In honor of today’s juicy rumor, here’s the 5/5/06 PRIDE fight between Barnett and A. Emelianenko. The ten-minute first round was an action-packed standup war, with both fighters exchanging bombs. But Barnett out-hustled Aleks in the second, taking him to the ground and working for a submission. As we’ve seen before, Aleks isn’t too awesome on his back. But we’d definitely open our wallets to witness these two go at it again…

Photo by Paul Demko

Nick Thompson was so inexperienced when he first started fighting that he would get knocked out on a regular basis, and fall asleep like a strange breed of goat that faints when it gets scared. When the welterweight found his groove, “The Fainting Goat” started turning the tables on his opponents and his nom de guerre became simply “The Goat.” Now, Thompson is the current Bodog Fight welterweight champion, and is set to do battle against John Troyer on February 1st in Las Vegas.

Those who have followed The Goat’s career know what a unique character he is — and that he has the tools to be one of the top ten welterweights in the world. He’s currently riding a nine-fight win streak and is 17-1 in his last 18 fights. A tireless athlete, Thompson once fought 27 fights in two years. Like many other up-and-coming fighters, Thompson needed to fight monthly in order to pay the bills, but as his profile has risen, he’s been able to take the time to properly train and recover when he fights.

We recently had an e-mail exchange with The Goat, who gave us his thoughts on Bodog Fight, Eddie Alvarez calling him ugly, lighting up before a match, and law school.

CagePotato: You’ve got quite a win streak going right now. Has the UFC or any other organizations made offers to lure you away from Bodog Fight?
Nick Thompson: I’ve spoken to several organizations. February 1st is the last fight on my exclusive contract with Bodog. They’ve made me a nice offer, but the UFC, HCF, and World Victory Road have all made intriguing offers as well.

Do you feel like you’ve accomplished everything there is to accomplish in Bodog?
If they don’t get some more talent, yes.

In a Seattle Post-Intelligencer profile of Chuck Liddell, the Iceman revealed who he’d like to step into the Octagon with next:

“My next fight will probably be in the summer and I am thinking about Jardine since Jackson is already scheduled to fight (Forrest Griffin),” Liddell said. “I can’t wait around (for Jackson). I love the sport and I think I have a couple years left in me.”

Jardine has been sitting on the bench since his decision victory over Liddell at UFC 76 in September, and we’re guessing that’s because the UFC doesn’t quite know what to do with him; “The Dean of Mean” isn’t enough of a big name to qualify for a title shot yet, but he’s already knocked off Chuck as well as the guy who will challenge for the light-heavyweight belt next, Forrest Griffin. Fights with Wanderlei Silva and Maurico Rua would be good options, but as the UFC’s only remaining superstar, Chuck will probably get what he wants — a chance to redeem himself. And that’s unfortunate, because a Liddell/Jardine rematch is the last thing we’d want to see.

(Business in front, death in back.)

I’m not very good with the Cyrillic alphabet, so I can’t confirm this myself. But various people are reporting that a post made yesterday on Aleksander Emelianenko’s Mixfight.ru page says Aleks will be fighting at an M-1 Global event in April. As one translation puts it:

Next bout of Aleksander Emelianenko will be held on April 11 in Chicago.

Currently we are negotiating for Aleksander’s opponent. Most likely it will be Josh Barnett.

Aleks won three bouts in 2007 by first-round stoppage, while Barnett hasn’t competed in an MMA event since his decision loss to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira on New Year’s Eve 2006; since then, the Babyface Assassin’s name has consistently popped up as the guy with the best chance of beating Fedor Emelianenko. It doesn’t look like M-1 wants to threaten its golden calf so soon — a loss for Fedor basically negates their reason for being — but an Aleks/Barnett rematch would be the next best thing. The two fighters previously fought at PRIDE Total Elimination Absolute in May 2006, where Barnett handed Aleksander one of his three career losses, a second-round submission via keylock. Keep your fingers and toes crossed and we might get to see Aleks have his bloody revenge.

Also of interest on Aleksander’s Mixfight page is the other “23 ?????? 2008 ?” post, which appears to be a rap song recorded by the fighter. You can listen to it here. Dude kinda sounds like a Russian DMX. Anybody who can translate the lyrics gets 1000 CagePotato Gold Stars, which can be redeemed later for Camel Cash.

(Where did Randy and Rush land in our pound-for-pound top ten?)

Hawk-eyed CagePotato readers may have noticed a new link on the right side of the page — POWER RANKINGS (!!!), our list of the world’s ten best fighters in each weight class, from heavyweight to featherweight. Well, featherweight only gets a top five because they’re half the size of normal fighters, and fans only care half as much about them. But we also have a “Pound-for-Pound” list, which ranks the ten best fighters in terms of talent, regardless of weight class.

In creating these rankings, we took into account not just recent fight history, but past accomplishments and our own opinions on how each fighter would perform against other elite fighters in their division. Of course, all of this is open for debate, and we’ll soon be building separate pages for each weight class that will allow you to comment on them individually. In the meantime, check out the rankings and use the comments section on this post to give us your own thoughts. Stay tuned for more updates on our Power Rankings, which will be updated after most major fight cards. Let’s get it on!

(Kurt Pellegrino proudly shows off his new battle wound, a hole where his teeth broke through his mouth.)

Well, at least it was free. Tonight’s Ultimate Fight Night broadcast was marked by two savagely boring three-rounders, including the main event, where Mike Swick avoided takedown attempts for 15 minutes en route to a decision victory. “Quick” it was not; if anything, the fight proved that the emaciated-looking Swick may have been a lot more powerful at 185. First, the quick results for the televised card:

(Lightweights) Nate Diaz def. Alvin Robinson via triangle choke submission at 3:39 of the first round
(Lightweights) Thiago Tavares def. Michihiro Omigawa via unanimous decision
(Middleweights) Patrick Cote def. Drew McFedries via TKO (punches) at 1:44 of the first round
(Lightweights) Kurt Pellegrino def. Alberto Crane via TKO (punches) at 1:55 of the second round
(Welterweights) Mike Swick def. Josh Burkman via majority decision

Full breakdowns after the jump…

(Chael Sonnen gets up on it.)

It’s being reported that real estate agent Chael Sonnen may be fighting undefeated middleweight Nissen Osterneck in a March World Extreme Cagefighting event. The word from MMA Junkie is that the WEC has offered the fight to Osterneck as part of a multi-fight contract, but nothing has been etched in stone just yet.

Although a WEC event in March has not been announced, rumors have been leaked that something will go down. The WEC’s next event is WEC: Condit vs. Prater on February 13th. It’ll go down live on Versus from Albuquerque, N.M.

You’ll recall that Osterneck fought for HDNet Fights on December 15th of last year against Freddie Espiricueta. He won via verbal submission because of some monster strikes. The report claims the UFC had also looked at Osterneck for a spot on “The Ultimate Fighter” show.

Chael Sonnen, a Team Quest fighter, is a former UFC and bodogFIGHT athlete who lost via a second round submission at WEC 31 to middleweight champion Paulo Filho. It was the real estate hawker’s first loss in six fights and dropped him to 19-9-1 overall. However, he does have a lovely 3Bed/2Bath close to public transportation he’d like to show you. The hardwood floors are practically new.

All week Jim Rome of ESPN’s “Rome is Burning” fame – infamy is more like it – has been promoting WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber as a correspondent for his show later this week. Jim Rome may be one of those dudes that makes you wish you can’t see or hear, but he has been pushing MMA in the past few months. Dana White – and other UFC-ers – have already appeared on his show, and now Rome is employing an MMA fighter as a correspondent who isn’t in the UFC.

Although it makes me throw up a little bit in my mouth, I applaud Jim Rome and his homeboy facial hair. We know the score when it comes to the “Big Boy Media” and their treatment of MMA, so it’s cool to see this. More than I can say for the Los Angeles Times – even though we thought they were coming over to our side. The Times gave a full one sentence and 1″x 1″ picture of UFC 80 as their coverage of the event. For the record, downhill skiing received about 15% of a full page in the sports section, giving a complete rundown of recent skiing events. I just threw up in my mouth again. Efforts to reach the Los Angeles Times for comment on why UFC 80 got no respect have currently failed.

So check out “Rome is Burning” for the rest of the week to see to what extent The California Kid will be used. The show runs nationally on ESPN, Monday thru Friday at 4:30 p.m. ET/1:30 p.m. PT. To whet your appetite for Jim Rome’s abrasive brand of chat, check out the classic vid below when he interviewed Los Angeles Rams QB Jim Everett back when L.A. actually had a football team.

(Tiffany Fallon and Bas: Best Friends 4-Eva!!)

The IFL held a media conference call this afternoon to announce that Bas Rutten would be taking the newly created position of Vice President, Fighter Operations (the press release is here). We only caught the first few minutes of the call before they started having technical difficulties — after which we tried calling back again, heard nothing, then gave up when the delivery guy came with lunch — but here’s what we gathered:

— Rutten’s duties will include “identifying talent, and working to get the best matchups possible.” He will report directly to IFL CEO Jay Larkin. Said Larkin, “For us to be successful, we need an icon in that leadership position.”

— Rutten will still work as the color commentator on IFL Battleground, and will remain the co-host of HDNet’s Inside MMA.

— Larkin reiterated the IFL’s geographical approach in 2008, stating that rather than hold each event in a different city (which sucked up marketing dollars that weren’t being reflected in ticket sales), the league would focus on the markets where they’ve had the greatest success.

— The second event in the IFL’s 2008 season will take place April 4th at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and will feature title defenses by Wagnney Fabiano (featherweight), Jay Hieron (welterweight), and Vladimir Matyushenko (light heavyweight). Details on the first event are here.

— Bas defended the IFL’s banning of elbow strikes, saying that while he’s only seen about five fighters who’ve ever been knocked out by elbow strikes, the use of elbows create cuts that lead to early stoppages. “It’s a cheat,” he said.

— Total MMA asked Jay Larkin to respond to claims made by Roy Nelson in our interview that the IFL treats fighters unfairly. We thank them for that. Larkin called the claims “inaccurate,” stating that the IFL’s fighters still get medical coverage and other benefits, though the pay structure needed to be changed somewhat. Conveniently, that’s when things went FUBAR, but the complete audio recording from the call can be downloaded here.

Don Frye’s most recent fight, at PRIDE 34 on 4/8/07, was notable for three reasons: First, it kicked off with the best/gayest staredown in MMA history. Second, Frye and Thompson briefly locked into a hockey-punching spree that recalled Frye’s legendary brawl with Yoshihiro Takayama. And finally, it ended in a notorious late-stoppage, with Frye getting whaled on against the ropes for a solid minute before the ref stepped in. All in all, it was one of the most memorable fights of 2007. Thompson’s next match would result in a 10-second knockout loss to Neil Grove…

We know we’re an MMA news site, but occasionally we like to mix it up with something funny. So here’s a list of the 12 worst tattoos in MMA for your enjoyment. 12. Rich Clementi Ignore the unfortunately placed head in this picture and focus on the tat on Rich’s right pec. Cartoony tattoos are [...]

Although we’d like you to keep CagePotato.com as your default homepage, some friends of ours have launched a hot-chick indexing site called Chickipedia.com, and you should give it a look. Here’s the promo video for the site (which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like):

In support, we threw up quick profiles of ring-girl baronesses Arianny Celeste and Ali Sonoma. So, to all heterosexual male readers of CagePotato — browse the site, have fun, and tell a friend. For everyone else: CagePotato.com is a judgement-free zone, and your current online habits are just fine with us.

See, when you first hear about a 6’4″ fighter who weighs 155 pounds, you’re like “Cool! What a freak!”

And then you actually see him at the weigh-in. Good Lord. Corey Hill looks like he’s been dead for six months. You could see most of his organs. All Joe Veres has to do tonight is kick him in the ribs and he’ll turn to dust and blow away. They had to take this photo five times because flies kept landing on Corey’s face. Skinny, is what I’m sayin’.

At an official 5’6″, Veres is giving up 10 inches to Hill during the UFN 12 undercard tonight, though you can’t really tell in this photo because Hill is sort of hunched over and Veres is wearing heels:

(Diego Sanchez, auto-erotic-asphyxiating.)

Though he announced earlier that he’d be taking on Roan Carneiro at UFC 82: “Pride of a Champion,” TUF 1 winner Diego Sanchez sent out a new MySpace bulletin this morning saying that he’ll actually be facing David “The Scandinavian Lion” Bielkheden, a 12-5 Swede who will be making his UFC debut. No reason for the switch was given. We don’t know much about Bielkheden, but judging from this highlight video, the dude’s a strong wrestler who knows his way around a ground-and-pound:

In other UFC 82 news, Sherdog reports that Team Quest welterweight and IFL vet Chris Wilson has agreed to face Jon Fitch, replacing Akihiro Gono who’s out with a broken hand. It would be the first UFC fight for Wilson, who has beaten his last four opponents, including IFL standouts Jay Hieron and Rory Markham. Unfortunately, facing Wilson is one of those “nothing to gain, everything to lose” situations for Fitch. We’re confident that Fitch will keep his perfect UFC record intact, but a win wouldn’t move him any higher in the welterweight rankings and a loss could significantly delay his much-deserved title shot.

Also — and my God this card is getting stacked — Josh Koscheck and Dustin Hazelett have agreed to face each other at “Pride of a Champion.” Koscheck is coming off a disappointing decision loss to Georges St. Pierre in August of last year, but he will likely dominate Hazelett, whose last fight was a submission victory over Jonathan Goulet at UFC Fight Night 11 in September.

The UFC’s Ultimate Fight Night 12 goes down in Las Vegas tonight, and though our minds are too preoccupied with the matchups for UFN 13 to pay much attention to this one, Joanne from the MMA Girls cares enough to give her take on the four headlining fights that will be broadcast live on SpikeTV starting at 9 p.m. ET. In particular, she sees Mike “Quick” Swick coming out with a W in his welterweight debut, and Nate Diaz beating Alvin Robinson; we’ve learned not to doubt her Magic Eight-Ball and all-seeing/all-knowing teddy-bear, so we’ll go with those picks too. Watch the video, and if you need to throw in your $0.02, go for it.

(You won, Dude! Oh, wait…)

So it took almost a month, but the verdict is now in for the December 31st bout between Yoshihiro Akiyama and Kazuo Misaki. The fight was at the New Year’s Eve Yarennoka event which ended with Akiyama being knocked out by a kick to the face from Misaki as Yoshihiro was trying to get to his feet. After the fight, Lady Controversy reared her head as to whether the kick was legal or not.

It wasn’t.

After Akiyama submitted a formal protest, the Yarennoka executive committee – headed by Keiichi Sasahara – reviewed the fight. After the review, a “no contest” was entered and Misaki’s win was erased from the records.

(Umm…sure, I’ll take a sip.)

Xyience – which makes the energy drink, Xenergy – has been one of the UFC’s primary sponsors the past few years, but that might be changing. The company filed for bankruptcy protection and claims they received intimidation and death threats. The energy drink business is more cut-throat than we thought.

John G. Edwards reported the story today for the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

Xyience Inc., the energy drink company headquartered at 4572 Hacienda Ave., reported $42.3 million in liabilities and $5.3 million in assets. Xyience sells its energy drink through 230 convenience and grocery stores, mostly in the Southwest.

The voluntary bankruptcy petition, filed on Friday, follows an involuntary petition that was filed Jan. 3 by founder and former CEO Russell Pike and others. The involuntary petition remains pending.

The bankruptcy petitions for Xyience were filed under Chapter 11, which provides protection from creditors while the company reorganizes.

When a company goes belly-up, why do they always claim to be “reorganizing”?

According to a report on Knockout Radio, Mark "The Hammer" Coleman may be inducted into the UFC’s Hall of Fame at "Pride of a Champion" on March 1st in Columbus, OH. He would be just the fifth Hall of Fame inductee, after Royce Gracie, Dan Severn, Ken Shamrock, and Randy Couture.

Generally credited with inventing "ground-and pound," former Olympic wrestler Mark Coleman began his MMA career in fearsome fashion, winning UFC 10‘s eight-man tournament via first-round stoppages of Moti Horenstein, Gary Goodridge, and Don Frye; winning UFC 11‘s tournament with quick submissions of Julian Sanchez and Brian Johnston; and becoming the UFC’s first-ever heavyweight champion by submitting Dan Severn at UFC 12. Though he lost his next four matches, he later became PRIDE’s first Grand Prix champion when he beat Akira Shoji by decision, won a default victory over Kazuyuki Fujita, and pounded out Igor Vovchanchyn in the same night (5/1/00).

Coleman fights less often now, but he hasn’t retired yet; his last match was a submission loss to Fedor Emelianenko at PRIDE 32 in October 2006, and he currently enjoys popularity as a professional wrestler in Japan. Hopefully this will get the wheels on the UFC’s Hall of Fame train rolling a little faster. If Coleman and Couture can be members, surely Don Frye and Matt Hughes can get a little love. Unfortunately, Chuck Liddell’s birthday will be a national holiday before Tito Ortiz gets the honor…

(Props: MMA Mania)

(Victor Valenzuela and Krazy Horse.)

Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett — the unhinged lightweight journeyman who is scheduled to fight at EliteXC’s “Street Certified” event on February 16 — was arrested yesterday for domestic assault. His arraignment is scheduled for today, and he has already been replaced on a King of the Cage card that will happen this Thursday; Bennett was booked to fight Victor Valenzuela, who will now be facing Matt Ver Halen. Bennett was supposed to fight Valenzuela at an EliteXC/Strikeforce event in June of last year, but that fight was also canceled after Bennett was arrested on charges of assault and false imprisonment. His status for next month’s “Street Certified” card has not yet been determined.

Bennett has actually been arrested many, many times before on drug and assault charges. But no matter how times cuffs are slapped on the Horse, his happily-go-lucky spirit is never broken. For proof, check out this compilation of all his smilin’ mugshots (skip past the first 0:28), and watch ’til the end for his special message to the kids:

The good news for EliteXC is that they’ve found an opponent for heavyweight rising star Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva on the “Street Certified” card. Silva — who EliteXC live events prez Gary Shaw has claimed “could knock out any heavyweight in the UFC” — will face former UFC champ Ricco Rodriguez; both men have previously fought as super-heavyweights. Speaking of drugs, Rodriguez makes his first appearance on VH1′s Celebrity Rehab this Thursday at 10 p.m. ET.

After moving up to 185 pounds to defeat Rodrigo Gracie at Rumble on the Rock 6, B.J. Penn had a revelation — why don’t I just keep eating? Four months later, he competed in his first and only 205-pound match, facing off against Lyoto Machida at K-1 HERO’s 1 (3/26/05). Machida was only 5-0 at the time, but he had already disposed of Stephan Bonnar and Rich Franklin in his second and third fights, respectively. Though Penn threatened from the top in the first round, he had no answer for Lyoto’s size advantage and defensive skills, and lost the decision. Boring? Sure, maybe a little. But it was a significant moment in the careers of both fighters; Penn would drop back down to welterweight immediately after.

(Fight starts at the 5:10 mark.)

Our broheezys at Complex keep landing the big interviews. This time it’s the Russian Nightmare himself, Fedor Emelianenko, who chats with the guys about his recent Affliction commercial shoot, Hong-Man Choi, Sambo, and more. Our favorite bit:

C: Vladimir Putin shows up to your fights on occasion, and the idea of our president showing up to support a fighter seems strange here in America. Have you talked with Putin?
Fedor Emelianenko: Putin once visited me after a fight. Our president is very athletic. He develops and tried to give more attention to sports in Russia right now, which is nice. We did talk.

C: So, would he take out President Bush in a fight?
Fedor Emelianenko: Our president is a black belt in judo and he is also a master in sambo. So if they did that … (laughs) But I think that our leaders should decide their issues in a different way.

Well sure, Bush would get subbed in the first round in a cage fight — but Putin would get his ass handed to him in a cow-chip throwing contest.

To read the rest of the interview, go here.

So maybe David Heath will fight at UFC 81 after all. It was widely reported yesterday that David Heath was being dropped from the February 2nd card due to the lack of time to find an opponent. Heath was left alone in the octagon after Tomasz Drwal dropped out because of a knee injury. Well, looks like two fighters have risen to the challenge.

MMA Weekly is saying that Heath will fight Anthony “El Toro” Ruiz on the card, keeping the night at nine fights. Ruiz would be making his debut for the UFC. El Toro has been somewhat of a journeyman in his career and has been impressive in recent years. After three straight losses back in 2005 he has gone 11-2, including winning his last six fights in a row. Heath wouldn’t be the first UFC talent he’s faced, either. He beat Brad Imes – TUF 2 finalist – at the Palace Fighting Championship event last week. He also won via TKO against Bobby Southworth back in November.

But shortly after that report came out, the UFC claimed otherwise:

February 2nd’s UFC 81 card in Las Vegas is back up to a full slate of nine fights after Pennsylvania light heavyweight prospect Tim Boetsch agreed to step into the Octagon to face David Heath. Boetsch (6-1 in pro MMA) replaces Tomasz Drwal, who was forced to withdraw from the Heath bout due to injury.

UFC/Mickey’s Malt Liquor spokesmodel Anne Rivera is a Las Vegas native and UNLV grad who worked as a makeup artist until people started asking her why she wasn’t in front of the camera. Now living in L.A., Rivera says she has the best job ever — “I am able to travel, model, take time off and play. It has opened many doors for me and each day gets better and better.” See more of Anne at her official site and her myspace page, and check out some of our favorite pics of Anne after the jump.

FIGHT! Magazine‘s February issue hits newsstands today, featuring a long cover-story on Brock Lesnar, steamy photos of Arianny Celeste, a behind-the-scenes look at American Top Team, and a profile of Jon Fitch. But our favorite article is “Mayhem’s Best & Worst,” where Jason “Mayhem” Miller describes what really goes into living as a fighter, from groupies to sponsorships to psycho fans. Check it out below, and then go out and buy the issue — trust us, it’s worth your $4.99.

MAYHEM’S BEST & WORST
By Jason “Mayhem” Miller

Flashing lights, TV screens, ring girls clamoring for your jockstrap; the world of fighting seems quite enjoyable from this particular angle. But we live in a three dimensional world where we sometimes have to look at things from all angles, even, at times, the ugly ones. I decided this month to dig down and inspect both the positive and negative aspects of being a professional mixed martial artist. Not that it’s a far journey for me; I don’t have to follow anybody around for a week documenting everything he does and how he feels at each moment. Well in a way, I suppose I do. So here goes my attempt at listing the best and worst parts of being a fighter.

BEST

Girls Girls Girls
Oh man, your teenage desires may all be met, if you are lucky and hardworking enough to become a popular MMAer. Hell, even if you don’t fight, you can ride the poon-tang wave caused by your buddy who made it into the fight game. Ask my friends, now that I’ve shacked up with my ol’ lady. Back in the day, I was the only fighter in my hood, so I was the fighter, until some local tools figured out that they too could get some booty by saying things like, “Yeah, I’m a blue belt. It’s kind of a big deal.” My lines were much more subtle, like “I’m sorry, what was your name, I get punched in the head for a living.” Girls are as dumb and horny as you are, so it is possible you could be in for a wild ride if you play your cards right.

Sponsorship
If it wasn’t for Triumph United, Pro-elite, and Osiris shoes, I would have been either panhandling or hookin’ on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood to make ends meet during my recent sabbatical from the cage. Sponsors are like a beautiful welfare system for those addicted to violence. I cash in my food stamps on the first of every month so that I can support my habit for just a little while longer, and inject a fresh batch of face punching right into my vein. I hope my parents don’t read this and schedule an intervention.

Free Stuff
“Here Mayhem, I got this one.” I respond, “Okay,” without even pretending to reach for my wallet. Where were all these nice people when I was starving between training sessions? Ah well, best not to ask too many questions and just soak up the limelight while I can, until I have to buy my own over-priced filet mignon. “Dude, Mayhem, I just want to give you a t-shirt.” I respond, “Duh, okay,” adding another one to the ever-expanding pile in the back of my truck. If I would’ve known that at my age I would be running a goodwill donation center that specializes in fight fashion, I would’ve bought a bigger truck. I have enough skull printed fabric back there to decorate a haunted mansion for a decade.

Tito Ortiz confirmed on Sirius’s Fight Network Radio yesterday that he has accepted a May 24th fight with undefeated light-heavyweight contender Lyoto Machida, but because of disputes over money and a lack of respect from the UFC’s top brass (sound familiar?), it will be his last for the organization:

Expecting a rematch with “The Ultimate Fighter 2” winner Rashad Evans, Ortiz (15-5-1) said he begrudgingly accepted the bout with the Japanese-Brazilian fighter who toppled PRIDE sensation Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou with a second-round submission at UFC 79 “Nemesis” on Dec. 29 in Las Vegas.

“I was expecting a bigger fight. I think the fans were expecting a bigger fight,” said Ortiz. “I got pressed into it, and all of a sudden, it’s all over the Internet that Tito Ortiz won’t fight Machida. I’m just looking to get my final fight over with the UFC.”

On the topics of money and respect, Ortiz was out for blood:

“They said I wasn’t worth the money. I was worth no more than what I’m getting paid now, and I’m not a commodity to them anymore. I’m not as viable to them anymore. That was a sign of disrespect…With Dana in charge, I don’t think [another title shot] will ever happen for me. Dana has bad blood for me and nothing but bad blood. They’re going to try and ruin me…[The UFC] could care less about the fighters. Fighters are a dime a dozen. They’ll keep coming. Dana is really out for himself and the company. He doesn’t give a s–t about the fighters.”

So let’s take it from the top. Ortiz’s desire for a re-match with Rashad Evans comes from a place of personal honor; he wants to avenge his draw against who he perceives as an inferior fighter. But if he thinks that another bout with Evans would be a “bigger fight” in terms of PPV buys/general hype than a fight against top contender Lyoto Machida, he is deluding himself. Fan interest lies with Machida now, not Evans — Ortiz fans will show up to his last UFC appearance no matter who he fights. Of course, neither opponent would pull in dollars like Ortiz’s bank-breaking wars with Chuck Liddell and Ken Shamrock, but Ortiz vs. Machida is the fight that UFC fans genuinely want to see.

Clearly this is more about looking good in his last fight. Though Ortiz could probably dominate Evans in a rematch, Machida has made everyone from Rich Franklin to Stephan Bonnar to Rameau Sokoudjou look stupid, and Ortiz isn’t the guy to figure out how to beat him. Unfortunately, Ortiz’s relationship with the UFC isn’t good enough for Dana White to hand him an easy win for his farewell performance; instead, he’s being used as a gatekeeper for the light-heavyweight division’s upper-echelon. Maybe now he wishes he hadn’t been such a pain in Dana White’s ass.

As for money, the Fight Network reports that Ortiz has made over $1 million per fight in his latest outings. (We’re guessing a large chunk of that comes from a percentage he receives from PPV revenue.) Ortiz is convinced he’s worth a lot more, but he’s drifting further and further from #1 contender status, and other guys are overtaking him, both in terms of talent and marketability. Quinton Jackson and Forrest Griffin have basically made Tito Ortiz obsolete. In other words, he’s not worth a lot more that a million per fight, and the UFC knows it. To some extent, Tito must know it too. Hence the hostility.

But Ortiz has to be careful with his words until that last fight is in the can. I doubt the UFC will try to road-block his involvement with other fight promotions to the extent that they’ll do to Randy Couture — as a beloved champion, Couture is more of a painful loss to the UFC than a loudmouthed aspiring actor on the downswing. But as we learned last week, if you make enough harmful statements in the press, you’ll have a lawsuit waiting for you.

We like to take a somewhat “different look” at the MMA universe, but occasionally we also have to report some tragic news. It’s being reported that Shawn Bias – the Palace Fighting Championship’s featherweight champ until last Thursday – is only being given a 30-percent chance of survival. He is currently in a coma at Oroville General Hospital, which is north of Sacramento, California.

Sherdog dug up the story:

The 22-year-old fighter suffered an apparent heart attack late Saturday night – just two days after losing his PFC title to Art Arciniega – and later lapsed into a coma around 1 a.m. Sunday morning. After being admitted to the hospital, Bias was also diagnosed with complete kidney failure and has since been placed on dialysis.

The information was supplied by George Adkins who is a training partner and good friend of Shawn. Adkins noted that Shawn didn’t receive any more than the normal damage in the Thursday night fight that went down in Lemoore, California. It was also revealed that Bias was diagnosed with strep throat last Monday, but had insisted on fighting. This was in addition to having pneumonia and an infected tooth. It’s unbelievable the guy could even walk to the cage.

We discussed the upcoming Fight Science series before, but now we have the promo video, which plugs the premiere episode; it airs Sunday at 8 p.m. on the National Geographic channel. Watch as Tito Ortiz demonstrates an elbow strike from the clinch, and how it might eff up a dude’s equilibrium. Huge boobs at 0:19! Bas Rutten saying “hooWoOO!” at 3:20!

CagePotato took part in the UFC press conference held today in advance of Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night. Headliners Mike “Quick” Swick and Josh “The People’s Warrior” Burkman answered questions from the press along with Patrick Cote and Drew McFedries.

A recap:

-Dana White “couldn’t make it”. Hangover or jet lag. Or both.

-Mike Swick was asked if he has concerns about dropping to welterweight: “Not really, I feel really good right now.” He hasn’t gotten down to this weight since 1997. His walk-around weight is 185. How’d he do it? Diet and exercise – who knew those two could help you lose weight?

-Patrick Cote has ADD.

-Game Day routine for Mike Swick: He starts focusing on the fight when he wakes up and really starts focusing on it when he leaves the locker room.

-Game Day routine for Patrick Cote: Sleeps late, hangs out and doesn’t get nervous. Secrets revealed!

-Game Day routine for Josh Burkman: Listens to his headphones and doesn’t think about the fight too much. Oh, and hanging out, of course.

(Behind every great man is a woman with three kinds of hepatitis.)

It looks like all we’re gonna do on CagePotato today is post videos and talk about UFC fight bookings. But I hear that’s a good cure for a case of the Mondays, so unless there are any objections, here’s some other notable stuff that we either overlooked earlier, or has popped up since.

— B.J. Penn/Sean Sherk will likely go down at UFC 85 on May 24th in Las Vegas. According to Penn, Sherk is “dead.”

— This questionably sourced post on MMAFightline.com claims that the UFC is in talks to sign three of the biggest stars of Japanese MMA: Takanori Gomi, Hayato “Mach” Sakurai, and Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto. Marcus Davis called out Gomi after his victory at UFC 80, and getting Sakurai in the UFC’s lightweight division would give Mac Danzig an opportunity to avenge his last loss. Yamamoto fights at 143 pounds, so Zuffa would be wise to sign him to the WEC in order to set up a match with Urijah Faber; Faber wants to fight Yamamoto more than anyone else.

If you missed Saturday’s play-by-play, click here.

Jorge Rivera steamrolls Kendall Grove.

Marcus Davis’s phantom knockout punch coma-tizes Jess Liaudin.

Colin Robinson goes up against Antoni Hardonk, gets life saved by Mario Yamasaki, whines like an asshole.

On an unrelated note, I’d like to take this opportunity to rag on the UFC for leaving all ring-card-holding duties to Arianny and Edith. If we have to put up with the one-dimensional antics of local scrappers like Paul Taylor, Paul Kelly, and Colin Robinson, could the UFC have maybe found some hot British chicks to step in as guest Octagon Girls? Just a thought. I got a million of ‘em.