• Anderson Silva’s manager told the Sherdog Radio Network the proposed Jan. 2 Silva vs. Vitor Belfort headliner at UFC 108 will not be locked down until the middleweight champion’s doctor gives the go-ahead following Oct. 5 elbow surgery. Silva has been vocal about his feelings that Belfort is not ready for a title shot. UFC President Dana White remains confident he can make the fight happen.
• Showtime on Nov. 3 will premiere a “Fight Camp 360” special to hype the Nov. 7 Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers fight on CBS. The series is a documentary, “Countdown”-style look at the principals and is being produced in conjunction with Roadside Entertainment. It will replay several times on Showtime and is also being offered to CBS for airing. Strikeforce will have some company on television that night. Spike TV announced it will counter-program the CBS card by airing main events and co-main events from the UFC’s past three pay-per-views (Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin, B.J. Penn vs. Kenny Florian, Randy Couture vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Vitor Belfort vs. Rich Franklin). The presentation is called “UFC Main Events.”
• The UFC has inked a second Gracie -- heavyweight Rolles Gracie -- to compete in the Octagon. Gracie, 31, will face Mostapha Al-Turk at UFC 109, which is expected to take place Feb. 6 in Las Vegas. The unbeaten Gracie has fought for the Art of War promotion in China and the International Fight League. He signed a three-fight UFC deal and trains under Greg Jackson and his cousin, Renzo Gracie.
• Fighters Only reported Australian light heavyweight James Te Huna has signed with the UFC and will debut on the promotion’s debut card Down Under, set for Feb. 21 in Sydney. Te Huna, who built his name in the Cage Fighting Championships promotion, will ride a five-fight winning streak into the bout.
• Zuffa LLC, the parent company of the UFC and World Extreme Cagefighting, will bring all of its contracted fighters together for a series of seminars the first week in November. According to the Wrestling Observer, the seminars will discuss lifestyle, behaving as a professional, financial planning, taxes, performance-enhancing drugs, dealing with the media and a review of MMA rules, such as injury timeouts and what constitutes the “back of the head.” Fighters will be brought in several different groups. WEC featherweight contender Wagnney Fabiano told Tatame.com that an announcement about the WEC’s future was also expected at the meeting.
• Some new information was disseminated on last month’s Strikeforce “Challengers Series 3” show in Tulsa, Okla. MMAJunkie.com reported that headliner Tim Kennedy, who defeated Zak Cummings, secured the event’s highest payday at $30,000. K-1 veteran Ray Sefo ($25,000) and hot prospect Daniel Cormier ($10,000) followed. The Showtime broadcast did a 0.5 rating for an average of 133,000 viewers, according to the Wrestling Observer.
• UFC veteran and Olympic wrestler Jordan Radev snapped the nine-fight winning streak of Alexander Shlemenko on Oct. 17, as he finished the Russian with a crushing hook for a first-round knockout at Fight Festival 26 in Finland. In addition, UFC veteran Sean Salmon took a unanimous decision over Yuki Sasaki. It was Salmon’s first fight since he came under scrutiny for authoring a column about allowing himself to get submitted in a June fight in Ohio. The Ohio commission suspended Salmon for a year and fined him $2,500, MMAJunkie.com reported.