Randy Couture signs with Full Tilt Poker

If you watched the UFC fight this past weekend where Randy Couture took on the monster Brock Lesnar, you may have noticed that he wasn’t wearing his usual brand of clothing. For years Couture wore the Affliction brand and helped make the company a household name for MMA fans. Noticeably absent at this past fight however was the signature dark themed clothing on Couture.

Instead, he was covered in Full Tilt Poker branded gear before, during, and after the fight. The most noticeable was the huge Full Tilt logo on the ass of his tights. He’s also appeared on television interviews wearing FTP branded shirts and hats.

What’s interesting here is that he’s had a serious falling out with Affliction founder Todd Beard and FTP has taken that opportunity to step in and get their share of the Couture bandwagon. Beard was so pissed that he said on camera before the fight that he wished Lesnar would kill Couture. It’s interesting to note that he also resigned from Affliction on November 14th to treat an addition to alcohol and get help for anger management.

It’s too bad the 45 year old didn’t win the fight against the much younger, much larger Lesnar. Either way, Full Tilt is likely going to get some mileage of this one. Even off the fighting trail, Couture is a brand name for MMA fans and may drive new players to Full Tilt in droves.

Who knows, try hitting the lobby at Full Tilt Poker and look for Randy’s name in red. He may well be playing there right now.

Brock Lesnar TKO’s Randy Couture

We’re not the first to report that during the UFC fight last night, Brock Lesnar won with a TKO over Randy Couture in the 2nd round. We ARE apparently, the first to report that Brock Lesnar actually has a d!ck tattooed on his chest.

Click here if you don’t want to look at pics of a penis anymore.

Chuck Liddell still looking for an ass-whippin

Losing three of his last four fights, with the last being a solid KTFO episode that ended with Rashad Evans literally knocking the shit out of Liddell in the UFC fight in Atlanta (rumors are that even Evans commented on smelling shit after knocking him out), Chuck Liddell is looking to come back for more. In this interview from Sherdog, he talks about ignoring good advice and Rashad taking advantage of his mistakes.

PS - You can bet on the upcoming UFC fight at BetUS.

Michael Vick playing football in 2009?

It seems like just yesterday that the adorable, cuddly little quarterback from Atlanta named Michael Vick was sentenced to jail time for the brutal dog fighting operation that he ran from a house in Virginia. Well, mark your calendars everyone because PETA’s favorite NFL athlete is set to be released on July 20, 2009. Assuming he doesn’t get into any jailhouse trouble and the state accepts his guilty plea for the still-pending state charges, he’ll be able to head to a halfway house and begin training to come back to the NFL.

Of course Commissioner Goodell holds the key to golden gates of the NFL and while he’s been tough on many offenders since taking control of the leagues conduct policy, he’s shown some compassion for players on first offenses. First offense or not however, this will prove to be the biggest test of Goodell and his judgment so far. A worldwide audience will be watching this and PETA, always on the prowl, will of course be set to pounce on the first opportunity to trash Vick and any team that dares host talks with the villain.

We don’t expect that to stop someone like Al Davis, who fires coaches at will and clearly only gives a shit about winning. In fact, we’re willing to bet that Davis or one of his representatives will be among the first to send Vick a gift basket once he gets out of the klink. They shoot each other all the time in Oakland anyway, so it’s doubtful too many fans there will care about Vick shooting a dog or two.

Now who’s taking the over/under on when Vick returns to the NFL?

Kimbo gets KTFO in 14 seconds - EliteXC KTFO in 22 months

Most in the MMA world felt that the brutal beat-down of Kimbo Slice at the hands of UFC dropout Seth Petruzelli was the beginning of the end for EliteXC. The second of what should have three live events broadcast on CBS was a monumental bomb with the marquis star of the fighting organization getting his ass whipped just 14 seconds into the fight. By a replacement fighter. Because old timer Ken Shamrock cut his eye just before the fight. In short, what could go wrong that night, did go wrong.

Late last evening the news began to spread that EliteXC was filing for bankruptcy protection and closing the doors to their 100K a month rental offices in California. Finger pointing started shortly after the Kimbo fight and today it elevated to a new level. With former executive TJ Thompson now blasting the leadership of the company, it’s clear that if his allegations are even remotely true, EliteXC seemed screwed from the get-go.

Somewhere Dana White has a massive hard-on right now. He made it clear early on that EliteXC was not ready to run with the UFC, pointing out that their stable of fighters were second-class for the most part and nowhere near the caliber of HIS fighters. Of course, it’s seems prophetic when he commented just a few weeks ago that Kimbo Slice “may be the baddest guy at the BBQ, but he’s not the baddest guy in MMA by any stretch”.

It appears that the ship that was once EliteXC has went down almost as quickly (just 22 months in business) as their proclaimed captain (Kimbo was knocked out in 14 seconds). It will be interesting to see where many of the fighters under EliteXC contracts wind up once the smoke clears.

UFC 89: Bisping closer to title shot and Dana White pisses on Tito

UFC 89 helped cement the premier MMA fighting organization and their grasp on the UK market.  After a rough start with their first event in 2002, the UFC has tried multiple times to penetrate the UK fan base. With the 11th most popular sports figure in the UK on their payroll, Michael Bisping and his surprising rise to fame has helped the UFC take over MMA in the UK.

Bisping put a beating on Chris Leben like no other MMA fighter has, landing punches at will and leaving Leben looking as if it were a baseball bat that hit his face versus Bisping’s gloves. The fight was lopsided and Bisping took down a unanimous decision to the roar from the UK audience. After the fight, Bisping was asked when he feels ready for a title fight. His response shows the level of maturity the talented fighter continues to demonstrate as he racks up win after win:

“I just take it one step at a time; I don’t want to get ahead of myself,” Bisping said. “All people seem to be talking about is a title shot. I’m seeing improvement with every fight. I’m getting better and better. All aspects of my game are getting better. Whenever it comes, I’ll be happy. I’m in no rush. If they said next fight, I’d be happy. lf they said five fights, I’d be happy.”

Perhaps the most entertaining quote from the night came not from a fighter but the promoter himself. Never at a loss of words when it comes to someone who crossed him, Dana White was asked by a UK fan if he would piss on Tito Ortiz if he saw him on fire. In typical unfiltered fashion, White replied: “I really wouldn’t. I’d toast a fucking marshmallow on him.”

Kimbo Slice KTFO by replacement fighter Petruzelli

In a stunning (depending on who you ask) upset, former “The Ultimate Fighter” contestant Seth Petruzelli stopped Kimbo Slice just 14 seconds into their fight this past Saturday night. Seth was a last minute replacement for Ken Shamrock who conveniently cut his eye in pre-fight warm ups. While the cut did require stitches it’s up for debate on whether it was an accident or staged to keep the geriatric Shamrock from getting his ass whipped yet again.

UFC President Dana White has always maintained that Kimbo “may be the baddest guy at the BBQ but he’s not the baddest MMA fighter by any stretch”. Dana’s words have proved to be prophetic as the “baddest guy at the BBQ” got his ass dropped by a guy that quit MMA to open up a Smoothie King franchise.

After refusing to touch gloves after the bell for the first round, Kimbo charged the young Petruzelli trying to dominate early. Just a few seconds into this attack he was dropped when while trying to block a kick, caught with a vicious right from Petruzelli that sent the big man down for the count. Seth landed at least a dozen more blows to the beached whale (Kimbo) before the fight was called by referee Troy Waugh.

While digging around Kimbo’s camp looking for answers to help explain this devastating loss we were able to uncover perhaps a key clue. In an exclusive interview, Kimbo’s training partner had this to say:

“Kimbo didn’t want to grapple with anyone capable of really working him hard. So I took it easy on him, you know, basically letting him whoop my ass every time. The tables were turned the day before the fight because just like Charley Murphy got tired and finally whipped Rick James’ ass, I had to do the same to Kimbo. Someone had to put that fool in his place and it just happened to be me. Frankly, I’m glad he got beat.”

While we weren’t able to name the training partner we did get a rare photo of the two sparring -

So it’s pretty clear to us that while Kimbo can beat the hell of a practice dummy and most any dude at the BBQ, there’s obviously a big ass glass jaw behind that big ass beard of his.