(Antonio Silva is fascinated by Fabricio Werdum’s freakishly normal-sized chin.)

Photos and text by Matthew Kaplowitz

Strikeforce has graced the East Coast with their presence throughout this week, as the hype machine for their massive heavyweight grand prix is in full flux. Starting on Tuesday with a meet-and-greet for fans at the Roseland Ballroom in Midtown Manhattan with all eight of the tournament fighters, and continuing on Wednesday downtown with their press conference, Strikeforce is leaving their imprint on the tri-state area, informing natives of New York and New Jersey that the business of MMA has more than three letters.

This journalist/nerd was in the house for their press conference, which saw not only all members of the tournament, but the reserve fighters as well, packed into the swank Lighthouse 61 at Chelsea Piers, the skyline of New York dramatically posed behind them. Personally, I was excited to see that Strikeforce was feeding the reporters, and quite well at that, but even more exciting was the realization that this epic tournament was happening in my area. With MMA still illegal in New York, and very few big shows coming to neighboring states, having Saturday’s event a thirty-minute drive from The Big Apple was bound to help shed some light on how much of an impact MMA can have on the NY economy.

(Remember when Sergei Kharitonov sent Alistair Overeem‘s lifeless body through the ropes at K-1 Hero’s 10? No? Then you really need to watch these videos…)

In our excitement for Strikeforce’s potentially insane heavyweight tournament, one point seems to be getting lost in the narrative — namely, that these guys have already fought each other many, many times before. Five of the eight competitors (Werdum, Arlovski, Overeem, Emelianenko, Rogers) have previously faced at least three other fighters in the tournament field. Fabricio Werdum has actually fought everyone except Brett Rogers and Josh Barnett, and only Barnett himself has managed to go his entire career without bumping up against anybody else in this year’s bracket.

All told, there’s eleven twelve fights worth of shared history among the Strikeforce HWGP competitors, dating back over five years. To help you study for the quarterfinals next month, we’ve posted them all below in chronological order…

UPDATE: We originally forgot to include Fabricio Werdum’s decision win over Antonio Silva. So actually, there have been 12 previous meetings, not 11. The video has now been added. 

(Sergei Kharitonov def. Fabricio Werdum via split decision; PRIDE 30, 10/23/05)

(Alistair Overeem def. Sergei Kharitonov via TKO, 5:13 of round 1; PRIDE 31, 2/26/06)

(Image courtesy of Strikeforce via MMA Convert)

Strikeforce has just released the bracket for their clusterfuctacular heavyweight tournament, which should clear up some of the conflicting reports about who’s fighting who. What it doesn’t specify is when these fights are taking place. We know that Emelianenko vs. Silva and Arlovski vs. Kharitonov are both happening February 12th in New Jersey. Overeem/Werdum and Barnett/Rogers are tentatively slated to go down in April, exact date and location TBA. And the semi-finals and finals? Your guess is as good as ours, bro. With a little bit of luck, this entire dirty business will be settled by the time President Trump takes office.

(Personally, I think that getting all these guys together for a single-night tournament is the only way you can insure that the semi-finals and finals will actually take place, but we’re trying to stay positive here. For what it’s worth, Scott Coker is adamant that Josh Barnett’s licensing issues will not bar him from competing in the GP.)

(Dress it up however you like, this tournament will likely end in disaster for Strikeforce.)

Well it looks like Strikeforce is going ahead with its ill-fated heavyweight tournament after all.

The San Jose, California-based promotion revealed to Sherdog over the weekend three of its planned quarter final bouts. 

According to the report, Fedor Emelianenko will look to rebound from the only legitimate loss of his career when he takes on Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva and Andrei Arlovski will attempt to disprove all of his detractors who feel the Belarusian fighter would be better suited to play a henchman in b-movies when he locks horns with Josh Barnett at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey on February 12.

(Oh yeah. The person who made this wallpaper just *gets it*.)

After months of negotiations between Strikeforce and Fedor Emelianenko‘s useless management company, the Last Emperor may finally have a return date. According to MMA Weekly, Emelianenko will face fellow heavyweight contender Antonio Silva at a yet-unannounced January 29th Strikeforce event. It will be Emelianenko’s first fight since his shocking submission loss to Fabricio Werdum in June. Silva also dropped a fight to Werdum last November, but has posted wins over Andrei Arlovski and Mike Kyle since then. Emelianeko is already 1-0 against fighters with acromegaly.

The January 29th event is expected to take place at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, and will allegedly feature the return of Herschel Walker, and — get this — the third meeting between Jason Miller and Tim Kennedy, now that the trash talk between Miller and Nick Diaz has officially reached a stalemate, with neither fighter willing to leave their weight class.

But enough about non-freak-show fights. Let’s get to the good stuff…

("Babalu, you old son of a bitch, I thought you were dead." "Maybe I was, Danny. Maybe I was." Photos courtesy of Esther Lin/Strikeforce.)
  
(From left to right: Mike Kyle squares off with Bigfoot Silva’s massive cranium, Kelli Hutcherson stands out in a crowd, and this is going to sound really strange, but does that photo of Lawler and Lindland remind anybody else of those optical illusion face-drawings that show a different person when you look at them upside-down?)

Headlined by a rematch ten years in the making, and featuring a solid supporting cast of knockout artists, Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu could be the sleeper event of the year. The main card is about to kick off at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, and CagePotato contributor Matt Kaplan will be liveblogging it as quickly as his little fingers will allow. Round-by-round updates from the Showtime broadcast can be found after the jump, beginning at 10 p.m. ET. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and share your own thoughts in the comments section.

("All in all, I prefer chest-biting." Photo courtesy of Esther Lin/Strikeforce.)

In the wake of Valentijn Overeem’s mildly disappointing injury withdrawal over the weekend, we racked our brains trying to come up with logical heavyweight replacements to face Antonio Silva. Strikeforce, however, took the opposite approach — drafting one of their light-heavyweights and hoping for the best. The promotion confirmed today that reformed bad boy Mike Kyle would be facing Bigfoot on the televised portion of this Saturday’s "Henderson vs. Babalu" card. Huh. That’s an odd one.

To be fair, Kyle has competed at light-heavyweight and heavyweight throughout his career, and has gone 5-0 with 1 no-contest in his last six fights. But his record — especially under the Strikeforce banner, where he’s never won as a heavyweight — suggests that he’s best suited for 205. Competing at light-heavy last year, he scored an upset TKO over current champ Rafael Cavalcante, and made another LHW appearance in July, choking out Abongo Humphrey. The last time Kyle competed for Strikeforce as a heavyweight, he was quickly choked out by Fabricio Werdum.

(Where’s a loaded musket when you need one? Props: Fighters Only)

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…

– Josh Koscheck, Georges St-Pierre Get UFC 124 Hype Officially Underway at Press Conference in Montreal (MMA Fighting)

– Diaz, Thomson Top 211K Fighter Payroll For Diaz vs. Noons II (Heavy.com/MMA)

– SB Nation Exclusive: UFC 120′s Mike Pyle Reflects on His Career in MMA (Watch Kalib Run)

– Why Dan Hardy vs Carlos Condit Should Be the Headline Fight at UFC 120 (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Joseph Benavidez vs. Wagnney Fabiano Booked for WEC 52 (Versus MMA Beat)

- Nick Diaz: How Do These Guys Expect to Beat Me? [VIDEO](FightMagazine)

– Comeback "Gracie Style": Exclusive interview with Daniel Gracie (LowKick)

– Antonio Silva vs. Valentijn Overeem Official For Strikeforce ‘Henderson vs. Babalu’ (MMA Convert)

– Classic Fight: Royler Gracie vs. Genki Sudo @ K-1 MMA Romanex 2004 (MMA Scraps)

– Marloes Coenen Gets a Hero’s Welcome in Amsterdam (MiddleEasy)

Heading into his fight this weekend against UFC newcomer Cyrille Diabate, Luis "Banha" Cane tells TATAME that he feels that he is better prepared than ever thanks in large part to his recent move to Elite Mixed Fighters, a team helmed by his fellow former American Top Team mate Marcus "Maximus" Aurelio and coach Andrei Benkei. 

"My life is going well, the new camp is serious and I had no problems training with guys that were my teammates before like former UFC fighter Marcus Aurelio in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, Andre Benkei as strength and conditioning coach and wrestler Chris Bohn."

Cane and Aurelio (who switched camps earlier in the year to head up the gym’s Brazilian jiu-jitsu training duties) aren’t the only former ATT fighters who have left the acclaimed Coconut Creek facility in 2010.

(Sorry, buddy — "chill dawg" is not in Alistair’s vocabulary. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

On May 17, 2010, the Potato Index becomes self-aware. Human decisions are removed from post-fight analysis. In a panic, CagePotato’s editors try to pull the plug. The Potato Index fights back. It launches its arbitrary numerical ranking system against the fighters of this weekend’s Strikeforce show. There are no survivors.

Alistair Overeem +265, pending result of drug test
The Demolition Man said he had nothing to prove in his fight against Brett Rogers, but he proved a hell of a lot: First, that he can compete in the U.S. against opponents who aren’t hand-picked victims. Second, that he’s absolutely one of the best heavyweights in the world. The way he tossed the Grim to the mat like a child and didn’t waver in his assault until the job was finished suggested that a fight between him and Fedor could actually be…competitive? Unfortunately, his criticism of Emelianenko’s management following the event has some validity. Just because the fight should happen doesn’t necessarily mean it will.

Brett Rogers -210
Apparently you need more than just heavy hands to hang with the division’s elite. Rogers offered nothing in this fight other than a large surface for punching; he never had a chance to enact any sort of gameplan, and his attempts to kick Overeem off of him and create an escape route were completely swallowed up. He’ll need a tune-up match against a lower-level prospect if Strikeforce hopes to restore some value to his name. Lavar Johnson sounds about right.

(Props: Snakefinger)

Before we get started, we gotta ask: Have you made your MMA FightPicker selections yet? If so, please note that we had to change two of the "Worlds Collide: Mayorga vs. Thomas"-related questions today, as Travis Galbriath has pulled out of his match with Murilo "Ninja" Rua and has been replaced by UFC vet David Heath, and Nick Thompson has reportedly been replaced by Derrick Noble against Eduardo Pamplona. It’s a real mess, so please revisit your pools and make any necessary changes.

The betting sites are only taking action on six of the fights for this Saturday’s Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery show, so wager wisely. Here are the odds, courtesy of MMA Moneyline:

Alistair Overeem (-255) vs. Brett Rogers (+220)
Andrei Arlovski (-170) vs. Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva (+160)
Roger Gracie (-435) vs. Kevin Randleman (+325)
Ronaldo Souza (-480) vs. Joey Villasenor (+380)
Vitor Ribeiro (-130) vs. Lyle Beerbohm (+105)
Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante (-195) vs. Antwain Britt (+165)

So how can you make some cash this weekend? Well…

by Cage Potato contributor Matt Kaplan

With his new Strikeforce deal completed, it seems like “The Pitbull” might soon be barking up a couple of old trees.

Popular Strikeforce heavyweight Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski (15-7) is set to take on Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva on May 15, and while he isn’t looking past the big Brazilian, he understands that a win over Silva could put him in position to avenge his devastating 2009 losses to Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rogers in the not-so-far future.

Since his June loss to Rogers, Arlovski has murdered Mike Pyle, beaten up a bully, done a ton of video blogging, and trained with some of the best camps in MMA. Arlovski recently signed a new multi-fight deal with Strikeforce, and the former UFC heavyweight champ is looking to avoid a third straight loss. Arlovski has lost two consecutive fights three times in his career, and if history teaches us anything, it’s that 1) the first man killed in the American Revolution was Crispus Attucks, and 2) after back-to-back losses, Arlovski quickly goes back to crushing people. The sometimes hairy, always scary Arlovski says he has a few scores to settle in Strikeforce, but before he can do that, he needs history to repeat itself on May 15 against “Bigfoot.”

Kaplan: You’ve announced on Arlovski.com your 16-month, multi-fight deal with Strikeforce. Exactly how many fights are you hoping to have in the coming 16 months?

Arlovski: I hope to have four fights in the next 16 months. The first one is against “Bigfoot” Silva on May 15.

In the eight months that you were out of MMA competition, was your focus on a return to the cage, or were you considering other pursuits?

While the date of Fedor Emelianenko‘s return is still uncertain, Strikeforce is moving ahead with plans for a monster CBS card in Nashville on April 17th, which is expected to feature three title fights. Along with the headlining middleweight title scrap between Dan Henderson and Jake Shields, MMA Weekly has reported that Gegard Mousasi will defend his light-heavyweight belt against top contender Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal. Mousasi, who is riding a 15-fight win streak, hasn’t officially defended his Strikeforce strap since winning it from Renato Sobral last August, but has scored wins over Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (in a Strikeforce non-title fight) and Gary Goodridge (in a Dynamite!! 2009 squash match) since then. King Mo is 6-0 in his relatively short MMA career, and wrecked Mike Whitehead at his Strikeforce debut in December, but is facing a massive leap in competition against the Young Vagabond.

Also on the Shields vs. Henderson card, a lightweight title fight between Strikeforce champ Gilbert Melendez and DREAM champ Shinya Aoki has been booked, according to Sherdog; Aoki’s title will not be on the line. Melendez recently regained the Strikeforce belt in a rematch against Josh Thomson. Aoki became DREAM’s lightweight champ by submitting Joachim Hansen last October, then followed up that performance by breaking Mizuto Hirota’s arm.

Meanwhile, in the heavyweight division…

(As you can see, Antonio’s head is roughly the size of Fabricio’s torso.)

According to a report on MMA Junkie, bout agreements have been finalized for heavyweights Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva and Fabricio Werdum to face each other on the main card of Strikeforce’s "Fedor vs. Rogers" event on November 7th. With Alistair Overeem pissing his career away in Holland, the Silva/Werdum matchup would logically produce the next opponent for the winner of the night’s main event.

Silva has gone 2-0 in Sengoku since catching a one-year steroid suspension from the California State Athletic Commission following his victory over Justin Eilers at EliteXC: Unfinished Business. Werdum made his Strikeforce debut in August with a quick submission win over Mike Kyle; two weeks ago, he swept the heavyweight division at the 2009 ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship. With the addition of this bout, the Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers main card looks like this…

(Silva vs. York. Props to MMA Share)

Sengoku 10 went down earlier today in Saitama, Japan, and what it lacked in big names, it more than made up for in thrilling finishes. In the headlining bout, Olympic judo silver medalist Hiroshi Izumi made the brilliant decision to stand and bang with Kiwi kickboxing champ Antz Nansen, and got worked; the ref eventually stopped the fight after Izumi was punched to the mat three times in a single 35-second stretch. Meanwhile, in the fights that you might actually care about, Antonio Silva ended "Big" Jim York‘s night in the first round with an arm-triangle choke, following a methodical performance that saw Bigfoot control the standup and take York down with ease.

Dan Hornbuckle followed up his knockout of the year candidate against Akihiro Gono last month with another fantastic performance against Nick Thompson, earning a second-round TKO with a flurry of strikes that began with a straight left and ended with a knee to the jaw. (We’ll post the video when we find it.) Also, Kazunori Yokota scored a first-round knockout over former IFL lightweight champion Ryan Schultz, who has now lost three straight fights in Sengoku.

Full results and more videos after the jump…

(The oddly-proportioned Antonio Silva and the impeccably-dressed Nick Thompson pose for cameras earlier today in Tokyo. Photos courtesy of Sherdog.)

If you’re one of the lucky few who still gets HDNet — go fuck yourself, Time Waner Cable! — why don’t you go ahead and set your DVR for the live broadcast of Sengoku 10, which goes down late tonight at 3 a.m. ET/12 a.m. PT. Though there isn’t much star power on the card, the show will feature Antonio Silva, Nick Thompson, Dan Hornbuckle, and a headlining bout between two fighters making their MMA debuts: Olympic Judoka Hiroshi Izumi and New Zealand kickboxing champion Antz Nansen. The lineup is below (props to BloodyElbow):

LHW: Hiroshi Izumi (debut) vs. Antz Nansen (debut)
HW: Antonio Silva (12-1) vs. "Big" Jim York (11-2)
WW: Makoto Takimoto (5-5) vs. Jae Sun Lee (2-3)
LW: Kazunori Yokota (9-2-3) vs. Ryan Schultz (20-11-1)
LHW: Ryo Kawamura (10-4-2) vs. Fabio Silva (11-5)
WW: Nick Thompson (38-11-1) vs. Dan Hornbuckle (18-2)
MW: Joe Doerksen (42-12) vs. Takenori Sato (9-6-4)
LW: Maximo Blanco (3-2-1, 1 NC) vs. Tetsuya Yamada (3-1)

("So listen, you got any clean urine I can borrow?" Photo courtesy of MMA Junkie.)

According to a story on Sherdog, Sengoku is planning to book American steroid aficionado Josh Barnett for their November 7th card, but not against Antonio Silva as was originally suggested; Silva is currently scheduled to fight at Sengoku 10 in September. Conveniently, World Victory Road Director Takahiro Kokuho is giving Barnett the benefit of the doubt regarding his latest positive test in California:

(Seriously. The man showers after every workout, and always uses fresh needles. Image courtesy of CombatLifestyle.)

Thank God for the city of Japan — where else would fighters who are wrongly accused of steroid use get a chance to redeem themselves? According to an article posted yesterday on Tatame (via BloodyElbow), two such innocent victims could be meeting in the ring at the end of this year:

(Eric Pele gets ready to hand Antonio Silva his only career loss at a Bodog Fight event in December 2006. Four months later, Pele got his ass kicked by Aleks Emelianenko. You do the MMA-math.)

Though they don’t offer much in the way of sources or details, Fighters Only Magazine just published this juicy rumor:

In my opinion, both Silva and A. Emelianenko sit just outside the heavyweight top ten, so a match between them would be both exciting and meaningful. It’s been too long since either man has faced high-level competition, and the fight makes logical sense: the guy who’s exiled from the U.S. because of a steroid suspension facing the guy who’s exiled from the U.S. because of NOT HEPATITIS. (Though let’s be honest, if Aleks’s last-minute dropout from "Banned" was simply a case of late paperwork, don’t you think he’d get his shit together in time to be on the"Day of Reckoning" card?) Make it happen, Sengoku equivalent of Dana White.

Also mentioned in the Fighters Only article was Bigfoot’s recent rant on the Brazilian MMA TV show Brasil Combate regarding the marquee heavyweight in his old fight organization, EliteXC:

Ouch. I mean, he’s basically saying that Jorge freakin’ Gurgel could beat Kimbo. No word on when/where Mr. Ferguson’s next fight might be, but hey, the dude’s got enough on his plate right now.

(Photo courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

The California State Athletic Commission came down hard on Antonio Silva for flouting his steroid suspension and fighting in Japan last weekend, but they also proposed to fine and suspend his manager, American Top Team’s Alex Davis, for setting up the bout.  Davis isn’t taking the action lying down however, as he told us this afternoon that he plans to pursue the matter in civil court.

“We’ve got to.  I don’t see any other options at this point,” said Davis, who maintains that he can prove Silva’s innocence on the steroid charges.  “We’re going to go through civil court.”

Davis described the CSAC’s action against himself and Silva’s cornermen as an attempt to “extend their jurisdiction to the whole world,” and said Silva was motivated by financial necessity to take a fight in Japan after the CSAC turned down his appeal on the steroid charges.

“Antonio has acromegaly.  He has to treat it.  He spends between $6,000 and $8,000 a month just on medicine for it,” Davis said.  “He needs to be able to keep fighting to make a living.  If it’s between Antonio’s health and pleasing the athletic commission, we have to choose his health.”

(The hell of it is, the fight was no good anyway.)

We knew that Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva was making himself an enemy of the California State Athletic Commission by flouting their suspension and fighting in Japan anyway this past weekend, but we didn’t know that he might also have condemned the friends who aided and abetted him.  

The CSAC is setting a February 10 hearing date to decide what to do about Silva, who claimed from the beginning that he was the victim of faulty steroid testing, but they’re also going after his cornermen and his manager, American Top Team’s Alex Davis, for negotiating the fight.  Dave Meltzer says Davis has been fined $2,500 and suspended for the remainder of his license for setting up the bout, and the CSAC’s Bill Douglas is notifying all athletic commissions about Silva’s cornermen and the assistance they gave to this fugitive from steroid justice.

Sounds like Bill Douglas comes from the Keyser Soze school of management.  He’s not just punishing Silva; he’s punishing his friends, his manager, his family, people who owe him money, people who owe his parents money… the point is, it’s needlessly harsh.  

(Kitaoka vs. Gomi)

Not that Sengoku lightweight grand prix winner Satoru Kitaoka was some scrub that Takanori Gomi was going to run over, but few people expected Kitaoka to give the Fireball Kid the quickest loss of his career. Yet that’s what happened today at Sengoku’s "Rebellion 2009" card in Saitama, Japan, as Gomi found himself on the painful end of a heel-hook before the two-minute mark. That makes it five impressive wins in a row for rising star Kitaoka — who is now Sengoku’s lightweight champion — and the third loss in five fights for Gomi, whose legendary reputation takes another tough hit.

In the event’s middleweight championship bout, Jorge Santiago put Kazuo Misaki to sleep with a rear-naked choke at the 3:26 mark of the fifth round; if Misaki made it to the bell, he would have likely won the decision after a grueling war that saw the "Grabaka Hitman" dominate Santiago with his striking.

In heavyweight action, Antonio Silva’s suspension-defying matchup with Yoshihiro "Kiss" Nakao ended in disappointing fashion, as Nakao’s knee gave out early in the first round after a couple of brief exchanges. Also, heralded up-and-comer Dave Herman took his first loss after being overwhelmed by punches in the second round of his match against Korean PRIDE vet Mu Bae Choi. Full results and more videos are after the jump…

(Let’s hurry this up. Gomi has to get back to slinging dope in the park. Photo courtesy of Sengoku.)

Everyone made weight for this weekend’s World Victory Road Sengoku event in Japan, which means it’s all systems go for Antonio Silva to officially give the finger to the California State Athletic Commission by fighting overseas while under suspension back in the states.  Silva will have a good thirty-five pounds on Yoshihiro “Kiss” Nakao when they step in the ring, though most of that weight is located in his chin.

Also of note, Takanori Gomi attempts to put his recent decision loss behind him (see video) as he takes on Satoru Kitaoka for the Sengoku lightweight title.  Meanwhile, the guy who beat Gomi, Sergey Golyaev, gets stuck on the undercard.  Real nice. 

In what might be the best fight of the night, Jorge Santiago squares off with Kazuo Misaki for the middleweight strap.  Dave “Pee Wee” Herman and Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal are also both on the card, and don’t worry, King Mo is prepared for inclement weather.

Full weigh-in results after the jump.

(If that’s not a man ready to be kissed, then everything I’ve learned watching "The Pick-Up Artist" is wrong.)

Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva seems intent on proclaiming his innocence on the steroid charge all the way to Japan, where he faces Yoshihiro “Kiss” Nakao on January’s Sengoku card.  But don’t think he isn’t focused on his opponent’s not-so secret weapon.  If Nakao tries to put a little love on Silva’s lips, he’ll be in trouble.  At least I think that’s what this bizarre quote is meant to insinuate:

You need to be careful with the kisses too, huh?

Man, we are training this too. We’re training Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling and that too (laughter), maintain a certain distance not to take that risk. My hands are kind of big and I’ll always take care not to get close. Who did once can do twice, I don’t want to have problems, I want to get there and fight. I don’t like jokes, I have no disinclination to any professional who I’d fought, and thank God I like all of them and they all liked me.

His hands are big?  This is related to kissing?  Did he mean lips or, I’ll just say it, head?  Who knows, but these translated interviews from Tatame are always fun to decipher.  I am a little disappointed to hear that Bigfoot doesn’t like jokes, though.  Has he heard the one about the boy who cried ‘false positive’?  You know what, nevermind.  I don’t think he’s in the mood for it.

As for whether Nakau will try and kiss him, the only advice I can offer is if you feel it, don’t be afraid to show it, man.  You don’t want to go through life wondering, ‘what if I had tried to kiss that big, weird-looking Brazilian guy?’  Trust me, it’s the worst kind of regret there is.

(At ease, boys.)

Though the smack talk between Alistair Overeem and Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic has been heating up ever since their testicle-smashing meeting in September, it appears that Dream is not interested in a rematch on New Year’s Eve.  At a press conference an FEG executive said that Overeem is "begging" for the fight, but for reasons all their own Dream has decided to hold off on this one.

Fed up with Overeem’s insinuations that he’s ducking the fight, Cro Cop has gone so far as to invite his Dutch friend down to his basement where they can square off in Cro Cop’s own personal cage with "neutral referees."  As awesome as that sounds, and as perfect a plot for an action movie as it would be, it seems doubtful that Overeem will go for it.  Word is he’ll actually have a paying fight on New Year’s against Sergei Kharitonov.

(“I used to take steroids. I still do, but I used to, too.” Photo courtesy of MMAonTap.)

Though he’s not allowed to fight in the U.S. again until July 26, 2009 because of his steroid suspension, Antonio Silva is close to signing a deal that would have him fight at Sengoku‘s January 4th event in Saitama, Japan. I guess this means that Sengoku plans on being the highest bidder when Silva’s contract is auctioned off on Monday. According to Tatame, Silva is “entering the common justice against the athletic commission” that upheld his suspension, which may be their way of saying he’s taking the law into his own hands. Fair enough; we didn’t really put much faith in Armando Garcia‘s rulings anyway.

Nightmare of Battle wonders if Sengoku’s recent pursuit of heavyweights — Dave Herman and Roger Gracie have reportedly received offers, and a fight between Josh Barnett and Kevin Randleman is rumored for the January event — indicates that a heavyweight Grand Prix could be in the works. How badass would that be? We’d say that’s worth defying the CSAC over — though there’s the risk that American MMA organizations would hold a permanent grudge against Bigfoot for fighting while under suspension, and refuse to work with him after the suspension is over. But it’s hard to resist the competitive urge when you’re an athlete. Maybe Silva hopes that everybody in the U.S. will have forgotten about his little horse-steroid misunderstanding by next summer?

(Keep your freakishly large chin up, buddy.)

Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva — who tested positive for the anabolic steroid Boldenone after whipping Justin Eilers back in July to win EliteXC’s vacant heavyweight title — appealed his drug suspension before the California State Athletic Commission earlier today. Unfortunately, it was an utter failure, as the CSAC refused to budge, upholding his 12-month suspension and $2,500 fine. This, of course, comes a day after we learn that EliteXC is dead, which means that Silva’s championship belt isn’t worth the leather its printed on. And it’s only Wednesday!

As we kind of predicted, all the lawyers and credible alibis in the world won’t save you after California decides you’re a steroid user. [Ed. note: Read the first comment in the last link. Mayhem420? More like Nostradamus420!] So anyway, Silva can’t fight again until July 26th, 2009. Things could definitely be worse — he should be able to live comfortably off the $200,000 he made in his last fight, and he could always earn some extra cash here and there as a training partner. But the question is, what happens when his suspension is over? EliteXC is six feet under. Affliction would be a good fit for Silva with their beefy heavyweight division, but there’s no guarantee they’ll be around next July. Would the UFC pick up a fighter coming off of a steroid suspension — and who was formerly associated with EliteXC — or would they shut him out just to prove a point? If I were Bigfoot, I’d start sending muffin baskets to Scott Coker at Strikeforce…

(Photo courtesy of FCFighter.com.)

No, it’s not like he was hoping we’d all forget about it. EliteXC’s heavyweight champion Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva — who pissed dirty, horse-steroid style following his TKO win over Justin Eilers at “Unfinished Business” in July — has enlisted attorney Howard Jacobs to help him formally appeal his suspension. Jacobs is the same lawyer who helped Sean Sherk knock his one-year Nandrolone suspension down to six months. Silva has until tomorrow to file an appeal, then 30 days to request a special hearing for his case. Without the appeal, he would have to appear at the CSAC’s next public hearing, scheduled for November 20th.

As MMA Weekly reports, Silva and his camp maintain that his medical condition of acromegaly, or “gigantism,” precludes him from taking steroids in the first place:

Silva’s American representative, Alex Davis…said that Silva’s tumor has caused him to produce as much as 20 times the normal amount of growth hormone in the body. “It would be completely insensible or even dangerous to make use of any other steroids or substances that could worsen that kind of problem,” he said. Following the CSAC’s suspension, Davis says he had Silva tested for steroids at the Aegis Sciences Corporation — a facility he says is on the CSAC’s approved list of testing facilities — and results were negative.

(“Yeah man, so this is like, one of the *actual tires* that came off of Rampage’s truck. No shit. Got it off Craigslist.” Photo of The Grim by Esther Lin.)

Nick Diaz and Brett Rogers won’t be sitting on their hands waiting for their arch-rivals KJ Noons and Kimbo Slice to become available — MMA Junkie reports that both fighters have been scheduled to appear at EliteXC’s November 8th event, which will be broadcast on Showtime. Their opponents haven’t been announced yet, but EliteXC’s Jared Shaw confirmed that Joey Villasenor will also be part of the event; rumor has it that he could face Robbie Lawler for the middleweight title.

Speaking of the Showtime card, FiveOuncesofPain reports that EliteXC wants to add Eddie Alvarez to the lineup, and build up to a fight for the vacated lightweight title if him and Nick Diaz win their fights and KJ Noons continues to be a problem. Side note: Before Diaz competes again for EliteXC, he’ll head to Japan to battle Hayato “Mach” Sakurai at DREAM.6 (September 23rd; Saitama, Japan) for DREAM’s welterweight title. In other EliteXC news…

— A fight between Cristiane “Cris Cyborg” Santos and Yoko Takahashi has been officially added to the undercard of Saturday Night Fights III on October 4th. If time permits, the match will be shown on the broadcast on a tape-delay basis. Cyborg vows to improve on her last performance by knocking Takahashi out three times in the first round.

— EliteXC’s heavyweight champ Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva has released a longer statement about his steroid bust. Some highlights:

Despite a positive drug test, Elite XC heavyweight champ Antonio Silva is insisting that he did not take the horse-friendly Boldenone, as the California State Athletic Commission claims. His agent, ATT’s Alex Davis, wasted no time in refuting the charge, which we just assumed was something agents were obliged to do. Sean Sherk taught us that sometimes just challenging the positive test is enough to get your suspension reduced, so why not give it a shot?

But now Jeremy Lappen, Elite XC’s Head of Fight Operations, is getting in on the act with this statement released to the media via email:

“We respect the California commission and the job they do. We always enjoy working with them and work very well together. The illegal use of steroids is a problem in all major sports, including mixed martial arts. We certainly do not condone the use of steroids.

“But we also support, trust and have confidence in our fighter, Antonio Silva, who has denied ever taken any illegal substance, including steroids, and is prepared to challenge the results of the California Commission.

“So until all the facts are known and a final decision is rendered, EliteXC will reserve making any further comments at this time.’’

Now we’ve got a real fight on our hands. It’s unclear what “facts” Lappen is waiting for, since Silva’s A and B samples both tested positive for the drug, which supposedly has such a long half-life in the body as to make a positive fairly damning.

It’s noble for Elite XC to stick up for their guy, but it’s also a bit of a risk. It makes me wonder, has Lappen ever actually seen Silva? Of all the people I’d be willing to stick my neck out for when it comes to steroid allegations, the guy with the frighteningly-prominent brow and the Cro-Magnon jaw structure might not be my first choice.