Issue 073

March 2011

Catch the latest news and hot interviews over at our website, updated daily by our worldwide team of reporters

News: ‘MASK’ DEATH DRIVER CONVICTED OF MANSLAUGHTER

The driver who caused the car crash that killed TapouT co-founder Charles ‘Mask’ Lewis faces up to 20 years in prison. Jeffrey David Kirby was found guilty on December 9, 2010, by a California court of committing gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, causing bodily harm to another while driving under the influence, plus an enhancement of sentence for causing injury to multiple persons.

News: DANA WHITE FUNDS LIFE-SAVING OP FOR TRANSPLANT GIRL

UFC president Dana White stepped in to save the life of a four-year-old girl in Thailand who needed an urgent liver transplant, just before Christmas. White read about the girl, who is the daughter of one of the trainers at Tiger Muay Thai in Thailand, after a thread was started on The Underground forum asking for donations. The operation is to cost $50,000 US – an absolutely staggering sum relative to the average income in Thailand. After rumors surfaced that White had become involved and agreed to pay for the cost of the surgery, Fighters Only contacted the UFC president directly who confirmed that he made the generous gesture.

INTERVIEW: Q+A WITH THIAGO ALVES

FO: How serious was Dana White about moving you to middleweight after you’d missed the 170lb welterweight limit a number of times?

TA: “Oh he was very, very serious. Because it’s about your health also, that’s how the UFC look at it. It wasn’t healthy, for me, I lost like 20lb in three days. That’s not smart, it’s not healthy but it’s my fault. I take full responsibility for that. I was the one who was supposed to know how to cut weight. Dana talked to me and said, ‘You cannot miss weight again. You are number three in the world, near the top of the division; I cannot have you miss weight. You gotta make weight or I am going to move you up.’ Sometimes in life you get comfortable and you take things for granted. You don’t realize what you are doing and so sometimes it’s good to hit rock bottom so you can build yourself up stronger again.”

FEATURE: TRAVIS FULTON, THE ORIGINAL MMA IRONMAN

By Matt Hyde – His fight record (presently) is 199-47-10. If ever there was an apt nickname for Travis Fulton it’s ‘The Ironman’, a moniker long used by the undoubted journeyman of MMA. His statistics are truly mind-boggling. Since debuting in 1996, where he lost to Dave Strasser, he has fought more than 250 times. It’s an average of 16 bouts a year! In 1998, his most prolific 12 months, the Iowa-born fighter notched up 38 matches. And if his mixed martial arts exploits aren’t quite enough for you then it’s also worth mentioning that since 1999 he’s fought 38 times as a professional boxer.

Poll: GSP vs Anderson Silva, who takes it?

RESULTS

42% GSP by dec

28% Anderson by dec

27% GSP by sub or stoppage

3% Anderson by sub or stoppage