(It may not be the most conventional fight attire, but we’ll give Miesha a ton of fap style points for the effort.) 

It’s hard to believe that it’s only been a few short months since Miesha Tate nearly had her arm torn in two by Ronda Rousey in the their bantamweight championship showdown on March 3rd. It was undoubtedly one of the most heated (not to mention hyped) fights in WMMA history, and did not disappoint once the caged door closed. As it turns out, despite the fact that Meisha ended up coming short and losing her belt in the process, the fight didn’t even come close to squashing the beef between her and Rousey. How appropriate then, that it was recently announced that the former champ has been booked to take on Julie Kedzie at the same event that Rousey will attempt to defend her belt for the first time against Sarah Kaufman.

Is this just an attempt by Strikeforce to pack as many exciting fights as possible into their ever-decreasing number of cards, or rather an elaborate ploy to set up another post fight brawl that will in turn hype the inevitable rematch between Rousey and Tate?

(Julie Kedzie steals the show at the EliteXC: Destiny weigh-ins, while some creepy chick named Gina lurks in the background. / Photo via George Ruiz)

What the hell, guys…it’s like the UFC is actually assembling a real women’s bantamweight division, with contenders and prospects and even gatekeepers. Color us impressed. The UFC’s latest female fight-booking is veteran Jackson’s MMA product Julie Kedzie vs. Dutch kickboxer Germaine “The Iron Lady” de Randamie, both of whom spent time in Strikeforce before that organization’s collapse. As first revealed by FOX Sports, the two fighters will meet at UFC on FOX 8, July 27th in Seattle.

A decorated practitioner of the “Fuck This” fighting style (seriously), Kedzie has unfortunately lost her last two contests against Miesha Tate and Alexis Davis, which dropped her career record to 16-11. Since then, she’s kept busy as a member of the Invicta FC broadcast team, and according to Wikipedia, Kedzie is also Greg Jackson’s personal assistant.*

(Julie Kedzie: There’s nothing better than losing that last 10…)

According to press release sent out today by EliteXC, that Miami event featuring Kimbo Slice vs. Tank Abbott won’t be the first show that Elite puts on in 2008. “ShoXC: EliteXC Challenger Series” is scheduled to go down on January 25th in Atlantic City and will feature the following matches:

TELEVISED CARD
Paul “Semtex” Daley vs. TBA (160 lbs.)
Yves Edwards vs. Kyle Bradley (160 lbs.)
Bobby McMaster vs. Bao Quach (150 lbs.)
Kala Kolohe Hose vs. Bellaton Frederic (185 lbs.)
Julie Kedzie vs. Tonya Evinger (140 lbs.)

PRELIMINARY MATCHES
Eddie Alvarez vs. Carlos Quinlon (160 lbs.)
Zach Makovsky vs. Wilson Reis (140 lbs.)
Binky Jones vs. TBA (150 lbs.)
Sergio Vinagre vs. Doug Gordon (170 lbs.)
Joe Shilling vs. Matt Makowski (170 lbs.)

The event will be broadcast on Showtime at 11 p.m. ET/PT, and tickets are available here. At this point, we’re really only interested in the Kedzie/Evinger fight, which would establish a clear successor to Gina Carano, should she decide to leave the fighting life and pursue other opportunities full-time; both women lost to Carano in 2007.

(Beltran, as re-imagined by Sega.)

Last weekend’s Strikeforce: Rousey vs. Kaufman card was easily one of the most entertaining top-to-bottom cards in recent memory, providing us with a lightning quick (also, completely predictable) finish in the main event and an even quicker knockout in the co-main. But as is typical for a Strikeforce event, the night was not without controversy and a few judgmental errors. Herb Dean went completely against character when he botched the call in the Adlan Amagov/Keith Barry fight, and the decision to place former title challenger Meisha Tate’s comeback bout against Julie Kedzie on the prelims was nothing short of baffling.

But greater than witnessing Ronda Rousey‘s sixth straight first round armbar, greater even than OSP’s one-punch knockout of T.J. Cook, was that of referee Mike Beltran’s epic mustache. An “epistache” if you will. Why Beltran decided to become a referee instead of claiming his place atop the Whisker Wars podium is beyond us, but his hard work and dedication can not and will not be overlooked by us here at CagePotato. So join us after the jump for a brief GIF tribute to Beltran’s glorious stache, along with several gifs from the night’s fights, courtesy of the UG.

(Yeah, it’s basically a teacher’s salary, but putting a smile on Judo Gene‘s face makes it all worthwhile.)

Strikeforce paid out $368,000 in total disclosed salaries to the fighters who competed on Saturday’s Rousey vs. Kaufman card, with Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza eating up over a quarter of the total, the greedy bastard. Actually, Souza’s $94,000 paycheck was odd in that his win bonus was only about 30% of his to-show money, rather than the full 100% that almost everybody else on the Zuffa payroll gets.

The night’s biggest star Ronda Rousey only earned a $40,000 purse — I know, ladies, I know — though it was still enough to put her in second place on the event’s cash-money leaderboard. Check out the full salary list after the jump, and keep in mind that these figures don’t include additional revenue from sponsorships and undisclosed “locker room bonuses,” or deductions for taxes, insurance, and license fees.

Ronda Rousey: $40,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus)
Sarah Kaufman: $17,000

Ronaldo Jacare Souza: $94,000 (includes $22,000 win bonus)
Derek Brunson: $13,000

(Step one: Distract the Lizbos. / Photo via Miesha’s Facebook page)

Following her loss to Cat Zingano at the TUF 17 Finale, Miesha Tate was slapped with a medical suspension due to a busted nose that would put her on the sidelines for up to six months. But if she can get ENT clearance in time, she’ll return to the Octagon at UFC on FOX 8 (July 27th, Seattle), where she’ll face former title-contender Liz Carmouche. UFC Tonight correspondant Ariel Helwani was the first to report news of the planned bantamweight matchup. For the record, Tate says her nose is fine and the damn doctors are just over-protective.

Carmouche has been inactive since her armbar loss to Ronda Rousey at UFC 157 in February, although she made some headlines recently with her campaign to become the first openly-gay athlete sponsored by Nike.

UFC on FOX 8 is already scheduled to feature the women’s bantamweight match between Julie Kedzie and Germaine de Randamie, so if Tate vs. Carmouche gets the green-light, the 7/27 UFC card will be the first to feature two women’s bouts on the same night. Any early predictions?

(McMann creates the most savage punch-face in women’s MMA history, against Raquel Pa’aluhi at ProElite 1 last August. Yeesh. That is just awful.)

Strikeforce’s latest red-hot female prospect now has a debut date and opponent. According to MMAFighting, undefeated bantamweight (and Olympic silver medalist) Sara McMann will compete on the supporting card of Strikeforce: Cormier vs. Mir, November 3rd in Oklahoma City, against 7-2 U.S. Marine Liz Carmouche.

Carmouche’s last two Strikeforce appearances in 2011 resulted in losses against Marloes Coenen and Sarah Kaufman. But this year, she rebounded with back-to-back wins against Ashleigh Curry and Kaitlin Young under the Invicta banner. Carmouche is a great test for McMann, and the fight has the potential to create some heat around McMann with Strikeforce viewers — assuming that Showtime doesn’t bury the fight on the prelims like they did with Miesha Tate vs. Julie Kedzie, which, now that I think about it, they probably will. Damn it.

Still no word on the next opponent for Strikeforce bantamweight champ/franchise star Ronda Rousey, but it’s safe to say that if McMann gets past Carmouche in November, she’ll punch her ticket to a title shot.

Related: Sara McMann Isn’t Convinced Ronda Rousey Wants to Fight ‘Cyborg’ Santos

(Props: allelbows)

According to MMAWeekly, Strikeforce is working hard to book Sarah D’Alelio as the return opponent for MMA superstar Gina Carano. Though not all parties involved have signed off on the bout at the time of the report, the match would take place on the main card of Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum, June 18th at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas. Fighting out of Olympia, Washington, D’Alelio holds a record of 4-1 (all wins by stoppage), and most recently suffered her first loss in a decision against Julie Kedzie at a Jackson’s MMA Series event in December.

Greg Jackson has been overseeing Carano’s training as she prepares to come back from a 22-month layoff, and so far, he has nothing but nice things to say: “We don’t have any 145ers, and she’s really sweet and really nice. So, those are the things you look for…She’s really talented, she works hard, she does what’s expected, and I’m impressed…As I get to know her more as far as helping her out for the fight, we’ll get to a better sense of it. But, she definitely has all the talent and all the potential in the world.”

Meanwhile, Carano’s old nemesis Cristiane “Cris Cyborg” Santos is still without her next opponent, ten months after her last title defense/squash match against Jan Finney. But as the video after the jump proves, Cris has been keeping herself in ferocious fighting shape…

(Video courtesy YouTube/UltimateWomenChallenge)

NBC will finally made its foray into the world of mixed martial arts in September when it airs its Ultimate Women Challenge MMA reality show. 

The show, which was originally scheduled to run last fall, will be hosted by Bas Rutten and model and Dancing with the Stars competitor Joanna Krupa and will feature some new and some recognizable faces in female MMA including Jackson’s MMA product Julie Kedzie and American Top Team trained fighter Jessica Aguilar.

(Remember this face — because it might not look the same after next month. Props: MMABigShow.com)

As we mentioned this weekend, Cris Cyborg will be returning to the cage next month against Jan "Cuddles" Finney. You may be asking yourself, "Why is Strikeforce making their 145-pound women’s champ fight some broad named Cuddles who I’ve never heard of?" Fair enough. So let’s run through the checklist…

– Is she a natural 145-pounder? Of course not. Finney has competed around 135 pounds for most of her career, which would make her a more logical opponent for Strikeforce’s 135-pound champ Sarah Kaufman, who could also use a fight.

– Does she have a winning record? Just barely! Finney’s record stands at a shaky 8-7, though she has won her last four fights.

– Has she faced top competition? Definitely. She’s gone toe-to-toe with Miesha Tate, Erin Toughill, Shayna Baszler, and Julie Kedzie (three times), and has lost to all of them. She was scheduled to face Gina Carano at Dynamite!! USA in June 2007, but Carano had to withdraw from the fight due to illness.

– So wait, why is this fight happening? [shrugs]

Videos of Finney in action are after the jump…

(“Conviction” returns in October.)

— Thales Leites and Dean Lister will reportedly meet in a middleweight bout at UFC Fight Night 15 (September 17th; Omaha, NE), while lightweights Thiago Tavares and Kurt Pellegrino are slated to fight at UFC 88 (September 6th, Atlanta); both Tavares and Pellegrino are coming off losses in their last fights, to Matt Wiman and Nate Diaz, respectively. The UFC has also confirmed widely rumored UFC 88 matches between Rich Franklin and Matt Hamill, Dan Henderson and Rousimar Palhares, and Karo Parisyan vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida.

— Gina Carano will fight next at an EliteXC event on October 4th. According to Sherdog, the event is likely to be televised on CBS, and her opponent may be Kelly Kobald, a Minnesota Martial Arts Academy product who started her career on a 16-0-1 tear before dropping her last two fights to Tara LaRosa and Julie Kedzie.

— This may help explain why Affliction’s attendance was so good: All tickets in all sections were discounted to $39.95 on the day of the show.

— Sengoku’s lightweight grand prix — which will go down August 24th in Saitama, Japan — will include IFL lightweight champion Ryan Schultz, King of the Cage lightweight champion Clay French, Cage Force lightweight champion Mizuto Hirota, and former DEEP lightweight champion Kazunori Yokota. Takanori Gomi and Frank Trigg will also be fighting, in separate non-GP bouts.

Continuing in its latest trend of breaking news before the media outlets can jump on the story, Zuffa announced last night that it had added a lightweight bout between Gesias ‘JZ’ Cavalcante and Lyle ‘Fancypants’ Beerbohm to its July 30 Fedor vs. Henderson card in Chicago.

Once thought to be one of the world’s best 155-pound fighters, Cavalcante’s stock has dipped the past few years thanks in part to a less than impressive 1-3 (2 NC) record in his past six fights. In his defense, each of those losses was a close-fought decision against top-tier opponents  Shinya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri and Josh Thomson. A win over Beerbohm could put him back on track.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/UliMorse)

Fedor has been taking his training for his last kick at the cat upcoming tilt with Dan Henderson next weekend seriously, enlisting the help of several top-tier training partners like his brother Aleksander and professional boxer Denis Lebedov to prepare for the former PRIDE and current Strikeforce champion.

(Shayna Baszler: ready for battle.)

EliteXC sent out a press release yesterday announcing the full televised card for their second “Saturday Night Fights” event, which will be held in Stockton, CA, on July 26th. The most notable addition is a 140-pound bout between Shayna Baszler and Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos, which will open the CBS broadcast. Baszler (9-4, all wins by submission) last fought at a ShoXC event in April, where she finished Keiko “Tama Chan” Tamai via first-round neck crank; she also holds notable wins over Julie Kedzie, Roxanne Modafferi, and Jennifer Tate. Santos, the wife of Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos, is 4-0, though her last three wins came against opponents with pro records of 0-0.

The other notable bit of information in the press release is that the match between Antonio “Big Foot” Silva and Justin Eilers will indeed be for EliteXC’s heavyweight title, and it will headline the live three-fight Showtime broadcast that will immediately precede the CBS card. The Showtime card will also feature a featherweight bout between Brian Caraway — who defeated Alvin Cacdac just 12 days ago at Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Thomson — against up-and-coming submission specialist Wilson Reis. The full televised lineup is below:

Saturday Night Fights on CBS, 9-11 p.m. ET/PT
Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith (for EliteXC middleweight title)
Jake Shields vs. Nick Thompson (for EliteXC welterweight title)
Nick Diaz vs. Thomas Denny (lightweights)
Shayna Baszler vs. Cristiane Santos (140 lbs.)

Showtime undercard broadcast, 8-9 p.m. ET/PT
Antonio Silva vs. Justin Eilers (for EliteXC heavyweight title)
Wilson Reis vs. Brian Caraway (140 lbs.)
Rafael Feijao vs. TBD (light-heavyweights)

(No, this is not the ‘All Access’ video, but rather a behind-the-scenes video of her ESPN ‘The Body’ shoot. Go ahead and complain. I DARE YOU.)

“Everything you need in a fighter, she has, yet she’s a woman and she’s beautiful. The Ronda Rousey package is different than any other package we’ve ever seen.”

So says UFC President Dana White as he leads us into Showtime’s “All Access” look at the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion, Olympic Judo bronze medalist, and occasional TMZ host Ronda Rousey, who in just over two years has managed to almost effortlessly ascend to the sport’s highest level. And it’s hard to deny that “Rowdy” is an athlete unlike many, if not all of her counterparts — a hot female Jon Jones if you will — whose “kill or be killed” outlook on life (and aforementioned looks) has led her to achieve massive success in easily the most overlooked facet of MMA. We’re talking of course, about the ladies.

Detailing everything from Rousey’s heated title-earning feud with Meisha Tate (Spoiler: It ended like all of Rousey’s fights do) to her (gulp) nude shoot for ESPN’s The Body issue to her preparation for her upcoming title defense against Sarah Kaufman, “All Access” truly lives up to it’s name. Showtime takes us inside the champion’s house, which looks like an average episode of Hoarders, and snags interviews with everyone from Gina Carano, who Ronda admits convinced her to drop trau for ESPN in the first place (as if we needed to thank Gina for anything else) to former HooknShoot Grand Prix winner Julie Kedzie.

So check out the full video after the jump, and let us know what you think.

Tara LaRosa — who you may know either as the best female MMA fighter in the world, or as that broad who can’t stand Gina Carano — just signed a landmark deal with the Kentucky-based American Fight League that could pay her between $500,000 and $750,000 for four fights over 18 months. LaRosa (15-1) holds notable wins over Shayna Baszler, Roxanne Modafferi, Amanda Buckner, and Julie Kedzie, and most recently competed in the Bodog Fight organization (if you can call it that); she reportedly negotiated with Affliction, the IFL and EliteXC before inking the deal with the AFL. “Since I definitely have a really big contract, it sort of raises the bar as to what others can get,” Larosa said in a Sherdog interview. “If I get paid higher, everyone else gets paid higher. That’s what I’m hoping for.”

The AFL’s new focus on their women’s division has caught the attention of Kim Couture, who makes her pro MMA debut next Friday in Las Vegas against Kim Rose. Couture told MMAWeekly that she’d also been in negotiations with the American Fight League and will likely sign with them soon: “There are a couple of leagues coming up that are building up the women’s league. The American Fight League, they just signed Tara Larosa “They’ve contacted me. And they’ve got a few other girls getting ready to sign with them, so I’m more headed that way.”

The AFL has only put on two small-scale events in its brief existence, which featured Diego Saraiva, Junior Assuncao, and Rory Singer. The league recently made headlines for signing former WWE pro wrestling star Bobby Lashley to a multi-fight contract.

(Kim, we’ve seen enough…you’ve got the goods.) 

When it was first announced that Ronda Rousey would be coaching a co-ed season of The Ultimate Fighter opposite the winner of the Miesha Tate/Cat Zingano scrap, the internet pretty much imploded with fanboyish enthusiasm. When Ronda put out an anti-sex warning to the show’s future participants, well, that enthusiasm seemed to suddenly disappear. In either case, the tryouts for TUF 18 went down from the Grand Ballroom of the Palace Station Hotel in Las Vegas yesterday, and a few of the names that were listed among the potential participants might surprise you.

With only twelve female fighters currently listed in the UFC’s female bantamweight division, yesterday’s tryouts not only featured the usual influx of eager amateurs, but the likes of…

Shayna “The Queen of Spades” Baszler: Competing professionally since 2003, you’d be hard pressed to find a WMMA fan who hasn’t heard of Baszler. The Strikeforce, EliteXC, and InvictaFC veteran is currently 15-8 and 3-2 in her last 5 and holds notable victories over Sarah D’Alelio, Alexis Davis, and Julie Kedzie. Baszler most recently suffered a third round submission loss in her rematch with Davis at Invicta FC 4.

Poor Miesha Tate. It’s bad enough that she nearly had her arm ripped from her torso when she first fought Ronda Rousey, but the fact that she is forced to relive it each and every time a microphone is shoved in front of her face has to leave her feeling somewhat bitter about the whole experience, and perhaps rightfully so.

Take last Saturday for instance, when Tate and her upcoming opponent Cat Zingano — both of whom appeared to be sponsored by either Lucky Charms or Zubaz Pants — were interviewed by Ariel Helwani following Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche’s historic battle at UFC 157. While one would think that Tate would put her personal differences with Ronda aside for a moment and simply congratulate her for the achievement, Tate opted rather to declare that she will “rip [Rousey's] face off in the rematch.” Um, Miesha, your next opponent is actually the woman who was standing right next to you when you all but wrote her off. Awkward. 

In fact, Tate was spilling haterade so vigorously that even Zingano jumped in line for a glass, declaring that Rousey had “a lot of holes in [her] game” after first saying how proud she was of the first WMMA fight in UFC History and blah blah blah. On the opposite end of the spectrum, both Tate and Zingano were impressed by Carmouche’s performance despite the fact that she lost and that they would have totally finished Rousey if put in the same situation.

And fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately) for Tate or Zingano, it’s looking like the winner of their upcoming fight will be given the opportunity to put her money where her mouth is. During the UFC 157 post-fight show on FUEL TV, Rousey mentioned that she “is interested” in the outcome of the matchup and will be in attendance when Tate and Zingano face off in Vegas on April 13th. So make sure to tune in for the chance to witness the first ever 209 gang-stomping in WMMA History.

In other WMMA news…

Obligatory.            PicProps: Patrick Walters, CP OG

Invicta FC put on its fifth event last night, closing out a very successful first year for the promotion.  A thirteen-fight card at Kansas City’s Ameristar Casino highlighted Invicta’s swelling roster of talented fighters and solidified the promotions reputation for delivering entertaining MMA bouts.  The show featured debuts of three champs from Strikeforce and Bellator, plus a pair of Invicta championship matchups.  And it fucking rocked.

The card started with a pair of quick submissions, including CagePotato’s own Rose Namajunas, who set the internet on fire with a twelve second flying armbar victory.  According to initial reports, that is the 5th fastest victory in MMA history, and fastest in the women’s division.  Namajunas was understandably jubilant in her win, saying later that she would like all of her fights to be of the blink-and-you-missed-it variety.  She also pointed out that she was still a prospect just starting out at 2-0, and that title talks could wait until she gained more experience.

(Leslie Smith vs Kaitlin Young, via IronForgesIron.com)

Invicta FC 1 wasn’t the first promotion to feature an all-female fight card, nor did they invent the MMA livestream, but last night they paired the two beautifully for a groundbreaking show that will undoubtedly do wonders for WMMA. The online broadcast is said to have peaked at 100k viewers, some four-times their initial projection.

Overall the show had a professional, polished appearance. The familiar voice of Mauro Renallo carried the commentary team with the sort of obvious, gender-based puns that we would never personally sink t…oh, right. The recently unemployed “King Mo” kept it 100 on the mic, but casual doesn’t always equal comfortable or competent, and Jon Anik can breath a little easier this morning. Alongside Lawal, Julie Kedzie called the fight from a fighter’s perspective, and with a little more experience she could transition well into that roll.

While one of Invicta’s stated goals is to develop clearly defined weight classes, the fighters will have to do their part when it’s time to step on the scales. With four fighters missing weight for the inaugural event, some of them badly, there’s still much work to be done.

As for the fights, it was an overall entertaining card. Videos and a recap are after the jump.

(We’re going to have a clean, fair fight. Obey my commands at all times. If you don’t, I’mma jam this mic so deep in your eye socket you can hear yourself think. / Pic Props: The Fight Network)

By: Jason Moles

There are only three certainties in life: Death, taxes, and dreadful refereeing in mixed martial arts. With tax day behind us and a clean bill of health from the doc, the only thing left to avoid is blunders like those that occurred this past Saturday night at The Ultimate Fighter Season 17 Finale at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The offenses ranged from unrepentant fence-grabbing to controversial stoppages. (Surprisingly, we’re not talking about Steve Mazagatti this time.) Sadly, this might have been prevented if Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer would squash his beef with the godfather of MMA referees, “Big” John McCarthy.

What’s the beef about, you ask? To hear McCarthy tell it, Kizer got upset and took his ball home when UFC’s first head referee said the same thing the fans have been saying for years. Via MMAFighting:

“I thought he was putting some people in positions to judge fights that didn’t understand actually what the fighters were doing, and that’s wrong,” McCarthy explained. “I said that and I stood by it. He got mad, and from that, he has never licensed me again. And that’s okay. That’s his choice. I’m not going to cry about it and worry about it.”

McCarthy apologized publicly to Kizer and three years ago resubmitted his application for licensure. Not surprisingly, he hasn’t heard back, other than an ominous note stating that his “application will stay on file.”

That’s funny; Dana White told CagePotato the same thing about my press credentials. Fast forward to this Saturday, and instead of sitting on press row in sunny California for UFC on FOX: Henderson vs. Melendez, I’ll be sitting in Ben’s living room with a bunch of boxercisers. [Ed. note: How. Dare. You.] Where was I? Oh yeah, most MMA refs are incompetent and terrible at their job.

Case in point: Maximo Blanco vs. Sam Sicilia…

(Brock, pre-c*ck sword)

Former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar was born in Webster, South Dakota on this day in 1977.

Thanks to an undefeated 33-0 record he compiled in his final year of high school and an upset victory over top-seeded University of Minnesota heavyweight Brent Boeschans his division in the North Dakota State University’s Bison Open Tournament in 1997 while attending Bismarck Junior College, Lesnar was granted a full scholarship by Boeschans Alma Mater the following year after Bismarck dropped its wrestling program. Brock, who had amassed a 56-3 record in his two years at Bismarck wasted no time in making a name for himself at U of M by winning the Big 10 tournament and effectively ending Iowa’s 25-year streak as tournament champion.

For your sake, I hope you’ve been good this year.

The year is half way over. Days are longer, flip-flops and shorts have replaced boots and pants and yet, the smell of chestnuts roasting on an open fire remains as strong as ever. That can only mean one thing – Christmas in July! Most of you couldn’t care less about another holiday you don’t get off from work, but what if I told you this one was special in that you can make a wish list for Wandy Claus and he’ll give you what you want if you’ve been good all year? You have been good this year, right?

On behalf of MMA fans across the globe, I’ve complied a Christmas in July wish list that, if fulfilled, would bring peace on Earth and good will toward man – or at least would appease a large majority of fans of a fringe sport. Click below to see what made the cut and bash me in the comments for not including your idea.

As any red-blooded, kick-ass-and-take-names kind of American knows, today is the Fourth of July, when we celebrate our independence from Michael Bisping‘s great-great-great-great-great-grandfather and his buddies.  If our ancestors hadn’t pulled that one off we’d all be sitting around today, eating spotted dick and asking, ‘Who wrote on me boots?’  Avoiding that fate is reason enough to party, which is why we’re taking the day off to grill some meat, down some beers, and play with explosives — so if, after today, all our posts look like they were written by a dude hammering on the keyboard with his fingerless stumps, you’ll know why.

Wherever you are today, and even if you’re not an American, we’d like to wish you a happy 4th.  Get out there and enjoy it.

(Inside Your Soul: It’s where Hioki is looking and the name of his t-shirt company.)

Hatsu Hioki was born 28 years ago in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan.

Why he matters:
Hioki (24-4-2) is one of Japan’s most decorated fighters, having won titles under the Shooto, Sengoku and TKO Championship Fighting banners. The recent UFC signee has beaten a glut of the world’s top 25 featherweights including Mark Hominick, Marlon Sandro, Ronnie Mann, Takeshi “Lion” Inoue and Masanori Kanehara and now he will finally get the opportunity to test his skills against more of the world’s best in the Octagon.

“…and were it not for my testosterone deficiency, your honor, I would have thrown him completely out of the Octagon. Case closed?” (Pic: NBCSports.com)

A series of events that unfolded quickly and ended with Nate Marquardt’s exile from the UFC could see an equally swift ruling by the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission later this week. Marquardt and his representatives are on the docket for a July 13th appearance, during which time they hope to plead their case for his use of Testosterone Replacement Therapy.

As in the cases with Sean Sherk, Josh Barnett, and most recently Chael Sonnen, it’s not uncommon for hearings like these to be delayed for months after a failed drug test, but maybe that’s just due to California’s ‘totally chilled out’ approach to legal proceedings. Unlike the Sonnen case, this one shouldn’t be marred by a possible multiple personality disorder nor probable pseudologia fantastica. Instead, we may get to hear some key decision makers weighing in on the facts of TRT at an important crossroads in our sport.

VidProps: TheAzyunyh2

Now that contracts have been signed and announcements have been made, we can officially start looking forward to seeing Fedor Emelianenko and Dan Henderson go at it later this summer. Sure, there’s no title on the line, and sure, there’s not much of anything on the line other than bragging rights, but according to a memo sent out to all MMA media and bloggers back in 2003, we are required to be excited anytime Fedor is set to fight, even if there are exactly zero fights announced for the rest of the card.

The promo trailer is a tried and true tool used to raise excitement for future matches, and it’s one tool that amateurs — by which we mean unpaid fans — usually outshine the pros. This is because, just like Mom’s cooking and anything that is still produced by hand, it’s made with love. Watch this video of Fedor and Henderson during their respective ups and downs over the past decade, and tell us you can’t feel the love. It’s that fuzzy feeling you get when the music syncs up just right and you feel tempted to jump up and fist pump.

Whatever you do, don’t jump out of your seat and fist pump at work! Everyone in the cubicle farm will see you, and you’re supposed to be working extra hard to make up for slacking off since last Wednesday. Just watch quietly and feel the love. Sure, it may feel like you’re just watching Fedor knock Brett Rogers’ face sideways, but believe us: it’s love.

[RX]

(Hint: It’s these guys.)

MMA Fanhouse tips us that two new names will be added to the UFC Hall of Fame during the UFC Fan Expo on July 10th, the day before UFC 100 — meaning there’s only two months left before our t-shirt becomes outdated (at which point we’ll jack up the price and call it a "collector’s item," obviously). As the official announcement goes:

Allow us to speculate wildly…

("Yes, thanks you very much for this commemorative dinner plate.")

Though we enjoyed much hearty debate about how quickly Affliction’s MMA promotion would crash and burn after "Day of Reckoning," the official company line is that a third event will be held this summer, possibly in Anaheim (again) or Atlantic City. As Tom Atencio told FiveOuncesofPain:

Atencio, like everyone else, expects Fedor Emelianenko vs. Josh Barnett to headline this theoretical third show, saying "That’s what I’m hoping for but right now I’ve got to sit down with these guys and figure everything out." Sounds like they’ve got a lot of figuring to do, so we’ll just leave them alone for now. In the meantime, these post-"Day of Affliction" news bits may interest you…

— The paid attendance for Saturday’s event was 8,946 for a live gate take of $1,512,750, though some of those tickets could have been paid for by Affliction itself. If Tom Atencio’s total attendance figure of 13,228 spectators was accurate, then over 4,000 seats were straight-up given away. Affliction’s debut show, "Banned," brought in 14,832 total attendees. On the same night as "Day of Reckoning," 20,820 people packed the Staples Center in nearby Los Angeles to watch Shane Mosley take out Antonio Margarito.

(“You want to go somewhere else? That creepy fat guy has been staring at us all night.” / Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle. For more pics from this set, click here.)

Tonight, we’re gonna have ourselves a real good time, we feel ali-hi-hi-hiiiive. Ronda Rousey — the lightning-rod heel-champion of women’s MMA — will attempt to defend her Strikeforce 135-pound title against former champ Sarah Kaufman, most likely by first-round armbar. (The winner will face Cris Cyborg immediately afterwards in the parking lot.) Before that, we’ve got a bunch of men’s fights that seem way less interesting by comparison. For instance, former Strikeforce middleweight champion Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza is in the co-main event spot against 9-1 middleweight Derek “The Human Blanket (!)” Brunson, while Tarec Saffiedine, Roger Bowling, Lumumba Sayers, and Ovince St. Preux round out the crew of featured fighters who you might have heard of before.

Handling the thankless job of spelling out all these names in tonight’s liveblog is CagePotato weekend warrior Anthony Gannon, who will be providing round-by-round results from the Showtime main card broadcast after the jump, beginning at 10 p.m. ET. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest and please make your presence known in the comments section.