Global Gossip

Saturday Feb. 21
Emerald Queen Casino
Seattle, Washington

Results for M-1 Challenge Presented by Affliction

FINLAND vs. BENELUX

     Juha-Pekka Vainikainen (Finland) vs. Danny van Bergen (Benelux)
     Janne Tulrinta (Finland) vs. Tommy Depret (Benelux)
     Lucio Linhares (Finland) vs. Kamil Uygun (Benelux)
     Marcus Vanttinen (Finland) vs. Jason Jones (Benelux)
     Toni Valtonen (Finland) vs. Sander Duyvis (Benelux)

SOUTH KOREA vs. THE IMPERIAL TEAM

     Dohyung Kim (South Korea) vs. Mikhail Malyutin (Imperial)
     Myungho Bae (South Korea) vs. Erik Oganov (Imperial)
     Hyungyu Lim (South Korea) vs. Dmirty Somoylov (Imperial)
     Jae Young Kim (South Korea) vs. Mikhail Zayats (Imperial)
     Sang Soo Lee (South Korea) vs. Alexey Oleinik (Imperial)

TEAM USA WEST vs. TEAM BRAZIL NAJA

     Dave Jansen (USA West) vs. Flavio Roberto Alvaro (Brazil)
     Dylan Clay (USA West) vs. Eduaro Pamplona (Brazil)
     Reggie Orr (USA West) vs. Juliano Cioffi Belgine (Brazil)
     Raphael Davis (USA West) vs. Jair Goncalves Junior (Brazil)
     Carl Seumanutafa (USA West) vs. Jose Edson dos Santos Franca (Brazil)

This will be the first ever WEC Event in Chicago.
Where: UIC Pavilion, Chicago, ILL
When:  Sunday, April 5

Here’s more information form WEC.tv

Las Vegas, NV (USA) – On Sunday, April 5, World Extreme Cagefighting® takes its maiden voyage to the Windy City of Chicago, and it’s bringing the best bantamweights in the world to the UIC Pavilion for WEC: Torres vs Bowles. In the main event, WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Angel Torres returns to fight in the Midwest for the first time in two years to face the biggest challenge to his crown yet in unbeaten Brian Bowles, and Island Lake, Illinois’ Jeff Curran looks to make his case for a shot at the belt when he battles undefeated phenom Joseph Benavidez.

Tickets for World Extreme Cagefighting go on sale at 10 a.m. CT Saturday, February 14 and will be priced at $45.00, $75.00, $125.00 and $175.00. A special Internet ticket pre-sale will be available to WEC newsletter subscribers Thursday, February 12 starting at noon CT. To access this presale, users must register for the WEC newsletter through wec.tv. Tickets will be available for purchase through the UIC Pavilion, online at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling Ticketmaster at 312-559-1212.

World Extreme Cagefighting will be televised live nationally on VERSUS beginning at 9:00pm ET/6:00pm PT. All live WEC events are presented in Hi-Definition (HD) where available. For more information and how to find VERSUS in your local viewing area, visit http://www.versus.com/findversus.

Universally regarded as one of mixed martial arts’ premier fighters, pound for pound, East Chicago, Indiana’s Miguel Angel Torres (35-1) is a dynamic performer who is deadly wherever the fight takes him. Owner of the WEC bantamweight championship since February of 2008, the 28-year old Torres has since defended his title with spectacular stoppages of Yoshiro Maeda and Manny Tapia, and with a third defense over Brian Bowles, he will continue to cement his position on top of the MMA world.

Athens, Georgia’s Brian Bowles (7-0) has taken an old school route to his bantamweight title shot, cleaning out all contenders in his path and leaving no questions about his status as the number one contender at 135 pounds. 4-0 in the WEC, the well-rounded 28-year old has finished Charlie Valencia, Marcos Galvao, Damacio Page, and Will Ribeiro to get his shot at the belt, and now he’s looking to finish off the king on April 5th.

A longtime favorite of the Midwest fight scene, former WEC featherweight contender and title challenger Jeff “Big Frog” Curran (31-10-1) has long had his sights set on Miguel Torres, and he has even dropped down to the bantamweight division to chase his local rival. There is business to take care of for both men first though, and for Curran, that means his clash with Joseph Benavidez on April 5th. So expect the 30-year old Curran to come out with guns blazing in order to move forward in the crowded bantamweight division.

The 24-year old Joseph Benavidez (9-0) came to the WEC last December with a lot of hype due to his raw talent and impressive previous performances, and he lived up to the expectations with a big win over Danny Martinez. Now the stablemate of former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber is ready for the next step in his career, and for him, there would be nothing better than to add the name Jeff Curran to his victims list.

All bouts subject to change. For more information about current WEC fight news, visit wec.tv.

Friday, February 20, 2009
by Tony Loiseleur (tloiseleur@sherdog.com)

Dream event producer Keiichi Sasahara announced on Friday the inclusion of two superfights for the Dream 7 featherweight grand prix card on March 8 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. In two lightweight clashes, Mitsuhiro Ishida will take on the stoic Daisuke Nakamura, while Shinya Aoki will face David Gardner.

Ishida (17-4-1), one of the names mentioned under consideration to face former lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez at Strikeforce “Shamrock vs. Diaz” on April 11 in San Jose, Calif., emerged as a hot prospect in Japan after eight straight wins buoyed him to the top of Pride Bushido’s ranks. Ishida sports key victories over Melendez and Marcus Aurelio, and annihilated wrestler Justin Wilcox at Strikeforce’s second Playboy Mansion event last September.

The weathered Nakamura (19-9) is on an eight-win streak after completing the first season of M-1 Challenge. He submitted crowd favorite Hideo Tokoro by armbar in 2:23 at K-1 New Year’s Eve event in Japan.

Considered one of the division’s wilier ground specialists, the 25-year-old Aoki had quite a run in the lightweight ranks in 2008 with victories over Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante, Caol Uno, and Eddie Alvarez.

Aoki (19-3), who still holds the Shooto world 168-pound title, is still expected to take his place in Dream’s welterweight (168 pound) tournament, which begins on April 5 at the NGK Insulators Hall in Nagoya, Japan.

A member of the U.S. squad for M-1 Challenge’s 2008 season, Gardner (19-10) earned a split decision against Kenneth Alexander in California’s Pure Combat promotion last November.

MMA Star (EliteXC Fighter) and American Gladiator Superstar Gina Carano aka "Crush" on the American Gladiators is now going to star as Natasha in the Command & Conquer Red alert 3. Natasha is a deadly Soviet Commando who will be ready to lay waste to all in the Battlefield.

Carano will appear as herself in HD in the mini movie clips during the game as well as being an animated character to use in game play.

Trigg put on a good show in the first round utilizing his boxing skills. The next two rounds had little action and you could see Trigg was winded. But in the last seconds of the fight it became a slug fest for both fighters and Trigg came out the unanimous winner.

After the fight Trigg announced he would no longer be fighting at 185 lbs and would drop to 170 lbs!

XCF “Rumble in Racetown” Results

Frank Trigg defeats Danny Babcock via unanimous decision

Zak Cummings defeats Terry Martin via split decision

Jesse Taylor defeats Gert Kocani via submission (rear-naked choke) Round 2, 4:45

Marcus Jones defeats John Juarez via TKO (punches) Round 1, 1:39

T.J. Cook defeats Scott Harper via KO (punch) Round 1, 1:37

Todd Cutler defeats Jeremy May via TKO (punches) Round 1, 4:07

Gilbert Burgos defeats Chris Thorne via TKO (doctor’s stoppage) Round 1, 1:17

Ryan Keenan defeats Blake Bowman via TKO (strikes) Round 1, 4:29

FRANK TRIGG HEADLINING "RUMBLE" ON VALENTINES DAY
by CYNTHIA VESPIA
FEBRUARY 12, 2009

“Rumble In Race Town” is set to take place this Saturday, February 14th at the Daytona Beach Ocean Center. Not your traditional Valentine’s Day celebration but hearts will be pumping nonetheless as Top 10 World ranked MMA Fighter Frank Trigg is ready to make his 2009 debut with Xtreme Cagefighting Federation. The event is being held on the eve of the 51st running of the Daytona 500.

MMA fans and NASCAR fans will have a chance to mingle as these two sports intertwine for the very first time. Coming off three straight wins, Trigg is ready to keep his win streak alive by fighting in the main event.

Q: How did this fight come about?

TRIGG: We had several options this year for fights, but NASCAR racing and the Daytona 500 is the biggest of the big. So fighting the night before the 500 is something I could not turn down. I’m excited to be headlining.

Q: What kind of training have you done to prepare?

TRIGG: I train at Tim Soder’s (in Las Vegas) from 530 am until about 7am. I’ve also been spending a lot of time with Randy Couture. I’m over at Xtreme Couture MMA Training Facility daily for about two hours. And I’ve added in some sparring with Jay Hieron, Mike Pyle, Tyson Griffin…John Alessio comes in for a couple of rounds as well. There’s so many great sparring partners.

Q: What is your nutrition and supplementation plan like?

TRIGG: I use fish oil for soreness. White willow bark, milk thistle, vitamin c, and branch chain aminos are staples. I also supplement with a good quality protein two to three times a day.

Q: You’re a busy man these days. What prompted you to take on so many different entrepreneurial positions?

TRIGG: I don’t care how good you are, fighting only comes two or three times a year. I try not to take that much time off. I like to train all the time, but you can’t really do it so I gotta have stuff to do, I’m just too hyperactive. Everything was just a natural progression. For instance my clothing line took on a life of itself.

Q: Tell us about that, what is Triggonomics?

TRIGG: Triggonomics first started as an accessory line to Frank Trigg. When I won it would sell, when I lost it wouldn’t. Now it’s evolved into a full blown fashion line that can survive independent of me.The line is built for the guys already making a statement, not the ones trying to make one with a shirt. It’s not about being tough.

The toughest man to me is the guy that stays in the background and doesn’t say anything. Everyday he takes care of his family, goes to the daily grind, puts food on the table and never bitches and moans. He has to get up at four in the morning and work until four in the afternoon but never misses anything his kids are doing but he’s working twelve hour shifts everyday…and barely just getting by but the kids have no idea, they think the world is great.

That to me is the toughest guy in the world, the guy who puts the glimmer in his kids eyes and never once lets you know that shit is falling apart.

Q: Are you looking to make a particular statement either in the ring or outside?

TRIGG: Generally it would be what our impact is on this world. We are all role models to someone. There’s somebody looking up to you no matter who it is. Whether it’s one person who is going to read this article, or one child who watches what you do, or one guy that sees you out there working out and gets inspired to fight and wants to train.

So yeah, everybody can be something if they choose to be. There is nothing that can keep you down if you don’t choose to be kept down. If you want to strive to get better and be better then go ahead and do it. Anybody in this world can do it if they choose to. That’s kind of the statement I’m making with my clothing line. We have to be conscious of the impact we’re making.

We have to be conscious of what we do in the world; we have to be conscious of how we approach things because there is an impact in what we do. Accept the consequences of your actions because there is going to be an impact.

Q: What do you think is next for you?

TRIGG: I don’t know what’s next. Y’now the economy has hurt everybody. Everybody is feeling the pinch no matter how you look at it.

Q: Are you going to watch the races after your fight?

TRIGG: Oh yea, I’ll definitely be there.

NEW YORK (Feb. 11, 2009)-Three-time world champion and mixed martial arts legend, Frank Shamrock (24-9-1), will make his dramatic return to the cage when he squares off with fellow knockout artist Nick Diaz (18-7, 1 NC) in the main event of Strikeforce’s first MMA event of the year at San Jose, California’s HP Pavilion on Saturday, April 11.

The event represents the dawn of a new age for Strikeforce as it will be the first event under its new television agreement with premium television network SHOWTIME. The live telecast will feature up to five fights including the Shamrock-Diaz main event beginning live at 10 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast).

The matchup, which will be contested at a catch weight of 179 lbs, is an opportunity for the hard-punching Diaz to avenge a devastating, 21-second knockout that his trainer, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu master Cesar Gracie, suffered at the hands of Shamrock in the main event of Strikeforce’s historic MMA debut event at HP Pavilion on March 10, 2006.

Also on the fight card, middleweight (185-pound limit) sluggers Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith (16-5, 1 NC) and Benji “Razor” Radach (19-4) will battle each other in a featured contest.

Tickets for “Shamrock vs. Diaz,” priced from $30, go on sale to the general public on Monday, February 23, at 10 a.m. PT at the HP Pavilion box office (408-287-7070) as well as at all Ticketmaster locations (408-998-TIXS), Ticketmaster online (www.ticketmaster.com), and Strikeforce’s official website (www.strikeforce.com).

“I’d be pretty pissed off if someone smashed my coach,” said the 36-year-old Shamrock, who is regarded by many as the father of modern day MMA. “Diaz is going to be carrying the pride of his school with him, but a fight’s a fight. Someone’s getting smashed and it’s just not going to be me.”

A San Jose, Calif. resident, Shamrock earned his lofty stature by bringing to the sport a polished, hybrid fighting style combining western boxing, kickboxing and submission wrestling in the mid-90’s when most MMA competitors’ skills were heavily concentrated in a single fight discipline. He was crowned the first UFC middleweight champion in history after stopping “The Huntington Beach Badboy” Tito Ortiz with an onslaught of strikes in what is regarded as one of the greatest MMA battles of all-time.

“I’m done breaking myself for entertainment,” Shamrock continued. “I’m just going to break everybody else and they’ll be entertained by that.”

Diaz, a stone-faced 25-year-old Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt from Stockton, Calif., responded, “Frank and I have always lived in a 100 mile radius of each other. When I got into this (sport), the people around here were all about Frank Shamrock, so I turned around and walked the other way.”

“I’ve crossed paths and trained with people who have also trained with Frank,” continued Diaz. “I know what they do, how they fight, and the way they act, so it’s great for me to get this fight while I’m still young. There’s a lot of things I can talk about, but I’m going to represent Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and I’m down for whatever’s going to happen in this fight.”

Diaz is long known as one of MMA’s most rebellious characters with a short fuse and crowd-pleasing style. He exploded onto the national MMA scene when he stunned fellow rising star “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler with a right hook to the jaw that put Lawler flat on the canvas at UFC 47 on April 2, 2004.

When he steps in the cage with Shamrock, Diaz will look to notch his fourth consecutive victory after turning in a flawless 2008 in which he stopped all three of his opponents, including his last adversary, Thomas “The Wildman” Denny.

”I just got a bigger picture of what’s going on in my life and in the world,” said Diaz of his recent success. “I think I just needed to grow up a bit. I did that and things are coming to me much easier now.”

Shamrock’s start will be his first since March 29, 2008, when he sustained a broken right arm while attempting to defend the Strikeforce world middleweight championship against longtime Bay Area rival and undefeated kickboxing champion Cung Le.

A Le round kick to the body caused the injury and prevented Shamrock from coming out to fight for the fourth round of a championship bout scheduled for five rounds.

“It healed up like it never happened,” said Shamrock of his arm that underwent surgery.

Prior to the title defense, Shamrock was crowned the first Strikeforce middleweight MMA champion in history after choking “The New York Badass” Phil Baroni unconscious in the second round of their live SHOWTIME PPV® battle at HP Pavilion on June 22, 2007.

Showtime Networks Inc. and Strikeforce jointly announced last week a multi-year agreement to create an all-new series of MMA events that will air live on SHOWTIME as part of the SHOWTIME Sports franchise. The two entities will produce and televise up to 16 live events per year, including world championship fight cards as well as a series dedicated to showcasing up-and-coming fighters in the sport.

The agreement reunites SHOWTIME and Strikeforce following their successful “Shamrock vs. Baroni” event, presented by SHOWTIME PPV in 2007 and the Shamrock vs. Cung Le telecast, which aired live on SHOWTIME.

About Strikeforce
Strikeforce is a world-class mixed martial arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made history with its “Shamrock vs. Gracie” event, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California state history. The star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary champion Frank Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at San Jose’s HP Pavilion, played host to a sold-out, record crowd of 18,265. Since 1995, Strikeforce has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for ESPN and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing promotion, the company unveiled its mixed martial arts series with “Shamrock vs. Gracie.” Since then, it has co-produced the first SHOWTIME PPV mixed martial arts event in history with its world championship “Shamrock vs. Baroni” card on June 22nd of this year followed by the first-ever mixed martial arts event at the world-famous Playboy Mansion on September 29th.

About Showtime Networks Inc.

Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL® and FLIX®, as well as the multiplex channels SHOWTIME 2™, SHOWTIME® SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME®, SHOWTIME BEYOND®, SHOWTIME NEXT®, SHOWTIME WOMEN®, SHOWTIME FAMILY ZONE® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL® XTRA. SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL® HD, SHOWTIME ON DEMAND® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL® ON DEMAND. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution. All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV®.

Strikeforce has announced its April 11th fight to be aired on Showtime between Shamrock and Diaz.

The fight card is till in the works but here some tentative bouts:

Frank Shamrock (23-9-2) vs. Nick Diaz (18-7)

Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith (14-5)  vs. Benji “Razor” Radach (19-4)

Gilbert Melendez vs. Yet to be announced

Possible fight: Josh Thomson vs. KJ Noons

Cung Le would be fighting on this card but is currently recovering form an elbow injury.

Will keep an update on this card.

That would be a great fight but one we will probably never see. But Jones Jr. would welcome the fight if the UFC would let it happen.

Check out this article by Mike Harris from Sherdog.com

Jones Jr. to Mix MMA & Boxing
by Mike Harris

Eight-time world boxing champion Roy Jones Jr. is moving into MMA, albeit on the promotional side of things.

His Square Ring Promotions will put on “March Badness,” a mixed boxing/MMA card on March 21 at the Pensacola Civic Center in Florida. A light heavyweight boxing match between Jones (52-5) and Omar Sheika (27-8) will be the main event, Jones said at a news conference Wednesday at the venue, where the show will be broadcast live on pay-per-view.

In an interview with Sherdog.com, Jones said he decided to test the waters of MMA promotions “because I respect all kinds of fighters. People are always saying, ‘Boxing this, MMA that.’ But both of those are hand-to-hand combat man-to-man. Anyone who will fight another man straight up like that, I got nothing but the utmost respect for.

“So to cure the stigma that we don’t like MMA or that we’re against it, to prove my point, I’m going to start promoting them too,” Jones said. “And they have a huge fan base too. They love fighting. Boxing. Ultimate fighting. It’s all still fighting.”

Jones said he does not understand the boxing-versus-MMA mentality.

“Why do people keep trying to pull us apart?” he asked. “Why not come together and make for an even bigger situation and make it better for both sports? MMA has something that boxing doesn’t have, which boxing needs to acknowledge.”

Jones said he believes the audience is there for a promotion combining boxing matches with MMA bouts.

“I know there is because a lot of times, the only time people get disappointed in MMA cards is when they don’t give them enough rounds,” he said. “In boxing, you always get enough rounds or a little more than you really want. So how about mixing the two and make it good for everybody? You get enough rounds, plus you get enough action too.”

Jones said the boxing skills of some MMA fighters are good enough for them to compete against professional boxers.

“Some of them can,” he said. “But you have to remember, not all of them have a boxing background. But boxing is only one of the components that make up MMA. You have to be good at at least two components: either boxing, either wrestling, or some form of jiu-jitsu or something like that.”

One such MMA fighter whose boxing skills Jones respects is UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, who has said he would like to box Jones.

Jones said he would relish the fight.

“That would be a wonderful fight,” he said. “He is a good fighter and a good boxer and he’s quick and he’s tall and he’s left-handed. So he’s the kind of guy that really, in boxing, creates a problem for me.”

Jones said the UFC should allow Silva to fight him.

“They won’t, but why not allow us to come together?” Jones asked. “That’s a fight the people would like to see.”

Jones said the “March Badness” undercard will feature three MMA bouts: Seth Petruzelli (10-4-0) vs. former WEC light heavyweight champion Doug Marshall (9-3-0) in a light heavyweight fight, Roy Nelson (13-3-0) vs. Jeff Monson (27-8-0) in a heavyweight bout and former collegiate/WWE wrestler Bobby Lashley against an as-yet unnamed opponent. Petruzelli’s fight will be his first since his spectacular 14-second TKO of Kevin Ferguson, aka Kimbo Slice, at Elite XC “Heat” last Oct. 4.

In another boxing match on the card, IBF No. 2-ranked cruiserweight B.J. Flores (22-0-1) will fight another as-yet unnamed opponent.

I was asking myself this question when I found this article on Sherdog.com. Check it out.

Strikeforce, ‘Slice’ Look to Next Fight

Tuesday, February 10, 2009
by Loretta Hunt (lhunt@sherdog.com)

16146
Strikeforce, “Kimbo Slice” is waiting for your call.

Slice, also known as Kevin Ferguson, was among the 42 fighters whose contracts were purchased by Strikeforce last week in a select assets transfer deal with Pro Elite. However, as of late Monday, Ferguson’s management said that the promotion had yet to contact the bearded fighter who shot to unprecedented fame in 2008 under the EliteXC banner.

Ferguson’s manager and longtime friend, Mike Imber, said his team is open to working with the California promotion, which just landed a three-year, 16-event deal with Showtime that could also include four live specials on CBS.

“I don’t see why not,” said Imber. “Kimbo wants to fight, so if that’s who got the contract, then that’s who we fight with.”

With double its usual event schedule to produce in the next year, there appears to be room for the ESPN magazine cover boy in the Strikeforce stable. However, exactly how Ferguson is promoted and marketed and what he’s paid could become sticking points in the very near future.

Ferguson received $175,000 for his 43-second knockout of David “Tank” Abbott at EliteXC “Street Certified” in February 2008. His pay jumped to $500,000 for his 14-second loss last October at the hands of Petruzelli, a light heavyweight who was pulled up from the undercard after Ken Shamrock was deemed medically ineligible to fight that same day.

Strikeforce will host its first event under the new agreement on April 11 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., though Ferguson is not on deck to participate as of yet. The 35-year-old father of six has at least three fights remaining on what appears to be an exclusive contract, according to both sides.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker remained ambiguous with his immediate plans for Slice during an interview last Friday with the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show.

“Picture a guy that has some streetfighting capabilities that seems like he can punch pretty good, but put him in an MMA situation,” said Coker. “He’s not a journeyman fighter, he’s not a superstar in MMA –- he’s just learning. He got thrown into the spotlight at a high level where there’s a lot of pressure to perform, but he probably needed 10 to 12 fights under his belt before he took that leap.”

Coker, who’s promoted kickboxers since the mid 80s and has helmed some of the most lucrative MMA events stateside outside of the UFC, seemed less impressed with Ferguson’s handling by Pro Elite.

“I think that if you look back at the past, he could have been built up to have the fights that he needed to face the Seth Petruzellis of the world and be successful, but he wasn’t given the opportunity,” said Coker. “When I look at Kimbo, I don’t look at it as his fault. He was in a ‘no win’ situation.”

Ferguson’s manager Imber didn’t disagree with Coker’s assessment.

“It seems pretty accurate, I guess,” said Imber. “He definitely didn’t control what happened to him. He just went along with what was thrown at him. He wasn’t the one who said, ‘Hey, put me in the spotlight.’ They put him there and they got what they wanted.”

Ferguson’s drawing power has been unmatched. In addition to becoming an overnight cultural icon that kids dressed up as last Halloween, two of Slice’s four career bouts are among the top three most watched fights in MMA history — his third-round victory over James Thompson at EliteXC “Primetime” on May 31 for CBS drew nearly 7.3 million viewers to take the top spot. But Ferguson’s October loss to Petruzelli — which was buried under accusations that Petruzelli has been paid to keep the fight standing to coddle Slice –- brought detractors out of the woodwork.

Could Ferguson’s time in the spotlight be dwindling and can he still command the same “bread” he did with Pro Elite, a company that lost its shirt in the promotions game?

“He’s never fought for centerstage,” said Imber. “He wasn’t like, ‘Well, I’m not going to show up if I’m not the main attraction.’ He’s fine with that. Lowering the money is obviously not good, but, hey, let somebody call us. We’ll go from there. We can’t go off anything if nobody calls.”

Much like the impromptu backyard brawls all over southern Florida that made him an Internet icon, Imber said Ferguson is just waiting for a name, date, and place.

“Kimbo would fight tonight if the circumstances were right,” said Imber. “All I know is we’ve been waiting for a while and he’s definitely ready to fight, so whatever we need to do to get him fighting is what we want to do. Getting out of [the contract] would just mean more time not fighting.”

Well Affliction only has a couple fights under their belt, but I have to say they have been good fights even some great fights. Honestly the have a larger talent pool to choose from then many people give them credit for. Plus they have superstars backing them up, when you the Golden Boy Oscar De LA Hoya, Donald Trump, Tito Ortiz and M-1 Global all working together you have a superstar of an organization that can draw crowds to rival any event.

Check out more on this in our forums sections

There is lots of talk that Affliction fight promotions is going bankrupt or out of business. Many people don’t know how they could be doing so bad with such great numbers at the last two fights,endorsements by Donald Trump and Oscar De La Hoya and a hugely successful clothing line all backing the Affliction Fight Promotions.  Not to mention working with M-1 Global who has the one of, if not the best, fighters in the world on contract. Any MMA fan’s ears perk when they hear the name Fedor, so is Affliction really going out of business.

Well the answer looks to be no, Affliction isn’t looking to end it’s operation as a fight promotion. VP of Affliction entertainment Tom Atencio says they are rumors and nothing else. Donald Trump Jr. has also been shooting down rumors of the Affliction fall, stating they don’t plan on flooding the market with fights every weekend but by giving the fans a few fights and making those fights the best fights available.

So is Affliction done with fight promotions? The answer seams to be NO! That is something I feel is awesome news and I hope they keep doing such a great job.

But on a side note this means we might never get to see a Fedor vs Lesnar, and I am sure that all MMA fans would like to see this one go down.

As you may or may not of heard UFC vet Justin Eilers has left us in an unfortunate turn of events over the Christmas Holiday.

It was about 10:30 last night that the incident occurred. James Robert Malec is being charged with second degree murder and is currently being held at the Canyon County Jail.

Eilers has been in the fight game for along time and will be missed.

Many prayers go out to his family, and everyone here at Bodybuilding.com sends their condolences.

Eilers (19 - 6 - 1) in his career fought such stars as Andre Arvloski and Brandon Vera and was 3-3 in the UFC/WEC.

He was an Idaho native who went on to play football at Iowa State University before returning to the fight game and making a career out of it. He has been training with Miletech for some time now and was loved by the many he trained with.

Muay Thai fighter and one of my best friends Johnny De Beer who moved here from Holland and married fitness model Noy Alexander tried his luck last weekend in Vegas.  John has done some fitness modeling for M&F along with some Europe magazines since moving to the USA and is also one of the stars of the new reality tv show Superbodies.  Last weekend Vegas held the fitness America contest and with over 70 guys, and John tried his luck for his first show.  John walked away with 6th place but several people at the show said that John should have been 2nd.  Im sure with the fighter he is John will be back!

Two of the most explosive heavyweights of all time came back to the world of MMA and did not dissapoint.  
Arguably the pound for pound best fighter the world has ever seen, Fedor Emelianenko dismantled former UFC HW champ Tim Sylvia in a mere 36 seconds.  Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski returned to his championship form as he destroyed "Big" Ben Rothwell.  

After the Fedor fight there is no question in my mind who the top fighter is, it’s him!  He’s like the terminator, he comes to the ring emotionless with a blank stare and once that bell rings, it’s on!  Sylvia had a game plan to use his jab to keep him at bay, but that didn’t work as Fedor bum rushed him with barrage of punishing punches that floored the 6′8 giant.  On the ground Fedor wasted no time sinking in a half a$$ guillotine choke that did the trick as Big Tim quickly tapped out.  
Fedor earned the WAMMA heavy weight belt that was presented by Donald Trump.  He was asked who he wanted to fight next and he said Randy Couture!  Couture entered the ring and had a chat with his friend Fedor and was hopeful that this supersite would take place this year.  Stay tuned for that one!

I was sitting excuse me standing sixth row during the event and the electricity of the crowd was over whelming.  The crowd was very much Pro Fedor.  
I’ve had the opportunity to witness a lot of fights live and this by far was the best!  If Fedor is fighting anywhere near you, you gotta check it out.

I was also able to score a picture with Randy and let him know about what bodybuilding.com has been doing with the MMA scene and asked him to check out my writings, so that was cool!

The Co main event was an absolute violent slobber nocker with Andrei Arlovski punishing the very resilent Ben Rothwell.  I gained a lot of respect for the chin of Rothwell as he with stood ppunishment from Andrei the whole fight.  

The second round of this fight was amazing and one of the best rounds this year.  Arlovski was punishing Rothwell with combos and nearly sunk in a nice heel hook.  Rothwell was able to gain top position on Andrei and let loose with some stinging elbows and punches.  
The third round belonged to Arlovski as he hurt Rothwell with huge knees and punches and earned the TKO victory.

Rumor has it that a superfight between Fedor Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski will happen Oct. 11 in Las Vegas at the Thomas and Mack Center, look for me ringside for that one!  Hopefully Tito will be in action as well!

All in all this was a huge success for Affliction and MMA fans in general.  Affliction easily has the best heavyweight talent in the world and will no doubt give us the dream matches we’ve wanted for years!  The competition will no doubt force the UFC to up their game to give us even better cards than what we’ve had before, so it’s a good time to be a MMA Fan!!!!!