(Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.com)

Steve Cofield has a new blog post on Yahoo! Sports that indicates that middleweight Jesse Taylor could once again be in hot water with the UFC.

Cofield spoke with Taylor on his ESPN Radio show in Las Vegas this week and asked him to share his thoughts about the recent arrest of UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. During the most recent season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Jackson was critical of Taylor’s conduct, which got him kicked off the show and cost him a spot in the TUF 7 middleweight final.

“What goes around, comes around, I guess,” an unsympathetic Taylor was quoted as saying to Cofield in regards to Jackson. In Taylor’s defense, he issued his comment before it was learned that Jackson’s behavior could potentially be attributed to mental health issues. He also backed off his initial comments after Yahoo! caught up with him for a followup.

“I feel bad for the guy,” Taylor is quoted. “Being on top of the fighting world and then not being there is going to destroy you. I think it was tough to handle for the guy. I wish he gets better, I didn’t know he was in this situation. He’s in a lot worse situation than I was in.”

But the apologetic comments may have come too late. According to Cofield, an unnamed UFC official revealed to him that they were none too pleased with Taylor speaking out against Jackson earlier in the week. Cofield also indicates in his report that Taylor’s stock within the promotion might also be hurt by the fact that there are rumors he may not have cleaned up his act to the extent he’s portrayed in interviews.

To make matters worse, Taylor lost to C.B. Dollaway during this past Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 14 fight card when he submitted to a Peruvian neck tie at 3:58 of round 1.

While nothing is official, Cofield gives strong indications in his article that it could be quite some time before we see Taylor in the UFC again.

Now, Taylor is getting a chance to redeem himself Saturday night as he takes on C.B. Dalloway. Is it too soon? Has Taylor really served a true suspension? Has he changed his ways? Yes, yes, and yes.

Taylor didn’t injure someone, and Taylor didn’t go to jail.  What Taylor did was something 99% of adult Americans have done – he got drunk and acted stupid. However, what Taylor did next is something most people wouldn’t do and is the reason he deserves a chance in the UFC.

 Right after (Taylor) got off the show, he went into AA,” said Dana White.

That doesn’t mean Taylor won’t mess up again. Many people that have entered treatment programs certainly have, but Taylor took the initiative to identify a problem and fix it. He should be commended for that. Sure, his main motivation was to get back to the UFC, but there is nothing wrong with that at all.

In the current media world where news travels fast and bad news travels even faster, this is a story that deserved more coverage. People were quick to bury Taylor after he acted like an immature clown on national TV, but people should be quick to applaud him when he does the right thing.

Positive reinforcement is a very powerful motivation. Hopefully, Taylor makes the most of it.

A middleweight matchup between alumni from the seventh season of “The Ultimate Fighter” between Jesse Taylor and C.B. Dalloway is planned for UFC Fight Night 14 on July 19.

The news comes courtesy of a report on MMAJunkie.com, which is citing sources within the camps of both fighters.

While it’s unknown for sure at this time whether the Taylor vs. Dalloway bout will be televised, it would be a surprise if it didn’t make the Spike TV telecast based on all the television time the two received on TUF 7.

Taylor was headed to the finals of the TUF 7 finale against Amir Sadollah until he was removed by UFC President Dana White for disciplinary reasons stemming from an incident that occurred in Las Vegas in the days after the show had originally wrapped.

Dalloway had been eliminated in the semifinals but was giving a second chance to make the finals after he defeated Tim Credeur in a bout to determine who would replace Taylor.

The former Arizona State University wrestling standout rematched Sadollah in the TUF 7 finals during the live finale on June 21 but lost when he submitted to an armbar in the first round.

UFN 14 is scheduled to be headlined by the UFC light heavyweight debut of Anderson Silva, as he takes on James Irvin. Featured bouts between Brandon Vera vs. Reese Andy and Frankie Edgar vs. Hermes Franca are planned as well.

When contacted by Five Ounces of Pain for a comment as to whether there were any validity to the rumor, an official with Team Quest in Temecula, where Taylor trains, would only state that “nothing is finalized for him.” It should be noted that the source did not indicate whether Taylor was being considered or not.

Taylor was a member of the cast for the seventh season of “The Ultimate Fighter” and had qualified for the finals of the show against Amir Sadollah. However, he was removed from the finale after an incident was depicted on the show of an allegedly intoxicated Taylor kicking out the window of a limousine on Station Casinos property.

Station Casinos is owned by Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, who collectively own 90% of the UFC.

In addition to breaking the window, UFC President Dana White said on the show that a drunken Taylor verbally accosted several female patrons of the hotel and that when confronted by security, he remarked, “Do you know who I am? I’m a UFC fighter.”

Despite being kicked out of The Ultimate Fighter Finale, it appears that Jesse Taylor is set to make his return to the UFC. Sources close to the situation have informed us that, less than one month after he was supposed to face Amir Sadollah in the finale, Taylor will be entering the Octagon on the July 19th card headlined by Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin. Although an opponent has yet to be named, it’s rumored that CB Dolloway, who replaced Taylor in the finale and ultimately lost a second time to Sadollah via first round submission, could be the frontrunner to land the fight.

Taylor vs. Dollaway is a fight that I would love to see to see who has the better wrestling for mixed martial arts. Hopefully Jesse’s learned his lesson and the time away from the fighting and the glamor have literally sobered him up.

“I was in the limo when [Taylor kicked out the window], and it wasn’t just the window,” Riddle said. “The night before, he got kicked out of another club for wrestling around all in the bathroom, out of control.

“Then the following night, we went out with Rampage to PURE (nightclub), and the security didn’t want to kick Jesse out because he is so big and a fighter, and the last thing they needed was this guy going crazy. So they asked me … and a bunch of guys from the show to escort him out. When we told [Taylor] he got kicked out, he flipped out in Caesars Palace.

“We were all dragging [Taylor] through the casino and trying to get him out the front door, and security was threatening to hit him up with pepper spray and Tazers because he was out of control. We finally got to the front door, and we literally couldn’t find a taxi, so I had to pay for a limo.

“In the limo, we are still holding him down because he was so pissed off and going crazy. Eventually, about 10 minutes into the ride, he calms down, and we get back to the Palace Station. Now, Zuffa (the UFC’s parent company) owns the Palace Station, so that’s why they have all the video footage. So what does JT do the second we park? (He) lies down on his back and kicks out the biggest window in the limo.”

The fact that it was at a point to where the security was threatening Taylor with pepper spray and tazers speaks volumes about Taylor’s behavior. The kid is just not mentally ready for the big time. I’m sure the fact that he’s been in exile for a while now has given him a good bit of time to think about what he’s done but who’s to say that if he makes it big in the UFC that he won’t revert right back to the same kind of behavior?

All of the guys from TUF talk about how hard it is when you’ve had that exposure and are now under the microscope. Kendall Grove let the Vegas lifestyle almost ruin his career and he seems twice as mentally strong as Taylor at this point. I think Jesse deserves to be in the UFC but I do wonder what will happen to him if he lets the glitz and glamor get into his head.

On one hand, I think Jesse Taylor is the biggest idiot in the world for blowing the biggest opportunity in his life over something as trivial as alcohol.

On the other hand, I think Taylor is a good person whose punishment might not necessarily fit the crime.

Taylor clearly deserved a reprimand of some kind for his post-TUF 7 celebration that, according to UFC President Dana White, involved kicking out the window of a limousine on Station Casinos property and then verbally accosting several of the casino’s female patrons.

White was one hundred percent correct in his assertion that Taylor’s behavior was unbecoming of a UFC fighter. And Taylor’s decision to commit such infractions on casino owned by the owners of the UFC clearly shows he lacks basic judgment abilities.

That said, I can’t help but wonder though if his decision to remove Taylor from the TUF 7 live finale and out of the UFC entirely was too much.

Taylor is neither the first fighter in the history of the UFC to get caught up in what industry insiders refer to as “the MMA lifestyle” and he’s not the first member of a TUF cast to ever destroy property.

Chuck Liddell has been depicted several times on video as being someone who might like to party a little too much. There have also been eyewitness accounts of him carousing in Las Vegas the night of/morning of a big fight. And when Liddell did his infamous Nyquil interview last year with a local television station, White felt compelled to go out to California and have a talk with his marquee star.

Not to mention, was it just several weeks ago where TUF 7 fighters were depicted causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage to the TUF Mansion simply because they were bored?

I realize the analogies aren’t perfect. For one, there are different conduct standards that apply to stars of the UFC in comparison to the fighters trying to break into the promotion. In this scenario, the UFC is no different than any other major sports organization when it comes to applying a double-standard.

I also realize the fighters caused their damage inside of the house as opposed to in public. So, since it was inside, the incident was only seen by million of television viewers as opposed to a few hundred patrons at a casino.

Oh wait, that doesn’t make much sense, does it?

Kind of like how it doesn’t make sense that Jon “War Machine” Koppenhaver was never formally disciplined for his arrest in San Diego for assault or the fact that Rob Emerson was welcomed back to the UFC with open arms even after his pre-UFC past as a suburban gangster in the “Lords of South County” (or is it “Lordz” with a “Z”?) was brought to light.

Does the decision to boot Taylor while Emerson and Koppenhaver are gainfully employed send the message that it’s okay to strike a person on property that is not owned by Frank or Lorenzo Fertitta but it’s not okay to kick a window out at a casino owned by the Fertittas?

I’m not sure what message it sends because I’m really confused. I’m not saying Koppenhaver or Emerson shouldn’t be in the UFC, merely that if they weren’t publicly reprimanded, why was Taylor? Unless there are some things Taylor did that are being covered up, the decision to remove him from the finale was too harsh.

White made the point that “these are guys that aren’t in the UFC, they are trying to be UFC fighters.” While I understand his point that they need to make the right decisions when trying to get hired by the UFC, I would counter that they are already in the UFC. Every fighter that appears on TUF signs a contract that gives Zuffa to the option to pick up their contract at the conclusion of taping.

Zuffa holds an option to use the fighter but the fighter doesn’t hold the option to fight for another promotion if his option is picked up. So in my eyes, Taylor was already property of the UFC and if the promotion has shown a willingness to offer second chances to other fighters on its roster, why not Taylor?

In the end, Taylor has nobody to blame but himself. I felt he came across as a good person on the show that simply had some maturity issues to work on. Hopefully he learned his lesson and will make changes in his lifestyle and hopefully the UFC gives him a second chance.

Based on some of the comments made by White when he was dismissing Taylor and Taylor’s video interview that was made available immediately after the show on Spike TV, I feel odds are good that he will indeed be given another shot. I just believe he should have been given that shot and allowed to compete in Saturday’s middleweight final.