Latest UFC/MMA news and notes from around the web for the week of February 12, 2012

Welcome, Maniacs, to the weekly series where we help you catch up on some of the original reporting done by other sites in the vast MMA landscape. Like Demetrious Johnson and Stefan Struve pictured above, we can all "get along."

Teaming up with MMA sites like MMA Fighting, Cage Potato, Fight Opinion and The Fight Nerd, we'll provide an opportunity for all MMA fans to read some fresh and original voices in the sport.

This week, The Fight Nerd reminisces about Thiago Silva, MMA Convert details the recent struggles of MMA photographer Keith Mills and Fightline interviews Ben Henderson.

The full list of links is after the jump.

- Diego Sanchez not ruling out return to lightweight (LowKick)

Former UFC Lightweight title challenger Diego "The Dream/Nightmare" Sanchez looked back at his performance against Jake Ellenberger...

- Rumor: Chandella Powell fired for failure to disclose secret past life as a softcore porn star (Cage Potato)

It seems that if you do enough digging on any given ring girl, you will find out that she has done porn at one point in her life. According to a few unconfirmed sources from around the MMA blogosphere, it appears that Chandella Powell will be joining the ranks of Logan Stanton, Natasha Wicks, and Edith Labelle as a former UFC ring girl due to...get this...failing to disclose that she once appeared in a couple softcore porn photo shoots and videos under the name "Mariah Ashton."

- Fights to make after UFC on Fuel 1 (Five Ounces of Pain)

With UFC on Fuel: Ellenberger vs. Sanchez in the books, it's time to look forward at what's next for the competitors on the card. In a bit of fantasy matchmaking, I've written who I think some of tonight's fighters should fight next, and why said scraps should happen.

- Falling Action: Best and worst of UFC on Fuel (MMA Fighting)

If the evil forces of cable TV conspired to keep you from seeing the first UFC on FUEL event, sorry, but you missed a good one. Now that it's all over, time to sift through the rubble for the biggest winners, losers, and everything in between.

- Nick Diaz: Diego Sanchez won and Jake Ellenberger would be dead (5thRound)

- MMA could be legal in New York in as little as 30 days (MiddleEasy)

I've never met Bob Reilly, and I hope I never do. The only thing worse than that man is someone who comes to a bar to tell people why they shouldn't drink. In either situation, a severe verbal ass kicking session is highly probable. When Bob Reilly isn't wasting New York State's money for his bi-weekly paycheck, he's waging a war on allowing MMA to be legalized and overseen by the state.

- Repeated steroid excuses make me nostalgic for Thiago Silva (The Fight Nerd)

In truth, "I was unaware it was in a supplement" has become code in the world of professional athletics for "I use banned substances, get over it." Every time I hear that particular bit of encryption, I gain more respect for Thiago Silva.

- Image matters: UFC business & media politics (Fight Opinion)

Kevin Iole said that numbers for UFC 143 (Condit/Diaz) were lousy. 6,727 paid, 2,288 comps, 751 tickets unsold for a gate of $2.4M USD. He claims casino bought the majority of event tickets. If you had said to me four months ago that UFC Japan would have blown the doors off of a Nick Diaz UFC main event, I would have never believed you. So much for that.

- UFC on Fuel - 217,000 viewers (MMA Payout)

TV Sports Ratings tweeted the ratings for UFC on Fuel 1 Wednesday night scored 217,000 viewers. It was the UFC's first live event on Fuel TV.

- Life for MMA fighters under the New York State ban (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

It's about 3 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 10, in the Shipyard Lounge of The Colisee, in Lewiston, Maine. The room is full of gaunt, hard-looking young men- professional mixed martial arts fighters and their training partners and coaches, here for the weigh-ins for tomorrow night's New England Fight Night I card.

- The Itinerant Lens (MMA Convert)

This isn't a story about fighter pay. This isn't a story about the financial inequities - perceived or actual - in the business of sanctioned fighting. This isn't about how someone should be compensated for their services, or about how life can be unkind to those who are diligent and hardworking. This is a story about Keith Mills, who, at 43-years old, has been covering the sport of mixed martial arts since before it was even called that.

- Exclusive interview with Ben Henderson (Fightline)

Ben Henderson disappointed with Guida win, but is surprised by the speed of his success.