The life of an MMA fighter has changed dramatically since the sports' inception some years ago. From movie roles to commercials to photo shoots to interviews, the daily routine for a fighter is anything but routine these days and no one knows that better than EliteXC women's star, Gina Carano.

As a part of the first main stage women's fight during the EliteXC inaugural show, Carano proved that female fighting can be just as exciting and tough as what the men do.

She also opened up a giant door for more opportunities as soon after her fighting career took off, including her current 2nd job as "Crush" on American Gladiators.

Carano admits that her new found fame and lifestyle are a big switch, but when given the chance to reach out to new avenues in life, who wouldn't take the job?

"Anybody who gets a good opportunity would take it," said Carano. "I get a lot of flack from people who are like 'oh she's not serious about fighting' and that's not it at all. I'm just open minded. I'm not just a fighter, like I'm not just a female. I'm a bunch of things, I have a lot of interests."

The new job at American Gladiators, combined with interviews and other job opportunities have forced Carano to get the right people working on her behalf and staying focused on making it to the top of her chose sport of MMA.

"I'm really looking forward to after this fight just sticking to a routine and a program," commented Carano. "I'm just getting a handle on it, I think that's why I've slipped up in certain areas, missing weight, I've been all over the place, cause I didn't have any stability or anything."

The stability has come in the form of a full training camp, something she didn't have for her last fight in EliteXC against Kaitlin Young. Never one to make excuses, Carano is happy to have her focus back on fighting.

"I'm going to say that just in the last two months have I calmed down and started living normally and training normally," she stated. "I'm really liking just going in the gym, training for a fight. Cause I've been completely like chaos for the last year it seems like or even longer. I've been all over the place."

Having better people to surround her for business and promotion has freed Carano up to work solely on her fight skills while not missing a step on other projects either.

"I'm going to be a better fighter for it," Carano said of the recent changes in her professional life.

Ultimately, Carano can be whatever she wants to be because she is simply that talented, and she's enjoying the life she's led so far.

"I've been having a lot of fun with my life. I'm 26 years old and I've just had a good experience so far you know?"

We've been down this road before but maybe this time former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Champion Kurt Angle is serious. He recently spoke to SunSport saying, "I'm talking to several fight companies about doing MMA by the end of next year."

Even though he's in talks with several "fight companies", it's almost clear that he only wants to compete in the UFC.

"I've always wanted to do it. I'm the only Olympic gold medalist that will enter the Octagon and it feels right for me," Angle continued.

He did say that he's received offers from several promotions like Affliction and EliteXC, but those aren't the promotions that he has his eye on. "I can almost guarantee you're going to see me in the Octagon," he proclaimed.

So, if that's gonna be true, we will see Kurt Angle compete in the UFC in 2009.

What a huge night in Atlanta, Georgia last Saturday night when UFC 88: Breakthrough was held in Philips Arena. Here are the results of the show:

• Rashad Evans def. Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell by KO at 1:51 of Round 2

• Rich Franklin def. Matt "The Hammer" Hamill by TKO at 0:39 of Round 3

• Dan Henderson def. Rousimar "Toquinho" Palhares by unanimous decision

• Nate "The Great" Marquardt def. Martin "The Hitman" Kampmann by TKO (strikes) at 1:22 of Round 1

• "Stun Gun" Kim Dong-hyun def. Matt "The Immortal" Brown by split decision

• Kurt Pellegrino def. Thiago Tavares by unanimous decision

• Tim "The Barbarian" Boetsch def. Michael Patt by TKO (strikes) at 2:03 of Round 1

• Jason "The Athlete" MacDonald def. Jason "The Punisher" Lambert by submission (rear naked choke) at 1:20 of Round 2

• Ryo "Piranha" Chonan def. Roan "Jucao" Carneiro by split decision

Baltimore Sun's Mark Chalifoux recently spoke with UFC star Rich Franklin. Franklin is back in action this Saturday at UFC 88 in Atlanta and will be moving up a weight class. He will be facing a fellow Cincinnatian Matt Hamill in the light heavyweight division. Below is the full interview with Franklin as seen on MMA Stomping Grounds, Chalifoux's MMA blog for baltimoresun.com:

MMA Stomping Grounds: Why the move up to 205?

Rich Franklin: I was talking to the UFC after the second [Anderson] Silva loss and they encouraged me to move up to 205. They told me my position there would be more appealing to them from a business perspective. They weren’t interested in a third match between me and Silva and they didn’t want me fighting contenders because I could eliminate possible title fights, so I was stuck in that I was going to be fighting people on the back end of their losses to Silva and I didn’t care for that gatekeeper position. After the Travis Lutter fight, I said I would try my hand at 205 again.

MMA Stomping Grounds: What’s the toughest part of the transition in weight classes?

Rich Franklin: I think that’s a question better suited for September 7, but me giving up some pounds there is quite the adjustment. If I’m carrying an extra 20 pounds in this fight and it goes the full 15 minutes, that takes a toll on conditioning.

MMA Stomping Grounds: What do you think about Matt Hamill?

Rich Franklin: He’s looked great, his success doesn’t surprise me at all. Matt’s an accomplished wrestler and a competitor. The first time I met him it was before he was doing MMA and I said when you’re done wrestling and all that -- he was making run for Athens games -- you ought to give MMA a thought because you could be good at it ... and before I knew it he was in The Ultimate Fighter and his only loss is a controversial one. He’s looked strong.

MMA Stomping Grounds: What would be your ideal fight?

Rich Franklin: I don’t know, it doesn’t really matter to me, I’m really just all about competing and having fun, doing it and putting on good fights for the fans. I’m one of those guys where if fans said “we’d love to see Rich Franklin fight so and so” I’d be in to doing that.

MMA Stomping Grounds: What part of the sport's growth has you the most excited?

Rich Franklin: I would guess the international growth at this point. The international growth the UFC is experiencing is showing how solid the future is going to be for this sport. So that’s great for guys like myself, who 10 years from now, I won't be fighting anymore and having a job within the MMA profession will be a possibility, but it’s also exciting for up-and-coming athletes.

MMA Stomping Grounds: What do you think is the biggest misconception casual sports fans have about MMA?

Rich Franklin: It’s that there are no rules. It’s the funniest thing I hear people talk about. People say, “I’ve seen that you fight in cage and there’s no rules,” and I’m sitting there [thinking] “yeah, exactly.” Quite frankly, the rule book for this sport is complex, more so than for most sports probably.

MMA Stomping Grounds: What is one thing you would want people to know about you?

Rich Franklin: I just think that people see the TV persona that’s developed and although I’m a lot like my TV persona, things get amplified and magnified so to speak, and all that stuff gets taken out of proportion. One aspect of your life seems to overwhelm public perception and they forget about other things. From what they read in newspapers they think they know you, but what it boils down to is they don’t.

MMA Stomping Grounds: Have you ever had any weird requests from fans?

Rich Franklin: Yeah, requests like “can you shave your autograph into my back hair” or stuff like that, it’s really not that bad though. I don’t get, like, women’s panties in the mail or weird fan mail or anything. I have had threatening phone calls to my house on numerous occasions. People call to threaten to kill me or beat me up when I’m not looking. My wife has also had threatening phone calls, which is odd because I’m a fairly well-liked fighter, so its weird. It’s weird having that kind of stuff happen because I come from a normal small town here in Ohio and suddenly my life is blown up and I’m perceived to be way more important than I am.

MMA Stomping Grounds: Do people call you a lot like that?

Rich Franklin: It’s kind of out of the blue, it will be three or four in the morning. I had a string of these calls occur over a couple months where they came semi-frequently. Then when I was out of town my wife was getting them. I had a fan who one time did some research and got my home number and called my house. My wife picked up and he said “This is Bob, I’m calling Rich about an interview,” and she said, “OK, who are you with?” He just said, “Oh, with no one, I just wanted to interview him.”

MMA Stomping Grounds: Do you have to contact the authorities when you get calls like that or do you just shrug them off?

Rich Franklin: At this point I’ve shrugged them off. It irritates me more than anything else. I don’t know, I guess being a fighter you feel you can take care of yourself anyway, but it’s never gotten to a point where I feel the need to call the police.

MMA Stomping Grounds: Looking on the upside of your fame, what are some of the cooler experiences you’ve been able to have during your time as a fighter?

Rich Franklin:That’s the thing with fame -- there’s the good side and the bad side. The bad side is when you’re out in public you get recognized, I couldn’t go to a club down here in Cincinnati without expecting to take 100 pictures with people on phones so they can put that crap on MySpace. I understand that goes on when I go out. The cool side of it is I’ve been able to do a lot of things most people haven’t. I got to go visit the troops in Iraq in 2006 and I’m getting ready to go back to the Middle East again. I’ve done tons of cool stuff around the military, like going on aircraft carriers and on a basic level I get invited to nice restaurants and people pay for dinner occasionally. You rarely have to wait in line for clubs and stuff like that. As you’re sitting there signing autographs in a club and by time you hit the 50th picture it’s like “at least we didn’t have to wait in line for this place.” Your friends think its more cool than [I do] but it has some perks.

MMA Stomping Grounds: Does the fame ever feel surreal to you?

Rich Franklin: No, as far as I’m concerned, fame is a fickle thing. One minute people love you, the next they hate you. You always have loyal fans that think you’re the greatest thing since sliced bread, but really, 99 percent of my life I’m just your average guy. I’m sitting at my home today wondering if I’m going to have to cut my grass before the fight again. I’m not wanting to have to sit on my tractor for a couple hours in the sun doing it but that’s my typical life. It’s pretty normal and things will be more that way once I’m out of limelight and retire. For most part people will forget about you. I sign autographs not because it does anything for my ego but because the people that ask you for it wouldn’t understand if you didn’t sign it, and I want fans to have a good experience when they meet me.

MMA Stomping Grounds: What’s the toughest part about being Rich Franklin?

Rich Franklin: Juggling all the aspects of my life. So many people want your time. Once you gain some notoriety or perceived importance everyone wants or needs you. You have appearances for this charity or sign autographs for this or make appearances at this fight. I need to go visit the troops and I need to train and I need to do PR work for my fights but on top of everything else I need to make time for everything else -- family, friends and training and its difficult to juggle all of that.

MMA Stomping Grounds: Do you follow MMA much when you aren’t training/fighting?

Rich Franklin:Yes and no. I watch the bigger fights but there’s so much stuff. MMA has exploded so much that you could sit down and you got your Versus channel and your HDnet and the UFC and the WEC and all these other shows and acronyms. If you DVR’d everything on MMA on TV you could watch fights nonstop in your waking hours. I spend so much time in the gym training that sometimes the last thing I want to do is come home and watch more fights. I do watch some fights and anytime there’s a WEC and Jens Pulver or one of my friends fighting I’ll catch the show, but I’m always definitely making sure I pay attention to UFC events and major fights. Honestly, my wife probably keeps up with that way more than I do.

MMA Stomping Grounds: What do you like to do away from fighting?

Rich Franklin: Well, when I’m training, I’m an athlete and an athletic kind of guy so I like to do anything active, but I don’t have the energy when I’m training. I will do things like play my drums, practice my Portuguese. I do often times spend a lot of time reading my bible and stuff like that.

MMA Stomping Grounds: Finally, what do you need to do against Hamill to be successful?

Rich Franklin: I think I gotta be quick on my feet. I’m giving up some weight so he might be giving up some speed. I need to use my footwork to confuse him and stick and move and stick and move and avoid takedowns. Once he does take me down, I can’t let him lay on top of me. I need to stay active on the ground.

Taken from: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/mma/blog/2008/09/qa_with_rich_franklin.html

According to the Associated Press, Minnesota assistant wrestling coach Marty Morgan is leaving the program in order to focus full time and exclusively on his former collegiate champion Brock Lesnar's fledgling MMA career.

Brock Lesnar (picture) is on the rise in the UFC heavyweight ranks. He will fight against Randy Couture for the promotions heavyweight championship in November. He also was once an NCAA heavyweight champion at the college.

Morgan spent 16 years coaching at Minnesota after wrestling for the college himself. He says he will take the next year to concentrate on helping Lesnar train in the MMA field before reevaluating his plans then.

Lesnar won his last UFC match at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota last month.