Frank Mir is one of the best interviews in the sport. He doesn’t issue pat answers and he’s always pensive in his responses. He offers more insight and takes you inside the fight game more than most fighters.

MMA30 was at the UFC 146 open workouts and clipped together the best of Mir’s scrum session.

For the first time in almost six years, Chase Beebe will be fighting in the XFO. The XFO announced that Beebe will take on Jeff Golden at XFO 44 on June 16th from the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates.

Beebe has twice fought in the XFO as a pro. He dropped a unanimous decision to Matt “Sunshine” Fiordirosa at XFO 12 in August, 2006, then beat Sam Jackson at XFO 14 in December.

Beebe just scored a TKO win over Cory Mahon at Colosseum Combat XXI. It was his second straight win. His brother Carson also fought on that card, winning his fifth straight bout.

This will be Golden’s first fight in the XFO. He has fought locally in the TFC, Brawl at Bourbon St., as well as Indiana’s HFC and Milwaukee’s NAFC. He defeated Gilbert Grappling’s Adam Ward as an amateur in 2009.

Golden holds a 4-2 pro record, and is coming off a loss to David Love at HFC 9. Beebe recently beat Love at Colosseum Combat XX in March.

Here is the XFO 44 card:
Tory Bogguess vs Will Brooks
Brandon Adamson vs Mike Budnik
Chase Beebe vs Jeffrey Golden
Joshua Killion vs Christopher Haney
Ryan Storey vs Matt Tobie
Phil Williams vs Andre Feliciano
Corey Simmons vs Cory Galloway
Jerald Williams vs Jordan Gonzales

Visit http://www.searscentre.com/ for tickets.

Nikolai Kaushansky ran his pro record to 3-0 at M-1 Challenge 32 in Moscow last week, and he did it with style.

Kaushansky pulled off an Ezekiel Choke on Mantas Liulionis.

If Ronda Rousey ever gets tired of breaking people’s arms, maybe she’ll pull off this Judo choke in a fight.

Local pro Gabe Salinas-Jones will be fighting Scott Barrett at XFC 18 in Nashville on June 22.

Salinas-Jones (6-2-1) will be making his third appearance for the XFC. He fought Parker Porter in his first two matches, dropping the first and then submitting Porter in the second bout.

His last two bouts have come in Strikeforce. He was able to display his ground game against Brian Humes in front of his home crowd here in Chicago, submitting Humes in the 3rd round last July at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson. But he dropped a decision in his last bout to Devin Cole in December.

Scott “The Bear” Barrett may be a familiar name to Chicago fight fans. He fought Damian Grabowski at Bellator 25 at the Chicago Theatre in August, 2010. Barrett is a heavy-handed brawler that Salinas-Jones will want to get to the ground, even though Barrett has a strong wrestling base. “If I want Scott Barrett on his back, he will be on his back,” Salinas-Jones told the XFC.

He seems unfazed at the prospect of fighting Barrett. He offered his thoughts on how he thinks it will go down in an interview with the XFC website. “A beer in my hand at a country dive bar, after a one sided beat down of Scott Barrett on national TV. I’m the fighter that everyone else is going to be gunning for and the 22nd is just the beginning,” said Salinas-Jones.

Salinas-Jones has learned the hard way not to let fights go to a decision. In his  three pro fights that have gone to the score cards, 2 have resulted in losses, the other in a draw. He has won all of his other bouts.

“I’m excited to have Gabe in our Heavyweight division,” said XFC President John Prisco.  “He put on a good show at (XFC) 13 and has gained a lot more experience since then. I’m positive the fans in Nashville and those watching live on HDNet will enjoy the show, as well as  getting to know Gabe as an XFC Fighter.”

Salinas-Jones is also excited to be back in the XFC. “I want the XFC belt! When I first fought for XFC, that was my goal and it still is. I can’t wait to make a statement in front of the Nashville fans and all those around the world watching on HDNet. When I signed the deal, it was discussed that I was going to be really active throughout my contract. I seriously can tell you how excited I am to be fighting for XFC,” said Salinas-Jones.

XFC 18 airs live on HDnet, June 22 at 9pm, from Nashville, Tennessee. For more info on the event visit  www.OfficialXFC.com.

We spoke with Josh about the injury and when he’ll make his pro debut, how he made the massive switch from a heavyweight fighter down to middleweight, why he chose to switch camps and more.

Listen to the interview below.

The Beebe brothers — Chase and Carson — were both back in action on Saturday night in Kokomo, Indiana, fighting at Colosseum Combat XXI.

Chase was featured in the main event against Cory Mahon, and finished his work quickly with some devastating ground and pound.

Carson had some ground and pound of his own for opponent Brady Hovermale, taking the fight to the ground early in the first and doing damage from top position. Carson won via unanimous decision.

Chase made it two straight wins with his TKO of Mahon, and Carson made it five straight wins.

Jeff Curran will fight Johnny Eduardo in Virginia on Tuesday as part of the UFC on Fuel event. The MMA pioneer spoke with Chicago’s MMA about an array of topics over the weekend.

On facing Eduardo:
“Even though Eduardo has been around for a long time like myself, I don’t know him and didn’t know much about him until I signed to fight him. But we watched some tape of him fighting, and we know how Nova Uniao guys fight. I’m very confident I’ll come out with a win on Tuesday.”

On his ground game:
“I think what people on the big stage have yet to see from me is my ground game when I have top position. That is where I am most dangerous and where I can really dominate fights. I think I have one of the better guards in the game, but most every fighter has excellent submission defense.

On TRT:
“I actually looked into TRT and had my doctor check my levels. My count is low due to my age and probably all the wars I’ve been in. But there’s so much that goes into using it that I would never take it. Because if you don’t do it right or have one failed test then you open yourself up to all the media scrutiny and it’s really not worth it.

“I don’t care if other guys take it, I personally don’t feel like (dealing with) all the stress and paperwork that would go into doing it so I avoid looking into it further. It all comes down to technique. I know that past steroid use is one of the reasons for low testosterone and it’s interesting that when the guys who were absolutely killing it in PRIDE came over here to fight in the states it was a totally different story. But for now TRT is legal and I don’t care that fighters do it. I just won’t.”

Watch Jeff Curran fight Johnny Eduardo tomorrow on Facebook. And if you’d like to train with Jeff and the rest of Team Curran, visit their new facility:

Team Curran MMA
110 W. Woodstock St. Unit E
Crystal Lake, IL 60014
815-356-0454

Legacy Fighting Championship flyweight Chad Robichaux is making a difference in veterans’ lives by using MMA to help alleviate symptoms of PTSD.

In this clip from HDNet’s ‘Inside MMA’, Robichaux explains how quickly PTSD can consume even the bravest and strongest of men.

You can watch Robichaux fight at Legacy 11 this Friday night at 9 CT on HDNet.

The Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix will finally have a winner when Josh Barnett and Daniel Cormier do battle on May 19th.

Here’s a recap of how the tournament got down to these two fighters.