(At times like these, it’s the simple pleasures that sustain us. Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.)

Due to an injury sustained in training, TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah will not be facing Nick Catone at UFC Fight Night 17 (February 7th; Tampa, Florida). No, he didn’t break his funny-bone. According to MMA Weekly:

This sucks just as bad for Nick Catone, who has been inactive since last June, just waiting for Sadollah to get his shit together. Luckily, the UFC is trying to find a replacement for Amir so that Catone can still compete next month.

As for Sadollah, he’s also been inactive since last June, when he submitted CB Dollaway at the TUF 7 finale. That fight is still the only pro MMA match on Sadollah’s record. There’s no word yet on when he’ll be able to return to competition, though perhaps Amir should take this as a sign that God is very displeased with the idea of him as a cage-fighter.

(Okay, so this isn’t funny. Unless you count C.B.’s back tattoo.)

I don’t know if Forrest Griffin is conducting workshops in self-deprecating humor down at Xtreme Couture, but it seems to be the favorite style of comedy for fighters these days, or at least it’s a close second to the physical, shot-to-the-groin type humor that both Alistair Overeem and "America’s Funniest Home Videos" both love so dearly.

Reading through Amir Sadollah’s first blogging effort for Spike.com, which is loaded with these Griffin-like quips, you want to hate him.  He’s doing the same self-deprecating act he did on “The Ultimate Fighter,” and a part of you just wants to tell him to stop trying so hard.  Then you read on and are eventually forced to admit that, especially for a fighter, he really is pretty funny:

Hi everyone, my name is Amir Sadollah. You may remember me from my starring roles in some great television such as, The Hundred Thousand Dollar Pyramid, Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, and the actual Moon landing film. More recently however, you may recognize me from season seven of The Ultimate Fighter. When Spike initially contacted me about doing a blog, I didn’t answer the phone because I thought it was either a collection agency or another 1-900 number that had somehow tracked me down. After the confusion cleared up and they explained what they wanted, I immediately thought it was a great idea and told myself now is definitely the time to learn to read and write.

See what I mean?  It’s hard to hate him after the reference to “Parker Lewis Can’t Lose,” which really pisses me off because I love hating stuff.

Where Sadollah actually makes a useful insight is when he gives his take on the strange type of fame brought on him by TUF:

(Props: MMA Mania)

According to a new press release sent out by SpikeTV, the UFC’s 17th "Fight Night" card will go down February 7th at the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida. Headlining the action will be a lightweight scrap between Joe Lauzon and Hermes Franca. Both men are coming off wins, with Lauzon most recently defeating Kyle Bradley via TKO at UFC Fight Night 15 in September, and Franca taking a unanimous decision over Marcus Aurelio at UFC 90 in October. Also on the card…

Mac Danzig vs. Josh Neer (LW): The Ultimate Fighter 6 winner looks to get back on track after being smothered by a demon-possessed Clay Guida at Fight Night 15. Neer could also use a win, as he lost a tough decision to Nate Diaz at the same event.

Amir Sadollah vs. Nick Catone (MW): This fight was originally supposed to go down at UFC 91, but Sadollah picked up some kind of leg infection and had to pull out. The match has been pushed to February, and the TUF 7 winner will finally get to test out newcomer Catone, a 5-0 Ring of Combat vet with four first-round stoppages under his belt. Sadollah is still just 1-0 as a pro.

Cain Velasquez vs. Denis Stojnic (HW): We didn’t even hear this one rumored until it was announced. Now that Mustapha Al-Turk has been re-assigned to UFC 92, they needed to find another patsy for Velasquez to eat up. Stojnic is just some random dude from Sarajevo who’s 5-1 in Europe. He is, however, a member of the Golden Glory team, which means he works out alongside Alistair Overeem, Sergei Kharitonov, and Semmy Schilt. How bad could he be?

MMA Weekly also hears that a lightweight bout between Kurt Pellegrino and Rob Emerson is possible; the entire fight card will be announced shortly.

(Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

Coming off a disappointing decision loss to Clay Guida at UFC Fight Night 15 in September, TUF 6 winner Mac Danzig will reportedly face Josh Neer at UFC Fight Night 17, which will likely go down February 7th in Las Vegas. Josh Neer is himself coming off a loss at Fight Night 15 (to Nate Diaz), which tipped his UFC record to 3-4. MMA Weekly also reports that TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah will face Nick Catone on the UFC Fight Night 17 card; Sadollah was supposed to face Catone at UFC 91, but had to pull out of the match due to a leg infection.

Both of these matches are expected to be featured on the televised portion of the broadcast, which will air for free on Spike TV. The event will come just one week after UFC 94 (St. Pierre vs. Penn), and two weeks before UFC 95 (Anderson Silva vs. TBA).

(Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.)

The TUF 7 winner recoups from his leg infection with the help of some berry-flavored Skoal, which he only enjoys ironically, we’re guessing. To see some photos of Amir and Arianny Celeste dressed up like pretty, pretty princesses, check out the rest of this set.

(Looks like Sadollah’s first non-TUF fight is going to have to wait.)

Ultimate Fighter 7 winner Amir Sadollah won’t be fighting at UFC 91 this weekend after all, as UFC.com reports that a leg infection has forced him off the card. What with the fight just a couple of days away, the UFC couldn’t find a suitable replacement and has given up trying, so the bout is being scratched altogether.

Sorry, Nick Catone. That big UFC debut you’ve been training for, the one you told all your friends and family about, it ain’t happening. Look on the bright side: at least you’re still undefeated.

Since the bout leaves a hole in the televised portion of the event, the UFC is going to bump Tamdan McCrory-Dustin Hazelett up from the darkness to make up for it. You hear that, “Barn Cat”? You’re going to fight on TV in front of a Dana White-estimated 1.2 million households. Your struggles with women are finally over, my man.

Jesus Christ, you guys must really want that t-shirt. With nearly 300 entries, our latest caption contest was our most popular to date. Here are the five readers who are getting their very own CagePotato.com “Hall of Fame” tees:

Vrax: Dana White takes a rare break from his mech-suit.

Shawn: The UFC 88 after party featured many stars of the MMA world. Pictured here is Amir Sadollah, TUF7 winner, alongside Verne Troyer, future EliteXC headliner.

joe joe: Slightly above Elvis Sinosic as far as first opponents for TUF winners.

Archer0545: (Goldbergs Voice) “Amir is 64 inches taller and enjoys a 36 inch reach advantage, everything else is virtually identical.”

Sam: “that’s not how you make a fist you retard.”

Bonus: I’d also like to give shirts to two more readers who posted brilliant comments recently. They are…

Ted Nutmeg on Antonio Silva Is Seriously Fighting That Steroid Charge: In a related story, following his victory at UFC Fight Night 15 Nate Diaz tested positive for 200 times the normal concentration of realness, motherfucker.

Reckless on “Jenna Jameson to Have Two of Tito Ortiz’s Babies, Consecutively”: Those kids are gonna walk out of that vagina. then eat a right hook from chuck.

If your name has been called, please e-mail feedback@cagepotato.com with your address and size, and we’ll get those shirts out to you ASAP. As for the rest of you, great work with the captions, but you ain’t gettin’ shit. So please go here to buy a “Hall of Fame” shirt for $12. More brilliant CagePotato t-shirt designs will come in the future if this one does well, so help us out, eh?

(For more photos from this event, click here.)

We recently came across this Combat Lifestyle picture of TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah and Verne Troyer hanging out at Privé, and needless to say, it moved us. I think it’s caption contest time, folks. And what’s on the line? See for yourself after the jump.

(Could somebody please put this image on a t-shirt?)

FiveOuncesofPain is reporting that TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah will be eased into his official UFC career with a match against Nick Catone, a Shore Academy/Ricardo Almeida product who has built up a professional record of 6-0 (5 wins by first-round stoppage), primarily in the Atlantic City-based Ring of Combat promotion; the fight will go down at UFC 91 (November 15th, Las Vegas).

Currently the USKBA middleweight champion, Catone wrestled at Rider University and was a NCAA Division I Conference Champion in 2001 and 2004. That’s pretty much all we know about him. As for Amir, he’s preparing for the match at Xtreme Couture and entertaining himself with thoughts of Olivia Newton-John and mannequins in his spare time.

(Amir Sadollah could be part of Couture/Lesnar’s supporting cast.)

— UFC lightweight Gleison Tibau has been forced to pull out of his UFC 90 match against Hermes Franca due to a shoulder injury; replacing him will be Franca’s longtime friend Marcus Aurelio. Franca and Aurelio trained together at American Top Team before Franca left the camp, which led to a feud between Franca and ATT.

— During an appearance at Combat Sports Challenge 26 in Colonial Heights, Virginia, TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah revealed that he expects his next fight to be at UFC 91 in November. His opponent should be announced in the near future.

— UFC 91 will also reportedly feature a heavyweight bout between Gabriel Gonzaga and UFC newcomer Josh Hendricks. Gonzaga is coming off a first-round submission win over Justin McCully at UFC 86 in July, which snapped a two-fight losing streak. Hendricks is a vet of various regional promotions who’s 9-0 with one no-contest in his last ten fights.

— Michael Bisping thinks that Quinton Jackson’s next fight will be in December, against either Wanderlei Silva or Mauricio Rua: “[E]ither way, revenge is the dish that’ll be served up on the night! I’m sure whoever he gets in December, everyone at the Wolfslair will be behind him 100 per cent and fingers crossed he’ll get his revenge.”

— The UFC recently reunited eight castmembers from The Ultimate Fighter‘s first season to film an upcoming TV special. MMA Junkie provides some advance highlights, like when Joe Rogan asked the cast how much better they did with the women after being part of the show:

“If you’re in a relationship you want out of, now is the time to speak up,” Stephan Bonnar shouted, laughing.

When no one was willing to talk, Rogan called them “a bunch of (expletives).”

Forrest Griffin, now the UFC’s light heavyweight champion, broke the tension by shouting, “Hey, I don’t know about you guys, but I was doing pretty good with the women before.”

(Cain Velasquez: Don’t be scared, homey. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

— The arraignment of Quinton Jackson (which was supposed to take place today) has been postponed pending further investigation. According to an Orange County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson, “The district attorney’s office is responsible for filing charges and that case is still under investigation based on some new evidence that has been discovered…The recommendations of the police are taken into consideration, but it could be more charges or less charges, depending on what the evidence reports.”

— The Ultimate Fighter 7 winner Amir Sadollah will be back in the Octagon within the next couple months, against a yet-unnamed opponent. He’s moved from Virginia to Las Vegas to train with his old coach Forrest Griffin, and there’s no truth to the rumors of him dropping to welterweight.

— If his knee heals according to schedule, Matt Hughes should be settling his grudge with Matt Serra in January or February.

— The UFC is having a lot of trouble finding an opponent for Cain Velasquez. As Bloody Elbow’s Mchael Rome puts it, “[Velasquez] is very good, but he has no name value yet, so fighters don’t see any upside in facing him.”

— Brock Lesnar is subjected to some pretty dumb questions by the New York Times‘s Freakonomics blog; our own Ben Fowlkes gets a shout-out.

(Props: MMAFightGirls)

No, not after a high-speed chase. This actually went down during a recent seminar at the Fairfax County Police Department, where SWAT officers convinced Amir to get “tazed” for a demonstration. Looks like someone’s earning their $50 a day…

SpikeTV passes along this alert:

Tonight at 9PM on Spike TV, during a presentation of A History of Violence, Geoff Keighley, host of GameTrailers TV, will present exclusive new footage from THQ’s UFC® 2009 Undisputed, recreating the end of the UFC 86 light heavyweight title fight between Forrest Griffin and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.

Might be worth a look, if you honestly have nothing going on tonight (and Amir Sadollah assumes you don’t in the above promo). We hear the new footage is pretty damn realistic, right down to Juanito Ibarra stamping his feet and crying little pixelated tears after the decision. Though we’d still rather see the Undisputed recreation of the end of the Koscheck/Lytle fight.

Also: It’s becoming apparent that Sadollah doesn’t always understand the subtle difference between “funny guy” and “smug prick.” Just a thought…

From the TUF 7 finale preliminary card: “Gumby” eats his third-straight submission loss, while “The Boogeyman” puts himself back in the UFC’s middleweight picture.

Amir Sadollah kicks some ass at Combat Sports Challenge 20 (4/28/07) — rocking his trademark hipster haircut even then. Props to MMATKO.

The most breathtaking video you’ll see all day is after the jump.

C.B. Dollaway tapped out in his fight with Amir Sadollah. That seemed clear to everyone but Dollaway following the bout. His vague protest of the stoppage seemed to be rooted in the belief that just tapping once wasn’t really a tap. That’s basically the MMA equivalent of trying to tell your girlfriend that it wasn’t cheating because it was with a prostitute. In other words, it’s an argument that’s doomed from the start.

In an interview with MMA Weekly, Dollaway kind of owns up to it:

“With the tap, I didn’t fully commit to the tap, but I did hit him once. I guess they ruled that a tap. I thought you had to go on and start tapping out. I did hit him once. Right as I did that, I felt my arm get into a position where I could get out. At that point Herb (Dean) ruled it as a tap out.”

Maybe the reason he felt his arm get into a better position after the initial tap was because Herb Dean stepped in and Amir began to let him go? You know, since by tapping his leg Dollaway indicated that he wanted to stop fighting. That’s usually how it works.

Whether he fully committed to the tap or not, tapping once is the same as tapping a dozen times. It’s a signal that you want to quit, which is why you probably shouldn’t tap at all if you don’t want to quit.

Good for him for sort of owning up to it in a very oblique way though. That’s kind of dignified almost.

All fighters made weight yesterday for the “Ultimate Fighter” Finale on Saturday night. If you thought weigh-ins were just a boring photo-op where guys stand around on a scale in their underwear, then you obviously haven’t seen a weigh-in hosted by Joe Rogan. In the above video you can hear Rogan cranking up the enthusiasm by screaming every word he says, despite the fact that he is already holding a microphone.

For a look at the really awkward staredown between Evan Tanner and Kendall Grove, skip to the end. And no, by awkward I don’t just mean that Tanner has a huge beard during it, though he does.

CB Dollaway and Amir Sadollah talk about tonight’s fight and their road to the finals after the jump.

(CBD, reppin’ the MTX Audio Fight Team.)

Pretty much everyone had CB Dollaway as a lock to get into the Ultimate Fighter 7 finale, and the former All-American wrestler from Arizona State seemed to have it clinched on last night’s episode, kicking Amir Sadollah’s ass all over the Octagon. And then it happened — an armbar in the third round put a shocking end to the fight, and seemed to derail Dollaway’s dreams of making it into the UFC. Good thing Jesse Taylor can’t handle his liquor, because now the Team Rampage standout has a chance to battle Amir again, this time for all the marbles. Talk about drama. In this exclusive Q+A, Dollaway chats with CagePotato about his rematch with Sadollah, the drawbacks of having Rampage as a coach, Jesse Taylor, and the bullshit one has to endure when living in the TUF house.

***

CAGEPOTATO.COM: What do you think went wrong at the end of your semi-final match with Amir?
CB DOLLAWAY: I think conditioning came into play. We’d been fighting two-round fights previously, and it kind of slipped my mind that it was gonna be a three-round fight. Towards the end of the third round I was just exhausted, and I got sloppy. I wasn’t doing things right, and he was. He kept his composure and caught me in that armbar. I definitely think I was controlling the whole fight, and I believe I was ahead on the scorecards, but you have that mental lapse for a minute and the other guy capitalizes on it.

How confident are you that you’ll have him figured out when you fight him again?
Pretty confident. I believe I took care of the mistakes I made in the first match. I think it should be a similar fight, but with me winning at the end. He’s a hard competitor to finish — I already know that from fighting him once — so I’ve taken measures to make sure I’ll be in great condition.

What did you miss the most while you were trapped in the Ultimate Fighter house?
The freedom, I guess. We were told what to do and when to do it, and we didn’t have access to anything. You can’t call anyone, you can’t get on the Internet and browse around, you can’t go to the mall — you’re just there. In a sense, it’s like being in jail.

We’ve heard a lot about how some of the castmembers were made to look a certain way on the show through editing. Jeremy May says he wasn’t really that much of an asshole. Amir told us the “confessional” scenes involved very leading questions. How accurately do you think you were portrayed on the show?
It seemed like they portrayed me to be a cocky asshole, and I’m not really like that. I just want to be confident and I don’t want to put negative thoughts in my head before I fight. They basically edit out everything you say except for the parts where you’re being confident…

Or when you’re referring to yourself in third-person.

(Amir and his hail-Mary armbar against CB. Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

Every Thursday morning, Team Rampage member Gerald Harris blogs his reactions to each episode of The Ultimate Fighter 7 on CagePotato.com. Here’s what he had to say about last night’s insane ep, which we’ve already summarized here.

***

Damn, what a season! Now, I can’t sit here and say it was the best season ever, because I didn’t watch many of the previous TUF shows, the finale hasn’t happened yet, and who am I to make such a bold statement? All I can say is that we fought our asses off and hopefully built a strong fan base for ourselves while bringing some new faces to the UFC.

I don’t want to overshadow the two fights with Jesse’s incident so I’ll address that now. I feel sorry for him, but every man is responsible for his own mistakes. It’s not like getting caught with a punch or submission — this is a voluntary act that you can control. There are consequences in the real world and unfortunately Jesse picked the wrong time to learn a lesson. I witnessed most of the events that night and even tried to help him get home, but he was out of control. With a son to feed and a future career in the UFC, the decision to go home instead of party would have changed his life.

(Amir gets all “Rocky” on us.)

I’m assuming that most of you watched last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter — which, hype aside, was easily one of the greatest episodes in the show’s history — so I won’t bore you with extraneous details. But here’s a quick recap:

— CB Dollaway and Amir Sadollah square off in the last semi-final fight. Aside from a couple of hard body kicks and a close armbar attempt from Amir, the first two rounds are all CB, who controls the action from the top, and delivers a Rampage-style body slam as well as some brutal elbows that open up a large gash under Amir’s right eye. CB nearly locks in a rear-naked choke in the third round, but Amir spins out, momentarily tries to figure out a toe-hold, then catches CB in another armbar that immediately causes him to tap. With his professional MMA record still 0-0, Amir Sadollah has battled his way to the TUF 7 finale.

(Afterwards, getting sewn up.)

Clad in a gay-friendly rainbow t-shirt, Dana White pumps up the 90-minute final episode of The Ultimate Fighter: “In seven seasons of doing this show, there has never been a bigger twist.” Bold words considering that the TUF series has had a history of monumental twists, like when Anthony Torres turned out to be a woman who was only posing as a man to compete on the show, and the crazy TUF 5 finale, where it was revealed that the entire season was just a dream Jens Pulver had while he was in a coma.

Personally, I hope the twist is that Jesse Taylor gets kicked off the show for breaking a limo window and killing Jeremy May, and the semi-final match between Amir and CB is so exciting and close that Dana White decides to have them fight again on the finale for the contract. That’s kind of an “everybody wins” type of scenario. Between the pissing, the puking, and the laying-and-praying, I think I’ve had my fill of Mongo…

(Props: Fightlinker)

(Jesse Taylor pisses his shorts on national television.)

Every Thursday morning, Team Rampage member Gerald Harris blogs his reactions to each new episode of The Ultimate Fighter 7 on CagePotato.com. Here’s what he had to say about last night’s ep, in which retard-strong (and retard-smart) Jesse Taylor pounded his way to victory, and Amir Sadollah and Matt Brown put on the best fight of the season.

***

By now everyone should know that Jesse Taylor is for real. He’s not the most exciting fighter in the world, but he’s solid and gets the job done. I can’t hate, because I respect winners and he’s also a Team Quest fighter so I was rooting for him. Dante just laid there and took a beating. He’s a veteran in the game and also a brown belt under Ricardo Almeida, so I assumed that he would catch Jesse, but Jesse just punched the [blank] out of him for two full rounds.

Now, let me get to the action! Matt Brown vs. Amir Sadollah was crazy. That’s a fight that people would pay money to watch. I think the first round could be given to Brown for the aggression and last second takedown. Amir seemed to pick up steam in the second round, took Matt down, punished him from the top, and eventually sunk in a triangle choke. I liked the fight because it wasn’t a sloppy slugfest. Brown has a great boxing background and Amir showed his Muay Thai and ground game with the strikes and sub finish. It’s crazy that the more you pressure him, he gets stronger and doesn’t fold — that’s the quality of a good fighter. I can say the same about Brown plus he was very humble in his loss and showed respect for his opponent.

From last night’s episode of TUF; props to MMATKO.

(Sadollah about to get Harrisplexed.)

Every Thursday morning, Team Rampage member Gerald Harris blogs his reactions to each new episode of The Ultimate Fighter. And this was the one we’ve been waiting for — the night Gerald actually gets to fight. But despite his early domination against Amir Sadollah, things didn’t turn out the way he’d hoped. Read below for Gerald’s rundown of the fight and how he felt about it, and give him a shout at his MySpace page.

***

It’s 8:58 p.m. and I’m staring at the clock hoping that it doesn’t click to 9:00. I’m sitting on the couch with my friends because every Wednesday we get together to watch the show. It was cool for the first couple weeks, but this one was different — I wasn’t smiling as much and I wasn’t excited. No one noticed and things went on as they did in the past. I’m flooded with text messages, phone calls, and high fives from my friends when the fight picks are announced. The fight starts and people are sending texts, calls, and jumping up and down as I slam and strike Amir the entire first round. Then it happens — “Bam,” in a quick flash — the fight’s over. You talk about silence? No one said a word for about 15 minutes, my phone stopped ringing, and nobody even looked at me. I broke the silence by saying “I’m sorry that I let y’all down, but it’s not over.” They’ve all seen the show and the success of fighters who got a second chance or at least earned a career in the UFC.

Now, let me take you back a couple months before I got there. I trained my ass off, running miles in the morning, and never missed Team Quest practice unless it was an emergency. I dreamed about holding The Ultimate Fighter trophy as Dana handed it to me and joining the ranks of Stevenson, Griffin, Evans, and many others. I was also doing bad financially and could barely afford to support my family, so winning those fights would help me provide for them. I’m the father of two and that’s how I feed them; this is my life, and the only thing that I do to earn money. When I lost that fight I felt like I let everyone down, I didn’t earn money to feed my kids, and lost the chance to become the next Ultimate Fighter. Once I took a deep breath and talked to Rampage I realized that it was ok. I still have a future in the UFC and a possible second chance to get into the tournament. During the fight I injured my ankle and scratched my eye, but that healed in a few days — the doc cleared me as good to go.