(You think Huerta’s had it rough over the last couple years, imagine how this guy feels. PicProps: ImageShack)

It’s hard not to feel a little bit bad for Bellator this month. Here the upstart promotion is about to stage the biggest fight of its short history when Roger Huerta takes on Eddie Alvarez next Thursday and it seems like nobody even cares. Part of that is just sheer bad luck, what with Brock Lesnar and his magnificent new beard gobbling up the headlines prior to his title defense against Cain Velasquez at UFC 121 two days later. Some of it has to be thrown at Bellator’s feet too, since this bout would certainly be garnering some more attention if it weren’t a weirdo nontitle affair. Then there’s Huerta who, after losing three of his last four, is putting waaay too much pressure on himself this week. 

“I feel like if Eddie wins, he ends up killing my career,” Huerta told Sherdog Radio on Monday. “I can’t take another loss. This is really personal for me. This is my life.”

(Video courtesy YouTube/TwinkleToesTommy)

Besides his proclamation that he’s simply a better fighter than Yoshihiro Akiyama, Michael Bisping has been asserting for weeks that the biggest factor in him beating the Japanese-born Korean fighter will be the size advantage he will hold over Sexyama when they square off Saturday night in London at UFC 120.

The question is, will Bisping’s purported size advantage actually give him a leg up on Akiyama or will it hinder his performance?

Historically, when fighters add size, they subtract at least some speed from their arsenal as well as an exponential amount of cardiovascular endurance as a result of needing to accommodate the oxygen requirements of keeping their larger muscles stocked with ATP.

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

We know that times are tough. So when you have a chance to bet fake money on an event that’s being broadcast for free on basic cable, you have to jump on it. This week, MMA Fightpicker presents questions related to Saturday’s UFC 120 event in London (Spike TV, 8 p.m. ET/PT). Will Bisping vs. Akiyama go the distance? Will the main card’s heavyweight feature end with a dude getting his ass KTFO? Out of the seven British fighters in the lineup, how many will actually win? Check out the full list of pool questions after the jump, and throw down your predictions at fightpicker.cagepotato.com or apps.facebook.com/fightpicker…

(Where’s a loaded musket when you need one? Props: Fighters Only)

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…

– Josh Koscheck, Georges St-Pierre Get UFC 124 Hype Officially Underway at Press Conference in Montreal (MMA Fighting)

– Diaz, Thomson Top 211K Fighter Payroll For Diaz vs. Noons II (Heavy.com/MMA)

– SB Nation Exclusive: UFC 120′s Mike Pyle Reflects on His Career in MMA (Watch Kalib Run)

– Why Dan Hardy vs Carlos Condit Should Be the Headline Fight at UFC 120 (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Joseph Benavidez vs. Wagnney Fabiano Booked for WEC 52 (Versus MMA Beat)

- Nick Diaz: How Do These Guys Expect to Beat Me? [VIDEO](FightMagazine)

– Comeback "Gracie Style": Exclusive interview with Daniel Gracie (LowKick)

– Antonio Silva vs. Valentijn Overeem Official For Strikeforce ‘Henderson vs. Babalu’ (MMA Convert)

– Classic Fight: Royler Gracie vs. Genki Sudo @ K-1 MMA Romanex 2004 (MMA Scraps)

– Marloes Coenen Gets a Hero’s Welcome in Amsterdam (MiddleEasy)

(Video courtesy YouTube/WandFightTeam)

For the past several months fellow Brazilians have been rallying for Murilo "Ninja" Rua to be added to the UFC’s 185-pound roster.

Wanderlei Silva posted a video blog on YouTube last week asking UFC president, Dana White to sign the former PRIDE star to the organization.

Besides "The Axe Murderer," Ninja’s younger brother, UFC light heavyweight champion, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua as well as welterweight contender Paulo Thiago also appeared in the clip to express their support for Murilo, who is undefeated in his last four outings, being brought into the UFC’s middleweight mix.

Speaking with TATAME this week, Ninja says that the ultimate goal would be to join friends like Wand and Shogun in the UFC, but he isn’t banking on it happening without him proving that he deserves it.

“I see it from a positive perspective, but I’m fighting and doing my job. If one day I’ll fight for the UFC it’ll only be a consequence. I’ll wait and it’ll come," Rua explained. “[The UFC's middleweight division] is a great division; there are great fighters, it’s really hard, but I’ll try to be on my best to go for the belt. That’s my dream, my goal, and I want to deserve it. On the right time, I’ll join the UFC’s cast."

(Warburton vs. Ross Pearson, 9/22/07. Skip to the 5:20 mark to see some amazingly irresponsible reffing.)

Half of the guys on the UFC 120 preliminary card will be making their Octagon debuts, hoping to claim some TV time by smashing their veteran opponents — or at the very least not do so poorly that they’re immediately fired. Take a look at the first three today, and keep an eye out for them on Saturday…

CURT WARBURTON (LW)
Experience: 7-2-1 record in various British promotions, with 6 wins by first-round stoppage. Warburton fought TUF 9 winner Ross Pearson three times in the Total Combat UK league, going an even 1-1-1 in the series.
Will be facing: Spencer Fisher (23-6, 8-5 UFC)
Lowdown: Warburton is a Wolfslair MMA Academy product who "used to dig holes for a living" before discovering MMA. He described himself as "gobsmacked" by his four-fight UFC contract, and is humbled by the opportunity that’s been put in front of him. “I got butterflies when I was given [Fisher's] name," Warburton says. "It took me by surprise a little bit, as he’s a top fighter and very experienced. When you get used to seeing people fight on television, it becomes a little strange to then be told you’ve got to fight him. Like everyone else, I’ve enjoyed watching Spencer fight over the years, and it was a bit of a ‘wow’ moment for me when I discovered I’d be fighting him on my UFC debut…I’ve got to go out there and prove to everybody that I belong at this level. This is my chance to keep on doing something that I love. If I can’t perform on the night, and can’t do it on the big stage, I’ll have to give up on something I love and go back to work."

(Video courtesy YouTube/MMANews.com)

If Jon Fitch has any clout left with the UFC since being fired and re-hired by the organization because of a dispute over signing over his likeness rights to the UFC Undisputed video game franchise, the American Kickboxing Academy fighter may get the winner of the UFC 121 welterweight tilt between Martin Kampmann and Jake Shields.

"The next time a title shot is coming around is probably going to be a while, so I’m kinda thinking I might wanna fight again before the title shot. The winner of Kampmann-Shields would be a perfect match-up. I’ve known Jake [Shields] for a long time. He’s a good friend of mine. I’m all about fighting the best guys in the world and we’ve known for a long time that this day would probably come where we’d have to fight. So be it."

If you recall, Fitch was supposed to get next dibs at the winner of the UFC 124 Kos-GSP showdown, but after his lacklustre win over Thiago Alves at UFC 117, Dana White reneged on giving him the next title shot, saying, "We’ll see," when pressed about it at the post-fight press conference.

(VidProps: UK Telegraph)

The UK Telegraph posted part two of its video interview with Dan Hardy this week, leading up to Hardy’s clash with Carlos Condit on Saturday night at UFC 120. Though the video is titled “My secret weapon after losing to Georges St. Pierre,” Hardy doesn’t mention anything about GSP or his secret weapon here. Hopefully, that’s coming in part three. What Hardy does do in the above video is a bit of clarification about what he meant to say while he was ripping into wrestlers in a recent column he penned for his hometown newspaper. Once again – as we’ve already discussed –  Hardy seems far more sensible when you hear the words come out of his mouth than when your read them on paper.

The five-time UFC vet explains that even though he actually wrote the words, “the problem is there’s beginning to be too much wrestling in UFC Octagon,” he didn’t mean it as an insult to wrestlers, per se. Like, what would give you that idea?

Don’t forget to check out the feed for today’s UFC 124 press conference live from Montreal here at 1:00 pm ET.

Scheduled to be in attendance are UFC welterweight champ, Georges St-Pierre, number one welterweight contender, Josh Koscheck, UFC Director of Canadian Operations, Tom Wright,  and UFC president, Dana White.

They will likely be announcing the remainder of the card that is rumored for the December 11 show.

UFC 124
December 11, 2010 7:00 pm ET
Bell Centre – Montreal, Quebec

Welterweight Championship Bout
Georges St-Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck

Thiago Alves vs. John Howard
Jim Miller vs. Charles Oliveira
Dan Miller vs. Joe Doerksen
Ricardo Almeida vs. TJ Grant
Mark Bocek vs. Dustin Hazelett
Jason MacDonald vs. Rafael Natal
Stefan Struve vs. Sean McCorkle
Matt Riddle vs. Anthony Waldburger

UFC media player is after the jump.

(Image courtesy of ItalianSweatshop.com. If you decide to click that link, be advised that the "music off" button is in the upper-left corner.) 

After dropping his UFC return fight to Amir Sadollah at UFC 106, Phil Baroni (13-12, 3-6 UFC) was slated to come back as a middleweight against John Salter at UFC 118 — but a training injury changed his plans. According to MMA Junkie, Baroni has been re-scheduled to appear at UFC 125 on January 1st against TUF 11 semifinalist Brad Tavares (5-0, 1-0 UFC).

Tavares, who was eliminated on the show by eventual winner Court McGee, returned at the TUF 11 finale and scored a decision win against Seth Baczynski. Now he has a chance to make his name off a struggling veteran, while Baroni can keep his career alive by whipping the 22-year-old Hawaiian. The New York Bad Ass hasn’t tasted victory since outpointing Olaf Alfonso at a Palace Fighting Championship event in September 2008, and it’s a pretty safe bet that if Baroni loses to a barely-established upstart like Tavares, it’ll be the end of his current stint with the UFC. Can Baroni stage another career comeback, or will he catch one of these?

CagePotato.com Interviews Carlos Condit – Watch more Funny Videos

Five days before his UFC 120 showdown with Dan Hardy, welterweight contender Carlos Condit swung through New York yesterday for a media tour, which ended with an evening workout session at The Wat. After Kru Phil Nurse put him through a few grueling rounds of pad work, Carlos was kind enough to give us a brief interview, in which he discussed his matchup with the Outlaw this weekend, his dramatic win over Rory MacDonald at UFC 115, and why he’s become a loyal follower of Greg Jackson. Some highlights…

(Video courtesy Vimeo/TheReem)

Rather than sit here and read what we have to say about the latest 20-plus minute double-episode of The Reem, just go ahead and click play and get down to following Alistair as he goes through his final preparations with his Golden Glory teammates for his K-1 fight with Ben Edwards last weekend in The Reem Episode 7&8: Enter the K-1 Tournament.

If you’ve never seen any of these webisodes, make sure to check them out at thereem.com

A rumor that beleaguered Dutch-born Morroccan K-1 star Badr Hari had died today in an accident that took place in his African homeland has been laid to rest by reps from It’s Showtime – the promotion he is currently contracted to.

The story began on a thread on a Dutch forum (which has now been taken down) where a disturbing headshot photo reportedly of Badr dead and covered with blood was also posted and the story quickly grew legs and spread amongst the MMA community. Much like a similar rumor that made the rounds about Kimo Leopoldo last July and was picked up by several mainstream sites including CNN and TMZ,  the Hari story was given credence by the fact that nobody could locate the kickboxer.

The rumor was eventually refuted by the tweet above posted on It’s Showtime’s Twitter page.

You can check out the photo that helped propel the story after the jump, but we’ll warn you that it isn’t pretty and it’s obviously someone dead or severely injured. We’ve included a pic of Hari for comparison.

(Props: FoxBroadcasting)

After trying to sit through an episode of American Dad one day, I made a vow to myself that despite my appreciation for Family Guy, I’m pretty much done with Seth MacFarlane side-projects and spin-offs. I’ve never watched The Cleveland Show. I kind of assumed it was just an outlet for all the cringe-worthy racial humor that was left on Family Guy‘s cutting-room floor, and that MacFarlane will eventually create The Joe Swanson Show, so that he can make more jokes about handicapped people. Maybe that’s an unfair bias. I wouldn’t know. 

Anyway, here’s a clip of Quinton "Rampage" Jackson doing a guest turn on The Cleveland Show as an avenging super-slave named Kunta Kinte 9000 who shoots missiles out of his arms. Jackson thinks it’s hilarious. He also thinks this is funny, so take that with a grain of salt.

This Saturday in London, UFC middleweight Michael Bisping will get home-court advantage in his headlining fight against Yoshihiro Akiyama. Bisping is coming off a decision win against Dan Miller at UFC 114, while Akiyama will try to rebound from his submission loss to Chris Leben. Of course, you can’t always predict a fight’s outcome just by looking at recent performances. So let’s go to the stats and see if we can figure this sum’bitch out…

UFC RECORD
Bisping: 9-3
Akiyama: 1-1
Advantage: Bisping

NICKNAME
Bisping: "The Count"
Akiyama: "Sexyama"
Advantage: Akiyama

PERFORMANCE AGAINST COMMON OPPONENTS
Bisping: Defeated Denis Kang via TKO R2, defeated Chris Leben via unanimous decision
Akiyama: Defeated Denis Kang via KO R1, lost to Chris Leben by submission (triangle choke) R3 
Advantage: Bisping

CAN HE SELL OUT AN ARENA WITH A MUSIC CONCERT?
Bisping: No
Akiyama: Yes
Advantage: Akiyama

(Video courtesy YouTube/JoeRogan.net)

In a segment he recorded with K-1 and HDNet commentator, Michael "The Voice" Schiavello for his podcast last week, UFC color analyst, Joe Rogan gave his thoughts on the UFC partnering with other organizations to bring fans the best fights possible.

From a business perspective, Rogan says he can’t see it happening, but from a fan perspective, he says he wishes his employer would just periodically forget about the competition and money for the sake of the sport.

"That’s a big problem to me that there’s all of these organizations. If there was just the UFC, Alistair would fight Brock. But Alistair would not have gotten to become Alistair if it wasn’t for fighting in all of these other organizations. There’s not enough fights in the UFC. There’s not enough shows. There’s only so many shows," Rogan explained. "We need other organizations. I just wish they could fucking figure out a way to work it out so they could get to fight each other. For one night. The problem is, it would have to be..The problem is the UFC is such a much bigger name and they’re worth so much more money and it would lend respectability to Strikeforce and like build up the enemy. You couldn’t really do it, unfortunately, business-wise, but FUUUCK!"

(We’ll always remember the good times we shared. PicProps: Esther Lin/Strikeforce)

Wrestling-and-MMA news guru Dave Meltzer reports this week that wrestling-and-MMA pariah Bobby Lashley is currently mired in contract limbo with Strikeforce. If you want to read Meltzer’s full report, we insist you sign up for a subscription (c’mon, Meltzer seems like a good guy), although the gist is this: Lashley’s contract with Strikeforce has reportedly “expired,” but it still requires a period of “exclusive negotiation” with Scott Coker and his crew. That means the former WWE champ can’t talk directly with any other MMA promotions right now and even after that particular contract stipulation lapses, Strikeforce will have the option of matching offers from other organizations.

However, Lashley’s contract doesn’t prohibit him from negotiating with professional wrestling companies, so if he were inclined to segue back into a world where baby-oiled-fake-bakers routinely slice their own faces open with razorblades, the iron is about as hot as it’s gonna get. In fact, things don’t get really interesting until you read what both Meltzer and SBNation are saying about Lashley’s relationship with Strikeforce right now …

(Video courtesy YouTube/MMA30tv)

When Randy Couture’s manager and lawyer Sam Spira was quoted in an interview last week as saying that Randy may have fought his last battle inside the Octagon, people weren’t buying it, but it looks like "The Natural" is considering retirement from MMA for real this time. 

When asked by MMA30 Radio  host Dave Farra during his show last week whether or not he is going to fight again, Couture hesitated before answering.

"Uh. I don’t know. I’m not sure. I’m not sure what the UFC has in store for me. I’ve been working on trying to find a new movie part recently, but little success there," Couture explained. "So we’ll just kinda wait and see."

I guess Hollywood felt the same about his performance in The Expendables as everyone else.

(Over/under on how many times Joe Rogan will use the word "warrior" during the fight: 27. Photos courtesy of MMAWeekly)

During an appearance on ESPN 1000′s "MMA Tonight" on Sunday, UFC lightweight contender Clay Guida confirmed that he’ll be facing Japanese legend Takanori Gomi at UFC 125 (January 1st, Las Vegas). Guida originally hinted at the matchup last month, when he tweeted that his next fight would be "a big one" against a guy with "ALOT of power in his hands." As the Carpenter told the hosts of MMA Tonight, "[Gomi was] One of my favorite fighters growing up watching MMA…I look up to him, and I’m going to look forward to picking him up off the ground after I ground and pound him into the canvas."

Guida has gone 2-0 this year, scoring submission victories against Shannon Gugerty and Rafael Dos Anjos. Though Gomi was choked out by Kenny Florian in his UFC debut in March, he roared back to relevance with a thunderous knockout of Tyson Griffin at UFC Live: Jones vs. Matyushenko.

The current list of matchups that have been reported for UFC 125 is after the jump…

(Props: CompuStrike via BloodyElbow. Click for larger version.)

Just because there were no major screw-ups during Saturday’s Strikeforce show, doesn’t mean they didn’t get a couple of minor details wrong. Case in point: the CompuStrike numbers that came back after the Diaz vs. Noons main event. Was anybody else shocked to learn that KJ Noons actually outstruck Nick Diaz 310-194, and landed a full 51% of his strikes? It seemed to us that Diaz was controlling the standup exchanges pretty clearly. As it turns out, CompuStrike incorrectly reported the strike totals from the fight, due to a "glitch" in their system; the real totals are above. There, now you can rest easily knowing that the decision was fair and your eyes did not deceive you.

Now, moving onto judging errors…

(Anybody can do a punchface. That’s kid stuff. PicProps: Strikeforce)

That’s about as good as Strikeforce can do it, right there. America’s bridesmaid MMA promotion – typically cited for ineptness more than greatness – put on its best show in some time on Saturday night in San Jose. Nick Diaz and KJ Noons slogged through an exciting, if a bit repetitive, five-round main event that left Noons with a broken jaw and hand and Diaz bloodied, but still clinging to his welterweight title. The homies even looked like true homies after the final horn, hugging it out at the center of the cage. Meanwhile, Marloes Coenen appeared tall and capable in taking the women’s 135-pound belt off Sarah Kaufman, while Josh Thomson slipped by JZ Cavalcante, but once again proved that his main, main thing is making declarative statements and calling fools out.

Did the quality of the broadcast still leave a lot to be desired? Sure, Jim Ross, it always does. But at this point we’re focusing on the positives. Like the bitch mom from “American Beauty” we feel like grabbing Strikeforce by its rosy cheeks this morning and announcing: “You didn’t even screw up once!” Now on to the particulars.

(Ah, memories. PicProps: MMA Weekly)

The Diaz and Noons clans renew their Hatfield vs. McCoy-style family feud tonight in the Strikeforce cage. We all know what happened last time. A lot has changed in the three years since doctors stepped in to award Karl James Jr. a first-round victory over Nickolas Robert in EliteXC. In the wake of that fight, one guy opted to let surgeons fix his face. The other guy got called “luckier than a dog with two peckers.” The weirdo 160-pound strap they fought over in EliteXC doesn’t even exist anymore. Perhaps most importantly, homies everywhere have been reminded not to be scared. Kind of makes you shudder to think what might happen in the rematch, huh?

The live blog begins at 10 p.m. EST. Be sure to hit refresh early and often to stay abreast of the latest updates.

(VidProps: YouTube/Heyman Hustle)

Even though it probably committed its welterweight champion to the wrong grudge match, Strikeforce has managed to cobble together a decent little card for its Showtime broadcast tonight. Nick Diaz’s main event bout with KJ Noons could be the kind of brawlalicous slugfest that MMA fans always say we don’t see enough. Couple that with Sarah Kaufman finally getting the chance to fight on a “major” show and Josh Thomson battling Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante for the respect he believes they so richly deserve, and it should be a pretty good time. So why do I feel so concerned? Maybe because there are a few storylines running just below the surface that we as MMA fans should find a bit disquieting. Here’s a look at them … 
 

 
(Video courtesy YouTube/ClinchGear)

- Daniel Puder plans to stop gay bullying (TMZ)

- Rebecca Butcher pole dancing auditions (doubleviking)

– Sexyama talks training with Greg Jackson (mmafighting)

- Silva vs. Belfort official for UFC 126 (tatame)

- Jacare wants to fight for the UFC (fightersonly)

– War just got a lot more interesting: Self-aiming sniper rifle (mademan)

– 10 ridiculously racist remarks from sports personalities (break)

– Is Nate Diaz being punished for his remarks? (bleacherreport)

– NCIS actress Daniela Ruah (screenjunkies)

- Bellator 34 card is set (mmajunkie)

– 25 bizarrely humiliating photos of Hitler (holytaco)

– KahL One’s M-1 Global Americas Finals video (thegarv)

- Coker says SF-CBS relationship is good, despite no shows or talks in six months; says they will meet in the first quarter of 2011 (sherdog)

The icy glares of Nick Diaz and KJ Noons that have been haunting the top of our homepage all day should serve as a firm reminder — Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Noons II goes down tomorrow night on Showtime, starting at 10 p.m. Be sure to come back tomorrow for round-by-round results in our liveblog. In the meantime, check out the final thoughts from a few of the main card players in these clips from strikeforcefilms.

Above: Marloes Coenen and Sarah Kaufman discuss their 135-pound title scrap. 135 is an unfamiliar weight class for Coenen, but she’s had no problem with the cut, and as you can see during the face-off at the end, she’ll be carrying a serious height advantage.

After the jump: KJ Noons talks about his own trip to a new weight class, and his appreciation of Diaz’s style. Nick Diaz gives him props for taking the rematch, and suggests that he might not have been motivated in their first fight, due to Noons’s lack of name-value. ("I’d rather fight Fedor, y’know?") Then, some genius reporter asks Nick if he’s going to jump ship to the UFC, with Scott Coker sitting right next to him. Ouch. Also, Tyron Woodley breaks down his matchup with Andre Galvao and talks about his development in the sport.

(They may be in for a shock to learn that horse meat isn’t available in Cali.)

CagePotato.com was informed last night by the head of Team Golden Glory, Bas Boon, that the revered Dutch fight camp will be opening up a satellite location in Huntington Beach,  California, likely by the end of the year.

According to Boon, the gym will be run by Carlo Dekkers, the brother of retired Golden Glory champion kickboxer and current trainer, Ramon Dekkers and it will act as the base for training camps of team members who will be fighting in North America similar to the one they set up in Pattaya, Thailand for fighters readying to compete in Asia. 

Boon says that several of Golden Glory’s revered trainers like Cor Hemmers and himself and star fighters such as Alistair Overeem, Semmy Schilt, Sergei Kharitonov, Siyar Bahadurzada and Marloes Coenen will make the California facility a regular destination, adding that the team will also be recruiting American fighters through the gym. 

A date for the gym’s opening has not been set, but Boon said it will likely be announced soon when the logistics are finalized.

("No, *you’re* No. 1!" PicProps: Sherdog)

Here’s one thing we bet you didn’t see coming at Thursday’s Strikeforce press conference: Former lightweight champion Josh Thomson took some time out of his busy schedule getting ready to fight Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante on Saturday to kick a little sand in the totally undeserving face of WEC champ Ben Henderson.

"I think it’s a joke that you guys have guys like Ben Henderson ranked above guys like JZ," Thomson said. "You guys got to be freaking kidding me. This kid (JZ) is a beast. The guy’s a great fighter … Are you kidding me? Really? You guys have a guy named Ben Henderson ranked above this guy? You guys are out of your mind. This guy’s a savage.”

OK first, it’s great that Thomson and Cavalcante respect each other and all that.  Second, let’s be clear about our semantics here, Thomson appears to be calling out the mavens of various MMA rankings, not Henderson himself. Still, if you’ve got beef with the rankings, why mention Bendo at all? For a vet like Thomson to take a shot at an up-and-comer like Henderson feels weird and frankly, a little unseemly.

(Video courtesy YouTube/DimeMagazine)

If you aren’t on the cusp of sports fashion like we are, you probably haven’t heard the news that Strikeforce commentator Gus Johnson has recently started his own clothing line, called "Rise and Fire," after the football and basketball play-by-play man’s oft-used signature catchphrase.

In the video above, GuJo talks about why he started the company and his aspirations to make Rise and Fire the next FuBu or Roca Wear.

Somehow, with designs like this one that looks like it was lifted from a Santa Cruz skateboard, we have our doubts.

Since Gus is our homie who sometimes calls us late at night to discuss his work problems, we thought we’d offer him a few design suggestions that would appeal to the MMA crowd.

Check them out after the jump.

(Photoprops: J-Dog)

On last night’s episode of ESPN’s "MMA Live", co-host Kenny Florian revealed that his next fight is close to finalized. As the two-time lightweight title contender said, "We’ve verbally agreed to fight Evan Dunham, which is great news. Phenomenal opponent, which I’m very excited about, and it looks like it may happen on Super Bowl weekend." 

Ken-Flo is coming off of his unanimous decision loss to Gray Maynard at UFC 118, while Dunham — previously #7 on our increasingly-buckshot list of the 10 greatest undefeated fighters in MMA — recently left it in the hands of the judges at UFC 119, losing a decision to Sean Sherk that Dana White publicly called a robbery. As we wrote then, "it will be interesting to see if the UFC simply ignores the amazing incompetence of the ringside officials on Saturday night and keeps the kid full-speed-ahead on his rise to a title shot." Even though Florian is coming off his own loss, the matchup definitely feels like a well-deserved step up the ladder for Dunham.

It’s also another potentially sick addition to UFC 127 (February 5th, Las Vegas), an event that may feature Silva vs. Belfort, Jones vs. Bader, and Griffin vs. Franklin. Now that we think about it, a Florian vs. Sherk rematch would have made just as much sense here. Your thoughts?

(Props: twitter.com/tikighosn)

UPDATE: The pics are right here! Unfortunately, we were asked to take the pics down, so that’s that. Feel free to mourn in the comments section. 

About five hours ago, Rampage Jackson entourage-member Tiki Ghosn tweeted the above photo of himself posing with — dare we say it out loud? — the new Arianny Celeste issue of Playboy. As he wrote: "Hey @nicolerichie fuck J-Lo I’d rather go home and rub one out to @AriannyCeleste !!!!" 

Tiki hasn’t been heard from since, suggesting that Arianny‘s pictorial may have literally killed him. You know what this means? The issue is out there, people. It exists, and it’s available for purchase. Potato Nation Street Team, ASSEMBLE! We need you guys to check every convenience store, bookstore, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse, and doghouse in your area until you find this issue. You will then purchase it, scan the photos from Arianny Celeste’s pictorial, and send them to contest@cagepotato.com so that we can post them here. We will reward your efforts to the best of our ability.

Go get ‘em.