UFC 101, Now With More ESPN

UFC 101 tomorrow night boasts an impressive card including B.J. Penn defending his belt against Kenny Florian. ESPN did a pretty good job of covering last month's mega-hyped UFC 100 and it looks like they're going to keep the support going. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Kenny Florian is the co-host of ESPN's MMA Live. Can anybody explain to me why ESPN can't televise MMA Live on one their 14 channels? ESPN's support of the UFC is great news for the sports, even if they still outsource most of their analysis to Sherdog.

As much as I like to cover MMA news, I don't much care for the previews and recaps. And apparently the guy who was going to write them for me quit. Which is reasonable considering I was paying him with profanity laced insults. It's that damn economy.

Okay, let's get in some quick picks. I went 3-1 at UFC 100 only getting screwed by the Yoshihiro Akiyama decision. So we're probably facing some regression. Lines-Bodog. Winners-Bold.

Anderson Silva (-360) vs. Forrest Griffin (+280)
Forrest is a good value here and he doesn't shock me anymore after upsetting Shogun. He's just never stopped anyone fighting at Spider's level.

B.J. Penn (-290) vs. Kenny Florian (+230)
I know B.J. trained his ass off for this fight, but he also said GSP is on steroids in an interview. Is he focused for this fight? I know Florian is.

Ricardo Almeida (-185) vs. Kendall Grove (+155)
When Almeida gets this fight to the ground, expect a quick finish.

Josh Neer (-250) vs. Kurt Pelligrino (+190)
I'm a little surprised Neer is this big of a favorite, but he has a nice size advantage.

Special Buy Me A Drink Promotion
If any of you guys are in the New Orleans area and looking for somewhere to watch UFC 101, shoot me an email. The first 100 people to meet me at the bar get to buy me a drink.

Two Promotions, Two Pressers, One Day

On the same day of the UFC 101 press conference, Strikeforce held a conference call along with Fedor's manager/M-1 Global's Vadim Finkelchtein. He's one wiiiild and craaaazy guy. This friendly little feud between Strikeforce and the UFC is about to get a whole lot more entertaining. Especially with Affliction back in the UFC's good graces, that Tom Atencio is a nutjob too. Alright, let's start with Dana White. He, believe it or not, had some of the more rational comments.

Dana White Presser

1. Dana White bashes Strikeforce's number of viewers. He claims only "four [expletive] people watch Showtime", which can't be good for Dexter or Weeds. Dana believes the decision to co-promote with M-1 Global will put Strikeforce out of business.

2. Dana bashes Strikeforce's champions and renames them Strike-Farce.

"They're a small-town show," White said facetiously. "(Middleweight champion) Cung Le hasn't defended the title since like 1997. (Lightweight champ) Josh Thomson hasn't defended the belt in like two years. Who is their other champion? (Heavyweight) Alistair Overeem – he hasn't defended the belt in like two years. It's Strike-farce. It's a little regional show with no one in it."

3. Dana reiterates that if a promotion wants to fight with him, he's ready to fight. Umm, promotionally speaking.

Strikeforce/M-1 Global Presser

1. Fedor was never offered the rumored six-fight, $30 million deal otherwise Fedor would have signed with the UFC. This proves Fedor is human and cares about money. So much for him being a cyborg built by the Russians to fight the Terminator for control of California. That was a rumor, right? Fedor called the UFC's offer "miserable."

2. Fedor announced he does, indeed, have full control over his contracts and career. He also feels "very sorry" that a fight with Fedor couldn't get put together. Is he trying to poke holes in my/everyone else's ducking theory or does he actually care about his legacy? Or, as a cyborg, was programmed to say that?

3. And here's where it get's a little zany. Finkelchtein claims Anderson Silva and Brock Lesnar are merely products of the UFC hype machine. Uh huh. But there's more! He also says that Brett Rogers is better than Brock. I want some of that vodka. Rogers has tremendous power but hasn't really fought anyone. See?

4. Then Vadim Finkelchtein let everybody know that if Fedor joined the UFC he would make the UFC famous outside of the United States. Hey buddy, the UFC is doing just fine outside of the U.S. Don't hate just because you guys don't get cable in your igloo, Vladimir. Haha, just kidding Russia. I love how you guys turn potatoes into booze.

Side note: World class promotion M-1 Global failed to secure a license from the CSAC so their event scheduled for August 28, "Breakthrough", is very much in jeopardy and will have to find a new location/venue.

[thanks to MMA Junkie and Cage Potato for presser coverage]

Cleveland Indians Returning To "Major League" Days

Cleveland Indians President/Owner's son, Paul Dolan, met with reporters before today's game to give a state of the team address. If my dad was just a bit more billionaire, I could be running a major sports franchise into the ground too. I don't think anyone doubts my ability. Anyway, Dolan mentioned that the Indians are set to lose $16 million even after the trades and revue sharing. Other topics included...

• Projected attendance is now 1.7 million down from 2.2 million


• There are no plans to sell the team


• Ownership will be involved if a decision is made to replace Eric Wedge


• They must make improvements in acquiring and developing amateur players (playing better and winning may also be looked at)


• Dolan expects attendance to go down next season after the trades of Victor Martinez and Cliff Lee. Also, fans are not happy about the trades. (because, you know, fans generally enjoy watching good players)

The Indians are only 11.5 games out of first in the Central. Once the players realize that the Dolans are purposely trying to make the Indians bad so attendance will continue plummet in order to move the team to Florida, the players will rally together and make a run at the pennant.

The beaten down, veteran catcher (Kelly Shoppach) will get the flame throwing closer with a troubled past (Kerry Wood) to reach dominance. The vain shortstop (Jhonny Peralta) will sacrifice his body to field grounders. The speedy, slick fielding centerfielder (Grady Sizemore) will slay vampires with Samurai swords. The power hitting foreigner (Shin-Shoo Choo) will not only be the spokesman for Allstate insurance, but he will become the President of the United States.

See Cleveland, it's not so bad. Besides, you're not Detroit.

A Look At Fedor's New "Top Competition"

Now that Fedor has found a new promotion to call home, Strikeforce is promising heavyweight "top competition" even though he probably won't fight for the title right away. You know, because who is this Fedor guy to just walk in and get a shot at Alistair Overeem anyway? You gotta prove yourself, boy. Since Fedor signed a three-fight deal, let's take a look at the potential (and top, did we mention top?) competition ahead of him.

1. Brett Rogers The 28-year-old is an impressive 6'5" and 265 lbs. He's also 10-0 and coming off of a first round knockout of, once-upon-a-time champion, Andrei Arlovski. While it's hard to question Brett's striking, it's easy to mock his level of competition. Watch...

Brett's other notable wins include striking victories over Jon Murphy and James Thompson. Who, you might ask. You may remember Jon Murphy from such fights as that one episode of "Bully Beatdown" on MTV. And who can forget James Thompson's epic fight against Kimbo when his cauliflower ear exploded into skin shrapnel. Ah, good times.

2. Fabricio Werdum The Brazilian is 32-years-old and 6'4", 256 lbs. He actually had some pretty good momentum in the UFC after beating Gabriel Gonzaga and Brandon Vera, but he was knocked out by underdog Junior dos Santos at UFC 90. After going 2-2, the UFC dropped him despite the lack of depth at the heavyweight division. But hey, Werdum does have wins over Fedor's brother and current Strikeforce champ, Alistair Overeem.

3. Alistair Overeem If Fedor manages to get past King Hippo and Great Tiger, he could possibly get a shot at Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem. Overeem defeated Paul Buentello 21 months ago to win the title in his only Strikeforce fight. Overeem has fought some top talent including: Chuck Lidell (L), Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (2L), Vitor Belfort (2W), Shogun Rua (2L), and Ricardo Arona (L). That is quality competition but it's also numerous losses to light heavyweights. Overeem was supposed to fight Brett Rogers at the next Strikforce event but pulled out after injuring his hand fighting bouncers at a bar.

Of course, only time will tell how good these fights turn out. Maybe they will be better than anything Cain Velasquez or Shane Carwin have to offer. I hope they are. It's just unfortunate that we won't get to see the two top heavyweights in the world fight, considering Brock and Fedor are the highest profile heavyweights we've ever seen.

Fedor Signs With Strikeforce, Avoids Brock

Fedor Emelianenko signed a multi-fight agreement with Strikeforce and will debut on Showtime sometime this fall. While this is a major coup for Strikeforce, I think it's a disappointment for most MMA fans, especially the casual fan. After the fall of Affliction, a blockbuster fight between Brock Lesnar and Fedor was anxiously anticipated but will have to remain an afterthought with the Strikeforce signing. Remember when we all hoped that Randy Couture fight against Fedor was going to get worked out? Yeah, how's that going?

The contract details haven't been released but we know that M-1 Global will be a co-promoter with Strikeforce. Co-promotion was the sticking point to the offer that Dana White made to Fedor last week. Once the details come out, we should get an idea of just how close Dana's offer was to the rumored six-fight, $30 million offer. I can't believe UFC was going to offer $5 million per fight and I know Strikeforce doesn't have that kind of cash.

So where does that leave us, the fans? There will definitely be greater exposure for Fedor and some of the fights should be on Showtime. Those are like almost-free fights! It also firmly places Strikeforce as the UFC's top competitor. Fedor will fight the top heavies in Strikeforce including Alistair Overeem, Brett Rogers and Fabricio Werdum. Not exactly the Brock Lesnars of the world but better than some of the competition Fedor has recently fought. I'm not going as far as saying that Fedor is ducking Brock but I have my questions. After Barnett drug failed out of the Affliction fight, Fedor's camp was quick to dismiss a potential fight against the quicker Vitor Belfort as an easy fight. Instead, the camp mentioned they'd rather have a match against a more traditional heavyweight like Brett Rogers. Well, they'll get that wish now but I can't help wondering if Fedor can still match up with a much more agile fighter. I guess we'll just have to continue to wonder how good Fedor really is and if there is anyone else that can beat Brock Lesnar.

Arturo Gatti's Death Still A Mystery

The death of former boxer Arturo Gatti continues to be investigated after a second autopsy doesn't rule out homicide. In what is turning into a bizarre story, Quebec coroners found that the Brazilian investigation was incomplete and even found injuries overlooked by the first examination. Authorities are now waiting for more information including toxicology reports and the contents of a computer that may contain evidence of interest in Gatti's death. Whatever that means. If this was on CBS, it would have already been wrapped up by now and I'd be flipping over to Conan. Let's go to the recap (featuring ESPN links)...

July 11th: Arturo Gatti found dead, foul play suspected. Visibly shaken, I tweet.

July 12th: Arturo Gatti's 23-year-old wife is accused of murdering him. Logical conclusion? More crazy women killing athletes.

July 15th: From jail, Gatti's wife proclaims her innocence. Professional skeptics, such as myself, find it hard to believe Gatti strangled himself with that purse strap.

July 18th: I get drunk and watch the Arturo Gatti vs. Mickey Ward trilogy on HBO. Little investigating gets done.

July 20th: Gatti receives a standing ovation from 1000 mourners at his funeral in Montreal. Canadian funerals are weird.

July 30th: Arturo Gatti's death is ruled a suicide (um, by hanging from stairs) and the wife is released from prison. Friends and family express disbelief.

July 31st: Gatti's family requests an autopsy from the Quebec coroners, so they dig him up exhume him. The wife believes the second autopsy will also come up suicide, because now would be an awkward time to confess.

August 1st: And that brings us here.

For the sake of the friends and family, I hope this gets resolved soon. It is, after all, a sad story either way. But it's pretty weird, huh? Somebody better secure the rights before it ends up as two-parter on CSI and a lawsuit ensues.

Dana White Airs Out His Laundry List

Dana White held his presser today where he promised to announce some crazy things. I would have gotten a post up earlier but the stream at UFC.com didn't work and I got wrapped up following the MLB trade deadline. I don't really know how "crazy" Dana's laundry list ended up being but let's rate the news...

1. Tito Ortiz is officially back with the UFC. Nothing shocking here. I had this story last week when Dana announced it on Twitter. While no return date is set, it appears Tito will fight Mark Coleman before the end of the year.

Rating: Missed Spinning Backfist - sure, it looks like fun but it has no actual impact

2. Vitor Belfort signed and will fight Rich Franklin in the main event of UFC 103. Again, it was no secret that Dana wanted Belfort back in the UFC. It is interesting to see that after rejuvenating his career at middleweight, Belfort will move back to light heavyweight instead of a highly anticipated (by me) fight against Anderson Silva.

Rating: Omoplota - it has potential and looks good, even if it's just setting us up for something better

3. With Franklin fighting Belfort, Dan Henderson will get the next shot at Anderson Silva's middleweight title. I know Silva has already defeated Hendo, but I'm anticipating another great fight. Hendo still has all of the tools to pull an upset.

Rating: Elbow to the face after a knockout - exciting no matter how many times you watch it

4. Dana makes it seem like signing Fedor is unlikely. Ugh! Obviously, the news we were all hoping for was the signing of Fedor. Dana said he made his best offer but the sticking point is M-1 Global's demand to co-promote. Dana's rumored offer was six fights for $30 million plus M-1 sponsorship for Fedor and allowing him to fight in Sambo tourneys. Of course, that was just a rumor. Let's just continue to hope the two sides can eventually get something done.

Rating: Brock Lesnar fight - plenty of hype but after it's over we feel unsatisfied and disappointed

More Steroid Talk, Thanks Again Manny

Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz both tested positive for PEDs in the now infamous 2003 anonymous sample testing. Oh how I love when baseball steroid talk gets plastered all over every media outlet. The outrage! Won't somebody think of the children! I see several reasons these positive test are going to get a little extra hype. Let's go to the list...

Once. Manny already served a 50-game suspension this season for apparent use of a banned substance associated with steroid use. If you missed it, it was a female fertility drug steroid users take to get their bodies to start making testosterone after they come off a cycle. Best joke, Manny's suspensions was actually considered maternity leave.

Twice. Manny and Big Papi were key components for the 2004 and 2007 Red Sox Championships. That was a long World Series drought the Red Sox were mired in before 2004. How much did the juicing help? Yankees fans now believe it was the only reason the Sox won and demand the titles be stripped (I assume, I haven't done any formal polling).

Thrice. And this will be the big one that you will hear over and over and over again. From February...

"I think you clean up the game by the testing," Ortiz said Monday. "I know that if I test positive by using any kind of substance, I know that I'm going to disrespect my family, the game, the fans and everybody, and I don't want to be facing that situation.

"So what would I do? I won't use it, and I'm pretty sure that everybody is on the same page," he said.

There are plenty more Ortiz quotes on steroids where that came from.

I'm not going to go into too much analysis here because it drives me absolutely insane to listen to people argue about performance enhancing drugs in baseball. At this point it's naive not to think that the majority of players have at some point tried/used/use steroids or some form of "performance enhancer." We still don't have a good grasp on how steroids enhance performance. I do encourage you to read Bill James' piece Cooperstown and the 'Roids. Here's a clip...

How, then, are those people of the future—who are
taking steroids every day—going to look back on baseball
players who used steroids? They’re going to look
back on them as pioneers. They’re going to look back at
it and say “So what?”

Now that we're going to be subject to constant steroid-baseball talk, I fully expect Brett Favre to announce that he is coming out of yesterday's retirement to play for the Vikings. I imagine his announcement would be, "I'm back. Hey, look at me, look at me!"

Not Kim And Reggie Too!

As the celebrity-football gossip world is just recovering from the Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson breakup, US Magazine is reporting that Reggie Bush and Kim Kardashian have ended their relationship. I thought for sure those crazy kids would make it. I even erroneously reported their engagement last year. Okay, no pressure Tom-Gisele and Hank-Kendra but you're our only hopes for celebrities and football players to show all of us normal folk what true love looks like (I give Hank-Kendra one month after she pops that kid out, she's going to be a disaster of a mother).

Apparently, their lives were "going in different directions." Which, I assume, means Reggie will continue to be a productive member of society and Kim will continue to cash in on being famous for being famous. Where was that option when I was a kid?

What would you like to be when you grow up?
Famous.
For doing what?
Nope, that's it. That's the whole plan. Then they'll put me on TV. No college or talent for me, thank you.

[H/T @Adam_Schefter]

One Affliction Fight Saved

With the cancellation of Affliction: Trilogy, several of the fights on the stacked undercard scrambled to find another payday. At least one of them has found a new home. MMA Junkie reports "Babalu" Sobral will fight Gegard Mousasi, in what should be a great fight, on August 15th at the "Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg." "Babalu" and his five-fight win streak will defend his Strikeforce light heavyweight title against Mousasi and his impressive 12-fight win streak. Haha, Babalu is wearing his own shirt in his mugshot.

Some of the other fights might get scooped up by M-1 Global's event on August 28th. Unfortunately, the Vitor Belfort vs. Jorge Santiago fight might end up being too pricey for M-1.

Dana White Has Crazy Things Coming Up

The MMA news is relentless today. I got around to this and this, but didn't even touch Affliction folding like a Hanes T-shirt. Ho ho, that Charlie Sheen is incorrigible. He totally deserved all of those Emmy noms. Dana White mentioned on his charity radio show that he has a presser scheduled for July 31 filled with "a lot of crazy things"...

He referenced the media event when asked about reports of Affliction halting operations and becoming a UFC sponsor, the possibility of the UFC acquiring Affliction contracts, whether or not Fedor Emelianenko could be signed to the UFC, and whether a rumored deal with ESPN could come to fruition.

"We're working on some big things," White said without going into specifics. "It's going to be a lot of crazy things. ... There will be a laundry list of things addressed."

How about one last jab Dana?

"These guys are good at making clothes," he said. "They're not in the fight business. We are."

We could be looking at some seriously exciting changes to the fight scene starting next week. Plus now that Dana and Affliction are cool, maybe Punkass or Scrape will fight Tom Atencio.

Tito Ortiz Returns To The UFC?

As I mentioned a week ago, Dana White and Tito Ortiz made up and even confirmed it over Twitter. What did we ever do before you Twitter? In a big day for MMA news, Dana White gave us a little more to speculate on...



Okay. So, Tito's back in the UFC? When is he going to fight? Who is he going to fight? Tito?



Dammit Tito, that doesn't help any. Does he have no respect for the guy sitting at home reading Dana White's tweets on a Friday night? Hmm, I'm not so sure I have any respect for that guy. Anyway, I thinks it's safe to assume Tito is back with the UFC. But I also believe everything written on the Internet as soon as it's posted.

No Fight For Fedor, Event Canceled

With Josh Barnett out of the main event against Fedor, Affliction canceled the entire Pay Per View event scheduled for August 1st.

"Finding an opponent for the No. 1 ranked MMA heavyweight champion in such a short period of time was a huge endeavor, and I'm thrilled at the amount of fighters willing to take on this challenge," Atencio stated. "But in the end, we just didn't have enough time to promote a new fight to our standards."

I was pretty convinced that today's announcement was going to install Vitor Belfort in the main event against Fedor. Instead, we get the news that Affliction passed over Belfort, Jeff Monson, Don Frye, "King" Mo Lawal, and Paul Buentello as potential opponents for Fedor in favor of scrapping the entire show. The news is certainly disappointing for MMA fans and troubling for Affliction. This would have only been Affliction's third event. While they put together nice cards, it's hard to compete with the UFC which puts together monthly pay-per-views and several Fight Nights throughout the year. Affliction appears to be keeping it's head up, though...

"Affliction is deeply disappointed that the undercard is also canceled through no fault of its own," the release stated. "Affliction stands behind the company's brands and delivers premium products to the most passionate and loyal customers. Affliction's first priority is to ensure that all future events live up to the company's high standards."

Keep on looking through those rose-tinted glasses Affliction, but I think your writing is on the wall. How awesome would it have been if I had crammed one more idiom into that sentence? Slightly?

So it will be interesting to see what comes next for Fedor. I believe this was the last fight on his Affliction contract and negotiations with the UFC were right around the corner. And whatever will Affliction do with all of those $50 "Trilogy" t-shirts they made? What a bunch of douchebags.

Mark Buehrle's Perfect Game Starring DeWayne Wise

Mark Buehrle tossed a perfect game this afternoon against a pretty good Tampa Bay Rays team. Buehrle went 27 up, 27 down without too much trouble, except for Gabe Kapler in the ninth. DeWayne Wise was put in center field for defense and he absolutely robbed Kapler of a home run to keep the perfect game alive. You're going to see Wise's catch around 100 times over the next couple of days and it will probably be the catch of the year. In fact, White Sox announcer, Hawk Harrleson, called it the greatest play he's ever seen (or the greatest play in history of the universe, I can't remember exactly). Hawk went on to call the female reporter on the field "hun". Have you learned nothing, Hawk? Now everyone everywhere is going to want to see her naked and blame blogs. Oops, derailed. Congrats Mark.

Fedor Doesn't Want To Fight Belfort?

In the second day of who's going to fight Fedor, things are taking a strange turn. Cagewriter has confirmation from Belfort and his camp that Belfort has agreed to fight Fedor at "Affliction: Bankrupt Trilogy". But as Cagewriter points out, we're now 18 hours into Belfort accepting the fight without any official announcement. Fedor's manager, Vadim Finkelchtein, held a presser this morning in Russia and spoke about the situation...

"Everyone in the world now wants to see the fight of Fedor, not Barnett," Finkelchtein said (via M-1Global.com). "People want to see Fedor fight. Belfort can make heavyweight, but the fans don't want this fight. Fedor isn't seeking an easy fight. If logistics weren't an issue, we'd like to see Fedor fight against Brett Rogers. Fans want it, (and) so do we.”

Belfort does cut way down to get to middleweight but would still be giving up around 20 pounds. I just find it interesting that Vadim so quickly dismisses Belfort as an easy fight. Belfort, after all, is a world class Brazilian Jiu Jistu fighter and once mulled over a professional boxing career. Certainly, any loss will hurt Vadim's leverage with the UFC after Fedor's Affliction contract is up after this upcoming fight, but how much damage would a loss to a middleweight really mean for a potential Brock Lesnar fight? Okay, Dana would probably have a field day with it but I think most people would still want to see Fedor fight Brock. Either way, Fedor won't be facing off with Brett Rogers since Strikeforce made it clear the heavyweight is not available to take the fight.

Another name popped up today when Jeff Monson announced he is in consideration for the Fedor fight. Monson wouldn't say how serious negotiations are but did mention he might be willing to take less cash than others...

"I've never been about the money," the 38-year-old said. "I just like to fight. I'm a fighter. It's what I do for a living. More (money) is better, of course. I have kids. But I just want to fight. If you win and beat Fedor, you never have to worry about it (money) again."

This could be quite the interesting conundrum for Affliction. On one hand, Affliction is struggling mightily and probably wouldn't mind saving some cash for Barnett's replacement. On the other hand, Affliction still has to sell Pay Per Views to make any money. Who's getting jacked up to see Fedor vs Jeff Monson? That was rhetorical, Jeff.

I'm sure Affliction is working on other names. Paul Buentello is floating around out there for one. At the end of the day, I still think Vitor Belfort gets the fight and puts on a hell of a show. Let's face it, time is a massive factor here and Belfort is ready, willing, and able. I expect an announcement to come soon.

[image from Xtreme Couture]

Kevin Kouzmanoff's Golden Sombrero

Here we go again. Which do you think will end sooner, this ridiculous streak of Golden Sombreros or my interest in writing about them? It's really a toss up. Remember my obsession with the Eastern Motors jingle? Kouzmanoff was the model of consistancy against the Marlins tonight going 0-4 with 4 swinging strike outs on his way to pick up the Golden Sombrero. That qualifies him for the San Diego Swinging Sombrero. If you strike out swinging four times in one game in San Diego, you can take your Golden Sombrero over to Mexico where they will fill it with Quaaludes.[citation needed]

Who's Going To Fight Fedor?

Josh Barnett has once again tested positive for anabolic steroids and his fight with Fedor is dead. Actually dead, not Kimo dead. The California State Athletic Commission has denied Barnett a license but Barnett is adamant about his innocence and his "B" sample will be tested. Barnett also denied using steroids after his positive test following his championship victory over Randy Couture in 2002. That was Barnett's last fight in the UFC. So unless Barnett was miraculously cleared before I finished writing this, Fedor will have a new opponent on August 1st and I need to improve my typing skills. I blame that on you, Oregon Trail.

Affliction VP Tom Atencio (noted for his desire to fight Dana White) has already begun the process to find a replacement contender for Fedor. Atencio has a working relationship with Strikeforce, but neither Febricio Werdum nor Brett Rogers will be filling in for "The Baby Faced Assassin."

The hot rumor right now is that Vitor Belfort has verbally agreed to fight Fedor in the main event. While nothing has been confirmed, I'm sure it's fine if we just assume it's true. That's worked out for MMA so far this week. Now you have to understand that we have a soft spot for Vitor. He's been our favorite fighter even through the tough times, but we're also talking about a guy that passed on his original Affliction fight with Gegard Mousasi because he didn't want to fight up a class to light heavyweight. If Belfort does take this fight, it will be a two weight class jump and he'll be giving up around 45 pounds. Which is like 300 kilometers. I'm not good at conversions.

We're hoping it's going to be Belfort taking the fight and that maybe the Brazilian has some magic left in him. Stay tuned, an official announcement should come soon.

UPDATE: Fedor Doesn't Want To Fight Belfort?

Ryan Howard's Golden Sombrero

Well this was kind of inevitable, wasn't it? I almost gave Ryan Howard a pass on this one because the game did go 13 innings. Howard went 0-4 with four strike outs but he did manage a pair of walks. You just can't give a guy that strikes out over 30% of the time extra plate appearances and not expect him to pick up some type of Sombrero. I'm actually a little surprised (and disappointed), with Rich Harden and Carlos Marmol combining for 9 innings, that we didn't at least get a Platinum Sombrero. I know, there is still plenty of time left in the season and we already have five guys with triple digit strike outs.

We're having a good little run on Golden Sombreros lately. Since I mentioned Howard in the last Sombrero post, I figured I would go ahead and call out Mark Reynolds in this one. What's up dude? Forty-six walks already? Quit showing off and get back to swinging and missing.

Oh, on Monday, I did have the hand squeezed margaritas at El Gato Negro and they are amazing.

VH1's New Masterpiece, The T.O. Show

I finally got around to watching the debut episode of The T.O. Show. You can catch new episodes Monday nights on VH1. If you follow him @terrellowens81, expect to be reminded 400 more times. Hey, was VH1 one of those channels that used to show music videos? I honestly can't remember. I left the channel on MTV for some reason the other day and I don't even know how to describe their programming. I'm pretty sure MTV and VH1 are responsible for this plague of idiocy sweeping the nation. It's either them or texting. I don't know when it happened but grammar suffered a pretty gruesome murder. I'll always remember our time together in second grade. And you're not helping matters either, Twitter (please follow us @MnkysThrwngDrts). Wait, I may have derailed. Yep.

The T.O. Show is just like most of the other half-reality/half-scripted shows that follow around a celebrity or some asshole housewives. It's not as overacted as, say, The Hills or 7th Floor West. T.O. was pretty likeable until he bought $137,000 diamond earrings after he buys a posh pad in L.A. Ugh, why didn't I choose professional athlete over insurance industry?

Let's go to the instant recap. T.O. gets cut by Dallas, signs with Buffalo, flies to L.A., loses his bags, buys a house, goes shopping, goes clubbing, brings the party home, has a date with his real estate agent, hooks up with her in the hot tub, works out, and visits his ex-wife all while getting bitched at by his two female publicists. I've already identified the people I will hate watch on the show. I guess I'll keep watching if for no other reason than the Drew Rosenhaus cameos. That guy is hilarious!

Pat Burrell's Golden Sombrero

Tampa Bay's DH, Pat Burrell, did a whole lot of swinging and missing on Sunday. His reward? That's right, it's Golden Sombrero time. I feel that this occasion calls for a special song and dance. Burrell had the glorious, around these parts, 0-4 with four strike outs. I actually think I prefer the Golden Sombrero to the cycle. Burrell went down swinging thrice with one looking sprinkled in for good measure. Before this season, Burrell played along side avid Sombrero collector Ryan Howard and perhaps picked up a thing or two.

In honor of this early strike-fest, we're going out for hand squeezed margaritas and tacos for lunch. And then hopefully a nap.

Tito And Dana Make Nice

The longtime rift between Tito Ortiz and Dana White appears to be over, according to Twitter. And if I can't believe something written on a social networking site, then I don't know what this world is coming to. Anyway, I think it went something like this...



Okay, that's good. Tito was the face of the UFC for a long time and I think he still has a little left in the tank. But Tito runs his mouth and the last I heard Tito wasn't welcome at the Expo for UFC 100. Dana?



Ah, confirmation. Tito hasn't fought since his loss to Lyoto Machida in his last UFC fight over a year ago. There is a rumor that he was negotiating a deal with Strikeforce (I do all my good research at Wikipedia), but there is nothing official. Tito seems eager to get back in the Octagon. So we might see him soon, right Dana?



Uh huh. So wait, is this news? Okay, I guess it is. It at least opens the door for a Tito Ortiz return to the Octagon. His problem is a loaded light-heavyweight division. Tito lost a unanimous decision to Machida but he was fairly impressive in the fight. Unfortunately, Machida has reached a whole new level of dominance since then. Plus there is Rampage, Rashad Evans, Forrest Griffin, Shogun and Anderson Silva can even fight at 205.

What the hell Dana. I say bring him back. He is, if nothing else, entertaining. And I'm curious to see if Jenna's face has completely melted off of her head by now. Haha, just kidding. How are the twins? Did you get the Little Einstein set I sent? You don't want those kids falling into drugs or fighting or porn. Er...

Jayson Werth's Golden Sombrero

Phillies All Star outfielder, Jayson Werth, resumed play last night with quite a poor performance. That's right, Jayson tried on the old Golden Sombrero going 0-4 with four strike outs. Let's recap. He went down looking in the 2nd against Volstad, swinging in the 4th against Volstad, looking again in the 6th still against Volstad, and finished it off swinging against Donnelly in the 8th. That's some bad hat Harry.

Even though I have Werth in a fantasy league, I was more disappointed to find out that the website goldensombrero.com doesn't actually track Golden Sombreros. It's a Yankees fan site that hasn't been updated since May. Damn. I don't think I'd be as upset if it turned out to be a site about people peeing on hats.

Arianny Gets Some Blog Love

While we anxiously await NFL training camps, I have to find something to fill some space around here. Since nobody tested positive for meth today, I figured we could get Arianny a little extra exposure. I'm sure she needs it. The Octagon girl extraordinaire is fresh off of UFC 100 and made her way into a couple of blogs today.

*Jimmy Traina has been talking up the UFC lately and finally caved to public demand to make Arianny the cover girl for today's Hot Clicks. Thank you Maxim.com for this and for the title, "She's MMA-zing." How do they do it? No wonder I'm writing for free.

*Meanwhile, Cagewriter found an opportunity for you to spend an hour with Arianny. You just have to be the winning bidder and then you co-host an hour of radio with her in Las Vegas. I'm positive if the auction was for _________ (anything other than co-host a radio show) with Arianny for an hour in Las Vegas, the bid would be a whole lot higher than $550 right now. Here is the link to bid on her or other UFC personalities. The highest bid right now is for an hour of profanity with Dana White.

*You can also stalk her on Twitter @AriannyCeleste (while you're at it, follow us too). Or check out her website Miss Arianny Celeste.

There, I feel like I've done my good deed for the day. How would people ever find pictures of scantily clad women that kind of have something to do with sports on the Internet without me? I deserve a drink.

Jeremy Mayfield Is BACK On The Meth

What does it take to get a NASCAR post around here? I was just waiting for a heartwarming story about a meth head driver gone straight and winning the big race. But, it looks like I will have to settle for meth head driver continues to enjoy meth. Jeremy Mayfield has once again tested positive for methamphetamines. Mayfield tested positive earlier this year and NASCAR is attempting to get his indefinite suspension reinstated after a court granted an injunction on the case. But my favorite part is coming up, right now...

Mayfield once again denied ever using the illegal drug.

"I don't trust anything NASCAR does, anything [program administrator] Dr. David Black does, never have, never will," Mayfield told The Associated Press in a phone interview.

An affidavit by Mayfield's stepmother, Lisa, said "she has personal knowledge of Mr. Mayfield using and even manufacturing methamphetamine, including his usage of methamphetamine before a race as far back as a decade ago."

I also hear that Mayfield said he could quit at any time. So, you know, get off his back. I love that the step-mom is totally throwing him under the bus. Either he wasn't sharing the NASCAR money or he ruined one too many bathtubs around the house.

I will extend a little credit to Mayfield. I've never known anyone addicted to meth to be able to sit still for 5-minutes let alone the 9-hours it takes for a NASCAR race. That's how long they take, right?

Well, that concludes our NASCAR coverage for the year.

UFC 100 Quick Picks

Okay, I didn't have time to play with any of the sabermetric UFC data today. I hope Rami will do an update with the results from tonight's fights, but I have no idea how long that might take.

We're only an hour outside UFC 100. So this isn't a preview or even in-depth predictions. I merely wanted to go on record with some picks. And they're boring too! Here's the parlay with prices and picks in bold...

Brock Lesner -250 vs. Frank Mir +195
Dan Henderson -250 vs. Michael Bisping +190
Yoshihiro Akiyama -250 vs. Alan Belcher +190
GSP -275 vs. Thiago Alves +215

Those lines are pretty high which makes me think there will be some big upsets and I will lose my dime. This is also the prime example of why this sports prediction site now comes with 94% less predictions.

UFC Gets The Sabermetric Treatment

It's no secret around these parts that I geek out a little bit for the statistical side of sports. The work that has been done with sabermetrics in baseball is simply amazing. After the statistical revolution in baseball, nerds across the country took it upon themselves to tackle some other sports. KC Joyner and the Football Outsiders are doing some interesting work for the NFL and I use Hollinger's stuff all over this site to show how much better LeBron is than Kobe.

Which brings us to my beloved UFC and this post from TBL intern Stephen Montemayor. The UFC and a huge database of statistical analysis? I got a sports-math boner just reading about that. Um, figuratively. Apparently, Rami Genauer has been hard at work over at Fight Metric and I haven't even noticed. Sorry Rami. But you will get your own tag now. Rami has just finished updating a database that breaks down every UFC fight since UFC 28. Wow. That's either the most dedicated, fascinating research ever or the most lonely, sad story I've ever heard. Either way, good for me. There is a ton of data to pour through but I'll try to play around with enough of it to get something posted before UFC 100.

Back to The Big Lead's post for a minute, Montemayor reached out to Rami and got some questions answered. Hey, here's one...

Q: What got you fired up to start FightMetric?

FightMetric really began as nothing more than a thought exercise. I was writing articles and columns about MMA and found it frustrating not to have any stats to use. Unless it’s a personality profile, nearly all good sports news articles will contain at least a few numbers. MMA had nothing. I took it as a challenge to try and imagine what an MMA statistics system would look like. The FightMetric system is the product of months of research and data analysis around how MMA fights actually work.

Rami has two types of reports. The first is an in-depth reports that covers all the action in an individual fight over 67 statistical categories. The other report is Total Performance Rating. TPR is a high-level view of a fighter's performance over the course of his UFC career. It is some really interesting data for your inner-nerd. Rami does supply the UFC with data in order makes some cash, so the public doesn't have unlimited access to the database. But there is still plenty of good stuff to check out. Seriously, go check check it out.

[The Big Lead]

[Fight Metric]

Shaq To Watch UFC 100. Fight In UFC 101?

Long time mixed martial arts fan and Twitter enthusiast, Shaq, is pretty pumped for Saturday night's blockbuster UFC 100.


See? You can tell he's excited because he uses his "fighta sound". We have something in common here. Shaq's "fighta sound" is identical to my "lost my car keys and I'm late to a meeting sound". Very intense.

Foul mouthed UFC President Dana White was quick to respond to the big man's tweet. Why no love for my tweets, Dana? I can add more profanity.


Okay, that one isn't a whole lot of fun. We all know Shaq is the man. I don't know about five exclamation points, but still.

Ah, but Shaq wasn't done. He has some big plans for UFC 101.


Now we're talking. Shaq has actually been training in a variety of mixed martial arts for the past tens years. Unfortunately for Shaq, but mainly us, the UFC 101 card is already full. Well that, and the Big Aristotle would have to cut a little weight to make the heavyweight division. He'd have about a month to lose a just under an Olsen twin.

That could happen. He could sleep in a sauna wearing garbage bag pj's. But that stick in the mud Dana White had another qualifier.


So there you go. Dana White predicts the Cavs will win the NBA championship next season and we should expect Shaq in the Octagon in about a year. Thanks Dana!

And thank you, Twitter. There is no end to the ridiculous stuff written on you.

Now Denis Leary, He Hates Kobe

Yes, Kobe Bryant is a great basketball player. Yes, he is enormously popular. He reclaimed the top spot in jersey sales this past season. I have plenty of friends who are big Kobe fans. He just isn't as good as LeBron James. The more I argued this point with stats and logic, the more I was labeled a Kobe hater. The playoffs were not kind to me. But in the regular season, LeBron crushed Kobe in Hollinger's PER and VA (basketball VORP). I don't hate Kobe. I just don't think he deserved the MVP two seasons ago or to finish second this past season.

Now Denis Leary, he hates Kobe. Leary went through the ESPN carwash today, which involves hosting a chat. Here are the highlights (for the purpose of this post anyway)...

tim (albuquerque)
are you a big basketball fan if so how did you feel about this season and what do you think the biggest offseason move has been?

Denis Leary (12:39 PM)
Huge basketball fan. Huge Celtics fan. Desperately wanted LeBron to win the championship. Hate Kobe. Hate the Lakers. Hate Phil Jackson. Hate Jack Nicholson. Hate Kobe. Hate Kobe. Hate Kobe.

And signed off with...

Denis Leary(12:41 PM)
Ice Age 3 is, completely unbiased opinion, quite possibly the greatest movie ever made. Why We Suck is, again completely unbiased opinion, quite possibly the greatest book ever written. Rescue Me, the greatest TV show ever seen in the history of mankind. Hate Kobe. Hate Kobe. Hate Kobe.

I knew I always liked Denis Leary. I just thought it was because of the drinking and Comics Come Home or possibly The Ref. But no, it's deeper than that. I admire his unbridled, blind hatred of Kobe. It's quite impressive.

Denis, the next round is on me. Bring Cam Neely.