Well, this new development is appropriately terrifying for Halloween.  War Machine, the fighter formally known as Jon Koppenhaver, has decided to do away with any lingering shreds of dignity that might have been clinging to him without his knowledge, and has officially become a porn star.  The video above shows him receiving his first ass waxing to make his butt camera-ready, and while it probably wasn’t necessary for him to post that to YouTube he did perform a public service by letting all the kids out there know that life as a porn star isn’t all glamour and lube.  There’s actually some unsavory elements to it.  Who knew?

He says he shot his first scene with Riley Steele and described it as "fucking awesome," before explaining that he took the gig because fighting wasn’t paying the bills and he refuses to work for a living.  It’s like I’ve always said, when life gives you lemons, make a video of you having sex with those lemons and put it on the internet.

Related:
- War Machine: "F@ck an Obama"
- War Machine Arrested in Vegas
- War Machine Apologizes for Ridiculous Behavior

(‘You guys, I just had the craziest dream. I was in the UFC and people kept exploiting my weak takedown defense, and it was like I was powerless to stop them…’)

After suffering his second loss in a row and his third defeat in the last four outings, Josh "The Dentist" Neer has been released from the UFC, ending his third tour of duty inside the Octagon.  It’s not exactly a surprise to anyone who saw his scrap with Gleison Tibau at UFC 104 last weekend.  In a fight that never was pay-per-view quality to begin with, Neer spent three rounds getting slammed on his back and embarrassing the entire state of Iowa with his poor takedown defense before losing via unanimous decision.  At UFC 101 in August he suffered a similar fate against Kurt Pellegrino, who also outwrestled Neer en route to a plodding decision.  It’s hard enough to stay in the UFC when you’re losing exciting fights.  Getting blanked in boring ones is a sure-fire way to get out of that restrictive UFC contract you hate so much.

Neer is now 25-9-1 for his career, and 4-6 in the UFC.  Good thing he has that DDS to fall back on, maybe open his own practice somewhere in Bettendorf.  See kids, never underestimate the value of a good education.  If Neer didn’t have that right now, why, it would be a really, really depressing time for him.

(Thanks to CP reader Alex, who just happened to be videotaping this adorable kitten for no good reason when it clued him in to the best non-porn website in the history of the internet.)

- TUF 10′s Zak "Linderman" Jensen facing wrongful death lawsuit. (Fanhouse)

- Exclusive coverage of the first MMA event held in a war zone. (Fight Magazine)

- Cecil Peoples wins facepalm of the week. (Cage Writer)

- Roy Nelson responds to Dana White’s ‘moron’ comments. (USA Today)

- Rhode Island legalizes MMA. (MMA Payout)

- Catching up with Miesha Tate. (MMA Madness)

- The power of the Fedor Sweater cannot be denied. (UG)

- Mike Massenzio to face Tim Credeur at UFN 20. (The Garv)

- Dan Hardy talks Mike Swick, Dan Hardy, and more. (Bleacher Report)

- NFL week 8 picks and predictions. (Scores Report)

- Utah teens busted for rapping at McDonald’s. (Asylum)

- To protect, but not to serve. (Ask Men)

- 25 awesome Halloween costumes. (Holy Taco)

- ‘Vaginal Hubris’ music video. (Screen Junkies)

- Wreck of the Week: car jump fail. (All Left Turns)

- The A to Z guide to Halloween hook-ups. (Made Man)

- Nothing like a fight inside a Wal-Mart. (Nothing Toxic)

Fighter Knocked Out by Brutal High Kick – Watch more Funny Videos

It takes about fifty seconds for this Sambo match to get started, but once it gets underway it isn’t long before someone catches the old head kick express bound straight for Concussionville.  Once there he’ll be greeted by Mayor Memory Loss and the fine gentleman from the Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Brainbleeding.  Come, let them take you on a tour of the town, from the Vertigo River to the Migraine district.  Okay, this flight of fancy has officially gone too far, but I could only stare at the computer screen trying to come up with a Yakov Smirnoff Soviet Russia joke for so long before something in me just snapped. 

The point is, they don’t play around in Sambo.  Not only do you get dropped on a hard surface after your brutal head kick KO, you wake up to the sound of polite applause while some guy holds your feet in the air.  I think I’ll stick with grappling tournaments, thanks. 

(Props: SNETCF)

With UFC 106 poppin’ off in three weeks, it’s time for the replacement headliners to start selling their match. In the above video, Tito Ortiz talks about going from a wrestling-based training camp for Mark Coleman to switching things up for Forrest Griffin. He says that main event status is comfortable for him, and that the pressure is on Forrest. And of course, he takes time to dump some hate onto his old nemesis Lyoto Machida for running his way to a "robbery" decision against Shogun Rua last Saturday: "Step up and be a man and fight, man. This is MMA, this is not boxing where you win by points…I’m going to look for a knockout, or I’m just gonna look to hurt [Griffin]. My job is to prevail and to make sure I entertain the fans who watch."

After the jump: A somewhat less focused interview with Forrest Griffin, in which he and Ron Frazier touch on Griffin’s refusal to wear condoms, to the great disgust of Todd Duffee.

(Failing: You succeed at it.)

Great news, you guys. Our favorite online MMA gear and apparel retailer MMA Warehouse has hooked us up with some gift cards to give to the winners of our Halloween Costume Contest. First place will score a $100 gift card, second place gets a $50 card, and third place is good for a $25 card. Because we’re just springing this on you now, we’re going to start the finalist voting on Monday — not today as originally announced. Anyway, this should give you a couple more days to come up with something amazing, though we should tell you we’ve already gotten a lot of Kimbos and almost as many Brocks. Not to discourage you from sending us a picture of yourself dressed up as either of those two gentlemen, but at this point you’ll really have to bring the workmanship and attention to detail if you want to stand out. Good luck, and send those photos of yourselves to feedback@cagepotato.com by Sunday night at midnight ET.

And one last thing: We’d really like to stress that these costumes should be MMA-related in some way. That should go without saying since this is an MMA website, and since we’ve already said it twice. But it’s hard for some people to get the message. The photo above, for example, was sent to us from a dude named Margret, who really wanted us to see his Michael Jackson costume for some reason. It’s breathtaking, Margret, but shouldn’t your head be on fire?

Thanks again to MMA Warehouse! Go there now and spend lots of money!

(Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle’s UFC 104 post-fight party set.)

If you were listening to a very special Tuesday edition of Ben vs. Ben this week, you heard Ben Goldstein suggest a heavyweight sight gag in the form of 5’11 Pat Barry taking on 6’11 Stefan Struve.  Both fighters were victorious at UFC 104, and they are the shortest and the tallest UFC heavyweights respectively.  It turns out that Barry actually thinks that’s a pretty good idea, and he’s asking for the UFC to set that one up.  In a chat with FightHype.com, Barry said he wants Struve next because “it would be a David and Goliath…I would like to fight him next and then work my way up to Kongo.”

Clearly this is a man who knows how to pick his style match-ups.  Struve obviously has some submissions, but he’s no takedown the artist.  The weakest part of Barry’s arsenal right now is undoubtedly his ground game.  The more fights he can get with guys willing to stand and trade with him, the more time he has to shore up his takedown defense.  In fact, there’s probably no one more critical of Barry’s ground skills than himself right now.  In a bit of self-deprecation that borders on self-loathing, Barry described his takedown defense as “very suspicious” and said that one thing he’s shown in his three UFC fights thus far is that he’s “very suspect on the ground.”

Not that we’d disagree with that assessment, but damn.  How about a little optimism, Pat?  You don’t hear Bob Sapp running around and talking about how he has the cardio of an eighty-year-old emphysema patient.

Remember when "Mayhem" Miller and Jake Shields vowed to hype the hell out of their Strikeforce title fight to make sure fans tuned in to CBS on November 7?  Yeah, well, that hasn’t really happened.  They exchanged some barbs over Miller’s stated goal to "beat the piss" out of Shields, but since the fight’s been signed the trash talk has really stayed at a simmer.  We can only assume that Shields’ recent Twitter post is an attempt to kick things up a notch.  It simply can’t be a legitimate possibility that Shields would replace Miller as "Bully Beatdown" host, because no MTV executive not currently trying to bring the company down from the inside would trade Miller’s lower-primate-on-crack persona for Shields’ stoic hard-ass routine.  Don’t get us wrong, Shields is great as a bully-beater, but the only thing that guy could host is a tapeworm.  Dude just doesn’t have the panache.

According to oddsmakers, however, he does have the better chance to bring home the belt.  Shields is currently going off at about a 3-1 favorite, with Miller at +220.  Whaddaya say, anyone in the Potato Nation have the grapefruits to take a chance on an underdog with a severe chemical imbalance? 

(It’s particularly disappointing because Thiago’s face had just returned to normal.)

When it rains, it goddamned pours. The latest big-name UFC fighter to be scratched from an end-of-year card is Thiago Alves, who just went down with a knee injury — most likely a torn posterior cruciate ligament, if you want to get specific. Alves was scheduled to rematch Jon Fitch at UFC 107, and was coming in as a replacement for Ricardo Almeida, who suffered his own knee injury last week. No word yet on how long this will keep Alves sidelined, or if Fitch will be getting a replacement-replacement opponent for the December 12th show in Memphis. Matt Hughes, if there was ever a time to shut AKA’s collective mouth, it’s now. As it stands, UFC 107′s lineup looks like this:

(Props: twitter.com/realkimboslice)

When we asked Dana White if there was any truth to the rumors that Kimbo Slice‘s first post-TUF fight would be against Houston Alexander, he expertly dodged the question. (This is why he gets the paid the big bucks, and why we have to moonlight as night managers at Family Dollar in order to make rent.) But a couple of tweets Kimbo posted yesterday seem to support the theory that Slice will soon be thrown into the Octagon with another ground-game-challenged puncher. The "I Accept" line suggests that he won’t be fighting a fellow castmember at the TUF 10 finale. (Does he not get another chance to bang on the show after all? Does he lose again?) And yeah, the whole "HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM!" thing is pretty much a dead-giveaway. 

Alexander, who recently broke his three-fight losing streak with a first-round TKO over Sherman Pendergarst at Adrenaline 4, is reportedly applying for a fighter license with the Nevada State Athletic Commission, so all signs are pointing to "oh God, this is actually happening." Could it be the Kimbo Slice slobberknocker that we’ve all been waiting for?

(Antoni Hardonk vs. Sherman Pendergarst @ UFC 65, 11/18/06)

Leg kicks may not seem impressive to everybody, particularly certain MMA judges whose names rhyme with Schmecil Feeples, but as anyone who has ever been hit with a good one knows, they really, really hurt.  Sometimes they hurt so much that you want to quit fighting.  Other times they hurt so much that you have to quit fighting.  Still other times they just gradually chip away at you until you’re a fraction of the man you were when you entered the cage.  Leg kicks are not only an effective weapon that deserves to be scored with some respect for their cringe-inducing power, they can also end a fight.  They have ended fights, in fact, and probably will end a few more before this grand MMA experiment draws to a close.

And so, as a tribute to the power and majesty of the leg kick, we offer the following.  Take note, Cecil.

(If he can handle that, he can handle anything.)

According to a new report by MMA Weekly, former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber will return to action for the first time since his decision loss to Mike Brown in June, when he takes on top contender Raphael Assuncao at WEC 46 (January 11th, Sacramento). Faber has spent the last few months rehabbing the hand injuries he suffered against Brown, but described the January event as "perfect timing for me."

Though Assuncao may not be a household name yet, the 14-1 submission specialist has won both of his appearances in the WEC (decisions over Jameel Massouh and Yves Jabouin) and we consider him to be one of the ten best featherweights in the world right now. Faber vs. Assuncao is slated to be WEC 46′s co-main event, supporting the lightweight title unification bout between Jamie Varner and Benson Henderson — unless Henderson needs more time to recover from his own injuries, in which case it’ll be up to the California Kid to carry the card. Will Faber be able to re-establish himself in the division he ruled for almost three years, or will Assuncao put himself on that map as the WEC’s next featherweight star?

(Props: TSGIGOR via Bloody Elbow)

Like a knight suiting up for battle, Fedor has thrown himself into his latest round of publicity obligations armored in what has become known as The Glorious Sweater of Absolute Victory. If you’ll remember, he lit up New York in the horizontally-striped number before his Affliction fight with Andrei Arlovski, and we all know how well that turned out. These photos were taken at a press conference held today somewhere in Russia — we just wanted to clarify that, because there’s an "M-1 Affliction Challenge" logo on the wall, and the word "Strikeforce" is nowhere to be seen. Anyway, Brett Rogers’s loud t-shirt just broke eye contact and pissed itself. Somebody may be paying you to wear that thing, Grim, but we highly doubt it wards off spells from jealous women…

The people at Reuters caught up with 88-year-old former boxing great Jake LaMotta to get some of his crotchety opinions on the current state of the fight game.  Not surprisingly, the “Raging Bull” is not a big fan of our beloved MMA.  Boxers typically aren’t, and old people almost never are.  Since LaMotta is both, he’s right there with Bob Reilly when it comes to anti-MMA sentiment.  What’s sadly ironic, however, is his choice of words when articulating exactly what he doesn’t like about the sport:

"When they hit you on the floor? That doesn’t make any sense, it’s savage. …It’s out of control, I still think the regular way is the best way."

Savage?  This is the guy who, rumor has it, only realized what a terrible person he’d been for his whole life after seeing the Martin Scorsese biopic on himself.  According to IMDB, after seeing the film, which included scenes of him beating his wife, Vickie, he is said to have asked her, “Was I really like that?”  To which she responded, “You were worse.”

He also admitted to throwing a fight in 1947, for which he was suspended by the New York State Athletic Commission.  In other words, the man is not a moral compass by any means.  Great fighter, though.  It’s just a shame he can’t appreciate it in others.

(Props: Cage Writer)

(‘Anybody want to go throw some furniture off the overpass?’)

You might think that you know what Matt Mitrione is doing when you watch him on “The Ultimate Fighter,” but the truth is he is straight playin’ ya’ll.  That’s the message in his Fight Magazine blog, where he once again insists that nothing is as it seems in his world, and everything is done for a reason that only makes sense to him.  In the case of last night’s episode, the reason is purely for his own amusement, because his mind is too damn active to allow him to just sit around and act like a normal human being.  It’s a blessing and a curse, people:

As far as talking about voices in my head it was kind of a joke. Nobody here likes me so let’s see what I can do to freak out the camera people. I was going stir crazy. I had no other friends in the house at the time except for Darrill and I couldn’t really tell Darrill what I was doing at the time. It was my own personal joke. It was a way to keep myself entertained. I have a really active mind and I can’t sit around and stare at the other people in a house. I gotta stimulate myself. When I was in the cage and I told T and Rashad that I had a conversation with my wife in my head I was trying so hard not to laugh as I said it.

(Props: DrTurboFightChannel)

Before he was a spinach-eating heavyweight wrecking machine, Alistair Overeem was just a wiry kid with a dream. Here’s the video of his MMA debut at the age of 19 against the very insane-looking Ricardo Fyeet, at the first "It’s Showtime" event in the Netherlands in October 1999. It’s amazing to see how far Overeem has come in the last ten years. Check out his broke-ass gong-and-dash when the fight starts at the 1:45 mark, and that sad attempt at a guard-pull at 3:01. In what would later become a recurring theme, the Demolition Man manages to finish his opponent by guillotine choke. Overeem didn’t have long to savor the victory; he fought again just four days later at a Rings event in Tokyo, losing to Iouri Kotchkine by majority decision.

Mitrione vs. Junk, TUF 10 – Watch more Funny Videos

The hate train continued on last night’s ep of The Ultimate Fighter, which opened up with the coaches mocking each other’s losses. Rashad imitates Rampage getting wrecked by Wanderlei Silva in their first fight, and Rampage imitates Rashad’s "stanky leg" routine against Machida. Rampage calls Rashad "Gayshad." Rashad calls Rampage a whiny bitch. God, I could watch this all day.

So, back to business. Rashad picks Matt "Meathead" Mitrione to fight Scott Junk, who is frighteningly amped up in the staredown. Dana White likes Scott in the fight, because of all his experience. By default, Mike Wessel vs. Marcus Jones will be the final fight in the round-of-16.

Directly after the picks, Rampage and Rashad get into it again. You can watch the scene here, but basically, Rashad says he’s going to make Rampage quit just like he quit in the competition (!), and Rampage says that it’s his fighters who have quit, not him. (Cut to a very hurt-looking Kimbo Slice.) Rampage repeats that he’s not a coach, but he brought some dudes who can coach, and they’re doing a great job, ain’t that right? (Cut to a very confused looking Wes Shivers and Zak Jensen.) The coaches nearly come to blows. Rashad has one shoe off, totally ready for it. Rampage: "Take both shoes off. I’m in your face now. Touch me. Please."

(What can we say, Dan?  The girl is obviously a die-hard Anacondas fan.)

It’s time again for us to raid our forums and single out the most and least ridiculous among you for mockery and education.  Buckle up.  If you’ve got a question of your own, and dear God we hope you do, please go here and jot it down.  Extra points for making it semi-coherent.

Do you think it’s a huge mistake for the UFC to let Dan Henderson just go like they have? – Ballentine

Short answer: yes.  Long answer: probably, but it depends how much money he really wanted and how much money they really thought he could get elsewhere.

The upsides with Henderson are: 1) he’s a hard-ass who doesn’t bitch and complain a lot, and does more or less whatever you need him to, 2) fans know who he is and generally like him, 3) and he’s the only guy in the UFC so far to convincingly win a round against Anderson Silva.  At a time when the UFC is struggling to find both credible challengers for Silva and main event-caliber draws, Hendo is a guy who can offer both.  Hard to understand why you wouldn’t want to keep him around.

Cagepotato.com Interviews Dana White – Watch more Funny Videos

The last time Cage Potato sent one of our wily female correspondents to interview a UFC star, it very nearly ended in a sexual assault.  But undaunted, we decided to try again when we heard Dana White would be at the recent “Ultimate Fighter” tryouts, and fortunately for our enthusiastic young interviewer DW is no “Rampage” Jackson.  In this exclusive video interview the UFC prez calls accusations that the UFC gave Kimbo Slice preferential treatment a “crock of shit,” saying that Kimbo had his manager present at his TUF fight, which he claims isn’t necessarily all that special, but no entourage and certainly no phone calls home.  White blames it all on Roy Nelson, but “Big Country isn’t the only one singing that song.  As for his remarks about TUF not being over till it’s over, well, I think we all know what that means: Poppa Slice is going to get to bang again, eventually.

All this, plus commentary on UFC 104, Junie Browning’s departure from the UFC, and what prompted Jackson’s supposed retirement from the UFC in this exclusive video interview.  Enjoy.

("I gotta be honest, guys, I’m on so much NyQuil right now that I can’t tell which one of you is Logan and which one is Natasha.")

From a blog post published yesterday afternoon on Shane-Carwin.com:

(Props: ESPN The Magazine via MMA Fight Girls)

We showed you the cover, and we showed you the smoky black-and-white shot from inside — but if you’re a Gina Carano completist, you’ll want to add these last two images from her ESPN: The Mazazine "Body Issue" shoot to the "STRONG, INSPIRATIONAL WOMEN" folder on your hard drive. The second image is after the jump…

If you were hoping that Dan Henderson‘s contract negotiation breakdown with the UFC would lead him to abandon his patented understated, laconic style in favor of calling Dana White a stingy bastard and accusing Anderson Silva of shucking and ducking, you’re about to be disappointed.  In his latest interview, Hendo confirms DW’s characterization of the talks as having reached a stalemate, but says he still thinks he’s worth more and can get more than what the UFC is offering him, and dammit, come February he’s fighting somebody, somewhere.  Dan has a good point when he says he’s not too keen on seeing a guy who he beat, and who has never even fought as a middleweight in the UFC, jump ahead of everybody else for the title shot.  But hey, like Vitor Belfort already said, he’s just working from the neck down like everybody else in the UFC.

After the jump, Natasha Wicks tries on the five best/sluttiest Halloween costumes she can find, and "Rampage" Jackson puts in overtime busting Rashad Evans‘ balls on tonight’s episode of "The Ultimate Fighter."

Here’s a situation that should serve as a microcosm of the MMA world for you: on Monday Brock Lesnar pulls out of his heavyweight title fight with Shane Carwin at UFC 106, citing a severe illness that Dana White is somehow certain is not the dreaded H1N1 virus.  Just two days later, the same guy who broke the Lesnar story is suggesting that he may be faking it, pointing to Lesnar’s appearance at a Vikings-Ravens game on October 18 and a conversation with White who said Lesnar didn’t sound ill when they spoke.  According to a mailbag response from Kevin Iole:

White further said Lesnar told him he is not sure if he could fight in January. I asked if Lesnar sounded ill when they spoke and he said no. White said he had breakfast with Lesnar in Las Vegas about a month ago and said Lesnar told him at that time he wanted to fight frequently. Something doesn’t add up here and this bears further watching.

(Props: MMAVIDS09 via Bloody Elbow)

After the controversial ending to Machida vs. Rua, the UFC is looking to bounce back hard in their next event (November 14th; Manchester, England), which features three very compelling bouts on the main card. Headlining UFC 105 will be Randy Couture‘s return to the light-heavyweight division against Brandon Vera, who describes the match as "what we’ve been training for since day one." A win for Vera may finally establish his legitimacy at 205; a win for Couture staves off retirement for at least one more fight and puts him on the path to a title shot.

Supporting the main event will be Michael Bisping vs. Denis Kang. Bisping is looking to erase the memory of his knockout loss to Dan Henderson in July, while Kang wants to introduce himself to UFC fans in this fight (despite the fact that he’s already fought in the Octagon twice) and feels he can do everything better than the Count. Also, Mike Swick and Dan Hardy meet up in a classic U.S. vs. U.K. battle. Hardy has been training his boxing with Freddie Roach — could it be the advantage he needs to survive Quick’s onslaught?

The full UFC 105 lineup is after the jump…

In their scramble to shore up UFC 106‘s lineup after the loss of Brock Lesnar, the UFC has booked a welterweight scrap between Josh Koscheck and Anthony Johnson for the November 21st event. Koscheck first announced via Twitter that he would be co-headlining the card, and Sherdog later confirmed his opponent.

It’ll be just a four-week turnaround for Johnson, who picked up his third straight win on Saturday night with a devastating 41-second TKO of Yoshiyuki Yoshida. (Our advice: Start cutting weight now.) Koscheck is coming off a first-round TKO of Frank Trigg at UFC 103 last month, and scored his own thunderous KO of Yoshiyuki Yoshida last December. Maybe it’s not worthy of co-main status, but at least Koscheck vs. Johnson will probably end with a highlight-reel knockout. Your predictions?

(What, you thought she was interested in your personality?)

Disturbing sports-related news out of Philadelphia today, Potato Nation.  It seems a hardcore female Phillies fan in need of tickets to a World Series game offered to get a little too hardcore in exchange for them, and wound up getting busted by some cops with no appreciation of what it really means to love a team.  43-year-old Susan Finkelstein allegedly posted a Craigslist ad rife with innuendo as to what she’d be willing to do to see the Phillies in the World Series, and when undercover officers responded she “offered to perform various sex acts in exchange for World Series tickets.” 

The first thing we did upon hearing about this was to delete our Craigslist ad in which we promised to do “n e thing” for UFC 106 tickets, as long as it didn’t involve taking our shirts off (don’t act like we’re the only ones who are self-conscious about back hair).  But the second thing we did was to stop and think about the serious ramifications that arrests like this could have on the MMA industry.  Anyone who’s ever been to a live UFC event knows that there are a lot of halter-tops on display, and they don’t all belong to wives and long-term girlfriends.  No, some of those women are friends or even acquaintances that male ticketholders are hoping to sleep with.  Sometimes they might even be friends of friends, or hot bartenders who mentioned in passing once how much they’d like to go to an event.  To punish these women for their opportunism is wrong, and it could cut live gate revenues in half. 

People perform sex acts for tickets to sporting events.  That’s just a fact.  Some may be more explicit about it than others, but that doesn’t mean they should go to jail.  It just means they need to learn a little subtlety.

(Cain Velasquez works hard for his money, so you better treat him right.  Seriously, you better.  Photo courtesy of Fight Magazine’s UFC 104 gallery.)

The official reported salary figures for UFC 104 are in, and as usual they don’t necessarily reflect a final accounting of what each fighter took home, but they provide us with a good idea.  The event itself pulled 14,892 fans into the Staples Center (though one look at Dana White’s video blogs tells us that they weren’t all paying customers) for a net gate of $1,762,549.  As for how that was distributed among the fighters they came to see, well, check it out:

Lyoto Machida: $200,000 (no win bonus)
Mauricio "Shogun" Rua: $155,000
Cain Velasquez: $70,000 (includes $35,000 win bonus)
Ben Rothwell: $50,000
Gleison Tibau: $38,000 (includes $19,000 win bonus)
Josh Neer: $14,000
Joe Stevenson: $94,000 (includes $47,000 win bonus)
Spencer Fisher: $26,000
Anthony Johnson: $30,0000 (includes $15,000 win bonus)
Yoshiyuki Yoshida: $12,000
Ryan Bader: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus)
Eric Schafer: $13,000
Pat Barry: $14,000 (includes $7,000 win bonus)
Antoni Hardonk: $16,000
Chael Sonnen: $54,000 (includes $27,000 win bonus)
Yushin Okami: $18,000
Jorge Rivera: $36,000 (includes $18,000 win bonus)
Rob Kimmons: $9,000
Kyle Kingsbury: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
Razak Al-Hassan: $3,000
Stefan Struve: $14,000 (includes $7,000 win bonus)
Chase Gormley: $10,000

Some thoughts and addendums…
 

(Props: TheFightNerd)

If you’ve ever wondered why Fedor Emelianenko throws his punches a little differently than the average dude, the above video should clear up some of the mystery. Combat Sambo’s "casting" punch is intended for easy transition into grappling, as well as flexibility in terms of range and impact area; as the host demonstrates, the Sambo puncher can make contact with anything from his wrist to the back of his hand. Hope you’re taking notes, Brett…

(Top image courtesy of facebook.com/easportsmma via Fightlinker; for comparison, a similar shot from UFC 2009 Undisputed is underneath.)

The first gameplay image from the upcoming EA Sports MMA video game has been released, showing Fedor Emelianenko armbarring some poor, faceless opponent. Compared to the UFC joint that came before it, facial realism seems to be a priority here, though there’s something unsavory about Fedor’s expression. Basically, it’s the same expression that John Mayer gets when it’s time for his guitar solo. I don’t think Fedor has ever made that face in his life, maybe not even while in the throes of church-sanctioned marital passion. But other than that, we’re intrigued. A preview of the game will air during "Fedor vs. Rogers," November 7th on CBS.

(Props: URDirt)

The UFC’s latest attempt at broadcasting some of their preliminary fights on Spike TV went off much more smoothly for UFC 104 than it did with UFC 103.  That meant we all got to see Pat Barry wallop Antoni Hardonk for free without enduring any weird sound issues that might have interfered with our appreciation of the harmonious sound of a fist demolishing someone’s face/dreams.  According to MMA Payout, 1.4 million people tuned in to the UFC 104 prelims on Spike, which is around the same number that watched the glitch-plagued UFC 103 undercard.  But how many of those people heeded Joe Rogan’s aggressive exhortation to stop being a bunch of cheap bitches and pony up for the pay-per-view?  According to Payout’s estimates, somewhere in the neighborhood of 400,000.  

So the question remains, does broadcasting free prelims drive more pay-per-view buys?  If the estimates are accurate, it doesn’t seem like it.  That doesn’t mean the Spike broadcasts aren’t worth the trouble, though.  If nothing else, it exposes a wider audience to some of the UFC’s lesser-known characters, and maybe even builds the fanbase gradually.  And it exposes a lot of you people as cheap bitches, so there’s that too.