(*wipes tear from eye* / Photo courtesy of facebook.com/bigdaddyfightteam)

Well, this is it, folks — Gary Goodridge‘s last column for CagePotato. Big Daddy decided to blast through a bunch of questions lightning-round style, so if he still didn’t get to your question, 1) Learn to write better questions, and 2) Stay tuned for the start of Dan Severn‘s mailbag column on CagePotato, coming soon. Thanks so much to Gary for doing this for us; follow him on Facebook and Twitter, and visit bigdaddyfightteam.com.

‘danomite’ asks: Have you ever known anybody to work a fight or take a dive? You don’t have to name names, just wondering how much it happened, especially in Japan.
Yes that type of stuff happened all the time in Pride. There are some pretty famous examples that the old fans all talk about. Chances are if you think it’s shady, it might have been. Naoya Ogawa’s camp offered me money to throw the fight but I didn’t want to sacrifice my integrity for a buck.

‘ReX13′ asks: I always wondered what Gary’s first thought was after he killed Paul Herrera. Well, after the adrenaline damped down a bit.
I was shocked like everybody. Since I practiced my counter-move the night before I was ready, but surprised it worked that easily. I didn’t have too much time to celebrate though since I had another fight coming right up.

(Coenen and Overeem were taken aback by the news, while Einemo was taken aback by the smell of that glove.)

Much like we would deny any affiliation with CP if we ever find ourselves at a Dana White dinner party, teammates of Alistair Overeem may soon start having to deny that they train with the recently released former Strikeforce heavyweight champion if they want to find lucrative work.

According to Golden Glory head trainer Martijn de Jong, Zuffa yesterday released a trio of The Demolition Man’s teammates. De Jong tweeted that former Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Marloes Coenen, Alistair’s brother Valentijn and his longtime training partner John Olav Einemo all received their walking papers Monday.

(Props: HDNetFights)

That thumping sound you just heard? That’s the other shoe dropping. Inside MMA breaks the awful news:

“Sources close to the situation have told Inside MMA that the company [Strikeforce] has exercised its right to eliminate his one remaining fight on his contract, effective July 22nd…Also according to the source, Overeem has been dealing with more serious injuries than originally reported, including a broken toe, and rib and elbow problems…Another issue that Strikeforce officials had regarding Overeem’s participation in the [Heavyweight Grand Prix] tournament is he had only one fight left on his current contract, and he would have had to fight twice to win the grand prix.”

Damn. Did Alistair Overeem really just lose his job because he wouldn’t compete earlier than he was originally asked to? Can’t wait to hear how Zuffa spins this debacle. We’ll update you when we know more…

United Glory announced today that Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem is slated to compete in its next event scheduled for October in Moscow, Russia.

According to the poster for the event, “The Reem” will be joined by fellow Golden Glory fighters Sergei Kharitonov and Siyar Bahadurzada on the card.

(Well, at least he went out on a high point.)

So much for determining the best heavyweight outside of the UFC. We heard rumblings about this earlier today, and now it’s official: Alistair Overeem will not be competing in the remainder of Strikeforce’s Heavyweight Grand Prix. The reason seems to be entirely due to scheduling, as Zuffa and Showtime want to run the tournament semi-finals on September 10th, while Overeem feels he won’t be physically ready to compete by then. Said Dana White:

“Sept. 10 was the date Showtime wants us to go, so it’s the date we’ve got to go. It’s unfortunate that Alistair is unavailable, but situations like this are why there are alternates in the tournament.”

What the deuce? Is DW taking orders from Showtime now, or is he just using them as a scapegoat? Would Showtime really be so short-sighted that they would go forward with the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix semi-finals without its biggest star, just so they could stick to a date on a schedule? PLEASE, SOMEONE TELL ME WHO TO BE MAD AT.

(“This guy is f*cking fighting on September 10.”)

Well, it looks like there was actually some truth to the rumor that Alistair Overeem was experiencing some friction from Zuffa and could possibly pull out of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix.

Vitali Klitschko is Ukrainian for “Kimbo Slice“, right? Video Props: Liverkick.com

Liverkick recently posted an interview that Alistair Overeem cut with a Polish reporter. The interview starts off slow, with Overeem forgetting the names of the cities he visited, giving the mandatory compliments to Polish fans and just generally playing it safe with his analyses of upcoming Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix fights. At the 4 minute mark, things really get interesting. Alistair is asked about what he will do if he wins the Grand Prix, thus cleaning out Strikeforce’s heavyweight division. Aside from fighting in the UFC, Overeem expresses interest in pursuing a boxing match against current IBF, WBO, IBO and Ring Magazine world heavyweight champion (as well as WBA super heavyweight champion) Vitali Klitschko.

Wait…what?

Sure, Alistair is more than capable of winning in K-1. But there’s a reason Jerome Le Banner has fought no one you’ve heard of in his boxing career: Good kickboxers aren’t always good boxers. Plus, after watching the 42-2 champion dismantle Shannon Briggs and Odlanier Solis, there is no way that this wouldn’t end badly for someone who recently was exhausted from watching Fabricio Werdum flop for three rounds.

VidProps: BloodstreamMMA100/YouTube

Strikeforce is forging ahead with this crazy “Grand Prix” gimmick — no telling how they came up with a concept like that, but props to them — and the semifinals could go down in September. If everything goes according to plan, the event should be packed with good matchups. Let’s take a look.

The heavyweight GP will continue with Alistair Overeem squaring off with Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, and “War Master” Josh Barnett against “The Russian Concussion” Sergei Kharitonov. Those two fights alone would be enough to carry a card, but Coker and company want to make it worth your while to watch, so they’ve continued to put together bouts with an eye on producing a blockbuster.

Every other bout currently rumored for the show features a current or former champion for the Strikeforce banner, including a title match for current middleweight champ “Jacare” Souza.

(Bruce Buffer and Wanderlei Silva)

One of our favorite online obsessions over the last month has been awesome people hanging out together, a tumblr photo blog devoted to celebrities mingling in unexpected combinations. (I mean, seriously: Dylan and Ali? Alice Cooper and Colonel Sanders? Epic.) Since there are aren’t any MMA fighters represented on the site, we decided to do some online crate-digging of our own and put together a CagePotato version of the “awesome people” photo-phenomenon. Enjoy these rare and classic MMA photos, which continue after the jump, and shoot us some links in the comments section if we’ve left out any of your favorites.

(Royce Gracie and Mirko Cro Cop)

(Matt Serra, Frankie Edgar, Jerry Springer, and Kimbo Slice. See also: Fighters and Random-Ass Celebrities)

(Clash of styles = boring fight)

Fabricio Werdum has finally responded to Alistair Overeem’s claims that he should be ashamed of his performance on Saturday night in their Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix quarterfinal match-up. According to Vai Cavalo, Overeem didn’t beat him; he lost the bout on his own by not listening to his corner and instead attempting time and time again to coax “The Demolition Man” into his guard.

“I don’t believe he won, I lost to myself. I could’ve won. The feeling I’m having now is worse than if he has smashed me up and if he was way better than me on the three rounds, winning with a large advantage,” he told TATAME today. “The guys is good, alright, so I’d have to keep my head down and train more. But it wasn’t like that and that made me choked. It was a [mediocre] bout, the fans expected much more, but he didn’t want to the ground at any cost.”

If you missed Keyboard Warriors Monday, hey thanks. Nice to know someone actually appreciates all I do to entertain you jerkfaces. For the rest of you: hey guess what i did?

Yup, prepare yourselves for KBW #3! In the aftermath of the weekend’s Strikeforce action, Dana takes the time to address the heavyweights, evaluate their performances, and fill them in on his short terms plans. And his long term plans. Say what you will, but Big Daddy White dreams big, son.

If you are interested in 100% made up conversations between characters that are mostly fabrications, come on in and enjoy. Feel free to comment your little hands off. If you don’t like comedy … well, i’ve got nothing for you.

Why do you keep coming here again?

As always, thanks to Christopher and those jokers at WithLeather.

[RX]

(M-Bone is Dougie’ing in his grave right now. Props: Ariel Helwani)

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…

- Team Gina Carano Updates Strikeforce on Health Condition via Vague Email (5thRound)

- Pete Sell Returns to Competition After Two-Year Absence, Wins Ring of Combat Welterweight Title (TheFightNerd)

- The New CEO of ProElite Explains to Us How the Company Plans to Be the Number Two MMA Organization in the World (MiddleEasy)

- Werdum and Gloom: The Politics of Pulling Guard (NBC Sports MMA)

- Chad Griggs vs. Daniel Cormier Could Be ‘Logical Next Step’ for Strikeforce (MMA Fighting)

- Ring Girls Round-Up: Ashleigh Marley (LowKick)

- 28 Reasons We’d Love to Have Dana White’s Job (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- ‘UFC 132: Cruz vs. Faber 2′ Conference Call Highlights (Five Ounces of Pain)

- UFC 133: Jorge Rivera Is Too Old to Keep Getting Punched in the Head (MMA Mania)

- Fedor Emelianenko: ‘Two Mistakes In A Row Cannot Be Coincidence’ (MMA Convert)

(History has proven that it’s tough to look good when your opponent wants a jiu-jitsu match, no matter how good you are.)

Alistair Overeem was on “The MMA Hour” with Ariel Helwani today and the Strikeforce heavyweight champion addressed the glut of MMA fans and analysts who disagree with him winning his heavyweight grand prix quarterfinal bout with Fabrico Werdum Saturday night. According to “The Demolition Man,” just because Werdum connected with more shots in the bout, doesn’t mean he won the fight, like many claim.

“I won the fight but I was not satisfied. I didn’t get a KO. I worked hard and when I look at the fight, I did dominate him. I stuck to the game plan but you have to give credit to Fabricio; he was prepared. He was not going to get suckered into my game, which is the stand-up and he got me out of my game. His takedowns were not successful, but I think he trained hard for this fight. He really wanted to win,” he explained. “I felt his power and he was there to win. I’m not impressed with his striking. He does not hit hard. He was using his strikes to set up his takedowns, but there was no damage. I was annoyed. When you look at a fight, who’s more dominant? You can see who’s more dominant.”

THE REEM EPISODE 4: COUNTING DOWN from THE REEM on Vimeo.

While everyone was busy on Internet message boards and comment sections furiously typing in caps locks with extra exclamation points how overrated and shitty of a fighter Alistair Overeem is because he didn’t walk through Fabricio Werdum as expected, The Reem Season 2, Episode 3 was quietly released to the masses.

Yeah, we were praying for something to happen in that fight, too.

Heading into last night’s Strikeforce card, there were a lot of potential storylines. There was Werdum continuing to clean out Strikeforce’s heavyweight division. There was Overeem avenging his loss to Werdum five years ago in devastating fashion. There were the returns to relevance of Josh Barnett and Jeff Monson, the rise of Daniel Cormier and “Othereem” getting the fans to learn his name. Yet after the event was over, the most compelling thing we can take from it is that Dallas has some educated MMA fans. While your average Affliction clad meathead was booing from the start of Cormier vs. Monson until the end of the night, Dallas fans only booed during Overeem vs. Werdum.

Normally I hate when fans boo fighters, but to say Overeem vs. Werdum was boo-worthy doesn’t begin to capture what a disappointment the main event was. We expected fireworks, and instead were given an even less relevant version of Silva vs. Leites (at least that fight was for a title). If that fight was under the UFC banner, Dana White would have immediately issued an apology to the fans and a threat to fire Werdum over another performance like that. To say the least, Werdum’s chances of getting back into the UFC were more than likely squashed by that fight three round Thales Leites impression.

(Where’s your creepy joker-smile now, playboy?)

The latest installment in Strikeforce’s Heavyweight Grand Prix Tournament goes down tonight at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, featuring the long-awaited rematch between Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum, and Josh Barnett’s promotional debut against Brett Rogers. Plus, KJ Noons and Jorge Masvidal jockey for #1 contendership in the lightweight division, and 14-year veteran Jeff Monson collides with rising heavyweight star Daniel Cormier.

Handling the play-by-play for this evening will be the Shemp Howard of CagePotato’s liveblog-rotation, Matt Kaplan, so let him know you care in the comments section. Live results from the Showtime broadcast of “Overeem vs. Werdum” will be stacking up after the jump beginning at 10 p.m. ET; refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest.

(“It took 47 seconds for your last sparring partner to piss his pants. Alistair, we can do better.”)

Tonight, Alistair Overeem will make his Strikeforce Heavyweight Tournament debut, fighting the man who already defeated him back in PRIDE, “Vai Cavalo” Fabricio Werdum. Overeem will step inside the Strikeforce cage as the K-1 2010 World Grand Prix Champion, DREAM Heavyweight Champion and of course Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion. One of the people standing behind the success of Alistair Overeem and other Team Golden Glory fighters is the coach Martijn “The Specialist” De Jong.

De Jong is a 2nd degree Black Belt in traditional Jiu-Jitsu, 1st degree Black Belt in Kyokushin Budokai and a 1st degree Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. “The Specialist” is also a president of Shooto Europe, ADCC Europe and the CEO of the successful United Glory MMA promotion.

We had an opportunity to speak to the legendary coach about his expectations from Alistair Overeem this weekend, Team Golden Glory and the state of Mixed Martial Arts and Kickboxing in The Netherlands.

Click here to read this article on Lowkick.blitzcorner.com

(The only person who doesn’t like Dan spits at cornermen and says Americans are cocky.)

Since our first offering of Breakfast With a Champion with Strikeforce and K-1 champ Alistair Overeem was such a success, we have set the wheels in motion for subsequent editions of the series, starting with our next one with Strikeforce light heavyweight kingpin Dan Henderson.

Just like last time, we’re asking for your input on what questions you want answered as well as any suggestions for future guests for the column. The only criteria be that they be current or retired champions. Again, we ask that you keep your questions for Hendo respectful, but really, how would they not be?

In the meantime, check out some highlights featuring the man himself courtesy of MachineMen after the jump for inspiration.

(“Overeem is my son. Scott Coker is my uncle. Gina Carano is my hot cousin. Josh Barnett is my sister’s meathead boyfriend.”)

Betting odds for the complete lineup of tomorrow night’s Strikeforce card were released yesterday, and looking over these numbers, it seems like the perfect opportunity to dig yourself out of the hole you put yourself in by following our previous gambling advice. Now, we don’t actually recommend the use of off-shore gambling sites these days, in light of the government’s recent eRaids, but hey, entertainment purposes and all, right? Check out the juiciest lines for Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum, courtesy of BestFightOdds.com, then listen very carefully to what we have to say…

Main Card (Showtime, 10 p.m.)
Alistair Overeem (-321) vs. Fabricio Werdum (+300)
Josh Barnett (-319) vs. Brett Rogers (+309)
K.J. Noons (-144) vs. Jorge Masvidal (+135)
Daniel Cormier (-300) vs. Jeff Monson (+325)
Valentijn Overeem (+111) vs. Chad Griggs (-122)

Our friends at Victory Belt just hooked us up with a copy of Anderson Silva‘s new book, a semi-autobiographical collection of short fiction titled Ghosts of the Favela. Just kidding. The book’s actually called MMA Instruction Manual: The Muay Thai Clinch, Takedowns, Takedown Defense, and Ground Fighting. A follow-up to Silva’s guide to striking, it focuses on the other aspects of hand-to-hand combat that have made the Spider so dangerous in the cage. And you can have it, as long as you can predict the future.

This Saturday night, Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum goes down in Dallas, featuring two more bouts from the promotion’s heavyweight grand prix: Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum, and Josh Barnett vs. Brett Rogers. Submit your predictions for these two fights in the comments section below, including the winner’s name, the method of victory, and the time/round of stoppage, if any. Your entry should be in this format:

“Say ‘Cheese’ fellas! We’re going to the UFC! Drinks are on me tonight.”

You know, we haven’t always been as friendly and respectful to Scott Coker and company the past few years as we could have been. Some of you have even called us haters, right here to our damn faces. However, since this is CagePotato and not CompletelyProfessionalMMAReporting.com, and since most of you assholes come here because we’re assholes, we figure that’s just peachy. That said, Strikeforce does manage to put together some stacked shows, when they’re given enough time between events.

Case in point: Strikeforce’s June 18 show in Dallas boasts a boatload (a large boat, son) of names taking part in the Neverending Story that is the SF heavyweight Grand Prix. Overeem vs Werdum is obviously the big one, but we’ve also got Josh Barnett vs Brett Rogers, Cormier vs Monson, the other Overeem vs that guy with the sideburns, KJ Noons , JZ Cavalcante vs Justin Wilcox… this is a stacked effing card, you pricks. So there, we said something nice. We marked it on our calendar, so it will be nothing but assholery and dick jokes until the autumnal equinox.

Or until the next UFC-Strikeforce superfight, whichever comes first. And with the recent news that cross-promotional fights are on the table for UFC and Strikeforce, we expect to hear SF champs making their case for a superfight of their own.

(Boon [far right] with a few of his Golden Glory brothers.)

If you’ve followed kickboxing and MMA for a while, chances are you’re familiar with Golden Glory thanks in large part to fighters like Alistair Overeem, Semmy Schilt, Marloes Coenen, Siyar Bahadurzada, Gokhan Saki and Sergey Kharitonov.

It’s behind the scenes, however, where several key players from coaches Cor Hemmers and Martijn de Jong to founders Ron Nyqvist, Frederico Lapenda and Bas Boon make Golden Glory run like a well oiled machine.

We recently spoke with Bas Boon about the past present and future of his esteemed Dutch-based “fight family.”

Check out what he had to say after the jump.

(“You kick one little girl at a birthday party and nobody ever lets you live it down.”)

In an effort to constantly increase and improve our interactive offerings to the Potato Nation, we’ve come up with a new concept for a series of ongoing articles that will give our readers the opportunity to interact with some of MMA’s biggest stars.

We dubbed the series, “Breakfast With a Champion,” because we will be posting them early in the morning for you to read and because the concept is that you send us your questions for various titleholders and we forward them and post the replies here when we get them back.

The beauty of it is that you get to ask questions that typically don’t get asked by journalists and you get to contribute to the content you want to read in one of two ways: By posting questions for future guests and by suggesting which champs you want to take your questions.

We’ll do our best to get in touch with as many of them as we can and to answer as many of your questions as possible. All we ask is that you keep your questions respectful and that you spread the word about the series.

So without further adieu, check the first instalment of Breakfast With a Champion, featuring Alistair Overeem after the jump.

Picture is unrelated. Do your worst, Nation. (PicProps: MMTKO)

After a long absence, we decided to solicit questions from our readers to find out what was on your minds, so that we may enlighten and amuse you in an engaging way. Also to keep you jerks occupied, because you get all crazy when you’re bored and that’s why we can’t have nice things.

As always, you can submit questions in the CagePotato Forums (which actually exist behind that button up top labeled “Forums”), or you can submit your queries via email to TheAllKnowingPotato@gmail.com. If The Great And Powerful Potato deigns to answer your question, you agree to buy us beers at the next meet and greet. Those are the rules.

Let’s get to it.

[The All Knowing Potato]

THE REEM EPISODE 3: REWIND THE MOMENT from THE REEM on Vimeo.

The Reem Team has released the latest episode of Alistair Overeem’s web documentary series and as usual, it’s stellar.

(Aoki is not impressed by DREAM’s choices of opponents)

DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki will reportedly take on either former World Extreme Cagefighting lightweight champion Jamie Varner or former Maximum Fighting Championship lightweight champion Antonio McKee at DREAM’s “Fight for Japan” disaster relief benefit show on May 29 in Tokyo.

According to MMAWeekly, Aoki’s original opponent, UFC and Shooto veteran Williamy Freire, was unable to secure a visa to fight in Japan, so the promotion offered the bout to McKee, who was inexplicably stripped of his MFC belt earlier this month and learned of the news from a press release put out by the Edmonton, Alberta-based promotion announcing that Drew Fickett and Hermes Franca would be competing in its next show for “Mandingo’s” strap. His opportunity to contend for DREAM gold, however has hit a snag as he too does not have a visa to fight in Asia. As a precaution, DREAM has now offered Varner the bout, but it is unclear at this point which of the two former champions will be taking on Aoki in three weeks.

(Two of the world’s leading causes of head injury.)

We got word this week from Alistair Overeem’s management that “The Demolition Man” will be taking some time away from his busy training schedule preparing for his first round Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix fight with Fabricio Werdum in July to answer our most pressing questions. We figured that, rather than ask the Team Golden Glory standout what we want to hear answered, we  figured we would give The Potato Nation the opportunity to come up with the best questions they can for Overeem.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/ESPN)

For all of us who thought Georges St-Pierre might be in a bit of trouble if and when he decides to move up to middleweight, check this video out.

St-Pierre appeared on the latest edition of ESPN’s Sport Science to have the force of his punches, kicks and takedowns measured and the results were astounding.

(“This guy knows how to eat.”)

Frank Mir thinks Alistair Overeem will suffer a similar fate as Mirko Cro Cop if and when he finally fights for the UFC.

Either Mir doesn’t know anything about Overeem or he’s trying to needle his way into a fight with the heavyweight Strikeforce, DREAM and K-1 champion  when he transitions to the Octagon. Whatever his intentions are, it’s likely the only thing Mir will succeed in doing is pissing off “The Reem.”

Here’s what he had to say in a recent interview he did with MMA30′s Dave Farra:

“With all the guys with the wrestling ability I dont think Overeem will do as well as a lot of the fans would like him to do. Obviously the guy’s from from K-1 and I can’t say enough about his stand-up. He’s a great fighter and he has a pretty wicked guillotine — at least he did at light heavyweight he [did],” mir explained. “I haven’t really seen him establish it since he put the weight on. He has some submissions off his back and he moves around, but he’s been fighting in boxing rings and stuff, but going to fight in the cage, which he’s he’s had fights in cages, but you get someone like a Velasquez or Carwin or Brock, they’re going to change levels and push you against a cage and rip you down. So I think Overeem is going to have to deal with the cage now. When youre a striker, it’s an issue.”

(Video courtesy of YouTube/00Alistair00)

If you haven’t heard the news, Anderson Silva has a new documentary called, “Like Water,” which set for release later this month at the Tribeca Film Festival in Manhattan. The name of the film is taken from a famous Bruce Lee quote as an homage to the world’s most famous martial artist who was a huge influence to The Spider’s MMA career.

The synopsis of the movie is after the jump.