(Photo courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

According to Ryan Bader’s Twitter page, the TUF 8 light-heavyweight winner will return to action at UFC 104 (October 24th, Los Angeles) against "Eric Shaufer." (We’re assuming that means Eric Schafer, the UFC vet who’s coming off back-to-back first-round stoppages of Houston Alexander and Antonio Mendes.) If the announcement is accurate, it would be a surprisingly quick comeback for Bader, who wrecked his knee during his three-round domination of Carmelo Marrero in April; early predictions said he’d be out of action for up to a year. UFC 104 will be headlined by the light-heavyweight title fight between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio Rua, and may also feature the heavyweight contenders match between Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez.

Could UFC 103‘s altruistic experiment of airing some of the undercard bouts on basic cable before the main card be a recurring tradition? According to a press release distributed by Spike TV this afternoon, the UFC will be doing another live prelim show on Spike directly before the UFC 104 pay-per-view on October 24th. Guaranteed for the one-hour commercial-free broadcast will be…

Ryan Bader (9-0, 2-0 UFC) vs. Eric Schafer (11-3-2, 3-2-0 UFC): TUF 8 winner Ryan Bader, who most recently won a unanimous decision over Carmelo Marrero at Condit vs. Kampmann, will try to take another step up the light-heavyweight ladder against tough ground specialist Eric Schafer, who’s coming off back-to-back first-round stoppages of Houston Alexander and Antonio Mendes. Seems like a perfect next step in Bader’s development, as well as an opportunity for Schafer to prove that he’s a legitimate contender.

Antoni Hardonk (8-5, 4-3 UFC) vs. Pat Barry (4-1, 1-1 UFC): It might be win-or-go-home time for these two leg-kick specialists, who will both be trying to bounce back from losses. Hardonk most recently suffered a second-round TKO against Cheick Kongo at UFC 97, while Barry was quickly choked out by Tim Hague at UFC 98. It’s too bad that Barry didn’t take the Hague loss as a sign that he should drop to light-heavy, because Hardonk’s reach advantage is going to be frightening.

Other preliminary bouts could air during the broadcast, if time allows. UFC 104′s compelete lineup is after the jump.

Guillard choking, in every sense of the word. (Photo: UFC.com)

While the ‘UFC on FX’ debut may have lacked the big names of UFC 142, the fights themselves packed just as much fire-power. For the second straight week, six fighters were able to put away their opponent and double their earnings in less than a round. Punches, chokes, and a torrent of brutal hellbows were all used to send grown men into la-la land, and we’ve got the GIF’s to prove it.

(Thanks to Zombie Prophet for the GIFs)

(Antonio’s Richard Nixon impression was completely lost on Logan Stanton. Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle. For more pics from this set, click here.)

Spoilers after the jump. Proceed with caution.

(Props: xkingkongx)

The UFC has confirmed ten fights for UFC 104 (October 24th, Los Angeles), making the Machida vs. Rua headliner official, as well as adding a main card bout between Sean Sherk and Gleison Tibau. Sherk is coming off a disappointing unanimous decision loss against Frank Edgar at UFC 98, while Tibau most recently lost a controversial split-decision against Melvin Guillard at the TUF 9 finale in June.

Unfortunately, Sherk vs. Tibau comes at the expense of two other fights that are probably more worthy of main card status. Currently slated for the undercard are TUF 8 light-heavyweight winner Ryan Bader vs. Eric Schafer (who are both riding two-fight win streaks in the Octagon) and Yushin Okami vs. Chael Sonnen. Yes, Okami is on the undercard once again, despite his current three-fight streak against Jason MacDonald, Evan Tanner, and Dean Lister. My God this disrespect. You know, UFC, if you’re not careful, you’re gonna lose him.

The updated UFC 104 lineup is as follows…

(Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

We give the UFC props for not shredding Houston Alexander’s contract as soon as he took his second consecutive first-round knockout loss last month against James Irvin, but even the most compassionate among us would agree — if it happens again, he’ll be heading out the door. D-Day for “The Assassin” is now looking like September 17th; MMA Junkie reports that Alexander has agreed to a bout against Eric Schafer at UFC Fight Night 14. Schafer made his Octagon debut at UFC 62 with a submission win over Rob MacDonald, but lost his next two bouts via TKO to Michael Bisping and Stephan Bonnar. “Red” has since rallied in the Gladiators Fighting Series organization, where he’s posted back-to-back wins. Alexander had reportedly been offered several fights in August and September before settling on the Schafer matchup.

In other UFC fight-booking news, MMAMania passes along a rumor that a middleweight match between Ed Herman and Alan Belcher will also be on the UFN 14 card. Both men are coming off losses, to Demian Maia and Jason Day, respectively. And speaking of middleweights, a fight between Alessio Sakara and Rob Yundt has been added to the undercard of The Ultimate Fighter 7 finale on June 21st. Rob Yundt lost his Octagon debut to Ricardo Almeida at UFC 81 after taking the fight on very short notice. Sakara is 3-4 with one no-contest in the UFC, and was most recently dropped by Chris Leben at UFC 82.

“UFC Fight Night: Diaz vs. Neer” goes down this Wednesday at the Omaha Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska. You can watch the action on Spike TV beginning at 8 p.m. ET/PT — conveniently, right before the premiere of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir. To begin the psyche-up process, here are the fighters from the card’s three key fights, discussing their matchups. Diaz/Neer is above, Danzig/Guida and Alexander/Schafer are below; props to BloodyElbow. The full lineup for the event is after the jump.

(Jason desperately tries to defend the unpredictable mucous attacks of Eliot Marshall. / Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Sorry guys, it won’t be Jon Jones. Not long after word came out that Forrest Griffin had to withdraw from his UFC 114 fight against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira due to injury, wrestling specialist Jason Brilz has reportedly stepped up in Griffin’s place; bout agreements are expected to be finalized shortly. 

Brilz (18-2-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) has been quietly heating up as a light-heavyweight prospect, most recently scoring a unanimous decision win over Eric Schafer at UFC on Versus: Vera vs. Jones. His only loss in his last 15 fights was a decision against Eliot Marshall last September, and he also holds career wins over Tim Boetsch, Brad Morris, Jason MacDonald, and Alex Schoenauer. Of course, holding his own against a world-class 205′er like Lil’ Nog on less than a month’s notice will be a tall order, but at the very least, Brilz is tough enough to avoid being steamrolled. As long as Nogueira stays on the card, we can’t really complain…

(Sure, he lives in an RV and has creepy facial hair, but trust us, Clay’s a fantastic babysitter. Photo courtesy of MMA Junkie.)

Spoilers after the jump…

(Track 15 on Shiny Happy Jihad.)

The one-hour stand-up comedy special that UFC color-man Joe Rogan filmed in Columbus before UFC 96 has finally gotten an airdate: June 20th at midnight ET/PT, directly following the broadcast of The Ultimate Fighter: U.S. vs. U.K. finale. As Rogan confirmed during an appearance on The Greg Fitzsimmons Show yesterday, his will be the first of several comedy specials that Spike will air this year, and the late-night time slot allows it to be aired uncensored. ("I couldn’t believe it. They don’t have to cut anything.")

Sounds like a kickass night of free entertainment. To refresh your memories, the TUF 9 finale card be lookin’ like this:

MAIN CARD
Diego Sanchez vs. Clay Guida
Welterweight TUF finalist vs. welterweight TUF finalist (TBA)
Lightweight TUF finalist vs. lightweight TUF finalist (TBA)
Nate Diaz vs. Joe Stevenson
Anthony Johnson vs. Matt Brown

UNDERCARD
Tomasz Drwal vs. Eric Schafer
Chris Lytle vs. Kevin Burns
Melvin Guillard vs.Thiago Tavares
Brad Blackburn vs. Edgar Garcia
Other matches between TUF 9 castmembers (TBA)

Technorati Profile

(The brothers Florian: 98-pound weaklings welcome.)

— The UFC has inked a new five-fight contract extension with Houston Alexander. Sure, that’s a little strange given that The Assassin has lost his last two fights, but they can always tear up his contract if he loses two more. That’s the beauty of drafting contracts that aren’t really worth the paper they’re printed on. Alexander will try to get back to knocking other people out at UFC Fight Night 15 (September 17th, Omaha), where he’ll take on Eric Schafer.

— Speaking of UFC Fight Night 15, Jeremy Horn has been forced to pull out of the event due to a wrist injury. Replacing him in his scheduled bout against Wilson Gouveia will be Ryan Jensen (13-4, 0-2 UFC).

— Kenny and Keith Florian promise that their new MMA gym is “definitely not going to be one of those hardcore MMA places,” and is geared towards those with no desire to become a pro fighter.

— Arianny Celeste and Edith Labelle are featured in E!’s “12 Sexiest Jobs in Vegas.”

— Yoshiyuki Yoshida is the first opponent that Karo Parisyan has total respect for as an athlete. But he’s not coming to lose, bro.

(I got blood on my hands and there’s no remorse, I got blood on my…well, you get the point.) 

We’ll be completely honest, folks, it has been awhile since the official CagePotato Parlay has shown us a return worth getting excited about, or any return for that matter. Bill collectors were ignored, drugs were peddled, and we even had to turn a trick or two to solve our gambling debts, but as they say, it is always darkest before the dawn. Last week, we actually managed to end up in the green, so what better opportunity to keep the ball rolling than the UFC’s debut on FX tomorrow? Check out the betting lines, courtesy of BestFightOdds, along with our advice below.

Main Card
Pat Barry (-165) vs. Christian Morecraft (+145)
Mike Easton (-340) vs. Jared Papazian (+280)
Duane Ludwig (-110) vs. Josh Neer (-110)
Jim Miller (-170) vs. Melvin Guillard (+150)

Undercard
Nick Denis (-240) vs. Joseph Sandoval (+200)
Daniel Pineda (-120) vs. Pat Schilling (EV)
Fabricio Camoes (-325) vs. Tom Hayden (+265)
Kamal Shalorus (-135) vs. Habib Nurmagomedov (+115)
Charlie Brenneman (-300) vs. Daniel Roberts (+250)
Eric Schafer (-155) vs. Jorge Rivera (+135)

Thoughts…

(Hey, if it can happen to Joe Lauzon, it can happen to anyone, right?) 

Featuring special appearances by Arianny Celeste and Bruce Buffer, the most recent “Web Redemption” on Tuesday’s episode of Tosh.0 was probably the most star studded redemption to date. That’s not saying much for a show whose “celebrity” guest list has included the Cobra Kai Sensei, Carrot Top, and whoever David Archuleta is, but still, you get what we’re saying.

Starring Brandon “Bitch Boy” Han a.k.a the wuss who got choked out by a girl, and Courtnie Korpela a.k.a the woman who will haunt his dreams forever, this web rematch carried the fate of the male sex on its shoulders. With Ronda Rousey already making bold claims that she could beat up most of the male fighters in her weight division, we needed to suppress this notion of “equality in the cage” once and for all.

Join us after the jump to see how the rematch played out.

(“What is it I’m supposed to do with these things again?”)

Joey Beltran: If Beltran loses against UFC newcomer Stipe Miocic, the loss would put him at 1-3 in his last four fights. For a journeyman like Beltran, a slide like that would likely mean a pink slip with his check. A Golden Gloves champ and NCAA Division I wrestler, Miocic is no slouch, which could play into the favor of “The Mexicutioner” if he gets called to the boss’ office.

Steve Cantwell: Heading into his UFC middleweight debut bout with Mike Massenzio,Cantwell is 0-3 in his last three outings. A loss Saturday night would likely land him on the cut list, or at the very least in the margin with a circle around and a question mark beside his name. The UFC might take into account that there was a year-and-a-half gap between his last two losses in which the former WEC light heavyweight champ battled an unnamed illness that UFC president Dana White mentioned was “career-threatening.” Since he doesn’t quite have a memorable personality like Dan Hardy or Pat Barry, that may be the only card he has to play.

(Photo courtesy of myspace.com/nathandiazmma.)

The UFC’s next “Fight Night” card on SpikeTV will reportedly go down September 17th at the Omaha Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska, and matchups are beginning to be sorted out. TUF 5 winner and Stockton-repper Nate Diaz has agreed to fight Josh “The Dentist” Neer in a lightweight bout on the main card; Diaz has gone 4-0 in the UFC since his reality show stint, including a legendary no-hands triangle choke victory over Kurt Pellegrino at UFN 13, while Neer (24-6-1, 3-3 UFC) last defeated Din Thomas by decision at the same event, and holds notable wins over Joe Stevenson and Melvin Guillard.

Omaha’s own Houston Alexander is also expected to appear, taking on Eric Schafer. The fight marks Schafer’s return to the Octagon after picking up a couple of wins in the Gladiators Fighting Series organization; he’d previously dropped two in a row to Michael Bisping and Stephan Bonnar. A middleweight fight between Ed Herman and Alan Belcher has been rumored as well.

In other UFC news…

— Dana White has denied that his mind-blowing announcement is related to New York MMA regulation. Epic Fail averted, for now.

— BloodyElbow is floating a rumor that Anderson Silva and Yushin Okami could fight in October, at the UFC’s next U.K. show. We’d rather see the Spider in a light-heavyweight super-fight, but sure, why not, clean out the division once and for all.

— French welterweight David Baron has reportedly signed with the UFC. Baron is the former 168-pound champion of Shooto Europe who most recently pulled off a huge upset at Shooto Tradition 1 by submitting Hayato Sakurai in the first round.

(This is where we’d normally make some sort of Geico Caveman reference, but those jokes, like the commercials, have been played out to the point of eye-gouging redundancy. So, uh…beauty and the beast?) 

Though they may not get your engine revving, a couple of sure-to-be-undercard bouts have been booked for the UFC’s debut on FUEL TV, the first of which being a featherweight match-up between grappling wizards Jonathan Brookins and Rani Yahya. After lateral dropping his way through season 12 of The Ultimate Fighter, Brookins recently saw a four fight win streak snapped at the hands of featherweight contender Eric Koch in a three rounder reminiscent of Couture vs. Vera that saw Brookins unable to get Koch to the mat.

Yahya, on the other hand, is likely fighting for his future in the UFC. Just 1-3 in his past four, with the lone win coming against a struggling (and last minute replacement) Mike Brown, we last saw Yahya on the losing end of a unanimous decision to Jose Aldo‘s next challenger, Chad Mendes. Prior to the Brown win, Yahya was outclassed by Takeya Mizugaki in another decision at WEC 48 and TKO’ed by future flyweight champ Joseph Benavidez at WEC 45.

(Video via YouTube.com/UFC)

The UFC’s first live event on FX goes down tonight in Nashville, headlined by a lightweight battle between crowd-pleasing contenders Melvin Guillard and Jim Miller — both of whom are trying to rebound from high-profile losses. We’ll be liveblogging the main card broadcast beginning at 9 p.m. ET. (FUEL TV will carry the preliminary card fights starting at 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT.) All fighters made weight for the event yesterday, although Fabricio Camoes needed two attempts to make it happen. The full weigh-in results are below.

Main Card (FX, 9 p.m. ET/PT)
Melvin Guillard (156) vs. Jim Miller (155)
Duane Ludwig (170.5) vs. Josh Neer (171)
Mike Easton (135) vs. Jared Papazian (135.5)
Pat Barry (242) vs. Christian Morecraft (256)

And he’d been training so hard, too. It’s damn near perfect.

It appears that we’ll have to wait a little longer for the UFC debut of former Cage Potato guest blogger and Maximum Fighting Championship light heavyweight champion Ryan Jimmo. Yesterday, the UFC announced that Jimmo was injured while preparing for his debut against Karlos Vemola, and has been taken off of the card. Consequently, Vemola has been dropped from the card, as the UFC will not pursue a replacement opponent for the Czech fighter. The injury suffered by Jimmo has not been disclosed at this time.

Also of note, Swedish-Iranian lightweight prospect Reza Madadi has also been injured, and has pulled out of his UFC debut against the recently re-signed Fabricio Camoes. Unlike Vemola, the UFC is pursuing a last minute replacement opponent for Camoes, who has won two straight since being released by the UFC after a loss to Kurt Pellegrino at UFC 111. Depending on the severity of the injury, Madadi will now likely make his UFC debut at the UFC’s inaugural show in Sweden on April 14.

UFC on FX is set to go down on January 20th from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. The fight card now looks like this:

(Come on. You’re telling me that’s not a pothead? / Photo via Sherdog)

Update: Herman only tested positive for marijuana. The report that originally stated he also tested positive for steroids came from a misinterpretation of his interview.

UFC heavyweight Dave Herman has confirmed that his scheduled UFC 136 main card bout against Mike Russow has been canceled, after his pre-fight drug tests came back positive for marijuana. Herman denies using the illegal substance. As he explained to Clinch Gear Radio:

“I went in to get in my drug test (on Sept. 15), and a week later, they called me and told me they lost my urine specimen. I had to come in and redo it. That was last week. I went back in that day. And [on Wednesday], they told me I failed. I said, ‘That’s impossible.’…[now,] Texas said they never lost it and the first one [tested positive] for drugs and the second was for steroids. I don’t even smoke…I haven’t even had a beer in two months.”

Though it’s been in the works since late last year, a middleweight meeting between Wanderlei Silva (33-10-1, 1 no-contest) and Korean sex-symbol Yoshihiro Akiyama (13-1, 2 no-contests) is finally going to happen at UFC 116 (July 3rd, Las Vegas), according to a new report from Fighters Only. The Axe Murderer has had a rocky road in the Octagon, but he’s 1-0 as a 185-pounder, thanks to his unanimous decision win over Michael Bisping at UFC 110. Akiyama hasn’t competed since his UFC debut at #100, where he scratched out a split-decision win against Alan Belcher. Akiyama hasn’t suffered an official defeat since his second MMA fight back in March 2005, when he was paired up against heavyweight kickboxer Jerome LeBanner and subsequently KTFO’d.

(Momma said there’d be days like this. Photo courtesy of Spike.)

Well, this is never easy, but unfortunately we have to deliver some bad news — the services of TUF 8 veteran Eliot Marshall and Shannon Gugerty will no longer be needed in the Octagon. Though both fighters suffered defeats on the preliminary card of Sunday’s UFC on Versus event, Marshall’s firing is somewhat surprising, since his split-decision loss to Vladimir Matyushenko followed three straight wins over Jules Bruchez, Vinny Magalhaes, and Jason Brilz. But his loss to the Janitor isn’t the first time that Marshall has put in a dull performance, and he could have been released simply because he isn’t exciting enough. Naturally, Marshall isn’t happy about it:

As for Gugerty, his submission loss to Clay Guida was his second straight loss, and dropped his overall UFC record to 2-3. Have Chase Gormley and Paul Buentello somehow escaped this round of layoffs, or will we be hearing about their firings in the near future? Stay tuned.

Speaking of UFC on Versus…

(Props: Cagewriter)

Two notable moments came out of yesterday’s UFC on Versus: Vera vs. Jones weigh-ins at the 1stBank Center in Broomfield, Colorado. First off, James Irvin made his public debut at middleweight, and my God, I would kill for those cheekbones. Seriously, the phrase "cancer survivor" comes to mind. Also, Jon Jones got way up in Brandon Vera‘s face after they hit the scale. Dana White stepped in to separate the two so their forehead-jostling wouldn’t turn into something more serious. Jones explained his high emotions following the weigh-ins, telling Steve Cofield: "I just really don’t like Brandon as a person. I just think he’s disrespectful. I think he’s arrogant. I think he’s full of himself…I guess I let his arrogance get under my skin a little bit. It’s just a learning experience. In the future I’ll deal with talkers better."

The weigh-in numbers are after the jump, courtesy of UFC.com. Remember to come back tonight at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT for live round-by-round results…

(Jon Jones warms up backstage by doing battle with a mummy. Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)

Your old friend the Enabler faced himself a quandary this week. Should he blow some money on college basketball, which he knows/cares almost nothing about, just for the warm feeling he gets from wagering irresponsibly large sums? Or should he save that cash and put it toward something useful, like a crazy parlay bet featuring all three of the Octagon newcomers in this Sunday’s ‘UFC Live’ event?

In the end he decided to try for the best of the both worlds, which means that if Julio Paulino and Cornell both win this weekend, somebody might finally be making a child support payment. Or purchasing a riding lawn mower. Definitely one of those two.

Betting lines today come to us courtesy of BestFightOdds.com:

Jon Jones (-220) vs. Brandon Vera (+215)
Junior dos Santos (-260) vs. Gabriel Gonzaga (+250)
Cheick Kongo (-365) vs. Paul Buentello (+335)
Alessio Sakara (+105) vs. James Irvin (-110)
Clay Guida (-380) vs. Shannon Gugerty (+335)
Eliot Marshall (+155) vs. Vladimir Matyushenko (-150)
Duane Ludwig (-155) vs. Darren Elkins (+153)
John Howard (-190) vs. Daniel Roberts (+190)
Brendan Schaub (-238) vs. Chase Gormley (+214)
Mike Pierce (-439) vs. Julio Paulino (+425)
Eric Schafer (+135) vs. Jason Brilz (-135)

Break it down…

(Alessio Sakara turns Thales Leites’s face all doofy at UFC 101.)

After a few weeks of thumb-twiddling, the UFC has finally decided that the previously announced fight between Alessio Sakara and James "Most Cursed Fighter in MMA History" Irvin will kick off the UFC Live: Vera vs. Jones broadcast next Sunday (3/21) on Versus. The middleweight contest was originally slated for the prelims, but the card’s lineup shifted a bit after Sean Sherk and Anthony Johnson pulled out due to injuries. Sakara is riding back-to-back victories over Joe Vedepo and Thales Leites, but hasn’t competed since last August, while Irvin hasn’t been inside the Octagon since his KO loss to Anderson Silva in July 2008. The current lineup of "UFC on Versus" looks like this…

MAIN CARD
Brandon Vera vs. Jon Jones (LHW)
Junior dos Santos vs. Gabriel Gonzaga (HW)
Cheick Kongo vs. Paul Buentello (HW)
Alessio Sakara vs. James Irvin (MW)

PRELIMINARY CARD
Clay Guida vs. Shannon Gugerty (LW)
Eliot Marshall vs. Vladimir Matyushenko (LHW)
John Howard vs. Daniel Roberts (WW)
Brendan Schaub vs. Chase Gormley (HW)
Mike Pierce vs. Julio Paulino (WW)
Eric Schafer vs. Jason Brilz (LHW)

After the jump: Kongo vs. Buentello video hype, plus a list of international TV stations showing the event courtesy of MMA Junkie.

Multiple sources are reporting that the upcoming welterweight title match between WEC champ Carlos "Natural Born Killer" Condit and top contender Brock Larson — scheduled for WEC 39 on March 1st — has been canceled, with Condit on the verge of moving to the UFC. Though Five Ounces of Pain first reported the news, their claim that the Condit/Larson bout was scrapped due to an injury sustained by Larson is being refuted by MMA Weekly, who says that Condit was the one who first dropped out of the Corpus Christi WEC show due to a sprained wrist.

At any rate, it seems the UFC has decided that this might be a good time to bring Condit up to the big leagues; Condit is on an eight-fight win streak and hasn’t lost since June 2006. The current rumor is that he’ll be facing Martin Kampmann at UFC Fight Night 18 (April 1st, Nashville), and it’s been speculated that this is the first step towards the elimination of the WEC’s welterweight division; the WEC discontinued its middleweight and light-heavyweight classes late last year, with the UFC signing standout fighters Brian Stann, Steve Cantwell, and Chael Sonnen.

In other UFC news…

— Replacing the injured Amir Sadollah against Nick Catone at UFC Fight Night 17 (February 7th, Tampa) will be UFC newbie Derek "The Gentleman" Downey, a Utah-based fighter who has built up a 10-3 record fighting in regional promotions. Nine of his 10 wins have come by first-round stoppage.

— Houston Alexander is getting another chance to prove himself after taking his third-straight first-round loss to Eric Schafer last September. The Assassin will be returning at UFC 98 (May 23rd, Las Vegas) against Andre Gusmao, the former IFL standout who dropped a decision to Jon Jones in his Octagon debut at UFC 87.

(Weigh-in video courtesy of the UFC via The MMA Post. Looks like Octagon Girl Edith will be making her return, joined of course by Arianny and Logan.)

All fighters hit their mark comfortably today at the UFC 93 weigh-ins in Dublin — quite comfortably, in fact. Dan Henderson came in a full three pounds under the 205-pound limit for his main event bout, while Rich Franklin weighed in at 203. More surprising was former middleweight Martin Kampmann, who weighed in at trim 168 for his first fight at welterweight. Mark Coleman was able to land within the one-pound allowance for his debut match at light-heavyweight, though if you check out the video above starting at around the 17:47 mark, you’ll see that the Hammer looks way thinner now that he’s a LHW, and might be a little jet-lagged. Check out the full results below, and don’t forget to come back to CagePotato.com tomorrow at 3 p.m. ET/noon PT for our thrilling liveblog of the fights. 

MAIN CARD
Rich Franklin (203) vs Dan Henderson (202)
Mark Coleman (206) vs Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (205)
Jeremy Horn (185) vs Rousimar Palhares (184)
Alan Belcher (186) vs Denis Kang (184)
Marcus Davis (169) vs Chris Lytle (171)

UNDERCARD
Alexandre Barros (170) vs Martin Kampmann (168)
Antonio Mendes (204) vs Eric Schafer (205)
Ivan Serati (204) vs Tomasz Drwal (203)
John Hathaway (171) vs Tom Egan (169)
Dennis Siver (155) vs Nate Mohr (156)

(Why you so mad, Nate? By Stockton standards, you rich!)

Official salaries for last week’s Ultimate Fight Night 15 were released today by the Nebraska State Athletic Commission, and not surprisingly it was Nate Diaz who made off with the most cheddar (that’s what the kids call money these days, right?). Here’s the full breakdown. Each winning fighter’s salary represents a doubling of his base pay:

Nate Diaz: $40,000
Josh Neer: $9,000
Clay Guida: $26,000
Mac Danzig: $15,000
Alan Belcher: $26,000
Ed Herman: $16,000
Eric Schafer: $12,000
Houston Alexander: $13,000
Alessio Sakara: $34,000
Joe Vedepo: $3,000
Wilson Gouveia: $36,000
Ryan Jensen: $4,000
Joe Lauzon: $20,000
Kyle Bradley: $4,000
Jason Brilz: $6,000
Brad Morris: $4,000
Mike Massenzio: $6,000
Drew McFedries: $16,000
Dan Miller: $10,000
Rob Kimmons: $5,000

Some quick thoughts…

(Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)

The BF half of the Cage Potato duo is in Omaha for tonight’s Ultimate Fight Night event. If you’re headed to the Civic Auditorium later this afternoon for the event, keep an eye out for the handsome devil with the laptop. I’ll be sitting behind that guy, scribbling my thoughts on a wax tablet. What? I just think all this new technology is a fad. It’ll blow over.

But if you can’t get to the fights tonight but want to find a way to make yourself sweat over the results anyway, allow me to suggest gambling. BestFightOdds.com has compiled all the lines for tonight’s event, and here’s what it’s looking like at the moment:

Nathan Diaz (-200) vs. Josh Neer (+200)
Clay Guida (-121) vs. Mac Danzig (+125)
Houston Alexander (-212) vs. Eric Schafer (+215)
Ed Herman (-220) vs. Alan Belcher (+215)
Joe Lauzon (-675) vs. Kyle Bradley (+500)
Drew McFedries (-200) vs. Mike Massenzio (+210)
Wilson Gouveia (-350) vs. Ryan Jensen (+326)
Alessio Sakara (-115) vs. Joe Vedepo (+128)
Jason Brilz (-209) vs. Brad Morris (+215)
Dan Miller (-110) vs. Rob Kimmons (+105)

Some thoughts…

(Don’t stop believing. Photo courtesy of Fighters.com.)

— Evan Tanner’s memorial will be held at 2 p.m. on September 27th at the Civic Center (401 South Buchanan Street) in Amarillo, Texas. Tonight’s Ultimate Fight Night broadcast will be dedicated to Tanner, and an Evan Tanner tribute show will be airing soon on Spike.

— Even though the ink on Houston Alexander’s new five-fight contract extension hasn’t even dried yet, Dana White admits that if the Assassin loses against Eric Schafer tonight, he’ll need to leave the UFC for a while to rack up some wins in other promotions.

— Roger Huerta’s loss to Kenny Florian last month was very hard on him emotionally, and he’s desperate for a rematch. In an interview with Fighters Only Magazine, he also seemed to imply that he’ll be leaving Greg Jackson’s team: “I would like to go back to the way I used to train, with the people I used to train with. Those guys were like brothers to me, not just trainers.”

— TUF 7 finalist C.B. Dollaway will reportedly return to the Octagon at UFC 92 (December 27th, Las Vegas) against middleweight veteran Jorge Rivera. Dollaway is officially 1-1 in the UFC at this point, after being submitted by Amir Sadollah via armbar at the TUF 7 finale in June, then submitting Jesse Taylor via Peruvian neck tie at “Silva vs. Irvin” in July.

— Speaking of fight bookings, Mike Swick and Jonathan Goulet have agreed to fight each other at the Ultimate Fighter 8 finale on December 13th. Both men have won their last two fights in the UFC.

— Round 5′s new Sean Sherk collectible figure doesn’t really look like Sean Sherk. But the Wandy and Spider figures are definitely worthy of being displayed in your cubicle.

(Griffin and Bonnar: Enemies 4-eva.)

According to Yahoo! Sports, Stephan Bonnar tore ligaments in his knee during training last week and will be out for six months. As a result, he’ll be unable to fight Matt Hamill at Ultimate Fight Night 13 on 4/2. Said Bonnar: “I was doing nothing out of the ordinary, just working on my (jiu-jitsu) getting ready for my fight. I heard a pop and I thought, ‘Damn, what is this?’ I walked around on it a little, but when I got home, it was really stiff and swollen.” The American Psycho will have surgery soon in Los Angeles, where a ligament from a fucking cadaver will be placed into his knee. By the time his recovery period is over, Bonnar will have been inactive for 10 months (his last fight was a TKO victory over Eric Schafer at UFC 77 in October).

This blows, completely. Out of all the big fights at UFN 13, the Bonnar/Hammil match is the one we were most looking forward to. We hope the UFC can find a solid opponent for Matt Hammil so he’s not dropped from the card. In case Joe Silva is reading this, two possibilities come to mind:

Tim Boetsch: UFC fans want to see more of this guy after he kicked/slammed/punched the shit out of David Heath at UFC 81. With another fight or two at that same level of intensity, he’ll earn a place in the light-heavyweight division’s mid-range mix.

Wilson Gouveia: He’s been 4-0 in the UFC since losing to Keith Jardine at the Ultimate Fighter 3 finale, including his highlight-reel knockout of Jason Lambert at UFC 80. One more credible win and he’ll be ready for top-ten-caliber competition.