You guys won. The feature you all wanted to see will continue to run through 2011 mainly because on New Year’s Eve, a close friend called me with a ridiculous news item that can only fit inside the Sunday Morning Rumor Mill. 2011 will also yield a drastic new change for MiddleEasy, one that you will see hopefully sometime tomorrow. The site will be down from 2am – 4am to get this new transition on the road. Everything will be new, yet everything will stay the same — sort of like a Red Hot Chili Peppers album. Enjoy the Sunday Morning Rumor Mill and just remember, all of these items are published as rumors that have been heard from around the MMA industry and are not presented to be absolute fact.
- On New Year’s night, a close friend called me up but I was too apathetic to walk across the room and pick up the phone. I just let it ring while I watched Lil Wayne perform on a rooftop in front of soccer moms. The person left a message, and here is exactly what was said in the voicemail: “Zeus, hey what’s up buddy. I’m hearing reports that Chuck Liddell is in a Hollywood mansion party right now, overdosing on Ketamine — he’s tripping balls. My friend’s there, he’s trying to get some video footage of it via camera phone or whatever the [expletive] he has. But if he ends up going to the hospital, I’ll send you a text’. Needless to say, I didn’t receive a text that night/morning.
- For some reason, Oleg Taktarov has been in talks with ZUFFA for the past couple months. The former UFC champion is 43, so it definitely wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen a 40+ fighter step inside the octagon.
- It looks like Bellator has already found a replacement for commentator Jimmy Smith for the next season of Bellator.
- After UFC 125, Dana White stated that Anthony Pettis would be the next 155lber to fight for the UFC lightweight belt. Pettis was informed of the news and then found Dana White backstage to tell him he didn’t feel right to step in-between Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar when there was still ‘unfinished business’. The two talked and agreed that Gray Maynard vs. Frankie Edgar III should happen and that’s apparently why reports of Showtime Pettis vs. Frankie Edgar surfaced and then were immediately replaced with Gray Maynard vs. Frankie Edgar towards the middle of the post-fight press conference.
- No decision has been made by Dana White on Phil Baroni’s UFC future as of yet.
- M-1 Global has been negotiating with Showtime to find a home for their next season of the M-1 Challenge in 2011. This separate negotiation has been ‘piggybacked’ on Fedor’s current contract negotiations with Strikeforce/Showtime.
