There’s a lot of people who are crediting Vitor Belfort’s latest crushing win to his use of testosterone replacement therapy. But what if his victories are coming from an even more powerful performance enhancer: the favor of God Himself??? From Combate, thrown through the Google Translator:

Me and my coaches have a very good connectivity and trained a lot this last kick in the camp (in preparation to face Michael Bisping).” Vitor said the site combate.com.

“(…) This time, this kick I just trained a day in the gym, it was very little. (…). Except that I felt in the locker room. Holy Spirit spoke to my heart:” Train this kick. “then I said: “Henri (Hooft, coach of striking Blackzilians), safe for me that kick we trained?” (…) my coaches know me, and when I asked this thing they met. I’m not sure they all felt, but I felt very strong within me, as if God was speaking: “Vitor, train it there.” My life is faith. If you do not have faith, you do not get anywhere. “added Belfort, who is recognized as a religious fighter.

I’m just glad God is getting credit and not Steven Seagal.

You may have thought it was impossible to be given 65,000 dollars and still have a bad week, but Bryan Caraway has proven it is possible. His decision to tack a ‘Weed is evil, sucks to be you’ speech onto the news that he was being given Pat Healy’s Submission of the Night bonus money kicked off a storm of controversy. Nate Diaz called Bryan a bundle of branches bound together and got suspended 90 days, and then some other people jumped in with their own ‘Bryan Caraway is that word people in Northern California use instead of bitch’ stories. First, Cat Zingano:

“We’re backstage and all the fighters are there. We’re kinda tight on space because we were basically in the back where some magician does his shows,” explained Josh Ford. “There are like two rows of chairs lined up and then a table where everyone is filling out their medicals. Cat and I are sitting in the front row and a couple guys from Gabriel Gonzaga’s camp are on the other side of us. We’re talking and I’m looking straight at Cat when I see this body coming down the row behind her. I didn’t notice it was Caraway but there’s plenty of room to walk by. As he gets closer to our chairs he flares his elbow out and pops Cat right in the back of the head. The first thing on my mind was, ‘that guy just elbowed her in the head!’ As I’m turning around to see who it was Cat says the same thing. I turn my head to look and it’s Caraway! And then one of the other fighters, might have been Uriah Hall, sitting there says, ‘Hey! I think that guy just elbowed you in the head!’”

And then Bellator fighter Michelle Ould:

Caraway denied both stories and at this point has stopped really trying to defend those anti-weed statements:

“It was a poor choice of words I got ahead of myself,” Caraway said. “I meant you have no tolerance for people who smoke weed knowing its illegal or banned and get in trouble for it. I have plenty of friends who smoke and they are great people. I personally just choose not to use it. Pat Healy is actually my bro and I felt bad because I didn’t mean it that way. Sometimes I’m a knuckle head.”

Boom, there’s that moment of clarity we were all waiting for. Thanks for apologizing, Bryan. Until the next time you’re a knuckle head, peace out.

(pic by Brad Penner for USA Today)

There have been a couple of discussions about the UFC’s pay scale lately, the most recent being people’s comparisons of UFC fighter pay versus Floyd Mayweather Jr’s pay. Money Mayweather made 90 million last year off two fights, and some people say that shows just how out of whack UFC pay is. I’d say it shows just how out of whack boxing pay is – just another example of someone sucking every red cent out of the sport that they can – but one area of UFC pay that’s hard to defend is the starting salary.

The average UFC fighter makes 6k/6k to 8k/8k per fight, which is pretty miserable. Especially when you factor in the expenses of a training camp and bringing your team to corner you in your fight. UFC fighter John Cholish, who announced his imminent retirement leading up to his fight this weekend, breaks it down:

Cholish said he made $8,000 for his fight Saturday night. However, Cholish said he won’t end up making much after factoring in his expenses. Cholish estimated that the costs of his camp and for his team to travel to Brazil for UFC on FX 8 will end up being between $5,000 and $10,000. These expenses include medical tests, visas, licensing fees and payment for coaching and management.

“I think if you’re a fighter on the lower level you should at least be getting enough income win or lose in your fight so that…you can go into that fight fully focused on the fight,” Cholish said. “I don’t understand how [lower-level fighters] can live off the income at this level.”

Fighter pay has been a longstanding issue in the sport of Mixed Martial arts, and in the Ultimate Fighting Championship organization. Cholish suggests that most fighters are too worried about the consequences that come with complaining or speaking out regarding the matter.

“I just think a lot of fighters feel the same exact way I do but are just in a situation or a position where for lack of a better word they’re just scared to speak out because they’re worried about the repercussions.”

In the end, Cholish decided the risk is not worth the reward, and so he has officially retired from the sport of Mixed Martial Arts.

“Going into these fights, I knew I was going to lose money,” Cholish said. “If I’m losing money, is it really something I want to keep doing, especially if I’m putting myself at risk?”

Cholish is fortunate enough to have a job at a commodities brokerage firm to fall back on. That probably made his decision to hang em up and concentrate on making money instead of losing it a lot easier. The UFC often talks about all the money fighters are making off sponsorships, and how that clears the gap between making money and losing money in the league. But with all the growth we’ve seen over the past four years, shouldn’t entry level pay have increased by now?

Cholish’s point about fighters being unable to focus on training because their financials are fucked rings true. He may not have been a future contender but how many future contenders have we lost because they were smart enough to run the numbers and decided gambling on a UFC career was a fool’s bet?

(pic by Jason de Silva for USA Today)

The Culinary Union isn’t the only group that can throw together attack websites. Check out this new website the UFC has put up called TheTruthAboutCulinary226.com, detailing all the dirty attacks the Culinary Union has launched against the UFC and what is behind their obsession with the Fertittas. Not a lot of new stuff in there about the kerfuffle for us experts on the subject, but there is a Union History section that details the Culinary Union’s interesting history with organized crime, accusations of irresponsible spending, and of course a selection of ‘coercive and intimidating tactics’ like the ones we’ve seen against the UFC.

What’s going on up there, Canada?  Courtesy of The MMeh? Show we have discovered one David “The Can” Correa, who may be the most awful fighter in the world: “I don’t always sprawl, but when I do I tap out.”  Of course, what can you say about the winner, a guy who can’t finish an opponent who gets gassed after sprawling three times?  Methinks he looks a bit too smug about this victory.

Things were looking pretty grim for Mark Hunt a few days ago – his visa into the United States to fight Junior Dos Santos at UFC 160 was denied because of an arrest from 10 years ago. Why does that come up now? Because of increased security since the Boston Marathon Bombing. Thank you government for making us safer. Things were to the point where Hunt was getting ready to give up and just eat cake, which is apparently what he’s all about when not about to fight in the cage. But now:

That’s right, the fight is on! And while Hunt is thanking The Father aka God, I’m going to thank The Baldfather aka Dana White, hallowed be his name. Have faith in Him and he will always come through with good fights.