("One more question, then I gotta get the fuck out of here. Yes, Helen Thomas. What’s on your mind, gorgeous?" Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

The UFC held a press conference yesterday in Portland to discuss tomorrow night’s UFC 102 card, as well as other issues related to the organization’s future. Some highlights…

– Even though the UFC already has two events slated for November — UFC 105 (11/14, Manchester) and UFC 106 (11/21, Las Vegas) — Dana White revealed that a third November show was in the works, to be headlined by the lightweight championship fight between BJ Penn and Diego Sanchez; Penn/Sanchez was originally reported as the main event for #105. And get this: White said the tentative third November event wouldn’t be broadcast on pay-per-view or Spike. Could a network TV deal be in the works? “Wait and see boys… if I can pull this one off,” White said. "We’ve never had more [network] interest than right now. Obviously, I think all the hard work we’ve done over nine years and UFC 100 had a big part in it, too. I’m pretty confident we’re gonna have a deal very, very soon. I like what I’m hearing now more than I ever did before."

– Dana White may seem determined to counter-program Strikeforce to extinction, but his hostility has nothing to do with Scott Coker. Honestly. As he told reporters, “I’m not anti-Strikeforce, I don’t dislike those guys. I dislike Showtime, that’s who I dislike. I think they’re dicks, I don’t like them. I don’t like their attitude; they think they are better than they really are…The guy over at Showtime who I’m talking about knows who he is and I dislike him very much and my beef is with him, not really Strikeforce. They sucked at boxing, they got their ass kicked by HBO always at boxing yet they tried to stay in it. They got their ass kicked by HBO in programming, but they’re still around and they’re going to get their ass kicked in mixed martial arts too, just not by HBO.”

("All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, the blood of my opponents, and I’m fine." Photo courtesy of Fight!)

BJ Penn isn’t exactly the most prolific fighter in the world; over the last three years, the Prodigy has only made six appearances in the Octagon. But now that he’s entered his 30s, the UFC lightweight king has vowed that his long layoffs are over, and he’s ready to get back in the cage sooner rather than later. As he told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald:

(Props: 0fficialbjpenn)

In a night filled with some less-than-thrilling matchups, at least Anderson Silva and BJ Penn remembered that they were in Philly — and for that, they were rewarded handsomely. Silva earned a $60,000 Knockout of the Night bonus for cleaning Forrest Griffin‘s clock in the first round of their light-heavyweight feature at UFC 101, while Penn scored a Submission of the Night bonus in honor of his fourth-round rear-naked-choke of Kenny Florian. Somewhat suprisingly, additional $60,000 Fight of the Night checks went to Silva and Griffin for their match, even though it wasn’t much of a fight. UFC 101 drew a sold-out crowd of 17,411 spectators for a live gate of $3.55 million, a combat sports record for Pennsylvania. Reportedly, almost 11,000 of those fans were already in their seats by the time the first preliminary match started.

During the post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White announced that the UFC was looking to host an event at Boston’s legendary Fenway Park by next summer; the Massachusetts state senate passed a bill to regulate MMA last month. White also said that the UFC could add another event to its schedule in October, in addition to UFC 104 (October 24th, Los Angeles). Since Fedor Emelianenko is slated to make his Strikeforce debut sometime in October, the counter-programming motives are fairly obvious here. Game on…

(GSP’s fists later tested positive for Asskickazolol and 4-Hydroxyawesome. Photo courtesy of LA Times.)

His greasing crusade never amounted to much, but UFC lightweight champ BJ Penn won’t rest until arch-rival Georges St. Pierre is busted for something. In a new interview with Yahoo! Sports, the Prodigy launched yet another explosive accusation:

The easy storyline for the main event of UFC 101 is as follows: BJ Penn is the spoiled champion who has enjoyed success due to prodigious fighting ability, and not necessarily through hard work, while Kenny Florian is the hungry, focused, scrappy challenger who works harder than Penn outside of the cage and is mentally tougher inside of it. But the Prodigy we’ve seen in the training camp for this fight isn’t the lazy, complacent one we know and love. The fact that BJ has brought in Marv Marinovich as his strength and conditioning coach, and has moved out of the insular world of Hilo to train with an impressively stacked camp in California, suggests that Penn wants to try new things in the wake of his one-sided loss to Georges St. Pierre at UFC 94. For a fighter so far along in his career, it’s an inspiring and somewhat unexpected attitude. And if Penn is taking this fight as seriously as Florian, it’s a bad sign for the challenger.

Later in the above video preview, Anderson Silva calls Robert Drysdale a "fool" and an "idiot" for suggesting that Forrest Griffin will submit him during their light-heavyweight feature. Spike’s "Countdown to UFC 101" special premieres tonight at 11 p.m. ET/PT. After the jump, Diego Sanchez discusses his imminent title shot and who he’d like to see prevail in the Penn/Florian match.

"I’m gonna beat him skill for skill, round by round, I’m gonna take him apart, and I may finish him in the first round." So says the fiercely confident Kenny Florian in the above trailer for UFC 101 (August 8th, Philly). Florian clearly sees his lightweight title fight against BJ Penn as the moment his entire career has been leading up to. An oddly clean-shaven Joe Rogan tells us that Penn has been training harder than ever , and says "I think we’re going to see a new, invigorated BJ Penn, and that’s a bad sign for everybody in the lightweight division."

Later, Dana White proclaims that "the Anderson Silva/Forrest Griffin fight has all the makings to be fight of the year," and Joe suggests that Griffin take a page from the Dan Henderson playbook: "[Forrest] is one of the biggest guys in the light-heavyweight division. If he gets Anderson to the ground, and he can hold onto him and beat on him for three rounds, it is conceivable that Forrest can walk away with a decision." Wow, you hear that Forrest? It’s conceivable! Onward to victory!

(Props: MMA Fanhouse)

Coming off a painful loss against Rashad Evans in December, you’d think that Forrest Griffin would want a tune-up match before stepping into a another dangerous fight. Yet Griffin sees his meeting with Anderson Silva at UFC 101 (August 8th, Philadelphia) as "an opportunity to really test yourself, just as a person, as a man, as anything." Griffin’s gameplan will rely on some pace-pushing and "intelligent aggression." As for his chances against the Spider, Forrest is reliably humble: "Am I the guy to beat Anderson Silva? Why not? Somebody’s gotta do it. Might as well be me."

After the jump: BJ Penn discusses coming back after his own devastating loss, and says he should have poisoned Kenny Florian‘s food when he had the chance.

(Strikeforce’s coveted "Hater of the Year" title will also be up for grabs. Image courtesy of CageToday.)

Talk about making up for lost time. After a 12-month drought that gave us only one light-heavyweight championship match and an interim lightweight title scrap, Strikeforce has decided to just say "fuck it" and call every bout on their next card a title fight.

It has been confirmed that the upcoming grudge match between Nick Diaz and Joe Riggs — originally slated for the undercard of the "Carano vs. Cyborg" show on August 15th — will now decide Strikeforce’s vacant welterweight title. The bout will join the lightweight title rematch between Josh Thomson and Gilbert Melendez, the heavyweight championship battle between Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum, and the main event, in which Gina Carano and Cris Cyborg will go five rounds for Strikeforce’s first-ever 145-pound women’s title. So yes, three of these four title fights will be rematches. Deal with it.

The UFC’s first 132 events have given us over 15 years worth of legendary battles, shocking finishes, and historic debuts. With UFC 100 coming up on July 11th, we decided to do some digging and pick out the 10 most monumental events of all time. So join us as we step into the way-back machine…

(Check out part one here.)

***

#5: UFC 1: The Ultimate Fighting Championship
11/12/93; Denver, Colorado


Notable Fights: Royce Gracie vs. Ken Shamrock, Gerard Gordeau vs. Teila Tuli, Royce Gracie vs. Gerard Gordeau
Lowdown: Nearly 3,000 people packed into the McNichols Sports Arena on one fateful night in November to witness the beginning of cultural movement, which is cool even if most of them only showed up because they were already drunk and had reason to believe that they might see a man killed.  It was billed as an eight-man tournament with no rules, and although that wasn’t entirely true (biting and eye-gouging were both outlawed) it might as well have been.  Referee guidelines consisted mostly of instructions not to stop the fight no matter what, there were no judges, not even the suggestion of weight classes, and the approved attire had no limits whatsoever, as evidence by Royce Gracie’s gi and Art Jimmerson’s one lonely glove.

(Props: BloodyElbow)

According to Kenny Florian, his October 2006 loss to Sean Sherk transformed him from a fighter who wanted to compete with his opponents to a fighter who wants to destroy his opponents — and he’ll be bringing his renewed intensity to the cage with him against BJ Penn at UFC 101 (August 8th, Philadelphia). In this recent interview with Inside MMA, Florian also discusses training with Georges St. Pierre, getting his named botched by Dr. Phil, and his four-letter prediction for the Penn scrap. By the way, if BJ bitches out between now and August and drops out of the fight, Diego Sanchez is totally cool to step in.

After making my MMA highlight reel debut with "Sakuraba: Survivor," I decided to follow it up with a new compilation that’s both shorter and less depressing. The concept of "Stranglehold" is quite simple: Here are some of the most creative and infamous choke-submissions in recent MMA history, soundtracked by Ted Nugent. The cast of characters include Nate Diaz, Dan Miller, Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Shinya Aoki, BJ Penn, Nick Diaz, Demian Maia, CB Dollaway, and Toby Imada. Let me know what you think, and if you dig it, please share with a friend.

(BG)

If you missed Part 1, click here.

The Kazushi Sakuraba Era: April ‘99 – March ‘01

Despite the country’s rich martial arts history, Japan didn’t have an MMA star to call its own until the arrival of a brilliant submission artist who would eventually be known as The Gracie Hunter. Kazushi Sakuraba originally toiled as a professional wrestler in the early ‘90s, picking up catch wrestling from Billy Robinson. As a publicity stunt for their employers at Kingdom Pro Wrestling, Sakuraba and Yoji Anjoh entered the four-man heavyweight tournament at UFC Japan, and despite being severely outweighed, Sakuraba was the last man standing.

Sakuraba immediately found success in the PRIDE organization, scoring submission wins over Vernon White and Carlos Newton (in one of the greatest MMA grappling exhibitions of all time, by the way), but it was his upset decision win over Vitor Belfort at PRIDE 5 that established him as Japan’s official fighting hero. Saku represented all that was great about the Japanese fighting mentality — he was smaller than most of his opponents, but smarter and more inventive, not to mention absolutely fearless. Following the Belfort fight, Sakuraba would go on to win eight of his next nine PRIDE bouts, including victories over Royler Gracie, Royce Gracie (in a 90-minute battle of attrition at the 2000 Open Weight GP), Renzo Gracie, and Ryan Gracie. Though other Brazilian fighters like Wanderlei Silva and Ricardo Arona would later avenge their country’s reputation in brutal fashion, Sakuraba’s colorful personality and inspiring in-ring performances have made him one of the true legends of the sport.

(His mouthpiece says "DEATH." His shorts say "CONDOM DEPOT." Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

With Gegard Mousasi and Vitor Belfort‘s weight-related bitch-fest producing nothing positive, Affliction has scrapped the match and moved on. MMA Weekly has now confirmed that Mousasi will be instead be taking on #6-ranked light-heavyweight Renato "Babalu" Sobral at Affliction’s third MMA event (August 1st; Anaheim, California). Not exactly an easy first fight at light-heavyweight for the Young Vagabond, but he’s already 1-0 in the highly competitive Super Hulk division, so don’t count him out. At any rate, the fight against Babalu should tell us a lot about how Mousasi will fare as 205-pounder.

(Kenny Florian, who may be taking over for Barack Obama in 2013, plugs UFC 101 on Good Day Philadelphia.)

MMA Junkie passes along the news that UFC 101 (August 8th, Philadelphia) has been given the official title of "Declaration" — get it, geniuses? — and points out that the main card bouts (as well as five prelim fights) are now finalized. Here’s what we’re dealing with:

MAIN CARD
B.J. Penn vs. Kenny Florian (for lightweight championship)
Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin (LHW)
Amir Sadollah vs. Johny Hendricks (WW)
Kendall Grove vs. Ricardo Almeida (MW)
Josh Neer vs. Kurt Pellegrino (LW)

(Props: MMA Fanhouse)

With Dana slowly transitioning out of his web presence, the UFC is getting into an event-specific rotation for their video blogs. Last time we had Chuck Liddell letting us see the days leading up to his retirement, and now we’ve got Matt Serra giving us an impromptu episode of UFC Cribs. (Livin’ lawge, Matty!) Later, Serra stops by the gym, mainly just to mock Ray "The Hoarder" Longo. Many laughs are had, many balls are busted.

(Props: Fightlinker)

At long last, we present the video of Wednesday’s grappling exhibition between Fedor Emelianenko and Shinya Aoki at DEEP/M-1 Challenge 3rd Edition. As you’ll see, the whole thing was really just a good-natured joke, with both fighters putting on a display that was more slapstick than combat. (But man do Emelianenko’s throws look smooth when they’re done with a 160-pound training dummy.) Fun stuff. Now let’s see the UFC do this with Lesnar and Penn…

(What has two thumbs and hates to engage during title fights? Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.)

Judging from the comments in our last few posts, many of you already know this, but yes, the rumored light-heavyweight showdown between Anderson Silva and Forrest Griffin quickly became official last night; the fight will support the BJ Penn/Kenny Florian lightweight title fight at UFC 101, which will take place at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia on August 8th. And both fighters are pretty psyched about it. As Dana White told Yahoo!’s Kevin Iole, "Forrest loved the idea and said he’d do it right away, and Anderson told me he would fight anyone I wanted him to fight, no matter who it is." Silva’s manager Ed Soares added:

(Forrest Griffin’s July 2008 interview with StrictlyFighting is suddenly relevant again. Skip to the 0:30 mark for Griffin’s thoughts on the Spider moving up to light-heavy.)

Both MMA Junkie and MMA Bay are independently reporting that UFC 101 (August 8th, Philadelphia) will host a semi-superfight between middleweight champ Anderson Silva and former light-heavyweight champ Forrest Griffin. It would be Silva’s first match at 205 pounds since his 61-second knockout of James Irvin last July — which also happened to be the last time Anderson was entertaining. If this rumor holds up, it would mean the following:

To commemorate the DVD release of Never Surrender on April 28th, LionsGate has given us five copies of the flick to give away to you wonderful people. Hit us with the plot summary, IMDb:

So it’s kind of like this, but with higher production values and a cast of actual MMA stars (Georges St. Pierre, BJ Penn, Anderson Silva, Quinton Jackson, and Heath Herring). You know you want to see that. And to score a copy of the movie, all you have to do is come up with an entertaining caption to the photo after the jump…

(Props: MMA Convert via Fightlinker)

Kenny Florian trains at Montreal’s Tristar Gym with Georges St. Pierre, Firas Zahabi, and the rest of the gang who helped turn a proud champion into a ruined crybaby. No word on whether Zahabi ever took BJ Penn up on his generous offer to go fuck himself. Florian and Penn will battle for the UFC’s lightweight title at UFC 101 (August 8th, Philadelphia).

("Child-brides welcome!")

Just because you’re a martial arts master who’s been teaching a specific fighting style for years, it doesn’t mean you can’t learn a lot from BJ Penn. In fact, Penn would like to help 300 hand-picked martial arts instructors improve their minds, bodies, and spirits through a year-long training camp in Hawaii called "The Live Like a Champion Project." (The press release is after the jump, in case you don’t feel like clicking on that link.) This is troubling for a number of reasons:

1) So basically, the Prodigy is luring the world’s most skilled fighters to an extended stay at his shadowy island fortress. Yes, that’s the exact plot of Enter the Dragon.

2) It’s such a perfect expression of BJ’s hubris. Penn has gained fame as a brilliant fighter, but he’s not really known as a talented teacher. (Sorry, Rude Boy, it’s not your fault.) Yet he feels he’s qualified to tell hundreds of instructors how to do their jobs. Particularly, he aims to train the minds of these people. The irony of a blood-licking crybaby obsessive holding seminars on inner tranquility is apparently lost on him.

3) The fact that the program requires its participants to spend a full year in Hawaii will generally attract men without families, who have no problem quitting their paying job and living off the food and shelter that Penn gives them — in other words, disturbed loners who will be easily influenced by the Jim Jones-like sway of BJ. Okay fine, I’ll spell it out for you: BJ Penn is obviously trying to start his own cult. Check out his Christ-like pose in the above image. You wouldn’t drink cyanide-laced coconut milk for this man? Of course, before the mass suicides, the Penntown 300 could be sent on revenge missions against Georges St. Pierre and Keith Kizer. Far-fetched? Maybe. But don’t say you haven’t been warned.