(‘Sup.  Can we talk?)

Hey Ken.  Do you mind if I call you Ken?  Awesome.  Look, Ken, it’s about this Tim Sylvia stuff.  I’m concerned.  I know, I know.  Your management said you weren’t interested, and I was glad to hear it.  But then I heard that these Xp3 people are pressing the issue, planning to put you two into a pay-per-view bout in the spring of ’09.  Pay-per-view, Ken.  

The reason I’m concerned is because I think I know how this will play out.  First you’ll say no, then Big Tim will launch some half-assed personal assault against you in the media, and that’s when, easily infuriated as you are, you’ll give in.  Also, there’s money involved.  You know how you get when you’re mad and there’s money.  It isn’t pretty.

But Ken, I’m here to tell you that no matter how much you’re tempted – and you will be tempted – you can’t take this fight.  It’s like the sirens’ song: you’ve just got to tie yourself down and resist it, because it will only result in ruin.  Don’t believe me?  Well here are five good reasons why it’s a horrible idea.  Please, take a look.

1. You’ll lose…again.

I know everyone said the same thing about the Kimbo Slice fight that you had to pull out of.  And while I think they were probably right then, they’re definitely right now.  With Kimbo you had a reasonable shot to get him down and submit him.  You have much less of a shot against Sylvia.  His takedown defense is good and his jiu-jitsu is solidly in the ‘aiiiight’ range.  So he’ll just stand at a distance and hit you with those weird, lanky arms of his until you fall down.  Then he’ll act like he’s the king of the world and you’ll complain to the ref that it was an early stoppage.  It will be a huge mess.

It’s going to be nice to have Chael Sonnen back in the UFC.  He’s a certain type of asshole.  The type who prefers the cutting remark to the overtly insulting one.  The type who will sell your house and/or beat you up.  The type who might ask you what time you got up this morning, just so he can tell you, no matter how you respond, that he had already been up for hours at that point.  In other words, he’s totally sweet.

From the sound of things, he isn’t interested in just dipping his toe in the UFC middleweight waters, either.  He’s doing a cannonball aimed straight at Anderson Silva:

I’m not going to the UFC with a white flag. My flag is red, I’m declaring war. It’s always like that, all fighters when he grabs the microphone says the same thing, they challenge every fighter in the world, except Anderson Silva. A lot of folks don’t have what it takes, before even fighting they’re all ready yellow. I’m not going to do that, it would really disappointing to my fans. I’m the only fighter who wants to fight him, and the only one who has what it takes to beat him.

Reminder: Bounce to Spike TV directly after WEC 37 tonight for the final two episodes of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir, which will feature all four of the season’s semi-final matchups. They will be:

Efrain Escudero vs. Junie Browning (LW)
Phillipe Nover vs. George Roop (LW)
Ryan Bader vs. Eliot Marshall (LHW)
K-Sos vs. Vinny Magalhaes (LHW)

Some TUF fans claim to have already seen a promo on Spike that inadvertently spoiled the results. (Only click this link if you dig potential spoilers.) In other UFC news…

— MMA Mania reports that a lightweight bout between Kurt Pellegrino and Rob Emerson is in the works for Ultimate Fight Night 17 (February 7th, Las Vegas). Both men are coming off wins, with Pellegrino most recently defeating Thiago Tavares by decision at UFC 88, and Emerson scoring a 12-second knockout of Manny Gamburyan at UFC 87. Emerson has gone 6-0 with one no-contest in his last seven fights — not bad for a guy who started his MMA career with a 2-6 record.

(Props: NBCSports via BloodyElbow)

Saturday’s episode of Strikeforce on NBC presented a countdown of the league’s all-time greatest knockouts, including KOs from Cung Le, Frank Shamrock, Kazuo Misaki, Duane Ludwig, and Paul Buentello; part 1 is above, parts 2 and 3 are after the jump. Watch as Joe Riggs finds himself on the happy and unhappy ends of two featured bouts, Buentello gobbles up the #2 and #3 spots, and color-man Ken Shamrock uses the "sack of potatoes" knockout metaphor twice.

(A snapshot of a culture with confused priorities.)

Yahoo! Buzz has an article on the top ten most influential women of 2008, and not only did Gina Carano, who is described as an “undefeated kickboxing champ,” make the list, she somehow landed just behind Hillary Clinton.  You remember her, the first woman to have a legitimate shot at becoming President of the United States!?  Also known as Barack Obama’s future Secretary of State!!?!  Apparently that makes you slightly more influential than a female MMA fighter who beat a few opponents she was supposed to beat and struggled to make weight every single time.

Look, I love Carano as much as anyone, except perhaps the creepy dudes or Jared Shaw, though that’s redundant.  I think it’s great what she’s done for female MMA.  Her contributions to the sport through the CBS fights are immeasurable, and if stuff like this helps her get signed by Zuffa, while simultaneously upping the credibility of female MMA (also known as kickboxing, apparently), then great.

But ranking her #5, when you don’t even know what sport she actually participates in?  That’s just indefensible.  Not that we should take this list that seriously.  Angelina Jolie is #1, after all, because apparently being an actress and having/adopting a bunch of children is more important than almost becoming president or commanding an army of willing women followers, as Oprah, who’s #3, has done.  Hell, Sarah Palin is #2, and she’s just a step up from an especially charming contestant on "America’s Got Talent."   In other words, the list is pretty bullshit to begin with.

Maybe I’d be more amenable to Carano getting a spot on this list if she had consistently made weight for her fights.  Or if she had faced a tough opponent, like “Cyborg” Santos.  I realize only one of those two things is under her control, but my point is she’s not exactly a female Jackie Robinson.  Though, if you don’t account for inflation, I’ll bet she and Robinson got paid about the same.

(Props: MMA Mania)

(Aww, just wait till you get older and can grow a real mustache!)

Depending on how you look at it, betting on WEC fights is usually either a sign that you know something about a small-time, up-and-comer that the bookies don’t, or else it’s an indicator that you have a real gambling problem.  As in a Pete Rose kind of problem.  And that ain’t cool.  Just ask Pete Rose, who will still tell you he doesn’t have a problem, but will also tell you that he is not in the baseball Hall of Fame.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.  If you know the fighters you can have plenty of fun putting down an educated wager on a WEC fight.  Plus, it’s on free TV, so you can take that money that in the future you’ll have to spend on WEC pay-per-views and gamble it away!  Nah, that was a joke.  If you think like that then you really do have a problem.  

Here are the odds on tonight’s action, courtesy of BestFightOdds.

Miguel Torres (-525) vs. Manny Tapia (+400)
Brian Bowles (-145) vs. Will Ribeiro (+140)
Akitoshi Tamura (+300) vs. Wagnney Fabiano (-360)
Joseph Benavidez (-290) vs. Danny Martinez (+250)
Johnny Hendricks (-430) vs. Justin Haskins (+350)
Mark Munoz (-600) vs. Ricardo Barros (+525)
Diego Nunes (-175) vs. Cole Province (+160)
Bart Palaszewski (-260) vs. Alex Karalexis (+220)
Hiroyuki Takaya (+180) vs. Cub Swanson (-185)
Shane Roller (-255) vs. Mike Budnik (+220)

Thoughts…

(Photo courtesy of Shootboxing.org.)

Well, it looks like Brett Rogers is getting shafted again. From a press release that landed in our inbox this morning:

As with anything related to M-1 or Affliction, treat this announcement more as a possibility than a confirmation. But if it does come together, the Babyface Assassin had better be on guard — Yvel, after all, has three disqualifications under his belt due to biting, eye-gouging, and knocking out a referee. Still, he’s often brilliant when he keeps his emotions in check, and has won his last seven fights via stoppage, most recently a 22-second TKO of Alexander Timonov at last month’s M-1 Challenge event in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Barnett has been a perfect 3-0 since the demise of PRIDE, and last competed at Affliction’s "Banned" show in July, where he scored a second-round knockout of Pedro Rizzo. Personally, I’m happy to see Barnett fighting any legitimate opponent — and if he can punish Yvel for all his bad in-ring behavior, even better — but if you’re interested in the opposing viewpoint, Fight Opinion has four reasons why this matchup is "worthless."

(Fabiano and Tamura get serious. Photo courtesy of WEC.tv.)

Yesterday’s weigh-ins for tonight’s WEC 37 event at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas had no Filho-esque surprises, as every fighter succeeded in weighing what they were supposed to. The results were as follows:

MAIN CARD
Miguel Torres (134) vs. Manny Tapia (134)
Brian Bowles (135) vs. Will Ribeiro (136)
Akitoshi Tamura (145) vs. Wagnney Fabiano (146)
Joseph Benavidez (135) vs. Danny Martinez (136)

UNDERCARD
Johnny Hendricks (171) vs. Justin Haskins (169)
Mark Munoz (205) vs. Ricardo Barros (205)
Diego Nunes (146) vs. Cole Province (146)
Bart Palaszewski (155) vs. Alex Karalexis (156)
Hiroyuki Takaya (146) vs. Cub Swanson (145)
Shane Roller (156) vs. Mike Budnik (155)

We’re going to be running a little liveblog over here starting at 8 p.m. ET, so stop by and hang out with us if you’re free. As always, the event will be broadcast on Versus.

(You didn’t buy that plane ticket for Japan yet, did you?)

Five Ounces of Pain reports that Pro Elite could be very close to a sale of the company that might potentially revive MMA on CBS and Showtime, while at the same time putting the kibosh on the free agency plans of EliteXC fighters.  Apparently it’s down to three potential buyers, one of which is being led by King of the Cage promoter Terry Trebilcock (guess that Booyaa Fightwear ban makes a little more sense now, eh?), though the identities of the other suitors are still a mystery.  

The most likely buyer at this point is described only as “a company with over a billion dollars in annual gross revenue that also is a recognizable name.”

Just shooting in the dark here, but I’m going to say it’s Starbucks.  I heard they want to release a new specialty drink, the Kimboccino Latte.  It costs half a million dollars, but man does it ever go down easy. (Zing!)

Pro Elite is reportedly hoping to make the sale before Christmas, and if they do there’s a strong possibility that a new owner could round everyone up and successfully resurrect the relationship with CBS to get events on network TV again in 2009.  What does that mean for a fighter like Jake Shields, who seemed all but certain that he was bound for the UFC? 

It means that just when you think you’re out, they pull you back in.

The December issue of The Atlantic includes David Samuels’ profile of "Rampage" Jackson leading up to and following his July bout with Forrest Griffin.  It is perhaps the best in-depth, mainstream coverage of a UFC fighter that we’ve seen yet, and it couldn’t come at a more interesting time in Jackson’s life. 

The profile piece follows Jackson through a training camp with Juanito Ibarra, to fight night, to the delirium-fueled run from the cops, to the aftermath.  There are so many interesting insights into the life and mind of the former champ that it would be pointless to recap them all (which is why you should just read the damn thing), but here’s a taste that’s especially telling, knowing what we know now:

After a particularly humiliating loss in Japan during which the newly born-again Jackson was publicly berated by his corner men before being taken to the hospital with broken ribs, Ibarra called the fighter and offered to train him. “I kept hearing through the gyms that Rampage went crazy because he found Jesus Christ,” Ibarra remembers. The trainer shared his own experience of being born again, which followed the soul-crushing ordeal of losing the fighter Oscar de la Hoya, who went on to become boxing’s richest fighter under the tutelage of another trainer. What Rampage lacked was exactly what Ibarra had to teach—technique, control, and an older man’s knowledge of the fight game. Ibarra’s plan involved building up Jackson’s skills to the point where he could win and keep a championship while creating a network of profit-participation deals that would make both men rich. “He has his own rims out now and his own energy drink, his own toy, and we’ve got some other things in the works,” Ibarra explains. “No one uses his name without paying big bucks.”

And don’t worry, we even get up inside Dana White’s head a little.  Check out what’s after the jump, for instance.

(Shinya Aoki: Always prepared for a chilly afternoon.)

Eddie Alvarez and Shinya Aoki were supposed to have their showdown in the finals of DREAM’s lightweight GP in July — instead, Alvarez was declared unfit to advance after getting his right eye messed up during his thrilling quarterfinal bomb-fest against Tatsuya Kawajiri, which allowed alternate Joachim Hansen to step in and whip the already-exhausted Aoki. Now the two top-five fighters may finally get a chance to test themselves against each other, as a fight between Alvarez and Aoki is in the works for "Fields Dynamite!! 2008" on New Year’s Eve.

Cross your fingers that it actually comes together. Simply put, Aoki vs. Alvarez would be the most important lightweight fight you’d find outside of the UFC, as well as one of the best grappler vs. striker showcases in any weight class, in any organization. Though Alvarez hasn’t competed since the DREAM tournament, Aoki snuck in a quick submission victory over Todd Moore at DREAM 6 in September; his loss to Hansen snapped a three-year-long undefeated streak that saw him go 12-0 with one no-contest.

Hansen is slated to appear in a headlining bout at Dynamite!! against JZ Calvancante, alongside bouts between Kazushi Sakuraba and Kiyoshi Tamura, and Mousasi vs. Musashi. According to MMA Weekly, other rumored participants include Tatsuya Kawajiri, Mitsuhiro Ishida, Masakazu Imanari, Nick Diaz, Hayato Sakurai, and Ikuhisa Minowa.

From PRIDE Final Conflict (8/15/04), here’s one of Wanderlei Silva‘s nastiest finishes of all time. Soon after the fight’s one-minute mark, a sharp left-hook from Wandy knocks poor Yuki out, and the Axe-Murderer throws in six point-blank head-stomps just to make sure. Yeesh. Guest commentator Quinton Jackson got his wish to take another crack at Silva two months later — though we all know how that went. Will the third time be a charm at UFC 92 (December 27th, Las Vegas)? 

(Props: MMA Mania)

Nothin’ like a good old vanity project. Here’s the first episode of The BJPenn.com Show, which follows "the greatest mixed martial artist in the world" as he does publicity appearances and chills with the fam. Picture Dana White’s video blogs but with much-higher production values and a bikini-clad host who looks like an off-brand Brooke Hogan. Good on Penn for having the resources to make an ego-stroking informercial for himself. (Between the chick narrator and the reverent tone, it kind of reminded me of the John Holmes documentary Exhausted, which was parodied to amazing effect in Boogie Nights.) Looking forward to that pretty Wahine contest!

After the jump: The first official trailer for UFC 94: St. Pierre vs. Penn II.

(If that’s not a man ready to be kissed, then everything I’ve learned watching "The Pick-Up Artist" is wrong.)

Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva seems intent on proclaiming his innocence on the steroid charge all the way to Japan, where he faces Yoshihiro “Kiss” Nakao on January’s Sengoku card.  But don’t think he isn’t focused on his opponent’s not-so secret weapon.  If Nakao tries to put a little love on Silva’s lips, he’ll be in trouble.  At least I think that’s what this bizarre quote is meant to insinuate:

You need to be careful with the kisses too, huh?

Man, we are training this too. We’re training Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling and that too (laughter), maintain a certain distance not to take that risk. My hands are kind of big and I’ll always take care not to get close. Who did once can do twice, I don’t want to have problems, I want to get there and fight. I don’t like jokes, I have no disinclination to any professional who I’d fought, and thank God I like all of them and they all liked me.

His hands are big?  This is related to kissing?  Did he mean lips or, I’ll just say it, head?  Who knows, but these translated interviews from Tatame are always fun to decipher.  I am a little disappointed to hear that Bigfoot doesn’t like jokes, though.  Has he heard the one about the boy who cried ‘false positive’?  You know what, nevermind.  I don’t think he’s in the mood for it.

As for whether Nakau will try and kiss him, the only advice I can offer is if you feel it, don’t be afraid to show it, man.  You don’t want to go through life wondering, ‘what if I had tried to kiss that big, weird-looking Brazilian guy?’  Trust me, it’s the worst kind of regret there is.

(‘Looks like we won’t be eating boiled down wallpaper this year, after all.’)

Tanking economy, you say?  Not in San Jose, brother.  The official fighter payouts for Strikeforce: Destruction tell a tale of a local MMA promoter that’s doing just fine, even if some of the figures are a little strange.  At least most of the Strikeforce fighters will be able to afford a Christmas now.  And not one of those shitty Christmases where you make homemade gifts and write each other poems and everyone has to pretend like a haiku about a mother’s love is just as cool as an Xbox.  No, a real Christmas.  With material goods and stuff!

Thanks, Strikeforce.  Go to hell, haiku.

Scott Smith: $40,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus)
Terry Martin: $20,000
Renato “Babalu” Sobral: $50,000 (includes $25,000 win bonus)
Bobby Southworth: $20,000
Duane Ludwig: $32,500 (includes $15,000 win bonus)
Yves Edwards: $12,000
Kim Couture: $10,000 (includes $5,000 win bonus)
Lina Kvokov: $1,500
Joe Riggs: $40,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus)
Luke Stewart: $10,000
Bobby Stack: $5,000 (includes $1,500 win bonus)
Cyrillo Padilha: $2,000
Eric Lawson: $9,000 (includes $1,000 win bonus)
Tony Johnson: $2,000
Kurt Osiander: $9,000 (includes $4,000 win bonus)
Josh Neal: $1,550
Brian Schwartz: $28,000 (no win bonus)
Lamont Davis: $5,000
Luke Rockhold: $4,000 (includes $2,000 win bonus)
Nik Theotikos: $2,000
Darren Uyenoyama: $5,000 (includes $2,5000 win bonus)
Brad Royster: $1,500
Alvin Cacdac: $3,000 (includes $1,000 win bonus)
Jose Palacios: $3,000
Zakary Bucia: $2,000 (includes $1,000 win bonus)
Adam Steele: $1,000

Analysis…

(Photo courtesy of Tim-Sylvia.com)

Tim Sylvia, who has been laying low since his 36-second humiliation at the hands of Fedor Emelianenko in July, may return to competition in a month — on the other side of the world. According to a new report on Sherdog, Sylvia’s manager Monte Cox is angling to get him booked at either DREAM/K-1′s "Dynamite!!" event on New Year’s Eve, or Sengoku 7 on January 4th. Cox said that Sylvia has been granted a "certificate of eligibility" to participate in either promotion, and confirmed that he won’t be a part of Affliction’s second show on January 24th. No word yet on who the Maine-iac might be facing in Japan; as he told Sherdog, "I don’t think anyone ever knows until about a week before they fight."

But there is somebody that Timmy does have his eyes on: None other than MMA cautionary tale Ken Shamrock. As Sylvia tells it, “I was supposed to fight Ken Shamrock December 20…in a small show called XP3 Promotions. I believe in Texas, but it’s postponed to February now." But why on Earth would Sylvia want to fight a 44-year-old light-heavyweight who’s lost seven of his last eight fights? Well:

 
(Props: MMA Mania)

Nine bouts have been officially confirmed for UFC 93 (January 17th; Dublin, Ireland) — though there are some surprises in the card’s arrangement. Here’s what we have so far:

MAIN CARD
Rich Franklin vs. Dan Henderson
Mark Coleman vs. Mauricio Rua  
Alan Belcher  vs. Denis Kang 
Antonio Mendes vs. Andre Gusmao
Dennis Siver vs. Nate Mohr 

UNDERCARD
Marcus Davis vs. Chris Lytle
Jeremy Horn vs. Rousimar Palhares 
Tomasz Drwal vs. Ivan Serati  
Thomas Egan vs. John Hathaway

How you gonna leave the Irish Hand Grenade off the main card in Dublin? It’s blasphemy, especially when he’s already promised the fans a pussy-free slugfest with Chris Lytle. It’s also strange to see Horn/Palhares on the untelevised card, when you consider who actually did make the cut.

First off, Antonio Mendes vs. Andre Gusmao. Both of these guys got owned in their UFC debuts; Mendes was steamrolled by Thiago Silva at UFC 84, and Gusmao was overwhelmed by Jon Jones’s explosive athleticism at UFC 87 and lost a unanimous decision. So we’re letting them fight each other on the main card? No, this has to be some kind of mistake.

(‘Who’s up for killing some hookers after this?  Nah, I’m just joking.  Unless you guys are up for it.’)

Now that he’s finally done making a colossal mess of the California State Athletic Commission, Armando Garcia is threatening to become something of a Nixonian figure.  Not in the sense that he wielded an absurd amount of power and used it to attack the enemies he saw everywhere he looked, but more like there were any number of reasons why he should have been forced out, and regardless of which one you believe it just seems like a good thing it finally happened.

Could it have been the sexual harassment claims from an employee he had a romantic relationship with?  Could it be the efficiency with which he made California’s drug-testing and appeals process into the most questionable in the nation?  Could it have been the numerous fighters whose careers he needlessly meddled with?  There are just so many options.  Now there’s one more, courtesy of a press release from the bush-leaguers at New Era Fighting, who would also like a little credit for ousting Garcia:

IRVINE, California (December 1, 2008) – The recent resignation of embattled California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) Executive Director Armando Garcia apparently came from pressure applied after it was announced a year ago that New Era Fighting (NEF) was filing a  $500,000,000 lawsuit against Garcia, alleging a pattern and practice by the California State Athletic Commission of intentionally, willfully and viciously interfering with a licensed and approved event, which effected and injured New Era Fighting in the same or similar fashion as other mixed martial arts promoters, managers and fighters.

In addition to Garcia, the California State Athletic Commission, Frank Munoz (CSAC Staff Services Analyst), and the State’s Department of Consumer Affairs were also named in the lawsuit, presently in the investigation process for loss of revenues (past, present and future), film production, media exposure, credibility, television show, venue deposits, fighters and opportunity costs.

(‘Affliction…nope, sorry, doesn’t ring a bell.’)

Remember when Affliction trumpeted a huge announcement, which was mostly a ploy to detract attention from the “rescheduling” of their second event?  And remember when that huge announcement was that they would be partnering with Golden Boy Promotions, thus bringing the feuding cousins of MMA and boxing together?  And then Golden Boy said, ‘screw that,’ and decided to promote a competing boxing match on the same night?  

Well on today’s conference call to promote the upcoming De La Hoya-Pacquiao fight, the ever-intrepid Michael David Smith (or MDS, if you’re nasty) of MMA Fanhouse hit Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer with a question about whether they’d really be promoting both the Affliction: Day of Reckoning card and the Mosley-Margarito bout on the same night.  His answer was the equivalent of when you asked your mom if you could stop for ice cream after soccer practice and she responded with, ‘We’ll see.’

"I don’t want to talk about it right now," Schaefer said. "We’re still trying to finalize it. The one thing I know for sure is that Antonio Margarito and Sugar Shane Mosley will be fighting on January 24."

I don’t know about you, but to me that does not sound like a man who is involved in a solid partnership that he is genuinely excited about.  Granted, Schaefer’s first order of business on this call was to promote the upcoming fight, not one in January, but he stopped just short of saying that he does not know, nor does he care what Affliction does on Jan. 24.  Will they have a show at all?  Your guess is probably as good as Schaefer’s, with the difference being that you might actually give a damn.

(Photo courtesy of MMA Weekly)

For the first time since February 2006, an Ultimate Fighting Championship event will be televised in Germany, as the UFC has struck a deal to have their June ’09 card broadcast on the TV network ProSieben. Tentatively numbered UFC 99, the event is slated to go down at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany. If you’ll recall, this was the card that was supposed to feature the hell-why-not fourth match between Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture. And although the TV deal is now in place for a visit to a new European country, the main event is less certain.

According to Franklin McNeil, bout agreements for Liddell/Couture IV have not been presented to either fighter yet, and neither of them is particularly interested in the match; it’s possible that Liddell and the German-speaking Couture will be featured on the Cologne card in separate bouts.

Of course, lack of a superfight is just one obstacle in the UFC’s quest to invade Deutschland. The reason that German PPV provider Premiere stopped carrying UFC broadcasts in 2006 is because the buy rates were so low; coincidentally, the last event they offered was UFC 57: Liddell vs. Couture 3. And unfortunately, the German media hasn’t quite warmed up to the sport of MMA, or its central figure, Dana White. Check out these excerpts from a recent Der Spiegel profile:

If you’ve got 9.5 minutes to spare, check out this extended trailer for UFC 92, which runs down the event’s three marquee matchups. I have to say, I literally LOL’d at the 3:13-3:15 mark, where Dana White describes the Forrest Griffin/Rashad Evans fight as "the hard worker vs. the explosive athlete" — which, as every sports fan knows, is barely-concealed shorthand for "the white guy vs. the black guy." Later, the Nog/Mir bout is previewed, with Mir aptly describing Minotauro as "like a zombie…like Frankenstein. Every time you kill him, you think he’s dead, and the motherfucker rises again." Finally, we get another look at Rampage/Wandy III, which thankfully includes some PRIDE footage (which Zuffa seemingly only pulls out for very special occasions). Silva on Jackson: "I know he remembers my knee." And so do we, Wanderlei.

Speaking of UFC promos, the first episode of "UFC Primetime: St. Pierre vs. Penn" will debut January 14th on Spike TV. Each 30-minute episode — there will be three in total, airing Wednesdays at 10:30 — will profile the UFC’s current welterweight and lightweight champions as they prepare for their much-anticipated rematch at UFC 94 (January 31st, Las Vegas). The shows will be modeled after the popular 24/7 series on HBO, which has helped publicize boxing matches like Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr., and most recently, Joe Calzaghe vs. Roy Jones Jr.

Bonus, after the jump: Depending on the result of De La Hoya/Pacquiao boxing match on Saturday, either Roger Huerta or Brandon Vera will be wearing a chicken suit in a heavily-trafficked area.

(The Booyaa Fight Girls: Voted most likely to lie to you about working their way through community college.)

Banning clothing brands as potential sponsors is so much fun, Zuffa is at it once again.  MMA Payout reports that the newest addition to the blacklist is Booyaa Fightwear, an apparel-maker whose loose affiliation with the King of the Cage organization was enough to torpedo their proposed sponsorship of Mike Budnik in his WEC bout this week. 

King of the Cage was part of the Pro Elite network of organizations, but is one of the few entities that can still promote fights and is still somewhat capable of scratching out a living as small-timers.  Apparently this makes KOTC, and by extension Booyaa Fightwear (if ever there was a company name more inspired by the mid-nineties, I’ve yet to hear of it), a perceived competitor of the WEC.  And we all know how Zuffa deals with competitors. 

In the most recent episode of ESPN’s MMA Live, Franklin McNeil says there’s no way Fabricio Werdum is going to join the Affliction roster like he hoped following his UFC dismissal, and the culprit seems to be his unreasonable financial demands.  Funny, his unwillingness to accept a paycut of his fairly bloated salary is what precipitated his release from the UFC to begin with.  Could it be that having your sister act as your manager isn’t such a good idea after all?

On one hand, you can’t blame for Werdum for trying to squeeze some cash out of Affliction.  They are the people who paid Tim Sylvia $800,000 to get beat up by Fedor Emelianenko, and that was just one of many ridiculously overblown payouts on their first show.  But since then Affliction has been forced to tighten their belts somewhat, with rumors that some fighters under existing contracts have been asked to take paycuts for the second show. 

Werdum has got to realize that it’s better to fight for some money, even if it’s not the figure he and his manager/sister had in mind, than to sit on the sidelines.  The only way he’s going to get the big money is to prove that he’s worth it, and that’s not going to happen if he prices himself out of potential fights.  The options for fighters are lean and getting leaner these days.  Werdum might do well to make his expectations match that reality, and to get a real manager who knows a thing or two about this stuff.

(Kevin had made many trips to the pawn shop in his life, but this one was by far the saddest.)

According to Japanese tabloid Tokyo Sports, Kimbo Slice has joined up with K-1, and will appear at this Saturday’s K-1 show in Yokohama to introduce himself to fans; his debut match for the kickboxing organization will be in March, against K-1 heavyweight champion Badr "The Golden Boy" Hari. (You can see some of Hari’s work here and here.)

Look, I’ve never been a Kimbo-hater — the dude has unquestionably strong hands and may still develop into an impressive fighter — but if he could get knocked out by an off-balance jab from Seth Petruzelli, he may literally die in the ring against Hari, who is arguably the most devastating striker in the world right now. If I were Icey Mike, I’d be tempted by the surely-substantial payday, but the kind of loss that Kimbo could take against Hari might permanently relegate him to human-punching-bag status in the fight world. It’s choosing the short money over the long money, basically, and it’s a bad, bad idea. (Not to say that I wouldn’t watch the carnage if this freak-match actually came together, but still…)

In far more legitimate K-1 news, it has been announced that DREAM middleweight GP champ Gegard Mousasi will face four-time K-1 Japan tournament champion and two-time World GP finalist Musashi in a K-1 rules match at Fields Dynamite!! 2008 on New Year’s Eve. The NYE event, which goes down at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, will be headlined by MMA fights between Joachim Hansen and Gesias Calvancante, and Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Kiyoshi Tamura.

Hey, welcome back! Did you have a nice holiday? Well, you didn’t come here to talk about your mom’s stuffing. Let’s start the work-week off right with some Rampage vs. Wandy video-hype. Above is an original HL by MMA Scraps, which shows how their first two meetings went down in PRIDE — including some great behind-the-scenes footage of ‘Page dropping multiple MF-bombs — and what the two fighters have been up to since then (i.e., destroying people). As you’ll see, Jackson blames his first loss against Silva on not being able to breathe because of a cold; similarly, he now blames his first PRIDE loss against Kazushi Sakuraba on being poisoned.

But in the Telegraph UK interview video below, Jackson acknowledges that his past defeats at the hands of the Axe-Murderer were only due to him being "a terrible fighter." Of course he believes that he’s improved a great deal since those two ugly losses — though we already know how Wandy thinks the third fight will end. Silva/Jackson III co-headlines UFC 92 (December 27th, Las Vegas).