Though he’s being courted by both the UFC and Strikeforce, where he is the reigning heavyweight champ, Alistair Overeem will likely have his next fight back in the K-1 ring.  A report on MixFight.nl, translated by our trusty friend Robert at Free Fight Videos, says Overeem has accepted an offer to fight 2008 K-1 Grand Prix winner Remy Bonjasky at the end of March.

There’s no word yet on whether Bonjasky has officially agreed to the fight, and after seeing what Overeem did to the dude who stomped his head in the finals of the Grand Prix he might be having some doubts.  If he does take the fight he might want to try and bulk up first, considering what a monster Overeem has become.

The bad news for us MMA types is that this further delays Overeem’s return to the land of little gloves.  His recent fights have made me all the more eager to see him in against big time MMA heavyweights, either in the UFC or somewhere else, to see if he can keep up these performances against top-notch opponents in places where there are commissions and – I’ll just say it – drug tests.   Looks like the wait continues.

Just for shits and giggles, rewatch Overeem’s destruction of Badr Hari after the jump.  ‘Cause what else you got to do?

(Photo courtesy of DaviRusso.com)

Chael Sonnen returns to the UFC this Saturday night after an eventful stay in the WEC.  After outpointing a seemingly confused Paulo Filho in his last WEC bout, Sonnen now takes on submissions ace Demian Maia at UFC 95, in a fight Sonnen swears will determine who the world’s best middleweight is.  That other guy, the one wearing the belt?  He’s not bad either, according to Sonnen, but whoever wins this fight is the real top dog.  At least, that’s the story Sonnen’s telling in our exclusive talk with him, which is sometimes surprising, but never boring.

CagePotato.com: Thanks for talking with me, Chael.  What’s it like to come back to the UFC again?  Does it feel like it did the first time you fought in the big show?

No, it doesn’t, and thank goodness.  The first time I was in the UFC I really felt that weight on me, and I think it had a negative effect.  It was exciting, but I think in a negative way.  It might have created an atmosphere that made me a little apprehensive, but it’s not like that this time, and I’m very glad.

Leaving the WEC as you did after that strange fight with Paulo Filho, do you feel like you went out on a bad note?

(Props: The Garv)

According to the profile on Anderson Silva in the current issue of Fight! magazine, the Spider actually started his MMA career 0-2; he lost his first match against Fabricio Marango before dropping a decision to Luis Azeredo, a fight that most databases list as his official debut. It wasn’t until Silva’s third attempt — a 66-second TKO of Jose Barreto at a Meca event in August 2000 — that the UFC’s current middleweight king tasted victory. The fight would be the first in a nine-fight win streak that saw him score victories over Hayato Sakurai, Roan Carneiro, and Carlos Newton, establishing him as an up-and-comer with enormous potential. Video of the Silva/Barreto fight is above. It ain’t much, but every legend has to start somewhere.

Below: A recent TV profile on Brock Lesnar, where a haggard-sounding, Busey-esque narrator takes us through Lesnar’s sporting life, beginning with some great footage of his college wrestling career. 

(Props: MMA Mania)

("Brow down, bitches!")

Remember when the WEC’s featherweight division just consisted of Urijah Faber and the handful of dudes who were sent in to get trounced by him? Now we’ve got Mike Brown and Leonard Garcia fighting for the title, and guys like Wagnney Fabiano and Jose Aldo slaying their way up the ladder. It’s an exciting place to fight, and the division got even deeper this week with two high-profile additions to the 145-pound roster.

On Monday, MMA Junkie reported that #10-ranked featherweight Rafael Assuncao was signed to a multi-fight deal, with his debut possibly coming at WEC 40 (April 5th, Chicago). Assuncao is 12-1 with eight wins by submission, and holds career wins over Joe Lauzon and Jorge Masvidal. Most recently he scored a 12-second knockout over Joe "The Triangular Strangler" Pearson at an Ironheart Crown show in November. Though he was previously associated with Unit 2 Fitness in Atlanta, Assuncao will be moving to American Top Team, the home of current WEC featherweight champ Mike Brown. Said Assuncao’s manager Malki Kawa: 

(Here goes Wanderlei, telling another one of his obviously bullshit fishing stories.)

The UFC’s summer venture into Cologne, Germany on June 13 is beginning to take shape, and that shape is already pretty intriguing — much like a dodecahedron, only not as pretentious.

MMA Weekly reports that Rich Franklin and Wanderlei Silva are likely to meet at a catchweight of around 195 pounds or so.  While it’s not the kind of fight that would determine a title contender – and even if it did we wouldn’t know for sure which weight class that contender might be in – it is the kind of bout that is interesting just ’cause.  Franklin and Silva are both on a sort of downward slope in their careers, so why not fight each other and see how it turns out?

Also a possibility for UFC 99, at least in his own mind, is Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic.  Fresh out of surgery on an injured knee, Cro Cop told a Croatian website (which was then translated by our friend Robert at Betwwx.com) that he was “very confident” he’d be fighting for the UFC in Germany this June.  As for potential opponents, Cro Cop mentioned Randy Couture and sounded pretty pumped about the idea.  

Sounds good to us.  If the UFC can add Cro Cop-Couture and Franklin-Silva to a card that already has Caol Uno-Spencer Fisher and maybe, possibly even B.J. Penn-Kenny Florian, Germany’s world will officially get rocked, as The Scorpions might say, like a hurricane.

(You call that a mean face?  Shiiieeeet.)

Betting odds are out for this Saturday’s UFC event on Spike TV, which we’ll be liveblogging as usual.  If you’ve still got the disposable cash and the devil-may-care attitude necessary for online gambling in this bleak economic climate, allow us to steer you in the right direction for this one.  

The juiciest lines on the internets come to us courtesy of BestFightOdds.com:

Joe Stevenson (+281) vs. Diego Sanchez (-295)
Dan Hardy (even) vs. Rory Markham (-108)
Nate Marquardt (-258) vs. Wilson Gouveia (+250)
Demian Maia (-256) vs. Chael Sonnen (+236)
Josh Koscheck (-450) vs. Paulo Thiago (+450)
Terry Etim (-220) vs. Brian Cobb (+205)
Junior Dos Santos (-260) vs. Stefan Struve (+240)
Mike Ciesnolevicz (-115) vs. Neil Grove (-105)
Per Eklund (-160) vs. Evan Dunham (+140)
Paul Kelly (-290) vs. Troy Mandaloniz (+290)

Thoughts…

(Props: BJPenn.com)

As part of his one-man Warren Commission on that unfortunate UFC 94 greasing scandal, BJ Penn has released a highlight video of sorts, intended to prove exactly why Georges St. Pierre is a dirty, rotten, no-good cheater. I don’t know if Penn hired the same team responsible for putting together UFC Primetime, but this is a first-class production, all the way. Imagine if Genghis Con was a crybaby bitch who couldn’t accept that fact that he got crushed by GSP — this is the kind of video he’d make.

Oh, I kid the proud Hawaiian. To be honest, Penn presents a compelling case, and it does seem mighty suspicious that Sean Sherk, Matt Hughes, and Jason Miller all came up with the same excuse as to why they couldn’t handle St. Pierre. As the saying goes, where there’s smoke, there’s a hot pre-fight bath followed by a baby-oil rubdown. Also, the video’s use of "Tom Sawyer" by Rush? A very subtle dig at GSP’s Canadianism. Where’s your mean, mean pride, Georges?

(Stefan Struve: Tall, young, and Dutch as fuck.)

From short-notice replacements, to submission specialists, to big-ass heavyweights, the UFC will be rolling the dice on a lot of new talent this Saturday at UFC 95, as six of the 20 fighters on the card have never fought in the Octagon before. So which ones will rise to the occasion and which ones are three days away from the most high-profile losses of their careers? Check out the brass-tacks briefing below and draw your own conclusions…

PAULO THIAGO (WW)
?Experience: 10-0 record (7 wins by submission) in Brazilian leagues including Jungle Fight and Storm Samurai.
Will be facing: Josh Koscheck (12-3, 10-3 UFC)
?Lowdown: Well, he’s a brave son-of-a-bitch, for one thing. Thiago is a member of BOPE (Special Police Operations Battalion), a Brazilian SWAT-style unit known for fighting the heavily armed drug gangs of Rio de Janeiro. Amnesty International has repeatedly accused the outfit of excessive force in their operations — and Paulo will need some of it when he goes up against one of the UFC’s top five welterweights in his Octagon debut. Thiago is undefeated, and looks great against scrubs, but the jump in competition here is massive. Still, it’s MMA, and a Dos Santos/Werdum-caliber upset is always a possibility.

STEFAN STRUVE (HW)
?Experience: 16-2 record (12 wins by submission), fighting all over Europe. Holds submission wins over UFC vets Colin Robinson and Mario Neto, and has never gone past the second round in any fight.
Will be facing: Junior Dos Santos (7-1, 1-0 UFC)
?Lowdown: Nicknamed "The Skyscraper," Struve stands 6’8" and weighs just 220 pounds. As if his beanpole frame doesn’t make him enough of an anomaly in the UFC’s heavyweight class, he’s also a submission whiz, which will put him at odds with the division’s big wrestlers and strikers. The 21-year-old (as of today) Holland native has been competing professionally since he was 17, and now calls Team Schrijber his home. As Struve told Fighters Only: "I think I can beat most of the guys [in the UFC]. They have five or six really good heavyweights. The other guys…not so good, I think."

(‘Hey, cut that out!  It’s mildly annoying.’)

UFC 97 will go on as planned in Montreal in April, with only one slight alteration of the normal rules: no foot stomps.  Considering that there was some concern over whether the event would take place at all after the local commission got scared and claimed never to have really sanctioned MMA at all, this is indeed great news.  Now Anderson Silva will be free to destroy Thales Leites as planned.  And if he loses, he can always blame the altered rules for taking away a vital piece of his attack.  Not that he really uses foot stomps regularly, but it’s the threat of foot stomps that keeps opponents guessing.  Now it’s back to the drawing board for Silva.

A report from Corus Sports that is written in some indecipherable script known as “French” confirmed the news.  We have no idea what it says, but oddly enough our friends at Fightlinker are familiar with this strange tongue.  And here we thought they only knew broken English.  Looks like we owe them an apology.

There’s no word yet on what exactly the commission in Montreal found so objectionable about foot stomps while at the same time being unbothered by punches, kicks, knees and elbows, but as long as Chris Leben isn’t added to the card we’re guessing it won’t be much of an issue.  MMA, onward!

CagePotato.com: What do you think of Wilson Gouveia as a fighter?  What do you think his strengths are?

I think he’s a tough guy, pretty well-rounded.  He’s got good stand-up and good ground.  He hits hard.  But I think I’m better in all areas.

Is there one aspect that you think will make the difference, or is this fight going to go all over the place?

Definitely it’s going to go all over.  If I get the opportunity to take him down and pound him, I’ll do that.  Otherwise I’ll beat him up on the feet.

Do you think a win here puts you in line for a title shot?

(Photo courtesy of 5oz.)

Following his bust for three unapproved painkillers following UFC 94, Karo Parisyan was hoping to take his suspension and try to move on with his life. Unfortunately, he’s still stuck in punitive limbo, as he was informed in a Nevada State Athletic Commission hearing yesterday that a final decision regarding his positive drug test won’t be announced until next month. Though Parisyan is still under a temporary suspension, his actual suspension will be retroactive to January 31st; in other words, it won’t begin on the date that the final suspension is determined, which is good news. Still, the uncertainty isn’t exactly helping the Heat’s panic-related issues. As he told MMA Junkie:

(Poster image courtesy of Frank Shamrock/Yardbarker)

Strikeforce’s first event in its new Showtime contract just picked up another big name. MMA Weekly has confirmed a report by AroundtheOctagon.com that said former EliteXC welterweight champ Jake Shields will be facing UFC/Strikeforce vet Joe Riggs at the April 11th card in San Jose. No, Riggs isn’t the kind of top ten opponent that Shields would ideally be fighting, but at least he’s competing again — which is pretty much how Shields and his father/manager Jack are viewing the situation. As the elder Shields told MMA Weekly:

That seems to leave open the possibility of Shields moving to the UFC when his current contract is completed, where he’d be able to test himself against the best 170-pounders in the world. The Cesar Gracie-trained fighter — who has won his last 11 fights, including victories over such highly regarded opponents as Paul Daley, Nick Thompson, Carlos Condit, and Yushin Okami — will also reportedly headline another Strikeforce event this summer, "against a well-known opponent."

Riggs has gone 2-2 in Strikeforce, most recently scoring a TKO over Luke Stewart at Strikeforce: Destruction last November. While in the UFC, he put together an equally-middling record of 4-4 — and infamously missed weight for a scheduled title fight against Matt Hughes in 2005 — but was able to collect victories against Nick Diaz and Chris Lytle.

(When people start comparing your mugshots, rarely do they reach a conclusion that says anything positive about you.)

After first reporting that former UFC fighter Kimo Leopoldo was arrested for meth and maybe attempting to impersonate a police officer, TMZ.com has provided pretty conclusive photographic evidence that the would-be CSAC Executive Officer has a little bit of a problem.  As is often the case with meth, the mug shot tells the whole story.  He doesn’t even look like the same guy anymore, and Sherdog adds this detail about the Long Beach Police Department jumper he was sporting when cops spotted him: “It had a badge in the front and the word ‘Police’ across the back, except he was wearing flip-flops and playing with a yo-yo.”  Dude.  Just…wow.

- Another recently arrested substance-abuser is in the news for good reasons today.  Josh Neer has signed a new four-fight contract with the UFC following his submission victory over Mac Danzig at Fight Night 17.  That’s a relief for the guy who was looking at potentially being dropped from the organization following his arrest for DUI, hit-and-run, and evading police on New Year’s Eve.  But he won his fight, so it’s okay now!  Looks like beating up a vegan is still worth something in this country.  Thank God.

- Lyoto Machida is hoping Keith Jardine will beat Quinton Jackson at UFC 96 in March and grant him a title shot, but he’s not kidding himself.  Talking to Tatame, Machida said, “I’m cheering for Jardine, but I think that Quinton is stronger, hits harder… I think Quinton is the favorite. I think I’ll have to wait a bit more.”  The undefeated Brazilian said he’d consider another fight before challenging for the belt, since he’s always done what the UFC asked, but added, “now is time for me to start to ask a bit too.”  Twenty bucks says he asks for the UFC to get him one of those TapouT caged beds.  If not, he’s missing a golden fucking opportunity.

Dan Hardy made a successful UFC debut against journeyman Akihiro Gono at UFC 89, and now he moves up to the main card to take on Miletich camp slugger Rory Markham at UFC 95 this Saturday.  In this exclusive interview “The Outlaw” discusses his strategy for avoiding Markham’s big bombs, the U.K. MMA scene, and the trademark Mohawk that he sports in honor of his nation’s punk rock pioneers.

CagePotato.com: Thanks for talking with me, Dan.  What are you expecting out of Rory Markham on Saturday, and what’s your gameplan for dealing with him?

I expect him to come to try and knock me out.  I don’t think it’s any secret what his gameplan’s going to be.  My gameplan is going to be to stay out of the way of his punches and land my own strikes and wear him down.  I think I’ve got the endurance advantage.  I’ve been the distance in a few of my fights and he’s never experienced the end of that third round.  I think I’ve got the advantage in conditioning and I’ll be able to drag the fight on a little longer until I get the chance to knock him out.

(Props: Sherdog)

We’ve already shown you the epic Ken Shamrock/Shamu the Whale match from last Friday’s Wargods event, and at long last, here’s the night’s other headlining bout, Tank Abbott vs. Mike Bourke. The comedy starts even before the bell rings. Even though Bourke was 8-11-1 coming into the fight, the ring announcer, perhaps thinking that what he was seeing on his notecards was a typo, declared The Rhino’s record to be 18-11-1. And you gotta love the lady-commentator’s mock-enthusiasm at the 4:00 mark: "I wanna see it go the distance! I wanna see it go the distance! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" The fight itself ends after just 29 seconds, following two point-blank rabbit punches from Tank. Awesome. Speaking of which, here’s how Ken Shamrock‘s weaselly little brother Frank described the Wargods show on his Yardbarker.com blog:

What, and rob us of the Ken/Tank superfight we’ve been waiting for since 1995?

After the jump: FranklyWashedUp on the UG unearthed this enlightening 2006 video of Chael Sonnen’s training and his life outside the cage, which includes real estate, a proud mother, and a hot girlfriend. Money line: "Even if I thought I could get a submission, I’m not laying underneath a grown man with my legs spread on worldwide TV. Some guys subscribe to that theory, but I’m a Republican, and we don’t do that." Hear that you jiu-jitsu faggots?!

(Caol Uno vs. BJ Penn at UFC 34. Okay, so they weren’t all brilliant performances…)

After nearly six years away from the organization, one of the UFC’s early lightweight stars will be making his long-awaited return this summer. MMA Junkie reports that Japanese grappler Caol Uno has re-signed with the UFC and will likely step back into the Octagon against Spencer Fisher at UFC 99 (June 13th; Cologne, Germany). 

After beginning his MMA career in Shooto, where he eventually won the league’s 154-pound title, Uno entered the UFC in 2001 and immediately fought for the UFC’s "bantamweight" (155-pound) title against Jens Pulver. He lost a decision to Lil’ Evil, but after going 2-1 in his next three fights — including wins over Fabiano Iha and Yves Edwards, and the 11-second loss to BJ Penn shown above — Uno was invited to compete in a four-man UFC tournament to fill the lightweight title that Pulver had vacated. Uno defeated Din Thomas by decision in the tourney’s first round at UFC 39, but ran into Penn once again at UFC 41 in February 2003. The two fought to a frustrating five-round split-draw, which led the UFC to disband the 155-pound division for three years.

Uno fought for K-1 during that time, scoring notable wins over Hideo Tokoro, Rich Clementi, and Kultar Gill in their Hero’s promotion. Last year, Uno entered DREAM’s lightweight grand prix, where he choked out Mitsuhiro Ishida in the quarterfinals before losing to Shinya Aoki by decision in the semis. In recent weeks, Uno was mentioned as one of the fighters that the UFC wanted to use to break into Japan. Said Dana White: "Caol Uno, I love him. He’ll always be a part of the UFC. And yeah, we’re talking to him, too." 

Uno’s next opponent, Spencer Fisher, is 7-3 in the Octagon and has won his last two bouts against Jeremy Stephens and Shannon Gugerty; he also holds UFC wins over Thiago Alves, Matt Wiman, and Sam Stout. So, it won’t exactly be an easy "welcome back" fight for the Japanese veteran.

Two videos of Uno actually winning fights are after the jump…

(Say what you will about Big John, he could rock the black track pants and latex gloves with the best of them.)

The Los Angeles Times takes a look at various cheating methods in combat sports today, from the illegal substance in Antonio Margarito’s glove to the Vaseline on Georges St. Pierre’s body.  The message here is that cheating, or “gamesmanship,” as Bert Sugar charitably tags it, is nothing new.  

But of interest to MMA fans are remarks from former UFC referee “Big” John McCarthy, which suggest that greasing problems have persisted for some time now, and that it’s no big secret, either:

"Guys will push the envelope in every way possible," former UFC referee "Big" John McCarthy said of mixed martial arts fighters. "Vaseline has always been an issue in MMA. It’s a real problem."

McCarthy has seen MMA fighters come into the octagon after taking a bath filled with soapy water or even baby oil. "You can’t notice it when they’re dry, but when they get on the ground and start to sweat, it starts to come out of their pores," McCarthy said.

There are so many things wrong with this music video — “Nightmare,” by Illfluent (get it, like affluent, only ill’er?) — that all you can do is hope it’s a bad joke.  It’s just guys who look like the poor man’s Kevin Federline rapping about their vague fighting prowess while on the other half of a split screen we see the same footage of Diego Sanchez over and over again.  

It also includes classic lines like: “All glory to God when I go in to war/Even if I lose the battle I’ll be back for more,” and “I’m the best of the best/You don’t mess with the king/You want your face cut open with championship rings?”

Championship rings?  Either these guys did absolutely no research before writing this rhyme (and for the last time, you gotta research your raps, people), or they’re referring to Fedor’s WAMMA ring, which means they did entirely too much research.  Either way, it’s official.  Worst MMA-related music video ever.  Somehow it’s only 4:15 long, though it feels so, so much longer.  Take notice fighters: this is what happens when your theme song is composed by someone other than Jimmy Hart.

After the jump, some actual interview footage with Sanchez and Stevenson from last night’s “Countdown” show, via ESPN.

(Photo courtesy of Knucklepit.)

2009 is turning out to be a blockbuster year for MMA fighters fooling around and falling in jail. First we had Josh Neer arrested for hit-and-run/DUI. Then Jeff Monson was thrown in the pokey for grandfather clock abuse. Then War Machine got himself placed under citizen’s arrest at the gay club where he works. (Man, that gets funnier every time we write it.) And now it’s Kimo Leopoldo, the UFC old-timer and dark-horse candidate for CSAC executive officer. If you guessed "drug-related," congratulations, you are smarter than a fifth grader. TMZ, as usual, breaks it:

Not a bad way to start your morning: Gina Carano has taken advantage of her current unemployment by posing for a new set of pics in Maxim. Check out her "My First Times" interview here, in which Crush/Conviction discusses her first fight inside the ring, her first fight outside the ring, and her first kiss. ("It didn’t smell good.")

Previously: 
Gina Carano Strips Off: The Video
Tonya Evinger Is a Bad Influence

(Your attempts at psychological warfare amuse KenFlo.)

Sounds like Kenny Florian isn’t buying B.J. Penn’s revised story about the alleged GSP greasing and ‘roiding tip off any more than we are.  Talking with Fighters Only, KenFlo dismissed Penn’s claims outright, saying:

"Yeah it went from an email, to a text to a friend of the camp. I think next it will be a fax, and then it’ll probably be a bird that delivered a telegram to him from a roommate’s brother’s dog’s owner’s sister,” Florian laughed. 

"It’s kind of ridiculous. BJ is known as a trash talker and he plays a lot of mind games. He does a lot of psychological warfare. …People have tried that on me in the past, but what they don’t know is that they’re playing checkers and I’m playing chess," he said.

There you have it, B.J.  Kenny Florian is not impressed with your attempts at mind games.  Try again.  Or just get in the gym and prepare yourself to kick his ass over the course of five rounds.  Either one, though I hear the second option generally pays better.

(‘Khaaaaaaannn!’)

Wilson Gouveia’s rise through the UFC middleweight ranks was slowed last May when Octagon newcomer Goran Reljic staged a come-from-behind victory via second-round TKO.  For Gouveia the loss was the direct result of a very specific mistake on his part, and one he’s vowed to learn from but never to repeat as he heads into his UFC 95 bout with Nate Marquardt.

CagePotato.com: Thanks for talking with me, Wilson.  How is your preparation coming for the fight with Nate Marquardt?

The training has been very intense.  I’m taking this fight very seriously.  I think it’s going to be the most important fight of my career so far.  Right now I feel very good.  I’m in great condition, no injuries, just ready to go.

Are you doing anything specifically to prepare for him?

Not really, to tell the truth.  In all my fights I try to be prepared for everything.  With Nate it’s no different.  He’s a pretty well-rounded fighter.  He’s good at everything.  I have to try and be prepared for the worst-case scenario.  He’s a good wrestler.  He’s got better takedowns than me.  I’ve been training a lot of jiu-jitsu off my back, a lot of stand-up.  

I think he’s good in everything, but I don’t think he’s great in anything.  I think his jiu-jitsu is good, but it’s not amazing.  His wrestling, I think, is his greatest strength.  But even with that, I don’t think he’s the best wrestler in the UFC.  His striking is good, but if you watch his last fight with [Martin] Kampmann, he spent like ten or more punches to put him away.  I really don’t need ten punches to put someone away.  I just need one.

You were on a good roll in the UFC until your loss to Goran Reljic.  What do you think went wrong for you in that fight?

To help hype you up for this Saturday’s UFC 95 in London — which will air via tape delay on Spike TV starting at 9 p.m. ET/PT — Spike is airing its usual countdown show focusing on the headlining fighters. The special debuts tonight at 11 p.m. ET/PT, with replays on Wednesday at 11 p.m., late Thursday night at 2 a.m., and Saturday at 6 p.m. Here’s the full lineup for #95:

MAIN CARD
Joe Stevenson vs. Diego Sanchez 
Dan Hardy vs. Rory Markham
Nate Marquardt vs. Wilson Gouveia
Demian Maia vs. Chael Sonnen
Josh Koscheck vs. Paulo Thiago

UNDERCARD
Terry Etim vs. Brian Cobb
Junior dos Santos vs. Stefan Struve
Mike Ciesnolevicz vs. Neil Grove
Per Eklund vs. Evan Dunham
Paul Kelly vs. Troy Mandaloniz

After the jump: Diego Sanchez gives us a look at his Lake Tahoe training camp with jiu-jitsu coach Xande Ribeiro, and discusses his drop to lightweight.

(Props: Nightmare of Battle)

Proving once again that Japanese MMA organizations have much better senses of style than their American counterparts, here’s the latest promotional image for DREAM 7 (March 8th; Saitama, Japan; airing free on HDNet). You can download wallpaper images here. DREAM 7 will feature the first round of their featherweight grand prix, which explains the inspiration for the winged fighter shown above. But since I’m a dumb round-eye, I have no idea what those characters on the wing say. Can anybody help?

Previously:
UFC 94 Poster: Pure Win
Fields Dynamite!! 2008 Poster

(Looks like Thiago wants to make this one personal right away.)

While discussing the Quebec Athletic Commission’s new opposition to mixed martial arts (and potential blocking of UFC 97) on a Montreal sports-radio show, Dana White announced that the first building block seems to be in place for the UFC’s historic 100th pay-per-view event, which will go down this July in Las Vegas:

Though Thiago Alves wasn’t mentioned by name, it seems likely that the welterweight division’s #1 contender will not compete until he meets St. Pierre for the 170-pound strap. Adds FiveOuncesofPain:

Speaking of Quebec, Dana White will be meeting this week with the Régie des Alcools, des Courses et des Jeux — which governs alcohol, racing, gambling and combat sports in Quebec — to discuss what rules the UFC would have to follow to hold their scheduled April 19th event at Montreal’s Bell Centre. Let’s hope Dana’s patented F-bomb-laced bullying convinces the board to have a complete change of heart, or else it’s no UFC for you, Montreal.

Sorry the quality is so weak, but this seems to be the only existing video of Friday night’s epic brawl between Ken Shamrock and Ross Clifton, which earned Shammy his first win since he knocked out Kimo Leopoldo at UFC 48 in 2004. We haven’t found video of the Tank Abbott/Mike Bourke brawl yet, so if you come across a link, please hook us up in the comments section. Shamrock and Tank will meet at a future Wargods card, sometime in April — which means that one of them will soon be on a two-fight win streak. Try to wrap your head around that one.

(‘I want you! If you are morbidly obese and easily beatable.’)

Someone should invent a time machine solely for the purpose of going back to 1995 to inform the then proud Ken Shamrock that someday he would be fighting a 380-pound slob with a losing record in a “Valentine’s Eve Massacre” show in Fresno, and that he’d be glad just to get the win since it would be his first in six tries.  

The look on his face would have been worth all the effort and plutonium, though you’d need to hightail it back to 2009 to keep an enraged Shamrock from tearing your head off.

These days, you need have no such concern.  Unless you’re Ross Clifton.  He’s the 6-9 fighter who stands 6’8” tall and weighs 380 pounds and yet still can’t fight his way out of a Wienerschnitzel.  This, naturally, is why Shamrock chose him as an opponent for last night’s War Gods event.  Because even if Shamrock didn’t get him, heart disease probably would. 

Shamrock dispatched of Clifton with an armbar in the first round after dropping him with a punch.  Now he gets the match with Tank Abbott that he claims to want so badly.

(Wow.  This looks like a shitty night of fights.  Props: MMA Scraps)

- Happy Valentine’s Day, love Arianny & Logan.  (Cage Writer)

– Jon Wertheim talks MMA with the N.Y. Times.  (The Fifth Down)

- Middleweight Madness: a story in videos.  (Fightlinker)

– Josh Barnett bashes KenFlo on the radio. (Bloody Elbow)

– Reese Andy cut from the UFC.  (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Fernando Vargas talks MMA/boxing.  (MMA Payout)

– What the WEC featherweight title really means.  (MMA Fanhouse)

- How to fight a bear.  (AskMen.com)

- A letter from the Octo-Mom.  (Holy Taco)

- 8 V-day movies you may be forced to see.  (Screen Junkies)

- Good old-fashioned wedding brawl.  (Nothing Toxic)

- Nascar’s highest-earning drivers.  (All Left Turns)

- Can baseball be fixed?  (Scores Report)

(Plotting his next move…)

Someone please explain to me what has happened to B.J. Penn.  Did he suffer some sort of brain trauma in his fight with Georges St. Pierre?  Is he playing an elaborate practical joke on all of us, or does he just crave attention?

First Penn came out this week claiming that Kenny Florian, the man who will likely face Penn in the Octagon next (coincidence?), sent him an email before UFC 94 to tip him off about GSP’s greasing.  When Florian denied it, asking Penn to produce the email as proof, Penn changed his story completely.  In a video post to BJPenn.com yesterday, he claimed it was a text, not an email, and it was sent to a member of Penn’s camp, not Penn himself, and that it included charges of steroid use.  

I’m going to have to call shenanigans, as they say, and for several reasons.

This week we saw a CP reader named "Goog" emerge from obscurity to make a seriously strong case for CagePotato Commenter Rookie of the Year. Honestly, it was just win, win, win, and more win with this guy. Here were three of his best moments…  

Goog on "Quebec Athletic Commission May Block UFC 97 From Happening in Montreal": It was probably all just a matter of miscommunication, because I don’t think there’s anyone in the world, even Canada, that doesn’t know James Thompson will eventually hit the ground.

Goog on "War Machine Arrested in Vegas": And don’t count him out too long. You know he’ll only be there two days and he’ll say something that gets him thrown out of prison.

Goog on "Stockton, Stand Up! …And Move to Pretty Much Any Other City in the Nation": Maybe it’s so miserable BECAUSE the Diaz brothers are there. If you could get them to leave, you’d probably be looking at the next Boston.

Amazing. We’ll also give a nod to Ouch! That hurts on the aforementioned ‘Stockton sucks’ post, who wrote: Perhaps the Stockton chamber of commerce should stop using their slogan "Don’t be scared, homie"

Anyway, Goog my man, you’re eligible for up to three CagePotato "Hall of Fame" t-shirts. E-mail your real name, address, and shirt size(s) to feedback@cagepotato.com. Same goes for you, Ouch!, except you only get one. Try harder next time.