Issue 117

July 2014

1. Sonnen and Rousey nearly arrested because of impromptu training session

Chael Sonnen and Ronda Rousey raised hell when they met for dinner recently in California. Rousey started showing Chael judo moves with the silverware and salt and pepper shakers and when the techniques got complicated Chael wanted to know more. “There was an empty ballroom right next to where we were sitting, so we slipped in there,” Chael revealed to Fighters Only recently. “Next thing we are rolling around going through the moves.” When Chael and ‘Rowdy’ looked up, a crowd had gathered. Several onlookers were about to call 911, under the impression a man and woman were fighting, but thankfully one fan who knew who the pair were stopped them.

2. Hip-hop star Eminem using UFC as model for battle rap league

Million-selling hip-hop artist Eminem is one of six of his inner circle using the UFC as inspiration for an attempt at pushing battle rap into the mainstream. They’re putting big money behind Total Slaughter, a league where rappers will try to outdo each other with improvised rhythmic insults, booking the first event for New York’s storied Hammerstein Ballroom. “(This) is a way to do for battle rapping what UFC did for MMA,” Eminem’s manager Paul Rosenberg told Rolling Stone. “That’s really the model we’re basing it on. It’s this great thing that a lot of people love, but it’s very splintered, and it’s very niche, and it’s not really brought into the right production levels that it can or should be.”

3. UFC'S Dana White: ‘I don't read the internet anymore'

UFC boss Dana White, formerly a staunch advocate of sourcing opinion from social media and the internet, has confessed he doesn’t rate the medium any longer. In an interview with former TUF and UFC fighter Roxanne Modafferi, via mmasucka.com, White said: “I literally don’t read the internet anymore. I used to go on all the time, but I’m just not into it anymore. I’ve shut myself off from that whole world.”

4. MFC champs getting Super Bowl-style rings

Title-holders in Canada’s Maximum Fighting Championship (MFC) are now receiving Super Bowl-style championship rings with their championship belts. Common in baseball, basketball and ice hockey, among other sports, the kings of MFC’s weight divisions will now have a gold, diamond-encrusted ring incorporating the words ‘MFC’ and ‘champion’ to call their own. “Once they win the championship, they’ll all receive a ring,” MFC CEO Mark Pavelich told mmajunkie.com. “Like a Super Bowl. They’ll have the belt and the ring. You can’t walk around 24/7 with a belt on, right?”