Though Jeff “Karmaatemycat” Watts‘s TUF 14 tryout journey was cut short due to his record (more on that to come), the scrappy Potato Nation member does make a brief appearance at the 1:40-1:44 mark of the above video from MMAFighting.com. Had Watts been able to show off his skills for Dana & Co., he would have been doing so alongside such well-traveled 135/145-pound vets as Ian McCall, Bryan Caraway, Nick Denis, Matt Jaggers, Jose Vega, Paul McVeigh, and (as we see in this other highlight vid from KahL-One) Din Thomas. He would have also picked up $100 cash for every submission he pulled off. Oh well. Next time, bro…

Going into his UFC 118 title rematch against Frankie Edgar, BJ Penn is carrying a title that he hasn’t had since before UFC 80 — former champion. We’re willing to believe that the Prodigy had an off night in Abu Dhabi, but if he wants his belt back he’ll have to relocate the kind of violent aggression that got him to the top in the first place. With that in mind, let’s take a look back at four of Penn’s early fights that set him up as a star in the UFC, and laid the groundwork for the legend that was to come…

BJ Penn vs. Joey Gilbert, UFC 31, 5/4/01

As the first non-Brazilian to win the black belt division at the Mundials, Penn entered the UFC with a reputation to uphold. But he wasn’t looking to become the next Royce Gracie. Even from the beginning, the Prodigy was a true hybrid fighter, whose grappling and striking worked in tandem. His Octagon debut was against another UFC newbie, Joey Gilbert (1-1 MMA record at the time), and though Gilbert showed impressive ground defense in neutralizing Penn’s attacks and positions, Penn was finally able to flatten Gilbert out on his stomach and whale him in the head until the ref stopped the fight with three seconds left of the first round. It looked like there might be something to this BJ Penn kid after all.

BJ Penn vs. Din Thomas, UFC 32, 6/29/01

Penn returned to action just eight weeks later to take on another fighter who was making his UFC debut. But even though Din Thomas was new to the Octagon, he’d already been around the block, compiling a 12-1 record with all victories by stoppage and a notable win over future champ Jens Pulver. Penn plays guard for a while (and shows off his famous leg flexibility at the vid’s 2:13 mark), but once Thomas starts to threaten with ground-and-pound, Penn escapes to his feet and turns Din off with a perfectly-placed knee to the jaw. The Prodigy was no fluke, and the UFC’s fledgling lightweight division was officially on notice.

(Nick Thompson, Rick Hawn, and a bunch of angry fans react to the last-minute cancellation of "Worlds Collide." But hey, they came all that way, so they might as well hit up the concession stands. Props: RealTimeMMA)

After Shine Fights’ "Worlds Collide" event fell apart this weekend, we all assumed it was a direct result of the injunction that wretched, slimy, reptilian motherfucker Don King filed in order to block the participation of headliner Ricardo Mayorga, who King had under a previous fight contract. But it turns out that the cancellation actually had to little to do with King’s interference with the main event, and the general mismanagement of the promotion has led Shine Fights matchmaker Ron Foster to resign. MMA Weekly has the gory details:

(Honestly, is this the face of a man who wouldn’t carefully read his contract before signing it?)

Final Final Update: Now the entire Shine Fights event has been canceled. Jesus.

Final Update: Mayorga is officially out and Ninja Rua vs. David Heath has been promoted to the main event, MMA reporter Karyn Bryant says. So that’s that.

This Shine Fights story looks like it’s going to drag out all day and the updates are flying fast and furious. As of this afternoon, the company is still adamant that embattled boxer Ricardo Mayorga will make his MMA debut against Din Thomas at tonight’s "Worlds Collide" pay-per-view event, despite a judge’s orders that he not.

For what it’s worth, Thomas is reportedly telling MMA scribes he’s been informed that he’s still fighting Mayorga and will continue preparing accordingly.

Further developments allege that Don King Productions may take its fight straight to PPV providers and basically dare them to air the program in the face of the legal order.

(After talking it over with Art Jimmerson, Ricardo Mayorga opts for a very traditional game plan against Din Thomas. PicProps: Sherdog.com)

UPDATE: SI.com’s Josh Gross reports via Twitter that a judge actually did rule in favor of Don King Productions on Saturday, but further updates indicate Shine Fights might say "damn the man" and move forward with Ricardo Mayorga vs. Din Thomas anyway. More as it develops …

Lest James Toney get too comfortable in his standing as mixed martial arts’ resident crazy-mouthed pugilist, former boxing champ and all-around maniac Ricardo Mayorga also makes his MMA debut tonight. Or at least we think he will.

Mayorga, who is best known for his public beer drinking, cigarette smoking and across-the-board not-giving-a-fuck, is slated to face Din Thomas in the independent Shine Fights promotion in Fayetteville, NC. The company remains steadfast that the show – available on PPV for a mere $29.95, if you’re interested – will go on despite some last-minute legal wrangling by Don King. The hirsute boxing promoter was seeking granted an injunction this week to stop Mayorga from appearing, claiming it would violate King’s exclusive contract with the fighter. As of this moment that request – which sounds suspiciously like legalese for: "Break me off a piece, homie," – has not been granted.

(Heavyweights and generic metal-riffs, baby. If this doesn’t get you amped up, then YOU’RE A PUSSY! YEAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!! Props: shosports)

Though he made a valiant effort in his FightPicker Head-to-Head debut — correctly predicting that Shogun would win by stoppage, Joe Doerksen would score an upset over Tom Lawlor, and Sam Stout would pick up another Fight of the Night bonus — Mike Russell’s excessive love of his Canadian countrymen (and Paul Daley for some reason) proved to be his undoing, as he was edged out by BG, 8-6. Not that getting eight out 13 pool-questions right is anything to brag about. (Aaron Rampey is LOL’ing at our sorry asses right now.) But hey, it was a tough card to predict, with some very surprising outcomes. Did any of you run the table and get every question right?

If you came out ahead this week, why not take your PotatoChip surplus and go extra-big for the current pools, which focus on Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery. Featuring the heavyweight championship fight between Alistair Overeem and Brett Rogers, the event goes down this Saturday at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, and will be broadcast live on Showtime starting at 9 p.m. ET. We’ve also included a few questions related to Shine III: Worlds Collide, which is headlined by former boxing champ Ricardo Mayorga taking on Din Thomas. Check out the questions after the jump and pick well, my friends…

(Bobby Lashley vs. Jason Guida)

MMA matches:
Jeff Monson def. Roy Nelson via unanimous decision (29-28 x 3)
Bobby Lashley def. Jason Guida via unanimous decision (30-27 x3)
Din Thomas def. Gabe Lemley via TKO, 4:13 of round 1
Dennis Hallman def. Danny Ruiz via submission (rear-naked choke), 1:50 of round 1
James Freeman def. John Mowry via KO, 2:38 of round 1

Boxing matches:
Roy Jones Jr. defeated Omar Sheika via TKO, 1:45 of round 5
B.J. Flores def. Jose Luis Herrera via unanimous decision
Eric Clinton def. Richmond Dalphone via unanimous decision
Kieyon Bussey def. Robert DaLuz via majority decision
Kelvin Price def. Kevin Howard via majority decision

Notes…

— The Lashley/Guida bout didn’t live up to the pre-fight trash-talk, and Lashley proved that he’s not quite ready for prime time. The first round was spent mostly in a clinch against the ropes after Guida was able to stuff Lashley’s takedown attempts. The next two rounds saw Lashley on top of Guida and working some ground-and-pound, but Guida never took much damage. In fact, a guillotine choke attempt that Guida put on Lashley in the third round was the closest that the fight came to being finished. It was a moral victory for Guida — though his record now drops to 17-20, while Lash increases to 2-0.

— Roy Nelson got straight-up robbed by the judges. Though Jeff Monson did win the third round via striking exchanges, the first two were controlled by Nelson, who scored takedowns and was able to achieve mount in both rounds. But it seemed that all three judges credited the second frame to Monson due to some knees he threw in the clinch. After the fight, Monson admitted that the fight "could have gone either way," while Nelson immediately stormed off in anger.

— After beating Gabe Lemley with a ferocious punches-and-knee combo that put Lemley out cold, Din Thomas told the crowd that it’s not cool to put hands on a lady, and if Rihanna needs someone to kick Chris Brown’s ass for her, she should holla.

More videos from "March Badness" are after the jump…

(“Oh, hello poor people.” — philanthropist Calvin Ayre.)

“The only organization that wasn’t willing to make me an offer was the UFC. They don’t want the best fighters; they want the best fighters that they can control.”
— Matt Lindland on his new deal with Affliction. Lindland also revealed that EliteXC approached him with an offer, but was outbid by the t-shirt company turned MMA-promoter.

“We’re going to make the WEC the smaller weights and the UFC will be the heavier weights. We’ll probably take some of the guys in the higher weights, the champions over there and bring them into UFC. We’re still trying to figure that out.”
— Dana White on further distinguishing Zuffa’s MMA properties. He told the Canadian Press that the UFC has no plans to install a 145-pound division or a women’s division.

“While I know I can win against any lightweight in the world on a given day, I fell twice in a row [to Kenny Florian and Josh Neer]. Therefore, I’m going to bow out. Good luck to those guys. I’m going to drop down to 145 lbs and see if those guys down there will embrace me.”
— Din Thomas on his future plans, which will hopefully include the WEC’s featherweight division.

“You’ve likely heard the rumblings and rumors… and for once…. it’s true… I’m packing it in! Well, who am I kidding? I was really more of a brand ambassador for Bodog the past while anyway – but it was fun while it lasted.”
— Calvin Ayre announcing his retirement from Bodog, which will be restructuring and returning its focus to gaming, and not so much on money-losing fight promotions.

“I was asked by the UFC to help with security when the 2 fighters entered the ring area. They where more worried about Matt than GSP. Next thing I know some wack job is jumping over the barriers and charging the ring. I didn’t want to hurt the guy so I was just going to put him to sleep and then help get him out of there before he hurt someone or himself.”
— UFC ref Dan Miragliotta (who comes in at 6’4”, 296 pounds) on his rear-naked-choke of Joe Asshole at UFC 83.

Sick new vid from ATT via TUF. It’s hard to name another fight team that’s as deep and consistent as Calvancante, Kang, Monson, “Dinyero,” Yves, Bigfoot Silva and the rest. Coconut Creek FTW.

When Din Thomas was arrested for holding unlicensed amateur MMA matches in his gym, the world of the “smoker” was dragged out from the shadows. Though these unsanctioned fights are rarely policed, they’re generally illegal, which highlights a little-discussed challenge of being a mixed martial artist — how can you gain enough experience to turn pro if it’s impossible to compete as an amateur?

FIGHT! Magazine’s March issue hits newsstands today (pick it up at Borders, Barnes and Noble, or Walden Books), and it features an in-depth article on the history and legal status of smokers, and what’s being done to regulate amateur bouts. Check it out below, and let us know how you feel. Are you an amateur fighter struggling to find matches in your home state to build up experience? What special rules (if any) should be in place to protect fighters in amateur bouts? Should amateur fighters just man up, jump into the fire, and stop bitching about gaining experience before putting their records on the line? (Equally valid point-of-view, by the way.)

SMOKER
By Neal Taflinger

Someone broke the first rule of fight club, and Din Thomas wound up in jail. On October 31, 2007, in Port St. Lucie, Florida, police arrested Thomas, a 31-year-old Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran, for holding illegal cage fights in his St. Lucie West training center.

Two weeks earlier, police received an anonymous tip about a so-called fight club being held on October 19 at Thomas’ American Top Team gym. Police attended the event, a smoker featuring eight of Thomas’ students, fighting in front of friends and family. The officers filed a report stating that Thomas charged approximately 150 spectators $10 each for entry to the unsanctioned amateur event, and had no medical staff on hand.

Thomas’ arrest brought widespread attention to smokers – combat sports’ not-so-dirty, not-so-little, not-so-secret dirty little secret. Unfamiliar to many casual fans, smokers are a long-standing tradition in boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, and mixed martial arts. These unsanctioned, often illegal fights are organized in gyms or private clubs to give young fighters experience in front of a crowd. Most smokers are held without incident, and often feature police officers as spectators or participants.

Professional prize fighting was illegal in many municipalities in the early to mid 20th century. Loopholes allowed for sparring between members of private clubs for exercise and entertainment, so promoters skirted the law by holding bouts in Eagle and Elk lodges, Knights of Columbus halls, and American Legion posts. Fighters and spectators simply joined the club and bought a ticket; authorities mostly looked the other way. These fights became known for the noxious cloud of tobacco smoke hanging over the crowd.

When Asian martial arts became popular in America after World War II, full-contact karate competitors continued the smoker tradition of their knuckle-bustin’ forebears. Over time, state lawmakers became comfortable with kickboxing, but the brutal elbows and knees of Muay Thai were considered beyond the pale. Until the sport was sanctioned, “guys did gym shows under the radar,” says famed kickboxer and trainer Jeff “Duke” Roufus.

States were hesitant to sanction no-holds-barred bouts in the early to mid-1990s, so cage fighters retreated to gyms, warehouses, pole barns, and discreet nightclubs to compete. Even now that the sport has established rigorous safety guidelines and unified rules, states are slow to legitimize it.

According to UFC Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner, 32 states regulate professional MMA and more are coming on board. But the sport is still illegal in some states and unregulated in others. Amateur matches are illegal in many more states, including some that allow pro bouts like California and Florida. These states host as many or more pro fights each year than Nevada does, but offer no structured opportunities to homegrown fighters looking for experience before taking on pro competition.

While Thomas says smokers are common in Florida, he never competed in them before turning pro, opting instead to compete in Japanese-style shoot fights. He believes that experience is essential and wants his own fighters to be tested in serious competition before jumping on pro cards. Thomas feels that the booming popularity of the sport has resulted in Florida’s professional undercards being filled with amateur quality fighters. “Guys who have no business fighting are ruining themselves early,” says Thomas, “They think they are ready to fight and they ain’t.”

In honor of Ken-Flo’s upcoming debut in the announcer’s booth, here’s his most recent fight against Din Thomas at UFC Fight Night 11 (9/19/07), which was kind of a fiasco, actually. First, Florian nails Thomas with the hardest accidental groin kick I’ve ever seen. He was looking to break Thomas’s leg with that shot, and instead nailed him directly in the pills. Then, Mario Yamasaki does an awesome job of standing there with his thumb up his ass while Florian repeatedly pounds Thomas in the back of the head; at one point, Florian makes a gesture at Yamasaki as if to say, “Do you actually need to see the dude’s brains before you jump in?” But hey, all’s well that ends well.

In a victory for everyone who thinks the government has no right to intrude on our beloved unregulated warehouse matches, prosecutors in Fort Pierce, Fla., have dropped third-degree felony charges against UFC lightweight contender Din Thomas. As reported here a month ago, Thomas was arrested for allegedly running un-sanctioned MMA bouts at his gym, violating a Florida statute that governs “prohibited competitions.” According to the original article in the Palm Beach Post:

[Assistant State Attorney Jeff] Hendricks said several things factored into the decision, including an exception to the “prohibited competitions” statute for training. He said if the fighter or participants were students of Thomas’ school, and the purpose of the school is to teach martial arts, then they meet the exception to the law. He said Thomas’ attorney would have likely won a motion to dismiss the case by filing an affidavit stating that all the participants of the match that law enforcement officers observed on Oct. 19 were students of the school where Thomas teaches, American Top Team. Hendricks also said it was revealed after Thomas’ arrest that the school didn’t profit from the match because all the money collected was raffled* off.

* There was still no word on who won the raffle.

MMA veteran and TUF 4 alum Din Thomas was arrested yesterday for allegedly running un-sanctioned MMA bouts at his gym in St. Lucie West, Florida. (You can see the police report here.) An undercover police officer at the scene observed “a large caged octagon ring with two men inside fighting. There was a third male in the octagon acting as a referee. Around the octagon there were several people (approx. 150 men, women and minors) sitting and standing on make shift stands and chairs facing the octagon cheering while watching the two men fight. Both fighters wore gloves but did not have any protective headgear on. At the front door to the location there was a table with a small sign stating ‘$10.00 per person.’ Also located on the table was a roll of raffle tickets*.”

This sounds like a common shakedown to me. MMA fights in the state of Florida are regulated by the Florida Boxing Commission, an organization that is no doubt frustrated over the fact that no one gives a shit about boxing anymore. Thomas can’t hold an amateur MMA exhibition in his own gym without getting an OK from these jokers? Recockulous. It’s MMA persecution, and we should all be pissed about it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to make an iron-on “Free Din Thomas” t-shirt.

*There was no word on who won the raffle.