(Plan “B”: Boy band — PicProps: MMATKO)

Gil Martinez appeared on Mauro Ranallo’s “The MMA Show“ radio program today and the head boxing trainer and coach at Xtreme Couture dropped a bombshell about one of his highest profile students.

According to Martinez, he’s pretty sure that  former number one UFC lightweight contender Gray Maynard has decided to cut ties with the Vegas gym and is planning a move to the San Francisco Bay area where he will train American Kickboxing Academy moving forward. There, Maynard will join a top-tier team that includes notables like Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, Mike Swick, Cain Velasquez, Daniel Cormier, Josh Thomson and Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal.

Alistair Overeem was on MMAFighting.com’s The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani Monday afternoon and the former Strikeforce heavyweight fighter, who many speculated would be joining King’s MMA in Huntington Beach, Calif. after splitting with Golden Glory in the summer, revealed that he has instead decided to relocate to Las Vegas, Nev. where he will train at Xtreme Couture.

Although he wouldn’t reveal too much about the change in camps on the show, “The Demolition Man” gave more details of his decision to train stateside and what was behind his split with Bas Boon and company in the following episode of The Reem documentary, which was released minutes ago.

Check it out after the jump.

(“Did I mention I bought Jimmy Dean sausages and I let her use my Star Wars pillow?”)

In spite of earlier reports that Mike Whitehead had reached a plea bargain deal with prosecutors in his felony sexual assault case, it looks like the former UFC fighter will now go to trial in an attempt to refute and disprove the allegations against him.

According to court records, Whitehead’s preliminary hearing will commence on August 19 at 9:00 am in Clark County district court in Las Vegas, NV. The case will be heard by Justice Janiece Marshall.

The preliminary hearing was originally set for last September, but because of delays and an apparent plea deal that either fell through or Whitehead decided not to take, there was a nearly one-year delay in bringing the case to trial.

(Obviously the body of a man with a severe testosterone deficiency. Pic: Team Quest)

This is a tricky thing, trying to rank the best fight camps in mixed martial arts. With so many top level fighters constantly on the move and the teams themselves ceaselessly forging, then breaking alliances with the speed and bitterness of your average Tito-Jenna Twitter spat, it’s hard to keep it all straight in your head. Take welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre, for instance. Obviously a feather in the cap for any MMA gym, but how do we consider GSP – the prototypical camp-jumper — for the purposes of our precious little lists? Is he a Team Jackson guy? A TriStar guy? A (*snort*) Freddie Roach guy? Hard to know. Still, in the face of this uncertainty we soldier on. Why? Because of our commitment to you, P-Nation. And our commitment to making you mad with our off-base picks …

(“I’m telling you man, we’ll get our own place. I’m thinking bunk beds, bean bag chairs, black light posters and all the soda we can drink. Whaddaya say?” PicProps: Flickr)

Well, we can’t see how this could possibly be good news approximately 15 days out from the biggest fight of his life, but Vitor Belfort has 86’ed trainer Shawn Tompkins in favor of a return to Xtreme Couture, according to a conversation between the coach himself and Mauro Ranallo this week. If we’ve got the timeline straight, Belfort was at Xtreme Couture to begin with, but went with Tompkins when he splintered off to start his own team. Now, as he so often does, Belfort is reversing his position.

Tompkins sounds a little peeved about the split and we gotta believe the differences were pretty irreconcilable to prompt “The Phenom” (who, let’s face it, has always seemed a little flighty) to decamp so close to his scheduled middleweight title fight against Anderson Silva on Feb. 5. After the jump, a short-ish transcript of Ranallo’s and Tompkins’ talk, courtesy Fight Opinion …

(After they showed that video entitled ‘Good Touch/Bad Touch’ in his Health class, Horodecki couldn’t help but regard every adult in his life with constant suspicion.)

When Shawn Tompkins announced that he was leaving Xtreme Couture and taking some fighters with him, you didn’t need to be a genius to figure out that one of those fighters would probably be long-time Tompkins protégé/surrogate son Chris Horodecki.  Those two have been down since the IFL cartoon logo days, back when Tompkins was just Bas Rutten’s assistant coach and Horodecki was still getting carded at R-rated movies.  But now Tompkins says that Horodecki is very close to finalizing a deal to send him to the WEC, and he expects to have the contract signed in “a day or two.” 

(Props: Fighters Only via MMA Mania)

In his first public statement since being arrested for multiple assaults following an alleged suicide attempt, Junie Browning apologized for whatever went down that night, but suggested, of course, that people don’t know the full story. "Stuff gets a little more complicated than it seems to be when you read it on paper. I have a lot of problems and I’m working on them. That’s just about all I can really say…I’m truly sorry for what happened, and if I could take it back I definitely would." Browning thanked the fans for their support and the UFC for the opportunity he was given, and promised he’ll make it up to everybody one day. Get well soon, Lunatic.

As for Browning’s mentor Shawn Tompkins — who drove Junie to the hospital during his Klonopin bender — the highly respected striking coach is going through some life changes of his own…

(Hieron vs. Jason High at Affliction: DoR. Don’t worry, it doesn’t take long.)

Xtreme Couture welterweight Jay Hieron takes on Paul "Semtex" Daley on the August 1st Affliction: Trilogy card (which is, as far as we know at this point, still happening) and we checked in with him to see how his preparation is coming, what he thinks of the recent disparaging remarks made about his gym, and what he’ll do if there isn’t an Affliction: Tetralogy show in the somewhat near future.

The fight’s a little over a week away.  How are you feeling?

Great, man.  Training’s been great.  I’m in tremendous shape.  I just have to get through this last hard week and then let my body heal up and I’m ready to fight.

Have you done much scouting on Paul Daley?

Yeah, I’ve seen a few of his fights.  I think he’s a good striker.  He’s explosive.  But I’m definitely more well-rounded and that’s what MMA is all about.

You’re an Xtreme Couture fighter so I assume you heard Kit Cope’s recent comments about your gym.  He said it’s a place where guys who are already good can get a workout, but that it doesn’t actually make fighters.  What do you think of that?

Watch Shawn Tompkins Sounds Off On Kit Cope on RawVegas.tv

Let’s hope this is the last word on the whole Kit Cope/Gina Carano/Xtreme Couture controversy, at least until that sex tape is “stolen” and we all get to see a bored Carano rolling her eyes at the camera while Cope insists on keeping his socks and wristwatch on.  Here Shawn Tompkins makes some excellent points that are fairly obvious but worth repeating, such as: 1) Kit Cope is a nobody, 2) Xtreme Couture fighters regularly kick ass, 3) If the only way you can get your name in the news is to talk about the girl you used to date who is now famous, you’re kind of pathetic.

Nothing we didn’t already know, though you have to like the not-so-veiled threat near the end.  With all the badasses at Xtreme Couture, whether you think they were “made” there or not, it’s maybe not the best idea to bash the gym in public.  Especially if you are a pretty bad MMA fighter, who, according to Sherdog’s Fight Finder, once lost to Tiki Ghosn via TKO (retirement).

As you’ll learn by listening to this clip, Kit Cope is a total prick, and yet somehow, because the universe is not a fair place, he has had sex with Gina Carano and claims to have video evidence of it.  At least, that’s what he said in a recent appearance on an internet radio show.  Fortunately "King" Mo Lawal and our bud Ariel Helwani (we’re still cool, right?) were there to press him on it, whereupon Cope dug himself deeper and deeper.  Cope also indicated that Gina might have fake tits, definitely has a lot of ass, and is going to get that ass beat if she continues training at "Xtreme Fashion."  He also says he’s "smashed a lot finer than that," just in case you were worried that he was becoming too likable.

Basically, Cope managed to piss off a bunch of people who are all more important in the MMA world than he is, and impressively enough he did it all in a matter of minutes.  Thanks to the power of the internet, Shawn Tompkins has already issued a very appropriate response:

Recently Fight Magazine launched a contest on their website where they choose an amateur or low-level pro fighter and send him off to Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas for some personal training time with Shawn Tompkins (naturally the lucky winner will live in Shawn’s “fighter house” while he’s there, presumably playing a lot of Xbox with Chris Horodecki).  They’ve narrowed it down to four finalists and are opening it up for a reader vote to choose the winner.  

Looking at the video entries and the resumes, it seems like there’s one guy who could probably do the most with a week at Xtreme Couture, and it’s Drew Dober.  Dude is 6-0 as a pro and is 20 years old, which only serves to remind us that a) our lives are wasting away, and b) this sport is going to change drastically when kids who have been doing MMA since they were fourteen begin to take over.

Shawn Tompkins talks Greenlighting – Watch more Funny Videos

There are two similar, but slightly different meanings for the term ‘greenlighting’ inside Xtreme Couture. Shawn Tompkins explains the kindler, gentler meaning in the above video. Basically, it’s when the pros spar and don’t hold back, which means somebody is probably getting knocked out. That’s pretty normal for an MMA gym, but there’s another meaning too.

When someone comes in to Xtreme Couture who isn’t a member of the team, someone who for one reason or another thinks he’s the baddest son of a bitch in a room full of bad sons of bitches, that’s when a different kind of greenlight might occur. It’s the kind that begins with the guy feeling like a certified grade A ass-kicker, and ends with him begging for the beating to stop. And who is the greenlight specialist down at Xtreme Couture? None other than Jay Hieron, who loves – absolutely loves – to put a hurting on big-talking newbies.

(In the lobby of the MGM Grand, going mostly unnoticed.)

I’m not going to lie to you, Potato Nation.  There isn’t a whole lot of enthusiasm for this weekend’s UFC 98 event here in Las Vegas.   Maybe that’s not quite right.  Maybe it’s that there’s just not much awareness.  As great a presence as the UFC always has in Sin City, this week the reaction to the upcoming event from locals and tourists seems lukewarm at best.  But that doesn’t mean that MMA culture in general isn’t a pervasive force all around us.

(Lesnar’s fighting style is truly an inspiration to asshole big brothers everywhere.)

Gather round, Potato Nation.  It’s time to sort through the latest batch of your Ask the Potato questions and see what kind of pointless queries have been bouncing around in your precious little heads.  If you  have a question of your own, by all means, let us know in the forums.  If you already asked a question and we still haven’t answered it, we’re probably not going to.  Ask a better question.

Which fighter as of right now has the most drawing power, and why?? – Rokabee

The difficult part about answering this question is correlation vs. causation.  How do we know it’s any one guy drawing huge numbers, and not the timing or the overall card?  The best we can do is look at the highest performing pay-per-views and sell-out events and try to figure out which fighter consistently shows up on those cards.  When we do it that way over the short term, the answer is Brock Lesnar.  Every pay-per-view he’s on does better than the last one.  Thing is, he’s only been on three so far.  If we were fucking doctors or scientists or something, we’d probably say that was too small a sample size.  But we’re not, and you did say, “as of right now,” so there’s your answer.  His pro wrestling fanbase, the sheer curiosity as to what he might become in MMA, plus his volatility make Lesnar a consistent draw.

Are knees to the body on the ground the single most destructive and under-used strike in MMA? You wouldn’t figure it would take too many well planted knees to just ruin an opponent, but you don’t see many guys in side control try it. Wassup wit dat!!! – Dmonicideals

(Awww, that’s disturbing.)

Are you a huge Gina Carano fan looking for the perfect piece of memorabilia to let everyone know that your fascination with her has gone from strange to unsettling?  Then this is your lucky day.  Out friends at Fightlinker found someone on Ebay who is selling an autographed Gina Carano sports bra.  We don’t know what search the Fightlinker boys were doing when they stumbled upon this, but we can probably go ahead and assume it was weird.

This guy, however, takes weird to a whole new level.  He claims he got Gina to sign this at Xtreme Couture, and then he went and had it framed.  Which is, you know, what you do with ladies undergarments that have become collector’s items.  Now he’s giving you the chance to bid on it, starting at just $99.99 (plus shipping and handling).

Think of all the things you could do with it.  You could put it on your wall to scare off dates that you bring home.  You could lay it out on your bed and lie down next to it at night.  You could even give it as an entirely inappropriate gift to your girlfriend!  The possibilities are endless…

Sort of Related: Pieces of Rampage’s Tire For Sale

(Here comes the pain, Whoville.)

Yeah, that’s Randy and Kim Couture enjoying the hell out of themselves at their Christmas costume party.  Combat Lifestyle was there and captured the magic in a photo album you really should take a look at. 

While there is absolutely no way I can go to sleep tonight without having a nightmare about Randy the Grinch up there, I do have to admire his willingness to go all out and his attention to detail.  Not only did he do the whiskers, he did the creepy long eyelashes too.  That’s a man who is committed to his costume.  We also gotta give respect to Shawn Tompkins, who nailed the "dick in a box" thing perfectly…

(Does that look infected to you? Photo courtesy of myspace.com/allen_browning)

Following in the footsteps of fighters like Mac Danzig and Amir Sadollah, Junie Browning is the latest Ultimate Fighter notable to re-focus his training at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas. MMA Weekly has confirmed that Browning started training with the camp about a week and a half ago, and so far he hasn’t tried to throw training equipment into the hot tub or jump off the roof:

“He’s been very quiet in the gym, there’s been no antics, there’s been no nothing,” [Randy] Couture said. “He shows up everyday and straps his gloves on and gets his work done.”

In other words, he’s functioning like a normal person, which is quite an achievement for the Kentucky native. At any rate, he’ll be whipped into shape by the team at XC, which includes UFC lightweights Tyson Griffin and Gray Maynard — who hopefully haven’t taken Junie’s “boring fucking wrestlers” comments too personally.

Related: Junie’s latest TUF blog for UFC.com is up, where he discusses the wave of interviews he had to do last week, Team Nog’s family-vibe, and the Jules/Vinny scrap (“To be honest, I don’t think Jules could have won a fight at 155″).

(Jay Hieron batters the outmatched Chris Kennedy. Photo courtesy of MMAWeekly.)

From the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas on Saturday night…

Hector Ramirez def. Rick Roufus via unanimous decision
Jay Hieron def. Chris Kennedy via unanimous decision
Mike Pyle def. Brian Gassaway via submission (armbar), 4:21 of round 1
John Alessio def. Gideon Ray via TKO, 0:45 of round 1
Josh Haynes def. Sean Salmon via submission (achilles lock), 2:49 of round 2
Jonathan Mix def. John Halverson via TKO, 4:25 of round 1
Patrick Gonsalves def. Shawn David via submission (kimura), 3:51 of round 2
Elena Reid def. Stephanie Palmer via TKO, 0:53 of round 1
Ryan Hass def. Ian Omalza via submission (armbar), 3:09 of round 1

Notes
— Jay Hieron’s original opponent (6-13 jobber Bryson Kamaka) was pulled from the event on Friday after testing positive for marijuana, and was replaced by Chris Kennedy. Hieron dominated Kennedy for three rounds with slams and ground-and-pound, but was unable to finish him. Kennedy left the fight with a golf-ball sized welt on his forehead.

— There was a minor altercation after the Alessio/Ray fight, when Ray threw his mouthpiece at Alessio’s sister, who wouldn’t stop cheering after the match was over. The mouthpiece missed her and struck the dude sitting next to her. Arena security quickly prevented the situation from escalating.

— The event will be broadcast on HDNet on October 17th at 10 p.m.

Crush and Sugar Free getting down at Xtreme Couture. Props to BloodyElbow.

A promo for SpikeTV’s upcoming preview show on “Breakthrough,” which features actual footage of Chuck Liddell’s hamstring injury in April, and Matt Hamill wreckin’ dudes as a kid. Props to FiveOuncesofPain.

(Battle of the Teams Who Only Win About 60% of the Time.)

After doing a little bit of digging on Sherdog’s Fight Statistics section, MMA Madness posted a list of the ten most successful MMA camps (with at least 100 combined fights):

1. Arizona Combat Sports, 116-27, .81
1. Jackson’s Submission Fighting, 124-30, .81
3. Minnesota Martial Arts, 243-64, .79
4. Team Curran, 108-42, .77
4. American Jiu-Jitsu, 92-28, .77
4. American Kickboxing Academy, 174-53, .77
7. HIT Squad, 80-25, .76
7. Capital City Fighting Alliance, 78-25, .76
7. Southwest MMA, 78-25, .76
7. Miletich Martial Arts, 457-148, .76

Falling just out of the top ten were ATT, Xtreme Couture, Team Punishment, and The Pit.

In the interest of fairness, we compiled the ten least successful MMA camps. If you were thinking about joining up with these guys, think twice.

When Vitor Belfort knocked out Terry Martin at Affliction: Banned (see above video, in case you didn’t get the FSN broadcast), it was hard not to think that “The Phenom” was back. But what we didn’t know was that he did it with a broken hand. As he told the Xtreme Couture blog, he basically fought the whole bout that way:

XC: When did you break your hand?

Vitor: The first punch I threw. It was a straight left. I knew right away it broke. But I had to keep going. I couldn’t throw my combinations I had worked on. Coach Tompkins was yelling at me to throw my combos. At the end of the first round I went back to the corner and Tompkins was yelling at me, “Why don’t you throw your combos?” I said, “My hand is broken”. He said, “Ok” and Randy said, “Just go first. Go for it and finish the fight”.

I said to myself, “Ok, I’ll do that”. It was great chemistry in the corner. I went out and I did what they said. I was looking to land a big shot and get it over with. It’s my left hand, which is my power hand. I went out and threw the kick at Terry. When he caught my kick I let him take me down so I could soften him up with the elbows. I knew I could get back to my feet when I needed to. Then I set him up for the knee. After that I was able to pick his head up with the uppercut and end it with the straight left.

Belfort says he won’t need surgery, but will have to take about four weeks off before getting back in action. He also says that he has a contract with Affliction and wants to fight for them again soon, hopefully against Frank Shamrock. While that might not be the most feasible request at the current time, perhaps a derogatory t-shirt (always a favorite of ours) will get things moving in the right direction.

An unrelated but also interesting moment in the interview comes when Belfort comments on how he first got into MMA under the guidance of Carlson Gracie, before things got ugly:

(Belfort working with striking guru Shawn Tompkins at Xtreme Couture.)

Xtreme Couture helped Wanderlei Silva get back in the win column, so maybe they can help Vitor Belfort get back to the days when he was unironically referred to as “The Phenom” and the UFC pre-fight information graphic described him as having “no known weaknesses.”

Okay, so that was a long time ago and the sport has changed since then, but Belfort’s working with Xtreme Couture for his fight against Terry Martin at Affliction: Banned and it may be just what he needs to become relevant again. As he told MMA Weekly, it’s a different ballgame over there in Vegas:

“I think the mentality of Xtreme Couture is wonderful. It’s a great facility, a great group of sparring partners, good trainers. I really enjoy it. Everybody is equal over here. Coach Tompkins is wonderful. I’m having a great time with him and other coaches over here too. I think it’s the perfect environment for a fighter. It’s been a pleasure. I’ve developed my skills and I’m ready to go. I’m really enjoying it and being ready for my next fight.”

[...]

“We need people who stick together,” he stated. “We can fight against each other, but we’re friends. We’re all on the same page. We’re fighting for the same reason. We’re trying to put food on the table at home. There is going to be some time when we get together like a union.

Get together like a union, eh? That all sounds great, until the UFC hires the Pinkertons to come in with their billy clubs and blackjacks to break the whole thing up.

But whatever gets Belfort back to form, I’m all for it. Beating Terry Martin probably won’t be enough to hail his second coming, though you have to start somewhere. Those of us who remember Vitor at his best can hardly wait.

The Xtreme Fighting Association (XFA) recently announced the signing of Xtreme Couture trainer Shawn Tompkins to a three-fight deal in their K-1 style organization, and while there was initially no word on an opponent we all assumed it would be someone xtreme, like maybe one of those skateboarders from the Mountain Dew commercials. Now MMATraining.com is reporting that Tompkins’ first opponent may be none other than Ken Shamrock:

“I just signed a 3 fight deal with XFA, which is a K-1 kickboxing promotion in Las Vegas. I’ll be doing my first fight September 26th. Between September, December and February. They are looking at my first fight being Ken Shamrock”.

As much as those who train under him love to talk about Tompkins as some kind of Yoda of the fight game, his brief foray into MMA was, shall we say, unsuccessful. Perhaps returning to his roots as a kickboxer is a good idea.

Of course, embarking on a new career as a kickboxer is probably not a good idea for Shamrock, but that never stopped him before. Perhaps Tompkins will have to make an xample out of him. See what I’ve done there? I’m going to go cry now.

(“Oh, my daughter’s going to be so excited that I met Jay-Z!”)

Via Fightline.com — Kimbo Slice responds to the rumors that he was knocked out by Forrest Griffin in a recent sparring match at Xtreme Couture:

“No, there is no truth to that at all. It’s bullshit and Forrest Griffin will tell you that it’s bullshit too. The fact is it was a good sparring session and I was training with Forrest and he was talking to me about defending yourself at all times and then he threw a big kick and I was like, ‘WOAH I never even seen that coming’. But no, I never got knocked out. Even if I did get knocked out, saying that and putting that rumor out there just makes you a pussy.”

Wait a minute, so did you or did you not get knocked out? And why are you choking that old lady? Is she your accountant’s wife or something? Did she tap or nap?

(Shawn Tompkins works out with Wanderlei Silva.)

Here’s a story from over the weekend that fell through the cracks during our full-court-press of UFC 82 coverage yesterday. Remember when the IFL announced it had changed the name of Team Xtreme Couture to Team Tompkins out of respect for Couture’s legal situation with the UFC? Turns out, it didn’t go down like that. Randy Couture has a much different version of the events on the Xtreme Couture blog. Dig:

On January 8 we submitted a list of seven (7) fighters to the IFL that would be available to fight in the IFL event from the Xtreme Couture gym. The fighters were: Dennis Davis 145lbs (16-8), Jay White Heavyweight (2-5), Phil Friedman Heavyweight (1-0), Eric Uresk 155lbs (2-3), Josh Haynes 185lbs (8-8), Johnny Hendricks 170lbs (3-0), and Karina Taylor 135lbs (0-1).

The IFL informed us that Dennis Davis would be booked to fight a prelim bout against Ian Loveland and that none of our other fighters would be utilized. According to the IFL none of our fighters were a proper matchup for Mario Sperry’s team of Brazilian fighters. The IFL intended to field a team of Benji Radach (who due to injury was replaced by Josh Haynes), Santino DeFranco and Lew Polley. Radach had been a member of Shawn Tompkins’ Anacondas team, while DeFranco and Polley are from American Top Team.

Lew Polley and Santino DeFranco are tremendous athletes and excellent fighters. However, they are members of American Top Team not Xtreme Couture. American Top Team is a great squad and by all means seem to be deserving of having their own team in the IFL. We have 35 athletes that train in our Las Vegas gym and proudly wear the Xtreme Couture patch on their shorts during fights. Yet the IFL decided to field a team called “Xtreme Couture” without putting any Xtreme Couture athletes on the team. The Patriots didn’t show up in the Super Bowl with a bunch of players from the Packers. Why would the Xtreme Couture name be put on the line and not be represented by Xtreme Couture fighters.

It is because of this that the team name was changed to ”Team Tompkins”.

DeFranco and Polley lost their fights, and Josh Haynes won, so nyeh nyeh nyeh on you, IFL. It’s kind of shocking that they would reject the guys that Randy Couture wanted to compete for his gym, and replace their actual fighters with ringers. When Couture signed on to field a team for the 2008 season, I figured that the IFL would bend over backwards to keep him happy. But they had their own plans, and now Randy’s like “I’m done with these jokers, let Tompkins worry about it.” The main reason we were excited about the IFL’s new camp vs. camp system was the idea that we’d be seeing the relatively unknown guys that each coach had hand-picked to represent their gyms. Unfortunately, the new season isn’t any less artificial than the last. Oh well; maybe they can get their shit together in 2009.

There’s another notable recent post on the Xtreme Couture blog which mentions Ken Shamrock swinging through the gym to work out when he was in town for the IFL event: “The World’s Most Dangerous Man tells us he hopes to fight Kimbo and his brother Frank after his March fight in the UK.” Could we be seeing Slice/Shamrock on CBS this summer? Cross your fingers and toes, because that would be huge — not only as a ratings draw, but because Kimbo would finally get the challenge he deserves.

What do y’all think, Kimbo by KO or Shamrock by leg-lock?

Here’s the video of Kim Couture’s amateur kickboxing debut, which went down at the Xtreme Couture gym in Las Vegas on Friday. Listen to her introduction at 4:02-4:13; am I crazy or is Kim’s nickname “Sugar Free”? Fight starts at the 4:44 mark, and Kim doesn’t look half bad, landing a lot of sharp body kicks and utilizing the reach advantage of her “monkey arms.” But Clarkson dominates in the third two-minute round, and if there was a decision, the Canadian visitor would have probably taken it. Randy shows up at 16:03 for some post-fight analysis.

(Tompkins at work.)

The first round of the UFC/Randy Couture legal dust-up was scored 10-9 for the UFC, as Xtreme Couture has asked the IFL to remove their name from tonight’s 2008 season opener (more on that later) due to Randy’s ongoing litigation with the UFC. MMAPayout reports that the camp will instead use the name Team Tompkins, named for Xtreme Couture’s head trainer Shawn Tompkins, who has been coaching the team. Team Tompkins will feature last year’s contenders Chris Horodecki and Benji Radach, and reigning welterweight champion Jay Hieron. According to Joe Favorito, the IFL’s Senior VP of Communications, “The IFL is not in any way involved in this litigation, we are doing this out of professional courtesy for Randy and his group.” According to FightOpinion, judge Jennifer Togliatti ruled for further proceedings in terms of discovery (whatever that means), with the next hearing set for March 6th.

Though this move seems like a major concession to the UFC’s complaint that Couture is promoting other MMA organizations, he still has that “false and injurious statements” thing to deal with, which won’t be as easily solved as a name change. But at least it looks like Couture won’t be stonewalling for stonewalling’s sake; he’s willing to bend on the small stuff in order to free himself from his contract. More on this as it comes…

Previously: Shawn Tompkins Gets Knocked Out Four Times

And also: Inside Xtreme Couture Episode 2

Kim and Randy take us inside the Xtreme Couture gym, and give us unnecessary insight about the Couture-household chore-wheel.

Bill Goldberg’s lowlights from “Street Certified.” Gotta love the soap-opera staredown at 0:48 and the Kimbo ass-slap out of nowhere at 1:08.

(Props: BloodyElbow)

Though he wasn’t the one who did the actual stomping of Wanderlei Silva’s head during the infamous PRIDE 31 Chute Boxe/Hammer House riot, Phil Baroni did jump into the ring to defend Mark Coleman against the attacking Brazilians, and Wanderlei seemed to feel that the New York Bad Ass was equally to blame for his rough treatment. The must-see video below shows Mark Coleman’s attempt at an apology after that show, which was not well received.

Fortunately, Silva seems to have buried with hatchet with Baroni, as the two are now training partners at Xtreme Couture. According to Xtreme Couture’s official blog, Silva is focusing on improving his wrestling and dealing with the limitations of the cage in preparation for his next fight:

Despite physically training here for the Chuck fight, Wanderlei didn’t train with our team outside of sparring with Shawn Tompkins. Instead he worked with his personal trainers. Wanderlei tells us that when he went to rope a dope Chuck in the first round of their fight he realized he couldn’t bounce of the cage and counter Chuck the way he could coming off the ropes in the PRIDE ring.

Training partner Phil Baroni says Wanderlei is already picking up some of Randy’s tricks after the first session. “He feels strong. He’s open minded and willing to learn. He picks things up fast.” The New York Bad Ass adds, “Once he learns to use the cage and incorporate wrestling into his game he’ll be really tough to beat in the UFC. It’s an honor to train with Wanderlei. He’s a guy I’ve always tried to emulate and I look up to him.”

Is there anything more humiliating than being Wanderlei Silva and having Phil Baroni pat you on the head and say “You’re doing such a good job! You’re picking this up so fast!” Poor bastard.

Also, there’s this bombshell:

Randy says that he and Wanderlei will continue working up until Wand’s next fight. We’re not sure if we’re allowed to say who he is fighting next. But we’re told it will happen in May and it is someone who has fought Chuck. He and the rest of the UFC’s 205lb division had best be on notice…Wanderlei tells us he’d like to rack up a couple of wins and rematch Chuck on New Year’s.

Specifically, Keith Jardine had best be on notice.

The IFL announced this morning that Xtreme Couture middleweight contender Benji Radach has pulled out of the IFL’s 2008 season opener in Las Vegas on February 29th due to injury. Replacing him in the scheduled bout against World Class Fight Center’s Leopoldo Serao is a face that’s familiar to many — particularly Michael Bisping’s fists. Radach’s Xtreme Couture camp-mate Josh “Bring the Pain” Haynes, who competed as a light heavyweight on the third season of The Ultimate Fighter, will be stepping in to make his IFL debut as a 185-pounder. Haynes, who sports a Ken/Tank-esque 2-6 record in his last 8 professional fights, was optimistic about his chances against Brazilian submission-artist Serao:

“It’s a style matchup. You’ve got a jiu-jitsu guy coming in to face a standup striker and a brawler, and it’s just going to be one of those classic, who-can-impose their will kind of fights. This is something I’ve been looking forward to for a while. I think this kid will come to bang and if he stands in front of me he’ll go to sleep. I love the opportunity and I love the matchup.”

Following his loss to Michael Bisping at the TUF 3 finale, Haynes lost a decision to Rory Singer, was knocked out by Luke Cummo, and was dropped from the UFC. His last fight was a knockout loss to Cedric Marks at XCF Battlegrounds in November. Now, for your viewing displeasure, we present Haynes’s fight against Singer, as narrated by some punk-ass 12-year-old: