All nine stoppages from Saturday’s action-packed “Jones vs. Machida” card, in convenient animated gif form. Props to IronForgesIron and the UG; lots more after the jump.

Just a friendly reminder that the UFC on Fox 2: Alves vs. Kampmann press conference will be live at 7:00 pm ET and that we’ll have the live stream right here for you.

Besides the main event between Thiago Alves and Martin Kampmann, perhaps the most interesting bouts of the card are the opening round flyweight tournament match-ups between Ian “Uncle Creepy” McCall versus Demetrious Johnson and Joseph Benevidez versus Yasuhiro Urushitani.

Since the card is made up of mostly polite fighters, we don’t expect much drama at the weigh-ins, but there’s a pretty good chance someone at the presser will ask someone about Dakota Cochrane, since it’s such a hot-button topic.

Check out the stream after the jump.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/UFC)

The weigh-ins for UFC 140 took place in Toronto this afternoon. Unfortunately, we forgot to set our watches to Canadian time, so you’ll have to settle for watching the video after the fact.

Only one fighter didn’t make weight, and since our headline spoils the surprise, you’ve probably figured out it was Dennis Hallman, who was 3.5 lbs over the 155-pound lightweight limit. He decided not to make a second attempt, which is unusual considering how close he was and will instead pay opponent John Makdessi 20 percentof his purse. By our estimation, this is “Superman’s” second strike, so if he doesn’t beat Makdessi, we may him get Miguel Torres’ed tomorrow night.

For those of you who can’t watch the vid at work, the full results are after the jump.

(Photo via @ufc)

The fighters for tomorrow night’s UFC 140 event just finished weighing in at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre, with 23 of the 24 competitors coming in at or below their contracted limits. The sole fuck-up was Dennis Hallman, who was scheduled to make his lightweight debut against John Makdessi. Instead, he crushed the scales at 158.5, and was granted some extra time to get down to 156. And he’d better make it happen, considering that he’s already on the UFC’s bad side due to his unfortunate wardrobe choice in his last fight. Update: Hallman has been fined 20 percent of his purse for failing to make weight.

The other item worth noting is that Frank Mir weighed in 21 pounds heavier than Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for their heavyweight rematch. Three years ago, their size difference was only five pounds. The full list of “Jones vs. Machida” weigh-in results is after the jump. Come back to CagePotato.com tomorrow night at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT for our liveblog of the pay-per-view main card, and catch up on our previous UFC 140 coverage on the Main Event page.

(Highlights from the Silva-Brenneman bout, courtesy of Fox Sports)

Six hours of free televised fights seems like a gift from Zod, unless of course the first three hours suck. A few plodding decisions, amateur officiating, a never-ending commercial loop, and the requisite botched score cards marred the prelim bouts on Fuel. It was enough to stifle what little hope some had for the rest of the evening.

But for those who flipped the channel to FX still harboring the post-prelim blues, undercard openers Scott Jorgensen and Eddie Wineland took little time to erase any ill will and set the stage for an exciting night of action. After settling into the bout, Wineland began finding a home for his hands, sitting “Young Guns” down with a sharp jab. He’d plant Jorgesen on his back briefly with a trip before landing several more blows to close out the first frame. Having had his fill of leather in round one, Jorgensen turned it on in the second frame, hustling for takedowns and opening up a hatchet wound over Wineland’s eye with a glancing knee. But the extra effort and billowing blood only brought out the fire in Wineland, who stuffed several shots while looking for the knockout. He’d find it at the end of a big right hand uncorked in the last minute of the second round. Jorgensen was stunned as he hit the floor, unable to defend himself from the final blows Wineland rained down as the ref stepped in to wave him off. Wineland’s win reversed a two fight skid against two top opponents; now Jorgensen has his own pair of losses to shake off. The extra cash from the “Fight of the Night” bonus should make that task a little easier.

(He beat the crap out of Jamie Yager, so he’ll always be a legend in our book. Photo props: Justin M. Bowen/ Las Vegas Sun)

When UFC matchmaker Joe Silva calls you to fight on short notice as an injury replacement, sometimes it’s better to not even answer the phone. That’s the lesson we’ve learned from a contradictory pair of recent firings that seem to define the phrase “damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”

As confirmed by MMAFighting.com, welterweight contender (and former CagePotato guest-blogger) Rich Attonito has been released by the UFC. Attonito had an official record of 3-2 within the Octagon, and last competed at UFC 140 in December 2011, where he was TKO’d by Jake Hecht. Here’s the sequence of events that led to Rich’s firing, from the MMAFighting report:

When [Pascal] Krauss pulled out of UFC on FUEL TV 5, [Joe] Silva offered Rich Attonito the fight against [Gunnar] Nelson via Attonito’s manager Dan Lambert. Lambert spoke to the American Top Team fighter, who agreed to take the welterweight bout. The next day, Lambert called Silva to tell him Attonito said he would not be able to make the 170-pound weight limit on short notice. Silva then offered him the opportunity to take the fight at a 175-pound catch weight, which both Attonito and Nelson, through his manager and father Haraldur Nelson, agreed to. The next day, Lambert called Silva back again to inform him that Attonito would not be able to make the 175-pound catch weight either. As a result, Silva decided to release Attonito from his contract.

Here’s the deal: When the UFC offers you an opportunity to come in as a replacement fighter, you generally don’t get a day or two to think about it. Attonito’s crime was speaking too soon — agreeing to a fight before he realized that making weight would be impossible. But at the time the fight was offered to him, saying “no” to Joe Silva probably seemed like the bigger sin.

Anyway, Attonito changed his mind and got fired for it. And you probably remember what happened next…

(A preview of Gustafsson’s placement on the list? There’s only one way to find out.) 

A great man once said that geology was the study of pressure and time. That man’s name was Red, and although he was simply using the phrase as a metaphor for prison life, he could’ve just as easily been talking about hype. Because hype, not unlike geology, has the ability to form diamonds from coal, and just as easily crush the greatest boulders into dust.

As MMA fans, we know the hype game more than any; if we’re not prematurely declaring it “The_____Era,” then we’re likely discrediting legends of the sport, even going as far to say that their wins never held any validity in the first place. Sounds insane, doesn’t it? Well, welcome to the world of cyberhype, the deadliest, fastest spreading strand of hype there is. And as with Kei$ha and CSI spin-offs, there is little we can do to stop this disease, so instead we’ll just try and act like we were into it before it got popular.

Here are five of the hottest prospects in the UFC, ranked in order of how long we knew about them before you did.

5. Stephen Thompson

Last three fights: (W) Dan Stittgen via KO, (W) Patrick Mandio via UD, (W)  William Kuhn via UD

There isn’t much we can say about Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson that his kickboxing and MMA records don’t. The man has strung together 63 consecutive wins in mixed competition, most recently starching Daniel Stittgen ^ at UFC 143. The hype surrounding Thompson has been overlooked by some, and will be put to the test when he takes on TUF 7 vet Matt Brown at UFC 145.

There’s a time for fightin’, and a time for dancin’! Nog breaks out “The Robot“, Mir shows off the “Smooth Criminal“. (Photo: UFC.com)

I’m not sure what sort of pre-fight pep talk was given to the fighters in their locker rooms last night, but I hope somebody recorded it to play at all future events. “Never leave it in the hands of the judges” doesn’t begin to capture the sentiment that most of the fighters carried with them to the Octagon. Last night’s finishes were emphatic and extraordinary. Knocking your opponent out wouldn’t do—it would have to tie for the quickest KO in UFC history. Subbing the previously untapped wasn’t enough—you had to break them or render them unconcious.

We’ve already broken down the Jones-Machida bout, so we’ll just say the champion definitely gave us something to Skype about. Now, onto the rest of the card.

(Oh, jeez. Has Michael seen this poster yet? He is gonna be piiiisssed.)

By Dan “Get Off Me” George

You know that saying “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”? Well, such is the case with UFC 151’s trash (which coincidentally resembles the remnants of a totaled Bentley) and UFC 152’s treasure. And those of us who were smart enough to recognize a curse when we saw one and purchase our tickets accordingly will reap the rewards of the 151 fallout by being treated to two title fights on the very same card. Suck it, over-saturation!

This Saturday night, the GAE will attempt to go where no other MMA blog/website/”professional MMA gambler”(my favorite) has gone before, a perfect 4-0 generating plus money dating back to UFC 148. So follow us after the jump as we try to navigate through the good, the bad, and the ugly betting lines of UFC 152: Jones vs Belfort (courtesy of BestFightOdds).

Charlie Brenneman (-225) vs. Kyle Noke (+185)

I feel that the Spaniard will be able to get this fight to the mat and establish himself as the dominant fighter. Hovering around -225, the line is appealing when you examine how Kyle Noke has lost his last two UFC bouts coupled with how Charlie has found victory throughout his UFC career (Ed note: Except here). This fight falls into the good category for betting lines and Brenneman will find his way into my parlay as the well priced favorite here.

(Does this look like a dude who should be deprived of what he wants? Pic: Sherdog)

As avid readers of our keen, in-depth statistical analysis, we know that you know that we know that Jake Ellenberger is currently riding a four-fight win-streak in the UFC. After going to Toronto and knocking out short-notice opponent Sean Pierson (just like we told you he would) last month Ellenberger remains undefeated since his split decision loss to Carlos Condit in his Octagon debut (a fight he appeared to be on his way to winning before gassing out) way back in September, 2009. Now that he’s home in Nebraska rehabbing the hand he broke on Pierson’s face, Ellenberger is going back to basics, returning to a strategy he adopted some months ago: Trying to trash-talk his way into a fight with Jake Shields.

Except here’s the difference: If not for that original loss to Condit at UFN 19, people might just be talking about a 5-0 (in the UFC) Jake Ellenberger as a potential top candidate to get a welterweight title shot one of these days soon. So now that Ellenberger is soaring and the Shields hype-wagon has been slowed a bit by his do-nothing performance against Georges St. Pierre at UFC 129, maybe this booking wouldn’t seem so crazy. Hmmmm?

(How quickly they forget that time you totally jumped out of that pool.)

It’s a real bummer of a Monday for Jake Rosholt, as the 8-2 middleweight announced on his Twitter that he’s been cut from the UFC following a first-round submission loss to Kendall Grove at UFC 106.  Rosholt was terse about the whole thing, writing only: "Not a good day.  Just found out I got cut by the #UFC." 

Rosholt, a Division I wrestling champ and four-time All American at Oklahoma State, was undefeated before transitioning from the WEC to the UFC earlier this year, but he’s gone 1-2 since stepping in the Octagon, with his lone win coming via arm triangle chokeout against Chris Leben at UFC 102 in August.  What’s got to make this a really tough pill for Rosholt to swallow is that, right up until he got caught in that triangle, he was dominating Grove.  He pushed him all over the cage, took him down with ease, and appeared to be on his way toward a quick victory.  But one little mistake cost him the fight, and as an extra little kick in the balls he now he finds himself out of a job. 

Obviously some other organization can find a use for him, and it seems very likely that he’ll make his way back to the UFC in the future, but for right now it has to sting knowing that he should be spending his win bonus and thinking about who’s next.  Instead he’s circling the MMA want ads and reusing Ziploc bags to save money.  Just goes to show how easily fortunes change in this sport.  Keep your head up, Jake. 

(Riggs shows off his green "Diesel" tattoo, otherwise known as the call for eco-friendly transportation solutions that was a little ahead of its time.)

When Strikeforce decided to call off a bout between Jake Shields and Joe Riggs in favor of matching Shields up with Robbie Lawler, we were pretty pleased with the change.  Joe Riggs is not.  Not only does he seem to feel that he’s missing out on an opportunity to “expose” Shields and get himself back in the top ten, he tells Ariel Helwani at Versus.com that he’s also being straight-up dissed by Shields, and he is maaaaad.  As in, like, Dana White when you ask him about Affliction mad.  Check it:

“(Expletive) Jake Shields’ (expletive) (expletive),” Riggs said. “I have done enough in this sport to be (expletive) treated with a certain amount of respect, and to talk about me like I am a (expletive) Pat Smith or Tank Abbott…For one, I am like six years younger than that punk (expletive) (expletive). So, (expletive) him. People forget that I am (expletive) 25 [Ed. note: Really?  Just 25?  He’s right, I totally did forget that.  Is he sure he's not at least 32?]. (Expletive) that guy. I would really, really fight Jake Shields for free just to shut his mouth up.”

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.

(“What you lookin’ at piss breath?”)

Well, here we are at the UFC’s second Toronto card of 2011 and I’m stuck at home an hour-and-a-half away live-blogging on my couch with my wife and my dog.

I got a call from a buddy a few hours ago telling me he had a free ticket for me, but I told him I had to keep you guys abreast of the action, so I took a raincheck. Don’t say I never do anything for you.

The prelims are already in the books. Check out the results after the jump and let’s get this thing going.

All 53 seconds of Jake Shields vs. Jake Ellenberger, from last night’s UFC Fight Night 25/Battle on the Bayou event. Check it out while it lasts.

(In case you’ve completely forgotten what he looks like, this is Jake Ellenberger.)

Immediately after Jake Shields notched an ugly decision win over Martin Kampmann at UFC 121, welterweight vet Jake Ellenberger logged onto Twitter and started posting short-message bombs directed at the former Strikeforce champ. Highlights included, "Jake Shields, you’re as exciting as watching a bowl of mash potatoes get cold…Your days are numbered" and "Jake Shields’ cardio won’t be a factor if he fights me next. I won’t keep him around long enough to get tired."

(As cheap as it is for Ellenberger to talk smack over Twitter — without even including ‘@jakeshieldsajj‘ in his posts so that Jake will actually see them — we have to commend him for being the first MMA fighter in Twitter history to understand the difference between "you’re" and "your." Okay, nerdy grammar rant over.)

Since Ellenberger is just 2-1 in the UFC with wins over fellow mid-packers Mike Pyle and John Howard, we didn’t think for a second that he’d get Jake Shields pulled from his impending title fight just on the strength of his eDisses. And he didn’t. Instead, Ellenberger got a fight against Jon Fitch.

(Photo courtesy of MTV. Yes, Jake was a two-time bully-beater.)

Yesterday we ran an interview with Jason "Mayhem" Miller, in which the Bully Beatdown host vowed to "beat the piss out of Jake Shields" and "smash him" when they fight, and claimed that he does "everything better than him." Well, word got back to Shields, and he’s not too happy about it. The former EliteXC welterweight champ, who’s no stranger to telling fighters that it is in fact they who suck, had this to say to GracieFighter in response (tip via TheGarv):

(I’m not your mommy and no, I won’t read you a bedtime story)

Whenever most fighters are asked whether or not they were hurt by a heavy punch, solid kick or vicious knee, they usually lie through their teeth and deny the shot had any effect whatsoever.

Jake Shields, isn’t like most fighters.

When asked in a recent interview with FiveKnuckles.com, if the pair of right hands that dropped him twice in the first round of his title defense against Dan Henderson at Strikeforce: Nashville in April had any effect, Shields was quick to admit he was in trouble and survived on pure instinct alone as he wasn’t sure about much more than the fact that he knew he was in a fight.

(“Tell me you aren’t going to miss this shit, bro.”)

Our friends at Kimura.se caught up with Jake Shields ahead of his UFC 144 fight with Yoshihiro Akiyama Saturday in Japan and they asked the Team Cesar Gracie fighter whether or not he thinks his teammate Nick Diaz will follow through on his plan to retire.

This shocking video was pulled directly from the YouTube account of one of the alleged participants.

Good morning, everyone. We’d like to think that all is well in the world, but then we checked our YouTube subscriptions and saw this. MMA superstar Jake Shields is taking time out to sign autographs and greet fans, when an ugly scene of sexual harassment breaks out. Sure, it seems like everyone is just having some fun and it’s no big deal, but this is why we need to educate young athletes on the dangers of being taken advantage of.

If you can stomach it, click on the video and watch as MMA photographer Tracy Lee coerces young Shields into viewing explicit pictures of “planking”, a practice so suggestive and offensive we can’t even find a suitable link that wouldn’t make your computers immediately contract the binary version of the bad AIDS. As you can tell by Shields’ reaction, the pictures are shocking (and possibly illegal in the continental US). After showing Shields these hardcore pictures of other individuals performing this “planking” nonsense, Lee and her friends use applied psychology tricks to gradually erode the moral boundaries that make Jake Shields an upstanding role model for children.

It’s clear in the video that Shields just wants to please, as he reluctantly goes along with the idea to perform this “planking” with Lee, even while he expresses reservations that he could face some sort of trouble if things go awry. It’s possible that Shields naively believes that Lee and her friends will keep the footage to themselves, and his exploitation will go undiscovered. We can’t tell you how many times we’ve heard similar stories of young actors trying desperately to get ahead and being caught up in similar schemes, doing humiliating things on camera in hopes of being noticed.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/MMACanada)

Jake Shields was in Toronto recently for a photo shoot at Xtreme Couture for Jakt Apparel and he spoke briefly to MMACanada about his upcoming UFC 129 bout in the city with UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre while he was there.

For those of you whose bosses don’t like you wasting your work day watching videos on YouTube, the transcription is after the jump.

(Time to make the donuts. / Photo courtesy of Strikeforce.)

GracieFighter.com makes it official — and we can forget this nonsense about Jake staying at middleweight:

Jake Shields will be debuting at the 170lbs weight division in the UFC. After careful consideration and consulting with UFC representatives it was determined Jake would be finally going back to his original fighting weight. Jake’s opponent is one of the UFC’s top contenders and will be announced shortly.

It’s obviously the best way to go. If Shields can run through one or two prominent welterweights by the time Georges St. Pierre and Josh Koscheck finish their little lover’s spat on TUF 12 (and subsequent title fight), he’ll be nicely set up for a shot at the belt. Any guesses as to who he’ll draw first?

("Tell ‘em you want a $125,000 base salary to start, increasing $25,000 with every win."
"And a custom Hummer, like the ones they give to Ultimate Fighter coaches."
"And an immediate shot at Anderson Silva."
"And a percentage of the…wait, what?")

After a difficult bidding period in which Jake Shields was asking for more money than Scott Coker thought he was worth, Strikeforce released their middleweight champion yesterday, putting Shields on the open market. Shields’s Strikeforce contract ended after his April title defense against Dan Henderson, which allowed other organizations to make bids on his services. Strikeforce was in the matching stage of the process, and had the option to meet any competing offers, but ultimately decided that letting Shields walk was their best option.

As Scott Coker said on MMA Weekly radio, "The numbers, there was a big gap between what we thought was real, and what we thought was going to work, and I call that the numbers dance. It is what it is, and we’re going to probably be moving forward with that tournament."

Tensions between Shields and Strikeforce have reportedly been strained since he appeared at WEC 48, sitting next to UFC president Dana White, who mouthed "he’s mine" at the camera. Strikeforce may have even tried to block Shields from attending Saturday’s Fedor vs. Werdum show. 

(Jake Ellenberger, seen here working for his money like a sucker.)

Those among us who aren’t pro fighters might think that Jake Ellenberger got a pretty sweet deal today. Because Ben Saunders volunteered to step in for Thiago Alves against Jon Fitch on late notice, Ellenberger now doesn’t have to do any work on Saturday night, and yet he still gets paid as if he had fought and won. Seems like a clear-cut ‘Nice, Playa‘ situation if we ever saw one.

But according to what he told Cagewriter, Ellenberger is still a little bummed about training for weeks just to end up a spectator in Newark this weekend:

"I was disappointed. Ben Saunders asked for the fight, Dana liked that, so our fight took a backseat. …It took me by complete surprise."

(Man, wouldn’t it be ironic if they were actually related?)

Jake Shields to Fight! Magazine following "Lawler vs. Shields" (via OMA):

(Props: MMA Mania)

Hey, look who’s getting into the video blog act — it’s Joe Lauzon, who lets us into his world as he flies from Boston to Tampa to take on Jeremy Stephens at UFC Fight Night 17. Him and his crew gawk at Tiffani Amber Thiessen, visit Gracie Tampa, do a news spot with Rich Clementi…and that’s about it. Maybe he’ll have a shock pen in tomorrow’s episode and things will really get interesting. Below: New UFC signee Jake Rosholt gives RawVegas.tv a tour of his house in Las Vegas, which contains about as many live animals as dead ones; watch to the end and you’ll see the most amazing pet trick ever.

(Props: CageWriter) 

It was bad enough when Mike Pyle’s contract disputes prevented Jake Shields from taking home a well-deserved EliteXC championship belt in November. Now it looks like his fight against Drew Fickett at this Saturday’s Strikeforce/EliteXC event — which many assumed would officially establish Shields as the welterweight title holder — won’t even happen.

It’s being reported that the Shields/Fickett bout is being postponed due to Shields pulling a muscle in his back while training last week. Says FiveOunces:

[Shields] flew to Los Angeles in order to meet with a specialist. While he had experienced some improvement with the injury, it was determined that he would not be ready in time for Saturday’s fight. A decision was then made to postpone the bout. A re-scheduled date for the bout has not been set, but Shields indicated that the title fight could take place within the next couple of months.

I guess that’s what you get for letting Brandon Vera give you a pinkbelly; that shot probably dislodged at least four discs. Shields’s dropout is just the latest blow to an event that had already suffered the loss of one big name, when Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos was forced to pull out of the card due to visa issues.

In related news, an EliteXC lightweight title fight between Yves Edwards and K.J. Noons has been postponed to June 14th. The two fighters were supposed to meet at an April 26th show in Hawaii, but that event has reportedly been canceled altogether. Our first thought is that EliteXC is canceling the show to reserve some talent for their first CBS broadcasts, but we’ll let you know if/when they release an official statement.

EliteXC’s welterweight top-dog Jake Shields was awarded his BJJ black belt yesterday by Cesar Gracie at Team Fairtex Gym in San Francisco. Nick Diaz, Gilbert Melendez and others were on hand to congratulate him the only way they know how. Hmm…I assumed this moment would be a little more dignified. Anyway, big ups to Shields, who faces UFC vet Drew Fickett at the March 29th Strikeforce/EliteXC show headlined by Frank Shamrock/Cung Le.

(Video courtesy of Sherdog)

(That’s an understatement.)

Talk about the opportunity of a lifetime.

After a seven year absence from Zuffa’s graces that saw him go 16-3 in various promotions including Bellator, Strikeforce, and most recently Legacy Fighting Championships, highly-ranked welterweight Jay Hieron will finally be returning to the UFC to take on Jake Ellenberger in Josh Koscheck’s absence in the co-main event of UFC 151.

Awwwwww yeah!!