(Yeah, we don’t get it either, buddy.) 

Perhaps the most unique thing you can say about last year’s TUF: The Smashes was that it showcased the age old rivalry between England and Australia for fans who might not have known how deep-seated it truly went. It not only raised the stakes between teams to a new level, but it also played a role in the verbal (and allegedly physical) on set squabbles between coaches Ross Pearson and George Sotiropoulos, and culminated in a pretty damn entertaining fight when all was said and done.

And while TUF: Brazil 2 is currently playing LinkedIn to The Ultimate Fighter’s Facebook, there were at least a few of us who were excited to see which rivalry would be showcased on the next other, other version of TUF, which I guess you would label the MySpace of Ultimate Fighters, maybe? I dunno; management keeps telling us that we need to start writing to our key demographic (drunk, agoraphobic 14 year-olds) and I’m just trying to keep up with the times. *stares out window, finishes scotch* 

In any case, MMAFighting has passed along word that the next international season of The Ultimate Fighter will showcase the epic rivalry between…Canada and Australia. I may have lost most of my long term memory in that scaffolding accident, but I can’t seem to recall any conflict every existing between the two –it doesn’t help the Wikipedia page for “Canadian military history” is completely blank.

Why the UFC decided to go with this rivalry (or another season of Australians, for that matter) is anyone’s guess, but here are a few rivalries we think would have better suited the next international season of The Ultimate Fighter…

(You call ‘at a breedge? Check out old Albert and get back at me, you tosser.) 

And go figure, the British Team is already being called “cocky.” In case you had already forgotten, the “hit” reality show recently announced its coaches for both the 16th season of the show here in America and the second international season. Pitting the United Kingdom against Australia, TUF: Smashes began filming today, according to a report by yourmmatv.com. When asked how the first stages of shooting were going, UFC President Dana White told the Herald Sun that the British team, going against everything we have ever learned about them, are acting unnecessarily arrogant in the presence of their Aussie opponents:

Because MMA is newer here than it is to the United States and the UK, and this happened when the US fought the UK, the US were very cocky and that they felt like you know, `there’s not enough good guys over there.’ Well that’s the way the UK is acting right now and when you underestimate your opponent, that’s when you get your ass kicked.

(“Trust me, this is gonna be the craziest elimination round in the history of the show.”)

The UFC announced yesterday that they will soon begin production of a new season of The Ultimate Fighter that will be shot and aired in Australia, and will pit an Aussie team against a team from the United Kingdom. According to the press release:

The Australian series, dubbed The Smashes™ — a play on the 130 year-old cricket rivalry — will see undiscovered professional MMA fighters from Australia and the United Kingdom live together in The Ultimate Fighter House in Australia and compete against each other for a prized UFC contract. This is only the second time in TUF’s seven-year history that teams will represent their country of origin, the first taking place in 2009, during the ninth series, as Team USA took on Team UK.

‘Australia and the UK have a fierce, long-standing rivalry, and where better to settle the score than in the UFC’s Octagon,’ said Marshall Zelaznik, UFC’s Managing Director of International Development.

(Props: Bracegear via MiddleEasy)

Can you believe that we didn’t include a single women’s match in our tribute to falling tree knockouts? Well, it’s time to give the ladies their due. Here’s a video of Rhiannon Thompson starching Bec Hyatt with a head-kick at a Brace for War event that’s so brutal (and beautiful), it’s like Hornbuckle vs. Gono and Young vs. Tate met and had a baby.

Michael Bisping, speaking through his fellow countryman and self-designated public defender, UK Telegraph reporter Gareth Davies, offered up a feeble apology today for his in and post-fight antics during and following his UFC 127 bout with Jorge Rivera.

“Leading up to the fight, I wanted to be the bigger man and not rise up to it, but as it gathered more momentum, my blood was boiling more and more inside. The guy [Jorge Rivera] and his team relentlessly mocked me for a couple of months on the internet, and they definitely crossed the line a couple of times… and I was provoked and if anyone says they didn’t see that they are either blind or pig-ignorant. I went into the fight very angry. I let it get the better of me after the fight. I want to make it clear – I never spat on his cornerman. I spat on the floor to let him know what I thought of him…I said some words…I’m not even sure what the words were now, that was immediately after the fight had finished. After that, I instantly apologised. It was out of order. As a father, as a mixed martial artist, or possibly even as a role model, it’s not a way I should be behaving. It’s not how a mixed martial artist should be acting; not how any many should be acting. Of course, I do regret it, and I owe Dana [White, UFC CEO], and the UFC an apology and I won’t be acting like that again.”

Now if he left it at that, the apology may not have been construed as being transparent, but as Bisping explained, he can’t just be content with being the bigger man and taking the high road.

("The Promise" and "Killer Bee" will clash down under.)

CagePotato.com has learned from a source close to the fight that a middleweight bout between The Ultimate Fighter 11 standout Nick Ring (10-0) and Kazuo Misaki’s Grabaka teammate, Riki Fukuda (17-4) has been signed for UFC 127 February 27 in Sydney, Australia.

The fight will be the first for Ring since the undefeated Canadian notched a majority decision win over eventual TUF 11 winner Court McGee while filming the show in January. After the bout, Ring, who had been competing with a lingering knee injury, was forced to pull out of the competition due to a torn ACL which would require surgery. The favorite to win the competition, the 30-year-old has been rehabbing the joint since having it surgically repaired in April and has been training in Montreal at Tristar Gym with fellow UFC fighters, welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and longtime training partner Rory MacDonald.

Fukuda, who, like Ring,  will also be making his Octagon debut at the event down under, is the DEEP middleweight champion and has not lost since 2008. An EliteXC and DREAM veteran, his most notable victory is a unanimous decision he won over Murilo "Ninja" Rua at DREAM 8 in 2009. The 29-year-old native of Tokyo who has only been finished once in his career surprised many when he took veteran Joe Doerksen to a decision in his first bout in 2004.

(Ironically, this is the most non-crazy tattoo Paulo has.)

Realizing that chronically unreliable personal demon chaser Paulo Filho will do well to make it to one of his scheduled July Impact Fighting Championship bouts, the Australia Athletic Commission has disallowed the Brazilian from competing on both the July 10 and July 18 cards as planned.

Graciemag announced the news we have all been predicting today.

Filho (20-1), who was originally also slated to fight at Impact FC’s scrapped July 3 event in Perth, takes on K-1 Heroes, PRIDE and UFC veteran Denis Kang (32-12-1, 2 NC) on July 18 in Sydney if he makes it to the show. 

(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."

Closing out the preliminary card of UFC 110 this Saturday will be a light-heavyweight bout between Elvis Sinosic and Chris Haseman, which will make minor history as the first UFC fight contested between two Australians. While the local Sydney crowd will surely mark out for the scrap, it’s a shame that the competitors have to be so unworthy. Sinosic (8-11-2, 1-6 UFC) has dropped his last two fights, and hasn’t won a match in over three years. The semi-retired Haseman (20-16, 0-1 UFC) last competed in November 2008 when he knocked out Yuji "The Pink Typhoon" Hisamatsu, breaking a four-fight losing streak that dated back to 2002. Basically, neither of these guys would be getting another shot in the UFC if they weren’t both Australian, and available on the day of the show. (It says a lot about the state of Australian MMA that these are the two biggest/best stars they could pull for their Aussie vs. Aussie feature.)

But there is one hook to hang the fight on: The King of Rock ‘n’ Rumble and the Hammer met once before, way back in March 1997, at an eight-man Caged Combat: Australian Ultimate Fighting tournament that was won by Brazilian Top Team co-founder Mario Sperry. Haseman’s performance in the tourney was notable because he scored two wins via chin-to-eye submission. The video above shows the semi-final match between Sinosic and Haseman; Haseman chins Elvis out at the 4:00 mark. Though the technique is currently outlawed by the Unified Rules under the "no gouging" clause, it would be a fitting tribute to Australia’s colorful MMA history if the refs could look the other way this weekend. Do you really think those descendants of criminals will give a shit?

Previously: Completely Unnecessary Rematch Alert: Wes Sims vs. Tim Sylvia II

(As if this wasn’t humiliating enough, Jason was also forced to pay for his own rape kit. [What, too soon?] Photo courtesy of MMAWeekly.)

— Recent reports have indicated that middleweight Jason Day and welterwight Josh Burkman are the latest fighters to be canned by the UFC. Though Day won his UFC debut against Alan Belcher last April, he then lost back-to-back fights against Michael Bisping and Kendall Grove, both by first-round TKO. Burkman’s exit is even less surprising, as his loss to Pete Sell at UFC 90 was his third-straight Octagon defeat. Akihiro Gono was also cut last month after dropping two straight.

— After bumbling regional ref Rick Fike stopped their first fight way too early, lightweights Aaron Riley and Shane Nelson will get another chance to tangle at UFC 101 (August 8th, Philadelphia). Nelson was awarded a TKO victory at UFC 96 after knocking Riley to the mat in the first round, but Riley immediately invoked the "what the fuck is your problem?" rule and the crowd backed him up with chants of "Bullshit!"