Movie to be based on fighter's life

On Wednesday, Eric Eisner announced that his Double E Pictures production company has optioned the life rights to former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin. David Hollander, know for his work on “The Cleaner” and “The Guardian,” will write the script about Franklin’s career as a fighter.

“American Fighter” tells the unlikely story of how Franklin, a family man and high school math teacher, taught himself mixed martial arts, quickly emerged as one of the dominant figures in the sport, and ultimately became champion of the UFC. The movie also chronicles the rise of MMA as the fastest growing sport in the world and transformation into a billion-dollar industry.

“I’m excited to see the story of my career as a fighter brought to the screen, and I feel confident that the team assembled will do a great job in telling this story,” Franklin said.

Eisner will produce the film with Motion Theory’s Sean Sorensen. Mathew Cullen of Motion Theory will serve as the executive producer.

“I’m happy to be in business with Sean and Motion Theory, and look forward to working with David to capture the story of Rich’s remarkable life,” Eisner said. “This is a truly inspirational story that we are excited to tell.”

Franklin is currently sitting the sidelines after his UFC 133 bout against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira was canceled due to an injury to Little Nog.

Watch "Leaked" Gamplay Footage of UFC Undisputed 3

Combat video game enthusiasts can finally revel after 14 month since a UFC Undisputed has been released to buy. The game creators, THQ, are taking the 2011 year off from making the video game available for purchase due to a lack of sales of UFC Undisputed 2 in May of 2010 with a plan to release the third game in January of 2012. If you make fans of the video game wait, they are inevitably going to get antsy. Which will lead to one tech-savvy nerd to make a "leak" known to the general MMA video game public.

Interesting to note the leak consists of a match-up that all fans are waiting to watch between Jon Jones and Rampage Jackson at UFC 135 in September.

CM Punk Confronts Triple H At Comic Con

Just when you thought that CM Punk was gone from the WWE Universe, he returns in a big way. Punk confronted Triple H and head WWE writer Brian Gerwitz at Comic Con 2011, causing quite a scene and possibly taking his first step in the build to WrestleMania 28.

This is the kind of stuff I never would have dreamed that the WWE would book in 2011. I give all credit to whomever it is that made the call to go this route and embrace this angle because it is turning out to be pretty damned awesome.

According to the report, Punk stormed a Q & A which featured “new” WWE CEO Triple H, Brian Gerwitz, and other WWE superstars. Punk brought his bullhorn with him and started mocking the Q & A with his unannounced presence. Punk reportedly took exception to the WWE championship tournament this past week on RAW. Punk challenged Rey Mysterio or anyone else to go to Chicago and wrestle him for the title.

If that wasn’t enough, here is where things got interesting. Punk badgered Hunter and Gerwitz asking them why Zack Ryder wasn’t on RAW.

“Triple H, in what seemed to be a part of a storyline, told Punk that things had changed on RAW and that there was a new regime. He told Punk to give him a call. Punk responded by telling Hunter that he was sure Stephanie had his number”

Shockingly the WWE cameras just happened to be there and catch everything. An amazing coincidence wouldn’t you say?

Latest Casualty of UFC 133 injury wave

A third light heavyweight in a week has been forced to withdraw from UFC 133 - Dana White confirmed today via Twitter that Antonio Rogerio Nogueria is out of the August 6 fight against Rich Franklin due to an injury. The bout will not replaced, and the Vitor Belfort vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama bout will be moved to the co-main event slot, while the welterweight battle between Dennis Hallman and Brian Ebersole has been moved to the main card.

Hamill in for Injured Matyushenko at UFC 133 updated July 14
For the second time this week, an injury has knocked a light heavyweight off the UFC 133 fight card. Dana White announced today that Vladimir "The Janitor" Matyushenko has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled fight against Swede Alexander "The Mauler" Gustafsson.

Stepping in for The Janitor will be fellow wrestler Matt "The Hammer" Hamill, who last faced Quinton "Rampage" Jackson in the main event of UFC 130. Hamill and Gustafsson have verbally agreed to the August 6 matchup.

Davis Injured, Ortiz Gets Call to Face Evans in UFC 133 Rematch updated July 13
The stakes have just gotten higher for UFC 133 main eventer Rashad Evans, as the former light heavyweight champion will now face an old rival, Tito Ortiz, on the August 6th card in Philadelphia after his original opponent, Phil Davis, was forced out of the bout due to injury.

The two originally met in July of 2007, battling to a three round draw. Ortiz is coming off a UFC 132 win over Ryan Bader, and now he’s back to battle Evans just one month later.

Tickets are on sale now for this exciting clash of former champions looking to get a shot at the title once again.

News On The Big Show, Edge, Colt Cabana-WWE, More

-- The Big Show will be on Burn Notice on USA tonight.

-- WWE.com has an interview with Edge about his acting career and more.

-- Scripps News has an interview with Colt Cabana about his attendance at Money in the Bank this weekend at http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/62864 Interestingly, he mentions that he'd "love to be with WWE and working again with CM Punk" but that he can't just wait around for a call.

-- Hulk Hogan is at a show called "Back From The Brink" on August 26rh in Greensboro, NC where he is scheduled to be "in a very intimate setting in Greensboro as he discusses his life."

VIDEO: Brilliant UFC 134 Trailer With Anderson Silva, Forrest Griffin And Others

This UFC 134 trailer is easily one of the best trailers for a UFC event I have ever seen. It's visually understated, provocative, star-laden (featuring Forrest Griffin, Shogun Rua, Anderson Silva, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Brendan Schaub and Yushin Okami), and most importantly, bears little resemblance to typical UFC trailers. There is no cacophonous music or Clockwork Orange forced visual brutality or even the cheerleading of commentators. There's just delicate touch to remind you of the greatness to come. In short, it's the epitome of less is more.

It also upholds what I consider to be one of the most fundamental best practices of production: the fighters talk in their own language with their own voices. No one is dubbing over them, missing their inflection, intonation and sound. The point may sound petty, but can one imagine Lou Gehrig being dubbed over when he told baseball he was the luckiest man on the face of the earth? What about Martin Luther King when he proclaimed to have a dream? The point isn't to equate the most significant moments in sports or civil rights history with an upcoming UFC card. It's to underscore how voice and language are central to human identity.

Ortiz leads UFC 132 payroll

from:

Last weekend's Ultimate Fighting Championship show will produce the smallest paycheck in years for Tito "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" Ortiz, but he still gets a bigger purse than anyone else's on the publicly disclosed list.

Ortiz received $450,000 for competing at UFC 132 on Saturday in Las Vegas, according to data released Tuesday by the Nevada Athletic Commission. He was followed by fellow MMA legend Wanderlei "The Ax Murderer" Silva, who took home at least $200,000.

They topped the event's official payouts:

• Ortiz: $450,000 (no win bonus)
• Silva: $200,000
• Chris "The Crippler" Leben: $92,000 (including $46,000 win bonus)
• Carlos "The Natural Born Killer" Condit: $68,000 ($34,000 win bonus)
• Melvin "The Young Assassin" Guillard: $64,000 ($32,000 win bonus)
• Dennis Siver: $50,000 ($25,000 win bonus)
• Dong Hyun "Stun Gun" Kim: $41,000
• Dominick "The Dominator" Cruz: $40,000 ($20,000 win bonus)
• Urijah "The California Kid" Faber: $32,000
• Brian Bowles: $34,000 ($17,000 win bonus)
• Aaron "A-Train" Simpson: $34,000 ($17,000 win bonus)
• Rafael Dos Anjos: $28,000 ($14,000 win bonus)
• Shane Roller: $21,000
• Ryan "Darth" Bader: $20,000
• Matt "Handsome" Wiman: $18,000
• Anthony Njokuani: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus)
• George Sotiropoulos: $15,000
• Andre Winner: $14,000
• Takeya Mizugaki: $12,000
• Jeff Hougland: $12,000 ($6,000 win bonus)
• Brad Tavares: $10,000
• Donny Walker: $6,000

As always, note that the official purses do not include money from sponsors, UFC's post-fight awards or unofficial bonuses the promotion may choose to award at its own discretion.

Counting fight night awards would add $75,000 each to the payouts for Ortiz, who received Submission of the Night for his first-round guillotine choke of Bader; Condit, who got Knockout of the Night for finishing off Kim with punches on the ground after flooring him with a flying knee; as well as Cruz and Faber, who earned Fight of the Night for a main-event bout that combined speed, action and a high degree of skill, which staying competitive throughout the five-round affair.

The listings also don't include any payments that might be contractually owed to fighters who directly get cuts of pay-per-view sales, such as Randy "The Natural" Couture and Ortiz used to.

Ortiz before the event admitted to taking a large pay cut to convince UFC to give him one more chance after a five-fight unbeaten streak. Saturday's show was actually the largest officially disclosed purse he has ever received, but if his previous share of pay-per-view receipts has been reduced or eliminated, that could put a substantial dent in his real take-home pay.

Well all we can say is that UFC is sure worth watching !