UFC president Dana White must not be enjoying the last few days, what with UFC middleweight number one contender Chael Sonnen testing positive for banned PED(s). White can’t be happy with the potential loss of what would have been one of the biggest bouts of 2011, and one which could have set the stage for several other large bouts, but while he didn’t address the Sonnen situation directly he did recently discuss his thoughts on the UFC also fining the fighters who test positive. Here’s the blurb via Yahoo Sports! Kevin Iole:

“What else do I do?. We’ve spent millions of dollars – literally, millions of dollars – to try to get this thing regulated so they can be tested by the government. Do you know how much it costs us to put on that fighter seminar every year? Let me tell you, we’re bringing guys in from all over the world. We have guys from England, Germany, Croatia, Australia, Korea. We have 350 guys under contract and they’re coming from all over the world. It costs us a (expletive) ton, but we do it because it’s important. When one of them fails a test, the government is going to fine them and suspend them and tell them they can’t make a living for a year. So should I come in after they’ve already lost the ability to make a living for a year and been fined all this money and, in the worst economic disaster in the history of the world, fine them another huge amount and take away their ability to make a living even longer?”

White makes a lot of sense, as the fighter is already losing a ton of money and most have major expenses and few have second jobs. Fighters don’t make nearly as much as some professional sports and so hitting them in their pocket book again wouldn’t be exactly the most “human” thing to do. Still, we’ll wait to see what the fallout is regarding the Chael Sonnen mess.

ROSEMEAD, Calif. - UFC 119 headliner Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, in fact, did suffer an eye injury, but he's been cleared to fight, and next week's main-event bout with Frank Mir is good to go.

That's the word from UFC president Dana White, who today spoke to MMAjunkie.com about the injury.

On Friday White shot down Croatian news reports that an eye injury might force the heavyweight fighter out of the Sept. 25 headliner and called them "untrue." However, Filipovoc did suffer an injury - at the most inopportune time.

Click here to view the embedded video.

UFC president Dana White, fighters such as BJ Penn, Chuck Liddell, Jon Jones, Vitor Belfort, Octagon girl Arianny Celeste, plus many other famous UFC personalities will be out to help celebrate the official grand opening of the UFC Gym’s this coming weekend.

The two California gyms, located in Rosemead and Los Angeles, will play center role for fighter autograph sessions, Q&A’s, and fan giveaways which include UFC Gym prize packages and UFC tickets for UFC 121.

If your living close to either gym, take some time on Saturday to head over for the Grand Opening.

Here is the full Press Release.
_________________________

Continuing on its path to completely revolutionize the fitness industry, UFC® GYM™ is unveiling a second location in Rosemead, California, and is holding the official Ribbon Cutting and Grand Opening Expo on Saturday, September 18 starting at 10:00am PT.

UFC superstars Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell and BJ “The Prodigy” Penn as well as UFC President Dana White and New Evolution Ventures (NeV) founders / UFC Gym Partners Mark Mastrov and Jim Rowley will make special appearances to kick-off all of the day’s exciting events and activities.

“I was blown away by the first gym in Concord, and the Rosemead UFC Gym is just as incredible,” said White. “I’m excited to get there on September 18th and open yet another UFC Gym for fitness seekers in LA.”

“This UFC Gym facility is second to none. No one out there can replicate what we do. The Rosemead location will continue to provide innovative fitness training and create an atmosphere where members will see immediate results. UFC Gym is not what you expect and more than you could imagine,” said Rowley, NeV/UFC Gym CEO/co-founder.

White, Liddell, Penn, Mastrov and Rowley will take part in the official ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring Rosemead City Officials scheduled to begin at 10:15am PT.

Attendees can look forward to an action packed day: White will deliver a public address, fighters will sign autographs inside the Octagon™, Bruce Buffer will host Q&A sessions and UFC stars BJ Penn, Chael Sonnen, Vitor Belfort, Jon Fitch, Gray Maynard, Jon Jones, Dominick Cruz and Best of PRIDE host Kenda Perez will make special appearances. Additionally, fitness demos will be taking place all day long, including UFC Gym Kids MMA, Muay Thai, Zumba, Kick Ass Kickboxing and Daily Ultimate Training (DUT) while partners such as the U.S. Marines and Powerade will be on site highlighting their brands.

To top it all off, UFC Octagon Girl™ Arianny Celeste will sign autographs and then take the stage for fan giveaways, which will include UFC Gym prize packages and UFC tickets for the upcoming mega-fight UFC 121: LESNAR vs. VELASQUEZ taking place Saturday, Oct. 23 live from the Honda Center in Anaheim.

The full schedule for the Grand Opening is available below. For more information on UFC Gyms, please visit UFCgyms.com.

GRAND OPENING FULL SCHEDULE

(Times Subject to Change)

10:00AM GRAND OPENING EXPO Officially Begins

10:15-10:30AM OFFICIAL RIBBON CUTTING featuring Dana White, Chuck Liddell, BJ Penn,

Mark Mastrov, Jim Rowley and Rosemead City Officials

11:30AM White Address from Inside the UFC Gym Octagon
12:00Noon Chael Sonnen, Gray Maynard and Arianny Autograph Session
12:30PM White and Liddell Kick Off Question and Answer Session Hosted by Bruce Buffer
1:00 – 1:30PM Chael Sonnen and Gray Maynard Q&A
1:00 – 2:00PM Vitor Belfort and Kenda Perez Autograph Session
1:30 – 2:00PM Jon Jones & Jon Fitch Q&A
2:00 – 3:00PM Jon Jones & Jon Fitch Autograph Session
2:00 – 2:30PM Vitor Belfort & Kenda Perez Q&A
2:30 – 3:00PM BJ Penn & Dominick Cruz Q&A
3:00 – 3:30PM Prize Giveaways with Arianny and Bruce Buffer
3:00 – 4:00PM BJ Penn & Dominick Cruz Autograph Session
5:00 – 10:00PM Music – Food & Fun!

For more information, or current UFC fight news, visit UFC.com. All bouts live and subject to change.

Ultimate Fighting Championship® – www.ufc.com

Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., UFC® produces over twelve UFC live Pay-Per-View events annually and 30 live arena events around the world. UFC programming is distributed in the United States on Viacom, Inc.’s Spike TV and on Comcast, Inc.’s Versus network. UFC content is distributed commercially through Joe Hand Promotions in the U.S. and Canadastar in Canada. Globally, UFC programming is broadcast in over 147 countries and territories, reaching 430 million homes worldwide, in 19 different languages. Ancillary businesses now include UFC.com with over 5 million unique visitors per month, the best-selling UFC “Undisputed” videogame franchise distributed by THQ, UFC Gym™, UFC Fight Club affinity program, UFC Fan Expo™ festivals, branded apparel, trading cards, articulated action figures and other media including best-selling DVDs and a U.S. bimonthly magazine.

Ultimate Fighting Championship®, Ultimate Fighting®, UFC®, The Ultimate Fighter®, Submission®, As Real As It Gets®, Zuffa®, The Octagon™ and the eight-sided competition mat and cage design are registered trademarks, registered service marks, trademarks, trade dress and/or service marks owned exclusively by Zuffa, LLC and licensed to its affiliated entities and other licensees in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other marks referenced herein may be the property of Zuffa, LLC, its affiliates or other respective owners.

About New Evolution Ventures (NeV)

Based in Northern California, New Evolution Ventures (NeV), previously New Evolution Fitness Company (NEFC) is a private equity firm focused on acquisition, development, management and operation of fitness, media and sports entities both domestically and internationally. Co-Founded in 2008 by Mark Mastrov and Jim Rowley, the current team of NeV professionals are shaping the world of fitness, media, and sports one brand at a time. With a foundation representing over a century of experience in health, wellness, sports, entertainment and fitness, NeV currently has operations and investments in over 20 countries worldwide.

Paul “Semtex” Daley (24-9-2) had to hear it from a fan that he’d be released from the UFC according to the fighter who spoke to MMAWeekly.com Radio in a recent interview.

Daley was cut after his UFC 113 bout for punching opponent Josh Koscheck well after the sound of the third round bell.

“Semtex” realizes his mistake and that life will go on, but is a little bitter that UFC president Dana White never even bothered to speak to him personally about the incident.

“Dana White’s character, I would have expected nothing less than getting kicked out of the UFC. He could have done it a little more gracefully and told me personally.

“But still to this day, I’ve had no phone call, no e-mail, no nothing, so that just goes to show the treatment I received having fought (Martin) Kampmann at late notice, and fought co-main event on my second fight in the UFC, and done a bunch of media work for them in the U.K. There’s some things I don’t agree with, but I’m happy to move on.”

Daley is set to face Jorge Masvidal this Saturday night on the Shark Fights 13 main card. The British striker is coming off a win over Daniel Acacio in Australia at the Impact FC The Uprsing: Sydney event earlier this summer.

Paul “Semtex” Daley (24-9-2) had to hear it from a fan that he’d be released from the UFC according to the fighter who spoke to MMAWeekly.com Radio in a recent interview.

Daley was cut after his UFC 113 bout for punching opponent Josh Koscheck well after the sound of the third round bell.

“Semtex” realizes his mistake and that life will go on, but is a little bitter that UFC president Dana White never even bothered to speak to him personally about the incident.

“Dana White’s character, I would have expected nothing less than getting kicked out of the UFC. He could have done it a little more gracefully and told me personally.

“But still to this day, I’ve had no phone call, no e-mail, no nothing, so that just goes to show the treatment I received having fought (Martin) Kampmann at late notice, and fought co-main event on my second fight in the UFC, and done a bunch of media work for them in the U.K. There’s some things I don’t agree with, but I’m happy to move on.”

Daley is set to face Jorge Masvidal this Saturday night on the Shark Fights 13 main card. The British striker is coming off a win over Daniel Acacio in Australia at the Impact FC The Uprsing: Sydney event earlier this summer.

UFC president Dana White spoke to The Fight Fix about title shots for Jon Jones and Jon Fitch, as well as heavyweight Shane Carwin and drug testing.

During the interview, White noted that a title shot for Jon Fitch wasn’t a guarantee

“I want to wait for Koscheck and St. Pierre to happen and then we’ll figure put who gets the next shot. By then Jake Shields will have fought Kampmann… a lot of it is timing.”

Our take, since Fitch and Josh Koscheck are training partners, booking a fight between them looks unlikely. So a win by Koscheck would mean a fight against the winner of the Jake Shields vs. Martin Kampmann bout.

I guess we’ll have to wait until December to find out the answer.

HT: The Fight Fix at CSNWashington.com

As it turns out, UFC president Dana White believes in second, or maybe third, chances.

Nine months after White gave Karo Parisyan his
walking papers, the welterweight veteran is octagon bound once again for
a meeting with Dennis Hallman at UFC 123.

Although not officially announced by the promotion, UFC 123 is expected
to take place Nov. 20 at Palace of Auburn Hills in suburban Michigan.

Undefeated UFC heavyweight fighter Cain Velasquez will get his chance at the gold when he takes on champion Brock Lesnar, but every fighter has to find a way to get to the big show. Many would think that Velasquez would be a natural for the UFC with his training team and wrestling pedigree and they would be right. Velasquez only had two fights before UFC president Dana White decided to offer him a contract, as he told GracieMag:

I had two fights on my CV and wanted to fight in other shows before going to the UFC, to get some experience. But It was really hard to get fights with other organizations, so my manager said: ‘We haven’t fought in a long time, we can’t wait any longer. It’s time to call up the UFC.’ He made the call, made Dana White an offer and we went to Vegas. We took two fighters with us and Dana watched me standing with those two fighters and doing Jiu-Jitsu with another two heavyweight athletes. He liked what he saw and told me I was in the UFC

Velasquez will lock up with Lesnar as the main event for UFC 121, which is set for October 23rd at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Many MMA insiders believe that Velasquez is the next big thing and that he will defeat Lesnar but we’ll have to wait and see. Lesnar’s size could be an issue, but Velasquez has shown some great boxing as well as being a non-stop fighter. Can’t wait for this one.

Click here to view the embedded video.

UFC president Dana White talks about mixed martial arts in Ontario, future fights, as well as addressing the Shane Carwin steroid allegations. White is candid when speaking about Toronto as well; this is a solid interview for sure.