The IFL Blew It!!!

The more mainstream MMA is becoming, the more you realize just how badly the IFL blew their chances. They had a network deal on MyTV and in a short time got cancelled.

They actually had a prime time slot for 2 hours on Monday nights. That was later reduced to 1 hour which was later bumped to a different day altogether and then to a 1am time slot.

How did they blow it in such a short time you say?

Well first of all, they showed only replays. There was never a live fight in the first month or 2 of the telecasts. I know because I had them all on tivo. You never knew what the standings were because the fights were in all different order. You never knew who was on which team because a lot of the fighters were different every show too. One week the Anaconda's were 3-2, the next week they were 2-1. What the hell were they thinking?

Second of all, they kept showing the same fights over and over again. They landed a 2 hour slot and couldn't put different fights on? Because they showed the same fights was another reason you couldn't figure out what position each team was in. They tried to promote it as a team event but some nights, they had fighters from 4 or 5 different teams fighting. There was no way to follow them so the only way they would have gotten ratings was to have amazing fights. Which they didn't.

And the biggest reason they blew it was they promoted the one thing that MMA has been trying to avoid for the last 8 years. VIOLENCE! The entire marketing scheme was to promote the athleticism of the fighters and not the violence. The violence was what had it banned from even pay per view. Every night the preview commentary talked about the most vicious knockouts you ever saw were coming up. They promoted a guy being hauled out on a stretcher. The one thing that got them back on TV was how the violence wasn't the gimmick and the fighters were noble people, with educations and families.

The third reason alone was enough to get it booted. How stupid are they? That was there chance to compete. They had a prime time slot and absolutely blew it and they deserved to blow it. How could they not learn from the past. Here's the scenario: Let's see, what got MMA banned from TV? Uh, all the violence??? Yes. What got MMA back on TV. Uh, less violence and better athletes??? Yes. Soooooooo how should we market this? I GOT IT!!!!! Violence!!!! It's almost too easy.

Do you see how absurd that reads? That's probably how it went too.

They have a few good fighters too. Chris Horedecki, Matt Horwich, those guys have some potential. If they were smart, they would run to another organization because I'm not sure how much longer the IFL will be around. There's no way they're gonna be able to pay the coaches to stay as well as the fighters without a network deal. Hopefully they'll learn from their horrible mistake but I wouldn't be surprised if they don't.

Roberts replaces Fisher at UFC Fight Night in Colorado

Ryan Roberts (14-2) will make his UFC debut against Marcus Aurelio (15-5) at the April 2 UFC Fight Night event from the Broomfield Event Center in Broomfield, Colorado, the UFC announced Thursday.

Roberts is stepping in for Spencer Fisher, who pulled out of the card on Monday after suffering a shoulder injury.

Roberts emerged the winner three weeks ago in a four-man single-night tournament at Victory Fighting Championships 22 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Roberts defeated Zach Wolff and Joe Doherty in the 145-pound championship tournament.

The thirteenth installment of UFC Fight Night, headlined by Kenny Florian vs. Joe Lauzon, will air live on Spike TV beginning at 7pm. The season premiere of "The Ultimate Fighter 7" will air immediately after the three-hour long live event.

Frank Shamrock: "Ken on Steroids His Whole LIfe"

So much for brotherly love.Strikeforce world middleweight champion Frank Shamrock claims that his adoptive brother, UFC hall-of-famer Ken Shamrock, has done steroids "his whole life" and that the performance-enhacing drugs have given him a false sense of security.

When asked if he knew any fighters who were taking steroids, Frank mentioned only Ken.

"My brother Ken did them his whole life," Frank told MMA Madness. "Why do you think that his mind is so fried? Why do you think he crumbles before the big fights? He's got no psyche. He let steroids give him a false sense of security and the moment that stuff is gone he's no longer superman. He's just a regular man. But without all the hard work and without all the belief in himself that a regular man would have if he got up to that point. He's the only guy that I'll tell on, because he's always in trouble anyway."

It's worth noting, though, that Ken has never failed a drug test during an MMA event, and in recent years, the UFC almost always holds events in states in which drug testing is performed (though all fighters aren't always tested). However, fighters such as Dan Severn have long hinted that Ken uses steroids, and there's widespread speculation that Ken used during his days with the WWE.

Still, Frank gave no basis for his claims, nor did he mention any proof or specific instances in which he saw Ken use drugs.

CBS & PROELITE ANNOUNCE FIRST SHOW FOR MAY 31

CBS and ProElite, Inc. on Thursday announced that the first live primetime mixed martial arts event will be telecast on Saturday, May 31 from 9-11 p.m. ET on the CBS Television Network. CBS EliteXC Saturday Night Fights will be telecast live from the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

A number of top fighters are expected to be on the card including a main event featuring Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson against an as of yet unnamed opponent.

One fight that was officially announced for the card is “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler returning to action to defend his EliteXC middleweight title against Ultimate Fighting Championship and World Extreme Cagefighting middleweight veteran Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith.

Additional fights will be announced at a later date.

"We're excited to introduce broadcast television viewers to America's fastest growing sport with this prime time event," said Kelly Kahl, Senior Executive Vice President, CBS Primetime. "EliteXC is putting together a line-up card that showcases the unique personalities, world-class athleticism, and raw power and emotion that characterizes mixed martial arts."

The announcement about EliteXC’s partnership with CBS came a few weeks back. ProElite Live Events President Gary Shaw has been vocal about his excitement for the opportunity to present mixed martial arts on network television.

"I am very happy for the highly trained fighters, who will finally get the kind of exposure they deserve, and, of course, the viewers, who will get the opportunity to learn that MMA is truly a sport that requires an abundance of skills, both mentally and physically," said Shaw via a press release on Thursday.

Showtime Sports will handle the production on the CBS EliteXC Saturday Night Fights, which are currently slated at four events per year in the two-hour primetime slot.

More announcements are expected to follow about the show including the broadcast team that will handle the announcing duties for the show.

Couture Unwilling to Fight Fedor in UFC

Estranged UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture is still determined to fight former PRIDE heavy title-holder Fedor Emelianenko. Just don't expect to see the fight take place in the UFC, Couture says.

The 44-year-old UFC hall-of-famer made the comments in a recent video interview with the m1mixfight.com website.

Even after he resigned from the organization back in October (citing a lack of respect from UFC executives, issues over his pay, and the UFC's inability to sign then-free agent Emelianenko), Couture said he would return to the organization if UFC president Dana White could arrange a fight with the famed Russian.

However, the UFC recently took Couture to court to bar his involvement with outside fight promotions. The litigation has apparently ruined any shot of a Couture-Emelianenko fight taking place in the UFC.

Couture made that perfectly clear when he was asked if he cares where the fight with Emelianenko takes place.

"I care at this point that it's not in the UFC," Couture said with a dejected laugh. "But outside of that, I don't care where it happens so long as it happens."

The Dallas-based HDNet Fights appears to be the frontrunner to get the heavyweight fight. In fact, HDNet Fights owner Mark Cuban recently joined the legal fight to get a declaratory judgment on Couture's contract status.

"By fall... we'll hopefully have the fight going," Couture said.And while he would prefer to fight close to home, it's not mandatory."

I prefer to fight here in the U.S.," Couture said. "It's where I'm confortable. For all the marketing reasons, this is the strongest market for the sport probably outside of Tokyo... but wherever it happens, it happens."

With Couture now unwilling to fight in the UFC, a rumor that Emelianenko was close to signing a one-fight deal with the UFC -- to fight Couture -- appears unlikely.

So whatever happens, this fight is going to suck, plain and simple. The more we read about it and the more stupid news that comes about from it, the more this fight will suck. I'm almost getting fed up with Randy Couture and his demands to have this fight.

The sad truth is, his skills are deteriorating by the day. I'm not even sure that he could defeat the current heavyweight champ Anotonio Nogueria. I would also go on record to say that if he fought Tim Sylvia again, Sylvia would win. I'm not certain if Couture is a top 5 heavyweight in the UFC. Andrei Arlovski and Frank Mir would also pose a serious threat to Couture in the cage and Couture knows that. That's why he's going out of his way to avoid fighting anyone else except Fedor. It's a win, win for Couture. If he gets stomped, we'll all say he was fighting the best fighter in the world. If he gets lucky and squeezes out a win, he still saves his legacy.

Does anyone remember that Chuck Liddell knocked this guy out 2 times a couple years ago???

Spencer Fisher Forced to Withdraw From UFN

Spencer Fisher has been forced to withdraw from his April 2 UFC Fight Night bout against Marcus Aurelio due to an undisclosed injury and he will be replaced by Ultimate Fighting Championship newcomer Jim Miller.

Aurelio will be stepping into his third fight in the Octagon. After a rough debut against Clay Guida, the former Pride star came back at UFC 78 finishing Luke Caudillo to even his record at 1-1 and will be looking to add another victory to start a win streak.

Aurelio’s new opponent, Jim Miller, is coming off of a victory at Ring of Combat over Chris Liguori on March 7 and will step in on short notice for the April 2 bout.

Miller trains at the AMA Fight Club, a Team Renzo Gracie affiliate school, in New Jersey along with his brother Dan Miller, who has competed for the International Fight League.

The bout between Aurelio and Miller is set to be part of the untelevised portion of the UFC Fight Night card leading into the start of the seventh season of the “Ultimate Fighter” reality show.

Three light heavyweight bouts added to UFC 84: ill will

The UFC confirmed today the addition of three light heavyweight bouts to the May 24 UFC 84: ill will card from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Rameu Thierry Sokoudjou will take on Kazuhiro Nakamura in a meeting of two former PRIDE fighters searching for a first win in the UFC.

Goran Reljic, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu purple belt under Roger Gracie, will put his undefeated record on the line against his toughest challenge, Wilson Gouveia of the American Top Team.

Antonio Mendes, carrying an eleven-fight winning streak, will make his UFC debut against Thiago Silva.

JOE LAUZON'S UFC FIGHT NIGHT JOURNAL PT. 1

Joe Lauzon, who will be facing Kenny Florian in the main event, will be providing weekly journal entries leading up to the fight. This is the first entry as we head towards their lightweight showdown…

Last week I got to train with not only Ultimate Fighting Championship 155-pound champ B.J. Penn, but also World Extreme Cagefighting 145-pound champ Urijah Faber. I've got to be honest, I really can't complain about spending the week training with two of the best pound-for-pound fighters out there.

This was the first time I had met Urijah, but had seen a bunch of his fights. If you aren't familiar with "Bam Bam" (that’s his new nickname.... he is getting way too old to still be the "California Kid") then I suggest you start watching more WEC on the Versus channel, because his fights are constantly being shown. If you can't wait that long then go and do a search on YouTube and check out some video.

Turns out Urijah is fighting Jens Pulver next, so he is working out with some guys that know a thing or two about Jens and have some experience and history with him. Urijah is one of the smartest fighters I have met in regards to training and has a ridiculous work ethic.

In between training sessions, we managed to have a little fun. When I first came to Hawaii, I had a checklist of things I wanted to do: surfing, jumping off bridges, seeing flowing lava and a few others were all on the list. Of those, seeing some flowing lava was the only one that I hadn't crossed off the list, until this week.

I forget what night it was, but Hoyt Gracie organized a trip and a bunch of us went up and saw "the flow". My mental picture of the lava flow was a wide river of lava that moved pretty slowly. Well, I was half right. There is a flow that is about half a mile wide, and it flows right into the ocean. This wasn't the flow we were going to though. We want to a "fire field" where you see crawling red patches of molten rock with intermittent fires scattered throughout. If I didn't know any better, I would almost think I was in a movie.

There were a lot of other people there as we walked up. Some people had sticks and were sticking them in the fire just to watch them burn, some were jumping over flowing lava, some were walking on lava that had just cooled in the past few seconds, while others had shovels and were scooping blobs of lava and holding it above their heads and dodging the lava as it nearly fell on them.

You would think that lava dodging would be one of the stupidest things you could do with lava until you see the guy that was drinking a little bit too much and was taking pictures laying down as the lava got closer and closer until it was only a couple inches away. Fortunately, this guy didn't win a Darwin award and left the field just fine with all of his skin just as it was when he got there.

I was pretty amazed at how close he was getting to the lava though, because even just standing within a few feet of it you can really feel the heat. It was raining lightly, but if you were within 10 feet of the lava, you didn't feel any rain. I remember thinking about the third Star Wars movie (the cheesy newer ones) where Anakin was fighting Obi Wan in the lava field and they were just jumping all around the lava flow like nothing was going on. After this trip though, I don't believe it for a second! I was willing to believe that force choking someone was possible, but there is absolutely no way you can hang out around lava like that and not get burned up.

Aside from the obvious heat, you need to be real careful of the rocks around the field as well. When near lava you need to do the obvious thing, which is throw normal rocks into the flowing lava and watch what happens. In the process of finding rocks, Urijah and I both ended up cutting our hands on sharp rocks. Apparently it’s not a good idea to be picking up sharp rocks in the dark. I think my cut was worse because I stained everyone’s shirts and shorts in training for a couple days (sorry Gabe), as my finger decided to bleed every time I even thought about grappling.

Usually, I am a pasta or steak and mashed potatoes kind of guy for most of my meals. Urijah is more of a health foot nut though, so we ate at this health food store called Island Naturals. It's a little more expensive than normal food, but I was pretty impressed with how good the food was. We each got a smoothie, a sandwich and some salad and other stuff (I had to get that lasagna in there) for like $25 each. Not too bad for what has to be pretty much the best food you can put into your body.

Urijah saw the amount of food I had and was laughing telling me there was no way I was going to be able to finish it all, but his tune changed as I stuffed the last pieces of food into my mouth. I will admit, I wasn't hungry towards the end, but I had to finish up to prove a point. The point: I eat like a fat kid.

Tracy Lee from Combat Lifestyle was going to be in Oahu for Icon and wanted to make a stop in Hilo to take some pictures of B.J., Urijah and me training. She sent me a text about it and was in Hilo a few days later. She took a ton of pictures of us just hanging around and training. You can see a bunch of her pictures at CombatLifestyle.com including the gross amounts of food we were eating.

As I type this, I am on a plane back to Boston. I was originally planning to be home because my brother, Dan, and nine of my other guys are were supposed to be fighting on Saturday night. Unfortunately "The Upgrade" came down with Staph infection and had to pull out of his fight.

It’s good heading home for a few days before I head out to Colorado. I might be going a little overboard with getting used to the elevation, but I want to be as prepared as possible. Fortunately Noah Thomas lives out there, so Dan and I will be out there, staying with him and working out at his gym. Hopefully the two and a half weeks out there will help me out. I will let you know next week how our guys did.

Send me some feedback on this article on my MySpace at http://myspace.com/lauzonrsd