Though the article is admittedly about Putin being booed and jeered at the event when he took the mic, it is still a statement on how little MMA has penetrated main stream culture. The article refers to the bout as a 'martial arts fight/contest' but thankfully the journalist spells both Fedor's and Monson's names correctly.

UFC on Fox still has a ways to go...

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15818517

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When I saw the latest episode of MTV's Bully Beatdown (prompted by the promise of a good beatdown by the good gents at Bloody Elbow, however fake and unsatisfying), I wasn't disappointed. However when Andre Arlovski pulls what seems to be a triangle choke from mount (correct me if I'm wrong) I can't believe they didn't name the episode 'How Taste My Pee-Pee'. Any thoughts?

This report from Five Ounces of Pain from mixedmartialarts.com and MMAJunkie confirm that initial reports suggesting that Tamdan 'Barncat' McCrory and Thales 'Back-Flop' Leites have indeed been cut from the UFC, despite Yahoo's Kevin Iole reporting that they were not. All is evidently not what it seems.

Has anybody else had just about enough of Kevin Iole? His vitriolic critcism of CroCop leaving the UFC for DREAM despite having no real evidence to show that the Croatian had indeed signed the paperwork, and his abject refusal to apologize, leaves MMA fans wondering as to his responsibility as a reporter.

Much has been said and done over the past week or so following the Josh Barnett induced demise of Affliction as a fight promoter. No other single topic has been more discussed that the future of Fedor Emelianenko in MMA. The hopes of MMA fans clamouring to see a fight between Brock Lesnar and Fedor Emelianenko, has seen ups and downs than a rollercoaster. I'm still hoping for a turnaround given the UFC's big announcement on Friday. Honestly if their big announcement are the UK-ESPN plans that would be two giant let-down teleconferences in one week, so lets hope for what we all want.

Many regular MMA bloggers and hardcore fans have been lambasting M1 Global's insistence on a co-promotion with the UFC in exchange for Fedor fighting with them. Some even believe that M1 Global is duping Fedor and denying fans the chance to see one of MMA's true legends in some great fights. Some other misinformed people believe Fedor is afraid of Brock Lesnar. But the more logical reason lies in the fact that Fedor is himself a 20% co-owner of M1 Global and is using his position as a legend in the sport, in an attempt to leverage a co-promotion deal with the UFC.

The UFC is truly a business success story. Under the watchful eyes of the Fertitas and good ol' DW the UFC has gone from almost banning the sport of MMA to a billion dollar industry. So successful is their business model that in times of economic hardship the UFC has defied the markets and grown. Their landmark UFC 100 event brought in an estimated 1.5 million PPV buys. Can anyone blame Fedor for trying to get in on milking this cash cow. True, the UFC has absolutely no reason to give M1 Global a slice of the pie that they so painstakingly resurrected, but does that mean Fedor shouldn't try. With all due respect to the Bens over at CagePotato who called Fedor a 'total f*cking retard' for not signing the truly unbelievable deal UFC, what does Fedor do once he's finished fighting? Commentary? Train fighters?

Would I be happy if Fedor the fighter didn't sign with the UFC and didn't fight Brock Lesnar? Probably not. But do I blame Fedor the man, whose kids he, and not the bloggers who so vigorously criticize him, has to feed and bring up, for not signing a contract? How can I?