(Image courtesy of MMA Mania)

From Antonio Silva’s manager Alex Davis, via the UG:

On Behalf of Antonio “Big Foot” Silva, as his Manager I come to this forum to declare Antonio’s innocence. These are Antonio’s words:

Dear Family, Friends, Fans and Public, I did not use the steroid Boldenone, or any other steroid of prohibited substance. I dont agree and never have agreed with the use of this kind of product in order to win, for this is cheating. I will go to the full extent of my power and the law to prove my innocence in this matter.

Looks like we may have another Sean Sherk situation on our hands. Sherk’s one-year suspension for Nandrolone was reduced to six months after he raised questions about the potential mishandling of his urine sample (which the California State Athletic Commission was never able to answer). As stubborn as the CSAC tends to be, a suspension-reduction is probably the best-case scenario for Silva. After all, proof for his side of the story is going to be very hard to come by…

(Honestly, how did we not see this coming?)

After all the speculation as to the identities of the last two fighters to test positive from last month’s Affliction and Elite XC cards in California, we have our answer. MMA Weekly reports that Affliction’s Edwin Dewees and newly-minted Elite XC heavyweight champ Antonio Silva are the guilty parties.

Dewees tested positive for Nandrolone, that old familiar friend, only unlike Sean Sherk his levels didn’t fall in the debatable range. While Sherk got nailed with 12 ng/mL, Dewees tested at 499ng/mL. The California State Athletic Commission’s Bill Douglas remarked that the level of Nandrolone in Dewees’ system was “hard to explain.” Unless, of course, you consider the explanation that he was rightfully worried about getting pounded on by Rogerio Nogueira.

Antonio Silva, on the other hand, tested positive for Boldenone, a veterinary steroid commonly used on horses. Oh, the lengths a man will go to just to claim that Elite XC heavyweight title. A false positive in Silva’s case also seems unlikely, since, according to Douglas, the drug has a long half-life in the body.

Both fighters have been suspended for a year and fined $2,500. As the MMA world shakes its collective head at them and simultaneously breathes a sigh of relief that it wasn’t Fedor, we await the totally lame excuses/explanations that are sure to follow. Injured in training, perhaps? Maybe a contact high from too much time spent at the racetrack? We can’t wait to hear it.

Strangely, it seems as if Jared Shaw’s strategy of openly insulting Elite XC lightweight champion KJ Noons in the press isn’t compelling him to play nice with the organization. Weird. Even the ultimatum — and everyone loves being issued an ultimatum — hasn’t convinced him to sign the bout agreement. So what is Noons planning to do?

According to a report from MMANews.com, nothing much for the time being. But it doesn’t sound as if Shaw’s remarks are helping any:

“A few things will be settled over the next few days,” Noons told MMANews.com “but for now we’ll just let Jared Shaw go off on his little rants and let him have his fun, this isn’t bothering me.”

“I just need a couple more days to get this stuff worked out and then I will be able to say my piece and clear my name of everything that is being said and everything that is going on.”

That doesn’t exactly sound like a man who’s eager to sign a bout agreement. That sounds more like a man looking for a way out. Apparently he isn’t moved by Shaw’s threat to make him “face public opinion.” Maybe he realized that if Jared “$kala” Shaw hasn’t been destroyed by public opinion yet, it’s not quite the all-powerful force it’s being made out to be.

According to the Pioneer Press:

Former Gophers wrestler Brock Lesnar, who is 2-1 as a mixed martial arts fighter, found out this week that Ultimate Fighting Championship would like him to compete next on a November card, but his opponent and site remain undetermined.

That November card (also known as UFC 91) will reportedly go down on 11/15 in Portland, Oregon, with a bout between Kenny Florian and Joe Stevenson likely to be on the lineup. The most prevalent rumor regarding Lesnar’s opponent is that he’ll be facing Cheick Kongo. In other UFC news…

— Anheuser-Busch has tapped Chuck Liddell and Anderson Silva as spokesmen for Bud Light. Which is kind of strange considering both of them are nearly unintelligible without a translator.

— A lightweight bout between Rich Clementi and Gray Maynard is slated for UFC 90 (October 25th, Chicago). Clementi has won his last six fights, including a submission of Anthony Johnson at UFC 76 and a decision win over Terry Etim at UFC 84. Xtreme Couture’s Gray Maynard increased his record to a perfect 5-0 with his unanimous decision over Frankie Edgar at UFC Fight Night 13 in April.

— Dana White will be appearing on A&E’s Mindfreak next Wednesday at 10 p.m. According to UFC.com: “With the use of a blindfold, a knife and a deck of cards, Criss attempts to teach UFC® President Dana White first-hand how to do a prediction of his own. Can Dana pull off a little magic with the help of the Mindfreak?”

(Noons: More elusive than Machida? Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)

Jared Shaw has had enough. The EliteXC vice president told MMA Junkie that KJ Noons has been given one more day to accept an October 4th title fight with Nick Diaz. “A bout agreement has been sent to KJ Noons,” Shaw said. “He has until 5 (p.m. PT Thursday) to accept it, or he can face public opinion.”

In a longer interview with MMA Junkie posted yesterday evening, Shaw strongly criticized Noons and his management for their unwillingness to commit to the Diaz fight. Some highlights:

“I’m sitting here and I’m drinking from a carton of milk right now. And the EliteXC lightweight champion KJ Noons’ face is on the back of this milk carton because he’s missing in action. I can’t seem to find him.”

“Since day one [Noons' manager] Mark Dion has been insinuating that EliteXC has been out to get KJ Noons. I just can’t figure that out. When a guy appears on the very first card — and the very first fight gets knocked out in the very first round off the very first punch — and we’re there to hold his hand and pick him back up and put him right back on television in a main event on ShoXC? And then when he’s 1-1, get him right back into a main event situation for the world championship against Nick Diaz, the legend who beat Gomi, how are you going to say that we’re not trying to help your kid? What more opportunity could we give the kid?”

(This seems like something we should relive on network television, right?)

The rumor mill has been churning this week as to who Elite XC will get to take on Kimbo Slice on their October 4 CBS event, which is being called something of a make-or-break show for the organization. In a new article on Si.com, Josh Gross adds another name to the list: Sean freaking Gannon.

As in, the Boston cop who defeated Slice in an ugly, amateurish brawl back in 2004. As in, the guy who later got a shot in the UFC, only to be trounced by the unremarkable Brandon Lee Hinkle. As in, the guy who is officially 1-1 in MMA competition. That Sean Gannon.

Gross says that difficulty signing Ken Shamrock and concerns that undefeated heavyweight Brett Rogers would actually beat Kimbo (apparently that’s enough to nix an opponent for Slice) are making the Gannon bout a very real possibility at this point.

There are many, many reasons why this is an idiotic idea. To name just one, Gannon isn’t an MMA fighter. He hasn’t competed since 2005, doesn’t seem to be actively pursuing a career in the sport, and hasn’t done anything that would suggest he should be fighting professionally on CBS. He’s just a tough guy who once fought and outlasted Kimbo back in his street brawling days. In other words, this fight would be a major step back for MMA, not to mention one that would happen on network TV.

Let’s all hope that this is nothing more than a vicious, hateful rumor. Let’s hope that when Elite XC executives hear of it, they scoff out loud. Let’s hope that when Brett Rogers hears of it, he doesn’t murder whoever is closest to him. Let’s hope, but let’s not be too shocked if it turns out to be true.

(Urijah Faber talks upcoming title defense with ESPN)

The WEC has announced the full fight card for their September 10 event in Florida, and once again it’s a fairly stacked show from Zuffa’s minor leagues. Most notable is the official announcement that former UFC lightweight champ Jens Pulver will be taking on Leonard “Just Try and Make Those Charges Stick” Garcia. It also includes Urijah Faber defending his title against Mike Brown, and Paulo Filho making his return to action in a rematch against Chael Sonnen.

Making their WEC debuts are two Team Takedown members — Jake Rosholt and Johny Hendricks — who are definitely worth keeping an eye on in the future.

Here’s the full lineup:

Urijah Faber vs. Mike Brown
Paulo Filho vs. Chael Sonnen
Jens Pulver vs. Leonard Garcia
Danillo Villefort vs. Jake Rosholt
Rob McCullough vs. Donald Cerrone
Rani Yahya vs. Yoshihiro Maeda
David Avellan vs. Tim McKenzie
Johny Hendricks vs. Alex Serdyukov
Ed Ratcliff vs. Danny Castillo

(“The Wizard” @ Ozzfest 2005)

TheMMANews and MMAJunkie are reporting that the music for Affliction’s second MMA event (October 11th, Las Vegas) will be provided by 59-year-old rock legend Ozzy Osbourne. Osbourne, who is sponsored by Affliction clothing, had been rumored to be the live performer at “Banned” in May, but Megadeth got the gig instead.

The heavy metal interludes from Dave Mustaine & Co. at Affliction’s debut card were criticized by many MMA fans, but I dig Megadeth, so their presence was fine with me, especially because they stuck to old classics and didn’t play any new material. As long as Ozzy stays away from “Mama, I’m Coming Home” and digs into the Black Sabbath songbook (i.e., “Iron Man,” “War Pigs,” maybe some “Sweet Leaf” or “The Wizard”), he should be good. Also, Andrei Arlovski is going to beat Josh Barnett via decision; you heard it here first.

(BG)

(‘Wish a motherf*cker would start some trouble in here.’)

So you were planning on going to protest the Democratic National Convention in Denver next week, but you’re worried about getting your ass kicked and possibly tear-gassed? Don’t even sweat it, man. Protest group Recreate ’68 has got your solution: learn some MMA.

Denver’s Gumm Mixed Martial Arts Academy (owned and operated by “two-time UFC veteran” Brad Gumm, who once beat Joe Stevenson…and then lost the subsequent rematch) is opening its doors to the protesters to help them learn some fighting skillz before it all goes down in the streets of Denver. Now try and tell me that MMA isn’t mainstream.

From DNC Disruption ’08 (via Fight Opinion):

Gumm Mixed Martial Arts Gym has provided an incredible opportunity for supporters of R-68. There will be many counter-protesters who will be accompanying us at the convention. An ounce of preparation for the worst possible scenario is a valuable and strategic move to ensure your personal safety.

Nothing would please me more than to turn on the news coverage of the DNC next week and see protesters triangle choking each other in the streets. Then, just when it turns into a chaotic, but highly technical Battle Royal, Barack Obama will have to come outside and start knocking people out with his patented Superman punch just to restore order. That’s executive power I can get behind.

(The stuff you find under Tommy Speer’s mattress.)

Former UFC welterweight champ Matt Hughes has been taking some heat for his remarks about the Georges St. Pierre-Jon Fitch bout, which he admitted to walking out on during UFC 87. But in a rare response to the media and the fans, Hughes updated his blog to address the criticism and set the record straight. Kind of:

I usually don’t do this, but I’m going to break my rule this time. There’s been so much talk about my last blog entry that it’s amazing. Some of it is legitimate thinking, some of it is just from idiots. I never said the GSP fight was boring, the reason I walked out was because I wanted to beat the crowd. I didn’t think Fitch was going to get back in the match and the fight wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be. If you want, you can go look at my last blog entry and see that this is basically what I said. So people criticized me for leaving the fight early and said that was disrespectful to GSP, I disagree, I just wanted to get out of there.

Hughes also responded to a Yahoo! Sports blog entry by Steve Cofield that interpreted his ‘GSP-looked-small’ remarks to mean that Hughes was implying St. Pierre had been on steroids for previous bouts. While that might have been a little bit of a stretch, and Cofield admits as much, Hughes’ attempts at backtracking on his ‘boring’ remarks are hindered by the wonders of modern technology.

His exact words to interviewers with PWB Podcast: “I gotta be real honest though, I was kinda bored with the match.”

Woop. There it is.

When Nick Diaz rails on about how KJ Noons is ducking him, we generally chalk it up to Nick being his usual abrasive self. Turns out it’s not just trash-talk — EliteXC has been desperately trying to set up a rematch between the two 160-pounders for its October 4th show on CBS, but Noons’s management isn’t even returning EliteXC’s phone calls. Said Jared Shaw:

“I don’t understand it. This fight on CBS is maximum exposure and the opportunity for maximum sponsorship dollars, way more than he could make on Showtime. At this point, I question his management…For some reason (his camp) is not coming straight out and saying no, but they are making it very difficult to make it happen. His manager doesn’t want us talking to him directly. Who knows what K.J. even knows about the situation, but his management is holding us hostage…K.J. signed a contract. All we want is for him to honor that contract, fight on October 4th on CBS, and prove that he’s the champion we think he is. Right now, he’s not representing us as the EliteXC champion.”

You may recall that Noons previously had major contract disputes with EliteXC related to him appearing on CBS cards, so there’s surely more to this story, as much as Diaz would like to believe that Noons is simply terrified of him. But whatever Noons’s motives are, avoiding this fight seems like an offense worthy of a belt-stripping. EliteXC needs the heat from this matchup to boost their third CBS card, which is a do-or-die moment for the organization in some ways. If Noons can’t fulfill the responsibilities of a champion, he’s basically useless to them. Besides, wouldn’t KJ want to prove that his cut-stoppage TKO over Diaz last November was more than a bullshit technicality? Is he cool with being a paper champ?

(Hey, remember this? Brutal.)

MMA Weekly is reporting that Kenny Florian and Joe Stevenson have agreed to face each other at a November 15th UFC event in Portland, Oregon. Florian’s unanimous decision over Roger Huerta on August 9th made it five straight wins for the Bostonian, while Stevenson last fought at UFC 86 in July, disposing of Gleison Tibau via guillotine choke.

I gotta be honest — I’m not feelin’ this matchup. Both guys have little to gain and a lot to lose from the outcome. If Florian wins, his position at the top of the lightweight ladder is unchanged, and he’s still next in line to face BJ Penn. If he loses, the UFC would be without a clear #1 contender, because it seems very unlikely that the UFC would want to set up Penn vs. Stevenson II anytime soon, considering how one-sided their first meeting was in January. I like Joe Daddy, and I wanted to see him built back up to the top incrementally; the Tibau fight was a great start. Most likely he’ll get torn up by Florian, and his stock will drop even further.

In other UFC news: Though Dana White announced that Mike Swick would be fighting on the UFC 90 card in October, Swick doesn’t think he’ll be ready to fight until December, as he’s still recovering from recent surgery on his elbow.

(“The Athlete” is ready to get back after it.)

- Jason “Dooms” Day has been forced to pull out of his UFC 88 bout with fattie-turned-middleweight Jason Lambert because of a biceps injury, but those of you who are fans of seeing Lambert’s man-boobs in the Octagon needn’t worry. Jason “The Athlete” MacDonald is stepping in as a replacement for Day, despite the fact that he just went three rounds in a losing effort against Demian Maia at UFC 87. Good move for MacDonald. If you can’t win ‘em all, the next best way to keep the UFC happy is to fight ‘em all, especially when called upon on short notice.

- Poor Nate Quarry just can’t catch a break. After coming back from a nearly career-ending back injury only to be forced to chase Kalib Starnes in circles, Quarry has now been sidelined with an eye injury that is strangely not related to fighting. Apparently Quarry was at a party where people were hitting golf balls into the woods — like you do, just for kicks — and he accidentally walked into someone’s backswing. Despite breaking the Orbital Floor bone in his eye, Quarry is not seriously hurt, though he will be kept out of action for at least a few more months.

- American Top Team coach Andrei Benkei is leaving the squad due to “ideological disagreements” with head coach Ricardo Liborio. Benkei told Tatame that he’ll still work with several high profile ATT fighters like Thiago Alves and “Bigfoot” Silva, among others, but it’s been reported that Benkei disapproved of the way Liborio was turning ATT into “a big McDonald’s” by selling its name to karate gyms. For shame, Ricardo. Karate gyms? That’s the MMA gym equivalent of giving hand jobs in the Wal-Mart parking lot. You never need money that badly.

- It’s not MMA news, but it’s worth mentioning: Sumo wrestling has been rocked by a drug scandal. A totally lame drug scandal. Russian Sumo wrestler (they exist?) Soslan Aleksandrovich Gagloev was arrested for possessing a third of a gram of weed. According to CNN, it’s “enough to land him in prison on a diet of forced labor for five years if he’s convicted.” Five years for a third of a gram in Japan? Nick Diaz should really be informed about that before returning to fight for Dream again.

If there’s one thing I love in fighter interviews it’s passive-aggressive remarks. Anybody can go out there and talk smack about an opponent or openly question his heart and his skills. But subtlety is a lost art in this business, and it can go a long way. For a great example, check out “Sugar” Rashad Evans’ remark about Liddell’s torn hamstring in this ESPN video. Says Evans, “at his age, injuries like that become harder to heal.”

Then he follows that up by saying he doesn’t expect it to be a big deal in the fight because Liddell is such a great fighter. I just really wish he would have added, “because, you know, Chuck’s sooooo experienced and has been fighting for soooo long, he can hobble his way through a fight with the best of them.”

After the jump check out Rich Franklin’s breakdown of his upcoming fight with Matt Hamill. Does he expect to be able to avoid Hamill’s takedowns all night? He does not. At least he’s being realistic.

(Props: MMA Rated via Bloody Elbow)

I only have one thought looking at this photo from yesterday’s UFC 90 press conference in Chicago: Anderson, you’re wearing a pink-and-white polo shirt — would it kill you to pop that collar?

Even in his fey-frat-boy gear, the Spider still cuts quite an imposing figure, and Patrick Cote knows that no matter how the fight ends, he’ll be looking pretty messed up afterwards. He makes peace with that idea in the AOL Fanhouse video below, and also states that he wants to fight Silva at his healthiest. Which works out well, because Anderson Silva doesn’t get sick — sick gets Anderson Silva.

From a Suki MMA post titled “Gono is getting ready”:

** Aug 19 **
Gono posted a picture of himself in his blog.

** Aug 18 **
Sex and the City was on when I turned on TV before going bed. It was the first time for me to watch that show. I liked a lot because this show contained lots of sex talk and stuff. I’m going to rent the complete series at Tsutaya(rental video).

Ewwwwww. On the plus side, Akihiro had the common courtesy to black out his junk at the bottom of the photo. Domo, homey.

For a more coherent update on Gono, click here.

Just as Kenny Florian won’t be sitting on the bench until BJ Penn decides to give him a title shot, Penn also wants to get another fight in by the year’s end, even though Georges St. Pierre has said he doesn’t plan on returning to the Octagon until 2009. According to a report by MMA News, BJ’s brother JD has confirmed that the UFC’s lightweight champ is back in the gym and training for a fight in December, and his fight against GSP will likely be pushed back until February 2009 when the UFC holds it’s Superbowl Weekend card.

So maybe a Penn/Florian title fight at the end of the year is still a possibility? Then again, JD’s claim that BJ will fight in both late December (against TBA) and early February (against GSP) is so unlikely it’s barely worth discussing.

The good news is, the UFC’s year-end card could wind up being so stacked that it doesn’t even need a high-profile BJ Penn fight in the lineup. Besides the heavyweight title match between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir, NBCSports has suggested that a superfight between Anderson Silva and Chuck Liddell as well as a light-heavyweight title match between Forrest Griffin and Wanderlei Silva are both outside possibilities. (It’s also been reported that the UFC is trying to set up a fight between Quinton Jackson and Wanderlei Silva for a November event, despite Silva’s preference to fight on the December card.)

Potentially related: If Tyson Griffin beats Sean Sherk, he wants Kenny Florian next.

(You’d be smiling too if you sold $2 million worth of tickets.)

Just a few hours after tickets for UFC 90 at Chicago’s All-State Arena went on sale, roughly 80% of them were snatched up. This means that by the time the UFC’s press conference for the event on Monday was over they’d already pulled in around $2 million in live gate money. All this for an October 25 event featuring Anderson Silva against Patrick Cote (rest his soul) and Diego Sanchez taking on Thiago Alves. It’s safe to say the UFC will be returning to Chicago frequently from now on.

Even with such early success Dana White went ahead and poured on the hyperbole at Monday’s press conference:

”This is a bold statement in a town with the White Sox and Cubs and the Bears, but I guarantee you this will be the most exciting live sporting event you have ever seen,” White said. ”I can’t explain it to you. You have to experience it.

”The closest thing that comes to it is when Mike Tyson was in his heyday. There was so much excitement about someone getting knocked out.”

After that last remark we imagine that White looked over at Cote, shrugged, and silently mouthed “Sorry!” before continuing on.

White also vowed that UFC 90 would be the highest-grossing event in the arena’s history, edging out Wrestlemania for that honor. Then they moved on to discuss Thiago Alves’ problems making weight, which we’ve all been assured won’t be a problem this time around, even though he’s currently about thirty pounds over.

In a final bit of UFC 90 news, Mike Swick is expected to be added to the card, though an opponent has not yet been named.

(Up next: a real fight, or a shameless hype match?)

What do you do if you’re Pro Elite and you want to distract people from the bad news regarding event cancellations and concerns that you’re on the verge of going under? You find a way to get Kimbo Slice back in the news. That may be why Elite XC is planning to announce Slice’s opponent for the October 4 event on CBS some time at the end of this week or early next week.

Eite XC representatives supposedly said that the organization is considering three possible opponents for Slice, two of which are “big names” within MMA circles. Since Brett Rogers is probably not considered a big name to anyone other than hardcore fans who want to see him test Slice, it’s fair to assume that the other two names belong to older, past-their-prime fighters.

Ken Shamrock has been rumored as a possible opponent for Kimbo, as has Don Frye. We’d like to dismiss that as idle chatter, if only it didn’t sound so much like something Elite XC would do. Brett Rogers has very cleverly put Elite XC in a position where they almost have to give him Kimbo, or at least they have to if they want to have a chance at Kimbo being taken seriously as a fighter on the rise.

Since that seems low on their list of priorities, the only thing stopping them from tossing an aged and battered Shamrock in there is probably availability and/or price. Fortunately for MMA fans, that may be enough to make the Slice-Rogers fight happen.

In other Pro Elite-related news, the brief stock price explosion is now over. The stock fell from $8.00 to $2.75 on Monday, still a small improvement from the $2.50 mark where it jumped up from on Friday. Hope you sold your shares when you had the chance. And by shares we mean that old Camaro that’s on blocks in your front lawn. And by sold we mean had it towed away before those raccoons made it into a permanent home.

10. Randy Couture vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
(UFC 74, 8/25/07)

At 44 years of age, Randy Couture was the one who was supposed to look busted up after his heavyweight championship match with 29-year-old Brazilian wrecking ball Gabriel Gonzaga. But in one of the greatest triumphs of his career, Couture broke down the bigger, younger fighter with his wrestling and dirty boxing. About three minutes into the first round, blood began to pour out of Gonzaga’s shattered nose, giving Randy’s back a nice, red coat. The steady flow interrupts the challenger’s breathing and vision, leading to a brutal ground-and-pound finish in the third.

9. Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith
(EliteXC: Unfinished Business, 7/26/08)

In the second round of their EliteXC middleweight championship do-over, Scott Smith nailed Robbie Lawler with a series of standing elbows that opened up an ugly gash on the top of Lawler’s head. With blood pouring out of the wound, Lawler turned up the intensity, doing his best to finish Smith before a doctor could stop the fight. About 90 seconds later, he succeeded — but not before a spray of “plasma” fell into commentator Mauro Ranallo’s lap. The video doesn’t really do it justice; you should also check out this photo from the fight, and this photo of the aftermath.

8. Chase Beebe vs. Eddie Wineland
(WEC 26, 3/24/07)

It may have been the most grisly demolition of a cauliflower ear in MMA history. Midway through a five-round bantamweight title match, challenger Chase Beebe dropped an elbow from the top that burst Eddie Wineland’s overripe right ear, causing it to spray blood several feet across the mat. Wineland, who had already suffered multiple cuts near his eyes from Beebe’s precision striking, soldiered on to the fifth-round bell with what appeared to be a gaping hole in the side of his head. Beebe took home the belt and Wineland hasn’t fought in the WEC since.

After the jump: Things really start to get disgusting.

(“Indeed I did have a relationship with methadone that was not appropriate.”)

In a letter received by the Nevada State Athletic Commission yesterday, James Irvin admitted using methadone and oxymorphone prior to his July 19th beatdown at the hands of Anderson Silva; Irvin had tested positive for the heavy-duty painkillers in a post-fight piss-test. As the Sandman wrote:

“In the days leading up to my fight with Anderson Silva, I experienced some residual pain in my foot from a previous injury. I made the extremely poor choice to take some pain medications that I did not have a prescription for. I realize this was an ignorant and dangerous decision.”

Irvin, who tore his ACL and MCL during a fight with Thiago Silva at UFC 71 in May 2007, also broke his foot earlier this year while preparing for a scheduled fight against Rashad Evans, which was to go down at UFC 85. According to Sherdog, Irvin accepted the Anderson Silva fight only days after re-entering the gym following his recovery period from the foot injury. Irvin has been temporarily suspended by the NSAC pending a disciplinary hearing, and likely faces a longer suspension and a fine.

Despite announcing that he had signed a “ground-breaking record” deal with Affliction, Tito Ortiz is now said to be negotiating with other organizations, including Elite XC and the crazy Kentuckians of the AFL. It seems only fair. Why should Affliction get to hog all the Tito crazy? Their contract negotiations with him are said to be troubled, so that could be the impetus for him looking elsewhere. He’s even said to be in talks with the UFC, which might be the source of this anonymous quote:

“I don’t know if we’re really negotiating, or simply helping Tito stroke his giant ego,” one frustrated company representative said Sunday, Aug. 17.

Why does it have to be an either/or situation? Why can’t it be both? This is Tito Ortiz we’re talking about. Most of his actions are designed to boost his ego.

The idea that Tito could end up back in the UFC is, in a word, insane. Not only is he not enough of a draw at this point to justify the price tag or the headache, but Dana White seems to genuinely hate him too much to give him any more money or TV time. It would seem more likely that the UFC is trying to drive the price up on Affliction, but that’s just one man talking sense.

If Ortiz does sign with the AFL — the organization known for giving huge contracts to lesser-known female fighters and putting many of their economic eggs into the AFL-brand dress pants basket — I think it’s safe to say that they will officially be the zaniest and least viable MMA organization in existence. Now that I think about it, that does seem like the appropriate home for Tito.

(Props: MMA Scraps)

HDNet brings us an absolute war between Jesse Forbes and Chris Camozzi for the “Fight of the Week.” If you like a bout that gets bloody early and only becomes more so before a surprise finish, then you are going to love this one. If you don’t like that, maybe you should check out a sport more your speed. How about women’s team handball?

In other HDNet news, Strikeforce’s October 3 event in Denver will air live on the cable network, MMA Weekly reported today. This is in addition to their late-night offering on NBC, which means Strikeforce is very quietly becoming one of the most visible MMA organizations on TV. No word yet as to whether their September event from the Playboy Mansion will make it on to TV, but we sure hope so. Purely because of the fights, of course.

(Click for larger image.)

SpikeTV just sent out the first cast shot of the Ultimate Fighter 8 gang, in which it appears that Big Nog has intimidated some of his guys into wearing socks on the mat.

You may also be interested in Ryan “Darth” Bader’s Ultimate Fighter audition video, which we’ve posted below. Not only is Bader a promising fighter, he also enjoys keg stands, naked pool-lounging, bro’ing out with CB Dollaway, and having sex with women. He also has some incredibly unoriginal taste in highlight-reel music. I already hate this person.

(Props to ‘Crooklyn’ on the UG.)

We haven’t heard much from Denis Kang since his shocking loss to Gegard Mousasi at DREAM’s Middleweight Grand Prix Opening Round in April, but our buddy Damon D at BetUS.com’s Fight Talk Radio tracked him down for an interview about his future prospects. It turns out the American Top Team-trained “Super Korean” will be continuing his world travels in the near future. On August 31st, he’ll be defending his SpiritMC heavyweight title against Kim Jae Young, who Kang has already defeated twice (both times by first-round stoppage); you may recall that Kang’s insistence on competing in these Korean squash matches was what sunk his negotiations with the UFC.

But then things get interesting: On October 25th, Kang will face former UFC fighter Marvin Eastman in the newly re-launched Raw Combat league in Calgary. Which is good news for his legions of Canadian fans, and not-so-good news for us Americans. (Have Affliction and EliteXC not gone after this guy? And if not, WTF?) Anyway, to hear Kang’s take on why Fedor is the greatest fighter in the world, and why his training mate Patrick Cote might have a chance against Anderson Silva, listen to the damn interview.

(Admit it, the camera loves him.)

It’s almost time again for everyone’s favorite MMA-themed reality show, Spike TV’s “The Ultimate Fighter.” A lot of you were disappointed to hear that Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir would be coaching this edition, but does that mean you’ll follow through on your empty threats not to watch when the show premieres on September 17?

Season eight is all about the lightweights and light heavyweights, and the official cast was announced today by Sports Illustrated. Yours truly even has an article about what to expect and what to watch for this time around, which you can read and then send me a hateful email about here. As for the cast list, feast your eyes:

LIGHTWEIGHT

Jose Aguilar
Age: 25
MMA Record: 17-3-0
Trains With: Grapplers Edge
Location: Las Cruces, N.M.

Fernando Bernstein
Age: 25
MMA Record: 2-0-0
Trains With: Progressive Martial Arts
Location: San Clemente, Calif.

Junie Allen Browning
Age: 22
MMA Record: 2-0-0
Trains With: Four Seasons Martial Arts
Location: Lexington, Ky.

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(If you won’t pay to watch Fedor beat up this man, what will you pay for?)

The quest to figure out how much money Affliction made off their first event continues, and in the latest installment Dave Meltzer revises some of his earlier figures. You may recall that Meltzer first reported that “independent estimates” had pegged the number at 50,000-85,000 pay-per-view buys — far from the “well over 100,000″ that VP Tom Atencio was claiming. In a recent issue of his Wrestling Observer newsletter (via MMA Payout) he says the organization may have done six figures after all:

It’s been hard to narrow down a buy rate for the Affliction show. Promoter Tom Atencio has claimed the figure was more than 100,000. Updated cable sources we’ve checked with have estimated from a low of 65,000 to a high of 100,000. Either way, the number is both excellent by the standards of a promotion with no television (it beats anything TNA has done with 2 million weekly TV viewers), but as noted over and over, it’s a substantial money loser.

A high of 100,000 isn’t so bad for a first pay-per-view event, really. If the reports keep changing at this rate maybe they’ll crack 200,000 some time around Christmas. Though by then we’ll all be speculating about the success of their second show, and Tom Atencio will be claiming they did well over 500,000 buys. Thus the circle of life goes on.

Slightly related: There’s some speculation that recently-signed Affliction fighter Chris Horodecki may face Dan Lauzon (Joe Lauzon’s brother) at “Day of Reckoning” in October. Like Horodecki, Lauzon is also just twenty years old and yet looks like he’s fourteen. Maybe after they fight they can both go hang around out in front of a liquor store together and try to convince someone to buy them beer.

(Props: MMAScraps.com)

As mentioned on Saturday, Jared Hamman avenged his questionable-stoppage loss to Po’ai Suganuma in the main event of Friday night’s ShoXC card. For those of you who missed the fight, it was a wild one, with Suganuma “all over Jared Hamman like a bad rash” in the fight’s opening minutes before Hamman chopped the Hawaiian down with a series of punches midway through the first round; the video is above.

Related: We’d previously wondered what was up with Pro Elite’s recent strange behavior; though they’ve canceled two upcoming events, Sam Caplan at FiveOuncesofPain reports that the company is not on the verge of collapse. If you’re interested in Pro Elite’s current financial situation and how they might improve their condition in the future (and if you have some time to kill), we suggest you read Caplan’s full analysis here.

(Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

“It was interesting…karma comes around. Honestly what I thought of it was that Karma’s a bitch with a red dress.” — Houston Alexander on James Irvin’s loss to Anderson Silva. Alexander also told TheMMANews that he’s renewed his UFC contract for an additional four fights.

“Joe Silva was telling me to lose some weight and gain some muscle. He said I need the UFC look.” — Roy Nelson on the UFC’s “No Fatties” policy. Luckily, Affliction is a judgment-free zone.

“We know how to beat Anderson Silva. The only way to beat him is to push the pace. Go forward all the time. You can’t let him get confident and comfortable in the centre of the Octagon. You have to push the pace for five minutes every round. If I do that, I can catch him. I’ll take care of him.” — Famous last words from Patrick Cote.

“I would fight any one of the UFC lightweights, but the problem is that I will never put my foot in the octagon after they (UFC) tried to be funny. I would rather have bleeding hemorrhoids than fight for the UFC. The Japanese MMA audience is the best in the world. They make magic! I would rather have one true Japanese MMA supporter than one million fake mainstream supporters that will turn their back on you as soon as you lose a fight. I don’t care about things that are mainstream.” — Joachim Hansen, who was offered half his contracted salary by the UFC after Zuffa bought PRIDE.

“I think that shot pretty much changed the whole dynamic of the fight. I sure would like to know what would have happened if it hadn’t landed. Once that right hand landed it was like I was fighting half blind, or pretty much blind at that point. It was all pretty much downhill from there. I just tried to come back and mount some type of offense. Unfortunately, I was never able to mount anything that significant…After getting rocked with a shot like that, and not being able to see, you’re more in survival mode.” — Heath Herring on the fight-opening punch from Brock Lesnar that sent him ass-over-teakettle.

(Props: FiveOuncesofPain)

In part one of Nike’s new commercial series “Train Like LT,” San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson goes to what’s supposed to be Kimbo Slice’s broke-ass backyard and does some training “the old-school way,” which involves bench-pressing air conditioners and leg-pressing a compact car. If part two doesn’t begin with him running the gauntlet that’s at end of this clip, we’re going to be very disappointed. Speaking of Kimbo, he also makes a split-second appearance in this new commercial for Madden NFL ’09.

(Props: MMA Mania)

Also, Rich “Ace” Franklin talks us through his UFC 88 matchup with Matt Hamill in the above clip, acknowledging that he’ll probably be on his back a couple times during the fight. Regarding his permanently blackened eye, Franklin said “Jorge Gurgel only hits me when I deserve it.” That poor, poor man…