The original story was that he failed to license because he hadn’t paid his fine yet. The NSAC said that was not going to prohibit his licensure for the fight because they would take the fine from his purse post-fight. Then it turned out that he was not going to take the drug test that was required to be licensed.

He is not licensed according to the entire story as I understand it, therefore it is in fact very much the same as the Nick Diaz situation.

And, having not been licensed, he would not have been subject to testing by NSAC anyway.

On an unrelated note, the worst performance on tonight’s Strikeforce Challengers event was by referee Al Wichgers, who was responsible for a dangerously late stoppage in the Bobby Voelker vs. Erik Apple fight, and then in the very next fight (Kerry Vera vs. Kim Couture), Wichgers was the referee behind another dangerously late stoppage. This is the kind of crap that I’d expect from Jason Herzog, the worst referee in the business. The sport doesn’t need refs giving Herzog a run for his money in the “dangerously late stoppage” category.

Both of those state’s athletic commissions take in far more money (from their cut of ticket sales and PPV revenue) than they spend.

Regarding the Karo Parisyan situation, the best article that I’ve seen on it is, by far, this article by Jim Murphy on The Savage Science Blog: http://blog.thesavagescience.com/2009/11/19/karo-parisyn-off-ufc-106-card

It’s an excellent article that really puts things into perspective.

He was.

I think Faber will lose to Aldo just as he lost to Brown. You can say that Brown didn’t dominate him because even with broken hands he couldn’t finish him off. But many fighter have fought through injury to win. Most recent would be GSP. Different injury but same situation.

Aldo is too strong and quick for Fabor. He made Brown look silly when he got him on the ground. Made it look like he was fighting someone with no ground game. I think it would be a 1st round TKO because Fabor would try and stand and bang not mention the he seems to be reckless with his punches.

Have you been reading about the entire Hoelzer Reich debate that’s been kicking around on the UG the last few weeks?

I find it kind of odd that a fighter sponsor with Nazi imagery on their t-shirts and associations with well-known Neo-Nazis has kind of fallen under the radar by the MMA media.

Just wondering what you think, Zach, since I would’ve thought this is the kind of meaty story that you normally like to investigate.

Mark…. White needs to be out in front of stories and control the message. That is what all good companies do. And it had to be loud enough so people heard about it BEFORE they purchased the PPV. The only think he lacks is being polite about it….

Well, the lacking politeness is exactly the problem. Obviously he should have announced it. But firing him over Twitter with all the exclamation points created this into a circus. And if you’re saying he did this that way to raise awareness before the show Saturday to prevent angry purchasers, come on, how many people buy shows for Karo Parisyan? Besides me and a few fellow judokas.