(Shhh…go to sleep.  Gif thanks to Smoogy on the UG.)

Dave Kaplan is officially the luckiest son of a bitch on last night’s Ultimate Finale card.  For getting his ass handed to him by Junie Browning in the evening’s first televised bout he received a $25,000 bonus for “Fight of the Night,” as did Browning. 

Not that it was a bad fight by any means, but neither was it exhilarating or even all that competitive, unless Dana White is really that impressed by a guy willing to keep trying the same straight foot lock that only works on BJJ blue belts and Tim Sylvia.  If you ask me (and you kind of did, by virtue of coming to this website and reading this far, sucker), White wanted to reward Browning for showing up and appearing to have his shit together, and Kaplan’s pockets got fatter just by being in the way.  As long as the check clears, “Diamond” Dave can’t complain.

The Knockout of the Night bonus obviously went to Anthony “Rumble” Johnson for putting his shin across Kevin Burns’ jaw and reminding us all that sleep truly is the cousin of death.

Krzysztof Soszynski (K-Sos to the Potato Nation) pocketed 25 grand for Submission of the Night after wrenching Shane Primm’s shoulder all out of shape.

Full disclosed payouts and analysis of said payouts from last night’s event are after the jump.  Won’t you join us?

(Photos courtesy of UFC.com)

After a long, arduous, bodily-fluid-filled season of The Ultimate Fighter, we’ve finally made it to the end. It’s time to see who’s worthy of the hype, who’s ready for the big show, who’s taking home the six-figure contracts. If you’re not psyched for this, go watch Bromance you freakin’ fairy. For everyone else, hit that "Read More" link and refresh the page every few minutes for live round-by-round updates and commentary.

SPOILER ALERT: This liveblog kicks off at 9 p.m. ET, but the broadcast is tape-delayed on the West Coast (and possibly other parts of the country). Check your local listings, and keep in mind that we may be writing about things you haven’t seen yet. So if you’re coming in, scroll carefully.

(Props: MMA Weekly)

Weigh-ins for The Ultimate Fighter 8 finale went down earlier today at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, and every fighter successfully made weight — except for Wilson Gouveia, who came in four pounds heavy for his middleweight tilt against Jason MacDonald. Way to set a good example for the new guys, Will. Full results are below…

MAIN CARD
Efrain Escudero (156) vs. Phillipe Nover (155)
Ryan Bader (205) vs. Vinicius Magalhaes (205)
Kevin Burns (171) vs. Anthony Johnson (171)
Wilson Gouveia (189) vs. Jason MacDonald (184)
Junie Browning (156) vs. Dave Kaplan (156)

UNDERCARD
Shane Primm (202) vs. Krzysztof Soszynski (205)
Jules Bruchez (205) vs. Eliot Marshall (203)
Kyle Kingsbury (205) vs. Tom Lawlor (204)
Shane Nelson (156) vs. George Roop (153)
Roli Delgado (155) vs. John Polakowski (152)

Update from UFC.com: "Gouveia did not make weight and for safety reasons, the Nevada State Athletic Commission won’t allow him to make a second weight cutting attempt. The bout will go on at a catch weight of 189 pounds, and Gouveia will forfeit 20% of his purse to MacDonald." Weigh-in photos are here.

(For Cris Cyborg, beating up women is an art form. Props to Fightlinker via MMA Femino.)

"Fight for the Troops" averaged two million viewers and brought in $4 million in donations. (MMA Junkie)

Former WWE star Bobby Lashley is making his MMA debut tomorrow night in Miami. (FiveOuncesofPain)

On his new blog, Chris Horodecki tells the story of his recent Shootboxing fight in Japan. (MMA Training)

IFL vet Devin Cole pleads guilty to fourth-degree assault and sexual harassment. (Sherdog)

Xtreme Fighting Championships will help some dude achieve his MMA dream on MTV’s Made. (MMA Payout)

Efrain Escudero’s performance tomorrow will be a tribute to his father. (MMA Mania)

Even on "Casual Friday," blackface is apparently frowned upon in this office. (Holy Taco)

Pinup icon Bettie Page dead at 85. (Screen Junkies)

Wear this shirt to your next job interview. (Wall Street Fighter)

Insane Mexican mega-brawl caught on tape. (Nothing Toxic)

Reminder: We’re liveblogging the Ultimate Fighter 8 finale, tomorrow night at 9 p.m. ET. See you then.

("Super! Thanks for asking!")

Perdew on ‘Joe Rogan and Eddie Bravo Enjoy Marijuana’:
he’s in 10th planet’s "chill dawg" position.
[Ed. note: And when he grabs both feet it becomes "pothead control."]

Ted Nutmeg on ‘Can a Legendary Fight Really Be Planned’:
I think we all know what Marcus Davis’ pick-up line really is:
"Sup. You chicks like to stand and bang?"

Derekrva on ‘Total F*cking Nastiness…’:
Seriously…UFC hire this guy! Imagine if all pay-per-view events started with a Con film highlighting that night’s fighters instead of that cheesy, horrible, predictable montage of the gladiator suiting up. Fans would get much more amped for the fights and not feel so bad about forking out 50 bucks.
[Ed. note: No, it's not one of those "ha-ha" comments, but it's 150% truth and worth repeating. So make it happen, Lorenzo. (I've given up on demanding things from Dana.)]

Perdew + Derekva, please send us your names/addresses and we’ll send you some CagePotato t-shirts pronto. Nutmeg, we already have your info because your shit is on fire lately. Everybody else, be more like Nutmeg.

(Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle)

It’s good to see some people have honor when it comes to competition. Too bad not everybody does. From Fighters Only:

Appearing on Brazil Combate TV yesterday, [Wanderlei] Silva said: “I’ve received a letter from someone offering training with Juanito [Ibarra] to me, but I didn’t care to accept it.

The letter “contained phone numbers that I could use to get in touch with Juanito, but I threw it away,” he added.

“I think it’s unethical to accept the former coach of my opponent, and if Juanito is doing this with Rampage, he may do the same with me later.”

It’s pretty despicable to think of Quinton Jackson‘s former coach selling secrets to the enemy, so to speak. (Not that Silva needs much help as far as game-planning for Jackson. Repeatedly kneeing him in the face has worked like a charm so far.) It’s particularly unfortunate because Jackson’s little meltdown last July was spurred by some perceived betrayal by Ibarra, and hearing that Ibarra wants to join up with his arch-nemesis can’t be good for Rampage’s psyche.

But hey, if Rampage is interested in the "formula" to beat Silva, Ibarra’s got that too…

(Phillipe just has to finish up some nurse shit, then he’ll be right in to kick your ass.  Thanks for your patience.)

Trying to come up with odds on guys who most of us have only seen fight under very specific circumstances has got to be a difficult job.  For all we know, maybe John Polakowski really is "a mean guy" in the Octagon, and maybe Dave Kaplan only looked bad because he went with the ill-advised, "block with your face" strategy that he now knows is a mistake.  We just can’t be sure.

Fortunately internet bookies feel they are up to the task of sorting out all the woulda-coulda stuff, and as a result we can still throw our money away on Saturday night’s Spike TV TUF 8 Finale show.  Below are the best odds in town, courtesy of BestFightOdds.com.

Efrain Escudero (+334) vs. Phillipe Nover (-364)
Vinicius Magalhaes (-165) vs. Ryan Bader (+160)
Jason MacDonald (+119) vs. Wilson Gouveia (-125)
Anthony Johnson (-225) vs. Kevin Burns (+205)
Dave Kaplan (+322) vs. Junie Browning (-325)
Krzysztof Soszynski (-345) vs. Shane Primm (+315)
Eliot Marshall (-551) vs. Jules Bruchez (+501)
Kyle Kingsbury (-116) vs. Tom Lawlor (+106)
George Roop (EVEN) vs. Shane Nelson (-108)
John Polakowski (-122) vs. Roli Delgado (+112)

Thoughts…

(They’ve come so far, and ingested so much of each other’s bodily fluids.)

With The Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale on Spike TV just one day away, we go head-to-head on some of the most pressing issues surrounding this reality TV-generated fight card.  As usual, we’ll be liveblogging the action right here on the Potato come Saturday night.  Don’t miss it.

Who will emerge as the winners of TUF 8, and of the two, who has a brighter future in the UFC?

BF: Phillipe Nover and Ryan Bader are the two guys who will end up hoisting those weird transparent trophies over their heads on Saturday night.  Nover will win because he’s an animal, a straight-up criminal, dog.  Even though Efrain Escudero has some skills of his own, I don’t think he’s as well-rounded or aggressive as Nover, and I think it will cost him in the form of a late TKO. 

Bader will win because even though Vinny Magalhaes is a hell of a jiu-jitsu fighter, he doesn’t have a whole lot else in the toolbox from what I’ve seen.  Bader has plenty of time to get his submissions defense in order, and if he can sharpen his stand-up and/or ground-and-pound at all, he’ll do just enough to win a decision.

Of those two, Nover has a better chance of really doing something in the UFC.  I’d love to see him jump right in and face one of the many tough lightweights hanging around these days rather than be brought along at a Nate Diaz-type pace, but the opposite will probably happen.  Bader, he’ll probably end up dropping to middleweight and getting schooled by the first guy he comes across with good sprawl-and-brawl.  But that’s life.

BG: I’m going to have to go ahead and sort of disagree with you there, buddy. If Bader has time to expand his toolbox beyond lay-and-snore, then Vinny can learn to do something other than viciously pull guard and tap his opponents in the first round, hot-knife-through-butter style. But why should he? Magalhaes is one of the scariest jiu-jitsu practitioners to ever appear on TUF and I’m not sure if Bader’s top-game will be tight enough to avoid being submitted if he decides to take Vinny to the ground. (Trust me, Magalhaes is not Eliot Marshall.) The Brazilian finishes fights, and I say he takes it via submission in the second frame.

(Photo courtesy of AfricanAssassin.com)

Dropped from the UFC just two weeks ago, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (5-3) has already been picked up by Affliction, and will reportedly face Renato "Babalu" Sobral (31-7) at "Day of Reckoning" on January 24th. Wisely, the Cameroonian fighter only signed a one-fight contract, which means he won’t be stuck in an EliteXC-style purgatory if Affliction crashes and burns after their second event. Sobral, who won Strikeforce’s light-heavyweight title last month with a doctor’s stoppage victory over Bobby Southworth, was originally slated to face Matt Lindland in a 195-pound catch-weight bout at "Day of Reckoning"; Lindland will now be facing former UFC champ Vitor Belfort.

Not exactly a tune-up match for Soko, who’s coming off a TKO loss to Luis Cane at UFC 89 in October. Sobral is about as seasoned as they come, and he’s looked particularly sharp lately. He certainly has the submission skills to punk Sokoudjou on the ground, though a standing fight could favor the African Assassin. Here’s what "Day of Reckoning"’s main card looks like so far:

- Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski
- Josh Barnett vs. Gilbert Yvel
- Matt Lindland vs. Vitor Belfort
- Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Vladimir Matyushenko
- Renato Sobral vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou
- Chris Horodecki vs. Dan Lauzon

(Photo courtesy of MMA Weekly)

In his first fight appearance in over two years — and his first victory since UFC 32 in June 2001 — legendary MMA pioneer/trainer Pat Miletich proved he’s not too old to beat some ass, overwhelming Thomas Denny with punches in the second round of their match at last night’s Adrenaline II event in Moline, Illinois. The 40-year-old "Croatian Sensation" controlled the entire fight, knocking Denny down twice in the opening round. As he said afterwards, "To be honest with you, win, lose or draw I was saying to myself backstage, ‘I accomplished something just getting back in to the shape I am.’ I’m an old guy, but these young guys motivate me."

It was also a good night for Miletich’s proteges, as the Miletich Fighting Systems camp went 5-2 on the night. Most notably, heavyweight standout Ben Rothwell took out an underqualified Chris Guillen, ending the fight with strikes from the top after a couple of submission attempts didn’t pan out; it was Guillen’s fifth-straight loss. Former IFL vets and MFS stablemates Ryan McGivern and Mike Ciesnolevicz also notched submission wins against less-experienced opponents (Geno Roderick and Derrick Mehmen, respectively). Overall, there were a lot of lopsided matchups on Adrenaline’s second effort, but honestly, what else are you gonna do in Moline on a Thursday night? Full results after the jump…

Remember Anderson Silva, the UFC middleweight champ, the guy who got so pissed at the reaction to his fight with Patrick Cote that he wanted to be put on another UFC card as fast as possible just so he could punch a hole in someone’s face and shut everybody up? 

Well he’s calmed down now.  Despite Dana White’s indications that Silva would headline UFC 95 in February, possibly against Thales Leites, Silva’s manager, Ed Soares, says they’re thinking they’d rather wait until April to fight again.

"With our timing and our scheduling, it just makes more sense to come back [in April]," Soares said.

"As of right now, nothing has been 100 percent decided yet," Soares said. "It looks like we’re looking to fight in April. We don’t know what can happen, but as of right now, I think we’re going to be fighting in April."

Okay, so that’s not a firm declaration that Silva absolutely will not fight in February.  He seems like a guy who can be convinced to strap on the gloves and hurt somebody if Dana White sweetens the deal and gives a speech that includes the phrase “it’s the boss’s car,” but it still sounds like bad news for the UFC 95 card.

("Rumble," pre-eye poke.)

Anthony Johnson has repeatedly insisted that he doesn’t hold a grudge against Kevin Burns for poking him in the eye and leaving him with a severely damaged retina during their July bout.  It’s the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which refused to overturn the TKO loss on his record, that really bothers him.

In our exclusive interview, Johnson tells his side of the story, and tells us why Saturday night’s rematch on Spike TV is going to turn out much differently.

CagePotato.com: Here we are a few days from the rematch, how is your eye, and what was the recovery from the surgery like?

My eye is 100%.  I can see even better now since I had the surgery.  It’s been great so far.  My recovery was, I would say, 3 or 4 weeks.  I stopped wearing my bandage after like two weeks.

Is there not some part of you that really wants revenge against Burns for making you go through that?

For me it’s still a fight.  A fight is always a fight.  I don’t hold any kind of grudge against him.  Everybody thinks I’m going out for revenge, but I’m not.  I’m going out to fight, plain and simple.  Whatever happens in there happens.

How can you not be even a little mad at him?  Are you just the nicest person in the world?

(Photo courtesy of NBC Sports.)

The first meeting between Kevin Burns and Anthony “Rumble” Johnson was marred by an accidental eye poke that halted the bout midway through the third round.  It was an unsatisfying end for both men, as Johnson would need surgery for a damaged retina and Burns found himself with a victory that he couldn’t really enjoy.

As the two prepare for a rematch to settle the score at Saturday night’s "Ultimate Fighter Finale," Burns talks with us about his decision to fight with the injured hand, his perspective on the eye pokes, and what he thinks of the attention the strange bout has brought upon himself and Johnson.

Check back later today for an interview with Johnson, who gives his often very different perspective on the events of that night.

CagePotato.com: Thanks for talking with me, Kevin.  Coming into this rematch, how do you mentally approach a fight like this, under these strange circumstances?

Mentally I’m approaching it like I would any other fight.  I’ve been in the cage with Anthony so I kind of know what to expect, I know what he’s going to bring to the table.  Other than from a game plan prospective, I’m not approaching it any differently.  Now I can utilize all of my standup skills.  Now that my hand’s 100% I can actually throw a left jab, a left hook, things that I haven’t been able to do.  That may make things a little different for him, but it will be good for me.

Tell me about the situation with the hand.  What happened to it?

I broke my hand three times in sixteen months.  The bone wasn’t completely fused, but if it was any other person doing normal things, not doing what we do, you probably wouldn’t notice it.  I can lift weights, I can do pretty much anything, with the exception of hitting something solid.  If I had hit something solid at that point, I had about a 95% chance that the bone would have fractured back through and I would have been back to square one.  

So instead of delaying my fighting career I decided to take a page out of Bas Rutten’s book in the old Pancrase days in Japan and use palm strikes.  They did it successfully, so I figured why can’t I?  I threw a lot of successful palm strikes earlier in the fight.  I couldn’t throw a closed jab, so I had to use that.  Unfortunately my finger went into his eye in that last palm strike that I threw in the third round.

The one in the third round ended it, but it seemed like there were several other pokes leading up to that one.  Where you aware of those, and did you feel it when it happened the last time?

(Hater Hurter, we hardly knew ye.  Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)

Johnny “The Hater Hurter” Rees will be released from his UFC contract after losing via submission to Steve “Hollywood” Bruno on last night’s F(2)T(2) card, reports Five Ounces of Pain.  It was the second loss in two UFC bouts for Rees (or, as I like to call him, THH), who was undefeated when he first signed with the organization. 

Just goes to show that a perfect record in the minor leagues doesn’t always guarantee success in the big show.  I don’t think I need to point out that Dana White should watch his back after cutting that dude, as he may now be officially dubbed a hater in Rees’ book.

There could be more roster cuts coming after last night, which isn’t surprising considering that the card was populated with so many inexperienced, unproven fighters.  Some of those who lost last night, such as Brandon Wolff, may just need more time to sharpen their skills.  Other guys who went down – say by a nasty arm break that was totally avoidable, for instance – might want to rethink their career path while they’re on the mend, or at the very least work on their tapping motion with the arm that’s not in a cast.

Some good news, via UFC.com, is that Yoshiyuki Yoshida was treated and released from the hospital, having suffered nothing more serious than a concussion in his knockout loss.  You hate to think of a concussion as the best case scenario, but after seeing the shot Yoshida took, I’d say that’s getting off kind of easy.

(This should be…memorable. Photo courtesy of K-1kr.com.)

Fighters Only is passing along a report that Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and Hong Man Choi will fight one another on the K-1 Fields Dynamite New Year’s Eve show in Japan.  Apparently the event organizers felt like with the card the way it was, there wasn’t enough of a potential for weird shit to happen.  This should solve that problem.

Cro Cop was hoping to settle his score with Alistair Overeem on NYE on account of the bad blood between them, but that’s already been ruled out, so why not fight a giant?  Choi doesn’t seem to care what happens as long as he gets to do a painfully awkward dance routine at some point in the evening.  URdirt.com says the bout will be contested under K-1 rules, not MMA rules.

It adds to a card that also features MMA matches like Eddie Alvarez vs. Shinya Aoki, Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Kiyoshi Tamura, Joachim Hansen vs. Gesias Calvancante, and a K-1 rules bout between Mark Hunt and Jerome LeBanner, among other action.  It’s sure to be a night of fights that is entertaining for several different reasons.

(Duuuuuuuude.  No.  Photo courtesy of our friends at Fight! Magazine.)

In addition to the nauseating injuries to Corey Hill (whose broken leg is seen from a different angle above) and Razak Al-Hassan (who, let’s be honest, brought it on himself, even if Cantwell was a dick about it afterwards), UFC’s "Fight For The Troops" could go down as the Gettysburg of UFC cards due to the sheer number and gruesomeness of the injuries.  That is sadly ironic when you consider that F(2)T(2) was a benefit show for injured soldiers.

Obviously Yoshiyuki Yoshida needed medical attention after being knocked out by Josh Kosheck, though there’s no word yet on how he’s doing this morning. 

CBS Sportsline reports that Jonathan Goulet was also taken to the hospital immediately after being knocked out by Mike Swick in order to undergo a brain scan.  He also may have torn his MCL when he crumpled up in an awkward position as a result of the blows, said his agent, Ken Pavia.

Then, of course, there’s Brandon Wolff, who received stitches for facial lacerations and definitely needed a series of rotating ice packs for that lump on his head.  Pavia, who is also his agent, in true Drew Rosenhaus fashion, said Wolff may have briefly lost vision in one eye early on in the fight after one of Saunders’ head kicks ended up sticking a toe in his eye.

Man, when the guy who gets out of there with only stitches, a messed up face, and an eyeball that’s been toe-poked is considered to be much, much better off than most of the other guys who suffered losses on the same card, you know it was a rough night.  Please UFC, for the sake of your fighters, no more benefit shows.  The roster just can’t take it.

No matter what Andrei Arlovski was writing down in that video, he’s probably better off taking some of your suggestions. Out of the hundreds of entries we slogged through, here are the top five, which all earn their authors subscriptions to Fight! Magazine:

Ted Nutmeg: Dear Diary,
Well, it happened again today. It seems like every time I turn around some guy is pounding a pussy that I went through two years ago.

Shagen: "Try to do something in the first 36 seconds."

CrushCo: i? F????! ??tt?? ??ty? soo?.

Lysol: "Tell Seth Petruzelli not to make plans on the 24th."

Xian67: http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/5765/notepadtransvn7.jpg

If your name has been called, please send your real names and addresses to feedback@cagepotato.com and we’ll get those subscriptions hooked right up for ya. Good times! As for the rest of you, cheer up by gawking at the lovely ladies in Fight!’s Girl Search finals. That always makes us feel better.

(The grisly submission and the nasty knockout. Props: DW)

Broken bones, savage KOs, and Ben Saunders in full-on BEAST MODE — "UFC Fight for the Troops" was truly a night for America. Besides the money they raked in for the Fallen Heroes Fund, the UFC made some charitiable donations to four fighters who helped the night transcend its whatevs lineup, to the tune of $30,000 apiece. Here’s who got the extra helpings of bread:

Submission of the Night: Former WEC light-heavyweight champ Steve Cantwell, for snapping the arm of Razak al-Hassan. (Note to al-Hassan: We can understand coming into the Octagon without any ground game whatsoever, but are we really to believe that you were never instructed on how to tap?) Shockingly, this wasn’t the only broken bone of the night. One of Corey Hill’s skinny legs snapped like a twig in the second round of his fight against Dale Hartt. Looking for a picture of the injury? Have an especially strong stomach? Then please, click here. Amazingly, video of the ill-fated fight is available for free on UFC.com.

Knockout of the Night: Josh Koscheck, for punching Yoshiyuki Yoshida into the fifth fucking dimension.

Fight of the Night: Jim Miller and Matt Wiman for their broadcast-opening three-rounder, which Miller took in a unanimous decision. It was a good fight and all, but we think those two bonuses could have gone to worthier recipients — namely, Ben Saunders for his Anderson Silva-like evisceration of Brandon Wolff, and Justin McCully for making sure we never have to see Eddie Sanchez fight in the UFC ever again.

Full results from last night are after the jump…

(Don’t ask.  Don’t tell.  Courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)

That’s right, people.  It’s F²T² time (Fight For the Troops, get it?  Thanks to commenter Rxdrug for the assist on that one) and I am ready to go.  The card may not be star-studded, but it’s a lot of guys with something to prove in front of perhaps the most testosterone-fueled crowd in recent history, so I have a feeling something magical could happen tonight.  Or, worst case scenario, we see some free fights.

Remember to hit refresh to keep up with the action.  I’m all hopped up on tacos and high-powered gas station coffee, so you do not want to mess around and get left behind when this party train leaves the station.

(The duct tape sponsorship proved to be one of Calzaghe’s best career decisions.)

Undefeated boxing champ Joe Calzaghe says he’s glad to be ending his career in the sweet science rather than beginning right now, because the combination of boxing’s self-defeating bullshit and the increasing interest in MMA (or UFC, as he calls it) could spell doom for the sport.  According to an AP story on NBC Sports, the champ isn’t very optimistic at all about the future:

"I think boxing is a dying sport. Globally — in America for instance — you’ve got UFC, which has taken a lot off boxing, business-wise,” Calzaghe said, referring to the mixed martial arts Ultimate Fighting Championship.

"There is too much politics in boxing, too many belts and too many champions, which dilutes real champions like myself,” he said. "There are four world champions in each division and it’s bad because there are no stars any more. It’s a big problem.”

While it might be a bit too gloomy a forecast to say that boxing is truly dying, especially after De La Hoya-Pacquiao just pulled in around 1.25 million pay-per-view buys, it’s kind of nice to hear a boxer who’s fed up with the path boxing has taken.

Even when the UFC pulls hardball tactics and throws their weight around in contract negotiations, it’s still better than what’s happened to boxing, which is as complicit in its own decline as any major sport ever has been. 

(And that jackass guidance counselor said they’d never amount to anything.)

UFC color man Joe Rogan and rubber guard impressario Eddie Bravo are in High Times (props to The Marvelous One on the UG for the find), apparently just sitting around and thinking about what an awesome invention nachos are.  If this picture makes you uncomfortable, definitely don’t click "Read More." 

If, on the other hand, you’d love to see what pure, unadulterated joy looks like, and you’d also like to be kind of creeped out at the same time, then have at it.

(‘You like what you see, yes?’)

It’s time again to raid our forums and answer your deepest questions.  This time around, we cover everything from fighter rankings to how to get into Affliction: Day of Reckoning on the cheap.  You shiftless no-accounts. 

If you have a question of your own head on over to the official Ask the Potato thread and we’ll deal with you in turn. 

Last time Affliction: Banned had a barn burning sale on tickets the day of the event, As someone who lives under an hour from the Honda center and a fan of seeing Fedor live at least once, would you suggest buying a ticket now or wait till the day of in hopes the box office drops prices again? – Hussdawg22

Don’t you dare buy a ticket now, Hussdawg.  I realize I shouldn’t say that, and I’m not helping Affliction’s cause any, but dammit, as your unofficial MMA-related financial advisor I simply cannot recommend that purchase.  

For one thing, you don’t even know for sure if that show will happen on that date.  With the Mosley-Margarito bout in the same region on the same night, and with all Affliction’s troubles, they may reschedule it or drop it altogether.  Anything’s possible with them. 

But more importantly, that event will not sell out.  You will still be able to get a ticket on fight day, and it’s a very good bet that you’ll be able to get a good seat cheap.  You don’t want to be the jerk who pays $250 to sit next to some dudes from Cal State Fullerton who paid thirty bucks a pop.

After seeing Torres tear through another "number 1 contender", what does the B&B Potato Entrapment Company think of level of competition in the WEC’s bantamweight division? Is it on par with the UFC’s welter or middle weight division and Torres is just THAT damn good or is it more along the lines of the UFC’s lightweight division where most of the weight division’s talent is in Japan?  — Geriatric Peon

(‘Poor bastard never stood a chance.’)

Frank Mir says it’s important for a fighter to be honest with himself.  Judging from his conversation with Michael David Smith at MMA Fanhouse, however, it seems more like he thinks it’s important to be honest with himself some of the time, when it’s convenient to do so.

Despite the fact that Mir’s bout with Brock Lesnar seemed to be going against him in the early minutes, he’s positive that he’d win a rematch.  Really positive:

"Brock Lesnar will never be able to beat me because he has no submission skills," Mir told me. "What’s he going to do, knock me out? No one has never knocked me cold. What’s he going to do, arm bar me? No way. He is powerful. He is big. But martial arts isn’t filled with guys from the NFL. Lesnar had to grab the cage not to get taken down by Randy Couture, who’s 220 pounds. Lesnar isn’t the phenom that everyone makes him out to be. He started at 30. Have you ever seen a boxer start at 30 and become a world champion?"

I’m not sure what Mir means by “no one has never knocked me cold,” but a quick look at his record reveals three TKO losses.  One of them was in 2006 against Brandon Vera, who hasn’t won a fight by TKO since.  Another was to jiu-jitsu specialist Marcio “Pe de Pano” Cruz, which Mir describes as his “pussiest moment.”

But whenever Mir talks about Nogueira and his chances in that fight, it really doesn’t sound like he’s quite as confident.

(‘Whatever, bro.’ Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.  Check out the full weigh-in gallery.)

So it’s not the greatest fight card ever assembled.  That much is obvious.  But it’s on Spike TV, we’ll be liveblogging it, and you don’t have anything else happening in your life on Wednesday night besides some old “Roseanne” re-runs and a couple Hot Pockets that you’ll be too lazy to heat up all the way.  Given those grim prospects, this is actually a bright spot in your week, plus it’s for a good cause.

To see how the betting odds are shaping up, we turn to BestFightOdds.com.  For help figuring out what these numbers mean, you should turn here.   

Josh Koscheck (-215) vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida (+220)
Jonathan Goulet (+328) vs. Mike Swick (-358)
Razak Al-Hassan (+275) vs. Steve Cantwell (-294)
Matt Wiman (+117) vs. Jim Miller (-125)
Brodie Farber (+308) vs. Luigi Fioravanti (-325)
Johnny Rees (-109) vs. Steve Bruno (+105)
Brandon Wolff (+326) vs. Ben Saunders (-355)
Nate Loughran (+145) vs. Tim Credeur (-131)
Dale Hartt (+265) vs. Corey Hill (-277)
Justin McCully (+161) vs. Eddie Sanchez (-170)

Thoughts…

(Great fighter, but he’s absolutely terrible at rock-paper-scissors.)

During a Q & A session in Fayetteville, N.C. to hype up tonight’s “Fight for the Troops” card, Dana White revealed that Thiago Alves is going to get the next crack at the welterweight strap after the Georges St. Pierre-B.J. Penn bout at UFC 94, and it doesn’t matter who’s got it around their waist at the time:

"He’s next in line for a title shot. If GSP beats B.J. Penn, then (Alves) fights GSP. If B.J. Penn wins, then he fights B.J. And then he’d have to defend that title for a while before I let him move up and try to fight Anderson."

Sounds like we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves.  The first thing Alves would have to do before any of this can happen is make weight for a 170-pound title fight.  That means no one-pound allowance, so he might as well start weaning himself off the Creamsicles right now (but OMG they’re so good!!!!).

This also means that a potential GSP-Anderson Silva bout is but a very distant dream, as St. Pierre would have to beat Penn, then beat Alves a few months later before we could even talk about that superfight.  If Penn wins, it will continue to screw up the lightweight division, as he’ll be expected to fight Alves and poor, patient Kenny Florian – that is, if the UFC allows him to try and defend both titles, which they shouldn’t.

I’m just saying, a lightweight tournament for a vacant 155-pound title sure sounds fun, doesn’t it?

 
(Look out, "The Manic Hispanic" is off his meds again.)

You might not have noticed this – and no one would blame you if you didn’t – but way down on the bottom of tomorrow night’s “UFC Fight For The Troops” card is a wacky little match-up between Justin “The Insane 1” McCully and Eddie “The Manic Hispanic” Sanchez.  And I swear to you I am not making those nicknames up. 

Neither of these guys has set the UFC heavyweight division on fire, with Sanchez going 3-2 and McCully going 1-1 in the organization.  Considering that they’re both about as marketable as mud gum, in addition to being two heavyweights who can’t even get on the televised portion of Wednesday night Spike TV card, I smell a good old-fashioned loser-gets-fired match. 

What’s weird is, they may not even realize it. Our friends at Fightlinker kicked themselves for missing this article on McCully, wherein he talks as if he’s just one or two victories away from a title shot.  He even tries to tell himself that coming in and fighting first Antoni Hardonk and then Gabriel Gonzaga was “probably the two toughest fights I’ve ever seen anybody have in the UFC.”

Sanchez similarly told UFC.com that he hopes to be in title contention by the middle of 2009.  Which means at some point between now and then he’d have to jump ahead of guys like Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez and, hell, even Cheick Kongo.

I’m not saying it can’t happen for one of these guys, but they can’t both be contenders.  Whoever loses here is going to have a really hard time justifying his continued employment.  The only question is, who’s it gonna be?

(Simpler times.)

The fighters weighed in for tomorrow night’s “Fight For The Troops” event (I’m really starting to wish there was a good abbreviation for that) this afternoon, and it was so close to being flawless until Luigi Fioravanti and Brodie Farber both came in over the limit for their welterweight bout.  Farber was 174 and Fioravanti was 173.5, so they’ll fight at a catch weight of 173.  Real nice, fellas.

The important thing is that headliners Josh Koscheck and Yoshiyuki Yoshida both made weight — barely — for their fight.  I hope Yoshida is ready to struggle through a good "U.S.A.!" chant.  Pro wrestling has led me to believe that it really demoralizes foreign fighters, and can sometimes even help an American get out of a sleeper hold. 

The full results from today’s weigh-in, courtesy of UFC.com, are after the jump.  Be sure to keep it locked in on the Potato tomorrow night beginning at 9 pm EST, because we’ll be liveblogging the shit out of this thing.  And if you aren’t here to make clever quips in the comments section, who will?  Not Jon Lovitz.  Man, is he ever pissed at us.

(Top of the freakin’ world.)

Good news, Roger Huerta fans.  “El Matador” is out of the doghouse and back in good graces with the UFC, having just signed a new five-fight contract.  MMA Weekly reports that Huerta signed the deal on Monday, so hopefully this means he can start appearing on broadcasts once again and Dana White will stop spitting on the floor every time his name is mentioned.  That just doesn’t go over at all when he’s hanging at Fiddy Cent’s crib.

In case you’ve already forgotten and moved on with your life, Huerta was on the outs with the UFC back in August when he aired some grievances to our friend Neal Taflinger at Fight! Magazine, complaining about his per diem during PR tours and later asking for ridiculous sums of money to resign.  Then he lost to Kenny Florian and saw himself becoming persona non grata with the UFC, and since then we haven’t really heard much from him at all.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the past year or so about the way the UFC does business, it’s that fences can be mended as easily as they are destroyed if only you agree to do everything they want.  At least it means Huerta is sticking around.  Sorry, Bellator Fighting Championships. 

(Props: Bloody Elbow)

Drop whatever you’re doing and watch the latest brilliant MMA documentary from our pal Genghis Con, which follows the careers of Frank Shamrock and Kenny Florian. Two very dissimilar subjects, you’d think, but Con manages to make it work frighteningly well. As with his past videos, Con’s choice of supporting footage (like Shamrock’s body-control demonstrations around the 12-minute mark) and soundtrack (Led Zeppelin’s "No Quarter," bro, and whatever that behemoth groove in the intro is) elevate TFL3 into something much greater than "highlight reel." Incredible stuff.

("Boooooooooo!"  Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

The UFC’s benefit for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund goes down tomorrow night at the Crown Arena in Fayetteville, North Carolina; you can watch the action live on Spike TV, beginning at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. The full lineup is here. While we’ll see some familiar faces like Josh Koscheck, Mike Swick, Luigi Fioravanti, and Eddie Sanchez, three brave mixed martial artists will be stepping into the Octagon for the first time. Let’s give ‘em a look-see…

STEVE CANTWELL (LHW)
Experience: 6-1 record, with all wins by stoppage within the first two rounds. Sole career loss came via TKO at the hands of Brian Stann at WEC 26 in March ’07; Cantwell avenged the loss in August of this year, when he TKO’d Stann at WEC 35.
Will be facing: Razak Al-Hassan
Lowdown: Cantwell is probably the only one in this group of newcomers who you’ve actually seen fight, as he was a mainstay in the WEC and won its light-heavyweight title just before the league folded its 185- and 205-pound weight classes. The 22-year-old Las Vegas native was supposed to have a rubber-match against Brian Stann at "Fight for the Troops," but Stann injured his foot and had to pull out of the match. Cantwell is a skilled kickboxer and holds a brown belt in BJJ under Sergio Penha.