Earlier this week, EliteXC announced that Antonio Silva has a new opponent for the co-main event at the Feb 16th card featuring Kimbo Slice vs Tank Abbott.  The new opponent will be none other than former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Ricco Rodriquez.  This is the third opponent slated to face Antonio Silva.  The first announced foe, Shane Carwin, turned down a deal in order to sign with the UFC.  Then late last week, EliteXC’s president Gary Shaw announced that Cage Rage’s Gary Turner would fill the slot.  Now, a few days after Shaw challenged the UFC and stated that Silva could beat any of the UFC heavyweights, EliteXC puts the former UFC champ in the cage with Junior.  Coincidence?

The story gets more interesting in that it turns out that EliteXC apparently did not treat Turner fairly in his mind.  EliteXC stated in an article on MMAWeekly that they ended up with contract problems and thus had to drop Turner from the card.  Turner, in an open letter to Gary Shaw/EliteXC on the Mat-Magazine website, disputes those facts and rips into the business practices of EliteXC.

Sirs,

This is highly upsetting.

I’ve discovered on the internet this morning that I’ve been dropped from my fight with Silva. Dropped? Finding out on the internet? Bit of an insult don’t you think?

To quote Gary Shaw himself, ‘we put the fighters first, they are the stars. We will do everything we can to put them first.’ I was at the press meet in London when he said this. This does not seem to ring true at all in practice, and even if Gary Shaw believes this, his staff definitely do not subscribe.

Let me explain the effects of Elite XC playing with someone’s life. My life.

I spoke with Dave O’Donnell of Cage Rage this morning. He says you contacted him late last night (I missed his call - I had already gone to bed!) and told him to tell me that you have dropped me due to my eyesight and the question whether I could achieve a license in Florida. As explained quite clearly to you I was licensed in 2006 twice by Florida. I provided you with the medical documentation that achieved my license to fight in Florida. I personally contacted Florida State Athletic Commission who confirmed that the medical documentation I presented was acceptable, and they confirmed that with these presented facts I would be licensed in Florida. I believe that either JT Steele is incompetent or even negligent for not checking his facts (as evidenced below in previous emails) or is hiding behind a different agenda.

The fight was offered, and basic terms offered. A negotiation took place and the basic terms agreed on. Offer and acceptance. Elite XC publish and advertise the fight. I put my life on hold.

I throw myself into training specifically for this fight. I book in trainingpartners. I book in sparring with the British Army Boxing Team. I am traveling the UK to ensure I get to spar and train with the best of Britain. My kickboxing, boxing and grappling coaches throw their commitment behind me. I book in specific training partners to ensure I am prepared for Silva.

I become my training!

As soon as Elite XC announced the fight publicly I spent time marketing the fight on the internet and contacting friends in Florida and the USA and Canada, ensuring that I could ensure good ticket and PPV sales. I even have a group of people here in the UK that are looking at flying out to watch the fight live.

I have my own business as a Building Surveyor who is Chartered (closest thing to this in the US is probably an Architect), and I have cancelled all my work running up to the fight in order to immerse myself in my preparations. This loss of business, and the knock on business it would generate, is obviously highly costly to me, and that work is now lost.

The timing of the fight is bad for personal relationships, with me not going to be at home on 14th February, which is Valentine’s Day in the UK, an important date for any relationship in the UK! Obviously my fiancée is upset that I won’t be doing anything with her that day, as I have put my sport before her.

Further, I have not earned money since the fight was accepted, yet have experienced numerous costs in training, let alone my living expense and mortgage that my fiancée will have to cover for this period. Can I ask what I am supposed to live on?

And then you decide to drop me, without even contacting me first. It is not just me who is affected.

Your ‘decision’ also affects everyone involved in my training. My coaches make personal and financial sacrifices to support me. The same with my training partners. Our personal lives are adversely affected by all of our commitment to prepare and be the best we can be the day of a fight.

So now the fight doesn’t take place, apparently at your unqualified ‘whim’. I now have to go on the internet and explain why this fight is not taking place. I have to explain that I can, and have, a license to fight in Florida. I have to explain that I had nothing whatsoever to do with the fight not taking place. I have to make it clear to other promoters that I am a committed sportsman who when HE AGREES to something to do whatever necessary to perform to his best. I have to make it clear that I am a professional who checks he can do what he says he can do prior to making an agreement. I have to confirm with everyone who questions that I had nothing at all to do with your decision to stop this fight from taking place.

Obviously I am very upset this morning, but have tried to remain objective in this email.

I want to know the real background as to why this fight is not taking place and the reasons behind your decision. And what you are going to do to put it right.

GARY TURNER

An interesting twist with EliteXC always claiming to have the best interests of the fighters in mind.

Where do a start with this fiasco?

Okay, if you want a complete background on what happened, I'd suggest reading two articles. First, Josh Gross over on Sherdog (site is down, will update with link) has some good interviews with some of the promoters and CSAC's Armando Garcia. Secondly, Dave Meltzer on Yahoo further dissects it in detail. Good reading IMO.

The initial problem I have is why does Bruce Bellocchi of the WCO not have a valid promoter's license for California? This is the second event he has promoted in the state and the second time he has used a local boxing promoter as the official promoter. Is he afraid of something they will find in the background check?

Secondly, when it became apparent that they were not going to have the funds available, he snaked around to many of the fighters trying to get them to agree to fight for $100, with a promise of paying them the full amount later. WTF? "You can trust me."

Thirdly, he forged a document, saying that the event was almost sold out, and gave it to an investor to calm the investor's fears. In fact, a little over 1000 tickets had been sold for the 9000 seat arena. So he completely lied to his primary investor. Interestingly, I checked the ticketmaster site about getting tickets the day before the event. Not that I was going, i just wanted to see the pricing for this event. It had $150 ringside seats still available in as many as you wanted.

Now Bellocchi is slamming Garcia and the CSAC for not letting them go ahead with the show, saying he'll never promote in California again. I can't stand Garcia, but he made the right decision in this case. Bellocchi is saying he had the money, but it would not be available until Jan 25. In the meantime, there was no guarantee that he couldn't withdraw that money before then.

In the meantime, Rick Bassman of Valor Fighting, the official promoter for the show, payed out 20% of the fighter purses with no promises from Bellocchi that he would be repaid. That shouldn't be a big problem if Bellocchi actually has the money he claims he does. But he's nowhere to be found at this point.

The guy is a snake and hopefully never is allowed to promote an event again.

This is a direct reprint of my choices as written for MMAonTap.

Fighter of the Year: A UFC Middleweight Champ, Anderson Silva. 3-0 on the year, Silva made top notch competition look like B level talent. It started with a tougher fight than most expected from Travis Lutter, as the veteran pushed Silva to show his groundwork and he responded, getting the tap from Lutter via triangle choke. Consecutive destructions of Nate Marquardt and Rich Franklin in their rematch propelled the Brazilian to the top of many Pound for Pound rankings. It was the ease and grace with which Silva has performed in the Octagon that has made him so amazing to watch. A dream match against Georges St Pierre seems inevitable, but not until at least 2009. The ageless Randy Couture is a close second in this category, off his two wins beating competition that seemingly held all the advantages.

Fight of the Year: Roger Huerta vs Clay Guida at the TUF 6 Finale. Pick any of Guida’s fights and you may have a candidate for fight of the year. And Huerta almost always puts together an entertaining fight, thus a great fight was hoped for between these two. And boy, did they deliver! Guida was winning this fight decisively through two rounds but not without taking a lot of damage. Huerta, in his biggest test to date, let it all hang out. Finally, Roger connected on the shots that lead to the end of the fight in the 3rd. This was the definition of a MMA war. You had bombs landing on their feet. Slick takedowns with lightning fast reversals lead to a few great submission attempts. The ground work was simply awesome to watch. But when the fight went back to standing, there was no less action there as well. A match for the ages. A close second goes to the Nick Diaz vs Takanori Gomi tilt at Pride’s last event in the US. Though the decision was eventually overturned due to Diaz’ penchant for smoking marijuana, this fight was also a slugfest that had some great groundwork as well. The fact that it finished with a gogoplata made it that much better. I’ll always wonder how a well prepared Gomi would have fared in this match.

Best Knockout: So many great KO’s to pick from. From Houston Alexander’s vicious uppercut KO of Keith Jardine to Dan Henderson’s absolute bomb that KO’d Wanderlei Silva, there was no shortage of fights to pick from. But it was a head kick from Gabriel Gonzaga that sent Mirko CroCop into instantaneous unconsciousness that takes the prize. It was surprising enough that Napao was handling CroCop so easily on the ground. But when the fight was seemingly stood up for now apparent reason, it seemed logical to think that it had re-entered CroCop’s domain. But a lightning fast right head kick, eerily reminiscent of quite a few of CroCop’s fight ending left head kicks, sent the Croatian immediately to sleep and Gonzaga into celebration. It was an all time KO for the transplanted Brazilian, now making his home in Massachusetts.

Best Submission: For a move that had rarely been used in MMA matches to garner a submission, the gogoplata certainly garnered a lot of attention this year. In fact, former college football player, heavyweight Brad Imes used it twice this year to get tapouts. And while the first was used by Shinya Aoki on Joachim Hansen in late 2006, it was Nick Diaz’s gogoplata on lightweight kingpin Takanori Gomi that was the most amazing use of the move. Ending a fight that was an absolute war, the move put Gomi to sleep and cemented Diaz’s stature as one of the more talented, yet enigmatic personalities in the sport.

Event of the Year There is not event that takes place that can’t be picked apart to show the inadequacies of it. Even a show full of great fights will have its detractors and this year was certainly the case. But for their last hurrah in the US, the Pride 33: Second Coming show was an absolutely great show. Featuring just one decision in a fight that was pretty action packed (Trigg-Misaki), the show had it all. Big KO’s for Sokoudjou, Henderson, Sakurai, and Shogun, awesome submissions by Diaz, Hansen, and Kharitonov, and a few matches that yielded upsets in the eyes of many, including Sokoudjou defeating Lil’ Nog, Diaz submitting Gomi, and Dan Henderson grabbing the Pride Middleweight title to go with his Welterweight belt by KO’ing the Axe Murderer, Wanderlei Silva. This was a heck of a card to go out on. While Pride held one more show under DSE management, it’s this show that many view as the end of the Pride promotion.

Biggest Upset: In a year that was absolutely full of amazing upsets, my vote simply has to go to Matt Serra’s TKO of UFC Welterweight Champion, Georges St Pierre. While some fights had even higher odds stacked against the eventual winner, almost no one gave Matt Serra a realistic chance. In fact, most bemoaned the fact that Serra was even getting the championship opportunity merely by winning The Ultimate Fighter: Comeback season. But Serra did as he always does and took the fight right to the uber talented Canadian. When the end came just 3:35 into the very first round, it left the MMA world in shocked silence. Even now, as Serra recovers from a back injury and GSP now holds the interim title waiting for Serra to recover, there’s little doubt that Serra will once again be a hefty underdog in the rematch with GSP. But for one night in April, Matt Serra silenced the MMA world.

Most Improved Fighter: Another tough category, my pick will be surprise to many. But hear me out. Kenny Florian ended 2006 by getting physically mauled by Sean Sherk. Most had questioned why he had been put in that spot fighting for the title to begin with. But he held is own with the champ and never gave up. Entering 2007, most expected Florian to become a gatekeeper to the UFC’s lightweight division. But Kenny had different thoughts. Already very well versed in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu having earned a Black Belt from Roberto Maia, Florian has always been fascinated in Muay Thai. Thus Kenny made the decision to study the ancient combat art in its birthplace, Thailand. Multiple times this past year, Florian has returned to Thailand to study and train and it has shown. In his three victories this year, Florian has shown a vastly improved standup from what he showed early in his career. He picked apart Doko Mishima on their feet, and schooled Royce Gracie brown belt Alvin Robinson on the ground before pounding him out. Finally, he picked apart Din Thomas on their feet using classic Muay Thai before an injury put Thomas on the ground and Kenny choked him out. A year removed from a title fight loss, and Florian is putting himself back into title contention with his vastly improved standup.

Newcomer of the Year: Frankie Edgar. While Sokodjou and Houston Alexander blasted their way into the limelight with dynamic knockouts over high quality opposition, a loss by each at the end of the year hurt their cause in this category. Frankie Edgar opened the year as a 7-1 underdog to phenom Tyson Griffin. A brilliant fight against Tyson earned him the well deserved decision over the previously unbeaten Griffin. A summer fight against BJJ wizard Mark Bocek saw Edgar send Bocek to his first career loss via a nasty ground and pound TKO in dominating fashion. Frankie finished the year fighting in front of the hometown crowd in New Jersey against The King, Spencer Fisher. Even odds going into the fight with the MFS stud, Edgar once again dominated the fight en route to a lopsided decision. For this, Frankie Edgar earns my nod as Newcomer of the Year.

Team/Camp of the Year: This may be the most difficult category to choose this year. While each of the biggest camps had fighters win huge fights, most also saw fighters lose. Thus it’s a relatively new camp that wins the award from me. Team Black House was started in late 2006 in Rio de Janiero and featured a few former members of the famed Chute Boxe team. UFC Middleweight Champ Anderson Silva was one of the founding members as was former UFC champ Vitor Belfort. Undefeated ligh heavyweight contender Lyoto Machida also calls Black House home. In mid 2007, former Pride Heavyweight Champ and current UFC #1 contender Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira joined the team as did Pride veteran Antonio "Nino" Schembri. WEC Middleweight Champ Paulo Filho, while not officially part of the team, trains there when he’s in Brazil and not in Massachusetts with Team Link. Thus based on the success of its members in the past year, Team Black House is my choice for Team of the Year.

Story of the Year: While the end results have certainly not been what most had hoped for, Zuffa’s acquisition of DSE’s Pride promotion is the Story of the Year. Since the middle of 2006, the rumors of Pride’s demise seemed to be a weekly occurrence on the various message boards. The denials were also always present. In fact, mere days before the Zuffa purchase was announced officially, Pride mouthpiece Jerry Millen went on a huge rant saying how he had personally spoken to the Japanese management who assured him that Pride was not being sold. Days later at Roppongi Hills Arena in Tokyo, the sale was announced and the end of the Pride promotion as the world knew it was at hand.

Biggest Disappointment: Shogun Rua’s debut in the Octagon. We all know many of the reasons why Rua’s debut went so poorly. He got married, had a knee injury, didn’t take Forrest as a serious threat. All are sure to have played a part. Regardless, it was a disappointing start in the next phase of this guy’s career. There’s no denying his ability. Its dynamic. And I have little doubt that the loss will only serve to re-focus him, much in the way GSP’s defeat by Matt Serra did for Georges. He will someday soon fight for the But there’s no denying, Shogun’s debut in the UFC was a massive disappointment.

Worst Judge's Decision: The old boxing saying is “Don’t ever leave a fight in the hands of the judges”. This adage seems even more appropriate for the sport of MMA. With sanctioning bodies employing judges who may not have had any experience in the world of MMA yet are deemed able to officiate, some pretty misguided decisions are the end result. But this will always be the problem with subjective decisions. So many fights that go to the scorecards can be argued one way or another. Even the fight that I am choosing here, Michael Bisping vs Matt Hamill, can be seen in the favor of the reported winner. But when the vast majority of fans in an arena billed as your hometown in England, jeer the result as heartily as many did that night, most know something was wrong with the decision. With Bisping now dropping to middleweight, the chances for a rematch have slimmed significantly. But hopefully, Hamill and Bisping can meet again in the cage at some point in the future. In the end, MMA fighters need to continue to live by the motto, “Never leave the fight in the hands of the judges”.

Worst Cut/Injury: As with any sport, injuries are part of the sport. In MMA, lacerations tend to be more common than other sports excluding boxing. This year was no different as some fighters in MMA suffered some pretty gruesome lacerations. For me, the worst cut was that suffered by Kalib Starnes in his fight against Alan Belcher at UFC 77. When the doctor stopped the fight, Starnes got into a shouting match with his cornermen, yelling that the doctor said he could see his skull through the gaping forehead wound. A closeup of the gash showed that may have been the case. The wound was reminiscent of the most famous cut in MMA history, the one suffered by Marvin Eastman courtesy of a Vitor Belfort knee. Starnes was busted wide open and left little choice to the cageside physician but to stop the fight.

Here's a small collection of thoughts.

A couple quick notes about the WEC 31 event from Wednesday night..

• The release suplex that Charlie Valencia pulled off was easily the nicest I've ever seen in MMA. He didn't even have to do it as he was already in good position. But man, it was sweet.
• How about KO artist Doug Marshall setting up the sweet armbar? Impressive from the Rhino.
• Sonnen was handing Filho his ass. And I was all for Filho as I'm not really a big Team Quest guy. Chael has a legitimate gripe about not tapping, but if the ref didn't stop it, Paulo had that armbar in so tight, he would have popped an elbow or shoulder real quick.
• Another KO artist in Jens Pulver using a sweet anaconda to take out Swanson. Well done Jens.
• And finally, Jeff Curran brought everything most expected at Urijah Faber. There are so many times in most Faber fights that it looks like he's in a very bad position, but he stays calm and works his way out. He is fast as hell, and he really locked that guillotine on quickly. Curran could barely stand after it was released. Choking out a BJJ Black Belt is never easy, but once again, Faber does not get out of the second round. The fight with Pulver next year should be a dandy. Pulver wants it, and Urijah said it would be an honor fighting someone like Jens.

Once again, a great night of fights from the WEC. Highlighting the lighter weights is really a great way to keep this organization building. Non stop excitement.

So Fedor's opponent for the New Year's Eve Yarennoka has been confirmed to be K-'s Hong Man Choi.  Whatever.  I'm sure it makes complete sense business wise to sell the event to the Japanese fans, but this confirmation means I will not go out of my way to see the event.  I'm not a fan of "freakshow" and the fact that Fedor's management agreed to "special rules" for this match with HMC further dilutes the legitimacy of this fight.  I understand it, but I don't have to like it. 

That's a quickie for now. 

First off, welcome.  It seems half the world now writes blogs about whatever comes into their heads.  So I figured why not.  The corney name, Reger's Rage, actually came from an old website I used to have that was mainly for trading hockey fight tapes.  I feel I should introduce myself a bit, so here's a pretty brief synopsis.

My name is Bill Reger and I have been involved in sports my entire life.  Whether as a fan or involved as part of my job as an athletic trainer, sports is very important to me.  Professionally, I've worked in sports medicine for 15 years, including positions in the NFL, 8 years at a Division I university, and most recently, at the high school level. 

Like so many fans of MMA, I saw the very early UFC's and was intrigued.  As the sport was banned and it became harder and harder to see, I lost some touch.  It was while at the collegiate level as the athletic trainer for the wrestling program that I started to follow it closely again in 2001.  Now, it is my primary hobby as I am an avid follower of MMA. Through my years watching D1 college wrestling, I got to personally meet, watch, and cheer on alot of wrestlers who now are a success in MMA.  Guys like Josh Koscheck, Matt Hamill, and Urijah Faber.  As a life long fan of wrestling, I've always been a fan of guys like Randy Couture, Mark Coleman, and Mark Kerr.  But I've broadened my horizons and now follow  guys like Anderson Silva, Gabriel Gonzaga, and Mach Sakurai.  But in general, I simply enjoy and admire the sport no matter who is in the cage/ring.

Currently, I'm an admin/mod on a few different message boards including FightForum.com and Hockeyfights.com.  Both are great sites in their own ways and I highly recommend them both.  Please don't hold it against me that I'm one of the staff on each site.  I just try to help out each in any way I can.  Often, mods are seen as the enemy, whereas we're simply volunteers hoping to make a site run smoother.

I also contribute to an up and coming MMA blog by the name of MMAonTap.  The main guys that run that site, Scott White and John Chandler, do a fantastic job of keeping it up to date and finding exclusive content.  Scott is really exceptional at posting Canadian MMA material that no one else knows about.  David Singer, the owner of MMAonTap, also owns Hockeyfight.com and KOCorner as well.  He is a very good friend of mine, and I'm proud to help him in any way I can.

So that's my story in brief.  Whenever I get a chance, I'll post my thoughts on relevant MMA subjects as I see them.  You may like some of my opinions, some you may think are absolutely ridiculous.  Please feel free to smack them either way.  After all, they are just opinions and we all know opinions are like ********, everyone has one!  Enjoy. 

Bill