As stated yesterday, Tito Ortiz made comments stating he would give the UFC another chance should Dana White apologize for the things he has done to him. Well, Dana responded at the conference call and shockingly he’s not playing into Tito’s hand:

“Tito is a f—ing idiot,” White said. “He’s one of the dumbest human beings I’ve ever met. Everything that comes out of his mouth makes no sense.”

White added that he doesn’t think UFC needs Ortiz because he doesn’t think Ortiz can beat any of UFC’s top fighters.

“I put up with his s— when he was a good fighter,” White said. “He’s not anymore.”

“He’s not in anybody’s Top 10,” White said. “I have no interest whatsoever in being in the Tito Ortiz business. … I’ve never wanted to see anyone get their ass kicked worse than I want to see Tito get his kicked next Saturday night.”

As always the problem with White is he’s never clear on his feelings….

While he’s not in many top tens, he’s still ranked at #10 over MMAWeekly, which atleast for a long period of time were considered the best rankings in the sport.

This is one of those rare feuds where a majority of people don’t even care to take a side. Few would side with Ortiz as few of us would put up with someone publicly insulting us time and time again and no doubt complaining about money and holding out on contracts. On the other hand few would side with White who never takes the high road, frequently says questionable and unfounded things, and even had a Spike TV special which was basically a 90-minute infomercial about how his most marketable star was a coward.

Sure, maybe a marketable star and a top promotion are the best fit for one another. But maybe a top marketable star against a top promotion would actually be more entertaining. While White is probably correct that Ortiz is no longer a world champion candidate, he is still arguably the #1 MMA star in the country with his UFC name and his Celebrity Apprentice appearance.

Doesn’t Ortiz deserve the big money of being the top name? Doesn’t the UFC deserve the right to not pay someone ridiculous money when they can’t beat a top star in a big time main event? Does the UFC owe Ortiz for helping to keep them afloat and being their name? Does Ortiz owe the UFC for making him a star?

Welcome to a rare situation where no one is right and no one is wrong.

During a Thursday conference call to promote EliteXC’s first-ever “Saturday Night Fights” card on CBS on May 31, EliteXC Live Events President Gary Shaw was asked to address a report by the web site MediaTakeOut.com that claimed Mike Tyson has “tentatively” agreed to fight Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson.

The report, which cited an anonymous “insider at the company,” claims that a Slice vs. Tyson fight could happen towards the latter part of the year or early next year.

Shaw denied the report when asked to comment on its validity and stated that he has had no discussions with the former heavyweight champion. However, he added that he would make the matchup between Slice and Tyson “in a heartbeat.”

During another question, Shaw was asked if there was any possibility Slice fighting another boxer, Eric “Butterbean” Esch. Esch has been candid in recent interviews that he would like a fight vs. Slice, however, Shaw was bearish about any such potential matchup.

Josh Gross at SI.com has an update on what’s going on with Andrei Arlovski and it looks like we’ll know the status of Arlovski at least by the end of the month:

May 19 is the day when Andrei Arlovski could sign with Affliction, SI.com has learned. That is, assuming the UFC declines to match what is believed to be a deal that pays the former UFC champion in the low-to-mid six figures for the first of three non-exclusive bouts.

A representative from Arlovski’s camp explained there was “nothing to report,” though continued on to say negotiations with the UFC were ongoing.

Should Arlovski and Affliction complete their deal, the Belarusian is expected to appear at next Tuesday’s press conference at the in Century City, Calif., to announce a fight against former International Fight League heavyweight champion Ben Rothwell.

Now we know why Dana White sounded glum about the whole Arlovski deal. I doubt that he can compete with what Affliction’s offering him if this is all true. Non-exclusive bouts are the key here. Dana wants Arlovski in the UFC and the UFC only. Affliction is giving him the opportunity to fight three fights wherever he feels the best situation for him is.

In other Affliction-related news, Gross also hints that the involvement of George Greenberg, a Fox Sports executive, could mean that the Affliction undercard might be shown on television:

Greenberg’s presence at the press conference suggests there is something to rumors that the undercard of the July 19 Affliction event would be broadcast live on FSN. Asked to confirm why Greenberg was attending the announcement, Affliction declined to comment.

After getting kicked off of this season’s TUF 7 series due to a case of “mat herpes,” not much has been said about middleweight prospect Paul Bradley. He was signed to the EliteXC promotion before this season of TUF even aired and has been rumored to possibly be participating on the June 14th EliteXC card in Hawaii.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com has learned from sources close to Bradley that this is not the case and that he will not be competing on June 14th show. It’s possible that he may be booked for an EliteXC promoted card on June 27th but nothing has been finalized as of yet.

Bradley was a two-time All American wrestler at Iowa and is currently 6-0 in his mixed martial arts career with his most recent victory coming in March over D.J. Watkins.

5 Oz. of Pain would like to congratulate our first and only sponsored grappler, Jared Weiner (pictured third to the right).

Jared traveled down to Rio de Janiero last week to compete in the Brazilian National Tournament. Competing in the stacked Master’s Division, he took an impressive third place.

Jared is the first person ever to be promoted to black belt by Lloyd Irvin. He is also the owner and head instructor of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu United in Jenkintown, PA. My whole family trains at the school and if you’re in the tri-state area and are looking for a good school, I personally recommend it. This endorsement is coming from a tuition student, not someone looking for free lessons. If you don’t want to take my word for it, just do some research within the grappling community and ask about Jared Weiner.

This is a busy month for BJJ United, as Wilson Reis, another black belt instructor at the school, will be competing on the undercard of EliteXC’s first CBS show on May 31 in Newark, N.J. at the Prudential Center. Reis will be taking on Justin Robbins in a 140 pound fight.

Kenny Florian recently spoke with MMA Weekly and talked about a new show on ESPN.com called “MMA Live” that he will be hosting along with ESPN’s John Anik and Newark Star-Ledger reporter Franklin McNeil. Here’s some of what Florian had to say about the show:

“(It’s) kind of a fast-paced show on the current news and events going on in the sport. There’s a whole lot of guys at ESPN that have been trying to get this done I guess for two years,” said Florian in an exclusive interview with MMAWeekly.com.

“Basically, I was contacted by ESPN about two weeks before my fight against (Joe) Lauzon, and there was some interest. They finally got the okay to do an MMA show, and they were interested in using me for this show,” Florian said.

Florian has done extremely well in his two stints on the UFC broadcasts and is a perfect fit for this position. He also goes on to say that if the show is well received that it may end up on television. That would be a step in the right direction to get some kind of MMA programming on ESPN, something the MMA community has been speculating about for a long time.

The show debuts tonight on ESPN.com at 7 p.m. ET.

There seems to be a growing backlash towards the current season of “The Ultimate Fighter.” In seasons past, it made a lot of sense to me but it doesn’t make much sense to me now.

I can find little fault with the episodes from the past two weeks. What hardcore fans are getting is exactly what they wanted: more fighting, less drama. Between this week and last, we’ve been able to watch four total fights. The focus of each show was built almost exclusively around the actual fights.

Quick question: when is is the last time we’ve even gotten to see the “TUF mansion?” The “TUF mansion” has been de-emphasized so much the past few weeks that I’m beginning to wonder if this year’s TUF cast is living at the gym and sleeping under the cage.

Have the fights been the best? Well, yes and no. I really, really enjoyed the Gerald Harris vs. Amir Sadollah fight. It was fluid, had a lot of action, and contained a surprise ending. While Cale Yarbrough vs. Patrick Schultz was a little sloppy, it wasn’t a bad fight and it beats the heck out of contrived drama.

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At the beginning of the episode, Rampage is clearly happy to have control and wants to milk it for all it’s worth leading into the fight announcement. Since this episode will contain two fights, we head right into the first fight announcement. Team Rampage selects former IFL fighter Gerald Harris to face off against Team Forrest’s kickboxing specialist, Amir Sadollah.

Rampage thinks the fight favors Gerald because he’s a good wrestler who likes to slam people on their heads while Amir is a lot less experienced and is mainly a standup fighter. Gerald explains in several interviews how much he likes slamming people on their hands, smiling all the while.

At a Team Forrest training session there are questions regarding Amir’s confidence going into the fight. He’s not as experienced as Harris and he doesn’t like the idea of fighting a wrestler who can nullify his standup game. Forrest makes a side bet with Amir that if he loses, Forrest will shave his head. If he wins, Forrest will shave half of his head and leave it that way for the remainder of the show.

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FiveOuncesOfPain.com has learned through sources close to Joe McCall that he will be unable to compete on the May 31 EliteXC undercard due to unforeseen family obligations.

As we reported yesterday, McCall, who is 4-0 in his fighting career, was scheduled to fight former NFL All-Pro offensive lineman and six-time NCAA wrestling champion Carlton Haselrig, who is 1-0 in his mixed martial arts career.

Former Giants fullback Jarrod Bunch and former IFL heavyweight Bryan Vetell had previously been approached as opponents for Haselrig but the camps were unable to come to an agreement with EliteXC due to financial concerns.

No replacement for McCall has yet been finalized.

Affliction Clothing issued a press release on Wednesday afternoon to formally announce its first-ever mixed martial arts promotion, titled “Affliction Banned,” on July 19 in Anaheim, Calif. at the Honda Center.

Affliction Banned” will be co-promoted with M-1 and Roy Englebrecht Events and will be available on pay-per-view for a suggested retail price of $39.95. Tickets for the event will go on-sale through Ticketmaster on Tuesday, May 20.

Event organizers have also announced a two-city media tour to take place next week. On Tuesday, May 20, Affliction will be holding a press conference in the Los Angeles area at the Westfield Mall in Century City at 12:30 p.m. PT. Then, on Thursday, May 22, Affliction will venture to New York to hold a second press conference in downtown Manhattan at the Trump Tower at 10:30 a.m. ET. Both events will be open to the public.

Several matches were formally announced in the release for the July 19 inaugural show, including the night’s main event between former PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko and former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia.

Other matches signed for the show include a heavyweight bout between former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett and former Art of War heavyweight champion Pedro Rizzo; a light heavyweight bout featuring Renato “Babalu” Sobral taking on Mike Whitehead and former Olympic silver medalist Matt Lindland against Fabio “Negao” Nascimento.

Ben Rothwell has also been announced for the televised portion of the card against an opponent to be determined.

Buried at the bottom of Kevin Iole’s mailbag this week is a quote from Dana White in regards to Andrei Arlovski and the UFC’s intent to ink him to another deal:

“It’s funny you should ask me that. We were just talking about Arlovski. We want to sign him. It’s our intention to sign him. But I don’t know. We’re, well, I don’t know. We want to. Whether we will or not, I have no idea. We like Andrei and I know the fans like Andrei. I hope we can do something.”

For someone like White, who is usually as confident as they come, to sound so unsure about Arlovski’s situation could be a telltale sign that negotiations between Arlovski and the UFC are not going well. That’s just my opinion, but this isn’t your usual “We’re going to get all the talent in the world” statement from Dana White. He sounds very diffident regarding the whole situation.

Ariel Helwani at MMARated.com recently conducted an interview with Tito Ortiz where Ortiz gives some indication that he could possibly re-sign with the UFC. But of course, Tito has certain demands that need to be met before that could happen:

“You know what it really comes down to is just (UFC president) Dana White. If he learns to shut his mouth and learns to respect me there is a possibility yet. (He needs to) give a public apology for the things that he has done. That is just what it really comes down to, but I want to go with a company that is going to respect me and see me as the champion I am and the ambassador that I am of the sport and not really downplay me or disrespect me on television or anything else.”

As has been said before, both parties actually need each other because the UFC is the biggest platform in all of MMA and Tito Ortiz is one of the biggest stars in MMA. There’s plenty of money to be made so why not make it together? But I think we’re past that. I don’t think you’ll see Dana White make a public apology to Tito due to what he’s said about him in the past. That’s genuinely the way that White feels about Ortiz and if there’s one thing we know about him it’s that he doesn’t hold back his opinions. Is there a chance that the two sides come to an agreement? Yes. Is it an extremely small chance? You betcha.

View draft results HERE

With only four rounds remaining, the pressure is on our fantasy drafters to make every pick count and finish out their rosters. With round 19 in the books, you can take a look and see where each “promoter” is heading.

In case you’re new to the site , you can re-live the glory of the previous rounds.

• Click here for rounds 1 & 2
• click here for round 3
• click here for round 4
• click here for rounds 5 & 6
• click here for round 7
• click here for round 8
• click here for round 9
• click here for round 10
• click here for round 11
• click here for round 12
• click here for round 13
• click here for round 14
• click here for round 15
• click here for round 16
• click here for round 17
• click here for round 18
  

To make a long story short, this is not a pound-for-pound top fighter list. What we’re doing is essentially pretending that every fighter in the world is suddenly declared a free agent with six new organizations selecting talent through a draft format.The idea is to see how six different fans would construct their organization and which fighters they would select to help them execute their vision. Much like real world MMA, every promoter has their different philosophy with each organization establishing its own identity.

The results to round nineteen are available below.

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Sad news from MMA Weekly regarding one of the best PAC-10 wrestling programs in the country which has recently produced a number of up and coming prospects in the world of mixed martial arts, including TUF 7 contestant C.B. Dollaway and current UFC heavyweight Cain Velasquez:

In its official statement on Tuesday, the university sited “economic realities experienced over a long period of time” as the primary reason for shutting down the wrestling program.

According to ASU’s Vice President of University Athletics, Lisa Love, “These three sports were selected with the following criteria: financial impact, potential competitive success, conference/regional support and gender equity. Our revenue trajectory has been positive, however, our ongoing financial challenges have been well documented by the media. The decision to discontinue sport programs is a last resort, yet necessary.”

The report from MMA Weekly goes on to talk about Arizona State not being the only university to fall on economic hardship right now and may be the first of many schools to put athletic programs on the chopping block. As we’ve seen in recent history, wrestling programs are usually one of the first to be considered to go. For mixed martial arts’ sake let’s hope this is an anomaly and not the standard.

On Tuesday, EliteXC held a conference call to help promote their CBS show on May 31 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

Gina Carano will be fighting for the first time since Sept. 15 when she takes on Kaitlin Young. Both fighters were available to the media on yesterday’s call. It should be an interesting fight, in that both fighters are outstanding strikers who pack a lot of power in their kicks and punches.

There was a few interesting revelations during the call, with EliteXC Live Events President Gary Shaw revealing that the promotion is considering adding a women’s title and is entertaining the possibility of doing an all-female card.

“We’re talking about two things,” Shaw began to respond when asked if there were any plans to institute a women’s title. “We’re talking about a women’s title and we’re also talking about an all women’s show where we feature one night of just all women’s fights.”

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The weekend of May 31-June 1 is going to be huge for MMA fans. On Saturday, you have EliteXC’s debut on CBS. Then on Sunday, the WEC will return on VERSUS with what could be the biggest card in its history. Below is video of WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber and challenger Jens Pulver talking about their big fight coming up on June 1.

Here’s the video from tonight’s “E:6o” episode featuring Gina Carano. What I thought was interesting was that they interviewed Shayna Baszler and Tara LaRosa about what they think of Gina being the face of women’s MMA.

Sherdog has a great piece up detailing some of the things that were said at the DREAM 3 post-fight press conference. Namely, Nick Diaz said he would rather be fighting Shinya Aoki next instead of Hayato Sakurai and Jason “Mayhem” Miller said that he would love a shot at his hero, Kazushi Sakuraba.

Nick Diaz on Aoki:

“You know, there’s a lot of other people I’d like to fight, just considering Mach Sakurai is a lot older than I am,” Diaz said. “He’s probably in his late 30s I’d imagine, so I’m going to have a lot of respect for him and everything he’s done. I tend to do better with people I have less respect for. To be honest, I’d rather be fighting Shinya Aoki or Kawajiri — somebody other than the guy that got knocked out by someone I already beat [Gomi].

“I know the only way to win is not care to win or lose,” he said. “That’s why I’m not afraid of anybody and why I want to fight the best. I think Shinya Aoki is the best fighter here. I want to fight this guy — I think I can beat him.

Jason “Mayhem” Miller on Sakuraba:

“My biggest dream ever was to fight Sakuraba,” Miller said. “He was my hero growing up. I’m lucky that in my business, I’m allowed to beat my heroes up in the same way I beat my dad up now.

“Sakuraba is my hero, and the prospect of being able to fight my hero is huge. It’s my dream, and hopefully I can accomplish my dream here. I’m happy that we’re in the tournament at the same time. No matter who they put in front of me, I want to defeat them in the most exciting manner possible. I’ve never seen Sakuraba tap out.”

FiveOuncesOfPain.com has confirmed through multiple sources that former NFL All-Pro offensive lineman and six-time NCAA wrestling champ Carlton Haselrig will face “Cujo” Joe McCall during the undercard of EliteXC’s first-ever CBS show on May 31.

The match completes the seven-bout undercard.

Former Giants fullback Jarrod Bunch and former IFL heavyweight Bryan Vetell had been approached as opponents for Haselrig, however, both camps balked at finalizing an agreement over financial concerns.

The 42-year old Haselrig recently made his MMA debut on April 19 when he defeated another former IFL heavyweight, Shane Ott. Haselrig recorded a TKO victory over Ott at 4:09 of round 1 during a Battle Cage Xtreme card in Atlantic City, N.J.

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Here’s a nice little sampler for UFC 84: Ill Will on May 24th with some hype for the main three fights: BJ Penn vs. Sean Sherk, Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida, and Keith Jardine vs. Wanderlei Silva. If you’re not at least pumped for Penn vs. Sherk, then I don’t know if you’re a fan of mixed martial arts.

HT: Bloody Elbow