Some interesting news was just broken. Calros Condit has been rumored to be fighting Chris Lytle at the UFC 126 card in February. This coming off the heels of his highlight KO of Dan Hardy at UFC 120. What's interesting is that Condit spoke earlier this week about an offered fight with Jon Fitch, who is fighting the always game Jake Ellenburger, a step down in "name" value. From MMAJunkie

Condit (26-5 MMA, 3-1 UFC) confirmed that a fight with Fitch recently was on the table. But in the near term, he'd rather spend time with his family and get some rest and relaxation before he jumps into another fight camp.

"It just didn't work out as far as timing went," he told MMAjunkie.com. "I didn't think I was going to be able to get a long enough camp in for Fitch for the time period that they were wanting me to fight."

So there was a timing issue? And you wanted "rest and relaxation"? Funny as Fitch is also fighting on the same card you are. Hmmm. He also later said "At a certain point in your career, you have to start being smart about picking your fights." Now, I'm not counting out Chris Lytle, he's a TOUGH fight for anyone, but Jon Fitch is the 2nd best welterweight in the world. It just looks bad especially when you go out of your way to call out Jon Fitch.

Edit: According to Josh Gross via Twitter, Carlos Condit is NOT fighting at this PPV.

In the wake of Lesnar's devastating loss to Cain Velasquez, many in the "media" began to question Lesnar isolated training camp as a contributing factor in his loss. Brock's training partner, Cole Konrad is out to set the record straight:

"We fly in the best guys in all situations. I mean, kickboxing, boxing, wrestling, submissions. We got the best guys there are, period, coming in and training with him and pushing him in each situation. So whoever says that, they obviously aren't in the gym, they have no idea," Konrad said.

"Unless you're there, you don't understand. We got a lot going on there. I wasn't because a lack of effort."

As they said in the 1990's, Whoomp There it is. 

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There's been some interesting developments coming out of the Nevada Senate Race in regards to Harry Reid, the Democratic Senate Majority Leader. The Free Republic sure does seem to think so.

Sen. Harry Reid has won reelection in a tightly contested battle with Sharron Angle. Angle, a strong supporter of the Constitution and small government, appears to have lost despite recent polling that had her up by as much as 3 points.

Reports of fraud and intimidation have circulated for weeks, with early voters complaining of rigged voting machines throughout Clark County.

Residents of Clark County Nevada have reported that upon attempting to vote for Angle they found that Reid's name had already been checked. This is not surprising as widespread voting fraud has been reported since the inception of the fraudulent electronic voting machines.

Washington Examiner

Clark County is where three quarters of Nevada's residents and live and where Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's son Rory is a county commissioner. Rory is also a Democratic candidate for governor.

Since early voting started, there have been credible reports that voting machines in Clark County, Nevada are automatically checking Harry Reid's name on the ballot.

As you know, Harry Reid is the Senate Official Dana White has been seen palling around with over the past few weeks. How this will effect the UFC is unknown at this time, but if these accusations have some traction, it could be a bigger problem for Reid. 

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I was flipping through the television earlier today when I saw a scroll on the bottom of a news channel saying that a tsory was coming up about Matt Hughes and his death. Now immediately, it caught my eye and I went back to that channel and waited. It was a tense 10 minutes as I waded through political BS and  the fallout from the recent elections. I thought about my hate --> appreciate evolution with Matt Hughes. I couldn't stand the guy at first. Something about him just rubbed me the wrong way. His treatment of Rashad Evans just confirmed my dislike for him. Then a funny thing happened.

I don't know where it began. It was probably after he had been humbled by GSP again or maybe it was his dislike of Matt Serra that started a bond, but I started to like the guy. I started to watch his old fights and get a new appreciation for Matt Hughes as one of the most dominant champs in UFC history with a blue-collar work ethic. I even started to cheer for him even as he was KO'd by Alves and i loved his win over Matt Serra. So there I sat, a reformed Matt Hughes fan struck by his death.

Then the news came up and as it turns out, it was some other Matt Hughes (no, not the porn star, Google Images FML), but one of the guys on the show StormChasers. He died 5 months ago, but I guess the show finally aired. RIP to Matt Hughes and thank goodness the UFC's Matt Hughes is still alive.

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via www.inewscatcher.com

Now, let's get this straight. I love Strikeforce. I love the presentation, I love to hate on the announcing team, but most of all I love the fact that there are always fun and exciting fights on SF cards.

But with the way that SF CEO Scott Coker has allowed himself to be media bullied by Bjorn Rebney, and the likelihood of the top fighters from the Gracie Camp jumping ship at the first opportunity, I have to seriosuly question the internal stability of the SF Brand as an area for A-level Talent.

There haven't been any signs that Strikeforce's finances are in the toliet, and I'm sure they're profitable, but I don't think that's the number one reason that SF will be unable to compete as the number 2 MMA Org.

It's leadership.

In business it's always leadership. It's the ability to be the asshole and stick up for your product, it's the ability to do good for your employees so that they do good for you. While being a very nice guy (I met him once) Scott Coker is not that guy, not that leader, for Strikeforce.

By having A-list talent and putting on relatively few shows Coker is cutting down his workers shift times. His fighters are underworked and need to fight more often.

By remaining non-vocal in the media the SF Brand continues to be de-valued in the eyes of the casual fan. No one is rushing out to see the "Strikeforce" show.

By using as little promotion as physically possible for his Diaz-Noons 2 fight Coker wasted a huge marketing opportunity for the casual fanbase.

I'll admit that alot of my criticism is just hindsight or that coker isn't directly responsible for most of the blunders that Strikeforce has made. But the buck stops somewhere, and it needs to stop right on the CEO's desk.

Strikeforce could potentially thrive. But there are alot of changes that need to be made.

The most important change would be for Scott Coker to step down as Strikeforce CEO. Then the re-building can begin.

I know that seems harsh, but I just can't do it. I can't deal anymore. WKR used to be a fun place to learn about MMA and make geeky references, but it seems like there is too much fighting now. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way.

As a disclaimer, this has nothing to do with those sexist comments SC wrote a while ago, to which I responded a few times. I'll enter any debate/argument with someone who is rational and reasonable. My whole thing is helping people realize that we need a change in culture with regards to sexism and feminism; the more outlets I get to express that, the better.

That being said, something I value is engaging readers, supporters and followers. I believe I do a good job of that myself. I started out on Twitter just like anyone else, and was fortunate enough to be recruited to do sports radio here in Montreal, which led to other great opportunities, credentials, guest spots, writing gigs, and more. I'm so fortunate and lucky anyone even gives a shit about what I have to say, otherwise I wouldn't be where I am now, doing all these cool things.

It's safe to say SC has quite a bit of reach in the WKR community, or even the online MMA community. The primary reason he does is because people care about his opinion and like his style of writing. Instead of building on that and embracing comments, critique and people willing to argue with him, SC has opted to take the route of quasi dictatorship, shutting down anyone who disagrees with him, thus singlehandedly ruining the WKR experience (for me, at least).

Example: someone comments "this article is embarrassing." SC's reply? "not an article, you dumb fuck." Acceptable reactions, in my opinion, would have been either ignoring the person (since it wasn't a constructive comment, the least SC could do is just ignore instead of insulting), or better yet, asking what was so bad about it, or encouraging the person to suggest a topic to write about, or I don't know.

I think SC would benefit from a lesson in humility. He wouldn't have the chance to write and reach so many people if these same people didn't take time out of their day to read his work and comment on it. We all know that internet commenters are at times a nasty breed, but most other websites I read and frequent deal with their detractors and "trolls" so much better than SC does. He is so brash and abrasive that I've finally reached my breaking point and have decided to unsubscribe from this website.

I may only be one person, and I may be the only person who feels this way, but if SC and WKR care at all about the readership they have developed and the loyalty of WKR readers, they will at least consider this reader's opinion. I'm interested in MMA as a fan, blogger and reporter; I'm in WKR's target audience, and as such they should at least wonder and care about others SC may have alienated.

As always, I am available to discuss. I can be reached at info@metricjulie.com and my twitter account is @metricjulie.

The WEC is unofficially dead (official death is after the December 16th card in Arizona) and all fighters will be moving over to the UFC. For the past three years, the WEC has been owned by Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC. The WEC fights have been entertaining and any who saw the events would agree that they rarely, if ever, disappointed. Over the course of those past three years, Zuffa absorbed the WEC 205, 185, and 170 divisions while the WEC focused on the lighter weight divisions.

The WEC's deal with Versus was initially made to block the IFL from a TV deal. At the time, the IFL was only seen on FSN on tape delay and those ratings were atrocious. A proposed deal with Versus was quickly blocked when the Zuffa offered newly purchased WEC, an organization that would surely have the same marketing machine push as the UFC. The WEC wasn't the most talent rich organization but it was well respected within the MMA world after WEC 22, which was a benefit for Ryan Bennett, former announcer for the UFC and co-founder of mmaweekly.com, who had died in a car accident two months before the event. All fighters fought for free and all proceeds from the event were donated to Bennett's family. Three months later Zuffa purchased the organization which was around the time they also snatched up the WFA.

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UFC would love a piece of the Pacquiao pie. via assets.sbnation.com

The big story of the week centres around the little guys. As much as Cain Velasquez' win over Brock Lesnar last Saturday had everyone talking for the first few days afterwards, the long awaited news of WEC and UFC officially merging and bringing the Featherweight and Bantamweight classes to the big stage will generate weeks of discussion.

Most media, fans and especially fighters directly effected by the news are in agreement: this is really good news. The negatives of the decision are so few and far between and the positives completely outweigh and eclipse them. The fighters will get more exposure and better pay days, and with the UFC branding better sponsorship opportunities. The fans will get to see some of the best fights in MMA if the WEC's reputation for great match making and consistency continues into the UFC sub-155lb divisions. And the media hopes this means they can award more superlatives then criticism for strength of cards, the injection of new characters and personalities and a representation of MMA at its highest level achieved typically by the more technical, lighter weight combatants.

What hasn't been discussed is the possible international implications of including these two new classes. While UFC has trumped Boxing with easily recognisable talent and has managed to cultivate an interesting and entertaining Heavyweight division, Boxing still retains interest with its smaller fighters and especially so with Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao, and formerly Oscar De La Hoya who despite their physical stature are Pay Per View behemoths. Even Ricky Hatton who wasn't as 'big' internationally was easily Boxing's biggest draw on UK soil and helped bring in respectable domestic PPV numbers via Sky Box Office.

Not only are these Boxers lighter weight fighters, but they are sub-155lbs fighters. They also hold appeal among different demographics - some race based, some culturally and nationally based, but not exclusively so. Pacquiao is popular worldwide and almost deified in his native Philippines, De la Hoya among the Hispanic and non-Hispanic US market and even Hatton had some Mexican based fans for the style he brought to the table in addition to the obvious UK base. It shouldn't surprise anyone if UFC wants a slice of that action and may be looking for their new Featherweight and Bantamweight classes to get it.

Read the rest at SBNation sister-site Cageside Seats

Baroni's training at AKA so no surprise who he's picking, but Lesnar a "coward"? Great interview over at MondayMorningBlackBelt.com, the "coward" comments surprised me the most but his comments on steroids and taking credit for discovering Kampmann are well worth the read also.

MMBB: This weekend we got the big fight, I know you’re at AKA and I know you’re gonna give me the "Cain Velasquez is gonna win,"  you really…

Baroni: listen, this is the thing, I told Joe Rogan years ago in, when I was cornering Coleman, where was that?  Ireland, in Ireland, we some how…You know I had a couple drinks and that dude came up, Velasquez, and I said dude listen, this guy has the gas tank that nobody has.  He has an unbelievable gas tank, like I can’t explain it, you got to see it.  They should do some tests on this guy because it’s not fair, he can not get tired.  I mean he can’t get tired!  I mean I don’t think I would lose any fights if I had that gas tank.  I think he’s just blessed with something, and you know, maybe he doesn’t have one punch knock out power, but it doesn’t matter if he hits you 500 times with the same power as the first punch he throws.  I mean the guy, anything can happen in a fight, you could get blasted, but he does not slow down, you can’t keep his pace.  And he is a great athlete and he’s fast for the weight and he’s technical and he’s got balls you know he’s gully.  I just don’t see anyone beating that guy.  I think  he’ll be champion for a long time, I think he’s gonna do what Fedor did, and I’m on nobodies nut sack you know what I mean, there’s no one that I’m a fan of, but I don’t see any holes in this guys game.

MMBB: I just see the size, I see Brock just taking him down and pounding him out, and I mean I think Cain is definitely the number one contender, but I just think…And I’m not a Brock fan at all!  AT ALL, but I just think his size is just too much, and his speed.

Baroni: He’s not faster than Cain, he’s fast but he’s not faster than Cain.  And man, in that fight he just showed me that he’s a little bit of a coward, I mean against Carwin.

MMBB: Backing up and kinda cowering?

Baroni: I would never do that, I would never crumble to the ground.  I’ve had a lot of guys bombing on me and I’ve never crumbled to the ground to my back, and I don’t think he would have been upset at all if they had stopped that fight, what could he have said?  Cain’s gonna do that to him ALL DAY and he’s not gonna get tired.  Yeah he’s not that big, but he’s  way faster than Carwin and he’s a better athlete, he’s a better wrestler and I’ve been a fan of this guy from day one because I just know what he’s got, that gas tank, and I just don’t see anyone overcoming that.

 

WOW! what a sight this is! You have both Cyborgs naked, unfortunately, there's too much Evangelista and not a lot of Cristiane, Although in the second picture. It's a little hard to defirentiate the two as Cristiane's a deisel woman, can you tell the difference? I know some might dissagre, but I think Critiane's HOT and I'm sure she's wild in bed. What a lucky guy Evangelista is, but I wonder who controls the relationship?

Can you tell who'se who?

I guess the bald head set them apart from the back as Cristiane's cut!

You can check out more naked athletes on ESPN. I gotta say that Rachel Yurkovich is HOT! Nice bum!