Anthony Johnson: Knockout Artist, Class Act

Though he's a killer in the Octagon -- a fact he proved with his first round destruction of Luigi Fioravanti on Saturday night -- Anthony Johnson showed he has the heart of a champion at UFC Fight Night 17.

Before he left the Octagon, he took to the mic, critical of his own performance. "I'm happy I got a win. My performance, I could have done so much better."

But he didn't leave before giving thanks to those who mean a lot to him, his grandparents.

"This fight is dedicated to my grandmother, she's here tonight," said an emotional Johnson, "and my grandfather, he died three years ago."

Leben Opens New Gym, Moves On

UFC middleweight Chris Leben is the proud owner of a new gym in the Aloha state. After moving to the island in 2007 to take on the role of head coach at ICON Sport gym in Oahu, he is striking out on his own as the owner of Ultimate Fight School in Honolulu. The gym is two blocks away from the University of Hawaii campus, and Leben says its name leaves no confusion to curious parties.

"I've been coaching for for other people for so long," he told MMAInsider. "I'm just happy to be at a place where I pick the music, and I pick how I get to train people. I couldn't be happier."

Leben says he'll be ready to fight in July, when his UFC suspension ends. Following UFC 89, Leben was the second fighter suspended by the promotion for performance enhancing drugs.

"It was a setback," Leben says of the punishment. "I realized I don't have time for setbacks. I've got to do it the old fashion way, just work, work, work. It's water under the bridge."

He'll have the same routine for fight camps, flying training partners to his gym, then making the trek to his original home, AMC Pankration, in the 5 to 6 weeks before a fight. Now, he's training six days a week.

If the UFC decides to open one of their branded gyms in his neighborhood, he won't worry.

"I don't think it can hurt anything," he says. "Anything that brings more attention to our sport is a good thing. There's a lot of excitement around the school on campus."

The website for Leben's gym is www.ultimatefightschool.com.

VIDEO: WEC 39 Mike Brown vs Leonard Garcia

Retirement Talk by Penn Premature; Expect Him Back

Although there has been a lot of speculation that B.J. Penn was considering retirement following his UFC 94 bout with Georges St. Pierre, fueled mostly by the fighter himself, it sounds more and more like he's planning to return.

His trainer, Rudy Valentino, told Sports Illustrated's Josh Gross that on their way to Vegas, Penn had indicated to him that a win probably would have meant his retirement.

In an interview with KHON-2 News in Honolulu, Penn himself sounded unclear on his future, saying, "I was going to make this my last fight and finish up fighting GSP. In my head, I was with (the UFC) for nine or ten years and I kind of just wanted to be finished with this whole thing after this. So I don’t know where my head is right now. I just want to thank all the fans that supported me all this time, over this last nine, ten years fighting."

But over the past few days, Penn has made statements to the contrary, initially posting on his Facebook page that he was now looking to a UFC lightweight title defense against Kenny Florian sometime between May and July.

With the whole uproar about inappropriate Vaseline usage by St. Pierre's cornermen during their fight, St. Pierre made a public statement saying that he welcomed a second rematch with Penn to prove that the controversy had nothing to do with his dominating performance in sending Penn packing after the fourth round.

Penn responded in kind on his website, BJPenn.com, accepting a third bout between the two iconic figures. "To the untrained eye the grease might not look like much, but every grappler knows the effect that it has. Being able to apply your submissions and sweeps or just being able to hold on to your opponent to defend yourself from being hit is absolutely critical! ... I hereby accept George St. Pierre and Greg Jackson’s challenge for a fight in the summer 2009. Lets call Dana now and set it up."

So, it doesn't look like Penn is planning on going away anytime soon. It is now more of a question of what is next for the UFC lightweight champion. St. Pierre is expected to defend the welterweight title against Thiago Alves in his next bout. Although a third bout between GSP and Penn could come to fruition, it is more likely that Penn will be required by the UFC to defend his belt against Kenny Florian before anymore rematches.

MMA For Dummies: Heavy Bag Drill

UFC fighter and MMA Live's Kenny Florian hosts a new series of training based tips on ESPN.com called MMA For Dummies. In this episode, Florian shows a heavy bag workout that anyone can do.

ESPN MMA Live UFC Fight Night Preview & GSP vs BJ Penn

Strikeforce Closes Pro Elite Sale

MMAInsider has just learned from Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker that the deal to purchase Pro Elite assets has closed.

Check back on MMAWeekly.com for details as they become available.

Atencio Gives Up "Reckoning" PPV Numbers....Sorta

MMAInsider spoke with Affliction Entertainment Vice President Tom Atencio on Wednesday evening as he returned from a meeting with executives from Golden Boy Entertainment. The spectacled promoter said his team is working on logistics with the boxing promoters for future shows. At the time, he doesn't know whether the idea of cross-breeding MMA and boxing will materialize. His guess for the alliance's next event ranged from June to July.

But enough of all those question marks--MMAInsider wanted to know what the pay per view numbers were for "Day of Reckoning."

Published reports citing Golden Boy CEO Richard Schafer have put the figure between 150,000-200,000 buys, giving the promotion a low estimate--at $44.95 a pop--of between $6,742,500 and $8,990,000 in net revenue.

Atencio, citing his company's desire not to discuss money a la the UFC, put it this way: "We did 50% better than our last event."

MMAWeekly.com was the first to report his estimate for Affliction's first event, "Banned," in which he said the broadcast "did well over 100,000 (buys)." That was before the partnership with Golden Boy; Atencio said his company got a better deal than the standard 40 percent of net revenue doled out to the promoter of the event. A conservative estimate of a $2.4 million take was "within the ballpark."

In an interview with MMAInsider following the second event, Atencio claimed he was not privy to the pay per view deal secured for "Reckoning," as Golden Boy was dealing with Showtime pay per view.

But assuming the standard 40 percent take for promoters in a pay per view event and a 50 percent improvement from 100,000 buys, a low estimate for Afflction/Golden Boy's pay per view take would be $2,697,000. Combined with total gate receipts of $1,429,557, the event could have produced $4,126,557 in gross revenue, excluding other sources like merchandising and sponsorships.

The total on-the-books payroll for the event was $3.3 million. Fedor Emelianenko, who pummeled Andrei Arlovski in the main event, received $1.2 million less than his Belarusian counterpart, but it is widely believed he was given an off-the-books bonus north of a million dollars.

As you would expect, there are a lot of variables in Affliction's equation of profitability. The two companies are private and are required only to disclose the salaries paid to their athletes. There are staff costs, venue costs, taxes, advertising--a litany of expenses that subtract from revenue. And as speculation indicates with Emelianenko, the true numbers of the event's payroll may never be known. Those, in addition to live gate receipts, are a very limited picture of success.

Then there's the possibility that Atencio and Golden Boy have been misleading about the true numbers--not a far-fetched scenario in the world of fight promotion.

Still, even at low estimates, the raw pay per view and gate numbers are impressive for a non-UFC promotion in this economy.

The sustainability of Affliction/Golden Boy's business model is likely the main point of future meetings.

Strikeforce Exec Denies Sale

MMAInsider has followed the long, convoluted saga of Pro Elite Inc., since the MMA company first announced it was closing its doors last October.

Following it's rapid collapse, a handful of suitors emerged to vie for the company's assets, including Mark Ecko, the UFC, Terri Trebilcock, and Strikeforce. After a botched attempt by Showtime to auction the spoils of the company, the deal went underground. The winning bid seemed to change weekly, sometimes daily.

In recent weeks, several industry sources have confirmed that Scott Coker and Strikeforce have emerged as the likely candidate to purchase Pro Elite's assets. In December, the San Jose-based promotion was on the cusp of a deal to purchase parts of the company, but last minute hike in the price of the deal shelved it.

However, multiple sources who wished to remain anonymous said last week that negotiations between the companies had resumed and were entering their final stages.

On Wednesday afternoon, multiple reports surfaced that Strikeforce had agreed in principle to a purchase of Pro Elite assets and an announcement was forthcoming by the end of the week.

Strikeforce executive Mike Afromowitz confirmed to MMAInsider that negotiations were progressing, but the deal was not done.

"That's incorrect," he said. "Any reports of a done deal are a complete fantasy."

Afromowitz said the deal with Pro Elite was far more complex than reports had stated.

"It's complicated, and that's why I don't want to speculate," he continued. "If anything is done, it will be very technical. It's not as straightforward as you think."

If a deal between Strikeforce and Pro Elite comes to fruition, Pro Elite's television deals with CBS and Showtime, as well as select fighters on their roster, are valuable spoils of the transaction. Though Strikeforce has an existing contract with NBC to air pre-recorded fight specials, a live TV deal has eluded them. A deal with CBS could remedy that issue, or perhaps provide leverage in future negotiations with NBC.

Afromowitz said he would have more information soon, but stressed it was too soon to close the books on the saga.

CSAC Releases Official Gate Revenue for Affliction's "Reckoning"

The California State Athletic Commission on Tuesday evening released the final numbers for Affliction Entertainment's second show, "Day of Reckoning," held on Jan. 24.

13,318 fans watched the event at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. Though the number of paid attendees was not released, the total gate revenue for the event totaled $1,429,557.

The revenue is slightly less than a number reported on Jan.26 by Yahoo! Sports, that said the event produced $1,512,750 in revenue from 8,946 paid attendees.

In a press release issued the day after the event, Affliction Entertainment claimed that 12,335 were in attendance for the evening.

The total payroll for the event, as first reported by MMAWeekly.com, was slightly north of $3.3 million.

Vice President of Affliction Entertainment Tom Atencio said preliminary pay per view numbers should be available within the week.

Matt Hughes Says GSP Felt Greasy When They Fought

For better or worse, the hot topic of conversation following what was billed as the biggest fight in Ultimate Fighting Championship history -- the mega-fight between welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre and lightweight champion B.J. Penn -- has been the use of Vaseline by St. Pierre's cornermen.

Most of the parties involved have commented in one form or another, and the Penn camp is now determining their pursuit of the allegations against St. Pierre. On Tuesday, in his official blog, former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes, who has fought St. Pierre three times, weighed in on some of the UFC 94 bouts, but was most poignant in his comments about St. Pierre feeling greasy when they fought:

"I was also surprised by the final match, I thought B.J. would have put on a better performance. B.J. Penn is coming from a lighter weight class, but he took the fight at 170. That's the bottom line. I knew it was going to come down to who had the better cardio and even at the end of the first round B.J. looked tired.

Now, on to what everybody is talking about, the greasing. I'm not the only one who has said that GSP felt greasy during a fight. I know Matt Serra has mentioned it and, even in their first fight, I think B.J. said something. I'm not saying GSP did something wrong and I'm not saying that it would have changed any outcomes of any fights; but what I am saying is, for my last two fights against Georges, he felt greasy."

Courtesy of Matt-Hughes.com.

Ryan Couture Heads Amateur Fight Card in Vegas

Ryan Couture, the son of former UFC champion Randy Couture, is headlining the Tuff-N-Uff MMA Amateur show on Sunday, February 15th at the Orleans in Las Vegas.

Ryan is 1-0 coming into this fight and is looking forward to fighting a strong competitor Art Martinez.

Nick Fekete is making his MMA debut on the card against Shawn Fry.

(Courtesy of Xtreme Couture)

MMA Live's UFC 94 Post-Fight with GSP

Former Champion Ian Freeman Admits to Tax Fraud Charges

Former British champion and UFC veteran Ian "The Machine" Freeman looks to be making a return to the cage, but of a different sort than the one that made him famous.

Freeman, appearing before the Durham Crown Court in the U.K., pleaded guilty to charges of tax evasion, and jointly with his wife, Angela, also admitted to tax credit fraud, according to BBC News via FightOpinion.com.

The pair allegedly claimed that they were living solely off of the income of Freeman's wife for the past decade or so, totaling a tax fraud tab of more than £21,000, nearly $30,000 U.S. It is believed that Freeman stopped paying taxes in 1997.

Freeman and his wife are to be sentenced on March 3, when they face possible jail time.

Freeman first came to international prominence as a professional mixed martial artist with his win over current UFC interim heavyweight champion Frank Mir at UFC 38 in London. He last competed at Cage Rage 26, also in London, in May of last year, when he defeated Paul Cahoon.

(Photo courtesy of Lee Whitehead, MMAWeekly.com)

Dana White's UFC 94 Video Blog (Saturday)

UFC 94 "More than a sellout"

The numbers aren't official yet, but UFC president Dana White on Saturday night indicated that everything about Georges St. Pierre vs. B.J. Penn 2 affirms its mega-fight status.

"We did a gate of $4.3 million, 14,885 people," he said at the post-fight press conference. "This thing was more than a sellout. The casino was scrambling today to add more seats. Other casinos were looking for tickets. This was the craziest event we've ever done, by far."

If those numbers prove to accurate, it easily puts UFC 94 as one of the top grossing UFC gates of all time.

Fight night numbers were the latest in a tremendous week for the promotion. On Friday at the UFC 94 weigh-ins – an event in and of itself – security had to turn people away at the door. UFC officials said that the set-up for the weigh-ins accommodated somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,000 fans, yet they were still turning them away in droves... for the weigh-ins!

At least as a live draw, UFC 94 could only be regarded as the resounding success that the promotion had expected.

MMA Live UFC 94 Postfight

Courtesy of ESPN.com