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The picture's a little shaky ... well, more than a little, but it's the only video I could find. Man, I can't wait for this one.

Ah, the good ol' striped sweater again. It could be a good luck thing ...

Damn, that dude's got a beard that maybe rivals Kimbo's.

by Loretta Hunt of sherdog.com

Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rogers will face off in a heavyweight main event for Strikeforce on Nov. 7 on CBS, according to sources close to the event. A venue for the event is still to be announced.

An official announcement from CBS and Strikeforce is expected Thursday. The CBS Corporation owns premium pay channel Showtime, which has a multi-year broadcast deal with Strikeforce.

The bout will be the first of three for Emelianenko, the world's top-ranked heavyweight, with the promotion and will mark his first bout in a cage.

Cung le talks with ESPN Radio about when he and Frank Shamrock might throw down, a dream match with A. Silva, and other good stuff.

Frank Shamrock: I Am a Fighter

from a sherdog.com story by Danny Acosta. The story was about Frank saying that GSP is the modern version of the complete fighter, as Frank was back in his prime. But toward the end of the story, Frank talks about his own style and hwo he needs to adapt it, as he has done so many times in the past:

"I'm gonna smash everybody," said Shamrock, never one to lack confidence. "I'm tired of entertaining for the sake of entertainment. Now I'm just gonna destroy everybody, and people can just be entertained by that. I've decided my limbs are too valuable to be breaking for the entertainment of fans. I'm gonna break other people's limbs."

Ted's Take: I've always been a big Frank Shamrock fan. I met him in 2003 in Columbus, OH, at the Arnold Classic, right before his fight with Bryan Pardoe. I remember asking him what he had been up to lately, and he said, "At the end of the month, I'm kicking some guy's ass."

With the statement above, it's hard to say whether it's more grandstanding from a man who knows how to hype himself, a fight and the fight game, or if he's for real. You'll just have to tune in to Strikeforce to find out. I know I will.

Loretta Hunt has the scoop at sherdog:
Strikeforce and Showtime Networks have agreed to a three-year broadcast deal that will see mixed martial arts return to the premium pay channel by April.

The much-coveted deal, which has been quietly negotiated since December, proposes 8 to 10 live events from the popular San Jose, Calif., promotion in the next 36 months, insiders have told Sherdog.com. The agreement also opens the door for four primetime specials on CBS, which owns the Showtime channels and had much success with MMA though EliteXC in a Saturday night primetime slot.

Showtime is expected to announce some form of the agreement late Thursday, while Sherdog.com has learned that the first Strikeforce event under the new arrangement will likely take place on April 11.

by Loretta Hunt, sherdog.com
Though it had a platform that rivaled all others in mixed martial arts, EliteXC and its parent company, Pro Elite, couldn't stop themselves from falling off the ledge.

Launched in December 2006, Pro Elite entered a booming market and quickly established a place behind perennial leader, the UFC, with the sheer magnitude of its size and scope. However, it was a combination of mismanagement, runaway personalities and frivolous spending that led to its demise, said one of its consulting executives, T. Jay Thompson.

"Mismanagement, it was mismanaged by people that didn't know MMA, that didn't have the proper years of experience," said Thompson of the company's cease of operations Monday after only 22 months in business. "It's not an exact science. There's not a book that you can write to learn how to promote shows."

from Sherdog.com's Loretta Hunt:
A high volume of inquiries from the media and members of general public is what led the Florida State Boxing Commission (FSBC) to begin a preliminary investigation into the circumstances surrounding a last-minute Oct. 4 matchup between Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson and Seth Petruzelli at EliteXC "Heat."

Petruzelli, who agreed to take the headlining bout on less than three hour's notice after Ferguson's opponent, Ken Shamrock, was cut in warm-ups and deemed medically ineligible to compete, clipped Ferguson out of the gate with a right jab. Petruzelli's 14-second TKO stoppage aired live on CBS to 4.56 million viewers.

The following Monday, Petruzelli made comments on a local morning talk show that insinuated EliteXC promoters had arranged for the fighter to keep the bout from going to the mat for an extra fee.

"Kick Kimbo Ass" the story by sherdog.net poster "phd in mma":

I would say about 90% of the people were there just to see Kimbo. Around 8:30 elite xc made the announcement that Kimbo wasn't fighting Shamrock but would be fighting Petruzelli instead

I was one of the few who actually knew who Petruzelli was and immediately knew Kimbo was f----d. For the most part the people at the event didn't know shit about mma. I told the people next to me that Ken Shamrock hadn't won a fight since 2004 and lost his last five by tko/ko in the first and they seemed shocked. Right before the Kmbo fight elite xc promoters handed out the signs: "Kick ass Kimbo," Me and about 5 other people in the crowd modified the sign to say
what it was supposed to say, and that is "Kick Kimbo's ass"

The look on everyones faces' was priceless when
Kimbo got thrashed in 14 seconds. There was an eerie silence throughout the whole arena and everyone looked as if they had just witnessed the death of their hero. I jumped up in the air laughing ... and waving my modified sign in everyones faces then gave my friend a hug and yelled "The hype is all over"

At the risk of sounding like a total perv, I heard Gina had to "disrobe" to make weight. Insert Butt-head snicker here - heh-heh, heh-heh.

According to Sherdog.com, Daley and Shields started shoving each other and had to be pulled apart.

A svelte Arlovski vs. a ... um, not-so-svelte Nelson.

Ken Shamrock vs. Kimbo Slice

Kelly Kobold vs. Gina Carano

Benji Radach vs. Ninja Rua

One of the true ambassadors and brains in the sport of MMA, Frank Shamrock, breaks down how his adopted brother, Ken, can win Saturday against Kimbo Slice.

Jake Shields

Paul Daley

The war of words heats up between Paul Daley and Jake Shields, who square off at EliteXC's Heat event Oct. 4 on CBS. At stake is Shields' EliteXC welterweight championship. Like I've said before (at least I think I did), it's your classic grappler vs. striker. Shields is a BJJ blackbelt, while Daley is very skilled at knocking people out.
Here is a snippet from an interview Shilds did with soemthing called "Ultimo Round".... That's "Last Round", for all you non-Hispanic speakers:

UR: Jake, you're going to defend the welterweight title against the Cage Rage Champion, Paul Daley. Recently, He stated that:

"He won't remember much...just waking up I guess. I'm gonna be real mean in this fight, fuck Jake Shields, you're going to see. I am stronger, I hit harder, I take punishment and he will not take me down, or hold me there for long if I make a mistake. This is gonna be a shock to those Jake Shields nut huggers. Once I am in that top ten, I'm coming after everyone above me...." (Paul Daley to Fightline.com)

Please, comment.

JS: I think he has really good Muay Thai, but he's in over his head and he knows it. He's mouthing off to get over his own fear. Its's like a little dog barking.

According to Sergio Non from USAToday, here's more on the Affliction-Golden Boy alliance, which now, based on the loaning of Arlovski and Nelson, now includes EliteXC:

Under a deal worked out to co-promote bouts with Affliction Entertainment, Elite XC has added a fight between Affliction fighters Andrei Arlovski vs. Roy Nelson to the Oct. 4 show that will air on CBS. Arlovski-Nelson will is currently slated to be the third of five fights planned for the live broadcast, said Michael Cohen, chief operating officer of Affliction.

Elite XC and Affliction will also co-promote Affliction's next event with Golden Boy Promotions, now scheduled for Jan. 24, Cohen said. That fight will air either on CBS or Showtime, he said.

"We truly believe this co-promote will help the sport to become more mainstream," Cohen told me on Wednesday. "Fans should certainly look forward to seeing more fights on primetime television and Showtime."

Noons is probably not so cocky now, unless maybe he wanted to be a preliminary boxer all along ...

Just wanted to say I thought EliteXC did the right thing in stripping KJ Noons of his 160-pound title after he refused to fight Nick Diaz. I mean, let's boil it down here:

-- The sign of a good champion is one who fights whoever the matchmakers put in front of him.

-- The first time the two fought, Noons won by cut stoppage. Yes, he dominated Diaz, but it wasn't a KO, TKO or submission, or even a unanimous decision. Who wouldn't want a re-match to clear up any doubt as to who the better fighter is?

-- Diaz worked his way back into title contention, stringing together some wins after his loss to Noons.

-- The fight would have been on frickin' CBS. You can't get better exposure as a fighter than that.

I say ElteXC has a tournmant for the vacant title. None of this, here are the top two contenders. Get fighters from all over the world - Russia, Japan, Canada, Brazil, and of course, the US - and stage a 16-man or 8-man tournament.

This is one of the main card bouts on EliteXC's next CBS show on Oct. 4, and it's for Shield's welterweight title. Shields is on a 10-fight win streak, while Daley is on a six-fight win streak.

This fight appears to be a classic striker vs. grappler scenario. Daley, 25, who recently came out of retirement, is a pure striker, and most of his losses have come from rear-naked chokes and guillotines.

Shields, while he has won by TKO several times, seems to favor submissions - actually, that's putting it mildly - he's a black belt under Cesar Gracie. That would seem to be the smart move here against Daley, especially when the title's on the line. Sometimes fighters get caught up standing with a striking specialist - a la Tito Ortiz with Chuck Liddell - and have paid for it. However, when Georges St-Pierre said he was going to out-wrestle Josh Koscheck, did anyone think he could do it, and do it decisively? Despite his athleticism, probably not that many. But that's exactly what St-Pierre did.

I see Shields winning, either with the sub or by unanimous decision, where he will avoid Daley's bombs, and take the challenger into the championship rounds.

Here's an excerpt from a statement (from fiveouncesofpain.com) released by Brett Rogers, who was hoping to get a shot at Kevin "KImbo Slice" Ferguson, or as Rogers now calls him, "Fergi."

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 (Dan) Severn and place them on a rotating pedestal where they can endless circle each other.

If Ken proves to be more sham [than] rock and Fergi beats him, then the Slice hype grows even greater. Dude is already more myth [than] Sasquatch, Chupacabra and a [expletive] 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 (Abbott) and Shamrock. Hell, why not fight (Keith) 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?

from proelite.com:
After much speculation about who Kimbo Slice would be locking horns with on the October 4th CBS card, it has been confirmed that Kimbo Slice will be facing MMA legend Ken Shamrock at EliteXC "Heat".

Adding the high-profile, well-known name of Ken Shamrock to a card that already includes superstar Kimbo Slice and cross-over sensation Gina Carano creates an event that is certain to appeal to the casual MMA fan-- a group that help generate the record-setting viewership for a mixed martial arts broadcast back on May 31st.

Ted's Take: You can look at this from a couple points-of-view. It's a great fight for visibility, i.e., ratings, something EliteXC needs desperately right now. Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson's popularity is on the rise - as long as he keeps beating up cans - and Shamrock is a legend in the sport, definitely well-known to the casual fans.

Also, it's good for EliteXC because the casual fan is not going to consider Shamrock an over-the-hill can. To them, he's probably still the jacked, shootfighting machine from early UFC, or the massive high-flying ankle-locking psychopath from the WWF. But he's not either one of those things. Not anymore.

He was, at one time, a dominant groundfighter who left the sport when it entered its dark days to earn more money. You can't blame the guy for that. When he returned years later, he found the sport had progressed. And he tried to progress with it, improving his striking game. He had an all-out brawl with Don Frye in PRIDE, when both fighters were in the twilight of their careers. But in the past few years, he's lost, and lost badly. Even to virtual unknown "Buzz" Berry. So it's good for EliteXC, because Kimbo will most likely crush Shamrock - if not for a Haily Mary heel hook - and his growing "legend" will progress.

Who suffers is the hardcore fan. Most of them want to see Kimbo get exposed: either by a skilled muay Thai striker, or a jiu-jitsu wizard. It nearly happened when James Thompson had Kimbo up against the fence and rained down numerous - and unanswered - punches and elbows. Some said the fight should have been stopped there. But I could see it the other way - there wasn't a lot behind those strikes.

So the hardcores will have to wait a little longer for that to happen. In the meantime, Shamrock has my respect - he's entering a Lion's Den, a phrase he coined for his gyms -in Slice, who despite all his hype, is a powerful puncher.

All right, things are looking great - at least on paper - in the world of MMA for the rest of the year. Here are just some the major match-ups I've heard about, most confirmed, some still just rumor, but probably will happen:

-- Matt Lindland Vs. Trevor Prangley at Affliction 2 - Day of Reckoning.

-- Jay Hieron vs. Drew Fickett, also at Affliction 2.

-- Jake Shields vs. Paul Daley at EliteXC's Oct. 4 show on CBS.

-- Georges St-Pierre vs. BJ Penn on UFC's Jan. 31 show.

-- Also upcoming on a UFC event is Brock Lesnar vs. Cheick Kongo and Joe Steveson vs. Kenny Florian.

-- Also on the CBS show, Gina Carano vs. Kelly Kobald and Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson vs. Brett Rogers.

-- And finally, another Affliction match-up, former IFL lightweight champion Chris Horodecki vs. Dan Lauzon.

Holy crap! That's a lotta MMA.

from mmaweekly.com:
It has been nine months since K.J. Noons surprised many in the mixed martial arts world, winning the EliteXC 160-pound divisional title with a TKO stoppage of Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Nick Diaz following the first round of their championship bout.

Noons followed up his title-winning performance with an impressive first round TKO finish of another UFC veteran in Yves Edwards.

Over that same span, Diaz has strung together a three-fight victorious streak, stopping Katsuya Inoue, Muhsin Corbbrey, and Thomas Denny, all by TKO. Now his camp is clambering for a rematch.

"His win over Thomas Denny was a crucial test for him. He needed to prove he could make weight and pass California's stringent anti-marijuana drug policy. Diaz easily made weight and passed the drug test," said a recent post on GracieFighter.com, a site operated by Diaz' trainer Cesar Gracie. "His recent wins have convinced EliteXC that his next fight should be a rematch with K.J. Noons at the Oct. 4 CBS show. However, it is still unclear if K.J.'s camp will take the fight."

Apparently there isn't that much of a cloud over Noons' camp after all. According to EliteXC vice president Jared Shaw, the promotion has tried to make the fight happen and wants it to happen as part of the Oct. 4 event, but to no avail.

"Nick Diaz is the No. 1 contender. K.J. Noons should step up and be the champion that we think he is and take this fight. Nick Diaz will take this fight any place, anywhere," Shaw told MMAWeekly.com. "(Noons' management) won't even return our calls.

From sherdog.com:
Internet street-fighting sensation Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson will return to the cage as part of a primetime EliteXC show on Oct. 4 at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla. Ferguson's inclusion on the card, scheduled to air live on CBS, was announced on Saturday.

No opponent was named for the Bahamian-born heavyweight, who grew up 30 miles away in Miami, Fla.

"Fighting back at home, again, for the second time, is going to be great," Ferguson said. "Way more fans this time, way more friends. We're going to do it again, and hopefully, I'll pull off another victory ... win by another KO and have a bigger party this time. I'm not sure who I'm fighting yet, but I'm looking forward to a hard fight."

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Nick "The Strap" Thompson.

photo courtesy of CBS Sports

Complete weigh-in results, courtesy of mmajunkie.com:

MAIN CARD (CBS)

Champ Robbie Lawler (184.5) vs. Scott Smith (185) (for EliteXC middleweight title)
Thomas Denny (159) vs. Nick Diaz (159.5)
Jake Shields (169.5) vs. Nick Thompson (169.5) (for vacant EliteXC welterweight title)
Shayna Baszler (139) vs. Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos (140)
David Douglas (157) vs. Marlon Mathias (161) (swing bout)

MAIN CARD (SHOWTIME)

Justin Eilers (218) vs. Antonio Silva (257.5) (for vacant EliteXC heavyweight title)
Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante (203.5) vs. Travis Galbraith (202)
Brian Caraway (140.5) vs. Wilson Reis (139.5)

PRELIMINARY CARD

Mike Cook (232.5) vs. Carl Seumanutafa (255.5)
Drew Montgomery (224) vs. Brandon Tarn (252)
Jeremy Freitag (205) vs. Anthony Ruiz (206)

This episode features recaps of the recent Affliction and UFC cards and a preview of Saturday's EliteXC "Unfinished Business" event.

Who wants more MMA??? Better yet, who doesn't? Well, ask and you shall receive. EliteXC is having its second show on CBS live, this Saturday at 9 p.m., called "Unfinished Business."

We've got a rematch from the previous show where the middleweight title fight between champ Robbie Lawler and challenger Scott Smith ended with an eye-poke. Then, there's Jake Shields taking on Nick "The Goat" Thompson for the welterweight strap.

Nick Diaz will also see action against Thomas "Wildman" Denny. I wonder if KJ Noons will be there to put his mug on him.

Event promo:

Open workout: