(Tito and Jenna minutes before being banned for life by Chuck E. Cheese.)

Well, it’s official: Broadway doesn’t discriminate against people with no acting or singing experience who used to be paid to have sex.

According to the New York Post, former porn star and current common-law wife of former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz, Jenna Jameson is in the running for the role of strip club owner Justice in the New York-based rock musical, "Rock of Ages."

In her defense, she did convince everybody that Tito beat the shit out of her, then had us all believe that it was all a big misunderstanding and that her injured arm was her fault and not The Huntington Beach Badboy’s.

According to Jameson, who was to meet with the show’s producers today, playing the role of a former stripper will be easy, considering she can be very believable when she talks about Tito being the best fighter ever and becoming a UFC champion again some day.

"I’m meeting with the producers [today], and I just hope I have enough talent to carry the role. We are talking about a run that would be anything from a month to three months, and it could start very soon."I think I’m perfect for the role, and I am really looking forward to becoming a New Yorker."

If she gets the role, I predict Jenna leaves the kids with Tito, moves to NY and hooks up with a co-star like 90% of married actors and he will blame the situation on an injury he suffered while single-parenting.

What will the MMA world do without Jennito?

(Video courtesy YouTube/Choward730420/ESPN)

Brock Lesnar anti-fan Jim Rome sat down with the UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar today and discussed a number of topics from his serious battle with diverticulitis to which sport is tougher: professional football or professional MMA?

Perhaps the most interesting thing Brock said in the interview came out when he was asked by Rome what he thought about comments Chael Sonnen made about him having a $5 haircut and a penis  knife tattoo and an assertion that he would "shove up through [Lesnar's] face if he got in his way. A baffled looking Brock told Rome that he "seriously" had no idea who Chael was, asking increduously if he was a fighter.

Two can play the pro-wrestling heel game, Chael, and I’m pretty sure that having done four or five shows a week for a few years during his stint with the WWE, Brock is a bit more experienced at it than you are.

("I know, I know…he just seemed so *real*, that’s all.")

After going on Inside MMA to claim that deaf people are easier to knock out because of their soft heads and poor "equilibium" [sic], Tito Ortiz recently took to his Twitter page to offer this retraction:

"I want to apologize to the deaf community for the remarks I made about Matt [Hamill] it was uncalled for. He is a good fighter and I was out of line."

An apology certainly helps, but to fully settle this matter, MMA Junkie enlisted their medical columnist Dr. Johnny Benjamin to answer the question once and for all. And man, Dr. Johnny didn’t spare anybody’s feelings. Here’s what he had to say:

"This is a difficult question to answer – not because it has any basis in fact but because it is difficult to stay professional and not attack the character of a person who makes such ignorant statements.

(Photo courtesy of Esther Lin/Strikeforce)

That top photo of a brave Strikeforce/Rockstar ring girl staring down Andre Galvao in Jorge Patino’s absence at the Strikeforce: Houston weigh-ins immediately became one of our favorite MMA images of the year. So we were psyched when MMAFightGirls came up with her name. The sexy blonde is Kelli Hutcherson, a 21-year-old California girl who has also modeled for Metal Mulisha, Muscle Milk, and Transworld Motorcross. According to this profile/photo gallery, Kelli enjoys Mexican food, bro-comedies and spending money; she gogo-dances on the side, and was once arrested and taken to jail "for something so stupid." (Yeah, well, you shouldn’t have been blowing those bubbles.) You can get to know Kelli Hutcherson better on Twitter and ModelMayhem. More photos are after the jump…

(Chances are this one isn’t going to decision.)

It looks like Mark Hominick won’t be the only Team Tompkins product who will get a step up in competition for his next WEC fight.

Chris Horodecki is slated to take on former WEC number one lightweight contender Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone at WEC 53 on December 16 in Phoenix, AZ.

The news was first reported by MMAWeekly, and CagePotato.com has since been able to confirm the bout with a source close to the fight.

16-2 in his five-year MMA career, "The Polish Hammer" was knocked out in dramatic fashion in his WEC debut by Anthony Njokuani, but rebounded with a pair of wins over Danny Downes and Ed Ratcliffe. Cerrone will arguably provide the 23-year-old London, Ontario native, who was the face of thew now-defunct International Fight League with his toughest test to date.

Cain Velasquez talks to CagePotato.com – Watch more Funny Videos

Just a few days out from his UFC 121 heavyweight title fight against Brock Lesnar, #1 contender Cain Velasquez sat down with our man Ruben Vera to answer some tough questions. For instance, what exactly is Cain going to bring to the table that’ll make him different than the other top heavyweights that Brock has already smashed? Velasquez also discusses the looming threat of Junior Dos Santos, the responsibility of being the new Latino standard-bearer in the UFC, and his appreciation of Fedor Emelianenko. Plus: UFC 121 picks, where Cain falls on the tweezers vs. waxing debate, and just like with Phil Baroni, Ruben somehow manages to get Cain Velasquez to say that "CagePotato is the best." Damn, bro…are you holding these guys’ families hostage or something?

(Well, this mug shot represents a vast improvement over the old one. At least Leben’s learning *something* from all this. PicProps: HawaiiNewsNow.com)

We were half joking earlier this year when we compared Chris Leben to that screw-up brother of yours who borrows your car, gets high and then crashes it. Right now however, that assessment seems sadly apt after Leben wrecked his truck on a Hawaii freeway earlier this week and was arrested on suspicion of DUI. Again.

Here’s the word straight from the document of record, by which we mean a story from a local television station in HI:  “Officers arrested Christian Leben, 30, a middleweight fighter known as the Crippler, on suspicion of operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant Tuesday. He was released from custody after posting $1,000 bail. Police say Leben was driving on the west-bound side of the H1 Freeway just before 2 AM, when he lost control of his pickup and crashed into a wall near the Kapiolani Boulevard off ramp. He was allegedly driving without a license and without insurance.”

At this point, there seems to be no appropriate response to this news aside from a resigned sigh and a disappointed shake of the head. Let’s just hope this latest brush with the law doesn’t upset Leben’s scheduled meeting with Brian Stann at UFC 125. We’d hate for this to go down like it did last time.

(Video courtesy YouTube/Nic1985H/SpikeTV/ZuffaLLC)

Saturday night’s main event at UFC 121 has all the makings of a classic match-up of contrasting styles and the Primetime show did a great job of illustrating that point.

On one side you have the juggernaut UFC heavyweight champion, Brock Lesnar who makes up for his lack of experience and skills with his work ethic and physical abilities. Everyone from Lesnars camp has taken to referring to him by the nickname bestowed upon him by a famous thread on the mixedmartialarts.com underground forum that proclaimed the former WWE champion to be a "Frate Trane," and the monicker couldn’t be more fitting.

The question is whether or not the "Frate Trane" will be able to contend with the switchman who is trying to derail his title run. 

(The Stevens vs. McKenzie "fight," if you can call it that. Props: TheMMAResource)

Still giddy from his squad’s first victory, Josh Koscheck starts picking on Team GSP’s Michael Johnson, telling him he looks heavy, he gassed out in his fight against Aaron Wilkinson, and he would have lost if not for that beast-like surge at the end. Kos’s entire team is equally assholish, continuing their celebration into the night, screaming in the house like complete jackasses. Koscheck shows up with burgers and Johnson asks him why he has to be such a dick. Josh denies he’s a dick; he just loves yellow. You can’t really fault a man for that.

Koscheck also loves being in the power-position for the first time in the season. He finally has control of the matchups, and during a team discussion, the idea of Marc Stevens (his #1 pick) vs. Cody McKenzie (GSP’s #6 pick) is floated. They figure that as long as they stay away from Cody’s famous guillotine choke, it’s a good matchup for them. Since this is one of those two-fight episodes, we know that whatever happens, it’s not gonna last long.

Kos announces Stevens vs. McKenzie as his match selection, and the two lightweights face off for the first time. "You don’t have to puff your chest out like that," Stevens says to McKenzie. "Exhale…it’s not very friendly." Cody mean-mugs Stevens, but then grins and chin-checks Koscheck again before walking off, just like he did last episode. Koscheck has to be reminded that this should piss him off. "Cut his fingers off the next time he does that to you," Sako says. "We can’t even understand you," Cody deadpans to the Armenian. It’s personal now. Yellow doesn’t like Cody McKenzie, no sir.

(Video courtesy Fight!Magazine)

If a reporter were to ask Dana White who he was picking to win from an upcoming Strikeforce card, the UFC president would likely answer with something to the effect of, "Are you retarded? I don’t fucking watch Strikeforce. That show is garbage," before walking away in disgust.

It’s sad when pride and despising the competition gets in the way of being a fan of decent match-ups and it becomes the norm for reporters to pretend that other competing organizations don’t exist when talking to promoters.

Fight! Magazine’s Danny Acosta defied convention at the release party for the EA Sports MMA game this week and asked Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, commentator Frank Shamrock and fighters Dan Henderson and Fedor Emelianenko for their picks for UFC 121 on Saturday night.

Shamrock came off like his usual arrogant self, proclaiming that he won’t watch Jake Shields’ UFC debut and that he hopes Kampmann kills him, but the rest of the Strikeforce crew give thoughtful insight into which fighters and why they will win the main and co-main events of the card.

(They were polar opposites with hearts of gold and a weakness for terrible chest tattoos.)

If you didn’t catch today’s UFC 121 press conference, you didn’t miss a whole hell of a lot more than the usual answers to the usual questions, but there were a few interesting tidbits revealed by UFC president Dana White including that he will be travelling to New York tomorrow to discuss some movement in the sanctioning of MMA in the hold-out state and the fact that he considered giving Jake Shields a title shot in his first UFC fight based on his record and accomplishments outside the Octagon.

Reflecting off of another, "Do you see MMA in the Olympics in the future?" question he was lobbed at the presser, White explained that things in New York are "moving faster than [he] could have imagined" and that he will be meeting with some unnamed individuals in that regard on Thursday.

As is tradition during UFC fight week, the major players of UFC 121 are about to assemble for a public press conference at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Beginning at 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT, Brock Lesnar, Cain Velasquez, Jake Shields, Martin Kampmann, Tito Ortiz, Matt Hamill, and Dana White will be fielding questions from the media. You can watch the proceedings in the UFC’s media player, which is waiting for you after the jump. And if you need any more help in getting hyped up for this event, be advised that Spike TV will be airing UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin tonight at 7 p.m., followed by the third and final episode of UFC Primetime: Lesnar vs. Velasquez at 9:30 p.m. 

(Puts your hands on your hips, suck in your gut, and squint like you’re Clint Eastwood. It’s not rocket science, Harry. / Photos courtesy of Zimbio. Thanks to rusty balls for the tip.)
   

UFC president Dana White and former light-heavyweight champ Chuck Liddell played the role of enforcers yesterday during an early voting rally for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at the University of Nevada. A supporter of the UFC and a Nevada senator since 1986, Reid is currently trying to score a fifth term amid opposition from Republican Sharon Angle, who recently complimented a Hispanic audience by telling them they looked Asian.

The unholy White/Liddell/Reid triumvirate reunited today at a rally headlined by Vice President Joe Biden. According to this Reno Gazette-Journal report, "The crowd broke into a roar after Reid, the former boxer, said ‘I can fight a little bit too.’"

(Forget it Dana. He’s coming with me to Hollywood.)

Jason MacDonald’s loss will be fellow Canadian Jesse Bongfeldt’s gain as the Kenora, Ontario native will now step in for "The Athlete" who was forced to pull out of his UFC 124 bout with Rafael Natal due to a re-injury to the leg he broke at UFC 113 in May.

The opponent change was revealed by Natal’s management group Dominance MMA who announced the news via Twitter and Facebook today.

12-1 in his last 13 outings, Bongfeldt (21-6), who is the former Rumble in the Cage and TKO champion has not lost since getting TKO’d by Jonathan Goulet in 2007. His biggest win saw him defend his TKO welterweight strap by tapping out submission specialist TJ Grant with an armbar in 2008 at TKO 32.

Bongfeldt took time off from fighting following the Grant bout in 2008 after the birth of his son and relocated back to Ontario from Calgary where he spent several years training alongside UFC veteran Jason Day at Canadian Martial Arts Centre under trainer Lee Mein.

(Akiyama vs. Sakuraba is a cautionary example of why it’s best to wait until *after* the fight to make an impassioned plea to the referee. If only Palhares had seen this. VidProps: YouTube/AkiyamaYoshihiro2)

Well, this is a switch: Not only is a Greg Jackson-trained fighter accusing someone else of potentially greasing his body during a fight but it’s none other than Yoshihiro Akiyama, who you may remember was himself outed as one of the greasiest MFers in the game following a 2006 fight against Kazushi Sakuraba at K-1 Dynamite!! The video of that fiasco can be seen at top. Nevertheless, Akiyama told MMAFighting.com foreign correspondent Daniel Herbertson upon returning home this week that the reason he didn’t try harder to take Michael Bisping down at UFC 120 was that the Brit felt suspiciously slimy to the touch.

"I only went for one takedown but Bisping’s body was really slippery,” Akiyama said. Then, apparently even setting off the alarms on his own irony indicator, quipped: “Even if I do say so myself … "

Look, nobody wants to get into another GreaseGate debacle here, so unless Akiyama wants to pursue this further we’re willing to chalk it up as a harmless pot-calling-the-kettle-black-type situation and move on with our lives. Also, not that we think Bisping would necessarily be above bending the rules (See: Him possibly purposely injuring Matt Hamill during “TUF 3”), we’re kind of wary of accusing another Wolfslair fighter of cheating, lest he threaten our testiculars via angry Facebook post.

Gotta say though, if anybody knows what a greased-up fighter feels like, it’d be Akiyama.

(As long as Stallone keeps making "The Expendables" sequels like he did with Rocky and Rambo, Randy will  have years of work ahead of him.)

Well, it looks like Randy Couture really is planning to walk away from fighting *for good* in favor of a movie career. 

The UFC Hall-of-Famer and the promotion’s former heavyweight and light heavyweight champ spoke with John O’Regan from Fighters Only over the weekend while in London to corner Mike Pyle for his UFC 121 fight with John Hathaway and he said that it’s likely that his days of fighting are behind him.

“I don’t know what is gonna happen on the fight front. I have had my wars, done my thing. I’ve been having fun, I can still fight, but I am not sure I want to make another run at the title or anything like that," Couture explained. “I enjoy the sport, I enjoy fighting, but its probably time to move on."

I’m not sure if retiring coming off of a win to James Toney is the way I’d want to go out, but I’m not a professional fighter with a storied MMA career like Randy, so what do I know?

Phil Baroni Sits down with Cagepotato.com – Watch more Funny Videos

With his fight against Brad Tavares booked for 1/1/11, Phil Baroni has two options in front of him — victory, or possible banishment from the UFC. Our friend Ruben Vera tracked down the New York Bad Ass at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, and grilled him on everything from his brawl-based gameplans to his cardio problems to his fondest MMA memories. Honestly, it’s one of the most revealing interviews with Baroni that we’ve ever seen. Some highlights…

On his gameplan for Tavares: "You know me. I’ve been doing this for ten years, there’s no surprises. I’m gonna do what I do best."

On his conditioning struggles: "It’s genetic, dude. I’ve been training cardio for the last ten years, hard. It’s genetic. You got a guy like Cain Velasquez who just don’t get tired. He can just train all day. Even a guy like Koscheck…I don’t think there’s anything I’m not doing that other guys are doing. I have a lot better punching power than those guys. And I think I’m faster, I have more fast-twitch. I know I can beat them both in a race. But in a longer duration, those guys can keep going, and that’s one of the things that separates us…It seems like a lot of the Mexican guys have real good cardio, throughout history and in the UFC. Diego Sanchez has great cardio, Cain Velasquez, a ton of guys. I don’t know what it is, man, but I do the best with what I got."

(The "Yes We Cain" limited edition t-shirt, just $20 at dethroneroyalty.com.)

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…

– As of Today, Fedor Emelianenko Is a Russian Politician and He Plans to Enforce the People’s Rights (MiddleEasy)

- Cain Velasquez Gets Mobbed by Fans Who Are Not Impressed with Brock Lesnar (MMA Scraps)

- Jake Shields: If Kampmann Doesn’t Tap, I’ll Snap His Arm In Half (MMA Convert)

- Matt Hamill: Friendship Out the Door vs. Tito Ortiz at UFC 121 (MMA Fighting)

– Gabriel Gonzaga Discusses His UFC 121 Opponent and the Current Depth in the Heavyweight Division (LowKick)

– Sam Stout Ready To Welcome Paul Taylor To The Lightweight Division (Heavy.com/MMA)

– The Eight-Point Stance: UFC 120 (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Exclusive: Mike Pyle – ‘I Just Absolutely Handled The Kid’ (SBNation.com/MMA)

– Frank Shamrock is On A Mission to Legalize MMA in New York (FightMagazine)

– Arianny Celeste Promotes Playboy Appearance on TMZ (Versus MMA Beat)

(Well that explains why he’s so vicious. Apparently Dede keeps Aldo chained up in the basement and feeds him nothing but raw meat between fights.)

Jose Aldo revealed to Tatame today that he turned down the opportunity to move up a weight class to take on UFC lightweight Kenny Florian in December.

According to Aldo, who has fought as a lightweight before, after talking it over with his managers, Ed Soares and Joinha and his coach, Andre Pederneiras they came to the conclusion that the timing wasn’t right for him to make the move up to 155, partially because it takes time to put on the mass required to move up a weight class and also because he doesn’t want to have to fight any of his Nova Uniao teammates.

"Actually I started in a lighter division, then changed to this one and tried the division above, but it’s up to [Andre] Dedé [Pederneiras] and he knows better," Aldo explained. "When I was fighting on the division above he thought there were many people of the gym on that division, and on my division there’s me and Marlon [Sandro] and I can play pretty hard on this one and I’m the champion, so I think it’s best for me to stay on this weight division."

(Cool! We’ve always wanted to meet Cheick! / Image courtesy of Facebook.com/Real.Cheick.Kongo)

Sometimes when you’re writing an MMA opinion blog, you forget that the fighters you occasionally talk shit about are real people, with real feelings, who would really beat the crap out of you if they found out where you lived. Case in point: Cheick Kongo, who didn’t appreciate a certain article I recently posted about him. Cheick joins Dana White in the growing list of UFC-folks who won’t be inviting me to any parties in the near future.

So Cheick, if you’re reading this and you want some justice, please don’t resort to violence. Instead, come onto our radio show next week so you can defend yourself and explain why you aren’t a dirty fighter. If you’re available, contact us through our site or Facebook page, and we’ll set up a time that’s convenient. Hope to hear from you soon…

(BG)

(Hey guv’nah. Yer boy’s gonnna be drinkin’ his bangers and mash through a straw for a while.)

If you watched UFC 120 on Saturday, you may have noticed a brief shot of Robert Downey Jr. sitting alongside his Sherlock Holmes 2 director Guy Ritchie and co-star Jude Law.

For those of you who don’t know, RDJ is an avid martial artist who attributes his 180-degree life turnaround from drug addict to box office juggernaut to his study of the Chinese art of Win Chun, which he began training in a few years ago, so it’s no surprise that he’s a UFC fan.

What is surprising is that he’s apparently a huge Carlos Condit fan…either that or he was rubbing it in his British mates faces that their homeboy, Dan Hardy got KTFO. I’m thinking a few pounds might have been on the line.

MMACagedoor pictorially broke down a frame-by-frame series of events that took place outside the Octagon as Condit connected with Hardy’s jaw.

Check out the freeze-frame grabs and a video clip of Downey’s exuberant celebration after the jump.

("UFC Countdown." VidProps: Megavideo.com)

At long last, here is the Brock Lesnar we all know and love/loathe. After weeks of playing it almost unimaginably cool about the fact he’s about to defend his UFC heavyweight title against a 240-pound Mexican(-American), Lesnar finally let the thin veil of cultural sensitivity fall away during last night’s “UFC Countdown” show. It takes approximately one minute, 13 seconds into the above vid for Lesnar to publicly debut the semi-racist jokes about Cain Velasquez that he’s no doubt been trying out for weeks behind closed doors at the DeathClutch Gym. The results are actually kind of comforting. At least now we have confirmation that this dude with the beard really is Brock Lesnar, and not just some politically correct imposter.

"Listen,” quips Lesnar here. “When I get done whooping your ass, I’m gonna go drink a Corona and eat a burrito just for your Hispanic heritage. How about that?"

(Photo courtesy United Glory/MixFight.nl)

United Glory held an MMA and kickboxing hybrid tournament event in Holland over the weekend and by the video and photos we’ve seen of the show, it was very good and the production value was better than some mainstream promotions pull off.

The event was streamed free of charge via United Glory’s website and even the quality of the video feed was incredible.

The next event, which will include the second round bouts of UG’s $120,000 welterweight MMA and heavyweight kickboxing tournaments will be held January 30 in Belgium and will also be streamed live.

Here’s a video recap of the event, which was promoted and produced by the owners of Golden Glory:

(Video courtesy YouTube/United Glory)

The MMA portion of the card was sanctioned by Europe’s Shooto commission and featured a number of notable fighters including UFC veterans Roan Carneiro, John Alessio, David Bielkeden and Derrick Noble as well as Shooto champion Siyar Bahadurzada.

On the kickboxing side, the show featured K-1 standouts Gokhan Saki, Mourad Bouzidi and Brice Guidon.

If you missed the show, videos of all of the fights are after the jump.

Sure, we tune in for the fights at the end of each episode, the trash-talk between the coaches, and Dana White occasionally showing up to kick somebody’s ass out of the house. But over 12 seasons of The Ultimate Fighter, it’s the peripheral characters that are responsible for the show’s best moments. Take this season, for example — would it be nearly as interesting if Coach GSP didn’t bring in a special guest every week to shake up his team? With that in mind, here’s our tribute to the under-appreciated minor players that have kept TUF on its toes for the last six years…

#9: Willa Ford

In an effort to inject some eye candy into their new reality show, the UFC cast model/singer/actress Willa Ford as the host of The Ultimate Fighter‘s first season. (Her main duty was to introduce those weird elimination challenges that marked the show’s early days.) Willa was gone by season two, leaving us with fond memories of a time when TUF‘s non-stop sweaty dudeness was occasionally broken up by a pretty face.

#8: Jean-Charles Skarbowsky

Dude flies in from Paris, shows up to the TUF gym drunk, and gives GSP’s entire team the worst beating of their lives. What’s not to like?

(Props: barochoc)

While cruising YouTube for Muay Thai knockout videos last night — hey, it’s my life and I can waste it any way I want — I came across this gem, filmed in Thailand a couple years ago. When you keep up a pace like that, it’s only a matter of time before one guy catches a bad one. Watch as Mr. Red Shorts lands one of the nastiest cobra punches ever recorded, then knocks Blue out again with a head kick as soon as the poor bastard gets to his feet. Two questions: 1) Did that referee graduate from the Yves Lavigne School of Letting Fighters Suffer Multiple Concussions? and 2) Who would be watching soccer at a time like this? Anyway, good morning everybody…

(…and I want Gus Johnson’s make-up artist to get me ready for each show.)

With just one fight remaining on his current Strikeforce contract, Fedor Emelianenko’s future with the California-based promotion could be decided this week, according to the Russian heavyweight’s manager Vadim Finkelchtein.

In an interview with MMAJunkie, Finkelchtein revealed that they are primarily negotiating with Showtime as they want to include in Fedor’s contract a deal to co-promote Emelianko’s fights with his M-1 Global corporation and Strikeforce’s broadcast partner. 

Does this strike anyone else as being a bit odd? Can you see Ed Soares sitting down with Spike TV to iron out the details of an Anderson Silva contract extension?

I’m actually starting to feel bad for Scott Coker. It’s becoming clear that the patients are running the asylum.

(Hominick may be next in line to try to crack Aldo’s seemingly impenetrable armor in January.)

WEC featherweight champion Jose Aldo revealed in an interview with Tatame over the weekend that his next scheduled bout will be against former TKO featherweight champion Mark Hominick in January.

"Whoever it is, [I] always respect everyone," Aldo said. "We already have a defense in January, [and it] will be against Mark Hominick, a Canadian [who is] very good at kickboxing."

Aldo seemed a bit unsure about whether or not the fight with "The Machine" is a sure thing so we contacted Hominick’s longtime mentor and trainer Shawn Tompkins today to find out if the fight is a go.

Tompkins tells us that his charge is still in a cast recovering from a broken hand he suffered training for his impressive victory over Leonard Garcia at WEC 51 last month.

(Martin Kampmann: Even when he grooms his eyebrows it’s intense.)

In the lead up to Saturday’s UFC 121: Lesnar vs. Velsasquez show in Anaheim, a major talking point has been Jake Shields‘s highly anticipated UFC debut. Lost in all the hype and Jake-centric media coverage is Shields’s opponent Martin Kampmann, who has taken out names like Paulo Thiago, Carlos Condit, and Thales Leites during his 10-fight run in the Octagon.

Martin was a guest on the latest episode of The Bum Rush Radio Show, where he discussed being underestimated by fans, and agreed with the widespread opinion that Jake Shields is boring a fighter. For the benefit of you lazy bastards who haven’t subscribed to our show yet, we’ve reprinted an excerpt below…

CAGEPOTATO.COM: It seems like all the media attention in this fight is on your opponent. You have Dana White saying Jake Shields will likely get a title shot if he beats you…do you feel overlooked or disrespected in any way by how this fight is being promoted, or presented in the media?
MARTIN KAMPMANN: He’s getting a lot of hype, and I feel sometimes people underestimate me. People underestimated me for my last fight too, they were counting me out then as well, but I proved everybody wrong, and I plan to prove everybody wrong in this fight as well…I’m in the UFC to achieve my goals, and Jake’s just another guy in the way.

If Jake Shields is being offered a title shot if he beats you, do you think the same offer should extend to you? If you beat Shields, are you worthy of the next shot?
Yeah, I definitely think so. If he can earn a title shot coming in from Strikeforce with his first fight in the UFC…this is my 11th fight in the UFC, so I think I’ve paid my dues. Of course it’s up to the UFC who gets the title shot, but I definitely think that it’ll put me up in #1 contender status with a win.

(Ivey scoffs at your ironic tattoos, hipster.) 

By CagePotato contributor Seth "Lysol" Falvo

Let’s pretend you were in Lafayette, Louisiana last night. Let’s also pretend that you were not at a bar that was showing UFC 120. Odds are that you, like me, were at City Bar at some point. Odds also are that you knew that Ken Shamrock was in town to fight Johnathan Ivey, a 29-42 fighter who has lost to everyone he’s fought that you’ve actually heard of. Fortunately, having a friend who works at the Cajun Dome means not having to sit through it to know how it ends. Unfortunately, writing an article about the fight means actually watching it on Youtube.

Let’s start by pointing out the obvious: Ken Shamrock, as evident by his leg kick submission to Pedro Rizzo in his last outing, is doing just enough to get paid anymore. And I can’t say I blame him. Fighting to pay court fees for your old boss is slightly more motivating than “Because my ex-wife’s boyfriend needs money for an engagement ring” and slightly less motivating than “Because the Cajuns aren’t in town this weekend”. Furthermore, Shamrock weighed in at only 209 pounds for his fight against Ivey. Draw your own conclusions.

(I don’t do this for everybody, but I’m willing to drop my asking price to $250,000 and a 10% stake in the UFC. Have you seen my fight with Fedor?)

According to Ricardo Arona, he is only one win away from getting an invite to the UFC, but finding a promotion to fight for hasn’t been easy for the former PRIDE middleweight champion.

"That conversation with Dana White was basically about it, that I’d fight again in other event to recover my rhythm, and it’d be a good thing for me. I’d like to fight on UFC, I feel like I’m ready for it, but if I have to fight again first, there’s no problem with that, too," he recently told Tatame’s Guilherme Cruz. "[War on the Mainland] called me about fighting [at one of their] events, but there’re nothing set. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but I want to fight abroad, not in Brazil."