FanHouse Xtreme Couture

What a year it's been for the fighter formerly known as Jon Koppenhaver. Since getting his release from the UFC one year ago, he's won his last three fights in convincing fashion. In addition to that, he legally changed his name to War Machine, moved to Las Vegas, got arrested for being involved in a nightclub fight, made threatening remarks about President Obama which led to his release from Bellator before ever fighting for the promotion and started training full-time at Xtreme Couture.

FanHouse spoke to War Machine last week about staying out of trouble and focusing all his time and energy on his fighting career. The full video interview is below.

I saw a couple of videos today that gave me very different ideas about what kind of shape Wanderlei Silva is going to be in when he fights Rich Franklin at UFC 99. Above, Silva looks like he's training very hard at his new gym. But below, Silva's old coach at Xtreme Couture, Shawn Tompkins, suggests that maybe Silva isn't quite as devoted to his training as he should be.

Since the demise of EliteXC last October, Gina Carano has remained relatively quiet. The female mixed martial arts fighter is one of the biggest stars in the sport and it seems like every day someone's talking about her proposed super-fight with Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos.

Junie Browning was the most hated man on The Ultimate Fighter last year, a guy who seemed more eager to fight in the reality show's Las Vegas house than in the Octagon.

But now that Browning is off The Ultimate Fighter and in the UFC, is he a changed man? When I interviewed him on Wednesday, he told me that when he's not in the cage, he'd rather run away from a fight that get into one, and that he's been training hard for his upcoming UFC Fight Night appearance against Cole Miller (April 1 on Spike). The full interview is below.

Shawn Tompkins, the head coach at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, took Junie Browning under his wing after Browning's stint on The Ultimate Fighter ended. Tompkins talks about his training of Browning:

"Junie's like a son to me," Tompkins said. "I moved him into my house. That was one of the conditions, I will train him but he had to live with me. It's been two great months. He never missed a training session."

I would have to say that moving Junie Browning into my house is just about the last thing I would want to do, but I admire Tompkins' coaching: Browning whipped Dave Kaplan on Saturday night and looked like he had significantly improved as a striker. Tompkins' methods worked.