(Just call him Jon “Bjönes” Jones. / Photo courtesy of Josh Hedges)

By Jack Saladino

With the UFC’s Swedish debut in the books, it’s time for us to make Joe Silva‘s life easier and suggest the next matchups for a few of the notable fighters coming out of UFC on FUEL: Silva vs. Gustafsson. Read on, and let us know if you agree or disagree with these picks…

Alexander Gustafsson: Rocking Thiago Silva early, Gustafsson was able to pick apart the aggressive Brazilian with an array of uber-accurate strikes to coast his way to a UD victory, and cement his position as a top-tier light-heavyweight. Can you say title eliminator? Gustafsson vs. Dan Henderson sounds good to me. I know Dan is waiting for his guaranteed title shot, but Jon Jones and Rashad Evans both have a history of post-fight injuries, and to assume that the winner will be healthy after their title fight might be unrealistic. So unless Hendo doesn’t mind a year-long break to challenge the title-holder, a battle against the Mauler could be the next best thing.

Thiago Silva: Silva’s suspension gave him a year off to think about what he’s done and rehab a plethora of injuries that have kept him performing at less than 100%. Judging by his performance on Saturday, his comeback still has a long way to go. Though Silva could use a fight against a UFC newcomer to rebound in the 205-pound division, I’d give him a good dose of reality and slate him against Phil Davis, who’s coming off his own loss to Rashad Evans. Two big, well-known scrappers with a lot to lose — promoting this one should be a no-brainer.

Props: UFC.com

Get used to seeing “The Great” on Cagepotato. Siyar Bahadurzada made UFC fans take notice with his impressive Knockout of the Night winning debut against the always game Paulo Thiago, pocketing a cool $50k for the quick performance. Get used to not only seeing more of The Great’s fights, but also us referring to him as The Great as often as possible. Bahadurzada is a long name to type.

On a card stacked with submission finishes, Submission of the Night was a highly competitive bonus that ended up going to John Maguire for his beautiful armbar over DaMarques Johnson. Johnson attempted to put away Maguire with a kimura, but as Johnson overcommitted, Maguire countered with the fight ending armbar. Maguire improves to 18-3, and has now won seven straight fights.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve taken a look at several unique knockouts in the world of mixed martial arts, and as Nick Diaz will tell you, now that we’re hooked, there’s no turning back. So today, we pay tribute to yet another aspect of the fight game, specifically, one that only happens on the rarest of occasions, like Halley’s Comet or Bob Sapp showing up to win. We’re talking, of course, about the moment in combat sports when a fighter delivers a shot with such force that it is able to dislodge the airtight mouthpiece from the opponent’s…mouth. It’s embarrassing, often causes a stop in the action, and doesn’t always end in a knockout, but it’s also hilarious, and that’s what we’re all about anyway. So with that in mind, here are some of the finest instances of the flying mouthpiece in MMA.

Forrest Griffin vs. Tito Ortiz – UFC 106

Rob McCullough vs. Olaf Alfonso – WEC 19

(Video courtesy of MTV UK)

More exposure for mixed martial arts is always a good thing, so when we saw this awesome mini MMA documentary “3″ that MTV UK is promoting, we figured we’d pass it along so The Potato Nation could check it out and help spread the word.

We spoke with the director of the project, Demetrio Marquez about the film yesterday and the independent British filmmaker described the self-funded project as a labor of love of a massive mixed martial arts fan.

(2 rounds…10 minutes…600 seconds…that is when this fight will end.)

The UFC’s first ever 5 round non-title affair started off on a rather eerie note last night, as Chris Leben crept toward the octagon accompanied by the song that did for Donnie Darko what “Lux Aeterna” did for Requiem for a Dream. And perhaps the haunting ballad was a sign of things to come, as it took just 2 rounds for Mark Munoz to make Leben hide his head and drown his sorrow like there was no tomorrow, no tomorrow. We can only hope now that Leben doesn’t decide to go joyriding after drowning said sorrows.

Leading up to the fight, many pundits out there believed that Munoz’s wrestling and clinch game would be a deciding factor, but for most of the first round, Early 90′s Scott Weiland was able to keep Munoz at bay, even managing to secure a couple takedowns of his own. But as the second round got under way, it was clear that Leben was much worse for the wear, throwing increasingly slower and sloppier combinations and allowing “The Filipino Wrecking” Machine to unleash some of the vicious ground-and-pound that has become his M.O. And then, in perhaps the most shocking turn of events in Leben’s career, he quit. Think about that for a second. A man who has earned his reputation from absorbing near Noguerian levels of punishment (I said near) decided that he had had enough. A mad world indeed.

Who has two thumbs and can’t wait for our liveblog? This guy! Props: MMAJunkie.com

It’s time for UFC 138 on Spike TV, and we’re here because we’re here. Get it, that works because…you know what, just Google it if you don’t get it. We can’t give you all of the answers, after all. Weekend editor Seth Falvo is handling tonight’s liveblog duties, so let’s just get it started. Hit “refresh” early and often.

Sticking with the low key feel of UFC 138, the event’s pre-fight press conference skipped the flashy fighter introductions, swapped Dana White with Marshall Zelaznik, and got right to business. Zelaznik informs us that UFC 138 is a couple hundred seats shy of selling out and has already broken the all-time revenue record for the LG Arena in Birmingham, England. Pretty crazy considering that this is a place that has hosted the likes of Queen, Iron Maiden, David Bowie, and most importantly The Spice Girls. Remember to stop by tomorrow night and check in on our liveblog of the event, and of course thank us for filling up your pockets like they were laundry bags. And have a good weekend, Potato Nation.

-Danga 

Before we’ve even had time to clear out the cobwebs from UFC 137, this Saturday already promises to bring us more bone crushing action with UFC 138, featuring a showdown between middleweight sluggers Chris Leben and Mark Munoz. And since we will be treated to a free card this weekend, why not turn that extra cash…into more extra cash? Check out the betting lines below, courtesy of BestFightOdds, along with our advice, which should have already netted you some extra dough this month.

(“One Punch” may be a catchy moniker for the roguish bantamweight, but it could very well be the thing that stands between Pickett and a shot at the title. / Gruesome photo via Brad’s Facebook page.)

By CagePotato contributor Ben Cartlidge

This Saturday’s UFC 138 event in Birmingham, England, marks the organization’s sole stop in the UK this year and, as expected, the anticipation is already at a feverish level. The card is a mixture of home-grown talent and international mainstays, and is headlined by the first five-round non-title main event in the promotion’s history between Chris Leben and Mark Munoz.

The co-main event features one of the most dynamic fighters to come out of the UK who, after a career spanning twenty-five fights with multiple appearances in the WEC and Cage Rage, is finally making his UFC debut. Brad “One Punch” Pickett meets Nova Uniao prospect Renan Barao, after a back injury forced Pickett to withdraw from his UFC 130 bout with Miguel Torres, in a potentially incendiary affair at 135lbs.

Brad took the time to chat with CagePotato.com about his preparations for this fight and his plan to snap the insane win-streak of his dangerous opponent…

CAGEPOTATO.COM: Renan Barao has twenty-six straight wins, and his only loss was a split-decision in his professional debut, six years ago. Do you think you’ve got the skills to be the first one to finish him?

BRAD PICKETT: Stats are stats. Everyone loves them but I don’t care about them. I’m going to go in there and throw hard and try to knock him out. If I can knock him out then I’ll be the first person to do that which would be brilliant, or the same if I was to submit him. I don’t look at his record and go “look at how many fights he’s won.” There’s no point in breaking it down like that because you just go into it all too much.

I honestly think I’ve fought a lot higher competition than this kid has. I’m not saying that he’s not good because you beat the people that are put in front of you but I don’t think he’s fought someone of my calibre yet. Honestly I believe I’m a better athlete and I’ve got the tools to win it. It’s my fight to throw away.

(Damn, Arianny. Him too?)

After out-pointing Michael Johnson last December to win the TUF 12 lightweight trophy, Jonathan Brookins is gearing up for his first post-TUF opponent in the UFC. MMA Junkie reports that the super-chill bro-dog with the funky hair will take on Jeremy Stephens at the TUF 13 Finale (June 4th, Las Vegas). Stephens is 6-5 in the Octagon (19-6 overall), and most recently knocked Marcus Davis out of a job at UFC 125. Despite Stephens’s spotty record, he’ll be a tough challenge for Brookins, whose biggest weakness seems to be his standup defense; against an explosive power-puncher like Stephens, that could be a problem.

In other UFC booking news…

(VidProps: Versus.com)

We hate to say we told you so (no we don’t) but Brad Pickett’s undercard bout with Ivan Menjivar at WEC 53 turned out to be a pretty good scrap. According to people who were on the scene in Glendale on Thursday night, the unaired prelims for this event were pretty epic. Maybe that’s what induced the live crowd to boo every takedown and cheer every Jesus reference during the televised portion of the card. Or maybe Arizona just sucks, who knows. We’re still waiting for the emergence of video evidence of the slam Eddie Wineland laid on Ken Stone – which briefly caused rumors to circulate through the arena that Stone had a broken neck. (He didn’t. He was fine.) – but for now we’ll have to make do with this pleasing little three-rounder. Spoilers (if you can call them that four days after the event) are after the jump.

(In slo-mo for your convenience. Props: kemist. Full-speed gif is at the end of this post.)

Let’s get this out of the way: The cage-spring head-kick that Anthony "Showtime" Pettis landed on Ben Henderson in their lightweight title fight at last night’s WEC 53 event was 1) The greatest kick in MMA history, 2) Maybe the most impressive knockdown in MMA history, and 3) Further proof that Pettis is one of the most exciting 155′ers in the universe. (He’s also punched his ticket to challenge for the UFC lightweight title against either Frankie Edgar or Gray Maynard, who both look dull as hell by comparison.)

We already knew Pettis was capable of stuff like this, but to have the balls to throw that kick in the fifth round of a title fight? If he planted his foot wrong, the video above might be titled "Ultimate Fail." Instead, he clinched the match on the judges scorecards with absolute authority. Said Pettis after the fight: “Duke Roufus plays with us, and we try these new kicks. He told us if one of us lands it in the cage that he would take us to dinner. So he owes me some dinner.”

The main event earned both men $10,000 Fight of the Night bonuses. As action-packed as the "Henderson vs. Pettis" broadcast was, the unaired prelims were equally hardcore, producing five first-round stoppages in seven bouts…

(Even the undercard of the WEC’s historic final card is stacked with exciting fights. RIP WEC, you won’t be forgotten. Bottom pic props David West.)

Although most people think that undercard bouts are of little consequence, one dark match on tonight’s final WEC 53 card will have great ramifications to the futures of its combatants, and if my hunch is correct, could potentially be a barnburner that will hopefully make it on the Versus broadcast.

According to a story from the East London Advertiser, the winner of tonight’s bantamweight bout between El Salvador-born Canadian Ivan Menjivar (21-7) and Brit Brad Pickett (19-5) will earn a UFC contract while the loser will go home empty handed.

Menjivar, who has faced a slew of UFC and WEC veterans including Joe Lauzon, Urijah Faber, Georges St-Pierre, Bart Palaszewski, Jeff Curran and Jason Black in his nine-year career has already experienced fighting in the UFC Octagon, having lost a hard fought decision to Matt Serra at UFC 48.

Despite not having the experience that Menjivar has, Pickett, who picked up Fight of the Night honors for his UFC 50 decision loss to Scott Jorgensen (who is fighting Dominick Cruz tonight for the inaugural UFC 135-pound strap), does have the advantage of already having three fights in the WEC and of having kept active the past seven years since he began fighting. Menjivar returned to the cage in June from a four-year absence from competition he spent rehabbing an injury and raising a family to fight under the W-1 banner and defeated Aaron Miller by a first round triangle.

(Damn, Anthony, if you can’t get psyched around this crowd, we don’t know what to tell you.)

One day, mankind will realize that fighting is a counter-productive act, leading to only misery and division. Until then…

— Returning from his painful loss to Mirko Cro Cop in June, UFC heavyweight Pat Barry will step back into the Octagon against Joey "The Mexicutioner" Beltran at UFC Fight for the Troops 2. Beltran is also looking to get back to the W column, having dropped a decision to Matt Mitrione at UFC 119.

— Former WEC bantamweight champ Miguel Torres continues his path back to contendership against Antonio Banuelos at UFC 126 in February. Torres recently snapped a two-fight losing skid by choking at Charlie Valencia at WEC 51. Banuelos outpointed Chad George at the same event, and has won four of his last five.

(Props: YouTube.com/Heavy)

— If you thought last night’s WEC main event wasn’t as close as the judges scored it, Dominick Cruz would respectfully agree with you. As the reigning bantamweight champ said after his fight with Joseph Benavidez (skip to the 2:59 mark above): 

"In my humble opinion, I thought I won all the rounds…I think that the crowd has a big part to play in the judges’ opinion sometimes. Also, he caught me with a real slick knee up against the cage that made me bleed real bad. I would assume the blood could have swayed the judges a little as well."

Benavidez was also surprised that one of the judges saw it his way: "I figured I didn’t do enough to win, but I wasn’t watching the fight, so when the judge did say my name it was quite a surprise. I was like "wow, could this happen? Is this, like, the work of God or something?" For the record, FightMetric gave every round to Cruz for outpointing Benavidez in striking (103-46 total) and takedowns (5-0 total).

— $10,000 performance bonuses were handed out to the following fighters…
Knockout of the Night: Newcomer Maciej Jewtuszko for using a spinning back elbow and a pair of nasty uppercuts to wreck Anthony Njokuani in 96 seconds.
Submission of the Night: Anthony Pettis for finishing Shane Roller via triangle choke with just nine seconds left in the fight, after wearing Roller down with his impressively-flashy striking attacks. (How ’bout that capoeira head kick in round one?)
Fight of the Night: Scott Jorgensen and Brad Pickett for their 15-minute smash-up which went all over the cage and didn’t slow down for one second. Round two was easily one of the best MMA rounds of 2010.