(Combat Lifestyle captures Bisping’s wrestling practice at the brand new TapouT training center in Las Vegas.)

Here’s Michael Bisping, or as he will soon come to be known, “Johnny Takedown,” working on his wrestling skillz in advance of his UFC 100 bout with Dan Henderson next weekend.  You’ll recall that we previously laughed off the idea that Bisping might try and take Hendo down rather than just focusing all his energy on trying to stay upright.  And sure, maybe double-legs were only 10% of a wrestling practice that was 90% about sprawling and scrambling back to the feet.  Still, training takedowns this close to the fight makes it seem suspiciously like Bisping intends to turn Henderson’s greatest strengths against him.

If that is the plan, it’s now officially the worst kept secret in MMA.  Imagine how shocked Henderson would have been to see Bisping shoot for a takedown right off the bat.  Not now though.  After his wrestling coach blew up his spot and these pictures hit the internet, it’s safe to say the element of surprise is gone.

(The secret to a good striking workout with Frank Mir?  Tell him that the focus mitts called him chubby.)

After Brock Lesnar’s unfortunate UFC debut against Frank Mir you may be wondering whether we’ll see the same full-steam-ahead Lesnar that got himself kneebarred in the first encounter, or whether he’ll look to change it up for the heavyweight championship showdown at UFC 100.  Well, as long as it’s up for debate, Mir would like to offer a suggestion via an email sent out by the UFC.  It goes a little something like this:

"If Brock really comes out and tries to abandon the running at me, heads over heels and just trying to knock, bull rush me over, I honestly think that’s his best approach," said Mir, with a black shine circling his eye. "I would just come after me – take a chance, ’cause to sit there and play the cat and mouse game with me, and jab and slip and move around, I think that’s a slow death for him that he can’t possibly win."

(Props: ‘SmashedAceHole’ on the UG. Fight starts at the 3:03 mark.)

Before he was the UFC’s #1 welterweight contender and a Fight! magazine cover-boy, Thiago Alves was just a young scrapper whose last name was consistently butchered by announcers and commentators. Alvs’s Alvarez’s Pitbull’s eighth pro MMA match took place at a King of the Cage event in Cleveland back in February 2005, where he faced then-undefeated Jeff Cox, who entered the cage sporting maroon Aokipants and a hairstyle that might be described as a "nohawk." After missing a head kick, Alves grabbed a Thai clinch and found Cox’s snooze-button with a knee to the chin. He then fired punches into Cox’s grill until Herb Dean dove on to stop the abuse. Alves caught the attention of the UFC with the 15-second KO win, and would make his Octagon debut eight months later. All Cox got was the shame of waking up in Cleveland wearing red tights.

(Oh, please. In my day, we’d fight with three broken hands. Photo courtesy of Brawlin.net.)

Jamie Varner‘s technical split-decision over Donald Cerrone at WEC 38 counted as a win on his record, but it sure didn’t feel like one. Varner left the cage that night with a broken hand, a broken foot, impaired vision from the illegal knee that ended the match, and heaps of abuse from fans who thought he should have sacked up and finished out the last three minutes of the fight, which he was leading on the scorecards. Five months later, Varner is still feeling the after-effects of that brutal five-rounder. Last week, he Twittered the disappointing news that his hand is still fractured, and with no return date in sight, reports began emerging that his cowboy-hat-wearing nemesis and Benson Henderson would fight for an interim lightweight title. And then, things got even worse.

(Looks like someone unwittingly captured one of many moments of utter despair in the life of an NYC cab driver.  Hang in there, buddy.)

What is it about Fedor Emelianenko that makes advertisers intent on turning his relative lack of fame into a selling point?  Fanhouse’s Ariel Helwani spotted a new Fedor-related HDNet ad campaign in New York City this week, featuring a photo of the Russian’s face with the tagline “Do you know who I am?”  If you know anything about New Yorkers, you probably know that the answer most of them would give when confronted with this question is: ‘Yeah, you’re the guy who should go fuck himself.’  

(Just a couple of poor boys fighting over scraps of food and tens of thousands of dollars.)

This week I debated MMA writer/Army officer Kelly Crigger on a number of MMA-related topics (what’s that, sounds suspiciously like our Ben vs. Ben feature? Yeah, tell it to Crigger, *cough*ripoff*cough), but the one where we seemed to differ the most revolved around whether the WEC can now make a successful transition to pay-per-view.  Kelly argues yes, pointing to the excitement provided by the last WEC event and the need to improve fighter pay in Zuffa’s little guy organization.  He’s right, of course.  They have been putting on good shows lately and Mike Brown does deserve a raise, but it doesn’t mean I’m personally prepared to give it to him.

(Props: MMA Mania)

"It’s finding what’s called a ‘safety zone’, and that’s a place that when he’s in trouble he goes to. It could be a clinch, it could be a takedown, it could be kickboxing, wherever he feels comfortable and safe. And then you have three ways of getting around it, you can either avoid it, nullify it, or smash it…hopefully we’ll be able to exploit [Thiago Alves's safety zone] and move around it."

In this FOX Fight Game interview, Georges St. Pierre‘s trainer Greg Jackson discusses one of the most important elements of his famous game-plans — attacking an opponent not where he’s strongest or weakest, but what he falls back on when things get rough. He wouldn’t name what he thinks Alves’s safety zone is, though he does admit that Alves’s left knee and left hook are weapons to be feared. Also in the interview, Jackson describes game-planning as a structure that "the artist" has to be able to work within, and talks about the crucial balance between cooperation and competition that exists at his gym. GSP and Pitbull are scheduled to get it on in 11 days at UFC 100.

(Photos courtesy of UFC.com.)

According to a new report on FiveOuncesofPain, a welterweight rematch between Nick Diaz and Joe Riggs has been added to the undercard of Strikeforce’s "Carano vs. Cyborg" event (August 15th, San Jose). Due to the show’s main card featuring as many as three 25-minute matches — the historic headliner, the lightweight championship rematch between Josh Thomson and Gilbert Melendez, and the still-unconfirmed heavyweight title fight between Alistair Overeem and Brett Rogers — Diaz vs. Riggs II may not make the televised Showtime broadcast.

The two fighters first met at UFC 57 in February 2006, where Riggs won a unanimous decision; infamously, they continued their fight later that night at a hospital. Bad Boy and Diesel were both successful at "Lawler vs. Shields" earlier this month, with Diaz choking out Scott Smith and Riggs outlasting Phil Baroni. Considering their tense history and shared love of trash-talk, this should be a great one. No other matches have been confirmed for "Carano vs. Cyborg" besides the ones mentioned above, though Roger Gracie and Erin Toughill are expected to participate.

(Un-freaking-canny, isn’t it?)

It’s been too long since we’ve answered all your stupid questions.  For that, we apologize.  For the smart-assness of the answers we offer here, we shall never apologize.  If you don’t like it, go ask your own incredibly important question right now in this forum thread.  Otherwise, read on and be amused.

If you were to break it down per minute, who is the highest paid fighter? I’m not talking about all the training and everything that goes with fighting, just the fights themselves. – Shagen

Why settle for breaking it down per minute, Shagen?  Why not per second?  The three top contenders for this title would appear to be Andrei Arlovski (who made $1.5 million to get knocked out by Fedor in 3:14), Tim Sylvia (who made $800,000 to get submitted by Fedor in 0:36), and Kimbo Slice (who made $500,000 to get knocked out by Seth Petruzelli in 0:14).

The UFC’s first 132 events have given us over 15 years worth of legendary battles, shocking finishes, and historic debuts. With UFC 100 coming up on July 11th, we decided to do some digging and pick out the 10 most monumental events of all time. So join us as we step into the way-back machine…

***

#10: UFC 13: Ultimate Force
5/30/97; Augusta, Georgia

Notable fights: Tito Ortiz vs. Wes Albritton, Randy Couture vs. Tony Halme, Randy Couture vs. Steven Graham, Vitor Belfort vs. Tank Abbott 
Lowdown: It may have seemed like just another night of cage-fighting at the time, but we now look back on "Ultimate Force" as the event that gave us the debuts of three enduring legends: Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, and Joe Rogan. In addition to the main-event slugfest between Vitor Belfort and Tank Abbott (which the Phenom won by TKO in 53 seconds), Lucky #13 featured a four-man "lightweight" tournament for fighters below 200 pounds, and a heavyweight bracket for 200+ pounders

Just 22 years old at the time, Tito Ortiz made it to the lightweight finals after crushing Wes Albritton with ground-and-pound in a show-opening alternate bout; unfortunately, he later succumbed to a guillotine choke by tournament winner Guy Mezger. Randy Couture was more successful. The former collegiate wrestling standout and U.S. Olympic team alternate swept the heavyweight tourney by choking out Tony Halme and stopping Steven Graham via strikes. And yes, the dude from NewsRadio was handling backstage interview duty — who knew he’d turn out to be the most insightful and entertaining commentator in the sport?

(Props: MMA Fanhouse)

Remember that big kickboxing card in Jamaica that we alerted you to on Friday?  Well, it happened, but not without some controversy.  In a much-anticipated (at least among kickboxing fans) bout, Nathan Corbett dropped Nathan Spong with a sweet little right hook.  Though Spong managed to get up, the ref took a long look at him and decided he was done. 

Here’s where it gets tricky, though.  The referee, as you see in the replay from the above video, steps back as if to recommence the fight, but instead he waves it off.  That’s when Corbett charges in to finish Spong off before the ref can stop him.  Seems like a miscommunication, right?  Only because of this miscommunication the result of the bout is changed to a ‘No Contest,’ which we learn when Cedric the Entertainer (seriously) gets on the mic.

(The man who helped set off a jerk-off facial hair revolution.)

Those of you who planned a trip to Las Vegas for UFC 100 solely to hear Limp Bizkit play that one song that sounds like all their other songs are in for some disappointment.  The concert is officially off, reportedly because the UFC and Interscope Records couldn’t come to terms on DVD rights or the UFC’s choice of venue.  And since we all know that it’s either the UFC’s way or no way, Limp Bizkit will not be entertaining UFC fans in Vegas on July 10.  They may, however, schedule their own show somewhere else in Vegas on the same night, but will Brock Lesnar get to rock out to it with his shirt off?  Seems sadly unlikely.

In a statement released by the band we get a glimpse of what it’s like when non-fighters have to deal with the UFC’s inflexibility:

(MMA Fanhouse)

In this installment of the Tito Ortiz Talks About All the Cool Stuff He’s Got Planned, None of Which Will Actually Happen Show, the Huntington Beach Bad Boy discusses the fight league he’s not starting with Strikeforce called Punishment Fighting Championship, and his not close-to-finalized fight deal with Strikeforce. Honestly, we hate posting these Tito-related non-stories, but maybe some of you are interested in his continuing plunge into irrelevance. Anybody?

After the jump: A flashy little trailer for UFC 101, and a new career-spanning Dan Henderson highlight reel from Machinemen.

(Let’s remember the good times…)

Drew Fickett used to be the most entertaining drunk in MMA. But over the last year, his increasingly erratic behavior and 2-7 skid against fighters he should have been able to destroy have sent up red flags about his well-being. Saturday night, he hit his bottom. "The Master" was booked to face prolific submission victim Shannon Ritch at a Rage in the Cage event, and was barred from fighting because he showed up intoxicated. As Ritch explained on the UG:

(Bobby Lashley vs. Bob Sapp. Props to MMA Scraps.)

We were promised a train-wreck — what we got was slower and far less dramatic. (An ice-cream truck crashing into a tree, maybe?) Bobby Lashley got down to business right away in his main event fight with Bob Sapp at last night’s "Ultimate Chaos" show in Biloxi, taking the Beast down immediately and working some steady ground-and-pound in half-guard for a couple minutes, until Sapp tapped from the abuse. Unfortunately the ref didn’t see it, so Lashley was forced to beat on the helpless 322-pounder some more until a second tap finally caught the ref’s attention. Lashley moves to 4-0 in his budding MMA career, and plans to fight again in September.

The co-headlining fight looked like it was going to turn out the same way, with Pedro Rizzo quickly establishing top position on Gilbert Yvel and throwing down elbows. But Yvel stayed active, kicked Rizzo off and escaped to his feet. Back to his comfort zone, Yvel unleashed a striking assault that sent Rizzo to the mat, and knocked him out cold with strikes from the top. Yvel increased his record to 35-12, with 30 wins by KO/TKO; after the fight, he confirmed that he’ll be facing Paul Buentello at Affliction: Trilogy on August 1st.

(We’ve always said that Bob Sapp is a modern day Christ figure. At last, photographic proof courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)

Bob Sapp weighed in at an absurd 322.2 pounds (or roughly 2 1/3 Miguel Torres’s) for tonight’s "Ultimate Chaos" main event against Bobby Lashley in Biloxi, Mississippi.  Lashley came in at a puny 255.4 pounds, so maybe he has the flu or something.  This begs the question, will a nearly 67-pound advantage be enough to negate Lashley’s athletic and conditioning-related advantages, or does it just mean it will take both Sapp’s cornermen, along with a few sturdy volunteers from the audience, to carry him back to the locker room after he’s been choked out?  All we’ll say is, lift with your legs, boys.

Full weigh-in results for tonight’s event after the jump.  Just out of curiosity, anybody watching this live?

(Lack of MMA on TV got you down? Check out some live kickboxing action tonight.  Also available on Dish Network.)

- Murilo Bustamante says Big Nog looks "terrible" since leaving BTT. (Fighters Only)

- BJ Penn still harping on that mythical Kenny Florian text message. (Bloody Elbow)

- Kazuo Misaki won’t do hard time in Japanese prison. (Fightlinker)

- Ricardo Arona returns to MMA in September. (Tatame)

- Royce Gracie liked Anderson Silva’s last fight. (Sherdog)

- WEC’s Joe Benavidez mourns the death of Michael Jackson. (Cage Writer)

- Dan Henderson calls Brock Lesnar "unstoppable." (MMA Fanhouse)

- Dan Quinn’s crazy ass goes off on Joe Rogan. (YouTube)

- Top 10 Michael Jackson moments. (AskMen)

- Joe Jurevicius suing Cleveland Browns over staph infection. (Scores Report)

- Balls hitting people in the face: a gallery. (Holy Taco)

- Angry letters from Michael Bay. (Screen Junkies)

- Nascar drivers go clubbing, things get weird. (All Left Turns)

- The summer blockbuster drinking game. (Made Man)

- When cheerleaders fight, everyone wins. (Nothing Toxic)

(What’s he looking for?  A war.)

I spoke with Affliction VP Tom Atencio for this week’s SI column on his fight with local card dealer Randy Hedderick at tomorrow night’s “Ultimate Chaos” event in Biloxi, Mississippi.  Contrary to my suspicions before our talk, I came away convinced that Atencio isn’t doing this so much as a self-promotional Affliction publicity stunt, but rather because he genuinely wants to.  What makes me think so?  Mostly his reluctance to even talk about the fight, as well as mild surprise that anyone would want to talk about him considering the other fights on the card.

He also offered some insight on his life as a highly-publicized but low-level MMA fighter, as well as his career as a fight promoter.  And naturally he managed to slip in some shots at the UFC…

It’s been a minute and a half since we’ve done our weekly t-shirt giveaway, and if the rumors are true, our "Hall of Fame" shirt might become outdated next month. So it’s time to dump some of these rags. Earning themselves free tees this week are:

Bootylam on "Frank Lester, Mike Ciesnolevicz, Tim Boetsch Released From the UFC": "Get ready for a surprise!"
[Ed. note: Dude? Exactly.]

ktfo on "Bob Sapp Re-Evaluates Life After Breaking Toilet": yup, you know its fake cause bob sapp won

El Famous Burrito on "Lee Murray Breathes The Air of a Free Man For a Few Fleeting Moments": Of course they didn’t go for that trade. It was complete shit. England has to sweeten the deal: Lee Murray for Mohamed Karbouzi + 2 terrorist prospects to be named later. I hear there’s this kid in Uzbekistan with a 100-mph Molotov Cocktail Curveball.

Kevin Marshall on "Lee Murray Breathes The Air of a Free Man For a Few Fleeting Moments": @UFC fan
"and we give a fuck…whyyyyyy?"

Because he was an MMA…fighterrrrrr.
And he was involved in the biggest heist in…historyyyyyy.
And this is an MMA…websiteeeeee.
And it’s an interesting…storyyyyyy.

If your name has been called, please e-mail feedback@cagepotato.com with your real name, address, and shirt size. And keep bringin’ the funny!

(Bones puts a hurtin’ on Andre Gusmao at UFC 87. Photo courtesy of MSNBC.)

Saying you have Anderson Silva figured out? Old and busted. Saying you have Lyoto Machida figured out? New hotness. In a recent interview with USA Today (via MMA Mania), undefeated light-heavyweight prospect Jon Jones flexed his trash-talk muscle for the first time:

Recently Fight Magazine launched a contest on their website where they choose an amateur or low-level pro fighter and send him off to Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas for some personal training time with Shawn Tompkins (naturally the lucky winner will live in Shawn’s “fighter house” while he’s there, presumably playing a lot of Xbox with Chris Horodecki).  They’ve narrowed it down to four finalists and are opening it up for a reader vote to choose the winner.  

Looking at the video entries and the resumes, it seems like there’s one guy who could probably do the most with a week at Xtreme Couture, and it’s Drew Dober.  Dude is 6-0 as a pro and is 20 years old, which only serves to remind us that a) our lives are wasting away, and b) this sport is going to change drastically when kids who have been doing MMA since they were fourteen begin to take over.

Sometimes I think that Bob Sapp was sent to earth by the gods to teach us all that being scary-looking and talking tough means very little in a real fight against a real opponent.  And since the gods also have a sense of humor they forced him to appear in “Frankenhood.”  Judging from the betting lines, it seems like we all know by now that Sapp has nothing with which to threaten any decent heavyweight, particularly after the first two minutes of a fight.  So why even bother pretending that Sapp vs. Bobby Lashley is anything but a circus match?

(War Machine, Unidentified Mayhem Monkey, and Frank Lester: Worst game of FMK ever.)

It seems that an insane amount of heart doesn’t necessarily guarantee job security if you can’t win fights. After being choked out by Nick Osipczak at the Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale — which followed a TUF 9 run where he beat Kiel Reid and Dave Faulkner and lost twice to James Wilks — Frank Lester has been cut by the UFC. The Team Quest fighter’s pro record dropped to 3-3 after his most recent loss. Godspeed, young shadow-boxer.

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC via MMA Mania)

Man, don’t you hate it when you’re partying at Rehab, just minding your own business, and you see your next opponent by the pool and you need a bunch of hot bikini models to hold you back? Such is the concept behind one of the photoshoots in the UFC’s new magazine (on newsstands now), and we have a feeling that Georges St. Pierre and Thiago Alves won’t be complaining about this particular promotional assignment. To be honest, GSP doesn’t seem too worked up during his staged run-in with Alves — he remains seated in his deck chair, and only requires one model to kind of half-heartedly restrain him — but the brief nipple tweak at 0:48-0:50 tells the real story: It’s time for war, mon ami.

Speaking of the UFC’s welterweight champ and #1 contender, these guys are seriously huge right now. During a UFC media conference call yesterday, Alves said he’s walking around at 191-192 pounds, and could be as much as 195 pounds when he steps into the Octagon on July 11th. GSP currently weighs about 188-190 pounds, and expects to weigh the same on fight day. Said St. Pierre: "I truly believe that in our sport, skill and technique always beat strength and size, so the guy who will win the fight is the better fighter, not the bigger guy."

After the jump: Michael "GQ Smoov" Bisping and Dan "They Made Me Put On This Sweater" Henderson have a tense staredown of their own.

(Props: CP reader Ryan.)

Over at Barstool Sports a reader sent them an email in a misguided effort to show off how hard they’re partying at the bar where he spins country music as “DJ Big Boband" — seriously.  One of the pictures accompanying that email appears to show a shirtless Chuck Liddell bro-ing down with some enthusiastic patrons.  It’s no secret that Liddell loves to party, and he’s even been known to take his shirt off when the spirit comes over him, but it seems like when we saw a version of this same picture in the past it always involved a multitude of skanks.  Is this what happens in the twilight of your career?  Suddenly the skanks turn into one skank, then the one skank turns into a bunch of dudes, then the bunch of dudes turn into a couple of dudes who don’t even really want to be in the picture but are trying to be polite?  Guess you can’t blame a guy for wanting to hold on to the glory days for as long as possible.  Retirement is far too gay. 

(This night was going so well, and then Bisping just had to launch into a chorus of "Rule Britannia" and make everyone uncomfortable.)

Here’s a crazy idea for you: what if Michael Bisping decided that instead of making his gameplan at UFC 100 all about avoiding the takedown and keeping the fight on the feet, he went out and tried to take Hendo down?  You know, Hendo as in Dan Henderson.  The former Olympic wrestler who has lately been winning fights purely by holding people down and battering their faces until they look as bad as he does.  What’s that you say, it would be a ridiculously poor and self-destructive strategy?  Well maybe you should tell that to Bisping’s wrestling coach, Zach Light:

"He will take Dan Henderson down more than one time in the fight. He will, that’s how he is going to win the fight. That is how I see it. When they start trading I think Mike will win the scrambles. Dan is a great scrambler but in a scramble situation I think Mike is going to come out on top every time.”

Okay, there are two ways we can interpret this remark:

Remember Roger Huerta? Mexican guy, lightweight, used to bang a lot of hot chicks? "El Matador," as he was known, hasn’t fought since a unanimous decision loss to Kenny Florian last August, due to a falling out with the UFC over a perceived lack of respect and a desire to pursue acting and modeling. (How’s that going, by the way?) Though a previous rumor that he was going to finish out his contract against Sean Sherk at UFC 97 turned out to be nothin’ but wind-piss, the word on the street now is that he’ll be facing undefeated lightweight contender Gray Maynard at UFC Fight Night 19 (September 16th, Oklahoma City).

(Click here to cast your vote for this guy. Or whoever you want. No pressure.)

Nominees for ESPN’s 2009 ESPY Awards have been announced, with two UFC fighters honored in the "Best Fighter" category. While Georges St. Pierre was MMA’s only representative last year — he was edged out by Floyd Mayweather Jr., who also won the award in 2007 — this time we have Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva going up against boxing champions Shane Mosley and Manny Pacquiao. Pac Man will probably take this thing in a landslide, but why not let your voice be heard by voting? Y’know, particularly for Machida, whose innovations in the sport and accomplishments over the last 12 months deserve to be recognized. The polls are open through July 11th, and the Sam Jackson-hosted awards ceremony goes down July 15th at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.

No other MMA fighters are nominated for any of the other categories, which is a shame: Couldn’t they have given us some love for Best Upset (Frank Mir over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira), Best Coach (Greg Jackson) or Best Team (Team Kimbo)?

Though former UFC champ Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was never charged with causing a pregnant woman to lose her unborn child after he struck her car in his harrowing run from the law last summer, he’ll now have to face a civil suit on the matter, according to TMZ.com.  Holli Griggs claims that Jackson is responsible for “the stillbirth of her baby” after hitting her car while he attempted to evade police during his much-publicized hit-and-run episode.  

An investigation by the Orange County District Attorney’s office concluded that the woman’s miscarriage was unrelated to the incident, and Jackson later plead guilty to evading the police and reckless driving in exchange for avoiding jail time.  Does this mean Jackson is going to continue to be distracted by his past exploits while also taking a hit to the pocketbook?  Hard to say, but it might be difficult to find a jury that’s sympathetic to pro athletes driving under the influence of "delirium."  Dana White might have been convinced that Jackson wasn’t to blame, but other people might feel differently after seeing the photos.

(Everyone wants their picture in the paper, right?)

Former MMA fighter turned bank robber Lee Murray was released from a Morrocan prison yesterday, only to be rearrested soon after and have his hopes crushed by the cruel humor of the gods.  Things seemed to be going well for Murray when a Moroccan court ruled that he was legally a citizen of Morocco and thus could not be extradited to stand trial for the robbery in England.  His release seemed even more surprising, considering he was allegedly caught trying to escape from jail a little over a week ago.  But his freedom didn’t last, as Moroccan authorities arrested him again after a British request to have him tried for the robbery in Morocco, under Moroccan law.  Murray’s lawyer said he expected the trial to start soon.