(Morton Downey Jr. is not impressed with these action figures.)

Keeping with its tradition of producing head-scratchingly non-resembling miniature renditions of MMA fighters and personalities, Round 5 announced today the release of its sixth series of action figures.

Instead of posting a photo of the latest wave of figures, who, besides their hairstyles and accessories, really don’t capture the likenesses of the people they’re based on (at all), we figured we’d let you decide who they *really* look like.

After the jump are the faces of 24 of Round 5′s figures, including the six from the set to be released this spring.

(“Don’t move, Gina. This is how we’ll get mainstream acceptance.”)

Strikeforce hasn’t announced when  Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos will next defend her belt, and according to the dominant women’s middleweight champion, it’s not because she isn’t ready. It’s because she doesn’t have a contract.

Cyborg told Tatame recently that her contract ran out after her last fight with Jan Finney last June and she hasn’t spoken with Scott Coker and company about re-signing with the recently Zuffa-acquired promotion in the nine months since the bout.

“Currently I don’t have a contract signed, but on my former contract there was something saying that for a year I’m connected to the [promotion] but we might sign a new one.  I believe the fact that the UFC bought Strikeforce is a good thing for women, because we have two years to do a good job and prove them our value —  to prove it to Dana White,” she explains. “I’m not anxious and I’m not worried. I’m happy and I keep on training.”

(“Well, maybe *you* can’t tell the difference between 18k gold and 14k gold…”)

Though he was slated to face Scott Lighty in a featured light-heavyweight matchup at this Friday’s Strikeforce Challengers event at the Stockton Arena in Sad City, Olympic gold-medalist judoka Satoshi Ishii has been forced to withdraw from the fight. Strikeforce announced this morning that due to the recent natural disasters in Japan, Ishii was unable to acquire a visa permitting him to leave his homeland in time for the event. Stepping in for him will be Lorenz Larkin, an undefeated knockout-artist who is currently 9-0 as a pro, following a 7-0 amateur career.

The Stockton Challengers show — headlined by a lightweight meeting between Justin Wilcox and Rodrigo Damm — would have been Ishii’s first MMA appearance in the United States. After losing his MMA debut in a decision to Hidehiko Yoshida on New Year’s Eve 2009, Ishii went 4-0 in 2010, with notable victories over Ikuhisa Minowa and Jerome Le Banner. Maybe when his visa issues are sorted out, a judoka vs. judoka bout between Ishii and fellow Strikeforce light-heavyweight Rhadi Ferguson is in order.

(If only he put as much time and energy into choosing a barber. Hi-yo! Pic: Dan Hardy.org. Wait, Dan Hardy is an org?)

Well, this is getting pretty goddamned transparent. First everybody and their dog wants a coin-flip fight against Wanderlei Silva, then Ryan Bader responds to the first loss of his career by calling out Tito Ortiz and now – fresh off his own third consecutive defeat in the Octagon — Dan Hardy is suddenly very interested in fighting Chris Lytle. You know, just for the purposes of putting on “an old school shootout with a guy that wants to throw down” and stuff like that. We’re sure it has nothing to do with Hardy desperately needing a win.

“Screw the rankings, records are for DJs,” Hardy tweeted on Sunday, as part of a Twitter barrage expressing his frustration with losing a “boring” fight to Anthony Johnson at UFN 24. Once again the whole “mixed” part of mixed martial arts bit another standup-oriented fighter in the ass as Johnson first toppled Hardy with a head kick, then dominated him with his wrestling skills en route to a unanimous decision. After the trio of losses, Hardy’s job was saved only by the fact Dana White “fucking loves that kid” (his words) and now Hardy just so happens to fancy a matchup with one of the throw-downiest guys who ever threw down, yet doesn’t have a ton of knockout power. Must be coincidence.

Anyhow, after the jump we took the liberty of condensing Hardy’s irritation into one easily-digestible quote. Plus, find out what fights Johnson and Johny Hendricks also envision for themselves …

(“The world, chico. And everything in it.”)

BY MATTHEW “THE FIGHT NERD” KAPLOWITZ

The more I think about it, the less faith I have in it. “Business as usual” seems to be the motto for the UFC after their historic purchase of Strikeforce. It came as a surprise to all of us when Ariel Helwani held the mic under Dana White’s chin to reveal an acquisition that made many MMA fans’ stomachs tie themselves into knots.

Some fans reacted positively to Zuffa’s latest splurge, citing that the best talent would now be under one roof and that all the fights we have been dying for can finally come true. Older fans like myself were more than skeptical; we had seen this before and we knew the chances of this situation being any different were as slim as Gina Carano making weight for a fight on her first attempt.

Let’s take a quick jump into the way-back machine and look at the previous transactions of Zuffa and see what has happened to other companies that were scooped under its umbrella, starting with their most important purchase…

Zuffa buys the UFC – 2001
Station Casino owners Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta joined forces with young entrepreneur (and former aerobics-instructor) Dana White in 2001 to make a purchase that would end up changing the course of sports history. White convinced the Fertittas to buy the assets to the UFC, which in 2001 was still black-listed from television and seemingly on its last legs.

Bob Meyrowitz, owner of the UFC, along with Semaphore Entertaintment Group, sold Zuffa the rights to all of the intellectual properties of the UFC for $2 million. At the time, it was a risky investment at that price, but now, it’s more than a bargain. Nonetheless, Zuffa pushed on and begun the battle to legalize MMA around the country and get the sport back on pay-per-view. They finally returned to PPV with UFC 33, which turned out to be disastrous, as the show cut off during the main event.

(Well, this just *screams* legitimacy. Pic: Cage vs. Cons)

My God, we had totally forgotten about this debacle: About a year ago we told you that a couple of janky promoters out in Hollyweird were set to launch a series of live MMA shows pitting a stable of “good guy” professional fighters against “bad boy” former convicts and criminals. At the time, the whole venture – called “Cage vs. Cons,” you’ll remember – seemed too hokey to become reality. Well, guess again, as a reader tip pointed out this week that somehow nobody has stepped in to pull the plug on this walking corpse and its official website says “Cage vs. Cons” is actually gearing up for its first show in May.

But, but, but wait, it gets worse (yes, that’s an Onyx reference for all you 30-somethings): Cage vs. Cons has allegedly inked well known character actors Danny Trejo and Tommy “Tiny” Lister – better known as “Machete” from, uh, “Machete” and “Deebo” from “Friday,” respectively – to be “hosts” of sorts for the first event. And yes, the website actually refers to Lister as “Deebo” half the time as if that’s his real name. They’ve also released a complete-ish lineup of fights (so, they’re one step ahead of the average Strikeforce show) and are advertising live performances from a boatload of rappers we’ve heard of before. The particulars, including the bitchin’ “Cage vs. Cons” theme song – by a group called Big Twins – are all after the jump.

(The question is, which weight class will Royce fight under?)

CagePotato.com received word over the weekend from a source close to the situation that Royce Gracie has cancelled the European leg of his spring seminar tour and that the official reason given to the group organizing his UK appearances (NJM promotions) is that the UFC Hall-of-Famer has accepted an offer from the promotion to fight on its August 27 card in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

According to NJM, Gracie’s manager, Mike Kogan revealed the news to them, which was relayed to the seminar host gyms in an effort to explain why the 44-year-old UFC 1, 2 and 4 tournament winner would not be able to make his scheduled appearances in England.

If you think Twister is just a fun game to play drunk and naked, then #YouDontRoll.

In the interests of edifying our readers, we’d like to present you with the latest edition of the Gracie Breakdown.   We can’t have our readers being “that guy” that boos when fighters stop hitting each other and start rolling around on top of one another all gay and stuff.

True story: we overheard a guy at a bar explaining that the Gracie family is famous for their groundbreaking style of “Mexican wrestling.”  If you overhear someone drop a nugget of wisdom like that inside an establishment that shows UFC events *and* they serve alcohol, we recommend the following course of action:  buy that asshole a beer, buy one for yourself, and try to write down everything he says for the rest of the night.   Sure, you can teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime, but sometimes you owe it to yourself to sit on the beach and watch that moron pull up license plates and stingrays.
Anyways, watch Rener and Ryron analyze the historic Twister from UFN 24, then leave your newly-enlightened comments below.

(Okay, we’re just assuming she’s Brazilian. We apologize for perpetuating such a vile stereotype. Props: Sherdog via Lowkick)

Sherdog.com released an exclusive gallery of photos from the TUF 13 training facility, and there was one picture in particular that stuck out, so to speak. In fact, the chick in the yellow dress was so eye-catching, that we almost didn’t notice that her male counterpart was wearing a ridiculous fake nose. (Not sure what’s up with that. Maybe he’s Brazil’s answer to The Garv.) You can check out the full gallery here, although we have to warn you: There’s only one more photo of Girl in the Yellow Dress, and it’s a lot less flattering. We’ve placed it after the jump, for your convenience.

Update: We’ve now learned that the girl in question is Juliana Salimeni, and her fans are pushing for her to be a ring girl at UFC Rio.

(Well now I want to see Dominick Cruz as Backin’ Up Lady. Props: twitter.com/UrijahFaber)

The UFC announced on Saturday that the bantamweight title fight between Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber will go down at UFC 132, July 2nd at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Since taping for TUF 14 is expected to take place sometime this summer, it seems unlikely that Cruz and Faber will be tapped as coaches for The Ultimate Fighter‘s first bantamweight/featherweight season.

The two former WEC stars have shared some bad blood since the lead-up to their first fight at WEC 26 in March 2007. Upset that he wasn’t featured on the event poster, Cruz signed his name over Faber’s face — which the California Kid perceived as a sign of disrespect. Faber went on to score a guillotine choke victory in just 98 seconds, retaining his featherweight title.

We glanced at this poster and though M’Pumbu’s nick name was “TomTom”.  Like he hands out directions.   Also, just seeing if you notice anything odd about this…. (PicProps: Bellator.com)

Remember when Bellator inked that deal with MTV2, and it was supposed to make BFC more accessible?  Stable time slot, easy to find, no more worries about pre-emption?  Yeah.  We remember that.  It was a Tuesday, we’d finally gotten all the Christmas cards in the mail, and it just felt like this was the best MMA news we could expect in early December.  Our beloved Bellator was movin’ on up to the East Side.  Fast forward three months, and we’ve cursed at our DVR so much that it’s now started to nervously record old re-runs of ALF and anything related to the Pro Bull Riders circuit in hopes of making amends.  If you’re not manually setting, checking, and resetting your recording device of choice, catching a full episode of Bellator is an exercise in futility and frustration.  Thanks, MTV2!

That said, Bellator has been making it more than worth your while to tune in the past few weeks, and last night’s light heavyweight tourney in Tunica, Mississippi was a prime example.  Fun fact about Mississippi:  couples have to be 21 years old to get married there without parental consent.  Yes, we were shocked to hear that as well.  If you’re young and madly in love in Mississippi, you’re going to have cross the border somewhere to declare your devotion in a legal fashion.

Come on in past the jump and we’ll share even more shocking tales about things you probably wouldn’t believe, if we couldn’t prove it to you with witnesses and video.  There may possibly be cake.

“What’s wrong? You’re not upset about that whole ‘stand and bang’ thing, are you?”

Odds are good that last night’s fights didn’t play out exactly as you’d envisioned them. Whereas many thought the headliner would be decided by a strict adherence to fundamentals like boxing and wrestling, the allure of the card’s other fights was their potential for wild, unrestrained fisticuffs . Whether we simply expected a couple of slugfests based on previous fights or due to outright lies, last night’s competitors exercised some unexpected caution and took a more thoughtful approach to victory.

Future champ? Pffff…Davis didn’t even have the courage to challenge a teammate after his victory.

Oh, fans, why do we do this to ourselves? We’ve been here so many times before, yet we never learn our lesson. We’ve declared the Brock Era, the Machida Era, and the Bones Era, but the only era we’re really in is one of unrealistic expectations. With his win over Lil’ Nog last night, Phil Davis extends his record to a perfect 9-0, with five of those victories coming in the past thirteen months, but it isn’t enough, is it? No, not when some of the most recognizable faces in the sport are created in 12 short episodes of reality tv. Not when Jon Jones violently takes the belt at the age of 23. Last night Phil Davis struggled with his takedowns. His standup still needs work. He failed to rag doll Nogueira and put him away with a freshly minted submission. He looked {gasp} like an evolving fighter.

Not long ago it would have been enough for an up and coming prospect just over two years into his career to take out a highly respected MMA veteran on the sport’s biggest stage, but that’s not the world we live in. Maybe there were just too many similarities between Davis and Jones to let the comparisons slide. They’re both young fighters with very impressive wrestling. They were both undefeated (yeah, screw that Hamill thing) headed into their last fight on short notice against a far more experienced Brazilian legend. Yeah, they even kind of look alike too. What we saw last night is that there’s only one Jon Jones, but that doesn’t mean “Mr. Wonderful” didn’t display the qualities that make a champion.

(Leonard Garcia [left] paid Tim Burton $3,250 for that custom-made zombie-head. And still, the crowd cheered harder for Dan Hardy’s ironic Charlie Sheen t-shirt. There’s just no accounting for taste. / Photos courtesy of the UFC Fight Night 24 Weigh In Pics gallery on CombatLifestyle.com)

Just think: If not for a completely unexpected injury, you’d all be watching Tito Ortiz‘s big comeback tonight — or not watching it, depending on your current interest level in Tito Ortiz. Instead, Phil Davis gets a shot at the big time, and Tito’s retirement fight is delayed until July. Anyway, we’ve got a solid lineup of free fights on Spike TV, kicking off at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT with Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung 2, Revenge of the Zombie. We’re excited, and we hope you are as well. Round-by-round results can be found after the jump; refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest. Thanks for coming.

(“I’ll [troll] you ’til you love me, [buddy].” #famousmiketysonquotes / Photo courtesy of the UFC Fight Night 24 Weigh In Pics gallery on CombatLifestyle.com)

Possible spoilers after the jump. Read on if you dare…

The weigh-in official found Davis’s ticklish spot. Pic: MMA Junkie

Heading into tonight’s bouts, it feels strangely like we’ve been here before… we’ve got drama surrounding Anthony Johnson’s weight, fighters promising to eschew their full range of talent in favor of standing and banging, and of course the redo of Garcia and Jung’s epic battle. With all of the variables that unfold in a fight it’s practically impossible to predict how a fight will go down, but that doesn’t mean we won’t irresponsibly try. Here’s a look at some of tonight’s fights and how history may play a role in their outcome.

“This picture had to be taken within the opening seconds, he still has one of his hands up.”

Normally, when I watch regional promotions I have to do so with my laptop on mute. Otherwise, I get so agitated by the announcers trying to hype their minor league talent as “the best in the sport” that I can’t enjoy myself. So when Titan FC 17 kicked off this ridiculously busy weekend for MMA last night in Kansas City, I can’t help but feel that the biggest winners of the evening were Frank Trigg and Michael Schiavello. While lesser announcers would hype Phil Baroni like he’s still in his prime and talk about Bobby Lashley slamming a natural middleweight like he’s ready for Cain Velasquez, Schiavello and Trigg were brutally honest critiquing the action. That’s got to be worth something, right?

It’s certainly worth more than the effort Bobby Lashley put in against James Jack John Ott. Last night was Bobby Lashley’s first chance to silence his critics after a humbling loss to Chad Griggs. John Ott, asdie from being a middleweight stepping in as a late replacement, is also a wrestler with sub-par striking. If I didn’t know that you all come to Cage Potato for responsible journalism, I’d recklessly hypothesize that John Ott was brought in to lose in dramatic fashion. Naturally, Bobby Lashley capitolized on this opportunity by putting in just enough effort to grind out a unanimous decision.

There may be photos from the fights out there, but who cares?

Last night, Norfolk, VA played home to M-1 Global’s first solo endeavor on Showtime. Many fans look upon M-1 as nothing more than a small stain on the MMA landscape, like that thing on Gorbachev’s head. But there’s no need to rehash any of M-1’s previous dealings and maneuvers, as we now have an actual body of work to dissect and discuss. This event marked their first notable attempt to make a splash in North American MMA alone. No Fedor, no Strikeforce, no co-promotion. No one to blame for their shortcomings and no one to steal credit for their success.

With Zuffa’s purchase of Strikeforce, there’s a surplus of promotions striving to claim the #2 spot in the MMA food chain. So was this M-1’s Sputnik moment, or more of a Chernobyl style disaster? Am I done with these terrible Russian analogies? Keep reading to find out.

If your garbage cable company doesn’t carry HDNet (thanks, Time Warner) or if you had a hot date last night (yeah, right), you may have missed Michael Schiavello’s highly entertaining interview with Wanderlei Silva. Don’t worry, we got you covered. This lengthy, up-close look at “The Axe Murderer” showcases the jovial, caring personality that so bizarrely compliments the skull crushing beast we all know and love. A few short notes and parts 2, 3, & 4 after the jump.

(Damn it, if you’d only told us this 15 minutes ago, we wouldn’t have eaten that Hot Pocket. Photo courtesy of the UFC Fight Night 24 Weigh In Pics gallery on CombatLifestyle.com)

All fighters hit their marks last night at the weigh-ins for UFC Fight Night: Nogueira vs. Davis, which goes down this evening at the Key Arena in Seattle. Despite the recent rumors of Anthony Johnson swelling up to 230 pounds before his training camp, Johnson arrived at 171 pounds and looked perfectly healthy in the process. Afterwards, an elated Rumble jumped on Twitter to share the good news: “I made weight so all u fuckin haterz can eat a mutha fuckin dick. Never doubt ME!!!”

Thanks for thinking of us, AJ! Full UFC Fight Night 24 weigh-in results are after the jump…

(Video courtesy of YouTube/kimurasweden)

- 25 sensitive moments in the NCAA (HolyTaco)

- What will Jones-Evans mean for gym-based loyalties in MMA? (Sports Illustrated)

- Your Highness Red Band trailer is GOLD! (TheRugged)

- Tasty footage of UFN 24 open workouts. (Middle Easy)

- Sly Stallone to release menswear line based on Rock and Rambo (Clutch.MTV)

- Brendan Schaub wishes he didn’t land the last shot on Mirko Cro Cop (MMAWeekly)

- How to make Killer grilled cheese (MadeMan)

- Jon Jones’ BJJ coach says he’d be a white belt in a gi (Tatame)

- Charlie Sheen admits he’s Latino (Tu-Vez)

- First eyeballs on Will Ferrell’s ‘Office” guest appearance (ScreenJunkies)

- Check out John Brockman’s assortment of trick shots (ScoresReport)

(Unconfirmed reports say the guy on the left is Jose Figueroa, who fights in the main event of a televised show this weekend. Care to guess which one? Pic: Sherdog)

Holy bejesus, there’s a lot of fighting on television this weekend. We already pulled your coat to the fact Bobby Lashley is fighting a middleweight at Titan FC on HDNet tonight. We assume you also already know that one of the most exciting young lions of the light heavyweight division (no, not Jon Jones, but close) will fight an old school warrior of the bygone Pride days (no, not Shogun Rua, but close) Saturday night in the UFC cage on SpikeTV. On the other hand, we totally forgive you if you forgot M-1 Global is also set to make its debut on Showtime on Friday night while Bellator offers up another show on MTV2 on Saturday. God knows we did, until we saw it on some random dude’s Twitter this afternoon.

It kind of begs the question: We know you really, really like MMA, but doesn’t four shows in two days seem kind of … dunno … excessive? After the jump, some things you’ll need to know to make an informed choice about where to set your DVR during this weekend’s other two shows …

(Video courtesy of YouTube/edelsonmoura)

Just a reminder that HDNet will be airing the latest episode of Michael Schiavello’s The Voice vs… series tonight featuring UFC  and PRIDE favorite, Wanderlei Silva.

(“Is ‘March’ with one ‘e’ or two?”)

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz posted a video of himself signing his contract to face Ryan Bader at UFC 132 July 2 at the Mandalay Events Center in Las Vegas, NV.

The fight will likely be Ortiz’s last chance to prove the UFC that they should hold on to him in spite of the fact that he has not won a fight in the past five years or in any of his past five fights. UFC president Dana White has said recently that he thought about letting “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” go after his loss to Matt Hamill in October at UFC 121, but decided to give Ortiz, who still has some drawing power, one more kick at the cat.

(“…so you see, my client couldn’t have *possibly* committed these murders.” Hey that’s two OJ jokes in the same day! Good times! / Lots more photos and videos from the Titan weigh-ins at BJJinMMA.com)

Seven months after his unexpected loss to Chad Griggs at Strikeforce: Houston, WWE-star-turned-MMA-fighter Bobby Lashley will return to action tonight in the main event of Titan Fighting Championships 17 at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas. Though Lashley was originally supposed to face off against James Jack, Jack mysteriously went M.I.A. and has been replaced with an equally-obscure fighter named John Ott, an 8-7 journeyman who has primarily competed at middleweight and light-heavyweight. Yesterday, Ott weighed in at 215.4 pounds for the heavyweight contest, against Lashley’s 252.4. It is what it is.

Also on the card, Phil Baroni will look to break a three-fight losing streak against the comparatively unseasoned Nick Nolte, while Abe “Sylvia Killer” Wagner clashes with Strikeforce/Bellator vet Aaron Rosa. The event will be broadcast tonight on HDNet starting at 10 p.m., following “The Voice vs. Wanderlei Silva” at 8 p.m. and Inside MMA at 9. Here’s the Titan FC 17 televised lineup, according to their Facebook page:

(“Your numbers are a little weak in the swing states, Jon. We’d like you to consider wearing this American flag pin.” Pic: ESPN)

Even as MMA hardcores continue to cream their collective jeans over the unbelievable awesomeness of new light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, early estimates indicate UFC 128 didn’t quite live up to expectations in the sales department. Stalwart fight journalist (and the kind of dude who keeps track of this stuff) Dave Meltzer reports his numbers show Saturday night’s pay-per-view notching between 415,000-470,000 buys, which puts it pretty much exactly on the nose of the UFC’s “average” buy rate of 445K. What’s that mean exactly? Well, to borrow a phrase from Scott Coker, it means UFC 128 didn’t really “move the needle” with casual fans.

Naturally, some of the people who get paid to have opinions about this kind of thing (dudes like us) will see this as a failure on the part of Jones himself. After all, the UFC did everything it could to market this PPV behind the 23-year-old phenom, including both a “Countdown” special and the heretofore unseen “In the Moment” documentary on SpikeTV. To this notion, we’d like to say: Not so fast. Even as a website that’s occasionally been quasi-critical of the sport’s new Christ figure, we think it’s pretty unfair to hang this particular PPV’s disappointing showing on Jones. Don’t forget that he didn’t become a full-on breakout superstar until AFTER he crushed Mauricio “Shogun” Rua to win the strap, you guys.

(A picture says a thousand words…like, “Why is there a SPIKE TV camera man’s reflection in the windshield of that car?”)

When Jon Jones unbelievable story of chasing down and capturing a thief in the hours prior to his UFC 128 championship bout with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua made the rounds, it seemed like an unbelievable story. Well, at least one source claims that the incident was a staged PR move to designed to get the UFC light heavyweight and the sport of MMA more mainstream press.

Mission accomplished.

Thanks to the Zuffa creative team, who are said to have cooked up the plot to the fake robbery that took place Saturday afternoon outside of in New Jersey park, Jones was invited to appear on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night to talk about his incredible crime fighting tale.

(Props: mmachiro)

So here’s how we’ll do this: Every week, we’ll announce a handful of our favorite #freecapotato Twitter messages and Facebook photos. As promised, those people will all get “Free CagePotato” t-shirts; if we run your photo or tweet, please e-mail your name, shirt-size, and address to contest@cagepotato.com, and we’ll hook you up. Lots more after the jump…

(Props: Miles B.)

Via IronForgesIron.com, here’s the video of Jon Jones‘s appearance on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno last night. The segment began with the UFC light-heavyweight champ handing Jay his belt as the Rickey Minor Band gamely worked its way through the Ultimate Fighter theme music. (“Time to end this suffering,” indeed.) Bones handed himself well. While fending off the advances of a very-smitten Kirstie Alley, Jones told the full story of his robber-apprehension in New Jersey before UFC 128, explained MMA to the old folks in the crowd, revealed how his mom beat him and his brothers twice a day (you know, because he grew up in such a strong Christian home), and then plugged his next fight against Rashad Evans, date still TBA. Your move, Brock. What did you guys think?

After the jump: Photos of Jonny Bones choking out Jay Leno and getting comfortable with Kirstie Alley.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/Polska58)

Well another fight is on the horizon for me.

Three weeks left until Emanuel Newton and I throw down. Not to mention the new two-fight deal with the MFC we just signed. My manager and I had a meeting with the Pavelichs and told them we wanted Emanuel for April 8th. Mark made a few calls and set it up. He also thought it was an interesting match up and would be great for MFC 29 in Windsor, so we got on the card with just over a month’s notice even though it was nearly full.

Emanuel is a tough dude who is ranked 35th on FightMatrix.com, not to mention a former champ. I expect a great performance from him considering how he looked in his last fight with Rodney Wallace.

At the press conference after the fights Emanuel said, “Jimmo, that’s a nice belt…..Ill be coming for it,” so this is a fight I pushed for. It is a great opportunity and not to mention Emanuel added a little emotional element to it by saying what he did about my belt. It’s also a big fight card and the first major MMA show to set foot on Ontario soil, so how could I pass it up?