(Protect yourself at all times. Seriously, Daniel, *all* times.)

Australian upstart fight promotion Impact FC recently confirmed that UFC refugee Paul Daley will be competing at their July 18th show in Sydney — not on 7/3 as originally reported — against Chute Boxe product Daniel Acacio (21-9). According to impactfc.au.com, the Sydney fight card currently looks like this:

Ken Shamrock vs. Pedro Rizzo
Paul Daley vs. Daniel Acacio
Murilo Bustamante vs. Jesse Taylor
Jeff Monson vs. Ricco Rodriguez
Joaquim "Mamute" Ferreira vs. Sokoudjou
Paulo Filho vs. Denis Kang

Two thoughts come to mind upon seeing this lineup: 1) Damn, that’s a lot of star power for a brand-new league. And 2) My God, this is like the MMA equivalent of the Legion of Doom. Let’s run it down…

(Props: jamie98s via Fightlinker)

What better way to start your week than a ten-minute lowlight video of MMA fighters getting blasted in the testicles, eye-gouged, and kicked in the head while they’re down? All your favorite fouls are here, including: Gabriel Gonzaga’s infamous nut-punt on Chris Tuchscherer, Frank Mir getting curb-stomped by Wes Sims, and the impressive moment when Brandon Vera was able to kick Randy Couture in the groin and poke him in the eye at the same time. Brandon, if you’re remembered for nothing else — and let’s be honest, you probably won’t be — may you be remembered for that.

After the jump: Some squirrelly-lookin’ kid from Boston named "Dana" (LOL, that’s a girl’s name!) shows up at UFC 30 and tells James Werme how he’s going to turn the organization around. Lots of luck, buddy. Also, two quick knockouts just because we love you.

(“Absolutely 100 percent not guilty, your honor.” PicPros: FightMag.net)

Prepare to have everything you thought you knew about Badr Hari shaken to its very foundation: As it turns out, the K-1 kickboxing bad boy just maybe, possibly, allegedly did have a hand in a February assault that left a nightclub bouncer with a fractured eye socket, a broken nose, and the impending possibility of a metal plate in his head.

In the immediate wake of the incident outside an Amsterdam bar, Hari said through his attorney that he "’denied having anything to do with (it)’ and said that if the police did have any evidence, they should summon him." Well, consider that bluff summarily called this week as Amsterdam police did in fact summon Hari along with three other men for questioning regarding the assault. Only problem was, Hari himself was nowhere to be found and the latest report from Headkick Legend indicated that a midweek deadline for the fighter to turn himself in to authorities came and went without the 6-foot-5, 230-pounder showing his face.

(Bro grabs!)

There was a time during 2009 when Satoshi Ishii was one of the more sought-after free agents in mixed martial arts, but after a spate of failed contract negotiations and inactivity stalled his momentum the Olympic Judo gold medalist’s MMA career has so far been typified more by taking pictures with the sport’s biggest stars rather than actually fighting them.

With just two bouts under his belt to date (one of them a decision loss to Hidehiko Yoshida), Ishii’s career hit another speed bump this weekend  when he was disqualified during an exhibition match at something called X-1 World Events “Nations Collide” in Hawaii after he failed to heed the referee’s instructions to stop punching opponent Myles Tynanes.

(Fun Fact: The name “Stockton” comes from an Arapaho Indian word which, loosely translated, means “place of the classy-ass motherfuckers.” PicProps: Minor League Baseball.com)

Representing the greater Stockton-Modesto-Lodi area isn’t just for barely socialized mixed martial arts fighters anymore. The above gentleman with the pronounced abdominals and stylish ink is the homie Dallas Braden, a 26-year-old lefthander for the Oakland Athletics. Aside from being a quality starting pitcher who tossed the 19th perfect game in Major League Baseball history last month against the Tampa Bay Rays, Braden (as you might be able to surmise from the photo) also happens to have grown up in the beautiful 209.

Hailing from Stockton is a birthright that obviously comes with its own great and terrible responsibilities, a fact that Braden felt he had to introduce to some dirtbag named Alex Rodriguez earlier this season …

(VidProps: YouTube)

As the avid link-dumpers among us learned yesterday, Tatame.com reported this week that troubled former WEC middleweight champion Paulo Filho was scheduled to meet Chilean heavyweight Daniel Gabriel at an MMA event in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Friday night. Now, the above video purports to show Filho scoring a victory via first-round TKO at that show.

Though pretty much everything involving Filho is unreliable and shady – and since the ring announcer in this vid sounds like the Portuguese equivalent of all the adults in the old Charlie Brown cartoon, we can’t 100 percent vouch for its authenticity – the only other TKO stoppage on Filho’s official record came against Joe Doerksen at WEC 29 in 2007 (and that ain’t the WEC or "El Dirte" shown here), so we’re going to assume this footage is legit and cautiously say: Paul Filho def. Daniel Gabriel via TKO (punches), first round.

(“Look, you’re going to have to speak up. I can’t hear a word you’re saying.” PicProps: MMAFighting.com)

Here’s one of those uplifting, Mitch Albom-style stories to get your weekend started: MMA Fighting.com Japanese correspondent Daniel Herbertson reports from last night’s “Pancrase: Passion Tour 5” event that Shigeki Uchiyama’s bout with Masaya "J-Taro" Takita had to be called off when, uh, a good chunk of Uchiyama’s cauliflower ear got torn off during a takedown attempt against the ropes.

Now, listen. We’re just going to say this once: Only follow the jump if you want to see a photo of Uchiyama’s ear lying on the canvas after it’s been severed from his body. Seriously, people …

(Video courtesy YouTube/SurferKenTV)

Here’s an 8-1/2 minute quiz to test your knowledge on what MMA fighters looked like when they were young. Although it really has no correlation to how much you know about the sport, it’s an easy and entertaining way to waste the last part of your work day.

Shogun talks Anderson Silva and says Wand is the only guy he won’t fight in the UFC (MMANews)

King Mo’ plays EA Sports MMA with Ariel Helwani and your old dad (TheMMANews)

Natural middleweight Paulo Filho fights heavyweight tonight (TATAME)

Roy Nelson says UFC HW division is the most feared in MMA and says it’s like PRIDE’s used to be (FightOpinion)

Ken Shamrock is still alive (Youtube/BSN)

Rich Franklin says fighting Chuck fits with his LHW title hunt (Sherdog)

25 hot Princess Leia slaves (Break)

Adidas recreates Star Wars cantina scene for LucasFilm inspired line (ScreenJunkies)

Denise Milani interview (Chickipedia)

Gilette Fusion ProGlide 500 Odds (AllLeftTurns)

Ultimate rock and roll sex book (MadeMan)

Man’s biceps bursts apart due to steroid abuse (NothingToxic)

Russel Brand’s tips for getting laid (Asylum)

Lebron is going to milk this for all it’s worth (ScoresReport)

Totally BS profile of Masuimi Max (HolyTaco)

Fear 3 Paxton Fettel trailer (FileFront)

(Video courtesy UStream/MorencySports)

Alistair Overeem was a guest on Gabriel Morency’s MMA Meltdown radio show last night and among other topics, the Strikeforce heavyweight champion spoke about his desire to face WAMMA heavyweight champ Fedor Emelianenko.

"I’ve been calling Fedor out for a long time now — for a year, ever since he signed with Strikeforce. Actually my manager has been trying to arrange the last fight on May 15. My original plan was not to fight Brett; My plan was to fight Fedor May 15. Fedor didn’t agree on the fight. I’m not sure if it’s Fedor himself or if it’s his management. I think it’s his management. They declined to fight me. They rathered to fight [Fabricio] Werdum one month later. So I’m a little bit confused about that. But I clearly do want to fight him. I do have the feeling that his management is avoiding me, yes."

Seth Petruzelli (12-4, 0-2 UFC) — who became notorious in 2008 for knocking out Kimbo Slice in 14 seconds, then doing a radio interview where he appeared to suggest he was paid to keep the fight standing, which pretty much led to the demise of EliteXC — is returning to the Octagon. The Silverback announced the news on his Twitter page earlier today, confirming that he will compete at UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin (July 3, Las Vegas) against new UFC acquisition Ricardo Romero. Petruzelli has only competed twice since his unexpected KO of the Miami Pound Machine, most recently submitting Ryan White last month at BAMMA 3 in Birmingham, England, a fight which he has still not been paid for.

Petruzelli’s relationship with the UFC first began in 2005, when he was a contestant on TUF 2, eventually being eliminated by Brad Imes in the heavyweight semi-finals. Following the show, Petruzelli dropped consecutive fights to Matt Hamill and Wilson Gouveia as a light-heavyweight before being officially released by the UFC in 2007. Since then, he’s racked up four straight wins by first-round stoppage, opened a Smoothie King franchise as well as his own MMA gym, and was walked on a leash by Tom Lawlor at UFC 100. If that isn’t a resume worthy of a second chance, we don’t know what one is.  

After the jump: UFC 116′s full lineup, and a picture of Seth and Tom that you’ll probably wish you hadn’t seen.

(Attonito and his ATT wingman Mike Brown. Props: Rich’s Facebook page.)

In the latest installment of his TUF 11 guest-blog for CagePotato.com, Team Liddell’s Rich Attonito discusses the battle between Jamie Yager and Josh Bryant on this week’s episode, tells us about some of the house-related chaos that you didn’t get to see on the show, and reveals the annoying dude who keeps yelling "heeeeey!" during the fights.

Wednesday’s episode started with a continuation of last week’s news of Tito pulling out of the fight with Chuck. The only way Chuck wanted to give Tito an opportunity of being a coach on the show was if he was able to punch him in the face at the end. Now that wasn’t gonna happen and Chuck was pissed. I remember him saying from the first day that Tito was never going to fight him and he was only using the show for exposure. I don’t know about Tito’s intentions coming into the show but it turns out Chuck was right about the fight. Regardless of the medical reasons, which are obviously very serious.

I knew this episode would be special because everyone wanted to see what was going to happen in the Yager-Bryant fight. Yager’s been the guy with the cocky attitude and the big mouth, and everyone has wanted to see if he could back it up. Up to this point he’s done a good job of that, but Josh put a painful stop to that when he beat Yager into exhaustion and forced him to quit going into the third round.

(Beating Fedor…uninterested in Ubereem…UFC co-promotion? Do his pupils look dialated?)

Heading into his potentially career defining June 26 battle with Fedor Emelianenko, Fabrício Werdum spoke with TATAME’s Eduardo Ferreira about his chances in the fight and his future in the sport beyond.

Werdum says that he thinks he has pinpointed some of Emelianenko’s weaknesses and plans to exploit them.

(Although it’s admittedly understated, I think his campaign poster works)

M-1 has announced that Fedor Emelianenko is following in the footsteps of fellow fighters Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic, Matt Lindland and Chael Sonnen and is running for a congressional seat as state representative in the Russian senate.

The votes have been tallied, and we’re pleased to announce a winner in our MMA fighter t-shirt design contest, presented by FLO TV. After grabbing attention as an early favorite, tj.labs’s Caol Uno shirt (shown above) sailed to a comfortable victory with 20% of the popular vote. Congrats, buddy! Please send your real name and address to contest@cagepotato.com and we’ll get you set up with a FLO TV Personal Television, with access to the pay-per-view broadcast of UFC 115.

We’d also like to show a little love to the contest’s three runners-up, who you can check out after the jump. Chin up, guys — shoot your info to contest@cagepotato.com and we’ll hook you up with CagePotato t-shirts. Thanks again to FLO TV for their support, and please give ‘em a look at flotv.com.

(Evan Dunham sets up the armbar that would earn him a Submission of the Night bonus at UFC Fight Night 20. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

By CagePotato.com contributor Elias Cepeda

For most fans outside of the Northwest, lightweight up-and-comer Evan Dunham (10-0) has seemingly come out of nowhere to win three in a row in the UFC, including his arm bar submission win over TUF 8 winner Efrain Escudero in January. Next, Dunham will take on one of the division’s top contenders Tyson Griffin at UFC 115 on June 12th. It’s an interesting matchup made much more so by the fact that the two had trained together at Xtreme Couture for the past year. Now living in Las Vegas and training full time, Dunham talks with CagePotato about dealing with fighting a training partner, what kept him in the sport when he thought he would leave forever, and what the biggest factor in his fight against Griffin will be.

CAGEPOTATO.COM: You just came back from the UFC Fan Expo last weekend. How was that for you?

EVAN DUNHAM: It was a good time all around. I went there and did some signing for Ecko Unlimited, a couple hours each day. I was more than happy to do that.

Did you happen to run into Tyson Griffin at all there? Is that something that you thought about beforehand, “I might run into him here”?

No, I didn’t see Tyson. I think he was at the fights or something. I have no idea, I haven’t seen him.

Heading into your last fight against Efrain Escudero, almost all of the attention was placed on him because he was so well known after winning The Ultimate Fighter. Did you feel like an underdog in that fight?

I’m always considered the underdog, even in this next fight coming up. But I never see myself as the underdog. I think it is kind of good luck for me for people to put me in that position because it just makes me work harder. It is supposedly an up-hill battle for me but I know what I’m capable of so it’s not really a problem. If they want to pay more attention to him, that’s great. Because that just means all that attention is going to go back to me when I win.

Has anything changed for you since that win?

Bill
(How ’bout best two out of three?)

A-2009c, the bill that calls for the sanctioning of combat sports in New York State was referred to the Codes Committee by the Committee of Parks, Tourism, and Sports Development once again today, meaning if it can pass just two more hurdles, the sport will be legalized in the state.

You may recall that the same committee already voted to pass the bill back in June of 2009, however thanks in part to pressure by opposition leader Bob Reilly who sits on the committee that voted on A-2009c today, the group was made to vote on it again. Reilly stated that Governor David Paterson, who included MMA sanctioning in his executive budget proposal for this year was  “attempting to circumvent the legislative process" by including MMA in the budget rather than bringing the issue to the sub-assembly for vote.

Losing isn’t always the end of the world. Sometimes, taking an ass-kicking — or getting screwed out of a well-deserved victory — can be the best thing for a fighter’s career. Don’t believe us? We’ll start with one that should still be fresh in your minds…

#7: Jason Brilz‘s split-decision loss to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
UFC 114, 5/29/10

(Early front-runner for Punch Face of 2010. Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

What happened: Lil’ Nog was originally supposed to face Forrest Griffin at UFC 114, until Griff was struck down by a shoulder injury three-and-a-half weeks before the event. The UFC had to book a replacement, and fast, so they called up wrestling specialist Jason Brilz. Like a true warrior, Brilz put down his beer, blew off his 10-year wedding anniversary, and stepped up to the plate. On paper, he should have been destroyed by the sharp hands and top-flight experience of Nogueira. Instead, Brilz nearly choked Nog out with a guillotine in the second round, wobbled him with strikes, out-wrestled him, and arguably controlled the majority of the fight. But after the last horn sounded and the scores were added up, only one judge saw it his way.

Victory in defeat: If you didn’t know who Jason Brilz was before last weekend’s show, you do now. Brilz picked up even more classy-points by not bitching about the decision: "I’m not upset. Sure, I’d have liked to win. Everybody likes to win. I think I went out there and I proved to people, but more importantly I proved to myself, that I can compete with the top dogs. That’s sort of what I’ve been aiming for my whole career.” We don’t know exactly what Jason’s future holds, but it’s looking a lot brighter now. The $65,000 bonus check probably doesn’t hurt either.

#6: Jon Jones‘s disqualification loss to Matt Hamill
TUF 10 Finale, 12/5/09

(Who’d you rather…punch?)

Apparently Jamie Yager doesn’t much like being called a quitter.

After watching last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter 11, in which his coach Tito Ortiz called him a quitter for failing to answer the bell in the third round in his quarterfinal match-up with Josh Bryant, The Chosyn 1 jumped on Twitter to voice his displeasure with The Huntington Beach Badboy’s two-facedness.

(Video courtesy YouTube/UppercutMagazine)

IBA heavyweight champion and soon-to-be UFC fighter James Toney did an interview with Uppercut Magazine recently and he had a lot to say about a variety of topics including his upcoming fight with Randy Couture, the Klitschko brothers and the fact that he’s an icon.

A couple interesting points were touched on in the interview.

One, he hasn’t yet signed his contract to face Randy yet. He intimated that he was having "his people" look at the document before he agreed to the terms. Maybe he wants to throw in a Dan Quinn, no takedowns or kicks type of stipulation to the fight. We’ll see what happens.

The second was that Chuck wanted to scrap him at UFC 108. I picture Chuck standing beside Dana when Toney bum rushed him to demand the UFC president sign him to his organization and the Iceman goes into hypnotized killer mode.

"You want me to take care of him, boss?"

"Not yet. Let’s hear him out, first, Chuck."

Anyway, I’ve taken the painstaking time to transcribe the interview for those of you who, like me, don’t speak "punch drunk."

Full transcription after the jump.
———-

(That’s the fight game, Jens. You turn your back for one second, and your wife has her hands all over Monte Cox’s enormous stomach. Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.)

For the second time in his 11-year fight career, Jens Pulver‘s relationship with Zuffa has ended. Dana White confirmed over the weekend that Pulver has been released by the WEC, following five consecutive losses over the last two years. Though there were rumors that Lil’ Evil would be taking over color commentary duties for the organization in the wake of Frank Mir’s departure, that’s not the case either. "We had talked about Jens being a part of the WEC somehow, but he’s not broadcasting," White said. For the WEC’s upcoming "Varner vs. Shalorus" event (June 20, Edmonton), the fighter-commentator spot will be filled by Kenny Florian.

Unfortunately, Jens isn’t one of those guys who can simply retire. A father of two children, he needs to fight to make a living. As he told CagedIn: “I’m a fighter. Fact is, I’ve been around a lot longer than these guys today, and I don’t make as much money [as] them. I’m 0-5, and that’s something I’ve got to fix with me, but I can’t take a year off to work on it. I’ve gotta fight.” The first 155-pound champion in UFC history, Pulver’s sole victory in the last four years was his quick choke-out of Cub Swanson at WEC 31 back in December 2007.

(Yager vs. Bryant, part 1; part 2 is at the end of the post. Props: KARELMMA)

Tito Ortiz has pulled out of his fight with Chuck Liddell, and the Iceman is a shadowboxing ball of anger, capable only of saying the word pussy. "That fucking pussy, I told you he was gonna do this," Chuck vents to Dana. "Don’t let that guy fight anymore, he’s a pussy…unless I can fight him, then it’s a different story." Meanwhile, Tito just sits in the next room, listening to Chuck go off about him. Tito on adversity: "I guess it’s God seeing what type of person I am." You don’t need God to figure that out, you pussy.

The last quarterfinal match is high-kickin’ afroninja Jamie Yager (Team Punishment) vs. wrestling specialist Josh Bryant (Team Liddell). Uscola shouts out Yager’s talent and speed, but the most obvious advantage is his size — he dwarfs Bryant, who has to be a natural welterweight. Yager is 2-1 as a pro, while Bryant is a perfect 10-0. Yager is expecting Bryant to shoot, shoot, shoot. Bryant clarifies: "My game plan is to hit him first…then take him down." Y’all ready for the best fight of the season?

(Michael Bisping’s son he may or may not have had with Kim Couture will take on Mac Danzig and Woody Harrelson’s (alleged) bastard child June 26)

Strikeforce announced this afternoon the addition of a lightweight tilt between the promotion’s former 155-pound kingpin Josh Thomson and former MFC welterweight champ Pat "Bam Bam" Healy to its June 26 Fedor vs. Werdum Fight card. The event, which will also feature a rematch between former Strikeforce middleweight titleholder Cung Le and Scott Smith, will emanate from the HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA.

Healy (23-15) is a UFC, WEC and IFL vet who holds wins over Carlos Condit, Dan Hardy and Paul "Tinnitus" Daley. He has won seven of his last 10 fights, including a pair of Ws he earned against up-and-coming Canadian welterweight Ryan "The Real Deal" Ford.

Thomson (16-4 1, NC) was originally scheduled to face Lyle Beerbohm on the card, but it was announced that "Fancy Pants" had sustained an injury in his hotly contested bout with Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro last month, so Healy was brought in as his replacement. He’s coming off a highly competitive battle with Gilbert Melendez in December that saw "The Punk" lose his title and the bout via unanimous decision.
———-

(Jose, don’t you know who his cousin is, bro?)

In a interview with TATAME this weekend WEC featherweight champ Jose Aldo said that he has a good feeling that his next title defense will be against Manny Gamburyan.

According to the dominant Nova Uniao BJJ black belt fighter who trains with the likes of the Nogueira brothers, Anderson Silva and Junior Dos Santos, The fight hasn’t officially been inked, but he indicated that Gamburyan is the frontrunner for the next shot at his belt.

"I don’t really know. When we left Sacramento there were two names we had in mind, but I think maybe it will be Manny Gamburyan, so I can’t really say. We are here now, but I believe we will only know this for sure in some time, I think we will have to wait a bit longer."

(In retrospect, eating that gallon of chili before the fight was probably a bad idea. / Photo courtesy of MMA Fighting.)

Sorry for the delay on this one, dear readers — the Potato Index was waiting on its customary bribe from the UFC before it could give favorable rankings to the fighters at "Rampage vs. Evans." Now that the check has cleared, we’re ready to roll. So who went from zero to hero? And who went from classy to gassy?

Rashad Evans +125
Sugar’s measured, wrestling-based gameplan didn’t exactly transform the haters into fans, but he achieved something a lot more important — he beat an arch-rival and stayed relevant. Rampage can keep his legion of devotees; Rashad is getting a title shot against Shogun, so eat it.

Quinton Jackson -150
Except for his brief blast in the third round, Quinton was just too slow and too predictable. Ring rust was obviously an issue; still, we’re more concerned about Jackson’s ongoing unwillingness to do anything other than box. Those who don’t evolve in this sport are destined to get their asses dug by hungrier competitors. Rampage’s days as an elite light-heavyweight may be numbered.

(Dana had to buy these dress shoes from a guy in the airport just so he could tell $kala to get his shine box, but it was worth it.)

In an interview on ESPN’s Bill Simmons’ podcast last week, Dana White made a pretty lofty claim that certain MMA websites are receiving money from his promotion’s competitors to include fighters on their pound-for-pound and weight-class restricted rankings lists.

Pointing to the inclusion of WAMMA champion Fedor Emelianenko on the majority of heavyweight and pound-for-pound lists, White stated that he emphatically believes that there is money changing hands between certain sites and particular fight organizations.

"He’s not even the best heavyweight in the world. To put him on the pound-for-pound list. I think some of these guys don’t even know what pound-for-pound means," White said. "It’s just so disrespectful to all the other fighters it’s crazy."

Chael Sonnen is better than a "Quote-a-day" calendar and although he isn’t making any friends in the business with the vitriolic comments he’s been making lately about various fighters, his stock has been on the rise with fans, thanks in large part to his way with words.

In an interview with Fight! Magazine’s Danny Acosta this past weekend at the UFC Fan Expo, the outspoken Team Quest fighter fired a few potshots at some former and current UFC champions.

(Oh come on, that doesn’t look so bad. Photo courtesy of purposeinc.com)

Notable ex-wife Kim Couture has officially entered the "abusing personal assistants" stage of her career — a critical step in the path to divahood. As first reported by MMANewsLeak.com, the MMA pioneer (in her own mind) got into a little dust up on Friday that ended with her cooling off in jail on domestic violence charges:

Sources report that Ms. Couture allegedly got into a heated argument with her personal assistant at the home which they share and when police officers arrived at the scene, Ms. Couture was choking her personal assistant and that the personal assistant had visible signs of abuse. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police took Ms. Couture into custody and booked into Clark County Detention Center. Sources also allege that Ms. Couture and her personal assistant got into a heated argument on Friday at UFC Fan Expo at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada…

Up and at ‘em Potato Nation. Check out these articles from our friends around the MMA blogosphere, and keep Young Randy smilin’.
 
- Leonard Garcia Fights Hard, Embraces the Consequences (MMAFighting)

– Options: Next Moves for UFC 114 Winners (Heavy.com/MMA)

– The DREAM 15 Poster Finally Translated (MiddleEasy)

- One Flew Over the M-1 Nest: Affliction Countersues M-1 Global (WatchKalibRun)

- Michael Bisping Enjoys Being the Bad Guy (FightMagazine)

- Ten UFC 114 Fighters Receive Medical Suspensions (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Wanderlei Silva Stands Up for Fans at UFC Expo (MMA Scraps)

(Video courtesy YouTube ProMMARadio)

In an interview with ProMMARadio this weekend, former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber confirmed that he will be dropping down to bantamweight to test the 135-pound waters.

 “From the sound of things, they want me to go down to 35. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time — go down and have some fights down there. So, I’ll probably have a couple of fights down there and maybe go back up to 45; we’re not real sure yet."

("Oh Tito, I knew you’d come around.")

BBC News is reporting that former UFC middleweight fighter-turned bank robber, Lee Murray was sentenced to ten years in prison in Morocco for his part in an armed £53,116,760 (about $92.5 million US) Securitas money depot heist in Kent, England in February 2006.