• EliteXC Live Events President Gary Shaw may be on his way out of ProElite, though reports from his son, Jared Shaw, contest otherwise.
• UFC veteran Ken Shamrock has called for a rematch against Royce Gracie, who may or may not serve as Shamrock’s final opponent.
• The UFC has made the undercard bout between Dustin Hazelett and Josh Burkman available for free viewing on UFC.com. Hazelett earned submission of the night for his super slick armbar.
• “Big” John McCarthy and Mauro Ranallo have been announced as the broadcast team for Affliction “Banned.” This could help explain McCarthy’s previous public statements regarding the UFC’s competition with the Affliction show.
• UFC veteran Jeff Monson has called out Kimbo Slice via an almost-comical YouTube video.
• Brock Lesnar has been rigorously training with seven time BJJ world champion Rodrigo “Comprido” Leite Medeiros for his upcoming bout with Heath Herring at UFC 87.
• Current Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le is leaning more towards an acting career and less towards fighting, according to a recent interview.
• CB Dollaway has stated that he did not “fully commit to the tap” regarding his stinging TUF 7 finale loss to Amir Sandollah.
• Last week UFC veteran Matt Hughes settled out of court on “battery and assault” charges, which stem from an incident that transpired nearly two years ago at UFC 64.
• Dana White said that he feels republican John McCain is the “best presidential candidate for MMA.”
• MMA journeyman Shonie Carter said in a recent interview that his stint on “The Iron Ring” has helped to get “people knowing the minorities in MMA.”
• Affliction has revealed that they are planning events for October and February.
• Paul “Semtex” Daley will return to competition following a six-month retirement to take on Bojan “Zelva” Kosednar at Cage Warriors “Enter the Rough House 7″
• Despite losing her professional debut and suffering a broken jaw that will require surgery, the AFL remains interested in signing Kim Couture to bolster its Women’s division.
• Ken Shamrock’s nephew, lightweight Jeff Shamrock, has signed with Strikeforce.

The report indicates that both Gracie’s A and B samples returned positive results. The average athlete has 6 “units” of nandrolone in their body after “rigorous” activity. According to the results from Gracie’s tests the UFC Hall of Famer had 50 “units” of the steroid, nearly 10 times higher than normal.

There had been some speculation that the positive result may have been a false positive or simply elevated but with both samples returning the same results it confirmed that steroid metabolites were present in high quantities. The result of the fight, a unanimous decision win by Gracie, will not be changed.

According to Sherdog Gracie plans on filing an appeal.

Gracie essentially started the art of MMA after winning UFC 1, UFC 2, and UFC 4. Gracie came into the fights as a much smaller fighter but was able to use his submission skills to take down larger opponents based on skill as opposed to brute strength. The wins not only boosted popularity in Jiu-Jitsu but also helped to make MMA a recognized sport. The UFC was originally started as a competition to see what specialty would be the best in an actual combat situation and his wins with much less strength reliant techniques led to the wide discipline cross-training we see today.

In the UFC he boasted a 11-2-1 record after fighting to a draw with Ken Shamrock at UFC 5 and losing to Matt Hughes in his last UFC fight at UFC 60.

He also fought extensively in Pride before heading to K-1 to take part in a heavily touted rematch with Kazushi Sakuraba which ultimately fizzled after Gracie won the rather dull fight with a unanimous decision.

According to the California State Athletic Commission Gracie tested positive for traces of the popular steroid Nandrolone in a post-fight drug test. As a result of the failed test he was fined $2500, the maximum amount the state can issue, and was suspended from fighting in the state until the end of May 2008.

While the fine has yet to be finalized due to an appeals process that can happen based on the low likelihood of an appeal succeeding it appears Gracie will probably never fight again in the state of California.

Gracie has yet to comment on the situation but when and if he does it will be interesting to not only address the topic of his positive test but also whether he is ever planning on returning to MMA.