In this talk with Fox News's "Fight Game" it's difficult to tell whether Phil Baroni is drunk or just on the downward slope of a career spent getting punched in the head.  It's like that time you did a terrible karaoke rendition of "Little Red Corvette" before throwing up all over your girlfriend's shoes.  There's only one acceptable explanation, and it's 'I was drunk.'  Let's hope the seven-dollar beers at the Mandalay Bay were to blame for how this interview turned out, and not ten years worth of abuse in the cage.   

The catalyst for this particular discussion is the UFC 109 victory by fellow New Yorker Matt Serra over one of Baroni's Xtreme Couture training partners, Frank Trigg.  Apparently, gym loyalties are nothing compared to regional ones.  Plus, Serra goes into the Starbucks where Baroni's mom works and gives her good tips, while all Trigg has ever done is make an awkward pass at her at Baroni's wedding.  Yet another situation where 'I was drunk' is the only explanation that will suffice.   

After the jump, Eddie Bravo discusses his path to jiu-jitsu, and subtly overstates his own importance.

(Props: MMA Mania)

Michael Bisping is less than two weeks away from what could either be his greatest triumph or his ugliest beatdown — a match against legendary fighter Wanderlei Silva at UFC 110 (February 20th; Sydney, Australia). The latest installment of Bisping's video blog shows him handling the usual press obligations and keeping sharp at the Wolfslair in preparation for the battle. Skip to 4:06 for a rare sighting of Rampage Jackson outside of a movie set. As for Bisping's expectations for the Silva fight, the Count recently wrote that Wandy reminds him of another old rival:

Has Wanderlei Silva fallen so far that one could realistically describe him as a more-explosive Chris Leben? Damn, that's a depressing thought. Silva has lost five of his last six fights, with his only win coming against Keith Jardine in May 2008 — but the guys that have beaten him were all legends and former champions. If the Axe Murderer loses this one, there will no longer be any doubt that the game has passed him by. Will he smash the Brit and redeem himself, or are we about to see Wandy's last stand? Your thoughts, please.

(Ortiz chats with Ariel Helwani, before and after heckling Mark Coleman.)

There are any number of reasons Tito Ortiz might have decided to try and steal the spotlight by shouting at Mark Coleman during his post-fight interview at UFC 109. For instance, he’s just always been kind of a prick, so there’s that. Or, if that’s not comprehensive enough for you, he’s also an opportunist prick, which is exactly the type of prick who would try to start a fight with an elderly opponent who had just shown himself to be easy pickings. But Ortiz’s official explanation for kicking Coleman while he was down? It was payback for that time his manager pointed out what we already know about Ortiz’s lady friend.

Of course, Coleman’s manager only said those things in retaliation for Ortiz calling Coleman a “sissy” after he pulled out of their scheduled bout with an injury, and then he apologized as soon as he calmed down and realized that an attack on Ortiz’s famous porn star girlfriend was neither cool nor necessary. But the HBBB isn’t going to let a little thing like that stop him from a) erroneously attributing the remark to Coleman, and b) being really immature about the whole thing. Why would he? This is Tito Ortiz we’re talking about here, who still insists that his ‘Chuck Liddell was an alcoholic’ comments were meant in the nicest way possible. He’s not one to let the truth get in the way of an opportunity to act like a total jerk.

(Mark Coleman shows these young whippersnappers what a proper punch-face looks like.  Photo courtesy of Fight Magazine's UFC 109 gallery.)

After a night of upsets and several plodding decisions at UFC 109, we turn to the Potato Index to tell us who’s up and who’s down.

Randy Couture +77
Yes, he dominated Mark Coleman. And yes, that would have been impressive ten years ago. But let’s be brutally honest here. The way Coleman looked last night, there aren’t many light heavyweights in the UFC who couldn’t have beaten him. It’s still a good win for Couture, but it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s ‘getting better with age.’ It just means Coleman isn’t.

Mark Coleman -91
Two months in Vegas working with a striking coach and he still can’t be bothered to move his head out of the way of a punch? DW is right; it’s time for “The Hammer” to hang it up. You don’t want to become another Ken Shamrock, Mark.

("Sorry I screwed up your pools, guys. LOL, no I'm not!" Photo courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

Between Chael Sonnen's domination of Nate Marquardt and Paulo Thiago picking up the Sub of the Night over Mike Swick, UFC 109 threw some serious curveballs at us. Most people who participated in MMA FightPicker this week whiffed hard at those curveballs. But some of you dinged 'em out the park. After the first official week of FightPicker play, we'd like to shout out the current point-leaders:

1) Ciarán Parnell: 350 PotatoChips
2) Andrew Palmer: 255 PotatoChips
3) OctoAbortion: 250 PotatoChips

Please, Ciarán, e-mail us at feedback@cagepotato.com and tell us how exactly you have a hundred-point lead on the next closest competitor, this early in the game. There might be a free t-shirt in it for you.

And now for the shameless gloating part of this post. After BG and BF went head-to-head in a Palooka Pool, I (BG) am proud to say my picks were on-point enough to tie for first-place (!!!), while dickface over there tied for fourth. The other winners of Palooka Pool 30 #173 were: nine one siccness, Steve Rowbotham, James Cowley, Michael Aitken, GSPs Swollen Elbow and Torn Groin and Tim Prothero. Take an e-bow, fellas. And I should mention that there was one genius in the pool named James Berberich who managed to get every question wrong. I feel sorry for your mother, bro.

For those who fell short with their UFC 109 picks, you just have to dust yourself off and get back on the horse. Here's what's going on in FightPicker this week...