By Cage Potato contributor Jason Moles
(“Read my lips: ‘TNA WRESTLING F*CKING SUCKS!’”)

Recently the MMA community witnessed another watershed moment as Dana White announced that Zuffa, parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, had once again purchased the competition. This time the victim was San Jose based Strikeforce. Whether or not we look back upon favorably in the future depends on how the suits handle the situation. If history is any indicator, and it is, and I can compare a legitimate sport in MMA to a male soap opera in professional wrestling, and I can, then there is nothing to fear. Yo Dana, I know you’re reading so sit down and take some notes, class is about to begin.

(Nate Marquardt’s UFC 128 walkout shirt — just one of many fine shirts available at AlchemistClothing.com)

You may know Alchemist as the MMA management company fronted by MC Hammer. You may not know that Alchemist has its own clothing line, featuring signature shirts created for its stable of fighters including Nate Marquardt, Jorge Rivera, and Stefan Struve. To help spread the word, Alchemist is giving us three t-shirts to give away to CagePotato readers. As always, there’s a catch.

Check out the photo after the jump of Tim Kennedy fist-posing next to his personal stewardesses, and write a clever caption in the comments section. Submit your entries by Friday morning at 9 a.m. ET, and we’ll announce three winners later that day; if you’re one of them, you get an Alchemist shirt of your choice. Any questions? For more free swag, ‘Like’ Alchemist on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. They do giveaways more often than Charlie Sheen does pornstars. (#hey-oh #topicalhumor)

(UFC ring girl Arianny Celeste is matched up against former WWE diva Stacy Keibler in the first round of Esquire’s Sexiest Woman Alive 2011 tournament. As much as we love Arianny, we gotta go with our heart on this one…)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail feedback@cagepotato.com for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

- Almost Heaven: West Virginia Legalizes MMA (MMA-Scraps)

- UFC 128 Rumor: 50 Cent to Accompany Jon Jones to Cage vs. Shogun Rua (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- How Zuffa’s Purchase of Strikeforce is Not a Monopoly (MMA Convert)

- Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva: I’d Love to Send Brock Lesnar Back to Pro Wrestling (LowKick)

- Mark Pavelich Fires a Verbal Bazooka to all Other Canadian MMA Organizations (MiddleEasy)

- Zuffa-Strikeforce Deal Could Mean Uncertain Future for Women’s MMA (MMA Fighting)

- Video: Georges St-Pierre Graces Cover of Men’s Health (Versus MMA Beat)

- Undefeated Sambo Champion Blagoi Ivanoc Signs With Bellator (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Alistair Overeem Discusses UFC’s Purchase of Strikeforce (5thRound)

- Why Zuffa Purchased Strikeforce and What It Means (FightMagazine)

(Video courtesy of YouTube/KenFlo1)

(Video courtesy of YouTube/KenFlo1)

When Kurt Pellegrino and Kenny Florian get together to answer fan Twitter questions, things quickly go south.

A number bookings for upcoming UFC events have being reported by various sources in the past 24 hours.

Heavy.com broke the news yesterday afternoon that former CagePotato.com The Ultimate Fighter 11 blogger Rich Attonito will try to prove the theory that Matt Brown has incriminating blackmail-worthy photos of UFC matchmaker Joe Silva when he attempts to hand the Seattle, Washington fighter his fourth straight UFC loss at the TUF 13 finale on June 4 in Las Vegas. Attonito will be hungry to rebound from a unanimous decision loss to David Branch he incurred at the TUF 12 finale in December.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/MMAHeat)

MMA Heat’s Karyn Bryant caught up with Rashad Evans to get clarification on the former UFC light heavyweight champion’s recent comments that he is considering leaving Team Jackson due to the rift that was created by Jon Jones snaking his title shot away from him.

Evans pulled no punches and his response which left nothing up to interpretation.

(Hey, you can’t argue with results.)

The UFC’s ongoing tour of the East Coast includes a public press conference at Radio City Music Hall in New York tomorrow, UFC 128 in Newark on Saturday, and the TUF 14 tryouts next Monday. But there’s one more little surprise in store for fight fans — Gina Carano will be doing an appearance in New York next Wednesday to promote “UFC Personal Trainer,” a fitness game slated for a June release on the Xbox 360 Kinect, PlayStation Move, and Nintendo Wii.

It’s interesting — and by “interesting” I mean “fucked up” — that the UFC is sticking to their “no girls” policy when it comes to fighting, but will happily use Strikeforce’s poster-girl to sell video games. And I hate to be the asshole that has to say what everybody’s thinking, but is Gina the best spokesmodel for a fitness product right now?

Not that I wouldn’t smash that. Because I would. I would totally smash that.

(It remains unclear if Dana White intentionally punished *on* Michael Bisping, or just punished in his general direction. Pic: The Fight Nerd)

When Ariel Helwani showed up at UFC headquarters over the weekend, he and Dana White didn’t just talk about the company’s surprise purchase of Strikeforce or the impending dissolution of the Jones-Evans bromance, they touched on a number of juicy topics, including exactly how White planned to punish Michael Bisping for conduct unbefitting an Englishman at UFC 127. Turns out, he already has … or at least he says he has. Hard to tell really, since White refuses to get into specifics.

All we know is that in the wake of Bisping blasting Rivera with an illegal knee and then spitting at/on one of Rivera’s corner men following their grudge match, White says the British toolbox “didn’t get a bonus.” We assume that he doesn’t mean the ol’ run-of-the-mill, FOTN-KOTN-SOTN bonuses either, instead referring to the long-rumored, under-the-table bonuses that are sometimes alleged to make up the bulk of a UFC fighter’s pay. So, yeah, that seems … vague. Whatever he did though, White assures us it was a pretty big deal.

In addition to losing the bonus, nothing will apparently happen to Bisping. Instead, White continued to do the same song and dance he does whenever someone implies the UFC should take a more proactive role in disciplining its own fighters: He acted totally cowed by the Awesome Power of our state athletic commissions. Check it out, after the jump.

(“He’s a jerk.” “No, he’s a jerk.”)

The Jon Jones-Rashad Evans situation is heating up as we get closer to Jones’ fight with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 128 Saturday night in New Jersey.

If you haven’t been following along at home, here’s the score:

• Jones hungrily accepted the UFC’s offer to fill in for Evans against Rua when his Team Jackson teammate injured his knee and had to postpone fighting for the title.

• Evans took umbrage with Jones hopping the line since he waited on the sidelines for over a year to get a crack at Rua while the UFC light heavyweight champ recovered from knee surgery, but he took the high road and decided to bite his tongue on the matter.

• Jones reneged on an earlier pact to never fight Evans and goes on record saying during an interview with Versus that he would have no problem facing “Suga.”

• When put on the spot about Jones quote about fighting him during MMA Live, Evans basically said “he ain’t no bitch” and that if that’s what “Bones” said, he would have to fight him.

• Jones tells reporters during a media conference call for UFC 128, “I absolutely hate when people mention Rashad Evans, especially throughout this training camp….for people to even be mentioning Rashad Evans right now…I think it’s ludicrous. Rashad is not in my mind, he’s not in my being, he has absolutely zero to do with my heart and who I am right now. This guy has nothing to do with Shogun and from here on out, I don’t think I’ll answer a question about Rashad. I have a lot of people outside of Rashad who I can draw energy and power from and they’ll all be with me.”

Which brings us to this week.

(“When you lose one fight it’s a bad night, but when you lose three it’s a shitty night.” – Wittman on what’s at stake this weekend.)

One of the most respected striking coaches in the game, Trevor Wittman, will have his hands full on March 19th, with three of his fighters competing at the long anticipated UFC 128: Shogun vs. Jones event in Newark, New Jersey. Eliot Marshall will look to make a successful return to the UFC against Luiz “Banha” Cane, Nate Marquardt will square off against Dan Miller, and Brendan Schaub will face the toughest challenge of his career against the legendary Mirko Cro Cop.

Wittman is a head coach at the Grudge Training Center, which is located at the City of Wheat Ridge, suburbs of Denver, Colorado. Grudge Training Center is represented by top ranked MMA fighters such as Nate Marquardt, Brendan Schaub, Gerald Harris, Shane Carwin and many others. Here’s what Trevor Wittman had to say about the upcoming UFC 128 fight card, the evolution of Mixed Martial Arts, ZUFFA’s purchase of Strikeforce and much more.

Read the interview at Lowkick.com

Aside from being the decisionest decisioner who ever decisioned, UFC welterweight contender Jon Fitch also holds the record for the most total strikes landed in the Octagon — a staggering 1973, according to the new UFC Official Records page on FightMetric.com. Georges St. Pierre is a close second to Fitch with 1924 total strikes, but comes in first on the “Significant Strikes Landed” leaderboard with 892; Jon Fitch isn’t even in the top ten on that one.

Also surprising: Because of their multiple title fights and frequent decisions, Frank Edgar and Sean Sherk have average fight times of over 15 minutes. Plus, Anderson Silva is just one knockdown away from catching Chuck Liddell’s record of 14 KDs, Cheick Kongo has the fifth-best takedown accuracy in the UFC, and the hardest-to-hit fighter in UFC history isn’t Lyoto Machida or Georges St. Pierre — it’s TUF 4 vet Pete Spratt, who only ate 0.89 shots per minute during his 3-4 stint in the Octagon. (Yes, GSP is currently in second place on that list too.) Check out a few more notable FightMetric charts after the jump, and see the rest right here.

THE REEM 2 EPISODE 1: COMING TO AMERICA from THE REEM on Vimeo.

It’s been a while, but Alistair Overeem’s web-based mini-documentary series “The Reem” is back with another season. Season 2 picks up with Alistair getting the invite to appear on K-1′s NYE  Dynamite! card opposite last-minute replacement Todd Duffee. Following the impressive KO win, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker approaches Overeem and offers him a slot on the promotion’s planned heavyweight grand prix and “The Demolition Man” immediately requests a rematch with Fabrisco Werdum in the opening round. So much for his detractors saying he only takes easy fights.

(The toughest guys are always the most sensitive. Pic: UltimateFighter.com)

Last year in the aftermath of the epic clusterfuck that was that “Nemesis” fight card in the Dominican Republic we remember remarking that the saddest quotes of all came from UFC castaway Eliot Marshall. Unlike the other wronged parties involved, “The Fire” Marshall (see what he did there?) didn’t sound so much worried about getting paid for dispatching some dude named Chris McNally via first-round arm bar as he did making sure the result counted on his official record so he could show it to Joe Silva as evidence he was now a more exciting fighter; all the better to convince the UFC to take him back. Yeah, given that Nemesis went down in December and Marshall hasn’t fought since, we’re not sure that strategy worked.

What did work, according to a new story out from MMA Fighting, was Marshall lurking around the on internet until he noticed that the UFC kind of desperately needed someone to fight Luiz Cane after Karlos Vemola pulled out of their UFC 128 fight due to a GD’ed mouth infection. Gross, right? Anyhoo, Marshall took a page out of the UFC’s own playbook and jumped on the opportunity when it seemed Zuffa might be weakest.

(“Strikeforce is the best….Sorry, I just can’t say it with a straight face.”)

Now that UFC’s parent company, Zuffa LLC has bought Strikeforce nuggets like *the buying price for Strikeforce was $40-million* and *Pro Elite was one of the frontrunners for taking over the San Jose-based organization before DW and the Fertittas swooped in and bought Scott Coker’s baby*.

One of the more interesting behind the scenes tidbits today comes from an interview Tatame did with Fabricio Werdum regarding Zuffa’s latest belt notch. Werdum reveals that following his June 26, 2010 upset win over Fedor Emelianenko, he received a call from UFC matchmaker Joe Silva to see if and when he was available to negotiate. Vai Cavalo was inexplicably dropped by Silva following a KO loss at UFC 90 in October 2008 to up-and-comer Junior dos Santos. In his two bouts prior, the Sylvio Behring BJJ black belt defeated Gabriel Gonzaga and Brandon Vera by TKO

Gotta love that big, murderous bastard. Lots more greatness after the jump.

(Sure they lead to some bullshit stoppages, but we support anything that has the ability to break Brandon Vera’s face in three places. Props: Cagewriter)

Dana White, Lorenzo Fertitta, and Scott Coker held a media conference call earlier today to respond to questions about Zuffa’s purchase of Strikeforce, and despite DW’s previous claims that Strikeforce will operate the way it always has, at least one notable change is already in the works. Elbows to the head of a grounded opponent — a somewhat controversial staple of the Unified Rules of MMA followed by the UFC, but not utilized in Strikeforce — will now be legal in Strikeforce matches, effective immediately. Said Lorenzo Fertitta: “The one change we’re going to do as a promoter of the show is the unified rules that you see in the UFC.”

The move should reduce confusion among fans who might not understand why two MMA promotions that now share an owner would adhere to different rule-sets — though it was also announced that Strikeforce would still use its six-sided cage, and not the Octagon. A few more notable updates from the conference call are after the jump (via MMAFighting and Sherdog).

(Barry after Cheick knees him in the balls.)

If you like a good old fashioned slobber-knocker, you’ll get one on June 26.

According to MMAJunkie, leg-kick artist Pat Barry will take on Cage Potato fan Cheick Kongo that night at the UFC on Versus 4 event whose location has yet to be determined.

(Fans may now choose between both kinds of music, country *and* western. Pic: MMAViewers.com)

It was almost like Dana White was shooting for some kind of bizarre performance art during his interview with Ariel Helwani on Saturday announcing Zuffa, LLC’s sudden acquisition of Strikeforce. It was as if the big bossman was trying to underscore what a huge moment this was for his company by assuring us again and again that it was actually no big deal. Instead of jumping up on the $5,000 coffee table and shaking his junk in our faces while yelling “Domino, motherfucker!” he played it cool – indifferent, even. White didn’t gloat, barely smiled and perhaps set some kind of personal record by conducting a 20-minute interview without really swearing at all. It was all pretty telling, in a roundabout kind of way.

If White’s very un-Dana demeanor didn’t clue you in to the fact his new “business as usual” catchphrase is total bullshit, well, you must be new to the sport. This is a dude who keeps a Styrofoam tombstone in his office bedecked with the names of his fallen enemies and over the weekend his company essentially sewed up total, indefinite control of the marketplace moving forward. Chances are, underneath it all he was pretty pumped. The Strikeforce deal may not give Zuffa a legal monopoly on our sport, but it sure looks like the company now has a practical one. So, maybe – just maybe – White’s “ah shucks” act and constant downplaying of this moment is a bit of strategery. Perhaps he’d like it very much if the rest of us would forget that this news is very, very good for him and his partners and very, very bad for almost everyone else.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/UFCFightZone1/ZuffaLLC)

If you really can’t wait until the UFC 128: Shogun vs. Jones countdown show is on tomorrow night, we’ve got you covered with part one of the program above.

For those of you who can’t watch the video at work and want the Cliffs Notes version, here’s what “Bones” and “Shogun” had to say about their light heavyweight title fight Saturday night.

(Skip to the 7-minute mark for the finish. Props: carloscub6)

Stepping in for the cancelled James Irvin vs. Houston Alexander co-main event, Tara LaRosa and Carina Damm put on a great show for the fans at Shark Fights 14 in Lubbock, Texas, on Friday, ending in a second-round submission win for the American. After an evenly pitched first round, LaRosa scored right away in the second frame, knocking Damm down with a jab. Damm immediately responded with a heel-hook attempt on the ground, but LaRosa grabbed a heel-hook of her own and was able to finish hers first. The loss was Damm’s third-straight, following a ten-fight win streak.

In the main event, Danillo Villefort dominated Matt Horwich for all three rounds with a varied striking attack and a handful of well-timed takedowns, earning a unanimous 30-27 nod from the judges. Full Shark Fights 14 results are after the jump.

Well, it’s on a poster now, so I guess this fight’s really happening. But if you ask me, the old “U.S. vs. U.K.” opposing-flags angle is a little tired. I’d rather focus on what Nick Diaz and Paul Daley have in common. They’re both perpetually grumpy, for one thing. And they both do some of their best fighting after the last bell. (Who can forget Daley’s Josh Koscheck sucker-punch incident, or the Nashville brawl, or the Joe Riggs hospital fight?)

Unfortunately, one of the names on the poster — lightweight title contender Tatsuya Kawajiri — might have to drop out of the event, due to the current devastation in Japan. According to an MMAJunkie report, Jorge Masvidal and KJ Noons have been asked to stand by as replacements in case Kawajiri and Shinya Aoki are unable to compete. Masvidal and Noons were originally slated to face each other on the “Diaz vs. Daley” card, which goes down April 9th card in San Diego; now we could be seeing Melendez vs. Masvidal and Noons vs. Lyle Beerbohm. We’ll let you know when things are official.

Related: Following destruction in Japan, Akiyama pulls out of bout at UFC 128

(“…on the bright side, me and Vadim were offered high-paying jobs as ‘consultants.’ So don’t worry about us, guys, we’ll be fine.”)

Saturday’s announcement that Zuffa purchased Strikeforce represented such a monumental shift in the MMA landscape that it was hard to process all at once. There are so many ways that this thing could play out, it’s almost useless to speculate about what might happen. Then again, what else are we going to do? Here are the possible effects that the Strikeforce buyout will (maybe) produce in the coming months, years, and decades…

Strikeforce will go the way of the WEC
When Zuffa bought the WEC in December 2006, they also vowed to keep “business as usual.” And for four years, they did; the WEC existed as a separate entity, and their consistently entertaining cards and smaller fighters were beloved by MMA fans. Eventually, Zuffa decided that the WEC had gone as far as it could as a promotion, and absorbed their featherweight and bantamweight divisions. A similar arc is highly likely for Strikeforce. Zuffa will keep the promotion running for a while because fans appreciate its fighters and entertainment-based matchmaking, but when Strikeforce’s contracts with its fighters and Showtime run out, the UFC will cherry-pick the best talent for its own roster and disband the operation.

The UFC will become the only brand in MMA
50 years from now, MMA fans will think of Strikeforce and PRIDE the same way we think of the ABA for basketball or the AFL for football — temporary competitors to the major leagues that had to be swallowed up for the sport to enter its unified, modern period. Some fans and fighters seem to be nervous about what a “monopoly” might mean for MMA. And maybe for good reason. If you’re a fighter like Josh Barnett or Paul Daley who’s on a permanent UFC blacklist, your career options just took a hit, especially with the Japanese MMA scene taking its dying breaths. Plus, the UFC’s revenue model is pay-per-view driven, which makes the comparison to basketball and football an imperfect one, especially in terms of how fans consume the sport. But in the long run, a single major-league promotion might be the best arrangement — the UFC as the NFL/NBA of MMA, with smaller regional promotions standing in for the collegiate system that those other leagues rely on. (Hell, maybe there will even be a full-fledged annual UFC draft at some point.) By comparison, boxing’s decline can be blamed in large part on the glut of competing promoters and sanctioning bodies. There’s reason to be optimistic here.

Yes, this was a lazy choice for the leading picture.  Suck it, Trebek.

Sometimes when major news breaks, there’s news that falls through the cracks.  So while everyone and their brother is talking about middle eastern uprisings, Japanese earthquakes and #tigerblood, can we point out that we’re watching two major MMA organizations initiate their melodramatic death scenes?  If you had Dream/FEG in your office MMA org death pool, well, we compliment your good sense, and sympathize with your loss.

Anyways, with yesterday’s seismic changes in the MMA scene (and if you believe the “business as usual” line, we have a used space shuttle to sell you), it’s possible you forgot about Bellator XXXVI.  This was the kind of show that Bellator built its rep on: an eclectic mix of journeymen and young prospects competing in a field in which your predictions are about as solid as a coin toss, seasoned with the best undercard fights to round out the show.   Bellator continues to stay on the cutting edge of free agent acquisition, and the tournaments are only becoming more compelling.  If you DVR’d the Louisiana show last night, go watch it right now.  Don’t worry, we’ll wait.  If you can’t, you missed a solid card.  Of the seven fights last night, exactly zero went to decision, although the much-requested Spiritwolf-Jara bloodbath from last week did actually make it to the judges. Come on in and we’ll tell you about it, without rubbing it in too much.

At least we’ll probably get this in the next UFC videogame…

There is zero need for sarcasm here. No reason at all for me to act like you haven’t already heard that Strikeforce has been purchased by the UFC. Mac Danzig is a fan of the acquisition. Paul Daley, not so much. While most of the implications of this merger are still up in the air at this point, let’s make one thing clear: There will NOT be any UFC vs. Strikeforce cards. If Dana White says it, which he did, then he’ll never, ever reconsider. Just ask Karo Parisyan.

Are we really to believe that Strikeforce will be the UFC’s version of the D-League? Dana White purchased his biggest rival in the hopes of harvesting a small time promotion that occasionally produces a Chris Andersen, but usually produces a bunch of journeymen? Or maybe he plans on giving his new acquisition the Bamboo Lounge treatment. Well…

“Konichiwa, bitches!”

There are a lot of things we’ve come to know about Dana White over the years. He loves his Pink Berry. He relieves stress by pulling mediocre pranks on his subordinates. He’s an astute, cut throat businessman. And he holds a grudge like a mother fucker. It’s these last two traits that we’ll be examining at this time. With the UFC’s latest acquisition, Dana is in the position of working directly with many of the folks he’s either banned from the UFC or burned bridges with when attempts to work with them didn’t pan out. Aside from the recent legal quandary surrounding Roy Nelson’s employment, Zuffa has proven through aggressive litigation and hard ball negotiation that they know their way around a contract. This makes it very likely that Dana will do just as he says in honoring all current Strikeforce related contracts.

But virtually all contracts come to an end at some point, and when Strikeforce’s agreements reach their expiration date it’s a whole new ballgame. Some Strikeforce staples, such as open, non-exclusive contracts and event co-promotion are sure to disappear. The same is certain for many of the organization’s familiar faces, both in front of the camera and in the cage. Despite Dana’s vindictive nature, he didn’t get where he is today by letting hard feelings get in the way of good business. Let’s take a closer look at who’s on the chopping block when the legal obligations dissolve and Dana is wielding the axe.

“Who has two thumbs and rules the entire MMA universe? This guy!”

The landscape of MMA has once again changed forever. Just like the UFC’s purchase of Pride, the UFC has enveloped another key competitor and solidified their stronghold on the MMA marketplace beyond what was previously thought possible. In his exclusive twenty-one minute interview with star reporter Ariel Helwani , Dana White sticks to the mantra “business as usual”, insisting that Strikeforce will continue to operate as its own entity. Sound familiar? Fortunately, running Strikeforce won’t entail dealing with the Yakuza. In fact, Dana casually likens the deal to purchasing a house. A house full of dudes that beat the shit out of each other for a living on national television.

Excerpts and notes from the interview are after the jump, but do yourself a favor and watch the whole thing.

We feel you, bro.

Those of you living under a rock may not have heard, but the future state of MMA is the least of Japan’s problems right now. Friday’s devastating earthquake not only moved the entire “city” of Japan eight feet, but it also shifted the Earth’s axis. Did you read that? It shifted the fucking planet’s axis. If that measly butterfly flapping its wings in Tokyo could cause big changes worldwide, you’ve already gathered that this little doozy is going to have an effect as well.

But I don’t want to bore you with the details of the Japanese fending off a potential nuclear armageddon, not when there’s big picture stuff like fighters being pulled from the March 19^th UFC 128 card. Though he and his family are reportedly safe and out of harm’s way, Yoshihiro Akiyama has understandably withdrawn from his bout with Nate Marquardt.

“Yeah, you heard me right, four eyes!”

The boys over at MMA Live invited veteran mixed martial arts journalist Josh Gross to the set for their latest episode on Thursday. The banter lightly touched on Strikeforce’s fight bookings (or lack thereof) and Dan Henderson’s legacy before Gross unveiled ESPN’s first official MMA rankings. Cutting edge stuff, guys. While the fighters rounding out their top ten pound-for-pound list did hail from many different weight classes, they all had one thing in common: current contracts with the UFC.

All ten fighters call the Octagon home. No fighters from Strikeforce or Bellator or any Japanese organizations still in existence made their way on to the list. To this former UFC champion, coach, and commentator Pat Miletich took umbrage.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/DanielHaighton)

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- Munoz vs. Maia in the works for UFC 131 in Vancouver (MMAMania-)

- Eastbound And Down Will Be Fuckin’ Out After Third Season (ScreenJunkies)

- Soszynski vs. Perosh slated for UFC 131 (MMAJunkie)

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- 5 fast fights at fast food restaurants (HolyTaco)

- Matt Lindland comments (sort of) on marijuana theft allegations (FiveOuncesofPain)

- Popular In Latin America: Pastor Ultimate Fight (TuVez)

- Shark Fights preview and predictions (MMAFighting)

(Ford when he found out he was ripped off again.)

Ryan Ford has had it up to here with dishonest people in MMA.

Having split from Mark Pavelich, his manager and the promoter of the Canadian MFC organization where he fought the lion’s share of his fights in 2009 because of a contract dispute, “The Real Deal” moved on to Edmonton, Alberta promotion “The Fight Club” only to have TFC cancel a planned bout with Carlo Prater. Going against his better judgment, Ford, who now had a young baby to feed besides supporting himself and his girlfriend re-signed with the MFC.

Two fights later the brash Canadian welterweight fell out with Pavelich for the second time in as many years. This time the dispute wasn’t over contract terms, per se. It was regarding money Ford says he was owed nearly $2,700 by Pavelich for selling close to $22,000 in tickets to MFC shows since he returned to fight for the organization. The case is currently in litigation, but Ford is confident that he will win just like the last time the MFC boss tried to sue him.

“Mark came out and said that I was going to claim racism against him. I was like, ‘What is this guy talking about?’ I did an interview and the interviewer asked me about it and I said, ‘Number one, I have no idea what he’s talking about and number two, if he did say something racist about me we wouldn’t be settling it in the media. I would confront him to his face and we’d settle it personally.’ I don’t know what he eats for breakfast but that was pretty far out there,” Ford says. “He’s crazy. He didn’t pay for the lawyer’s bill from the last time he took [TFC] to court. He breached my contract, plain and simple and I moved on. I shouldn’t have been back with the MFC in the first place, but oh well. You live, you learn.”