(Why is only one person in this photo really selling it?)

- Talking wrasslin’ and Playboy Mansion parties with Daniel Puder. (MMA Rated)

- Marcus Davis wants to punch each other in the face like gentleman. (Sub Fighter)

- Roger Huerta says the UFC is twisting his words. (MMA Madness)

- UFC signs Mike Massenzio to fight at Ultimate Fight Night 15. (Five Ounces of Pain).

- Couture says Affliction has the right approach to taking on the UFC. (Steve Cofield)

- Knee injury derails Dean Lister-Thales Leites bout. (MMA Weekly)

- Cops found weed on Snoop Dogg’s tour bus? Are you sure? (Holy Taco)

- When to skimp and when to splurge: a guide for men. (Wall Street Fighter)

(‘See, what had happened was…’)

Oh, the fun one can have trying to keep track of all the different theories about what’s really happening with “Rampage” Jackson. Fightline has a new one. A really new one:

Our source indicates that Jackson was fumbling around with a contact lens that was giving him trouble while driving and subsequently lost the lens. He was apparently searching for it when he sideswiped at least two vehicles, mildly injuring one woman.

A frightened, paranoid Jackson, who had again, been up fasting for days, then acted on instinct and fled the scene and eventually the police.

Jackson pulled over after giving police a brief chase and was fully cooperative with authorities after that point.

This is an interesting possibility. It doesn’t explain why he was picked up by the police again after being released, or why everyone from Dana White to Sports Illustrated to, well, us, has insinuated or outright said that there are some mental issues going on as well. Maybe it’s both? The lost contact and lost perception of reality is a powerful duo. Either way, we hope for a happy ending to this strange tale.

Check out this preview clip from Countdown to UFC 87, which starts off with Roger Huerta recounting his awful childhood. Kenny, Heath, Brock, Jon and Georges also stop by to say hello. Props to Bloody Elbow.

From MMA Scraps, here’s the video of Anderson Silva’s boxing debut against Julio Cesar, which took place in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, on 8/6/05. Fight starts at the 10:02 remaining mark, and the inevitable TKO comes just two rounds later. Plus: Some showboatin’ footwork, extreme ring girl ass, and a cameo by the Nogueira brothers.

After the jump: One of the greatest MMA highlight videos you’ll ever see.

(Miguel Torres: The snub is over. Photo courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

In light of the recent DREAM and EliteXC shows, we tidied up the middleweight, welterweight, lightweight, and pound-for-pound lists on our Power Rankings page. Some things to keep in mind…

— Partly because we don’t have a bantamweight rankings page (yet?), I’d simply forgotten to include Miguel Torres on the pound-for-pound list. That insult stops today.
— Deep down, I believe that Fedor Emelianenko is the best fighter on Earth. But based on recent activity, I have to keep Anderson Silva as the pound-for-pound #1. If Fedor can smash another top-ten heavyweight this year, he’ll move into the top spot. Then again, if Silva can smash a top-ten light-heavyweight by the end of the year, he’ll comfortably stay where he is.
— Matt Lindland becomes the first fighter to leave the rankings after winning a fight. In my opinion, anybody who still thinks he’s a top-ten middleweight is living in the past. It’s been about six years since he’s beaten anybody even close to the top ten, and his less-than-thrilling decision win against the under-experienced Fabio Negao at Affliction: Banned suggests that he’d get smoked against anyone in the top 15. Just my $0.02.

Anyway, head on over and leave some comments on the individual weight class pages to let us know how you feel. And make sure to re-check ‘em in about ten days, as UFC 87 may have some serious impact on the 155- and 170-pound lists. Good day to you.

(BG)

Jon Fitch Talks Ultimate Fighter Fiasco – Watch more free videos

When we wrote about TapouT’s claim to have kickstarted Diego Sanchez’s fighting career by getting him on “The Ultimate Fighter” at the expense of some other poor soul, many of you responded that it was none other than Jon Fitch himself who was cast out in favor of “The Nightmare”. In this video from “Steel Cage Comedy Night”, in which the hippie James Lipton sits down with Fitch all “Actor’s Studio” style, Fitch talks about how he learned that he would not become a reality TV star and how the UFC gave him nothing but a quick apology before sending him on his way.

This is one in a series of videos from that night, and you know something? Fitch is a pretty entertaining guy. Makes you wonder why the UFC doesn’t give him more mic time. Here’s one where he talks about what it’s like to get knocked out.

(Guess who’s getting promoted to the position of Kimbo’s Official Gold Chain Holder. Photo courtesy of Esther Lin.)

When news dropped that Gary Shaw had resigned from Pro Elite just shortly after everyone within the company, including his son Jared, assured the media that things were just fine and nobody was going anywhere, we naturally assumed that Jared was on his way out too. It’s like when you’re the son of a third world dictator and you get some cushy do-nothing job. When your dad is overthrown by a power-hungry general in a bloody coup, it usually means you’re on the next flight out with a briefcase full of cash or you get killed in your sleep.

But according to new Pro Elite Chairman Charles Champion, whose name is awesome and maybe fake, Jared is going to be sticking around in some capacity:

Jared has been with the company from the beginning. Gary has often said that it was really Jared that brought Gary into it. Jared has continued to work on making matches and continue to promote ProElite and ProElite athletes. He’s continuing to work with the fight team. I haven’t talked to Jared about what he’s going to be doing ten years from now but I have talked to Jared about what he’s going to be doing for the next while with us. He’s enthusiastic and others are enthusiastic about his approach and what he’s doing now, so we think that is all going to work out well.

Seriously? So the lesson here is, nepotism works? Man, this is why I hate learning lessons.

(The Maine-iac may go from being grossly, grossly overpaid, to just grossly overpaid. Photo courtesy of Tim-Sylvia.com.)

Dave Meltzer is reporting that Affliction VP Tom Atencio will be asking certain Affliction fighters to take a pay cut to fight in their next event (October 11th, Las Vegas):

The promotion has talked with some fighters about doing the 10/11 show for 50% of what they made on the first show but in return they would give those fighters easy opponents.

Overpaid fighters who could use an easier opponent the next time out? They might as well have called Tim Sylvia out by name — though Ben Rothwell and Matt Lindland could fit that description as well. For the record, Josh Barnett has stated that he would not accept a pay cut to fight again for Affliction; he previously made $300,000 with no win bonus for his knockout of Pedro Rizzo.

BloodyElbow also points out that the Thomas & Mack Center’s Affliction page lists Affliction II’s main event as “Arlovski vs. TBD!” — suggesting that the return of Fedor Emelianenko might not be a done deal after all. Well sure, I mean he just went 36 seconds with one of the top ten heavyweights in the world; the man could use another three-year break…

Related: The weirdest thing I came across while doing a Google Image Search for “Tim Sylvia.”

(Ah, memories.)

On Tuesday, the Wrestling Observer reported that TUF 7‘s Jesse “JT Money” “Mongo” Taylor had been released by the UFC — for the second time — suggesting that it was his insensitive comments about Quinton Jackson following Rampage’s arrest that ultimately sunk him.

MMA Junkie caught up with Taylor recently to get his take on the situation, and it seems that just as he had no regrets for repeatedly pissing his shorts on national television, he has no regrets for running his mouth about the UFC’s troubled former light-heavyweight champ:

“I thought the whole thing was blown out of proportion. I just said, ‘What goes around comes around,’ kind of meaning about the double standards. Not meaning anything bad. I guess they kind of took it the wrong way, but I didn’t mean anything bad by it….I don’t regret [making the comments] at all. I don’t know if [the UFC is] looking for an excuse to get me out of there or what. The comments were nothing.”

Unfortunately, to the UFC, the comments were something. But even this turn of events can’t shake Mongo’s glassy-eyed optimism.

“Hopefully I didn’t leave on a bad note. [Ed. note: *shakes head*] I wouldn’t mind fighting for them again. Right now, first things first, is just to find another fight — hopefully in a major organization — and get back out there….Keep on the lookout. There should be something big in the next couple weeks about where I’m going.”

You heard it here, folks — keep an eye on TMZ to see which jail Taylor will be going to after his inevitable drunken public rampage and subsequent arrest. ‘Cause you know what? What goes around comes around, brah.

With the WEC’s next event just around the corner, media coverage has started to ramp up this week. As it does, the one thing that becomes increasingly clear is that the organization’s top fighters are mostly just pissed off that they aren’t in the UFC. USA Today wrote about the UFC’s uncertain attitude regarding the future of the promotion, including a quote from Marc Ratner that reflects what seems to the consensus opinion over at Zuffa:

“There is talk about having the heavier guys come on over (to UFC), and maybe anything under 145 (pounds, the featherweight limit) would be WEC and above 145 would be UFC,” says UFC vice president Marc Ratner. “It hasn’t been put into place yet.”

In the same article, Carlos Condit describes the UFC as “the big show” and says he hopes to move on up. Jamie Varner made similar comments to Sherdog, saying:

“I still got all the doubters out there, and that’s motivation to me,” Varner said. “All the people out there saying this guy in the UFC would beat you or this guy in Dream would kill you. I want to beat everyone that Zuffa puts in front of me and hopefully one day get my opportunity to fight a B.J. Penn and show the world what I’m made of.”

Ordinarily it would be a bad thing to have all your top fighters publicly stating their desire to go and fight somewhere else, but this only reinforces how smart it was of Zuffa to purchase the WEC and use them as a sort of minor league, as well as how dumb it would be to turn it into nothing but featherweights and bantamweights.

(That’s right, we’ll use any excuse to post this picture again.)

Fresh off his victory after knocking out Terry Martin with a broken hand at Affliction: Banned, Vitor Belfort tells Tatame.com that he’ll face everyone’s favorite MMA politico, Matt Lindland, at the organization’s second event in Las Vegas on October 11. The broken hand is healing up nicely and won’t be much of an issue, says Belfort, and he’s not too worried about Lindland’s wrestling skills either:

“It’ll be a great fight, we’ll see who is the best of the world there”, said Belfort, that guarantees his style will be a problem for Lindland. “I saw his fight with Negão and he’s a warrior… He comes be over you, but I don’t think he has the strength to stay over me”, analyzes Vitor, that wants another knockout on his career. “I’ll go to knock him out… My punches are well-aimed and when it hits he won’t stand”, guarantees Belfort.

Belfort also says that he’ll fight Lindland “for the belt”. The only question is, what belt? It’s hard to imagine that it’s the WAMMA belt, since Lindland is currently ranked seventh in the middleweight class there and Vitor is, well, not mentioned. The Tatame homepage says it’s the Affliction belt, but we weren’t even aware there was one.

Then again, maybe there really is no belt at stake. Maybe Vitor just meant it as a figure of speech, kind of like right before the climactic fight scene in “Lethal Weapon” when Riggs asks Mr. Joshua if he wants a shot at the title. That was awesome, by the way.

(Gerard Gordeau stomps Kevin Rosier in the semi-finals of UFC 1. Image courtesy of Real Fighter.)

In honor of the upcoming 15th anniversary of UFC 1, Real Fighter magazine has published an incredible oral history called “Starting a Fight,” where all the fighters and organizers involved share their memories about the watershed event. You can (and should) download the article at BloodyElbow. Our favorite bits are below…

***

“Big” John McCarthy: I had put in my application for it. Rorion said, “What are you doing? You can’t fight. You’re with us. When Royce is done, we’ll put you in there.”

Rorion Gracie: We thought of a ring that had a moat and we could put alligators on the outside, [or] chariots running around the ring and dropping the fighters off, people with trumpets and Roman togas announcing them. This is Hollywood.

Art Davie: I don’t think I came up with the moat idea. But the electrified copper fence was mine.

McCarthy: Jimmerson said, “How in the world do you think Royce is going to beat me when I’m flicking out a jab? He can’t get past that.” We went into a back ballroom area and I grabbed him in a double leg and put him on the ground. He looked up at me and said, “Oh, my God. He’s going to break my arms and legs, isn’t he?”

Ken Shamrock: Tuli goes down to his knees and Gerard kicks him in the mouth and his teeth go flying into the front row. Prior to that, everyone [backstage] was hitting pads and trying to hide their fear. It went dead silent.

There’s been a rash of MMA coverage in traditional media recently, and while it’s not always favorable — or respectful, or accurate in any way — every little bit helps, right? Here’s some of what unsuspecting non-fans have been exposed to as of late…

— Last night’s episode of Lewis Black’s Root of All Evil on Comedy Central focused on “Ultimate Fighting” vs. blogging, with comedians Andy Daly and Patton Oswalt debating which activity is more offensive. Watch the above video for Lewis Black’s opening statements, and click here to see Andy Daly’s really, really, really, incredibly lame condemnation of the sport. From the repeated use of the phrase “Ultimate Fighting” instead of “MMA,” to the bizarre/hostile fantasy of Kimbo Slice being choked with his own intestines, it’s the kind of retardedly uninformed outsider commentary that makes Fowlkes’s forehead vein pop out. (As for the MMA vs. bloggers debate, they’re both equally worthless, and I cry myself to sleep every night while cuddling my filthy dog.)

— Today, the New York Times published a feature on cauliflower ear, and how it’s become a badge of honor for practitioners of “mixed martial arts or ultimate fighting” (hey, progress!). Let me just say first that the NYT is always late to the party with their trend pieces, and by the time they inform their elderly readers about what’s so hot right now, the kids have stopped doing it completely. So you should expect this whole cauliflower ear thing to fall out of fashion any day now. The article’s actually kind of interesting, although it does contain one very FAIL-worthy passage:

(Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)

Affliction VP Tom Atencio is once again claiming that his organization sold more than 100,000 pay-per-views for their first event, and he doesn’t care what you heard. Atencio told MMA Weekly recently that they did “well over 100,000″ — a phrase that’s becoming all too familiar — but that he isn’t planning on proving it by releasing the official numbers. And why not?

“It’s been my experience that the UFC doesn’t release their numbers, and I try to learn from other companies with mistakes and what they’re doing right,” Atencio said.

[...]

“We did well over 100,000,” Atencio said. “At this point, we did well over, but I don’t want to give the exact numbers.”

Last week Dave Meltzer estimated the number of pay-per-views sold as being somewhere between 50-85,000, though it wasn’t exactly clear where he was getting that figure from. Now Atencio is basically asking us all to take his word for it and trust that he’s telling the truth. We’d like to, but ever since we dated that vaguely European girl in college we’ve had some real trust issues.

(‘Get your narrow asses into that theater and see my damn movie.’)

I actually wrote that headline about a year ago after suffering through a long bout of insomnia. I was delirious and running around in nothing but a pair of waders and a replica L.A. Rams helmet, and without knowing what the words meant I carved them into the wall of my bedroom with a rusty nail. It was a very dark time for me. Never did I think my prophecy would come to pass. Now I fear I’ve somehow brought this down upon our heads by inadvertently calling upon Gods that are both too powerful and too cruel.

According to media sources, Kimbo Slice and Hulk Hogan are set to co-star in a martial arts children’s comedy entitled, “Kung Fu U”.

It’s about a group of nerdy kids who are sent to a special school (Kung Fu U, we presume) to learn fighting skills that will help them stand up to bullies. Their instructors, played by Slice and Hogan, help them out, and in turn the kids help them by teaching some bullshit lessons about their bullshit lives. And who’s behind this? How about Stereo Vision, which is chaired by “Baywatch” creator David Schwartz, a man who knows better than anyone how to grab onto the zeitgeist and ride it for all it’s worth:

“We’re very happy to have Kimbo Slice co-starring in ‘Kung Fu U.’ He has an enormous media presence, and he’ll fit right in with our star Hulk Hogan, and the other cast members in our made for kids 3D movie. We hope to have ‘Kung Fu U’ in 3D in theatres by the fall of ’09.”

Oh, good. It’s in 3D. For a minute there I was concerned that this children’s movie starring a former pro wrestler and a former bodyguard for internet pornographers might turn out to be a horrible fiasco. But no, 3D. That’s how all the quality films are done. Just look at “Captain EO”.

Aren’t you usually supposed to wait until you’re a top-ranked fighter before you start indulging in the kinds of distractions that will eventually pull you away from the fight game? Isn’t that typically how it goes? Perhaps times have changed. They must have, because for once Hulk Hogan is poised to be the veteran actor on the set. One can only imagine his advice for Kimbo on how to really locate and understand the motivations of your character, brother.

(Oh boo-fucking-hoo.)

Add “El Matador” to the list of UFC stars who’ve become publicly displeased with the organization’s low wages and lack of respect. MMA Payout passes along an excerpt from a new article in Fight! Magazine — written by occasional CagePotato commenter Neal Taflinger — in which Roger Huerta does some serious venting:

Huerta is one of a growing number of Zuffa-contracted fighter who feel that there is a disconnection between the company’s success and the way fighters are compensated. Huerta’s disillusionment with the UFC began when he did press tours for his employer in Miami, Houston, Los Angeles, and London and received a $50 per diem for his troubles. It sounds like a a good deal until you factor in time away from training, friends, and family, days often stretch twelve hours or more, and an exchange rate of one UK pound for two American dollars. “Why do you think I don’t do PR for the UFC any more?” he asks.

He’s also unhappy with the terms of his current contract, but to Huerta, the press tours underscore a larger point: by and the large, Zuffa does not treat its contracted fighters with sufficient loyalty or respect. He argues that many UFC fighters barely make enough to cover their training expenses. He brings up teammate Keith Jardine repeatedly, incensed that a main event fighter is working for ten and ten- $10k to show and 10k to win — while his opponent regularly makes ten times as much.

…

“The truth is, I don’t really care if I fight in the UFC or somewhere else,” Huerta says. The fighter says he understands that Zuffa has to keep an eye on the bottom line, but he wants to work, “For a company that is as loyal to me as I am to them.”

(Antonio “Bigwallet” Silva does work. Photo courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

The California State Athletic Commission has released salary figures for EliteXC’s “Unfinished Business” event on July 26th. The numbers are below, and don’t include undisclosed bonuses, sponsorship payments, or deductions for insurance and taxes.

Antonio Silva: $200,000 ($100,000 to show, $100,000 to win)
Robbie Lawler: $90,000 ($45,000 to show, $45,000 to win)
Nick Diaz: $60,000
Jake Shields: $45,000 ($35,000 to show, $10,000 to win)
Nick Thompson: $25,000
Justin Eilers: $20,000
Rafael Feijao: $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 to win)
Scott Smith: $14,000
Thomas Denny: $8,500
Shayna Baszler: $8,000
Cristiane “Cris Cyborg” Santos: $6,000 ($3,000 to show, $3,000 to win)
Anthony Ruiz: $5,001 ($2,001 to show, $3,000 to win)
Wilson Reis: $5,000 ($2,500 to show, $2,500 to win)
Travis Galbraith: $5,000
David Douglas: $4,000 ($3,500 to show, $1,500 to win)
Carl Seumantafa: $4,000 ($2,000 to show, $2,000 to win)
Drew Montgomery: $3,000 ($1,500 to show, $1,500 to win)
Marlon Mathias: $2,500
Jeremy Freitag: $2,500
Brian Caraway: $2,000
Brandon Tarn: $2,000
Mike Cook: $2,000
Total: $533,501

Underpaid: Theoretically, it’s nice that Jake Shields gets the majority of his salary guaranteed, but since he never loses he’s basically being screwed out of twenty grand every time he fights. Hopefully Scott Smith is getting a locker-room bump for starring in two title fights on CBS within seven weeks, and hopefully Cris Cyborg — who’s now the most buzzed-about female fighter in MMA — can renegotiate her contract to something respectable after her demolition of Shayna Baszler.

Overpaid: Antonio Silva is certainly worthy of a large payday, but it’s strange that he took in so much more than everyone else, considering he’s still not a popular draw and was stuck on a barely-watched Showtime undercard. Props to his manager, I guess.

Jon Fitch has a new blog entry up on UFC.com in which he discusses his training at AKA in preparation for the bout with Georges St. Pierre at UFC 87 next Saturday. Sounds like he’s none too pleased about all this GSP-B.J. Penn talk, as if it’s just a given that St. Pierre will walk though him en route to another meeting with “The Prodigy”:

Working like we do, when people are talking about how good certain fighters are, one of our first questions is, ‘who does he train with?’ That’s always a big question because I don’t care how good you are; if you don’t train with anybody at your level, you’re very limited in how good you can be and how good you actually are.

Outside of training, I’ve heard some talk over the last few weeks about BJ Penn moving up to 170 to fight GSP at the end of the year. Of course, they’ve forgotten that GSP has a fight with me first. But that just shows you where some people really are still in this sport and how they still have no idea what’s going on. There are a lot of so-called experts out there, but they know nothing about the sport. They’re spectators on the outside watching the sport through a telescope, and they think they’re on the inside and know everything, but they don’t. You can’t let that stuff bother you though. I think it’s funny and it’s just that little extra pleasure at the end of the day when you win and all those people are exposed.

Are we supposed to take this to mean that Fitch thinks GSP is generally overrated? We certainly hope not. Fitch’s win streak and overall skills make him deserving of the respect he’s getting, but so is GSP. Of all the strategic errors you could make when facing the welterweight champ, underestimating him really shouldn’t be one of them. Even if you are right behind him in the all-important Cage Potato Power Rankings.

Chris Leben: Evolution of an Icon – Watch more free videos

Here’s the third installment of the Icon Sport series “Chris Leben: Evolution of an Icon.” When this started, we were among those impressed by the production value (for the internet, anyway) and pleased by the general concept of this web series. But now that we’ve hit episode three, it’s starting to feel a little too much like a Chris Leben infomercial. Maybe it’s the strength coach going starry-eyed over him or his girlfriend talking up his dedication, but when everyone is so unrelentingly positive it becomes hard to digest.

I guess I just thought/hoped this would be more of an inside look and less of an extended hypefest. Now that I’ve typed that sentence, I realize how stupid it sounds.

As an added bonus, check out the trailer for the straight-to-DVD Randy Couture joint, “Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior” after the jump. Is there really a point in the film where some weirdo magic blood is dripped onto Couture’s head, presumably granting him special powers? Really? Then consider it Netflix’d.

(Good lookin’ out, Steve at WallStreetFighter)

(Robbie Lawler does his best Joe Stevenson impression at EliteXC: Unfinished Business. Photo courtesy of Esther Lin via Fightlinker.)

The California State Athletic Commission has released figures on the attendance and gate revenue for Saturday’s “Unfinished Business” show, and good Lord are they awful. Of the 8,541 seats available for the event, only 2,871 — or 33.6% — were purchased by fans. Of the remainder, 3,701 were given away as comps, and 2,023 went totally unused. The 2,871 paid tickets brought in $268,715 in revenue, which is less than the dollar value of the tickets that were given away ($340,960).

So, not only was “Unfinished Business” a ratings disappointment, but its live attendance (6,752 Stocktonites in total) was destroyed by other major MMA events held in California recently. For example…

Affliction: Banned — 14,832 total attendance, 11,242* paid (Anaheim, 7/19/08)
Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Thomson — 7,288 total, 6,750 paid (San Jose, 6/27/08)
WEC 34: Faber vs. Pulver — 12,001 total, paid figure unavailable (Sacramento, 6/1/08)
Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Le — 15,192 total, 14,710 paid (San Jose, 3/29/08)
UFC 76 (their most recent event in California) — 13,770 total, 11,817 paid (Anaheim, 9/22/07)
* figure is debatable.

Back in May, EliteXC’s “Primetime” card — held at Newark’s Prudential Center and starring Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano — drew a respectable 8,033 spectators. EliteXC plans on holding their next CBS show in October at the 20,000-seat BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida. Of course Kimbo is going to be a big draw in his home state, but unless EliteXC likes hearing the echo of thousands of empty seats, they might want to think about scaling back a little.

(Props: “Kakkarotto_san” on the UG)

Check out this clip of Fedor and Aleksander Emelianenko (along with their coach, Vladimir Voronov) putting on a Sambo demonstration in Korea — and pay attention, because this might be the only time you’ll see Fedor tap in your lifetime. There’s a lot of super-slick throws from both brothers during the demo, though we don’t understand why Aleks didn’t haul off and start whaling on Fedor’s face when he had the chance.

Speaking of Aleks, the younger Emelianenko brother claims that those Hepetitis reports were false, and he was blocked from competing at Affliction only because he was late in getting his medical tests done. Well, who are you gonna believe, us or some mulleted ex-con? (It’s times like these that I truly appreciate the fact that I can hide behind a computer.)

Somewhat related: The upcoming Street Fighter IV video game will contain a new character named Abel, an MMA fighter whose outfit looks to be Sambo-influenced. Dude kind of looks like Jake O’Brien on massive amounts of steroids. According to DasGamer.com, Abel was a huge hit among nerds gamers? nerds at Comic-Con, who overwhelmingly chose to play as him rather than new female character Crimson Viper.

(My inner child, consumed with rage.)

One of the things I like to do in my spare time is read the internet and get mad. I honestly love it, to the point where it’s a shockingly poor use of my time. But I can’t deny that there’s a pleasure in indulging in the viewpoints of others that drive me absolutely insane, sometimes more so than reading opinions that I already agree with. I stumbled on to a gem yesterday by Jamie Samuelsen of the Detroit Free Press, who managed to say almost nothing that I agreed with in a relatively short article about why MMA “won’t catch on to the mainstream.”

Here’s one of my favorite lines of reasoning from Samuelsen, who explains that while people tell him MMA is increasing in popularity, he doesn’t see it happening:

I don’t see the roots of the MMA. I don’t see it inherently in our culture. It’s a fascination, but it’s certainly not a participation sport. “Yeah, I do a little cage-fighting in my spare time. Let’s go see how the big boys do it.” I went to a UFC event at the Joe in 1996 when the sport was really picking up steam and was supposed to be the next big thing. Twelve years later, the sport has certainly grown. But has it grown to the extent that it was supposed to have. Yes it’s bigger, but I don’t think it’s that much bigger.

I bring this up not to bash Samuelsen’s viewpoint, but because it’s a fairly new criticism of MMA. We’re used to the human cockfighting angle, but this — this claim that it’s not rooted in our culture and not “a participation sport” — is something different, and something worth responding to.

(Did Fedor make approximately 640,000 ice cream cones at Affliction? Oh, would that he had more than two hands.)

We all knew there was no way in hell that Fedor Emelianenko only pocketed $300,000 for throttling Tim Sylvia at Affliction: Banned, as was reported in the official payout figures from the CSAC. Word had it that he got “a sizable” amount of his money in the form of a signing bonus. Now FightLine.com says they have sources telling them that the figure was $1.3 million, bringing his total cheddar from the event to $1.6 million.

Sizable? Yeah, we’d say so. Especially since he owns the right to his fight footage in Europe, which is both a little weird and totally awesome. So this seems to be more in line with what we’d expect Fedor to be getting paid, right? After all, if Tim Sylvia got $800,000, and Fedor is at least twice as valuable, $1.6 mill is right on the button.

But if we’re to believe everything we read (and we do, even science fiction, which explains why we’re terrified of Asimov’s robots) Fedor was offered and declined a deal for more money with the UFC. Dave Meltzer wrote recently that Emelianenko was offered “a seven-figure signing bonus and a minimum of $1.5 million per fight.”

If that’s true — and we’ll point out that Meltzer is probably getting his info from the UFC on this one, who also once claimed that they totally weren’t offering Fedor waaaaaay more than Randy Couture, who as you’ll recall got pissed off enough to leave behind these failed negotiations — then something isn’t adding up here. Or else Fedor and his management team love their video rights and their freedom more than cash. Or else they’re dumb.

(Werdum and Andrei Arlovski throw down at UFC 70.)

As the man responsible for de-hyping both Gabriel Gonzaga and Brandon Vera, Fabricio Werdum is riding high in the UFC’s heavyweight division. And to make sure he doesn’t slip away like Randy, Tim, and Andrei, the UFC has just locked him into a five-fight contract extension, with the promise of an immediate title shot if he wins his next fight. Sweetening the deal is the fact that his next fight might be a cakewalk for the well-seasoned and impossible to finish “Vai Cavalo” — he’ll compete at UFC 90 (October 25th, Chicago), possibly against Junior Dos Santos, a 6-1 vet of various Brazilian shows who’s probably not ready for the UFC yet.

Assuming he wins his next match, Werdum will then face either Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira or Frank Mir, who are expected to fight in late December. Werdum hopes Big Nog comes out victorious, telling Tatame:

“A fight against Minotauro would be like a dream. It would be great for me, because I fought against him at PRIDE and it was a great fight, he deserved the victory, and I want to say that I’m fighting for the belt against Minotauro, probably in March.”

Werdum is referring to his unanimous decision loss to Nogueira at PRIDE Critical Countdown Absolute in July 2006. Following that fight, Werdum choked out Aleksander Emelianenko then moved to the UFC where he lost another unanimous decision to Andrei Arlovski before knocking off Gonzaga and Vera.

Related: Heavyweight Power Rankings

(Doug DeLuca, CBS Senior Executive VP Kelly Kahl, and our man Gary. Photo courtesy of 411 Mania.)

So let me get this straight: All that talk from Jared Shaw and Doug DeLuca about how Gary Shaw wasn’t being pushed out of ProElite turns out to be…bullshit? ‘Fraid so, people. ProElite’s latest Securities Exchange Committee filing shows that both Shaw and DeLuca have resigned their positions with the company (as well as their spots on the Board of Directors) and will now serve as “consultants.”

Shaw has been EliteXC’s Live Events President since ProElite’s founding in 2006. DeLuca, who’s also been there since the beginning, started out as the company’s CEO before becoming Chief Strategy Officer and Chairman of the Board last February. The man who replaced him as CEO, Charles Champion, will now replace him as Chairman. No word yet on who will take over as the new EliteXC Live Events President.

But don’t cry too hard for Shaw and DeLuca, because their severance packages are pretty damn solid.

(This picture is just another part of TapouT’s attempt to make you constantly feel like you are on mushrooms. That, and the paint and wigs and stuff.)

As much as we like to give the guys from TapouT a hard time about their TV show and their plans to make children’s furniture, we have to admit that they know what they’re doing with their off-the-wall personas and recognizable brand. And in an interview with USA Today’s MMA blogger, Sergio Non, they open up about their business (they expect to do “upwards of $100 million this year”), their history, and most interestingly, their role in Diego Sanchez’s victory on the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter”:

There could be a fighter, like in (TUF season-one winner) Diego Sanchez’s case — he was already primed and ready, but there was just that nobody that knew about him. Whereas we knew about him because we’re scouring all those up-and-coming, lower shows.

So when Dana White came to me and was like, “Hey, this is who we’ve got going on there, is there anybody we missed…” I was like, “There’s this kid, Diego Sanchez out of New Mexico, he’s crazy and he’s insane.” And actually, this story is a true story, he ended up bumping one guy off The Ultimate Fighter that was slated to go on there, plugged Diego Sanchez in, Diego ends up winning it at the 185-pound mark, further cementing us as talent scouts.

Wow. I guess that guy who was bumped knows who to be pissed off at now. Also in this interview we learn (two of) their real names — Charles Lewis Jr. (Mask) and Dan Caldwell (Punkass), while Skyskrape is apparently a mystery man who hails from parts unknown, much like The Ultimate Warrior — and they also comment on the nature of their relationship with the UFC.

You thought it couldn’t get worse for James Irvin after his 61-second destruction at the hands of Anderson Silva at UFC Fight Night 14. You were dead wrong. Turns out Irvin’s post-fight urine sample was positive for both methadone and oxymorphone. That’s right, methadone, as in what they give to help recovering heroin addicts. And that’s also right, oxymorphone, the semi-synthetic opiod that is 6-8 times more potent than morphine. Damn, James Irvin. Sup?

Because this is undoubtedly a rough time for “The Sandman” we’ll refrain from jokes suggesting that if he was on these narcotic pain relievers before the bout with Silva, he may have to rob a pharmacy to get through his recovery afterwards. Instead we’ll just say that we’re very curious to hear an explanation and to see what steps the UFC and Nevada State Athletic Commission will take with something like this. Irvin has twenty days to respond and contest the results, or else it’s likely to be fine and suspension time.

Both drugs are considered “banned substances”, but are they performance enhancing? Will he suffer a suspension and fine similar to Nick Diaz, who the NSAC accused of being so doped up (on weed, no less) that he was virtually impervious to pain?

Guess we’ll wait and see. In the meantime, let’s just be glad that everyone else who was tested on the card came back clean.

Update: Justin Levens also tested positive for oxymorphone before the Affliction card that he didn’t even fight on (his bout was scratched due to time issues). He’s been fined $1,000 and is suspended until January 15. All without stepping into the ring.

(There’s really no reason for us to post this picture except that holy shit is Cris Cyborg terrifying.)

From an amusing new press release just sent out by Spike TV:

SPIKE TV’S RE-BROADCAST OF UFC 84 DRAWS MORE YOUNG MEN THAN A LIVE PRO ELITEXC CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT ON CBS

Need proof the UFC is the preeminent mixed martial arts brand in the world? On Saturday, July 26, more men 18-34 watched a repeat…a repeat…of a UFC event on Spike TV than a LIVE telecast of a Pro EliteXC championship card on CBS. Despite being available in over 17 million more homes [ed. note: I think they mean over 17 million less homes?], Spike TV drew 27% more Men 18-34 for a re-broadcast of “UFC 84: Penn vs. Sherk” from (9:00-12:00am ET/PT) than CBS’s live show (9:00-11:00pm). Spike TV’s telecast tallied 433,000 Men 18-34 to CBS’s 341,000.

Overall, “UFC 84: Penn vs. Sherk” drew higher ratings than Pro EliteXC in Men 18-49 (1.5 to 1.3) and Men 18-34 (1.5 and 1.0).

Reminiscent of the XFL’s rating collapse years ago, the CBS telecast was 69% lower in Men 18-34 and 57% lower with Men 18-49 than its initial broadcast on CBS in May featuring the “He Hate Me” of MMA, Kimbo Slice.

Garbling the competition’s name as “Pro EliteXC” is an awesomely passive aggressive touch, as is comparing EliteXC to the ill-fated XFL. We’re not sure what’s up with referring to Kimbo as “He Hate Me,” though it sounds vaguely racist, and Spike Lee is probably preparing an infringement lawsuit as we speak.

Anyway, sending out a press release on your competition’s weak ratings is a barrel of laughs, but maybe the joke’s on Spike.

(Photo courtesy of CageToday.)

Josh Gross has a lengthy update on Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in his SI column, and while it’s good to hear any news on the troubled former UFC champ, nothing that Gross passes along could be classified as “reassuring.” First and foremost, Rampage and his trainer/manager Juanito Ibarra have indeed parted ways:

With defeat as the impetus, Jackson responded to rough terrain by relieving the trainer of his duties, though “bottom line, somehow, someway it all involves money,” said the fighter’s friend.

Jackson is now out of psychiatric observation and is attending outpatient treatment on a daily basis, but he didn’t seem completely cured after his initial release.

“He would still make comments that were slightly weird,” said Jackson’s longtime associate. “You could tell that he wasn’t all the way there, but each day you could tell he was better…He knows what he went through,” said the source. “He knew he had an emotional breakdown that led to a mental breakdown.”

There’s a few other things worth pulling from the article. First off, Jackson came to the Lord under duress. (“In 2004, Jackson…claimed he was touched by Jesus in a dream, scaring him enough to bolt from his apartment with his son D’Angelo in tow. That night he was born again.”) Second, at the time of his PRIDE 28 rematch with Wanderlei Silva, he hadn’t eaten for three days, because he had read on the Internet that fasting would keep the devil away.

Ryan Reser (above, right) is said to be one the United States’ best hopes in judo at this summer’s Olympics in Beijing, but apparently that doesn’t mean he isn’t still chapped about judo being largely ignored in the U.S. while MMA enjoys a growing a fan base. From a story in yesterday’s New York Times:

“It blows me away and upsets me because we’re not to that level,” he said at the Olympic judo trials in Las Vegas. “We’ve been doing a lot of that stuff all along. Not the punching and kicking, but the arm bars and chokes.”

[...]

Reser is hoping that the M.M.A. crowd will watch judo during the Olympics. He said the similarity between the two sports would lend to natural crossover appeal. And maybe get some athletes intrigued by the M.M.A. cage wearing a gi.

“We’re just not a very big sport,” he said. “We have a lot of judo, but it’s spread across the United States. It’s hard for us to get partners and news coverage. We’re hoping we can get more interest in judo.”

This is the second time in the recent lead-up to the Olympics that we’ve heard a judo-lover expressing frustration over the lack of interest in the sport stateside. First it was Karo Parisyan, and now Reser, who says he’s taken up training with some MMA fighters to learn a few new tricks. I’m not going to point out that the issue of “crossover appeal” for an Olympic sport that incorporates one aspect of MMA only reinforces my belief that MMA (which incorporates all the aspects of MMA) should be an Olympic sport all its own.

Instead, I’m going to hypothesize that crossover appeal is never the issue with the Olympics. Not really.