(Photos by Esther Lin)

And the Press Release:
Mamed Khalidov (18-3-1), 200½ pounds, Olsztyn, Poland, KO 2 (strikes, 4:53) over Jason Guida (17-18), 204½, Schaumburg, Ill. Noteworthy: Khalidov, making his United States, EliteXC and SHOWTIME debut, upped his unbeaten streak to 13 (12-0-1) … The Case of the Missing Mouthpiece: The fight was stopped at about the one-minute mark of the second round for approximately 90 seconds while not one – but two – referees circled the cage searching for Guida’s mouthpiece.

Anthony “The Recipe’’ Lapsley (14-3), 170 ½, Fort Wayne, Ind., majority decision (30-27 twice and 29-29) over game, tough Mike Stumpf (10-2), 172 ½, Crystal Lake, Ill. Noteworthy: The fight was Lapsley’s 17th in his 28-month pro career … Stumpf, making his EliteXC and SHOWTIME debut, had a four-fight winning streak end. Quote-worthy: “Mike was definitely one of the toughest guys I’ve fought, but I was never hurt and if I lost a round, I couldn’t tell you which one,’’ Lapsley said. “I add an ingredient each time I fight. Tonight, it was heart. I got tired but there was no quit in me.’’

Alexander “Storm” Shlemenko (30-5), 184 ½, Omsk, Russia, TKO 2, over Robert “Bubba” McDaniel (12-5), 183 ½, Wichita Falls, Tex. McDaniel seemed to control a hard-fought, close first round, but was nailed with a flying knee to the chest in the closing second. He collapsed to the canvas, but could not make it to his feet during the break. The bell sounded for the second round, but McDaniel was still down and the fight was stopped. Noteworthy: The victory was Shlemenko’s seventh straight, all inside the distance and all in the first or second round. Quote-worthy: “The fight didn’t go exactly like I planned,’’ the winner said. “It was my first fight after a layoff and I was nervous. He was a good opponent.’’

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Affliction needs this fight, bu there’s more to it then that. We need this fight to happen, as fans who live in a fight world seriously deprived of substantial heavyweight match-ups.

Occasionally we are put in a position where we can see top heavyweights clash, as we did with Fedor and Sylvia, but because Barnett doesn’t, at this point in his career, want a fight with the world’s #1 heavyweight, we need Fedor to fight another top ten heavyweight, and Arlovski is the only top ten heavyweight in circulation right now who’s ranking cannot be disputed, even with a loss to Emelianenko.

With two upcoming heavyweight title fights in the UFC getting a lot of publicity, it’s important for Affliction to demonstrate that they are capable of putting on a matchup between two top tier heavyweights. They need to put on a matchup that means more to the sport than either of the major heavyweight matchups we are seeing in the UFC, and Emelianenko vs. Arlovski seems to be the only one that is remotely probable.

This is what I mean: Nogueira vs. Mir is a fight between a top five fighter and a fighter who borders on top ten status. Couture vs. Lesnar is a well publicized bout between an arguable top ten fighter and a guy who might be a ton ten fighter in two or three years. If Fedor fights a low top ten fighter then Affliction will only be performing up to the level of the UFC, and everyone knows that if you want to unseat the champ, you really have to beat him, it can’t be a trivial and arguable contest.

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For those of you who haven’t seen the video of Dana White talking about the investigation of Gary Shaw and EliteXC, you need to, because this is one of the straightest, most intelligent statements I’ve ever seen from Dana, and while he’s getting a lot of criticism for it, I’m going to put down, simply, why I agree with everything that he has to say.

Let me tell you, there are moments when I think that Dana White is a douchebag and a sleazeball promoter, but I will never accuse Dana White of being anything less than honest. People (even smart people) are saying that Gary Shaw should sue Dana over this.

Frankly, that’s a load of crap. The purpose of Dana’s attack wasn’t to attack Gary Shaw (though he did, and he should have), it was to explain why this is illegal, and all that Dana said was the same thing that many MMA commentators have been saying since the announcement of the investigation.

Why does it make a difference? Because he’s Dana White? That’s a double standard that, frankly, I find a little disgusting. Dana White doesn’t have the same agenda as the rest of us, that’s true, but to insinuate, and falsely, that he’s doing anything differently, or that he doesn’t have a right to comment on the situation simply because he’s a rival promoter is stupid.

I did an interview with TUF fighter (and recently eliminated warrior) Shane Nelson earlier this week for FightTicker.com (and my friend Pramit, who’s a great guy)

One of the commenters at FightTicker today was particularly entertaining, on my taking the interview on short notice (I found out about an hour before I called Shane) and the quality of the interview.

Josh is the Seth Petruzelli of MMA blogging.

That did make me very happy. While I hope I have more lasting power than Petruzelli will, it’s a nice comparison, and I thought it was funny enough to post.

He passed his bar exam! Nick “The Goat” Thompson Esq.

Josh Stein and Curtis Clontz discuss the EliteXC: Heat payouts, Junie Browning, and they talk with TUF 8 fighter Antwain Britt! This is the fifth episode of the MMA Opinion “Opinionated” podcast.

To listen to the podcast, you may subscribe to the Opinionated podcast in iTunes, download it using the link below, or stream the audio by clicking the link. Please leave some comments about the topics and let us know what you want to hear. We hope to have more guests on our next shows along with some podcasts immediately following live events.

(To listen to file without downloading it, click the play button on the audio player)

 

 MMA Opinion “Opinionated” Podcast - Episode 5 [36:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (26)

I had a conversation today with Shane Nelson less then twelve hours after the airing of the episode where he lost on TUF, after almost being kicked off the show. Shane admitted that his phone had been ringing off the hook, and that not all of the feedback about the episode was positive.

The interview is posted on FightTicker, and the head of the site, Pramit, was the guy who set me up, so thanks to Pramit, and I definitely recommend that people check the site out.

Thanks to Shane for doing the interview. Any emails for Joshua Stein can be sent to josh@mmaopinion.com

But I still don’t see much coming out of this. Seth Petruzelli can just backtrack, EliteXC won’t admit wrongdoing, and unless someone taped the alleged conversation between EliteXC officials and Petruzelli, I don’t expect anything to come out of this.

Here’s a quick blurb from ESPN regarding the alleged fight fixing of the Kimbo Slice vs. Seth Petruzelli bout.

“While the Department of Business and Professional Regulation doesn’t have any reason to believe there was a problem with the Slice-Petruzelli fight, given the interest in it, the Department has begun a preliminary investigation to thoroughly review the circumstances of the fight,” said Jennifer Meale, Communications Director for the DBPR.

Jeremy Lappen, head of EliteXC’s fight operations, had this to say.

“We offered Seth Petruzelli a knockout bonus, a submission bonus and “fight of the night” bonus. If we were trying to influence the fight, why would we do that?

“We were not trying to protect Kimbo. He had been training to fight a guy in Shamrock who has a better ground game than Seth. If we were trying to protect Kimbo we would have sent him home. We put him in a dangerous fight.”

If this is true, the whole investigation will yield nothing. But, if Lappen just made this up overnight and someone is able to expose him, perhaps the story will get juicier. I’m pretty sure EliteXC told Petruzelli to just shutup and let them handle it. Will anything happen? I still doubt it.

I could write a standup comedy routine on The Ultimate Fighter. Every season provides two or three idiots who need to get their lives together before they start working on their career as professional athletes. Normally Dana White decides to throw these numbskulls off of the show, but his decision to let Junie Browning, one of the most annoying and, frankly, stupid fighters in the history of the show is beyond me.

This is early in the season, before the second fight, but I thought that, even given how early it was in the show, Browning’s behavior is unacceptable. Obviously, it makes for some good drama in the house, but as someone who doesn’t watch the show for the drama, I have to say that I don’t much care to see this kind of crap. It reflects badly (as Dana White, to his credit, always points out) on the sport as a whole, and we don’t need that.

I’ve always had a huge respect for Dana for throwing these guys off the show when they act like this. I was happy with the decision to throw the juvenile JT Money off of the final card after his Vegas Romp, so I was surprised that Dana didn’t immediately do away with Browning, though the lack of violence makes it a little more understandable.

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If you think you have what it takes to be in the UFC, step up and prove it! The UFC is having tryouts for the next season of The Ultimate Fighter in Chicago October 27th. The Cubs are out of the playoffs so you have no excuse!

If you are a U.S. citizen, head over to the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare Hotel. Registration starts at 9 and tryouts start at 10. The telephone number is 847-671-6350. If you are heading up to make your move to the next level in the MMA game let us at mmaopinion.com know. We can follow your moves up the ladder, through tryouts and possibly into the house!

Once upon a time there was a battle between a British fighter named Michael Bisping and an American fighter named Matt Hamill. The two seemed to rival one another in the 3rd season of TUF which led to a great fight between the two. The UFC hopes to rekindle some of this drama as the next season of TUF will feature a competition between the USA and the UK. Taking a page out of the boxing reality show The Contender, this should generate tons of attention and something else for the TUF fan to love.

In the future we will try to determine who will be the coaches for this show. You can try to beat us to it by leaving who you think in the comments of this article.