Florian Martial Arts Center Brings MMA To The Masses

UFC lightweight contender, Kenny Florian, and his brother Keith, have opened their own training center in Brookline, Mass to help build and teach MMA to new students throughout the area.

In the following video, Keith demonstrates some grappling techniques while Kenny explains what students will learn training while at the Florian Martial Arts Center.

Dana White's UFC 90 Video Blog (Ep 2)

UFC President Dana White presents his second blog for the UFC 90 weekend. In this edition, Dana talks about the downfall of ProElite and EliteXC as well as a beef with radio host and former Yamma announcer, Scott Farrell.

"Obviously today is a great day in MMA, ProElite is dead... so today is a good day," says White in this latest edition of his UFC 90 video blog.

Dana White UFC 90 Video Blog: Episode 1

Fighters Hiding Injuries May Face Disciplinary Action in the Future

The Nevada State Athletic Commission at its meeting on Wednesday raised the issue of fighters that lie about injuries on the pre-fight medical examinations. Despite fighters having to undergo a medical exam prior to fights, not everything can be detected in this exams. Some fighters apparently choose to hide injuries that they think they can fight through.

The Commission deemed the frequency of such occurances and the seriousness of it enough to bring it up for consideration.

Though nothing much new materialized from the discussion, the Commissioners reiterated that they have the right to pursue disciplinary action against any fighter or trainer who fails to disclose an injury that was suffered in training, and that they may have to exercise that right in the future.

"Seth (Petruzelli) was paid to stand up."

MMAWeekly.com talked with EliteXC consultant T.Jay Thompson on Monday night about the fallout from ProElite (EliteXC) closing its doors. Thompson was the founder of SuperBrawl, which later morphed into ICON Sport. He sold ICON to ProElite and now it is mired in the mess of the EliteXC meltdown.

Thompson was around at the final EliteXC show, "Heat," where Ken Shamrock withdrew from the main event at the last minute and UFC dropout Seth Petruzelli was tabbed to fight Kimbo Slice at the last minute.

Unless you were under a rock, you know Petruzelli KO'd Kimbo and then a firestorm ensued when he went on a Florida-based radio show talking about how he was influenced to keep the fight standing against Kimbo.

Thompson relayed his insights on the issue, and let's just say they offer no relief to the parties involved that have been trying to say that nothing of the sort happened:

"I was there cageside and watched the whole thing happen," Thompson told MMAWeekly.com. "Watching Jared Shaw jumping up and down and screaming as a representative of the company, I think was disgusting and embarrassing." He continued, "I don’t have a smoking gun, (but) I've been around long enough; I've talked to enough people that were there, I won't name names of executives in the company that I know. Seth was paid to stand up. I'm confident of that. If the commission wants to talk to me, I'll tell them what I know."

Affliction Releases Promo Video for Fedor vs. Arlovski

It's already been pretty well know for a while now, but Affliction has released a promotional video for the Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski fight. The bout will headline Affliction's second effort, which is scheduled to take place on Jan. 24 at The Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

Video: Brock Lesnar on ESPN's E:60

Brock Lesnar on Tuesday night appeared on ESPN's magazine show E:60. The segment on Lesnar provides some great background on the man who is challenging UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture at UFC 91 on Nov. 15 in Las Vegas.

Go To Sleep In The Cage...Literally!

Have you ever dreamed about competing in the cage or the octagon? Now you have the chance to actually dream about it while sleeping in your own octagon bed courtesy of the great folks at TapouT.

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No one can ever knock MMA clothing and accessory companies for their lack of creativity.

Although you might have a hard time convincing your girlfriend or wife going for this one, but it is definitely the ultimate MMA fan's bed for sure!

Dana White's UFC 90 Video Blog (Ep 1)

UFC President Dana White's UFC 90 video blog. This first episode focuses on The Ultimate Fighter tryouts in London for season 9 including some great behind the scenes footage showing some of the fighters grappling and sparring. Plus a little bit with Michael Bisping talking about the stitches in his ear following his UFC 89 fight with Chris Leben.

UFC 92 The Ultimate Tickets on Sale

Tickets for UFC 92 "The Ultimate 2008" go on sale to the general public beginning Saturday, Oct. 25 at 10 a.m. PT. There are presale options to purchase tickets before they go on sale to the general public.

Starting Wednesday, Oct. 22 at 10 a.m. PT, tickets for UFC 92 go on sale to UFC Fight Club members. And on Friday, Oct. 24 at 10 a.m. PT, tickets go on sale to newsletter subscribers.

UFC 92 is scheduled to take place on Saturday, Dec. 27 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. It features three of the Ultimate Fighting Championship's highest profile fights of the year. Forrest Griffin puts his newly won light heavyweight championship on the line against Rashad Evans, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira defends his heavyweight interim belt against fellow Ultimate Fighter 8 coach Frank Mir, and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson returns to the Octagon to try and avenge two brutal losses to Wanderlei Silva.

ProElite Shutting It's Doors Today (Tuesday)

EliteXC executive JT Steele informed the Nevada State Atheltic Commission on Tuesday of "the unfortunate confirmation that the November 8, 2008 EliteXC event will be canceled. It is with great regret that I must also inform you that ProElite, Inc. will be closing our operation today."

There had been some speculation that ProElite may run out the week, but it looks like that's not going to happen, not that it made any difference to the parties involved anyway.

It's a little early to tell how the closing of ProElite will effect the various fighters and promotions involved, most of them are spending a considerable amount of time today - and probably in the coming days - either on the phone with or in the offices of their lawyers trying to determine what their options are.

King of the Cage and Cage Rage have both gone on record to MMAWeekly saying that they will persevere, although it is unclear in what form or fashion.

Jake Shields told MMAWeekly on Tuesday that he is hoping to be set free from his contract and not be a part of the liquidation of ProElite's assets, as he'd like to fight against as soon as possible and has his sights set on the UFC.

Business As Usual for King of the Cage?

Despite the downfall of ProElite and EliteXC, King of the Cage, via the following press release on their website on Tuesday, says that it will continue operations as normal, despite being a subsidiary of ProElite:

King of the Cage, Inc. (KOTC) is fully aware of the reports surrounding the financial difficulties of ProElite, Inc. (PE) and the reports that PE has filed or may soon file a bankruptcy case. KOTC is currently reviewing and investigating the situation and has determined that no bankruptcy case has yet been filed by PE . Although KOTC is a wholly owned subsidiary of PE, it has maintained its own independent operational structure since its acquisition by PE. While there may be some short term impact on KOTC's operations, KOTC intends to fulfill all of its existing obligations and to conduct all of its scheduled events. KOTC further intends to resume normal business operations as quickly as possible and to continue to grow its brand as it has for the past 10 years. We will provide further updates as more information becomes available.

Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra in April... Maybe

Ever since their words of war on The Ultimate Fighter, there has been a tremendous wall of friction between former UFC welterweight champions Matt Hughes and Matt Serra. Both fighters and fans seem to think the only way it will be resolved is in the Octagon.

Well, that may just happen. Matt Hughes posted the following information on his official website Monday night, indicating that the UFC is looking towards a battle between the two Matts this spring:

"This week, I talked to Joe Silva at the UFC and a possible date for Serra and I is in April. I don’t know the exact date right now or venue. So, that is something that I can look forward to and I can set my training up for that schedule."

"Out of a job, will fight for food."

To all of the people who are now out of a job due to ProElite, Inc. (EliteXC, King of the Cage, ICON Sport, Cage Rage, etc.) closing its doors, it's surely not a humorous subject. The bungling of the way the company was run, driving it into bankruptcy, affects a huge chunk of MMA history, as well as its future.

There are now hundreds of fighters looking for work. But British fighter James Thompson, who suffered a controversial loss at the hands of Kimbo Slice when they met in the first CBS-EliteXC Saturday Night Fights, tried to inject a little humor into the situation.

For people using the Facebook social networking site, there is a feature called "What are you doing right now?" that lets you send out a blast to all of your Facebook friends, basically just telling them whatever you want at that moment.

Thompson on Tuesday morning sent out the following "What are you doing right now?" blast:

"James Thompson is out of a job (will fight for food)."

Here's hoping that Thompson and the other fighters that were under contract through ProElite's various entities are able to break free and find work sooner rather than later.

Mike Swick Has Harsh Words For Marcus Davis

American Kickboxing Academy standout Mike Swick might have been the only one not cheering for Marcus Davis after his UFC 89 fight with Paul Kelly.

On the DQ list after a longstanding injury to his right elbow forced him into surgery, Swick had healed enough to accept a fight with Jonathan Goulet at "UFC Fights for the Troops" on December 10. His last fight, a unanimous decision victory over Davis at UFC 85, had been a positive step forward in his career as a welterweight. But when Davis gave a victory speech on Saturday, his opinion of the popular welterweight changed.

"I would have never mentioned it had he not said anything, but it really upset me," Swick told MMAInsider on Monday. "The first thing he said is 'it's really tough coming off a loss and an injury.' He talks about being a warrior, and as soon as he loses, he starts making excuses."

In interviews leading up to the Saturday night fight, Davis said a shoulder injury had contributed to his loss, a statement Swick bristles at.

"That's very disrespectful to take the fight away from somebody when they dominate you," Swick said. "It's especially disrespectful when a guy who dominated you is more injured than you are. I was told not to even take the fight. I took the fight, I never said a word about anything, and then after the fight, I went straight back here and had surgery. Basically just recovering enough to fight in December, and he gets done with the fight and takes another fight instantly. And he's gonna go with all these excuses about being injured. I just don't think it's very warrior-like."

Swick was particularly caught off guard by the comments because Davis had been so friendly in the past. In the ensuing chatter after Davis' most recent fight, Swick says the comments have armed critics who were looking to bash him at every turn. He felt he had to fire back.

"You're talking about a guy who says we're going to fight chin for chin, then for the first two rounds, he tries to take me down," Swick said. "What's up with that?"

Though he hasn't written off Davis completely, Swick says the experience was an eye-opener.

"You can't knowingly take a fight and if it doesn't work out in your favor, cry injury," Swick said. "That's just the bottom line."

Jardine Unsure Who's No. 1 Light Heavy

Typically, most people automatically say whoever holds the title in the UFC is the No. 1 guy in that division, at least in the UFC, right?

Well, Keith Jardine isn't so sure... and that's not because he's bragging and saying that he is the No. 1 guy in the UFC's 205-pound division.

Obviously referring to a crazy round-robin of wins and losses, the UFC's light heavyweight division does make for some strange MMA math. Rampage beat Liddell who beat Wanderlei who beat Jardine who beat Forrest who beat Rampage and is the champ. Say what?!

"This was a huge fight," said Jardine after his win over Brandon Vera at UFC 89 before adding, "The division is weird. Forrest (Griffin) is the champ right now, but who knows who the best guy is? It could be the number one guy. It could be the number ten guy. There's a lot of undefeated guys. There's a lot of guys coming up. I think it's going take a year or so to sort this thing out."

Parisyan To Return at UFC 94

MMA Insider caught up with Karo "The Heat" Parisyan this weekend at the opening of Renato "Babalu" Sobral's new MMA gym in Cerritos, California.

The Armenian welterweight recently signed a new eight fight deal with the UFC and will return at UFC 94 on January 31 in Las Vegas against an unnamed opponent.

Parisyan says he's fully healed from a back injury that forced him from a fight with Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC 88. Like Ken Shamrock's "light sparring" debacle at EliteXC's "Heat," Parisyan claims he was rolling with a larger training partner the day before the weigh-ins and aggravated his sciatic nerve when attempting an overhead throw.

"I cried, bro," Parisyan said. "It's the only time I've cried because of an injury."

The UFC was reportedly very disappointed in the cancellation, mostly because 30 or so Japanese journalists had shown up to cover Yoshida's fight.

Since his loss to Thiago Alves at Ultimate Fight Night 13 and the subsequent injury, Parisyan has been less outspoken about getting a title shot. He's got to climb the welterweight ladder again, and mend a few fences. Hopefully, he's taken his Shamrock lesson to heart.

Bisping Doesn't Want to be Handed a Shot at Anderson Silva

Every time he turns around someone is asking Michael Bisping about getting a shot at the UFC middleweight title held by current king Anderson Silva. As he said after his win over Chris Leben at UFC 89, if he had a pound for every time someone asked, he wouldn't really need to be fighting.

"I'm happy with the way it's going," Bisping said at the UFC 89 post-fight press conference. "You've got to win your fights and that's what I'm doing. I just take it one step at a time. I don't want to get ahead of myself."

"Whenever it comes I'll be happy. If they said next fight, I'd be happy. If they said five fights, I'd be happy. As I've said, you've got to earn that right at a title shot. Have I done it yet? I probably haven't. I don't think I have. That's what I want to do. I want to earn it. I don't just want to be given it because I'm from the U.K. or whatever. I want to earn that right, and I want to beat the best guys in the division."

Leben played all his cards against Bisping

Chris "The Crippler" Leben went into UFC 89 with the intentions of knocking Michael "The Count" Bisping out, but found himself at the end of the Englishman's punches and unable to solidly connect with his looping strikes.

Frustration mounted in the waning moments of round two when Leben dropped his hands and walked in without defense into Bisping's jabs in an effort to get The Ultimate Fighter season three winner to exchange with him.

Leben would repeat the same tactic in the final seconds for round three. "He had landed more shots during the fight. I knew he had probably won those other rounds, so I said, I've got to draw him in somehow," explained Leben.

"I was playing ever card I had. At that point I was like screw the straight. I was trying to get him to come in and bang with me a little bit and maybe I can land that shot," he added. "Sometimes you do and sometimes you don't. This time I didn't. It was Bisping's night."

"You never know what the judges are looking at."

You hear it in mixed martial arts and boxing all the time, "Don't leave the fight in the hands of the judges."

A veteran of nearly 50 bouts in MMA alone, and having competed in boxing as well, Chris Lytle has learned that lesson the hard way, having been on the losing end of several controversial decisions.

Lytle said after his fight with Paul Taylor at UFC 89 that he really enjoyed the fight, "He dealt out as much as he was taking. It was a fantastic fight. I loved it. He's a very tough guy. He has a much better chin than I was expecting."

But enjoying the fight and feeling confident in his performance gave Lytle no false sense of security that he would be handed the victory. "You know, you can never be confident in a decision... I've learned. There's been fights that I thought I won easy and I didn't. So, I wasn't real confident. I mean, I thought I won, but like I said, you never know what the judges are looking at."

Lytle did win the fight, but both men had to go home at least somewhat pleased having earned Fight of the Night honors that scored each of them a $40,000 bonus check.

Frank Shamrock, "We're doing sports entertainment... not sports."

Frank Shamrock was close to the Seth Petruzelli and Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson situation being Ken Shamrock's adoptive brother, offering to step in for Ken after a cut forced him out of the scheduled main event on CBS on Oct. 4 and being one of the broadcasters who called the action that night. Shamrock gave his opinon on Petruzelli's original comments alleging EliteXC paid him to stand with "Kimbo Slice."

"I've had promoters tell me all kinds of crazy stuff. But you don't listen to the promoters. You listen to your coach. You listen to your trainer because the promoter is out for the promoter," acknowledged Shamrock. "Did something weird happen? I doubt it. But it makes a great story and it makes great news."

At this point, it doesn't matter what actually transpired. Public perception is all that matters. And the public perception is that EliteXC paid Seth Petruzelli to fight a certain way. "People are always going to believe what they want to believe about a sport that's so sexy and dangerous, that walks the line in society," said Shamrock. "We're always going to have people that are butting up against the back of the sport for their own reasons. The truth is, when there's a lot of money involved all kinds of weird stuff happens."

Shamrock continued, "I know for a fact that the commissions and most of these promoters are good guys looking after their guys. And you know what? There's always bad business inside of business. I just don't think bad business happened here. I think, you know, uneducated encouragement happened here. I think zealous promotion happened here, but we're in the business of that. It's like we're doing sports entertainment. We're not doing sports."