UPDATE: The Spreecast room is live!  Get in here!

One thing that sets us apart from most other MMA sites (besides the hatred flung around the comment section like a beach ball at a Metallica concert) is the sense of community you’ve all shown. We’ve met a bunch of you handsome devils at the MMA Expo in Boston and our “Banned” party in Toronto and have always enjoyed conversing with you guys — except for ThisRedEngine. That guy was a douche.

(We may look odd, but at least we know a little bit about MMA.)

In our ongoing effort to provide the Potato Nation with the best interactive reader experience in the MMA blogosphere, we’re happy to announce a new addition to the site.

Starting this Thursday, we’ll be streaming a weekly live video edition of  ”Ask the Potato” and we’d love for you guys to get involved. If it catches on, we may even start doing “Ask the Potato Live” shows on a regular basis with actual guests. No promises though. We know how disappointed kids are when their parents let them down.

More details after the jump.

(If you never saw the thread on Sherdog, do yourself a favor…)

It’s been an eventful week to say the least. Strikeforce Heavyweights are all but done, Overeem went before the NSAC, and Jon Jones choked Machida out cold. Too bad you didn’t ask us any questions about those things. That would have been cool. You did manage to pull some decent questions out of your asses, however, and we’ll take a few moments to address them now.

EnemyofReality asks: Dear, dear, Dear, DEAR Cage Potato. How I look forward to your wise words. Do tell me, what would your top 3 list of MMA refs look like?

It would like a lot like any other list, EnemyofReality, only it would have referee names instead of groceries, chores, and people to kill.

We actually covered this subject a couple of years ago, but times change and you’re asking now, so here we go. There are a lot of refs to choose from, but not necessarily a lot of great refs to choose from. If we were climbing into the cage—and we’re starting to warm up to the idea–we’d like to have Herb Dean, Big John McCarthy, or Josh Rosenthal in there to save our ass.

You know, Potato Nation, Coleman just really likes potatoes. I mean, I know that’s not profound or nothin’. Heck! We all do…but for him, it goes much more beyond that.

So how many of you all came here last weekend only to be disappointed by the lack of answers to your seemingly endless questions? Maybe we’re getting too far ahead of ourselves, so let’s start over: How many of you noticed that we didn’t run a new edition of Ask the Potato last week? We just saw at least three hands go up, so we’re going to assume that the rest of you are just too shy to respond. We’re keeping it short and sweet and to the point this week, much unlike this sentence, so let’s get down to business.

KarmaAteMyCat asks: What’s the most vicious injury you have ever seen in MMA to date?

We’d tell you how we can do this to that poor girl, but it’s already been asked.

We’re back with yet another installment of Ask the Potato. You know the drill by now. You ask us somewhat serious questions. We give you bitter, sarcastic responses. Those Black Friday discounts we got yesterday have us feeling pretty stoked, so we’re not going to be nearly as facetious as usual. Sarcasm? Only one way to find out…

RSparrow asks: Who’s the black guy that’s always at the weigh ins? Like some kinda hype man, wtf?

Victory, comrade!

Don’t worry- we didn’t forget about you. We were just a little busy yesterday. To demonstrate that your questions weren’t asked for no reason, we’ll jump right into answering them today. Unless, of course, you asked a question and we didn’t answer it. Then it was definitely asked for no reason. Oh well.

So let’s get started, shall we?

Kyle Gifford asks (via Facebook): Why haven’t you taken any questions from FB?

Right Leg: Yukon Gold. Left Leg: Jersey Royal

Another Saturday afternoon is upon us, which means it’s time for another edition of Ask the Potato. After last week graced us with the presence of a few minor celebrities, we knew what we had to do now that minor celebrities care about what we write. But until Coolio stops ducking us, we’ll just stick to answering your questions. So let’s get started, shall we?

intercept440 Says: what is the best remedy for lower back pain? So far the only thing that seems to work is copious amounts of booze. Come on potato, surely with your vast amounts of knowledge you can help a nation member out.

This week’s Ask The Potato is too hot to handle.

Ask the Potato is back and as credible as ever- which is almost an accomplishment worth bragging about. This week, while coming up with the smartass quips that you’ve come to expect from us, we noticed that even some minor celebrities have taken notice of this feature and submitted their own questions. Naturally, we’re handling this development the way you would expect us to. We’re placing their questions before your (somewhat) serious questions in order to address people with more clout than you. Just remember, guys: We didn’t sell out: We bought in.

So let’s get to it, shall we?

Even a broken potato is right twice a day.

Admit it: You thought the return of Ask the Potato would be one and done. You thought there’d be no way we could stick to a feature for two Saturdays in a row. Shame on you for having such little faith in us. Not only have we actually put together a new edition of Ask the Potato, but we’ve even reached out to our Twitter account for a question this week. It’s called “progress”, people. So let’s get to it, shall we?

Questions and answers are after the jump.

It’s good to be back.

After days of anticipation, Ask the Potato is finally back and as credible as ever. The deepest thinkers among us have emerged with a series of questions- some of which even came in the form of complete sentences, with question marks and everything. The rest of you? Well, you at least tried to have a coherent thought, right? And even though the thought doesn’t count, you’re still special to us. So, without further delay, the triumphant return of Ask the Potato awaits after the jump.

Lazy Photoshop? Ninja please, this was done in Paint.

We’ve flirted with this idea before. We even gave you a brief tease before we decided we’re saving ourselves for a committed relationship. But this time around, we’re being totally serious: Ask the Potato is returning. Starting this Saturday, we’ll be generously sharing our knowledge with you on anything (at least somewhat MMA related) that your heart desires. And we’ll be doing this on a consistent basis from now on. You’re welcome in advance.

Basically, you can send us questions through our Facebook page. You can tweet them to us from that Twitter account you pretend you don’t have. You can register for our forums and post your questions there. Or you can just post them in the comments section of this article. You know, whatever works for you.

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

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

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

Let’s get to it.

[The All Knowing Potato]

(Lesnar’s fighting style is truly an inspiration to asshole big brothers everywhere.)

Gather round, Potato Nation.  It’s time to sort through the latest batch of your Ask the Potato questions and see what kind of pointless queries have been bouncing around in your precious little heads.  If you  have a question of your own, by all means, let us know in the forums.  If you already asked a question and we still haven’t answered it, we’re probably not going to.  Ask a better question.

Which fighter as of right now has the most drawing power, and why?? – Rokabee

The difficult part about answering this question is correlation vs. causation.  How do we know it’s any one guy drawing huge numbers, and not the timing or the overall card?  The best we can do is look at the highest performing pay-per-views and sell-out events and try to figure out which fighter consistently shows up on those cards.  When we do it that way over the short term, the answer is Brock Lesnar.  Every pay-per-view he’s on does better than the last one.  Thing is, he’s only been on three so far.  If we were fucking doctors or scientists or something, we’d probably say that was too small a sample size.  But we’re not, and you did say, “as of right now,” so there’s your answer.  His pro wrestling fanbase, the sheer curiosity as to what he might become in MMA, plus his volatility make Lesnar a consistent draw.

Are knees to the body on the ground the single most destructive and under-used strike in MMA? You wouldn’t figure it would take too many well planted knees to just ruin an opponent, but you don’t see many guys in side control try it. Wassup wit dat!!! – Dmonicideals

(Respect the tights, or lose the fight.)

Man, you people do have inquisitive minds, don’t you?  Not only do you have a ton of questions, some of you even write whole, coherent paragraphs while asking them.  The least we can do is try and provide you with some answers in another edition of Ask the Potato.

Got a question of your own?  Head on over to the forums (particularly this thread) and let us know.  Go on, don’t be shy.  Remember your first-grade teacher, the one who said there’s no such thing as stupid questions?  Well she was just killing time until happy hour, so forget everything she told you. 

I hear so much about "The Best Pound-for-Pound" fighter. Is this really a legit "title" of worth or just a lot of "hooey"? Is it really, and I mean REALLY, a legit argument to crown someone the best PFP fighter? – Old, Bald, & Irish

Is it a lot of hooey (interesting word choice, OB&I)?  Yeah, basically.  Not only is it not an actual title in the sense that it can be won and defended, it’s also based on subjective judgments and is ultimately a pointless exercise.  But you know what else?  It’s fun.  So that’s why we keep doing it.

The concept of the pound-for-pound title is generally attributed to boxing observers who wanted a way to celebrate “Sugar” Ray Robinson’s greatness.  He was a middleweight, and the boxing world has always revolved around the heavyweights, even more so back then.  So they started calling Robinson the pound-for-pound best boxer, mostly as a way of giving him the credit they thought he deserved.

In the MMA world, we don’t have the same problem.  We love all our fighters, and not just the big boys.  But we keep the concept alive because it gives us something to argue about, and because – much like chaos moves toward order and order toward chaos – the day we created weight classes was also the day we started trying to imagine what it would be like without them.  

In other words, don’t take it too seriously.  Pound-for-pound rankings are more a thought experiment than anything else.  And we all know Anderson Silva wins any p4p argument, anyway.

im a Norifumi Yamamoto and Shinya Aoki fan. is there any possiblity that they’ll fight in the US and i was wondering if ufc (aoki) and wec (yamaoto) are interesed in them when their contracts are up. and also when are their contract r up? – eat my buns

(Taking a breather, messing with a footlock. No biggie.)

It’s that time again. Volume two in our “Ask the Potato” series. So, for those of you who asked whether this was an ongoing series, consider your question answered. Try to come up with something a little more thought-provoking next time. Go here if you’ve got a question that just can’t wait.

When are we going to find out about Paulo Filho‘s toxicology report, and how soon do you see the California Kid getting his rematch? Is he going to have to climb the ladder, or would the rematch be immediate? — Faderade

I once drove a forklift on the loading docks of a small, non-union trucking company. Many idiots worked there. One day one of these idiots inexplicably drove his forklift directly into a stack of riding lawnmowers, causing several thousand dollars worth of damage. They drug-tested that guy the same day. He did not pass. For some odd reason, Filho’s performance at WEC 36 reminded me of that guy.

When I picture the urine sample Filho submitted to the Florida Commission, I imagine it smoking and bubbling like the secret potion in a monster movie. Just handling the sample could probably cause a woman to miscarry, even if she wasn’t pregnant.

But that’s just speculation on my part. Maybe Filho wasn’t on drugs. Maybe he was off them, and that’s the explanation. You can usually expect to find out if someone tested positive within a month of the event. We’re waiting. Anxiously. As for Urijah Faber, he’ll get that rematch just as soon as Brown is healthy. He’s earned it, and it’s the only fight for the WEC at 145 that’s a guaranteed draw at this point.

What does it mean if Brock Lesnar wins? — Maxwell

(Two dudes from Stockton, let’s call them the Diaz brothers, just for the sake of argument.)

Thanks to everyone who submitted a question for Ask the Potato in our easy-to-use, fun and free forums. We chose a few we liked and decided to drop to some knowledge on you. If your question isn’t answered this time around, it could be because we plan to answer it in the next edition, or it could be because we don’t care about your stupid question. Either way, feel free to submit as many questions as you like, and we’ll get to you eventually.

If there was a guy from Stockton, let’s call him Nick, that wanted to fight another guy from Stockton, let’s call him Nate, which guy would show up and be the bigger gangster? — Knightrida
BG: That’s a very good question, Knightrida. Obviously both of these guys would show up and be gangster as fuck. In the absence of any other information about who these gentlemen could possibly be, I’d have to call the fight a draw, but I’d assume that one of the two would be younger, and kind of strange-looking, and would speak with a near-indecipherable lisp. After the fight ended, each fighter would try to assault the father of the other one. All audience members would personally have middle fingers shoved into their faces — otherwise known as the “Stockton Heybuddy.” The arena would be burned to the ground in triumph.

(The only stupid questions are the ones you don’t ask.)

We here at Cage Potato value our loyal readers so much we’ve decided it’s high time we started giving a little something back to you. That’s why we’re introducing our new feature, Ask the Potato.

You have a question? Maybe you want to know who our favorite Diaz brother is (depends how high we are) or who we think would win in a fight between Fedor Emelianenko and a cyborg Grizzly (depends if it’s on New Year’s Eve). Or maybe you even have a non-MMA question for us, something about your parents’ divorce perhaps. It doesn’t matter. Ask us anything.

Just head on over to the Ask the Potato thread in our free, easy-to-use forums and put your question down. If we choose your question, it will be answered on the site before God and your peers, so make it good. To save time, if your question is ‘Why didn’t I win the last caption contest?’ The answer is, because we’re jerks. There, you happy now?

We look forward to reading all your questions and disappointing you with our answers. Huzzah!