(…and don’t even get him started on Britney Spears.)

UFC heavyweight contender Shane Carwin, typically one of Brock Lesnar’s harshest critics, has taken to the internet to defend the champ and shame the fans who doubt that his illness is real.  In a message posted to the UG forum, Carwin says that you don’t have to like Lesnar and his “antics,” but says fans “should have respect for the human side of what is happening here.”  In addition to offering his condolences and prayers for Lesnar’s full recovery, Carwin also made it very clear that he doesn’t want Lesnar to be stripped of the title just because he’s too sick to defend it: 

Talk of stripping a man of his title due to illness will set this sport back farther then anything Brock has ever said. We need our Champions healthy and defending. I know the show will go on but to be a Champion you must beat a Champion.

In other words, Carwin’s record as the classiest son of a bitch in all of MMA remains unblemished.  Obviously, he’s right.  As much as some of us might want to see Carwin put his enormous fist through Lesnar’s face, it’s far more important to see Lesnar get healthy.  He may not be the nicest or the most compassionate guy in the world, but he’s still a human being.   A gigantic, ill-tempered human being, who we all hope makes a quick and complete recovery.

("…so I said, ‘Incurable disease? My God, what’s the *good* news?’ And the doctor says, ‘We’re going to name it after you.’")

From the Associated Press:

The Brock Lesnar illness saga seems to get more severe every time Dana White discusses it.  This weekend the UFC president categorized it as "very serious," but not life-threatening.  According to new quotes from DW on TMZ.com today, it’s serious enough that Lesnar’s career could possibly be in jeopardy.  White apparently told TMZ that Lesnar has been hospitalized ever since he collapsed during what was supposed to be a relaxing trip to Canada last week, and he may now need "major surgery" to deal with an intestinal disorder.  Again White ruled out cancer and HIV while saying that he couldn’t get specific about the problem, but any time you’re so sick that people will only say what diseases you don’t have, it’s not encouraging.  As far as his future in the Octagon, White said, "There’s a possibility Lesnar will never fight again."

The TMZ report stands in contrast to one on MMA Weekly, which quotes a source within Lesnar’s camp that downplays that severity of the illness, referring to it as, "just some complications with his illness and he had to be hospitalized for antibiotics."  

We hope that characterization is more accurate.  At the moment, the only thing that seems to be clear is that Lesnar is sick.  How sick, and for how long, is still in question.  Just the same, thoughts, prayers, whatever it is that you do, now might be a good time for it.  Feel better, big guy.

(This is why you always wash your hands after handling Maxim photo shoot props. For all you know, Fergie might have touched them before you.)

If the strongest among us aren’t safe from disease, there can be little hope for the rest of us mere mortals.  According to Dana White, Brock Lesnar is “not going to be fighting for a while” because his condition has worsened of late and doctors “don’t really know all that’s wrong with him.”  Though DW said his condition wasn’t life-threatening, he added that Lesnar did have some other health issue in addition to mono, but declined to say exactly what it was, calling it “very serious.”  Sounds like he wasn’t faking sick, after all.

Even giants get ill sometimes, so it shouldn’t be so frightening to hear that Lesnar is laid low, right?  Normally, perhaps.  But this comes near the end of an illness and injury-riddled year for the UFC, and things only seem to be getting worse.  Former champ Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is also going through some rough times, and a resurgent staph infection has forced him to pull out of UFC 108 and will likely result in him being hospitalized.  On its own, it might only be a personal struggle for Big Nog.  But in light of Lesnar’s illness and other current trends, it is surely a harbinger of doom. 

Okay, maybe some explanation is in order…

(You can blame Kurt Angle for this one.)

From a post on shane-carwin.com titled "UFC 108 Not Happening For Me":

Heavy.com confirms that Lesnar has been struck down by what teenagers refer to as "the kissing disease," and not the flu as originally reported. There’s currently no timeframe on when Brock will be healthy enough to return to competition.

Unfortunately, this means UFC 108 is currently being headlined by Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva. But there is hope: To shore up the January 2nd card, a heavyweight clash between Cain Velasquez and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira may be in the works — which would surely determine who’s next in line for a title shot after Shane finally gets his turn.

After nearly 1,000 of you cared enough to cast votes in our Halloween Costume Contest, we are thrilled to announce our winners. Thanks to everyone who entered; no thanks to everyone who didn’t enter, but still felt the need to crap all over the finalists. Now then…

1st place: Cody V., who blew away the competition with 31% of the vote, thanks to his Fedor-o-Lantern (shown above). Cody gets a $100 gift card from MMA Warehouse for his brilliant efforts.

2nd place: Zach L., who took in 20% of the vote with his beefed-up Brock Lesnar costume. Zach earns a $50 gift card from MMA Warehouse, and may even get on top of his wife tonight.

3rd place: Jeremy H., who also took in 20% of the vote for dressing up as UFC Hall-of-Famer Billy Mays; he gets a $25 card from MMA Warehouse. The official count taken this morning had Zach at 195 votes and Jeremy at 193 votes. Thank God Jeremy didn’t go as Al Franken, or else we’d be re-counting votes for the next six months.

If your name has been called, please e-mail feedback@cagepotato.com with your address, and we’ll get your prize out to you ASAP. Mega-props to MMAWarehouse.com for making this all possible!

(The most compelling reason yet to keep your daughters out of the porn industry.)

By now you have finally begun to recover from the shock and trauma of seeing War Machine get his ass literally waxed in anticipation of his porn debut and you’ve gotten to the point where you’re beginning to ask some questions as part of the healing process.  Chances are you’re wondering things like, Is he actually getting paid for this? What safeguards are in place to ensure that he does not accidentally breed?  Does this mean War Machine already has or will soon develop a cocaine problem?

According to a recent interview, he’s not only totally serious about transitioning to an actual career in the field of fornicating on camera, he wants to be the very best on-camera fornicator, even if it means taking a step back from MMA:

My priority right now is to make good money and feed the War Machine. I’ve been fighting for seven years and MMA, I make a living but I don’t make enough money to save. I’m never going to be able to have enough to buy a house or buy a cool car. Right now, my main priority is making money. I want to do my best in the porn industry and I want to try to be one of the top, top porn guys, you know what I mean? So right now, porn is more important than MMA at the moment. I love to fight and I’m always going to fight, regardless of what happens.

(Might as well face it, she’s addicted to blood. Photo courtesy of twitter.com/ariannyceleste)

Now that our post-Halloween hangovers have almost completely subsided, it’s time to present the finalists for our MMA costume contest. Take a look at the best submissions after the jump, and please select your favorite costume via the poll on the right. Remember: $175 in MMA Warehouse gift cards are on the line, so vote thoughtfully.

("I gotta be honest, guys, I’m on so much NyQuil right now that I can’t tell which one of you is Logan and which one is Natasha.")

From a blog post published yesterday afternoon on Shane-Carwin.com:

Here’s a situation that should serve as a microcosm of the MMA world for you: on Monday Brock Lesnar pulls out of his heavyweight title fight with Shane Carwin at UFC 106, citing a severe illness that Dana White is somehow certain is not the dreaded H1N1 virus.  Just two days later, the same guy who broke the Lesnar story is suggesting that he may be faking it, pointing to Lesnar’s appearance at a Vikings-Ravens game on October 18 and a conversation with White who said Lesnar didn’t sound ill when they spoke.  According to a mailbag response from Kevin Iole:

White further said Lesnar told him he is not sure if he could fight in January. I asked if Lesnar sounded ill when they spoke and he said no. White said he had breakfast with Lesnar in Las Vegas about a month ago and said Lesnar told him at that time he wanted to fight frequently. Something doesn’t add up here and this bears further watching.

(Good job, Brock, now the whole stadium’s sick. Photo courtesy of Vikings.com via MMA Mania.)

Look, we’re all disappointed that Brock Lesnar isn’t fighting Shane Carwin next month. But it’s not like he’s battling a case of the sniffles here. Reports coming out of the Lesnar camp suggest the withdrawal was sadly necessary. First, Chris Tuchscherer (from the Las Vegas Sun via Cagewriter):

Well, this is terrible news.  According to Yahoo! Sports, Brock Lesnar has pulled out of his heavyweight title defense at UFC 106 due to an illness that has sidelined him for "more than three-and-a-half weeks."  Lesnar reportedly told Dana White that he’s never been this sick before, but White, who is not in any way a medical doctor, says he does not believe it’s the Swine Flu, though the Yahoo! article doesn’t say what prompted that diagnosis. 

Judging by Shane Carwin’s Twitter, he heard the news from the MMA media and still hasn’t received any official confirmation from the UFC.  There’s no word yet on exactly how the UFC will reshuffle the lineup for UFC 106, or when Lesnar might be ready to make that title defense.  Right now, all we have is a sick heavyweight champ and a disappointed challenger.  This is why you have to wash your hands, people.  Especially after handling dead woodland creatures or sharing shotguns with strangers.

tallkitchenbags on "First Look: ‘The Expendables’ Trailer":
They should make a sequel starring Ben Rothwell, Roy Nelson and Tim Sylvia called The Expandables.

beginus maximus on "Even as a Baby, Brock Lesnar Would Swallow You Without Chewing":
"I’m gonna go home and drink SIMILAC cause ENFAMIL don’t pay me. Hell I might even jump on my mother’s tit tonight!!"

cwr on "What Your Favorite Fighter Says About You, Part II":
If your favorite fighter is Nick Gonzalez you would rather jerk off then get to know a woman.
[Ed. note: Man, talk about bringin' it back.]

Wyatt on "Hot Fighter Alert: Mika Nagano":
If she wore a school girl outfit and beat some enormous freak on New Year’s eve via Aoki-plata, Japan would just f*cking explode.

GetUpAndKill on "Hot Fighter Alert: Mika Nagano":
Ok Ok, so nobody noticed that her penis is wearing a watch?

If you’re a winner and you want a CagePotato t-shirt, send your name, address, and shirt-size to feedback@cagepotato.com and we’ll hook you right up.

(Just to get you in the holiday spirit: Forrest Griffin as Supergirl, Seth Petruzelli as Kimbo Slice, Mauricio Rua as Fred Flintstone with Wanderlei Silva as a drunken gladiator, Arianny Celeste as a sexy schoolgirl, and three fat guys as the TapouT crew.)

Check this out, Potato Nation. Halloween is just two weeks from now, which means you’re probably scrambling to come up with a clever costume. But we all know that the streets are going to be jam-packed with Zombie Obamas and Pedobears. So we’re looking for your best MMA-themed Halloween costumes. They could be faithful renditions of well-known fighters, or references to more obscure moments in the sport. The only requirements are that they’re related to MMA in some way, and that they make us LOMFAO.

Come up with a unique concept, cobble it together using whatever you can steal from Party City*, and e-mail a photo of yourself to feedback@cagepotato.com. The winner will get a super-awesome prize package, the contents of which cannot be revealed at this time because we’re not sure what it’ll be yet. But trust us, it’ll be absolutely spooktacular. Here’s the thing, though: You must submit your entries by Thursday, 10/29, so that we can post the finalists on Friday. In other words, you won’t actually have to go out in public wearing your costume if you don’t want to, which is great news if you’re planning to dress up as Brock Lesnar’s Tattoo. Holler in the comments section if you have any questions, and good luck!

* Shoplifting is in no way endorsed by CagePotato.com or Break Media, but we all know times are tough, and we don’t expect anybody to drop a lot of cash on this contest when the return on investment could turn out to be an autographed 8×10 of Tim Sylvia.

("…moooooooorrrrrrrre brreeeeeaaaaaaasssssst miiiiiiiiilllllllk…")

Props to Fightlinker for unearthing this absolutely amazing baby picture of Brock Lesnar, proving once and for all that Lesnar arrived in this world enormous, ornery, and ready to consume everything in his path. (Not pictured: The tiny pacifier tattoo on his chest.) Check out that Krang-esque head-shape; my God, his poor mother. More awesome pics of MMA fighters as youngsters after the jump…

(Props: UFC)

Though he jacks up his shoulder on tomorrow night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter, Matt "The Rat" Mitrione is still very much DTF (down to fight). In fact, he tries to convince Coach Rashad that he should be picked to fight next, despite his arm being in a Saran-Wrap cast. Rashad openly calls him "Meathead" now, and casts doubt on his injury. Meanwhile on Team Bumpage, Marcus "Big Baby" Jones is also impatiently awaiting his first match, and becomes convinced that he’ll be picked next. And look, we get a rare glimpse of Wes Sims trying to shake water out of his ear (I think?) as Jones walks past him at the 2:15 mark. The end of the promo still promises a Kimbo return, and vows that fight #5 ends in a "shock result no one saw coming." Rashad is shown crouching over one of his guys in the Octagon while others shout "wake up!" First double-knockout in TUF history?

After the jump: UFC old-schooler Oleg Taktarov stops by BJ Penn’s gym in Hilo to plug his role in Predators, and Brock Lesnar destroys a few more training partners in preparation for his UFC 106 title defense against Shane Carwin.

(‘Oh, that? It’s an allegory for how we train around here. Or, wait, when it involves an animal does that make it a fable? Hold on, let’s ask Tuchscherer.’)

Sometimes I get the feeling that Brock Lesnar is actually a really smart, articulate guy, but he has a vicious sense of humor that makes him want to say the most ridiculous things he can think of just to see if anyone has the balls to call him out on it.  Chances are, no, they don’t.  So he just keeps talking and things keep getting weirder.  The latest such example comes from a Yahoo! Sports article that attempts to get inside Lesnar’s head by eating lunch with him at Subway.  Naturally, there’s all the usual smack talk about Shane Carwin’s lack of difficult opponents and that adorable little Division II national wrestling championship that he won.  But there’s also this bizarre quote when Lesnar gives his take on TUF 10′s recent Kimbo Slice-Roy Nelson fight:

"It looked like a couple of high school kids, a barroom brawl.  The fat biker dude took his vest off and put ranch dressing on his (chest)."

In a perfect world, the interviewer would have countered that statement by asking, ‘What the hell are you talking about?’  But sadly, ours is an aggressively imperfect world, so that probably didn’t happen.  Instead, we’ll go ahead and ask.  WTF, Brock?  What is that even supposed to mean?  Ranch dressing on his chest?  What kind of bars are you hanging out in, anyway?

The pervs over at Raw Vegas say this is video from a "photo shoot" involving UFC ring girl Natasha Wicks, but personally, I think it was all a ruse to get her in a towel.  It’s like that time we agreed to be in that calendar that was supposed to be twelve months of MMA writers without pants.  We showed up and did what they asked, even when it made us both uncomfortable, and that calendar still hasn’t come in the mail like they said it would.  I’m just saying, if that guy was a professional photographer, why did we have do the shoot in his mom’s basement?  And why did he use a disposable camera?  But enough of our petty problems.

Judging by her remarks throughout this video, Natasha has quickly figured out what MMA fans want to hear from her.  And no, it isn’t about her great singing career or how much she loves chocolate. 

After the jump, things get even more ridiculous.

(‘Tell your friend he’s next! Well, I guess he’s just right over there. You know what, don’t worry about it. I’ll tell him myself.’)

With “Rampage” Jackson running off to play a mohawk-less B.A. Baracus in the “A-Team” movie, the MMA world was left wondering whether Rashad Evans would get a replacement opponent, or if he would just have to go out there on his own and entertain the crowd with fifteen minutes of stand-up about how different the Catholic church would be if the pope was black.  Thankfully, that seems like it won’t be necessary, as both Evans and Thiago Silva have reportedly verbally agreed to meet at UFC 108 in January. 

Obviously this isn’t as satisfying as the fight between Evans and Jackson would have been after a long season of reality TV trash talk.  But at least there’s something resembling an interesting angle, what with Silva knocking out Evans’ teammate, Keith Jardine at UFC 102 and both Silva and Evans suffering knockout losses to Lyoto Machida.  Think of this as a fight to determine who still stands a chance at getting another turn on the Machida karate beatdown-go-round.

In other bookings news/rumors…

(Calm down, Shane. It was a hypothetical question. I’m not saying you are a character from "Sex and the City." I’m just asking, if you were one, which one do you think you’d be? And don’t say Carrie. Everybody says Carrie.)

Thanks to the thus far undefeated University of Montana football team (go Griz), Shane Carwin was honor-bound to answer our questions and yours in an email exchange this week.  “The Engineer” may be a no-nonsense sort of guy once he steps in the Octagon, but fortunately for us he has a sense of humor about himself outside of it.  With his UFC heavyweight title fight against Brock Lesnar at UFC 106 drawing closer, we asked Carwin about everything from his reaction to Lesnar’s pre-fight trash talk to whether he can reliably use a normal-sized cell phone with his giant hands.  In the end, we felt that we came away with a greater understanding of this man of few words.

CP: What’s your reaction to hearing Brock Lesnar criticize your past opponents and your Division II wrestling title?  Do you think that there’s a significant difference in the quality of competition you two have faced in your respective careers?

SC: Brock seems to think selling or hyping a fight means disparaging one another’s opponents.  I think anyone who is fighting deserves the respect of other fighters, especially a champion.  I do not think Brock respects MMA or MMA fans.

As far as my collegiate accomplishments compared to his, saying D1 is better than D II in wrestling is a ridiculous comment.  There are plenty of elite wrestlers that did not even compete in college.  The fact is Title 9 and many other factors (like lack of fans) keep wrestling on life support and being a great wrestler does not guarantee you a scholarship.

I hope Brock knows Dana did not send me a script to go by.  I am coming for that belt.

(‘What’s my all-time favorite war? That’s your question? Come on, man. Franco-Prussian, obviously. No contest.’)

Remember a few weeks ago when we made a bet with Shane Carwin involving the University of Montana/Western State football game?  The deal was, if Western won we had to write an article about all the ways Carwin is better than us (for example, there’s this), but if they lost he had to give us an exclusive interview.  Well, Western didn’t just lose.  They got blown out 38-0.  Now it’s time for us to collect.

But rather than simply pestering Carwin with the usual questions about his preparation for Brock Lesnar and his alma mater’s complete inability to convert on third down, we decided to open the floor to you, our readers, and see what you’d like to ask the big man.  Before submitting your question for Carwin in the comments below, you might want to start by asking yourself:

1) Would I still ask him this if we were alone in a windowless room together?
2) Does anyone other than me actually care about the answer to this question?
3) Did I accidentally leave my caps lock button on?  For the last several months?

Once you’ve done that, you’re ready to put a question to the Engineer.  Go ‘head, knock yourself out.  We’ll look them over and choose the ones we like best for inclusion in the interview.  Check back later in the week to see if your question made the cut, as well as to find out exactly what Carwin thinks of your query.  Think of this as your chance to atone for failing to come up with a nickname that he liked.

(Maybe Lesnar should not have eaten those brownies that Eddie Bravo gave him before coming to this event.)

The heavyweight title fight between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin at UFC 106 is a little less than two months away now, and we all know what that means: it’s time for Lesnar to rev up his dismissive trash-talk machine, which is what he affectionately calls his brain.  Talking to the Las Vegas Sun, Lesnar advanced the theory that since the only high-profile fighter Carwin has beaten was Gabriel Gonzaga, he’s really only 1-0 in his MMA career, I mean if you think about it, so there’s really nothing to worry about against him.  Then, as if that weren’t dickish enough, he went and said this about old Hulk Hands:

“He’s a tough guy and a wrestler. But he’s a Division II national champion — enough said.”

Well, looks like Lesnar just exposed himself as a Division-ist.  Look, he’s not saying those Division II champs are all bad.  Some of his best friends are Division II wrestlers.  He’s just saying that there are certain things they don’t get to do, like be the UFC heavyweight champ or ride in the front of the bus.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned during our travels through this crazy world of mixed martial arts, it’s that you are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. There are only a few different types of MMA fans, and they tend to gravitate towards certain fighters. For example, let’s say your favorite fighter is…

ANDERSON SILVA

(That’s you on the left.)
You are without a doubt the hippest dude you know.  You were the first to start wearing skinny jeans and also the first to stop, proving your bona fides as a trendsetter.  You like to think that you appreciate the finer elements of striking technique more than most MMA fans, but really you just parrot things Joe Rogan has said (“ballet of violence”) while listing off all the ways that Silva is like a modern-day Bruce Lee.  You sometimes wear glasses you don’t really need and you pretend to like jazz.  You think of yourself as a good dancer.
Your favorite fight: Silva vs. Rich Franklin I

FEDOR EMELIANENKO

You’ve been watching MMA for years, and it’s important to you that people know that.  You have an extensive collection of ironic t-shirts and Pride DVD’s.  You work in the IT department of a moderately-sized company, where you used to feel bad for the people who pester you for help all day because, honestly, how did anyone even get that clueless?  Now you despise them and don’t go to very much trouble to hide it.  You are probably overweight, but you’re quick to tell people that it doesn’t necessarily mean you are out of shape or aren’t a good athlete.  You don’t date much but there’s this girl in Illinois who you have a thing with over the internet, which you refer to as ‘the web.’  Someone in a bar once asked you if you thought Fedor would stand a chance against Brock Lesnar.  You laughed out loud.  Okay, so they were talking to someone else and you overheard them, and when they noticed you laughing you pretended to be coughing, but still.  The ignorance of some people.
Your favorite fight: Fedor vs. Mirko Filipovic

(Floyd knew he should have thrown paper.)

Update: These quotes are fake, apparently. Sorry, guys.

(Props: FightHype via MMA Fanhouse)

3:17-3:44:

Good to hear it, Tito. If you didn’t end up choking out that 145-pound woman we would have thought you were a pussy or something…

After the jump: Brock Lesnar endures the notoriously brutal strength and conditioning training at Athletic Performance Inc. in Minneapolis. This might be your only chance to see what Lesnar looks like when he’s completely broken down and exhausted. Brock’s post-workout nutrition plan? Burgers and waffle-fries, bitch.

(He thought that the throne would give him pleasure; the salesgirl at Pier 1 Imports specifically told him it would. But as he sunk deeper into the red velvet and began to watch the America’s Got Talent semi-finals, a tremendous ennui overtook him. Photo courtesy of Esther Lin/Showtime.)

Here we are, one month after Carano vs. Cyborg, and we still don’t know when Strikeforce is going to put on its next big event. October 10 has been floated as a tentative date for Fedor vs. Rogers, but it hasn’t been made official yet, and it would only give Strikeforce a month to promote the card. (Assuming Strikeforce starts promoting it today, hypothetically.) The hesitation is an unfortunate momentum-killer for Scott Coker & Co., but the reason for the delay is obvious: The longer Strikeforce waits, the more difficult it would be for the UFC to counter-program them with an impromptu live event. When you consider that Anderson Silva may not really be having elbow surgery and could potentially be unleashed at any time to headline a card on Spike TV, this is a very legitimate concern.

So yesterday, Michael Rome at Bloody Elbow had an eyebrow-raising solution: Strikeforce should schedule Fedor vs. Rogers on November 21st, the same night as UFC 106, which will of course feature Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin and Tito Ortiz vs. Mark Coleman. Why wait for the UFC to be the aggressor? After all:

(Props: logangee via Watch Kalib Run)

If you ever find yourself becoming disillusioned with MMA, if you ever find yourself thinking "what am I doing watching guys beat each other up in a cage when I could be working or developing a social life?", watch this video and it’ll all start coming back. Best sport in the world, folks, hands down. If you have time, check out some of logangee’s other work on his official site or his Vimeo channel, especially "Got Soul" and "Fear the Reaper."

After the jump: Shane Carwin debunks the theory of MMA-fighter-as-uneducated-thug, talks about how his mother’s whuppings kept him grounded, and discusses how he matches up with Brock Lesnar. Also, Tito Ortiz beats some kid at UFC Undisputed and celebrates like he just knocked out Fedor.

(Tuchscherer puts Alexey Oleinik right where he wants him during the semi-finals of YAMMA Pit Fighting last April. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

With a record of 17-1 and wins over UFC vets like Krzysztof Soszynski, Travis Fulton, and Branden Lee Hinkle, Chris Tuchscherer has been paying his dues for over five years. And yet, the 33-year-old North Dakota native and former two-time NCAA Division II All-American wrestler was told "no dice" when he tried out for TUF 10 earlier this year. Luckily, the UFC came to their senses and decided to give the Crowbar a shot against Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 102 this Saturday, in a match that could be pivotal for both of their careers. After months of training with long-lost-twin Brock Lesnar, Tuchscherer is ready to test his might in the Octagon. And his first opponent had better watch the hell out…

***

CAGEPOTATO: You tried out for the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter, and ended up with a contract to fight Gabriel Gonzaga. How exactly did that come about?
CHRIS TUCHSCHERER: I thought I was going to get on the show — I tried out, everything was looking good, I got a second interview — then I got home and I got a call saying I wasn’t going to make the show. Later on that week, I got an e-mail from Joe Silva with a contract offer, so it worked out for the best. But I honestly couldn’t tell you why it went down like that. I was never told, like, “your record is this good, so we just want you to have a contract.”

If you did end up as a castmember on this season of TUF, how do you think you’d do?
I think I would have done very well. I would have seen myself as one of the guys to make it to the finals.

At UFC 102 you’ll be facing Gabriel Gonzaga, who’s very dangerous but has been somewhat inconsistent during his time in the UFC. Do you view this fight as a big step up in competition?
Well, I’ve faced some pretty good guys in the past. Gonzaga’s made his resume as a dangerous opponent in every aspect of the game, so I guess it’ll be a step up in competition considering where he’s been so far, but I don’t look at him as being any better of a man than me, or intimidating to me, because we’re all the same. He got his shot in the UFC in a different way, he made a name for himself right when he got in there, and he is who is now.

I’ve seen a few of your fights online, and your general strategy seems to be to take your opponent down and finish the fight with strikes from the top. Is that pretty much how it’s going to go down against Gonzaga?

(Photos courtesy of tsbmag.com and obsessedwithsports.com.)

MMA Madness and Fighters Only are both reporting that Shane Carwin has been pulled from his UFC 104 bout against Cain Velasquez, and will instead take on Brock Lesnar at UFC 106 (November 21, Las Vegas). Velasquez may remain on the UFC 104 card against a different opponent.

In the original scenario of Carwin vs. Velasquez as a #1 heavyweight contender fight, Brock Lesnar would have to sit out until early 2010. If the new reports are accurate, it would suggest that the UFC (or Brock himself) thought it would be best if Lesnar fought one more time this year, even if the challenger hasn’t definitively earned his shot. Not that Carwin can’t compete with Lesnar, but it would have been ideal if the Engineer of Pain had one more fight to build up his name. Carwin had this to say on his website:

Can’t confirm or deny? Well, we know what that means…