(The Hallman/Hughes story. Could Matt Hughes be getting one more shot at revenge before he retires?)

— Anderson Silva‘s manager Ed Soares has debunked a report by Yahoo! Sports in which he was quoted as saying Silva wanted to give up his middleweight title to compete as a light-heavyweight permanently. As Soares told MMA Weekly: “It’s not true. I never said that to Dana. I have said to Dana that he’d like to fight again at 205 (but not permanently)…he wants the biggest fights possible, whether it’s at 205 or 185.” Silva and Soares still aren’t psyched about an impending rematch with Dan Henderson: "I feel a true number one (middleweight contender) would be if Henderson fought the winner of Nate Marquardt and Damian Maia…we could take another fight at 205 or a catchweight fight (in the meantime).”

— For the fourth time in his career, Dennis "Superman" Hallman has signed a contract to fight in the UFC. He expects to make his next UFC appearance sometime this fall. Hallman is best known for two lightning-quick submission victories over Matt Hughes, the second of which came at Hallman’s Octagon debut at UFC 29 in December 2000. The 33-year-old fighter lost subsequent UFC fights to Jens Pulver, Frank Trigg, and Jorge Rivera, and is currently on a four-fight win streak, with two of those fights taking place in Strikeforce.

(Doing the bird dance. Feeling the flow. Working it. Photo courtesy of LasVegasSun.)

Don’t know about y’all, but Anderson Silva‘s flawless victory over Forrest Griffin at UFC 101 made the prospect of a second fight with Dan Henderson even less interesting to me; if the Spider’s competitive days are truly numbered, I’d much rather see him rumble with guys like Quinton Jackson, Tito Ortiz, and yes, even Lyoto Machida, rather than sit through sequels to old fights. Luckily, it seems that Silva feels the same way (except for the Machida part). According to this Yahoo! Sports article, Silva’s manager Ed Soares approached UFC president Dana White after Saturday’s event and suggested that Silva vacate his middleweight title and move to light-heavyweight permanently. White was very receptive to the idea, saying:

(Props: CageWriter via BloodyElbow)

Scott Coker may not have asked for a war, but he’s getting one anyway. After a UFC 101 press conference yesterday, Dana White vented about Strikeforce’s recent signing of Fedor Emelianenko, telling reporters "They shoulda stayed the way they were. We’ll see what happens. You wanna fight me, we’re gonna fight. You know how that goes. And we know how it ends."

The counter-programming of Strikeforce begins on August 15th, as Spike will air their entire 100 Greatest Fights special to draw eyes away from "Carano vs. Cyborg."

Other highlights from Dana’s informal rant session…

(One more round for old time’s sake?)

Though Dana White was hoping he could announce the signing of Fedor Emelianenko at this afternoon’s much-anticipated UFC press conference, it was not meant to be. DW said he did everything he could possibly do to get Emelianenko into the Octagon and offered him an "amazing" deal, but M-1′s dogged desire for co-promotion sunk the negotiations, which made Dana "fucking miserable." Still, there were some major announcements to share, which are sure to get MMA fans talking:

— UFC 103‘s main event has been thankfully changed to Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort. The match will be contested at light-heavyweight. Dan Henderson will likely get the next crack at Anderson Silva‘s middleweight belt, possibly followed by the winner of the Nate Marquardt/Demian Maia match at UFC 102.

— Tito Ortiz (remember that guy?) is back in the UFC, and plans to fight before the end of the year. Mark Coleman has been named as a possible opponent.

("Your perpetually-scowling welterweight with great jiu-jitsu, cardio, and trash-talk has died of dysentery.")

For over a month, we’ve been wondering who EA Sports will be able to recruit for its upcoming MMA video game — especially after Dana White’s proclamation that any fighter who signs with the competing title will be dead to him. But now that reports are starting to trickle out, let’s run it down…

— In a recent interview with MMA Wordwide, UFC/IFL/Strikeforce vet Benji Radach says that he starts work on the game next month, and will be in it along with Randy Couture and Fedor Emelianenko.

— Emelianenko’s involvement was confirmed by a press release distributed by mixfight.ru, which also named Gegard Mousasi as a participant.

("Yeah, the sushi did taste a little funny. Why do you ask?" Photo courtesy of the Las Vegas Sun.)

Some choice quotes from recent interviews promoting The Ultimate Fighter 10: Heavyweights, which premieres September 16th…

Kimbo Slice on piss-soaked fruit trays: "(If someone pulls a prank on him similar to stunts from past shows) there’s gonna be gun play, but fortunately for them I couldn’t bring my pistol. That’s a whole another level. Silver bracelets (handcuffs) if you feel me."

Kimbo Slice on the possibility of being ejected from the house for fighting: "I’m a fighter, dude. I’m not gonna have a motherfucker disrespect me, in no case whatsoever…I’mma be me and I’m gonna stand my ground to the fullest…I wouldn’t want to get thrown out that way. [But] if that becomes my only fight then god damn we gonna fight."

Roy Nelson on Kimbo Slice: “Ability-wise, he’s probably one of the better fighters there.”

(Props: MMA Fanhouse)

Win or lose, you can always count on Mark Coleman to give up the emotions after a fight. Taking home his first win in over three years against Stephan Bonnar on Saturday, the Hammer was elated. In the video above, Coleman tells us that he can’t stand being called an old man, and guarantees he’ll be a factor in the UFC light-heavyweight division now that he’s changed his mindset and the way he trains. He also denies gassing out at UFC 100: "I always look tired, I’m playing possum…I was fresh, I got better as the fight went on." You can watch the fight here to see just how fresh he looked.

(Props: Fox Fight Game)

If you can get past the ill-conceived idea to interview Dana White during a point in the UFC 100 live show that is so loud you have to shout directly into his ear in order to be heard, and then capitalizing on that opportunity by asking such probing non-questions as “Congratulations!” and “Frank Mir really has nothing to lose tonight,” you’ll see a little footage of the aftermath of a Octagonside shoving match between “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans.  Dana White seems all too accustomed to this stuff, which should tell us something about the way the next season of TUF is going to turn out.

These are two guys who know they are going to be paid very well to fight one another in a few months, and yet here they are tussling for free in the seats at the UFC’s biggest event, basically making a sideshow of themselves.  Either this is the most committed effort to hype a fight ever, or these guys really do hate each other.  Regardless, you gotta keep it together during an event where you’re basically a spectator/PR vehicle for the UFC.  Otherwise Dana White is not going to take you knuckleheads anywhere.

(The man must be stopped. Photo courtesy of the UFC 100: Weigh Ins set on Combat Lifestyle.)

(Props: MMA Fanhouse)

Things that Brock Lesnar has no patience for:

— Allegations about his steroid use
— Sodomites
— Steve Mazzagatti
— Press conferences to promote his own main event

The UFC heavyweight champion, upset about a cheap chair and having to talk to a group of strangers, tried to exit the building after being introduced at a UFC 100 press conference held yesterday. Luckily, Dana White was there to chill him out. As DW later told Versus.com, "I’m telling you, nobody wants my job. Everybody thinks it looks good; it’s no fun. Try telling a 400-pound guy to sit down."

Note to Brock’s cornermen: You’d better invest in a quality stool, or Lesnar just might forfeit between the first and second rounds.

(Apparently LookOutAWhale is not a Bisping fan. Ouch.)

You want to know how close the Fertitta’s came to giving up on this zany UFC experiment?  Then read this insightful article by Neil Davidson, which effectively portrays Dana White as a man with the virtues of his faults.  For example, there was the time he fired the entire production crew for not doing things just how he wanted.  Kind of makes sense that the same guy who built the industry leader by kicking asses and micro-managing his way to the top can also be more than a little too controlling at times.  (See also: Sponsor Smackdown)

In other news…

 
"I’m not his father, okay, he can do whatever the hell he wants to do. I’m his friend, and I care about him a lot, and I’d really like to never see him fight again."

So said Dana White on the TUF 9 Finale edition of "Inside the Octagon", perhaps loosening on his stance that Chuck Liddell will never fight again. Could it be that one more go-round for the Iceman is in the works? According to an Inside Fights report on potential main events for UFC 103 (September 19th, Dallas), yeah, maybe:

After a three-day delay, the UFC 99 fight-day installment of the Dana White Video Blog was finally uploaded to youtube.com/ufc, and the massive two-parter feels like any other classic double-album — sure, it would have been "better" if it were edited down to a single video, but then you wouldn’t get the scope of the Danavlog’s ambition. In the first, more boring half (shown above), Dana roams the streets of Cologne, taking a lot of pictures with fans and getting a taste of the Germans’ particular brand of crazy. (See: short-shorts guy at 0:04, crazy dog man at 1:10-1:28, and blue afro lady at 4:57.) He also spends time explaining how this whole UFC thing works to curious German camera crews, winding his way through an endless receiving line at the arena, and congratulating Stefan Struve, who’s still sore about that Dos Santos fight. Anyway, you don’t need to watch it unless you’re a Danavlog completist, but the backstage action picks up in part two…

(Props: MMA Worldwide via MMA Fanhouse)

Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos is a passionate, passionate woman. In fact, she’s so passionate that when the interviewer in the above video asks an innocent question about how long it would take her to choke out Gina Carano (skip to the 4:13 mark), Cyborg sinks in a rear-naked and squeezes until her male training partners have to drag her off. The interviewer eventually comes to, and when he sort of figures out what happened ("I was sleeping?"), he’s so terrified that he goes on record saying that Santos will beat Carano on August 15th. This is what Cris Cyborg does to non-biased journalists — she fucking ruins them.

After the jump: If Diego Sanchez thinks Clay Guida is just going to lay on him this Saturday, he’s "terribly confused"; Dana White says Brock Lesnar "could possibly be the best heavyweight in UFC history"; and our friend Joanne of the MMA Girls takes us through the heel hook.

(Cro Cop vs. Al Turk Props: MMA Linker)

Dana White’s over-the-phone verbal contract with Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic prior to UFC 99 was the first time he’d done a deal with a fighter without getting it in writing, or negotiating in person. We’re guessing it’ll also be his last. The big scandal coming out of Germany after yesterday’s show is the surprise news that Cro Cop had already signed a new three-fight deal with DREAM by the time he stepped into the Octagon against Mostapha Al Turk (video above). Though Cro Cop had previously told White that he wanted to officially sign for two more fights in the UFC and make a run for the heavyweight title, the truth came out following Mirko’s TKO victory via eye-pokes. As you can imagine, DW was seeing red in the post-show press-conference:

(Props: youtube.com/ufc)

Recession? What fuckin’ recession? Even in this economy, Zuffa has enough disposable income to buy an almost 100% intact sabretooth tiger skull, freshly pulled out of La Brea. It’s so beautiful that you can tell the fossil salesman, deep down, would rather have it displayed in polished glass and soft lighting in his personal study, and not on a table in the UFC offices where Rampage can put his face up against it and make bad breath jokes. But that’s the life of a bone dealer — heartbreak, scattered with moments of unbearable ecstasy.

Also in this installment of the UFC 99 Danavlog, DW takes in Sunday’s WEC show (where some horrible drunk bitch keeps demanding one more picture), drools over Marty Cordoba‘s hot bod, and reviews the sick televised card for Saturday’s show. FYI, the pay-per-view for #99 starts at 3 p.m. ET / noon PT, with a replay at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT.

After the jump: Mike Swick beats the crap out of some focus mitts; he’ll take on Ben Saunders on the main card of UFC 99.

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

You can pretty much skip past the first nine minutes of Dana White’s latest WEC blog, in which DW talks to reporters, puts on a seatbelt for the first time in his life ("It doesn’t feel good!"), bitches about his schedule to Coach Rashad Evans, and talks charity with Al Bernstein. The real important stuff comes at the end, where we get a closer look at Dana White as a father. Basically, he treats his sons like he treats his employees — busting their little balls and putting the shock pen on them when they’re not paying attention. (There’s a great "David After Dentist" moment at 9:12, where one of his boys says "I hate that shock pen! It scares the crap outta me! It feels like I’m a dead man now!") Anyway, those kids will grow up to be very well-adjusted, I’m sure of it.

After the jump: With all the nuthugging we’ve been doing on Mike Brown lately, you may have forgotten that there’s another guy in the main event of Sunday’s WEC show. In this video feature, Urijah Faber talks about his motivation to get revenge on Brownie and his preparation for their rematch. As for this gameplan this time out? "I may try to catch him with that same elbow again," Faber says.

In this CageWriter video from an Ultimate Fighter media day held yesterday in Las Vegas, UFC prez Dana White gives a few more details about the signing of Kimbo Slice and his future with the organization. Notably, Dana repeats his assertion that Kimbo’s TUF contract will be the same as everybody else’s, but adds that it will be "a lot fucking different" if he actually wins the show. He refutes the theory that Kimbo will be protected in any way in the matchups or saved for the later episodes, and says that theoretically he could be picked first to fight. Also, Icey Mike is one of the smartest guys he’s met in this business, apparently.

After the jump: Quinton Jackson says he doesn’t trust his temper around Rashad Evans and hopes he can get through TUF 10 without going to jail. Plus, day 2 of Dana White’s WEC 41 blog, in which DW tries to get predictions on the Faber/Brown match from some of his fighters — like many casual MMA fans, Wanderlei Silva and Rampage aren’t even aware that it’s happening — then Dana tries one of those soul handshakes with Rashad and calls him "homey."

(Props: CageWriter)

From Dana White’s appearance last night on the Carmichael Dave Show, in which DW discussed the Kimbo situation for the first time:

"We shot episode one today. He walked into the gym and was, ah…lemme tell you what, he was pretty serious. He wasn’t messing around, he wasn’t joking. He wasn’t laughing. I don’t think he’s a big Dana White fan, either. You know, how could you be after all the things that have gone back and forth? So we’re gonna find out this season if he’s for real or not…

I said a lot of things about this guy, and I’m gonna tell you now, just like I would, I’ve got nothing but respect for him. This guy stepped up and he wants to fight on The Ultimate Fighter. And he’s dead serious about winning this thing too."

(Props: MMA Payout)

Despite his decision victory over Dan Miller at UFC 98, Chael Sonnen must be a little worried about getting dropped from the UFC again because he decided to dedicate a little video time to kissing as much of Dana White’s ass as he can possibly get his lips on inside of four and a half minutes.  Seriously, does Sonnen think a video asserting his almost cult-like loyalty to the UFC is going to save his ass if he loses a couple fights?  Because it won’t, dude.  Dana will still drop you like a bad Pinkberry if it seems convenient.

It’s one thing to thank your employer for the paycheck, but Sonnen stops just short of declaring himself an indentured servant to the UFC.  The fact that they’ve already fired him once and will almost certainly do it again at some point in the future?  Doesn’t even matter to Sonnen, because that cell phone in his pocket and soda in his fridge wouldn’t even be there if not for the genius of Dana White.  If only the UFC prez would hurry up and write that book on business that Chael can’t wait to read.  Maybe somebody should tell him that Warren Buffett kind of already has written a book on business.  On second thought, nah, let’s leave him with his illusions.

With UFC 2009 Undisputed an unqualified success both here and abroad, we won’t be seeing five year gaps between UFC video games anymore. Dana White announced at last night’s 2009 Video Game Awards on Spike that next year would see the release of UFC 2010 Undisputed — which gives THQ one year to add heel-hooks and gogoplatas to the game and figure out how to animate Clay Guida’s hair. Of course, there should be a new crop of fighters in the 2010 edition as well. For those of you who have been furiously playing UFC 2009 Undisputed since its release, what other improvements would you like to see?

If you’re curious, the video after the jump shows you how to construct Fedor Emelianenko in the game’s "Create a Fighter" mode — though maybe he’ll be an official playable character one of these years…

With "Evans vs. Machida" signaling the end of a five-week UFC drought, the anticipation and nervous energy runs high in this video-blog-recap of Wednesday and Thursday. President White is in good spirits, checking out the new, heavier version of the UFC championship belt, cruising around in the ultimate guidomobile, and torching some poor schmuck who had the misfortune of showing up in a paisley shirt. ("You and the Revolution have a good day. Say hi to Apollonia for me.") Later, he presses palms at Thursday’s press conference, and has a very cordial phone conversation with Chuck Liddell, who’s his usual lucid self. I hope you’re all re-hydrating, because it’s about to go down…

(Props: MMA Fanhouse)

Dana White has been a busy little beaver during his New York media tour, promoting UFC 98 and 2009 Undisputed with a series of television and live appearances. Here are his video blogs from the last two days. Monday’s features the requisite Pinkberry visit, some fan meet-and-greet at a GameStop in Times Square, and Dana getting punked by a sidewalk chalk-artist at the very end. Yesterday, he did Opie and Anthony and ESPN First Take, pressed flesh at Nasdaq, and taught Jimmy Fallon how to punch. The vlog cuts off after that, but we’re guessing he went back to his hotel room, sat down in the bathtub, and cried for about a half-hour.

 
(Don’t you mean, "Just landed in nyc, *pussies*"? Image courtesy of twitter.com/danawhiteblog.)

With UFC 2009 Undisputed set for release tomorrow, Dana White has come to the Big Apple to hawk his wares. First on the agenda: White and THQ’s President/CEO Brian Farrell are scheduled to ring the closing bell at NASDAQ. Their appearance will take place tomorrow between 3:45-4:00 p.m. ET, and can be seen at this link on nasdaq.com. (Thanks to FiveOunces for the tip.) Trading’s over, fuckers.

UFCs Dana White, Forrest Griffin and Kenny Florian on Dr. Phil – Watch more Funny Videos

The UFC prez and two of his henchmen showed up on Dr. Phil today, during a very special show about dangerous teen trends. After one segment where a boy’s smartie-smokin’ led him to marijuana (gasp!), it was time to cast an eye on the alarming trend of basement fighting. Dana White, Forrest Griffin, and somebody named "Kenny Florini" were on hand to tell two young aspiring fighters that what they were doing wasn’t cool. Well, Forrest did say he appreciated their spirit, and Kenny was basically like "just be careful," but Dana really laid down the law when he explained how boxing resulted in more deaths than mixed martial arts. That’s what we call "staying on message."

(They should have used a safe word. Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.)

Just because Tom Atencio wants to give up a couple weight classes and fight Dana White doesn’t mean it’ll actually happen. Quote of the day, via Kevin Iole:

If you watched Dana White on ESPN “E:60” last night, you may be asking yourself, what happened to that hatchet job he was so convinced they were doing on him?  Turns out it was a pretty fair, though not all that groundbreaking a look at the UFC president, focusing on the evolution of the UFC and some of his more aggressive business strategies.  Here’s him going back and forth, yet again, with Tito Ortiz, in which Ortiz’s verbal dyslexia rises to the surface and Dana screws up the phrase ‘I couldn’t care less.’ (Dammit Dana, when you say ‘I could care less,’ you’re implying that you care and are thus using it to mean the exact opposite of what you intend.  Come on, you’re better than that.)

There’s more after the jump, including DW’s take on boxing, why he’s not a pro fighter himself, and the internet war with Loretta Hunt.

Yet another example of how Dana White’s personal style is different than that of other sports team/league owners: Here are the most recent Twitter updates from Dana White (yes, he has a personal account separate from the UFC’s official feed) and WEC general manager Reed Harris. Reed’s could have been written by any middle-aged father, while Dana’s could have been written by any tit-groping frat boy. And while most UFC fans don’t have a problem with that, several sports journalists have called Dana’s immature, hostile persona into question recently.

Tonight’s episode of ESPN E:60 (7 p.m.) delves deeper into the issue — who is this wild-ass motherfucker, and would the UFC be better off with an actual grown-up in charge? If you missed the preview, click here. And check out another excerpt from the show after the jump, where Dana lays into Tito Ortiz for being his first business mistake, and Tito claims he’s fought "some of the best world in the men…and beat ‘em!" Seriously.

Here’s a preview of the segment ESPN’s "E:60" program put together on UFC president Dana White.  DW told Steve Cofield he expected it to be a hatchet job that portrays him as "a foul-mouthed lunatic," and judging from this clip he decided to battle that perception by swearing and talking about what an idiot Tito Ortiz is.  ESPN’s Tom Farrey tells MMA Fanhouse that it’s not intended as a Dana White takedown, even calling the UFC prez "fascinating."  Of course, they also interviewed Ortiz, Pat Miletich, and Loretta Hunt for this story, so it’s not going to be all positive.  As long as he gets out of there without calling the interviewer a pussy or questioning his sexual orientation, I’d say this has to be considered a success.  The show is scheduled to air on Tuesday, May 12.

So remember that “war” that UFC president Dana White promised to wage if Chuck Liddell opted not to retire after losing to “Shogun” Rua at UFC 97?  Liddell has yet to officially call it quits, though he also hasn’t expressed any overwhelming desire to fight again, but this war increasingly seems like it’s between White and Liddell’s trainer, John Hackleman — not Liddell himself.  After Hackleman pointed out some of the obvious problems with White trying to make life decisions for another autonomous human being, White fired back in a talk with Sherdog:

“Obviously, John Hackleman didn’t pay his house off yet. John Hackleman needs some money, because anybody who claims they care about Chuck Liddell even a little bit would not be making these f–king statements. …He’s never been a decision-maker in Chuck’s career. I can tell you this: He didn’t make Chuck Liddell. Chuck Liddell made John Hackleman.  How many great, talented guys do you see coming out of John Hackleman’s place?  He’s no Greg Jackson. He’s no Mark DellaGrotte. He’s no American Top Team. He’s not one of the great camps. Chuck Liddell made him.”