MMA Fighting: All Posts by Dave Meltzer

Keith Kizer defends referee Steve Mazzagatti on Fitch vs. Burkman: 'This isn't about the ref'

2013-06-17T01:32:08Z

Dana White on Saturday night after UFC 161 went off on one of his usual major targets, Nevada State Athletic Commission referee Steve Mazzagatti, and the commission itself. But this time, it wasn't after a UFC show in the state, nor from something that happened on one of White's cards.

Instead, it was the brief World Series of Fighting main event where former UFC competitors Jon Fitch and Josh Burkman headlined. In one of the biggest upsets in recent memory, Burkman used a guillotine choke to finish a guy who is known for having some of the best submission defense in the sport. White, in Winnipeg, said he was watching the fight, turning it on his computer just as the main event was about to start.

Burkman choked Fitch out, turned him, and stood up, with the crowd at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino arena in Las Vegas and a national TV audience in shock. Mazzagatti was the referee in question. The controversy was where Mazzagatti was in position, sensed the seriousness of the situation, and should have stepped in, rather than Burkman letting go on his own volition with Fitch already out.

"Does anyone disagree with me that Mazzagatti's a f***ing toolbox?," asked White at a media scrum after the press conference in Winnipeg. "I mean, he literally did nothing. Fitch is out cold. And I saw some people talking s*** on the Internet today, like, well B.J. Penn held the choke for five more seconds (against Jens Pulver) and somebody else, I can't remember who it was. Those were rear naked chokes.

"Anyone who has ever done Jiu Jitsu, that thing (the guillotine) does f***ing damage," said White. "It hurts, and a guy is unconscious. You're squeezing his neck as hard as you can. You're a f***ing idiot that a rear naked choke is the same as that front choke. When he (Fitch) goes out, then he (Burkman) rolls him f***ing over, let's his head flop to the thing. He's standing over him before Mazzagatti gets in there.

"The Nevada State Athletic Commission will keep this guy around until he seriously hurts somebody," said White. "That guy is dangerous."

Keith Kizer, the Executive Director of the commission said that he's surprised this was a story, saying in this instance, he didn't even see it as a referee judgment call, good or bad.

Kizer compared the sudden choke out to a one punch knockout in boxing where the fighter lands the punch, knocks the guy out, the opponent stops on his own volition, and the ref sees the damage and waves it off.

Kizer said that he, other members of the commission, as well as World Series of Fighting officials, other fighters and television announcer Bas Rutten all thought when Burkman turned Fitch over, he was trying to switch to a new move. They were shocked to see that Fitch was unconscious on the ground.

"It as neither a positive or a negative on the referee," said Kizer. "All of us in the arena, and the commentators who know their stuff, were really shocked Jon was out. Steve was right there. He had to walk two steps. He walked two steps and waved off the fight. It was very easy for him, and every easy for Josh as well. It was a weird ending to the fight, but good for Josh."

"They'll make him referee the main event now," said White, talking about UFC's next show in Las Vegas, UFC 162, on July 6, headlined by Anderson Silva's title defense against Chris Weidman. "Now, because I said this, the Nevada State Athletic Commission will have him do the Silva fight."

Kizer said that when Dana White posted his views a web site forum, most people were disagreeing with White, and arguing the point.

"Bas Rutten, who was doing the live commentary at the moment Josh got the move, he said how Josh didn't have full guard. He gave the impression it (the guillotine) wasn't going to work. He then stood up, and there was awkward silence from Bas. He was shocked. Other fighters in the front row were shocked. When Josh started to stand up, he (Rutten) thought that he's not going to get him so he's going to transition to another move. Then he saw it and said,`Wow, Jon Fitch is out.'"

"The guy went out and Josh immediately released the hold," said Kizer. "What's weird is he flipped Fitch over, away from the ref. When Josh had the hold, he (Mazzagatti) was one step away. He had a perfect view. Josh flipped him away from the ref, then stood up. I would praise the referee if he did a good job. But here, there's nothing to talk about the ref. It wasn't a good job or a bad job. He had no job. I think most people thought Jon was going to get out. Bas and I both thought he was letting go of the hold and transitioning to another hold."

Kizer noted Fitch was fine after the fight, and considered this a weird one to criticize.

"The story should be about Josh getting an amazing win, doing the right thing, and releasing the hold," said Kizer. "This isn't about the ref."

White did not mention Kizer by name, and when Kizer's name was brought up, he would not comment on it, but did make reference to the ego of the commission in his complaint.

"It's not corrupt when you talk about the Nevada State Athletic Commission," White said. "It's complete and total ego. Because I keep complaining, they'll keep putting him (Mazzagatti) front and center. It's disgusting. At what point do you realize this guy an incompetent fool. I wonder what's going to happen if somebody gets seriously hurt in a Mazzagatti fight. They'll say, `Anything can happen, it's a combat sport.' This guy is dangerous."

Kizer said he believed White's issues stemmed with Mazzagatti dated back more than five years, when Mazzagatti ordered a stand-up in the first Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir fight when Lesnar was trying to finish Mir with punches, and a few hit Mir in the back of the head. Seconds later, after the restart, Mir submitted Lesnar.

"Brock meant a lot of money to them when he lost that fight from being stood up," Kizer said. "But there was definitely a foul, whether accidental or intentional, and then Brock got caught."

White said that UFC has sent the commission DVDs of Mazzagatti's work that they are complaining about.

"We continuously complain about this guy," he said. "If the Nevada State Athletic Commission wants to keep him as a ref, put him in the minor leagues and give him some more work and gets some more experience. He doesn't belong in the pros.

"All I can do now is talk," said White. "I don't know how many more times I can say it. I don't know how many more times he can look bad. It's f***ing crazy. You'll hear people say the Nevada State Athletic Commission is in Zuffa's pocket. Yeah, okay, if the Nevada State Athletic Commission gave a s*** about what we thought, Mazzagatti would have been gone a long time ago. The Nevada State Athletic Commission used to be the best in the country. It's not anymore."
Kizer said he's only talked to White a few times about Mazzagatti.

"He's usually praising him, including on season 15 of The Ultimate Fighter, he said to me that Steve's doing a great job and I told him I'll let Steve know," said Kizer. "That was the last time I talked to Dana about Steve."

"Dana's a good guy," said Kizer. "Very few people care about other people as much as Dana. But you've heard what he's said about former fighters, former employees, even fighters in his organization. Even Jon Jones. He likes to put people down, whether rightly or wrongly. It's an ego thing. We all have egos. I think it's wrong when people lie and you can make your own conclusions on Dana."

Fortunes changed for six at UFC 161

2013-06-16T22:00:05Z

As UFC 161 approached, there were a lot of comparisons made with UFC 149, which was probably the low point of UFC's 2012.

There were the obvious similarities. Both shows were the debuts in hot Canadian markets. UFC 149 was in Calgary. Saturday night's show was in Winnipeg. Both were markets where UFC has done strong pay-per-view numbers for years. In both cases, the pent up demand led to the show selling out the first weekend tickets were put on sale, even though neither show had what would be considered a big drawing main event.

And then, injuries started hitting. While UFC 161 wasn't snake-bit at the level of last year's show, the card did lose two of its three top matches. That meant four of the six fighters advertised in the top spots were gone.

Yet, there was a big difference and a lot of it was the reaction in the marketplace. In Calgary, there was a lot of media talk about whether the company should have offered refunds, and it led to ill will with the media and some segments of the public with talk of people attempting to unload their tickets. Then the show didn't deliver and the live crowd expressed their dissatisfaction. The end result is a market that did about $4 million live, one of UFC's best gates ever in a market of that size, is now one that seemed to be damaged badly.

In Winnipeg, the reaction was different. It appeared people were happy UFC was in town. It wasn't the original lineup, but they wanted to see the product. There was little in the way of negativity in the media as compared with Calgary.

When Yves Jabouin and Dustin Pague started going back-and-forth in an exciting opener, the crowd noise was almost Brazil-like. There were more than 11,000 of the 14,754 fans in their seats when the opener started, a far cry from the empty buildings UFC often sees for its firs few matches on its shows that often last six hours. And for most of the show, they had a lot to cheer about as Canadians took six of their seven fights.

In one sense, the show was the opposite of last week's show in Fortaleza, Brazil, which tied a record for submissions and had ten finishes in 12 fights. This had ten decisions in 12 fights, with one knockout (Shawn Jordan over Pat Barry) and one submission, (James Krause over Sam Stout), meaning no debates on who got two of the three performance bonuses. There were, however, a number of fights that could have been considered the best of the show, from Jabouin vs. Pague, Edwin Figueroa vs. Roland Delorme, Stout vs. Krause (which the UFC picked as the best) and Rosi Sexton vs. Alexis Davis. And a couple, most notably Jake Shields vs. Tyron Woodley and Ryan Jimmo vs. Igor Pokrajac, were fights that could have been crowd killers most nights.

The top two fights, a heavyweight battle with Stipe Miocic beating Roy Nelson and Rashad Evans beating Dan Henderson, both via decision, were somewhat compelling to watch, but perhaps not in the way most hoped.

Nelson and Henderson were the most popular fighters on the show, both known for their big right hands. And neither, in three round fights, were able to connect against much faster opponents. Nelson tired early but there was always the hope he would land the punch that would turn things around. With Henderson, the fight was a lot closer, with Henderson fading in a third round that looked to decide the fight.

Even before the injuries, this card appeared to have the least interest of UFC pay-per-view shows this year. But the show did have major repercussions on the careers of a number of fighters at career crossroads. We usually look at how Fortunes Changes for Five. For this show, we'll look at the six participants in three key matches, the top two fights on the pay-per-view show, and Shields vs. Woodley, a prelim fight matching top-level welterweights.

RASHAD EVANS - Evans (23-3-1), was faced with a must-win situation coming off lackluster performances in his title challenge to light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, followed by an upset loss to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. His split decision win puts him back into the game. A loss at this stage may have ended his career as a significant contender.

He physically transformed his body at 33, and used his quickness to stay out of trouble past a jab that floored him in the first round and an elbow in the second. While unable to take Henderson down, going zero for nine in takedowns, he was still the aggressor and controlled the action most of the way. It wasn't a win that left you thinking Evans would have anything new for Jones. It was a needed marked improvement coming off the Nogueira performance, that left many thinking Evans no longer had the fire or desire.

There are no shortage of potential opponents in a light heavyweight division filled with contenders, but none that are really standing out as the guy who people think can beat Jones.

After the win, Evans brought up the name Glover Teixeira. But he also could face the winner of Chael Sonnen vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua on Aug. 17, or Ryan Bader. If his knee recovers quickly enough, he could also face Gegard Mousasi. Those are all new matches that would be viable television main events or solid main card fights on pay-per-view.

As far as a title shot goes and with so many contenders, it's not likely to happen soon for Evans. The big question is what happens if Jones moves up to heavyweight, which he's talked about for years, and at one time said that after he beats the record for most consecutive defenses (which he would do if he beats Alexander Gustafsson in September), he'd move up. That would leave the division wide-open. With one more high-profile win, Evans would be back in play in what would be a deep field.

DAN HENDERSON - When a legendary fighter is 42, and loses his second in a row, the natural question becomes what is left to accomplish. For Henderson (29-10), he was competitive in losing split decisions against Lyoto Machida and Evans, two of the best in the division. He hasn't taken the kind of a brutal beating where one feels he needs to get out for his own safety. He took a number of direct shots from Evans and his chin, always a strong point, held up fine. But both speed and stamina are issues.

Henderson made it clear he's not even thinking retirement, wanting to fight toward the end of the year after taking the summer off. UFC President Dana White, who isn't shy about saying when name fighters should hang it up, made no such hints, noting he sees Henderson as still competitive with top guys. Henderson is a name fighter in much the vein right now of what Rich Franklin has been for years. He's not in line for a title run, but he's a popular veteran who can headline a show if the timing doesn't work out for any championship fights.

The problem is more economics. Henderson is a big money fighter. He signed a great contract with Strikeforce when he left UFC in 2009. As popular as he is, it's only rarely translated into being a significant drawing card. With the money he's making, he needs to be able to headline. But with one more loss, even if he's competitive in the fight with another top-ten talent, the ability to viably headline becomes an iffy proposition. In other words, Henderson badly needs a win next time out.

ROY NELSON - Coming into this fight with three straight knockouts, all in less than three minutes, Nelson was on the run of his career days before his 37th birthday.

But after several years in UFC, what we've found with Nelson (20-8) is that he can decimate mid-level heavyweights with one punch. And if it wasn't for living proof in a fight with Andrei Arlovski in 2008, you might think it is physically impossible to knock him out. But against the top fighters, like Junior Dos Santos and Fabricio Werdum, and even with Frank Mir and Miocic, he hasn't been quick enough to land the punch. While he can survive the distance with anyone, he does get tired out when someone can make him go a fast pace.

Even so, after the fight, he talked about how styles made fights and how he would beat Cain Velasquez if he got a shot. Nelson getting a title shot at some point was viable talk last week. It no longer is now.

Saturday's loss couldn't have come at a worse time. While Nelson has always had a degree of popularity, when he walked down the aisle in Winnipeg, it was the first time he came across like a bona fide superstar to the audience. With all the interchangeable guys who make up a 400-or-so man UFC roster, you want as many guys on the marquee where fans instantly know their name and want to see them fight.

But it wasn't a pretty loss, and in hindsight, it appears it was a tactical mistake on his part doing the company a favor in taking a fight so soon, because he wasn't sharp or in shape. A fight that had been talked about and promoted with Daniel Cormier, which was talked about for this show but Cormier wasn't medically cleared, now makes little sense for Cormier to take.

Nelson said that he wasn't himself, saying perhaps he couldn't peak himself twice in such a short period of time. He took the fight, in his words, to help save a card that was falling apart.

His contract expired with this fight, and the nature of the loss is going to make a difference in leverage. Both sides expressed interest in signing a new deal. UFC may feel they owe Nelson for the favor of taking this fight. The question becomes what Nelson feels he's worth. He is popular, is good to have on a show, but is also not a huge money generator if he's looking for a gigantic money. UFC had already offered to extend the current deal, which Nelson turned down.

He can headline a television card, but longevity becomes a factor at his age. He's looked slow when against the top level heavyweights, and he's not going to be adding any speed at this point of his life.

It becomes a question over whether both sides are in the same ballpark as to his worth. He is the type of fighter Bellator, thin on heavyweights and looking for unique characters with good name recognition, should want. So he could have some leverage, even corning off this performance.

STIPE MIOCIC - Miocic scored his biggest career win, upping his record to 10-1, losing only to Stefan Struve last September. Miocic showed enough boxing skill to keep Nelson from getting settled in. He showed respect for Nelson's power, but not fear of standing with him.

There are plenty of potential next opponents. Depending on how matchmaking goes, there is Cormier, winners of Alistair Overeem vs. Travis Browne (Aug. 17), and Mir vs. Josh Barnett (Aug. 31) as high profile guys. Miocic may get one of them if there's an odd-man out type of situation. If not, someone like Brendan Schaub or Shawn Jordan, because of his :59 knockout of Pat Barry, could be next in line. Miocic is probably going to need one more convincing win against a name guy before people see him at the level of the bigger names in the division.

JAKE SHIELDS - Given Shields' record and history, his win over Tyron Woodley Saturday should have got him back into the top mix.

In fact, it's something different. Not only did White and most of the audience think the fight was boring, but White openly said he thought Woodley won.

"First of all, it definitely was not fight of the night," said White. "I had Woodley winning two of those rounds easily, and I barely gave Jake the second round. It was a bad fight all-around and an even worse decision."

The win probably hurt Shields (28-6-1, 1 no contest) in the sense the boring fight may make the company reluctant to put him in a position that his record and history would warrant. Shields is 17-2, with 1 no contest (a fight he won over Ed Herman his last time out that was overturned by a drug test failure) since 2005. He's also a former Strikeforce middleweight champion and headlined one of the biggest shows in UFC history against Georges St-Pierre.

At 34, he could use an exciting performance in a win next. But he's in a tough spot. Because we've already seen the Jon Fitch example, an older fighter who the perception is doesn't have exciting fights, he may not be able to afford even one more loss.

TYRON WOODLEY - Ever since Woodley broke into the national scene in Strikeforce in 2009, he appeared to have championship potential. He was an All-American wrestler, quickly picked up submissions, and seemed to rapidly take to striking. He won his first ten fights, but did struggle against better caliber opponents, before being knocked out by Nate Marquardt in a bout for the vacant Strikeforce welterweight title.

But that loss was completely forgotten the way he steamrolled Jay Hieron in 36 seconds in his UFC debut on Feb. 2. Woodley was talked about as a contender, and in Shields, this appeared to be the match he needed to move into the top mix. Woodley's wrestling ability was such Shields couldn't take him down. And he figured to be the much better striker, so it was a match that stylistically seemed to benefit him.

But whatever you think of the decision, Woodley (11-2) had his momentum hurt badly by this loss. There are so many top welterweights that Woodley couldn't afford to stumble given his goals of getting a title match within a year. With Henderson and Nelson, they've already made their names. Between the boring fight and the result, it was a bad night for Woodley's stock.

WSOF 3 Results: Josh Burkman stuns Jon Fitch in 41 seconds

2013-06-15T06:04:08Z

There was probably no more controversial cut in UFC history than a few months back when Jon Fitch was given his walking papers with a 14-3-1 record, and a top 10 ranking in the welterweight division.

The controversy came to a head once again this week as Fitch was ready to make his first fight outside the UFC since he was an unknown back in 2005. UFC President Dana White had cited Fitch's 1-2-1 record in his prior four fights and his age, 35, as reasons. Fitch aired out a series of grievances during his time in UFC.

But Fitch (27-6-1, 1 no contest) ran into the wrong guy Saturday night in at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas to try and make the decision look bad. Josh Burkman (26-9) choked him completely unconscious with a guillotine in only 41 seconds.

As much as the result of the main event of the third show put on by the World Series of Fighting was shocking, the method was even more so. Fitch was thought to be impossible to choke out. In practice, he'd routinely give his back to the best Jiu Jitsu fighters he could find and nobody could ever finish him. From a statistical standpoint, nobody in the UFC had successfully defended as many submission attempts as Fitch without ever being finished once.

The only time he had ever been finished in his career by submission was in his first pro fight back in 2002 against Mike Pyle. In recent years, he had battled B.J. Penn, Georges St-Pierre, Demian Maia, Thiago Alves and others with strong submission ability and was never once in danger of being finished. He was only finished once in 18 UFC fights via knock out to Johny Hendricks.

"I got knocked off balance with a punch or elbow I think he caught me with," said Fitch. "I went for the lift instead of fighting the choke. I got a little too overconfident with my choke defense and I was going to try to slam him but he locked it in too tight, a mistake on my part. I should have fought the choke right away."

Fitch had beaten Burkman via choke in their previous meeting on April 6, 2006, at a UFC show in Las Vegas.

"I feel really good, I'm thinking, Is this real life?" said Burkman after his hand was raised.

Having beaten former UFC fighters Gerald Harris, Aaron Simpson and Fitch on the three WSOF shows thus far, the latter two with spectacular first-round stoppages, suddenly it has to be questioned whether Burkman isn't one of the most underrated fighters around. Burkman, who competed in the second season of Ultimate Fighter back in 2005, was bounced by UFC himself after three straight losses in 2008. Since then, the former junior college football All-American running back has gone 8-1, seemingly looking more impressive each time out.

"I really have a great team, great coaches, I really believe my performances are just a reflection of the way I'm living my life," said Burkman, whose wife's birthday is Saturday and he joked that it takes a brave man to fight the day before. "I didn't want to go for this choke, but I just felt it was tight. I just stood, up, felt it was really tight, and I locked it in when he grabbed that leg."

Both came out swinging immediately and Burkman knocked Fitch down with a left and right hook, and followed with punches on the ground before grabbing the guillotine. Fitch never tapped and ref Steve Mazzagatti didn't stop it. Fitch went out and Burkman recognized it, simply let go and stood up, with Fitch unconscious on the ground.

After the fight, Fitch noted that each had beaten the other with a choke, and campaigned for a rematch.

"I think we should do it again," he said. "Let's do it for five (rounds) and let's do it for that belt (a proposed WSOF championship)."

During the television broadcast on NBC Sports, they pushed a fourth show for Aug. 10 in Ontario, CA, with WSOF President, 42-year-old Ray Sefo (2-1) announcing that he would be fighting 39-year-old Dave Huckaba (20-5). Sefo is a legend in kickboxing where he was one of the most popular fighters of the K-1 heyday in Japan.

"I want to compete in 100 fights," said Sefo. "I've got 93. I want to reach 100 and then call it quits."

Nick Newell (9-0), who became one of the best known small promotion fighters in the country because he has gone unbeaten while competing with the handicap of being born with a left arm that ends just past the elbow joint, debuts with WSOF on the same show.

The semifinal was nearly as quick as the main event as Steve Carl (20-3) stopped Tyson Steele (10-2) in just 1:32 with a choke. Carl landed punches, but was taken down. But as soon as the fight hit the ground, Carl reversed, got Steele's back, and choked him out.

"I feel pretty good, but at the same time, I wanted to come out here and wanted to put on a better show for the fans," said Carl. "I wanted to put on a good fight and get some cage time. I wanted to mix it up a little more with Steele. You could tell he wasn't too comfortable on his feet with me. He dove in with that shot, He got out of position. It was too easy and I just took it.

Former UFC fighter and three-time Division I All-Amercan wrestler Jacob Volkmann (16-4) won a convincing decision over former Strikeforce fighter Lyle "Fancy Pants" Beerbohm (21-3) on scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28.
Beerbohm spent most of the fight trying, with little success, to take down the higher caliber wrestler. He paid for it during the first round, where Volkmann sprawled and maneuvered behind Beerbohm.

After a dull second round that consisted largely of Beerbohm pushing Volkmann in to the cage and doing little else, Volkmann clinched the fight in the third round. Volkmann this time did the shooting, and got Beerbohm's back. He locked on a body triangle and kept back position for the rest of the round, although was unable to finish.

Lightweight prospect Justin Gaethje (9-0), coming off a win over J.Z. Cavalcante, survived a first round beating to come back and finish Brian Cobb (23-8) in round three.

Cobb got behind Gaethje in the first round and pounded on him with punches and elbows, having Gaethje in trouble on several occasions But Gaethje controlled the rest of the fight, with his most significant blows being low kicks. At 2:19 of the third round, Cobb signaled he wanted no more as he was barely able to stand from all the leg damage.

Jones vs. Gustafsson will be UFC 165 main event

2013-06-13T21:10:15Z

Jon Jones goes for his record setting sixth light heavyweight title defense when he faces Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 165 on Sept. 21 in Toronto at the Air Canada Centre in a fight confirmed Thursday by UFC President Dana White in his pre-fight media scrum at UFC 161.

It will mark Jones' third main event at the Air Canada Centre, having retained his title over Lyoto Machida at UFC 140, and over Vitor Belfort at UFC 152.

Jones (18-1), currently is tied with Tito Ortiz in UFC records with five successful title defenses. Ortiz failed in his sixth defense, against Randy Couture, in 2003. Jones had expressed interest in the fight for some time, wanting to shut up critics who claimed he had been winning his fights because of being bigger than his opponents.

Gustafsson (15-1), is listed as being 6-foot-5, an inch taller than Jones. But Jones still would have a reach advantage, at a UFC record 84.5 inches compared to Gustafsson 76.5 inches.

Gustafsson has won six fights in a row after his only career loss coming via submission to Phil Davis on April 10, 2010, in Abu Dhabi at UFC 112. He won his last two fights with pretty obvious decisions, beating Thiago Silva in his home city of Stockholm, Sweden, on April 14, 2012, followed by a win over Mauricio "Shogun" Rua on FOX on Dec. 8 from Seattle.

Jones, coming off suffering a dislocated toe in his April 27 first round TKO win over Chael Sonnen on April 27, in Newark, N.J., had hinted of a new fight on Twitter earlier this week, saying he was waiting for White to announce it.
The announcement would eliminate any chance of a fall meeting of Jones vs. Anderson Silva.

California putting temporary hold on approving TRT exemptions

2013-06-13T20:00:02Z

For a relatively short period of time, the California State Athletic Commission is not going to be approving of any therapeutic use exemptions for testosterone, or as it's often called, TRT (testosterone replacement therapy).

According to Andy Foster, the Executive Director of the commission, the issue is not banning TRT usage in the state at all, but simply waiting for the approval of a policy on the issue already written by commission members Dr. Van Buren Lemons and Martha Shen Urquidez.

"The policy is pretty much done," he said.

As far as when the policy will be enacted, it could be anywhere from two months to one year. "It depends on whether we can get a 60 day emergency rule put into place," said Foster. "If not, it could take 90 days, or perhaps almost a year."

At this point, this may have no effect on UFC, which has no announced events scheduled in the state at this time. Bellator has two dates scheduled, one in September and another in November.

At the commission's Monday hearing, Department of Consumer Affairs lawyer Michael Santiago argued that until the regulation is approved and on the books, the commission shouldn't be approving fighters to be allowed to use a banned substance (testosterone) without a policy in writing.

In theory, once someone goes on TRT it shuts down their own production of testosterone. That could create the need for it for the rest of their life, thus becoming a touchy situation. Foster said that athletes who have been approved for TRT in the state will be grandfathered in as long as their current license is active if they are to fight during the time frame before the new regulations are in place. He also said the number of fighters who fall into this category is tiny.

The belief is that California has approved less than five exemptions for MMA fighters, although Foster would not state a number. "We really don't have that many," he said. "We been getting a big increase in applications. We mostly turn them down. We've been getting a lot of calls about it."

"The commission's concern is we were starting to see an increase in these types of applications," said Foster. "We can't disclose who is asking, but I think it's important we develop a policy so that everyone understands what's required."

Many have complained use of artificial testosterone, which has an anabolic effect, is a performance enhancer. Those in favor will argue it just takes athletes who have a medical issue that would make them lethargic and decrease their athletic performance and simply gets them back to normal. Those on TRT have to be regularly tested and come in at what would be normal levels of testosterone for a natural athlete.

UFC President Dana White has suggested at points that if a fighter needs such therapy because their body is producing low levels of testosterone, maybe they should consider retiring. Still, UFC when it regulates itself outside the U.S., has approved of usage for a number of fighters, although White has said they will be tested heavily over the weeks leading to the fight to make sure they aren't spiking levels high to get to performance enhancing levels while in training camp.
But it's not that simple. There is the ethical question regarding how to handle athletes who have low testosterone because they've lowered their bodies ability to produce the hormone because of prior use of anabolic steroids. The new California policy specifically excludes fighters who have used steroids to damage their systems from being approved, but it's impossible to tell with certainty what the cause is of the problems.

Many fighters who don't use steroids have complained it allows people to cheat when they are young, and then after they've damaged themselves, continue cheating. There is also the question of allowing athletes who previously used steroids and built up power, speed and muscle mass on the drug, if it allows them to regain much of those increases that they never would have obtained naturally. And there is also the question as to using TRT and stacking it with Human Growth Hormone (HGH), a banned substance that is not tested for in MMA because current testing procedures are primitive and expensive, creates a situation that increases gains of the HGH alone.

Foster, who admitted not being an expert on the subject, said he turned it over to Dr. Lemons and commissioner Urquidez to produce the policy.

"The main thing I got from it, is that it has to be if you're going to be allowed to take this stuff, it has to be that your body can't produce testosterone anymore," he said. "A lot of these guys can produce some, just not enough."

New Rule 303.1, covering TUEs, states that five criteria must be met for approval.

1) The licensee would experience a significant impairment to their health without the treatment
2) The TUE would produce no performance enhancement past the point of someone with normal health
3) Either other treatment for the problem has been tried or no reasonable alternative exists
4) The necessity for use is not a consequence of prior non-therapeutic use of any illegal substance
5) The condition is not so severe that with the substance, the participant is not put at a higher level of risk of injury from participating in a combat sport with the use of the substance.

For approval, it requires a number of tests, including those showing lower than healthy levels of testosterone and an exam from an endocrinologist. The athlete must also submit a number of tests for a six-month period prior to a fight showing a blood serum testosterone level under 1,100 ng/dL, which is the high end of normal range. Two tests above that range within a six-month period of competition will result in the fighter being removed from competition, although they will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

In UFC history, Nate Marquardt is believed to be the only fighter disqualified from a fight because his levels were shown in pre-fight testing to be above allowable limits. He was fired by UFC at the time, although he is now back in the organization, and claims to no longer be using TRT.

What has made the therapy controversial is the success of some of the fighters who have been revealed to be approved for TRT in other jurisdictions. Vitor Belfort is the most controversial because he has a failed steroid test in his past. He has been on a tear of late at 36 years old, and is arguably next in line for a shot at the middleweight title, with consecutive knockouts of Michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold.

Dan Henderson, who has been on the therapy dating back to at least early 2007, headlines Saturday's UFC 161, at the age of 42. Henderson has produced a number of tests showing, even with therapy, a lower than average blood serum testosterone level. However, critics will note that since he was approved in Nevada, Henderson has five knockouts in his last 11 fights, after the age of 36, battling top level competition in every fight during that period. Prior to that time, he had seven knockouts in 26 fights against a generally lower level of competition.

Ratings report: UFC on FUEL TV 10 event delivers for station

2013-06-12T00:21:43Z

Even though Saturday's UFC show was dominated by Brazilians, who took up nine of the 12 main card positions and all six in the top three matches, the lack of familiar American stars hardly hurt the ratings.

The show, from Fortaleza, Brazil, headlined by Fabricio Werdum's submission win over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira,. did 313,000 viewers on Fuel in the 8 p.m. to 11:20 p.m. time slot.

The show was notable for quick endings, mostly via submission. This gave Fuel the time to air not only the advertised six live fights, but also replay four undercard fights and made for a fast-paced and entertaining show in front of an enthusiastic crowd.

Of the 10 televised bouts, six ended in the first round and the other four in the second round. Eight of those wins were by submission, tying UFC 2 back in 1994 for the most wins via actual submission maneuvers in company history.

That made it the second-most viewers for any show in the station's history, trailing only the March 2 UFC event from the Saitama Super Arena, just outside of Tokyo, Japan, which had the Brian Stann vs. Wanderlei Silva brawl, and did 485,000 viewers, blowing away anything Fuel had ever done.

The previous second most-watched show was the prelims to a Jan. 19 main card on FX show, from Sao Paulo, Brazil, which did 255,000 viewers. UFC's previous event geared specifically for Fuel, the April 6 show from Stockholm, Sweden, headlined by Gegard Mousasi vs. Ilar Latifi, did 236,000 viewers in an afternoon time slot.

Bellator's new time slot in fall will be Friday nights

2013-06-11T18:39:28Z

Bellator has confirmed that it will be moving to Friday nights for live shows in the fall.

The promotion will run its second season on Spike in the 9-11 p.m. time slot starting on Sept. 13, moving from Thursday, to avoid the National Football League games on the NFL Network, according to Spike TV President Kevin Kay in a story at SportsIllustrated.com, which first broke the story about the new time slot. A Bellator source confirmed the story to MMAFighting.com.

The night is notable because Bellator had run on Friday nights on MTV 2 throughout 2012, and ratings were down 18 percent from its 2011 numbers, on Saturdays. The promotion moved off of Saturday because of frequent competition from UFC events, as well as major boxing shows, but the Friday numbers without a similar level of competition were still considerably lower.

Friday night has not been kind to MMA, with Ultimate Fighter in 2012 also doing record low numbers, causing the show to move to Tuesdays where numbers increased significantly. The lows weren't because of the shows competing with each other, as Bellator ran from 8-10 p.m. and Ultimate Fighter from 10-11 p.m., although there was some bleed-over since Bellator main events frequently ran past 10 p.m.

Kay said in the SI story the results of what happened on MTV 2 were not an indicator of what would happen on Spike, given Spike is a much higher rated channel, with a higher profile and reaches more homes.

But it's going to be tough, because Bellator is also moving away from its pro wrestling lead-in that it had on Thursday.

Spike's previous history, when it ran UFC and TNA together on Thursdays several years back, was that football hurt UFC numbers more than wrestling numbers, which is why Ultimate Fighter moved to Wednesdays while wrestling, which will feature Bellator fighter Quinton "Rampage" Jackson as a regular character, has remained on Thursdays against the NFL in the fall .

There was no easy answer for where to move Bellator once the decision was made to avoid the NFL. For the fall, that would eliminate Sunday, Monday and Thursday. Saturday would buck college football, several UFC shows and boxing. Spike has its own Tuesday night block of original programming they didn't want to break up.

So this left either Wednesday or Friday, and with UFC running Ultimate Fighter every Wednesday in the fall on Fox Sports 1, as well as several live events, this led to the move to Friday.

Bellator starts its Fight Master reality show, on Wednesdays, on June 19, but it will end before UFC starts its major Wednesday push with live shows on Aug. 28 and Sept. 4.

There will be a special live event on a Saturday, Sept. 7, a night that UFC has no event, which will be the Fight Master final which and a live show that kicks off the fall season before the move to Friday.

Rampage Jackson reveals breaking point with Dana White, UFC

2013-06-10T20:12:54Z

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson made millions in his six-plus years in the UFC, but it appears his breaking point wasn't over money, but over Dana White being critical about him to reporters when he failed to make weight for his UFC 144 fight with Ryan Bader.

"He talked s*** about me not making weight," said Jackson on the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani on Monday. "That's when I decided I was going to leave the UFC."

Jackson had over the next year insisted that when his contract was up, after his next fight (which ended up on Jan 26 in Chicago, a loss to Glover Teixeira), he was gone. He said that he didn't even consider the offer UFC made to sign him to a new deal, even though at the time, he had no idea the Bellator/Spike/TNA offer was coming.

"I knew I wasn't happy with UFC," he said. "I haven't been happy for a long time. I did a lot of smart investments, saved my money up, worked on rehabbing my knees. I knew I was going to get out of there. I knew I was going to bounce."

The one thing he seemed the most unhappy about was the UFC's change when it came to allowing sponsors, a subject other fighters have brought up as well. Unlike in the past when fighters were relatively free to get whatever sponsors they could, with some minor restrictions, now sponsors have to pay UFC a significant amount of money for the right to then sponsor fighters. Fighters have complained that it leaves less money in the sponsors' budgets to go to the fighters, and takes smaller companies that can't afford the so-called sponsor tax, out of the game.

"I'm in a lot better place," he said. "It's hard to explain. When you're sweating tears and they won't let you have sponsors, they tax the sponsors, you want to make a movie, "The A-Team," a lot of people were up for that role, I felt like I was trying to further my career. You can't fight forever. I took a lot of heat for that. The UFC didn't see the big picture. Bellator said, 'We'll get you movies. We'll get you sponsors. It's better for the brand and it's better for the sport."'

Still, Jackson had mixed emotions in hindsight about his decision to take "The A-Team" gig in late 2009, noting that UFC had scheduled a show in his home city of Memphis that was originally planned for his fight with Rashad Evans coming off the highest rated season ever of The Ultimate Fighter. He pulled out of the show when he got the B.A. Baracus role that Mr. T made iconic, in the movie. While UFC ran a successful event, UFC 107, headlined by B.J. Penn defending the lightweight title against Diego Sanchez, having Jackson headline would have made the Memphis debut significantly bigger.

Jackson noted that he doesn't think Dana White misses him not being in the company, even though Jackson, even after three straight losses, was still one of the bigger stars and most recognizable fighters on the roster.

"I doubt he'll miss me at all," said Jackson. "I think I was a thorn in UFC's side for awhile. I did everything to fix the relationship. I was wrong doing The A-Team movie and pulling out of the show in Memphis. I know I messed up for doing that. That's why I didn't pull out of that fight in Japan (February 26, 2012, against Ryan Bader) when I was injured. I thought I could beat Bader even with an injury."

While he doesn't have any exact timetable regarding when he's going to fight, other than it'll be before the end of this year, or when he's going to do pro wrestling, he's got a number of other things going on. He revealed he's looking at opening a bar. He's trying to pitch an MMA movie to Paramount, which he's written with a role he can star in. He's working on writing a second movie. And he has a reality show coming soon to Spike that was talked about last week when the deal was announced.

"If I do a reality show, it'll have to be a real reality show," he said. "I can't do a scripted reality show."

He noted that there may be things he'd do during a day for the reality show that he may not have done on those days, but he doesn't want anyone telling him what to do or say. While he wouldn't give a time frame on the show, which hasn't started filming yet. Spike had indicated the show would air in the weeks leading to his first fight.

"It'll promote my fights, but it's not like The Ultimate Fighter," he said. "We will have some training I'm sure, but a lot of other stuff. I'm not only a fighter. I have to train to be a pro wrestler, so it will have me learning how to hit the ropes and take the falls. My life is really like a reality show, you guys just don't know it."

As far as MMA goes, Jackson noted he's not in fight training, but has been in Mexico to get away from the Southern California scene, and some of his friends, who he called party animals. Instead, he's taken a few training partners across the border to sharpen up.

"I got me a place in Mexico, it's a two-hour drive, there's a nice MMA gym and a nice weight gym. Me and a couple of teammates, we go there and have a good time. I'm working on getting my Muay Thai back up to par, and wrestling and Jiu Jitsu and stuff."

Bellator has been a tournament style promotion. One of the big questions regarding where Jackson fits into that format. With all the mileage on his body and turning 35 in less than two weeks, the idea of fighting three times in three months as Bellator has done for most of its previous tournaments, doesn't seem like a good fit. Jackson seemed to think the same way, but hasn't closed to mind to a tournament.

"I don't know, I'm not looking forward to tournaments," he said when asked. "I don't think I'm doing tournaments. But I'm a team player. If they think having me do a tournament will help with ratings, I'll do a tournament."

While Jackson a few years back had talked about retiring at 35, he's now looking at going another two or three years.

"I wasn't happy with UFC. I was trying to hustle and do movies. UFC took the love of MMA out me. There's a lot I can't talk about because I signed a nondisclosure, but they took the love of MMA out of me."

Obviously a big part of the Jackson signing is an attempt to take one of UFC's better known stars, who has drawn big television ratings and a few monster pay-per-views, with the idea that he can get some of the much larger UFC fan base to check out Bellator.

When Helwani noted that there are a lot of fans who only will watch UFC, Jackson didn't disagree.

"I'm not going to convert those fans," he said. "If they're negative fans, or they're UFC sheep, they don't know the world of MMA."

Jackson's visibility on Spike TV has already started, with his appearance on TNA Impact wrestling on Thursday in Duluth, Ga. The promotion taped two television shows that night, the first, which aired on a two-hour tape delay, was him have an in-ring confrontation with 1996 Olympic freestyle wrestling gold medalist Kurt Angle.

The segment seemed to create some buzz within wrestling and was generally reviewed positively. It's far too early to see if Jackson's UFC popularity will bring in either MMA fans, or just people curious, to the wrestling company.
His second appearance, which airs this coming Thursday, opens up more questions as far as where his role is going, as he ended up saving Angle, who appeared to be his nemesis, from an attack late in the show.

Jackson grew up a wrestling fan in Memphis, where Saturday morning wrestling on the NBC affiliate with local superstar Jerry Lawler and iconic announcer Lance Russell, was almost a cultural institution, for years the most popular locally produced television show in the market. He's talked about going to the matches on Monday nights at the Mid-South Coliseum. But wrestling has changed greatly from the 80s, and he hasn't watched it in years and is just starting to catch up.

"I don't know a lot about that world," he said. "I used to watch that as a kid before I got into MMA. That's why I used to do all those slams before I got addicted to knocking people out. I haven't watched it in a couple of years. From what I heard, the fans liked it (his first segment with Angle). Now I have to get used to people telling me what to do. TNA is kind of crazy. They tell me to do an interview, Kurt Angle interrupted my interview. I didn't know:"

While the idea Jackson wasn't aware Angle was coming out to confront him is difficult to take seriously, it is likely true that nobody exactly knows where his role is going because they don't know his learning curve, how fans will react long-term, or anything else.

But Jackson did get a chance to meet a childhood hero in Hulk Hogan, who at 59, is still the face of that organization.

He said he didn't act like a fan boy to Hogan, because of his own experience meeting fans.

"If a fan is cool, I'm cool with him," he said. "A fan could turn into a friend. But some people act super weird, and they make it uncomfortable for you. All you want to do is get out of there. What I learned from that experience is to be yourself. . . Hogan's cool, he gave me a few pointers backstage. I didn't act like a fan, but I was star struck."

Like with fighting, there's no real timetable on his pro wrestling. What he has said is you won't be seeing him doing some of the high flying moves that a lot of pro wrestlers do.

"I'm sure I'll beat up my body, it's the same thing people told me about MMA," he said. "I don't plan on being one of those pro wrestlers doing all that crazy stuff. I'm coming into the game with a few injuries. I'm just looking to entertain everybody. I am different from other stuff. I can't do all that high flying."

As far as when and what he's doing next, he said they haven't told him.

"Everything is brand new, they haven't told me anything," he said. "They don't know. They think I might learn it faster because I grew up watching it and pretending to be a pro wrestler as a kid, watching it for 17 years. Maybe I'll get it faster than others, or maybe not."

While some of fighters, most notably Bellator's former top star, Eddie Alvarez, have negative things to say about Bellator, Jackson said that to him, of all the promoters he's worked for in a 13-and-a-half year career, he said that only Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney, and Terry Trebilcock, who ran King of the Cage when Jackson was starting his career, "get it."

"Bjorn said, 'Look, what kind of sponsors do you want me to go after,' He's already asking questions like that. UFC never did that."

"I'm confident, but who knows," he said regarding the negative issues fighters have had with Bellator. "There's two sides to every story. I can just tell you from my experience. I can only tell you how they treat me, not how they treat others. There are two sides."