When I was young, I was a big fan of pro wrestling. I remember watching the NWA and later WCW on SuperStation TBS and seeing promos for Thanksgiving and Christmas shows at the Omni in Atlanta. As much as I loved pro wrestling, I used to wonder “Who has time to go see pro wrestling on Thanksgiving or Christmas?” But if my memory serves me correct, there was a time when those shows were well-attended.

Later, as I became a football fan, watching the NFL with my cousins and grandfather on Thanksgiving was the big tradition, as it is for most families in America. I still remember watching Barry Sanders and seeing him greeted by 3-4 defenders behind the line of scrimmage and running around and over them, turning what initially appeared to be a 2-yard loss into a brilliant long-distance touchdown run.

And as MMA continues to grow and forges on towards being universally recognized as one of the U.S.’s major sports, it is looking to jump into the fray and get its own holiday tradition. When I was a much younger man, the thing to do on Thanksgiving Eve was to go to a bar or club with your friends and drink for as long as you possibly could. Then you’d sleep in and wake up, watch football and then eat Thanksgiving dinner.

But the times are definitely “a changin’” because many people between the ages of 18-34 won’t be at the club this year and instead will be watching men and women fight each other in a sanctioned environment. I live in Philadelphia and I know many people that will be going to a big pro show in Atlantic City this coming Wednesday. And a quick glance on MixedMartialArts.com shows that there will be fights in Illinois, Minnesota, and Ohio. In fact, in Ohio alone there will be three separate shows. I don’t envy the Ohio State Athletic Commission.

As a married man with an 11-year old son, my days of going to the bar the night before Thanksgiving are long gone. And for the first-time ever, I will be attending an MMA event the night before one of the biggest holidays in this country. Despite living in Philadelphia, I will be traveling seven hours by car (one way) this Tuesday to see one of those three Thanksgiving Eve shows in Ohio.

To be honest, after matchmaking 25 shows this year and having seen many more on basic cable television and pay-per-view, going to an MMA show and spending 14 hours in commute time during one of the busiest travel days of the year is not my ideal way to enjoy my holiday. But I really don’t have a choice, as my wife, Andria, will be fighting for the NAAFS on November 24 in Liverpool, Ohio.

I spent 22 weeks on the road this year and all throughout my wife couldn’t have been more supportive. So just as she has supported me, I have to make sure I support her. Nov. 24 will be the third sanctioned MMA fight of her career and the second this year, following a first round TKO this past Sept. 18 on an all-female show called “Eve of Destruction” that was also promoted by the NAAFS.

Every time my wife fights it is a nerve-racking experience for me. My days of competing in smokers are long over and while I still train, my opportunities to train are few and far between. But for my wife, she’s committed to going as far as she can as an active competitor in MMA. And as the person who convinced her to try it, I am not really in a position to dissuade her at this point.

Her Sept. 18 fight was especially stressful. I had to fly from Milwaukee on a Friday after matchmaking a Bellator show the night before and meet her in Canton, Ohio for her Saturday fight. Complicating matters was the fact that because there was a smoker event being held at her gym that same day as her fight, no one was available to corner her. So as if seeing my wife fighting wasn’t tough enough, I was going to have to do so from her corner.

I really don’t consider myself qualified to corner someone. I can do the basics: help the person cut weight; give them their pre-fight pep talk; the pre-fight rub down; holding pads backstage and handling all logistical issues. But there are three really important things a corner needs to know how to do and I can really only do one of them. Those things are: tape a fighter’s hands; stop a cut from bleeding; and give out strategic and tactical insight during a fight.

Surprisingly, I’ve actually learned the basics of how to treat a cut during a fight. After picking the brain of Dean Lassiter and some other cut men, I can do an adequate job of applying pressure to a wound and trying to clot it from the exterior portion of the cut with Vaseline. But when it comes to wrapping hands and coaching from the corner, I feel I am woefully under-qualified.

For Andria’s first Ohio fight, we lucked out. Former Shine Fights matchmaker Ron Foster hooked us up with his coaches from the Strongstyle gym and they taped Andria’s hands and served as her lead corner.

For most fighters, getting your hands wrapped and taped properly is essential. Personally, I don’t understand it. When I train now, I never wrap my hands and if I was a fighter and the commission didn’t mandate it, I wouldn’t have my hands taped. I have been lectured about hand wrapping time and time again but I’ve trained for awhile now in different striking disciplines and have yet to break my hand or wrist. I want my hands — specifically my knuckles — to be calloused and feel like rocks. Having velocity behind your punches is important but what if the impact zone is as soft as a pillow? I think it is far more damaging if there is a little less velocity on someone’s punch yet every time their first greets your face it feels like you’ve just been pelted at point blank range by a rock. I’ve always preferred to wear the smallest glove size possible without any wrapping so I could get my knuckles as far out in front of the heaviest padded part of the glove as possible.

But I am in the vast minority when it comes to my crazy philosophy on protective hand wrapping. Some fighters are downright obsessive about it. I’ve seen fighters show up to fights without someone to wrap their hands and have a stranger do it and mentally take themselves out of a fight because they were freaking out about the wrap job they just received.

And despite having seen more fights than I can remember and having trained in martial arts since 2001, I still don’t like yelling out instructions to a fighter during a fight. That’s why when the guys from Strongstyle said they’d take that responsibility from me it was a tremendous weight lifted off my shoulders. The guys at Strongstyle were awesome but in an ideal world, you want your training partners and your trainers to be in your corner because they know your strengths and weaknesses better than anyone.

As of until a few days ago, it looked like I would be flying completely solo as Andria’s corner. Convincing someone to drive out to Liverpool, Ohio and spend their Thanksgiving at a Red Roof Inn was not an easy sell. And this time, there would be no opportunity to recruit a local gym to help us as after a quick look at the card, I didn’t recognize any of the fighters or their listed gym affiliations. I was going to have to do everything on my own this time. I was okay with handling giving the corner instructions because with Bellator having concluded its third season, I am not on the road right now and I’ve been able to get into the gym 3-4 times a week and train with Andria. At this point, I feel I have a good enough feel for her game to get by. But my biggest concern was having to have to wrap Andria’s hands despite never having done it. My plan was to watch some YouTube tutorials and then practice taping her hands over the weekend. It wasn’t a plan either of us were too excited about.

But my anxiety was completely alleviated a few days ago when one of Andria’s trainers, Robert Peach, texted her and said he could make it. Hearing about that text was like a gift from G-d. Even if I was qualified to corner fighters, I really don’t want to be that involved with Andria’s fight. It’s hard enough just watching it from the stands.

Bob, or “Peach,” as he is known around the gym, has competed countless times in Muay Thai, sport grappling, and MMA contests. He is an assistant manager at the gym where Andria trains, Daddis Fight Camps, and is one of the primary trainers under the school’s owner and head instructor, Brad Daddis. Brad is a world class trainer in my eyes but he’s built a training staff with a ton of depth and Peach is one of his brightest stars. He’s done amazing work with Andria in recent months and I am in a completely different state of mind knowing that he’s going to be in charge.

In addition to Peach, joining us on the journey to Ohio will be Andria’s brother Ben, his girlfriend, possibly another teammate, and our son, John. With Andria having previously competed in Kansas City in 2009 and then Canton this past September, John had to miss out on those fights because we didn’t want him missing out on school. But since this fight will be taking place during his Thanksgiving holiday, he will be able to see his mother compete in person for the first-time ever.

I have mixed emotions about having John there. A lot of things can happen during a fight and some of those things can be very negative. I don’t know if subjecting a child to that is the best thing. That being said, fighting is a big part of his mother’s life and being able to be at her fight is something that he said is important to him. At age 11, I feel he is mature enough to handle it. If Andria gets hurt and or loses, it could create of a very traumatizing memory for him. But if Andria wins, he’ll have one helluva story to tell his classmates when he goes back to school.

It should be fun to have some people with us this time around but it adds to our costs. Every time Andria fights, I would estimate that we have to spend between $1,000-$1,500 because finding local opponents is hard and thus far we’ve had to travel. With 6-7 people traveling with us, our cars simply aren’t big enough for everyone and all the gear we have to bring so we’re renting an SUV. The NAAFS is being gracious enough to cover the cost of Andria’s room but we’re going to need two additional rooms. There are also additional small costs like corner licenses, medicals, gas, and food. And of course, our biggest expense: kenneling our three dogs. Thus far Andria’s fights have pretty much been under pro rules but have been conducted under amateur status so she isn’t getting paid yet. Hopefully she’ll be in a position to turn pro soon and or she’ll be able to start fighting closer to home.

Andria will be the eighth fight on the show that night. If all goes according to plan, we’re going to pack up our gear throw it into our rented SUV and drive all night so that we all get home in time for Thanksgiving. Usually, I feel it is disrespectful to the other fighters competing to leave a show before it’s over but most of them are local and don’t have to worry about a seven-hour commute home. As such, I hope no one judges us for getting out of there as quick as we can.

In order to make it back in time for two separate holiday dinners, we’re going have to hope for no injuries because a side to the sport of MMA that a lot of fans don’t get to see is the aftermath of a fight. It’s not uncommon for a fighter and their corner to spend all night at the local emergency room waiting to be treated for an injury that requires immediate medical attention. Even in victory I’ve seen fighters have to rush off to the hospital after their fight for treatment. We’re expecting the best but also prepared for the worse. For those interested, starting Tuesday, I will be giving updates about our trip via Twitter (@SCaplan8).

The whole experience stands to be stressful but exciting at the same time. Thanksgiving Eve appears as if it could be the new big holiday tradition in MMA and this year my family, friends, and I will get to be a small part of it. If you happen to live in an area where a show is being promoted on Nov. 24, instead of going to the bar or the club, why not try out something new and watch some fights the night before Thanksgiving? Regardless of how you decide to spend your time off next week, I wanted to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday.

Philadelphia is a hotbed for Combat Sports. A long-time staple within the Philly sports scene has been pro wrestling. The meteoric rise of ECW caused the then-Viking Hall to be re-named "The ECEW Arena." Now known simply as "The Arena," a new combat sports tradition will take shape when Matrix Fights invades the historic venue.

As I’ve chronicled in my previous two columns, I have been able to cross over from the world of journalism into my ultimate aspiration of working in talent relations in mixed martial arts.

Since last April, I’ve been able to be involved in a number of shows as a matchmaker but my next show on Feb. 27 at The Arena (formerly known as the ECW Arena) will hold special meaning to me due to the fact that it is in my hometown of Philadelphia.

Philadelphia is portrayed as a very tough city by the national media. Some of the bad rap Philly gets is warranted (there is no excused for when Eagles fans cheered when Michael Irvin got injured) and some of it is not warranted (yes, we booed Santa Claus at an Eagles game but he was a bootleg Santa not hired by the team and he was drunk off his ass).

So Philly is indeed an edgy town which is why this city has embraced combat sports with open arms over the years. It started (and continues) with boxing as some of the “sweet science’s” most prolific punchers such as Joe Frazier and Bernard Hopkins call Philly home (and I can’t forget my favorite boxer of all time, Meldrick Taylor).

Pro wrestling also has a rich history in Philly. While it was before my time, the Spectrum used to be packed in the 70s when the likes of Bruno Sammartino and “Superstar” Billy Graham came to town. Growing up, I was a huge pro wrestling fan and even at a young age I followed the NWA (the wrestling promotion, not the rap group — although I thought the rap group was pretty bad ass too) and was a huge fan of Ric Flair, the Road Warriors, and the Midnight Express.

The NWA eventually morphed into World Championship Wrestling and by that point I was old enough to attend events with my younger brother. While the WWF (now WWE) did their events at the more modern Spectrum, WCW was left to do their events at the old Philadelphia Civic Center, a dirty, borderline dilapidated venue that never was past its peak because I don’t think it had one to begin with.

Despite being young, my parents allowed my brother and I to attend these events at the rough and tumble Philly Civic Center because my uncle was the timekeeper for the shows (he even got to carry Ric Flair’s robe to the back once!). Looking back, the wrestling action was pretty weak and the WCW house shows really didn’t live up to what my brother and I watched each week on TV.

Despite all the crap WCW house shows my brother and I endured, I will always remember the one time Cactus Jack Manson (aka Mick Foley) made a surprise return to WCW and had an impromptu hardcore match with Sting. It was pretty cool because just a few weeks earlier I watched an amazing brawl between Cactus Jack and Eddie Gilbert at the Pennsylvania Hall (which was adjacent to the Civic Center) at a Tri-State Wrestling Alliance event (the forerunner to what would eventually become ECW). The feud between Cactus Jack and Eddie Gilbert is legendary in Philly and the attention they generated from their matches earned both second opportunities with WCW.

As I got older I still followed wrestling but simply had other priorities as a teenager than sitting through boring house shows at the rat-infested Civic Center. But my desire to go out and attend wrestling events was renewed in the mid-90s when Tod Gordon and Paul Heyman revolutionized the wrestling industry with a new brand of extreme wrestling. Truth be told, hardcore wrestling had been done for years in the South and also in Japan with FMW but Heyman was a creative genius and the extreme nature of the product extended beyond the ring, as many of the story lines were unique and compelling.

In a lot of ways, Heyman was pro wrestling’s version of Christopher Nolan (the director of the new Batman franchise). Instead of cartoonish and unrealistic story lines, Heyman and his team featured realism and adult-themed wrestling angles. I will always remember the angle they did between Sandman and Raven in which Sandman’s real-life divorce was exposed on camera and Sandman’s young son abandoned him to join Raven’s cult.

ECW most certainly revolutionized wrestling and took its act on the road but it originated in Philadelphia. To this day, I feel the edginess that the Philadelphia crowd brought to the early ECW events really added to the promotion’s brand and helped it grow in popularity. I was not a regular at live ECW events in Philly but I made it a point to attend several shows.

ECW’s home base was formerly a Bingo Hall that had been re-named Viking Hall. However, the promotion became so iconic in Philadelphia that the venue was re-branded as the “ECW Arena” and despite less than stellar sight lines, the venue was portrayed as a “Wrigley Field” of wrestling because of its intimate feel.

There are still a lot of pro boxing and wrestling shows (such as Ring of Honor, CZW, and Chikara Pro) here in Philly but I really feel the combat sports torch has been passed to mixed martial arts. Even before The Ultimate Fighter hit the air there were several jiu-jitsu and MMA schools in Philly along with various Judo, Sambo, and Muay Thai “combat clubs” (usually a basement or garage where a bunch of people trained).

While MMA was legalized in PA just last year, many top schools in the region had emerged since the turn of the century. Schools such as Daddis Fight Camps, the Fight Factory, and Balance Studios have been existence for quite some time in various forms for the past 8-9 years. Thanks to TUF, their student levels have gone through the roof with schools such as Daddis and Balance opening multiple locations to accommodate their rapid growth.

As big as boxing and pro wrestling has been in Philadelphia, it is my sincere belief that as time goes on, MMA will be bigger in this town than both combat sports combined. It may sound like hyperbole on my part but unless you live in the area you truly do not have an understanding just how many people train BJJ, Muay Thai, or MMA in or around the city of Philadelphia. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been at a bar or restaurant talking to people and when I tell them what I do for a living I hear “Oh, I have a brother who does that.”

All of the preamble I have laid out here is to try and convey just how much of a dream it has been of mine to be directly involved with a major MMA show here in this city. For Matrix, it will be our first show but we’re coming out of the gate with a bang.

The cool part about the card that we’ve put together is that in many respects I have some sort of direct connection to the fighters and fight gyms that will be involved with the show. For example, the show’s main event will feature welterweights Matt Makowski and LeVon Maynard. If you’re a longtime reader of this site, those names should be very familiar to you.

After leaving traditional martial arts in favor of taking up MMA, Daddis Fight Camps was the first school I trained at. I not only trained there, I even participated in several smokers — fighting within Philadelphia city limits long before MMA had been legalized. One of the top prospects at the school was a kid named Matt Makowski, who I believe was still just a teenager (either 18 or 19) at the time. Matt was working his way up the amateur ranks, participating in a lot of Muay Thai fights as well as amateur MMA bouts in New Jersey. It was obvious to anyone who saw him that he was destined to be a pro fighter.

Despite just being 21, Matt made his pro debut at a ShoXC event in Atlantic City several years back and would go on to fight for EliteXC three times, compiling a record of 2-1 with his most notable win coming over UFC veteran Nick Serra. The Makowski fight vs. Serra took place on the undercard of the first-ever MMA event televised on live, primetime network television and I had the honor of working on the CBS crew for the show. Even though Matt’s fight didn’t air on CBS, it did air live on ProElite.com. The bout has become infamous because Nick Serra was disqualified for repeatedly pulling guard/butt scooting. Nick’s erratic behavior was unfortunate because it really obscured the fact that the reason why he resorted to such tactics was because Matt had nearly leg kicked him into oblivion.

Fast forward to present day and both my wife and 10-year old son train at Daddis. Brad Daddis, my original MMA instructor has really supported Matrix and we will have at least three Daddis fighters featured on Feb. 27. We could possibly have a fourth Daddis fighter on the show if someone steps up and agrees to fight Brylan Van Artsdalen in Brylan’s pro debut. So if you fight at 145 lbs. and live in the area and want to get in on this card, e-mail me at SCaplan8@gmail.com. And while I am at it, we also need a amateur 145 lbs. fighter to step up and fight Ben Tichy.

Finding opponents for Brylan and Ben has been one of the only sources of stress involved with helping put the show together. Having trained, I know what it is like to prepare for a fight. But having competed only in smokers, I always knew I would have an opponent (even though I never knew who it was until just hours before fighting). For Brylan and Ben, I know they have been training hard despite the fact that multiple opponents have pulled out. They pushed themselves to the limit, altered their diet, and made many other sacrifices in preparation for their respective fights. There’s nothing than I want more right now than to make sure they have a fight come Feb. 27, so help spread the word!

With that brief interlude out of the way, let’s get back to the main event.

Matt’s opponent, LeVon, is a fighter I was first introduced to when I covered the IFL draft tryouts in New York several years back. When I arrived, I was surprised by the level of East Coast talent that had shown up in hopes of breaking into the IFL. Such names in attendance included Shane Ott, Jim Bova, Diego Jimenez, Matt Lee, Al Iaquinta, Danillo Villefort, Torrance Taylor, Tiawan Howard, and Matt Brown. Despite the familiar faces I had seen on local shows, there was a civilian contractor from the Air Force out of Virginia who I had never heard of before that was tearing up the tryouts. It was none other than LeVon.

When it came to the grappling portion of the tryouts, LeVon was tapping his opponent out right and left so I immediately branded him as a BJJ guy. That was until they sparred Muay Thai, at which point LeVon worked his opponent so hard that the two-minute sparring session was cut short. He advanced to the finals, which actually turned out to be a full-scale MMA bout — which was surreal because MMA was and still is illegal in New York. LeVon wowed the IFL judges (which included Bas Rutten) with the effort and qualified for the IFL draft.

I was so impressed with LeVon and how he came out of nowhere that he was the feature subject of the CBSSports.com story I wrote covering my experience at the tryout. LeVon never ended up competing for the IFL but did get the call to step in as a last-minute replacement to fight Rory Markham at the 2007 IFL Grand Prix Finals at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. LeVon accepted the bout and was ready to compete but the gaming commission determined that LeVon didn’t have enough experience to fight Markham. The spot went to Brett Cooper, who had turned heads at the IFL tryouts in Los Angeles.

LeVon’s frustration of not being allowed to accept his call to a major show was compounded by the fact that Cooper pulled off an upset against Markham, TKO’ing him in the second round. LeVon is a very professional and polite guy but he is also very confident in his abilities and I believe to this day he feels like that was his upset to pull off and that it was taken away from him.

I am expecting fireworks between Matt and LeVon. Both are still young and will be competing at the highest levels of MMA (UFC, Strikeforce, and or Bellator) in short order. Both are taking a major risk in fighting each other but the reality is that whoever wins this fight will be in line for a bigger and better opportunity because it will be a win that matters.

Stylistically, Matt and LeVon match up very well. Both are true mixed martial artists with good grappling skills and even better striking skills. The unique thing about this fight is that Matt and LeVon fought several years ago in an amateur Muay Thai match at the WKA championships. Matt won the fight but the rematch will be contested under MMA rules.

For me, Matt vs. LeVon is a dream matchup, as it is a fight that I’ve wanted to see for years. When I first decided my ultimate goal was to work in talent relations, I decided to volunteer for a regional promotion called Combat in the Cage so I could gain more experience. I often suggested to the promoter that he should try and make a match between LeVon and Matt. He always liked the matchup but since he was managing Matt at the time, he wanted safer fights for him.

Years later and the two are finally going to get to fight in the main event of the first-ever show I am matchmaking in my own hometown. When I first proposed the fight, I think there might have been some skepticism on the part of both camps. Knowing that I used to train at Daddis, I think some people might have felt I was setting LeVon up. On the flip side, since I have written at length about LeVon and since 5 Oz. has even sponsored him in the past, I think there was also some questions from the other side.

The reality is that I have no ulterior motive. I have no idea who is going to win the fight — which is why I wanted to put it together in the first place. My only motive here is to make sure my bosses (Jimmy Binns Jr. and Phil and Ricardo Migliarese) get a high-caliber main event that allows them to grow their fight promotion. The goal here is to give the fans paying hard earned money a fight that they will talk about for years, much in the same way local Philly wrestling and boxing fans still talk about legendary clashes that they saw at the Blue Horizon, Spectrum, Philadelphia Civic Center, or the ECW Arena.

There is so much more to talk about but this column is already too long and the average reader has already stopped reading. But I am excited that we have Matt vs. LeVon in our main event and that we were fortunate enough to land Cole Konrad’s second-ever MMA fight, as he is set to take on fellow heavyweight prospect Joel Wyatt.

While there aren’t many tickets left, you still can buy them online at MatrixFights.com or via some of the major schools that are supporting us such as Daddis, Semper-Fi MMA (which will be represented by its head instructor, former Marine Julio Rosario), and Balance Studios. If you know a fighter fighting on the show who has tickets, please try to buy it from them, as they will get a percentage of the ticket sale.

In closing, I really want to thank Jimmy and the Migliarese brothers. Matrix is their promotion but they’ve allowed me to be a big part of it and have shown a lot of confidence in me. To be able to matchmake a show in my own hometown in one of the most famous combat sports venues in the United States is simply an amazing opportunity. From a sentimental standpoint it’s such an important milestone that my son and wife are not only going to be there but my father and brother will be as well even though they aren’t MMA fans.

I really hope to see you on Feb. 27 when Matrix helps further a brand new combat sports tradition in Philadelphia. If you aren’t able to make it, don’t worry about it as Matrix is only going to get bigger and better and there will be plenty more shows for you to attend.

Enjoy the fights.

If you thought Kadillac leading the U.S. to a come-from-behind victory against a Finnish dude with “White Power” tattooed on his back was a wild story, then buckle up and get ready for this shit.

The story I am about to tell is 100% true. And while Kadillac is the main character, the story I am about to tell is pretty much four stories in one with plenty of sub plots. But the crux of the story is Lloyd fighting in Bulgaria under extreme duress.

First, I need to give you some background on Lloyd. Lloyd is 5’8” but fights at 248 lbs. Originally from a poor area in Chicago, he moved to San Diego as a teen and took up football and wrestling as a way to occupy his time in a new environment that was completely different than the one he had grown up in. A nephew of former NFL great Rev. Roosevelt Greer, Lloyd was blessed with some athletic gifts and became a standout on both the football and wrestling teams. Lloyd became so good at wrestling that he was an All-American in high school.

After school, Lloyd eventually got involved with MMA. With his strong wrestling skills, Lloyd picked up the jiu-jitsu game quick and is one of the best heavyweight submission guys out there. His submissions are so respected on the West Coast that he has trouble getting fights. Lloyd doesn’t have a manager so nobody has ever tried to build his record because no one has a vested financial interest in him. In fact, a lot of promoters have tried to use him as a way to build another fighter’s record. But when they ask around and are told how dangerous he is on the ground, the promoter will think of a reason for the fight to fall a part. Kadillac was actually picked to be one of Kimbo Slice’s early opponents in EliteXC. However, Terry Trebilcock was working for EliteXC after the company had purchased King of the Cage. Terry had promoted Kadillac and when he found out what EliteXC was planning to do, he allegedly called Gary Shaw and told him that if EliteXC put Kimbo in the same cage with Kadillac that Kadillac would tap him in under a minute.

Living in California, where MMA wasn’t regulated until 2006, Lloyd partook in non-sanctioned fights since MMA was not legal in the State at the time he started competing. Some of the non-sanctioned fighters were organized events while other bouts took place at backyard BBQs. According to Lloyd, the backyard BBQ fights weren’t like the fights Kimbo Slice was involved with on YouTube because the guys he fought actually trained and real martial arts techniques were used in the fights.

It was at one of these backyard BBQs in which Lloyd earned the nicknamed “Kadillac.” At these fights, gambling often took place. One time, Lloyd won a fight and afterward the fallen opponent confessed that he couldn’t provide the purse that had been agreed upon before the fight. Realizing he wasn’t going to get blood from a stone, Lloyd accepted an alternate form of payment. Having seen a ’72 Cadillac parked in the guy’s driveway that had caught his eye, Lloyd inquired about the car. After a brief discussion, Lloyd drove home the proud owner of a not so brand new 1972 Caddy. And thus, the legend of Lloyd “Kadillac” Marshbanks was born.

In addition to having fought in California before MMA was legal, other unsanctioned fights involving Lloyd have taken place in Peru, Argentina, Mexico (he’s a megastar in Tijuana), Costa Rica, and several other countries. No disrespect to Shonie Carter, but Lloyd Marshbanks is the real “Mr. International” in my book.

All of Lloyd’s non-U.S. fights were legit bouts. Listed as 19-11 on Sherdog, Lloyd claims he really is 49-11 because many of his fights took place in unregulated areas. Kadillac’s record has been a great source of debate. Some believe the record is legit while others have some questions. I consider Lloyd a friend so I don’t ask any questions. If he tells me something is good, I believe him. Whatever you want to believe is up to you.

I first met Lloyd this past March during an M-1 Challenge event held in Bourgas, Bulgaria. My trip to Bulgaria is another story into itself and instead of telling it another time, I am going to tell it to you now because it only adds to the ending. As such, this is the part of the story where I introduce a subplot.

I had started working for M-1 in November of ’08 and was afforded an amazing opportunity to travel to my first event in January of ’09 to Amsterdam for the M-1 Challenge finals. I’ve got some great stories about Amsterdam, such as my trip to the Banana Bar with Team England but you’re going to have to buy the book to hear about that one.

So my first trip was Amsterdam which was amazing and my second trip for M-1 was Bulgaria. Quite a dichotomy to say the least. Prior to the Bulgaria trip, M-1 had hired a Kansas City-based promoter by the name of Joe Kelly. I was aware of Joe’s sterling reputation in the industry because he had started promoting shows at the age of 23 and had a great track record as being one of the few honest promoters in the game.

Jerry Millen, one of my best friends in the industry who got me my gig with M-1 (the Jerry Millen I know away from the camera is different than the Jerry Millen the public knows), had known for quite some time that my long-term goal was to work in talent relations. He told me that if I wanted to be a matchmaker, Joe was someone I needed to make a favorable impression with.

Joe is the most organized promoter I have ever worked with and had obtained the flight manifests from the M-1 office in Holland so he could see when everyone was getting in. He saw that we were both scheduled to arrive for a layover in Frankfurt, Germany at the same time and called and said we should meet up because our remaining travel legs were in sync at that point. Traveling overseas can be long and arduous so any time you can pick up a traveling buddy or two, that’s always a huge plus.

Both our flights arrived late and I was completely unaware how busy the Frankfurt Airport is. It is essentially the O’Haire Airport of Europe as many flights connect out of there. We met briefly at the Admirals Club and we then left soon after to get on a flight that would take us to the capital city of Bulgaria, Sofia.

We were already behind schedule at this point since our flights were late and we walked into the security area to be greeted by the longest security line that I had ever seen. Knowing we were late, I pulled a dick move and started moving to the front of the line because we were already on a 16 hour travel day at that point. For us, a missed connection could mean we might get to Bourgas a complete day late, which wouldn’t have been good for Joe since it was his first official event as M-1′s Vice President of Live Events.

Joe and I both went through separate security checkpoints but as fate would have it, we were both taken off to the side and had our bags searched. The whole process took about 20 minutes each which was 20 minutes neither of us had to spare. Why were we pulled aside? Probably for no other reason outside of the fact that we were American and they just wanted to give us a hard time. It wasn’t until my M-1 trips that I would learn just how strong anti-American sentiment is when it comes to certain parts of the world.

We finally got through security and ran to our gate. We had 30 minutes before takeoff and I assured Joe that we were going to be fine. Famous last words. At a lot of European airports, they have what are known as “bus gates.” A bus gate is a gate that you go to in which there is no plane in sight. You hop on a bus that seemingly drives you miles and miles until you get to your plane. Little did I know that at a bus gate you had to be there no later than 40 minutes before your flight, otherwise, you weren’t getting onto the plane. My heart sank when the cold hearted bitch gleefully informed us Yanks that we had missed the bus by ten minutes and that we were screwed.

Joe and I went to the counter for our airline and waited in yet another huge line. We explained to the sales rep that both our flights came in late and that we were held up in security and missed our flight as a result. She took pity on us and issued us both new tickets with no questions asked. Phew. Life was good again and even though we were taking a later flight, we were still going to get to Sofia in time to make our connecting flight.

Or so I thought.

Joe and I sat down and got some water and while we were talking, we both realized that our luggage might be getting to Sofia before we would. The last thing you want to do is lose your luggage overseas but I told Joe we should just leave well enough alone and that our luggage would probably be waiting for us in Sofia. Joe needed to wear a suit the night of the fight and didn’t want to risk it. He wanted to know the whereabouts of his luggage and whether it had made it onto the flight we were supposed to be on or if it was rotting away in some luggage storage area. So we got back in line.

It was the biggest mistake ever.

We waited in line again and Joe pointed out a clerk that he felt looked friendly because she was the only one who appeared to be under the age of 40. We walked up to her and explained our situation. She asked us if we had American passports which really didn’t seem like a relevant question to me but we told her, yes, we were Americans. She said she couldn’t tell us about our luggage unless we presented our boarding passes. Seemed like a logical request. We handed them over and she made the biggest grimace ever and in an evil tone said “Who gave you these boarding pass!?” We were like “Uh, someone who isn’t here right now, why?” We were informed that our flights, even though they were delayed, had arrived 90 minutes before our connection which was plenty of time to make our connection.

We explained the huge line at security and the fact that we were pulled aside. She didn’t give a flying fuck. She said that we shouldn’t have been given new tickets and that if we wanted to fly to Sofia, we would have to buy new tickets. Joe just shook his head and said “Okay, thanks. Just hand me back my boarding pass.” She looked at us and said, “Oh, you want your boarding passes? No problem.” She then pulled out a huge ink stamper and slammed it down on each one of our tickets. She handed them back with a smile and said “Here you go sirs.” I took one glance at my freshly stamped ticket only to see the word “VOID” in huge block letters and purple ink on my ticket.

Joe and I were in shock and disbelief. We couldn’t believe what had just happened. Naturally, we began to protest and tried to reason with her. We were American and it didn’t matter. We asked to speak to a supervisor and was told “That will not be possible.” We told her we were going to Bulgaria for work purposes and that if we didn’t get there in time, both of us could be fired. Her response was that she could help us book new tickets but that the total cost for both of us to get a new flight would be 1,000 Euros.

Holy shit. 1,000 Euros!? That would essentially mean we were going to work the trip for free. We debated and debated and the woman informed us, “Look gentleman, you shouldn’t have been issued new boarding passes. Your only choice is to buy new boarding passes and catch the last remaining flight of the day to Sofia or wait and fly out tomorrow and still have to buy new boarding passes.”

We could have just changed our return flights for a nominal fee and gone home but we would have both been fired for not showing up on the job site. We didn’t have a choice. Looking to make a good impression on my new boss, I decided to pay for both tickets on my credit card with the plan to dispute the charge as soon as I got back to Philadelphia.

After our gentle raping, we got on a flight to Sofia that Dean Cain just happened to be on it. Dean Cain!? He looked pretty dreamy so suddenly the notion of just having been raped for over 1,000 Euros didn’t seem like such a bad proposition after all. But old Superman was flying first class while Joe and I flew coach so we only got a brief look at him. To this day, I have no idea why Dean Cain was on the same flight as me to Sofia, Bulgaria but I can assure you that it was definitely Dean Cain.

While I know M-1′s public perception isn’t the best, I enjoyed my time working for the company and I made some good friends there and learned a lot. I will always appreciate the fact that they gave me an opportunity to see the world and experience a lot of new things. And in this situation, they treated us very well. Once we got to Sofia, Joe was actually paged on the PA system. We were told to call the office. We called and Ineke, the office manager, frantically asked us “Are you guys okay? We saw online that you missed your flight to Sofia.” Being American and traveling overseas isn’t always as safe as you might think and M-1 was genuinely concerned that something might have happened. As an aside, my credit card company refused to take the charge of the new tickets off my card so M-1 refunded me my money with no questions asked.

Bulgaria was especially dangerous. In Bulgaria, the American Dream does not exist. I am a big believer in Democracy but as a former political science student, I know that the transition from a communist economy to a free market economy was not a smooth one for many Eastern Bloc nations. Our system of government isn’t always the best fit for certain countries. I think Bulgaria might be one of those countries. Not only does the American Dream not exist but I am not so sure the Bulgarian Dream even exists. The reality is that wealth in Bulgaria is really only attained through birthright or by illegitimate means. One of the illegitimate ways to accrue wealth in Bulgaria is by kidnapping unsuspecting foreigners. I knew to be on my toes but I wasn’t really aware just how dangerous things were.

We got our connection from Sofia to a second Bulgarian city that I cannot think of at the moment. It was from this second city where we were to be driven to Bourgas, the sight of the event. When we arrived, we were greeted by two large Bulgarian men with a sign that said “M-1″. They were very nice guys and Joe and I chatted with them for a while. But after a 26-hour travel day at that point, I wanted to eat and go to sleep so I kindly asked the two men if we could be on our way. Their response was “Oh, we aren’t the driver. He is on his way.” Perplexed, I asked “Well, then who are you guys?” The one man responded “Oh, we’re here to make sure you are picked up by the right driver.”

Wow. We had our own security detail. This was nuts! If my wife knew about this she’d shit a brick and she’d never let me travel again. This was one secret I knew I had to keep from her. On one hand you could say the company I worked for put me in danger. But the reality is, any time you leave the U.S. and go to a country where Americans aren’t respected, you assume a certain amount of risk. It’s just the way it is and I am thankful M-1 took the needed precautions to make sure we were safe and were concerned enough to page us at an airport to make sure we were okay.

By the time the driver had arrived, Team USA East had arrived as well and was waiting for the van with us. The team included Renato Migliaccio, a black belt in Judo and BJJ from Brazil who spoke great English and was living in the U.S.; Steve Carl, a former Army Sgt. fighting out of Iowa who had a 9-1 record; Herbert Goodman, a former NFL running back who I was quite familiar with from my days of covering the NFL; Chuck Grigsby, a WEC vet who I remembered seeing take on Mark Munoz and who was like seven feet tall; Kadillac; and the team manager, Reed Wallace of White Chocolate Management.

Joe and I introduced ourselves and we all began trading our traveling war stories. Steve Carl’s took the cake. When he arrived in Sofia and got his luggage, he said he saw a guy with a sign that said “M-1″ and the man instructed him to come with him and that his taxi would take him to Bourgas. Steve started to walk off with him before Kadillac began to yell and called him back. Apparently he said, “Steve, what are you doing? We’re flying to Bourgas. Not driving.” Steve told him the guy knew they were fighters and was waiting for them. Being a world traveler, Kadillac knew better and told him they needed to get on the plane.

When we got to our hotel in Bourgas, we asked some people about what had happened to Steve and who the guy was and how he knew there would be fighters from M-1 arriving in Sofia en route to Bourgas. The hotel clerk said he couldn’t be certain but said that what likely happened was that some guy read a newspaper article about the event and that the guy read that Americans were going to be arriving in Sofia and potentially was looking to kidnap a few. Do I know that to be fact? No. But I do know that M-1 confirmed that they had never arranged for a driver to greet any of us in Sofia.

We had all been told that it would be a 30 minute ride from the airport to our hotel in Bourgas. Well, apparently a major road had been closed and we had to take the “scenic” route. Our 30 minute ride turned into a 90 minute odessey up the most winding road I have ever been on. We all rode on one of those party bus type vans and I really think this van was a party bus. It had Christmas lights inside and the driver blasted the radio and we were subjected to some strange Euro house music during our ride there.

Our driver was in a hurry and was doing somewhere between 90-100 miles on a one lane road through the woods that kept winding one way and going the other. It felt like the bus was going to tip several times and I had remembered that Cliff Burton from Metallica had died in Europe on a tour bus that had tipped. I really feared for my life at that point but when we went through a stretch of a wooded area and the trip kept going on and on, I wasn’t the only one who was worried.

Someone from the back of the party bus yelled “Yo, I saw a scene like this in the Sopranos one time when they said they were going somewhere but they just went deep into the woods so they could get whacked.” I saw that episode where Sylvio whacked Adriana and man, it did kind of feel that way.

The ride was so crazy that a lot of us became nauseous. Steve Carl blurted out “Well, I don’t think I am going to have to cut weight tomorrow.” I started laughing and looked back at him only to see that he wasn’t joking and that his face had turned green.

Eventually we had made it. It was around midnight but it felt like 6 a.m. to me. I couldn’t remember the last time I had eaten. M-1 had given us meal vouchers and arranged a set up where we could go to a local restaurant in town and eat for free. However, the driver told us that the place had closed for the evening. I can’t remember a time that I was more hungry. Luckily, there was a McDonald’s across the street.

Now, I hate fast food. If I do eat fast food, I can sometimes tolerate Wendy’s if I am really hungry and there is no choice. But I always have hated McDonald’s. I don’t let my wife or son eat there in my presence because just the smell of the food makes me sick. But desperate times call for desperate measures and if I was going to have to order a Happy Meal just to take the edge off my appetite, then I’d eat everything that came in the box including the toy.

This was a 24 hour McDonald’s and it had a huge elevated sign that was in neon, much like the McDonald’s in downtown Vegas. In a lot of countries I’ve gone to, English is spoken prevalently but Bulgaria wasn’t one of those countries. Thankfully, Reed Wallace spoke Russian and while it’s not the same as Bulgarian, the dialect was similar enough that he could get our order in.

At this point though it was so late that you could only order from the drive-through. We had no car so we walked up to the drive-through window. At this point, it was like 10 degrees out. Kadillac was with us in a t-shirt and shorts. I was dressed warmly but freezing my ass off and he didn’t show any signs of being affected by the cold. Kadillac was a tough dude.

There were six of us and we ordered everything on the menu three times over. It might have been the biggest order in the history of McDonald’s. By this point a line of cars was behind us and a bunch of angry Bulgarians were yelling at us. They looked pretty pissed off. Thankfully, I was with a group of fighters.

We got our order and Reed must have spoke Bulgarian well because we got everything we had ordered. That doesn’t happen in the States. But this was no ordinary McDonald’s. This McDonald’s was actually pretty good. My hamburger actually looked like a hamburger. The meat patty actually extended beyond the circumference of the bun. It was like a higher end McDonald’s. In later trips I would come to learn that the non-U.S. McDonald’s had a much higher quality of food than what we get here in the States.

I ate and went back to the hotel. My journey to Bourgas had been a crazy trip. So crazy that I felt I needed to call Dave Andrest, the CTO of FiveOuncesOfPain.com and Combat Sports Media what had happened. Through Combat Sports Media, Dave worked for M-1 as their Internet streaming specialist. He was leaving a day later than Joe and I. Dave is a nervous traveler to begin with but I felt I needed to tell him what to expect. Once at the hotel I called him via Skype and explained things to him. I got him worried but I still thought he believed I was embellishing things. When he arrived at the hotel the next day he looked at me and said “You know, I really thought you were exaggerating but things were even worse than you described.”

So now that you’ve read about my trip from hell, let’s get back to the legend of Kadillac.

Joe, Dave, me, and the rest of the M-1 crew worked diligently to get the event set up. Joost Raimond, the COO of the company, and Jerry Millen, who handles all of the television production, were not at the event. That meant even more responsibility for Joe in his first event as the Vice President of Live Events. My normal function was PR but Joe essentially allowed me to be an assistant site promoter on the trip so I got to serve in a lot of roles I had never served in before.

Things went smoothly and the show began. MMA is new to Bulgaria and at first, the crowd had no idea what they were watching. Wrestling is big over in Bulgaria and interestingly enough, the crowd only got excited once a fight went to the ground. It was like the opposite of an American crowd and it was pretty surreal yet cool to see at the same time. As the show went on, the Bulgarians caught on quick and started to respond to the standup exchanges pretty well.

But while things began smoothly they didn’t stay that way. On my way to the back I ran into Reed Wallace. Reed looked pretty distressed and he asked me if I knew where Joe was. I said I hadn’t seen him but that he might be back in the production truck. Reed said “Look, we’ve got a major problem with Kadillac. He might not fight tonight.” I was like “What!?”

You see, the M-1 Challenge shows are a cool live event but their primary purpose is to serve as a TV taping. We taped three head-to-head best-of-five country vs. country matchups with 15 fights in all on each show. Each show produced three television episodes. On TV, the show is edited down to an hour and presented as a best-of-five contest and edited like a TV show with a beginning, middle, and an end. The whole storyline of the TV show is which country is going to win the best of five series. Having a team gain a win via forfeit kind of kills the integrity of the show. It would be like watching a cop drama and instead of the bad guy getting fingered and arrested, he just turns himself in. Kind of anti-climatic.

So when I heard we might lose a fight, I became panicked as well. I asked Reed what was going on and he told me that Kadillac used a public bathroom instead of the one in the locker room because someone was in it. And that while coming back from the bathroom to the locker room he was approached by two large Bulgarian men who spoke broken English. I wasn’t there but the way the story was explained to me was that they told Kadillac that “Your American teammates are okay to fight. But you? If you fight tonight, it will be very bad for you.”

At first Kadillac laughed, thinking they were joking. But he said they looked pretty menacing and he said they reiterated to him that he better not win. Essentially, these two men had cornered Kadillac and threatened his life. Is that an over-reaction? Perhaps. But we are talking about Bulgaria, not the U.S. If someone threatened to kill me in Philadelphia, I would laugh and blow them off because that kind of talk happens all the time. But I know Philly and I don’t know Bulgaria. These guys apparently meant business and needless to say, Kadillac was pretty rattled. He had fought in enough foreign countries to know that sometimes people bet on their friends against a foreigner and they do everything they can to make sure they don’t lose money. Not to mention, the Americans were not well liked in Bulgaria and it was Team USA East vs. Team Bulgaria. The crowd booed the Americans pretty enthusiastically, as if the cold war was still going on.

I found Joe and told him what was going on. He went back to speak with Kadillac and came back and said “Hey, I don’t think he’s going to fight.” But we needed him to fight because the heavyweights go on last and that was essentially our main event. Furthermore, if he didn’t fight and the matchup was tied 2-2, the show would end with Bulgaria winning by way of anti-climatic forfeit. We needed Kadillac to fight.

A lot of people went back to the locker room to talk with Lloyd. Personally, if it had been me, I would have left through the back and caught a cab straight to the airport. But Kadillac wasn’t about to run off and after a personal assurance from Vadim Finkelchtein that M-1 could vouch for his security, he agreed to fight.

The fights kept going off without a hitch. USA East vs. Team Bulgaria closed the show. Bulgaria was getting strong fan support and the team looked pretty tough. The lightweight and the welterweight fighters from Bulgaria looked like they had been eating their wheaties. I mean, these cats were jacked! Renato opened the show against the lightweight and improved to 6-0 with a quick submission over the ripped Bulgarian lightweight. Steve then fought the jacked Bulgarian welterweight and put on a clinic and just tore the guy up in about three and a half minutes.

The crowd was not happy.

Herbert was next and he was dominated the entire fight by ex-UFC veteran Jordan Radev. However, with a second left in the fight, Herbert connected with a huge right cross that knocked Radev out. The referee went to cover Radev up right as the bell rang and the ref turned to the judges who ruled in favor of Radev by unanimous decision. However, M-1 officials reviewed the the footage and saw that Radev fell to the floor before the bell rang and determined that the ref intervened to protect Radev because the fight couldn’t continue. The decision was reversed and Goodman was credited with the win. Chuck Grigsby put the Americans ahead 4-0 with a decision victory.

With USA East up 4-0 it was up to Kadillac to give the team a clean sweep. You could make the case that the fight was academic at that point considering USA East had clinched a team win. But with four divisions of four teams and just three regular season meets, individual victories were a key tie-breaker. And in hindsight, the fight proved to be important because USA East ended up making the post-season despite finishing the season tied in their division with Team Finland.

While Lloyd had agreed to fight that doesn’t mean he still wasn’t rattled. Kadillac was so nervous that he came out to the stage and began to walk the catwalk on the way to the ring before he was even announced. He had totally blown his cue and when his pyro went off, he was already in the ring. He clearly wanted to get the fight over with as quickly as possible and get the hell out of dodge.

The fight began and the two fighters just stood across from one another circling each other. They kept circling and circling… and then circled some more. I think and minute and a half went by without either fighter making contact. Finally the ref stepped in and issued BOTH fighters a yellowcard. Despite the instruction from the ref, neither was willing to engage each other. The crowd was pro-Team Bulgaria and quite vocal. Lloyd would later tell me he was worried about causing a riot if he had inflicted a lot of damage on the hometown hero.

Out of nowhere, the Bulgarian threw a lazy kick that Lloyd caught. He flipped the Bulgarian who fell on his back. All the while Lloyd held the leg in his hand. The Bulgarian was against the ropes and laid out flat with Lloyd in firm grasp of his leg. The leg lock was there for the obvious taking. You could see Lloyd think about it and I could swear he looked out at the crowd before he dropped down and cinched it in. Lloyd got the tap and went back to the locker room as quickly as he could.

In the end, it worked out perfectly for Lloyd. He got the win without inflicting any serious damage on his opponent. And despite losing 5-0, Team Bulgaria took the loss well and congratulated USA East backstage. They also invited USA East to come train with them the next day. The fighters considered that a strange request and some of them thought it was some kind of set up. But Lloyd and Chuck hung out with the Bulgarians that night and they said they were rather pushy about Lloyd and Chuck training with them the next day and explaining the moves they had used to beat them.

Kadillac and Chuck were concerned but also wanted to be nice at the same time. So they rolled with them the next day and apparently proceeded to tap to any kind of resistance they had felt because they didn’t know whether they were being set up or not.. The Bulgarian fighters were shocked at how easily they were handling the American fighters after losing 5-0 just the night prior. Kadillac explained “Hey, I guess you guys just had an off night.”

In hindsight, Chuck and Kadillac weren’t in any danger at that point. I would come to learn that in Europe, MMA is still very new. In most countries, MMA instructors really aren’t true mixed martial artist but a combat sports athlete who was a standout in a specific discipline. For example, a standout wrestler who competed on an Olympic level will go straight into MMA and do some fights and then come back home and open a gym. Guys like Lloyd and Chuck who have cross-trained with well known camps in the U.S. had knowledge that European fighters craved.

After the show was done, the Americans had an extra day to spend in Bourgas before we headed home. Everyone from the other countries flew out the next day so we had no security. The ten Americans who were left all hung out with each other. Dave and I were so eager to get home that we stayed up for 24 hours straight because we did not want to risk missing the bus to the airport and being stuck in Bulgaria and extra day.

That was the first time Joe and I had met Kadillac and he became an instant favorite of ours. Anyone who fights for us under the threat of bodily harm is alright in my book. That’s why when the commission in Kansas told us two days before the M-1 Challenge show at Joe’s arena this past June that Mike Ottman was off the show, Joe specifically asked Reed Wallace to get Kadillac. And when we put together the card for M-1 Breakthrough, Joe and I made sure that Lloyd was going to be on it. And while Joe and I don’t manage Lloyd, any time we hear of a good opportunity for him, we make sure to pass it on to him. As a promoter and matchamaker, you have to be loyal to a guy who has come through for us the way Kadillac has.

Despite some anxious moments, the trip was well worth it because I came away with the kind of stories that someone couldn’t even make up. And in the end, I made it home alive and in good enough condition to tell you this story.

Editor’s Note: Below is a video interview conducted with Lloyd Marshbanks in Bulgaria:

But for anyone that has known me for any length of time, they’ve known I’ve had great aspirations when it comes to being involved with the sport of mixed martial arts. Even as I was covering the sport of MMA, my ultimate goal was one that was much greater and I spent a lot of time preparing myself for a potential role change.

The change in roles began last year when I decided to form Combat Sports Media, a business-to-business consulting firm for MMA companies looking for an outsource solution. The plan was to help assist MMA-based companies with public relations, website content management, and even matchmaking.

That was the plan anyway and often times in life things rarely follow the vision that has been laid out. However, 2009 exceeded my wildest hopes and aspirations. Through M-1, I was able to assist in the promotion of shows in Bulgaria, Holland, Brazil, South Korea, and Japan.

It was on those trips that I began to form a strong friendship with Joe Kelly, the owner of the Titan Fighting Championships in Kansas City — one of the finest regional promotions in the U.S. Thanks to Joe and also John Doyle (much more on him later), I was able to accomplish my goal of getting involved with MMA as a matchmaker of record as opposed to just a guy people called when they wanted a second opinion on a fighter.

Usually when I would tell people my goal was to get into matchmaking, I would get a strange look, as if they were saying “Dude, you are a writer, what do you know about matchmaking?” But Joe was one of the first prominent people in the industry who took me seriously. When M-1 came to Kansas City last June, I not only was able to procure some U.S.-based fighters for the show but would ultimately serve as the matchmaker of record.

But just because I got to wear the matchmaker hat for a few seconds wouldn’t necessarily mean I would get to keep wearing it. That’s where John comes in.

You see, when I landed in Kansas City for the M-1 Challenge event last June, I thought my role regarding fighters was over and done with. In my mind, my role for the rest of the show would just be to handle PR-related matters. However, there was a brand new commissioner at the Kansas Athletic Commission and he was a lot different than the man he was proceeding. As it would turn out eight of the 15 planned fights had been flagged and were in jeopardy of being cut.

Our planned 15 bout show was in danger of being trimmed down to seven fights, which would have been a disaster since M-1′s main priority isn’t being a live event but rather being a taping for a television show that records three episodes at a time.

Joe and I had to scramble and work with Peter Howes of the commission to save as many fights as we good. Peter is a good guy and is very fair but he also believes fighter safety comes first and I can never fault him for that. Joe and I managed to save six of the eight bouts but there were two bouts we could not save. One of which was a bout between Team USA East’s Mike Ottman against Finland’s Toni Valtonen and a matchup between Team Turkey’s Abdullah Ahmady and the World Team’s Ryan Sturdy.

It turns out that Ottman was on medical suspension and when that happens, no amount of convincing is ever going to prevent a fighter from not competing. You either can get the fighter off medical suspension or you can’t and Joe and I could not.

The replacement for Ottman was an easy one. Joe told me to get Lloyd “Kadillac” Marshbanks and I contacted USA East manager Reed Wallace and asked him if we could work together to secure Lloyd. Despite an all night poker run and no sleep in 24 hours, Kadillac didn’t ask any questions and got right on a plane from San Diego to Kansas City, taking the fight on 36 hours notice.

The other situation was not so black and white, as Peter’s only concern was that Abdullah’s 3-0 record could not be verified on either Sherdog or MixedMartialArts.com. All Peter said he needed was some form of proof that Abdullah had been competing as a professional mixed martial artist.

Easy enough, right? Wrong.

Abdullah spoke limited English so communicating with him was not easy for him or us. We asked if he had any footage of his fights on YouTube? He did not. We asked if he could call his family back home and maybe have them e-mail us a scanned copy of some newspaper clippings talking about his fight? He could not. Joe and I did a number of Google searches trying to find any info we could supporting our assertion that Abdullah was a highly qualified professional mixed martial artist who deserved to be licensed by the state of Kansas. We couldn’t find anything!

Thursday (the day before the fight) came and Pete informed us that Abdullah would not be allowed to fight and it was in our best interest to secure a replacement if we had any hope of saving the fight. Joe gave me a list of gyms and managers in the Kansas City area for me to call in order to secure a local replacement. I called each and every single name on the list but nobody had a 205 lbs. fighter ready to compete on 24 hours notice against Sturdy, the Extreme Challenge middleweight champion. It wasn’t that there wasn’t anyone willing the help us but the reality was that there had been a major regional MMA show the week prior and with one scheduled the week after the M-1 event, every fighter in the area was committed to another show.

Joe told me he needed me to find someone nationally, which was no easy task considering there was just 24 hours until Friday’s event at the historic Memorial Hall. Not only did I have to find a fighter ready, willing, and able, but I’d have to handle all of the logistics such as negotiating the purse with his manager, getting everything cleared by M-1 and making sure Sturdy and his camp was okay with the last-minute change, getting the replacement on the plane as soon as possible, making sure the replacement was on weight, and getting all of the neccessary paperwork and medical clearance completed with the commission.

Through Ryan’s manager, Brian Butler, I was able to get Ryan into M-1. Ryan’s original opponent, Abdullah, was only 3-0 and not a well known fighter on the U.S. scene. Ryan’s camp really liked the matchup which is why they accepted M-1′s offer to compete on just seven days notice. Now their entire world had been flipped upside down and the person who brought them in was now trying to find a replacement opponent. It was an awkward situation for me but it’s a part of the game.

At the time, I wasn’t sure I’d even have a fight for Ryan. After all, the odds of finding a replacement on just 24 hours notice with no local options available weren’t that good. I had to think of a guy who would be crazy enough to hop on a plane right away with the intent on fighting on just 24 hours notice.

Did I know a fighter crazy enough? As a matter of fact, I did.

John Doyle began his pro MMA career with a 6-1 record and multiple regional light heavyweight titles. He was a blue chip prospect expected to make it big on the national stage. John and I had actually briefly trained at the same school in Philadelphia at Daddis Fight Camps even though I don’t think we said more than two words to each other when we were there. But I became a fan of John after a fight in Atlantic City against Brendan Barrett.

During that fight,John fell out of the ring early in the bout and with his head literally landing on the concrete floor. The Jersey commission rushed over to him to check him out and waved off the fight. John, with an incredulous look on his face began to argue with the commission. He couldn’t believe the commission wasn’t going to allow him to get back in the ring and continue the fight. Never mind the fact that John did a faceplant on the floor and potentially had suffered a concussion; his plan was to get back in and continue to fight and nobody should prevent that from happening.

John would further demonstrate his insanity — err toughness — a couple of years later. EliteXC had just recently signed a client of Ed Soares, former IFL heavyweight Rafael Cavalcante, more commonly known as “Feijao.” Feijao was a late addition to the “Street Certified” undercard and with ten days left until the event, EliteXC needed an “opponent” to match up with their new blue chip acquisition.

So who got the call? You guessed it, John Doyle. John really hadn’t been training at the time and was being asked to fight a guy who was a personal protege of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira that had been learning the finer points of Muay Thai from Anderson Silva. Most fighters would have turned the fight down out of principle but not John.

The unique part was that I was working the event as a part of the SHOWTIME production crew as a researcher. When John walked in for his pre-fight interview with the announce team, I made it a point to introduce myself because he clearly didn’t recognize me. I told him that I had trained at Daddis the same time as he did and I wished him good luck.

It was a great night for me personally, as I was given a once-in-a-lifetime chance to join Mauro Ranallo and Stephen Quadros in calling three fights during the undercard that was streamed on ProElite.com. However, it was a rough night for John, who ended up losing via first round TKO. Don’t worry though, this story has a happy ending.

So I had a feeling that a guy who wanted to keep fighting after falling out of a ring and slamming his head on the concrete floor who had also fought Feijao on ten days notice might also be crazy enough to accept a fight on 24 hours notice. I called John up and with almost no convincing, he took the fight. John’s trainer, Will Miranda, called me a few minutes later to ask some pertinent questions that John had neglected to ask and everything was worked out.

Next, we had to get John on a plane and to Kansas City for weigh-ins by Thursday night. Unfortunately, no flights from Philadelphia or Newark straight to Kansas City were available and the best we could do was get John into Kansas City by 11 p.m. Thankfully, Peter granted us a special waiver and said that as long as John weighed in at 205 lbs. the day of the event and passed his pre-fight medicals, he’d be cleared to fight. John decided he wanted to get a good night’s sleep and elected to fly in Friday morning and fight the same day.

John arrived at the Argosy Hotel and Casino on Friday morning and wanted to weigh-in so he could hit the buffet right away. The problem was the commission wasn’t available and wouldn’t be able to weigh-in John until 5 p.m. that day. John got on an unofficial scale and weighed 206 lbs.! That meant he might be able to drink some water during the day but that he wouldn’t be allowed to eat until after weighing in.

If John was angry about not being able to eat until 5, he didn’t let anyone know. He conducted himself like a professional and showed up to the arena and weighed in and underwent all his medicals. Ryan and his camp were also tremendous professionals throughout the entire crisis, as they accepted the bout against John on no notice even though he was a much tougher opponent than they had originally signed on for.

Both Ryan and John stepped up and had a two round war (the M-1 Challenge does not use three rounds unless a tie-breaking round is needed) that ended with Ryan getting a two round split decision victory. Personally, I felt the fight was tied 1-1 after two rounds and that a third round was warranted but I’m not a judge. Ryan and John both threw down and ended up winning “Fight of the Night” honors.

By John taking the fight on short notice and pairing with Ryan to have the best fight, I think Joe became convinced that I was more than just an MMA writer/PR guy. He realized I knew a few things about the sport and was able to pull fighters for a show even under the most hazardous of conditions.

For Joe, the show couldn’t have gone any better. USA East closed out the show against Team Finland but fell behind two fights to one. Light heavyweight Rodney Wallace, who would go on to compete in the UFC, ended up tying the score at 2-2, leaving the best-of-five series to be decided by Kadillac and Valtonen.

The Kadillac vs. Valtonen fight really deserves a column of its own instead of being slammed into this article as a sub plot. As documented by HDNet over the summer, Valtonen competed with an objectionable tattoo on his back that read “White Power.” He would be challenged by Kadillac, an affable 5’9” fighter weighing in at 245 lbs. who just happended to be African American.

The K.C. fight crowd is a smart one. They didn’t need anything spelled out for them. The tattoo was plain as day and the patriotic crowd wanted to see Lloyd get the win over the “White Power” guy and get U.S. the win on its home turf.

The fight started and Lloyd began to get pounded by Valtonen. I am not sure, but round one could have been a 10-8 round in favor of Valtonen. Round two was a little more competitive, but it started out in favor of Valtonen. But Lloyd withstood all of Valtonen’s offense and when Valtonen got tired, Lloyd began to dish out some punishment of his own. An All-American wrestler in High School, Lloyd got the fight to the ground and eventually caught Valtonen in a pretty nasty looking neck crank.

Neck cranks are funny things because they hurt a lot and it is the type of submission you might feel for a day or two after having it applied. But when I first started rolling, I was taught that there are certain submissions that might hurt a lot but you still don’t tap to them. A neck crank happened to be one of them. But Lloyd kept cranking and cranking.

The crowd realized that an improbable comeback was on the verge of taking place. Joe and I had been watching from an entrance area and we were getting pretty excited… it wasn’t so much that we were rooting for a fighter or against one, but as a promoter and matchmaker, you want the fans to go home happy. A win for USA East was going to ensure everyone left the building that night wanting to see more fights as Memorial.

And then suddenly there it was – THE TAP! Kadillac completed USA East’s thrilling 3-2 comeback victory over Team Finland and the “White Power” guy was forced to tap to a fighter who just happened to be African American. Vince McMahon had nothing on this show!

Despite all the hurdles that week, the show went very well with it still ranking as the most paid attendees for an M-1 Challenge event. A throng of fans that didn’t know who Lloyd was before the fight came down from the stands and down to the ring and began yelling “Kadillac!” Lloyd was busy for the next 45 minutes signing autographs, posing for pictures, and signing autographs.

While Lloyd was on top of the world, John wasn’t too happy about the loss. He was pretty dejected and believed he should have beaten Sturdy. You see, John rocked Ryan early and Ryan fell to the floor. Instead of making Ryan stand back up or trying to finish Ryan with ground and pound, John followed his wrestling instincts and went to the floor and got caught in Ryan’s guard, giving him time to recover. But based on John’s strong performance, I was able to get him a second M-1 fight in August at his more natural fighting weight of 185 lbs. Having trained hard, John put on a ground and pound clinic in Amsterdam and punished Richard Plug for ten straight minutes. After impressing people at M-1 for a second consecutive fight, John got the call later that same month against Karl Amoussou at “M-1 Breakthrough” in a nationally televised fight on HDNet. John lost the fight but the silver lining was that the fight represented the biggest payday of his career and John promptly reinvested some of the money and spent about six weeks in New Mexico training at Greg Jackson’s.

As a matchmaker now for three separate promotions, I look back to John’s willingness to step up vs. Ryan Sturdy for me on 24 hours notice and the performance put on as a major reason why I am currently living my dream of working in MMA talent relations on a full-time basis. Joe would later hire me as the Vice President of Talent Relations for the Titan Fighting Championships and has even gone so far as to make me a part owner. And at the end of February, my long-time dream of getting to matchmaker a fight card in my hometown city of Philadelphia will become a reality thanks to Jimmy Binns Jr. and Phil Migliarese and their brand new Matrix Fights promotion.

Last year was an amazing one for me on a professional level and if 2010 comes anywhere close, I’ll be a pretty happy man.

One of the more respected and authoritative voices out there to tackle the weight cutting topic was MMAjunkie.com special columnist Dr. Johnny Benjamin.

I respect Dr. Benjamin’s expertise and believe his recommendations come from a good place. And I am in no position to question the medical positions taken in the article. However, as someone who has worked behind the scenes in the industry in multiple roles, I do believe I can address some of the recommendations he has made from an MMA perspective.

As such, I wanted to address some of the recommendations made by Dr. Benjamin in his article that was published on Junkie this past Wednesday.

“All standard fight agreements must be signed at least 45 days prior to the scheduled event.”

This is a little idealistic. The fight game is an industry that is always in flux. The only thing that is consistent in MMA is inconsistency. Leading up to a fight, competitors are going to get cold feet and will incur injuries during training. The reality is that there will always be a need for last-minute replacements, which often creates less-than-ideal timelines for fighters to cut weight in a healthy fashion.

Major promotions like the UFC and Strikeforce could adopt such a policy and abide by it because their fight cards have depth. Losing a major fight hurts, but in most cases, both promotions have enough fights booked that the show could go on. However, smaller and mid-level promotions would have to cancel entire cards in certain situations if they were hit by a rash of injuries and could not seek out last-minute replacements.

Additionally, some smaller shows don’t even set their finalized card until three weeks out before an event.

“No fighter may enter into a fight agreement weighing greater than 10 percent over the agreed upon weight limit. For example, the agreed-upon weight is 171 pounds. Therefore, each fighter can weigh no more than 171 pounds + 10 percent (188 pounds total) to sign the fight agreement.”

In Dr. Benjamin’s defense, he clearly states that many of his recommendations are ones that can be implemented quickly or easily. However, I see some major flaws in this proposal and not sure this recommendation could ever feasibly be implemented.

First, it would cost a great deal to implement it. There is a cost to a promoter every time they work with a commission in promoting an event. Inspectors are part-time government workers that must be compensated for their services. There is a cost to hold a day-before or day-of weigh-in and by essentially creating another weigh-in procedure, you add to the costs of putting on an event. More costs in promoting event could cause a lot of smaller promotions to fold, greatly reducing the number of opportunities a fighter has to get exposure and experience.

I am making a leap in suggesting that commission officials be involved with enforcing that fighters cannot weight greater than 10 percent over the agreed upon weight limit, but who else can we trust to ensure a fighter’s weight is accurate? Sorry, but the honor system won’t cut it.

Additionally, I am not sure how this recommendation would help. If you tell a fighter he has to weigh 188 lbs. in order to sign to compete at a weight contested at 171 lbs., it creates a scenario if he is over 188 lbs., he will simply cut to 188 and balloon back to his normal weight once he re-hydrates. So now you’ve created two weigh-cutting days: the 30-day weight cut in addition to the day-before weight cut.

“On the official day of weigh-in, if a fighter is more than 1 percent overweight, the fight cannot take place. Since the promoter is the employer, the promoter will be fined by the sanctioning body.”

A promoter cannot be held accountable for a fighter not making weight. Perhaps you can hold a fighter accountable for promoting a fight in which a fighter is more than 1 percent overweight. However, how is that fair to the opponent who made weight? What if the fighter who made weight and trained for 10-12 weeks is still willing to take the fight if financial arrangements can be made?

I don’t know of many promoters that would compensate a fighter in full if their fight was canceled due to the fact that they weren’t in a position to allow a last-minute catchweight fight from occurring. Some promoters might be kind enough to give the fighter who made weight their guarantee, but no promoter is going to give a win bonus.

“On the official day of weigh-in, if a fighter is less than 1 percent overweight, he or she can be given additional time to make weight. If on the second weigh-in, the fighter remains overweight, a financial penalty can be levied and paid to the on-weight fighter, at his or her discretion.”

Give a fighter a pound, and they will take a pound. If a fighter competing at 171 lbs. knows they can cut to 173 and change the day before, re-hydrate a bit, and then cut a little more the next day, they might be tempted to intentionally try and use it as a loophole.

Additionally, such a scenario could allow a fighter to also intentionally play psychological warfare on an opponent who made weight the day before. When a fighter shows up at the weigh-in and they see their opponent, they get “into the zone.”

Once both fighters make weight and the faceoff happens, they enter into what I call “the quiet before the storm” phase. The fighter re-hydrates and eats and begins to try and put as much weight back on as possible. They offer enter into a relaxed state. However, if their opponent fails to make weight and there is uncertainty whether they will be fighting the next day, this can cause a great deal of anxiety for a fighter. Usually, the uncertainty doesn’t last all that long and the fighter goes to bed the night before the fight knowing their fate. However, I couldn’t imagine trying to sleep the night before a scheduled fight not knowing whether I would be competing the next day.

“All weigh-in dates (bout agreement day and 30-day check) will be video monitored by live computer webcam and recorded. Each camp will watch the other camp calibrate the scale and weigh in over live video webcam stream (Skype). The sanctioning body will monitor the weigh-in in a similar fashion.”

With all due respect to Dr. Benjamin, the notion of a weigh-in taking place without a commission official in person is one that I find disturbing. I’ve worked shows and have been present at weigh-ins where fighters have tried to cheat the scales with a commission official standing right before them. Yes, there are little tricks that a fighter with the help of his cornerman can use to manipulate a scale while they are standing on it. I shudder to think what type of chicanery would take place with video weigh-ins.

The reality is that while the current system that exists for weight cutting is imperfect, it’s the most logistically feasible. MMA is a real sport and not some circus sideshow. And like with any other sport, every true competitor is going to explore every way possible to get an edge on the competition. Set a guideline, and someone will always invent a way to circumvent the system and exploit it.

Some State commissions have tried to cut down on extreme weight cutting in MMA by implementing same-day weigh-ins. Personally, I hate this concept because fighters are still going to cut weight. By making them weigh-in the same day as their fight, you’ve created more hurdles for them to cut a lot of weight, but you’ve also decreased the time they have to re-hydrate. Additionally, you give a fighter who decides to “punt” (i.e. deliberately not doing everything in their power to make weight) more leverage in trying to force their opponent to accept a catchweight (because a promoter has no time to find a replacement).

The only true way to cut down on extreme weight cutting is a solution the vast majority of MMA fans don’t want to hear about: more weight classes. Boxing is a sport with weight requirements in which extreme weight cutting is not as prevalent as it is in MMA. My theory is that this is because the disparity in weight between divisions in boxing is not as great as they are in MMA. Am I saying there should be as many weight classes in MMA as there are in boxing? Most certainly not. However, with more and more athletes taking up the sport of MMA, it might not be a bad idea to explore the addition of one or two new weight classes to help bridge the gap between the 185 lbs., 205 lbs. and heavyweight divisions.

The 20 lbs. gap between middleweight and light heavyweight is huge. I am not so sure the notion of adding a cruiserweight class with a minimum weight of 186 lbs. and 200 lbs. while making a new light heavyweight class between 201 lbs. and 220 lbs. is a bad one. By adding a cruiserweight division, you not only eliminate the 20 lbs. gap between middleweight and light heavyweight, but the 65 lbs. gap between light heavyweight and heavyweight.

The other avenue to explore is stricter discipline enforced by the commission in regards to a fighter who fails to make weight. In the eyes of many, a fighter is only as good as their last fight. A strong performance after failing to make weight can makes fans and promoters overlook that winning fighter had an unfair advantage. If a fighter fails to make weight, give his or her opponent an option to accept a catchweight. However, once the fight is over, why not suspend the fighter that failed to make weight for 4-6 months? Additionally, if a fighter is a repeat offender of failing to make a specific weight, why not ban them from being licensed to fight in that division?

The flawed judging of Cerrone vs. Henderson comes on the heels of published reports about questionable scoring in the Javier Vazquez vs. Deividas Taurosevicius featherweight preliminary bout from earlier in the night and of course, Mike Easton’s controversial decision victory over Chase Beebe at the UWC last weekend.

Judging MMA is not an exact science in comparison to point sparring in some traditional martial arts or Olympic Boxing where point values are assigned to specific moves that are executed during the course of a match. In MMA, with the 10 point must system, an impartial judge is supposed to watch a round and award the ten points to the fighter the judge perceives as the winner. The loser of the round can get anywhere between 1-9 points, depending on how well he or she fared.

In the past, I’ve read articles where pundits have claimed the 10 point must system is flawed. I’ve read these complaints but very often have not seen a solution to remedy the situation. From my perspective, the 10-point must is really the only way to score MMA. An MMA fight has too many disciplines incorporated into its style and the fights move too fast.

In an ideal world you could say a jab equals one point, a right cross equals two, a takedown equals three, a submission attempt equals four, a knockdown equals five, etc. But even if such a system were adopted, it would cause even more problems and be even more subjective than the current 10 point must. For example, there would be a huge debate as to whether a submission attempt should be equal or greater in value than a knockdown. Also, you’d still be relying on human judgment — what if a judge blinks and misses a clean jab and doesn’t award the point while the other two judges do?

As long as there is a human element, there will always be questions about judging. Even in grappling tournaments where the scoring is not subjective and point values are assigned, there are still many arguments in regard to when points should be awarded. For example, a grappler will receive points for holding a dominant position if they can achieve the poisition and keep their opponent in it for more than a few seconds. I’ve witnessed many arguments during actual grappling bouts as to whether a guard pass was held long enough to be awarded points.

So from my perspective, the ten point must should stay. It’s some of the judges and officials who have not been properly educated in the many disciplines that comprise MMA that need to go. In the past, I’ve written articles for this site as a columnist/reporter but now write this editorial as a licensed matchmaker in the states of Kansas in Pennsylvania. My objective journalism days are over but having worked on shows both big and small from behind the scenes in many states in the U.S. and all over the world, I feel I can offer some valuable insight.

I’ve pointed out the problems, so now let me point of some of the solutions.

1) Get rid of the “old boys” network – Because of the position I now serve in, I have to walk a fine line with my constructive critcism. I am dependent on the commissions in order to earn a living. At the same time, I want to see the sport of MMA improve and grow. While not getting into specifics, I can honestly tell you that I’ve been around several commissions in which some of the inspectors, judges, and referees simply were not qualified to hold the position of power they held.

How do judges, inspectors, and referees get hired, you ask? Well, they are usually appointed by an executive director of a commission. However, applications are usually not neccessary, as a commissioner will often rely on a network of associates they have worked with in the past. Such a hiring practice can either be a blessing or a curse.

A commissioner has a high-pressure job. They are employees of the state that have been appointed by a publicly elected official. The revenue performance of their department is monitored by a government oversight committee. A sports athletic department has to earn its keep and must maintain a clean program. Any sins committed by a subordinate is a reflection of the executive director. And in high-pressure situations, there is a tendency to work with people you’ve dealt with on some level in the past so that you can eliminate as many uncertain variables as possible.

What you have in many situations when it comes to the hiring of referees, medical personnel, judges, and inspectors is the “old boys network.” Friends and acquaintences are being hired because they are familiar to the person who has the weight of the world in accountability on their shoulders. Sometimes this system works if the commissioner has qualified friends. Other times this method of hiring is a complete disaster if their friends aren’t qualified.

The reality is that I’ve been approached by several people in the past who had the desire to become judges and or referees. In some cases, I felt these people could be an asset to the sport. I’ve referred them to specific athletic commissions and have received followup communication from some of these people informing me that they can’t even get their calls returned.

In some cases, an unqualified judge or referee gets their job because of who they know and they keep that position because of a long-standing friendship with the person in charge of hiring and firing personnel. Until the hiring practices of many commissions around the U.S. becomes more open, you’re going to see a continuation of ineffective or unqualified personnel being hired to serve in crucial positions. To me, that’s not fair to a fighter. I have seen too many fights recently where the contest hasn’t been a case of one-on-one, but rather two-on-one when you factor in a bad official into the mix. Introduce a poor judging crew, and sometimes a fighter finds themselves in a situation where it is 5-on-1.

2) Reach out to former MMA fighters and encourage them to become referees, judges, and inspectors - When I first started writing, I ignorantly believed that most MMA judges were former boxing judges. That wasn’t entirely incorrect, as it was only half-true. The reality is that when I speak to many judges, more often than not I find that their backgrounds are in traditional martial arts — most specifically, Karate. Many judges and referees actually have their roots in point sparring. As someone who used to be a participant in point sparring tournaments, I can tell you that comparing point sparring to full-contact MMA is like comparing apples to oranges.

But you’ve got to start somewhere, right? I mean, you can’t just hire a random fan who sends in an application and then say, “Wow, you’ve watched every UFC since 1993 and you clearly know your MMA — here’s a striped shirt, we’ll see you in the cage next Friday.” As a commissioner, you want to hire people that have some sort of track record of officiating a combat sport of some kind. But the issue I have is that going from point sparring to MMA — or boxing for that matter — is too big of a leap. What we need in this sport are judges and referees that are true MMA people.

So how to you get more “true MMA people” involved in the sport? Simple, reach out to former fighters and encourage them to go to semifars and get certified by people such as John McCarthy and Doc Hamilton. Once they are certified, the states should bring them on as volunteer employees and reach out to local MMA gyms and allow them to referee and judge smokers. Have commission officials present and evaluate their performance. If someone makes the grade, allow them to start working all-amateur shows and if they continue to make the grade, promote them to pro shows.

How many times have we seen a referee fail to recognize a fighter had been choked unconscious? Who better to understand and recognize what truly is transpiring in an MMA fight than someone who has actually competed in an MMA fight?

3) Use a national MMA registry for certification - In speaking to some of the people I’ve referred to athletic commissions that have gotten a call back, they’ve told me that they were told to attend seminars for Karate officials and to get certified as a point sparring official and then begin to work point sparring tournaments and work their way up the ladder. Not to beat a dead horse, but point sparring credentials mean very little to me when you are talking about making the transition to MMA. My advice would be to render certifications in Karate, Kung Fu, and Tae Kwon Do officiating as irrelevant when seeking application to become an MMA official.

The only certification that should be recognized is that from a qualified MMA official. A national registry of qualified MMA officials whose certifications are recognized by major athletic bodies should be created. Furthermore, the standards of MMA certification should be written out and regulated by the ABC. In some cases, someone can be certified following a two-day seminar. It should take more hours than that to receive a formal certification.

Certification standards should be explored and a standard should be written and enforced. When I was a Real Estate agent, I had to go through a six week course to get licensed and pass a series of stringent testing in the state of Pennsylvania. In MMA, where people’s lives are at stake, such stringent certification standards should be adopted as well.

4) Have a national body grade and rate officials and judges – Those who ignore history are destined to repeat it. When it comes to some of the biggest travesties committed in the sport, it is the usual suspects making the same mistakes over and over. Even the best judge or referee can have an off night. But what about repeat offenders? Why are they not held accountable for a pattern of poor performance? It’s because there is no known formal system in place to evaluate the performance of judges and referees.

In the NFL and MLB, officials and umpires are graded on a game-by-game basis. Those who have the highest grades at the end of the season are chosen to preside over post-season play. Those that grade out the poorest are replaced at the end of the season by those who are rated at the top of the class in either the NBDL or Class AAA. Why can’t a similar system be put in place for MMA?

So there you have it folks, my four suggestions on how to possibly improve the current level of MMA officiating and judging in America. Are my ideas completely feasible and realistic? Hard to say for certain, but at least it’s a start. Pointing out the problem is no longer enough, we need to start coming up with sound solutions.

As an aside, I would also like to congratulate Dave Jansen on his victory last night against Richard Crunkilton. My consulting company, Combat Sports Media, has worked with M-1 in the past and I was able to work with Dave from a public relations perpsective. He is an outstanding talent who worked hard to get his shot at the WEC. As great of a fighter he is, he’s also just as great of a person. There’s nothing better than seeing a fighter who works their tail off receive an opportunity at the big-time and then see that fighter make the most of it. Congrats Dave!

Another fighter who worked hard to get his opportunity on the big show is Indiana native Shamar Bailey. Public reports surfaced yesterday that Shamar will be taking on TUF alum John Kolosci on the Nov. 7 undercard of the Fedor vs. Rogers event to be televised on CBS. In recent months, I have gotten a chance to know Shamar a little bit. At 11-1, this opportunity has been a long time coming for him. Remember the name Shamar Bailey because he’s going to be a force in the Strikeforce welterweight division for years to come. Shamar is managed by FiveOuncesOfPain.com columnist Mike Camp of F1 Management. Mike is one of the true good guys in this sport so congratulations are in order for him as well.

What's next for Kimbo Slice? Sam Caplan says it should be a showdown with Chuck Liddell.

During a recent interview with Greg Savage of Sherdog.com, UFC President Dana White responded to a question about the promotion’s growing number of shows and whether they have enough marquee talent to headline the shows by saying he has plenty of headliners.

While the UFC has its fair share of stars that can carry a pay-per-view such as B.J. Penn, Georges St. Pierre, Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida, Brock Lesnar, Tito Ortiz and Randy Couture, you can never have too many drawing cards in your deck.

One of the UFC’s biggest drawing cards over the years has been Chuck Liddell. However, with four losses in his last five fights, it is believed his ability to draw buyers to pay-per-view has diminished. However, that’s a perception that has yet to be verified, as we do not know the official amount of buys Liddell’s recent fights have drawn.

But let’s just say the “Iceman” isn’t the star he once was, the reality is that he still remains one of the most recognizable fighters in all of MMA. And now, thanks to his current stint on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, Liddell’s stardom continues to grow while he skills diminish.

While White has made it clear he would prefer that Liddell retire, the UFC Hall of Famer has one more fight left on his current UFC deal. Liddell has confirmed his hiatus from MMA, but has yet to officially announce his retirement from the sport.

Will Liddell ever challenge for the UFC light heavyweight title? Unlikely. But does he still have a few strong PPV buys left in him? If the matchup is right, absolutely.

And what’s the right matchup?

None other than Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson.

During the taping of the eleventh season of The Ultimate Fighter, rumors swirled that Slice had lost early on in the show to former IFL heavyweight champion Roy Nelson. Initially, the rumors didn’t appear logical because many — myself included — speculated that the UFC and Spike TV would manipulate the show so that Kimbo didn’t fight until the seventh or eighth episode.

The reality is that TUF is really reality — there was no TV magic of any kind performed. Kimbo not only fought early in the season, he fought the tournament’s unofficial number one seed.

Well, maybe I spoke too soon, as there was some magic performed during last night’s show. The magic I am speaking of is none other than Dana White’s marvelous spin job regarding the ending of last night’s fight and his closing comments on Kimbo.

Sorry to use a professional wrestling reference, but White’s 180 degree full fledged flip would have been like Bobby “The Brain” Heenan turning from heel to face and siding with Hulk Hogan — a scenario that never actually transpired.

If I didn’t know any better, it would seem that White has joined Team Kimbo. And why shouldn’t he? Dana is a businessman and Kimbo is a stone cold star. I had the opportunity to work with Kimbo while involved with several CBS and Showtime productions. Kimbo probably wouldn’t recognize me if he saw me, but he left a tremendous impression on me. Despite the playing the role of the thug to perfection in the public eye, the Kimbo I was exposed to behind the scenes was a nice, kind, and gentle soul. The producers of TUF did a marvelous job of showing that side of Kimbo last night.

Kimbo might have lost but the masterful marketing job performed by the UFC and Spike TV last night ensures that he has at least one big UFC fight in him. If Roy Nelson goes on to the finals and ends up winning, there might not be much shame in Kimbo having lost to the winner of TUF’s eleventh season.

Kimbo and Chuck still have some drawing power left in them but their respective shelf-lives could be close to expiration. Both fighters may only have one marketable performance left in them. Timing is everything in life and business and opportunity is knocking on the UFC’s door.

While rumors persist that Kimbo will get at least one official fight under the UFC banner (remember, Dana says a fighter is not a UFC fighter until they make it past TUF), possibly at the TUF finale or at UFC 107, I think the smartest move out there is to automatically pass go and go straight to a PPV headlined by Liddell vs. Kimbo.

That’s right, I want to see Liddell vs. Kimbo and I want to see it in the first quarter of 2010 (Super Bowl weekend anyone?) after Liddell has completed his stint on Dancing with the Stars and after we will know for sure whether Kimbo lost to the eventual winner of TUF 11.

I am sure the MMA purists and hardcores are going to react in unison to my cry for Liddell vs. Kimbo with a collective “Thanks, but no thanks” but Liddell and Kimbo as individual both possess undeniable charisma. Project them on a collision course towards each other and the potential and kinetic energy would provide off the charts measurements.

Remember, Chuck has a loyal fanbase that will continue to follow him despite the fact he’s lost four out of his last five fights. And Kimbo has a fanbase of his own that many MMA hardcores often forget transcends the typical MMA viewer.

MMA is a sport but like any other sport, it is a business. The UFC will be able to put on a lot of great fights in the next 12-14 months, but how many blockbusters do they currently have in the pipeline? Chuck vs. Kimbo is a blockbuster, whether you want to acknowledge that fact or not. Put the two together in the Octagon and people will pay in droves to see the spectacle. It would be the type of spectacle that even the bout’s harshest critics would likely still pay to see.

In the past, the UFC mocked EliteXC for what it considered freak show fight cards built around Kimbo. But the seal has been broken and for better or for worse, the UFC is officially in the Kimbo business. And now that the seal has been broken, you might as well make as much money with him while you can.

While I wouldn’t call Chuck vs. Kimbo a freak show fight, I would call is a sideshow special attraction. But does every fight have to have top ten implications? What’s wrong with out-of-the-box promoting every now and then and having a little fun? When Matt Hughes fought Royce Gracie, was that a bout with title implications? Was it a fight in which the top ten welterweight rankings were going to be impacted, since it was at a catchweight?

The answer to both questions are an obvious no but many of you reading this column bought that PPV. I know I did. And the crazy thing was that there wasn’t a shred of doubt in my mind about who was going to win that fight. Yet I can’t remember a time in which I’ve ever been so excited to see a fight in which I was already certain of the outcome.

I see Liddell vs. Kimbo possessing many of the same attributes that Hughes vs. Gracie fight brought: a fight that was pure fun and entertainment.

A year ago, Chuck vs. Kimbo would have been a tough sell — er, wait, no, it would have been an easy sell. But now, it becomes an even easier sell. Kimbo lost last night but he didn’t completely embarass himself and on some levels, is “UFC certified.” And having lost four out of his last five, Liddell is no longer viewed as the unbeatable force he once was. Believe it or not, because Kimbo has been built up as a big hitter and because many of Chuck’s recent losses have ended via brutal KO, there is going to be a segment of the population that believes Kimbo has a puncher’s chance to beat Chuck.

And if the bout was held at a catchweight of 220 lbs., that makes selling the drama that much easier as Chuck will have to come up in weight and give up a marginal size advantage against Kimbo.

Putting Kimbo on the TUF Finale would be a good move because if you picked the right opponent, you could draw ratings that could rival Tito vs. Ken III. Put him as an undercard attraction on a December PPV, and he will definitely enhance the buys. But the best business move for the UFC is to put Liddell and Kimbo in a headlining bout on PPV and give it the full UFC promotional push complete with commercials, a press tour, countdown shows, and maybe even another run of UFC Primetime.

I’m sure this column is going to generate a lot of response — both positive and negative — but the one question I want you to ask yourself is: would you pay to see Kimbo Slice vs. Chuck Liddell?

Sam Caplan is back with another self-serving look into his less-than ordinary life, which includes his wife just having got back from Thailand in preparation for her Aug. 28 pro MMA debut.

It’s never a good idea to write when you’re sleep deprived. There’s a tendency to sometimes say things you shouldn’t say. Then again, that might make for an interesting read for everyone?

As some of you may or may not know, I am no longer an active editorial influence in regards to FiveOuncesOfPain.com. I started a new company called Combat Sports Media and our business model is to work with mixed martial arts companies in the industry as a third-party provider of services. We do public relations for M-1 and other clients; operate M-1Global.com; provide production notes and research to Showtime; work with a small but growing group of fighters to help find them exposure and sponsorship; and more.

Combat Sports Media is still the parent owner of FiveOuncesOfPain.com and thanks to CSM Chief Technical Officer David Andrest and 5 Oz. manager editor Cory Brady, we’re not only pulling all of this off but we’re moving forward on some big things for the future. Stay tuned.

So yeah, I’ve turned to the dark side. I went from being on the outside to the inside. For now, my days of being an objective journalist are over. But as a friend recently told me, “At least you’re up front about it and not one of the many MMA writers these days trying to masquerade as bastions of journalistic integrity.”

As such, this column is about trying to inform and entertain. If I miss the mark, sorry, but I’ve slepped a total of four hours in the past 36 hours.

Pursuing a full-time career in MMA is truly a roller coaster ride. It’s a metaphor that gets used a lot but I don’t think people realize just how crazy this business is. My job these days consist of putting out fires and as soon as those fires are put out, a new blaze has started. My job is stressful and chaotic… but you know what? I wouldn’t change it for the world. Stable companies in MMA are few and far between and I’ve met a lot of talented people in my time who have worked for companies and when those companies went away, they never got a second chance. Everybody wants to work in MMA but there are only so many slots available.

Every day I wake up to a new set of problems that have to be solved and that’s the life of anyone in MMA who is a fighter, manager, matchmaker, executive, regulator, etc. I’ve been involved in quite a few different endeavors and none are as stressful as what I am doing now. But while I’ve never had a job as stressful as this one, I’ve never had as much fun.

I’ve got a lot of things going on right now. Some I can discuss publicly, some I cannot. Much of my lack of sleep is due to assisting M-1 during the Affliction “Trilogy” cancellation as well as the decision to move “Breakthrough” to Kansas City; working with Cory in providing Showtime with new production notes as changes are made to the Aug. 15 show; organizing a group of three fighters to represent USA East in the M-1 Challenge this weekend in Amsterdam; and managing my wife’s fighting career.

The changes to “Breakthrough” have generated some negative feedback but nothing is ever for certain in the MMA business. M-1 had an issue with a partner in LA and then had an issue with a main event. Some promotions would have folded their tents and went home and told the fighters they were SOL. But M-1 is honoring its word to the fighters, sponsors, and TV partner by working day and night to make sure “Breakthrough” goes off. You think the company would get some credit for saving the event instead of bailing but I guess there are just a lot of UFC-loyalists who can’t get over the fact that Fedor Emelianenko signed with Strikeforce instead of the UFC.

For those who don’t intend to watch “Breakthrough” free of charge on HDNet, that’s a shame. You’re going to miss out on the U.S. debut of Mo Lawal — a man who will be a top five pound-for-pound fighter in the world within the next 16-24 months. You also won’t get to see two of the best fighters you may have never heard of: Karl “Psycho” Amoussou and Lucio Linhares.

Karl is the next Wanderlei Silva and if you don’t believe me, watch this higlight video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWSXhIgZ294. And Lucio? Man, he’s proof that it isn’t about how good you are, it’s about how visible you are. Believe me when I tell you this, Linhares is capable of beating 70% of the fighters in the UFC and that’s no joke.

Anyway, I am looking forward to “Breakthrough” and I will actually be going out to Kansas City to help with the event as soon as I get back from Amsterdam and the M-1 Challenge. I’ve met some major scumbags in this business and I’ve also met some awesome people as well. Titan Entertainment President Joe Kelly, who is also M-1 Global’s Vice President of Live Events is one of those people. It’ll be great getting to work under Joe for 11 days leading up to the event.

Ensuring “Breakthrough” is a success will be no easy task. We’re not doubt behind the eight-ball but despite what some people would like you to believe, there are a lot of talented people in M-1 who are working around the clock right now. But because M-1 isn’t the UFC, people simply want to write the company off. There’s just so much stuff out there that simply isn’t true. The thing that I don’t quite understand are the bloggers who question why M-1 doesn’t have a promoter’s license.

First, Joe Kelly, a Vice President with M-1, is a licensed promoter in the state of Kansas and has been promoting boxing and MMA shows for over 10 years. But regardless, people fail to understand the M-1 business model. M-1 is truly a global company running shows all over the world. Because of this, M-1 finds local partners to help assist in promoting events. In Brazil, we worked with an awesome Gi company called Naja; in South Korea we work with one of the most respected businessmen in the community; when we did a show in England last year, we worked with the lads from Cage Warriors; so on and so forth.

Regarding “Breakthrough” in LA, we never applied for a license because we work with Roy Engelbrecht, one of the most experienced promoters you’ll find in the U.S. Roy was the promoter of record for both Affliction shows. Did anyone ever question why Affliction never applied for a promoter’s license? Do people realize that there are major promotions in the U.S. right now that also partner with local promoters?

M-1 wasn’t turned away in Oklahoma or Nevada. When we lost LA, we explored multiple options. We never fully decided on what option we were going to go with, so why would we pay for a promoter’s license? As someone who is familiar with the licensing process, you don’t just throw large sums of money down for a license unless you know you will be putting it to use.

But enough with the negative and onto he positive. One of the cool things about “Breakthrough” is that Joe is adding local ticket sellers to the non-televised undercard. There are a couple of local Kansas City female fighters he wants on the show. And guess who has been asked to compete? My wife. New readers have no idea about my wife’s fighting background but long-time readers remember by blogs last year about her daily trials and tribulations of being a full-time fighter. A lot of people really enjoyed the candid writing I did while others just wanted me to shut up and slave away on the phones all day and break stories for their amusement.

But for those that care, my wife is not only back from ACL surgery but she’s better than before. Her and her striking coach at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu United just got back from the Simbi Muay Thai training center in Phukett and my wife is ready to kill someone. For her, Aug. 28 can’t come soon enough. Because she was gone for three weeks, she will be coming to Amsterdam with me and USA East fighters John Doyle and Shamar Bailey (by the way, special thanks to Choke Out Poker for sponsoring John and Shamar). Holland is just an amazing country and I can’t wait to go and watch 30 fights in one weekend. The only downside is that by being in Amsterdam, I can’t be in San Jose to watch Gina Carano vs. Cris Cyborg. But you damn well better believe I’ll be watching that early Sunday morning thanks to Showtime’s premium web stream.

Another downside is that I will be working most of the time and won’t get to see much of my wife even though she’ll be on the trip. But being married to a fighter has its perks because she’s quite okay with not getting to spend much time with me on the trip. Some of the greatest kickboxers in the world call Holland home and my wife is planning on getting some good training in at the M-1 training center. M-1 has been super cool and is trying to arrange things so that my wife can train with one of her favorite fighters, Cindy Dandois.

A lot of people feel when I speak about my wife that I am going into self-promotion mode… and you know what? Those people are right. But my wife has made so many sacrifices in allowing me to pursue my dream of having a full-time career in MMA and I am going to do the same for her. It would be one thing if she was a tomato can who couldn’t fight — but my wife is a legitimate fighter who will be breaking into the big-time before you know it. Aug. 28 is just the beginning, as we have a lot of fight offers coming in. We’ve got an awesome gym behind us with BJJ United and an amazing trainer in Jared Weiner so Andria is ready for whatever is going to come her way.

So much is going on that I barely even have time to write about UFC 101. One cool thing about not being a reporter/columnist anymore is that I don’t have to always work an event. I can go back to the old days and kick back and drink a few adult beverages while watching some fights! I’m a Philly person true and true and I never thought I would live to see the day in which the UFC would promote an event in Philadelphia. But this Saturday I got to experience it with my wife and son and it was surreal seeing legalized fighting inside Philly city limits.

Despite some lackluster fights, I still had an amazing time. The UFC simply knows how to do MMA right and the last two fights made up for some of the slower-paced fights earlier in the night. What can I possibly say about Anderson Silva and B.J. Penn that hasn’t already been said? But in typical Philly fashion, one of the best fights of the night didn’t take place inside the cage, but outside of it. You might have heard some loud cheering during the Kendall Grove vs. Ricardo Almeida fight but the cheers weren’t for the fight but rather a huge brawl that seemingly went on for 5-7 minutes. I was up in a luxury suite but I still someone get dropped with a major haymaker. It was so good that I felt Dana should have awarded the guy the UFC “Knockout of the Night” bonus. But Philly is a crazy town and we sure do enjoy fighting. Whether it is boxing, pro wrestling, or MMA, Philadelphians support violence. And no, I am not particularly proud of it but this is my home.

I’ve ranted for quite some time in this piece and I am trying to find a cute to wrap this entry up and tie it into a neat bow but I’ve got another crazy day ahead of me tomorrow (lots of production note writing and need to work out with John Doyle at BJJ United before we head to Amsterdam) and it’s time to get some sleep. I might be working like a mad man but all I can say is right now, my life doesn’t suck.

Sources informed FiveOuncesOfPain.com late Wednesday night that the Team Quest product received his formal release from the UFC shortly after losing via first round submission to Nick Osipczak during this past Saturday’s live finale for the ninth season of The Ultimate Fighter.

Lester qualified for TUF 9 as a member of Dan Henderson’s U.S. team after recording a first round TKO against Kiel Reid. However, he was eliminated from the competition in episode six after being submitted by James Wilks, the show’s eventual welterweight winner, following an armbar at 3:06 of round 2.

He would be given a second chance to advance in the competition after UFC President Dana White ruled that Jason Pierce would not be allowed to continue in the competition. Facing Dave Faulkner from the Team UK, Lester fought well and forced a third and final round. Lester advanced to the next stage of the competition after Faulkner was too tired to compete in the “sudden victory” portion of the fight.

Lester would once again face Wilks in the semifinals. For the second fight in a row, Lester forced a fight to go to “sudden victory” but he would not be as fortunate as he was against Faulkner after getting TKO’d by Wilks due to knees.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com has learned from sources that the WEC has engaged in preliminary talks to make a match between number one contender Donald Cerrone and up-and-coming prospect Benson Henderson with an interim 155 pound title at take.

The WEC has yet to confirm the potential matchup and an exact date has not been determined as of yet.

Cerrone, 10-1, has been patiently awaiting a rematch with Varner since losing a technical split decision on Jan. 25 at 3:10 of round 5. The tightly contested bout was shortened after an illegal foul brought a premature conclusion to the bout and sent the outcome to the hands of the judges before the round had completed.

Looking to stay active, Cerrone took a fight vs. James Krause at WEC 41 earlier this month and submitted Krause with a rear naked choke at 4:38 of round 1.

Meanwhile, Henderson improved to 9-1 overall and 2-0 in the WEC following April’s first round TKO over former NCAA All-American Shane Roller at WEC 40. Henderson finished the talented prospect with punches at just 1:41 following the opening bell. The win proceeded his impressive WEC debut at WEC 38 in January that ended in victory for Henderson following a guillotine choke submission of Anthony Njokuani at 0:42 of round 2.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com was contacted by a manager on Wednesday night who spoke on the condition of anonymity and stated that he recently received an e-mail indicating that additional clothing sponsors have been added to the UFC’s list of banned companies.

Five Ounces of Pain was able to obtain an e-mail distributed by the UFC’s legal department that now lists Dethrone, One More Round, and Rolling Stone as a list of sponsors that will not be approved for UFC 100 on July 11. Unacceptable sponsors for UFC 100 also online Poker sponsors Full Tilt Poker, Ultimate Bet, and Party Poker.

Clothing sponsors that are approved for UFC 100 include Cage Fighter, MMA Authentic, Familia Gladitoria and MMA Elite. The source added that several clothing sponsors have indicated that they were contacted recently by the UFC and informed that in order to have the ability to sponsor a UFC fighter during a UFC-promoted event that they would have to pay a $100,000 fee to the UFC for the right to sponsor a fighter.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com contacted several other managers and agents who represent UFC fighters and they reaffirmed every detail brought forth by the original source.

Based on the details provided, certain clothing companies may have to pay the UFC an unofficial licensing fee to have the ability to utilize the UFC’s telecasts to market their product. All sources contacted for this article expressed a great deal of concern regarding their ability to generate income for their fighters.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com attempted to contact the UFC but messages left on voicemail as well as e-mail were not immediately returned.

Having been a fan of PRIDE, I’ve always had an appreciation for the ring but understood why so many promotions have elected to brand around the cage, especially those with television deals.

From a marketing perspective, going with a cage as the combat sports contraption of choice makes more sense than a ring since MMA is so easily identifiable with a six-sided or eight-sided cage.

If you are channel surfing and see a ring, you might not immediately be certain whether you are watching MMA, boxing, kickboxing, or even pro wrestling. But when you see that imposing looking structure with an even amount of sides, there is no mistaking what’s on the tube.

Take television out of the equation and analyze things from a strictly grass roots perspective, the cage still sells. After all, how can you advertise “extreme cagefighting” on your poster without a cage?

There are also practical reasons for using the cage. For one, it makes for a better fight. Unless a promotion is using a big ring, there often isn’t enough of a surface for a wrestler or jiu-jitsu specialist to implement the full range of their game. In a small ring, it’s real easy to bounce into the ropes every time an opponent attempts a takedown.

But most importantly, fights are more fluid in a cage. In a ring, there are far more stoppages and pauses in order to re-adjust combantants who find themselves with their head and shoulders practically on the scorer’s table.

That being said, I believe the ring is vastly superior to the cage when you look at things exclusively from the perspective of a live attendee.

MMA was just recently legalized in the state of Pennsylvania and I actually had the time to see my first show in the state last Friday in Scranton, PA. I went up to see two up-and-coming fighters from my school, Matt Nice and Lionel “Noriega” Borreli compete (they both won, by the way).

There were a ton of people at the event (probably over 2,000) to witness a card largely comprised of amateur bouts. The fights were held inside of a indoor soccer arena that didn’t have the best sight lines for MMA but was still well-suited for the needs of the promoter and the fighters.

However, with so many people and a lack of video screens, watching the event between a series of tiny fence holes became very tiresome. So tiresome that when Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu United’s last fighter had competed, a group of us that had made the 2 1/2 hour trip from the Philadelphia area all bolted.

Grassroots MMA is all about friends and family. While people will spend money to see Double A and Triple A baseball, most casual MMA fans stick to the big brands on television as opposed to going out to see a local MMA show with fighters trying to work their way through the ranks. Unfortunately, unless someone has some sort of direct tie to a local fighter, they are unlikely to buy a ticket unless it’s for the UFC, Strikeforce, or Affliction.

A promoter who has a smart matchmaker can do very well by booking the right fighters with the right gym affiliations and never have to worry about trying to bring in the casual fan. However, in order for the sport to truly grow, promotions are going to have to learn how to bring in Joe Sixpack whose MMA viewing is currently limited to watching The Ultimate Fighter on Wednesday nights along with a monthly pay-per-view purchase.

In order to capture that mainstream audience, a promoter’s vision for production elements has to go beyond just dropping a cage in the middle of a room. A venue with good sight lines is a must, as are video projector screens. Watching MMA through a fence is pretty cool if you’re sitting close to the cage but it’s not always fun to watch if you’re in the cheap seats or even the not-the most expensive seats.

Unfortunately, not every promoter has an unlimited budget. Renting projectors and bringing out a crew to film the action isn’t cheap. But if that’s truly the case, there’s an easy solution in that a promoter can simply ditch the cage and spend their money on a ring. If you’re not watching an MMA show on a television or seated with the VIPs, the benefits of a cage become minimal. For example, I spent a good deal of money to see UFC 94 live this past January. My biggest complaint wasn’t the fact that Georges St. Pierre was allegedly greased up but that I basically paid to watch the event from the video screens.

While a ring doesn’t look anywhere near as opposing as a cage, it makes for a much better live experience because it’s so much easier to see the action that you paid to see. I am curious to know how other people feel. Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment thread of this post.

FIRST INDEPENDENT WORLD MMA RANKINGS RELEASED

I wanted to show some love and support for the recently launched “Independent World MMA Rankings.” I have long been an advocate for a rankings system that modeled itself after the AP Coaches Poll in College Football. It is an endeavor that I worked hard to try and build while I was with WAMMA. It would be great if this new poll could take it to the next level. I am excited to see that the new poll includes (former?) WAMMA pollsters such as Jonathan Snowden, Jesse Holland, Jared Barnes, Michael David Smith, and Todd Martin. All were active participants in the WAMMA poll whose opinions I have a great deal of respect for. I also have a great deal of respect for other members on the poll (including but not limited to) such as Jordan Breen, Robert Joyner, Jim Genia, and Ivan Trembow.

LLOYD MARSHBANKS PROFILED ON MMAJUNKIE.COM

With Combat Sports Media assisting M-1 Global with its U.S.-related PR efforts, I have had the pleasure of getting to work with Lloyd Marshbanks up close. Lloyd is a great person with a tremendous ground game and an amazing back story. Kyle Nagel is one of the first people to chronicle his amazing story in the latest column for his awesome “Fight Path” series.

I highly recommend you check the article out by clicking here. Also, in response to those who have issues with “Kadillac’s” backyard fighting days, please keep in mind that those fights took place in his home state of California during a time in which MMA wasn’t legal. Additionally, Lloyd was an All-American wrestler in High School so he’s not just some random guy who got involved with MMA.

UWC BANTAMWEIGHT CHAMPION MIKE EASTON PROMOTED TO BLACK BELT

The Lloyd Irvin family has three new black belts in its ranks as Mike Easton, J.T. Torres, and Jay Hayes were all promoted this past Wednesday in Jenkintown, PA at Jared Weiner’s Brazilian Jiu Jitsu United. I was on hand to shoot some video and get some interviews for a story that we’ll hopefully have up by next week.

Easton is the current UWC bantamweight champion and someone who is capable of competing in the WEC’s 135 lbs. division right now. However, he is only improving on the regional level and when he gets the call, he’s going to be a force to be reckoned with on the national level.

I’ve seen Torres and Hayes grapple on multiple occasions at tournaments that my wife has competed in and they are two of the best competitive grapplers around right now. Perhaps I am biased but there are a lot of people who aren’t affiliated with BJJ United that will tell you the same thing.

Easton revealed the news to FiveOuncesOfPain.com during an upcoming interview conducted shortly after being promoted to black belt last night by Lloyd Irvin in Jenkintown, PA at Jared Weiner’s Brazilian Jiu Jitsu United. BJJ United is an affiliate school of Lloyd Irvin, as Weiner was the first person ever promoted to black belt by Irvin.

In addition to Irvin’s promotion of Easton, Weiner and Irvin also promoted top level competitive grapplers Jay Hayes and J.T. Torres.

Easton, 7-1, is considered one of the top bantamweights in the world currently not signed to a contract with the Zuffa-owned World Extreme Cagefighting promotion. His upcoming bout against Beebe at a yet-to-be announced UWC event was originally supposed to take place on Feb. 21. However, Beebe informed UWC officials just days prior to the event that he would be unable to make weight for the title fight due to an alleged knee injury sustained in training.

Beebe did not even show up to weigh-ins, leading to much unconfirmed speculation at the time that the H.I.T. Squad member was healthy and was actually trying to avoid injury in advance of his scheduled first round bout against Joe Warren during the first round of DREAM’s featherweight Grand Prix held on March 7.

While not being able to compete vs. Easton, Beebe was able to fight against Warren but was defeated after a doctor stopped their fight following the first round. Easton ended up fighting short notice replacement Justin Robbins and won the then-vacant title following a third round submission. He then made his first successful defense of the UWC bantamweight title against Josh Ferguson on April 25 at UWC 6 “Capital Punishment” following a first round submission courtesy of a guillotine choke.

The current state of the U.S. economy has had an adverse effect on a lot of people and I am one of many who have seen their ability to earn a living compromised. After losing a couple of non-MMA writing gigs coupled with the rising cost to operate 5 Oz. while our ad revenue declined, I was forced to think out of the box.

Several months ago, to little fanfare, I formed a new LLC called Combat Sports Media. It was a soft launch to a company that I started as a third party business-to-business solution for companies in the MMA industry. The soft launch wasn’t the plan but a lot of things were put on hold when I was unexpectedly offered the opportunity to serve as the interim Chief Operating Officer for the World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts.

I decided to end my year and a half long affiliation with WAMMA several weeks ago and have been putting all of my attention and focus into CSM, which includes web site management, public relations, consulting, and very many other basic service solutions for MMA companies.

Soon after accepting the promotion with WAMMA, I made a decision to hand off the editorial reigns of this site to Cory Brady. Cory has done a tremendous job with the site and I can’t tell you how grateful I am that he stepped up.

By way of CSM, I remain the full owner of 5 Oz. and still oversee all business operations pertaining to the site. I don’t have anything to do with the editorial direction of the site but I’ve decided to come back as a contributor on a limited basis. But I am not returning as a reporter or an op/ed columnist; instead I have launched this new column called the “Combat Sports Insider” as someone who is involved in the industry from a public relations and marketing standpoint.

Because I am embedded in the industry and work directly with multiple MMA companies, my perspective is a little different than most. I am sure some readers will appreciate the unique perspective I can provide while others will not. If you get something out of this column, then that’s great. If not? That’s okay too.

I will report on an occasional story or two and continue to experiment with this column but Cory will remain the Managing Editor of 5 Oz. with full editorial control.

So with my preamble out of the way, let’s get started.

KIMBO SLICE JOINS THE CAST OF THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER – I was as shocked as anyone by UFC President Dana White’s revelation earlier this week that Kimbo Slice has been cast for the upcoming tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter. Reaction to the news has been mixed, but a lot of people reserving judgment before rendering a decision as to whether Kimbo being added to the show is good or bad. Only time will tell but I predict that time will prove that the decision by all the principles was nothing short of genius.

Former EliteXC Live Events President Gary Shaw did an interview with AOL’s MMA Fanhouse reacting to the move. Shaw had been in discussions with Slice regarding the possible launch of his boxing career so naturally he was disappointed by the news. But Shaw also branded the decision as a step back for Slice. I am not so sure I agree.

The bottom line is that as of now, there is no over-the-air television network broadcasting MMA in primetime. Until CBS officially gets back into the MMA business, Spike TV is the biggest platform for a mixed martial artist based on the total number of households it reaches. From an exposure standpoint, the move makes perfect sense for Slice.

From a financial perspective, no one in the media knows for sure just how much sense it makes for Slice. But I severely doubt Slice is doing the show under terms of the standard TUF agreement. I can only assume that Slice is going to be well compensated for committing to spend up to six weeks locked away in isolation in the TUF mansion.

If Kimbo is receiving more compensation than any other fighter who has appeared on TUF, I don’t see it as an issue. Kimbo is a proven ratings draw who actually has more pro MMA experience than quite a few fighters that have been cast for the show in the past. And from Spike’s perspective, the presence of Kimbo is going to help TUF’s ratings and entice a lot of non-MMA fans to tune in just to watch Kimbo.

If Kimbo is being paid extra, then I like the move. At the end of the day, TUF is a reality television show and the primary purpose is to create compelling television. Lightning rods such as Chris Leben and Junie Browning have proven to be two of the most successful ratings draws in the show’s history. So Spike can either wait ever four years for a Browning or Leben to magically appear out of nowhere at TUF tryouts or they can go out and cast stars for the show.

With the right moves, Spike can maximize the dividends from Slice’s presence by holding him out until the final first round matchup. With 16 heavyweights cast for the show, that means that Spike could guarantee itself as many as 7-8 episodes with Slice on the show. Slice’s stay on the show could be extended even longer if he draws a favorable first round matchup. And the longer Kimbo stays, the more exposure he can generate for other fighters in the house.

Dana White also deserves a ton of credit for the move. He’s put himself in a win/win situation. If Kimbo loses in the first round and proves to be a total bust, Dana can look into the TUF cameras and say “See, I told you this guy couldn’t fight. This sport is much tougher than people realize and you have to be a world class athlete to make it in the UFC.”

However, if Kimbo steps up and has improved as a fighter during his time away from the limelight, then Dana will still benefit. If Kimbo proves to be a success and makes it into the UFC, then White and the Fertittas are going to make a lot of money with Slice.

But regardless of whether KImbo makes the cut or not, one thing is for sure: TUF’s ratings are going to skyrocket and that’s the name of the game.

One thing that the UFC and Spike will have to do is make sure they cast 1-2 antagonistic fighters on the show. In my limited dealings with Slice, I’ve known the man to be nothing less than a gentleman. He’s a soft-spoken guy who likes to mind his own business. Believe it or not, he’s someone that could easily blend into the woodwork after the first couple of episodes. He’s not going to urinate in someone’s bed or taint someone’s sushi. Kimbo’s the guy who is going to go crazy if he feels he’s been disrespected. As such, there is going to need to be one or two fighters that create situations that force Kimbo to react.

LIVE FROM KANSAS CITY – As I write this article, I am in Kansas City working for the M-1 Challenge. Right now, M-1 is the biggest client for Combat Sports Media. I am working with the company in a number of different roles, which I really enjoy. In addition to managing their entire Internet operations, I also assist with U.S.-based PR. I also have a lot of other smaller responsibilities.

In case you don’t know, the M-1 Challenge is a team-based International fight series featuring 16 teams from around the world competing in a year-long competition to determine which country is the best in MMA. We produce shows all over the world in countries such as Holland, Bulgaria, Japan, Brazil, and of course, the U.S.

There are a lot of challenge being an International fight promotion that holds shows all over the world. From an operations standpoint, Kansas City has been smooth, with one exception: the State Boxing Commission. We’re all staying on the Missouri side of K.C. but the event will be held in the Kansas side of Kansas City at Memorial Hall tonight at 8 p.m. ET.

The show, which will be taped for future airing on HDNet, has had a few lineup changes due to some concerns expressed by the Kansas Boxing Commission. They’ve been pleasant to deal with and are merely doing their job. Safety first. It turns out one of our fighters arrived and had to be removed from the card because he’s under medical suspension (and he didn’t even know it). We had another fighter from Turkey who claimed he was 4-2 but we could not produce any documentation showing that he was a professional fighter.

As such, we had to make two changes just 36 hours from the card after already having made two changes just seven days ago. But that’s the MMA business and that’s what happens when you fly fighters in from all over the world for a show.

Having two fighters drop off the card was bittersweet, because I am really excited about the fighters we added. Ryan Sturdy, the Extreme Challenge middleweight champion and a rising prospect with a 9-2-1 record, had been set to fight Abdullah Ahmady. Ryan is a fighter that a lot of people in the Midwest are excited about and he just needs a little exposure before the rest of the country realizes just how good this guy is.

But Ryan almost didn’t fight because Ahmady was not licensed. So M-1 had to act fast and a bunch of calls were made with a lot of options explored. In the end, we were able to fly out a guy who I had trained briefly with years ago at Daddis Fight Camps in Philadelphia.

Making the trip out and fighting Ryan in a light heavyweight bout will be John Doyle. John’s story is unique in that he began his career 6-1 and was thought to be someone who had a UFC future. But he fell on hard times and his record is now at 7-7. But John is tough and was already training for a fight, so Sturdy vs. Doyle has a chance to be the fight of the night.

John’s toughness is why I am glad he is here. He’s someone who took a fight on eight days notice vs. Rafael Feijao last year at EliteXC “Street Certified.” He’s also a guy who once fought Brendan Barrett in Atlantic City and fell through the ropes and slammed his head on the floor. Despite the spill, he was ready to jump back in the ring with a huge welt on his head and the commission had to stop him.

Another addition is one of my favorite personalities in MMA, Lloyd “Kadillac” Marshbanks. Lloyd will be returning as USA East’s heavyweight when he takes on Toni Valtonen of Finland. Lloyd is one of the nicest guys you will encounter in fighting. He’s also a damn good fighter. According to Sherdog, he’s 16-8 but urban legend says his record his actually 50-8. Lloyd has fought a lot in Mexico, where MMA is not sanctioned. And early in his career, he fought in backyard gambling BBQs (long before Kimbo Slice and YouTube). He actually got the nickname “Kadillac” because when a defeated opponent couldn’t pay up, Lloyd accepted a Cadillac that he had in his driveway as payment.

Another fighter to watch is Liron Wilson, an American fighter competing for Team Turkey against the World Team’s Michael Kitta. Liron is an outstanding athlete who was a national track star while in high schoo. He’s 4-2 and actually just fought eight days ago, submitting an opponent just two minutes in their fight. Liron was already in fighting shape and came out unscathed in his last fight and jumped at the chance to come to Kansas City.

M-1 doesn’t always get a lot of press but it should, because we have some tremendous fighters competing for us. One of our best, Lucio Linhares, will also be in action at Team Finland’s middleweight. Lucio is Brazilian but ended up moving to Finland after conducting a series of seminars there. The BJJ black belt is set to face another BJJ black belt, Valdir Araujo.

Araujo is a name to watch even though he’s just 2-0. He trains out of Team Nogueira and has won major grappling titles in both Europe and Brazil. His most recent fight took place for Reed Wallace’s Revolution Fighting Championships in Florida. Araujo fought Adler Volmer, who represented the U.S. this past summer at the Beijing Games as America’s Judo champion. Despite Volmer’s credentials, Valdir still choked him out in round one.

One other fighter to keep an eye on is Renato Migliaccio. If you haven’t heard of him, you soon will. Currently training and fighting out of Connecticut, Renato is a black belt under the late Ryan Gracie and is 5-0 since beginning his MMA career. He will look to go to 6-0 when he faces Finland’s Niko Puhaka.

There’s a lot more I could tell you but if you want more info, just go to www.M-1Global.com. And if you haven’t been watching our show on HDNet, you’re missing out on some of the best International MMA prospects in the world right now.

NEXT STOP: ST. LOUIS (and Strikeforce) – This has been a crazy week for me. After I am done writing the press release and updating the M-1Global.com website following tonight’s M-1 Challenge, I have to wake up early tomorrow and hop a plane for St. Louis and serve as a research assistant on Showtime’s production team for Strikeforce.

The travel is crazy but I love MMA and I am getting to do things right now that some people only dream of. I can’t tell you how grateful I am to be getting some of these opportunities, but a part of me can’t wait to get home and see my son and my wife (whose knee is doing very well by the way and she’s going to be ready to fight sooner rather than later).

The Showtime production team is a well-oiled machine and Scott Coker and his crew are incredibly organized and efficient. I am really looking forward to the show. Obviously, Scott Smith vs. Nick Diaz and Robbie Lawler vs. Jake Shields are going to be great fights but I really want to see how well Brett Rogers handles a step up in competition in Andrei Arlovski. When I first heard about the matchup, I just assumed that it would be the first loss of Brett’s career. But upsets happen all the time in this business and I am starting to smell an upset. Arlovski is much more athletic than Rogers, but Brett is so much bigger and stronger. In some ways, this matchup reminds me of Arlovski vs. Tim Sylvia and we know that Sylvia won two of those fights.

There’s also going to be an intriguing undercard fight that won’t be shown on TV that I am looking forward to. Rafael Feijao will be facing Mike Kyle. I’ve never watched a Feijao fight that wasn’t exciting and Saturday shouldn’t be any different. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen him fought so I am glad he’s finally back in action.

FABER VS. BROWN II – It’s a great weekend for MMA. You have the Bellator Fighting Championships (which I can’t believe I am going to miss as one of my trainers at Brazilian Jiu Jitsu United in Jenkintown, PA, Wilson Reis, will be in action) and the M-1 Challenge on Friday. Then on Saturday, you have Strikeforce. And on Sunday, the WEC returns to VERSUS.

If I had the money, I’d fly right from St. Louis to Sacramento so that I could see the rematch between Urijah Faber and Mike Brown. Jose Aldo vs. Cub Swanson is also another fight to watch.

I am a big fan of Faber and predicted him to win the first fight vs. Brown. Well, I called that one wrong. Soon after, I really believed that Faber would win the rematch. But after watching Brown dismantle Leonard Garcia, I did a 180. Mike Brown is just too strong, too technical, too tactical, and too versatile.

I believe Brown wins the rematch and is going to really go on a roll and clean out the 145 lbs. division in the WEC, which says a lot consider the WEC has brought in a ton of great fighters into their featherweight division. In time, Brown will prove to be every bit as unbeatable at 145 as Anderson Silva is at 185. Yes, he’s that damn good.

If Faber loses, I’d really love to see him drop to 135 lbs. For a while now, Faber vs. Kid Yamamoto was considered a dream matchup. But not a lot of people in the U.S. know about Yamamoto. However, thanks to VERSUS and a lot of press over the last year, people know about Miguel Torres. Faber vs. Torres at 135 lbs. is a much bigger fight in the U.S. than Faber vs. Yamamoto. Torres vs. Faber is so big that you could probably put it on pay-per-view and draw between 80,000-100,000 buys.

UNTIL NEXT TIME – It’s great to be back writing. I hope you enjoyed some of the insight here. It’ a bit of a departure from the style of writing I’ve contributed to this site in this past but my hope is that some of you will still find some benefit from it. I am working on some really big things right now that I hope I will be able to share with you in this column.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com confirmed the news on Tuesday afternoon Foupa-Pokam’s agent, Ken Pavia.

Foupa-Pokam earned a spot in the UFC’s middleweight division after compiling a 20-9 record with and a seven fight win streak. He made his Octagon debut in Montreal this past April at UFC 97, suffering a unanimous decision loss to Denis Kang.

The Paris native then stepped up on short notice just last weekend at UFC 98 to face Miletich Fighting Systems product Drew McFedries. Unfortunately, Foupa-Pokam suffered a TKO due to punches just 37 seconds into the bout.

The news comes according to a report by Nightmare of Battle, a English-language blog that has garnered a credible reputation for its coverage of the Japanese MMA scene.

News of Ishii’s signing comes on the heels of previous reports that he had signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. However, UFC President Dana White was quoted as saying that he would not stand in Ishii’s way of competing in his home country.

“The thing is this: the kid’s sitting on a lottery ticket right now,” White said during an interview with MMA Weekly this past February. “He’s being offered millions of dollars in Japan… If he comes back and tells me I want to take this lottery ticket, I’ll give it to him. He needs to decide what he wants to do with his life. Just because I have a contract with him, I’m not going to try to tell him what he should do with his life.”

There had also been recent unconfirmed rumors circulating that Ishii was being considered for a spot on the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter, which will be featuring heavyweights.

The announcement that Ishii has signed with Sengoku was reportedly made during a press conference in Tokyo. According to Nightmare of Battle, Ishii entered the press area to the theme of The Last of the Mohicans and said “thank you for coming to my wedding” to the press in attendance.

A debut date for Ishii was not announced, but his first fight could be scheduled prior to year’s end.

In response to the blog entry, FiveOuncesOfPain.com contacted Strikeforce Vice President of Communications Mike Afromowitz, who confirmed that Couture, the wife of former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion Randy Couture, is indeed off the card.

An official reason for Couture dropping off the card is not currently available, although Tate is claiming that Couture is not fighting due to marital problems.

“So Kim ‘Sugar Free’ Couture is pulling out of the fight supposedly cuz [sic] her and Randy are getting a divorce… I’m so pissed right now… Sugar Free my ass!!,” wrote Tate.

It is uncertain whether Tate’s claims are valid, however, sources have informed Five Ounces of Pain in recent weeks that the Coutures have been living separately as of late.

In regards to Tate’s status for the May 15 show, no word is available regarding a potential replacement.

While many members of the Japanese media were intrigued by Fedor’s upcoming special grappling exhition vs. Aoki, one reporter asked the current WAMMA heavyweight champion what his plans were regarding his next sanctioned MMA fight.

When posed the question during a Tuesday press conference at the 21 East Hotel in Tokyo, Emelianenko quickly referred the question to his manager Vadim Finkelchtein.

While Finkelchtein was careful to indicate that nothing has been finalized, he did reveal that talks are currently taking place regarding Emelianenko fighting “an opponent ranked in the top ten” sometime in July or August. Finkelchtein also seemed rather certain that the event would take place in Japan.

Seated next to Finkelchtein on the dais was Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio, who also appeared in St. Petersburg, Russia during last weekend’s M-1 Selection event, a year-long team competition featuring fight gyms in Russia competing for the opportunity to represent their home country during the 2010 M-1 Challenge.

Emelianenko is still under contract to Affliction for one more fight, and while Atencio offered no hints regarding a third Affliction event, speculation was running rampant at the press conference that Affliction could look to partner with M-1 and DREAM in regards to a possible July or August event in Japan.

However, Del Rosario became sidelined after the event due to a broken hand sustained in the victory. The Team Oyama fighter spent signficiant time on the shelf and saw his weight increase to 260 pounds.

However, Del Rosario is set to return to action Wednesday night in Tokyo, Japan as a part of Team USA West as it takes on South Korea in the M-1 Challenge. Currently undefeated at 5-0, the 25-year old will be gunning for his sixth win when he takes on Doo Hee Lee at Differ Ariake.

However, Del Rosario’s tenure as a part of the M-1 Challenge could be short lived, as the former high school basketball standout revealed to FiveOuncesOfPain.com Tuesday that his contract was one of 42 acquired by Strikeforce during its acquisition of select assets from ProElite earlier this year.

According to Del Rosario, he is now signed with Strikeforce and indicates that he could debut for the organization as early as August.

For Del Rosario, his time away from active fighting was not easy. His broken hand prevented him from accepting an offer to compete during January’s Affliction “Day of Reckoning” event and has delayed his potential transition from heavyweight to light heavyweight. When asked whether a move down to the 205 pound weight class was still under consideration, Del Rosario acknowledged the possibility but was uncertain as to when he’ll formally make the move.

However, when contacted by FiveOuncesOfPain.com, sources close to the fight stated that a bout between Overeem and Rogers for Strikeforce’s June 6 show in St. Louis has yet to be signed.

The sources did indicate that Overeem vs. Rogers has been discussed but optimistic was expressed whether the bout will be formally signed for the event. It is believed that Rogers could still compete on the card against one of two other potential opponents.

While the unnamed source would not go into detail, it is believed that one possible opponent for Rogers should he compete on the June 6 card could be Fabricio Werdum. The former PRIDE and UFC heavyweight had been discussed as a potential foe for Rogers leading up to Strikeforce’s April 11 event in San Jose but the matchup was never finalized and Rogers ended up fighting Abongo Humphrey.

Now that he has formally signed with Strikeforce, Werdum is in need of an opponent for his debut with the promotion and the 9-0 Rogers would make for an intriguing matchup.

While Strikeforce officials continue to work to find a fifth slot for its June 6 Showtime telecast, it should be noted that Rogers has not been officially signed for the card. The promotion could go in a different direction when trying to fill out the televised portion of the event.

As of now, the event is slated to be headlined by former EliteXC middleweight champion Robbie Lawler taking on former EliteXC welterweight champion Jake Shieds, Nick Diaz vs. Scott Smith at a catchweight of 179 pounds, and a welterweight matchup between Phil Baroni and Joe Riggs.