This week didn’t want to end. It was like a girlfriend holding on to your hand after you repeatedly told her that you no longer want to be with her. The MMA world took a nap after Chael Sonnen tested positive for steroids by the CSAC. Luckily, we had UFC 119 to look forward to along with the Dream 16 which proved to be an epic display of Japanese MMA. Sunday is finally here and we have another huge block of rumors that all of you need to read. Enjoy.
- Yes, it’s true. Matt Mitrione really did fire his manager in his post-fight interview at UFC 119.
- Efrain Escudero has been working closely with Bellator on coming to the organization. It appears to be a lock, but he will meet with Strikeforce this upcoming week.
- The news is probably out by now, but when Cro Cop and Frank Mir were in the clinch, Cro Cop said something along the lines of ‘I really want to knee you’, Frank Mir responded with ‘You can try, but just watch the nuts’.
- Sakuraba still plans on competing in MMA with Dream.
- M-1 Global’s Evgeni Kogan has been in New York in order to ‘bypass’ Strikeforce and work a deal directly with Showtime to extend his contract with the two companies. It looks like negotiations are going well.
- Din Thomas’ first WEC fight looks like it will be against Javier Vasquez, a bout that was supposed to go down at The Ultimate Chaos in 2009.
- Georges St. Pierre’s visit to Manila was set up by the UFC in order to gauge the popularity of the sport in the Philippines. Don’t be surprised if Dana announces the UFC will be making a stop in the Philippines in 2011.
- Despite the rumors, Cro Cop will not be released from the UFC.
- I think this goes without saying, but Dana White was not happy with UFC 119’s main event and he verbally expressed it multiple times last night after the card.
- Strong rumor going around that Cro Cop earned $1.1 million for stepping in for Big Nog at UFC 119.
- Satoshi Ishii plans to return to Blackhouse in Los Angeles (for ‘an extended period of time’) to continue his training.
- Judging from the unprecedented amount of emails that I have received, the crowd in Indianapolis was not happy with UFC 119.
- Had a conversation with a UFC fighter (who I will not name) that told me most fighters in the UFC are so fearful of ZUFFA’s ‘one-and-done’ policy that they go into bouts to ‘play it safe’ in order to ‘not put it all out there’ which may lead to fights that some fans consider to be ‘lackluster’. All those quotes are his, not mine.
- There’s still a relatively strong chance that Chael Sonnen may be exonerated in this whole ‘UFC 117 steroid scandal’. The rumor is that Team Quest has injected Chael Sonnen with direct ‘testosterone’ in the past and there doesn’t seem to be an explicit policy against it.
- A few weeks ago, I mentioned that G4TV intends to push their MMA venture full force in 2011. Now it looks like Bjorn Rebney may drop his deal with Fox Sports Net and hop aboard with G4TV. Currently, the network has been showing muay-thai events which have been met with some moderate success.
- Sean McCorkle may have called out Matt Mitrione after his UFC 119 win, but it appears that Sean McCorkle has already verbally agreed to fight Meathead even before UFC 119.
- Pat Miletich was slated to make his UFC return sometime last year, but a near physical altercation with Dana White ended his chances of returning to the organization.
- Fedor vs. Bigfoot Silva will not happen. Instead, we may be in store for Valentijn Overeem vs. Bigfoot Silva.
- Mariusz Pudzianowski will not be fighting in KSW 15. It seems like the organization wants to introduce their up-and-comers and having Pudz headline a card isn’t the way to do it.
- Caol Uno declined to fight at Dream 16. It looks like he just may be done with MMA.
- Dana White’s rant on Josh Barnett in his interview with Ariel Helwani was directly related to Barnett signing with Strikeforce.
- There may be another women’s MMA reality show in the works similar to ‘Fight Girls’. It will not be associated with NBC’s new show ‘Ultimate Women’s Challenge’.
- It’s not MMA related, but FEG execs are trying to stage a Arlovski vs. Overeem in the 2010 K-1 World GP. It’s dependent on if both fighters can get through the first round.
- Australia’s Impact FC seems to now be defunct.
