UFC re-ups with Bud Light, hitting New Orleans in September

The benchmark sponsor for MMA is back on board with the UFC. Dana White points to big fights, like Forrest Griffin versus Stephan Bonnar, as a turning point in the company's history, but he'll also tell you that the day back in 2008 when Anheiser-Busch puts its dollars and marketing behind the promotion just before UFC 82, changed everything in the most important areas -advertising potential and the sport's perception in the business world. The companies have extended and expanded their relationship with multi-year deal announced today.

"Bud Light's sponsorship deal with us a few years ago was a milestone for our organization and the sport," White said.  "We couldn't be more excited about working with Bud Light and continuing our strong relationship."

Major sponsor may seem commonplace now, but in 2007 getting the nod from Bud Light was huge.

"I still don't think we're mainstream, but this is huge -- every year we've taken it to another level," said White.

White said that A-B will aid in event marketing and that the deal gives UFC "more power in garnering television deals by bringing the major sponsor with them to the table." Bud Light joins Harley Davidson as the company's "major blue-chip sponsors" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 2/28). CNBC's Darren Rovell wrote the deal "is huge." Rovell: "For all that UFC was -- the pay-per-view dollars and the merchandising -- it wasn't for blue chip brands. Well, that's not the case anymore" (CNBC.com, 2/28).

The new deal with Bud Light includes upping the featured sponsorship of events from two to four pay-per-views each year.

Bud Light is also going to help present one special event each year. In 2011, the UFC will hold a Spike TV card in New Orleans on Sept. 17. The UFC announced a special promotion in conjunction with the event:

Bud Light is extending the New Orleans event beyond the fight night with the "Battle on the Bayou" national sweepstakes*, a three-day, two-night UFC fan experience in the Big Easy ? complete with weigh-ins downtown, an exclusive concert and meet-and-greets with UFC personalities.  Beginning May 2, fans 21 and older can enter to a win a trip for two to the "Battle on the Bayou" online at www.Facebook.com/BudLight or through UFC-branded Snap Tags on Bud Light point-of-sale materials.

Mark Wright with Anheiser-Busch is fired up about the partnership on these new fan experiences:

"Bud Light's first three years with the UFC have focused largely on growing awareness and viewership of the sport at bars, restaurants and all the other places Bud Light is sold across the country," said Wright, vice president of media, sports & entertainment marketing, Anheuser-Busch, Inc.  "Having brought the UFC to more people, we want to start bringing more people to the UFC by creating exclusive fan experiences only Bud Light and the UFC can deliver.  'Battle on the Bayou' is a first and unprecedented step in that direction."

Along with tons of Bud Light brand placement before, during and after UFC events, the company is  releasing a limited edition UFC aluminum bottle.

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Brammo Empulse to Race at Infineon with MotorcycleUSA


MotorcycleUSA has let it slip that it will be competing in the first round of the North American TTXGP series on-board the Brammo Empulse RR. Taking to the electric race motorcycle with be MotoUSA editor Steve Atlas, who will get the honors of piloting the Empulse RR in its first race outing (Brammo had to sit out its attempt to race a the FIM e-Power race at Laguna Seca last year after having a technical ...

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Boxing promoter Lou DiBella working on Nick Diaz vs. Sergio Martinez

Fernando Vargas is out, now Cesar Gracie says Nick Diaz and company are working on a boxing match with Jeff Lacy. But there may be a new wildcard in this effort to get the Strikeforce 170-pound champion a boxing match. The talk of a crossover fight has piqued the interest of boxing promoter Lou DiBella.

DiBella told Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole that response from MMA fans via email and Twitter about the possibility of a Sergio Martinez-Diaz fight has been overwhelming. DiBella has embarked on a fact-finding mission to see if he can really match his star middleweight champ against Diaz.

Why would a top three pound-for-pound boxer waste his time fighting someone like Diaz, with little professional boxing experience? Sadly, DiBella can't find Martinez (47-2, 26 KOs) a top-notch opponent or a network to take the fight. Martinez is coming off one-sided victories where he dismantled and finished Paul Williams and Serhiy Zdinziruk. While they are plenty of intriguing fights out there at 154 and 160 for Martinez, nothing has materialized. HBO turned down a Martinez-Sebastian Zbik fight in lieu of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. versus Zbik on June 4.

Diaz has long talked about wanting to box. He again complained about his MMA career during a postfight interview with HDNet following his victory over Paul Daley.

"They don't have anyone else for me to fight now. I'm better than all the guys they have," Diaz said. "The guys they have ranked above me, I'm sure they don't want to fight me. I don't see much of a future in this sport for me. I seriously don't."

Gracie told the network that Diaz wants to box, signed a deal to fight former world champion Fernando Vargas and was awaiting a response from Vargas' camp (0:35 mark). Now it looks like Vargas' comeback is in jeopardy because of undisclosed medical issues.

DiBella said he planned on reaching out to UFC president Dana White and Gracie to inquire about Diaz's ability to sign a boxing deal.

The television ideas for a possible Martinez-Diaz fight range anywhere from finding a spot on a cable television network to putting it on pay-per-view. Making the fight an eight-round exhibition is also a possibility.

As far as Diaz's MMA contract, Gracie said his fighter did not sign a special provisional deal with Zuffa. Gracie hasn't spoken to Strikeforce's Scott Coker about the topic.

"I don't even know how much in charge of things he is any more," Gracie said. "Ultimately, it's going to have to go through the UFC, so the only people to talk about it with would be them. What am I going to talk to Scott about? He doesn't own anything any more."

According to Gracie, Diaz's MMA contract has been "re-worked" and he's now free to box. Stay tuned on this one.

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Thiago Silva’s deception requires NSAC to add ‘special’ inspection

Keith Kizer didn't sign up for this. Thankfully, he's the boss, so he'll probably get someone else to do the dirty work now required because of Thiago Silva.

The UFC light heavyweight joined a short list of prominent athletes who tried to beat a drug test by submitting a false urine test. We should point out that it's a short list of athletes that have been caught.

Cagewriter first mentioned the rumors of a phony sample back on Feb. 25. The Nevada State Athletic Commission confirmed that Silva did submit a sample inconsistent with human urine. Silva  came clean taking full blame for trying to beat the system after his win over Brandon Vera at UFC 125.

We make decisions every day of our lives. Some are good, and some are bad. When you make a bad decision, you can either make the situation worse by trying to cover it up or lie about it, or just stick your head in the sand and refuse to acknowledge it even happened," Silva said in a statement to MMAjunkie. "Or you can own up to it with an honest explanation, accept the consequences of your actions, apologize to the people affected by it, learn from it and move on.

Silva said he felt pressure to use a banned substance after he re-injured his back just 45 days before the Vera bout.

Kizer dealt with the same situation back in 2006 with Kevin Randleman before a PRIDE card.

"What [Randleman] did was he grabbed the inner-thigh of his shorts, kind of pulled it open, stuck out what we thought was the tip of his penis ? it was the same color as the rest of his skin ? and then urinated in the cup and gave it to our inspector," Kizer said.

The executive director of the NSAC admits his staff will probably need to outright inspect the genitalia of fighters as they provide a sample.

"I we think might have to take it a step further … It might be a situation where inspectors have to go really close and look," said Kizer.

You love the fight game? Here's your chance to get close to the fighters. Plenty of applications available!

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UFC on Versus 4 Fight Card: Marquardt vs. Johnson

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Nate Marquardt.The UFC on Versus 4 fight card will be headlined by Nate Marquardt making his welterweight debut against Anthony Johnson on Sunday, June 26 at the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh.

In the co-main event, heavyweight kickboxer Pat Barry takes on another heavy hitter in Cheick Kongo.

The UFC announced the event Tuesday and that tickets will go on sale Saturday, April 23 at 10 a.m. ET. UFC on Versus 4 airs live on Versus at 9 p.m. ET.

Check out the current lineup below.

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For Dan Severn, Rematch with Royce Gracie is a Long Shot He Can't Resist

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Dan Severn has always been a believer in setting goals for himself. Even now the 52-year-old UFC Hall of Famer writes down in his daily planner what he wants to accomplish by the end of each year, then checks that list almost every day to see if he's on the right track.

But with an official record of 99-16-7 and a career that spans almost the entire history of MMA in North America, even Severn is running out of goals in the sport. There are only a few he'd still like to accomplish before he retires at the end of 2012, and the clock is running out.

For starters, he'd like to get to 100 wins. Since he already has three wins this year and two more fights scheduled before the end of May, that one seems perfectly feasible. But it's who he'd like to eventually beat that may prove more problematic.

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Thailand sport climbing: can you help?

Since an old friend told me about his climbing trips to Thailand it’s been one of my boxes-to-tick. Climbing by the beach and then relaxing in the blue seas sounds too good to be true. I’m about to find out - I’ve decided to do it later this year… Photo kindly shared by HalonaCoast on Flickr I’m [...]

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Boxing promoter Lou DiBella working on Nick Diaz vs. Sergio Martinez

Fernando Vargas is out, now Cesar Gracie says Nick Diaz and company are working on a boxing match with Jeff Lacy. But there may be a new wildcard in this effort to get the Strikeforce 170-pound champion a boxing match. The talk of a crossover fight has piqued the interest of boxing promoter Lou DiBella.

DiBella told Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole that response from MMA fans via email and Twitter about the possibility of a Sergio Martinez-Diaz fight has been overwhelming. DiBella has embarked on a fact-finding mission to see if he can really match his star middleweight champ against Diaz.

Why would a top three pound-for-pound boxer waste his time fighting someone like Diaz, with little professional boxing experience? Sadly, DiBella can't find Martinez (47-2, 26 KOs) a top-notch opponent or a network to take the fight. Martinez is coming off one-sided victories where he dismantled and finished Paul Williams and Serhiy Zdinziruk. While they are plenty of intriguing fights out there at 154 and 160 for Martinez, nothing has materialized. HBO turned down a Martinez-Sebastian Zbik fight in lieu of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. versus Zbik on June 4.

Diaz has long talked about wanting to box. He again complained about his MMA career during a postfight interview with HDNet following his victory over Paul Daley.

"They don't have anyone else for me to fight now. I'm better than all the guys they have," Diaz said. "The guys they have ranked above me, I'm sure they don't want to fight me. I don't see much of a future in this sport for me. I seriously don't."

Gracie told the network that Diaz wants to box, signed a deal to fight former world champion Fernando Vargas and was awaiting a response from Vargas' camp (0:35 mark). Now it looks like Vargas' comeback is in jeopardy because of undisclosed medical issues.

DiBella said he planned on reaching out to UFC president Dana White and Gracie to inquire about Diaz's ability to sign a boxing deal.

The television ideas for a possible Martinez-Diaz fight range anywhere from finding a spot on a cable television network to putting it on pay-per-view. Making the fight an eight-round exhibition is also a possibility.

As far as Diaz's MMA contract, Gracie said his fighter did not sign a special provisional deal with Zuffa. Gracie hasn't spoken to Strikeforce's Scott Coker about the topic.

"I don't even know how much in charge of things he is any more," Gracie said. "Ultimately, it's going to have to go through the UFC, so the only people to talk about it with would be them. What am I going to talk to Scott about? He doesn't own anything any more."

According to Gracie, Diaz's MMA contract has been "re-worked" and he's now free to box. Stay tuned on this one.

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