UFC President Dana White, who until only recently gave a bleak outlet for the possibility of women's MMA in the UFC, may be softening his stance.

And EliteXC star Gina Carano is to thank.

During the UFC's recent stop in Toronto on the UFC 94 press tour, White said he's willing to put Carano in the WEC to "test the waters" of women's MMA.

"Gina Carano is a star, and I think she's talented," White said. "I think she has all the tools, so what I'm willing to do is bring Gina into the WEC. We could do fights whenever there's a challenge for Gina. That's how I'll test the waters and see how it goes."

While a recent guest on ESPN's "MMA Live!," White said he'd consider the Carano-Santos fight for the UFC's sister promotion.

"I wouldn't be opposed to [the fight]," White said. "And if I did do it, I'd probably do it in the WEC."

The UFC will first have to wait to see how ProElite's legal situation shakes out. The company, which canceled its Nov. 8 show and ceased promotional operations at the end of October, until recently was attempting to thwart Showtime's plan to sell ProElite's remaining assets at public auction.

Showtime has claimed rights to ProElite's "tangible and intangible" assets after the company defaulted on two promissory notes of $4 million that it lent to the company in June and September. The premium cable company notified the public markets earlier this month of its intentions to auction off those assets, which include fighter contracts, on Nov. 17.

However, when a group of agents led by the likes of Ken Pavia and Monte Cox banded together for a united front and threatened to challenge the legality of any sale, Showtime postponed the auction.

The fighters, including Carano and Santos, now remain in a state of limbo.

In any manner, White's current comments are a far departure from his past feelings.

In early 2007, the UFC head said, "I'm not a huge fan of women fighting. Period."

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M-1 would like to congratulate Brock Lesnar on his UFC heavyweight title victory as well as acknowledge Randy Couture's return to active competition after a layoff that lasted over a year.

Couture and WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko had publicly acknowledged a desire to fight each other multiple times over the course of the past year. While M-1 and Fedor remain interested in a match against Couture, we would also like to publicly state for the record that we would welcome a superfight between Fedor and Lesnar that would be held as a co-promoted event between the UFC, M-1, and Affliction Entertainment.

We've invited the media to speak with us today to not only make it clear we would welcome a Fedor vs. Lesnar matchup but to act in a preemptive fashion to address the possibility that UFC officials will try and position Lesnar as the No. 1 heavyweight in the world, much like they have tried to use a marketing ploy to brand Anderson Silfva as the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

In the past, UFC president Dana White and Zuffa, LLC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta have tried to claim that Fedor was "overrated" and that his "record was irrelevant." They make these claims in spite of the fact that Fedor holds career victories over UFC champions past and present. While we have tremendous respect for the contributions Mr. Fertitta and Dana have made to this sport, we do not believe they are sincere in their statements.

It is the position of M-1 that the UFC has adopted an anti-Fedor policy because multiple attempts to sign him have not been fruitful. For a company that has tried to market itself as the number one promotion in the world, they are unable to accept the fact that the number one fighter in the world does not reside on its roster of contracted fighters.

We believe that the UFC has determined that it's much more inexpensive for them to use their marketing resources to use smoke and mirrors to brand a fighter as the pound-for-pound best as opposed to actually paying the pound-for-pound best what he is truly worth on the open market.

While Brock Lesnar is an accomplished athlete and a talented fighter, we do not consider him to be the number one heavyweight in the world. Until someone beats him, we strongly believe that Fedor should continue to be recognized as the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. In a match between Fedor and Lesnar, we do not feel that at this stage Lesnar would be able to make it out of the first round.

For those who feel our statements in regards to Fedor are self-serving, we'd like to refer you to a video interview on the website RawVegas.tv in which at his UFC 91 after-party Couture himself acknowledges that "Fedor would probably tear Brock up at this point."

Jerry Millen, M-1 Vice President

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Tickets for Affliction Entertainment's Day of Reckoning go on sale Wednesday beginning 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT). "Affliction: Day of Reckoning" takes place Jan. 24 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

Tickets for the event, which features a headline bout between WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko and former UFC title-holder Andrei Arlovski, range from $50 to $450 and go on sale at all Ticketmaster outlets, as well as the Honda Center Box Office.

The "Day of Reckoning" card is expected to feature a star-studded line-up much like the one rolled out for its debut event on July 19. The event, "Affliction: Banned," featured a main event between Emelianenko and former UFC champion Tim Sylvia and drew 14,832 spectators for an impressive $2.1 million live gate (though the organization later confirmed it had purchased some of the tickets itself).

The Jan. 24 event is produced by Affliction Entertainment along with its partners, the Trump Organization, Golden Boy Promotions and M-1 Global. The event, scheduled to air on HDNet (preliminary card) and Showtime (main card) will feature 11 bouts.

Rumored Card
MAIN CARD (SHOWTIME PPV)
* WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski
* Josh Barnett vs. TBA
* Vitor Belfort vs. TBA
* Matt Lindland vs. Renato "Babalu" Sobral
* Chris Horodecki vs. Dan Lauzon
PRELIMINARY CARD (HDNet)
* Vladamir Matyushenko vs. Antontio Rogerio Nogueira
* Jay Hieron vs. Jason High
* LC. Davis vs. Mark Hominick
* Antonio Duarte vs. Albert Rios
* Brett Cooper vs. TBA
* Paul Buentello vs. Kiril Sidelnikov



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The Sun, a reputable newspaper from the U.K., reported the possibility of the UFC 95 main event Anderson Silva vs Chuck Liddell. Neither fighter has been officially booked for the Feb. 21 event, and the Silva-Liddell fight is only being discussed as a possibility.

"SunSport understands middleweight champion Anderson Silva, 33, has been asked to appear on the card, with a potential bout with light heavyweight star Chuck Liddell already being mooted," the report stated.

The UFC 95 fight, meanwhile, could be -- and perhaps should be -- criticized on two fronts. Not only would the light-heavyweight fight put the UFC's middleweight title picture on hold again (Silva made just two title defenses in 2008), he'd also be competing against a fighter -- though surely a future UFC hall-of-famer -- who's lost three of his past four fights and whose stock has never been lower. In fact, the 38-year-old Liddell hasn't scored a knockout victory in nearly two years.

Liddell is still a draw, and the fight could be marketed. However, a loss for " The Iceman" could be a disaster and force him into retirement. Worse yet, a loss for Silva would greatly impact his standing as the world's top pound-for-pound fighter and would likely derail any future plans for the 33-year-old Brazilian to fight outside the 185-pound division.

Silva is currently riding a nine-fight win streak, which includes eight consecutive victories in the UFC. None of his UFC fights has gone to a decision, including his most recent title defense. Last month at UFC 90, he defeated Patrick Cote via third-round TKO due to a knee injury suffered by the Canadian fighter.

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