(That logo is either a pun on “coke head,” “cock head,” or “head cook.” Whatever the case, he has it tattooed on his arm as well, and if I ever see him in person, I’m not gonna say shit about it. / Props: @NEWBREED04)

As you may recall, this weekend’s UFC 149 event was originally supposed to be headlined by the featherweight title fight between Jose Aldo and Erik Koch — until Aldo felt the cold hand of The Curse. The UFC has now confirmed that the bout has been re-scheduled for UFC 153, which will go down October 13th at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Aldo will be looking to make his fourth UFC title defense, following his knockout of Chad Mendes at UFC 142 in January.

Though both fighters are now coming off of injury layoffs, Koch’s return to action at UFC 153 will mark the end of a 13-month hiatus — an eternity in fighter-time. And now he’ll be challenging Aldo in the hippo-infested waters of the HSBC, instead of the neutral grounds of Calgary. Yikes. Just do your best, Erik.

At this point, UFC 153 is also expected to feature Glover Teixeira vs. Quinton Jackson, Jussier da Silva vs. Ulysses Gomez, Cristiano Marcello vs. Reza Madadi, and the return of TUF Brazil winners Cezar “Mutante” Ferreira and Rony “Jason” Mariano Bezerra.

(Thanks to tufentertainment.net for the fitting logo.)

By Nathan Smith

With the recent announcement that Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin have been named as the coaches for the next installment of The Ultimate Fighter series, the MMA universe immediately launched into a full-blow orgasmic ticker-tape parade complete with tons of flying confetti and a marching band belting out death metal tunes. Once I heard the news, it was as if my life instantaneously turned into a beer commercial and the entire Potato Nation was invited. There was a rad pool-party, barbeque, a plethora of hotties, endless alcohol, and an overall quest for fun.

Well . . . . . actually, none of that happened. In fact, when word spread that Nelson and Carwin would helm the next season of TUF, it was officially filed under “WTF?” Judging from the comment section, most of the CP brethren didn’t care for the choices either. TUF is coming off a season that saw the ratings dip lower than they ever had, which could partially be blamed on the move to FX and the dreaded Friday night time slot. Regardless of the variables for the ratings drop, something drastic needs to be done, but is anybody really convinced that Carwin and Nelson are the answer to TUF’s slow and painful demise? Let’s start from the beginning and take a look back to see if this runaway train can be coaxed back onto the main rail.

The Season That Started it All 

The inaugural season of TUF featured future Hall of Famers Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture as the competing coaches who would go mano y mano at the PPV after the season finale. For fans of the UFC, that was good enough for most to initially tune in for the Fertitta-funded experiment. It still remains the best crop of young talent and personalities to ever grace the show; future stars like Forrest Griffin, Stephan Bonnar, Josh Koscheck, Chris Leben, Diego Sanchez, Mike Swick, Kenny Florian, and Nate Quarry were all complete unknowns vying for stardom in a fledgling sport. You mix in the whole “fatherless bastard” angle and the show was off and running even before the awe-inspiring climax between (pre TRT) FoGrif and The American Psycho. Even before that, we were treated to the greatest speech of all time that has since been condensed into a few words. “Do you wanna be a fighter?” Though there were other memorable moments from the seasons that followed, Zuffa should have quit while they were ahead because it would never be this good again. The unrefined personification of immature talent, undeniable aspirations and gonzo-sized balls oozed from the boob tube during every episode.

(There’s always a Diaz fan in the crowd…)

By Jason Moles

We’ve seen as many MMA sponsors come and go over the last few years as we have fighters themselves, and with a few notable exceptions, they haven’t had much, if any, impact on the sport. That’s all about to change with the launch of FundAFighter.com, which helps fighters raise money to cover the costs of their training camps, travel, nutrition, or other MMA-related projects.

Developed by Tristar Gym‘s Firas Zahabi, the new site supports fighters in the planning and execution of “crowdfunding” campaigns in which they solicit donations directly from their fans in exchange for unique incentives like event tickets, autographs, fight-worn gear, or whatever rewards they are willing to give their backers. Oh, and did we mention that CagePotato veteran Mike Russell is handling PR for FundAFighter?

If the concept sounds vaguely familiar, there’s a reason for that — and it’s not just because crowdfunding is how we got Karmaatemycat to the TUF 14 tryouts last year. From the press release:

(Koscheck doesn’t like curly blonde wigs for the same reason that Jon Jones doesn’t like fake UFC belts. It’s like, bro, you didn’t put in the work, okay? / Photo via Sherdog)

You can’t keep a good man down — or a bad one, either. Coming off his split-decision loss to Johny Hendricks in May, welterweight contender Josh Koscheck will try to bounce back against Jake Ellenberger in the co-main event of UFC 151: Jones vs. Henderson, September 1st in Las Vegas. Ellenberger is also coming off a defeat — his leave-from-ahead* knockout loss to Martin Kampmann at the TUF 15 Finale — which followed a six-fight win streak, including victories over Jake Shields and Diego Sanchez. So which top 170-pounder is going to wake up the next morning with two straight losses?

Koscheck hasn’t started talking trash to Ellenberger on twitter yet, but he did recently call you a sissy and pat his hair on the back. In other notable UFC 151 booking news…

Thanks to Manny Yarborough GOAT for digging up this classic fight from King of the Cage 4 back in June 2000, in which a young Duane Ludwig beats the absolute dogshit out of MMA pioneer Shad Smith, who entered the cage wearing the same pair of sneakers and white socks that he showed up to the arena in. No, this would not be Shad’s night. Ludwig’s Muay Thai was nasty even back then, and the referee was as shitty as most local refs were in those days — two factors that combined to produce an uncomfortably violent late-stoppage. Skip to the 2:25 mark for the beginning of the end.

After the jump: Shad’s 2004 King of the Cage bout against Krazy Horse Bennett, which is worth watching just for their pre-fight promo packages. A credit to humanity, both of these guys.

(You call ‘at a breedge? Check out old Albert and get back at me, you tosser.) 

And go figure, the British Team is already being called “cocky.” In case you had already forgotten, the “hit” reality show recently announced its coaches for both the 16th season of the show here in America and the second international season. Pitting the United Kingdom against Australia, TUF: Smashes began filming today, according to a report by yourmmatv.com. When asked how the first stages of shooting were going, UFC President Dana White told the Herald Sun that the British team, going against everything we have ever learned about them, are acting unnecessarily arrogant in the presence of their Aussie opponents:

Because MMA is newer here than it is to the United States and the UK, and this happened when the US fought the UK, the US were very cocky and that they felt like you know, `there’s not enough good guys over there.’ Well that’s the way the UK is acting right now and when you underestimate your opponent, that’s when you get your ass kicked.

(For Christ’s sake, just kiss and make up already!) 

Who saw this coming? Hint: everybody.

Ever since the photos of Ronda Rousey’s nude pictorial for the second edition of ESPN’s “The Body” issue were released, a moment that was responsible for more cases of sudden onset carpal tunnel syndrome than the day Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee’s sex tape was “stolen” from their home, the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champ has come under a bit of fire from some of her critics. While many of us passed it off as a classic case of “angry troll is angry,” it was hard to look past the fact that most of the criticism was a result of former claims made by none other than Rousey herself. Most notably, Rousey’s statements that Miesha Tate should be ashamed for taking pictures that showed off her pristine hind end and what her future kids would think and blah blah blah. Rousey also ripped on a few selective ring girls who shall remain nameless for posing in Playboy magazine, a.k.a the glove into which Evil slips its hand.

Of course, “Rowdy’s” previous statements came back and bit her right in her glorious ass when her own nude photos were released. Her confusing diatribe aimed at Kim Kardashian, in which Rousey stated that she had the right to pose nude because she was a role model and Kim didn’t because she only became famous for getting naked and Skechers shoes and 13 year-olds and something or other who cares, surely didn’t help matters. Ronda even willingly appeared on the television frequency at which human scum resides, TMZ, to lay into Kardashian, a move that we feel may have just evened the scales between the two in terms of attention whoring.

But at the end of the day, we were grateful that Ronda used whatever justification she needed to get naked for us, and thought the rest of the world should think the same. One person who clearly didn’t agree with us was the woman Rousey defeated for the bantamweight championship just a couple months ago, Miesha Tate, who recently let Ronda have it over Twitter.

Those comments are after the jump. 

(This. / Photo via Sherdog)

Yesterday, Jared wrote up a detailed assessment of the UFC’s middleweight contenders in an attempt to bring some clarity to the pecking order at 185, because sometimes we want to be part of the solution instead of the problem. Anderson Silva‘s management is doing the opposite of that — shooting down logical suggestions and casually calling out a guy who can’t even fight Silva, contractually speaking. It’s a bit of a dick move, to be honest. Here’s the current situation, as reported on Fuel TV’s UFC Tonight (via MMAMania):

“One of Anderson Silva’s managers said that one of the issues with Hector Lombard is he thinks he needs at least three more impressive wins* in the UFC. He said that 85 percent** of UFC fans don’t even know who Hector Lombard is, who is of course making his Octagon debut on Saturday night…As for Chris Weidman, he said, ‘Well, there’s another great unknown fighter.’*** He doesn’t see those match ups as being money making pay-per-view events…He did mention Luke Rockhold, who is the Strikeforce middleweight champion. Alas, Rockhold is contractually tied to Strikeforce, so that fight’s not happening.**** We’ll have to wait and see, but right now, the Anderson Silva camp [is] not too excited about the options out there.”*****

(Hello Quinton, Areva Mookjai here with the Thailand Lady-Boy Observer, I was just wondering if…wow, you go right after it, don’t you?)

We almost feel silly reporting on this, being that there is no way in hell this quarrel will actually be settled in the near future, but just in case you haven’t heard, Quinton Jackson and Chael Sonnen are apparently not a fan of one another, you guys. If you recall, during our thrilling interview with Page a couple of months ago, Jackson stated that he thought Sonnen was “a fool” and was tired of people asking him questions about the former middleweight title challenger on Twitter.

This is where we’d normally say something like, “Time has a way of healing all wounds,” but then of course, we wouldn’t be talking about Rampage Jackson, a man who seemingly has a gripe with everyone and everything from American fans to the UFC to driving down the correct side of a freeway. During a brief interview with MMAElite.net, Jackson aired out his dirty laundry in regards to Sonnen, claiming that he should “leave the UFC because that’s what he said he was going to do if he lost.” Also, “F*ck Chael.” While the former remark could be passed off as a simple criticism, the latter not so much:

Join us after the jump for Chael’s response, which is a doozy. 

(Gina agreed to sign his neck, but turned down his request for a contribution to his skin suit.)

Once again, we’re going to hand our CagePotato Roundtable column over to the unwashed masses. Next Friday’s topic is: “What was your most memorable run-in with an MMA fighter?” And you bastards are going to write it for us.

Did a chance encounter with a UFC fighter in a bar turn into an all-night bender? Did a request for an autograph at a Fan Expo leave you with much more than you were looking for? Did the anxiety from meeting your hero cause you to say something really freakin’ stupid? Have you ever been on a date with a well-known MMA fighter? And did he/she turn out to be a kind, patient lover? As long as your story is entertaining (and true), we’d love to hear it.

Send your stories to tips@cagepotato.com by next Wednesday (7/25) at midnight ET. We’ll pick a handful of the best ones and run ‘em on Friday. And as before, please let us know if you don’t want us to print your names. Thanks guys!

(So, Anderson, who would *you* like to face next?) 

By Jared Jones

Let’s face it, the current state of the middleweight division is that of anarchy, a notion made all the more bewildering when you consider that it has been trapped beneath the crushing, totalitarian rule of the same king for the better part of a decade now. Yet somehow, it seems we can barely go a day without hearing that Vitor Belfort wants to fight so-and-so for the next title shot, or Michael Bisping wants to fight this guy for the right to do the same. Or that guy. Or that guy.

And indeed, the issue of solving who should rightfully receive the next beatdown shot at Anderson Silva is a tough one, dividing fans on a level that only TRT, vaseline, or Steven Seagal could match (scratch that, *no one* likes Sensei Seagal). Thankfully, CagePotato is here to clean up the mess instead of making it for once, so join us as we lay out in detail what must be done to organize the middleweight division’s long list of contenders in order of title shot worthiness (I swear to God I had something better for that). Feel free to debate this list if you want, but this is how it’s got to be.

On the Outside Looking In 

Michael Bisping

We know we like to poke fun at the guy, but in total seriousness, you’d have to be insane to believe that Bisping deserves a shot at the middleweight title. Yes, he is 4-1 in his past 5, as is the case for many of the UFC’s top middleweights, oddly enough. And yes, there’s little denying that Bisping has looked more tenacious and well rounded as of late than he ever has. But first, take a look at the names that make up his win streak. The biggest win he has under his belt in the past few years is Yoshihiro Akiyama, a 1-4 now welterweight who has been a complete bust in the UFC. Other than that, you have a now retired reality show host, a retired journeyman, and Dan Miller, who we absolutely refuse to say anything bad about.

(All he needs are some tasty waves and a cool buzz, and he will kill anybody who tries to get in his way. / Photo via Sherdog)

In honor of Urijah Faber‘s interim bantamweight title bid at UFC 149, we thought it would be a good time to give the California Kid some love, through the magical medium of MMA GIFs. Check ‘em out some of our favorite Faber moments after the jump, and let us know if you think he’ll be picking up a new belt this weekend — or if he’ll go out in a blaze of glory.

“THE ABC IS CHANGING….oh…the MMA judging…No, no, that’s cool too…”

As some of you may know, I am working towards my master’s degree when I’m not writing for Cage Potato and currently preparing to defend my thesis. Because of this, I have been dragged into more semantics arguments than a person should ever admit to. I’ve had to defend every little “a” that could have been a “the” with Griffinesque tenacity - and I haven’t even defended the damn thing yet. Anyone who has ever attended graduate school can sympathize.

So when The Association Of Boxing Commissions (ABC) announced their newest revisions to the MMA Judging criteria at their annual conference, I read the document with skepticism. The fact that one of the new revisions removed the word “damage” from the scoring criteria partially so that opponents of MMA sanctioning can no longer point to the rulebook and say “LOOK, DAMAGING YOUR OPPONENT IS A RULE!” didn’t exactly help matters. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that some of the rule changes are actually pretty damn important.

(The super absorbent Shampow belt currently sells for $19.95, but if you call within the next ten minutes, because we can’t do this all day, we’ll throw in a baby for just the price of shipping and handling.) 

It has been a very frustrating couple of years for M-1 Light Heavyweight champion and TUF 8 finalist Vinny Magalhaes. After winning the M-1 belt with a mounted gogoplata submission over Victor Nemkov in April of 2011, then defending it with a head kick TKO of Mikhail Zayats the following October, Magalhaes found himself in a bit of contract limbo with the well documented shysters at M-1. In short, they refused to offer him any more fights under his current contract while simultaneously trying to ink him a new one. Like we said, shysters.

Anyway, after nearly a year on the shelf, Magalhaes got desperate. So desperate, in fact, that he tried selling his belt on Ebay, which was valued at an astounding $99,999 before it was suddenly pulled off the market for reasons that have yet to be explained. However, it appears that Vinny has finally reached an agreement (re: his mercifully release) with his M-1 counterparts, as word has broke that the champ, who has gone 7-1 since being ousted from the UFC following a pair of losses to Ryan Bader and Elliot Marshall, will return to the sport’s highest promotion at UFC 151, which goes down from the Mandalay Bay in Vegas on September 1st. His opponent has yet to be named, but Tatame has the scoop:

Vinny “Pezao” Magalhaes is back to the UFC. The light heavyweight, who lost to Ryan Bader on the TUF 8 Finale, signed a contract with the organization and is set to fight at UFC 151, on September 1^st, TATAME learned with sources.

Videos of Magalhaes’ title win and defense await you after the jump, along with the skinny on a potential signing in the UFC’s flyweight division.

(Props: YouTube.com via IronForgesIron)

The UFC’s summer schedule marches on this Saturday with UFC 149: Faber vs. Barao, the promotion’s injury-ravaged Calgary debut. Here’s the full-length video trailer for the event, which is especially worth watching if you’re not too familiar with Renan Barao, the Brazilian bantamweight on the 28-fight win streak who’s battling Urijah Faber in the main event. Barao is the kind of deadly-from-all-positions phenom who seems destined for a major title someday, and collecting the interim bantamweight strap with a big win over the California Kid would be a star-making moment for the Nova União product.

Later in the preview, the UFC introduces y’all newbs to Hector Lombard, but unfortunately they can’t show any of his stunning Bellator knockouts, so we have to settle for training footage and subtitled English. He’ll be facing Tim Boetsch, who says he’ll be next in line for the middleweight title after he finishes Lombard. (Sorry bro, Weidman already called dibs.)

Finally, we get a look at injury replacement Shawn Jordan, who trainer Greg Jackson calls “one of the most athletic heavyweights I’ve ever seen in my life.” For proof, check out the backflip he does at 7:23. Jordan is riding back-to-back second-round stoppage wins against Lavar Johnson in Strikeforce and Oli Thompson in his UFC debut. But is veteran striker Cheick Kongo too much, too soon? And are you guys going to buy this card or what? Shoot us your UFC 149 thoughts in the comments section.

(Photo courtesy of the 2011 Hooters Calendar. Click for full-size version.)

Props to BabesofMMA for introducing us to MMA ring girl Dominique Alfaro, a 21-year-old model from Charlotte who carries round cards for the North Carolina-based Fight Lab Promotions. Dominique credits her look to a mix of Costa Rican, Italian, and German heritage, and describes herself as “exotic, spunky, dorky, and ambitious.” Check out some of our favorite photos of Dominque in the gallery below, and follow her on Twitter if you like what you see.

(We believe the words you’re looking for are Like a Boss. Props to Fightlinker for the gif.) 

Aside from bringing Tyron Woodley’s championship aspirations (not to mention his mother’s dramatic retelling of Big Momma’s House 4: The Skriekening) to a crashing halt, it turns out that Nate Marquardt’s brilliant standing elbow also did a fair share of damage to Woodley’s upper lip. To put it simply, the wound most closely resembles what would happen if you were to mix Ambien with PCP and attempt to dry shave in a Southwest airplane bathroom. During takeoff. With a flensing knife. Also, you’re blind. OK, so maybe that wasn’t as simple a description as it could have been, but you get the point.

Check out the nasty cut after the jump.

(Shit happens when Brett Rogers is your sponsor.) 

It seems that we’ve had to deal with the issue of child abuse more and more over the past few weeks here at CagePotato. You may recall the woman in St. Louis who videotaped her infant daughter’s decaweight debut and provided such insightful ringside commentary as “Ball up some fists!” as one instance of this. But today, Potato Nation, we’ve come across the classiest child abuse video of them all. We’re talking a top of the line, Armani-suited business moguls shrouded in darkness and purchasing sex slaves that were kidnapped at the airport level of class on display here. This is the Rolls-Royce of child abuse videos, if you will. In fact, the level of class in this child abuse video is so high, that it might not be considered child abuse at all.

It’s disorienting, we know, because typically, when treated to a video of a 6 year old and a 7 year old throwing down in a cage, your first reaction would probably be that of outrage. Toss in the fact that it took place in Armenia, at a bar surrounded by drunken patrons huffing cigars and cheering them on, your anger would likely jump up a few notches. But then you take a look at the awesome production value (yes, those are *actual* flames in the beginning), the adorable weigh-ins/staredown, and the scaled down ring, and you almost forget that you’re about to watch two kids beat the piss out of each other for entertainment. Or that a promotion exists out there that will allow this to happen.

So goes the story of ArmFC, an upstart and soon to be shut down promotion that recently forayed into the art of child fighting. And although the promotion insists that we are actually watching a “demonstration of the fight” on the Youtube page in which they posted this video, the fact that the first four words of the video’s description are “death 6 years fighter” leads us to believe that those running this promotion have a tenuous grasp on the English language in general. So by “demonstration”, they likely mean “we didn’t allow them to dip their gloves in candle wax and broken glass beforehand this time.”

Video after the jump. 

Jenson, pictured on the right (black shorts), died of a seizure after competing in an unregulated MMA event.

On May 18th, twenty-six year old Sturgis, South Dakota native Dustin Jenson competed in an unregulated Ring Wars event in South Dakota. Although Jenson was quickly submitted by a triangle choke by Hayden Hensrud, he took no significant blows to the head and remained conscious after he tapped out. However, shortly after the fight Dustin was found by another fighter having a seizure. He was rushed to Rapid City Regional Hospital, where he would eventually die on May 24th.

An autopsy has revealed that blunt force trauma suffered the week before his fight is the official cause of Dustin Jenson’s untimely demise. As The Rapid City Journal reports:

The autopsy indicated the cause of death was a subdural hemorrhage resulting from blunt force trauma to the head. A subdural hemorrhage is a collection of blood on the surface of the brain and often causes brain injury and death.

The cause was related to an injury about a week earlier, according to the autopsy. The Sheriff’s Office said there is no conclusive evidence the injury was sustained in the fight.

(“Put up or shut up! Time to DOUBLE up!“)

During the broadcast of Saturday’s Rockhold vs. Kennedy show — possibly while I was taking a leak before the main event — Strikeforce announced that Heavyweight Grand Prix Winner Daniel Cormier‘s final appearance for the promotion will take place on a September 29th card at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, California. No opponent has been named for Cormier yet, and frankly, this speculation about a rematch with Josh Barnett has to be bullshit, right? We hope? (SAVE US, TIM.) Win or lose, Cormier is expected to transition to the UFC following the match.

As it turns out, September 29th is going to be an MMA double-header, with UFC on FUEL TV 5: Struve vs. Miocic: Seriously? also scheduled for that day in Nottingham, England. The card will be broadcast live in the afternoon for North American fans.

(“Pose on that red carpet, Donald Cer-Ro-Nay!“)

The UFC has confirmed that the co-main event for UFC 150: Henderson vs. Edgar 2 (August 11th; Pepsi Center; Denver, CO) will be a pretty damn promising lightweight battle between Colorado native Donald Cerrone and Melvin Guillard. Both fighters are coming off of decision wins — Cerrone with his three-round thrashing of Jeremy Stephens at UFC on FUEL 3 in May, and Guillard with his recent win against Fabricio Cameoes at UFC 148.

Not only is the matchup compelling from an entertainment standpoint, there’s also a bit of backstory considering that the two men were longtime teammates under Greg Jackson, until Guillard jumped ship at the beginning of this year to train with the Blackzilians in Florida. (Here’s a photo of Melvin pretending to be Bigfoot Silva’s shadow.) After the fight was announced, Guillard referred to himself and Cerrone as “best friends,” while Donald simply described their relationship as “cool.” I mean, obviously Cowboy already has a best friend.

(You mean to tell me that the guy lying face down in a pool of his own blood WAS ALIVE THE ENTIRE TIME?! No. F’ing. Way.) 

Not too long ago, it was announced that former UFC champions Andrei Arlovski and Jens Pulver had signed with Singapore-based upstart promotion OneFC, and were scheduled to compete on the August 31st scheduled ‘Pride of a Nation’ card against opponents that had yet to be named. Given the pair’s name power, not to mention their hard runs of luck as of late, it was assumed by most that they would likely be featured in a pair of squash matches to help build up their name (also, confidence) within the promotion. It now appears that we have severely underestimated the fellas at OneFC. Or overestimated, we’re not sure.

In either case, Arlovski has been booked to take on fellow UFC castaway and dangerous striker Soa Palelei, who is coming off a 12 second…we guess you’d call it beating, of Bob “Bitch Tits” Sapp at CFC 21 in May. And although just a few years ago, a guy like Palelei would never even be mentioned in the same breath as “The Pit Bull”, we may very likely see him listed as the favorite heading into this matchup as it stands today. Palelei packs a wallop of a punch and Arlvoski’s off switch is easier to find than a dwarf among midgets, so expect “The Hulk” to let his fists go early and often in this one and Arlovski to crumble violently to the mat shortly thereafter. Let’s just hope that Arlovski has finally undergone that Tango and Cash jaw replacement surgery he always wanted, or he is going to get royally FUBAR’d in this one.

(Props: MMACandy via Reddit/MMA)

Damn…this is even sexier than when Chael did it to Anderson at UFC 148. Three more MMA Candy videos featuring the lovely Brittney are after the jump.

(Come on. I know gay Irish couples who get into less scraps less than these two. Photo via Sherdog.)

Update: Apparently, Josh Thomson was just making shit up. Nice try, buddy. Melendez vs. Healy is possible, but it’s not confirmed as of yet.

In May, Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez took a unanimous decision in his rubber-match against Josh Thomson at “Barnett vs. Cormier,” settling their rivalry once and for all — OR DID IT?? Due to the relative lack of big-name challengers in the Strikeforce lightweight division and the promotion’s total lack of imagination, Strikeforce is actually considering a re-re-rematch between these two. Yaaaaaaay.

According to Thomson on an appearance on MMAJunkie.com Radio on Friday, Strikeforce plans to offer Melendez a fourth fight against him. Said the Punk: “From my understanding, they’re going to offer him the rematch, and if it doesn’t happen, it’s not because of me. I just want everyone to understand that.”

‘Oh Africa Brave Africa’. It was… a laugh riot.

By George Shunick

Famed boxing trainer Freddie Roach recently appeared on MMAJunkie.com Radio, and he delivered the goods. Sure, he touched on Amir Kahn’s upcoming fight, Pacquiao, and certain MMA fighters, but none of that matters. Freddie Roach almost ate a man’s eye in a street fight. Not only did he do this, but he talks about it with the gleeful amusement more befitting a child recalling his favorite prank than a grown man describing how he used his teeth to transform another human being into an unwilling cyclops.

The conversation begins with Roach discussing Amir Khan’s fight against Danny Garcia, but quickly veers into MMA. At one point, Roach claims that one of the reasons that boxing has fallen behind MMA in terms of pay-per-view numbers is that “[boxing has] promoters that don’t like each other, and they bring their personal life into boxing.” Fortunately, MMA hasn’t had to suffer overly emotional promoters who hold grudges, so it’s still in good shape. Then Roach hits on a number of topics, including…

“And now there’s a tree in the woods involved? Geez, throw me some more curveballs, Dana!”

Judging by the activity in our liveblog’s comments section, there weren’t many of you who tuned in to last night’s Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Kennedy. Judging by the “advertising” that went into this event, which included Frank Shamrock’s acting chops and a last second plug on the UFC’s Facebook page (to which one of the comments with the most “likes” asked who the guys were in the main event that looked more like accountants than fighters), Zuffa is perfectly okay with this. And from the two – yes, two – reporters who even bothered to show up to the pre-event press conference, we have to admit that the ghost ship that has become Strikeforce is partially all of our faults.

It’s a shame that Strikeforce is getting the Bamboo Lounge treatment, but after the entertaining main card that those of us who watched were treated to, at least the promotion is fading into obscurity with dignity.

Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold earned a convincing unanimous decision over the formidable Tim Kennedy. He came forward with an aggressive striking attack throughout the fight, managing to stuff numerous takedown attempts as well. Granted, Kennedy never seemed like he was in danger of being knocked out or submitted, but that’s far more of a testament to how game Kennedy is than it is a criticism of Luke Rockhold.

(Luckily, Scott Coker was there to break the tension with one of his trademark sauerkraut farts. I’m sorry, I usually don’t go that lowbrow, but nobody’s reading this, right? / Props: Esther Lin/Showtime)

Here’s a quick list of things that people are more interested in than Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Kennedy, according to Google trends: Bastille Day. Chick-fil-A. Wayne Gretsky’s foxy daughter, Paulina Gretsky. Steam. Yes, steam, like vaporized water. Now, was all that just a cheap ploy to draw more search traffic to our liveblog? Sure. But you know what? These guys need all the attention they can get.

If you’re here with us tonight, we thank you and welcome you. Tonight, Strikeforce is presenting a title fight double-bill, with Luke Rockhold attempting to make his second middleweight belt-defense against Tim Kennedy, and Nate Marquardt and Tyron Woodley throwing down for the vacant 170-pound strap. Plus, Robbie Lawler welcomes Lorenz Larkin to the middleweight division, and Keith Jardine gets a third chance to earn a win in Strikeforce, this time against BJJ scion Roger Gracie.

We’ll be giving you round-by-round results from the Showtime main card starting at 10 p.m. ET. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and feel free to discuss Gustav Klimt and Michael Clark Duncan’s heart-attack in the comments section.

With the flyweight tournament set to wrap up at UFC 152, and Ian McCall so desperate for someone to fight at flyweight that he’s resorted to calling out Louis Gaudinot, this announcement could not have possibly come at a better time. Yesterday, the manager of Shooto South American Bantamweight champion (123 lbs in Shooto) Jussier da Silva announced that “Forminga” has just signed on with the UFC.

As of now, neither a date for his first UFC bout nor an opponent for his debut have been announced.

Currently the number three ranked flyweight in the world, Da Silva is a fierce grappler with seven submission victories to his record. “Forminga” started off his career winning six straight fights and capturing Shooto South America’s Bantamweight Championship before pulling off a huge upset over then-Shooto Bantamweight World Champion Shinichi “BJ” Kojima in 2009. The only loss on his record, which currently stands at 14-1, came at the hands of the aforementioned Ian McCall at Tachi Palace Fights 8: All or Nothing last February. His most recent outing was a first round rear-naked choke over Sidney Oliveira in June.

Highlights from Jussier da Silva’s career await after the jump.

ANOTHER SPOILER: It’s not Zeus, Neptune or the Kraken, either.

Okay, so the title of the article gives you no hints at all whatsoever on who Michael Bisping’s next opponent is. Given that Michael Bisping has been calling out seemingly every relevant middleweight, the title can be referring to any fighter that would make sense as an opponent for “The Count,” and even a few that wouldn’t. Big whoop, wanna fight about it?

Well, The Count now has an opponent in place for September 22′s UFC 152 in Toronto. Standing across the cage from Michael Bisping will be none other than Brian Stann.

When we last saw Stann in action, the former Marine made very quick work of Alessio Sakara at April’s UFC on FUEL TV 2, knocking him out two and a half minutes into their bout. Stann was then expected to welcome Bellator Middleweight Champion Hector Lombard to the UFC at August’s UFC on Fox 4, but a shoulder injury forced him off of the card. After being called out by none other than Michael Bisping, “The All-American” would accept Bisping’s callout on July 4th, which I’m sure has some kind of significance.

(On the count of three, I want everyone who is not pulling a fast one to raise their hand.) 

If there are two things that we would be willing to bet the house on in light of recent events, it’s that half of the scheduled fights for the next few months will be cancelled due to injury, and the few participants who remain standing after the smoke clears will only be doing so as a result of testosterone replacement therapy. So goes the story for TUF 1 winner and former light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin, the most recent UFC behemoth  fighter who both filed for and was successful in receiving a therapeutic use exemption for TRT over the past couple months.

Griffin joins the ranks of such puny weaklings as Frank Mir and Chael Sonnen that will never be able to produce testosterone naturally again, leading us to wonder how that will effect his chances of survival once the whole apocalypse thing he has been talking about actually hits. Tip #147: TRT is for girly men; always go au naturale.