Daily Rumors 07-28-09

A long-awaited agreement between the Ultimate Fighting Championship and the man considered the world's best mixed martial arts fighter, Fedor Emelianenko, is expected to be announced by UFC President Dana White on Friday, a source with information about the negotiations told The Times today. latimes.com

The source, who asked not to be identified because he's not authorized to speak publicly about the dealings, called negotiations between the UFC and Fedor "very civil" just days after Fedor's scheduled Affliction Trilogy fight Saturday against Josh Barnett was canceled. latimes.com


Despite Scott Coker being on an Italian vacation while this entire collapse went down stateside, Strikeforce managed to do something that should be praised by MMA fans. Affliction's demise was a tad premature for many fans who were still looking forward to watching a light heavyweight tilt between Gegard Mousasi and Renato "Babalu" Sobral, but Strikeforce managed to come in and save the fight between the proven veteran and the up-and-coming superstar. Not only did Strikeforce save the bout and move it to only 14 days later, but it'll now be for the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight title. bloodyelbow.com


Less than two weeks away from his UFC lightweight championship match at UFC 101, BJ Penn found himself fielding questions about a disputed text message and his treatment by the media, and was targeted by a crank caller during Tuesday's UFC 101 media conference call. fanhouse.com

"I'm fighting for the lightweight championship of the world. That's small stuff," he said. "I don't know how I get caught up in small stuff." fanhouse.com


Fedor Emelianenko will address the media for the first time since the announcement of the cancellation of “Affliction Trilogy” this Wednesday at a press conference right here in the United States. fiveouncesofpain.com


Josh Barnett's MMA career may be on brief hold, but his pro wrestling one isn't. "The Baby-Faced Assassin," very much in the news these days after it was announced last week that he tested positive for an anabolic steroid, which led to Affliction Entertainment canceling its upcoming event, will wrestle on Aug. 9 for Inoki Genome Federation in Japan. Barnett's manager, Shannon Hooper, confirmed the news with FanHouse on Tuesday. fanhouse.com


Affliction became the newest member on Friday of a group of which it wanted no part. It joined Bodog Fight, the World Fighting Alliance, the International Fight League, Elite XC and others on the list of mixed martial arts promotions that were backed by big money, big hype and big dreams before ending up as financial nightmares and failing. yahoo.com


Weigh-ins for "UFC 101: Declaration" take place Friday, Aug. 7 at Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. The event, which takes place from 3-5 p.m. ET (with the first fighter hitting the scale at 4 p.m.), is free and open to the public. mmajunkie.com


The Florida-based Xtreme Fighting Championships will be the second U.S.-based MMA promotion to enter Germany, as the company has finalized plans for an event in Berlin on Dec. 12. XFC officials today informed MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that the organization has partnered with a German-based promotion to produce a series of events in Germany, Switzerland and Austria in 2009 and 2010. mmajunkie.com


It appears that Affliction refugee Jay Hieron has found a new home. Three days after the clothing company ceased its prizefighting operations, the former International Fight League welterweight champion has agreed in principal to a multi-fight deal with Strikeforce, though a contract has yet to be signed. mmaweekly.com



Recently, former pound-for-pound boxing king Floyd Mayweather Jr., in an interview with CBS Sports, hounded the sport of MMA saying it was for "beer drinkers" and the reason the sport was created was because "there's no white fighters in boxing that's dominating." Torres, who proudly hails from a Hispanic background, is ready to prove Mayweather wrong and he's ready any time, any place. mmaweekly.com

"I'd be the first one at my weight class to say I'd fight Mayweather, anywhere, any way he wants. If he hears this, whatever he wants to do," stated Torres. "We can even do modified kind of rules, we can box for three rounds, do kickboxing for three rounds, and then fight MMA for three rounds. I would even do something like that so he could have a little more confidence. mmaweekly.com


One more month and the bone will b 100%. twitter.com


Did Affliction consult with you and/or anyone else at HDNet before making any of these decisions?
We definitely had an ongoing discussion with them about possible replacements. But the final decision was all theirs, and I think they did the right thing. I think their deal with the UFC was smart on the part of Affliction and UFC. fanhouse.com


Ariel Helwani: The big rumor right now is that Tito Ortiz may be headed back to the UFC. Is that a loss you would like to avenge at this point in your career?
Forrest Griffin: Yeah, I think me and Tito would be a good fight. I think it would be a good seller. I know I want to fight him; I'm pretty sure he wants to fight me. So I think there'd be two guys with pretty decent names that could maybe put some a**** in seats. fanhouse.com