Earlier this week, Invicta FC president Shannon Knapp made an unusual announcement, stating that no manager had the ability to blackball fighters from her organization and anyone claiming they could was full of shit. She didn’t name any names, but it wasn’t long before WMMA pioneer Tara LaRosa named Brett Atchley as the manager in question and all of a sudden you couldn’t throw a stone without hitting a female fighter with horror stories to tell about Atchley. My ‘favorite’, from former Atchley client Jessamyn Duke:

Duke expanded on the comment about Atchley getting physical with her mom, saying “He actually physically shoved my mom once when they were having an argument. For some reason, he approached my mom when they were in the lobby of the hotel and they started having this argument, and he started telling her that he made me, and I’ve changed and all this stuff. And my mom being…well, my mom, she didn’t take too kindly to that. And she was trying to leave and get out of the way, and he actually shoved her trying to talk to my sister. It was insane and HIGHLY unacceptable to put your hands on a woman like that and move her physically. That was one of my first serious red flags where it was like ‘this is not okay.’”

Other accusations against Atchley include ‘inappropriate sexual behavior’, numerous physical altercations, threats, bullying, and shortchanging / gouging fighters. There’s also a general thread of alcohol being involved in many of these incidents. Basically, the guys seems to be aiming for the #1 P4P scumbag in MMA spot currently held by former Affliction head Todd Beard, who punched a pregnant woman in the stomach. That dude was the Anderson Silva of scuzziness, but I have a feeling we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of Atchley’s poor behavior.

Dana White’s back at the vloggin’ for UFC 160, which of course means we’re setting the DeLorean for backstage at UFC 159.  Highlights include: Joe Silva tells Dana the origin story of eye poke versus groin shot recovery time; Bryan Caraway does indeed appear to be friends with Pat Healy; Bisping is even more affable just before a fight than usual; security goons block even the official vlog cameraman from filming Chael Sonnen during post-fight medicals; and Bisping declares he’s getting drunk as Sonnen greets some fans.

More details are emerging regarding MMA fighter Ibragim Todashev’s connection to Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev. CNN has this interesting detail:

Todashev and Tsarnaev were acquainted through a mixed martial arts center near Boston, said a source briefed on the bombing investigation.

In Orlando, an FBI team is reviewing the circumstances of the shooting, a procedure that follows any FBI shooting.

Todashev had an impending flight from Orlando, via New York and Moscow, to Chechnya, when investigators sought to interview him, according to a source briefed on the ongoing investigation. He was told not to take the flight, the source said.

Details emerged Wednesday about how Todashev had Tsarnaev’s phone number in his cell phone, said the source.

Both men were members of the mixed martial arts forum Sherdog.com, along with Russian-Canadian boxer-turned-jihadist William Plotnikov, the source said.

Expect a bunch of White Belts to show up on Sherdog.net over the next few days asking questions in the Wasteland like “So, how about that Allah?” and “Man, I am so sick of the imperialist pigs of America. Amirite???” It’s worth noting though that Todashev isn’t technically a terrorist yet – just a run of the mill murderer. Unless anyone foreign doing anything bad = terrorism, which kinda seems to be where we’re heading.

John Cholish is doing fighters everywhere an important public service by burning his UFC bridges and talking about UFC pay – specifically, how shitty new guys have it and how you’re lucky to break even on an entry level fight contract. He was on the Great Debate podcast earlier this week to elaborate:

“This is just gym fees, travel expenses, making sure you’re eating the right stuff, and not talking day-to-day stuff like breakfast, lunch and dinner. More like supplements, training gear, all that top to bottom. I’d say roughly between $4,000 to $6,000 a month when you look at it,” Cholish revealed.  “Again, I live in New York City so I understand costs may be a little bit higher than they are other places, but it’s expensive to train at top places and with individuals.”
…
“So, for example, when I had my fight in Toronto, you have to pay for two additional flights for two coaches. You have to pay for another hotel room, which they make you get there on Monday or Tuesday. So it’s usually for four or five nights so that adds up,” Cholish explained. “I choose to take care of my coaches’ meals while they are there.  Again, I don’t think they should have to pay out of pocket to be there.  For Brazil as well there was a $500 visa fee, that was included for coaches.

“You also have to pay for your corner licensing, you have to pay for your medicals before the fight, so it might not seem like a lot but when you start adding it together.  Especially a flight to Brazil costs $1,500 or $1,600 a piece and you’re only making $8,000, it chips away pretty quickly.
…
Fighting in Brazil, Cholish explains that the tax is 27 percent of the take home pay. In his case his contracted rate to fight was $8,000 (he would have won an additional $8000 with a win). Before he receives any pay from the UFC, Brazil taxes take $2,160 from his $8,000 paycheck. “Brazil takes 27 percent before you even get the money. That comes right out,” Cholish said. “Same thing as Canada, they take their money before you leave.”

On top of the taxes taken by each individual country, the fighters are still responsible for paying taxes in their home country of origin as well.

Cholish can say all this without fear of reprisal because he announced he would be retiring after his fight in Brazil, mainly over the sucker financial situation he was stuck in. Jacob Volkmann is also getting in on the Zuffa pay shit talking now that he’s in the World Series of Fighting:

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Dana White is always a pretty interesting interview, even when he’s being asked the same questions he’s been asked every single week for the past two years. Now UFC Tonight mixes things up a little and asks him a bunch of stupid questions like ‘Who cuts your hair’ and ‘What is the most embarrassing song on your iPod?’

Last week, the World Anti Drug Agency announced that they were increasing the threshold for a positive weed test from 15 ng/mL to 150 ng/mL, effectively taking care of that stupid issue where guys failed their drug test over a toke or two earlier that month. Will the Association of Boxing Commissions (the umbrella organization for all American commissions overseeing MMA) follow suit? We’ll find out soon:

The Association of Boxing Commissions will soon examine and consider the World Anti-Doping Agency’s new marijuana threshold.

The ABC’s medical committee will convene for a teleconference on May 28, during which the regulatory body will discuss, among other topics, WADA’s new stance on cannabis. According to Dr. Sherry Wulkan, the ABC’s medical chair, the committee will draft a policy statement to be presented to the ABC during the group’s annual conference this August in Texas.

“In combat sports, marijuana may be used for purposes of elevating pain threshold. There is also a concern as to whether reaction time may be altered with use,” Wulkan told Sherdog.com. “Therefore, at present, the 15ng/mL rule still applies. Whether [therapeutic use exemptions] should be granted for medicinal purposes will be one of the topics for discussion next week.”

It’s not a good sign that Wulkan brings up a questionable attribute of weed that definitely isn’t a factor at 15 ng/mL. But I have high hopes that sanity wins out on this one and the ABC goes along with WADA’s recommendations like they do with every other banned substance. If they wanna keep trying to catch fighters who are literally high while fighting, they can go nuts. They’ll probably only catch Nick Diaz from that point onwards. But this overturning of wins because of a miniscule trace of marijuana is an affront to the sport and not what drug testing should be concentrating on.

(pic via Joe Camporeale for USA Today)