bernie-profato-3This week, Cagewriter is taking a look at different jobs within the MMA world. Click here to read the other posts on the subject.

On the way to becoming the head of the Ohio Athletic Commission, Bernie Profato served as a police officer, Marine, softball umpire, basketball official, and boxing referee. In his seven years at the head of the commission that oversees every MMA event, Ohio has grown from hosting four events a year to 144. He gave Cagewriter a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into preparing for events.

Cagewriter: Bernie, I want to give readers a look behind-the-scenes at what state commissions do.

Bernie Profato: Our first concern is always safety. The safety of fighter comes first, then the rules. There's a lot of issues that go around making that safe environment, not just the rules, but everything going up to the rules. I have to make sure we get the three Ws: the fighters and promoters win, the sport wins, and that means the state of Ohio wins. There's a lot

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Strikeforce has decided on the location of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix semifinals. MMA Junkie reported that Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov and Antonio Silva vs. Daniel Cormier will take place in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The location is notable because Barnett, a fighter who has tested positive for steroids in the past, and will now fight under a state commission that, along with Nevada and New Jersey, is respected as one of the most thorough in country. Earlier this week, Ohio Athletic Commission head Bernie Profato told Cagewriter that extra requirements are expected of a fighter who has tested positive in the past.

"If anybody, I don't care who it is, if it's my brother, if they tested previous for drugs, they're going to have to take a pre-fight test," Profato said. "If I look at that database, and I see they've failed a test, then we're going to take a pre-fight test within 30 days of the fight."

They will be joined by a middleweight championship bout between

1062This week, Cagewriter is taking a look at the different jobs that help the MMA world turn. See part I of the series here.

Today, we look at Mike Dolce, the peak performance coach who is known to help fighters improve their nutrition, and in turn, the way they fight. After working as a strength coach for 20 years and appearing on the seventh season of "The Ultimate Fighter," Dolce has worked with fighters such as Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Thiago Alves, Chris Leben and Vitor Belfort.

Cagewriter: What is your job like on a day-to-day basis?

Mike Dolce: I'm running multiple training camps from afar. Right now, in Vegas, I'm running Vitor Belfort's training camp and Mike Pyle's. I also have Thiago Alves coming up, and I'm his head coach. I cover so many hats with him, but Vitor and Pyle, I work specifically with their nutrition and weight management issues.

I say more peak performance coach because I do the meals, I do the weights, I do the overall training management. I'm the filter for

90157493As the head of the Ohio Athletic Commission since 2004, Bernie Profato has been in close contact with some of MMA's best, and he told Cagewriter that he has always been impressed with the fighters. No episode impressed him more than when three former UFC champs all played a hand in turning his grandson's grades around.

"When Randy [Couture] was in Columbus, my grandson was having some problems in algebra, and he's a big MMA fan. I talked to Randy about it. Later, when he was in town for the WEC, he asked, 'Hey Bernie, how's your grandson?' and when you think about all the people around him, he remembered that. I said, 'Hey, he got that D to a B.' Randy says, 'Let me give him a call.' I gave him my cell phone and he left a message because he was in school.

"That night we were having dinner, and it was Randy, Brock [Lesnar] and Forrest [Griffin], and Randy asks if my grandson got the message. I said yes, and thanked Randy because my grandson really appreciated it. Brock said, 'What's

In an extended interview with MMA Fighting, Chael Sonnen gave his thoughts on, well, everything, and that included his views on Brazil. He said he was surprised that they even had computers in the South American country.

Demian Maia, a proud Brazilian, responded to Sonnen here.

Maia caught Sonnen in a triangle at UFC 95, and then after beating up on Anderson Silva for four rounds at UFC 117, Silva submitted Sonnen in a combo arm bar/triangle choke. In fact, Sonnen's last five losses were submissions, and four of those were to Brazilian fighters.

But Sonnen won't have to worry about losing to another Brazilian in his next bout, as he is taking on Brian "All-American" Stann.

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"Watch out, there's going to be fireworks tonight," Anthony Pettis said as he laced up gloves for a night of sparring at Roufus Sport.

It was a muggy, hot night in Milwaukee, and the air conditioning wasn't working in the main workout room. So much sweat poured off the fighters that a volunteer used a mop to sop up the sweat between each round of sparring, but it didn't matter. The floors were soaked.

Pettis was right, as not a single fighter took it easy. Everyone from UFC fighters Anthony Pettis, Erik Koch and Ben Rothwell to the bankers and lawyers looking for a tough workout to the tweens who look at Pettis with adoring eyes used every second of sparring to bring it. Nothing could make Duke Roufus, the head coach overseeing the practice, happier.

"There's big stars in there, but they take a knee at the end of practice like everyone else. There's some big stars out there who couldn't handle that. It's a team. It's great what we do in the UFC, but I'm also happy with the day-to-day

26292_384358240826_802860826_3743443_437863_nMMA is not just a sport, but also a business that creates jobs for people all over the world. Cagewriter takes a look at some of the people and jobs that keep the MMA wheels churning. First up: Yahoo! Sports columnist Kevin Iole.

Cagewriter: What are your job duties?

Kevin Iole: My job is to come up with feature stories and columns that would appeal to a wide audience that follows boxing or MMA. Occasionally, I cover events, I meet with a fighter, sometimes I go to lunch or dinner with a fighter or manager.

Hardly a day goes by where I don't do a radio interview of one sort or another. A lot of times I'll do short TV gigs, discussing upcoming fights or my thoughts on fighter.

I'm supposed to stay on top of breaking news from an analytical standpoint. When news breaks, what does it mean? It's not necessarily my job to be the first guy to get it out there, but it's my job to explain to people the significance of the news.

CW: But you do break news sometimes.

KI: A lot of times, what I

Fair readers, sometimes we come across MMA videos that we don't understand. Videos that are in Portuguese, but soundtracked by a terrible song in English with nonsensical lyrics. Videos that involve women in bikinis and men in boardshorts cheering on the UFC featherweight champ.

But if we have one rule at Cagewriter, it's that when we see a video of Jose Aldo jumping in a giant slip and slide, we share it.

According to the video's title, he beat Demian Maia in drowning the goose. His next opponent is Kenny Florian. The two will face each other in the co-main event at UFC 136 in Houston. Hopefully, they will both incorporate slip and slides into their training.

Thanks to MMA Mania.