheduled date for the bout has not been set, but Shields indicated that the title fight could take place within the next couple of months.

I guess that’s what you get for letting Brandon Vera give you a pinkbelly; that shot probably dislodged at least four discs. Shields’s dropout is just the latest blow to an event that had already suffered the loss of one big name, when Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos was forced to pull out of the card due to visa issues.

In related news, an EliteXC lightweight title fight between Yves Edwards and K.J. Noons has been postponed to June 14th. The two fighters were supposed to meet at an April 26th show in Hawaii, but that event has reportedly been canceled altogether. Our first thought is that EliteXC is canceling the show to reserve some talent for their first CBS broadcasts, but we’ll let you know if/when they release an official statement.

A handful of fights are being reported for upcoming UFC events, so let’s get to it, shall we? Joe “Daddy” Stevenson has loaded back up on blood since his recent sticky mess at UFC 80 versus BJ Penn, and is ready to get back at it. MMAMania is reporting that Joe Daddy will fight Gleison Tibau at UFC 86. The event is set for July 5th in Vegas and will be headlined by the Rampage Jackson and Forrest Griffin war.

Joe is 28-8 overall and 5-2 after dropping down to lightweight. His opponent last fought at UFC 81 where he lost to Tyson Griffin. The loss dropped him to 15-5 overall.

In other UFC 86 news, FightNetwork is reporting that Patrick “The Predator” Cote is apparently set to face Ricardo “Cachorrao” Almeida at the show. Although Almeida has not been officially confirmed, it looks like he’s the man:

Although Cote would neither confirm nor deny Almeida as his opponent, longtime training partner and friend David “The Crow” Loiseau said on Monday that the heavy-handed Quebec native would be taking on the decorated Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt.

Cote has notched a 12-4 pro record and is 6-1 since back-to-back losses in 2005. He has never been knocked out and has won his last three via TKO. The middleweight has spent much of his career in the UFC and is certainly climbing the ladder to — dare we say it — a title shot. Cote has his eyes on the prize and has a “timeline” for that to happen:

“We wanted a big fight,” Cote said. “I have four wins in a row – three in the UFC – and I think I’m ready for a real tough opponent. I want to fight a guy who, if I win, the UFC will put me in a title fight or one more fight before I get my shot.”

Almeida is 9-2 as a professional and would be a great test for Cote. The fighter has beaten opponents such as Kazuo Misaki and Ryo Chonan, in addition to a submission win over Rob Yundt at UFC 81.

The body of M-1 Global isn’t even cold yet, and MMA organizations with money to burn are already hot on Fedor Emelianenko’s heels. Two separate reports have surfaced hinting at where Emelianenko may fight next. First, from Nokaut.com:

A reliable source has confirmed ProElite, Inc. has offered Russian heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko (27-1) a four-fight, 18-month contract…The contract calls for Emelianenko’s first two fights in the promotion to broadcast on American television network CBS as a part of the recently inked deal between ProElite and the TV giant. The final two fights would air on pay-per-view and share proceeds with Emelianenko.

M-1 Global Vice President Brian Patton denies the earlier report that Emelianenko was never under contract to M-1 Global, and ProElite’s offer seems to be on the same page, stipulating that Emelianenko will be announced in ProElite fights as “M-1 Global’s Fedor Emelianenko.”

Elsewhere, the still-sketchy partnership between Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions and Affliction Clothing may have approached the Last Emperor as well. According to an article on 5thRound:

[T]hey already have Matt “The Law” Lindland signed to a three-fight contract, and are chasing after a few other big name fighters as well. Fedor Emelianenko has been linked with the new organization, but according to Inside MMA they are also looking to sign Andrei Arlovski, Josh Barnett, Ben Rothwell and Aleksander Emelianenko.

Part of us hopes that Fedor can sign non-exclusive deals with both of these outfits (and maybe others) so he can regularly be involved in superfights that would be broadcast on CBS and HBO. But we can’t shake the feeling that a fighter needs to be committed to a single organization for his fights to really matter. What made Fedor a star in PRIDE, and Randy Couture a star in the UFC? The belt. And what do you accomplish by defeating someone in a one-off match promoted by Golden Boy/Affliction? A truckload of money, yes. The knowledge that you beat Fighter X, also yes. But if there’s no system involving contenders, title shots, and championship belts, question marks will always remain in your legacy. Anyway, just something to consider. A more open, promotional model may turn out to be better for MMA’s elite, big-named fighters, but will it really be better for the sport?

(Props: Bloody Elbow, Fightlinker)

By CagePotato Guest Contributor Ben Fowlkes

Ed Soares never stops. For the MMA manager and owner of Sinister Brand clothing, there’s really no such thing as spare time.

It’s the day before Easter when we finally catch up with him. He’s driving down to San Diego to sign an endorsement deal with Bad Boy clothing for Lyoto Machida, one of many in his stable of high-profile Brazilian fighters. With a client list that includes Anderson Silva, both Nogueira brothers, and WEC champ Paulo Filho, it’s easy to see why Soares might not be getting much rest these days.

In this exclusive interview, Soares talks to us about riding the highs and lows along with his fighters, the many jobs a manager does, and what it means to be the go-to guy for Brazilian mixed martial artists in the U.S. and abroad.

CagePotato: Ed, tell us a little about all the different things you do. How are you spending your time these days?
Ed Soares: The responsibility that consumes ninety percent of my time is my fighter management business. We manage some of the best athletes in the world — Anderson Silva, Antonio Rodrigo (and) Rogerio Nogueira, Rafael Feijao, Lyoto Machida, Paulo Filho. We’ve got a lot of up-and-coming talents, too. Most of my time is spent handling their business, from endorsement deals to scheduling media events. I’ve had to hire an assistant to help me, and it still takes up most of my time. I also own Sinister Brand Clothing, but about eight months ago I hired a president to run my company, so I don’t handle too much of the day-to-day stuff. My two partners take care of that. And I have a partner in my management company who lives in Brazil. He takes care of everything in Brazil and I take care of everything up here in Los Angeles.

It seems like you’ve created a niche for yourself, managing so many of the top Brazilian fighters. How did you get started doing this?
Well, I’m Brazilian. Both my mom and my dad are Brazilian, and I’m actually the only one in my family who was born here in California. Before I started managing MMA fighters I started out as a nightclub promoter, and I also worked with and managed hip-hop groups. There’s actually a lot of similarities between managing a music group and a fighter, because at the end of the day they’re both entertainment. You want to create a following for your band or your fighter and you have to fill seats and sell pay-per-views.

I’ve always been interested in pro fighting and MMA, but the way I actually got into it was by producing a TV show called Passing The Guard with Jorge Guinarias, who’s a TV celebrity in Brazil — kind of like what Larry Merchant is to boxing here, he is to MMA in Brazil. When we started that in April 2004 it was basically the only MMA-related show on free television, even before The Ultimate Fighter. We did the show through December 31st of ’06, and through that we started building a good rapport with the fight organizations, simply because we were giving them exposure for free. And of course, we’ve always had a good relationship with the fighters, because that’s who we were interviewing. With my background in management, it was just a natural evolution for us to start representing fighters.

Here’s the main event from Friday’s ShoXC card, which ended with Malaipet Sitprapom kneeing Thomas Denny in the face while he was down, then dropping three illegal downward elbow strikes into the back of Denny’s head (5:53-5:58). Denny controlled the action up until then, nearly finishing the fight early with a rear-naked choke attempt and then causing some damage from the mount, but Malaipet was able to shake himself out of both positions. Skip to the 11:33 mark for Denny’s post-fight interview, where he voices his displeasure at the way things went down; a rematch looks likely.

Major ups to our new Blood Brothers at MMAScraps.com for providing the video. If you want to kill your productivity at work today, go there.

(Shad Smith, out!)

No, it’s not GSP. And it’s not James Thompson or Don Frye. The guy’s name is Shad Smith and he was outed yesterday by The New York Times. The 35-year-old KOTC vet — who is the first openly gay male fighter in MMA — recently spoke to The Times and chatted about growing up fighting in a neighborhood where he and his brothers were the minorities. Sounds like the guy had quite a chip on his shoulder, too:

“I was just mad-dogging everyone” — staring them down — “until somebody said something, and then I’d put my hands up and start fighting.” He said he had 46 counts of assault and battery as a juvenile. “And that’s 46 counts posted on me. Can you imagine how many there actually were?”

And then came the outing:

I asked Smith why he spent so much of his youth looking for trouble. I expected some sort of clichéd, though possibly true, explanation — a difficult childhood or a Napoleon complex. What I didn’t expect him to say was, “You know, bro, the sexual-preference thing.”

Smith is gay, and I know of no other professional fighter who is openly so. “I was always scared that my mom and dad would find out and wouldn’t like me, and my brothers wouldn’t like me,” he said. “I was petrified, because I didn’t want anyone to find out. And I would try to be the toughest person around. That way, no one would suspect, no one would ever say it, no one would think it.”

So there you have it. Since this is such a ridiculously-homophobic industry, I imagine it’ll be hard for Smith to get fighters to agree to matches with him now — especially if they share Brock Lesnar’s 18th Century views. Smith last fought in January, losing to Dave Rivas. He is 9-9-2 overall and is 0-3-1 in his last four.

On that note, here’s a video that is fitting for the topic of this post — and kinda’ sweet.

(Props BloodyElbow)

So this thing might actually happen. Seriously. That is if NBCSports can be believed. Then again, some writers over there have been trying to sell me on buying some lunar property — which I would if the plumbing wasn’t so shitty. Anyway, back to what I was saying. We promised we’d keep tabs on this and now NBCSports is reporting that boxing great Roy Jones, Jr. and Anderson Silva’s people are “actively engaging in talks” for the two fighters to duke it out in the boxing ring. the PR director for Don King Productions, Alan Hopper, confirmed the negotiations.

Check it:

“Roy likes the idea and is up for it,” Hopper said. “It’s being discussed. Roy will only agree if the match takes place under the rules of boxing, and UFC would have to clear Silva’s participation.”

Ah, that little “UFC clearing Silva’s participation” thing will almost certainly derail this. If Anderson Silva gets pissed enough when the UFC refuses to let him do it, maybe he’ll go the way of Tito and Randy Couture. I hate to mention such a thing, but if history serves as a guide…

I’m not sure how I feel about this. Boxing’s yawn-inducing stretch in the last decade and MMA’s many dimensions is why I haven’t dropped a dime on boxing pay-per-view events since before Monica “did not have sexual relations” with Bill. And let’s face it, Anderson Silva will likely lose. It’d be a big money-maker for both fighters and I’d probably still watch it, but I also don’t want this sort of thing setting a precedent. Next think you know, Tank Abbott will be challenging Big Sven, the German beer drinking champion, to a beer-off. Actually, Tank would probably win that one.

Seriously! We can’t embed it, but go to their website and brace yourself. Just look at the partial cast of characters:

Ozzy!

GSP!

Quinton “Money” Jackson!

This terrifying clown!

Angry Randy!

A metal singer (the dude from Lamb of God, maybe?) with some truly breathtaking dreads!

I mean, fucking look at those things!

Babyface Barnett!

Again with the clown!

Fedor “Sleepy Boy” Emelianenko!

…and Dave Mustaine! WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!

If there’s one lesson that can be taken from the recent arrest of MMA veteran Patrick Smith, it’s this: Always bring along your prescriptions if you plan on leading police on a wild high-speed chase while taking your crotch rocket out for a spin.

As previously reported, 45-year-old Smith agreed to face Oleg Taktarov at next month’s YAMMA Pit Fighting debut after Don Frye backed out of the match due to a shoulder injury. But, according to MMAJunkie:

[J]ust hours after the announcement, KXII TV 12 in Sherman, Texas, reported that Smith had been arrested after a high-speed police chase. Smith was clocked at speeds of up 130 mph while fleeing on his sports motorcyle, police said. He’s been charged with felony attempting to elude, possession of a prescription drug without a valid prescription, and reckless driving.

It’s not yet clear whether Smith will still be able to compete in the YAMMA event, but in case Bob Meyrowitz needs to find another replacement, Teila Tuli, Ron van Clief and He-Man Gipson are available and ready to work.

Bonus: Patrick Smith pounds Scott Morris’s face into burger at UFC 2. Fight starts at the video’s 3:30 mark and ends shortly after.