Caleb Newby of 411Mania.com is reporting the following:

UFC 75, featuring the anticipated bout between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Dan “Hollywood” Henderson, is not a lock to be shown on pay-per-view in the United States sources have told 411mania. Both Spike TV and HBO would be potential homes for the huge event (along with pay-per-view), though the status of any UFC programming on HBO has long been questionable. So while nothing has been finalized, UFC 75 appearing on free television (or nearly free television) is still viable as all parties involved work out the details.

You can read Caleb’s report by clicking here.

If it’s not going to be a PPV, my hope is that it’s on HBO. I just don’t know if I can deal with Dan Henderson vs. Quinton Jackson being on tape delay and having tons of commercials between rounds. If it’s a title unification match then it’s too important of a match not to be shown live.

If it is a Spike card, at least give people the option of paying to see it live on PPV.

I don’t speak much Japanese — err, I don’t speak it at all, actually. However, using my powers of deductive logic, I would venture to say that Kuniyoshi Hironaka is claiming on his blog that he’ll be fighting Thiago Alves at UFC Fight Night 11.

You can check out Hironaka’s blog by clicking here.

I’m still trying to figure out how the poodle plays into all of this.

According to UFCJunkie.com, UFC president Dana White officially announced on ESPN today that Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will be debuting for the promotion at UFC 76 in September against Ryoto “Lyoto” Machida.

Here’s what Junkie has:

PRIDE Fighting Championships veteran Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (16-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC), who recently signed a contract with the UFC, will make his Octagon debut at UFC 76 against undefeated Lyoto Machida (10-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC).

UFC president Dana White announced the fight during an interview that aired today on ESPN.

I’m quoting the Junkie on this one because I did not see the interview with my own eyes.

This is a very interesting matchup and one that I am looking forward to. However, it’s a bit of a surprise because Machida is not a high-profile opponent in the eyes of the mainstream yet is very dangerous. You’d think the UFC would want to introduce Shogun to the mainstream U.S. audience with a fight against a bigger name of lesser ability. Someone like Stephan Bonnar might be ideal.

I’m not trying to rip Bonnar, because I think he’s a talented fighter. But he’s not on Machida or Shogun’s level. At the end of the day, more people in the U.S. know Bonnar than Machida and a win over Bonnar would do more to establish Rua as a star than a hard fought win over Machida.

Shogun is one of my favorite fighters but why does the mention of Machida vs. Rua invoke memories of Cro Cop vs. Gonzaga?

There’s another new Dana White interview available. The latest White interview is available at ESPN.com.

I’m assuming some of you are getting a little tired of all the Dana interview stuff I link to but whenever the man speaks, it’s usually news.

Here are some of the more notable exchanges from the interview:

ESPN.com: When’s the HBO deal going to get done?

DW: It will be done very soon, in a matter of weeks. People don’t realize this stuff isn’t easy to get done.

Dana can be premature with his announcements but he has a habit of making them happen after he announces them. I’m starting to believe that he will get a deal done with HBO. HBO needs an answer to EliteXC on Showtime. So much so that it wouldn’t surprise me if they were to do a deal with another promotion if a deal with the UFC couldn’t be reached. I think the UFC knows this and that they don’t want a startup taking that HBO slot. I’ve been told that Dana was none too happy when Pro Elite reached a deal with Showtime. The UFC was talking to Showtime about a possible deal right up until an accord with Pro Elite was signed.

ESPN.com: Fedor Emialenenko–when will he be in the UFC?

DW: We’ll have him soon. We’ll have him before the end of the year.

ESPN.com: What’s the process? Do you talk to his agent? To Bodog?

DW: We don’t talk to Bodog. We talk to his managers twice a day.

ESPN.com: Twice a day?

DW: It’s not easy to get these contracts done. It takes time and a lot of work. There are a million sticking points. Every guy has his own set of issues, what is important to him. Plus, we have our set of standards. It takes time and a lot of negotiating. There are a lot of trust issues in this business. We want people to trust us. We’re having fun. We love this business. You won’t find people who love this sport who promote it as much as us. We really, truly love this thing. We bought this and were investing in this when we were losing millions of dollars and nobody cared about it. It never looked like we were going to make it on pay-per-view, let alone free TV. At the end of the day, we don’t want guys who are unhappy fighting with us.

This is another deal I believe will get done. Bodog paid Fedor a ton of money to fight in April. When I interviewed Calvin Ayre he said they were still talking to Fedor but I have to believe that any new offer they’ve made is significantly lower than the first because the April PPV may not have drawn more than 13,000. Most people don’t like negotiating backwards which is why I see Fedor winding up in the UFC.

ESPN.com: Did you watch Showtime EliteXC’s Phil Baroni vs. Frank Shamrock two weeks ago?

DW: I had dinner at the Palms, and I had them put it on in the room because I wanted to see Baroni knock his head off. It didn’t work out that way.

ESPN.com: What did you think of their skill levels?

DW: They both looked bad. Phil’s a good friend of me, so it’s unfortunate. Frank Shamrock is not going to fight anybody near the top-10 level.

ESPN.com: You wouldn’t be tempted to bring back Frank for a big event?

DW: Who knows? But Frank is such a moron. He’s so hard to deal with. He really is a jackass. If I could get it done, maybe I would. Look at me and Tito. We don’t get along at all. You won’t ever find two people who work together talk more s— about each other. Tito’s an idiot. He’s a complete, absolute moron. But we can do business.

ESPN.com: So why not kill two birds with one stone. How about Tito vs. Frank Shamrock?

DW: Frank Shamrock would never fight Tito Ortiz. Tito would crush him. Frank’s not going to fight anybody serious. He’s going to very carefully handpick his opponents, and continue to play the smoke and mirrors game.

Whoa, saying Frank would never fight Tito is not the smartest thing to say considering Frank fought Tito in ‘99 and won. Now, I’m not saying Frank would get in the cage with him today because I think Ortiz would crush him.

While on the topic of Frank’s win over Tito being overrated by some, I also think Shamrock could see Tito would be a star and wanted to get a win against him before he reached his peak so that he could tout it later. That’s exactly why I think Frank wants to fight Cung Le. Once Cung Le gets a ground game, there’s no way Shamrock will beat him. But if he exploits him now and Le becomes a huge superstar, it helps Shamrock’s legacy to have that win on his resume.

It’s also not smart because Tito will be a free agent after his next fight. If he leaves the UFC then a Frank vs. Tito main event might not be such a stretch if the money is right. Because the two would be the biggest names outside the UFC, have a history together, and are big-time talkers, I could see the two coming together for a big pay day.

In general it’s not a good idea for Dana saying he is even remotely open to the idea of Frank fighting for the UFC again because the only way he’d consider putting his grudge aside and going back is if he couldn’t make money anywhere else. Say what you want about him, but Frank is making money.

To read the full interview, click here.

A lot of people are under the impression that Sokoudjou has signed a four fight deal with EliteXC. That’s not the case, according to EliteXC president Gary Shaw. While Shaw said both parties in final negotiations, an official deal has not been reached.

I reported the story for CBS Sportsline, which you can read by clicking here.

I don’t know how reliable Kakuto.com is or the blog it’s referencing (Iron Magazine), but for what it’s worth, Iron Magazine is reporting that Pride lightweight champion Takanori Gomi has elected to join K-1 Hero’s.

I’m not going to give my analysis because right now I’m not convinced it’s true. I’m not saying it isn’t, only that I am waiting for confirmation.

Check out the links here.

My latest copy of ESPN the Magazine arrived on Friday but I didn’t get around to reading it today (man, I am going to really miss Dan Patrick’s “Outtakes”). They are now incorporating MMA content into their Boxing Insider section that appears towards the back of the magazine.

The magazine reports that Oklahoma State wrestlers and NCAA champs Johny Hendricks and Jake Rosholt are training for their MMA debuts at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas. It goes on to state that Penn State All-American wrestler Eric Bradley is training with Randy Couture in Vegas as well and that he’s already signed a five-fight contract with EliteXC.

In other EliteXC related news, there’s a lot of talk right now that K.J. Noons vs. Edson Berto will headline the debut ShoXC event on Showtime on Friday, July 27 at the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez, Calif.