Ever since Alistair Overeem started eating babies “eating horse meat” there have been whispers that Overeem’s physique was on the wrong side of the vial. Overeem was an enigma, who remained heavyweight champ of Strikeforce despite defending the title only once in three years. If he had been a fighting champion there’s no question it would have helped Strikeforce put out a more competitive product to better compete with UFC.

Despite the steroids rumors, Overeem was a big score for the UFC; he was a legit heavyweight and the division needed them. Overeem was immediately awarded a fight against former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, beating him in the first round DESPITE the fact that he technically skipped town before his drug screening for THAT FIGHT, and got a conditional license from Nevada for the fight. Despite all the red flags though, Overeem delivered and he was rewarded with a title shot against Junior Dos Santos for UFC 146.

Dash my hopes and dreams, FOX SPORTS:

Overeem, along with all other main-card fighters, was tested at a press conference in Las Vegas to promote the UFC 146 pay-per-view event, at which Overeem was scheduled to take on UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos. “The Demolition Man’s” sample came back showing an elevated level of testosterone, a result that indicates the illegal use of testosterone as a performance enhancing substance.

There’s still a chance that the “B” sample of Overeem’s urine will come back negative, but don’t hold your breath, this fight is probably not going to happen. Be ready to watch Frank Mir take on Dos Santos, which could be okay except Mir is inconsistent.

At the risk of going Florio on everybody here, it’s absolute bullshit that Overeem was able to put the UFC in this position in the first place. The UFC pushed Brock Lesnar to the moon when he first arrived in UFC, he was given a heavyweight title shot after just three fights, and now he’s back in WWE, so why didn’t White learn anything from that experience? Why was a rematch against Velasquez for Dos Santos so out of the question?

Anyone who reads this website with any regularity knows that we love MMA. I love MMA. I love UFC, and I especially love Rampage Jackson. But Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson has gone too damn far this time. Sure, Rampage has never been one to give conventional interviews, and he did not exactly act like a boy scout when he was UFC light heavyweight champion and decided to go on a police chase that would make O.J. blush. But, this is an entirely different thing. Rampage wants out of UFC.

Taste the sad, Yahoo! sports:

“I will fight whoever they put in front of me, I always have, but it will be my last fight in the UFC,” Jackson wrote. “I have other things on my mind.

“I didn’t say I would be done fighting, I just said I’m not fighting for the UFC (u fight cheap). Said I have other things on my mind (big head).”

From the sound of Jackson’s messages, he’s obviously unhappy with the UFC for both their pay structure as well as advice they are giving him on his career.

Okay, let’s…let’s just stop talking crazy here (laughs nervously). Let’s…just..talk..about it…(sweating profusely, tiptoeing up to Rampage, while concealing an ether rag).

To be fair, UFC does screw over their fighters, but Rampage isn’t one of them. Yahoo correctly points out that the UFC, and particularly Dana White, stood behind Jackson after the police chase, after he went off to star in the shitastic A-Team, and through years of back-and-forth about his future with the company. Rampage puts butts in the seats. But be careful what you wish for because it’s not like Strikeforce or Bellator are realistic options right now.

The Federal Trade Commission is currently looking into whether or not the UFC has an illegal monopoly on mixed-martial-arts in the U.S. (what about Bellator??) and since UFC purchased Strikeforce last year, and then decided to continue to run it as a seperate (but “equal”) promotion I think it’s clear that this concern is overblown. After all, ESPN Outside of the Lines did a terrific report chronicling how the UFC actively blackballs U.S. fighters who have the audacity to complain about their compensation, and then UFC feels free to pluck Dan Henderson, Nick Diaz, Jake Shields (to be fair he signed while Strikeforce was independent of UFC), and Alistair Overeem to UFC.

But turn those frowns upside down Strikeforce fans, because they just poached one of UFC’s prized guys…granted he had been released from the promotion and looking for work for a year.

Less than a year after his departure from UFC, Marquardt has signed a new deal with Strikeforce to compete in their welterweight division.

Yay!

Ironically enough, while Marquardt was released last year from his UFC contract after elevated testosterone levels kept him out of his scheduled fight at UFC on Versus 4 against Rick Story, the Colorado based fighter never actually competed in another promotion.

Marquardt was signed to the British promotion BAMMA and was expected to debut in February, but after multiple delays the fighter asked and received his release from the organization.

The world is your oyster, Nate.

In an event that would mimic many of this author’s previous sexual encounters, both in brevity, and disappointment, we gathered around our idiot boxes Saturday night to witness the next step in the castration of UFC.  We were treated to the Fox Sports theme so commonly associated with the NFL; to Brock Lesnar in a suit that he probably hasn’t worn since he graduated from the University of Minnesota as an all-American wrestler. We were treated to people pretending to understand UFC. FOX was kind enough to display the rules just before the fight. We were treated to Curt Menefee pretending to give a damn about the UFC. We were treated to Dana White’s tired schtick about how every fight he promotes is so spectacular. We were treated to a shot of Alistair Overeem ringside, in a suit, and no preliminary fights but about 35 minutes of introduction to Junior Dos Santos, and Cain Velasquez. Finally, we were also treated to a fight that lasted only 64 seconds when Dos Santos caught Velasquez with an overhand right to the back of the head and finished him off in ground-and-pound. That’s not terrible; fight fans know that it can-and-does happen in the fight game; but why did we have to have all these ribbons and bows for this?

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There is a school of thought, often associated with U.S. Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas, that the U.S. Constitution was a rigid document that only asks that we look to its text within the context of what our founding fathers intended. This notion is commonly referred to in legal circles as “intentionalism” or “originalism.”

Well, somebody slap a powdered wig on Dana White’s bald head and then put a quill pen into his nongrappling hand because the UFC has filed suit against the state of New York seeking access to the mecca of fight markets.

Work to guard and then sink in a gulliotine, FOX Sports:

Zuffa LLC, which owns the UFC, filed a lawsuit in US district court against New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. seeking a declaration that the ban violates the First Amendment.

Spokesmen for Schneiderman and Vance declined to comment.

The company was joined in the lawsuit by fans and a group of mixed martial arts fighters, who “have suffered, and will continue to suffer, irreparable harm” under the ban.

“Live professional MMA is clearly intended and understood as public entertainment and, as such, is expressive activity protected by the First Amendment,” the lawsuit said.

Gee, I asked to nobody in particular as I read this article. “Could this perhaps have anything to do with the recent partnership between UFC and FOX, whose parent company, NEWSCorp is headquartered in Manhattan? Turns out that the answer is “yes.”

The lawsuit comes as the sport is broadening its audience. In August, Fox Broadcasting Co. and the UFC entered into a seven-year deal that includes four fights a year on broadcast television and will pay the promoter at least $100 million annually. (The first fight aired Saturday, and, according to Fox, drew 5.7 million viewers.)

UFC, which hosts its fights inside a chain-link cage dubbed “The Octagon,” holds about 27 live events each year, according to the complaint.

UFC has wanted a crack at the NYC market for years and every time they go even remotely near NYC they hold a media day in the city.

The entire 105-page complaint can be read here…I mean if you’re into reading (nerd). The UFC lawsuit has names like Gina Carano, Jon “Bones” Jones, Frankie Edgar, and Matt Hamill attached to it. Fundamentally, the UFC is claiming that their right to artistic expression is being unlawfully suppressed by the N.Y. law, and that this right is manifested in the First Amendment freedom of expression.

More traditionally, the UFC also is asserting that the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment is being violated; which extends federal rights to all citizens; as well as the Commerce clause located in Article IV of the U.S. Constitution. Specifically, the Commerce clause protects the right of businesses to operate in other states absent a substantial reason for restricting that business. The bar proving a “substantial” reason is historically difficult though, like getting laid in high school.

Settlement negotiations have not yet begun but there is some speculation that White will offer to settle the dispute by a winner-take-all octagon match with N.Y. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.