Today the UFC confirmed on their website that Dan Henderson, Rich Franklin, and Karo Parisyan will all be making their return to the Octagon at UFC 88 in Atlanta, GA on September 6. The card is headlined by a light heavyweight bout between Chuck Liddell and Rashad Evans with the winner likely being very close to a title shot.

Dan Henderson, coming off a loss to Anderson Silva in March, will be stepping back into the cage against one of the UFC’s most highly touted international talents, Rousimar “Toquinho” Palhares. Henderson will be looking for his first victory inside the UFC since coming over after the collapse PRIDE. Toquinho recently steamrolled Ivan Salaverry in his UFC debut with a very slick armbar.

Rich Franklin, the former UFC middleweight champion, will be facing off against fellow Cincinnati fighter Matt Hamill in a battle at light heavyweight. Franklin is coming off a victory over Travis Lutter at UFC 83 and will be fighting at light heavyweight for the first time since he fought Ken Shamrock at the first ever Ultimate Fighter Finale. Matt Hamill recently beat Tim Boetsch at UFC Fight Night 13 in April and will be looking to make it two in a row since his loss to Michael Bisping last year.

Karo Parisyan will be looking to prove to the world that he’s still top shelf in the UFC’s most talented division when he takes on one of the best Japanese stars that the UFC has signed in recent months, Yoshiyuki Yoshida. Parisyan is coming off a knockout loss to Thiago Alves at UFC Fight Night 13, a fight that would have catapulted him into title contention should he have won. Yoshida recently made his UFC debut, throttling Jon Koppenhaver at UFC 84 in the opening moments of round one.

These three fights are an excellent addition to the card and it looks like UFC 88, even without a title fight, is shaping up to be one of the better events all year.

I wanted to preface this article by saying to I took no joy in writing it. It’s rarely — if ever — pleasurable to see someone lose their job. It’s especially tougher to see a fighter lose their job considering all of the sacrifices they make.

However, I’ve remained steadfast that in order for mixed martial arts to continue to grow, it needs to be treated like a major sport. If I was still covering the NFL on a regular basis and the Philadelphia Eagles made some notable cuts after trimming their roster at the end of the preseason from 65 players to 53, you better believe I would analyze those cuts.

In that vein, I feel it’s appropriate to take a look at a list of recent fighter releases made by the UFC and to analyze their prospects in the fight game going forward.

Travis Lutter - According to the Wrestling Observer, Lutter has already received offers from Affliction and the IFL. Based on the IFL’s recent financials, I just find it hard to believe that anything between the promotion and Lutter will get done. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like to see it, as I hope the IFL is able to stick around. But Affliction still seems like a more realistic possibility, as it has a major pay-per-view scheduled for July 19 and no opponent secured for Matt Lindland. A Lindland vs. Lutter match might not be a bad idea.

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Din Thomas, Kuniyoshi Hironaka, and Tommy Speer are three fighters involved in the UFC’s latest round of roster cuts, according to a report in the May 7 print edition of the Wrestling Observer.

Thomas had appeared to be in contention for the UFC lightweight title following three consecutive wins in 2006-2007. However, “The Ultimate Fighter” alumnus from season four went on to lose his next two fights.

Thomas’ three fight win streak was broken at the hands of Kenny Florian at UFC Fight Night 11 last September when he submitted to a rear naked choke at 4:31 of round 1. During the fight, Thomas suffered a major knee injury.

He would return to the Octagon at UFC Fight Night 13 this past April, where he lost a unanimous decision to the returning Josh Neer.

Read the rest of this entry »

In a recent interview with MMA on Tap, UFC lightweight Din Thomas, discussed a drop down to featherweight (145 lbs.). The TUF 4 veteran made mention of the two consecutive defeats he has suffered recently to Kenny Florian (UFC Fight Night 11) and Josh Neer (UFC Fight Night 13) as a reason for the cut.

From MMA on Tap:

“The UFC’s lightweight division is the most complex division in the world,” Thomas said. “There’s like four different roads to a title shot going on right now and within any of the roads, no one can afford to lose. While I know I can win against any lightweight in the world on a given day, I fell twice in a row. Therefore, I’m going to bow out. Good luck to those guys. I’m going to drop down to 145 lbs and see if those guys down there will embrace me.”

Personally, I think this is a great idea provided he ends up in the WEC and the weight cut doesn’t completely zap him of energy. Thomas’ reach could prove to be quite a headache for the smaller featherweights as it is already a substantial problem for most 155 pounders. Add to that the possibility of a rematch with former UFC lightweight champion, Jens Pulver and I think it makes for a very positive move for Thomas.

Read more Din Thomas  content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.

MMAjunkie is reporting that Din Thomas will return to the octagon to take on Josh Neer at a UFC Fight Night 13 event planned for April 2.

Thomas last competed at UFC Fight Night 11 where he took on Kenny Florian in the main event. He suffered a submission loss after injuring his knee during the fight. Doctors determined he had a torn meniscus, stretched ACL, and a bruised femur and tibia.

Fellow lightweight, Neer hasn’t competed in the UFC since an August 2006 loss to Nick Diaz. Since that fight, he has gone 6-1 fighting for a variety of organizations, including the International Fight League.

Neer owns some significant victories in the UFC, including a unanimous decision over Joe Stevenson and a first-round submission of Melvin Guillard.

Read additional Din Thomas and Josh Neer content at FiveOuncesOfPain.com.

Earlier today, the State Attorney’s Office in Florida dropped felony charges against UFC-fighter Din Thomas after he was accused of running illegal fights at a local gym. News of these accusations came shortly after Thomas’s lost to Kenny Florian at UFC’s Ultimate Fight Night 11 on September 19. TCPalm broke the story only a few hours ago.

Thomas, 31, was originally charged with a felony count of running prohibited competitions following a tip to police about a “fight club” at a training studio in St. Lucie West. The crime was described by one prosecutor as promoting an activity not sanctioned by the Florida Boxing Commission, which has jurisdiction over professional boxing and mixed martial arts events.

Assistant State Attorney Jeff Hendriks said there was an exception to the law Thomas was arrested on: If all of the fighters are students of the school and the purpose of the event is training, then it is allowed. In addition, Thomas and the school did not profit from the event, as money was collected as part of a raffle and was later distributed.

“What is important is that the road patrol officers present had to determine whether they had probable cause to believe the statute was violated and given the information at the time, they acted appropriately,” Hendriks said in a statement. “I have a different, higher burden of proof, as well as the hindsight advantage of full knowledge of the facts from both sides and that is what formed my decision.”

Thomas fielded questions from the media in a conference call earlier today. I was a little too late to get on the call, but I will be sure to post more of news as it becomes available.

UPDATE: MMAJunkie.com made it on the conference call to hear some answers from Din Thomas. Head over there for a few of his thoughts.

Apparently there’s a “Free Din Thomas” movement:

Read more on Five Ounces of Pain (www.FiveOuncesofPain.com)

UFC lightweight, Din “Diniero” Thomas, was arrested today for running illegal cage fights in his Florida training center:

PORT ST. LUCIE — Din Thomas, almost a legend in the ultimate fighting world, was arrested Tuesday after police say he ran “illegal cage fighting” matches at a local training studio that he runs, a police spokesman said.

Thomas, 31, faces a felony prohibited competitions charge after police got a tip Oct. 19 about the matches at a facility he uses in St. Lucie West.

Inside, they observed two men fighting in an octagon-shaped ring surrounded by about 150 spectators. The fights reportedly weren’t sanctioned.

Wow. I’m sure these kinds of bouts happen all over the country, but how in the hell do you get caught?

Sorry for no updates yesterday, I was up in New York on business and didn’t get back until late.

As I’m sure you’ve all heard by now, Spencer Fisher is off the UFC Fight Night card on September 11 due to staph infection. Kenny Florian has been moved from the UFC 78 card in order to take Fisher’s spot against Din Thomas.

That’s going to be a very strong match.

Also, staph has apparently spread like wildfire at MFS in Davenport, Iowa as reports indicate that both Tim Sylvia and Drew McFedries have it as well.

Ouch.

I know I caught your attention with the Tiger Schulman’s Karate teaser.

I’ll get to TSK soon. But first, I want to talk about drugs.

Many pundits have written columns on the major sites discussing steroids and offering their ideas about how the issue should be addressed by the major promotions. Thus far, there seems to be a big push for the promotions to do internal testing.

While I respect all the writers who have expressed their thoughts, I think the idea of internal testing doesn’t make much sense.

Let me preface my next statement by saying all of my dealings with the major promotions have been nothing but positive and I have no reason to question their integrity.

However, which would you rather be responsible for the testing of athletes: the promotions themselves or an outside body?

Major League Baseball has its own testing program. Do you trust it? World Wrestling Entertainment has a “wellness program.” Do you trust it?

Look, I’m not an advocate for our government and I certainly don’t always have a lot of trust in our system at times, but I think they are better suited for the task of testing fighters as opposed to the promotions themselves.

Sure, if the IFL decides to do an internal program they’ll use an independent third party. But doesn’t the term “independent third party” become an oxymoron when you take into account that any testing lab brought in by a promotion will be getting their paycheck signed by the promotion they are working for?

Again, I have no reason to doubt the IFL or any promotion that would step up and decide to do internal testing. But is it necessary?

The commissions in states where MMA is regulated do a good job. Improvements still need to be made and testing needs to be expanded. But instead of instituting internal testing, I’d rather see the promotions work directly with the state athletic commissions and let the commissions be in charge of testing.

At the end of the day, the commissions are accountable to the people while independent third parties will be accountable to the fight promotions.

I’d really like to see the promotions stress to the commissions the importance of testing every fighter that’s slated to appear on a fight card.

Another thing I’d love to see — if it’s not being done already — is blood testing.

To my knowledge, only urine is used for drug screening (I could be wrong about this). While you can test urine for a lot of substances, there are some chemicals that don’t show up in urine such as Human Growth Hormone.

HGH is used by a lot of athletes, which is why the MLB drug testing policy is a joke. They test for steroids but not HGH. Blood tests might be costly but at the very least I think any fighter competing in a title fight should be tested for HGH.

Another thing I wanted to comment on is the assertion by some people that drug usage in MMA has reached “epidemic” proportions. The statement may or not be true because I have no idea whether the fighters who have tested positive recently are just isolated offenders or if the usage is widespread. However, from my own personal myopic perspective, steroids in MMA are relatively non-existent.

When I used to lift weights a lot, I primarily trained at home. However, I would go to gyms sometimes. When training at gyms I was amazed at how rampant and wide open steroid usage was. There was no attempt to hide it in most cases. It was incredulous.

I’ve trained at several martial arts schools that had people involved with competitive martial arts. Supplement use is frequent by many fighters that I know but if they’re on the juice, they are keeping it to themselves. I’ve never been offered any kind of chemical enhancer and have never seen a guy doing anything shady in the locker room or making comments about it during my MMA travels.

I’m making a broad statement here but this is a blog entry so cut me some slack, but I just don’t think steroids are a big issue in MMA at the grass roots level. While I find a lot of people who train MMA are educated, I don’t think many are all that affluent. What does affluence have to do with steroid use? Well, that crap isn’t cheap and a guy who is working multiple jobs so that he can pay down school loans, keep up with his rent or mortgage, and trying to pay training fees doesn’t have the investment capital needed to get in the business of performance enhancers.

My theory is that fighters don’t start using until they get to the higher levels then start making real money and then start feeling the pressure. It isn’t until so much is at stake and they feel like they have something to lose that they start to consider a turn to the dark side. Hermes Franca said in his letter he felt pressured because he was injured and needed the pay day. Whether that’s true in his case remains to be seen but it’s certainly a scenario that could be true for some fighters.

Then you have a guy like Stephan Bonnar. Endorsements aren’t easy to come by in MMA and sometimes your look dictates whether you get a sponsor just as much as your record. After having fought in the smaller shows and not wanting to go back, perhaps Bonnar also felt insecure about his status in the UFC after a couple of disappointing performances and was looking for a boost.

Unfortunately, we may never know precisely why fighters are taking steroids because for the most part, they aren’t talking.

Okay, enough talk about urine and drugs because now I want to discuss something that is almost a big of a threat to MMA’s reputation as steroids.

Tiger Schulman’s MMA?

For those of you who don’t live in the Northeastern corridor of the country, Tiger Schulman’s is a franchise of Karate schools that are usually strategically located in strip malls. They fit the description of the quintessential “McDojo.”

I’m not sure if it’s a company-wide transition, but on my way from Philly to Princeton, NJ each Saturday to do my show for ESPN 920, I pass three TSK locations and they are now called “Tiger Schulman’s Mixed Martial Arts.”

My first question is: what the hell has Tiger Schulman ever accomplished in MMA?

But I guess the fact that Tiger Schulman doesn’t come from a MMA background is irrelevant because MMA is what’s hot right now and TSK (hey, all the cool kids chant it at MMA shows!) has to keep enrollment up.

If that’s how they want to run their schools, so be it. However, I’m appalled by rumors (i.e. I’ve seen a few message board posts) that Tiger Schulman’s could be trying to secure a franchise in the IFL.

I have no idea if the talk is even accurate. For all I know, people could be getting things confused with previous speculation that Tiger Schulman’s was going to have a team in Chuck Norris’ World Combat League.

But just the thought of Tiger Schulman’s having anything to do with the IFL is enough to make me throw up in my mouth.

Some of you might feel it’s unfair of me to criticize TSK considering I don’t train there. However, I have an embarrassing admission to make and that is that I once trained there about 10-12 years ago. I only trained there for a month because they couldn’t convince me my street brawling style was ineffective. Quite frankly, a lot of the techniques they tried to teach me would have caused me to get my ass kicked (blocking kicks with forearms!?). I couldn’t believe some of the stuff they tried to teach with a straight face. But hey, they can break boards and I can’t.

I’m sure they’ve changed their curriculum over the years but my experience with McDojos (I sent my son to one at one point) has been that they teach a brand of martial arts that’s just challenging enough so that you don’t quit. The goal of these insidious places with their corporate tactics designed solely to separate you from your money is to make sure you advance through their program so that you keep paying them to move up the ladder.

TSK does have an MMA team that competes in a lot of smaller shows in the Northeast. Some of their fighters are actually pretty good, though none are nationally known. I’m sure they’ve assembled a decent camp with some good trainers but how are they able to teach MMA on a widespread basis? I’d really like to know the credentials of the people teaching MMA at all of their many local schools.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been inside of a Tiger Schulman’s (bow to your Sensei!) and I’m half-tempted to take a week of free lessons just to see what it’s all about. I’ve been to a school where MMA was taught the right way so I think I’d have a good comparative frame of reference.

If there’s any shred of truth that TSK is indeed trying to get an IFL team, I pray the IFL turns them away. No amount of money is worth what it could do to their reputation. The IFL allowing Tiger Schulman to have a team would be like Morton’s Steakhouse allowing McDonald’s to supply them with the meat they use.

Underachievers article on Sportsline

I’ve received a lot of good feedback on my latest Sportsline article regarding the “Ten biggest underachievers in MMA.” I received lots of e-mail and a few responses here on the blog in addition to a few message board threads dedicated to the topic.

It’s a fun topic that has sparked some debate and I’ve been asked about some guys that didn’t make my list. I wanted to comment on a few of them, not to put myself on the defensive but because I think it’s interesting and wanted a chance to comment publicly on some of the names.

One thing I focused on as I compiled my list is whether a guy was truly an underachiever or possibly not just as good as everyone had thought.

Robbie Lawler and Phil Baroni both fell into the category of not being as good as first thought.

While I respect Baroni’s boxing skills and feel his wrestling ability is underrated, I don’t consider him a versatile fighter. He just never developed on a rapid level and I think he got as big as he did because he provided the UFC with some big knockouts and a big personality back when they needed stars in the worst way. Simply put, I think he was overrated when he had his run in the UFC.

As for Lawler, he was like a major league hitter who gets called up from the minors and hits four home runs in his first four games because he’s an excellent fastball hitter. But then that hitter struggles once there’s a book on him and pitchers realize he can’t hit a breaking ball. Lawler brought the hit with his standup and big right crosses but wasn’t as well-rounded as you’d expect an MFS fighter to be. Once fighters started taking him off his feet he was exposed.

The ironic thing is that Lawler has really improved in recent years and is a much better fighter than he was during his first run in the UFC. In my mind, he went from being overrated to being underrated.

The name of Andrei Arlovski was brought up. The Pitbull has definitely been a disappointment and I think he’s capable of more. But I don’t think he’s been underachieving long enough to make the list. If things keep up the way they’ve been going, it won’t be long though until he gets added.

Renato Sobral was also a nomination but I think his current status in MMA is correct. His submission wrestling is world class and his striking has improved. But I see him as being nothing more than a guy worthy of fighting in the UFC just outside of title contention and that just happens to be exactly where he’s at right now.

Vernon White was also suggested. Ugh, don’t get me started. Now, if you know Vernon and think he’s a good guy, that’s fine. Just don’t let your personal bias get in the way of your overall perspective of his place in MMA. He’s right where he belongs and I don’t see any potential in him that’s untapped.

Two choices that people didn’t agree with were Frank Mir and Evan Tanner. There are those who actually feel both are overachievers.

Say what?

In regard to Mir, I will concede that with the improved depth in the UFC’s heavyweight division there’s no way he would be in the title picture even if he was in his prime. However, based on his ground ability, he should at least be a middle of the road guy similar to Heath Herring. But Mir isn’t even Heath Herring! Right now, he’s more like Wes Sims.

Tanner may not be a great pure athlete but he’s an incredible fighter who could easily be the UFC middleweight champ right now if he had his act together. Some people will bristle at that statement but I think Anderson Silva is a vulnerable champion and the UFC simply has an abundance of guys who he matches up well with.

The bottom line is that Tanner would be a bad matchup for Silva. Good luck in trying to convince me otherwise.

I know he can’t stand with Silva, but who can in the 185 lbs. division? But Tanner is a far superior wrestler and if the fight got to the ground then Silva would be in a world of shit.

I’m considering doing an overachievers article next week but have only come up with Jason “Mayhem” Miller, Kenny Florian, and Matt Serra.

Anyone else have any ideas?

A 160 lbs. division sounds good to me!

I like where EliteXC President of Live Events (what an awkward title) Gary Shaw is going with his idea of possibly creating a 160 lbs. division.

The 161 lbs. division in Pride was pretty exciting and it’s a practical weight class for a lot of fighters. It’s also a good idea on Shaw’s part because it would be a way for EliteXC to differentiate their product from the competition.

It would also be a great way to showcase Nick Diaz.

You could definitely build the division around Diaz, assuming he can put the bong down. He can held his own with anyone at 170 lbs., but Cesar Gracie teammate Jake Shields is a big part of EliteXC’s welterweight division and the two of them won’t fight.

Oh, how I could also forget that at 160 lbs., Diaz is a beast!

The 160 lbs. weight class would also be perfect for a fighter not currently on the EliteXC roster. I think former Bodog welterweight champion Eddie Alvarez is made for 160 lbs.

Alvarez is undersized for 170 lbs. in my opinion. He’s thought about dropping to 155 lbs. but feels comfortable at welterweight and wants to stay there. However, he might be more open to the idea of dropping to 160 lbs. as opposed to 155 lbs.

His boxing is good enough that he can hold his own with anyone at 170 lbs., however, put him at 160 lbs. and like Diaz, he becomes a beast.

Alvarez has two fights left on his contract to Bodog and when I had him on my show on ESPN 920 several weeks back, he expressed nothing but happiness with Bodog.

However, money talks and if Elite makes a strong offer once Alvarez becomes a free agent, then you never know.

Bringing in Alvarez would be a great move for Elite because he’s significant name that could be added for an affordable price. While he wouldn’t come cheap, he wouldn’t require Sokoudjou money ($150,000 per match).

If built up properly, a match between Alvarez and Diaz could headline a pay-per-view.

It would also be one hell of a fight.

IFL vs. EliteXC?

One thing I left out in my conference call notes for the IFL yesterday is that IFL commissioner Kurt Otto once again commented on the possibility of having all the winners from the upcoming IFL World Grand Prix eventually take on another promotion’s top five in a best-of format.

Otto said he’s willing to work with just about any promotion but wouldn’t talk specific names. However, EliteXC seems like a logical partner because thus far, Gary Shaw is the only other executive of a major fight promotion that I know of willing to work with promotions other than his own.

I’d love to see it. Right now EliteXC needs to work on building their heavyweight and light heavyweight divisions but Chris Horodecki vs. Nick Diaz at lightweight, Delson Heleno vs. Jake Shields at welterweight, and Murilo “Ninja” Rua vs. Benji Radach at middleweight are intriguing matchups on paper.

But in the end, I think an EliteXC vs. IFL team challenge is unlikely to happen because Shaw has not been extremely keen on the IFL’s team concept when the topic has been brought up during conference calls.

Free agent market ripe in MMA

It’s July 26 as I write this and Fedor Emelianenko, Wanderlei Silva, Josh Barnett, Thierry Sokoudjou, Brock Lesnar, Denis Kang, and Gilbert Melendez are all still free agents.

I don’t think the MMA market in North America could handle another new promotion, but there’s enough talent out there that if there was a multi-millionaire who wanted to get involved with MMA and didn’t care about making money right away, they could throw some cash around and become an immediate player.

Tito Ortiz could also become available in the coming months and if you threw in guys like Matt Lindland and Robbie Lawler (who don’t have exclusive contracts), a newcomer to the business could make Dana White’s worst nightmare become reality.

I’m not saying, I’m just saying.

Rosholt wins MMA debut

Remember the name Jake Rosholt.

The Team Takedown member, who also trains with Randy Couture at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, won his MMA debut this past weekend in Oklahoma. Rosholt tapped Dusty Miller at 3:40 in round one during Masters of the Cage 15 in Oklahoma.

A former top college wrestler, Rosholt is one of four members of Team Takedown, a group started with the intent of recruiting top collegiate wrestlers and assisting them in making the transition to MMA.

Rosholt, Johny Hendricks, Shane Roller, and Eric Bradley all have big futures in this sport.

Where in the world is Chris Wilson?

Does anyone know what happened to former Portland Wolfpack welterweight Chris Wilson? I thought the Team Quest member was a legitimate prospect at 170 lbs. but he left the IFL and I haven’t heard about him since besides some rumors that he might be signing with Bodog.

If you know anything about Wilson’s current status, please drop me a line.

Loretta Hunt from The Fight Network is reporting that UFC Fight Night 11 is set to take place on September 20 from the Palms in Las Vegas. The card will serve as a lead-in for the season premiere of The Ultimate Fighter 6.

Hunt is also reporting that an American Top Team official is claiming that Din Thomas has agreed to fight Spencer Fisher on the card.

No other bouts have been reported officially for the card, but a previous UFCJunkie.com report indicated that Mike Swick vs. Chris Leben could also be taking place.

To read Loretta’s full report, just click here.