Written by Sharon Hurley Hall from Get Paid To Write Online

Guest posting is a good way to get your blog and your skills noticed, but it’s even better if you can land a regular, paid blogging gig. Not everyone pays for guest posts, of course, but many do. Here are some techniques for attracting their attention and making sure you get past that first post.

Let Them Know You’re Available

No-one’s going to hire you as a blogger unless they know this is something that you do. Include the fact that you blog, guest blog or ghost blog on your LinkedIn profile, Twitter and Facebook pages, forum signature, portfolio site and blog. Better yet, include a call to action (hire me to blog for you) at the end of your best and most trafficked posts.

Give A Little

Go to all the blogs you read where you think you can make a contribution and offer to write a guest post for them. Before you make the approach, check the blogs to see what’s likely to appeal to readers or show off your blogging expertise – or hopefully both. At this point, you’re not looking for payment, but trying to build a profile. As long as the post has a byline or a link to your site, you will get some benefit from it. Craft your bio to include the fact that you’re a professional blogger and make it link to somewhere where people can find out more and contact you.

Follow The Guidelines

Once someone agrees to publish a post, do your best work. Although it’s always tempting to save the best for our own blogs, publishing to a new audience will bring more benefit in the long run. When the post is written, proofread it forwards, backwards and sideways to make sure there are no errors before sending it in. Look for a suitable image to accompany the post so that you can save the blog owner the trouble.

Promote Like Crazy

When the post is published, let everyone in all you networks know about it. Of course, you don’t want to spam anyone, but you do want to show that you can put some promotional muscle behind any post you publish. If you bring in a few new readers the blog owner will be happy and may well ask you to post again.

Be Responsive

It’s a (sometimes) unwritten rule that you should reply to comments on your posts. This is your chance to show even more of your personality and to make another favorable impression on the blog owner. Make your responses quick and interesting and you will earn some kudos.

Rinse And Repeat

Repeat this on as many influential blogs as you can manage in the niche you want to target. I know that this works because I’ve done it myself. I started my first blog in 2005. For the first few months, I concentrated on learning how to blog as it was different from the journalism I’d been used to. In 2006, I started doing occasional guest posts. Those landed me four paid blogging gigs between 2006 and 2007, and I’ve added a few more in the last couple of years. Dozens of bloggers have started like this before moving on to more permanent, paid blogging gigs. You can too.

(Photo:http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnnyvulkan/381941233/)

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Get Paid To Blog By Guest Blogging


A selection of e-books to help you improve as a blogger. Find out more at www.bloggingtips.com/books/

Written by Patti Stafford from Patti Stafford

Can We Beat Our Best in 2010?

2009 has been a great year. By the time you read this it will have ended and we’ll be starting 2010—hopefully with a Bang! Many of us have our goals planned for the New Year, some are still laying out the plans, some are reflecting on the accomplishments of the past year. Some writers have added a theme to their life and career titled, “Make it Happen in 2010.” No matter what your goals for the year, you can make it happen. My question is, “Will we beat our best from 2009?”

I’ve witnessed some pretty cool things in 2009. I’ve made some great friends—writers and non-writers alike. I want this year to be better than the last, but I’m so amazed by the past year that it’s hard to focus on the new one just yet. Being the last day of 2009—see? I told you it would be gone when you read this—I’d like to reflect on the greatness of the one we leave behind and share some of my own observations and discoveries.

In 2009 I had the pleasure of meeting and working with Kevin Muldoon, the owner here at BloggingTips. I know he has grand plans for 2010, which he will accomplish—that’s just how he is. It’s been an honor to work with him, and not just because we both have Scottish blood, he’s a great guy too.

On a personal (and professional) level I’ve gotten to share in the happiness with Jonathan Bailey because his website, PlagiarismToday.com, got some mentions in some high places—like the Associated Press and Boston Globe. Jonathan has worked hard and dedicated himself passionately to his site and it’s been a godsend to many fellow writers.

I’ve been able to witness and enjoy the passion of Lois Eighmy work on a novel for NaNoWriMo, finish it and start a new one. This year her goal is to begin the process of getting published and she has plenty of material to work with too. I’ve never met another writer as dedicated to her characters and her storylines as she’s been. She’s a true inspiration to all of us at our writer’s group.

I’ve had the pleasure of discovering Larry Brooks of Storyfix.com, who just stepped into the online world and blogging less than a year ago and pretty much has taken it by storm—whether he intended to or not. I’ve also had the pleasure of having him as a guest on my blog with his awesome post, Wrapping Your Head Around.

As for me, I’ve taken on the title of Course Presenter at Fear of Writing, an online writing course for people who have been hurt by others who had good intentions of setting them straight with their writing—but failed. I’ve taken on writing gigs that I didn’t think I’d enjoy too much, but, “surprise”, I have. I’ve taken on a few that were right up my alley too. My blog is still my work in progress, but I have many irons in the fire and many things to accomplish in 2010. So, the plan is to make it better than the year I leave behind.

Please share your comments, goals, thoughts and inspirations as we enter the New Year—let’s bring it in with a Bang!, and, “Make it Happen in 2010!”

Image courtesy: © Copyright Tony Atkin and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

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Can We Beat Our Best in 2010?


A selection of e-books to help you improve as a blogger. Find out more at www.bloggingtips.com/books/

It’s that time of year: prediction posts are upon us. If you’ve been involved in blogging for the past few years, even from an observational standpoint, you are probably familiar with the unavoidable prediction posts that come just prior to the turn of the year. Bloggers aim to do a prediction post every year, as it helps to establish their authority and push their blogging career forward.

The area in which you blog is unlikely to be of importance when it comes to prediction posts; nearly every industry has an air of expectation surrounding it, which is a curiously interesting topic of discussion right around New Year’s Eve. Heightened excitement for a new year means new opportunities on a personal and professional level, whether you’re an individual or an entire entity. New fiscal years, new calendar years, new semesters and new resolutions. All around, the new year presents everyone and everything with a generally clean slate.

For bloggers, the new year also presents an opportunity to get a jump start on establishing their authority as a published writer. Nothing tests your authority more than a prediction post, so the better you can call the occurrences of the next twelve months, the more respected you will be in your area of interest.

It’s a lot of pressure, but it’s a good exercise to endure, even if only for practice purposes in preparation for next year.

Start off by going over the articles you’ve written in the past year. Skim through the titles just to get an idea of what you’ve covered in previous months. From there, you can get an idea of the topics you know best, as you covered them a great deal over the course of a year. It may be a good idea to focus your prediction post around the topics mentioned most frequently in your articles.

Additionally you can take cues from traffic influxes. Study your top traffic days and see which articles correlate with high traffic. These are articles that were well liked by your readers, and were likely of some importance in the past year’s time line. Read the comments for these popular posts to gain a better idea on the importance of these posts, giving you plenty of fodder for a prediction post.

Do additional research at this point, seeking out the history of your primary topics of interest. Through research you can study various patterns in industry behavior, giving you a decent indication of what is likely to occur over the next twelve months. Regardless of previous behavior, it is still necessary to factor in current trends and effects, as variables such as economic hardships can make the future even more difficult to predict. if you’re at a loss because of this, try factoring in that variable along with your future predictions.

For instance, a discussion on the future of virtual goods could be considered a touchy topic because of the unknown expectations around current consumer behavior and the response to a new type of product. However, the fact that virtual goods could become attractive alternatives to spending more money on tangible products, along with subsidized pricing from ads and the inexpensive price tags attached to most virtual goods products, the present economic attitude may end up fostering the growth of a virtual goods economy.

With these tips and tricks you can make the task of creating a prediction post less daunting and more inviting. Don’t let fear or a lack of confidence steer you away from at least trying your hand. Start small and work your way up, recognizing that a prediction post can generate a great deal of residual traffic while also giving you the chance at a follow up post (i.e. second try) exactly one year from now.

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Writing the Infamous Prediction Post: 2010


A selection of e-books to help you improve as a blogger. Find out more at www.bloggingtips.com/books/

BE DYNAMIC THROUGH SPEED READING is an amazing course that you teach to yourself. It comes with audios, software, and course manuals to teach you to build reading speed, comprehension, concentration and focus. And also stimulate long-term memory.

The other factor is eidetic (or photographic), or auditory (or tape-recorder) type memories. You have the potential to remember everything you have ever seen or heard, even if you weren’t paying attention to what was said. Your brain/mind, like a computer, stores all memories.

As you start to learn the various methods used in the BE DYNAMIC THROUGH SPEED READING, you’ll notice some intentional redundancy, repetition! It is techniques repeated over and over, with visualization and various other added methods that will help you achieve the results you desire and be the best you can possibly be.

This will make you a better student, employee, communicator, and decision maker in your life. Only one of your benefits will be that you will cut reading time on reports, memos, correspondence, newspapers, novels, non-fiction, magazine, etc. You will save time, and really …”time is money”.

If you didn’t know this, let me clue you in to the reality that writers get paid by the word in articles and by % of gross sales (royalties) in book publishing; usually the thicker the book the higher the price and the higher the royalty. Writers are unnecessary verbose. What this means is there are many words within sentences that are just there as fillers; what you have to learn to do, through the Be Dynamic Through Speed Reading program, is only read the words that are essential.

Dr. Jay Polmar created the “Be Dynamic Through Speed Reading” program to share these valuable tools with students to help them get the most out of their reading experience. In the past two years he has worked with other educators to bring students the Perfect Learning System (www.perfectlearningsystems.com) which includes Be Dynamic, mind mapping comprehension and memory supports, plus special speed reading software developed to match the Perfect Learning System.

Guaranteed great grades with Be Dynamic and learn to Be Dynamic through Speed Reading

For those of you who have been blogging for a while, you certainly have discovered that there are clearly benefits of blogging that may not be related to adding a few dollars to your bank account.  I went into this undertaking with very little knowledge of the blogging world and what it was really all about. What I have learned in a short time is that there is a lot more to blogging than helping you make a buck. 

1. Support System

What do I mean by a support system?  Well, I’ve had a chance to meet more people since I started blogging than I would have in almost any other endeavor.  If you have a WordPress blog, which most of us do have, the community out there is endless.  Asking help from commenters to your blog or of other blog owners is certainly an option.  I belong to three different forums specifically related to blogging.  The information and contacts I have made through these forums are priceless.  And even if you don’t belong to a forum just utilize Google search and you’ll probably find the answer to your question. 

2. Online Portfolio

Let’s face it.  If you blog, chances are you also love to write.  It’s pretty much a prerequisite or you’re not going to be doing it very long.  What could be sweeter than having a place to display your talent and your best work?  Maybe you want to do a guest post on a more popular blog like… perhaps BloggingTips?  You can send along the guest post but, more importantly, you can provide a link to your blog and your popular posts which may go a long way in showing the blog author that you really do have some talent.  What if you are looking for a paying writing job?  If you have a blog that you’ve developed for a while, you’ve got your portfolio of work one link away.  Try to look at your blog as not only an outlet for you to write and express yourself but also as a potential launching point to more writing jobs. 

3. Honing your craft

I started blogging because I enjoy writing.  But, what I have noticed is that the more I blog the better I write.  Writing, like any other skill, takes practice.  Blogging regularly is a great way to develop your writing skills.  There are also numerous blogs specifically geared toward developing writing skills.  Visit them and heed some of their tips and add them to your writing toolbox. There is a lot of great information out there and you only have to visit or subscribe and you may see your own writing flourish as a result.
 

4. Developing technical skills

The blogging landscape is varied when it comes to the level of technically skilled people.  Some bloggers have the technical skills to develop WordPress themes.  Others contract out others to do everything technical when it comes to the development of their blogs.  No matter where you stand on the technical scale, you can always learn new skills pertaining to your blog.  Maybe you want to expand your HTML, CSS, or PHP proficiency.  It is certainly up to you how much you really want to learn.  The opportunity is certainly there and, as a result, your blogs will improve as a result of expanding your technical skills.  
 

5. Helping others.

When I started blogging I needed a lot of help and I still do.  But one thing I have learned is that there are other bloggers out there who know less than I do.  The education I have received in a short amount of time is vast and being able to help other bloggers is a way to give back.  I asked for help when I started out and I got it.  There were so many giving people out there ready to help me and they didn’t charge me for it.  I tend to believe that everyone has the inner desire to help others.  The blogosphere is full of giving people so if you have a chance to give back do so.  Through Kevin Muldoon at BloggingTips I am able to reach a far greater audience than I could currently through my own blog.  Let’s just say it’s a mutually beneficial relationship. 

Some may get into blogging to make money.  But once you blog for a while you may be surprised that there are benefits to blogging that just may mean more to you than a few extra dollars.  Developing relationships, adding to your online portfolio, perfecting your craft, learning new technical skills, and helping others, have proven to be priceless benefits to me.  I just hope that you, my fellow bloggers, feel the same way.  I’d be surprised if you didn’t…

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Top 5 Non-Monetary Blogging Benefits


A selection of e-books to help you improve as a blogger. Find out more at www.bloggingtips.com/books/

Behind a career day for quarterback Matt Schaub, the Houston Texans erased a 17-14 halftime deficit to score– points in the second half and defeat the host Cincinnati Bengals 28-17. Schaub threw for 342 yards and 4 touchdowns against one interception in the solid road victory. Against a team that had won three straight games in the final seconds, Houston never gave Cincinnati the chance to create any late drama.

Houston took the money as +3′ road underdogs with the outright win, and both teams are now 3-3 on the season against the NFL pointspread. The 45 points just managed to stay UNDER the posted total of 46. The Texans have gone UNDER in 4 of 6 this season while the Bengals evened their NFL totals record at 3-3.

After the victory, Schaub said that his team knew of Houston’s penchant for late game comebacks and that ‘putting them away’ would be a priority:

“Every game went down to the wire for them. Credit goes to them because they were able to find ways to win those games. So it was a matter of putting the game away.”

The Texans’ stoic head coach Gary Kubiak would only offer that:

“Matt continues to put up exceptional numbers on the road.”

The defense did a stellar job as well, shutting out the Bengals in the second half. In the third quarter, Houston only allowed six yards on nine plays for a franchise record. Cornerback Dunta Robininson talked about the defensive corps mindset:

“It was swarm tackling. Everybody has a job to do, and today we made this team a one-dimensional team. Overall as a defense, we played well.”

In the losing locker room, wide receiver Chad Ochocinco admitted that his team knew that they couldn’t rely on last minute heroics to win games:

“That’s our fault. We’ve been saying that we can’t keep winning with the way we’ve been playing. We’ve got to be consistent for all four quarters.”

The Bengals will play their next two games at home, starting with a contest against the Chicago Bears this Sunday. Cincinnati is a -1 home favorite with the total set at 42. They’ll host the Baltimore Ravens the following Sunday before traveling to Pittsburgh for a game against the Steelers on November 15. The Texans host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, with Houston a -3 home favorite and the total set at 44.

Ross Everett is a freelance writer and noted authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and betting odds portal sites. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

Washington Redskins head coach Jim Zorn is off of the hot seat-at least temporarily. After a recent swoon that saw him stripped of play calling duties for the NFL team, Zorn got a vote of confidence from upper management on Friday. His head isn’t entirely out of the noose, however, as the reprieve will last only to the end of the season unless some marked improvement is seen in the second half. The Redskins’ defense has played well this year but their offense has been marked by a profound lack of productivity.

Executive Vice President of Football Operations Vinny Cerrato had the following statement:

“Jim Zorn is the head coach of the Washington Redskins and will be for the rest of this season, and hopefully into the future.”

“The frustration is very high, everywhere around here. But the relationships internally within this organization, quite frankly, remain the same.”

For his part, Zorn was unimpressed by the vote of ’semi-confidence’:

“I don’t necessarily have a reaction to that because I am the head coach. I want to be here for the next 10 years. That’s my story.”

While he didn’t express much personal relief from the management statement, he said he hoped it would benefit his players:

“If it comforts the players – awesome! But I think our players are focused regardless of what the situation is. Whatever has to be said, I guess it has to be said, but we go on.”

Quarterback Jason Campbell sounded relieved that the drama was over for the time being:

“That should relieve a lot of tension and a lot of stress. Guys don’t have to worry about thinking about it or talking about it. We were the soap opera for the NFL the last two weeks so hopefully it’ll calm down a little bit.”

Ceratto also had a different take on the removal of Zorn’s play calling duties:

“Look at all the things that we’ve done to try to help. You could have done other things drastically. No, you have confidence in him, because you want him to do well. Hopefully we can just concentrate and focus on winning football games.

He also expressed confidence in offensive consultant-and new offensive playcaller-Sherm Lewis’ ability to do the job:

“You don’t forget how to ride a bike if you hadn’t rode your bike in four years.”

The Redskins have slumped to a 2-4 record in the early part of the NFL season despite being the first team in league history to play six straight games against winless teams. The Redskins two wins came against the St. Louis Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers who have a combined 0-12 record. Washington will host the Philadelphia Eagles this Monday night before a bye week. After the bye, they’ll return to action on the road against the Atlanta Falcons on November 8.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer specializing in casino gambling, fine dining and sports betting. He has appeared on a number of TV and radio programs offering strategies for successful NFL football betting. He lives in Northern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a pet llama. He is currently writing a biography of former NFL quarterback Jim Plunkett.

Though legal sports betting is prohibited in the US by Federal law, there has been in recent years a re-examination of its logic on a variety of levels. Part of this is a desire for new revenue sources, while part is simply a growing acceptance of gambling in all forms. Ultimately, the true injustice of banning sports betting lies in its contempt for the Constitution.

The Congress of the United States has shown very little respect for the Constitution in recent years. Were it to abide strictly by the role outlined for it by the founding fathers, the Legislative Branch of our government would have to relinquish any number of its powers in a variety of areas. The primary problem with our Congress is that it has increasingly become a collection of career politicians rather than a body representative of its constituency. Every increase in power at the Federal level must be brought about by a usurpation of state and local sovereignty and, more alarmingly, personal liberty.

The Federal prohibition of sports wagering which was enacted a few years back is of very dubious Constitutionality. Were it not for the grandfather clause, which allowed it to remain legal in jurisdictions in which it already existed, it would have certainly been struck down as unconstitutional on a number of different fronts. Ironically, the Nevada gaming industry wasnt too concerned at the passage of this law; indeed, they certainly liked the fact that they could go about business as usual while potential competition from other states for the sports wagering dollar was completely curtailed.

Unfortunately, the mere fact that a proposed law or initiative is unconstitutional offers little protection for the citizenry. In fact one of the most important concepts in the Constitution”that of the right to sovereignty and self-determination of the individual states”is one of the most frequently abused. For those of you not up on the Constitution (and if youre not, you certainly should be), lets consider the 10th Amendment:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

In other words, unless the power in question has been expressly given to the Federal government by the Constitution, and/or unless it has expressly been prohibited to the states (as in the case of treaty making) it is the right of each individual state to govern themselves as they see fit. If an individual state chooses not to regulate a certain activity, it is the right of each individual citizen to make their own decision. That was the overriding concern of the writers and framers of the Constitution”that the personal liberty of the individual not be violated by a too-powerful central government.

So, you should be asking yourself at this point, where exactly does the Constitution delegate to the Federal government the right to make policy on sports gambling? The answer is that it doesnt, and it is very questionable that they have the Constitutional authority to do so. The sanctimonious blowhards who oppose sports betting would like to think they know best, but fortunately for all freedom loving Americans the founding fathers would beg to differ.

The entire premise of a social contract between a government and the governed is that individuals give up a certain degree of personal liberty for a certain degree of protection. The problem is that too many Americans are willing to give up just about any freedom for even the illusory promise of protection. If theyre not personally willing to cede this freedom, theyre often indifferent or unconcerned about it. The danger to broader concepts of personal liberty may seem a million miles away, but with each additional law intended to protect us from this or that the Federal government becomes larger and more powerful and the rights of the sovereign states”and the individuals that comprise them”are shrinking and being weakened.

Ross Everett is a experienced freelance writer who covers travel, poker and sports handicapping. He is a consulting handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is responsible for providing daily free sports picks. In his spare time he enjoys fine dining, fencing and deep sea diving. He lives in Southern Nevada with four dogs and a pet coyote.

Not long after his demolition of Japanese pop culture icon Bob Sapp, fformer WWE superstar turned MMA fighter Bobby Lashley announced that he had signed a deal to return to full time professional wrestling competition with the US #2 promotion TNA. Lashleys last in-ring pro wrestling appearance came in Mexico on a show for Lucha Libre promotion AAA.

Hes not planning to give up his MMA career. In interviews prior to the TNA signing Lashley left open the possibility of a return to pro wrestling for its significant financial upside, while remaining committed to his shoot fighting efforts. Lashley trains in Florida with the prestigious American Top Team, and ran his record to 4-0 with his victory over Sapp in late June. A press release issued by TNA this morning further validated his suggestions that he planned to do both sports. Lashey himself is quoted as saying:

I want to do both because I can. TNA is giving me the opportunity to compete in both sports which I have a passion for. I will bring MMA fans to wrestling and wrestling fans to MMA

TNA President Dixie Carter also praised Lashley in announcing the signing:

This is a great opportunity for Bobby to do something that has never been done before. He is the perfect ambassador for both sports. We are excited to have him join TNA, he is a true star that brings so much to the table as a member of our roster.

Despite TNAs claims that Lashley is the first active MMA fighter to compete full time in pro wrestling, that’s not the case. Its very common in Japan, where fighters frequently compete in shoot fights like MMA while simultaneously appearing in worked (eg: pre-determined) pro wrestling contests. Lashley isnt even the first to pull the feat in the US, though hes definitely the highest profile fighter/wrester to turn the trick since MMAs overwhelming boom in popularity. Dan The Beast Severn at one point simultaneously held the UFC heavyweight title and the NWA heavyweight title in pro wrestling.

Lashley abruptly left the WWE in early 2008 under some degree of controversy. He indicated at the time that his departure was not of his own volition but due to circumstances beyond his control. Making this assertion more curious was the fact that Lashley had been used in high profile storylines by the WWE and was very popular among fans. Unlike most wrestlers leaving the promotion Lashley wasnt subject to a standard non-compete agreement. There has been speculation that he may have left in response to a racial incident, though neither Lashley nor the WWE has ever confirmed the reason for his departure.

After leaving pro wrestling, Lashley began training for MMA building on an extensive background of amateur wrestling from both college and the military. Lashley certainly has the physical gifts to compete at the highest level in MMA at 63 and 250 lbs. Some even suggest that he may have more potential than Lesnar due to a possible edge in speed and agility. Lesnars recent unification of the UFC heavyweight title and amazing surge in mainstream popularity may give the promotion reason to take a second look at Lashley.

Ross Everett is a widely published widely published freelance sports writer and highly respected authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and betting odds portal sites. He lives in Northern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

The worlds best heavyweight mixed martial artist has a new American promotional home. Following Afflictions announcement that they were ending MMA promotional activities, Fedor Emelianenko quickly became the fight world’s most sought after free agent. After rebuffing the UFC’s offer–citing restrictive contractual arrangements–’The Last Emperor’ has signed a multi-fight deal with Strikeforce. Terms of the arrangement were not made public, but Fedor will make his debut for Strikeforce this October.

Strikeforce agreed to give Fedor a non-exclusive contract, which allows him to compete simultaneously in Japan and elsewhere. Furthermore, they agreed to co-promote events with M-1 Global. M-1 Global is owned by Fedors manager Vadim Finkelchtein and the fighter also has an equity stake. These were the sticking points in Fedors negotiations with the UFC, and with Strikeforce not having an issue with non-exclusivity or co-promotion a deal was quickly brokered.

Fedor expressed his pleasure in comments to the media after the signing was announced:

I am looking forward to going back to work and fighting at the highest level. STRIKEFORCE is a top fight promotion that houses some of the greatest fighters in the world. I am prepared to fight any of them.

Emelianenkos manager, Vadim Finkelchtein concurred:

I am very happy and excited about the upcoming collaboration with Strikeforce. We are very pleased that we found a reliable partner and I feel that Strikeforce and M-1 can support each other on many things. This will create big opportunities for both parties to test their fighters against worthy opponents.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker added his thoughts:

We are extremely excited to have the opportunity to work with M-1 Global and Fedor. Fedor has been the reigning king of MMAs heavyweight division for quite some time now so being able to work with M-1 and Fedor will substantially increase the level of competition amongst the athletes in this weight class.

The UFCs Dana White quickly responded with a ‘f-bomb’ laden tirade sounding more like a drunken frat boy than a pro sports CEO, suggesting that Fedor was choosing to fight “nobodys” for no money by signing with Strikeforce. His sycophants in the media at outlets like Yahoo Sports were quick to pick up that theme, thats simply an attempt to put the best spin on a bad situation.

More significantly, Strikeforce has much better television exposure at this point than the #1 US MMA promotion. Strikeforce has a relationship with premium cable giant Showtime, as well as CBS TV. This same exposure made Kimbo Slice the biggest star in MMA, and Fedor has the talent to back up the hype.

Whites hysterical comments about the quality of opposition simply aren’t true either. Obviously the biggest fight available in the US for Fedor right now would be with UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, but once you get past him the talent pool in the promotion becomes iffy at best. A fight with Randy Couture would do big business, but there’s no guarantee how much longer The Natural will continue his career. The UFC has a couple of talented fighters with wrestling backgrounds in Cain Velasquez and Shane Carwin, but neither man is ready for a fight against Fedor. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira remains among the best heavyweights in the world, but Fedor has already beaten him three times during their time in the Japanese MMA organization PRIDE.

Strikeforce has several intriguing fights immediately available for Fedor. Heavyweight prospect Brett Rogers, who knocked out Andrei Arlovski in his last fight, is likely first on deck. The Strikeforce heavyweight belt is currently held by Alistair Overeem, whom mutual opponent Mirko Cro Cop suggests is the one man in the sport capable of defeating Fedor. Fabricio Werdum is a talented veteran of the UFC and PRIDE and may figure into the mix some point as well.

Ross Everett is a freelance writer specializing in casino gambling, fine dining and sports betting. He has appeared on a number of TV and radio programs offering strategies for successful NFL football betting. He lives in Northern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a pet llama. He is currently writing a biography of former NFL quarterback Jim Plunkett.