(Paulo Thiago commits a major Brazilian faux pas by wearing red after Carnival.)

It's like that old saying, God never closes a door without opening a window so someone else can sneak inside and steal all your jewelry.  In the case of the UFC 106 main card, Karo Parisyan seems to have closed that door all by himself, and now the window is wide open for Paulo Thiago and Jacob Volkmann, whose fight has just been bumped to the televised portion of the pay-per-view. 

As you'll no doubt recall, Thiago was originally supposed to face Thiago Alves in the most confusing match-up of names since Gegard Mousasi fought Musashi, but after some reshuffling he ended up getting the Octagon rookie Volkmann.  Just yesterday they were still relegated to the dark portion of this card, but as things continued to fall apart around UFC 106 the outlook got brighter.  Now the entire paying world will get to see them square off, with the pay-per-view broadcast currently looking like this:

In this video with Cagewriter's Steve Cofield, Keith Kizer goes into slightly more detail about the Karo Parisyan situation, making it sound more and more like Parisyan was doing the old Matt Mitrione, trying to get out of this fight any way he could.  Granted this is only one side of the story we're hearing here, but it sure sounds like the Nevada State Athletic Commission was beyond reasonable about this whole thing.  Allowing him to pay the fine out of his next purse is akin to letting him work off the debt, which is more than Blockbuster is willing to do.

The most interesting moment here may be when Cofield asks Kizer whether it's usually an issue getting fighters to pay their fines.  I guess I always assumed that the NSAC made you write a check right after handing down their verdict, and if you didn't have it in your bank account anymore by then they made you, I don't know, wash dishes at a local restaurant or something. 

But Kizer says the NSAC is still waiting to get paid by Pawel Nastula, who popped positive for several different banned substances after his loss to Josh Barnett at Pride 32 in Las Vegas back in 2006.  In all fairness, Nastula was accustomed to a different culture with regards to performing-enhancing substances, so it's kind of impressive that he was only on one steroid and three different stimulants.  In Pride, that assortment used to be known as a light breakfast.

(Props: twitter.com/danawhite)

Look, everybody knows that Karo Parisyan is a very troubled young man. But we're still shocked by the now-emerging news that Parisyan has pulled out of a fight at the last minute for the second time in his UFC career, directly following his nine-month suspension for the use of unapproved meds. Judging from his tweets, it's obvious that UFC prez Dana White has had enough of Karo's bullshit, and we may never see the Heat inside of the Octagon ever again. As for Parisyan's "laundry list of excuses" for canceling his UFC 106 meeting with Dustin Hazelett, MMA Weekly presents one explanation:

However, Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director Keith Kizer's side of the story is quite a bit different. As he told Sherdog:

(Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Dan Henderson, 4/23/05)

Of the 22 fighters testing their fates on Saturday night, three of them will be stepping into the Octagon for the first time — but don't expect these guys to crack under the pressure. Read on to meet the MMA veterans and submission experts who will be trying to make dominant first impressions at "Ortiz vs. Griffin II"...

ANTONIO ROGERIO NOGUEIRA (LHW)
Experience: 17-3 record, with notable victories over Dan Henderson, Alistair Overeem (twice), Kazushi Sakuraba, and Vladimir Matyushenko (in January, which avenged his first career loss). Has won his last five fights, most recently submitting Dion Staring via triangle choke in May.
Will be facing: Luis Cane (10-1 with 1 no-contest, 3-1 UFC)
Lowdown: Whether you know him better as "Minotoro" or "Lil' Nog," there's a good chance you're already aware of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira's twin brother. The 33-year-old veteran of PRIDE, Affliction, and Sengoku has had a decorated career dating back to March 2001, and is considered by many to be one of the ten best light-heavyweights in the world right now. Though Antonio Rogerio comes from a BJJ background like his bro (who he trains with at Black House), four of his last six wins have come via TKO, and he won a bronze medal in boxing at the 2007 Pan American Games. Minotoro hasn't lost a fight since his shock-upset KO defeat against Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou at PRIDE 33, nearly three years ago. Says Rogerio of his UFC debut: “For more than three years, UFC was my goal and now I’m just very happy to be here in the best event. The UFC has the best talent in the world, and I feel like now I’m going to be challenged like I’ve never been challenged before in my career...The fans can expect to see a very well-trained and well-prepared athlete who’s very focused and determined to win."

(Some glib video analysis of your UFC 106 betting options alongside Cagewriter's Steve Cofield and RawVegas.tv's Dave Farra.)

My father has a saying about betting on MMA fights: ‘I’m not loaning you any money, and if you so much as touch that spare change jar I’ll beat you with a shovel while you're sleeping.’  I have no idea how that was supposed to help guide me, or for that matter, any of you, when it comes to deciding who to bet on at UFC 106 this Saturday night, but I can tell you with 100% certainty that he meant it when he said it.

The odds we’ll be using today come from BestFightOdds.com.

Forrest Griffin (-135) vs. Tito Ortiz (+130)
Josh Koscheck (+109) vs. Anthony Johnson (-115)
Amir Sadollah (-185) vs. Phil Baroni (+186)
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (-143) vs. Luis Cane (+150)
Karo Parisyan (-105) vs. Dustin Hazelett (-105)
Marcus Davis (-205) vs. Ben Saunders (+190)
Jake Rosholt (-169) vs. Kendall Grove (+165)
Paulo Thiago (-260) vs. Jacob Volkmann (+250)
Brock Larson (-465) vs. Brian Foster (+400)
Caol Uno (-285) vs. Fabricio Camoes (+235)
George Sotiropoulos (-455) vs. Jason Dent (+355)

The breakdown…