Things That Won't Happen at UFC 90

UFC 90 on Saturday night! Anderson Silva committing another legal murder! Wahoo! Here's a list of things that won't happen at this Rosemont, Illinois event:

• Patrick Cote is not going to emerge from his bout with Silva unscathed. In fact, he's going to be scathed. Very, very scathed.
• Josh Koscheck is not going to reveal his ethnicity in his victory speech.
• Sean Sherk and Tyson Griffin are not going to employ any wrestling in their lightweight battle. Psych!
• Matt Horwich is not going to invoke Satan is his pre-fight warm-up.
• The corner men of Hermes Franca and Marcus Aurelio will not shout any instructions in Portuguese. Psych!

A Review of MTV's True Life: "I am a Mixed Martial Arts Fighter"

Last night MTV's True Life documentary series featured an episode called "I am a Mixed Martial Arts Fighter", which had an amateur from Colorado named Ian Stone fighting in a local event, Muay Thai champ Kit Cope fighting in Atlantic City against some scrub, and UFC lightweight star Frankie Edgar taking on Gray Maynard. Some thoughts:

• Stone is a good example of what's wrong with MMA kids today. I mean, he cooked that lone egg he was eating for dinner. Rocky Balboa would've eaten it raw.
• It was good to see Cope and girlfriend Aubrey together again after she'd stood by his side on that True Life: "I am a Muay Thai Fighter" from a few years ago. The sport needs more interpersonal drama like that. Maybe they can hang out with that couple from True Life: "I am an Douchebag from Staten Island".
• The producers did an excellent job of showing that the venue was almost completely empty for Cope's fight at the World Fighting Championship in Atlantic City. They should have at least added in spectators via CGI, right?
• Edgar conducted an interview over the phone while driving. Whenever a fighter tells me he's driving during our phone interview, I worry that he'll get distracted and crash. No reporter wants to be the one to tell Dana White, "Um, yeah, so I was asking him about rumored pay cuts, and... boom! Sorry, man."

Forida State Boxing Commission Exonerates EliteXC, Clearing Way for Company's Sale to CBS

The Florida State Boxing Commission has concluded that no wrongdoing occurred in the Kimbo Slice/Seth Petruzelli bout from EliteXC's ill-fated October 4th card. Allegations of fight-fixing arose after Petruzelli claimed in a post-event radio interview that he was paid extra to keep the fight standing, with the resulting uproar over "Standgate" prompting the FSBC's investigation. "Dis is wicked news," said EliteXC figurehead Jared Shaw. "Now naffink stands in da way hof CBS buyin' us. Booyakasha!"

The MMA Journalist Guide to Scoring Free Stuff from Promoters

Zach Arnold over at FightOpinion has an interesting discussion going on the topic of promoters paying off the media (link: http://www.fightopinion.com/2008/10/22/dana-whites-admission-that-will-likely-not-get-much-attention-but-really-should/). Basically, he blasts the UFC for having various journalists in their pocket, and he blasts journalists for being there in the first place. Having been in this business for a while, I can honestly say that the practice of buying off reporters, bloggers, editors, publishers, etc. is about as commonplace as staph in a jiu-jitsu academy (i.e., it's freakin' everywhere). Want a personal example? When Zuffa first took over, Dana White liked my glowing UFC 34 write-up so much, he told my boss that my hotel would be paid for whenever I covered UFC events. (Incidentally, my boss told Dana to go scratch; he didn't want anyone having that kind of control over who writes what.) The truth is, promoters often buy up a block of hotel rooms for staff and fighters, and members of the media will get what's left over. Add to that equation the backstage food spreads at shows (the UFC's used to be huge but was pared down over time, BodogFIGHT's was epic, the IFL's just consisted of stacks of pizzas), and you have a lot of people getting free stuff. Does it affect the story at the end of the day? I can't speak for anyone else, but I can say that it's never colored what I write. If I think an event sucks, no amount of lodging or grub is going to change that - and that's the truth. Now excuse me while I go sell these ROC and UCL t-shirts on eBay.

TUF 8 Analysis: Episode 6

Last night brought us the sixth episode of the TUF 8 season, and we were treated to Junie Browning finally putting his money where his mouth is, coach Mir being a douche, and... wait for it... wait for it... STANKIE!

• Team Noguiera boxing coach Stankie is the best thing to ever happen to SpikeTV. Shouting "Fight, fight, kill, kill!" was just the tip of the iceberg. I just know he was out in the parking lot afterwards smashing windshields with a tire iron, and I have it on good authority that when the Team Mir van was shuttling the fighters back to the TUF house, Stankie tried to run it off the road with his beat-up 1974 Dodge Charger.
• Browning may never know how close to death he came for spitting on that black belt. Word is that Anderson Silva was mad as hell, and to release some of his anger, went over to one of the hanging bags and kicked it. The bag burst into flames.
• Based on his striking and wrestling ability, there's no question Roli Delgado is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt.
• Although he snagged the split decision, Browning did not impress with that performance. If he ever fights Phillipe Nover, Nover is going to take his head clean off.

Patrick Cote: "Wait, I'm Fighting Who?"

Patrick Cote was finally told yesterday that his UFC 90 opponent is none other than middleweight champ Anderson Silva, a fact that was kept from the Canadian slugger since he signed the generic bout agreement months ago. Cote was reportedly kept in the dark by his management team because no one in their right mind would want to get in the cage with the man who destroyed former champ Rich Franklin twice and made short work of Pride champ Dan Henderson. Standing behind the podium at a press conference when he heard the news, Cote at first seemed shocked, then became dismayed. "Wait, I'm fighting who?" he said before throwing his UFC cap to the ground and storming off the stage. "Yeah, we didn't tell him who he was fighting," said Muay Thai trainer Mark DellaGrotte. DellaGrotte worked with Cote on possible strategies for the UFC 90 bout, including the "go fetal and cry" maneuver and the "tap out really, really fast" technique, and though DellaGrotte was successful in keeping the opponent's identity a secret, he feels strongly about Cote's chances. "If he does what we practiced, he may make it out of the cage alive. Unconscious, but alive." UFC 90 airs Saturday night on pay-per-view, and in addition to the Silva/Cote bout, it features a welterweight match-up between Thiago Alves and Josh Koscheck.

Official Statement from Showtime

Showtime, the cable network that was home to EliteXC and ShoXC, sent this statement to MMA Journalist yesterday. I guess they got a taste of MMA and liked it. "ProElite officials have advised us that they will not be able to put on the EliteXC event scheduled for exhibition on Showtime on November 8. In view of Showtime's leadership role in sports programming, including boxing and mixed martial arts, we intend to explore other opportunities."

But What About Eddie Alvarez?

The sudden collapse of EliteXC has left more than a few fighters wondering where their next paycheck will come from, but Eddie Alvarez - who was slated to fight Nick Diaz for a championship belt at EliteXC's November 8th Showtime event - isn't all that worried. After all, the dude was BodogFIGHT's big star before they crapped the bed, and he cleaned house in Japan's DREAM tournament not too long ago. He should have no problems finding work. Last night MMA Journalist caught up with the Philadelphia superstar, and got his thoughts on the whole EliteXC debacle. "It's unfortunate for the promotion and it's unfortunate for the fighters who put all their eggs in one basket," he said. "I spread myself out and didn't put all my eggs in one basket, so I'm not too concerned. I have a great manager (Monte Cox) and I'm confident he'll find something for me." Added Alvarez: "I've been through this with Bodog so it's nothing new to me."

Kimbo's Manager Speaks

MMA Journalist tracked down longtime Kimbo Slice manager Icey Mike yesterday to get his perspective on the sudden downfall of EliteXC. Here are some quotes.

• "I'm doing good, man. Who is this?"
• "I don't know, man, I just found out about it yesterday (Monday). I thought they had a good show coming up in November, and now this."
• "All this happened yesterday and I don't know what's going on until I meet with [ProElite] and figure out where we're at."
• "Our plan was to fight again in January or February but it doesn't look like that's happening now."
• "We gotta talk with these guys and see where we're at with the contracts and stuff. We've never been in this situation before."
• "When everything is said and done, we'll take offers from everyone."
• "It's going to be hard for anybody to start and organization from the ground up, now. These guys had a lot going for them and they couldn't make it work."
  
• "So this is for the New York Times, right?"
  

Newsday Article on ProElite's Demise

Pick up a copy of today's Newsday (a Long Island newspaper and the tenth largest newspaper in the country) for an article on ProElite's demise written by yours truly. And in case you ever wonder why there's a lull in MMA Journalist posts... yes, it's because I'm cheating on you with other news outlets. I'm sorry you had to find out this way. Link: http://www.newsday.com/sports/custom/boxing/ny-spelite1022,0,2422751.story