While it has been rumored for some time, Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports has confirmed that Zuffa has formally decided to fold the 185 lbs. and 205 lbs. divisions in its World Extreme Cagefighting brand.

Despite the news, there is still no official timetable as to when the WEC will eliminate its middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, as the company is promoting a major middleweight title defense by current champion Paulo Filho against Chael Sonnen on its upcoming Sept. 10 show in Hollywood, Fla.

Once the two divisions are folded, top names such as Filho, former WEC light heavyweight champion Brian Stann, and former NCAA champions Mark Munoz and Jake Rosholt will no doubt cross over into the UFC. However, it appears as though many fringe fighters currently occupying spots in those divisions for the WEC could find themselves looking for a new company to fight for.

In recent months there had also been rumors about the long-term survival of the WEC and whether the entire fight promotion would be merged into the UFC, however, UFC President Dana White stated that isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

“…I can tell you this: It’s not going to go down,” White is quoted.

Another report that had surfaced recently was that the WEC’s television partner, VERSUS, had extended its contract with the promotion and increased the number of events it planned to televise next year. As of now, 10 cards could be televised in 2009 but that could change, especially since, as Iole points out, the number of fighters that will be available to the WEC will decrease by thirty-three percent.

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For many years now bantamweight fighters have performed under the shroud of almost total anonymity. Unless you were a hardcore fan who followed smaller Japanese promotions such as DEEP and Shooto, chances are that you didn’t really care about the 135 lbs. division in MMA.

But times care changing, thanks in large part to World Extreme Cagefighting, which has helped expose many U.S. fans to the tremendous talent that exists in the smaller weight classes. And thanks in large part to the exploits of WEC bantamweight king Miguel Torres, the interest in the 135 lbs. division in this country has never been greater.

Torres currently sits at the top of what many consider to be a deep and healthy bantamweight division in the WEC which has experienced improved depth recently with the return of Rani Yayha as well as former WEC featherweight title challenger Jeff Curran’s decision to move down in weight.

The depth in the division has also increased thanks in large part to the development of 6-0 bantamweight prospect Brian Bowles, who improved his record in the WEC to 3-0 following an impressive first round submission over Damacio Page at WEC 35 earlier this month.

The fight, which was televised on VERSUS on a tape delay basis, was Bowles’ highest-profile victory to date and it served as a strong indication that it’s only a matter of time before he’s granted a shot at the WEC bantamweight title currently held by Torres.

In an attempt to learn more about the 28-year old up-and-comer, FiveOuncesOfPain.com recently caught up with Bowles for an exclusive one-on-one interview in which he discussed his possible return to the cage; his thoughts on Curran moving down to 135 lbs. and whether he’d welcome a match with him; how far he feels he is from a title shot; and more!

Sam Caplan: I first wanted to ask about how you first got started in MMA and how you were discovered by the WEC?

Brian Bowles: I got started when one of my friends found the Hardcore Gym and started training there. He told me about it and said he was having fun doing it and that I should come and join. I joined it and I loved it. Rory (Singer) had some connections from when he was on the reality show (second season of “The Ultimate Fighter) and just called the WEC and asked them to give me a chance and they gave me a chance. So far, it’s working out.

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Hundreds of thousands of democrats have migrated West to Denver, Colorado this week for the Democratic National Convention. And relatively close by, 12 fighters from Greg Jackson’s MMA have flocked from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Vail, Colorado, in search of high altitude training to give them an additional edge for upcoming fights.

One of those fighters is none other than 8-0 WEC lightweight sensation Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, who is quickly converging on lightweight title contender status following two victories in his first two fights with the promotion.

One of the wins was ruled a no contest by the Nevada State Athletic Commission after Cerrone tested positive for a banned diuretic. Following the positive test, NSAC suspended the 25-year old. However, he returned with a vengance this past June, submitting Danny Castillo with an armbar at 1:30 of round 1 during WEC 34.

Now Cerrone is just weeks out from the biggest fight of his career; a showdown at WEC 36 on Sept. 10 in Hollywood, Fla. with former WEC lightweight champion “Razor” Rob McCullough. Despite being in the midst of final preparations for the fight, Cerrone still made time for an exclusive interview with FiveOuncesOfPain.com in which he revealed that the winner of the fight between he and McCullough will be granted a title shot against current champion Jamie Varner in December.

During the one-on-one conversation, Cerrone also addressed his suspension for the banned diuretic; why he decided to get involved with MMA after a strong kickboxing career; what his experience was like being featured on the VERSUS reality TapouT show; whether he was ever considered for “The Ultimate Fighter,” and more.

Sam Caplan: As we do this interview I am talking to you while you’re in Colorado. Can you talk about which camp you’re training with for this fight and who you are training with?

Donald Cerrone: Yeah, I am up here in Vail, Colorado. I brought about 12 guys from (Greg) Jackson’s up here at Inyodo Martial Arts up in Vail. I brought about 12 guys and then have guys up here like Duane Ludwig; my Brazilian instructor has come up from Brazil; and we’ve got a couple of guys from England. So we kind of transplated our camp up here in Vale for the last couple of weeks at 10,000 feet.

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Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, in an exclusive interview with the OC Register, spoke about what was going through his mind during his July 15 police chase through the streets of Costa Mesa and I don’t know if it’s all a ploy to help him during his upcoming trial or whether it’s legitimate. What I do know, however, is that it’s pretty f’n ridiculous:

He said he thought he was on a mission to save a friend – who had recently lost his faith in God – and was unaware that he had hit any other cars or was being pursued by a phalanx of police cars.

“I thought I heard the voice of God telling me to go save Brian,” he said in an interview today after his arraignment on two felony evading arrest charges. “I felt if I didn’t get to Brian, he would die.”

Unaware that he hit other cars? Unaware that the police were chasing him? That’s pretty ridiculous, right? But wait, it gets better. Not only did Rampage think that God was talking to him but apparently the movie “The Secret” was heavily influential during this whole ordeal as well:

And then to compound things, Jackson said, he stayed awake for most of the night before the wild pursuit watching the movie “The Secret” on his DVD player, over and over again. “The Secret” is a story about using free will to make things happen in life. The film has been featured on the Oprah Winfrey show and has been used as motivation in court-ordered classes for drunken-drivers, according to Lavacot.

Jackson said he watched the movie to the end that night and saw its message in a new light. Jackson, who became a born-again Christian about four years ago, said he connected the teachings of the movie with the teachings of the Bible.

“The Bible told me to have faith,” he said. “But ‘The Secret’ taught me how to have faith.”

But then he also remembered he had loaned a copy of “The Secret” to his friend Brian Talbert, also a UFC fighter. He said he somehow got it in his mind that if he didn’t warn his friend to watch the movie all the way to the end, Brian would die.

Wow. Please tell me this is not what Rampage intends to tell the jury in the courtroom. Firstly, I believe Rampage should have plead guilty to the charges, taken his punishment, and put this whole thing behind him as quickly as possible while still taking responsibility for it. It looks bad on him and the UFC that he’s trying to use a half-assed quasi-insanity defense to get off light. To be this over the top that you have to tell a jury that you had to save your friend’s life by telling him to watch “The Secret” to the very end or else he would die is really pushing the boundaries. Rampage has money and the UFC is backing him heavily during this whole ordeal so don’t be surprised when he gets off light but this is maybe the most ridiculous way to go about things.

In this week’s installment of HDNet Fights’ Fight of the Week we have former IFL featherweight champion and current WEC top ten featherweight Wagnney Fabiano (10-1) squaring off against the highly touted Shad Lierley (2-2) out of Ken Shamrock’s camp. This fight is a title defense for Fabiano who was the first ever IFL featherweight champion after a submission victory over L.C. Davis in the IFL Grand Prix. Fabiano just recently announced that he has signed with the WEC where he will most likely contend for the 145 lbs. title against current champion Urijah Faber sometime down the road.

Shad Lierley shocked the world when he took Chris Horodecki to decision at an IFL event a little over year ago, almost defeating the Xtreme Couture prospect in the process. Once the IFL created a 145 lbs. weight class it only made sense for Lierley to drop down to his normal fighting weight and face off against the champion Wagnney Fabiano. Fabiano looks to show the world why he’s ranked in the top ten by showing that he not only has submission skills but striking skills as well. Lierley is a very tough kid and proved it in his loss to Horodecki but will Fabiano’s skills be far too much for him at his natural weight class? Or will Lierley scrap his way to a victory? You will not want to blink during this fight!

Be sure to check out the HDNet Video Vault for lots more fights and MMA action!

For a long time now fans have been clamoring to see the pound for pound best fighter in the world, Anderson Silva, take on his teammate and close friend, WEC middlweight champion Paulo Filho. Both fighters have dismissed the fight in the past, saying that they would never fight one another due to their friendship. But Ed Soares, the manager for both Anderson Silva as well as Paulo Filho was recently a guest on MMA Weekly Radio and did not rule out a possible fight between the two top middleweight fighters sometime down the road:

“If that’s the fight that the world wants to see, then I guess we’re going to have to sit back and talk about it,” Soares said. “I think that’s going to be a hard one to get across to both sides. They’re friends, they’ve been together. But at the end of the day, it’s a business, and sometimes you’ve gotta go in there, and you shake hands. They’ve been on each other for free in training. I can just tell you that it would really have to be something that makes sense for both guys.”

Keep your fingers crossed, ladies and gentlemen. Before that fight comes close to happening however, Filho needs to take care of business against Chael Sonnen at WEC 36 in September. Filho is one of the only people at middleweight that many people believe can truly test Anderson Silva. It’s a fight that hardcores would drool over. Here’s to hoping that the two can come to a compromise as competitors and athletes.

MMA Junkie is reporting that sources close to Randy Couture are saying that the current UFC heavyweight champion is willing to fight in the UFC one more time:

Multiple sources close to the fighter, speaking exclusively to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com), today said that Couture is willing to fight once more for the UFC, possibly before the end of the year, as a potential resolution to his ongoing legal battles with the fight promotion.

However, Couture himself could not be reached for comment, and it’s unknown if the UFC is even considering the offer at this point.

According to one source, as part of Couture’s concession to return the octagon, the 45-year-old UFC hall-of-famer would want to walk away “clear and free” from the organization after the bout.

There have been some rumors going around the past few days that Couture will be booked on a show before year’s end. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir are set to face off for the interim championship in December so it’s hard to tell who Couture would face. However, industry sources have informed FiveOuncesOfPain.com in recent days that one idea that might have been put on the table by the UFC was a headlining match between Couture and Brock Lesnar at UFC 91 on Nov. 15 in Portland, Ore.

I know it’s silly to still think of Couture as the champion but that’s legitimately what he is. If a match between Couture and Lesnar was signed — and right now it the matchup should be viewed as nothing more than speculation — it’s unclear whether Lesnar would be allowed to compete for a title with just one win in the UFC. Nogueira is still considered the interim champion so how would they handle Couture’s return? Would they bring him back as champion? Or would they just automatically regard the title that Nogueira holds as the real championship?

If they do bring him back as champion then what if he wins? Then they’re stuck in a situation where he vacates the true title while Nog and Mir fight for an interim title. Couture returning would most certainly muddy up the division and the title picture but it sure would be great to see him get in the cage again and show the world that at 45 years old that he still has what it takes to hang with today’s heavyweights.

K.J. Noons sent out a mass email yesterday to a lot of the major MMA websites to tell his side of the story regarding the canceled Nick Diaz fight on CBS on October 4. According to Noons his decision to not fight Nick Diaz has nothing to do with Diaz himself and everything to do with the way EliteXC has treated him. He is not a happy camper and it’s pretty easy to see why he feels the way he does. Here’s some of the highlights:

On his promotion (or lack thereof) by EliteXC:

In the Elite XC’s DVD where Diaz and I fought there are two (2) baseball cards of Diaz and Kimbo. Hello! I won the fight and Elite XC’s promoting Diaz after I beat him? Or how about the day Elite XC flew Diaz in to do a signing on the DVD where he lost. Wow, that must have been uncomfortable Nick? Signing a DVD, and it is a fight that you lost. Why wasn’t I flown in for the signing?

On EliteXC giving him a hard time about tickets to shows:

Elite XC gives me a hard time about comping me one extra ticket for my cousin that helped me train for my fight. I only get four tickets per show. I am the main event in Honolulu, my home town! I did not ask for any tickets for my family and friends and they gave me a hard time about one extra ticket!

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Battling this week are two arch enemies in the form of Adam Morgan and Caleb Newby. Both want to rip the others throat out so this is a solid Duel made of hatred. Let us start….

1. Kimbo Slice will defeat Ken Shamrock in under 60 seconds.

Morgan: FALSE. Kimbo will most certainly destroy Ken Shamrock in convincing fashion via knockout but it won’t be under 60 seconds. Yes, his chin is glass and Kimbo will most likely touch it but we said the same thing about James Thompson and Thompson took several hard blows from Kimbo and kept on fighting. In Shamrock’s illustrious MMA career he has never been KO’d in under 60 seconds, even in losses to Tito Ortiz, Rich Franklin and heavy hitter Kazuyuki Fujita. Kimbo will need at least 60 seconds to feel Shamrock out and find an opening for him to capitalize upon. So while I do think that Kimbo will win in the first round via knockout, I highly doubt that it will be in less than a minute.

Newby: FALSE. 60 seconds is a pretty tough time frame to beat anyone in. We’ve seen enough fights that involve a 2+ minute initial feeling out process and who knows how long it will take Ken to fully engage Kimbo. I too will be taking Kimbo via first round KO but 60 seconds is a little ambitious for my taste. Up the ante to 120 seconds and I’d probably bite. So with that being said, how high would the hilarious factor be should Ken get a takedown and submit Kimbo early in the fight? Could there be anything worse for EliteXC’s future than having Ken easily defeat Kimbo? Not that I am looking for their demise, don’t get me wrong, but you have to admit the comedy factor would be huge. How many losses as Ken suffered in a row? Six? And to see him take down your poster boy badass? Priceless. That’s what makes this fight interesting to me; rooting for the near impossible upset just to see the look on Skala’s face after.

My Five Cents: Ken Shamrock has no chance in hell and it confuses me how anyone would think he does. Kimbo might well kill him…. which would be bad for the sport. I say he beats him in 60 seconds.

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Editor’s Note: The following column is complete satire and is intended to mock Larry King’s old columns in the USA Today, which half our audience is too young to have even remembered. This concept is also a knockoff of an ESPN The Magazine concept that is also used by a dozen other publications.

A lot of people are surprised that I’m a fan of the MMA. But I grew up rolling with Royce Gracie in Brooklyn before he left and brought JiuJitsu to Brazil. We used to call him “Rolls” Royce. … If I’m John McCain, I’m calling Joe Silva to be my Vice Presidential Nominee. … Great acquisition of the IFL by the UFC. It was neck-and-neck there for awhile and if you can’t beat ‘em, buy ‘em. … Mark Dion is the Drew Rosenhaus of our sport, and who wouldn’t want to be represented by Drew Rosenhaus? … At the risk of sounding a little dramatic, Randy Couture vs. Fedor needs to happen in order to bring an end to the Cold War once and for all. … It was a tremendous coup by the folks here at 5 Oz. to land former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. I know that’s a big reason why I enlisted here. “The Duel” is a nice fallback for the former Republica Presidential candidate. … EliteXC missed the boat on Shamrock vs. Kimbo as their CBS main event. I think fans would have preferred to seen Ken and Frank as a tag team one more time against Kimbo and Boss Rutten. Now that’s what I call box office. … It was interesting to hear from Team Kimbo this week that Brett Rogers was once a tire repairman. Did he even need to put a car on a bay lift for a tire change, or did he just lift vehicles with one hand while changing tires with the other? … Saturday Night Live needs to sign up whoever wrote Brett’s recent statement. I laughed so hard I needed to change my suspenders. … It seems a little sexist that there’s a King of the Cage but no Queen of the Cage, doesn’t it? … Every day when I wake up, I put an “X” on my calendar to count the days until Yamma Pit Fighting’s next pay-per-view. I know I’m not alone. … For my money, there’s no better play-by-play man out there right now than Col. Bob Sheridan. … I’m real glad to hear Gan McGee is coming out of retirement. He’s the one heavyweight that Affliction let get away. … How is it that Arianny is a ring girl even though she’s walking around a cage? … Speaking of Arianny, I was shocked to hear that her and Roger broke up. I didn’t see that one coming.

The arraignment of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was held earlier today in Santa Ana, Calif with the former UFC light heavyweight champion pleading not guilty to felony counts of evading a peace officer and evading a peace officer against traffic, according to the Associated Press. He also reportedly pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges of hit-and-run and reckless driving,

The AP is also stating that another court hearing has been scheduled for Jackson on Sept. 9 and that he is currently free on $25,000 bond.

Jackson had been formally charged with on Monday upon the completion of a six-week investigation by the Costa Mesa Police Department stemming from an alleged incident on July 15 in which Jackson is accused of leading law enforcement officials on a high-speed chase following a series of traffic crashes.

At the time of the incident, a spokesman with the Costa Mesa Police Department stated to FiveOuncesOfPain.com that there were no serious injuries sustained as a result of the crashes. However, a few days later the Daily Pilot reported that 38-year old Holli Griggs and her unborn child were hospitalized and had received treatment following the collision.

Several weeks later Griggs’ fiance revealed that she had miscarried.

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Glover Teixeira, who trains under John Hackleman at “The Pit” in San Luis Obispo and is a teammate of former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell, has revealed that his next fight is expected to take place with the UFC.

Teixeira made the comments during a video interview with InTheGuard.tv. The UFC has yet to confirm the signing.

“I’ve always loved to have fought in the UFC and now actually my dream is going to come true,” the native Brazilian said. “I’m going to be fighting in the UFC, probably in my next fight. I’ve been having visa problems in the United States. That’s why I am here, taking care of everything. And soon as I am back I’ll be ready to go and fight with the big boys.”

If the Teixeira’s statement is accurate, he will make a strong addition to an already stacked 205 lbs. division in the UFC. He has long been considered one of the top unsigned light heavyweight fighters in the world and had been rumored to be a part of the cast for the upcoming eighth installment of “The Ultimate Fighter.”

Teixeira improved his national profile with a first round TKO over Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou at 1:41 of round 1 during WEC 24 in 2006. He also holds another win over a UFC fighter having recorded a decision victory over Matt Horwich at Sportfight 3 in 2004.

The word pioneer is thrown around loosely these days, but in the case of Ken Shamrock, it’s an apt description. Speaking for myself, I am not sure I would have gotten into MMA if it wasn’t for Shamrock. He was just someone I was always interested in seeing fight and someone I’d always root for.

I am a writer but I am also a fan and I can remember watching UFC 40 in 2002 when Tito Ortiz pummeled Shamrock in their first-ever meeting. I hated Ortiz for doing that to my hero. Was it irrational anger? Absolutely. But I was a Shamrock fan and Ortiz had just beaten my guy. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be the the last time he’d take a beating at the hands of Ortiz.

The losses to Ortiz made it easy to forget that Shamrock was both the first-ever King of Pancrase and the UFC’s first-ever Superfight champion. But the simple truth of the matter is he’s far removed from the time in which he known as the “World’s Most Dangerous Man.”

While nostalgia is fun, the reality is that the 44-year old Shamrock is 0-5 in his last fight bouts and hasn’t won since 2004. His career looked to have hit rock bottom following a first round knockout against heavyweight journeyman Robert “Buzz” Berry this past March during a Cage Rage event. It was a fight set up for Shamrock to win and in losing, it appeared he was all but done.

Flash forward to the present and Shamrock has been handed a golden opportunity to set to things right. Scheduled to face Kimbo Slice in the main event of EliteXC and CBS’ third installment of “Saturday Night Fights” on Oct. 4, Shamrock finds himself with one last shot at redemption.

With just six weeks until the fight, Shamrock took time to speak with FiveOuncesOfPain.com in an exclusive interview where he discussed the loss to Berry; his thoughts on Slice; his response to comments made by the camp of Brett Rogers; how long he plans to continue fighting; the status of his long-standing feud with adoptive brother Frank Shamrock; and more.

Sam Caplan: A lot of people were disappointed in the nature in which you lost to Robert “Buzz” Berry in March. Is there anything you can point to that caused that performance?

Ken Shamrock: Well I don’t think anyone was more disappointed than myself. A lot of things would have happened for me after that fight and I wanted that fight badly but unfortunately things didn’t work out for me. I had some real bad sickness, an illness. I came back to the States and I was sick for three weeks after but prior to that fight I had lost almost 20 pounds. From the time between leaving the States to when I was over in England, I was in bed trying to recover. Prior to weighing in I had put in two bags of fluid in me and I still only weighed 212.

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FiveOuncesOfPain.com was notified through a third-party Wednesday afternoon that the camp for EliteXC heavyweight Kimbo Slice was looking to respond to an exclusive statement issued to us by the camp of Brett Rogers earlier in the day.

We contacted Icey Mike, the manager for Slice, who issued a response that differed greatly from that of Rogers. The nature of Team Kimbo’s response evoked the old proverb that says “A picture can tell a 1,000 words,” as Icey Mike only requested that we run a picture with a simple one line of text below as Kimbo’s official response:

“Rogers, don’t quit your day job.”

The response is a reference to Rogers’ former vocation as a tire repairman at a Minneapolis-area Sam’s Club, where he worked up until this past January before quitting so that he could pursue mixed martial arts on a full-time basis.

(Photo By Esther Lin)

No, it wasn’t you. It was us.

Yesterday FiveOuncesOfPain.com was offline for about half the day.

And I am sorry if you don’t want to read this long diatribe, but I need to vent. Is that alright? I just need a few minutes… er, a few thousand words. If you are bored by this stuff, that’s cool, read the next article. However, if you want to know why were down for most of yesterday, then feel free to read on.

The reason why we disappeared can be blamed squarely on the shoulders of our former hosting company, Blue Host. Without warning or any communication, the “fine people” at Blue Host decided to not only suspend our account, but they banned us and terminated our contract.

It turns out that the EXCLUSIVE statement released to us by Brett Rogers’ manager and trainer, Mike Reilly, caused the site to crash and brought Blue Host more traffic than they could handle. They claimed that our traffic was effecting the performance of “500 other sites.”

I know we’re good, but good enough to bring down 500 sites? Nice.

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UFC lightweight Frankie “The Answer” Edgar has recently launched a new website, www.frankedgar.com, which includes an expanded picture gallery, bio, and even a blog.  On the site, you can also get a custom designed “The Answer” t-shirt or hoodie.
FiveOuncesofPain.com would like to give one of these custom “The Answer” t-shirts to a lucky reader!

Check out Frankie’s new website or other MMA websites to find “The Answers” to these trivia questions.

How to Win: be the first reader to correctly answer the five questions below.

1. Edgar has been an assistant coach for WHAT sport at WHICH New Jersey university?

2. Training mostly on the east coast, what school does Edgar train at when he heads to California?.

3. Six of Edgar’s last seven fights ended by Unanimous Decision. HOW did the ‘other’ fight end and at WHICH event was it?

4. Edgar wrestled at WHICH Toms River High School: North, South, East or West?

5. WHAT part of Edgar’s body was kicked off during a fight earlier in his career? And WHO kicked it off?

All answers MUST be posted in the Comment String of THIS CONTEST POST.

DISCLAIMER: Winner will be contacted via email (be sure to use a legit email address) and then must email their U.S. mailing address to 5 Oz of Pain. We will not ship outside of the U.S.

Strikeforce has confirmed a report initially broken by MMAjunkie.com that Bobby Southworth is off the promotion’s card scheduled for the Playboy Mansion on Sept. 20.

Southworth had been scheduled to defend his Strikeforce light heavyweight title vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral but is unable to compete due to what is believed to be a possible torn ACL and meniscus. According to Strikeforce, Southworth suffered the injury during a routine training session while preparing to fight Sobral at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif.

Southworth’s replacement for the show has already been secured in the form of EliteXC and Strikeforce veteran Anthony “A-Train” Ruiz. Ruiz last competed for EliteXC on July 26 in a non-televised bout during its “Saturday Night Fights” event in Stockton, Calif. Fighting fellow light heavyweight Jeromy Freitag, Ruiz improved to 21-11 with a unanimous decision victory.

Ruiz has actually fought Southworth on two occasions. He defeated him in a non-title fight last November via a second round TKO due to a cut. Ruiz was then granted a title shot this past June during the undercard for the Gilbert Melendez vs. Josh Thomson show, but he was unable to claim the title after losing a unanimous decision.

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With EliteXC’s recent public announcement that it had decided on Ken Shamrock as the next opponent for Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson during its next installment of “Saturday Night Fights” on CBS on Oct. 4, it has once again left Brett Rogers and his unblemished 8-0 record on the outside looking in.

Securing a match against Slice has been a tremendous source of frustration for the massive heavyweight, who has compiled a 3-0 record while competing under the EliteXC banner. His angst was never more apparent than during the post-fight press conference that proceeded EliteXC and CBS’ first-ever network primetime telecast on May 31.

During the presser, Rogers offered a negative critique of the effort Slice had turned in during the night’s main event against James Thompson. Rogers went so far as to label the effort as “garbage” with Slice sitting just several feet away from him. Slice eventually took exception to Rogers’ words and stood to face him.

Unwilling to back down from Slice, a near brawl between the camps of both fighters almost ensued.
The post-fight drama was a manifestation of Rogers’ dissatisfaction with the fact that Thompson had been awarded the coveted main event slot vs. Slice in spite of the fact that Rogers had recorded a first round knockout over him just months earlier during EliteXC’s “Street Certified.” Cooler heads prevailed but the frustrations linger to this day.

With Rogers once again being passed over, many reporters have attempted to contact Rogers through his Team Bison camp. While Rogers is expected to start granting interviews soon, his manager and Team Bison head trainer, Mike Reilly, has released an exclusive statement to FiveOuncesOfPain.com that states for the record how Rogers and his camp feels about the recent decision to grant Shamrock the main event slot vs. Slice.

A copy of the explosive statement that was released to us is now available below:

On behalf of Brett Rogers and the Team Bison Camp -

We are getting a lot of requests for interviews concerning the recently announced Shamrock vs. Slice match up. I believe many people are looking for us to be upset and join the pig pile on EliteXC. Well, people have to keep on looking.

Brett has two words tattooed on his arms: one is success and the other is patience. We of course would like to fight Kimbo here and now. We would like to fight him today. We would love to fight a legend like Shamrock as well. We would also like to fight for the title. There is no doubt we will get to do all three; we just need to have patience and then we will have success.

As for Elite – this is our home. We are excited to be part of Elite, CBS and Showtime. We are proud to be part of one of fastest-growing and best backed promotions in the world. We are proud to be part of a show that treats their fighters with love and respect and is not afraid to let their fighters compete outside the boundaries. Elite is also not afraid to give fighters the opportunity to develop and grow as athletes and entertainers. Elite has a growing network of mid-level and developmental shows that are bringing up true up-and-coming talent that will provide the bedrock of the sport for a long time to come.

I know a lot of people want to dog on Elite; but these same people would have an MMA world where no more then a dozen guys were making a living wage. People who think the real world should run just like it does on their PlayStation. But this is a complicated, difficult business for every side of the equation. For the fighters, promoters and everyone else involved. As a camp we have to negotiate, posture, bully, push, plead to get our share of the love. But at the end of the day we are Elite.

As for Oct 4th; that was our spot. Shamrock with his name and giant ego butted in line to get a slice of Kevin. At 103 years of age Ken usurped our rightful place against the YouTube champ. Our sincerest hope is that Ken whips Kimbo and then we can finally euthanize the “World’s Most Dangerous Man” and relegate him to some MMA dinosaur exhibit. Maybe taxidermy him and Severn and place them on a rotating pedestal where they can endless circle each other.

If Ken proves to be more sham then rock and Fergi beats him, then the Slice hype grows even greater. Dude is already more myth then Sasquatch, Chupacabra and a fucking unicorn combined. Kevin is the black Yeti.

Caught between a Shamrock and a hard place, Kevin has chosen the old over the new; the past over the future. But Fergi… the hard place is coming. By putting us off, making us wait will only make matters worse. There is nothing business about it anymore. Kimbo made it a point to go frontin’ to our boys at Big Black. But that street thug B.S. might work well with the fan bois and the Internet dorks who think your street cred means something; but Son… Brett comes from Cabrini Green; the worst 12 blocks of America. Compared to that your street is Sesame Street. So you can say it is very personal between Brett and Fergi. So go ahead and make us wait while you fight Tank and Shamrock. Hell, why not fight Hackney, Harold Howard, Fred Ettish and the rest of Jurassic MMA? And while your shuckin’ and duckin’ we will be hustlin’ and muscilin’ and when the bell finally tolls the only real question left is … do you wake up looking at canvas or arena lights?

On behalf of Brett Rogers – Team Bison