(Porier before his UFC debut)

With the recent run of awesome mixed martial arts documentaries we’ve been treated to the past few years like Renzo Gracie: Legacy, The Reem, Driven, Once I was a Champion and Like Water, there’s a pretty good chance that we’re in for a drought, especially if you consider that there was a six-plus-year span between the current block of flicks and The Smashing Machine.

Before we enter into our next six years of obscure docs loosely-related to MMA like Joe Son’s Prison Diaries and Gus Johnson at LeCage, we still have one fantastic looking one to look forward to: Fightville.

The film, which is set for limited theatrical release and for On Demand viewing by select cable and satellite providers April 20, follows the lives of a number of Louisiana-based fighters, most notably fast-rising UFC featherweight Dustin Poirier and his coach and mentor, TUF 7 and UFC vet Tim Credeur.

Check out the trailer after the jump.

(Sad Amir is sad. Fan art courtesy of myspace.com/ammmir.) 

In a new interview with MMA Junkie, TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah stated that a move down to 170 pounds is "definitely…in my future," as soon as he recovers from his latest injury. After winning the seventh season of The Ultimate Fighter last June by submitting CB Dollaway via armbar in the finale — which also happened to be Sadollah’s professional MMA debut — he had to pull out of UFC 91 in November due to a leg injury. Sadollah became officially cursed when he had to drop out of last Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 17 show because of a shoulder injury. As he explains:

Unfortunately, he doesn’t know exactly when that will be:

It’s unclear whether Sadollah will take a fight at middleweight before making his planned drop to welterweight. For now, he’s just focused on getting healthy. Poor guy…even Jesse "Mongo" Taylor seems to be doing better than this kid.

(Dustin Hazelett earning his bonus money. Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

The list of official salaries from the Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale has been released by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. The numbers are below; each winning fighter’s payout represents a doubling of his base salary.

Diego Sanchez: $70,000
Dustin Hazelett: $64,000 (includes $20,000 Submission of the Night bonus and $20,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
Drew McFedries: $46,000 (includes $20,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
Spencer Fisher: $36,000
Kendall Grove: $32,000
Josh Burkman: $30,000 (includes $20,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
Dean Lister: $28,000
Jeremy Horn: $25,000
Evan Tanner: $25,000
Amir Sadollah: $16,000
Matthew Riddle: $16,000
Jeremy Stephens: $16,000
Matt Brown: $16,000
Luigi Fioravanti: $10,000
Marvin Eastman: $9,000
C.B. Dollaway: $8,000
Dante Rivera: $8,000
Matt Arroyo: $8,000
Tim Credeur: $8,000*
Cale Yarbrough: $8,000*
Rob Kimmons: $6,000
Rob Yundt: $5,000

* Credeur and Yarbrough both reportedly received their to-show salaries, even though their match was canceled the night of the fight due to Credeur testing positive for Adderall.

(The #1 image on GIS for “friday grind”…seriously.)

It’s the usual post-April Fool’s holiday blues wind-down. We’re all just biding our time until Happy Hour, so here are a few shorties to keep you busy until then.

— The UFC is now making more fights official for UFC 85. The show is to go down on June 7th in London. We already know Chuck Liddell will face Rashad Evans in the lame main event, and we’ve followed the other rumors, so let’s take a look at the UFC’s official card as it stands now:

– Chuck Liddell vs Rashad Evans
– Fabricio Werdum vs Brandon Vera
– Martin Kampmann vs Jorge Rivera
– Mike Swick vs Marcus Davis
– Nate Marquardt vs Thales Leites
– Jason Lambert vs Luis Cane
– Thiago Tavares vs Matt Wiman

Other rumored fights for the event that have not been stamped with the UFC official approval yet include: Jess Liaudin versus Paul Taylor, Antoni Hardonk versus Neil Wain, and Ryo Chonan versus Roan Carneiro. This comes via MMAWeekly, but we’ll keep our eyes on it for you.

— BloodyElbow is reporting that the UFC Fight Night 13‘s ratings were — in a word — shitty. The show did a 1.1 rating, which is terrible if you know anything about ratings. For such a stacked card, this really sucks for MMA on free TV. It goes to show you the unfortunate need for a Kimbo/Brock Lesnar/Chuck Liddell as a main eventer.

“TUF 7″ pulled a 1.3 immediately after the 3-hour event, so the previous joint retained its audience and gained some reality show hounds, too. For whatever it’s worth.

— And file this one with the Too Drunk to Care Bureau. Fightlinker dug up a crack-head’s video of Ken Shamrock apparently jonesin’ for meth. Check it out if you dare:

I’ll give them a tip o’ hat for editing, but first — a few quick words to the meth-head:

1) Work on your spelling and punctuation
2) Work on a Ken Shamrock ‘roids video
3) Meth…we’re assuming the Ken Shamrock pictorial is meant as sarcastic?
4) You gotta’ hook-up?

Have a bitchin’ weekend.

(The coaches, sans shirts, for “TUF 7″.)

The season premiere of “The Ultimate Fighter 7″ kicked off after UFC Fight Night 13 rocked the shit. If you’re not drunk enough yet, hold on for a full rundown of what happened in the opening show of Team Forrest versus Team Jackson…

After a recap of the past seasons — peppered with Dana’s “you’re gone” speeches — we get underway.

Segment One
It took a few moments, but the 16 fighters standing around in the gym who think they are the official 16, were soon shown additional fighters. They all soon realized there were a bit more than 16 of them. Turns out, one or two of them can count and there are 32 fighters. Dana comes in and explains that he is tired of the “pussies and the posers” — hence the solution of having 32 fighters. “This season, you’re gonna’ fight your way onto the show,” says Baldy.

Rampage claims to have smelled the shit in the fighters’ pants after Dana’s speech. Meanwhile, Dana was being bleeped more than Ozzy Osbourne.

After some brief “confessional” interviews with some of the cast, the guys weigh-in after only 48 hours to make weight. I think I just saw my brother on the show, but he ran away years ago. Maybe I should call my Mom about that one…

For those keeping track, here are the fighters fighting to get on the show: Paul Bradley, Steve Byrnes, Mike Dolce, Gerald Harris, Dante Rivera, David Baggett, Matt Brown, Erik Charles, John Clarke, Daniel Cramer, Tim Credeur, Clarence Dollaway, John Hall, Nick Klein, David Mewborn, Mike Marrello, Jeremy May, Prince LaDonas Mclean, Aaron Meisner, Reggie Orr, Matthew Riddle, Jeremiah Riggs, David Roberts, Nick Rossborough, Amir Sadollah, Patrick Schultz, Brandon Sene, Dan Simmler, Jesse Taylor, Cale Yarbrough, John Wood, and Luke Zachrich.

Burger King has it their way and sponsors the first elimination fight. It pits Prince McLean (4-5) against Mike Dolce (4-4). Just a couple of sweet kids trying to make their way.

Segment Two
The fight kicks off and Prince — after having earlier mentioned he has been on a losing streak — takes a shot and they hit the ground. Rampage mumbles something about liking Prince, just before he gets taken out via TKO by Dolce. He seems to be okay until the fucking waterworks start. We’re not even officially on the show yet and we have crybaby tears. The sad music tugs at my hearts strings. Not really.

Fight Two is Cal Yarbrough (0-0) against John Clarke (6-2). Seems Cal is kinda’ pals with Forrest Griffin — although Forrest isn’t bettin’ on him. However, his opponent had to drop 17 big L.B.s to make weight. He also says he’s getting too old to keep doing this — fighting in Boston pubs and stuff like that at his age. Um…no comment about the town that lives for St. Patty’s and knocking out teeth for fun.

Segment Three
The fight is on and Clarke scores, prompting Forrest to say it’s “garbage.” Some punishment by Clarke has Yarbrough rolling around and almost getting nailed by a kimura. Some back-of-the-head warnings are given to Clarke — thanks to an audience of back seat refs. They go to their feet for a bit, but it hits the mat again almost as quickly. Clarke almost pulls an armbar, but Cal slips it and almost gets caught in a g’tine. Somehow, the thing gets upright again but it looks like Clarke is whipped — funny how dropping 17 pounds in 48 hours will do that to you. Cal tosses some shitty throws and it’s called due to Clarke being gassed. Clarke really could have won the thing had he been in the shape he needed to be in. Now we should cue the sad music.

No “seeya” for Clarke, but he was probably too tired to do that, too. The next elimination fight sees Steve Byrnes (6-1) against Amir Sadollah (0-0).

“The Ultimate Fighter 7″ is just around the corner and Spike TV has some new vids of the coaches hyping the April 2nd premiere. You can go here for more “TUF 7″ videos and if you’re feelin’ badass, you can use the same link to apply for season 8 of the show.

Rampage waxes eloquent about Forrest Griffin’s lack of ass-wiping ability:

Forrest Griffin doesn’t know his assistant coach’s name and is all about the new car:

Props: BloodyElbow

To finish off your St. Patty’s Day hangover, here are some news morsels from the MMA world:

— World Victory Road‘s next event, “Sengoku II”, is scheduled for May 18th in Japan. MMAWeely has the rumored fighters — although no opponents have been named: Roger Gracie, Satoru Kitaoka, Yoshihiro Nakao, Yuki Sasaki, and Kevin Randleman.

— A Jaime Fletcher and Aaron Rosa fight has been included in ShoXC’s Friday show, scheduled to be aired on Showtime at 11:00 p.m. (ET). The match-up is a light-heavy fight between two up-and-comers. Fletcher is 5-3, losing his last three fights, and Rosa had his ten-fight win streak snapped recently, dropping his record to 10-1. The battle has been added to replace a chick fight between Cris Cyborg (aka, Cyborg Santos‘s wife) and Jen Case. Apparently, Cyborg — the chick version — wasn’t able to get into the states for the fight (taking place in California), hence the cancellation. Her record is 4-0…her husband was 2-2 in his first four pro fights. Ouch.

— 5oz of Pain is reporting that Robbie Lawler might be close to signing an extension with EliteXC. He is currently the organization’s middleweight champ. Lawler is reportedly going to be fighting in EliteXC’s debut on CBS in two months. Robbie has not fought since September of last year and has been battling an injury since December.

— It’s just days away and “The Ultimate Fighter 7″ preview is already floating around cyberspace. Check it out below:

Peace, Bitches.

(“Yeah, scratch that shit. Lower. Still lower!”)

Spike TV has started hyping “TUF 7″ which debuts on April 2nd, with the second episode rolling out a week later. As we’ve mentioned, the show will start with 32 fighters instead of the usual 16. The fighters will first be battling for a spot on the show, which means they’ll be fighting on the pre-show show, or something like that. Either way, it’s an MMA version of March Madness with 16 fighters advancing to compete for UFC contracts. In the first two episodes, we’ll be treated to 16 fights. I just got an erection. Because I’m excited about watching the fights not because of the dudes, pervs. Seriously, grow up! CP loves chicks!

Via MMAWeekly:

“The new format will give us two incredibly intense episodes to launch the season and will weed out some of the guys who might not have the heart and desire that it takes to become a UFC fighter,” said UFC president Dana White about the new season.

While this is certainly just a ploy to squeeze two more episodes worth of ad revenue from the show, it is a ploy I’m loving. I say, let’s expand this bitch to 64 and make a month of it.

The fighters competing – per Dave Meltzer – are: Paul Bradley, Steve Byrnes, Mike Dolce, Gerald Harris, Dante Rivera, David Baggett, Matt Brown, Erik Charles, John Clarke, Daniel Cramer, Tim Credeur, Clarence Dollaway, John Hall, Nick Klein, David Mewborn, Mike Marrello, Jeremy May, Prince LaDonas Mclean, Aaron Meisner, Reggie Orr, Matthew Riddle, Jeremiah Riggs, David Roberts, Nick Rossborough, Amir Sadollah, Patrick Schultz, Brandon Sene, Dan Simmler, Jesse Taylor, Cale Yarbrough, John Wood, and Luke Zachrich.

The group will be coached/laughed at/yelled at by Rampage Jackson and Forrest Griffin.

So UFC 82 has rightfully dominated not only CagePotato the past 50-odd hours, but much of the MMA world as well. With Anderson Silva’s continued dominance in the bag, the UFC is already looking ahead. Way ahead. Although the date has not been confirmed by the NSAC, Dave Meltzer is reporting in his Wrestling Observer Newsletter that UFC 86 will go down on July 5th in Vegas. The event will be headlined by “TUF 7″ coaches, Rampage Jackson and Forrest Griffin. The two light heavies were named coaches for the seventh season of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series back in December, setting them up for a battle at the next UFC event following the end of TUF’s finale.

The light heavyweight fight – which will have Rampage’s title on the line – is so far the only fight “scheduled” for the UFC 86 card. As has been the case lately, once a date drops – be it official or rumored – scheduled fights start falling into place at a frequent pace. The event is four months away and with the recent UFC event cards, the show already has a lot to live up to. And let’s hope they told the 4-year-old who designed the UFC 84: ill will poster what he can do with his crayons and will get a real designer for the UFC 86 poster…like at least an eight-year-old who understands the upper-case/lower-case rule.

When reached for comments, Rampage just said something about “ass” and “whuppin”, while Forrest Griffin would only take questions on what his years were like playing Opie. Apparently Andy Griffith was a prick. Who knew.

(Props BloodyElbow)

(Is “Semtex” done?)

— Cage Rage vet and current EliteXC fighter Paul “Semtex” Daley has posted on-line that he is calling it quits when his EliteXC contract is over on March 29th.

This is for the fighters, fans, promoters and trolls alike.

As of now i will be stepping down as Cage Rage Champion (British and world), FX-3 Champion and KOTR champion. I vacate all these titles. Futher more i consider my self retired (from all MMA/Thai boxing) as of March 29th. March 29th i will fullfill my contracted commitment for Pro Elite, against a yet un named opponent.

No speculation, No futher annonucments, once i’ve found the path i originally set out on in the Martial Arts, i may return to this SPORT, Maybe 6months-Maybe 6 years, who knows.

Who will be the next welterweight CRC champ. FX-3 champ????…

Thanks

Although this message is put together with a wordsmith’s touch, it’s hard to believe “Semtex” would be bowing out of the sport at this time in his career. 5oz of Pain seconds that backed by personal interaction with the fighter. The guy is 17-6-2 and can command a solid payday in several organizations. Maybe that’s what this is about…drawing a big payday from the dudes willing to “pull him out of retirement”.

— The IFL is adding to its exposure by partnering with the social media network imeem. The organization already has agreements with other media and networking sites such as Break.com, YouTube and PalTalk. The IFL’s press release says that imeem’s 23 million users will be able to view and interact with media from the IFL at www.ifl.imeem.com.

The partnership will create an IFL TV channel on imeem where fans can find engaging and fresh media content from the professional mixed martial arts sports league, ranging from match highlights to athlete and coach interviews and instructional segments. The imeem community can also express themselves with their favorite IFL content by creating and sharing custom video playlists with friends on imeem and through embeddable widgets on third party sites across the Web.

So more chances to see our boys Roy “Big Country” Nelson and Matt “Sauve” Horwich in action.

— An update on the state of MMA in the, um, state of Maryland. Today the Maryland Senate went to committee over Senate Bill 649. You’ll recall that the bill proposes the legalization of MMA in the state – amateur and professional. If you want to put in your two cents, go here. Delegate Kirill Reznik (District 39, Montgomery County) has been pushing to make MMA legal in the state and Luke Thomas over at BloodyElbow was even asked to speak to the Senate committee today about the matter. That’s the proactive action MMA needs. Keeping our fingers crossed for you guys.

The UFC recently allowed Las Vegas’s ABC affiliate to poke around the set of The Ultimate Fighter 7. Though an unusually reserved Rampage questioned the mental capacity of himself and his rival coach, Forrest Griffin was able to correctly use the word “curmudgeon.” You be the judge:

Update: The video embed went fubar. Watch it here. (Windows Media Player required)

(Coach Forrest Griffin, ready for war.)

When we first heard about the big changes Dana White had planned for the seventh season of The Ultimate Fighter, our minds raced. Would the Octagon Girls be living in the house? Would the coaches’ challenges be decided not by normal bowling, but by Cosmic Bowling? Would there be a revolutionary new pit-fighting surface?

No, nothing crazy like that. Instead, the first few couple episodes will just be a lot more action-packed. As MMA Junkie reports:

According to a source close to the show, “The Ultimate Fighter 7” will start with 32 cast members — not the usual 16 — and every one of them will have to fight as soon as the show begins. The 16 winners earn a spot in the house, and the 16 losers are sent packing for home…That’s a far cry from past seasons of the reality series, when the first fight of the season sometimes didn’t take place until a second or even third episode.

Of the rumored middleweight castmembers, two have Bowman-esque professional records of 0-0, which makes a little more sense given the new format — if they have talent, they’ll earn a bunk in the house, and if not, we get to see the inexperienced rubes get smashed right off the bat.

(Got your attention? Good…read on.)

Since our earlier report, more fighters have been added to the seventh season of The Ultimate Fighter. It’s now being reported that a Mississippi dude has been picked to step into the TUF 7 cage. Jeremiah Riggs is 1-0 as a pro, soooooo there’s not too much we can know about him yet.

The fighter used to be a sheriff’s deputy and fought in Alabama as an amateur. His pro debut was back in September, where he beat Craig Sjoerdsma via submission (on strikes). MMA Junkie had this to say:

Although he’s had little professional experience, Riggs has sought out some quality training. A source close to Riggs told us that the fighter recently spent some time in California training with Strikeforce world middleweight champ Frank Shamrock. Riggs was set to become part of the San Jose Razorclaws — an International Fight League team coached by Shamrock — but after never winning a team matchup, the IFL disbanded the team after the 2007 fight season.

As for his personality, “Jeremiah’s just a freakin’ crazy country boy,” we’re told.

Just can’t wait to have another “freakin’ crazy country boy” among us – especially one actually from the south. Other TUF 7 additions being reported, are:

(“Luke Zachrich, Come on Down!”)

More fighters are being rumored as contestants for The Ultimate Fighter 7.

It was already reported that Luke Zachrich and Mike Marrello will be contestants on the show, and now it looks like they’ll be joined by Prince Mclean, Steve Byrnes, C.B. Dollaway, Aaron Meisner, and Matt Brown.

Mike Marrello is a Chicago middleweight with a record of 6-1-1. He has fought for the Xtreme Fighting Organization and King of the Cage, with his loss coming at the hands of Terry Davinney via kimura. Davinney has since lost three in a row. Mike Marrello is also a former Marine and joins Cincinnati-bred Luke Zachrich on the show, who is 7-1. Luke has also fought for King of the Cage and Xtreme Fighting Organization. A Dan Severn-trained fighter, Zachrich’s only loss was to Danny Ruiz via a first round armbar.

Aaron Meisner is out of Philly and is undefeated in his three pro fights – all by KO or TKO. He last fought at Extreme Challenge 78. Also reportedly joining the middleweights will be Prince Mclean and his 4-5 record. Like Luke Zachrich, he’s based in Cincy. But unlike Luke, he’s lost five straight and has proven injury prone. He is an interesting selection for the show, since he’s more on a downward spiral and not on the rise. This one is worth keeping an eye on.

C.B. Dollaway, who is 6-0 and has been impressive, will also be stepping before cameras for the show. He was a kick-ass wrestler in college and has improved his striking with every match. He’s out of Arizona and has fought with HDNet Fights, Rage in the Cage and the IFO. His debut featured a TKO slam 17 seconds into the bout.

Dana White blew his load a little early over the weekend. Before his “big announcement” today, he let it slip at the end of The Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale that Forrest Griffin will be one of the coaches on The Ultimate Fighter 7. He also teased that he had “big plans” for UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in the new year, leaving us to conclude that he’d be the other coach.

White also noted that the two coaches will fight each another when the TUF 7 series is completed. Shooting begins in January and will likely debut on SpikeTV in April 08. It will feature 16 up-and-coming Middleweight (185 pounds) fighters.

Although Rampage and Griffin are 205 pounds, they should have any problem coaching the middleweight contenders. At the very least, The Ultimate Fighter will get a shot of personality that it so desperately needs, and hopefully another chance to fill the void in the Middleweight division.