(“Brett, your x-rays came back and I have to tell you, the results are…grim. Ha ha, sorry, couldn’t help myself.” Image via MiddleEasy)

When Brett Rogers was stopped by Fedor Emelianenko, Alistair Overeem, and Josh Barnett during his Strikeforce run in 2009-2011, it just seemed like a case of a good slugger being outmatched by three legends of the sport. But when he was dominated for three rounds by relatively unheralded Russian prospect Alexander Volkov at last Friday’s Bellator show, the loss wasn’t as easy to dismiss. Was this proof that Rogers was washed up?

As it turns out, Brett had a good reason for looking so tentative throughout the fight. I mean, damn, just look at that friggin’ x-ray. Here’s what he had to say to MiddleEasy about trying to fight though a cracked arm:

(The ouchie comes at the 1:56 mark.)

In case you haven’t been keeping up with The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil — and sure, I’m one of those people — Team Wanderlei finally got its first victory on Sunday’s episode, after losing the first five quarterfinal matches to Team Vitor. Featherweight Rony “Jason” Mariano Bezerra put the Axe-Murderers on the board with a first-round submission win over Anistavio “Gasparzinho” Medeiros de Figueiredo, who proved why it’s rarely a good idea to slam your way out of an armbar. Jason will now meet Hugo “Wolverine” Viana in the featherweight semis.

The arm-snappage led to a shouting match between the coaches, which you can check out after the jump. If you understand Portuguese, please enlighten us with a summary…

UFC.com has reported that ex-WWE star Brock Lesnar’s first opponent in the UFC will be former heavyweight champion Frank Mir; the fight will go down on February 2 in Las Vegas. Mir is best known for his controversial June 2004 title match against Tim Sylvia, where referee Herb Dean stopped the fight 50 seconds into the first round after Sylvia’s forearm snapped in an armbar. Sylvia didn’t tap out, and refused to acknowledge that his arm was broken:



Mir was badly injured in a motorcycle accident three months after winning the heavyweight belt, and has been 2-2 since then. Still, he’s an ideal matchup for Lesnar; as much as fans want to see Lesnar challenged in his first fight, they also don’t want to see him steamrolled by a superstar at the top of his game. And Mir, who has scored six of his ten professional wins by submission, will certainly put Brock’s wrestling skills to the test. I’m not prepared to make a prediction at this point, so instead I’ll present my favorite paragraph from Tim Sylvia’s wikipedia page:

“Despite having been the UFC heavyweight champion and earning six-figures per fight, Tim Sylvia is always seeking new sources of revenue. While champion, he attempted to sell a Playstation 3 on eBay for well over retail price (although he did generously offer to autograph the box.) He also once, while still UFC heavyweight champion, raffled off the opportunity to go bear hunting with him in Ontario…tickets were $100 each, and ticket sales were limited to 100. This adds up to $10,000. There was nothing in the raffle to indicate that the money would go to any sort of charity, or to anyone other than Sylvia himself.”