Well, as I warned you all in my last article, the war of words between UFC ringleader Dana White and EliteXC promoter Gary Shaw has extended. Shaw appears content to take a shot at Dana White whenever the opportunity presents itself. Here’s what Shaw had to say in a recent interview with Fightline.com:

Fightline.com: I gotta say, Kimbo is getting a ton of exposure recently. I just saw him presenting at the Country Music Awards of all places.

Gary Shaw: Exactly, because the UFC is run by a jazzercize instructor and EliteXC is run by a real promoter.

Mr. Shaw, are you serious? A real promoter? Let’s see, you’re losing money hand over fist, half of your roster is UFC rejects, and you’re banking on a guy with 2 professional MMA fights to carry your organization. Is this really a smart business model?

I believe Kimbo can carry EliteXC for the time being, because he’s intriguing, but what happens when he loses a fight? Is anyone going to care anymore? The idea of relying on one fighter to carry your organization is a recipe for disaster (see: M-1 Global and Fedor Emelianenko). Not only that, but Kimbo seems to be on a path that is commonly used by boxing promoters. They’re setting him up in fights that present little danger to him, but give him the opportunity to land a highlight reel knockout. While this is fine in the short term, how long will fans continue to sit around and watch Kimbo fight fighters that present no real challenge to him?

The war of words and the general statements made by Gary Shaw are so misaligned; they’re really hard to swallow. Does he really think he’s the reason Kimbo appeared at the Country Music Awards? I’m sure that CBS had something to do with that. They’re invested in this programming, and they’re going to try to do everything they can to make money off of this venture.

It’s going to be interesting to see what Dana White comes back with, because we all know he won’t just sit idly by. We’ll see if Shaw’s plan to attack the UFC and Dana White at every opportunity will pay dividends this Saturday night.

Earlier this week in an article published in the Long-Beach Press-Telegram, Dana White had this to say about Kimbo Slice:

"You know what would happen if he fought in the UFC?" White said to the newspaper. "I'd put him in against B.J. Penn, and (Slice) would get annihilated. The guy he is fighting, James Thompson, might get knocked out before he gets into the cage. Kimbo has no credibility at all in MMA. ... I am telling you, B.J. Penn would beat him."

While this may seem like an idiotic statement to make, it’s partially true. Would B.J be able to defeat Kimbo? It’s hard saying, however, it isn’t that far out of the realm of possibility. B.J. has fought at light-heavyweight and was able to hold his own against Lyoto Machida, but that’s another debate for another day.

The fact of the matter is that Kimbo is an unknown commodity. He has an intriguing personality, but he’s always going to take slack from hardcore MMA fans and veterans of this sport. I think it’s mostly due to people being jealous of his stardom in the sport. They’ve seen the veterans of this sport, the Chuck Liddell’s, the Randy Couture’s, the Tito Ortiz’s, put in their hard work and help grow this sport to what it has become today. Kimbo has burst onto the scene because of backyard fights on the Internet. Does that represent him as a person? No. Does that make the criticism of him valid? Maybe.

Kimbo is being brought along slowly. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. He hasn’t been training that long and has done nothing to draw the negative comments that have been directed at him. He’s simply done what he’s been asked to do, and that’s go out there and put on an exciting show and win fights.

EliteXC has also been matching him up with advantageous style matchups that suit his brawling and avoid having him being taken down repeatedly.  I think James Thompson might try to take him down, however; he’s going to have to get close to take him down. The closer he gets, the better chance Kimbo has of exploiting Thompson’s famous glass jaw. Thompson’s wrestling also isn’t that great, so it could be a quick night for Kimbo once again.

Gary Shaw had this to say when asked about Dana’s comments:

"Dana White is a jerkoff," Shaw said. "That's what Dana White is -- a [expletive] idiot -- and you can quote me on that. If he cared about mixed martial arts and the sport instead of caring about his big ass swimming pool and his own personal gains, he'd understand that statements like that make someone a jerk. First of all, I love B.J. Penn, and he is a friend of mine. Kimbo Slice, with one shot, would knock B.J. Penn out. But they are never going to fight. It is an idiotic statement from a complete idiot."

Woah, woah, woah there, Mr. Shaw. Are you implying that you really care about MMA and don’t care about the money? Get the [expletive] out of town.

This is the thing that really irks me about Gary Shaw. I love how all of the sudden he has come out and said that he is all about MMA and that he’s doing this all for the love of the sport. Wrong. He’s doing it for money, and I think he has ulterior motives. To me, he’s still “the boxing promoter” Gary Shaw.

As much as everyone criticizes Dana White, I really believe he loves the sport of MMA. Does he let his personal feelings get involved sometimes? Sure, but I think that just shows that he really loves the sport. He has been here through the thick and the thin, and I think it’s highly hypocritical of Gary Shaw to come out and say that Dana White doesn’t love the sport of MMA. I think he’s probably the biggest fan we have. He’s an impulse acting kind of guy, and that sometimes hurts his persona, but if you ask Dana White a question, you’re going to get a truthful answer.

Things are starting to heat up between the organizations and as the clock winds down to EliteXC’s debut on network television; I think the war of words between Dana and Gary will continue to worsen.

Leave some comments below and let me know what you think about each organizations front man. Is Dana wrong to call out Kimbo and his lack of experience? Is Shaw still the same sleazy boxing promoter some fans see him as? Can EliteXC ultimately compete with the UFC? Let me know, I’ll be sure to respond.

Sherdog.com's Greg Savage sat down with Tito Ortiz for an interview that has some great insight into the mindset of Ortiz as he steps into the Octagon for his last fight for the UFC this weekend against Lyoto Machida. Savage asked Ortiz during the interview to tell the camera a few good things that Dana White has done for him and the sport in the past. The answers were very interesting and should give fans a look at what the beef is between Ortiz and the UFC. Check it out here, props to Greg Savage.

Ortiz talks about Dana White's tenacity as a manager and as a businessman and how the two occupations differed in many ways. He stated that he loved having White on his side when negotiating contracts, but he became a monster once he took over the UFC with the Fertitta's. He mentions the evidence of Dana White's obsession with becoming a superstar. Namely, he talked about Dana White being focused on heavily in the Ultimate Fighter reality series.

One of the more intriguing ideas Ortiz threw around were once again the figures. He talked about the million dollar deals that the UFC has been pushing, and the fighters aren't seeing any of the benefits. He named off the SpikeTV $100 million dollar deal as a basis for one of his arguments.

The lowdown

Ortiz actually makes some solid points. Although his numbers aren't accurate, the machine that is the UFC remains the biggest money making venture in MMA today. In fact, they make much more than any other promotion in the game right now. With many of the North American promotions failing, the UFC stands to make even more money through sponsorships, events, and exploring new markets. Add in the fact that MMA is pushing to be sanctioned in new states, the UFC could make a killing in some of the larger markets such as New York City.

So, does Tito have a point? Should the fighters be making more money? Of course they should! Although the pay has steadily increased a bit, the UFC still makes much more than the total fight purses at each event. The one underlying factor that we don't know is the percentage of cuts they must give to PPV providers, PPV revenue agreements in contracts to fighters, and production costs.

Has the UFC shit all over Tito Ortiz? In my mind, it's hard to really say without accurate numbers, but Tito Ortiz did manage to help make the UFC relevant throughout it's infancy. The problem for Ortiz is that today is what gets you the big money, and today... he isn't the world championship caliber fighter that he once was. A big win for Ortiz on Saturday could very well put him back into that class though, so this could be a do-or-die fight for his career to take back off again.

The UFC officially announced this week that Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira and Frank Mir would be coaching teams on the eighth season of the Ultimate Fighter reality series. Many bloggers are up in arms over the selections for various reasons that range from tying up another title picture to explaining that the show is near death as far as appeal to MMA fans. The ratings would certainly indicate a drop-off of the show’s popularity over the years, and the coaching selection will tie up the Heavyweight title for a lengthy amount of time while the UFC tries to figure out who will move into the contention spot. What’s the problem with The Ultimate Fighter and with the news that “Big Nog” and Mir will battle it out for the title?

To answer the question, let me reference a couple of opinions from Fightlinker and Bloody Elbow and weigh in my own opinion. Fightlinker had this to say:

Let’s get something straight: a fight between Frank Mir and Big Nog is barely interesting enough to carry a PPV on its own, let alone an entire season of TUF. As for the argument that TUF exposure is a great way for Nog to become popular, that’s ass backwards thinking. Sticking a relatively unknown guy on TUF is just going to result in less people giving a shit about it. And it’s not like Nog just needs a showcase for his shining personality. The guy looks / acts like a big lumbering Frankenstein. For all the excitement he creates in the ring, he’s duller than matte paint in real life.

And don’t even get me fucking started on Frank Mir … Frank Mir, who everyone continues to say is “back.” This, despite the fact that UFC virgin Brock Lesnar nearly smashed his face through the canvas. Despite the fact that his only ‘convincing’ recent win was against a kickboxer who tried to out-sub him. I know MMA fans have the memory of sea amoebae, but was it really that long ago that a Krispy Kreme sponsored Mir waddled into the octagon to get easily annihilated by Brandon Vera?

I would definitely agree that Nogueira vs. Mir isn’t a main event that can carry a pay-per-view for the simple fact that Nogueira is fairly unknown to the casual fanbase and Mir is on the return track back to the title. I will say that I was one of those people on board to seeing Nogueira gets some exposure to boost his draw, but in thinking about it over the past couple of months and with the recent TUF season’s lackluster ratings and overall dullness, exposure for Nogueira probably wouldn’t be significant.

Bloody Elbow’s Luke Thomas had this to add:

For the record, I think this season is terrible and that's with two coaches who are good on camera, legitimate MMA stars and generally amiable and funny guys. If this format can't even work with them at the helm, I seriously doubt Mir and Nogueira is going to be any better (or even as good).

Look, the show - in its current format - has jumped the shark. I think there are a host of reasons for this, but part of it is that the talent well has run dry. If the UFC were able to space seasons further apart, they might be able to draw on more mature and developed talent. But they're running this machine into the ground and I don't think they've been able to cull the kind of talent they need consistently to make the show interesting.

In fact, the coaches' celebrity status used to be an ancillary benefit. TUF was originally and almost exclusively about the developing fighters. And when the show first started, there were a lot of up-and-comers to choose from. But between the pacing of the seasons and the growth of MMA leading to other organizations snatching up talent, there just isn't that much left to go around. Mir and Nogueira, despite being two of my favorite fighters, aren't going to change that dynamic.

Luke makes a good point that the talent outside of the UFC that they are able to pull from has decreased substantially. I’ve thought about this myself, and it seems that ProElite and some of the promotions overseas are grabbing up some of that talent. The ongoing debate on what fighters should get from their contracts and the restrictions in the Zuffa contracts probably doesn’t help, and it could be a small deterrent as well.

One reason I believe the series has lulled in excitement is due to the coaches really not having a beef with each other. While the comedy of both coaches is a pleasant relief from the dull tension that sometimes plagues the series, it isn’t a Tito vs. Shamrock angry tension that created some of the higher ratings for the series. Right now however, I don’t believe a heated rivalry between coaches would help the show at all.

In the end, a combination of both opinions is probably the biggest reason why this next season won’t do much better. Nogueira’s personality isn’t exactly flowing with exuberance, and putting Mir and Nogueira together will probably be less eventful than this season. Add in the fact that fighter talent has dropped off outside the UFC due to other promotions signing them to contracts, it just doesn’t bode well for the show.

In my opinion, The Ultimate Fighter is just a lame duck. I’ve watched it for multiple seasons and have usually been excited to see the fights during the next week’s show, but as of late, I could care less what really has been happening on the show. Some people may live for drama that involves a can of chew and lime juice, but who really gives a shit? I think Dana White’s new format ideas need to come sooner rather than later.

One of the things I’ve disliked about the WEC is the fact that the promotion has continued to carry the heavier middleweight and light heavyweight weight classes. Dana White suggested in an article over at the Canadian section of Yahoo! Sports on Saturday that Zuffa may be heading toward taking those divisions out of the WEC and merging them with the UFC’s own divisions.

White says the UFC has no plans to introduce a 145-pound weight class. “That’s why we bought the WEC (World Extreme Cagefighting).”

In fact, he said they are going to take steps to make the two circuits more distinct. “We’re going to make the WEC the smaller weights and the UFC will be the heavier weights. We’ll probably take some of the guys in the higher weights, the champions over there and bring them into UFC. We’re still trying to figure that out.”

WEC features 135-(bantamweight) and 145-pound (featherweight) weight classes as well as 155, 170, 185 and 205. The UFC has 155, 170, 185, 205 and heavyweight.

I like this move by the UFC and Dana White. Not only will Paulo Filho be moving over the promotion, but he’s probably going to be pushed up to the Light Heavyweight division after having massive problems with performance after cutting weight in the Middleweight division. His grappling should be dangerous against the divisional opponents in the UFC, and he’s arguably one of the most dangerous fighters on the ground in the world.

Brian Stann could also be an addition to the Ultimate Fighter Season 8. An Iraqi war hero on the show will get tons of exposure the American public and likely grab a huge following due to his duties in the military from members of the armed services within that same demographic. I’m a bit sick of hearing his story, but we all know the UFC will exploit it.

The rest of the fighters in those weight classes would likely make cannon fodder for upcoming talent in those divisions, or possibly make their way into the mid-echelon of those divisions in the UFC. I don’t think Doug Marshall can hang in the UFC, but Chael Sonnen could effectively dominate the lower level fighters at middleweight. Regardless, I’m not too keen on seeing those fights at this point.

Dana White had an interesting appearance on TSN's Off the Record in promoting UFC 83's main event in Canada. The show features an up front profile on Dana White in which he answers some questions, a panel in which he fires back at critics, and a quick-fire Q&A session from the host of the show. Not only was it entertaining to see White on his heels at times, but we got some solid answers on some of the issues we've wanted to know about for some time. See the entire show here... Props to MMAMania.com for the heads up.

The rundown...

• Is Dana White the star of the UFC? Dana doesn't believe so, and he mentioned Chuck Liddell as being unable to go anywhere without being mobbed by a crowd. 
• Building a brand over building fighting? The UFC was built as a brand, and Dana mentions how competition in this arena has failed, and everyone has their opinions of how he acts, but the business is still very successful. “UFC wasn't allowed on PPV, and porn was allowed on PPV” referencing the early days of the UFC, White was able to get those things to happen later on, testament to his drive and successful work ethic. 
• Marketability and reality vs. entertainment? Dana mentions that reality is better than the scripts that the WWE uses. When upsets happen, rematches, drama, and the elements that can create a prime atmosphere for marketing a fighter. 
• Was PRIDE buyout a mistake? No, they got Wanderlei Silva, other PRIDE fighters, and the video library. Got rid of their top competitor.
• A change in physiques when PRIDE fighters came over? Dana did not dismiss that steroids could have been the cause of this due to non-testing in Japan. 
• Why is it better for fighters to be clean? Careers last longer, mentally and emotionally stable.

The panel...

According to Adam Swift at MMAPayout.com, Dana White has recently began to focus more of his time on fighter relations than he had been previously giving to it. Joe Silva remains the VP of Talent Relations for Zuffa, but Swift is reporting that Dana White is now becoming much more involved in that area of the business. The article points at Couture's resignation from the promotion as being the primary cause to the refocusing of his priorities in the business.

Did Couture's resignation have a profound effect on the current status between Zuffa and its fighters? Dana White seems to think that the relationships between the promotion and its fighters has been degrading, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that the theory is very true. Within the last year, the heavyweight division could very well be the easiest target for these problems.

Andrei Arlovski, Tim Sylvia, and Randy Couture are all done with the UFC in some capacity right now in their careers. Arlovski is rumored to have signed with any and all promotions in the North American market right now, but nothing has been confirmed and the UFC is still talking to him. Tim Sylvia left the promotion on good terms, but did state after his bout with Frank Mir that he was unhappy with his pay compared to Brock Lesnar's purse for his loss. Sylvia has stated his displeasure with the promotion from time to time over the years as well.

The most significant loss to the promotion was Randy Couture, who spontaneously resigned from the promotion during a film shoot in South Africa. Unfortunately for fans and Couture, Couture isn't exactly allowed to simply resign from a contract, and we are now faced with the upcoming legal battle between Zuffa and Couture. Regardless of the legal hassles, one of the main points that Couture stated was the cause of the resignation from the promotion was the lies that Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White had told him, along with the numbers of his contract compared to his current status within the promotion. Couture is the UFC Heavyweight Champion, and his argument was that his pay was “disrespectful” compared to what he's done for the promotion.

In a sense, poor fighter relations could be part of the problem with the recent departures, and White wants to make sure that his talent pool doesn't continue to depart. Respect and treatment of the fighters has been a focus of the problems with Zuffa lately, and this move by White should only improve those aspects of the promotion. Overall, I like the move. White moves from dealing with the business side of the promotion back to getting in the “trenches” of pleasing fighters, maintaining communication, talking with managers and agents, and hopefully grabbing some fresh new talent. In any case, it definitely can't hurt the promotion.

Fedor isn’t a real fighter, he’s a complete joke.

“He’s fighting middleweights and guys who have absolutely no business fighting – and he’s looking like s*** doing it.

“It’s 2008 and he hasn’t had a real fight since 2005. I don’t care about what he did in PRIDE years ago - he can’t live with anyone in the top five in the UFC and that’s why he’s not here.

“He’s not in the UFC because if he was he couldn’t avoid real competition like he’s been doing for years now.

If we look at Fedor's record today, it doesn't look overly impressive due to where many of those fighters went after the years kept passing by. At the time of some of those fights though, many of the men he fought were highly regarded as some of the best Heavyweights in the world, and that does count for something in his current ranking.

Fighting Lindland, who is a Middleweight, is definitely not going to help your potential to keep that ranking, but I'll ask this as I have asked others in the past. Can Matt Lindland beat some of the top 10 heavyweights in the world? I think so. What other middleweights fought Fedor? That's right, Dana. Making more broad statements based on one fight that Fedor fought, it never fails.

The argument that he has fought nobody applies today if you look at where those fighters are, but the fact of the matter is that Fedor still defeated his opponents in the present time and still did so quickly. People consider the Coleman fights complete garbage due to his age, and they could be right, but Coleman's style is still similar to what many wrestlers may try to implement against Fedor. Especially in a ring environment where Couture could find himself.

I'm still a heavy believer in the notion that if a fighter can manage to rattle off the amount of consecutive wins that Fedor has done, you can't really make an argument that he's "not a real fighter". Dana simply needs to avoid these questions, and cut the amount of crap that he manages to spit out when it comes to Fedor Emelianenko. Eventually, UFC veterans will find themselves in front of "The Last Emperor", and I honestly believe that fans will find out how masterful Fedor's transition game really is.

After seeing what seems like hundreds of rankings online, Dana White has decided that the UFC may consider making their own. He confirmed the notion in a Q&A with Mark Gilbert at the Sun. White even mentions that people would most likely say that their rankings are biased, and I’m going to be the first one to say it. They will be biased.

First and foremost, the rankings won’t include any international stars that are not with the UFC. Obviously, this list will be for UFC fighters only. This would skew the rankings in a way that would have many fighters higher than actual rankings from other websites that consider all fighters in the MMA world. Obviously, that is something that is going to happen, and I can deal with that problem. It’s a ranking system for one specific promotion.

The real problem lies in the evidence of how the UFC handles matchups. It’s obvious that the UFC is moving fighters around for matchups in order to get the most bang for their buck. Fights that pit two rivals against one another, or title fights that pit a popular fighter against a guy that maybe doesn’t deserve the shot quite yet happen more often than they should. It happens on a consistent basis in mixed martial arts, and especially in the UFC.

So, who would undoubtedly benefit from the UFC rankings? Chuck Liddell would most certainly. Not only does his popularity play a big factor in where he stands in the division, but it also gets him bigger fights and propels him in the title picture even with losses. I’m sure the UFC will have him ranked #2 or #3 when he logically should be in the middle of the pack at #5 or #6. Even that is up for argument within the community.

The article at MMAJunkie.com that talks about the interview also mentions that the rankings would have to consider competition outside the UFC. As we all know, Dana White has downplayed PRIDE fighters and PRIDE significantly, so we can almost guarantee discrepancies in the rankings there.

Bottom line is that the UFC shouldn’t undertake a ranking system. It’ll just make more controversy over why certain fighters are ranked this way when it’s obvious that they are a lower rank. I can only imagine that Chuck Liddell will be the first fighter people see as legitimately ranked too high. The rankings will have more factors than performance. The popularity factor shouldn’t be accounted for, and it most likely will be a huge factor to justify matchups.

Some interesting news surfaced during an interview regarding the new expansion efforts of the UFC this week. Specifically, the UFC has decided to move into Scotland as they continue to make a push toward Europe. There is only one problem with the expansion. It isn't exactly what many people expected. Rumors have circulated for the last year that the UFC was making steps to either make a splash in the Japanese market, or continue pushing south of England into France, Italy, and Germany. Instead, the UFC has decided to move north into Scotland. Is this bad news for the UFC's expansion efforts, or just another base for the UFC to hit it big?

Surprisingly, Scotland is not a bad choice for an area of the world that the UFC wants to profit from. Glasgow and Aberdeen seem to be two MMA havens in the country, and Scottish fighters primarily battle it out in local promotions or in U.K. promotions. It's only ideal that the UFC begin to pick up on another nationality of brawlers to excite casual fanbases. Overall, not a bad move for the UFC, and it will also have implications down the road if people in the business of television have their ears to the grindstone.

European expansion halts

One of the biggest reasons that the expansion talk has halted when it comes to moving south of England is advertising dollars and costs. The UFC has done fairly well in creating a face for the UFC in England with Michael Bisping. They've also used local talent to bring in crowds, and have been able to bring big name battles to the region. Not only have they held events in England, but also in Belfast, and now moving into Scotland. The UFC doesn't want to stop a good thing. Sellouts give them money, but not enough money to supplement their costs of bringing fighters and staff to England, and advertising in a new market that may not know what the UFC is all about.

Costs are the main culprit here. Costs are what cause the expansion of many companies to halt until better things come along or the seas calm. In the UFC's case, the fish in the sea need to become more interested in what's on the surface. The means to that end is the television market.

Television markets plague the UFC's expansion

Television is the key to the expansion of nearly any sport. Get people to see what it is and associate a name with a visual representation of it. It's the fastest way to get name recognition and brand the UFC onto the combative sport of MMA. Of course, this is a tad different in England.

Television markets seem to be much different in markets outside of the U.S. for many promoters. They usually aren't welcome unless they are highly profitable ventures. The UFC has seen the toughest market in Japan, and they could be seeing more of the same in the UK. How can the UFC remedy that problem? Continue to sellout arenas, and try to gain some key sponsors that are in relation to the region. The more you can draw to yourself, the better it is to gain attention from the bigger dogs.

Stretching itself thin

Instead of focusing big expansion, the UFC is now focusing on moving into a small market that is relatively close to one that they are already somewhat familiar with. Scotland also has a good size MMA fanbase and should sellout the card easily. It's a smart move because they won't spread themselves thin on funds due to the exorbent cost of trying to move into a market that may not care about MMA. That could risk a lot of money for little gain.

Eventually with enough sellouts and enough exposure to the UK media, the UFC will have potential suitors. Before a TV or PPV deal can be made, the UFC will have to continue to show its worth in the UK. Once the UFC can turn a profit on another continent and rely on it to help drive the Zuffa machine, expansion into the other areas of Europe will surely be much easier.