Personalities

Shaw Interested in Bringing Ortiz to EliteXC

With his days as a featured fighter with the Ultimate Fighting Championship coming to an end, Tito Ortiz, the one-time face of the organization, has mentioned that he’d like to take his services elsewhere following his upcoming fight against Lyoto Machida on May 24th.

One of the organizations in which Ortiz has expressed interest in Elite Xtreme Combat, headed by former boxing promoter Gary Shaw. Brash and out-spoken, Shaw is no stranger to giving his opinion when asked by the media and didn’t shy away earlier today when the potential of Ortiz shifting his career to EliteXC was brought up.

“In all my years in the fight game, I can see, touch, feel a superstar,” Shaw said this afternoon on a conference call promoting EliteXC’s network television debut on CBS later this month. “Everytime I see Tito Ortiz, he reeks of stardom. I think when his days in the UFC are over, that I can reincarnate him. Could you imagine Tito and Kimbo Slice in the cage together? I hope when his contract with the UFC is up that he will not be sitting across the table with me, but sitting with me at that table.”

“Please tell Tito that our door is wide open for him,” Shaw continued. “When his deal with the UFC is up, I’d love to talk with him and figure things out.”

Ortiz’s falling out with the UFC stems from his rocky relationship with the promotion’s figurehead, Dana White. The two have been at each other’s throats for years but things took a major turn for the worst after a proposed exhibition boxing match between the two fell apart and White opted to begin his verbal bashing of Ortiz in the media.

Ortiz has since stated multiple times that his fight against Machida will be his last with the UFC. (His current contract with the promotion ends this summer) Reasons for his departure circulate solely around White and his negative treatment of Ortiz as well as other contracted fighters on the organization’s roster.

Shaw mentioned that Ortiz wouldn’t have to worry about any kind of lack of respect from himself or others in the organization if he decided to sign with EliteXC.

“All of our fighters can attest to this, but we here at EliteXC put the fighters first,” Shaw said. “Our fighters are of the utmost importance to us. They come before the organization. The spotlight should be put on them. We treat everyone with respect and like they are a champion, regardless of who they are. Tito wouldn’t have to worry about that sort of thing if he decided to take his services to our camp.”

Additional conference call notes from today are after the jump.

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Arlovski Could Sign With Affliction Next Week

Despite various rumors circulating that Andrei Arlovski could very well be International Fight League veteran Ben Rothwell’s opponent at Affliction’s “Banned” show on July 19th at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, it seems that the Belarusian may not be able to sign with the popular California-based clothing company until May 19th.

The news comes from Josh Gross of Sports Illustrated. Gross speculates that Arlovski will not be able to officially get out of his contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship until next week when he successfully completes all remaining fights on his contract and waits out an exclusive negotiating period.

At the same time, the UFC will still have the ability to match whatever Affliction offers Arlovski. However, with the offer reported to be somewhere in the six-figure, three non-exclusive bout range, it seems very unlikely that Dana White will do so, especially after his comments to Yahoo! Sports Kevin Iole earlier this week.

“It’s funny you should ask me that,” White said when asked about Arlovski by Iole. “We were just talking about Arlovski. We want to sign him. It’s our intention to sign him. But I don’t know. We’re, well, I don’t know. We want to. Whether we will or not, I have no idea. We like Andrei and I know the fans like Andrei. I hope we can do something.”

Arlovski’s camp has offered no comment except to say that they are still in ongoing negotiations with the UFC, but all signs as of right now point to Arlovski being introduced at Affliction’s first-ever event-related press conference next Tuesday in Los Angeles.

Another thing interesting of note that Gross brought up in his column today - FOX Sports’ George Greenberg is expected to be in attendance at the press conference as well, potentially signaling that at least part of Affliction’s inaugural event may be televised on FSN in some capacity, also further confirming that any kind of relationship between the promotion and HDNet is rocky to say the least at this point.

HT: Cage Potato

EliteXC Planning to Expand Women’s Division

EliteXC Live Events President Gary Shaw announced his organization’s plans to expand their promotion of women’s mixed martial arts with the potential of the addition of a women’s championship and a strictly female fight card at some point next year.

“We’re talking about doing two things,” Shaw stated earlier today during a conference call with the media. “We’re talking about doing a women’s title and we’re also talking about an all-women’s show where we feature one night of all women’s fights. “That’s something that I’d like to present to the public, a night of women’s fights. I think that would be a major milestone.”

Shaw stated that the first women’s title, at 140 lbs, could possibly be decided as early as this fall, with the winner of the scheduled bout between Gina Carano and Kaitlin Young on May 31st possibly being able to be part of the historic bout. Additional titles could be added in the future depending on the amount of divisions the organization decides to incorporate.

The all-female show, which are rare these days save the events put on by California-based Fatal Femmes Fighting, would be the first to be televised on national television. (Showtime) Shaw also stated that while many of the other major organizations have refused to put on female fights, his promotion will continue to do so without hesitation.

“We’ll continue putting women on Showtime and on CBS and we’ll continue putting them on the ShoXC cards as well,” Shaw said. “If no one else wants to do it, it’s all the better for us.”

HT: MMA Junkie

Nick Diaz Back on the DREAM 3 Card (UPDATED)

UPDATED:  Nick Diaz’s trainer, Cesar Gracie, is now reporting that Diaz was given the go ahead to fight this weekend. While the weight cut was going to be an issue, he’s scheduled to board a plane Thursday morning bound for Tokyo.

In the ever changing fight career of Nick Diaz, the fight against Katsuya Inoue that we reported last week, has now been called off at the request of EliteXC.  Apparently, there was once again a miscommunication within EliteXC’s management and president Gary Shaw was never informed of Nick’s participation in the Dream event this coming weekend.  Josh Gross, formerly of Sherdog and now with Sports Illustrated, reports that Shaw just found out about the fight this past weekend and called Diaz’s management Tuesday morning to call off the fight.  Shaw was concerned that the fight within the confines of Dream would jeopardize Diaz’s participation in the EliteXC event scheduled for June 14th.

Gary Shaw phoned Diaz’s manager Cesar Gracie early Tuesday with the news that the league was killing the fighter’s appearance on the May 11 Dream card.  Diaz will make his next scheduled contest versus Muhsin Corbbrey at 160 pounds June 14 on the Showtime-televised EliteXC card from Honolulu, Hawaii.

GracieFighter, the website of Diaz’s fight team, confirmed the news.  There’s no telling whether this could hurt relationships between EliteXC and the Dream promotion.  They already are sharing the services of Eddie Alvarez and EliteXC could certainly have used some of the talent in the Dream promotion to sure up its thin roster.

Will the Nick Diaz saga ever end?  Stay tuned…

CKA: May 2, 2008

Shields vs Fickett Delayed Again

EliteXC has announced that the Welterweight Title fight between Jake Shield and Drew Fickett has been delayed once again.  Originally scheduled for the undercard of the Frank Shamrock vs Cung Le event, the bout was put off due to Shields suffering a back injury.  It had been rescheduled for EliteXC’s June 14th card in Hawaii, but now word comes that Drew Fickett suffered a knee injury. 

Just last week, Shields was quoted as saying he was not sure whether he’d be physically ready by June 14th.  Now this announcement.  Considering the need for EliteXC to start filling their second US network primetime show in late July, this is pretty convenient.  It would look bad for Shields to be the one who is injured again, so maybe EliteXC “encouraged” Fickett to ask for the delay.  It would certainly not be below EliteXC’s Gary Shaw to do something of that nature. 

At this point, the June 14th EliteXC show is still scheduled and will include a lightweight title fight between Yves Edwards and champion KJ Noons, as well as Nick Diaz.

Aoki? JZ? Anyone?

Fresh off his victory over JZ Calcavante in Tokyo on Tuesday at the Dream 2 show, Shinya Aoki’s further participation in the Lightweight Grand Prix is once again clouded.  Before the rematch with JZ ever occurred, Aoki has expressed concerns over whether he would be able to fight in the 2nd round of the GP just two weeks after the JZ rematch.  Now rumor has it that he suffered some facial injuries and will not be allowed to continue whether he wants to or not.  Originally this rumor of the injury was spread by Calcavante’s ATT team.  But it was confirmed by the FEG USA head, Mike Jogan, to USA Today.

Aoki “wants to go on, but it’s up to the doctors,” said Mike Kogan, head of U.S. promotion for Dream’s owner, Fight Entertainment Group. The examination is scheduled for later on Friday — keep in mind that Japan is 13 to 18 hours ahead of North America — so Aoki’s fate could be known several hours from now.

American Top Team made it known that JZ was asked to continue into the next round in place of Aoki but that the fighter and FEG could not come to a financial agreement.

Shamrock Files Suit Against Zuffa

Ultimate Fighting Championship Hall of Fame member Ken Shamrock has filed a lawsuit against the parent company of his former employer, Zuffa LLC, alleging a breach of contract concerning the two-fight deal Shamrock signed in the summer of 2006.

Despite announcing his retirement from mixed martial arts immediately following his third and final loss to former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz in October of 2006, Shamrock later told the UFC that he was interested in completing the final bout on his deal, only to be told that he had been cut from his contract.

“The UFC breached my contract,” Shamrock said in a October 2007 interview with our friends at MMA Junkie. “I had one fight left on my contract, and they just told my agent and my attorney that they were terminating by contact for no reason, saying that my quality, my level of fighting can’t compete in the UFC.”

While Shamrock claims of having one-fight left on his deal with the UFC are legitimate, it’s also widely known that Zuffa reserves the right to release a fighter from a contract if they are unsatisfied with his performance.

After learning of his release from the UFC, Shamrock, along with his son Ryan, signed a multi-fight deal with Pro Elite. Shamrock was knocked out by Robert Berry last month in a heavyweight bout at Cage Rage 25: Bring It On.

The suit, which was filed on April 15th in Las Vegas, is seeking damages of up to $10,000 as well as any court costs.

HT: MMA Junkie

Rumor: UFC Possibly Headed to FOX?

While past discussions with CBS and ESPN never produced anything more than headaches, it seems that FOX may be the latest potential suitor in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s quest to land a network television deal.

Adam Swift of MMA Payout has learned that FOX is now widely believed to be the front-runner in the race of become the UFC’s second television home. Unlike past dealings with other networks, it seems that the two sides are making progress, so much so that UFC President Dana White stated that a deal would be done within the next six months last week on Canadian television.

Swift also points out that FOX was rumored to have made a bid to purchase the UFC while co-owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta may have been shopping the organization around in order to gauge offers last year.

It’s believed that the UFC may also be still talking with ESPN executives about taking their relationship to another level. However it’s long been noted that ESPN still has not made a decision within that would have the network start to televise mixed martial arts events.

Starnes Claims Broken Foot Against Quarry

The Kalib Starnes saga continues…

Less than 24 hours after conflicting reports concerning his departure from the UFC came to light, Starnes informed The Fight Network that despite Dana White’s claims that he was cut from the remainder of his contract after his performance against Nate Quarry this past weekend, he indeed asked for his release on Monday.

“Joe Silva told me that it usually takes a couple of days for their legal department to complete the paperwork and that he would send me all of the paperwork to indicate that my contract has been dissolved,” Starnes said in the report. “Later on in the afternoon, after I had spoken to Joe, a story was released by some reporter from Yahoo! in which Dana White said that he had released me from my contract. I received no documentation on that, and it came after I asked to be released.”

As if Starnes’ claims of White being “inappropriate” weren’t enough to deal with, the British Columbia native has had hundreds of mixed martial arts fans criticizing him for his lack of aggression against Quarry. Starnes claims that the cause of him constantly backing away from his opponent was due to a broke foot suffered in the first round.

“Right now, I have a broken foot that I sustained with the first kick I threw in the fight,” Starnes said. “My leg is purple and black from my knee up, I have a black eye, a sprained jaw, and Dana White is questioning my desire to fight? If that isn’t enough to satisfy him and the crowd, I can show them the medical report. I can barely walk. Quarry totally destroyed my thigh with those kicks. I’m sure a lot of people would rather see me suffer a traumatic brain injury and be rendered unconscious. That’s too bad. If that’s what they want, they’re paying the wrong guy $10,000 to get his brain smashed in.”

My question: If the broken foot was that much of a problem, why didn’t Starnes inform the referee in between rounds? After all, he’s not getting paid $10,000 to potentially ruin the rest of his career by becoming injured…

Is a WEC Invasion Nearing?

It’s the lower weight-classes that differentiate World Extreme Cagefighting from it’s sister organization, the Ultimate Fighting Championship. When Zuffa purchased the California-based promotion in the fall of 2006, it became a place to host the featherweight and bantamweight divisions, two classes the UFC didn’t sport at the time.

According to UFC President Dana White, those lower weight-classes may be forcing an exchange of talent between the two promotions. Neil Davidson of The Canadian Press caught what White said when asked if the UFC was planning to incorporate the featherweight division at any point in the near future before the UFC 83 weigh-ins.

“We have no plans to introduce a 145 lb weight class, that’s why we bought the WEC,” White said. “We’re going to make the WEC the smaller weights and the UFC will be the heavier weights. We’ll probably take some of the guys in the higher weights, the champions over there and bring them into UFC. We’re still trying to figure that out.”

The potential move of talent would likely bring members from light heavyweight and middleweight over to the UFC seeing that they are the two divisions really lacking depth within the organization. The lightweight, featherweight, and bantamweight classes are all stacked with current stars and future contenders.

Doug Marshall and the man he recently lost his WEC belt to, Brian Stann, as well as Steve Cantwell would be welcome additions to a light heavyweight division where they could continue to gain experience and improve their skills.

The return of an ever-improved Chael Sonnen to the UFC’s middleweight division would be interesting to say the least. While many fans would clamor for a showdown between Anderson Silva and Paulo Filho, the friends and former training partners have already stated that they will not fight each other.

After a bit of a slow start, the WEC is quickly gaining steam and is set to put on the biggest event in the organization’s history in June with a featherweight showdown between Urijah Faber and Jens Pulver. The exit of the two higher weight-classes would give the promotion more room to create new stars through televised events, potentially creating the divisional storylines many fans of the UFC curently enjoy.

HT: MMA Junkie

Peace Out Kalib Starnes

I think it was pretty obvious after Kalib Starnes’ disaster of a performance this past weekend at UFC 83 in Montreal that he would likely no longer be under contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Mixed reports have come out since concerning his potential departure, but one thing is for certain, Starnes is now a free agent. Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports apparently confirmed everyone’s suspicions with UFC President Dana White earlier today.

“He just doesn’t belong in the UFC and after his performance the other night, he should consider a new line of work,” White said in the report.

However after contacting Starnes’ himself, Sherdog.com is reporting that the former “Ultimate Fighter” cast member was granted his release from the UFC per matchmaker Joe Silva.

“This morning I made a request to Joe Silva to be released from my contract,” Starnes told Andy Cotterill. “Joe agreed with my request.”

Starnes also refuted a rumor floating around in MMA-related message boards this afternoon that he informed a Montreal radio station that his performance at this past weekend’s event was an intentional jab at the way the UFC treats their fighters.

The Surrey, British Columbia native leaves the UFC after garnering a record of 2-3. His most high-profile win came at UFC 71 in May of last year when he used superior wrestling to earn a unanimous decision over popular middleweight Chris Leben. Unfortunately for Starnes, he will now go down in history as the only fighters to ever receive an unheard of 30-24 judge’s score in his opponent’s favor.