November 2007 Archives

Here's an e-mail I received from Brad Souders on Wednesday. Souders, as you may have read here, is planning to open up an MMA school in York.

Last night I got the go-ahead e-mail from Rogerio "Tatu" Taborda to join his assiocation and affiliate my jiu-jitsu with him. Over the past couple months I have gone to Scranton several times; I am headed there this Saturday as well, and have become very good friends with him and his family.

So my plan is for George (McGinnis) and I to run our school in York and once a week drive to Scranton and train with Tatu. And also have him down to York to train with the newer students as well. One thing I really enjoy about him is he is 129 pounds but he makes sure each training session he rolls with all the belt colors.

On Dec. 12th I will be in York (at Gold's Gym North) to do a mini-seminar on sweeps and we are going to shoot some video and such for our site. I will try to come with some fancy stuff to put up that you guys should get a kick out of, plus I will have Grand Master Grove to come shoot a commerical for us in the near future.

Let me know whats going on with everyone else and how things are running. Anyone on this list is free to come train at my school anytime and i will let you guys know when I plan on having Tatu down for a seminar. Also I am planning on traveling to Delaware in the near future to train with 7x World Champion Robson Moura if anyone is interested in a trip.

Got a call from local MMA pro Biff Walizer who said he and two others went to the Grapplers Quest event in New Jersey on Nov. 11.

Walizer said he entered the men's no-gi executive division (30-39 years of age) for 159.9 pounds and below and and took first place on points. The effort gave him a big ol' gold belt, he said. He also entered the men's advanced 159.9-pounds and under category, but got triangled, he said.

In Walizer's pro fight in New Jersey in September, he also got caught in a triangle, but was able to eventually work free of it. He joked that if he gets caught with a few more of them, he might end up figuring out how to avoid getting caught with it.

Windsor Township's Biff Walizer - armed & ready

Chris Albright, a Red Lion senior who is coached by Walizer on the high school varsity wrestling team, went 1-1, earning him a third place in the beginner men's no-gi flyweight 130-139.9 pounds category.

Matt Graham, a former wrestler at Red Lion who now attends Millersville University, went 3-0 at the event, earning him a first place in the beginner men's no-gi welterweight 160-169.9 pounds category.

The guys were sponsored by Tap Or Sleep, a team put together by Walizer and local MMA clothing company owner Jerod Phillips. To go to Phillips' Web site, click here.

On Sunday, beginning at noon, OctaneMMA will begin try outs - which they call Hitest - for its upcoming season. Try outs will be at the New Alhambra Arena, 7 Ritner Street, Philadelphia.

Here's a little bit about the fight league from their Web site:
In its opening year, Octane MMA will provide fighters with a unique opportunity to compete in a nine-event season in which fighters in three weight classes will vie for a coveted spot in the Octane MMA Fight League Playoffs. Each fighter’s goal is to earn the top spot in his weight class. The Octane MMA season format makes every bout meaningful, as each fighter is competing to earn one of the four playoff positions in his weight class.

Each Octane MMA event will consist of nine professional bouts and possibly one amateur contest. Professional contests will consist of three five-minute rounds inside a twenty-four foot circular cage, known as the "Circle of Fear." Professional contests will have a one-minute rest period between rounds. Amateur contests consist of three rounds of two or three minutes each, depending on the record of the fighters, with a one-minute rest period between rounds.

Nine (9) fighters from each weight class will be selected to compete in Octane MMA 2008 - 2009 Fight League. Fighters will be selected based on the following criteria:interviews, application submission, scouting at MMA Events/schools and actual competition in Octane MMA preseason.

The Octane MMA preseason, PROVE YOUR WORTH, will take place from January 2008 through June 2008. The Octane MMA Fight League regular season will begin in August 2008 and will consist of nine events, leading to the playoffs. Fighters selected for the League will be scheduled to participate in six bouts over the course of nine-event season. Octane MMA will also select two alternates in each weight division who will replace any fighter who is unable to compete.

The top four fighters in each weight class will participate in the Playoff Event. The top two from each weight class will advance to the Championship Event. Fighters are assigned a point value for each fight based the type of victory and the length of the bout.

To find out more, click here to get to their Web site.

This guy named Serjkidd does the funniest MMA cartoons I have ever seen and uploads them on youtube ... OK, they're the only MMA cartoons I've ever seen, but so what - they're still frickin' funny.

Want to know what would happen if Mauricio "Shogun" Rua rematched with Forrest Griffin? Take a look.

How about what will happen when Brock Lesnar takes on Frank Mir?

OK, one more - Dan Henderson versus Anderson Silva:

So you probably heard that UFC welterweight champ Matt Serra is injured and is now out of UFC 79 - Nemesis on Dec. 29, where he was set to make his first title defense against former champ Matt Hughes.

But, the show must go on. Either another opponent will be found for Hughes, or there'll be another welterweight match-up put in its place.

And, we still have Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva and Ryoto Machida vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou. Now that's some frickin' warfare right there, my man.

Anyway, click here to go to the UFC 79 web page.

Canadian middleweight fighter Brad Zazulak, who scored an upset victory over Shonie Carter.

Everybody said Zaz (that's the nick-name I'm giving him) was gonna get crushed by Carter at Friday's Maximum Fighting Championships 14: High Rollers, held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. But hey, this is MMA, and with 2007 being The Year of the Upsets, read on ...

By JASON HILLS, of the Edmonton Sun

In his pre-fight interview UFC veteran Shonie Carter told the fans "You'll either love me or you'll hate me, but you'll definitely remember me."

But after Brad Zazulak was finished with Carter, the fans will be remembering Zazulak's name.

In just his third career fight, he defeated Carter by TKO at the 2:09 of the first round, last night in the main event of MFC 14 High Rollers. Carter has over 100 MMA career fights behind him.

Many rival MMA promoters felt this was going to be a clear mismatch in the favour of Carter, but the young Zazulak who hails from Fort McMurray proved them wrong.

"This is huge for me, this is a big stepping stone in my career," said Zazulak moments after his victory.

"If you would have told me six months or a year ago that I would be fighting Shonie Carter, I would have said get away from me you drunken fool."

Zazulak just missed a big roundhouse kick shortly after the opening bell. But moments after the miss, he out-muscled Carter to the ground and began to lay a beating on the more experienced fighter.

"I am younger, bigger and stronger and I just tried to get the upper hand early," said Zazulak.

"When I took him to the ground, I think he hurt his shoulder and I just tried to continue to throw blows."

Carter tried to get to the ropes, but when the referee got in between the two, Zazulak went right back on the attack, punishing Carter.

"For all those guys who thought this was going to be a mismatch, that just motivated me even more," said Zazulak.

"Shonie put up a good fight, it was an honour to fight a guy with his experience and this win hopefully gets me to where I want to go."

The loss drops Carter's record to 73-17-7 as a full contact fighter.

---

Yahoo! Sports has not only made a separate section for MMA - spliiting it off from boxing, thank God - but now it has added a bunch of videos to sweeten the deal. You can watch Strikeforce's most recent event, where they had a four-man middleweight tournament and a heavyweight championship fight between Paul Buentello and Alistair Overeem.

Click here to check out the site.

Now for the new:

Rio Heroes, a Brazil-based vale tudo organization, is having another live, free streaming event. This time, it's a middleweight tournament. To sign up, click here

For those of you MMA'ers out there who dig UFC, but also like MMA on a global scale ... They're calling this the re-birth of PRIDE (much to the chagrin of UFC, I bet):

From Sherdog.com: M-1 Global and former members of Dream Stage Entertainment announced Wednesday in Tokyo that they will collaborate on a New Year's Eve event at Saitama Super Arena.

Among the representatives present at the news conference, which was held at the arena, were M-1 Global executive committee member and M-1 Mix Fight president Vadim Finkelstein, PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko, former PRIDE president Nobuhiko Takada, PRIDE's former public relations representative Keiichi Sasahara, DEEP boss and former Bushido matchmaker Shigeru Saeki, former PRIDE MC's Kei Grant and Lenne Hardt as well as Daisuke Sato, the man behind the production for the company.

The large group of former and current power brokers of the Japanese MMA market announced a joint venture for Dec. 31 that will have Emelianenko fight in the main event against Korean kickboxer Hong Man Choi.

Other possible participants named were former Bushido aces Hayato Sakurai, Shinya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Mitsuhiro Ishida and Kazuo Misaki. Top foreign free agents mentioned were Joachim Hansen, Ricardo Arona, Gilbert Melendez and Luiz Azeredo. M-1 also brought up Russian heavyweights Aleksander Emelianenko and Roman Zentsov.

Although the event will not be available on Japanese cable TV, SkyPerfecTV has agreed to carry the show on pay-per-view.

U.S. Sens. John Kerry and John McCain

Remember in the mid-90s how Sen. John McCain called Mixed Martial Arts "human cockfighting"? His criticism resulted in a virtual ban across the country, leading to MMA to go into a grass-roots, almost underground existence.

Say what you will about Dana White and the UFC, but largely through their efforts, MMA surged and has now gained acceptance.

In this story on England's Daily Telegraph Web site, looks like McCain has changed his tune a bit. Truly, if he were honest, it'd be hard for him not to - present day MMA has come a long way from what it started out as.

I never agreed with McCain before; there were many things that were good about those early UFC events. But if a few rules change how the sport is viewed so that we can have it on PPV again, then I guess sometimes you have to make a few concessions to get what you want.

By Gareth A Davies in Newark, New Jersey
Last Updated: 9:17pm GMT 20/11/2007

The Ultimate Fighting Championships' first fight night took place 14 years ago today, but the mixed martial arts sport of the present day bears little resemblance to its giddy inception.

The first staging was marketed as a one-off event with only one rule: that there weren't any rules. "There are three ways of winning" proclaimed an over-zealous marketing campaign at the time, "by knockout, submission or death".

Little wonder that mixed martial arts and UFC were banned across every state in America by 1997, and then went underground. The events were then organised through the internet after cable television contracts were terminated.

Senator John McCain, of Arizona, led the charge to ban these competitions from cable television, describing the events as "human cock fighting". Now he has revised his opinion, saying: "The sport has grown up. The rules have been adopted to give its athletes better protections and to ensure fairer competition."

Dann Stupp, MMAjunkie.com
November 5, 2007

In the upcoming episode, Griffin plays the role of Mike Kona, an "ultimate fighter" who becomes a suspect in the death of a teenager. The easy-going and fan-friendly Griffin actually plays the role of a "bad guy," we're told. Guest star Coco (the wife of cast member Ice-T) plays Griffin's girlfriend in the one-hour episode.

"SVU" ("Special Victims Unit") is the highest-rated version of the popular "Law & Order" series. The "SVU" version of the show debuted in 1999 and nows airs on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

Griffin has previously dabbled in television while doing a variety of spots for Spike TV, which recently renewed a television deal with the UFC. Griffin and former castmate Stephan Bonnar hosted the Spike TV special "The 25 Tuffest Moments of All Time" last month.

Justin Scott shows off his Fighter of the Year trophy, as members of the CPMA team surround him.

Here's a news release sent to me by Mark Jovich, who coaches a team of Mixed Martial Arts fighters who train at his New Cumberland school, Central Pennsylvania Martial Arts Academy. Eight of the team's fighters competed in the Warrior Challenge's MMA Championships on Saturday Nov 10th in East Durham, NY:

The event was held Saturday Nov 10th at the Blackthorne Resort, East Durham, NY. The event matched 4 MMA fighters at each weight class to give each fighter a chance to compete twice. The Central Pennsylvania Martial Arts Academy had 8 fighters entered this tournament. Seven of the eight CPMA fighters made it to the championship round.
Below are the results of the CPMA Fighters.

Champions- Weight- Result

Toby Crouse 135lbs Won by Default (fighter unable to go).

Justin Scott 145lbs Won by TKO in the 2nd round.

Shea Banks 150lbs Won by Submission (Guillotine Choke) in the 2nd
round.

Jason Gatts 165lbs Won by TKO in the 2nd round.

2nd Place Finish

John Tassone 165lbs Won his 1st fight by decision & lost the 2nd fight by a referee stoppage in the 2nd round. John never quit fighting even after receiving 2 hard knees that put a nasty cut to his eye. The fight had to be stopped.

Ian Banks 175lbs Lost by a split decision in overtime.

Chad Strawbridge 195lbs Lost by KO in the 1st round in a fight that both fighters were delivering massive shots to the head.

Representatives of MMA, pro wrestling, boxing, a couple of lawyers ... and the Federal Bureau of Investigation??? are joining forces to create what sounds like the first sanctioning body for Mixed Martial Arts. To boil it down, if this works, we could see belt holders from different organizations fighting to unify belts, similar to what happens in boxing.

This from mmafightline.com:

NEW YORK - Respected figures from the business world, professional and amateur athletics, medicine, and sports journalism will gather at a lunch/press conference next week to launch the first ever MMA sanctioning body. WAMMA the World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts will rank fighters by weight division, establish unified rules, ensure the safety and welfare of fighters, and sanction world championship bouts. Most important, it will enable the best fighters in the world to face off against each other, creating unified legitimacy and increasing the integrity of the sport.

The press conference on Wednesday, November 14, 2007, at 12:00 pm will take place at Gallagher’s Steak House, 228 West 52 Street, New York City. Steak lunch will be served for reporters. A full schedule is below. Please RSVP to attend.

Appearing at the press conference will be former wrestler and NFL player Bill Goldberg; MMA Legends Pat Miletich and Don Frye; noted boxing manager Godwin Asifo; attorney Fred Levin, who helped manage the career of boxer Roy Jones, Jr.; nationally known attorney Michael Lynch; and David Szady, a 33-year veteran of the FBI.

And this from a story by Bill Vilona from the Pensacola News Journal:
The goal of WAMMA is to bring stability and credibility through one umbrella organization. The group will not promote the fights, nor align with fighters. Rather, the intention is to work with promoters like the NFL works with team owners, or other major-sport organizations govern a league.

The organization will be headquartered either in Pensacola or Orlando, Szady said.

"We're not a threat to (Dallas Mavericks owner) Mark Cuban, UFC or any of the other organizations," said Szady, a Cape Cod, Mass, resident who met Levin and Stephenson five months ago to discuss the plan. "What we're looking to do, as promoters continue to come into this sport, is provide a legitimacy.

"I watched the fights periodically the last few years, but was never a huge fan. In a way, that is a strength. I have no agenda. I have no strong feelings. I have no ties to any promoter. This will be a completely transparent organization."

Team Hughes' fighter Tommy Speer

Fell asleep again at the wheel, folks, so to speak. ... So here's the recap from mmajunkie.com:

Tonight’s episode features the final preliminary fight of the season as Team Serra’s Jon “War Machine” Koppenhaver (4-1) is set to battle Team Hughes brawler (and former WEC fighter) Tommy Speer (9-1).

Entering the final fight, Team Serra is up 6-1. Will Mac Danzig be the only Team Hughes fighter to make it out of the first round — or can Tommy snap the six-fight losing streak?

Before we find out, we take a look at last week’s fight in which Jared Rollins is KO’d by Team Serra’s George Sotiropoulos.

Savoring the victory, Serra contemplates buying a “Coaching for Dummies” book for Hughes.

As Tommy prepares for his fight, Hughes gets upset that his fighter shows little emotion during a training session. While tied up with Tommy in the cage, Hughes even smacks him across the face in hopes of “waking him up.” (Call me crazy, but I doubt the coaching book would encourage doing that.)

Although the approval of Mixed Martial Arts rules and regulations in Pennsylvania appears to be months away, an MMA promotion in Philadlephia is already making moves.

From an Octane MMA news release:
The journey begins on Sunday, December 2, 2007 from the New Alhambra Arena in South Philadelphia. Octane MMA will begin preparation for the 2008 Preseason with the first in a series of H-TEST Tryouts. The selection committee has made it clear that the try-out will be intense and will test fighters MMA knowledge and conditioning by pushing them to the limits. A performance circuit has been developed by our experienced MMA staff that will grade prospects on technique, knowledge, and ability. A free seminar will also take place for those in attendance. The Octane MMA production team will be attendance as we begin to document the road to MMA in PA in 2008. Join us as we begin to write history!

For the first try-out, we are requiring interested individuals fill-out the on-line fighter registration form. Once received, Octane MMA will send a confirmation e-mail with an official invitation to attend. If you have already submit an application, we will be contacting you shortly. Space is limited.

To fill out an application, click here.

To go to the Octane MMA Web site, go here.

And here for their myspace.

Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva will meet at UFC 79 - Nemesis in a fight that apparently has been in the works for years. On the surface, it might seem they have nothing in common, but when you think about it ...

Both are coming off two losses each.
Both are former champions.
Both are known for their striking.
Both are soft-spoken, not known for trash-talking.
Both are in their 30s, and so it would seem, are trying to mount a comeback of sorts.
And both are training their asses off.

Here's some quotes from each fighter in a recent story on sherdog.com:

"I'm excited this fight with Wanderlei is finally happening," said the 37-year-old Liddell, 20-5-0. "I've been saying for a long time that, given the chance, I would knock Wanderlei Silva out. I think this will be a great fight for the fans, and one that lives up to their expectations, because I'm going to hit him until he falls down and stays down."

To no one's surprise, Silva, 31, is equally confident in his victory.

"I've wanted to fight Chuck for a long time," said Silva, 31-7-1 with 1 NC. "I think about this fight a lot; our styles are very similar -- we are both great strikers. I'm training very hard, because I want to give my next victory to my fans. After I beat Chuck, then I want to fight the champion."

To see a video of Silva training for his upcoming fight, go here.

To get Chuck's point-of-view, go to his Web site here.

Mark Jovich, coach at the Central Pennsylvania Martial Arts Academy in New Cumberland, sent me this news release on an upcoming amateur MMA event on November 10th in East Durham, NY. Jovich is bringing eight CPMA team members there.

Each fighter will be in a 4-man tournament for their respective weight class and will have two fights. If they win the first, they advance to the finals. If they lose the first, they fight again for either 3rd or 4th place, Jovich said.

Team CPMA fighters:

Toby Crouse 135lbs Red Lion, PA
Justin Scott 145lbs Dallastown, PA
Shea Banks 150lbs Dallastown, PA
Michael D’Addario 155lbs Toms River, NJ
Jason Getts 160lbs Hanover, PA
John Tassone 165lbs York, PA
Ian Banks 175lbs Dallastown, PA
Chad Strawbridge 195lbs Red Lion, PA

“We have put together a solid team of well prepared fighters from across Central Pennsylvania and New Jersey to compete in a unique type of event for a great cause (Kids).”
-Mark P. Jovich

To go to the CPMA Web site, click here.

Good luck to all the guys at Team CPMA from MMA Explosion.

Josh "The Baby-Faced Assassin" Barnett has fought in MMA for years, winning the UFC heavyweight crown, as well as being a tough competitor in Japanese pro-wrestling.... And if you have a problem with that, you can take it up with him.

Barnett was a student of legendary catch wrestler Karl Gotch, who passed away this year. In this photo, we see Barnett's new move, the "Gotch Special," which he slapped on another veteran MMA fighter, Don Frye. The two were wrestling as part of Antonio Inoki's IGF promotion on Sept. 8.

The move looks like a double wrist-lock with a head scissor. We've already seen Barnett do a German Suplex (a move popularized by Gotch) against Yuki Kondo in a Pancrase fight, so now I'd to see "The Gotch Special" in an MMA fight.

The first round of the International Fight League's Battle For The Belts Grand Prix will be held tonight. A few of the matches, including the title match, will air on a one-hour live special on MyNetwork TV at 9 p.m. ET. and also on FOX Sports World Canada, as a two-hour live show at 9 ET.

Fighters Weigh In For IFL Grand Prix
11/03/2007

By Ben Fowlkes


All fighters in the IFL World Grand Prix weighed in successfully on Friday afternoon. The welterweight contests were both changed to catch weight matchups, with Delson Heleno and Gideon Ray agreeing to meet at 175 pounds, and Donnie Liles and Jay Hieron meeting at 177 pounds.

Hieron had MMA legend Randy Couture at his side during the weigh-in, and Couture said afterwards that he has plenty of confidence in his fighter and doesn’t expect the weight change to affect the outcome.

“Jay’s a professional and he isn’t fazed by this stuff like a lot of guys would be,” Couture said. “He’s been in my corner a bunch of times and it’s great to get to return the favor.”

Middleweight Matt Horwich had some difficulty making 185 pounds for his match with Brian Foster, but Foster readily agreed to giving Horwich the extra weight.

Vladimir Matyushenko and Alex Schoenauer weighed in with the 205-pound belt that they will be vying for in the background.

The fights will get underway at 7:30 pm local time tomorrow night, with the televised portion beginning with the lightweight rematch between Chris Horodecki and Bart Palaszewski at 9/8 pm CT.

You can download a printable Grand Prix bout form to make your picks before the action begins, and visit My Fantasy MMA for a chance to win cash prizes by picking the winners correctly.

The official weigh-in results, in the order the bouts will take place, appears below.

Brent Beauparlant (185) vs. Benji Radach (186)
Bart Palaszewski (155.5) vs. Chris Horodecki (154)
Alex Schoenauer (205) vs. Vladimir Matyushenko (204)
John Gunderson (155.5) vs. Wagnney Fabiano (155.5)
Gideon Ray (173) vs. Delson Heleno (175)
Shane Ott (264.5) vs. Antoine Jaoude (248.5)
Bryan Vetell (266) vs. Roy Nelson (261.5)
Brian Foster (184.5) vs. Matt Horwich (187.5)
Donnie Liles (177) vs. Jay Hieron (170)

Here's more of the card:
-Jake Shields (#8 Welterweight in the World)* vs. Mike Pyle
-Nick Diaz vs. K.J. Noons
-Antonio Silva vs. Jonathan Wiezorek
-Seth Kleinbeck vs. Kyle Noke
-Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson vs. Bo Cantrell (who replaced "Rhino" Bourke)

Rio Heroes is having another free live tournament on Nov. 6, starting at 7 p.m. If you go here, you can sign up to get the streaming video of the tournament.

The Brazil-based promotion dervives its style from vale tudo fighting, which was the precursor to modern MMA. It also reminds me of the UFC before the organization was forced to adopt numerous rules and regulations so that it could obtain legalization in places like New Jersey and Nevada.

Here's something from the site that seems to address the heat the organization has received for doing things old school:

Why RioHeroes is not MMA...
Published: October 15th 2007
RioHeroes is a vale tudo fight league with no intentions of replicating or conforming to any of the current MMA fight leagues. The company has nothing against MMA, however, we strive to provide real life fights without corporate sanctioned regulations, rounds, or time limits. RioHeroes is a true vale tudo league and will remain that way forever.

For those who want to see true professional vale tudo fights, please feel free to utilize all of the benefits this site has to offer. If you want to see regulated, corporate sanctioned fights, this website is not for you.

RioHeroes, and its enacted policies, protects the fighters for many reasons. Gloves are not allowed because they protect the fighters hands, allowing them to throw unending blows without suffering from any damage to the fists, causing severe head trauma to their opponent. Time limits and rounds allow fighters to rest, regaining strength and stamina, before re-entering the next round. This allows the fighters to once again throw more traumatic blows then a fighter who has been a cage battling for an indefinite amount of time.

All of our fighters have come together to agree on a basic set of rules which we refer to as the Warrior's Code. This includes: no eye-gouging, no hair pulling, no biting, and no groin shots. Besides that, Anything Goes.

There has never been a more qualified referee in any professional fight then Jorge Pereira. He knows better then anyone when it is necessary to stop a fight. Lastly, once the fights begin, the attending medical doctor has total control over the fight and can stop it at any time.

-Jason Atkins, President

Jorge Pereira, Vice President

A new MMA/BJJ school is slated to open March 1st, 2008, where Brad Souders and George McGinnis will be head instructors. Souders and McGinnis will teach an MMA class (striking, clinch, takedowns, and no-gi grappling) as well as a gi BJJ class.

Here's something from Todd Reid, who has trained with Souders: "The best thing about Brad opening the school in York, aside from his estimable skills in both MMA and BJJ, is that he is truly one of the nicest, most humble guys I've ever trained with. He's not cocky at all and he just loves to train with whoever is into it. He's going to be a great asset for MMA/BJJ in York and I'm really excited that he's going to be running the school."

The school's initial location will be at Gold's Gym North on North George Street in Manchester Township, where McGinnis has led BJJ classes for several years.

I'll keep everyone posted with more details as I get them.

Lightweight fighter Biff Walizer, who fought professionally in September in New Jersey, has more fights planned for the future, and a sponsor to boot.

Jerod Phillips of York County said he recently started an MMA clothing line called "Pimp My Triangle." He will also have the "Tap Or Sleep" on some of the clothes, which include shirts, hoodies, and beanies.

An MMA fan from way back, Phillips said he left his job doing heating and air conditioning to go full-time with his MMA clothing company.

Phillips also said Thursday he and Walizer have agreed to start a York County-based MMA fight team, which will be called "Team Tap Or Sleep."

"It's just going to start small with Biff and then I'll build from there," Phillips said.

Although he's waiting for the credit card system to be up and running to begin selling his clothing, Phillips has already set up a Web site, so you can go here to take a look at some of the designs.

Team Serra fighter George Sotiropolous

The show starts with a recap of last week's fight where Team Hughes' Dan Barrera lost to Team Serra's Ben "The Jolly Green Giant" Saunders. (The nickname is from Blake Bowman)

Team coach Matt Hughes is angry and depressed about five straight losses for his team.
"What am I to do?" he asks. "You guys are pushing my tolerance."

Barrera heads to the doctor's - he's got a broken nose, a cut on the chin and one on the forehead.

UFC Prez Dana White talks to Hughes: "Cheer up, dude."

When Hughes continues to lament about his team's poor performance, White starts dropping f-bombs faster than ... well, really fast.

"Punish those m-----f------ for not listening," he said. "B---- slap 'em. Beat the living s--- out of them."

Hughes, like a hit man, says, "I'll take care of it."

Next we see Hughes putting his team through the wringer. But that's not all - Hughes loses it, talking down Barrera's loss the week before.

That doesn't sit too well with with Team Hughes' Mac Danzig, a heavy favorite to go all the way - just ask him - and self-appointed mentor to some of the younger, less-experienced fighters.

"It's kind of disheartening when your coach does that," he said. Danzig believes that Hughes has let his feud with Serra - and upcoming fight at UFC 79 - get the better of his judgment.

Matt Serra talks about Hughes, saying that there's a difference between tough love and an ego out of control.