Tonight’s UFC on FOX event is looking to be one for the ages, Potato Nation. The alcohol-fueled spirit of Cinco De Mayo has overtaken most, if not all, of the U.S of A by this point, and I’m no exception, so lets skip the fancy introductions and get right to it.

Preliminary results
-Karlos Vemola def. Mike Massenzio by submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:07 of round two.
-Roland Delorme def. Nick Denis by submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:59 of round one.
-Dennis Bermudez def. Pablo Garzo by UD
-Danny Castillo def. John Cholsih by UD
-Louis Gaudinot def. John Lineker by submission (guillotine choke) at 4:54 of round 2
-John Hathaway def. Paskal Krauss by UD
-John Dodson def. Tim Elliot by UD
-Michael Johnson def. Tony Ferguson by UD

A couple musings from the prelims:

-Apparently some McDonald’s Happy Meals DO come with Jiu-Jitsu Blackbelts. Just ask Mike Massenzio.

-Nick Denis has a ridiculous rat tail, but it can’t match up with Roland Delorme’s iron chin. What an amazing round of action that was.

(Paula Sack make Hulk giggle)

We are all used to seeing Rousimar Palhares freak the fuck out and tear off people’s limbs. But it isn’t too often that we get to see a softer side of the UFC on Fox 3 middleweight competitor.

Paula Sack visited Palhares while he crushed it in the weight room during his training camp for his fight against Alan Belcher. As you will see at around the 1:14 mark of the below video, Paula’s charms turn the hulk-smashing, cage-climbing Palhares into a blushing, giggling, pile of muscle.

We can’t be sure, but it was kinda like this. To be fair to Palhares, this is what Paula Sack looks like.

Check out the video after the jump.

By Elias Cepeda

Mike Rio vs. Andy Ogle seems like a good enough fight for this week’s contest, but the Brit goes further in predicting what it will be like. “It’s going to be a very attractive fight,” Ogle jokes. “It’s going to be a sexy fight.”

But before we can get to that, we are shown Team Cruz’ Sam Sicilia being comforted in his locker room by Mike Chiesa, who is on Faber’s team but is Sam’s best friend from back home. Sam finished last week’s fight much stronger than Chris Saunders and its almost a crime that the fight didn’t go a third round.

In an interview, Sam is clearly devastated but hits the right note. “I’d rather lose that fight than have a killer day in sales,” he says.

That really is what The Ultimate Fighter is about for these guys – they are fighting to be able to spend their lives doing something they love.

Coaches’ Challenge

In past years we’ve seen TUF coaches compete for cash against one another in bowling and ping pong. This year turns out to be a tad different – Urijah Faber and Dominick Cruz are competing at firing hand guns, rifles and grenade launches.

Yes, really.

To put it mildly, I’ve been skeptical about Bellator’s non-title fights in the past. They’ve all been total squash fights, and light-heavyweight champion Christian M’Pumbu actually managed to lose his against Travis Wiuff back at Bellator 55. Last night didn’t exactly make me a believer in non-title fights, but I won’t act like I wasn’t impressed with lightweight champion Michael Chandler after his performance against Akihiro Gono.

Chandler followed up his brilliant fourth round rear-naked choke over Eddie Alvarez back at Bellator 58 with a quick TKO over Akihiro Gono. After catching Gono early with a straight right, Chandler pounced on a stunned Gono and rained down punches until he earned the stoppage. Michael Chandler improves to 10-0 overall, with six fights ending in the first round.

At the post-fight press conference, Akihiro Gono announced his retirement from MMA. Gono has lost three fights in a row, and his record now stands at 32-18-7. His most recent victory was a unanimous decision over Diego Gonzalez at Sengoku 12 in March 2010. While it’s never easy to watch an icon of the sport retire, it’s even harder to watch him continue to lose. Thanks for the memories, Magic Man.

“Whoooooaaaa…says here this thing is a ‘Rousimar Palhares’. We’re already legally dead.”

Yesterday, while you were making terrible Star Wars jokes and/or mourning the death of MCA, lawmakers in “The Green Mountain State” were busy passing a bill to regulate the sport of mixed martial arts. Vermont is now the 46th state in the United States to regulate our sport.

My initial reaction to this news was probably the same as yours: “That’s nice.” Our second reactions were probably also pretty similiar: Damn, New York. You let the state known for its organic-granola crunching, Birkenstock wearing hippies regulate MMA before you did. Get your shit together. For real this time.

Granted, everything I know about Vermont I’ve learned from pints of Ben & Jerry’s. So let’s read the press release that the UFC issued:

“Vermont’s legislation of the sport of MMA is further evidence of the continued growth and success of our sport in this country,” said UFC Chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta. “We are pleased that fans in Vermont will now have the opportunity to watch a live UFC event in their own backyard, and look forward to making that happen.”

Props: Supersindo.kr. Picture of Kang in action available after the jump.

I don’t know how to break this to you, so I’ll just be blunt about it: Remember when a victory over Denis Kang actually meant something? Yeah, those days have traveled the same road as Pepsi Jazz. After a disappointing 1-2 run in the UFC, “The Super Korean” has gone 2-3-1, which includes his current three fight losing streak.

And now, the once dominant PRIDE middleweight is competing on this season of Korea’s Dancing with the Stars.

If you’re wondering how the Korean DWtS differs from the American version (you aren’t, but play along), Director Shin Myeong-hoon recently told The Korea Herald that their version “will focus more on dancesport (competitive ballroom dancing), which has its own fan base.”

Granted, I’m not exactly a dance critic. In fact, I didn’t even know competitive ballroom dancing was a thing until that last sentence. But from the looks of this picture from last night’s episode, Denis Kang is about to suffer a loss far less dignified than his recent loss to Jesse Taylor:

(BFF’s 50 Cent and Floyd “I ain’t no Junior” Mayweather Jr.)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, this isn’t mixed martial arts. But it is a fight, and chances are all your favorite MMA fighters will catch the Mayweather vs. Cotto mega bout at some point this weekend as well.

Besides, we’ve already previewed the bout for you here so zip it, enjoy and learn something from the same, great sports documentary production crew that brings you the UFC Primetime series. All four episodes of HBO’s Mayweather/Cotto 24/7 after the jump.

UFC middleweight contender Rousimar Palhares is finally getting help, people. Palhares recently told MMA Fighting‘s new star Dave Doyle that he’s been seeing a sports psychologist, and that he expects it to help him Saturday night against Alan Belcher on the UFC on Fox 3 card. ”‘Yeah he’s helped me,’ Palhares said through interpreter and manager Alex David. ‘He’s helped so that when I get into a fight, I get focused on the fight and I don’t get distracted by anything else,’” Doyle reports.

Palhares has provided some of the most scarily entertaining moments in MMA in recent years. Most of those moments were nasty submissions, but a good amount have also just come from his bizarre behavior in the ring.

(Nate Diaz will face Jim Miller in the main event of tomorrow’s big Fox card)

Almost all the fighters made weight this afternoon in New Jersey for the UFC on Fox 3 card taking place Saturday night. Check out the weigh-in results and full video of the proceedings below. Also, don’t forget to follow the action, play-by-play, tomorrow night here at CagePotato.

Main Card:

Nate Diaz 156 vs. Jim Miller 156
Johny Hendricks 170.5 vs. Josh Koscheck 170.5
Alan Belcher 186 vs. Rousimar Palhares 186
Pat Barry 244 vs. Lavar Johnson 253

Prelims:

Tony Ferguson 154.5 vs. Michael Johnson 156
John Dodson 126 vs. Tim Elliott 125
John Hathaway 169 vs. Pascal Krauss 169
Louis Gaudinot 126 vs. John Lineker 127 (Fined $1,200 for missing weight by a pound)
Danny Castillo 155 vs. John Cholish 155.5
Dennis Bermudez 145.5 vs. Pablo Garza 145
Roland Delorme 135 vs. Nick Denis 135
Mike Massenzio 184 vs. Karlos Vemola 185

Full Weigh-Ins Video After the Jump:

(Sadly, the fight between Penn and Jon Fitch was ruled a draw and the puppy was left without a home)

UFC President Dana White continues to say that future hall of famer BJ Penn will indeed return to the Octagon, despite Penn’s coyness. But Thursday, White provided more details to MMA Junkie on what weight the pound for pound great will fight at, and revealed that Penn declined a bout with Strikeforce champ Gilbert Melendez.

“I tried to do [Melendez vs. Penn], but it was at the time when B.J. was like, ‘Yeah, I’m not fighting for a while,’” White told Junkie.

Apparently, he didn’t say if that match up would have meant Penn going to Strikeforce or Melendez going to the UFC.

UFC President Dana White says that Bellator import, Hector Lombard, might just get a middleweight title shot if he beats Brian Stann in his UFC debut. “When you talk about cleaning out a division, there’s always another guy who comes up, even for a guy like Anderson…We just brought in Lombard. (If) Lombard beats Stann. … that (title) fight makes sense,” Sergio Non reports White as saying, for USA Today.

And, oh yeah, Stann vs. Lombard will headline UFC on Fox 4, according to MMA Fighting ace Mike Chiappetta. When a fan asked Chiappetta, via twitter, if the fight was set to be the main event for Fox’ fourth UFC installment, he replied in the affirmative.

(Photo provided by Corissa Furr/Keith Selle)

By Jason Moles

It’s not every day you get twenty minutes alone with a professional model, so when you get the opportunity, you make damn well sure you spend your time wisely. That’s exactly what I did earlier this week when I interviewed former Strikeforce ring card girl, Corissa Furr. You’ve probably seen her on Entourage, MANswers or gracing the pages of FHM and Maxim. Most recently, she hosted an ‘MTV Cribs’-esque segment on The Ultimate Insider when she took you through the luxurious home of UFC welterweight Josh Koscheck. We discussed her favorite fighter, women’s MMA, and the lamest thing to be shouted at her while cage side. Enjoy the interview and the new pics Corissa sent us.

CagePotato.com: Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to talk with me. First things first, how in the world does a smart girl from small town Maryland find herself parading around a cage in a bikini while holding up a round card for money?

Corissa Furr: I don’t know. You know, it’s not something I ever thought was going to happen. I was never one of those girls who was like, you know, “I wanna be a model.” I kind of got into it accidentally. My roommate at the time was doing a photo shoot and then the photographer was like, “Let me take some head shots of you.” And that was the beginning of it I guess. I started traveling for different companies, doing tours nationwide and I’ve always been a fan of MMA and boxing and stuff like that so when opportunities came my way, of course I took advantage of them. Who wouldn’t want to be sitting cage side watching the fights and getting paid?

CP: What’s the lamest thing a guy has yelled out at you while you’re up there holding cards?

(No, I did not buy this belt at Wal-Mart as a joke. Who the hell would do that?) 

After being forced out of his originally anticipated debut match against Karlos Vemola back in January due to a last minute injury, Maximum Fighting Championship Light-Heavyweight king and CP guest blogger Ryan Jimmo finally has a date set for his UFC debut. July 21st, at UFC 149 in Calgary. Since dropping his first professional contest to Adam Braidwood in February of 2007, Jimmo has gone 16 fights in a row without a blemish, most recently outpointing (emphasis on the “point” aspect) UFC veteran Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou in October of 2011. Jimmo also holds notable victories over Wilson Gouveia, Marvin Eastman, and Jesse Forbes. He also does one hell of a robot.

(It turns out Miguel was actually making grape jokes, which I have no problem with whatsoever.) 

By Nathan “The 12ozCurls” Smith

Here at CP, I see “us” as a bunch of cynical, condescending, annoyed class-clowns that have a genuine love for the sport of MMA. We love great fights and enigmatic fighters, it’s really that simple. Whether it is a fighter’s personality or in-ring performance, we try our best not to be “nut-huggers,” but sometimes these things happen in MMA (Damn you Georges!). Because I wanted to curb any bias towards fighters that I might have, I tried my best to not be like a 14 year-old girl, so I avoided Twitter like an invitation to a Mike Whitehead BBQ – but I have given in. Not to the invite, but to my status as a new member of Twitter, and I must admit, there are some pretty damn compelling, comical, and surprisingly elegant MMA fighters that can wax poetic in 140 characters or less.

“Opinions are like assholes. Everybody has one and they think everyone else’s stinks.”  I believe that phrase was coined by Sigmund Freud or the Dalai Lama…or George Carlin. Whoever came up with the analogy was clearly a genius with a tremendous affinity for “Dirty” Harry Callahan. So take a big whiff because these are the MMA fighters that I think you should be following on Twitter with a few examples from their recent timelines.

Kenny Florian - twitter/@kennyflorian

We were all introduced to KenFlo on TUF 1. Although he was somewhat overshadowed by more flamboyant participants and in-house scuffles, he’s elevated himself within the UFC as one of its most versatile members. Whether as a fighter or broadcaster, he displays his wit and charisma like a true pro, but on Twitter he mixes in self-deprecation with an almost narcissistic vibe.

“When I’m being threatened, I will start doing splits to let ppl know what’s up. I always get mistaken for a talented dancer or gymnast.”

“Is a bow tie & no shirt too formal for a charity event I’m going to next week?”

“Guys, stop putting high expectations on fighters. @rory_macdonald didn’t steal my hairdo, he borrowed it. #Respect”

“If you’ve never taken a man’s shoe & beaten him with it then you’ve never been in a street fight. #KenFloFacts”

(No, Frankie, I will not judge your next title fight, so quit asking.)

After retiring, former UFC fighter Ricardo Almeida announced that he would begin judging MMA events. He’s been doing that for awhile now in his home state of New Jersey, and this Saturday’s UFC on Fox 3 will be the Renzo Gracie black belt’s first time judging fights on the big stage.

Almeida will not be judging fights where he has a conflict of interest (see fighters he coaches or that are affiliated to him or his Renzo Gracie lineage like Jim Miller, for example) but we do already know that he will be one of the judges scoring Josh Koscheck vs. Johny Hendricks and several more from the card. Almeida tells ESPN’s Franklin McNeil that he is both nervous and prepared to judge UFC fights.

“Yeah, I’m going to be nervous. It’ll be like I’m walking into a fight myself. But the spotlight only makes me want to be sharper and do a better job,” Almeida tells McNeil.

(Hendricks ain’t scared of no TSA | Photo by Esther Lin for MMA Fighting)

Maybe you thought, dear fight fan, that UFC welterweight contender Johny Hendricks sports a lumberjack/late 19th century bureaucrat type beard just to get your girlfriend all in a tizzy. Well, you’d be wrong.

Hendricks told reporters this week that the burly-man beard he grows during training camps actually serves a deeper purpose. “It reminds me that I have a goal I’m trying to reach, and that’s a fight,” he said.

“That’s a fight this Saturday [against Josh Koscheck at UFC on Fox 3]. After the fight, win or lose, I do my job and I go home and shave it. The next morning, I’m still in that fight mode, I go to the bathroom and check the mirror and, ‘oh, I’m clean-shaven.’ At that moment, it hits me. Everything goes away.”

The full video interview is after the jump.

(If either Mitt Romney or Barack Obama are looking for a new campaign slogan, may we offer the following.) 

You know, we may have our fun at Josh Koscheck’s expense more than others here at CP, but it’s only because we know that he can take it as well as he can dish it out. The TUF 1 veteran has made his name off the heel/asshole moniker for a good seven years now, and in fact brought the term to new heights during his gig as coach on the twelfth season of The Ultimate Fighter, incorporating hypothetical ass-play and male nurse jokes into his repertoire of empty threats. He’s been called a dick by everyone from Phil Baroni to Brian Ebersole, and though he won’t admit it, we know Ariel Helwani would probably say the same.

And at the forefront of Koscheck’s embittered rants these days seems to be none other than the esteemed  members of the MMA media, who apparently have given Koscheck slim to zero chance against Johny Hendricks in their upcoming clash at UFC on FOX 3 this Saturday. Now, we’re not sure which media outlets are writing Koscheck off, because, even though we dislike the guy, we still think he has a really good chance of pulling out a victory. The current betting odds seem to share this notion, but according to Koscheck, we’ve all claimed that he is simply too old to deal with Hendricks, and is basically a lamb being led to the killing field. When Koscheck spoke with these MMA media “retards” yesterday ahead of his clash with Hendricks, he let his feeling be known. That’s right, feeling:

I have a lot of ulterior motives that motivate me. There are a lot of people like you out here who write all these stories and shit like, ‘Oh, he’s old, he’s this, youth versus age….’ Bullshit. You guys are all fucking retards who think that. Retards. I’ve been hearing a lot of it — a lot of tweets and shit. I laugh at you idiots. Man, you guys are crazy…Who’s that guy, Bernard Hopkins? Didn’t he just kick someone’s ass the other day? And how old is he? Oh…he lost? Well, I mean, he was the champion, right? I mean how old is that guy, 47? C’mon, he’s still fighting. Let’s be real. Look at Randy Couture. Is that a rare case? Dan Henderson. Look at Dan Henderson’s 40, right? Is that a rare case? Chuck Liddell was what, 37-38? Real rare. You guys are retards for writing that shit.

We don’t know how to break this to you, Josh, so we’ll just come right out with it. YES, guys like Randy Couture and Dan Henderson are rare cases. Because for every Randy Couture, there are at least three Ken Shamrocks who are dangerously close to getting beaten to death in the ring. But for Christ’s sake, you’re 34, Josh. Your age should be the least of your, or our, concerns. But maybe we’re just being naive.

Again, we can’t seem to find these supposed articles that have earned the ire of Koscheck, but we’ve come to the realization that “Kos” is likely just making things up at this point to fuel the ever-present hate within him. Then again, if you believe that Twitter is where the real MMA reporting gets done, you are either FrontRowBrian or, well…a retard.

Join us after the jump for the full interview. 

(Pictured above: Nate Diaz and a pre-beard Johny Hendricks.) 

Yesterday, the UFC and FOX held an open media conference call, which featured UFC President Dana White, middleweight contender and FOX analyst Brian Stann, and Fox Sports Media Group Co-President Eric Shanks taking questions prior to this weekend’s UFC on FOX event. Among the questions to come up was one regarding the likelihood of the Nate Diaz/Jim Miller winner receiving the next title shot at 155 pounds. True to form, Dana White did not beat around the bush, declaring that to be true for at least half of the participants involved:

Should Diaz win, Diaz is definitely getting a title shot. Should Miller win, Miller’s probably going to be a fight or two away.

White when on to state that the same applied for Johny Hendricks should he get past Josh Koscheck on Saturday, whereas our boy Fraggle would have to get a couple more wins under his belt. Considering that both Koscheck and Miller recently suffered losses to the current champions of their respective weight classes (twice over if your Koscheck), this seems to make sense.

(Is there anyway we could get the guy on the far right to…what’s the word I’m looking for….leave?) 

Since the UFC has made its conversion to a major network, they’ve had their fair share of ups and downs. Their first event, though featuring a match that could headline any pay-per-view, was little more than an hour long infomercial for the sport, topped off by the shortest title fight this side of Andrei Arlovski’s flash knockout of Paul Buentello back at UFC 55. Their second event was forced to shuffle around its main card participants as a result of Mark Munoz’s grisly injury, resulting in two mediocre bouts and a tepid main event. And don’t even get us started on Jon Jones’ commentary.

However, not all is lost (unless we’re talking about last week’s TUF ratings. Bazinga!), for this Saturday’s card promises to deliver the kind of head-to-toe action that mainstream and hardcore audiences alike have been waiting for. It’s got a Diaz, a Miller, a cartoon character, and a mythical swamp beast on its main card alone, so what could possibly go wrong? But just in case the Zuffa brass are looking for a few extra pointers from a fan’s perspective, we’ve compiled the following list of five things that would surely elevate UFC on FOX 3 above that of its predecessors. Enjoy, and let us know what other improvements could be made to the UFC on FOX in the comments section.

5. Tito Ortiz Return to his Role as a Ringside Commentator

FOX is a network that prides itself on being the voice of the simple, common man. And there is perhaps no man simpler than that of Tito Ortiz. Let’s be real here; Ortiz’s night of commentary at Affliction: Day of Reckoning was easily the funniest Goddamn moment in the history of MMA, bar none. Brian Fantana could not muster one-tenth of its hilarity if he were to report on every Panda birth from here to Chongqing, and we should give “The People’s Champ” another go-around for comedic purposes only. Besides, when was the last time ringside commentary really blew your mind? We love Joe Rogan and all, but we’d be much more inclined to stick around after the fight if there was a possibility that the announcer in question would suffer an aneurysm whilst trying to determine his next word.

(Josh Koscheck owns a plane? A fucking plane?? [*cracks another bottle of whiskey*] / Video courtesy of YouTube/FuelTV)

- ‘Ultimate Fighter’ Winner Ross Pearson Arrested On Suspicion Of DUI (Fightline)

- Gina Carano’s ‘Haywire’ Is Out Now on DVD/Blu-ray (Amazon)

- The Case for Public Fighter Pay (MMAFighting)

- Jon Jones Likely Won’t Return to Fight Dan Henderson Until August or September (BleacherReport/MMA)

- ‘The Ultimate Fighter: Live’ Ratings: Episode No. 8 Draws Series-Worst 929K Viewers (MMAJunkie)

- Video of Brazilian Media Trying to Pull a Prank on Chael Sonnen and Failing Horribly (MiddleEasy)

- Former NFL Linebacker Junior Seau Found Dead, Suicide Suspected (Deadspin)

- 25 Photos Of Girls Being Jealous Of Other Girls (WorldWideInterweb)

- Mastering the Top 10 Athletic Movements (MensFitness)

- 5 Energy Intensive Ways to Be Lazy (DoubleViking)

- Grandmas Watch Kim Kardashian’s Sex Tape. “Two hands with space in the middle.” (Filmdrunk)

- How to Start a Third Political Party (HolyTaco)

(Photo courtesy of NBC Sports)

Remember when Nick Diaz‘s legal team filed suit last week, claiming that the Nevada State Athletic Commission had acted improperly in handling his failed drug test and ensuing proceedings, and that they now no longer have jurisdiction over their client’s case? Well, the state of Nevada disagrees. After Diaz’s lawyer Ross C. Goodman referenced a “summary suspension” in their paperwork last week, Nevada’s Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto wrote Goodman to explain that, in legal terms, he doesn’t know what he’s talking ’bout. MMA Fighting has the report:

“‘No Notice of Summary Suspension was ever served on your client,’ Masto wrote. ‘In this matter, Mr. Diaz was properly served with a Notice of Hearing on Temporary Suspension and he failed to appear at the hearing. The Commission temporarily suspended Mr. Diaz’s license at the hearing. Neither Mr. Diaz nor you objected in any manner to the temporary suspension.’“

(Just don’t expect a chance to offer him advice in between rounds.) 

As you surely know by this point, Potato Nation, we are not the biggest fans of Bob Sapp. The man known as “The Beast” manages to somehow set the bar lower each time he steps into the ring, to the point that, if you don’t offer him a way out of the fight, he will simply collapse like he was hit with a stray bullet and roll around on the ground until the referee steps in. In fact, it’s safe to say that when all is said and done, Bob Sapp will probably go down as the worst fighter in the sport’s history (though from a technical standpoint, he is still leagues beyond Robert Burneika). And apparently we aren’t the only ones who share this sentiment.

But let today, May 2nd, 2012, forever be known as the day that Sapp redeemed at least part of his sham of a career, if not all of it. Fed up with all the “keyboard warrior” criticisms he has received in the past…ten years (many of which find their way to his Wikipedia page), Sapp is giving all you haters the chance to nut up or shut up. After Bob takes on Mariusz Pudzianowski at KSW 19 on May 12th, he will square off against UFC veteran Soa Palelei at CFC 21 in Australia just six days later. To help promote the event, Sapp is not only giving one lucky “fan” a chance to corner him for the fight, but he will also give said fan $300, a round trip ticket to Australia, hotel accommodations, and VIP access to the event.

And what do you have to enter this contest, you ask? The answer is simple: Create a video demonstrating your admiration or hatred of Bob Sapp and why you’d like to be in his corner, and post it on your Youtube account. We know, right? This contest is practically designed for you angst-ridden SOB’s.

Check out the video, along with the full contest details, after the jump. 

(Just don’t come between Dave and his cubs.)

A pair of injuries have led to even more changes to the already chaotic UFC 146 lineup. As confirmed last night, heavyweight Gabriel Gonzaga has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled fight against Roy Nelson, and will be replaced by Dave Herman, who suffered a TKO loss to Stefan Struve in his last Octagon appearance. This is the second opponent switch for Nelson, who was originally supposed to face Antonio Silva on the “Dos Santos vs. Mir” card.

Meanwhile in the prelims, lightweight contender Evan Dunham is out of his fight against undefeated rising star Edson Barboza, and will be replaced by former WEC champ Jamie Varner. Since exiting the WEC after going 0-3-1 in 2010, Varner has won three of four fights outside the Zuffa fold, most recently stopping Drew Fickett in 40 seconds at XFC 16. However, all of Varner’s recent fights have come at 160-170 pounds, and one of those matches resulted in a loss to Dakota Cochrane, of all people. Will Varner be at a disadvantage trying to make 155 again on short notice? Will it even matter, considering that Barboza vs. Varner is the biggest UFC squash match of the year?

UFC 146 goes down May 26th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The current (but probably not final) lineup is after the jump…

(BowCap: It’s “armbar” in tard-speak. / Video courtesy of Hamwin12)

From injuries and freak accidents to painkiller addiction and steroid busts, James Irvin‘s MMA career has been a litany of bad luck compounded by bad decisions. And his latest decision could be his worst yet. According to a new MMAJunkie report, Irvin is in talks with XARM — best known as the dumbest combat sport in the history of human stupidity — and may be participating at the full-contact arm-wrestling promotion’s June 24th event in San Jacinto, California.

Irvin won a pair of fights for Gladiator Challenge earlier this year, both by first-round stoppage. In fact, the Sandman hasn’t seen the second round of a fight in five-and-a-half years, making him an ideal fit for XARM’s “Roughest 3 Minutes In Sports” mentality. But there’s no way he’s getting out of this thing unscathed. It’s James Irvin, for God’s sake. Shattering his wrist or orbital bone would be a best-case scenario. Something freaky is going to happen, I just know it. Damn. Am I going to have to watch this fucking thing now?

XARM’s next event will be filled out by the participants of an upcoming reality show that will air on the Machinima network, in which XARM hopefuls are put through a three-day training boot camp. The promotion is still looking to fill nine spots for the show, and is accepting fighters ranging from 145 to 265 pounds, including female fighters. If this sounds like a good use of your time, hit up Tedd Williams at teddewilliams@aol.com. Please, no point-fighters or game-planners.

On the heels of what was a hugely successful (both in terms of action and PPV sales) UFC 145, the UFC will look to keep the momentum going with this weekend’s UFC on FOX 3 card, which features a smorgasbord of great match-ups (praise be to Joe Silva). And the only way to make a great thing even better would be to walk away with a little extra moolah, don’t you think? Because, to paraphrase what Bobby McFerrin once said, “If you don’t have cash, you don’t have style, and you sure as hell don’t have a gal to make you smile.” Something like that. So check out the tasty betting lines below, courtesy of BestFightOdds, and follow us after the jump for some sound advice that will surely score you one out of the three McFerrin keys to success. And don’t worry, none of the spreads are as insane as the current Akihiro Gono/Michael Chandler odds, which more closely resemble your chances of sleeping with Halle Berry, winning the lottery, and surviving a public bus fire in the same day. 

Main Card 
Jim Miller (-220) vs. Nate Diaz (+180)
Pat Barry (-210) vs. Lavar Johnson (+175)
Johny Hendricks (-120) vs. Josh Koscheck (+100)
Rousimar Palhares (-280) vs. Alan Belcher (+240)

Preliminary Card
Dennis Bermudez (-175) vs. Pablo Garza (+145)
Tony Ferguson (-270) vs. Michael Johnson (+210)
John Dodson (-400) vs. Tim Elliot (+300)*
Pascal Krause (-140) vs. John Hathaway (+110)*
John Linker (-150) vs. Louis Gaudinot (+120)*
John Cholish (-130) vs. Danny Castillo (EV)*
Roland Delorme (-130) vs. Nick Denis (EV)*
Mike Massenzio (-185) vs. Karlos Vemola (+145)*

*These lines are taken from Opposingviews.com, which has far different lines than BestFightOdds for the main card fights. They are the only site, however, with current odds for the given fights. 

Thoughts…

It’s the Ultimate Fighting Championship, not the Ultimate Friendship Championship. Nobody understands that better than UFC welterweight Josh Koscheck. In the Octagon, he’s an aggressive beast whose heavy hands and wrestling prowess have made him a perennial top-5 contender. In daily life, he’s kind of a dick. (Those are Dana White, Brian Ebersole, and Paul Daley‘s words, not ours.) In honor of Koscheck’s co-headlining fight against Johny Hendricks at this Saturday’s UFC on FOX 3: Diaz vs. Miller event, we’ve collected 12 of the most Kostastic gifs we could find on the Internet. Enjoy…

(Urijah’s lowest moment as an MMA fan? One can only ponder…)

This weekend, the UFC will make its glorious return to the only network that can bash gay rights and advertise Glee within the same half hour. We’re talking about FOX, of course. Featuring Jim Miller vs. Nate Diaz in a probable number one lightweight contender bout, a grudge match between Josh Koscheck and Johny Hendricks (because every fight with Kos is inherently a grudge match), a fight that will more than likely require the use of a stretcher, and a heavyweight sure-to-be-slugfest between Pat Barry and Lavar Johnson, it’s looking like UFC on FOX 3 has the potential to erase the memories of a rather forgettable second event and a rather brief first one. Not that we were complaining, because free fights are free fights.

And to get us hyped for the event, Dana White recently released one of his patented Danavlogs in which he catches Urijah Faber ogling over himself while on the set of TUF 15. It makes TOTAL SENSE if you don’t think about it. We gotta admit though, watching The Baldfather giggle like a school girl at Urijah’s expense makes us long for the days of his shock pen pranks that we came to know and love. [*looks over shoulder nostalgically and sighs*] 

Check out the video after the jump. 

We love Strikeforce middleweight Tim Kennedy. He fights hard, he’s hilarious and he’s a veteran Special Forces badass. That’s why it is unfortunate that Kennedy will likely be the next dude to get fired over tweets if he continues to tweet as he’s recently tweeted. (There’s a special place in hell for writers that use both the noun and verb forms of the fake word “tweet” in a single sentence, I’m sure.)

Here at CagePotato, we’re the last group of people to be easily offended, but we’re just trying to send an advance warning to Señor Kennedy. Recent twitter posts of his have included many elements of any get-your-ass-fired social media cocktail: References to rape, singling out people of certain religions for bodily harm, and shotguns.

To promote his newest disturbingly funny spoof video, Kennedy posted the following on twitter yesterday:

(That’ll teach Antonio Banuelos to try and fingerbang Ronda Rousey.) 

After compiling a 2-2 octagon record at welterweight (well, 1-3 depending on how you personally scored the Martin Kampmann fight), it looks like former Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields will be returning to 185 this summer, and will be taking on the resurgent Ed Herman at UFC 150, which goes down on August 11th from the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. UFC President Dana White was the first to break the news, via his Twitter:

UFC 150 Sat Aug 11 Denver, CO Middleweight Bout Ed Herman VS Jake Shields. I like that fight!

Shields is coming off a unanimous decision victory over the struggling Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 144 in February. Although he was able to walk away with the victory and snap a two-fight losing streak in the process, he did find himself on the wrong end of more than one fantastic Judo throw. So you tell us who the real winner was…

…still Shields? Fine, let’s move on.

TUF 3 runner-up Ed Herman, on the other hand, has looked pretty spectacular as of late, and will be looking to build upon a current three-fight win streak that includes wins over scrappy TUF 7 veteran Tim Credeur and TUF 11 alum Kyle Noke. Is it just us, or does it seem like nearly everyone in the UFC can be tied back to The Ultimate Fighter at some point in their career? It’s like the Kevin Bacon of MMA these days. Anyway, Shields should be a considerable favorite coming into this one, but given Herman’s growing trajectory, as well as Shields’ rather mediocre performances in the octagon thus far, “Short Fuse” could be a solid pick for you gamblers, who should already be rolling in the green if you followed our advice.

And in other fight booking, or rather, fight shuffling news…

(Props: MMAMania)

Brock Lesnar‘s latest Monday Night Raw appearance ended in a brawl with Triple H and a kimura that appeared to snap the WWE COO‘s arm. (Don’t worry guys, I think some of this wrestling stuff is fake.) Lesnar also used a kimura in his “Extreme Rules” match against John Cena on Sunday night — which was set up to look like a legit MMA bout, right down to the gash on Cena’s head — but wound up losing via pin. You can watch highlights from that wild performance after the jump.

Wrestling ripping off MMA, MMA ripping off wrestling…can’t we all just admit that we love each other?