UFC Quick Hits: Alexander, Florian, Octagon Girls + More

(The brothers Florian: 98-pound weaklings welcome.)

— The UFC has inked a new five-fight contract extension with Houston Alexander. Sure, that’s a little strange given that The Assassin has lost his last two fights, but they can always tear up his contract if he loses two more. That’s the beauty of drafting contracts that aren’t really worth the paper they’re printed on. Alexander will try to get back to knocking other people out at UFC Fight Night 15 (September 17th, Omaha), where he’ll take on Eric Schafer.

— Speaking of UFC Fight Night 15, Jeremy Horn has been forced to pull out of the event due to a wrist injury. Replacing him in his scheduled bout against Wilson Gouveia will be Ryan Jensen (13-4, 0-2 UFC).

— Kenny and Keith Florian promise that their new MMA gym is “definitely not going to be one of those hardcore MMA places,” and is geared towards those with no desire to become a pro fighter.

— Arianny Celeste and Edith Labelle are featured in E!’s “12 Sexiest Jobs in Vegas.”

— Yoshiyuki Yoshida is the first opponent that Karo Parisyan has total respect for as an athlete. But he’s not coming to lose, bro.

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Ben vs. Ben: The UFC 88 Argument

(’Sup, pussies.)

It’s that time again, Potato Nation. Cage Potato’s two Bens square off on a host of issues swirling around UFC 88, including what’s to become of Rich Franklin as a light heavyweight, who has the best chances to score an upset on Saturday night, and more. Let’s get it, as they say, on.

Does Chuck Liddell really deserve a title shot if he beats Rashad Evans?

Goldstein: A two-fight win streak isn’t much, but it’ll be more than any other top-tier UFC light-heavyweight contender can boast on Sunday morning, with the exception of Lyoto Machida and Thiago Silva — and one of those guys is going to take his first loss next month. The question really is: Who deserves it more, Chuck or the winner of that all-Brazilian eliminator match?

In terms of creating a title fight that fans want to see, Liddell has to be at the front of the line. Chuck vs. Forrest will get fans insanely fired up. The alternative is watching Forrest and (probably) Machida dance around each other for five rounds — I have my doubts about the entertainment value of that matchup. And not to play the race card, but I understand why an American MMA organization is hesitant to create a situation where three of its five champions, as Mike Goldberg would say, “speak the Portuguesa.” (I’m counting Big Nog as one of them, of course; he’s my pick to come out on top of the imminent four-man heavyweight “tournament,” but that’s another debate.)

Chuck’s been unwaveringly loyal to the UFC during his career, and he deserves to be treated well in his final years with the company. If that means jumping ahead of someone who may deserve it more in terms of merit, so be it. Though if they want to put Liddell against Anderson Silva in December before he gets a shot at the belt, well, that’s cool too.

Fowlkes: When it comes to the UFC and title shots, I like to remind myself of a line from the movie Unforgiven: deserve’s got nothing to do with it. In a perfect fighting world, the fight would be set up so that the winner gets a title shot, regardless of who that is. But we both know that even if “Sugar” wins he’s not shooting to the top of the list. So the question is, would beating Evans be enough to reasonably justify putting Liddell up against Forrest Griffin next, which is the fight the UFC really wants to make?

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Dana White Takes His Boys to ESPN, Kenny Florian Loves “Entourage”

Dana White’s UFC 88 Video Blog, part 3 - Watch more free videos

Dana White’s newest UFC 88 vlog details his travels with Brock Lesnar and Randy Couture to do media work, son. They head to ESPN headquarters so Lesnar’s enormous head can get airbrushed, then they take that nice Kenny Florian boy to see the “Entourage” premiere. See? That’s almost as good as a title shot. Plus Marky Mark is there!

Let’s hope this video blog — like the last one — gets better as we get closer to the event. Any time I’m watching what’s supposed to be an interesting inside look at someone’s life and I see a guy in the background who looks kind of like Pauly Shore and then find myself thinking, ‘You know what would be better than this? A Pauly Shore video blog.’ That’s not a good sign.

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Videos: Galvao vs. Metcalf, Belcher vs. Gustav

You may remember Andre Galvao as the BJJ phenom who mega-pwned some honorless heel-hookin’ noob at this year’s World Jiu Jitsu Championships. Galvao made his MMA debut last Saturday against Strikeforce vet Jeremiah Metcalf at “Fighting 4 Kidz” in Santa Monica, and it was a thriller. Metcalf dominated for the first couple minutes, until Galvao showed that his hands are just as dangerous as his submissions. After softening up his opponent in the second round, Galvao snatched the inevitable armbar, causing Metcalf to tap. The video is above; props to BloodyElbow.

Below is a short clip of UFC middleweight Alan Belcher working the focus mitts with trainer Israel Gomes, at his home in Biloxi, Mississippi. Yes, that’s Hurricane Gustav roaring outside; we hope they cleared out after the workout was over. Belcher will face Ed Herman at UFC Fight Night 15 (September 17th; 7 p.m. ET on SpikeTV).

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Rich Franklin on Gatekeeping, Eating, and Hating

(This is actually good practice for…something. Photo courtesy of RichFranklin.com.)

From MMA Stomping Grounds via Fightline:

I was talking to the UFC after the second [Anderson] Silva loss and they encouraged me to move up to 205. They told me my position there would be more appealing to them from a business perspective. They weren’t interested in a third match between me and Silva and they didn’t want me fighting contenders because I could eliminate possible title fights, so I was stuck in that I was going to be fighting people on the back end of their losses to Silva and I didn’t care for that gatekeeper position. After the Travis Lutter fight, I said I would try my hand at 205 again…

I think I gotta be quick on my feet [against Matt Hamill]. I’m giving up some weight so he might be giving up some speed. I need to use my footwork to confuse him and stick and move and stick and move and avoid takedowns. Once he does take me down, I can’t let him lay on top of me. I need to stay active on the ground.

From UFC.com:

“At first when I started training for this fight, I was putting on weight, and everything was fine. But when I started getting down to the nitty-gritty of the fight and hitting all my two-a-days and double sessions as many times a week as I do, it’s difficult to make sure that you’re eating more than you’re burning constantly. My primary concern when I’m fighting at 185 is making weight. I meticulously weigh my food out and now when I weigh my food out, I’m doing it to make sure I’m eating enough food. It’s a completely, completely different process now.

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The UFC Hasn’t Forgotten About Those Merchandising Rights Agreements

(Just saying guys, my birthday is coming up here pretty soon.)

In the UFC’s efforts to capitalize more on marketing and merchandising opportunities, they’ve been trying to get fighters to sign agreements which have come under fire for being a little too — surprise — one-sided. Sports Illustrated’s Josh Gross criticized the merchandising rights agreements for clauses that require fighters to sign away rights to their likenesses in perpetuity. In other words, the UFC owns that ass and depictions of said ass, and can do what they want with it. Several fighters — and by fighters we mean fighters’ agents — refused to sign. Now the UFC is turning up the heat on them by sending letters directly to the fighters in question, something of an ethics no-no:

Multiple sources have indicated that UFC officials are now sending letters to fighters who have not yet signed the Merchandising Rights Agreement. The letter warns fighters that if they do not return the executed Merchandising Rights Agreement by the end of the week, the offer will be rescinded, and the fighter will not be included in the UFC’s licensing program.

Even more outrageous, UFC officials are directly contacting fighters, instead of the fighters’ selected agents. Fighters are told that they are hearing only one side of the story from their selected representatives, and that the UFC’s Merchandising Rights program really is a great deal. By not signing the Merchandising Rights Agreement, fighters are told they are leaving money on the table.

The guys over at MMA Payout are calling this an attempt to “dupe” fighters, and likening it to the “moral morass that is the boxing scene, and not something that MMA promoters should be mimicking.”

Funny they should mention that, since Dana White reminded us just yesterday that one advantage the UFC has is that it doesn’t have to put up with boxing’s “political bullshit.” It’s all great timing, especially with the return of Couture, who said he first tussled with Zuffa over ancillary rights. One can’t help but wonder if he signed the merchandising rights agreement along with his new contract…

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Couture and Lesnar Sit Down All Gentleman Like with ESPN

Oftentimes it’s easy, not to mention fun, to bash mainstream media coverage of MMA. They mispronounce oma plata or some such nonsense and the hardcore fans are all over them. But you have to hand it to ESPN, they did their homework on this Randy Couture-UFC situation. They don’t just give in to the media blitz for UFC 91, they hit Randy with his own words regarding his original gripe with the organization and go right after the real story: did anything get resolved between Couture and the UFC, or did he just cave?

Couture does the same delicate dance around this question that he did in yesterday’s media call, which is to say he makes vague assurances that his concerns have been addressed, while also insinuating that he just wants to fight again before he’s too old and poor from protracted legal battles.

Fair enough.

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