(“What is…a donkey punch?”)

Joe Rogan has never been one to hide his opinions. Whether it’s an early stoppage, a late stoppage, or a botched judges’ decision, many UFC fights have ended with Rogan passionately expressing his disagreement. But at UFC 142 earlier this month, Rogan went even further and corralled referee Mario Yamasaki for an unscheduled post-fight interview, asking Yamasaki to justify his disqualification of Erick Silva for shots to the back of the head. It was an uncomfortable moment, but as Rogan explained, he felt it was his duty to ask the questions that the viewers might have at that moment.

One notable fighter has come forward to stand up for Yamasaki — Carlo Prater, the guy who actually took the alleged illegal shots from Silva that night. As Prater sees it, his perspective and Yamasaki’s perspective hold a lot more weight than Joe Rogan’s, who’s just a “swagger,” in his opinion. (Continue reading for a definition of “swagger” as used in this context. It might not be what you think.) Here’s what Prater told SportTV.com in a new interview:

(Carlos Condit: “You’ll never grow old, and you’ll never die…but you must feed!”)

The WEC has announced the full lineup of fights for their next event, which will go down Feburary 13 at the Santa Ana Star Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Dubbed “Wec: Condit vs. Prater,” the event features three championship bouts. Welterweight champ Carlos Condit (thought by many to be one of the top ten welterweights in the world) will try to avenge a 2004 loss to contender Carlo Prater; lightweight champion “Razor” Rob McCullough faces off against Jamie “The Worm” Varner; and bantamweight top dog Chase Beebe defends his belt against 19-1 jiu-jitsu sensation Miguel Torres. Also fighting on the card are undefeated Mexican bantamweight Manny Tapia, 19-year-old Boston native Josh Grispi (who already has a 10-1 record in the featherweight division), UFC vet Leonard Garcia, former featherweight title challenger Chance Farrar, and the WEC debut of K-1/Shooto star Hiroyuki “Streetfight Bancho” Takaya.

(The thrill of victory, and the agony of nearly having your head ripped off by Miguel Torres.)

Hey, three out of five ain’t bad, especially for us. WEC put on another satisfyingly kick-ass show last night — maybe smaller, hungrier fighters really are more exciting? — and the evening was marked by two champions getting their belts violently taken from them. Here are the full results, with videos of the title fights after the jump:

— Carlos Condit (defending champion) def. Carlo Prater via guillotine choke at 3:48, R1
— Jamie Varner (new champion) def. Rob McCullough via KO at 2:54, R3
— Miguel Torres (new champion) def. Chase Beebe via guillotine choke at 3:59, R1
— Manny Tapia def. Antonio Banuelos via split decision
— Leonard Garcia def. Hiroyuki Takaya via KO at 1:31, R1
— Josh Grispi def. Mark Hominick via rear naked choke at 2:55, R1
— Coty Wheeler def. Del Hawkins via armbar at 1:57, R2
— Damacio Page def. Scott Jorgensen via unanimous decision
— Yoshiro Maeda def. Charlie Valencia via TKO at 2:29, R1
— Micah Miller def. Chance Farrar via KO at 1:39, R1

Behold: a shining example of “kick face“. (Photo: UFC.com)

Brazilian fans are credited with being the most raucous audience in the world, and last night’s fighters gave them plenty to cheer about. Six of the nine bouts ended via knock out or submission*, with five of those stoppages coming in the first round.

Chokes, knees, and even a spinning wheel kick punctuated last night’s fights (*as did a controversial referee stoppage). Pop on in for a motion picture tribute to UFC 142.

As always, praise be to Zombie Prophet.

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(Dos Anjos pulls off a picture perfect lawn chair KO on George Sotiropoulos at UFC 132.) 

Kamal Shalorus has had a difficult time making the leap from the WEC to the UFC. After putting together a 3-0-1 record in the now deceased promotion, “The Prince of Persia” has dropped two straight — a first round TKO to top contender Jim Miller at UFC 128 and a third round submission at the hands of newcomer Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC on FX: Guillard vs. Miller. In what his final shot under the Zuffa banner, Shalorus will not be given an easy victory, as he has been booked to take on Rafael Dos Anjos at UFC on FUEL 3, which goes down on May 15 from the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia.

Dos Anjos, on the other hand, sandwiched the above KO over G-Sots between a pair of losses to Clay Guida (via submission due to jaw injury) and the Anthony Johnson of the lightweight division, Gleison Tibau (by SD).

Also booked for Fairfax…

(“Come on! Stop *trying* to tickle me, and tickle me!“)

Jon Fitch‘s first fight of 2012 will come against one of the most dangerous up-and-comers in the welterweight division. As first reported by Ariel Helwani, Fitch will meet Brazilian prospect Erick Silva at UFC 153: Aldo vs. Koch (October 13th, Rio de Janeiro).

Previously one of the most dependable fighters in the UFC, Fitch hasn’t won a fight since he outpointed Thiago Alves two years ago. Since then, he’s suffered through a draw against BJ Penn, a shoulder injury, and a 12-second knockout loss against Johny Hendricks. Fitch was originally slated to return against Aaron Simpson at UFC on Fuel TV 4 earlier this month, but was forced to withdraw due to a knee injury.

Video Props: CageToday.com

Want to impress your fellow MMA fans? When one of them mentions “this crazy one punch knockout I saw on YouTube” at some point today, tell them that the fight was from last night’s Legacy Fighting Championship 7 in Houston, Texas. It was Pete Spratt, who you totally remember from his pre-TUF 4 career, knocking out Antonio Flores. Then tell them that you’re some kind of author or something. That usually works for me.

Notice how Michael Schiavello says at the 1:13 mark that Flores’ chin is up a little too high for his liking? And Frank Trigg immediately posits that Pete’s about to exploit that? That’s called “foreshadowing”, in case you’re actually going to use that whole author thing. The forty year old Pete Spratt then placed a well timed left hook to the dome of Antonio Flores, and that was all she wrote. Pete Spratt may only be 23-20 in his MMA career, but as indicated by the 21 stoppages to his credit, he is always fun to watch.

(Fickett vs. Prater in the final. Props for all vids: YouTube/ZombieProphet MMA)

It took Drew Fickett all of seven minutes, 38 seconds of actual fighting to cut a swath through the Shine Fights lightweight tournament on Friday night. Three fights, three choke-out victories for the Arizona fighter now apparently billing himself as “The Night Rider.” By comparison, Carlo Prater – Fickett’s opponent in the final – had already lost a three-round split decision, then won a two-round majority scorecard verdict by the time they met up in the evening’s last bout. Can’t blame Prater for looking a little bit “over it” by the time he and Fickett locked horns, in light of that.

After the jump, check out Fickett’s road to the final, including his ugly arm-in guillotine on Charles “Kid Kaos” Bennett. Seriously guys, just pick a nickname and stick with it …

(Technically, this picture wasn’t gay until the guy on the far right started dragging his pants down.)

In an interview with Rochester, Minnesota’s Post-Bulletin, Tommy Speer announced that he has been picked up by the WEC and expects to debut with the organization in August. The TUF 6 finalist — who was cut by the UFC after getting knocked-dead by Anthony Johnson at last month’s UFC Fight Night 13 — competed once before in the WEC, knocking out Sidney Silva at WEC 27 last May. Said Speer on his bounce from the UFC:

“I didn’t agree with it right away; it was depressing news. But now I know I lost to a great fighter, and he surprised me and everyone by how well he fought. I don’t think it’s too bad of a thing for me to be going to the WEC. There are great fighters there, too. I need to keep learning and working on my game, and the WEC is a great place to do that.

The WEC’s 170-pound division is certainly respectable, with names like Carlos Condit, Carlo Prater, John Alessio, and Brock Larson populating the roster, but it’s not nearly the threshing machine of the UFC’s welterweight class, and seems like a great place for Speer to develop while still maintaining a decent level of exposure. “The Farm Boy” intended to fight outside of the WEC before his August debut, but his training has been halted by an appropriately rural setback:

“The doctors at Mayo (Clinic) said I was bit by a brown recluse spider (on my calf), so I’m on antibiotics,” Speer said. “They said it might take a month to heal up. So I’m not training now, and I probably won’t be able to fight until August, because I’ll need some serious training time when I get back.”

Speer said he still intends to travel to Missouri to train with former UFC champion Matt Hughes at his gym, H.I.T. Squad, prior to his fights.

In other news…

Travis Browne, Antonio Silva, Jay Hieron, and all of the players in tomorrow night’s UFC on FX: Browne vs. Bigfoot card are set to hit the scales tonight from the Pantages Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The event will be broadcast live starting at 5 p.m. EST, and wouldn’t you know it, we happen to have TOTALLY EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE of the weigh-ins right here!

OK, so maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but we will be covering all the action, so make sure to swing by at 5 p.m. today for the staredowns and 8 p.m. tomorrow for all our liveblog coverage of UFC on FX 5.

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

UFC on FUEL TV: Korean Zombie vs. Poirier goes down tomorrow night at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia, and the weigh-ins are scheduled for today at 4 p.m. ET. You can watch the hot feet-on-scale action in the player above. Though we don’t foresee any hat-smacking or face-squishing, Tom Lawlor did promise to arrive with the most obscure MMA reference in UFC weigh-in history, so there’s that. [Photo is at the end of this post.] The full UFC on FUEL 3 fight card is after the jump, which are now updated with weigh-in totals. Come back to CagePotato.com tomorrow evening for our liveblog of the FUEL main card broadcast, which kicks off at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.

(UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo pictured with his summer intern, Chad.)

UPDATE: Yes, Anthony Johnson came in at 197 pounds. Gory details after the jump.

Weigh-ins for tomorrow night’s UFC 142: Aldo vs. Mendes event are scheduled to begin today at 4 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT in Rio. You can watch the action right here on CagePotato.com, in either of the video players after the jump. We’ll also be posting the full weigh-in results after all 20 fighters have hit the scale. Will there be any disrespectful hat-smacking this time? How terrifying will Anthony Johnson look as a middleweight light-heavyweight? And will the huge broad on the right be replacing Chandella permanently? Stay tuned…

(Video via YouTube.com/UFC)

Just five months after their last visit to the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the UFC returns with another card headlined by native heroes. In UFC 142‘s main event, featherweight champion Jose Aldo — who has now won ten straight fights in the WEC/UFC — looks to make another belt defense against undefeated Team Alpha Male wrestling specialist Chad “Money” Mendes, who will be hoping to put Aldo on his back as much as possible and score some revenge for Urijah Faber’s leg.

In the co-main event, middleweight contender Vitor Belfort returns from his latest injury layoff to welcome Anthony Johnson to the middleweight division, in a matchup that contains too much explosive athleticism for its own damn good.

All 11 fights on the “Aldo vs. Mendes” card feature at least one Brazilian, with Rousimar Palhares, Edson Barboza, and Gabriel Gonzaga making return appearances. The full UFC 142 lineup is after the jump…

("You see these? I’m gonna beat you without even hitting you with them. THAT’S how good I am.")

If we’ve learned anything in the past couple years, it’s not to believe fighters when they say, "If I                , I will retire." 

Maybe we need to institute another Cage Potato ban.

According to Maximum Fighting Championship lightweight champion Antonio McKee, his claim is different than those of guys like CroCop, Kurt Pellegrino, Quinton Jackson, Juanito Ibarra (I know he’s not a fighter, but I’m still pissed off that he welched on his retirement) and Georges St-Pierre as he claims he’s serious when he says he will walk away from the sport if his September 10 MFC 26 bout in Brandon, Manitoba with Luciano Azevedo goes to the judges’ scorecards.

(Just off camera, The Grim Reaper stared on in shock as Madadi told him right where he could stick his scythe.) 

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, you know by now that, while most of us are content to booze or sleep away most of our lives, MMA fighters opt to spend their leisure time foiling robberies, saving women from knife-wielding psychopaths, and teaching Canadian hoodlums a lesson in male dominance…I mean respect.

For some reason, the rule goes double for MMA fighters from foreign countries. We all remember the tale of Goran Reljic saving two men from drowning by smashing through their submerged vehicle’s windshield and pulling them to safety WHILE suffering from a back injury. Or how Kid Yamamoto dove onto a subway track in Japan to help lift a man to safety. Seriously, it’s like the rest of the world operates under Article 223-7 of the Latham County Penal Code or something.

In either case, one name you can add to the list of heroic MMA fighters is UFC lightweight Reza Madadi, who recently saved an infant toddler when the child fell from a pier near Hornsberg in his home country of Sweden.

Full story after the jump.

(Props: FoxSports)

The main event of last night’s UFC on FUEL TV 3 event blew past its already high expectations. “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung and Dustin Poirier set a frenetic pace for over three rounds, with Jung dominating the fight both in the standup and on the ground. In the end, Jung rocked Poirier with punches and a flying knee, and put “Diamond” to sleep on the mat with a d’arce choke at the 1:07 mark of round four. You can check out highlights from their scrap above, including an excerpt from Jung’s astounding grappling clinic in round two.

The match earned both men $40,000 Fight of the Night bonuses, and Jung picked up an additional $40k for the event’s Submission of the Night (“What about meeeeeeee?!” – The McKenzietine). Knockout of the Night went to Tom Lawlor, who celebrated his birthday then starched Jason MacDonald in just 50 seconds.

After the jump: Dustin Poirier gets emotional in a post-fight interview with Ariel Helwani, and full results from UFC on FUEL TV: Korean Zombie vs. Poirier.

(“…unless it’s on short notice, in which case I’ll have to decline because it would be the worst decision of my career.” Pic Props: No Holds Barred)

By Jason Moles

The Ultimate Fighting Championship recently held its own version of Dana White’s “blocking spree,” as the official roster has been narrowed quite noticeably, leaving many to seek employment elsewhere. Over the past few weeks, a handful of fighters received their pink slips for refusing to take a fight on short notice, losing a fight taken on short notice, missing weight, and flat-out sucking. Although it’s been quite a while since we last did this, we feel it only necessary at this point in time to offer a few suggestions to the latest Zuffa casualties.

Dennis Hallman: If there’s one thing we’ll remember about Hallman, it’s his appearance in the Octagon wearing nothing but a Speedo and the gloves on his hands. The aging veteran (he’ll turn 37 in December) still has a few years before he’s eligible to receive those social security checks and will need to find a new gig to line his wallet. The timing couldn’t be better, really; as it turns out, Speedo needs a new PR guy. And to think you thought I was just grabbing low-hanging fruit. Psssh! Having a former UFC fighter with over 65 fights pushing your product will definitely put Speedo back on the map. He’ll tell consumers about the extra attention and unique propositions you’ll undoubtedly receive because of the confidence you exude. If he plays his cards right, maybe someone will pay him to just go away.

(Wait, now I’m fighting who?) 

Maybe it’s because we’ve been burned many, many times before, but we’re not exactly sold on Dana White’s recent claims that the upcoming TUF 15 Finale headlining match between Martin Kampmann and Jake Ellenberger will be for the next title shot. You see, “number one contender” is a term that is so loosely used and abused by the Zuffa brass these days that it might as well be Rampage Jackson.

But be that as it may, a press release sent out by the UFC this morning, quoting the almighty DW nonetheless, has stated that the victor of Kampmann/Ellenberger will indeed get the winner of Condit/GSP, whenever the hell that happens:

The welterweight division is stacked and Jake Ellenberger and Martin Kampmann are going to fight for the chance to earn a title shot. They will headline the season finale of TUF Live on FX to crown the next Ultimate Fighter. There’s a lot at stake for the guys competing on this card at the Palms.

You see how they did that? “For the chance to earn a title shot,” is about as brilliant a non-commitment as we’ve ever seen. Dan Henderson would be impressed by such a classic Dana White misdirection, and would undoubtedly have a better response than the one you are about to read. But if you feel tricked, hoodwinked, or even bamboozled by such a statement, then you’re not alone. We’re not going to take it anymore, and are calling shenanigans on this right now before things get out of hand. Here’s why.

(Griggs might not have had the best ground game in the biz, but he made up for it in pure funkatude.) 

It must be spring, Potato Nation, because in order to make room for their new batch of Strikeforce fighters, the UFC has been doing a little cleaning out of their roster as of late. In total, 9 fighters have been axed as of this morning, including everyone’s favorite muttonchops aficionado, Chad Griggs. MMA Opinion has the full list, so join us after the jump to find out which fighters will no longer be punctuating the undercards of FUEL and FX events.

Chad Griggs: 11-1 before entering the UFC, Griggs’ lack of a ground game was quickly exposed in his debut, where he was choked out by Travis Browne in under three minutes at UFC 145. After dropping to light heavyweight, Griggs returned at UFC 154 to face PRIDE veteran and feared striker Cyrille Diabate. Those who were expecting a slugfest left disappointed, however, as Griggs was choked out in the first round again, just 15 seconds later than his first fight.

Marcus LeVesseur: Despite being one of the more decorated wrestlers to enter the UFC in some time, “The Prospect” quickly showed that he was simply not well rounded enough to hang in the sport’s highest promotion. After dominating the beginning of his UFC debut against TUF 12 alum Cody McKenzie, LeVesseur became McKenzietine victim #11 at just over three minutes into the first round. After scoring a snoozer of split decision over Carlo Prater in his next fight, Levesseur was absolutely savaged by Abel Trujillo at UFC on FOX: Henderson vs. Diaz.

(The leg injury didn’t help, but did you really think Browne’s two tiny hand tattoos stood a chance against Silva big foot ink?)

Well, that was anticlimactic. In many ways, the main event of UFC on FX 5 encapsulated the rest of the card – fun at times but, in some part due to forces beyond its control, not something that lived up to its potential. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva was able to stop a game Travis Browne after the latter suffered a debilitating leg injury in the first round.

Browne found success with his offense when the round began, but somewhere over the course of the fight, his hamstring popped. Ouch.

Even typing that felt painful. And evidently, it was just as painful and incapacitating as you would think it is. Browne almost collapsed simply from throwing a punch at one point. Eventually,Bigfoot took advantage by rushing in, cornering Browne against the fence and delivering a mammoth right hand to Browne’s jaw.

The follow up shots sealed Silva’s victory, and most likely saved his job. For Browne and MMA fans alike, however, this was a difficult loss to swallow.

(Magnus Cedenblad highlight reel via zaihtaMHS. Head bussin’, head bussin’.)

After a six-week spring break, the UFC returns from hibernation this Saturday with their first-ever event in Sweden. UFC on Fuel TV: Gustafsson vs. Silva goes down at the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, and will feature five local scrappers — red-hot light-heavyweight contender Alexander Gustafsson, the returning Papy Abedi (who lost his UFC debut to Thiago Alves), as well as three Sweden-based newcomers to help fill out the Facebook prelims. Meet the new guys below, and keep in mind that the six-fight Fuel TV main card will air live at 3 p.m. ET / noon PT.

MAGNUS “Jycken” CEDENBLAD (MW)
Experience: 10-6 record (9 wins by stoppage) with multiple appearances in the Superior Challenge and Vision Fighting Championship promotions. Last fight was an 88-second kimura victory over Dan Edwards in October 2011.
Will be facing: Francis Carmont (17-7, 1-0 UFC)
Lowdown: First of all, “Jycken” means “The Pooch.” A product of Stockholm’s Pancrase Gym, Cedenblad has recently been working out of AKA in San Jose. He started training six years ago because he wanted to learn how to kick like Cro Cop, but has become better known as a ground-and-pounder. As he told MMABay, ”My long term goal is to be ranked as a top five guy. I know that will happen. Just give me four years and then you will see me there.”

(Struve channels his inner Keanu Reeves during his UFC 130 bout against Travis Browne.) 

In a fight that is all but guaranteed to end in a decisive, if not brutally violent fashion, it appears that heavyweight contenders Stefan “Skyscraper” Struve and Mark “Mark” Hunt are set to collide at UFC 146, which now features an all heavyweight lineup as its main card for the first time in UFC history. Thank God it’s not being held at a high altitude.

We know what you’re thinking: WHY IS TIM SYLVIA NOT ON THIS CARD?!!!

Hunt has had perhaps the most startling career resurgence in recent memory, scoring three straight octagon victories over Chris Tuchscherer, Ben Rothwell, and most recently Cheick Kongo, with two of those victories coming by way of destructive KO. This was made even more shocking due to the fact that Hunt was only picked up by the UFC in order to fulfill a contract he had signed back in his PRIDE days before the organization was absorbed by Zuffa.

Struve, on the other hand, will be looking to add another three fight win streak to his current 7-3 octagon record come May 26th. We last saw him at UFC on FUEL: Sanchez vs. Ellenberger, when he dispatched Manbearpig Dave Herman via second round TKO. Prior to that, Struve choked out our boy Pat Barry in the first round of their UFC Live 6 co-headliner bout.

UFC 146 transpires at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and features a main event title clash between Junior Dos Santos and Alistair Overeem.

In other fight booking news…

(Rob McCullough and Jamie Varner face off next to some bored douche with a backstage pass; photo props to MMAWeekly.)

If you rely on this site for MMA news — terrible idea, by the way — you’d hardly be aware that World Extreme Cagefighting is holding an event tonight at the Santa Ana Star Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Apologies; we had other things to deal with. But if the last WEC show was any indication, you could be in store for a wild time if you tune into Versus beginning at 9pm ET/6pm PT, especially since three championship belts are on the line. Here’s what the matchups look like:

MAIN CARD
Carlos Condit (champion) vs. Carlo Prater (for WEC Welterweight Title)
Rob McCullough (champion) vs. Jamie Varner (for WEC Lightweight Title)
Chase Beebe (champion) vs. Miguel Torres (for WEC Bantamweight Title)
Manny Tapia vs. Antonio Banuelos (bantamweights)
Leonard Garcia vs. Hiroyuki Takaya (featherweights)

PRELIMINARY CARD
Josh Grispi vs. Mark Hominick (featherweights)
Del Hawkins vs. Coty Wheeler (bantamweights)
Charlie Valencia vs. Yoshiro Maeda (bantamweights)
Micah Miller vs. Chance Farrar (featherweights)
Scott Jorgensen vs. Damacio Page (bantamweights)

Let’s take a look at that main card, shall we?

— Garcia vs. Takaya: The last time I remember seeing Leonard Garcia, his face was being punched into burger by Roger Huerta at UFC 69. Following his rough UFC debut, Garcia beat Allen Berubie, lost a decision to Cole Miller, and decided to drop to a more competitive weight of 145 and join the WEC. But he won’t have an easy time against “Streetfight Bancho,” who has been in the cage with stars like Gilbert Melendez, Genki Sudo, and Gesias Calvancante during his residencies with Shooto and K-1. Sure, he lost to those guys, but experience counts, and we think his striking power will be too much for Garcia to handle.

— Tapia vs. Banuelos: If Manny Tapia wins this fight, he could be next in line to challenge for the bantamweight belt after the dust settles on Beebe/Torres. The jiu-jitsu specialist was a destroyer in King of the Cage, racking up an 8-0-1 record before winning his WEC debut last May against Brandon Foxworth. Banuelos is a good friend of Chuck Liddell’s, and even though he’s got the Iceman and John Hackleman feeding him pointers at The Pit, his recent fight history — four wins by decision and two losses by first-round knockout — raises some concerns. Not being able to finish a fight will hurt him against someone as aggressive as Tapia. We’re thinking this is one of those “loss by first-round knockout” kind of nights for Banuelos.

The People’s Champion, showing Chael Sonnen how it’s done. Props: @CopperHeartCT

With the UFC’s quick return to Rio de Janeiro, the promotion had high expectations to live up to. Their last visit saw a nearly perfect performance from one of the sport’s most dominant champions, a local favorite earning a quick finish, and (most) Brazilian fighters outmatching their foreign opponents on their ways to victory. It was going to be difficult to entertain the local fans the same way that UFC 134 did, yet the UFC’s return to Brazil netted nearly identical results.

Heading into his title defense against Chad Mendes last night, critics were starting to say that Jose Aldo was beginning to coast his way through fights. That the fight finisher fans grew to love in the WEC had been replaced by a fighter content to go through the motions en route to a decision victory. In front of his home country, Aldo made an impressive statement by finishing “Money” Mendes in the first round.

Mendes displayed improved striking, but that means little when facing the lethal limbs of Jose Aldo. To win this fight–or even stay competitive–Mendes needed to put the champion on his back, yet time and time again his best efforts were thwarted. Though Aldo blatantly grabbed the fence to prevent one takedown, a follow-up attempt from the same position seconds later barely took his feet off the ground. Had he been deducted one point- or ten- it’s hard to imagine the fight going any other way. The brilliant takedown defense and impeccable timing he showed throughout the bout were on full display in the closing seconds of round one. Aldo’s transition to the fight ending knee was nothing short of perfection, something only a dominant striker of his caliber could dream of pulling off.

(Then again, when you’re married to this chick, every day is kind of a celebration.) 

Residents of Albuquerque, rejoice! It seems Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry has officially declared this day to be “Carlos Condit Day” in honor of the newly crowned interim Welterweight Champion. Condit was presented a special ceremony at Greg Jackson’s MMA Gym this afternoon, which consisted of re-watching the Condit/Diaz fight on a 4 hour loop and playing a real life version of Wooly Willy using Greg Jackson and some pencil shavings. A great day indeed.

Since we don’t really need an excuse to celebrate (re: drink) around here, we’d like to spread word of this holiday until we are eventually allowed to use it as an excuse for missing work. You know, like we’re trying to do with Steak and Blowjob Day, Festivus, and Leif Erikson Day. Anyway, join us after the jump for a look back at some of “The Natural Born Killer’s” greatest moments, brought to you in the ever convenient forms of GIF and video. We won’t be able to celebrate this day again until 2016, so get you party hats on.

(That pile of bricks used to be a building until Carlos mean-mugged it. Photo courtesy of DeMattos.)

The UFC’s next free show goes down this Wednesday on Spike TV at 8 p.m. ET/PT, with Carlos Condit vs. Martin Kampmann in the headlining spot and 11 more fights supporting it. (Yes, we will be runnin’ a liveblog, so keep that evening free.) Six fighters, most of them WEC veterans, will be stepping into the Octagon for the first time. Learn about them below, and tune in on Wednesday to see if their stories end in triumph or tragedy…

CARLOS CONDIT (WW)
?Experience: 22-4 record, with all wins by stoppage, and notable victories over Frank Trigg, Brock Larson, and Carlo Prater. Won the WEC welterweight title in March 2007 and defended it three times before the division was discontinued.
Will be facing: Martin Kampmann (14-2, 5-1 UFC)
?Lowdown: He finishes fights — seriously. Just 24 years old, the Natural Born Killer is on an eight-fight win streak, and hasn’t lost since June 2006. Condit began wrestling in high school and has been training jiu jitsu and kickboxing at FIT-NHB since he was 15. His opponent Martin Kampmann is another aggressive, well-rounded fight-finisher, so Condit’s UFC debut will not only be an important gauge of his abilities on MMA’s biggest stage, but an easy front-runner for Fight of the Night.

JESSE SANDERS (WW)
?Experience: 20-4 record in various midwestern promotions like Extreme Challenge and Iowa Challenge, with 18 wins by first-round stoppage. Holds a victory over the legendary Kenneth Allen.
Will be facing: Brock Larson (24-2, 1-1 UFC; returning to the Octagon after a five-fight stint in the WEC)
?Lowdown: Sanders’s old ProElite.com profile lists his nickname as "Iron Jaw" and his background as "retired from construction became broke then started fighting." It seems like going broke was a great career move, because the former boxer has become a force on the local circuit — as a can-crusher, at least. His last win was against a guy with an 0-4 record at the time, and only three of his opponents have had winning records. According to his MySpace page, he loves anything to do with NASCAR, enjoys riding 4-wheelers, laughed his ass off at Rush Hour 3, and doesn’t read. (Again, this is a real person, not a Jeff Foxworthy routine.) Larson wins this one via quality of competition.

By CagePotato Guest Contributor Brian Knapp

Victory rang hollow for Jake Shields on the night of November 10th, 2007. He needed only 3:39 to attach himself to Mike Pyle’s back and secure a fight-ending rear naked choke at EliteXC “Renegade” in Corpus Christi, Texas. It was supposed to be his crowning achievement, the win that would bring him his first major championship. Pyle had other ideas.

Plans for what was originally intended to be a welterweight title fight unraveled after Pyle, disgruntled with his treatment by EliteXC, turned down a contract extension with the fledgling promotion. As Shields stood in the center of the cage, his hand raised for the ninth time in as many matches, he could not escape the anger growing within him.

“I’m not going to hold it against [Pyle], but I was very irritated,” Shields says. “It cost me the title. I’m sure he had his reasons, but it seems like a stupid decision. It would have been a lot smarter for him to fight for the title and lose and to stay on good terms with EliteXC. Now where’s he fighting?”

A little more than four months later, Shields finally gets his crack at the EliteXC welterweight championship — a title most agree should already be fastened around his waist. The 29-year-old Californian will lock horns with UFC veteran Drew Fickett in one of three featured bouts at Strikeforce/EliteXC “Shamrock vs. Le,” which goes down this Saturday at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA. Shields understands a loss there would undo much of what he has accomplished during the past eight years.

“It’s a very important fight,” he says. “I’m on a huge winning streak, won nine in a row, and this is a title fight. I need to keep it going, and keep things on an upward swing.”

Conquering Fickett will be no easy task. An accomplished grappler in his own right, Fickett (31-5) last competed in December, when he submitted veteran Mark Weir with a rear naked choke at Cage Rage 24. Wins against one-time World Extreme Cagefighting welterweight title challenger Carlo Prater, current UFC lightweight contender Kenny Florian and Dennis Hallman anchor his resume. Fickett has delivered 20 of his 31 victories by submission, including a 2005 conquest of Josh Koscheck.

Shields realizes he has his hands full with the Arizonan.

For the past several UFC events, CagePotato reader/contributor Dan “Get Off Me” George has been holding down the Gambling Addiction Enabler’s with the poise and classiness of a 16th century Bolognese swordsman. Unfortunately for you, he only likes to bet on the big time PPV events, so you’re stuck with me for the time being. Fortunately for you, I write a lot less than he does and love to get reckless with my hard earned cash, so let’s do this! Listed below are the odds for UFC on FX: Browne vs. Bigfoot, courtesy of BestFightOdds, followed by my advice which simply put has never been wrong not once ever.

MAIN CARD
Travis Browne (-240) vs. Antonio Silva(+200)
Jake Ellenberger (-360) vs. Jay Hieron (+300)
John Dodson (-200) vs. Jussier Formiga (+170)
Josh Neer (-280) vs. Justin Edwards (+240)

PRELIMINARY CARD 
Yves Edwards (+175) vs. Jeremy Stephens (-225)
Danny Castillo (+130) vs. Michael Johnson (-160)
Dennis Hallman (+190) vs. Thiago Tavares (-250)
Shane Roller (+150) vs. Jacob Volkmann (-180)
Diego Nunes (-180) vs. Bart Palaszewski (+150)
Phil Harris (+230) vs. Darren Uyenoyama (-290)
Marcus LeVesseur (-105) vs. Carlo Prater (-125)
Mike Pierce (-170) vs. Aaron Simpson (+150)

Thoughts…

(I’ll show you Linsanity, you racist sonofabitch!) 

Perhaps it’s because we are truly spontaneous creatures at heart, but we are more excited for tomorrow night’s UFC on FUEL broadcast than perhaps any other free card in as long as we can remember, if only because it gives us an excuse to do something on a Tuesday night that we normally save for the weekends ie. drink, shout at the TV until our ears bleed, and gamble away the money we have yet to even earn. And since we don’t want to be the only MMA fans waiting in line at the soup kitchen come next week, we figured we’d drag you all down with us. Because, honestly, it’s neither as easy or as fun to start a soup fight with the homeless by yourself. Anyway, check out the betting lines below, courtesy of BestFightOdds, and join us after the jump for our more-or-less comprehensible advice.

MAIN CARD (FUEL TV)
Chan Sung Jung (+270) vs. Dustin Poirier (-330)
Amir Sadollah (-185) vs. Jorge Lopez (+160)
Donald Cerrone (-255) vs. Jeremy Stephens (+215)
Yves Jabouin (-235) vs. Jeff Hougland (+195)
Igor Pokrajac (+145) vs. Fabio Maldonado (-165)
Jason MacDonald (+200) vs. Tom Lawlor (-240)

PRELIMINARY CARD (Fuel.tv, 5:30 p.m. ET / 2:30 p.m. PT)
Cody McKenzie (-105) vs. Marcus LeVesseur (-115)
Brad Tavares (-175) vs. Dongi Yang (+155)
T.J. Grant (-400) vs. Carlo Prater (+325)
Rafael Dos Anjos (-280) vs. Kamal Shalorus (+240)
Jeff Curran (-135) vs. Johnny Eduardo (+115)
Alex Soto (+200) vs. Francisco Rivera (-240)

Thoughts…

UFC 142 goes down this Saturday from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and though it doesn’t feature quite as epic a lineup as the UFC’s return to Brazil at UFC 134, the fact that the card has still maintained its two marquee match-ups is something to brag about, if only due to how cursed a card this has been. So if you, like Siyar Bahadurzada, Paulo Thiago, Stanislav Nedkov, and Fabio Maldanado, find yourself watching the action from the sidelines on Saturday night and suddenly in need of some extra dough, then we are here to help. Check out the betting lines below, courtesy of BestFightOdds, and join us after the jump for some sound betting advice.

Main Card
Erick Silva (-525) vs. Carlo Prater (+415)
Edson Barboza (-270) vs. Terry Etim (+230)
Rousimar Palhares (-525) vs. Mike Massenzio (+415)
Anthony Johnson (-110) vs. Vitor Belfort (-110)
Jose Aldo (-240) vs. Chad Mendes (+200)

Preliminary Card
Antonio Carvalho (-225) vs. Felipe Arantes (+175)
Mike Pyle (-460) vs. Ricardo Funch (+340)
Yuri Alcantara (-195) vs. Michihiro Omigawa (+160)
Sam Stout (EV) vs. Thiago Tavares (-140)
Gabriel Gonzaga (-120) vs. Edinaldo Oliveira (-110)