(Could this be DREAM’s swan song?)

For months Fight Entertainment Group (FEG) executives have denied persistent rumors that the Japanese combat sport promotion firm is in trouble. Now one employee who works stateside has finally admitted that there is a crack forming in the facade perpetuated by DREAM and K-1 officials.

Mike Kogan, FEG’s U.S. representative today told MMAJunkie that the company is holding its breath while it waits for the results of an audit being done by potential investor, PUJI Capital, which will determine if the organization will receive the funding necessary to resume operations.

According to Kogan, the Japanese investment bank is attempting to raise $230 million for the cash-strapped company, that has been accused of owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid fight purses spanning more than three years worth of events.

(Word Life? Nevermind. Cena is brilliant. He can communicate without the use of verbs, adjectives or pronouns.)

Before all the Pro Wrestling fanatics jump all over me for the title of this post, read the quote below, then take a deep breath and think about things in perspective.

Cena, who is a native of Newbury, Massachusetts, was asked about what he thought about the UFC coming to Boston last weekend, likely by an oblivious reporter ,who, like many mainstream scribes, think that MMA and WWE are just variations of the same acronym. Why else would you ask a wrestler to talk about a sport that has as much to do with his profession as hunting does to being a butcher? 

Here’s Cena’s well thought out reply which likely earned him a bonus from Vince McMahon:

"It’s just not something that particularly interests me," Cena told The Boston Globe ahead of UFC 118. "UFC is where boxing was years ago, and I was never really into boxing, either."

In town for last night’s WWE "Monday Night Raw" at the TD Garden, Cena said he prefers professional wrestling because it’s "regulated entertainment that’s safe for anyone to enjoy." And UFC? "It is what it is," he said. "It can be pretty over the top, and it’s not something I’d want my children to watch."

(Props: youtube.com/shosports)

It’s not quite Nick Diaz vs. Jason Miller, but Strikeforce is going to do its very best to convince you that Nick Diaz vs. KJ Noons — who’s fighting for the title in his Strikeforce welterweight debut! — is the grudge match you’ve been begging for. And how do they plan on accomplishing that? By staying on message. As you’ll see, the famous phrase "Don’t be scared, homey" pops up twice in this one-minute hype clip for Strikeforce’s next event at San Jose’s HP Pavilion on October 9th. Which begs the question: If "DBS,H" is the theme of the night, why not hold the event in Stockton? What, too real for you guys? Violent crime rate too high? Pussies.

At this point, only two other fights have been booked for the Showtime broadcast of Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Noons II. After earning her employers’ respect with a slam-knockout of Roxanne Modafferi at the last Challengers card, 135-pound champion Sarah Kaufman will make her next title defense against Marloes Coenen, who was sacrificed to Cris Cyborg earlier this year at Strikeforce: Miami. Also, Matt Lindland will follow up his TKO win over Kevin Casey with a bout against hot middleweight prospect Luke Rockhold (7-1), who has ended all six of his Strikeforce appearances by first-round stoppage, including wins over Jesse Taylor and Cory Devela. Christ, good luck Matt.

 
(TMZ? Roger wasn’t kidding when he said he was goin’ Hollywood.)

Bellator lightweight Roger Huerta will finally break his silence about what really happened in the Texas street fight he had with former Texas Longhorns linebacker Rashad Bobino.

Interestingly, though, he has chosen to do it on gossip site, TMZ, rather than via one of the many MMA news sites that have undoubtedly been clamouring to get  a statement from "El Matador" about the incident.

Hopefully TMZ gets to the bottom of what happened when the camera panned away from the fight and whether or not Huerta was the guy who stomped Bobino as he lay sprawled out on the ground.

I wonder if they’ll discuss anything of substance, like say, his upcoming Bellator fight with Eddie Alvarez in October or if they’ll ask him about Snooki and Octomom.

The segment airs live on TMZ.com at 1:30pm PT.

(Clearly not bothering to read the fine print. PicPops: Xtreme Couture)

News about Jay Hieron’s contractual status has a funny way of going public before the legal Is are dotted and Ts crossed. Last year, he had to tell us all to just chill when reports that he’d bailed from the Hindenburg that was Affliction and signed with Strikeforce proved premature. Now, Hieron himself admits he “jumped the gun” in announcing his own departure from Scott Coker’s slowly deflating dingy of an MMA promotion. When Hieron tweeted last week that he’d been officially released from Strikeforce and then proclaimed: “Ya’ll know what I’m about to do!!!!!!!” the truth was, not even Hieron himself actually knew what he was about to do.

Though the Xtreme Couture product told MMA Fighting over the weekend that he’ll “definitely” be fighting again before the end of the year, he isn’t quite free from Strikeforce’s clutches just yet. And the UFC return he seemed to be hinting at on his Twitter? At this point, that sounds more like wishful thinking than a done deal, too.

(Video courtesy YouTube/GregoryBayne)

If you’re like me, seeing Jens Pulver go from being a Tasmanian Devil-like dominant fighter, tearing through guys like John Lewis, Caol Uno, Dennis Hallman and BJ Penn, to being on the brink of retirement after losing eight of his last nine fights gives you a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach.

For those of you who don’t recognize the feeling, it’s called empathy.

Imagine being raised by an abusive father who other abusive fathers would hear stories of and say "Holy shit. That guy was an asshole," and rising above the problems in your life,  escaping by wrestling, then fighting in mixed martial arts, only to have your career go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows.

THAT’S what Jens has gone and is going through in his life.

(Photoprops: CageWriter)

Thanks to everybody who submitted captions for yesterday’s Beatdown contest; the general consensus was that Marcus Davis looks like a cross between E.T., Rocky Dennis, Sloth from The Goonies, the Elephant Man, and one of several characters from Total Recall. So who will go home with a copy of Beatdown (out today on DVD and Blu-Ray)? First some honorable mentions…

LikeTheWhiskey: This is what happens when you say "I’m a Yankees fan" in Boston.

Sudos KFC: the only thing the townsfolk would later agree on was that Quasimodo was never seen in the 209 again.

Dirt: "The doc said I’d look 10 years younger"

MoTropolis: "I think I’m allergic to getting punched in the face repeatedly."

Contraband:
The Stockton Makeover!
Get yours today!
Just call 1-800-420-DIAZ

dxhernandez: Shortly before, the man to the left began to have an acid flashback from two hits of acid he had dropped at a 1985 KISS concert. As Marcus Davis approached he looked on with horror while trying to differentiate between reality and "fuuuuuuuu……"

ReX13: "Don’t be scarred, homey"
[Ed. note: As an increasingly visible contributor to CagePotato, we'll say that ReX is disqualified from winning contests for a while. But come on, how brilliant is that.] 

And now the winners…

(Doug "ReX13" Richardson [right] spends time with a wheelchair-bound guest at the expo. If we put a smile on that poor, rotund man’s face, then the whole trip was worth it.)

As the Boeing 757 descends in to Boston Logan Airport, I look out the window and contemplate the path that’s led me here. One year ago, I was just another guy on one of the world’s most popular MMA blogs. Now, I’ve ducked out of work for a couple of days to attend the UFC’s Boston Fan Expo as a guest of my favorite website. I’m not just a fan; I’m taking what I hope to be another step toward actually working as a writer. Somewhere down there, Ben Goldstein is carrying around an exhibitor pass that has my name on it. I claim my baggage, which is split evenly between electronics and clothing, and hustle out to catch a taxi. A Ugandan cabbie asks for my destination, and speeds away toward the Hynes Convention Center. I pepper him with questions (because that’s what I do when I meet people) but he’s not in the mood to talk, so I settle back for the short ride and get my first look at Boston. Mostly, I get a good view of the results of the Big Dig, Boston’s massive twenty-five year freeway improvement project that has six lane highways routed under the Boston Harbor. Once we leave the turnpike, however, the views of the Harbor and the Charles River are incredible. Everything is vibrant, people and dogs are everywhere, and there isn’t a cloud in the sky.

We find my hotel, and I spend very little time settling in. It’s Thursday, and I’ve gotten it in my head that I’m needed. I walk to the Hynes Center, and mange to locate Ben after a few texts and a phone call. We shake hands, and walk back to booth 2017. There, Ben shows me the signage he’s already erected, and the swag he’s brought to entice the hordes that will descend upon us tomorrow. On one side is the punch machine, a simple carnival game that most of us have seen plenty of times. Ben hits the start button, and rips a nice right hook at the bag. "You take boxing classes, right?" I ask. "Yeah," Ben says, "Muay Thai." I help him with a few last minute touches, including checking on a table rental for the booth, but most of the work is done. Ben checks his watch, and announces that there’s really nothing left to do here: "Wanna go get a drink?"

(I’m not impressed by your eyes-closed technique.)

Josh Koscheck will definitely not have the advantage of a bipartisan crowd on his side when he squares off against Georges St-Pierre two weeks before Christmas in the UFC welterweight champion’s hometown of Montreal, Quebec at UFC 124 on December 11. 

The news was first reported today by MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani, who confirmed the venue and the match-up (which will be the culmination of the pair’s season as opposite coaches on The Ultimate Fighter 12) with UFC president Dana White.

(There he goes again, trying to steal the victory. Photo courtesy of CageWriter)

Here’s what we know: Frank Edgar will make his next title defense against Gray Maynard, who routed Kenny Florian on Saturday night. Dana White is done with James Toney, even though James Toney might not be done with MMA. Nick Osipczak, John Salter, and Gabe Ruediger could very well be receiving "Dear John" letters from the UFC as we speak. As for UFC 118‘s other winners and losers, their fates are yet to be decided. But as usual, we have a few opinions on the subject…

BJ Penn: The Prodigy spent 2007-2009 destroying all the top talent in the UFC’s lightweight division, then looked completely uninspired in two consecutive fights against Frankie Edgar. Either Penn has fallen off his game dramatically or Edgar is just a terrible style matchup for him — and we won’t really know the answer until Penn’s next fight. What’s obvious is that lightweight has been Penn’s most effective weight class in general, and going back up to 170 would be a terrible idea, especially while Georges St. Pierre still rules the roost. The UFC should give Penn a rebound fight against a name opponent who’s a little further down the ladder, but will test BJ’s desire to fight. That’s right, folks, it’s time for BJ Penn vs. Takanori Gomi II. Gomi is born-again after starching Tyson Griffin; add in Gomi’s history with Penn, and you have a co-headliner that any pay-per-view card would be lucky to have.

(Shit just got real…at least more real than the first movie.)

I know what you’re thinking, "They’re making another Never Back Down movie?"

The answer is "yes," only this time around the studio is gearing the film towards MMA fans and not the popped collar American Eagle pink polo shirt sporting crowd of its predecessor, which earned $41-million at the box office.

They’ve made some steps in the right direction by hiring longtime martial arts practitioner Michael Jai White to direct this darker installment and to give it what he calls "more of a ‘The Dark Knight’ feel" and less of a "Melrose Place vibe." White knows first hand what that entails, considering he starred as mob boss Gambol in the acclaimed second film of the Chris Nolan helmed Batman franchise.

Also adding some credibility and substance to the film will be 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu founder Eddie Bravo, who will write part of the score for, star in and help choreograph fight scenes for the movie, UFC heavyweight Todd Duffee, who will play one of the fighters in the film and 10th Planet black belt instructor Scott Epstein, who will do double-duty as the movie’s lead as well as a fight coordinator. 

(VidProps: YouTube/Goossen Tutor Boxing)

Honestly, most of this video with James Toney from Saturday night is totally unintelligible. Unfortunately, it’s also reportedly the only post-fight interview with “Lights Out” since, like the true sportsman we all know him to be, he no-showed the official UFC 118 press conference after his embarrassing loss to Randy Couture. Toney may not have been man enough to face the MMA media after throwing zero standing punches en route to tapping out to Couture’s side check choke – pretty sure that’s what it was – three minutes, 19 seconds into the first round, but he did make time to sit down with Rodney Hunt from Goossen Tutor Promotions, a company that represents Toney in boxing. So, yeah, an in-house interview with a paid yes man. You probably know where this is going …

 
(Rock beats scissors.)

Dave Meltzer from The Wrestling Observer is reporting that a number two middleweight contender match-up between Yushin Okami and Vitor Belfort is being planned for UFC 122 November 13 in Oberhausen, Germany.

According to Meltzer, the winner of the bout will likely take on the winner of the Chael Sonnen-Anderson Silva rematch some time in 2011. According to reports last week, that fight could happen as early as December, but may not take place until SuperBowl weekend.

("Viva Hate" and Pat Barry: A true meeting of the minds. Photos in this post courtesy of ReX13.)

By CagePotato.com Fan Expo video contest winner Chris "Viva Hate" Morse

First, let me start by saying welcome aboard to all the new readers and members of CagePotato Nation. It was a pleasure and joy to meet, chat, hang, and beat down the punch machine with each and every one of you. Make yourselves comfortable and enjoy the complete experience of Cage Potato. Now, let’s get to the fun.

The experience began at the Semi Official Cage Potato meet up that went down on Thursday night at Champions Sports Bar. It was somewhat casual and to be honest some people may have had some trouble finding the group. Thank you to all of those that did come out. Hopefully everyone was able to try the Championship Tower, it was amazing and I would highly recommend it. I would also recommend you carry an AED with you as well, just in case.

The UFC Fan Expo was an amazing experience and the Cage Potato booth was extremely popular. I do feel somewhat bad for the punch machine that was literally having the stuffing knocked out of it by mid day on Friday. For those of you who were not lucky enough to make it to Boston, here are some notes from the booth…

(Props: YouTube.com/MaplePictures)

We’ve been waiting patiently since last winter, and the moment is finally upon us: Beatdown, starring Rudy Youngblood, master thespian Michael Bisping, Bobby Lashley, Heath Herring, Mike Swick, Eric Balfour, and Danny Trejo, will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray tomorrow. Check the synopsis:

Brandon, a respected street fighter, is forced to flee the city after his brother is murdered and the money that was supposed to be paid back to a local gangster is stolen. While lying low at his father’s house in a small Southern town, Brandon soon gets involved in the local underground cage-fighting circuit. With the help of Drake Colby, a former MMA champion, Brandon devises a scheme to bring a massive payday, if they are able to survive.

We have eight copies of the flick to give away, in two separate caption contests. If you want one, check out the gnarly UFC 118-related pic after the jump and follow our instructions…

Well that was exciting! Thanks to a late surge on Thursday night aided by a mysterious re-tweet, Jesse L.‘s russkie-inpired "Potato Nation Unite" design edged out JoseMonkey’s old dad tribute to win our CagePotato Wallpaper Design Contest! A round of applause for Jesse, who surely has some interesting opinions about who should own the means of production.

Sorry we didn’t get the results up on Friday as originally promised, but as jimbonics correctly pointed out, we were up at the Expo not giving a damn about you. (Lots of amazing videos, photos, and stories to come.) Jesse L., please shoot us an e-mail at contest@cagepotato.com with your name, address, shirt size, and shoe size, and we’ll get you hooked up with that bomb-ass $250 prize package from Throwdown. Thanks so much to Throwdown for making this possible; visit them at shopthrowdown.com and show your support for one of the best brands in the industry. 

If you didn’t win, brush the dirt off your shoulders and stay tuned, because we have another contest that we’re financially obligated to announce in the next hour. And after that, we’ll be back to your regular programming, scout’s honor…

(Please princess, let me up!!   photo credit: USA Today)

It appears that the James Toney experiment has gone the way of the Kimbo Slice experiment, as UFC president Dana White announced at the UFC 118 post-fight press conference that the promotion is done with boxer crossover fights.

"It’s been a fun ride with James," White said as if delivering a eulogy about Toney’s dead UFC career. "It’s been very interesting. He’s a nutty guy." 

White pointed out that he didn’t go out looking for the fight, but when it came knocking on his door, he figured, "Why not?" 

"Listen, I didn’t try to sell this thing as, ‘Tune in on Saturday night, and you’re going to see the most spectacular battle and a war…I basically said what I was hoping would happen. Anything can happen in a fight. James Toney picked this fight. We’re not after boxing," White explained. "We’re not trying to attack boxing. I love boxing, and I thought this question was answered back in 1993, but I’ve got to be honest, as we got closer to the fight, my stomach hurt, and I was a little dizzy and I was nervous."

(Now who’s the princess??)

Wow! We had a few pick-ems and a few surprises tonight at UFC 118, but overall it was a great card.

BJ didn’t have an answer for "The Answer" and Couture had a simple, yet effective one for "Lights Out," namely, take him down and expose his weaknesses on the ground.

Love him or hate him, Gray Maynard proved he is the number one lightweight contender and we might just see him walk away from his next bout wearing UFC gold.

Anyone who didn’t like this card is either a boxing fan or a BJ Penn fan.

Here’s the post-fight press conference after the jump.

 
(So at $1,000,000, you payin’ me $4,219 a pound, sucka!!)

Well, Potato Nation, tonight’s the night we’ve been waiting for for months. The question on everyone’s mind will finally be answered: "Is Will Forte really leaving Saturday Night Live?"

OK so maybe that’s not the question on everybody’s mind, but it’s definitely bugging Will’s agent and his parents.

Ben and ReX13 are off schmoozing at the UFC Fan Expo, where I would have been as well if I could cross the border (more on that at a later date, but I will tell you it involves a bar brawl and a Bruce Lee instructional book I’ve owned since I was 13) and  Chad Dundas is off the grid attending an Amish wedding, which leaves me here to supply you guys with some play-by play action from tonight’s festivities in Boston.

The co-main event will undoubtedly produce some differing opinions on James Toney’s place in the grand scheme of the UFC’s heavyweight division and the main event should decide whether or not BJ Penn simply had an off night in Abu Dhabi.

Before we get to it, we’d like to announce the winner of our Boston UFC Fan Expo. The winning ticket is #031014. If this is your number, send photographic proof to contest@cagepotato.com and we’ll hook you up with a $100 gift card to MMAWarehouse.com.

Here’s a glimpse of our uber-popular booth from the expo. Don’t let VivaHate’s nonplussed expression fool you, everyone had a blast this weekend and we got a ton of footage and interviews from fans and fighters.

Results and play-by-play after the jump.
Strap in and get ready. It’s sure to be a rocky ride.

(“Yeah, I get it, ‘UFC 124: ‘Expendable,’ that’s really funny … no, seriously, I’m laughing on the inside.” PicProps: Sherdog)

Look, I didn’t mean to get you all in a tizzy with that crazy stuff I said earlier. Rest assured, gentle reader, odds are very good that Randy Couture applies one of his world-renowned Brazilian Joint Locks to James Toney tonight and takes home an easy victory, probably sometime in the first round. After that, we’ll all have our fun with Toney, figuratively poking him in his airbrushed belly as we ship him off to wherever it is old boxers go to die. We’ll all probably act very smug and superior on our Twitter accounts for a few days, too.

Deep down, though, Couture’s victory will not cure my unease. For some while now, I’ve been wondering if the worst thing that could happen to Randy Couture at this stage in his career would be for him to beat James Toney at UFC 118. This is all just conjecture mind you, but I can’t escape the notion that whoever wins tonight might ride a groundswell of mainstream publicity right into a fight with Jon Jones, probably at the UFC’s end-of-the-year (or maybe Super Bowl weekend) pay-per-view.

(Keep laughing, KenFlo. It won’t be so funny when “Lights Out” brings the side check kick down to 155. PicProps: Heavy.com)

Sunday morning, you wake up. Splitting hangover headache. You roll over and nausea sweeps through your body. You will yourself not to puke. “Where am I,” you think, “and who is this fat chick?” The night before is a total blur. There are significant gaps. You remember being at the bar, yelling unintelligible shit at a TV. Some guy you don’t know kept buying you shots. You might’ve left a bunch of voicemails for that girl you like. After that you must – wait — then it hits you. Holy fucking shit. Randy Couture fucking LOST to James Toney last night.

Scary though huh, PotatoNation? Consider the above paragraph a kind of public service announcement. Some don’t-let-this-happen-to-you type shit. Here at The Potato we are nothing if not realists. We believe wholeheartedly in expecting the best while preparing for the worst, or whatever the terrible cliché says we ought to do. For that reason, it’s probably a good idea that we all spend a few minutes considering the possibility that Toney might actually beat Couture at tonight’s UFC 118. You know, just in case. It won’t be easy, but we can get through this together.

(Video courtesy YouTube/10thplanetjj.com)

- Frankie Edgar pre-UFC 118 interview (heavy)

- The most bootylicious athletes (bleacherreport)

- A glimpse of CagePotato’s EXTREMELY popular UFC Fan Expo booth (twitpic)

- John Cusack to play Edgar Allen Poe in "The Raven" thriller (screenjunkies)

- Reality show: Edgar vs. Penn II (fight!)

- 20 hilarious goth fails (break)

- Toney’s purse pegged at between $750,000-$1-million (yahoo!sports)

- Besides common sense, science also points to Couture winning (sportscience)

- Top 10 ways to befriend the bartender (askmen)

- Toney says he’s seen fear in Couture’s eyes (mmafighting)

- Dream job: Scores gentleman’s club GM (mademan)

- Shogun’s Octagon return delayed until mid-2011 (versus)

- 2010 big 10 college football preview (scoresreport)

- Amy Winehouse’s guide to everyday living (holytaco)

- Exploring the various Carmelo Anthony trade scenarios (bullz-eye)

- Mayhem Miller vs. Sakuraba and more goodness announced for DREAM 16 (middleeasy)

(If you don’t look in his eyes, Randy, you won’t be hypnotized into standing and trading with him.)

Just a reminder that the weigh-ins for tomorrow night’s brouhaha in Boston will be live here at 4:00 pm. 

A number of questions will be answered, like:

Is James Toney really in shape?

Did Gabe Ruediger really quit cake?

Will Chandella give Arianny the stink eye for getting a Playboy cover?

UFC media player is after the jump.

(Video courtesy YouTube/MMAFighting)

There must be something in the water in Boston that’s making the fighters turn on Ariel Helwani. First BJ Penn questioned the MMA Fighting reporter about whether or not he liked him and now we have James Toney wrestling the microphone from Helwani after asking him if he dislikes boxing and calling him a clown.

"This guy’s a clown right here…Give me the goddamn mic….Give it to me," Toney said as he struggled to pry the microphone from Helwani’s hands.

When he finally did get the mic from Helwani, Lights Out tried to sign off from the interview.

"This is James Toney Reporting for this goddamn station, whatever it is," Toney deadpanned. "I’m outta here."

(Does this belt mean nothing to any of you ladies?) 

Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva is so fed up with Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem and Fedor Emelianenko waffling over who they want to fight next that he released a public statement last night through his MMA Profit Advisor sponsorship management group calling for either fighter to take off their dress and get into the cage with him.

Overeem has stated that he only wants to fight Fedor or Fabricio Werdum under the Strikeforce banner, and since Werdum is recovering from elbow surgery and Fedor’s camp hasn’t shown much interest in that fight regardless of the fact that it’s the bout most fans are interested in , it makes sense to have Silva fight Emelianenko. Unfortunately, neither Strikeforce or Fedor’s management group, M-1 Global know who they want the Russian fighter to fight next, so Silva is waiting on the edge of the dance floor hoping some one of these two ladies will let him cut in before he gets stuck dancing with a less than desirable dance partner.

Here’s Silva’s take on the situation:

 “I come from Paraiba, in Brazil, where we don’t back down from things! I’ll fight whoever they put in front of me; you will never see me picking and choosing opponents. It’s sad when the heavyweight champion starts whining that he will only fight this guy or that. What kind of a professional is this guy? He is the champ, isn’t he? Why be afraid to fight me? And Fedor, one of the biggest legends in the sport. Is this how he got to be a legend, by declining fights?"

(Fight Fedor? He’s got a thing that night. PicProps: K-1)

After months of Alistair Overeem publicly blaming M-1 Global for keeping him from fighting Fedor Emelianenko, the “Last Emperor” finally came out this week and said he would fight Overeem by the end of the year. Great news, right? Well, it would be, except that Overeem now says he doesn’t want to fight Fedor. At least not until the former consensus No.1-ranked heavyweight gets back on the winning track. Instead, Overeem says he’ll compete in K-1′s 2010 Grand Prix, which could keep him tied up from October to December.

That faint crashing sound you just heard was us throwing our favorite coffee mug – the “I Love Iowa” one we got in grad school – against the wall.

(“Tapping out is for bitches. Getting *knocked* out is more my speed.” PicProps: ESPN)

So, it takes Roy Jones Jr. all of like five seconds to offer to fight Kimbo Slice during this interview with FightHype.com, after the website calls the former multi-divisional boxing champion this to get “his quick thoughts” on the street fighter/UFC washout making the fulltime switch to pugilism. At least, we think Jones is talking about boxing when he keeps saying he might “give it” to Kimbo. To his credit, Jones seems politely hesitant to fight Slice in the same way a chubby kid says “Oh, I really couldn’t” when you offer him the last slice of pie. Dig it:

“I think it’s a beautiful thing for him to try the sweet science,” Jones says in response to FightHype’s first question where, for the record, they don’t mention anything about him actually fighting Kimbo. “I’d have to see what he’s weighing if he wants me to come in there and give him a try at it. But if he wants it that bad, I might give it to Kimbo. It’s a great opportunity for him. It’s a great fight for Florida.”

(Video courtesy YouTube/The FightNetwork)

The Fight Network does a decent job demonstrating the juxtaposition between the UFC 118 main and co-main events. On one had we have BJ Penn trying to regain his title from current UFC lightweight champion, Frankie Edgar who will be fighting tooth and nail to hold onto his belt and his ranking in the UFC’s 155-pound class. On the other hand, you have James Toney fighting for the pride of boxing against the sport of MMA, although his logic of what winning his fight against Randy Couture will actually prove is flawed.

In the videos above and below, a variety of professional boxers and mixed martial artists (as well as a smattering of actors sprinkled in for good measure) weigh in on this weekend’s two biggest fights.

(Video courtesy YouTube/UFC StannFan1)

The hype behind this weekend’s James Toney-Randy Couture showdown has focused largely around the "Is MMA better than Boxing?" quandary, which, up until this point has never really been answered, and in my opinion really won’t be answered by this fight.

The question really should be "Who would win in a fight between a top-tier boxer and a top-tier MMA fighter?"

(Your prayers have been answered, Potato Nation)