(Lindland, weaseling his way out of a fight with the Grim Reaper)

UFC middleweight Chael Sonnen may believe he can talk his way into another battle with Anderson Silva, but he has no illusions that he’s already secured the rematch. While “The American Gangster” continues to call out the champion as often as possible, fellow Team Quest member Matt Lindland is piling the pressure on Silva.

Black House manager Ed Soares has made it clear in recent interviews that Chael has already had his shot at the belt and that it would be a shame to squander any of Anderson’s few remaining bouts. According to “The Law”, not only is Sonnen the number one contender, but it may take a contractual mandate to force Silva into that fight.

(A little club soda will get that right out.)

When discussing his fourth round tapout loss to UFC Light Heavyweight Champ Jon Jones, Rampage Jackson explained that he lets no man put him to sleep because he doesn’t trust people. I’m not exactly certain what Jackson fears might unfold once he goes out, but vile atrocities such as antiquing and billboarding have been perpetrated on unconscious fighters before. But there’s a certain amount of trust that goes into tapping out as well. The tapout is nothing more than a gentlemen’s agreement, really, in which one fighter admits that he’s taken enough punishment for one day. But not everyone in the face-punching business is a gentleman, and sometimes your opponent may not agree that you’ve taken all of the damage you deserve.

When you hold a submission too long there’s a chance of causing damage to a limb or unconsciousness, but it always leads to hurt feelings.

Magalhaes’ finish of Zayats. Props: MiddleEasy

There may be nothing worse for an MMA promotion than a lackluster title fight. If you’re promoting two fighters as the best fighters your promotion has to offer at their respective weight class and they fail to deliver an entertaining fight, everyone looks bad. The promotion looks foolish for claiming that a sub-par fighter is the best it has to offer, all of the other fighters in that weight class look laughably incompetent by default (after all, they weren’t skilled enough to challenge for the title), and fans in attendance feel cheated. Just in case you can’t figure out where this is going: Kenny Garner vs. Maxim Grishin as an interim heavyweight championship fight all but canceled out the rest M-1 Challenge 27.

This isn’t to say that last night’s M-1 event didn’t deliver the exciting finishes we’ve come to expect from them. In fact, none of the fights from the main card went the distance. The night started off with three first round submissions from Daniel Madrid, Yasubey Enomoto and Arthur Guseinov, respectively. The combined amount of time it took these three to submit their opponents? Two minutes and forty five seconds. Very nice, gentlemen.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/MMAWeekly)

- Aaron Rodgers is the best at photobombing (WithLeather)

- CP contributor Brian D’Souza talks about why GSP has gotten boring to watch (Fan960)

- Marquardt on Daley, Free Agency and BAMMA (BleacherReport)

- Real life superhero and amateur MMA fighter appeared in court this week (Complex)

- ProElite readies for second life (SportsIllustrated)

- Ex Showtime honcho, Hershman heads to HBO (MMAPayout)

-My First Fight: Rich Franklin  (MMAFighting)

- LeBron James to the NFL? (TheBigLead)

- 12 photos of sexy zombie women (MTVClutch)

- Candace Swanepool in Victoria’s Secret lingerie because it’s Friday (Guyism)

- Approaching different “types” (Bullz-Eye)

- Torrentfreak’s top 10 most downloaded movies of all time (Filmdrunk)

- Looney Tunes: the porn audition script (HolyTaco)

- Hilarious comedian Fred Durst gets sitcom on CBS (ScreenJunkies)

- How to cozy up the man cave (MadeMan)

- Little kid loves Iron Maiden (TuVez)

- Dangerous ‘how-to” by a terrible electrician (Break)

It’s been a while since we’ve seen Ryron and Rener Gracie break down the action from a UFC card, so we decided to give you guys a double dose of knowledge to kick-start your weekend. Above, we have their take on Chael Sonnen’s ever improving Jiu-Jitsu game, which capped off with a second round arm triangle submission of Brian Stann at UFC 136.

Now, moving past how “gentle” Chael was in his victory, the Gracie’s demonstrate and analyze the transitions, guard passes, and remount techniques Sonnen used to defeat Stann with their usual competency, breaking down both the first and second rounds of their middleweight fight. Being a guy trained primarily in the ground game, I can’t say enough how valuable these break downs are.

Check out the Gracie’s breakdown of Jon Jones’ 4th round rear-naked choke over Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 135 after the jump.

-Danga 

(“The Glimmer Man” trying to pretend that he knows what the f*ck his new boss is talking about)

Well, Steven Seagal finally fooled someone into taking him up on his offer of unsolicited help.

The 59-year-old actor, who claims he was a CIA operative in the 80s and whose most recent stint as a peace officer, which was documented on his A&E reality television series Steven Seagal: Lawman, ended abruptly when he was charged with sexual harassment of his female assistant, was sworn in this week as the Hudspeth County Sheriff’s Office’s newest deputy. Officials with the department say that his primary focus will be working full time to help secure the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas.

Seagal contacted Sheriff Arvin West two months ago to apply for work with the HCSO and according to him, he feels that his intentions were honorable.

“It became very clear to me that Mr. Seagal is not in this for the celebrity or the publicity,” Sheriff Arvin West told the San Antonio Express today. “He’s like the rest of us that live down here; he has a sincere passion for his country and he wants to do more to help.The television aspect of what we’re doing here is the last priority.The man has a pure motive in doing this. He knows what we’re up against here and he wants to help.”

(Anderson beginning several years and dollars worth of therapy for Rich. Photo credit: ESPN)

Five years ago today, a fighter who was relatively unknown at the time outside of hardcore fans who followed Japanese and British MMA, stepped into the UFC Octagon for the second time and emerged less than three minutes later as the promotion’s middleweight champion.

The event was UFC 64 and the fighter was Anderson Silva. His opponent was UFC poster boy Rich Franklin.

The fight represented the beginning of the “Anderson Silva era” as UFC color analyst Joe Rogan would later call it and to those who didn’t know who he was before, it represented the introduction of “The Spider” to the masses who had cut their teeth on mixed martial arts by watching The Ultimate Fighter.

Silva, a former Cage Rage and Shooto champion, utilized both the pinpoint accurate striking he displayed in his equally impressive knockout win over durable never-before-KO’ed slugger Chris Leben at UFN 5 four months later and his impeccable muay thai clinch game to control Franklin while punishing the then-champion with nose-crushing and rib-brusing knees. He made Rich look like an amateur sparring with a pro, and when the dust settled the crowd was left stunned by the dominant display by the UFC’s new 185-pound sheriff in town.

UFC 137 is just over two weeks away, so to get your blood pumping, check out the recently released extended trailer, which features not only a look into the upcoming welterweight title fight between Georges St. Pierre and Carlos Condit, but a welterweight clash between B.J. Penn and Nick Diaz and the heavyweight slug fest between Cheick Kongo and Matt Mitrione. Featuring 12 fights including Mirko Cro Cop vs. Roy Nelson, Donald Cerrone vs. Dennis Siver, and Scott Jorgensen vs. Jeff Curran, UFC 137 is looking like on hell of a card, barring any last minute injuries.

A few notes:

(Davis during a much easier weight cut. Photo courtesy of MMAJunkie)

As a member of a group that has done some consulting for the Ontario Athletic Commission in terms of MMA fighter safety and regulation, I’ve been a longtime opposer of the practice of weight cutting. It’s just a matter of time before a fighter dies from the practice.

Not only is the process a dangerous one that has led to the death of several high school and college wrestlers, its side effects are non-reversible and can cause major health problems for fighters later in life. It’s no coincidence that many of the sport’s participants who used to wrestle and cut weight in their youth are now on hormone replacement therapy. Starvation and extreme dehydration — two of the facets of the weight cutting procedure — put stress on the body’s endocrine system and inhibit the production of key chemicals such as testosterone, adrenaline and insulin.

Former UFC welterweight-turned-lightweight Marcus Davis shared a scary weight cutting story with MMA Weekly recently that should be a must read for athletic commissions who allow such a dangerous practice as dropping between 10 and 40 lbs the week of a fight to take place.

Davis, a former pro boxer who had been cutting weight since he was a teenager explained that his first post-UFC bout weight cut for his MFC 29 bout with Curtis Demarce in April was a nightmare that very well could have had fatal consequences.

“It’s kind of scary to say this but that fight almost killed me, making that weight. I had a really, really, really bad time and I still made the weight, but I’ll never ever be able to do that again,” Davis explained, revealing that the dehydration left him without his voice at weigh-ins and unable to urinate or have a bowel movement for the better part of a week. “After that, I think I was all the way down to 154 (pounds) when I ended up weighing in and that fight was on a Friday. That Monday I was 207, so it had nothing to do with my overeating. It had to do with my body freaked out and thought that I might torture it again like that so it just held onto everything.”

Potato Nation, say hello to Monique Ricardo, AKA Monique Minton, a fitness model and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu enthusiast. Minton started competing in figure competitions back in 2007, and has since added grappling tournaments to her routine after getting turned on to BJJ a couple of years ago.

Rather than feature a traditional ring girl whose interest in MMA is questionable, I thought it would be a nice change to include someone who actually seems to enjoy the sport — check out the pics of Minton with a few of the fighters she caught up with at the Boston Fan Expo last year. Minton trains under her husband Eddie Ricardo, a Carlos Machado black belt who’s also trained under the Nogueiras.

The Ricardos are currently located down in Dallas, Texas, teaching at Cobra BJJ and doing the family thing. While there’s no record of her competing in bodybuilding or BJJ recently, we wish her the best in the future.

Come on in past the jump for the full gallery. Oh, and happy Friday, Nation.

[RX]

(CagePotato.com was able to obtain Graham’s August 2011 Wasco booking photo. Inset is Son’s Wasco identification photo.)

The Kern County Sheriff’s Office Coroner today released the name of the deceased and the details surrounding the death of Joe Son’s cellmate in Wasco State Prison this week.

The coroner has ruled the death Monday of 50-year-old Michael Thomas Graham, AKA Mike Thomas, AKA Dana Young, AKA Dallas Barger, AKA Michael Hernandez, AKA Michael Lewis, AKA Alanis Quinn, AKA Marc Davidson was a homicide.  Autopsy results determined that the San Luis Obispo resident, who was in his third month of a two-year sentence for failure to register as a sex offender after serving an undetermined amount of time previously for “attempted lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years of age,” was beaten to death.

(Props to @TheDomin8r)

No, this is not a scene from the upcoming (not to mention unnecessary) version of The Thing, this is just another one of UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz’s infamous post- hand surgery photos that we have all come to know and love, and then vomit after seeing. Dominick’s fragile hands have long been a recurring factor in the champ’s career. In fact, its getting hard to remember a time that he hasn’t broke his hands during a fight. This time, the injury came with his unanimous decision win over Demetrious Johnson at UFC on Versus 6. We’ll let the champ explain how the surgery went:

RVCA | BJ PENN THE ROAD TO UFC 137 from RVCA on Vimeo.

It’s always a good sign when you see BJ Penn with his head down toiling through a training camp like he is in this nifty little “Road to UFC 137″ video released this week by RVCA.

The former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion explains during the video that he was a bit put off by the UFC’s decision to switch opponents on him less than two months out from UFC 137 and that he didn’t want to have to fight his friend and sometimes training partner Nick Diaz, but says he relented when he realized that there weren’t any other opponents for him to fight. Their friendship will likely go out the window with the first fist to face contact in the bout.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/Oliboz)

It usually takes a lot to upset Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, but the Croation fighter seemed to have reached a boiling point while doing a live chat on Croation sports news website Gol.hr this week. Although he made mention a handful of times during the interview of the fact that he wasn’t mad at Chael Sonnen for the recent comments “The American Gangster” made about PRIDE fights being fixed, you can tell that Chael struck a nerve with his offhand remarks.

“There is an old proverb that says: ‘Don’t argue with a fool. People won’t be able to tel the difference.’ I’ve always upheld to that. I never wanted to lower myself to that level…I’m not the first one he has taken a shot at. I had the opportunity when I was in the United States to ask some people who work for the UFC, ‘Is this man crazy or is he just craving attention?’ A man higher up in the UFC told me, ‘He’s both,’ which means he is crazy and is also craving attention,” Filipovic explained. “I’m not mad at him. I’m really not mad at this Sonnen character.”

(And in case I don’t see you, good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight.) 

In what appears to be another step towards Strikeforce’s eventual collapse, rumor has it that former Strikeforce middleweight title challenger Tim Kennedy is on his way to the UFC. The first red flag that got people’s attention was oddly enough Tim’s Facebook page, where he recently added the UFC to his list of employers. Shortly after, Kennedy’s fighter profile popped up on the UFC’s UK website, then eventually the UFC’s main website, so unless someone with very strange goals has hacked the UFC mainframe, I’d say this is about a lock.

By Jason Moles

As soon as Joe Rogan put the mic in Chael Sonnen’s face for the customary post-fight comments at UFC 136, it hit us; Sonnen is clearly the best trash talker in the history of the sport.

Everyone watching went bananas as the American Gangster challenged the pound-for-pound king, Anderson Silva, to a ‘Loser Leaves Town’ match. At that point in time there is nothing MMA fans wanted more* than to see that fight happen, Dana White included.

USA Today recently caught a word with UFC President Dana White where he told them that he “would be pretty f*cking stupid not to book Silva vs. Sonnen 2.” It seems that Captain Obvious has reared his head once again to the delight of almost everyone.

This got me thinking about other things that, if left undone, would make Dana White pretty f*cking stupid. Keep on reading below and put me on blast for being a TUF Noob in the comments.

(“Please don’t eat me….Please don’t eat me.”)

Hong Man Choi is in a bit of hot water with the police in his hometown of Gwangjin, Korea where he stands accused this week of assaulting a female customer at a pub he owns.

According to police reports, the 7-foot-2, 367-pound K-1 veteran punched a woman in her 20s in the head on Saturday after she refused to pay her tab, which she claimed was too high for what she consumed. After a brief argument over the inflated amount of her bill, Choi allegedly became incensed after the woman cursed at him and attacked her.

News of the booking was first reported by the Korea Times.

The South Korean fighter, who has not competed in two years since his DREAM 11 loss to Minowaman in October 2009, posted a message on his website denying punching the woman.

“She verbally insulted me. I just could not take it anymore. I just pushed her a little bit. I swear that I never punched her,’’ he wrote.

Bisping helps Stephan Bass prepare for a fight by pounding on him all day, like you do. GIFProps: ZombieProphet/IFI

It’s double-header week, and there’s no time wasted with extraneous detail — we’re right into discussion of the second featherweight fight picks. Jon Dodson is still insider trading with his boys on Team Death Leperkon Lepracon Leapercorn Lucky Charms Mascots, and Louis Gaudinot passes along the scoop: Miller will announce Dennis Bermudez (Miller’s #1) versus Stephan Bass (Bisping’s #4). Bisping celebrates this intelligence coup by assigning Bass triple practice time. Most of this practice time consists of beating up Bass, blacking his eye in the process.

For the actual fight announcement, Bisping is so confident in his coaching to this point that he feels no need to actually attend the meeting. Miller puts a jersey on a sparring dummy and does an Australian accent, which is kinda close if you don’t really think about it. He goes on to confirm the fight we all already knew was coming.

Five years ago a Cameroon national judo team member by the name of “Sokoudjou” shocked the world by taking out highly-touted PRIDE veterans Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona. One fight prior to his coming out party, “The African Assassin” met up with an equally tough Brazilian named Glover Texeira, who at the time was training with UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell at “The Pit” in San Luis Obispo, CA. Texeira utilized his superior stand-up to test Sokoudjou’s chin and let’s just say that Rameau’s jaw wasn’t prepared for the pop quiz.

Texeira has been on the UFC’s radar for some time. Chuck Liddell told me a year ago that the light heavyweight, who sometimes moonlights as a heavyweight would likely be Octagon-bound as soon as he sorted out his visa issues, but he’s been stuck in holding pattern fighting on regional Brazilian cards. Hopefully the 31-year-old makes it Stateside some time soon. The UFC’s light heavyweight class could use a shake-up.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/UFC)

In his most recent UFC 137 hype video, Georges St-Pierre has some interesting words for his upcoming opponent Carlos Condit. As per usual, the polite French-Canadian UFC welterweight champion says that Condit is the toughest opponent he has faced yet, but goes on to predict that he will finish the Albuquerque, New Mexico native, who hasn’t been stopped since 2006 — a lofty goal for a guy who has gone the distance with each of his opponents since January 2009.

“In the rankings, I believe Carlos is the number one contender. In the eyes of everyone in the UFC Carlos Condit is the one who deserved the shot. I believe that Carlos poses more problems to me than I have ever seen. I’m going to have to deal with a guy who has knockout power, very technical striker and a great ground game as well. [He's an] unpredictable fighter. I’ve seen a lot of improvement in Carlos’ game, but I believe I’m a more improved fighter than he is,” St-Pierre explained. “I have a gameplan to take care of Carlos and I will execute it. He’s not my friend and I don’t put any emotion in but I believe I will have the key to victory. I do believe I will be able to knock him out or submit him. I will remain the welterweight champion.”

(Props to GammaLabsTV.) 

Thanks to Gamma Labs CEO Cliff Morgan, footage has recently surfaced of world renowned MMA trainer Shawn Tompkins’ final training session with team mate and close friend, WEC and Bellator veteran Chris Horodecki. As we all know, Shawn Tompkin’s passing this past August shocked everyone including his family, and has had a tremendous impact on the fighter’s he trained in the time since.

Morgan, who also introduces the clip, decided to release the video, which was shot just days before Tompkins’ passing, in it’s “raw and unedited form, [to give us] a clear understanding of how important Shawn was a trainer, mentor, and contributor to the sport.”

-Danga 

(Former UFC Octagon Girl Brittney Palmer shows off her work, shares her plans for an “art empire.” Props: MMA30tv)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere…

- Dana White: If Victorious Over BJ Penn, Nick Diaz Will Get a Title Shot (LowKick)
“I expect nothing from him (at the press conferences). I expect him to be sitting right here in this chair. He doesn’t have to answer one question if he doesn’t want to. I just want him to sit there and then get up and do the (staredown). Just show up man. He’s probably going to flip everybody off and do all this other stuff – its Nick Diaz. I don’t want him to not be Nick Diaz, I just need him to show up.”

- 10 MMA Rematches That Should Have Never Happened (BleacherReport/MMA)
“Chael Sonnen vs. Anderson Silva and the recently concluded Gray Maynard vs. Frankie Edgar trilogy are both examples of what a warranted do-over should look like…Then, there are other bouts where a decisive ending merits no speedy return for the two fighters to be joined together again inside the cage.”

- ‘King’ Mo Lawal Talks ‘Rampage’ Jackson: We’re Going to Fight Eventually (MMA Fighting)
“This fool Rampage calls me out, and then people get mad when I respond? He’s a b—h in my eyes, because he didn’t respond. Maybe he’ll respond later, but the word is he wants to fight [Mauricio] ‘Shogun’ [Rua]. That’s whatever.”

During today’s UFC 140 press conference in Toronto, Dana White was asked about a potential superfight between UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones and middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva, “once Jones goes through Machida and Evans” and the UFC president revealed that one of the variables that stands in the way of the bout happening is a likely second meeting between “The Spider” and Chael Sonnen.

“[Jones] just whispered, ‘You can’t look past these guys.’ He’s got two tough fights ahead of him and then Anderson’s gonna continue to fight. He’ll probably end up fighting Chael Sonnen [next]. They’ve got a lot of tough guys in front of them.”

It’s pretty appropriate that UFC 137 is transpiring Halloween weekend. Not only will Mirko Cro Cop and Brandon Vera attempt to bring their respective careers back from the dead, but the card also features a cowboy, a French zombie, and a Hawaiian vampire. The main event pits Nick Diaz Carlos “The Natural Born Killer” Condit against long reigning champion George St. Pierre in what should be his toughest test to date (seriously this time). So, to determine exactly how well each fighter will do, we’ve compiled a list of empirical and infallible data that would make Gil Grissom blush with envy. Of course, if you feel the fight will end differently, be sure to let us know in the comments section.

HEIGHT
Condit: 6’1″
GSP: 5’10″
Advantage: Condit

(Video courtesy of YouTube/UFC)

Just a friendly reminder that the UFC will be holding a press conference in Toronto today at the Air Canada — the site of UFC 140 in December — and we will have the live feed for you right here starting at 1:00 pm ET.

(For you two, I’ll sacrifice my beauty-sleep. / ‘shop via blackbeltclub)

After pulling back their pay-per-view start times to 9 p.m. ET this year to cater to East Coast viewers, the UFC will be returning to their original 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT time-slot, beginning with UFC 141 on December 30th. The promotion confirmed the switch to USA Today yesterday, stating that their decision was based on “careful consideration and feedback from our fans.”

It appears that the 9 p.m. experiment didn’t have the intended effect. According to estimates from MMAPayout and the Wrestling Observer, UFC pay-per-views have been averaging 414,500 buys from January to August 2011, down 25% compared to the first eight months of 2010. In particular, it was reported that UFC 134 woefully underperformed, although that event’s totals were certainly affected by Hurricane Irene.

(Props: battlecambrah)

Jose Canceso‘s record as a celebrity boxer currently sits at 1-2-1, including a knockout loss to Vai Sikahema, a decision loss to a 60-year-old man, a tough draw against Danny Partridge, and a win (finally) against Todd Poulton, self-described as “The Heavyweight Champion of OCD.”

We’d say that the former baseball star’s next match offers him a shot at redemption, but considering his opponent, he’ll look like a loser even if he wins it. Canseco is booked to appear at a Celebrity Fight Night event on November 5th against Tareq Salahi, best known as the “White House party crasher” whose wife Michaele is a total whore.

(Gilbert is just going through the motions until he gets to the Octagon.)

Zuffa announced today that tickets for its planned December 17 Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal event will go on sale next week, meaning Gilbert Melendez likely won’t be heading to the Octagon as planned until at least 2012 if all goes well.

It makes sense that they would have the San Francisco-based fighter headline the event, which will take place in San Diego at the Valley View Casino Center, but the question is, who will UFC lightweight champ Frankie Edgar fight in the meantime? Since “El Nino” likely won’t be ready to go again until at least February, it’s unlikely that the UFC will keep “The Answer” on the shelf for five months.

The card will also include a women’s featherweight championship bout between Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos and Hiroko Yamanaka, KJ Noons against a yet-to-be-named opponent, as well as the return of Gina Carano.

(Video courtesy of Kickstarter/OneMoreRoundMovie)

As longtime supporters of independent MMA films like Driven, Once I was a Champion and Numb, we wanted to help out the producers of an upcoming short film get the word out about their unique and worthwhile project.

Erwann G. Marshall, who also produced the award-winning 22-minute short “Numb,” is following up his successful entry into MMA filmmaking with a six-minute featurette entitled “One More Round.” The film, which is dependant on donations and will star Scott Epstein in the lead role, is described as “a movie that explores a fighter’s mind as he enters the final round of the most important fight of his life.”

The goal for Marshall’s grassroots fundraising campaign for the film is $10,000 to cover the costs of the project.

So far, 18 backers have contributed $1,751 and with 39 days left in the money raising drive, he is asking for donations of as little as $1 to make his vision a reality.

(Shoulda stayed in dental school, Gilbert.)

By Scott Harris

It happens at least once or twice on every MMA fight card. An inside leg kick goes awry and catches an unsuspecting opponent in his sensitive area. The action stops, the fighter goes to one knee, lets the pain subside, collects himself and tells the ref he’s ready to continue. The perpetrator offers an apologetic glove touch, and we’re back in business.

This list is not about those times. These are the lowest low blows in MMA…

Click here to read this feature on BleacherReport.com/MMA — if you have the balls for it.