The long arm of Zuffa law apparently extends to estranged former champions who write books and wear their belts on the covers.
Tito Ortiz — who just satisfied the final fight on his contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) — has been served with a cease and desist because his recently released autobiography, “This is Gonna Hurt,” violates the intellectual property rights of the mixed martial arts promotion, according to MMAPayout.com.
“The Huntington Beach Bad Boy,” according to the report, needed to get the stamp of approval from the UFC to sport the belt on the cover of the book. And he apparently did not get the green light or overlooked the clause in his contract.
Regardless, the move is just the latest salvo in an ongoing feud between the fighter an organization. Ortiz and UFC President Dana White have an epic, long-running distaste for one another.
This is certainly not going to help the situation.
Ortiz will soon be a free agent and has expressed his intentions of seeking greener pastures (literally) with an organization that can promote him properly, as well as be respectful and professional.
Even if he does it appears that Ortiz can’t break free from the UFC’s Kung Fu grip … for now.
He defeated Wanderlei Silva via unanimous decision to earn the vacant light heavyweight title at UFC 25: “Ultimate Japan 3″ back in 2000. Ortiz defended the 205-pound belt five times during a three-year span until he lost it to Randy Couture via unanimous decision at UFC 44: “Undisputed” in 2003.
Current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is scheduled to be a guest on the Jimmy Kimmel Live late-night talk show tonight on the ABC network. Check it out. Oh yeah and sign up on our MMA Forums.
Episode 10 starts off with a disturbing close-up of Matthew Riddle’s red hair. I wouldn’t call it unflattering but he kind of looks like a cross between Terry Taylor and Buster Brown.
After a recap of last week’s war between Matt Brown and Amir Sadollah, Jeremy May starts whining that Matt Brown’s loss makes him look even weaker than he already is (because he was eliminated by Brown) and decides that it’s enough reason to demand a rematch.
Jesse Taylor gets wind of the story and goes into a Dice Clay like rant on what a tool May is. Jeremy is so mad about being punked he runs to Gerald Harris and tells him of his master plan to bait Jesse into hitting him so that he gets himself kicked off the show.
It’s right around this point that I hope for giant swords to shoot up from the floor and rid us of Jeremy May like Lei Lei from Darkstalkers.
May gets liquored up and squares off against Taylor and they have a bitch-off which basically consists of arguing over who is the bigger bitch until somebody throws a punch.
May isn’t getting thorugh to Taylor so he pulls out the tried-and-true Jewish card and since we all know how much Jewish people enjoy being labeled, Taylor starts hulking up like he just got hit with a chair by Zeus.
The rest of the guys swarm in and calm him down and once May realizes how despised he is by everyone he tries to blame the booze and looks for the respect fist. Taylor gives it to him probably just to shut him up and get back to his card game.
Thankfully the focus shifts to the quarterfinal fights and once again Tim Credeur refers to Dan Cramer as “hot”. I’ve never considered myself homophobic but this season’s contestants are really testing my limits.
Quarterfinal fight #3: Tim Credeur (10-2) vs Dan Cramer (3-0)
Round 1: Credeur throws a low kick and they trade sloppy punches. Credeur shoots and they go to the cage wall. Cramer backs him up and drops him. Cramer is able to posture up and land a few. Credeur escapes to his feet and Cramer goes on the attack landing strikes. They clinch and Cramer takes him down. Credeur reverses and gets into mount. Cramer escapes and they go to the cage. Cramer forces him down again. Cramer tries to stand up and Credeur grabs a leg and secures a heel hook. Cramer is forced to tap.
Tim Credeur defeats Dan Cramer via submission (heel hook:R1)
With the attention now on the second fight, CB Dolloway makes it clear how much he despises Cale Yarbrough and his funny looking face. That’s nothing. Try looking at the guy who runs MMAmania.
A Team Brown training session finds Cale Yarbrough less than impressed with the Dolloway myth. Coach Griffin calls Dolloway an “arrogant prick”.
Dana feels like the guys are getting burned out so he takes them for a night out at the races. The guys pile into go-karts and turn the episode into a testosterone filled game of Mario Kart.
Back at the house the cast gets a little reckless and starts trashing the house - I mean really trashing it. Walls, banisters, windows, doors - you name it. How you can get kicked off the show for punching another contestant but not even get a stern lecture for destroying UFC property is something that still baffles me.
Unless of course the destruction is scripted as a way to spice up the show. Then again after this past weekend it’s hard not to think everything is a conspiracy.
Anyway, it’s fight time and since there are twenty minutes left in the show, I reckon Yarbrough actually has a chance in this one.
Quarterfinal fight #4:CB Dolloway (6-0) vs Cale Yarbrough (0-0)
Round 1: Dolloway throws a jab. E-surance counters with an annoying commercial. Now That’s Classic Rock is able to drop E-surance and after samples of some of the same tired songs we hear on every rock station, transitions to Dolloway on the floor landing punches from the mount. Yarbrough is on the defensive and gives up his back. Dolloway looks like he can’t decide which direction to go and returns to punching. Yarbrough seems content to just curl up into a ball and eat punches. Herb Dean issues multiple warnings, gets no response and is forced to stop it.
CB Dolloway defeats Cale Yarbrough via TKO (R1).
So much for Yarbrough having a chance.
After the fight Forrest continues to get irked by Dolloway’s cockiness. He puts out an open invitation to quiet the cockiness and Jesse Taylor steps up to the plate.
When they go to the gym to set the semifinal matches they realize that Rampage is a no call/no show. Undeterred, Dana trudges onward after a 45 minute delay.
Griffin thinks an MIA Rampage guarantees he will get his pick but Dana knows he can’t sell a TUF final with Dolloway vs Credeur so sorry Forrest, but it ain’t happening.
Rampage finally rolls up in his Wraith (bad breath and all) and has to find out what picks were made without him. As it stands, CB Dolloway will fight Amir Sadollah and Tim Credeur will fight Jesse Taylor.
Stay tuned next week as we get the long-awaited coaches challenge - which turns out to be the classic game of HORSE. Rampage admits to never having played basketball as a kid and gets the same kind of stares that C. Thomas Howell got when he went to the boards in blackface in Soul Man.
Oh yeah, and there are a couple of semi-important fights.
FiveOuncesOfPain.com contacted James Thompson via phone at his home in England on Wednesday and he granted us an exclusive interview. During the interview, Thompson was candid about his feelings regarding his main event fight vs. Kimbo Slice during the debut of “Saturday Night Fights” on CBS. Thompson held nothing back and addressed all the [...]
MMA Payout has the scoop:
MMAPayout.com has learned that Tito Ortiz was recently served a cease and desist request from the UFC. The subject of the complaint was the cover of Ortiz’s recently released autobiography, entitled This is Going to Hurt. The book’s cover features Ortiz wearing the UFC Light Heavyweight Title is intellectual property [...]
On Monday, we printed an e-mail authored by Dr. Sherry Wulkan, one of the cageside physicians during Saturday’s debut of EliteXC on CBS. The e-mail was written in response to comments made by New Jersey Athletic Control Board legal counsel Nick Lembo and sent to directly to Lembo. We re-printed the letter with consent from [...]
Sports talk radio personality Dave Carmichael spoke with UFC President Dana White at the WEC event in Sacramento on Sunday, and naturally the discussion turned to Elite XC. We all know White is no fan of what Gary Shaw and Co. have been doing, but just in case you were unclear he clarifies it with words like “disgusting.”
Speaking positively about competitors has never really been White’s style, but he does make a good point when he says that even in the UFC’s darkest days they never “went the freak show route.” Pride certainly couldn’t say as much. It is stretching it a bit to imply that Kimbo Slice-James Thompson was a freak show, however. For starters, which one of them is the freak? Nevermind, don’t answer that.
After the jump Thiago Alves discusses his gameplan for Matt Hughes on Saturday. If it involves somehow infringing on Hughes’s second amendment rights, he is going to be sorry. But wait a minute, this fight is in England. Don’t go, Matt! It’s a trap!!!!
Finally, the rumors can stop. MMA Rated is reporting that Donald Trump will announce at tomorrow’s press conference that Andrei Arlovski has signed with Affliction. For weeks we’ve been expecting the announcement that Arlovski will face Ben Rothwell at Affliction’s July 19 event in Anaheim, and while Michael Cohen, Special Counsel to Donald Trump, wouldn’t confirm that just yet, there’s plenty of reason to suspect that this is the case.
Trump is also said to be announcing that he has become an equity partner in the Affliction MMA promotion, and while Cohen wouldn’t say how much of the company Trump owns he did say it was “a significant amount.”
When asked if Trump might help bring Tito Ortiz, who he worked with on The Apprentice, into the fold, Cohen replied:
“Everything that Donald Trump does is the biggest and the best and the “Afflcition: Banned” show will be just that.
Due to the status of the Trump mark, and Donald Trump as a mogul business man, Mr. Trump has received dozens of phone calls from fighters who are interested in joining the Affliction family.”
Well, that clears it up. Hopefully we’ll get more information from tomorrow’s press conference, which is sure to be the biggest and the best. Also, Trump’s breakfast before the event? Also the biggest and the best.
FiveOuncesOfPain.com was informed over the weekend that former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski finalized a non-exclusive contract agreement with the Affliction MMA promotion late last week.
MMARated.com is now reporting that Arlovski’s signing with the promotion will be announced during a press conference that has been scheduled for Thursday in New York at the Trump [...]
Donald Trump — who has forged a partnership with Affliction MMA — will tomorrow announce the acquisition of former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski at a noon press conference at Trump Tower in New York, N.Y., according to MMARated.com.
In addition, “The Pitbull” will take on Ben Rothwell (as expected) during the debut pay-per-view (PPV) event for the promotion at the at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., on July 19.
Trump is also expected to reveal more details on his partnership with Affliction MMA, which according to the report, he owns a “significant amount” of the upstart promotion.
This is about to get real interesting … as if it isn’t already. Stay tuned. In the meantime, to get some more background on Trump’s involvement with mixed martial arts click here.
The long arm of Zuffa law apparently extends to estranged former champions who write books and wear their belts on the covers.
