(‘It’s not a skirt, you assholes.  The Romans wore these. Read a book.’)

The surprises just keep coming for the New Year’s Eve K-1 Dynamite show.  Jerome Le Banner is sick with the flu and has been forced to pull out of his fight with Mark Hunt, and Melvin Manhoef has agreed to take his place.  Despite the incredible weight difference between the heavyweight Hunt and the sort of middleweight Manhoef, the two will fight an MMA bout under “Dream rules” for three five-minute rounds.  

Is it a good idea for Manhoef, a vicious striker with an almost non-existent ground game to face a much heavier and damn near impossible to knock out fighter like Hunt, who also packs a serious wallop of his own?  Short answer: no.  No, it is probably not a good idea.  Especially on short notice.  But unlike many of the other bad ideas on the Dynamite NYE show, this one I’d actually love to see. 

Dammit, Japan.  Just when I want to curse your lack of rules and regulations, you go and do something like this to leave me more conflicted than ever.  I just can’t quit you.

In other news…

– Demian Maia’s official website proclaims that a bout has been signed to pit Maia against Chael Sonnen at UFC 95 in London.  Sonnen is coming off the bizarre fight with Paulo Filho and Maia is coming off his quick finish of Nate Quarry, so this should clear up some questions about who really deserves to be considered as a possible contender for Anderson Silva’s belt.  It also adds a little juice to a card headlined by the not-quite-main-event-worthy Diego Sanchez-Joe Stevenson bout.  At least the UFC is throwing you a bone here, British fans.

– Did you know that Affliction’s Tom Atencio fights?  Or at least he did once, at an event in Tijuana, and he won a decision.  Now he wants to fight again.  Don’t worry, he’s not going to put himself on one of his own Affliction cards, thank God, but he says he’ll compete for someone else despite his busy schedule.  Respect, Tom.  Whatever we might think of your t-shirts or your organization, we like to see a promoter who has the balls to get in there.

– And finally, Mike Whitehead still hates Rashad Evans.  After Evans’ win over Forrest Griffin, Whitehead lamented the fact that a guy who he sees as a bad ambassador for the sport is now the champ.  Watch below as Whitehead blasts Evans for “kissing his glove and touching his dick,” and says he knows that people will see this interview and think he’s “bitter” about Evans’ continued success.  And yeah, that is what people will think.  But in Whitehead’s defense, he is just generally an asshole, so it’s not as if this is an isolated incident.

Watch Mike Whitehead Rants About UFC 92 on RawVegas.tv