Mike Russell | UFC Betting Sites - The Best MMA Online Bookies

Exclusive: King Mo’ Doesn’t Want to Fight His ‘Brother’ Babalu; Says Fedor Can Be Beaten and He’s the Man to Do It

($10,000 for pouring an energy drink over my head? What would you fine Machida?)We spoke with Muhammed "King Mo’" Lawal at last weekend’s MMA Expo in Toronto and we asked him about the prospect of fighting friend and training partner Re…

($10,000 for pouring an energy drink over my head? What would you fine Machida?)

We spoke with Muhammed "King Mo’" Lawal at last weekend’s MMA Expo in Toronto and we asked him about the prospect of fighting friend and training partner Renato Sobral, should Babalu get past Robbie Lawler in the pair’s 195-pound catchweight bout tonight, and according to the Strikeforce light heavyweight champ, the fight will likely never happen.

"The thing is, Babalu is like my brother. I knew him before I started fighting and he was actually my favorite fighter when I first started to really follow the sport," explained Lawal. "I’ll fight anybody but him."

UPDATED Report: WEC Scrambling to Find Last-Minute Replacement for Ratcliff to Face Horodecki at WEC 49 Sunday Night

(With 9mm down and out, WEC is looking for someone to face "The Polish Hammer.")
TopMMANews is the first outlet to report that Ed Ratcliff has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled Sunday night WEC 49 showdown with Chris Horodecki in E…

(With 9mm down and out, WEC is looking for someone to face "The Polish Hammer.")

TopMMANews is the first outlet to report that Ed Ratcliff has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled Sunday night WEC 49 showdown with Chris Horodecki in Edmonton, Alberta, for undisclosed reasons, although he is rumored to be injured, leaving the promotion scrambling to find a last-minute replacement for the former IFL standout.

Ratcliff confirmed the news on his Facebook page:

“I wanna say sorry to all the fans, family, and friends for having to pull out on such late notice. Even more importantly I wanna appologise to Chris Horodecki for going thru all of that hard work and not getting the final release u deserve. I wish u the best. Sorry everyone.!!!!!!”

Method Actor Michael Bisping to Play ‘Bad Guy’ on British Soap Opera

(I’m not sure if I can pull off a playing a brash, cocky hoodlum, but I’ll give it a shot.)
Now when people talk about the "Michael Bisping soap opera," there’s a good chance they’ll be talking about a television show, not the drama the perpe…

(I’m not sure if I can pull off a playing a brash, cocky hoodlum, but I’ll give it a shot.)

Now when people talk about the "Michael Bisping soap opera," there’s a good chance they’ll be talking about a television show, not the drama the perpetual smack-talker usually creates leading up to his UFC bouts.

The 31-year-old Cyprus-born Liverpudlian revealed during The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani today that he will play a gangster on an unnamed British daytime drama.

"I’m expecting to get a lot of grief from the Internet," Bisping told Helwani. "It’s not a novel soap opera, it’s a daytime soap opera. I play a bit of a bad guy."

M-1 Global Exec Denies His Group is Avoiding an Inevitable Fedor-Overeem Match-Up

(Fedor, didn’t I lay out the black tie for you?)
Ray Hui from MMAFighting spoke with M-1 Global director of operations, Evgeni Kogan and asked him why the heavily anticipated Fedor Emelianenko-Alistair Overeem Strikeforce bout has yet to materiali…

(Fedor, didn’t I lay out the black tie for you?)

Ray Hui from MMAFighting spoke with M-1 Global director of operations, Evgeni Kogan and asked him why the heavily anticipated Fedor Emelianenko-Alistair Overeem Strikeforce bout has yet to materialize.

According to Kogan, contrary to popular belief, his company has very little to do with picking opponents for their client and he says that they would take a fight with Overeem if it were offered to them.

"The matchmaking for this is more coming out of Strikeforce than from our side. We are open to fighting basically whoever is put in front of us," Kogan explained. "There has never been a point where [a fight with Overeemt] was offered and turned down. M-1 management is not ducking Overeem, and once again, if that fight is presented to us, then that’s what that fight will be."

Talk About Putting All of Your Eggs in One Basket: Filho, Rizzo and Bustamante Slated to Fight Again in August

When Impact FC announced its July fight cards, most of us looked at the fact that Pedro Rizzo and his chronically unreliable fellow Brazilian, Paulo Filho were fighting two weekends in a row and said "Good luck with that."
Well, now it see…

Well, now it seems that a yet-to-be-named promotion is rolling the dice one more time by adding Rizzo, Filho and fellow Impact FC signee Murilo Bustamante to a planned August 14 card, according to TATAME.

Exclusive: Karo Parisyan Talks About Overcoming His Demons, His Meeting With Scott Coker and Asks For Another Chance

Our own senior editor, Mike Russell was on hand at last weekend’s MMA Expo in Toronto, where he caught up with a number of MMA fighters, including former UFC welterweight Karo Parisyan.
As always, “The Heat” had a lot to say about…

Our own senior editor, Mike Russell was on hand at last weekend’s MMA Expo in Toronto, where he caught up with a number of MMA fighters, including former UFC welterweight Karo Parisyan.

As always, “The Heat” had a lot to say about a variety of subjects including how he’s turned the corner from his highly publicized depression and anxiety issues that he revealed to us included thoughts of suicide, his upcoming fight in Australia, what really happened during his meeting with Strikeforce president Scott Coker, his hope that fans will forgive his past mistakes and aspiration to one day compete again in the Octagon.

Parisyan admits he screwed up and that digging himself out of the hole he dug for himself will be an arduous task, but points out that he is prepared to do whatever it takes to earn back the respect of the MMA community and to one day make it back to the UFC.