("I’m actually going to use these shorts to brew tea with this afternoon.")

If you’re like us, you sometimes stand while waiting for your coffee at Starbucks or or at the urinal of an all you can eat crab shack and ponder things like, "Why can’t CagePotato have a TV show" and "Whatever happened to Luke Cummo?"

Since PBS isn’t big on our brand of humor, the television thing likely won’t happen any time in the near future, but we can give you the 411 on Cummo.

Apparently the pre-Machida-era pee drinking fighter from TUF 2 retired without telling anyone and is planning on launching an organic fight clothing line.

"Yeah, [I retired]. I have a bum knee from when I was fifteen. Excess weight caused a bulge in the meniscus and the surgeon convinced my mom to get it cut out. That’s not an excuse," the 3-4 UFC veteran told MMASucka recently. "I feel unbelievably fortunate to have been in the cage and made it out. If I was a gladiator, I would still be alive to tell the tale… like before my last fight when the photographer took my picture right before walking out into the arena. The flash burned a circle into my vision and it didn’t go away for a while."

In case you’re wondering if the new age nutrition buff still enjoys things like coffee enemas and drinking his own piss, well as they say "old habits never change." Apparently though,  they do evolve into something stranger and more disgusting.

(It’s the kind of moment that makes you wish competitive judo used the same commentator as NBA Jam. Photoprops: AlumniRoundup.com)

Rhadi Ferguson — four-time Judo national champion, 2004 Olympic Judo competitor, BJJ black belt, American Top Team strength-and-conditioning coach, Doctor of education, and cousin of Kimbo Slice — is about to make his televised MMA debut. After picking up two first-round TKO victories this year in southern regional leagues, Ferguson has been signed to the Strikeforce light-heavyweight roster, and will make his first appearance on the main card of Strikeforce Challengers: Woodley vs. Saffiedine, January 7th in Nashville. His opponent will be 1-0 Canadian rookie Ion Cherdivara, whose list of credentials isn’t nearly as long as Dr. Rhadi’s.

In case you’ve been wondering, we haven’t abandoned the live, interactive editions of The Bum Rush, we’ve just been trying to figure out how to fix all of the audio issues we’ve encountered since we began using Talkshoe.

Since you’ve been asking about when we’re going to include the Potato Nation in another podcast, we figured we’d make our last episode of the year an interactive one so we can drink rum and eggnog and shoot the shit with our homies during the holidays.

You can listen to live, HERE at 5:30 pm ET tomorrow and then check back in on Thursday for bonus taped interviews added to the show with UFC lightweight George Sotiropoulos and Nemesis fighter Chris McNally.

If you want to call in and participate in the show,  follow these instructions:

Dial (724) 444-7444
Enter: 89629 # (Call ID)
Enter: 1 # or your PIN if you have a Talkshoe account.
We will be notified that you are in the queue to talk with us.

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira interview – Watch more Funny Videos

If the recent reports are accurate, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira will take on Tito Ortiz in a light-heavyweight feature at UFC 128 (March 19th, Newark). Lil’ Nog will be looking to bounce back after Ryan Bader handed him his first loss in three-and-a-half years at UFC 119. Meanwhile, Ortiz hasn’t tasted victory in over four years. (Seriously. We can’t believe he’s still around either.) Despite the career tailspin of the HBBB, Nogueira isn’t taking him lightly. As he tells our Brazilian correspondent Brian D’Souza:

"I think he’s a very tough guy. He’s an ex-champion, he [was] undefeated for many years. I think he’s a very good wrestler…he has very good Muay Thai. I think he’s dangerous, but I’m gonna do my best for sure. I want to make a better fight from last time. I’ve had two or three fights with wrestling guys, I think I’ve proven my wrestling…I want to do a very good fight with Tito. I can do better."

Nogueira also discusses his new gym in San Diego, and his training partner Anderson Silva’s upcoming bout with Vitor Belfort. It will not surprise you to discover that Lil’ Nog has his money on the Spider.

Related: Win or lose, Tito Ortiz vows that the Nogueira fight won’t be his last.

(Surprise, Strikeforce may be making a mistake with matchmaking.)

I never thought I’d ever speak out against a grand prix tournament, but because the proposed Strikeforce heavyweight tournament has so many question marks surrounding it, I’m almost hoping it doesn’t happen.

When Scott Coker mentioned earlier this year that Strikeforce was either going to piss or get off the pot when teasing its fans with heavyweight fights that never seem to come to fruition because of those crazy Russians for whatever reason, I thought he meant it.

What Sco-Co should have said was, "We’ll likely milk the current roster for whatever we can and if we can make the fights fans want to see, then we will, but we likely won’t."

According to Tatame, the California-based promotion is planning on stretching the tournament over three events and will likely anchor Strikeforce’s foray into pay-per-view TV — a move necessitated by the fact that it’s unlikely that CBS will be having them back on network TV in 2011 and the costs of greasing the pockets of M-1 Global for each Fedor-featured event are likely more than most Russians make in their lives.

(VidProps: Versus.com)

We hate to say we told you so (no we don’t) but Brad Pickett’s undercard bout with Ivan Menjivar at WEC 53 turned out to be a pretty good scrap. According to people who were on the scene in Glendale on Thursday night, the unaired prelims for this event were pretty epic. Maybe that’s what induced the live crowd to boo every takedown and cheer every Jesus reference during the televised portion of the card. Or maybe Arizona just sucks, who knows. We’re still waiting for the emergence of video evidence of the slam Eddie Wineland laid on Ken Stone – which briefly caused rumors to circulate through the arena that Stone had a broken neck. (He didn’t. He was fine.) – but for now we’ll have to make do with this pleasing little three-rounder. Spoilers (if you can call them that four days after the event) are after the jump.

("I’ve been doing this too long to take things for granted. I’ve seen it happen too often where a guy loses and then comes back and wins." Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

By CagePotato.com contributor Elias Cepeda

There’s a fun game you can play with undefeated UFC lightweight Gray Maynard: Ask him to name, let alone talk about, someone he’s beaten. He can’t do it.

It should be easy for the #1 title contender — he’s had just eleven fights in his four-and-a-half year MMA career, and hasn’t lost a single one. He has many more wins to choose from if you include his entire amateur wrestling career that dates back to his childhood.

Still, as he sits during some downtime between training on the Saturday exactly two weeks before he will face UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar at UFC 125 in Las Vegas, Maynard’s brain freezes when asked about his wins. Gray isn’t difficult to speak with, and his mind is sound. It just works a bit differently than most of ours.

Ask Maynard who he’s lost to and he can rattle ten names off in a row. “People say, ‘oh, you’ve never lost.’ Sure I have. I’ve been in combat sports since I was a kid and have lost lots of times from when I was three all the way through college.”

Gray seems to remember every time he’s come up short on the mats — recalling even grade-school losses with gritted teeth. “They still irk me today,” he says.

(Props: 187872 via MMAScraps. Fight starts at the one-minute mark.)

Aleksander Emelianenko was back in action Saturday night in Khabarovsk, Russia, where he faced Australian K-1/Sengoku vet Peter Graham in the main event of Draka: Governor’s Cup 2010. Despite Graham’s decorated kickboxing background, he came into the fight with an underwhelming MMA record of 3-5, with notable losses to Kazuyuki Fujita, Rolles Gracie, and Jim York (all by first-round choke).

But this was no ordinary MMA match — special rules were in place so that fighters would be stood up after just 30 seconds. Not that it would matter to Aleks, who hasn’t needed much more than his fists lately. In fact, The Other Emelianenko had finished all of his previous eight opponents in the first round. True, most of those opponents were no-name punching bags who looked like they didn’t belong in the ring with him, and his April win against Eddy Bengtsson was one of the dive-iest dives in diving history. Would Graham be another conquest on Alek’s can-crushing streak? As the headline of this post should have already informed you, no, not at all.

(Still cranky after all these years. PicProps: The Dog)

We’re gonna go ahead and set the over/under on the number of times someone refers to the newly announced Robbie Lawler vs. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza Strikeforce middleweight title bout as “a classic matchup between striker and grappler” at, oh, about 100,000. And we’re taking the over. On the bright side, as of Saturday night the organization now has a plan for its 185-pound champion, who has been totally off the radar since his August victory over Tim Kennedy. This fight is also one baby step toward Scott Coker making good on his recent claim that Strikeforce will do a title fight each month for the first half of 2011. One down, five to go, Scott.

(Uh-oh, I think we’ve got a workout video on our hands. Somebody get Jay Glazer on the horn, STAT. PicProps: Connect.in)

If you looked at yesterday’s reports that a bout between Fedor Emelianenko and Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva was being considered for Strikeforce’s Jan. 29 show and thought to yourself, “Self, that seems awfully soon. Almost too soon,” well, you were right. We hate it when you’re right. Anyway, it turns out the aforementioned January date is “not on the table” for Fedor’s next yawn-worthy matchup in the Strikeforce cage, M-1 Global spokeshipster Evgeni Kogan said on Friday. As reported by MMA Junkie, Kogan wouldn’t elaborate further on the matter except to say that everybody involved has “been steadily working toward an agreement.”

The Junkie also notes that a couple months back M-1 boss Vadim Finkelstein said the rent-a-Fedor outfit was “negotiating primarily with Showtime to secure Emelianenko’s return.” Not to read too much into that, but it pretty much makes it sound like Strikeforce itself is the least important party in these talks. It also indicates that maybe Kogan wasn’t just blowing smoke recently when he said M-1 was trying leverage its own live fight events onto Showtime. If they can pull that off, well, I wonder if they could also speak to my mortgage lender.

Junior dos Santos interview – Watch more Funny Videos

CagePotato video correspondent Brian D’Souza braved the X-Gym in Rio De Janeiro recently and nabbed some interview time with the No. 1 contender to the UFC heavyweight title (and recent Playboy Mag fashion model) Junior dos Santos. First off, please accept our assurances that things went way better than when BDS tried to conversate in English with the middleweight champ this week. In fact, unless you’re just an out-and-out dick we think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at dos Santos’ English, which appears to be coming along nicely. Secondly, no that’s not a weed shirt he’s wearing. We don’t think.

While no official date has yet been set for his shot at the 265-pound gold, dos Santos says he expects a March or April showdown with Cain Velasquez and is already working out down in Rio with the likes of the Nogueira brothers, Anderson Silva and Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante to get ready. Dos Santos and D’ Souza cover a number of topics in their short time together, including what Cigano thought of Velasquez’s recent win over Brock Lesnar. Sounds like he enjoyed it as much as the rest of us.

“That fight was very interesting,” says dos Santos with a chuckle. “Brock Lesnar tried to fight like a monster, like what he is. I think in my mind Cain was perfect, because he just waited (out) that initial pressure from Brock Lensar. (He) waited for the right moment to change the fight and win. Cain Velasquez was perfect in that fight.”

 
(Video courtesy YouTube/basboon007)

- Kharitonov vs. Mizuno booked for Dynamite!! 2010 (mmafighting)

– Pettis’ coach Duke Roufus says "Showtime" kick inspired by Ong Bak (mmajunkie)

– Tron Jeremy (break)

- A recession-era letter to Santa (holytaco)

- New division names for Big 10 so awful conference may change them (scoresreport)

- Reed Harris reflects on the WEC’s rich legacy (yahoo!sports)

- Crappier Xmas present Mogwai or Good Guy doll? (screenjunkies)

- Miguel Torres has been approached about coaching TUF 13 (fightersonly)

- 25 hottest girls from Christmas movies (doubleviking)

- Four bouts announced for Dynamite! (headkicklegend)

- Leryn Franco gallery (tuvez)

- DREAM vs. SRC continues (nightmareofbattle)

- The 12 worst sports movie lies (mademan)

(Will the winner of this fight make it back to the UFC or will they go back to Australia where the promises of paydays are hollow.)

The fledgling Canadian Battlefield Fight League promotion announced today that a middleweight bout between former UFC veterans Denis Kang (33-12-2 2 NC) and Jesse Taylor (17-6) has been added to its April 7 BFL 7: Invasion event that will take place at the Frank Crane Arena in Nanaimo, BC.

Kang, who was dropped by the UFC after going 1-2 in the Octagon, has not been beaten since leaving the promotion. A member of American Top Team who also trains at Tristar with the likes of Georges St-Pierre when at home in Montreal, Kang defeated Korean Dae Won Kim in June under the W-1 banner in this past June and fought to a split draw with former WEC middleweight champion Paulo Filho in at Impact FC 2 in July.

Taylor has also done well since being released by the UFC. After losing to CB Dollaway at UFN 14 the Team Quest fighter has gone 11-3 and has logged wins over  UFC vets Drew Fickett, Jason Day, Chris Camozzi and Murilo Bustamante. He fought eight times in 2009 and has fought five times thus far in 2010.

The winner of the bout should get a second look by the UFC, but Taylor, who was pulled from the TUF 7 final for kicking a window out of a limo in Vegas may not get the call up to fight for the Zuffa-owned promotion due to disparaging remarks he made about the double standard the promotion has when dealing with different fighters. At the time, UFC president Dana White had flown to Southern California to bail former light heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson out of jail following his arrest for dangerous driving and evading police.

(Yeah, kind of!)

Everybody likes to be recognized for their work — even if it’s the "work" they do on MMA-blog comment sections when they should be actually, you know, working. And so, our first order of business: The winners of Wednesday’s impromptu Rampage-on-Dr.-Phil caption contest.

hotsaucemonster [winner]: and i guess at that moment i realized that perhaps it was me that had the nasty ass stank breff the whole time

Dana_Plight [first runner-up]: "Every guy I went to high school with, except for one, is dead. Someone poisoned the grape soda at the high school reunion. The one survivor was diabetic, he couldn’t drink grape soda…and that’s why you shouldn’t join a gang."

Maine Blazer [second runner-up]: James Toney sees two rednecks.

hotsauce, please shoot me your address and I’ll send you something nice. Dana and Maine, you guys are eligible for some CP shirts (see the end of this post). We’d also like to take some time to pay tribute to some of the week’s other comment-section power-players…

(Besides his go-for-broke style of fighting, Big Country’s penchant for telling it like it is has made him a fan favorite.)

Roy Nelson stopped by The Bum Rush Radio Show recently and as always, the outspoken UFC heavyweight contender didn’t pull any punches when discussing the topics we broached.

When asked about his recently publicized contract dispute with Roy Jones Junior’s Square Ring Promotions, "Big Country" says the frivolous lawsuit, which came about eight months ago is old news and that reports that he didn’t have his manager or lawyer read through the contract are false. He says that he was given the impression that SRP was no longer promoting MMA events and that his obligation to the organization (who only promoted two events and at time of writing has no other cards planned) was completed.

"It’s pretty much eight-month-old news. There’s nothing really new and exciting. It’s just a lot of legal processes. In the United States anybody can sue anybody. This has been going on for months and if this is a new story that people are writing about now, somebody hasn’t done their homework," Nelson says. "From my understanding, there was no further obligation with them. We were trying to get some fights with them and we helped them out a bit [with setting up some matches] because they were doing some smaller shows and they wanted to get into the MMA business. Now, apparently they aren’t getting into the MMA business."

(“Nemesis MMA” was the worst thing to happen to Keith Jardine since … well, whatever the last thing that happened to Keith Jardine was. PicProps: EstherLin/SharkFights)

If you were paying attention to our report on Tuesday – or following Ben Askren on Twitter, which we can only assume you absolutely are – then you had an inkling that last weekend’s independent “Nemesis MMA” show in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic was something of a disaster. Truth is, “disaster” doesn’t even begin to cover it. From accusations that Keith Jardine was greased-up in the main event to reports that paychecks started bouncing as soon as the athletes returned to the First World, it was clear from the get-go this thing was gonna be a mess. Brother, we had no idea.

MMA Weekly gets the scoop straight from Paul Buentello and Eliot Marshall, who were both “winners” at the event. Now, we know what you’re thinking: Shady independent MMA promoters stocking a show in the DR with semi-recognizable talent and promising a “four-day, all-inclusive, world-class experience in paradise?”  What could possibly go wrong, right? Well, tons of shit actually, when you don’t have an athletic commission (or anyone at all) looking after health and safety issues. Get a good look Libertarians, this is the world you want to live in …

(Video courtesy ESPN)

If you missed last night’s episode of MMA Live, not to worry, we got you covered, mang.

If you couldn’t be bothered to actually watch it and expect us to give you the pertinent stuff in a nutshell, we got you covered there, too.

Here’s what you missed:

- Kenny Florian says he would be interested in a fight with Jim Miller at UFC 129 in Toronto if his injured knee (which did not require surgery to repair a torn meniscus and ACL) heals in time.

- Bjorn Rebney says that the new Bellator deal with MTV will ensure that their events are not pre-empted if they go over their broadcast time, which will be the same each week.

- Rebney also said that despite his efforts the Strikeforce co-promoted Gilbert Melendez-Eddie Alvarez match-up is pretty much dead in the water at this point.

- Junior Dos Santos has been training his Muay Thai with Brandon Vera at Alliance in San Diego.

- Dos Santos has said that he is planning to keep his championship bout with UFC heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez (which is rumored to be slated for the April show in Toronto) standing.

- Both Rashad Evans and Ken-Flo believe that their teammate Georges St-Pierre will fight Jake Shields in Toronto.

(Oh yeah. The person who made this wallpaper just *gets it*.)

After months of negotiations between Strikeforce and Fedor Emelianenko‘s useless management company, the Last Emperor may finally have a return date. According to MMA Weekly, Emelianenko will face fellow heavyweight contender Antonio Silva at a yet-unannounced January 29th Strikeforce event. It will be Emelianenko’s first fight since his shocking submission loss to Fabricio Werdum in June. Silva also dropped a fight to Werdum last November, but has posted wins over Andrei Arlovski and Mike Kyle since then. Emelianeko is already 1-0 against fighters with acromegaly.

The January 29th event is expected to take place at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, and will allegedly feature the return of Herschel Walker, and — get this — the third meeting between Jason Miller and Tim Kennedy, now that the trash talk between Miller and Nick Diaz has officially reached a stalemate, with neither fighter willing to leave their weight class.

But enough about non-freak-show fights. Let’s get to the good stuff…

(In slo-mo for your convenience. Props: kemist. Full-speed gif is at the end of this post.)

Let’s get this out of the way: The cage-spring head-kick that Anthony "Showtime" Pettis landed on Ben Henderson in their lightweight title fight at last night’s WEC 53 event was 1) The greatest kick in MMA history, 2) Maybe the most impressive knockdown in MMA history, and 3) Further proof that Pettis is one of the most exciting 155′ers in the universe. (He’s also punched his ticket to challenge for the UFC lightweight title against either Frankie Edgar or Gray Maynard, who both look dull as hell by comparison.)

We already knew Pettis was capable of stuff like this, but to have the balls to throw that kick in the fifth round of a title fight? If he planted his foot wrong, the video above might be titled "Ultimate Fail." Instead, he clinched the match on the judges scorecards with absolute authority. Said Pettis after the fight: “Duke Roufus plays with us, and we try these new kicks. He told us if one of us lands it in the cage that he would take us to dinner. So he owes me some dinner.”

The main event earned both men $10,000 Fight of the Night bonuses. As action-packed as the "Henderson vs. Pettis" broadcast was, the unaired prelims were equally hardcore, producing five first-round stoppages in seven bouts…

(Quick prediction: Dominick Cruz will win his fight via DQ [eye-pokes/mohawk]. Photos courtesy of the WEC 53 Weigh In Pics gallery on CombatLifestyle.com)

Well folks, the next time you see these guys, they’ll be wearing UFC gloves, slugging it out in a slightly-larger cage and picking up every Fight of the Night bonus they can get their slightly-smaller hands on. Tonight, the WEC says farewell with two title fights and their usual assortment of relentless scrappers. Round-by-round updates from the Versus broadcast will be accumulating after the jump beginning at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest.

(Even the undercard of the WEC’s historic final card is stacked with exciting fights. RIP WEC, you won’t be forgotten. Bottom pic props David West.)

Although most people think that undercard bouts are of little consequence, one dark match on tonight’s final WEC 53 card will have great ramifications to the futures of its combatants, and if my hunch is correct, could potentially be a barnburner that will hopefully make it on the Versus broadcast.

According to a story from the East London Advertiser, the winner of tonight’s bantamweight bout between El Salvador-born Canadian Ivan Menjivar (21-7) and Brit Brad Pickett (19-5) will earn a UFC contract while the loser will go home empty handed.

Menjivar, who has faced a slew of UFC and WEC veterans including Joe Lauzon, Urijah Faber, Georges St-Pierre, Bart Palaszewski, Jeff Curran and Jason Black in his nine-year career has already experienced fighting in the UFC Octagon, having lost a hard fought decision to Matt Serra at UFC 48.

Despite not having the experience that Menjivar has, Pickett, who picked up Fight of the Night honors for his UFC 50 decision loss to Scott Jorgensen (who is fighting Dominick Cruz tonight for the inaugural UFC 135-pound strap), does have the advantage of already having three fights in the WEC and of having kept active the past seven years since he began fighting. Menjivar returned to the cage in June from a four-year absence from competition he spent rehabbing an injury and raising a family to fight under the W-1 banner and defeated Aaron Miller by a first round triangle.

(Shogun Rua comes face-to-face with his future. Props: reddit)

Notable quote from yesterday’s UFC Rio press conference:

"I’m still thinking (on fighting in Rio). But I’m always training. This return of UFC to Brazil touched me, made me feel the wish of coming back to the Octagon. Everything has being negotiated with Dana White. Let’s wait and see." — UFC Hall of Famer Royce Gracie

Not to say that the UFC’s first superstar shouldn’t have some sort of ceremonial role at the UFC’s return to Brazil next August…but fighting? Let’s nip that shit in the bud, pronto. The last time Royce set foot in the Octagon, he was smashed by Matt Hughes in a brutal passing of the torch back at UFC 60. His next (and still most recent) performance was a June 2007 revenge match against Kazushi Sakuraba, which ended in a decision win and a one-year steroid suspension. 

(Video courtesy YouTube/KennethGuye)

If you missed the above episode of Dr. Phil yesterday featuring Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, you might be surprised when you hear how thoughtful and well-spoken the former UFC light heavyweight champ came off.

The theme of the episode was "teens in trouble," and according to Jackson, he once fell under that category having carried a gun and run drugs for dealers in the neighborhood in Memphis, Tenn. from the time he was eight years old. Jackson told the kids on the show that needed to heed the advice given to him by an uncle when he was 17. The elder Jackson apparently told him that if he continued down the path he was on, he would end up in jail with convicts who, "hadn’t been with a woman in a long time."

The fear of being someone’s prison bitch was apparently all Rampage needed to be put on the straight and narrow, at least until he became addicted to energy drinks and the movie The Secret.

(Pierson now (left) and in 2002 (right). The TPS would have been smart to put him undercover to infiltrate the Toronto sex trade.)

When UFC newcomer Sean Pierson stepped into the Octagon for his Fight of the Night worthy performance against Matt Riddle at UFC 124, I couldn’t help but wonder why he wasn’t sporting the familiar fur hat and glam rock glasses that had become synonymous with the "Pimp Daddy" persona he built while fighting in the UCC and TKO promotions here in Canada.

It turns out, Pierson has been trying to distance himself from his former image at the suggestion of his new employer,  the Toronto Police Service.

Now it appears that Pierson dropping the nickname and persona wasn’t enough to appease the TPS brass.

According to a story in today’s Toronto Star, the department has decided to rescind an offer of employment they made him in October to begin work next Tuesday as an officer in training.

(Thanks for the, uh, memories? PicProps: CagedInsider)

Tonight we finally find out what happens on the series finale of the WEC (Spoiler alert: They all die and go to heaven together). Obviously, trying to cook the nine-year history of a promotion that became synonymous with mind-blowing action down to fewer than a half dozen highlights is totally impossible. Certainly we’ll have omitted some of your favorites here. Be sure to let us know which ones we forgot in the comments. As if we had to remind you.

Also, props to our man Ariel Helwani for furnishing most of the following vid clips in his own WEC retrospective over on Versus.com. Now here’s a quick look at some of the moments we’ll think fondly upon in future days, when we put on our Sarah McLachlan mix tape and dreamily stare at faded photographs of Brittany Palmer and Todd Harris, trying not to wonder how we’ll ever go on.
 

Anderson Silva at X-Gym – Watch more Funny Videos

I know. At first, you’re like "Whoa, CagePotato scored an interview with Anderson Silva in English? This is historic!" And then you’re like, "oh." CP’s Brazilian correspondent Brian D’Souza does his best, but it’s hard not to be disappointed when Anderson is fed a question about a potential superfight with Georges St. Pierre, and responds by saying that while GSP is the best welterweight in the world, BJ Penn is the best fighter in the world. (Does that mean he’d rather fight Penn? Aloha, brother.) Also: His training for Vitor Belfort is going well, moving back to light-heavyweight is not his decision, and Team Nogueira is more like Family Nogueira. Now let’s never speak of this again…

After nine-and-a-half years of thrilling events, Wold Extreme Cagefighting will take its final bow tonight at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Arizona. But even aside from the historical significance, there will be a lot on the line at WEC 53. In the main event, Ben Henderson and Anthony Pettis battle to become the UFC’s #1 lightweight contender. Dominick Cruz and Scott Jorgensen meet to determine the UFC’s first-ever 135-pound champion. And a host of top 155′ers like Donald Cerrone, Chris Horodecki, Kamal Shalorus, Zhang Tie Quan and Jamie Varner will be fighting to keep their jobs in an unforgiving post-UFC-merger market.

CagePotato.com will be liveblogging the Versus broadcast beginning at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT. Come back for all the live results, and to share your fond memories of one of the greatest MMA promotions to ever do it. WEC 53′s full lineup is after the jump…

(Chinzo being cornered by his brothers Lyoto and Take. Photos and text courtesy of Brian D’Souza.)

Chinzo Machida didn’t prove the effectiveness of Machida Karate last night, losing a decision to Leonardo Laiola at WFE Platinum in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. His brothers Lyoto and Take cornered him, shouting encouragement to no avail, as he wasn’t active enough to grind out a win. The first round saw Chinzo fighting off a rear naked choke attempt in the final seconds. The last round was devoid of action, with extensive clinching and just a handful of strikes thrown. According to his brother Take postfight, Chinzo broke his hand in the first round and was taken to the hospital immediately after the bout. Machida’s MMA record drops to 1-2, while Laiola’s increases to 3-0.

Full event results (and a couple more photos) are after the jump:

(We’re just glad that our t-shirt isn’t to blame for Kimbo’s death. We will take credit for this one cursing Gus Johnson’s Strikeforce commentating gig.)

If a mediocre backyard brawler-turned mixed martial artist dies, does anyone in the MMA media notice?

Apparently not.

It seemed that only the mainstream media outlets yesterday picked up on a story of the demise of Miami, Florida resident Kevin Ferguson — which is the legal name of Kimbo Slice. Maybe it was because it wasn’t Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson who had passed away, unless of course he had wifi access in the morgue.

How To Defeat Fedor With Fabricio Werdum – Watch more Funny Videos

In the first of a hopefully-ongoing series in which MMA fighters instruct you on how to do things you’ll never actually have the opportunity to do, here’s Strikeforce heavyweight contender Fabricio Werdum taking us through the triangle/armbar he used to defeat Fedor Emelianenko back in June. (Props to Ruben Vera for putting this together.) Despite Werdum’s accent and liberal interpretation of the word "back," the dude seems like a great instructor. If you live near Huntington Beach, why not drop by Kings MMA and say hello?

Previously: Fabricio Werdum Says He’s Likely to Fight Alistair Overeem in March