(Don’t be afraid to stare. Roy Nelson is all man and he doesn’t care who knows it. Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

Hope you’ve got your bucket of Bojangles fried chicken and your usual Wednesday night energy drink/prescription allergy medication buzz, because Charlotte is ready to rock for UFC Fight Night 21. Tonight we find out whether Takanori Gomi still has any fireballs left in his arsenal, as well as whether Roy Nelson can find a way inside of Stefan Struve’s reach without having his face turned to mush. Keep it locked right here for live results and commentary, or else spend the rest of your life wondering whether you might have missed the best fat joke ever told.

Follow me after the jump, and remember to hit refresh often.

(‘Well Ronys, I look forward to fighting you and hopefully we can put on a good show for the…I’m sorry, but I just can’t take you seriously with that thing on your head.’ Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

If you want to know the results of the fights on the preliminary portion of the Fight Night 21 card, then proceed after the jump.  If you don’t want to know, then don’t do that.  Pretty straightforward, really.

Whatever you decide, don’t miss our liveblog of the event later on tonight. We promise to share all the little fleeting thoughts that are probably better kept to ourselves.

    
      
(Images courtesy of 62Gear.com)

You may remember Six Deuce as the brilliant gear and apparel company that gave us the Glorious Sweater of Absolute Victory t-shirt. Well, they’re rolling out some new product, and they want you to be the first person in your gym/book club to sport it. So shut up and listen for a minute: We have on our hands a grand prize training pack that consists of the following items, pictured above…

– These shiny red satin MMA fight/board shorts
– The Fedor-rific Glorious Sweater t-shirt
– These high-quality leather Muay Thai training gloves
– A pair of black hand wraps
– A pair of Muay Thai ankle supports
– This leather speed bag

Total street value of this prize package: About $179. But you’re not going to pay for it. No, child, you’re going to win it. Here’s how…

(Remember the good old days when Filho’s crazy tattoos stayed below the neck?)

Bellator sent out a press release last night announcing that troubled Brazilian fighter Paulo Filho would be emerging from his top secret compound in Crazytown to take on current Bellator middleweight champ Hector Lombard on May 13th in a non-title superfight to be televised live on Fox Sports Net. Okay, so maybe we added the part about the Crazytown compound, but this is the same guy once seen communicating with the spirit world during a fight.

Filho, who has racked up a nice little three-fight win streak of late with victories over Melvin Manhoef and Alex Schoenauer, has seemed at times like a guy on the verge of getting his act together once again, only to later erase that perception by no-showing for events or getting a tattoo on his face. But a bout with Lombard, who seems promising even though he’s yet to beat a truly notable opponent? Now that’s a really intriguing fight right there.

(War Machine is the guy under the ‘spit bag.’ Not a place you ever really want to be unless you’re a weirdo performance artist.)

There comes a time when you have to look at the choices a guy makes and shake your head slowly while saying: God. Dammit. For the former UFC fighter and porn actor known as War Machine, that time is now. TMZ reports that Mr. Machine was arrested for assault yet again last night in San Diego, and this time there may have been a “deadly weapon” involved.  This follows a violent episode at a porn party in November, and an arrest outside a gay club in Las Vegas in February of 2009.  Are you beginning to see a pattern of behavior emerge?  

There’s no word yet on what the weapon might have been, or what exactly happened in Thrusters Lounge that led to War and another person fighting with bouncers when police pulled up to the scene, but Machine reportedly fled from police before being tracked down and covered up with one of those fun little spit bags. You know, like in “Con Air.”

What makes this recent arrest even more disappointing/sadly predictable, is that War Machine just finished telling MiddleEasy.com that he had decided to stop being “a wild man” and get his act together. And when we say ‘just finished,’ we mean two days ago:

(Props: Genghis Con)

Tonight’s UFC Fight Night card will feature three fresh prospects trying to make their names and one MMA legend — all of whom will be competing in the UFC for the first time in their careers. Which ones will rise to the challenge, and which ones will succumb to Octagon jitters and dangerous opponents? Get to know them below and let us know what you think…

TAKANORI GOMI (LW)
Experience: 31-5-0 record w/1 no-contest, with multiple appearances in PRIDE, Shooto, and Sengoku. Notable victories over Tatsuya Kawajiri, Hayato Sakurai, Jens Pulver, and Mitsuhiro Ishida. Most recently won a unanimous decision over Tony Hervey at Vale Tudo Japan 2009 last October.
Will be fighting: Kenny Florian (12-4, 10-3 UFC)
Lowdown: Only the noobiest of TUF noobs would need an introduction to the Fireball Kid, who has already secured his place as one of the greatest lightweight fighters of all time. A legendary former champion in both PRIDE and Shooto, Gomi unfortunately hasn’t looked the same since his gogoplata loss/marijuana no-contest against Nick Diaz in February 2007, as he’s suffered a couple of surprising defeats and struggled to put away opponents that he would have smashed in his prime. Though he vows to "create a ruckus" in the UFC, this bit of info is somewhat troubling: "I don’t have a cage in my gym, but I understand that the cage can either be used for me or be used against me. I’ll try not to think about the cage too much as I fight in it.” He’ll also need to adjust to elbow strikes on the ground, something he hasn’t had to deal with in Japan — which could become a painful factor against Ken-Flo.

(That terrified white kid could be you! Photo courtesy of ufcfanexpo.com.)

Man, did you come to this site on the right day. We’ve received word that our homeboys at Break.com are giving away a kickass "UFC Ultimate Fan Experience" prize package, which includes airfare to Las Vegas, two nights’ stay at the Mandalay Bay Hotel, and a pair of tickets to the next UFC Fan Expo, which goes down May 28-29 in support of UFC 114. And unlike the contests on CagePotato, you don’t have to humiliate yourselves by writing awful photo captions that will be mocked by your peers later. Nope, to enter this contest, all you have to do is go here and plug in your name and e-mail address. That’s it. Watching the trailer to Sherlock Holmes — available now on Blu-Ray and DVD — is completely optional. Enter now, or regret it on your death bed!

(Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)

Well, the first of two weigh-ins for Wednesday night’s UFC Fight Night 21 on Spike TV went off without a hitch.  Now the boys have to worry about weigh-in number two tomorrow morning, where they can’t be more than thirteen pounds heavier than the official weight they clocked in at today. 

It’s an interesting policy to try and ensure that fighters aren’t cutting too much weight, but if they’re re-weighing them again in the morning, whether than right before fight time, you have to wonder whether it will really achieve the desired result.  Also, thirteen pounds seems pretty arbitrary.  For lightweights, it’s a pretty decent amount of leeway, but what if "Big Country" wants to hit the buffet?  Who does North Carolina think they are that they can tell him when to put down the fork?  That’s a decision that is between Roy and God.

Full weigh-in results are after the jump.

(Whaddaya say boys? Once more on the way to the nursing home?)

The rampant speculation train just keeps right on rolling when it comes to Chuck Liddell’s next fight. After persistent rumors that an injury to Tito Ortiz had forced the UFC to change their plans for his first fight after the TUF coaching gig, the newest iteration comes to us via Heavy.com, which claims that Liddell will now be meeting Randy Couture for a fourth time at UFC 116 on July 3. If true, that would put the fight on the same card as the planned meeting between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin, which would pretty much guarantee the kind of pay-per-view numbers that would convince Dana White to forego base-jumping and just be shot out of a cannon over the MGM Grand and into the moat at Excalibur.

So, is there any reason to believe that it’s actually going to happen? We have no idea, but with all these rumors flying around it seems less and less likely that the Liddell-Ortiz bout will actually happen as planned. At this rate, we’re expecting to hear the Chuck Liddell vs. James Toney rumor any day now.

Extra special shout-out time: Last week we ran two prize pools over at the ‘ol FightPicker to give away some of those newfangled Apple iPads, though God knows what you kids do with those things. The 25-person pool unfortunately ran aground due to the fact that not enough players had the balls to acquire and wager 3,000 PotatoChips — for SHAME — but the Unlimited pool did brisk business. And when the scores were counted up, one man stood tall, and his name was…

Phil Pennington

Hell yeah, bro!  Makin’ dreams come true! Phil, you should have already received an e-mail from us, but we wanted to give you a public "attaboy," and let the rest of you know that not all the glory in this world belongs to Aaron Rampey. (Although we appreciate him too.) Stay tuned for more kickass prize-pools, and be sure to throw down some picks for tomorrow’s "Florian vs. Gomi" card on Spike. 

(Rousimar Palhares vs. Helio Dipp, 3/10/07. Dipp passes out at 2:06. Palhares lets go at 2:10. Despite the peppy soundtrack, nobody appears to be very happy about it.)

If you’re a UFC fighter who competes every four months, a 90-day suspension is a fairly empty gesture. Still, we have to give some props to the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board for making it officially known that holding onto a submission after the referee has stopped the fight is, at the very least, frowned upon. So why did they decide to make an example out of Rousimar Palhares, following his heel hook of Tomasz Drwal at UFC 111? Turns out, holding onto subs well past the point of necessity is a bad habit for "Toquinho":

(Welcome to Kenny Florian’s den of debauchery. Enter with an open mind, and leave your innocence at the door. Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)

After a successful weekend that saw your old pal the Enabler totally nail his official parlay pick, it’s time to reload for Wednesday’s “Florian vs. Gomi” Fight Night event live from the (not really) historic Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. Let’s look at some lines, courtesy of BestFightOdds.com:

Kenny Florian (-275) vs. Takanori Gomi (+275)
Roy Nelson (-290) vs. Stefan Struve (+270)
Ross Pearson (-200) vs. Dennis Siver (+183)
Nate Quarry (-245) vs. Jorge Rivera (+220)
Andre Winner (-169) vs. Rafaello Oliveira (+150)
Jacob Volkmann (+220) vs. Ronnys Torres (-231)
Rob Emerson (+113) vs. Nik Lentz (-140)
Caol Uno (+251) vs. Gleison Tibau (-265)
Yushin Okami (-500) vs. Lucio Linhares (+450)
Gerald Harris (-155) vs. Mario Miranda (+130)
Charlie Brenneman (+150) vs. Jason High (-180)

The breakdown…

You probably didn’t notice because you were too busy being distracted by the bright lights of UFC 111, but there was another massive MMA event on Saturday, only this one was south of the border. Kim “Sugar Free” Couture – the woman known primarily for being briefly married to a famous MMA fighter, as well as for being hated intensely by many female fighters who made their way up the ranks without appropriating someone else’s famous name or building unintentionally hilarious websites – traveled down to Sonora, Mexico to compete in the Xtreme Fighters Mexico event.

On her Twitter, Couture wrote that her initial opponent “quit” at the last minute and was replaced by Rosa Vizcarra, who weighed ten pounds over the 135-pound limit that Couture had agreed to, but what are you going to do? It’s Mexico, after all. Couture also described being part of a pre-fight parade through the streets of Sonora, and after seeing Kevin Randleman (who ended up in her corner for the fight) sitting on top of a Corona bus waving to the crowd, declared, “This is the Biggest Event Ever!”

It’s possible she got swept up in the moment there and forget that you could probably hire Randleman to make a promotional appearance at a house party for a couple hundred bucks and all the wings he can eat.

(Photo courtesy of FightMagazine.com)

Funny thing about health problems — when you talk about them after a loss, you sound like a bitch, but when you talk about them after a win, you sound like a champion. In a new post on his website, Shane Carwin revealed what was actually going on when he no-showed the Radio City Music Hall press conference last Wednesday:

(Fitch’s ‘post-decision sneer’ gets better every time. Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

The back-and-forth between Dana White and Jon Fitch at the UFC 111 post-fight presser this weekend was the latest in a string of passive-aggressive attempts by the UFC president to promote a fight between two teammates. By suggesting that Fitch doesn’t really want a title fight badly enough, or by casually mentioning Rashad Evans as a potential future opponent for fellow Jackson camp fighter Jon Jones, White is refusing to let the topic die. Maybe you can’t put a price on friendship, but DW would sure like to find a figure that would make these guys put it on hold for fifteen minutes or so.

And so today we ask the question, is making teammates fight each other in MMA an idea that is awesome or not awesome?

(And he was really looking forward to shoving a foreign currency into the G-string of a foreign stripper.)

Plans to hold UFC 115 in Vancouver may have been thwarted, according to a report by the Canadian Press, and instead the UFC may be heading to Cincinnati in June. The report states that though the UFC has been pushing hard to get Vancouver to be more open-minded about their particular brand of unarmed combat, “the deal fell through because the UFC and the city could not reach an agreement on other details around the show.”

So help us, if this is about footstomps again, we’re going to lose it.

If the report is true and the UFC really is abandoning the dream of Vancouver for the gritty, oil-stained reality of Cincinnati, we have no choice but to revisit the rumor that Rich Franklin – not Tito Ortiz – will face Chuck Liddell at UFC 115. Dana White swears it isn’t true, and we all know that DW is not the type of man who would ever tell a convenient lie to help his business. Yet now the event that is supposed to feature the showdown between the two TUF coaches may be headed for Ace’s hometown. Seems just a tad bit suspicious, no?

(Props: YouTube.com/MMAVids10)

Hey guys, who wants to see a classic striker vs. grappler battle? The extended preview for UFC 112 (April 10th, Abu Dhabi) tries to sell us on the idea that Demian Maia‘s nasty jits poses an undeniable threat to Anderson Silva. Not that Maia’s grappling ability is exaggerated, but if Nate Marquardt can send Maia into orbit before the fight gets to the ground, Anderson certainly can as well. Speaking of outmatched challengers, UFC 112 also features Frankie Edgar‘s first title fight against lightweight living legend BJ Penn. Joe Rogan shouts out Edgar’s speed, intelligence and wrestling ability and says he presents "a very unique challenge to BJ Penn." But does he have any real advantages? Keep in mind that Penn hasn’t been taken down by a lightweight since Takanori Gomi, six and a half years ago. At least the third fight on the card isn’t a squash match: Renzo Gracie vows to do to Matt Hughes what Matt did to his cousin Royce in 2006. Which old master still has what it takes to compete in the year 2010?

After the jump: Dana and Joe put in some overtime to hype the lightweight title rematch between Benson Henderson and Donald Cerrone, which goes down April 24th at WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber.

Now that the dust has settled on UFC 111, we can finally ask ourselves, "So is Thiago Alves dying or what?" The welterweight contender gave us quite a scare on Thursday when he was forced to pull out of his match against Jon Fitch due to an "irregularity in his brain," which was spotted by a pre-fight CAT Scan. The condition was reported as potentially career-ending, but luckily that doesn’t seem to be that case. Alves will undergo a minor outpatient surgery this Wednesday to address the issue, and hopes to make his return to the Octagon in May, if not sooner. Dana White confirmed the improved prognosis, telling TMZ, "He’ll be back…it’s all good."

After the jump: In celebration of Alves’s eventual return, check out this video of the Pitbull at his best.

(That about sums it up. Props: MMA TKO)

With so much MMA action packed into so few days, the Potato Index supercomputer is a bit overworked. It’s even been making a weird whirring sound lately. It sounded like it was overheating late last night, so we poured a bucket of water on it. Haven’t heard the whirring sound since. And to think there are some idiots out there who actually throw money away on an IT staff.

Let’s see who’s up, who’s down, and by how much after UFC 111.

Georges St. Pierre +137
A successful title defense in which he wins every single round, takes virtually no damage, and nearly snaps his opponent’s arm? Sorry, but even without a finish, we can’t find anything to complain about.

Dan Hardy -18
As far as offense, he had nothing for GSP. We expected that. What we didn’t expect is that he’d prove so difficult to put away. The kid has guts, even if he doesn’t have much of a takedown defense.

(Props: Cagewriter)

Ryan Couture (whose dad is this guy you may have heard of) fought for the Tuff-N-Uff 155-pound amateur title in Las Vegas over the weekend, and in a bizarre turn of events he managed to get briefly put to sleep and yet still come back to finish the fight.  Couture took on Eddie Bravo student Sean Bollinger, and while the Xtreme Couture fighter was getting the better of the stand-up for most of the fight, he found himself entangled in Bollinger’s rubber guard on several occasions. 

The most dangerous of those encounters came at the end of the second round, when Couture found himself locked in a triangle choke as the clock ticked down.  Watch closely at the 5:55 mark as Couture’s arms go limp just after the bell rings to signal the end of the round.  Bollinger sees him sleeping on the mat and jumps up to celebrate, thinking it’s all over, but Couture quickly comes to and the ref helps him into his corner to prepare for the final round.

The fight ended in a draw after the third, but we have to admit, it may have been one of the most exciting and technical amateur fights we’ve ever seen.  Couture is now expected to turn pro, and a rematch with Bollinger is probably in his future.  With five-minute rounds instead of three, using the round-ending bell as an alarm clock may not be such a great strategy.

Related:
– Ryan Couture’s MMA Debut: "Game Over! Tap, You Bitch!"
– Ryan Couture vs. Jimmy Spicuzza

Another big week on MMA FightPicker is in the books, and would you believe that Ben and Ben ended up tied for 2nd place (along with Geriatric Peon) in their pool? I guess that’s what happens when you make the exact same selections. Who knew. Celebrity guest-picker Roy Nelson did about as well, and we applaud him for predicting Ricardo Almeida’s win over Matt Brown, as well as the lack of an early stoppage in St. Pierre/Hardy. Speaking of Nelson, Big Country makes his next Octagon appearance this Wednesday at UFC Fight Night 21: Florian vs. Gomi, which goes down at the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte. The event will be broadcast on Spike TV at 8 p.m. ET/PT, and will lead in to the season premiere of TUF 11.

How does this affect you as a FightPicker player? Well, you only have until Wednesday afternoon to enter this week’s pools and make your selections, so get your e-asses in gear and make it happen. There are no prizes up for grabs this time around; we’ll announce the winners of last week’s iPad pools as soon as we have them. Let’s take a look at the questions that are currently in play…

("Y’know, Alistair, I think I can get you a role in the next Iron Man flick. We can call you ‘Juice Man.’ Or ‘Needle Man.’ No offense." / Photo courtesy of allelbows.com.)

Strikeforce confirmed last night that the May 15th heavyweight battle between Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem and mohawked contender Brett Rogers — originally thought to be a non-title fight — will now be for the belt. The decision was made "after much internal debate," and will bring Overeem back under the Strikeforce banner for the first time since he beat up Paul Buentello in November 2007. Since then, Overeem has gone 7-0 with 1 no contest against such notable cans as Tony Sylvester and James Thompson.

So let’s get this out of the way: Of course it’s ridiculous that Brett Rogers has effectively earned a title shot by getting smoked by Fedor Emelianenko. But he and Alistair were available in May, and Fedor wasn’t. And what would happen if Rogers beat Overeem in a non-title fight? Would they need to have an immediate rematch for the belt, while Fedor takes another meaningless exhibition? Would it be another 30 months before Alistair decided to grace Strikeforce with his presence? In the end, it just makes more sense if the champion defends his title against somebody. Anybody.

(Ariel Helwani chats with Dana White, who says Carwin and Lesnar will face off on July 3 for the real heavyweight championship belt.)

Impressive performances at UFC 111 were worth an extra $65,000 to a few lucky fighters on Saturday night. Kurt Pellegrino nabbed the Submission of the Night bonus for his rear naked choke finish of Fabricio Camoes. Shane Carwin pocketed the Knockout of the Night bonus for battering Frank Mir into a surreal dream state, and prelim fighters Jared Hamman and Rodney Wallace got the nod for Fight of the Night after their three-round slobberknocker that resulted in a decision win for Hamman. Other notes to come out of UFC 111:

- Rousimar Palhares says he’s “really sorry” for injuring Tomasz Drwal’s knee by holding on to that heel hook, but the apology isn’t good enough for the state of New Jersey. The local commission issued Palhares a 90-day suspension for not letting go of the submission more promptly.

(Photo courtesy of Shane Carwin’s Twitter.)

This morning Shane Carwin awoke to find the UFC interim heavyweight championship belt and a bunch of empty Bud Lights in his hotel room.  We’ve all been there, haven’t we?  The weird part is, we just assumed that make-believe belt would have turned back into a pumpkin by morning, leaving "Hulk Hands" with only some sore fists and a debilitating light beer headache to remind him that it wasn’t all some beautiful, violent dream. 

("Please, Dan, I used to fuck guys like you in prison. Coincidentally, I used to fuck guys like you before I went to prison. The guys I fucked after I got out of prison were different from you in certain fundamental ways, but I don’t have time to get into that right now." Photo courtesy of the UFC 111: Weigh In Pics gallery on CombatLifestyle.com.)

Armpit of America? No, ladies and gentlemen, tonight New Jersey will be super classy. UFC 111 is now underway at Newark’s Prudential Center, and will culminate in two thrilling title fights: Heavyweights Frank Mir and Shane Carwin do battle for a make-believe belt, and welterweight king Georges St. Pierre tries to avoid a shock upset against massive underdog/red-eyed freak Dan Hardy. Live UFC 111 results from the Spike TV prelims and pay-per-view broadcast are after the jump; refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest.

(And you thought the tats on the *front* of Mahe were insane? Photo courtesy of Esther Lin/Strikeforce.)

…are after the jump, for the benefit of all you crybabies.

(Photo courtesy of the UFC 111: Weigh In Pics gallery on CombatLifestyle.com.)

Now that, my friends, is INTENSITY. Either that, or PINKEYE. Come back to CagePotato.com tonight starting at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT for our liveblog of the festivities — beginning with the prelim broadcast on Spike — and find out if Georges St. Pierre will even be able to step into the cage with such a terrifying human being.

After the jump: Pics of guest Octagon Girl Rachelle Leah looking a little…different. Did she do something to her hair? Or her face?

(Another day, another Danavlog.)

- The UFC 111 Roundtable. (The Rumble)

- Matt Serra likes Dan Hardy’s chances against GSP. (MMA Fighting)

- UFC 111′s hometown Jersey boys. (Fight Magazine)

- GSP says Hardy isn’t an underdog to him. (MMA Weekly)

- Shane Carwin discusses his extensive medical tests in New Jersey. (Cagewriter)

- Final "Primetime" episode pulls in 613,000 viewers. (MMA Payout)

- GSP’s new endorsement deal with Gatorade. (Heavy)

- Ben Saunders is harnessing his inner Bruce Lee. (Bleacher Report)

- Check out what happened at the "UFC Undisputed" launch party. (Middle Easy)

- Why does everyone hate Duke? (Scores Report)

- Brazilian soccer players pepper sprayed by police. (Total Pro Sports)

- What not to do in Tijuana. (Asylum)

- Shane Carwin might as well be 0-0 when the cage door closes. (Ask Men)

- 25 awesome moon bounces. (Holy Taco)

- Heidi Montag to defeat sharks, save town with her boobs. (Screen Junkies)

- NASCAR bathroom prank. (All Left Turns)

- 6 places to dump your girlfriend. (Made Man)

- Hockey fans duke it out in the stands. (Nothing Toxic)

(Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle’s UFC 111 weigh-in gallery, where you can also see a jacked Frank Mir and fine-looking Rachelle Leah.)

The only time weigh-in stories are ever not completely boring is when someone misses weight by a large margin or when something weird happens. The pushing and shoving that sometimes goes on? Even that has started to get somewhat commonplace, and more often it can be accurately described as ‘jostling.’ So what we truly need in order to have something to talk about is for someone to show up heavy, or possibly with red contact lenses. Fortunately, the UFC 111 weigh-ins had both.

Dan Hardy wore an ‘I Hate Dan Hardy’ t-shirt complemented by evil red vampire eyes, and Rory Markham came in six pounds over the upper limit for his welterweight bout with Nate Diaz. Markham will reportedly be fined $1,000 (or 12.5% of his show money) for his lack of carb-control, while Hardy somehow gets off free for treating the weigh-ins like a half-ass rave. I tell you, there’s no justice in this world.

Full weigh-in results are after the jump.

(Click the above image to watch a sleepy, drugged-up Brandon Vera try to explain what happened to him on Sunday night.)

We just wanted to pass along a little update on Brandon Vera’s broken face following his beating by Jon Jones at UFC on Versus. Vera reportedly had surgery last night to fix his dislocated cheekbone, which was in woeful shape after absorbing that fight-ending elbow:

In other words, Vera won’t be back until the fall or winter, assuming that his face eventually returns to normal. And when he does come back, what will be waiting for him? A full-time position as a gatekeeper for up-and-comers? Most likely, he’ll have one more chance to prove that he has any sort of value to the company. Who would you put him up against at this point?