By Elias Cepeda for CagePotato

Joe Lauzon (17-4) has held many roles throughout his 25 years — college student, 9-5er, web designer, coach, business owner — but above all else, he’s always been a fighter at heart. So when doctors told Joe he would have to sit out for at least a year after a surgery to repair a torn ACL, he took on the challenge the same way he approaches every endeavor — he trained for a fight.

“In training camp I’m absolutely miserable between doing all our rounds of sparring and cardio and I focused on my knee rehab the same way," explained the rising UFC lightweight, who has won five of his six official Octagon appearances.

"The place I did my rehab had a mix of people, young and old, and most just go through their exercises and don’t work up a sweat. I had to change my shirt just to drive home because I was soaking wet from pushing it. The place where I did my therapy was also in a gym so there were people there for other reasons than to rehab. My great physical therapist, Chris, pushed me and I progressed so fast that it got to the point where people were coming in thinking that I was in there for something else, like I was already in training camp for a fight, not knowing I had just had ACL reconstruction. I could have taken an easier approach to it but doing it that way really made a difference.”

It certainly appears that way. Based on what his doctors initially told him, Lauzon had planned for a March 2010 return to the cage, but he’s a few months ahead of schedule, fighting Sam Stout (15-5-1) Saturday night at UFC 108.

From today’s epic New Year’s Eve card. Props to Watch Kalib Run.

(Shinya Aoki vs. Mizuto Hirota)

(Alistair Overeem vs. Kazuyuki Fujita)

From today’s Dynamite!! 2009 event in Saitama. Videos to come later...

- Masato def. Andy Souwer via unanimous decision (K-1 MAX bout)

- Hidehiko Yoshida def. Satoshi Ishii via unanimous decision
– Gegard Mousasi def. Gary Goodridge via TKO, round 1

DREAM vs. SRC
– Shinya Aoki def. Mizuto Hirota via injury stoppage (Aoki’s armlock snaps Hirota’s arm), round 1 (Channeling Nick Diaz and BJ Penn, Aoki followed up the gruesome submission by flipping Hirota the Tokyo Heybuddy, then telling the crowd to visit ShinyaAoki.com, which doesn’t even exist. What an asshole!)
– Alistair Overeem def. Kazuyuki Fujita via KO (knee), round 1
– Masanori Kanehara def. Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto via unanimous decision
– Tatsuya Kawajiri def. Kazunori Yokota via unanimous decision
– Hideo Tokoro def. Jong Man Kim via unanimous decision
– Melvin Manhoef def. Kazuo Misaki via TKO, round 1 (this fight, along with Minowa/Sokoudjou were arguably early stoppages)
– Akihiro Gono def. Hayato Sakurai via submission (armbar), round 2
– Michihiro Omigawa def. Hiroyuki Takaya via TKO, round 1
– Hiroshi Izumi def. Katsuyori Shibata via unanimous decision
Final score: DREAM (5), Sengoku (4)

– Ray Sefo def. Yosuke Nishijima via unanimous decision (K-1 bout)

DREAM Super Hulk Final
– Ikuhisa Minowa def. Rameau Sokoudjou via TKO, round 3

K-1 Koshien Tournament:
– Masaaki Noiri def. Shota Shimada via unanimous decision (final)
– Shota Shimada def. Katsuki Ishida via majority decision (semi-final)
– Masaaki Noiri def. Hiroya via unanimous decision (semi-final)

(Photo courtesy of Kamipro.)

…or at least record it on your DVR. It looks like MMA wildman Jason Miller will be joining Michael Schiavello and Guy Mezger for the HDNet broadcast late tonight. Though Miller wishes he was fighting, he’ll have to be content with trading insane one-liners with Schiavello, while Mezger patiently waits for his turn to say something. Speaking of "The Voice," Schiavello recently hosted a 90-minute preview of the Dynamite!! event on HDNet, taking viewers through all the notable matchups. If you’re interested, click here.

(Gegard Mousasi tells reporters that training for the Gary Goodridge fight was "not good," and it was difficult to stay motivated. That’s the spirit. Video courtesy of YouTube.com/DREAM.)

We’re about 12 hours away from Fields Dynamite!! 2009 (3 a.m. ET, HDNet), which means it’s time to take whatever disposable income you have left after the holiday season and throw it all away on ill-informed sports betting. Check out the official fight lineup below courtesy of MMA Junkie, and the odds courtesy of Bodog, which seems to be the only major online bookmaker taking wagers on this mess. You ready to see some squash matches?

– Masato (-175) vs. Andy Souwer (+145) (K-1)
– Gegard Mousasi vs. Gary Goodridge — odds not listed on Bodog, likely due to the lateness of the booking, though the line is reportedly -1100/+600.
– Shinya Aoki (-500) vs. Mizuto Hirota (+300)
– Alistair Overeem (-1100) vs. Kazuyuki Fujita (+600)
– Satoshi Ishii (-325) vs. Hidehiko Yoshida (+250)
– Norofumi "Kid" Yamamoto (-550) vs. Masanori Kanehara (+350)
– Tatsuya Kawajiri (-525) vs. Kazunori Yokota (+325)
– Hideo Tokoro (-215) vs. Jong Man Kim (+175)
– Kazuo Misaki (-180) vs. Melvin Manhoef (+150)
– Hayato "Mach" Sakurai (-205) vs. Akihiro Gono (+165)
– Hiroyuki Takaya (-135) vs. Michihiro Omigawa (+105)
– Katsuyori Shibata (-135) vs. Hiroshi Izumi (+105)
– Hiroya/Noiri winner vs. Ishida/Shimada winner (K-1 KOSHIEN final)
– Ray Sefo (-600) vs. Yosuke Nishijima (+400) (K-1)
– Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (-325) vs. Ikuhisa Minowa (+250)
– Katsuki Ishida vs. Shota Shimada (K-1 KOSHIEN semifinal)
– Hiroya vs. Masaaki Noiri (K-1 KOSHIEN semifinal)
– Tsukasa Fuji vs. Ryuya Kusakabe (K-1 KOSHIEN semifinal reserve)

Now then…

You didn’t think we were going to let another calendar year run out without paying homage to this year’s big winners and mocking the year’s biggest idiots, did you?  Naw son, that’s not our style.  2009 was an eventful year with plenty of ups and downs, but after casting our ballots and tallying up the votes (there’s only two of us, so it really shouldn’t have taken as long as it did, but there was a lot of yelling and a little crying) we have some awards to give out.  The envelopes please…

Fighter of the Year: Fedor Emelianenko

The year was not without disappointments for the sweatered one.  He missed a chance to fight Josh Barnett and walked away from another chance to sign on with the UFC.  All the same, he reinforced his status as one of MMA’s most dominant fighters with knockouts of Andrei Arlovski and Brett Rogers.  Meanwhile, Anderson Silva had one snoozer and one great fight out of his weight class, while GSP beat a lightweight and won a decision to retain his title.  Sorry boys, Fedor’s 2009 was way more fun.

Beatdown of the Year: Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin

"The Spider" didn’t just beat FoGriff, he straight-up violated him.  It’s one thing to do that against a woefully outmatched challenger in your own weight class, but quite another to do it to a former champ from the division above yours.  Never have we seen such a clear demonstration of the vast chasm between good and great as we did on that night.  You can hardly blame Griffin for running out of the Octagon after that.  We’re sort of amazed that he waited until the fight was over to do it.

(Torres celebrates a victory; Benavidez mourns a fallen hero.)

Seven months after finding himself on the business end of the 11th-greatest knockout of 2009, former WEC bantamweight ruler Miguel Torres will return to the cage at WEC 47 (March 6, Columbus), according to a new report by MMA Mania. Torres is likely to face off against Team Alpha Male product Joseph Benavidez (11-1), who recently defeated Rani Yahya by first-round TKO at WEC 45. Benavidez’s sole loss came in August against Dominick Cruz, who is now slated to take on Bowles for the 135-pound strap at WEC 47.

Torres has been laying low since his loss to Bowles, but according to his Twitter page, he’s been splitting his time between training, watching It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and working it. In other words, when it’s time to throw down with Benavidez, he’ll be ready.

(‘Wait, this Mousasi? The dude that’s been beating the hell out of everybody, that’s the guy ya’ll want me to fight? Gentlemen, I think there’s been a misunderstanding.’)

Greetings from the City of the Rising Sun, Potato Nation.  Yours truly is spending New Year’s in Tokyo to attend the Fields Dynamite!! show (you’ll be able to read all about the experience in a future Fight Magazine issue), and already it’s been quite a learning experience.  For instance, I just got back from the press conference where I was surrounded by a horde of teenage girls who waited for over an hour just to fawn over Masato.  Alistair Overeem, Gegard Mousasi, and Shinya Aoki?  To these girls they barely seemed worth the effort to flip open their trinket-laden cell phones and snap a photo.

The event organizers expect to draw at least 35,000 fans to the Saitama Super Arena for the show, and representatives from both Dream and Sengoku did their best to pump up the lukewarm rivalry between the two organizations, though without much apparent interest from the fans.  A couple things worth noting:

(Steve Cantwell buckles Razak Al-Hassan‘s arm at Fight for the Troops last December. Karma’s a bitch, homey.)

And the curse keeps a-rollin’, all night long: According to MMA Weekly, former WEC light-heavyweight champ Steve Cantwell has pulled out of his UFC 108 match against Vladimir Matyushenko for reasons that are unconfirmed at the moment. Cantwell joins Anderson Silva, Brock Lesnar, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Gabriel Gonzaga, Carlos Condit, Tyson Griffin, Rory Markham, and Sean Sherk in the list of fighters who have been removed from this Saturday’s card due to health issues.

The UFC is currently looking for a replacement opponent to step in against Matyushenko. "The Janitor" was successful in his return to the Octagon at UFC 103, where he earned a unanimous decision victory against Igor Pokrajac. Cantwell had dropped his last two bouts against Luiz Cane and Brian Stann, both by decision.

Anybody ever heard of the Poltergeist curse? This is what UFC 108 feels like at this point. For the fighters who actually make it to the show intact, I fear that the horrors may be just beginning…

(Props: YouTube.com/K1 via MMA Fighting)

K-1 recently uploaded some choice highlights from their MMA library onto their YouTube page, featuring early fights from current superstars like Brock Lesnar, BJ Penn, and Lyoto Machida. Above is Lesnar’s pro MMA debut against Min Soo Kim, which went down at Dynamite!! USA in June ’07. Odds are, you’ve watched this fight before — though it’s still worth a look if you’ve never seen the head-clashing faceoff and the fight’s aftermath, in which Lesnar triumphantly stalked around the cage while Kim was slowly brought back to life.

After the jump: Kazushi Sakuraba‘s rematch with Royce Gracie at Dynamite!! USA, BJ Penn’s grudge match with Renzo Gracie at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Hawaii, and Lyoto Machida’s fourth pro fight against Michael McDonald at K-1 Beast 2004.

(Bisping, Arlovski, Griffin, and Swanson: Four of the year’s most unfortunate victims.)

#25: Vitor Belfort sends Matt Lindland into convulsions at Affliction: Day of Reckoning (1/24/09).

#24. Gegard Mousasi makes his presence known in America by pounding Renato Sobral flat at Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg (8/15/09).

#23: Matt Hamill unleashes his inner Cro Cop against Mark Munoz at UFC 96 (3/7/09).

IF YOU MISSED KNOCKOUTS #25-13, CLICK HERE.

#12: Fedor Emelianenko adds Brett Rogers to his vast collection of scalps at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers (11/7/09).

#11: Brian Bowles shocks the world, earns the WEC’s bantamweight title, and breaks Miguel Torres‘s 17-fight win streak at WEC 42 (8/9/09).

#10: Lyoto Machida makes Rashad Evans do the stanky leg at UFC 98. (5/23/09)

#9: Dan Hornbuckle starches Akihiro Gono with a kick to the face at Sengoku 9 — then takes a moment to think about what he’s done (8/2/09).

#8: Scott Smith pulls off the greatest comeback knockout of the year against Cung Le at Strikeforce: Evolution (12/19/09).

#7: Dan Henderson shuts Michael Bisping‘s big spotted-dick-eating mouth at UFC 100 (7/11/09).

#6 (tie): Marius Zaromskis high-kicks Hayato Sakurai into a living death at the DREAM welterweight GP semi-finals; later that same night, Marius Zaromskis does the same exact thing to Jason High (7/20/09). Congrats, Jason, you’re on the wrong end of this list twice.

#5: Yahir Reyes cracks Estevan Payan with what might be the nastiest spinning-backfist in MMA history at Bellator 6. (5/8/09)

#4: Jose Aldo needs just 8 seconds and a well-timed flying knee to wreck Cub Swanson — and earn a title shot — at WEC 41 (6/7/09).

#3: Anderson Silva shows Forrest Griffin the true power of a Jedi at UFC 101 (8/8/09).

#2: Fedor Emelianenko shoots Andrei Arlovski out of the air at Affliction: Day of Reckoning (1/24/09).

Fedor vs. Arlovski – Watch more Funny Videos

#1: Marcus "Lelo" Aurelio proves that Capoeira is MMA’s most effective style — at least for one night — against Keegan Marshall at North American Challenge 24 (4/4/09).

(Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

By Elias Cepeda for CagePotato

Losing is always miserable, but in a combat sport like MMA, getting beaten is no figure of speech. If you lose, you hurt; physically and badly. The risk and danger involved in MMA competition helps make it more exciting than other sports, but behind every highlight-reel knockout and submission is ugly and unfortunate pain — at least for the guy laid out.

Over four years as a pro and nearly twenty fights Cole Miller (15-4) had never been the guy on his back, unconscious after a fight. But there he was being revived and staring up at the lights last September after being dropped by Efrain Escudero.

The hardest part for Miller was not losing in and of itself, or the headache he had to deal with for a bit afterwards. He says it came down to having so much seemingly productive work and sacrifice be rebuffed so abruptly.

“Knowing that I trained that hard, sacrificed a lot in my personal life for the 10-12 weeks in camp all for three and a half minutes and it didn’t go my way. That was disheartening to say the least. Being able to let it go. Accepting that that kind of thing happens and happened for the first time and that it could happen again. Knowing that I’m just a man, you know? These were the hardest parts of dealing with that loss,” Miller says.

(Koscheck’s hair used to be straight before that punch. Nah, just messin’ with you guys. Photo courtesy of Josh Hedges/UFC)

Due to an undisclosed injury, Josh Koscheck has pulled out of his scheduled rematch with Paulo Thiago at UFC 109 (February 6th, Las Vegas). Koscheck confirmed the news on Twitter, writing "I will be good to go back to training in a couple weeks I hope!!…It’s all good & I’ll get my body rested & back to the top real soon." Koscheck and Thiago previously met at UFC 95 in February, where Thiago pulled off a shock upset via first-round KO. Since then, the Brazilian supercop has dropped a decision to Jon Fitch and won a decision over Jacob Volkmann.

Luckily, he didn’t have to wait long for a replacement opponent. According to MMA Fighting, Koscheck’s teammate Mike Swick has already stepped up to face Thiago. Swick is coming off his unanimous decision loss to Dan Hardy, which was his first defeat at welterweight. This will be the third American Kickboxing Academy fighter that Thiago will throw down with. So, the AKA guys know him well, but he knows them too, and they know he knows, dig? UFC 109′s lineup is after the jump. Let’s hope this isn’t the beginning of another curse…

(Jim Wallhead vs. Marius Buzinskas, 9/5/09)

Bellator’s second season is slated to kick off on April 8th, and while there are still many questions yet to be answered — will the weight classes be different this time? will last year’s champions re-enter the brackets, or will they only be used for one-off title fights? — a cluster of recent reports suggest that the 2010 welterweight tournament will be stacked with talented fight-finishers. Among the 170-pounders who have reportedly signed on are…

Dan Hornbuckle (19-2): The Indiana native captured our attention this year with memorable knockouts of Akihiro Gono and Nick Thompson in Sengoku. 18 of his 19 victories have come by stoppage. He has a black belt in intensity.

Ben Askren (3-0): He’s a rookie in the MMA scene, but Askren comes from an incredibly decorated amateur wrestling background that culminated in a spot on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team. All three of his wins came via first-round stoppage.

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

Gilbert Yvel’s UFC debut against Junior Dos Santos is only five days away, and Dana White is pumped. To introduce the infamous Dutch striker to any dumbass noobs who’ve never heard of him, DW brought his video-blog operation over to Modern Martial Arts to watch Yvel work out. The gym is run by John Lewis, Dana’s first (and only) jiu-jitsu instructor, who went 1-1 in the UFC about ten years ago. Lewis complains to Dana that all he ever sees on UFC Unleashed is him getting tooled by Jens Pulver. To make it up to him, Lewis’s nasty stoppage of Lowell Anderson at UFC 22 is at the end of this video blog. Anyway, Yvel looks to be in fine form, but Dos Santos can bang too, and if he can get Hurricane Yvel to the ground it might be a wrap, son.

After the jump: Paul Daley discusses his God-given ability to knock people out; he’ll be taking on submission prodigy Dustin Hazelett at #108.

10. Tom Lawlor sings CB Dollaway a lullaby

(UFC 100, 7/11/09)

Tom Lawlor was a 2-1 underdog in his bout with C.B. Dollaway at UFC 100. Conventional wisdom said that he’d be an entertaining guy to have on the card prior to the opening horn, but wouldn’t stand much of a chance against Dollaway’s dominant wrestling and smirking self-assurance. The entertaining part turned out to be true. Lawlor painted himself in homage to the infamous Just Bleed Guy for the weigh-in, and then used man-dog Seth Petruzelli as a prop in his entrance. That’s where the fun was supposed to stop, but just seconds into the first round he locked up an arm-in guillotine choke off a Dollaway takedown attempt and held on to it until his opponent’s lip uncurled and his eyes rolled back in his head. Maybe it wasn’t the most technically brilliant move, but he did choke C.B. Dollaway unconscious, which meant we didn’t have to listen to him talk for a little while. That ought to be worth something.

9. Jake Rosholt ruins Chris Leben’s hometown party

(UFC 102, 8/29/09)

UFC 102 in Portland, Oregon was supposed to be Chris Leben’s homecoming. Coming off a long steroid suspension following his loss against Michael Bisping, he drew the relatively inexperienced Jake Rosholt in his return. But early on in the fight it became apparent that Leben came to throw wild, looping bombs, while Rosholt came to fight a mixed martial arts bout. After trading on the feet for a little while Rosholt finally got smart and put Leben on his back long enough to lock up an arm-triangle choke. Leben considered tapping, but didn’t get around to it before his brain called it quits. Somehow, Rosholt got cut after losing his next bout, while Leben still has a job with the UFC. This crazy world.

(Well, clearly Machida is controlling where the post-fight celebrations are taking place.)

Following the UFC 104 title scrap between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio Rua, we were fairly shocked when the scores came back unanimously for Machida. Wasn’t Shogun the aggressor during the majority of the fight? Didn’t he land more strikes? When it came time for the judges to explain themselves, we learned that leg kicks don’t end fights, so you might as well not count them at all. But at least one judge from that night is having a crisis of conscience. From Yahoo! Sports (via Fightlinker):

Besides the addition of TV monitors, Hamilton is also in favor of tweaking the 10-point-must scoring system:

So, two things…

("Waaaaaaaaahhhhh!")

Judging from his TUF 10 wins over Mike Wessel and Darrill Schoonover, and subsequent losses to Brendan Schaub and Matt Mitrione, Marcus "Big Baby Darkness" Jones looked like he was halfway to being a serious heavyweight threat. He had the size, power, and ground game, but his boxing skills and chin left a lot to be desired. Despite his late start in MMA, we figured Jones would return to American Top Team, shore up his striking, and return stronger than ever — especially since he always seemed very passionate about the sport. But according to Around the Octagon, there’s been a change of plans:

It should surprise no one to learn that Matt Hughes did a lot of scrapping with his twin brother Mark as a kid.  You put two country boys out on the farm with not much else to do, beating on one another is bound to become the primary source of entertainment.  But just to remove all doubt on the matter, Hughes posted this video of a Christmas morning in the Hughes household circa 1976 to his website. 

At first it’s just Mark and Matt and their older sister unwrapping presents in their pj’s, filled with all the bushy-headed amazement you might expect.  But that’s before some genius gave them various types of boxing gloves, presumably to protect their little hands from damage during the many fights that began erupting as soon as the boys learned to make fists.  The funny part is, watch how quickly a boxing match between the Hughes boys turns into a wrestling match.  It’s like they can’t help it.  Their parents don’t seem too concerned.  They don’t even step in to stop those strikes to the back of the head from Matt’s older sister.  Think of it as quality training for the hard years to come.

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

– Frank Shamrock plans to return to competition in March. (MMA Fighting)

– Alistair Overeem makes too much money in K-1 to fight in Strikeforce. (MMA Weekly)

– Shane Carwin’s manager in hot water over "pump and dump" stock fraud charge. (SI.com)

– Brazilian trainer Marco Jara murdered after carjacking. (Sherdog)

– Will Kyra Gracie give MMA a try? (Fightlinker)

– Josh Barnett: The Biggest Loser of 2009. (Bloody Elbow)

– UFC 107 PPV buys: Not too shabby. (MMA Payout)

– Manny Pacquiao threatens lawsuit against Mayweather’s camp due to steroid accusations. (ESPN)

– Top 10 most controversial decisions in MMA. (Bleacher Report)

– The 10 biggest sports betrayals of the decade. (Scores Report)

– "Golden ratio" for feminine facial beauty discovered. (Asylum)

– Everything you need to become a better man in 2010. (Ask Men)

– 25 awesome winter fails. (Holy Taco)

– Jaden Smith gets his ass kicked in Karate Kid remake trailer. (Screen Junkies)

– Best NASCAR Cup races of the decade. (All Left Turns)

– Eight women who are completely off-limits. (Made Man)

– Redneck Christmas barn party fight. (Nothing Toxic)

– Pope attacked by crazy woman during Vatican mass. (Break)

(DREAM vs. SRC video trailer. Props to YouTube.com/DREAM and Led Zeppelin.)

With less than a week to go until the show, more matchups have been announced for Dynamite!! 2009, building on the event’s DREAM vs. Sengoku Raiden Championship theme. In middleweight action, veteran knockout artist Melvin Manhoef (23-6-1 overall, 2-2 in DREAM) will face Japanese mainstay Kazuo Misaki (22-9-2 overall, 3-1 in Sengoku). Though Manhoef had five kickboxing matches this year, his only MMA appearance in 2009 was a first-round submission loss to Paulo Filho at DREAM.10, in which he succumbed to an armbar after whipping Filho for the first two minutes of the fight. Misaki is coming off a submission victory over Kazuhiro Nakamura in August, followed by a brief athletic suspension for talking on his cellphone while driving, which resulted in him smashing into a police car.

It’s Christmas today, Potato Nation.  If you’re somehow unfamiliar with the day, think of it as the Fedor Emelianenko of holidays, only slightly less grim.  Today we indulge in crass materialism while calling it ‘holiday spirit,’ and then we drink spiked egg nog and watch "Robocop" until we pass out on the couch.  Your traditions may vary, but it doesn’t matter.  The important thing is that today we stop mocking one another long enough to feel like family.  Or at least, you know, we try to.

From all of us at the Potato to all of you, Merry freaking Christmas.  May all your yuletide wishes come true, and may all your family squabbles be resolved without serious injury or police intervention.

(Props: Sherdog)

No longer a free agent, MMA living legend Dan Henderson is slated to challenge Jake Shields for Strikeforce’s middleweight belt at the organization’s next CBS card in April. Dana White may take full responsibility for Hendo’s exit from the UFC, but according to Henderson in the video interview above, the signing was the best thing for him, really: "The opportunity to fight on CBS is huge…and you just don’t get that elsewhere. To have the opportunities to still be able to fight the top guys in the world, that was one of my main concerns, and they have that here as well. There’s no red tape to go through with sponsorships. Clinch Gear‘s not banned from the organization. I’m just happy all the way around."

Responding to White’s recent claims that he’s permanently "done" with Henderson, Dan was his usual respectful self: "I think the fans know Dana White. Personally, as far as our relationship, he’s still gonna be alright with me, but business-wise maybe he has to put on a certain front for certain things. And either way I’ll say that he’s still fat and he needs to diet down a little bit. I’ve been telling him for a long time. Hes spending a lot of money on expanding those suits."

As for his next opponent, Henderson described Jake Shields as "bigger than me…I think he does cut quite a bit of weight to get to ’85" — which seems like an odd claim based on information he probably made up. And sure, it’s no Henderson vs. Silva II, or even Henderson vs. Marquardt, but whaddya gonna do: "I don’t know how excited the fans are gonna be about that fight," Henderson said. "But I think it’s a good matchup and I’m excited about it."

Seasons Greetings From Cagepotato.com – Watch more Funny Videos

From all of us at Cage Potato to all of you in the wondrous land of the internet, Merry Christmas/Hanukkah/Festivus/winter celebration in honor of whatever other weird belief system you cling to for meaning. As a gift, we made you this video.  Thanks for sticking with us through another tumultuous year in the world of mixed martial arts. We’ll do our best to come up with even better smart-ass remarks about it in 2010.

To those poor bastards among you who are traveling this holiday season, stay safe and don’t forget that you can check out the mobile version of Cage Potato on your fancy cell phones. May the soft glow of our homepage bring you comfort as you pass out in an airport bar after your flight gets delayed.

(Just imagine the disappointed faces on Christmas morning…)

This is an actual Chuck Liddell baseball cap in an actual dollar store (see, I wasn’t kidding about that) in Missoula, Montana.  I photographed it myself earlier today, but only after overhearing the following conversation between a father and his petulant pre-pubescent son:

Dad: Hey, look.  It’s an Iceman hat.  You love the Iceman!

Son: You don’t even know who that is.

Dad: Yes I do.  It’s Chuck Liddell.

(Images courtesy of facebook.com/ginacarano, twitter.com/ginacarano)

Gina Carano has been spending most of her time on a movie set lately, but she took a moment earlier today to make sure that everybody is in the holiday spirit. To be honest, I wasn’t until I saw that picture of Gina Carano. Now I’m ready to put some muhfuckin’ ornaments on a tree, y’feel me? Though Gina has kept quiet about her return to MMA, Scott Coker hopes to see her back in a Strikeforce cage next summer. In the meantime, we have enough MMA sex symbols to keep us busy…

MMA had more than its share of unforgettable moments this year — though many of them were unforgettable for all the wrong reasons. With 2009 drawing to a close, we’ve collected and ranked the year’s lowlights. Now let’s never speak of these things ever again…

#9: The "Hello Japan!" incident at DREAM.7 (3/8/09)

Fighting in the Saitama Super Arena must be an incredible experience. There you are, surrounded by 20,000 eerily quiet Japanese people who all seem to appreciate the intricacies of the sport. During his match against submission wizard Shinya Aoki at DREAM.7, American journeyman David Gardner tried to honor the occasion by waving to the crowd and saying "Hello Japan!" The problem was, Aoki had his back at the time, and as soon as Gardner’s hand went up, Aoki whipped his arm under Gardner’s neck and sunk in a rear-naked choke. "Oh my God it is so dumb," Bas Rutten lamented in the broadcast booth. Dumb is an understatement. Even "Wouldn’t Get Up From Butt Scoot" is a more respectable way to lose a fight. Way to represent the Red, White & Blue, Dave.

#8: Chuck Liddell dances with the stars (9/21/09-10/13/09)

When Dana White temporarily retired Chuck Liddell following his knockout loss to Mauricio Rua at UFC 97, few could have guessed that the Iceman’s next move would be an appearance on a dance-competition show that no red-blooded MMA fan in their right mind would ever watch. Liddell joined the ninth season of Dancing With the Stars with no formal dance training to speak of, and despite his best efforts he didn’t fool any of the judges, who called him everything from "graceless" to "gentle neanderthal." After four weeks of low scores and fruity costumes, Liddell was sent packing. On the bright side, Chuck expanded his fanbase on network television, outlasted fellow competitor Tom DeLay, and probably wound up banging his redheaded dance partner. Still, Tito Ortiz’s stint on Celebrity Apprentice now seems like the most badass thing in the world by comparison.

As much as we were hoping that this Bas Rutten video thing was a 42-part series from Fight Magazine, they seem to have reached a zenith with this video.  It’s titled "El Guapo Likes to Dance," after a song that Bas says he wrote.  "Stairway to Heaven" it ain’t, but it’s catchy and the accompanying footage also proves that it’s true.  Our prediction?  You will mock this video at first and then go about your day thinking nothing of it.  Then, about four hours from now when you’re doing the last of your frantic Christmas shopping at the dollar store, you’ll catch yourself singing it and bopping your head along with the beat.  That’s when you’ll look up and see everyone watching you, horrified and yet transfixed.  

For more of Rutten’s world, go here.  After the jump, the Mike Goldberg highlight reel that tells you everything you need to know.

(Jon’s first mistake was not refusing to answer Mazzagatti’s questions without an attorney present.)

When Jon Jones explained the basis of his appeal to the Nevada State Athletic Commission in the mysterious case of the 12-to-6 elbow strikes, it seemed like he had cause enough to warrant a thorough discussion about what should have been done when a deaf fighter can’t continue due to a shoulder injury, and yet can’t immediately communicate this to the referee.  Turns out we were wrong, because the NSAC refused to rule on Jones’ appeal on the grounds that they don’t overturn decisions.  Unless somebody was on drugs.

This means the loss will stay on Jones’ previously perfect record, and apparently we won’t even have the conversation about whether Mazzagatti should have brought a translator into the cage to find out whether the illegal strikes were really the cause of Matt Hamill‘s inability to continue.  Not that the NSAC’s decision should surprise anyone.  This is the same commission who turned down Anthony Johnson’s eye-poke appeal (also on Mazzagatti’s watch) due to "lack of remedy."

Sorry, "Bones."  If you can show that Hamill may have been smoking weed before the bout, then give the NSAC a call.  Otherwise, best to move on.