Wednesday, August 19 6:30 pm PT: There’s just no getting around it: Getting punched in the face sucks. It looks bad for the judges, it ruins your ability to calm small children, and it will eventually turn your face into box art for Hamburger Helper.
This is likely why professional barbarian Wanderlei Silva appears to have opted for the same scar-tissue removal surgery undergone by Marcus Davis and Nick Diaz. (In short: the surgeon scoops out all the nasty, gnarled scar tissue created by poor suture work following cuts, shaves down protruding bone, and fills in the holes with collagen that will presumably make the skin more elastic and less prone to being sliced.)
Good for him, right? Maybe, maybe not: Frank Stile, MD, a Las Vegas-based plastic surgeon who pioneered the surgery and remains its only trained applicator, says he did not have a hand in crafting Silva’s newly-smoothened brow.
“Neither he nor his agents has ever consulted me on his desire to have the procedure done,” Stile told ESPN.com. “My understanding is that he is and has for some time been in Brazil. He may be having the procedure done there. This is both very interesting and of great concern to me since I have pioneered this procedure and haven’t trained any other doctors on how to perform it safely.”
Silva has yet to publicly comment on the origin of his new appearance, so the word “hypothetical” is the word of the day. But before you assume Stile is looking for Silva’s check: “To date, I have never performed this procedure for profit. I did it out of my love for the sport and concern for the fighters I have worked with.”
Being that Brazil is not exactly a hotbed of surgical innovation -- if indeed he had any work done there -- Stile is curious about Silva’s results. “It will be interesting to see what his success with this will be. I hope [any of his] future failures will not be attributed to me or my work. So far, I'm batting .1000.”
Wednesday, August 19 2:00 pm PT: Confidence or psychotic delusion? You make the call: Brandon Vera told UFC.com’s Rhett Butler that he still has designs on living up to the audacious promise made earlier in his career when he swore he’d own both the light-heavyweight and heavyweight titles.
“I’ll hold both belts -- light heavyweight and heavyweight -- and then I’ll call it a day,” he told Butler. “I’ll tell everybody ‘I told you so,’ and I’ll just walk out and call it a day and be done with it.” (Did he say he’d call it a day? I missed it.)
Hopefully, Vera can forgive the doubters: he’s been alternating wins and losses since 2006, with those wins coming against seriously mixed-value fighters like Mike Patt and Reese Andy. (And at this point, a loss to Tim Sylvia on your record isn’t doing anyone any favors.)
Wednesday, August 19 1:24 pm PT: Referee “Big” John McCarthy -- a presence as familiar to fans as bloodstains -- spoke with Sportsnet.ca recently about his attempts to improve the state of officiating in the sport, which currently ranges from good to grossly negligent; the supplemental topic was McCarthy’s absence from UFC events, which apparently stems from his involvement as an on-air personality for the Fight Network where he made comments some considered critical of the UFC.
On his possible return: “That’s up to the UFC. That’s not up to me…Dana is the guy that runs the UFC. He has a personal problem with me. That’s fine. It’s his decision.”
Wednesday, August 19 11:30 am PT: Following a bloody, sweaty, occasionally ugly attrition win over Stephan Bonnar on July 11, Fighters Only reports that UFC 10 -- when the damn arena was candlelit -- veteran Mark Coleman has reached a deal to face Tito Ortiz in Las Vegas on Nov. 21.
This is normally the part where I’d bemoan some sandbagging matchmaking, but Ortiz’ biggest strength -- the ability to grind down opponents on the mat -- also happens to be Coleman’s, and Coleman is the one with the better wrestling credentials. (1992 Olympian, Ohio State NCAA Champion.) Ortiz is also coming off a layoff dating back to July of 2007, which casts his performance ability in serious doubt following inactivity and back surgery. And the last time Ortiz faced a 40-something wrestler with ears like rotten cheese wedges, he literally got spanked. This one actually makes some sense.
Wednesday, August 19 10:00 am PT: In some non-news news, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira told listeners plugged into a UFC conference call Tuesday that twin brother Rogerio might be due for an Octagon debut sometime soon. Sherdog.com checked with Rogerio, who claimed he still had a 9/12 appointment in Brazil to keep with onetime “Brazilian Killa” Alex Stiebling.
If the 205-pound Rogerio concludes a deal, the UFC would be only one Gegard Mousasi short of locking down the entire light-heavyweight division, which would make that title belt possibly the most cohesive and valuable in the entire sport, as every other division has at least a few strays in Japan or elsewhere. It would be one of the few instances in this universe where “undisputed” actually means what it implies.
Wednesday, August 19 3:00 am PT: For Poppies Martinez, it was supposed to be his first taste of the big show. Instead, the WEC and PFC veteran brawler was forced to withdraw just one week before his undercard match against Isaiah Hill at Strikeforce “Carano vs. Cyborg” on Aug. 15 in San Jose, Calif., after a car accident left one of his children seriously injured.
Martinez told Sherdog.com that his sister-in-law was driving in Riverdale, Calif. on Aug. 8, when she lost control of the vehicle.
Martinez’s four-year-old son William was ejected in the single car accident. He is in stable condition, according to his father, but remains in a coma at an area hospital.
“I just want the MMA world to pray for my son,” said an emotional Martinez. “We have been praying to God and hope others will do the same.”
Two of the fighter’s other children were in the vehicle as well, but suffered only minor injuries, as did his niece.
Wednesday, August 19 1:25 am PT: Victory finally paid a visit to one of the sport’s true ambassadors.
Fred Ettish put a 15-year wait behind him on Saturday, as the 54-year-old UFC veteran struck Kyle Fletcher into submission at an event co-promoted by Cage Fighting Xtreme and Gladiator Challenge in Brainerd, Minn. Ettish (1-1) delivered strikes from the mount to force the stoppage some three minutes into the match.
“The fight was interesting,” Ettish said. “Didn’t go exactly like I wanted it to, but, then again, I think they seldom ever do. I felt very uncomfortable on my feet, and that’s where I almost always feel best in the gym. Fletcher had an unusual style, and I never got into a rhythm.”
Wednesday, August 19 12:00 am PT: The value of being a poster girl: Gina Carano, who suffered her first professional loss Saturday at the piston-pumping hands of Cristiane Santos, earned $125,000 for the effort according to numbers released by the California State Athletic Commission. Santos earned only a fraction of that, having to settle for only $25,000 and Carano’s still-beating heart.
Officially, the second-highest take-home salary on the card was Renato "Babalu" Sobral, who banked $75,000 for his efforts. Unofficially, the undisclosed salary of Gegard Mousasi was probably good for six figures, or something close to it.
Mousasi wasn’t good for a lot of mass media attention -- though that could change if he keeps beating people to the extent a coroner rushes into the ring instead of an EMT -- but Carano might be one of the best buys in the sport. For that weekend, at least.
