(He’s the one getting his ass kicked.)

Looks like the UFC was serious about that whole shedding dead weight thing: Travis Lutter has made history as the first Ultimate Fighter winner to get his contract shredded. Lutter made the announcement yesterday via a MySpace blog entry, which was later confirmed by FightTicker.com. The blog entry suggests that Lutter might have hit the bottle directly after getting the bad news:

I have been released from my UFC Contract.

Friday afternnon I was told by my manager that UFC matchmaker Joe Silza had left my him a message on his phone that I had been released from my UFC contract because of my 2 losses in a row.

And that’s it. At the time of this writing, the post had accumulated eight “kudos.”

Lutter made his Octagon debut at UFC 50 (10/22/04) with a knockout victory over Marvin Eastman, but lost his next two UFC matches against Matt Lindland and Trevor Prangley. After winning a couple of matches outside the Octagon, Lutter was chosen for The Ultimate Fighter 4 (“The Comeback”), where he defeated fellow middleweights Scott Smith and Pete Sell before submitting Patrick Côté via armbar in the final. But Lutter’s been skating on thin ice since he failed to make weight for his championship match against Anderson Silva at UFC 67, causing the card’s main event to be downgraded to an absolutely pointless non-title fight.

The last straw turned out to be his disappointing performance against Rich Franklin at UFC 83, where Lutter was so gassed by the second round that he barely had the energy to get to his feet after Franklin shook out of a leglock attempt. Following the loss, Lutter did an anger-venting interview with FightTicker where he notably said, “fans of this sport just suck…I definitely don’t fight for those people.” Lutter had four fights left on his contract.

The question is, who will get the ax next? So far, the UFC’s roster cuts are following a simple, cold logic: Boring fighting style + one or two losses + nobody likes you = fired. The most obvious upcoming win-or-leave matchup that comes to mind is Evan Tanner vs. Kendall Grove, which headlines the TUF 7 finale on June 21st. Tanner looked like a shell of his former self in his loss to Yushin Okami at UFC 82, and his personal stability is still a question mark; another loss for Grove would make it an unacceptable three in a row. But it would be very surprising if more cuts didn’t take place before that. Any predictions?

(“MMA Evolution: Using the Knee.” Randlemonster @ 1:18-1:32 FTW. Props to BloodyElbow.)

(Kimbo Slice will become the second MMA fighter after Chuck Liddell to appear on the cover of ESPN: The Magazine. Check out the footage from the shoot.)

On Friday, Damon D of BetUS.com invited me back on his little radio show to talk about Kalib Starnes’s foot and Chuck Liddell’s durf, along with Ryan and Jake of Fightlinker.com. I may not have been able to keep up with the comedic tornado of those two, but there were a couple moments where I did sound halfway knowledgeable. (Well, you’ll have to be the judge.) Click here to listen, but first, some notes…

— We recorded the show just before news broke that Matt Hughes had been signed to headline UFC 85 against Thiago Alves, so a good deal of our conversation is now basically worthless.

— Near the beginning of the show, I announce that Ben Fowlkes (of IFL.tv and TheFightingLife fame) will be joining CagePotato full time starting this Thursday. He can introduce himself more thoroughly that day, but please feel free to give him a round of applause from wherever you’re sitting. It’s cool, because now when I use the word “we” on this site, I’m referring to Ben and I, not just me and the voices coming from the microwave.

— Damon asks me at the end of the show what we’ve got happenin’ on the site next week. At the time I was like “duhhhhhh,” but it turns out we actually do have something really special coming up. Tune in Monday for more details.

— Also at the end of the show, Fightlinker challenges CagePotato to a duel. Basically, Ryan and I will be betting on a particular fight, and the dude who picks wrong will have to do something humiliating. “Riding naked on a donkey” was just the first idea that was thrown out; those aren’t necessarily the terms of the bet. Will keep you all posted as this develops…

(BG)

(You haven’t really experienced the tights until you’ve seen them in High Definition)

Japan’s Dream organization seemed to be in trouble when news came that they’d been dropped from their primetime TV deal with the Tokyo Broadcasting System, but just like your overly optimistic aunt always says, God never closes a door without opening a window.

For Dream, that window is HDNet, which has reached an agreement to broadcast the forthcoming April 29 show on an edited tape delay basis.

Sherdog reports that the show will be broken into one-hour chunks to be aired in afternoon and late-night time slots. HDNet would have us believe that they’re counting on Dream sticking around at least through the summer. From the HDNet website:

As part of this exclusive broadcast agreement, HDNet will air DREAM 1 and DREAM 2 on May 2 and May 3 respectively, truly making the first weekend in May a ‘DREAM Weekend’ for MMA fans. Both broadcasts will begin at 10:30 ET.

HDNet and HDNet Fights will also bring the next four DREAM events – DREAM 3 on May 11, DREAM 4 on June 15, DREAM 5 on July 21 and DREAM 6 on September 23 – to American and Canadian audiences.

You have to give it to HDNet. They’re scooping up MMA coverage every chance they get, and have mostly resisted the urge to sink a lot of cash into starting their own promotion, which seems to be every company’s favorite way of burning money these days.

Not to mention, this promo almost makes you believe that Pride has risen from the dead. Almost.

(‘Personal liberty and solid ground-and-pound, these are the principles this country was founded on.’)

For reasons that are still unclear, Ron Paul supporters recently sponsored IFL welterweight champion Jay Hieron in his title defense against Mark Miller on April 4. Why did a Texas congressman who no longer has any feasible chance in his presidential campaign sponsor a mixed martial arts fighter from Long Island?

We have no idea, but here are our three best guesses:

1. Only hardcore fans know who either of them are.

2. Ron Paul’s no-taxes-for-service-sector-employees stance fits right in with Hieron’s commitment to supporting local strippers, who work too hard for that money to give it away to a government that doesn’t truly respect the lap dance.

3. Both are fervent supporters of the right to bare arms (pun!).

Okay, that didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. My point is, the whole thing is strange. If anyone out there thinks they can come up with a better Jay Hieron-Ron Paul joke, I’d love to hear it. I’ll just warn you that it’s harder than it seems.

In the meantime, enjoy this video of Hieron putting a whipping on Mark Miller. Look close and you can catch Ron Paul’s name on the coveted ass-sponsor section of Hieron’s trunks.

Matt Hughes and Thiago Alves have confirmed that they will fight in a headlining match at UFC 85. As Hughes posted today on his website:

June 7th, in England, I fight Thiago Alves. The fight is confirmed, it will be the main event for the card. Dana just called me with the news. Chuck got hurt and couldn’t fight, so he needed a replacement and called me and I said yes. More news as I get it. No matter what happens in this fight, I’ve got Serra next.

Alves (14-3, 7-2 UFC) is coming off an upset victory of Karo Parisyan at Ultimate Fight Night 13, after which he was told by UFC matchmaker Joe Silva, rather prematurely, that he was second in line to get a shot at the welterweight title after Jon Fitch. According to MMAWeekly, Alves previously offered to fight Hughes at UFC 79 when Matt Serra dropped out due to back injury, but Georges St. Pierre got the nod instead.

The chance of UFC 85 being shown for free on SpikeTV is slipping away, but with this match headlining — and Bisping/Leben, Swick/Davis, Vera/Werdum, and Evans/Irvin already booked — it’s definitely a card worth paying for.

(“Death Squad”: One of the designs available at Triumph United.)

Between Chuck Liddell’s leg injury and “Starnesgate,” it was a great week to kick off our Triumph United Comment Contest. Our most sincere thanks to everyone who makes this site a two-way exchange of information by posting opinions, tips, and punchlines in the comments section. But which comment was the most shirt-worthy this week? First, let’s give props to those who fell just short of the glory…

5th Runner-Up
“I told you I was hardcore.” — TheFeniX on New ‘Gladiator’ Loses Shit, Beats Husband

4th Runner-Up
I bet chuck took kimbo up on that bare knuckle fight and got demolished — Anonymous on F*ck! Chuck Liddell Injured, Out of UFC 85

3rd Runner-Up
If BJ licks sherk’s blood he may test positive for steroids in the post fight drug test. — steve-o-plata on “…and licking the blood off his face while I’m punching him…”

2nd Runner-Up
Would lube and a giant fake cock be too obvious? — Kimbo’s Lice on Chuck Liddell’s Injury is Disturbingly Real

1st Runner-Up
I don’t have health insurance at my place of employment so to show my boss up and to make a point I punched myself in the cock really hard, cried like a girl, then put the video on youtube. Take that you wanker!!! Go Starnes!! — KTFO on What’s to Become of Kalib Starnes?

And the winner is…

(‘The bad news is, you’re fired. The good news is, now you’ll have plenty of time to work on that novel you’re always talking about.’)

Remember when Dana White used to brag in interviews about how many fighters Zuffa had under contract and about how big their organization was? Turns out, they’ve decided they don’t really need so many people after all.

After cutting Jake O’Brien and (more recently and understandably) releasing Kalib Starnes, Zuffa apparently has a taste for downsizing. Dave Meltzer and Adam Swift both report that Zuffa has plans to trim its fighter roster of around 200 down to as few as 150.

That’s still a lot of fighters under contract, even when split between the UFC and WEC. But it may be the case that Zuffa has figured out just how costly and unnecessary it is to keep lower-level fighters under contract, especially when the opportunity to fight on a UFC card is probably enough incentive for most of them to accept one-off deals.

Meltzer also reports rumors that a round of layoffs in the corporate office may be in the works as they try to trim the fat from the Zuffa juggernaut.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the tracks, clothier-turned-promoter Affliction is shelling out the dough for their July 17 show in Dallas. The Fedor-Tim Sylvia main event alone is bound to cost them, with a rumored payout for Big Tim of…(are you sitting down?)…$800,000.

Just imagine what Fedor’s making for that fight.

While no other fights have officially been announced for that card, names like Ben Rothwell, Andrei Arlovski, and Josh Barnett have been floating in the wind. MMA Payout believes that the total bankroll for the event may be in the neighborhood of $5-6 million, which may or may not include annoying extras like production costs and marketing of the event.

Now you know why those Affliction shirts are so expensive.

(“Chipper” and his infectious war-grin.)

In the latest installment of MMAJunkie’s “Ten TUF Questions” feature, freshly eliminated Ultimate Fighter castmember Matthew Riddle confirms our suspicions that the booking of so many contract fighters on the TUF 7 finale card means that most of this season’s castmembers weren’t worthy of another televised scrap:

Yes, I’m on the card. But I can’t tell you who (I’m fighting). [laughs] You’re going to like it, though. We’re not allowed to say, but I think it’s a fight everyone wants to see. I’m not saying s***, though. The people who didn’t fight up to par got the boot and got cut. I think the UFC’s just getting so big that they’re only going to take the best. A lot of the guys from the cast weren’t invited to fight at the finale.

Unless Riddle starts some drama with another one of his housemates, we’d have to assume that he’ll be taking on Dante “I’ll Retire If You Beat Me” Rivera. And yes, we do want to see that. Elsewhere in the interview, Riddle responds to criticism of his celebratory behavior after nearly killing Dan Simmler in episode two:

The first thing — and they don’t show it — but he was out for about 15 or 20 minutes after I knocked him out. I was stoked at first and putting my thumbs up and smiling. Then, he didn’t get up, and I kind of slowed down. When he woke up and started moaning, I felt bad. [The show's editors] don’t show that. They just show me with my thumbs up, but I don’t enjoy hurting people. I just like to compete. It’s part of the sport, and it happens.

So has the Ultimate Fighter experience convinced Riddle to ditch his two-bit fight camp and join up with a big-name team?

I’ve been [at Rat Pack Fighting Systems] like four months, and all the sudden I’m like their poster boy, but it’s about to end. I’m having a meeting tonight, and I don’t care if you put this in there, but I’m telling him off. It’s like they’re trying to use me. Yeah, it’s probably smart on their part because it puts them on the map, but they could have gone about it differently. I feel like I’m being taking advantage of, and I don’t like that. I’m probably going to train with (fellow castmate Mike) Dolce and all those guys at Team Quest North and then with Rampage at Big Bear (Calif.) with the high altitude and stuff to get ready for my fight… Rampage and I got along very well. I got along with Juanito, too, and all the coaches. They still call me to see what I’m doing.

Check out the rest of the interview here. And take this lesson to heart, aspiring fighters: They’ll forget your ground game and they’ll forget your heavy hands, but a great smile will always make an impression.

Just…wow. Did anybody else involuntarily dry-heave at the 0:45-0:48 mark?

(For the pimpin’ original, click here.)

Tickets for CBS/EliteXC’s first “Saturday Night Fights” card (May 31st; Newark, NJ) are now available at Ticketmaster and PruCenter.com. Prices range from a mere $18 in the mezzanine nosebleeds to a whopping $1,003 for VIP ringside seating (the $3 covers the bag of peanuts they bring you). A press release sent out by ProElite yesterday contained the following notable quotes…

“This is a tremendous opportunity for me and I will have a solid game plan for it. The world will be watching. I’ll be ready.’’ — James Thompson

“I don’t take anyone lightly. I’ve got a big target on me.’’ — Gina Carano

“I’m totally pumped. Gina always comes to fight and doesn’t seem to have an off day. I think on paper we are probably even. One of my greatest advantages is definitely that I have a very aggressive striking style. I think it’s more aggressive than Gina’s.’’ — Kaitlin Young

“I am sick and tired of what’s been going on and someone’s going to pay and that someone is Villasenor. I am going to knock the s— out of Villasenor and then go after one of the champions again.’’ — Phil Baroni

Note to CBS: After Phil Baroni fights, do not give him the microphone.

(“El Guapo” reminds you: don’t hate the player, hate the game.)

by Ben Fowlkes

Arguing over Kimbo Slice has been a favorite pastime of MMA fans, journalists, and even fighters, ever since the big man entered sanctioned competition. Well, Bas Rutten has heard all the criticism, and he has something to say.

In the latest episode of HDNet’s “Inside MMA”(Props: MMA Junkie), Rutten took aim at those who would attempt to disparage his protégé.

“He’s good to the fans, and he treats the people good. He talks good about the other fighters. He never talks bad. They talk bad about him, but not the other way around.

“He trains hard. He’s a role model. The guy’s never been in jail, and (yet) they say he’s a thug. The guy is doing a really good job, but everyone is just asking about him all the time, and it drives the other fighters nuts.”

Now, far be it from me to disagree with “El Guapo”, but there might be more to it than that. Rutten has some good points, namely that jealousy could be playing a part in the acrimony that comes from other fighters. Not only are they probably sick of being asked about him, but the guy is making six figures a fight with Elite XC. Other guys who have been paying their dues since the nineties consider themselves lucky to make that in a year, so you can understand why that might irk them.

But something about the assertion that since Kimbo has never been to jail we shouldn’t call him a thug rings false to me. First of all, do we really want to start giving people credit for staying out of jail? And second, maybe the reason people accuse him of being a thug is because he used to participate in illegal underground fights for the pornographers that he did security for.

(“Aim for the one in the middle.”)

Earlier today, we reminded you that a fight between heavyweights Frank Mir and Justin McCully was slated to go down at UFC 86; shortly after, the matchup disappeared from the UFC 86 fight card page. So what happened? Well, if you’ll remember way back to last week, we reported that Mir had signed to be a coach on the eighth season of The Ultimate Fighter, competing against a team led by Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. We stand by that report, but it would also make sense that the UFC would now try to convince Mir and Nogueira to headline UFC 85, which still lacks a credible main event — unless they give up and put the card on SpikeTV for free, in which case Bisping vs. Leben is fine by us. We’ll update you if anything is formally announced.

In other UFC news…

— Charles McCarthy has retired. When I first saw that headline I was like, “OMFG, no more Krazy Horse?!” Then I realized they weren’t talking about Charles Bennett, but about that douche who couldn’t fight nearly as well as he trash-talked vs. Bisping last weekend. Good luck with all your future endeavors…?

— The UFC is reportedly negotiating with FOX for a network TV deal, but is going through their entertainment division as opposed to the sports division, just as it tried to do with CBS and NBC. As MMAPayout writes, “In theory, the promotion would enjoy greater editorial control as an entertainment property, which was reportedly a sticking point in its negotiations with HBO and CBS.”

— Brandon Vera’s one-year goal is to win both the UFC’s heavyweight and light heavyweight titles. After he steamrolls through Nogueira (or whoever, really) and Quinton Jackson (or Forrest?), he plans on buying Rampage a car with a vanity plate that says “LOSER.” Just another sad example of the delusional behavior brought on by extended Norco abuse.

(Erin Toughill, limbering up before a pill-induced rage.)

In a development that will set female American Gladiators back ten years, MMA fighter Erin Toughill — who will be appearing alongside Gina “Crush” Carano in the next season of the spandex-and-ball-cannon freak show — was slapped with a restraining order last week by her husband Clark Bevans, who also happens to be an MMA fighter. As TMZ reports:

[Bevans] claims Toughill went “insane” with jealously, and accused him of being “a pedophile, sociopath and homosexual.” Aside from allegedly beating him on several occasions, Bevans claims Toughill smashed the windshield of his RV. He also says Toughill “bodychecked, hockey style” a trainer at Gold’s Gym he had dated years before. … Bevans has filed for annulment. As for the restraining order, it was granted.

Sadly, that description only scratches the surface. Combing through the criminal report reveals the most amazingly batshit craziest bits. For example:

— “Over a twelve month period, during and after our marriage, Respondent obtained over nineteen (19) prescriptions for NORCO, a narcotic similar to “Oxycontin.”

— “We both came clean about dating other people during our separation…lmmediately after the “coming clean” session, Respondent went insane that I had dated others, despite the fact that she slept with two of my best friends and is currently engaged to a fellow marine friend of mine. Since then, Respondent tapped into my cell phone and has harassed, stalked and threatened most of the people that she found in my text messages (women). Said parties include my attorney, my hairdresser, my manager, various employees, a restaurant owner and her daughter and even the janitor at Gold’s Gym. She has even gone around and accused me of sleeping with my friend Andrew.”

— “On April 4, 2008…Respondent arrived at Shear Talent Hair Salon, barged in at 10:15 a.m. and yelled ‘Who’s Shelley Smith?’. Ms. Smith is my hairdresser. l had not seen her in over a year. A couple of days prior, via text message only, we confirmed a haircut appointment for me at 11:00 a.m. for the 4th. Respondent then yelled out – ‘Great, just wanted to see the bitch that was fucking my husband while we were married.’ [ed. note: LOFLZ!] When I arrived and learned all of this from Ms. Smith and others in the salon who were shaken up, I realized that once again, Respondent is accessing my T-Mobil account.”

Wait, it gets better…

(Just look at how good it feels to be drug-free.)

The Nevada State Athletic Commission has officially begun their off-competition drug-testing program, and their first testee was UFC interim lightweight champion B.J. Penn. While the NSAC does have some cause for concern about the presence of illegal substances in the upcoming UFC lightweight title bout, it probably isn’t Penn they need to be worried about.

Never fear though, because this week Sean Sherk is required to submit to an additional drug test by the NSAC. They also made him acknowledge that he is responsible for whatever substances end up in his body by whatever accidental/magical means. Because trust is something that you earn, Sean.

MMA Weekly reports that Penn came back clean for both performance-enhancing and recreational drugs, and quotes NSAC executive director Keith Kizer, who offers this completely unnecessary rationale for the program:

“Random testing throughout the year will further deter any fighters considering taking non-approved substances. The additional testing, which will be paid for by the Commission, will help us keep the sport of unarmed combat safe and fair for all fighters.”

The new testing program really only highlights questions as to why this didn’t begin sooner. Testing athletes only before events takes the element of surprise out of the picture, allowing them to cycle on and off with a firm testing date in mind.

Perhaps part of the reason this took so long to get off the ground is the commonly held belief that fighters are taking steroids in order to be stronger and faster on fight night. In fact, as Hermes Franca’s admission of steroid guilt after the Sherk fight taught us, the big benefit of steroids for MMA fighters is the aid in the physical recovery process.

Training hard twice a day for 4-6 weeks before a fight is bound to leave even the toughest guys in MMA a little banged up, if not downright injured. The knowledge that the NSAC may ask them to pee in a cup when they’re still a month or more away from the fight might make more fighters think twice about seeking help in a syringe.

While there’s no word yet on results of Sherk’s additional drug test, we have to assume that he isn’t stupid enough to so much as ingest a questionable protein shake before his first fight back from a steroid suspension. Regardless, expect the NSAC’s illegal substance awareness meter to be set to ‘ridiculously high’ approaching this event.

From Sherdog — for the first time since checking into a Brazilian rehab facility last month, undefeated WEC middleweight champ Paulo Filho speaks about his condition and his delayed rematch with Chael Sonnen. Apparently, Filho was addicted to “Rupinal” (possibly referring to Rohypnol, aka “the date rape drug”), and had been suffering from depression even before his first fight in America. As far as Sonnen, “What I have to say is the lion does not deal with men.” Wait a minute Paulo…are you high right now?!

(“Hey, my name’s Josh and I’m a sex addict.”)

— A heavyweight superfight between Josh Barnett and Jeff Monson has been announced as the main event of Sengoku II (May 18th, Tokyo); the card will also feature fights between Kevin Randleman and Ryo Kawamura, and Roger Gracie taking on an opponent to be named later. In recent weeks, Monson has also been reportedly booked to face Mike Russow at Adrenaline MMA’s debut event (June 14th, Chicago), as well as Kevin Randleman at a Global Fighting event on June 21st in Charlotte, N.C. With those three fights so close together, expect at least one to fall apart. Monson most recently defeated Hakim Gouram at a Ring of Fire event last December.

— Speaking of Adrenaline MMA, Monte Cox has been scurrying around trying to fill its first card. Besides Monson/Russow, the June 14th show is expected to feature IFL vet Bart Palaszewski taking on King of the Cage/UFC vet Jeff Cox, and ex-UFC fighter/boxer Terry Martin taking on Daiju Takase.

— The UFC officially added three fights to UFC 86 (July 5th, Las Vegas): Josh Koscheck vs. Chris “Lights Out” Lytle, Patrick Cote vs. Ricardo Almeida, and Cole Miller vs. Jorge Gurgel. Lytle and Almeida are coming off of impressive stoppage wins at UFC 81 in February, where Lytle picked up the “Knockout of the Night” bonus. UFC 86 will be headlined by the light-heavyweight title scrap between Quinton Jackson and Forrest Griffin, and is also expected to feature bouts between Joe Stevenson and Gleison Tibau, Frank Mir and Justin McCully, and Ben Saunders vs. Jared Rollins.

— As for the Ultimate Fighter 7 finale on June 21st, the UFC has confirmed that Evan Tanner vs. Kendall Grove will be the show’s main event — not Diego Sanchez vs. Luigi Fioravanti, which will get secondary status. Also officially booked are Spencer Fisher vs. Jeremy Stephens, Josh Burkman vs. Dustin Hazelett, Marvin Eastman vs. Drew McFedries, and Jeremy Horn vs. Dean Lister. And of course Tim Credeur vs. CB Dollaway (one would assume).

(Tim Credeur takes a brain-scrambling illegal upkick.)

One of TUF 7‘s brightest prospects had to work his ass off to keep his place in the house on last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter, as Tim Credeur battled his way through a very game (but ultimately too inexperienced) Matthew Riddle. The fight was one of the best in recent TUF history, but before it went down, the following happened:

— Jesse Taylor, who we’ll henceforth refer to as “Mongo,” followed up his brilliant can’t-figure-out-the-dishwasher performance from last episode with a sequence of him not being able to figure out how to open a bottle of beer, then accidentally breaking some wooden window blinds. He also has “questionable spots on his body,” and with Paul Bradley’s herpes scare still fresh in their minds, Mongo’s housemates spray him down with Tinactin. Mongo is unfortunately poised to be the Private Pyle of the house.

— Matt “Chipper” Riddle is chomping at the bit to fight. His goofy enthusiasm rubs Dante Rivera the wrong way, and some trash talking ensues. Rivera claims he’ll retire from fighting if Riddle ever beats him, and after it’s announced that Riddle has been picked to face Tim Credeur, Rivera tries to bet Riddle $500 that he’ll lose the fight. Riddle refuses, and accuses Rivera of trying to get inside his head. “I live inside your head,” Rivera says. “You’re my son right now.”

— Tim Credeur knows that the Ultimate Fighter experience is a do-or-die moment in his career; if it doesn’t work out, he may need to find a different line of work. And the fact that he could be derailed by some punk-ass mama’s boy visibly upsets him. “For [Riddle], it’s a cool time, it’s neato mosquito,” Credeur says. “But for me, this is not neato.” He then says “let the good times roll” in French.

— Rampage tries to instill hatred of Team Forrest in his guys by suggesting that “Team Brown Nose” gets better treatment. “I bet their gloves fit them,” he says. In one scene, he goes to CB Dollaway for his take on what the next matchup might be; Dollaway may be emerging as Rampage’s consigliere.

So, Tim Credeur (Team Forrest, 10-2) and Matthew Riddle (Team Rampage, 1-0) finally go toe-to-toe, and it’s a wild one.

(‘You don’t like my movie? Tell me, which one of us has been nominated for an Academy Award and a Tony? That’s what I thought.’)

When word spread that famed writer/director David Mamet was behind a new movie about MMA, expectations ran high. Then the trailer came out and many fine MMA websites were quick to conclude that perhaps it wasn’t a film designed with the MMA aficionado in mind. And yet, Rolling Stone would have us believe that the movie is actually good.

It’s quite a conundrum. Enough to make us think we’ll actually have to see it before disparaging it.

I mean, okay, Randy Couture is in the movie. So is Tim Allen, and according to Peter Travers he is “superb at lacing charm with venom,” which becomes a difficult statement to believe right around the time the word ‘superb’ manages to sneak in there. All this begs the question: is Peter Travers (and by extension Rolling Stone) insane, or is there something to this buzz?

It’s worth noting that while ‘Redbelt’ got three out of four stars, so did ‘Leatherheads’. I’d suggest here that their ranking system is flawed, except they gave ’10,000 B.C.’ only one star, and that’s accurate as all hell. The review includes a brief plot summary of ‘Redbelt’ that makes the film seem, well, hokey, but let’s not forget that David Mamet has earned some street cred. To wit…

(We couldn’t find a picture of Tito posing with a 40 oz. bottle of Mickey’s malt liquor, but this is pretty close.)

If you needed more proof that Tito Ortiz is truly, madly, deeply done with the UFC after fighting Lyoto Machida at UFC 84, here goes: The Huntington Beach Bad Boy has just inked a major sponsorship with Mickey’s, which will see the “Fine Malt Liquor” developing promotions, events and packaging featuring Ortiz. Mickey’s will also be involved in cross-promotion with Ortiz’s Team Punishment clothing brand.

Unless you’ve sustained trauma to your hippocampus recently, you’ll recall that Mickey’s was the official beer sponsor of the Octagon until the UFC found greener pastures with Anheuser-Busch/Bud Light, and that Tito Ortiz was one of the UFC’s franchise-carrying fighters until he shifted his focus to acting, dating a porn star, and being a general pain in Dana White’s ass. And now they’ll be together, grumbling about how they never needed the stupid UFC anyway. Wonderful.

Still, this Mickey’s sponsorship could be pretty cool, depending on what Tito does with it. As long as he doesn’t demand a “Mickey’s Replay” every time he’s done banging Jenna…

Courtesy of our broheems at MMARated.com: Ariel Helwani, who has the power to control women with his mind, sent out Arianny “#1” Celeste to gauge the MMA/UFC knowledge of Montreal residents before UFC 83. But the only thing they can seem to agree on is how hot Arianny Celeste is. Creepy middle-aged guy at 3:22 FTW!

For more Arianny goodness, check out MMARated’s UFC 83 afterparty photo gallery.

(‘I’m here to eat some hummus and kick some ass. I am all out of hummus.’)

Mac Danzig may be one of the most accomplished fighters yet to win Spike TV’s The Ultimate Fighter, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t feeling the same pressure to live up to the hype that other winners have labored under. His submission victory over Mark Bocek on his first UFC pay-per-view this past Saturday was a good start to his UFC career, but Danzig is hoping that it’s just the beginning.

In this exclusive Cage Potato interview Danzig talks about the price of celebrity, about his future in the UFC’s lightweight division, and about his hard-fought victory in Montreal.

CagePotato.com: First of all, congratulations on your victory. Looking at this matchup beforehand, it seemed like you were a pretty heavy favorite, 5-1 according to some of the betting lines. Were you expecting Mark Bocek to be as tough as he was?

Yeah, I knew it would be a really tough fight. I thought it had potential to be tougher than it was. The betting lines don’t really mean anything to me and I try not to look at them. I was kind of pissed when I did see them, actually, because I thought to myself, ‘Man, they’re not giving this guy enough credit.’

It’s kind of a tough situation for me because everyone’s just expecting me to steamroll this guy. He didn’t have a big name and so people didn’t realize how tough he was. It’s really a no-win situation because people just expect me to win and if I don’t it really messes up my status in the sport. If I do win, it’s like, hey, no big deal. But I knew how tough he was. He and I have a common opponent, this guy named John Mahlow, and he took me to a decision while Mark Bocek submitted him in the first round. So I knew what he was capable of and I knew it was going to be a tough fight.

Toward the end of the fight when he was cut and his eye was swelling up pretty badly it looked like you were able to land the straight right at will, like he couldn’t see it coming at all. Was that something you noticed right away and did you try and exploit that?

When I first cut him with that knee and I saw how bad it was I thought there was a chance they might stop it because of the cut. But I wasn’t going to wait around for that to happen. I wanted to finish him. It was a pretty nasty cut, though. The blood was squirting about two feet out at one point, so I was thinking to circle to my right and stay on his left side where he might have trouble seeing.

When the doctors checked him out he got a little breather and he came back in there with a sense of desperation, trying to swing for the fences and get a knockout. I felt like I was on my way to setting up a pretty good knockout before they stopped it to look at the cut, but who knows.

Going into this fight – your first since winning The Ultimate Fighter – what was the pressure like? Were you feeling that burden of being a TUF winner?

(Gary Shaw: “The soup, salad, and breadsticks are on me.”)

Following in the footsteps of the floundering International Fight League, ProElite released its 10-K annual report last week, which revealed that even though EliteXC’s CBS deal might turn their fortunes around, things are still tough all over in the MMA world. Some highlights:

— ProElite has lost $31.3 million through 2007, including $27.1 million in 2007 alone.

— The company generated $5.3 million in revenue last year, including $4.6 million in live gate revenue and $447,679 in television and pay-per-view revenue.

— ProElite spent $9.6 million on events in 2007, including $2.9 million in production costs paid to Showtime. The company actually received no license fee from Showtime last year and absorbed all the production costs. ProElite will be receiving a licensing fee this year, however, reported to be between $50,000 (for ShowXC events) up to $500,000 (for major events).

— ProElite.com cost the company $3.3 million in 2007, while generating only $68,782 in revenue. Lesson: Social networking may be the hip trend these days, but good luck making a buck with it if your name isn’t Facebook or MySpace.

— EliteXC live events prez Gary Shaw earned $435,724 last year, $78 of which went to his wardrobe.

— As with the IFL, ProElite’s auditors have expressed “substantial doubt” about the company’s ability to sustain operations at this rate of financial loss.

So, ProElite didn’t earn a cent from Showtime for licensing last year, and the “Strikeforce on NBC” deal is a straight-up infomercial-style time buy. It may have seemed strange that these smaller leagues beat the UFC to network television, but when Dana White says “we’re not going to sign any deals that don’t make sense,” this is pretty much what he’s referring to.

BJ Penn, God bless him, has not given up on the blood-licking thing — and he vows to do it again when he fights Sean Sherk. Check out the pre-fight hype in these new UFC 84 promo videos, which run down the matchups between Penn and Sherk, as well as Silva vs. Jardine and Oritz vs. Machida.

(Dana White: “BJ Penn is a fucking *fighter*.”)

(Dana White on Wanderlei Silva: “This guy, loves, to fucking, *fight*.”)

(Dana White on Tito Ortiz: “I think he has the will and desire to be successful. He doesn’t have the will and desire to be the best fighter in the world.”)

(Props: BloodyElbow)

(Decisions, decisions…)

Though the UFC has confirmed none of this yet, some strong UFC 85-related rumors are circulating that we wanted to pass along. The word is…

— James Irvin will indeed fight Rashad Evans, replacing an injured Chuck Liddell.

— The main event will feature Michael Bisping taking on Chris Leben. (Thanks for listening, guys!)

— UFC 85 will possibly be broadcast on SpikeTV. That would be enough to appease American fans — with four solid matchups on the main card (including Vera/Werdum and Davis/Swick), it’ll be at least as entertaining as an “Ultimate Fight Night” — but a show without a true big-name headliner could potentially slow the UFC’s momentum in the U.K.

We’ll let you know when any of that is formally announced.

Somewhat related: You think seven weeks is a short layover for Michael Bisping? Well, Rich Clementi is only getting five before his next fight. “No Love,” who just scored a hard-fought split-decision victory over Sam Stout on the undercard of UFC 83, has been booked to replace an injured Rob Emerson in a lightweight match against Terry Etim at UFC 84 (May 24th, Las Vegas). Clementi has won his last three UFC bouts, including submission victories over Melvin Guillard and Anthony Johnson, while Etim took his first career loss via unanimous decision against Gleison Tibau at UFC 75.

(In retrospect, this was a cry for help that his friends really should have noticed)

Dear Guy Attending This Live MMA Event,

Hey dude, how’s it going? I can’t help but notice that you’re sitting in the seat right behind mine. That’s cool. It’s just that – and I don’t want to sound like a jerk here or anything – you’re kind of driving me crazy.

I know you’re just trying to have a good time, but I have a couple of tips for you. Five, to be exact. Just hear me out:

1. You don’t need to catcall the ring girl every time she gets up to ply her trade. The first couple of times? When you shouted out crude expressions about parts of her body that you found attractive, once even suggesting that you would have sexual intercourse with her if given the chance? Yeah, I think she got the point then. You don’t have to keep doing it seven fights in. She knows how “totally freaking hot” she is without you screaming it at her.

2. Take it easy with the boo’s. Don’t get me wrong, I think expressing displeasure is your right as a ticket buyer. Maybe it’s even part of the fun. But if you boo at everything, I worry that soon you will make the act of booing seem meaningless.

It’s like in that last fight, when you booed as soon as the action hit the mat. Then you booed after the stand-up, and at the end of the round. You see that security guard? He’s coming over here to take your beer away. Then you’ll really have something to boo about.

(“Oh, hello poor people.” — philanthropist Calvin Ayre.)

“The only organization that wasn’t willing to make me an offer was the UFC. They don’t want the best fighters; they want the best fighters that they can control.”
— Matt Lindland on his new deal with Affliction. Lindland also revealed that EliteXC approached him with an offer, but was outbid by the t-shirt company turned MMA-promoter.

“We’re going to make the WEC the smaller weights and the UFC will be the heavier weights. We’ll probably take some of the guys in the higher weights, the champions over there and bring them into UFC. We’re still trying to figure that out.”
— Dana White on further distinguishing Zuffa’s MMA properties. He told the Canadian Press that the UFC has no plans to install a 145-pound division or a women’s division.

“While I know I can win against any lightweight in the world on a given day, I fell twice in a row [to Kenny Florian and Josh Neer]. Therefore, I’m going to bow out. Good luck to those guys. I’m going to drop down to 145 lbs and see if those guys down there will embrace me.”
— Din Thomas on his future plans, which will hopefully include the WEC’s featherweight division.

“You’ve likely heard the rumblings and rumors… and for once…. it’s true… I’m packing it in! Well, who am I kidding? I was really more of a brand ambassador for Bodog the past while anyway – but it was fun while it lasted.”
— Calvin Ayre announcing his retirement from Bodog, which will be restructuring and returning its focus to gaming, and not so much on money-losing fight promotions.

“I was asked by the UFC to help with security when the 2 fighters entered the ring area. They where more worried about Matt than GSP. Next thing I know some wack job is jumping over the barriers and charging the ring. I didn’t want to hurt the guy so I was just going to put him to sleep and then help get him out of there before he hurt someone or himself.”
— UFC ref Dan Miragliotta (who comes in at 6’4”, 296 pounds) on his rear-naked-choke of Joe Asshole at UFC 83.

(Remember when Kalib’s claim to fame was this cut?)

The Fight Network picks up the blue ribbon for being the first to get Kalib Starnes’s side of the story. In a new interview, Starnes does his best to defend himself and debunk some rumors…

On why he jogged around the Octagon for 15 minutes: “Right now, I have a broken foot [that] I sustained with the first kick I threw in the fight…I can barely walk. [Quarry] totally destroyed my thigh with those kicks. I’m not about to stand there and get smashed to pieces. After I knew my foot was broken, I was trying to back up and work off the jab and keep moving so I didn’t get knocked out.”

On the reports that his performance was a protest: “Any report or rumor that I came on any radio station to comment on the fight or circumstances surrounding the fight or in reference to the UFC or Dana White is completely false.”

On his release from the UFC: “[UFC matchmaker] Joe Silva told me that it usually takes a couple of days for their legal department to complete the paperwork and that he would send me all of the paperwork to indicate that my contract has been dissolved. Later on in the afternoon, after I had spoken to Joe Silva, a story was released by some reporter from Yahoo! in which Dana White said that he had released me from my contract. I received no documentation on that, and it came after I asked to be released…I couldn’t be happier than to be released from the most oppressive contract I’ve ever been under in my life.”

(America, f*ck yeah!)

Here’s what I love about Matt Hughes’ blog: you always get what you came for, even if you don’t know why you’re there. It’s the blog that has everything.

Inspirational stories that sound like they’re taken from bookmarks at the Christian Reading Room? Check. Pictures of Matt and his brother doing a little target shooting? You bet. Even some videos where Hughes and a “personal trainer” attempt some physical challenges designed to sprain your ankles and impress chicks? Absolutely.

But the latest gem over at matt-hughes.com is Hughes’ take on the GSP-Serra bout. Read carefully. At first you think he’s had a change of heart, then it becomes clear that he just wants to see Serra punished a little more:

“GSP had a good game plan to take Matt Serra down and wear him out. I found myself rooting for Serra at the end of the second round, I wanted him to make it to the third round. I thought if it would get to the third round GSP would decide to stand up with him and possibly knock him out. I just wanted Matt to get beat on for five rounds, not just two; but I knew the ref was about ready to stop it. The UFC said that if Serra loses I get him, but I don’t know when that will be. I’m going to guess six to eight months, so I’ve found myself watching my diet and exercising more.”

The other thing I love about the Hughes blog is the little glimpses we get into his worldviews. For example, there’s a long entry about whether or not it’s a sin to celebrate Easter. There’s also one where he equates “deaths caused by physicians” with gun violence. It kind of makes you wonder why Matt Serra’s “Buy Guns/Sell Guns” gear didn’t win him over on Saturday night.

Of course, there’s fun stuff too. Like this training footage inside the HIT Squad, where Hughes drives home a point about the importance of wearing a mouthpiece. Also, note the mats on the floor and walls of the gym. Yeah, that’s camouflage. Deal with it, freedom-hater.

As previously reported, Jason MacDonald picked up the $75,000 Knockout of the Night bonus for his handling of Joe Doerksen at UFC 83. In case you haven’t seen it, the video is above (and if the vid goes down, there’s an animated gif of the fight’s end after the jump). MacDonald put on a brave performance, white-knuckling through a deep kimura attempt by Doerksen in the first round, before taking Doerksen down early in the second and clubbing him with elbows until the fight was stopped.

Well, sort of stopped. Check out the 8:37-8:46 mark — it looks like Mazzagatti tries to stop the fight, but MacDonald presses on and throws three more punches into the face of Doerksen, who’s clearly unconscious by that point. Big John (or even Big Dan) would have thrown MacDonald across the cage, but Mazzagatti can only ineffectually flap his arms. Maybe it was bad sportsmanship by “The Athlete,” maybe bad reffing is to blame; in any case, I don’t think this chaotic moment should have earned anybody 75 large.