The giant grandfather clock in the MTV Newsroom will sound its final bells at any moment, which means it's time to remedy that terrible short-term memory and take a look back at the week that was here on the Newsroom blog. As the calendar switched from September to October and the fall weather began to descend, Kanye West remained in the headlines, Madonna ate pizza and zombies were everywhere. Want to have an instant nostalgia trip? Just keep reading.

» The "Fame Kills" tour — starring Kanye West and Lady Gaga — got put on the back burner, but that won't stop Gaga from doing her own shows.

» Madonna and David Letterman had a civil interview and then sat down for a slice.

» Jennifer Hudson celebrated the anniversary of "The Wizard of Oz" with a stirring rendition of "Over the Rainbow" live in Central Park.

» Adam Lambert has already sold a ton of albums, even though the record in question has no title or single. But that's okay, because he's driving people to donate to public schools.

» Before she got sick and had to cancel a bunch of Paramore shows, Hayley Williams wore a tank top on "The Tonight Show" that looked awfully familiar to us.
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Rappers testing their mettle in the sports world isn't new (remember Master P's brief attempt to break into the NBA with the Hornets?), but DMX's sojourn into the world of athletics might be the most intense yet. X will head to Alabama in December to step into a cage for a mixed martial arts fight. His opponent is a guy named Eric Martinez, a member of X's management team who actually has one professional MMA win under his belt.

X has never fought before, though he's no stranger to the UFC, as Chuck Liddell, the organization's most high-profile champion during its rise, used a DMX song as his entrance music for many of his biggest fights. As more and more former NFL players turn to the fight game (1982 Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker just signed a fight contract), rappers won't be far behind. Here are the five other MCs who should learn a little jiu-jitsu and step into the cage.

Juelz Santana
The former Dipset member participated in BET's "The Iron Ring," a reality show that combined hip-hop and MMA. Though his team didn't come out on top in the end, Santana showed a nose for the game and has deceptive size that could help him master a little kickboxing.
Entrance Song: "Mic Check," because this is pay-per-view!

No sleep 'til Brooklyn. During rush hour, it takes about 90 minutes to get from Manhattan to BK, but horrendous traffic couldn't deter stars current and past from the Def Jam label from traveling to the world's most popular borough for VH1's sixth annual "Hip-Hop Honors." Right in the heart of Crooklyn at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the red carpet for the event was filled with heat (literally — it felt like it was about 120 degrees) and love.

KRS-One must have hugged former Def Jam franchise player DMX on the carpet. The Blastmaster said a definitive "Him!" and pointed to X when asked who was one of the artists that defined the label over the years.

Meanwhile, there's clearly no more bad blood between Ashanti and Ja Rule, as she smiled brightly when talking about performing with her former Murder Inc. labelmate.

Ludacris arrived with Player's Circle and Titi Boy took home the award for flashiest bling with a iced-out 747 hanging off of his chest.

As the carpet came to a close, Method Man ran into Kid Rock and the compliments went flying. Meanwhile, Fabolous said hello to fellow BK native Foxy Brown. Inside, Foxy and Onyx's Sticky Fingaz exchanged numbers before going to their seats.

Check out the rest of our "VH1 Hip-Hop Honors" photo gallery, featuring Ludacris, Kid Rock, Ghostface, Chuck D, Trey Songz and Flavor Flav! And be sure to check out the show, which airs on VH1 on Tuesday, October 13 at 9 p.m.!

This weekend, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will make its way to Dallas for a show headlined by a catchweight match between Rich Franklin and Vitor Belfort. Watching UFC remains a favorite pastime in the Newsroom (as well as at Hayley Williams' house), and this weekend's card looks like it'll be a satisfying sleeper. Franklin and Belfort are both former champions trying to re-establish themselves as contenders in a crowded field. But no matter what the tale of the tape says, everybody knows the difference between sweet victory and crushing defeat comes down to a single criterion: Who has the better entrance music?

It's worked well for a number of fighters. Brock Lesnar used Mötley Crüe's "Shout at the Devil" as his music in his first fight (which he lost in 90 seconds), switched to Metallica's "Enter Sandman" and hasn't lost since, becoming the heavyweight champion in the process. Chuck Liddell rode DMX's breathless, borderline-psychotic intro to It's Dark and Hell is Hot to a championship run, while Matt Huges has won a staggering 43 fights in his career, many with the assistance of Hank Williams, Jr.'s "A Country Boy Can Survive."

So who will walk away as the winner of the main event Saturday night in Dallas? One would think that Belfort has a leg up, as he has a wacky custom-made theme, which is always good for bonus points. But Franklin has a hell of a counter, as he has used both Cypress Hill's "(Rock) Superstar" (an underrated adrenaline-pumper) and AC/DC's "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)," easily one of the ten greatest rock songs ever written.

A good try, Vitor, but Franklin will have the power of the cannons behind him.

The new season of "Dancing With the Stars" is coming up soon, and the new cast has been announced. It includes R&B singer Mya, rock and roll scion Kelly Osbourne, spacey Macy Gray, Aaron Carter and former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin (following in the footsteps of former teammate Emmitt Smith). But there is one new member of the cast who intrigues me the most, and that is former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell. The MMA fighter recently retired from the cage, having lost four of his last five fights (including two via devastating knockouts at the hands of Rashad Evans and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua).

Though the kickboxer and wrestler is more used to throwing overhand rights than doing the tango, Liddell should be great on "Dancing With the Stars." Think about it: He has a tremendous amount of strength, stamina, coordination and flexibility. In the past, athletes have fared very well on the show (including championship runs from Smith, gymnast Shawn Johnson and figure skaters Kristi Yamaguchi and Apolo Anton Ohno). Liddell should go deep — besides, wouldn't everybody be afraid of giving him negative feedback? The dude is huge!

Of course, he also knows music. He has appeared in music videos by Nickelback and American Head Charge. During his fighting career, Liddell used the intro to DMX's album It's Dark and Hell is Hot as his entrance music. While it seems unlikely that Chuck will be dancing to any X tracks on the show, I hope he walks to the stage to the song every time he goes to compete. And with several million people watching per week, it's sure to get people interested in the missing-in-action rapper's back catalog. And with tracks like "Party Up," who can blame them?

By Selina Kaye

Swizz Beatz has proven that he is a man of many talents. As a producer, he has sat behind the boards for some of the biggest names in hip-hop and R&B, including Beyoncé, Jay-Z, T.I., Fat Joe and Busta Rhymes. As a label founder and mogul, he introduced the world to DMX and Ruff Ryders. As a performer, he had a massive hit with "It's Me B----es". Lately, he's been honing his skills as a tattoo artist, and last week photos surfaced of Swizz inking Eve (another Ruff Ryders find) with a black spider on her shoulder. Now Swizz is working to nurture yet another role: Painter.

Lately on his Twitter, Swizz has been plugging his burgeoning art career. He posted two pictures of paintings he has recently completed: One of a mother and child, and another depicting a young Michael Jackson that he made as a tribute to the late star. Both paintings are beautiful and intricate, and Swizz clearly has an eye for detail and skills with a brush.

He's also been working his way into the art community. In fact, a few weeks ago Swizz hosted an event sponsored by high-end magazine Haute Living in Miami, celebrating the opening night of Art Basel Miami, a top-shelf worldwide art show. His artwork was showcased on the walls of the restaurant at the event. All the while, Swizz has kept it interactive, streaming video of him working in his art studio and keeping his fans posted via Twitter. In fact, he recently Tweeted that he has his first solo show coming up soon.

He hasn't forgotten his other projects, though, as he has a new production on Whitney Houston's new album and has at least one credit on 50 Cent's upcoming Before I Self Destruct.

By Rahman Dukes

Tupac Shakur's physical being may have left the earth well over a decade ago but his spirit remains stronger than ever. Today would have been the iconic rapper's 38th birthday, and if you didn't know any better you'd probably let the media convince you that 'Pac was spotted out somewhere celebrating it. Seriously.

It was only weeks ago that a recent photo of a man looking like 'Pac surfaced on the Web, once again igniting the tired rumors that Mr. Shakur is not deceased and freely walking the streets of L.A. Stop it. Afeni wants her son to rest in peace.
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Over the weekend, Todd Phillips' Las Vegas super-comedy "The Hangover" narrowly missed becoming the top movie in the country (it was edged out by crotchety animated Ed Asner and "Up") (UPDATE: Looks like it prevailed after all!). The movie is a fantastically hilarious trip through a bachelor party gone horribly, horribly wrong and features guest appearances by a baby, a tiger and Mike Tyson, who plays air drums along with Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight." It's yet another instance where somehow, some way, Phil Collins has been given a gold medal in the cool Olympics.

The oft-maligned Collins has had a rough time of it in the mainstream, selling millions of records but mostly getting dismissed as either "the guy who ruined Genesis" (not true) or "the guy who wrote those stupid songs for Disney's 'Tarzan'" (unfortunately true). But it seems like you can't flick a drum stick without bumping up against a nod to Collins' greatness (and specifically the majesty of "In the Air Tonight"). Read more...

Getting one album a year set up and released is enough of a chore amid the smoking ruins of the music business. While albums frequently dropped every four to six months in the 1960s, unless you're multi-band-leader Jack White, the lag time between major releases these days tends to be three or more years. And if you're Guns N' Roses or Dr. Dre, well ...

Some, like Lil Wayne, pack that gap with hundreds of mixtape tunes and guest appearances, but even Weezy seems to be struggling to nail what is shaping up to be the new brass bragging ring in the biz: the two (or three) albums in a year watermark. While his rock album, Rebirth, was supposed to be released this spring, last we knew it was still in the "TBD" category.

So far this year, we've had U2, Eminem and Coldplay saying they'll drop a second brand-new disc of material either in the same calendar year or within 365 days of their most recent efforts. But considering the gaps between their two most recent releases (almost five years, five years and three years, respectively), and the fact that they're among the biggest acts in the world, turning that ship around so quickly would be impressive, though highly unlikely. Read more...

By Matt Wenzel

Is Normund Gentle the best "American Idol" contestant ever? Sound a little far-fetched? We're not joking. OK, maybe a little bit.

Is Blink-182's Mark Hoppus sending out secret messages through his blog? We talked to Mark about his mysterious Morse code message.

Hasn't DMX ever been told not to play with his food? The jailed rapper is facing more jail time after allegedly assaulting a prison guard by throwing a lunch tray at him.

First he was a backup dancer. Then he released an album (does anyone even remember "PopoZao"?). Now, K-Fed is ... designing children's clothes?

On our Splash Page blog, graphic-novel writer Greg Rucka explains why he thinks that a shot-for-shot remake of his book "Whiteout" would not be a good movie.