(Somehow, we don’t think Ben will be smiling after this fight.)

Bellator Fighting Championships announced today that the previously unannounced April 6 event we broke the news about last week will feature a main event scrap between Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren and season 5 tournament winner Douglas Lima.

As we mentioned, the event, officially named as Bellator 64, will take place at Caesar’s Windsor.

(“He’s never going to be forgotten. I think about him still every day and I don’t think that’s ever going to change.” – Sam Stout)

We caught up with consummate crowd favorite Sam Stout over the weekend at the MMA Expo in Toronto and we touched on a number of topics, including how the healing process is going for him and his Team Tompkins teammates since losing friend and mentor Shawn Tompkins. We also spoke about how the team is rallying behind Mark Hominick this weekend as “The Machine” gets set to take to the Octagon for the first time in his career without “The Coach” in his corner Saturday night when he takes on “The Korean Zombie.”

Stout is candid about the affect Tompkins’ death had on him and he reveals the team’s plans moving forward. Definitely a must-watch interview.

Check it out after the jump.

(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 

(Although he will never be able to replace “The Coach” Stout says he knows he will have to find new trainers to work with eventually.)

UFC lightweight Sam Stout appeared on Mauro Ranallo’s The MMA Show podcast yesterday and the longtime Team Tompkins fighter revealed his reason for bowing out of his upcoming UFC 137 bout with Dennis Siver in October.

As expected, Stout says he’s still grieving the loss of his longtime trainer, mentor, best friend and brother-in-law, Shawn Tompkins who passed away suddenly earlier this month and has not decided where or with whom he will train with, but the decision, which will take a lot of soul searching to make, won’t be his alone to make.

“Shawn has been my coach since I got into the sport. I’ve never had a fight, dating back to my kickboxing career…I’ve never had a fight, without him training me for it and without him being in my corner…I’m not one of these guys who’s jumped around from coach to coach over the years and trained with lots of people,” he says. “He’s taught me really everything I know about mixed martial arts. And not only that, he was a lot more than that to me. He was a brother and a trusted friend and confidant and really, my mentor. Definitely the most influential person in my life. I’m going to have to wait for the dust to settle a little bit before I’m ready to get back in there and figure out what I’m going to do in terms of coaching. I’m really just unsure of what I’m going to do right now.We’ve discussed it and you’re going to see some changes being made to the team, but we don’t think Shawn would have wanted us to all go join other teams. He would have wanted us to stick together.”

(Should be a decent scrap.)

MMAJunkie is reporting that Donald Cerrone (16-3) has agreed to step in for Sam Stout against Dennis Siver (19-7) at UFC 137 October 29 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

Although it is unclear whether or not Stout is injured, it could simply be a case of the Canadian lightweight standout needing more time to deal with the sudden passing of his best friend, brother-in-law, mentor and trainer Shawn Tompkins earlier this month before fighting his first bout without “The Coach” in his corner.

According to Shawn Tompkins’ brother-in-law and longtime friend and fighter Sam Stout, the revered Ingersoll, Ontario-born trainer died from a heart attack.

Stout revealed the tragic news to the London Free Press on Tuesday.

“I don’t know what to say,” Stout said. “It’s not supposed to be happen to a healthy 37-year-old person. Who would think he had to get checked out for that?”

By Mike Russell

I spoke with Shawn on the phone about a week and a half prior to his tragic and sudden passing this past weekend at age 37. During our conversation we spoke about the brotherhood he shares with Mark Hominick, Chris Horodecki and Sam Stout and the past present and future of Team Tompkins among other topics.

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.

Curran connects with flying knee #27.

Two of the three opening acts were short and sweet and the feature bouts went the distance, but it wasn’t hard to figure out who won any of the fights at last night’s Bellator 47. If anything, I’m more confident in the disparity of skill sets featured in the tournament semi-finals than I am the fights where someone got steamrolled. That’s not to say it was a bore to watch, and it’s not to say that the tournament finale won’t impress. It is to say if you missed the action, keep reading and I’ll clue you in.

The combined weight of the two fighters in the evening’s opening bout nearly equaled that of the four tournament competitors. Realizing that fans don’t want to see two big boys huffing and puffing at the start of round two, Zak Jensen and Neil Grove did us a solid and came out swinging in a fight that proved that the best defense is a good offense (well, at least it proved true for Grove). The heavyweights went right to work trading bombs, with Grove dropping in the first five seconds. He secured a single and the two continued to hockey-fight on the ground before Grove went for an ankle lock. Jensen countered by punching Grove in the gut, which reminded “Goliath” how fun it was to punch and he released the hold. A failed triangle attempt by Jensen ended up with Grove in his guard raining down blows and drawing the referee stoppage at 2:00 into the first round.

Like a boss. PicProps: Bellator.com

Bellator 47 pops off this weekend, continuing the featherweight tournament and bridging the gap between season four and five. Unlike some promotions that can’t seem to pronounce “tournament” without fighters getting injured or insulted (or both), Bellator’s grand prix action will roll on in Ontario, Canada, where the contestants will have to brave the bitter arctic cold and vicious penguins as they fight to advance toward a payday and a title shot with current champion (and Baddest Man on the Planet) Joe Warren.

This just in: we’re being told by someone who lives in Canada that it is summer there, and temperatures will be significantly less brutal than we normally expect. We’ll take him at his word, but if anyone can take readings in the area and report back, we’d appreciate it.

Either way, we expect the action to be hot.

For the tourney, Marlon Sandro is matched up with Nazareno Malegarie, and Pat Curran will face Ronnie Mann.

ATTENTION PAUL BUENTELLO: Please do this at Bellator 48.  PLEASE.

“The only great failure in life is the failure to try.” -Some old wise man, probably with a large beard

Fail is sort of like porn. You can’t really define it properly, but you know it when you see it. And brother, we’ve seen some fail watching our favorite sport. It can happen anytime, from walking out to the ring, to celebrating your victory (see above), and anytime between. We here at CagePotato hold MMA and fighters in our highest regard … but we still like to point and laugh every once in a while. Allow us to present to you our first (in what we assume will be many) installment of MMA Fails.

Special thanks go out to anyone and everyone who ever GIF’d a video, including the fine people at UpstandingCitizens, MMA-Core, IronForgesIron, and MMATKO.  Props.

Now let’s get it on!

(Photo courtesy of Eddie Manuel Photography)

London, Ontario police today revealed that they had arrested 28-year-old Las Vegas-based welterweight fighter Kasheem “The Dream” Peterson in connection with a sexual assault that occurred on the outskirts of the city southwest of Toronto at approximately 6:30 am Friday morning.

The victim, a 21-year-old woman who was not from the area and who had met Peterson prior to the alleged assault, reported the attack to police over the weekend and folowing an investigation by police, the Philidelphia native was arrested and charged with sexual assault, forcible confinement and choking someone with the intent of committing sexual assault.

Knockout Entertainment Canada announced the line-up today for its historic first sanctioned mixed martial arts event held in the province of Ontario in a press release sent out this morning.

MMA: The Reckoning will take place on April 2 at Casino Rama in Orillia and will feature a range of veterans from several notable promotions. The main event will feature a welterweight tilt between UFC veteran Josh Burkman and up-and-coming Canadian fighter Jordan Mein. A former training partner of Jason Day, Mein, who defeated Joe Riggs via second-round TKO in January and won his last bout in February by rear-naked choke is said to be on the UFC’s radar, so a win over an Octagon vet like Burkman, who is 3-0 since being dropped by the promotion would likely elicit an invitation to fight for the Vegas-based promotion. Conversely, a win over a highly-touted prospect like Mein would almost definitely earn Burkman a call back from UFC matchmaker Joe Silva.

Also on the card will be former IFL and WEC lightweight Chris Horodecki, Shooto veteran Antonio Carvalho, three-time Sengoku fighter Nick Denis, TUF 9 contestant Dean Amasinger, and Canadian grappling standout Misha Cirkunov.

The event, which promoters say could feature at least one additional big name bout, is the first of several shows already approved by the Ontario Athletic Commission for the first quarter of 2010.

(Now that MMA is legal in Ontario, the bandwagon will undoubtedly carry in a glut of Dana White wannabes. Let’s hope the OAC knows how to weed out the legit promoters from the scumbags.)

It looks like the UFC might get beaten to the proverbial punch when it comes to holding the inaugural sanctioned MMA event in Ontario.

CagePotato.com has learned from a source close to the situation that several promotions, including San Jose-based Strikeforce and Edmonton’s Maximum Fighting Championship have applied for promoter’s licenses in Ontario and pending approval by the Ontario Athletic Commission, at least three shows have been penciled in ahead of the UFC’s April 29 show in Toronto.

Although none of the shows have been given the go-ahead by the province as of time of writing, a number of venues have been tentatively reserved — some by first-time promoters — across the province in such locales as Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton and Orillia. 

(It looks like child and actor labor laws finally bit Zuffa in the ass.)

What a difference a year can make in the life of a fighter.

In the past 365 days, Chris Horodecki (16-3)  rebounded from his WEC highlight reel knockout loss to Anthony Njokuani to win two in a row against Danny Downes and Ed Ratcliffe. The wins earned the former IFL posterboy a step up in competition — namely former number one WEC lightweight contender Donald Cerrone.

Following a disappointing showing against "Cowboy" earlier this month, "The Polish Hammer" has now been dropped by Zuffa and will not be joining his Team Tompkins stablemate Sam Stout in the UFC as part of the WEC merger. 

"One door closes and another one opens," the 23-year-old Canadian told MMAjunkie today. "I’ll be back sooner than later. [I'll] get back in it. We’ll get a couple fights and do what we do."

Joining Horodecki on the unemployment line to start 2011 will be former WEC lightweight champ Jamie Varner (16-5, 2NC) who was also dropped by the Vegas-based promotion today following his less-than-stellar compilation of three losses and one draw in 2010.

(Chances are this one isn’t going to decision.)

It looks like Mark Hominick won’t be the only Team Tompkins product who will get a step up in competition for his next WEC fight.

Chris Horodecki is slated to take on former WEC number one lightweight contender Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone at WEC 53 on December 16 in Phoenix, AZ.

The news was first reported by MMAWeekly, and CagePotato.com has since been able to confirm the bout with a source close to the fight.

16-2 in his five-year MMA career, "The Polish Hammer" was knocked out in dramatic fashion in his WEC debut by Anthony Njokuani, but rebounded with a pair of wins over Danny Downes and Ed Ratcliffe. Cerrone will arguably provide the 23-year-old London, Ontario native, who was the face of thew now-defunct International Fight League with his toughest test to date.

(In Iran, a brutal kick to the balls is actually a gesture of respect. Photo courtesy of CageWriter)

It was supposed to determine the next challenger to Ben Henderson‘s lightweight title, but the main event of last night’s WEC 49 event at the Rexall Place in Edmonton only proved that 1) Jamie Varner is a magnet for illegal techniques, and 2) You don’t leave it in the hands of the judges, particularly when Sensei Cecil is on the scoring table.

Varner (16-3-1) had the edge early in his three-rounder against Iranian-born wrestling specialist Kamal Shalorus (6-0-2), using his far more technical striking attack to land punches from the outside, and clearly rocked Shalrous at one point. Instead of relying on his grappling, the Prince of Persia stood in the pocket, and focused on attacking Varner’s lead leg with heavy kicks. Despite getting the worst of the exchanges, Shalrous was happy to brawl with the former lightweight champ. Things got ugly in the second round when two of Shalrous’s low-kicks made contact with Varner’s cup. The second occurrence spurred referee Josh Rosenthal to deduct a point. After taking an extended break to collect himself, Varner continued to outstrike Shalorus, wobbling him again with a head kick and right straight. The kicks to the legs and balls were slowing Varner down, but he still seemed to be in control of the fight.

The final round opened with Shalorus landing another point-blank kick to Varner’s nuts, putting the Worm down again. Rosenthal decided that one point deduction in the fight was enough, and decided not to take another one from Shalorus, despite Varner’s protests. When the action was restarted, Shalorus managed to score a takedown after catching a kick from Varner, and worked some strikes from the top for the majority of the round. Varner escaped to his feet in the final minute, and kept his distance as the match came to a close. The scores were a surprise, to say the least. Nelson Hamilton seemed to get it right with his 29-27 tally for Varner, but local yokel Cameron Quwek had it 29-27 for Shalorus, meaning he gave all three rounds to the Iranian, minus the point deduction. Ridiculous. Putting the anti-climactic cherry on top, Cecil Peoples cast the final vote — a 28-28, making the match a split draw. Varner stormed off in disgust, and is probably icing his balls as we speak. 

(With 9mm down and out, WEC is looking for someone to face "The Polish Hammer.")

TopMMANews is the first outlet to report that Ed Ratcliff has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled Sunday night WEC 49 showdown with Chris Horodecki in Edmonton, Alberta, for undisclosed reasons, although he is rumored to be injured, leaving the promotion scrambling to find a last-minute replacement for the former IFL standout.

Ratcliff confirmed the news on his Facebook page:

“I wanna say sorry to all the fans, family, and friends for having to pull out on such late notice. Even more importantly I wanna appologise to Chris Horodecki for going thru all of that hard work and not getting the final release u deserve. I wish u the best. Sorry everyone.!!!!!!”

MMA Fighter Kicked in Face – Watch more Funny Videos

Things were already going poorly for Chris Horodecki against Anthony Njokuani at WEC 45, then he made the mistake of turning his back on his opponent for just a moment to collect his thoughts.  Too bad Njokuani isn’t the type to give a fella a breather.  Instead he smashed Horodecki’s face with this brutal head kick, resulting in a TKO loss for "The Polish Hammer" and a fractured sinus and right orbital bone.  Horodecki was issued a medical suspension until June 8 (or until he’s cleared by a doctor) for his injuries, so he’ll probably be spending the holidays with a bag of frozen peas pressed to his face, popping painkillers and explaining to friends and relatives that their gifts would have been much nicer if only he’d gotten that win bonus like he was planning on.

Horodecki made $12,000 to get his head kicked in, which doesn’t count taxes, licensing fees, or deductions for his trainers.  That’s tough enough as it is, but when you consider that he probably won’t be able to get back to work for a few months it really makes you feel for the kid.  It’s a hard business, this fighting other people for money.  Something to keep in mind when you complain about only getting two days off work for Christmas this year.

The Dana White video blog has once again reared its head to give us a glimpse of the fight night happenings surrounding UFC 106.  Mostly it’s a lot of DW wandering around, shaking hands, going back to the locker room and asking fighters if they’re ready to go (there’s only one right answer to that question), then congratulating the winners and consoling the losers afterwards.  At the 6:55 mark Dana has an uncomfortable encounter with Tito Ortiz and Jenna Jameson, who insists, "He got robbed," even as White tries to avoid looking at her as best as he can.  The whole conversation proves once again that Ortiz’s bitching and complaining never stops — it never even takes a breather.  Josh Koscheck, as you might imagine, is less than sympathetic.

If all this bores you, just skip to the end to see Ariel Helwani get some extended camera time, this time wisely wearing a shirt not made out of bathrobe material.  Chris Horodecki speaking up, plus an entertaining little fight, await you after the jump.

(After they showed that video entitled ‘Good Touch/Bad Touch’ in his Health class, Horodecki couldn’t help but regard every adult in his life with constant suspicion.)

When Shawn Tompkins announced that he was leaving Xtreme Couture and taking some fighters with him, you didn’t need to be a genius to figure out that one of those fighters would probably be long-time Tompkins protégé/surrogate son Chris Horodecki.  Those two have been down since the IFL cartoon logo days, back when Tompkins was just Bas Rutten’s assistant coach and Horodecki was still getting carded at R-rated movies.  But now Tompkins says that Horodecki is very close to finalizing a deal to send him to the WEC, and he expects to have the contract signed in “a day or two.” 

(Photo courtesy of daylife.com.)

Due to a training-related injury, Chris Horodecki has failed his licensing exam with the California State Athletic Commission, and will not be appearing at Affliction’s "Day of Reckoning" event on Saturday night in Anaheim. Though early reports said the 21-year-old IFL vet was off the card because he failed a neurological exam, "The Polish Hammer" is actually suffering from a bulging disc in the base of his neck, which is restricting most of the strength in his right arm. Horodecki was supposed to face Dan Lauzon on the "Day of Reckoning" pay-per-view broadcast; Affliction is currently trying to lock down a replacement for Horodecki so Lauzon can still compete.

But on the bright side, at least "DoR"’s co-main event will still be happening. Gilbert Yvel has officially been cleared to face Josh Barnett after submitting his final paperwork yesterday afternoon. Said CSAC Assistant Executive Officer Bill Douglas:

Sure, Yvel told everyone that he’d be on his best behavior, and maybe he even believed it. But it’s like the story of the scorpion and the frog — no matter what the consequences, getting DQ’d is simply his nature.

(These fond memories now belong to HDNet.)

In an apparent attempt to bolster their MMA content, HDNet has purchased the IFL’s remains for $650,000. The purchase includes the IFL’s video library, their brand name, intellectual property, as well as some of their liabilities. Since the IFL hasn’t put on a show since May, and since much of their 2008 season was broadcast on HDNet anyway, the question we have to ask regarding this purchase is, now what?

Not that the IFL didn’t put on some good fights, but how much is old fight footage really worth? With the exception of the really good bouts, watching old fights can be a lot like watching old college football games on ESPN Classic, which is to say it appeals to a very select audience, mostly the unemployed and the very, very drunk, either of whom are likely to think they’re watching live TV.

But HDNet seems too savvy to pay that much for a bunch of old fights that have already been aired on Fox Sports Net and MyNetwork, not to mention spread around the internet. So what do you have up your sleeve, HDNet? Don’t tell me you paid more than half a million dollars just to air Chris Horodecki highlights in between old episodes of Hogan’s Heroes. All right, I admit I’d watch that.

(The Fireball Kid returns on Saturday; Diaz may be ringing in ’09 overseas.)

— Though most of us want to see him return to the UFC eventually, Nick Diaz‘s next fight will likely be in Japan. Diaz’s manager Cesar Gracie told MMA Weekly that he’s already been contacted by Fight Entertainment Group (Dream’s parent company) and Sengoku, and Diaz will be competing either on FEG’s K-1 Dynamite! card on New Year’s Eve, or Sengoku VII on January 4th. Diaz’s EliteXC contract states that he can compete in Japan as long as it doesn’t interfere with his EliteXC duties — so, no problems there.

— According to MMA Fighting, former IFL lightweight standout Chris Horodecki will return to action on November 24th at the Shootboxing “S-Cup 2008,” a one-night eight-man tournament that will go down at the Saitama Super Arena; the tournament will also feature PRIDE vet Luiz Azeredo. Known as “standing vale tudo,” Shootboxing doesn’t incorporate ground-fighting, although throws and standing submissions are allowed. Horodecki is still penciled in to compete at Affliction’s “Day of Reckoning” show on January 24th.

(Oh. No. She. Didn’t.)

- Matt Lindland’s MMA career now fodder for political smear campaign. (MMA Payout)

- Dana White says Anderson Silva could fight GSP, but never B.J. Penn. (The Sun)

- Little Nog is headed to Japan again, this time for Sengoku. (Fight Ticker)

- Chris Horodecki considering a fight in Japan while he waits for Affliction II. (MMA Weekly)

- Tim Sylvia headed to Dream or Sengoku? Really? (Nightmare of Battle)

- Fedor could fight Arlovski next, or Barnett. Who knows!? (MMA Fanhouse)

- Chuck Liddell turned away from big shot nightclub, and he’s not pleased. (TMZ)

- Robert Drysdale talks MMA debut. (Tatame)

- A movie trailer that is better than most actual movies. (Holy Taco)

- Life after Lehman Brothers. (Wall Street Fighter)

- Seven most underrated hot chicks on TV. (Screen Junkies)

- Brtual broken bottle beatdown. (Nothing Toxic)

(Just level with me here: does this mean no Hex?)

Well, it’s finally happened. The IFL has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Something tells me a government bailout isn’t coming any time soon. Anyone want to buy a Quad Cities Silverbacks t-shirt? It’s a collectible. Seriously, I’ve got about seven of them. I’m entertaining all offers, including interesting trades. Seems to me like we wouldn’t be in this financial mess to begin with if we hadn’t abandoned the barter system.

As a former employee of the IFL, it’s possible that I’m the only one who cares about this news. It’s also possible that the ones who are really to blame here are the fans. In other words, you. The fans the IFL didn’t have. If you didn’t love gay foreplay so much, the IFL might be thriving and AIG would still be financially viable. You just won’t be happy until you destroy everything, will you?

In a last gasp of IFL news, Lithuanian lightweight Deividas Taurosevicius has signed with Affliction, joining other IFL refugees like Roy Nelson, Chris Horodecki, and Jay Hieron. Hope they can box.

Because we may never again have cause to mention the IFL, I’ll leave you with this.

(Just one girl? Must have been a slow week for Chuck.)

- Chuck Liddell makes his case for a title shot after UFC 88. (MMA Weekly)

- Trying to make sense out of Elite XC’s crazy week. (MMA Rated Radio)

- Chris Horodecki-Dan Lauzon officially on for Affliction: Day of Reckoning (Sherdog)

- Evan Tanner is not a big fan of MMA, as this half-assed UFC 87 breakdown reveals. (Spike.com)

- Dana White and Anderson Silva nominated for “Top 49 Men of 2008″ (AskMen.com)

- How MMA saved JoJo Thompson’s life. (AZCentral.com)

- False blood work prompts fighter and trainer suspensions. (MMA Opinion)

- The most marketable names in sports. (Wall Street Fighter)

- Frat boy movie review of “Death Race.” (Screen Junkies)

- A harrowing tale of the days before internet porn, and how Kate Moss almost ruined everything. (Holy Taco)

(If you won’t pay to watch Fedor beat up this man, what will you pay for?)

The quest to figure out how much money Affliction made off their first event continues, and in the latest installment Dave Meltzer revises some of his earlier figures. You may recall that Meltzer first reported that “independent estimates” had pegged the number at 50,000-85,000 pay-per-view buys — far from the “well over 100,000″ that VP Tom Atencio was claiming. In a recent issue of his Wrestling Observer newsletter (via MMA Payout) he says the organization may have done six figures after all:

It’s been hard to narrow down a buy rate for the Affliction show. Promoter Tom Atencio has claimed the figure was more than 100,000. Updated cable sources we’ve checked with have estimated from a low of 65,000 to a high of 100,000. Either way, the number is both excellent by the standards of a promotion with no television (it beats anything TNA has done with 2 million weekly TV viewers), but as noted over and over, it’s a substantial money loser.

A high of 100,000 isn’t so bad for a first pay-per-view event, really. If the reports keep changing at this rate maybe they’ll crack 200,000 some time around Christmas. Though by then we’ll all be speculating about the success of their second show, and Tom Atencio will be claiming they did well over 500,000 buys. Thus the circle of life goes on.

Slightly related: There’s some speculation that recently-signed Affliction fighter Chris Horodecki may face Dan Lauzon (Joe Lauzon’s brother) at “Day of Reckoning” in October. Like Horodecki, Lauzon is also just twenty years old and yet looks like he’s fourteen. Maybe after they fight they can both go hang around out in front of a liquor store together and try to convince someone to buy them beer.

(That’s the kind of youthful exuberance Affliction needs!)

Today’s Affliction press conference managed to temporarily steal some of the media spotlight away from UFC 87, as the organization announced that they had signed former IFL lightweight Chris Horodecki, and revealed a planned bout between IFL heavyweight champ Roy “Big Country” Nelson and Paul Buentello at their next in event in Vegas on October 11. That’s right, Nelson will not face Xtreme Couture’s Jay White in a pump-up squash match, as was previously rumored. Instead he’ll get something closer to a real test when he takes on the revitalized Buentello, who is fresh off a decision victory over Gary Goodridge at Affliction: Banned.

Affliction VP Tom Atencio said he was “really excited” about signing Horodecki and added that “everything is falling into place for Las Vegas.”

What Affliction didn’t announce at the press conference was the official signing of Tito Ortiz, who was said to be close to a “ground-breaking record contract” with the organization. According to Michael Cohen, Affliction’s COO (also Special Counsel to Donald Trump, see how that works?) there’s nothing to get excited about just yet:

(‘You’re looking at Don King’s hair behind me, aren’t you? Man, every damn time.’)

In an interview with MMAmemories.com, Winky Wright diagnoses boxing’s problem by contrasting it with what MMA is doing right:

“When I was coming up, more top fighters fought each other. They all wanted to prove they were the best in their weight class, not in the WBA, the IBF, but the best, period. But now the promoters and the networks get in the way and we’re losing a lot of fans because of it. The promoters milk the prospects, they don’t match them against top fighters. The networks allow too many easy fights.”

“I would definitely say (boxing is) declining as the best are not fighting the best. In the NBA they don’t just cancel the playoffs and have the Lakers against some sorry team. No one would watch. That’s why the UFC is gaining so much in popularity. The best fight the best and the fans love to see it.”

Winky is spot on, here. It just makes you wonder if we shouldn’t be interpreting this as a cautionary tale.

- In other news, Sherdog.com is reporting that Chris Horodecki has been officially released from the IFL, at his request, and is entertaining a couple different offers at the moment. The cockeyed financial optimists at the AFL have supposedly made a “very generous offer” (they know he’s not a woman, right?), but Affliction has said they’ll beat it in order to get “The Polish Hammer” on their October 11 show. The clock’s ticking…