Please tell us where this song ranks in the all-time “MMA Rap” list in the comments section.

According to our pals over at UFC.com, Antoni Hardonk has retired from the sport of MMA. Given that his last fight took place over a year-and-a-half ago, it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, nor will it impact the heavyweight rankings, but it’s always slightly unpleasant to officially scratch any name off of the organization’s shallowest division.

Not one to sit idly by while nursing an injury, UFC Welterweight Jon Fitch is working other aspects of his game while his shoulder heals up. Perhaps his love affair with fruits and vegetables is rockier than we’d been led to believe?

And to think, only ONE of these guys is nicknamed “Uncle Creepy”. Image courtesy of Sherdog.com.

Last night, Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore, California hosted their ninth event. The card featured a Top 10 flyweight, Gerald Harris attempting to get back in the W column and the return of the greatest tattoo in MMA. And probably some other stuff, too.

Fresh off of his upset victory over then top ranked flyweight Jussier da Silva, “Uncle Creepy” Ian McCall returned to action last night against Nashville prospect Dustin Ortiz. Before dropping to flyweight, Uncle Creepy compiled an 8-2 record as a bantamweight. You may remember him from his brief stint with the WEC, where he went 1-2 in three fights, including a unanimous decision loss to Dominick Cruz at WEC 38. Last night McCall dominated the entire fight, showboating to the crowd throughout the third round on his way to a unanimous decision win. The victory likely propels him to a flyweight title fight against Darrell Montague.

(Celementi’s post fight interview with Sweden’s answer to Ariel Helwani)

I can think of a few good reasons that last weekend’s Superior Challenge 7 card may have slipped of our radar. With the juggernaut that was UFC 129 dominating the MMA landscape at the time, former UFC fighters vying for mostly-irrelevant titles in a far away land just didn’t seem to matter too much. Fast forward one week and things get slightly more interesting.

As this event marked the first time that the Unified Rules would govern MMA bouts in Sweden, one might have expected a smooth night fights set to the harmonic backdrop of “The Sign”. However, following decision losses in their respective title bouts, Jeremy Horn and Rich Clementi have officially filed protests with the Swedish Mixed Martial Arts Federation to have the results of those matches overturned.

And if neither pulled out? My God what a beautiful baby!

The fight cards for UFC 130 and UFC on Versus 4 are undergoing some minor renovations. It was announced yesterday that both Matt Riddle and Cody McKenzie have sustained injuries forcing them from their respective bouts.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/ncaasteve)

- 8 mothers who don’t deserve Mother’s Day (ModernMan)

- The 7 Least Intimidating MMA Nicknames (Clutch.MTV)

- 2011 summer movie preview (Bullz-Eye)

- Interview with UFC 129 doctor Jason Su (Sportsnet)

- Infographic: superhero movies, by the numbers (BamKapow)

- Car accident forces Del Rosario off of Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum card (MMAJunkie)

- 7 sports “feats” any average guy could do (Guyism)

- Wanderlei Silva wants 10 more fights (MiddleEasy)

- Mosley hasn’t run out of ‘Sugar’ time (TheRugged)

- FTW: how to build a fire without matches (MadeMan)

- Coach says lil’ Nog’ happy to fight Franklin and Big Nog’ will join him on the UFC Rio card if he’s healthy (Tatame)

- Dexter going back to the basics (ScreenJunkies)

- Rashad Evans talks Jones, Shogun and new camp (FightersOnly)

- Midnight gifs (HolyTaco)

(Aoki is not impressed by DREAM’s choices of opponents)

DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki will reportedly take on either former World Extreme Cagefighting lightweight champion Jamie Varner or former Maximum Fighting Championship lightweight champion Antonio McKee at DREAM’s “Fight for Japan” disaster relief benefit show on May 29 in Tokyo.

According to MMAWeekly, Aoki’s original opponent, UFC and Shooto veteran Williamy Freire, was unable to secure a visa to fight in Japan, so the promotion offered the bout to McKee, who was inexplicably stripped of his MFC belt earlier this month and learned of the news from a press release put out by the Edmonton, Alberta-based promotion announcing that Drew Fickett and Hermes Franca would be competing in its next show for “Mandingo’s” strap. His opportunity to contend for DREAM gold, however has hit a snag as he too does not have a visa to fight in Asia. As a precaution, DREAM has now offered Varner the bout, but it is unclear at this point which of the two former champions will be taking on Aoki in three weeks.

(Pic: Las Vegas Sun)

Finally, some interesting stuff from Gray Maynard. The No. 1 contender for the UFC lightweight title – and one of the most hated-on guys in the industry — has some harsh words for on-deck championship challenger Anthony Pettis in this new interview with MMAFA.tv. Also, a bit later on it sounds suspiciously like he’s referring to light heavyweight champion Jon Jones when he remarks that people in MMA today like “shit that isn’t real.” There are some unusually probing questions here too from Jon Luther, who does a nice job going above and beyond the normal, “So, how’s training going?” of your typical MMA interview. Some choice cuts from Maynard are after the jump.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/TheFightNetwork)

Ken Shamrock spoke Fight Network Radio recently and stated that he believes that if the UFC would look past their personal and legal issues and give him a rubbermatch with Royce Gracie at UFC Rio in August, they will sell out and set pay-per-view records much like his pair of fights with Tito Ortiz did.

(“Must…not…show…joy.” Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas.)

Nick Diaz came one step closer to his grumpy transition toward a boxing career today, as a press release was distributed claiming that Jeff Lacy has officially signed to box Diaz this fall. A former IBF super-middleweight champion, Lacy was one of the guys who Gary Shaw dismissed as an irrelevant opponent for Diaz, but when you have a 1-0 record in boxing (as Diaz does), beggars can’t be choosers. In fact, Diaz is just as irrelevant an opponent for Lacy when you think about it, but whatever.

No date or venue has been named yet, although the event will be titled “Breaking History.” (Good. As long as we have the important stuff locked down, everything else should fall into place on its own.) Said promoter Don Chargin in the press release: “This is a very dangerous fight for both men. Not only is this fight dangerous but stylistically it is very intriguing. I expected more resistance from fight fans and media in regards to this match-up but it’s amazing as to the hundreds of calls and e-mails I’ve received from fans on both sides wanting to see this match-up take place. I’ve received more than a few inquiries from some other very high-profile boxers that want to step up and fight Nick. Its been a real whirlwind…

(Props: FightGameTV via Deaf Forever)

Hmm. Poor Tank has taken too many bottles to the head, if you know what I’m saying…

(Video courtesy of SPIKETV)

Here’s an interesting preview for UFC 130 where Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard give two decidedly different perspectives of how their UFC 125 split draw went down.

The rubber match is set for May 28 and it’s going to be a doozy.

(All natural, bro, all natural. Pic: GoodmenProject)

We told you last weekend there seemed to be some confusion about who was doing the drug testing at UFC 129, after the Ontario Athletic Commission admitted it didn’t oversee any prefight screening and the UFC had to reportedly take matters in hand by hiring an independent lab to do the work. For a variety of reasons – financial and otherwise — it’s obviously problematic when the only drug testing done at a major sporting event is overseen by the promotion itself. Especially when the president of said promotion consistently tells the media his organization is powerless against “the government” in nearly all PED-related issues.

Now, here’s a new reason to raise our eyebrows, as just prior to UFC 129 the head of the renowned US Anti-Doping Agency went on record to call drug testing in MMA “horrific” and say it’s “a joke” that promoters “claim they are trying to protect their sport with WADA (compliant) policies.” That’s World Anti-Doping Agency, for those of you keeping score, pretty much the gold standard in the drug-testing world. USADA chief Travis Tygart told Reuters recently that his organization — which oversees America’s Olympic-level testing — has no involvement in the UFC’s drug policies and called the current system employed by promoters and government athletic commissions “woefully inadequate.”

His quotes, scathing as they are, are after the jump …

(“No matter what happens, I hope we can still pretend to be friends.”)

Let’s not drag this thing out any longer than we already have. After four rounds of voting, over 50,000 votes cast, and one fairly-awkward video featuring the two finalists, you’ve made it very clear who your hearts belong to.

And so, the winner of 2011′s Hottest Women in MMA Grand Prix, taking a full 77.4% of the popular vote in the finals, is…

At 21 years old, Henry Cejudo became the youngest American to win a gold medal in Olympic wrestling, when he swept through the 55kg freestyle field at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. When he returned home, Cejudo began to immerse himself in boxing training, winning tournaments in Arizona and training with Freddie Roach. Before long, Bellator approached him with an offer to join their Season Three bantamweight tournament. “I was close enough to signing with Bellator that they faxed the papers over and I was ready to sign them,” Cejudo said. “I thought about it for a day and during that time I got a call from USA wrestling about me coming back. I had a decision to make, and I think I just see myself with another gold medal and maybe doing MMA afterward.”

Cejudo now plans to compete at the 2012 Games in London. His comeback began yesterday evening at the “USA vs. Russia”-themed Beat the Streets 2011 Gala in New York City’s Times Square, where he competed in wrestling for the first time since Beijing. Cejudo faced Junior World bronze medalist Rasul Mashezov and won 2-0, 4-3. The American team beat the Russians 5-2 overall, aided by wins from 2010 U.S. Open champion Jordan Burroughs and 2009 World bronze medalist Tervel Dlagnev.

(Sometimes purple lipstick happens in MMA commentating.)

According to a Sports Illustrated report, MMA’s most maligned play-by-play commentator Gus Johnson is leaving CBS to work for Fox.

Not sure if this has anything to do with the fact that the UFC bought Strikeforce and UFC president Dana White has made no secret of the fact that he doesn’t care for Johnson’s fight calling abilities and as such it seemed unlikely that GuJo would be included in their vision of business as usual .

(MacGrath could raise his stock immensely with a win over a veteran like Aurelio.)

Cory MacDonald was hoping that his fight at MMA Live 1 against Marcus Aurelio would be his coming out party of sorts that would propel the highly-touted Kingston, Ontario native up the Canadian welterweight rankings. Unfortunately for MacDonald, he will have to wait for his opportunity to open the eyes of fans, pundits and possibly the powers that be at the UFC, as he has been forced to pull out of the May 19 London, Ontario show for undisclosed medical reasons.

Stepping in for McDonald on just over one week’s notice to face Aurelio (20-9) will be always game Halifax, Nova Scotia native Matt MacGrath (10-5). Although he is just 2-3 in his last five outings, each of his losses in that span came against UFC veterans in Kalib Starnes, Jonathan Goulet and Claude Patrick. MacGrath defeated TUF 9 quarter finalist Dean Amasinger at MMA: The Reckoning in Orillia, Ontario April 2.

(Two of the world’s leading causes of head injury.)

We got word this week from Alistair Overeem’s management that “The Demolition Man” will be taking some time away from his busy training schedule preparing for his first round Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix fight with Fabricio Werdum in July to answer our most pressing questions. We figured that, rather than ask the Team Golden Glory standout what we want to hear answered, we  figured we would give The Potato Nation the opportunity to come up with the best questions they can for Overeem.

(Off camera, Mike Goldberg is just another golden-voiced hobo.)

This week’s caption contest brought in 235 entries — or about 140, if you take out all the spam comments and painfully obvious references to Menace II Society. After careful consideration, we’ve chosen three winners, who will be scoring new t-shirts from Ranger Up. But first, some honorable mentions…

Horror Fighter: With his camouflage coat, Goldberg was confident that he could steal Matt’s beer unseen.

FightZen: “Matt ‘The Law’ Lindland, is, unquestionably, the most accomplished beer drinker in the middleweight division.”

DangadaDang: One thing that’s amazing about Guinness beer is that its hoppiness is so…hoppy.

RWilsonR: “Hey Matt, want to see what’s on a meteoric rise right now? I’ll give you a hint… it’s in my pants.”

Naked Rear Poke: MG: Now, try not to look too shocked because I know he’s a LOT shorter in real life, but he’s a huge fan of yours. Matt, meet Eminem!
Naked Rear Poke (again): MG: Hey Matt, do you think this necklace makes me look less like someone with the surname ‘Goldberg’?

And now, your winners…

(Video courtesy of YouTube/Us)

Prior to the UFC revealing that the Japanese standout would be squaring off with middleweight champion Anderson Silva at UFC Rio in August, our Japanese correspondent Stewart Fulton visited Yushin Okami to interview him and take in a training session at Real Japan Wrestling  gym in Tokyo.

Okami touched on a number of topics including the fact that he has been preparing for an inevitable showdown with Anderson, his training with Team Quest, Xtreme Couture and Yoshihiro Akiyama and his thoughts on a GSP-Silva super fight.

(We looked and looked, but all we could find was this photo of Jim Belushi. Pic: The Fab Life)

At this rate, we’ll never be rid of this goddamn vampire. We’d hoped for a quick and quiet departure from MMA for Steven Seagal – kind of a one-off creep-and-lurk session at UFC 126 – but now that his second straight appearance in the corner of a Black House fighter has ended in a second straight front kick knockout, we don’t see that happening. While it is still totally unclear if Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva are just fucking with us (and by extension, with him) by professing their allegiances to Seagal, this week Out for Justice himself stopped by Sherdog Radio to assure us all that this shit is deadly serious.

As part of a nearly 20-minute interview, Seagal broke down Lyoto Machida’s jumping KO of Randy Couture at last weekend’s UFC 129. You know, as much as he could without giving away all the secrets of his deadly arts. He also promised to keep working with Black House fighters on new, top-secret techniques. Worst of all, it appears he’s begun referring to Machida and Silva as “his guys.” The quotes are after the jump.

(Garza picking up the first UFC win in Ontario in impressive fashion.)

After racking up nine straight wins in the regional circuit, Pablo Garza suffered the first loss of his career under the bright lights of the WEC. Determined that he belonged in the big show, “The Scarecrow” made his way to Las Vegas to try out for The Ultimate Fighter 12, but failed to make it into the house when eventual finalist Michael Johnson knocked him out of the competition in the qualifying round.

Garza walked away from the show determined to improve. He was given another shot to prove that he belonged in the Octagon at the TUF 12 finale and he took the opportunity and ran with it as he knocked out Fredson Paxiao 51 seconds into the opening frame with a picture-perfect, $30,000 Knockout of the Night garnering flying knee.

Riding the momentum of his impressive UFC debut in December, the 27-year-old Fargo, North Dakota native wanted to make another statement in his follow-up fight last weekend at UFC 129 in Toronto against Yves Jabouin. It took him just 4:31 to silence the Canadian crowd and earn himself another performance bonus — this time for Submission of the Night and to the tune of $129, 000.

We spoke to Garza yesterday and touched on a number of topics including  his win over Jabouin Saturday night, what he plans to do with his latest bonus and what his family thinks about his career path.

Check out the interview with the fast-rising featherweight after the jump.

Props to UG member “pervert” (naturally). Click for full-size version; two more after the jump. Haywire is now slated for an August release.

As the UFC’s new semi-official Ambassador to Women, light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones appeared on The Mo’Nique Show this week. It seemed like the only two people who knew who the hell Jones was when he walked in the room were Eddie Griffin and Mo’Nique herself, but baby, that didn’t matter. All the hungry crowd saw was a big, sexy man. Honestly, the vibe on set was downright bachelorette party-esque, and Bones did his best to play along.

It’s a pretty standard media appearance, otherwise. Jones explains his nickname for the 5,000th time, tells Mo’Nique what mixed martial arts is, etc. Luckily, Eddie Griffin is there to punch it up when the conversation gets slow. (“…and then I got hit one time, have you ever seen your own ass.”) Jones tries to show off his spinning back elbow, but instead gets served in a dance-off. Time well spent, folks.

(Above: Zach Davis’s face-off with Chuck O’Neil. Below: Jake Busey, for comparison. Gif via ironforgesiron.com)

It’s a big ol’ locker-room pity party on Team Dos Santos following Mick Bowman’s loss. “Sometimes it’s not our time to be winner, but we have to try our best,” Junior says, trying to raise Mick’s spirits. He explains that the UFC is looking for exciting fighters and exciting fights. Lew Polley sees it differently: “You can say whatever you want, I don’t care, but the fact of the matter is, your job is just to win the fight. If it’s boring [and] you win, great. If it’s exciting [and] you lose, then what?”

Junior is not pleased to be contradicted in front of his team. “I think we make the guys a little bit confused, Lew,” he says. “Because sometimes I say something and you say something different…I know you’re a good fighter, I’m glad you’re here, but I think we need to talk to each other.” Uh-ohhh.

Back on the victorious Team Chickenshit, Brock tells Len Bentley that if they win their next two fights, he’s in line for a wild card spot. (Pay attention. This will become important later in the show.) And like clockwork, Len goes down grabbing his knee in practice. “I’m speechless,” Brock says, not literally speechless. “Maybe it’s time to close shop here for the day…I just want to exit the building. I’m just sick to my stomach.”

(“Hey you guys!!! Can I get a Baby Ruth?”)

UFC featherweight Mark Hominick was on The Fan 590 RadioMonday morning where he spoke with host Andrew Krystal about his gutsy fight at UFC 129 against Jose Aldo this past weekend.

According to “The Machine,” who says the gruesome hematoma he incurred during the bout was “merely a flesh wound,” the UFC brass were so impressed with his performance Saturday night that they have assured him that if he can put together a couple more wins, he’ll get another crack at the the promotion’s 145-pound strap.

Check out what Hominick had to say after the jump.

(“Minimum wage, child labor laws, eight-hour work day – that stuff’s for pussies.”)

For a couple of years now word has been percolating that the real reason MMA can’t seem to successfully find its way through the New York State Assembly might have less to do with the sport itself than with Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta’s purported anti-union business practices back home in Nevada. The Spark Notes version is this: The Fertittas’ Station Casinos group is reportedly the largest non-union company in Las Vegas and has a longstanding beef with a powerful nationwide hotel and restaurant workers’ union called Unite Here, which claims Vegas’ Culinary Union Local 226 as its largest chapter. That relationship turned even more icy in 2000, when the brothers allegedly fired 850 of 1,000 union employees working at a casino they’d just acquired. Ever since then the union has done everything it can to put political pressure on the Fertittas’ various business ventures, including bringing its considerable lobbying clout to bear in opposition to the UFC operating in New York.

Anybody who’s ever seen a Martin Scorsese movie knows you can’t piss off one of the country’s biggest labor unions and expect to do business in the Empire State, right? That’d be like publishing nude photos of one of the UFC’s ring girls on your website and expecting to still get press credentials. Just wrong-headed and crazy. Anyway, UFC Prez Dana White has long stayed mum about the Fertitta’s feud with big labor, but this week White mustered his usual political savvy and velvet-glove oratory skills to break down MMA’s New York legalization efforts thusly …

(Above: Bern poses with a completely terrified Joe Silva. Below: Proof that at least one human female attended our party. Success!)

As promised, here are some photographic highlights from last Thursday’s CagePotato party at Shoeless Joe’s in Toronto, with a few “Free CagePotato” photos from the UFC Fan Expo thrown in for flavor. Thanks again to everybody who came, wore our t-shirts, took pictures, and got drunk at our expense. Most of these pics were shot by CagePotato All-Star Bern E., who sent them to us out of the goodness of his heart (so he says), not to win that GSP headband signed by the Octagon Girls. Well too bad buddy, because you’re the winner anyway. I’ll be in touch.

Lots more good times after the jump.

(Mendes thinks he can expose Aldo on the ground using his wrestling prowess)

Number one UFC featherweight contender Chad Mendes watched Jose Aldo grind out a decision win over Mark Hominick live at the Rogers Centre in Toronto and walked away from the event with the confidence that he can beat the previously thought invincible UFC featherweight champion.

Mendes told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto yesterday that he isn’t buying the excuse that the Aldo was sick going into the bout or that the strain of cutting weight after adding muscle the past several months left him in a weakened state strength and conditioning-wise.

(Click all photos for full-size versions.)

According to Terra Sports (via MMAMania), Brazilian model Maria Melilo has reportedly been hired as a guest Octagon Girl for UFC 134, August 27th in Rio De Janeiro — beating out other local ring girl hopefuls like Carol Dias and Juliana Salimeni. (Update: According to MMAFighting, none of them will be used. Well that sucks.) But don’t worry, she’s qualified. Maria (also known as “Meg”) has held round-cards for Brazilian MMA promotions including Jungle Fight, has appeared in Brazilian Playboy, and won the 11th season of Big Brother Brasil. Check out lots more photos of her after jump, and share your thoughts in the comments section…