Sherdog has a new set of photos of Paulo Filho training for his DREAM 10 bout against Melvin Manhoef, and while Filho looks to be in solid physical shape, we can’t help but wonder if his head’s back to normal yet. How else would you explain his tattoo of a million-dollar bill with a pitbull’s head on it? Also, his chest now says "Reward Hunter." Wow. This even surpasses Matt Horwich’s musical pencil in terms of sheer what-the-fuckness. Paulo, don’t you know those things last forever? And what are you going to do when Crazyland switches its currency to the billion-dollar hammerhead shark coin? Manhoef’s body-count tattoo is not impressed…

(Props: FightLaunch via nyhcloyalty. Language NSFW.)

FightLaunch has just updated their YouTube page with about 20 different videos of Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal talking shit to each other in a van on the way to an autograph signing at last weekend’s UFC Fan Expo. I don’t expect anybody to sift through all of this stuff so I’ll just start with the first one I came across (see above), which gives you a decent sense of what the feud is about.

Basically, Rampage said he was the best fighter in the world, and King Mo implied that it was in fact he who was the best fighter in the world — both completely valid points of view, by the way. Anyway, this angered Rampage, who points out that Mo hasn’t fought anybody of note. Mo says that Rampage used to bump gums when he was an up-and-comer too, and Rampage denies that he ever bumped gums to this extent. Rampage observes that "King Mo" is a fitting nickname, as royal families tend to be inbred. Then this Caucasian in the backseat starts singing "Kumbaya" like an idiot, and Rampage tells him to shut his white ass up. The white guy says something about being in the hood, and Rampage replies: "Yeah, your ass probably been in a hood, ya fuckin’ KKK-lookin’ motherfucka." Meanwhile, Bobby Lashley is sitting there smiling politely, just itching to get away from these psychos.

After the jump: King Mo first enters the van, and gets insulted about 30 times in 60 seconds. If you want to see more, go for it.

(Props: MMA Fanhouse)

We’ve touched on the generation gap issue in MMA before, so we weren’t surprised to see Larry King, who is positively ancient, look a little lost when he talks about this "ultimate boxing" stuff.  Fortunately, Renaissance man Jesse Ventura is there to correct him — "’Ultimate fighting,’ you mean," — and even offers what appears to be an informed opinion on UFC 100, saying he loved it right up until Brock Lesnar made him feel "ashamed."  You and me both, Jesse.

(Props: MMA Frenzy)

Though this Monday’s DREAM 10 event will feature the semi-finals and finals of their welterweight GP, as well non-tournament matches between Shinya Aoki and Vitor Ribeiro, and Melvin Manhoef vs. Paulo Filho, the lineup’s still a little thin. As of yesterday, only six fights were officially announced for the card. So, the organizers are doing a little last-minute patching, adding Seichi Ikemoto vs. Tarec Saffiedine as a GP reserve bout, and Jesse "JT Money" Taylor vs. PRIDE/K-1 HERO’s vet Dong Sik Yoon. The news was first broke yesterday on Taylor’s official website, YoJTMoney.com (seriously), in which Mongo wrote: "JT has always wanted to fight for the prestegious Dream organization and for the warrior spirit of Japan. JT will be sure to make the most of this incredible journey and opportunity."

Aaron Brink Intervention Preview – Watch more Funny Videos

From aetv.com/intervention:

For the unfamiliar, Aaron Brink was a very promising heavyweight striker who fought at UFC 28 against Andrei Arlovski (who was also making his UFC debut that night) and was once paid $250,000 for beating Mike Bourke. For some reason he started doing porn just as he was finally getting his first decent win streak together, and unfortunately got into drugs. A contract with New Era Fighting that would have potentially paid him a cool million to beat Kimo Leopoldo never panned out, and he hasn’t fought since March 2007. His episode of Intervention (which you should be watching anyway) airs on A&E this coming Monday at 9 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. CT. Video of the Brink/Arlovski fight is after the jump.

(Arianny Celeste and Matt Leinart mimic emotions together.)

If you’ve ever thought that a radio hosting gig was your key to scoring chicks, then you’ve obviously never met Steve Cofield.  But if you want to try it out anyway, while also getting close to UFC Octagon girl Arianny Celeste in order to dazzle her with your smooth voice and razor wit, this is your chance.  Cofield is hyping a charity auction to host an hour of radio with Arianny, Dana White, Chuck Liddell, or a bunch of other MMA stars on ESPN 1100 in Vegas.  The proceeds from this auction and radiothon go to benefit the cancer foundation The Caring Place, so it’s all for a good cause.  

The best part though, is that this could finally be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for to make an impression on Arianny (or Chuck Liddell, if you are a chick who has somehow not already slept with Chuck Liddell).  Just in case you win the auction, here’s our step-by-step instructions for wooing Arianny during your hour of radio time together:

Watch Shawn Tompkins Sounds Off On Kit Cope on RawVegas.tv

Let’s hope this is the last word on the whole Kit Cope/Gina Carano/Xtreme Couture controversy, at least until that sex tape is “stolen” and we all get to see a bored Carano rolling her eyes at the camera while Cope insists on keeping his socks and wristwatch on.  Here Shawn Tompkins makes some excellent points that are fairly obvious but worth repeating, such as: 1) Kit Cope is a nobody, 2) Xtreme Couture fighters regularly kick ass, 3) If the only way you can get your name in the news is to talk about the girl you used to date who is now famous, you’re kind of pathetic.

Nothing we didn’t already know, though you have to like the not-so-veiled threat near the end.  With all the badasses at Xtreme Couture, whether you think they were “made” there or not, it’s maybe not the best idea to bash the gym in public.  Especially if you are a pretty bad MMA fighter, who, according to Sherdog’s Fight Finder, once lost to Tiki Ghosn via TKO (retirement).

("I’m Something St. Something, bitches." Photos courtesy of this set on Combat Lifestyle.)

Just a little visual counterpoint to yesterday’s post about Georges St. Pierre’s post-UFC 100 drinking binge. Pics of Shonie Carter‘s gold speedo await you after the jump.

Behold, the trailer for Blood and Bone, which co-stars Kimbo Slice, Gina Carano, and Bob Sapp. According to ScreenJunkies, "The film tells the story of Isiah Bone, a man fresh out of prison who enters the Los Angeles underground street fighting scene in order to bring down a local mob boss because God told him to." Let the Oscar buzz begin…

("Yeah, the sushi did taste a little funny. Why do you ask?" Photo courtesy of the Las Vegas Sun.)

Some choice quotes from recent interviews promoting The Ultimate Fighter 10: Heavyweights, which premieres September 16th…

Kimbo Slice on piss-soaked fruit trays: "(If someone pulls a prank on him similar to stunts from past shows) there’s gonna be gun play, but fortunately for them I couldn’t bring my pistol. That’s a whole another level. Silver bracelets (handcuffs) if you feel me."

Kimbo Slice on the possibility of being ejected from the house for fighting: "I’m a fighter, dude. I’m not gonna have a motherfucker disrespect me, in no case whatsoever…I’mma be me and I’m gonna stand my ground to the fullest…I wouldn’t want to get thrown out that way. [But] if that becomes my only fight then god damn we gonna fight."

Roy Nelson on Kimbo Slice: “Ability-wise, he’s probably one of the better fighters there.”

(For Pete’s sake, the guy’s a world champion. Either get him a proper drink or at least put some tequila and an umbrella in that bad boy.)

Georges St. Pierre has updated his Yardbarker blog with tons of fun info about his UFC 100 experience, including a description of what it felt like to tear his groin all up trying to submit Thiago Alves, and how, despite the pain, he insisted that John Danaher demonstrate what he did wrong in the fight as soon as they got backstage (still think Vaseline is the secret to this guy’s success?).  But the best part is when he tells us how he celebrated the victory:

The next day I went at a pool party at Rehab with all my friends who came to support me. We had a booth (cabana) and it was great spot in the place. I drank so much that I forgot my whole name. It was very cool because at one time, Thiago Alves showed up with his entourage and came in my booth (cabana) and drinking with me and congratulate me for the fight. I thought he was a class act and that prove that he was a real professional athlete and a real good person and a gentleman. I really appreciated it, he’s a great fighter and also a great gentleman, and we had a good time drinking together.

From grappling we move straight to kickboxing, just to make sure we cover both ends of the spectrum of things that are not MMA, but are pretty close.  Following his decision loss to Joe Warren at Dream.9, "Kid" Yamamoto stepped back into the K-1 ring on July 13 for the first time since 2005 to try and reverse his fortunes.  That effort proved…painful.  Korean fighter Jae Hee Cheon knocked Yamamoto out cold with a brutal right uppercut-left hook (man, can’t you just hear Bas Rutten shouting that?) combo in the first round.  It’s his third K-1 loss in four tries, so hopefully it will convince him to stick with MMA, where he’s been far more successful.  It’s either that or else get used to having periodic gaps in your memory.

Last weekend, Grapplers Quest hosted a two-day submission grappling tournament at the UFC Fan Expo. Videos of the event’s headlining "superfights" were posted to their YouTube channel yesterday, and if you’re a fan of crazy, high-level, top-of-the-food chain jiu-jitsu, you need to check them out. Above: Shooto legend Rumina "Moon Wolf" Sato ties Cobra Kai instructor Ulysses Gomez into a knot. After the jump: UFC lightweight Joe Stevenson falls short against Bill "The Grill" Cooper, and EliteXC/Bellator vet Wilson Reis can’t quite figure out 22-time Grapplers Quest champ Jeff "Pipelayer" Glover. Also, a 49-pound feature that’s surely a Superfight in the eyes of their parents.

(Will the pain from Shane fall mainly on the Cain? Photos courtesy of Sherdog.)

During an appearance on the Opie and Anthony show, Dana White had this to say about the UFC’s heavyweight title picture: "We’ve got Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez fighting and probably the winner of that fight will fight Brock Lesnar."

Are Carwin and Velasquez worthy of the honor? Sure, in the sense that they’re both incredibly talented, exciting to watch, and undefeated. But like many #1 contenders matches, timing is everything. From my angle, the winner of Carwin/Velasquez would have to fight the winner of Cro Cop/Dos Santos to truly determine who’s worthy of the next heavyweight title shot. Unfortunately, that would take too long, and the UFC needs to strike the Brock-iron while it’s hot.

In a new interview with Bas Rutten on “Inside MMA” Fedor Emelianenko talks about his toughest fights, his friendship with Josh Barnett, and whether he’ll eventually end up in the UFC, as Dana White has predicted.  Fedor seems like he’s in no hurry to sign on the dotted line, at least at the moment.  He calls the contract terms he’s been offered “unacceptable” and admits that he’d like to fight a big, “serious” guy like Brock Lesnar, though perhaps not enough to make himself an indentured servant to the UFC:

“At the present time, I don’t think so, I don’t think you’ll see me in the UFC, just because the terms, and the manner in which those terms are offered, are not acceptable today.”

Looks like the ball’s in your court, DW.  Do you make the man a better offer, or at least be a little nicer to him?  Or do you just wait him out and figure sooner or later he’ll have to sign unless he wants to drift off into irrelevance, which he may very well be willing to do?

After the jump, Josh Barnett answers some viewer emails and tells us the one thing he knows he can beat Fedor at: drinking contest.  Christ, how can you not love Barnett?     

MMA Fighter Suffers Terrible Broken Leg – Watch more Funny Videos

Ah, the leg kick leg break.  It’s the most sickening injury in all of MMA, and yet it has absolutely nothing to do with the so-called brutality of the sport.  It’s just bad luck, really, though when it happens it’s pretty much guaranteed that you’re going to feel a little sick from watching it.  Even the fighter in this video who doesn’t suffer a broken leg seems like he’s going to need therapy to get over this.  So why are we showing it to you if we’re so bothered by it?  Mostly because we feel that if we keep something horrible to ourselves, there’s no one to commiserate with.  Enjoy your nightmares.

Now on to some fun stuff…

Gina Carano vs. Cris Cyborg Press Conference – Watch more Funny Videos

As promised, here are some of the memorable moments from yesterday’s "Carano vs. Cyborg" press conference in New York. To summarize:

0:00-1:34: Gina Carano and Cris Cyborg are introduced and brought on stage. Cris gives Gina the cold shoulder when she tries to make eye contact.

1:35-3:09: Gina makes some opening remarks and talks about having Randy Couture as a mentor.

3:10-5:13: Cyborg makes some opening remarks, thanks her husband Evangelista for helping her train, and talks about what she expects in the fight.

5:14-5:51: Responding to a question about how the fight is being marketed with Gina’s beauty, Cyborg acknowledges that MMA writers have been referring to this fight as "Beauty and the Beast," but that doesn’t bother her because it won’t matter during the fight. Ouch. Sorry, Cris.

(You know, Cub, in bull riding this would have been considered a victory. Photo courtesy of Newsday.)

— According to an interview on intheguard.tv, WEC featherweight/human highlight-reel Jose Aldo says he’ll be getting a much-deserved shot at Mike Brown‘s belt at WEC 45 (November 11th, location TBA). Aldo has racked up five consecutive TKO/KO victories during his stint in the WEC, most recently slicing Cub Swanson’s head wide open in 8 seconds at WEC 41 last month. Brown made his second successful title-defense at the same event, out-pointing Urijah Faber in a classic five-rounder to pick up his tenth straight win. 

— With Strikeforce middleweight champ Cung Le out of action due to a blossoming acting career, Scott Coker has announced that Jake Shields will fight for the organization’s interim middleweight title in October; the exact date, location, and Shields’s opponent will all be announced later. Shields has long been known as one of the best welterweights in the world, but his first-round choke-out of Robbie Lawler last month proved that he could be very competitive at a higher weight. Plus, his homey’s already got the welterweight division on lock…

The UFC 100 installment of our pickoff contest came down to a two-man dogfight between SCM (aka 831 Son) and Arejay (aka RJeezy), who both produced scores of 17, picking every fight correctly except Coleman/Bonnar and Lawlor/Dollaway. As we wrote in the announcement of the contest’s final round:

SCM had four three-pointers, compared to Arejay’s three threes, meaning that SCM is the big winner, and will get a copy of Victory Belt’s "Machida-Do Karate for Mixed Martial Arts" 4-DVD box set. So, SCM, please e-mail feedback@cagepotato.com with your address, and we’ll get the set right out to you. And props on predicting the length of the Lesnar/Mir fight within three seconds, even if it wasn’t the shortest fight of the night. Thanks to Victory Belt, and to everyone who played. You’re all winners in our book.

As you’ll learn by listening to this clip, Kit Cope is a total prick, and yet somehow, because the universe is not a fair place, he has had sex with Gina Carano and claims to have video evidence of it.  At least, that’s what he said in a recent appearance on an internet radio show.  Fortunately "King" Mo Lawal and our bud Ariel Helwani (we’re still cool, right?) were there to press him on it, whereupon Cope dug himself deeper and deeper.  Cope also indicated that Gina might have fake tits, definitely has a lot of ass, and is going to get that ass beat if she continues training at "Xtreme Fashion."  He also says he’s "smashed a lot finer than that," just in case you were worried that he was becoming too likable.

Basically, Cope managed to piss off a bunch of people who are all more important in the MMA world than he is, and impressively enough he did it all in a matter of minutes.  Thanks to the power of the internet, Shawn Tompkins has already issued a very appropriate response:

(Click all images for larger versions.)

The WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden hosted a press conference this afternoon to promote Strikeforce’s upcoming "Carano vs. Cyborg" mega-card in San Jose on August 15th. I was there pretending to be a journalist and snapping pics with my trusty PowerShot. Video highlights will come later, but first I’d like to share some photos of the two headliners, the bright ‘n’ shiny belt they’ll be fighting for, and the half-cage that Strikeforce set up outside the building for a public open workout. All I’ll say for now is that Gina had better come prepared, because Cristiane Santos is looking yoked.

Watch Exclusive: Rawvegas.tv Vs. CagePotato Inside Wand Fight Team on RawVegas.tv

While in Las Vegas for UFC 100, I was invited to Wanderlei Silva’s gym for an open media workout.  Usually what that means is the fighter will work out in front of the media while we all sit around and sip coffee.  This time, however, it meant that Wanderlei wanted to get us on the mat so he could show us a few things.  The thinking on Silva’s part was that if we were going to cover the sport, we should actually know a little about the techniques involved.  Some of us came in with a working knowledge, some of us learned on the fly, and then there was Ariel Helwani (edit: just busting his chops. I’m only jealous because he’s more comfortable on camera than me).

Photos courtesy of The Las Vegas Sun, UFC.com, Sherdog, and MMA Weekly. Click all for larger images; lots more after the jump.

(Photo courtesy of The Sun)

Much of Quinton Jackson‘s distaste for Rashad Evans stems from UFC 96, when Rashad entered the cage directly following Rampage’s win over Keith Jardine and started jawing at him. The resulting exchange solidified them as mortal enemies whose mutual hatred is the basis for the next season of TUF — and it seems the UFC wants to replicate that drama in their lightweight division. Here’s Diego Sanchez talking about the immediate title shot he was recently promised by the UFC:

(Props: MMA Fanhouse)

Win or lose, you can always count on Mark Coleman to give up the emotions after a fight. Taking home his first win in over three years against Stephan Bonnar on Saturday, the Hammer was elated. In the video above, Coleman tells us that he can’t stand being called an old man, and guarantees he’ll be a factor in the UFC light-heavyweight division now that he’s changed his mindset and the way he trains. He also denies gassing out at UFC 100: "I always look tired, I’m playing possum…I was fresh, I got better as the fight went on." You can watch the fight here to see just how fresh he looked.

(Say what you will about his sportsmanship, his howler monkey impression is unassailable.)

Let’s get one thing straight: Brock Lesnar acted like a jerk on Saturday night.  Even by Lesnar standards, which have a certain expectation of jerkishness already built in, he conducted himself poorly.  First he got right in Frank Mir’s face mere seconds after TKO-ing him, just to let us know that he had no intention of being a gracious winner.  When the fans didn’t care for that, he gave them the old double Stockton Heybuddy and implored them to keep booing.  He finished by embarrassing a UFC sponsor and making tentative plans to get on top of his wife, who had to be as flattered as a stripper asked to work the lunchtime shift when she heard that one.

But the question is, with the increased media visibility of this event and this fight, did Lesnar do damage to MMA’s credibility as a real sport in the eyes of mainstream media and casual fans?  The answer is, not unless they’ve never seen pro sports before.

Occasional Cage Potato contributor Chad Dundas is one of the last special correspondents we have who hasn’t been dry-humped by "Rampage" Jackson (or so he says).  This weekend we sent him to NYC’s Radio City Music Hall to give us an idea what it was like watching the UFC’s biggest event in one of New York’s most famous venues.  Here’s what he found out.

A word of advice, Potato Nation: If any of you classy-ass motherfuckers ever get the opportunity to take in a cultural event at Radio City Music Hall – perhaps the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular or that Tori Amos concert you’ve been promising yourself for years – by all means, do it. And while you’re there be sure to visit the men’s room.

("And I’ll be taking your lunch money every morning, got it geek?")

The UFC paid out $2,190,000 in disclosed salaries and bonuses for Saturday’s UFC 100 show, with the victorious Brock Lesnar, Georges St. Pierre, and Dan Henderson taking home just over half of the total. Lesnar and St. Pierre also earn a percentage of the pay-per-view revenue, which isn’t reflected in the list below; according to MMA Junkie, Lesnar will make about $3 million from the fight even before the majority of his sponsorship money is tallied. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. The salary figures are below:

– Brock Lesnar: $400,000 (no win bonus)

– Georges St. Pierre: $400,000 (includes $200,000 win bonus)

– Dan Henderson: $350,000 (includes $150,000 win bonus, $100,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)

– Yoshihiro Akiyama: $160,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus, $100,000 Fight of the Night Bonus)

– Michael Bisping: $150,000

– Alan Belcher: $119,000 (includes $100,000 Fight of the Night Bonus)

– Tom Lawlor: $116,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus, $100,000 Submission of the Night bonus)

– Mark Coleman: $100,000 (includes $50,000 win bonus)

(Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

In the wake of UFC 100 — and UFC 99, the TUF 9 finale, the Bellator finals, and the last Strikeforce show — we’ve updated the heavyweight, light-heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight, lightweight, and pound-for-pound lists in our Power Rankings section. Some notable changes:

— Due to recent accomplishments, Georges St. Pierre supplants Fedor Emelianenko as the #1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Over the last two years, GSP has taken out Josh Koscheck, Matt Hughes, Matt Serra, Jon Fitch, BJ Penn, and Thiago Alves. In the same time frame, Fedor has beaten Matt Lindland (middleweight), Hong Man Choi (freak), Tim Sylvia (fat slob), and Andrei Arlovski (glass chin).

— Urijah Faber and Thiago Alves fall out of the P4P top ten, while Jake Shields and Dan Henderson come in. I’d still give the #11 spot to Faber, with Gegard Mousasi directly behind him.

— Diego Sanchez, Rich Franklin, Hector Lombard, Yoshihiro Akiyama, and Nick Diaz enter the rankings, either for the first time or in new weight-classes. You’re welcome, guys.

Give ‘em a look and let us know what you think.
(BG)

(Props: Fox Fight Game)

If you can get past the ill-conceived idea to interview Dana White during a point in the UFC 100 live show that is so loud you have to shout directly into his ear in order to be heard, and then capitalizing on that opportunity by asking such probing non-questions as “Congratulations!” and “Frank Mir really has nothing to lose tonight,” you’ll see a little footage of the aftermath of a Octagonside shoving match between “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans.  Dana White seems all too accustomed to this stuff, which should tell us something about the way the next season of TUF is going to turn out.

These are two guys who know they are going to be paid very well to fight one another in a few months, and yet here they are tussling for free in the seats at the UFC’s biggest event, basically making a sideshow of themselves.  Either this is the most committed effort to hype a fight ever, or these guys really do hate each other.  Regardless, you gotta keep it together during an event where you’re basically a spectator/PR vehicle for the UFC.  Otherwise Dana White is not going to take you knuckleheads anywhere.