(Video courtesy of YouTube/Submissions101)

Royler Gracie failed to respond to Eddie Bravo’s challenge to compete at the 2011 Abu Dhabi Combat Club submission grappling competition by the July 10 deadline set by the 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu founder and has now tried to save face by challenging Bravo, who has never competed in mixed martial arts in his life, to a one-off MMA bout in Brazil.

“I have no problems with ADCC, but the fact is that we didn’t get to an agreement on our negotiation and unfortunately the organizers of the event haven’t got in touch with me again. I can’t keep waiting, I have other plans for myself. I’m assuming this bout won’t happen”, Royler told TATAME. “I’m dealing with this MMA event, which might happen in Brazil. I haven’t sign anything yet, but the negotiations are going well and it’s likely it happens. The organizer of the event even called Eddie Bravo to fight me, but he declined it, he didn’t want to fight me… And I said I was only punch him with my hands opened, man (laughs).”

(Props: MMAFighting.com)

If Anderson Silva‘s inscrutable performance at yesterday’s UFC 112 left you feeling angry and cheated, Dana White feels your pain. White stormed out of the arena after the fourth round of Silva’s non-fight with Demian Maia, but not before dropping Silva’s championship belt off with the Spider’s manager, Ed Soares, refusing to deal with it himself. At the post-fight press conference, White ripped into the middleweight champ, telling media "I don’t think I’ve ever been more embarrassed in the ten years of being in this business." (Hmm. Does that sound familiar?) "I don’t know how yet," Dana continued, "but I will make this up to the fans that bought that shit tonight."

Having to repeatedly apologize for Anderson’s fights may have soured the UFC president on Silva permanently: "He said the other day that he wanted to cut to 170 and fight GSP. I don’t want to see that fight now. He doesn’t deserve to fight GSP…I’d like to say he lost his mind tonight, but this is the third time this has happened, this isn’t the first time."

Later, in an interview with Ariel Helwani, Dana called UFC 112 his lowest moment as president of the UFC, and appeared genuinely heartbroken that he had let down the people (and investors) of Abu Dhabi. It bothers him that he has to apologize to fans while Anderson seems to have no urge to do the same. Asked who he’d be interested to see Anderson fight next, White replied "Anderson doesn’t interest me right now."

(Photo of the work-in-progress courtesy of Flash.)

In just six days, the UFC will hold its first-ever event in the Middle East. For those of you who assume there’s a Bojangles Coliseum available in every city in the world, let me assure you that that’s not the case. (Bojangles should be so lucky.) Instead, the historic event required that a brand-new open-air stadium be built from scratch in about 20 days. Meanwhile, my neighbor Chris has been trying to build a deck in his backyard for three years. And before you think that this stadium is just some slapped-together P.O.S., check out this article on the massive undertaking published yesterday in UAE’s English-language paper, The National:

(Demian Maia puts a hurtin’ on Jason MacDonald at UFC 87. Photo courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner in the "Which Barely Credible Challenger Wants to Get Thrashed by Anderson Silva on Two Months’ Notice?" sweepstakes. From UFC.com:

* Sure. He’s also a mediocre kickboxer.

** Come on, nobody uses the phrase "top six." Just say "top five" and hope nobody questions it.

So let’s break this down…

Vitor Belfort, Renzo Gracie, BJ Penn, Frankie Edgar, and Anderson Silva pose for pictures in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, while Ferrari World looms in the background. Photos courtesy of the UFC 112 Facebook page. More shots after the jump…

(Ferrari World artist’s rendering courtesy of skyscrapercity.com)

After weeks of private negotiations and public vagueness, the UFC has finally confirmed that their April 10th show will indeed take place in Abu Dhabi, home of their new partners at Flash Entertainment. Though concerns about the venue delayed the event’s official announcement, an existing outdoor stadium was eventually selected over the gravel-pit setup that Marshall Zelaznik had been touting. From the press release on UFC.com:

(They’re both Brazilian, and they both like to wear t-shirts and hats. On paper, this one’s impossible to call. Image courtesy of Tatame.)

According to Vitor Belfort’s manager Fabiano Farah, the Phenom will indeed be getting his shot at Anderson Silva‘s middleweight title at UFC 112 (April 10th, Abu Dhabi). Though Silva’s manager Ed Soares wouldn’t confirm the booking yet, he did mention that Silva is training hard and is "very fired up" to face Belfort, who most recently scored a TKO over Rich Franklin at UFC 103. 

Farah’s confirmation follows the earlier report that Belfort and Silva are slated to train at Emirates Jiu-Jitsu in the days leading up to the fight. Strangely, Emirates Jiu Jitsu head instructor Carlos Santos has also been saying that the fight could be held outdoors: "I told them both they should come early because it will be an outdoor event, not indoors like they are used to, and that many factors and conditions will be different for them." Though that option may have been floated in the early planning stages of UFC 112, Dana White is now under the impression that Sheikh Tahnoon and the gang will be building an arena for him.

In other #112 news, a middleweight match between TUF 3 winner Kendall Grove and Mark Munoz appears to be in the works. Grove is coming off his first-round submission win over Jake Rosholt at UFC 106, while Munoz has won his last two UFC fights against Nick Catone and Ryan Jensen.

Following up reports last week of Zuffa selling a chunk of the UFC to Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UFC has publicly released some information on the sale. First, the official statement via UFC.com:

Dana White followed up the announcement with a Q&A on UFC.com to put it all into layman’s terms for the fans. Some highlights:

(Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta chill with Sheikh Tahnoon during a recent boar hunting trip. Photos courtesy of twitter.com/danawhite.)

And here we thought Dana White was just visiting Abu Dhabi to set up a monster fight card and spring Lee Murray out of jail. FiveOuncesofPain has broken the wild and developing story that after a few months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, the UFC has sold a piece of its empire to Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, son of former United Arab Emirates president Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and founder of the world-famous Abu Dhabi Combat Club. MMA Payout estimates that Sheikh Tahnoon now owns approximately 10% of the UFC, and the proceeds of the sale will likely go towards regaining control of Station Casinos.

According to the original report, the deal was brokered with the help of Renzo Gracie, who happens to be Sheikh Tahnoon’s BJJ instructor; Tahnoon is a black belt under Renzo. The sale has massive implications, but without an official statement from the UFC, there isn’t much more we can tell you. Either Sheikh Tahnoon becomes instrumental in helping the UFC become a truly global operation, or he creates a "too many cooks in the kitchen" situation, leading to counter-productive infighting and unfortunate ring girl choices. What’s clear is that Tahnoon has money and passion to spare. Let’s see how this thing plays out.

(Worst Affliction t-shirt ever?  Or best Slash t-shirt ever?)

Following his dismal performance at UFC 92 and subsequent release from the UFC (at his request, which is like telling your boss you quit immediately after he’s discovered that you’ve been stealing), Dean Lister is headed back where he belongs: grappling tournaments.  Lister will be back at the Abu Dhabi’s and word has it that he’s angling for a move up in weight to take on Fedor Emelianenko, who’s expected to enter this year.

On one hand, it’s good to see Lister back in his element.  As great a submissions fighter as he is, he’s not much of an MMA fighter at this point.  He tried to pull guard on Yushin Okami for three rounds and got a chorus of boos for his trouble.  He then apologized to his fans while reminding us that he could kick all of our asses, just in case you were in any danger of feeling sympathy for him.

But Lister is a middleweight.  Fedor is a heavyweight.  Even if he weren’t also one of the best fighters on the planet, the weight difference is already a huge advantage.  But would it be pretty awesome to see Fedor in a pure grappling match against one of America’s best pure grapplers?  It would.  He tapped out his brother with no problem, but "The Boogeyman" has a significantly better grappling resume.  He is also free of blood-borne diseases (sorry, had to do it).

Regardless, a Fedor/Lister grappling match has the potential to get even the more casual MMA viewers slightly interested in the Abu Dhabi’s.  And that’s without the brutal violence of MMA, Bob Reilly.  What now?