The Weekly Wrap: August 8 - August 14

Odds and Ends

• Spike TV announced this week that it will be airing a “Best of Pride Fighting Championships” series beginning Jan. 11. The series will mark the first significant marketing by Zuffa LLC of the legendary promotion’s film library, which they purchased along with the fight organization in 2007.

• M-1 Global announced this week that it has moved its Aug. 28 card from Los Angeles to Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Mo. The “Breakthrough” card, which will air on HDNet, was set for the L.A. Convention Center, but M-1 never applied for a promotional license in the state. The promotion said in a press release the move was precipitated by a partner “backing out of certain commitments.” The show’s main event, Muhammed Lawal v. Don Frye, fell through when Frye pulled out for unspecified reasons. Lawal will now fight another early-era UFC star, Mark Kerr.

• Daniel Cormier, who placed fourth as a freestyle wrestler in the 2004 Olympic Games, is training to enter MMA. The announcement came from Zinkin Entertainment Group, a California agency that manages several UFC fighters. The Oklahoma State collegiate competitor will be training at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, and is expected to compete at light heavyweight.

• UFC President Dana White said this week that he has made the decision to stop filming his popular video blogs that he’s uploaded in the run-up and aftermath of UFC pay-per-views. Not only has White ceased making new blogs, all past ones were deleted from the UFC YouTube account. Fighters Only speculated that the move may be tied to a television deal in the works for a similar type of behind-the-scenes program. White has pledged to halt the blogs in the past.

• The nascent Shine Fights group announced this week it would air its second card, a Sept. 4 bill headlined by Roan Carneiro vs. Jorge Patino, as an Internet pay-per-view. The Miami card, which has an “American Top Team vs. The World” theme, will air on one-week tape delay on The Fight Network in Canada. MMAJunkie reported that Yves Edwards was added to the card this week after Marcus Aurelio signed on as a late replacement at UFC 102.