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(Pour one out…)

It’s kind of sad that it’s taken this long for the UFC to get a non-malt-liquor beer sponsor. But after years spent presenting Rock Paper Scissors tournaments, the Phoenix Suns’ official blog, the New Jersey State Barbecue Championship, and countless games of Beirut, Bud Light has decided that the UFC is finally respectable enough to bear its name. From today’s press release on UFC.com:

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Feb. 28, 2008) – This spring, millions of Ultimate Fighting Championship® fans will see a new heavyweight take the center of the Octagon™. Today Anheuser-Busch and UFC® announced that Bud Light, the world’s best-selling beer, will become the new exclusive beer sponsor for the UFC.

Bud Light’s three-year deal with Zuffa, LLC, owner of the UFC brand, makes the American-style light lager with superior drinkability the exclusive beer sponsor of the UFC – the world’s premier mixed martial arts organization…

“Landing Anheuser-Busch and Bud Light is huge for us, our fighters and especially our fans,” said Dana White, UFC president. “We’ve got the number one selling beer in the world and one of the top marketers in all of sports as our sponsor. If our TV ratings, pay-per-view buys and venue sell-outs weren’t enough, this definitely cements UFC as a major player in sports business.”

So, starting with UFC 84 in May, the Bud Light logo will be in the center of the Octagon and on the vertical bumpers, and will be featured during press conferences and weigh-ins. It will also be the presenting sponsor for two UFC pay-per-view events per year. And beginning June 1, Bud Light will also be the official beer sponsor of World Extreme Cagefighting events on VERSUS.

Update: An source who wishes to remain anonymous has revealed to CagePotato that EliteXC has just locked down Coca-Cola to sponsor its live events on CBS, and that an enraged Dana White has killed two people in his office. We’ll keep you posted on this shocking turn of events…

Arguably the best fight from the best fight card of 2007: Dan Henderson’s romper-stomper against Wanderlei Silva for the middleweight title at PRIDE 33, last February 24th in Las Vegas. If you’re calling the Silva/Henderson match for Hendo, I have no beef with you; anyone who can put on a performance like this is capable of others like it. And that knockout punch was a thing of beauty…

Part 1

Part 2

(Melendez - and his hair - in need of an opponent.)

— Strikeforce lightweight title-holder Gilbert “El Niño” Melendez was supposed to fight Jorge Masvidal at the Strikeforce/EliteXC March 29th event - but the fight has been cancelled due to a shin injury Masvidal received during “Strikeforce at the Dome” in Washington. The injury came in a fight against Ryan Healy, which Masvidal won by decision. A replacement could be named soon to battle Melendez since he is one of the top fighters on the card. Middleweight champ Frank Shamrock will put his title on the line against Cung Le in the highly-anticipated main event.

Melendez is 13-1, snapping a 13-fight win streak and picking up his first loss at “Yarennoka!” on New Year’s Eve. He lost via decision to PRIDE vet Mitsuhiro Ishida. The lightweight has seen success almost everywhere he’s fought, including Strikeforce, PRIDE, WEC, and ROTR. El Niño’s ex-opponent, Masvidal, has seen recent success in Strikeforce and BodogFIGHT and boasts wins over dudes like Joe Lauzon and Yves Edwards.

— We reported the surprising retirement of welterweight star Paul “Semtex” Daley earlier this week. The out-of-nowhere announcement was posted on Cage Warriors’ message board. While speculation to Daley’s retirement at age 25 ranged from him being bored with the sport to a ploy to pull in a huge payday from the highest bidder, it’s still unclear to why he would do this or if it was just a hoax. Sherdog was able to reach FX-3 promoter Paul James, who confirmed Daley would be giving up his EliteXC position after he fulfills his contract on March 29th. And in a text message exchange with Daley, they say the fighter refused to talk about the decision because he didn’t want to make a big deal of it. Well, it is a big deal to us when a star athlete who could dominate their division decides to drop it all.

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MMA Betting Blog has the odds for Saturday’s UFC 82, and breaks down a few of the match-ups here. Their current numbers for the main card (favorites followed by underdogs) are:

Anderson Silva (-150) vs. Dan Henderson (+120)
Cheick Kongo (-175) vs. Heath Herring (+145)
Chris Leben (-165) vs. Alessio Sakara (+135)
Yushin Okami (-220) vs. Evan Tanner (+170)
Jon Fitch (-550) vs. Chris Wilson (+350)

I’ve flip-flopped on my prediction for the main event, which is one of the most evenly matched and toughest-to-call in UFC history. At first, I bought into the oft-repeated line of “Silva’s never faced as good of a wrestler as Henderson.” Which is absolutely true, but now I don’t think that will be the deciding factor in the fight. For me, it comes down to this: Which will each man’s strategy be, and how likely is the success of that strategy?

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(Saturday Night Live: Slice and Shaw)

From the press release that just landed, growling and steaming, in our inbox:

CBS AND PROELITE JOIN FORCES TO BRING MIXED MARTIAL ARTS TO PRIMETIME BROADCAST TELEVISION

One of the Fastest-Growing Spectator Sports Comes to CBS With Four Live, Two-Hour Events Per Year

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 28 — The CBS Television Network and ProElite, Inc., a Los Angeles-based leading entertainment and media company that produces world class mixed martial arts (MMA) events, today jointly announced a multi-year agreement that will bring one of the fastest growing spectator sports to a major broadcast television network for the first time.

CBS will broadcast four MMA events per year, produced by ProElite’s EliteXC fight division, as two-hour live primetime specials targeted for Saturday nights.

The agreement augments an existing relationship between CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS and CBS.A) and ProElite (PELE.PK), which began broadcasting its EliteXC live MMA events on CBS’s SHOWTIME premium cable network in 2007. EliteXC events will continue to air on SHOWTIME.

Still no word on when the first EliteXC/CBS event might take place, but Kevin Iole guesses that it’ll be in April, in either Atlantic City or Newark, with Kimbo Slice headlining.

Dana White is surely icing his balls right now. Adam Swift of MMAPayout jogs our memory:

This is the second door opened by the UFC that EXC has walked through. MMAPayout.com was the first to report that negotiations between the UFC and CBS had stalled in December over creative control issues. EXC landed its spot on Showtime after the UFC attempted to use the network for leverage in its failed negotiations with HBO.

But hey, the UFC doesn’t need CBS anyway. As Swift writes:

Multiple sources have told MMAPayout.com that FOX is believed to have interest in MMA with rumors suggesting that the network even went so far as to make a bid on the entire company during recent negotiations with the UFC.

You know, a UFC/FOX deal would actually be pretty cool, and I look forward to the day when Ultimate Fighter hopefuls have to audition for the show in front of Randy, Paula, and Simon.

“That arm-triangle was absolutely dreadful.”

Suki MMA reports that PRIDE/K-1 star Kazushi Sakuraba will open his first official gym on April 1st. When I first saw this picture I thought, “Okay, so he’s setting up downstairs from a Japanese improv comedy club.” But no. “Laughter7″ is actually the name of the gym. I wonder if this is one of those situations where Sak didn’t really understand the meaning of the word, but he chose it for its look. You know, like how Chuck Liddell thinks those characters on his head mean “house of peace and prosperity” but they really mean “spicy tuna roll”? Further examples of this phenomenon on Japanese t-shirts after the jump.

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(Am I weird, or is this chick hot?)

For all you nerds who like trivia, flexing your brain, and shit, head over to FightMetric to do it up MMA style. The quiz sports questions to test how much you really know about MMA - specifically how fights end. I got 8 out of 10 correct and I would’ve scored better had I not popped open the bottle of tequila at noon. The questions/answers are pulled from FightMetric’s extensive database of fight endings from both major and minor organizations.

We’ve spent our share of hours checking out FM’s number crunching on everything that happens in a fight such as strikes thrown and landed, types of punches, kicks, positions, time spent on the ground, etc. Their reports are pretty in-depth and they arrive at their data via some Einstein-esque equations. Don’t believe me? Here are two formulas they use to get their figures (actually taken from the site):

My head hurts. I’m going to go watch TV.

(Will Kimbo kick ass after “Without a Trace”?)

MMA Junkie is reporting that ProElite - the parent company of EliteXC - is set to announce a partnership with CBS to air their events. An agreement has apparently been approved between both parties.

The EliteXC airs on Showtime under EliteXC and ShowXC. As we already stated, EliteXC and Kimbo has had at least something to do with Showtime’s recent spike in subscribers. Showtime is cheaper than dishing out for UFC pay-per-view events every month and you get to see tasteful adults films late at night as a bonus. This rumor is easy to buy into because CBS owns Showtime and has certainly recognized the channel’s cross-over potential to network television - “Dexter” airing on CBS being a recent example. EliteXC: “Street Certified” pulled in a sold-out crowd and pulled in over 500,000 viewers to Showtime. Sure, Kimbo was a major part of that, but other EliteXC shows will reap residuals from him being in their fold. Network execs know that larger-than-life sports personalities draw ratings, so naturally they’d want to be in the Kimbo business.

And with Dana White ruining every chance of getting the UFC on network television - CBS was once the frontrunner to air UFC events - networks have started seeking other organizations to sign up. CBS and EliteXC is by far the marriage with the least hoops to jump through, so we could get this announcement very soon. The events would be broadcast live in prime-time and probably every month.

This could be a very large step and do for MMA what network TV has done for Arena Football…okay, bad example, but you get what I’m saying about the exposure. And I know I probably don’t even have to mention it, but “What Would Kimbo Do?” would be natural fit for CBS’s Saturday morning kid’s programming. Story line ideas now being accepted.

— Matt Lindland let it slip to MMA Weekly that he’s just signed a contract with a new fight promotion that will pay him more for his first fight than he made in his entire UFC career combined. He will be fighting only as a middleweight, and his first match is slated for June. Though Lindland wasn’t at liberty to discuss who’s behind the shadowy promotion, word is that Affliction is a primary partner in the deal, and another partner may be Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions. If you’ll recall, an earlier report suggested that the UFC had banned Affliction from sponsoring its fighters due to the fighting league it had in the works. Lindland — who has always sort of reminded us of Woogie Woganowski — hasn’t fought since his loss to Fedor Emelianenko via armbar at BodogFight: Clash of the Nations in April.

— Fightlinker found an image from a YAMMA ad that may reveal the design of their mysterious pit. If those are iron bars lining the cage, this thing is going to be run out of town faster than you can say “Meyrowitz.”

— I don’t think I’ve posted about anything non-MMA related on this site since I found out that Ben Curtis was taking orders at Tortilla Flats, but I have to give up the props when it’s necessary. This video list on HolyTaco is the greatest thing I’ve seen online since I discovered the Professor Brothers. Not the father FTW.

Good God, this guy has the best haymaker we’ve seen since Clubber Lang. Who knows if the Cro Cop fight will actually come together, but we’d love to see it. Check out Mo throwing bombs during his K-1 kickboxing career. Could his power-punches trump Mirko’s head-kick? We say: Maybe!

The love/hate relationship between Joe Riggs and his agent Ken Pavia is a matter of public record. In fact, Pavia has enough admiration for Joe Diesel that he has no problem blowing up the dude’s spot once in a while, as in his latest column for MMA Junkie. Though this story about Riggs’s run-in with a paraplegic grappler isn’t quite on the level of the Ricco Rodriguez car-accident switcheroo, it’s still pretty amazing. Check it:

[Nick] is a son of a bitch who is 200 lbs. of super-human upper-body strength and walks on his hands because he has no legs, literally…The first time Pat Miletich [told Riggs] to roll with him he thought it was a joke. Diesel playfully obliged and got into his guard. Nick proceeded to clap his stubs, which end mid-thigh, into Joe’s jugular vein and twist his arm off. He said his neck was sore for two weeks as a result. Joe said he got pissed and cursed at him. He said, “Let’s go again.” This time Nick grabbed him in a leg lock and was so strong that Joe was forced to tap again. But Nick, who apparently didn’t like to be cursed at, said “not yet Joe” and torqued it further. That kind of stuff doesn’t go ever well among fighters.

Now, Joe was really heated and demanded to try again. Well, he lasted a little longer — like a minute — before it was tap No. 3…Diesel was so upset that he stormed off to the locker room and showered up. In came Nick walking on his hands and Joe, in an act of retribution, proceeded to pee on the shower floor.

Nick then forced Joe to shampoo his hair for him. No, not really, but I like the visual.

By the way, Riggs is pain-free after undergoing a procedure yesterday to freeze three nerves in his lower back that were pinched by an out-of-place disc suffered in his fight with Cory Devela, and wants to get back in the cage as soon as possible. As Riggs told Pavia: “Make sure Devela doesn’t fight anyone else. I don’t want him exposed before I smash him.”

(Gunderson in his favorite jersey.)

— Appears Cro Cop will be facing Siala “Mighty Mo” Siliga at Dream 1. No official announcement yet, but one could be coming soon. Mighty Mo fights out of Southern California and is 3-0. His two fights last year were in K-1 against Warpath Villareal and Min Soo Kim - and their 16-20-3 combined records. Mo hasn’t really been tested in his career and Cro Cop is certainly going to be ready to put on a show in his new home.

— TAGG Radio had IFL lightweight John Gunderson on yesterday. Gunderson is facing IFL champ Ryan “The Lion” Schultz on Friday and is repping The Lion’s Den. However, Gunderson recently jumped over to Xtreme Couture and he’s banking on that move to help him defeat Schultz.

“For me it’s a night-and-day difference between the training that I’ve had before,” Gunderson said of his move to Xtreme Couture. “There isn’t a day gone by that I haven’t been tapped out or got rocked a little bit. And I don’t really ever remember that happening in Reno, Nev.”

“In two to three weeks, I’m not going to show a dramatic or drastic change in my skill level,” Gunderson said. “I’m no fool, but I think within six months, I’m going to be able to show a lot better skill level… I’ve got so many great training partners, and we’ve got some good coaches there, too. I love the opportunity, and I love the gym.”

Ryan Schultz has won four in a row and picked up the IFL lightweight title when he handed Chris Horodecki his first loss back in December. Gunderson is 2-2 in the IFL and lost his last fight - to Wagnney Fabiano in November.
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The esteemed EliteXC commentator freezes up while looking at dancing girls, stammers like Foghorn Leghorn, and will not give up his microphone.

If you missed part 1, click here. We’d also like to direct you to our new homepage poll, over on the right. Sure, Mike has sucked for a lot longer, but Bill has the potential to reach new depths of awfulness. Let us know how you feel.

(Kimbo posing with Tappy McTapsalot.)

Alright, so that may be a bit of a stretch. But Variety reports that Showtime subscriptions jumped 11% in the fourth quarter of 2007; parent company CBS Corp.’s profit fell 19% in the same period. We’d imagine that many of those new subscribers were people who signed up just to see Kimbo Slice destroy Bo Cantrell at EliteXC: Renegade. It sure as hell wasn’t for The Tudors.

In other dollar-related news…

— “Strikeforce at the Dome” took in more money than any other combat-sport event ever held in Washington state. 7,089 disappointed fans packed the Tacoma Dome and gave up $300,000 of their money, which they immediately regretted.

— Rich Franklin has put the Hummer H2 he was given for being a coach on the second season of The Ultimate Fighter up for auction on eBay. The starting bid is 80 grand, and you can “Buy It Now” for $125,000. The auction ends on March 2nd, and 10% of the proceeds will go to the Keep it in the Ring Foundation, which channels youthful aggression through after-school sports and martial arts programs. We hope Franklin is more successful at this eBay thing than Ricco Rodriguez, who eventually settled for $250, a dozen Krispy Kremes, and a pack of smokes.

EliteXC’s welterweight top-dog Jake Shields was awarded his BJJ black belt yesterday by Cesar Gracie at Team Fairtex Gym in San Francisco. Nick Diaz, Gilbert Melendez and others were on hand to congratulate him the only way they know how. Hmm…I assumed this moment would be a little more dignified. Anyway, big ups to Shields, who faces UFC vet Drew Fickett at the March 29th Strikeforce/EliteXC show headlined by Frank Shamrock/Cung Le.

(Video courtesy of Sherdog)

We’re starting to feel the UFC 82 adrenaline building and it’ll certainly be hitting on all cylinders by this Saturday. Check out these vids from ESPN of the two headliners dishing about their battle.

Anderson Silva doesn’t believe Dan Henderson is his toughest challenge.

Dan Henderson talking the style match-up and why he believes he will beat Anderson Silva.

(Is “Semtex” done?)

— Cage Rage vet and current EliteXC fighter Paul “Semtex” Daley has posted on-line that he is calling it quits when his EliteXC contract is over on March 29th.

This is for the fighters, fans, promoters and trolls alike.

As of now i will be stepping down as Cage Rage Champion (British and world), FX-3 Champion and KOTR champion. I vacate all these titles. Futher more i consider my self retired (from all MMA/Thai boxing) as of March 29th. March 29th i will fullfill my contracted commitment for Pro Elite, against a yet un named opponent.

No speculation, No futher annonucments, once i’ve found the path i originally set out on in the Martial Arts, i may return to this SPORT, Maybe 6months-Maybe 6 years, who knows.

Who will be the next welterweight CRC champ. FX-3 champ????…

Thanks

Although this message is put together with a wordsmith’s touch, it’s hard to believe “Semtex” would be bowing out of the sport at this time in his career. 5oz of Pain seconds that backed by personal interaction with the fighter. The guy is 17-6-2 and can command a solid payday in several organizations. Maybe that’s what this is about…drawing a big payday from the dudes willing to “pull him out of retirement”.

— The IFL is adding to its exposure by partnering with the social media network imeem. The organization already has agreements with other media and networking sites such as Break.com, YouTube and PalTalk. The IFL’s press release says that imeem’s 23 million users will be able to view and interact with media from the IFL at www.ifl.imeem.com.

The partnership will create an IFL TV channel on imeem where fans can find engaging and fresh media content from the professional mixed martial arts sports league, ranging from match highlights to athlete and coach interviews and instructional segments. The imeem community can also express themselves with their favorite IFL content by creating and sharing custom video playlists with friends on imeem and through embeddable widgets on third party sites across the Web.

So more chances to see our boys Roy “Big Country” Nelson and Matt “Sauve” Horwich in action.

— An update on the state of MMA in the, um, state of Maryland. Today the Maryland Senate went to committee over Senate Bill 649. You’ll recall that the bill proposes the legalization of MMA in the state - amateur and professional. If you want to put in your two cents, go here. Delegate Kirill Reznik (District 39, Montgomery County) has been pushing to make MMA legal in the state and Luke Thomas over at BloodyElbow was even asked to speak to the Senate committee today about the matter. That’s the proactive action MMA needs. Keeping our fingers crossed for you guys.
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(Small man, big money.)

It was announced today that boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr. will pocket a very-real $20 million for fake-fighting “Big Show” at WrestleMania XXIV in Orlando on March 30. Let’s put that figure into perspective: $20,000,000 is 40 times more than the UFC’s highest-paid star, Chuck Liddell, made for real-fighting Wanderlei Silva. It’s 166 times more than Anderson Silva made for his last title defense. If you laid every one of those dollars end-to-end, it would stretch from Mayweather’s ass to the back of the garage he keeps his Bentleys in.

“Wrestling takes care of business right on the spot,” Mayweather said in the AP article. “There’s no waiting three, four, five months. Quick results, quick money. Quick big money, too.” And at the press conference, this happened:

Mayweather incited the couple hundred of already hyped fans at Staples Center by whipping out a thick wad of cash and repeatedly tossing $100, $50 and $20 bills into the crowd that had nearly as many women as men.

A mad scramble ensued, with a light pole nearly getting knocked over and two small children caught in the chaos.

As Mayweather’s manager Leonard Ellerbe very astutely put it, “Either I’m going to be a genius with this or I’m the biggest idiot.” Hey, why not both?

One of the most embarrassing aspects of pro wrestling (and there are many) is that it forces men to trash-talk about a fight that isn’t even real. A WrestleMania XXIV preview on WWE.com quotes Big Show as saying “At WrestleMania, I’m going to show you that wrestling can hurt…Look at the size of my fist. It’s the size of your head. Once you get a load of this, it’s ‘BOOM!’ You’re out.” Paul? Something tells me you’re going to lose this one.

Let’s hope this doesn’t distract Floyd from his budding MMA career. Oh, you already forgot about that, didn’t you?

Related: Stripper admits Oscar De La Hoya Drag Pics are fake (site sorta NSFW)

There are so many things about this video that confuse me — the three-minute first round, the standing 8-count, the “hey, no hitting!” stoppage at 2:39 — but basically what you’re watching here is kickboxer Ray Sefo beat the crap out of Min Soo Kim in Sefo’s MMA debut at K-1 Hero’s 2 (7/6/05). If you’re an expert on K-1 history, let us know if the Hero’s rules were all screwy in the promotion’s early days, or if they’re using a hybrid kickboxing/MMA rule-set to ease Sugarfoot Sefo into the world of MMA. Anyway, despite his serviceable grappling, Kim is basically knocked out twice at the beginning of the second round — once by a kick, once by a punch. Since Sefo (along with roommate Jan Nortje) just joined Xtreme Couture’s fight team, we’ll hopefully see more beatings like this in the future.

(“I’m ready to go in there and shock the world.”)

By CagePotato Special Contributor Ben Fowlkes

Chris Wilson is in a difficult spot. The Team Quest welterweight and former member of the IFL’s Portland Wolfpack was offered his first UFC fight just a few weeks ago, against one of their toughest, most highly touted 170-pound contenders: Jon Fitch. Of course he accepted, but now oddsmakers have him as one of the biggest underdogs going into UFC 82. In this exclusive interview he indulges in a little straight-talk about taking a pay cut to fight in the Octagon, training with Dan Henderson, and how he plans to prove everyone wrong on Saturday night.

CagePotato: Jon Fitch is obviously a tough fighter, and he’s riding a fourteen-fight win streak. What are you expecting from him and how are you planning to deal with it?
Chris Wilson: I expect him to come in and do the things he does best, which is throw hard punches, try to get you in a corner, and get on top. That’s his game plan. That’s where he’s most comfortable and that’s what’s worked for him, and I don’t see him trying to change that now. If he were looking to come in and show how good his striking is, I think he would try and do it against someone with much less chance of knocking him out. But if he’s going to stand in front of me it will make his night a lot harder.

A lot of people talk about Octagon jitters when a guy has his first UFC fight. You’ve fought in front of big crowds before in several different organizations, so how do you think your first UFC fight will affect you?
It’s hard for me to say that I won’t be affected by it because I haven’t been there yet. But like you said, I have fought in front of crowds of many thousands of people. Maybe not as many as the UFC brings in, but I know what that kind of pressure feels like. There are certain things that I think will help me deal with it. Being an underdog helps take some of the pressure off me. Also, it helps that I’ve been to UFC events and cornered my teammates there. I’ve walked through that tunnel and out into the arena with the screaming fans. Even if it wasn’t me who was fighting that night, at least I know what to expect. I guess I just have to wait and see.

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