Affliction may be facing an uphill battle leading towards its next event. Following its debut card, which the organization has deemed a financial success, Affliction may experience a few bumps in the road while putting together a follow-up extravaganza. First, the prize pupil of Affliction, Fedor Emelianenko, received a medical suspension that could last as long as six months.

It is hard to believe Fedor could sustain any type of injury during the brief amount of time he was in the ring against Tim Sylvia. Reports have indicated that Fedor’s suspension is due to a recurring hand injury. Did he really hit Sylvia that hard?

Despite what reports are leaked, it’s a pretty safe bet that Fedor will be cleared to fight before the October 11th event. It’s hard to imagine Affliction not being able to get around this minor pothole. That being said, Sylvia’s status for October 11th also remains in question. But does anyone really care? (more…)

If you had to pick a fighter of the month for July, who would be your choice? Forrest Griffin shocked the world when he dismantled Quinton Jackson in arguably the best division in the sport of mixed martial arts. Fedor Emelianenko also came out and proved his dominance in the heavyweight division at Affliction’s debut event. Anderson Silva might even deserve a mention after bumping up a weight class and brutalizing James Irvin.

A panel of experts over at 411mania.com seem to feel that Griffin is the consensus choice as fighter of the month. Griffin’s win shook the mma world and quickly reconfigured the top of the light heavyweight division.

Some other fighters who enjoyed an excellent July were Andrei Arlovksi, Jake Shields and Joachim Hansen. Arlovski’s win over Ben Rothwell has set him up for a shot at Fedor while Shields continued to establish his place among the welterweight elite. Hansen seized hold of the DREAM lightweight championship by avenging a previous loss to Shinya Aoki.

While quite a few fighters enjoyed a stellar July, it’s still hard to deny Griffin as being the fighter of the month.

This Saturday night, Phil “The New York Bad Ass” Baroni will fight yet again as part of ICON’s Saturday night event in Honolulu, Hawaii. His opponent this weekend will be Ron Verdadero. Who, you might ask? Well, Verdado is a lesser known fighter with a less than impressive record. This following clip familiarizes you with Verdadero who’s next claim to fame could very well being Baroni’s next victim.

It didn’t take long for Jesse Taylor’s UFC career to spiral downward into nothingness. Following the juvenile antics that got him booted off The Ultimate Fighter 7, he came up short in a disappointing loss to CB Dollaway at UFC Fight Night 14. Then, he issued some negative comments on the whole Quinton Jackson situation. Now, the UFC has finally had enough.

It has been reported that Taylor has been released by the UFC. What was once a promising career has now turned in to a search for new employment. Sure, Taylor will probably be able to pick up some fights in lesser known organizations. However, those fights will not take place on the grand stage on which the UFC presents its exhibitions.

Nevertheless, Taylor has no one to blame but himself. A prime opportunity was placed before him and he did everything in his power to mess that up. And now, it may be too late for him to attempt to clean up that mess. It looks as though the last second has ticked off Taylor’s fifteen minutes of fame in the UFC.

EliteXC released the fighter payouts that stemmed from Saturday night’s Unfinished Business. Apparently, a fighter who wasn’t even on the main fight card made almost as much as the total payout to all eight fighters on the main card. Here’s a look at those payouts along with some thoughts on how that money was spent.

Robbie Lawler: $90,000 (includes $45,000 win bonus)
Not too shabby for about eight minutes of work
Scott Smith: $14,000
Even though he was an underdog, he should have made more as part of the main event

Nick Diaz: $60,000 (no win bonus)
Giving his home town a treat was bonus enough for Diaz
Thomas Denny: $8,500
At least he can afford to buy a lot more hair dye

Jake Shields: $45,000 ($10,000 win bonus)
The best fighter on the card should have seen some more coin
Nick Thompson: $25,000
Too much moolah for the lame performance he put on (more…)

NBC Sports takes time out to countdown the top ten mma fighters in the world. See who made the list and where they stand. How would you rank the top ten fighters and would your list look much different from this one? The top two on the list are likely to come as no surprise, but the folks over at NBC will probably stir up some interesting thoughts with the rest of their top ten.

Mixed martial arts is making headlines in major newspapers all across the country and we have a couple of those stories in today’s Daily Crunch. Also, Roger Huerta gives the UFC some bad publicity while a pair of WEC fighters are taking a one-day-at-a time approach to their upcoming bouts this Sunday at WEC 35. It’s time to get going with The Thursday Crunch.

Michael Brick of the New York Times takes a look at the badges of honor worn by mixed martial artists. Brick explains how the cauliflower ear has become part of the mma culture in what is a very interesting read.

Kye Stephenson of the Baltimore Sun debates whether or not Chuck Liddell deserves a title shot even with an impressive win over Rashad Evans at UFC 88.

Roger Huerta tells Fight Magazine that he doesn’t care if he ever fights in the UFC again. Mmapayout.com has the inside slant.

Carlos Condit may be one of the top ten welterweights in the world but he doesn’t make too much noise about it. Yahoo Sports columnist Kevin Lole dives in to Condit’s low profile world.

Undefeated Marcus Hicks is coming into Sunday night’s WEC lightweight title fight against Jamie Varner like it is just another fight. MMA Weekly caught up with Hicks as he gets set for the biggest fight of his career.

Sherdog gets an earful from Kala Hose who will be featured in ICON’s main event this Saturday when he faces Rolando Dominique in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Sporting a mohawk, Brett Rogers shared his thoughts on the heavyweight division following EliteXC’s Saturday night event. If he had his druthers, Rogers would prefer to fight Kimbo Slice even before current EliteXC heavyweight champion Antonio Silva. Rumors have been circulating about Rogers being the next possible opponent for Slice on EliteXC’s October 4th nationally televised event. Rogers owns a professional record of 8-0 with three straight first-round victories coming in the EliteXC.

The EliteXC wasn’t pulling any punches when it handed out the medical suspensions following Saturday night’s bout. Here’s a look at the long list of fighters who will all have brief vacations form the EliteXC

Robbie Lawler (defeated Scott Smith) — Suspended for 60 days due to a scalp laceration.
Scott Smith (defeated by Robbie Lawler) — Suspended for 45 days with no contact for 30 days due to a TKO loss.
Thomas Denny (defeated by Nick Diaz) — Suspended for 45 days with no contact for 30 days due to a TKO loss.
Marlon Mathias (defeated by David Douglas) — Suspended for 45 days with no contact for 30 days due to a TKO loss.
Shayna Baszler (defeated by Cristiane Cyborg) — Suspended for 45 days with no contact for 30 days due to a TKO loss.
Justin Eilers (defeated by Antonio Silva) — Suspended for 45 days with no contact for 30 days due to a TKO loss.
Travis Galbraith (defeated by Rafael Feijao) — Suspended for 180 days due to a possible broken rib. Minimum 45 day suspension with no contact for 30 days due to a TKO loss.
Wilson Reis (defeated Brian Caraway) — Suspended for 60 days due to a scalp laceration.
Mike Cook (defeated by Carl Seumanutafa) — Suspended for 60 days due to a right lateral knee injury. Minimum 45 day suspension with no contact for 30 days due to a TKO loss.
Drew Montgomery (defeated Brandon Tarn) — Suspended 60 days due to a left eye laceration.
Brandon Tarn (defeated by Drew Montgomery) — Suspended 60 days due to forehead laceration.

EliteXC has just announced the five fights that will be part of the main card during its next television event. Showtime will air its latest edition of the ShoXC Challenger Series on August 15th at 11pm EST. In the main event, Light heavyweight Cyrille “The Snake” Diabate will make his inaugural EliteXC appearance against Jaime Fletcher.

The women will mix it up again when Debi Purcell takes on Rosi Sexton. Purcell is another female fighter fans should keep an eye on. She could easily boost her status in the women’s division after victimizing Sexton.

A lingering wrist injury forced Hector Lombard to prolong his EliteXC debut as he was tentatively scheduled to step in the cage. Here are the five fights that are now official.

Cyrille Diabate vs. Jamie Fletcher
Jared Hamman vs. Po’ai Suganuma
Sammy Morgan vs. Fabricio Camoes
Debi Purcell vs. Rosi Sexton
Keith Berry vs. Reggie Orr