Daily Rumors 7-26-09

--As was custom, Gray Maynard got a text from Joe Silva sometime in late May. It said, simply, “Huerta. Sept. 16.” Huerta, of course, was Roger Huerta, the embattled lightweight who’s on the last bout of his UFC contract and fighting for his future when the two meet in Oklahoma for UFC Fight Night 19. mmaweekly.com

“I’m here to win,” said Maynard. “(I’m not going to say), ‘I think it’s going to be a bloody, an unbelievable throwdown. We’re going to get the fight of the night check.’ To be honest, I don’t even want it to be close. I want to kick this dude’s ass. That’s the plan.” mmaweekly.com


--Forrest Griffen talked about the whole Affliction fiasco. He had this to say: The Affliction thing kind of does affect me personally a little bit [because] there were four guys training out of Xtreme Couture that were fighting on that card," Griffin said. "You know, a guy I work with a lot, Shawn Tompkins, basically was going to get money back-end from four guys who were fighting, and you know, it really hurts them. He's been training guys for six and eight weeks. I don't know. It just sucks that they went under the way they did. Now those guys don't get paid. You know, it's rough. mma.fanhouse.com

--The cancellation took our company completely by surprise, as Fedor Emelianenko, M-1 Challenge fighter Mikahil Zayats, and a traveling party of 35 people from Russia consisting of Fedor’s trainers, friends, family, as well as M-1 support personnel were all on a plane en route to Anaheim. mmanews.com

--M-1 Global President Vadim Finkelchtein believes that this weeks cancellation of Affliction: Trilogy could be used as an opportunity to jump start stagnant negotiations to bring Fedor to the UFC.

“This is the moment of truth that the UFC has talked about. Fedor and I are here in the States. If they want to come out and fly here, we are ready to conduct negotiations,” said Finkelchtein. “Of course it still doesn’t imply we are ready to accept any conditions they’ll throw at us. We want to talk to the UFC about having Fedor compete against some of their fighters, but only within the framework of co-promotional efforts with M-1 Global.” mmafrenzy.com

--As Blackburn confirmed to MMAWeekly.com, “The doctors said when they went in to fix my AC (acromioclavicular) joint that I had a nice long tear in my labrum (shoulder). They had to fix both of those and my estimated time for recovery is nine months.” mmaweekly.com

--Japanese MMA promotion DREAM is headed to Osaka for DREAM 12. mmaweekly.com

The 16,000-seat Osaka-Jo Hall will host the event on Oct. 25, over three weeks away from the conclusion of the promotion’s Featherweight and Super Hulk tournaments at DREAM 11 on Oct. 6. mmaweekly.com

-A heavyweight matchup between recently defeated contenders Checik Kongo (14-5-1 MMA, 7-3 UFC) and Frank Mir (12-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC) is reportedly in the works for UFC 107. mmajunkie.com

--When former heavyweight boxing champion Ray Mercer (1-0) knocked out former UFC champion Tim Sylvia (24-6) in just nine seconds in June, many MMA observers felt it signaled the end of the line for "The Maine-iac." But for the 48-year-old Mercer, the quick win will apparently signal the beginning of a run in mixed martial arts. mmajunkie.com

According to American Top Team boxing coach Howard Davis Jr., the upcoming debut event for his newly formed Fight Time Promotions will look to feature a main event of Mercer and 14-year veteran Marcus "Conan" Silveira (6-4). mmajunkie.com

--Bonnar recently launched NGAUGE INC., a company that specializes in high-end paintings and artwork, and "The American Psycho" told MMAjunkie.com that UFC president Dana White has given its approval for several UFC-themed items. mmajunkie.com

--UFC welterweight Frank Trigg (19-6 MMA, 2-3 UFC) recently made the difficult decision to dissolve his six-year-old Triggonomics clothing line and focus full-time on his return to MMA's premier organization. mmajunkie.com

"There were two reasons for the change," Trigg said. "The first was financial. The economy is tough right now, and it made sense to develop a partnership with Silver Star. mmajunkie.com