(Overeem, pictured here shortly after eating the 2003 version of himself.)

After winning his second meaningless fight via standing guillotine choke in as many weekends, Alistair Overeem voiced his desire to fight Fedor Emelianenko in April of 2010.  Beyond just the specificity of that request, what’s interesting is that he followed up by saying that if he had his choice he’d rather do the fight in Dream than in Strikeforce.  Not surprisingly, Dream’s Keiichi Sasahara would prefer that too, saying, “I’ll do what I can to make that happen in the near future.”

Wouldn’t that just be a kick in the pills for Scott Coker and his crew?  They go to all this trouble to sign and then promote Fedor through their CBS connections, and they spend over two years waiting for Overeem to come back and defend his heavyweight title, and then Strikeforce’s new partner threatens to swoop in and steal the fight. 

(Good job, Brock, now the whole stadium’s sick. Photo courtesy of Vikings.com via MMA Mania.)

Look, we’re all disappointed that Brock Lesnar isn’t fighting Shane Carwin next month. But it’s not like he’s battling a case of the sniffles here. Reports coming out of the Lesnar camp suggest the withdrawal was sadly necessary. First, Chris Tuchscherer (from the Las Vegas Sun via Cagewriter):

("…I, on the other hand, look like a very intelligent and compassionate person." Photo via joblo.com.)

Most longtime fans have gone through some variation of the following experience: You spend months trying to convince your co-workers that MMA is the baddest sport ever invented, and they need to give it a chance. So they come over to your place one night to watch a UFC event, and what they see instead is sloppy brawling, boring ground-hugging, and inexplicable judges’ decisions. "It’s usually a lot better than this," you say desperately as they slowly file out the door. But it’s too late; they’re gone, they won’t be back, and you’ll be eating most of your lunches alone from now on. It’s a humiliating feeling. Now imagine if those co-workers were Oscar-nominated actor Liam Neeson and The Hangover‘s Bradley Cooper, and you’ll have an idea of what Quinton "Rampage" Jackson had to endure on Saturday. Sour grape warning begins now:

Last week UFC 106 was headlined by the heavyweight title fight between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin, and this was a very big deal.  Also on the card, Tito Ortiz would be rematching Forrest Griffin.  Not bad, but not enough to make your head explode either.  Only with Lesnar out due to illness and the fight tentatively rescheduled for January, Ortiz/Griffin II just got a bump up in status on UFC.com.  Does the UFC really believe that a fight between Griffin (who’s coming off two straight losses) and Ortiz (who has a loss, a draw, and another loss in his last three outings) is main event caliber, or is this just a temporary fix?

After taking a look at the rest of the confirmed card for UFC 106, let’s hope it’s the latter.  Right now, the best undercard match-ups the card has going for it are Dustin Hazelett vs. Karo Parisyan, Amir Sadollah vs. Phil Baroni, Ben Saunders vs. Marcus Davis, and probably Luis Cane vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.  There’s also reason to expect Paulo Thiago vs. Jacob Volkmann, but unless the UFC adds something big (perhaps that all-ninja tournament we’ve been hoping for) they could face a real pay-per-view letdown. 

If ever there was a time for Ortiz to prove to the UFC what a huge draw he still is, whether he has any meaningful wins in his recent past or not, it would be now.

Shane Carwin has updated his Twitter page with some info from his manager, and now it seems as if his heavyweight title bout with Brock Lesnar could take place on the UFC’s January 2 event.  Carwin also seems to be under the impression that Lesnar is suffering from H1N1, also known as the Swine Flu, which Carwin has apparently had (and which he presumably beat the hell out of).  I’ve spent all weekend telling myself that what I have is just the regular flu, so I find all this H1N1 talk a little discomforting, but as long as Lesnar doesn’t turn out to have the immune system of a ninety-pound pipsqueak he should pull through this thing and provide the UFC with a huge event to kick off 2010. 

Now can we all just agree to stop talking about the Swine Flu and instead go shiver under a quilt while watching old episodes of "Law & Order" for the rest of the afternoon?  

Well, this is terrible news.  According to Yahoo! Sports, Brock Lesnar has pulled out of his heavyweight title defense at UFC 106 due to an illness that has sidelined him for "more than three-and-a-half weeks."  Lesnar reportedly told Dana White that he’s never been this sick before, but White, who is not in any way a medical doctor, says he does not believe it’s the Swine Flu, though the Yahoo! article doesn’t say what prompted that diagnosis. 

Judging by Shane Carwin’s Twitter, he heard the news from the MMA media and still hasn’t received any official confirmation from the UFC.  There’s no word yet on exactly how the UFC will reshuffle the lineup for UFC 106, or when Lesnar might be ready to make that title defense.  Right now, all we have is a sick heavyweight champ and a disappointed challenger.  This is why you have to wash your hands, people.  Especially after handling dead woodland creatures or sharing shotguns with strangers.

(Pat Barry vs. Dan Evensen @ UFC 92. Somehow Barry skates by on those useless leg kicks.)

Everyone’s favorite maverick judge, Cecil Peoples, supposedly explained the rationale behind his scoring of the Machida/Rua fight at UFC 104 in a talk with CageReport.net.  He begins with the usual defense, pointing out that he has a different perspective on the fight than the fans do, and then launches into an explanation of why Machida’s strikes counted for more than Rua’s:

“Mauricio Rua was being aggressive but it wasn’t effective aggressiveness which is what we as the judges look for when scoring a fight. The way I saw it, Lyoto was landing the more cleaner and damaging strikes throughout the fight – if you take a look at the judging criteria clean strikes are valued more-so than the quantity of strikes landed. Although Rua threw a lot of low kicks they were not as damaging as Lyotos diverse attack in the earlier rounds which is why I scored the first three rounds for Machida. You have to keep in mind we always the favour the fighter who is trying to finish the fight, and leg kicks certainly don’t do that."

Of course, sometimes leg kicks do end fights.  It just doesn’t happen all that often.  And even when leg kicks don’t serve as the knockout blow, they still damn well hurt and frequently end up making the difference in a fight.

(Jacob Volkmann vs. Travis McCullough, 7/19/08)

Paulo Thiago may have lost his opponent in the Battle of the Thiagos at UFC 106, but at least he didn’t lose the chance to fight in November altogether.  With Thiago Alves pulling out to rematch Jon Fitch, Thiago will instead face UFC newcomer Jacob “Christmas” Volkmann at UFC 106 on November 21.  Aside from being the owner of an inscrutable nickname, Volkmann also has a perfect 9-0 record against a bunch of guys you’ve probably never heard of.  He fights out of the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy, so odds are that he has no problem riding a stationary bike while wearing a blacked-out gasmask.

But Thiago, who’s 1-1 in the UFC, must be feeling like his life just got a little easier.  Instead of facing a bigger, more powerful striker in Alves, he gets a newbie in Volkmann.  That is, until someone informs him that “Christmas” was a three-time All-American wrestler in college.  Then he’s going to start to wonder if there is anyone in the UFC’s welterweight division who doesn’t have a bunch of wrestling trophies at home.  And there is one guy who comes to mind.  His name is Thiago Alves.  Maybe you’ve heard of him.

A couple more Volkmann fights are after the jump, just to help you get acquainted with the guy.

(Neckpunch! Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

In the scramble to figure out what went wrong and exactly how wrong it went in the decision that allowed Lyoto Machida to keep his title at UFC 104, opinion seems to be mostly split between the people who feel it was a terrible decision, and the people who simply feel that it was the wrong one in a very close bout, so it’s not worth getting upset over.  The group you don’t hear much from this morning is the one that thought Machida won.  Probably the closest you’ll get is someone who thinks it could have gone either way, like Yahoo’s Kevin Iole.  He says that the title was "Shogun" Rua’s for the taking on Saturday night, but he didn’t finish the job because he has a bunch of sycophants for cornermen:

The men who should be facing the wrath of those who felt Rua had won should not be Hamilton, Peoples and Rosales, who rendered their opinions in a very technical, taut affair. Rather, Rua supporters should be angry at his corner men, who continually told him he was well ahead.

Rua said he didn’t press the action in the final two rounds because his corner had told him he was in control. If that’s true, it’s that advice that cost him the fight. And it’s always the worst kind of advice to give a fighter in any match, but particularly a technical fight like Machida-Rua.

Cage Potato reader B.J. sent us this screenshot of ESPN.com shortly after the main event at UFC 104 concluded.  Either they didn’t wait to hear the official decision before writing their headline, or else their overpowering sense of justice simply would not allow them to believe it at first.  I admit that I have some sympathy, because I almost made the same mistake myself when I was writing our liveblog.

In the light of the events of Saturday night, some of you have asked us if we’re going to apologize to "Shogun" Rua for insisting that he had no chance against Lyoto Machida.  Our answer to that is, if we apologized every time we made fight predictions that didn’t pan out, where would we find the time to do anything else, like making fun of fighters’ tattoo choices or ogling ring girls?  Okay, so Rua surprised us.  He very nearly surprised the oddsmakers, too.  He came in with a great gameplan, he stuck to it, and in fair universe he’d be the champ right now.  But as that unanimous decision and the fame of Tila Tequila have both proved, ours is not a fair universe at all.   That’s why the gods of pro fighting invented rematches.

(Dana White discusses the impending Machida/Rua rematch, and UFC 104′s other fighters weigh-in on last night’s controversial decision. Also, Steve Mazzagatti shouldn’t be allowed to even *watch* MMA. Props to MMA Fanhouse.) 

- Don’t ask us how two of the three judges who presided over last night’s main event gave the first three rounds to the champion. Just take comfort in the fact that there will be an immediate rematch between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio Rua. Dana White announced the news at yesterday’s post-fight press conference, saying "They won’t make the same mistakes next time. Each one will try to win decisively." For the record, DW thought Shogun won the fight.

- Anthony Johnson was basically fined $10,000 per pound for missing weight. After tipping the scales at 176 on Friday, Rumble scored a ferocious TKO victory over Yoshiyuki Yoshida in just 39 seconds. But because he came in heavy, he was ineligible for UFC 104′s $60,000 Knockout of the Night bonus, which instead went to Pat Barry. (Barry picked up a second $60,000 award for Fight of the Night; his opponent Antoni Hardonk got a check for the same amount, while beanpole submission artist Stefan Struve was awarded the Submission of the Night bonus for his triangle choke of Chase Gormley.) Johnson was already giving up 20% of his purse. When asked about the botched weight-cut, AJ had this to say:

(Overeem vs. Thompson. Props to DreamCageFights. And special props to Michael Schiavello for predicting that this fight wouldn’t last long. How the hell did he see that one coming?!?)

- Alistair Overeem def. James Thompson via submission (guillotine choke), 0:33 of round 1
- Eddie Alvarez def. Katsunori Kikuno via submission (arm-triangle choke), 3:42 of round 2 
- Marius Zaromskis def. Myeon Ho Bae via KO (head kick), 0:19 of round 1 
- Kazushi Sakuraba def. Zelg Galesic via submission (kneebar), 1:40 of round 1 
- Katsuyori Shibata def. Tokimitsu Ishizawa via TKO, 4:52 of round 1 
- Dong Sik Yoon def. Tarec Saffiedine via split decision 
- Yoshiro Maeda def. Chase Beebe via submission (rear-naked choke), 3:36 of round 1 
- Kuniyoshi Hironaka def. Won Sik Park via TKO (eye injury), 5:00 of round 1
- Tomoya Miyashita def. Keisuke Fujiwara via unanimous decision

More fight videos after the jump…

(Let’s all take one last look at Shogun and then call it a day. Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

So you missed Dana White by ten minutes when he was giving away tickets at the mall, and now you’re desperate for UFC 104 results coupled with pithy commentary?  We’ve got you covered.  From Lyoto Machida and "Shogun" Rua squaring off to determine which Brazilian guy with poor English skills is on the top of the 205-pound heap, to Ben Rothwell and Cain Velasquez‘s heavyweight tilt and maybe even the Yushin Okami/Chael Sonnen bout that the UFC is intent on protecting us from, we’ll be rolling right along and typing about what we see.  Won’t you join us and accuse one another of being gay, newbs, or both in the comments section?

The action gets underway at 6 pm PST/9 pm EST.  Remember to hit refresh often.

(Photo courtesy of UFC.com’s weigh-in gallery.)

Ben Rothwell told us that he’d be unveiling a brand new body in his Octagon debut at UFC 104 tonight.  I guess he looks a little leaner and seems to have visited a body hair removal specialist of some sort, but dammit, the do-rag, even though it offers another opportunity to sell a sponsorship, is not working.  And as if that’s not bad enough, he also decided to sell a sponsorship to penis-pill maker Extenze directly over his groin?  The things people will do to make a buck these days.

Don’t forget about tonight’s liveblog, beginning with the prelims on Spike TV at 9 pm EST/6 pm PST and rolling right into the pay-per-view.  Stop by, have some lemonade, and let’s all take bets on whether Joe Rogan will be able to stop himself from commenting on Rothwell’s endorsement of dick pills.

(The Danavlog makes some final preparations for UFC 104.)

- Machida comes in light; Johnson, Tibau, and Neer all come in heavy at UFC 104 weigh-ins. (Fanhouse)

- Paulo Filho is out of Dream.12 due to Visa issues.  This freakin’ guy. (Tatame)

- Chael Sonnen blasts "unmarketable" Yushin Okami. (Cage Writer)

- Martin Kampmann vs. Rory Markham at UFC 108. (MMA Weekly)

- "A-Team" cast stands around with guns in hand. (Fightlinker)

- Cain Velasquez answers questions in English and Spanish. (Fight Magazine)

- Anthony Johnson and the top young UFC prospects. (Bleacher Report)

- Showtime’s amazing photo set from inside Fedor’s home. (Flickr)

- 5 mental illnesses so bizarre you won’t believe they’re real. (Asylum)

- Isiah Thomas upset by allegations in Magic Johnson’s book. (Scores Report)

- Why can’t women be more like Amelia Earhart? (Ask Men)

- 25 famous completely unscary ghosts. (Holy Taco)

- 5 real world fails that need a movie. (Screen Junkies)

- Wreck of the Week: tailgating sports. (All Left Turns)

- You’re the worst man ever. (Made Man)

- Times Square badass takes on three dudes at once. (Nothing Toxic)

- 12-year-old Mark Benevento Jr. out-drives Tiger Woods. (Total Pro Sports)

(The suit may make your opponent feel like a bum, but we’ll see who’s laughing when the sponsorship money gets tallied up. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

With our technical problems now solved (for the moment), we bring you the UFC 104 edition of Ben vs. Ben in its entirety.  There will be no further interruptions.  We hope.

Realistically, what chance do you give Shogun Rua to pull off a major upset at UFC 104 this Saturday?  If you had to bet on him, what odds would it take before it seemed like a good idea?

BF: Here’s the problem with Shogun – when he was at his best in Pride’s twilight years, he was beating people thanks largely to his aggression and constant pressure.  He was like a Wanderlei Silva who threw straighter punches and didn’t have a flash chin.  But against Machida, being hyper-aggressive on the feet just means getting knocked out faster.  If you aren’t technically superior (and Rua isn’t), the only option left is to put him on his back and try to wear him out on the mat, which isn’t exactly Rua’s forte.  No two ways about it, he’s getting knocked out.  Whether it happens early or late-ish is up to him.

Before we get to our favorite comments of the week, we’d like to give some love to CagePotato reader James W., who e-mailed us the photo above, and the story below:

Thanks for sharing, homey. Hopefully a brand-new CagePotato t-shirt will ease the pain of that horrible missed opportunity which will likely haunt you for the rest of your life. Now, then…

TITO ORTIZ vs. WANDERLEI SILVA

(The abridged version of the fight, which Ortiz won by unanimous decision.)

When it happened: 4/14/00, at UFC 25
When it should have happened: Spring 2003
Why: Ortiz vs. Silva was an entertaining scrap between two young contenders for the UFC’s vacant "middleweight" belt. If they met three years later, it would have been a superfight. By the end of 2002, Ortiz had defended his title five times — he’d lose it in September 2003 to Randy Couture — while Silva was PRIDE’s middleweight ruler, owning a 12-0-1 record in the promotion and two successful title defenses. With Ortiz at the end of his reign and Wandy near the middle of his, it would have been an ideal moment to establish bragging rights for one of MMA’s two leading organizations.
Prediction: Depends on where the fight was held. If Ortiz had home-field advantage, he’d probably still be able to grind out a decision win. In Japan, it would be Wanderlei via soccer-kick death.

DIEGO SANCHEZ vs. KENNY FLORIAN

(Click the image to go to the video. Sanchez def. Florian via TKO, 2:49 of round 1.)

When it happened: 4/9/05, at the Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale
When it should have happened: Sometime next year.
Why: Kenny Florian had enough talent and heart to make it to the finals of TUF 1 as a 185-pounder, but it was only a matter of time before he was squashed by another talented fighter who was more experienced and better suited to the weight; Diego Sanchez just happened to be that dude. This year, there was talk — hope, even — that Florian could upset BJ Penn at UFC 101, then have a high-stakes rematch against his old nemesis, who had followed him down to lightweight after an impressive run at 170. Unfortunately, Florian succumbed to Penn’s trademark mata leon, and Sanchez was booked to challenge Penn for the title in December. Still, as long as Florian keeps winning, he’ll claw his way back to the Nightmare — and this time, they’ll face each other as two of the best lightweights in the world.
Prediction: Sanchez outstrikes Florian to a decision in a far more competitive match than their first meeting.

After a surprisingly successful first season that made great use of viral video and a time slot on ESPN Deportes, Bellator now seems poised to break through to the English-speaking MMA audience thanks to recently announced deals with Fox Sports Net and NBC.  A third deal with Telemundo also promises them a larger share of the Spanish-language demographic, but the question that remains is how will these new deals affect Bellator’s existing strategy, particularly on YouTube, as well as its long-term viability?  To answer those questions and more, we spoke with veteran boxing producer and Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney. 

CagePotato.com: You recently announced a slew of new TV deals.  It seems like a big breakthrough all at once for you guys.  How long did it take to set that all up?

BR: In terms of timing, it took a long time.  I’ve got a really clear vision of what I want to accomplish, so everything seems to take more time than I’d want, but there were two drivers that I had in the back of my mind with regards to this deal.  One was to dramatically expand our universe, bring it into English language broadcasts with a live, prime time two-hour show, and to have it available on a consistent basis.  At the same time I was trying to create a business dynamic that would allow us to become cash flow positive and balance our books. 

Judging by the carcasses along the side of the road in MMA, that isn’t always the focus that other groups have paid attention to.  I knew we had a good product and I knew we had something from a content perspective that people wanted to see.  It was just finding the right deal that would allow us to do this not just next year, but five and six years down the road.  Thank goodness we were able to do it.

(Clever, Kimbo…)

The MMA Halloween Costume Contest that we announced last week is slowly picking up entries, but we want more, More, MOAR. You have until next Thursday to throw together a makeshift MMA-themed costume and e-mail a photo of yourself to feedback@cagepotato.com. The winner will receive an extra-special prize, though we haven’t quite decided what it’ll be yet. Good luck trying to come up with a costume idea that’s as amazing as this.

Also: If you weren’t one of the 3,300 people who got free UFC 104 tickets from Dana White, be sure to swing by CagePotato.com tomorrow night for our thrilling liveblog of the show. The Spike TV preliminary card broadcast begins at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT, and the pay-per-view broadcast starts an hour later.

(Props: MMA Fanhouse)

Following yesterday’s UFC 104 press conference, AllElbows.com‘s E. Casey Leydon got up in Dana White‘s face, and the conversation inevitably turned to Kimbo Slice. Despite multiple reports from TUF 10 castmembers that Kimbo had a large "posse" in attendance for his fight — yes, that’s the word they keep using — Dana claims that only Slice’s manager was there, while his wife and kids were definitely not. "I’ve never seen such crybabies in my whole life as the heavyweights [on TUF 10]," Dana says. Here’s another example: Roy Nelson told USA Today that Kimbo had his own media room and could make phone calls. Dana’s response:

After the jump: A longer DW interview with Ariel Helwani, where Dana discusses Cain Velasquez‘s potential as a future champ, selling two Brazilian main-eventers, the necessity of teammates fighting each other, an update on the Dan Henderson situation, those Showtime knuckleheads, Bernard Hopkins’s criticism of MMA as gay porno, why "Big" John McCarthy isn’t reffing at UFC 104, and Chuck Liddell’s future in the sport.

On Tuesday we showed you what was undoubtedly the worst sucker punch we’ve ever seen in a pro fight.  Today we look at another, similar sucker punch that is completely understandable, even to the referee.  In October of 2008, Jesse Vargas and the unfortunately-named Trenton Titsworth squared off in Temecula, California.  Things were going reasonably well, and then Titsworth leaned in during a clinch and kissed Vargas, ever so gently, on his neck. 

It took Vargas a moment to realize it, but he responded by drilling Titsworth on the jaw with a right hand on the break.  Technically, that’s a foul, and Vargas lost a point for it.  But kissing your opponent is apparently also a foul, though we admit we always thought it was simply frowned upon.  The ref initially takes one point away from Titsworth for his ill-timed display of affection, then decides that it’s bad enough to be worth a two-point deduction.  Some people just can’t help but stand in the way of love, can they?

Vargas would go on to win the four-round bout via decision (39-34 on all three scorecards).  Titsworth is still trying, unsuccessfully, to live this one down.

(Fitch vs. Alves, 6/28/06.)

Though we previously eliminated Thiago Alves in our Fitch’s-next-opponent guessing game, it turns out that the Pitbull is a strong frontrunner for Ricardo Almeida‘s replacement. A source close to the UFC told MMA Junkie that Fitch and Alves will meet at UFC 107 (December 12th, Memphis); Alves’s original opponent for the event — Paulo Thiago — will be booked in another match.

Alves is obviously a bigger name than Almeida, but Fitch’s Twitter enthusiasm still threw us off. Who gets psyched about a rematch with a guy you already beat, unless it’s for a title? Reacquaint yourself with Fitch and Alves’s UFC Fight Night 5 scrap above, which starts with Alves having to take out his tongue ring, and ends with a TKO victory for Fitch at the end of the second-round thanks to a well-placed upkick.

The 10/20 edition of the Danavlog is full of bad omens. After getting a bullshit ticket from some douchebag traffic cop, DW and his crew stop by Cold Stone Creamery — not Pinkberry — and Dana winds up paying the price with a tummy ache. And the Cold Stone workers didn’t even sing to him! Can this day get any worse? WHAT HAS HE DONE TO OFFEND YOU, GOD?

As if he doesn’t have enough problems, Dana has an Esquire writer following him around for a profile. So obviously he’s going to try out the bomb bag again. It fails so incredibly hard. Seriously, listen to that barely audible pop at the 3:13 mark. "Something’s bursting," Mike says. Hilarious. Then, it’s time to play video games and air hockey at Dave & Buster’s. Are you getting all this, Esquire guy?

Finally, around the 5:40 mark, Cain Velasquez and Mauricio Rua show up, and it isn’t long before Dana bomb-bags them. Suck it, Bellator — this is how you harness the power of the Internet to promote fighters. Also, future Celebrity Rehab star Chuck Liddell shows up drunk and belligerent, and lifts Dana off the ground as he’s trying to give out some UFC 104 tickets. All in a day’s work, I guess, if you can legitimately call it that.

Unless Jon Fitch is just screwing with us by purposely spreading false information, it seems like he will not be fighting Ricardo Almeida at UFC 106 on November 21.  Fitch announced via Twitter that Almeida had injured his knee and been forced to pull out of the bout, so Fitch will get “a bigger, better fight instead.”  If you’re wondering how the UFC got a big star to agree to face Fitch on a month’s notice, don’t.  Fitch says the bout has been moved to a later date, which flings the door open wide to allow almost any UFC welterweight to walk in.  So before we speculate wildly we must ask ourselves: who would Fitch’s fans have wanted to see him fight for a long time? 

(Props: ET Online via MMA Mania)

There’s an art to wearing a mohawk and growling insults at people. Mr. T had it. Quinton Jackson might not. Skip to the 0:17 mark of this ET fluff piece on the upcoming A-Team movie to see a very brief clip of Rampage in character as B.A. Baracus. To be honest, I’m not sure I quite believe his delivery of "damn fools, man," and I can’t help but wonder what an artist like Jamie Foxx would have done with the role. Anyway, it’s The Ultimate Fighter, not The Ultimate Actor, so what-evs…

Darrill Schoonover is a drunk. He has a few beers in his belly by 8 a.m., followed by a few shots of whiskey, in an attempt to exact a brutal revenge on the dog that bit him. Unfortunately, it seems to be affecting his work. Schoonover gets handled by Brendan Schaub in sparring, and James McSweeney spills the beans about Darrill’s alcohol intake to Coach Rashad. Rashad and his assistant coaches tell him to cut it out, or at least wait until he’s won a fight before he starts celebrating. "You can’t forget why you’re here," Rashad says. But he also sees the potential in Schoonover: "Darill is that little diamond in the rough…There’s something in Schoonover that [Team Rampage] just don’t know."

Phil Nurse stops by to work with Team Rashad, and we see that scene from yesterday, where Darrill is drunk enough to challenge Rampage to a fight. They have words; most of Rampage’s words involve some reference to "titties." Schoonover wants to take on Rampage in a sparring session, or at the very least head-butt him.

The next fight is announced: Schoonover vs. Zak Jensen. We figured Darrill would get a tougher opponent, but maybe his performance in practice has made Rashad nervous. Anyway, it looks like another easy win for Team Rashad. "Titties!", Rampage shouts after Darrill’s name is called. "Fuck you bitch," Darrill replies. "Got milk, bitch? Got milk?", Rampage says. Darrill nearly goes after Rampage, but Rashad breaks them up. "Walk up on me again, your ass gonna be in trouble, trust me," Rampage says. "You feel froggy, then jump."

If the name Razak Al-Hassan means anything to you at all as an MMA fan, there can only be one reason.  He’s the guy who, when locked up in a tight armbar against Steve Cantwell at last December’s UFC Fight For The Troops, decided to go ahead and let his arm get popped on national TV by an enthusiastic sadist.  It was grotesque, it was sort of dumb, and it was a learning experience.  Maybe.  At least, you’d think that after suffering an injury that sidelined him for several months Al-Hassan would have a healthy appreciation for the necessity of the tapout.  Talking with the Las Vegas Sun (via Cage Writer) that does not appear to be the case:

Although the injury kept him out of training for four months, Al-Hassan says that he wouldn’t have done a thing differently looking back on the fight.

“At this level, with this kind of opportunity, I want to make sure that I do everything in my power to win,” he said. “I’m pretty infamous for the injury now, but I’d rather go out like that, than to not be remembered at all.  At least fans know that I’m going to bring it and I’ll go out on my shield any day of the week.”

As wealthy and powerful as Dana White is, there’s still nothing that gives him as much joy as playing practical jokes on his employees.  Why?  Because a) money can’t buy the happiness that someone else’s temporary displeasure brings, and b) they can’t really get mad unless they want to risk losing their job.  It’s the perfect joke.  Aside from Dana’s experiments with the Bomb Bag, which mostly fails to elicit the kind of ‘oh, shit!’ reaction he’s looking for, this episode is mostly just DW giving away loads of tickets to grateful fans, sometimes in bulk.  It kind of makes you wonder, is the UFC planning on selling any tickets to this event?  After watching this it’s going to be even more difficult than usual to take Mike Goldberg at his word when he references the sold-out arena on the UFC 104 broadcast.

After the jump, a preview of tonight’s "Ultimate Fighter," wherein Darrill "Titties" Schoonover has finally had enough of "Rampage" Jackson’s breast-related harassment.