What are the high points of this video from NBC Sports? It isn’t the footage of BJ Penn and Sean Sherk delivering various beatdowns, though that’s pretty awesome. Instead it’s lines like this from Joe Rogan: “Sean Sherk does not like being belittled, he does not like being insulted.”

Which makes him different from every other human being I’ve ever met? I guess there are those people with some weird fetish who like to be told how worthless they are, but even they must get sick of it from time to time.

Don’t worry, though. Dana White has a gem of his own in here: “B.J. Penn will fight you for free in your backyard if you think you’re better than him. And if by some crazy chance you beat B.J. Penn, he’ll show up and knock on your door every day to fight you again to prove that he’s better than you.”

Man, that must get annoying for Matt Hughes.

Oh, and the “fight for free” part? Yeah, Dana. Maybe if you repeat it often enough it will come true.

(Seems like there was some confusion about the dress code for this event)

There are few things Tito Ortiz likes better than talking about himself. All you have to do is ask and he’ll tell you all about his tremendous impact on the sport, his extraordinary ability, his legendary cardio — he’ll even start referring to himself in the third person if you’re lucky, which is a classic move for any egomaniac, just ask Rickey Henderson.

But lately Ortiz’s rhetoric seems to be outlandish even by his standards. First there was the “I feel like a slave” remark. Then he told MMA Mania that Georges St. Pierre was “very disgusted” with the UFC, which is kind of uncool if St. Pierre didn’t want that to be made public. But in a recent interview with MMA Madness things got weirder still when Ortiz began talking about his troubles with the UFC and his future outside the organization:

MMA Madness: Have your fans stayed loyal with your impending UFC retirement or have you seen some drop off the bandwagon?

Tito Ortiz: Actually, I’ve seen my fan base increase. They’ve seen the true colors of Dana and they’ve seen that I’m not the only one saying something. Many fighters – Randy [Couture], Tim [Sylvia] – are talking about what Dana has been doing. Fans want to support me no matter where I go.

…

MMA Madness: Which organizations are you interested in?

Tito Ortiz: Definitely EliteXC. Affliction seems to be building up well. And they just started with DREAM in Japan. Any organization that will respect me and promote me as the champion that I am.

I’m sorry, did he say champion? Of what?

Don’t get me wrong, Ortiz was a great fighter who really helped the UFC through some difficult times. He takes the sport seriously, seems to be a surprisingly successful businessman, and has an uncanny ability to remain relevant in this sport. But a champion he is not.

That’s no criticism of his skills, it’s just a statement of fact. He does not currently hold a championship title in any organization. If he means former champion, fine, he is that. If he’s trying to use the word “champion” as some kind of synonym for “really good” — the way you might refer to your college buddy Moose as a “champion” beer-pong player — fair enough, I’ll even go along with that. But that’s a dangerous game to start playing, for obvious reasons. Next thing you know half the light heavyweight division is referring to themselves as champions and demanding to be treated as such.

Heads up, “Crush/Conviction/Beautiful Disaster” fans — Gina Carano will be featured on today’s ESPN E:60, which airs at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. A sample clip is above; after the jump is a recent American Gladiators promo where Crush reveals she prefers pizza to sushi, and can’t watch love scenes because she’s single and it’s hard to see other people in love. Awwww! :’ (

(“Gimme $2,000 on Jardine.”)

This has already been getting some play on the forums, but for those weak bastards who haven’t joined yet, betting odds for UFC 84′s three marquee match-ups have been released. Shall we take a look?

BJ Penn (favorite) vs. Sean Sherk (underdog)
Our buds at BetUS have Penn as a -230 favorite (you’d have to bet $230 to win $100 back) with Sherk riding the +180 underdog line (a $100 bet would score you $180). Setting aside BJ’s current hype as one of the most talented fighters in the world, he really does hold an advantage over Sherk in every aspect other than conditioning; his standup is better, his submissions are much better, and he’s not going to let Sherk lie on top of him the entire fight. But Sherk’s undeniable talent and accomplishments are preventing oddsmakers from calling this any wider than it already is. If you want to make a high-percentage wager on the Prodigy, do so at BetUS. If you’re going for the longshot, throw down a bill on Sherk at PinnacleSports, where they’re giving the Muscle Shark a juicy +232 line.

Lyoto Machida (favorite) vs. Tito Ortiz (underdog)
BetUS says -220 for Machida and +175 for Ortiz, a slightly closer line than Penn/Sherk, owing partly to the fact that Machida still doesn’t have a win against a top-10 light heavyweight under his belt — not that Ortiz is top 10 anymore, but he could easily be Machida’s toughest challenge to date. Will the Dragon still stomp Ortiz? Yeah, pretty much. Ortiz may be a better wrestler, but that’s about it. Lyoto seems to come from the Anderson Silva school of well-rounded badasses with very few holes in their game, and he’s probably a lot more focused than the stretched-in-all-directions Ortiz, who can hopefully schedule some workouts between reality show appearances, t-shirt company management, sex with Jenna Jameson, and bitching about Dana White whenever there’s a microphone in the room. Pinnacle has Machida at a far more attractive -185, while Ortiz nut-huggers can squeeze a tiny bit more value out of their misguided bet at BetCris, where he’s +180.

Wanderlei Silva (favorite) vs. Keith Jardine (underdog)
Here, folks, is the only smart underdog bet of the lot. BetUs has Wandy as a -185 favorite with Jardine the ‘dog at +145. Look, we know the Axe Murderer was a killer in PRIDE — but he needs to win a couple in the Octagon to convince me that he’s just as fearsome over here. Take away the use of soccer kicks and knees to the head on the ground, biased refs and judges, matchmaking that had him go up against opponents that were tailor-made for his style, (*cough*steroids*cough*), and the confidence that comes from never losing, and we’re not even talking about the same guy anymore. Silva won’t be doing any axe-murdering at UFC 84 — he’s going to be fighting not to lose, and will come out a much more cautious, tentative version of himself. Meanwhile, Jardine is surely working on another great game-plan with Greg Jackson, knowing that if he pulls off another big win his title shot will be waiting. Great risk, great reward, etc. Pinnacle and Sportsbook have Jardine at a solid +150. I don’t think there’s enough value in a bet on Wanderlei, but if you disagree, Pinnacle and Bodog have him at a more reasonable -160.

(BG)

(What’s more disturbing: Lashley’s traps or his facial hair choices?)

There are three basic types of MMA fans, in my experience: those who love pro wrestling, those who are more or less indifferent, and those who hate it unequivocally. Of course there’s some middle ground, but not much.

Pro wrestling is a lot like hot dogs in that sense. Either you can ignore the obvious problems and enjoy it, or you can’t – and by the time you’re an adult you’ve probably made up your mind where you stand on the issue.

But something is happening in the tenuous link between pro wrestling and MMA. Promoters on both sides are starting to see the potential for profitability by incorporating aspects of the other. Brock Lesnar found a big payday when he left the WWE for the UFC, while the Undertaker now dons MMA gloves and finishes fights with something resembling a gogoplata. Nobody tell Nick Diaz about that, by the way. It will only make him mad.

It’s nothing new for MMA fighters to decide they might be better served financially if they left real fighting for scripted competition. Ken Shamrock, Don Frye, and Josh Barnett (to name just a few) have all heard that particular siren’s song. But recently more pro wrestlers are starting to consider MMA as a career choice. Kurt Angle toyed with the idea, and Bobby Lashley is said to be doing the same.

The question is, does this represent a natural evolution, or a blurring of the lines between two very different sports? Is it a good idea for MMA to welcome more pro wrestlers into its ranks?

Consider the pros: wrestling has an enormous fan base. They pack arenas on a weekly basis and enjoy a type of fan loyalty that borders on fanaticism. It’s not far-fetched to think that a Brock Lesnar or a Bobby Lashley might get some of those fans to give MMA a chance, and when they do they might discover that real fighting is pretty entertaining too. More fans means bigger shows, which means more money, which – as the Notorious BIG reminds us – means more problems.

Sean Sherk isn’t what most would call a fan favorite. Sure, he has his hardcore contingent of supporters, but even when he reigned as the UFC lightweight champ he faced criticism from detractors who found his style of fighting less than enthralling to watch. That criticism reached a fever pitch after a positive steroid test following his title defense against Hermes Franca last summer, which resulted in Sherk being stripped of the title.

“The Muscle Shark” has repeatedly professed his innocence on the steroid charge, filing an appeal with the CSAC and taking repeated polygraph tests to try and clear his name. Now the former UFC lightweight champion talks with Cage Potato about the steroid accusations, his attempts to prove his innocence, and the war of words with current title-holder B.J. Penn, as they prepare to meet in the Octagon at UFC 84.

CagePotato.com: So how’s training going? As we near the fight, are you backing off the really hard training?

Sean Sherk: No, I’m still training hard up until two days before the fight. Still doing everything I normally do, all the cardio, all the hard workouts. That’s the way I’ve always done it for over thirty fights. That’s the way we did it in wrestling and so that’s the way I’m used to doing it.

I imagine by this point you’re pretty sick of being asked about the positive steroid test.

No, I’m used to it. I kind of expect it now.

In that case, let’s get right into it. You’ve maintained your innocence throughout this whole thing. If you didn’t take steroids, what do you think caused the positive test?

I can’t say exactly why it came up positive, but I know that there were definitely some problems with the testing procedures at Quest Laboratories. The way they did their testing, there was some carryover in the machine from previous tests before they tested my sample.

That seems like a pretty big problem to me right there. If there’s carryover in the machine, should you use that machine to do that test? I wouldn’t think so. Their chain of custody was completely shot. They had no chain of custody. Those were the two main issues.

I tested all the supplements I was taking and I did find contamination in one of them, a testosterone booster. I don’t know if that caused it or not, but I was surprised to find contamination in a supplement like that.

Has that made you paranoid about taking supplements in general?

Oh yeah, for sure. I cut the amount of supplements I was taking in half. I was taking about 25 different supplements and I cut that in half. I still feel the same, so I didn’t really need to be taking all those supplements to begin with. I’m just hoping that by cutting my supplements I can decrease the risk of this happening again.

I didn’t know you could go into a store like a GNC and buy something that would have illegal stuff in it, but I guess you can. I was stunned. I didn’t know that. I’ve also started doing my own pre-testing, which I’ll do before every fight now just to be sure.

Even as you maintain your innocence, the court of public opinion in MMA seems to be largely against you. What do you think you could do to clear your name that would satisfy your detractors?

If you’re planning on attending UFC 84 in person, there are at least two after parties scheduled with big names attached as hosts: You’ve got the UFC’s #1 ring girl Arianny Celeste making an appearance at Hawaiian Tropic Zone, and Dana White (no photo available) hosting the official “Ill Will” jammy-jam at Privé. In case you’re having trouble deciding, we’ll run it down for you.

Arianny’s party has an open vodka-bar for ladies until midnight (i.e., awesomely drunk girls); Privé offers no such hookup. Both clubs will surely feature hot bartenders, but the ones at Hawaiian Tropic Zone will all be wearing bikinis. When Arianny eventually shows up and makes her way to the velvet-roped VIP section, she’ll probably be rolling in with Edith Labelle, and their hot friends, and any fighters they’re friendly with (and Ariel Helwani, probably!). When Dana shows up just before closing time, he’ll be in a sour mood from whatever Tito’s post-fight t-shirt slogan is, and he’ll be trailed by the TUF 7 castoffs who followed him in just to kiss his ass. On the other hand, everybody wearing an Affliction shirt will be denied entrance at the UFC’s official afterparty, which could significantly decrease the douchebag ratio.

Questions?

“Ross Pointon by heel hook” sounds like an MMA forum punchline, but on Saturday night it became all too real as Pointon put on a ghetto jiu-jitsu clinic against the dumbfounded Ross Mason. Here’s the video, which ends with the 6-10 Pointon requesting — nay, demanding — that he be given a championship belt. After the jump: Badass middle-aged man Ian Freeman’s three-round domination of Paul Cahoon.

(Guess who’s probably not going to be so easy to catch in a kneebar.)

You heard it here first, even if some of you didn’t believe us. The UFC and Spike TV today officially announced UFC heavyweight champ Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and former title-holder Frank Mir as coaches for season eight of The Ultimate Fighter. Production is scheduled to begin in late May, and the full cast — eight lightweights and eight light heavyweights — is expected to be announced in September.

Of course this means Mir will be the next challenger for the heavyweight strap once the show ends, assuming tradition is any indicator. Since the UFC hasn’t changed much else about the show (aside from, you know, weeding out the “pussies and posers”), it’s reasonable to assume the coach-versus-coach pay-per-view climax will also stay intact.

Some in the MMA media have criticized the decision to name Nogueira, who can be less than electrifying in interviews, and Mir, who has been up and down since returning from a motorcycle injury, as coaches. But as the UFC struggles to develop new talent in the heavyweight division, while simultaneously trying to introduce their soft-spoken Brazilian champion to an American audience, this decision could really help them do both.

Nogueira is no “Rampage” on the microphone, but he does have a wealth of knowledge about MMA and jiu-jitsu, so he could easily be portrayed as the learned veteran who observes much and says little. Kind of like Yoda, but with a better butterfly guard.

As for Mir, he’s likable enough when he shows up in shape and ready to fight. He has excellent jiu-jitsu skills and great agility, so a showdown between Mir and Nogueira has the potential to be an intriguing style matchup.

This also means the heavyweight title will be out of circulation for a while, but considering the state of the division right now that’s not necessarily a bad thing. After the departure of Couture and Sylvia, and with Arlovski rumored to be fleeing for Affliction, the heavyweight class is arguably the UFC’s weakest right now. Taking some time to hype their champion and a number one contender — all while guys like Brock Lesnar, Brandon Vera, and Cain Velasquez get a chance to show what they can do — might be the best move for the UFC going forward.

And if you’re wondering what vindication tastes like, we assure you that it’s so very, very sweet.

(That’s Monte on the right, there)

Monte Cox is a busy man. With his own MMA organization, Adrenaline, set to put on their first show on June 14th, and with many of the high-profile fighters that he manages facing some interesting career decisions, he’s in no danger of getting bored.

Cage Potato got in touch with Cox earlier today to discuss rumors that Ben Rothwell would be facing Andrei Arlovski in the upcoming Affliction event, and after a little prodding we got much more than we expected from MMA’s super-manager, as he discussed a range of topics, from the chances of success for Affliction to the problems plaguing MMA organizations on the whole.

CagePotato.com: So Monte, what can you tell me about Ben Rothwell and Andrei Arlovski?

Well, they’re both heavyweights.

Thanks. Are they going to be heavyweights who fight each other in this upcoming Affliction show?

The only thing I can say is Rothwell is going to fight in Affliction. It’s up to them who he fights. I’d love it to be Andrei, but they’re the ones who ultimately get to make that decision. They had at one point talked about having Ben fight Aleksander Emelianenko, and then of course they talked about Andrei, but I don’t know what his contract status is. He was supposed to be free from his UFC contract on May 1, but I honestly don’t know if it will be Ben and Andrei fighting in that show. [Affliction] is supposed to have a press conference in the next week or two to announce some of that, but I honestly can’t say at this point.

It seems like having guys like Rothwell and Tim Sylvia signed to Adrenaline, your organization, and having them also fight in Affliction makes it difficult for you to schedule your events.

A little bit, but I said from the beginning that we were going to be a different type of organization. One of those main differences is we allow our fighters to fight other places. If one of our guys gets a good opportunity somewhere else, then we don’t want to keep him from that. It doesn’t help anyone.

The rumors have been flying about how much Affliction is spending on this first show. Since you manage a couple of the guys who are fighting in it, what can you tell us about the amount of money they’re spending? Some estimates have it at $6 million. Do you think that’s accurate?

I really can’t say what they’re paying out. The only people I know about are my guys, but if everything I’ve heard is correct they’ll have one of the biggest fighter payouts in history.

Is that a cause for concern about their long-term viability? How long can they keep shelling out that kind of money?

(Diaz rocks Inoue at DREAM.3 on Sunday.)

Though the participation of Nick Diaz and Eddie Alvarez at DREAM.3 already suggested that relations between ProElite and DREAM were friendly, the two organizations made it official during a press conference held on Saturday, announcing that they’ve formed a partnership that would have the fight clubs sharing fighters and working on co-promoted events.

Speaking for ProElite, executive William Kelly revealed the company’s goal of presenting EliteXC and Dream co-promoted shows on CBS and Showtime; he also announced ProElite’s intention of opening offices in Japan with the hopes of putting on an EliteXC show there at some point, as well as hosting co-promoted Dream/EliteXC events in places like England and Korea. ProElite executive and former ICON Sport owner T. Jay Thompson named Kimbo Slice, Jake Shields, and Robbie Lawler as other U.S. stars that the promotion wants to present to Japanese audiences in the future.

As long as the first installment of CBS/EliteXC’s Saturday Night Fights doesn’t tank, this could be a major development for the still-struggling ProElite. An ongoing network TV deal and access to some of the most exciting lightweights, welterweights, and middleweights in MMA could help establish the company as just as legitimate as the UFC — and it removes one more obstacle to the world’s best fighters facing each other. Plus, if Bob Sapp was popular enough in Japan to warrant an entire store in Tokyo devoted to his memorabilia, they’ll probably give Kimbo his own town…

Whoever’s in charge of video editing at Triumph United has incredible taste in music (though we would have probably chosen this jam for the soundtrack instead). If you’re not interested in seeing Kimbo Slice and Bas Rutten do some synchronized striking drills during a recent meet-and-greet at Elite MMA, we’d suggest skipping to the 1:54 mark to get your first taste of Kimbo workin’ it on the ground. Props to BloodyElbow. Also…

(James Irvin prepares for his UFC 85 fight against Rashad Evans at Fairtex Bangplee in Thailand. Props to MMAMania.)

(Up next for Rothwell: a showdown with “The Pitbull”?)

A source close to the organization tells CagePotato.com that a bout between former IFL heavyweight Ben Rothwell and former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski is all but official and an announcement from Affliction is forthcoming. The bout has been rumored for weeks now, but no announcement has been made as of yet.

Rothwell is signed to both Affliction and Adrenaline MMA, a new organization headed by Rothwell’s manager, Monte Cox. Recent reports on the status of the July 19 Affliction card at The Pond in Anaheim, Calif. had Rothwell facing an as of yet unnamed opponent. The source confirmed that the opponent will be Arlovski, who leaves the UFC riding a three-fight win streak.

If true, it would add even more firepower to an already impressive first card for Affliction. The card is expected to be broken into pay-per-view and cable broadcast portions, which was reportedly a sticking point in negotiations between Affliction and HDNet. The addition of Rothwell-Arlovski would add even more top heavyweights to a card already laden with them, as well as position Affliction as a destination for heavyweights moving forward.

At the time of this posting, neither representatives for Rothwell or Arlovski had returned calls seeking confirmation of this information.

(‘Now where’d that pussy G.I. Joe run off to?’)

Thanks to the good people at Round 5, Matt Hughes now has his own action figure. He joins Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, and “Rampage” Jackson as the few MMA fighters to be immortalized in a figurine with oversized head, hands, and feet. That’s how you know you’ve made it in this business.

While Round 5 has done an excellent job of capturing the essence of Matt Hughes, they’ve also succeeded at freaking me out. Having one of these in my home would ensure that I never get a good night’s sleep again. I’d constantly be worried that I would wake up in the middle of the night and the Matt Hughes figurine would be standing on my chest, hands on hips, watching and judging me. Look at his eyes. Notice how they seem to follow you. That’s some Twilight Zone shit right there.

Anyway, Hughes is happy with it, according to a recent blog post at Matt-Hughes.com. He’s also trying to split his time between preparing for his bout with Thiago Alves and farming. Seriously:

First I want to apologize for not getting the blog up as quick as I wanted. Been working out three times a day and trying to help my brother plant corn this week. We’ve got all the anhydrous on and only about 130 acres of corn in the ground. So now we just have to wait for it to dry up.

Been training down at the gym, that’s going great. Robbie’s getting ready for a fight. Jeremy Horn is also there and brought three of his own guys with him to train for his upcoming UFC fight. So I’ve been somewhat burning the candle at both ends and also trying to spend time with the family.

Round 5 has released their action figures and I think they turned out really good. We got a couple hundred of them in and we’re going to sell them from the store.

Spending time with the family, training three times a day, planting corn — are there even that many hours in the day? Say what you will about Hughes, but don’t call him lazy. Honestly, don’t do it. If you do the action figure comes to life and claws out your eyes. I think there’s a gypsy curse involved.

Those gypsies. They ruin it for everybody.

"1! 4! 5!"

Such was the battle cry of Jens Pulver after his 35-second submission victory over Cub Swanson at WEC 31 last December. Though some fans wondered if Pulver’s previous two losses in the UFC (to Joe Lauzon and BJ Penn) signaled that his career was heading toward its conclusion, the sheer dominance displayed in his first match as a featherweight proved that a new chapter was just beginning. And along with his fierce reputation, the win was enough to get him an immediate shot at the WEC’s featherweight title, which has been held by Urijah Faber since March 2006.

In his four title defenses, Faber has looked absolutely unbeatable. But he’s never faced anybody as seasoned or explosive as Pulver, whose 21 career victories include seven via stoppage in 60 seconds or less. The matchup, which goes down at WEC 34 (June 1st; Sacramento, CA), is easily the biggest 145-pound MMA contest in American history, and has all the ingredients to become an all-time classic. In advance of that fight, we called Jens at his home base in Bettendorf, Iowa, to discuss "The California Kid," his legacy, video games, and how his old rival BJ Penn will do against Sean Sherk at UFC 84.

***

CAGEPOTATO.COM: Talk to me about Urijah Faber — what do you think of him as a person?
JENS PULVER: Oh, I think he’s a great person. I like Urijah, man. He comes in great shape, likes to be explosive, and he’s really inventive out there in the cage. I think he’s done a real good job taking the reigns at 145, representing it, and trying to build it up.

So you don’t see yourself having a heated personal rivalry with him, like you had with Cub Swanson and BJ Penn? We’re not going to see any trash talking?
No, there’s no bad blood, no trash talking; it’s utmost respect. We’re gonna go out there and show everybody that we don’t have to have animosity to fight our hearts out. We’re going to prove that.

How much have you been studying Faber’s past fights?
I study habits. You don’t want to get too hard into what he’s done in the past, because he may change it up for me. So I just try to study things like how willing he is to stand up and when he’s going to shoot for takedowns. I study how hard a person fights, how hard they push things, and Urijah’s pretty much shown that he doesn’t fold. He had Curran on his back for almost a whole round and never panicked. He just stayed solid and waited for his opportunity.

Have you noticed any weaknesses in his game that you’ll try to exploit?
I wouldn’t call them weaknesses at all — like I said, he’s a great champ — but I have my plusses, and that’s what I’ll be going in there to exploit. I want to end up on top, I don’t want to be working my guard too much, and I want to control the pace. If he wants to box, I definitely want to be there to counterpunch and blast him with shots if I get those opportunities. If he wants to wrestle, I’m more than willing to use my ground game. It’s always been instinctual for me to keep fights standing, but the more I’m training and having fun on the ground, I’m trying to change those instincts.

(Photo courtesy of MMAWeekly.)

Shocking, right? The Gladiator upped his record to 6-10 with a heel-hook submission of Ross Mason (12-9) at Cage Rage 26, which happened Saturday night in Birmingham, England. It was Pointon’s third win in his last 13 fights; though to be honest, every fight that doesn’t end with your head looking like this is a moral victory.

More importantly, 41-year-old UFC/Cage Rage vet Ian Freeman came back from a 20-month hiatus to capture the British Light Heavyweight Title for the second time, with a dominating decision victory over Paul Cahoon. Full results are below; videos to come.

Ian Freeman def. Paul Cahoon via decision
Che Mills def. Marios Zaromskis via TKO (cut) at 5:00 of round 1
James Zikic def. Rodney Faverus via submission (armbar) at 0:25 of round 3
Ross Pointon def. Ross Mason via submission (heel hook) at 1:36 of round 1
Mark Epstein def. Matt Ewin via decision
Marc Goddard and Henrique Nogueira fought to a draw
Brad Pickett def. Paul Reed via decision
Popek Rak def. Kev Simms via TKO (strikes) at 1:12 of round 1
Chris Rice def. Edgelson Lue via TKO (Strikes) at 1:35 of round 1
Harvey Harra def. Garry Kelly via submission (triangle choke) at 3:46 of round 1

(Jason Miller keeps ‘em laughing against Katsuyori Shibata.)

DREAM.3 went down today in Saitama, Japan, with two upsets pulled off in the lightweight grand prix, while Nick Diaz, Jason Miller, and Melvin Manhoef all scored first-round TKOs. The night’s biggest surprise was the defeat of top-ten lightweight Mitsuhiro Ishida at the hands of Caol Uno — who had received a bye into the GP’s quarterfinals — by way of rear-naked choke early in the second round. Eddie Alvarez also took an unexpected win, grinding down Joachim Hansen over 15 minutes en route to a unanimous decision. The card’s other marquee names didn’t disappoint, with K-1 vet Melvin Manhoef demolishing Dae Won Kim, and Nick Diaz getting the better of Katsuya Inoue in a slugfest. But Jason Miller did his best to steal the show, entering the ring in Zubaz-esque tights for his fight against the completely outmatched Katsuyori Shibata, and repeatedly posing for the camera. Full results are below, and videos are after the jump.

Lightweight GP Quarterfinals
Caol Uno def. Mitsuhiro Ishida via rear-naked choke, 1:39 of round 2
Eddie Alvarez def. Joachim Hansen via unanimous decision
Tatsuya Kawajiri def. Luiz “Buscape” Firmino via unanimous decision

Welterweight Feature
Nick Diaz def. Katsuya Inoue via TKO (towel thrown), 6:47 of round 1

Middleweight GP Round 1
Jason Miller def. Katsuyori Shibata via TKO, 6:07 of round 1

Middleweight GP Reserve Fight
Melvin Manhoef def. Kim Dae Won via TKO, 4:08 of round 1

Lightweight Features
Daisuke Nakamura def. Jung Bukyung, 1:15 of round 2
Takeshi Yamazaki def. Shoji Maruyama via unanimous decision

(It’s going to be totally sick, bro.)

The word on the street is that Affliction is having trouble getting their first event together and onto the airwaves in some form, but Vice President Tom Atencio sought to put out that fire in a recent talk with USA Today’s Sergio Non. Atencio insists that talks have not broken down between Affliction and HDNet, as has been previously reported, but that they are still in negotiations.

Affliction plans to put the top half of their July 19 card on pay-per-view (which will run you round $40-50), while airing the undercard on a live TV broadcast of some sort. And what will this inaugural card look like? As it stands right now, something like this:

• Fedor Emelianenko vs. Tim Sylvia
• Josh Barnett vs. Pedro Rizzo
• Renato Sobral vs. Mike Whitehead
• Matt Lindland vs. Fabio Negao
• Aleksander Emelianenko vs. Paul Buentello (unofficial, not yet signed)

Non-pay-per-view fights:
• Savant Young vs. Mark Hominick
• Justin Levens vs. Ray Lazama
• J.J. Ambrose vs. Patrick Speight
• Mike Pyle vs. Brett Cooper

Not a bad lineup at all. Also rumored for the card is heavyweight Ben Rothwell, though an opponent for him has not yet been named. The fights will take place in a ring, not a cage, and Atencio confirmed The Pond in Anaheim, Calif., as the venue for the event.

Atencio also said the winners of the Fedor-Sylvia bout and Barnett-Rizzo bout would meet in the main event of Affliction’s next show, most likely in October. Depending on your take on Affliction so far, you might call that planning for the future or cockeyed optimism.

(Scene from a jiu-jitsu tournament, or an extremely amicable episode of Maury Povich’s paternity test show?)

If you love your title fights with a side of acrimony (and who doesn’t) then the B.J. Penn-Sean Sherk bout at UFC 84 is definitely for you. It’s no secret that these guys don’t like each other. Sherk thinks Penn’s a quitter. Penn thinks Sherk’s a cheater. It’s a fun little back and forth.

But in a recent interview with Sirius Radio’s “Sports Rage“, Penn kicked it up a notch with his anti-Sherk rhetoric. Here are some excerpts from the full broadcast:

” … I know there are a lot of people out there doing steroids, cheating and every time I run into one of them, I’m going to call them on it and then I’m going to beat the shit out of them …

… It’s going to be a historic night because all the kids out there will realize that you can do it with just hard work alone …He wants to say he has heart and all this different shit, but you can’t confuse steroids with heart.

… What would happen in the old days when you get caught with a couple of aces up your sleeve, they kill the guy right there and that’s why I say Sean Sherk is dead…”

Tell me, who’s still not excited for this fight? Anyone?

Nothing makes for an intense fight quite like death threats. I was willing to ascribe the first one to Penn being a little pumped up following his victory over Joe Stevenson, but after he repeated it with a calm rationale to explain why he wants to murder Sherk, well that’s just plain mean. Also pretty awesome.

(So is the implication here that he causes mushroom clouds, or just poses in front of them with his shirt off?)

The UFC today confirmed what we all suspected. Chris Leben has been pulled from his bout with Michael Bisping due to ongoing legal trouble that will keep him locked up throughout most of the month. Instead of scratching the bout altogether, they’ve tapped Jason “Dooms” Day as his replacement.

Day, a Canadian who’s coming off a TKO win over Alan Belcher when he filled in for Patrick Cote at UFC 83, is a solid replacement for Leben. He’s 17-5, riding a five-fight win streak, and better still, he’s not locked up in jail right now. In fact, the only major criticism we can think of for Day revolves around his nickname. When your last name is Day, you have a lot of options. It just seems like “Dooms” was the first thing they thought of, and the first thing is rarely the best thing.

All I’m saying is, Jason “Dooms” Day sounds like just another dude trying hard to come up with an intimidating nickname. Jason “Sunny” Day, on the other hand, that’s a guy might have a screw loose. Other options include Jason “Wedding” Day and Jason “Oh, It’s Such A Perfect” Day, to name a couple.

In any event, Bisping likes the match:

“Obviously I was looking forward to the Leben fight but I guess it wasn’t to be,” said Bisping. “You have to respect Jason Day for stepping in on even shorter notice than myself. I am looking forward to really putting on a great performance in London.”

“Jason Day looked bloody dangerous in his fight with Belcher and I think this fight has exactly the same potential as the Leben fight to be a real war”

I guess if you’re Bisping and you can’t beat up an American in your home country, a Canadian is the next best thing. With the UFC slashing away at their rosters in recent weeks, you can bet Day is feeling the pressure to turn in a strong performance here. Dana White loves nothing more than a guy who can step in on short notice and put on a good show. And if there was ever a time for an up-and-coming fighter to get on White’s good side, that time is now.

(Go for it.)

[sarcasm]Wow, you guys really knocked us out today with all the voting.[/sarcasm] Anyway, Kimbo’s Lice has dragged his way to a victory in this week’s Triumph United Comment Contest. K.L.: Please check out Triumph United’s shirt rack, and e-mail us at feedback@cagepotato.com when you know which shirt you want.

As for the rest of you: We’ve created an even more expansive venue for you to complain with our new forums section, so if you haven’t already, join up and start throwin’ your feces!

The smirky dude above is Kristopher "Kit" Cope, a former Muay Thai champion with an unfortunate MMA record of 1-4. You might know him as the dude who used to be engaged to Gina Carano, or the guy who got hit with a steroid suspension after getting steamrolled by Rob McCullough at WEC 25, or as one of the subjects in MTV’s True Life episode "I’m a Muay Thai Fighter." According to his Wikipedia page, "He once armwrestled a warewolf [sic] and won."

(Technically, this picture wasn’t gay until the guy on the far right started dragging his pants down.)

In an interview with Rochester, Minnesota’s Post-Bulletin, Tommy Speer announced that he has been picked up by the WEC and expects to debut with the organization in August. The TUF 6 finalist — who was cut by the UFC after getting knocked-dead by Anthony Johnson at last month’s UFC Fight Night 13 — competed once before in the WEC, knocking out Sidney Silva at WEC 27 last May. Said Speer on his bounce from the UFC:

“I didn’t agree with it right away; it was depressing news. But now I know I lost to a great fighter, and he surprised me and everyone by how well he fought. I don’t think it’s too bad of a thing for me to be going to the WEC. There are great fighters there, too. I need to keep learning and working on my game, and the WEC is a great place to do that.

The WEC’s 170-pound division is certainly respectable, with names like Carlos Condit, Carlo Prater, John Alessio, and Brock Larson populating the roster, but it’s not nearly the threshing machine of the UFC’s welterweight class, and seems like a great place for Speer to develop while still maintaining a decent level of exposure. “The Farm Boy” intended to fight outside of the WEC before his August debut, but his training has been halted by an appropriately rural setback:

“The doctors at Mayo (Clinic) said I was bit by a brown recluse spider (on my calf), so I’m on antibiotics,” Speer said. “They said it might take a month to heal up. So I’m not training now, and I probably won’t be able to fight until August, because I’ll need some serious training time when I get back.”

Speer said he still intends to travel to Missouri to train with former UFC champion Matt Hughes at his gym, H.I.T. Squad, prior to his fights.

In other news…

(Props: Fightlinker. If you make it past the :20 of this video, you’ll never be the same.)

Brazilian fighter Jose “Pele” Landi-Jons deserves a spot among the founding fathers of MMA. He’s been in the sport since 1993, he’s taken on everyone from Pat Miletich to Matt Hughes to Chuck Liddell, and he is as fierce a competitor as you’re likely to find. That said, someone should stop him, because he may be on the verge of doing something terrible to himself.

Many of you will recall the horrifying leg injury that “Pele” suffered in February. While attempting a leg kick against Brian Gassaway, his tibia essentially snapped in half, leaving the lower part of his leg to flop uselessly beneath him like an empty tube sock. It was the kind of injury that spectators probably needed therapy to get over.

You’d think after that, his biggest concern would be walking. But since “Pele” is obviously no normal man, his only focus is getting another shot at Gassaway. When does he think he might be ready to fight again, considering this grotesque injury happened just over two months ago? About a month from now. At least that’s what he told GracieMag.com:

“I’m training light in Jiu-Jitsu and boxing, but I’m limited due to this serious injury. I think my recovery has been coming along well, but I have to be careful. It’s still recent, only two months now, but I think in one month I’ll be able to fight again.”

“You could see I actually broke it before kicking. You can see right after the second round begins I did a front kick that didn’t connect and then when I put my foot down the peronio was already broken, then after that my tibia breaks.”

“I wanted it considered a ‘No Contest’ and them to grant me a revenge match. He (Brian Gassaway) was losing. I hope TKO re-watches the fight and does what’s right. I think if the referee had seen it he wouldn’t give my opponent the win.”

Two things: 1) where I come from, the guy who crumples to the ground with a severely broken leg at the end of a fight is always declared the loser, and 2) if you just had your lower leg snapped in half two months ago, the issue of whether the fight is ruled an ‘NC’ or a loss is not your biggest problem right now.

I respect “Pele’s” warrior spirit. I really do. But doesn’t the man have any friends who could step in here? Isn’t this the right time to stage some sort of intervention? I don’t know what kind of doctor he’s seeing, but if it’s a medical one I have to assume that “Pele” has been warned against fighting in a month. Somehow, that advice isn’t sinking in. This could end badly.

(At least it felt this dignified.)

Ariel Helwani at MMARated.com was kind enough to have me on his radio show to recap the week in MMA. We talked about the IFL’s ill-advised HEX. We pondered out loud whether or not it was a good idea to cancel plans and stay home to watch Cage Rage on an internet stream. We also discussed Sean Sherk, Kimbo Slice, and of course the gaping maw of Ross Pointon’s terrible head wound. You know, pretty normal day around these parts. Why not give it a listen here.

Also at MMA Rated, you can read Ariel Helwani’s take on who might replace Chris Leben at UFC 85, now that his legal troubles have worsened and he seems to be off the card for good.

Forrest Griffin really wants that animal, damn it. Props to Bloody Elbow. The full episode is after the jump, courtesy of MMAScraps.

(“Muerto,” only available at Triumph United.)

You know how this works: The cream of this week’s commenting crop is below; vote for your favorite on the homepage poll. The most popular comment gets a sweet tee of their choice from my favorite torso-covering company, Triumph United. You said:

“Is this what happened to the other half of Tre Telligman’s chest? I know the UFC struggled early on, but holy shit…” — KTFO on The UFC Is Selling Used Clothing, and Doing Surprisingly Well

“They should call the new surface ‘The Sux’.” — JOhns on IFL to Debut Fighting Surface of the Future (!!!)

“Classic Ortiz: Too much head, not enough brain.” — C-Bus Allstar on Tito Ortiz: “I Feel Like a Slave”

“This could really hurt his ‘Loads of old produce for the poor’ platform.” — Myles Kilometers on Matt Lindland Endures First Smear Campaign

“‘I’d also like to clarify that Matt Hamill was deaf when we found him,’ Epstein said.” — Kimbo’s Lice on Possibly the Best Argument Yet for MMA Regulation in New York

“I hope there is no regulation on any fighting in NY. I hope the entire state engages in the largest gladiator battle ever, and you all fight to your deaths. I hope the armpit of America, also known as New Jersey, joins you in this quest as well.” — Fuck NY on Possibly the Best Argument Yet for MMA Regulation in New York

“So we’re just going to act like ‘Jailbreak’ and ‘The Cowboy Song’ didn’t even happen, huh?” — joeson on Thin Lizzy (“Way Off-Topic” Forum Thread)

Voting ends at 5:00 p.m. ET. TGIMFF.

(Diaz looks to the heavens as if to say, ‘Stop screwing with me, God.’)

MMA’s favorite soap opera, otherwise known as Nick Diaz’s life, has taken yet another turn. Sherdog reported earlier today that Diaz will indeed fight in Dream.3 this weekend. Probably. If he can cut the weight in time and get to Japan. And if nothing else weird happens. Though it almost certainly will.

Cesar Gracie told Sherdog’s TJ De Santis that Pro Elite CEO Doug DeLuca stepped in to override Gary Shaw’s decision to pull Diaz from the show. Apparently Shaw (Elite XC’s President of Live Events) felt the Dream.3 fight was too close to Diaz’s June 14 bout for Elite XC, but DeLuca decided to cut Diaz a break because, according to Gracie, “[h]e thought Nick sort of got screwed with the whole California Athletic Commission thing.”

Yeah, you remember. The California Athletic Commission thing.

Even with this fortuitous turn of events, Gracie seems to have a well-earned skepticism about the whole matter:

“It was off, then on, then off again … now it’s back on. I won’t really believe it until he is on the plane tomorrow morning heading to Japan.”

“Tonight we will be pulling an all-nighter cutting weight,” Gracie said late Wednesday. “Nick was under the impression he wasn’t fighting. So now we have to get the weight back down before he leaves.”

Where we go from here, nobody knows. Hopefully DeLuca’s good deed goes unpunished, and all ends well for Diaz, Dream, and Pro Elite. The odds of that happening are slim.

Still, doesn’t it make you wonder how Nick Diaz’s life might have turned out differently if only he had a Doug DeLuca around all the time, helping him and guiding him like some kind of rich fairy godfather? I do. I wonder.

(Leben, pre-rehabilitation.)

We thought it was all going to be so easy. Chris Leben would turn himself in on a probation violation, serve a couple of days in the lockup, then put this mess behind him on focus on his fight with Michael Bisping. Well guess what. Nothing comes easy for “The Crippler.”

MMA Mania is reporting that Leben was sentenced today to 35 days in jail. He’s scheduled to be released on May 27 (due to time served), according to the report. The fight with Bisping at UFC 85? Yeah, that’s on June 7. This looks bad for Leben. “Bedlam” is turning out to be the most accurate UFC event tagline yet.

If Leben really has to stay in jail that long, we have to assume that the UFC will either find a new opponent for Bisping, or reschedule the fight. It’s just unreasonable to think that Leben could come out of jail and be ready to fight in under two weeks. If the UFC wants to see this fight happen on June 7, I think there’s only one clear solution: jailbreak.

It worked in “XXX: State of the Union”. Then again, so did launching a tank at a tank, which would make for a much better undercard event.

Stay strong, Leben. They’ll never break your indomitable spirit.

Check out 1:53-2:04 for Mir’s literally tight-lipped response. Here’s the general rule: If a person can neither confirm nor deny something, they’re confirming it. We’ll just have to wait for a public announcement to see if we actually scooped the MMA blogosphere on this one…

(Props: MMAMania.)