UFC President Dana White has been embroiled in an online dispute with members of Anonymous after his organization expressed support for SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act. Many back-and-forth exchanges on Twitter and in the media between White and members of Anonymous took place. Supporters of both sides made statements and tweets.

Then came this Jan. 26 Tweet from Mike Rood, a Richmond, CA police officer, supporting White (his Twitter account has since been deleted):

Then, yesterday, all hell broke loose.

Anonymous re-tweeted Mr Rood’s comment, noting that his threat of violence was illegal.

Ahoy @Fan1UFC – well that’s just lovely. An OFFICER OF THE LAW threatening people with WEAPONS/DEADLY FORCE? Isn’t that um, a crime? ClASSy.

— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) January 31, 2012

They then called on their Twitter followers to call Officer Rood and his supervisor about his public statements.

Email or Call Sgt. Mike Rood, Richmond PD, Badge #116 about his threats – mrood@richmondpd.net | 510-965-4985 (via @AnonyOps)

— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) January 31, 2012

And, they responded. The Richmond, CA Facebook page was flooded with comments about Rood. They were deleted, and have continued to be deleted. The page currently shows no activity since January 26.

The Facebook wall for the local newspaper, the Contra Costa Times, was also flooded with complaints about Mike Rood. those are still up to view.

Over the weekend, industry insider Kevin Dent, took to Twitter to lay a little rumor on us. He said that his sources claimed that THQ was looking to sell the company and that they had canceled their entire 2014 line-up and the planned Warhammer 40K MMO.

Dent started on Twitter claiming that the Warhammer 40K MMO had been canceled and then went on to say that THQ was offering itself to Asian firms to increase their value.

Even more damaging was the rumor that THQ had returned IP to Disney after paying an advance with no refund. This part isn’t entirely out of the question as children IPs are harder to sell and generally don’t pay off in the long run.

Dent then explains that the problem stems from THQ pushing their uDraw peripheral onto HD consoles when the first one on the Wii just sold ok. He then says that THQ didn’t have the money to take that kind of creative risk. He also says that the company was not in the position to make an MMO, with a minimal investment of $140 million.

Finally, he says that the company’s biggest mistake was releasing Saint’s Row 3 into a hyper competitive market. While the title reviewed well, it was stuffed into the same period as the usual heavy hitters like Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed.

Of course, this is just the rumor mongering of one man, albeit a trusted industry insider He can be, and he hopes, he’s wrong.

THQ finally responded to the rumors with a kind-of denial to VG24/7:

“As part of the ongoing review of our business, we have made decisions to ensure that the company is strategically addressing the most attractive markets. As we have previously announced, we have dramatically reduced our commitment to the kids’ boxed games sector which leads to a significantly more focused release schedule moving forward. Our slate for calendar 2012 and beyond is focused on high-quality core games and continues to build our digital platform and business. We are excited for our pipeline of original and high-quality content along with our relationships with some of the best talent in the industry.

“Additionally, we are thrilled with the great performance of Saints Row: The Third, which on a like for like period in North America has tripled in sell-through from Saints Row 2. In addition, WWE ’12’s worldwide sell-through sales are up almost 40% year-over-year for the same sales period with fewer platforms. According to NPD, for the month of December and the 2011 year, THQ was the #5 publisher overall, #4 third party, with reported sell through growing over 18% in a market that was down almost 6%. And coming up next, we have two great titles for the first half of the year including UFC Undisputed 3 and Darksiders 2.”

After the statement, Dent went on to Twitter to clarify that he never said this was set in stone. He hopes the best for THQ and is happy with their statement. That doesn’t change the fact that the statement is somewhat of a kind-of denial that never sits well with anybody.

Their statement doesn’t exactly confirm or deny anything except that they are not canceling anything at this time. 2012 is looking good for THQ and hopefully this will soon just be another rumor that never amounted to anything. Still, THQ is not out of the woods yet and they are still up in the air about the fate of their Warhammer 40K MMO. This isn’t over yet, but like Dent, I wish THQ all the best.

Now, with the rise of social media, especially Twitter, athletes are saying things publicly all the time – making multiple statements a day. Sure, most professional athletes use Twitter like every other person; but since they are followed by so many people every little thing they say gets scrutinized and publicized – much to the chagrin of sports team owners and organizational presidents. And sometimes they forget to filter what they say.

So while most organizations like the NFL and NBA have implemented rules cracking down on Twitter use, one sport’s President is planning on rewarding “creative” Twitter use.

Ultimate Fighting Championship’s Dana White announced at the UFC Fighter Summit in Las Vegas that his fighters will begin to receive bonuses for Twitter use starting June 1st.

From mmafighting.com:

Starting June 1, UFC and Strikeforce fighters will be divided into four categories, based on how many Twitter followers they currently have. At the end of each quarter, three fighters from each category will be awarded a $5,000 bonus. The three winners will be based on who has gained the most followers since the start of the quarter, who gained the highest percentage of new followers and who wrote the most creative tweets. White will be the judge of the last category.

At the conclusion of a full calendar year, the UFC will end up paying $240,000 a year to its fighters for their Twitter usage.

Dana White is a prolific Tweeter himself, so his love of the technology must play some role in this decision. Some big name UFC fighters like Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell and Ryan Bader are already pretty active on Twitter, but White wants to expand the Twitter use to every one of his fighters.

For any relatively new sport, even one that has gained almost immediate popularity, publicity is key. While organizations like the NFL and NBA are well established and simply want to avoid bad press, White and the UFC understand the amount of buzz that can be created by Twitter.

For over a year and a half, the NFL has had a policy in place that bans Tweeting within an hour and a half from kickoff and also bans the service until post-game interviews are wrapped up. The NBA has also banned Twitter during games for players, coaches and other team personnel.

But much of the damage that their players have done in the past has been on their own time, nowhere near gametime. The most famous Twitter controversy has to be former Kansas City Chiefs RB Larry Johnson’s gay slur tweets from 2009. After bashing his coach after a loss he wound up in a Twitter-fight with another user. He then referred to his Twitter profile picture as a “fag pic.” That little comment cost him $213,000.

And then there’s Rashard Mendenhall, a more recent example. His comments following the killing of Osama bin Laden caused quite a stir.

It looks like Dana White and the UFC are welcoming all that come with Twitter presence. And why shouldn’t he? For a sport than has already come under fire by some for its violence, a possible Twitter controversy is nothing. So tweet away, fighters – and be creative!

By liking Facebook.com/UFC, fans will have access to a live stream of the lightweight fight between Cody McKenzie (12-0) of The Ultimate Fighter and veteran Yves Edwards (39-16-1), as well as a  welterweight match with TUF alum DaMarques Johnson (16-8) against Mike “The Joker” Guymon (13-4-1).

“I’m always looking for ways to give fans fights for free and this is just another example of that,” UFC President Dana White said.

“Facebook is such a great tool for people to stay connected and we’re excited to put two live fights on our UFC page for free.”

In addition to the live stream of two prelims on Facebook , the UFC is hosting an online auction that will raise funds for the brave men and women in the United States Armed Forces with traumatic brain injuries. Prizes include the chance to attend the premiere of season 8 of the show Entourage, as well as the chance to meet Philadelphia Phillies centerfield Shane Victorino and attend a Major League Baseball game as his guest.

Between the complete lack of rationality in the oil trading market pushing gas prices into the stratosphere, and the usual rotten weather in the Midwest, $44.95 looks like a bargain compared to driving to Columbus for UFC 82.

Yahoo comes to the rescue with its UFC PPV arrangement, kicking off with the Anderson Silva/Dan Henderson middleweight championship. Terms of the pay per view deal give viewers live video from the fight, available at three different speeds, and 24 hours of unlimited archive viewing.

Despite the departures of Terry Semel and Lloyd Braun, for whom such an arrangement would have seemed a natural extension of their entertainment initiatives, Yahoo has stuck with original content in its sports pages.

Make no mistake, demographics for UFC come into play for Yahoo. A young male audience is like catnip to advertisers, making UFC’s appeal to Yahoo’s display ad salespeople an obvious connection.

“This relationship with Yahoo! is an important step for the UFC to build its global distribution platform for live pay-per-view events,” UFC President Dana White said in a statement. “We are looking forward to working with Yahoo! Sports to expand our reach and bring the sport of mixed martial arts to fight fans in every corner of the world in every possible language.”