UFC president Dana White wasn’t at the UFC 127 post-fight press conference, but the main players from the fights were. 

– The UFC awarded $75,000 bonuses to its top UFC 127 performers: Brian Ebersole and Chris Lytle won Fight of the Night, Kyle Noke won Submission of the Night for his quick choke of Chris Camozzi and Mark Hunt won Knockout of the Night for his nonchalant KO of Chris Tuchsherer. The UFC also announced that Aussie James Te Huna donated his fight purse to Queensland Flood relief.

– After Bisping erupted after beating Jorge Rivera, White told him to keep his cool. Bisping then commented on a report that Rivera’s camp believed that Bisping’s illegal knee was intentional. For that and for spitting at Rivera’s corner, they thought that Bisping should be suspended.

"Doesn’t surprise me. One classless move after another," Bisping said. "The knee wasn’t intended. I just threw it too early. He just needs to accept that he’s lost and move on."

He did. He got under my nerves. He upset me. He embarrassed me."

Bisping did confirm that he is considering moving to Australia, but also said that he is a prod Englishman.

– After fighting to a majority draw with B.J. Penn, Jon Fitch said that he was disappointed in his performance and that he wished his title shot was not a question.

Still, Fitch’s performance in the third round was impressive. He outstruck Penn 134-0, landing 42 power strikes. 

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INDIANAPOLIS — The final three highly anticipated press conferences of the week took place Sunday afternoon, starting with Auburn defensive tackle Nick Fairley just after noon. He was originally scheduled to speak Saturday but that ended up being teammate Cam Newton’s day to grab the spotlight.

Fairley is hoping to beat out Alabama’s Marcel Dareus and Clemson’s Da’Quan Bowers for the right to be remembered as the first defensive lineman taken in the 2011 NFL Draft. At 6-4 and 291 pounds he’d like to put on a few more pounds and get between 295 and 300 in order to be able to hold up against the bigger offensive linemen in the NFL.

“A lot of folks out there say I play the game the way it should be played,” said Fairley in addressing claims of him being a dirty player. “All I do is hit the slight switch when I hit the field and don’t turn it off until I leave. The player I actually model my game after is not playing anymore and that’s Reggie White. I think that guy played the game the way it should be played and that’s why I try to pattern my game after him.”

In addition to the “dirty player” accusations, two of the other issues people seem to be concerned with when it comes to Fairley are the fact that he only had one real good season and that there is a perception that he takes plays off. He believes he plays with a high motor and he intends to prove that in his interviews and the drills.

Fairley’s sense of humor emerged when he was put on the spot regarding what the Carolina Panthers should do with the number one overall pick should it come down to him or Newton. He laughed and accused the reporter of asking him a trick question, choosing not to answer.

A couple of hours after Fairley left the podium, cornerbacks Patrick Peterson from LSU and Prince Amukamara of Nebraska talked about their strengths as they are the clear-cut favorites to go 1-2 among the corners. They are the same height (6-0), but Peterson is thicker at 219 pounds compared to Amukamara’s 206.

Peterson is eager to show off his speed on Tuesday, claiming to have run a 4.29 last week as he prepared for the Combine. He has set a goal of 4.2 or the low 4.3s and like Miami’s Brandon Harris earlier he picked Green Bay’s Charles Woodson as the current NFL cornerback he’d like to pattern his game after.

“I’m an all-around cornerback and that’s what I wanted to do coming out of college,” said Peterson, who trains in Boca Raton with his father and considers himself the best cornerback in the draft. “I’d say my ball skills and my toughness are my key strengths. I can support the run.”

Peterson also believes going against Alabama’s Julio Jones three years in a row and Georgia’s A.J. Green two years in a row helped him elevate his game. Jones is the only receiver he gave up a touchdown pass to this year, and he admitted he wants to work on improving his zone coverage and perfecting his backpedal.

The fact that he also volunteered to handle returning kickoffs is something Peterson thinks will help his stock in the draft. He added some weight to continue to be a tough guy to tackle on special teams.

Amukamara was hit right off the bat with a question asking him who was the better cornerback, himself or Peterson.

“Um, that’s a good question,” he said. “I guess we’ll let the scouts decide that.”

He is a converted high school running back who considers his physicality and competitive nature to be his strengths. He also thinks his character is another positive attribute.

Amukamara has spent a lot of time working on his technique at API out in Arizona and trying not to stay too high in his backpedal. He acknowledged that Peterson is an amazing player, as did Peterson of him, but he sounded pretty confident that he will be able to succeed at the next level.

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Filed under: Diamondbacks, Spring Training

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Justin Upton knows what it’s like to be the No. 1 pick in the country, to reach the majors and struggle, to put the pieces together and be an All-Star, to then step back and have a disappointing season and to be on the trading block.

And he’s still younger than Buster Posey.

Because Upton’s name has been in headlines for five years — and his family’s name for longer than that, thanks to his brother, B.J. — it’s easy to forget Justin is still just 23 years old, five months younger than last year’s NL Rookie of the Year.

As the Diamondbacks try to snap their streak of two consecutive last-place finishes, they are trying to walk the fine line between hanging the hopes of the franchise on Upton and being patient with their young star’s normal growing pains.

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Filed under: Boise State

February began with a murder trial grabbing the headlines of the local paper in Robeson County, N.C., which isn’t unusual in a place where the court system is clogged to the point that the homicide cases from 2006 are just now going before a jury.

This time, a 19-year-old was convicted of shooting a beloved teacher and tennis coach three times, leaving him slumped over the steering wheel of his pickup truck before taking his gold watch. The national media was there to cover a trial 18 years ago after two men killed Michael Jordan’s father — who had pulled off I-95 to take a nap — and dumped his body in a river.

In between, there have been hundreds of other murders, thousands of armed robberies and assaults and too many other crimes to count. There’s no mistaking Robeson County for Mayberry.

“It’s sad because I see a lot of people that want to change,” said Tess Hollis, a reporter who covers crime for The Robesonian, the local daily.

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‘She outdoes herself each time,’ one Gaga fan tells MTV News.
By Jocelyn Vena

Lady Gaga
Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/ WireImage

Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” music video premieres on Monday (February 28), and the star’s dedicated legion of Little Monsters cannot wait to see what their Mother Monster has up her sleeve in the Nick Knight-directed music video.

When MTV News spoke to a small grouping of Gaga’s loyal fans, they revealed what they think might make the final cut of the video, which was a collaboration between Knight, the singer’s Haus of Gaga creative team and choreographer Laurieann Gibson.

A fan named Emily guessed that the clip might seek some inspiration from Gaga’s stark, egg-y Grammy Awards spectacle earlier this month. “Maybe kind of like her Grammy performance,” she pondered. “I don’t know. I have no idea. You never know what the hell she’s gonna come up with.”

“She outdoes herself each time and each time she uses a different director,” Leslie Perkins said. “And each time is beyond the last one. I’m expecting nothing less than fabulous.”

Cayley couldn’t quite put her finger on what the video might look like. She explained, “I don’t know! I can only imagine!”

Mon Cherie and her pal, Pam Kitten, figure that something somewhat shocking will probably come of it all. “There’s not much more of an egg, hon!” Mon Cherie joked. “She comes out of an elephant poop! I don’t know! Nothing shocks me. Lady Gaga — whatever she do is fantastic.”

Some of those same fans recently dished to MTV News about what the song “Born This Way” means to them as Gaga ushers in a new phase of her career. “Do what you want to do!” Mon Cherie previously noted. “I mean, keep it real, keep it safe and keep it legal, but you got to do you, hon.”

Lisa explained that the tune “means no matter what you are, who you are, who you want to be, you just can’t help it, because you were born this way.”

Meanwhile, Gaga revealed during a recent visit to “The Gayle King Show” that she also plans to put out a second “Born This Way” video. The singer said that clip, which will accompany a stripped-down version of the song, “will be released on iTunes.” She added that “a portion of the money raised selling the song [will] go towards an anti-bully charity.”

Related Artists

• Lady Gaga

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by Michael David SmithIn a surprising lightweight result in Sydney, Dennis Siver won a unanimous decision over Australia’s own George Sotiropoulos at UFC 127.

It was a very good fight that Siver won on the judges’ scorcards by scores of 29-28, 30-28 and 30-27, improving his professional record to 18-7. Sotiropoulos falls to 14-3, and snaps an eight-fight winning streak.

“It was a hard, hard fight, but I could (follow) my game plan, and that’s why I won,” the German Siver said afterward, through his translator. “We trained so much every day.”

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Filed under: Heat, Wizards, Chris Bosh

MIAMI — The Miami Heat got back to their winning ways after a tough loss to the Chicago Bulls the night before with a tougher than expected 121-113 victory over the Washington Wizards on Friday night. Competing on the second night of a back-to-back set, the Heat looked a bit sluggish in the opening quarter of the game as the Wizards looked nothing like a team who have only managed one road victory in 29 games. The surprisingly tough victory made it seven wins in a row at home and placed the Heat a half-game behind the Boston Celtics for the Eastern Conference lead.

Wade red hot from the field

Dwyane Wade got it going in the second quarter scoring 18 of his team’s first 19 points with 9 straight baskets, enabling the Heat to score more than twice as many points as they did in the first quarter. Wade’s 41 points came off a season high 18 field goals out of 27 attempts, though oddly enough he was wobbly from the free throw line going 3-for-9. In his finest moments, he was unstoppable as he attacked the basket while also effortlessly draining shots from all over the field including a pair of three-pointers.

“I hit some jump shots and that opened up my game,” Wade explained. “I finally got it going and at the same time we needed to get back and get the lead so it was kind of one of those moments.”

Wall impressive in his debut against the Heat

Even with Wade’s offensive explosion, both teams played mostly even in the first half and deep into the third quarter as a result of Wizards guard Nick Young‘s 38 points along with prized rookie John Wall‘s 24 points and 12 assists. It was Wall’s first game against the Heat due to injuries holding him back the first two games of the season series.

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After tons of smack talk, the Michael Bisping-Jorge Rivera ended in a TKO win for Bisping, and featured an illegal knee and poor sportsmanship at UFC 127 in Australia.

Bisping made the first effective move, taking down Rivera after a minute but the fight didn’t stay on the ground. Bisping got another takedown but as he returned to his feet, Rivera was on two knees, and Bisping threw a clearly illegal knee. The bout was stopped as the doctors tended to a visibly shaken Rivera. The fight was allowed to continue after Rivera said he was OK to continue, and one point was deducted from Bisping’s score from the first round.

When the bout started again, Bisping started swinging for the fences, but the strikes weren’t effective. His takedowns were. As the round ended, the two started to jaw at each other, echoing their scene at Friday’s weigh-ins.

Rivera started the second round by tagging Bisping, who then dropped down to try for a takedown. He couldn’t finish it, but he then landed punch after punch. Rivera tried to cover up but he finally fell to the ground, and the fight was stopped at 1:54 in the second.

The drama didn’t end there, though. Bisping yelled and spit at Rivera’s corner, then yelled at Rivera to apologize and said, "Go home, loser!" as referee Marc Goddard pushed Bisping away from Rivera, who was being tended to by medical personnel. It was an odd show of bad sportsmanship, as fighters generally hug and congratulate each other after their bouts. He backtracked a few seconds later, saying the emotion got to him.

"I apologize. I just got a little worked up, and Jorge touched a few nerves. I’m a sensitive guy," Bisping said. 

Unfortunately, it’s hard to tell if Bisping would have won so easily had it not been for the knee, which landed flush on Rivera’s face. This fight ups his record to 21-3, and Rivera is now at 19-8, but it’s hard not to discount this fight from both fighters’ records.

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In his last fight and his first fight at welterweight since losing the lightweight title, B.J. Penn quickly disposed of MMA legend Matt Hughes at UFC 123.

But though Hughes was one of the best welterweight fighters ever in the UFC, it’s been a while since he was in his prime. This weekend, Penn will face a fighter in his prime: Jon Fitch.

Fitch uses his wrestling background to smother opponents. It’s not the most exciting style, but it’s effective. He hasn’t lost since August of 2008, when he dropped a decision to champ Georges St. Pierre. Of Penn’s recent losses, all three are in fights with opponents who used their wrestling skills to their advantage.

But as the video shows, that doesn’t mean that Penn can’t knock out a wrestler, as Hughes proudly touts wrestling as his base. What do you think will happen this weekend? Will Penn be able to stop Fitch’s wrestling?

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Filed under: Warriors, NBA Transactions, NBA D-League, NBA Free Agents, Erie BayHawks, Rio Grande Valley Vipers

The Golden State Warriors have signed power forward Jeff Adrien from the NBA Development League’s Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Adrien announced on his Twitter account.

The move comes following Wednesday’s trade of Brandan Wright and Dan Gadzuric to the New Jersey Nets for Troy Murphy. Murphy is expected to be bought out of his contract, leaving the Warriors with less than the minimum of 13 players needed to be in compliance with NBA roster regulations.

Adrien, a 6-foot-7 power forward, began the season with the Warriors before being released on Dec. 9 so the team could sign Acie Law. In 15 games with Golden State, Adrien averaged 2.9 points and 3.3 rebounds in just over 10 minutes of playing time per contest.

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Lots and lots of buzz today in all the major newspapers about how J.P. Morgan is trying to buy 10% or so of Twitter for $450 million. As far as I can tell, all of the stories are wrong. In particular, say my sources, Twitter isn’t negotiating with anyone – J.P. Morgan or otherwise – about a new funding round. The last round with Kleiner Perkins seems to have more than satisfied their near term capital appetite. Also, J.P. Morgan isn’t currently trying to buy Twitter shares through the secondary market, either, say my sources. That’s because they already indirectly own 10% of Twitter. Here’s what’s really going on, as far as I can tell from sources:

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Founded by Rich Morrison and Jud Gardner, Y-Combinator backed Comprehend Systems is launching the first iteration of its comprehensible data analysis platform today, Comprehend Clinical. Comprehend Clinical’s browser friendly interface allows its clients to analyze the results of clinical drug trials across multiple data sources, combining that stored in diverse data structures and databases. In the same space as Sas Institute and Pitco, Comprehend Clinical attempts to empower people bringing drugs to market to “ask as the questions they need to ask.” When you’re dealing with lengthly drug studies you need to know whether the drug is safe and effective, and whether people are dying as a soon as possible. “A clinical study lasts four years, who uses software that’s seven years old. By default you’re going to have to interface a lot of stuff,” says founder Rich Morrison.

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Mama needs a new chair! (Or table!)

Modernica’s “Pet’s on Furniture” Contest

She’s #2

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by Michael David SmithIn a battle of two of the best fighters in mixed martial arts, the judges couldn’t pick a winner: Jon Fitch and B.J. Penn fought to a majority draw at UFC 127.

One judge scored it 29-28 for Fitch, but the other two judges scored it 28-28, and those two judges made it a majority draw — a disappointing ending that left the fans in Sydney, Australia booing. It was the second time in three UFC pay-per-views this year that the main event has been scored a draw.

Fitch seemed to control most of the fight, and Penn acknowledged afterward that he thought he had lost. But Penn requested a rematch afterward, and that seems likely.

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by Sam Amick

Filed under: Kings, Sports Business and Media, NBA Business

With a March 1 deadline to file for relocation looming large in Sacramento and the owners of the Kings continuing discussions with Anaheim Ducks officials regarding a possible move to Southern California, a source close to the situation said Monday that they have yet to deliver documents that were promised to the arena development team in California’s Capital City.

It is, without question, yet another sign that the Maloofs (Gavin and Joe above) are strongly considering the possibility of playing elsewhere next season.

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During Saturday night’s Strikeforce broadcast, former women’s contender Gina Carano announced that she was returning to MMA after taking a break to film a movie. She did not have a return date or an opponent, but Carano will be back.

Sarah Kaufman heard this announcement, and was kind enough to offer her hospitality to Carano. She tweeted, "I would give Gina a fight that would force her to "leave it all in the cage" ."

Kaufman, the former welterweight champ hasn’t been in the cage since she lost her title to Marloes Coenen in October. Kaufman’s weight of 135 lbs. would be a stretch for Carano, who has struggled to hit 145 lbs.

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Violated, originally uploaded by Karyn Bosnak.

Someone stuck their finger up Beverly’s butt yesterday. It was the vet. She was not happy about it. (Beverly, that is. I’m not sure how the vet felt about the whole incident.)

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Shawntel Newton?s natural beauty and sparkling personality took her all the way to the final four on The Bachelor. But when it came time for Brad Womack to choose the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with, Shawntel?s career as an embalmer and funeral director was too much for Brad to handle.

?Brad was totally creeped out by my profession,? Shawntel tells In Touch. ?You could just see it from the look on his face.?

After Brad visited her hometown of Chico, Calif., and saw her in action at the Newton-Bracewell Chico Funeral Home, it became all too real for the Bachelor, and Shawntel admits that she wasn?t surprised when he sent her packing.

?Knowing that I grew up in the [funeral home] business, and may very well take over my dad?s side of the partnership, he said, ?I don?t know if I could even deal with death myself,?? she says. ?I think it was an eye-opener for him.?

And in a way, it was an eye-opener for Shawntel, too.

?I?m proud of my profession,? she shares. ?Whomever I wind up with will accept that, and unfortunately, I haven?t found that guy. I realized Brad and I weren?t meant to be together.?

For more on The Bachelor?s Shawntel Newton ? including exclusive never-before-seen photos ? pick up the new issue of In Touch Weekly, on stands now.

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by Jeff Fletcher

Filed under: MLB Biz, Sports Business and Media

Senators Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.), right, and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) sent a letter to commissioner Bud Selig and MLB Players Union head Michael Weiner urging them to ban the use of smokeless tobacco in the upcoming collective bargaining agreement.

MLB has come under growing scrutiny over the past year for allowing its players to use smokeless tobacco, which presents a health risk and also may encourage use among kids.

“The use of smokeless tobacco by baseball players undermines the positive image of the sport and sends a dangerous message to young fans, who may be influenced by the players they look up to as role models,” wrote Lautenberg and Durbin.

Last year the House Energy and Commerce Committe convened a hearing to explore a potential ban on smokeless tobacco in the majors. Also, a consortium of 10 heath agencies wrote a letter to Selig and Weiner pushing for a ban in November.

Baseball had banned the use of smokeless tobacco, commonly called “dip” in the minor leagues, but any similar action in the majors would require approval by the union. The current CBA expires in December.

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(Bev wanted to take this photo wearing these candy nipple tassels but I said no.

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