Mike Afromowitz of Strikeforce got back to me today and the promotion has made good on their promise to resolve the Davis/Miller situation. For anyone who does not know, Deray Davis and Mark Miller were scheduled to fight on Saturday night's preliminary card, however, due to time constraints the bout was canceled. As I mentioned yesterday, there were reports that the fighters were not paid their full salary and only received their "show" money.

Here is Afromowitz's statement on the matter:

"We paid each fighter his fight purse and are now going to pay each his win bonus. Originally, we attempted to place this matchup on another fight card being promoted by a local promoter in Chicago in a couple of weeks.  If both fighters had accepted, we would have paid each his fight purse a second time. Since neither was available due to different circumstances, however, we paid each his win bonus on top of the purse. Please note that this is the first time in Strikeforce history (not only MMA, but also kickboxing) that a situation has ever occurred."

I'm glad Strikeforce resolved the matter. Most times things do not work out this well and the fighters end up getting screwed.

-I'm very surprised by the amount of people who feel like Fedor did not look great last night. Ten minutes after the fight, I had three emails telling me how it's now obvious that Brock Lesnar would destroy him. I got a totally different feeling watching his victory over Brett Rogers. What I saw was trademark Fedor and left me thinking that he's still the best in the world.

-Here's a rundown of the trademark Fedor we saw last night.
--Jumping guard with a flying punch. No one does it better.
--Pushing his opponent one way (loading the spring) then throwing them the opposite way (releasing it). Most fighters are in love with the clinch, but Fedor uses this technique a lot more. It either results in his opponent falling down or being totally off-balance and getting rocked with a punch.
--Arm bar from trouble. Again, no one does it better. More fighters should copy how he does it for offense and to improve position.
--Calmness. Most fighters panic and go into desperation mode when they get cut. Fedor simply went about his business like it was no big deal. Rogers mentioned after the fight how even though he knew Fedor was known for his calmness that it still threw him off.

-Fedor's style lends itself to criticism. He often gets into what others perceive as "trouble". This happened last night when Rogers had him on his back and was raining down punches. To Fedor, that is not a horrible position. He moved out of the way of most of the strikes and almost locked in an arm bar (if it was in a ring, he would have gotten it too). If you're on your back and you just hold on, that's a bad position. Fedor never does that, which makes it less of a troubling position. He uses the arm bar better than anyone not only as offense, but also as a means to escape the position and get back to his feet, which is exactly what happened against Rogers.

-Brett Rogers deserves all the respect in the world for his performance. You could tell he was nervous at the start, but he regained his composure and gave Fedor a true test. The way he took those punches and did not die was particularly impressive.

-One of my favorite parts of Mike Tyson fights (after prison) were the post-fight interviews. They were pure entertainment. Well, Fedor is starting to get towards that territory. I dare you to read the excerpt below and not smile.

Johnson: How did you feel tonight?
Fedor: I felt very good. Thanks for asking.

That answer sums up Fedor perfectly. He's not wired like the rest of us.

-Did you notice when Fedor almost soccer kicked Rogers in the head? You could tell he was thinking about it then remembered he wasn't in a Pride ring.

-Fedor's interpreter looks like a fortune teller.

2009 has been the most successful year in the history of the UFC. However, it's tough not to notice the black cloud hanging over things lately.