(‘Heyyyyyy.’)

Now that he’s finally injury-free and ready to fight, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua is setting his sights high for his return to the Octagon. Rua told Fighters Only that he’d like to be the first to beat Rashad Evans following his impressive knockout of Chuck Liddell over the weekend:

“Rashad fought the perfect fight, he obviously studied Chuck and worked hard on his game plan,” he said. “He may be undefeated but everyone is there to be beaten and I would like to be the first one to do it.”

Of course if he can’t get that fight, he’ll take Rich Franklin, who’s also coming off a win. Apparently “Shogun” is not deterred by the fact that he’s coming back from a long injury layoff, or that his last time out didn’t go so well. Maybe it might be a better idea to ease back into it. I hear Matt Hamill’s schedule is pretty open.

- In other Brazilian fighter news, UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva told Tatame that there is absolutely no chance of him facing WEC middleweight champ Paulo Filho even after the heavier weight classes are absorbed into the UFC. Silva called Filho “the best middleweight,” saying “there’s nobody to beat him.”

It probably helps that they’re buds:

“I would never fight with Paulão. We almost train together, we’re always helping each other and (Josuel) Distak is our coach. There’s no chance to happen. People can complain, scream, whatever, but it won’t happen.”

You heard the man. You might as well stop your constant complaining and screaming for Silva-Filho, because it ain’t happening. Just let it go and move on with your life. Somehow.

(Mike Brown better be preparing for Tropical Storm Faber.)

WEC 36 — which was scheduled to go down this Wednesday at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida — has been rescheduled to November 5th due to safety concerns related to Hurricane Ike. From an official statement released by the WEC on Saturday:

“Due to the potential of a major hurricane hitting the South Florida area on Wednesday we were compelled to postpone the event,” said Vice President of Operations and Production Peter Dropick. “For the safety of our fans, the fighters and our staff we felt it was in the best interest to make this decision.”

Hurricane Ike is currently a Category 3 storm with sustained winds of 120 MPH and is moving west/southwest toward South Florida according to the National Hurricane Center’s latest advisory. The storm is on track to have impact on the Florida Keys and South Florida on Tuesday (9/9) into Wednesday (9/10).

“With Hurricane Ike approaching our area we have concern for the fans, fighters, our employees and the South Florida community in general,” said Bernie Dillon, Sr. Vice President of Entertainment for the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. “We felt like it would be prudent and in everyone’s best interest to postpone the event. We certainly don’t want to cause any travelers or employees to get stranded here should we have a major storm.”

Unfortunately, the WEC may have jumped the gun a bit, as it now looks like Ike will miss Florida entirely, and make landfall somewhere between Alabama and Texas. Tickets purchased for the September 10th date remain valid and will be honored on 11/5; refunds can be obtained at the point of purchase. After the jump is the card you won’t be seeing on Wednesday…

(Urijah Faber talks upcoming title defense with ESPN)

The WEC has announced the full fight card for their September 10 event in Florida, and once again it’s a fairly stacked show from Zuffa’s minor leagues. Most notable is the official announcement that former UFC lightweight champ Jens Pulver will be taking on Leonard “Just Try and Make Those Charges Stick” Garcia. It also includes Urijah Faber defending his title against Mike Brown, and Paulo Filho making his return to action in a rematch against Chael Sonnen.

Making their WEC debuts are two Team Takedown members — Jake Rosholt and Johny Hendricks — who are definitely worth keeping an eye on in the future.

Here’s the full lineup:

Urijah Faber vs. Mike Brown
Paulo Filho vs. Chael Sonnen
Jens Pulver vs. Leonard Garcia
Danillo Villefort vs. Jake Rosholt
Rob McCullough vs. Donald Cerrone
Rani Yahya vs. Yoshihiro Maeda
David Avellan vs. Tim McKenzie
Johny Hendricks vs. Alex Serdyukov
Ed Ratcliff vs. Danny Castillo

From Sherdog — for the first time since checking into a Brazilian rehab facility last month, undefeated WEC middleweight champ Paulo Filho speaks about his condition and his delayed rematch with Chael Sonnen. Apparently, Filho was addicted to “Rupinal” (possibly referring to Rohypnol, aka “the date rape drug”), and had been suffering from depression even before his first fight in America. As far as Sonnen, “What I have to say is the lion does not deal with men.” Wait a minute Paulo…are you high right now?!

By CagePotato Guest Contributor Ben Fowlkes

Ed Soares never stops. For the MMA manager and owner of Sinister Brand clothing, there’s really no such thing as spare time.

It’s the day before Easter when we finally catch up with him. He’s driving down to San Diego to sign an endorsement deal with Bad Boy clothing for Lyoto Machida, one of many in his stable of high-profile Brazilian fighters. With a client list that includes Anderson Silva, both Nogueira brothers, and WEC champ Paulo Filho, it’s easy to see why Soares might not be getting much rest these days.

In this exclusive interview, Soares talks to us about riding the highs and lows along with his fighters, the many jobs a manager does, and what it means to be the go-to guy for Brazilian mixed martial artists in the U.S. and abroad.

CagePotato: Ed, tell us a little about all the different things you do. How are you spending your time these days?
Ed Soares: The responsibility that consumes ninety percent of my time is my fighter management business. We manage some of the best athletes in the world — Anderson Silva, Antonio Rodrigo (and) Rogerio Nogueira, Rafael Feijao, Lyoto Machida, Paulo Filho. We’ve got a lot of up-and-coming talents, too. Most of my time is spent handling their business, from endorsement deals to scheduling media events. I’ve had to hire an assistant to help me, and it still takes up most of my time. I also own Sinister Brand Clothing, but about eight months ago I hired a president to run my company, so I don’t handle too much of the day-to-day stuff. My two partners take care of that. And I have a partner in my management company who lives in Brazil. He takes care of everything in Brazil and I take care of everything up here in Los Angeles.

It seems like you’ve created a niche for yourself, managing so many of the top Brazilian fighters. How did you get started doing this?
Well, I’m Brazilian. Both my mom and my dad are Brazilian, and I’m actually the only one in my family who was born here in California. Before I started managing MMA fighters I started out as a nightclub promoter, and I also worked with and managed hip-hop groups. There’s actually a lot of similarities between managing a music group and a fighter, because at the end of the day they’re both entertainment. You want to create a following for your band or your fighter and you have to fill seats and sell pay-per-views.

I’ve always been interested in pro fighting and MMA, but the way I actually got into it was by producing a TV show called Passing The Guard with Jorge Guinarias, who’s a TV celebrity in Brazil — kind of like what Larry Merchant is to boxing here, he is to MMA in Brazil. When we started that in April 2004 it was basically the only MMA-related show on free television, even before The Ultimate Fighter. We did the show through December 31st of ’06, and through that we started building a good rapport with the fight organizations, simply because we were giving them exposure for free. And of course, we’ve always had a good relationship with the fighters, because that’s who we were interviewing. With my background in management, it was just a natural evolution for us to start representing fighters.

(Fisher…out!)

First, a blown-out knee threw a monkey wrench into what was going to be the most interesting fight of UFC 85. Now it’s Ultimate Fight Night 13‘s turn to lose a highly anticipated bout, as a shoulder injury has forced Spencer Fisher to withdraw from his match against Marcus Aurelio on April 2nd. Said Fisher’s manager Monte Cox:

“Marcus Aurelio is not the kind of fighter you want to fight at 80 percent. [Fisher] was willing to fight but we decided it just was not a smart decision.”

Aurelio is now expected to face Jim Miller, a 10-1 lightweight who has never set foot in the Octagon, and whose sole loss came at the hands of Frankie Edgar at a Reality Fighting event in 2006. Should be a……………….ah, sorry, nodded off for a second there.

In related news, 6-0 middleweight Bryan “The Beast” Baker has stepped in to face Chael Sonnen next Wednesday at WEC 33, which will be headlined by a light-heavyweight title fight between Doug Marshall and Brian Stann. Paulo Filho is still drying out in a Brazilian rehab facility, working the program and taking it one day at a time.

First we mocked him for pulling out of his WEC 33 fight against Chael Sonnen. Then it looked like he sacked up and the fight was back on. Well, now it’s off again, and drugs are reportedly to blame for Filho’s mysterious depression and personal issues. From WEC.tv:

WEC Middleweight Champion Paulo Filho has chosen to withdraw from his March 26th title defense against Chael Sonnen after voluntarily checking himself into an undisclosed rehabilitation center in Brazil on Thursday morning, March 13, to seek help for a substance abuse problem.

“This is horrible news, but we’re proud of him for stepping up and recognizing his problem,” said Filho’s manager, Ed Soares…“Paulo apologizes to his fans but he thanks them for their support and he promised that the next time they see him, he’ll be back at 100 percent and will be the Paulo Filho everyone expects to see.”

The WEC light heavyweight title bout between Doug Marshall and Brian Stann will now be moved into the March 26th main event slot. Any further plans regarding the card will be announced at a later date.

In a follow-up article on Sherdog, Jorge Guimaraes — also referred to as Filho’s manager — added:

“We tried our best with Filho, but it didn’t work and he’ll not fight in the WEC. He tried with all his effort to accomplish the title defense, but he realized he couldn’t do it due to chemical dependence and depression. He knew this kind of stuff does not have a link with the sport, and I’m happy he had a conscience and looked for help…The WEC staff was superb with us. They understood the situation, and Filho will return and defend his belt in June.”

Well, we wouldn’t bet on it. We’ve watched enough Celebrity Rehab to know that Filho has two choices here: focus on his recovery for a long period of time and get healthy, or go back to training and fighting around the same people and situations that allowed his drug problem to escalate in the first place. An extended rehab stay is necessary, but it could seriously get in the way of his training. Who knows if he’ll be ready three months from now, mentally or physically? We’ll update you when we know more, and we truly hope Filho can bounce back from this and eventually get on with his truly promising career.

(“Depressed? I was just clownin’, Dawg!”)

We told you yesterday that Paulo Filho went all Britney Spears and pulled out of the WEC event on March 26th where he was to fight Chael Sonnen. That fight had reportedly been pushed to June, provided Filho could stay on his happy pills. Well, scratch that. If Filho’s manager, Ed Soares, is to be believed, the fight is now back on for March 26th.

Via Sherdog:

“He went through some personal issues, and he basically pulled everything together,” Soares said.

Training at the Black House gym in Rio de Janeiro, Filho has been preparing with Ricardo Arona (Pictures) and Rafael Feijao. Soares said UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva will join the training camp on March 17.

Said Soares: “During difficult times you get to see who your true friends are, and everyone is coming together to help him get ready for this fight.”

So for now the rematch we thought we had to wait for is back on for later this month. One has to wonder how much pressure the WEC was putting on him to fight since their event card was looking weak at best. Sherdog is also saying that 5-0 middleweight Nissen Osterneck has also pulled out of the March gig. The fighter was set to battle 6-0 Bryan Baker, even though the fight had never been officially announced by the WEC. The withdrawal was due to a shoulder injury that will keep the fighter out for eight months after surgery.

(Filho: Rainy days and Mondays always bring him down.)

Paulo Filho was supposed to have a rematch with Chael Sonnen at WEC’s March 26th event, but the middleweight champion has pulled out of the fight, citing depression and a lack of motivation. As he said in a Tatame.com interview:

“I wasn’t on a good moment, had depression but I’m rising now and the Americans forced me to fight now. I’m not afraid of winning or losing, but I wasn’t motivated to train, wasn’t training well, so I decided to do what the contract says and transferred the fight to June.”

Though the Filho/Sonnen rematch will be a great supporting fight for the featherweight championship bout between Urijah Faber and Jens Pulver in June, it leaves the March card looking mighty thin. That event will feature only one title match — a light-heavyweight contest between Doug “The Rhino” Marshall and Brian Stann, and its next-biggest draw is Brock Larson vs. John Alessio.

Pulling out of a title fight for lack of motivation is some truly weak bullshit, and I hope that the WEC at least fines Filho for this. We feel bad that Sonnen won’t be seeing a fight check for another three months — but if you live in Portland area, you could always support him by buying a house.

(“Do I look like a junkie?”)

Tatame.com is quoting Paulo Filho‘s boxing coach, Josuel Distak, as saying that the WEC middleweight champ will next fight real estate agent Chael Sonnen in a rematch of their December ’07 fight (WEC 31). The last fight ended with Chael Sonnen submitting and claiming he didn’t. Distak claims Paulo “wasn’t well” in that fight and “Sonnen asked for a revenge and we accepted.” We’ll get to see if Chael really has turned a corner – since he was bitch-slapping Paulo for two rounds until the submission – or if Paulo truly “wasn’t well”. That fight made us look a little closer at Filho and the rematch will be very telling.

The excuse coming out of the champ’s camp for his ass-dragging at WEC 31 is that he had some difficulty making the 185 lbs for the fight. Distak is saying they’ll remedy this by moving the fighter up to a light heavy.

“Thanks God this will be Paulão’s last fight at 84 category. After this fight he’ll go up to 93kg category.”

For all you non-metric system Americans, 93kg is 205 pounds. And at light heavyweight, Filho might be a little outsized. Nothing a little juice won’t cure, according to Dan Henderson in a recent MMANews interview.

MMANews.com:What are your thoughts on Paulo Filho?

Dan Henderson: I don’t think he has been very impressive in his last two performances since coming to the US but I think that’s what not being able to use Steroids will do to you.

MMANews.com:Are you saying Filho may be a juicer?

Dan Henderson: Well that’s my opinion anyway. He hasn’t looked good since he left Pride.

MMANews.com: Was steroid abuse a problem in Pride?

Dan Henderson: People didn’t get tested.

MMANews.com: So I suppose if you can get away with it why not.

Dan Henderson: Exactly.

“California Kid” Urijah Faber defends his featherweight title against Jeff Curran, the unstoppable Paulo Filho defends his middleweight title against Chael Sonnen, Doug Marshall defends his light heavyweight title against Ariel Gandualla, UFC veteran Jens Pulver takes on Cub Swanson, and more. Spend some time with the following links and get psyched…

— CagePotato’s exclusive interview with Urijah Faber, in which he discusses opponent Jeff Curran, his training regimen, and San Diego’s best places to hang.

— MMA Weekly’s complete rundown of tonight’s card, which predicts that every champion will successfully defend, and Jens Pulver will lose by decision.

— Sherdog’s profile of full-time real estate agent Chael Sonnen. Man this guy is gonna get destroyed.

— Jens Pulver’s must-see RawVegasTV interview, where he sounds off on Cub Swanson, BJ Penn, and his asshole father.

— Cub Swanson has the worst tattoos since Melvin Costa.

From an interview with undefeated WEC middleweight champ Paulo Filho on Tatame.com.br, run through a translator by Five Ounces O’Pain:

You received proposal to train Chuck Liddell. Did you accept the proposal?
I would never train with an American to fight with a Brazilian. I am not a slut, or a prostitute. We are we against the foreigners.

To see how Filho responds to such insightful questions as “What the Chael Sonnen finds of?” and “How the weight is?”, read on…