(Dude, Fedor, it clearly says “Do Not Touch”.)

Let’s not kid ourselves, MMA fans. Whatever you think of Tim Sylvia, whatever opinion you may have formed based on reading about him in Matt Hughes’ autobiography or seeing him on “Blind Date”, the fact remains that he’s a legitimate top heavyweight. He’s big, he’s strong, his overall game has improved dramatically over the last few years, and while he may not always look great doing it, he knows how to win.

So let’s not pretend that this fight on Saturday is a cakewalk for Fedor Emelianenko. Sylvia is a dangerous opponent for anyone, regardless of where they stand in the heavyweight rankings. But we also can’t pretend that Affliction would look at a Sylvia victory the same way they would a Fedor one.

Let’s start with the obvious reason. The biggest fight on the horizon for Affliction right now is Fedor-Couture. There are roadblocks aplenty at the moment, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen or that it wouldn’t be a difference-maker in their long term viability. But if Sylvia comes out on top, that match instantly loses a lot of its appeal. Gone is Fedor’s aura of invincibility, his mystique, his innate talent for making any fight seem like history in the making.

But that’s not even the biggest problem. If Fedor loses, that means Sylvia wins. That means you’re stuck with him. Then what?

(Brandon Vera in Maxim. It was either this or another picture of Sokoudjou.)

As expected, Brandon Vera’s frank account of who turned down fights with him is making at least one fighter bristle. From Fighthype:

“It would have been stupid for me to take the Vera fight on short notice,” stated UFC light heavyweight contender [Rameau Thierry] Sokoudjou as he talked about why he wasn’t willing to fight Brandon Vera on the July 19th UFC Fight Night card. Sokoudjou explains that his management team is aware of the fact that he likes to have 8 weeks to prepare for his fights. Although he admits to being offered the fight, he says he was “on vacation and busy living it up in Europe” at the time it was offered and that he wasn’t training or thinking about fighting so soon…

“What has he done for me to fear him,” Sokoudjou stated in closing as he made it clear that he’s not afraid to face any fighter.

So there you have it — “The Truth” might have a new rival on his hands. Also on Fighthype today is this sort-of-bizarre interview with John Hackleman, where the “Pit Boss” says the following:

— Forrest Griffin “definitely” should have won the decision against Quinton Jackson, although the frst round should have been a 10-8 round for Rampage. Not sure how the math works out on that one, but that’s what he said.
— Juanito Ibarra was very un-Christian for vowing to retire if Rampage lost, and then not retiring.
— If someone makes a bad call at The Pit, they’re beaten, hogtied, and dragged behind a speeding car. But don’t worry, they don’t do that to black people. In fact, the last person they did it to was a Mexican. Feel better?

(Props: JarryPark)

I was worried that UFC 89 (October 18th; Birmingham, England) was going to be one of those off-brand cards that are hastily thrown together for the British market — but it may have potential after all. Besides the requisite matchups of Bisping vs. Leben and (possibly) Davis vs. Kelly, and a reported welterweight feature of Thiago Alves vs. Diego Sanchez, the UFC has just added three more compelling bouts to the lineup.

First up is a light-heavyweight bout between Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou — who’s coming off a first-round TKO of Kazuhiro Nakamura at UFC 84 — and Luiz Cane, who recently knocked out Jason “Flapjacks” Lambert at UFC 85. Sokoudjou was already regarded as one of the top ten 205′ers in the world when he entered the UFC, and is probably still trying to shake off the humiliation of being the only guy that Lyoto Machida has finished in the last two years. Both him and Cane have a lot of hype behind them, and both like to throw bombs; could be a wild one.

Next is a heavyweight bout between Denver-based destroyer Shane Carwin (9-0) and British brawler Neil Wain (4-0). Like Carwin, Wain has won all of his fights by first-round stoppage — though I don’t think that little fun fact will matter much once the bell rings and Carwin starts charging across the cage. Like his 44-second mouthpiece-ejecting knockout of Christian Wellisch at UFC 84, this match might turn into another stunning KO win for the up-and-coming Carwin.

Finally, British welterweight star Dan Hardy (19-6) is set to make his Octagon debut against Akihiro Gono. Hardy is the reigning Cage Warriors welterweight champion, and has only suffered one loss (via disqualification) in his last nine fights. Gono (28-12-7) is a veteran of Shooto, Pancrase, and PRIDE who won his UFC debut last November by tapping Tamdan McCrory with an armbar at UFC 78; injury has prevented him from competing since.

Jesse Taylor is responsible for several firsts in Ultimate Fighter history. He’s the first fighter to voluntarily pee his pants for entertainment on the show, as well as the first to fight his way into the finals only to be kicked off for a drunken rampage after the show finished filming.

Now Taylor’s poised to get his shot in the UFC against CB Dollaway on July 19th. In this exclusive interview he talks to CagePotato about finally getting his shot at the big time and trying to learn from his mistakes to make the most of his second chance.

CagePotato.com: When did you find out that you were going to get a shot in the UFC on this July 19 card? Where you already in shape and ready for a fight, or did it come as a surprise to you?

Jesse Taylor: I was just staying active, and you have to remember the show ended back in March, so after training so long and fighting so much it was a big layoff. Ever since it ended I was trying to get back in, but I found out just recently, just about three and a half weeks ago that I was back in. I was just so pumped up, so happy that I felt like sure, let’s go, I’ll fight anybody.

Do you think it was the UFC’s need to put this card together on short notice that made them call you so soon?

I think it was a combination of things. I think that show definitely helped. But I had this spotlight on me anyway because I was the guy who won every one of his fights and then I got this horrible punishment. I definitely wanted the fight, and I think people were interested in, you know, what could have happened with Jesse Taylor, so next thing I know I’m back in the UFC.

Do you think they would have called you so soon if it wasn’t for this event?

I think they would have definitely called me again, I just think it would have been a little bit longer.

Looking back on it now, what do you make of the punishment Dana White handed down to you? Was it too harsh, in your opinion?

CagePotato reader “Facey” put together this highlight video featuring MMA’s biggest stars showing little regard for the health of their opponents. From Wanderlei Silva knocking Sakuraba and Jardine dead, to Yves Edwards’s ninja-kick KO of Josh Thomson, to Chuck Liddell beating down Tito Ortiz, to “the Randleplex” — it’s pretty much the only knockout compilation you’ll ever need. If you dig it, let him know in the comments section below or at its original home on Break.com

Break got a cease and desist letter for this one! So here’s another just as good knockout comp from Facey, that for now is living comfortably on YouTube. Enjoy.

(Wait, so if he isn’t banging Patrcyja, who is he banging? Uh oh.)

Grab a cup of coffee and settle in…

— UFC ring girl Arianny Celeste gets a crash course in BJJ. Yes, it’s hot. (MMA Rated)

— Nate Diaz vs. Josh Neer is the official headlining bout of the next UFC Fight Night (September 17th, Omaha); Mac Danzig, Clay Guida, Houston Alexander, Joe Lauzon, and Ed Herman are also on the card. Not sure what Neer has done to deserve a main event spot, but hey, Joe Silva works in mysterious ways. (ufc.com)

— In one of the preview videos on the official “Seek and Destroy” website, Dana White says Roger Huerta and Kenny Florian “have hearts the size of Tito’s fuckin’ head.” (87.ufc.com)

— Contrary to previous horrified speculation, Tim Sylvia is not banging Patrcyja Mikula. (MMAyou)

— Come on, you knew that Affliction wasn’t just going to use a regular ring for their totally Xtreme debut event. (BloodyElbow)

— Frank Trigg’s next fight will be against Makoto Takimoto (4-4) at Sengoku IV, which goes down August 24th in Saitama, Japan. (Nightmare of Battle)

— Edith Labelle adores The Notebook, has a Yorkie named Chico, and burps very loudly when she’s alone. And knowing is half the battle. (Men’s Fitness)

— The Association of Boxing Commissions was just kidding about their changes to the Unified Rules of MMA. (Fightlinker)

— Security-tape beating of the day: pizza shop employee vs. robber = large FAIL with double anchovies. (Holy Taco)

— Budweiser is now owned by foreigners. (Wall Street Fighter)

(MMA in MSG by ’09? Let’s hope so.)

UFC VP of Government and Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner isn’t giving up hope on getting MMA legalized in New York. Though all the lobbying didn’t produce the immediate result the UFC was hoping for, it sounds as if Ratner is making this a personal obsession of his. In an article on TriStateFighter.com (via MMA Payout) he describes himself as “bullish on the future of MMA in New York” and blames ignorance of the sport for the failure of a legalization and regulation bill to get out of committee:

“The Tourism Committee – our bill did not come out of there. One of the legislators needs to be properly educated, because he said something about no referees. Some people think it is still no holds barred or no rules.”

[...]

“We have been talking to the Times Union Arena in Albany to locations in Utica, Buffalo, and Syracuse. Madison Square Garden – I have talked to them once a week for the last year and half. Is it going happen? Yes, but not this year. We are going to keep lobbying and educating and it is not the same sport it was 15 years ago … that is what they have to understand.”

Ratner, of course, was the executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission for fourteen years before leaving to work for the UFC, so he knows a thing or two about state regulation. He also says the UFC has “ambitious” plans for global domination, er, expansion, including Dubai, Australia, and Macao.

Before you bother looking it up, Macao is a “special administrative region of the People’s Republic of China.” Big MMA fans there, apparently. Who knew?

Paul “Semtex” Daley is as talented a fighter as he is mercurial a personality, so it should be no surprise that he manages to court some controversy even while he can’t decide whether he wants to retire or fight. The British welterweight has oscillated between the two in recent months, but came back to easily dispatch Bojan Kosednar in Cage Warriors this weekend.

Apparently, Pro Elite (which has a contract with Daley) was unhappy about the situation and tried to get Daley to agree to a fight on Elite XC’s July 26 show in Stockton, Ca. The problem is that Daley says they offered him a fight with Rory Markham, the ex-IFL slugger who is fighting on the UFC’s July 19 show. Confused yet? Good. Let’s see if Daley can sort it out for us:

“They [Pro Elite] did offer me a fight on the July 26th card against Rory Markham, who we all know has signed with the UFC, so I thought it was a ploy to stop me fighting on Cage Warriors. I felt that if I had accepted the fight, they would have just cancelled on me.”

“A lot of other guys had fought twice in the same month for two different promotions, a non-Pro Elite and then a Pro Elite event – I said look, I’ll fight July 12th and I’ll fight July 26th, not a problem. I feel confident in this fight and all being well I would get out uninjured and with a victory and I’d fly straight to America. They didn’t want to hear any of that.”

“If I had been Nick Diaz, it wouldn’t have been a problem. The guy smokes weed, starts riots on TV, doesn’t make weight, fights whoever the fuck he wants, and there’s no problem there. It’s a bit of a piss-take really.”

Oh man, he just said something about Nick Diaz that could accurately be described as negative. That’s the MMA equivalent of saying “Beetlejuice” three times. You just know Diaz is going to pop up out of nowhere with a semi-intelligible response any minute now.

SpikeTV passes along this alert:

Tonight at 9PM on Spike TV, during a presentation of A History of Violence, Geoff Keighley, host of GameTrailers TV, will present exclusive new footage from THQ’s UFC® 2009 Undisputed, recreating the end of the UFC 86 light heavyweight title fight between Forrest Griffin and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.

Might be worth a look, if you honestly have nothing going on tonight (and Amir Sadollah assumes you don’t in the above promo). We hear the new footage is pretty damn realistic, right down to Juanito Ibarra stamping his feet and crying little pixelated tears after the decision. Though we’d still rather see the Undisputed recreation of the end of the Koscheck/Lytle fight.

Also: It’s becoming apparent that Sadollah doesn’t always understand the subtle difference between “funny guy” and “smug prick.” Just a thought…

From the latest episode of ESPN.com’s MMA Live, Kenny Florian demonstrates a technique for clinch-domination that you should definitely add to your bar-fight repertoire. Speaking of which, James Irvin doesn’t believe that Anderson Silva is “real technical in terms of the clinch.” Yeah, he really said that — video proof is below.

When James Irvin was asked about the four guys who turned down a match with Anderson Silva before he accepted it, he refused to name names. When Lyoto Machida was asked about the fighters who have reportedly been turning down fights against him, he refused to name names. Luckily there are straight shooters like Brandon Vera.

“They offered me Dan Henderson, Wanderlei Silva, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Lyoto Machida and then Reese Andy,” Vera told The Baltimore Sun. As Vera explains, Henderson, Silva, and Sokoudjou all said no to the matchup, and Vera himself wanted no part of Machida. Wanderlei Silva has said repeatedly that he has no interest in fighting anyone before the end of the year, so he gets a pass — but Hendo and Soko just got their spots blown up, so to speak.

We’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they probably balked at the short notice of the fight, and didn’t refuse it due to any sort of fear of the matchup. Whatever the case, Vera’s frank soundbite probably won’t win him many friends in the UFC. But what else would you expect from a guy nicknamed “The Truth”?

Props: Five Ounces of Pain

It’s great when former pro athletes and celebrities (or in this case, pseudo-celebrities) think that they can fight just as long as their opponent is another celebrity. Baseball’s public enemy number one, Jose Canseco, found out the hard way over the weekend that it doesn’t always work that way.

You have to love the commentary from Stephen A. Smith here, who seems just a little biased in his take on the match. His description of Canseco as a rat and of former Philadelphia Eagles player Vai Sikahema as a man who “knows what he’s doing with those fists of his” (hurling them at Canseco’s head?) is pretty great.

(Belfort working with striking guru Shawn Tompkins at Xtreme Couture.)

Xtreme Couture helped Wanderlei Silva get back in the win column, so maybe they can help Vitor Belfort get back to the days when he was unironically referred to as “The Phenom” and the UFC pre-fight information graphic described him as having “no known weaknesses.”

Okay, so that was a long time ago and the sport has changed since then, but Belfort’s working with Xtreme Couture for his fight against Terry Martin at Affliction: Banned and it may be just what he needs to become relevant again. As he told MMA Weekly, it’s a different ballgame over there in Vegas:

“I think the mentality of Xtreme Couture is wonderful. It’s a great facility, a great group of sparring partners, good trainers. I really enjoy it. Everybody is equal over here. Coach Tompkins is wonderful. I’m having a great time with him and other coaches over here too. I think it’s the perfect environment for a fighter. It’s been a pleasure. I’ve developed my skills and I’m ready to go. I’m really enjoying it and being ready for my next fight.”

[...]

“We need people who stick together,” he stated. “We can fight against each other, but we’re friends. We’re all on the same page. We’re fighting for the same reason. We’re trying to put food on the table at home. There is going to be some time when we get together like a union.

Get together like a union, eh? That all sounds great, until the UFC hires the Pinkertons to come in with their billy clubs and blackjacks to break the whole thing up.

But whatever gets Belfort back to form, I’m all for it. Beating Terry Martin probably won’t be enough to hail his second coming, though you have to start somewhere. Those of us who remember Vitor at his best can hardly wait.

Affliction just posted this “Countdown” video to their skull-heavy YouTube page, introducing the main event fighters in their July 19th debut card. Special attention is given to Tim Sylvia’s troubled upbringing, and his alcoholic, abusive mother. Not sure if they’re trying to turn the Maine-iac into a sympathetic figure or something, but it’s probably too little too late. (If both his parents were abusive alcoholics, then maybe…) You should also check out the “stadium preview” below if you’re curious about where Megadeth will be set up in relation to the ring.

(Animated gif courtesy of Fightlinker.)

From Fighters Only Magazine:

Phil Baroni says he will not be pressing charges after being subjected to a cowardly assault by an associate of his defeated opponent Scott Jansen at Saturday night’s Cage Rage event.

“These things happen.” Said Baroni. “It must be tough to see a loved one get knocked out like that. Emotions ran high. I want to put this behind me.”

Baroni, who was making his welterweight debut, knocked Jansen out in the first round of their fight.

As medical staff surrounded Jansen, Baroni approached to check on his condition and was unexpectedly headbutted by Jansen’s associate, who then immediately fled the ring. Insult was added to injury when Jansen’s girlfriend launched into a foul-mouthed tirade against Baroni. But Baroni stayed calm and made no attempt to exact retribution for the assault — although his cornerman Mark Coleman was reportedly eager to do so.

The incident was broadcast live and once again calls into question Cage Rage’s policy of allowing friends and family into the cage after fights.

Cage Rage co-promoter Dave O’Donnell says that action has already been taken following the incident and that the organisation “has issued a ban on a member of Scott’s family attending future fights.”

Previously: Baroni Wins WW Debut, Gets Headbutted by Asshole

(Props: FightOpinion)

I was incredibly disappointed by Marcus Davis’s loss-by-smothering against Mike “Not Quick” Swick at UFC 85 — partly because I’d been shamelessly hugging his nuts leading up to the event, and partly because his loss contributed to me having to film myself vomiting. But in a recent profile on MMA Junkie, Davis reveals that his insane weightlifting regimen led to an injury that almost sunk the fight altogether. As Davis explains:

“Three weeks before the Swick fight, I had torn the connective tissue between my triceps and my rear [deltoid]. I had Cortisone shots for that. Two days before the Swick fight, I couldn’t move my arm. So, the UFC was cool enough to send me to an orthopedic doctor in the U.K., and they did an ultrasound on my arm. I had an impingement in the front bursa sac that was like 100 times the size it was supposed to be, and then still that tear in the rear connective tissue. [The doctor] did a guided needle with the ultrasound into the bursa, and drained the bursa. And that lasted for about three-and-a-half hours, and then I couldn’t move my arm again.

“The day of the weigh-ins, [the UFC] excused me early. After I weighed in, they let me leave and brought me back [to the doctor] and checked me out. It had swollen right back up again because the needle had aggravated it.”

Phil Baroni’s first match as a welterweight was a resounding success, as the New York Badass dominated Scott Jansen to a first-round knockout victory at Cage Rage 27 last night in London. Unexpectedly, Baroni quickly got the fight to the ground, scoring a smooth double-leg takedown shortly after the bell and effortlessly controlling Jansen from the top. After an armlock attempt didn’t pan out, Baroni moved to full mount, but both men were quickly ordered to their feet by the ref. Baroni then reverted back to his bread and butter, turning out Jansen’s lights with a perfect right hook; Baroni returned after the stoppage to shake the hand of his still-sleeping opponent.

About thirty seconds later, Baroni made the mistake of going back again to check on Jansen, and one of Jansen’s cornermen responded by headbutting him — or “nutting” him, as the commentators colorfully put it. (“Wot’a dizgrace.”) The headbutter conveniently disappeared after the confrontation, while Baroni scored big-time respect points for not chasing him down and tearing his dumb ass apart. Video of the fight and post-fight assault is above; the questionable ref standup is at 3:36, the knockout punch is at 3:58, and the headbutt is at 4:45. Baroni competes next at Icon Sport: Hard Times (August 2, Honolulu), where he’ll face 3-5 Jesus Is Lord jobber Ron Verdadero.

In other action at Cage Rage 27, Neil Grove defeated Robert Berry in their rematch, stopping “Buzz” via strikes in the second round, while Mustapha Al Turk scored a first-round ground-and-pound TKO over James McSweeney to win the Cage Rage British heavyweight title. Full results are after the jump.

Bless his heart, Denis Kang does his best in this MMA Rated interview not to bash Dream for dropping him from the Dream.5 fight card on July 21. It seems like they didn’t have a great reason for taking him off the event, nor did they have an explanation for why he only recently found out about it, but Kang’s trying to stay positive, which we like.

Where it starts to seem like he’s struggling, though, is where he justifies the problems Dream is experiencing by pointing out that all organizations have problems, even The Vatican. Comparing an MMA organization to the Vatican in an attempt to make yourself feel better about how they’re jerking you around is the last refuge of a very frustrated fighter. I think Samuel Johnson said that.

MMA Payout reports that Affliction: Banned will air on a delayed basis on Bravo TV in the UK. The show is set to air on Sunday July 20 at 9 pm, which means that if you live in the UK and don’t want the results spoiled for you it’s probably best to avoid the internet all together as American-based sites like this one will naturally just assume that anyone who wanted to see the show already has by then. But hey, at least you’re getting in on the action.

Not to be outdone by an Affliction-related announcement, the UFC also has news. Remember the Tim Credeur-Cale Yarbrough fight that was originally scheduled for the TUF 7 Finale but got scrapped when Credeur tested positive for prescription Adderall? It’s back on now, set for the UFC’s July 19 show. Cause why the hell not?

- MMA’s most stereotypical fan located? (MySpace)

- Great Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira mini-documentary (MMA Scraps)

- Anderson Silva is a hungry ninja (Sherdog forums)

- Tito Ortiz takes the phrase ‘playing grab-ass’ literally (Combat Lifestyle)

- Affliction ticket sales not too far behind UFC 86 (MMA Payout)

- No more dancing girls for Elite XC on CBS? (Fight Ticker)

- Matt Brown to fight Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 88 (MMA Mania)

- Man with no nose kidnaps insane woman, local news reporter baffled/amused. (Holy Taco)

- The world’s most expensive six-pack of beer. (Wall Street Fighter)

Two very different stories emerge in these two very different Phil Baroni videos. The only thing they even have in common (besides the presence of Phil Baroni) is that in both clips we get glimpses of the story that Baroni is telling himself in order to make his life seem more livable. In the above video from MMA Rated the story is that he’s been in the wrong weight class all these years and that’s what’s been holding him back. In the one below (props to Fightlinker for digging it up), the story is that he was one of the best fighters in Pride and one of the top middleweights in the UFC for two years, despite the fact that he is poor (though he’s still a rawkstah).

What’s weird is that the second video, which is an older one but also one that offers a far more honest take, makes him seem almost likable. I know it sounds crazy, but just take a look and see for yourself.

From MMA Junkie, here’s a preview clip of tonight’s episode of Inside MMA (9:30 p.m. ET, HDNet), where the suddenly-blonde Kim Couture discusses her fateful bout against Kim Rose last month. Contrary to previous reports, her nose was never broken during the fight, and she didn’t need to get her jaw wired shut afterwards. But yes, that jaw-break was pretty nasty. (“Sorry if I grossed everybody out,” she says.) Couture also says that she’d like to face Kim Rose in a rematch, confident that the outcome would be much different if she didn’t have to deal with the neck/jaw agony and loss of equilibrium that haunted her first fight. And also, Deuce Bigalow is on the panel for some reason. Should be a good one.

(Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

After Lyoto Machida scored the biggest win of his undefeated career by out-pointing Tito Ortiz to a unanimous decision at UFC 84, he immediately became the subject of intense debate in the MMA community. While his fans praise his impenetrable defense and technically perfect counter-attacks, there are others who find his stick-and-move style to be boring — or worse, cowardly. Our resident Brazilian Luiz de Souza called Machida at his home base in Belém, Brazil, to get his take on the criticism, and to find out where he thinks he stands in the UFC’s light-heavyweight title picture.

***

CagePotato: Thanks so much for taking the time to speak with us today. Do you have any idea who your next opponent will be?
There’s been a lot of speculation, but there’s no confirmation of anything yet. But I think it could be Thiago Silva, or even Quinton Jackson.

We’ve heard that multiple fighters have turned down fights with you. Why do you think people are trying to avoid you?
It’s like I said in other interviews, this is a business, and so many times people don’t want to fight, not because they are scared, but because they want to get to the top quicker. Many times, fighters have better opportunities of getting higher-ranked in other fights, which makes them choose their fights sparingly, not accepting all challenges. It’s not a matter of being scared.

Some UFC fans refer to your style as “boring.” How do you respond to that?
The truth is that my style of fighting is very technical, and many times people do not understand what I am trying to show them. But this is my style. I can add to it, try to get better combinations, improve my aggressiveness, but this is my style; it’s each person’s characteristics. There are fighters that try to add to their styles, but it’s very difficult to change completely. I fight for a positive result, and I believe that if I add a few things to my style I can still get these positive results.

I don’t feel that this is the only way fans see me. There are many of them who compliment me, and tell me they enjoy watching me fight, so it’s not only negativity coming from them. But it’s something that depends on each person’s point of view, and how the person is looking at the fight. If the person is only looking at it as a brawl, then it gets harder for the person to understand. But when they look at it with a more technical view, looking at the martial arts in it, maybe they’ll understand it better.

Has the UFC ever asked you to press the action more, or are they content with how your fights have been going?

(Shaw offers a financial advice seminar urging fans to invest in track suits.)

On yesterday’s Elite XC conference call Pro Elite Chairman Doug DeLuca was confronted with the inevitable ‘have you guys fired Gary Shaw yet?’ questions that we all knew were coming. You may recall that rumors of Shaw’s demise within the company have been floating around for some time, despite his son Jared’s best efforts to convince people otherwise. DeLuca offered this fairly oblique description of what’s happening with the elder Shaw:

Question: Doug, what is Gary Shaw’s status with this company? Is July 26 the last show he has with EliteXC?

DeLuca: I was waiting for one of those questions and the opportunity to set the record straight. Gary is still very involved with ProElite. Gary and our team from day one at ProElite basically took MMA at our company from ground zero to a huge network success. So, Gary’s got a lot to be proud of in the MMA world. In the process of doing it, as you can imagine, Gary being from the East Coast and we being a West Coast company, took a lot of time from Gary. He was traveling non?stop. It took a toll on his boxing business, which is very successful and it took a toll on his family. To some degree, it took a toll on his health. We collectively made the decision that Gary was going to back off a little bit, kind of take a little bit of a relaxed role as far as being involved front and center, which is a good thing for all those three things, for his health, for his boxing business, and for his family. But Gary is still very much involved and I still talk to him almost every day. He’s still there. Gary’s interest still lies in EliteXC and ProElite, making it a top organization in the world. That’s the status with Gary.

Interesting. So they collectively made the decision that he would fade out of view and not be heard from in interviews or seen on camera. You know, for his health and stuff. So then, what does he actually do for Elite XC these days?

UFC fighters constantly reference matchmaker Joe Silva when talking about the future of their careers, and yet we usually hear so little about the man who decides so much. Somehow Florida Today caught up with him recently to find out what he’s looking for and what it’s like to choose the guys who fight on MMA’s biggest stage:

“I’m looking for a well-rounded athletic fighter, but the most important thing to me is record,” said Joe Silva, the UFC’s vice president of talent relations. “It’s very frustrating in my job. I don’t look for victims. I pride myself in making competitive matchups.”

“I don’t care what happens in the gym. Lots of people do well in the gym. Going in the cage is a completely different thing, so I want to know how many fights do you have and who did you fight.”

“Did he beat up a bunch of guys who, this was their first fight? Or did he beat up a bunch of guys who had multiple fights and this much experience?”

“(In early MMA) if you had somebody who didn’t understand jiu-jitsu, you could beat them without being much of an athlete. Nowadays, everybody knows. There’s no secret techniques. People know, and they cross-train. Being an athlete quite often is what makes the difference.”

So you’re telling me that in modern MMA I have to not only know my stuff, but also be a great athlete? In other words, it’s like every other major professional sport. So basically I’ve got no chance, is what you’re saying. Well that’s just great.

Of course, we could always take issue with what Silva says are his criteria for choosing fighters and then ask how he decided that Rob Yundt, who had beaten a bunch of nobodies in Alaska, should debut in the UFC against Ricardo Almeida, but we won’t do that. Because even we have to admit that most of the time Silva does a hell of a job.

Jeremy Jackson was already a footnote in MMA history for his appearance on The Ultimate Fighter 4, where he was kicked off the show for leaving the TUF house to meet a woman. Unfortunately, it now looks like he’ll be remembered for something far more disturbing — a sex-fueled crime spree late last month that resulted in an arrest and charges of forcible rape (two counts), kidnapping to commit another crime, first-degree residential burglary, assault with a firearm, dissuading a witness by force or threat, and criminal threats.

MMA Junkie confirmed the charges last night, reporting that the 26-year-old is being held in a Ventura County jail, with bail set at $1 million; Jackson is due in Ventura County Superior Court on Wednesday, where he’ll enter pleas to the charges. For more details, you can check out his entry on the Ventura Country Sheriff’s website. (Ed. note: Link appears to be effed up. Go here and search by his name.)

After being kicked off TUF 4, Jackson was invited back for the finale card where he suffered a neck injury in a loss to Pete Spratt. He’s only competed once since then, winning a TKO over Hector Carrilo at Total Combat 19 in March 2007. A month later, the Ventura County Star published a profile on the journeyman fighter, which detailed his traumatic childhood, the death of his brother, and his battle with alcoholism.

After winning his first pro MMA bout — a decision over Noe Hernandez at UFC 17 in May 1998 — Chuck Liddell was somehow convinced to take a vale tudo match in Brazil against Jose “Pele” Landi-Jons at IVC 6 (8/23/98), with no gloves and a single 30-minute round. Pele (13-2 at the time, with all wins by stoppage) was already a minor star on the vale tudo circuit, and the unknown American challenger wasn’t supposed to be anything but an opponent for him.

The Brazilian controlled the first five minutes of the fight, at one point flooring Liddell with a head kick. But he seemed to gas early, and the Iceman took advantage. A punch flurry that begins at the video’s 6:17 mark leads to a beating that forces Pele to jump through the ropes to escape. The rest of the fight is marked by Liddell’s takedowns and top control, a long stalemate with Chuck kicking Pele from above (you can pretty much skip past 11:40-15:00), Liddell throwing headbutts and knees to the head on the ground, and a final sequence where a helpless Landi-Jons eats a few dozen punches to the face. It’s a brutal look at the early days of a legend, so if you have the time, check it out.

(Props: SKARHEAD on the UG)

(Having that same Olive Garden vs. Uno’s argument again, eh? We’ve all been there.)

Brandon Vera may have changed weight classes at the UFC’s, um, suggestion, but he isn’t forgetting about his plan to return to heavyweight and settle his score with Fabricio Werdum. In an article on CBS Sportsline Vera looks back on the fight and addresses the notion of whether the stoppage might have been justifiable, given the situation:

“Justifiable? That shouldn’t even be in that sentence, man. That was an (expletive) (expletive) call. I was talking, having a conversation with the referee, telling him I’m OK, and then he stops the fight. I wanted to know what I could have said. ‘I’m fine?’ ‘Everything is spectacular?’ What else was I supposed to say to the referee? Justifiable? That word should not be used in conjunction with that fight, ever.”

Man, do I love it when someone follows an expletive with an expletive. It really lets you know how they’re feeling, and it’s almost more powerful to write “(expletive)(expletive)” rather than just print the actual words.

That quote does, however, bring up the topic of what justifies a stoppage. Vera was certainly in a bad spot, but does the fact that he was capable of having this conversation with the referee mean that it shouldn’t have been stopped, even if he was eating some punches? If we’re going to by the spirit of the rule — which is to protect a fighter who isn’t “intelligently defending himself” — it would seem so.

Vera seems content to lay all the blame at Dan Miragliotta’s door, even making it a little personal.

You can add Tim Sylvia’s name to the list of MMA fighters who were displeased with the decision in UFC 86′s Forrest Griffin-”Rampage” Jackson title fight. In a new interview with the Baltimore Sun’s MMA blog Sylvia calls for MMA judges to be certified every year in order to justify their privileged position at cageside:

MMA Stomping Grounds: If you could change anything about the sport, what would it be?

Sylvia: There’s a couple things. I would like to see knees and foot stomps allowed on the ground and I would like to see all the judges go to classes and get certified and have to re-certify every year. Just like fighters have to apply for licenses. I think judges have to take classes and know more about MMA. You can’t just have boxing refs judge doing MMA. It’s not working and fighters are getting screwed because of it.

[...]

MMA Stomping Grounds: What did you think about the decision in the Forrest Griffin-Quinton Jackson fight? Did you think Griffin won?

Sylvia: No, I didn’t. I love Forrest, he’s a great guy and they are both good friends of mine, but that’s why I was talking about judges. I really believe Forrest won round two and I believe he won five, and Quinton dominated the first round — maybe a 10-8 round — and won rounds three and four 10-9, but judges just weren’t educated enough in MMA.

Certification is an interesting concept. I’d love to see what Big Tim would come up with as a test for MMA judges to take. I’m guessing it would look something like this:

A couple days ago, BloodyElbow passed along a news story about two local MMA events in Arkansas last month — “Red, White, and Blood” in Texarkana and “Blue Collar Brawlin’” in Fort Smith — that devolved into homoerotic spectacles, much to the displeasure of their audiences. It appeared to be the work of Sacha Baron Cohen, the Borat comedian who’s currently filming a movie based on another one of his characters, a gay Austrian fashion reporter named Bruno. In both cases, fans lured by cheap admission and $1 beers were subjected to a surprise bout between two men who ripped each other’s clothes off before kissing and pawing at each other. Said the Star Tribune of the Fort Smith incident:

An elaborate array of mounted and handheld video cameras caught the crowd of 1,600′s reaction as the two men “went right up to the line” of the city’s morality laws…The audience, as well as local fighters drawn to take part in the show, became enraged. “It set the crowd off lobbing beers,” [police Sgt. Adam] Holland said. “They had beers in plastic cups. Those things can get some distance on them actually.” Holland said it took officers about 45 minutes to clear the convention center, as the two actors sprinted away through a specially set-aside tunnel.

Sounds fabulous! TheSmokingGun now has some reactions from people who witnessed the events first-hand, and it seems like even the ones who were aware of the joke didn’t appreciate Cohen’s antics very much (“he is one sick bastard and your right going to make mma look like hicks but at least we arent cock suckers like borat”). Click the thumbnails below to read. Our favorite is the guy who mistakes Cohen for Bronson Pinchot. Ah well…it seems that “gay foreplay” has reached its logical conclusion.