(Mendes thinks he can expose Aldo on the ground using his wrestling prowess)

Number one UFC featherweight contender Chad Mendes watched Jose Aldo grind out a decision win over Mark Hominick live at the Rogers Centre in Toronto and walked away from the event with the confidence that he can beat the previously thought invincible UFC featherweight champion.

Mendes told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto yesterday that he isn’t buying the excuse that the Aldo was sick going into the bout or that the strain of cutting weight after adding muscle the past several months left him in a weakened state strength and conditioning-wise.

(Weirdest part is, the Portuguese language doesn’t even have a phrase that means “dress shoes.”)

Just one of the many, many problems inherent in ranking MMA’s top “pound-for-pound” fighters – aside from the obvious fact these lists are 100 percent fantasy-based and therefore flatly ridiculous to begin with — is that a lot of people can’t even agree what the phrase “pound-for-pound” actually means. Does it simply provide a method for comparing the best fighters in the world across different classes? Does it purport to measure a fighter’s dominance relative to his size? Does it envision a bizzaro world where everyone is the same height and weight? And if so, does a 135-pound Fedor Emelianenko still have that ribbon of fat around his gut? Fuck if we know.

Fact is, pound-for-pound lists are really just a study in speculative fiction. Rather than trying to rank a bunch of fighters who will never actually fight we’d probably be better off writing a sprawling, dystopian novel presupposing that the Nazis won WWII, Custer didn’t die at the Little Bighorn and that during the summer of 1985 a 27-year-old Dan Severn accidentally stepped on a butterfly during his morning jog through Ann Arbor, setting off a chain reaction that caused Jon Jones never to be born at all. I guess what we’re trying to say is, things are about to get real theoretical up in this bitch. Like, comically subjective and shit.

Still, even if we can’t claim to know exactly what these rankings are trying to achieve, we do know one thing: Our carefully cultivated demographic information tells us you motherfuckers loves you some lists. And in that, we must oblige …

(Props: elytko via BloodyElbow)

Not sure if was intentional, but Jake Shields‘s fingers introduced themselves to Georges St. Pierre‘s left eyeball on Saturday night, causing an injury that’s still bugging the UFC welterweight champ. Greg Jackson spoke to Sherdog after UFC 129, and let it be known that GSP’s performance might have been more impressive if not for that poke:

“Georges’s eye was pretty badly injured — he told me that in between rounds — and Georges is a very timing-based fighter, and so when one of your eyes is injured your depth-perception gets off pretty significantly and it’s very hard for you to time the shots because it’s hard to see where they are coming. I felt he did really, really well considering he fought with one eye, I’m really proud of him for fighting through that. We’ll try to get better and do better the next time, but I really feel the injury played a significant role…he was just missing a little bit, he was just off a little bit on some of those big shots, and I feel like if he would have had both eyes he could have landed those shots and could have done a lot more damage.”

Responding to the argument that GSP should have finished Jake anyway, you know, because he’s so awesome and Jake Shields sucks, Jackson didn’t mince words:

Yeah, that happened.

Ever since the UFC purchased Strikeforce, it has been business as usual. Well, for some things at least. Georges St. Pierre and Jose Aldo are still the kings of their respective weight classes. Jumping karate kicks are still incredibly badass. A stadium full of over 55,000 fans could get pretty loud. You know, business as usual.

Georges St. Pierre extended his winning streak to nine fights last night in convincing fashion, exhibiting his superior stand-up skills en route to a unanimous decision victory over Jake Shields. While Jake Shields displayed much better striking last night than anything we’ve grown accustomed to seeing from him, he was also unable to get the fight to the ground. Oh well, on to Anderson Silva now, right?

Well, not exactly. GSP didn’t hide that he hasn’t committed to moving up to middleweight, and Anderson Silva still has to beat Yushin Okami for this to happen. Oh yeah, there’s also one minor issue: Dana White seems interested in seeing GSP fight Nick Diaz. But can Dana White really make this fight happen? In the “business as usual” manner we’ve come to expect, Dana White said, “I imagine I could do whatever I wanted to do if I really wanted. But we have a contract with Showtime, and he’s a Strikeforce fighter. We’ll see how it works out, but that’s an interesting fight.” For what it’s worth, Jake Shields also likes the idea of Diaz vs. GSP.

All praise be to Master Steven Seagal. Or Ralph Macchio. One of the two. Lyoto Machida‘s incredible jumping front-kick KO of Randy Couture at UFC 129 netted him the event’s Knockout of the Night bonus, which came out to a whopping $129,000. (See what Dana did there?) The UFC can certainly afford it, since UFC 129′s gate revenue was reportedly $12.075 million.

Also picking up $129k bonuses: Jose Aldo and Mark Hominick (Fight of the Night) for their epic five-round featherweight title bout, and Pablo Garza for his flying triangle over Yves Jabouin in the first preliminary match.

Another look at the Machida/Couture KO is after the jump. Gifs via The Destroyer88.

(Well, *somebody’s* already got the “Creep of the Night” bonus all sewn up. Pic: UFC.tv)

What will 55,000 screaming Canadians sound like? Our best guess: Loud, but polite. That politeness may well be tested prior to tonight’s main event, when California hippie Jake Shields takes the cage. The UFC – and champion Georges St. Pierre – have gone out of their way this week to cast Shields as the biggest threat yet to St. Pierre’s dominance. That in and of itself is interesting, since a year or two ago you likely wouldn’t have been able to get anyone from the UFC to admit Shields was better than guys like Josh Koscheck or Thiago Alves for any amount of money. It is truly a new day in MMA, kids. Anyways, we’ll be live with results and commentary of the PPV card beginning at 9 p.m. EST time. Don’t forget to hit refresh early and often to keep up with the latest updates.

(Props: MMAFighting)

Weigh-ins for UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields went down yesterday at the Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto, with all 24 fighters making weight. Well, basically. Ben Henderson hit the scales at 156.5, and was given an hour to lose that extra half-pound, which he did. Bendo didn’t look too happy being on the scale in the first place; the tough cut might be a factor in his fight against Mark Bocek. Later, Mark Hominick‘s weight was announced at 145.25. There is no one-pound allowance for UFC title fights, but the match was OK’d anyway. Possible explanations include miscommunication and the overly trusting nature of Canadians.

In other weigh-in weirdness, Lyoto Machida brought Steven Seagal with him during his face-off against Randy Couture (you can find a rather amazing photo of that moment after the jump), and Ivan Menjivar showed up with a Wolverine claw that definitely didn’t look like it came from a toy store. Just seemed kind of unsafe, that’s all.

Come back to CagePotato.com tonight for live results from the UFC 129 broadcast; remember, Spike TV prelims start at 8 p.m. ET, and the pay-per-view starts at 9.

We recently spoke with UFC featherweight contender Mark Hominick and discussed a number of things from his upcoming UFC 129 championship bout with Jose Aldo tomorrow night to how he mentally prepares to prove his detractors that he’s no underdog.

Check out what “The Machine” had to say after the jump.

(You’re lucky you’re not a fat ugly bully, Jake. PicProps: Tracy Lee/CombatLifestyle.com)

If you missed the UFC 129 press conference, have no fear, we’ve got you covered with the short and sweet version of what went down today in Toronto.

If you want to waste 45 minutes watching the whole shebang, we will have the video up within the hour. Alternatively, you can watch it on UFC.com.

For the rest of us that have shit to do tonight, the Cliff’s Notes are after the jump.

If you believe the odds makers, we’ll all be paying good money to watch a bunch of epic squash matches during this Saturday’s UFC 129 pay-per-view. There are a lot of long, long odds on the card this weekend and while that may not be great news for the squares watching at home, it’s enough to make any self respecting gambler’s heart go pitter-pat inside his silky, hula girl print Hawaiian shirt. When the numbers are this big you really only have two options, boys and girls: Bet heavy on the favorites in a sober attempt to turn a meager profit or throw down on the dogs in a blind smorgasbord of wanton excess. Any wonder which route we’re gonna take? That’s right, friends, we’re taking the more funner-er route. The odds themselves – from Bookmaker.com – are after the jump.

(Video courtesy of Videobb/FightVideosMMA)

If you can’t wait until tonight to watch the Countdown to UFC 129, we got you covered.

The Cliff’s Notes on the show are after the jump.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/UFC)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail feedback@cagepotato.com for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

- Barry vs. Kongo to co-headline UFC on Versus 4 with Marquardt vs. Johnson (5thRound)

- Jake Ellenberger talks Shields vs. St-Pierre; predicts GSP will win via ‘jab and yawn’ (LowKick)

- Can we buy Couture’s post-UFC 129 retirement plans? (Versus MMA Beat)

- Erik Paulson talks about the time he had to hold a gun to a guy’s penis (MiddleEasy)

- Fight! Magazine’s MMA rankings: Melendez moves to #1 (Fight! Magazine)

- Dana White quashes Royce Gracie at UFC Rio rumors (MMA Fighting)

- Brock: ‘I don’t know if you ever get used to taking punches’ (MMA Convert)

- Jon Fitch needs shoulder surgery, will be out 4-6 months (Bleacher Report/MMA)

- Judo gold medalist Satoshi Ishii steps away from MMA to focus on competing in the 2016 Olympics for the U.S. (Five Ounces of Pain)

If you’ve ever wondered what UFC conference calls are like, they’re pretty much the same as the UFC pre and post-fight press conferences, featuring the same reporters asking the same questions and typically getting the same replies.

Today’s first half of the two scheduled UFC 129 conference calls which featured Mark Hominick, Jose Aldo, Lyoto Machida and Randy Couture, was somewhat overshadowed by Couture’s retirement announcement that made the rounds this morning. Most of the questions (and a few separate congratulatory messages) were directed at Couture from writers wanting to know if he would keep his word this time, why he made the decision and what he would do next. One even asked Machida how he felt being involved in “The Natural’s” last fight. I was surprised that some of the journos on the call didn’t ask Aldo and Hominick what they thought about Randy calling it a career.

I kind of felt bad for Hominick and Aldo, who, although aren’t quitting fighting ARE fighting as the co-headliners in a championship bout on the largest scale MMA card in North American history. Priorities people. Randy will be available to answer questions about his retirement plans after the fight.

A few tidbits and the audio from the call are after the jump.

(“Bones is like a brother to me —  dangerous brother with crazy elbows and knees.”)

If you were holding your breath for an eventual Anderson Silva-Jon Jones showdown, you might want to stop before you pass out because it isn’t going to happen.

In a recent interview with the Brazilian website esportes.r7, “The Spider” said that he wouldn’t fight Jones and all but refuted the recent claim by Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira that Silva would likely jump up to 205 after his fight with Yushin Okami in Rio in August.

“No way. [Jones] is in another weight class,” Silva explained. “We’re friends and we will not face each other.”

(“Admit it, you guys have no idea who I am, do you?” Pic: Heavy)

Still so relatively new to the UFC party, the sub-lightweight divisions are to MMA analysts as the New World must have been to early cartographers. We think we have a rough sketch of what’s out there, but the exact shape of things is a little foggy and once we get past the top two or three, we’re just gonna draw some squiggles and write something like “Here there be sea monsters!”

The featherweight class, for example, is still very much in the process finding its legs in the Octagon, with the promotional debut of champion Jose Aldo pushed back to UFC 129 due to the pain in his neck. Already however, there has been a pretty significant influx of talent into the 145-pound ranks since the UFC officially absorbed it at the beginning of this year. Michihiro Omigawa, Kenny Florian and Tyson Griffin have all plunged into the division, with more immigration sure to follow as the 155-pound division gets more and more crowded. We guess what we’re saying is, things can change fast in the land of the little man, so read our inaugural featherweight rankings now before something happens to render them moot.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, as they say — and every legendary MMA career begins with a single fight. In collaboration with Huck Blade at NeonBarFights.com, CagePotato is proud to present “Before They Were Stars,” an MMA highlight reel that pays tribute to the pro debuts of fighters who went on to become heros of the sport, including Georges St. Pierre, Jon Jones, Jose Aldo, and Alistair Overeem. Check it out, share it with your friends, and let us know what you think.

(If Roop can kill a zombie, he has the potential to do the same to a grappler from Plympton, Mass. Still, this is Grispi’s fight to lose.)

According to a report by The Boston Herald, Josh Grispi’s booby prize for losing to Jose Aldo’s UFC 125 replacement, Dustin Poirier, will be the fighter current number one contender Mark Hominick recently beat to leapfrog “The Fluke” to a title shot.

(They can beat up pretty-boys and clowns, but how will Florian and Griffin do against the featherweight elite?)

Now that the UFC has a 145-pound division, it was only a matter of time before a few lightweight contenders decided to chase the belt where the competition’s a little smaller. The biggest name so far is Kenny Florian, who told ESPN.com yesterday that he’s taking himself out of the lightweight mix to try his hand at featherweight:

“I started playing around with the idea: could I make 145? Originally, I didn’t think it was possible,” Florian said. “I spoke with a few nutritionists, got their opinions, told them what my body fat was, my walking-around weight, all that stuff and the general consensus was that it was very possible…[The UFC] is very supportive. They’re very excited about the move…My goal is to get the 145-pound belt, and then go up to 155 and challenge for that belt as well.”

(Video courtesy Sportsnet)

During last night’s episode of Sportsnet’s MMA Connected, the show’s host "Showdown" Joe Ferraro revealed that if Mark Hominick handily beats George Roop at UFN 23 and comes out of the fight without injury, he will fight Jose Aldo at UFC 129 in Toronto on April 30.

"If London, Ontario’s Mark Hominick can defeat George Roop and come out unscathed at UFC Fight Night 23, look for "The Machine" to earn a title shot versus featherweight champion Jose Aldo," Ferraro stated.

Hominick was supposed to fight Aldo for the newly-minted UFC featherweight strap at UFC 125, but he was forced to pull out of the bout when the broken hand he went into his WEC 51 fight with Leonard Garcia with didn’t heal in time for him to resume training. He was replaced by Josh Grispi on the card, but after Aldo bowed out of the fight with a neck injury, the 22-year-old lost his place in line for the title shot when he dropped a unanimous decision to the champ’s replacement, relatively unknown fighter Dustin Poirier.

A veteran of 27 MMA bouts, Hominick’s only losses in the past six years have come at the hands of three highly-touted fighters: Grispi, Rani Yahya and Hatsu Hioki. His second bout with Hioki, which he lost by a razor-thin majority decision and was contested under the TKO banner is widely regarded as one of the greatest featherweight fights in Canadian MMA history.

For an idea what Aldo-Hominick might look like, check out that fight after the jump.

Although calling the announcement  "a monumental one" may have been a bit of an overstatement, the UFC announced today at a press conference in Rio de Janeiro today that it would be returning to Brazil for the first time since Zuffa bought the organization in 2000 and only the second time ever August 27, 2011.

UFC president Dana White made the announcement of the yet-to-be named event in Rio city hall alongside Zuffa CEO Lorenzo Fertitta,  mayor Eduardo Paes and Brazilian UFC luminaries Royce Gracie, Anderson Silva, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Vitor Belfort and Jose Aldo.

Although he would not commit to naming names of Brazilian fighters who will likely appear on the card because the event is more than eight months away and injuries may change the planned card several times between now and then, White intimated that all of the currently contracted fighters at the presser and guys like Demian Maia, Junior Dos Santos and Wanderlei Silva are all being considered for the card.

(Nipmoua’s old poster design has become eerily prescient. Except for the ’200′ thing, obviously. I mean, do the math bro.)

In what’s expected to be an official announcement of the UFC’s return to Brazil in 2011, UFC president Dana White and Chairman/CEO Lorenzo Fertitta will be making a special announcement at Rio De Janeiro’s City Hall today at 11 a.m. ET, 2 p.m. local time. White and Fertitta will be joined by UFC Hall of Famer Royce Gracie, middleweight champion Anderson Silva, light-heavyweight champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, featherweight champion Jose Aldo, #1 middleweight contender Vitor Belfort, and Eduardo Paes, the mayor of Rio. You can watch the announcement live in the video player after the jump. 

("Easiest title win EVA!!")

According to a report from Heavy.com, newly crowned UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo has  been forced out of his planned first title defense against Josh Grispi at UFC 125 in January.

Aldo was presented with the belt during last weekend’s UFC 123 event in Auburn Hills, Michigan and if he really wanted to make an interesting mark in the MMA record books, he would go through with our suggestion that he retire as the only UFC champion with an 0-0 record in the Octagon.

There’s no word on the nature of the injury, but there’s bound to be a plethora of rumors about how Aldo got hurt. We actually have it on good authority that it was groin pull he sustained during his first Smashers Club get together on Saturday night.

We’ll have more details as they emerge.

(Rampage really needs to get some sun.)

Fair warning: If you’re epileptic, you may not want to make the jump to check out the gifs of the best of action of Saturday’s UFC 123 show.

(Video courtesy ESPN/MMALive)

Kenny Florian and Miguel Torres co-hosted last night’s episode of MMA Live and it was surprising to hear both fighters praise Zuffa for making the decision to merge the WEC and UFC brands.

The reality is that the promotion will likely not hold as many events per year as both organizations did in the past, so for both fighters to say that the move is a positive one is curious to say the least.

It’s understandable that Torres, who revealed during the show that he will face Manuel Banuelos at UFC 126, would be excited about the merger as will likely see more lucrative paydays and will get more mainstream exposure fighting on the bigger stage, but Florian doesn’t stand to gain much from the move. 

Not only will there be fewer slots on each card for him to potentially fight on with 20-plus, he will have to face an influx of tough fighters like Jose Aldo and Torres who will inevitably move up to lightweight in the future.

Also on the segment, Roy Nelson and his magnificent mullet discussed being called out by Brock Lesnar and his feelings on the fight, which he has coveted for some time.

According to a new report from Ariel Helwani, contracts have been sent out to book Jose Aldo vs. Josh Grispi as the UFC’s first official featherweight title fight at #125 (January 1st, Las Vegas). The bout would serve as the co-main event, supporting the lightweight title fight between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard.

Aldo, now 8-0 in the WEC, most recently defended his belt for the second time against Manny Gamburyan at WEC 51 in September. Grispi is also undefeated under the WEC banner, and has slashed through Mark Hominick, Micah Miller, Jens Pulver, and LC Davis, all in under three minutes of the first round. The Massachusetts native was slated to face Eric Koch at next month’s WEC 52 event, but that fight would be canceled if he accepts the Aldo fight. (And why wouldn’t he, really? Besides the obvious.) As we reported previously, Mark Hominick was originally in line to be Aldo’s next opponent; however, his broken hand is preventing him from competing on New Year’s Day.

Helwani also reports that Roy Nelson — left without an opponent after Shane Carwin’s back-related withdrawal — has been officially pulled from the event. 

(Props: MMAFighting)

The cat’s out of the bag, and the "major announcement" turned out to be pretty damn major after all. Dana White announced during a media call today that the UFC is absorbing the WEC beginning in January 2011; the UFC will now feature seven championship weight classes. Here’s how it’ll work…

– Jose Aldo is automatically the UFC Featherweight Champion; he’ll defend his UFC featherweight title at UFC 125 on January 1st against a yet-to-be-determined opponent.

– WEC 53 (December 16th; Glendale, Arizona) will be the final WEC event. The winner of the bantamweight title fight between Dominick Cruz and Scott Jorgensen will become the UFC Bantamweight Champion. The winner of the lightweight title fight between Ben Henderson and Anthony Pettis will automatically face the winner of Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard at UFC 125.

(Chances are this one isn’t going to decision.)

It looks like Mark Hominick won’t be the only Team Tompkins product who will get a step up in competition for his next WEC fight.

Chris Horodecki is slated to take on former WEC number one lightweight contender Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone at WEC 53 on December 16 in Phoenix, AZ.

The news was first reported by MMAWeekly, and CagePotato.com has since been able to confirm the bout with a source close to the fight.

16-2 in his five-year MMA career, "The Polish Hammer" was knocked out in dramatic fashion in his WEC debut by Anthony Njokuani, but rebounded with a pair of wins over Danny Downes and Ed Ratcliffe. Cerrone will arguably provide the 23-year-old London, Ontario native, who was the face of thew now-defunct International Fight League with his toughest test to date.

(Well that explains why he’s so vicious. Apparently Dede keeps Aldo chained up in the basement and feeds him nothing but raw meat between fights.)

Jose Aldo revealed to Tatame today that he turned down the opportunity to move up a weight class to take on UFC lightweight Kenny Florian in December.

According to Aldo, who has fought as a lightweight before, after talking it over with his managers, Ed Soares and Joinha and his coach, Andre Pederneiras they came to the conclusion that the timing wasn’t right for him to make the move up to 155, partially because it takes time to put on the mass required to move up a weight class and also because he doesn’t want to have to fight any of his Nova Uniao teammates.

"Actually I started in a lighter division, then changed to this one and tried the division above, but it’s up to [Andre] Dedé [Pederneiras] and he knows better," Aldo explained. "When I was fighting on the division above he thought there were many people of the gym on that division, and on my division there’s me and Marlon [Sandro] and I can play pretty hard on this one and I’m the champion, so I think it’s best for me to stay on this weight division."

(Hominick may be next in line to try to crack Aldo’s seemingly impenetrable armor in January.)

WEC featherweight champion Jose Aldo revealed in an interview with Tatame over the weekend that his next scheduled bout will be against former TKO featherweight champion Mark Hominick in January.

"Whoever it is, [I] always respect everyone," Aldo said. "We already have a defense in January, [and it] will be against Mark Hominick, a Canadian [who is] very good at kickboxing."

Aldo seemed a bit unsure about whether or not the fight with "The Machine" is a sure thing so we contacted Hominick’s longtime mentor and trainer Shawn Tompkins today to find out if the fight is a go.

Tompkins tells us that his charge is still in a cast recovering from a broken hand he suffered training for his impressive victory over Leonard Garcia at WEC 51 last month.

(Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante trains like a beast for his fight against Josh Thomson at "Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Noons II" this Saturday. Props: GenghisConFilms)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail feedback@cagepotato.com for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

– Stefan Struve vs. Sean McCorkle Planned for UFC 124 in Montreal (MMA Fighting)

– Ed Soares’ Dream for Jose Aldo? Super-Fight Against Frankie Edgar (Versus MMA Beat)

– Gina Carano Lands Her Next Major Movie Role, and More Juicy Rumors (MiddleEasy)

– Is Bad Sportsmanship Just Part of the MMA Fight Game? (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Gerald Harris and Phil Davis Get Main Card Slots at UFC 123, Karo Parisyan and Tyson Griffin Stuck in the Prelims (Heavy.com/MMA)

– Nevada State Athletic Commission Makes Half-Baked Changes To Drug Testing Policy (Watch Kalib Run)

– 5 Fights You Shouldn’t Miss This October (LowKick)

– Is Frankie Edgar the #2 P4P Fighter in the World? Dana White Thinks So… (MMA Convert)

– Crazy Slugfest from K-1 MAX Grand Prix (MMA Scraps)

– Jake Shields: The Specialist [VIDEO] (FightMagazine)