(Aleks looks like he’s coming off of a particularly bad vodka bender in that photo)

Alex Emelianenko revealed over the weekend that he will face his next inexperienced opponent October 28 in Poland. The younger brother of Fedor Emelianenko confirmed the news with FightCard.pl that he will take on Tomasz Nowak (2-0 MMA, 27-4 kickboxing) at an event called Strefa Walk.

Old and busted ————–new hotness.

Ok, so this story starts off sounding very familiar — Hollywood makes a movie, movie gets some buzz, porn industry makes a spin-off with a punny title and maybe a wardrobe budget. We guess sometimes production companies get involved, and sometimes they can even get awards? Man, we bet his mom is so proud.

Anyways, one of you perverts tipped us off to a film being released next month that may sound familiar to you. Called “Fighters”, it tells the story of “two beautiful, passionate girls, from opposite walks of life that come together in a battle of lust and unyielding wills to fight it out in a stealthy boxing match. The intense physical sparring both in and out of the ring leads to some fierce sexual encounters.” Apparently it’s an ensemble cast with multiple plot threads involving trust and betrayal, persistence and heart, and the value of hard work.  (According to a source, there’s also a great deal of fornicating.)

(It will be interesting to see how Viacom’s vested interest in the company will translate into its promotion of ProElite)

By Mike Russell

It looks like the proclamation UFC president Dana White made a few months ago that CBS will likely go head-to-head with his promotion again in the near future was right on the money.

Sources close to the promotion that was recently brought back from the verge of death by Stratus Media Group, who acquired a 95 percent ownership stake of the company in June, have informed CagePotato.com that ProElite is in the final stages of negotiations for a multi-year television deal with Viacom that will see its events broadcast on both Showtime and CBS starting in the first quarter of 2012.

Also not on the list: 80 year old Donnie Wahlberg. PicProps: VegasNews.com

Well kids, aside from a few tense seconds Saturday night, Rashad Evans moved past Tito Ortiz handily, stopping him with some brutal body work in the second round and moving on to his date with the champ, any champ, whenever said champ is ready to fight him.

Left behind is the guy that was the face of the UFC for years, who was able to enjoy being back in the win column for all of five weeks before being relegated to the losers’ heap. Tito Ortiz made a great effort, but he ran into a younger, faster, more explosive version of himself, and he came up short. So how does Tito go on from here?

Well, not that anyone asked us, but we thought we might throw out a few ideas to get Tito back in the cage. First, keep in mind our theory that anyone who needs a fight at 205 or at 185 can be slotted against Chael Sonnen for maximum pre-fight hilarity; obviously that still holds true here. Of course, that would almost make Sonnen’s job too easy, and his talents are best utilized elsewhere.

Come on in past the jump and find our not-quite-serious list of five fights that Tito could get next, then share your own wisdom in the comments. We realize that “wisdom” is probably giving you people more credit than you’re due, but it’s Monday: the bar is set really low.

(Props: ArielHelwani)

When Swedish light-heavyweight prospect Alexander Gustafsson (12-1) stepped into the cage against Matt Hamill at UFC 133 on Saturday night, he was already carrying UFC victories over Jared Hamman, Cyrille Diabate, and James Te-Huna, all by stoppage. But his savage second-round TKO of Hamill (gif after the jump) represented his first big-name scalp, and now sets the 24-year-old on a steep upward trajectory.

Asked about his improvements since his sole career loss to Phil Davis in April 2010, Gustafsson said, “I see myself like, I want to beat the Alex who was fighting against Te-Huna. Next fight I want to beat the Alex who fought Matt Hamill. I want to be better after every practice, and evolve, progress.”

Hamill came in as a short-notice replacement for Vladimir Matyushenko, and said after the fight that not having a full training camp led to him feeling fatigued and weak against Gustafsson. Though the UFC gave Hamill credit for stepping up, his future in the UFC is somewhat uncertain. Meanwhile, Gustafsson is a new golden boy in the 205-pound division. Any suggestions on who he should fight next?

(Props: UFC.com)

Does this mean we can finally retire Rashad’s classic Machida-face? It’s already given us so many great memories. After the jump: Tito Ortiz accidentally swallows Rashad’s hand.

Proof that ReX loves you and wants you to be happy. Props to ReX13.

Actions have consequences. If you’re going to make a screen name bet, you may have to be #1CaseyAnthonyFan for the next few weeks. If you’re going to wear manties in the Octagon, you may really gross out your boss. Perhaps to the point where he’ll invent a new bonus to give the guy who knocks you out. Due to Dennis Hallman’s wardrobe, Brian Ebersole became the first- and probably last- fighter to pocket seventy grand for winning the “Thank You for Getting those Trunks off TV as Soon as Possible” bonus.

The other End of the Night bonuses were a bit more traditional. For living up to the expectations we’ve always had of him by quickly knocking out Yoshihiro Akiyama, “War Belford” took home the Knockout of the Night bonus. Vitor Belfort more than likely knocked Akiyama out of the UFC as well, unless Akiyama is willing to drop to welterweight.

The quickest way to a man’s heart is to drive your knee through his sternum. (Pic: UFC.com)

Admit it: for a moment last night, you believed. After surviving a first round that saw him battered against the cage and dumped to the canvas “Country Breakfast” style, it looked like “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” “The People’s Champion”, for the second time in five weeks, would pull off the improbable upset via guillotine. But aside from those few electrifying seconds, Tito Ortiz was never in that bout. Rashad’s hands, Rashad’s speed, Rashad’s everything seemed too much for Tito.

Evans showed no signs of ring rust as he went for the kill throughout the fight. Following this decisive victory he now finds himself in the exact same position he’s been in for well over a year: staring at a potential title fight in the manner a mule eyes a carrot dangling just out of reach. From what I saw last night, he’s as ready as one can be to challenge Jon Jones should he get past Rampage next month. Rashad has a history of excessively-delayed bouts with both men. Let’s pray that the winner of that bout emerges healthy and ready to defend his belt sooner rather than later.

Well, UFC 133 is live from the home of Rocky Balboa tonight so let’s get this thing going and see how Philly does this shit.

Spoilers are after the jump.

Props: Zombie Prophet

If you were lucky enough to be in Philly for the lead up to UFC 133, you were treated to a Q&A session with none other than Chael Sonnen. True to form, Chael Sonnen gave some brutally honest potentially scripted answers to the fans. And of course, the obligatory praise for Dana White, going as far as saying that Dana White would end the recession if he was president. Really. Not to imply that Chael would ever use plants for a Q&A session, but his response to “What happened in California? (9:52 mark)” seemed pre-packaged, even for an eagle among turkeys like Chael Sonnen.

Some brief highlights after the jump:

Dana’s Video Blogs are often great for two reasons: you get to see some cool shit from just over his shoulder, and you get just a small hint of how much money he has. This final UFC 133 entry is no different.

Following the UFC 133 Press Conference, Dana takes your standard helicopter ride to Atlantic City, where he proceeds to “kick the shit out of Caesar’s Palace”. Judging by the fat stacks of cash in his hotel room, The Baldfather is rapidly approaching the point where he must weigh his money rather than count it. We also get a closer look at last night’s weigh-ins and learn that Ivan Menjivar knew that he wouldn’t be cutting any additional weight as soon as he stepped off the scales, opting for a fine instead. A tough weight cut is always something to consider for those of you looking to place any last minute bets.

Here’s your chance to get it on the record. Who is getting their hand raised tonight?

If we learned anything about Brian Ebersole during his UFC debut, it’s that he’s a wild dude with a penchant for cartwheel kicks. You might think it’s something he just does on a whim, but as we learn in the video above it’s a maneuver that requires thorough training.

Ebersole’s preparation for tonight’s fight against Dennis Hallman took him all the way to Phuket, Thailand, where he sharpened up his “eight limbed attack”. But it wasn’t all take and no give for “The White Anderson Silva”. He took time from his training to teach the men, women, and…everyone else at Tiger Muay Thai a lesson in his trademark kick. Could we have just caught a glimpse of Strikeforce’s next Women’s Middleweight Champion?

This past week has been a wild ride for Golden Glory fighters, one that they’d likely rather get off at this point. With the exception of Strikeforce HWGP competitor Sergei Kharitonov, Zuffa purged its rosters of the Netherlands-based camp, starting with Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem. Last night “The Demolition Man” joined Inside MMA to give his side of the tale.

Things start off as many would imagine: with Zuffa/Forza management looking like unreasonable assholes. Overeem repeats that he was promised an October date for the second round of the tournament, and when injuries prevented him from competing a month earlier than planned he was removed from the tournament. From there he says the conversation deteriorated:

“Well then the communication harshened a little bit. It was like, ‘If you don’t compete in the tournament then you’re going to be cut from Strikeforce entirely.’ So, that was really like a threat. So I [said], ‘Then go ahead and cut me].’ And they went along and cut me.”

That all sounds pretty cut and dry; he was told to jump, and when he refused he was punished unfairly. As he goes on, however, we see that there was more at play here than petty vindictiveness.

After the jump: More from Overeem on why he was released, and Dana White explains Golden Glory’s management demands and GOES OFF on Fedor supporters.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/UFC)

- The many bloodied and swollen faces of MMA (Clutch.MTV)

- How to make your place a better wingman (MadeMan)

- Unapologetic Chael Sonnen unleashes latest rants on PED accustations (MMAJunkie)

- Five fun things to do at your temp job (HolyTaco)

- Book Review: Mike Straka’s Fighting Words (TheSweetScience)

- First look at Anne Hathaway as Catwoman (ScreenJunkies)

- All fighters but one on weight for UFC 133 (UFC)

- NHL mouthpiece Sean Avery taunted arresting officers, calling them “fat little pigs” (TMZ)

- Tim Sylvia returns to action in Illinois on August 20 (TheFightNerd)

- Facebook spam king surrenders to FBI (TorontoSun)

- British student killed by polar bear in Norway (Telegraph)

- NYE UFC show in Abu Dhabi a possibility (MMAFighting)

- Pacquaio returning to HBO (ESPN)

- Polygamist found guilty of sex with minors issues threatening statement during sentencing (MyFoxAtlanta)

- Why Chad Mendes Is the Biggest Threat to Jose Aldo (BleacherReport)

- How to get body dysmorphia: attend the crossfit games (WithLeather)

- Interview with UFC LHW champ Jon “Bones” Jones (TheBigLead)

- Mark Hunt says if UFC doesn’t renew his contract he may retire (MiddleEasy)

(You know you’ve been an ass when Captain America spanks you – Vid courtesy of YouTube/zansinigoj)

Back in the day, Tito Ortiz had the uncanny ability to piss off even the most level-headed opponents, but since he dropped off in the rankings, nobody has been paying his mouth much attention the past few years. As such, “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” announced last week during a UFC 133 conference call that he’s done with smack talk and that he’s instead going to put all of his energy into training.

We’ll believe it when we see it, but in the meantime, check out what Tito had to say about the new breed of trash talkers in the sport after the jump.

(…and when he woke up, he could speak perfect Spanish. / Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

You know, if James Irvin didn’t already exist, Mike Swick would be a solid front-runner for Most Cursed Fighter in MMA. Since his second-consecutive loss against Paulo Thiago last February, Swick has been completely out of action, nursing himself back to health following a stomach-related medical misdiagnosis then a back injury. ‘Quick’ was scheduled to take on newcomer Erick Silva on the prelims of UFC 134 — which would have ended an 18-month layoff — but has now withdrawn from that fight due to a torn MCL and ACL suffered in training.

(Immediate title shot? Why not?)

Maximum Fighting Championship president Mark Pavelich announced last night that his promotion has found the next challenger for Cage Potato guest blogger and reigning MFC light heavyweight champion Ryan “The Big Deal” Jimmo (15-1). Rameau Thierry “The African Assassin” Sokoudjou (12-8) has signed with the Edmonton, Alberta-based organization and will take on Jimmo at MFC 31: The Rundown on Friday, October 7 at the Mayfield Conference Centre in Edmonton. The show will air live on HDNet Fights.

“I am extremely excited to see what happens when Jimmo and Sokoudjou collide. I truly believe it will be the most explosive title fight ever in MFC history,” said Pavelich.“Ryan is a terrific champion and represents the MFC like no other fighter ever has before. Now we’re going to see how he handles the athleticism and pressure that Sokoudjou will put on him.”

(Click for larger version.)

When it comes to reports of guest UFC ring girls, we’ve become the boys who cry wolf. But you can trust us this time, because the UFC announced it themselves. Chrissy Hubbard (aka Chrissy Blair) has earned a shot as a guest Octagon Girl at UFC 133, after winning the annual Miss TransWorld Motocross modeling search.

The 22-year-old hails from Orlando, Florida, and recently graduated college with a degree in graphic design. She describes herself as a “laid back, friendly and goofy person.” Oh man, we have so much in common! (Except for the laid back and friendly part, and the part about graduating college.)

Get to know Chrissy Blair/Chrissy Hubbard better on her official website, tumblr page, and Facebook page, and check out some more great photos of the professional hot chick in the gallery after the jump…

There are a lot worse things you could spend 42 minutes doing today, so you may as well listen to The Bum Rush. Hell, you could make any menial task a bit more enjoyable if you do it WHILE listening to the show.

On this short and sweet episode, Mike and Ben get right down to business breaking down UFC 133, recapping Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson and giving their takes on the week’s hot button news stories.

Happy Friday, Nation. For today’s tech vid, we’ve selected one of our favorite submission coaches, Erik Paulson. The catch wrestling guru has been torquing and pulling on limbs for a long time, and seeing him in one of his early DVDs looking all young and svelte is good for some of you damn TUF n00bs. (Just kidding, guys, we love you, too.)

Watch as Paulson walks you through the first few techniques from his Quick Kills instructional, focusing on quick submission setups directly from the free-movement phase of fighting. Paulson closes the distance quickly, takes his opponent down, and moves swiftly through submission chains targeting toes, ankles, and knees — pretty much all the stuff that you want to keep functional not just for athletic competition, but for quality of life. You know, like walking the dog, or supporting your own weight without assistance.

What we enjoy about Paulson’s work is how well he explains what he’s doing, and how well it’s illustrated. With leg submissions, it’s not always easy to follow what’s being attacked and how to maximize the potential of the hold. Not so here; when Paulson applies a toe hold, he articulates exactly how to twist and tweak that foot until the bad guy is ready to cry uncle (or lose a toe).

Watch this video three times, then go Palhares somebody. Not some random somebody, though — make sure they were asking for it. We’re speaking of that one guy at the bar with the shirt and the tattoo. You know the one.

[RX]

Dana White, explaining Zuffa’s recent axing of Alistair Overeem, Valentijn Overeem, Marloes Coenen, and Jon Olav Einemo:

“This is actually a pretty simple explanation. If you look back throughout history, we haven’t had any Golden Glory guys fight with us since Semmy Schilt, right? And the reason is we have very different business practices. It’s tough to do business with them. The bottom line is the way they do business is, you have to pay them, not the fighters. We don’t work that way. It’s not the way we do business. It’s not how it works in the United States with the athletic commissions. You don’t pay the managers and the managers pay the fighters. You pay the fighters and the fighters pay the managers…The reality is, we’re trying to work out deals with these guys and they won’t do it. They said you absolutely can’t pay the fighters, you have to pay us. And it’s pretty simple to look back and see that the last guy who fought in UFC was Semmy Schilt. There was a reason for that.”

Marloes Coenen, calling “bullshit” last night:

(“Look Tito, I’ll stand up here with you, but I ain’t holdin’ your damn hand.” Photo courtesy of MMAMania)

With UFC 133 set to pop off tomorrow night in Philly, CagePotato founding editor Ben Goldstein and weekend writer Seth Falvo are locking horns for a furious ‘Evans vs. Ortiz’-flavored debate. So how far can Tito take this “comeback” thing? How can you make some quick cash by betting on the fights? And will Ben or Seth have to change their screen-name to something humiliating on Sunday? It’s time for battle, and the stakes have never been higher…

If Tito Ortiz beats Rashad Evans on Saturday night, should he get a light-heavyweight title shot?

BG: Well yeah, obviously. If Tito can pull off another gigantic upset on Saturday, he’ll have completed the first two acts of a comeback story that you usually only see in movies. The only logical next step is the thrilling, Rocky-esque finale, where the belt is on the line, and the odds are stacked against him, and his twin sons are cageside, sucking their thumbs in unison, held in the arms of a very concerned-looking Donald Trump. The bottom line is, the UFC would be fools to sit on such an incredible storyline, especially when it involves one of their all-time biggest stars.

Besides, who would Tito really be line-jumping in this scenario? The winner of Mauricio Rua vs. Forrest Griffin? Meh, they’ve had their shots. And we all know that Lyoto Machida will be on ice for a while due to his insolence. So until Dan Henderson gets re-signed by the UFC for one last title run at 205, “yes” is the only answer here.

SF: That all sounds right to me, Ben. Rashad Evans has been a perennial contender at light-heavyweight. A victory over him should give you a title shot, no matter who you are. Yet Rashad Evans doesn’t necessarily deserve a title shot if he beats Tito Ortiz. Ortiz’s victory over Ryan Bader didn’t elevate him to contender status; it prevented him from getting fired. He’s still 1-4-1 in his last six going into Saturday night. Frankly, he’s a step down in competition from Phil Davis, as far as the current light-heavyweight rankings are concerned. If Evans finishes this fight quickly, then I fully expect him to get the next shot at the title. But if he allows this fight to go to the judges, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get overlooked.

Let’s say, hypothetically speaking, that you have $100. Looking at the fight odds for UFC 133, what’s the surest way to increase your stack?

Well, it looks like another The Ultimate Fighter winner has been fired by the UFC.

MMAFighting reports that TUF 2 winner Joe “Daddy” Stevenson has been released by Zuffa following his fourth straight loss in a row to Javier Vazquez at UFC Live: Kongo vs. Barry on June 26. With the firing, Stevenson, who is 8-8 in 16 UFC fights joins just three other TUF  winners — Travis Lutter (season 4), Kendall Grove (season 3) and Efrain Escudero (season 8), to be released by the promotion.

It’s not really a surprise, given the UFC’s three-strike policy that he’s been let go. What is a surprise is that they actually gave him an extra chance to turn things around.

(Video courtesy of Vimeo/MMACOMPILER.COM)

If you didn’t get a chance to watch Strikeforce middleweight and proud U.S. Army Ranger Tim Kennedy’s appearance on Wednesday night’s special live episode of Deadliest Warrior, don’t worry, we got you.

The premise of the episode was, “Who would win between the U.S. Army Rangers and North Korean Special Ops in a battle?” Kennedy represented the Rangers — the world’s most elite light infantry unit — in each of the areas the team collected data from during the show,  including sniping and hand-to-hand combat. We won’t give away the results, but we will say that we’d want Tim on our side if we were ever in a bad situation.

(Image courtesy of NGAUGEinc.com)

That, my friends, is the first design from a new t-shirt line called Punch Buddies — brought to you by NGAUGE, the madmen previously responsible for Trash Talkin’ Kids. (Ed. note: TTK was literally sued to death shortly after we featured them on this site. Hopefully we can keep this new brand a secret from Hitler and Bin Laden’s lawyers.) Y’know, we’re big fans of Melvin Guillard, and we appreciate the subtle humor of this “Young Assassin” shirt. I bet you didn’t even notice that lynched klansman on fire in the background. So ironic!

Two questions: 1) Do any of you have the balls to actually wear this shirt in public? And for the brave souls who answered “yes,” 2) Would you be willing to enter a photoshop contest to get one?

(..and we want the money in small unmarked bills in a black duffle bag.”

CageWriter’s Steve Cofield has Zuffa’s take on why it cut ties with fighters Marloes Coenen, Valentijn Overeem and John Olav Einemo this week.

Apparently it’s because Golden Glory — the team’s management group — requires promotions to pay its fighters purses directly to trainer and manager Martijn de Jong, who divvies up the monies owing to the respected trainers and managers before paying the fighters. Because the UFC has had issues with managers in the past not paying fighters what is owed to them,  they made it their policy that the checks go to the fighters, who then pay the members of their camp. Zuffa/Forza claims it told Golden Glory to change the way they do business but they refused, so their fighters were released.

(Fedor Emelianenko following his TKO loss to Antonio Silva in February. Photo courtesy of Cagewriter.)

Dana White confirmed during a UFC 133 press conference today that Fedor Emelianenko has been released from Strikeforce in the wake of his first-round TKO loss to Dan Henderson last weekend, which was his third-consecutive defeat in the organization. Unlike the recent cuts of Alistair Overeem and his mates from Golden Glory, this one shouldn’t really surprise anybody considering Fedor’s recent struggles and Dana White’s long-held opinion of him and his management. From an MMAFighting report:

“He’s being cut, yeah,” White told the media. “Why? Do you think we should keep him? … You guys thought he was the pound-for-pound best in the world, but I thought he was overrated for years.”

(Video courtesy of YouTube/Sapo916)

At first glance, Bas Rutten’s new show may seem kind of a strange concept, but when you think about it, it will likely be nothing but pure comedic gold.

Touted by the network as being “a comedic, street fighting survival series,” “Punk Payback” will feature 10 1/2-hour episodes of Bas doing what he does in his famous self-defense videos, which is explain how to get out of bad situations using your fists, knees, feet, elbows and whatever inanimate objects are at your disposal.

What’s not to love?

VidProps: WorldMartialArts/YouTube

Duke Roufus knows a thing or two about kicking. Also about punching. Oh, and knees and elbows, too.

Hmmm. Let’s start over…

Duke Roufus knows a thing or two about striking, and since his retirement from kickboxing competition, he’s passed along his knowledge to fighters from the Roufusport Martial Arts Academy in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Pat Barry, Danny Downes, Matt Mitrione, Anthony Pettis (and his little bro Sergio), Alan Belcher, Ben Askren, and Eric Koch (and more) have all spent time with Duke sharpening their stand up skills, and Roufus has been credited with pushing innovation in MMA striking. Belcher’s cage-spring superman punch and Pettis’ Showtime Kick were both attributed to training with Roufus, because they apparently practice that kind of crazy stuff over there.

But we must remember the words of Mr Miyagi: “first learn stand, then learn fly.”

Watch this video of Roufus breaking down technique for Thai-style low kicks. Watch it twice, then go find a bamboo tree. Kick that bamboo tree until it falls. You’re now halfway to being a Roufusninja, and don’t leave us comments about how bamboo is technically grass. That’s bullshit. No one ever became a ninja by kicking grass; that’s clearly a moronic idea. You think Tony Jaa took a level in badass by kicking over blades of grass? Absolutely not. He kicked down trees and made friends with elephants.

As far as we know, Duke Roufus does not have an elephant friends. What he does have is this video of kicking technique, and you need to quit arguing and watch it.

[RX]

(Props: KosmmaLLC via WRESTLENOW)

As we all know, Josh Koscheck isn’t a bad guy — he’s just a misunderstood victim of selective editing. And now that he’s put together his own reality show, we can finally get to know the man as he really is.

Just kidding. The above “sizzle reel” from Koscheck’s latest entertainment venture does absolutely nothing to dispel his A-hole persona. The show opens with the insane premise that a former attorney named David Spitz quit his job to become Josh’s personal whipping-boy, living under the slave-name Chuy. “I don’t have very many friends,” Josh says, “but the friends that I have, I try to keep dear and close to me.” Cut to Josh de-pantsing one of his “friends,” then kicking him to the floor.