(Sorry, buddy — no dick-tattoo on your chest, no UFC contract.)

Hey, someone’s gotta fill the hole left by Anderson Silva. WWE/TNA vet Kurt Angle — who’s made similar claims in the past — now tells The Sun that he’ll definitely make the move from pro wrestling to MMA next year. And in doing so, he kind of sounds like an idiot. First off…

[W]hen asked which organisation he would be competing for…he added: “It depends on which company gives me the best deal. I’m getting offers from the UFC, Pro Elite XC, Affliction and the IFL.”

Problem 1: The IFL doesn’t exist anymore. Problem 2: Affliction’s Tom Atencio has publicly stated that Angle would be bad for the sport. Problem 3: “Pro Elite XC” is on shaky financial ground at this point, and could just as easily be extinct next year. But hey, the UFC scored big with Brock Lesnar, so maybe Dana White will roll the dice again. Which would work out, because Angle’s already assuming he’ll be fighting in an eight-sided shape:

“I’ve always wanted to do it. I’m the only Olympic gold medallist that will enter the Octagon and it feels right for me. I can almost guarantee you’re going to see me in the Octagon. Obviously I’m going to have to take a few months away from pro wrestling to get ready for that.”

Sure, a few months should cover it. To be honest, this is feeling like a FAIL waiting to happen. Especially because Angle admits that his ultimate goal is to finish out his career at TNA. (“God-willing, I’ll walk away successful and I can come away from MMA saying ‘I did it’ and go back to my professional wrestling routes.”)

Look, one Brock Lesnar is enough for us, thanks. I can only hope that Angle gets all-but-murdered in his first MMA match and goes back to fake-fighting for good.

Related: The AFL — that totally ‘tarded fight league that signed pro wrestler Bobby Lashley to a fight contract — may not be doing so well.

(Kimbo who?)

The UFC isn’t going to let EliteXC put an event on network TV without screwing with them a little bit. Just as they aired UFC 84 for free on Spike while the second CBS “Saturday Night Fights” card was taking place on July 26th — effectively stealing away a lot of EliteXC’s young male viewers — the UFC will be airing “UFC 86: Jackson vs. Griffin” on October 4th, opposite “EliteXC: Heat.” (They’ll also be showing “UFC 87: St-Pierre vs. Fitch” the following Saturday, on the night that Affliction was originally supposed to hold their “Day of Reckoning” card.) The UFC has previously tried to take the wind out of their competition’s sails by airing an “Ultimate Iceman” special on Spike during the first CBS “Saturday Night Fights” card in May, and scheduling an Anderson Silva-headlined Ultimate Fight Night during Affliction’s “Banned” card in July.

With Showtime lurking as a potential buyer for Pro Elite, a little less is riding on “Heat”‘s performance — lackluster ratings wouldn’t necessarily mean extinction if they have someone to bail them out. But the UFC could further devalue the EliteXC brand if they can prove that just as many people would tune in to see a UFC re-run as a new fight card from EliteXC. And if “Heat” is a bomb, maybe Showtime will think twice about the purchase.

In other UFC news…

Former UFC champ Frank Mir was once sitting atop the heavyweight division before a motorcycle accident nearly ended his career. His road back has been a rocky one. A couple tough losses had him questioning his decision to keep fighting, but he has since rededicated himself to the sport and has found new life after a high-profile victory over Brock Lesnar.

Now he’s coaching opposite Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in season eight of “The Ultimate Fighter,” premiering Wednesday night on Spike TV. In this exclusive interview with CagePotato.com, Mir talks about his impending fight with Nogueira, Randy Couture’s return, and just how much he hates cardio training.

CagePotato.com: Frank, we’ve heard past coaches say they don’t like how long the show keeps them out of action, how they’re fighters and not coaches. What was your experience like coaching “The Ultimate Fighter?”

I found it quite enjoyable. I really didn’t think it was all that difficult to be honest with you. Obviously nothing’s easy in the fight game, but it wasn’t like I resented the position at all. It opened my eyes up to a lot of new things as a fighter, seeing other people and how they react to different situations, how they deal with things, and helped me understand how to help them out by thinking about what I would need in that situation. It was kind of nice to jump back that way because it gave me a better understanding of myself.

What does it do to your climactic fight with Nogueira now that Randy Couture is back in the UFC and they’re hyping his match with Brock Lesnar, a man you beat, for the heavyweight title?

I definitely think it takes some of the wind out of the sails. That’s for sure. But I love the fact that Randy’s back. I think he’s a great representative of the sport and I thought it was a travesty that he might have ended his career in a courtroom.

The fact that he’s back, I think that’s great. I’m not upset with that at all, but I think that Nogueira obviously should have been his first fight back, since he’s holding the interim belt. But since Nogueira and I are already slated to fight each other I thought that with him coming back he would wait to fight the winner of Nogueira and myself. I think that would have worked out perfectly. But with contract negotiations and all that I don’t know what the deal was.

The only thing I’m at odds with is that he’s fighting a month before Nogueira and I fight, and that brings up the question of what we’re fighting for. Now he’s fighting Lesnar and he’s getting a shot at the heavyweight title while I’m getting a shot at the interim title. Since I just beat Lesnar, that’s kind of interesting.

Interesting is one word for it. Obviously you’re focused on fighting Nogueira now, so how do you think you stack up against him? What do you do better than him?

(Photo courtesy of MySpace.com/MinotauroBJJ)

This Wednesday at 10 p.m. on Spike TV, Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira begins his duel with Frank Mir on the season premiere of The Ultimate Fighter 8. The two heavyweight jiu-jitsu masters will each lead a team of eight UFC hopefuls (four lightweights and four light-heavyweights), while sizing each other up for their own fight in December; the winner will take on the winner of UFC 91′s Randy Couture/Brock Lesnar match sometime next year. Luiz De Souza chatted with Big Nog on Friday to get his thoughts on his TUF experience and the UFC’s upcoming “heavyweight tournament.”

***

CAGEPOTATO.COM: In some of the past seasons of The Ultimate Fighter, the coaches built up great rivalries. Was there ever any hostility between you and Frank Mir? Did he get on your nerves in any way?
ANTONIO RODRIGO NOGUEIRA: No, there wasn’t much of that; we have a lot of respect for each other. If there were arguments they were between the fighters themselves. I went there to do my job. I went to teach the guys, with the goal of not getting involved in fights with the guys inside the house or from the show, but to train them instead. That was my idea. I did my part and Frank did his. At times I was pissed at some of them because some of the guys were picking fights inside the house, and they would lose their control. There was one who wouldn’t quit picking fights, but overall nothing too major.

What do you think of Frank, as a person and as a fighter?
He is a good fighter, very strong, and he has great jiu-jitsu skills. He is also a very cool and nice guy, but he is my opponent, so I am training to fight him.

What’s your strategy going to be when you fight him in December? Would you rather fight him on the ground or standing?
There isn’t really a strategy; my strategy is to finish him. We don’t really choose if the fight will be standing up or on the ground. Whatever happens I will be ready for it.

After he lost to Forrest Griffin, Quinton Jackson partially blamed his performance on the fact that, because of The Ultimate Fighter, he’d gone 10 months between fights. Are you concerned that your own long layoff will affect your performance?
Well, the last time Frank Mir fought was the last time I fought, so the truth is that we both have the same disadvantage. I really don’t like to go such a long time without fighting; never in my life have I gone without fighting for this long. This does make a difference, but this is my job and I will fight when the day comes.

Here’s a preview of the welterweight title fight at EliteXC: Heat (October 4th; Sunrise, Florida). It doesn’t fire me up like “Hits and Chicks,” but hey, they can’t all be homeruns.

Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar face off on Sportscenter. Props to BloodyElbow.

A half-hour preview of Dream’s middleweight grand prix finals (September 23rd; Saitama, Japan), from HDNet Fights via Nightmare of Battle.

(Words of wisdom, courtesy of MMA-Core.)

Apparently the UFC doesn’t feel that their November 15 card featuring Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar as the main event has the appropriate drawing power just yet. If only they had one more high profile fight they could add, like perhaps an ex-champion who recently went off the deep end taking on an old nemesis from his past. But where to find a fight like that? Oh, wait…

According to MMA Rated, the UFC has offered both “Rampage” Jackson and Wanderlei Silva a fight with one another at UFC 91 and are said to be close to making it official. This is the same fight that was once rumored for this event, then basically ruled out, now it’s back on the block again. If things pan out it would virtually assure that the November 15 event goes down in history as the night the UFC done came up big time. Couture-Lesnar and Rampage-Wanderlei? As Matt Serra might say, Fuhgeddaboutit.

Of course, we’d be remiss if we didn’t at least question how responsible it is to throw Rampage back into a fight so soon, much less against someone with two devastating knockout victories over him. Yes, we understand that they’re both different men these days, but is that really the kind of stress Rampage needs right now? You know, what with the court case and the devil and God battling inside his head over “The Secret” from time to time? That’s got to make it hard to concentrate on training.

That being said, the fight would make it so they could fill out the rest of the UFC 91 card with TUF rejects taking on junior high school bullies and still rake in their biggest pay-per-view take ever, and for some reason money seems to be the prevailing factor in this business more often than not. Go figure. Now we just sit back and wait for the official announcement via uncomfortable conference call.

Dana White’s UFC 88 Video Blog, part 3 – Watch more free videos

Dana White’s newest UFC 88 vlog details his travels with Brock Lesnar and Randy Couture to do media work, son. They head to ESPN headquarters so Lesnar’s enormous head can get airbrushed, then they take that nice Kenny Florian boy to see the “Entourage” premiere. See? That’s almost as good as a title shot. Plus Marky Mark is there!

Let’s hope this video blog — like the last one — gets better as we get closer to the event. Any time I’m watching what’s supposed to be an interesting inside look at someone’s life and I see a guy in the background who looks kind of like Pauly Shore and then find myself thinking, ‘You know what would be better than this? A Pauly Shore video blog.’ That’s not a good sign.

Oftentimes it’s easy, not to mention fun, to bash mainstream media coverage of MMA. They mispronounce oma plata or some such nonsense and the hardcore fans are all over them. But you have to hand it to ESPN, they did their homework on this Randy Couture-UFC situation. They don’t just give in to the media blitz for UFC 91, they hit Randy with his own words regarding his original gripe with the organization and go right after the real story: did anything get resolved between Couture and the UFC, or did he just cave?

Couture does the same delicate dance around this question that he did in yesterday’s media call, which is to say he makes vague assurances that his concerns have been addressed, while also insinuating that he just wants to fight again before he’s too old and poor from protracted legal battles.

Fair enough.

(Dueling highlights, via MMA Scraps. And yeah, there’s some WWE action in there.)

Ever since yesterday’s announcement that Randy Couture would be facing Brock Lesnar in his return to the UFC, you’ve been wondering: Okay, okay, but what does Kim Couture have to say about this? Fortunately, she didn’t keep us in suspense for long. “Sugar Free” went on ESPN radio with Steve Cofield to talk about the match-up and express her deepest sympathies for poor, poor Brock Lesnar:

“It’s surprising to me, shocking that they’d throw a guy in there with only three fights. I kind of feel sorry for the guy. He poses some interesting problems but that’s what Randy is good at, is taking care of those problems. He’s no bigger or tougher than (Gabe) Gonzaga or Tim Sylvia.”

‘Sup, Sable? You going to let her talk about your man that way? Better represent.

Couture seems to be parroting a line that’s already been worn out in the less-than twenty-four hours since this fight has been official. That is, how does a guy with only three fights expect to hang with “The Natural”? Of course, perusing message-boards and MMA websites yields no shortage of people wondering how a 225-pound, forty-five-year-old man can hang with a physical monstrosity like Lesnar, who knows a thing or two about wrestling himself.

In other words, there’s more than one angle to come at this fight from, which means Dana White probably knew what he was talking about when he predicted over a million pay-per-view buys. The UFC has taken some heat for a lackluster heavyweight division since the departure of Couture, but to quote Dana White from yesterday’s conference call: “Our heavyweight division looks pretty damn good now, doesn’t it?”

Point taken.

I know, you’re probably still reeling from Mandy Moore‘s astounding fight predictions, but the 9/2 installment of Dana White’s UFC 88 video blog is kind of a must-see. After a brief intro, we get the first footage of Dana and Randy Couture palling around together — or at least sitting on the same couch without lawyers present — since their reconciliation. Dana, who’s pretty touchy-feely with the Natural throughout the video, asks if Randy missed him; Randy refers to Brock Lesnar as “another big monkey.”

Later, we see Randy doing a phone interview, where he delivers the key sentiment in regards to his UFC return: “It just became apparent to me that all this other crap was gonna go on for a long, long time, and…I’m on the clock. I realize that I can’t do this forever. I can’t just sit on the sidelines forever.” Then, we get to watch Dana and Randy working yesterday’s conference call, which includes Brock Lesnar’s incredible “I’m tired of hearing about fucking Fedor” rant (beginning at the 4:27 mark). Dana wonders if Brock Lesnar is his son, which is pretty damn unlikely unless he impregnated this woman when he was seven years old. But hey, crazier things have happened.

(Props: MMA Mania)

They say if you love something, let it go. If it comes back, it will beat up Brock Lesnar. If it doesn’t, it will be tied up in court battles for the rest of its viable career. At least I think that’s what they say. I don’t listen very well. Regardless, today’s announcement that Randy Couture will return to the UFC to defend his heavyweight title in November has us all a little amped. So amped, in fact, that it’s hard to focus on any other MMA-related stories right now. So let’s just enjoy a look at some of Captain America’s greatest moments and consider what the future might hold. After the jump, a nice training montage with a soundtrack that will really get your heart pumping. Turn up the volume now and thank us later.

(Guess who’s coming to UFC 91.)

Captain America is back in the UFC, and he and Dana White are best buds once again. At least, that was the story from White’s end on today’s UFC conference call. You could practically hear the smile on his face as the UFC president announced that his heavyweight champ was back and would face Brock Lesnar in a five-round title fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on November 15. While White said the organization still plans to go to Portland, Oregon eventually — the rumored site of UFC 91 — he played down any notion that the event was ever really headed there. As for the intense legal battle with Couture, that’s all water under the bridge now, as far as White’s concerned, and there is no bad blood between them.

“Through this whole thing I never said anything really bad about Randy,” White said. “I think the worst thing I said about him was that he was confused. I like Randy. I always have.”

While both White and Couture repeatedly said they were thankful to have the legal dispute over, Couture sounded a slightly different note, suggesting at times that he’d simply been worn down by the lengthy process.

He described himself as “frustrated by our legal system” and said he was “tired of throwing money around with no end in sight.” He also seemed to have been persuaded by the fact of his own age and the prospect that he might not get to fight any time in the near future if not in the UFC.

“I’m forty-five, and I can’t sit around in courtrooms much longer,” said Couture.

(Toymakers are hard at work trying to capture the essence of Urijah’s chin.)

Not content just to offer UFC action figures — such as the Brock Lesnar figurine complete with phallic chest tattoo — toymaker JAKKS Pacific sent out a press release today announcing that they have signed agreements to produce WEC and Pride dolls as well:

“We are thrilled to extend our relationship with UFC by adding WEC and PRIDE to our action figure roster,” said Stephen Berman, President and COO, JAKKS Pacific. “As the world leader in fighting action figure toys, we plan on dominating the Mixed Martial Arts collector action figure arena. The addition of WEC and PRIDE gives JAKKS a substantial base of fighters with which to work and develop into a broad and exciting line of collectable products for fans.”

“This agreement with JAKKS gives fight fans a premier line of authentic collector action figures,” said Dana White, UFC President. “This is a great partnership that benefits the sport, our athletes and our fans.”

We know what you’re thinking. WEC action figures make some sense, even though they are undoubtedly lesser known than the UFC, but Pride? Aren’t they a little late to the party? That’s like putting out Guns N’ Roses action figures.

To that, we can only say: 1) you would totally buy Guns N’ Roses action figures and you know it, and 2) better late than never.

You’re telling us you don’t want an Igor Vovchanchyn figure, complete with pot belly and extremely tight shorts? Don’t kid yourself. There are tons of great options out there, and hopefully Zuffa has rights to them, since otherwise it doesn’t make much sense what with many of the major Pride stars now in the UFC. We’re just hoping that the Gilbert Yvel figurine comes complete with extended thumbs that fit nicely into the eye sockets of the Don Frye doll. In a perfect world, the Don Frye doll would also have a string that you can pull to make him say, “Gilbert! We can do it again, brother!”

Damn this imperfect world!

Posted on UFC.com this morning:

Major UFC Announcement Today at 3pm ET
UFC President Dana White will hold a media conference call later today to make a major UFC announcement. The call will take place at 3pm ET/12Noon PT. Check back with UFC.com for the full report.

Yahoo!’s Steve Cofield is fairly certain that the UFC will be formally announcing Randy Couture‘s return to the organization, and that he’ll be facing Brock Lesnar at UFC 91 (November 15th, Portland).

Of course, the last time the UFC made a “major announcement,” it turned out to be Lorenzo Fertitta changing his job title, so who knows. But I trust Cofield, and more importantly, I want to believe. Couture still has a few good fights left in him, and the sooner his lawsuit-induced layoff ends, the better — even if it means his battle to free himself from the UFC was ultimately unsuccessful. And as you might have heard, this doesn’t rule out a fight with Fedor down the road.

Still, it’s too bad Couture’s not facing Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira first. On paper, Brock Lesnar isn’t ready for a fight with the resilient six-time heavyweight champion, and he’ll be in over his head; a tune-up match against a decent wrestler before facing The Natural would have been helpful. Then again, Lesnar could certainly win by smothering Couture for three rounds, in which case Randy’s return fight will be disappointingly dull. And would that make Brock Lesnar the UFC’s official heavyweight champ? Weird, wild stuff.

We’ll update you after the announcement. Keep your fingers crossed.

(Randy attends a costume party dressed as Samuel L. Jackson.)

As exciting as the prospect of Randy Couture returning to the UFC might be, we were a little skeptical when rumors started flying earlier this week. But now it sounds like talks between the UFC and “The Natural” are for real, and it’s looking more and more possible that Couture might return to action in front of his former-hometown crowd in Portland to face Brock Lesnar on November 15.

And if that’s not completely crazy enough for you, the UFC is said to be seriously considering an offer from M-1 to co-promote a Randy Couture-Fedor Emelianenko bout down the road. Suddenly we go from a tangled court battle to a couple of blockbuster fights that also have the added advantage of helping the UFC screw Affliction. All just like that. Is your mind blown yet?

If all goes smoothly (and what are the chances of that?) the “Couture Compromise” — as we’re going to go ahead and call it — could be announced as early as Tuesday. As with any story this huge, we’ll believe it when we hear it out of Dana White’s mouth, which will no doubt be formed into an I-told-you-so smirk for the next three months.

Couture is said to be training full-time right now, getting ready to get his glorious return on, so it seems like all systems could genuinely be go for this. What a crazy, wonderful world.

From MMA Rated:

“I try to never underestimate any of my opponents but there’s really nothing that worries me too much with Brock Lesnar. I know it could be a tough fight, but, you know, I train hard and I will be ready for this one too.”

There’s something very zen-like about Kongo’s “don’t worry about what you can’t change” attitude. On the other hand, in terms of fight preparation, he may want to start worrying about the fact that he’s going to be on his back for fifteen minutes against Lesnar. The wrestling thing would be an issue, I would think. Kongo might even want to worry about Brock’s striking, and how one of his punches threw Heath Herring into a reverse somersault and closed his eye for the remainder of the fight. But hey, I’m on the outside looking in, so whatever.

I thought this quote was particularly worth sharing because it’s eerily similar to Herring’s cavalier statements that because he’d faced wrestlers before, he wasn’t expecting Lesnar to present anything he hadn’t seen before — which in itself is similar to how Patrick Cote has been echoing James Irvin’s failed strategy of taking ten of Anderson Silva’s punches to land one of his own. Dismissing Brock Lesnar’s takedowns and ground control is just about as foolish as thinking you’ll survive ten straight from Silva. People, please: If we don’t learn from the past, we’re doomed to repeat it, directly in the face, for about 30 seconds until Steve Mazzagatti mercifully stops the fight.

Also, Kongo honestly believes he deserves a title shot — he wasn’t just letting adrenaline hijack his mouth after his win over Dan Evensen at UFC 87:

“His was my seventh UFC fight. I have never been completely dominated by an opponent in a UFC fight, even in my 2 losses which were by split decision. I won five fights among which three were by KO/TKO. So, I’m asking: How many fights do I have to win to definitely give me the credibility to get a title shot?”

With the way the UFC’s heavyweight ladder seems to be arranged right now, he’d probably have to beat Lesnar and then Fabricio Werdum. So, good luck with that.

(Unrelated picture of Gina Carano posing with Tim Curry for EA’s Red Alert 3 courtesy of Fightlinker.)

Just in case you were worried, Kelly Kobald won’t let her respect for Gina Carano get in the way of kicking the crap out of her when they meet at EliteXC/CBS’s third “Saturday Night Fights” show on October 4th. Fighthype has a great interview with Kobald where the Minneapolis native puts the full measure of her ‘tude on display. For example…

On her physique: “I’m probably the biggest girl Gina has ever fought. I’m not tall, but I’m built like a brick shithouse. I’m pretty thick as far as that goes. I have more of a powerlifter type build. I’ve damn near had to cut off a leg to make 135 in my last 2 fights. My comfort range is to fight at about 150-155 pounds…I’m definitely not going to be someone that she can push around.”

On her back-to-back losses: “It’s unfortunate that Gina has to be the opponent that I have to face coming off of those losses because I’m coming out to win. I’m coming for blood. I’m out to validate my name and I’m looking to hurt somebody; not just win. I need to win and once she steps inside of the cage with me, my respect for her as a fighter, or lack thereof, is really not going to come into play.”

On her training camp: “I have a really good training partner that has already fought Gina (Kaitlin Young)…I’m training with Brett Rogers, the heavyweight from EliteXC and Team Bison, and I’m also training with former UFC champion Sean Sherk and also Brock Lesnar at Minnesota Mixed Martial Arts Academy as well. I couldn’t have a better group of people to train with.”

On her match with Gina: “I’m looking for a 1st or 2nd round TKO or stoppage. Gina may be the face of MMA, but I have to say, win, lose or draw I’m going to be the pretty one leaving the cage. I plan on fucking her shit up.”

Boo-yah! We suggest you read the rest here. Props to Bloody Elbow for the heads-up.

Related: Kelly Kobald vs. Adrienna Jenkins (video)

According to the Pioneer Press:

Former Gophers wrestler Brock Lesnar, who is 2-1 as a mixed martial arts fighter, found out this week that Ultimate Fighting Championship would like him to compete next on a November card, but his opponent and site remain undetermined.

That November card (also known as UFC 91) will reportedly go down on 11/15 in Portland, Oregon, with a bout between Kenny Florian and Joe Stevenson likely to be on the lineup. The most prevalent rumor regarding Lesnar’s opponent is that he’ll be facing Cheick Kongo. In other UFC news…

— Anheuser-Busch has tapped Chuck Liddell and Anderson Silva as spokesmen for Bud Light. Which is kind of strange considering both of them are nearly unintelligible without a translator.

— A lightweight bout between Rich Clementi and Gray Maynard is slated for UFC 90 (October 25th, Chicago). Clementi has won his last six fights, including a submission of Anthony Johnson at UFC 76 and a decision win over Terry Etim at UFC 84. Xtreme Couture’s Gray Maynard increased his record to a perfect 5-0 with his unanimous decision over Frankie Edgar at UFC Fight Night 13 in April.

— Dana White will be appearing on A&E’s Mindfreak next Wednesday at 10 p.m. According to UFC.com: “With the use of a blindfold, a knife and a deck of cards, Criss attempts to teach UFC® President Dana White first-hand how to do a prediction of his own. Can Dana pull off a little magic with the help of the Mindfreak?”

(Cain Velasquez: Don’t be scared, homey. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

— The arraignment of Quinton Jackson (which was supposed to take place today) has been postponed pending further investigation. According to an Orange County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson, “The district attorney’s office is responsible for filing charges and that case is still under investigation based on some new evidence that has been discovered…The recommendations of the police are taken into consideration, but it could be more charges or less charges, depending on what the evidence reports.”

— The Ultimate Fighter 7 winner Amir Sadollah will be back in the Octagon within the next couple months, against a yet-unnamed opponent. He’s moved from Virginia to Las Vegas to train with his old coach Forrest Griffin, and there’s no truth to the rumors of him dropping to welterweight.

— If his knee heals according to schedule, Matt Hughes should be settling his grudge with Matt Serra in January or February.

— The UFC is having a lot of trouble finding an opponent for Cain Velasquez. As Bloody Elbow’s Mchael Rome puts it, “[Velasquez] is very good, but he has no name value yet, so fighters don’t see any upside in facing him.”

— Brock Lesnar is subjected to some pretty dumb questions by the New York Times‘s Freakonomics blog; our own Ben Fowlkes gets a shout-out.

In this video from RawVegas.tv, Russian stoic philosopher Fedor Emelianenko drops some knowledge regarding the issues of the day, including his thoughts on Randy Couture and his somewhat surprising admission that he is impressed by Brock Lesnar. My personal favorite is when he responds to Dana White’s earlier criticism of him by remarking that the UFC president’s comments are on his own conscience and he’s the one who will have to live with them. These are the moments that make me wonder if Fedor isn’t some being sent from another world in order to teach us all to be kinder to one another. Then I rewatch his bout with Tim Sylvia and I am forced to abandon that theory.

Plenty of people seem upset about Brock Lesnar after UFC 87. Maybe it’s because of his antics at the end of the fight. Maybe it’s because of his post-fight remarks. Maybe it’s because he won, or because everything about him reminds you of the guy who put you upside down in that trash can back in high school. We all have our reasons, is what I’m saying, even if they may be bad ones.

I’ll admit that I didn’t get a whole lot of joy out of watching Lesnar control Herring on the mat for three rounds. It wasn’t exactly a thrilling bout, athletically speaking, and his ‘ride-em cowboy’ routine was the kind of thing I hate about pro sports. But at a time when the UFC’s heavyweight division suffers from a general dearth of talent and interesting potential matchups, hate-ability may be just what we need right now.

What we have in Lesnar is the type of guy who various martial arts were created in order to protect against. He’s big, strong, fast, and aggressive. He’s all natural ability, and not so much technique at this point. His personality is abrasive, to put it mildly — the kind of guy you run into at a bar and think, ‘I’d kick your ass, if only you weren’t so big.’ What’s more, he seems to really enjoy being that guy.

After his display following the victory over Herring prompted some anger from MMA fans, Lesnar responded:

“That was just me. I was just excited. That was for Heath’s camp. I had the last laugh and the last words to say. I might’ve went a little overboard. If I offended anybody then I’m sorry…uh, not really!”

What’s not to love?

(Props to MMA Mania for the poster image.)

— Kenny Florian doesn’t plan on sitting out until BJ Penn decides to defend his lightweight belt; he’ll be fighting one more time this year, no matter what. “(Penn) made the decision that he wants to fight GSP and I tell you what as a fan I want to see that fight,” Florian said during an appearance on MMA Weekly Radio. “It’s a risky move and some people have criticized me for it, but I still want to get another fight in…before the year’s end and I want to fight someone tough.”

— All signs are pointing to Cheick Kongo as Brock Lesnar’s next opponent. And why not UFC Hall-of-Famer Mark Coleman, who was originally supposed to take on Lesnar at “Seek and Destroy”? According to Dave Meltzer: “The basic story is this…Coleman really doesn’t want the fight.”

— UFC 90 (October 25th, Chicago) will see the Octagon debut of Matt Horwich, the Team Quest product and one-time IFL middleweight champion. He’ll be given a very tough test against BJJ ace Ricardo Almeida, who’s coming off a split decision loss to Patrick Cote at UFC 86. The UFC has also announced a UFC 90 middleweight matchup between Goran Reljic and Thales Leites.

— Even Jason MacDonald doesn’t know why he decided to fight Demian Maia on the ground: “It was a stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid fight on my behalf. And I take the full blame 100 percent for it. I’ll take it right on the forehead like I took those hundred elbows from Maia.”

You may have noticed Matt Hughes sitting Octagon-side at UFC 87. At least, that’s where he was for most of the night. Turns out he didn’t make it all the way through the evening, and you can probably guess why. From Matt Hughes’ blog:

I went there really to watch one fight, probably not the one you’re expecting. I went there to watch Brock Lesnar. He is so interesting because he is so athletic as well as being so powerful. So that fight went just like I thought it would, Brock took him down whenever he wanted and on the ground he did whatever he wanted. I was also there watching my buddy, Roger, but he didn’t quite look the same. I don’t think him or Kenny fought their best fight on Saturday. Roger looked to have done a few things different and I would say that he needs to go back to what he was doing before.

The last fight of the night was Georges and Fitch. Georges didn’t look as big as he has before and he seemed like he had gotten tired from the first round. Fitch had the game plan of countering Georges and you just can’t do that. You can’t counter a quicker fighter. To be honest, halfway in the third round I got up and walked out of the arena and went to my hotel. The fight wasn’t the most exciting and I wanted to get out of there before everyone else was getting up to leave.

I’m sure Hughes’ decision to walk out of GSP’s first successful title defense halfway through had everything to do with the quality of the fight and not his personal feelings about St. Pierre. Yes, the GSP-Fitch fight did win “Fight of the Night”, but hey, if you stay all the way until the end you’re going to have a hell of a time getting back to your hotel. You’re also going to have to hear the words, “…and still UFC welterweight champion” and know they aren’t talking about you. You can decide for yourself which of those two things played a greater role in Hughes’ decision to walk out.

Give ‘em a look while they last…

(St. Pierre vs. Fitch; props to MMA Linker)

(Lesnar vs. Herring; props to MixedMartialArtVideos)

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Brock Lesnar rides the “Texas Crazy Horse” en route to a decision victory.

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Lesnar celebrates with a Tito Ortiz-worthy routine.

(Props: MMA-Core)

(A little left hook action, courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

The main event at UFC 87 may have been a methodical, one-sided affair, but it was enough for Georges St. Pierre and Jon Fitch to each pocket an extra $60,000 for “Fight of the Night.” Fitch’s gritty performance in the loss apparently impressed both Dana White and GSP. The champion had this to say after the bout:

“I tried to finish him many times. I was like, my god what am I going to have to do to beat this guy? It was discouraging.”

Dana White was also impressed by Brock Lesnar’s performance in his decision victory over Heath Herring, though not enough to give him any bonus money (at least as far as the official record is concerned). He did give him this praise, though, and praise is almost as good as money (no it isn’t):

“I’m telling you I’m blown away by his performance tonight,” said White. “One of our guys said it looks like he’s hitting him with lunch boxes. The guy is a phenomenon. I’ll be honest, I didn’t think he could come in here with no fights and compete at this level, he proved me wrong.”

Lesnar was pretty pleased with himself, as well, asking no one in particular: “Can you see me now?” Rumor has it that he may face Cheick Kongo next. After his victory over Dan Evensen Kongo claimed that he deserves a title shot and “everybody knows” it. Sure we do. Anybody with an impressive one-fight winning streak is obviously deserving of a title shot.

Knockout of the Night honors went to Rob Emerson for his quick destruction of Manny Gamburyan, and Demian Maia picked up Submission of the Night for his rear naked choke of Jason MacDonald.

(Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

It’s time, baby. Jon Fitch attempts to steal Georges St. Pierre’s welterweight belt, Kenny Florian and Roger Huerta throw down in a lightweight #1 contender “definitely in the mix” match, and Brock Lesnar smash face. Hit that “more” link and refresh the page every few minutes to read all the latest from the Target Center in Minneapolis, MN. Low prices every day — caged death tonight.

(That’s not the face of a man you want to bet against, is it?)

You can learn a lot about life by gambling on sporting events over the internet. Mostly what you learn is that oddsmakers and bookies are smarter than you 90% of the time. The key is knowing that you know less than the oddsmakers and bookies and working around it (I think Socrates said that). Another thing you can learn is that some people actually bet on preseason football. Seriously. You might as well bury your life savings in the backyard and hope it grows into a money tree. At least that way you know where it is.

Fortunately for the off-shore gambling economy, UFC 87 is a stacked and somewhat unpredictable card, so the temptation to try and win some cash is almost irresistible. Our odds today come from Betus.com, and as always you should read Damon Durante’s MMA Betting for ‘Tards if you still don’t know how odds work.

Georges St. Pierre (-350) vs. Jon Fitch (+250)

It’s not exactly shocking to see GSP as the favorite, but the way people have been jumping on the Fitch bandwagon of late, claiming that he presents all kinds of new problems for the champ, I’m surprised the line isn’t a little closer. But there’s a reason it’s not. GSP is an incredible athlete who seems to be at the height of his powers, both mentally and physically. Fitch’s greatest strength is his wrestling, and you aren’t going to outwrestle GSP. Ask Josh Koscheck and Matt Hughes. You certainly aren’t going to finish him that way, and five rounds worth of trying for takedowns is going to leave you vulnerable to catching knee-in-the-face disease, which is known to be fatal to your title hopes.

A guy with Fitch’s natural ability always has a shot, but not one I’d want to bet on. If you do though, that’s cool. Maybe poverty will be good for you.

(Next big thing, or MMA’s Ryan Leaf?)

With a blockbuster UFC 87 lineup as our fodder, it’s time again for Cage Potato’s editors to argue like an old married couple that only got hitched because of an unexpected pregnancy. We don’t love each other and yet we don’t know enough to expect better from our lives, so here we are. In this edition we debate topics such as what’s to become of Brock Lesnar on Saturday night and beyond, who will be the number one lightweight contender when the dust finally settles, will Rampage Jackson be back in the UFC any time soon, and more. Let’s grimly get it on.

Will Brock Lesnar revive his MMA career with this fight, or will he officially be a bust once UFC 87 is in the books?

Fowlkes: Clearly the UFC isn’t interested in giving Brock Lesnar a lay-up to help jumpstart his MMA career, and you have to respect that. Heath Herring is tough and experienced and, had a couple things gone differently for him, he could easily be the top heavyweight contender right now instead of Frank Mir, who won all of two straight fights to achieve that distinction.

Lesnar is a physical specimen who is athletically gifted, this we know. But what else do we know about him? He hates airplanes and gays, prizes staying home, and is vulnerable to submissions. Basically, we don’t know what he’s really capable of as an MMA fighter. Strength won’t be enough against Herring (who will have spent the last couple months drilling his wrestling if he has any sense at all) and strength is about all we can count on from Lesnar at this point.

Herring is too crafty a veteran to get overwhelmed by pure power. He’s going to pick Lesnar apart on the feet and submit him late in the second or early in the third, and when he does you should turn up your TV so you can actually hear the air going out of Lesnar’s hype balloon. The UFC will give him a young up-and-comer next, just to see what he has left, but this is the point where he goes from a top prospect to another guy fighting for contract survival.

Goldstein: Yeah, Herring’s probably been drilling his wrestling. You know who else has been drilling his wrestling? Brock Lesnar. I wouldn’t be surprised if either fighter pulled a win out of this match, but there’s one thing that’s guaranteed: At some point, Herring will be taken down and put on his back. Seriously.

(Melvin Guillard shuts down Dennis Siver. Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

MMA Weekly has confirmed that UFC 90 (October 25th, Chicago) will feature a lightweight bout between Spencer Fisher and Melvin Guillard. Fisher (21-4, 6-3 UFC) is coming off a decision win against Jeremy Stephens at the TUF 7 finale in June, while Guillard (21-7-2, 4-3 UFC) is coming off a 36-second KO of Dennis Siver, which won him the “Knockout of the Night” bonus at last month’s UFC 86. Seems like a decent matchup, though Fisher’s coach Pat Miletich isn’t so pleased: “Spencer has no reason to fight that guy,” Miletich told MMA Weekly. “I don’t think Melvin’s earned the right to fight him yet. I think Spencer should be fighting somebody where he’s got something to gain.”

Also in the lightweight division at UFC 90, Sherdog reports that Hermes Franca (who has dropped his last two fights to Sean Sherk and Frank Edgar) will be facing Gleison Tibau (who has dropped his last two fights to Tyson Griffin and Joe Stevenson). It goes without saying that the loser of this match could find himself bounced out of the UFC. Tibau currently trains at American Top Team, and Hermes Franca — a former ATT member — considers him a friend.

MMA Weekly also lists a third high-profile lightweight bout — between Sean Sherk and Tyson Griffin — on its UFC 90 Rumors page. The event will feature the middleweight title fight between Anderson Silva and Patrick Cote, as well as a potential #1 welterweight contender match between Thiago Alves and Diego Sanchez.

In other UFC news…

— Wanderlei Silva will return to the Octagon in December against Unknown Fighter.

— Ever wonder why Luke Cummo looks so damn healthy and energetic? Partly the pee-drinking, mostly the pre-fight fasting.

— Brock Lesnar isn’t ruling out a return to pro wrestling.

— Dana White allows you into his world.