I got my ear to the streets and they talking:

• A recent UFC injury was rumored to be due to a cycling accident
• A former UFC champion is unhappy with his camp full of "Yes" men with the feeling they don't work him hard enough and played a direct part in his title loss
• A California State Athletic Commission suspended fighter will NOT appeal his suspension and will in fact appeal the LENGTH of his suspension
• A UFC title holder accused of greasing will NOT change weight classes despite recent speculation. His next few fights will be at 170.
• A recent viral video getting a lot of buzz is rumored to be a part of a marketing scheme by the UFC
• A UFC fighter unhappy with the reported pay in last fight will not be fighting in his next official fight
• One of the largest MMA websites is on the UFC payroll and publishes exclusive content in exchange for positive stories about the UFC

The above statements are rumors and should be taken as such.

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This comes from Zeus of Middle Easy and I wouldn't be shocked if this is 100% true:

At some point this week, I overheard something so incredible that it needs to be told (anonymously, of course). According to someone who's really close in the industry, some sponsors insist that fighters get their opponent in the clinch and pin them on the cage in order for their logo to get the most airtime. Other sponsors insist that a fighter maintains an active mount in order for the camera to capture their 'rear-end' and thus, their company logo. If a fighter adheres to these request, an additional sponsorship bonus is awarded.

As a fan of entertainment, I'm all for fighters using trash-talk to add some sizzle to the steak of MMA. This is something that has been going on in combat sports for years. I posted a GREAT Muhammad Ali video the other day that highlighted some of his greatest trash-talking (if you haven't seen it, what the hell are you waiting for?) moments. Many of the best trash-talkers were influenced by a certain sort of entertainment which we won't name.

I say all that to say this. When the trash-talk is natural (like say a Josh Koscheck or a Frank Mir), that's when it's most effective. That's why GSP's "I'm not impressed by your performance" still lives on today because it wasn't forced and seemed like a natural way of trash-talk for a nice guy like St. Pierre (and his accent of course). However, when trash-talk comes across as forced and scripted, it comes across as hackneyed. I understand that fighters (like politicians) will have talking points ahead of time that they want to make sure to get across, that's natural. A freestyle rapper is going to come to a battle with some memorized punchlines.

That leads me to Chael Sonnen. As many of you know, I enjoyed the buildup between he and Silva even though I didn't agree with many of the things that he said (and I felt the media was hypocritical in their stances on him versus other fighters), I nevertheless understood that it was done to add something to the fight. And it did. It took what would've been a mundane fight and added intrigue to the fight. Sonnen also became somewhat of an Internet sensation because of it, partially because of his trash-talking and partially as a backlash to Silva, and now seeks to parlay that into a bigger payday.

If you've been on MMA media sites for the past couple days, undoubtedly you've seen the video (or at least reports) of Chael's Q and A that he had where he quipped about Anderson Silva and GSP as well as fighters he'd never face like Brock Lesnar and Maynard/Edgar. In my opinion, it's perfectly fine to trash-talk future opponent or possible opponents, but once you step outside that bound, it gets cartoonish. The purpose of "trash-talking" is to build up future fights. if you trash-talk without a fight, you're just trashing a fighter. Besides that, most of what he said just wasn't funny, but that's just my opinion. That leads us into today's story: Chael Sonnen used plants at the Q and A for the purpose of saying pre-scripted "promos".

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Thats what Lance Pugmire of the LA Times is saying, of course, this is getting filed under "Rumor" for now, because the LA Times were also the same people reporting that Fedor Emelianenko was heading to the UFC.  This is a realistic possibility though, and either of those cards would be huge.  They understand that an immediate rematch is a lucrative option, and if they're gonna do it, they better milk it for all it's worth.  I, personally, hope this plays out as rumored, as my love for this rematch is well documented.

I expect this will either be debunked or reinforced in short matter of time.

MMAJunkie informs us of the murmurings:

Fedor Emelianenko (31-2 MMA, 1-1 SF) will in the coming week decide what his immediate future holds in Strikeforce, according to a source close to the fighter. 

While speculation on Emelianenko's next opponent has centered around current heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem or a rematch with Fabricio Werdum, the source said a contest with Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva (14-2 MMA, 1-1 SF) on Dec. 4 is currently on the table for the Russian's final fight on his current Strikeforce contract. 

It's not exactly what many were asking for, but Big Foot is actually a good match up for Fedor at this point.  It takes Fedor off of the pedestal, and gives him a fight against a competitive opponent who will not roll over.  My first choice would have been to seek out a fight with Josh Barnett, but it seems fate wouldn't have those two meet last year, and now this year.  This could also give Fedor a win to close out his Strikeforce contract, and make other promotions willing to cough up at least a little more money.  Another loss could be devastating though, especially if the loss isn't coming from a top heavyweight.

I don't think that'll be an issue though...I can hear "The Eye of the Tiger" playing all the way in Russia as we speak.

Photo via www.cdn.sherdog.com

MMAJunkie has some very interesting words from UFC President, Dana White:

"We're spending marketing money, PR money, and we've got people down there working for us...We're going to be announcing some stuff real soon. Very soon. Real fast – like in the next couple of weeks...we're getting there. We're knocking this stuff down a lot faster than I thought we would.

If the UFC was in fact on the verge of making some decent headway into Brazil, we could see a new market established for the juggernaut that is Zuffa. Brazil is obviously towards the top of the list for countries a live event would be great for, with such a rich history in the sport, and so many good Brazilian fighters signed to the promotion. Of course, with Dana, this could be nothing but hot air, or end up being his next "big announcement", but I'm crossing my fingers and hoping to hear about a big step forward for UFC in Brazil.

Photo via www.mmaweekly.com

Joe Ferrao drops this possible fight with a lone sentence in his latest story for Sportsnet.ca:

And, on top of that, Tito Ortiz is to be added onto [UFC 121] to face Forrest Griffin as well.

Has there ever been a final chapter of a trilogy you were less thrilled to see? How about Pirates of the Caribbean 3 or Matrix 3 or Tito Ortiz vs. Anybody 3?

Update: MMA Fighting says, "No way Joe!" as they cite a source saying Matt Hamill will fight Tito Ortiz at UFC 121.

When UFC 120 goes down in London in October this year it will have been 11 months since the last UFC event took place in the ole mother country. In fact Zuffa has been surprisingly quiet on the U.K. front as oppose to 2007 to 2009 when the promotion held seven fight cards (eight if you count the Dublin event).

Needless to say some U.K. fans are feeling forgotten as the UFC continues backpacking across the globe Eat, Pray, Love style. But fear not as UFC UK president, Marshall Zelaznik, has heard your concerns and will totally raise your expectations:

"My hope is that it will provide four to six guaranteed UFC events in the UK next year. We're hoping to hold one more European event [in addition to UFC 120] before the end of the year, and then we'll get these extra nights planned for next year.

"We'd like to come to Liverpool, Scotland, Newcastle, Birmingham, these places provide 10,000-seaters which will be great for Fight Nights."

Oh Zelaznik, you're such a naughty tease.

Six Fight Night cards seems a little high (only six will be put on here in the U.S. and that is if we count the two Versus' cards) unless Zuffa is planning to take a page out of M-1's book and started holding "Challenge" events for European talent.

Also, did anyone else catch how Marshall said "European event" by the end of the year. Earlier it was rumored that Zuffa was going to go back to Germany for UFC 122 but why did Zelaznik say European instead of Germany? CONSPIRACY!