It may be the afternoon in whatever part of the world you’re located in, but in California it’s still Sunday morning. Of course that means another edition of our weekly Sunday Morning Rumor Mill. As usual, it’s packed with enough rumors to make you call up your mother and tell her that you love her. Well, maybe not that many rumors, but it’s still a hearty portion. In fact, there are so many rumors in this edition of the Sunday Morning Rumor Mill that you can take the leftovers and make a half-assed soup, Thanksgiving style. Enjoy.
- Look for Bellator to grab quite a few cast members of the more recent seasons of The Ultimate Fighter as they approach their Spike TV debut.
- According to Josh Gross of ESPN, UFC hired a firm to conduct drug testing at UFC 136. Gross requested a disclosure of the results and the Texas Dept. Licensing/Regulation would not provide names.
- It’s rumored that during Thursday’s MLB World Series game, DirecTV issued a note to subscribers that all FOX channels will be dropped from the service if NewsCorp doesn’t agree to the contractual demands they’ve proposed. Technically this means that all DirecTV subscribers may not be able to watch the 2012 content UFC has planned for FOX.
- It’s also rumored that Efrain Escudero’s Bellator bout from this weekend was not aired due to Escudero publicly stating ‘he’s focused on getting back to the UFC.’
- Dave Meltzer from the Wrestling Observer reported that in 2011 UFC’s core fan base has declined, as well as the intrinsic ‘value of champions.’ Meltzer also stated piracy is ‘significant as hell’ in regards to PPV numbers and the UFC can’t survive if these PPV numbers decline.
- Despite some reports this week, Fabricio Werdum has not signed with the UFC — yet.
- Former MMA agent, Ken Pavia, is claiming ZUFFA is paying people on The Underground to attack him on a thread entitled ‘Ken Pavia sells business.’
- According to a recent interview on Mauro Ranallo’s ‘The MMA Show,’ Shu Hirata stated Sakuraba hasn’t been paid for his last three appearances in DREAM. Ray Elbe also estimated DREAM owes around $10,000,000 to their fighters and in two years, the statute of limitations may allow FEG not to pay their fighters.
- This week, Gary Shaw claimed that he tried to sign Rampage Jackson for EliteXC at some point in 2006-2007.