Neither Shamrock Nor White Are Telling the Truth

The never-ending war of words between UFC President Dana White and the company's former embattled middleweight champion Frank Shamrock has found new life once again.

Long a fixture in the San Jose community, Shamrock has opted to put up shop in Manhattan this coming February in hopes of speeding along the quest to legalize MMA in the state of New York, a venture that has been met with much apprehension among state officials who still believe the sport to be barbaric.

Surprisingly, despite being one of the most active supporters of the cause, Shamrock believes that White is actually the biggest reason why politicians have opposed the process thus far.

"The face of our sport is Dana White and out here in conservative New York, the way people think, bald-headed, tattoo'd, swearing people are just not a good representative of our brand and unfortunately people think that Dana White speaks for MMA, and they're confused," Shamrock told MMA Fanhouse's Ariel Helwani on a recent edition of "The MMA Hour". "They don't know he speaks for the UFC. They think he speaks for the entire sport and [they think] the entire sport is made up of Dana Whites.

Why Should Strikeforce Sign Dave Bautista?

The debate concerning whether or not Strikeforce should sign former WWE superstar Dave Bautista continues to rage on. The answer to the question is simple in my mind: he'll bring in viewers, if only for the single event he competes on.

Geno Mrosko says that inking Bautista to a deal would essentially be a giant waste of time (HT: Bloody Elbow):

I don't understand why so many people think signing Bautista would be such a big deal for Strikeforce. Being a pro wrestling blog, we here at Cageside know better than anyone what Bautista brings to the table athletically and it's not much. He's an old man, from a sporting perspective, and he gets injured more often than he doesn't. What exactly is he going to bring to the table? He's never going to reach the upper echelon of the heavyweight division and unless he has a huge impact in terms of ratings, the amount of money he wants them to pay him would represent a huge loss.

 I don't think anyone expects Bautista to do much of anything in the sport, so bringing that up as a talking point about why Strikeforce shouldn't sign him is unnecessary. The hype train followed Brock Lesnar because of his collegiate wrestling background. The same can be said somewhat for Bobby Lashley.

Whether or not Strikeforce will take a loss in promoting Bautista won't be known until after it actually takes place, but I'd tend to lean towards the notion that they wouldn't. The promotion's income comes primarily from ticket sales and their partners at Showtime. With the right fighters on a card, Strikeforce can pull in a decent gate just about anywhere. And even though the exact numbers will never be known, it is also common knowledge that monetary support from Showtime likely comes from the number of eyes that flip the channel on for an event. Last weekend's rematch between Nick Diaz and K.J. Noons pulled in approximately 500,000 or so viewers. Pure interest in seeing Bautista step into the cage could easily double that, bringing in more money and new fans for Strikeforce. A win-win situation in my opinion.

Surprise! Fedor Wants Extension With Strikeforce

I have to be honest. Once Fedor and M-1's current deal with Strikeforce and Showtime wittled down to a single fight remaining and after hearing Scott Coker's hesitancy to go back to the bargaining table, I thought Fedor to the UFC by next year was a done deal. Looks like I was wrong.

Today comes the news that Emelianenko and his management team are very pleased with the way their relationship with Strikeforce is going and are interested in signing a contract extension that would add 4-6 more fights.  On top of that, it looks as if talks between both sides are nearly complete:

The 33-year-old Emelianenko, who has just one fight left on a three-fight contract signed one year ago, has recently voiced a preference for a four-to-six fight extension. The two sides are more than halfway to an agreement, according to M-1 Global director of operations Evgeni Kogan who told MMA Fighting on Thursday that the sides hope to have a deal in place very soon.

"I think the talks are going well," he said. "There are always things to get sorted and ironed out but we are probably two-thirds of the way there. I think that the next fight and the deal overall will be announced at the same time within the next month. We have an [M-1 Selection] event in [Atlantic City,] New Jersey on September 18, and we may be ready to announce by then, hopefully.

Normally, the thought of Fedor easily agreeing to a deal with the UFC would have never even crossed my mind. However outside of Strikeforce, the Russian's options for employment are vastly limited due to his asking price. The UFC and Strikeforce are the only organizations with enough money and reach to be able to secure Fedor's services. While a return to Japan is also a possibility, the heavyweight divisions in DREAM and Sengoku are virtually non-existent. There's no one for Fedor to fight.

Fedor being so willing to extend his deal with Strikeforce is great news for the promotion. Coker and company have nearly started to pull hair out during talks with M-1 and the fact that Vadim Finkelstein and his co-workers approached Strikeforce about an extension first may show that their power at the bargaining table has indeed been severely lowered after Fedor's upset loss to Fabricio Werdum.

Also, it looks as if Fedor doesn't plan on retiring anytime soon, which is great news for all.