The Weekly Wrap: Aug. 7 - Aug. 13

Odds and Ends

• Spike TV announced this week it will again broadcast live weigh-ins before a UFC pay-per-view. The network will air the UFC 118 proceedings on Aug. 27. The network experimented for the first time in several years with weigh-in coverage on July 2 for UFC 116 and drew a solid average audience of 645,000.

Spike also announced Joe Lauzon vs. Gabe Reudiger and Andre Winner vs. Nik Lentz will air on its UFC 118 preliminary fight special. It was expected Gerald Harris vs. Joe Vedepo would make the broadcast after Harris replaced an injured Jorge Rivera, who was slated for the televised spot. UFC 118 will also receive heightened exposure as the first event since UFC 115 to air in hundreds of movie theaters across the country.

• Bellator Fighting Championships signed only the second wrestler to win the prestigious Danny Hodge Trophy and convert to MMA, Erik Larkin, to a contract. Larkin, who has two MMA wins, was the 2003 Division 1 champion and Hodge Trophy winner that year. Fellow Bellator signee Ben Askren won the trophy in 2006 and 2007. Larkin will initially fight at lightweight, then compete in a season four featherweight tournament.

• Diego Sanchez and Paulo Filho are returning to their roots for their next training camps. Sanchez has returned to his stomping grounds at Greg Jackson’s Academy in Albuquerque, N.M., and Filho to the Brazilian Top Team gym.

• Shine Fights, the promotion that saw its May event featuring Ricardo Mayorga vs. Din Thomas go up in smoke over legal complications, announced a retooled pay-per-view on Sept. 10 in Fairfax, Va. The $29.99 card will feature an eight-man, one-night lightweight tournament. Quarterfinal and semifinal bouts will be two five-minute rounds and the final will be the standard three five-minute rounds.

Participants will be UFC veterans Rich Crunkilton, Drew Fickett and Marcus Aurelio, WEC veteran Carlo Prater, Pride and EliteXC veteran Charles “Crazy Horse” Bennett, as well as James Warfield, Hector Munoz and Josh Shockley. Pairings have yet to be announced.

• Paul Daley was levied a 30-day suspension by the athletic commission in Montreal for his after-the-bell cheap shot after losing to Josh Koscheck at UFC 113 in May. The suspension ends Sept. 9, just in time for him to compete on the Shark Fights pay-per-view in Texas against Jorge Masvidal, a match the promotion announced this week.

• Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta were able to maintain control of their Station Casinos gaming empire in bankruptcy court proceedings. A Nevada judge decided an investment group backed by the Fertittas is best-suited to lead the bankrupt casino company out of financial doldrums. The company ran into difficulty making debt payments after the recession hit Vegas casinos hard. Boyd Gaming had mustered a serious bid to acquire Station Casinos.

• Former International Fight League executive Jay Larkin passed away after a long battle with cancer. Larkin was best known as the top executive at Showtime boxing and was brought to the IFL in 2007 in attempt to turn around the struggling company. Larkin did away with the IFL’s team concept and made a series of cost-cutting moves, but the promotion closed in 2008 after a two-year run.