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Strikeforce held an open workout and press conference yesterday at Legends gym in Hollywood, California for their upcoming Strikeforce “Nashville” event. Here’s highlights, video interviews and pictures courtesy of Strikeforce, Showtime, Sherdog and FIGHT! Magazine.

We now know UFC 112 will take place in Abu Dhabi and it will be held outdoors, but the question is, where? That’s the question Steve Cofield asked UFC UK president Marshall Zelaznik. According to him, the area they’re targeting consists of nothing but gravel at the moment, but by April 10 they expect to have what sounds like some kind of temporary outdoor arena set up with at least 10,000 seats.

Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta made the media rounds in NYC today to talk about their sale to Flash Entertainment.

Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White appeared on CNBC earlier today to talk about their 10% sale of Zuffa to Flash Entertainment of Abu Dhabi.

Zuffa has confirmed last week’s report that Sheik Tahnoon of Abu Dhabi, or more specifically Flash Entertainment, has acquired a 10% minority share of the company. The official statement via UFC.com.

Remember when Dana White said Zuffa might be willing to sell a small stake in the UFC if the right partner came along?

Well, according to Five Oz., the right partner did come along, and he happens to be Sheik Tahnoon of Abu Dhabi.

FiveOuncesofPain.com has recently received reports from multiple sources extremely close to the situation indicating that the UFC has recently sold a minority percentage of the company to Sheik Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the son of the former United Arab Emirates president Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

Sheik Tahnoon is well known throughout the grappling community as the founder of the no-gi submission Olympics, the Abu Dhabi Combat Club. Himself a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under Renzo Gracie, Shiek Tahnoon has been a long time supporter and practitioner of Jiu-Jitsu.

It’s no secret Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta were making trips to Abu Dhabi and spending time with Sheik Tahnoon. They both posted about it several times on Twitter in recent months. However, everyone assumed they were merely working on a deal to bring a UFC event to Abu Dhabi, which we now know will be UFC 112.

Apparently there was more to it. According to the report, Renzo Gracie, who was also in Abu Dhabi at one point with Dana White, helped broker the deal between Sheik Tahnoon and Zuffa. Additionally, Gracie’s UFC contract and scheduled fight against Matt Hughes at UFC 112 were described as “key components” of the deal.

The UFC has yet to confirm the report.

The CBS Saturday Night Fights ratings are in, but we don’t know yet if they were good enough to convince CBS to give Strikeforce and potentially Fedor Emelianenko another shot on their network.

Sherdog.com talks to UFC UK President Marshall Zelaznik about his the progress the UFC is making in their global expansion efforts.

M-1’s Jerry Millen appeared on Steve Cofield’s ESPN1100 radio show prior to the Strikeforce event this past weekend and had some interesting things to say about the failed negotiations between M-1 and Zuffa to bring Fedor to the UFC. If Millen can be believed, which is admittedly questionable, Fedor essentially called Dana out during the meeting for all the negative things he’s said in the media about Fedor.

“Dana is two-faced. One minute he says [Fedor] is the best fighter in the world and ‘I want him.’ Then [another] he’s the fat guy at the buffet.”

Millen, wasn’t in the meeting, but claims to have been on the phone to hear White’s pitch to Fedor:

“In the meeting, Dana says to Fedor ‘oh, you’re the best fighter in the world, we’d love to have you.’ And Fedor says to him ‘yeah, I hear and read on the internet what you have to say about me everyday.’ And then Dana’s like ‘I’m just a promoter. I’m just trying to sell tickets. I just want to sell tickets.’ And Fedor said ‘that’s what makes you and I different.’ [Fedor] just wants respect and to be treated fairly.”

Although this post comes with a giant “consider the source” disclaimer, it is believable when you consider the type of person Fedor is. And if it is true, it certainly hasn’t stopped Dana from slamming Fedor in the media.

Update: And here’s why it’s difficult to believe anything Jerry Millen says.

“If these guys in the UFC truly wanted to fight Fedor, they’d find a way. Come to his training camp. Come to Stary Oskol, and we’ll do three, five-minute rounds in the ring or the cage. We’ll do it for fun.

“If you really want to fight him for competition, and it’s not about the money for the guys in the UFC, then tell Brock Lesnar to jump his ass on a plane, take a train, and come to Stary Oskol. If these guys really want to fight Fedor, then come to Stary Oskol and lets get it on there for no money.”

Fox Fight Game’s Mike Straka talks to Scott Smith about his upcoming fight against Cung Le and gets Kelly Kahl’s immediate reaction to the event.