(Kampmann does some of his best thinking on the streets, right around dusk, wearing his UFC sweatshirt.  You wouldn’t understand, man.)

You have to love it when an MMA fighter explains why he turned down a fight that the UFC offered him and begins with the phrase, ‘No disrespect to [name of fighter he is disrespecting], but…’  It’s as smooth a move as saying, ‘Don’t take this the wrong way,’ right before you say something that you know will be taken the wrong way.  That’s basically what Martin Kampmann is doing while explaining to Versus.com why he turned down a fight with T.J. Grant that has been all over the internets the last couple days as if were totally official:

“No disrespect to T.J. Grant, but I don’t think it’s a fight that makes any sense for me at the moment,” Kampmann said. “I want to fight some higher ranked guys. I never even knew who the guy was, and he’s probably a tough guy. But I want to fight guys who make sense for me and who can escalate me up the ladder more, so I didn’t accept that fight. I don’t know what happened, but apparently some miscommunication somewhere because I saw it all over the internet.”

(“Wake up. Wake up. Wake up, sleepies. We must go, yeeees, we must go at once.” Photo courtesy of Getty Images.)

As I so eloquently predicted, the unstoppable lightweight force that is T.J. Grant was able to successfully upset the heavily-favored Gray Maynard via a hellstorm of punches and knees at UFC 160 last weekend (conversely, I would like to apologize to George Roop, who shed his “puffed up crow’s cock” moniker with an impressive TKO of Brian Bowles earlier in the evening). It was so impressive a performance that Dana White actually made good on his promise to grant T.J. the next lightweight title shot, despite the fact that next to no one — including Ben Henderson himself — really knows who Grant is.

During a recent appearance on The MMA Hour, “Smooth” admitted that, prior to Grant’s victory over Maynard, he had no idea who the Canadian was and in fact was already preparing for a future fight with Maynard:

I am a little bit surprised. I think most people had Gray winning. Most people picked Gray to win and not only did T.J. prove everyone wrong, but in the manner and in the fashion that he did it, pretty impressive performance for him. I did (think Maynard was going to win). I thought Gray was going to be the next guy I faced. I was already kind of preparing for that and now I got a new guy to prepare for. I don’t know a whole lot about T.J. to be honest.

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(I tell you what, if Maynard is able to catch Grant in his patented Indian rug burn, this shit is gonna be all over.) 

Figuratively speaking, Gray Maynard has not been involved in a UFC fight since he came up short against Frankie Edgar at UFC 136 in October of 2011. Sure, he did his best to nullify the “offense” of Clay Guida at UFC on FX 4 last June, but that exercise in tedium was less a fight and more like watching your cataract-stricken friend try to wrangle up all the cuccos in Kakariko Village on The Legend of Zelda. Although ”The Bully” was expected to face Joe Lauzon at UFC 155 last December, he was forced out of the bout with a knee injury that has sidelined him ever since.

But if the above gif is any indication, Maynard has been staying quite active on the sidelines and will be more than ready for his return to the octagon on May 25th at UFC 160, where he will face the streaking veteran T.J. Grant in a battle of top contenders. Grant has been on something resembling a killing spree lately, collecting four straight wins including a first round annihilation of Matt Wiman at UFC on Fox 6 last month. The far-and-away most impressive aspect of Grant’s recent wins has been the drastic improvement to his stand up game, an attribute he credits to the time he spent training in Thailand.

In a way, this fight is kind of a lose-lose for Maynard, at least by Ed Soares’ concept of the term.

(God damn right.)

It’s official, Nation: Chael Sonnen vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua WILL headline UFC on FOX Sports 1:1, a.k.a “the best television card the UFC has ever done.” While at first glance, a fight between two guys coming off losses doesn’t seem like a great main event for a card this stacked (and makes you wonder if the UFC had a planned main event to begin with), it’s surely a matchup that fans can get excited about nonetheless. And if they aren’t, Sonnen will fondle every available Sportscenter anchor within a 500 mile radius to ensure that you are at least aware that the fight is going down.

The matchup was all but a done deal for next weekend’s UFC 161 card until visa issues forced Sonnen to bow out of the fight he had — like a true American Gangster – offered to take on short notice just days ago. Rua was thusly pulled from the card altogether, but hinted that a potential showdown with Sonnen could take place over the summer.

Sonnen vs. Shogun will now headline the August 17th-scheduled card that already includes such marquee matchups as Alistair Overeem vs. Travis Browne, Thiago Alves vs. Matt Brown, and Joe Lauzon vs. Michael Johnson. Oh yeah, and Uriah Hall and Conor McGregor will be on the card as well. If you’ll excuse me, I need to go take a printout of this lineup behind the bushes for a few minutes.

In other fight booking news…

(And that “Showtime Kick”? As fake as the moon landing. / Photo via MMAWeekly)

As we’ve already discussed, the upcoming UFC 164 lightweight title fight between Benson Henderson and TJ Grant isn’t exactly capturing the hearts and minds of MMA fans, and could potentially tank on pay-per-view. (Which wouldn’t be the first time that Bendo has tanked on PPV.) So when Anthony Pettis went down with a knee injury last week, knocking him out of his UFC 163 featherweight title fight against Jose Aldo, some of the more paranoid fans among us began buzzing: Is this just a ploy to line-jump Pettis into a much more compelling/lucrative fight against Henderson? The two men have some history, after all.

At first we dismissed this theory as lunatic ravings from the same people who would tell you that Luke Rockhold signaled that he was ready to take a dive against Vitor Belfort, or that Chael Sonnen bangs his desk to signify that he’s ready for his close-up. Would Pettis really fake an injury — or would the UFC invent one — in order to screw over TJ Grant and cash in with a bigger fight? Come on, that’s absurd. At least we thought so until we read this:

“I can be 100% ready to fight Benson Henderson in Milwaukee,” said Pettis to Fuel TV. “With all due respect to T.J. Grant, Milwaukee is my town, and the fight with Ben is the fight everyone has wanted for years.”

For the record, UFC president Dana White claims that Pettis’s knee won’t be ready in time for UFC 164 on August 31st, but obviously he’s just trying to keep the public from catching on to his dastardly plot, and TJ Grant will be faking his own injury sometime within the next couple weeks. Allegedly.

But seriously, here’s what Grant had to say about the situation…

(We know, Clay, we had a hard time watching your last fight too.) 

It’s looking like the crippling power of this year’s injury curse is going to be tested early come 2013, because the UFC’s first major network event of the year is currently stacked with more budding talent than a Miss Teen USA pageant. Aside from the Cerrone/Pettis, Jackson/Teixeira, and Dodson/Johnson fights that were announced earlier this week, the UFC has recently announced that Clay Guida will be making his featherweight debut against Hatsu Hioki at the same event as well.

Guida’s last performance saw him channel Steve Prefontaine for the majority of five rounds against Gray Maynard at UFC on FX 4, earning him his second straight loss at lightweight following his much more exciting loss to current champion Benson Henderson at the inaugural UFC on FOX event.

Despite the fact that he is coming off a close decision loss to Ricardo Lamas at the same event, there’s no denying that Hioki is still considered to be one of the top contenders at 145, so a win over Hatsu is not only essential for Guida — he has never dropped three straight in his MMA career — but would easily launch him up the list of potential contenders to boot. Let’s just hope he brings a more aggressive strategy against Hioki or we could be in for a long three rounds.

Also booked for UFC on FOX 6…

(It’s cool, he’s used to it. / Photo via MMAFighting.com)

The UFC paid out $1,733,000 in disclosed salaries and performance bonuses to the 24 fighters who competed at UFC 160, with heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez‘s $400,000 flat fee eating up 23% of the total. (Coming soon: The “Occupy Velasquez” movement, led by Jacob Volkmann and John Cholish.) Heavyweights Junior Dos Santos and Mark Hunt made over $200k for their co-main event bout — including their $50,000 Fight of the Night bonuses — while the night’s other big winner, TJ Grant, just made it to the six-figure mark.

Check out the full list of UFC 160 salaries below — courtesy of the Nevada State Athletic Commission via MMAMania — followed by our traditional rundown of who’s underpaid/overpaid. Keep in mind that the numbers don’t include additional income from undisclosed “locker-room bonuses,” sponsorships, or cuts of the pay-per-view that some of the UFC’s stars are entitled to, or deductions for taxes, insurance, and licensing fees.

Cain Velasquez: $400,000 (no win bonus)
Antonio Silva: $75,000

Junior dos Santos: $290,000 (includes $120,000 win bonus, $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
Mark Hunt: $210,000 (includes $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus)

Glover Teixeira: $98,000 (includes $24,000 win bonus, $50,000 Submission of the Night bonus)
James Te Huna: $30,000

T.J. Grant: $100,000 (includes $25,000 win bonus, $50,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
Gray Maynard: $45,000

(Where’s a chaperone when you need one?)

Preliminary results from UFC 107 in Memphis, TN await you after the jump.  If you need someone to tell you that these may be spoilers, you should probably go ahead and let yourself freeze to death outside the Greyhound station right now.  No one will miss you.

(If this is what’s going on inside a T.J. Maxx, why would you even need to go out back to get into a fight?)

Several of you alerted us to this story from the Kitsap Sun in Washington about a twenty-two-year-old man who provoked a fight with a group of people because he was “preparing for the Ultimate Fighting Championship and ‘he needed to practice getting knocked out so he could prepare.’”  Normally we’d just point and laugh and move on, but this story has so many terrific details that you simply couldn’t make up.

For instance:

- The man started this fight by throwing rocks at a group of men who “ranged in age from 15 to 50,” who were all, for some reason or another, hanging out behind a T.J. Maxx at 7:40 pm on a weeknight.  Guess their fathers never told them that nothing good happens behind a T.J. Maxx, ever, to anyone.

And if neither pulled out? My God what a beautiful baby!

The fight cards for UFC 130 and UFC on Versus 4 are undergoing some minor renovations. It was announced yesterday that both Matt Riddle and Cody McKenzie have sustained injuries forcing them from their respective bouts.

(Photo courtesy of this set on CombatLifestyle.com)

Spoilers after the jump…

(Props to MMAWeekly.com) 

Before you even ask, yes, Anthony Johnson did make weight, and he seemed about as excited to do so as any fighter I’ve ever seen. Joe Rogan informed us that the Struve/Barry fight is “the biggest height discrepancy for a UFC fight ever.” If there was a category for stare-down of the year, I’m pretty sure theirs would be the front runner.

All fighters made weight except for Byron Bloodworth, who weighed in at 138 lbs. and was originally given 2 hours to drop the necessary 2 pounds for his bout with Mike Easton. The decision was quickly reversed and Byron was allowed to keep the additional weight without penalty for coming in as such a late replacement. Check out the full weigh in results after the jump.

-Danga 

The UFC will be conducting a pre-fight press conference today from Montreal ahead of their UFC 113 "Machida vs. Shogun 2" event at The Bell Centre Saturday night and Cage Potato will be broadcasting the event in it’s entirety live here at 2:00pm EST.

The fight card for the event is as follows:

UFC 113: Machida vs. Shogun II

The Bell Centre
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

MAIN CARD
Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (Light Heavyweight Title Bout)
Paul Daley vs. Josh Koscheck
Jeremy Stephens vs. Sam Stout
Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson vs. Matt Mitrione
Alan Belcher vs. Patrick Cote

PRELIMINARY CARD
Joe Doerksen vs. Tom Lawlor
Marcus Davis vs. Jonathan Goulet
T.J. Grant vs. Johny Hendricks
Joey Beltran vs. Tim Hague
Mike Guymon vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida
Jason MacDonald vs. John Salter
—–

Just a reminder that you must have Microsoft Silverlight installed on your computer to be able to view video on the web player that will appear after the jump.

(It’s particularly disappointing because Thiago’s face had just returned to normal.)

When it rains, it goddamned pours. The latest big-name UFC fighter to be scratched from an end-of-year card is Thiago Alves, who just went down with a knee injury — most likely a torn posterior cruciate ligament, if you want to get specific. Alves was scheduled to rematch Jon Fitch at UFC 107, and was coming in as a replacement for Ricardo Almeida, who suffered his own knee injury last week. No word yet on how long this will keep Alves sidelined, or if Fitch will be getting a replacement-replacement opponent for the December 12th show in Memphis. Matt Hughes, if there was ever a time to shut AKA’s collective mouth, it’s now. As it stands, UFC 107′s lineup looks like this:

(Now all he needs to do is fight CB Dollaway with one boxing glove. Photo courtesy of the UFC 100: Weigh Ins set on Combat Lifestyle.)

Spoilers after the jump…

(“Do I *look* like I want to try on some slim-fit jeans today, you son of a bitch?!?” / Photo via FightDay)

After being hassled by The Man for two weeks due to a decade-old arrest, UFC heavyweight slugger Mark Hunt has successfully obtained his visa to travel to the United States for UFC 160 on May 25th, and will be departing from New Zealand sometime today. The UFC confirmed the news yesterday, and Hunt relayed the message himself with a quick tweet thanking God.

And so, Roy Nelson no longer needs to be hastily photoshopped into the poster. But the problem remains that Hunt is making the long trek to the States with less than a week to acclimate to the time-difference, which could hinder his performance. Will jet lag be the difference in this fight? Shoot us your predictions, and check out the complete lineup of UFC 160 after the jump…

(“You are SO lucky I’m wearing shoes that restrict my movement to baby steps or I’d knock you out right here.” Photo courtesy of MMAFighting.)

All 22 fighters scheduled to compete on tomorrow night’s UFC on FOX: Johnson vs. Dodson card will be hitting the scales live from the Chicago Theatre in, you guessed it, Chicago starting at 5 p.m. EST. Luckily for you, we will be hosting a video of the weigh-ins RIGHT HERE. I know, right? The things we do to ensure that you guys are happy.

Anyway, the weigh-ins kick off in just a few minutes, so get in here for all the action!

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

The 24 fighters on tomorrow night’s UFC 152: Jones vs. Belfort card will be hitting the scales today at the Mattamy Athletic Centre at the Gardens in Toronto, and if you want to see what they look like surly and dehydrated, you’ve come to the right place. Watch all the face-offs, forehead-smushing, and possible weight-botches live in the player above, beginning at 4 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT. And come back to CagePotato.com tomorrow night at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT for our liveblog of the pay-per-view main card!

Update: The UFC 152 weigh-in results are now after the jump.

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

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

(Props: TheAzyunyh3)

This Saturday, the UFC lands at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. for UFC Live: Cruz vs. Johnson (Versus, 9 p.m. ET). In the main event, bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz — who has virtually swept the 135-pound division with eight consecutive victories dating back to his time in the WEC — will take on wrestling specialist Demetrious Johnson, whose four-fight win streak includes recent decisions over Miguel Torres and Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto. Their styles may be different but they both bring a relentless pace for every minute of their fights. Will Mighty Mouse be able to hang with the world’s best bantamweight in the first five-rounder of his career?

After the jump: The full lineup of UFC of Versus 6, which features a do-or-die fight between heavyweight strikers, the next appearance of a rising welterweight star, a rematch of a fight that ended in a controversial stoppage, and the Sassangle.

 
(A Croat, an asshole and a Brazilian walk into a bar…)

Frank Mir weighed in 25 pounds heavier than opponent, Cro Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic at today’s UFC 119 weigh-ins, dispelling any rumors that he is over his loss to Brock Lesnar and he will drop to light heavyweight any time soon.

Making weight, Filipovic got the final stamp on his Indianapolis fight license, which made him breathe a sigh of relief after an eye injury he sustained earlier this week in training left the bout in jeopardy.

Shortly after he weighed in, Croatian news outlets who had been asked by the fighter to not release the photo until after he was given the go-ahead to face mir by the commission printed this shot of Mirko’s injury taken immediately after the eye poke occurred.

Amazing how much he has healed in less than five days.

(Amazing what the power of Stevia can do for healing.)

Every fighter on the card checked in at their respective weight limits, thus making all of their fights official for tomorrow night.

Check out the official weights and the replay of the weigh-ins after the jump.

(‘Kongo, I don’t respect your ground game and don’t particularly like you as a person, so you know I have no reason to lie to you when I say this, but your ass is the most magnificent thing I’ve ever encountered.’ Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle’s UFC 107 weigh-in set.)

Who knows what kind of wacky scales they use in Memphis, but Natasha Wicks isn’t complaining because the end result was six different fighters stripping down to their birthday suits just to make weight.  Diego Sanchez initially weighed in at 156, which would have been just fine if he weren’t fighting for the 155-pound title.  So he did what several others who came before him did and took off his skivvies to make weight.  When he did, he clocked in at 154.5 pounds.  As Tennessee State Athletic Commission executive director/master of basic reasoning skills Tim Mullen explained: "Every fighter that was taking his shorts off was losing about 1.5 pounds, that must be what those things weigh."

With the help of a little nudity every fighter made the agreed upon weight, although the Alan Belcher-Wilson Gouveia bout was changed to a catchweight of 195 pounds before the weigh-in.  Full results are after the jump.

"That was an appetizer, Dana. Let me eat."

So said undefeated American Top Team prospect Todd Duffee after his seven-second storming of Tim Hague at UFC 102. It was one of the most fearsome debuts in UFC history, and Duffee made it clear afterwards that he wanted to get right back into the cage to show fans what he’s really capable of. And it looks like the UFC has found him a suitable challenge for his follow-up performance.

MMA Junkie is reporting that Duffee (5-0) will return at UFC 107 (December 12th, Memphis) to take on seasoned striker Paul "The Headhunter" Buentello (24-10). Buentello previously had a four-fight stint in the UFC in 2005-2006, where he scored stoppage wins over Justin Eilers, Kevin Jordan, and Gilbert Aldana, but suffered a knockout loss to Andrei Arlovski in a heavyweight title fight at UFC 55. Following his exit from the Octagon, he went 3-1 in Strikeforce, with his sole loss coming at the hands (and knees) of Alistair Overeem in a fight for Strikeforce’s heavyweight title. Now, the Headhunter is coming off back-to-back victories in Affliction over Gary Goodridge (via decision) and Kirill Sidelnikov (via third-round TKO).

With 32 total points — thanks to a dominant run during UFC 99 where he correctly picked the winners of every fight — CagePotato reader ‘angry little feet’ has come out on top in the combined UFC 99/TUF 9 Finale rounds of our Lyoto Machida pick-off contest, and has won the Dragon’s "Machida-Do Karate for Mixed Martial Arts" DVD set. Way to go, alf! If you didn’t get the e-mail we just sent you, hit us up at feedback@cagepotato.com.

Now for the rest of you losers: Our second set of the DVDs can be yours if you can outpick everyone else for UFC 100. The lineup is…

 
(Props: MMA Mania)

Maybe the epic visual presentation for St. Pierre vs. Penn 2 has spoiled us, but we’re getting the sense that the UFC’s design department doesn’t really care about their upcoming Montreal show. Above is the poster image they’ve released for #97, which features old stock images of the four headliners in front of a generic cage background, surrounded by a cloud-like fog. Are these the men that are guarding the gates to MMA heaven? And what’s up with the janky-ass bubble-block lettering?

It seems significant that UFC 97 will be just the second UFC pay-per-view event since September to be identified with a word ("Redemption") rather than by the headlining matchup (i.e., "Couture vs. Lesnar," "Franklin vs. Henderson"). We’re guessing that’s because the idea of "Silva vs. Leites" headlining a card tends to bum people out. Still, "redemption" works well as a unifying theme. Liddell and Rua will be battling to rescue their careers after putting in woeful performances in their last fights, and Silva will be trying to redeem himself in the eyes of fans after his oddly restrained and anti-climactic performance against Patrick Cote in October.

Still, if it were up to us, we’d call the card "Silva and Liddell," have the two of them on the poster by themselves, and hope fans are duped into thinking that they’re fighting each other. And we’d dial back the fog machine by at least 50%.

After the jump: The latest announced and rumored matchups for UFC 97. [Updated at 12:16 p.m. PT]

(Cain doesn’t see an enormous head. He sees a big, beautiful, blood-piñata, just waiting to burst open and spill its bounty. / Photo via MMAFighting.com)

BG and Danga are back mahfuckas, baaaaaaaaaaaaam! [*cough*] Excuse me. What I meant to say was, UFC 160 goes down tomorrow night in Las Vegas, so CagePotato founding editor Ben Goldstein and staff writer Jared Jones have teamed up once again to discuss all the important themes surrounding the event. Which heavyweight fight on the main card is more likely to end in an upset? Should we write off KJ Noons as nothing more than UFC shark-bait? What’s a Nurmagomedov gotta do to get some respect around here? Read on, and throw down your own opinions in the comments section.

It seems pretty obvious that the UFC is trying to set up Dos Santos vs. Velasquez III, but who stands the better chance of throwing a wrench in their plans, Hunt or Silva?

Jared: ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THIS. The last I checked, Mark Hunt was riding high on the most unexpected win streak in UFC history, turned his last opponent’s jaw into mashed potatoes, and will now be harboring the kind of silent-but-deadly rage that can only be brought about by jet lag. “Bigfoot” is coming off an upset win over a sans testosterone-abusing Overeem, sure, but picking him over the man, the myth, the pseudo-Mexican who reenacted the rock scene from Cannibal Holocaust on him almost a year ago to the day? No thanks, my dude.

Ben: I hate to agree with this jackass — and how dare you try to persuade me by linking to a track from Primus’s underrated Rhinoplasty EP, Jared — so for the sake of argument, I’ll go ahead and say ARE *YOU* KIDDING *ME* WITH THIS?? Mark Hunt has built up a dubious win streak slinging haymakers against guys who allowed him to do so. Junior Dos Santos is far too disciplined to become another victim of the same old rock-’em-sock-’em Super Samoan routine. In a brawl, Hunt has a chance against anybody. But this won’t be a brawl — it’ll be boxing match, and JDS is about as good as they come in that department.

And sure, Hunt has scored a string of upsets against guys like Cheick Kongo and Stefan Struve. Meanwhile, Antonio Silva has scored far more unexpected and dramatic upsets against guys like Fedor Emelianenko and the aforementioned ‘Reem. Bigfoot has heart for days, and fists big enough to dummy up anybody in the heavyweight division on any given night, including the current champion. How many times are you gonna sleep on this guy? #BigfootEra

Gray Maynard vs. T.J. Grant: Who will earn the right to suffer a narrow split decision loss to Ben Henderson next?

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

The 24 fighters on the UFC 160: Velasquez vs. Bigfoot 2 card weighed-in earlier today in Las Vegas — with varying degrees of success. First, the bad news: Undefeated lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov might have just cursed himself to another year of FX curtain-jerking by coming in a whopping 3.5 pounds over the 155-pound limit. Instead of trying to cut 2.5 pounds to make 156, Nurmagomedov forfeited 20% of his purse, 10% of which will go to his opponent Abel Trujillo, with the other 10% going to the Nevada State Athletic Commission. As if that didn’t make Nurma look like enough of a jackass, he followed up the weigh-in by donning his traditional Ben Askren wig then shoving Trujillo for no particular reason. (Skip to the 9:53 mark of the above video, and you will see a side of Burt Watson you’ve never seen before.)

In other news, both heavyweight bouts on the main card feature 20+ pound weight differentials, with Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva coming in 23 pounds heavier than champion Cain Velasquez, and Mark Hunt out-hefting Junior Dos Santos by 25. Check out the full UFC 160 weigh-in results after the jump, and be sure to come back to CagePotato.com tomorrow night for our liveblogs, starting with the FX prelims at 8 p.m. ET.

(Props: FoxSports)

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

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

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

As the dust settles from UFC 135, some of us out there must be itching to bet on fights that will not make us look like fools if we are wrong. Lucky for us, redemption lies around the corner, because this Saturday UFC Live: Cruz vs. Johnson goes down, and the odds are a hell of a lot closer than what we’re used to. Check out the fight odds below, then see if you can stomach our suggestions.

Main Card (courtesy of Best Fight Odds)
Dominick Cruz (-440) vs. Demetrious Johnson (+350)
Anthony Johnson (-180) vs. Charlie Brenneman (+158)
Matt Wiman (-210) vs. Mac Danzig (+175)
Pat Barry (-185) vs. Stefan Struve (+160)

Undercard (Courtesy of MMAValor)
Yves Edwards (-120) vs. Rafaello Oliveira (-120)
Michael Johnson (-240) vs. Paul Sass (+180)
Mike Easton (-130) vs. Jeff Hougland (even)
Shane Roller (-130) vs. T.J. Grant (even)
Josh Neer (-120) vs. Keith Wisniewski (-120)
Joseph Sandoval (-150) vs. Walel Watson (+120)

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

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

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

Also booked for Fairfax…