FanHouse JayGlazer

So, how has Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart been spending his offseason? Why, he's doing some MMA training with FOX Sports' NFL reporter, Jay Glazer, of course.

Jay Glazer loves covering the NFL for FOX Sports and has quickly developed into one of the best in the business at doing so.

However, while his colleagues catch up on some rest during the offseason, Glazer continues to mix it up with some of the best mixed martial arts fighters in the world at Arizona Combat Sports. And Glazer isn't just some celebrity who likes to hang out with fighters. He has a 1-1 professional MMA record, as well (his last fight was in 2003). Today, whether he's doing play-by-play for Affliction, or walking out to the Octagon with UFC light heavyweight Ryan Bader, Glazer has certainly become an MMA personality in his own right.

FanHouse caught up with Glazer on Thursday at the NCAA Football 10 party in New York to talk about his love for all things MMA and his thoughts on whether his friend Chuck Liddell has fought for the last time. The video interview is after the jump.

NEW YORK -- Some of the biggest NFL Draft prospects attended Thursday night's EA Sports NCAA Football 10 Draft Night Premiere IV party in New York City. Everyone from Mark Sanchez to Michael Crabtree celebrated the release of the game.

Just 48 hours before the biggest day of their young careers, I was able to pick some of the players' brains and talk shop with the likes of ESPN's Trey Wingo and Fox Sports' Jay Glazer. A video chronicling my exciting night can be found after the jump.

Tony Gonzalez is the face of the Kansas City Chiefs franchise. Or was, at least -- according to Jay Glazer of FoxSports.com, and recently confirmed by the Chiefs, Gonzalez was traded today to the Atlanta Falcons.

Glazer's report states that the Chiefs gave up Gonzalez for a second-round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft.

Gonzalez asked for a trade in October, spurred on mainly by his desire to play out his career with a contender instead of the rebuilding and Tyler Thigpen-quarterbacked Chiefs. And apparently, even landing Matt Cassel from the Patriots wasn't enough for Gonzalez to be happy in KC, so the Chiefs acquiesced.

Four months after winning the light heavyweight tournament on the eighth season of The Ultimate Fighter, Ryan Bader is preparing to get back to the Octagon with a fight against Carmelo Marrero at the UFC Fight Night on April 1. And while Bader says he expects Marrero to give him a tough test, he has goals that go far beyond just winning this fight.

In an interview Tuesday, Bader told me he has big goals for himself in the UFC, and he expects to win a title belt some day. He also talked about beating Vinny Magalhaes the last time he stepped into the Octagon, training with FOX's Jay Glazer, and what it was like living with his controversial Ultimate Fighter housemate, Junie Browning. The full interview is below.

I'm back home after spending a week in Tampa covering the Super Bowl, and that means I was surrounded all week by hundreds of sports journalists representing newspapers, magazines and TV networks. I was there to cover football, but I also spent a little bit of time on the mixed martial arts beat, and I came away realizing how far MMA still has to go before it can really be considered a mainstream sport.

Maybe Cowboys receiver Roy Williams didn't know he was on a national radio show, or maybe he just doesn't care. Whatever, Friday morning he told ESPN's Mike and Mike that "Detroit works harder than Dallas on the practice field."

It's worth mentioning that he made the comment in the context of pointing out that hard work during practice doesn't always translate to game-day success ... but, well, it still doesn't reflect well on his current employer. As the Dallas Morning News' Tim MacMahon writes, Williams isn't known for his practice habits.

Jon Gruden's firing as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers broke late on Friday, a seemingly shocking announcement, given not only the lack of rumors surrounding his job security, but the fact that the Bucs had been contending in the NFC South for almost his entire watch.

But he's gone now, and it turns out that he really, really never saw the firing squad lining up in front of him, according to Jay Glazer.

Sacrificing a paycheck in order to bring another high profile player to a team is one of the truly selfless things that an athlete can do. Really, the willingness to make only a few million dollars instead of many millions of dollars is an act that often goes unnoticed. But you almost never hear of it from a coaching perspective.

However, giving up part of his salary for the betterment of his coaching staff is exactly what Sean Payton recently did, according to Jay Glazer (via LBS), offering up a quarter million bucks of his salary towards Gregg Williams' first year paycheck, just in order to land the defensive coordinator.

Fox Sports' Jay Glazer, I guess, knows everything first. Here's his scoop on Plaxico Burress:

The New York Giants wide receiver accidentally shot himself in the leg on Friday night, FOXSports.com has learned, not long after being ruled out of Sunday's game against the Redskins with a hamstring injury.

I'm not sure if Glazer is suggesting anything by the timing of the shooting. Burress spent the evening in the hospital and his injuries are not supposed to be life threatening.

Plaxico Burress is an amazingly talented player, but when you are having the sort of season where you are receiving unsolicited advice from Lawrence Taylor, there may be some really strange things going on in your life. Burress accidentally shooting himself in the leg is messed up even by LT standards.

We will update this story when more information comes available. Given that he plays in New York, I'm guessing there will be all sorts of news soonishly. For example, since I started typing this, John Clayton of ESPN says that Burress received an accidental gunshot in a club.

UPDATE: According to reports, Burress' leg was grazed by the bullet, and he should be able to return this season.