MMA Hot Stuff

TUF 10 Finale Drug Tests Negative

Of the nine athletes that were tested for drugs/steroid use, all came back negative per the email I received from Keith Kizer (Nevada Athletic Commission). Those nine athletes that were tested were; Roy Nelson, Brendan Schaub, Matt Hamill, Jon Jones, Kimbo Slice (Kevin Ferguson), Frankie Edgar, Matt Mitrione, John Howard and Mark Bocek.  

The Ultimate Fighter Season Recap

So I'm a huge fan of The Ultimate Fighter. Frankly I think it's made many of the fighters I'd consider to be top tier, a household name before they even had a win in the octagon. I haven't missed a season, I've been known to watch past seasons in an entire marathon sitting (weekends at the ski cabin, bless you) and getting TUF dvds in my Christmas stocking always makes me a happy girl.

But this season I've found myself extremely busy and haven't been a religious viewer as I should be. Thankfully, my MMA-friend Laura (ladies you all know her wit found over at Lemondrop) is now mixing the two (wit and MMA) by writing for the UFC (hip hip hooray).

So if you're looking for a great recap of the entire season, please check out her article over at the UFC.com. 

As far as my personal opinion, I'm happy with the outcome. Some people question the quality of this season but I think it's sort of par for the course when you have heavy weights. A couple fights have been good but the personalities in the house are as entertaining as ever. Seeing Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans exchange in some verbal jabs only makes me want to see those two fight even more. Rashad has definitely proven he's a very different type of coach than Rampage. Or maybe it's better to say he's a coach and Rampage is not. You be the judge. Catch the two hour special Wednesday December 2nd.

For an extra thrill, here's a list of TUF 10 fighters and their twitter ids (if known).

Abe Wagner

Brendan Schaub

Darrill Schoonover

Demico Rogers

James McSweeney

Jon Madsen

Justin Wren

Kimbo Slice

Marcus Jones

Matt Mitrione

Mike Wessel

Rampage Jackson 

Rashad Evans

Roy Nelson

Wes Sims

Zak Jensen

Dana White Talks Kimbo Slice

Dana White talks Kimbo Slice plans, Confirms Vitor Belfort vs Anderson Silva and Herschel Walker...

Nominations for 2009 World MMA Awards closes on Wednesday

Who do you think was the BreakThrough Fighter of the Year? Best MMA Promotion? 

As a reminder, the nomination stage for the 2009 World MMA Awards closes this Wednesday (tomorrow), Sept. 30. 

The World MMA Awards, which is operated by Fighters Only magazine, is viewed as one of the most prestigious awards for the sport, awarding in 18 different MMA related categories

Nominees will be announced on Oct. 5, and final voting will then run until Dec. 5. Winners will be announced at a Dec. 30 "Oscars-style" black-tie ceremony, which streams live on Versus.com (and throughout January on Versus) from The Joint at The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. 

"Response to the World MMA Awards has been huge this year with thousands of fans worldwide taking part," Fighters Only CEO Rob Hewitt recently stated. "Nominations have been very diverse, and ... most of the categories are still wide open." 

The categories range from Fight of the Year to KO and Submission of the Year to Best MMA Brand and best MMA Media Source. MMA equipment manufactures also vie for a variety of categories. 

But before you place your vote I encourage you to take a minute and think about things. What makes someone the Best Fighter of the Year? Is it the number of wins? Is it the most vicious KnockOut? The biggest upset? Or is it because of heart and dedication?

Another category is Best MMA Journalist. I've thought a lot about this one (for obvious reasons). Always keep in mind the best Journalist may not be the one that breaks every 'story'... Sadly, fact checking has taken a back seat more often than not over being the first to the party. And then there are times the stories are known weeks before the story actually gets out but can't be discussed for confidential reasons. I personally take pride in the fact that while I consider many Fighters (UFC, WEC & Strikeforce) my personal friends, a lot of the information I hear I keep to myself. I'm so proud of what my friends have accomplished and there are times I know the information is just best left unsaid or unwritten. I want them to have time to train in private for a fight before it's publicly announced who their next opponent is. Who do you consider to be a Journalist that writes funny or interesting stories? Gives a different perspective than the 12 other sites that covered the same thing the day before.

So now that I've given you something to think about, please hurry and vote. 

Also, feel free to follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/MMAHotStuff

Dana White Talks Kimbo Slice

Dana White talks Kimbo Slice plans, confirms Belfort vs Silva and blitzes Herschel Walker

Kimbo Slice Heading To The UFC

Sort of. He's at least going to try for a contract with the UFC. Kimbo is one of the new contestants on The Ultimate Fighter 10 which began taping this week.I swear it was just a couple weeks ago I thought I saw an announcement that Kimbo was going to walk away from MMA because he wasn't into the training it takes to be a successful MMA fighter and was going to take a stab at boxing?

Whether you're a  Kimbo fan or not this is a sure way to get even more viewers to tune into TUF. Huge ratings win for the UFC.

I wonder who will be his coach, Rashad Evans or Quinton Rampage Jackson?

Here's an old video of Rampage giving his opinion of Kimbo:

EliteXC Taps Out

After almost two years of business, EliteXC has tapped out... submitted to poor business decisions and an inability to build a deep stable of quality fighters. The company, which launched in late 2006, had achieved something no other promotion had; exposure to the masses through prime time television. Unfortunately, in an attempt to deliver a quality product to the fans they racked up somewhere between $20M and $55M in debt, purchasing multiple organizations and not getting a substantial return on that investment.

Even with the help of consulting executive T. Jay Thompson, who has promoted 55 events under the Icon Sports and Superbrawl brands over the past 13 years, EliteXC could not deliver a profitable business that showed promise with the fans.

In my humble opinion, EliteXC made a few key mistakes. First and foremost, it sounds like they made some poor financial decisions which stemmed from their attempt to "buy a brand" among MMA fans. They tried to do too much, too fast. Looking at some of the promotions that have been around for a while and achieved either national or regional success, they have built their brand from the ground up, struggled through the tough times, and have expanded slowly.

Take the UFC for example. Remember the days when there were 2 or 3 UFC events per year at the most? They built their brand slowly by not pushing fighters onto fans that weren't worthy of the spotlight. This also allowed them to slowly add to their stable of great fighters, creating deep weight classes which then allowed them to offer more and more events with quality fights. Or how about an organization like Strikerforce that has built an impressive brand in the west, and especially in the Bay Area. This is an organization that has slowly grown their brand and stable of fighters, and has exhibited patience and sound judgment. They've created a brand that bay area MMA fans are familiar with, and know what to expect from their events.

Secondly, EliteXC tried to simply capitalize on the popularity of MMA without respecting the knowledge of the fans. In my opinion, pushing Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano as the organizations stars was a bad idea. Not only did fans and experts alike question Kimbo's abilities, but it felt as if they were simply trying to parlay the novelty of the internet legend "Kimbo Slice" into success. MMA fans want to see quality fights, even if the fighters aren't known across the internet.

By the way, didn't you know the end was near when you saw Jared Shaw cage-side with a look of absolute horror on his face as Kimbo went down and the ref stepped into stop the fight? It reminded me of a scene from a bad horror flick.

With regards to Carano, although she has talent, I think fans quickly figured out that her heart was not 100% with fighting as she continually missed weight, yet spent so much time in the spotlight due to American Gladiators and other ventures.

The organization did have quality fighters to push to the forefront. Jake Shields being an example, as a consistently top ranked welterweight, they could have easily propped him up as the face of the organization. Along with other stars like Robbie Lawler, Nick Diaz, Scott Smith and others. Unfortunate incidents with Antonio "Big Foot" Silva and KJ Noons certainly didn't help their situation.

It's really too bad that EliteXC went under, as different MMA organizations is a good thing for the fans and fighters alike. Unfortunately, no one has been able to mimic the UFC's success, probably because it just takes time, and what executive wants to wait for success when he can just buy it? After all, MMA is the hottest sport on the planet, right? Or is it just that the UFC is the hottest promotion on the planet?

As for our favorite EliteXC fighters, where will they go? Luckily many of most talented ended their run with EliteXC on a positive note. With convincing victories over Paul Daley and Nick Thompson, Jake Shields finds himself in a good position. Certainly fans would love to see him go to the UFC where he'll join a deep and very talented weight class and receive the challenges he so deserves. Who wouldn't love to see Jake fight the likes of Diego Sanchez or Thiago Alves? 

Robbie Lawler is another fighter that could make a successful move (and return) to the UFC. After all, the UFC is at a loss about who to put up against Anderson Silva, here's one more option for them. Nick Diaz seems to never be short of options in Japan, and we love to see him in action. A talented fighter with a great future, it also seems as though Nick has been taking lessons in Public Relations, and we hope it pays dividends for him in the end. Always popular and exciting, and organization would be lucky to acquire his services.

One organization that surely stands to gain from EliteXC's misfortune has to be Affliction. They began with a great card, unfortunately it was stacked with heavyweights and not much depth at other weight classes. Certainly this event will provide them the opportunity to acquire more talent in different classes. With a reputation on their side for treating fighters well, they certainly could parlay this into further success.

Where ever they go, we wish the best of luck to our local favorites Jake Shields and Nick Diaz!

Elite XC "Heat" Video Weigh-ins and Predictions

The weigh-ins for tomorrow night's Elite XC "Heat" card definitely delivered the goods on this much hyped event.

The full video of the weigh-ins is below so you can enjoy watching everyone step on the scale but here are some highlights.

Gina strutted in wearing sunglasses (I'm guessing she thought the florescent lights are more powerful down there in Florida). After she made her way to the scale, she stepped up... and tipped the scale at... 142.75. WTF? She didn't make weight (again)? OMG What to do, what to do... Oh, yeah strip. She had some very nice handlers hold towels for her while she took off her already skimpy clothes and on the third attempt finally had an official weigh in at 141lbs. The show will go on! Gina, I kid, I kid. I know you could kick my ass so I'm just playin. :)

Then the defending Elite XC champion of the world - and the oh so hot - Jake Shields weighed in at 169.75 lbs. During the standard face off Paul Daley had a mouth full of smack and spewed it all over Jake while they were touching hats bill to bill. Jake not only took it, but gave some back and also threw out a flashy and confident smile. So confident in fact that he blew Paul a kiss and set off a shoving match. The two had to be seperated by EliteXC officials while both men continued shouting at the other. Sparks flew, and tomorrow punches will fly! 

The next highlight worth mentioning is the worlds "most dangerous man" (and almost oldest) Ken Shamrock weighing in at 206.5-lbs and the world famouss street fighter Kimbo Slice weighing in at 234.5-lbs. Again during the standard face off Ken was a gentleman and faced Kimbo but Kimbo turned his back. Ohhhhh the nerve! Ken didn't take to that and gave Kimbo a little shove. The crowd broke out into a flurry almost as if this were an actual street fight! We know how it sets Ken off when fighters don't "respect" him, a la Tito Ortiz.

If this is a glimpse of what we have to look forward to tomorrow night, it's sure to be one great fight after another.

Before you jump to the video, here are my predictions. As always, winners in green.

Murilo Rua vs Benji Radach - If Rua can get this on the ground he'll win.
Gina Carano vs Kelly Kobald  - This is a tough one to call. Kelly has lost her last two fights, however she hasn't fought in over a year. I do think Gina has spent more time promoting herself than training. I give this fight to Kelly by TKO.
Andrei Arlovski vs Roy Nelson - The Pitbull has been training with Randy Couture, and since he was suppose to be getting ready for battle with Josh Barnett, I know he's ready. I give this match up to Andrei. His bite is bigger than his bark!
Jake Shieds vs Paul Daley - While Paul is a great striker, I don't think Jake is going to give him the chance to land anything, as Jake will take Paul down fairly quickly. MMAHotStuff knows Jake has been working on his takedowns and also keeping fighters up against the cage, so I think Jake will win this fight by submission.
Kimbo Slice vs Ken Shamrock - This one makes me a little sad. Frankly I can't believe Ken would step into a cage with Kimbo, he's such an animal. Yes Ken has much more formal experience, and is technically a better fighter. Better submissions, more experience, etc. But while Kimbo has a very lean MMA record, he's proven so far that nobody can stop him. I hate to say Ken is old, but he's old and really hasn't shown much heart in his last few fights. Ken, keep your hands up and hope to god he doesn't break your nose. Kimbo by KO.

Okay, now.. the video from weigh-ins.

ESPN: MMA Live Episode 21

Here is Episode 21 of ESPN's MMA Live. I gotta say, I'm loving this program. It's like Sports Center but just for MMA fans. Love it.

On this weeks episode the guys are joined by Kmbo Slice, they recap this weekends EliteXC card, and discuss results from a few other promotions as well.

EliteXC: Kimbo Slice on ESPN

Here's a video interview of Kimbo Slice from EPSN's MMALive. Find out his thoughts on his upcoming fight with Ken Shamrock this Saturday night on CBS. Also, he speaks about what might be next for him and also what his "dream fight" would be. Fedor? Randy? Bret Rogers? Nope... find out for yourself, it might surprise you.