Team Liddell fighter Rich Attonito returns again in the newest installment of his Cage Potato guest blog. Read on to find out what it’s like to have John Hackleman and Chuck Liddell whipping you into shape, and how a Jersey boy like Rich would have handled the beef between Jamie Yager and Nick Ring.

We were all called together for a big announcement and we waited patiently in the gym for the arrival of Dana, Chuck, and Tito. When I saw them make their way through the doors and towards us I knew that it was all business just by the way they were walking. I knew that something was up and by the looks of it, it didn’t look good. Tension in the air was thick. I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong but I started to rewind my brain to see if I could think of anything I might have done that would get me in trouble. I felt like I was back in high school for a second.

Then Dana asked Chris Camozzi to step forward and delivered the terrible news. Chris had broken his jaw and was no longer able to continue in the competition. He was going home. It was like everyone in the room got kicked in the balls all at once. I felt horrible for him. Chris was one of my favorite guys in the house and I was sad to see him go. He earned his way into the house through a hard fought victory. I couldn’t imagine how difficult it would be to have the opportunity you earned right in front of you, and then see it vanish just like that. Watching Chris leave the gym only reinforced how fragile this opportunity can be and made me feel very fortunate to be in the position I was in. The only question now was who were they going to bring back to replace him?

(Props: Card on the UG)

Potato Nation, we’ve reached the point where those of us who care about Chuck Liddell’s health and well-being simply cannot, in good conscience, allow him to continue watching MMA fights. The strain is clearly too much for him. We’ve seen it in the past when Liddell has been cageside at UFC fights. We saw it again on last night’s episode of “The Ultimate Fighter.” When Liddell gets caught up in the action of a fight, his neurological system momentarily shuts down and he staggers around like an old man who has been jolted from his recliner by a disturbing dream involving gays and the Korean War. I’m not sure what the exact medical term is for this, but it must be something that’s difficult to pronounce and potentially life-threatening.

What’s really alarming is, this latest seizure was brought on by a close, though not all that action-packed exhibition fight. Can you imagine what will happen if Liddell finds himself engrossed in a particularly competitive title fight? Why, there’d be nothing left at the end but a mohawk and a sweat-stained club shirt.

(Chris Haseman would be proud.)

In last night’s episode of Coaches Who Won’t Fight Each Other 11, Team Punishment suffers another setback when Dana "Angel of Death" White comes in and tells Chris Camozzi that he has to leave the competition because of a fractured jaw. Bummer, brah. And so, Tito has to replace his last pick with a guy who got beaten in the preliminary round. After weighing his options, he calls back Seth Baczynski, who lost to Court McGee but showed heart in the process.

Team Liddell’s Charles Blanchard has an advanced degree in giving back-rubs to other dudes. A rub-down given to Team Ortiz’s Nick Ring at 2 a.m. opens up the ridicule floodgates from Jamie Yager, who busts Ring’s balls about the massage and the fruity way he leans against a bathroom door. Yager simply won’t be happy until all his teammates hate him. Later, an altercation in practice leads to Yager calling Ring a "bitch." Ring is ready to throw down, but Tito cools everybody out and explains that they’ll all have to help each other if one of them hopes to win this thing. By contrast, Team Liddell is "Happy Camp," according to John Hackleman.

Just how bad was Anderson Silva‘s UFC 112 performance in Dana White’s eyes?  So bad that DW hasn’t even seen anything worse in all his years watching boxing.  That’s right.  Boxing, playa.  That’s why White tells ESPN‘s Jim Rome that he’s had enough of these embarrassing antics from his middleweight champ, and if he ever sees it again he will cut his ass. 

Just take a second and let that sink in.  Imagine Silva going and doing to Chael Sonnen (who, White confirms, he will face next) what he did to Demian Maia.  Imagine him jumping around the cage in between fits of face-smashing, shouting things at Sonnen in Portuguese and imitating Chuck Norris’ fighting style.  Then imagine him waking up the next morning, still the UFC 185-pound champ, but suddenly a free agent.

If that’s the situation that goes down, whose interests will have been served?

(Odds of "King Mo" taking another costly Rockstar bath? Considering that this fight happens right after tax season, call it a longshot.)

Strikeforce invades Nashville this weekend, which means there’ll be plenty of fried food, Elvis worship, and a whopping three title fights to throw your money at. We have some legitimately tough choices to make this time around, so let’s gather all the change we can find from the ashtray of our mother’s Chevy Nova and get serious about this.

Betting lines come to us from BestFightOdds.com:

Dan Henderson (-395) vs. Jake Shields (+295)
Gegard Mousasi (-275) vs. “King Mo” Lawal (+215)
Gilbert Melendez (-160) vs. Shinya Aoki (+130)
Jason Miller (-1200) vs. Tim Stout (+700)

The breakdown…

    
      
(Keep your eyes on the grand prize. Images courtesy of 62Gear.com)

After two weeks of furious photoshopping, we have nominated 15 artists as finalists for our Six Deuce MMA poster design contest. Please spend the rest of your afternoon considering the posters after the jump, then vote for your favorite in the poll over on the right. (It’s a little ways down the page, under the "Most Recent Comments" box and the UFC Fan Expo ad.) Get your votes in by Sunday night at midnight ET. We’ll announce the winners on Monday. Many thanks to everybody who entered, and please show Six Deuce some love for making this happen!

(Our last hope? Photo courtesy of Fight! Magazine.)

By CagePotato contributor Matt Kaplan

Chael Sonnen is many things: top UFC middleweight contender, hopeful Oregon state rep, realtor, quote generator. An Anderson Silva fan, though, he is not. After thrashing Nate Marquardt at UFC 109, Sonnen is next in line to take on what he sees as an “insignificant” champion in Silva, who, despite his best efforts, “couldn’t” finish Demian Maia at UFC 112. Ladies and gentlemen, Chael Sonnen…

CAGEPOTATO.COM: Were you at all rubbed the wrong way by Anderson Silva’s fight against Demian Maia at UFC 112?
CHAEL SONNEN: No, I did my level best to watch the fight, but just couldn’t get through it.

Dana White was effusively apologetic after the fight. Do you think Silva owes anyone an apology? Would it even make a difference?
He is insignificant, really. Nobody cares about him. They never have. If BJ wasn’t on that card, that arena would have been a ghost town.

Did you see anything in that fight that made you even more confident in your chances at beating Silva?
No, he was dominant over a tough guy, impressive in ways.

What impressed you about Silva’s performance?
He is accurate and moves well.

Why do you think he didn’t put away Maia, whom he clearly outclassed in the stand-up game?
He couldn’t, Maia was too tough.

Did you perceive the goading, motioning, shouting by Silva to be showmanship or disrespect? Or perhaps a little bit of both?
Look, I’m not a gang banger. I don’t talk about “respect.” That term is for street thugs, not me.

(The UFC returns to Canada, with a title on the line. Specifically, the title of "Saddest Former Champion.")

UFC fans have responded to the news of UFC 115′s headliner switch with a collective "WHOFREAKIN’CARESGIMMEGIMMEGIMME!" According to a recent update on UFC.com, their June 12th event at General Motors Place in Vancouver sold out just 30 minutes after the pre-sale began yesterday morning, officially making UFC 115 the fastest sellout in UFC history. The sellout happened long before seats were made available to the general public, so if you’re an average non-Fight Club member, it’s time to get scalped.

On the topic of his new opponent Rich Franklin, Chuck Liddell said pretty much what you’d think he’d say, telling UFC.com: “I’m ready for this fight, I’m in the best shape of my life, and I can’t wait to get back in the Octagon. I can’t tell the fans what happens in the Ultimate Fighter 11, you have to watch the show, but I’ll tell you how this is gonna end, I’m knocking Rich out.” Franklin is coming off his TKO loss against Vitor Belfort in September, while Liddell is riding back-to-back knockout losses at the hands of Rashad Evans and Mauricio Rua. Against Rich Franklin, Chuck will be in more danger to suffer his third straight KO than he’d ever be against Tito Ortiz. But I think I’ve learned my lesson about counting guys out completely.

It says a lot about the video production skills of allelbows.com that they can make a gum-flappin’ heel-in-training like Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal seem like a sympathetic character. Previously, we’ve seen AE document Mo’s professional debut and his squash match against Mark Kerr, but now the moneyweight contender approaches the biggest fight of his career — his first top-ten opponent, and his first shot at a title belt. Experience and hype are on the side of the champion, Gegard Mousasi, who has run through his last 15 opponents, 13 by stoppage. And yet, there doesn’t seem to be an ounce of doubt in Mo’s mind. He compares the fight to a video game, and one he plans on beating. Fittingly, the clip ends with a sequence of footage from EA MMA, with Mo and Mousasi throwing down. But how will it play out in real life?

(Take it easy, Gray. The bag didn’t know she was your girlfriend.)

by Cage Potato contributor Elias Cepeda

Despite being undefeated, Gray Maynard (10-0) was overlooked earlier this year for a title shot in favor of a man who he had recently beat handily, Frankie Edgar. Now that Edgar has made good and won the UFC lightweight title from BJ Penn, Maynard discusses still wanting a title shot and the possibility that he may get passed over again.

Gray, there was a great case for you deserving the next title shot against BJ Penn, being undefeated and having dominated Frankie Edgar when you fought him in April of 2008. Yet, Edgar got the shot and ended up beating Penn to win the title. How closely were you watching the fight Saturday?

I was kind of checking it out of course. It didn’t really hit me until the calls were coming in and I got a ton of texts that I did really have a chance to go for the belt. Then, of course I got pumped up.

(DW’s face at 0:11 says it all. Props: bigpimpinx)

From Dave Meltzer via FightOpinion:

“Doug Crosby’s in a lot of trouble right now because apparently he went on the Internet and was trolling people and making fun of them and all this…they’re ripping on him and he’s making fun of them and that is conduct unbecoming a judge, and I know several of the commissions called him and then the UFC called him as well and they told him to, you know…GET OFF THE INTERNET and there’s a lot of commissions right now very upset about judges on the Internet. I think that they were very mad at Cecil Peoples when he made that stupid leg kick thing after the Shogun Rua fight with Machida, so I think that there’s going to be [an] unofficial rule…that you cannot go out there and troll people on the Internet…

I don’t see anything wrong with a judge explaining [himself] but a judge should absolutely not be out there making fun of people. Then again, I don’t know… (laughs) The Internet’s a funny thing, I mean, should Dana be on Twitter telling everyone fuck you? And he’s doing that and…he’s the most powerful guy in the whole business! So, he’s setting quite the example here.”

So, no more bizarre post-fight rants from Douglas Crosby; I guess that’s something we can all get behind. But hey, if you don’t want to be assaulted by Doug’s brain-droppings, just stay out of his UG threads. I’m more concerned with the judging itself. Has he been reprimanded for that yet?

(Props: BJPenn.com)

While on a media tour promoting his new book Why I Fight, former (!) UFC lightweight champ BJ Penn took 18 seconds out of his day to announce that an immediate rematch with Frankie Edgar is in the works. Nothing is set in stone yet, but the UFC wants the fight, and BJ wants the fight, and all of BJ’s fans want the fight, so there you go.

Of course, this opens up a debate about whether BJ Penn deserves a chance to reclaim his belt right away. Immediate title rematches are a tricky thing. When Machida vs. Rua II was set up directly after their first meeting, it made sense because there was a general uproar about the decision unfairly going to Lyoto, who seemingly only won because leg kicks don’t count. But what can you really say about Penn vs. Edgar at UFC 112, other than it was a close fight that was difficult to score (particularly for the judges)? Edgar was never put in serious danger, and he would actually be the clear winner under the Unified Rules of Stockton, in which the loser is the guy who looks more fucked up afterwards, and the winner is the guy who was kicking more ass at the end.

BJ Penn is a more popular star than Frankie Edgar, so the UFC is using the "close fight" angle to try and get one of their golden boys back on his throne, rather than sending in Gray Maynard as Edgar’s first belt defense. (Admittedly, Edgar vs. Maynard sounds like pay-per-view poison.) Do you accept this as just part of the fight business, or should BJ have to knock off another contender first to prove that he’s still the same old killer, and his passionless performance last Saturday really was due to illness?

(Nice, playa.)

by Cage Potato contributor Matt Kaplan

Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields is starting to see his April 17 title defense against Dan Henderson for what it is: a win-win. Shields is heading into the last fight of his Strikeforce deal, and if he wins, he not only will have beaten a personal MMA hero, but he also will have UFC president Dana White knocking on his door. And if he loses, well, the UFC will still be knocking. Win or lose, the free agent Shields is getting paid.

In an exclusive Cage Potato interview, Shields spoke about exploring free agency, what he has that Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira does not, “definitely” wanting to fight Georges St-Pierre, and a Strikeforce 170- and 185-pound talent pool that, as far as he is concerned, is all but drained. Oh yeah, and he does not like Frank Shamrock.

Dana White recently claimed that you are being fed to Dan Henderson for the last fight of your contract. He suggested that Strikeforce and/or Showtime might be doing this so that if you lose, they won’t have to pay up for both you and Henderson.

Yeah, I don’t know. I’m not really sure what the motives are. Obviously it’s a really tough fight for the last fight on my contract. It’s not something I really want to push, but it’s a good fight for me as well. It’s a good opportunity to prove myself against a top fighter, so their motives aren’t really that big a deal to me. I’m just trying to go out there and do my thing and win a fight.

Have you and your management begun talks with Strikeforce about a new contract?

(Pictured, from right to left: Mike Whitehead, Tim Sylvia, unidentified plant.)

According to multiple sources, former UFC fighter and “Ultimate Fighter” contestant Mike Whitehead is being sought by Las Vegas police on sexual assault and drug charges. And when we say drug charges, we aren’t talking about a half-smoked joint and a couple of Percocet in the ashtray of his car. We’re talking about a full-scale marijuana growing operation, with about $500,000 worth of plants. And that’s in addition to, you know, the sexual assault thing.

Las Vegas police reportedly went to Whitehead’s house in the first place because of the sexual assault allegations, but while there they discovered the stockpile of marijuana plants. At that point we can only assume that the investigating officers simultaneously dropped their flashlights, turned to one another with mouths agape, and exclaimed, ‘Dude.’

(Props: twitter.com/kenny_florian)

That freakish-looking lump of flesh you see above is actually the knee of UFC lightweight contender Kenny Florian, who was checked into a Boston hospital yesterday with a particularly gnarly staph infection. From a report on Sherdog:

Barring unforeseen complications, Florian’s next Octagon appearance will be at the UFC’s tentatively scheduled Boston event in August. As for the theory that BJ Penn’s loss at UFC 112 could fast-track Florian to another lightweight title shot, Ken-Flo is taking things as they come: "Not sure why everyone asks me what Edgar win means for me. I don’t put fights together. I’ll fight whoever UFC gives me." Besides, the UFC already seems to be laying the groundwork for Edgar/Maynard II…

(Props: FightersOnlyMagazine)

It’s the first time we’ve seen Brett Rogers in months, and what are the very first words out of his mouth? "Basically, man, I feel like I’m kinda going back to my old style." Nooooooooooo! Grim, you are hereby fined 500 PotatoChips for violating our most recent CagePotato Ban, and an additional 250 for shaving off your badass mohawk for some ill-advised reason.  

Anyway, Brett’s back, and is a month out from his Strikeforce heavyweight title fight against Alistair Overeem. But his November loss to Fedor Emelianenko still weighs heavily on him, and he’s hungry for a rematch: "When I went into that fight, I guess my mind was just playing tricks on me…I was expecting him to be a little more aggressive, and I was just playing off of him, but next time I’m just going through him, man. If he comes in to fight like he came in the first time I fought him, he’s definitely gonna get beat. It’s gonna be a murdalization."

As for Alistair, Rogers calls the Demolition Man a "chipmunk" and a "pretty boy to heart," and vows to crush him. "He’s one of those guys that’s really cocky and arrogant…It’s gonna be a fun fight because I don’t like him. He’s talking about he’s gonna smack me when he sees me? I’m definitely gonna put that the test whenever I see him."

A few weeks ago this image would have represented nothing more than prevailing internet rumors and some committed fan’s proficiency with Photoshop. But it just so happens that the picture you see here was found in an email sent out by the UFC this afternoon, casually announcing that tickets for UFC 115, featuring a main event bout between Chuck Liddell and Rich Franklin, go on sale this week. No biggie, just a tacit admission that the UFC has been straight-up lying to us for the past several weeks.

Coming as it does just a couple episodes into the new season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” this announcement makes it hard not to have terrible flashbacks to last season, where we were forced to watch “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans jaw endlessly at one another even after we knew the promised payoff bout wouldn’t come. Ortiz and Liddell haven’t even really started to get under one another’s skin, and already we know that it will all amount to nothing.

(Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

by Cage Potato contributor Elias Cepeda

After losing the lightweight title to Frankie Edgar Saturday night at UFC 112, it has been a long couple of connecting flights from the United Arab Emirates back home to Hawaii for Team BJ Penn. Fresh off the plane, Penn’s coach Rudy Valentino spoke with Cage Potato about what went wrong in the fight and what is next for Penn.

All three judges scored the fight for Frankie Edgar – for what it’s worth I scored the fight for Edgar as well – but every single round was close and was difficult to score. How did you view the outcome?

One judge scored every round for Edgar but what I saw in the fight when I was watching it, and I haven’t watched it again on tape, but watching it as it happened, I felt that BJ won the first three rounds. The fourth round was even and I think he lost the last round. So I feel BJ won the fight. He was also battling a sinus infection and was on antibiotics, so he was not one hundred percent. I’m not making any excuses, that is just what happened. I didn’t see him lose that fight but I did see him lose the last round. As for effectiveness of punches, I thought BJ had it. Frankie got two takedowns but BJ got up real fast and nothing happened on the ground there, so I don’t know if they could score the fight based on those two takedowns.

 
(Image courtesy of Jimbo Jones, who will probably not be winning the Six Deuce MMA poster contest.)

The non-stop wave of MMA action continues this coming Saturday in Nashville, as Strikeforce presents three title fights (and Jason Miller) at the Bridgestone Arena. Head over to fightpicker.cagepotato.com right now to start making your pool selections, or play the game on Facebook if you’re so inclined.

Unfortunately we can’t give away stolen televisions every week — congrats to TheDemon, by the way — but we still think the current FightPicker prize pool is worth checking out. A reasonable 500-chip buy-in will allow you access to the "MMA Fan Pack Pool 25 #1476." The winner of this pool will receive the following:

– A PRIDE T-Shirt
– A PRIDE 33 DVD
– A UFC "Best of 2009" DVD

Only 25 players are allowed entry, so look sharp. Now let’s take a look at the questions you’ll need to ace to score the loot…

(Props: lookoutawhale)

Between Douglas Crosby’s bizarre message-board diatribe, Anderson Silva’s nonsensical justifications for ruining a main event, and the announcement that Ben Fowlkes is leaving us to start his own Smoothie King franchise — do not request the "protein shot" — we’re all feeling a little emotional right now. So how ’bout we all just take a deep breath and enjoy this complete history of the MMA nipple-tweak?

UFC 87 was the first time we’d noticed the bizarre ritual, but lookoutawhale has blown the case wide open, showing that Georges St. Pierre was tweakin’ as early as UFC 50, though he usually did it under the cover of a t-shirt. When first confronted about his nasty little habit, Rush tried to play it off as a combination nervous tic/Sign of the Cross. Eventually, his Team Jackson homeboys followed his lead, and GSP was able to come out of the closet, so to speak, openly nip-twisting in pre-fight face-offs and in the presence of hot models at photo shoots. Hey, you can’t argue with success. Special appearance by Darrill Schoonover!

(Once again, Miley Cyrus puts my feelings into words better than I can. Except for all the kissing stuff.)

by Cage Potato senior editor Ben Fowlkes

A little less than two years ago I signed on with Cage Potato and joined managing editor Ben Goldstein in a daily attempt to make this one of the most entertaining MMA websites out there, while also working in a little bit of news and analysis here and there. It’s been a great ride since then, and I’ve never had a job that allowed me to have so much contact with so many great people, or such fun with photo captions.

But for me, the journey now draws to a close. I am moving on to another job within the MMA industry (more info on that in the coming days), so this will be my last week with the Potato.

The unsatisfying post-fight explanation has become something of a tradition for UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva. After putting on performances that are either bizarre, boring, or both, he inevitably ends up at the press conference after the event, trying to explain through his manager/translator, Ed Soares, why he just forced us to sit through another fight that featured only occasional bursts of offense among extended periods of posturing and playing.

After a decision win over Demian Maia at UFC 112 that saw Silva essentially stop fighting altogether in the final two rounds, the story went that he was trying to punish Maia for his “disrespect.” In the lunchtime video interview above, Soares repeats that claim, insisting that Maia “talked a lot of crap before the fight, and said a lot of things personally about Anderson.” Because of such an unprecedented show of disrespect – who ever heard of talking trash about an opponent before a fight, after all? – Silva got emotional and “wanted to make him pay.”

Here’s where we could ask why making Maia pay didn’t include any sustained attempts to knock him out at any point during the fight. We could also ask how spending the final two rounds running in circles was supposed to make Maia suffer. But we won’t. Instead we’ll ask, how exactly did Maia disrespect Silva before the fight?

("Let’s have a good, clean fight, protect yourself at all times, and don’t leave it in the hands of the judges. Trust me on that one." Photo courtesy of MMAFighting.com.)

Yes, the lightweight title fight between BJ Penn and Frankie Edgar at UFC 112 was close through all five rounds, and we’re not going to launch into the corny argument that a challenger should have to definitively "beat the champ" to earn a decision victory. But when the judges’ scores came back for that fight, we were a little shocked by the 50-45 tally that Douglas Crosby turned in for Frankie, especially since Penn pretty clearly took the first round, probably deserved rounds two and three, and the only round that was obviously Edgar’s was the fifth.

Responding to the uproar from Penn fans, Crosby created a thread on the UG — humbly titled "The JUDGING GENIUS returns from the Middle East" — to explain his interpretation of the fight. Well, not so much explain as rant incoherently and endlessly, making the forum posters increasingly furious. Crosby’s manifesto, compiled by FightOpinion, is after the jump; please note that these words were produced by an actual professional MMA judge chosen by the UFC. Read on if you dare…

(Video courtesy of  YouTube/MMAUltimateSet.com)

Re-watching Anderson Silva’s puzzling performance against Demian Maia at UFC 112 last night, I was reminded of the above outtake reel from the aspiring Brazilian Rich Little’s instructional video compilation he filmed with training partner Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. 

In the clip, which at times seems eerily similar to the Paulo Filho-like, Bizarro World showing he had in Abu Dhabi, “The Spider” clowns on MMA luminaries like Royce Gracie, Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, and even his own training partner, Lyoto Machida.

(DaMarques Johnson turns the tables on Brad Blackburn. Photo courtesy of allelbows.)

Since UFC 112 featured two title fights that both went the distance in completely baffling fashion, we didn’t get to see much preliminary card action, with the exception of Phil Davis’s first-round stoppage of Alexander Gustafsson. Here’s how the dark matches shook out…

– Phil Davis def. Alexander Gustafsson via submission (anaconda choke), 4:55 of round 1. 
– Rick Story def. Nick Osipczak via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
– DaMarques Johnson def. Brad Blackburn via TKO, 2:08 of round 3
– Paul Kelly def. Matt Veach via submission (guillotine choke), 3:41 of round 2
– Jon Madsen def. Mostapha Al Turk via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

With three straight losses, Al Turk is definitely heading to the scrap yard after this one, while Blackburn and Veach may also be in trouble after suffering their second-consecutive defeats. But enough about those poor losers. Blackburn’s opponent DaMarques Johnson picked up a $75,000 Knockout of the Night bonus for putting Bad Brad away with a body kick in the third round of their fight after getting handled for most of the first two frames. Rafael Dos Anjos was awarded the Submission of the Night bonus for his armbar of Terry Etim, while the Fight of the Night was given to Mark Munoz and Kendall Grove for their two-rounder, which Munoz won via TKO after almost getting finished repeatedly in round one.

(Props: MMAFighting.com)

If Anderson Silva‘s inscrutable performance at yesterday’s UFC 112 left you feeling angry and cheated, Dana White feels your pain. White stormed out of the arena after the fourth round of Silva’s non-fight with Demian Maia, but not before dropping Silva’s championship belt off with the Spider’s manager, Ed Soares, refusing to deal with it himself. At the post-fight press conference, White ripped into the middleweight champ, telling media "I don’t think I’ve ever been more embarrassed in the ten years of being in this business." (Hmm. Does that sound familiar?) "I don’t know how yet," Dana continued, "but I will make this up to the fans that bought that shit tonight."

Having to repeatedly apologize for Anderson’s fights may have soured the UFC president on Silva permanently: "He said the other day that he wanted to cut to 170 and fight GSP. I don’t want to see that fight now. He doesn’t deserve to fight GSP…I’d like to say he lost his mind tonight, but this is the third time this has happened, this isn’t the first time."

Later, in an interview with Ariel Helwani, Dana called UFC 112 his lowest moment as president of the UFC, and appeared genuinely heartbroken that he had let down the people (and investors) of Abu Dhabi. It bothers him that he has to apologize to fans while Anderson seems to have no urge to do the same. Asked who he’d be interested to see Anderson fight next, White replied "Anderson doesn’t interest me right now."

(Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle’s UFC 112 weigh-in set.)

UFC 112 comes to us live from Abu Dhabi today, which is why we’re watching fights at this strange hour when the sun has not yet set. We have no idea what will even happen as a result of this anomaly. Will the glare off the TV force me to rely on Mike Goldberg’s description of the action, which would mean I’m basically screwed? Will I run out of steam halfway through because I’ve been forced to miss lunch? Will I fall asleep immediately after the fights in the middle of the afternoon, just out of habit?

These, as well as some other questions, will be answered. All I can promise is that I won’t freak out unless Frankie Edgar and/or Demian Maia actually pull off an upset, in which case I will freak out to the point of being completely non-functional. That, and I will not make as many “Spider” puns as the UFC’s pre-fight promos.

Now that we’ve got the ground rules out of the way, let’s get started. Remember to hit refresh often.

(Supernanny choke: no can defend)

 (Roger Huerta was right. This tattoo does make you punch harder.)