(Ariel Helwani goes to the mall in Abu Dhabi to talk UFC 112 with some locals.)

– King Mo isn’t all that concerned about Gegard Mousasi’s experience. (Heavy)

– TUF 11 ratings holding steady in second week. (MMA Weekly)

– Ken Shamrock now owes the UFC $175,000. (Cagewriter)

– Strikeforce conference call highlights. (MMA Mania)

– One-on-one with Anderson Silva. (Sherdog)

– Renzo Gracie’s legacy. (Fight Magazine)

– The UFC 112 roundtable discussion. (The Rumble)

– Dana and Renzo have different interpretations of history. (WKR)

– Phil Davis plans to smile all the way home. (Bleacher Report)

- These cheerleaders have a message for you. (Total Pro Sports)

- Tiger Woods is getting heckled from the sky. (Scores Report)

- Dating Red Flag: suicidal side comment. (Asylum)

- 10 reasons not to get married. (Ask Men)

- 25 sexy 90′s stars. (Holy Taco)

- 9 weirdest Crispin Glover moments. (Screen Junkies)

- Is marriage good or bad for your health? (Made Man)

- The Formula 1 guitarist. (All Left Turns)

- Shirtless loudmouths get sucker punched. (Nothing Toxic)

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney on the Philosophy of the Tournament St – Watch more Funny Videos

Here are some more exclusive videos shot last night in Hollywood, Florida, by our contributor Justin Fielder, who was able to get some time with all of the notable faces and names following Bellator XIII. First up, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney discusses how his league’s tournament format allows fighters to control their own destiny more than the traditional "matchmaking" format of most MMA promotions and boxing. He also tells us about the significance of Bellator’s superfights, and how they’ll fit into future shows.

Bellator 13 – Joe Warren – Post-Fight - Watch more Funny Videos

Joe Warren says he’s not happy with his performance against Eric Marriott, and runs down the scary submission attempts he had to survive en route to a unanimous decision victory. He also explains the differences between Japanese crowds and their louder, drunker American counterparts.

Lots more after the jump…

(Props: MMAFighting.com)

Weigh-ins for tomorrow’s UFC 112: Invincible event went down earlier today at Marina Mall in Abu Dhabi, with all 22 fighters successfully hitting their marks. Though there were no big surprises in the results, there were a few memorable moments in the face-offs, including Nick Osipczak going nose-to-nose with Rick Story, BJ Penn‘s death-glare on Frankie Edgar, Matt Hughes getting unanimously booed by the Abu Dhabi crowd during a brief interview, and Anderson Silva‘s confident dismissal of Demian Maia: "This is my time, this is my belt, the UFC is my house. No problem." The numbers are after the jump…

(An epic after-party in the making. Pictures courtesy of Tom Hill Photos.)

If you missed last night’s Bellator event you not only lost out on the chance to see some great fights, but you also missed seeing one of the best MMA cheering sections of all time. Super Bowl champion tight end Jeremy Shockey and Oscar-nominated actor Mickey Rourke were cageside in Hollywood, Florida on Thursday night to support their friend Roger Huerta, who defeated a surprisingly game Chad Hinton via third-round submission. As you’d expect, Rourke showed up looking like your ne’er-do-well uncle who lives in a motel on the edge of the town, and Shockey seemed either really enthusiastic or maybe just a little drunk, but they were both there to support their friend in his new venture and we think that’s nice.

Sure, maybe the trio seems a little odd, but also pretty awesome. Rourke and Huerta became friends when “The Wrestler” star offered to help him hone his acting skills. And Shockey? Well, Shockey knows a good time when he sees one. Missing the chance to hang out at weird after-hours clubs with Rourke and Huerta is the kind of thing you’d hate yourself for when you’re wasting away in your rocking chair decades from now.

Seeing this kind of support section cageside at an event should really serve as a notice to other fighters that they need to improve the overall quality and strangeness of their entourages. There was a time when having David Spade there to cheer you on was enough. After last night, unless you’ve got Peter O’Toole sitting next to Hideki Matsui, you’re a nobody.

(‘Okay boys, let’s step back and put our shirts on before we send the wrong message to the local authorities.’ Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)

As you may have heard, UFC 112 is popping off in Abu Dhabi on Saturday morning/early afternoon. In addition to providing you with a liveblog that you absolutely don’t want to miss, we’re also going to go ahead and argue about what this series of long-odds title fights really means, and what the UFC should do next once the dust settles. Won’t you join us?

Who would you less want to be right now: Frankie Edgar or Demian Maia?

(End of the Quach/Karakhanyan match. Props: YouTube.com/BellatorMMA)
 
…are after the jump, for you spoiler-haters.

(Mercedes Terrell and Monica Arteaga. One is suspicious, the other mischievous!)

You may recall that a while back we told you about Bellator’s search for ring girls. You might also recall that we invited you to send us your pictures if you wanted us to put in a good word for you. Some of you did, but because those pictures were gross, weird, or obviously just photoshops of your head on Angelina Jolie’s body, we decided not to pass them on and instead we reported you to the proper authorities.

But lo and behold, Bellator found themselves some professional hot chicks without our help, and from the look of it they did a pretty good job.

Look alive, Potato Nation: You only have until tomorrow night at 11:59 p.m. PT to enter pools for this weekend’s UFC 112-related MMA FightPicker action, so get crackin’. As we mentioned last week, we’re giving away a Sony BRAVIA 32" 1080p LCD HDTV to the winner of the current prize pool, which only has three players so far. So basically, one of those three unworthy jackassess will be taking home a goddamned television, just for manning up and wagering 3,800 PotatoChips. How does that make you feel? Inspired? Furious? Well, that’s the situation, and only you have the power to change it.

In other news: Phil Pennington, your iPad has been shipped. Here it is leaving our hands! 

Roger Huerta – Bellator 13 press conference interview – Watch more Funny Videos

Bellator Fighting Championships returns tonight at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida, featuring quarterfinal action in their new lightweight and featherweight tournaments. Sixteen fighters hit the scales yesterday, and our new friend Justin Fielder was on hand at the weigh-ins to ask the headliners some probing questions. Above, former UFC star Roger Huerta tells us why he chose to sign with Bellator, gives his thoughts on his unnervingly jacked opponent Chad Hinton, and talks about his globe-trotting training camp for this fight. (Apologies for the picture quality, it was dark in there.)

After the jump…

– Joe Warren tries out some new nicknames, scoffs at his opponent Eric Marriott’s plan to keep the fight standing, and discusses why he loves the tournament format.
– 38-year-old family man Chad Hinton tells us what it means to him to get an opportunity to fight a big name like Roger Huerta.
– Lightweight tourney participant and Greg Jackson product Carey Vanier, who faces Joe Duarte tonight, runs down his journey from Best Buy manager to full-time fighter.

Check your local listings to see when FOX Sports Net is showing Bellator 13 in your ‘hood. Though it’s supposed to be broadcast live starting at 8 p.m. ET, the event is being tape-delayed in New York due to a goddamned Islanders/Penguins game, unfortunately. If you miss it, be sure to watch out for the Bellator highlight shows this Saturday night on NBC and Telemundo.

Cage Potato guest blogger Rich Attonito returns with his take on last night’s episode.  Read on to find out what it feels like to be Chuck Liddell’s second pick, and why his oatmeal-making technique makes for important television.

After the preliminary fights were done, Dana White congratulated us and gave us a brief run down of what was to come. Team picks were going to be held the next day, but first we were going to be taken to the fighter house where we would be spending the next 6 weeks of our lives together. For better or for worse.

The lights of the Las Vegas strip lit up the night as we barreled down the highway in two sets of vans. I remember feeling a great deal of relief and for the first time in the past several days I was able to relax a little bit, until the vans arrived at our destination. Suddenly everyone started piling out of the vans and running into the house like someone had told them there was a million dollars inside for the taking.

It’s hard not to wonder if the heat in Abu Dhabi is getting to Dana White. In this chat with MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani, he casually mentions that he’s planning on going to an even more remote location for a UFC event this summer, and he doesn’t even care if the fights are recorded for posterity. That’s right, the UFC is headed to Afghanistan to put on an event for the troops stationed there, and the fact that they might not be able to film the action, let alone broadcast it to fans back home, seems less like a deal-breaker than a slight bummer to DW.

We have to ask, what are the fighters going to say when they’re told that they are all fighting in dark matches on the other side of the planet? And can the UFC, in conjunction with the U.S. military, truly assure that no one captures the action on a cell phone or a flip cam? Will we be dependent on an artist’s rendition to find out how things went? And what if the fight of the year happens on a card that no one has any footage of? Does it really make a sound?

Deep, deep questions here, and yet no answers. As for this rumor that White supposedly owes the Bellagio in Vegas $1 million for a gambling debt, the UFC prez’s answer on that seems pretty definitive.  As juicy a story as that would be if true, something about it seems too tidy.  Come on, a million dollars?  When people really get in gambling debts, it’s rarely in such perfect round numbers.  Trust me on this.

("FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUU-")

After last week’s battle royale, we’re left with 14 middleweight hopefuls, who run up in the TUF house like speed-freaks in a blackout. Is it just me, or is the house nicer than usual this year? It looks like somebody’s actual home, not a reality show barracks. Where are the TapouT bunk beds? Man, is it going to be sweet when they wreck the place.

Not all the fighters survived their qualifying fights completely intact. Chris Camozzi is dealing with a mouth infection from a broken tooth and Clayton McKinney is nursing a jacked shoulder.

It’s time to choose teams, and the coin toss goes Tito Ortiz‘s way. He opts to take the first fighter, which will allow Chuck Liddell to pick the first matchup. The picks go down like this…

Team Punishment: Nick "The Cock" Ring, Kyacey Uscola, Kris McCray, Jamie Yager, James "The Ball Peen" Hammortree, Clayton McKinney, Chris Camozzi
Team Liddell: Kyle Noke, Rich Attonito, Charles Blanchard, Josh Bryant, Brad Tavares, Court McGee, Joe Henle

(What is it with guys in leopard-print manties and nutshots?)

Former UFC and PRIDE standout Denis Kang (32-12-1 2NC) will step into the cage for the first time since losing to Michael Bisping at UFC 105 last November when he squares off against Dae Won Kim (11-5-0) under the Warrior One banner, June 19 in Montreal. W-1 officials confirmed the news to CagePotato.com last night.

If you recall, Kim is the Korean judoka who spoiled Brazilian grappling phenom Marcelo Garcia‘s MMA debut in 2007 and may have effectively retired him from the sport as Garcia has intimated that he may never fight again. Since teaching Garcia that punches in the face make jiu-jitsu less effective, Kim has only fought once, racking up a TKO loss against Melvin Manhoef in 2008.

Kang will make his long-awaited W-1 debut at the summer event after a neck injury forced him from a planned March 20 meeting with Vernon "Tiger" White. He also had to withdraw from a contracted slot on the upcoming April 20 ASTRA card, but says the month resting on the sidelines did him good:

(Sorry Nick, but there’s no way you’re winning this competition for overall chest viewership. Photo courtesy of Esther Lin’s archives.)

You can probably put this in the ‘fights that would have been great two years ago’ category, but at least it’s happening. According to GracieFighter.com – your go-to source for very brief stories on why the Gracie squad rules and you totally suck – Nick Diaz will be fighting Hayato “Mach” Sakurai in a 170-pound, non-title bout at Dream.15 in Tokyo at the end of May.

It’s a fight Diaz has been trying to secure for some time, only in light of Sakurai’s recent decline it seems far less competitive now. Sakurai lost his last two fights in decisive fashion, first to recent Diaz victim Marius Zaromskis via head kick, and then to Akihiro Gono via armbar. What’s worse is how uninspired he looked against Gono, as if he would rather be anywhere else than in the ring.

If that same Sakurai shows up to fight Diaz, who’s riding a six-fight winning streak since his TKO loss due to cuts against KJ Noons, it could be a very quick and painful night in front of his home crowd.

LayzieTheSavage with King Mo Lawal – Watch more Funny Videos

While he was at Reign Training Center checking in with Jason Miller, LayzieTheSavage also bumped into Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal, who will be competing for Strikeforce’s light-heavyweight title at the Nashville show on 4/17. Mo has been calling out Gegard Mousasi since he put away Mike Whitehead in December, and now has an opportunity to prove the doubters wrong and get his belt. If that seems like a tall order, Lawal would like to point out that he’s used to being an underdog, and feels he has advantages in power, athleticism, hunger — and he’s a little bit smarter too. When asked what he’ll do to celebrate a victory next Saturday, King Mo gives an appropriately confident response: "I don’t celebrate victories…I expect to win, so what’s to celebrate?"

(The affable Gracie uses one of his patented knock-knock jokes to disarm Hughes just long enough to set up a collar choke. Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestlye.)

Your old pal the Enabler tried as hard as he could, but damned if he could locate any online bookmaker that was giving odds on whether or not the UFC’s hastily thrown together stadium in Abu Dhabi would collapse under the strain of a sandstorm and trap everyone inside its terrifying skeleton of twisted metal and promotional posters. I refuse to believe I’m the only person who thinks that the chances of that happening are at least as good as Demian Maia’s odds.

We might as well take a look at stuff we can bet on, courtesy of BestFightOdds.com.

Anderson Silva (-650) vs. Demian Maia (+600)
BJ Penn (-675) vs. Frankie Edgar (+552)
Matt Hughes (-360) vs. Renzo Gracie (+361)
Mark Munoz (-150) vs. Kendall Grove (+155)
Terry Etim (-138) vs. Rafael Dos Anjos (+135)
Phil Davis (-435) vs. Alexander Gustafsson (+420)

The breakdown…

(There’s a reason the Japanese version of The Fonz was never as popular.)

Because of his limited English skills and the general lack of western media access to him, we don’t get to hear from Shinya Aoki in his own words all that often. As a recent interview with Japan’s Gong Magazine (then translated for Fighter’s Only) confirms, that’s a damn shame. Aoki more or less refused to get bogged down in the normal/boring technical discussion about how his style matches up with Gilbert Melendez’s, and instead cut right to what he feels the stakes are in this bout:

“Japan’s best comes to USA. This is amazing…my technical side is evidenced by my long career. It is the same as my old fights so it does not need to be discussed. Instead, the most important point is this: ‘If Aoki loses, it is over for Japan’

(Props: Brion S.)

We’ve reached the mid-way point in our massive MMA event poster design contest, and we’ve already gotten some amazing submissions. To inspire the rest of y’all into getting your asses in gear, we’ve decided to post some of our current favorites, which continue after the jump. Please send your poster entries to feedback@cagepotato.com by next Tuesday. We’ll pick some finalists for voting a week from today; the top vote-getter will score a big ass prize-package from Six Deuce, which includes MMA fight shorts, a Glorious Sweater of Absolute Victory t-shirt, Muay Thai training gloves, hand wraps, ankle supports, and a leather speed bag. Three runners up will score the shorts — a prize worth $45, just for losing. Please swing by 62gear.com and let ‘em know you care!

(Props: Brian R.)

(Props: Steve W.)

LayzieTheSavage with Jason Mayhem Miller – Watch more Funny Videos

When news came out yesterday that Jason "Mayhem" Miller was booked to fight a local banger named Tim Stout at Strikeforce: Nashville on less than two weeks notice, we wondered how the outspoken middleweight felt about it. So, we sent our video editor friend LayzieTheSavage out to Reign Training Center in Orange County to ask him a few questions. In this exclusive video interview, Miller gives his thoughts on his "country boy" opponent, and why he’ll enjoy smashing Stout in the dude’s hometown. He also discusses the challenge of being on the same card as Muhammed Lawal, and what it’ll take to outdo King Mo’s ring entrance. Plus, he tells us a little about the upcoming third season of Bully Beatdown, which he describes as "the most long-lasting show on MTV." So we’re not even going to pretend that The Real World exists anymore, huh?

("Mayhem" Miller, seen here expertly cultivating the look that says, ‘Let’s not even waste time with the Rorschach test, doc.’)

Those of you who spent all day lamenting the fact that you wouldn’t get to see that “Bully Beatdown” guy you love so much when he takes on some dude you’ve never heard of at Strikeforce: Nashville next weekend, well, now you can relax and put down that computer duster you’ve been huffing frantically. In today’s media conference call Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker promised that the fight “will air in some form” on CBS on April 17. Whether that form is a quick and dirty highlight recap of what happened or whether it’s the whole thing will depend on how much available time there is on the live broadcast after all these title fights get sorted out.

So if the absence of magic tights leads to Shinya Aoki flailing about helplessly until Gilbert Melendez puts him away, or if Dan Henderson comes right out and knocks Jake Shields into an alternate reality where he wanders through the desert with Jim Morrison and Michael Bisping, then chances are very good that we’ll get to see Miller do his thing. The good news is that judging by Stout’s unimpressive 8-7 record, it shouldn’t take too long for a focused and prepared “Mayhem” to put him away.

(Video courtesy of 8countnews.com.)

Since he lives in one of the biggest glass houses in mixed martial arts, former Toughman competitor, World Wrestling Federation guest performer, YAMMA Pitfighter and Oxblood Oxheart doppelganger Eric “Butterbean” Esch may want to think twice about tossing proverbial stones at other fighters in the sport like he has at fellow boxer-turned-mixed martial artist James Toney.

In a recent interview with 8countnews, Esch, who is promoting his Moosin: Gods of Martial Arts show May 21 in Worcester, MA calls the former IBF middleweight, super middleweight and cruiserweight champion and current NABO and IBA heavyweight champion a “circus act.” Considering that the main event of his ridiculously named show will feature 6-foot-8-inch former UFC heavyweight champion and custom chopper enthusiast Tim Sylvia versus “World’s Strongest Man” Mariusz Pudzianowski, and that Esche’s photo appears in the dictionary under the definition of “freak show,” his comments are humorously paradoxical.

(Video courtesy of YouTube.com/CBS.)

If you missed the news from last week about CBS doing a Strikeforce-NCIS LA mash-up for an episode of the criminal investigation drama that airs tonight, here’s the skinny.

Sure, LL Cool J will likely never win an Academy Award, and the chances of a mixed martial artist ever making a name for themselves on the big or small screen are slim to none, but there’s something satisfying about seeing MMA fighters cross over onto popular television shows like NCIS: Los Angeles. As cheesy as the fight scenes look and as much as the camera work and dialogue seem like they’re from a budget porno movie, the point is MMA has gone mainstream, which, like it or not, is good for the sport. The better the ratings the show gets, the better the likelihood we’ll be seeing more cauliflower-eared thespians in other shows in the future, so tune in if you get the chance.

(Renzo Gracie vs. Frank Shamrock, 2/10/07)

Matt Hughes is, according to some oddsmakers, about a 5-1 favorite to beat Renzo Gracie at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi this weekend. Maybe that’s because of how easily Hughes smoked Royce Gracie at UFC 60, or how he managed to survive an early scare and ride out a decision win over Gracie student Matt Serra at UFC 98. Or, then again, maybe it’s just because Renzo hasn’t fought in over three years (what you see in the video above is the unsatisfying result of that outing) and is bound to have a little bit of ring rust at 43 years old. Regardless, Gracie told MMAFighting.com in a recent live chat that he thinks he’ll beat Hughes with his superior jiu-jitsu (what, you thought he was going to say punching power?), but his fight isn’t the only one on the card where he’s predicting an upset:

"I don’t want to fight at 155 just because I don’t want to fight the new champion, Frank Edgar. I believe Edgar is going to beat B.J. Penn. He has all the tools to do it."

Just in case you were wondering, Edgar is an even bigger underdog than Gracie. But hey, this is the same guy who predicted Serra’s upset win over Georges St. Pierre. That’s got to count for something, right?  Or absolutely nothing at all?

by Cage Potato contributor Matt Kaplan

With his new Strikeforce deal completed, it seems like “The Pitbull” might soon be barking up a couple of old trees.

Popular Strikeforce heavyweight Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski (15-7) is set to take on Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva on May 15, and while he isn’t looking past the big Brazilian, he understands that a win over Silva could put him in position to avenge his devastating 2009 losses to Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rogers in the not-so-far future.

Since his June loss to Rogers, Arlovski has murdered Mike Pyle, beaten up a bully, done a ton of video blogging, and trained with some of the best camps in MMA. Arlovski recently signed a new multi-fight deal with Strikeforce, and the former UFC heavyweight champ is looking to avoid a third straight loss. Arlovski has lost two consecutive fights three times in his career, and if history teaches us anything, it’s that 1) the first man killed in the American Revolution was Crispus Attucks, and 2) after back-to-back losses, Arlovski quickly goes back to crushing people. The sometimes hairy, always scary Arlovski says he has a few scores to settle in Strikeforce, but before he can do that, he needs history to repeat itself on May 15 against “Bigfoot.”

Kaplan: You’ve announced on Arlovski.com your 16-month, multi-fight deal with Strikeforce. Exactly how many fights are you hoping to have in the coming 16 months?

Arlovski: I hope to have four fights in the next 16 months. The first one is against “Bigfoot” Silva on May 15.

In the eight months that you were out of MMA competition, was your focus on a return to the cage, or were you considering other pursuits?

(Sure, you’ll save a few bucks going to an unlicensed chiropractor, but you wind up paying for it in other ways.)

From a new report on MMA Junkie:

Of course, it had already happened twice before during Aoki’s combat career: When he snapped Keith Wisniewski’s arm in Shooto, and when he dislocated Kuniyoshi Hironaka’s arm in a grappling match. The man is very disrespectful towards arms, basically, and he refuses to feel bad about it. Of course, what really got Aoki in hot water after the Hirota fight was his Stockton-style celebration, which I can’t really see him doing in the U.S. against a guy he has no personal history with. But the bottom line is this: Don’t be a hero, Gilbert. If Aoki has your arm, just tap, unless you want to spend the rest of the year in recovery. Aoki’s already pissed off about the shorts situation. But for a Strikeforce championship belt? Dios mio, he gonna carve you up real nice.

(Tim Stout vs. Brandon Melendez, 5/16/08.) 

As first reported by MMA Junkie, a fight between colorful MTV host/middleweight contender Jason "Mayhem" Miller and some guy named Tim Stout (12-8) has been added to the preliminary card of Strikeforce: Nashville on April 17th. Stout, who has primarily competed as a welterweight in various southern regional promotions, is a Tennessee native who trains with Team Oxendine in Johnson City. He last competed in February, scoring a unanimous decision over Phillip Wyman at a Bangkok Fight Night event in Georgia, and his most notable victory was a first-round TKO over TUF 5 vet Brandon Melendez in May 2008.

You may be asking yourself how the hell one of Strikeforce’s biggest stars finds himself fighting a virtually-unknown 170-pounder on the dark portion of a CBS card on less than two weeks’ notice. Good question. Here’s what happened…

Something about fighting Anderson Silva seems to bring out the crazy in some people. From Chris Leben’s stated goal of “roughnecking” him to James Irvin’s woefully misguided belief that all he needed to do was take two to give one, absurdly inadequate game plans have become a staple of any pre-fight hype when Silva is on the card. But God bless Demian Maia, he seems just a little more realistic about the whole thing.

Not only does he freely acknowledge that Silva is probably the most complete fighter in the world, he also knows that he only has one chance to win and it involves getting him to the mat and submitting him. It’s the first part of that equation that seems like it might be problematic, though.

(Props: MMA Share)

Somehow this escaped our notice, but Bob Sapp got back into action at the end of March in a Croatian event that saw him notch his first MMA victory since his win over that cartoon character at the Dynamite!! New Year’s Eve show in 2008. The big man didn’t exactly win this one with his graceful movements or superior technique. Instead he just charged after poor Sascha Weinpolter like a delivery truck that somebody forgot to apply the parking brake on.

Sapp clearly wants to get the action to the mat, which he does, but it’s not clear if he shoves Weinpolter over or if the smaller man decided to just pull guard for some reason. Ordinarily, pulling guard is something done by people with excellent jiu-jitsu and not much else. Since Weinpolter taps to a forearm on the throat that any blue belt would be ashamed to succumb to, it doesn’t seem like he was ever going to win this with his grappling ability.

The finish may not have thrilled the crowd, but a win’s a win. Sapp hasn’t had many of them in the last few years. Watching him in action now, it really puts all the recent hand-wringing about freak show fights into perspective. If Sapp can hang around in the sport for so long, it’s unlikely that James Toney is going to bring the MMA world crashing down by competing in the UFC.

(Photo of the work-in-progress courtesy of Flash.)

In just six days, the UFC will hold its first-ever event in the Middle East. For those of you who assume there’s a Bojangles Coliseum available in every city in the world, let me assure you that that’s not the case. (Bojangles should be so lucky.) Instead, the historic event required that a brand-new open-air stadium be built from scratch in about 20 days. Meanwhile, my neighbor Chris has been trying to build a deck in his backyard for three years. And before you think that this stadium is just some slapped-together P.O.S., check out this article on the massive undertaking published yesterday in UAE’s English-language paper, The National:

(Photo courtesy of Esther Lin at AllElbows.com)

Sometimes in life we must give up that which we love in order to pursue our dreams. It isn’t easy, and often it rips out some part of our soul, but we suck it up and do it anyway because that’s how badly we want to prove that the top of the MMA world is Japan. Just look at Shinya Aoki up there, stripped of his magic tights and forced to wear shorts like some narcissistic American surfer. Imagine the shame his family must feel. The utter disgrace. And yet, this is what the man is willing to go through to fight Gilbert Melendez in Strikeforce next Saturday. That’s called sacrifice, people.