The Weekly Wrap: July 18 - July 24

Odds & Ends

• It was a strange week for UFC original Kimo Leopoldo. An Internet forum post reporting the fighter had died touched off an intense, if brief, stir, as several prominent outlets, including TMZ.com, reported his death as fact. Leopoldo eventually surfaced to dispel the reports, appearing at a press conference in a police station in Orange County, Calif. Leopoldo, 41, said the reports brought his family members a lot of grief.

• Figures released by the Nevada State Athletic Commission established UFC 100 as the second-highest gate in UFC history. The event drew 9,793 paying customers to the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas for a $5,128,940 gate, eclipsing the $5.1 million gate of UFC 83, the company’s April 2008 debut in Montreal. The record is still held by UFC 66, which drew a $5.39 million gate at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The tallies do not include money from closed-circuit airings of the events. Fans purchased 6,256 tickets to live airings of UFC 100 in Las Vegas and New York City, which produced an extra $312,800 in revenue. The show appears to have done the most buys of any UFC event in history. Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole reported the show did more than 1.5 million buys, well eclipsing the record of 1.06 million set for UFC 66, which was headlined by Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz.

• Welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre will not require surgery for a groin injury he suffered in the fourth round of his UFC 100 fight against Thiago Alves, his manager told Sherdog.com. An MRI showed no lasting damage. St. Pierre will be back training in a few weeks.

• The state senate in Massachusetts passed legislation to regulate MMA. The bill has to go through the state house of representatives and be signed by the governor, a likely proposition, according to the bill’s main sponsor. The UFC has targeted the summer of 2010 for its first card in Massachusetts, according to Marc Ratner, the company’s vice president of regulatory affairs.

• The world’s top-ranked flyweight, Shinichi “B.J.” Kojima, may have been dropped down a peg on July 19, as he lost a unanimous decision to Jussier da Silva of Brazil on a Shooto card in Tokyo. Kojima, Shooto’s 123-pound champion, was not defending his title. He was outwrestled on the mat and outpointed on the feet by da Silva.

• World Extreme Cagefighting has signed EliteXC veteran Muhsin Corbbrey to a multi-fight deal to compete at lightweight in the promotion, according to MMAJunkie.com. His first fight has not yet been scheduled. Team Quest lightweight Dave Jensen has also signed with the WEC and will debut Sept. 2, MMAJunkie.com reported.