So Bisping finishes 0-4-2. Maybe we should take all four Hendo picks with a grain of salt since Patrick Cote said he wants a Bisping fight next while Gray Maynard, Jon Fitch and Sean Sherk, all wrestlers, mentioned that their heart lies with the American wrestler.

Tip via Cagepotato

1. Shane Carwin “accidentally” announces upcoming fight with Cain Velasquez
2. UFC 100 Octagon canvas contest info
3. Antoni Hardonk prevents mugging in Los Angeles
4. UFC Fan Expo announces grappling “superfight” contestants
5. Canadian promotion MFC resigns deal with HDNet

"I'm just focused on fighting for Affliction," Belfort told Cagewriter. "We're waiting to see what comes next. I don't handle that. I'm really focused on training. I did that before and it messed up my career. Affliction has been very good to me."

Belfort is flattered that UFC president Dana White has expressed interest:

"I was very happy. We have a history in the UFC too. For sure UFC, has Anderson Silva. Makes me happy to see Dana White pumping my name up."

White spilled the beans in a national television spot during The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale that he wanted to set up a Silva-Belfort fight. He then told The Cofield & Cokin Show on ESPNRadio1100 that he had no interest in Belfort. White started talking about Belfort "a middleweight signing that will blow your minds" a few months ago. On Wednesday, Belfort turned down the chance to speak about a potential Silva fight or joining the UFC:

The former UFC light heavyweight champ did respond to claims by Gegard Mousasi that Belfort was afraid to fight him:

"Everybody has their goals and my goal is to fight at 185 right now. That's not the plan. If he dropped the weight, I'll fight him. If he wants to go up, that's his choice."

Affliction tried to set up a Mousasi-Belfort fight but both fighters refused to move away from their current weight division. Belfort said he thinks he's got a tougher fight against Jorge Santiago. Santiago has more seasoning and is well-rounded. Belfort said Mousasi is a little lucky to be in this position. Mousasi flew up the charts in the middleweight division after knocking off Dong Sik Yoon, Denis Kang, Melvin Mahoef and Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza to win the 2008 DREAM middleweight grand prix. He just recorded an MMA win over heavyweight Mark Hunt.  

Zach Conley is just beginning to try his hand at mixed martial arts. The former Idaho State linebacker works out of Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas. With top notch instructors like Shawn Tompkins running the place, it's a great opportunity. But there is a downside. You may have to roll with someone that's a bit out of your league. Conley is just 1-0 as an amateur but in a 20 minute span he found himself being dumped on his head by 2008 Olympic Judo Gold medalist Satoshi Ishii (pictured with Conley) and grappling with former UFC light heavyweight champ Vitor Belfort.

After rolling with Ishii, Conley, trying to cover up that he'd just been smoked, said "man, that guy's pretty good at Judo." Gym veterans laughed as they told him
"that guy" just won the gold medal.

"I had no idea, it was a rude awakening," Conley told Cagewriter. "That guy's got crazy judo, I got my ass tossed all over the place. I was a state champ wrestler (in Idaho) and he tossed me like I was my little sister."

Minutes later Conley found himself in the Xtreme Couture boxing ring with Belfort.

"It was pretty intense. It was fun. That's how you get better. My heart was pumping. He was one of the original guys of UFC."

Belfort is prepping for his Affliction: Trilogy fight against Jorge Santiago on Aug. 1. "The Phenom" has been training in Las Vegas for a week. Ishii just happened to saunter into the gym on Tuesday.

He speaks little English but is getting along just fine. K-1 veteran Ray Sefo often serves as a translator. Believe it or not, the only guy at the gym late on Wednesday who could communicate with Ishii, was the very eloquent "New York Bad Ass", Phil Baroni.

Ishii was a much sought after free agent. The UFC pursued him heavily. The organization sent out photos of Ishii meeting Randy Couture and Dana White and even posted a story on UFC.com about the negotiations. In the end, the lure to stay loyal to Japan won out and he signed with Sengoku. He's expected to make his MMA debut in the fall.

Twitter is a pretty cool application, if used properly. Athletes have especially jumped on the Twitter train because it gives them a chance to connect with fans without a huge risk. Fighters like Urijah Faber, Jason "Mayhem" Miller and Frank Trigg have done a good job with Twitter, giving fans a fun glimpse into their lives outside of fighting.

However, as UFC heavyweight Shane Carwin found out, it can get you in trouble, too. He confirmed, via Twitter, that he would be fighting Cain Velasquez at UFC 104 in October. Trouble is that the bout agreements had not been signed, and Carwin let the cat out of the bag a bit early. He twittered again, softening his earlier statement, but at that point, "Velasquez vs. Carwin," the fight most fans want to see, had already found its way all over the internet.

WEC lightweight champ Jamie Varner found himself in similar trouble last week, when he twittered the problems with his hand before he shared it with his managers and the WEC. All was worked out, with Varner getting the time to let his hand heal, and the WEC moving forward with an interim belt bout between Donald Cerrone and Benson Henderson in September. With these two incidents,  Varner and Carwin both found out the power that the scant 140 characters used on Twitter can have.

For good or bad, Twitter is here and is a favorite of athletes. But much like MySpace, Facebook and message forums before it, Twitter has enormous power to share the unfiltered thoughts of athletes. Tweets spread like wildfire, and fighters need to keep that in mind when sharing their thoughts via the addictive Web site.  

The most recent controversy came to light when managers were reportedly warned that if their fighters appeared in EA Sports’ upcoming MMA video game, they would never fight in the UFC again. The UFC and game developer THQ recently released UFC: Undisputed for the PS3 and Xbox, which has since gone platinum.

In the leadup to Undisputed’s release, the UFC threatened to cut rising star Jon Fitch, and his teammates, when he refused to sign over lifetime video game portrayal rights, for free, to the UFC. Fitch and the Fertitta’s eventually came to an agreement and the fighter returned to the roster, appearing on the untelevised undercard on his next scheduled fight.

The rumor was first reported on the Underground and later confirmed by MMA Agent Ken Pavia.

The move is one that shifts the general opinion of the UFC from that of “That is a gangster move” (in a fawning “I Love Dana White’s Ruthlessness” mindset that some adhere to) to a “That is a gangster move, hmmm…let me refresh myself on what those RICO statutes cover” mindset. But I digress….

While this move is seemingly par for the Zuffa course, it isn’t exactly fresh material. The same threats were made when the IFL were enlisting fighters for their inaugural season. If fighter that appeared in the EA MMA game becomes available , White (much like Jon Fitch during the THQ debacle) will likely lack the courage of of his convictions and follow the money in making his decision to sign a fighter or not. In the meantime it adds to a general pall of animus and retribution in the air towards and coming from the UFC brass.

Antoni Hardonk, a heavyweight who competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, had just finished a training session last month in Los Angeles near Los Angeles International Airport.

He was talking with his attorney, Nima Safapour, when three young men approached him. They asked if he had money so they could buy cigarettes.

"My feeling is I want to help someone if I can, so I pulled out my wallet," Hardonk said.

But he had no change or small bills, so he told the men, whom he estimated to be between 18 and 20 years old, that he couldn't help them.

That's when one of them pulled out a homemade knife, which he said had about a two-inch blade, and demanded his wallet. Hardonk, who is 6 feet 4 and around 250 pounds, was surprised.

But not only is he a professional figher, he was a security guard and a bouncer in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He didn't frighten or lose his composure.

"I said, 'What? Are you crazy? I'm not giving you my wallet,' " Hardonk said.

At that stage, one of the other men said, "He's serious. We'll hurt you if you don't."

Hardonk continued to remain calm and told the men if they wanted his wallet, they'd have to come and get it. The men had second thoughts and left. At that point, Safapour suggested it would be wise if he were to drive Hardonk home instead of allowing him to walk by himself.

Only a very short distance away, Safapour eyed the same three men surrounding a woman. Safapour decided to call the police, because he knew the men were up to no good and the likelihood of something bad happening was increasing. The woman was saved when the men turned their attention on a man who was walking by himself. They went to him and more aggressively demanded his wallet, eventually wrestling with him and taking it.

Hardonk was watching from the car, about 80 to 100 feet away, when he saw them harassing the man. He jumped out of the car and began to run over to try to help the man, whom he did not know.

He wanted to make sure, though, that the man was being robbed and was shouting, "Is that your wallet?" as he was running toward the incident in progress.

Hardonk knocked over two of the men, but the third, who had the victim's wallet, took off running. Hardonk followed. The man who had the wallet dropped it and the trio managed to jump over a fence and into a thicket of trees and get away.

As Hardonk thought about the incident later, he realized it might have been best just to cooperate.

"In a similar situation in the future, it would probably be better just to give them the money and be done with that," he said. "Obviously, I had much better (fighting) skills, but is it worth the risk? They could have had a gun, other knives, who knows?

"But I'm stubborn. And I fight to earn my money and that's a hard way to make a living. And I'm not just going to give it away to guys like that."

Though he knew he took a large risk by chasing the suspects down after they had taken the other man's wallet, he said he has no regrets about that.

Too many people would do nothing for fear of not wanting to be involved. Hardonk's attitude is dramatically different.

"I believe if you can do something to help someone else, you should," Hardonk said. "We're all here and we should all try to help each other if we can. It's the right thing to do. I just did what I thought was right."

Los Angeles police told Hardonk and Safapour that there were three similar incidents on the same block in the same week. No arrests have been made.

"Really young guys, and I think they were probably on drugs or something," Hardonk said. "It's too bad. But I didn't think it was right just to stand by and do nothing."

Cage Fashion 2 just Added Bioworld/Junk food who will be featuring UFC apparel
Ecko MMA
Tokyo 5

Here is a list of confirmed fighters who will be walking the runway:

Lyoto Machida
Minotauro and Lil’ Nog
Shogun Rua
Diego Sanchez
Pete Sell
Gabriel Gonzaga
Philip Nover
Luis Cane
Roger Huerta
Eddie Alvarez
Frank Trigg
Rashad Evans* waiting to confirm but most likely in the show
Clay Guida
Renzo Gracie

You can get more info at CageFashion.com

“THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER: HEAVYWEIGHTS”®

AT UFC FAN EXPO

WHO: The cast of “The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights”

WHAT: The cast and coaches from the 10th season of Spike TV’s hit series will be made available for media interviews from 10-11am and fan autographs from 11am-Noon

WHEN: Friday, July 10 at 10:00am PT

WHERE: UFC Fan Expo Booth #149

Mandalay Bay Convention Center

Las Vegas

WHY: “The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights” premieres on Spike TV Wednesday, September 16 at 10:00pm ET/PT

The official energy drink of the UFC offers fans a chance to win two tickets to a future UFC event and to meet Wanderlei Silva

LAS VEGAS, NEV. (June 30, 2009) XYIENCE, the official energy drink of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), will celebrate UFC 100, a significant milestone for the professional mixed martial arts (MMA) organization, during the UFC Fan Expo, to be held Friday, July 10 (10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.) through Saturday, July 11 (10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.) at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Event organizers anticipate the largest turnout of MMA fans in the organization’s 16-year history. XYIENCE’s booth (#319) will be a hot spot for fans where they will meet famed UFC fighter Wanderlei Silva, UFC cutman Jacob “Stitch” Duran, and former UFC octagon girl turned host of the XYIENCE webisode Tap Into MMA, Amber Nichole. Also at the XYIENCE booth, fans will go head-to-head with one another during the Xtreme Push-up Contest as they battle it out for a chance to win two tickets to an upcoming UFC fight.

XYIENCE will debut its latest energy drink, Xtreme Xenergy, a high-charged version of its Premium Xenergy that contains more B12 vitamins and slightly more caffeine. The new drink is available in four flavors: Lemon Blast, Citrus Slam, Cherry Rush and Apple Jak’d.

The schedule of event at the XYIENCE booth is:
Friday, July 10
10:00 a.m. – Noon Amber Nichole poster signing
Noon – 2:00 p.m. Wanderlei Silva and Stitch autograph signing
2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Xtreme Push-up Contest, hosted by Amber Nichole
4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Amber Nichole poster signing

Saturday, July 11
10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Amber Nichole poster signing
Noon – 2:00 p.m. Wanderlei Silva and Stitch autograph signing
2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Xtreme Push-up Contest, hosted by Amber Nichole

“The UFC fan has been a loyal XYIENCE consumer since the brand’s inception. Their unwavering support for the UFC, its fighters and sponsors has enabled the sport to escalate in popularity around the globe. Our goal for the UFC Fan Expo is to enhance the fans’ experience with giveaways and signings as a way to express XYIENCE’S gratitude,” says Csaba Reider, XYIENCE president and CEO. “The fans’ enthusiasm is not only infectious, it’s a core element of any brand that’s devoted to MMA. At XYIENCE, we are committed to enhancing the MMA lifestyle and the experience of the sport’s fans.”

Through its sponsorship of the UFC, the XYIENCE brand reaches 420 million households worldwide. The UFC’s current television distribution allows sponsors like XYIENCE to reach 50 million U.S. households and 380 million households outside the U.S. in over 100 countries and territories, with programming delivered in 20 languages.