death

Mike Straka with Fox News Fight Game was at yesterday’s memorial for Tapout’s Charles “Mask” Lewis at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California.  Well-known MMA figures like Lorenzo Fertitta, Joe Rogan, and Josh Barnett all spoke about what Mask meant to the sport, and TapouT’s Dan “Punkass” Caldwell urged that he be remembered for helping people. 

Whatever you think of the facepaint (and there’s even a glimpse of a photo of Mask without it, if you’re curious), you know you’ve lived some kind of life when they hold your memorial at a place with “cathedral” in its name.  RIP, buddy.

(Via RawVegas.tv)

Well, this is far less awkward than Wanderlei Silva’s advertisement/guided tour of his own gym, because this time around we have a native English speaker to help us make sense of what the hell’s happening.  Dave Farra is also crafty enough to use the tour of the facility as a ruse to ask Silva the hard questions, like, does he think GSP cheated?  ("He dominate the fight, he don’t need this, no?")  Does he want another shot at “Rampage” Jackson?  ("Of course.")  ‘Sup with the playground?  ("The kids need to have fun too, you know?")

I’m satisfied with those answers.  Although I am surprised to hear that Silva had a six-month training camp before the Jackson fight.  On one hand, that can't be a good idea.  On the other hand, if only you could put Silva's work ethic in B.J. Penn's body.

After the jump, Dana White talks more about the death of TapouT’s “Mask” and explains why the news hit Chuck Liddell especially hard.

(Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

In a new tribute/report titled "The Man That Was 'Mask'," Sherdog adds some backstory to the tragic death of TapouT founder Charles Lewis Jr. As it turns out, Lewis was as sober as Jeffrey Kirby was drunk, and the street-racing theory is probably off-base as well. Here's what we know now:

A criminal trial for Kirby is tentatively scheduled for next month.

The L.A. Times provides some new information about the car accident that left TapouT’s Charles “Mask” Lewis dead, his fiancée in the hospital, and the other driver in police custody, and at the moment all signs point to street racing as the cause of the accident:

Police said the two cars appeared to have been traveling side by side at a high rate of speed at 12:57 a.m. on Jamboree Road near the Upper Newport Bay when they collided. Officers said they are investigating whether the drivers were racing.

The Porsche driver, identified as Jeffrey David Kirby, 51, of Costa Mesa, was arrested after allegedly abandoning his car on a side street near the collision and taking off on foot with his female passenger. Kirby is being held on suspicion of felony drunk driving and driving under the influence. Bail is set at $2 million.

It’s still too early to say if it was really an ill-advised street race that killed the TapouT co-founder, but when two high-performing sports cars traveling side-by-side on a long, straight road at 1 a.m. ends with a high-speed fatal accident, that’s often the cause.  That, or maybe some type of road rage incident, which isn’t any better.  From the sounds of things the driver of the Porsche, Jeffrey David Kirby, has had his share of vehicular problems:

(Props: KingAtRock1)

Okay, this is pretty sweet.  Video highlight-maker KingAtRock1 has put together a look at the five best pound-for-pound fighters in MMA.  Sure, you could say he whitewashes Urijah Faber's recent history in the cage, but overall it's a solid list and I had a good time watching it.  Just good, clean fun.

I was just flipping through this month's copy of Fight! Magazine, which features a photo spread on the UFC's newest Octagon girl, Logan Stanton, and then lo and behold here's Yahoo's Steve Cofield doing a video interview with her at the Arnold Classic.  You have to admit Logan's pretty damn adorable, and her dorky, "Revenge of the Nerds" laugh somehow only makes her more so.  Leave it to that classy son of a bitch Cofield to ask her if she's going to get a boob job.  Nice, Steve.

After the jump, Frank Trigg remembers TapouT's "Mask."