(Props: Keegan on the UG)

Affliction paid out a little over $3.3 million in disclosed fighter salaries for “Day of Reckoning,” pretty much guaranteeing that they’ll take a financial loss on this event, as we all expected.  Naturally, the payouts include several head-scratchers and jaw-droppers, including $1.5 million to Andrei Arlovski for his 3:14 KO loss to Fedor Emelianenko last night.  At least when you compare it with Tim Sylvia’s $800,000 loss in 0:36, it’s proportional.  Now someone explain to Mark Hunt where his $4 million is.

Here’s how the disclosed salaries broke down:

Fedor Emelianenko $300,000 (no win bonus)
Andre Arlovski $1,500,000 (win bonus would have been $250,000)
Josh Barnett $500,000 (no win bonus)
Gilbert Yvel $30,000 (win bonus would have been $9,300)
Vitor Belfort $200,000 (includes $80,000 win bonus)
Matt Lindland $225,000 (win bonus would have been $75,000)
Renato "Babalu" Sobral $90,000 (includes $30,000 win bonus)
Thierry Sokoudjou $50,000 (win bonus would have been $50,000)
Paul Buentello $90,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus)
Kiril Sidelnikov $10,000 (win bonus would have been $25,000)
Dan Lauzon $12,000 (no win bonus)
Bobby Green $4,000 (win bonus would have been $4,000)
Jay Hieron $45,000 (includes $25,000 win bonus)
Jason High $10,000 (win bonus would have been $5,000)
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira $150,000 (includes $30,000 win bonus) def. Vladimir Matyushenko $50,000 (win bonus would have been $30,000)
L.C. Davis $14,000 (includes $7,000 win bonus)
Bao Quach $7,000 (win bonus would have been $6,000)
Albert Rios $6,000 (includes $3,000 win bonus)
Antonio Duarte $3,000 (win bonus would have been $2,000)
Brett Cooper $10,000 (includes $5,000 win bonus)
Patrick Speight $2,000 (win bonus would have been $3,000)

Thoughts…

("Fedor, you hear of this ‘Stevia’? It melt 40 pounds of fat and six tumors from my uncle Wladimir’s body. I’m just saying." Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Quick prediction for tonight’s main event: During the pre-fight face-off, Fedor and Andrei will say "I must break you" to each other simultaneously, after which Fedor will quickly call "jinx," prohibiting Andrei from speaking until someone says his name, which won’t be until the afterparty. As for the fight itself, you already know how we stand on that. Anyway, the main card for Affliction’s second event is about to pop off. Results from the undercard, and round-by-round updates/commentary for the pay-per-view broadcast await you after the jump. TONIGHT WE DINE IN HELL!

(Looks like Andrei’s the only thing standing between Fedor and another trip to the scary rollercoasters.  That is not a safe place to stand.)

Is it sad that this installment of Ben vs. Ben is forced to dwell on questions surrounding Affliction’s possible demise?  A little, but that’s life.  We can’t just pretend that they aren’t paying Andrei Arlovski roughly 20,000 t-shirts for an event that has no clear path to a profit…or does it?  That discussion and more awaits you below.

What are the odds that this is Affliction’s last show?

BF: -300.  In other words, 3-1 odds that we’ll never see another Affliction MMA event again.  I’m not happy about that, but if I’m being honest I have to look at how difficult it’s been for them to get a second show together, how much they’ll spend on it and how little of that will be recouped in ticket sales or pay-per-view revenue, and I can’t see how they justify another money pit of a show after this.

Of course, three has always been their magic number.  That’s how many shows they said they were committed to, and it would give them the chance to put on the Josh Barnett-Fedor Emelianenko fight they’ve obviously been angling for since the start.  But if Arlovski’s getting over a million bucks for this fight, imagine what it would cost to put on Barnett-Fedor alone, not to mention the rest of the card.  It would be an obvious money-loser, and even Affliction can’t bleed cash forever.  If they don’t pull out a miracle on Saturday night, they’re going to pack it in.

BG: I really hope nobody at Affliction has their fingers crossed and breath held for this miracle of which you speak. Between Margarito/Mosley and the UFC’s usual counter-programming and market saturation, Affliction won’t even be outperforming their first event in terms of ticket sales or pay-per-view buys. But I have to assume that they already know this. Maybe Atencio & Co. are bad at running an MMA organization, but they’re not childish enough to believe that money will literally fall out of the sky. And yet they sign Gegard Mousasi to fight in their third event, and announce they’ll be promoting four events a year with Golden Boy.

I’m not Affliction’s CFO, so I don’t know how much money the company is willing to lose on this MMA pursuit. But is it naïve to think that they wouldn’t be making these concrete plans if their future really depended on the financial performance of "Day of Reckoning"? Short answer: yes. Still, I’m going to set the odds for this one at a more generous -200. Now if I could just find a gambling site that offers a parlay bet on "Affliction won’t put on a third show" + "Tito Ortiz will never fight again," I could probably make a decent profit…

(Think of it this way: if Gilbert asked to "borrow" money, would you consider that a good idea?  It’s the same with betting on him.)

Just in case picking the winners in our official Affliction Pick-em Contest isn’t enough action for you (after all, you don’t stand to lose anything except time and self-respect), you can also wager actual money on the proceedings thanks to the internet and the wonder of off-shore gambling.  Here are the best betting lines on the World Wide Web, thanks to BestFightOdds.com:

Fedor Emelianenko (-350) vs. Andrei Arlovski (+336)
Josh Barnett (-500) vs. Gilbert Yvel (+491)
Vitor Belfort (+160) vs. Matt Lindland (-160)
Renato Sobral (-155) vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (+125)
Chris Horodecki (-220) vs. Dan Lauzon (+180)
Paul Buentello (-200) vs. Kiril Sidellnikov (+160)
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (-110) vs. Vladimir Matyushenko (-120)
Jay Hieron (-275) vs. Jason High (+215)
Bao Quach (+160) vs. L.C. Davis (-200)
Albert Rios (+195) vs. Antonio Duarte (-245)
Brett Cooper (-200) vs. Patrick Speight (+160)

Thoughts…

Dana White’s UFC 93 video blog, episode 4 – Watch more free videos

We finally get a look at Dana White’s video blogger at the start of episode four in the UFC 93 series, and while the task of following the UFC prez around with a video camera may not sound so difficult, it seems like where you really earn your money is when it comes time to absorb some verbal abuse.  Other highlights include a lengthy conversation with Irish boxer Barry McGuigan, and then we end with a rant as Dana realizes he was swindled by 82-year-old PR Director Jim Burn during their bet to see who could navigate the streets of NYC faster.  Riveting stuff, in other words.

In a preview of the upcoming episode of "Inside MMA" we’re talking drummer greats with Josh Barnett, Gilbert Yvel, and author of Blood in the Cage, L. Jon Wertheim, who also happens to be a friend of the Potato.  Everybody seems willing to have a good time and mention their favorite rock drummer, except that Gilbert.  Does anything interest that dude besides weird tattoos and poking people in the eyes?

If the purpose of Arlovski 360 is to get fans to relate to Andrei on a personal level, he loses a little bit of ground in the latest episode, as we’re introduced to the Pitbull’s personal chef, jeweler, flag-maker, and club-owner homeboys. One of his friends even delivers the line "Guys wanna be like Andrei, and girls wanna be with Andrei." Must be nice. Meanwhile, Fedor is probably making his own borscht, sewing his own flags, and sleeping with his wife exclusively. [*shudders*] Careful of that rock-star lifestyle, Andrei — you saw what it did to Chuck.

Below: Gilbert Yvel — generously described here as "a fairly controversial fighter with a bit of a checkered past" — is going to rely on his unpredictability to beat Josh Barnett at "Day of Reckoning," and the general consensus is that Barnett will try to stand and bang with him. Sounds like a crowd-pleasing strategy, as long as it doesn’t blow up in his face… 

(Running around shirtless like that, it’s no wonder he got sick.  A little chicken soup will fix you right up, Mark.)

Affliction’s second event has hit its first real snag as the organization revealed that Mark Hominick has come down with pneumonia and has been forced to pull out of his bout with former IFL fighter L.C. Davis.  Affliction is looking for a replacement for Hominick and hoping that they won’t have to scratch the bout altogether.  Fans of brutal head kick knockouts should remember Davis for this little beauty (skip to 12:22, and have your ‘holy shit’ face ready), and it’d be a real shame if he ends up with no one to fight.

In other Affliction news, Tom Atencio has been hitting the media circuit hard lately.  He spoke with USA Today about the many questions surrounding “Day of Reckoning” and disputed rumors of poor ticket sales, and also responded to the backlash against Gilbert Yvel ever since it was announced that he’d take on Josh Barnett in the evening’s penultimate bout.  On the subject of Yvel’s penchant for illegal and downright despicable acts in the ring, Atencio called for leniency:

Those are in the past. It’s been four years since he’s had any problems, yet people still want to bring that up. Yeah, did he do things wrong? Yes he did. Did he pay for them? Yes he did. We sat in front of the California athletic commission and they approved him to go forward in the process. So I think that’s just it. I think it needs to be dropped. He has a chance to prove himself and if he comes out and fights and he puts on a good show — which I think he will; I know he will — then let’s just leave it alone.

After the jump, Atencio appears on Inside MMA and assures everyone that things are going juuuuuust fine.

(When you absolutely, positively need someone who will poke you repeatedly in the eye, there really is no substitute.)

While there are any number of reasons why an athletic commission might not license Gilbert Yvel (he is, after all, one of MMA’s most despicable people), it seems as if the CSAC is going to let him fight.  They’ve cleared him to apply for a license, which basically means that all he has to do pass medicals and not pull an Aleks Emelianenko and get himself benched at the last minute.  

But just in case Tom Atencio says he has “people in line if it doesn’t work out."

Trouble is, finding a credible replacement to face someone like Josh Barnett isn’t the same as finding someone to go against Paul Buentello in an undercard fight.  There you could just call up Gary Goodridge and nobody would feel as though they’d lost out.  In the case of Barnett, you’ve got to get a high-level replacement in order for the fight to feel like anything other than a consolation prize or premeditated ass-whipping.  

Atencio wouldn’t say who he has lined up, but whoever it is can’t be a serious opponent for Barnett.  It would have to be someone with enough of an ‘I don’t give a fuck attitude’ to take that fight on short notice, and also someone who is a non-UFC heavyweight not already on the Affliction card, which rules out Paul Buentello, thank God.

Fortunately Affliction has set hopes low by giving Barnett someone like Yvel to begin with, but dammit, if we see “Big Daddy” Goodridge come shuffling out at the last minute again, whatever credibility Affliction has left will be destroyed just as surely as he will.

(There may be only one man on earth who can make the Santa hat look cool.)

I don’t want much this holiday season.  Well, besides that Red Ryder BB Gun I ask for every year.  And a pony.  But there are some fights I’d like to see in 2009, and while I don’t think that mall Santa I tried to talk to is going to be any help (let’s just say it got heated and we both said some things we didn’t really mean), I’m holding out hope that the powers that be will hear my pleas and make some of these happen.  

Here’s my wish list of ten fights for 2009.  Some are very likely.  Some are just barely feasible.  But I tried to stay away from the downright impossible, hence the absence of Fedor vs. The Highlander.  Feel free to let me know all about what’s on your list in the comments section:

1. Anderson Silva vs. Georges St. Pierre: Whether GSP beats Penn or not (magic eight ball says, “all signs point to yes,”) this has the potential to be the UFC’s biggest superfight ever.  They have precious few opportunities to settle pound-for-pound debates, but this is their best shot.  If MMA becomes legal in New York this year, as it probably will, this fight could do a Jay-Z and sell out the Garden in a day.

2. B.J. Penn vs. Kenny Florian: Perhaps no fighter in the UFC has improved so much by sheer force of will as KenFlo.  Penn is the lightweight champ, and he deserves to be, which is why I really wish he’d stop chasing fights in other weight classes and set his sights on defending that title.  Winning a belt is great, but defending it is how you cement your status as a dominant champ.  Penn probably beats Florian in a tough fight, but there’s only one way to find out.

3. Fedor Emelianenko vs. Josh Barnett: If he beats Arlovski, this is the only realistically possible bout for Fedor that would still be compelling.  I know they’re friends and all, but Affliction is starting to feel like a narrowing path leading only to this fight.  Hopefully all parties concerned – Affliction, Barnett, Fedor, Fedor’s management team – can hold it together long enough to make it happen.

(Photo courtesy of Shootboxing.org.)

Well, it looks like Brett Rogers is getting shafted again. From a press release that landed in our inbox this morning:

As with anything related to M-1 or Affliction, treat this announcement more as a possibility than a confirmation. But if it does come together, the Babyface Assassin had better be on guard — Yvel, after all, has three disqualifications under his belt due to biting, eye-gouging, and knocking out a referee. Still, he’s often brilliant when he keeps his emotions in check, and has won his last seven fights via stoppage, most recently a 22-second TKO of Alexander Timonov at last month’s M-1 Challenge event in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Barnett has been a perfect 3-0 since the demise of PRIDE, and last competed at Affliction’s "Banned" show in July, where he scored a second-round knockout of Pedro Rizzo. Personally, I’m happy to see Barnett fighting any legitimate opponent — and if he can punish Yvel for all his bad in-ring behavior, even better — but if you’re interested in the opposing viewpoint, Fight Opinion has four reasons why this matchup is "worthless."

(When in Zagreb…)

Maybe now we know why Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic has been reluctant to accept a rematch with Alistair Oveerem.  Sure, he’s got that knee injury, and Overeem is the man who made it his personal mission to destroy Cro Cop’s testicles in their last meeting, but to add to his troubles Cro Cop recently lost his favorite cocaine-addicted sparring partner to an armed robbery arrest.  That always happens at the worst times, doesn’t it?

According to a translation done by Robert at betwxx (via Brawl Sports), Mirko Borkovic (aw, cute, same first name!) was arrested in Zagreb as a “serial armed robber.”  He’s charged with robbing twenty-five “betting agencies,” making off with over 250,000 Croation Kuna, a little over $45,000 in U.S. dollars. 

Don’t worry though, it was just to finance his cocaine addiction, so it’s not like he’s a scumbag or anything.  Apparently he did some time for possession in 2003, and said he used the drug as a performance-enhancer to aid his kickboxing training.  My ex-girlfriend tried that same story.  Six months into the relationship I realized she didn’t even have a gym membership.  Or a job.  And then I noticed my wallet was missing.  But I digress.

Also snuck into the report is this little nugget about Cro Cop’s other associations these days:

Only a month earlier Cro Cop was forced to deny having sparred with Robert Matanic a local crime figure and suspect in the murder of Ivo Pukanica. In a interview with Nova TV, Cro Cop disassociated himself from Matanic claiming not to ever have met or sparred with Matanic.

In Cro Cop’s defense, roughly 80% of Croatians are involved in organized crime.  You spar with enough people, eventually one of them is going to be a suspected murderer.  Just kidding, Croatian readers.  Please don’t murder me.

In other news…

(‘A contract with the UFC? I’m set for life! What could possibly go wrong now?’)

Former UFC heavyweight Fabricio Werdum didn’t appear to realize he’d been fired from the organization even after several media outlets reported the news. At first we thought maybe his manager (also known as his sister) hadn’t told him for fear that he’d finally realize what a mistake it had been to hire her. Or perhaps he was just in denial. But now Werdum is facing the difficult realities of the situation, and judging by what he told Tatame, the UFC didn’t make much of an effort to come to terms with him:

“When I first heard the rumours, I didn’t know anything. I had four more fights left with them on my contract, which ran to 2010. But they demanded to renegotiate my existing contract by cutting my pay in half” revealed the heavyweight. Adding also that his departure had nothing to do with the video game licensing dispute. “No that wasn’t an issue but its not something that benefit’s the fighters”

“I‘m a free agent now. One of the advantages of leaving the UFC is the freedom of contract, which allows fighters to work with more than one event without any problems. That’s very beneficial. There are several possibilities now including fighting in multiple organizations. Affliction, Sengoku and Dream are big events, but I think the possibility of fighting for Affliction in particular will give me the best chance to fight the best in the world, Fedor, in addition to (Andrei) Arlovski, Josh Barnett and several other big names …That would be a great opportunity for me.”

(Say something about the pants. I wish you would.)

The relationship between Affliction and the MMA organization/Fedor Emelianenko rental company known as M-1 has always been somewhat sketchy. M-1 gets to make pointless speeches at Affliction pressers with no explanation as to why, they put their ads all over the arena during Afflicton’s July event, and generally seemed to have a hand in anything Fedor-related that Affliction even attempted. Now, apparently, the partnership is official:

“We’re basically just solidifying our relationship,” Affliction vice president Tom Atencio told MMAWeekly.com of the Russian promotion. “We work well with them. They’re one of the few companies we’ve worked with that if they say they’re going to do something, they do it. They’ve stood behind us, especially with negotiations with the UFC.”

This is part of what Affliction is planning to announce at tomorrow’s Trump Tower press conference in NYC. Another part is their involvement in the “Fighting Fedor” reality series. When will this show air, on what channel, and will there be anyone remotely credible in the running to fight Fedor? Hopefully that will all be answered at tomorrow’s press conference, though we can tell you right now that the answer to the last question is no.

The new deal between Affliction and M-1, however, should finally put to rest any notion of Fedor fighting Randy Couture in the near future. M-1′s Raimond Joost said there was no real possibility of Fedor signing a deal with the UFC, and as long as the UFC has Couture (which should be a healthy portion of his remaining shelf life as a fighter) you know they aren’t about to loan him out to the competition. So basically, take whatever remaining hope you had of ever seeing that fight and bury it somewhere deep inside yourself along with your suppressed rage and childhood dreams of happiness.

(Don’t go getting soft on us, Babyface.)

For a guy who seems like he’s getting screwed by his employer, Josh Barnett sure is keeping cool about it. First he had his fight with Andrei Arlovski put in jeopardy when Affliction decided they couldn’t pull off their October “Day of Reckoning” event in Las Vegas. Then, a few weeks later, they announce that Arlovski will be fighting on this Saturday’s Elite XC card (and will be paid well to do it), but he’ll face Roy Nelson instead of Barnett. And why? Barnett says he never turned the fight down, but Atencio says he “couldn’t get a hold of him.”

Barnett was cagey while telling his side of the story to MMA Weekly, but it sounds as if there’s something else going on here than just a simple case of miscommunication:

“I was disappointed, yes. That was supposed to be my fight. We talked about it at some point prior to going to Japan, and I found out that I didn’t get the fight while in Japan. I continued to work on some business there, especially after I found out I wasn’t getting the fight.”

Maybe it’s just me, but that doesn’t sound like a guy who just missed a phone call. It could be that Nelson comes a lot cheaper than “The Baby-Faced Assassin”, who has said repeatedly that he is not interested in fighting at a discounted rate.

In any event, whatever is going on between Barnett and Affliction seems to have implications beyond just this Elite XC co-promotion, as Barnett confirmed in no uncertain terms that he won’t be fighting Fedor in January.

(Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Life in the Affliction offices must be a little like being married to an alcoholic. They seem to be making progress, taking steps in the right direction, and then you look out the window and see them passed out naked in the neighbor’s yard and realize it was all just a pleasant illusion. Affliction’s latest setback has to do with the main event for their second offering, which is maybe on January 24 or maybe not, depending on who you talk to.

While new acquisition Gegard Mousasi claimed it would be Fedor Emelianenko vs. Josh Barnett in Affliction II, Barnett’s manager tells USA Today, “It is unlikely that Josh and Fedor will fight within the next few months.”

Affliction VP Tom Atencio also said that no fights have been confirmed for the event. It could be that they’re waiting to see how Andrei Arlovski does against Roy Nelson in his big network TV moment on Saturday night. If Arlovski steals the spotlight on Elite XC: Heat, it would make sense for Affliction to put him in the main event against Fedor right away to try and capitalize on that increased exposure.

They’ve got to figure out some way to make it pay, because according to Dave Meltzer Arlovski is poised to haul in seven figures if he beats Nelson this weekend, and Affliction is footing the bill. It’s great for Affliction to get their stuff on CBS, but Arlovski better be wearing several layers of Affliction t-shirts to make this little venture seem worthwhile.

(Sorry, bro. Not this year.)

Poor Fedor. All he wants to do is fight some weird, mostly meaningless bout on New Year’s Eve every year. But all these damn contracts keep getting in the way. It’s almost as if people want the world’s top-ranked heavyweight to only fight top-ranked contenders. Fascists.

Affliction VP Tom Atencio told me yesterday that he has good reason to believe that all the talk about Fedor fighting in Japan this NYE is just idle chatter. Said Atencio:

He is not going to [fight on New Year's Eve]. We have a contract with Fedor. We have a great relationship with Fedor. I just spoke with the guys from M-1 Global and they assured me that he’s not fighting so wherever that came from is beyond me. There are a lot of rumors in this industry and a lot of speculation, but I was told through the partnership that we have that Fedor is definitely not fighting on New Year’s Eve.

Where it came from, obviously, was Fedor’s comments at Dream.6. But Atencio seems certain that the next time “The Russian Last Emperor” gets in the ring, it will be under the Affliction banner. As for when that might be, the details there are a little hazier.

Former IFL heavyweight champion Roy Nelson went from having a fight with Paul Buentello in Affliction, to having that fight cancelled, to signing a deal to face Andrei Arlovski on CBS, all in a matter of weeks. Now “Big Country” talks about the unpredictable nature of the fight game, who’s signing his paychecks, and more in this exclusive CagePotato interview.

CagePotato.com: Thanks for talking with me, Roy. I imagine it’s been an exciting week for you. When did you first hear about this offer?

Wednesday morning.

Really? That late?

Yeah. I got the news about three hours before Sherdog did. Talk about the last minute.

So what was going through your mind when they offered it to you?

You know, to fight Andrei is a big step in my career, so of course I was game. And what better stage than CBS, where you’ll get maybe 8 million viewers watching. Of course that’s something that I wanted to do.

Despite rumors to the contrary, Josh Barnett says he did not turn down a fight with Andrei Arlovski at ‘Elite XC: Heat’ on Oct. 4. Though talk centered on the possibility that Barnett bristled at the idea of taking a pay cut to help Affliction get their co-promotion on with Elite XC on CBS, “The Baby-Faced Assassin” declared in a MySpace blog post that he was not asked to take any such pay cut and did not turn down the fight:

I read somewhere that I had declined the fight because I would have had to take a pay cut. I suppose others may also formulate some story about me declining the fight for other reasons.

I never decelned to take this fight. I was never told that I would have any part of my pay reduced since working with Affliction. To my knowledge, no one has been asked to take a pay cut that fights for Affliction.

I did not turn down this fight.

Josh

Whether Barnett knows it or not, some Affliction fighters were asked to take pay cuts for the second show. Barnett already committed to fight at Sengoku 6 in November after news of the Affliction postponement, so he may never have been a realistic option for Elite XC. Now Roy Nelson gets Arlovski, and Barnett gets to go back to Japan and entertain all the loyal Josh-a-maniacs there.

In other Affliction/Elite XC news, Affliction COO Michael Cohen indicated that there will be an ongoing arrangement between the two organizations. Affliction’s postponed second event, now apparently scheduled for Jan. 24 (or maybe there’s no set date yet, depending on who you ask), will also be a co-promotional effort between Affliction and Elite XC, and will either air on CBS or Showtime:

(Network TV exposure makes Andrei feel like singing.)

Don’t look now, but Elite XC’s next offering on CBS is threatening to turn into a legitimately big time MMA event. Andrei Arlovski and Roy “Big Country” Nelson have reportedly been offered a bout against one another at Elite XC: Heat next Saturday. The fight will be an Affliction/Elite XC co-promotion. Like they say, the enemy of my enemy is my tentative friend as long as they’ll let me promote my t-shirt line.

If this sounds like late notice to be throwing a bout like this together, remember that both Nelson and Arlovski were prepping for bouts on Affliction: Day of Reckoning, which was set for October 11 until recently, so it’s reasonable to think that both guys are in fighting condition. However, while Arlovski was preparing for Josh Barnett, Nelson was getting ready to face Paul Buentello. Nothing against “The Headhunter” here, but he’s no Arlovski.

Needless to say, you can expect to see Arlovski-Nelson on the CBS portion of the card on October 4, but the bigger question is, what will this mean for the relationship between Affliction and Elite XC moving forward? Funny we should ask, because MMA Rated spoke with Jared Shaw about the deal, and he had this to say:

This is just one fight. This is a co-promoted fight and it’s the first time out and it’s the beginning of a working relationship, there’s nothing else in place. We hope that Roy Nelson vs. Andrei Arlovski is the beginning of a great budding relationship between Donald Trump’s Affliction and EliteXC.

Shaw says the two-hour CBS broadcast will now feature five fights, and had no problem saying that this news “hits Dana White hard.” We’ll see. One thing we know about Dana White is when you hit him, he usually hits back.