MMA legend Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic is a man of many skills. Before he was a world class MMA fighter, he was a top kickboxer. Before that, he was a special forces officer in the military of his native Croatia. He also later became an elected member of his country’s parliament.

Filipovic is also no stranger to making ridiculous videos and posting them on the internet. He’s made videos of darkly humorous, (or sometimes just dark) pranks where he’s laughing like a hyena at the end of them. Case in point, the video after the break of him punking the very worthy subject of then Pride television broadcast commentator Mauro Ranallo. There’s also my favorite video with “Cro Cop” refereeing an impromptu boxing match between two aging, drunk men at a backyard cookout, that has unfortunately been taken down from youtube and may be lost to future generations.

Just as he insists is the case with his fight career, however, Filipovic isn’t done with goofy internet videos yet, nation. The above video reveals a basketball hoop installed in his home gym. What “Cro Cop” and his teammates do with that situation is nothing short of awesome.

May we present, Croation MMA-Basketball. There’s dribbling, shooting, pink singlet guy, arm bars, knees and lots of choking. And then “Cro Cop” speaking Croatian at the end in a high-pitched voice, perhaps mocking someone.

Enjoy.

(Yeesh. That thing never gets easier to look at, does it. / Image via MMAJunkie)

Also known as the TUF: The Smashes Finale, tonight’s UFC card is coming to you live from the Gold Coast, and will feature the season’s lightweight and welterweight finals. (Remember, these are the Brits and Aussies. The “Let Me Bang, Bro” cast gets its big send-off tomorrow in Vegas.)

If you happened to read our brutally honest breakdown of the fights, you know that there’s not much on the line this evening outside of those lovely glass trophies. But at the very least, the lead-off fight between Hector Lombard and Rousimar Palhares should be memorable. Unless it isn’t, which is also possible.

Our own Matt Kaplan will be throwin’ down round-by-round results from the FX main card, beginning at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and if you’re watching along with us, please throw your own bullshit into the comments section.

By Jared Jones 

In less than an hour, Bellator’s final card of the year will kick off live from The Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana. Fighting in the only women’s bout of the night will be none other than Felice Herrig, a former Muay Thai wrecking machine turned MMA starlet who has been featured in such programs as Oxygen’s Fight Girls. Tonight, she squares off on the preliminary card against late replacement opponent Patricia Vardonic in a strawweight fight that is sure to convert more than a few fans to this thing called WMMA.

Being the humanitarian that “Lil’ Bulldog” is, she recently set aside some time in her busy schedule to discuss everything from the great injury plague of 2012 to the role of sexuality in female sports with us, so join us after the jump to get inside the head of one of WMMA’s fastest rising prospects in this surprisingly candid interview.

CagePotato: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, Felice. First off, we were wondering if you could talk about the controversy surrounding Michele Guitierrez’s withdrawal from Bellator 84. When did you first suspect that she wasn’t being exactly honest about the alleged injury that forced her out of your scheduled fight? 

Felice Herrig: “I had suspected since I signed to fight Michele that she was going to do it. I’ve been in this game a long time and I heard a couple people that trained around her say that she was like 20-some pounds overweight, that she wasn’t going to make it, and that she was asking [her training partners] for tips on how to cut weight. For so long, Michele has done so many things to me that I’ve had to keep quiet about and now I feel like I got to expose her for what she really is.”

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

We know it’s confusing, so we’ll try to make this as clear as possible…

- The weigh-ins for tomorrow night’s TUF 16 Finale are scheduled for today at 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT, and you can watch them live in the player above. We’ll be liveblogging the FX main card broadcast tomorrow night beginning at 9 p.m. ET.

- The weigh-ins for tonight‘s UFC on FX: Sotiropoulos vs. Pearson card went down yesterday in Australia, and we’ll be liveblogging the main card tonight beginning at 9 p.m. ET.

- The TUF 16 Finale, which features Roy Nelson vs. Matt Mitrione, Pat Barry vs. Shane Del Rosario, Melvin Guillard vs. Jamie Varner, and Dustin Poirier vs. Jonathan Brookins, is a pretty badass card. Honestly, if you only have time to watch one UFC event this weekend, make it this one — by which I mean tomorrow’s.

- Fun fact: Melvin Guillard plans on getting the lightweight title when he’s 35 or 40, so that he can retire shortly afterwards, rather than fade into obscurity like other guys who have fought for the title. It all makes sense now.

- We’ll be putting today’s weigh-in results after the jump. You’re welcome.

(If the name “Michelle Jenneke” means anything to you, this will be your favorite video of the week. / Props: TheChive)

- Frank Mir Healthy, Ready To Challenge Daniel Cormier (Fightline)

- Unlike Mike Ricci, Colton Smith Views ‘TUF’ Experience as a Positive (MMAFighting)

- Firas Zahabi: Rory MacDonald Was Not Showboating Against BJ Penn (Sherdog)

- Jon Jones Talks About Move To Heavyweight Division (FightDay)

- Dan Hardy Interested in Fight With Matt Brown, Dismissive of Matt Riddle (BloodyElbow)

- UFC on FX 6: Sotiropoulos vs. Pearson Weigh-In Results (MMAConvert)

- 16 MMA Ring Girls So Hot It Hurts (MadeMan)

- The Most Intense Feuds in Mixed Martial Arts [VIDEO] (BleacherReport)

- Maiquel Falcao meets Alexander Shlemenko for Middleweight Title at Bellator 88 (MMAJunkie)

- 13 Celebrities Who Fight Fat with Martial Arts (MensFitness)

- The 50 Greatest Movie Laughs of All Time (WorldWideInterweb)

- The 25 Worst Reality TV Stars of 2012 (Complex)

- Hollywood Superman Reviews the ‘Man of Steel’ Trailer [VIDEO] (ScreenJunkies)

(Eat your heart out, Benson.) 

On the heels of the most successful UFC debut since Todd Duffee, former CagePotato guest blogger and master of the post-fight celebration, Ryan Jimmo, has just been booked for his second bout in the octagon against New Zealand slugger James Te Huna at UFC on FUEL 7. Let’s hope Jimmo’s sophomore appearance goes a little better than The Duffman’s, because Te Huna packs a hell of a lot more power than Mike Russow does. In fact, three out of Te Huna’s four UFC victories have come by some form of brutal (T)KO, with the lone exception being his record-setting performance against Joey Beltran, who has a chin made of the kind of granite that only Lavar Johnson‘s Hulk hands have been able to break.

Currently riding a 17 fight win streak that includes victories over such UFC veterans as Wilson Gouveia, Marvin Eastman, and Sokoudjou among others, Jimmo is undoubtedly one of the hotter prospects to enter the UFC’s light heavyweight division, but he will have his hands full with Te Huna, who has rapidly been developing his ground game to balance out his striking prowess. Who do you like for this one, Taters?

Also on tap for UFC on FUEL 7 is a welterweight battle featuring your favorite Icelandic cyborg, Gunnar Nelson…

(Melendez slugs Shinya Aoki in the head, back when slugging Shinya Aoki in the head actually meant something. / Photo via Esther Lin)

Though he’s still recovering from the nagging shoulder injury that pulled him off of Strikeforce’s possibly-final event (and led to the straight-up cancellation of their previous card) Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez knows exactly what he wants to do when he’s healthy again — roll the dice against UFC champ Ben Henderson. The Cesar Gracie product, who just saw his homeboy Nate Diaz get run over by Bendo last weekend, pleaded his case in a new interview with BleacherReport, running down all the reasons why he should get the next crack at Henderson:

“I think a champion versus champion fight makes absolute sense right now. I think we already know how things are going to work out between Benson Henderson and a lot of other lightweight fighters in the UFC, but I’m that mystery fighter. No one really knows how I’m going to matchup with anyone. I have been around for a long time and have been the top lightweight in the world before Benson or any of these other guys.

I think I have a lot of answers for his style. Sometimes he fights a wrestler like Guida who doesn’t have great hands, and sometimes he fights strikers who can’t really wrestle. Look at his fights against “Cowboy” Cerrone back in the day, or even Pettis. I have that wrestling pedigree where he ain’t taking me down, and I’ll be stuffing some shots. I’m not backing away, and I’ll be dropping some bombs. I’m not an easy guy to stand with. I have a lot of power, and I’m not running away from kicks. I don’t run away from anything. I hold my ground. I’ll be coming for him, and anything he dishes out I’ll be answering back twice as hard.”

Later in the interview, Melendez discussed how the reports of Strikeforce’s impending demise — and the coronation of Ronda Rousey as the UFC’s first women’s champion — actually got him excited about the future again, since Melendez could finally get the opportunity to fight some of the best lightweights in the world:

(Buy it right here for $24.95)

Two months after the end of our 2012 CagePotato T-Shirt Design Contest, I finally decided to get off my ass this week and set up an official CagePotato merch page on RedBubble.com, so we can start selling the winning design to the Potato Nation. Known as the “Don Fryed,” this masterpiece by Ben Schmidt mashes up our spiritual godfather Don Frye and Mr. Potato Head. It’s currently available as a t-shirt or hoodie, baby onesie, iPhone/iPod case, and sticker. Pick one up, and prepare to get lots of confused looks!

Stay tuned, because we’ll be adding more designs to our store page in the future. In fact, here’s a standing offer — if you design an official CagePotato t-shirt and send it to us at tips@cagepotato.com, we’ll pay you $100 if we end up selling it. Just remember: It has to include our logo (see links below), and it has to be really, really good. Please, no Tater Williams.

- CagePotato logos white/black (PDF)
- CagePotato white logo (lo-res jpeg)

Previously:
Heads Up: CagePotato Fightin’ Dudes T-Shirt Available Now!
Introducing the CagePotato.com ‘MMA Hairstyles’ T-Shirt!

(Yeah, we’re not really stoked for this one either, Mo.)

Not too long ago, Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal signed a — I guess you’d call it groundbreaking — deal with both Bellator and TNA Wrestling after being released from Strikeforce following a positive test for steroids and an epic Twitter meltdown, a decision he is probably patting himself on the back for in light of recent events. Ever since, we have been quietly waiting to see which one of Bellator’s remaining light heavyweights Mo would square off against first, whether it was…what’s his face, or, uhh…*snaps fingers*…uh…God, I know this…

…

…Turns out, Bellator is going the Josh Barnett route for King Mo’s big debut, bringing in a complete outsider named *checks glasses* Przemyslaw Mysiala to conveniently get squashed just before confetti falls from the ceiling and Mo is declared the next challenger to whomever emerges victorious from the Christian M’Pumbu/Attila Veigh fight. And you better believe that some form of energy drink will be used to hose bitches down at some point in this ceremony, because it sooo will.

A few months ago, we ran a story about the above fight between Justin Kristie and David Baxter at Warrior Nation XFA 3, in which Kristie choked Baxter unconscious as the first round buzzer rang only to have Baxter be revived by the ringside physicians and allowed to continue, ultimately resulting in an unbelievable second round TKO win for Baxter. And while the events that transpired were oddly humorous on a surface level (you know, in a David Carradine sort of way), there was no denying that a serious injustice had been carried out before our very eyes.

Well Nation, you will be happy to know that the Massachusetts State Athletic Commission recently overturned Baxter’s victory to a no contest. It’s an unfortunate turn of events for Baxter, but in reality, he should just be thankful that he walked away from the whole ordeal without the loss he deserved. Unfortunately, the referee who allowed this fight to continue was not taken behind a barn and beaten senseless with a mahogany cane, which is the real travesty here.

Do you agree with the athletic commissions call, Potato Nation?

-J. Jones

(Photos courtesy of the author. If you missed the first three installments of The Travel Chronicles, click here to catch up.)

By Elias Cepeda

After any failure one natural inclination is to enter a depressive state. Another is to get on to the next thing you can take action on as quickly as possible, replacing success for failure, joy for disappointment, in order to stave off depression.

I’d just gotten my ass kicked in Canada. I very badly wanted to instantly transport to LA and Vegas where fun, work, and training awaited me. Instead, I had a long, sleepless night and ten hours of layover-ridden air travel ahead of me.

I could only be so active during that time. Mostly, I sat and thought. My cell phone was not working well up north and so I didn’t even have text messaging and phone calls to distract me. As I write this, it has been nearly four months since my fight in Canada and I have yet to watch tape of it even once.

I have, however, seen the fight, what I can remember of it, over and over in my head enough to satisfy me for some time. Most of that replay happened at the airports I arrived at, waited in, and departed from over and over that day after the fight.

I arrived in Las Vegas after 11 p.m. on Friday. The initial idea was to get a rental car and drive straight away to Los Angeles where I’d be staying with my friend Dave Doyle. Perhaps more than any other major media editor or writer over the past decade, Dave has been a major driving force in getting MMA covered in the mainstream. When he was at Fox Sports, Dave got his bosses to let him cover MMA, a true coup for the sport. He also got the Associated Press involved, doing great coverage for them and later, as an editor of the MMA and boxing sections at Yahoo! Sports, built the largest and most widely read combat sports pages in the English speaking world.

Dave now writes for MMA Fighting. Lucky for me, his smarts extend beyond the reporting and writing realm and he gave me some useful advice on my plan to drive from Vegas to LA through the night after a whole day of traveling. “You can come here any time you want, Elias, that’s fine. But if you try to make that drive as tired as you will be, you’ll probably die in the desert.”

(“Perfect, Rory, now we can finally finish our conversation about Huey Lewis and the News that you are always going on about.”) 

Rory MacDonald has the kind of lifeless, black eyes that would make Dr. Sam Loomis shiver at night. For an example of this, see his post-fight call-out of Carlos Condit at UFC on FOX 5, in which he delivered a speech so precise and monotone that it begged audiences to ask whether or not he had practiced it over and over and over again on the collection of flesh-covered marionettes he keeps locked in that one room in his house with a deadbolt on the door.

Obviously shaken up by MacDonald’s speech was that of Dana White, who, fearing he would end up as a bald cap on one of those marionettes, caved into Rory’s demands faster than the French in insert war of your choice here. So just five days out from his dominant win over B.J. Penn, MacDonald has already been booked to rematch the ironically-nicknamed “Natural Born Killer” in Condit at UFC 158 in Montreal. The man responsible for both MacDonald’s only professional loss and the shrine of hair and blood samples that looms over the Canadian’s fireplace, Condit is fresh off a title-losing bid to Georges St. Pierre at UFC 154. Condit and MacDonald first met at UFC 115, where despite stealing the first two rounds, “Ares” found himself eating elbow sammiches for the majority of the third until referee Kevin Dornan called a stop to the bout with just seven seconds remaining. It is no coincidence that Kevin Dornan has been missing ever since.

And speaking of people getting exactly what they wanted, it looks like GSP will likely be defending his title against rival Nick Diaz at the same event, although according to Dana White, the “deal isn’t done yet.” Diaz’s manager, Cesar Gracie, confirmed that the former Strikeforce welterweight champion has been offered the bout, but if you ask us, we’d recommend that you save your excitement for the moment these two are actually staring at each other from across the cage. Celebrating before that is simply setting yourself up for disappointment.

In other fight booking news…

(“Look, I’m an escort not a hooker. I’m just here for good food and good company, and whatever happens later…well, it happens. You’re not a cop, right?“)

I can’t tell if this is a better or worse deal than talking to Ken Shamrock on the phone for $11.99 a minute. A “sports fan experience” company called Thuzio is now selling personal interactions with former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin. Leading off their menu of services…

“Lunch or Dinner: $1,000
Invite Rich to join you and your guests for lunch or dinner. You choose the restaurant and you choose what you want to talk about. Ask Rich questions about his career as a professional mixed martial artist. (Up to 2 hours)”

Man, I really want to start a Kickstarter account just so I can take Rich to Arby’s and talk about Anderson Silva‘s career for two hours. Does that make me a terrible person? I don’t know. But if I’m shelling out a friggin’ thousand bucks, I want to make sure my guest of honor is having as bad a time as possible.

(“Yeah, I have a question for the group: Is anybody *not* getting too old for this shit?” / Photo via Sherdog)

A pair of former PRIDE champions will be anchoring the UFC’s return to Japan. As confirmed by the promotion yesterday, UFC on FUEL 8 is slated for Sunday, March 3rd, at the Saitama Super Arena, with Wanderlei Silva vs. Brian Stann booked for the main event. [Update: The fight will take place at light-heavyweight.] Both men are coming off of decision losses, with Silva dropping his rematch to Rich Franklin at UFC 147 in June, and Stann losing to Michael Bisping in September.

Though Silva probably has little recollection of the last time he competed in Saitama, the Axe Murderer became an MMA superstar in Japan, where he went undefeated through his first 20 fights in PRIDE and held the middleweight title for over five years. But his current stint in the UFC — where he’s won just three of eight fights since 2007 — has suggested that Silva is nearing the end of the road, and his next bad loss could be his last. Can he come up with another heroic effort against the All American?

Speaking of PRIDE legends, longtime lightweight champ Takanori Gomi will be welcoming Diego Sanchez back to the lightweight division at UFC on FUEL 8. Gomi has won his last two UFC fights against Eiji Mitsuoka and Mac Danzig, while Sanchez is coming off a decision defeat against Jake Ellenberger in February. Sanchez hasn’t competed at 155 pounds since being utterly shredded by BJ Penn during their lightweight title fight three years ago.

Pretty damn good for a free card, right? Keep in mind that the event will also feature the heavyweight battle between Mark Hunt and Stefan Struve, plus the following newly-announced supporting bouts…

(I had to downgrade from my platinum toothpick for this shit?!) 

The UFC recently released the figures for UFC on FOX 5, and suffice it to say, it pays much better to be a fading legend than it does a rising star, or a lightweight champion for that matter (Author’s note: I guess Bisping was right after all *dials revolver*). Check out the full list of figures below, then get our thoughts on the matter after the jump.

Benson Henderson: $78,000 (includes $39,000 win bonus)
def. Nate Diaz: $50,000

Alexander Gustafsson: $60,000 (includes $30,000 win bonus)
def. Mauricio Rua: $175,000

Rory MacDonald: $42,000 (includes $21,000 win bonus)
def. B.J. Penn: $150,000

Matt Brown: $54,000 (includes $27,000 win bonus)
def. Mike Swick: $48,000

Yves Edwards: $32,000 (includes $16,000 win bonus)
def. Jeremy Stephens: $24,000

Raphael Assuncao: $38,000 (includes $19,000 win bonus)
def. Mike Easton: $14,000

Ramsey Nijem: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
def. Joe Proctor: $8,000

Daron Cruickshank: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
def. Henry Martinez: $8,000

Abel Trujillo: $12,000 (includes $6,000 win bonus)
def. Marcus LeVesseur: $8,000

Dennis Siver: $62,000 (includes $31,000 win bonus)
def. Nam Phan: $10,000

Scott Jorgensen: $41,000 (includes $20,500 win bonus)
def. John Albert: $10,000

Thoughts…

(Well, you can’t say he didn’t warn you. / Photo courtesy of Getty Images. Click for full-size version.)

According to a Yahoo! Sports report, Saturday’s UFC on FOX 5 broadcast averaged 4.4 million viewers, with viewership climbing steadily through the night until it peaked at a hearty 5.7 million sets of eyeballs for the main event of Benson Henderson vs. Nate Diaz.

Although total viewership still fell short of the first two UFC on FOX offerings, the 4.4 million average for “Henderson vs. Diaz” nearly doubled the audiences of the last two FOX broadcasts, which both averaged just 2.4 million viewers apiece. More importantly, “Henderson vs. Diaz” was television’s most-watched broadcast on Saturday night among males 18-34, males 18-49, adults 18-34, and adults 18-49. As Dana White told Yahoo!: “We just killed it. We killed it in every demo.”

The ratings performance was also enough to clinch Henderson vs. Diaz as the ninth most-watched MMA fight of all time in the United States. Four years ago, the top ten list was dominated by Kimbo Slice — and not much has changed since then. Here’s Dave Meltzer with an update on MMAFighting.com (number rankings added for clarity):

*Super Friends announcer voice* MEANWHILE, IN THE DINING ROOM…

If you thought watching the sixteenth season of The Ultimate Fighter was hell, just wait until you hear how bad it was to be one of the show’s participants, and a winning one at that. As finalist Mike Ricci will tell you, TUF 16 wasn’t exactly Dancing With the Stars, where everyone got to take their perfect-bodied Ukranian supermodel partner home and have their way with them (although to be fair, the above video makes the case that there certainly was a lot of banging going on). No, TUF was much, much uglier. In fact, during a recent appearance on The MMA Hour, Ricci admitted that he hated his time on the show so much — despite being a finalist, mind you — that he wished he could sue the show for the “psychological damages” he suffered:

It was an absolute nightmare, I wanted to sue for psychological damage, I wasn’t the same person. I actually thought I had a case, ‘I’m not the same person, I can do this and win.’ But, I felt like don’t get me wrong, I knew what I was getting into I knew how I was going to react. Even some of the producers in the house toward the end were like, ‘Geez, you’re the most institutionalized fighter we’ve ever seen, we’ve done 11 seasons and we’ve never seen anyone like you, you’re like a robot now. 

Much more from this interview is after the jump.

(Image via Rachel’s Facebook page. Click for full-size version.)

Rachel Wray‘s unlikely transition from NFL eye-candy to aspiring cage-fighter started with a fateful trip to a boxing gym. As she explained to KCMMA:

“I have been a cheerleader or dancer my whole life and I moved [to Kansas City] from Arkansas to cheer for the Kansas City Chiefs. I started working out at Title Boxing Club with some of the girls for an alternative workout. I really enjoyed it and started taking private lessons after a little while. One day, I came in and they wanted me to spar. I was nervous about someone actually punching me in the face, but I did it.

I was absolutely horrible. This drove me to want it even more. I knew I had to make a choice between fighting and cheerleading. I chose fighting. I trained harder and took more private lessons. In the same shopping center was [Jason High and LC Davis's gym] HDMMA and I wandered in there to see what was going on. Everyone was so nice and just not what I expected from a MMA gym. So, I started training there too. One thing led to another, and now I feel comfortable enough to compete in the cage…I hope to fight 4-5 times over the next year.”

Though Rachel’s last scheduled match didn’t take place due to her opponent not showing up — gotta love regional MMA! — she won her amateur debut by second-round TKO. (You can watch it here and here.) Rachel’s next fight is slated for January 25th at Harrah’s Casino in Kansas City, against an opponent to be named later.

Get to know Rachel better by checking out her photo gallery after the jump, as well as our short-’n'-sweet interview with the lady herself…

(Props: ZombieProphet/OneStopMMASpot. Skip to 32:50 for the stoppage.)

For some reason, Sherdog has yet to update their fighter databases with the results from the Invasion 12/7/12 card that saw Charles Bennett get choked out by Ronnie Rogers, hence why we were unaware of all the fantastic action that unfolded on said card. Thankfully, our buddies over at MiddleEasy were able to secure a video of the evening’s most impressive stoppage, which took place just one fight before “Krazy Horse” was turned into glue. In a flyweight title fight, undefeated 20-year old phenom Justin “Tank” Scoggins squared off against Jacob Hebesison, and based on the title of this post, you can probably imagine how it ended.

But what you probably couldn’t predict is that the kick would stir up such a reaction in the crowd that random fans would start stripping down for no apparent reason shortly after it landed (33:25). Combine that with the fact that the kick made one commentator’s voice jump up about 5 octaves when attempting to describe it and you’ve got yourself one fantastic knockout right there.

Not since Shannon Ritch vs. John Wood have we seen such an effective use of “Sweet Chin Music” in MMA, but where does it stack up on your KO of the year lists, Potato Nation?

-J. Jones

(Photo courtesy of Sherdog)

After over ten years as a professional mixed martial artist, UFC/WEC veteran Mark “The Machine” Hominick has retired from the sport, with a career record of 20-12. The news was announced by Hominick himself on yesterday’s edition of UFC Tonight (which is co-anchored by Leeann Tweeden now? Huh.) As Hominick explained:

“I have a young daughter, I have another daughter on the way, and I think that’s the next phase of my life, to put focus into that. Moving forward, I’m always going to be involved in this sport, this is my passion, this is what fuels me, but I think…I haven’t been able to make the same kind of sacrifices that got me to the title fight with Aldo, and I think it’s more important for me to focus on that, and again, moving on with my life as a part of mixed martial arts from the outside, I guess.”

An Ontario native and disciple of the late trainer Shawn Tompkins, Hominick first built his name in the Canadian organizations UCC and TKO, holding titles for both promotions, and earning nine victories, all by stoppage. In March 2006, Hominick was called up to the UFC for its “USA vs. Canada” card, and did his country proud by submitting Yves Edwards by triangle-armbar in the opening fight of the pay-per-view broadcast. Though a natural featherweight, Hominick won his next lightweight match in the UFC as well, out-pointing Jorge Gurgel at Ultimate Fight Night 5.

Hominick then returned to the 145-pound division and spent the next four years competing for TKO, Affliction, and the WEC — as usual, making it a point to fire off a set of push-ups in the center of the ring immediately following every match in which he wasn’t choked out or knocked cold. For an otherwise soft-spoken, non-descript-looking Canadian dude, it was Hominick’s most dramatic statement of identity, a non-verbal way of telling his opponent and the crowd that he could do this all night if he had to.

(This is the last known image of #42.) 

Not that it matters — because in ten days, Zorp the Surveyor will arrive to burn off our flesh with his volcano mouth and use our melted faces as fuel (Ed note: All hail Zorp) – but popular men’s interest website AskMen.com recently tallied over 2.4 million votes to determine the top 99 most desirable women of 2013, as determined by you, the people. And wouldn’t you know it, none other than inaugural UFC Rondaweight champion Ronda Rousey placed an astonishing 43rd on said list. I guess this WMMA thing is catching on after all.

Beating out rival Kim Kardashian (#98), as well as such top-shelf hotties as Heidi Klum (#61), Olivia Wilde (#54), and Scarlett Johansson (#45) and falling just ten spots behind first lady Michelle Obama, it was an impressive showing for the women’s champ to say the least. Based on all of our recent Rousey-related posts, I’m guessing most of your reactions are going to be something along the lines of “WTF is this shit?! I find hotter women scrubbing the cobblestone sidewalks at night whilst travelling from my vacation home to my second vacation home!” but does anyone honestly feel she deserves her ranking on the list, if not a higher one? And what the fuck is a Jenna Marbles (#90)?

(“I’m sorry, you were saying something about The Ultimate Fighter picking guys with silly gimmicks over those with actual talent nowadays?”) 

Last weekend, the UFC dropped off one of the most stacked cards of the year in our lap for free. This weekend, not so much. Make no mistake, we will be treated to two, count ‘em two free fight cards this weekend, but both events will have to do a lot in the exciting finishes department to compensate for the lack of drawing power they posses, especially when compared to the bird-flipping, toothpick-chewing, f-bomb-dropping goodness that was UFC on FOX 5.

Kicking off the weekend’s action will be UFC on FX: Sotiropoulos vs. Pearson, which kicks off live on FX via tape delay starting at 9 p.m. EST. Although it’s been dubbed a UFC on FX event, we might as well refer to it by what it truly is, the TUF: Smashes Finale, because in no other universe could you justify having two middle of the pack lightweights (or whatever Pearson is these days) coming off losses headline an FX card. The man in clown attire pictured above apparently made it all the way to the finals, which should either tell you that the UFC has completely given up on finding actual talent on TUF these days or that you should stop being so damn judgmental. Either way, I haven’t seen an episode of the show, which takes us to Saturday’s event…

Keeping with the tradition established in the last ten or so seasons of the American version of TUF, on Saturday we will be treated to a TUF Finale event that pits one of the show’s coaches against a complete outsider due to the other coach suffering an injury. There’s also the welterweight finals matchup between Colton Smith and Mike Ricci — two guys we’re sure you’re familiar with — so join us after the jump to get the inside scoop on the fights you might actually be interested in seeing this weekend.

Bellator’s first event on Spike TV will take place Thursday, January 17th, at the University of California’s Bren Center in Irvine, California, and will be headlined by a pair of title fights. The promotion confirmed the news today, revealing that undefeated phenom Michael Chandler will make his first official lightweight title defense at the event (aka Bellator 85) against Rick Hawn, the 14-1 Olympic judoka who won the Season 5 lightweight tournament earlier this year.

Also on the card, featherweight champion Pat Curran — who’s 4-0 since dropping to 145 and is coming off his near-murder of Joe Warren — will be putting his belt on the line against explosive contender Patricio “Pitbull” Freire. Though Freire won all three of his fights in 2011, winning the Season 4 featherweight tournament, he wasn’t able to compete in 2012, partly due to injuries.

And that’s not all. During a Bellator/Spike TV conference call held earlier today, many more details about Bellator 85 and the promotion’s upcoming eighth season were announced. For instance…

(18 seconds in = that moment when you realize you’ve literally been screaming obscenities on national television for the past 15 seconds. Props to FightersOnly.) 

We should all be thanking our lucky stars for tape delay, because if it weren’t for the quick minds (and fingers) of the UFC’s censorship department, some of our children might have had their minds permanently tainted by the obscene gestures and naughty words used by two men trying to beat the ever-loving shit out of each other last Saturday night. And that is unacceptable. I mean, violence is one thing, but the middle finger being thrown about all willy-nilly?! I don’t want my illegitimate children growing up in that kind of cold, harsh world.

And God forbid the censors had let the onslaught of f-bombs delivered by BJ Penn‘s trainer during his introduction (as captured above) slip past them, or we would have had a full blown crisis on our hands. As you can see, the gentlemen to the top left of the screen — likely through some sort of Hawaiian, mumbo-jumbo voodoo ritual that involves the repeated shouting of curse words — somehow absorbed all of the energy Penn was supposed to have stored up for his fight with Rory MacDonald in the moments beforehand. It’s the only explanation of how Penn gassed in a minute and a half, and the defense I am prepared to use whilst trapping my disappointment in his performance deep in the recesses of my soul.

Anyway, I spent most of my morning drowning my sorrows in alcohol compiling a playlist of awesome, semi-MMA-related videos from around the web that will last you through your lunch break, so check ‘em out after the jump.

(Brendan Schaub and the always-relevant MC Hammer. / Photo via Brendan’s Facebook page)

UFC heavyweights Brendan Schaub and Lavar Johnson were originally scheduled to bang on the UFC on FOX 5 preliminary card over the weekend, until an ill-timed groin-pull* forced Johnson to withdraw less than two weeks out from the fight. As a result, Schaub was removed from the lineup entirely. Fortunately, they just got their do-over date.

According to MMAJunkie, Schaub vs. Johnson will now take place at UFC 157: Rousey vs. Carmouche, February 23rd in Anaheim. No word yet on if the match will be part of the main card or if it’ll be re-slated for the prelims — but with supporting bouts already in place between Dan Henderson and Lyoto Machida, and Urijah Faber vs. Ivan Menjivar, the UFC’s historic ladies’ night is shaping up to be a can’t-miss event. (For the record, Hendo says his knee is fine and he’ll be ready to roll.)

* Are groin-pulls ever correctly timed? I guess not, huh.

(Photo via CombatLifestyle.)

Following Rory MacDonald‘s three-round assault of BJ Penn at UFC on FOX 5, the 23-year-old welterweight contender made it clear that he wanted a rematch with Carlos Condit, who previously TKO’d him with seven seconds remaining in a fight that MacDonald might have won on points. (You can revisit MacDonald’s darkest moment right here.) As Rory told Ariel Helwani on Fuel TV, “I was humiliated and embarrassed after that fight, and I think about that fight all the time, it haunts me, and I really need to get past that chapter in my life. My challenge is out there, it’s up to Carlos to accept my challenge…he’s coming off a loss, he’s gotta fight somebody, it might as well be me.”

Makes sense to us. But does it make sense to Condit? According to his manager Malki Kawa, hell yes. “Carlos Condit doesn’t back down from any man,” Kawa told MMAWeekly. “If the UFC asks us to fight Rory MacDonald, Carlos will take the fight.”

(Palelei vs. McCorkle, as reenacted by The Incredible Hulk and the mythical God Loki, respectively. The actual video is after the jump, but this is basically what happened.) 

When we last checked in on Sean “Big Sexy” McCorkle, he had just lost a cardio battle to an amorphous blob and vowed to retire from the sport if he ever gave such a pathetic showing again. Unfortunately for Sean, his next scheduled fight was against Soa “The Hulk” Palelei — a fellow UFC veteran who was far more dangerous than the tomato cans McCorkle has padded his record with over the years — at AFC 4 last weekend. Fortunately for Sean, his piss poor cardio had absolutely nothing to do with his downfall this time out, so at least he won’t have to go back on his word. It’s a small victory, sure, but one that most of us would probably cherish if we flew all the way to Australia to land roughly zero punches and get smashed through the canvas by Palelei’s megaton fists of fury like McCorkle did.

Video after the jump. 

Although the undercard of UFC on FOX: Henderson vs. Diaz was punctuated with walk-off head kick KO’s and last second submissions, the evening’s greatest display of game planning arguably took place before the main card as well, during the bantamweight preliminary fight between Raphael Assuncao and Mike Easton. Using a Machida-esque strategy of evasion and counter-striking, Assuncao was able to not only frustrate Easton, but completely limit his normally hyper-aggressive offensive output en route to a unanimous decision victory.

Impressive to say the least, but even more impressive when you consider the fact that Assuncao was able to do so with a fractured arm he suffered in the first round. Assuncao tweeted the photo yesterday along with the following tweets:

If November is the month of the hairy-lipped mountain man, then December is officially the month of the one-armed warrior.

(“Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here, this is the War Room!” Screenshot via Deadspin/ Tim Burke)

By Elias Cepeda

If you’re anything like me, there were a couple times during Saturday’s UFC on Fox telecast where you angrily shouted at the television. I wasn’t upset at a favorite fighter getting beaten or even vainly yelling out instructions per the common ridiculous spectator custom.

No, I, and perhaps you as well, got upset when Fox repeatedly cut away from the action to show a long overhead shot of an empty UFC Octagon. As Maggie Hendricks at Yahoo! Sports confirmed, those cut-aways were not technical goof ups. ”[Nate] Diaz threw up the middle finger at his opponent, and the network cut away instead of risking a fine from the Federal Communications Commission,” Hendricks wrote on her CageWriter blog.

One of the gestures came while Diaz was working for a heel-hook on Benson Henderson, who was sitting in a near full-split position on the canvas. The champion was unfazed by Diaz’s gestures as he had prepared for the Stockton native’s tactics, both physical and psychological.

“It’s something I actually had a little bit of a hard time with, but once my training partners got together, they all started talking crap to me in the middle of sparring and I’d get angry,” Henderson revealed on Fuel TV’s post fight show. “They helped control it and I did a pretty good job of being very focused and not letting that affect my emotional state in the middle of the fight.”

So, what’s all the fuss been about on the net since then? On Yahoo’s front page, Hendricks’s story was linked to with the headline, “Fighter’s tasteless moves rattle television broadcast.” Yes, the network that has brought us Cops, Temptation Island and The Simple Life was “rattled” and nearly brought to its sweet, innocent knees by Nate Diaz‘s tactical posturing during his fight.

(Keep it together, Ronda. Never go full Sally Field. / Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.com)

According to BestFightOdds, UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey opened as a -1500 betting favorite against her UFC 157 challenger Liz Carmouche, who opened at +700. Since then, the odds have leveled out somewhat; SportBet currently has the line at a more reasonable -1110/+690, which means that you’d need to put up $1,110 in order to turn a $100 profit on Ronda if she wins, while betting $100 on Liz would…you know what, I’m not even going to finish that sentence. Please do not bet money on this fight.

The current odds make Rousey vs. Carmouche rank among the most lopsided UFC matchups of all time, which comes as no surprise — before the booking was announced, many UFC fans may not have even been aware of the existence of Liz Carmouche, who is an unknown quantity to everyone except hardcore fans of women’s MMA and Strikeforce. Plus, Carmouche fell short both times she faced champion-level competition, suffering a decision loss to Sarah Kaufman in July 2011 and a submission loss to Marloes Coenen four months prior, although Carmouche was winning that fight until she was stopped.