According to Fighters Only, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira will be unable to face Frank Mir in their headlining rematch at UFC 119 (September 25th, Indianapolis), due to an injury that will require surgery. Which sucks for him, but on the bright side, you didn’t really care about that fight anyway. Stepping in for Big Nog will be Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, who has been surging back to relevance with back-to-back stoppage victories over Anthony Perosh and Pat Barry. It’s a huge opportunity for Cro Cop, who would finally become a legitimate heavyweight contender in the UFC with a win over the former champion. Mir hasn’t competed since his TKO loss to Shane Carwin at UFC 111, which followed his quick spanking of Cheick Kongo last December.

Though Nogueira had to undergo knee surgery in 2009, his latest injury is possibly hip-related. Big Nog has also battled staph infections in recent years, which delayed his meeting with Cain Velasquez, and supposedly affected his first performance against Frank Mir at UFC 92. After suffering the only two stoppage losses of his career in his last three fights, it seems that Nogueira has finally learned his lesson about fighting hurt. But after so many tough battles, injuries, and illnesses, will his body ever fully recover?

- 5 easy shortcuts to fake being fit (modernman)

– 70-year-old fighter looking to set Guinnes record tomorrow night (mrjamesryan)

- Best websites for finding a job (mademan)

- Don’t like MMA’s double standards? Then do something about it (mmafighting)

– Gerald Harris replaces injured Jorge Rivera vs. Alessio Sakara at UFC 118 (mmajunkie)

– Big Nog’ talks rematch with Mir (tatame)

– A letter to the guy who says "LOL!" in real world conversations (holytaco)

– UFC serves Justin.tv and USTREAM with subpoenas for piracy (ufc)

– UFC’s UK VP of operations confident that Fedor will one day fight in the Octagon (espn)

– Darth Vader has obviously blown through his Phantom Menace money on coke and $500 prostitutes (screenjunkies)

– Vitor Belfort tells Ed Soares to shut his mouth (thegarv)

– 175 pound boxer Danny Green wants to fight Lesnar (fightlinker)

- Eggshell membrane proven to alleviate arthritis (bullz-eye)

- Denise Milani: The world’s sexiest glamour model? (askmen)

- Newscaster comes up with new name for soy milk (break)

(Video courtesy YouTube)

Sylvester Stallone was on Late Night with David Letterman last night and had some complimentary things to say about his The Expendables co-star Randy Couture (around the 4:09 mark).

(Video courtesy YouTube/Wandfightteam)

- UFC signs a fighter with the least original nickname in MMA (MMAJunkie)

– Ref Josh Rosenthal explains why he didn’t stop Lesnar-Carwin in the first (MMAFighting)

– Big Nog says fight with Mir will be different this time around (TATAME)

– The best damn Jose Aldo highlight video on YouTube (YouTube)

- Vancouver fires AC head for badmouthing city over sanctioning issues (VancouverSun)

- DREAM 15 weigh-ins (YouTube)

- The Twitter feed every man must follow (Twitter)

- Guy pranks girlfriend with pube moustache (BREAK)

- Create manly invite for your boys to watch UFC 117 at your pad (Manvite)

- Missed connections: It works (HolyTaco)

- Renzo Gracie black belt gives tips on how to bar fight (MadeMan)

- 9 greatest stripper pole fails (Maxim)

- 8-bit Contra-style The Expendables game (ScreenJunkies)

- Hottest girls of Formula 1 (Chickipedia)

- NASCAR summer blockbusters (AllLeftTurns)

- Mel Gibson’s racist hate speech to girlfriend (Ebaumsworld)

- Reaction to "The Decision" (ScoresReport)

(Always be specific when you order "Brazilian twins" from the local escort service. You could get badly burned. Trust me guys, *badly* burned…)

Sherk vs. Dunham? Who cares! Lots more UFC 119-related news just came over the wires, and it looks like the people of Indianapolis are going to be in for a wild night, even if the main event is somewhat lacking in importance. Here’s what we’re dealing with…

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Frank Mir: This will reportedly be the evening’s headliner. Hmm. If you’ll recall, the two former champions coached against each other on TUF 8, then Mir shocked our asses by TKO’ing Nogueira at UFC 92. Nogueira blamed his weak performance on a staph infection, so maybe this fight will turn out differently, but basically we’re being given another UFC main event where both guys are coming off losses, and the winner doesn’t even become the division’s #1 contender. Personally, I was more interested in a Big Nog vs. Cro Cop rematch. 

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Ryan Bader: Now we’re talking. Lil’ Nog needs to redeem himself after nearly getting beat by late replacement Jason Brilz at UFC 114, while Ryan Bader is looking sharper every time out, most recently knocking out Keith Jardine at UFC 110. If Bader can out-hustle the Brazilian vet, he’ll land directly in the light-heavyweight title mix.

(Video courtesy YouTube/Strikeforce)

Strikeforce released this pretty generic Q&A video interview with Fedor Emelianenko  ahead of his bout with Fabricio Werdum this weekend. Although it sounds like it’s being conducted by Napoleon Dynamite, the interview actually featured some solid answers from "The Last Emperor".

For those of you too lazy to press play, here’s what Fedor had to say:

On whether or not  he is a fan of the sport:
"I really like MMA as a sport itself and I like to be in this sport and I like to develop myself, but I don’t like to watch fights."

On how his ground game matches up with Fabricio Werdum’s:
"I cannot say anything right now; we’ll see that during the fight."

On where Werdum’s jiu-jitsu stacks up against other fighters he’s faced:
"Speaking about his ground technique, I think his technique is approximately the same as Nogueira at the time [when I faced him] and Babalu [when I fought him]."

(Cain Velasquez really knows how to spoil a good nap. Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

Spike TV sent out a press release this morning to announce that they’d be showing a free encore presentation of UFC 110, the event that saw Cain Velasquez hammer Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira into a senseless oblivion, and – wouldn’t you know it? – it airs right at the same time as Strikeforce’s event on CBS on April 17.

Obviously, your hardcore fans are not going to miss a free live showing of Dan Henderson "coming for that belt" against Jake Shields just so they can see some fights that they probably already saw. As great as Ryan Bader’s knockout of Keith Jardine was, it’s not worth missing the Gilbert Melendez-Shinya Aoki fight just to see it again.

But just maybe the UFC is hoping to snag a couple of directionless remote control jockeys who feel like watching some fights but don’t realize it until they happen to stumble upon some. If they come across Spike TV first, maybe they’ll be sucked in without ever realizing/caring that they’re missing live action on CBS. Maybe they live their lives in much the same way, marring the first woman who said yes to a date with them and buying the first car they saw when they flipped open a copy of Auto Trader. Maybe this is a sad, yet oddly satisfying existence. Or maybe Spike TV just doesn’t have much else to offer on a Saturday night.

Thankfully, not all MMA event posters are lunkheaded eyesores. Here’s our tribute to some of the most creative and memorable ones we’ve ever come across…


(An appropriate image for an event that featured Mirko Cro Cop, Quinton Jackson, Mark Coleman, Alistair Overeem, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Igor Vovchanchyn, and both Rua brothers.)


(The UFC’s artistic high point.)

(Screw college basketball. This was the most thrilling Final Four of all time.)

(The UFC’s bloody Sunday, courtesy of MMA-Core.)

We know, the Index is a little late this week. We could say it has something to do with UFC 110 taking place in Australia, maybe make up some transparent lie about it taking longer to crunch the numbers when the fights happen in the Southern Hemisphere. But you’d never believe that…or would you?

Cain Velasquez +167
Even if Big Nog may be on the decline, beating him still means something. Finishing him means even more, and doing it in the first round, via brutal KO, means you just might be the next big thing. Suddenly the UFC’s heavyweight class has more viable challengers than they know what to do with. Talk about a good problem to have.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira -101
Seeing Nogueira get knocked out cold is a little like seeing a unicorn die of a heart attack. You never thought you’d ever live to see it, and afterwards you kind of wish you never had.

(Some Silva vs. Bisping hype, courtesy of nicktheface.)

Update: In light of the Rothwell/Cro Cop/Perosh situation, which will henceforth be referred to as the saga of Mirko and "The Hippo," just for laughs, we’ve updated the FightPicker questions. We’ve also replaced Sinosic/Haseman with Lytle/Foster, so there’s that too. You should probably go update your picks accordingly. Picks can be changed until 11 pm PST tonight. If, after that point, any more changes happen to make our existing questions obsolete, we’ll just declare those a tie. Sound good?

It’s the Friday before a big MMA event, and as new tradition dictates, it’s time for BF and I to make our MMA FightPicker picks public so that we can bust each other’s balls on Monday morning. Before we get to it, have you made your own picks yet? And have you considered entering one of the prize pools to win an iPod Touch? Not trying to nag or anything, it’s just that we regret the things we don’t do in this life, you know? Anyway…

1. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Cain Velasquez at UFC 110: Who will win?
BG: Nogueira. He’ll handle Velasquez standing, and he’s strong enough on the ground to avoid being squashed.
BF: Strong enough to avoid being squashed, yes. But strong enough to avoid being put there again and again and worked over for three rounds? I have my doubts. Velasquez via decision. Maybe then you’ll realize that it is not 2006 anymore.

(Joe Stevenson and George Sotiropoulos break down their main-card matchup. Props: YouTube.com/UFC.)

— During a UFC 110 press conference held yesterday in Sydney, UFC president Dana White announced that the winner of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Cain Velasquez could potentially get the next shot at Brock Lesnar‘s heavyweight belt. "Mir and Carwin are going to fight for the interim title because that fight was already made before Brock said he was coming back," White explained, "[but] the winner of this fight [between Nogueira and Velasquez] puts them right in the mix because something could happen to either Shane or Mir in that fight where they couldn’t fight Brock, so the winner of this fight would fight Brock."

— After the UFC’s first trip to Australia sold out the first day, White stated that Australia could be an annual stop for the UFC. Also, a season of TUF hosted Down Under is "absolutely possible."

— Wanderlei Silva and Michael Bisping‘s professional rivalry is getting personal. At yesterday’s press conference, Silva said "We’re going to have a great show, and I’m going to kick your ass." Bisping took it in stride, but later needled Silva about his recent losses. Silva told Bisping to shut up, and said "100 percent of the guys that talk to him, (talk to me and say) kick him…Everybody don’t like him." To which Bisping responded, "That’s nice. Fortunately, I couldn’t give a [expletive]." In an earlier interview, Silva said that seeing Quinton Jackson in Bisping’s corner will only make him more motivated to beat The Count: "Maybe I’ll beat the one and then after, the other. Two for the price of one."

(Props: UFC.com via Card)

"The guy who won’t stop ’til you’re done, and the guy who can’t be stopped" — so says Dana White in the latest installment of Countdown when describing the UFC 110 main event between Cain Velasquez and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. It’s a matchup that seems to hit almost all the buttons. Besides the Irresistible Force/Immovable Object dichotomy, you’ve got the young up-and-comer vs. the war-weathered veteran, the ground-and-pounder vs. the submission artist, the American vs. the Brazilian. Nogueira is feeling as strong as ever thanks to his new S&C coach and his training at the stacked Black House gym. Velasquez is ready to fight the big names he’s watched since the sport was young. But is he ready to beat them?

Meanwhile, another Brazilian legend, Wanderlei Silva, faces a must-win situation against British star Michael Bisping. Bisping and his camp respect Silva, but Wandy’s UFC bonus checks and BJJ black belt don’t mean shit to them. We learn a few things about Silva in this show: He’s back with his original trainer Rafael Cordeiro, and looking to recapture the "old" Wanderlei Silva. He started his own gym partly because nobody wanted to train with him at Xtreme Couture. His fans are really his friends, and the fighters he develops are really his family. He snores, which is something his funny little manager knows all about.

(Proof that being a bad-ass does not prevent you from looking like a stereotypical tourist in a foreign country. Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)

This weekend’s UFC event down under is a tricky one for your old pal the Enabler. You see, years ago I promised my sponsor that I wouldn’t bet on any more Australian sporting events. It’s a long story that I’d rather not get into right now, so let’s just say that it involved a high-stakes netball match and a ’92 Pontiac that wasn’t exactly mine to lose.

But this is different. This is the UFC. Surely I can make an exception here, right? Not even that lot of criminals can fix a fight in the UFC. Not like those crooked netball games. The tastiest betting lines on the internet come to us courtesy of BestFightOdds.com:

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (+105) vs. Cain Velasquez (-110)
Wanderlei Silva (-130) vs. Michael Bisping (+130)
Joe Stevenson (-240) vs. George Sotiropoulos (+218)
Keith Jardine (+140) vs. Ryan Bader (-135)
Mirko Filipovic (-135) vs. Ben Rothwell (+130)

(Props: Bloody Elbow)

As the story goes, Thomas Edison was once asked about his thousands of failed experiments in developing the storage battery, to which he replied: "I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work." That quote has always reminded me of the cinematic output of action-movie auteur Hector Echavarria, who has directed, written, and/or starred in such movies as Confessions of a Pit Fighter, Never Surrender, and Death Warrior, all of which are about retired martial artists forced to compete in underground fighting leagues.

Hector’s latest effort is Unrivaled, which goes directly to DVD later this year. As you can see from the trailer above, there’s the requisite mob-shakedown angle, the cameos by UFC stars, and the Superman punches — my God, so many Superman punches — but Unrivaled breaks with tradition by being about an above-ground fighting league that the main character enters by choice. Has Echavarria finally created an MMA movie that’s actually worth renting? Much like the desperate fighters he plays in his movies, the odds are stacked against him…

(Look, Dana isn’t saying that you guys have to hate each other; he’s just saying that he could understand why Thiago might be upset about some of the things Rashad may or may not have written about him on the Zuffa office’s bathroom wall.)

It’s the first rule of fight promoting, and the UFC knows it better than anyone: when life gives you staph infections, make staph infectionade.  Only, you know, don’t call it that.  After losing Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira off the UFC 108 card, and with him their main event feature attraction, the UFC has responded by pushing the Rashad Evans-Thiago Silva bout to the top spot and rebranding it a "grudge match."  They don’t go into much detail to explain the grudge part of that phrase, but we can probably assume that they’re going to be using the old ‘you beat my teammate and now I must beat you’ angle. 

In reality, Evans and Silva have expressed nothing but gentlemanly respect for one another’s skills, with the only hint of a grudge coming from Evans’ remark that Silva gave him "a nasty look" after defeating Keith Jardine.  Ken Shamrock-Tito Ortiz it ain’t, but at this point the UFC is probably just grateful to have two warm, relatively healthy bodies to put in the cage on January 2nd. 

As for Big Nog, he apologized to his fans but wisely noted "I have learned from my mistakes, and I’m not going into a fight unless I can give 100% my best performance."  Nog is currently getting medical treatment in San Diego, according to the UFC, and we wish him a speedy recovery. 

(This is why you always wash your hands after handling Maxim photo shoot props. For all you know, Fergie might have touched them before you.)

If the strongest among us aren’t safe from disease, there can be little hope for the rest of us mere mortals.  According to Dana White, Brock Lesnar is “not going to be fighting for a while” because his condition has worsened of late and doctors “don’t really know all that’s wrong with him.”  Though DW said his condition wasn’t life-threatening, he added that Lesnar did have some other health issue in addition to mono, but declined to say exactly what it was, calling it “very serious.”  Sounds like he wasn’t faking sick, after all.

Even giants get ill sometimes, so it shouldn’t be so frightening to hear that Lesnar is laid low, right?  Normally, perhaps.  But this comes near the end of an illness and injury-riddled year for the UFC, and things only seem to be getting worse.  Former champ Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is also going through some rough times, and a resurgent staph infection has forced him to pull out of UFC 108 and will likely result in him being hospitalized.  On its own, it might only be a personal struggle for Big Nog.  But in light of Lesnar’s illness and other current trends, it is surely a harbinger of doom. 

("Stay…off…my…LAWN!" Photo courtesy of Fighters.com)

While Strikeforce is still locking down fights for their November 7th "Fedor vs. Rogers" card, the UFC already has their plans finalized. In an effort to draw eyes away from the World’s Greatest Heavyweight, Spike TV will be airing a two-hour special at 9 p.m. ET/PT called "UFC Main Events." The lineup will include:

– Randy Couture vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira from UFC 102
– Vitor Belfort vs. Rich Franklin from UFC 103
– BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian from UFC 101
– Forrest Griffin vs. Anderson Silva from UFC 101

None of these fights have ever been seen on basic cable, which is good news for those of you who haven’t had the time or money to keep up with the UFC’s recent pay-per-view broadcasts. But while previous viewership battles between the UFC and Strikeforce haven’t always been held on level playing fields, the UFC will now be putting some of its best product on Spike to compete with a potentially massive audience on CBS. Tables, they turn sometimes. We’re about to find out how strong the UFC brand really is…

(Dos Santos, Destroyer of Worlds.)

Though it was previously rumored that Gabriel Gonzaga would be taking on Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in December, Fighters.com is now reporting that Gonzaga will instead be taking on another dangerous Brazilian heavyweight, Junior Dos Santos. The match isn’t officially tied to an event yet, but it will likely take place at UFC 107 or 108. Gonzaga recently rebounded from his loss to Shane Carwin by scoring a controversial TKO over Chris Tuchscherer at UFC 102. Meanwhile, Junior Dos Santos has been a perfect 3-0 in the Octagon, most recently breaking down Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic at UFC 103. (Speaking of which, Cro Cop now says he’s not retiring from the sport, and hopes to finish out his UFC contract, though he did want to hang himself in his hotel room after the Dos Santos loss.)

Now that Nogueira is currently without an opponent, the UFC might match him up against the winner of Velasquez/Rothwell to determine the next heavyweight title contender — or they can just give him a shot after Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin settle their grudge in November. And of course if Junior Dos Santos runs through Gonzaga, he’ll be another legitimate candidate for a title shot. Wait a minute, is the UFC’s heavyweight class the new "shark tank" division, like 205 used to be? Right now, it seems be the only weight-class with a deep bullpen of strong, fresh contenders who could realistically challenge for the title. How the hell did that happen?

(‘Tell your friend he’s next! Well, I guess he’s just right over there. You know what, don’t worry about it. I’ll tell him myself.’)

With “Rampage” Jackson running off to play a mohawk-less B.A. Baracus in the “A-Team” movie, the MMA world was left wondering whether Rashad Evans would get a replacement opponent, or if he would just have to go out there on his own and entertain the crowd with fifteen minutes of stand-up about how different the Catholic church would be if the pope was black.  Thankfully, that seems like it won’t be necessary, as both Evans and Thiago Silva have reportedly verbally agreed to meet at UFC 108 in January. 

Obviously this isn’t as satisfying as the fight between Evans and Jackson would have been after a long season of reality TV trash talk.  But at least there’s something resembling an interesting angle, what with Silva knocking out Evans’ teammate, Keith Jardine at UFC 102 and both Silva and Evans suffering knockout losses to Lyoto Machida.  Think of this as a fight to determine who still stands a chance at getting another turn on the Machida karate beatdown-go-round.

In other bookings news/rumors…

(Props: TATAMETV)

When we first saw that video of Anderson Silva’s fighter impressions we didn’t think it was anything more than an amusing party trick. But it turns out that the Spider’s gift for mimicry has a real-world application: He can use it to impersonate people that his teammates will be fighting. The above clip shows Silva doing his best Randy Couture in a sparring session with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira before UFC 102. It’s just another reason why you’d want to be on Anderson’s team, rather than going up against it — though personally, we think Randy should sue Silva for libel over the way he threw those kicks at the 0:27 and 1:47 marks.

Semi-related: Anderson Silva’s dumbstruck reaction to Nate Marquardt calling him out at UFC 102, after the jump.

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC. For part one of the 8/29 Randyvlog, which features Couture’s pre-fight preparation, visits from Wanderlei Silva and Brock Lesnar, and Randy’s walkout, click here.)

If you’re going to lose a fight, you might as well do it surrounded by people who love you. Randy Couture — who described Saturday night in Portland as the loudest audience he’s ever fought in front of — was given a hero’s reception by all the fans in attendance at UFC 102 as well as everyone he came across backstage. The above video-blog shows excerpts from his fight against Nogueira shot cageside (right behind the guy with the airhorn!), as well as the aftermath, in which Randy is examined by a doctor and takes questions at the post-event press conference. It’s hard to predict where Couture’s fight career will go from here, but with fan response this overwhelmingly positive, the Natural’s days of high-profile fights in the Octagon are far from over.

(Even when you’ve knocked your opponent into a 180-degree tailspin, the Bad Boy eyes are always watching. Photo courtesy of Tracy Lee via Cagewriter.)

The UFC paid out $1,525,000 in reported salaries and bonuses for UFC 102, with the night’s headliners taking home just over half of the total. The numbers are below. Keep in mind that they don’t include income from sponsorships, cuts of the pay-per-view revenue (which Randy Couture reportedly receives), or the UFC’s shadowy "locker room bonuses" (which Silva and Duffee likely got a taste of).

– Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira: $460,000 (includes $150,000 win bonus and $60,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
– Randy Couture: $310,000 (includes $60,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
– Nate Marquardt: $140,000 (includes $40,000 win bonus and $60,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
– Gabriel Gonzaga: $120,000 (includes $60,000 win bonus)
– Jake Rosholt: $86,000 (includes $13,000 win bonus and $60,000 Submission of the Night bonus)
– Brandon Vera: $70,000 (includes $35,000 win bonus)
– Thiago Silva: $58,000 (includes $29,000 win bonus)
– Keith Jardine: $55,000

("So, I feel that I’ll be comfortable wherever the fight goes, and as long as I can stick to my gameplan and — Shawn, if you don’t get that Flip Cam out of my face, I’m going to stomp you a new asshole. Seriously. Last warning." Photo courtesy of this set on Combat Lifestyle.)

The word "legend" gets thrown around a lot in this sport, to the point where it loses much of its meaning. Well, we won’t bother with the cliches. Suffice it to say that two old dudes are going to fight in Portland tonight, and one of them is so old that it’s hard to believe he’s still fighting, and the other is actually more old-looking than old, and maybe it would have been better if they fought like five years ago, in a city where people could actually afford to go see it, but here we are, and what are you gonna do.

Elsewhere on the card, Keith Jardine and Thiago Silva clash in a high-profile light-heavyweight scrap, while Nate Marquardt and Demian Maia fight for what may or may not turn out to be a #1 middleweight contender spot. Live UFC 102 results await you after the jump; refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest. Let’s have a good, clean liveblog. Obey all my instructions, and protect yourself at all times. If you want to order pizza, do it now, and go back to your couches.

("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.”

(Props: Heavy via MMA Mania)

This coming weekend will be a quiet one in the world of MMA, but two Saturdays from now, the UFC will descend on Portland’s Rose Garden Arena for UFC 102, which will be headlined by a heavyweight battle between two legends — Randy Couture and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. The above video trailer does its best to downplay their recent losses to Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir, respectively, but Dana White does mention that it’s a fight where "we’re going to see where they are in the heavyweight division." The storyline for Randy (as always) is that he can never be counted out, even though he’s 46 years old, while Joe Rogan calls Minotauro "one of the most durable fighters to ever fight in all of mixed martial arts" and drools over his submission prowess.

The other featured bout in the trailer is Keith Jardine vs. Thiago Silva. The Dean of Mean isn’t too bothered by his rocky path in the light-heavyweight division, saying "I’m taking the hard road to the title, but I’m gonna make it to the top, it’s only a matter of time." Also: "My goal is find my opponent’s soul and take it from him." As Joe Rogan sees it, this fight "represents to me two guys who are desperately in need for a win…two guys coming off losses with a lot to prove."

Related: Citing Oregon’s deep recession and aggressive tax policy, MMA Payout reports that UFC 102 is far from sold out, particularly in the higher-priced sections. So if you live near the Rose Garden, you may want to show up the day of the event…

(Image courtesy of the UFC)

Earlier today, the UFC distributed its first poster image for UFC 102 (August 29th; Portland, Oregon), making the top two fights official — Randy Couture vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in the main event, and Keith Jardine vs. Thiago Silva as a lead-in. Interesting…is this the first UFC event that’s being headlined by four guys who are coming off losses? Would it have been that hard to slot Demian Maia and Nate Marquardt (who are also on the card) in the co-main spot? After all, that fight will produce a legitimate middleweight title contender, even if Michael Bisping or Dan Henderson could sneak to the front of the line depending on their performance next month. Meanwhile, Jardine and Silva aren’t getting close to the 205-pound belt anytime soon.

Tickets to UFC 102 go on sale to Fight Club members on Thursday, newsletter members on Friday, and will probably be sold out by the time they’re released to the general public on Saturday. In addition to Couture/Nogueira, Jardine/Silva, and Maia/Marquardt, the following bouts have also been confirmed for UFC 102, according to UFC.com:

(Be sure to click the "HQ" button for higher quality.)

With my girlfriend and dog out of town this weekend, I found myself with a lot of time on my hands. So, I decided to eff around with iMovie and put together the above highlight reel of Kazushi Sakuraba‘s most brutal beatings. (Has there ever been a fighter whose victories were so beautiful and whose defeats were so ugly?) I’m no Genghis Con, and most of the footage was taken from low-quality YouTube clips to begin with, but let me know what you think, and if you have any Sakuraba fans in your life, please pass it along.

(BG)

(When he told her it was time to retire and give up the game for good, a tearful Paris Hilton told Dana: "But I am the game!" Only then did he fully understand the devils of fame and the ransom they demand. True story.)

- UFC president Dana White talked with Inside Fighting about the disappointing main event at UFC 97, and he also reiterated his commitment to keeping Chuck Liddell firmly in retirement, saying, “Believe me, it will be a fucking war if he tries not to retire, believe me.”  When pressed on other rapidly aging fighters who might need to be nudged into retirement, White admitted that Wanderlei Silva and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira “are right there too and yes, I will pull the trigger on them too.”  Dear God, he’s not going to kill them, is he?!

- A crazy rumor on the information superhighway says that Fedor Emelianenko and Shinya Aoki will square off against each other in a special grappling match at the “Deep M-1 Challenge 3rd Edition” in Japan on April 29th.  I’ll pause a moment and let that one sink in.  If true this would be completely insane, but to deny that we would totally want to see it would be to deny the very curiosity of the spirit that makes us human, and we aren’t about to do that.

(Mickey Rourke prepares for his next role.)

The Natural and Minotauro — two legendary heavyweight champions whose last performances had fans wondering if their days of competing at the sport’s highest level were over. But later this year, one of them will triumph once again. MMA Weekly breaks it:

 
Our highlight-video-making buddy Facey has launched a new site called FightFace, where he’ll be compiling the best MMA moments of every month into a single convenient clip. As far as source material is concerned, it doesn’t get much better than December 2008, which is the subject of Facey’s first installment. See above for the craziest stoppages from the TUF 8 finale, UFC’s "Fight for the Troops," WEC 37, UFC 92, and Fields Dynamite!! 2008. It’s an awesome project so keep your eye on it and show some support.

Also: If you don’t think it’s too early in the day to watch bikini-clad chicks gyrate at an MMA ring girl competition, you may want to watch the clip after the jump.