(The American Kickboxing Academy team poses during a Dethrone Royalty photo shoot. Yes, that is Josh Thomson’s mean-mug. Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)

In the future, UFC fighters will only be able to wear Xyience t-shirts and Burger King hats before and after their fights. At least that’s how it seems with the way the UFC has been banning sponsors from the Octagon:

 
"I’m not his father, okay, he can do whatever the hell he wants to do. I’m his friend, and I care about him a lot, and I’d really like to never see him fight again."

So said Dana White on the TUF 9 Finale edition of "Inside the Octagon", perhaps loosening on his stance that Chuck Liddell will never fight again. Could it be that one more go-round for the Iceman is in the works? According to an Inside Fights report on potential main events for UFC 103 (September 19th, Dallas), yeah, maybe:

In his latest video blogging effort B.J. Penn proudly shows off his 166-pound frame more than a month out from his lightweight title defense against Kenny Florian at UFC 101.  Penn looks pretty lean at that weight and even has the suggestion of abs, but he certainly doesn’t look a man who has cut every ounce of expendable weight off his frame.  This makes me wonder a) what made him think he could give up so much size and strength to GSP, who is at this very moment preparing to fight a 200-pound Thiago Alves? and b) is fighting at 155 pounds enough to ensure that Penn will show up in shape this summer?

(Props: CageFighterMike on Twitter, via MMA Payout)

Yep, looks like the UFC has decided to go the O Magazine route and put the boss on the cover.  We’re assuming that the reason he’s posing like a fighter is not because he’s trying to act like something he isn’t, but rather as a metaphor for how he runs his business.  Next month, Dana White surrounded by a bunch of puppies!

(Photo courtesy of Frankensteinia.)

From ProMMARadio via CageWriter:

"During my career, I’ve been as heavy as almost 400 pounds…to say honestly, after I sat down on my toilet and [it] started to crack, I knew that it was time to lose a little bit more weight, and I started doing more running and conditioning and things like this. So I got down to 350, then to 340, and now I’m training with a conditioning master in the name of Antonio McKee down here in Califonia at the Body Shop gym…You may see me at that pro football weight of the 320′s…and I did it by eating primarily nothing but sushi toro, which is the tuna [Ed. note: But specifically the most fatty part, right?], and ramen, straight, that’s all I ate, and pretty much just doing that and running and training, it took it off…it’ll be interesting to see if I still have that power that I had [at] 380." — Bob Sapp

Are you saying that the originator of the Beast Beat workout system needed extra help with his conditioning? But for real, it’s good to see that Bob’s working on more than his standard gong-and-dash-and-wheeze routine for this training camp. He’s still going to lose to Bobby Lashley on Saturday, but hey, kudos for making healthy choices.

Bonus, after the jump: If you think pro wrestling looks fake in the U.S., wait until you see how it’s done in Japan, particularly when Bob Sapp is involved.

(Props: MMA Scraps)

Not sure who these dudes are, but good Lord, check out the expression on the loser’s face after eating that kick. All he needs is some cartoon birds chirping around his head to complete the scene. Seriously, he’s lucky the winner didn’t run over and draw dicks on his face.

After the jump: Michael Bisping and Dan Henderson get a first look at the tricked-out Range Rovers they’ll be getting as rewards for coaching TUF 9. Both fighters say that they’re having great training camps in advance of their meeting at UFC 100, and are ready to get after it. Bisping actually feels like he could take on anyone in the world right now. He’ll need that confidence next month when Henderson is on top of him, covering his mouth and nose with one hand and punching him with the other.

(‘Oh, I should not have eaten that last chili dog.’)

After the Adrenaline MMA debacle in Birmingham, Alabama that saw promoter/manager Monte Cox try everything in his bag of tricks to get Tim Sylvia and Ray Mercer in some form of a fight together, people are starting to ask one very appropriate question: what the hell is going on?  And not only with Sylvia’s career, which was unquestionably damaged by the knockout loss to Mercer.  What’s up with Adrenaline in general, which went from trying to hold a boxing match in Atlantic City to a boxing match in Alabama to an MMA bout in Alabama?  

According to Cox, it was all a learning experience and he knows “what needs to be done in Birmingham now.”  And as for Sylvia’s career?  He’s going to keep battling because he’s too young to give it up:

(Props: Druskee27 on the UG)

So it’s late in the fight and you haven’t been able to break your opponent down mentally?  No problem, dog.  Just bust a backflip to start the third round, making sure to stick the landing perfectly, and he’ll instantly lose his will to fight.  Then you go on the attack and wait for the referee to get bored enough to stop the fight.  Looks like someone may have finally discovered the secret to beating Fedor.  Better start drilling those flips, Josh Barnett.

Of course, if you can’t pull it off during the fight, it’s bizarrely more impressive to do it after you’ve been choked out.  See what we mean after the jump.

("After I’m through with you, your face is going to be as stylishly distressed as our premium denim." Photo courtesy of OCRegister.com.)

Betting odds have been posted for some of the key matchups at this Saturday’s Ultimate Chaos show (props to BloodyElbow for the tip), and oddsmakers have labeled Affliction VP/occasional fighter Tom Atencio as the favorite in his fight against Randy Hedderick, who is 4-3 as an amateur and will be making his pro debut against Atencio. Hedderick welcomes the attention that comes with fighting The T-Shirt Guy; in a recent Ultimate Chaos press release, he was quoted as saying:

So let’s peep those odds, shall we?

With 32 total points — thanks to a dominant run during UFC 99 where he correctly picked the winners of every fight — CagePotato reader ‘angry little feet’ has come out on top in the combined UFC 99/TUF 9 Finale rounds of our Lyoto Machida pick-off contest, and has won the Dragon’s "Machida-Do Karate for Mixed Martial Arts" DVD set. Way to go, alf! If you didn’t get the e-mail we just sent you, hit us up at feedback@cagepotato.com.

Now for the rest of you losers: Our second set of the DVDs can be yours if you can outpick everyone else for UFC 100. The lineup is…

(Yep, that’s the face you make when you realize that you’re now famous enough to get laid without making any effort at all.)

No one is more eager to find out what awaits heavyweight contenders Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez than we are, but from the sound of things some people may be jumping the gun a bit regarding rumors that the two are headed for a clash at UFC 103.  Inside Fights says sources have told them that Carwin and Velasquez could be the co-main event for the September event in Dallas, Texas, right alongside Mike Swick vs. Matt Hughes.  And yeah, they clarify that the bout has not been agreed to, but Carwin says it hasn’t even been discussed:

(The terrifying moment when Rogan notices that Samuel L. Jackson is in the audience, and no, he has apparently never heard that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.)

You have to love this about Spike TV, when they have a good night for ratings or even just a qualified success, they aren’t bashful about making sure everyone knows it.  Spike sent out a press release today touting their 1.5 rating for the “Ultimate Fighter” 9 Finale show, which brought in “more men in the advertiser-coveted demographic of Men 18-34 (663,000) than MLB baseball on FOX (184,000) and coverage of U.S. Open golf on NBC (384,000) which ran earlier that day.”  In other words, they beat a mid-season baseball game and a rain-soaked golf event among young men.  But like the fighters always say, a win’s a win.

(New York Governor David Paterson. You’d think a guy who lost his eye in unregulated vale tudo matches in the late ’80s would have more sympathy to our cause.)

I doubt many of you follow New York politics, but it’s a freakin’ mess out here right now. Virtually nothing constructive has gotten done in the NY senate over the last two weeks, and as an emergency session comes to a close today — ending the legislative body’s 2009 schedule — one bill that will be left out in the cold is our beloved S2165A, intended to regulate mixed martial arts in New York State. Originally, the bill was on the docket for a June 9th vote. Unfortunately, things fell apart on June 8th. MMA Weekly has the story:

(Props: BloodyElbow)

According to Kenny Florian, his October 2006 loss to Sean Sherk transformed him from a fighter who wanted to compete with his opponents to a fighter who wants to destroy his opponents — and he’ll be bringing his renewed intensity to the cage with him against BJ Penn at UFC 101 (August 8th, Philadelphia). In this recent interview with Inside MMA, Florian also discusses training with Georges St. Pierre, getting his named botched by Dr. Phil, and his four-letter prediction for the Penn scrap. By the way, if BJ bitches out between now and August and drops out of the fight, Diego Sanchez is totally cool to step in.

As part of his ongoing attempt to Twitter the shit out of his recovery from a broken hand suffered in the WEC title fight with Mike Brown, former featherweight champ Urijah Faber recently posted pictures of his brand new working hand.  No more sickeningly crooked bones for “The California Kid.”  Now it’s just a few stitches and some painful memories.  Thanks, science. 

But lest his spirits get down after the decision loss followed by surgery and physical therapy, he got a ‘Get Well’ card from Mrs. Hilsabeck’s second-grade class.  Sweet, right?  But to the kid who wrote “You are the best!” right there in the middle – you just refuse to accept the updated rankings, don’t you?  Nothing but a bunch of nuthuggers in Mrs. Hilsabeck’s class.

The July issue of Fight! Magazine (featuring a cover story by a dashing young writer who shall remain nameless) introduces the first four members of the magazine’s newly-created Hall of Fame.  This is great to see, since it gives us an honest, legitimate MMA Hall of Fame instead of the incredibly limited and necessarily biased UFC Hall of Fame.  It’s also voted on by MMA journalists and not event promoters.  You know, like the real Hall of Fames do it.  Also like the real Hall of Fames for baseball and football and sports mascots, you can’t help but look at some of the inductees and wonder whether they could really compete with the talent of today.

(Well, you sleep on the job as much as Andrei does and you’re bound to get fired at some point. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Andrei Arlovski’s career options just got even slimmer. After suffering back-to-back first-round knockouts against Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rogers — both of which were humiliating in their own special ways — Affliction has declined to renew the Belarusian’s fight contract. Affliction VP Tom Atencio did his best to spare Andrei’s feelings:

(Round 1. Rounds 2 & 3 are after the jump.)

Maybe you missed it, but Sanchez/Guida and Lytle/Burns weren’t the only good fights on TV this weekend.  At Friday night’s Strikeforce Challengers event Jorge Gurgel and Connor Heun slugged it out for three rounds in a bout that seemed mediocre on paper but wound up being the highlight of the Showtime broadcast.  

If you pay attention early on, two things become very apparent: 1) Pat Miletich is the best fighter-turned-color man/technical analyst that there is, and 2) Gurgel is still committed to being the ground guy who chooses to stand and bang in an effort to entertain fans and “please promoters,” as Stephen Quadros puts it.  That’s at least in part of what got him bounced from the UFC (okay, really it was losing fights, but that was a symptom and not the disease) and yet here it results in him having the fight of the night.  It makes me wonder, is Gurgel, for better or worse, a fighter crafted by the sensibilities of fans and promoters?  And if so, is that necessarily a bad thing?

Not to be outdone by the Cris “Cyborg” Santos chokeout video that made the internet rounds last week, Gina Carano has answered back by choking out the dude from the “Sports Science” shows, who acts like a complete pussy about the whole thing.  Look man, going to sleep for a few seconds and waking up nestled upon Gina’s bosom is really not a bad day at the office.  In fact, if you gave us two hours we could probably find someone willing to pay for that privilege, and they’d probably be only marginally creepier than you.  And can we also try not to act so surprised that Carano can break a dummy’s ribs with her punches?  She’s a professional fighter.  That’s how a girl eat.

After the jump, Fight Magazine interviews Diego Sanchez after his victory over Clay Guida and they experience first-hand his disarmingly sincere intensity.  That guy’s one of a kind.

(Photos courtesy of UFC.com.)

The UFC paid out $630,000 in disclosed salaries and bonuses for Saturday night’s Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale, according to figures released by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Leading the list are Diego Sanchez — who took home an event-high $115,000 thanks to his Fight of the Night bonus and pack-leading to-show salary — and Joe Stevenson, who came in second place with $95,000. The numbers are below…

– Diego Sanchez: $115,000 (includes $45,000 win bonus and $25,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
– Joe Stevenson: $95,000 (includes $35,000 win bonus and $25,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
– Chris Lytle: $61,000 (includes $18,000 win bonus and $25,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
– Clay Guida: $48,000 (includes $25,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
– Nate Diaz: $45,000 (includes $25,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
– Jason Dent: $41,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus and $25,000 Submission of the Night bonus)
– Tomasz Drwal: $40,600 (includes $7,000 win bonus, $25,000 Knockout of the Night bonus, and 20% of Mike Ciesnolevicz’s to-show money [$1,600])
– Kevin Burns: $34,000 (includes $25,000 Fight of the Night bonus)

Kimbo wants his belt and flexes his moob. Be afraid; be very afraid.

(Props: MMA Mania)

What: UFC 100
When/Where: July 11th at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
Why: Because it’s one of the most stacked UFC cards ever. In the above trailer, Joe Rogan calls the event "fucking insane," then implies that Steve Mazzagatti screwed up Brock Lesnar‘s first fight against Frank Mir. For Brock, this fight is all about revenge. Mir thinks that if Big Nog couldn’t last two rounds with him, Brock’s chances aren’t very good.

In the night’s other title fight, Georges St. Pierre battles for his legacy against the biggest, strongest, toughest test of his career — Thiago Alves, who wants to knock out GSP, take his belt, and become "the man." Also, Dan Henderson and Michael Bisping move out of the reality show set and into the Octagon. Hendo wants to beat Bisping up and shut his mouth a little bit; Bisping wants to be responsible for the first KO loss on Dan’s record. Only on pay-per-viewwww…

(Still the master of the just-woke-up-and-ready-for-murder look.)

The next stop on Aleksander Emelianenko’s “I Totally Don’t Have Hepatitis” tour is reportedly set for September 29 in South Korea, where he’ll meet Blagoi Ivanov, the Bulgarian fighter who defeated his brother Fedor in the World Combat Sambo Championships in November.  The fight is scheduled to go down in the newly-formed Fighter Mania Championship (or, if you prefer, the FMC) in Seoul, and the hook here is fairly obvious.  Aleks attempts to exact revenge on the man who embarrassed his brother in Sambo by beating him in MMA and maybe also infecting him with a blood-borne disease.  Ivanov is supposed to be making his MMA debut against Kazuyuki Fujita at Sengoku 8 on August 2, but apparently the FMC promoters are betting he’ll be fine to compete again less than two months later.

You have to give Ivanov this much, for a guy with zero professional experience in MMA he’s certainly diving into deep waters right away.  Fujita and Aleks Emelianenko may not be at the top of anyone’s heavyweight list, but they’re both experienced, dangerous opponents.  It seems we’ll find out in a hurry whether winning a Sambo tournament makes you an instantly credible MMA fighter.  Our guess is no, it probably doesn’t.

(Guida turns taking a shot into an art form. Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

After another fun, free MMA weekend we turn once again to the Potato Index to tell us where everyone stands.  Those of you who are confused by what the numbers mean, just think of every fighter starting at his own particular zero coming into the event.  Then we make up a number to reflect how far he’s climbed or fallen after his latest fight.  Kind of like the stock market, but way more fun and only slightly more bullshit.

Diego Sanchez +104
Whatever you think the final scores should have been, Sanchez won that fight.  He was a whirlwind on the feet and even managed to be the aggressor from the bottom when it hit the mat.  But does a decision victory here equal a title shot?  We wouldn’t mind seeing Sanchez vs. Gray Maynard to establish a clear contender.

(Props: youtube.com/BellatorMMA)

Bellator’s inaugural season came to a close on Friday night, with the finals of their middleweight and lightweight brackets. In the 185-pound title fight, Hector Lombard used his striking and ground-and-pound to open up some nasty cuts on the head of his opponent, Jared Hess; the fight was eventually stopped in the fourth round after Hess lost a few gallons of blood. Directly after, 155-pound favorite Eddie Alvarez completed his sweep of the lightweight tourney by knocking Toby Imada out of his jock with a big right hook early in the second round, then sinking in a rear-naked choke. Lombard and Alvarez collected $100,000 checks for their efforts.

In non-tournament action, Jorge Masvidal submitted Eric Reynolds via third-round rear-naked choke, Bodog/ShoXC vet Rosi Sexton submitted Valerie Coolbaugh via first-round armbar, and Stephanie Guimaraes became Bellator’s latest YouTube star with her 49-second knee-knockout of Yvonne Reis. The Guimaraes knockout is above; highlights from the Lombard/Hess and Alvarez/Imada fights are after the jump.

(Three points, down the drain. Photo courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

Due to a string of minor upsets at the TUF 9 Finale, we got murdered in the latest round of our fight-picking contest. (It doesn’t matter that we’re ineligible to win the Lyoto Machida DVD set; it still hurts.) Ben F. went from hero to zero, earning just six points on Saturday night to add to his still-respectable two-event total of 29. Ben G. did only slightly better this weekend, adding 10 points and ending up with a total of 25.

If you overcame the odds and racked up impressive scores for UFC 99 and the TUF 9 Finale, let us know your sum total in the comments section below. We’ll be verifying the top scores soon and announcing the first winner in a couple days. No worries if you crashed and burned this time; you’ll have another chance to win by predicting the outcome of UFC 100. Many thanks to everyone who played!

(Diaz and Stevenson earned $25,000 Fight of the Night bonuses and contracts with Cirque Du Soleil. Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

For the first time in the organization’s history, the UFC handed out three Fight of the Night bonuses for last night’s Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale show, giving $25,000 bumps to Joe Stevenson, Nate Diaz, Chris Lytle, Kevin Burns, Diego Sanchez and Clay Guida for their thrilling three-rounders. But that doesn’t mean the UFC skimped on its other traditional bonuses: Tomasz Drwal pocketed the $25,000 Knockout of the Night bonus for his knee-and-punches KO of Mike Ciesnolevicz during the undercard, and TUF 9‘s Jason Dent scored the Submission of the Night bonus for sinking on an anaconda choke at the end of the first round of his fight with Team U.S.A. rival Cameron Dollar, after getting beaten up standing for much of the round. Speaking of the prelims, here’s how they turned out:

(Only then did Diego realize that a childhood full of frighteningly intense staring contests had been preparing him for this one perfect moment. Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle’s TUF 9 Finale weigh-in set.)

After a season that promised heated national rivalries and hilarious cultural misunderstandings produced very little of either, we finally get our payoff tonight.  Sure, aside from the two finale fights there are hardly any fighters from this season of “The Ultimate Fighter” on the card, but to make up for it we’ve got the positive-to-the-point-of-insanity Diego Sanchez, who nearly gave himself a heart attack during his bouts of flexing and staring at yesterday’s weigh-in.  

Will his blood pressure be similarly jacked through the roof tonight?  Will he find a way to incorporate the Tony Robbins firewalk into his entrance?  Might Clay Guida surprise us all by fighting like the blur of hair of fists that he used to be?  We’ll be waiting for those answers right along with you, so jump on board and remember to hit refresh often.  This train is fixin to leave the station.

(Villasenor puts on a brief left hook clinic. Photo courtesy of Strikeforce.)

Despite getting his leg tenderized with kicks for much of the fight, “Smokin” Joey Villasenor took a split decision victory over Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos in the main event of last night’s Strikeforce Challengers event in Kent, Washington.  Then he did what every Strikeforce middleweight is practically obliged to do: call out Cung Le.

In what was somewhat surprisingly the most exciting fight on the televised card, Jorge Gurgel and Connor Heun slugged it out almost entirely on the feet for three rounds.  Gurgel’s face may have looked like a poorly executed attempt at a jack-o-lantern after the fight, but he won the unanimous decision victory and afterward praised Heun’s toughness and impressive chin.  Full results are after the jump.

(Uh-oh. Did we just reach a critical mass of crazy? Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)

- Everybody but Mike C. made weight for the TUF 9 Finale. (MMA Weekly)

- A great recipe for Cage Potato MMA fries. (FueltheFighter)

- Bas Rutten calls Kimbo Slice an asshole. (Fighters Only)

- Does Cro Cop have Salmonella? (MMA Mania)

- Gomi’s participation in Affliction: Trilogy seems unlikely. (MMA Fanhouse)

- Take a look at the Dream.10 poster. (Nightmare of Battle)

- Cameron Dollar wishes you wouldn’t judge him. (Cage Writer)

- M-1 hyping "controversial knockout" on HDNet tonight. (MMA Madness)

- Putting the rivals back in sports rivalries. (AskMen)

- Ryan Leaf’s legal problems add to Ryan Leaf’s life problems. (ScoresReport)

- "Teen Wolf" remake in the works? (Screen Junkies)

- A drunken argument about mermaids that scorns the concept of dignity. (Holy Taco)

- Girls in lingerie riding rollercoasters: It is what it is. (Nothing Toxic)