(Courtesy of YouTube.com/BellatorMMA)

Though Hector Lombard drew most of the attention at Friday’s Bellator show, the night’s best stoppage belonged to Chad Leonhardt — great name for a fighter, by the way — who scored a YouTube-worthy first-round KO over Daniel Keenan. Watch as Leonhardt crushes Keenan with an overhand right, then puts him to sleep with a mouthpiece-ejecting knee to the face. Thanks, Chad. Bellator’s upcoming schedule is after the jump…

(Props: Fightlinker)

Why do I get the sense that this video will eventually be played at Nick Diaz’s funeral or his trial, either of which seems likely to happen in the next six months to a year?  I don’t know, but perhaps no other single video on the internet is so effective at demonstrating that Nick Diaz is a) totally awesome, and b) totally insane.  

Look out, Scott Smith.  Don’t let Nick find out you’re painting your toenails or dyeing your hair.  He will go off.  

(Say something about Castro again. Hector wishes you would.)

Regulatory difficulties in Quebec forced Bellator to get all old-school UFC and move Bellator IX to the glitz and glamour of Monroe, Louisiana, but they did what any good promotion would do: grabbed some crawfish and rolled with the punches.  Last night’s event narrowed down their finalists for the upcoming middleweight tournament, and they had a bunch of other fights just for fun.  Here’s how it went down:

Middleweight semi-final tournament fights:
Jared Hess def. Yosmany Cabezas via TKO at 4:26, round 3
Hector Lombard def. Damien Stelly via TKO (strikes) at 2:56, round 1

Non-tournament fights:
Nick Ring def. Isidro "Chilo" Gonzalez via submission (guillotine) at 0:39, round 1
Shad Lierley def. Nate Murdock via unanimous decision
Alex Andrade def. Christian Fulgram via TKO at 2:01, round 1
Shawn Jordan def. Jayme McKinney via submission at 0:30, round 2
Chan Leonhardt def. Dan Keenan via KO at 3:03, round 1
Chas Skelly def. Mike Braswell via split decision, round 3

(Keyboard Cat finally gets around to mocking Jose Canseco. Thanks, KingAtRock.)

- Want to know what’s happening in MMA this weekend? (Fightlinker)

- Is Josh Koscheck first up for Frank Trigg’s return? (MMA Mania)

- Frank Mir says Urijah Faber was a victim of his own success. (Cage Writer)

- Tim Sylvia to leave MMA for boxing permanently? (Fighters Only)

- The UFC’s 10 greatest rivalries. (Bleacher Report)

- UFC eyeing Indianapolis, other midwest cities in 2010. (MMA Madness)

- Aleks Emelianenko may be infecting people in Korea soon. (NoB)

- An honest assessment of boxing vs. MMA. (MMA Payout)

- Maurice Clarett wants to play football again. (Scores Report)

- A happy hour fact to impress your drinking buddies with. (Asylum)

- Venn diagrams of movies and their black counterparts. (Holy Taco)

- Sylvester Stallone: Baddest bad-ass ever. (Screen Junkies)

- Wreck of the Week: Woman fights man. (All Left Turns)

- Vicious one-punch KO. (Nothing Toxic)

(‘So how about if, like, at first I’ll let you beat me up some, then I start to come back, but I go for an elbow off the top rope and miss, right?  And then at the end, well, I haven’t decided who should win yet, but we’ll figure it out. Just saying though, it’d be more of a shock if it was me.’)

Affliction COO Michael Cohen contacted Fanhouse’s Ariel Helwani (and you know the situation is dire when people are actually calling Ariel rather than the other way around) to let us all know that there is absolutely no truth to the persistent rumor that Affliction III will be the organization’s last MMA event.  The fact that they’ve named it “Trilogy”?  Nah son, you shouldn’t read too much into that, says Cohen: “Trilogy just means that this is the third. This is the third of the series.”

Yeah, that’s the standard use of the word ‘trilogy.’  It refers to the third installment in a long and profitable series that continues to pump out new editions several times a year.  Like the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and “The Godfather” trilogy.  Oh, wait.

(Shogun‘s hands are so heavy, he can barely lift them by the end of round two. Photo courtesy of ESPN.)

Did all our hand-wringing change nothing? According to reports today from MMA Weekly and SuperLutas, Mauricio Rua has signed a bout agreement to be the first challenger for Lyoto Machida‘s light-heavyweight title, in a fight that will come sometime this fall — most likely at UFC 104 in Los Angeles. How official is this news? Well, the UFC hasn’t announced it yet, and Machida has only put a question mark over the photo of Rampage on his website. But it’s looking like a done deal, unless Machida has a crisis of conscience and refuses to sign his own bout agreement, on the grounds that all Shogun did to deserve a title shot was beat up two broken-down former champs who came in with an average age of 41.5. Unfortunately, Machida seems like one of those "I’ll fight whoever the UFC puts in front of me" type-guys, so there you go. Don’t hurt him too bad, Lyoto…

(Props: MMA Mania)

Rivalry is the over-arching theme in this in-depth video preview for UFC 99 (Cologne, Germany; June 13th). First we have Rich Franklin vs. Wanderlei Silva, with much being made of Franklin’s decision to train with Wandy’s anti-BFF, Anderson Silva. Ace considers the Axe Murderer to be just as dangerous now as he was in PRIDE, and looks forward to a stand-up war. Wanderlei just wants to get past Franklin so he can settle up with Anderson once and for all.

In a card that’s moderately stacked with names like Mirko Cro Cop, Cain Velasquez, Cheick Kongo, and Caol Uno, it’s suprising that Marcus Davis vs. Dan Hardy is being treated like the co-main event here. But these two got beef. Hardy thinks Davis is a fake Irishman, and Davis thinks Hardy is a douchebag with a stupid red mohawk. Will their combined hatred produce a Fight of the Night?

After the jump: Some vintage California Kid from December 2005, in honor of his rematch with Mike Brown being just nine days away…

(Throw the damn towel, indeed. Props: MMA Videos.)

We in the MMA world always assumed that Fedor Emelianenko was Ivan Drago.  You know, if you take away the height and impressive build and advanced training techniques and replace them all with the opposites of those things.  Only now do we see how wrong we were.  Lyoto Machida is clearly the unbeatable destroyer of worlds with the funny accent, leaving us only to wonder, who’s Rocky in this analogy?  "Shogun" freaking Rua? 

After the jump, Raw Vegas goes to Wal-Mart to watch "Rampage" Jackson sign some boobies.  It’s a pretty decent life, even without the UFC light heavyweight title. 

Ah, the freak show.  Where honest competition meets the insatiable human desire to see something weird, typically in Japan.  In light of the events at this week’s Dream "Super Hulk" tournament, we thought we’d take a look back and count down the ten craziest, most outlandish freak show fights in MMA history.  Some are bizarre enough to be fun.  Some are just horrible.  At least one is actually kind of good.  All are totally insane.  Enjoy.

#10: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Zuluzinho
Pride Shockwave 2005, 12/31/05

Zuluzinho (real name Wagner da Conceição Martins, which explains why he goes by Zuluzinho) got his shot at Fedor for two reasons: 1) he is the son of the now legendary Zulu, the Brazilian beast of a man who should be familiar to anyone who has seen “Choke,” and 2) because at 6’7” and nearly 400 pounds, he’s a big, scary-looking fat dude.  What he isn’t is quality competition for Fedor, and that’s why he got the fight on December 31.  Everyone knows Fedor loves to beat a freak’s ass to ring in the New Year, the bigger and freakier the better.  

Just in case there was any doubt that this was an almost criminal mismatch, Zuluzinho erased it by going down with the second punch thrown in the fight.  We like to think that as he was falling time slowed down like in the movies and Zuluzinho allowed himself to wonder just for a moment, ‘Is there a chance that the Pride matchmakers haven’t been taking me seriously?’

(Image courtesy of AfflictionClothing.com via MMA Mania)

As our friend Kris Karkoski points out, "Naming the third Affliction event ‘Trilogy’ sure makes it sound like this is going to be their last card." Very true, though at least they’re finally giving us the fight we’ve been waiting for — of course I’m speaking of Dan Lauzon vs. Chris Horodecki. (Fedor Emelianenko vs. Josh Barnett should be a decent scrap as well.) As we reported earlier, "Trilogy" may feature that rumored somethingweight fight between Gegard Mousasi and Vitor Belfort, and the poster also promises appearances by Tim Sylvia, Ben Rothwell, Paul Buentello, and Renato Sobral.

Don’t worry guys, Dana already has you down on his tombstone…

With UFC 2009 Undisputed an unqualified success both here and abroad, we won’t be seeing five year gaps between UFC video games anymore. Dana White announced at last night’s 2009 Video Game Awards on Spike that next year would see the release of UFC 2010 Undisputed — which gives THQ one year to add heel-hooks and gogoplatas to the game and figure out how to animate Clay Guida’s hair. Of course, there should be a new crop of fighters in the 2010 edition as well. For those of you who have been furiously playing UFC 2009 Undisputed since its release, what other improvements would you like to see?

If you’re curious, the video after the jump shows you how to construct Fedor Emelianenko in the game’s "Create a Fighter" mode — though maybe he’ll be an official playable character one of these years…

(Gotta love Dana White’s newfound love of Twittering.)

Well, look who stopped by the UFC office yesterday, oddly right around the same time the UFC was putting together “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans as the coaches of TUF 10, thus leaving Lyoto Machida without a title challenger.  Why, it’s our old friend "Shogun" Rua.  White said on today’s conference call that Machida would not be waiting until after Jackson and Evans settle their black-on-black crime beef in order to make his first title defense, so could it be that “Shogun” has already been tapped to do a little Brazilian-on-Japanese/Brazilian violence? 

(The question is, will Rampage get hit so hard he does "The Carlton"? Props to rubmyclips via TheGarv.)

Deal with it:

(On second thought, no, I wasn’t going to finish my sandwich. Please, by all means. Props to Esther Lin.)

Last night, Strikeforce sent out a roundup of quotes from a media conference call held yesterday, where Scott Smith, Andrei Arlovski, and Brett Rogers took questions about their upcoming matchups on June 6th. While Arlovski didn’t say much other than he was excited for the fight and he should have stuck to his gameplan against Fedor, "The Grim" stole the show, discussing everything from his preparation for Arlovski to Alistair Overeem acting like a fool. Here are some highlights:

What are your thoughts on being offered this big step up in opposition?
Rogers: Once I got the phone call and Arlovski was set in stone, I was excited. I remember watching this guy at a younger age and thinking, ‘man I get to take on someone like that?’ He’s an explosive guy; he likes to move around. It’s definitely going to be a challenge, but nothing I don’t think I can handle. He’s big, slimmer guy. He likes to move, he likes to be quick and move his hands. I’m kind of mellow with the fighting stance, so it’s definitely going to be me taking my time and controlling the fight.’’

Yeah, that’s Miesha Tate showing off some of her assets (hi-yo!) in the new issue of Fight! Magazine.  She might not flaunt it as much as some others, but Tate is another female fighter who is both way too tough and way too good-looking for us.  Does that make us sad?  A little, yeah.  But this picture helps ease the pain.  If only we’d known how fine she was when we talked to her a couple of weeks ago, we could have really worked the old magic.  And by magic we mean been really weird and creepy.  Missed opportunity, there.

More Tate hotness is after the jump, and way more in this month’s issue of Fight!, which coincidentally also features an article by yours truly on everyone’s favorite mustache ride-offering hard-ass, Don Frye.  Check it out.

Shawn Tompkins talks Greenlighting – Watch more Funny Videos

There are two similar, but slightly different meanings for the term ‘greenlighting’ inside Xtreme Couture. Shawn Tompkins explains the kindler, gentler meaning in the above video. Basically, it’s when the pros spar and don’t hold back, which means somebody is probably getting knocked out. That’s pretty normal for an MMA gym, but there’s another meaning too.

When someone comes in to Xtreme Couture who isn’t a member of the team, someone who for one reason or another thinks he’s the baddest son of a bitch in a room full of bad sons of bitches, that’s when a different kind of greenlight might occur. It’s the kind that begins with the guy feeling like a certified grade A ass-kicker, and ends with him begging for the beating to stop. And who is the greenlight specialist down at Xtreme Couture? None other than Jay Hieron, who loves – absolutely loves – to put a hurting on big-talking newbies.

UFC light-heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida and #1 contender Quinton Jackson are letting some cats out of some bags this morning. First we have the above image taken from the homepage of Machida’s official site, which announces that Machida and Jackson will be fighting each other in September — we’re guessing at UFC 103, since that show is currently without a main event, though the Couture/Nogueira card is also earlier that month.

But here’s the weird part: TUF 10 is slated to premiere in September — and weren’t Machida and Rampage supposed to be coaching against each other? Well, Rampage will definitely be a coach on the show (visual proof after the jump), but new reports indicate that the Dragon will be sitting this season out.

("Back, and to the left…back, and to the left…")

With Jason Pierce pulled from the competition due to a combination of staph infection and bitchassness, Team USA needs to replace him with one of their eliminated welterweights. Mark Miller tells Dana White that he’s down to fight, but he has a broken nose ("It’s just a nose, I’m not getting any prettier"), and privately he wonders if he’s ready, since he hasn’t been able to train since his last fight. Frank Lester wants it bad, but his face is an absolute mess, with two black eyes, an aching nose, and a row of missing teeth.

Santino interrogates Pierce about why he isn’t fighting. Pierce claims that he totally tried to stay in the competition, but Dana looked at his leg and said he couldn’t fight — which is not exactly what happened, and the guys know it. Damarques thinks Pierce should be stripped of his TapouT gear. Lester furiously shadow-boxes.

(When Frank Trigg finds himself in a jam, he just asks that suave son of a bitch in the mirror what to do. And he always knows just what to say)

Like it or not, Frank “Twinkle Toes” Trigg is headed back to the UFC Octagon for another go ‘round.  He’s thirty-seven years old and yet just signed a four-fight deal to compete in the UFC’s welterweight division, despite having competed intermittently as a middleweight recently.  Either the UFC felt his current four-fight winning streak or his 7-2 record since leaving the organization was good enough to justify another shot at the big time, or else they’re in desperate need of someone for Matt Hughes to fight.  Because oh no, Country Breakfast isn’t ready to hang it up just yet.

Shawn Tompkins talks training, future stars – Watch more Funny Videos

I stopped in to Xtreme Couture while I was in Las Vegas last week and in addition to hearing Jan Nortje get yelled at I also got to sit down for a talk with renowned trainer Shawn Tompkins, which I captured in all its low quality glory on my Flip Mino camera.  Here’s a few minutes from our conversation where we discussed Wanderlei Silva and Brazilian time, why Mark Coleman’s always broke, and who Tompkins has really been impressed by in the gym lately.  The answer to that last question might surprise you.  I know it shocked the hell out of me.

(Lyoto may have put an entire weight class to sleep on Saturday. Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

Over the last couple years, we’ve heard the same lines repeated about the UFC’s marquee weight-class: The light-heavyweight division is freakin’ stacked. Eight or nine of the top ten 205′ers in the world live there. It’s a shark tank, where any fighter could be champion on any given day. But after Lyoto Machida dethroned Rashad Evans in a lopsided sparring clinic at UFC 98, it suddenly didn’t feel that way any more.

If Machida can defeat Quinton Jackson later this year — and there’s no reason to think he won’t, since Jackson’s increasingly one-dimensional boxing style is virtually tailor-made for Machida — he’ll establish an Anderson Silva-like dominance over the light-heavyweight division; the contenders in his weight class will appear relatively weak since nobody can touch him. Or maybe the UFC’s light-heavyweights really have gotten weaker. Let’s run it down…

(Props: Gina-Carano.org via TheGarv)

During their recent Maxim Hot 100 2009 Special, E! got Gina Carano to open up about her love of a good knockout, the infamous Yoko moment on Amercian Gladiators, as well as her appreciation for her own breasts (1:49-1:55). Anyway, thought you’d be interested. On a more serious note, Carano expects to formally sign with Strikeforce in the very near future, and will likely take on Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos in August.

(It’s time you and Vitor had a talk about that investment portfolio he’s been managing for you. You better sit down for this.)

Just a day after former Dream middleweight champ Gegard Mousasi told everyone that he was fighting Vitor Belfort at Affliction III this summer, Belfort has responded by saying that Mousasi needs to put down the fork if the two of them are to have any shot of getting it on. Talking to those clever translators at Tatame who can make any foray into the English language an adventure, Belfort said he hasn’t gotten any confirmation from Affliction regarding his next fight, but added:

(Photo courtesy of The Sun.)

Thanks to his befuddling style and tendency to make opponents look like total amateurs, Lyoto Machida has never been one of those guys who other fighters like to call out. But a champion needs contenders, and if Quinton Jackson can’t figure out how to beat the Dragon later this year, someone will need to step up. Enter Mark Coleman. LatestMMANews chatted with the UFC Hall of Famer following UFC 98 and passed along these quotes:

(Image courtesy of twitter.com/mayhemmiller. Props to MMA Mania for the tip.)

Nothing like a crude insult to get people hyped for a re-rematch. While watching DREAM.9 yesterday morning, we were surprised at the level of anger Jason Miller displayed towards Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza when their fight was halted by doctors and eventually stopped due to the giant soccer-kick-related cut on the Brazilian fighter’s scalp. (The video is after the jump in case you haven’t seen it.) After all, Jacare wanted to keep fighting, and it’s not like he put that gash on his head himself.

Was Miller just pissed that his new MTV fans didn’t get to see him beat some ass? Or was there bad blood between Mayhem and Jacare that we don’t know about? At any rate, it seems like Miller wants to make things publicly personal for his third meeting with Souza. That match hasn’t yet been tied to a specific DREAM event yet, though the next rounds of their Super Hulk and Featherweight GP tournaments are slated for September in Tokyo.

UPDATE: More verbal abuse from Mayhem, via TheGarv

(What do you want to bet that particular hunk of metal and leather is hanging in a San Diego pawn shop right now?)

After bailing on EliteXC and their weirdo 160-pound title to become one of those fighters who wear big gloves and agree to stand and bang using just their fists – or, to put it more succinctly, a boxer – K.J. Noons might be eyeing a return to MMA with Strikeforce.  Talking to WatchKalibRun, Noons confirmed that he had dropped his somewhat notorious manager, Mark Dion, and was talking with Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, who saw this thing coming a mile away.  While that’s far from an agreement to fight Nick Diaz and finally prove that he is not scared, homey, it’s at least a step in the right direction for a talented fighter with sometimes questionable motivation.

Noons said that he’d be “down” to face Diaz again, and claimed he wouldn’t mind going up or down in weight.  What he didn’t say, however, was that he wants to be a full-time MMA fighter.  He seems to think he can be both a boxer and an MMA fighter.  He lost his last boxing match in March via decision, and it’s fair to say that the boxing world in general does not give a damn about him (at least compared to MMA, which gives at least a little bit of a damn), you have to wonder why he won’t just commit himself to a sport where he could actually go somewhere?  Come on KJ, are takedowns and leg kicks really all that bad?

(The flannel is coming back, bitches.)

Fresh off this morning’s Dream.9, which we’ll go ahead and call a success in the sense that no one died during the “ridiculously stupendous” freak show portion of the evening, Dream already has some plans for their next event, predictably titled Dream.10.  The organization announced that WAMMA lightweight champion (that’s still a real thing, right?) Shinya Aoki will face Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro in what will be Aoki’s first actual MMA fight since his TKO loss to Hayato “Mach” Sakurai.

Also at Dream.10, Melvin Manhoef will take on mercurial former WEC middleweight champion Paulo Filho in a fight that could be an awesome clash of styles or a complete mess.  I think we can all agree that Filho stands a good chance if he shows up in shape, focused, and not with one foot in the spirit world, but will get absolutely decapitated if he wigs out like he did against Chael Sonnen in his last fight.  Either way, it’s a strong addition to the July 20th fight card, which also includes the semi-final and final rounds of the Dream welterweight grand prix tournament, and possibly even the return of Kazushi Sakuraba.  Because hey, he’s not dead yet, and he’d prefer that the end come in the ring in front of a silent arena of Japanese fans.

In other bookings news…

(When you’ve got a championship belt on your shoulder and 200k in your pocket, all the ladies want a piece of you — even the old and busted ones. That’s your mom @ 0:37-1:01. Props to TATAMETV.)

The fighters who did battle at UFC 98 took home $1,196,000 in disclosed salaries and bonuses, according to figures released today by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Though Rashad Evans came into Saturday’s event with the highest to-show salary in the building ($200,000), Lyoto Machida tied his purse when bonuses were added in, and Matt Hughes actually surpassed both of them thanks to his bumps. The numbers — which don’t include any undisclosed backstage palm-greasing — are below…

Matt Hughes — $260,000 (includes $100,000 win bonus and $60,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
Lyoto Machida — $200,000 (includes $70,000 win bonus and $60,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
Rashad Evans — $200,000
Matt Serra — $135,000 (includes $60,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
Brock Larson — $102,000 (includes $21,000 win bonus and $60,000 Submission of the Night bonus)

(Props: MMA Bloodbath)

If you were paying attention during UFC 98, you probably noticed that every time referee Yves Lavigne was introduced, he was booed as if the crowd just saw a video of him farting on sandwiches. No, it wasn’t leftover hate from the Brown/Sell fiasco — the crowd actually turned on him thanks to his controversial handling of the preliminary match between Kyle Bradley and TUF 8 lightweight finalist Phillipe Nover. Taking a look at the video above, we see the following…

Instead of releasing a timely, orderly stream of video blogs for UFC 98, Dana White and co. opted to do a couple before the event and then a multi-part epic afterwards.  As with most multi-part epics, the majority is forgettable stuff that should have been edited out.  But around the eight-minute mark in this video things get interesting when Dana White does an interview with Edge Magazine and claims that everyone from fighters to fans would be totally cool with an openly gay athlete in the UFC.  

This is obviously not true, and Dana White knows it’s not true.  What’s amazing is not that he says it anyway, but that he thinks pretending to be ignorant of homophobia in the world of men’s pro sports is the best way to smooth things over with the gay community.   It isn’t.  It’s blatant pandering, and the effect is actually worse than admitting that the world of MMA would have a tough time adjusting to an openly gay fighter.