(Video courtesy YouTube/SenseiSPORTV)

Tito Ortiz recently appeared on Brazilian television show Sensei SPORTV and proclaimed himself the "Muhammad Ali of mixed martial arts." If by that he means he’s past his prime and is suffering from the effects of too many shots to the head, then we agree wholeheartedly.

(Where’s your stand-up now, playboy?)

According to Antonio Rogerio "Minotoro" Nogueira’s boxing coach, Luis Carlos Dórea in an interview with TATAME today, his charge will likely be back in action in September against Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.

“It’s set that he’ll be back in September, and rumors point that his opponent might be Quinton Jackson. It’d be a great fight for Rogério, he’s a former UFC champion and a victory over him will move us pretty close to the title. The UFC only has top athletes and Quinton Jackson is really dangerous. It’d be a great fight, but the UFC didn’t confirmed anything yet”, Dórea said.

(Haye poses with freakishly large ex-champ Nikolai Valuev, who Haye defeated by decision last July. No, there is nothing wrong with your computer screen.)

For those of you who don’t follow boxing, David Haye (24-1, 22 KOs) is the reigning WBA World Heavyweight Champion who James Toney says he’s going to fight in October, right after he beats up Randy Couture at UFC 118. Coincidentally, Haye is a big UFC fan who trains in MMA in his spare time, so he can appreciate the danger that Lights Out/D-Block is putting himself into by taking a fight against Couture, even if Toney doesn’t seem to get it. From Kevin Iole via BloodyElbow:

[Haye] doesn’t believe Toney’s going to be able to fight him after he gets pummeled by Couture, though he has mad respect for Toney’s boxing skill and record. “James Toney is the purest of the pure at boxing,” Haye said. “He is so brilliant at boxing and his skills are so ingrained in him that he’s been an elite level fighter, in shape or not in shape, his skills alone put him on another level as a boxer.

Haye believes Couture will take Toney down quickly and easily and pummel him on the ground…“Six months of training isn’t going to be enough,” Haye said. “As a UFC fan, I know two or three years wouldn’t be enough. How many times has Toney sprawled in his life? 500? How many leg kicks has he taken in his life? 300? How many Kimura attempts has he defended? 140? Even if he’s done double that amount, he wouldn’t have nearly the experience needed to win a UFC fight.”

Well, we’ve got a big UFC event coming up this weekend, which means you should all head over to fightpicker.cagepotato.com (or apps.facebook.com/fightpicker) and make your predictions for UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin. Congrats to FightPicker Grandmaster Aaron Rampey for becoming the first player to crack the 10,000 chip mark. Well done, buddy. That’s gonna look awesome on your CV.

Of course, if you had some balls you’d bet actual money on the fights, and not silly-ass "PotatoChips." As usual, we’d like to help you win some cash for Saturday’s event — or at the very least not take heavy losses. Betting lines are below, courtesy of BestFightOdds.com; if you don’t know what this stuff means, read this first.

MAIN CARD
Brock Lesnar (-130) vs. Shane Carwin (+140)
Yoshihiro Akiyama (-200) vs. Chris Leben (+185)
Chris Lytle (-195) vs. Matt Brown (+160)
Krzysztof Soszynski (-218) vs. Stephan Bonnar (+195)
George Sotiropoulos (-195) vs. Kurt Pellegrino (+160)

SPIKE TV PRELIMS
Brendan Schaub (-295) vs. Chris Tuchscherer (+264)
Ricardo Romero (-145) vs. Seth Petruzelli (+120)

PRELIMINARY CARD
Goran Reljic (-155) vs. Kendall Grove (+145)
Gerald Harris (-245) vs. Dave Branch (+200)
Daniel Roberts (-170) vs. Forrest Petz (+145)
Karlos Vemola (-160) vs. Jon Madsen (+150)

Read on to get that paper…

(Dude, can I finish taking a piss before we talk about this?)

Former PRIDE middleweight champion Ricardo Arona is planning his return to the UFC, even if the promotion hasn’t decided whether or not they want him.

"The Brazilian Tiger" told TATAME that he is planning another trip to Las Vegas this weekend to attend UFC 116 so he can meet again with Dana White to discuss with the UFC president the prospect of one day fighting in the UFC’s Octagon.

It worked for James Toney, so why not for a guy who was once one of the top competitors at 205 in PRIDE?

M-1 Global has begun searching for new ring girls via a new contest open to only Russian women. Although we’re not quite sure what the site is about since we don’t speak Russian, the photos give off a feel of one of those annoying pop-up mail order bride ads, so unless you want to end up with one of these ladies (or their fatter, uglier facsimile) on your doorstep in 6-8 weeks, we don’t suggest clicking through the site.

Not that there’s anything wrong with ordering a bride from the Internet if any of you have done so, just be careful we hear the Russian mafia’s enforcer is a tough SOB whose only weaknesses are soft-serve and triangle chokes.

The black widows to be contestants are after the jump.

(Ricco Rodriguez: From flab to fab.)

Two months after his beatdown of Brett Rogers at Heavy Artillery, Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem will return to competition at DREAM.15 (July 10th, Saitama), where he’ll take on former UFC heavyweight champ Ricco Rodriguez in a non-title bout. While that may sound like Alistair is getting back to his Japanese squash-match roots, keep in mind that Rodriguez is on a seven-fight win streak since last July (six of which came by stoppage), including victories over veterans Travis Fulton and Moise Rimbon. He also looks a lot better physically these days (see above), and competed in the 218-pound division at last year’s ADCCs.

Can Rodriguez use Overeem as a springboard to a career rebirth? No, probably not — but he could impress a lot of people just by giving Overeem a tough fight and not spitting on anybody. In a related story, Ricco is no longer listed for that 7/18 Impact FC fight against Jeff Monson, which is unfortunate because you can bet that Paulo Filho and Ken Shamrock will be dropping out at the last minute…

(Props: UFC.com/JamesToney)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail feedback@cagepotato.com for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

– Was Fedor Another Victim of EA’s Cover Curse? (MiddleEasy)

– Shane Carwin: ‘One of Us Will Need Help Leaving the Octagon’ at UFC 116 (MMA Fighting)

– Spike To Telecast Weigh-Ins For UFC 116 Lesnar-Carwin (Watch Kalib Run)

- George Sotiropoulos Will Fight Anyone (Heavy.com/MMA)

- Three Strikes and You’re Out: How Groin Shots Are Changing the Outcome of Fights (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Photo Gallery: M-1/Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum (FightMagazine)

- Fedor Emelianenko’s Career in 69 Seconds (MMA Scraps)

(Video courtesy YouTube/Zuffa)

Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin have really stepped up the trash talk in the week leading up to their heavyweight title clash Saturday night at UFC 116.

Prior to this point, Lesnar has been uncharacteristically sedate in his pre-fight posturing and seemed almost respectful towards Carwin during a conference call two weeks ago.

Well, apparently Brock got the itch to flip the script and went "WWE" on Shane in the above video.

"I feel no threat by him whatsoever. I don’t feel any threats by anybody."

Considering Carwin has yet to be defeated and has never fought outside of round one in any of his bouts, he may want to consider him a threat.

Cognizant that Lesnar is likely speaking out of his ass, Carwin calls him on the remark as well.

"Brock can talk all the garbage he wants for this fight. When they close that cage and I see Brock across from me, I want to tear him apart."

I know one thing: Somebody is getting hurt in this one.

(Photo courtesy Zuffa)

Heavy.com is reporting that the automatic rematch Dana White promised Mac Danzig after a questionable stoppage in his fight with Matt Wiman at UFC 115 will take place September 15 at UFC Fight Night 22 in Austin, TX.

The controversy arose when Danzig, caught in a guillotine, seemed to be unresponsive to referee Yves Lavigne’s inquiries about whether he was okay or not, prompting Wiman to inform the experienced French-Canadian official that Mac was indeed unconscious.

The problem was, Danzig was still wide awake; he just didn’t want to shift his position as it may have closed the space he had made between Wiman’s forearm and his corotid artery, causing him to fall asleep. 

Unless your name is Phillip Miller, you can’t expect to go through a career in cage-fighting without losing at least once. So in honor of Fedor Emelianenko’s first legitimate defeat, we decided to take a look at the best MMA fighters who still have flawless records. Whose “0” will be the next to go? And whose win streak is just getting started? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section…

#1: SHANE CARWIN (12-0, all wins by first-round stoppage)

Notable victories: Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 96 (TKO R1), Frank Mir at UFC 111 (TKO R1, won UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship)

Next fight: Brock Lesnar at UFC 116, 7/3/10

He may very well take his first loss this Saturday, but right now, Shane Carwin is the most dangerous undefeated fighter in MMA — as evidenced by the fact that no opponent has made it to the second round against him, and only two have lasted past the second minute. As he immediately showed in his UFC debut against Christian Wellisch at UFC 84, Carwin has a near-supernatural ability to generate power with his 4XL fists. Though he’s backed by impressive wrestling credentials, he’s only needed those hands to achieve victory in the UFC, knocking out top contenders Gabriel Gonzaga and Frank Mir in his last two fights. Brock, get ready to have your chin tested.

#2: MEGUMI FUJII (20-0, 16 wins by submission)

Notable victories: Lisa Ward at Bodog Fight: Vancouver (SUB R1), Mika Nagano at Smackgirl: Starting Over (SUB R1)

Next fight: Bellator women’s 115-pound tournament quarterfinals, opponent TBA

One of the most effective submission artists in the history of MMA, “Mega Megu” owns the longest active win streak in the sport, but suffers from the same problem that Cris Cyborg is facing in the States — a scarcity of legitimate challengers. Now that she’s signed on for Bellator’s 115-pound tourney later this year, she can prove her reputation as a living legend who can do more than armbar pint-sized scrubettes in Japan.

(Chuck demonstrating the moves that got him voted off Dancing With the Stars)

Chuck Liddell was in Toronto and Peterborough, Ontario over the weekend to help out his 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu instructor, Scott Epstein in a pair of training seminars taught by his TUF 11 assistant coach in the two Canadian cities.

Although he declined our request for an interview (not sure why), he did speak with Mike Davies from the Peterborough Examiner about the crossroads he is facing in his career after his knockout loss to Rich Franklin at UFC 115 — his third KO in as many fights.

"I haven’t talked about it at all. I still don’t plan to for a little bit. I have to talk to Dana and my guys and see what I’m going to do," Liddell said Sunday afternoon. "It’s a lot harder decision when I thought I looked great until I got caught. I was winning the fight and winning the fight pretty good, I thought."

(Video courtesy YouTube/Cagewriter)

Steve Cofield from Yahoo! Sports caught up with Seth "The Promotion Killer" Petruzelli in Las Vegas last week ahead of his UFC 116 return bout with Ricardo Romero and discussed a variety of topics including his sexual leanings, his planned entrance for the show (which will include a midget) and the fact that beating Kimbo hurt his career more so than it helped it.

(So the UFC is too brutal for New York, but children are allowed to see "Mamma Mia"? Explain that one to me. / Photo courtesy of graciemag.com.)

NYDailyNews.com breaks the unfortunate turn of events:

ALBANY – The push to legalize ultimate fighting in New York is on the ropes. Assembly Democrats stripped approval for the wildly popular violent sport from a budget bill that lawmakers will take up as soon as today.

Gov. Paterson sought to legalize mixed martial arts, saying fights could pull in more than $2 million in tax revenue for the cash-strapped state.

"The majority of voices who spoke about this issue in our conference were not supportive of approving it as part of the budget," said Assemblyman Steven Englebright (D-L.I.), a fight fan. Englebright said it’s a long shot the Assembly will revisit the issue. The state Senate has already approved the sport.

(Okay Cung, you got your revenge on Scott Smith. We all saw it. There’s no need to rub it in by levitating. Photo courtesy of the "Fedor vs. Werdum Photos" gallery on MMAFighting.com.)

The Potato Index has been chewing its nails and tapping its feet since Saturday night, just waiting for the chance to throw out some arbitrary numerical rankings at Fedor vs. Werdum. And now, the moment has arrived. Don’t mess it up, Potato Index. Please, for the love of God, act like you’ve been there before.

Fabricio Werdum +1,089
Any time you can accomplish something that’s never been done before, it’s a good day. Werdum stopped an unbeatable legend — quickly, we might add — and brought some glory back to BJJ. No matter what happens next in his career, Vai Cavalo will go down in history. And honestly, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Look how happy he is!

Fedor Emelianeko -113 
Fedor’s fight instincts are what set him apart from mere mortals, and have gotten him out of many a jam during his career, but they failed him on Saturday. He thought he had Werdum hurt and went in for the kill, but Werdum was playing possum, and seized on his first opportunity to hit the mat. Fedor could have played it safe against a superior grappler — he could have let Fabricio up so he could slug him some more — but that’s not what Fedor does, and that’s not why we love him. The loss only proves that Emelianenko is not literally invincible. It doesn’t affect his status as the greatest heavyweight of all time.

Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin +99, each
I know, these guys weren’t even at the show. But now their fight at UFC 116 will determine the #1 heavyweight fighter in the world on most ranking lists, simply by default. Next step: Unifying the WAMMA title.

(The Chosyn1′s UFC hype train got Yager-bombed)

Well it appears that Jamie Yager really is "The Chosyn1" as the UFC have selected him as one of four "The Ultimate Fighter 11" contestants whose three-year exclusive contracts options they will not pick up.

According to a report by rankingmma.com, the UFC has released Yager, Josh Bryant, James Hammortree and Seth Baczynski following losses by all four fighters on the TUF 11 Finale.

Yager, who became this season’s resident heel logged a decisive loss to Cage Potato’s resident TUF 11 blogger Rich "The Raging Bull" Attonito, succumbing to strikes at 4:25 of the second round.

If all else fails for the 2-2 Huntington Beach native who denied a public Twitter feud with his coach on the show, Tito Ortiz, he could always try his hand and mouth at professional wrestling.

(Despite being held in a cage, MMA is safer than high school football)

With today’s news that 30-year-old fighter Michael Kirkham died as a result of injuries sustained in a sanctioned MMA bout Saturday night in South Carolina, many fans and pundits are worried that the implications will mean U.S. states like New York and Canadian provinces like Ontario could refuse to sanction the sport as a result of the latest tragedy.

Although Kirkham’s death, which came as a result of a brain hemorrhage — the same fatal injury that took the life of the only other fighter on record to have died from fight-related injuries, Houston’s Sam Vasquez in 2007, it is still unclear whether or not if he brought any pre-existing neurological disorders or injuries into the cage with him on Saturday night.

A proper pre-fight medical, like the ones most athletic commissions require, that include regular CT scans, blood work and MRIs could have caught any abnormalities like the one doctors discovered in Thiago Alves prior to his UFC 111 fight with Jon Fitch.

(Y’know, if you two got to know each other, you’d realize you aren’t so different after all.)

As first reported by MMA Weekly, Dan Hardy will return to the Octagon at UFC 120, tentatively slated for October 16th at the O2 Arena in London. After getting slept on for five rounds in his unsuccessful welterweight title grab against Georges St. Pierre in March, Hardy will look to rebound against Carlos Condit, who’s coming off a dramatic third-round TKO over Rory MacDonald at UFC 115; the stoppage came with seven seconds left in the final frame, and Condit would have likely lost the fight on points. No other fights have been reported for UFC 120, although the event is rumored to host the UFC’s first U.K. Fan Expo.

In other booking news, Tyson Griffin has stepped up to face Takanori Gomi at UFC on Versus 2 (August 1st, San Diego), replacing Joe Stevenson who suffered a knee injury in training. Griffin was most recently outworked by Evan Dunham at UFC 115, losing by split-decision. Gomi might be facing a must-win situation against Griffin, as he was choked out by Kenny Florian in his Octagon debut in March.

Cris Cyborg post-fight interview – Watch more Funny Videos

Our buddy Brian D’Souza was on the scene at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum, and got us this exclusive video interview with 145-pound women’s champ Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Santos, who put on another vicious striking performance en route to a 2nd-round KO against Jan Finney. Cyborg explains that she thought the fight should have been stopped earlier, and wasn’t troubled by Finney’s strikes because she used to training with men. She plans to get back into training and prepare for her next opponent — possibly Erin Toughill according to Scott Coker, even though Erin shot down that idea in March. But will anybody be prepared for Cyborg?

(‘I’m gonna retire you, old man.’ Who knew Nick Diaz was psychic?)

Frank Shamrock spoke with Ben Fowlkes over the weekend about his announcement during Saturday night’s Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum broadcast that he would be hanging up his four ounce gloves permanently and according to the now former fighter, his fight with Nick Diaz a year ago this past April had a major influence on his decision.

"It was just my body and the time. I put the machine back in the shop and ramped it up and it just didn’t perform. The last time in my fight with Nick – it used to be that it didn’t matter how hurt I was going into a fight, I always performed," Shamrock told Fowlkes. "When I fought Nick I didn’t perform. I had injuries that wouldn’t allow me to play my game and to entertain. So I knew when I tried to put my body to work again, it’s done. The machine’s down. I just can’t race it any more."

(Werdum exposing the man behind the curtain)

If you think it was the adrenaline or the endorphins talking when Fabricio Werdum announced during his post fight interview Saturday night that he wanted an immediate rematch with Fedor Emelianenko, think again.

Werdum actually made the claim a couple weeks ago and has since reiterated his desire to fight "The Last Emperor" again — this time on Emelianenko’s home turf — instead of facing Strikeforce heavyweight kingpin Alistair Overeem.

"I don’t want to give a step backwards and fight against Overeem. I want to fight against Fedor from 6 to 8 months from now in Russia, Rocky Balboa style… I believe that the crowd will be with him, but people will respect me and I’ll bring my guys," he told TATAME’s Guillherme Cruz. "I’m sure that the Brazilians can make much more noise than a million of Russians.”

If you were able to sit through Cris Cyborg vs. Jan Finney this weekend without barfing, you probably have an appreciation for over-the-top violence. And if that’s true, you might be interested in the fact that The Crazies is being released on DVD and Blu-Ray tomorrow. Hit us with the synopsis, IMDb:

As a toxin begins to turn the residents of Ogden Marsh, Iowa into violent psychopaths, sheriff David Dutton tries to make sense of the situation while he, his wife, and two other unaffected townspeople band together in a fight for survival.

Anchor Bay Home Entertainment has hooked us up with five copies of the gritty horror flick, which we’d like to pass on to you, our beloved readers. To claim one, you must come up with a clever caption to the photo after the jump. Please submit your entries to the comments section of this post by Thursday at midnight PT; we’ll choose five winners on Friday, who will all receive the movie in the format of their choice. Sound fair? Then let’s get to work…

("I weighed in at 219 pounds for this fight. That’s *British* pounds, homey. Moneyweight, what." / Props: allelbows.com)

It’s natural to think that Fedor Emelianenko’s loss to Fabricio Werdum on Saturday night was an absolute disaster, both for his career and for Strikeforce, who had their pay-per-view hopes riding on a heavyweight title clash between Emelianenko and Alistair Overeem. The shocking upset left fans scratching their heads and wondering what could be next for the Last Emperor. An immediate rematch with Werdum, as Werdum himself suggested after the fight? A tune-up match against someone further down the ladder like Antonio Silva? Retirement?

One name that doesn’t seem to be getting any consideration in the fight’s aftermath is, to me, the most obvious one — Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal, Strikeforce’s reigning light-heavyweight champion. And if Strikeforce wants to pull anything positive out of their current situation, they’ll book Fedor vs. King Mo as quickly as possible. Here’s why:

("Pucker Up." PicProps: Strikeforce)

Cung Le won. Cyborg won. Josh Thomson won. Also, Frank Shamrock retired, which we were led to believe mattered in some way.

CagePotato’s inaugural “Holy Crap, We Take Back Everything We Said About You Yesterday” award has absolutely, unequivocally got to go to Jan Finney for taking a hellacious beating from 145-pound female champion Cris “Cyborg” Santos. Finney came up in weight and into the fight with a less-than-stellar professional record, but she took everything Cyborg had (and maybe then some) before finally succumbing to a belated second-round TKO. Let us say for the record that if Strikeforce fires Finney without giving her at least one more fight, there is no justice in this world. What’s the company planning to do with the winner of that upcoming Sarah Kaufman vs. Roxanne Modafferi bout, anyway?

On a personal note: Jan, it may not be politically correct or anatomically accurate for us to say this, but you are one tough son of a bitch.

(…. ….*crickets* …. …. PhotoProps: Strikeforce)

In the days and weeks following Fedor Emelianenko’s stunning loss to Fabricio Werdum inside the Strikeforce cage on Saturday night, some jerk with a website or internet radio show will probably try to tell you that he saw this coming. When that happens it will be important for you to remember that, aside from a very, very select group of individuals, those people are goddamned liars.

In retrospect – and retrospect always feels cheap – maybe it’s not shocking that Emelianenko lost a fight down the stretch of his storied MMA career. Regardless of the nonsensical stuff Frank Shamrock told us at the top of last night’s broadcast about Fedor’s “impenetrable shield of invincibility,” Emelianenko himself has taken pains to remind us again and again that he is, in fact, just a man; a man who puts his traditional Russian garments on one leg at a time like everybody else.

 But to lose this fight? Admit it, you didn’t see that coming.

(Props: mikeychch)

Click here for the Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum play-by-play.

(Damn, what an unflattering picture of Werdum. It’s just one of those things where the camera catches you at the exact wrong moment, and you wind up making a strange expression that you’d never make again in a million–OH SHIT. / Photo courtesy of M-1Global.com.)

Look, we’re all still a little emotional from USA’s World Cup exit this afternoon, and the only cure is bloodshed. Luckily, Fedor Emeliananko returns to the Strikeforce cage tonight at the HP Pavilion in San Jose against Fabricio "Grappler’s Chance" Werdum, while Cris Cyborg will be tearing apart some random blonde woman. Plus, Scott Smith and Cung Le re-do their last fight for the hell of it, former lightweight champ Josh Thomson tries to rebound against Pat Healy, and an MMA legend might announce his retirement.

Round-by-round results from the "Fedor vs. Werdum" Showtime broadcast will be piling up after the jump beginning at 10 p.m. ET; refresh your browser every few minutes for all the latest. (The show is delayed on the West Coast, so beware of spoilers.) And yes, "Tucson" is misspelled on Fedor’s t-shirt in the above photo, but that’s what happens when you do all your shopping at consignment shops in Stary Oskol. Humble guy, this Last Emperor.

(“Mr. Fedor thinks you are a very amusing little man. He would enjoy it very much to see you dance for him … Dance! Dance, I say!” PicProps: Fedor’s Website)

Even by his own lofty standards for peculiarity, Fedor Emelianenko had a pretty enigmatic week in America leading up to his second appearance inside the Strikeforce cage. When he wasn’t no-showing scheduled appointments or turning interviews into literal games of telephone by funneling his quotes through a comically long series of interpreters and middlemen, Fedor plodded through his obligations to hype tonight’s fight against Fabricio Werdum with the same kind of indecipherable stoicism he usually shows his doomed opponents.

Amid rumors that his retirement was imminent and that he was planning a life in politics at home in mother Russia (both of which he’s denied), the whole circus served only to remind us how little we really know about Fedor. Aside from a few half-hour Showtime specials, a handful of feature stories — the best known of which was actually written by M-1 executive Evgeni Kogan, so it has to be considered no more substantive than an M-1 press release – and his own stilted and translated post-fight interviews, there is shockingly little primary source material on Emelianenko.

What we’re told, over and over again, is this: Because of his old-school Soviet sensibilities and deeply religious nature, Fedor has no need for fame or for money and apparently has no desire to be known or understood by the fans who’ve elevated him to near God-like status in hardcore MMA circles. He’s a simple, conservative-minded man who chooses to live in relative seclusion, train with a select group of close friends and views nearly everything else as bothersome, needless distraction. Yeah, that last part made him sound a little bit more like Brock Lesnar than any of you are comfortable with admitting, huh?

But as much as he remains a mystery outside the cage, he’s given us ample evidence of what’s capable of inside it. In preparation for tonight’s bout with Werdum, we give you our choices for the 10 fights that have, in different ways, defined his career thus far …

(Just another day at the office for Jan Finney. The terrifying, potentially life-threatening office. PicProps: Strikeforce)

When staring down the barrel of your own imminent demise, there are a couple of different ways you can play it. You can dig your heels in and fight every step of the way as the guards physically drag you out of your cell and down the hall to the execution chamber, or you can handle things a little more like Gary Gilmore: Grinning into the scowling faces of the poor bastards on the firing squad and shouting, “Let’s do it!”

Jan Finney, to her credit, seems to be opting for the latter approach.

Finney doesn’t appear the least bit bothered by the fact she’s jumping up in weight to take on the most dominant female fighter on the planet, that the oddsmakers see her as a near-historic underdog or that Strikeforce says she’ll likely be fired if she doesn’t have a “good showing” against Cris “Cyborg” Santos tonight. In fact, Finney – whose nickname, by comparison, is “Cuddles” – thinks it’s hilarious.

(VidProps: ShoSports/YouTube)
 
The above video gives you a look at the final product of that promo shoot we showed you a couple days back and the results seem, well, just as generic as we feared. As it turns out, the road to the probable destruction of Jan Finney and Fabricio Werdum will be paved in fireballs and misting sleet and Fedor Emelianenko will try to get as much mileage as possible out of that pair of nondescript black athletic shorts. Meanwhile the bass baritone voice of former Crash Test Dummies lead singer and current Strikeforce play-by-play man Gus Johnson – the voice certain CP editors hear in their dreams before they wake up screaming “My name’s Al Harris and I get buckets!” – will prattle on about legends and destiny and history or some such similar bullshit.

It appears that Strikeforce is going the extra mile to make Finney look both attractive and credible, though at least one of those concepts seems like a major stretch. Likewise, the only people giving Werdum much of a shot are Fedor himself, Renato “Babalu” Sobral and one of my co-workers at The Rumble. An extremely scientific internet poll of fans conducted by The Junkie shows just 13 percent of y’all think the 6-foot-4 jiu jitsu ace can pull the upset. Frankly, I’d hate to see the numbers on Finney.

After the jump,  some final thoughts from Fedor about why fighting him seems to be career suicide for his opponents and a few snapshots of the official weigh-in featuring the ubiquitous Rockstar Girls, just to get your Saturday started right …