(Props: CageWriter via BloodyElbow)

Scott Coker may not have asked for a war, but he’s getting one anyway. After a UFC 101 press conference yesterday, Dana White vented about Strikeforce’s recent signing of Fedor Emelianenko, telling reporters "They shoulda stayed the way they were. We’ll see what happens. You wanna fight me, we’re gonna fight. You know how that goes. And we know how it ends."

The counter-programming of Strikeforce begins on August 15th, as Spike will air their entire 100 Greatest Fights special to draw eyes away from "Carano vs. Cyborg."

Other highlights from Dana’s informal rant session…

(Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

MMA Fanhouse has confirmed that Edith Labelle — you know, the large-chested Octagon Girl who’s not Arianny or Logan — won’t be holding round cards and blowing kisses to the camera during UFC broadcasts anymore. Her manager was quoted as saying "Something happened, but at this time, I can only confirm that Edith no longer works for the UFC." Considering the rumors that swirled around Amber Nichole Miller‘s departure, that "something" could be nothing, or that something could be something; feel free to speculate wildly in the comments section below. Edith will be officially replaced by Maxim Octagon Girl Search winner Natasha Wicks at UFC 101 tomorrow night in Philadelphia.

Edith Labelle (born June 30, 1982), aka Edith Larente, made her debut as a UFC Octagon Girl in November 2007, but was released by the company after falling ill at UFC 100 in July 2009. Hailing from Mont-Laurier, Quebec, Edith Labelle worked as a semi-nude model before joining the UFC, and was best known as "Anabelle" from FlashyBabes.com. Outside of her appearance in a low-budget sci-fi movie in 2009, we have no idea what Edith’s been up to since leaving the UFC.

Check out more hot MMA ring girls…
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I think we’re starting to get a clearer picture of what B.J. Penn means when he says he feels misrepresented by the media.  Judging by this pseudo-apology, he feels like he ought to be able to make damaging, baseless claims about other fighters without the media turning it into a big deal by reporting exactly what he said.  For example, just because he says he thinks Georges St. Pierre is on steroids, that doesn’t mean you have to go running around and actually asking people if there’s even a shred of evidence to back up that assertion.  Honestly, can’t a guy just toss out reckless accusations anymore?

Notice that while Penn apologizes to “all parties involved” after reading the article, never does he say that he was totally wrong to make those accusations in the first place.  He even says, again, that he thinks GSP is on steroids, and that’s why he had “bad blood” with him in much the same way that he did with Sean Sherk.  Then he somehow turns right around and claims not to understand why people are talking about this at all when he has a fight with Kenny Florian in two days.  Here’s a guess: maybe it’s because you keep talking about it, B.J.

After the jump, Penn changes up his tone and addresses Yahoo’s Kevin Iole directly in a separate forty-five second clip.  On a related note, can someone please get the Penn camp some video editing software and teach them to splice these things together?

(Nice t-shirt, Miguel. See? There are distinct advantages to being small enough to shop in the kids’ section at Wal-Mart.)

It may have slipped your mind with all the UFC 101 hype and Fedor/M-1/Strikeforce trash talk this week, but there’s also a WEC event this weekend.  I know, right?  We totally almost forgot, too.  But as long as we’re talking about it we might as well take a look at the betting lines, courtesy of BestFightOdds.com:

Miguel Torres (-300) vs. Brian Bowles (+285)
Takeya Mizugaki (-185) vs. Jeff Curran (+160)
Joseph Benavidez (-250) vs. Dominic Cruz (+210)
Leonard Garcia (-400) vs. Jameel Massough (+375)
Ricardo Lamas (-170) vs. Danny Castillo (+160)
Marcus Hicks (-115) vs. Shane Roller (-115)
Ed Ratcliff (-300) vs. Phil Cardella (+300)
Fredson Paxiao (-165) vs. Cole Province (+140)
Diego Nunes (-360) vs. Rafael Dias (+300)
Rani Yahya (-700) vs. John Hosman (+550)
LC Davis (even) vs. Javier Vasquez (-115)

The breakdown…

Fedor Emelianenko, Strikeforce’s Scott Coker, M-1 Global’s Vadim Finkelchtein, and Showtime’s Ken Hershman held a press conference this afternoon to discuss Strikeforce’s plan for Fedor, and refute some of the alleged misinformation that the UFC released about their negotiations with the Russian heavyweight king. You can read recaps here and here. Though Fedor’s next opponent doesn’t appear to be finalized yet, there were still some eyebrow-raising bits:

— Emelianenko called the offer he got from the UFC “miserable,” and nowhere near the six-fight, $30 million reports that circulated on the internet. Finkelchtein said that if those rumored numbers about Fedor’s contract offer were true, they would have signed with the UFC.

— Finkelchtein claimed that the idea of Anderson Silva as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world is a product of the UFC media machine, and Brock Lesnar is also just a product of the UFC’s hype. He said that Brett Rogers is better than Brock Lesnar.

(Photo courtesy of Newsday.)

— TUF 3 finalist Ed Herman, who broke a two-fight skid in April with a unanimous decision win over David Loiseau, has been tapped to replace James "Job" Irvin against Wilson Gouveia at UFC 102, according to Sherdog. Irvin was forced to withdraw from the fight this week due to yet another serious knee injury. Herman was previously scheduled to face Aaron Simpson at UFC Fight Night 19 (September 16th, Oklahoma City).

— UFC 104 (October 24th, Los Angeles) will reportedly host a lightweight battle between Joe Stevenson and Spencer Fisher. "Joe Daddy" broke a two-fight losing streak of his own when he scored a decision win over Nate Diaz at the TUF 9 finale in June. Fisher is riding a three fight win-streak and most recently outpointed Caol Uno at UFC 99. The match will likely be on the main card, supporting the light-heavyweight title fight between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.

(Later Fedor realized that when he had asked whether they could swing by the toy store on their way home from the press conference, Vadim’s response, "We’ll see," actually meant no.)

As we heard over and over again during the the ill-fated negotiations between the UFC and Fedor Emelianenko’s management squadron, M-1 Global is a big time fight promoter and major player on the worldwide MMA scene.  In fact, that’s part of their justification for insisting that the UFC hand over half their profits in exchange for the privilege of having Fedor blast his way through their heavyweight class.  They’ve promoted fights “all over the world,” so everyone else has to pay up.

Only maybe M-1’s execs got a little too distracted while trying to shake down other MMA organizations, because they forgot to actually get a promoter’s license, meaning their planned August 28 event in California – the one where “King Mo” Lawal and Don Frye are supposed to get it on – seems kind of screwed.  

(‘I’m telling you kid, with your wholesome image, my brains, and this Russian fellow’s team of upstanding businessmen, God himself couldn’t stop us.’)

I’ll say this much for you East Coast MMA fans, you are not above begging, pleading, and even offering sexual favors if you think it might get you tickets to a UFC event.  After sifting through an unhealthy amount of jokes about steroids, homosexuality, and Aleks Emelianenko’s rumored Hepatitis issue, often all wrapped up into one entry, we finally arrived at a winner for our UFC 101 Caption Contest who could actually make it to Philly by Saturday night.  It wasn’t easy, especially after Horror Fighter’s overwhelming desperation helped set a new record for the sheer number of captions submitted, but we did it.  

Before we get to our big winner, however, allow us to thank the good people at Fight Magazine for making this giveaway possible, and also to give a nod to a couple of attempts that fell just short:

(Photo courtesy of MMA Mania.)

Getting knocked out in two consecutive high-profile fights has to be a devastating blow to a fighter’s confidence. And the idea of Tim Sylvia banging your ex-girlfriend, sure, that would make anybody want to throw up until they died. But we weren’t expecting this troubling bit of news from a fighters.com article posted yesterday:

(GSP’s fists later tested positive for Asskickazolol and 4-Hydroxyawesome. Photo courtesy of LA Times.)

His greasing crusade never amounted to much, but UFC lightweight champ BJ Penn won’t rest until arch-rival Georges St. Pierre is busted for something. In a new interview with Yahoo! Sports, the Prodigy launched yet another explosive accusation:

(Just then, in mid-thai clinch, Anderson Silva realized that hurting people no longer gave him any pleasure. He could not help but be overcome by the meaninglessness of it all, and he resolved that he would find a way to remain champion without ever harming another human being again. And the people, he felt certain, would love and cherish him forever…)

If you want to know how much of a difference oddsmakers think the move up in weight will make on UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva, you need look no further than the general consensus formed by the betting lines.  No one has Silva as anything less than a 3-1 favorite at the moment, with one even tagging him a 5-1 favorite.  Is it weird that online bookmakers aren’t even giving Forrest Griffin, the former UFC light heavyweight champ, a decent chance to send “The Spider” back to his own division?  Maybe.  But we should also remember that these are the people who handicap fights for a living.  And they seem to be predicting a serious ass-whipping.

The most favorable lines on the internet come to us courtesy of BestFightOdds.com:

B.J. Penn (-228) vs. Kenny Florian (+215)
Anderson Silva (-345) vs. Forrest Griffin (+301)
Amir Sadollah (-115) vs. Johnny Hendricks (+104)
Ricardo Almeida (-145) vs. Kendall Grove (+139)
Josh Neer (-195) vs. Kurt Pellegrino (+190)
Aaron Riley (-150) vs. Shane Nelson (+140)
Tamdan McCrory (-175) vs. John Howard (+174)
Thales Leites (-330) vs. Alessio Sakara (+325)
Matthew Riddle (-150) vs. Dan Cramer (+153)
George Sotiropoulos (-380) vs. George Roop (+260)
Danillo Villefort (-180) vs. Jesse Lennox (+170)

The breakdown…

(Props: ShoSports via BloodyElbow)

Yes, Gina Carano is training her ass off for her upcoming fight against Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos. In the above video, heartless strength and conditioning coach Norm Turner puts MMA’s golden girl through the ringer, pushing her dangerously close to the point of vomiting/calling for her mommy. Is Cyborg training this hard? Or is she just choking reporters, throwing around her husband, and relying on her genetic advantages to see her through? Whatever the case, workouts like these are ensuring that Carano will be ready for anything…

(Johny Hendricks vs. Richard Gamble, 3/15/08)

Saturday night will see the Octagon debuts of three welterweights who joined up with the WEC just before the league folded its 170-pound division. Now the UFC will give these fighters a chance to prove themselves — slotting one of them in a high-profile main card fight against TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah. Get to know UFC 101’s trio of newbies below…

JOHNY HENDRICKS (WW)
Experience: 5-0 record (3 wins by TKO, 1 by submission). His last two fights were in the WEC, where he defeated Justin Haskins and Alex Serdyukov.
Will be facing: Amir Sadollah (1-0 MMA/UFC)??
Lowdown: While wrestling at Oklahoma State University, Hendricks won two NCAA Division I titles at 165-pounds, and was a three-time Big 12 Conference champion. After graduating in 2007, he racked up three MMA wins in local Oklahoma shows before joining the WEC. But despite his fearsome wrestling credentials, he doesn’t plan on laying on top of Sadollah for three rounds. As he said in this UFC.com profile: “You can’t afford to play in Amir’s guard at any point. A lot of wrestlers have tried that with Amir and have ended up failing badly…I actually now like to stand and strike. I’ve tried to finish all my fights while standing on my feet. If I take a guy down and he wants to get back up, I’ll just let them…I want to provide entertaining fights, not wrestling matches. If I’m not active on top, I’ll back out and stand up. The happiness of the fans is what pays the bills and I’m aware of that.” Hendricks has recently been training at Striking Unlimited in Las Vegas.

(‘Don’t worry, it’s not contagious.  Just an allergic reaction to some stuff that I did not intentionally ingest.’)

So you’re sitting around the East Coast this weekend, trying to figure out some way that you can be one of the unappreciative jerks to boo Anderson Silva in person before he finally shapes up and starts knocking fools out again?  Then we have good news.  Thanks to the overwhelming generosity of our friends at Fight! Magazine we have two tickets to give away to UFC 101 in Philadelphia this weekend.  All you have to do to get them is provide a caption for the above photo that makes us laugh in the easy, carefree manner that we haven’t known since childhood.

Of course, since this is a prize that involves some geographical eligibility restrictions, we’re going to try this whole ‘tell us whether you can actually, physically get there’ thing again.  That didn’t go so well last time, despite the best efforts of 831 Son, so let’s all try not to drive him crazy with a blatant disregard for the rules this time.  

The winner will be chosen by us, using whatever criteria we want, and we won’t give a damn what you think about it.  Then we’ll let you know first thing tomorrow which of you lucky bastards will get to witness the glorious return to action of Amir Sadollah (you know, the guy from those UFC/Burger King promos!).  Now get to work.  And then go buy a copy of Fight! Magazine to show your gratitude.

You know those “World’s Strongest Man” competitions on ESPN 2?  Really makes you wonder how that’s been a staple of their programming for years while MMA can barely get some highlights on Sportscenter every now and then, doesn’t it?  But that’s beside the point.  Apparently the dude who has won more Strongest Man competitions than anyone else is now coming to MMA, and he’ll presumably be bringing those MC Hammer-style bodybuilder pants with him.

Mariusz Pudzianowski, who may challenge Krzysztof Soszynski for the sport’s most difficult to spell name, will make his MMA debut at an event in Poland this December.  He’s done some amateur boxing and Kyukoshin karate, so he’s not a novice to the fight game.  And even though he may not be UFC-bound any time soon, we’ve always said that this sport needs more of a crossover appeal to the Polish/Strongman audience, and Mariusz might just the man to finally bridge that great divide.

Fun facts about Pudzianowski:

(Photo courtesy of our friends at Fight Magazine)

Ben Rothwell was one of the fighters who was none too pleased with Josh Barnett after his positive steroid test prompted the Affliction: Trilogy cancellation, but despite the missed paycheck he may be better off for it in the end, as his fight with Chase Gormley got picked up for UFC 104.  Here Rothwell tells us about the quick turnaround from unemployed fighter to UFC heavyweight, why he takes Barnett’s steroid issues personally, and why he welcomes you to keep basing your judgments about him on his loss to Andrei Arlovski.

When you got the call telling you the Affliction event was cancelled, I imagine you were pretty pissed off.  But what was going through your mind right then?

Honestly, pretty pissed off is how a lot of guys felt.  But when I heard that the event was cancelled I just put it in my mind right away that I was going to fight for somebody, somewhere.  I told myself, don’t get stressed out, even though I was losing money and losing a chance to fight, but I put aside the negative thoughts right away.  I got off the phone and I was kind of just blank, because it came out of nowhere, but I knew I had to stay positive.  Nothing I could say or do would make the show come back.  

(Looks like somebody’s heading to the glue factory. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Seriously, the Amir Sadollah Curse doesn’t even come close. Carmichael Dave broke the news yesterday that James Irvin, who was scheduled to face Wilson Gouveia later this month at UFC 102, has been forced to drop out of the match due to a serious knee injury suffered in training which will likely require surgery. And that means it’s time to update the James Irvin "Why Me?" timeline…

— 6/9/06: A Strikeforce match between Irvin and Bobby Southworth ends in a no-contest after both fighters fell out of the cage. Irvin screwed up his left leg during the tumble and couldn’t continue fighting.

— 5/26/07: Irvin tears the ACL and MCL of his right knee during a UFC 71 match against Thiago Silva, and the fight is ruled a TKO victory for Silva.

(Photo courtesy of 411mania.)

According to Graciemag.com, Brazilian middleweight standout Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza has signed a multi-fight deal with Strikeforce, and will make his debut at an October 25th event in Fresno, California — reportedly the same event that will see Fedor Emelianenko‘s Strikeforce debut. Souza has spent the last five fights of his career competing for DREAM in Japan, where he made it to the finals of their middleweight grand prix before succumbing to a Gegard Mousasi upkick, and had two contentious fights with Jason Miller. After their last match ended in a no-contest due to an illegal kick, Jacare and Mayhem were scheduled to fight for a third time at DREAM.11 (October 6th, Yokohama) for DREAM’s middleweight belt. It’s unclear if that fight will still be happening, though Japan MMA hears a rumor that Paulo Filho will be stepping in for Souza against Miller.
 
Souza’s Strikeforce signing is particularly interesting because Scott Coker recently announced that Jake Shields will fight for the organization’s interim middleweight title in October. Shields’s opponent hasn’t yet been announced, and Souza’s first opponent hasn’t been named either. You don’t have to be a genius to figure this one out. The winner of the interim middleweight title fight will face Cung Le whenever Le feels like taking a break from his action movie career and stepping back into the cage.

(When she finds out that this particular game of strip poker was rigged, we’re hoping she’ll be more flattered than pissed.  Either way, totally worth it.)

If you love Cage Potato but are sick of the tyranny of reading, we have some good news for you.  We are all over the radio waves — both internet and satellite — this week, and we plan to take full advantage of the lack of obscenity laws in both mediums.  First up, Ben Fowlkes joins the Ground and Pound radio show tonight at 9:30 pm EST to talk UFC 101 and reenact scenes from "Commando" (note: if we don’t have enough time for the second one, we may just talk about the WEC instead).  Other guests include our old friend Ariel Helwani, and the UFC Octagon Girl voted most likely to laugh politely at our jokes, Logan Stanton.  If I’m not mistaken you can even call in and ask your stupid questions in person.  Looking forward to it. 

Also this week, Ben Goldstein joins the Asylum.com podcast to lend his particular brand of I-don’t-give-a-fuckness to their efforts, and we’ll let you know where and when you can hear that as soon as we find out ourselves.

Finally, we’ll be bringing back our Ben vs. Ben segment to Sirius Fight Club on Friday afternoon at 6 pm EST. (channel 127 for Sirius subscribers, 104 for XM).  We’ve got some good ones lined up this week, and you won’t want to miss it as we debate the finer points of UFC 101 and ponder the Fedor/M-1 conundrum that Strikeforce has gotten themselves into.  Also, we’ll have our pants off the whole time.  What can we say, we’ll do anything for attention. 

Ever wanted to go inside one of Randy Couture‘s training camps in a five-part series of webisodes designed for the fan with a minimally-functioning knowledge of MMA?  Then you’re in luck.  SI.com posted the first video in their journey through Couture’s preparations for his bout with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 102, and it’s not bad.  No serious revelations here for the hardcore fan, but they’re just getting started.  In related news, Couture’s currently a -190 favorite over at BetUs.com.  Wonder how much of that is based on his skills, and how much is the result of the sickly, sluggish performance from Nogueira in his last outing.

("So listen, you got any clean urine I can borrow?" Photo courtesy of MMA Junkie.)

According to a story on Sherdog, Sengoku is planning to book American steroid aficionado Josh Barnett for their November 7th card, but not against Antonio Silva as was originally suggested; Silva is currently scheduled to fight at Sengoku 10 in September. Conveniently, World Victory Road Director Takahiro Kokuho is giving Barnett the benefit of the doubt regarding his latest positive test in California:

(More oddball grappling exhibitions between fighters separated by four weight classes? Yes please! Photo courtesy of Sportsnavi)

From MMA Fanhouse:

UFC color man/comedian extraordinaire Joe Rogan recently posted a video he shot of the magical ‘Surprise!’ moment from Dana White’s recent 40th birthday bash.  Though Rogan tries to rev it up with some of his trademark high-energy announcing (“Oh. My. Goodness!”) Dana doesn’t look all that blown away, at least until he realizes that the Tapout guys and Chuck Liddell also showed up.  But the weird part is, Rogan informed the Twitter community that the evening’s entertainment was mid-nineties grunge rock band Stone Temple Pilots.  From the sound of it, Rogan just about lost his shit when they took the stage:

I just saw stone temple pilots perform at Dana White’s birthday party. It was easilly the greatest live performance in any art form… That I’ve ever seen. It was fucking insanely good. Those motherfuckers were insanely good! I’m seriously inspired. Incredible.

Seriously?  You’re telling me Stone Temple Pilots turned in the greatest performance "in any art form"?  Maybe if the year is 1994 and the only other art form you’ve ever seen performed is Christian Interpretive Dance. 

(Who’s ready for round two?)

Ben Rothwell hasn’t even had his first UFC fight yet, but he’s already got his eye on the UFC heavyweight title.  He even has a little insight about the man who holds it, and how best to go about taking it from him.  

While talking to Rothwell about his impending debut at UFC 104 against Chase Gormley – the same opponent he was originally scheduled to face at Affliction: Trilogy – the conversation turned to other UFC heavyweights like “Ultimate Fighter” season ten participant Roy Nelson, who Rothwell had a memorable clash with in the IFL.  While Rothwell said he’s absolutely expecting a rematch with Nelson in the UFC, he went on to say that he thought of both Gormley and Nelson as preparation for a fight with UFC champ Brock Lesnar:

The easy storyline for the main event of UFC 101 is as follows: BJ Penn is the spoiled champion who has enjoyed success due to prodigious fighting ability, and not necessarily through hard work, while Kenny Florian is the hungry, focused, scrappy challenger who works harder than Penn outside of the cage and is mentally tougher inside of it. But the Prodigy we’ve seen in the training camp for this fight isn’t the lazy, complacent one we know and love. The fact that BJ has brought in Marv Marinovich as his strength and conditioning coach, and has moved out of the insular world of Hilo to train with an impressively stacked camp in California, suggests that Penn wants to try new things in the wake of his one-sided loss to Georges St. Pierre at UFC 94. For a fighter so far along in his career, it’s an inspiring and somewhat unexpected attitude. And if Penn is taking this fight as seriously as Florian, it’s a bad sign for the challenger.

Later in the above video preview, Anderson Silva calls Robert Drysdale a "fool" and an "idiot" for suggesting that Forrest Griffin will submit him during their light-heavyweight feature. Spike’s "Countdown to UFC 101" special premieres tonight at 11 p.m. ET/PT. After the jump, Diego Sanchez discusses his imminent title shot and who he’d like to see prevail in the Penn/Florian match.

(Image courtesy of Strikeforce.)

Now that Strikeforce has landed the greatest heavyweight in the world, they have to make sure that casual American fans care. To that end, Fedor Emelianenko may spend the first two fights of his initial three-fight deal with Strikeforce building his name before fighting for the organization’s heavyweight strap. According to Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker on yesterday’s edition of TapouT Radio (via FiveOuncesofPain):

Forrest Griffin discusses his upcoming bout with Anderson Silva at UFC 101 this weekend with all the self-deprecating dry wit we’ve come to expect.  The good news is, he no longer has any fear of dying at the hands of “The Spider."  As the Kübler-Ross model taught us, acceptance is the important final stage in the grieving process.  

Things get weird around the 5:09 mark when Dave Farra asks Forrest if he’d ever take money from a sponsor to promote a product he doesn’t use, and this somehow leads to Griffin talking about how much he hates condoms, saying they “shrink the pee-pee” and calling the idea that he might wear one “ludicrous.”  In other news, don’t forget to tune into Spike TV’s new show, "Forrest Griffin Has Syphilis Now," which will air immediately following "The Ultimate Fighter."

After the jump, a couple moments from the MMA Hall of Shame, including a couple of guys who are still trying to put those performances behind them.

(Sometimes in life, all you want is somebody you can hate.)

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks, hasn’t it Potato Nation?  But now that Fedor Emelianenko has signed with Strikeforce, UFC president Dana White can stop courting him and resume bashing him in the same familiar terms.  And you already know exactly how this tune goes:

"I’m in Abu Dhabi right now and my reaction is Fedor is a [expletive] joke.  [He] turns down a huge deal and the opportunity to face the best in the world to fight nobodies, for no money. Fedor is [expletive]."

Comforting in a strange, unhealthy way, isn’t it?  Like reuniting with an ex-girlfriend who you never really liked all that much to begin with.  Sure she’s got problems, but at least you already know what they are.  And when she starts a fight over nothing on the ride home from dinner, it almost feels like home.

(L-R: Andre Galvao, Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante, Anderson Silva, Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

“God forgive me for saying it, but we’re years ahead of some fighters. We can also make mistakes of course. When we study our performances we see them, however it doesn’t always appear to the untrained eye.”

So said Anderson Silva in a recent interview with Fighters Only, speaking of his teammates in the Black House collective, which also includes UFC light-heavyweight champ Lyoto Machida. Check out more photos of Silva and his crew below, courtesy of Sherdog’s trip to the L.A. camp. Only five more days until Silva collides with Forrest Griffin at UFC 101.

(This is a picture of Brian Foster. It is what it is. Props to thehitsquad.com.)

In our almost-daily update of fighters who were supposed to compete at Affliction: Trilogy…

— New UFC welterweight acquisition Paul "Semtex" Daley is expected to make his Octagon debut against H.I.T. Squad product Brian Foster (10-3) at UFC 103 (September 19th, Dallas), according to MMA Weekly. Foster is currently on a three-fight win streak, and eight of his ten career wins have come by first-round stoppage. UFC 103 will be headlined by Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort, which will now be at a catchweight of 195 pounds.