It might just be time for mixed martial arts fans to mark July 11 completely off their calendars.

Spike TV today announced it will air a five-hour marathon of the upcoming series "UFC's Ultimate 100: Greatest Fights" prior to the July 11 pay-per-view start of UFC 100, which takes place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The series, which will count down the bouts fans select as the top 100 UFC fights of all-time, debuts July 5 on Spike TV at 9 PM ET/PT.

While the first episode of "UFC's Ultimate 100: Greatest Fights" airs on a Sunday, subsequent episodes of the series will air in the same timeslot on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The final episode, along with a re-air of the previous four episodes, will air simultaneously on Spike's East and West Coast feeds in the five hours leading into UFC 100.

Fan voting for the UFC's greatest 100 fights, chosen among a list of 181 candidates selected by Spike TV and the UFC, began May 1 and is currently ongoing at spike.com/ufc-100.

Containing fights dating back to Royce Gracie vs. Ken Shamrock at UFC 1, the list was recently supplemented by the addition of this past Saturday's The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale main event between Diego Sanchez and Clay Guida.

Voters can comment on each of the 181 fights on Spike TV's website and rank each bout from one octagon for a "standard" contest to 10 octagons for an "epic" clash.

The Nassau Guardian recently caught up with street fighting sensation Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson, who touched on a number of subjects including Ken Shamrock getting injured before their May 31 fight, his current status in MMA and a possible transition to professional boxing. Kimbo Slice last fought in October 2008 at EliteXC: Heat, where he was defeated by replacement fighter Seth Petruzelli. Kimbo Slice's loss on EliteXC's October event was believed to be the nail in the coffin for the promotion, which has since drastically scaled back its operations.

Below are excerpts from the interview:

On Ken Shamrock getting injured before their fight:

"In some cases, if you are too far advanced in promoting a MMA fight, anything can happen to the fighter. A fighter can get an injury, causing him to pull out of the fight; like Shamrock [MMA fighter Ken Shamrock] getting a cut above his eye and backing out at the last minute. That left me having to fight an opponent who I knew nothing about. If the fight is called off then it would mean bad business for that promoter and that also affected me," said Ferguson.

On possible move to boxing:

"Boxing is really my first desire. I have a lot of love for it and believe I can do pretty well. [The sport of] MMA is somewhat of a project for me. Boxing is one dimensional while there are a lot of dimensions in MMA. I don't think it would be a hard transition from MMA to stand-up boxing because of my fighting style," noted Slice.

"Out of no disrespect to my country, seeing as I am there [United States] and already established a relationship in the fighting world, I would have to continue that until I get officially set up. Furthermore, I have two more MMA fights scheduled before this year is out. Every fighter and athlete knows that you should not switch camps in the middle of something. Also, I train in Florida. My MMA trainer will also be training me for stand up boxing. Finishing up my contract would allow me to be a free agent," he said.

On transition from MMA to boxing:

"Not taking anything away from boxing preparation, MMA training is extremely hard," said Ferguson. "When you consider martial arts training, you have to prepare for kicks to the head and legs, and opponents wanting to grapple and throwing you to the ground, pounding you with their knees and hands, whereas in boxing you just have to be prepared to weave and bob although the training can be just as intense. At this point in my career, I want to take that same drive and focus that I invested in MMA and put that into training for pro-boxing cards."

On current MMA status:

"The last two fights that I have left in MMA don't have set dates," he said. "Everything normally gets set up six to eight weeks prior to the fight. Nearer to that point I would be told the particulars like who my opponent is and where the fight would be. With boxing, you can have a fight on Monday and if you are well you can have another fight the following week. Before the month is out, you would have already fought on several cards. In MMA, whether you are well or not, there is a six-week waiting period before you can engage in any other battle."

Bobby Lashley recently spoke to The MMA Digest. Here are some highlights from interview:

On Ken Shamrock being ousted as his opponent:

"I was a little disappointed in the fact that I didn't get to fight him...we train specifically for our opponent. I was going through two pretty tough practices everyday and we were staying afterwards, after the final practice in the evening and going for an hour and a half to two hours on just what Shamrock was going to do -- some of his tricks, some of his key moves and everything like that."

Thoughts on his new opponent Jason Guida:

"I think he's a decent opponent, I think he's a decent fighter. It's my second fight; he has one advantage -- he has had so many fights under his belt...so we're not going to take him lightly at all, he's a vet, he knows a lot of tricks, he has been in there before, he's going to be comfortable, he's going to be ready to bang and really he has nothing to lose. So we're just going to go in there really aggressive, we're going to stay on him, and we're going to force the issue and see if he can take it."

"World's Most Dangerous Man" Ken Shamrock has apparently tested positive for three separate steroids following his February 13 victory over the 350-plus-pounder Ross Clifton at the WarGods-Ken Shamrock Productions "Valentine's Eve Massacre" event in Fresno, California. The California State Athletic Commission announced that the 45-year-old mixed martial artist tested positive for Norandrosterone, Noretiocholanolone and Stanozolol.

The former WWE wrestler has been suspended through February 1, 2010 and fined $2,500. Shamrock was to fight another former WWE superstar Bobby Lashley on March 21 at the "March Badness" MMA/boxing event headlined by Roy Jones Jr. vs. Omar Sheika.

Shamrock has the right to appeal but will not be able to in time for the fight.

That will be the second straight high-profile fight Shamrock has been forced out of. Last October at EliteXC "Heat", Shamrock pulled out the same day of the fight due to a cut suffered while warming up.

Shamrock was also looking forward to a fight against fellow UFC old schooler David "Tank" Abbott at the next WarGods-Ken Shamrock Productions event to take place in Reno, Nevada.

Meanwhile, Bobby Lashley will remain on "March Badness" card. The Square Ring Promotions will find a replacement for Shamrock against Lashley.

"The show will go on," Square Ring Promotions CEO John Wirt said. "Ken said he was taking over-the-counter products and has requested an expedited appeal. We're working with his group but, just in case, we are also looking for a possible replacement to fight Bobby Lashley. We have identified some great replacements for Shamrock and have been in contact with them. A press release will be issued very soon as to which direction we will be going."

Ken Shamrock (picture) submitted Ross Clifton in a minute flat at WarGods and Ken Shamrock Productions "The Valentine's Eve Massacre" on Friday at the Selland Arena in Fresno, California. Shamrock secured the tap out, inducing armbar from side control after flooring Clifton with a clean right hand seconds into the bout.

Clifton, who weighed in at a whopping 380 pounds, towered over the much smaller Shamrock, who tipped the scales at 205 pounds. In a flashback to the early UFC events where Shamrock made his name, the size advantage didn't help Clifton at all.

After connecting with "The Grizzly", Shamrock softened his oversized foe with hammer fists before transitioning to the finish.

The win sets up a potential showdown between Shamrock and another Octagon veteran, David "Tank" Abbott -- who also victorious that night -- in April. The pair have been mentioned together often, but a standoff has yet to come to fruition.

"Fifteen years I've been waiting to fight somebody. For some reason it didn't happen," said the 45-year-old veteran Shamrock. "Tank, if you come in like you did tonight, I'm going to end your career."

Keeping hopes for that bout alive, Abbott made short work of Mike Bourke in their heavyweight tilt, knocking him senseless in just 29 seconds. Abbott, the 43-year-old brawler, surprised no one by coming out swinging for the fences. It didn't take long for him to land his famous right, which clipped Bourke's neck and left him face down on the canvas.

"I really wish it was Ken Shamrock that ran into one of these," said Abbott afterward, raising a fist in the air. "I'd like to give him the same payment. And to the fans, drink a beer for me."

Mike Moreno avenged a February 2008 loss to Gary Padilla with a unanimous decision victory in their rematch. The fight may have gone the distance, but it was not close. All three judges saw the bout 30-27 in Moreno's favor.

Rick Reeves became the first fighter of the night to finish his opponent, as he forced Nate James to tap out with a tight rear naked choke at 2:07 of the third round.

Local favorite Isaac De Jesus won a dominant decision over Strikeforce veteran and Lion's Den protege Ashe Bowman. De Jesus controlled the action for all three rounds, dropping Bowman several times without finding a way to finish.

After the fight, De Jesus announced his plans to drop to the 145-pound division, even though his record remains perfect as a lightweight.

Josh Haynes, of "The Ultimate Fighter" fame, pressed the pace and controlled the action for a split decision victory over Rafael Del Real.

Haynes was the aggressor throughout the fight, pressing the action and complaining as his opponent constantly backpedaled and even turned to run away on several occasions. Haynes was apologetic for the slow pace of the fight.

"I want a guy who will come in here and bang with me. Sorry," Haynes told the audience.

Zoila Frausto earned a split decision over Karina Hallinan in the evening's only women's bout, while Ron Kessler outpointed Darrin Freeman for a split decision win in the nights opening fight.

A heavyweight bout between UFC veteran Wesley "Cabbage" Correira and Buddy Roberts was canceled on-site after the Hawaiian withdrew last-minute.

Correira had a laundry list of grievances with the promotion, including a lack of per diems, spotty transportation for the fighters, and no notice regarding flights to and from the event.

Correira said the final straw came when a CSAC official told him at the arena that half of his show purse was to be subtracted to cover his medical testing -- something Correira said had not been negotiated beforehand between fighter and promotion.

"If I knew they were they were going to take it out, I could have done my own medicals much cheaper," said Correira.

MMANews.com was able to catch up with Ken Shamrock prior to his fight this weekend at the WarGod's and KSP St. Valentine's Day Massacre show on Feb 13th in Fresno, CA and when the topic of Frank Shamrock, his adoptive brother, came up, Ken was not to pleased about the way things have turned out for their proposed match up.

"Frank's been talking about fighting me forever. Every time it comes down to fighting me though, he backs out. From early on I was very skeptical about fighting him because all he does is get all the press he possibly can out of fighting me - doing interviews and getting time on TV and stuff - and then when it comes time to fight he doesn't. This is the fourth time he's back out of a fight with me. It's the same thing with Kimbo Slice. He wants none of me because he knows he'll get his ass kicked."

When asked about Frank recently stating that Ken was the one who didn't want to fight, the UFC Hall of Famer had the following reply:

"Dude, I've given that many interviews about this and not one time have I ever said I didn't want the fight. He is the only one that ever brings anything up about not fighting. Every single time this is what happens and I keep telling people that. You've never heard me say I don't want to fight Frank. He will always come up with an excuse to not fight me. He did it with Wanderlei Silva, he did it with Sakuraba, and he did it with Rickson Gracie. He challenges people to fight because he wants the press and people to cover him but when it comes down to fighting he always finds a way out of it."

Frank will be fighting April 11th against Nick Diaz for Strikeforce on Showtime and Ken was surprised to see that fight happen when they had been planning a fight.

"Tell me this; I was supposed to fight Frank. Who is he fighting now? He's fighting a 155lb Nick Diaz instead of me because he is telling people I was having personal problems. He's a chump, he's a poser, and he's a punk. He needs to either get in there with me and fight or he needs to shut up."


"Frank wants attention. He wants people to think he is a legend. He wants people to call him a legend. No one ever called him a legend. He started calling himself a legend, he gave himself that name. He'd an idiot. He tries to get people to buy into him. For so long people have been trying to get him to fight somebody credible and he won't fight them."

Shamrock is not getting any younger and there will come a point where Ken's body may not have the go it used to. He wants the fight with his brother but it seems to be just getting tiresome for him at this point.

"I'm tired of talking about it. Every time I do Frank uses it to get media attention. I say this over and over again, I want the fight but it won't happen because Frank will make an excuse when it's time to fight for it not to happen. If he comes to me again with the fight what am I suppose to do? This is four times now. What are people going to think? I want the fight. If he walked in front of me today I'd punch a hole in his head because he's a poser and a fake. He's a chicken."

Ken also says that this is the most personal the fight has ever been due to the fact Frank won't go and visit there dying father, Bob.

"My father is lying in a bed dying. My father went to prison when Frank was in there and would help him out and took care of him while he was in prison. When Frank got out he took him in and asked him me to take care of him. I put him up in my house. My father took care of him and I trained him. I got him fights, I took him to Japan, I got him to where he needed to be and then he walked out on us. My father is dying in a hospital bed and has asked Frank to go see him numerous times and he doesn't go see him. He's supposed to be his son. I want to put Frank in a hospital bed. He's been doing this for years and I'm just tired of it. I'm sick of him talking. He's a pussy. He needs to put up or shut up."

Whether in happens in a ring or cage has been the question for many MMA fans out there, but with all the bad blood and heat between these two, it could happen elsewhere.

"I won't wait, because eventually I'm going to run in Frank. End of story."

Source: MMANews.com

The organization, whose last show featured a 14-second fight, calls it quits after losing $55 million.

It looks like Elite XC, the upstart mixed martial arts organization featuring Kimbo Slice, is down for the count.

ProElite, Inc., Elite XC's Los Angeles-based parent company, plans to file for bankruptcy, said T. Jay Thompson, an Elite XC executive consultant, whose Hawaii-based MMA organization was purchased by ProElite last year.

Elite XC has also informed fighters, office staff and others of immediate layoffs and has canceled fight dates, including a Nov. 8 card in Reno, Thompson said.

In an SEC filing Tuesday, ProElite said that Showtime Networks said it was in violation of a debt covenant because the MMA firm doesn't have enough cash on hand. ProElite has reported $55 million in net losses since January 2007, according to SEC filings.

Several ProElite executives declined to comment Tuesday.

"If I had to point fingers why this thing went bad, I'd have trouble, because I only have two hands," said Thompson.

ProElite, which opened two years ago, appointed boxing promoter Gary Shaw as president and he designated his son, Jared Shaw -- known by the nickname "$kala" -- a key executive with matchmaking powers.

Gary Shaw, who saw his role change from president to consultant this year, said Tuesday he "wasn't even a consultant anymore. I have no comment. I don't know anything about it. I don't know if they're done."

In another SEC filing, Pro- Elite acknowledged significant deficiencies in how it was operated, including wasteful spending by management and a finding that contracts it entered into were not adequately reviewed.

Thompson said he believes the company's fate was sealed when Slice, its biggest star, was knocked out in 14 seconds of the main event of a CBS show Oct. 4.

Slice was supposed to fight MMA veteran Ken Shamrock. Instead, a late injury replacement, Seth Petruzelli, was put into the cage. Petruzelli alleged in a later radio interview that Elite XC promoters told him he'd earn extra money by fighting a stand-up style that favored Slice's strength as a street fighter. A Florida commission is now investigating that claim.

Meanwhile, instead of gaining an investment by Showtime Networks that ProElite officials had said was vital for its survival, Showtime sent ProElite a default notice for $6.3 million last week, according to an SEC filing. "ProElite officials have advised us that they will not be able to put on the EliteXC event scheduled for exhibition on Showtime on Nov. 8," Showtime spokesman Chris DiBlasio said in a statement. "In view of Showtime's leadership role in sports programming, including boxing and mixed martial arts, we intend to explore other opportunities."

Thompson railed at what he called a cycle of wasted money by ProElite officials. Pro Elite would over-staff its fight cards with employees, bringing in "35 people who were running around, quite comically" at shows, he said. "It was mind boggling."

Earlier this year, in San Jose, a Pro Elite card generated a live gate of $1.2 million. Thompson, with 15 years of fight-promotion experience, said he advised ProElite officials to bring only a few employees north to maximize profits. Instead, he said, 23 employees worked the event.

A few Elite XC fighters, including champion Jake Shields, Robbie Lawler and Nick Diaz, may land at the top MMA organization, Ultimate Fighting Championship.

But Elite XC stars Slice and female fighter Gina Carano probably will have to look for fights elsewhere.

UFC President Dana White was not available for comment. But White's spokeswoman said he has previously insisted he wasn't interested in adding Slice to his stable of fighters because he didn't want to diminish the sport as "a freak show."

Carano's publicist did not return messages left for her, but the unbeaten female fighter, who has also performed as "Crush" on NBC's "American Gladiators," appears headed for a second-tier organization if she continues in MMA.

UFC's White has said that there isn't enough of a talent pool to start a women's fight league.

From day one of Elite XC's existence, White predicted a doomed effort.

"No one in that business has a clue how to do MMA," he said in December 2006. "These guys don't know the difference between MMA and thumb wrestling."

Taken from: http://www.latimes.com/sports/printedition/la-sp-mma22-2008oct22,0,2976847.story

The final chapter in the Shamrock family feud will be written next year as Frank Shamrock confirmed the fight between he and his brother Ken will take place in March or April 2009.

The fight has been dubbed "Blood Brothers" for some time now, but speculation has run rampant for the past few months if the bout would actually take place. Frank says it's signed, sealed and will be delivered.

"We are definitely going to see it happen; it's a done deal," Frank said of the fight. "I've just got to get his old ass into the cage now. Now he's so old he can't even get in the cage."

"We finally got it done and we're looking forward to March or April for kicking it off, try to get him a wheel chair so he can get himself into that cage next time."

With the negotiation to put the two brothers in a cage together over with, now Frank is focusing on which promotion will put the fight on and right now it appears EliteXC is the front runner, but others could join the show.

"Currently I don't," Frank said about what organization would promote the show. "We've got a real good relationship with Elite and Showtime and CBS, so I've got a feeling it's going to be those guys and I'm going to see if I can drag Affliction aboard here."

Of course with EliteXC comes the possibility of working with Showtime or CBS, but Frank feels the fight between he and his brother calls for a pay-per-view broadcast.

"I think if any fight ever were a pay-per-view match, this is the one," he commented. "I really feel like network television and cable television can really support this pay-per-view by showing other media properties that kind of tell the story of this sport and tell the story of the Shamrock family. That's my real focus right now, get these other networks to kind of drive some stories to help boost this fight."

One idea that Frank Shamrock is working on to help promote the show is a documentary style show, similar to HBO's popular "24/7" series, to help build the fight and tell the story of two brothers who will battle in out in the cage.

"I'm looking further than Showtime; I'm looking at primetime television," Frank said about where the documentary would air. "Imagine if the Klitschko brothers fought? There's rarely ever been two brothers who've been superstars in a sport, champions in a sport, in the same time period, and more over there's never been an opportunity for those two brothers to fight."

"I just think that an overall story can accomplish and bring everybody involved in the real meat of the story, which is the history of the sport, things that have happened with the family, with each other."

Frank is also hopeful to close a deal that will put the fight on in San Jose, California, but nothing has been negotiated for an arena yet.

As for Ken Shamrock, following a debacle that saw him removed from the main event of the recent EliteXC show against Kimbo Slice, a match-up against his brother Frank could be exactly the kind of huge show to put his name back on the map while putting on a historic event pitting brother against brother.

A bill regulating mixed martial arts in Arizona was signed into law Monday by Governor Janet Napolitano. The law will direct the Arizona Boxing Commission to adopt rules for unarmed combat consistent with the unified rules for MMA, which means the commission will be able to allow closed fist punches and elbows on the ground in addition to other regulations. The law takes effect 90 days after the legislative session ends.

"I am extremely pleased that we were able to agree on a bill that will effectively promote commerce and bring a very popular sport to the state," said the bill's sponsor, Republican Jonathan Paton, in a news release.

The Arizona Daily Star described Paton as a "mixed martial arts enthusiast who first learned about the sport as an Army reservist and continued to follow it while stationed in Iraq".

Ken Shamrock offered his support through the legislative process. "Arizona becomes the next state to welcome mixed martial arts, the world's fastest growing sport," he said in a statement. "I was very fortunate to work with the Arizona Legislature, including Republican Jonathan Paton and Senate Chief of Staff Victor Riches, as well as with John Montano, the associate director of the Boxing Commission on this bill. Now the fans can enjoy, and the fighters can participate in MMA events in their home state, and I am extremely excited about the prospect of bringing professional MMA events to Arizona."

It's finally official! Frank Shamrock will face the Vietnamese-American sanshou kickboxer Cung Le on March 29. The bout will be the main event of a Strikeforce promotion emanating out of San Jose's HP Pavilion. It will be shown live on Showtime as a prime time special.

Interestingly, the superfight between Frank and his brother Ken which was originally planned for March 31 has been pushed back a full year according to bloodbrothersppv.com.

As reported before, International Fight League (IFL) founder, Kurt Otto recently blasted TNA wrestler Kurt Angle in an interview saying that the TNA World Heavyweight Champion who has been hinting at a switch to MMA, got cold feet after watching fights at ringside of an IFL show. The 1996 Atlanta Olympic wrestling gold medalist had been in talks with Otto about joining the promotion and was likely to be matched up with another ex-WWE wrestler, Ken Shamrock before deciding against it after the watching the sport live.

“He got scared and wanted to go back into pro wrestling. That’s okay, Kurt, I still respect you for what you did in the Olympics, but this is MMA. You don’t come in here, say you’re gonna do something, and then you don’t." said Shamrock.

Angle responded that "They tried to force a fight with me and Ken in two and a half months. (It’s) not enough time to take off from TNA and train for a fight."

See also Kurt Angle Got His Feet Cold After Watching IFL.

International Fight League (IFL) founder, Kurt Otto recently blasted TNA wrestler Kurt Angle in an interview saying that the TNA World Heavyweight Champion who has been hinting at a switch to MMA, got cold feet after watching fights at ringside of an IFL show. The 1996 Atlanta Olympic wrestling gold medalist had been in talks with Otto about joining the promotion and was likely to be matched up with another ex-WWE wrestler, Ken Shamrock before deciding against it after the watching the sport live.

“He got scared and wanted to go back into pro wrestling. That’s okay, Kurt, I still respect you for what you did in the Olympics, but this is MMA. You don’t come in here, say you’re gonna do something, and then you don’t." said Shamrock.