Former heavyweight champs Barnett and Rodriguez employed again

Someone call the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Josh Barnett and Ricco Rodriguez are both employed by MMA promotions again. Strikeforce announced today that they have signed Josh Barnett to a multi-fight deal.“Strikeforce is the home of the best heavyweight division in the world and I’m proud to be able to call it my home now,” said Barnett via a Strikeforce press release. “I’m looking forward to competing amongst the greatest fighters in the world and fighting my way to another world title.”This is a shot at redemption for Barnett, a fighter with a checkered history. Despite being talented enough to win to UFC championship in 2002, Barnett was stripped of the belt immediately after because he tested positive for a banned substance. He played a major role in the downfall of Affliction's fighting promotion by being denied a license for a bout with Fedor Emelianenko because he tested positive in a pre-fight drug test. Since then, he's failed to show up for hearings about getting his license back. As of April, the issue of his license in California is still unresolved.   Barnett has continued to fight in promotions overseas, and hasn't lost since a 2006 PRIDE bout with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. His last win was with Australia's Impact FC over Geronimo dos Santos, a first-round TKO.No fights have been scheduled yet for Barnett, but maybe now fight fans
will get to see the Barnett/Fedor Emelianenko bout that never happened
because of Affliction's demise. Rodriguez's second chance During Thursday evening's broadcast, it was announced that Rodriguez signed with Bellator. He will face Dave Herman on Sept. 30 in Lake Charles, La.Rodriguez beat Randy Couture in 2002 to win the UFC heavyweight belt, but lost it in the next fight to Tim Sylvia. After a stint on VH1's "Celebrity Rehab" and ballooning up to 330 lbs., he has become refocused on training. This year, he has fought six times, and won six times.  Herman will be a much tougher test for Rodriguez. He has 19 wins, and not a decision among them.  

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Bellator: Larkin dominates, Clementi loses controversially

At the Mahalia Jackson Theater in New Orleans, Bellator took a week off from tournament bouts, and had three decisions and an explosive debut.Eric Larkin, a four-time NCAA All-American wrestler, showed off a well-rounded game in his Bellator debut, winning with a guillotine at 2:46 in the first round.Larkin started out with a head kick that knocked Marcus Andrusia to the ground. Though he seemed a little surprised that the kick worked, he followed it up with ground-and-pound, and finished Andrusia off with a guillotine choke.After the fight, Larkin said that he would be comfortable in Bellator's lightweight or featherweight tournament.  UFC vet Clementi loses close decision In his Bellator debut, Rich Clementi lost a controversial decision to Carey Vanier. In a very close fight, Clementi and Vanier appeared tied up going into the final round.Halfway through the third round, Vanier had Clementi pinned against the fence, with one hand down on the ground. By definition, Clementi was a downed opponent. Vanier landed two knees, busting open the area above Clementi's eye. The referee did not acknowledge the illegal knees. Though he gave Clementi's corner time to work on the cut, he did not deduct a point from Vanier's score, which would have been appropriate. When the fight was restarted, Vanier inched ahead of Clementi, obviously winning the final round. The judges saw it 29-28, 28-29, 29-28 for Vanier, meaning that a deducted point would have made the decision. The two were fighting for a spot in the Bellator lightweight tournament. Vanier is in, but if Bellator wants to right the wrong done to Clementi, he will also be given a berth in the tournament.  Schambari, Karakhanyan win decisions Eric Schambari beat Matt Horwich with a good jab and effective takedowns, taking the split decision, 30-27, 28-29, 30-27. The 28-29 score is questionable, unless the judge was rewarding Horwich for continuing to move forward, in an almost zombie-like way, no matter what Schambari threw at him. Georgi Karakhanyan won a grappling-filled decision over Anthony Leone, 30-27, 30-27, 29-28. Karakhanyan, who lost to Bellator champ Joe Warren last season, used jiu-jitsu to control Leone on the ground throughout the non-tournament bout.

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Ask the Fight Doc: What could've caused elevated testosterone levels in Sonnen's test?

Chael Sonnen failed his UFC 117 drug test due to elevated testosterone levels that were "well above" normal, California State Athletic Commission Executive Director George Dodd told MMAjunkie.com on Monday.


But aside from taking banned performance-enhancing drugs, is there any way a fighter could be flagged for such a thing?


MMAjunkie.com medical columnist Dr. Johnny Benjamin tackles the topic in our latest "Ask the Fight Doc" installment.

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Tom "Kong" Watson Talks Jesse Taylor, Alex Reid and Wanting the MFC Title

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UFC on Versus 1: Jones vs Vera Fighter Payouts, Salaries and Bonuses

UFC on Versus 1 had a reported sellout crowd and brought over a $500k gate. �While the numbers are smaller the sellout crowd was under 7,000 fans. �Before we get for UFC on Versus 1 Payouts, let’s go over the results (courtesy of Sherdog.com):
UFC on Versus 1 Results







Winner
Loser
Method
Round
Time










Jason Brilz
Eric Schafer
Decision (Unanimous)
3
5:00


Mike Pierce
Julio Paulino
Decision (Unanimous)
3
5:00


Brendan Schaub
Chase [...]

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Twenty large may get Dana White to follow you on Twitter!

UFC president Dana White is part of TwitChange. The Twitter charity effort began taking bids on Wednesday. The highest bidder on dozens of celebrity Twitter accounts will be rewarded by having their celeb follow them for 90 days. All the proceeds go to the efforts to build a home and school for Special Needs kids in Haiti. All proceeds from the TwitChange celebrity auction will provide aHomeInHaiti.org the means to ?nish rebuilding the Miriam Center. The Miriam Center houses, educates and loves on Haitian children with cerebral palsy, severe autism, and other major life challenges and is one of the only facilities of its kind in Haiti. The current facility houses children in the earthquake?s aftermath and is extremely overcrowed. These kids need and deserve a permanent home.@danawhite's megapack is currently $11,100 (as of Thursday night, 10 p.m. PT).The Cagewriter budget is huge so we're looking to nab at least one celebrity. We may need to beat out Anquan Boldin for Antonio Cromartie. And there's no truth to the rumor that the money is simply going to the effort to build a home for all of @a_cromartie31's kids. That one's for @chaddukes. Come on Jets' fans, Cromartie is just $51 right now.All kidding aside, there's hundreds of celebrities up for bids. Michael Strahan might be nice. We're counting on Kelly Naqi and Dr. Ian Smith staying out of the bidding for @MichaelStrahan.   What "Jersey Shore" fan wouldn't want to win the scorned Twitter account of @MTVSammi? If only the megapack included a smoosh with Sammi Sweetheart. Gayle King is up there. You say, who? Good for you. No MMA blog reader should be aware of @kinggayle unless you actually write the blog. Well-roundedness is needed in blogging and MMA. It is for charity so no jokes about Pete Carroll. The least Reggie Bush could do is bid on @petecarroll or vice versa.Bidding on eBay closes in just over a week.

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Meet "The Ultimate Fighter 12" cast: Jonathan Brookins, the guy who fought Aldo

Well, he definitely wasn't going to be known as the high school sports star.

"I was one of the worst wide receivers in history," Jonathan Brookins said. "I averaged one catch a season for three years as a
starter. That was my career in football. I also ran track in the 100,
200 and 400 meters, and I never won a race."

Instead, Brookins and his flowing locks probably always will be
remembered as the guy who stood on the other side of the cage in one of
current WEC featherweight champion Jose Aldo's first fights for the
promotion.

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