Admittedly, I may be an overly enthusiastic fan of the early UFC tournaments and legendary Pride Gran Prix's.  To be brutally honest, MMA tournaments practically suffice as my answer to every problem life can throw at you.

During a rather depressing discussion with colleagues at a corporate gathering about the waning economy and the controversial tactics of president Obama, I was shocked and appalled at their complete lack of reception towards my adamant suggestion that an 8-man tournament be instituted immediately.  As my fiance was furiously rummaging through the house and rifling through drawers on a frantic quest to find her car keys when running late for work one morning, I declined to assist in the search, citing legal reasons, but kindly offered to draw up the brackets for the first round of a Gran Prix that would undoubtedly impart knowledge we could use for much more than locating irrelevant objects.

Perhaps my suggestion for Strikeforce may hold a little more water; or at least it won't result in being banned from company meetings (which is not all bad) or dishware being launched towards my head at high velocity from an irate (but attractive and very well-toned) fiance.  The Strikeforce organization has wisely adopted a few tactics that the UFC has refused to touch with a ten-foot pole, most recently when they announced that they would combine talent with other organizations by co-promoting with M-1 Global and DREAM.

Additionally, Strikeforce made history by orchestrating the biggest female fight in the sport's history, a course of action they most certainly intend to continue.  I believe any untraveled pathways through the MMA jungle or untapped resources that may logically produce interest and excitement are worthy avenues to pursue to gain ground on the UFC and differentiate the Strikeforce product.

The middleweight belt has been in limbo for a year and a half since Cung Le spiritedly dismantled Frank Shamrock to win the championship, only to waltz off to Hollywood indefinitely to pursue a film career.  The current media landscape for Strikeforce is a tumultuous war zone of verbal blitzkrieg between Jake Shields, Jason "Mayhem" Miller, and Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza, each boasting about their ability to beat the crap out of the other two. When combining the current pool of talent in the Strikeforce 185 pound division, it's pretty damn solid.

With Cung Le being the rightful champ and unable to compete in the near future, why not compile the other exciting and esteemed MW fighters like Nick Diaz, Robbie Lawler, Matt Lindland, Frank Shamrock, and Dream-transfer Kazuo Misaki into an 8-man tournament?  Shamrock says he's ready to return to action, Lindland has an itchy trigger-finger but is unsure of his first opponent, and Nick Diaz would punch somebody in the mouth just for insinuating that he wouldn't throw down at the drop of a hat.

Of course, no fighters could fight twice per night, but this would actually serve as advantageous by stretching the tournament out over 2-3 shows, both from a marketing perspective and to avoid the injuries that inevitably blur the true tournament results when an alternate is introduced.

How about this for a hypothetical first round:  Shields x Jacare, Mayhem x Misaki, Lindland x Shamrock, and Diaz x Lawler?  Now, can you tell me with a straight face that watching this electric line-up unfold would not alleviate the earth's energy crisis or cure swine flu?

The first round could fill the main card leading up to the glorious debut of Fedor Emelianenko when he takes on Brett Rogers.  The marketing angle of the tournament would only increase exposure to their largest and most critical investment in "The Last Emperor", and would in turn familiarize the fans with their growing stable of talented fighters in the MW class. There would be no concern in some of the common complaints with this type of tournament:  the belt is already doomed to be held in limbo for an unknown period of time, and I've never bought into the philosophy that this would be a case of "unloading the entire gun", as many intriguing match-ups and storylines would result.

Therefore, until someone can prove me wrong, I'll sit back with the confident conviction that a tournament is an interesting strategy for Strikeforce to consider in their journey to nip away at the UFC's heels while I deftly dodge flying crockery and explain to the cable company why "Bushido 9" illustrates the perfect outline to rectify our financial dispute.

In what is unraveling into quite an entertaining trash-talking trilogy in the world of Strikeforce, Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza has followed the suit lain by Jason "Mayhem" Miller and Jake Shields of blasting each other through the MMA media by spinning the proverbial six-guns out of his holster and joining the verbal fray.

Speaking to Kid Peligro at adcombat, Jacare (which means "Alligator" in Portugese) refused to sit silently on the sidelines while Mayhem and Shields had all the fun.  He first chose to address Jake Shields:

"I just read Jake Shields interview on mmaweekly.com (link) and I would like to make a statement saying that I am more than ready to step up and smash Shields. I think Jake Shields ground  game is overrated and I will be more than glad to end his win streak and take his belt away. So Jake, you talk the talk, but can you walk the walk, if you can, let’s do it, I accept the fight against you right now. So what's it gonna be." 

The ADCC champion and grappling extraordinaire then set his sights on his nemesis and former Dream MW opponent, Jason "Mayhem" Miller:

"And I also would like to send a message to the clown 'Jason Miller', you made a huge mistake to follow me into Strikeforce, we have an unfinished business and I was afraid that I might not be able to finish it since I came to Strikeforce, but thanks to Scott's efforts and Jason's stupidity, he signed.  So now we live in the same house, and he is not welcome there.  So Jason do whatever it is that you need to do, be ready and you are next on my list, after I finish Jake."

Here are the recent articles on the Garv.com from Mayhem and Shields. 

Them's fightin' words, from all three.  Consider me hooked, emotionally attached, on board, swallowed by the hype, or any combination thereof.  For top-talent outside of the UFC at 185 lbs, this is as good as it gets, although rumors that Jorge Santiago could join the Strikeforce MW mix wouldn't hurt either. Although I can appreciate building the anticipation and excitment of the fight, I'm ready to skip to dessert and get an official fight and date announced for any two of these three.

From UK source "The Sun" comes the news that Mike Swick was injured in training and will be replaced with Paul "Semtex" Daley to face Swick's previously scheduled opponent, Dutch kickboxer Martin Kampmann.

The Sun features several quotes from Daley himself as well as from Marshall Zeleznik, who is the president of the UFC's UK operations.  Daley begins by confirming receipt of the offer:

"I got the call and I accepted. I came to the UFC to fight the best, and that's what I am going to do.  Kampmann is on a roll with the UFC, but I will roll over him. Semtex is going to explode onto the UFC's welterweight scene at UFC 103."

Zelaznik echoed Daley's enthusiasm:

"Semtex has come to the UFC with a lot of hype, a lot of ability and — as he's already proved — a lot of confidence.  He was asked to step up and — real fighter that he is — he accepted right away.  He's already done the UK proud by stepping up and I know he's going to go all out to do exactly the same at UFC 103.  He has an attack-minded style and British fans will be able to see Paul make his debut against one of the best 170lbs fighters in the UK on ESPN."

Mike Swick confirmed his injury and subsequent absence from UFC 103 with this post on his Twitter page:

"I got foot swept while sparring this week and lost my legs. Landed on back of my head and neck and suffered a pretty bad concussion"

One fighter's misfortune is a golden opportunity for another.  Daley, who was originally scheduled to make his UFC debut on the undercard of UFC 105 against Brian Foster, will vault into the main card's spotlight to take place in the bout that was formerly initiated to slake out the #1 contender to welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre.  Although the remodeling of Daley's debut poses a huge increase in competition, he is the type of fighter that will throw down at the drop of a hat against anyone standing in front of him, and Semtex also has a knack for intoxicating the crowd with arousing and exhilerating performances.

Two new promotions have sprang out of nowhere to shock the MMA world with legitimately stacked talent and surprisingly appealing line-ups:  Bitetti Combat in Brazil, set for September 12th, and the Shine Fights promotion.  The second endeavor of Shine Fights is kicking off tonight with a live streaming pay-per-view (www.shinefights.com) and many UFC, WEC, and MMA veterans serve as the potent ingredients for this solid card. Vale Tudo old-schooler Jorge "Macaco" Patino, past UFC competitors Roan Carneiro, Yves Edwards, and Junior Assuncao, former WEC'ers Micah Miller and Ryan Healy, Rio Heroes brawler Flavio Alvaro, and Pride Bushido and Dream stand-out Luiz Firmino make up the majority of well known fighters who will prove that a heavy pool of talent still lies outside of the UFC, Dream, and Strikeforce. For those who are only concerned with top 10 fighters battling for pivotal steps towards becoming the world champion, this event is not for you.  For the fans out there who still enjoy watching tremendous talent in the form of highly experienced and technical fighters from amazing camps who just love to fight, then tune in tonight and support Shine Fights 11.  The complete card is as follows: WW: Jorge Patino x Roan Carneiro LW: Yves Edwards x James Warfield LW: Luiz Firmino x Ryan Healy LW: Flavio Alvaro x Jean Silva FW: Micah Miller x Anthony Morrison  LW: Junior Assuncao x Pete Grimes MW: James Brasco x Herbert Goodman HW: Phil Friedman x Brian Fuery (video courtesy of MMAJunkie)

UFC 103 is an event that features a conglomeration of intriguing fights that hold a good chance of turning out just as exciting as they seem on paper.  Both the main event and co-main (Franklin/Belfort, CroCop/dos Santos) boast big names that are all dynamic and explosive strikers and whom prefer to follow the fan-friendly strategy of "standing and banging". Really, the same could be said for the Martin Kampmann vs. Mike Swick encounter, which is rumored to determine GSP's next opponent.  Conversely, Frank Trigg and Josh Koscheck are some of the best wrestlers in the sport and will look to impose their powerful top games on one another, but both have also drastically improved their stand-up over the years to become well-rounded combatants.  Finally, completing the main card, Tyson Griffin versus Hermes Franca pits two game lightweights against one another, with Griffin having the wrestling and striking advantage, and Hermes enjoying the punching power and submission edge.  Griffin has won many a "Fight of the Night" bonus, and fan-favorite Hermes rarely disappoints, so overall this assemblage of talent is looking bulletproof from a matchmaking standpoint.

From Matt's blog:

Last week I went out to Vegas and I signed a multi-fight deal with the UFC, which is much like my last contract. I also brought up the fact that I wanted to do a hunting show and they thought that would be a good thing. They still have to find out who, where and when my next fight will be and I will try to post that info ASAP. Nothing is decided yet, so anything you might be reading on the internet right now is just rumors and speculation. However, one name the UFC did bring up is a person I’ve never fought before.

Who knows, maybe we'll see a rematch between Hughes and Matt Serra.  Congrats to Matt Hughes on his contract.

Sean Sherk separated his shoulder and won't be able to fight Gleison Tibau at UFC 104 on October 24 in LA. There has been some controversy about this, because Sherk failed to show up for a random CSAC drug test. However, his manager Monte Cox says that Sean didn't keep the appointment because he was already injured and had no need to apply for a license. Either way, Josh Neer has stepped up to be the replacement. Neer lost a decision in a very tough fight against Kurt Pellegrino at UFC 101 and will be looking to rebound against Tibau. Tibau too is coming off a loss, a split decision against Melvin Guillard at the TUF 9 finale in June. This is a very good match up and should be a great fight. Both fighters have something to prove.

On July 31, Kevin Jordan defeated Pat Smith in a brutal war at American Steel Cage Fighting's debut in Salem, New Hampshire. As a result of his victory, Jordan was signed by Strikeforce to face Ray Sefo, the legendary kickboxer, who is making his Strikeforce MMA debut on September 25 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Kevin is training hard right now up in Cortland, New York, home of Team Bombsquad. Ryan Citotoli is training Jordan, preparing him for Sefo. Ryan will be in Kevin's corner in Tulsa, and I will too, along with MMA matchmaker Gary Marino. Here's Kevin Jordan's fight with Pat Smith. You might recognize the voices on the commentators. I did the commentary, along with pro fighter Andrew "Strong Island" Montanez, who will be fighting in American Steel's second show next week on September 11th. I'll be there,of course, once again calling the action. Here's the video: