(Would it kill the Sambo guys to put on some pants?)

Fedor Emelianenko actually lost a fight this weekend. Sort of. Competing in the World Combat Sambo Championships, Fedor lost on points (8-5) in the semi-finals to Bulgarian Blagoi Ivanov, who went on to win the gold medal. Fedor won the bronze after his opponent in the third-place match conceded without a fight. So…does this mean he’s no longer the world’s best heavyweight?

No. Of course it doesn’t mean that. Jesus, it’s just Sambo. Would you calm down? In case you’re wondering whether this Ivanov character is some preternatural fighting genius who’s set to take over the world, he probably isn’t. Fedor beat him earlier this year at the Russian Federation President’s Cup. It just so happens that Ivanov got his revenge this time, and you could make a strong case that Fedor’s been distracted by running around filming movies and hawking Affliction in the past few months.

Fighters Only floated a rumor that Affliction had already signed Ivanov to a contract, but MMA Rated has talked to VP Tom Atencio and he says it isn’t true. The way things go in Affliction, someone else in the company may very well contradict that statement tomorrow.

Long story short: Sambo isn’t MMA, so this isn’t a sign that Fedor is washed up. It is, however, wonderfully ironic when you consider that Fedor’s burning desire to continue to do Sambo was part of his problem with the restrictive UFC contract. Just think, it could have been him beating Randy Couture this weekend. At least then he wouldn’t have had to fight that mean old Bulgarian guy.

(“Fruit smoothies are on me tonight, buddy!”)

The UFC paid out a juicy $1,358,000 in disclosed salaries and bonuses for UFC 91, with the night’s headliners walking away with over half of that total. The numbers are below; keep in mind that they don’t include income from sponsorships, undisclosed “locker room bonuses” or pay-per-view percentages, or deductions due to expenses such as insurance and taxes. And here we go…

Brock Lesnar: $450,000 (includes $200,000 win bonus)
Randy Couture: $250,000
Gabriel Gonzaga: $110,000 (includes $55,000 win bonus)
Dustin Hazelett: $88,000 (includes $14,000 win bonus, $60,000 Submission of the Night bonus)
Kenny Florian: $80,000 (includes $40,000 win bonus)
Jeremy Stephens: $76,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus, $60,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
Jorge Gurgel: $70,000 (includes $60,000 Fight of the Night Bonus)
Aaron Riley: $68,000 (includes $4,000 win bonus, $60,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
Demian Maia: $40,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus)

(Smith during his last UFC appearance, against Ed Herman at UFC 72. Photo courtesy of slam.canoe.ca.)

Though most of his former EliteXC stablemates are still in contract limbo, two-time middleweight title challenger Scott Smith (13-5) has managed to book his next fight. “Hands of Steel” will be taking on fellow UFC vet Terry Martin (18-5) at Strikeforce’s “Destruction” card, which will be held at San Jose’s HP Pavilion on November 21st. According to the press release we received this morning:

Despite the short notice he was given for the meeting with Martin, Smith claims he will enter the fight in better condition that he did for [his most recent] meeting with [Robbie] Lawler, as he had already been preparing for a bout on November 8th that was subsequently canceled.

“My teammates said you got to stick in there and be ready to fight at any time and that’s what I did. I think fighting two weeks later is better for me and is perfect timing…He’s a better boxer and I’m a better kickboxer. I want to keep the fight standing. I know he likes to stand and bang so it’s looking to be a slugfest.”

(Photo courtesy of NBC Sports)

Britain’s The Sun confirmed that the UFC is headed back to London for UFC 95 in February, and they’re adding weight to the rumor that it might have Anderson Silva vs. Chuck Liddell as its main event.

SunSport understands Middleweight champion Anderson Silva, 33, has been asked to appear on the card, with a potential bout with light heavyweight star Chuck Liddell already being mooted.

Dana White said Silva was “flipping out” about the negative response from fans and media types to his performance against Patrick Cote at UFC 90. Going up a weight class to pummel a former champ might be enough to silence those critics for good. The bout also has enough star power and intersecting story lines to make it a huge draw.

If it does happen, it’s a tough fight for Liddell. Even if he beats Silva, his detractors will just say it was due to the size advantage. If he loses — a real possibility against the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter — it becomes harder to ignore the call of retirement. Then again, after the loss to Rashad Evans you have to wonder how many interesting fights are left for him at 205. This could easily be his last moment in the spotlight. At least it’s a big one.

(Lesnar: title belt, stitches, and all. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Dana White and the cast of fighters from UFC 91 were surprisingly forthcoming at the post-fight press conference on Saturday night, with one exception. Near the end of the Q & A session, a reporter asked Brock Lesnar what the essential differences were between being a UFC employee and a WWE one, from a business standpoint.

“Don’t answer that question,” White said to his new heavyweight champ, only half-jokingly. Lesnar said he wouldn’t. It got a laugh. Seems like these two are going to get along just fine. When someone brought up the possible Kimbo Slice-Brock Lesnar comparison, based more on the number of pro fights each man had than the quality, White was quick to shoot it down.

“It drove me crazy when people would compare him to Kimbo Slice. If I had hair I’d pull it out. He’s far from Kimbo Slice.”

“I don’t even know that guy,” said Lesnar, who had already claimed not to “have the internet” or even read newspapers when asked if he was discouraged by critics in the press. “Who is he?”

“You’re lucky,” said White.

(Props: MMA Scraps)

Because we could all use at least a momentary break from the aftermath of Brock vs. Randy, here’s the stunning conclusion of the video-war between Bas Rutten and comedian/Canadian MTV host Daryn Jones, which began with some good-natured parody and escalated beyond anybody’s control. Anyway, they decided to put their differences aside and spend a day hangin’ in Toronto, culminating with a very cathartic trip to see The Women. Best part: Daryn asks Bas for advice about this chick he likes who seems to be into another guy. Bas suggests, “you just grab any kind of knife, kitchen knife, you just stab him in the liver, and he’ll bleed to death on the inside.”

After the jump, the 11/15 edition of Dana White’s video blog, where BJ Penn advises GSP on how to dress for the beach, Dana White prowls backstage during UFC 91, Jorge Gurgel shows up looking appropriately bummed after his fight, Brock Lesnar has an awkward encounter with 50 Cent, and Junie Browning shows up to talk about the pitfalls of being a reality star.

(Maybe it’s just the camera angle, but Lesnar does appear to have a slight size advantage. Photo courtesy of The Sun.)

From WWE.com, not that I ever go there:

LAS VEGAS – In a stunning upset, Brock Lesnar became the first man to capture both the WWE Championship and the UFC Heavyweight Championship* when he defeated UFC fan favorite Randy “The Natural” Couture on Saturday night in Sin City…

For Lesnar, the road to UFC gold proved surprisingly short. Within roughly six months**, the former WWE Superstar climbed to the top of the ultimate fighting heap, capping his ascent with the upset victory over Couture.

Critics have noted that many of the fights on the UFC pay-per-view ended in the first round, leaving UFC producers scrambling to fill the three-hour event with content. The dearth of hearty competition*** left many viewers to watch less prestigious under-card fights and only served to bolster claims that UFC pay-per-view events can often be a “crap shoot”**** in regards to filling the full three hours.

(Props: LifeType1)

(Hazelett vs. McCrory. Props to MMAScraps.)

Last night’s UFC 91 transcended its humble lineup and turned out to be a memorably action-packed night of fights, with eight dramatic stoppages and one 15-minute war, which featured Jorge Gurgel once again brawling instead of playing to his strengths. Who knows how many losses it’ll take for him to learn his lesson — Gurgel is now 3-4 in the UFC, with all but one fight going to decision — but the UFC will be rewarding the bad behavior with a $60,000 pay bump. Gurgel and Aaron Riley picked up the Fight of the Night bonus for their wild kickboxing match, which ended in a unanimous D for Riley.

Jeremy Stephens took home the $60k Knockout of the Night bonus for his skull-shattering uppercut of Rafael dos Anjos in the third round of their fight. While there were only two stoppages by strikes to choose from (Gabriel Gonzaga was responsible for the other one), UFC 91 featured five fights ending in submission, and though Kenny Florian and Demian Maia’s rear-naked chokes of Joe Stevenson and Nate Quarry were just as impressive, the UFC awarded Dustin Hazelett the Submission of the Night windfall for his oma-into-armbar pretzelage of poor Tamdan McCrory. Gurgel vs. Riley and more fights after the jump…

(Stephens vs. Dos Anjos. Props to FightChat.)

Props to MMAScraps. Get it while it lasts…

(You ready for this? Photo courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

We are live at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas for an extra-special, on-the-scene liveblog of UFC 91. What does that mean for your life? It means preliminary results, witty observations about crowd members, and constant updates as to what Arianny Celeste is up to throughout the night. At the same time, I don’t want to miss out on all your hilarious quips about the live broadcast, including but not limited to the banter between Joe Rogan and the century man, Mike Goldberg, so please fill me in with your comments.

Liveblog begins after the jump. Hit refresh often. If you don’t want the prelims spoiled for you…too bad. Just suck it up and deal.

(He kids because he loves.)

Chael Sonnen not only has a prediction for the main event of tonight’s UFC 91 (which we’ll be liveblogging, just a reminder), he’s also willing to put a little something behind it:

I’ll bet 25 percent of Paulo [Filho]’s purse on “The Natural.”

Someone get Filho some salve. Because he’s just been burned.

(Yeah, laugh it up.)

Welcome to MMA’s alternate universe. It looks like the MGM Grand the day before UFC 91, but something weird is going on. Junie Browning is getting mobbed in the hotel lobby while Roger Huerta sits in a bar quietly sipping espresso. Bruce Buffer walks by looking like he’s fresh from the gym and a drunk guy in an Affliction shirt almost loses his mind.

Fortunately for the UFC, they also have fans lined up around the corner just to see the weigh-in. At least two thousand of them fill the stands by four o’clock. Amazingly, the weigh-in starts right on time and is over twenty minutes later. Everyone makes weight. Brock Lesnar elicits as many boos as camera flashes. Joe Rogan interviews Randy Couture and compares Lesnar to the final boss in a video game. As much as I hate to admit, it’s a pretty good metaphor.

What’s worrisome for Couture is the cold hard numbers game. He weighs in at a svelte 220 pounds. Lesnar cuts to down to hit 265. By the time they step in the Octagon tomorrow night, Lesnar will likely be closer to 280, while Couture won’t be any bigger. It’s a sobering reality for Captain America. Or at least it ought to be.

Complete figures from today’s weigh-in after the jump.

(Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.)

The TUF 7 winner recoups from his leg infection with the help of some berry-flavored Skoal, which he only enjoys ironically, we’re guessing. To see some photos of Amir and Arianny Celeste dressed up like pretty, pretty princesses, check out the rest of this set.

(Google Image Search result for “awful Beard.”)

Affliction put out a press release today announcing that loose-cannon/multiple-felon Todd Beard has left the building. Dig:

SEAL BEACH, Calif., Nov 14, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — The board of directors of Affliction Inc. announced today that it received and accepted the resignation of Todd Beard as an employee of the company. Mr. Beard is one of the original founders of the clothing company based in Seal Beach, California. The resignation coincides with a public apology for comments made by Mr. Beard and directed toward Randy Couture and his wife Kim Couture regarding their business relationship.

Mr. Beard also disclosed that he will be seeking treatment for anger management and alcohol abuse.

According to Mr. Beard, “I would like to apologize for my comments that may have offended Kim and Randy Couture and Mr. Spira. I had a long-standing relationship with the Coutures and I was deeply and emotionally hurt by some of their recent business decisions. I have only the best of intentions for the success of the Affliction and Xtreme Couture clothing brands and understand that there are personal issues I must address.”

(This is a totally undoctored photo, we swear.)

Picking up the free t-shirts this week are…

Gunny on “Urijah Faber Not Getting Taken Advantage Of?”: If I’m not mistaken, he is half ballchinian on his mother’s side.

MarMAr on “Efrain Escudero’s TUF 8 Blog: Episode 9″: Anyone notice how bad the editing can be sometimes? Sometimes they have haircuts, sometimes Vinny’s hair is blonde, other times Tom is on top of Kaplan, and then Kaplan is on top of Tom.

Steve W. on “MMA Agents Unite to Block Pro Elite Contract Auction”: Conspicuous by his absence is the one and only “Icy” Mike.

Gunny, Mar, and Steve, please e-mail feedback@cagepotato.com with your addresses and sizes, and we’ll get those “Hall of Fame” t-shirts out to you ASAP. As for the rest of you, there will be plenty of opportunity to creatively toss in your two cents during our liveblog of UFC 91 on Saturday. Don’t miss it!

Check out MMA Live pretending to be College Gameday here as they preview the Randy Couture-Brock Lesnar bout. They may be missing the drunk, screaming, college students in the background, but they’ve got the headsets, dammit.

It’s great to see ESPN getting more serious about their MMA coverage. And since I am also in Vegas for the event, and since I want to help them out, I will now paint a Brock Lesnar penis sword on my chest and go down to scream in Franklin McNeil’s ear as a show of support. Also I will be drunk.

After the jump, the crew looks at Kenny Florian-Joe Stevenson, as well as the rest of the televised undercard.

(After a dramatic victory, the Jets returned to the locker room to find nothing but energy drinks and DVD’s of “The Secret.”)

If you watched the New York Jets beat the New England Patriots in overtime last night, you may have thought to yourself, ‘Damn, the Jets look good, almost as though they’ve been motivated by watching an MMA bout.’ You have no idea how right you were.

The NY Daily News reports that Jets coach Eric Mangini was looking to send a motivational message to his team the night before the game, and he turned to some UFC footage to do it:

ULTIMATE MOTIVATION: On Wedneday night at the team hotel, Mangini showed a tape of the 2007 Ultimate Fighting light-heavyweight title bout between Quinton (Rampage) Jackson and defending champ Chuck Liddell. The upstart Jackson stunned Liddell with a first-round TKO.

Mangini’s message to the team: Young and hungry defeats the established champ.

“A lot of his motivational stuff ends up coming true,” LB David Bowens said.

Will I point out that Jackson was not so much of an upstart, but rather an established fighter who had already beaten Liddell in their previous meeting? I will not. Because that would be nitpicking. Just like it would be nitpicking to point out that the Daily News misspelled Wednesday. So instead I’ll just say, Good work, Mangini. That motivational meeting must have been not only effective, but also brief.

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

The unholy union between the UFC and 50 Cent has spawned its first offspring — this promo video for tomorrow night’s Couture vs. Lesnar fight, soundtracked by Fiddy’s new single “Get Up.” I don’t know…in the words of Randy Jackson, this one’s just aight for me, dog.

MMA Rated brings us this video from yesterday’s UFC 91 press conference, in which Dana White announces that the winner of the Kenny Florian/Joe Stevenson fight will earn a shot at BJ Penn’s lightweight title. Florian, Stevenson, Brock Lesnar, and Randy Couture also take the podium to say a few words. Fun fact: 15 of Randy’s 18 UFC fights have been for a championship belt.

After the jump: something completely different…

(Image courtesy of InsanityWeTrust.net)

Josh Gross at SI reports that Showtime Sports will be responsible for producing and distributing Affliction’s “Day of Reckoning” pay-per-view card on January 24th; an official announcement will come Monday. Showtime Sports produced all the ShoXC and EliteXC broadcasts on the premium cable channel, as well as the EliteXC events on CBS and the Strikeforce/EliteXC co-promoted “Shamrock vs. Baroni” pay-per-view in June 2007. So, expect a step up in quality from the bad lighting, bizarre camera angles, and poor pacing that plagued Affliction’s “Banned” show in July.

“Day of Reckoning” is still headlined by Fedor Emelianenko defending his WAMMA heavyweight championship belt against Andrei Arlovski. Gross also confirmed the addition of three other bouts: First, Matt Lindland and Renato “Babalu” Sobral will meet in a middleweight match on the main card; both fighters won decisions at “Banned,” with Lindland getting the better of Fabio Nascimento and Sobral edging out Mike Whitehead. [Ed. note: FiveOunces is reporting that the match will be contested at light-heavyweight.]

As if the generous supply of alcohol wasn’t enough to cause drama in the TUF household, somebody thought it would be a good idea to give Junie Browning a gun. Click the image above to check out some unaired footage of Team Mir’s trip to a firing range, where Frank proves himself to be an adept shot, and Junie frightens us once again. Speaking of TUF, that crazy stuff about Dave and Tom’s pee-drinking party that Efrain mentioned this morning was actually supposed to be in last night’s episode, but the scenes were edited out at the eleventh-hour. Thanks, Spike.

Below: In the latest installment of Dana White’s video blog, Dana gets his balls thoroughly busted before an ESPN appearance, checks in with Brock Lesnar (who’s currently walking at a fit 273 pounds), and has a heart-to-heart with Sable. Kinda boring, but the life of a UFC president isn’t all skate parks and meetings with 50 Cent. After the jump: A teaser video for Fields Dynamite!! 2008, which features some of the most amazing moments from past Dynamite!! shows including Bob Sapp calling out Mike Tyson, Heath Herring’s post-smooch knockout of Yoshihiro Nakao, and Fedor armbarring Hong Man Choi. These people know how to ring in the new year. Props to Nightmare of Battle.

(Randy refuses to look Brock in the eyes! BET LESNAR! BET LESNAR! Photo courtesy of Flex Magazine.)

The UFC’s heavyweight grand prix, pay-per-view buys, Tamdan McCrory’s AFC status — we discuss it all in the latest installment of Ben vs. Ben. FYI, Fowlkes is currently a -170 favorite to win this argument.

How exactly will the main event end, and how will the winner fare in the heavyweight “tournament” as a whole?

Fowlkes: As big and powerful as Brock Lesnar is, his chances to win this fight diminish the longer it goes. He has the classic wrestler-turned-MMA fighter problem. He can get a guy down and hold him there, but aside from some inefficient ground-and-pound, he struggles to put people away.

So you’re all impressed by Lesnar’s win over Heath Herring? Great. You know who else outwrestled Herring for a decision win? Jake O’Brien. My point is, it’s not such an impossible feat. He’s never gone five rounds with someone as savvy and resilient as Couture. While Lesnar’s best hope is a decision, Couture can win several different ways.

Couture might have to take a beating in the first couple rounds. He might get pushed around more than he’s used to. But by the third he’ll turn the tide. He’ll take Lesnar’s back, discover that the man has no discernible neck to choke, then unleash a torrent of punches and satisfy himself with a TKO finish due to ref stoppage at the 4:10 mark. And still…UFC…heavyweight champion…until he’s submitted by Nogueira in the finals of this so-called tournament.

Goldstein: I say Couture takes the UFC 91 main event in a unanimous decision. We’re going to see a very methodical Randy on Saturday night, working his clinch game when he can, and doing his best to stuff takedown attempts and keep out of Brock’s punching range. He’ll go with the low-risk Machida approach, in other words, because one mistake, leading to one unfortunate position, could bring about a painful loss. I’ll agree that Randy will have Brock figured out by round three, but I’m going to give Lesnar the benefit of the doubt and say that Randy won’t be able to finish him — though Lesnar will definitely take more abuse than he ever has in his short real-fighting career.

(Odds on that dog doing something adorable: very, very good.)

Though we’ve debated the topic nearly to death over the last few days, there’s still no online betting establishment giving odds on whether UFC 91 will really sell 1.2 million pay-per-views, as Dana White claims. What a shame. Knowing absolutely nothing about oddsmaking and even less about basic math, I’d put the line at +900. For all you ‘tards out there, that means I don’t think it will happen. The line on us seeing both Mandy Moore and Laura Prepon during the broadcast? -230. The line on the two of them fighting it out over the last Cosmo at the after-party? +15000. That’s not because they wouldn’t do it, but because the Cosmos never run dry when you hang with Dana White. Never.

As for the odds on actual fights that will actually happen, BestFightOdds.com has done all the leg work for us, and here are the best lines for UFC 91:

Brock Lesnar (-121) vs. Randy Couture (+111)
Kenny Florian (-174) vs. Joe Stevenson (+164)
Demian Maia (-200) vs. Nate Quarry (+195)
Dustin Hazelett (-150) vs. Tamdan McCrory (+175)
Gabriel Gonzaga (-370) vs. Josh Hendricks (+371)
Mark Bocek (-105) vs. Alvin Robinson (+110)
Jeremy Stephens (-115) vs. Rafael Dos Anjos (+117)
Jorge Gurgel (-115) vs. Aaron Riley (+126)
Matt Brown (-185) vs. Ryan Thomas (+190)

Thoughts…

(“I used to take steroids. I still do, but I used to, too.” Photo courtesy of MMAonTap.)

Though he’s not allowed to fight in the U.S. again until July 26, 2009 because of his steroid suspension, Antonio Silva is close to signing a deal that would have him fight at Sengoku‘s January 4th event in Saitama, Japan. I guess this means that Sengoku plans on being the highest bidder when Silva’s contract is auctioned off on Monday. According to Tatame, Silva is “entering the common justice against the athletic commission” that upheld his suspension, which may be their way of saying he’s taking the law into his own hands. Fair enough; we didn’t really put much faith in Armando Garcia‘s rulings anyway.

Nightmare of Battle wonders if Sengoku’s recent pursuit of heavyweights — Dave Herman and Roger Gracie have reportedly received offers, and a fight between Josh Barnett and Kevin Randleman is rumored for the January event — indicates that a heavyweight Grand Prix could be in the works. How badass would that be? We’d say that’s worth defying the CSAC over — though there’s the risk that American MMA organizations would hold a permanent grudge against Bigfoot for fighting while under suspension, and refuse to work with him after the suspension is over. But it’s hard to resist the competitive urge when you’re an athlete. Maybe Silva hopes that everybody in the U.S. will have forgotten about his little horse-steroid misunderstanding by next summer?

#10: Rashad Evans serves Tom Murphy on TUF 2

Believe it or not, Rashad Evans used to be a cocky son-of-a-bitch. Finding no challenge from an outmatched Tom Murphy on the second season of The Ultimate Fighter, Sugar entertained himself during the fight by popping, locking, and striking poses until the judges awarded him the victory. The performance also earned him some serious scorn from opposing coach Matt Hughes, but the two eventually put aside their differences and learned to love each other. Now when Rashad dances in the ring, it’s only to pay tribute to the late, great, Redd Foxx.

#9: “Mayhem” Miller mixes clown-and-smile with ground-and-pound

What do you do when Dream gives you a guy who’s nowhere near your level? If you’re “Mayhem” Miller, you have a little fun with it. You start the fight with some kung fu posing, get him down, move to the mount, flash a peace sign for the camera (1:55), then resume punching. Maybe even throw in a double-chop, Sakuraba-style. Why not? The fans love it. What they don’t love is Miller’s faux-retirement. Isn’t it time he dropped that charade? The MMA world is running dangerously low on antics these days.

#8: Anderson Silva’s “52 Blocks” against Patrick Cote

Though Cote continues to tell himself that Silva was simply “lost” and “confused” in this fight, this moment serves as evidence to the contrary. Late in the second round (10:04 in the video) Silva decided to pay homage to his favorite kung fu movies, exhibiting a little Wing Chun action to show his defensive hand skills. At least Silva seemed to be entertaining himself at this point, even if he was the only one who really got a kick out of it. Too bad the fight ended early with Cote’s knee injury. The Dim Mak couldn’t have been far away.

(Come on now, Antonio, that simply isn’t true.)

Let the drunken debauchery begin again. After Dave Kaplan’s fight, Tom Lawlor decided to get drunk with Kaplan. They began to drink each other’s piss, which in itself is just disgusting. But these guys were downing them like shots of tequila. The sad thing is they did not even show the grossest part. Kyle Kingsbury took a plate and a towel into the bathroom and came out with nice big hot steamy Lincoln Log on a platter. He told the guys he would give some cash to whoever eats it. Tom held a piece up to his mouth but couldn’t go through with it. The pot kept getting bigger with us all chipping in, but no one went through with it. I hope they put that on the DVD…GOOD TIMES.

To quote Smokey from Friday — Kaplan “got knocked the Fuck out, Man!” That was even funnier watching it than hearing about it. Kaplan is an extremely smart guy but sometimes I question his intelligence by first asking for someone to “try” and knock him out. Second for not admitting that he got knocked out knowing full well it was on camera. There is one issue with Kaplan and that is he will not admit when he is wrong. He’s a bit delusional. He can’t get knocked out, he is the best looking guy in the house, and he gets more chicks than anybody. The list could go on.

The prank on Krzysztof Soszynski was pretty funny and only fitting since he initiated the pranks-before-fights ritual. It didn’t take much time for us to put all the stuff in his room. It was funny to see that his teammates didn’t help. His prank in return actually made his team upset too. It must have taken a lot of time but everybody in the house was affected. Krzysztof had to take all the stuff in himself.

(We love a woman who loves to party.)

- One man who won’t be sorry to see California State Athletic Commissioner Armando Garcia go is Sean Sherk, who still feels like he got a raw deal on his steroid case thanks to Garcia and his bungling of the appeals process. Sherk told MMA Rated that he “knew the guy had some issues” that would lead to his eventual removal, and now Sherk’s “glad to see that is finally taking place.” The sad irony is that it most likely wasn’t Garcia’s incompetence that got him in trouble so much as his ill-fated inter-office romance.

- Guess which over-stimulated, hyperbolic UFC announcer will be celebrating his 100th broadcast at UFC 91 on Saturday night? Did you guess Mike Goldberg? Damn, you’re good. UFC.com has an interesting article that looks at how Goldie went from some dude in front of a microphone who knew nothing about MMA to some dude in front of a microphone who is at least better than Mauro Ranallo. The best part of the article is hearing it all straight from Goldberg, who apparently loves mixing metaphors even when he’s not working. On why he stuck with the UFC even after the WWE made him a lucrative offer:

I can equate it to maybe playing for the Cincinnati Bengals and being 3-13 and 4-12, and finally you think you’ve got a team that might make it to the postseason. Do you bail and go to the Patriots or 49ers at that point, or do you say ‘the ship is sailing and is about to find a really cool island – do I want to jump off that ship now or see where it’s gonna land?’

Wait, are we still talking about the UFC?

(Nothing says ‘power couple’ like matching shirts and leis.)

Affliction’s Todd Beard really knows how to screw up. First he goes on Scott Ferrall’s radio show to blast Randy Couture and publicly state his desire to see him get his ass kicked by Brock Lesnar. But that’s not enough to really alienate one of the biggest stars Affliction works with, so just for good measure he also threatens Couture’s wife, Kim, who then gets a restraining order against him. That’s called going above and beyond, working fuck-up overtime. And here we thought he was just an alcoholic.

TMZ has the scoop:

Randy and wife Kim claim Affliction Prez Todd Beard has been on a campaign of terror against them since they asked for an accounting of profits. A Las Vegas judge just issued a temporary restraining order, prohibiting Beard from going near Kim, and that includes going near the MGM Grand when Randy fights this Saturday. And Beard can’t go to the hotel during the weigh-in the day before either.

According to Kim Couture’s declaration, Beard has made “a series of threats and acts intended to intimidate me and otherwise coerce me to ‘back off.’”

She goes on: “My fear of Mr. Beard is well-founded given his extensive criminal history. Not only has he been convicted of numerous state and federal felonies relating to fraud …he has engaged in numerous acts of violence, including violence against women.”

Hold up, “extensive criminal history?” You mean, aside from making those overpriced t-shirts? Yes. As it turns out, Beard is a bit of a rounder. He’s even served time.

(Josh Hendricks steamrolls Rick McChristian at GFS: Caged Vengeance in February 2006; the destruction begins at the 1:47 mark.)

Amir Sadollah’s leg infection means we won’t get to see what this Nick Catone dude’s all about, but there will still be two Octagon first-timers trying their luck in Las Vegas on Saturday. Here’s what you need to know in order to sound smart around your friends…

JOSH “HEAVY” HENDRICKS (HW)
Experience: 15-4 record in various midwestern promotions, with 13 wins by 1st-round stoppage. Has gone 10-0 with one no-contest in his last 11 fights.
Will be facing: Gabriel Gonzaga (9-3, 5-2 UFC)
Lowdown: Randy Couture hand-picked this former two-time All-American wrestler to help him prepare for his bout against Brock Lesnar (you might have caught a glimpse of him in the Countdown to UFC 91 special on Spike). At 6’2″, 246 pounds, Hendricks isn’t quite as big as Lesnar, but he’s got plenty of speed and power, and very few opponents have made it out of the first round against him. Ring rust may be an issue, however; his last fight — a 50-second submission-by-strikes victory over Braden Bice — took place a year ago.

RAFAEL DOS ANJOS (LW)
Experience: 11-2 record with multiple appearances in the Brazilian fight clubs Fury FC and XFC. He has won his last nine fights, and has never lost by stoppage.
Will be facing: Jeremy Stephens (13-3, 2-2 UFC)
Lowdown: The reigning lightweight champ of Fury FC, UFC 91 marks Dos Anjos’s first appearance in North America. Most of his wins come via submission, which is no surprise considering he’s a student of BJJ greats Aldo “Caveirinha” Januário and Roberto “Gordo” Correa. He’s also a member of the Gracie Fusion fight team, and used to train under the late Ryan Gracie. Two of his fights are after the jump…

(Image courtesy of Nightmare of Battle)

Two headlining matchups were announced today for DREAM and K-1′s combined “FieLDS Dynamite!!: Yuuki no Chikara 2008″ event, which will be held on New Year’s Eve at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan. In the main event spot will be Japanese legend Kazushi Sakuraba facing Kiyoshi Tamura. Sakuraba and Tamura are former UWFi pro wrestling stablemates who were previously supposed to fight each other in PRIDE, but the match never came together; there is a rumored rivalry between them dating back to Tamura’s disrespectful treatment of Sakuraba in the early ’90s when Tamura was a UWFi star and Sakuraba was a struggling up-and-comer. Tamura’s last ring appearance was a 57-second knockout victory over Masakatsu Funaki at DREAM 2 in April, while Sakuraba is coming off his brutal beating at the hands of Melvin Manhoef at DREAM 4 in June.

In the co-main event spot is a non-title fight between DREAM lightweight GP winner Joachim Hansen and highly regarded American Top Team fighter Gesias “JZ” Calvancante. Also on the card is a four-man K-1 tournament featuring Ryuya Kusakabe, Koya Urabe, Shota Shimada, and 16-year old Japanese kickboxing phenom “Hiroya“; check out some of his work here.