Here at WKR we know that most of you probably don't want to talk about Hoelzer Reich and for the record WKR completely agrees with you. Hoelzer Reich was recently banned from both Zuffa promotions as well as Strikeforce so this discussion may be an exercise in beating a dead horse. That being said there are still several lingering questions about how Hoelzer Reich became a Zuffa sponsor and what happened behind the scenes leading up to the banishment of the apparel company.

The only public explanation that WKR can find --other than statements about Hoelzer Reich no longer being a sponsor-- is Ariel Helwani of MMA Fanhouse interview with Dana White about Hoelzer Reich in the lead up to UFC 107. Unfortunately White's answers, as well as Helwani's questions left much to be desired.

Ariel Helwani: How did it [Hoelzer Reich] even get passed (inaudible)...

Dana White: I guess, I guess our guys. Let me start this off with, you know who are lead attorney is, right? Lawrence Epstein, okay? And he uh, yeah, I don't know and these guys are swearing they're no't Nazi's. They're gone.

Epstein may be Zuffa's lead attorney but this doesn't get at the core issue; namely what happened with the vetting process of Hoelzer Reich? A good question here would be to ask which department gave the go ahead on Hoelzer Reich and what research was done into the company's past if any at all? Also whether or not Dana White was ever in direct communication with the owner of Hoelzer Reich.

Ariel Helwani: Are you surprised that it [Hoelzer Reich product] got on the broadcast?

Dana White: No, no. It got on for a reason. There were legal reasons it happened but that was the only time, they'll be on.

Here is where things get interesting. What were those "legal reasons"? This statement by White suggests that Zuffa and Hoelzer Reich had a legal agreement beyond being a simple sponsor. Or is this the case with all apparel sponsors? If not what kind of relationship existed between Hoelzer Reich and Zuffa and how far back did it go?

Ariel Helwani: They're banned?

Dana White: Yes. Yep

Ariel Helwani: Did you speak to them? Did the company try to tell you...about...

Dana White: Oh yeah. They did everything. They've written statements and put stuff on their website, they, and I mean, and apparently their website had Nazi punk bands on there. They are not on there anymore but from what I am hearing they did one time.

Unfortunately this is where the Hoelzer Reich portion of the video ends and it left several loose ends that WKR wished Helwani had followed up on. 

For instance, did Dana White see the images and shirts that were making the rounds through the bblogosphere? Based upon his answer it appears that White had no idea what the issue was other than Nazi punk bands on the Hoelzer Reich website. Of course, White may be playing the incident down as a form of damage control.

Another question that should have been asked is whether Dana White was personally offended by Hoelzer Reich's apparel designs and whether or not he believes that this company represents some form of neo-Nazism.

Did White see the use of SS thunderbolts, Totenkopf death's head and other WWII Germanic imagery as crossing the line? Or did Zuffa officials only see the shirts that were being produced for UFC and WEC broadcasts? If that is the case then why was there a failure to properly vet the organization's entire clothing line?

Finally what legal process did Zuffa use to remove Zuffa fighters e.g., Donald Cerrone from the Hoelzer Reich website?

WKR is sure that most of us would like to move past this story. After all Hoelzer Reich is banned from the big three MMA organizations so this should no longer be an issue. But just because MMA broadcasts won't be marred with Hoelzer Reich shirts doesn't mean that this story is a closed book. The aforementioned questions would go a long way in clarifying what actually happened to help ensure that it won't happen again.

WKR's Podcast discussion with The Savage Science and Fightlinker surrounding Hoelzer Reich.

Does anyone understand this poster?

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For those of you that won't be going to a New Year's Eve party for whatever reason (read as: no friends) you can satisfy your MMA fix with FEG's Dynamite!! 2009: Dream vs. Sengoku.

FEG announced seven more fights for their Dynamite!! 2009 fight card.

Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem will represent DREAM against the literally hard-headed Kazuyuki
Fujita.

Popular DREAM featherweight Norifumi "KID" Yamamto will face Sengoku Featherweight GP champion Masanori Kanehara.

PRIDE veterans Hayato "Mach" Sakurai and Akihiro Gono will reunited in a interpromotional showdown.

Pro wrestler Katsuyori Shibata will serve as HIroshi Izumi's second MMA opponent.

Hideo Tokoro will face another challenging opponent, Sengoku Featherweight GP semifinalist Marlon Sandro.

DREAM Featherweight GP finalist Hiroyuki Takaya will meet Sengoku Featherweight GP finalist Michihiro Omigawa.

Rumored Card after the jump.

SBN coverage of Dynamite!! 2009

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The UFC announced several more bouts for their Australian debut on February 21st.

Heavyweights Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (32-5-1) and Cain Velasquez (7-0) will meet in the main event while middleweights Wanderlei Silva (32-10-1) and Michael Bisping (18-2) will do battle in the co-main event.

Lightweight Joe Stevenson (31-10) will fight against TUF season 6 vet, and Australian native, George Sotiropoulos (11-2).

Keith Jardine (14-6-1) will look to get back into the top-ten of the light heavyweight division against TUF season 8 winner, Ryan Bader (10-0).

Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic (25-7-2) will hope to stop his downward spiral towards irrelevancy against IFL veteran Ben Rothwell (30-7).

Finally the UFC confirmed that Australian natives Elvis Sinosic and Chris Haseman will be on the preliminary card.

Rumored card after the jump.

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"Please don't forget me!" via www.ftpbluff.com

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All the talk in the UFC heavyweight division surrounds the big five: Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin, Frank Mir, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Cain Velasquez. While the current champion, Brock Lesnar, may be sidelined with an illness the conversation inevitably turns towards a mini-tournament featuring the other heavyweights. Surprisingly absent from the title discussion is the Brazilian, Junior dos Santos.

Dos Santos arrived upon the UFC scene at the same time as two other blue chip prospects: Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez. But while Shane Carwin has achieved the status of number one contender and Cain Velasquez appears poised to fight for the title in the next eighteen months dos Santos is quietly waiting in the wings while building up his resume. 

In fact one could argue that Junior dos Santos has a better resume than both Carwin and Velasquez.

Shane Carwin (11-0) UFC wins over Gabriel Gonzaga, Neil Wain and Christian Wellisch

- Carwin's marquee win in the UFC is over Gabriel Gonzaga a fighter who lost to Fabricio Werdum. Neil Wain isn't in the UFC anymore. Christian Wellisch is also out of the UFC and had a 2-3 inside the organization. 

Cain Velasquez (7-0) UFC wins over Ben Rothwell, Cheick Kongo, Denis Stojnic, Jake O'Brien and Brad Morris. 

- Cain's marquee victory in the UFC would either be Ben Rothwell or Cheick Kongo. While Rothwell has a successful resume outside the organization he has only one fight in the UFC where Velasquez easily dispatched the former IFL standout. When one considers Cheick Kongo, his skill set is a perfect match-up for Cain, almost like shooting fish in a barrel (its that whole no takedown defense thing). The other three opponents Denis Stojic, Jake O'Biren and Brad Morris are no longer in the UFC. 

Junior dos Santos (9-1) UFC wins over Mirko Filipovic, Stefan Struve and Fabricio Werdum. 

- Dos Santos' resume is interesting because his best win is over Werdum who is no longer in the UFC but is still considered a top-ten heavyweight. Stefan Struve is considered a hot young commodity though he still has some serious work to do, which dos Santos showed when he dispatched the Dane in Germany. Junior dos Santos also holds a victory over a past his prime Mirko Filipovic.  

Truth be told all of these fighters have opponents on their resumes that we can split hairs over. But there is a reason why Junior dos Santos is currently ranked as the #5 heavyweight above both Carwin and Velasquez.

Now if we can just start including him into the title discussion...

"You think if I take off the jeans I will lose 10lbs.? Makes sense to me."

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Last week Donald Cerrone made some news when he hinted at a moving down in weight on MMA Madness' Ground & Pound.

Speaking to MMA Junkie Cerrone once again reiterated his desire to drop to bantamweight.

"After this fight, I'm going to dabble down at 145," said Cerrone, who headlines the Versus-televised WEC 45 event at The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. "I'm going to give it a go, win or lose. But it's going to be a win, so I'm not real worried about it.

"I kind of leaked it out to you guys before I even spoke to the WEC. But they don't care. If I can make the weight, I'll be there. It's not like they're going to tell me no."

....

"It's nothing against Aldo at all," Cerrone said. "I just think I can make 145. I think there are a lot of challenging fighters at 145, and I'd just like to go down there and give it a whirl."

"I'm just going to go to 145 and take a couple fights. ... Back and forth. However, they want to do it."

Cerrone's intention to drop weight win or lose takes some of the drama out of his main event fight with Ed Ratcliff this weekend but a fighter has to do what is in his best interest.

SBN coverage of WEC 45: Cerrone vs. Ratcliff

No more Trevor Prangley...

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Sherdog is reporting that Trevor Prangley suffered an injury while training for his fight with Robbie Lawler. As a result of the undisclosed injury Prangley has withdrawn from his Strikeforce: Evolution bout.

Prangley originally replaced the injured Benji Radach. Lawler is still expected to fight this Saturday.

Strikeforce may tap the newly signed Melvin Manhoef to replace Trevor. Manhoef was initially considered as a replacement for Radach.

SBN coverage of Strikeforce: Evolution

via columbusfsbos.com

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Today World Extreme Cagefighting made WEC 47 official.

While fans already knew that bantamweight champion, Brian Bowles, would defend his title against Dominick Cruz the WEC press release indicates that two other big name fighters will be on the fight card.

Former WEC bantamweight champion, Miguel Torres, a Chicago native, will fight on the card against a yet to be named opponent.This will mark Torres' first fight since losing the title to Brian Bowles at WEC 42.

Jens Pulver is another popular Midwest fighter who will also fight at WEC 47. Pulver is in the middle of a serious skid losing his last four fights and going 1-6 in his past seven fights. No word yet on a possible opponent for "Little Evil".

WEC 47 will coincide with the popular Arnold Sports Festival, which draws over 150,000 participants into Columbus, Ohio.

World Extreme Cagefighting is planning on holding the event at Nationwide Arena, the home of the Columbus Blue Jackets and the location of previous UFC events.

Press Release after the jump.

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During the VGA's on Spike this past Saturday THQ unveiled a new teaser trailer for UFC Undisputed 2010 (now with 100% more Kimbo Slice!). UFC Undisputed 2010 will be released on May 25th, 2010.

Also, UFC Undisputed 2009 won the award for Best Individual Sports Game. The THQ product beat out Fight Night Round 4, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, and Wii Sports Resort to win the prize.

In news regarding that other MMA game, EA Sports MMA will include the following features, 

- The game will feature DREAM as a league (along with Strikeforce and a few other undisclosed organizations)

- Sakuraba looks like he will be included in the game. Huge.

- Developers are still struggling on the decision to include 'ring restarts' when the action gets too close to the ropes. Their only issue is that it may mess with gameplay.

-  Pride style rules WILL be available including foot stomps and soccer kicks.

- The ability to 'fight on the cage' will be included in the game.

- The right analog kick will be used for striking with the left trigger used as a kicking modifier.

Oh yeah, EA Sports MMA will be released on September 2010.