Eight Sides of Steel 08.31.08

Posted by Wendell Mitchell on 08.31.2008

The Summer is nearing its end, but fear not, for there are more fights on the horizon. From Barnett-Arlovski to Kimbo - Shamrock, we have news from all over the MMA world. Why don't you join me in the Eight Sides of Steel?

ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP

There is currently a plan in place to merge the middleweight and light heavyweight fighters from the WEC into the UFC by the end of the year. WEC would continue to have bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight divisions.

I cannot see a downside to this. WEC gets to remain independent and continue to showcase the smaller weight classes. Two of the best fights this year took place at featherweight and bantamweight. As far as UFC is concerned, their middleweight and light heavyweight divisions tend to shine brightest so a few new faces will only do UFC well.


TMZ.com is reporting that Quinton "Rampage" Jackson has pleaded not guilty to felony counts of evading police, reckless driving and hit and run. His next court date will be November 3. If found guilty, Rampage faces up to three years in prison

I wish I could sympathize with him as he is my favorite fighter, but when you endanger the lives of other I believe you should be punished. I doubt he would have to serve the full three years, but he needs more than a slap on the wrist. There is no excuse to operate a motor vehicle when you're impair regardless of what caused that impairment. So any pretenses of mental illness should be dismissed quickly and his sentence handed down.


Matt Hughes has recently given an update on the status of his knee this past week via his online blog, and things are looking up for the former UFC champion. Hughes sustained the injury, which was said to be a partially torn ACL ligament, but said as of his last check up, he will not require surgery.

Anytime you can avoid surgery seems like a cause for celebration. Though, I find this may spell an end to his career. Surgery would probably augment his health enough for that one last fight against Matt Serra, whereas I do not see him making a comeback if he allows the ligament to heal on its own. In either case, I wish him the best of luck in his recovery.


ELITE XC

It has been confirmed that Kimbo Slice's next opponent is MMA Legend and UFC Hall of Famer, Ken Shamrock. These two superstars are scheduled to meet October 4th

Easily one of the most talked about topics this week, I am looking forward to this fight. Ken maybe a shell of himself, but Kimbo has not shown Brock-like improvement in his overall game. If Ken fights smart, there is more than a slight chance of him walking away with a submission victory here. I can see Ken going through with his plan of "breaking his leg" because Kimbo has gone on record as not wanting to tap, so Ken would have to snap a tibia or fibula to get past him. I do not see Ken knocking Kimbo out so his only hope is to single or double leg him at the opening bell and work for the submission.


Disappointed with the ratings Elite XC's events have garnered, CBS is in talks with UFC about a television deal. UFC has yet to express interest.

I will never understand the mindset of those who make these decisions. They have only had two shows. How is that sufficient enough to determine whether or not a show is any good? Unlike others, I do not believe this solely rest at how big a draw Kimbo is. When it comes to television, sometimes "new" is the draw. I have no doubt that a sizable chunk of the people saw the show only because it was new. Once they saw it, they remembered MMA is not for them. Now if Kimbo's next fight bumps the numbers way back up, then maybe they need to build more people with "Kimbo" mystique. The UFC talks seem very premature, especially prior to one of Elite XC's biggest fights.


EliteXC lightweight champion KJ Noons recently released a statement regarding his current problems with EliteXC. Essentially, he feels that Elite XC has failed to promote him or take care of him as a champion.

The majority of the public will dismiss this as the whining of yet another overpaid athlete, but not I. I tend to side with said whiner in instances such as these because fighters are a different breed of athlete. Noon's salary has been disclosed to the public, so we can see that he's not exactly making championship money . To put that in perspective for those who will obviously say "well no one forces him to be a fighter," hundreds of people openly complain about their pay. Often times it backfires, especially in a corporate environment, but every now and then, the squeaky wheel gets oiled. I have included the full transcript, so if you have previously read this or just do not have the time or inclination, skip to the next section.


Shortly after KJ Noons released his statement there were talks among the Elite XC management of stripping him of his Lightweight Title.

You cannot blame the company for wanting their belt back. Regardless of how he or anyone feels about the situation, as the champion, Noons is obligated to defend the title against who the company feels is the number one contender.


Complete Transcript of Noons Comments

"It is not about being scared to fight Diaz, who I previously defeated, it is about the fight I am currently in with Elite XC regarding my career.

I would first like to address all the false allegations and insults from Jared Shaw, aka $kala, VP of Elite XC. You will see why I am so disgusted of how Elite XC treated me and how it applies to this proposed fight and my career.
$kala says:

Honor my contract. Elite XC wants to talk about honoring the contract. How about when Elite XC honored the contract and my pay to fight Edson Berto went down after I lost my first fight. That was not part of my contract. Or how about the contract Gary Shaw breached by not promoting my boxing career? Gary Shaw only gave me one out of four of the agreed upon fights. I have not boxed for over a year. When I signed with Elite XC, I was promised they would promote both my boxing and MMA careers. I could have signed with another MMA only company, but I wanted to box too.

Elite XC does me a favor after I lose, by putting me on the first ShoXC against Edson Berto? Berto's father is a good friend with Jared's father, Gary Shaw who wants Berto's brother on a boxing contract. Berto was the next guy Elite XC wanted to build. But I win that fight and now I am 1-1. Elite XC gives me an opportunity to fight Diaz. Elite XC puts me against Diaz because Elite XC's roster was so light and there was nobody else to fight him.

Elite XC creates a new weight class for Diaz because he beat Gomi. Giving Diaz a belt and creating a weight division (160) he can make, will make your belt legit. Sorry to ruin Elite XC's plans and beat him.

Elite XC never promoted or took care of me as their champion.

Examples:

In the Elite XC's DVD where Diaz and I fought there are two (2) baseball cards of Diaz and Kimbo. Hello! I won the fight and Elite XC's promoting Diaz after I beat him? Or how about the day Elite XC flew Diaz in to do a signing on the DVD where he lost. Wow, that must have been uncomfortable Nick? Signing a DVD, and it is a fight that you lost. Why wasn't I flown in for the signing?

Elite XC has never promoted me on either of their websites, EliteXC or Pro-Elite.

Elite XC offered me a fight on the first CBS show, but only if I signed a new long-term contract. Instead of promoting their best fighters on CBS, you have to be on a long-term contract for them to promote you. That was not our deal.

Consider when Elite XC gives a couple thousand tickets away at their CBS show in Stockton.

Elite XC gives me a hard time about comping me one extra ticket for my cousin that helped me train for my fight. I only get four tickets per show. I am the main event in Honolulu, my home town! I did not ask for any tickets for my family and friends and they gave me a hard time about one extra ticket!

Or how about when Elite XC brought Diaz into the ring after my last victory in Hawaii to disrespect me and my family.

Chuck Champion (President Elite XC) threatens me, my family and my manager with lawsuits and how he's going to sue me. HAHA. Pretty hard to sue a guy who does not make jack with your company. I'm glad $kala disclosed how much I make, which breached the confidentiality clause of the contract. I will break down the real numbers for you. I am the defending world champ, I have been the main event for Elite XC three out of four times on Showtime. In almost two years I have made approximately $83,000?

After paying my trainers and managers fee, I have $50,000 thousand. After taxes, probably 30 grand. Divide that by two years for $15,000 thousand a year. Divide by 52 weeks that amounts to approximately $300 a week. I do not know anybody that can survive on that amount of money. My buddies make more money than that in a couple days being a bus boy or bar back. And yes you can argue I should fight more. Elite XC doesn't give me fights or promote me, they ice me. Gary Shaw Productions only gave me one of the agreed upon four fights per the boxing contract.

And I do not want to ramble on about all the little small stuff that I can keep going on about. But the straw that broke the camel's back is they want me to fight Diaz for the second time. Diaz is not the number one contender and they are paying Diaz three times more money than me. Diaz complained after the Stockton fight, he was not paid enough. How do you think that made me feel? Yes you can argue that Diaz gets more for the draw, therefore I do not deserve as much compensation. If that is the case, it is a result of Elite XC terrible job promoting me. Instead of promoting me as their champ and upcoming athlete, Elite XC has resented me for ruining their plans to make Diaz their champ. That is just total disrespect. So it comes down to money and what is fair. I am tired of being bent over by Elite XC with no Vaseline.

I am right when I say Diaz is not the number one contender. Elite XC is trying to force this fight for their ratings. Eddie Alavarez is the number one contender and anybody with half a brain knows that a fight with Eddie is a way harder fight for me than Diaz. I will fight Diaz, but Elite has to be fair. I'm not ducking Diaz, why the hell would I be scared of someone I already beat.

With that being said, I am going to focus on my boxing career. I can make more money doing 6 and 8 rounders every other month and make more than I did being the Elite XC defending world champ. At least I will be able to sleep at night and be able to look myself in the mirror everyday. That right there is worth more than $300 bucks a week or fighting a guy I cannot stand for less money than him the second time around.

Will the Diaz fight happen? Yes. Will the fight happen on Elite XC on October 4, 2008, probably not. The way things are being run by Chuck Champion, a guy whose history is newspapers, not fighting, and $kala, someone who talks a lot of game, but has never put on a pair of gloves, never stepped in a ring or cage. $kala has had everything handed to him with a silver spoon from daddy. Does anyone else but me think $kala just wants to be famous and stir up all this dirty laundry? I guess any publicity is good publicity. When I think about it, it has been good promotion for their October card since nobody is talking about it until you bring up the Noons vs. Diaz match up.

Before I end, I would like to thank my team, my trainers and workout partners for helping me prepare for my fights hours every day. I would like to also thank my manager Mark Dion for standing behind my decision making. I want to be a fighter who is not doing whatever I am being told like some kind of mindless puppet.

Thanks for hearing my side."


IN THIS CORNER

Chuck Liddell

VS

Rashad Evans



Evans may have a "0" in the loss column, but I can't in good conscience pick against the Iceman. Evans is either getting knocked out or he going to lose a lopsided decision.






AFFLICTION

MMANews.com is reporting that Affliction has signed Fedor Emelianenko to a contract extension. Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio has also confirmed that Fedor will fight the winner of Andrei Arlovski vs. Josh Barnett at Affliction's third show currently rumored to be held in January or February of 2009. There are also rumors that Fedor still wants to fight on New Year's Eve for DREAM as well as fight on Affliction's third show, however nothing is set in stone as far as the NYE's DREAM fight.

This is very good news for the fledgling company. Locking up arguably the greatest fighter on the planet is quite the accomplishment. Fedor has several commitments, but his hand is suspect and there's no telling if he will be able fight as much as he would like.






OTHER MMA NEWS

M-1 Global proudly announces the signing of a contract with HDNet Fights. Starting on September, 19-th the audience in the North America namely USA, Canada and Mexico will be able to watch the 2008 first season of M-1 Challenge on HDNet network.

Moreover several African countries (listed after the jump) will get the same opportunity if they watch GTV channel. Also inhabitants of Korea will watch M-1 Challenge on CBS, Brazil - on SporTV, Philippines - on Solar, India - on ZEE. Altogether 54 countries will be connected to this unique team competition show.

For those unfamiliar with M-1 Global, this is the company that Fedor was supposedly signed to before he starting fighting for Affliction. M-1 Challenge, one of the centerpieces of the company is a team concept pitting various MMA clubs against one another in an attempt to create the international fighting stars of tomorrow. Though I do not currently get HDNet, I will never begrudge more free MMA for my fellow fight fans as long as what's presented is quality.

Ashikan Judan Masakazu Imanari took the DEEP bantamweight title last week at DEEP 37 after defeating Hiroshi Umemura, a seasoned ju-jitsu black belt, by way of ankle lock at a mere 29 seconds into the first round.

A fight like this makes me wish I had access to more MMA. I would love to see some of these smaller guys go at it. Imanari is a former Featherweight Champion for Deep, a belt he lost back on May 19th, but is still the Cage Rage Featherweight Champion, making him a champion in two different weight classes. I would love to see him defend either title.






IN BETWEEN ROUNDS

UFC Ring Girl Rachelle Leah









RANDOM MUSING AND BRUISING

Batman vs. Bane


Ouch









SHOWING PROPS

John Curry's Ground and Pound discusses the how Kimbo and Ken is a win-win.


Pass the Chicken and rice because Mr. DeAugustino is back with another Passing the Guard.


Adam Tool talks about the possibility of Randy Couture fighting again for the UFC in this week's Fighting Stance.






That's it for this week's cats and kittens. Join me next week for more news pertaining to the world of MMA. Thanks for stopping by the Eight Sides of Steel.