(‘Diaz vs. Daley’ video hype, via ESPN)

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…

- Gegard Mousasi Speaks About Upcoming Fight with Keith Jardine (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- 40 of the Greatest Dana White F-Bombs in the History of the UFC (MiddleEasy)

- From Heavyweight to Bantamweight: Seven Future UFC Champions (LowKick)

- Paul Daley: “I’m Not a Kiss-Ass, I’m Not Really a Company Guy” (5thRound)

- Mayhem Miller Moves Past Nick Diaz Feud, Vows to ‘Beat the Brakes Off’ UFC Middleweights (MMA Fighting)

- The Tragedy of the Murder of Sergio Salcido (MMA Convert)

- Fabricio Werdum Eyeing UFC Title-Shot After Strikeforce Grand Prix (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Georges St. Pierre Pretty Damn Confident He’s Going to Beat Jake Shields (MMA-Scraps)

- ‘TUF’ Talk: How Important is Lesnar’s Stint on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’? (Versus MMA Beat)

- MMA Rankings: Alvarez & Wilcox Stay Put At Lightweight (Fight Magazine)

(Three seasons later, the ‘Innerme‘ still looms large…)

With a big-name crossover star like Brock Lesnar as one of the coaches for this season of The Ultimate Fighter, we wondered if TUF 13‘s viewership ratings would land anywhere near TUF 10‘s — the heavyweight season featuring Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans as coaches and Kimbo Slice as one of the heavyweight hopefuls. According to the numbers released by Spike, TUF 13‘s premiere ratings couldn’t hold a candle to Kimbo.

Wednesday’s show attracted an average of 1.5 million viewers and a 1.0 household rating, and earned the highest viewership numbers for men 18-34 and 18-49 in its new 9 p.m. time slot, with ratings of 1.93 and 1.51, respectively. Still, that’s a far cry from the 4.1 million average viewers that TUF 10 earned in its premiere. It’s also a slight decline from last season’s Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck premiere, which attracted 1.6 million viewers — which was itself a decline from the 1.9 million viewers brought in by the TUF 11: Liddell vs. Ortiz premiere. In fact, the TUF 13 premiere was the least successful debut episode in series history, in terms of household rating.

Responding to the news, UFC president Dana White was in full-on hater-hurtin’ mode, posting the following on the UG: “SINCE WHEN IS 1.5 MILLIONS VIEWERS BAD? People have been saying it is dead since season 4. Sit back and watch bitches or don’t. TUF isnt going anywhere!!!! deal with it.“ Fair enough. But the downward trend can’t be ignored. So what went wrong?

(Pic: Flickr)

By 420fighteXXXpert69, Freelance Contributor

As the world’s foremost authority on mixed martial arts, 420fighteXXXpert69 has been trolling comment sections and lurking chat rooms since dropping out of high school back in 2005. After earning his GED, he’s now pretty sure he owns the most impressive collection of MMA T-shirts at his online community college. Seriously, ask him fucking anything, you fucking noobs …

What’s up, fags?!?! Welcome to another cacophony of fistic entertainment known to you fuckin’ cock gobblers as “Ask the Internet Comment Section Fight Expert.” Once again I’d like to thank CagePotato.com for letting me write this shit (Except for the edits! Fuck those!) and for paying me only in free MMA schwag. Except last week when they mailed me a fucking book! I did not read that shit … because I don’t suddenly want to start feeling hungry for dicks!!!

All eight of my Twitter followers have been straight BLOWIN ME UP this week with questions about everything UFC, so I better drop a knowledge bomb on your fucking lardasses before you get your panties in a wad and start a flame war YOU ARE NOT PREPARED TO FINISH! Remember, if you have a question for future articles hit me up on Twitter, cuz my cell phone is shut off right now (Fuck you, Verizon!). Or you can call the house, but you have to speak slow cuz my grandmother is part Korean. OK, let’s see what you morons want to know this week …

(Coaching gaffes aside, the green jersey really brings out his eyes. Pic: TheMMANews)

At least one thing was abundantly clear Wednesday night about the debut episode of “The Ultimate Fighter,” season 13: Brock Lesnar has obviously never seen this show before. Forget for a minute all the silly squabbling over the former heavyweight champ’s credentials as a coach and whether or not his inclusion on the UFC’s popular reality show will be good for ratings and/or the sport. The real question this morning is whether or not Lesnar even owns a television, because the dude played the “TUF 13” season premiere like a straight-up rookie. Things snowballed so quickly and decisively in the favor of Team Dos Santos, that by the end of the first 60 minutes we had to wonder if this season will be another one-sided ass-kicking on the order of those handed out by Team GSP on “TUF 12” and Team Rashad on “TUF 10.”

We don’t want to totally bury Team Lesnar this early on because – let’s face it – a lot can happen between now and the end of the season, especially since producers appear to have done an uncharacteristically good job making the actual cast of “TUF 13” look evenly matched. There are only two dudes on board we’ve ever heard of before – Shamar Bailey and Ryan McGillivray, both snapped up quick-fast by Team JDS – so maybe Brock’s picks will surprise us. Still, we couldn’t help but notice that Lesnar didn’t exactly pin episode one to the mat and give it a Heath Herring-style beatdown. Here are the multiple ways Coach Brock screwed things up …

(Brock and the Burn Machine: Like a Shakeweight for straight dudes. Props: ZombieProphet)

The Ultimate Fighter: Team Lesnar vs. Team Dos Santos premiered last night, and whatever the opposite of fireworks is, that’s what episode 1 delivered. We begin with a video montage introducing the coaches. Brock Lesnar announces that he ain’t here to make friends during the first minute. Check that off your reality show cliche scorecard. (In an unrelated story, Junior Dos Santos later refers to himself as “a sleepy bitch.”)

The fighters come in howling like they just got selected for a spot on Mr. Awesome. They’re told that there will be no elimination fight to get into the house, which gets them even more psyched. Brock and Junior enter the room to a rousing ovation. The guys applaud Brock’s list of credentials. Dana says that Junior “stepped aside from that title shot to come in here and teach you guys what he’s got.” Obviously, they’re not going to mention Cain Velasquez’s injury and how Junior really felt about his title shot getting delayed.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/ESPN)

Brock Lesnar has been on a whirlwind media tour this week in advance of tonight’s premiere episode of The Ultimate Fighter Season 13 and one difference that is noticeable in the former UFC heavyweight champion is that he seems to be a lot less grumpy than usual. Either Dana White had a talk with him to ensure that there wouldn’t be any more “screw Bud Light” moments during the press junket or the TUF 13 coach has lightened up a bit. Either way, Brock actually comes off as funny and likeable in these clips.

Check out Lesnar scaring the shit out of Colin Cowherd and making Jim Norton squeal like a pig after the jump.

(Props: sxboxer)

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…

- Chael Sonnen’s Court Sentencing Postponed, Further Delaying UFC Return (MMA Fighting)

- UFC Fight Night 24 Results: 10 Best Moments From Nogueira vs. Davis Fight Card (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- Brock Lesnar on ‘SportsCenter’: Look Out Junior, Here I Come (5thRound)

- Watch Every Fedor Emelianenko Action Scene From ‘The Salamander Key’ (MiddleEasy)

- Michael Bisping Labels Nate Marquardt as a “Steroid Cheat” and “Absolute Hypocrite” (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Submissions in the UFC: A Fond Look Back (MMA Convert)

- Mirko Cro Cop: A Career Retrospective (LowKick)

- Roufusport Voted America’s Top MMA Gym (Versus MMA Beat)

- Hector Lombard Scalps Joe Doerksen To Retain Title Belt at CFC 16 (Fight Magazine)

- Junior Dos Santos has Rock Climbing Skills (MMA-Scraps)

(Props: ironforgesiron.com)

Not only did Brock Lesnar avoid dropping The Other F-Bomb during yesterday’s appearance on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, the former UFC heavyweight champion actually managed to come off as a fairly charming dude. Watch as Lesnar runs through his life story, explains his chest-tattoo and The Ultimate Fighter series, and — as is expected when you have a huge MMA fighter do a TV spot with a pencil-necked geek — chokes Jimmy out to end the segment. The book is called Death Clutch, and TUF 13 premieres tomorrow night on Spike.

After the jump: Lesnar does a longer and more serious interview with Ariel Helwani, in which he discusses his Ultimate Fighter coaching gig, gives his thoughts on Junior Dos Santos, and tries to make sense of his loss to Cain Velasquez.

(He never would’ve agreed to this if he knew it required putting on a shirt. Pic: Headblitz.com)

Just a programming reminder: New UFC light heavyweight champion and recently appointed king shit of fuck mountain Jon Jones will appear on “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno this evening. It should be a good opportunity for the UFC to finally introduce Jones to the coveted grandparents demographic while simultaneously drawing a few eyeballs under the age of 60 to Leno’s show. In other words, a real mutual back-scratching situation if there ever was one. We can’t wait to get a long, rambling voicemail from our grandma on Friday morning explaining that “that black fellow who fights UFC really did seem like a nice young man.” God, our grandma is such a racist.

Not to be outdone – and, ahem, speaking of racists. Ha! Just joking, big fella … – Brock Lesnar will emerge from the sensory deprivation chamber that was filming the new season of “The Ultimate Fighter” to go on “Late Night” with Jimmy Fallon on Monday, according to UFC.com. So that should be awkward. Plucky little Jimmy Fallon wearing one of his “Mad Men” suits and just trying to coast through the interview portion of the show to get to the prerecorded skits, while enormous (and whatever the opposite of “plucky”is) Brock Lesnar sits there in one of his stone-washed “DeathClutch” dress shirts grunting monosyllabic answers. Meanwhile, Dana White huddles at home with his eyes pinched shut mumbling, “Don’t say faggot on national TV, don’t say faggot on national TV” over and over.

Other guests on Fallon’s show that night? The dude who played Ross on “Friends” and funk legends Vanilla Fudge (Carmine Appice FTW!). Some other weird things we noticed after the jump …

(Update: Damn autoplay. Check out the video after the jump.)

“I just suffered a huge loss. That’s fighting. That’s the name of the game. That’s the world. As the world turns, people win, people lose, you get your ass back on the saddle and ride into town again…[Dos Santos] is in my way, and that’s the only thing I give a shit about. He’s in my way to get my title back. I was, and I will be again, the UFC heavyweight champion of the world. [Sarah Palin-esque wink/click]”

So says TUF 13 coach Brock Lesnar in his first video promo for The Ultimate Fighter: Team Lesnar vs. Team Dos Santos, which premieres Wednesday, March 30th, at 9 p.m./8c. We’re curious to see how the moody, insular former heavyweight champ handles a room full of screaming welterweights. Along with his solid team of assistant coaches, will Brock be able to inspire the up-and-coming fighters to be successful? Or are we looking at another heel-coach in the vein of Koscheck and Rampage?

(UFC ring girl Arianny Celeste is matched up against former WWE diva Stacy Keibler in the first round of Esquire’s Sexiest Woman Alive 2011 tournament. As much as we love Arianny, we gotta go with our heart on this one…)

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…

- Almost Heaven: West Virginia Legalizes MMA (MMA-Scraps)

- UFC 128 Rumor: 50 Cent to Accompany Jon Jones to Cage vs. Shogun Rua (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- How Zuffa’s Purchase of Strikeforce is Not a Monopoly (MMA Convert)

- Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva: I’d Love to Send Brock Lesnar Back to Pro Wrestling (LowKick)

- Mark Pavelich Fires a Verbal Bazooka to all Other Canadian MMA Organizations (MiddleEasy)

- Zuffa-Strikeforce Deal Could Mean Uncertain Future for Women’s MMA (MMA Fighting)

- Video: Georges St-Pierre Graces Cover of Men’s Health (Versus MMA Beat)

- Undefeated Sambo Champion Blagoi Ivanoc Signs With Bellator (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Alistair Overeem Discusses UFC’s Purchase of Strikeforce (5thRound)

- Why Zuffa Purchased Strikeforce and What It Means (FightMagazine)

Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic has never been a fighter who holds his tongue when he disagrees with something even if his choice of words might land him in hot water.

The live video chat he did with the Croation sports news website Gol.hr last night was no exception.

During the hour-long segment on the episode of F2F Sport, Mirko touched on a number of topics including his upcoming UFC 128 bout with Brendan Schaub, the possibility of retirement, his thoughts on Dana White and the rampant use of performance enhancing drugs in MMA.

Check out what he had to say after the jump.

(UFC 3′s Emmanuel Yarborough and Miley Cyrus: They may seem like a strange pairing at first, but then you spend some time with them together and you’re like “okay, I totally get it now.”)

By Matthew “The Fight Nerd” Kaplowitz

Japan has brought us so many great imports, be it giant robots, cartoons about ninja children dressed in bright colors (which sort of defeats the purpose of being a stealthy ninja), tentacle rape, and Pocky. Truly, their greatest offering to America has been the freak show fight. As we discussed last time, Japan was the country that legitimized the art of pitting two mismatched opponents in a ring and convincing us that this was the greatest thing since Steven Seagal invented the front kick.

If there’s one thing we Americans don’t like, it’s being shown up by a foreign land. So it was just a matter of time before an American promoter stood up and said, “You know what? I want to see a man that weighs a quarter of a ton fight a dwarf!” And that was how our first freak show fight was born. Well, not really, since we have better athletic commissions in America, but after reading this list of the “Top Ten American Freak Show Fights That Were Actually Good,” you might think otherwise. Let’s get it on!

10. Tim Sylvia vs. Wes Sims
Superbrawl 38, 12/12/04


In a rare battle between two giants, 6’ 8” Tim Sylvia stood almost eye to eye with Wes Sims, who had a two-inch height advantage over “The Maine-iac”.  Sylvia had fought another tall man, Gan McGee, the previous year at UFC 44, but this fight is far more entertaining. You would probably expect an evenly contested bout between these two, due to the height and their similarly aggressive tactics (both guys even used the same song for their entrance, go figure). For some reason that will never be known, Sims decided that he was the smaller man in this fight and would fight accordingly.

(Vid: YouTube/OfficialJonFitch)

In the final days leading up to UFC 127, a fair amount is being written (much of it by the fighter himself) about Jon Fitch’s new, surprisingly not-that-disgusting-sounding vegan diet. About a month ago, Fitch posted the above video to his official YouTube channel showing him pouring hemp milk and raw agave into his oatmeal, casually mentioning that sometimes he “opens up a coconut” to drink with lunch and that he only eats nuts when they’re “raw and organic.” Insert your own joke about that last part. For a fairly standard “fighter blog” the vid actually has some pretty high production values – dig that scene at 2:19 of Fitch opening the cupboard … shot from inside the cupboard. Also, judging by the easy tenor of Fitch’s voiceover narration (and the soft guitar soundtrack), we’d wager there are a couple of Bright Eyes CDs kicking around somewhere in the guy’s condo.

“I like my oatmeal lumpy,” Fitch says at one point, apparently without irony. Meanwhile, every other 32-year-old man in America snickered and then said, “Hey fat girl, c’mere, are you ticklish?”

Predictably, in an MMA subculture that seems by turns very accepting and/or totally intolerant of quirky lifestyle choices, some eyebrows were raised. Fitch responded by penning a further explanation of his diet as part of the pre-UFC 127 “Fight Journal” he wrote for MMA Fighting.com. Sure, choosing to minimize your “meat intake to at least five percent or less of your overall calories” doesn’t sound like it’s for everybody but if that’s what Fitch wants to do, no harm done, right? Well, maybe not. As Kenny Florian told SBNation this week, there are some concerns that the diet may have cost Fitch some of his natural size advantage over BJ Penn this weekend. Check it out, then let the rampant speculation begin:

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

Dana White’s latest UFC video blog is out, and it reveals the following:

- Somebody (not saying who) has already punched a hole into one of the walls on the TUF 13 set. Junior Dos Santos predicts Michael Bisping will defeat Jorge Rivera at UFC 127, and Jon Fitch will beat BJ Penn by decision. No surprises there.

- Brock Lesnar picks Jorge Rivera via ground-and-pound, but agrees that Jon Fitch will win by decision. (“Gotta stick with the wrassler,” he says.) Dana White sitting next to Brock Lesnar on a couch looks like a little bald child sitting next his big mean dad.

- Anthony Kiedis, my God. I’d like to take a time machine back to 1990 and confront a “Knock Me Down”-era Kiedis with footage that this is how he will look and carry himself when he’s 48 years old. Just the idea that he would be alive that long would probably freak him out, but one look at that mustache/pony-tail combo would send him into a tailspin of drug use and depression, possibly ending in suicide. Then, I would replace him as lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers just in time for the band’s greatest period of commercial success. And that’s what I would do if I had a time machine.

(“I don’t like ‘queer street’. Write that down in your little notebook.”)

In the aftermath of Fedor Emelianenko‘s upset loss to Antonio Silva last weekend — four months after Brock Lesnar was roughly stripped of his UFC title by Cain Velasquez — MMA’s global heavyweight picture is in a state of flux. So, we figured it was a good time to launch a new rankings feature on CagePotato. Every week, Ben, Mike and Chad will try to justify their top five rankings for each weight division, and we’re kicking things off with the big boys. Check out our thoughts below, and let us know how you see MMA’s current heavyweight top five…

Ben Goldstein
1. Cain Velasquez: I think we can all agree he’s the top dog right now. In one fight, Brock Lesnar’s reputation went from “toughest S.O.B. on the planet” to “man-baby who goes fetal at the first sign of pressure.” You can blame/thank Cain for that. Aside from getting wobbled a couple times by Cheick Kongo, he’s cruised through all nine of his career fights with no difficulty whatsoever.

2. Junior Dos Santos: A future champion who has put together one of the most impressive contendership runs in UFC history. I think he’ll be able to add Lesnar to his list of scalps in June. And then…?

3. Brock Lesnar: With such a massive psychological hole in his game and just a 5-2 overall record, it’s weird calling Brock the third greatest heavyweight in the world. I’m not sure I agree with myself here. But until Werdum and Overeem face off in April, neither of those guys deserves to be called top three either.

(Would James Toney have bothered to try MMA and would Dana have signed the aging boxer if this happened?)

In an effort to mix things up around here and to give you something more to do on Fridays than hide from your boss and play solitaire, we’re going to start running a weekly “What if…” Photoshop feature series to make you contemplate a bit.  The theme is simple: What could the results have been if facets of the history of the sport happened differently than they did.

If you have an idea or a ‘shop you want to submit to be featured on Friday, send it to contest@cagepotato.com.

Check out more ‘What Ifs” after the jump.

(Midwest snow storm, you just got served. Props: twitter.com/hypeordie)

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…

– Unorthodox Ways Front and Center for Jon Jones (Versus MMA Beat)

- After Losing $3.2 Million Lawsuit, Another Former Employee Sues TapouT (MMA Convert)

– Why Vitor Belfort is Fighting Anderson Silva for the UFC Middleweight Title this Weekend (LowKick)

– Four Fight Main Card Official for Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Hendo (FightMagazine)

– The Japanese Comic Book Version of Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez Is Far Cooler Than the Real Thing (MiddleEasy)

– Bellator Finalizes Featherweight Tournament Field With Addition of 19-0 Newcomer Malegariet (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Sengoku 17 Postponed in Response to Media Negativity (MMA Fighting)

– Outside the Ring: Fedor Emelianenko (MMA-Scraps)

– Boredom Overcomes American Kickboxing Academy (5thRound)

– Strikeforce Champion Nick Diaz Talks Contenders Daley, Woodley (SBNation.com/MMA)

 
("Has anyone ever told you that you look like a skinny Brock Lesnar?")

Either his Viking beard made him seem a bit bigger than he was or former UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar has lost a few pounds since losing his belt to Cain Velasquez at UFC 121 in October. Keep in mind that Brock weighed in at 264 pounds for that fight and Belfort has to make 185 by Saturday for his middleweight championship bout with Anderson Silva. There doesn’t seem to be a 79-pound difference between them.

Let’s hope it’s because Brock is skinny and not because Vitor is still well above his normal pre-cut weight. The photo was taken on Friday, meaning "The Phenom" *should* have been somewhere between 205-215 pounds.

Having had weight issues on more than one occasion in the past, forcing promotions to allow his fights to be contested at catch weights, it would be a shame to see Belfort pull a Paulo Filho and make the bout a non-title affair, especially if he were to beat Silva.

(Props: Photobucket)

Dude. We almost don’t know what to say. Former “TUF 10” contestant and UFC washout Justin Wren apparently went on a “hunting trip” of sorts recently wherein he ripped out the heart of a wild pig with his bare hands (and a smallish knife) and feasted on it, then took a bunch of pictures of himself covered in the pig’s blood, *then* wrote a post on The Underground Forum basically calling Brock Lesnar a pussy and a “yuppy viking” for growing a shitty beard and killing deer with (of all things) a rifle. I mean, good God, what the fuck?

A 30-second look at Wren’s personal internet photo stream and/or his new website tells us he’s not kidding around about this Viking shit. There’s a picture of him on there in a helmet and animal pelts, carrying a warhammer and a battle axe and (possibly) wearing white jeans. White jeans, dude. Anyway, after the jump you can read Wren’s first-person account of slaying the pig. We have to warn you that it includes phrases like “waterfall of steaming hot blood” and “seeing it’s beating heart (and) stabbing it” so, you know, do so at your own risk.

(Now smile and tell everyone I’m the TUF coach and that it was an easy decision to make.)

By Cage Potato contributor Jason Moles

The second Dana White announced that Brock Lesnar would be taking the reins of one of next season’s The Ultimate Fighter teams, it seems that everyone with a keyboard immediately began furiously typing out their manifestos explaining why, in their "professional opinion" the  former UFC heavyweight champ will suck as a coach.

Well, not everyone agrees with the popular assertion that the ironically seemingly reluctant UFC star who owned the camera while cashing paychecks from the WWE will sink the TUF ship.

We may not necessarily agree with White’s opinion that anyone who thinks it’s possible that Brock might not deliver as a coach is basically a stupid f*cking idiot, as he so eloquently inferred MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani was for asking about the plausibility during a press conference last week, but we are part of the minority who think it may not be so bad.

Check out contributor Jason Moles’ breakdown of why Brock will do TUF some good after the jump.

(Sable is furiously taking notes. Props: ESPN the Magazinee)

In a related story, Cain Velasquez had shoulder surgery yesterday to repair the torn rotator cuff that he sustained in his fight against Brock Lesnar at UFC 121 in October. (Junior Dos Santos remains skeptical.) The surgery was a success, and Velasquez will be ready to return to action in 6-8 months.

("Puleeaaze…You mean the dweeb in the alligator shirt? Yeah, I’ll fight him next.")

UFC.com inadvertently stole Dana White’s thunder this afternoon by announcing that Junior Dos Santos and Brock Lesnar will be the coaches on next season of The Ultimate Fighter before the UFC president could make the announcement during Tuesday’s conference call for the January 22 Fight for the Troops event.

White shot down media members during the Q&A who asked if he would name the TUF 13 team heads, explaining more than once that he would be announcing who the coaches would be at the end of the call, but was upstaged by his company’s website who posted the press release 15 minutes before he could break the news.

According to the release, the pair of heavyweights will meet at the end of the season and the winner will face champion Cain Velasquez when he returns from a shoulder injury in an estimated six months.

White, who admitted during the call that he had lied to reporters when he told them that he had not spoken to Lesnar since his loss to Cain Velasquez at UFC 121 in October also quashed rumors that the bout will be for the interim heavyweight title.

The full release is after the jump.

("Blackhouse Brazilian Iced Tea? Those foolish MMA fans will buy anything.")

While on Larry Pepe’s Pro MMA Radio show yesterday, Yahoo! Sports MMA writer Kevin Iole threw out a crumb likely fed to him by Dana White that Junior Dos Santos will not sit around waiting for UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez to heal from his torn rotator cuff, but will instead face a yet-to-be-named opponent for the UFC’s popular interim heavyweight strap.

"[Dos Santos] is going to fight for an interim title. They just have to find a contender to fight him. So for that one, I don’t think he should have to wait because he was going to fight for a championship. The UFC will declare the winner of Dos Santos versus "X" the interim champion, so it is his championship fight. He will go down in history if he wins that fight; even if he loses subsequently to Cain on the way back, he’ll be known as a former UFC heavyweight champion, just like Frank Mir’s second reign," Iole explained. "When Shane Carwin beat Mir he became the interim champion, so there were guys that even though the belt was out, they were still recognized as a champion. I think that situation is very simple. Dos Santos should fight, he will fight, they’ll find a heavyweight contender he’ll fight for the interim championship while Cain heals and that will be that. Just like [the runner up in the] Miss America [pageant], he’ll assume the duties [of the champion] while the champion is healing."

(Somehow we see this tournament going down before Strikeforce’s HW GP.)

With the current buzz surrounding the recently announced Strikeforce 2011 heavyweight grand prix, we figured we’d take a look at what kind of tournament the UFC could put on if they were so inclined.

Contrary to popular opinion, the calibre of the UFC’s HW GP would be just as good, if not better than Strikeforce’s. The only noticeable difference is that there really wouldn’t be any mismatches in Zuffa’s heavyweightpalooza.

Even if Joe Silva decided not to put the matches together that we hypothesized in order to save some of the more anticipated pairings for the sem-final and final rounds, shuffling the card around would not cause a great disparity in the calibre of opponents.

(Nogueira takes ice baths to quell hip pain and to treat his hypergonadism.)

Many fans of Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira were disappointed by the spotty showing of former PRIDE star when he made the transition to the UFC. Some hypothesized that he was slower as a result of the accumulative damage the scores of punches and kicks his head has absorbed over the years, while others assumed he had lost a step due to age.

According to Nogueira, who by the way is only 34, the reason he hasn’t performed to the potential he demonstrated in Japan is that he has been secretly battling a pair of nagging injuries for the past four years. 

 “This is an injury I have had for about four years. For the past two years it has been bothering me a lot. I have been training for all the last fights I had, and it was very painful. My last 3 fights were very painful. To tell you the truth, when I was training in 2005, I felt it a little bit in my hip but it wasn’t that much. 2006 it hurt me. When I trained for the Couture fight it hurt me so bad, then this year it was impossible for training," Nogueira explained during a recent interview with SanDiegoMMA.net. "After Anderson Silva’s fight when he fought Chael [Sonnen], I was there in the group and from there I had training the next day and I couldn’t walk, so I went to Colorado [to see a doctor]. My physical trainer told me [the doctor in Colorado] was the best hip doctor in the world, Dr. Philippon. He took a look at me and said ‘you can’t fight. You are 40% on your performance.’”

(And the first nomination for 2011′s Corey Hill Award is… / Photo courtesy of the DREAM Dynamite!! Photo Gallery on FightMagazine.com)

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…

– Five Lessons: UFC 125 (Versus MMA Beat)

– Antonio McKee: Loss in UFC Debut Was a ‘Humbling Experience’ (MMA Fighting)

– UFC 125 Aftermath: Clay Guida’s Enthusiasm For Fighting Is A Draw For New MMA Fans (SBNation.com/MMA)

– 11 Fighters The UFC Should Sign In 2011 (Heavy.com/MMA)

– Video: Hatsu Hioki vs. Marlon Sandro Featherweight Title Fight From Sengoku ‘Soul of Fight’ (MMA Scraps)

– Watch Dana White Give Snoop Dogg $20,000 in Unmarked Bills (MiddleEasy)

– UFC 126: Silva vs Belfort Official Trailer (LowKick)

– Miesha Tate Targeting March 5 in Ohio for Welterweight Title-Shot (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Brock Lesnar Wants You to Read His New Book (MMA Convert)

(Video courtesy YouTube/UFCGaming)

Besides his prepared impromptu interview with HDNet’s Mike Straka hours after his suspension appeal with the California State Athletic Commission, Chael Sonnen has been uncharacteristically quiet about the ordeal.

During Thursday’s episode of MMA Live, Chael was asked for a synopsis of his thoughts on the hearing and his reduced suspension and in true Sonnen form, his answers didn’t disappoint.

"Rules are rules and they have to be followed. A government agency, which is the commission, has to be transparent, clear and decisive. They said that I didn’t disclose. I proved three different ways that I did. I had an email command, I disclosed it directly to the executive director [of CSAC] and we wrote it down on a form that was signed and dated with the head of the testing agency," Sonnen explained. "We proved all of these things, but we were still told that we didn’t disclose. I don’t know what dictionary they consult to get a definition of the word, ‘disclosure,’ but according to the ones that I read at the University of Oregon, that’s disclosure."

(That shouldn’t be a problem, Todd. Photo courtesy of MMAFighting)

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…

- Helwani VS Dundas: UFC 125 Edition (Versus MMA Beat)

- Our Top UFC Photos of 2010 (MMA Fighting)

- Tim Sylvia replacing Todd Duffee at Titan Fighting Championships 16 (Five Ounces of Pain)

- The Best of Japanese MMA in 2010 (MMA Scraps)

- Brock Lesnar Looking For A Way Out Of MMA And Back To Pro-Wrestling? (SBNation.com/MMA)

- Sean McCorkle Returns Against Christian Morecraft at Fight Night 24 (Heavy.com/MMA)

- Pat Miletich Has Sold His Miletich Fighting Systems Gym (MiddleEasy)

- Exclusive Interview: Daniel Gracie talks Bellator, Georges St. Pierre and Frankie Edgar (LowKick)

- Dana White’s UFC 125 Video Blog, Part 1 (MMA Convert)

- Behind the Lens: Rich Franklin (FightMagazine)

(Winner gets Hammer’s gold pants.)

It looks like the rumors that Frank Mir will coach opposite Brock Lesnar on next season of The Ultimate Fighter gained some momentum today with news that the planned bout between Mir and heavyweight prospect Brendan Schaub has been scrapped.

According to Sportsnet’s Joe Ferraro, sources indicated today that Schaub will likely face fellow Alchemist Management repped fighter Stefan Struve on the UFC’s third "Live on Versus" card on March 3 which will feature a main event welterweight tilt between Martin Kampmann and Diego Sanchez. The change in opponents without any mention by Mir of an injury coupled with his re-tweet of the message below, proclaiming the two former UFC heavyweight champions as opposing coaches does little to disprove the assumption.