Announcement

Thompson looks to stay undefeated against Matt Brown at UFC 145

We’re barely one week removed from UFC 143, yet two welterweights who were victorious on the card have been signed to fight at UFC 145. The UFC has announced that TUF 7 veteran Matt Brown has agreed to a bout with Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson.

Matt Brown managed to buy himself more time in the UFC with a second round TKO over Chris Cope at UFC 143, improving the UFC record of “The Immortal” to 6-5. On the other end of the spectrum, Stephen Thompson made an impressive first impression on viewers with his first round head kick knockout over Dan Stittgen. The victory improved his record to 6-0, and also earned him Knockout of the Night honors.

Strikforce’s paper-thin light-heavyweight division just lost another one.

As GRACIEMAG first reported yesterday, Strikeforce light-heavyweight Roger Gracie has been called up to the UFC. While a date and an opponent have yet to be named for his UFC debut, Roger Gracie has hinted that he may enlist Anderson Silva to help him train for the bout. Roger Gracie is currently 4-1 in his career, with his last fight being a first round knockout loss to King Mo at Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov.

On paper, it’s pretty strange to call up a guy with five professional fights who just lost to the big leagues. But it makes a little more sense when you actually look over Strikeforce’s light-heavyweight division. With King Mo on the shelves for a while, there really isn’t much to offer Gracie in Strikeforce. As the age old saying goes: If Gracie fights Ovince St. Preux or Gegard Mousasi in Strikeforce and no one watches, does the fight even matter? At least I think that’s how that one went.

(I got you now you son of a…wait, where’d you go?) 

A great man once said that if you tweet it, they will come. Yes it seems that after days of tireless bitching reasonable pleas, we will in fact be treated to a Carlos Condit/Nick Diaz rematch in the near future. DW broke the news yesterday via his Twitter (go figure):

(DO NOT run an unfiltered image search for ‘Matt Hughes’. EVER. This photo is nothing. Learn from my mistake, kids.)

Just four months after putting himself “on a shelf”–a euphemism for the dreaded ‘R-word‘–Matt Hughes is ready to glove up once again. After suffering back-to-back first round knockouts to BJ Penn and Josh Koscheck, the UFC Hall of Famer made a non-committal pledge to walk away from the sport, a move he’d pondered openly while winding down his career.

As we’ve seen time and time again, getting your head bashed in is surprisingly difficult to walk away from. Hughes has undoubtedly made enough money to retire comfortably, has plenty of hobbies to occupy his time, and with nine UFC titles to his name he has nothing left to prove. But Hughes didn’t start his MMA career in search of fame or fortune; the man simply loves to compete, and pounding his brother behind the barn just doesn’t cut it these days.

Ultimately, his fate lies in Dana White’s hands, not his own, and most certainly not his wife’s. During an interview on FUEL last night, Hughes established the pecking order in his household: “I think Dana could be the final decision maker. My wife’s a great lady, but she’s not going to tell me when Matt Hughes retires.” Well, I guess we know who’s cooking up the country breakfast this morning.

(Now picture the fist rapidly moving up and down.)

Remember when we brought back Comments of the Week weeks ago and I joked about how I would immediately forget about it by the following week — and then I did forget about it? That was insane, and totally unexpected. But thanks to a GIF of a guy jerking off while unconscious (i.e., “pulling a Carradine”), we’re back on track.

Today’s comment winners will receive the new version of CagePotato Devil’s Horns shirt, with the fist on the back, as pictured above. If your name is called, just e-mail contest@cagepotato.com with your name, size, and mailing address. Alright? Now let’s see who commented hardest this week…

Kaboom82 on “GIF of the Year Candidate: Kaleo Gambill Enjoys an Involuntary Post-Fight Beat-Off“:
Yo Dawg, we heard you like beatings. So we put a beating in your beating so you could watch a guy knock one out when he gets knocked out.

(Internet personality Mike Tyson‘s latest brilliant cameo.)

We try to keep the begging to a minimum around here. But I could really use your help today. Me and our homeboy Fidel from TuVez have joined forces to launch a new site called BuzzerBeat.com. It’s a really simple concept: The best sports videos, delivered daily. So I’m gonna cash in that favor you owe me, and ask you to do the following…

1) Take five seconds and “Like” BuzzerBeat’s Facebook page. Just one click is all we ask.

2) If you have some time to kill at the office, why not actually browse through the site? You’ll find the latest game-highlights, bizarre sports-related viral videos, and classic clips featuring newsmaking athletes. We vow to become the Internet’s #1 source for Gronk.

And hell, let’s make it interesting — I’m going to select a commenter from the BuzzerBeat facebook page at the end of the day and hook him/her up with the latest version of our CagePotato Devil’s Horns t-shirt, the one with the fist on the back. (Yeah, you didn’t even know those existed, huh?)

Any questions, let me know in the comments section. Thanks, guys.
BG

(Sorry Cyborg, you can’t come.) 

Many of you are likely familiar with a Brazilian based promotion called Jungle Fight; through it we have witnessed Jose Aldo’s only professional loss, Machida vs. Bonnar, and the humble beginnings of such fighters as Paulo Thiago, Thales Leites, and Ronaldo Souza. Created and currently run by former fighter Wallid Ismail, Jungle Fight has grown to become a regular feature of ESPN Deportes, and will be looking to branch out into the world of women’s mixed martial arts when it debuts an all woman promotion, audaciously labeled Pink Fight MMA, on January 29th.

That’s right. Pink Fight MMA.

The card will feature six fights and is headlined by a 125 pound clash between 4-2 Shooto veteran Maria Elisabete “Beth” Tavares and 2-3-1 muay Thai striker Kalindra Carvalho Faria. The affair will transpire at the Descobrimento Cultural Event Center in Porto Seguro, Bahia, Brazil. Ismail released a statement on the promotion’s big debut, declaring that, “I’m sure that Pink Fight will reveal new talents and encourage other women to become professional fighters.” Truly a man of his word, Pink Fight’s official website has already begun accepting applications, so if you have a little sister in need of a disciplinary lesson that simply cannot be taught in the household, sign them up today.

A likeable person who retired from MMA is now seen with a baseball bat? It’s like a photo negative of Jose Canseco!

Far too often, an athlete will stick around past his or her prime, clinging to the idea that he or she can still dominate if given the opportunity. While this isn’t exclusive to mixed martial arts by any means, it’s especially notable in the sport. Fighters are practically bred to believe that when they’re losing, it’s just because they’re in a rut, and when they snap the losing streak, it’s a sign that things are going right for them again. Our acceptance, and often encouragement, of this idea only makes it easier for the fighters themselves to accept it. The end result is usually cringing after watching an older, slower fighter suffer yet another vicious knockout in a half empty arena known for housing a minor league sports team.

Fortunately, Jorge Rivera knows his limits as an athlete, and has officially retired from our sport. He first announced his intention to retire, regardless of the outcome of his fight with Eric “Red” Shafer, on Friday’s edition of MMAJunkie.com radio. After punching out Shafer in the second round of their undercard tilt last night, Rivera made the move official to announcer Jon Anik.

Who is Milton Vieira, you ask? Well, other than a second degree black belt under Murilo Bustamante and a 13-7 veteran of such promotions as Deep, Strikeforce, and PRIDE, Vieira is also widely considered to be the inventor of the anaconda choke. A Brazilian Top Team standout who trains with the likes of Rousimar Palhares, “Miltinho” is credited as the creator of the submission popularized by Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria in his early PRIDE days, specifically in his back-to-back victories over Hirotaka Yokoi and Heath Herring. Big Nog claims that he was taught the maneuver by Vieira back when he used to train at BTT in the early 2000′s.

Coming off a successful first round Brabo choke victory over Sterling Ford at Strikeforce Challengers 18, Vieira will be making his featherweight debut for his first UFC contest, though a date and opponent has yet to be named.

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

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

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

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