(“Laundry day. Shit. It’s still only laundry day.”)

In a booking that will surely spur flashbacks of Mauro Ranallo shrieking into a microphone, two of Strikeforce’s top middleweight talents will be making their Octagon debuts against each other at the UFC’s next Brazilian event. As first reported by MMAJunkie, Tim Kennedy and Roger Gracie are slated to face off on the UFC on FX 8: Belfort vs. Rockhold card, which goes down May 18th at the Arena Jaraguá in Jaraguá do Sul, Brazil. [Update: GracieMag says the fight will instead take place at an event on July 6th.]

Kennedy compiled a 4-2 record in Strikeforce, with both of his losses coming in five-round title fights against Ronaldo Souza and Luke Rockhold. He most recently choked out Trevor Smith at Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine in January, and has been trying to stir up interest in a fight against Gracie since last July.

Gracie, who began his MMA career at heavyweight before dropping to light-heavyweight when he entered Strikeforce in 2010, has gone 2-0 during his current stint as a middleweight, scoring wins over Keith Jardine and Anthony Smith. For Roger, the fight with Kennedy is an opportunity to not only secure his place on the UFC roster, but to snap a UFC losing streak for the legendary Gracie clan. During the Zuffa era, the Gracies have gone 0-3 in the Octagon, with Royce Gracie and Renzo Gracie getting beat up by Matt Hughes, and Rolles Gracie Jr. shitting the bed against Joey Beltran.

In other UFC on FX 8 booking news…

Unlike the freakish mismatches that plagued last weekend’s Strikeforce show, the odds for this Saturday’s UFC on FX 7: Belfort vs. Bisping event in Sao Paulo suggest a very competitive lineup of fights. In fact, two of the matches are virtually dead even, with a razor-thin margin between the favorite and the underdog. Here are the betting lines for the FX main card, courtesy of BestFightOdds.com:

Michael Bisping (-103) vs. Vitor Belfort (-107): This is about as close as it gets in MMA betting, though Belfort still comes in as a slight favorite. The line reflects the divide among fans on how the fight will play out — either Bisping will outstrike and outhustle the Phenom to a decision victory, or Belfort will maul Bisping in short order, finishing him via punches-to-the-back-of-head TKO. If you’re leaning strongly towards one of those results, feel free to put your money where your mouth is. But keep in mind that the fight is scheduled for five rounds, which certainly gives Bisping the edge if he manages to survive the first ten minutes.

Ben Rothwell (+100) vs. Gabriel Gonzaga (-110): Another close call in terms of odds, but I’m not sure that Gonzaga should be the slight favorite here. To me, he hasn’t yet shaken his reputation as a can-crusher, while Rothwell’s most recent appearance against Brendan Schaub proved him to be a ferocious finisher, hard to rattle, and in the best physical shape of his career.

Mayhem Miller and the UFC? I never want to see those two again. Props: MMAFighting.com

While it remains to be seen whether Jason “Mayhem” Miller will actually retire after his loss to C.B. Dollaway during last night’s UFC 146, he certainly won’t be having another fight in the UFC any time soon.

During last night’s post-event press conference, Dana White announced that the UFC has parted ways with Mayhem. While the news isn’t exactly surprising in any way, it’s interesting that Dana White cites “some crazy shit” that took place backstage as the reason for Miller’s release. Before you begin to speculate, the incident was not a fight. As of right now, there are no other details on the incident.

I was about to write that Jason Miller’s UFC run has been forgettable, but honestly, it was much worse than that: His career in the UFC has been memorable for entirely the wrong reasons. He’s been little more than a class clown, insulting opponents during interviews and wearing ridiculous outfits only to get thoroughly dismantled in each of his appearances. He’s looked so bad throughout his UFC career that Dana White is on record claiming that he’s seen women in Tae Bo classes with better striking.

By Elias Cepeda

Props: MMAFighting.com

Junior dos Santos is a walking, terrifying public relations smashing machine. Not only did he Babe Ruth it and fulfill his prediction of winning by 2nd round stoppage over former two-time champion Frank Mir Saturday night, but he also provided the best feel-good photo op of the year so far.

Junior trains out of Luis Carlos Dorea’s Champion Boxing gym in Brazil which, in addition to being headquarters for world-class fighters, is home to a vibrant youth boxing program. After training one day, the UFC Primetime cameras caught one of the little tikes hanging asking Junior to take him with him to the states for his title fight.

At the time, Junior said, “we’ll see.” But he ended up bringing the 9 year-old kid and his family to Vegas to watch him win. After beating Mir, he lifted the lucky young fighter onto his shoulders and posed for the cameras along with his coaches.

Dos Santos definitely appears to have the Wanderlei Silva nice guy/maniac fighter balance down pat. Try as I might, that image warms my cynical heart, and I don’t give a damn how orchestrated it may or may not have been. Who doesn’t like watching a kid’s dream come true before their eyes?

It may be an all heavyweight main card, but the bantamweight is stealing the show. Props: MMAFighting.com

We’re just hours away from UFC 146, so it’s time to turn on FX and watch the preliminary card. This evening’s all heavyweight main card will kick off with the lighter guys, as Diego Brandao makes his first post-TUF appearance against Darren Elkins, Dan Hardy and Mayhem Miller fight for their careers against Duane Ludwig and C.B. Dollaway, and Edson Barboza takes on Jamie Varner in what may potentially be the squash match/upset of the year. Handling tonight’s liveblogging duties will be Seth Falvo, who will be frantically checking to see if his beloved Philadelphia 76ers can take Game Seven during commercial breaks. Come in after the jump for live play-by-play.

(“Did I at least win the grappling round?“)

Could Jason Miller‘s 10-plus-year fighting career come to an end on May 26th? Mayhem appeared on last night’s episode of Spike TV’s “MMA Uncensored Live,” and raised the stakes for his UFC 146 battle with CB Dollaway:

“I’m on my own chopping block. If I lose to him, I’m quitting! I don’t even deserve to be in there! There’s not an easy fight. In the UFC, there’s no easy fight. He doesn’t deserve to be in there with me, and I’ll prove it. I’ll prove it in under a round, because, we see…I tend to get tired in the second round. [laughs] We’re both in a similar spot in our career I guess. We’re both on the chopping block. That’s fine. I’m really happy with that.”

By Anton Gurevich

One of the fighters testing his skills at UFC 146: Dos Santos vs. Overeem will be Jason “Mayhem” Miller, fighting the Octagon veteran C.B. Dollaway. Miller is undoubtedly one of the most colorful characters in MMA, entertaining audiences as the host of MTV’s Bully Beatdown, and as a coach on TUF 14. In his last fight, Miller was TKO’d by Michael “The Count” Bisping at the TUF 14 Finale, drawing fire from UFC President Dana White, who harshly criticized Miller for his performance. This time, Mayhem will look to prove his critics wrong.

LowKick.com photographer Scott Hirano was at Mark Munoz’s REIGN Training Center in Orange County, California, to deliver the following photo-report of Mayhem Miller’s preparations for Dollaway. Please make sure to follow Scott on Twitter @ScottHirano. Mayhem Monkeys can follow their leader @MayhemMiller.

Check out the rest of this gallery on Lowkick.Blitzcorner.com!

Men who duckface get what’s coming to them. Props: @MayhemMiller

Following his embarrassing loss to Michael Bisping at The Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale, no one was sure what would become of Jason “Mayhem” Miller. There was speculation that his performance during his first appearance with the promotion since 2005, when he dropped a lopsided decision to Georges St. Pierre, was poor enough to get him fired. Immediately after the event, Dana White was hesitant to comment on Mayhem’s future with the UFC.

However, it appears that Dana has decided to give Mayhem Miller one more chance. Last night, the UFC confirmed that the charismatic middleweight has been booked to fight against C.B. Dollaway at UFC 146, which takes place on May 26 in Las Vegas.

We didn’t have C.B. Dollaway in mind when we wrote that Mayhem deserved a fight against a middleweight gatekeeper, but “The Doberman” certainly fits the description. After losing to Amir Sadollah during The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale, Dollaway has gone 5-3 in the UFC. He is currently riding a two fight losing streak after being knocked out by Mark Munoz and Jared Hamman.

(Okay, maybe Bob had a point. / Photo courtesy of the UFC on Versus 3 gallery on CombatLifestyle.com)

For one night only, the KFC Yum! Center (actual venue name) will be replacing their Double Downs with a steady barrage of KNUCKLE SANDWICHES!!! SEE WHAT I DID THERE? OH SHIT, FORGOT TO TURN OFF CAPS LOCK. Round-by-round results from the Versus broadcast will be accumulating after the jump beginning at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT — right after a quick recap of the Facebook.com/UFC prelims. From Sanchez vs. Kampmann and Dollaway vs. Munoz to Bowles vs. Page  and Stevenson vs. Castillo, it’s gonna be a solid night of free fights, so refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and drop your two cents in the comments section.

UFC Live: Sanchez vs. Kampmann goes down tonight at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, KY, and we’ll be posting round-by-round results from the Versus main card starting at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT. In the main event, Diego Sanchez will try to build on his momentum after his Fight of the Night-earning victory over Paulo Thiago in October, while Martin Kampmann looks to rebound from his split-decision loss to Jake Shields. The main card will also feature a middleweight scrap between CB Dollaway and Mark Munoz, and the return of former bantamweight champ Brian Bowles in a rematch against Damacio Page.

Facebook.com/UFC will be hosting two preliminary card fights beginning at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT: Joe Stevenson’s must-win fight against Danny Castillo, and a light-heavyweight meeting between Steve Cantwell and Cyrille Diabate. The ‘Sanchez vs. Kampmann’ fight lineup and weigh-in results are after the jump, courtesy of Versus.com…

(Video courtesy DailyMotion/Spike/UFC)

If you don’t have the time or couldn’t be bothered to watch the show, we got you covered.

Here are the CP Notes of this edition:

- Anderson doesn’t like Vitor and says whoever God wants to win will win Saturday.

- Vitor believes Jesus loves him more and will help him beat Anderson.

- Ed Soares respects Vitor  and seems somewhat nervous about this fight.

- Vitor  respects Anderson, but says he isn’t afraid of him.

- Vitor says he’s not there to dance around (like Anderson), he’s there to fight.

- Rich seems to be training seriously ahead of this fight, both in the gym and the tanning beds.

- Forrest seems to be doing lots of book promo ahead of this fight.

- Forrest might rely on his new BJJ black belt for this fight.

- Both Franklin and Griffin say they are pretty much the same fighter, only Rich says Forrest is much bigger.

- Forrest doesn’t like being asked questions about Anderson.

-  Jones has a lot of hype to live up to and seems to be buying into it himself.

- Jones wasn’t impressed by Bader’s win over Lil’ Nog, even though Nogueira is widely considered a better calibre fighter than any "Bones" has beaten.

- Jones doesn’t think Bader is very good because he "doesn’t knee, spin or jump."

- Jones doesn’t plan on toning down his cockiness flashiness for the fight.

- CB Dollaway is a weird looking dude.

Parts two and three are after the jump.

(‘Sorry everyone, but could we take another one? I forgot to sneer.’)

Really, there are two disturbing aspects to this rumor. One is that someone intentionally had sex with C.B. Dollaway. The other is that the same person was also, perhaps during the same general time period, having sex with Tiger Woods. Sports by Brooks says Tiger mistress and former reality TV show participant Jaimee Grubbs (not the girl pictured above, btw. we’re talking about the chick who was on "Tool Academy" until her boyfriend’s other girlfriend showed up, so yeah, classy broad) was also banging “The Doberman.” So you see? It’s not that this girl was intentionally trying to wreck Woods’ marriage. She just has really, really poor judgment.

When last we saw Goran Reljic he was knocking out Wilson Gouveia in his UFC debut to keep his undefeated record intact.  He seemed headed for great things, but then a back injury forced him out of a fight with Thales Leites and he had to keep himself busy by heroically saving unfortunate travelers from the perilous Adriatic Sea.  But after an almost two-year layoff and a little back surgery, he returns at UFC 110 to take on C.B. Dollaway.  Fortunately our friends at Raw Vegas are around to follow Reljic through his training at Xtreme Couture, giving us a glimpse of what happens in the weeks leading up to fight night.  Does it include a lot of sledge hammer and medicine ball work?  But of course.

After the jump, get reacquainted with Reljic’s work in the fight that Gouveia says got a little too personal backstage.

(Photo courtesy of Sherdog)

Fresh off his unanimous decision victory over veteran brawler Phil Baroni at UFC 106, Amir Sadollah will be going right back into action less than two months later. The TUF 7 winner will reportedly face Brad Blackburn in the main card of UFC Fight Night 20 (January 11th; Fairfax, VA); the event will be headlined by Nate Diaz vs. Gray Maynard.

Sadollah’s professional record currently stands at a mere 2-1, including his submission win over CB Dollaway at the TUF 7 Finale and his 29-second TKO loss to Johny Hendricks in August. By contrast, Blackburn has 28 pro fights under his belt and is currently 3-0 in the UFC. "Bad Brad" most recently won a split-decision over Edgar Garcia at the TUF 9 Finale in June, despite being the recipient of the Gnarliest Punch Face of 2009. Blackburn also holds notable victories over Jay Hieron, Ryo Chonan, and Chris Wilson. Will Amir rise to the challenge, or is he straight-up outgunned here?

Speaking of Sadollah’s old foe CB Dollaway, the Doberman also has his next appearance booked, as he’s scheduled to meet Goran Reljic at UFC 110 in February.

(Jake Ellenberger vs. Jose Landi-Jons, 11/3/07. Fight starts at  the 5:52 mark and ends a few seconds later.)

UFC Fight Night: Diaz vs. Guillard is set to pop off this Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT, directly before the TUF 10 season premiere, and as usual, we’ll be getting some new blood with our old, familiar faces. Only Jake Ellenberger is guaranteed TV time in his broadcast-opening bout against the Natural Born Killer, but if time allows, you may be seeing some other UFC newbies trying to make their mark in the Octagon. Get to know them below…

JAKE ELLENBERGER (WW)
?Experience: 21-4 record (15 wins by stoppage due to strikes), with multiple appearances in the IFL, M-1 Challenge, and Bodog Fight. Most recently knocked out Marcelo Alfaya in 42 seconds, at a Bellator event in June.
Will be facing: Carlos Condit (23-5, 0-1 UFC)
?Lowdown: This 24-year-old Team Quest product has been fighting professionally for over four years, and is stepping in for the injured Chris Lytle against Carlos Condit. Regarded as a well-rounded fighter, Ellenberger is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. As he told UFC.com: “Having been through a Marine Corps boot camp, it makes you tougher mentally. Everything you prepare for in the Marine Corps is for war. We train for the worst case scenarios, and that’s an advantage I think I have mentally in a fight.” Jake employs his twin brother Joe Ellenberger as a wrestling coach and training partner.

(The Hallman/Hughes story. Could Matt Hughes be getting one more shot at revenge before he retires?)

— Anderson Silva‘s manager Ed Soares has debunked a report by Yahoo! Sports in which he was quoted as saying Silva wanted to give up his middleweight title to compete as a light-heavyweight permanently. As Soares told MMA Weekly: “It’s not true. I never said that to Dana. I have said to Dana that he’d like to fight again at 205 (but not permanently)…he wants the biggest fights possible, whether it’s at 205 or 185.” Silva and Soares still aren’t psyched about an impending rematch with Dan Henderson: "I feel a true number one (middleweight contender) would be if Henderson fought the winner of Nate Marquardt and Damian Maia…we could take another fight at 205 or a catchweight fight (in the meantime).”

— For the fourth time in his career, Dennis "Superman" Hallman has signed a contract to fight in the UFC. He expects to make his next UFC appearance sometime this fall. Hallman is best known for two lightning-quick submission victories over Matt Hughes, the second of which came at Hallman’s Octagon debut at UFC 29 in December 2000. The 33-year-old fighter lost subsequent UFC fights to Jens Pulver, Frank Trigg, and Jorge Rivera, and is currently on a four-fight win streak, with two of those fights taking place in Strikeforce.

(Now all he needs to do is fight CB Dollaway with one boxing glove. Photo courtesy of the UFC 100: Weigh Ins set on Combat Lifestyle.)

Spoilers after the jump…

After making my MMA highlight reel debut with "Sakuraba: Survivor," I decided to follow it up with a new compilation that’s both shorter and less depressing. The concept of "Stranglehold" is quite simple: Here are some of the most creative and infamous choke-submissions in recent MMA history, soundtracked by Ted Nugent. The cast of characters include Nate Diaz, Dan Miller, Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Shinya Aoki, BJ Penn, Nick Diaz, Demian Maia, CB Dollaway, and Toby Imada. Let me know what you think, and if you dig it, please share with a friend.

(BG)

(A cunning array of STDs. Photo courtesy of Zimbio.)

What do you get when you cross two wrestlers from Arizona with one porn chick from the Valley? COMEDY GOLD. After sifting through seven pages of captions from last week’s impromptu contest, we’ve decided that these five are worthy of free t-shirts:

bpd: Bader learns the hard way that C.B. stands for "Cock Block"

Landertime: Fucking her would prove nothing, CB. You chose your sexuality when you put on that jacket.

El Famous Burrito: The scent of semen and raw fish in the air causes Ryan Bader to flash back to his TUF days.

Wyatt: Pictured: Three of the biggest pussies you’ll ever see.

Homoplata: Gianna: "Sorry Ryan, not tonight, I saw how boring you can be on top."

If you’re one of the fab five, please send your name, address, and shirt size to feedback@cagepotato.com, and we’ll hook y’up. And congrats to Gianna Lynn for being nominated for Best All-Girl Group Sex Scene (Girlgasmic) at the 2009 AVN Awards. You’re so much more talented than those other bitches!

(Props: "BONEtheDOME" on the UG.)

Do we have a cool prize to give away today? Not really, other than some bullshit t-shirts. But this photo of CB Dollaway and Ryan Bader pretending to fight over adult film actress Gianna Lynn at the last AVN Awards show amuses me. Best three captions win a shirt. Winners will be announced early next week-ish. Here, I’ll start:

"They lived their lives by a code: Bro’s before ho’s. Until she came along and turned their worlds upside-down."

Or, this:

"I don’t do double-anal. Dollaway, where did you find this chick anyway?"

Good luck.

("Just out of curiosity, what’s up now, bitch?" Mousasi surveys the wreckage of the similarly-named Musashi in their K-1 match at Dynamite!! 2008.)

— Though he may still be making his U.S. debut for Affliction, Gegard Mousasi‘s next fight will be in Japan. FiveOuncesofPain reports that DREAM’s 2008 middleweight grand prix winner could return at DREAM 9 (May 23rd) to take on Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou; it would be Mousasi’s debut as a light-heavyweight, and his first MMA fight since last September. Sokoudjou currently carries a 5-4 record, and has dropped his last two matches to Luis Cane (at UFC 89) and Renato Sobral (at Affliction: Day of Reckoning). The African Assassin needs a break, but he probably won’t catch one here.

— A battle between two middleweight grapplers who flamed out of the UFC despite loads of talent has been booked as the main event of MFC 21 (May 13th; Edmonton, Alberta, Canada). MFC prez Mark Pavelich announced yesterday that Travis Lutter vs. Dean Lister would headline the show, which will also feature Marcus Aurelio, David Heath, John Alessio, and Solomon Hutcherson. Lutter hasn’t competed since his loss to Rich Franklin at UFC 83 last April, while Lister made his most recent appearance at UFC 92 in December, where he dropped a unanimous decision to Yushin Okami.

Healthy again after a knee injury forced him to withdraw from an April match against Matt Hamill, TUF 1 finalist Stephan Bonnar is set to return to the Octagon for the first time since last October. Five Ounces reports that the American Psycho will likely face Team Bomb Squad’s Jon Jones at UFC 94 (January 31st, Las Vegas). Jones began his professional MMA career in April of this year, and racked up six straight victories, including a unanimous decision over Andre Gusmao in his August UFC debut. With his amateur wrestling background and unconventional striking, Jones may prove to be a tough welcome-back fight for the newly-rehabbed Bonnar. UFC 94 will be headlined by the welterweight fight between Georges St. Pierre and BJ Penn.

In other UFC fight-booking news…

— TUF 7 finalist CB Dollaway (7-1, 1-1 UFC) will be making his third appearance in the Octagon on December 27th, as he’ll be facing Mike Massenzio at UFC 92. Dollaway is coming off his “Peruvian Necktie” submission of Jesse Taylor at UFC Fight Night 14 in July, while Massenzio is coming off his successful UFC debut last month at UFC Fight Night 15, where he caught Drew McFedries in a kimura early in the first round.

— Speaking of McFedries, the Miletich fighter will be stepping in to face Thales Leites at UFC 90 (October 25th, Chicago), replacing undefeated Croatian fighter Goran Reljic, who recently had to withdraw from the fight due to a back injury.

(Don’t stop believing. Photo courtesy of Fighters.com.)

— Evan Tanner’s memorial will be held at 2 p.m. on September 27th at the Civic Center (401 South Buchanan Street) in Amarillo, Texas. Tonight’s Ultimate Fight Night broadcast will be dedicated to Tanner, and an Evan Tanner tribute show will be airing soon on Spike.

— Even though the ink on Houston Alexander’s new five-fight contract extension hasn’t even dried yet, Dana White admits that if the Assassin loses against Eric Schafer tonight, he’ll need to leave the UFC for a while to rack up some wins in other promotions.

— Roger Huerta’s loss to Kenny Florian last month was very hard on him emotionally, and he’s desperate for a rematch. In an interview with Fighters Only Magazine, he also seemed to imply that he’ll be leaving Greg Jackson’s team: “I would like to go back to the way I used to train, with the people I used to train with. Those guys were like brothers to me, not just trainers.”

— TUF 7 finalist C.B. Dollaway will reportedly return to the Octagon at UFC 92 (December 27th, Las Vegas) against middleweight veteran Jorge Rivera. Dollaway is officially 1-1 in the UFC at this point, after being submitted by Amir Sadollah via armbar at the TUF 7 finale in June, then submitting Jesse Taylor via Peruvian neck tie at “Silva vs. Irvin” in July.

— Speaking of fight bookings, Mike Swick and Jonathan Goulet have agreed to fight each other at the Ultimate Fighter 8 finale on December 13th. Both men have won their last two fights in the UFC.

— Round 5′s new Sean Sherk collectible figure doesn’t really look like Sean Sherk. But the Wandy and Spider figures are definitely worthy of being displayed in your cubicle.

(Looks like Jesse Taylor picked the wrong week to quit drinking. Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

The UFC’s always fluctuating end-of-night bonuses totaled $25,000 apiece for Saturday’s “Silva vs. Irvin” event. The four lucky men who left the Palms one-fortieth of a million dollars richer are…

Knockout of the Night: Rory Markham for his skull-crushing head-kick KO of Brodie Farber.
Submission of the Night: CB Dollaway for his “Peruvian Necktie” choke of fellow TUF 7 castmember Jesse Taylor.
Fight of the Night: Frankie Edgar and Hermes Franca for their three-round tussle that Edgar took unanimously thanks to his takedowns and GnP.

The must-see Markham/Farber knockout is below, and the Dollaway/Taylor scrap is after the jump — and we threw in Cain Velasquez’s beatdown of Jake O’Brien for good measure. (If you find a working link for Edgar/Franca, please post it in the comments section.) Serious props to MMA TKO.

Videos removed by request…

Jesse Taylor is responsible for several firsts in Ultimate Fighter history. He’s the first fighter to voluntarily pee his pants for entertainment on the show, as well as the first to fight his way into the finals only to be kicked off for a drunken rampage after the show finished filming.

Now Taylor’s poised to get his shot in the UFC against CB Dollaway on July 19th. In this exclusive interview he talks to CagePotato about finally getting his shot at the big time and trying to learn from his mistakes to make the most of his second chance.

CagePotato.com: When did you find out that you were going to get a shot in the UFC on this July 19 card? Where you already in shape and ready for a fight, or did it come as a surprise to you?

Jesse Taylor: I was just staying active, and you have to remember the show ended back in March, so after training so long and fighting so much it was a big layoff. Ever since it ended I was trying to get back in, but I found out just recently, just about three and a half weeks ago that I was back in. I was just so pumped up, so happy that I felt like sure, let’s go, I’ll fight anybody.

Do you think it was the UFC’s need to put this card together on short notice that made them call you so soon?

I think it was a combination of things. I think that show definitely helped. But I had this spotlight on me anyway because I was the guy who won every one of his fights and then I got this horrible punishment. I definitely wanted the fight, and I think people were interested in, you know, what could have happened with Jesse Taylor, so next thing I know I’m back in the UFC.

Do you think they would have called you so soon if it wasn’t for this event?

I think they would have definitely called me again, I just think it would have been a little bit longer.

Looking back on it now, what do you make of the punishment Dana White handed down to you? Was it too harsh, in your opinion?

(Photo courtesy of KeepItIntheRing.org.)

MMA Rated is reporting that Rich Franklin will move to light-heavyweight to take on Matt Hamill at UFC 88 (September 6th, Atlanta). Franklin spent much of his early career as a 205-pounder, before moving to middleweight in June 2005 when he took the UFC’s 185-pound strap from Evan Tanner. As for the matchup, there’s no danger of Franklin being torn apart by Hamill, Anderson Silva-style, but he’d better start drilling his takedown defense if he wants to avoid being laid on for 15 minutes by the hulking wrestler. And speaking of avoidance, how’s this for self-ownage — Franklin moving up in weight because he’s tired of bashing his face against Anderson Silva’s knees, while Silva is testing the waters at 205 because he cleared out the middleweight division. No matter where Ace goes, Spider is right there waiting, making sure he never gets another belt in his life. Poor guy.

In other news, we previously passed along a rumor that Jesse Taylor and CB Dollaway would fight at UFC Fight Night 14 (July 19th, Las Vegas), and multiple sources are now confirming the matchup. It feels a little premature for both fighters. Dollaway, who would be fighting just four weeks after his loss to Amir Sadollah at the TUF 7 finale, could use more time to cultivate his submission defense, and who knows if Jesse Taylor’s brief stint in AA and a couple months of groveling for Dana White has actually turned him into a stable human being. But it’s the matchup that fans of the show want to see, and it’s happening, whether they’re ready or not.

(Look who’s back.)

When Dana White kicked Jesse Taylor off “The Ultimate Fighter” Finale for being a drunken knucklehead, he also told Taylor to call him when he matured and got his act together. Apparently that only takes a few months, because Fight Hype is reporting that Taylor will be added to the July 19 event on Spike TV, and guess who he may be up against:

Despite being kicked out of The Ultimate Fighter Finale, it appears that Jesse Taylor is set to make his return to the UFC. Sources close to the situation have informed us that, less than one month after he was supposed to face Amir Sadollah in the finale, Taylor will be entering the Octagon on the July 19th card headlined by Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin. Although an opponent has yet to be named, it’s rumored that CB Dolloway, who replaced Taylor in the finale and ultimately lost a second time to Sadollah via first round submission, could be the frontrunner to land the fight.

Well isn’t this a twisted little scenario. At least we know Dollaway is relatively unscathed after his fight with Sadollah, and probably also pretty eager to get back in the Octagon to erase the painful memory of his one-tap defeat. It just goes to show that opportunity knocks more often for everyone when the UFC has a competitor they need to crush.

Now maybe if the AFL would hurry up and get huge Kalib Starnes might even find his way back into the Octagon. Probably not, though.

C.B. Dollaway tapped out in his fight with Amir Sadollah. That seemed clear to everyone but Dollaway following the bout. His vague protest of the stoppage seemed to be rooted in the belief that just tapping once wasn’t really a tap. That’s basically the MMA equivalent of trying to tell your girlfriend that it wasn’t cheating because it was with a prostitute. In other words, it’s an argument that’s doomed from the start.

In an interview with MMA Weekly, Dollaway kind of owns up to it:

“With the tap, I didn’t fully commit to the tap, but I did hit him once. I guess they ruled that a tap. I thought you had to go on and start tapping out. I did hit him once. Right as I did that, I felt my arm get into a position where I could get out. At that point Herb (Dean) ruled it as a tap out.”

Maybe the reason he felt his arm get into a better position after the initial tap was because Herb Dean stepped in and Amir began to let him go? You know, since by tapping his leg Dollaway indicated that he wanted to stop fighting. That’s usually how it works.

Whether he fully committed to the tap or not, tapping once is the same as tapping a dozen times. It’s a signal that you want to quit, which is why you probably shouldn’t tap at all if you don’t want to quit.

Good for him for sort of owning up to it in a very oblique way though. That’s kind of dignified almost.

(CBD, reppin’ the MTX Audio Fight Team.)

Pretty much everyone had CB Dollaway as a lock to get into the Ultimate Fighter 7 finale, and the former All-American wrestler from Arizona State seemed to have it clinched on last night’s episode, kicking Amir Sadollah’s ass all over the Octagon. And then it happened — an armbar in the third round put a shocking end to the fight, and seemed to derail Dollaway’s dreams of making it into the UFC. Good thing Jesse Taylor can’t handle his liquor, because now the Team Rampage standout has a chance to battle Amir again, this time for all the marbles. Talk about drama. In this exclusive Q+A, Dollaway chats with CagePotato about his rematch with Sadollah, the drawbacks of having Rampage as a coach, Jesse Taylor, and the bullshit one has to endure when living in the TUF house.

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CAGEPOTATO.COM: What do you think went wrong at the end of your semi-final match with Amir?
CB DOLLAWAY: I think conditioning came into play. We’d been fighting two-round fights previously, and it kind of slipped my mind that it was gonna be a three-round fight. Towards the end of the third round I was just exhausted, and I got sloppy. I wasn’t doing things right, and he was. He kept his composure and caught me in that armbar. I definitely think I was controlling the whole fight, and I believe I was ahead on the scorecards, but you have that mental lapse for a minute and the other guy capitalizes on it.

How confident are you that you’ll have him figured out when you fight him again?
Pretty confident. I believe I took care of the mistakes I made in the first match. I think it should be a similar fight, but with me winning at the end. He’s a hard competitor to finish — I already know that from fighting him once — so I’ve taken measures to make sure I’ll be in great condition.

What did you miss the most while you were trapped in the Ultimate Fighter house?
The freedom, I guess. We were told what to do and when to do it, and we didn’t have access to anything. You can’t call anyone, you can’t get on the Internet and browse around, you can’t go to the mall — you’re just there. In a sense, it’s like being in jail.

We’ve heard a lot about how some of the castmembers were made to look a certain way on the show through editing. Jeremy May says he wasn’t really that much of an asshole. Amir told us the “confessional” scenes involved very leading questions. How accurately do you think you were portrayed on the show?
It seemed like they portrayed me to be a cocky asshole, and I’m not really like that. I just want to be confident and I don’t want to put negative thoughts in my head before I fight. They basically edit out everything you say except for the parts where you’re being confident…

Or when you’re referring to yourself in third-person.

(Amir and his hail-Mary armbar against CB. Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

Every Thursday morning, Team Rampage member Gerald Harris blogs his reactions to each episode of The Ultimate Fighter 7 on CagePotato.com. Here’s what he had to say about last night’s insane ep, which we’ve already summarized here.

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Damn, what a season! Now, I can’t sit here and say it was the best season ever, because I didn’t watch many of the previous TUF shows, the finale hasn’t happened yet, and who am I to make such a bold statement? All I can say is that we fought our asses off and hopefully built a strong fan base for ourselves while bringing some new faces to the UFC.

I don’t want to overshadow the two fights with Jesse’s incident so I’ll address that now. I feel sorry for him, but every man is responsible for his own mistakes. It’s not like getting caught with a punch or submission — this is a voluntary act that you can control. There are consequences in the real world and unfortunately Jesse picked the wrong time to learn a lesson. I witnessed most of the events that night and even tried to help him get home, but he was out of control. With a son to feed and a future career in the UFC, the decision to go home instead of party would have changed his life.