In a conference call held yesterday with Gina Carano and Kaitlin Young, EliteXC boss Gary Shaw announced that he intends to create the league’s first women’s title, with the winner of the Carano/Young scrap on May 31st likely fighting for the 140-pound belt sometime this fall; other titles in different weight divisions will follow once EliteXC builds up its roster of female fighters. Shaw also mentioned his goal of putting an all-women’s MMA card on CBS or Showtime next year. And just when we were about to hail Shaw as a champion of gender equality, he hits us with this:

Question: The IFL is very interested in the notion of having unified champions, wherever it’s possible or practical. Would that be something you would want to get involved with?
Shaw: I’m all for it…If they want to do women’s, we’ll fight for a women’s IFL belt…Women like jewelry. The more belts the better for them. They like accessories. So why not fight for an IFL belt or a DREAM belt?

Shaw also gave credit to Kaitlin Young as a dangerous and exciting striker, despite the fact that she’s probably a very bad driver. But it wasn’t all assholishness during the conference call. Shaw gave reporters some straight talk about EliteXC’s financial status and their ability to compete with the UFC:

(Who could fire that lovable face?)

Yesterday MMA Payout reported that Gary Shaw might be on his way out the door at Pro Elite now that CBS is becoming more of a player. It’s not hard to imagine why. There’s the tracksuits, the not-so-nuanced views on MMA, the general sleaze factor that comes oozing out of the man’s pores. But son Jared Shaw (Elite XC’s VP, a position that is no doubt his by merit alone) has come to his defense in an interview with Ariel Helwani of MMA Rated:

All the reports I have read have been absolutely erroneous. There’s no truth to CBS pushing Gary Shaw out or anything like that. Gary might not be as much in the limelight because of his other business, which is boxing. He’s also spending a little more time at home with the rest of his family. You’re going to see Jared Shaw everyday so you don’t have to think that Gary Shaw is gone. I don’t know why they would keep one Shaw and not another. We’re both here and Gary is still a major force. He’s still spoken to everyday…He’s a major part of this company and everything he’s done as a promoter we’ll continue to utilize and continue to follow his lead.

Oh well then, that rumor is put to rest. Like Jared, I can’t imagine why they’d keep one Shaw and fire the other. I mean, if you were going to get rid of one, wouldn’t you also get rid of…uh-oh. I just had a terrible thought. Jared, maybe you should think about updating the old resume, if you know what I’m saying.

The explanation that his “other business” is taking up too much of his time seems odd, especially since his work as a boxing manager hasn’t been going so well lately. But Jared assures us that everything is juuuuuust fine:

(Props: MMA Rated)

In this video Carlos Arias of the OC Register manages to get former EliteXC VP Gary Shaw talking about the company’s collapse. Shaw says he is “not ashamed” of what he did in his time with EliteXC, and bemoans the “haters” who have been taking shots at he and his son. Speaking of his son, now that EliteXC is done and $kala has lost whatever vague job he held with them, this means he’s out of the MMA biz for good, right? Oh, if only it were that easy.

Says Gary:

“We really truly haven’t spoken about what career path he wants to do. I know he truly loves MMA, so there’s a chance that he’ll want to stay in it. …If it wasn’t for Jared I wouldn’t have gotten into MMA.”

Is that statement supposed to somehow make us hate him less?

After the jump, a special message from Randy Couture.

(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?

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

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

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

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

(Shaw gazes upon the wonder that is Kimbo.)

Apparently it’s not enough to make the erroneous Kimbo Slice-Mike Tyson comparison anymore. With Elite XC’s big event just a day away, Live Events President Gary Shaw is kicking it up a notch. Now Kimbo isn’t just the Mike Tyson of MMA, he’s the Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods, too. Shaw made the case at yesterday’s final presser in New York City:

“The first time I introduced Kimbo, I was introducing him as a YouTube sensation with over 10 million hits. I knew he was a star then. I knew he could be a superstar. There are great basketball players, but nothing like Michael Jordan. There are great golfers, but nothing like Tiger Woods. Every once in a while there is someone who crosses over that line to a superstar. You just know.

“When Mike Tyson walked in, the place erupted. When someone else walked in there were only a few claps. Well, Kimbo Slice is a superstar. He is probably the most recognizable name in all of MMA. On May 31, when he gets in the cage, he will be the single most known face of MMA.

“(UFC’s) Dana White will be at home watching us on CBS. When he rips Kimbo Slice, it only proves he is an idiot. When he says that BJ Penn is the best fighter in the whole family and can knock out Kimbo Slice, the DEA should raid his home. I know BJ Penn would never say that and is probably embarrassed. Although BJ Penn is the best fighter in the family, he’s not the smartest Penn (JD, his brother, is an executive at EliteXC).

…

“Kimbo has a complex side to him as well. He is intelligent. He is well-read, well-versed. He is street through and through. He has not forgotten where he came from. On the bus ride over here, he told me he bought two 26-inch TVs and is going to give them to someone needy in the work area in Newark. He wants to leave Newark with a positive impression. It not only says something about Kimbo but the MMA family. I am telling you, Kimbo Slice is real.”

That’s got to be the first time the statement, “He is well-read,” was followed by, “He is street, through and through.” Shaw went on to reveal that Kimbo will use his fight purse to adopt and care for a bunch of cute, furry animals, and then will return to his homemade laboratory to find a cure for cancer before being named Poet Laureate of the United States — so fuck you, Charles Simic.

(‘Oh, no. That chili dog ain’t sitting right.’)

It’s been a busy week for Elite XC’s Gary Shaw. Between hyping his organization’s live show on CBS and condescending to his female fighters, it’s a wonder he finds time for anything else. But Shaw bravely continued with his white-Don-King-in-a-track-suit act during yesterday’s conference call with Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith.

When talk turned to how strange it was that a title fight between Scott Smith and Robbie Lawler (who is frequently ranked in the top ten at middleweight) was playing second fiddle to the main event featuring Kimbo Slice and James Thompson (who is coming off two straight KO losses), Shaw tried to put things in perspective:

I want to address one other thing because somebody asked a question about ratings. I think all the ratings are flawed. I’ve gone on record as saying that. They’re basically ratings of the UFC fighters. The UFC has some very, very fine fighters and has put on some fine fights. EliteXC has some fine fighters and we’ve put on some great fights.

So, the rankings aren’t really what they should be because until the UFC is willing to put their fighters up against our fighters, then the rankings will always be flawed.

Let me see if I understand this: the rankings of guys like Lawler and Smith are flawed because they are essentially UFC rankings. Even though, depending on whose rankings you use, somewhere in the neighborhood of half the top ten middleweights (just to cite one weight class) fight outside the UFC. And the rankings will never be legitimate until the UFC allows their fighters to face Elite XC fighters.

That’s an interesting argument. For one, it’s a line of reasoning that clearly benefits Elite XC. For another, both Lawler and Smith are former UFC fighters, so in that sense the UFC has put their fighters up against Elite XC’s. Smith was shown the door after being submitted by Ed Herman last June, and Herman is nowhere near anyone’s top ten. So…how are the rankings flawed, exactly?

(Video courtesy of YouTube/FightHubTV)

Marcus Villegas from FightHub TV caught up with Gary Shaw at last weekend’s Chad Dawson vs. Bernard Hopkins event and the former EliteXC president revealed that he attempted to sign Quinton “Rampage” Jackson to his promotion back in 2007 prior to the former PRIDE fighter signing with the UFC.

“I know Rampage,” Shaw revealed. “I tried to sign him when I was with EliteXC.”

Shaw said that he would be interested in working with the former UFC light heavyweight champ if he is serious about moving over to boxing once his UFC contract expires.

(A photo apparently taken in the alternate universe where Gary Shaw resides.)

The more interviews with Elite XC’s Gary Shaw I read, the more I wonder if he’s fully in control of the things he says to reporters. He does know they’re writing this stuff down, right? If so, he either doesn’t know what he’s talking about or doesn’t have much of a commitment to the truth. Maybe it’s both. But this interview with AOL Sports is just, well, baffling.

For instance, when asked where Shaw would rank Kimbo Slice in MMA’s heavyweight picture, he had this to say:

“I don’t know. He’s still in the learning process. He needs to work on his cardio a lot more. In his stand-up game, he is probably number one. I don’t think on the ground he’s in the top 10. As a striker, he’s probably number one.”

You read that right, the best heavyweight striker in all of MMA. Number one. I was about to list off a bunch of other heavyweights who are probably better pure strikers than Kimbo, but within a few seconds that list became unmanageable and I was forced to abandon the idea. The point is, this is not a true statement. If Gary Shaw believes it to be true, that simply means that he doesn’t know much about the sport. If he doesn’t believe it but is saying it anyway, is he helping or hurting Kimbo Slice?

I ask this because, objectively, I want to get behind Kimbo. He seems like a good guy with a lot of potential. But it’s difficult to support him when Shaw calls him everything but the son of God. It sets the bar unreasonably high, and when level-headed people like Bas Rutten try to remind us that Kimbo has only had a handful of fights it’s hard to balance that perspective with Shaw’s ridiculous claims.

It makes it doubly difficult when he also says things like this, regarding a possible Randy Couture-Fedor Emelianenko fight in Elite XC:

(Video courtesy of TheFightNerd)

Our friends over at The Fight Nerd caught up with Gary Shaw recently and they asked the former EliteXC live events president what he thought about the latest incarnation of ProElite. Not surprisingly, Shaw didn’t hold back when describing the promotion’s chances in the current MMA landscape dominated by the UFC.

“I think it’s laughable. The people running it are  jokes. It’s not real and the only game in town is the UFC. I wouldn’t have been [interested in being involved with ProElite again]. All of my time is with boxing. Like I said, the only game in town is the UFC. You can’t beat them any longer. They are too entrenched,” Shaw explained. “They bought the next best thing, which was Strikeforce. Fedor’ s gone from the scene. So, right now it’s only the UFC. They’re miles ahead of everyone right now. It’s like us coming up with some fast food franchise and beating McDonald’s and Burger King. It’s not gonna happen.”

(Video courtesy of YouTube/FightHubTV)

It’s official. The world must be ending soon. How else can you explain the fact that we actually agree with something Gary Shaw said regarding MMA?

In this interview Shaw did with FightHubTV.com about Zuffa’s purchase of Strikeforce, Shaw detailed who the winners and losers are in the deal and his viewpoints were all valid ones.

“Great for the UFC [and the] Fertittas. Brilliant, brilliant move. For the fighters, terrible move because they don’t really have another place to go and bargain. So, if you ask me as a businessman, I think it’s brilliant on the part of the UFC, Shaw said. “I’m not even sure that when Strikeforce’s contract is up with Showtime, that they just don’t fold [the promotion] into the UFC at that point and just make it a pay-per-view. For the fans it’s bad, for the fighters it’s bad and for the UFC it’s terrific.”

(Video courtesy of YouTube/FightHubTV.com)

Fight Hub TV’s Marcos Villegas caught up with Gary Shaw over the weekend and spoke to the former head of EliteXC about Nick Diaz’s boxing aspirations and why Kimbo Slice’s boxing debut never happened.

(Video courtesy YouTube/FightHubTV.com)

Just when we thought we’d heard the last of his creepy lecherous sweatpant-wearing ass when it came to MMA, Gary Shaw has wriggled his way into a new interview with Fight Hub TV and shared his thoughts on the return of EliteXC, Gina, Jake Shields, Kimbo and whether or not he sees himself back in the MMA business in the future.

(Still waiting on that Affliction tracksuit.)

Former Elite XC honcho Gary Shaw dropped by Steve Cofield’s radio show to discuss the Affliction/Golden Boy partnership — something he is actually uniquely qualified to do as one of the few people who has experience promoting boxing and MMA with varying levels of success. His forecast for the partnership’s chances was grim, to say the least, and he doesn’t think much of Affliction’s plan to get into the boxing apparel biz, either:

Golden Boy’s doing a very good job in boxing. There’s nobody there who knows MMA. …I don’t think it’s going to work out… They’re talking about Affliction doing all the boxing gear, and I was looking around the room while they were doing the press conference, there wasn’t one person in the whole press conference wearing anything of a shirt, hat, or pants, having to do with boxing. And if you go to an MMA event, it’s a lifestyle, everybody’s in MMA clothing. And I think it’s going to be a lesson to both. I think they’re in for some surprises.

I don’t think they can build the market. I think it’s a good t-shirt. I love their line. I like all their MMA stuff. But boxing people, they come to an event, it’s not a lifestyle. The next day they’re not training. A lot of people in MMA train. It’s a cult, it’s a lifestyle, it’s different. They’ll learn.

If you’re wondering whether Gary Shaw’s doom and gloom attitude regarding the “cult” of MMA might be due in part to his failed attempts at trying to get them to believe any manner of bullshit, you just may be on to something. The frosty reception he got from fans, journalists, and other promoters seems to have had a lasting effect on Shaw’s fragile psyche:

Watching this MMA Rated interview with Elite XC’s Jared Shaw where he answers questions as to where he’s been and what he’s doing for the company now (you should also check out their interview with a very drunk Tonya Evinger), I get the strange sense that he’s lying to me. What’s more, I feel like he knows how transparent he seems, but he’s just charging ahead with it anyway. In a strange way, I almost respect that. Almost.

But let’s talk for a moment about Elite XC’s decision of late to push Jake Shields as the world’s best welterweight, which Shaw also claims. Obviously, they like it because it allows them to call out Georges St. Pierre and the UFC, thus piggybacking on the success of their betters. But it also makes them seem a little desperate, and it’s not hard to tell that this is a strategy destined for failure.

It’s not that Jake Shields isn’t a good fighter. He is, but that isn’t the point. The point is that Elite XC has essentially just decided to proclaim him the number one welterweight because he is their number one welterweight, and because it’s the only way they can think of to get some of the UFC magic to rub off on them. Plus, they can be secure in the knowledge that the UFC will never actually take them up on the cross-promotional offer.

Elite XC’s Jared Shaw takes a little shot at yours truly in this MMA Rated interview, calling me Ben “UFC” Fowlkes, which I suppose is an implication that I’m pro-UFC and anti-Elite XC, although I like to think that my record as an equal opportunity critic speaks for itself. If an organization does dumb things, it’s my job to point it out. If one organization does more dumb things than others, they’re going to receive more criticism. That’s just how it works. If it makes me a hater, I can live with that. But since when do we all have to like everything?

$kala says he just wants some love for his fighters, not himself. Fair enough, Jared. You do have some good fighters in your organization. Guys like Jake Shields, Robbie Lawler, Wilson Reis, Nick Diaz, and “Ninja” Rua, just to name a few. These are all fighters that I enjoy watching. But your fighters aren’t what you’ve been criticized for, and I think you know it.

Let’s take the event you’ve got this Saturday, for example. On the undercard you’ve got a few interesting scraps between guys like Paul Daley and Jake Shields, Benji Radach and “Ninja” Rua, and a sweet little co-promotional joint between Affliction fighters Andrei Arlovski and Roy Nelson (nice work scoring that, by the way, whether you had anything to do with it or not).

But your main event features a 3-0 fighter in Kimbo Slice, who has yet to face an opponent coming off a win, taking on a forty-four-year-old legend of the sport who hasn’t won a fight or even made it out of the first round in over four years. And that’s your main event.

(*wipes tear from eye* / Photo courtesy of facebook.com/bigdaddyfightteam)

Well, this is it, folks — Gary Goodridge‘s last column for CagePotato. Big Daddy decided to blast through a bunch of questions lightning-round style, so if he still didn’t get to your question, 1) Learn to write better questions, and 2) Stay tuned for the start of Dan Severn‘s mailbag column on CagePotato, coming soon. Thanks so much to Gary for doing this for us; follow him on Facebook and Twitter, and visit bigdaddyfightteam.com.

‘danomite’ asks: Have you ever known anybody to work a fight or take a dive? You don’t have to name names, just wondering how much it happened, especially in Japan.
Yes that type of stuff happened all the time in Pride. There are some pretty famous examples that the old fans all talk about. Chances are if you think it’s shady, it might have been. Naoya Ogawa’s camp offered me money to throw the fight but I didn’t want to sacrifice my integrity for a buck.

‘ReX13′ asks: I always wondered what Gary’s first thought was after he killed Paul Herrera. Well, after the adrenaline damped down a bit.
I was shocked like everybody. Since I practiced my counter-move the night before I was ready, but surprised it worked that easily. I didn’t have too much time to celebrate though since I had another fight coming right up.

When I was in Tokyo for the New Year’s Eve Dynamite!! show, I couldn’t help but notice that Gary Goodridge seemed like a man who didn’t really want to be fighting.  He was added to the card at the last minute, matched up against Gegard Mousasi in a fight the promoters obviously didn’t intend for him to win.  His last MMA fight was in November of 2008.  He hadn’t won one since his 2007 K-1 Heroes bout against Jan Nortje.  So what was he doing fighting "Sweet Sassy" on a few days’ notice?

The answer, Goodridge told me when I spoke to him for an SI.com article this week, is surviving.  He was getting paid the only way he knows how, though he wishes he didn’t have to.

"I’m trying to get a job, period," said Goodridge. "My background is in security, police, corrections. I went to school for four years at a college level to learn how to beat people properly. I would love to be a bodyguard, whatever. I’m just looking for a job."

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

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

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

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

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

(Props: CageToday and "Juggo")

Our bro Ariel Helwani has landed his first big "get" at Versus.com — Jared Shaw, the stomach-tattooed uber-douche who acted as EliteXC Vice President during his father’s ill-fated promotional reign with the company. We scanned the interview hoping to find a quote in which Jared referred to himself in the third person, and Young Shaw did not disappoint. But before that, we were saddened to see $kala’s negative take on MMA blogs. (And after all we’ve done for you!) The whole thing is worth reading, but for now, check out this excerpt:

(Props: TheStar)

After four thrilling installments, “Ask Gary” is riding off into the sunset. Gary Goodridge has one more column left in the tank before calling it quits, so please deposit your final burning questions into the comments section below, and we’ll make sure he gets ‘em. If you missed any of Gary’s previous columns for CagePotato, click here.

Still, when one door closes, another opens — and another hulking MMA legend walks through it. We’re pleased to announce that we’ve lined up UFC Hall of Famer Dan Severn to do his own CagePotato column, which will follow the same mailbag format as Gary’s (unless we come up with something better). Got any questions related to the Beast’s 17-year, 124-fight career? Let’s hear it. As always, thanks for supporting the fighters who built this sport while you were, you know, on your father’s nutsack.

So Robbie Lawler is clearly not into doing this interview with MMA Rated’s Ariel Helwani. That’s nothing new for the Elite XC middleweight champ. Media shy isn’t quite the term for how Lawler deals with the press. More like media contemptuous. But to hear Ariel tell it, Lawler isn’t the only one who seems unenthusiastic about this event:

We just came back from the EliteXC press conference at the Stockton Arena and the only word that comes to mind is “surprised.”

Surprised that there was virtually no media there. Seriously, maybe a handful…tops.

Surprised that the Shaws (Gary and Jared) were no where to be found. Surprised that no one is willing to give a straight answer as to where they are hiding. Trust me, I asked around. Surprised that there appears to be zero excitement online, around town or even in the local media for this event.

What’s going on here? Elite XC broke a major barrier with their first show on CBS, but now they’re on the verge of their second and already people are treating it like their grandparents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary party. Not that we’re saying this is necessarily wrong on the part of the media or the fans or even the fighters. We can definitely relate to those feelings. It’s just odd.

Is it bad timing, coming on the heels of the biggest MMA weekend of the year thus far? Is it the line-up? The promotion itself? The lack of a big media build-up? Lack of MMA lightning rods like Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano? What’s the deal?

By Gary “Big Daddy” Goodridge

Thanks everybody for your responses. Anybody who has followed my career knows that I’ve always loved interacting with my fans. This blog gives me a chance to keep in the game, at least mentally. I’ve had a few hits to the head and I suffer from some memory loss but I hope that this column helps to dispel some myths and educate you about the things I’ve learned throughout my life. Some of your questions had me cracking up, and most of you clearly have way too much time on your hands. It’s good to be half man, half amazing and black by popular demand…

‘MyDonkeyPunch’ asks: What was the craziest thing a fighter whispered to you when fighting?
Usually I was the one trash-talking during the fights so I’ll tell you about one of the coolest things that anybody ever whispered to me outside of the ring. After I won one of my K-1 fights in Las Vegas, I got the opportunity to meet Muhammad Ali who was there to present a trophy to the GP winner. Ali had always been my hero growing up so meeting him was a dream come true. When I shook Muhammad Ali’s hand, he pulled me in a close embrace and whispered, “You’re one tough nigger.” I was so honored and excited and it was hard to describe how much that experience meant to me.

‘bgoldstein’ asks: Fill in the blank: __% of fighters use steroids.
Let me answer this question by making an analogy. What percentages of race car drivers use high-quality gasoline? The reason why I ask that is because when you’re running a high-performance vehicle you want to use the fuel that will give you the greatest edge in winning. If you are not using the same quality of fuel as all of the other top drivers, you will start to fall behind no matter how good your engine is.

(Somehow, screwing this guy over in a business deal would never cross our minds. PicProps: Top MMA News)

A couple years ago I interviewed UFC and Pride vet and all-around good guy Gary Goodridge as part of a project I was working on for another publication. At the beginning of our conversation I think I asked something innocuous like, “Hey Gary, how you doing?” to which Goodridge responded with an audible sigh and said: “Man, I’m broke as a joke and looking for a job.” I laughed. Nervously. During the course of our talk it became clear that “Big Daddy” wasn’t kidding. After  nearly 50 MMA fights and 40 kickboxing bouts, the 15-year fight vet was pretty much at loose ends. He’d morphed into a cautionary tale – and a particularly heartbreaking one because he is such a nice dude – for all the young fighters out there who are living like they think those paychecks are just going to keep coming forever.

For obvious reasons, it was not at all surprising when Goodridge agreed to take on Gegard Mousasi at K-1’s New Year’s Eve Dynamite!! 2009 show on kind of ridiculously short notice, was further depressingly predictable that he lost that fight by ugly TKO inside of two minutes and unbelievably ridiculous that FEG took more than a year to send Gary his paycheck. Since this was so clearly an example of an aging fighter taking a fight he had no business taking simply because he needed a payday, the whole “getting paid” stage was a pretty important part of the equation. So, it warms even the blackest heart to report that Goodridge finally got his bread this week. Well, most of it.

(Goodridge vs. Frye, Pride Shockwave, 12/31/03)

So you watched Gary Goodridge’s poor showing against Gegard Mousasi on New Year’s Eve and thought to yourself, why do they keep bringing this guy back?  The answer is a) he’ll fight just about anybody with a few hours notice, and b) there was a time when he thrilled the Japanese fans with his standing and banging.  His final fight in Pride against legendary hard-ass and recent retiree Don Frye was just one such time. 

It was only six years ago, and yet it feels like another lifetime.  All those young bucks who felt like they were on top of the world with their New Year’s Eve victories at Dynamite!! might want to take note.  The good times are good, but they do not last.

So Gary Goodridge will be taking on Butterbean in April, and tomorrow’s Strikeforce event will feature Bob Sapp against 1-5 Euro-can Jan Nortje. If you’re curious about Goodridge and Nortje’s current skill level, just watch this sad match from K-1 HERO’s 8 (3/12/07), where Goodridge takes piles of abuse in one of the roughest, stupidest rope-a-dopes ever, then pounds back when Nortje is completely gassed. Again, Sapp is a -600 favorite in tomorrow’s match, even though his usual game plan (slug away all your energy then fall over) is exactly the same as Nortje’s. Anyway.

And because commenter “fightfan” asked for it, here’s Goodridge’s November 2005 loss against Glaube Feitosa in a K-1 kickboxing championship match. Watch as Feitosa knocks out Gary’s front teeth at 3:44, and recoil in horror during the slo-mo replay at 5:08.

(Props to GammaLabsTV.) 

Thanks to Gamma Labs CEO Cliff Morgan, footage has recently surfaced of world renowned MMA trainer Shawn Tompkins’ final training session with team mate and close friend, WEC and Bellator veteran Chris Horodecki. As we all know, Shawn Tompkin’s passing this past August shocked everyone including his family, and has had a tremendous impact on the fighter’s he trained in the time since.

Morgan, who also introduces the clip, decided to release the video, which was shot just days before Tompkins’ passing, in it’s “raw and unedited form, [to give us] a clear understanding of how important Shawn was a trainer, mentor, and contributor to the sport.”

-Danga 

By Mike Russell

I first met Shawn Tompkins six years ago while I was working for The Fight Network in Toronto, Canada. I’d been a fan of his work for a while, having watched Mark Hominick and Sam Stout climb the Canadian rankings under his tutelage, but didn’t get the opportunity to shake the hand of the London, Ontario coach, who was considered by many to be the top trainer in Canada until late 2005. He was one of the good guys in the sport, always eager to talk shop and would give you the shirt off of his back if you needed it.

I last spoke to “The Coach” a week ago for a story I was working on for Fighters Only Magazine about his brother-in-law and longtime protégée Sam Stout. In spite of the fact that he was on vacation (the first one he’d taken in years) and was in the midst of celebrating his wedding anniversary with his wife Emilie, Shawn promptly responded to the text I sent him asking if he had time to talk that week with a familiar reply: “I’ve always got time for you, Mike.”

It didn’t surprise me when he told me that day that he and Sam had never had a disagreement.

(Friends forever? Photo courtesy of AllElbows.com)

It’s hard to even get up the energy to mock Jared Shaw anymore.  He’s just so damn irrelevant.  But in talking about the role Kimbo Slice’s loss to Seth Petruzelli played in EliteXC’s collapse, he summed up the company’s fundamental failures without even realizing it:

"I stick up for him a lot because we put so much weight on his shoulders because we had to, we needed a face. No, we didn’t expect him to be the world champion. We knew if he fought the kind of fighters that were at that level that his chances of winning were probably slimmer," said Shaw. "But you’ve got to throw somebody up there as the best in the world, because you’ve got to put a face on the company. And that’s not to say he can’t become one of the best fighters in the world, cause he’s an athlete, he has talent, but that was the situation we were up against."

(Props: Fightlinker)

God help you, but what you’re about to see is the trailer for an in-production reality show about Gary Shaw and his family, titled Blood, Sweat -n- Bling. We could care less about what a boxing promoter does and what Shaw has accomplished in that field — the clip seems to leave out his brief and hideous stint with EliteXC altogether — so why not just skip ahead to the 4:51 mark and get a load of the segment on his son Jared. Apparently it’s not an act; $kala really is a deluded, epically entitled leech on his father, with absolutely nothing positive to offer society. (Check the freestyle: "Overseas in Greece, stop in Tel Aviv / Sucky-sucky Hong Kong, gotta love them Chinese.")

I have to admit, this trailer actually made me feel sorry for Gary. Between his incarcerated first son, total failure fourth son, worthless idiot wife, and (one would assume) heart disease and diabetes, I do not envy this man’s life. Getting up every morning must be a struggle, to put it mildly. Not that I’d ever watch this show, and I truly hope it’s never made available for other people to watch. But man, how ’bout this Jared Shaw? Is he The Worst, or what?