Page 9

(’Oh, hello there. This? Just some stuff I’m autographing because I’m famous. No big deal’)

He may be still trying to fill out the first fight card for his new promotion, but Monte Cox is always looking ahead. The Adrenaline MMA CEO told MMA Weekly that the organization’s second show will take place in Moline, Ill. on September 6, and it will feature both Tim Sylvia and Ben Rothwell.

Of course, this means that Sylvia will be fighting for Adrenaline less than two months after taking on Fedor Emelianenko in their July 19 Affliction bout. When asked about how the suddenly overwhelming demand for Sylvia’s services might be affecting the new promotion and its non-exclusive contracts, Cox played it cool.

“We signed Tim Sylvia to Adrenaline. That’s a great sign for us. Then the Affliction thing comes along, what am I supposed to do? Tell Tim that he can’t fight the No. 1 fighter in the world in one of the biggest fights ever?” said Cox of the decision to allow Sylvia to fight for another promoter. “I’m not gonna tell him that. Why, just because I have a contract for him to fight for Adrenaline?

“We’re not going to do that stuff. If there are better fights out there that they have a chance to fight in and they want to do them and we want them to do them. Then that’s what we’re going to do, we’re going to fight outside of our own event.”

It’s a smart decision by Cox to put Sylvia and Rothwell on the card in the Quad Cities, which we like to refer to as “Miletich Camp Country.” Much will depend on who they can find as opponents, however. Regardless of what happens in Sylvia’s bout with Fedor, his stock is likely to move in one direction or another as a result. Still, it could be a long and busy summer in the world of new MMA organizations, so planning for September may be nothing more than hopes and dreams at this point.

Sean Sherk gets a very specific type of look on his face whenever anyone mentions his failed steroid test. I don’t know whether it’s restrained rage or just the last of his patience draining away, but it’s definitely not good. You can see it in this video from FHM, which does its best to clear Sherk of all charges by asserting that the failed test was “pretty obviously a mistake.” I suppose you’ve got to play nice to get footage like this.

Even after that, Sherk still punches the guy in the face a bunch of times. Flattery will get you nowhere with “The Muscle Shark.”

Props: Bloody Elbow

(Because what else are you going to do this weekend?)

For those of you who didn’t get your fix watching the first two Dream events on your computer screens, HDNet has got you covered. They’re airing both Dream.1 and Dream.2 this weekend, so you can bask in all the highly-defined glory.

This is just to whet your appetite, because Dream.3 will be coming at you live:

DREAM.1, which took place March 15 and featured the opening round of a lightweight grand prix, airs tonight at 10:30 p.m. ET.

DREAM.2, which took place April 29 and featured the opening round of a middleweight grand prix, airs tomorrow at 10:30 p.m. ET.

HDNet, which is owned by HDNet Fights founder Mark Cuban, recently inked a deal with the Japanese-based organization to begin airing future DREAM events live. DREAM.3, for example, airs live on May 11 at 3 a.m. ET.

I was about to complain about the first two shows airing at 10:30 p.m., and then I saw the 3 a.m. note tacked on to the end of the live broadcast announcement. Better get a nap beforehand.

We’ve said it before, but whatever you think of Dream as a promotion or HDNet as a cable network, you have to give them both points for production value:

(Mother’s Day is coming up, and the champ’s used shorts sure put flowers to shame.)

When I received an email from the UFC this morning alerting me that I had the opportunity to bid on some of Georges St. Pierre’s old shorts, I was understandably giddy with excitement. Who wouldn’t want to own a pair of autographed, extremely tight shorts that have soaked up gallons of St. Pierre sweat by now? After all, you can’t really stalk someone without owning some of their clothes. Well maybe you could, but it just seems lazy.

The joke’s on us, though, because apparently they’re a pretty hot item. Seriously. The opening bid for these bad boys was $300. At the time of this writing, the bidding is up to $8,050. Do MMA fans really have that much spare cash lying around? If so, can they really not think of a better use for it? We’re supposed to be in a recession.

For those of you who aren’t big fans of GSP or who have a weird hang-up about buying another man’s spandex briefs, there are other items on the auction block. For instance, a pair of autographed gloves worn by Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is currently going for $3,450. His shorts are a mere $3,050, though the bidding on all these items still has another five days before closing, so who knows where things could go from here.

Interestingly enough, the weirdest item for sale, a kilt worn by Marcus “The Irish Hand Grenade” Davis, is still stuck at the opening bid of $300. That’s a steal. Think of it this way, when people make fun of you for wearing a skirt, at least you’ll have a good/sad story to tell them about how you got it. If they still make fun of you, they’re not your friends anyway.

Congratulations, buddy: You’re about to be one shirt-wearin’ motherfucker. By a wide, wide margin, Vrax turned in the most popular comment in our second Triumph United Comment Contest, suggesting that involvement in YAMMA Pit Fighting is more shameful than kiddie-diddling. So Vrax, please swing through Triumph United’s shirt rack, and e-mail us at feedback@cagepotato.com to let us know which one you want; we’ll hook you up ASAP.

Also important: Your homework this weekend is to make one last attempt at coming up with creatively humiliating punishments for Ryan Harkness of Fightlinker when he goes down in flames in our upcoming UFC 84 pick-off. Go here and do your worst!

(“Oh, my daughter’s going to be so excited that I met Jay-Z!”)

Via Fightline.com — Kimbo Slice responds to the rumors that he was knocked out by Forrest Griffin in a recent sparring match at Xtreme Couture:

“No, there is no truth to that at all. It’s bullshit and Forrest Griffin will tell you that it’s bullshit too. The fact is it was a good sparring session and I was training with Forrest and he was talking to me about defending yourself at all times and then he threw a big kick and I was like, ‘WOAH I never even seen that coming’. But no, I never got knocked out. Even if I did get knocked out, saying that and putting that rumor out there just makes you a pussy.”

Wait a minute, so did you or did you not get knocked out? And why are you choking that old lady? Is she your accountant’s wife or something? Did she tap or nap?

Sean Sherk before his completely unjust steroid suspension:

Sean Sherk now:

Maybe it’s a bad angle, but is the Muscle Shark looking…I don’t know…narrower to you?

(Our thoughts exactly.)

I would take this as a clear sign that EliteXC’s welterweight belt is cursed by poltergeists and refuses to be possessed by mortals.

The championship fight between top 170-pound contender Jake Shields and challenger Drew Fickett for EliteXC’s vacant welterweight title has been postponed for a second time, as it was announced today that Fickett has injured his knee and will not be able to compete at EliteXC’s June 14th event in Honolulu, Hawaii. The two fighters were originally supposed to meet at “Shamrock vs. Le” on March 29th, but Shields pulled a muscle in his back days before the event, and Fickett took on Jae Suk Lim instead, winning by guillotine choke in the first round. Luckily, Shields doesn’t seem to be too disappointed by Fickett’s injury, as his back may not be 100% recovered yet anyway. As he told MMAWeekly:

“I think I could be okay to fight by (June 14), but I think opting for July would probably be the smartest thing. It would give me more time to rehab before jumping into sparring, and I think there would be a little more exposure with it being on CBS (in July).”

The June 14th card still features K.J. Noons defending his lightweight title against Yves Edwards, as well as fights between Nick Diaz and Muhsin Corbbrey, Murilo “Ninja” Rua vs. Tony Bonello, Rafael Feijao vs. Wayne Cole, and Ron Waterman vs. Dave Herman.

Speaking of Diaz, the pot-abusing lightweight has joined the lineup of DREAM.3 (May 11th; Saitama, Japan), where he’ll take on Katsuya Inoue, a two-time welterweight King of Pancrase with a career record of 16-5-3. Reportedly, the winner of that fight will face Hayato Sakurai for DREAM’s welterweight title in July or September. (I guess not all the belts will be awarded via chaotic grand prix.) With this addition, DREAM.3’s mighty, mighty lineup is looking like this:

Lightweight GP Round 2
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Luis Buscape
Joachim Hansen vs. Eddie Alvarez
Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Caol Uno
Katsuhiko Nagata vs. [whoever fills in for Shinya Aoki]

Middleweight GP Round 1 Fight
Jason Miller vs. Katsuyori Shibata

Middleweight GP Reserve Fight
Melvin Manhoef vs. Kim Dae Won

Nick Diaz vs. Katsuya Inoue (welterweights)

Jung Bukyung vs. Daisuke Nakamura (lightweights)

Takeshi Yamazaki vs. TBA (featherweights)

(You laugh now, but we’ll see who’s laughing when those ice caps melt.)

You might think that Wanderlei Silva, who came up in the old school Vale Tudo circuit in Brazil, would have some outdated training methods. It’s not hard to imagine him carrying several people on his back around a Rio de Janeiro beach, or sparring with pitbulls to increase his courage and the speed at which his blood clots.

Not so, as it turns out. In fact, Silva and his strength and conditioning coach, Rafael Alejarra, are so cutting edge in their training methods that it is literally ridiculous. One wonders how much Silva’s decision loss to Chuck Liddell has him feeling desperate for a victory and willing to try anything, even snorkeling. Alejarra explained it all to MMA Weekly:

Wanderlei is always searching for the best training, and by that he wants the best for me. So he said to me that I will always travel to places where I can learn something to add on to his training. I am very happy to have a boss like him. By that, I have the opportunity to grow as a sport scientist.

Today, I am studying a new training called HIPOXIA, which consist in a few words in a hard training with low demand of oxygen. This kind of training is developed in other sports and I am bringing it to MMA. It’s a very hard type of training because the athlete must tolerate a huge quantity of lactic acid in the blood.

I have made some tests with Wanderlei and brought it to Brazil and presented to a board with Masters of Exercise Biochemistry and the results of the study were that the athlete had a great increase in conditioning of the aerobic and anaerobic (energy systems).

It sounds so crazy it just might work. Silva’s upcoming bout with Keith Jardine will be an important one if he wants to stay in the UFC for very long, and it could also dictate whether he’ll continue competing as a light heavyweight. Alejarra wouldn’t say whether Silva was planning a move to middleweight, commenting only that they were “waiting for the natural process.”

That could mean a lot of different things. Getting beat up by bigger and stronger opponents could be considered a natural process. The UFC telling you to lose fifteen pounds or find a new line of work? That could also be considered a natural process. Sort of.

Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

EDIT: As it turns out, Wanderlei has used this training before his bout with Liddell. Rachelle Leah has the full story for you.

With the UFC dropping fighters like bad bean pies and more roster cuts on the horizon, you can bet that there are more than a few guys in the Zuffa stable who are feeling pretty nervous right about now.

It used to be just the fighters who put on a supremely bad performance got cut from their contracts, but not so anymore. The UFC is trimming the fat, which means plenty of able bodies may be getting the old ‘let’s just be friends’ speech from the UFC. But how will you know if you’re about to be the next one on the bread line?

Being the helpful jerk that I am, I’ve come up with a handy list of warning signs that it may be time to start looking for a new job (I’m looking at you, Marvin Eastman). Somewhere there is a strip club that’s about to get an influx of bouncer applications.

1. Someone keeps leaving a book on conversational Japanese in your dressing room.

2. The UFC begins paying your fight purses in change, and your post-fight bonuses in cases of Xyience and 40 oz. bottles of Mickey’s.

3. Every time you try and call Dana White’s cell phone, he suspiciously “can’t talk right now” because he’s just about to hop in the shower.

4. They take away your parking space and give it to Diego Sanchez, while giving you Kalib Starnes’ old spot. When you complain about how it’s all the way at the other end of the lot, they tell you not to worry because it’s “only temporary.”

5. When you show up to film your pre-fight shadow boxing montage, the crew doesn’t even bother to make it look like it’s raining.

6. Joe Silva schedules you for a fight with the new “Ultimate Fighter” winner. Before the current season is over.

7. Instead of giving you a Hummer after a victory, you get a bus ticket and a thermos of coffee.

8. When you pass “Rampage” Jackson’s trainer in the hallway and ask him how it’s going, he pats you on the shoulder and says, “Everything happens for a reason, son.”

9. Dana White keeps talking up this night class on air conditioning repair down at the technical college, insisting that it “never hurts to learn a trade,” before leaving you with a pamphlet and a forty-dollar check made out to the Registrar’s office.

10. You’re a wrestler whose fights always go to a judges’ decision.

-Ben Fowlkes

Our friend Ariel at MMARated did an audio interview with Travis Lutter shortly after he was cut by the UFC, and if you’re curious about where “The Serial Killer” goes from here you should give it a listen. Lutter still sounds a little dazed by his layoff — and bitter that he was cut while other two-time-losers like Kendall Grove are still in the mix — but there were some interesting revelations. For example:

— After his dismissal, Lutter e-mailed Dana White about the $36,000 that Xyience still owes him. That e-mail has not yet been returned.
— When he said that fans of MMA suck, he was specifically referring to the ones that send him hate mail; according to Travis, the only person who deserves that kind of hate mail is Osama Bin Laden. [ed. note: I know, right? If only we had his address!]
— Since his firing, he’s been called by the IFL and HDNet/Affliction; he’d love to fight Matt Lindland.
— Lutter still doesn’t know why he gassed against Rich Franklin. He also hasn’t watched the fight yet, because he doesn’t feel like it.
— He says “y’know” more than maybe anyone else in the world, ever.

If you’ve still got love for Lutter, listen to the interview at MMARated.com.

(Are you a Mayhem Monkey?)

Since all you guys did was bitch about it last time, we’re going to leave the decisions in your hands from now on. Below were our favorite comments from this week. Take a moment to digest them and then vote for your favorite in our new homepage poll on the right. The winner gets a Triumph United t-shirt of their choice. Okay? And the nominees are…

“The first time I ever saw Kimbo I was surfing for porn and I saw his various appearances @ inthevip.com. If you told me that a couple years later that dude would be on the cover of ESPN, I’d call you crazy. Actually I’d say I didn’t know who he was and deny the fact I was looking at porn.” — Jeff on Kimbo’s ESPN Cover Shoot

“When discussing Mark Hunt, it’s customary to precede his name with ‘noted fatty fatty fat fat’ so that people remember which out-of-shape guy you’re talking about.” — Jemaleddin on Quote Stew: Bisping, Quarry, Hunt + More

“YAMMA veteran. Doesn’t that make your skin crawl a little when you type it?” — Vrax on Patrick Smith Is a Sex Offender

“I think Chris Leben is showing a lot of growth here as a human being….and I also think he will make a fine prison prostitute….that guy is going to earn somone a lot of soups and cigarettes.” — BIG CHRIS on Chris Leben in Jail, But Only on a Technicality

“The Mad Monkey, is this the one that had pinpoint bleeding all over his freshly waxed unibrow in the serra/gsp pre-fight family interviews? You want to get that done 24 hrs in advance buddy (not that I would know anything about it).” — tony@rbd on Nick Serra, The Mad Monkey

“these arent rankings. these a fans thoughts on who they think is good. iv never seen so much crappy rankings by a nuthugging blog before. garbage.” — clitwizard on ‘Power Rankings’ Update of DOOM!

Voting ends at 5:00 p.m. ET. Git ‘er done.

(A country boy can survive)

Old rivals Matt Hughes and B.J. Penn both find themselves preparing for fights these days, only their paths have diverged significantly. While Penn is getting ready to defend his lightweight title against Sean Sherk, who he has vowed to kill, Hughes is getting ready to play gatekeeper against Thiago Alves at UFC 85 in London.

Hughes isn’t crazy about going “across the pond” for this fight, according to a recent blog entry on Matt-Hughes.com. He’d rather fight in Vegas or the Midwest, but hey, the Limeys deserve to see somebody get slammed every now and then, don’t they? Hughes assures us that he’s hitting the gym hard, but he took some time out to post a “Firearms Refresher Course”. I won’t reprint the whole list, which is long, but here’s a taste:

1. An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.
5. If guns are outlawed, can we use swords?
6. If guns cause crime, then pencils cause misspelled words.
13. 64,999,987 firearms owners killed no one yesterday.
14. Guns only have two enemies; rust and politicians.

You get the idea. Matt Hughes loves guns. The part about the swords had me confused, though. Is he implying that we can’t use swords now? Because if that’s the case, I just wasted the $2,500 I spent on that “Conan the Barbarian” authentic replica sword, and after I paid extra for the overnight shipping, too.

Meanwhile in his island paradise, B.J. Penn is so tired of hearing that he doesn’t have the cardio to last five rounds that he’s actually decided to do a little jogging with some friends. Best quote from this video: “I don’t know, man, looks like I’m going to be ready, Sherk.”

Looks like it? As in, you know, probably going to be ready? That’s not what you want to hear.

Find more videos like this on BJPENN.COM

Props: Bloody Elbow

(BF)

Many fighter blogs aren’t that interesting. They’re usually ghostwritten, contain no real insights, and seem half-hearted at best. That said, if you haven’t been reading Jay Hieron’s blog on the Xtreme Couture wordpress site, you have been missing out. The Life & Times of Jay Hieron just hit its fourth installment, and there are some interesting moments. The best part is that you always learn something, but you never know what it will be.

For example, did you know that Randy Couture has a condo in Beverly Hills that he sometimes lets fighters live in when he isn’t using it? Turns out it’s “a sick place”. I’ll bet you also didn’t know that Mike Pyle has notoriously bad gas, or that Jay Hieron has a felony record which has prevented him from getting jobs that aren’t fighting people, or that Xtreme Couture began in the UFC’s “Ultimate Fighter” gym, which Randy Couture and Forrest Griffin had keys to and which the UFC doesn’t use for anything when they aren’t filming.

These things you learn without ever wanting to.

Of course there’s the usual stuff about who he trained with and when, which is generally not too exciting, except for when Gray Maynard first shows up on the scene.

When we weren’t with Bas we were back in Vegas. Gray Maynard came in around that point. I had first met Gray at Cobra Kai, Marc Laimon’s gym, a while back. When a good grappler or wrestler would come to the gym Marc would clear the mat and put him in there with another guy and let the whole class watch. Gray came in and was talking with Laimon and Marc was like, “clear the mat”. I didn’t know who Gray was and he didn’t know who I was. We were just grinding, going at it hard. We were both going for takedowns but nobody could get one. We were really going at it. I knew right away, “this guy is real good”. It went 15 minutes and nobody got a takedown. Afterwards we shook hands. Gray told me who he was and I told him who I was, and that I was a Junior College National Champion. He was Division I for all four years so he didn’t have any respect for me. He told me that. I told him that he better respect me because most of the good Junior College guys are as good or better than the D-1 guys, but it’s the grades that screwed them up. We traded numbers after that and said we’d stay in touch.

Huh. So Gray Maynard is the kind of guy who will tell you to your face that he doesn’t respect you since you didn’t advance beyond junior college, and he’ll say this to you the first time you meet. Kind of makes you wonder how that scenario ended with the two of them trading phone numbers. It’s not often that “I don’t respect you or what you’ve done with your life” is followed by “Hey, can I get your number?”

I guess fighters have their own way of doing things.

-Ben Fowlkes

(The “douche bag” in question.)

This morning, Team Rampage’s Gerald Harris said that Jeremy May “seems to get on everyone’s nerves except mine.” Get on everyone’s nerves? That might be the understatement of the week. Nearly the entire TUF 7 cast hate-hate-hates Jeremy, and said as much in interviews and blog posts that were published today. Here are some highlights; major props to MMAJunkie.

Brandon Sene: “Jeremy is one of those guys [who] just got under everyone’s skin. He’s so abrasive and cocky that in the situation we’re living in, with 16 fighters in a house and them all having strong personalities, it’s not easy to be the one guy everyone thinks is the egomaniac and a jerk. That’s really saying something… He was just saying unnecessary stuff. He was a pain in the ass the whole time we were there.”

C.B. Dollaway: “What can be said about Jeremy May that won’t offend my family and sponsors? This guy would spend countless hours talking about how he would demolish everyone in the house. I honestly think Jeremy is surprised that Anderson Silva is not calling him out. Team Rampage knows they need Jeremy as a training partner and for the sole purpose of gaining control. We want him to win his fights for this reason only. It would be fine if he got stomped for two rounds and pulled out a come-from-behind victory. Maybe a good whooping would humble him.

During the point of the show you saw in Wednesday’s episode, I was really learning to hate this guy, and I am usually a low-key, easy-to-get-along with person. I would be lying if I told you I did not feel like smashing him myself at times. After Matthew Riddle’s fight, I think our whole team was learning how big of an ass Jeremy really was. His comments to Matthew in the van ride back to the house about getting submitted by armbar were out of line. That was a great fight, and both fighters had nothing to be ashamed of…

(more…)

(Crazy Anderson Silva wallpaper courtesy of Olieng.net)

Over the last couple weeks, Matt Serra came crashing back down to Earth, Rich Franklin got his balls back, Shinya Aoki smothered JZ, and Denis Kang went out like a bitch. So if you haven’t swung by our Power Rankings section lately, please do so. In particular, the lightweight, middleweight, and pound-for-pound lists were freshly updated today. And you may be surprised at how high I ranked Travis Wiuff in the heavyweight division for going all the way at YAMMA 1…

Anyway, give ‘em a look and let us know if you see things differently.

(BG)

(Clearly, this man has his finger on the pulse of the nation.)

Elite XC seems to be putting all its hopes for long-term for success into its TV deal with CBS, but not everyone in the CBS family is a fan of the deal. In a recent story from the Hollywood Reporter (via MMA Payout), CBS and Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone publicly criticized CBS president Les Moonves and his decision to put mixed martial arts on live network TV.

“Les usually asks my opinion,” Sumner Redstone said Wednesday when asked about the four mixed-martial arts fights that will begin airing soon on CBS. This time, the Viacom and CBS chairman said, Moonves did not.

Redstone said the deal, struck with Elite Xtreme Combat, probably was a mistake, not because CBS won’t turn a profit from it but because it is not “socially responsible” to air the typically bloody bouts on free, broadcast TV.

“I’m a lover not a fighter,” Redstone said. “I don’t like the sport.”

Redstone saying that he doesn’t like the sport and isn’t anxious to see it on his network? That’s fine. That’s a personal opinion. He doesn’t have to like “How I Met Your Mother” either, but it’s going to stick around as long as it pulls in ratings, which apparently it does (people really watch that? are they drunk?).

But the remark about airing MMA not being “socially responsible” is intriguing. This is the same network that airs the NFL, which is awesome and also very dangerous and violent. They’re also home to great society-improving programming like ‘Big Brother’ and the Charlie Sheen sex-joke vehicle, ‘Two and a Half Men’. (By the way, don’t miss next Monday’s episode: “If My Hole Could Talk.” Now that’s innuendo!)

Fox Sports president Ed Goren also criticized the move, saying that he didn’t pursue a deal with the UFC because, “we don’t need money that badly.”

Of course, the UFC is said to be in serious talks with Fox’s entertainment division, and Fox Sports Net has aired both the IFL and Pride fights in the past. Seems like maybe everyone isn’t on the same page over at Fox. That’s also probably how they ended up with ‘Temptation Island.’

As much as TV execs love to take the moral high ground when they can, they probably didn’t get those jobs by following their hearts. If MMA proves to be a ratings success, my guess is they’ll put their personal abhorrence of violent sports aside in order to capitalize on it.

(’Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.’)

When word spread this morning that Chris Leben was locked up in Oregon just a few days after being signed to fight Michael Bisping at UFC 85 in London, we all feared the worst. That fight card has already suffered more than its share of setbacks, and as anyone who watched him on “The Ultimate Fighter” or YouTube knows, Chris Leben is known to enjoy an alcoholic beverage from time to time.

But don’t worry, he’s only in jail temporarily while he sorts out some legal issues stemming from past alcohol-related mischief. Icon promoter T. Jay Thompson clears things up for us:

Chris Leben was not arrested this week for DUI.

When Chris moved to Hawaii he was in the process of completing classes for his probation on an old DUI in Portland Oregon. We worked hard to get his probation transferred to Hawaii but were unsuccessful.

When he got the call to fight Bisping on June 7th in London he knew what he had to do.

He immediately flew to Oregon and turned himself in on the probation violation. The warrant was a “no bail” warrant so he will have to sit in jail for 8-10 days before he gets a hearing. The moment he appeared before the judge after turning himself in the warrant was revoked and he is able to get his VISA for London.

Chris is in excellent shape and will finish his training camp with the help of Matt Hume.

Chris has worked hard the past year to grow both physically, mentally and spiritually. The actions he took to make this fight happen in London show this growth. Chris would like everyone to know he accepts responsibility for his past actions and will face the consequences and continue forward on his journey.

That’s a relief. Losing the Leben-Bisping match would have been a major blow to UFC 85. Crisis averted…for now.

I’m told that I should introduce myself. My name is Ben Fowlkes, and as of today I am joining Cage Potato full-time as a writer. Why is that of interest to you? It probably isn’t, but Ben Goldstein suggested I let you all know who I am, so here goes.

Before this, I wrote for CBS Sportsline, IFL.tv, Crave Online, and occasionally for Five Ounces of Pain. I also wrote the blog The Fighting Life. I recently left the IFL to pursue a full-time gig here, which I am happy to do, having been an admirer of this site for some time.

If you’re wondering whether working for the IFL means hanging out in hotel bars with Don Frye trying to get material for our “Dear Don” column, yes it does. And did I once attend a BYOB strip club with Bas Rutten in the middle of Iowa? Definitely. Did I manage to piss off Matt Lindland in every single interview I ever did with him? Absolutely. Do I think it’s sad that these are the high points of my career? I do.

In short, I love writing about MMA and discussing it with other interested parties such as yourselves, and I’m going to do my best to continue the good work that this site has been doing.

There. Now that’s over with and we can get back to MMA.

(Rich and some of his “fishing buddies” at the Cornhole Throwdown.)

According to his manager Monte Cox, former UFC middleweight champ Rich Franklin is considering a move back up to light-heavyweight, due to his defeats against Anderson Silva and because beating any remaining contenders in the UFC’s middleweight division would be bad for the league. Franklin competed at light-heavyweight for the first 19 matches of his 27-fight career, suffering only a single loss at 205 to Lyoto Machida in 2003. Said Cox:

“He’s fought almost everybody in the 185-pound division. There are some guys that he could fight, but if he beats them it knocks them out of title contention. And nobody is looking to see Rich and Anderson Silva 3 right now, including me…He’s not helping the 185-pound division right now by beating everybody up in it…We’ve talked about going to 205 and how would he match up with some of those guys, with a Forrest Griffin or a Keith Jardine. I think there’re some really good fights. There’s a whole bunch of 205’s that I think would be interesting.”

Agreed, for the most part. You wouldn’t want to put Franklin up against Michael Bisping, and have Ace knock off the last remaining marketable contender to Silva’s belt. But it would be a tragedy if Franklin left the 185-pound division before taking on Dan Henderson — though with few logical fights out there for Henderson as a middleweight, Hendo may eventually move back up to light-heavy as well, so who knows.

What’s more certain is the financial logic behind such a move. Just before his UFC 77 rematch with Anderson Silva, Franklin signed a six-fight deal that would pay him more than the $45,000 base salary he was previously bringing in, beginning with his next fight. Salary figures from UFC 83 haven’t been released, so we don’t know the exact figure at this point, but if Franklin’s per-fight salary is now approaching the six-figure mark, the UFC would want to put him in high-profile fights to draw more revenue from pay-per-view buys and live gate. Booking Franklin against Travis Lutter probably doesn’t represent the best return on investment, in other words. But with the UFC’s light-heavyweight division packed with stars, there are a lot of big-money matchups to be made at 205. Who wouldn’t want to see Ace take on the loser of Rampage/Forrest?