The news on Thursday that Jose Aldo was splitting from manager Ed Soares to instead be managed by his coach Andre Pederneiras left many people wondering what might really be behind the split, and if there might be more to the story. Fighters Only Magazine spoke with Ed Soares to confirm the split and get some additional information.

According to Soares, there was nothing in particular that happened to cause the split, but Pederneiras wanted to take control and manage Aldo himself. Soares says it is "fine":

"I wouldn't say anything went wrong as such, other than Andre feels he doesn't need our services as management any more. And that's fine, it wasn't like we were together since the beginning, we managed him once he became champion."

Soares did say that he is disappointed and that he doesn't necessarily think Aldo's decision was a very good one:

"I don't necessarily agree with the decision he made but he is his own man and if that's what they want then sure, best of luck. It was a surprise to me and I was disappointed Jose is a great kid and a great person and he is about to have his first child... he has to do what is best for him."

Soares says his relationship with the other Nova Uniao fighters like Diego Nunes, Johnny Eduardo and Luis Ramos will not change even though Aldo is leaving. He did seem a bit defensive when asked about both Junior Dos Santos and Jose Aldo leaving recently, and quickly pointed out,

"We've lost two guys in eight years."

Soares also discussed the trouble that was evident between him and Anderson Silva that caused Silva to make the statement that no one, including Soares, could speak for him and that he will only speak for himself. Soares says their relationship is strong, but that they have their quarrels just like in any relationship:

"The relationship with Anderson and me, Anderson and us, is like family. We have been in each other lives so much, we have been so influential to each other in our professional lives, that we have been through thick and thin. We might have a big fight, blow up at each other, but then two hours later we will all be in a restaurant with our families sitting down together and laughing and stuff.

"Its more like a brotherly relationship. You argue with your brother and it gets all loud and stuff but then at the end of the day its deeper than that. We have disagreements like anyone else does but I feel like with Anderson, its til death do we part. Unless something really bad happened but I cant see anything bad like that happening.

"You have disagreements but can anyone go through life having a close relationship with someone and not have disagreements?"

Soares also said that he doesn't feel he's been treated poorly in the whole Aldo ordeal and that he wishes Aldo and Pedeneiras all the best going forward:

"When we took Aldo on he was a champion, we cant take credit for that. It was Andre Pedeneiras who made him a champion. We were there to try and enhance his life, I believe that we did. Maybe we weren't able to enhance his life the way that they would have liked us to, I don't know, but if they can do a better job then be my guest, go for it."

As Mike Pierce prepares for his upcoming fight against Josh Koscheck at UFC 143, he sees it as a good opportunity to not just get a big win for himself but also to do something for the fans. That's because Pierce doesn't think most fans like Koscheck, so they would probably enjoy seeing him get knocked out. Pierce spoke to NW Fight Scene and said of his upcoming fight:

"I think this is a good opportunity for myself. I think this is a good opportunity for everyone who hates Josh Koscheck, which seems to be a lot of people, to watch him get his a** kicked."

"I wanna give the fans what they want to see. I think the fans want to see him get his a** knocked out and have him shut up a little bit."

When Pierce was specifically asked about whether there is any real tension or anything personal between him and Koscheck, he said there is not, but he still doesn't care for Koscheck's overly confident demeanor:

"You know, I don't know. In the beginning when I first started getting into MMA everyone watched The Ultimate Fighter 1 and he was one of the guys on there. I've always been partial to wrestlers, that's my background, that's his background. I still root for wrestlers all the time over anyone. But, he's kinda one of those guys, in my opinion, that doesn't embody what a wrestler is all about. He's got that arrogance, that attitude, that cockiness that I really just don't care for. And, I'm not alone in that - I think the majority of the fans don't care for that side of him and I just wanna shut him up a little bit."

When he faces Koscheck on Saturday night, Pierce says he'll be ready for either a stand-up or a ground battle, but he does think the fight will go to the ground at some point given both his and Koscheck's wrestling backgrounds. Pierce has been training some of everything and he anticipates that the fight will go all over - on the ground, in the clinch and standing. Pierce wants to press the action and try to wear Koscheck down.

Before this fight was booked in the aftermath of the Georges St. Pierre knee injury and the UFC 143 fight card shuffle, Pierce called out Koscheck but Koscheck initially didn't seem like he was going to take the fight. It took some additional calling out and some behind-the-scenes negotiations but eventually Koscheck did agree to the fight and the match-up was set. Pierce says he understands why Koscheck may have been initially reluctant to take a fight with him and sees a big advantage for himself in getting this fight:

"I see this as a fight that wasn't really desirable for him [Koscheck]. I don't think he wanted to fight a guy like me. I don't think that I'm an easy for anyone but I don't really have that name value like a Matt Hughes or some of these other guys that he would really like to use a stepping stone to try and get beat up by GSP again. So, I think he has everything to lose and I have everything to gain."

Pierce was also asked about the animosity between himself and former teammate Rick Story and former coach Pat White at Brave Legion. In November, Pierce appeared on a radio show and described an incident where White told Story to spar very hard with a new guy who was also apparently suffering from vertigo. Many people came down hard on Story for the alleged incident and some mused that the two should just fight to settle their differences. But would Pierce take a fight with Story and does he even want one? He says:

"Yeah, I would take the fight. Is it a fight I really care to have right now in my career? No. I don't really care. People keep thinking that I had a beef with Ricky. I never did."

When asked if his beef was more with Pat White, Pierce said:

"Yeah. I mean, I didn't agree with a lot of things that were going on up there, and I don't need to get into specifics, but I made a decision to leave and I did. To me, the topic's been dead for a while and only recently in the not so distant past did it kinda brought up again and I explained my position on it."

Pierce says if the Story fight happens, it's fine, but he's focusing on Josh Koshcheck right now and not worrying about Rick Story. And, how does he see the Koscheck fight playing out?

"I see it going down with him moving backwards a lot of the fight, getting beat up. I want to see him drown in the deep water."

The interview video is after the jump.

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A TMZ reporter caught up with "Haywire" director Steven Soderbergh at some random airport baggage claim (I think it looks like LAX) to ask him his thoughts on the performance of "Haywire" in its opening weekend. Soderbergh summed it all up in one word: "Terrible". As the video below reminds us, Soderbergh has had many wildly successful films mixed in with quite a few underachievers, so he's really no stranger to less-than-stellar box office performance. This may be why he was incredibly gracious to the dude asking the silly questions. "Haywire", of course, features MMA fighter Gina Carano in the lead role of Mallory Kane, a highly trained government security operative whose agency turns on her, forcing her to flee to various spot around the world as she struggles to stay alive long enough to figure out why they're trying to kill her. Or, something.

"Haywire" has garnered largely positive critical reviews including positive ones from Rolling Stone, The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press, The LA Times, Richard Roeper and Roger Ebert, and an 80% cumulative "Fresh" rating from critics on website Rotten Tomatoes. Pretty much all of them said Gina Carano kicks butt in the film. In its opening weekend, "Haywire" grossed $8.4 Million in box office sales, coming in 6th behind top performer "Underworld Awakening", which opened with a gross of $25.3 Million (and has a much lower positive review rating of 29%). Personally, I'd rather see Gina Carano kicking butt than Kate Beckinsale, but that's just me.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes

As Mike Russow has been preparing for his UFC on Fox 2 fight against Jon Olav Einemo, he's also been juggling the responsibilities of his real job as a Chicago police officer. In an interview with ESPN.com, Russow discusses how he balances his fighting life with his other life, which includes a new wife and baby.

"Life has been pretty hectic to balance everything," Russow says. "I really have to be very strict with my schedule. There's no going out. It's basically sleep, get up, eat, train until 11, then weights or sprints. After that, I go to work from 5 PM until 1 AM."

It's a lot to juggle and Russow does sometimes envy fighters who can devote 100% of their time to training without worrying about their other job. But, he doesn't take his responsibilities at home lightly so he does what he has to do to keep fighting in the UFC:

"I've been fighting since I was 27. Sure, I'm a little jealous of the guys who can train full-time," Russow adds. "And if it ever came to be that I could take a leave from the CPD to train full-time -- and they were OK with it -- I would. But I've got a wife, a kid and a mortgage. We need the insurance. I can't take a chance like that."

Russow does see a distinct advantage that he has in fighting because of what he does for a living: he can stay calm in stressful situations.

"I'm very happy being a cop," Russow says. "Mentally, it helps me out a lot because in the job you can't panic. The punch you don't see could knock you out. It's kind of like that in police work. You could be driving around and all of a sudden you see something and you have to react. You have to keep your wits about you."

This skill undoubtedly helped him in his surprising knock-out victory over Todd Duffee where Russow says he broke his hand in the first round but just stayed calm and continued to fight. Russow does feel he is facing his biggest fight so far on Saturday, when he faces Einemo and his very strong jiu-jitsu background. But, he's looking forward to fighting in front of his home crowd:

"This is the biggest fight of my career, without a doubt," said Russow, 35. "I'm pumped I finally get to do it in front of my hometown on national television. I'm in the best shape of my life, and I'm ready."

And, in case you were still holding out hope that Russow was the MMA fighter who stopped an attempted mugging last December, giving the perpetrator a pretty spectacular beat down as additional punishment, he says it wasn't him.

"Yeah, I got that a lot," Russow laughs. "But no, that wasn't me. But I would've arrested the guy, though."

Vitor Belfort spoke with Tatame after his submission victory over Anthony Johnson at UFC 142 and mentioned that he wasn't the UFC's first choice to fight Rumble at middleweight. He said:

"He’s a strong guy, feared in UFC. Dan Henderson refused to fight him, everybody declined it. He’s a guy who’s hard to match-up in this division, but I accepted it at a glance", reveals the Brazilian. "I have never feared any man… I thought it was good challenge and I said yes. I showed how I value the fans and the UFC".

Well, Dan Henderson heard this and responded to Tatame:

"That’s not true, this fight was never offered to me," Dan said through an interpreter, his BJJ coach Ricardo Feliciano. "Steroids might be killing Vitor’s neurons, he’s getting crazy to say something like that".

Back at Pride 32, Belfort lost by unanimous decision to Henderson. After their fight, Belfort tested positive for 4-hydroxytestosterone, an illegal substance. Belfort appealed to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, but to no avail. Belfort was suspended for nine months from the date of the hearing and fined $10,000.

Well, well, well. Is Belfort telling the truth, lying or getting crazy from the steroids, like Henderson says?

It was reported by MMA Fighting that Nick Diaz and Jim Miller will be fighting at UFC on Fox 3 on May 5 at New Jersey's IZOD Center.

Miller is coming off a fresh win against Melvin Guillard at UFC on FX where he submitted Guillard by rear naked choke in just two minutes of the first round.

Diaz is also looking great at his return to lightweight with a submission win against Takanori Gomi and a fight of the night win against Donald Cerrone.

Lightweight champion Frankie Edgar is set to face Benson Henderson at UFC 144 in Japan on February 25 and my best guess is that the winner of Diaz v. Miller will get the next lightweight title shot.

The only other fight on this card that was announced is between TUF 14 bantamweight winner John Dodson and Darren Uyenoyama. Both fighters will be moving down from bantamweight to fight at flyweight for this fight. Dodson was last seen TKO'ing T.J. Dillashaw at the TUF 14 Finale and Uyenoyama recently defeated Norifumi Yamamoto in his UFC debut.

In the words of Junior dos Santos, "I am very excite!"

Mark Munoz is currently recovering from the elbow surgery to remove bone fragments that kept him out of his fight against Chael Sonnen at UFC on Fox 2 this weekend. He appeared on Inside MMA, with his arm in a sling, to discuss the surgery and his return. Munoz said he had 24 total bone chips removed with the two largest each measuring nearly half an inch long. While obviously disappointed to be missing his fight, Munoz is trying to stay positive and hopes that he will be able to return to fighting even stronger than he was before because his elbow issue will now be resolved:

"I truly believe everything happens for a reason. It's a blessing in disguise. You know, what if this happened in a fight? We were just talking about that backstage. This is something that is a bump in the road but I'll be back for sure. I'll be back stronger."

Munoz says the doctors now feel he will make his return to fighting in June rather than in May, as was originally expected, based on what they saw during the surgery. Even though the layoff is longer now, Munoz is still looking forward to training with his improved right arm:

"I couldn't train on my right arm in two years. Hopefully now I can use my right arm more."

When asked if he still expected his next fight to be a #1 contender fight or if he'll drop down the ladder now that he's been out with an injury, Munoz answered:

"I really hope it doesn't drop me down. I've done all I can to get to where I'm at and, you know, I'm on a four fight winning streak and I feel like I've paid my dues and, unfortunately, this happened to me. I hope it doesn't drop me down."

Munoz did say that he would not like to fight for the middleweight title right away upon his return and that he'd like to get in another fight before that happened. But, he hopes they don't drop him down any further than that in the queue of contenders.

The video is below.

Joe Rogan is very vocal about things he supports. Coincidentally, he is equally as passionate and outspoken when he disagrees with a subject or decision. That makes him somewhat of a polarizing figure among fans of the sport. His passion for the sport of mixed martial arts cannot be debated however.

Mario Yamasaki was Joe Rogan's latest target, as Rogan did not agree with Yamasaki's decision to disqualify Erick Silva for illegal strikes to the back of the head of Carlo Prater at UFC 142 in Brazil. Depending on what criteria you use for the back of the head (i.e. the "headphones" or "mohawk" rules), either decision is pretty justifiable. But according to Carlo Prater, Joe Rogan shouldn't be one to talk. Here is a quote per B.J. Penn's site:

"I think in the end I was made out as a villain. I wasn’t laying on the octagon for nothing after the fight. I want that to be clear. I had to stay in the hospital until Monday. They (UFC) asked me not to go public because, indeed, that wouldn’t do any good for me or Eric. IMO, Mario did the right thing. It’s been a long time since rules have been implemented. You are not allowed to do anything you want inside the cage. Watching the fight video I could see at least 9 blows to the back of the head. I think the way Joe Rogan behaved was completely unethical. He went with the crowd. A real professional doesn’t do that. He was acting like a fan when he should be acting as a shout caster. Mario is a million time more competent than him. He’s been living off this for 20 years. Joe Rogan is just a swagger, someone who walks amongst fighters but isn’t really a fighter himself. He doesn’t understand. Whatever… human beings make mistakes and I am not going to be holding grudges against him"

Brutal. It is going to be interesting to see the reactions between both. Rogan is a professional when it comes to these kinds of things, but this is a pretty scathing criticism by Prater.