California State Athletic Commission Assistant Executive officer Bill Douglas talked with 5oz of Pain about the situation with Nick Diaz. Apparently they repeatedly tried to set this test up but had Diaz no show where he was supposed to be to take the test. It's a very interesting read about how the situation went down from CSAC's viewpoint. It really sounds like they got the run around from Diaz camp on this one. They also seemed to have problems getting information about what was going on from Strikeforce too.

...

so I call the promoter and tell him we have a huge problem. I told him that I was out of options and didn’t know what to do. At this point, without his license, we can’t approve him to fight Jay Hieron. So this is fairly late in the evening on Friday night, about 9 or 10 pm on Friday night. I was on the phone at all hours dealing with this on Friday night, and the promoter said , “How about this as an option? How about we make sure that Nick is in Los Angeles on Monday. That way at least he’s there and we can drive him over to the lab”. I said, ‘You know what. In interest in fairness to Nick, interest of fairness to you and all of the fans that have wanted to see this fight; let’s do that. I’m all for second chances, let’s do whatever we can to get this man licensed. This is the only possible way we could get the test results on Friday. I even went as far as to say that I wouldn’t give a cut off time for the test results. I will take the test results up until seconds before Nick Diaz has to get on the scale. Seriously, I want to get this man licensed. The promoter said, “Excellent, thanks for this opportunity. We appreciate it. He’ll be there.”, and that was the last time we’ve heard from anybody.

...

 

“I attempted to contact the promoters of the event on Saturday night as far as what needed to be done, and again at midnight. The inspector has also made attempts to contact them on Saturday night, Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and again this morning, and neither one of us has heard anything from either the promoter or the Diaz camp. I’m sitting here thinking that we’ve done everything we can to try to get ahold of them and if we can’t get a simple phone call back, or some kind of fax, or an email, just one line, something; If they can’t meet us halfway on that, then it’s doomed.”

As far as Cesar Gracie's comments about his "deal" with Armando Garcia, Douglas addressed that too:

“Well they wanted a clarification on a legal opinion about medicinal marijuana in California because of the deal that was allegedly made between Nick Diaz and Armando Garcia. And I’m sitting here thinking, well Armando hasn’t been here since November. Is that really the policies of a person that we want to emulate at this point in time. So lets disregard that but Cesar asked for a legal opinion and at that point I’m obligated to give it to him. I went back to the department’s legal team, and what they clarified was that the passionate use act in California will protect people from criminal prosecution for the use of medicinal marijuana, but it does not protect them from administrative action against a license. So there is no criminal actions here against Mr. Diaz, it’s a licensing action that still falls in line with our rule 303 prohibiting use of a banned substance, and at this time in regards to athletic competition marijuana is still considered banned. So that’s what we came back to Cesar with.

There is a shot at Armando Garcia in there but what it comes down to is that Diaz camp was informed beforehand what needed to happen and why in order to get Diaz licensed. They agreed to it last week and then no showed to do the test (multiple times).

For anyone who has been following the Miletich stalker story fightlinker has been keeping up with there is a real interesting article over at bullshido.org that breaks down the entire story (and it's a doozy). A must read for anyone who actually does business in MMA circles(you probably want to avoid this guy) and some very interesting information for those of us who just enjoy following the business side of the sport.

The authors have found that many who have had interactions with Kujawski are justifiably gun shy when it comes to discussing their experiences, expecting reporters to simply be Kujawski using one of his aliases for some diabolical purpose. Many phone calls or e-mails went unanswered. Some of Kujawski's known and/or suspected internet aliases have included: Team Rabid Dog, Rabid Dog MMA, Rabid Dog Productions, Inc., MMAcyberASSASSIN, Canus Maximus, copkiller.4.life, APG Petroleum, Ramon Vasquez, Tom Bondonna. For other interviews, the authors had to go to great lengths to prove they were who we said they were. However, some folks did agree to be interviewed for this article.

 

http://www.bullshido.org/David_Kujawski_Investigation

It seems that the UFC and SpikeTV have extended their contract for the Ultimate Fighter from 12 seasons to 14 seasons. I guess Spike is happy with the current ratings. From MMAjunkie:

The existing deal, announced in October 2007, called for 12 seasons of the show.

"We actually just did an extension with [Spike TV]," White said. "We're going to be doing through (season) 14, two seasons a year.

"They're good partners. We work really well together, and they let me do what I do."

MMAjunkie had leaked the names of some of the fighters for TUF 10. If their source is correct it appears there are going to be at least 4 former NFL players on the next season along with Kimbo Slice.

Marcus Jones, the 1996 first-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, enters "TUF" with a 4-1 professional MMA record, which includes four first-round victories via stoppage (with an average time of just 91 seconds per win). Three of the wins came via TKO and one via submission.

The 35-year-old played football at the University of North Carolina, where he was a four-time letterman, an All-American and the 1995 ACC Defensive Player of the Year. The 6-foot-6 defensive tackle played six NFL seasons with the Bucs. In his best season, 2000, he ranked eighth in the league with 13 sacks. He spent two additional seasons with the Buffalo Bills (but didn't play in the regular season) before giving up the sport. Soon after, he joined instructor Rob Kahn at Gracie Tampa and eventually made his professional MMA debut in 2007.

Matt Mitrione, who had a nine-game stint with the New York Giants in 2002, will be one of the season's least-experienced fighters (on paper, anyway). He has no professional fights, according to the major fighter databases, though he reportedly has fought as an amateur.

The 30-year-old Illinois native was an All-Big Ten defensive tackle for Purdue University. He went un-drafted after his senior year in 2000 but still earned his way into the NFL as a free agent. In addition to the Giants, the 6-foot-4 Mitrione spent some time with the Minnesota Vikings (though he didn't appear in any regular-season games for the team) before leaving the NFL in 2006.

Brendan Schaub, a 6-foot-4 fullback for the University of Colorado who spent some time with (but didn't play for) the Buffalo Bills, is 4-0 as a professional MMA fighter. He's often compared to his longtime training partner, undefeated UFC heavyweight Shane Carwin. Like Carwin, Schaub has made quick work of his opponents since turning pro in 2008. In four professional fights, he has four first-round TKOs, and the average length of each fight is just 59 seconds.

The 26-year-old Colorado native played for the Arena Football League's Utah Blaze before focusing solely on MMA. Schaub, the son of a second-degree Tae Kwon Do black belt, is a Golden Gloves boxing champion and the 2008 Colorado Open Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Absolute Advanced Grand Champion. He currently trains with Greg Jackson's renowned Team Jackson camp in New Mexico and T's KO Fight Club in Colorado.

Wes Shivers, who had a short NFL stint with the Atlanta Falcons in 2000, is 0-1 as a professional and 4-0 as an amateur, according to MMA.tv's fighter database. (However, his record is listed as 6-0 in some places). The muscular 6-foot-7 fighter is well versed in grappling and Muay Thai and previously competed as a super heavyweight before a lack of available opponents prompted a move down to heavyweight.

The 32-year-old Team Hammer Hill fighter was a standout offensive lineman at Mississippi State University. The Tennessee Titans drafted him in the seventh round of the 2000 NFL Draft. After playing three games with the Falcons in 2000, he left the NFL and focused on his MMA career.

They also reported that Rex Richards was forced to pull out with a partially torn MCL or it would of been 5 former NFL players.

I think [the rumored July 20 DREAM rematch] is not going to happen. He was offered to fight me at NY and he refused. He’s not my priority anymore. The fight against me has been offered to him on several occasions and he refused every time. The result was me fighting Badr Hari and him fighting HMC. The time of that fight is passed. People don’t want to see it anymore. I want to be No.1 – and I want to fight better fighters than Cro Cop, like Barnett, Arlovski and Fedor…I don’t think he’s old. He still is a great fighter snd still can KO tons of people. Maybe he’ll make a big comeback, who knows? But for me that fight is not interesting right now.

http://www.mmaconvert.com/2009/04/19/alistair-overeem-rumored-july-dream-rematch-with-cro-cop-isnt-happening/