Well, Jason Brilz (3-1 UFC) has stepped up to the plate.

Brilz has some form in the UFC having bested Tim Boetsch and Brad Morris though he has lost to TUF winner Eliot Marshall.

At this moment in time it is thought that Nogueira will still fight on the card as the UFC are rushing to find a replacement.

UFC 114 sees current light heavyweight champ Lyoto Machida defend his title in a rematch against former Griffin victim; Shogun Rua.

How serious Griffin’s injury is remains to be seen and speculation will now mount oncerning whether or not his withdrawal means that a fight with Nogueira will ever happen.

Personally I always felt that beating Nogueira was a long shot as far as Griffin is concerned, his withdrawal; however disappointing, is a good thing for his career.

We’ll keep you posted.

Well, some people say he’s currently fighting in the UFC’s lightweight division…

“At some point Fedor’s going to have to step up and be willing to fight top level guys again. I don’t know what’s going on with him or why he’s not willing to do that and certainly Werdum is one of those guys he’s going to have to face to be considered a top fighter. To be pound-for-pound best fighter in the world he’s going to have to start facing tougher opponents. Hopefully we’ll see [the Werdum] fight happen.”

It’s such a shame what’s happening with Fedor’s career. I can’t help but feel that as long as he stays in the StrikeForce organisation his legacy will be forever in doubt and open to criticism. I agree with Couture on this one, Fedor DOES need to step up and prove himself once again.

Hopefully he will but I won’t count on it.

Mir has never been one to shirk away from saying what’s on his mind and in the past has delivered some pretty useful sound-bites that all headline writers at one time or another have been grateful for. Perhaps it’s a little harsh then that we all recoil in shock and anger when Mir delivers what amounted to a death threat, when at the end of the day, Mir has given us exactly what we want; something to write about.

I in no way condone what Mir said but as the days have passed and his words have lost some of their shock value I can see that Mir was only trying to stir up some controversy to get himself noticed.

And when I look back at this crazy sport I see that a lot of fighters say a lot of crazy things in the build up to big fights that always get washed away after the fights have been fought. After all; didn’t BJ Penn threaten the life of GSP ahead of their rematch, in a roundabout way?

No one really remembers that, or if they do, no one really talks about it anymore and why is that?

Because everyone knew it was just BJ either A; trying to psyche himself up for the biggest fight of his life or B: just trying to sell some more PPV’s

I guess what I’m saying is that perhaps I over-reacted when I read what Mir said about wanting Lesnar to die, perhaps I’m sensitive because I reside in the UK and in my formative years we had some very high profile boxing events where the losing fighters suffered appalling injuries (I’m thinking about Michael Watson and Gerald McClellan in particular) and my own countryman Johnny Owen died.

Perhaps it’s a little of all of the above or it could just as easily be down to the fact that I’m nothing more than a headline writer doing what a headline writer should do when a quote like Mir’s surfaces?

Either way, what Mir said isn’t the worst thing a fighter has ever said and I dare say to some fighters ahead of a grudge match, it’s what a few of them are secretly thinking during the build-up but are too afraid of saying the words in front of a microphone.

At the end of the day at least Frank Mir was being honest with us and yeah it got him some stick and yeah, it was insensitive but at least he said it out loud. Mir gives us all headlines on a regular basis and while we may not agree or condone with everything he says, he gives us work to do.

Instead of being offended perhaps we should all just lighten up a bit and remember that old phrase our parents taught us when we were kids that kind of applies to this very situation we find ourselves in right now…

“sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me”

“Dana White is a straight up ho! He makes me a 5-fight offer for chump change and said I can’t box anymore if I accept it. He must have lost his damn mind. I’m the best of both worlds. Anyone in either sport that wants to come see me, we can do this.”

That there quote is Mr. Toney at his most charming.

The quote refers to Toney’s recent quest to join the UFC and the subsequent terms and conditions Dana White offered him before he would allow him to fight for MMA’s premiere organisation.

The exclusivity part of the contract is nothing new, every fighter under contract with the UFC had to agree to it so the question is, why does James Toney, an ageing boxing with no MMA experience think he’s so special?

I’ll let Dana explain…

“I was disappointed by Frank Mir’s comments. Frank’s been with the UFC a long time, he’s a two-time heavyweight champion, and a commentator for the WEC. I think his emotions are running high right now, he has a big fight coming up next month and he’s still upset about his loss to Lesnar. He’s been talked to, he regrets what he said, and he won’t be saying anything like that again.”

Mir then issued the following statement…

“I would like to apologize to Brock Lesnar, his family, the UFC and the UFC fans for my stupid remarks. I respect Brock, all the other fighters, and the sport of mixed martial arts. I’m sorry that I stepped out of line.”

Personally I think Mir got off lightly on this one. His comments were inexcusable and indefensible and I for one have lost a lot of respect for him. Shame.

There’s a bit of new footage on show but nothing too revealing, to the untrained eye it looks pretty much like last year’s version…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jtfE-wbjyw

“[Koscheck's] just bitching because I’m in this position and he’s not. There are a lot of guys out there and I know Jon Fitch said a few things the other day as well. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion and I’m sure those guys feel like they’re in a better position than me to contend for the belt, but they don’t know me and they don’t know what experience I’ve got and the fights I’ve come through to get to this stage. They’ve all had their chances and we know how those fights ended. Koscheck got beat up, Jon Fitch got beaten up, name it and GSP’s gone through them.”

I like the part where Hardy says that Koscheck and Fitch “don’t know the fights I’ve come through to get to this stage”

You mean they don’t have Wikipedia in America? (Perhaps he was being metaphorical?)

He’s right though, they’ve both had their turn and they both came up short so they should leave Hardy alone and get back in line…

For those of you who watched the fight, you’ll know that an inadvertent headbutt from Soszynski opened up a nasty cut on Bonnar forcing the fight to be stopped…

“I want to finish the fight, man. It was only a few minutes left, right? It was a headbutt, and you know what the worst part is? Take a close-up on this head. This cut is actually shaped like a ‘K’ for Krzysztof, so I now I’ve got to walk around with a scar in the shape of a ‘K’ on it.”

A special K perhaps?

Sorry…