DMX CANCELS MMA FIGHT! COOLIO IS RUMORED TO REPLACE HIM!

UPDATE:
Back in September, constantly embattled rapper DMX announced that he was planning on putting his mic skills aside and letting his fists do the talking, as he was booked for a professional mixed martial arts fight against a member of his management team in December. But we'll never know how good a kickboxer X is. His camp confirmed to MTV News that X has pulled out of the Alabama Pride match.

While X has never fought professionally before, his booked opponent Eric Martinez has a professional MMA win. Over the weekend, TMZ reported that there was a disagreement between X and promoter Thunder Productions, specifically that the rapper had demanded that the fight be fixed in his favor. The site obtained an unsigned document purported to an addendum X's manager tried to make to the original fight agreement, stating that "Artist is scheduled to win" the match.

AllHipHop.com reported that Thunder is considering whether or not to bring a lawsuit against DMX for backing out.

But the fight, scheduled for Saturday, December 12 in Birmingham, Alabama — may still go on. According to TMZ, Thunder has tapped rapper Coolio to step into X's shoes and square off against Martinez. Like DMX, Coolio doesn't have any formal fight training, but according to TMZ's source at Thunder, he has been much easier to deal with and "is going to take this seriously."

Tickets for the event — including plenty of ringside seats — are still available.




DMX wants to get into the boxing ring and prove to everyone that he's still a tough guy, but there was a serious catch -- he'll only do it if the promoters can somehow MAKE the other guy lose ... anyone smell a fix?!
It's all over an upcoming celebrity fight in Alabama -- X signed on to fight some wannabe actor named Eric Martinez. But after he agreed to a 3-round fight, DMX had a few demands ...

X's manager, Nakia Walker, submitted an addendum to the rapper's original contract for the fight, stipulating: "Event Promoter and Management agree that [DMX] is scheduled to win Boxing Challenge."

Walker also added a line which read, "All parties agree this event has been scheduled to occur only in fun and that the artist involved is not a professional boxer."

The fight promoters, Thunder Promotions, refused to sign the addendum -- claiming they never agreed to fix anything. Now, DMX is threatening to back out and the promoters are looking for someone to replace the rapper while they also prepare a lawsuit for breach of contract.

DMX's rep tells us the rapper really does want to fight -- rigged or not -- but she's forcing his hand because "he's a hip hop artist, not a boxer."