Ariel Helwani is reporting that as of last night, Mark Hunt had yet to get his VISA and was still in New Zealand, and it is rumored that if Hunt isn’t approved they will give the fight to Roy Nelson.

Mark Hunt is also hinting at the fact that time is running out.
“The training has been really, really good — I have had one of the best camps of my whole career, and it has been here acclimatization is really important.It is a shame to go and waste all of this hard work on three or four days of jet lag.”

Tatame.com is reporting:
EXCLUSIVE: Renan Barão is injured and is out of the UFC 161 card

Barao was injured and is out of the UFC 161 card. Interim bantamweight champion, Renan Barao would make his second title defense against Eddie Wineland at UFC 161, which will take place on June 15 in Winnipeg, Canada, but an injury forced the Brazilian to leave the card. According to sources close to Tatame, Baron injured his right foot and will not have time to recover for combat.This would be the second title defense for Barao, who defeated Michael McDonald in February for his first defense at UFC on Fuel TV 7 in London.

“If Bryan Caraway has a problem with it he can give him a call and he’ll tell him to his face.”
Mike Kogan on Nate Diaz calling Bryan Caraway a “fag”
“That one word did not mean homosexual, it was not intended to be homosexual. It was not meant to have a homophobic connotation at all. The word for years and years and years also means bitch, little punk, little whiny, little fuckers. That’s what he meant with what he said.”
Kogan goes on to say he doesn’t disagree with what Nate said in terms of the context of his message aiming at Caraway receiving the bonus at Healy’s expense….
“What Bryan Caraway did was a bitch move. It was a bitch move. First, you chase Dana all over the fucking internet, begging him for a fucking bonus, which I think is a bitch move because I’m sure he’s got Dana’s phone number, and if not, he can probably get ahold of it. Then after that you get the damn check and you go out there and gloat and you want to kiss ass so you go, ‘Oh, I hate weed, I think weed sucks and Pat Healy’s a retard for doing it.’ Listen, if Pat Healy didn’t do what he did, you wouldn’t have the fucking check first of all. Second of all, I think the kid’s suffering enough right now he doesn’t need your gloating, you little fuck. Its a bitch move, that’s all that Nate said. He called him a bitch, if Bryan Caraway has a problem with it he can give him a call and he’ll tell him to his face.”

I figured it was only a matter of time before one of the Diaz brothers said something, and here it is. Nate Diaz (Nathan Donald Diaz) via twitter stated:
“I feel bad for Pat Healy that they took a innocent mans money and I think the guy who took the money is the biggest Fag in the world ..”
Hmm, wonder what daddy Dana will have to say about this.

” I’m not doing anything illegal, so I’m not ashamed of anything.”

“I’m the type of fighter that steps into the jungle not fearing anything. I’m there to fight, to do my best. My motivation is not him. It’s not what people say, it’s not what people think. My motivation, no one can steal it, or my my gifts and my talents. I develop them every day. I’m new every day … I’m not doing anything illegal. I think people have to have this choice, you know? I think they should release (the names) of everyone that’s on it. For me, it’s no problem. I’m not doing anything illegal, so I’m not ashamed of anything.”

Article via MMA Mania .com

Earlier today, the XFC stripped lightweight champion Nick Newell of his title after he ‘allegedly’ refused to defend it against 4-0 Scott Holtzman. Nick Newell’s manager, Angelo Bodetti of Hero Sports Management, has an entirely different perspective on the situation, seeing the banter about his fighter not wanting to step in the cage with Holtzman as promotional posturing.
“It really had nothing to do with the Scott Holtzmans of the world and it had everything to do with what’s the next fight and what’s the fight after that,” Bodetti told MMAWeekly.com. “Where is his career gonna go? What is the platform for his fights going to be? Things like that.

“Nick only has one fight left on his contract, so immediately following Nick’s last fight we started contract negotiations. Obviously, they’re not going to let Nick fight unless he’s under a long-term contract.

“So it really has nothing to do with the opponent, and everything to do with the direction his career is heading.”

“There is no announcement to make on what he’s doing next because we’re still deciding on that,” said Bodetti. “(But) we were pretty comfortable in the fact that it wasn’t going to be with the XFC, so we just wanted to make sure that they knew and they had enough time to do what they had to.

“We wanted to make sure that we didn’t do this at such an awful time that the whole card would be in jeopardy.”

“Nick is very appreciative to XFC. He wouldn’t be anywhere near where he is without that platform and without the time and the effort that they put into him,” Bodetti stated.

“The XFC has been absolutely nothing but professional and they have done nothing but right by us and right by Nick,” he continued.

“The whole Nick doesn’t want to fight Scott, that’s […]

Recently, UFC Light Heavyweight Gegard Mousasi has been toying with the option of dropping to middleweight, even taking to Twitter to ask the fans. Today, he shed a little more light on his next career move and what his immediate future plans hold for him.

Via MMAJunkie:
“I believe if I go to 185 I’ll be much stronger,” Mousasi said. “At the highest level, you don’t want to give any advantage. If you look at Jon Jones, you don’t want to fight a guy that’s very talented, has the skills, and also has the strength. Then you give too much advantage away.”

But he’ll consult with the UFC before making any concrete plans.

“I think that there’s a big chance I will go,” he said. “If the UFC says, come fight at 205, and if you win two or three times, we’ll give you a title shot. If they say 185, because I was also middleweight champ, maybe win one fight and maybe I can be a contender. Whatever is the fastest way to the belt.”

The highly anticipated 4th instalment of the Dubai Fighting Championship is set. DFC 4 will take place on Friday 10th May 2013 at the prestigious & exclusive Madinat Arena – Mina A’ Salam in Dubai. This promises to be the biggest show ever held in the UAE since UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi. A stacked fight card featuring some of the World’s top MMA athletes & the very best fighters in the UAE region. Since its establishment DFC has led the way for MMA in the UAE & with its 4th instalment promises to take MMA to newer heights in the MENA region. Former UFC contender & Bellator MMA superstar Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley headlines the main event against BJJ Black Belt specialist & ONE FC Veteran Rodrigo ‘Ximbica’ Ribeiro in a mouth watering main event with an old fashioned Grappler vs Striker match up.

Mike Chiappetta of MMA Fighting and Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer explain how the ‘superfight’ between Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Santos and Ronda ‘Rowdy’ Rousey never came to fruition because they could not agree on MONEY, not Cyborg unable to make weight as many of us speculated.

Mike Chiappetta:

While (match weight) was at the center of most conversations in the media regarding the inability to make the Cyborg-Rousey fight, it was not the deal-breaker it’s been reported to be.
During the ongoing negotiations, which lingered for about two months, the promotion agreed to pay for the services of a dieting and nutrition consultant like Dolce. But there were other points that the two sides could not agree on.
The biggest issue, according to Cyborg’s management firm Primetime 360, was Zuffa treating Cyborg as a bit player rather than an event co-star.

Dave Meltzer:

The problem is, and this is huge, is that after Cyborg beat Carano, Cyborg’s subsequent fights garnered very little interest. It surprised me seeing how big the Carano fight was, the reaction, the ratings, the attendance, etc. While Carano was clearly the star, one would have thought Cyborg would have come out of such a big win on the first women’s main event that set record Showtime MMA ratings as a big star herself. There are obvious conclusions you can draw as to why that didn’t happen, but I think UFC recognizes that it didn’t.
Rousey vs. Cyborg can be promoted with the UFC’s marketing behind it as the biggest women’s fight in history and insiders may feel Cyborg is still the best fighter, although the steroid issue as it pertains to this fight is huge. Because women don’t produce the level of testosterone as men, a woman on steroids has far more of a competitive edge against someone clean than a man […]

by Alex D’Amico.

Chael Sonnen is the most polarizing figure in UFC history. A masterful promoter and supreme trash-talker, he has his share of fans and haters. Count me in on the fan side.

As a fan of the fight game, I want to see guys (and now ladies) fight. I’m not talking about dancing around Clay Guida style. I mean get in the octagon and get after it. I want people who will fight anyone, anywhere, anytime. I want gladiators. I essentially want every fighter in the UFC to have the attitude of Chael Sonnen.

This is a guy that willingly took on two of the greatest fighters of all time in back-to-back fights. What did he do when he got in the octagon? He walked straight across the cage and grabbed his opponent. No dancing, no feeling out process. It’s an “I’m going to knock your teeth out” mentality. That’s a fighter. He’s a bulldog with a relentless drive. He is the pitcher that won’t come out of the game. This guy would fight Godzilla in Japan and King Kong on top of the Empire State Building. He would fight Anderson Silva on Wednesday and Jon Jones on Saturday. He has an undying desire to be champion and believes that he can be. Every time he steps in the octagon, he believes he is going to win, and he takes the fight to his opponent. As a fight fan, what more can you possibly ask for?

When it’s all over, he honestly assesses the fight, takes losses like a man, and answers any questions thrown at him. Totally accountable. Offers no excuses. Just tell me the next time I get to climb in the cage to get after it again. Tenacious. Bulldog. Fighter.

I know there are a lot of Anderson Silva […]

Taking a page out of Nick Diaz’s chapter (Goldie-ism #133), Anderson Silva decides he’d rather go play a rousing game of Quidditch than fulfill his obligations to on promoting his bout with Chris Weidman.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has fined middleweight titleholder Anderson Silva $50,000 for refusing to take part in a planned pre-UFC 162 media event.

Silva (33-4 MMA, 16-0 UFC) was scheduled to talk with a few of Los Angeles’ largest media outlets on Tuesday but ultimately skipped the session and instead flew home to his native Brazil.

“We had a full media day set up for him in Los Angeles, and he just decided he didn’t want to do it, so he’s being fined $50,000,” UFC President Dana White told USA TODAY Sports and MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

The media session was scheduled to coincide with this week’s ticket on-sale date for “UFC 162: Silva vs. Weidman,” in which Silva looks to defend his belt against Chris Weidman (9-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC). The pay-per-view event takes place July 6 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena. The annual Fourth of July weekend fight card is considered one of the promotion’s cornerstone events and comes complete with a two-day UFC Fan Expo and a full slate of fan-driven activities.

“He doesn’t like talking to the media, but it’s part of his contractual obligation,” White said. “Everybody wants more money, more money, more money, but nobody wants to sell the fight or go out and talk to the media. Talking to the media is part of your job, whether you like it or not.”

Silva was scheduled to appear on local TV and radio stations, as well as a luncheon with more than a dozen Los Angeles-area newspapers and websites.

Silva is not the first high-profile UFC fighter to skip company-scheduled […]

Spike TV will broadcast 10 hour-long episodes, with qualifying bouts to be held during the show’s first airings. The finale will be broadcast live on Spike. The Viacom-owned network aired the first 14 seasons of “The Ultimate Fighter” before the UFC signed a contract with Fox Sports and moved the reality series to FX in 2012.

‘Fight Master: Bellator MMA’ Cast

Marcus Aurelio (6-2), 26, Vancouver, British Columbia
Nick Barnes (6-0), 22, San Diego, Calif.
Eric Bradley (5-1), 31, Las Vegas, Nev.
Mike Bronzoulis (15-5-1), 34, Houston, Texas
Frank Carrillo (6-3), 29, Miamia, Fla.
Darryl Cobb (6-6), 32, East St. Louis, Ill.
Christopher Curtis (7-2), 25, Cincinnati, Ohio
Evan Cutts (5-1), 22, Dallas, Texas
Mike Dubois (3-0), 30, Thomasville, Ga.
Tom Gallicchio (16-8), 26, Howell, N.J.
Ismael Gonzalez (6-10-2), 32, Los Angeles, Calif.
Gareth Joseph (9-5), 28, San Diego, Calif.
Chris Lozano (10-3), 30, Cleveland, Ohio
A.J. Matthews (6-2), 24, Carlsbad, Calif.
Rob Mills (8-2), 35, Newcastle, England
Steve Montgomery (3-1), 22, Florence, S.C.
Chip Moraza-Pollard (7-4), 24, Plymouth, Mass.
Brett Nakamura (3-1), 30, Maui, Hawaii
Jason Norwood (12-3), 28, Fort Hood, Texas
Dom O’Grady (15-5-1), 31, Detroit, Mich.
Jacob Ortiz (13-4), 31, San Manuel, Ariz.
Josh Quayhagen (6-1), 26, Lake Chales, La.
Joe Riggs (39-14, 1 NC), 30, Phoenix, Ariz.
Eric Scallan (11-4), 27, Lafayette, La.
Cristiano Souza (6-0), 30, Salvador, Brazil
Brendan Tierney (10-5), 37, Queens, N.Y.
Bryan Travers (14-3), 29, Bakersfield, Calif.
Andy Uhrich (8-3), 27, Gering, Neb.
Tim Welch (9-4), 23, Great Falls, Mont.
Cole Williams (6-1), 30, Darien, Wis.
Joe Williams (9-1), 27, Tustin, Calif.
Artenas Young (9-5), 32, Houston, Texas

Recently on a  MMARoasted Podcast, Todd Rexx who is the owner of TrauMMA Combat Apparel, told a story of a showdown that happened between Jon Jones, and Daniel Cormier at the MMA awards in 2011.
At the time we were sponsoring Daniel, so I went to the awards with Daniel… I sat next to Jon Jones through the entire awards, and we talked the whole time, and it seemed like he was really cool and it kinda changed my thoughts on him, for the time being.

Then afterwards, my wife had texted me during the awards to say she got a call from this dude named Lou Dibona, who told her that Jon Jones was leaving the forum, and that there was some sponsorship availability if we were interested.

So in the lobby, I was with Daniel, Daniel took a phone call, and I walked over to Jon who’s getting ransacked by people, and I told him that Lou Dibona hit us up about sponsorship and he was like “Don’t you sponsor Daniel?”

I was like ‘yeah.’

He was like ‘I don’t want to f— with nobody who f—s with him.’

And I was like ‘really.’

And he was like ‘no disrespect to you, man, but if you sponsor Daniel, then I don’t want to f— with you guys.

“And I was like ‘wow.’

Daniel was on the phone, he hung up the phone and walked over to me and said ‘what did he just say to you?’ I was like ‘don’t worry about it.’ and he was like ‘no man, he talked s— didn’t he?’And I was like ‘well, yah.’
And he was like ‘what did he say?’
And I was like ‘don’t worry about it man. Let’s get something to eat.’
And he was like ‘no man, if someone talks shit about you, I tell you.’
So I said ‘he told me he doesn’t want […]