“I’ve never changed my tune on him, I’ve never changed my mind,” was Dana White’s straight answer to the question.

But.

Listen to the rest of the interview and you’ll see the difference in melody now that he’s “climbing in bed with him.”

It was just last year when Dana White led the pack of those who were so critical of Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Fergusson. He called Kimbo a “joke,” a “bum,” “he sucks,” and all sorts of unimaginable demeaning description of the YouTube street-brawling sensation. We also remember White saying Kimbo Slice “will be murdered if he fought in the UFC.”

Now that Kimbo Slice is going to fight to join the UFC via season ten of the Ultimate Fighter, listen to the interview…

“I know he’s a fighter. I know Kimbo is a fighter. The guy fights… he fights. You know, we see him fight in the streets. He’s had professional mixed martial arts fights.” This sounds like someone pitching for Kimbo. Perhaps as a measure, White adds, “Is he a mixed martial artist? We’re gonna find out.”

Here’s more…

“I respect him for coming in and doing the Ultimate Fighter. I respect him, you know. And I did talk a lot of sh@t about him, and he’s here to prove himself.”

“That’s one of the things I respect about him is that he’s honestly…legitimately trying to get into mixed martial arts and trying to get into the big show.” Now, that’s a lot of “respect” as a word coming out of Dana’s mouth talking about Kimbo. How time flies! He even talked about the guy getting some offers in boxing and, not unlike a concerned friend, he said there’s no money in boxing unless you fight a Mayweather or a Pacquiao. Then he proceeded in praising Kimbo Slice’s manager for really taking good care of him.

All in all, we sense a sweeter tune…a love song, in fact, coming from Dana White as regards to Kimbo Slice. In fairness to the guy who made UFC MMA’s biggest outfit, he can easily say he didn’t change his tune. In fact, he reminded us of what he said before, “The only way this guy will ever get to the UFC is through the Ultimate Fighter.”

Interestingly, Dana White and the Fertitta brothers have been griping about the lackluster treatment the so-called “real media” (White’s terminology) gives to mixed martial arts. This gives us the feeling that the UFC triumvirate is revving up their efforts at marketing the sport to a wider audience base. What better way to do this than to have the name that earned the highest rating in the history of MMA television – Kimbo Slice.

The fact that The Ultimate Fighter’s format was changed– from requiring wannabe TUF fighter to win a qualifying fight – to simply handpicking the 16 contestants, speaks so much about what Dana White and company want.

This also makes it difficult for us not to think that Kimbo would linger longer in the show by not having him fight early on. Why risk eliminating Kimbo Slice so soon? Just having this hulk do his reality drama without the fight, would be enough to keep the ratings sky high – this will not be a very bad idea.

However, what if Kimbo proves to still possess his crowd-drawing powers, would TUF or UFC fake a Kimbo Slice win so he could join the ranks of UFC gladiators to further boost UFC’s popularity?

How would the fans react to a Kimbo Slice win? Would they cry “fake”? Would it backfire? We see a lot of questions arising from this change of tune. The more reason for us to watch TUF 10.

Dana White, I see what you did there!

By simply telling us folks how wonderful Pepsi tastes, or how great the products that he endorses are, Fortune and MSN Money individually listed Shaquille O'Neal as number 7 in their list of top ten endorsement superstars at $15 M a year. Never mind if you like him or not, he sure does stir awareness and influences positive response to the products or brands he endorses.

Like it or not, the UFC – or mixed martial arts in general – is still in its infancy stages when compared to NBA, NFL, or even boxing. How else would you explain the pay differences between an Arlovski or an Ortiz to a Mayweather or a Pacquiao? In case you don’t know, $1.5 million is the rumoured highest paycheck to an MMA gladiator. Compare this to Manny Pacquiao’s guaranteed purse of $11 Million for his fight against Oscar De la Hoya.

Now comes the Dr. Shaq, or Shaq Fu, or Superman (however you want to name this media magnet) practically telling everyone he intends to fight inside the octagon (perhaps a career change?) after he retires from NBA. Now, that’s directing the entire world’s attention to the world of mixed martial arts that’s still in the Mesozoic Era.

Never mind if you like him or not, but the guys sure knows how to stir a hornet’s nest. Whether he stars in Kazaam (voted by “Rotten Tomatoes” as “The Worst Movie of All Time”) or weave flop poetry through his rhymes, or by thrashing Kobe Bryant, Shaq sure knows how to create buzz.

When Shaquille O’Neal called out on Hong Man Choi, and kissed Chuck Liddell’s lips after he topples him – ok, it’s not Chuck, it’s his standee poster – the guys from UFC and everyone else in the world of mixed martial arts should consider saving $3 Million dollars on promotions (PepsiCo pays Shaq this amount annually).

Never mind if you like Shaq or not, but the 7’1” tall, 340 lbs “Shaqovic” (who have trained in MMA for several years already) clashing out with the 7’2” tall, 340 lbs MMA warrior from Korea is something we don’t wanna miss.

Heck, this could even be better than a stale Kobe-Shaq verbal tussle.

We have almost forgotten about that frustrating letdown on Silva’s performance during UFC 90 last year but the first 3 minutes of the main event of UFC 97 at the Bell Center in Canada just gave us an idea of how horribly boring and irritating things are going to be. It was all dancing and tentative strikes all the way till the end. Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites was horribly frustrating we felt we waz wobbed.

Leites was like someone in heat that at the slightest chance, he flops on his back to the ground, legs raised to expose his bottom. It would have been okay if Silva would oblige, but no. He just stands there, hands akimbo, feasting his eyes on Leites’ exposed derriere. A lot of instances, Silva would bend over gingerly trying to touch his opponent’s splayed legs. It was such a bizarre sight.

And we thought it was the only time we’ll see Anderson Silva in a “ bizarro world” with that dismal performance against Cote in UFC 90 last October.

Now comes UFC 97…what? “Redemption”? Nothing was redeemed here. Silva just sank deeper into his “bizzaro world.” We felt robbed.

When someone whose reputation is being peddled as one of the world’s best MMA fighters; one who is not only a martial artist but maybe the finest artist inside the octagon; one with eight consecutive wins (the highest record in the history of MMA); one who is hitting accuracy rate is touted at an astounding 80% while the rest of MMA gladiators only have an average 35% hitting accuracy, you would always expect nothing less than an explosive display of skill and power. But no, we waz wobbed.

A couple of months back, we remember him through a translator saying, “What’s important to me is to step into the octagon and give the public and the world a good performance.” What good performance was he talking about?

After the fight, when asked by Joe Rogan how he felt about the crowd’s boos, he said, “unless you’re here inside the octagon, you wouldn’t know what’s happening,” or something to that effect. He also said, sometimes even though you want a good fight, things just don’t go your way – or something to that effect. But Silva, YOU are one of the world’s finest fighters. You are supposed to have a lot of techniques in your mojo to force an attack against Leites.

We understand you want to keep a standup fight but when Leites have repeatedly flopped his back to invite you on the mat repeatedly, and it was obvious that he would not do it with you otherwise than by rubbing body parts on the ground, you should have obliged. You trained specifically for this in Rio, right?

But you didn’t. We, the spectators who paid a total of $ 4.9 million on tickets, and the several other millions of fans around the world who watched this game on TV felt we waz wobbed.

Anderson Silva now has the impressive top record of 9 consecutive undefeated matches. This does not mean anything to the fans. Mixed martial arts is a spectator sports. The fans wouldn’t mind if a fighter wins or losses as much as they would mind a lousy performance. They watch to see a fight. Mixed martial arts is about the fight, the skills, the action, the drama. Who wins or losses is just the anti-climax of the event.

By:  Joe B. Skotzou

It is easy to get intrigued by Bobby Lashley. Three months into mixed martial arts and off he goes getting compared to one of the sports’ biggest crowd-drawers, Brock Lesnar. In a sense, simply because he comes from where Lesnar was, he gets to be talked about more compared to other newbies. Now, that’s what we call lucky.

Popularity could be a pain in the a*^@#.

When a newbie comes and gets to be talked about a lot, the general direction would mostly be for some MMA fans to try to put him down. “He’s a wrestler. He comes from that fake sport of fake actors.” Remember how Brock Lesnar was met with wryness? In a sense, one is guilty of being a loser until he proves it otherwise. In a sense, this disparagement makes it more difficult for a newbie to move around. It is easier to work yourself upwards when everyone’s looking somewhere else, than having pot shots thrown at you while you fight your way up.

MMA is still show business.

Whoever gets more attention –more media mileage, is one step ahead of the rest of the flock. Now, it is up to him to show the denizens within and outside the octagon that there is something worth talking about. And he has to show his mettle fast, lest his “promising newbie” status becomes just another flash in the pan. And the 6-foot one former EWC champion seems to be doing well at this.

First match passed with flying colors.

His debut exposure at the cage (MFA: There Will Be Blood) was explosive with that less-than-a-minute knock-out win over Joshua Franklin. Massively muscled like a raging bull, he charged like a lithe pit bull to pick up Franklin and slam him to the ground. Who said wrestlers are supposed to be slow? "I learned how to move with a faster pace of training when I was small, and I was able to keep going at that pace as I got bigger and kept growing,” Lashley said.

Second match was not without its share of excitement.

Lashley, without trying to, seems to have brought with him professional wrestling’s flair for drama. The pre-fight trash-talk he got from Jason Guida was a good example of how you stir interest to a match. And nothing is more media-frenzy friendly than two protagonists on the verge of slugging it out during a press-con.

"He played a lot of head games before the fight," Lashley said, referring to the trash-talk thrown on him by Guida. Lashley admitted that Guida “screwed with his head” when the latter said, "You've been faking this for how long? Tell'em, let'em know. How long's it been since you trained hard? How long has it been since you squared up against someone who's going to hit you on the chin and not pull a punch?"

Fortunately, he was able to keep his game for this fight. The former wrestling champion is now 2-0 to help appease the usual naysayers who oppose professional wrestlers dipping their toes in the now more popular world of mixed martial arts.

Indeed, Bobby Lashley is a promising add to the world of mixed martial arts. Let us not forget the new faces (and fat pockets) he brings to MMA: he’s got a large following that he brought with him from the (fake) world of wrestling. Remember, this is show business too.

MMA, like any other spectator sport, is all about putting them arses on chairs.

True to form, Andrei Arlovski looked impressive with his boxing stance while Fedor Emelianenko seemed awkwardly out of balance most of the time. Like your next-door pudgy Russian fellow, Fedor is the last person you’d think as someone with a title as awesome as World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts champion.

Judging from the boxing-like spectacle of the first couple of minutes of the first round of Affliction: Day of Reckoning, it was obvious that Arlovski was in control of the game. He looked imposing with his height advantage while Fedor seemed vulnerable with his head well-exposed and his firsts lowered as if unsure of what to do. Whether it is his way of assessing his opponent, or it is his way of making foes grow more daring and lose all caution, the “Last Emperor” succeeded in appearing to be like someone in trouble during the first minutes of most of his matches. And it works! Remember his bouts with Kazuyuki Fujita and Kevin Randleman?

Arlovski must have bought Fedor’s “helpless” stance hook, line and sinker that he even got so cocky he made a blunder. The first couple of minutes were so good for Arlovski. His one-two combination punches saw Fedor’s head bobbing like a bouy in the sea everytime Arlovski makes a hit. He should have continued with that game plan until (who knows? Have some faith!) he lands tens of punches on that pudgy Russian head…until that pudgy Russian brain gets sore from all the shaking and bumping against that pudgy little skull of his.

But he didn’t. Poor Arlovski got overconfident and cocky he wanted to use his signature flair: the flying knee.

And one freakin punch from Fedor was all it took and it’s over.

Funny thing is: we could not help but mention that with this knockout punch, the Seth Petruzelli lucky punch that put Kimbo Slice to oblivion comes to mind.

Remember when Kimbo was getting Petruzelli cornered and the latter was trying keep Kimbo at bay with his foot with his right fist flailing while the other hand on the cage to keep his balance? And then Kimbo fell!

Fedor was cornered, Arlovski got reckless and went with his flying knee. Fedor’s overhand right seemed to have a mind of its own and found its mark. The next thing you see is Arlovski face down on the mat while Fedor confirms his being a bad-ass.

Here’s what Arlovski has to say, “I let myself down and I let my trainers down. They gave me a game plan and I don’t know why I didn’t follow the game plan and threw the flying knee.”

Thanks to his latest brush with the law, we at MMA Weekly News (and most of UFC and mixed martial arts fans) are awaiting with bated breath whether UFC will allow “The Dentist” to compete against Mac Danzig on February 7 this year at UFC Fight Night 17 in Tampa Florida.

Josh Neer was arrested and was placed behind bars for drunk driving, hit-and-run, and eluding arrest, among other traffic violations January 1 in Des Moines, Iowa.

Neer’s management company CEO Mickey Dubberly asked “everyone to reserve their judgement until all the facts are known in the court of law.” Saying that there are still a lot of unclear details on the incident, Dubberly said that they are backing Neer 100% in having the issue resolved the soonest, “and putting this matter behind us and moving forward.”

They have all the reason to get this issue done and over with ASAP because if we base it on what happened to other mixed martial arts warriors, Josh Neer would be pulled from the UFC Fight Night 17 card. MMA fighters who were arrested (except for Quinton “Rampage” Jackson) were not allowed to compete.

In an interview with the WHO-TV News (see video clip below), Neer apologized, "I just want to apologize to my friends, my family, and fans. I made some bad choices and I basically want to move on and put this behind me."

MMA Tap-out Josh Neer DUI Arrest

Whether UFC will pull him out of the February 7 card or totally end his mixed martial arts career with UFC remains an uncertainty. The UFC or Dana White has not commented about the case yet but the video clip below says UFC will determine Neer’s case within the week.

When asked about his fate, Neer said, “It’s all up to the UFC at this point. There's nothing I can really do so I just got to sit back and hopefully they'll let me fight and I'm gonna move on from this and no more troubles."

Dubberly, on the other hand, was quick to appease UFC by saying, “In no way do we ever want to bring any negativity towards the UFC as they have been nothing but great to Josh."

Let’s cross our fingers and hope for the best comes February 7, 2009.