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Uh oh.

According to NSAC executive director Keith Kizer, someone tested positive for something at UFC 143. He’s just not telling who and for what until later this afternoon. Here’s the email he just shot out to the media.

Thank you for the many email and phone calls. I am still waiting for all the steroid and drug test results to come back. We did have at least one positive test. I will send out an email later today on that matter.

Could this be the reason Cesar Gracie says the Diaz-Condit rematch isn’t happening? That’s the rumor going around, but it sounds like we’ll out for certain soon enough.

Image via MMA Junkie

Joe Rogan gives his take on UFC 143′s controversial Nick Diaz vs. Carlos Condit decision. To sum it up, Rogan doesn’t think the right fighter won.

Forget what Carlos Condit said about waiting for Georges St. Pierre. Forget about what his manager Malki Kawa said about not wanting the rematch. Forget about what Nick Diaz said about retiring. And forget about what Cesar Gracie said about Nick not fighting until next year.

Why?

Because Dana White just revealed on Twitter that the rematch is on and both fighters want it.

@justScrap85@carloscondit@malkikawa the rumor is true. Carlos did accept the fight today and Carlos is coming on Friday not thur.

@TheJRF83 nick wanted the rematch the same night

@GrossiMMA Carlos wanted it

Not to throw a bucket of cold water on a hot flame, but I should note that this doesn’t mean the fight is signed, sealed and delivered. At least not yet. As of now, both camps are denying it, but if Dana is confident enough to talk about it on Twitter, then it’s most likely going to happen.

Assuming it is on, the next question is where and when? I would hesitate to put it on FOX (not that there’s been any indication that that’s where it’s going to happen) just because of how the first one went down, but if Condit really does want the fight now, maybe that means he’s tired of all the backlash and will throw the gameplan out the window in the rematch and give us the fireworks we expected all along. That’s what I hope happens at least and if it does, FOX would be the perfect place for it.

Update: Well here’s the latest. Carlos Condit’s manager says they’re in. Cesar Gracie however says not so fast. If that’s not confusing enough (I mean it’s supposed to be the other way around, right?), try making sense of Gracie’s last four tweets. Are they in or are they out?

Update: It’s not looking good. Cesar Gracie told MMA Weekly earlier this evening that “there is not going to be a rematch.” Something’s obviously going on, but no one is talking yet.

“I think Nick will miss fighting when he’s not doing it for long enough, so I do see him coming back at some point. Not now, but maybe end of the year, 2013, something like that… He’s had breaks before. I think it was good for him. He focused on his triathlons. I think he does get antsy after a while. After about six months, the guy wants to fight. I think he’s been fighting too many times, and I don’t think he’s got that in him right now. So I think an extended layoff would be a great idea for him… What people forget is Nick is only 28 years old. He’s a young guy at the peak of his career. He’s a polarizing figure. But whether you love the guy or hate him, you want to see the guy fight. That’s the biggest thing. He’s definitely not boring. He puts people in the seats, and that’s the bottom line… So a guy like that, he’s going to be around, and I think the GSP fight will eventually happen someday.”

— Cesar Gracie, via MMA Junkie, commenting on Nick Diaz’s retirement comments at UFC 143

I’m sure we’ll see Nick Diaz back one way or the other, but I think it would be a mistake to take too long of a layoff. The momentum and buzz behind Diaz was at an all-time high coming into the Condit fight. He lost, sure, but Condit didn’t exactly beat him up and smash his aura like Antonio Silva did to Fedor Emelianenko. In fact, exactly one half of the people who voted in the “Who won?” poll on UFC.com believe Nick won that fight. In other words, the Condit fight may have slowed down the Diaz bandwagon but it didn’t run it off the road. In a perfect world, I’d say Nick should fight again sometime this summer whether it be against Condit, Koscheck or someone else to keep that momentum going, but if his heart isn’t in it right now, then maybe it’s best he just lay low for awhile.

Image via Esther Lin for MMA Fighting

Here’s the UFC’s new pay-per-view intro that replaced the gladiator opening. It’s not bad, definitely better than the gladiator, but I feel like it’s missing something.

Dana White said they spent an “obscene” amount of money on it. Maybe they would have been better off using that money to license The Who’s Baba O’Riley so they could use the video they play in the arena to amp up the live audience before the main card starts. Now that video gives you goosebumps and gets you pumped up to see some fights.

(more…)

“I don’t think the judges like Nick. He comes off, he talks in the ring… Carlos was running at one point, and Nick slapped him in the face said, ‘Quit running.’ We were there for a dogfight. Carlos said he’d provide for the fans a dogfight, a great fight where they were going to go at it. That was not a dogfight. It takes two to make a dogfight. One guy running away is not a dogfight… I don’t know what the judges were looking at. They’ve never liked Nick in Vegas. They’ve never voted for him in a decision. The only one was the BJ Penn fight, and he almost had to kill BJ to get that one. I don’t think they like his attitude, a guy that’s going to go out there and talk. I think they think he’s disrespectful. They’re going to find a reason to judge against him. I don’t think he can get fair judging in that state at all.”

— Cesar Gracie on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani claiming judges are biased against Nick Diaz in Nevada

First and foremost, let me say that Diaz did not get robbed. This wasn’t Shogun-Machida I. It was a close fight and I think you could make an argument for either fighter. That said, there is certainly incompetent judging in MMA. It happens all the time. But biased judging? I don’t know. I’ve never seen any evidence of that, but I’ve never been in a position to either. It wouldn’t surprise me, but to suggest Nick can’t win a decision in Vegas because the judges don’t like him without providing any evidence to support such a theory is kind of like throwing around baseless steroid and greasing accusations. They’re pointless without proof.

Moving on, Gracie also took aim at Greg Jackson and their fight strategies during the interview.

“It’s one thing to avoid standing in the pocket, it’s one thing to know how to dodge punches and kicks, and be somewhat elusive and have great defense,” he said. “It’s another thing to turn your back and run from a fighter. That’s completely different. You shouldn’t be telling your fighter to fight like that. I think it’s a disgrace and a shame. I’ve said this before: I don’t like that camp. I’m not going to take that back.”

Greg Jackson joined the show right after Gracie hung up. He didn’t specifically respond to Gracie’s comments, but he did defend the game plan they employed to beat Nick Diaz.

“It’s not like we reinvented the wheel here with this game plan,” Jackson said. “A stick-and-move game plan against a guy that’s such an amazing fighter and such a tough guy as Diaz, for me is a no-brainer. If you look at the numbers, we hit him many more times than he hit us.”

“The criticism I guess I heard this morning was that Carlos was running,” Jackson said. “He was running back to the middle of the Octagon and hitting him. You can’t really say he’s running, because he hit him more times. So that argument doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

“He’s amazing when he gets you up against the fence,” Jackson said of Diaz. “He’s amazing when he starts rolling on those combinations. So we left the party when that happened and then we started the party again and were able to land a lot more shots than he was. It’s pretty cut and dry to me. …If you sit there and go toe-to-toe with him, man, he’s just so tough. His combinations flow so beautifully. He switches from the body to the head so well. There’s no reason for us to play that game.”

Jackson also made it clear that if GSP and Condit do fight next, he will not be cornering either fighter. Interestingly enough though, for Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans, he might be changing his mind about cornering Jones. He still considers Rashad a friend, but since he’s not coming back to their camp, he feels he needs to be loyal to his team too.

Image via Esther Lin for MMA Fighting

Carlos Condit’s decision victory over Nick Diaz at UFC 143 has been so controversial, it wouldn’t be that far-fetched of an idea to do an immediate rematch while Georges St. Pierre continues to rehab his knee. Dana White was open to the idea after the fight. Cesar Gracie said they would “probably” be interested in doing that today. But, Carlos Condit and his management, not so much.

Condit told Ariel Helwani right after the fight that he would rather just wait for GSP and his manager, Malki Kawa, more or less echoed that sentiment today on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, basically stating that they’re moving past Nick Diaz.

“At this point, [a rematch] is not something we’re looking to do,” he said. “We’re looking for Georges. People forget, Carlos waited a long time to get this fight. He was moved around, and shuffled around between fights. He won the fight. It doesn’t interest us at all. I think clearly and decisively, he won the fight. Even [UFC president] Dana [White] scored it for him. All of the opinions that matter scored Carlos as winner.”

“It was a performance that was excellent,” Kawa said. “He picked apart a very formidable fighter. Two judges saw it four rounds to one, and one saw it three to two. The fact that he didn’t stand and bang with him? I’m sorry, not every fighter has to do that. He did what he had to do, and that goes to show me that this guy is mature, he’s fighting fights that are smart. People are like, ‘Oh, Carlos is not a finisher.’ The guy threw how many spinning elbows? How many spinning back fists? He threw a flying knee. He tried to finish Nick Diaz when the time and the opening was there. I can’t find a flaw in his performance.”

“Carlos is a fighter,” Kawa said. “At the end of the day, this is not a guy who wants to sit around and wait. He wants to fight. You never know. Right now, the idea is that we want Georges St-Pierre. The goal is to fight Georges St-Pierre. He wants to be the best in the world, so that’s the fight that interests us at this moment.”

You can’t really blame them. Condit doesn’t have much to gain and lot to lose by getting back in the cage with Nick Diaz before taking his shot at Georges St. Pierre.

To be honest, other than really wanting to see GSP vs. Diaz and a rematch being the only possible avenue to that at this point, I really don’t want to sit and watch Condit “stick-and-move” (Greg Jackson’s words) for another 25 minutes while Nick chases him around the cage. And I sure as heck don’t want to pay for it. Condit played it smart and got the win. Good for him, but I’d rather spend my $50 on guys who are gonna get after it no matter what’s on the line.

Image via Twitter.com/danawhite

The NSAC has released the fighter salaries for UFC 143. Keep in mind, these figures represent the base contracted pay the fighter receives from the promotion. These figures do not include any additional undisclosed discretionary bonuses, pay-per-view revenue sharing bonuses or sponsorship money, which in many cases exceeds a fighter’s base pay. These numbers also do not account for taxes, insurance, and license fees.

Nick Diaz didn’t win the fight, but he did make the most money at UFC 143. Diaz earned $200,000 in a losing effort to Carlos Condit. Condit also did well for himself taking in $110,000. Josh Koscheck and Fabricio Werrdum also broke the six-figure mark while Roy Nelson would have only gone home with a disclosed $20,000 had he not won the $65,000 Fight of the Night award. His toughness may not have won him the fight but at least it earned him some extra cash.

Payouts

Courtesy of MMA Junkie:

• Carlos Condit: $110,000 ($55k +$55k win bonus)
  Nick Diaz: $200,000
• Fabricio Werdum: $100,000 (no win bonus)
  Roy Nelson: $20,000
• Josh Koscheck: $146,000 ($73k +$73k)
  Mike Pierce: $20,000
• Renan Barao: $22,000 ($11k +$11k)
  Scott Jorgensen: $20,500
• Ed Herman: $62,000 ($31k +$31k)
  Clifford Starks: $8,000
• Dustin Poirier: $24,000 ($12k +$12k)
  Max Holloway: $6,000
• Edwin Figueroa: $16,000 ($8k +$8k)
  Alex Caceres: $8,000
• Matt Brown: $30,000 ($15k +$15k)
  Chris Cope: $8,000
• Matt Riddle: $30,000 ($15k +$15k)
  Henry Martinez: $6,000
• Rafael Natal: $20,000 ($10k +$10k)
  Michael Kuiper: $6,000
• Stephen Thompson: $12,000 ($6k +$6k)
  Dan Stittgen: $6,000

Bonuses

$65,000 bonus to each fighter.

• Knockout of the Night – Stephen Thompson
• Submission of the Night – Dustin Poirier
• Fight of the Night – Fabricio Werdum & Roy Nelson

Total Payout

A disclosed total of $1,140,500, including all bonuses, was paid out to the fighters.

A few observations from UFC 143: “Diaz vs. Condit”:

-Sure, Stephen Thompson may be an unorthodox striker in MMA and good at karate, but we’ve seen how this movie ends. He goes on to win the belt, then gets destroyed by some prodigy and standing-guillotined until he’s a quivering mass of unconscious humanity on the floor.

-Matt Riddle is the most… he’s the most… sorry, I just can’t make myself care about Riddle.

-It took Chuck Liddell about ten years of MMA competition to become a case study in the effects of repetitive head trauma. Chris Cope is on track to cut that time in half.

-Really, I’d say the biggest loser in the Alex Caceres/Edwin Figueroa bout was Figueroa’s nutsack.

-Dustin Poirier will be a contender in the featherweight division. Unfortunately, toying with tomato cans will get him nowhere.

-Ed Herman is like a less-skilled, less-talented, uninspiring and only moderately-effective version of Randy Couture, who will never ever come within shouting distance of the title. I’d say that qualifies him to fight for the Strikeforce belt.

-He may or may not have a chance against Dominick Cruz, but Renan Barao is the most ready to challenge the champ. Make that fight, Joe Silva!

-Seriously, Josh Koscheck needs to be filmed rescuing a busload of orphans from bandits or something. The hate the audience levels upon him is kind of unwarranted.

-Roy Nelson: so tough, yet so incapable of hanging with the elite heavyweights.

-Ugh. It pains me to say this, but Carlos Condit definitely out-struck Nick Diaz and earned that decision. Yes, he ran just about the entire time. However, it was a tactical “run” as opposed to a scared “run”, and he landed a wide array of kicks, knees, punches, backfists and elbows. The sad thing is, Diaz is the better fighter. No one will ever kick Diaz’s ass. That’s not the case with Condit, though, who will likely get laid upon by Georges St. Pierre and ground-and-pounded.

Rundown of UFC 143 post-fight news and notes…

— 10,040 attendees filled the Mandalay Bay Events Center for a $2.3 million live gate.

— Stephen Thompson picked up a $65,000 KO of the Night bonus in his UFC debut for that sneaky head kick he used to put Dan Stittgen’s lights out. Dustin Poirier was awarded the Submission of the Night bonus for his sweet mounted triangle/armbar. And Fabricio Werdum and Roy Nelson earned Fight of the Night for their bloody battle.

— It’s been quite awhile since I remember fans so passionately split about a decision like they are with Nick Diaz vs. Carlos Condit. Honestly, when the fight was over I felt like Condit had won it and I really wanted Nick Diaz to win. I wasn’t actively scoring it as the fight progressed though, so perhaps I’ll change my mind when I go back and watch it again.

For what it’s worth, Dana White thought Carlos Condit won the fight as well and I’m sure he was internally hoping Diaz would win given the magnitude of GSP vs. Diaz.

“Carlos Condit won,” White said following the evening’s post-event press conference. “He went in there, and he fought a great fight. He stuck to his gameplan and didn’t fall in Nick Diaz’s (style of fight).”

“Nick Diaz is the master of getting you to fight his type of fight,” White said. “Fighters have egos, and millions of people are watching. When you start getting open-hand slapped by the other guy and he’s calling you names – ‘Alright, you want to do this?’ – they step in, and they do it. Carlos Condit kept his cool tonight, fought a perfect fight. He started early, chopping those legs, and that did make a big difference toward the end of the fight. It slowed Nick down a lot – body shots, too.”

Even though Dana felt Condit won the fight, he thought it was close enough to warrant a rematch if both fighters wanted it.

“It’s crazy, but … I was thinking about it after the fight,” White said. “People are bitching, and people think that was close, we could do that fight again before GSP comes back.”

“It depends on Carlos, too. Carlos has got to say – and Nick’s got to say, ‘I want to fight him again,’ too.”

That would certainly be one way of handling it. Condit said he was leaning towards waiting for GSP in his post-fight interview with Ariel Helwani, however Dana was pretty adamant that he wanted Condit to fight again if GSP is going to be out for too long. Nevertheless, I seriously doubt Condit would want to fight Diaz again, so we’ll have to see what happens. Dana also thought Josh Koscheck vs. Nick Diaz would be a good match-up.

— Of course, that’s all assuming Nick Diaz doesn’t actually retire. But I doubt he will and so does Dana White.

“You never know with Nick Diaz,” White said. “You never know. I think he’s just upset right now, and I think he’s emotional, but who knows?”

“I think once he goes home and realizes and calms downs – look, Nick Diaz is a fighter,” he said. “I don’t see Nick Diaz retiring, but who knows? This isn’t one of those sports where you want to be half in, half out.

“If that’s how you feel, maybe you should retire.”

Nick Diaz didn’t comment on it past his post-fight interview, but I’m sure Cesar Gracie will address it this week.

— Carlos Condit’s comments on the fight and moving forward as the interim welterweight champion:

“He was talking. I was landing punches,” Condit told UFC.com after his title-winning performance. “I think I was winning. No matter how much he talked, I was hitting hard and I was hitting him solid. That’s what I came here to do. I didn’t come here to talk.”

“[This win] is huge. This is just another step toward my ultimate goal of being among the best mixed martial artists in the world,” said Condit. “I’ve got a lot of work to do and a lot more improvements to make. Georges is a true champion, and he’s the best in the world.”

“I have the best fans in the world. I get so much support and respect from people all over the world who I don’t even know,” said Condit. “I want you guys to know how much it f—ing means to me. This isn’t always fun, and it’s not always easy, but hearing from fans and getting support from you guys gives me motivation.”

— Roy Nelson didn’t win last night, but he showed once again just how darn tough he is. Even one of his biggest critics, Dana White, was impressed with how Big Country kept fighting after taking so much punishment. He’s not sure what’s next for Nelson, but he hopes Nelson will continue to take his training and diet more seriously.

“I don’t know,” UFC president Dana White told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “We’ll see what happens. I mean the guy brings it. He comes to fight. I just – you wonder what he could do if he really, really trained and got into it.”

“I’ve been telling Roy forever if Roy took himself serious – for instance, Roy had moments there,” White said. “He rocked Werdum once with a couple of shots. If he was in good enough shape to keep that kind of a pace, he would win more fights.”

“I don’t know,” White said. “He’s tough though. He’s so tough. He’s one of the toughest guys I’ve ever seen.”

Here’s a pic of that nasty cut Fabricio Werdum opened up over his eye if you don’t mind seeing a little forehead flesh.

— Here’s some interesting news. Josh Koscheck revealed after the fight that he has split from AKA.

“I’ll be training out of Fresno for now,” Koscheck told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “I’m no longer affiliated with some of the people at the gym that I’ve been training at.”

“It was a tough camp,” Koscheck said. “This is my last camp there. I’m going to do my own thing.”

So does that mean he and Jon Fitch will finally fight? Koscheck says “good luck with that.”

“That’s what I whispered to him,” White told MMAjunkie.com. “I said, ‘Now I’m doing the Jon Fitch fight.’ That’s what I said to him. He said, ‘Good luck with that.’”

Dana said he “wouldn’t do it just to do it,” but if the fight made sense he would push for it. I’m not sure how many people are really clamoring for that one though.

— And last but not least, Dana White confirmed that Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen have verbally agreed to meet in June in Brazil and bout agreements should be finalized soon. It’s still unclear exactly where in Brazil the fight will happen. They wanted to do it at a soccer stadium in San Paulo, but apparently noise ordinances are making that difficult to book.

Image via Esther Lin for MMA Fighting