A report surfaced last week on Fightline.com that Kimbo Slice v. Brett Rogers was confirmed for the month of October. Apparently, nothing is final yet, and Fightline printed a retraction of sorts today:

EliteXC VP and matchmaker Jared Shaw contacted Fightline.com to clarify his position and update our readership on the status of this fight after viewing how the story had been picked up and used on other websites.

“Slice-Rogers is far from a done deal. They have each other and this is definitely on the horizon but currently we don’t know what our platform will be for the months of October and November and on. It’s a fight that is likely to happen within a year.”

Shaw also told Fightline.com that Rogers is currently in the mix and being discussed as Kimbo’s next opponent but there are also two other intriguing names out there for Kimbo and a decision has yet to be made for his next fight.

I was pretty shocked that EliteXC had confirmed the fight, so this news is not surprising. Fightline, one of the most reputable sites out there for MMA, is taking the hit on this one, and saying Shaw was misquoted in the original story. That could be the case, but why did it take Shaw a week to contact Fightline to clarify the story?

Another possibility, in my opinion, is that EliteXC may be backpedaling on this one. After allowing themselves to get caught up in the hype of the post-fight press conference last month, maybe the matchmakers realized that a loss to Rogers would seriously damage Kimbo’s marketability as a top-flight fighter.

At this point, it’s all speculation, which is part of the fun of MMA, but I’m willing to bet Kimbo’s next opponent will be one of the “two other intriguing names” Shaw referenced in his comments to Fightline, and not Rogers. That’s disappointing to me as an MMA fan, but I can see from a business standpoint why EliteXC would make that decision–they obviously can’t have their prized ratings machine suffering a loss early in his career.

On his blog at Matt-Hughes.com, Matt Hughes confirmed that he has a knee injury:

I found out my results, I’ve got a totally torn MCL that is still attached to my femur. I’ve got a partially torn PCL. They really think that the PCL will repair itself and that MCL has a chance of repairing itself. So we’re going to hold off on surgery right now. I am going to get a second opinion this week, so that might change; but for now we’re going to hold off on surgery.

Got more news to come this week, so there will be another blog entry the middle of the week. -matt

Unfortunate news for Hughes, but it is positive that both ligaments may heal themselves. Regardless, it looks like Hughes will be on the shelf for a while.

MMA Weekly had some interesting comments from C.B. Dolloway yesterday regarding his submission loss to Amir Sadollah at the Ultimate Fighter Finale:

“With the tap, I didn’t fully commit to the tap, but I did hit him once,” said the Tempe, Ariz. native. “I guess they ruled that a tap. I thought you had to go on and start tapping out. I did hit him once. Right as I did that, I felt my arm get into a position where I could get out. At that point Herb (Dean) ruled it as a tap out.”

Right. So now we’re talking about the degrees of tapping? This is the most confusing thing I’ve ever heard. And I thought check swings in baseball were hard to judge…

But seriously, C.B. needs to stop making excuses and just admit that he lost. Anyone else with me on wanting Amir v. C.B. III?

That’s right: clips from the Podcast Hotline interviews are now available on YouTube!

In one of the first clips, you can check out Frank Shamrock’s thoughts on the initial episode of EliteXC’s Saturday Night Fights on CBS.

At the beginning of this season’s Ultimate Fighter, all the talk was about C.B. Dolloway. He was the odds on favorite to win this season’s tournament, and was the first pick during fighter selections. Amir Sadollah wasn’t even mentioned as a potential winner.

Looking back on things, maybe he should have been. He had one of the most brutal knockouts in UFC history to open the show, and won another scintillating fight over Gerald Harris. Even after Sadollah beat Matt Brown, a beast of a fighter, C.B. Dolloway was still considered the favorite. C.B. is definately a talented fighter, but Amir had the tougher road to the semifinals.

Then, Sadollah and Dolloway faced off, and Sadollah pulled out a gutsy win with an armbar. At that point, Sadollah should have been tagged the favorite in the tournament.

Last night’s finals proved that point. C.B. Dolloway may be a talented fighter and a physical specimen, but his weakness is now obvious: his fighter IQ. The finale fight was like a replay of the semifinal match between the two, except this time, Amir caught him in the same armbar submission in the first round instead of the third. Sadollah almost looked shocked that Dolloway had gotten caught again. Maybe he even shocked himself a little bit.

Still, last night’s fight showed that Sadollah was the better fighter and the deserving winner. There will be those who will say that Dolloway will prove to be the better fighter in the long run, but I’m not buying it. He had a second chance, and wasn’t smart enough to avoid the armbar and take advantage of the gift that Jesse Taylor gave him by getting booted from the finals. Sadollah was smart enough and tough enough to rise to the occasion once again, even though most thought he had no chance.

In rising to the occasion, Sadollah has made himself an instant star. His self-deprecating personality seems to have struck a chord with fight fans–you heard who got the bigger cheers last night during the fighter introductions. The comparisons to Forest Griffin probably aren’t that far off.

Aside from his personality, it’s obvious that Sadollah’s fights won’t disappoint. He has an exciting style, much like past Ultimate Fighter winner Diego Sanchez, and that’s what fight fans will like the most.

One thing is for certain–don’t bet against Amir Sadollah in the future.

It’s almost time for the finale of this season’s Ultimate Fighter. The main event features Evan Tanner v. Kendall Grove in a Middleweight clash. Here’s the full card:

Main Card 

• Middleweight Bout: Evan Tanner v. Kendall Grove
• TUF Tournament Finale Middleweight Bout: C.B. Dolloway v. Amir Sadollah
• Welterweight Bout: Diego Sanchez v. Luigi Fioravanti
• Lightweight Bout: Spencer Fisher v. Jeremy Stephens

Prelims

• Middleweight Bout: Jeremy Horn v. Dean Lister
• Middleweight Bout: Matthew Riddle v. Dante Rivera
• Welterweight Bout: Josh Burkman v. Dustin Hazelett
• Middleweight Bout: Marvin Eastman v. Drew McFedries
• Middleweight Bout: Rob Kimmons v. Rob Yundt
• Welterweight Bout: Matt Arroyo v. Matt Brown
• Middleweight Bout: Tim Credeur v. Cale Yarbrough

I’m really excited to see if Amir can pull it off again against C.B. Dolloway. If he can keep it standing, he’s definitely got a chance. I think that’s his strength here, even though he beat C.B. with an armbar in their last fight. I hate to see Team Rampage lose, but I think you have to root for Amir here–he’s just a great story.

I’m also excited to see Spencer Fisher v. Jeremy Stephens. That fight should be off the charts. The main event should also be solid, but I think it might end up as a ground war if Tanner can dictate the pace. In a recent appearance on Inside MMA, Tanner sounded like he was really focusing on his ground attack for this one. That should be a nice change of pace since I’ve been watching a lot of EliteXC lately.

It’s great to see some of the guys from the show on the preliminary card–I’ll pick Tim Credeur in an easy win over Cale Yarbrough (why is he on this card?), and I’ll take Matt Brown over Matt Arroyo. Finally, in a battle of two guys from this season, I think Matthew Riddle beats Dante Rivera in a close one.

Discuss TUF Finale here.

Ian and I interviewed MMA legend Frank Shamrock today for the most recent episode of PWB’s Podcast Hotline. Of course, we asked Frank about his plans for his next fight. Here’s what Frank had to say:

“My goal for my next fight is to fight Ken, to fight my brother Ken, to have a brother versus brother match.”

Frank expanded on the idea of a brother versus brother match:

“I think that’s a huge fight that everybody gets–easy to understand. You could use it as a huge promotional vehicle because it’s got such a great hook in it, and I think it’s just a huge fight, so I’ve been working hard on that one.”

When I wished him luck at the end of the show and told him we hoped to see brother versus brother sometime soon, he said this:

“First quarter of next year, I’ll get it done.”

Even though speculation had died down about a potential Shamrock v. Shamrock fight after Ken’s loss to “Buzz” Berry in Cage Rage, it looks like we might see the fight come to fruition early next year.

The full interview with Frank Shamrock is now available at the Podcast Hotline site.

The Ultimate Fighter Finale isn’t the only show in town this weekend–World Championship Fighting, an MMA promotion in the Boston area, is having a big show tomorrow night, June 20. Their main event will feature UFC veteran Dan “The Upgrade” Lauzon, the younger brother of Joe Lauzon. Dan was actually the youngest fighter ever to compete in the UFC at age 18.

Here’s the full card for the event, which takes place at 6 p.m. at the Shriner’s Auditorium in Wilmington, MA:

• Dan Lauzon vs. Brendan Hoxie
• Mike Campbell vs. Rich Moskowitz
• John Benoit vs. Travis Lerchen
• Jamie Campbell vs. Jose Valentin
• Dan Bonnell vs. Barrington Douse
• Chris Grandmaison vs. Jon Bermudez
• Jon Jones vs. Parker Porter
• Davin Wesinger vs. Jose Lopez
• Ken Stone vs. Mike Oakes
• Joe Cushman vs. TBA
• Kevin Corrigan vs. Ruben Gonzales
• Scott Ledoux vs. Chris Foster
• Dan O’Keefe vs. Garth Krane
• Stephen Stengel vs. Chad Hart

The event will also feature an autograph session with UFC fighters Marcus “the Irish Hand Grenade” Davis, Kenny “KenFlo” Florian, Jorge “El Conquistador” Rivera, and Joe “J-Lau” Lauzon. If you’re in the Boston area, get out and support your local MMA organization. The autograph session starts at 5 p.m.

Fightline.com has confirmed that Kimbo Slice and Brett Rogers will fight in October. The fight will most likely be shown on CBS.If you haven’t seen the confrontation between Slice and Rogers at the post-fight press conference from the first CBS EliteXC Saturday Night Fights, check out the video above. The confrontation starts at about 8 minutes.

In addition to the Slice fight, Fightline reports that EliteXC officials are considering K.J. Noons v. Nick Diaz for the same card.

Dana White has been plugging a “big announcement” for what seems like weeks, now. Today, we finally got that announcement, and in my opinion, it was more like a big disappointment.

If you haven’t heard, the big announcement was that UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta has resigned as president of Station Casinos in Las Vegas to work with the UFC full-time. Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole broke the story earlier in the day.

Dana White claims that this move is huge–he’s right, it’s a big deal. Dana also thinks that fans on the Internet will view the announcement as a letdown–he’s right on that account, too. Here’s what Dana told Yahoo!:

“The Internet may not consider this huge news, but what the people on the Internet think is huge and what I think is huge are two different things. But you know what? I think I have a pretty good track record. I think this is maybe the biggest day in UFC history. I’m so excited, I can’t begin to explain it to you. This is an historic day for me and this company.”

It may be a historic day, but it definately wasn’t the mind-blowing announcement everyone thought was coming. Perhaps the biggest news in this story is actually a bit buried. Here’s a quote from Fertitta:

“Think about this for a second: India has 350 million men between the ages of 18 and 34, and that’s our key demographic,” Fertitta said. “The magnitude of these markets is staggering. Dana has been doing a phenomenal job with this company, and I’ve been doing what I could given my responsibilities (at Station Casinos).

“The UFC is going to have a global footprint in the not-too-distant future. We’re already working on furthering our position in Brazil. This is getting so big that it demanded I spend more time with it.”

It sounds like we might see UFC cards held in Brazil and India in the not-to-distant future.