The Hendo Alarm Clock ($19.95): Guaranteed to wake you up from the deepest of sleeps. (Pic: Strikeforce.com)

Waking up this morning I had no idea of the war being waged in comment sections and MMA forums throughout the night. I should have expected it, really, given the inexplicable fervor with which fans both exalt and denounce Fedor Emelianenko. My two cents on the stoppage: Dan Henderson hit Fedor with several full-force, illegal punches to the back of the head. They were to the back of the head because Fedor’s face was buried in the canvas. They were full-force force because Fedor’s arms lied limply at his sides, gently tucked below his slightly-less-chubby-than-usual torso. We can argue about “The Last Emperor” recovering and rolling over as Henderson was waived off, but there’s no debating what led referee Herb Dean to step in. Watch it in slow motion, watch it a lot.

That’s all the time I’ll devote to the main event; both men’s legacies were built long before they entered Hoffman Estates, and what transpired last night did little to change that. The real story is what’s ahead for last night’s winners and losers, and where Strikeforce as an organization is headed.

(Props: YouTube.com/StocktonHeybuddy)

The wild opening and the dramatic finish. For a full rundown of last night’s Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson, check out our liveblog.

(“Fedor, it’s an honor to fight you. And Scott, no matter what happens tonight, I’ll be violently sodomizing you later.” Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle. For more photos from this album, click here.)

There might not be much on the line in the grand scheme of things, but make no mistake — Fedor Emelianenko vs. Dan Henderson is a superfight. It’s rare that two MMA fighters with so many combined accolades step into the same cage to do battle. Thanks for coming by tonight and watching it with us.

Also on the card: the 135-pound women’s title fight between Marloes Coenen and Miesha Tate, and a pack of heavy-hitting supporting players like Robbie Lawler, Tim Kennedy, Paul Daley, and Scott Smith.

Live round-by-round results from the Showtime broadcast of Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson will be piling up after the jump beginning at 10 p.m. ET. Refresh the page for all the latest and let your thoughts be heard in the comments section, even if they’re relatively stupid thoughts like, “DAAAAYYUM HE GOT NOCKED THE FUGGOUT!!1!” Come on in…

“Maybe if we leave Bobby Lashley on the poster, no one will notice that we left the ‘L’ out of professional” -The TFC Marketing Intern who worked on this poster

Are you a regional promotion that wants to get our attention? Put Bobby Lashley on your cards, and we’ll begrudgingly give you an article every time he fights. He decides to pull out of a fight for “personal problems”? Just stack your card with guys with crazy nicknames and we’ll sort it all out the next day.

As we mentioned earlier this week, Titan Fighting Championships returned with TFC 19 last night. Since the card featured a cast of relatively unknown fighters with unusual nicknames, we’re not going to do a traditional recap. Rather, we’re going to break this one down by examining which fighters actually lived up to their nicknames, and which nicknames appear to be failed attempts at ironic humor.

(Props to Cage Potato reader Steve C. for the tip)

If you haven’t heard of Alvin Walker before today, don’t take it too hard; the 3-0 fighter has competed exclusively in regional promotions in Germany. After today, if you haven’t heard of Alvin Walker you’re not a lover of crazy ass slams and should hang your head in shame.

In a suplex that looks so perfect it should have been launched from the top turnbuckle of a squared circle, Walker hoists Matthias Merkle over his head before slamming him to the mat behind him. From there a big right hand rocked Merkle and the following swarm of punches forced the TKO stoppage just 1:40 into the first round. Alvin, we salute you and all men who stare gravity in the face and say “no more”.

Previous moments of slam awesomeness:
The Seven Most Brutal KO Slams in MMA History

Cop at UFC 91 Body Slams Dude First, Asks Questions Later

Krazy Horse’s Helicopter Cage Slam

With only one week to go until the last-resort rematch between Tito Ortiz and Rashad Evans, the hype is in full swing. Rashad made an appearance on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon last night and came off very well. During his interview he performed impressions of his mother and Randy Couture and even sang a litte impromptu karaoke.

If you were hoping for some heated trash talk about his opponent, the above video won’t suit your needs. But don’t get it twisted: Rashad may be all smiles with Jimmy Fallon but he’s still willing to “go there”. Join us after the jump to get your fix as the two fighters trash talk it up for our viewing pleasure.

It may be five years too late for the winner of tonight’s Fedor vs. Henderson bout to gain anything other than bragging rights, but that isn’t stopping us from being excited. Those of you who saw yesterday’s link dump already know that Fedor is only seven pounds lighter than he was when he fought Antonio Silva. Even though the scale doesn’t show it, Fedor looks more athletic than we’re accustomed to seeing him. Of course, if you’ve been paying attention you aren’t too surprised. Dan Henderson made weight as well, tipping the scales at 207 pounds.

To get an idea of how small Fedor is for a heavyweight, skip to about the two minute mark. Even though Fedor has the sixteen pound weight advantage, you wouldn’t know it by looking at him standing next to Hendo. Henderson, who pretty much came into this fight at light heavyweight, appears to be the same size as Fedor. And remember, Dan Henderson isn’t exactly the Anthony Johnson of the light heavyweight division.

Everyone else on tonight’s card made weight for their fights. Yes, this includes Paul Daley, who weighed in at 171 pounds for his fight against Tyron Woodley. Full results, courtesy of mmafighting.com, are after the jump.

A stark glimpse of the future.

Things move pretty quickly in the MMA game. It was less than two weeks ago that Alistair was ousted from the tournament after declining to contest his semi-final bout a month earlier than previously discussed. Three days ago, Overeem exercised his right to fight in other organizations and announced his participation in an MMA bout scheduled for October in Moscow. And last night Inside MMA dropped the bombshell that “The Demolition Man” has been served his pink slip by Zuffa officials.

At this point, we have very little information from either side of the fence. The latest short film uploaded to TheReem.com reveals that, in addition to the previously disclosed broken toe, Overeem is sporting a fractured rib which prevented his participation on the September Strikeforce card. We also know that the champion had only one fight remaining on his contract, meaning a victory over Antonio Silva in the tournament semi-finals would have granted him incredible bargaining power in the ensuing contract negotiations. If you think the details of his release are murky, just think about what this means for his immediate future.

(Props: HDNetFights)

That thumping sound you just heard? That’s the other shoe dropping. Inside MMA breaks the awful news:

“Sources close to the situation have told Inside MMA that the company [Strikeforce] has exercised its right to eliminate his one remaining fight on his contract, effective July 22nd…Also according to the source, Overeem has been dealing with more serious injuries than originally reported, including a broken toe, and rib and elbow problems…Another issue that Strikeforce officials had regarding Overeem’s participation in the [Heavyweight Grand Prix] tournament is he had only one fight left on his current contract, and he would have had to fight twice to win the grand prix.”

Damn. Did Alistair Overeem really just lose his job because he wouldn’t compete earlier than he was originally asked to? Can’t wait to hear how Zuffa spins this debacle. We’ll update you when we know more…

(Video courtesy of YouTube/opieradio)

- Fedor weighs in 7 lbs lighter for Hendo fight than he did for fight with Bigfoot (MMAFighting)

- The 50 funniest Ebay auctions ever (DoubleViking)

- The pudgiest fighters in MMA (BleacherReport)

- Two smoking hot Bulgarian girls shocked to find their apartment covered in cameras (Guyism)

- Braulio Estima talks fighting Jacare; says GSP could win ADCC (Tatame)

- The Great Male Survey (AskMen)

- “The Rhino” takes “The Crow’s” spot (TopMMANews)

- Strikeforce’s Bobby Green brings “hood” into the cage (Clutch.MTV)

- All your favorite old guys rumored for ‘Expendables 2′ (ScreenJunkies)

- Miletich says Cormier is a tougher fight for Bigfoot than Overeem (MiddleEasy)

- FTW: How to cure a hangover (MadeMan)

- Programming reminder: Rashad is on Jimmy Kimmel tonight(MMAMania)

- HolyTaco has the leaked ‘Thundercats’ clip and it looks terrible (HolyTaco)

- A rebuttal from the Underground Combat League (TheFightNerd)

(Video courtesy of YouTube/MMAHeat)

Not sure how we missed this video when it went up last week, but our homegirl Karyn Bryant from MMA H.E.A.T. caught up with Diego Sanchez and talked to the eccentric UFC welterweight about a variety of topics including his upcoming UFC 135 fight with Matt Hughes in September and his return to Team Jackson.

FYI, Sanchez recently turned down our request for another interview because our logo is “the damn devil sign,” but that’s fine since Karyn always seems to ask the questions we want to have answered.

Your loss, Diego, you know what I mean?

A few highlights after the jump:

(Full gallery is after the jump.)

Victory Fighting Championships 35 goes down tomorrow night at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, featuring Abe Wagner, Joe Ellenberger, and a rising women’s MMA prospect named Sarah McLeod. (Thanks to BabesofMMA for the tip.) A native of Vancouver, Sarah has compiled a 3-2-1 record as an amateur, and will be facing New Hampshire-based fighter Heather Lambert (3-0).

Though Sarah started her fight career without any formal training, she has been honing her skills at Mid-America Martial Arts in Omaha since the beginning of the year, and is looking to build on her current two-fight win streak.

Also, and not that this is important or anything, but Sarah McLeod just happens to be a model and bikini competitor in her spare time. She is “always” single, and loves a good mullet. Follow ‘TNT’ on Facebook, and check out some more of her photos below…

(Video courtesy of AOL Fanhouse)

All of the main card fighters from tomorrow night’s Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson card, save women’s welterweight champ Marloes Coenen were in attendance for the event’s pre-fight press conference at Harry Caray’s Italian Steakhouse in Chicago last night.

Check out some of the highlights of the presser for those who can’t watch the video at work, after the jump.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/BellatorMMA)

It looks like Patricky “Pitbull” Freire didn’t get permission from Bellator to face DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki. Instead Bjorn Rebney and Co. are sending “Razor” Rob McCullough over to Japan to face “T?bikan J?dan” in a non-title affair at DREAM 17 September 24 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

DREAM announced the match-up on Friday. MMAJunkie.com was the first site to report the news.

Photographic proof that ReX tried to end Jason’s baby making days.

Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson goes down tomorrow night at the Sears Centre just outside of Chicago.  To help get you in the proper spirit, Doug “ReX13” Richardson and Jason Moles have returned to eloquently debate some of the more important storylines surrounding this historic event. Will Fedor go 0 for 3?  If so, will the internets asplode?  Are we nearing the end of women’s MMA on the big stage? Who gives worse gambling advice, ReX or Jason? Do us a favor and slog through this painfully long column, then let us know your own thoughts in the comments section.

(A wise man once said, ‘Success is the best revenge.’ A slightly less-wise man once said, ‘All y’all haters can blow me.’ / Photo courtesy of MMAFighting)

When Tito Ortiz choked out Ryan Bader at UFC 132 — breaking a four-and-a-half year winless streak in an upset that absolutely nobody saw coming — he immediately became MMA’s comeback story of the year. And if Ortiz can defeat old rival Rashad Evans at UFC 133 on August 6th, he’ll have earned a place among the greatest MMA comebacks of all time.

In honor of the Huntington Beach Bad Boy’s return to legit contendership, we decided to look at MMA’s classic career comebacks, and the non-MMA sports comebacks that we most closely associate them with. Check out the list below, and ask yourself one question: If Tito can leave the Octagon with a victory next Saturday, would he deserve the #1 spot?

FRANK MIR

Rise and fall: The brash submission specialist earned a heavyweight title shot at UFC 48 in June 2004, against 16-0 champion Tim Sylvia. Mir famously snapped Sylvia’s forearm with an armbar and went home with the belt. Three months later, Mir was struck by a car while riding his motorcycle. The accident broke his femur, tore up his knee, and nearly cost him a toe as well. His return to competition a year-and-a-half later was a minor miracle in itself, but the “comeback” saw him get smashed by Marcio Cruz, followed by a lackluster win over Dan Christison, followed by another smashing at the hands of Brandon Vera.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/StocktonHeyBuddy)

Something to break up an otherwise slow news day.

(“This? Oh, this isn’t assault; it’s a show of affection where I come from.”)

In spite of the fact that a jury trial date been set for former Strikeforce heavyweight Brett Rogers for 8:30 a.m. on September 13 in Dakota County District Court where he will answer to charges of beating his wife in front of their two children, it’s possible that the case could be settled next month.

(Screen-cap via ProMMANow)

From a ShootMedia video profile on Miesha Tate (starting at the 4:44 mark):

“I’m gonna try to kill her. [laughs] I really am. I’m gonna try to get to the point where the referee is fearful of her life and stops the fight. That’s my goal.”

Miesha Tate leaves no room for ambiguity when discussing her title fight against 135-pound champ Marloes Coenen at Fedor vs. Henderson this Saturday. It’s a good thing that Dana White has zero interest in Strikeforce or its fighters, or else Tate might be getting chewed out right now, Frank Mir-style.

(Video courtesy of AOL/MMAFighting)

MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani caught up with former PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko to get his thoughts on a number of topics, not least of which being his upcoming Strikeforce bout with Dan Henderson on Saturday night.

According to “The Last Emperor,” although there was much talk about him walking away from MMA after back-to-back losses, he will only retire when it’s God’s will and not a minute before. Hopefully God doesn’t speak to him mid-match Saturday night like he did Paulo Filho during his last bout with Chael Sonnen.

When asked by Helwani to name any weaknesses he thought Henderson has, Fedor said he doesn’t think he has any and although he says that he has slimmed down a bit since his last fight with Antonio Silva, his weight is basically the same.

Check out another vid of Fedor working out in Chicago yesterday, after the jump.

(“Is this too much?”)

According to a release from Authentic Sports Management, Eric Eisner’s Double E Pictures has optioned the film rights for former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin’s life story.

Eisner has hired screenwriter David Hollander (The Cleaner; The Guardian) to pen the script and Sean Sorensen from Motion Theory to produce the film that will chronicle Franklin’s journey from math teacher and self-taught mixed martial artist to UFC middleweight champion.

“Yeah, guys? I don’t really feel like fighting that night, personally.”

Titan Fighting Championship returns to HDNet tomorrow night for TFC 19, with local favorite James Krause taking on 18-6 journeyman vet Clay French as the new headliner. Titan had planned to have Bobby Lashley vs Eddie Sanchez for the main event, but Lashley reportedly pulled out due to “personal problems”, and is now scheduled to return for Titan’s next show on August 26th. Funny thing is, Titan still hasn’t taken Lashley off the poster.

Krause, who made his debut under the Titan banner in 2007, is an exciting fighter popular with the local crowd, but has had difficulties when he steps up into the national scene. Krause dropped back to back fights against Donald Cerrone and Ricardo Lamas in the WEC, then fell victim to a Toby Imada armbar at Bellator 14. His opponent French has been around the game for a minute, carrying a loss to Shinya Aoki via flying triangle at PRIDE Bushido 13 in 2007 before Krause had even turned pro, so we guess those crazy flying subs do work. Sometimes.

The co-main event is a catchweight fight in the women’s division, featuring Tonya Evinger vs Sarah McMann at 140 pounds. Interesting note: Evinger’s last two losses, a pair of RNC submissions, came at the hands of Alexis Davis, a Canadian fighter making her Strikeforce debut Saturday night against Julie Kedzie. (What? We thought it was interesting.) Evinger will face Sarah McMann, an MMA n00b with just two fights. But hold the phone: McMann is also the first American woman to medal in Olympic wrestling, which makes this matchup an intriguing one. Evinger has a high school wrestling background herself, which is a relative oddity in the women’s division.

Check out the full card after the jump.

(Damn auto-play videos. The clip is after the jump.)

That ninja in the blue wrestling singlet is Ellis Coleman, a Greco-Roman stylist from Northern Michigan University, and he’s competing at the Junior World Championships in Bucharest, Romania. That guy he’s wrestling has no idea what is getting ready to happen to him. We’d describe it, but just watch the damn video, because it’s fucking insane.

(H-Bomb vs. The Last Emperor — who ya got? Illustration courtesy of Maor Tzadoc at Lowkick)

By Anton Gurevich

This Saturday, Mixed Martial Arts fans around the world will hold their breath, as MMA legends Fedor Emelianenko and Dan Henderson go toe-to-toe inside the Strikeforce cage.

Fedor and Hendo share 12 Championship and Tournament titles between them. Both men fought for the now-defunct Japanese RINGS promotion, with Fedor winning the Openweight Championship, Absolute and Heavyweight Tournaments. Henderson won the 1999 Kings of Kings Tournament, by defeating the likes of Gilbert Yvel and Minotauro Nogueira en route to his triumph over Renato Sobral in the final.

Their journey continued in the mythological PRIDE Fighting Championship, where both men made their mark as some of the best Mixed Martial Artists on the planet. Emelianenko continued his reign of terror by winning 14 consecutive fights in PRIDE, which resulted in the prestigious World Heavyweight and 2004 PRIDE Heavyweight GP titles. Henderson won 13 fights in PRIDE, but lost five. Nevertheless, “All-American” managed to become the only fighter to hold titles in two different weight classes — the PRIDE Welterweight Title and PRIDE Middleweight Title.

After PRIDE went out of business, Fedor and Henderson went in different directions…

CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE ON LOWKICK.BLITZCORNER.COM…

As expected, one little picture of Arianny Celeste kissing a genital/fruit statue really seemed to fire your imaginations. And yet, there were zero Mark Coleman references. Hmm. We’ve decided to award CagePotato t-shirts to the three best captions this photo produced. But first, some honorable mentions:

gpop727: I’m sure her father is so proud of his daughter and her healthy food choices

RWilsonR: This picture goes against all stereotypes I’ve heard about yellow penises.

OneMorePunchFujita: Brock Lesnar’s original tattoo choice.

Bob Reilly: That’s Lexington Peele right there.

Bob Reilly (again): Orange you glad she didn’t fuck banana?

And now the winners…

(We’d recognize those feet anywhere. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Fifth time’s a charm? After four consecutive losses — three by dramatic first-round knockout — Andrei Arlovski will have yet another chance to redeem himself at ProElite’s return show (August 27th, Honolulu). His opponent is as “rebound” as they get. ProElite has confirmed that Arlovski will be taking on Ray Lopez, a Michigan-based light-heavyweight with less than two years of pro experience, whose 5-1 record doesn’t include a January 2010 submission loss that was later changed to a no-contest. Lopez most recently scored a first-round knockout over Rob Morrow at a KOTC event on July 16th.

Arlovski vs. Lopez is listed as the event’s headliner. ProElite certainly did their part by finding an opponent that the Pitbull can beat — now all Andrei has to do is avoid taking a nasty one to the chin. Will he pull it off? ProElite 1 will also feature a co-headlining middleweight scrap between UFC vets Kendall Grove and Joe Riggs, and the MMA debut of BJ Penn’s brother Reagan Penn.

After the jump: Videos of Ray Lopez in action.

United Glory announced today that Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem is slated to compete in its next event scheduled for October in Moscow, Russia.

According to the poster for the event, “The Reem” will be joined by fellow Golden Glory fighters Sergei Kharitonov and Siyar Bahadurzada on the card.

While searching for a video of Matt Horwich discussing how the flow of positive and negative energies affect the success of rubber guard (because some of you asked for “crazy shit”), we came across a few highlight videos of flying submissions. That’s interesting, we thought to ourselves, and it would no doubt keep you jerks arguing for hours about how flying subs are a waste of time. (They totally are, by the way, because they never ever ever ever work, no matter what that highlight video shows.)

So we find one guy who has an entire series of “How to do the perfect _______”, with a focus on exotic quick kills like the flying triangle and the rolling kneebar.  These two jokers take turns jumping onto one another’s necks for some kind of crazy shoulder lock called an “omaplata”, which has got to be a made-up word.  And yeah, it looks cool and all, but wouldn’t grapplers be better served learning something useful like wrestling?

But then, that would ignoring the entertainment value of breaking down one of these mythical “flying submissions”. So for your edu-tainment, check out GracieAcademy‘s walkthrough of a flying triangle.  They’re good people over there at Gracie Academy, even if they do wear their pajamas when they work out.

If you ever hit one of these loony flying gimmicks in competition, we’ll buy you a beer. Hell, we’ll buy you a few.  And if you hit one in a streetfight ….well, we’ll drive you to the hospital.  Because we’re good people, too.

[RX]

(“…and then, we’ll have events every hour of every day…”)

In a recent interview he did with Sports Illustrated, UFC president Dana White touched on several hot button topics including his organization’s pay-per-view aspirations, the future of the Strikeforce brand, the fact that Paul Daley will still never be invited back to the UFC, Fedor being a sub-top ten heavyweight, his feelings about fighters like Jon Fitch and much, much more.

Check out what The Baldfather had to say after the jump.

It’s no stretch to say that Warrior is the greatest MMA movie ever filmed, considering that its rivals for the title are Never Back Down 2 and the upcoming Paul Blart: Cage-Fighter. But even removed from its often-embarrassing peers, Warrior still holds its own as a great sports movie that succeeds by building itself on familiar sports movie hooks then subverting them whenever possible.

The film centers on a pair of estranged brothers, Brendan Conlon (Joel Edgerton) and Tommy Riordon (Tom Hardy), and their father Paddy (Nick Nolte) — a former abusive alcoholic who drove away his entire family and is playing out the rest of his life as a lonely, sober old man. When Tommy returns from Iraq following a stint in the Marines, he seeks out Paddy partly to exact some emotional revenge, and partly to ask his dad to help train him for ‘Sparta,’ a 16-man middleweight MMA grand prix that promises $5 million to the winner. (Tommy was a wrestling prodigy in high school, and its implied that his father was a Marv Marinovich-esque coach/maniac.)