Sebowski

Dana White is like their GM. Sure they have ultimate control, but they give Dana White all the decision making power as far as talent goes. Much like most football teams with GMs. I assume this because it isn't just critics and fans that talk about White like he is in control. The fighters do it. Fedor and Randy talk about Dana. They don;t mention the Frettitas, so I don;t think they are involved in that aspect.

http://mmajunkie.com/news/4031/tim-sylvia-and-ben-rothwell-sign-with-adrenaline-mma.mma Syvlia and Ben Rothwell sign with a new promotion. What was left of M-1. They are non-exclusive deals so they can fight anywhere.

Strikeforce card tomorrow night on Showtime elevised Bouts: -Frank Shamrock vs. Cung Le -Gilbert Melendez (#6 Lightweight in the World)* vs. Gabe Lemley -Drew Fickett vs. Jae Suk Lim -Mike Kyle vs. Wayne Cole -Joey Villasenor vs. Ryan Jensen Non-Televised Bouts: -Luke Stewart vs. Tiki Ghosn -Jesse Jones vs. Jesse Gillespie -Darren Uyenoyama vs. Anthony Figueroa The only fight worth talking about is Shamrock-Le. I am still deciding on who I am going to pick. I'm not even sure who I'll be rooting for right now. Probably Le. So as they say on PTI Who ya got?

Unfortunately not :mad: Barnett and Dana White do not get along. Barnett desrves a bigtime money and the UFC isn't willing to pay it. Hopefully someone, whether it be Elite XC, Strike force, or DREAM will give those good heavyweight FAs a home soon so we can see them fight. There is enough heavyweight talent outside the UFC to have a great GP. How good does a tournement featuring: Barnett Fedor Arlovski Tim Sylvia Mark Hunt Cro Cop Ben Rothwell Paul Buentello Elite XC might even be willing to send over Ricco and Antonio Silva. Just a pipe dream though.

That's what I was thinking until I gave it a little more thought. I am assuming Randy is never coming back Nog is Champ Who is the number one contender? He has beat Hearing three times Mir isn't back yet (if ever) Kongo has been exposed Arlovski is a FA It looks like the winner of Werdum-Vera might get the next title shot. What happens after that? Gonzaga? I guess if he beats Mir or Hearing he could get another title shot, but I think Tim is a big loss for the UFC. Tim could have been a great "gate keeper" for the title and would deserve another crack at it with just one win. The UFC needs Josh Barnett!!!!

...and in other fight news Tim Sylvia and the UFC are parting ways. It will be interesting to see who he ens up fighting next. http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=5978&zoneid=2

Looks like Diaz's fight will end in a courtroom. http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=5977&zoneid=13 Gracie denied Garcia’s claim that Diaz did not turn in his medicals on time. “That’s absolutely not true,” said Gracie about the timing of the medicals being received. “Because if he didn’t turn his medicals in, how did (Garcia) know Nick has a cannabis club card? He found out when the medicals were turned in. Nick doesn’t turn in medicals. He goes and gets them done and the lab was turning them in for him. “There are fighters on this card that did not get their medicals in until today. They got them done last night and turned them in today, and they are fighting.” ... “Armando Garcia is here to help fighters, not to hinder them. He’s here to make sure fighters are safe, make sure the rules are being followed, not to legislate from where he’s at, make laws, that’s not his thing. It’s to enforce the laws that are made and to make sure everything happens in a fair manner. And when the fighters do it fairly, it doesn’t matter what my opinion, or his opinion, or anyone else’s opinion is, California states that it’s legal to have a cannabis club card, so that’s just the way it is.” Regardless of the legalized marijuana issue, Gracie also says that Diaz had every intention of being tested and coming back clean. “He never took a urine test. We wanted him to take a urine test,” he said. “We offered for him to take a urine test to show that he was going to be negative. He was not smoking, so he would be negative for this fight … they never gave him that opportunity.” --------- Can't wait to hear what the commission says. Hopefully Nick will get his 50,000 out of them (us California tax payers :doh: )

Nick showed up at the press conference and it sounds like he was kind of sane. http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles.asp?n_id=12018 "I just feel like everybody in the state of California who has a legal cannabis club card should be able to have their choice," said Diaz, who will compete on EliteXC's June 14 card. "The way I see it is, [it's] one alternative to Ritalin or anti-depressants or something like that. I'm not going to take carcinogenic chemical drugs." And Shaw talked more about it: "Nick Diaz (Pictures) was the single first fighter that was medically cleared and had every medical in from the EliteXC side. He had all his medicals in," said Shaw, refuting Garcia's claim that the information was not received in time. "He did them roughly up to two and a half weeks ago." "Armando Garcia overstepped his boundaries, in my humble opinion," Shaw said. "I am a former regulator, and he had no right to pull Nick Diaz (Pictures) off this card. Nick Diaz (Pictures) did not test positive for drugs, was not offered any pre-fight drug test or any other type of screening."

I guess we'll have to wait and see what comes out. He hasn't quit weed because it is a part of his lifestyle and he doesn't see why he should give it up. I guess he is an idealist. He wants his cake and wants to eat it too. I like that about him. I agree that the Diaz bros are probably douchebags, but I love the way they fight (Nick more than Nate. Not sold on Nate yet), and they should be allowed to do so whether they smoke weed or not. Especially if they test clean for each fight.

And you can drink as much as you want also. Drinking increases the size of the liver and makes it vulnerable to more danger if hit. I'm not sure marijuana has any effect on the actual fight itself. Though the Nevada Commission will tell you it is a performance enhancer :doh:

I don't see where you can dispute any of the claims made by Diaz or his representation. Please show me what it is you don't believe. Here is where I call into question the commission. From the article: "Completing paperwork on March 10 in the Los Angeles offices of Dr. Richard Gluckman --" Gluckman is the commission Dr. Then the commission says: "...you have to tell them way ahead of time, not three days before the weigh-in or the fight," Garcia said Diaz went to the commission doctor and gave full disclisure on March 10th. The commission (the dr. is part of this) waited to look into it until yesterday "3 days before the weigh-in" That isn't Nick's fault. He did right by them. If the commission said that they needed more time than 18 days (March 10th-fight day) then that would be a different story.

1. Of course they want more money. That doesn't mean their number one priority should be getting more fans. But I like a ot of fringe sports so I don't see it as a big deal. It is like when someone tells me they should make soccer goals bigger so more American will watch. It isn't even worth responding to. 2. Yeah, I was talking about grounded opponents.

That might be our biggest disagreement. I say screw the public eye. I don;t care if the sport gets more mainstream. The owners of the UFC just made the billionaire list. There is plenty of money being made. If the mainstream doesn't want to watch, it is their loss. MMA needs to worry about the sport and its' fighters, not what the perception of the sport is. It is the worry of what the mainstream would think that is keeping knees to a grounded opponent and kicks to the head out of the sport. Another mistake.

Like NBA players don't smoke....... In Diaz's defense he'll tell you he is the healthiest guy out there. He eats right and moist importantly (to him) he doesn't drink alcohol or take pills. I haven't studied it that extensively, but I'm pretty sure it would be hard to prove that pot is worse for you than alcohol or pills. :laugh: Cheech Diaz. I'm going to use that one. Edit: So your advice to Diaz would be to throw the card away and smoke illegally? You shouldn't fault him for taking the legal road and getting a card.

I know there is a big grey area. I am just sitting at the extreme to keep the discussion up. The commission is an extension of the state, and the state allows medical marijuana. I don't think they should have the right to tell people to not do what their doctors tell them to do (I also take this stance with steroids in sports. I think athletes should be allowed to heal with steroids if it is monitored by a doctor). They should at least let him get tested. Who cares if he has a card? Maybe he hasn't smoked in two years but has the card anyway. He is willing to get tested. That should be all that matters. Whether he "should" be able to save his money is neither here nor there. It isn't about pity. It is about understanding. Maybe he supports his mom and dad. Maybe he supports his grandparents. I don't know. It isn't my place to. I just know 50 grand is a lot of money that I'm sure was already being spent on training among other things. The commission pulled this out of nowhere (according to Shaw). I guess it depends on who you want to believe.

I thought I did, but I you mentioned that it is up to the company. The company wants him in. The State is keeping him out. I thought that needed pointing out.

Not sure what you are talking about, Mike. The UFC is not involved. The company is EliteXC and they want Nick to fight, The California State Athletic Commission are the ones not letting him fight.

Doctor recommended. You a doctor? I know first hand there are bad doctors out there. They don't know everything, but that doesn't mean you can fault a patient for taking something prescribed to him by his personal physician. Though I am skeptical about some doctor's pratices, I am willing to concede that they may know more than me about certain things. This really has to do with your individual feeling about pot. Some people don't think it is a big deal at all. Some people think it will make you think your dog is talking to you and make you run over kids at the drive thru. What wrong is that Diaz provided the info when it was asked for. He never tried to hide it, and he is willing to pass a drug test. As lon as you pass you should be fine. Nick Diaz was going to make $50,000 this weekend. That is a lot of money. Money I am sure he needs. The guy still lives with his parents. They should let him earn his living.

It is in the story if you click on it. Besides, it should be about what his "need" is. That is a medical issue. Personal, not public information. It is a prescription from a doctor. That should be good enough. If it isn't, than your problem is with doctors, not the patient.

He can, and is willing to. Thats why this is so stupid. Read the story before you call him out.

So Nick Diaz is in the news again. The CSAC isn't going to give him a license to fight for this weekend because he has a medical marijuana card. Bunch of BS. These commissions have no idea what they are doing. http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles.asp?n_id=12007

Fedor is officially a free agent again. I still hope he stays out of the UFC for at least one fight. I think he needs to fight Josh Barnett, and I don't see that happening in the UFC. http://mmamania.com/2008/03/26/mma-quick-quote-fedor-officially-a-free-agent-again/ “The group that formed M-1 Global is still together and we’re going to remain together and put on an MMA event. It won’t be under the name M-1 Global because that is definitely associated with Emelianenko Fedor and the Russians, and we’ve come to an agreement that we’re going to part ways…. We have different philosophies. It’s just the way that it is. For me, I’m not as concerned about all the glitz and the glamour of the show; I just want to have good fights and I want to make money. That was my goal.” – Monte Cox — President and CEO of M-1 Global — confirms that Fedor Emelianenko is now free to sign on with another MMA promotion if he desires in a Sherdog.com interview. The Russian and American sides never saw eye-to-eye, and as a result, Fedor never competed under the M-1 Global banner. Most recently it was reported that ProElite offered Fedor a four-fight, incentive-laden contract; however, no decision has been made on his next home. Naturally, reports are indicating that his management team is also speaking with the UFC, as well as Japanese organizations overseas. Stay tuned.

I'm going a step further and not even reading it. I found Cuban's piece before Shapiro's. I'm not going to waste my time reading Shapiro.

And here is Mark Cuban's response http://www.blogmaverick.com/2008/03/18/this-guy-proves-anyone-with-a-keyboard-can-be-stupid/ I love Mark Cuban

mvisit1, looks like Luigi has a tough fight ahead of him. Diego Sanchez in the main event of the TUF finale. http://www.sherdog.com/news/news.asp?n_id=11887