“Affliction Banned” (the fight card is stacked, the name is jacked) will hold press conferences in LA and NYC, May 20 and May 22 respectively. Both will be open to the public. From their latest press release:

WHEN & WHERE:
Tuesday, May 20 – 12:30PM/PT
Westfield Mall
in Century City (Food Court)
10250 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90067

Thursday, May 22 – 10:30 AM/ET
Trump Tower
725 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10022

WHY: To formally announce and promote “Affliction Banned,” the monster mixed-martial-arts show presented by Affliction, the premier fashion label for men who love hard rock and fast living, July 19th on pay-per-view television, featuring the return of Russian combat fighting icon Fedor Emelianenko at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

Fighters on the Affliction Banned card include:
FEDOR EMELIANENKO, TIM “Maine-iac” SYLVIA, “Big” BEN ROTHWELL, JOSH “The Babyfaced Assassin” BARNETT, PEDRO “The Rock” RIZZO, MATT “The Law” LINDLAND, FABIO “Negao” NASCIMENTO, RENATO “Babalu” SOBRAL, MIKE WHITEHEAD

Lovely ex-UFC ring card girl Ali Sonoma will soon be a contestant on ABC’s The Mole. Ali  Sonoma, once engaged to UFC Diego Sancehz, recently moved to LA in order to pursue acting and modeling (judging by her pics she shouldn’t have much problem there). We’ll see if reality television jumpstarts her career.

The new season begins Monday June 2nd on ABC.

Check out the ABC webside for the season’s trailer.

Which is growing faster, MMA or Facebook? I think it’s safe to say Facebook is (reports say over 200,000 new sign ups every day), but mixed martial arts and the UFC’s presence on the hugely popular social networking site is growing like crazy.

I did a search for “UFC” and “MMA” on Facebook today and was surprised that between the two of them there were over 1,000 groups dedicated to the sport. While some of these groups only have a few hundred members, others have tens of thousands of members. I think Sherdog is in the hundreds of thousands in members, but don’t be surprised if Facebook eventually becomes home to the largest collective community of mixed martial arts fans.

The content kind of sucks, but it’s pretty easy to become a fan of these groups once you are a member of Facebook and really easy to upload your own photos and videos.

Join the Facebook page below and let all of your Facebook friends know you support the sport. (FYI, I have zero affiliation with the page below)

Chris “The Crippler” Leben turned himself in today after a bench warrant for his arrest was issued by a judge in Clackamas Oregon. Looks like Leban (the same guy who pissed on the bed of a fellow fighter and housemate on The Ultimate Fighter season 1) did not complete certain requirements of his parole stemming from a DUI arrest in 2005.

According to the Oregonian newspaper,

“He came in yesterday afternoon,” said Detective Jim Strovink of the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office. “He knew he had violated his parole and he admirably turned himself in.”

Leben (18-4) is being held without bail. His next hearing is 9 a.m. May 8 at Clackamas County Circuit Court.

His next scheduled bout is against Michael Bisping at UFC 85 in London on June 7.

Revgear (good friend to MMA Punch) is a manufacturer and distributor of apparel and equipment for MMA and Kickboxing. They are looking for freelance graphic designers and apparel designers who are martial artists, fighters, or fight fans. They have a series of projects and want the perspective of people who are out there doing it or are fans of it.

You can check them out at www.revgear.com and www.revgearmma.com

If you are interested send an email and some samples of your work to Paul Reavlin by email: paulr@revgear.com

Today 411Mania main released their top ten MMA fighter rankings for the Welterweight division. According the the MMA section of 411 Mania (actually a pretty reputable source of mixed martial arts news), here is how they stack up the division.

10. Marcus Davis

9. Carlos Condit

8. Diego Sanchez

7. Josh Koscheck

6. Karo Parisyan

5. Matt Serra

4. Jake Shields

3. Matt Hughes

2. John Fitch

1. Georges St. Pierre

My thoughts.

1. The welterweight division is absolutely stacked.

2.  No surprise that GSP is #1

3. John Fitch #2??? Fitch was exposed when he was very much tested against the unknown Chris Wilson, #2 seems a bit lofty

4. Carlos Condit #9??? If you’ve seen the WEC Champion in action you know what I’m talking about

To view more commentary about the list, check out the 411Mania article here.