“Drew had the consent of the MFC to fight in Japan, but he and his management were expressly told that if he lost badly again he would be released, and therefore Drew has been released,” explained MFC President Mark Pavelich in an official press release. “I will not have guys coming and going from the MFC and thinking what they do in other organizations won’t have an effect on where they stand in the Maximum Fighting Championship. I have a lot of respect for Drew especially in the way he turned his life around and I wish him the best of luck in his future.”

Fickett had won five straight bouts including a trio of victories last September in a single-night tournament before suffering back-to-back TKOs against Kawajiri and Brian Cobb last month in what could be his final MFC appearance. The 31-year old lightweight has submitted thirty of the opponents he’s beaten including Kurt Pellegrino and Josh Koscheck. He also holds past wins over Edwin Dewees, Charles Bennett, Josh Neer, and Ken Florian.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

According to a press release from MFC, the accomplished BJJers will duel it out at MFC 30 on June 10 in Edmonton, Alberta at the Mayfield Conference Center.

Fickett has won his last five fights including a trio of bouts on a single night in September and a recent Armbar of Matt Veach at MFC 28 occurring less than a minute into their match-up. The 31-year old holds an overall record of 41-13 with thirty submissions and success against a number of notable opponents such as Kurt Pellegrino, Josh Neer, Ken Florian, and Josh Koscheck.

His fellow headliner, Franca, has also had his hands raised more often than not as of late with victories in his last three outings. The colorfully coiffed Brazilian is 22-11 in his career and holds wins over Mike Brown, Toby Imada, Jamie Varner, Caol Uno, and Nate Diaz.

Dubbed “Up Close and Personal” based on the organization’s plan to put attendees “right on top of the action” due to the arena’s seating structure, as well as eliminate service fees by handling ticket sales internally as a gesture to fans, MFC 30 will also feature a fight between UFC veteran Marcus Davis and 11-1 Richie Whitson in addition to action from Thomas “Wildman” Denny who takes on local product Sheldon Westcott.

Their co-headlining bout was announced early this morning through an official press release from the company.

The colorfully coifed Brazilian last fought on February 26, finding success midway through his match-up against Jorge Sarat via Armbar, and holds an overall record of 20-11. Prior to the victory Franca had lost four consecutive fights though in fairness he also outpointed Ferrid Kheder last December only to watch the result turned into a “No Contest” after the show’s promoter overruled officials and awarded Kheder the decision. He holds past wins over Marcus Aurelio, Spencer Fisher, Toby Imada, Jamie Varner, and Nate Diaz.

The April event will mark the second appearance in the organization for Fickett who tapped Matt Veach out in 39 seconds late last month at MFC 28. The performance marked the fifth consecutive time the 31-year old has had his hand raised as well as five straight submissions. Fickett is 41-13 in his career with wins over Kurt Pellegrino, Josh Neer, Ken Florian, and Josh Koscheck.

In addition to Fickett vs. Franca, MFC 29 will feature Ryan Jimmo defending his light heavyweight title against Emmanuel Newton, Douglas Lima taking on hard-hitting Terry Martin, and the MFC unveiling of Marcus Davis who fights Curtis Demarce.

Fickett will still see action at the event and has been linked to a bout with 15-2 grappler Matt Veach in a catch-weight clash at 160 pounds.

News of the change in circumstances was relayed to media by way of an official announcement from the organization.

Fickett is 40-13 in his career and was considered to be on his way to stardom with past wins over Kurt Pellegrino, Josh Koscheck, and Ken Florian before personal problems stymied his ascension in the sport. However, the 31-year old has won his last four fights including three in a single evening last September en route to winning Shine Fights’ 155-pound Grand Prix.

His opponent, Veach, has also emerged from the ring with his hands raised the last four times he’s entered it including a trio of decision victories. Fans may remember the teammate of Matt Hughes’ at H.I.T. Squad based on his recent run in the UFC where Veach debuted with an opening round TKO of Matt Grice before dropping back-to-back bouts including a submission loss to current lightweight champ Frank Edgar.

In addition to Fickett’s fight with Veach “MFC 28: Supremacy” will also feature in-ring appearances from notable names like Ryan Jimmo, Thomas Denny, and Rodney “Sho Nuff” Wallace. Fans can tune in to watch things unfold live on HDNet starting at 10:00 PM EST.

News of McKee’s return to the MFC was announced in an official press release by the Canadian promotion.

The 31-year old has won four consecutive fights by way of submission, a trio of which came during a single-night Shine Fights tournament in September, after losing seven of his previous eight bouts. Fickett’s career has been a roller coaster to say the least, as he holds past victories over Kurt Pellegrino, Josh Neer, Ken Florian, and Josh Koscheck but has also fallen to a number of less-than notable opponents and burned bridges with more than one MMA organization (including a well-documented fallout with MFC in 2008).

McKee is 3-0 in MFC with wins over Carlo Prater, Derrick Noble, and most recently Luciano Azevedo last Fall in a match-up McKee had promised to retire after were he unable to finish his opponent. He subsequently went on to score a first-round TKO over the Brazilian.

The 155-pounders join another set of individuals, light heavyweights Ryan Jimmo and Dwayne Lewis, set to square off over a belt at the event. Other highlights on the card include a bout between Razak Al-Hassan and Rodney Wallace, as well as Thomas Denny in action.

Scott Coker Still Expecting Gina Carano to Fight Again (MMAFighting.com)

Anthony Pettis Receiving Honor from City of Milwaukee (HeavyMMA.com)

Jacob Volkmann Put on Administrative Leave After Comments About President Obama (CagePotato.com)

Brock Lesnar, a Dead Deer, and a Snowy Climb (MMAConvert.com)

Heavyweights to Watch in 2011 (Versus.com)

Drew Fickett Signs with MFC (FIGHT! Magazine)

Herschel Walker vs. Don Frye Almost Went Down (MiddleEasy.com)

Turns Out There’s a New MMA Video Game on the Horizon (MMAScraps.com)

UFC Has Spent Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars Lobbying in NYC (WatchKalibRun.com)

Friday night Fickett gave the public another reason to remember his name, winning Shine Fights controversial eight-man, single-evening tournament with a series of submissions over opponents Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett, Dennis Bermudez, and finally Carlos Prater. The wins improved Fickett’s overall record to 40-13 and could mark a turnaround in his career. Prior to the victories, Fickett had dropped seven of his previous ten bouts but won in April over MMA veteran Derrick Noble meaning he’s officially on a four-fight streak in the right direction. Fickett was also the only Shine Fights competitor to finish an adversary, let alone more than one of them.

Prater advanced in the tournament after Rich Crunkilton was unable to compete in the semi-final though he defeated Prater via split decision in the night’s opening round. The Brazilian-by-way-of-Texas then fought another alternate, Charlie Brown, who took the place of Kyle Baker (also injured in an opening round split decision victory). Prater out-pointed Brown to advance to the card’s main event where he eventually fell to Fickett by way of Rear-Naked Choke a few minutes into the match-up.

A complete list of Shine Fights results can be found below:

Charlie Brown def. Brian van Hovan via Majority Decision
Drew Fickett def. Charles Bennett via Submission Round 1 (Guillotine Choke)
Dennis Bermudez def. Shannon Gugerty via Unanimous Decision
Kyle Baker def. James Warfield via Split Decision
Rich Crunkilton def. Carlo Prater via Split Decision
Drew Fickett def. Dennis Bermudez via Submission Round 1 (Rear-Naked Choke)
Carlo Prater def. Charlie Brown via Split Decision
Drew Fickett def. Carlo Prater via Submission Round 1 (Rear-Naked Choke)

Taylor’s opponent will be another former UFC veteran, Drew Fickett.

Taylor lost a chance to compete against Amir Sadollah in the finals of TUF 7 after he was dismissed from the show following an incident at a Las Vegas hotel and casino. He had earned the right to meet Sadollah after winning a semifinal fight against Tim Credeur and remained in Vegas after the show had wrapped filming to celebrate the win.

After a night of partying, Taylor was accused of being intoxicated and was shown on security video as kicking out the window of a limousine. He was also accused by UFC President Dana White of verbally accosting several female patrons inside of the casino and then referring to himself as a UFC fighter when questioned by security officials.

Taylor was given a second chance by the UFC and debuted for the promotion on July 19 during UFC Fight Night 14 in a match against fellow TUF alum C.B. Dollaway. In the week leading up to the fight, Taylor made some controversial comments about Quinton Jackson’s arrest on charges of reckless driving and evading arrest. Those comments combined with his first round submission defeat to Dollaway prompted UFC officials to sever contractual ties with him for a second and final time.

Much like Taylor, Fickett is no stranger when it comes to controversy. Fickett, who holds notable victories over Josh Koscheck, Josh Neer, Kenny Florian, and Kurt Pellegrino, has had trouble in recent years finding fights on a consistent basis due to accusations of erratic behavior. Clearly capable of competing for a major national promotion, Fickett has burned several bridges with promoters and matchmakers.

In spite of their out-of-the-cage issues, the Taylor vs. Fickett matchup is very intriguing as a regional-level main event. Total Combat has also announced that the card will be televised on MTV3. In addition to Taylor vs. Fickett, other bouts slated include former WEC veteran Ian McCall vs. Kevin Dunsmor, Rolando Perez vs. Nick Alvarado, and a female bout between Megan Gangitano of Team Quest vs. Kim Rose, who defeated Kim Couture this past June.

Hieron last fought on an IFL show in April, recording a TKO victory over Mark Miller in the first round and defending his welterweight title in the process. He has steamrolled through his competition inside the IFL and Fickett would be a great test for him to see just how far he’s come.

Fickett has won five out of his last six fights and has been at the center of a lot of controversy over the past couple of months. An ill-fated EliteXC fight against Jake Shields never took place due to injuries to both combatants at different times which led to scheduling issues for the fight. Fickett also tried to step in and fight Luke Stewart at a Strikeforce event in June but was already booked for a fight with Mark Pavelich’s MFC promotion in Canada on July 25.

What resulted from the scheduling mixup was nothing short of ridiculous as Pavelich trashed Fickett on various MMA forums and also left a scathing and now infamous voicemail on Fickett’s phone which made its rounds on the internet as well. According to his management, Fickett is back on track with his MMA career and is now looking forward to taking his career and training to the next level. Let’s hope so.

As for Affliction, this is a pretty damn good fight for them to put together if Fickett signs considering the lack of welterweight talent outside of the UFC right now. When Hieron signed with them earlier this month, one of the things that was harped on was who his opponents would be considering the lack of depth at welterweight outside the UFC. Fickett is a very good opponent who poses a lot of problems and if they can put this fight together then they’ve done more than I think most people thought they’d be able to do for Hieron’s first fight.

According to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Phil Baroni won via TKO at 51 seconds into the first round after landing an uppercut and a right hook that dropped his opponent, Ron Verdadero to the mat. According to the report, Verdadero immediately got up as the referee jumped in to stop the fight:

Shimada stops it as Verdadero QUICKLY gets back up. HORRIBLE STOPPAGE. Verdadero wasn’t even hurt. Oh man.

Also in action was Kala Kolohe Hose, who toppled his opponent Rolando Dominique via TKO in round two. With this victory, Hose rebounds from a stunning first round submission loss to Bubba McDaniel at the EliteXC: Return of the King show in June. Hose, from what the report says, doesn’t seem to have appeared too impressive but got the job done.

Also on the card was an apparent barnburner and a fight that the Star-Bulletin is calling Fight of the Year material between Mark Oshiro and Bao Quach for the ICON Sport North American championship. The fight was back and forth, with Quach having Oshiro in trouble several times with armbar attempts. It sounds like the fight was up and down, back and forth, and went everywhere that an MMA fight could go. Quach was able to secure a unanimous decision victory to become the new ICON Sport North American champion.

Also in action last night were Alberto Crane and Drew Fickett at Rage in the Cage 113. Crane is an ex-UFC fighter and Fickett is a veteran of the UFC and EliteXC. According to Sherdog, Crane apparently took care of business, getting his opponent, Adrian Valdez, to the ground quickly, then transitioning from an armbar attempt to a guillotine choke to force a tap in the first round.

Fickett didn’t fare as well, apparently coming into weigh-ins two pounds overweight:

Fickett came in over weight and had to run off two pounds, which may have taken its toll on him. Villa and his camp figured they would take full advantage of that by letting Fickett come out strong and then tire.

According to the report, round one was all Fickett with two head kicks, a takedown, and submission attempts from Fickett. But apparently he gassed early and in round two he paid dearly. Richard Villa came out firing with a hard right hand that dropped Fickett and he pounced on him from there, landing a barrage of strikes that forced a referee stoppage.

Full results for ICON Sport: Hard times can be found here. Full results for Rage in the Cage 113 can be found here.

Read the interview

Gareb was such a good sport that the interview you see on CBS Sportsline is only half of the whole question and answer session I had with him. He went into great detail about a lot of other topics but due to space constraints, I couldn’t get the entire transcript published. The good news is that CBS Sportsline has given me permission to post the entire transcript here in a couple of days.