The Weekly Wrap: June 6 -- June 12

Odds and Ends

• The planned Tim Sylvia-Ray Mercer boxing match this weekend was adjusted to an MMA match after athletic commissioners called into question the legality of the original plan. Adrenaline promoter Monte Cox had moved the June 13 bout from New Jersey to Alabama, where there is no athletic commission oversight. Sylvia has never had a pro boxing fight, while the 48-year-old Mercer has had 44.

Through Cox had secured the River Cree Combative Sports Commission to oversee the bout, Cox told Sherdog.com that a Pennsylvania commissioner informed him that it is illegal to have a Canadian commission oversee a boxing match in the United States, so the rules of the fight were changed. It’s not clear if Sylvia and Mercer will agree to stand anyway. John McCarthy, the planned official for the fight, pulled out once the sanctioning problems came to the fore.

• The UFC's television partner in the United Kingdom was on the brink of collapse this past week. Setanta Sports, crippled with debt, is expected to go under imminently, potentially leaving the UFC without significant television penetration in its key international market. The UFC has in the past worked with the basic cable channel Bravo in the U.K. and broadcasts “The Ultimate Fighter” and other programming on the Virgin 1 channel. UFC officials said UFC 99 this Saturday would be broadcast in the U.K. and Ireland in some form. At press time, last-minute investors were attempting to step in to try and save the channel.

• Former IFL heavyweight champion Roy Nelson and former UFC fighter and pro wrestler Wes Sims are part of the eccentric cast for season 10 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” according to a report from MMAMadness.com. The season, which features Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson as a contender and Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans as coaches, is currently filming and will premiere Sept. 16 on Spike TV.

• The UFC announced plans to open the first “UFC Gym” fitness and training facility in Concord, Calif., with enrollment starting on June 17. The UFC is working with the New Evolution Fitness Company on the gym franchise. The company also has plans to open a Georges St. Pierre-themed gym in Montreal and a B.J. Penn-themed gym in Hawaii.

• MTV will bring back "Bully Beatdown" for a second season, according to a Twitter post by the show’s host Jason "Mayhem" Miller. The show, which significantly upped Miller’s profile, debuted to strong ratings earlier this year, but dipped slightly week-to-week. It was particularly strong among male teenagers.

The show is built around pro MMA fighters taking on bullies whom Mayhem goads into fighting for a potential $10,000 reward if they don't tap out or get TKO'ed. It's not clear when the second season will premiere.

• Sengoku lightweight champion Satoru Kitaoka picked up another impressive submission, and the first flyweight King of Pancrase was crowned on June 7 at “Pancrase Changing 3” in Tokyo. Kitaoka lined up an artful Achilles lock 1:26 into the first round to tap Yukio Sakaguchi, while Mitsuhisa Sunabe took out Takuya Eizumi with a left hook in the first round to become Pancrase’s first flyweight king.