The Fightin Stance News 11.21.08: The Fitch Is Back

Posted by  on 11.21.2008

Don’t miss this week’s packed edition of The Fightin’ Stance News, as we recap a strange 24 hours in the life of Jon Fitch, review an amazing UFC 91, and preview tonight’s action from Strikeforce! We’ll also take a special look back at those we’ve lost this past week, and see if we can’t sort out where the contenders stand in the UFC Middleweight division.



Hello again and welcome to The Fightin' Stance News. My name is Adam Tool and in case you don't already know, I write this report over the course of Thursday so it can be published at midnight on Friday. This week my writing took place during one of the strangest Thursday's in this column's relatively brief history.




What The Fitch Is Going On Here?



The top story for the week is one that has fans scratching their heads and jumping on their soap-boxes. Late Wednesday it was announced that former welterweight title contender Jon Fitch has been released from the UFC. However the story was then reported to be over late Thursday, as most major MMA websites proclaimed that Fitch was back with the company.

In case you missed it, here's the timeline of events. As always, there are two sides to every story. In this case we'll look at Fitch's side first. According to reports, when Fitch went to turn in his fight agreement to face Akihiro Gono at UFC 94 the company asked him to sign an agreement that would give the UFC lifetime rights to Fitch's likeness and name in regards to video games. Specifically, the deal would cover the upcoming "UFC 2009: Undisputed" game coming sometime next year. Fitch refused, and his management tried to work out another arrangement. The UFC refused to alter the agreement, and Fitch was subsequently let go.

As a result Dana White made it clear that he won't be working anymore with fighters from the AKA camp anymore, and this means guys like Josh Koscheck and Cain Velasquez could find themselves without a job soon as well. At this moment the only team members cut have been Fitch and heavyweight Christian Wellisch.

On Wednesday Fitch said that he was willing to work under a different agreement, but he was not comfortable signing away his rights for life. He also said that the arrangement would not pay his family anything in the event of his death.

"We tried to negotiate five- or 10-year deals with them, but it wasn't good enough. It was all or nothing. He wanted our lifetime. He wanted our souls forever. He wanted us to sign that merchandising agreement, and it was not a very good agreement. There was not really a reason for us to sign it. The first thing they brought to us was for us to sign all of our rights away for everything forever. It was for very small compensation, and there was no compensation for family members if we were to die. We could die and they could make memorial figurines and stuff and make thousands, millions of dollars, and our families wouldn't see a penny of it. The way they bring the contracts and stuff to us, I don't know, it's just not how business is done. I'm more than willing to work with them, but I don't see why we have to give up our whole lives for this. Why not a time limit? If we did a 10-year deal with them, is that that unreasonable? I don't understand how this happened, honestly. It's tough."

According to Fitch he was able to be released from his contract due to a standard clause that states a fighter can be released any time following a loss. It's assumed that Koscheck is still with the company because he's scheduled to fight in the main event of the next Fight Night card in December. Velasquez obviously hasn't lost in the UFC yet, but it's believed that he was signed to a three fight deal and therefore the UFC is going to make him honor that and take one more fight, and then they'll simply choose not to re-sign him (so don't expect to see Velasquez' next fight on TV).

White has already made his feelings clear, and as usual the man atop the UFC food-chain pulled no punches. While appearing on "The Carmichael Dave" radio show Wednesday night, White gave his side of the story.

"No, no, no. It has nothing to do with an agreement. It doesn't have to do with Jon Fitch either. I like Jon Fitch. I've never had a bad word with Jon Fitch. The problem is with the idiots that run AKA. I won't use any names; the idiots know who they are."

The guys in charge of AKA are Bob Cook and Zinkin Entertainment. In addition to running the operations at the camp they also represent all of their fighters. The beef with Zinkin is unique because previously their fighters have had little trouble with the UFC. In fact, White's good friend Chuck Liddell is represented by Zinkin (although he's not a member of AKA).

When pressed on the issue, White wanted to look at the bigger picture. Specifically, he pointed out the current state of the nation's economy and how it relates to fighters and their jobs.

"The economy is changing by the second. Every day when you wake up tomorrow, bad things are happening. Not just in the United States but all over the world. Television networks are in trouble. The sponsors who used to sponsor them are in trouble. Some of them are going out of business and the rest of them are cutting their sponsorships big time. Companies that have been around for hundred years are going out of business. It's crazy. Banks are going under. And I'm in a situation now where I've got these guys — I'm trying to run a business — bro, I live on a plane 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That's all I do is fly everywhere to try to build this company. And these guys think this thing is so big and these guys start negotiating all this stupid stuff like they're Mel Gibson. No disrespect to Jon Fitch — I like Jon Fitch — (but) like we're going to be doing the Jon Fitch swim line sometime soon? And then the clothing line."

White knows that in this situation he's bound to be made out as the bad guy, but he doesn't see things that way.

"It's insane. What I try to do — is we put together all of these things and we try to make everyone money. That's the way that it works. But I've got these guys from AKA, these idiots, that don't want to play. Listen, at the end of the day it's not a big deal. The problem is because when something goes wrong in the UFC all the idiots from the media like to jump out and go, ‘Yeah, there's something negative with the UFC. Let's get out there and talk about it!'"

During the interview, Dave read the quote from Fitch where Fitch asked why the agreements needed to be for a fighters' whole life, and why can't they be made with some sort of time limit instead. Before Dave could finish the quote, White offered this response:

"What's with this whole lives? Do you know how much Jon Fitch made for the Georges St. Pierre fight? Where the hell else could Jon Fitch go right now and make the money he made? He made $169,000 for that night for that fight. Where's he going to make that kind of money in one night? It's like all the media wants to jump up and go ‘Oh the UFC! The UFC!" Shut up! Shut up. Every one of you shut your mouth. Mind your business. Here's the deal: the reality is we're working our asses off to make this thing bigger and better for everybody. The world is a very dangerous place right now with this economy."

White confirmed that he is unwilling to work with members of American Kickboxing Academy, although he did say that AKA member Mike Swick has already contacted White and made an agreement to stay in the UFC.

Late Thursday the report came out that Fitch has decided to sign the videogame agreement, and he will return to the UFC. Fitch agreed to sign the papers after speaking with UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta. Fitch is now once again, back on to face Gono at UFC 94. No word yet on what the status is for the rest of American Kickboxing Academy. Presumably calmer heads will prevail, and things can hopefully move forward with nobody else having to lose their jobs over a videogame.

Alright, so what can we learn from all this?



1. Dana White will do things his way, as he always has. We've heard plenty of stories about how stubborn White can be when it comes to the business side of his organization, and this situation just proves that he is unwilling to be bullied around on issues that he sees a certain way. He refused to sign Fedor if he couldn't get an exclusive contract, he refused to work with Tito Ortiz over a personal vendetta, and now he's let go of one of his best welterweight fighters over a likeness agreement for a videogame that's probably not going to be any good anyways.
2. Nobody's job is safe. Fitch has never given any sort of impression that he was difficult to work with and by all accounts he's done everything the UFC has ever asked of him. The guy was part of the headlining fight at UFC 87 and looked to be a fixture in the welterweight ranks for many years to come. With his release, White is sending a message to his roster that if you mess with the bull, you will get the horns.
3. The growth of mixed-martial arts is not going to be beneficial for everybody. The recent writer's strike in Hollywood was all about issues of compensation as they relate to new revenue streams (such as digital downloads). As the industry changes some people are going to want things a little differently, and this is the case just about anywhere. MMA and the UFC are on a steady climb upwards which means there is more money to be made everywhere. Everyone will be looking for their piece of the pot, but as we can see here, not everyone is going to get it. Do I need to bring up the EliteXC mess again this week? Because I'd rather not.
4. Dana White doesn't consider any other organizations to be a threat. That includes Affliction and Strikeforce, since those would've been the two most likely companies that would have tried to acquire Fitch's talents. If White was really concerned about them then he wouldn't be willing to let one of his best fighters go wherever he wants. This point will only be proved further if Koscheck is let go as well. You could make the argument that Fitch isn't that big of a name (despite his popular status amongst die-hard fans of the sport), but Koscheck is undoubtedly one of the biggest stars in the welterweight division today.
5. UFC 94 will have an infusion of DJ GOZMA~!




I'll say this before we move on from this debacle: It's not even up for argument that Dana White has done more for this sport than anyone else on the planet. That's not an opinion, it's a fact. White and the Fertitta Brothers may not have created the Ultimate Fighting Championship, but they were responsible for getting it regulated, bringing it to national television, and creating the boom in popularity that is still going strong today.

That being said, White has shown once again that he does not always act in the best interests of his company or it's fans. While he's not the fighter he once was, Tito Ortiz is still quite a draw. But White's personal issues (amongst other things) forced Tito out of the company and while he is still a free agent, whichever company he lands with will have an instant main-event talent. Fedor Emelianenko is undoubtedly the best fighter to never set foot inside the octagon, but since White was unwilling to alter his exclusive arrangements every fighter must agree to, Fedor will probably never fight in the UFC.

If this war with American Kickboxing Academy results in the loss of anymore fighters, White will have likely shot himself in the foot and given his competitors more ammunition to try and take him down. I would imagine this controversy could create a very dangerous "snowball effect," wherein more and more fighters refuse to agree to the UFC's rigid terms and head elsewhere to ply their trade. Yesterday it was Jon Fitch, but what happens if tomorrow it's Fitch's last opponent, Georges St. Pierre?

Will Dana White still have his position in the days and weeks to come? Who's to say? He has truthfully been busting his ass to promote this company and put entertaining shows together. This ordeal with Fitch will likely smooth over quickly, but how much of an effect can White have on the organization's bottom line before someone steps in to relieve him?

Will Fight For Food



While Fitch's departure was certainly the biggest news of the week, he wasn't the only fighter that was shown the door by Dana White. Several other fighters have been cut from the company roster, so we'll hit them one by one and evaluate what their loss means to the UFC.

Christian Wellisch: As mentioned above, Wellisch is another AKA member that refused to sign the lifetime likeness agreement and was subsequently shown the door. This isn't that big of a loss for the heavyweight division as Wellisch was an unimpressive 2-2 in his UFC career. His last octagon appearance was a 44 second affair that saw him get KTFO by Shane Carwin.

Marcus Aurelio: The lightweight division in the UFC is one of the most competitive weight classes in the world. At the end of 2006 it looked like Aurelio could be a major player in the lightweight ranks, as he was coming off a submission win over Takanori Gomi. Since then "Maximus" has dropped fights to Clay Guida, Tyson Griffin, and most recently Hermes Franca. It was pretty clear that Aurelio had no place in the upper levels of the division so this cut makes plenty of sense.

Paulo Filho: It's been a few weeks and I'm still shaking my head thinking about Filho's last fight. The guy used to be such a force in PRIDE but he's clearly lost a few steps since coming to America so one could hardly blame Zuffa for cutting their losses and moving on. I'd love to see the Filho of old come roaring back, but I'm willing to believe that November 5th may have been the last time we see him compete in an MMA bout.

Jason Lambert: This one isn't hard to figure out. Lambert made a nice little splash in the UFC a few years ago, but he's dropped his last three fights and that hardly ever leads to a guy keeping his job. (Speaking of which, don't be surprised if Houston Alexander is next on the chopping block) Even a drop down to middleweight couldn't help salvage Lambert's UFC career, but he should do alright for himself. He's got some name value and he's usually involved in exciting fights so I have a feeling we'll be seeing him in Strikeforce or Affliction real soon.

Josh Hendricks: Not much of a surprise here. Hendricks was completely outclassed this past Saturday against Gabriel Gonzaga. On the plus side, his release gives him some time to get all those freaky lumps on his body checked out.

Fabricio Werdum: This is probably the most perplexing one of the bunch, since Werdum had just signed a new deal with the company prior to his fight with Junior dos Santos. Following his upset at the hands of dos Santos, Werdum was believed to have been released. However following this news Werdum gave an interview in Brazil that said he had not been released and would continue to fight in the UFC. We've yet to get an official word from the UFC one way or the other, so don't be surprised if Werdum pops up on a future UFC card.

There's likely to be more cuts coming soon, particularly if Dana continues his "us vs. the world" mentality for a little while.

Masters Of Their Own Destruction



Tonight there's free MMA to be had on your television, but only if you have HDNet. California's biggest little promotion, Strikeforce, returns tonight with an intriguing card. Here's a look at the fights scheduled for the broadcast, which starts at 10 pm ET (with replays airing several times afterwards, because HDNet hasn't got much else to show).

Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Championship
Bobby Southworth © vs. Renato "Babalu" Sobral
Terry Martin vs. Scott Smith
Yves Edwards vs. Duane Ludwig
Luke Stewart vs. Joe Riggs
Kim Couture vs. Lina Kvokov
Darren Uyenoyama vs. Brad Royster

I would gladly do whatever I can to watch this event if there was a guarantee that Bobby Southworth would get his ass kicked. I've hated that guy ever since "TUF" 1 so I'll be looking forward to "Babalu" (hopefully) taking the title. In terms of actual fighting ability I really don't see any way Sobral can lose this one. Southworth has got some heavy hands but Sobral's a great boxer in his own right. If the fight goes to the ground (that is, if Bobby tries to lay and pray to another decision win) then "Babalu" will stay busy off his back working for submissions.

The most recent fight to be added to the show also happens to feature two of the biggest names. Scott Smith and Terry Martin both have high profiles due to their time in the UFC, but neither one was good enough to stick around there. Smith is coming off his loss to Robbie Lawler in EliteXC, while Martin has dropped three of his last five fights, including some devastating KO's courtesy of Chris Leben and Vitor Belfort. Matching up Smith and Martin ensures a good old fashioned slugfest, and I'll be damned if I can figure out who will still be standing at the end.

There was supposed to be a second title fight on this show, featuring Josh Thomson making his first defense of the Strikeforce Lightweight Championship against Yves Edwards. With Thomson having to pull out that leaves Edwards to face the less than outstanding Duane "Bang" Ludwig. It'd be a shame if Edwards lost this one and missed out on his title shot, but I don't really see that happening. Edwards has the advantage in speed and jiu-jitsu, and he'll be willing to stand and trade if that's what it takes.

As for the rest of the card there's not a whole lot to get excited about. The hard-hitting Joe Riggs could be in for a rough night against Luke Stewart. Stewart is a BJJ fighter that has never fought outside of Strikeforce. Randy Couture's wife Kim makes her Strikeforce debut and will face the unknown Lina Kvolkov. Both fighters are 0-1 and will be looking for their first professional win. Darren Uyenoyama is coming off a losing effort in his "Fight of the Year" candidate with Hideo Tokoro at DREAM 4. He'll be facing the relatively unknown (as in, I have no idea who he is) Brad Royster, who is 1-1 and hasn't fought in almost two years.

The Thing That Is Both Big And Next



At this point it's hard for me to talk about UFC 91. Many words have already spilled forth on the internet saying what a phenomenal show it was, so I‘ll keep my thoughts brief. The main event delivered, the undercard was exciting, and we got to see every single fight on the show. There's still one more month to go but at this point I'd have no problem calling UFC 91 the best event of the year.

Also while Dustin James may be lamenting his poor picking performance for the event, I'll toot my own horn and say that I went 8-1 for my picks. That includes picking Lesnar by TKO in round 2. Jorge Gurgel was the only guy I picked to win that didn't, but at least he kept things exciting.



For sheer excitement, nothing else I've seen this year can come close to the fight between Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar. The thrill of seeing Couture back in the octagon was only slightly greater than the thrill of seeing Lesnar fight again. After two events with mediocre headlining fights last month, it was simply a joy to have that big-fight feel once again. Thankfully these two delivered an excellent fight and for my money it more than lived up to the hype.



Where does Brock go from here? Obviously he'll face the winner of Nogueira/Mir to unify the belts, but for now he is undoubtedly "the man." If he gets past Big Nog then I don't think there's anyone in the UFC that can stop him, and if he gets a rematch with Mir then I have a feeling things will turn out very differently the second time around. I couldn't understand why people were questioning Lesnar's chin (as Stephan Bonnar said, "The guy's got a fire hydrant for a head.") but he took Couture's best shots and kept coming. He also kept his composure when Randy got back up after a takedown, and when he was cut in the second. Brock just gets better everytime he fights, and that's a scary prospect for the rest of the UFC heavyweights.



As for Randy, he gave one hell of a performance on Saturday. He wasn't nearly as overmatched as many (including myself) figured he would be. After all, the guy is 45 years old, hasn't fought in over a year, and was facing a man that outweighed him by more than 45 pounds. Randy showed his warrior spirit, and as far as I'm concerned he can continue competing for as long as he feels like it. A move back to light heavyweight seems perfectly natural (no pun intended) and there's a slew of marquee match-ups to be made there.



I figured the Kenny Florian/Joe Stevenson fight would be a lot more competitive, and my pick was that Kenny would win in a close decision. Never could I have imagined that Florian would simply dominate Joe "Daddy" in every possible way. If you aren't excited about Penn vs. Florian, then you aren't really an MMA fan.



Seats aboard the Dustin Hazelett bandwagon are filling up fast, so get yours today! Seriously, while the kid is good and his jiu-jitsu is amazing, I'm not ready to put him in with the best fighters in the world just yet. Let's not forget that the guy got MAULED by Josh Koscheck earlier this year. Of course Hazelett is very young and has plenty of room to grow, so I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him fighting for a title within a few years.



Gabriel Gonzaga did just what he had to do. Beat Josh Hendricks (or I as will now call him, "Lumpy") quickly and prove he's still relevant in the heavyweight picture. The losses to Couture and Werdum set him back quite a bit, but with the heavyweight scene changing more everyday there's no reason to think that "Napao" couldn't be one or two big wins away from a second title opportunity.



I've been driving the Demian Maia bandwagon for a while now so I was very happy to see him dominate a tough opponent like Nate Quarry. Maia's next opponent needs to be one of the top guys in the middleweight division, and if he wins I think there's no reason to wait too much longer on a showdown with Anderson Silva.



Jorge Gurgel is an enigma wrapped up in a conundrum. We know he's got tremendous jiu-jitsu, yet we never see it in the octagon. Had Gurgel worked a smarter gameplan I see no reason why he couldn't have won his fight against Aaron Riley. As it was though, this was still a tremendous effort from both men.



The prize for "Knockout of the Year" will not be easy to award in 2008, but there's no doubt that Jeremy Stephens BRUTAL uppercut to Rafael dos Anjos will be remembered for quite some time. Shots like that just remind me of how much I love this sport.



Mark Bocek opened a lot of eyes when he gave Mac Danzig all he could handle at UFC 83. Bocek proved that he does have a place in the octagon when he outclassed Alvin Robinson (who is no slouch himself) for three rounds. One more excellent submission showcase on a night that was full of them.



As I said last week in the Roundtable, Matt Brown is a much better fighter than his record would indicate. Ryan Thomas looked good but Brown showed the same kind of heart and determination that we saw in his decision loss to Dong Hyun Kim. Brown is relentless and has yet to have a boring fight, so I would look for him to stay in the UFC for a while.


Ranking The UFC Middleweight Title Contenders

Isn't that a great title? Just rolls off the tongue don't it?

I picked such a blatantly obvious title because I wanted to make sure everyone understood what I was doing here. This is just a top ten of the guys that could be within range of a UFC title shot and a potential mauling at the hands (and knees) of Anderson Silva. This is not meant to be an overall ranking of the world's middleweights. Got it? Then let's do this thing.

1. Yushin Okami - Up on top is the guy who already has a title shot forthcoming At least, unless he gets beat by Dean Lister next month at UFC 92. However with Okami's next fight on the pre-lims one could get the impression that he may be on his way down the card, rather than up it. There is still an interesting story behind an Okami/Silva rematch, especially since Anderson likely wants to avenge his last loss.

2. Michael Bisping - Don't think that the UFC doesn't already have eyes on making this match-up. They've already had one "Ultimate Fighter" champion win gold and I'm sure a second would only further validate the whole process. I have to believe that Bisping would get killed by Silva, but that doesn't mean it isn't an appealing fight for the company.

3. Demian Maia - Maia has gone through anyone the UFC puts in front of him, and I'm sure that he'll get another step up in competition after his first round win over Quarry this past Saturday. This is the first guy on the list that I think could have a legitimate shot of beating the champion. My love for "The Spider" has been spread through this report many times, so hopefully that statement doesn't come back to bite me in the ass.

4. Dan Henderson - This fight is a tougher sell, since Silva already beat Henderson once. We can't forget that Henderson did better than anyone else so far (in the UFC) by decisively winning the first round, which is something Cote certainly didn't do. If Henderson gets past Franklin in January there's a good chance we could see the rematch sooner than later, but I'm sure "Dangerous" Dan isn't looking past Franklin and neither will we.

5. Thales Leites - From here things get a bit murkier, not in terms of talent but rather in terms of a fighter's chances to be competing for the belt anytime soon. Leites has been quietly racking up wins (5-1 in the UFC), including his latest at UFC 90 over Drew McFedries. He has been beaten by another guy on our list (Kampmann), and his win over Marquardt* still has an asterisk attached to it, but Leites could shock the world at any moment. He just needs the right opponent to do it against.

6. Denis Kang - Those of you that only watch the UFC might be scratching your heads, but rest assured that you will know the name of KAAAAANG! soon enough. This 10 year veteran of the sport has fought all over the place, including his native Canada, Japan, and South Korea. He was a fixture of PRIDE and their Bushido events where he went 5-1, scoring wins over Murilo "Ninja" Rua, Akihiro Gono, and Amar Suloev. He competed in the DREAM Middleweight Grand Prix, but lost in the 1st Round to eventual winner Gegard Mousasi. Kang makes his UFC debut next month in Ireland, where he'll face Alan Belcher. It'll probably be the most exciting Alan Belcher fight you'll ever seen.

7. Nate Marquardt - He's already had one shot at the title and he did little to show that he warranted a second, but Nate Marquardt could get another chance if he keeps getting wins like the 82 second TKO over Martin Kampmann at UFC 88. Let's not forget that he hadn't lost in the UFC until meeting Silva, and his second octagon loss against Leites* still has that damn asterisk attached to it.

8. Chael Sonnen - The uncrowned WEC Middleweight Champion is coming off the strangest win of his career, as Paulo Filho offered little resistance in their fight at WEC 36 a few weeks ago. Filho has given Sonnen the physical belt, but the record books will still record the Brazilian as the final WEC Middleweight Champion. However Filho is now out of a job, and Sonnen has a fresh new UFC contract. There's no word on who his first octagon opponent will be, but as long as he doesn't switch to the AKA camp he should be fine.

9. Martin Kampmann - The express title shot that Kampmann could've gotten (had he beaten Marquardt) is gone. Now he'll have to work his way back up. I honestly don't know what kind of win it'll take for Kampmann to get back within a chance at the belt, but perhaps he could be the one to welcome Sonnen to the UFC?

10. Rousimar Palhares - He may have been beaten by Henderson, but Palhares is still very much a threat in the middleweight division. His Brazilian jiu-jitsu is very, VERY dangerous. He doesn't have the rest of the tools just yet but if he can improve his striking, then there's no reason why he couldn't be a contender within a year or two.

Then we get to the guys that are very much on the bubble like Ricardo Almeida, Patrick Cote, Chris Leben, Kendall Grove, and Wilson Gouveia. Almeida already lost his #1 contenders fight to Cote. Meanwhile the French-Canadian lost to the champ last month, but since it was due to an injury he's lobbying for a rematch. Leben won't get a shot at the belt anytime soon, particularly as long as Anderson Silva still has it. Grove is only starting to get his career back on track, and he doesn't pose much of a threat at this point. Gouveia has had one fight at middleweight, but we'll see how he does against Jason MacDonald at the "TUF" 8 Finale.

*Leites beat Marquardt at UFC 85, but only via decision and after Marquardt had two point deductions. Had it not been for the deductions (the second of which was suspect), Marquardt would've won the fight.



-The Ultimate Fighter Finale 8 on December 13th will be headlined by the rematch between Kevin "The Fire" Burns and Anthony "Rumble" Johnson. The two met at Fight Night 14 where Burns got the TKO win via eye poke. Each man has been begging for a rematch and now both fighters get their first spot in the main event.

-Dana White announced earlier this week that he'd be open to the idea of bringing Gina Carano into the WEC, and taking female fighting one step at a time. This is a big change from his longtime opinion on women in MMA, and clearly even Dana White can see the dollar signs in a Carano/Cyborg showdown. Especially if Zuffa still plans to take the WEC to PPV next year.

-Speaking of the WEC, their December 3rd event has had its card finalized, and it will be a showcase of the smaller weight classes. The event is headlined by the WEC Bantamweight Championship bout between Miguel Torres and Manny Tapia, and there will be more bantamweight action with Will Riberio vs. Brian Bowles, and Joseph Benavidez vs. Danny Martinez. In addition, the main card will feature the WEC debut of former IFL featherweight champion Wagnney Fabiano as he takes on Akitoshi Kimura. The card airs live on Versus starting at 11 pm ET.

-M-1 Vice President Jerry Millen and Fedor Emelianenko have released a statement proposing a Fedor/Lesnar super fight. Only if you come to the UFC Fedor. Otherwise it ain't gonna happen.

-Speaking of Fedor, he was defeated for the first time over eight years. The loss didn't come in an MMA fight though, but rather in a Sambo match that Fedor lost via decision to Bulgarian fighter Blagoi Ivanov. Reportedly, several MMA organizations are already interested at bringing Ivanov in.



11/21 - Strikeforce: Destruction
Live on HDNet at 10 pm ET

12/3 - WEC: Torres vs. Tapia
Live on Versus at 11 pm ET

12/10 - UFC Fights For The Troops
Live on Spike at 9 pm ET

12/11 - Adrenaline MMA II
Live on HDNet (time TBA)

12/13 - The Ultimate Fighter Finale
Live on Spike at 9 pm ET

12/27 - UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008
Live on PPV at 10 pm ET

1/17/09 - UFC 93: Dublin
Live on PPV (time TBA)

1/24/09 - Affliction: Day Of Reckoning
Live on PPV at 9 pm ET

1/25/09 - WEC 38: Varner vs. Cerrone
Live on Versus (time TBA)

1/31/09 - UFC 94: St. Pierre vs. Penn II
Live on PPV at 10 pm ET

Once again we've reached the end of our Friday experience together, and I will take my leave. I'll be back in seven, and we'll see if anyone else loses their job by the time I do this again. Until then…


Sources: MMAJunkie.com, Sherdog.com, Fiveouncesofpain.com