Jeremy Schoemaker over at Shoemoney.com reported yesterday’s news that BodogFight’s parent site, bodog.com, went down with most people thinking it was a technical issue. A friend of Shoemaker’s within Bodog let him know that that the site was actually yanked out from under Bodog’s hands because some guy in the US who was awarded a patent for something to do with taking bets online filed a lawsuit against Bodog awhile back.

Bodog.com is now newbodog.com. Bodog’s owner, enterainment mogel Calvin Ayer, quickly responded to Bodog.com visitors and issued this statement.

Source:  Shoemoney.com

Ok, this is a bit off the subject of true mixed martial arts news, but former UFC Champion Tito Ortiz and former porn star Jenna Jameson seem to be everywhere these days.  We get the feeling that the two really do enjoy the limelight.  I guess if you can’t get that kind of attention in the cage like you used to, you might as well get it where you can.

In a surprise move, the UFC has launched two official event websites at the same time.  Not only have they been luanched together, they actually share the same site.  UFC 75 “Champion vs. Champion” and UFC 76 “Knockout” are now live together in one spot, check them out here.

The UFC 75 section has in depth fighter analysis of Quinton Jackson, Dan Henderson, Michael Bisping, Matt Hamill, Mirko Cro Cop, and Cheick Kongo.  The UFC 76 section contains a lot of “coming soon” content which should mirror the UFC 75 section.

In addition to the UFC 75 & 76 coverage, there is a section devoted to the top light heavyweights in the organization.  It’s pretty slick and provides video, photos, interviews, and fight histories of each of the fighters.  Those who made the cut include Jackson, Henderson, Ortiz, Liddell, Evans, Silva, Bisping, Sobral, Houston, Machida, Griffin, Jardine, Hamill, Sakara, and Nakamura. 

The Nevada State Athletic Commission has release the figher payouts for UFC 74 and by no surprise the main man, The Natural, took home the largest share of the $755,000 payout pie.  The numbers below include base pay plus bonuses for those fighters who won.

Randy Couture: $250K
Georges St. Pierre: $140K
Frank Mir: $66K
Renato Sobral: $50K ($25K currently being withheld by the NSAC)
Gabriel Gonzaga: $45K
Roger Huerta: $34K
Joe Stevenson: $32K
Marcus Aurelio: $30K
Patrick Cote: $24K
Thales Leites: $18K
Clay Guida: $14K
Kendall Grove: $12K
Josh Koscheck: $10K
Antoni Hardonk: $8K
Kurt Pellegrino: $8K
David Heath: $6K
Ryan Jensen: $4K
Alberto Crane: $4K

Total UFC 74 Payout: $755,000

The participants for the upcoming The Ultimate Fighter - Team Hughes vs. Team Serra will include the following welterweight fighters:

Matt Arroyo, Daniel Barrera, Blake Bowman, Mac Danzig, Paul Georgieff, Richie Hightower, John Kolsci, Troy Mandaloniz, Billy Miles, Roman Mitichyan, Dorian Price, Jared Rollins, Ben Saunders, Joe Scarola, George Sotiropoulis, and Tommy Speer

A deeper look at these fighters will follow shortly, check back soon.

The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) season premiere will begin September 19th on Spike TV.

Source: UFC.com

Many sports writer are calling Renalto Sobral’s actions at UFC 74 downright disgraceful and the Nevada State Athletic Commission might be in agreement.  Right now the NSAC is withholding $25,000 (half of his total purse) from Babalu pending hearing.

So what is all the fuss about?

For the majority who watched the PPV, they probably noticed the huge red blood spot on the mat that was already there before the main card.  That came from Babalu’s fight earlier in the night where he opened up David Heath’s head in a bad way with blood spewing like a fountain.  Babalu’s thoughts?

“It looked,” said the obviously indifferent Sobral, “like he had his period.”

If this wasn’t enough to turn off fans and writers, Sobral held his choke on Heath long after Heath tapped (rendering him unconscious).  Another statement from the classy mixed martial artist,

“I knew he had (tapped out). He has to learn respect. He deserved that.”

At the end of the fight he threw his hat into the crowd.  The crowd threw it back.  Ouch!

Of all of this UFC President Dana White said,

“It was a chickensh*t move to hold the choke, you just don’t do stuff like that. I would imagine the commission would have something to say. I’m going to also talk to (Sobral) and tell him it was an (expletive, expletive, expletive) move. One of the things people like about this sport is honor. When you do stuff like that, you become a bad guy. People not liking you is not a good thing. I’ll tell you what, if he would have had hold of a leg or arm and could have done real damage to (Heath) and pulled that crap, I would have cut him from the (UFC) roster immediately.”

I guess you can’t expect much from a guy who got arrested just a little over a month ago.  And you can never trust a guy who wears a tshirt with his own name on it.