It wasn’t that long ago that the Ultimate Fighting Championship announced its network deal with FOX. The deal was reached in August of 2011, and since that time, the UFC has held six live events on the national network, with the seventh event taking place this Saturday.

The man behind all the action this weekend is UFC President Dana White, who took some time out of his busy schedule to talk with us about Saturday’s card, the UFC’s partnership with FOX, and the buzz around the new women’s bantamweight division. White, a Boston native, also gives his thoughts on the tragic Boston Marathon attack on Monday afternoon.

BULLZ-EYE: Thanks for your time Dana. Can you give everybody a little rundown of the UFC on FOX 7 event that is taking place this Saturday night in San Jose?

DANA WHITE: One of the things I was really excited about with this deal with FOX was being able to bring big fights back to free television. That has always been my goal since we bought this company. Coming off “The Ultimate Fighter” finale last weekend, every fight was sick, it was an amazing finale. We pulled 1.7 million viewers. We were the highest-rated thing on network and cable television with males 18-34. This fight on FOX is going to be a big one. Ben Henderson is defending his lightweight title again, this time against Gilbert Melendez, who is probably the toughest guy at 155 pounds that has never had a shot in the UFC. Everybody thinks this guy might be the best in the world, so we are going to find out on Saturday.

BE: When Ben Henderson came into the UFC from the WEC, what were your initial thoughts on where he fit in at 155, and have you been impressed with what he has done thus far in the octagon?

DANA WHITE: Absolutely. You never really know about a fight or a fighter until the fight happens, but Ben has been phenomenal. If you look at the guys that he has beaten since he has been here, he’s been outstanding.

BE: You have a lot of former Strikeforce fighters competing and being featured on this card. How have you assessed the Strikeforce fighters and their performance in the UFC thus far?

DANA WHITE: I have been thrilled with the Strikeforce fighters. A lot of bad stuff happened at Strikeforce. A lot of guys didn’t get paid for a while and these guys are hungry. First of all, they are happy to be back fighting and getting paid to do it. These guys want to prove to the world that they can fight and become the best in the world. The UFC is the place to do that. These guys have been fighting like maniacs, and I love it.

BE: There can be a lot of added emotion and pressure when you fight for the first time in the UFC. We saw that with Cat Zingano last Saturday as she was fighting back tears just walking out to the octagon. How do you think fighters like Melendez and Daniel Cormier will handle fighting in the UFC for the first time?

DANA WHITE: I think they are going to be fine. They have had big fights on TV before. I think it is tough if it is your first time on TV and you are making your UFC debut, but these guys have had big fights before. Cormier fought Josh Barnett — that’s a big fight. I think they are going to do fine.

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Ashley Tisdale and Simon Rex have different credits to their comedic resumes, but both seem ideal for the latest incarnation of “Scary Movie.” While Tisdale is the idol of kids, tweens, and more than a few adults with her weekly portrayal of Candace Flynn on the Disney Channel animated series “Phineas and Ferb,” Simon is a veteran of the franchise, having starred in the last two installments. The pair recently sat down with Bullz-Eye to discuss “Scary Movie 5,” the latest chapter of the comedy series, featuring parodies of films like “Mama” and “Paranormal Activity,” as well as non-horror movies like “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and “Black Swan.”

BULLZ-EYE: When did you guys get to see “Mama,” which is the main plot of the movie?

ASHLEY TISDALE: I saw it opening weekend, just because I wanted to go see the movie.

SIMON REX: Then, we went and saw it together.

ASHLEY TISDALE: I came out of the theaters and texted the producers and said, “We should be spoofing ‘Mama’ because it works so well.” Then, Phil [Beauman] said, “We’re actually going to spoof ‘Mama’.”

BE: How much did the additional “Mama” shooting entail?

ASHLEY TISDALE: A lot. About 60 percent (laughs).

SIMON REX: We shot for about a 10-day reshoot when we got back to L.A.

ASHLEY TISDALE: It was a lot of work with really long days.

SIMON REX: We had to update it. The movies we spoofed were already a year or two old. “Black Swan” wasn’t really a horror movie. “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” wasn’t really a horror movie, so it needed some current horror stuff. With “Evil Dead,” which isn’t even out yet, we spoofed the trailer.

BE: Are either of you horror fans?

SIMON REX: I’m more of a fan of the comedy genre or spoofs like this, from Mel Brooks to all of David Zucker’s movies. I am a fan of what we did more than horror movies.

ASHLEY TISDALE: I’ve always been scared of scary movies, because I live by myself. Seeing something and having a big imagination, I’ll think someone is there. It’s funny — this movie has made me like them. Now, I’ll go see “Mama,” because now I’ll see things and think, “That is so spoofable.”

BE: Ashley, when you’re humping the microwave, are you thinking, “This is comedy gold”?

ASHLEY TISDALE: No. (laughs) That was part of the reshoots. I had already humped a potted plant and that was nerve-wracking. There was only one camera guy and they kept it really quiet. When it got to the point with the chair and the microwave, I was like, “Oh, I’ve got this. It’s fine that everybody’s watching.” I do remember the hardwood chair hitting me from behind and I looked from behind like I was all into it. Simon was like, “You’re getting slammed by a chair right now.” And I just started hysterically laughing. It was one of those moments where you never think you’re going to be in that position.

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Since its inception in 1993, the UFC has revolutionized the fight industry. Started as a professional fighting organization, the UFC has evolved into a business where hybrid athletes are required to have mastered various disciplines, e.g., karate, jujitsu and wrestling. It’s the largest pay-per-view provider in the world. Every sport that has evolved to become wildly popular and lucrative has individuals that are credited for paving the way. Bas Rutten is one of the names that come to mind when people talk about legends of mixed martial arts (MMA). A true pioneer of the sport of MMA, Bas who has retired from fighting, has also established himself outside the ring. Find out what Bas had to say about MMA, his injuries, training, and working with stars like Kevin James on the hit movie, “Here Comes the Boom.”

Bullz-Eye: Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do this interview.

Bas Rutten: Oh no. Thank you for doing the interview. This is great.

Bullz-Eye: Well, for our audience at Bullz-Eye, I’d like you all to know that I’m talking with Bas Rutten, who many, including myself, consider to be one of the top MMA fighters of all time, an absolute legend and pioneer of the sport. Throughout his MMA career, he was known as a submission artist and devastating striker who perfected taking out opponents with body shots to the liver and open-hand strikes. The list of competitors he’s beaten reads like a list of who’s who in the world of MMA. Undefeated in his last 22 fights, he’s a former undefeated UFC heavyweight champion, a Muay Thai champion, and a three-time undefeated King of Pancrase.

As if all your accomplishments — and I haven’t even read them all, obviously — in the world of MMA weren’t enough, Bas has also made a name for himself outside the ring as an actor, host and television personality. Rutten can be seen co-starring with Kevin James and Selma Hayek in the feature film “Here Comes the Boom,” which, by the way Bas, I have to say that film was awesome.

Bas Rutten: Right? Yeah, that’s what I thought. You come out with a happy feeling.

Bullz-Eye: My fiancé and I went to see it when it first came out, and I have to tell you, that was just an excellently well done film. The premise was awesome, and the fighting looked very realistic.

Bas Rutten: He did a good job. Kevin James, I know Kevin James for a long time, 16 years. I mean, pretty much right away when I came into the States. He had quite a different life at the time. He lived in a one-bedroom apartment that he shared with his brother. That was when the first season of “King of Queens” started. We became friends right away. And all these years, I’ve been doing a lot of projects with him and with his brother.

Bullz-Eye: Well, both my fiancé and I are into high levels of fitness and training. And when you see him jumping around, and moving about, even in that other film that you appeared in, “Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” we both commented how extremely athletic he is.

Bas Rutten: He really is. I came home from my first time training, and I told my wife, true story. I said, “He’s like a bear. He’s fast and he’s very powerful, and he picks up things really fast.” Great student, great man. Great guy And he was actually at my last fight that I had in 2006, when I made a comeback, he was there 80 percent of the time for my training.

Bullz-Eye: Oh, no kidding.

Bas Rutten: He was there in the same room pushing, pushing, and pushing me because when he was in my corner, people went, ‘Ah, it’s just a publicity stunt,’ but he was really there all the time.

Bullz-Eye: He sounds like a good guy.

Bas Rutten: Yeah, he’s a really good guy.

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Leah Gibson may not have a deep background in American television, but she’s breaking into the field in a big way as one of the stars of DirecTV’s first original series, “Rogue.” Bullz-Eye chatted with Gibson during the January 2013 Television Critics Association press tour, where we got some details about the show, including how she found her way into her character, as well as her reflection on being a part, albeit a small one, of the “Twilight” franchise.

Bullz-Eye: So how are you enjoying “Rogue”?

Leah Gibson: It’s great! I’ve never done anything on this scale before. I’m from the west coast of Canada, so I’ve lived in Vancouver for the last five or six years and worked on different TV shows…guest stars, recurrings, whatever…and had some small roles in some big features, like “Twilight” and “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.” But being a part of this show feels very different. It’s a very wonderfully written series that’s been an absolute joy to be a part of. The characters are very in-depth, and the intricacies between their relationships are just a joy to explore from script to script. Being a part of it has felt very much like being part of a 10-hour film, in a way, and I certainly have never seen anything of the like in Vancouver while I’ve been there. So being the token “foreigner” with all these Brits… [Laughs.] It’s been a whole different vibe on set and everything than I’ve been used to!

BE: Can you talk a bit about your character, Cathy Laszlo?

LG: Yes! Cathy Laszlo is…I’m the devoted wife to a hot-headed gangster, Alec Laszlo (Joshua Sasse), who’s the eldest son of Jimmy (Marton Csokas), who’s basically a crimelord. The Laszlos in general are a very infamous crime family, and my husband is very sort of… [Hesitates.] A lot of muscle, not so much brain. He often creates a mess for others to clean up, and my character sort of represents his foundation, his support network, the thought behind his action. I come to influence him in taking advantage of certain opportunities and claiming the status that goes along with those things at what turns out to be at a very high cost to our family.

BE: How much of the character was already on the page when you came to the role, and how much were you able to bring to her? Were there any aspects that were added?

LG: That’s an interesting question. You know, I went through a handful of auditions before I was booked on this job, and initially the sides for my character were sort of…I could tell that there was more being alluded to than was on the page, and as an actor with limited knowledge of where the show is going to go, you don’t want to make any really solid choices and, y’know, sort of make the wrong decision. I heard at some point that I was no longer being considered for the role, but then I got a phone call saying they’d like me for a chemistry reading with Joshua. So I went in and met Josh, and we did our thing, and we workshopped a couple of scenes with Nick Hamm, the executive producer, and…it was only then that I started to realize where they were really going with Cathy.

And then I showed up on set and, really, to be honest, I was very much informed by the wardrobe, the hair, and the makeup. It was a total transformation for this character. I’d never physically played a role like this before, so it was kind of a joy to embrace the character in a physical sense and be informed by the wardrobe, and the specific choices about the hair and makeup. She’s decked out to the nines, long nails, long, big hair, heavy makeup. I’m, like, “Okay, I get it.” So I would step onto set and just feel a different energy. And I had a few comments from…y’know, I’d worked with some of the crew members before on various different productions in Vancouver, and they’re, like, “Oh, my God, I didn’t even recognize you!” So it’s such a joy to play something like that, and to really physically feel it that way.

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There hasn’t been an NFL player as versatile as Brad Smith since “Slash,” former Pittsburgh Steeler and 11-year NFL veteran Kordell Stewart. Like Stewart, Smith does it all, and even contributes more via special teams.

During his eight-year career, Smith has scored touchdowns via passing, rushing, receiving, on kick returns and a blocked punt. Plus, he is a beast on special teams, recording 60 special teams tackles in 75 games with the New York Jets.

Recently, I spoke with him about his first season in Buffalo, his preferred position, and his recent stint as an intern/backstage interviewer at Men’s Health magazine.

Bullz-Eye: How did the internship at Men’s Health come about?

Brad Smith: It was cool. Eddie my publicist hooked me up with the fashion and style department. I got to meet the fashion editor, get to know him, what he does and kind of how the whole staff works.

BE: Do you have any interest in fashion beyond football?

Brad Smith: I do have an appreciation for fashion, like most guys I prefer to look nice and dress debonair. However, I wanted to go behind the scenes understand the true essence behind fashion, the clothes, the designers, the concepts, the shoes and everything that encompasses it to what is seen during fashion week. Most importantly, I wanted to see how designers and companies put the shows together, how different media companies help shape the image of certain companies to what we see on stage for that brief period of time.

BE: Did you get any tips for your own personal wardrobe?

Brad Smith: Yeah man. Just watching and listening to all the people that eat, sleep and drink fashion and drink style, you pick up some great knowledge to take home. You got some people who are extreme and willing to take huge fashion risks because some people would think that their wearing crazy stuff. But on another extreme there are those who are fashion savvy pushing the boundaries and starting trends. Me personally, I prefer to be right in the middle.

BE: Since you’ve been in the league, we’ve seen an evolution where a QB who can run, like a Russell Wilson type, has become really valuable. Why do you think that’s happened now and what started the shift since you got into the league?

Brad Smith: I think there’s always been this type of player in the league, it’s not new- you’ve always had guys like Fran Tarkenton, Steve Young, Randall Cunningham and other guys like that who have had a lot of success. Players like that are hard to find and I think that’s a big part of it where colleges are going to the zone read- that’s not all that these guys can do. You can be multi-dimensional and people start saying, “hey they have to defend this, and then this.” Then, their running back gets more yards in the hole because they’re worried about this.  It’s all about scheme, man.

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After 200 episodes of “That ’70s Show,” Danny Masterson would be well within his rights to stay away from sitcom work for the rest of his life, reasonably claiming, “I’ve done my time,” but to hear him talk about the experience of doing TBS’s “Men at Work,” which returns for its second season tomorrow night at 10pm, there’s no question that he’s doing something that makes him very happy, indeed. Bullz-Eye talked to Masterson in conjunction with the start of the show’s new season, and he chatted about how his character, Milo, has changed a bit, which guest stars he’s most enjoyed, and why he prefers sitcom gigs over hour-long dramas.

Bullz-Eye: Just the fact that “Men at Work” has gotten a second season, period, has got to be pretty thrilling in and of itself, but how was it to go back to work for season two?

Danny Masterson: You know, it’s funny: we actually only took about six weeks off, so we didn’t feel like we had a whole summer hiatus. We just took six weeks, and then we kept going with the same director and same crew, so it just feels like a really long first season that we’ve shot. We just had a lot of excellent new guest stars, I guess.

BE: Yeah, the list is pretty impressive.

DM: Thanks! I think it’s sort of a benefit of having both Breckin (Meyer) and I both working since we were little kids. We’ve worked with a lot of people who are known actors, so it’s fun to sort of bring those friends in to work with you for a bit.

BE: When you guys came onto the series, how well-defined were the characters on the page versus what they became once they were actually cast?

DM: You know, I think they were pretty well defined. Breckin sort of based them off…well, he based my character, Milo, off himself. [Laughs.] And the three friends are based off of his three best friends. So pretty much everybody knew exactly who they were in the beginning. And then, obviously, as you’re going through the episodes, you sort of change your characters a little bit to make them suited towards you a little bit, just in terms of everyone’s own personalities. But I’d say 95% is exactly how Breckin wrote it to begin with.

BE: Did the cast bond pretty quickly?

DM: Yeah, I’d say so. I’ve known James Lesure for…I dunno, maybe 10 years. I hadn’t met Adam (Busch) or (Michael) Cassidy before, but, y’know, right from the table read everyone was really excited to have a really cool job, so… I get along with everybody, and they’re all really great people. Three totally different personalities, but we’ve never had a single fight. I mean, it’s only been two years, obviously, so we’ll probably wrestle at some point. [Laughs.] But they’re really fun. Everyone’s really stoked to have a good job, we all enjoy it, and as long as the writing stays good – and the writing’s been really good – I think we’ll all stay really happy.

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Travis Rice is a name that has been tattooed onto the timeline of snowboarding, and not with the shaky haste surrounding that ungodly shoulder portrait of your ex-girlfriend, but rather a progressive focus that continues to grab the sport by the horns and steer down previously uncharted terrain.

Rice’s incredible talent has not gone under the radar, and over the years, he has won countless accolades, from Snowboarder of the Year, to X Games gold, to even #13 on Snowboarder Magazine’s list of most influential riders of all time. This sort of notoriety is something that a budding athlete in any sport could only dream of, but it is what Rice has done beyond his fame to shape the sport that is uniquely compelling and powerful.

After successfully competing against the highest echelon of snowboarding’s elite, Travis Rice took his massively inventive style and spearheaded filmmaking, starring in and creating some of the most widely acclaimed, bestselling videos in the sport’s history. Positive feedback surged around films such as 2008’s “That’s It, That’s All” and 2011’s “The Art of Flight,” yet he continued to expand in ambition, eventually setting his sights on creating a new kind of competition – one that would wholly enlist his vision of what competitive snowboarding has been progressing towards all along.

Following a one-off appetizer with Quicksilver called Natural Selection, Rice’s competitive concept was eventually adopted by the bright minds at Red Bull, and in their traditional spirit of working with athletes and making big ideas a reality, Supernatural was born in 2012 as part of their signature series.

Round Two?

This weekend marks the dawning of another killer installment in the Red Bull Signature Series: the Ultra Natural, bigger and better than anything previously seen, and broadcasting across the country, Saturday, March 30th at 1:30 PM ET on NBC.

The event is not only another one of Rice’s trademark creations, which blesses it with inherently mesmerizing watchability, but unique in the fact that it stands apart from conventional snowboarding contests.

In your mind’s eye, try to conjure up a few images regarding televised snowboard competition. Dew Tour? X-Games? Surely, this mental picture wouldn’t be complete without snippets of footage involving highly pre-meditated, rehearsed insanity, all bursting forth from the legendary superpipe, slopestyle and big air events that viewers have grown accustomed to since snowboarding hit the TV screen.

To get an idea of what NBC is broadcasting this weekend, you may want to wipe the aforementioned slate clean and transplant in a heavily powdered, 50-degree slope, peppered tirelessly with countless features that allow for an infinite number of line, trick and style variations. The concept of a singular path with rehearsed action points is out the window, and in its place steps the looming beast that is Bald Face, British Columbia. This is the arena that Rice handpicked to host this year’s Red Bull Ultra Natural, and on Saturday, you owe it to yourself to watch 16 of the world’s best snowboarders showcase their extreme talent and battle for gold.

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Whenever I attend the Television Critics Association press tour, be it the summer event in Beverly Hills or the winter event in Pasadena, I invariably walk away from the proceedings with at least one interview—but generally several—done in conjunction with a series I barely know the slightest thing about, save for whatever’s been put in the press releases sent out by the network.

This, as you might have guessed, is precisely what I experienced when I went into the room at the Langham Huntington Hotel which served as a temporary home base for the publicists of BBC America and was introduced to the cast of “Orphan Black. “

Fortunately, the young trio awaiting my arrival—Tatiana Maslany, Jordan Gavaris, and Dylan Bruce—had already been dealing with this problem with the interviewers who’d preceded me, as I was their last chat of the day. As such, they had a sense of humor about the situation…which worked out quite well, as I’d decided to throw caution to the wind and have a bit of a laugh about it myself.

Bullz-Eye: Well, as you know, you have me—and everybody else here—at a tremendous disadvantage, since I haven’t been able to see the pilot of “Orphan Black” yet.”

Jordan Gavaris: Ugh, I know.

Tatiana Maslany: We haven’t even finished shooting the series yet!

Dylan Bruce: How often does that happen to you guys?

BE: It…happens. Maybe 10-20% of the time. It’s certainly not unheard of.

TM: Okay, ‘cause when we’re done here, we go back to shooting Episode 7…no, wait, 6!

JG: Episode 6, yeah.

TM: So we’re not even halfway through shooting yet!

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Sometimes an interview opportunity comes along that you simply can’t resist. This is one of those occasions.

Belinda Carlisle added a delightful infusion of cuteness to the early days of MTV as the frontwoman for the Go-Go’s, then succeeded in departing the ranks of the band a few years later and forging an impressive solo career. Alas, she’s spent more time on the road than in the studio in recent years, bouncing back and forth between Go-Go’s tours and solo shows, releasing records with decided infrequency. Indeed, she hasn’t released a new album since 2007′s Voila, and given that the record in question consists of covers of her favorite French songs, it’s not exactly what you’d call representative of her usual work.

2013, however, marks the release of a new best-of set, Icon, and while it might not ordinarily be a major event, given that it’s the fourth such compilation of her solo work to be released since 1992, fans will be thrilled to know that it actually includes a new single, “Sun.”

It’s such a momentous event, in fact, that Carlisle opted to do a bit of press for the collection’s release, and when the opportunity to chat with her was pitched to Bullz-Eye…well, like we said, sometimes an interview opportunity comes along that you simply can’t resist.

Bullz-Eye: Icon isn’t your first best-of collection, but how much input did you have in selecting the contents of this one?

Belinda Carlisle: Oh, I did a lot, actually. The contents of the different collections have been predicated on the different countries who’ve had different singles, so when Icon was first presented to me… A lot of it had to do with catalog and a lot of the different “this music group signed with that music group” stuff, what was available and what wasn’t, so the track list went through a few different changes, because I wanted to include some of the stuff that maybe they didn’t include originally. So I had a big part, a big hand in it, actually.

BE: You revisit your old material whenever you do a show, but how is the experience of going back through the records to consider which songs needed a bit more of a shot at the spotlight?

BC: Well, because I work all the time, and especially in Europe, with all of the solo stuff, it’s not, like, “Oh, wow, I remember this song,” because I probably just did the song a few months ago…or even a week ago! [Laughs.] It’s fun for me to go through the catalog, but there’s no real surprises or anything. But it was interesting doing different track listings for different countries, because…well, for instance, for Russia, the song “California,” which is totally obscure here, was a big hit there. So you kind of go through the territories and change things around a little bit.

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Colin Farrell was first introduced to American audiences in Joel Schumacher’s “Tigerland” in 2000, and he’s managed to leave a lasting impression in each film he’s done. With leading man good looks and acting chops to match, the former bad boy’s onscreen intensity is sometimes enough to make up for some questionable script choices. Whether giving life to an underrated supervillain in “Daredevil,” or starring in the 2012 reboot of the iconic “Total Recall,” Farrell is as talented as he is fearless.

In almost an extension of “Total Recall,” where the main character Douglas Quaid is trying to remember his past, his latest role as Victor in “Dead Man Down” is about a man using revenge to come to grips with his. We recently had a chance to speak to Colin about his preparation for the role, working with co-star Noomi Rapace (“Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”), and his upcoming slate of films, including the animated film “Epic,” featuring the voices of Amanda Seyfried and Beyonce, and “Saving Mr. Banks,” where he plays the father of “Mary Poppins” author P.L. Travers.

BE: The film raises the interesting question of “How far would you go?” So how far would you go?

COLIN FARRELL: I have no idea. It’s never good to answer in “what ifs.” I think it’s horseshit. I don’t think any of us have an iota of how we’d really respond to most situations.

BE: Do you ever leave the set wondering what you would do in a character’s situation?

COLIN FARRELL: When you’re doing a film, once you start asking “What would I do?” you start getting the distance greater between yourself and the character or you’re bringing the character to you, which is self-serving in the wrong way. I think it seems that the idea is to bring yourself to the character.

BE: Were you able to relate to the character?

COLIN FARRELL: Well, you know, it’s fiction. I don’t even have to do that. It’s in you already. You just treat the fiction as reality, kind of. Ideally, you read a script so often and you think about the context of the scene so much that you begin to dream. You’re in pretty good shape if you begin to dream the character and certain conventions of the story. Noomi started having earlier dreams than I did. (laughs)

BE: How are you feeling, outside of the role?

COLIN FARRELL: I’m was doing good. I’m fairly healthy. Sometimes, you come home from work and you’re just tired and you wouldn’t want to see anyone and just be on your own. Consciously, you kind of look after yourself, whatever that may be. Whether you go out for a few drinks and dinner or just hit the couch and watch TV, or go to the gym or yoga class. Just be aware that there’s the potential for you to be in it and respecting wherever you find yourself, so I was fine.

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