It’s hard to have any kind of extensive discussion about the sport of mixed martial arts without having the Gracie name make its way into the conversation. The simple name alone demands respect and, when a fighter is affiliated with any Gracie, more attention is always pushed his way. Renzo Gracie is one of the legends who practically helped mold the sport of mixed martial arts.

Gracie is currently running his own academy which consists of 150 students and offers up to 14 classes per day. Gracie told Scott Dryden of The Peoples’ Defender that he plans to open five more affiliate academies by December.

Gracie also went on to share his thoughts on the sport and how it has grown at such a rapid pace.
Being such an integral part of the sport, Gracie had this to say.

“My family is the spine of the sport. My family has lived the sport for 100 years. It’s my biggest motivation for training athletes.”

With mma fighters constantly looking for an extra edge, an affiliation with the Gracie name just might do the trick.

The recent need for competition in the heavyweight division has switched on a few light bulbs. Perhaps the highest of those bulbs rests atop the head of 6-foot-10 Gan “The Giant” McGee. Apparently, the former UFC fighter wants to step back inside the cage. Following a four year hiatus, McGee has agreed to fight on September 25th as part of Xtreme Fighting Championships latest event.

Now, is the heavyweight division spread so thin that gargantuan retirees such as McGee need to return in an attempt to resurrect the weight class? McGee had some formidable wins in the past, Pedro Rizzo and Alexandre Danta to name a couple, but how much training has he done since his last fight?

Perhaps McGee is still in decent shape and will be able to make some sort of a comeback. The odds may not weigh heavily in his favor, nevertheless, it could be done. Yet, if he cannot return to the form he held more than four years ago, he could do more to hurt than help the heavyweight division. A failed attempt by McGee will be remembered as just one more mockery in a weight class that is struggling to tread water.

Although Tito Ortiz won’t be fighting anytime soon, he is still managing to make headlines. And no, it has nothing to do with the fact that he is still dating a woman who once passed for Jenna Jameson. Ortiz’s latest foray into the headlines centers around his book, “This is gonna Hurt”.

The Sun newspaper does a spread on Ortiz and takes excerpts from his book in which Ortiz talks about his past run ins with Forrest Griffin and Ken Shamrock. The Sun also goes on to report that Ortiz is close friends with Donald Trump, which could lead to a future bout in an upcoming Affliction card. As of now, that is merely speculation.

Ortiz will probably ride the laurels of his new book for a while and when people stop turning the pages, he will likely step back into cage for one more pay day. A return to the cage would bring in viewers regardless of how much past his prime Ortiz may be. So don’t be surprised to see Ortiz pop back into the cage once his books accumulate a significant amount of dust while sitting on the shelves in stores around the world.

All in all, EliteXC put on fairly decent show last night. Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith finally settled things in the cage and the women came to play once again. Kimbo Slice was on hand but didn’t do anything to sully the name of the sport like he did during EliteXC’s last national television broadcast. Here’s a few afterthoughts from the Unfinished Business.

Quick with the stretcher
After Antonio Silva laid out Justin Eilers, the medical crew rushed a stretcher into the cage rather quickly. Eilers was down but not really out and it might have been a bit premature.

The Worst of…
Nick Thompson undeniably won the award for the worst beard of the night. Thomas Denny came in a close second, but Denny did managed to display the worst haircut of the evening.

Elite Company
Rafael Feijao has some elite company tutoring him along the way, training alongside mma greats Anderson Silva and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. He’ll be one of the young fighters to watch in the future. He made it look easy in his first round knockout against Travis Galbraith as Silva looked on. (more…)

The women impressed yet again at last night’s EliteXC presentation of Unfinished Business. Christiane Cyborg returned to the mma circuit after a two year lay-off, but proved that she had remained busy in the interim. Cyborg came out and immediately went right after the favored Shayna Baszler. Baszler hung on and showed a game effort, but Cyborg was just too much.

Built like a tank, Cyborg took the action right to Baszler and brought the crowd to its feet. She disposed of Baszler via a knockout that came as the second round was winding down. This is the second time in a row that a women’s bout has been a smashing success at an EliteXC event. The most recognizable face in women’s mma, Gina Carano, was on hand to take in the action and stated that she is ready to challenge Cyborg in the future.

A Cyborg-Carano affair would build on the momentum quickly being built by the women in EliteXC. It is not merely a novelty anymore, but rather a compelling and throughly entertaining part of mma. Even though Baszler was overpowered, she reverted to her excellent ground game aand continually tried to hook in a submission.

It was an excellent fight and should pave the way for a future clash between Carano and Cyborg. These female fighters are exciting to watch and, with the addition of quality fighters like Cyborg, the field should only get stronger.

Robbie Lawler likes not having a lot of time off between fights. Getting set for his rematch with Scott Smith this Saturday night, Lawler has concentrated a lot more on being a better technical fighter. While training for this fight, he is working on setting up Smith for a knockout shot instead of just trying to land one big blow. Lawler will be looking to seize the EliteXC World Middleweight title and hopes that his training this time around will pay off.

Friday’s finally here and we have some lists to get you ready for the weekend. Tito Ortiz has no plans to get back in the octagon any time soon, yet he highlights this edition of The Friday Crunch. EliteXC has some unfinished business to take care of Saturday night, but for now we’ll take care of business in the The Daily Crunch.

EliteXC has added a swing bout to its Saturday night fight card featuring Marlon Mathias against David Douglas according to mmamania.com

There have been more bouts added to Sengoku 4 which will take place on August 24th in Japan. Former Pride lightweight champion Takanori Gomi is among those who will see action outside the fuirst round of the Sengoku lightweight tournament.

UFC legend Tito Ortiz spent some time this week organizing a blood drive and is now concerned with giving back to the community. The Arizona Republic has the story.

Ortiz remains in the news as 411mania.com runs down a list of the top ten fighters you love to hate.

Sherdog gets into the action with its own list of the top 7 non-UFC welterweight fights in the history of mixed martial arts.

Chuck Liddell takes some time to tell ESPN about his recent wedding proposal.

With more interested eyes starting to focus on the sport of mixed martial arts, the pace of the sport is starting to accelerate. No longer is the UFC the only organization turning heads and no longer do fans have to settle for once a month events. Actually, there have always been mma events taking place, but never before did they demand such a grand spotlight. Now, week after week, mma cards are being broadcasted to the mass public.

Last week, fight fans were able to choose between UFC Fight Night 14 and Affliction: Banned. This week, EliteXC will put on a nationally televised program. The following weekend the WEC throws itself into the mix one week before the UFC returns with UFC 87. It’s quite a smorgasbord for fans of mixed martial arts. (more…)

The “New York Bad Ass” isn’t wasting any time getting back in the mix. Fresh off his July 12th knockout of Scott Jansen at Cage Rage 27, Phil Baroni is scheduled to return to action on August 2nd. Baroni will take on Ron Verdadero in a 175 pound bout as part of ICON sports promotion. The event is being dubbed “Hard Times” and will take place in Honolulu, Hawaii at the Blaisdell Arena.

The Bad Ass didn’t exert too much energy in his previous fight against Jansen as it only took Baroni 3:18 to score a knockout. In fact, Baroni may have exerted as much energy after the fight, fending off the attack of a Jansen associate and absorbing a slew of derogatory remarks from Jansen’s better half.

The victory snapped a three-fight losing streak for Baroni who has fallen upon hard times as of late. He currently claims a record of 11-10, however he has dropped five of his last eight fights. Now, he is looking to get back on track as soon as possible. Fiveouncesofpain.com provides more info on the rest of the fight card that will take place in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

A ticket to any sporting event costs money. With that purchase of that ticket come the right to watch the fight and react how you see fit, that is within reason. That entitles you to cheer when you are elated and boo when you are agitated. But Zac Robinson of Mmamadness.com poses another opinion on booing.

Robinson claims that booing throughout a mma fight is in appropriate and states why fighters shouldn’t be heckled for a lack of activity. But Robinson fails to recognize is that these fighters are professionals. They are getting paid good money to put on a good show. Similarly, fans are paying good money to watch a good show. When the fighters fail to put on a good show, it is a fans deserved right to boo.

Tim Sylvia made $800,000 last weekend for thirty seconds of work. For that, he should be booed every time he walks down the street. Collegiate and high school athletes participate in sports for the sheer joy of it. Furthermore, they are merely kids. For that reason, it is those athletes who should never hear the slightest echo of boos. Yet, when you are a professional fighter, boos come with the territory.