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.

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.

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.

UFC Undisputed is making headlines all over the country months before its much anticipated release. A panel of gaming experts get together to discuss the highly regarded video game in this following clip. Gamers have over eighty UFC fighters to choose from in this revolutionary game. Check out why UFC Undisputed is already generating such a buzz.

Georges St. Pierre knows what it takes to be a champion, but he also knows what it is to lose a championship. He is now guaranteeing that the latter will not happen this August at UFC 87. In preparation for his date with Jon Fitch, GSP isn’t changing the way he trains but admitted he is adjusting his strategy. Here what the UFC welterweight champion has to say now that the fight is less than two weeks away.

Hump day is finally here which means there is one less day to fight night. The WEC is in the spotlight this week as it gears up for its Sunday night event. Here at the crunch, we’re getting you started with everything you need to know while another weekend of action rapidly approaches.

James Irvin has tested positive for painkillers and after getting bludgeoned by Anderson Silva, he may have very well needed them. But Nevada officials might not see things in such a light.

A panel over at 411mania.com debates the issue of whether or not Andrei Arlovski is better competition for Fedor Emelianenko than Tim Sylvia. Could he really be any worse?

Sherdog follows Carlos Condit’s charge towards this Sunday’s welterweight title defense against Hiromitsu Miura at WEC 35.

The San Fransisco Chronicle shows how mixed martial arts was able to convert a boxing town into a city that is now love with the sport of mma.

Also on the card at WEC 35 will be a match-up between David Terel and Blas Avena. Who, you might ask? WEC.tv answers that question.

The Vancouver Sun explains why the month of July was a banner time for the sport of mixed martial arts.

Less than two weeks away, UFC 87 has finally set a complete fight card for its next pay-per-view event. The organization officially announced exactly who will be squaring off in the octagon on August 9th in Minneapolis.

Main Card Bouts:
Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch
Kenny Florian vs. Roger Huerta
Brock Lesnar vs. Heath Herring
Demian Maia vs. Jason MacDonald
Manny Gamburyan vs. Rob Emerson

Preliminary Bouts:
Cheick Kongo vs. Dan Evensen
Andre Gusmao vs. Jon Jones
Steve Bruno vs. Chris Wilson
Tamdan McCrory vs. Luke Cummo
Ben Saunders vs. Ryan Thomas

Fabricio Werdum leaked some details about his next bout. In an interview that needed to be translated in his native Portuguese, he claimed that he will fight Juniors De Santos at UFC 90. Werdum also went on to state that if he emerges victorious, he will then be the next challenger for the heavyweight title.

Meanwhile, Tito Ortiz is reportedly very close to signing a deal with Affliction that will have him face Renato “Babalu” Sobral at its next event on October 11th. A clause in Ortiz’s contract prohibits Affliction from speaking with him until August 4th. It is then that Affliction will likely seal the deal and usher in Ortiz vs. Sobral as its co-main event.

In other news, three U.S. Army fighters stationed at Ft. Bening, Georgia will participate in the AFL’s (American Fight League) September 26th event that will take place in Columbus, Georgia. The event has been billed “A salute to the troops.

Although UFC Undisputed will not be released until 2009, it is already winning awards. It was recently announced that the game had won IGN’s Overall Best of E3 2008 Awards. What’s that mean? It means it’s a pretty cool game. The game features amazing graphics and a realistic depiction of life inside the octagon.

Many similar fighting games of the past have been criticized for the stiff movement of its fighters. UFC Undisputed does not find itself plagued by such faults. The fighters’ movements are very fluid, quite emblematic of the actual stuff witnessed in real live broadcasts.

There has been a tremendous amount of hype surrounding this game and will surely follow it up to its release date in 2009. The exact date of the release has yet to be announced, however gamers are likely to wait in line for hours to be the first to get their hands on UFC Undisputed.

A WEC veteran has managed to find a new home in the EliteXC. John “The Natural” Alessio has just signed a three fight deal with the organization. Alessio last fought on June 20th for Banner Promotions “Night of Combat”. Prior to that, he had six straight WEC fights with a UFC bout against Thiago Alves taking place right before those half-dozen fights.

Of course, Alessio was on the losing end of his fight with Alves, yet he still brings a lot of experience EliteXC. In fact, Alessio dropped all three of his fights that took place in the UFC. However, he did manage to piece together a 5-2 record in the very formidable WEC. The 29 year-old Alessio holds a current professional record of 23-11.

It has been rumored that Alessio may be starting to be groomed as a future challenger to current EliteXC welterweight champion Jake Shields. Fiveouncesofpain.com has more on this breaking story.