MMA Mania has the news that :

After a tumultuous 24 hours, during which he was abruptly terminated, former number one contender Jon Fitch is back on the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) roster after a discussion with Zuffa co-owner Lorenzo Feritta.

MMAmania.com spoke to Fitch, who described the conversation as, “good, really good.”

He also added this via MMARated.com shortly after getting the good news:

“Communication kind of broke down with Dana (White) so we talked with Lorenzo. (I) just got off the phone with him and we came to an agreement. We’re going to move ahead and I’ll be back in the UFC. We’re going to sign off on the video game and I’m back. It was never even about the agreement or the contract. It was the approach that we felt Dana was being a little bit hot-headed and was threatening us right off the bat. It didn’t seem like a professional way of doing things.”

White and the management team at Zinkin Entertainment, which represents several of the fighters who train at American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) where Fitch is stationed, had an explosive falling out over business-related agreements just yesterday.

In short, White made it clear that the fighters at AKA needed to sign a video game agreement that would give the promotion exclusive lifetime rights to their likenesses or risk losing their jobs. It was the “your either with us or your not approach.”

So when Fitch’s management team attempted to negotiate the terms, which were nonnegotiable, White escalated the situation and cut ties with the camp, terminating the promotional contracts of Fitch and stablemate, Christian Wellisch, shortly thereafter.

The move sent shockwaves through the entire mixed martial arts community, which was made more alarming when the president of the company indicated that others could be next who did not want to be “partners.” He indicated that the AKA contingent was historically the most troublesome when it came to the business side of things and that, essentially, he no longer wanted to work with them … and their fighters.

That included Fitch, who is tied with Royce Gracie and Anderson Silva for the most consecutive wins in UFC history (eight). He even just recently lost a gutsy unanimous decision to welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre at UFC 87: “Seek and Destroy” on August 9.

The message was clear: No one (at AKA, anyway) was safe.

Fitch today took to the airwaves to please his side of the story, saying that his management team, in fact, eventually encouraged him to sign the the deal. But based on the way he was treated and the way the situation was handled, Fitch stood his ground and worked to find a solution to a situation that probably should have never happened.

That solution, of course, was Lorenzo Fertitta. He spoke with Feritta directly (he never spoke to White throughout the ordeal) to hammer out a resolution.

He signed the video game agreement and was reinstated shortly thereafter. In fact, he is once again scheduled to fight Akihiro Gono at UFC 94: “St. Pierre vs Penn 2′ on January 31 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

So in the end, cooler heads did indeed prevail. Now the focus can hopefully shift to what is really important, which is fighting … inside the Octagon.

THQ — the acclaimed video game development company — is scheduled to release “Undisputed” sometime in early 2009.

MMA Weekly reports that :

When Kim Couture faces Lina Kvokov at Strikeforce’s “Destruction” this Friday, it will have been five months and a day since she made her professional MMA debut.

At this point, it’s hard to imagine anything shocking her inside the cage, considering the first few seconds of her bout with Kim Rose at “Night of Combat” on June 20. Rose’s first overhand right shattered Couture’s jaw in two places, sidelining her for four months while she awaited a doctor’s clearance to fight.

In early October, she learned about an opportunity to fight again through HDNet Fights CEO Andrew Simon. 

“Five weeks ago when I got approached with this fight, I went to the doctor and asked if I could be released, and he checked everything, and (I) got the a-okay to start sparring,” she told MMAWeekly.com in a recent video interview. “So I’ve been sparring ever since.”

The metal plate used to help Couture’s jaw heal properly will still be in place when she fights on Friday, but apparently won’t impede her performance.

Before sparring, she had been working with her strength and conditioning coach and practicing jiu-jitsu, that and a lot of golf.

“I’m just fortunate to get cleared and get back in there,” she said. “I think everybody took that break and took that loss harder than I did.”

She knows little about her opponent, Lina Kvokov. In the absence of tape to pore over, her gameplan isn’t rigidly defined. But judging from the way she hits pads at Xtreme Couture, it’s probably geared towards striking. Her punches and knees are sharp; they land with a loud slap that adds to the din of other slaps in the converted warehouse space.

Couture has the pick of the litter when it comes to trainers at the gym, and says they’ve taken her to the next level in her evolution as a fighter.  

“I think it’s the combination of trainers that I’ve found right now that really fit together nicely,” she said. “Ray Sefo and Gil Martinez, the footwork that they’ve been having me do, putting my kicks together with my boxing, has been fantastic. I always do my jiu-jitsu with Robert Drysdale, and he’s amazing. Randy does my wrestling, and that’s always fun. I just feel like everything’s coming together right now.”

Combined with her other pursuits, fighting remains a hobby to Couture. She plans to promote up to six more MMA events in 2009. If she can squeeze a few fights in between, all the better.

“I thought it was good for me,” Couture said of the layoff. “I feel like it’s changed me inside, and I feel really focused and excited.

Five Ounces of Pain has the news that :

As a reporter involved in the field of mixed martial arts, I hear a lot of crazy things. Some of it true but much of it false. When I received a text asking me if I knew anything about Jon Fitch having been cut, my first reaction was, “Are you smoking crack?”

I mean, not Jon Fitch? Not Jon Fitch the consensus top five welterweight. Not Jon Fitch the 17-3 fighter who fights for the UFC. Not the Jon Fitch that has gone 8-1 in the UFC with notable wins over Josh Burkman, Thiago Alves, and Diego Sanchez. Not the Jon Fitch that has tied the UFC record for most consecutive wins while competing in the Octagon?

But this is MMA, a sport unlike any other and I’ve learned that no story is far-fetched. Chances are when you hear something crazy it doesn’t mean your friends have developed an addiction to hallucinogenic drugs. Yet when I logged onto my computer to survey the carnage, I still couldn’t believe my eyes. I then began to make several late-night phone calls to try to make sense of the situation and wrap my arms around it.

During my truth-seeking mission the most illuminating information in regard to the situation is an article by Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole, which included several quotes from UFC President Dana White.

“We’re looking for guys who want to work with us and not against us, and frankly I’m just so [expletive] sick of this [expletive] it’s not even funny,” Iole quotes White. “Affliction is still out there trying to build its company. Let [Fitch] go work with them. Let him see what he thinks of those [expletives]. [Expletive] him”

And as I’m sure you heard by now, Fitch isn’t the only fighter to be cut. Heavyweight and AKA teammate Christian Wellisch has joined him amongst the ranks of the unemployed and others could be next. All indications are that AKA welterweight Mike Swick has already signed and is safe. Reports indicate that Josh Koscheck is also on the rocks but multiple sources have expressed to FiveOuncesOfPain.com that they believe that situation will work itself out. However, the next to go could be heavyweight blue chip prospect Cain Velasquez.

Just about all of AKA’s fighters are represented by trainer “Crazy” Bob Cook and Zinkin Entertainment and White and the UFC are not happy with the management company’s refusal to to go along to get along. White is not a big fan of managers and agents and wouldn’t shed a tear if all of them perished off the face of the Earth. Many in the industry have said the UFC simply wants to do business in an environment where there is no buffer between them and their fighters.

Continued Above at FiveOuncesOfPain...