In California, it’s still morning so temporally, this ‘Sunday Morning Rumor Mill’ is highly appropriate. Throughout the week, nuggets of information pass through MiddleEasy and instead of disregarding these morsels, we occasionally publish them in our weekly rumor mill. It’s the equivalent of two guys talking in a bar about stuff they’ve heard throughout the week, but in this scenario there is no cigarette smoke or readily available beers that can be consumed. It’s just you and your computer. Have fun.
- A few days ago, I heard from a very reliable source that the Federal Trade Commission is in the process of investigating UFC for past trade practices. The FTC is not just investigating the recent acquisition of Strikeforce by ZUFFA, but past business deals with Affliction, WEC, RVCA, TapouT and Pride. I’m told that ZUFFA is aware of this and have a few attorneys dealing with it. The FTC has started or plans to interview a few people/businesses in the MMA industry to determine whether tortious interference was at play. It’s a non-public investigation, so if you contact the Federal Trade Commission they will not deny/confirm if this investigation is going on.
- It’s been circulating that Dethrone is on its way out of the MMA apparel business. Ultimately, this means that a lot of sponsorship money will be thrown away, and it’s a bummer. Personally, I’ve always loved the streamlined designs of Dethrone. Legit stuff.
- Apparently, it’s rumored that Steven Seagal is paying money to be ‘involved’ in the UFC. I’m not sure what that means, but I believe it implies that he’s paying for the UFC post-fight access and media that he’s receiving.
- It looks like Dan Hardy will no longer be training in the US.
- Fuel TV’s GM, George Greenberg, wants to push more MMA on the channel.
- THQ posted a bigger loss for its fiscal 2011 fourth-quarter earnings (up $44.1 in net loss this quarter as compared to $10.4 this time last year). It appears that THQ will be banking on the release of UFC Undisputed 3 in March 2012 (which will most likely hit the media at E3 in a couple months).
- Bummer for Ken Pavia. It looks like he lost Anthony Johnson to ‘Authentic Management’ at some point this month.
- ZUFFA might be imposing its sponsorship fee on Muscle Pharm in the near future.
- Apparently there’s an insane rumor regarding Krazy Horse that is floating around. It’s rather strange so I won’t publish the details because it’s just that bizarre. However, if we can get more info about it, we’ll let you know.
- Now with ZUFFA owning Strikeforce, it appears that Strikeforce’s matchmaker, Richard Chou, is no longer with the company. Look for this trend to continue with Strikeforce employees for the rest of this month.
