In one of the most stunning twists in the history of the Ultimate Fighter, for the first time, a competitor who endured through six weeks of living in seclusion with fifteen other mixed martial artists in the Las Vegas desert, and defeated three of his house mates for the right to fight for a guaranteed six figure contract with the UFC®, will not be participating in the show’s live finale.

The show is 90 minutes, and will air on SpikeTV at 10PM ET.

My buddy Carlos Arias talked to Nick Diaz and transcribed the interview for his “Keep Punching” blog.

Following the KJ Noons incident, it seems like Diaz has a lot to say.

Check out the interview here – it’s really good.

I posted about the incident yesterday, and said I wouldn’t have been surprised if Gary Shaw sent Diaz into the cage to promote the rematch. It turns out that Shaw didn’t, but someone else did.

T.J. Thompson from Icon Sport. He brought me in there. He told me, ‘It’s time to go to work. Let’s go in there and talk about this rematch.’ So he brought me in there. I don’t know who was crazy enough to let my whole (expletive) crew run up in there with me, but I’m glad because I ain’t going to go in there and get smacked on by this old guy and a bunch of whoever he’s got in there.

Check out the article, it’s really good.

Nick Diaz is one of my all time favorite fighters. Diaz will fight anyone, he is entertaining, and is a legitimate contender in any division he fights in.

The problem with Diaz is that following his complete decimation of Takanori Gomi, he has lost the fire and intensity that made him such a dynamic and entertaining fighter to watch.

Since that fight with Gomi, and his signing with EliteXC, Diaz has had a successful run. He is 3-1 with his only loss coming via doctor stoppage due to a cut. And although he is winning fights, he hasn’t fought with the aggression that I came to love about him. His punches are slow and methodical these days. His boxing is great – the ratio of punches he throws and punches he lands is pretty good. The problem is that he doesn’t throw these punches with mean intentions and because of this his fights are going deeper into the rounds . This methodical approach has carried over into his take down offense as well. You can spot his take down from a mile away. He is winning the majority of his fights, but these fights have not had any real implications for him. Perhaps that is why his performances have lacked the intensity that he normally has.

After Nick Diaz’s awkward post fight interview from EliteXC on Saturday, he is the last person I expected to come into the cage and challenge the reigning, and defending, EliteXC lightweight champion KJ Noons to a rematch.

I think Nick Diaz needed a fire lit underneath him, and this past Saturday night we saw it. Diaz has been talking about a KJ Noons rematch for some time now. When the two fighters met to declare an EliteXC lightweight champion, the bout was stopped when a cut was opened up on Diaz’s eye. Before his first fight with Noons, Diaz said the only way KJ would beat him is if he cut him. Oddly enough, that is what happened. It’s tough to lose a fight by a cut, and the loss has not sat well with Diaz.

“Noons won on a cut. He is only a paper champion. His days are numbered,” Diaz has said.

Diaz had plastic surgery recently to remove scar tissue around his eyes that tends to open up in his fights.

“Having the surgery has made me more confident,” Diaz said.”I’m not worried about getting cut, which has plagued me my whole career.”

When I saw Diaz call out KJ Noons, I saw a rejuvenated fighter. A fighter who has a reason to fight again. An uncrowned champion who made the case to claim his throne.

EliteXC is going to have to make this match now, and a lot of people are going to watch it. We haven’t had a serious MMA grudge match in quite some time, and this fight will fill that void. If there is one thing better then a title fight, it is a title fight with bad blood.

I hope Diaz brings the same intensity into the rematch that he brought into his KO victory over Robbie Lawler and his complete destruction over Takanori Gomi. He has no choice. Noons is powerful,has a good chin, and is looking more impressive in each fight. If Diaz wants to take that title, we need to see the aggression that has made him successful in the past.

I’m really looking forward to see how Elite handles this situation. This could be a great match to promote for a CBS Saturday Night Fight. They could really build this thing up and save face for the Kimbo/Colossus debacle.

After last week’s blog, I received hundreds of messages agreeing with that piece. In contrast, I only received a few dozen messages disagreeing with my opinion of what “The Ultimate Fighter” should really be about.

That ratio is very telling of what the fans of the sport want to see.

They, we, want to see who these guys really are, where they come from and what pushes them to succeed.

We want to see hard-working athletes, coming from all walks of life, defying the odds, breaking out and making it – very much like Rocky.

The last time I checked, Rocky did a lot better than Porky’s at the box office.

Obviously, I am not a television executive; I am just an 18 – 34 year old American male who needs to be told what I should want to watch, regardless of what I actually want to watch.

Instead of the above, I was treated to another segment of, “Grown men pee their pants and destroy an expensive home, along with their reputations…on the next ‘Ultimate Fighter!’ ”

YES!!!

I can’t wait to watch this week!!!

Wait a minute, I actually lived through that night of alcohol-induced debauchery and am here to tell the tale.

As with most terrible decisions, that night all started with one highly intelligent, ultra-dedicated athlete and the bright idea: “Who wants to do shots?”

Thankfully, “The Ultimate Fighter 7” bar is stocked full of all the alcohol any young athlete needs to further his lifelong goal of television infamy.

The shots are lined up, and the bottles get drained.

“Hold on a second, guys,” one of the more astute athletes declares, “There’s something wrong here!”

Surveying the situation, clearer heads will surely prevail.

“We need more BEER, we’re about to run out of BEER!”

“YAY, BEER,” say about a dozen hard training fighters, purely devoted to the sanctity of the sport. One jumps on the internal phone and orders a few cases of highly nutritious yeast and hops, which I hear is the true secret of champions…?

Hmmm, I’ll have to Google that.

Anyway, a few rounds of shots, a few beers and even a couple bottles of wine to class the place up a bit and we have ourselves a true ratings juggernaut.

That is what we are here for, right? Ratings!

“YAY, RATINGS!”

I mean, the granddaddy of all reality television shows, “Survivor,” relies on copious amounts of alcohol to boost ratings, right?

NO???

What do you mean, NO??? There’s no alcohol on “Survivor?” It’s one of the highest rated reality television shows in history?!

How can that be?

Ok, no alcohol there, but how about “American Idol?” That’s the highest rated television show for the last four years running. Surely, the contestants are wasted through the entire taping acting like total unprofessional court jesters in order to garner such high viewer interest?!

NO???

There’s no alcohol on “American Idol” either? Nobody destroys the set? Not one cast member urinates on himself?

Not even a SPRITZ???

How can this be?!

Are you telling me, good TV can be accomplished without the cast getting totally drunk and making complete asses out of themselves?

Careers and reputations do not need to be sacrificed to the all powerful media research god, Arthur Nielsen, in order to increase ratings?

Wow! Now, that would be groundbreaking television.

But hey, what would an average 18-34 year-old, American male know about good TV anyway?

Mike Dolce is a cast member of Spike TV’s “The Ultimate Fighter 7”. He is also a strength coach, sports nutritionist and author of “The DOLCE Diet: Living Lean.” For more information go to his website www.MikeDolceMMA.com

This is a pretty big weekend for MMA fans. make sure you have plenty of room on your DVR.

EliteXC: Return of the King on Showtime June 14th

Televised Fights:
KJ Noons vs Yves Edwards
Rafael Feijao vs Wayne Cole
Dave “Pee Wee” Herman vs Ron Waterman
Murilo “Ninja” Rua vs Tony Bonello
Nick Diaz vs Muhsin Corbbrey

KJ Noons defends his 160 pound title against the hard hitting striker Yves Edwards. Both these guys have pretty good stand up, so this fight will probably be a war. I think Yves has a good chance of pulling this off.

We also see the return of Murilo “Ninja” Rua and Nick Diaz. If Nick Diaz is victorious in his fight with Corbbrey, he may be next in line for the a shot at the 160 pound EliteXC title.

Adrenaline MMA on HDNet June 14th

Main Event
Jason Guida vs. Mike Russow

Main Card
Daiju Takase vs. Terry Martin
Forrest Petz vs. Brian Gassaway
Mark Miller vs. Anthony Lapsley
Jeff Cox vs. Bart Palaszewski
Jay Ellis vs. Rory Markham
Jameel Massouh vs. Clay French
Herc Hayes vs. Kerry Schall
Aaron Rosa vs. Ron Fields
Hector Urbina vs. Dave Kleczkowski
Rob Kimmons vs. Hector Urbina
Dom O’Grady vs. Mike Stumpf
Joe Jordan vs. Ryan Williams
Louis Taylor vs. Adam Maciejewski
Joe Pearson vs. John Hosman

The Main Event is Jason Guida, brother of MMA star Clay Guida, against Mike Russow, who carries a five fight win streak. Guida is a replacement for the injured Jeff Monson. UFC veteran Terry Martin and Rory Markham battle in separate matches of this inaugural event.

HDNet Fights Presents: DREAM 4

June 15 @ 4 a.m.
REPLAY: June 15 @ 4 p.m.

Lightweight Grand Prix Second Round bout:
Shinya Aoki (#3 Lightweight in the World)* vs. Katsuhiko Nagata

Middleweight Grand Prix Second Round (16-man tournament)
Gegard Mousasi (#9 Middleweight in the World)* vs. Dong Sik Yoon
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Melvin Manhoef
Zelg Gelasic vs. Taiei Kin
Jason “Mayhem” Miller vs. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza

Non-tournament Bouts:
Alistair Overeem vs. Tae Hyun Lee
Alavutdin Gadzhiyev vs. Ralek Gracie
Hideo Tokoro vs. Darren Uyenoyama

Jason “Mayhem” Miller entertains the crowd with his colorful antics and a fight with rising star Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza. Japanese legend Kazushi Sakuraba squares off against Melvin Manhoef. Shinya Aoki battles Katsuhiko Nagata in a Lightweight tournament match.

If you haven’t caught any of the DREAM events, you don’t know what you are missing. DREAM puts on a great show.

Also on HDNet:

“Inside MMA” airs Friday, June 13 at 9:30 ET

Tonight, the guests are:

Royce Gracie – MMA legend & UFC Hall of Fame Inductee
Monte Cox – President of Adrenaline MMA
“Mr. International” Shonie Carter – MMA veteran

Join Bas and Kenny for the latest discussion and results from UFC 85: Bedlam. Also, a preview & discussion of the upcoming HDNet Fights Presents: Adrenaline MMA & the LIVE HDNet Fights Presents: DREAM 4.

Saturday
Unfiltered: Melendez vs. Thomson
June 14 @ midnight

An all-access look at Gilbert Melendez and Josh Thomson as they prepare for their fight for the Strikeforce Lightweight title June 27th on HDNet. Cameras follow both fighters as they train for the biggest night of their career.

This week’s Hits from the MMA blogosphere:

To check out “Friends hook up for EliteXC title Saturday on Showtime” from Carlos Arias’ Keep Punching blog for the O.C. Register, click here.

To check out “EliteXC: Return of the King preview/predictions” from Jared Barnes’ Brawl Sports blog for the Houston Chronicle, click here.

To check out “Noons’ Hawaiian homecoming means title fight” from David Avila NBCSports.com MMA Notebook, click here.

To check out “Amir Sadollah’s Ultimate Fighter Blog (Episode 11)” from the O.C. Register, click here.

To check out “Judokas have few role models in MMA” from Sergio Non’s Strikes and Submissions blog for USA Today, click here.

To check out “Analysis: UFC 85 fights still show promotion’s unpredictability” from FightTicker.com’s Pramit Mohapatra, click here.

To check out “Matt Hughes by the numbers and the greatest UFC fighters ever” from Barnes’ Brawl Sports blog, click here.

To check out “FightTicker Exclusive interview with Frank ‘The Legend’ Shamrock” from FightTicker.com’s David Mayeda, click here.

Well, it’s Thursday, it’s 10:15 am in Las Vegas, and somewhere Dana White is either preparing to make his “landscape changing” announcement regarding the UFC, or regretting the fact that he told ESPN there would be an announcement in the first place.

A whirlwind of rumors started after this quote from Dana White:

“There’s something no one else has heard. You have no idea some of the stuff that we have planned. I’m going to make an announcement next week that is going to blow people’s minds. That deal is done, but my employees don’t even know yet. I’m renting out a place next Thursday and I’m going to tell them. Then we’ll make the announcement later that day. It’s an indicator of where this business is going over the next five years,”

My blog hasn’t really been updated all week. I have been waiting for this announcement, and decided not to feed into any of the rumors out there since I bit on the Floyd Mayweather thing right away.

Dana White has discredited the following rumors on CNBC – Anything to do with Floyd Mayweather – WWE/Zuffa buyout – A network TV deal

It has been rumored that White was going to announce that MMA was legalized in New York, but that bill was shot down last night. The NYSAC will meet again next week to further discuss the possibility of sanctioning MMA fights in New York.

The day is still young, so maybe Dana will pull something out of his hat. If not, we will pretty much know that the announcement is going to be MMA sanctioning in New York. That is quite disappointing because while that would be great news for NY MMA fans, it would not really be an indicator of where the business is going in the next five years, unless White was using the term “where” in the physical sense, rather then changing the face of the MMA game.

Dana White was on CNBC today and did not make the “big announcement” that has been the source of a fury of rumors over the past several days. White was on the show to announce that the UFC was coming out with a line of UFC action figures and accessories.

While on the show the interviewer asked him to eliminate some of the possible rumors that have been circulating. Dana confirmed that the big announcement had nothing to do with a TV deal, Floyd Mayweather, going public or WWE.

Only two days left until we hear what the big announcement is. I don’t know if I am buying the fact that all the aforementioned rumors are false. The waiting game continues.

UPDATE: I wrote this piece last Sunday, when the Dana White announcement rumors first surfaced. I got a little ahead of myself, and was pretty excited when I read the quote that Dana White will “change the face of MMA”. In order to do that, you have to be ready to make a pretty huge change in the game. Since that time, several more rumors came to light, including the sale of Zuffa to Dana and WWE, an action figure deal, Chuck Liddell vs Anderson Silva, Grand Prix tournaments, etc. etc.

The announcement is supposed to be made today, but there are more rumors floating around that it won’t be made. Regardless, I jumped the gun and got excited when I read that Mayweather may have signed with the UFC. here are some thoughts I jotted down immediately after that rumor surfaced.

Just when Gary Shaw thought he had one up on Dana White, Dana is apparently going to show the world why he is the king of mixed martial arts.

Dana White has rented out a hall to make a major announcement on Thursday. The announcement is set to change the landscape of MMA for the next five years.

In an interview with ESPN, White says:

“There’s something no one else has heard. You have no idea some of the stuff that we have planned. I’m going to make an announcement next week that is going to blow people’s minds. That deal is done, but my employees don’t even know yet. I’m renting out a place next Thursday and I’m going to tell them. Then we’ll make the announcement later that day. It’s an indicator of where this business is going over the next five years,”

One garbage website boasts this headline:
“HUGE EXCLUSIVE: Mayweather signs with the UFC”

If you go on to read the article, it has no concrete evidence, nor ever mentions a 100% guarantee that Mayweather signed. I won’t even link to the site because they don’t deserve the traffic. If you look hard enough, you will find it.

Typically Dana White’s “huge announcements” aren’t very exciting. His last huge announcement was that Bud Light became a sponsor of the UFC. Obviously this is huge to the UFC, but I am sure it left many fans in the arena curious as to why they were still paying 9 dollars a beer. The casual fan doesn’t care about a corporate sponsorship.

Now obviously there is no announcement that warrants the UFC to rent out a hall other then to announce the signing of a huge superstar to the UFC. Since Mayweather has retired, it is not out of the realm of possibility that he has come to terms with Zuffa.

I’d be pretty excited if the UFC signed Mayweather, so here are my PURELY SPECULATIVE thoughts on what is to come on Thursday, and how the UFC will change the face of MMA.

As far as changing the landscape of MMA in the next 5 years, I think Dana White will also announce the introduction of new weight classes – a direct result of the possible Mayweather signing.

Mayweather is retiring as the Welterweight champion boxing champion and according to the rules I have read, a welterweight boxer fights around 147 lbs . The closest division to this is the UFC lightweight division, which is 155 pounds. The problem is that Mayweather has boxer’s strength, and his physique shows it. Now obviously Mayweather is a machine. I’ve seen this guys training regimen. He is constantly training, but since he has been training for boxing his entire life, strength training has not played a significant role in his regimen. In MMA, wrestling plays a huge part in an athletes fighting arsenal. In order to be a good wrestler, you must have power.

Now the UFC has no division under 155 lbs. It’s cousin organization, WEC, does, but WEC does not air fights on PPV and they wouldn’t sign Mayweather just to throw him in the WEC.

I believe the UFC is going to implement new weight classes following the signing of Floyd Mayweather, if and when it happens, for the following reasons:

1) As already stated, I believe Floyd would have trouble dealing with the strength of the average lightweight fighter in the UFC, and if the UFC is going to protect any fighter it is going to be Floyd Mayweather.

2) Joe Rogan has repeatedly mentioned the need to introduce more weight classes in the UFC. He mentions it every PPV. Some fighters are cutting 20-25 pounds in one day in order to make weight. In the past year or so, we have seen an increased number of fighters fail to make the necessary weight. This weekend, Thiago Alves was 4 pounds over the 170 pound limit of welterweight status. A lot of fighters are struggling to make weight and they are attempting to fight at weight classes that are simply close to impossible to make.

3) The UFC has to have a championship fight every PPV. There have been a few instances where they had to scrap main event title fights because of injury and the replacement fight is not a title fight. This past weekend there was no championship fight and I am sure it hurt PPV numbers. When we are paying 45.00 for a PPV, we really need to see a title fight, not a last minute rush job or a fabricated grudge match.

4) Uriah Faber – This guy is rolling through every opponent they put in front of him in the WEC. The problem is he fights at 145 pounds, a division the UFC does not have. Faber has a huge fan base, has legitimate skills, and is quite personable. This guy is too good to be fighting on the versus channel and I think the UFC has finally realized this. He can make a lot of money for the UFC. The introduction of a 150lbs weight class and a 160lbs weight class would allow a guy like Faber to move to 150 and a guy like Sean Sherk to compete at 160.

Once again, these are purely speculative thoughts regarding the announcement on Thursday. Take them for what you will, and leave any thoughts or comments you may have.

One thing is for sure. I’ll take Floyd Mayweather over Kimbo Slice any day.

Don’t forget that UFC 85 will be airing at 3PM EST , as oppose to the usual time of 10:00 PM EST. The PPV is broadcasting live from the UK, and if you want to see the event live, buy it at 3PM. It will re-air at 10PM also.

Fight Card:
Matt Hughes (170) vs. Thiago Alves (174)
Jason Day (184) vs. Michael Bisping (184)
Mike Swick (170) vs. Marcus Davis (170)
Thales Leites (185) vs. Nate Marquardt (185)
Fabricio Werdum (247) vs. Brandon Vera (228)

Preliminary Bouts:
Martin Kampmann (186) vs. Jorge Rivera (185)
Thiago Tavares (154.5) vs. Matt Wiman (155)
Roan Carneiro (171) vs. Kevin Burns (170)
Luiz Cane (204) vs. Jason Lambert (205)
Jess Liaudin (169) vs. Paul Taylor (169)
Eddie Sanchez (244) vs. Antoni Hardonk (247)

There is no title fight on the card.