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The week that was in MMA: R.I.P., Mask

Two bad stoppages at UFC 96 upset Dana White, and according to Dave Meltzer, they are starting to become a concern in MMA.

Ken Shamrock was suspended for a positive steroid test, so he had to pull out of his upcoming fight with Bobby Lashley. It seems that Don Frye or Jason Guida are on tap to replace him. In the meantime, the lack of a Shamrock-Lashley fight will ease the worries of this blogger.

After an awesome staredown with Rashad Evans at UFC 96, Rampage Jackson was found to be too injured to fight for the light heavyweight title at UFC 98, so Lyoto Machida is up. Rampage will get the winner of this fight.

You want to be on the next installment of the Ultimate Fighter? You sure about that? Well, if you really want to, here is the tryout info. Speaking of TUF, its most recent winner, Ryan Bader, thinks too many wrestlers are running from their strengths.

The economy is starting to affect the way MMA is being covered.

The state of Indiana seems to only want to regulate MMA if there are big enough purses crowds. I guess that means that the people who fight at the small events, the ones that really need regulating, are out of luck.

Joe Lauzon updates us on his health after ACL surgery.

According to this, Don King isn't as bad as we think he is. I tend to disagree, as I think Don King is a relic of the 80s, that like big hair, shoulder pads and your Wham! album, should stay right there, and nowhere near MMA.

Octagon Girl Logan Stanton: flat-chested and proud.

Two blogs start worthy crusades: After Tamdan McCrory was denied usage of his chosen entrance song at UFC 96, Fightlinker started Operation Thunderhorse to convince the UFC to allow fighters to use the songs they want, and Cage Potato is trying to find Shane Carwin a nickname.

Finally, there have been many touching words said about Charles Lewis, Jr., known better to his fans in the MMA world as Mask from Tapout, who was killed in a car accident this week. The best of all of these tributes comes from Tracy Lee from Combat Lifestyle, who put together an album of all of her pictures of Mask. You should definitely take a look, as these poignant images capture Mask as the world knew him and loved him, as a guy who just really loved MMA, and did all that he could to support it.