(Junior’s ‘Hypnotic Polo Shirt of Brazilian Dominance’ just pissed all over the GSoAV‘s face, son.)

Like the Hope Diamond and James Dean’s Porsche 550 Spyder, the UFC’s heavyweight championship belt is a cursed object, bringing only misery to those who come in contact with it. Winning the title has resulted in immediate misfortune for Frank Mir (career-threatening motorcycle accident), Josh Barnett (steroid bust), Tim Sylvia (another steroid bust), Bas Rutten (training injuries leading to a seven-year retirement), Randy Couture (two separate contract disputes that caused him to leave the organization), and Brock Lesnar (goddamned Canadians). No heavyweight in the UFC’s history has ever been able to defend the belt more than twice consecutively, and the title has been defended an average of just 1.25 times per year for the last four years.

The Curse of the Belt struck again, right on schedule, when Cain Velasquez suffered a shoulder injury just two months after taking the belt off of Lesnar, and won’t be back in action for 6-8 months. If you ask us, Junior Dos Santos dodged a bullet, since he won’t have to go near that hoodoo-ridden talisman until late next year. But despite all the bad omens, JDS is pissed that his title shot has been delayed, and blames Velasquez himself. Here’s what Cigano had to say in a recent interview with portal Vale Tudo:

Just a friendly reminder that you can blow off a couple hours of work or time with your family on this New Year’s Eve day by watching the UFC 125 fan Q&A with UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez at 3:00 pm ET followed by the weigh-ins at 5:00.

Cross your fingers that someone asks Cain what he thinks about Junior Dos Santos questioning the legitimacy of his torn rotator cuff injury. We might actually get to see "Sugar" Cain (as he’s known by at AKA) show some emotion for once if they do.

Hopefully you all have more planned for tonight than sitting in your underwear and CP shirt watching K-1 Dynamite!! videos from last night, eating cold pizza and drinking beer. *Apparently* that’s not a cool way to ring in New Year’s. Women…

Anyway, as always, the UFC media player is after the jump.

Happy New Year’s, Potato Nation.

(Those hats that make it look like you have an arrow through your head? Comedy gold. Somehow, the same principle does not apply to the AK-47. PicProps: BrasilCombate.com)

Well, it’s not every day that both guys decide they’d rather not fight. That however seems to be the case with Mike Swick’s scheduled comeback fight against David Mitchell at the UFC’s “Fight for the Troops” event on Jan. 22 in Ford Hood, Tex. Swick, who has not fought since February, announced on his Facebook page recently that Mitchell was out with an injury (a shoulder, people are saying) and said that his own ongoing medical issues made the best option for the former “TUF 1” contestant to sit this one out too, rather than accept a replacement opponent. He sounded more relieved about it than anything else, if you want to know the truth. Here’s the original message from Swick himself, consider all his quotes in this story fully sic’d: 

"Not fighting on January 22nd," the fighter wrote. "I got the call yesterday that David Mitchell backed out due to an injury and considering my current situation we opted to put off the fight all together."

(Alistair Overeem vs. Todd Duffee. Fight starts at the 3:41 mark and ends 19 seconds later. Good night Ireeeene.)

Full results from today’s New Year’s Eve event in Saitama, Japan, are after the jump, along with a few must-see videos courtesy of ZP420MMA. Note: Bob Sapp apparently backed out of his IGF slap-fight-rules bout with Shinichi Suzukawa at the last minute.

("This big horsemeat-eating motherf*cker is next.")

There’s been a veritable orgy of UFC fight-bookings happening over the last couple days, and we might as well throw them all at you in one lump sum. We’ll start with one that might not be the biggest of the bunch, but definitely struck us as the strangest…

Jim Miller vs. Kamal Shalorus - UFC 128:
When Dana White proclaimed that Miller’s impressive kneebar submission win over Charles Oliveira at UFC 124 put him in the mix of  lightweight contenders, nobody figured that would mean that he’d be paired with an Octagon newcomer in his next bout. But this is the UFC, and sometimes the organization’s MMA math just doesn’t make a hell of a lot of sense. The Sparta, New Jersey native will attempt to increase his winning streak to seven when he takes on  (7-0-2) WEC veteran Shalorus at UFC 128 in his backyard in New Jersey.

Dan Miller vs. David Branch - UFC 128:
Considering that his brother is on the card and they can save on cornermen hotel rooms and plane tickets, it’s a no-brainer that the UFC would have another local fighter like Miller on the card for UFC 128. The fact that they now have to pay Chuck Liddell’s seven-figure salary,  bar and strip club tabs has not been lost on the accounting department who have undoubtedly suggested some cost cutting measures that will be implemented in 2011. Wait until you see the beat-up budget ex-strippers they bring in to replace Arianny and Chandella.

Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic vs. Brendan Schaub – UFC 128:
It turned out that reports earlier this week that a rumored bout between Schaub and Stephan Struve had been verbally agreed to by both fighters were incorrect. Instead, Schaub will look to climb over former PRIDE wrecking machine, Cro Cop on his way to a top five opponent in 2011.

Filipovic will attempt to prolong his rapidly shortening career by defeating the up-and-coming fighter who is riding a three-fight winning streak which includes a "W" over Gabriel Gonzaga — the last man to put Cro Cop to sleep prior to Frank Mir turning his lights out in his last outing at UFC 119.

 
FEG announced last night during the weigh-ins for this morning’s Dynamite!! show that the impromptu heavyweight match-up between testosterone deficient UFC castaway Todd Duffee and 2010 K-1 OWGP winner and Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem will be for the interim heavyweight belt.

Not sure why it’s for the "interim" strap considering DREAM has never had a heavyweight title holder unless of course they’re planning on putting together a heavyweight tournament in 2011. Whatever the reason, it’s pretty crazy to think that Duffee could experience a career-changing moment a la Fabricio Werdum *if* he can pull off the impossible and beat Overeem.

If that happens, expect Scott Coker to be put on suicide watch after receiving multiple "LOL!" texts from Dana White.

(Taisuke Okuno vs. Ryo Chonan. Fight starts at the 1:30 mark. Props: DJSexStyle via MiddleEasy)

Some highlights from today’s stoppage-heavy Sengoku show. Above, Ryo Chonan gets put to bed in just 19 seconds. After the jump: The brief but ferocious slugfest between Yoshiro Maeda and Masanori Kanehara, which ended in an unfortunate early stoppage, and the welterweight GP final match between Keita Nakamura and Yasubey Enomoto.

(Video courtesy Vimeo/MMANews.se)

Our Swedish friends from MMANews.se caught up with Chuck Liddell following the UFC’s announcement yesterday that "The Iceman" retired and effective immediately would be taking on the role of Executive Vice President of Business Development with Zuffa LLC and it seems that the former UFC light heavyweight champion is unsure about what his job will entail.

Chuck attempted to explain his role as diplomatically as he could from what little details he had been given about the job, but the iconic UFC fighter admitted he wasn’t quite sure what he would be doing from day to day.

"Well, we’re gonna get more into the details of it, but it’s business development, so I’m gonna be working with all the new projects and different things trying to help and promote the sport and the UFC. I’m gonna be doing that. I need something. I’m competitive and I need something to keep me driven. I need something to go after and do. I think this is probably the best way that I can keep continuing to grow the sport."

(Antonio McKee, pictured here with the script he soon plans to flip. PicProps: amam-magazine.com)

Got to admit, when we brought you the news earlier this week that leading up to his UFC debut on Saturday Antonio McKee was comparing himself to Muhammad Ali, Don King and Tupac, we pretty much assumed our McKee reporting duties were done for the year. No dice, P-Nation. Lo and behold, not three days later McKee is back in an interview with Old Dad at MMA Fighting that strikes us as even crazier than the one before. During this latest conversation with Our Former Ben, McKee adopts a strategy of making a point, then immediately contradicting himself all while tossing in the prerequisite insane claims about his own greatness and occasionally referring to himself in the third person. Seriously, when you go third person and it starts looking like you might actually have a split personality? Shit is disconcerting.

In the course of this interview, McKee pretty well talks himself in circles, among other things contending that: Upcoming opponent Jacob Volkmann is either a really tough dude or just some poor sap he’s about to run out of the UFC; now that he’s scored a four-fight deal in the Octagon he’ll either go back to his conservative, decision-oriented game planning or he’ll keep busting heads as quickly as possible; and he’s still morally opposed to hurting his opponents, but will totally do it if the money’s right.

A few things McKee is unwavering about, though: He’ll be UFC lightweight champion by the end of 2011, at 40 years old age won’t be a problem because he’s “made from better stuff than Randy (Couture)” and he thinks MMA fans are barbaric and distasteful. C’mon, follow the jump to find out what a disgusting animal you are.

(Video courtesy YouTube/Heavy)

Heavy.com’s Megan Olivi yesterday got out of Dana White the magic equation that we’ve all been trying to figure out: the method behind the madness of Zuffa’s firing formula.

According to the UFC president, who was asked whether or not Brandon Vera was on the bubble if he loses against Thiago Silva Saturday night at UFC 125, job security in the Octagon isn’t necessarily contingent on wins and losses.

"It’s a big fight for him, no doubt, and it’s a big fight for Thiago. Nobody wants to be in this sport and lose. Everybody wants to win. People always ask me, ‘Is this a do or die for this guy?’ Everybody’s gonna lose here and there. All I ask from guys is that you come out and you perform on Saturday night. I can’t stand the guys who come out and talk all the smack, ‘I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna do that," and then go out and they don’t do anything," White explains. "Those are the guys who are gonna get cut. The guys that stick around are the guys that go out and perform. I don’t see how [the Vera-Silva] fight isn’t a great fight. Brandon’s head is back, he’s very talented, well-rounded and Thiago Silva comes in to finish people."

(Video courtesy of GSPRUSHFIT. Props to our bud Brian D’Souza for the tip.)

One way or another, we all want Georges St. Pierre‘s body. (*cough*) So it was just a matter of time until GSP recognized the opportunity and put together his own home workout DVD series with trainer Erik Owings — conveniently released in December to hook as many pudgy New Year’s resolution-makers as possible.

But St. Pierre’s new RUSHFIT series is no Situation-style cash-in. The eight-week, 45-minute-per-day program focuses on high-intensity circuit training, with a nutritional component to go along with the workouts. In other words, it actually looks like it would produce results, assuming you have the motivation to stick with it. (Full disclosure: You don’t.) And all you need is a couple of dumb-bells and your own ever-increasing bodyweight.

You can order the RUSHFIT DVD set at gsprushfit.com for $60-$70. After the jump: A couple more preview clips, and some crucial information from the website’s FAQ…

("A bunch of dudes got knocked dead this morning! Yaaaaaaaay!" / Photo courtesy of src-official.com)

Spoilers after the jump to protect your delicate feelings. Click through for full fight results and a rundown of some notable moments from today’s World Victory Road: Soul of Fight event at the Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo. Videos to come.

("Two can play at this Mexican voodoo bullshit.")

According to a report by MMAFighting’s Mike Chiappetta, recently-crowned UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez has sustained a shoulder injury that will prevent him from training and competing for the next six to eight months.

The story was confirmed by Dana White, although the UFC president would not say how Velasquez, who won the title two months ago by defeating Brock Lesnar at UFC 121, sustained the injury or whether or not it would require surgery to repair. White says he is optimistic that the Mexican-American fighter will be able to return by summer to face number one contender Junior Dos Santos who has been promised the first crack at the new champion and has been in holding pattern waiting for his shot since August after he earned his shot by beating Roy Nelson at UFC 117.

Although a date for the heavyweight bout had not yet been confirmed prior to Velasquez’s injury, the clash was rumored to be penciled in for some this spring.

("Well boys, it’s been fun, but I have some partying to do. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it." Pic props: Adam Fogarty)

It looks like Chuck Liddell’s retirement didn’t last long.

At today’s press conference for UFC 125 today, UFC president Dana White announced that Liddell was officially done with fighting and that effective immediately, the mohawked former fighter will be taking on the role of executive vice president of business development for the Vegas-based promotion.

When a fan requested a hug from and a photo with Liddell at the presser, White obliged, quipping that the embrace would be Chuck’s first official duty in his new role. Somehow, I don’t think that "The Iceman" will be doing a hell of a lot more than handshakes and photo-ops, which wouldn’t be a bad thing for the organization as he has arguably become the most recognizable fighter in the world and the face of the Zuffa-owned incarnation of the UFC similar to how Colonel Sanders did with KFC and Ronald McDonald did with McDonald’s.

White gave few details about what the role will entail and Liddell made only a brief acceptance/retirement speech in which he thanked the fans for their support and White and UFC owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta for ensuring that he has an active role in the company that he helped cross over to the mainstream.

(Marlon Sandro shows off a kick he’s been working on called the ‘Flying Photoshop Material.’ Props: Sherdog)

Tomorrow’s year-ending Sengoku event in Tokyo may be short on gross mismatches, public executions, gender/rule-bending stunt fights, and Bob Sapp, but the card makes up for it in matches that are actually competitive and relevant. "Soul of Fight" will present a staggering 28 bouts of MMA and kickboxing; you can check out the full lineup at the end of this post. HDNet will be airing the bouts in a two-part series on January 14th and 21st, but we’ll try to post videos of the best fights as soon as we can. Here’s a few you might be seeing…  

Marlon Sandro vs. Hatsu Hioki (for Sengoku Featherweight Championship)
Soul of Fight’s main event is easily the most important featherweight bout possible outside of the WEC. Since debuting in Sengoku last March, reigning champion Marlon Sandro has become one of the most vicious knockout artists in all of MMA, dispatching his last three opponents in a combined fight time of 3:20. In his last fight, the Nova Uniao standout starched Masanori Kanehara in 38 seconds to win World Victory Road’s featherweight strap. Hioki, who is the reigning 143-pound champ of Shooto, might be the last elite-level challenge that Sandro will find in Japan, and brings an Aoki-esque grappling style that’s as creative as it is aggressive.

(Video courtesy YouTube/lookoutawhale)

If lookoutawhale doesn’t do video editing for a living, he has to be one of the best weekend warriors out there making MMA-themed comedy classics. His Knee to Crotch Party, GSP is Not Impressed at Awards and the History of the Nipple Tweak videos are must sees.

In honor of K-1′s surprise announcement that Todd Duffee will be taking on K-1 OWGP winner and Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem, Whale put together this sweet little Sega Genesis Mortal Combat throwback that should help make it a bit easier for you to trudge through hump day.

(Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Buddy movie! PicProps: SportsAgentBlog)

A whole new year, a whole new Brockwatch. After spending part of 2009-10 waiting with bated breath to see if Brock Lesnar’s body would eat itself from the inside out, it now appears that we’ll at least begin 2011 wondering aloud if the notoriously fickle slab of beef will ever fight in the UFC again. Initial reports do not look good. Company President Dana White all but admitted he had no idea what was going on with Brock a couple weeks back and the latest news from wrestling guru Dave Meltzer indicates that Lesnar hasn’t been returning the boss’ phone calls and maybe hasn’t trained a single day since that soul-crushing beatdown by Cain Velasquez at UFC 121 brought “Brocktober” to a screeching halt a week early.

The smug indignation is thick in the air of the blogodome right now, friends. Frankly, it seems like the MMA world can’t fucking wait to stick a fork in the moldering corpse of Lesnar’s legitimate fighting career and declare him the most overhyped, overly-muscled windbag since, well, Kimbo Slice. Clearly, we are all taking unseemly, but totally understandable glee in the idea that he might turn tail and slink back to professional wrestling after getting his ass handed to him by Velasquez. C’mon though, obviously nobody (except maybe Sable) likes Brock Lesnar, but the sober realist in us has to ask: Aren’t we getting a little bit ahead of ourselves here?

(When he isn’t fighting, you can find Jimmo at a Karaoke bar.)

Arguably Canada’s top light-heavyweight fighter, Ryan “The Big Deal” Jimmo raised eyebrows when he turned down an MFC title bout against promotional newcomer Glover Texeira earlier this year because he felt that the Brazilian hadn’t done enough to earn a the opportunity to fight for the strap. Jimmo had to win seven fights in the MFC to be considered for a shot, and figured that anyone else he would have to fight for the belt should have to at least win one fight under the organization’s banner to earn the same..

His decision was met with an even split of support and opposition, but the St. John, New Brunswick native stood by his convictions and was eventually offered another shot at the title vacated by Trevor Prangley against MFC veteran, Dwayne Lewis at MFC 28 on February 25.

If you’re unfamiliar with Jimmo, you likely won’t be for long as 2011 promises to be a breakout year for the two-time Pan-Am medalist and four-time Canadian national karate champion who is riding a 13-fight win streak into his bout with Lewis – a fighter he defeated by decision three years ago.

In 2008 he appeared on the first episode of The Ultimate Fighter 8, but lost a very close majority decision to Antwain Britt and was sent home.

Since then he switched camps and moved from Nova Scotia to Edmonton where he joined the Hayabusa Fight Team, becoming a more well rounded fighter as a result of his hard work, diverse training partners and methods.

Ryan has offered to give the Potato Nation and inside look at his training and thoughts heading into his fight in February and as such he will be doing an exclusive training camp blog for us every week for the next eight weeks leading up to MFC 28.

Check out his first entry after the jump.

Good news, perverts: Playboy legend Holly Madison will be taking another lap around the Octagon on New Year’s Day. UFC.com has revealed that the Girls Next Door/Holly’s World star will be returning as a guest Octagon Girl at UFC 125, for the first time since her head-turning appearance at UFC 100. UFC 125 will also see the official UFC debut of beloved WEC card-holder Brittney Palmer. (Damn, and just when I made a New Year’s resolution to not creepily stare at women so much. Ah well, there’s always 2012.) To see more of Miss Madison, check out our photo galleries at the links below…

- ‘Girl Next Door’ Holly Madison to Appear as Guest Octagon Girl at UFC 100
- Hot Potato: Holly Madison Steams Up UFC Magazine

(That shouldn’t be a problem, Todd. Photo courtesy of MMAFighting)

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…

- Helwani VS Dundas: UFC 125 Edition (Versus MMA Beat)

- Our Top UFC Photos of 2010 (MMA Fighting)

- Tim Sylvia replacing Todd Duffee at Titan Fighting Championships 16 (Five Ounces of Pain)

- The Best of Japanese MMA in 2010 (MMA Scraps)

- Brock Lesnar Looking For A Way Out Of MMA And Back To Pro-Wrestling? (SBNation.com/MMA)

- Sean McCorkle Returns Against Christian Morecraft at Fight Night 24 (Heavy.com/MMA)

- Pat Miletich Has Sold His Miletich Fighting Systems Gym (MiddleEasy)

- Exclusive Interview: Daniel Gracie talks Bellator, Georges St. Pierre and Frankie Edgar (LowKick)

- Dana White’s UFC 125 Video Blog, Part 1 (MMA Convert)

- Behind the Lens: Rich Franklin (FightMagazine)

("Say, ‘DANA!’")

Strikeforce announced today that welterweight champion and Gracie jiu-jitsu black belt Nick Diaz (23-7, 1 NC) has signed a new multi-year, multi-fight deal with the San Jose, California-based promotion.

Details of deal, including the duration and whether or not the contract is non-exclusive were not released, but with the signing Diaz put to bed rumors that he was angling for a return to the UFC to compete alongside his Team Cesar Gracie teammate Jake Shields when his Strikeforce contract ran out.

“I’m looking forward to continuing my career with Strikeforce,” said the 27-year-old Stockton native. “When I first got here, there weren’t a lot of great 170-pound fighters for me to fight, but that’s definitely changed. There’s a lot of really good fighters in the division now and I’m ready to fight anyone who thinks they can beat me.”

8-0 in his past eight fights, Diaz has only lost one fight in the past two years, which was a result of a stoppage due to a cut he sustained in his first bout with KJ Noons at Elite XC: Renegade in 2007. He was released by the UFC following back-to-back wins over Josh Neer and Gleison Tibau in his last two Octagon appearances.

(It looks like child and actor labor laws finally bit Zuffa in the ass.)

What a difference a year can make in the life of a fighter.

In the past 365 days, Chris Horodecki (16-3)  rebounded from his WEC highlight reel knockout loss to Anthony Njokuani to win two in a row against Danny Downes and Ed Ratcliffe. The wins earned the former IFL posterboy a step up in competition — namely former number one WEC lightweight contender Donald Cerrone.

Following a disappointing showing against "Cowboy" earlier this month, "The Polish Hammer" has now been dropped by Zuffa and will not be joining his Team Tompkins stablemate Sam Stout in the UFC as part of the WEC merger. 

"One door closes and another one opens," the 23-year-old Canadian told MMAjunkie today. "I’ll be back sooner than later. [I'll] get back in it. We’ll get a couple fights and do what we do."

Joining Horodecki on the unemployment line to start 2011 will be former WEC lightweight champ Jamie Varner (16-5, 2NC) who was also dropped by the Vegas-based promotion today following his less-than-stellar compilation of three losses and one draw in 2010.

(Props: clearwatertopteam via ‘grenade’ on the UG)

Say what you will about his well-documented insanity and love of getting arrested. You can’t deny that Charles "Krazy Horse/Kid Kaos" Bennett is a creative juggernaut who was using the cage to his advantage long before Anthony Pettis was picking up Breakthrough Fighter of the Year accolades. Here’s a highlight from one of Bennett’s old King of the Cage bouts where he defends an armbar by picking up his opponent and giant-swinging him into the cage. Now that you’re in the mood, we’ve compiled five more classic Krazy Horse moments after the jump. Shine on, you crazy diamond.

(Forget money and fame – Phil was fighting back when the prize was a weird trophy and a semi-attractive Japanese chick. / Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

When we learned that the match between UFC veteran Phil Baroni and 23-year-old prospect Brad Tavares would indeed be aired before the UFC 125 pay-per-view broadcast this Saturday, it reminded me of our last chat with the New York Bad Ass on episode 11.1 of the Bum Rush Radio Show. Baroni has reached that point in his career where youngsters are trying to make their names off of him, and he has to beat them if he wants his own name to retain its value. I asked Phil if he felt like the last in a bygone generation of fighters, considering that so many of his rivals are no longer competing. And I thought his response was worth sharing again…

("Sorry about the fit, Frankie. We had it ready to go for BJ to wear home.")

You would think that at the very least, besides winning the UFC 155-pound strap, beating continual top five lightweight BJ Penn twice would raise Frankie Edgar’s stock in the eyes of oddsmakers.

Apparently they just can’t seem to get past the UFN 13 loss the UFC lightweight champ suffered against Gray Maynard and it seems that the only thing that will erase the blemish from his record would be for the Toms River, New Jersey native to beat the only man to ever beat him.

He’ll get his chance Saturday night at UFC 125 in Las Vegas as he attempts to retain his belt in his second title defense, but the 5’6" perennial underdog says he isn’t put off by the fact that he’s rarely the favorite and that Maynard is the odds-on fighter to walk away with the belt this weekend.

“[Being the underdog has] been working good for me, so why change it?" Edgar recently asked the hosts of MMAWeekly Radio. "I’m assuming sooner or later I’ll not be the underdog, but I’ll take it. It makes sense [that Gray is the favorite]. Heads-up he beat me, so he should be the favorite.”

(The hypogonadism is spreading like wildfire. PicProps: MMAClothingTrends)

So, we forgive you if you didn’t spend 2010 following Ricco Rodriguez’s career with the rapt and breathless attention you reserve for ex-UFC champs like, say, Tim Sylvia. If you’re just a youngling and/or aren’t a huge fan of Dr. Drew’s Celebrity Rehab then it’s also sort of understandable if you read that headline and were like, “Ricco who?” (Seriously though kid, UFC 39, check it out sometime) In any case, you’ll have to excuse the rest us oldsters if we pause from massaging Tiger Balm into our arthritic hip and raise one hoary eyebrow at reports out this week that the former 265-pound-titlist-turned-tragic-cautionary-tale might be on the verge of returning to the UFC.

MMA Weekly got the water boiling with an interview published on Christmas Eve and on Monday Five Ounces of Pain inserted the standard “learned from a source close to the fighter” qualification to the story that Rodriguez has been "negotiating" with our Octagon Overlords about a brand new three-fight, six-figure deal. To this we say: Huh. Weird.

(Video courtesy YouTube/clearwatertopteam)

Usually when a fighter or his management put out a highlight reel or a mini-documentary that they have the final say in producing, the final product is equal parts bias, hype and bullshit. There are exceptions of course, but nine times out of ten the best videos come from passionate fans who have no vested interest in the fighter, besides being entertained by them.

The Minowaman video above is no exception.

If you aren’t familiar with the story of "The Giant Killer," Ikuhisa Minowa is a Japanese fighter who began his career with a dismal record of one win in his first ten fights before turning things around and becoming one of Asia’s biggest MMA stars.

(Images via MiddleEasy)

A year after Zuffa banned Hoelzer Reich as a fighter sponsor due to their uncomfortably Nazi-ish t-shirt designs, another apparel company is under scrutiny for a potentially offensive symbol. As first spotted by WRESTLENOW on the UG, Clay Guida appeared in a recent Fight! Magazine video wearing a Silver Star shirt featuring a totenkopf. Translated to "skull of a dead man," the totenkopf symbol has been used in the German military since the Prussian army of the 18th century, but it is most closely associated with the Nazi SS – especially the particular version shown above, in which the totenkopf is shown in half-profile – and is currently favored by Neo-Nazis. 

 
(Marcus Davis and Ion: A match made in…convenience?)

Less than a week before UFC 125 goes down in Las Vegas, UFC president Dana White has revealed that there will be a "Prelims" broadcast before the pay-per-view card – good news, since it’s one of the most interesting undercards in recent memory. But it won’t be aired on Spike TV. For the first time, the UFC will put a broadcast on Ion Television, which is apparently cause for celebration, even though we only had a vague knowledge of the channel’s existence until this morning. Said Dana White: "These guys are considered a network. The FCC calls them a network. This is the first time we’ve ever been on network television, and the prelims are going to be aired. It’s a big deal. It’s in over 100 million homes."

Three fights will be scheduled for the broadcast – Marcus Davis vs. Jeremy Stephens, Josh Grispi vs. Dustin Poirier, and Phil Baroni vs. Brad Tavares – which is unprecedented in itself. "The prelims we do air, there’s only supposed to be two," White said. "Time-wise, it’s impossible to pull off three if they all go to the distance. I’m going to roll the dice on this thing. Not only are we going to bring the prelims to the fans, but everybody has been hammering me for the Phil Baroni-Brad Tavares fight, so I’m going to do three fights. I’m going to give them that fight, too."

UFC Ultimate Insider: Best of Unguarded – Watch more Funny Videos

If you want to see the best segment of the UFC’s Ultimate Insider series, you fast forward to the "Unguarded" portion of the show which features fighter interviews conducted by the UFC’s best kept secret, a behind-the scenes interviewer named Elizabeth who’s putting Ariel Helwani on notice.

Fortunately for those of you who don’t want to have to go through each episode they missed, the fine folks at the UFC took the time  to splice together the highlights from the season in the 13-minute video above that includes Randy Couture retelling the story of his first ass-kicking,  Josh Koscheck recalling how he "became" a dick, Carlos Condit talking about why he became a fighter and Dan Hardy explaining that he doesn’t like getting punched in the face.