REPORTER CONFUSED BY SONNEN INTERVIEW - Watch MoreFunny Videos

The Canadian reporter who conducted the highly-publicized Q&A with with Chael Sonnen last week in which the “Gangster from America” questioned his credentials and berated him for ten minutes before walking off the set says that he still isn’t quite sure what the hell happened in the interview.

Michael Lansberg, the longtime host of “Off the Record,” got the goat of the UFC middleweight early in the interview when he asked why he rescinded his loser leaves town fight offer to Anderson Silva, prompting an agitated Sonnen to to fire back with a few barbs of his own. The interview went downhill from there, at least in terms of Lansberg maintaining control.

(Plan “B”: Boy band — PicProps: MMATKO)

Gil Martinez appeared on Mauro Ranallo’s “The MMA Show“ radio program today and the head boxing trainer and coach at Xtreme Couture dropped a bombshell about one of his highest profile students.

According to Martinez, he’s pretty sure that  former number one UFC lightweight contender Gray Maynard has decided to cut ties with the Vegas gym and is planning a move to the San Francisco Bay area where he will train American Kickboxing Academy moving forward. There, Maynard will join a top-tier team that includes notables like Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, Mike Swick, Cain Velasquez, Daniel Cormier, Josh Thomson and Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal.

If you don’t know who NickTheFace is by now, then allow us to introduce you to the man behind so many amazing fight promos and trailers that he deserves to be ranked among the likes of Ghengis Con. His video preview of the upcoming heavyweight number one contender clash between Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem at UFC 141 is no different, offering some of the slickest editing this side of The French Connection that we’ve ever seen. We got goosebumps too Joe, we got goosebumps too.

UFC 141 goes down December 30th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

You know the deal, who you got for this one and how?

-Danga 

(Ryan Bader has so much power in his hands, he only has to punch in the general vicinity of your head to knock you out. / GIFS via IronForgesIron)

All the knockouts and submissions from UFC 139: Shogun vs. Henderson, in animated GIF form. Lots more after the jump.

(The winner of the rematch: the fans)

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua walked out of the Octagon Saturday night feeling like he got ripped off for the second time in his past five bouts.

According to Rua, he feels that his UFC 139 bout with former Strikeforce light heavyweight champ Dan Henderson should have been declared a draw and says that he’d like a do-over.

“It certainly was a great fight. I do not know how the judges scored the final round. It should have been 10-8 for me. But that takes nothing away from Dan Henderson,” Rua told UOL after the bout. “He is a legend and one of those fighters who have created a legacy, but I want revenge. I think [a rematch] would be another great battle and the public wants to see it.”

Henderson, on the other hand, feels that he clearly took the fight and will be adding the judges who concur to his Christmas card list this year.

“I won four rounds.” he told Joe Rogan after the bout, noting that he felt one of the rounds could have been scored a 1-8 in his favor.

(“I’m gonna puke…I’m gonna puke.”)

Following his UFC 139 victory over Kyle Kingsbury Saturday night, Stephan Bonnar wasted no time in planting the seed for his next fight. “The Ultimate Fighter 1″ runner-up, who has racked up a recent three-fight winning streak, told reporters that he would love a step up in competition.

“I’ve always wanted to fight [Quinton] ‘Rampage’ [Jackson],” Bonnar said. “You know, I’ve got a few wins now and maybe (I can) get a big name [next].”

Earlier in the week, “The American Psycho explained to Heavy.com that facing Jackson would be his “dream fight.”

“He’s good, he’s a big puncher, he’s tough. But he does have holes in his game,” Bonnar pointed out. “He’s really famous. ‘The A-Team’ movie, talk shows – everyone knows who he is. Fighting him, it’s going to be a huge fight. Forrest [Griffin] got a close win over him, [Keith] Jardine fought a good fight with him. I feel like I could fight him good.”

(Video courtesy of YouTube/kamppailukanava. The end begins at the 4:47 mark.) 

Every now and again, I like to surf the Sherdog mainframes and see if I can make it from one fighter to another simply through their past opponents, like a “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” for MMA, if you will. For example, let’s say I wanted to go from Scott Smith to Mark Hunt. Now, where most of us would scoff, “That’s ridiculous, those two fight in entirely different weight classes!”, consider this.

1. Scott Smith has fought as high as heavyweight before. Don’t believe me? Find the video of his fight against James Irvin, and marvel at how much the human body can shrink, or expand for that matter.

2. Scott Smith fought Tim Kennedy in Kennedy’s professional debut (Smith won via cut) –>Kennedy submitted Melvin Manhoef in March at Strikeforce-Feijao vs. Henderson –>Manhoef became the only man in MMA to crack the iron jaw of Mark Hunt back at K1 Dynamite!! Power of Courage in 2008. Voila.

You may be asking yourself, why such a lengthy explanation for a knockout video involving none of the above people I just mentioned? Well, if I hadn’t noticed that UFC veteran Xavier Foupa-Pokam fought yesterday at the same M1 Global event that saw Fedor notch his first win in over a year, I would have never jumped to Mr. Pokam’s fighter profile to see that he lost via triangle to fellow UFC vet Lucio Linhares back in January. It was there I found that, since being booted from the UFC, Linhares had put together a three fight win streak that was snapped in the above video just a few weeks ago. You can thank my boredom later.

(In a way, we were all the “Screaming PRIDE Lady” that night. / Photo courtesy of Esther Lin, MMA Fighting)

By Jason Moles

The suits on Wall Street keep whispering about a ‘Halloween indicator‘ and how now is not a time to sell; rather we should sit back and let our riches mount. Call it what you will, but millions watched UFC on FOX and UFC 139 and concluded the same thing: Most fighter’s stocks are rising steadily. Even if you’re not sure which is the true Fight of the Year from this weekend — Dan Henderson vs. Marucio Rua or Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler — you’ll know how to safeguard your hypothetical MMA portfolio’s worth after playing another round of ‘Buy, Sell, Hold’.

Stephan Bonnar: Buy

It’s hard to believe that any TUF veteran could take nearly a year off from the sport and return with the engine firing on all cylinders, but Stephan Bonnar did just that. The BJJ schooling he dished out was almost as surprising as his apology to Josh Koscheck for making those damn shirts. Even that wasn’t the most unexpected thing to happen; one judge gave the ‘American Psycho’ a 30-25 victory. Grab hold of any unclaimed stock before he starts getting big fights and Dana declares him “in the mix.”

(On the bright side, he’s now able to smell out of his eyeball. Props: MMAConvert)

Following his TKO loss at the hands (and knees) of Wanderlei Silva at UFC 139, Cung Le‘s nose rivaled Ryan McGillivray’s in terms of sheer cartoonish bustedness. Silva patted himself on the back after the fight, telling Karyn Bryant, “Right now with that nose, he’s going to make more money in Hollywood because now he looks like a more real fighter. He should thank me for making his nose look better.”

I’m sure the offers to play “Jacked-Up Looking Asian Gangster #2″ are about to start flooding in. So what did Cung’s schnozz look like the next day? The big reveal is after the jump, via @CungLe185.

(Fight starts at the 2:38 mark. And is that Fedor’s new lady at the 29:22 mark? Alright, buddy. Upgrade. / Props: valetudorus via MMAMania)

It’s been a tough couple of years for heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko. First, a brilliant MMA strategist named Damian Demento went public with a groundbreaking strategy on how to defeat him, which involved putting the boots to Fedor’s belly and intentionally mispronouncing his name. Then, his next three opponents beat him by stoppage. Coincidence? I don’t know. You tell me.

What’s important is that Fedor finally got back in the win column on Sunday, winning a unanimous decision over American grappler Jeff Monson at M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Monson, in front of a crowd of over 20,000 at Moscow’s Olympic Stadium that included Vladimir Putin. The full fight video is above, which shows Fedor in more controlled, measured form than his recent appearances, choosing to stay on the outside and score with leg kicks and long punches for the majority of the fight.

Monson, unfortunately, had nothing for him. In fact, the only times the Snowman was able to get the fight to the ground is when he fell over after getting punched in the face.

(Video: Youtube/BellatorMMA)

The UFC may be the brand name of MMA, but it doesn’t have exclusive rights to action packed bouts. While the UFC 139 pay-per-view was just getting warmed up, the evening’s “other” war and ‘fight of the year’ candidate was breaking out on MTV 2. If you didn’t catch it, I suggest you watch it in full up above.

Season 4 Lightweight Tournament winner Michael Chandler was all over Eddie Alvarez from the opening bell, driving forward and swinging for the fences. Within the first fifteen seconds he had dropped the champion twice and was only moments away from snatching the belt, but once again Alvarez proved difficult to put away. Chandler’s pressure wilted halfway through the second frame, allowing Alvarez to steal the round with a series of effective combinations. By round three Chandler’s fatigue was visible and the champ pounced, battering him across the cage. Though tired and hurt, Chandler continued to look for the big shot that would take Alvarez out. Answering the bell in the fourth, Chandler looked renewed and eager to throw. His hands found their mark, wobbling Alvarez before a big right hand dropped him. Chandler followed him down and mounted him, locking in the rear naked choke as Alvarez turned his back.

Victory, comrade!

Don’t worry- we didn’t forget about you. We were just a little busy yesterday. To demonstrate that your questions weren’t asked for no reason, we’ll jump right into answering them today. Unless, of course, you asked a question and we didn’t answer it. Then it was definitely asked for no reason. Oh well.

So let’s get started, shall we?

Kyle Gifford asks (via Facebook): Why haven’t you taken any questions from FB?

We appreciate the novelty of a t-shirt submission, Urijah, but that message is far too long for a voicemail. (Pic: UFC.com)

‘Secure a win, and ask for a title shot.’ It’s something we see from top contenders–and even not-quite top contenders–every event. But last night Urijah Faber seemed intent on finishing his opponent and letting his performance demand the title bout for him. He did. It did.

Faber came out aggressively, throwing powerful combinations that kept Brian Bowles moving backwards. He also found a home for a score of uppercuts, one of which would spell the beginning of the end for the former WEC Bantamweight champion. With a second round ‘submission of the night’ victory, Faber emphatically punched his ticket to a rubbermatch with UFC Bantamweight kingpin Dominick Cruz.

(“If this is a telemarketer, you’re dead.”)

In our continued effort to bring our readers interesting contests with unique prizes, we’re proud to announce our next giveaway, which could very well end up being a regular feature here at CagePotato.com if we play our cards right.

Here’s the deal:

Our friends at TrauMMA Combat Apparel, an emerging MMA brand whose focus is on supporting fighters and making quality products, have hooked us up with one of their sponsored fighters, UFC heavyweight Matt Mitrione, who has agreed to record the outgoing message for the contest winner’s answering machine or voicemail service.

Check out the rules after the jump.

Party Like a Rockstar also came out in 2007. Your mind = Blown. Props: Fox Sports

I’m willing to bet that more than a few sports writers have pointed out that four years ago, Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua would have been just as worthy of main event status as it was last night at UFC 139. That four years later, we’re still willing to pay to watch guys like Wanderlei Silva, Cung Le, Urijah Faber, Stephan Bonnar and Miguel Torres. That last night’s event appropriately enough took place in Strikeforce’s old stomping grounds in San Jose. For that matter, I’m pretty sure you heard all of that stuff at some point from Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan last night.

I tried to avoid those clichéd observations, but they’re too appropriate to ignore. As fans of mixed martial arts, we’ve been waiting at least four years for a fight between Pride legends Dan Henderson and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua to come together. Yet for as long as we’ve wanted to see this fight, what we were given last night was worth every second of the wait.

“I hate to have to tell you this, Mr. Bailey, but you’ve got a severe case of liveblog. It won’t be long now.” (Photo: UFC.com)

The good news: you’re all but guaranteed more than sixty-four seconds of action this evening. The bad news: you’re going to have to pay for it.

Nothing in life is free, not even punches to the face. Take Dan Henderson, for example. “Hollywood” was once considered too costly of an investment for the UFC, but after an impressive three-fight win streak he was deemed too valuable for Strikeforce. Tonight he makes his return to the Octagon after a two year hiatus. Does old Hendo have enough gas in the tank for one more title run, or will the “old” Shogun show up and ruin his homecoming.

Though he may not have the cleavage to warrant video commentary, weekend editor Chris Colemon does possess the sort of typing skills that get you beat up by jocks in high school. Come join him inside for the best play-by-play coverage you’ll see on this site tonight.

Props: Youtube.com/corissafurr

Heading into tonight’s UFC 139, you may have noticed that we did not post a usual Gambling Addiction Enabler to help you spend that pesky “extra money” that’s been clogging up your wallet. We just kind of assumed you planned on spending so much money on that Thanksgiving feast you were planning for your family and friends that you wouldn’t have the funds left over to gamble. But then we remembered who we were dealing with, and genuinely felt sorry. Our fault.

But where we have failed you, Spike TV’s Corissa Furr has come through. Okay, so it’s not exactly gambling advice, per se. But if you wanted to put money on her picks and form a parlay, you could make enough money to upgrade that impressive feast you’ve got planned. Call you’re bookie and lock it in while you still have time.

(Video props: Youtube/MMAHeat)

One of the sport’s most notorious heels, Josh Koscheck, joined Mike Goldberg in San Jose for the UFC’s latest Fighter Q&A session. There was little hate for the welterweight in his own backyard, and rather than fending off attacks from his legion of haters he weighed in on a variety of subjects including his previous battles with GSP and Paul Daley, his desire to fight Tito Ortiz and Chris Leben, and how Condit royally screwed himself.

The goods are after the jump.

Rousey vs. Budd. Things get ugly about thirty seconds in. Props: IronForgesIron.com

Heading into last night, many people were calling Ronda Rousey the new face of women’s MMA. And why not? She is a decorated judoka who has finished all three of her professional fights in less than one minute. Rousey was given a step up in competition against Julia Budd at last night’s Strikeforce Challengers 20.

If you’ve followed Ronda Rousey’s MMA career at all, then you probably knew how the fight would look even before watching it. For those of you who are new to WMMA: Rousey quickly got Julia Budd to the ground. She established mount, and worked for an armbar. Julia Budd tried to fight through it, and got her arm snapped as a result. Total time? Thirty nine seconds. Forget the second round- Ronda Rousey is yet to see the second minute of a professional fight, having armbarred all four of her opponents less than one minute into the opening round.

(Video: Zombie Prophet)

Though both events took place under the purview of the California State Athletic Commission, the no-nonsense, military precision of last week’s UFC on FOX weigh-ins was nowhere to be seen last night’s event. That’s not necessarily a good thing for the fighters , but it’s certainly more entertaining for the rest of us.

Things kicked off with a healthy dose of confusion. Several prelim fighters tipped the scales well over the allotted limit, which Joe Rogan attributed to a discrepancy between the scales backstage and the official one upfront. While there may be some truth to that, other fighters managed to hit the target on the dot. It was painfully clear that the chick running the show for the CSAC had no clue what she was doing. You know you’re in for a wild ride when someone seeks mathematical and scientific guidance from this guy.

Just a friendly reminder that we will be streaming the weigh-ins for UFC 139 live from San Jose starting at 7:00 pm ET.

Check back then and watch a bunch of dudes go alpha on one another in their underwear. Nothing weird about that.

UFC player is after the jump.

Anyone who has kids can tell you that it seems no sooner are you finished shelling out a wad of cash on one-and-done Halloween costumes then you’re being bombarded with Christmas wish lists from those little money pits, chock-full of useless and annoying toys that you can neither afford nor should ever consider giving to a child if you are the least bit sane. And before we can even sit down to a nice Thanksgiving meal that eventually erupts into a heated argument over why they let Chaz Bono compete on Dancing With the Stars, former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is here to remind us all that the gifts we do receive will likely be worse than even our pathetic standards could have predicted.

(Two words: Ipecac bitches! Video courtesy of Vimeo/Fightlinker)

- Hector Lombard: ‘Chael Sonnen is boring as f*ck (MMAJunkie)

- Chris Weiman’s one wish (WithLeather)

- Fowchart: what to do if there is no NBA season (Clutch.MTV)

-Eddie Alvarez on fear as motivation, facing unbeaten Chandler and Aoki possibility (MMAFighting)

- Machida details new camp for Jones bout (FightersOnly)

- The secret way to make sure you never get fired (AskMen)

- Wand talks pressure and training with ‘The Spider’ for Le fight (Tatame)

- Cpyotes using cell phones to get people across border (TuVez)

- Sonnen genuinely wishes Wand well Saturday night (ESPN)

- NFL’s hottest cheerleaders: Seattle Seahawks (Guyism)

- Sakurai-Chonnen rematch, bantamweight finals slated for DREAM NYE show (Sherdog)

- Strikeforce Challengers weigh-in vid (YouTube)

- Dexter re-upped for two more seasons (ScreenJunkies)

- FTW video: how to make awesome bacon appetizers (MadeMan)

- The 8 most exciting fighters on the UFC 139 undercard (BleacherReport)

- 25 math geek tattoos (HolyTaco)

- Elle Liberachi in lingerie is a good way to end the work week (Guyism)

- Dana White talks UFC 139, promises four exciting main card fights for UFC on Fox 2 (LowKick)

“The Stoic Russian” is a hurtful stereotype, so we didn’t include it.  The more you know…..

People complain about “pro-wrestling bullshit” invading MMA, but it’s been demonstrated over and over again: personality will get you places in the fight game.  We’ve pointed this out before, like when we advised Jon Fitch on how to ensure a title shot.  Some fighters are talked about incessantly on forums, at lunch tables, and in interviews because they’ve managed to capture the interest of fans, and many times it is because of things that they have done or said while not in the cage.

Come on in and let’s talk about archetypes, drama, and personality.  Because there’s only so many technique videos out there.

We’re not sure if it’s the Strikeforce footage or what, but the UFC 139 edition the UFC countdown show had a different edgy feel to it. Maybe the UFC got wise and hired someone like NicktheFace to the team.

Anyway, it’s a good one and maybe it’s the marketing magic, but I’m looking more forward to this card now than I already was.

Check the full episode out after the jump.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/KanistyLez)

We’ve all seen this guy at some point in our lives. A big, lumbering, normally quiet and unassuming ox, who gets a few Jagerbombs into him and thinks he’s the streetfighting equivalent of Chuck Liddell. We like to think that’s how Tank Abbott got his start as a fighter.

(Video courtesy of WNY)

New York State Assembly isn’t scheduled to resume until January, but that isn’t stopping politicians in the Empire State from rallying in the meantime for legalizing mixed martial arts when the next session starts.

Several senators and Assembly members have spoken out publicly in support of the sport in recent weeks, which could bring the issue to the forefront when Assembly is back in session in two months.

Buffalo Senator Mark Grisanti, who met with UFC chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta yesterday, says that it’s ridiculous that New York is dragging its feet when it comes to sanctioning the sport that is regulated in all but a handful of states in the U.S. and less than a half dozen Canadian provinces. Grisanti pointed to the economic benefits of having MMA in the state, noting that it could create jobs and inject an influx of cash into the New York economy as one of the big reasons for giving the popular combat sport the nod.

“Being that we’re so close to Toronto and southern Ontario, I would suspect that we would get a lot of that draw from our neighboring country [as well],” Grisanti explained.

(Who’s got two hands and loves to beat people’s asses? THIS GUY!!) 

An exciting match-up between top lightweight contenders Melvin Guillard and Jim Miller was announced yesterday as the headlining bout for the UFC’s FX debut via the UFC’s twitter. The contest, which is oddly scheduled for three rounds, really makes you wonder just when exactly this “main events are five rounds” policy is going to kick in, or if it only applies to fights that barely stand the chance of making it three rounds to begin with.

Either way, both men will be hungry to get back in the win column.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/rsena84)

Junior dos Santos came full circle today as he arrived back home in Salvador, Brazil a UFC heavyweight champion. “Cigano,” whose rags to riches story had a fairytale ending Saturday night as he knocked out favorite Cain Velasquez as 8.8 million fans watched the upset on their televisions was welcomed like royalty at the Salvador Airport.

(It is a little known myth that if you tickle a Shrexican behind the ear, he will fall under your spell forever.)

The California State Athletic Commission released the official fighter salaries for UFC on FOX earlier today, and if you were a follower of June White’s theory that Dana sold his soul to the Devil for the Fox deal, then this is all the evidence you’ll need. The total (disclosed) fighter payroll came out to exactly $666,000. The proof is in the pudding, folks. Start drafting up your PowerPoint conspiracy reports now.

Snatching up nearly half of that payroll, newly crowned heavyweight champ Junior Dos Santos not only walked away with the gold and the glory, but the cash and the girl (Props, Boo) as well. Earning 3,437 dollars per second, Dos Santos collected a $220,000 paycheck that took less effort than a supporting role in an animated kids movie.

The only other fighter even close to Dos Santos in terms of salary was that of his victim, Cain Velasquez, who took home an even $100,000 for his efforts. Check out the full salary list below. Keep in mind, these figures are void of any locker room bonuses, fight bonuses, sponsorships, or any other nonsense.