Aug. 2 - Aug. 8

Carlos Condit proved his mettle in perhaps his toughest fight to date on Aug. 3, retaining the World Extreme Cagefighting welterweight title in an up-and-down, four-round war with Hiromitsu Miura. Condit was on the verge of being finished several times, but weathered Miura’s strikes and impressive judo throws to score a leaping knee in the fourth that hit the sweet spot and set the table for the TKO. The performance earned Condit a new respect for his ability to go the distance, as well as a win bonus that brought his total payday to an event-high $44,000. Miura, by contrast, took home $5,000.

The war topped another eventful WEC offering, in front of a sellout crowd of 1,006, 734 of whom paid to get in to The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas.  WEC light heavyweight champion Brian Stann dropped the gold in his first defense, and only his seventh fight, to Steve Cantwell. Cantwell dropped Stann authoritatively in round two after avoiding the type of wild power punches that put him down in the first bout between the two. Lightweight champion Jamie Varner retained his title by punishing Marcus Hicks with boxing, and dropping him just over two minutes into the fight. Also notching impressive wins were Josh Grispi, the surging 19-year-old featherweight prospect, who TKO'ed Micah Miller with punches, and Brian Bowles, who choked out bantamweight foe Damacio Page with a guillotine in round one. Brock Larson got right back into the welterweight hunt with a straight left-induced TKO of Carlo Prater in just 37 seconds. In addition, former NCAA Champion and Oklahoma State wrestler Shane Roller used a guillotine to answer the strikes of Todd Moore to win his WEC debut.

The event was the first WEC card to air in Mexico on the Cadena Tres broadcast network. The Versus telecast, a rating for which was not available, was well-received coming off the biggest show in WEC history on June 1st headlined by Urijah Faber v. Jens Pulver. Faber returns against Mike Brown, and Paulo Filho rematches Chael Sonne, on Sept. 10 in another stacked card. The winner of the middleweight title bout, as well as new light heavyweight champ Steve Cantwell, can expect to be in the UFC soon, as Dana White confirmed this week that WEC’s 185 and 205-pound fighters will be folded into the UFC’s ranks. Another WEC card is expected in December, likely featuring Miguel Torres defending his bantamweight title. Versus has been so happy with what WEC has been producing, that it upped its order of live events for 2009 from six to eight.

NEWSWORTHY

- The main event of Affliction's second pay-per-view effort, "Day of Reckoning" on Oct. 11, has been changed to Andrei Arlovski v. Josh Barnett in a battle of heavyweights who were victorious on July 19. Fedor Emelianenko, the World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts heavyweight champion, was set to face Arlovski, but a hand injury looks to have preempted that. WAMMA announced that the winner of the Barnett/Arlovski first-time meeting is guaranteed a title shot. Also announced for Oct. 11 were Vladimir Matyushenko v. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Matt Lindland v. Vitor Belfort. Preliminary fights this time will air on HD-Net and not Fox Sports Net, which this announced a new partnership with EliteXC (see item below). A heavyweight fight between Paul Bunetello and IFL Heavyweight Champion Roy Nelson will headline the preliminary card. Also, former IFL lightweight star Chris Horodecki confirmed this week he signed a three-fight deal with Affliction and will debut Oct. 11. Free agent Tito Ortiz, however, did not make a definitive announcement relative to fighting for Affliction, as was expected this week.

- In addition to Affliction's announcements, the week was full of other significant matchmaking. Gina Carano's next fight is just about set for Oct. 4 on CBS against Kelly Kobold-Gavin, a 20-fight veteran. Many expected Carano to face Christiane "Cyborg" Santos after the Brazilian's incredible showing on July 26, but EliteXC matchmakers felt Santos needs more time to sink in with American audiences. The UFC has booked two intriguing lightweight fights, as word came this week that Sean Sherk will return from his loss to B.J. Penn to face Tyson Griffin at UFC 90 on Oct. 25, and that Hermes Franca will face Gleison Tibau on the same card. In some significant signings in Japan that were revealed this week, PRIDE veteran Gilbert Yvel has signed with Dream, and Olympic judo gold medalist Pawel Nastula has signed with World Victory Road. Also in Japan, the brackets are set for the Dream middleweight tournament, as Melvin Manhoef faces Gegard Mousasi and Zelg Galesic faces Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza in the final four bracketing Sept. 23 at the Saitama Super Arena.

- The status of Quinton "Rampage" Jackson appeared to have improved this week after he went into a something of a psychological tailspin that included crashing his truck into several vehicles in California a few weeks ago. Jackson resurfaced this week alongside UFC President Dana White at the UFC 87 press conference in Minnesota, and yucked it up White in a new YouTube daily video blog the UFC boss is doing. White told reporters that Jackson had stopped eating and was drinking only energy drinks in the days after his loss to Forrest Griffin on July 5, and was diagnosed with delirium due to the lack of nourishment, not due to a mental illness. Jackson's former trainer Juanito Ibarra, who Jackson fired after the Griffin loss, broke his silence on the episode this week, telling MMA Junkie he has been "devastated" by what he has heard. The traffic incident is hardly in Jackson's past, however. He is due in court Aug. 15 and prosecutors are weighing reckless driving, felony evading and hit-and-run charges. In addition, a pregnant woman who claimed Jackson sideswiped her with his car, Holli Griggs, had a miscarriage. UFC President Dana White told Yahoo! Sports that Jackson only clipped the mirror of Griggs’ car, and that the woman is trying to set up a civil lawsuit.

- EliteXC announced another television deal this week for a weekly one-hour series on Fox Sports Net which will feature a diverse array of fights from the group's library. The series is expected to premiere in mid-September and air every Sunday night at 9 p.m. It’s expected to not only include fights from EliteXC, but also from the other fight brands that parent company ProElite owns, such as Hawaii's ICON Sport, England’s Cage Rage and South Korea's SpiritMC. ProElite may also air archived bouts featuring current Zuffa stars like Anderson Silva and Urijah Faber from when they competed in other promotions. Jay Glazer and Frank Trigg will host the show. FSN has lost a lot of its MMA content, from PRIDE Fighting Championships to the International Fight League, and is looking to replace the hole in their schedule. The station, as friendly as it has been to MMA, has not proven a viable outlet to significantly boost upstart promotions. 

QUOTEWORTHY

"I guarantee you that my contract will be like no other. It will be a ground-breaking record contract for sure, without a doubt. There's so much money to be made right now in mixed martial arts and it's all about the fighters trying to make that money. It's going to be a long-term deal where I put my heart and soul into the company and help build them. That's something I'm interested in doing. They're going to bring me on, not just as a fighter but also doing some of the back work also" -- Tito Ortiz to SI.com early in the week claiming he was going to sign with Affliction; he did not show up at an Affliction press conference Wednesday.

"I haven't even spoken with him. I haven't had a phone conversation with him. I personally have not spoken with him and I'm the one who handles all the contracts" -- Affliction vice president Tom Atencio at press conference on possibly signing Ortiz.

"Nobody's perfect. Fans have this thing of building mythical gods out of men. So maybe they don't see a lot of the mistakes that are being made. I'm not going to say what those mistakes are. I'm just hoping to expose them" -- Jon Fitch to Sherdog about Georges St. Pierre, who he faces Saturday at UFC 87.

"I'm a baby in this sport. I have so much to learn. I have not fulfilled my potential yet. I'm going to make sure tonight is the best thing that ever happened to me" -- Brian Stann following his loss of the WEC light heavyweight title on Aug. 3.

"A long-term deal is like being married. You don't get to go and bang other chicks . . . It's scary for a fighter to do that because if you're not with the UFC, people look at you like you've got leprosy. I'm not worried about that. I know I can make a lot of money elsewhere. When it comes down to it, at the end of the day, you've got to make some money now. You're only going to be able to punch people in the face for so long. Then you're out of it" -- Jason “Mayhem” Miller to TAGG Radio about free agency.

"That one is out there like, 'He hit her and she lost her baby.’ It was a week later. He knocked her mirror off her car. Rampage said, and he'll tell you when you talk to him, 'I care about everybody. I care about all life. I would never hurt anybody.' Now he's in a situation where somebody's trying to civil sue him and make some money. Absolutely not. Absolutely not, this is not a criminal thing. No way. I'm no lawyer and I'm no judge, (but) this stuff will be worked out in the court” – Dana White to Yahoo! Sports about Quinton Jackson’s situation.

“I'm happy to be out here and be a regular person again” – Jackson to Yahoo! Sports.

---------------------

NEXT WEEK

There are huge implications for the future of several weight classes at UFC 87 “Seek and Destroy” this Saturday, as Georges St. Pierre defends against the enigmatic Jon Fitch, Kenny Florian and Roger Huerta tangle for lightweight supremacy and Brock Lesnar looks to stay afloat under the UFC’s bright lights against veteran Heath Herring. The event, the UFC’s debut in Minnesota, has done about $2.2 million in ticket business, but isn’t expected to sell out The Target Center.