(‘Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world.  Took the midnight train going n-e-where…’)

Diego Sanchez knows how to work a crowd into a frenzy using Journey lyrics, but does he have what it takes to win a UFC championship?  We’ll know soon enough, just like we’ll figure out whether Frank Mir’s swollen physique translates into victory or just large-scale embarrassment.  Either way, should be a good time.  We’ll be liveblogging all the action from start to finish, complete with misspellings, snap judgments, and fairly obvious comedic remarks.  Won’t you join us?

The action kicks off after the jump.  Remember to hit refresh often to stay current.

(Where’s a chaperone when you need one?)

Preliminary results from UFC 107 in Memphis, TN await you after the jump.  If you need someone to tell you that these may be spoilers, you should probably go ahead and let yourself freeze to death outside the Greyhound station right now.  No one will miss you.

You know how you can tell that Diego Sanchez‘s eccentricity is not an act?  Skip to the 3:10 mark of Dana White’s weigh-in video blog and watch him psyching himself up before he gets on the scales.  Dude is still more than twenty-four hours away from the fight itself at this point, but there he is, gently swaying back and forth while shouting ‘Yes!’ to himself, oblivious to the presence of any other human beings.  Normal people — even normal people who get really into the vague platitudes of Tony Robbins — would probably choose to play it a little closer to the vest.  Maybe they’d just think ‘Yes!’ over and over to themselves, or perhaps mutter it very softly.  Not Diego.  Probably because being embarrassed of his own actions has never even occurred to him.

Also worth noting here is one of B.J. Penn‘s cornermen, who stands just behind Sanchez as he works himself into a frenzy, and at one point glances back at Penn as if to say, ‘You seeing this?’  And yeah, Penn sees it and seems thoroughly unimpressed.  I can’t wait to see who wins the race to the center of the Octagon. 

(Frank Mir pauses a moment to flex his biceps and think about his childhood. Photo courtesy of Fight Magazine’s excellent UFC 107 weigh-in gallery.)

When Frank Mir has let his weight get into the 260′s in the past, it hasn’t typically been extra muscle tipping the scales.  Not unless that extra muscle was strategically hidden under layers of gut.  It’s no secret that he hates doing cardio, is prone to bouts of crippling depression, and he’s more than six years removed from the chiseled young Adonis who appeared on the cover of Muscle & Fitness.  But for UFC 107 Mir weighed in at a bulky 264.5 pounds, and for perhaps the first time in his career it was not a sign that he’s been letting himself go.

Quite the contrary, in fact.  Mir got with former Strongman Mark Phillipi and did a serious lifting routine to bulk up for this fight.  Now he seems pretty sure that he won’t get tossed around by the bigger heavyweights in the division, especially guys whose names rhyme with Lock Festner, but has he sacrificed any quickness and agility in the process?  The extra weight might really help against a corn-fed wrestler, but against a lanky French striker it could be more of a liability.  

What say you, Potato Nation?  Is this just one more sign that Mir is looking past Kongo and on to Lesnar? 

(Strongman Mariusz Pudzianowski vs. Marcin Najman. Props: MMA Share.)

– BJ Penn discusses the genius of Marv Marinovich. (Cagewriter)

– Here’s how you get your picture in Fight Magazine. (Fight)

– Get your UFC Fan Expo on this Memorial Day weekend. (MMA Payout)

– Kazuo Misaki no longer suspended, may fight on NYE. (Nightmare of Battle)

– Bobby Lashley talks Strikeforce signing, future in MMA. (Fanhouse)

– Tennesse commission to allow referee shadowing for UFC 107. (Sherdog)

– Demarques Johnson discusses his long, arduous wait. (MMA Madness)

- The future of the TUF 10 fighters. (Bleacher Report)

– Lil Calvin predicts a bloody night for UFC 107. (Asylum)

- The rules for crying in sports. (Ask Men)

- Is Tiger Woods the biggest sports story of the decade? (Scores Report)

- How to score at the office holiday party. (Holy Taco)

- The movie trailer to end all movie trailers. (Screen Junkies)

- Fishing show blooper video. (All Left Turns)

- Choose the right dog for you…and choose wisely. (Made Man)

- Close-range boar hunting is not for sissies. (Nothing Toxic)

(‘Kongo, I don’t respect your ground game and don’t particularly like you as a person, so you know I have no reason to lie to you when I say this, but your ass is the most magnificent thing I’ve ever encountered.’ Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle’s UFC 107 weigh-in set.)

Who knows what kind of wacky scales they use in Memphis, but Natasha Wicks isn’t complaining because the end result was six different fighters stripping down to their birthday suits just to make weight.  Diego Sanchez initially weighed in at 156, which would have been just fine if he weren’t fighting for the 155-pound title.  So he did what several others who came before him did and took off his skivvies to make weight.  When he did, he clocked in at 154.5 pounds.  As Tennessee State Athletic Commission executive director/master of basic reasoning skills Tim Mullen explained: "Every fighter that was taking his shorts off was losing about 1.5 pounds, that must be what those things weigh."

With the help of a little nudity every fighter made the agreed upon weight, although the Alan Belcher-Wilson Gouveia bout was changed to a catchweight of 195 pounds before the weigh-in.  Full results are after the jump.

(Tyson knows you’re disappointed, but come on, look at how cute this puppy is.)

If ever there is a point where a fight promoter has no choice but to go in to the bathroom, put the shower on full blast, shut off all the lights and then have himself a good cry, UFC 108 has probably reached the point.  The January 2nd card that once had such high hopes has just lost another main card fight, as Tyson Griffin has been forced to pull out of his fight with Jim Miller due to an undisclosed injury.  Griffin now joins Anderson Silva, Brock Lesnar, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Gabriel Gonzaga, and Carlos Condit on the long list of fighters who were at one point or another expected to compete on this card.  At least it’s fine company he’s in.

But don’t worry, because the UFC has already found a replacement opponent for Miller.  It’s none other than former lightweight champ Sean Sherk, who is being bumped up from his preliminary card fight with Rafaello Oliveira to take Griffin’s spot. 

This qualifies as more of a reshuffling than a replacing, and it’s unlikely that any ticket-buyers still have the energy to get pissed off the changes in the lineup anymore.  At this point, if you’re going to UFC 108 and just found out that you’re seeing Miller-Sherk instead of Miller-Griffin, it’s sort of like if you went to the video store and rented "Goodfellas," only to realize when you got home that the DVD inside the case is actually "Casino."  Yeah, it’s not what you paid for, but it’s pretty close and sitting through it is easier than doing anything else.

(The good news is, this lovely t-shirt is probably about to see a drastic price cut.)

The bloody fallout from last weekend’s "Ultimate Fighter" 10 Finale continues, and the latest victim is Justin "The Viking" Wren.  Though he appeared to be one of the better heavyweights on the show, choking out Wes Sims before dropping a very close decision against Roy Nelson, Wren lost a split decision against Jon Madsen on the prelims of the Finale and that was enough to earn him his walking papers.  Wren is only twenty-two, so he’s still got time to make another run at the UFC if he gets a couple of wins in the smaller shows. 

Do we need to point out here that, based on what we’ve seen from each of them, Wren would probably smoke Kimbo Slice, yet he’s being fired while Kimbo gets to hang around after barely beating a hand-picked opponent?  Do we also need to point out that this is kind of bullshit?  We didn’t think so.

(See Royce?  We told you this would happen unless you started with your day with a hearty country breakfast, but you just wouldn’t listen.)

The rumors are true, says Matt Hughes.  On his official blog, also known as your go-to source for decontextualized Bible verses and pictures of dudes holding rifles, the former UFC welterweight champ says he’ll be taking on Renzo Gracie on April 10 in Abu Dhabi.  It will be Gracie’s debut in the UFC, and his first fight since he won a victory via disqualification against Frank Shamrock in February of 2007.  This must be what Hughes was hinting at when he said he needed a fight against someone his own age that he could get fired up for.

Beating up and aged and overrated Royce Gracie (he hadn’t won a meaningful fight in at least six years when he fought Hughes) is one thing, but Renzo might prove to be a little tougher.  He’s more well-rounded, has stayed more active in the sport lately, and is known to be tight with Abu Dhabi royalty.  That’s not to say that he’ll have his buddy the Sheikh fill Hughes’ locker room with scorpions before the fight, but it’s still too early to rule that possibility out entirely.

(Slightly bored versus uncomfortably intense. Who ya got? Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle’s UFC 107 press conference set.)

With UFC 107 (which we’ll be liveblogging) set to rock Memphis, Tennessee’s precious little world on Saturday night, we take a moment to argue over who’s going to be wearing gold when the night is over, who’s got a championship in their future, and what the UFC should do about future events that get crappier with every news cycle.

Is Diego Sanchez going be the toughest challenger BJ Penn has ever faced as UFC lightweight champ? How do you see that fight going?

BF: I definitely think Sanchez is the toughest lightweight challenger Penn has faced, but that’s not saying all that much. Much of his career has been spent fighting bigger guys like Georges St. Pierre and Matt Hughes. The two times he has defended his title since beating Joe Stevenson for it, he fought Sean Sherk and Kenny Florian. Sherk basically took himself out of the fight by trying to outbox Penn, despite his T-Rex arms, and Florian just didn’t have anything with which to threaten him. Sanchez is better on the feet than both those guys, and he’s also more aggressive and harder to hurt.

Photo courtesy of Satio Photography via MMA Fight Girls. Two more great ones after the jump…

(Photo courtesy of Sherdog.com)

Jon Jones isn’t mad.  He says this several times, and it seems very important to him that people understand it.  If it was left entirely to him, he says, he probably wouldn’t be appealing his disqualification loss.  That part was mostly his management’s doing.  At the same time, he doesn’t think he got a fair shake from referee Steve Mazzagatti at the TUF 10 Finale.  It’s not that Jones disputes Mazzagatti’s ruling that his downward elbow strikes were illegal — he admits that they were.  But he doesn’t think it was what really caused the fight to be stopped, nor does he believe that Mazzagatti did what he should have done in the wake of the foul.  As he told me for this SI.com article:

“A big part of it is that Mazzagatti just didn’t handle things right,” explained Jones. “You know, he’s standing over Matt Hamill, who can’t see at the time because he has blood in his eyes, and obviously he can’t hear, and Mazzagatti is standing there asking him if he’s okay. Then he stops the fight.”

If you go back and watch the video of the fight, what you see is Mazzagatti standing over Hamill and asking him twice, "Are you done?"  Hamill doesn’t answer — maybe because he doesn’t even realize Mazzagatti is asking him a question — and that’s when the fight is waved off. 

We knew this was coming.  Talking with Fanhouse’s Ariel Helwani, UFC president Dana White confirms that Houston Alexander does not have a future in the UFC after his dismal performance against Kimbo Slice at last weekend’s TUF 10 Finale.  Hardly surprising, right?  Alexander had already been run out of the UFC once, and was only brought back because he seemed like a beatable opponent for Kimbo (which he was) with a modicum of name value.  He lost, he looked bad doing it, and so he’s fired again.  Everything here is going according to script.

But remember when Roy Nelson jokingly referred to himself as the UFC’s official suckmeter?  Remember when he said that he was going to be the guy who, if you couldn’t beat him, it meant you didn’t belong in the UFC?  You thinking what I’m thinking here, dog?    

(Photo courtesy of myspace.com/rudyvhawaii)

By CagePotato.com contributor Elias Cepeda

The feelings behind BJ Penn’s notorious “gameface,” used to run deep. In the days and hours leading up to his fights he could be as dour and tense as his expression, and the anxiousness continued even as he ran to the Octagon to fight, a bundle of nervous energy.

But just before his UFC lightweight title defense last August in Philadelphia against top contender Kenny Florian, Penn’s head trainer Rudy Valentino saw a change in his fighter. “Just before we got out of the arena he was laughing and talking about, ‘I’m going to enjoy this fight, I’m going to go out and enjoy every fight from now on,’” the coach told CagePotato from Memphis, where Penn (14-5-1) will face Diego Sanchez (23-2) on Saturday night at UFC 107.

“That night BJ was just fighting to fight. It was the Florian fight where he began to turn it on.”

The idea that Penn may just now beginning to find his groove, mentally, is a scary one. Especially if his violent dismantling of Florian that night is any indication of what a more relaxed “Prodigy” can do.

(Props: BuySilverStar.com)

Following the Hoelzer Reich fiasco, it’s refreshing to see an MMA t-shirt sponsor that actually gets it right. Sure, there’s a skull in Clay Guida‘s new "Run to the Hills" tee ($40) from Silver Star — which the Carpenter will be wearing during his cage-entrance at UFC 107 — and yes, the skull thing has already been beaten into the ground. But as any metal fan could tell you, that skull belongs to Iron Maiden mascot Eddie the Head. Maybe you would appreciate this more if you had just been listening to "The Trooper" before you saw this. Or maybe you’d be more interested in some of the other signature tees that will be on display this Saturday…

That’s B.J. Penn hitting some mitts at the UFC 107 open workout, and all we can say is, daaaaamn!  We all know that Penn’s boxing skills have come a long way in the last few years, but this gives you a good idea of just how fast his hands are these days.  And yeah, we realize that it’s one thing to look great hitting pads and quite another to do it with a real live crazy person trying to hit you back, but this is still an impressive display from the lightweight champ.  If Diego Sanchez is going to threaten him on the feet, it seems like he’ll have to do it with the variety and unpredictability of his attack, rather than the sheer speed and power.  Good luck with that.

P.S. If you’re wondering how Penn is relaxing in his down time, check out this video where he sits down to watch the 1986 sci-fi action flick "Eliminators," which he describes as "the best movie ever."  We scoffed at that claim initially.  I mean, has Penn somehow not seen "Conan the Barbarian"?  But then we found something that made us rethink that position…

(The transmission is just fine, no matter what your mechanic says.  Would a guy holding this adorable baby lie to you?)

As you may have heard, British MMA legend Ian "The Machine" Freeman has been having some tax issues lately.  Seems he forgot to mention some of the money he’s made fighting internatonally over the years on his tax returns (or whatever the British version of tax returns are — tax bobbies? yeah, that sounds right), and to pay off his debt he is being forced to sell some cars.  Specifically, Freeman will be forced to sell his Mercedes, and his wife will have to sell her Audi A4, both of which are reportedly "not in very good condition." 

Dammit, don’t they know the first rule of selling cars that are not in very good condition is that you never, ever tell people that the cars are not in very good condition?  Instead you tell them that the car runs great, rust adds character, and they’d better make their mind up soon because you have a guy coming to look at it this afternoon and he sounded really excited about it over the phone.  If that doesn’t work, offer to throw in some sheepskin seat covers and/or Yosemite Sam mud flaps.

At least the ruling allows Freeman and his wife to stay out of jail.  That news is as good for Freeman as it is for the dudes currently in jail.  Just ask Frank Mir.

(Props: YouTube.com/strikeforcefilms)

You know you’re a big deal when Frank Shamrock is handling color commentary for your striking drills. Herschel Walker‘s MMA debut is slated for next month, and even though his opponent is still TBA, Strikeforce decided to shoot some footage of the former football star working out at American Kickboxing Academy to prove that he can hit pads without injuring himself. Of course, this tells us nothing about the ground skills that he may or may not be picking up, but hey, those roundhouse kicks look pretty sharp for a 47-year-old. Tickets for Strikeforce: Miami go on sale to the general public tomorrow at Ticketmaster; as of now, no matchups have been officially announced, so purchase at your own risk.

(Oh, masturbation punches, how we’ve missed you… / Photo courtesy of ESPN.)

According to Heavy.com, Brock Lesnar is back on his feet after a nasty case of diverticulitis, and the UFC is targeting July as a potential return date for the heavyweight champ; Lesnar’s long-delayed bout against Shane Carwin  could headline the UFC’s first show in Boston.

Well, that’s their hope, anyway. Though Lesnar is indeed recovering, his trainer Greg Nelson told MMA Weekly that he’s not sure when Brock will be able to start training again — and he’s definitely not sure when he’ll be healthy enough to fight. Right now, Lesnar is simply healing up in a pissed-off fashion. Said Nelson: "Mentally, he wants to get back in there. He wants to jump in. You get a guy like that who’s used to being able to do whatever and moving around and train, throw hay around, whatever he wants to do, then you’re stuck inside your house…that’s tough. Mentally, it’s tough."

And it’s not just tough on Lesnar. Frank Mir has become so obsessed with the idea of beating Lesnar in a rubber match that the news of Brock’s illness put the zap on his brain: “When he got sick it screwed up my training because he was such a driving force for me," Mir told the Las Vegas Sun. "I went into a depression for two to three days where I didn’t go to the gym, I got sick — I drove myself insane thinking we may possibly not fight again. I couldn’t live with that.” Our advice to Frank? Live with it. You have a big fight in two days. Losing to a guy who you’ve talked nothing but trash about, now that’s something you wouldn’t want to live with.

(Do yourself a favor, skip to the 4:15 mark to see Ariel Helwani ask Diego Sanchez about the Yes! Cartwheel.  It’s all cool until Helwani asks him to do it, and then it is suddenly not cool at all.)

Diego Sanchez believes it is his destiny to become a UFC champion, though there are a lot of other guys who think the same thing and will never get there.  What’s the difference between them and Diego?  A positive attitude and a willingness to look directly into the camera even when being interviewed by someone who is standing right next to him.  In other news around the MMA world:

- Paul Daley’s rant about what a "big pussy" Carlos Condit is turned out to be oddly prescient, as the UFC has reportedly decided to give him Dustin Hazelett at UFC 108, as Daley suggested.  Hazelett got screwed out of his fight at UFC 106 when Karo Parisyan threw away his career pulled out of the bout, and now the submissions ace gets what is likely to be an easier style match-up against Daley.  Provided, that is, that he can get him to the mat.

(Hey, at least he’s better than Jose Canseco.)

Polish strongman Mariusz Pudzianowski will test his power against something other than inanimate objects this Friday night, as he takes on pro boxer Marcin "El Testosteron" Najman at KSW 12 in Warsaw, Poland.  It will be the MMA debut for both men, but neither is a novice to the fight game in general.  Pudzianowski has done a little karate and some amateur boxing (though you’d never know it from the above training video) and Najman is 13-4 as a boxer.  But if he thinks Pudzianowski is just going to stand there like an immobile mass of muscle and bronzer, he better think again.  As M-Pud told Fight Magazine:

“If Najman wants to exchange punches with me I wish him luck. I won’t be as slow as an ox and I won’t let him beat me up. My mother didn’t raise me to be a bum. These hands can hurt; believe me.”

You know what really intimidates and confuses opponents?  Telling them all the things you’re not going to do.  Also, whose mother raises them to be a bum?  That’s just terrible parenting.  After the jump, now that you’ve seen Pudzianowski lumbering around the ring with boxing gloves on, check out what this Najman character can do with his fists.  The strongman might be in trouble here…

(Props: Wotan420 via CageWriter)

Thanks to the Internet, MMA fighters have the ability to see what part of their persona is being obsessed over by their fans, and tweak it to draw a reaction. We saw this previously with Fedor Emelianenko, who found out that his sweater had become mythical, so he did a TV interview wearing a Daffy Duck pullover in order to test our loyalty. In the same way, Diego Sanchez‘s infamous "Yes!" cage-entrance has become such a "thing" now that he’s performing variations of it for our amusement. The above footage came from last night’s Countdown to UFC 107 special on Spike, and it kind of makes you wonder how much of the Nightmare’s craziness is intentionally calculated. Is he making fun of his own quirkiness by Yes!ing in cartwheel form, or is he completely oblivious to how weird this looks?

And by the way, can a person really invent something like the Yes Cartwheel? It’s like, hey, I’m doing pushups while shouting "yes!" so I invented the Yes Pushup. Or, I’m riding the subway with my pants around my ankles, so I invented the Yes Subway Ride. I could do this all day. And I would, but I have a train to catch.

After the jump: Sanchez’s sane-by-comparison opponent BJ Penn cuts a promo for his favorite sponsor RVCA, which he might be illegally wearing on Saturday night.

(Well, it was fun while it lasted. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

According to multiple reports, veteran middleweight Denis Kang has been released from his UFC contract following his second-round TKO loss to Michael Bisping at UFC 105, officially making him the UFC’s Biggest Bust of 2009. Once considered a top-ten middleweight due to his impressive performances in PRIDE and Spirit MC — including an epic 23-fight stretch in 2003-2006 where he didn’t lose a single match — Kang has now lost five of his last nine attempts, including two out of three in the UFC. The dismissal is somewhat surprising since Kang hadn’t lost two in a row, and his scrap with Bisping earned UFC 105′s Fight of the Night. Still, his employers didn’t see a future with him in their organization, and he’s on the free market again. According to MMA Fanhouse, Kang is currently in talks with several promotions in the US and abroad.

Other recent UFC firings include…

UFC 107 Gambling Enabler – Watch more Funny Videos

Some people say that there’s nothing worthwhile you can accomplish with one camera, two untrained actors, and very little in the way of budget or professional lighting equipment. We say those people are a bunch of negative jerks who probably hate themselves and smell really bad. In the name of trying something a little different, we produced a video version of our old “Gambling Addiction Enabler” for UFC 107. We mainly did this because our latest research suggests that many of you are functionally illiterate, but also because we thought it would be fun. We were right. On both counts.

Enjoy our first effort at this. We can only get better.

(The over/under on how long it will take Chuck to remind Tito of the two times he mercilesssly kicked his ass? Twelve seconds.)

There are a lot of similarities between how I felt when I heard that Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell would coach the next season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” and how I felt when I found out there was no Santa Claus. In both cases, I was initially flooded with overwhelming grief. How could this be, I wondered. What kind of world are we living in? Just when I thought there was something to believe in – be it the promise that Liddell would bow out gracefully at Dana White’s insistence, or the promise that a fat, seemingly immortal man would invade my home in order to give me a Nintendo for getting good grades – it gets snatched away from me.

Those were dark days. Both times I responded by masking my pain with hard drug use and shoplifting, the latter of which, if you haven’t tried it, is a total rush and much easier to get away with when you’re eight years old. But after I got out of rehab and got my life back together, I came to see the positives in each situation. I started seeing them for what they were, instead of what they weren’t. And you know what I found? There’s ample reason to be grateful for this turn of events.

With the Santa situation, I eventually realized that I didn’t have to be good all the time to get presents from some omniscient being; I just had to not get caught by my parents or other authority figures. That really freed up my social life. With the TUF 11 situation, there are also some silver linings worth taking note of…

(When the going gets tough, the tough go on a massive Pedialyte bender. Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.)

For a card that was already struggling to book big fights in the wake of a heavyweight-targeting staph-outbreak, this is the last thing that UFC 108 needed. The January 2nd show has been struck down yet again, as Carlos Condit has been forced to withdraw from his fight against Paul Daley due to a hand injury suffered in training. The Condit/Daley scrap was slated to be UFC 108′s co-headliner. As things stand now, the only fights locked down for the main card are Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva, Joe Lauzon vs. Sam Stout, and Tyson Griffin vs. Jim Miller — and the event is less than a month away. Not exactly worthy of "New Year’s" card status, if you ask us. Can we move this one to Arbor Day?

As you can imagine, Paul Daley is upset, and when Paul gets upset he gets personal. "Condit is a big pussy IMO, I have inside information on that dude," Daley wrote on the Underground Forum. But after venting a bit, Semtex was in solution-mode: "It’s all good as long as I fight…Koscheck is a tough motherfucker, but I accept the challenge. Hazelett has sick subs, and is dangerous, but I accept that fight too. Any top level fighter in 170lbs with a winning record. Joe [Silva] make it happen.”

Unfortunately, Josh Koscheck is already scheduled to take on Paulo Thiago in February — but then again, you don’t fight 12 times a year unless you can fill every gap in every card. Out of curiosity, how bad do things have to get before the UFC just says "eff it" and cancels an event?

(Lucio Linhares highlight reel courtesy of norja01.)

Tucked away on the preliminary card of UFC 107 this Saturday will be two promising Brazilian up-and-comers, trying to make their names on MMA’s greatest stage. Will they prove that they belong there, or will they just be more chum for the Octagon’s sharks? Let’s meet ‘em…

LUCIO LINHARES (MW)
Experience: 13-4 record, with multiple appearances in M-1 Challenge and Finland’s Fight Festival organization. Is currently on a five-fight win streak, with all wins by stoppage and notable victories over Karl Amoussou and Sean Salmon.
Will be facing: Rousimar Palhares (9-2, 2-1 UFC)
Lowdown: A native of Ipatinga, Brazil, the 36-year-old Linhares grew up studying a variety of martial arts including kung fu and capoeira before discovering jiu-jitsu. Now, "the gentle art" is how Spartan makes his living. Linhares is highly-regarded as a BJJ instructor, and his annual seminars in Finland have garnered him the unofficial title of "Godfather of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Finland." (He also competed in the M-1 Challenge as a ringer for Team Finland.) Though Linhares’s start in MMA came relatively late in life, he’s enjoyed great success recently thanks to an improving stand-up game. He describes Palhares as "my hardest opponent to date." However: "I know I have a good Brazilian jiu-jitsu and I am confident to face anyone in the UFC because this is the moment of truth for me."

Jon Fitch spoke to Fight Magazine in advance of his bout with Mike Pierce at UFC 107 this weekend, and he’s got news for all you haters out there: Fitch doesn’t like it when fights go to a decision, either.  That might seem counterintuitive, since his last five fights have ended in decisions.  In fact, you have to go all the way back to his 2007 fight against Roan Carneiro to see Fitch finish a fight.  But as he points out in his own defense, finishing dudes in the UFC isn’t easy.  Being a wrestler without KO power or a high-level submissions game probably doesn’t help any, but still. 

After the jump, Diego Sanchez is as pumped as ever in his latest video blog, while B.J. Penn is already in Memphis and sounding like he might be coming down with something.  Quick B.J., do one of Diego’s foot detox baths!  It’s your only hope!!!!

(Makes a perfect Hanukkah gift.)

When Octagon newcomer Joe Brammer walked out for his debut at UFC 106 wearing apparel from controversial clothing manufacturer Hoelzer Reich, it raised a lot of eyebrows around the MMA world.  Why was an organization that has banned sponsors for the pettiest of reasons allowing clothing that seemed so obviously, shall we say, inspired by Nazi Germany to appear on their broadcast?  Cage Writer’s Maggie Hendricks got after the Zuffa brass about it, and now the WEC’s Reed Harris tells her that Zuffa fighters won’t be wearing this particular mix of skulls and Iron Crosses any more.

Of course, Hoelzer Reich still maintains that there’s nothing Nazi-ish about their company.  They just make clothing that is, according to them, "based on our interest of WWI and WWII Germany."  They also only sponsor white fighters (edit: they do appear to have one black guy on the payroll), though that could be a coincidence.  What’s not a coincidence, however, is the repeated similarities between Hoelzer Reich designs and Nazi imagery. 

(Tell him, Dana…)

After he was slapped with a disqualification loss following the 12-6 elbow incident at the The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale, Jon Jones told reporters that he was at peace with the fight’s result: "I try to look at everything in life for the best, and now I’m not worried about being undefeated anymore. I can go out there and be more relaxed…I’m going to bounce back stronger."

But after a couple days to reflect and re-watch the fight, Jones and his management team are somewhat less at peace with the DQ ruling, and they now plan to appeal the decision. Their argument rests on a subtle but important point: It was Matt Hamill‘s shoulder that prevented him from continuing in the fight, not his illegally-busted nose, but he wasn’t able to communicate that information to referee Steve Mazzagatti because he couldn’t hear or see what was going on, and his sign-language-interpreter wasn’t brought in to help clarify.