(Do women in the UFC represent a new path to the future, or business as usual? Photo via Esther Lin/MMAFighting)

By Brian J. D’Souza

There have been many landmark events in MMA history — the inception of the UFC in 1993, the debut of The Ultimate Fighter in 2005, the fall of PRIDE in 2007, and the acquisition of Strikeforce in 2011. As 2013 gets underway, it’s already becoming apparent that the sport is undergoing a series of events that will change it forever.

THE DISSOLUTION OF STRIKEFORCE

On March 12, 2011, Zuffa acquired Strikeforce. Although the San Jose-based promotion was subsequently stripped of many of its best fighters, television network Showtime opted to renew their broadcast deal with the promotion — until now. The January 13, 2013 show headlined by Nate Marquardt vs. Tarec Saffiedine will be the promotion’s death knell, as the name “Strikeforce” takes its final resting place in the cemetery next to Affliction, WEC, PRIDE, Elite XC, BodogFight, and the IFL.

There were obvious benefits in Zuffa stringing Showtime along as a broadcast partner of the increasingly-diluted Strikeforce brand: It kept Showtime from seeking a new promoter, independent of Zuffa, to partner with. Currently, promotions like Shark Fights, Legacy Fighting Championship, Invicta FC, and Xtreme Fighting Championships are in the running as potential broadcast partners for Showtime. For the winning promotion(s), mainstream television exposure on CBS might also be possible, just as CBS aired Strikeforce events in the past.

However, no matter which promotion Showtime airs, the most significant component of the deal comes down to what brand-name fighters can be acquired to get better ratings and more subscribers for Showtime.

THE RISE OF BELLATOR

(In the words of my life coach, “If you ask me one more fucking question about that fucking joke Eddie Alvarez, I will fuck you like you’ve never been fucked before.”) 

The drama continues to unfold in the Eddie Alvarez/UFC/Bellator love triangle that last saw Bjorn Rebney and Co. break go Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer on their former lightweight champion’s ass. And as Bill Shakespeare would tell you himself, no love triangle would be complete without a little dash of comedy. Enter Rebney, who recently attempted to shed some light on the convoluted goatscrew that (Bellator) negotiations oft become in a recent interview with BloodyElbow radio. When Rebney previously told reporters that he had matched the UFC’s offer on Alvarez “word for word,” the general consensus seemed to be that Rebney was simply speaking in hyperbole, for how could Bellator match the pay-per-view stipulations of the UFC’s contract when they don’t in fact broadcast pay-per-view events to begin with?

Well, it turns out that — at least according to the man himself — Rebney was not tugging our respective dicks when he said “word for word”:

I didn’t anticipate that the UFC would come in where they came in. They came in at a dollar figure in terms of the $250,000 signing bonus and the $70,000 plus $70,000 and some of the terms that we felt very comfortable matching. To avoid any questioning, to avoid any conflict, we literally took the UFC contract, took it out of a PDF format and we changed the UFC name to Bellator and we signed it and we sent it back to Ed. 

Call me unrealistic, but I’d like to believe that Rebney signed his name in poo, or at least wiped his ass with the reprinted contract before sending it back to Eddie. And then when Alvarez flipped to the last page of this foul smelling document, there was a photo of Rebney, performing said act of asswhipery. Because those are the kinds of shenanigans that people who don’t give a fuck are wont to do.

Much more from this interview after the jump.

(“Keep laughing, Eddie, because as soon as you lose that belt, your ass is mine.”) 

Former President Clinton once made infamous the phrase, “It depends on what your definition of the word ’is’ is,” while answering questions from the Independent Counsel’s office on the all-important subject of Monica Lewinsky. With former Bellator lightweight champion/UFC hopeful Eddie Alvarez and his boss, Bjorn Rebney, the discrepancy appears to depend on what one’s definition of the word “matched” is.

It has been no secret that the UFC wants Alvarez under their banner. The top lightweight fought the last fight under his Bellator contract last October but the promotion has the right to match any contract offered to Alvarez and thus keep him with them.

The UFC did indeed recently make an offer to Alvarez, but it is here where the stories from the former champ and the Bellator CEO begin to differ.

First, Alvarez sat down with The MMA Hour and claimed that Bellator had not matched the UFC’s proposed terms. Rebney then went on MMA Weekly Radio and said that his organization had, in fact, matched the UFC’s contract offer to Alvarez, point for point.

And then things got really awkward.

What a difference two years can make. Back in 2010, Megumi Fujii was basically being labeled as the Fedor Emelianenko (circa 2007) of Women’s MMA — a mysterious, unstoppable killing machine who would easily run through all American opposition whenever she decided to make the move stateside. And indeed, her first three Bellator performances cemented her status as the top dog at 115 pounds, ending in two armbar stoppages and one TKO finish. Scratch that, her first four performances lived up to the hype she had built in Japan, the only difference in her fourth performance at Bellator 34 being that she let the fight go to decision and was therefore screwed out of a title for reasons unknown. Fujii’s opponent in that fight, Zoila Gurgel, would honor this gift decision by never defending said belt again, while Fujii would fight just once more in America, losing a unanimous decision to Jessica Aguilar at Bellator 69 in May of this year.

Shame decision aside, Fujii returned to action on Christmas Eve to square off against Mei Yamaguchi at Vale Tudo Japan 2012 and walked away with a clear cut unanimous decision victory, the video of which is above. Rumors circulated before the event that this would be Fujii’s final WMMA fight, and although she has yet to officially retire, the general consensus seems to be that the rumors are true.

We will hold off on the video tribute until an official announcement is made, but join us after the jump for a wicked highlight of Fujii’s reign of terror.

(And to think, if only Big Dan was at Paul’s side, this whole situation might have been avoided.) 

Good morning, Potato Nation. How was your Christmas? I see that at least a few of you spent it here, arguing about racism, or incomprehensibly ranting about women’s rights, and we thank you for the repeated page views. But if you think you were the only ones whose stockings were stuffed with a bit of vitriol this holiday season, think again, because UFC castaway and all around good guy Paul “Semtex” Daley apparently spent his beating the Christmas spirit out of some local bar patrons.

Sound familiar? According to ESPN’s Josh Gross, Daley has not only been arrested on assault charges stemming from a recent bar fight in his native London, but has been barred from entering the United States until the situation is resolved. This of course means that he will not be participating in Bellator’s upcoming welterweight tournament, although his original opponent, War Machine, had already suffered a leg injury that forced him to postpone their scheduled fight 4 to 6 months. We would say that this is a rather unfortunate turn of events for Bellator, but shit happens when you stack your roster with ex-cons and guys who were thrown out of the UFC for being hotheaded sore losers.

Daley — who could face up to two years in prison if convicted — has yet to make an official statement on the issue, but simply posted the following on the UG:

Rumours. However it seems my next fight will not be for Bellator.

And indeed, Daley has already been booked in the headlining matchup of Cage Contender 16 in Dublin, Ireland on February 23rd. An opponent has yet to be named.

[UPDATE]

“Wait…a ham sandwich walked into a bar? How is that even possible?”

New years often mean new beginnings. For Bellator, this means cutting ties with former bantamweight champion Zach Makovsky.

Makovsky took to his Twitter account yesterday to confirm his release, tweeting “Honestly shocked but thank you for the opportunity @BellatorMMA @BjornRebney.”

A former D1 wrestler for Drexel University, Zach “Fun Size” Makovsky was the face of Bellator’s bantamweight division since the beginning, becoming the inaugural bantamweight champion at Bellator 32 with a unanimous decision victory over Ed West. A pair of non-title fights saw him knock out Chad Robichaux and choke out Ryan Roberts, improving his Bellator record to a flawless 6-0, and the future was wide open for Fun Size.

(You see, kids, this is why we don’t break the fourth rule of Project Mayhem. Photo via Complex)

By Jason Moles

As is customary, nay tradition, around these parts, we’re hitting the eggnog early and often this week — thus, the obligatory Top 10 list to close out another year in the world of mixed martial arts. It’s not all fluff, though: Last year we predicted a champion would test positive for a banned substance and Brock Lesnar would retire. Not bad, huh? So grab a seat while we break out the crystal ball and see what 2013 has in store for us.

1.) Showtime stays in the MMA biz, will announce deal with Invicta FC and others.

MMA is just too popular to completely wash your hands of. Showtime may finally be done with Strikeforce, but that only means they’re now free to partner up with the likes of all-female Invicta FC or the World Series of Fighting, both of which could be looking for more permanent homes after their early success in 2012. Don’t let the Invicta PPV news fool you; they can’t win that battle. No matter who inks the deal, expect Showtime to counter-program at least one UFC event.

2.) A Ronda Rousey loss brings about the swift execution of women’s MMA in the UFC.

This season, Bellator’s heavyweight tournament ended in the same place where it began – The Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana – but with far less fireworks than anticipated.

With Bellator fixture Richard Hale facing off against Alexander Volkov, a twenty-four year old Russian prospect who used to train with Fedor Emelianenko, fans anticipated a wild brawl would ensue for the heavyweight championship Cole Konrad vacated through his retirement. Hale would bring the fight to Volkov early, dropping the Russian with a right hook in the first round. However, that hook would end up being the only significant strike that Hale would land for the rest of the fight.

For the rest of the bout, the 6’7” Volkov was content to jab his way to a unanimous decision victory. It certainly wasn’t pretty, as the boos from those in attendance demonstrated, but it was enough for Volkov to take home $100,000 and the promotion’s heavyweight championship.

(Yeah, we’re not really stoked for this one either, Mo.)

Not too long ago, Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal signed a — I guess you’d call it groundbreaking — deal with both Bellator and TNA Wrestling after being released from Strikeforce following a positive test for steroids and an epic Twitter meltdown, a decision he is probably patting himself on the back for in light of recent events. Ever since, we have been quietly waiting to see which one of Bellator’s remaining light heavyweights Mo would square off against first, whether it was…what’s his face, or, uhh…*snaps fingers*…uh…God, I know this…

…

…Turns out, Bellator is going the Josh Barnett route for King Mo’s big debut, bringing in a complete outsider named *checks glasses* Przemyslaw Mysiala to conveniently get squashed just before confetti falls from the ceiling and Mo is declared the next challenger to whomever emerges victorious from the Christian M’Pumbu/Attila Veigh fight. And you better believe that some form of energy drink will be used to hose bitches down at some point in this ceremony, because it sooo will.

Bellator’s first event on Spike TV will take place Thursday, January 17th, at the University of California’s Bren Center in Irvine, California, and will be headlined by a pair of title fights. The promotion confirmed the news today, revealing that undefeated phenom Michael Chandler will make his first official lightweight title defense at the event (aka Bellator 85) against Rick Hawn, the 14-1 Olympic judoka who won the Season 5 lightweight tournament earlier this year.

Also on the card, featherweight champion Pat Curran — who’s 4-0 since dropping to 145 and is coming off his near-murder of Joe Warren — will be putting his belt on the line against explosive contender Patricio “Pitbull” Freire. Though Freire won all three of his fights in 2011, winning the Season 4 featherweight tournament, he wasn’t able to compete in 2012, partly due to injuries.

And that’s not all. During a Bellator/Spike TV conference call held earlier today, many more details about Bellator 85 and the promotion’s upcoming eighth season were announced. For instance…

(Video via AXSTV)

Former CagePotato Proving Grounds winner Nick Newell kicked, suplex-slammed and choked his way to victory in Nashville, TN last night, earning the XFC 155 pound title in the process. As you can see in the fight video above, Newell took out Bellator veteran Eric Reynolds quickly and improved his unblemished record to 9-0.

Reynolds himself has before gone the distance with both Jorge Masvidal and maybe UFC-bound Eddie Alvarez. Newell beating Reynolds in such dominating fashion, then, has to put him one step closer to consideration for the big leagues.

The southpaw Newell began his attack against Reynolds with rear and and lead kicks, both low and high, before closing the distance and getting behind Reynolds with a body lock. From there, Newell maintained control and bided his time before lifting his opponent high up into the air and slamming him face down onto the mat. Newell quickly spun around to get his legs around Reynolds and took his back.

In case you haven’t been following the career of CagePotato’s own “Proving Grounds” Winner Nick Newell lately, all you have to know is that he is still an undefeated ass-kicking machine. On the heels of his most impressive victory to date over Adam Mays (see above), Newell will be looking to improve to a perfect 9-0 when he takes on the toughest test of his career, Bellator veteran Eric Reynolds, in the main event of XFC 21, which goes down tomorrow night from the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Tennessee.

Sporting a 16-5 record, Reynolds is no slouch to say the least. Although they were ultimately losing efforts, Reynolds made it three rounds with former Bellator lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez and former Strikeforce lightweight title challenger Jorge Masvidal in back-to-back efforts during his stint with Bellator in 2009. Now riding a three fight win streak, Reynolds will surely have his hands full with Newell, who proved in his victory over Denis Hernandez at XFC 15 (an event headlined by Reynolds) that he is just as deadly on the ground as he is on the feet.

You can catch the fight live on AXS TV, which is available for free as an app on your iPhone or iPad.

(That makes two of us who went commando today. Pic Props: Playboy)

By Jason Moles

After the post-fight press conference for Bellator 82, I was lucky enough to catch up with one of our all-time favorite MMA ring girls, Jade Bryce. When you’ve been around the business for any significant amount of time, you are rarely blown away during an interview — especially when you’re talking with the hired eye candy. Wouldn’t you know it, that’s exactly what happened Saturday night.

Ms. Bryce is one of the most knowledgeable and genuinely caring people in the MMA industry. During our conversation, we touched on topics ranging from her favorite fighters to her weakness for chocolate chip cookies. But it’s only when we broached the subject of what she wants for Christmas that her passion was truly enkindled. Check out the highlights of our little one-on-one below.

CagePotato: Hi, Jade, thanks for making time to speak with us. We have a few quick questions for you, which should help our readers get to know you a bit better. For starters, who is your favorite fighter?

Jade Bryce: Since I began with Bellator, I’ve always really loved Michael Chandler and the “Pitbull” brothers a lot, as well as Alexander Shlemenko. I also really like Douglas Lima and Ben Saunders, but yeah, my favorites have always been Shlemenko, “Pitbull” brothers, and Chandler. Oh! [Pat] Curran too. Which is weird because him and [Patricio] “Pitbull” are going to fight soon, so it’ll be a hard fight for me.

CP: For sure. Watching two of your favorite fighters punch each other in the face must be like torture to you. What about Ben Askren, do you think he’s going to defend his title successfully against Karl Amoussou?

JB: No.

CP: Wait, what?! You’re kidding, right? You might be the only person not from France to say that.

JB: I know, but I’m always the one to say, “I told you so.” Everyone else thought Eddie Alvarez was going to win against Chandler, but I had been saying for a year that Chandler was going to win. And no one believed me when it came to “Pitbull” or Chandler, and he has the belt now. I think Amoussou is going to do really well [in his fight against Askren.]

By Jason Moles

This past Saturday, Bellator Fighting Championships came to Michigan for the first time in the promotion’s nearly four-year history with its 82nd event. It’s been said that you only get one chance to make a first impression, and I’m not sure this was what CEO Bjorn Rebney had in mind, despite the obligatory smile on his face. Don’t get me wrong, the night could have gone worse — but it could have also went so much better. But I’m just a hack “journalist,” so what do I know?

I know demand for Bellator’s Michigan debut was low. Although the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort was pretty full for the main card fights, it was by no means a packed house. This just wasn’t one of those ‘standing room only’ functions, which probably explains why one of the more popular local watering holes* didn’t show Bellator that night.

When asked about the decision in the hours leading up to the fights, the response from one of the employees was an apathetic “Because we’re just not.” Not one of their dozen or so TVs would be allowed to show the second largest mixed martial arts promotion. Not one. I wonder how much of this could have been prevented with a proper main event — you know, the kind where the two guys set to throw down are ones you’ve heard of before or maybe even seen on the cover of a magazine.

I also know that all MMA events are improved with at least one matchup featuring two “Let me bang, bro!” type of guys. And while I thoroughly enjoy a great display of BJJ and wrestling, watching two highly skilled ground specialists do their thing, not everyone shares my opinion.

It went completely under our radar, but former WEC Light-Heavyweight Doug Marshall made his Bellator debut at last night’s Bellator 82. There are three things you need to know about this fight:

1.) His opponent, Kala Hose, is apparently a big fan of the Big Buford and/or Kimo Leopoldo, if his tattoos are any indication.
2.) He entered the fight with a 7-5 record (including a loss to Mayhem Miller and a win over Phil Baroni), hadn’t fought in two years and was riding a three fight losing streak.
3.) Things went exactly as you’d assume they would.

By the way, Ben and Jason were at Bellator 82 last night, so expect some updates from them as soon as they’re back. Video and results after the jump.

Mucitelli (black trunks) most recently defeated Matt Van Buren at Bellator 73

On Sunday, we reported that Bellator had released light-heavyweight Dan McGuane from the promotion due to a previous manslaughter conviction. While we were quick to applaud Bellator for cutting ties with such an unpleasant individual, it was unfortunate that Dan’s opponent, “Crazy” Mike Mucitelli, was now without a fight. Mucitelli, 3-0 in professional competition, has a very fan-friendly style, finishing all of his professional bouts before the second round. It would be tragic if the New York prospect became a casualty of Dan McGuane’s unsavory reputation.

Fortunately, Bellator has booked a replacement fight: a 210 lb. catchweight fight between Mike Mucitelli and Matt Uhde, a 3-1 heavyweight from Kansas City. While on the road to Rhode Island for tomorrow’s weigh-ins, Mucitelli filled us in on the entire situation concerning Dan McGuane, as well as what fans can expect from his fight this Friday.

In a way, you know Mike’s background without ever hearing it: The youngest of four children in a lower-middle class family, Mike was drawn to sports at an early age, as all of his siblings were also athletes. Mike played basketball and baseball, but football was his favorite sport because of the physicality. His passion for football eventually led to a scholarship to play for Wagner College.

But Mike’s story is more interesting and complex than the typical “Ex-College Football Player Trying Out MMA” script. Check out our interview with Mike after the jump, and be sure to tune in to the Bellator 81 prelims at 6 PM ET this Friday.

CAGEPOTATO.COM: How soon did you find out about Dan McGuane’s previous conviction?

Dan’s opponent for Bellator 81, Mike Mucitelli, who is now waiting for a new fight. Taken directly from bandanmcguane.com

It isn’t often that the booking of an undercard fight can cause controversy, but Bellator recently found itself in hot water when they booked Dan McGuane on the undercard of this week’s Bellator 81. Bellator booked a fight between McGuane and 3-0 Light-Heavyweight Mike Mucitelli, ignoring the fact that Dan McGuane was convicted of manslaughter in 2005. No big deal, it was just self-defense, right? Unfortunately, no. Not even close.

Recently, a website BanDanMcGuane.com popped up after the webmaster had learned that Bellator had signed the fighter. According to reports, McGuane and his twin brother beat an eighteen year old, one hundred and fifty-five pound man named Kelly Proctor to death after Dan’s brother thought he heard Kelly say something. I wish I were exaggerating, but I’m not. After the jump, the grisly details, courtesy of the website (they’ve since been removed):

Although the UFC has easily secured the top position for “Most Interesting News of the Day,” their rivals over at Bellator have recently revealed a pretty unique feature of their own for their upcoming season on Spike TV. Besides the fact that they are completely exploiting War Machine’s less than positive personal history as a hype tool for his promotional debut*[AWESOME], Bjorn and the boys have debuted an interactive web series dubbed “Vote for the Fight,” which allows you to, wait for it, vote for the very first fight of their 2013 season on Spike TV.

Fans will be given the option to match up any of the following four fighters: Ben Saunders, Paul Daley, Douglas Lima, and our boy War Machine. In addition, Spike TV will be airing a new episode of the web series — which will provide some background and behind-the-scenes info on each of the participants — each Thursday.

Part 1 is above and Part 2 awaits you after the jump.

The main event of last night’s Bellator 79 produced one of the oddest instances of an athlete giving up mid-contest since Bob Hamelin retired during a minor league baseball game. Santos dominates the fight from the beginning, rocking him with early combinations and controlling him on the ground. Yet as the fighters are separated, Santos takes out his mouth guard and appears disinterested in continuing. A few half-assed punches later, Hale counters Santos, who drops to the canvas and turtles up until the fight is waived off.

Was this just a case of Thiago Santos having conditioning issues? Probably, although gassing out halfway through the first round is pathetic even at the amateur levels. Is Richard Hale’s striking just that underrated? Maybe – Santos lost a tooth during the fight, which explains why his mouth was bleeding, although don’t ask me to point out the punch that caused it. Regardless of the reason, Hale earned a victory last night because Santos essentially gave up during the fight, and will now face the winner of Vinicius Queiroz vs. Alexander Volkov for the promotion’s heavyweight championship.

After the jump – Shahbulat Shamhalaev knocks out Mike Richman at Bellator 79 in a far more traditional fashion.

Highlights from Clementi vs. Sarnavskiy

With no competition from the UFC last night (well, no real competition, at least), Bellator took to the Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania to make a statement with Bellator 77. The main card played host to the quarterfinals of this season’s lightweight tournament.

In the evening’s main event, 20-0 Russian lightweight Alexander Sarnavskiy made his Bellator debut against UFC veteran Rich Clementi. Despite his creative, diverse offense, Sarnavskiy struggled early against Clementi, almost succumbing to a rear-naked choke at the end of the first round. Although he would adjust to end up making the fight very close, in the end Clementi won by split-decision. With the victory, Rich Clementi improves to 45-21-1.

In the co-main event, WEC veteran Dave Jansen finished a very game Magomed Saadulaev with a standing arm-in guillotine forty-one seconds into the third round. After a close first round, Jansen spent the second round breaking down Saadulaev with his ground and pound. Video of the entire fight is available after the jump.

Maybe I’m just a sucker for slow motion and piano ballads (except for Coldplay. F*ck Coldplay.), but I must admit that the first advertisement for Bellator’s move to Spike TV in 2013 is a surprisingly well made and dare I say poignant bit of filmmaking coming from the network behind such subtle, highbrow programming as Manswers, 1000 Ways to Die, and those endless goddamn CSI reruns. I get it, Grissom, you’re f*cking smarter than everyone else and can figure out any mystery in twenty minutes, now please stop f*cking showboating SO I CAN TRY TO CATCH A GLIMPSE OF GAP TOOTH’S OR GINGER LADY’S TITS ALREADY!!

Anyway, back to the ad. Featuring such familiar faces as lightweight champion Michael Chandler, light heavyweight/TNA superstar King Mo Lawal, and former Strikeforce LHW champ Babalu Sobral among others, the 30 second clip succeeds in getting me amped up for a promotion I have literally been aware of for years now, so a kudos is in order to the gentlemen over at Spike.

(It’s safe to say that it can’t end any worse than the first time.) 

Over the past two years, Joe Warren has gone from a tough-nosed underdog to an unexpected/abrasively arrogant champion to the poster child for what not to do if you ever become an MMA champion. His strategy of trying to win two belts before he could defend one (also known as Hendo-ing) backfired in epic fashion to say the least, resulting in a pair of brutal knockout losses to Alexis Villa and Pat Curran,  the latter of which cost him the title he had actually earned. Not only were these losses thoroughly embarrassing for his “Baddest Man on the Planet” shtick, but the damage resulting from them will likely challenge his mental stability down the line if you know what we are saying. The fact that he obtained the featherweight title in the fashion he did — getting absolutely dominated only to score a flukish comeback thereafter — only led people to further question his decision to drop down a weight class in hindsight.

Unfortunately for Joe, his combination of bad decision making and bad luck left him with nowhere to go other than back down to bantamweight for his next fight at Bellator 80, which goes down on November 9th. Fortunately for Joe, the matchmakers at Bellator or going to give him a much easier opponent this time around…

(Believe it or not, Columbia Pictures saw this coming some 8 months ago, and chose Kevin James to star in a movie about Konrad’s life.) 

Maybe it’s just me, Potato Nation, but recent events have led me to believe that I have stepped into some sort of alternate reality where up is green, foot is west, and Joe Silva apparently never existed. So maybe I should just take the confounding news that current Bellator heavyweight champion and undefeated powerhouse Cole Konrad is retiring from MMA to obtain a position as a financial trader specializing in milk products as sign that my suspicions are correct. Seriously, I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.

MMAJunkie has the scoop:

The Twincities.com report said Konrad, 28, is leaving fighting to become a financial trader at a Minnesota-based firm that supplies ingredients to the feed, pet food, food processing and chemical industries. Konrad will specialize in trading milk products. 

Plans to find a new champion are unclear at the moment. The news first was reported byTwincities.com and subsequently confirmed to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) by a source close to the promotion. 

Of all the reasons for retirement we have heard MMA fighters give…this is a new one.

(Mo wrote down all of his answers for this interview to prove, once more, to the Nevada State Athletic Commission that he can read and write in English.)

By Elias Cepeda

Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether Muhammed Lawal is truly as carefree as he sounds or if “King Mo” just doesn’t want us to see him sweat. The former All-American wrestler and current MMA light heavyweight has been embattled recently.

After exploding onto the international fight scene in 2008 Lawal suffered a violent loss, his first, to Rafael Cavalcante in 2010. In 2011 and early 2012 he got back on the winning track, stringing together two-straight but then Lawal had his win over Lorenz Larkin overturned after he failed a post-fight drug test.

A subsequent hearing, suspension, twitter outburst where he called a Nevada State Athletic Commissioner a “bitch,” and firing from Strikeforce followed. Oh yeah, Lawal also nearly died after a staph infection.

When we ask Lawal how he’s managed to stay focused and sane throughout it all he says, “It wasn’t that big of a deal.”

Really?

“All I care about is providing for my family,” he tells CagePotato. “And MMA is a small part of what I do to make a living.”

It certainly is about to become just one of two professional athletic careers that Lawal uses to make ends meet. Since being released by Strikeforce, Lawal has signed with Bellator and Total Nonstop Action wrestling. The idea is for him to simultaneously and regularly take part in professional wrestling and pro MMA.

(Hey Bjorn, can you switch the big screen over to MTV 2? This fight is boring the shit out of meheywaitaminute!) 

You know, with all the talk of “fakeness”, “arrogance”, and “haters” that has utterly dominated any Jon Jones/UFC 151-related article we have posted since the infamous event occurred, perhaps we should be thankful that there are still a few guys out there who will tell it the way it is with little to no regard for their “brand,” their fanbase, or any fight promoters that might be interested in them. Honesty appears to be a fleeting quality in MMA fighters — and athletes in general — and is often swept under the rug in favor of the kind of politically correct, sponsor-gaining rhetoric that has been carbon-copied from athlete to athlete to the point of delirium. It’s an unfortunate side effect of a culture insistent on turning everyone who can throw a ball, a punch, or a kick into a “role model.”

So, like we said, maybe we should take more time to appreciate the select guys in the MMA biz who couldn’t care less about extravagance or endorsement in an ever-popularizing sport, and would rather just speak their mind when asked to do so. We’re referring of course, to Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren, who has shown in the past that he gives not a shit what MMA fans, writers, or even certain UFC presidents think about his…let’s call it “routine” style of fighting.

Askren has seen his fair share of haters since exploding army-crawling onto the MMA scene back in 2009, mainly as a result of his seemingly carefree attitude in regards to finishing a fight. Although his record stands at a perfect 10-0, Askren has only finished two of his fights, and only one if you take into account that his submission victory over Ryan Thomas at Bellator 14 was the product of a referee blunder. Whereas most of Askren’s “lay-n-pray” counterparts would likely insist that they are at the minimum always looking for a finish in a fight that simply hasn’t present itself, Askren outwardly stated in an interview with MMAJunkie that he will probably never even look for a knockout in a fight no matter how long he is in the game.

OK, maybe honesty is an overrated quality.

Full story after the jump. 

(Dantas vs. Nam @ Shooto Brazil 33, 8/25/12. Skip to 4:26 for the knockout.)

By Jim Genia

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “folly” as “lack of good sense or normal prudence and foresight.” Bellator president Bjorn Rebney, however, likely now defines it as making the ridiculous mistake of letting one of his champions fight somewhere else. This past weekend, Bellator bantamweight king Eduardo Dantas was allowed by his American employers to take a fight closer to home in Rio de Janeiro, for the promotion Shooto Brasil. There, he met Oregon-based fighter Tyson Nam — a 12-4 regional competitor and, by all appearances, easy prey. And guess what? Dantas got knocked the heck out in the first round. Yeah, Bellator done goofed.

If there are unwritten rules to promoting MMA events, somewhere near the top of the list has to be “never let your champs fight in other shows.” Because, really, while the reward for said fighter winning is the implication that your organization is superior in terms of the quality of its competitors, the risk is that your guy could get his butt kicked.  In that scenario, what’s implied (or sometimes stated explicitly) is that your fighters suck — or, at the very least, that the fighters in the other shows are better.  And who wants to be the one with the weaker fighters?

Not the UFC, that’s for sure.  Take for instance the failed contract negotiations to get heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko into the Octagon, and the alleged stipulation that Fedor, if he signed with the UFC, wouldn’t have been allowed to even compete in sambo tournaments in Mother Russia. Do you think Dana White wants tarnished fighters? He doesn’t even want them losing in something that’s not even mixed martial arts! (Sadly, this wasn’t always policy; see below.)

The UFC may be a bit of a mess right now, but last night’s Bellator 73 wrapped up the promotion’s Summer Series with a bang. Despite an injury to Pat Curran scrapping the initial main event of Curran vs. Patricio Freire, the event soldiered on with Attila Vegh vs. Travis Wiuff for the light-heavyweight tournament championship as the new main event.

If you asked us for a prediction beforehand, we probably would have told you that Vegh is too small and one-dimensional to stop Travis Wiuff from laying on top of him for most of the fight. It wouldn’t be pretty, but it’d earn Wiuff a well-deserved rematch against Bellator light-heavyweight champion Christian M’Pumbu. Well, good thing you never asked us, because we’d feel pretty stupid right about now.

Wiuff can’t implement his trademark pit-and-quit offense before Vegh finds his head with a huge right hand. A few more follow-up punches for good measure, and Attila Vegh is now the Summer Series Light-Heavyweight Tournament Champion. Something tells me that the eventual clash between Vegh and M’Pumbu won’t last too long.

Video available after the jump.

(Jared Hamman attempts to pull a fast one on us all at UFC 150. AS IF we couldn’t tell that his leg was clearly photoshopped.) 

Perhaps two-time Bellator middleweight tournament winner Alexander Shlemenko is just a little bitter that rival Hector Lombard vacated his former promotion (and a long-awaited rematch with Shlemenko) to compete in the UFC, or maybe “Storm” is just as tired of seeing all of the UFC cards he is ordering turn to shit as the rest of us. Whatever his end game may be, Shlemenko recently stated in an interview with ValeTudo.ru that he believed many of the injuries that have been plaguing the UFC as of late were more than likely faked by the fighters in order to get out of a fight that was not a good matchup for them. His primary example was Brian Stann:

I can tell you for sure, 100%, I know why there are so many injuries. I personally find UFC fights not as exciting because of all those injuries. There are a lot of background tactics around who’s fighting who; fighters are trying really hard to have a good record in the UFC. If you’ve been offered to fight someone who’s considered a bad match-up, then it’s pretty easy to say ‘hey, I’m injured’.

For example, they offered Brian Stann to fight Hector Lombard. He got injured, and then the next thing you know – he’s fighting Michael Bisping. I can see the logic – for Brian Stann it makes more sense to fight Bisping, he’s simply more popular in the UFC than Hector Lombard. That’s why beating Bisping means more than beating Lombard, who’s a risky opponent.

You can fake every injury. Just tell [UFC doctors] about the symptoms and that’s it.

God Damn it, Alex. Your love of centrifugal forces and general badassery made you one of our favorite fighters, but NO ONE accuses “All American” of ducking a fight. And considering the bullshit-laden excuse your boy Lombard gave us three weeks after putting on one of the worst performances of the year, we’d say it’s a little presumptuous to start calling out other organizations fighters for sparing us a fifteen minute wet fart in advance.

After the jump: Stann’s response, as well as a video of Shlemenko’s most recent fight, which ends with an injury that is physically impossible to fake.

Bjorn, You fool! Never give this man such easy access to your neck!

Even though Bellator hasn’t been giving us our weekly Friday night events over the summer, the promotion still managed to give us some big news last night. Yesterday, while you were preparing for dude’s night out, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney took to his Twitter page to announce that the promotion had come to terms with former Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion Renato “Babalu” Sobral. Along with the above image, Bjorn Rebney tweeted “Great news. Babalu now in the Bellator family. He’ll compete in our 205 tourney on Spike in January. Can’t wait.”

A fourteen year veteran of our sport, “Babalu” holds notable victories over Shogun Rua, Jeremy Horn, Chael Sonnen and current Bellator light-heavyweight Travis Wiuff. Given Wiuff’s current run in the promotion, there’s a very good chance that we’ll see these two fighting for the Bellator Light-Heavyweight title if they were to meet up again. Sobral’s most recent fight was a thirty one second armbar victory over Tatsuya Mizuno at ONE FC 4 in June. He was initially scheduled to fight at ONE FC’s August 31 show in Manila, Philippines, although an opponent had never been named.

(That’s an understatement.)

Talk about the opportunity of a lifetime.

After a seven year absence from Zuffa’s graces that saw him go 16-3 in various promotions including Bellator, Strikeforce, and most recently Legacy Fighting Championships, highly-ranked welterweight Jay Hieron will finally be returning to the UFC to take on Jake Ellenberger in Josh Koscheck’s absence in the co-main event of UFC 151.

Awwwwww yeah!!