Jake Shields to be at UFC 115 Tonight in Vancouver; Is a Signing Announcement Forthcoming?

(Maybe now I can get some RE$PECT!)
I just got back from the MMA Expo in Toronto and will have a bunch of interesting video, audio and text versions of interviews I did with Forrest Griffin, Karo Parisyan, King Mo’, Bibiano Fernandes, Firas Zahabi, Sho…


(Maybe now I can get some RE$PECT!)

I just got back from the MMA Expo in Toronto and will have a bunch of interesting video, audio and text versions of interviews I did with Forrest Griffin, Karo Parisyan, King Mo’, Bibiano Fernandes, Firas Zahabi, Shonie Carter, Ryan Ford and Dan Miller up on the site this week.

Unfortunately, I was unable to land one with Jake Shields, as, immediately following his teaching session at the Paradise Warrior Retreat, he was whisked away in a car to catch a plane to Vancouver to attend tonight’s UFC show.

I had a small window of time for a brief exchange as he walked to the parking lot, so I handed him the Photoshop I did of him outside the pawn shop after selling the Strikeforce belt and questioned why it was so important that he be at the show tonight. I asked him if we can expect an announcement at the show that he was Octagon-bound, to which he replied, "Not yet," but what else could he say if an announcement is forthcoming?

I’d say there’s a pretty good chance we’ll hear something tonight.

*FYI, he had already seen the picture as a someone had sent him a copy.

"Yeah, I’ve seen that one. It’s funny, but it isn’t real," he said. "Somebody Photoshopped it."

Dana White Discusses UFC 115, MMA’s Future in Vancouver and Jake Shields

Filed under: MMA Videos, UFC, FanHouse Exclusive, VideosVANCOUVER, British Columbia — MMA Fighting caught up with Dana White following Thursday’s UFC 115 pre-fight press conference, and touched on a whole host of topics: the reason why Chuck Liddell i…

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia — MMA Fighting caught up with Dana White following Thursday’s UFC 115 pre-fight press conference, and touched on a whole host of topics: the reason why Chuck Liddell is still fighting, Liddell’s future in the UFC, why he chose Rich Franklin as Ortiz’s replacement, his relationship with Mirko Cro Cop, whether the UFC will ever return to Vancouver and whether the organization has struck a deal with Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields.

Check out the video interview below.

Fans to Blame for Ken Shamrock’s Steroid Use, Ken Shamrock Says

(Ken Shamrock on steroids? Stop the presses!)
The revelation of a UFC Hall of Famer’s past steroid use promised by HDNet’s “Inside MMA” became pretty anticlimactic on Friday when the fighter in question turned out to be Ken Sham…


(Ken Shamrock on steroids? Stop the presses!)

The revelation of a UFC Hall of Famer’s past steroid use promised by HDNet’s “Inside MMA” became pretty anticlimactic on Friday when the fighter in question turned out to be Ken Shamrock. While Shamrock’s taped interview during a segment of the show called “Fighting Words with Mike Straka” marked his first public admission of cheating, the MMA pioneer has long been rumored to dabble in the juice and tested positive for banned substances following his most recent victory —  a submission win over the now-deceased Ross Clifton in Feb. of 2009  — so the news came as a surprise to exactly no one.

More interesting than the actual confession were Shamrock’s contentions that steroids are so easy to get it’s “like going to the grocery store,” and that fans should shoulder at least some of the responsibility for athletes turning to performance enhancers.

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Dana White’s UFC 115 Video Blog Number One

(Video courtesy YouTube/UFC)
The UFC takes its traveling roadshow to Vancouver, in spite of some friction from residents and the city who seem a tad bit opposed to the Octagon invasion in their city.
(photo courtesy Esther Lin/allelbows.com)
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(Video courtesy YouTube/UFC)

The UFC takes its traveling roadshow to Vancouver, in spite of some friction from residents and the city who seem a tad bit opposed to the Octagon invasion in their city.


(photo courtesy Esther Lin/allelbows.com)

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Dana White Tells Josh Koscheck to Shut Up About Olympic-Style Drug Testing

(I do this because I love you, Josh.)At yesterday’s pre-UFC 115 press conference, UFC president Dana White pulled no punches while expressing his opinion of Josh Koscheck’s recent suggestion that Olympic-style drug testing should be used in the we…


(I do this because I love you, Josh.)

At yesterday’s pre-UFC 115 press conference, UFC president Dana White pulled no punches while expressing his opinion of Josh Koscheck’s recent suggestion that Olympic-style drug testing should be used in the weeks leading up to his end of year showdown with Georges St-Pierre.

"I think that’s what an athletic commission is for. The athletic commissions have been around for a long time. When fighters start talking about other guys being drug tested? Shut up. Worry about you. It’s been a long time since somebody [on our roster] tested positive for steroids. When we first took over, guys were popping here and there and I said, ‘You have to be a moron to do steroids in this sport.’ It’s just dumb."

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Chuck Liddell Faces a Problem as Old as Prizefighting Itself at UFC 115

Filed under: UFC
In retrospect, maybe Dana White jumped the gun.

When the UFC president stood up in front of the media after UFC 97 last April and declared that his old friend and employee Chuck Liddell was done fighting forever after his TKO loss to…

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In retrospect, maybe Dana White jumped the gun.

When the UFC president stood up in front of the media after UFC 97 last April and declared that his old friend and employee Chuck Liddell was done fighting forever after his TKO loss to “Shogun” Rua, it’s possible he was overestimating his own ability to make life choices for other people.

You can see how that might be a problem for a powerful man like White. Most of the time, when he makes a statement about a fighter’s career the mere fact of him saying it out loud is enough to make it so. If he wanted Liddell to hang up the gloves and turn his focus toward spending the mountain of money he’d already earned with his fists, then that’s what would happen.