Suffice it to say, if you aren’t aware of all the downright despicable practices The Culinary Workers Union Local 226 has pulled over the years in regards to the UFC and MMA in general, you’ve probably been living in the dark. Operating under a thinly-veiled “concern” for the conduct of UFC fighters and a need to protect our children from the potty mouth of Dana White, the CU — often backed by one or more anti-women’s violence groups — has been the driving force behind the anti-MMA movement in New York. The fact that their continuous harassment of the UFC and laughable (not to mention libelous) smear campaigns have only hurt the economy of the state they are trying to “protect” is an irony that has apparently been lost on them.

In either case, it appears that the UFC has grown tired of seeing so many websites backed by the CU — websites that, like the CU itself, operate under a false front — popping up over the years, and has launched their own counter-website, TheTruthAboutCulinary226.com. The website aims to both expose the Culinary Union for the dissembling moralists that they truly are in addition to uncovering just how poorly the organization is managing its own member’s funds:

The Culinary Union has targeted Station Casinos because the company refuses to agree to a “card check” process whereby the Culinary Union may become the representative of its employees without being elected as such through a secret ballot election. Rather than simply following the secret ballot election process that U.S. federal law provides, the Culinary Union’s management has instead waged a dishonest campaign to pressure Station Casinos to capitulate to its demands. As part of that campaign, the Culinary Union has been engaging in harassment tactics that target all of the business interests of the Fertittas, including Station Casinos and the UFC. 

The Culinary Union has criticized Zuffa for making political contributions of $231,650 in 2012.  However, in 2012, UNITE HERE itself spent almost 5 ½ times more than Zuffa on cash disbursements for political activities and lobbying, totaling $1,252,676. Additionally, UNITE HERE paid a total of $1,158,598 to “consultants” in 2011.

(Props: YouTube.com/fueltv. Skip to 13:38 to see Hunt create the best MMA photo moment of 2013.)

Picture it: Saitama, March 2013. Thirty-eight-year-old slugger Mark Hunt has improbably battled his way to a three-fight win streak in the UFC, and is booked to face Stefan Struve, who stands 14 inches taller than him, and is on an impressive four-fight victory run of his own.

The MMA Gods were angry that night, my friend. By the time that Hunt and Struve stepped into the cage, fans at the Saitama Super Arena had suffered through 24 consecutive rounds without a finish — eight straight decision fights, half of which were so close that the judges didn’t all agree on who had won. It would take a miracle to save this card. Or maybe, just a beefy Samoan who knew how to exploit Struve’s maddening inability to use his range.

(Image via facebook.com/HelpFindandBringHomeCraigandDiego)

Kidnapping is one of Mexico’s most lucrative shadow-industries, with a startling 72 cases per day estimated by one 2012 study. So when a pair of foreigners with money mysteriously disappear, it’s hard not to assume the worst.

On May 8th, a Canadian martial arts instructor named Diego Hernandez — who had relocated to Puerta Vallarta, Mexico, two years ago — vanished along with his business partner, an American named Craig Silva. The two men had just promoted an MMA event in Puerta Vallarta, and were last spotted in Silva’s black 2003 Chevy Trailblazer, which has since been recovered by Mexican authorities. Hernandez’s mother now suspects that a kidnapping took place, and that somebody close to the men might have been involved. The Huffington Post passes along more details:

Reached in Puerto Vallarta, Hernandez’s mother, Melissa Canez, said her son and Silva had been planning to withdraw money from Silva’s account to pay for some of the event’s expenses. Soon after they obtained the money, they dropped off Silva’s girlfriend at a local university and intended to pick her up after class, she said.

Canez said she suspected the two men were kidnapped when she was told the next day that they did not return to pick up Silva’s girlfriend…

“As soon as she said they hadn’t come back and they didn’t answer their phones, for me, I knew somebody had my son against his will because he would not do that. He wouldn’t just take off.”

The online newspaper Noticias PV says Puerto Vallarta’s director of public safety, Silvestre Chavez, didn’t learn of the men’s disappearance until five days later and has launched an investigation.

(Riddle poses with Anthony Johnso…er…Christopher “Big Black” Boykin, a guy so cool that he forces the *fighters* to fist pose in pictures with him. Via Riddle’s Twitter.)

TUF 7‘s Matt Riddle may lack the ability to rid his body of marijuana metabolites in time for a scheduled fight, but don’t let that fool you into thinking that he lacks his own strict moral code. Case in point, following Riddle’s second positive post-fight test for the banned substance at UFC on FUEL 7 and subsequent firing, Riddle told reporters that, should the UFC suddenly want him back after he racks up six or seven wins in the next year or two, he would probably turn them down. It was a bold statement to make, especially considering the ”sickening, depressing nightmare” life outside the UFC has been described as by people like Todd Duffee, who have actually had to experience it.

But as we often (and somewhat ironically) say, “actions speak louder than words.” And if Riddle was seeking to eliminate even the possibility of a UFC return down the line, he has successfully pulled it off. It has recently been announced that Riddle’s Legacy FC contract has been bought out by Bellator, which if recent reports are any indication, is where he shall now remain for the rest of his natural life. Riddle will thusly be participating in the promotion’s upcoming Season 9 welterweight tournament, as he told MMAJunkie:

I had so many options after I left the UFC, but knowing that I was able to compete in a tournament against guys like Paul Daley, Ben Saunders and Douglas Lima, signing with Bellator was an easy decision. This division is just so stacked, and being able to fight in a tournament makes it even better. Bellator is doing a lot of great things right now (Author’s note: Gee, I wonder what he’s REEFERring to *tap dances off stage*), and I want to be a part of it.

“Oh, you’ll be a part of it alright…FOREVER!!!  MU HU HA HA HA!” – Bjorn Rebney by way of Ben Goldstein.

Bellator’s welterweight tournament is set to get under way starting in the fall, although no specific dates or venues have yet to be named. Anyone give Riddle a decent chance of making some waves in his new promotion?

-J. Jones

(Photo courtesy of Kinya Hashimoto via MMAFighting)

[Ed. note: This is the third in a series of interviews with the fighters and promoters behind Metamoris II: Gracie vs. Aoki, which goes down June 9th in Los Angeles. Stay tuned for more, and follow Metamoris on Facebook and Twitter for important event updates. You can purchase tickets right here.]

By Elias Cepeda

Ryan Hall burst onto the public submission grappling scene much faster than most. As a young blue and purple belt, Hall was thrust into the public eye by a former coach when he starred in for-sale instructional videos, espousing him as already an expert. In competition, which Hall took part in with feverish frequency, the Jiu Jitsu player often used complicated-looking inverted, upside-down techniques.

To be honest, it was difficult for this writer to warm up to Hall as a spectator due to all this. Sure, he was good, real good. But, what is this kid doing selling instructional videos in a world filled with black belt legends trying to make a living? What was all this spinning, upside-down crap he did? Surely he was a BJJ practitioner of the least compelling variety — the ones who focus on parlor trick positions and techniques that would get you in a whole lot of trouble in a real fight.

Of course, Ryan Hall the person and Jiu Jitsu practitioner deserved a more thoughtful look than my initial and judgmental cursory one. Hall separated himself from that former instructor, opened up his own academy, 50/50 Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and began to add major international titles to his resume.

Around the time he medaled at the 2009 ADCC (the Olympics of submission wrestling), it became crystal clear even to the most closed-minded, like myself, that Hall was the real deal. He wasn’t some kid winning regional tournaments with inverted triangle chokes, anymore. The techniques Hall used to win world titles were far from gimmicks and interviews showed him to be thoughtful, bright and humble.

“For better or for worse I was put out there in public when I was younger, a lower belt,” Hall tells CagePotato on a recent Saturday afternoon.

(“And you tell Anderson that if he wants the true middleweight belt, he can ask me nicely and I will have it back by lunch!” Photo via Getty Images.)

When asked by MMA Heat’s Karyn Bryant about the likelihood of a potential fight with Wanderlei Silva next, Chael P. Sonnen recently stated the following (emphasis mine):

I’m not looking for it anymore, I don’t like to bully guys. I tried to fight him, he doesn’t want to fight. I’m not gonna stick a finger in a guy’s chest. If a guy says ‘no,’ I’m not gonna be a jerk about it. 

We shit you not, that quote (not the caption one, that’s fake and you damn well know it) came directly from the mouth of Chael P. Sonnen. As in the Chael P. Sonnen who once threatened to smack Anderson Silva’s wife on the ass. As in the Chael P. Sonnen who once declared that Lance Armstrong gave himself cancer through PED use (which to be fair, he got the PED part right). As in the Chael P. Sonnen who called Wanderlei Silva a “dirtbag” some three weeks ago when challenging him to a fight in the first place.

Either Jon Jones succeeded where Anderson Silva failed and managed to actually beat some humility into “The American Gangster” or Wandy’s threat to “suck his blood” was just a little too far outside the comfort zone of his Christian, conservative-Republican background to tolerate. Or Wandy has been offered the fight, turned it down, and is pulling another prank on us. Or Joe Silva dropped his cell phone in the toilet and hasn’t had access to the Internet since April.

Whatever the case may be, we suddenly, like, really need to see this fight. So touche, Chael. Tou-fuckin’-che.

-J. Jones 

(Props: LukeCummo13. You’ve got some competition, Quinn.)

By Matt Saccaro

“Whatever happened to that guy?” is a common question MMA fans ask about retired or forgotten fighters. Usually, the answer is boring and mundane — except when Luke Cummo is involved.

Cummo’s exploits outside the cage have gotten consistently more entertaining as time has gone on. One day he’s getting busted for a DWI, the next day he’s snorting urine. Now, he’s reforming (and hating) the sport of mixed martial arts.

“It’s called MMA but it’s very dangerous. Trust me. I’ve been there. It’s damaging — to children…As a parent, I would never recommend fighting for somebody’s baby,” Cummo said in a recent video on his YouTube channel that you can watch above. “It’s a mindless, stupid industry profiting from the spilled blood of the innocent, honest to god.”

Cummo took issue with MMA gloves and how they don’t protect people from knees and elbows, as well as the inherent violence in MMA.

“You have to put on gloves…but then you’re gonna kick and you’re gonna knee and you’re gonna elbow the other guy — somebody’s baby. There’s no padding on those things…and that’s another living being over there, a precious life. I feel for you as a soldier. I used to be one. You’re not a stupid beast. Nobody is. You’re not a programmable killing machine. You are, still, now and for all time, your parent’s baby to be cherished and nourished, not to kill or be killed. That’s old school, we’re cutting edge over here.”

You know, in a world where even female fighters are valued for their sex appeal as much as their actual abilities, you’d think that an undefeated sexpot like Rin Nakai would be getting a lot more press. The similarities between Nakai and current UFC women’s champion Ronda Rousey are astounding, yet their career trajectories as of late could not be more different. Undefeated bantamweight submission specialists? Check. Willing to fall back on their sex appeal to promote a fight? Check and…uh…check, I guess. Showed up to their last weigh-in wearing bunny-themed lingerie, complete with ears and a thong? Point Nakai.

Sure, Rin’s look appeals to a *very* specific niche, but the woman’s shameless self-promotional skills and morbid sense of sexuality (the term “fearection” comes to mind) is something that should not only be recognized by us lamestream media types, but held in high regard. Let us not forget that we live in a society that has yet to rid itself of the personification of cancer that is Jose Canseco.

Anyway, join us after the jump to check out a video of Nakai rocking an outfit straight out of Final Fantasy or some shit and strangling Brenda Gonzales at Pancrase 247 over the weekend.

Thanks to everybody who entered our UFC on FX 8 fight-picking contest, brought to you by It’s Time! My 360° View of the UFC. Though nobody specifically predicted that Belfort vs. Rockhold would be decided by a spinning hook kick halfway through the first round, there were a bunch of CP fight-pickers who correctly guessed that Vitor Belfort would make short work of the the former Strikeforce champ. The two closest entries were…

fulltimekilla: Belfort via TKO at 3:12 of Round 1 (40 seconds away from actual time of stoppage)
kuckleup101.2: Belfort def. Rockhold via TKO, 3:31 of round 1 (59 seconds away from actual time of stoppage)

If your name has been called, please send your real names and mailing addresses to contest@cagepotato.com, and we’ll send out your autographed copies of Bruce Buffer’s new book right away. As for the rest of you, feel free to actually buy a copy of the book right here.

And hey, we also have some other contest business to discuss. Last week, we promised a t-shirt to the person who could come up with the best fake rule for Nick Diaz’s new MMA promotion. The competition was fast and furious, and after sifting through the entries, we’ve decided to hand out CagePotato t-shirts to three winners. They are…

(“Do I *look* like I want to try on some slim-fit jeans today, you son of a bitch?!?” / Photo via FightDay)

After being hassled by The Man for two weeks due to a decade-old arrest, UFC heavyweight slugger Mark Hunt has successfully obtained his visa to travel to the United States for UFC 160 on May 25th, and will be departing from New Zealand sometime today. The UFC confirmed the news yesterday, and Hunt relayed the message himself with a quick tweet thanking God.

And so, Roy Nelson no longer needs to be hastily photoshopped into the poster. But the problem remains that Hunt is making the long trek to the States with less than a week to acclimate to the time-difference, which could hinder his performance. Will jet lag be the difference in this fight? Shoot us your predictions, and check out the complete lineup of UFC 160 after the jump…