According to the Pioneer Press:

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

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

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

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

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

If there’s one thing I love in fighter interviews it’s passive-aggressive remarks. Anybody can go out there and talk smack about an opponent or openly question his heart and his skills. But subtlety is a lost art in this business, and it can go a long way. For a great example, check out “Sugar” Rashad Evans’ remark about Liddell’s torn hamstring in this ESPN video. Says Evans, “at his age, injuries like that become harder to heal.”

Then he follows that up by saying he doesn’t expect it to be a big deal in the fight because Liddell is such a great fighter. I just really wish he would have added, “because, you know, Chuck’s sooooo experienced and has been fighting for soooo long, he can hobble his way through a fight with the best of them.”

After the jump check out Rich Franklin’s breakdown of his upcoming fight with Matt Hamill. Does he expect to be able to avoid Hamill’s takedowns all night? He does not. At least he’s being realistic.

Just as Kenny Florian won’t be sitting on the bench until BJ Penn decides to give him a title shot, Penn also wants to get another fight in by the year’s end, even though Georges St. Pierre has said he doesn’t plan on returning to the Octagon until 2009. According to a report by MMA News, BJ’s brother JD has confirmed that the UFC’s lightweight champ is back in the gym and training for a fight in December, and his fight against GSP will likely be pushed back until February 2009 when the UFC holds it’s Superbowl Weekend card.

So maybe a Penn/Florian title fight at the end of the year is still a possibility? Then again, JD’s claim that BJ will fight in both late December (against TBA) and early February (against GSP) is so unlikely it’s barely worth discussing.

The good news is, the UFC’s year-end card could wind up being so stacked that it doesn’t even need a high-profile BJ Penn fight in the lineup. Besides the heavyweight title match between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir, NBCSports has suggested that a superfight between Anderson Silva and Chuck Liddell as well as a light-heavyweight title match between Forrest Griffin and Wanderlei Silva are both outside possibilities. (It’s also been reported that the UFC is trying to set up a fight between Quinton Jackson and Wanderlei Silva for a November event, despite Silva’s preference to fight on the December card.)

Potentially related: If Tyson Griffin beats Sean Sherk, he wants Kenny Florian next.

During this recent Q&A session (shot by the MMA Analyst), Mauricio “Shogun” Rua claimed that his next fight will likely be against Quinton Jackson in December. Rua and Jackson previously met at PRIDE Total Elimination 2005 (4/23/2005), where Rua won by first-round knockout after some rib-crushing knee strikes and a trio of fight-ending soccer kicks.

If this is true, then the previous rumors about a third meeting between Rampage and Wanderlei Silva are false. In a new video interview on Sherdog, the Axe Murderer says that the UFC hasn’t spoken to him about a fight with Jackson, though he’d enjoy the matchup. (“A fight with him is a pleasure, because I don’t like him,” Silva says. He also pronounces “Rashad” as “Hasha.”) Unfortunately, this puts us back to square one on predicting who Wandy’s next opponent will be. He says he wants to rematch Chuck Liddell, but that fight may not happen until next year; if Liddell beats Rashad Evans next month, the Iceman’s next fight would very likely be Forrest Griffin for the light-heavyweight title. Wild guess: Wanderlei gets the winner of UFC 89′s Lyoto Machida/Thiago Silva match, but not until January or February.

(‘Who has the nachos? Don’t act like I don’t know nachos when I smell ‘em!’)

After reports that Zuffa was buying the video library and at least some of the IFL’s fighter contracts, we kept expecting the flood of stories about all the ex-IFL’ers making the jump to either the UFC or WEC. So far news has been relatively light on that front, but it looks like Affliction has swooped in to pick off a couple of top prospects for themselves.

MMANews.com reports that Roy Nelson will face Xtreme Couture’s Jay White at Affliction: DoR (the abbreviations have already begun, deal with it) in October. Nelson was the IFL’s only official heavyweight champ, and White is…2-5. Wonder which of these guys is being groomed for a big future in the stacked Affliction heavyweight division?

Meanwhile, Sherdog is passing along info that a rematch with Antonio Rogerio Nogueira has been offered to IFL light heavyweight champ Vladimir Matyushenko. Vladdy beat Little Nog via decision in 2002, and he never faced much of a test during his unbeaten run in the IFL. Matyushenko would make an excellent addition to the growing 205-pound ranks in Affliction, which should soon include Tito Ortiz, who Matyushenko lost a decision to in 2001.

In other news…

- Fightlinker has enlisted the services of Matthew Polly — author of this hilarious and highly recommended book — to review several of the MMA “memoirs” that have hit the shelves in recent months. Polly does to their sense of narrative and craft (and their ghostwriters’ sense of exactly how much work they’d have to do to get paid) what these same fighters would likely do to the face of anyone who uses words like narrative and craft. Fun times. Check out his review of “Iceman: My Fighting Life” and you’ll see what we mean.

- Ever wondered how rich Dana White really is? Well, rich. But Wall Street Fighter tries to nail down a solid figure. It’s actually harder than it sounds, although their photoshop of the UFC Prez is just adorable.

Watching this MMA Rated interview with Elite XC’s Jared Shaw where he answers questions as to where he’s been and what he’s doing for the company now (you should also check out their interview with a very drunk Tonya Evinger), I get the strange sense that he’s lying to me. What’s more, I feel like he knows how transparent he seems, but he’s just charging ahead with it anyway. In a strange way, I almost respect that. Almost.

But let’s talk for a moment about Elite XC’s decision of late to push Jake Shields as the world’s best welterweight, which Shaw also claims. Obviously, they like it because it allows them to call out Georges St. Pierre and the UFC, thus piggybacking on the success of their betters. But it also makes them seem a little desperate, and it’s not hard to tell that this is a strategy destined for failure.

It’s not that Jake Shields isn’t a good fighter. He is, but that isn’t the point. The point is that Elite XC has essentially just decided to proclaim him the number one welterweight because he is their number one welterweight, and because it’s the only way they can think of to get some of the UFC magic to rub off on them. Plus, they can be secure in the knowledge that the UFC will never actually take them up on the cross-promotional offer.

From a new interview on Tatame.com.br, translated by CagePotato’s Luiz De Souza.

***

How does it feel to go against another Brazilian fighter?
I wouldn’t want to go against another Brazilian, but we are all professionals and that’s how it goes. There are fights amongst people of the same nation; it’s inevitable. Only one will come out champion from this group of Brazilians, and it will become our job to go against friends. The most important thing is to deal with this as professionals. The Americans already have this in their culture, they understand it, they are friends, but when the fight comes…This happens a lot in K-1, they fight against each other and still have good relationships…I obviously would rather not go against another Brazilian, we are together representing the same country, but then again everyone is defending their own flags. I know [Silva] hasn’t had a loss yet either, he comes from great victories in the events, but I am doing my homework so that I can win this fight.

Have you started studying your opponent?
I’ve seen a couple of his fights, but it is still early to start training specifically for him. What I am doing now is my basic training, physical preparation, and in August I will train to go against him. He is tough, like all others, there has to be a built-up strategy and some good studying of his game for me to win.

Do you think that the next fighter to get a chance at the belt is the winner of your fight against Thiago, Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans, or do you think Wanderlei can be the one too?
I think anything can happen, but I think that Liddell, since he is an ex-champion, has great chances of getting the shot at it if he wins. Wanderlei also has a chance, but he was a Pride champion instead, so his chances are maybe lower than Chuck’s. Wanderlei is good enough to fight for the belt, for everything he has already done and for everything he still does, but the UFC is the one who decides.

Are you going to train with Anderson Silva for this fight?
Yes I will. In August I should be going to Rio to train with Anderson.

CagePotato reader “Facey” put together this highlight video featuring MMA’s biggest stars showing little regard for the health of their opponents. From Wanderlei Silva knocking Sakuraba and Jardine dead, to Yves Edwards’s ninja-kick KO of Josh Thomson, to Chuck Liddell beating down Tito Ortiz, to “the Randleplex” — it’s pretty much the only knockout compilation you’ll ever need. If you dig it, let him know in the comments section below or at its original home on Break.com

Break got a cease and desist letter for this one! So here’s another just as good knockout comp from Facey, that for now is living comfortably on YouTube. Enjoy.

After winning his first pro MMA bout — a decision over Noe Hernandez at UFC 17 in May 1998 — Chuck Liddell was somehow convinced to take a vale tudo match in Brazil against Jose “Pele” Landi-Jons at IVC 6 (8/23/98), with no gloves and a single 30-minute round. Pele (13-2 at the time, with all wins by stoppage) was already a minor star on the vale tudo circuit, and the unknown American challenger wasn’t supposed to be anything but an opponent for him.

The Brazilian controlled the first five minutes of the fight, at one point flooring Liddell with a head kick. But he seemed to gas early, and the Iceman took advantage. A punch flurry that begins at the video’s 6:17 mark leads to a beating that forces Pele to jump through the ropes to escape. The rest of the fight is marked by Liddell’s takedowns and top control, a long stalemate with Chuck kicking Pele from above (you can pretty much skip past 11:40-15:00), Liddell throwing headbutts and knees to the head on the ground, and a final sequence where a helpless Landi-Jons eats a few dozen punches to the face. It’s a brutal look at the early days of a legend, so if you have the time, check it out.

(Props: SKARHEAD on the UG)

From MMANews.com:

With a potential win over Rashad how do close do you think you are to getting a title shot?
Chuck Liddell: After I beat Rashad I think I deserve the next title shot.

Would you every welcome a fight between yourself and [Anderson] Silva?
Sure, it could be a good fight but I think I’m too big for him. He’s a tough fighter and I have all the respect in the world for him but I think I’d be too much for him.

I know you’ve briefly talked about it before but would yourself ever entertain the thought of moving up in weight class?
Yeah, I have talked about that a bunch of times, when I get done with what I wanna do at light-heavyweight I’ll be looking to move up in the weight class.

If you could have an open weight fight with anyone in the world who would it be?
I’d really like to get a shot at Fedor; I think I match up well with him.

The Iceman faces Rashad Evans at UFC 88 (September 6th, Atlanta) and is “hoping to be close to 100%” by the time of the fight, following a hamstring injury which he’s still recovering from. All respect to Chuck, but beating Evans shouldn’t put him next in line for a title shot, with the UFC’s 205-pound division as crowded as it is — though an additional win over Mauricio Rua at the end of the year would certainly clinch it. The thought of Chuck at heavyweight is compelling, as is a potential light-heavyweight match with Anderson Silva (who probably wouldn’t be too small to deal with Liddell, no matter what he says). And is this the first time Liddell has mentioned an interest in fighting Fedor? And when he said that, did a silent alarm go off, alerting the UFC’s lawyers that they may soon have another “situation” on their hands?

Well, pat yourselves on the back, people — who would have thought a simple, innocent picture of Chuck Liddell, Matt Hughes, and their dates enjoying a log ride could be turned into something funny? First, the most honorable mentions:

MMA-hole: “You’re right Matt, this is *way* better than fornication!”

I’m confused: Jens kept telling Matt he didn’t want to ride up front.

reality: According to Cecil Peoples, the kid was the bravest one on the ride.

totaldb: Next week on Extreme Baptism…

jakey: “now son, which character from pirates of the carribean do you think i am?”

Roach: An up-close photo of Chuck Norris taking a dump.

And now, the winnah…

10,000 BC comes out today on DVD and Blu-Ray, and Warner Home Video is providing one lucky CagePotato reader with a disc in the format of their choice. All you have to do to get it is provide a brilliant caption to the above photo of Matt Hughes, Chuck Liddell, some woman, and a terrified little boy enjoying a log ride. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but judging from the box cover it involves a battle between a caveman and a two-ton sabertooth tiger, and that’s good enough for me. Please submit your captions in the comments section by Friday morning at 8 a.m. ET; the winner will be announced shortly after. Good luck and God bless.

(Someone’s excited by Rashad’s performance, and someone else is just very bored.)

The UFC has officially announced the previously-rumored Chuck Liddell-Rashad Evans bout for UFC 88 in Atlanta, Ga. on September 6. In an email blast sent out today they played up the fact that it will be the UFC’s first foray into Atlanta, which will no doubt be referred to as “Hot-lanta” by Mike Goldberg at least twice during the live broadcast of the event.

Call me crazy, but this main event sounds better and better. “The Iceman” may have slowed a step or two, but one thing he can still do is avoid a takedown and get right back up if you do manage to put him down.

If Evans can get Liddell to the mat and beat him there, it will be hard to ignore him in the light heavyweight picture. If he decides to stand and bang with Liddell and somehow manages to win that way, well, then either Liddell will have proven that he’s ready for retirement or the world as we know it will have changed forever. There’s a good chance the laws of gravity might even fail if that happens, so you might want to tie down some of your valuables, just in case.

- In other UFC news, Evan Tanner tells Thomas Gerbasi from UFC.com that he’s a poet or artist or something:

I guess you could call this CagePotato’s first original highlight reel. We rounded up the most insane TV commercials starring MMA fighters and stuffed them into a single video for your convenience and enjoyment. Some of them are beloved classics; some you’ve probably never seen before. Noticeably absent are the unauthorized Fedor Emelianenko honey-drink spot (because we’d like to avoid any rude letters from Fedor’s lawyers), and the Rich Franklin “Xyience Teacher” commercial (because it seems to have disappeared from the Internet). But if we’ve left out any other good ones, shoot us some links in the comments section. As Randy Couture might say, “Oh, you’re gonna like this.”

(Anderson Silva: Pound-for-pound the worst liar in the world.)

— Chuck Liddell’s hamstring injury, which forced him to pull out of a match against Rashad Evans at UFC 85, isn’t looking good. “He can barely bend over and tie his shoe,” Dana White said. “He tore his leg real bad. It’s pretty nasty.” As of now, there’s no official estimate on how long it will take for the Iceman to recover and return to the Octagon.

— A welterweight bout between Tamdan “AFC” McCrory and Luke Cummo is expected to go down at UFC 87. Both men are coming off losses — to Akihiro Gono and Luigi Fioravanti, respectively — and if this isn’t a “win or get fired” match, we don’t know what is. (Update: Cheick Kongo and BodogFight/Gladiator Challenge vet Dan Evensen are also expected to meet at UFC 87.) In other fight-booking news, a lightweight match between Spencer Fisher (who most recently lost to Frankie Edgar by decision at UFC 78) and Jeremy Stephens (who most recently TKO’d Cole Miller at UFC Fight Night 12) has been added to the Ultimate Fighter 7 finale (June 21st, Las Vegas).

— Remember that two-day seminar that Anderson Silva was supposed to do this weekend at Miletich Fighting Systems Houston? Well, he backed out at the last minute, citing “personal family health issues.” Turns out Silva was in Miami doing a two-day seminar at the grand opening of his own school. Said Alex Lopera of MFS Houston, “If this is true then we have been completely mislead and as you can imagine we are furious at this. We are doing our due diligence to confirm that this is really happening. If this is true we will take all legal recourse possible.” Busted!

— Tito Ortiz predicts that at UFC 84 there will be “about 16,000, probably 15,999 [fans] that will be screaming about Tito and there will be that one person that’s hating on me.” Sure, but he’ll be hating on you so loud that it’ll seem like thousands of people, all over the arena. That son-of-a-bitch and his voice-throwing…

(An early trailer for the upcoming UFC video game.)

The boring but important notes and errata currently floating around this crazy MMA world of ours…

— THQ’s planned UFC video game has been give a rough release date of Spring 2009, which will coincide with “one of the UFC’s major events.”

— Affliction is reportedly close to locking down Fabio Negao as Matt Lindland’s opponent at their debut event on July 19th. Negao (8-3) is a veteran of the Super Challenge and Fury FC promotions who last competed in December, losing to Rousimar Palhares via first-round leglock submission. (Translation: He’s kind of a scrub.) Pedro Rizzo, who’s fighting Josh Barnett at the event, claims that it will indeed take place in California, most likely at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

— The UFC is trying to distract its fans from the fact that a historic MMA event is taking place on May 31st by scheduling a Chuck Liddell-themed programming block on SpikeTV that night. At 9:00 p.m. ET/PT, Spike will premiere “Ultimate Iceman: Chuck Liddell,” a documentary chronicling Liddell’s life inside and outside of the Octagon. Directly following at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT will be “Liddell vs. Silva: UFC Unleashed – Special Edition,” featuring the UFC 79 fight between Liddell and Wanderlei Silva, which has never been broadcast on cable. The UFC might be clever, but I have a DVR, which makes me more clever.

— The WEC has already sold out nearly all of the 8,000 seats in the ARCO Arena‘s lower bowl for WEC 34: Faber vs. Pulver, and will be releasing tickets for seats in the upper sections for a quite-reasonable $35 bucks a pop. If you’ll be anywhere near Sacramento on June 1st, go get ‘em.

— Ali “#3″ Sonoma will be appearing on the fifth season of ABC’s The Mole, which premieres June 2nd. Catch a glimpse of her in the background on the promo vids at ABC.com.

Here’s the short follow-up to E:60‘s profile on Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson that aired last December. To answer the first question you’ll have after seeing this: Blood and Bone is about a drifter who gets caught up in a mob-controlled street-fighting ring. It’s Kimbo’s first acting role, and the flick also features appearances by Bob Sapp, Gina Carano, “Justice” and “Toa” from American Gladiators, and coincidentally, another guy named Kevin Ferguson. It will be released, probably straight-to-DVD, sometime later this year. And hey, why not check out the trailer after the jump.

Just…wow. Did anybody else involuntarily dry-heave at the 0:45-0:48 mark?

(For the pimpin’ original, click here.)

(Any guesses on what they had to black out in the lower-left corner?)

Last night, the UFC officially confirmed Chuck Liddell’s hamstring injury and pullout from UFC 85. To quiet down the cynics who suggested that Chuck simply didn’t feel like traveling all the way to England to fight Rashad Evans, they released the above photo of a man showing off an enormous strawberry while cupping his taint ever so gently; apparently, it’s Liddell. According to Dana White:

“Chuck Liddell tore his right hamstring during training last week, and being the warrior that he is, he still wanted to fight, which is the reason why everyone in the world loves him. But I wouldn’t let anyone fight with his leg looking that way. Let him heal and come back and fight when he is 100 percent. We’re adding fights to the card and rearranging it so the UK fans won’t have to worry, we’ll still be bringing an amazing card to London and the O2 Arena.”

Sherdog is floating the rumor that James Irvin may step in to face Evans, though that certainly wouldn’t be the show’s main event. (It must be said that, historically, Irvin has performed very well against African-American fighters.) You’ll know more when we do…

(Sorry Nate, the Iceman has been doing the goofy-punch for years.)

It seems that the curse of Mauricio Rua extends past Shogun himself. MMARated brings us the disappointing news that Chuck Liddell recently sustained an injury and will not be fighting Rashad Evans in the main event of UFC 85 (June 7th, London); Liddell and Evans will supposedly face each other later in the summer. Liddell was originally supposed to fight Rua in UFC 85′s main event, but Rua ruptured his ACL and was replaced by Evans. No other information on Chuck’s condition is available at the moment.

Since UFC 85 doesn’t have a title fight attached to it — the other notable bouts on the card are a heavyweight match between Brandon Vera and Fabricio Werdum, and a welterweight bout between Marcus Davis and Mike Swick — Chuck’s injury represents a big loss for the event. If I was Dana White, I’d be calling Michael Bisping right now to see how his knees were doing. Not only is the Count a huge draw in his hometown, but he’s also two dominant wins away from being a credible opponent to Anderson Silva (from a marketing standpoint, at least). Unless they want the Spider on ice for the better part of a year, dreaming about boxing money, the UFC would be wise to arrange those fights for Bisping as soon as possible; and six weeks is about as soon as it gets. Nate Marquardt is already penciled in on the card to face Thales Leites. Why not poach him for an opponent?

In this new video released by Triumph United, the fighter known by his momma as Kevin Ferguson vents some frustration at “all these MMA fighters talkin’ shit about me,” and invites Chuck Liddell to come see him at Elite MMA, maybe set up a bareknuckle match, y’know, whatever. Also: James “The Colossal” Thompson is dead!

(Phil Baroni works to take down Kimbo Slice at Xtreme Couture.)

Dana White on a match between Kimbo Slice and Chuck Liddell:

“If he [Kimbo] fought anybody that mattered, I would book that tomorrow…The fact is, Kimbo’s not there yet. He would get destroyed. I heard he just got knocked out by Forrest Griffin last week in a sparring match after a kick to the head…I’d take him [Kimbo] absolutely seriously — but, again, he hasn’t beat anybody. In this sport, it’s all about ‘Who have you beat right now?” And he hasn’t beat anbody.” — Deadspin via FiveOunces

Quite a tune-change for White, who was previously dismissive of Kimbo’s potential. But with the Iceman’s last fight only 2-4 years away, the UFC prez may already be looking ahead to a final glorious cash-in for the Octagon’s most loyal star. If things continue to go well for Kimbo, he’ll have earned his respect among MMA purists by the time Liddell is ready to retire. Could Slice vs. Liddell headline UFC 127: The Clone Wars on New Year’s Eve 2011? We’ll go ahead and clear our schedule…

(“Hey, Ladies, where’s the fire?”)

At 38, The Iceman is talking about doing what scores of athletes in every sport have done before him: go into coaching after he’s done competing. Liddell has stated that he loves what he does — not sure if he meant getting drunk and groping chicks, or fighting — but he figures he’s got between 2-4 years left in the cage. The reality of age is starting to creep in and he’s got a plan for the future…or at least an idea of what he might do in retirement.

From The Sun:

“I definitely will be moving into coaching. I’ve got a couple of guys that have been training with me for a long time and they’ve helped me get to where I’m at today.

“So if nothing else I’ll be around for a few years helping them out with their careers.”

Well, at least he won’t be going into “acting” and polluting the already-polluted movie field, right?

(Roger Huerta could be ending his fight-hiatus in August.)

Brief (but important) developments in the world of organized violence…

— MMAMadness has learned from a “very reliable source” that UFC lightweight Roger Huerta will return to the Octagon at UFC 87 (August 9th, Minneapolis), against a yet-unnamed opponent. Could this be related to Kenny Florian’s recent call-out of “El Matador”? If it’s not, Joe Silva can basically go eff himself.

— In his first TUF7 column for Fox Sports, Forrest Griffin reveals that all the fighters were instructed to show up at no heavier than 190 pounds; so that one dude who had to drop 17 in one day only has himself to blame. Also: “I noticed that for the first couple of days ‘Rampage’ was much more funny than me and I was upset by that.”

— Perhaps due to the controversy spurring from last week’s news coverage of kiddie MMA, legislators are seeking to ban children’s MMA competitions in Missouri, the only state where youth matches are allowed. The MO-based youth-MMA organization Freestyle Combat League already requires its fighters to wear head gear and shin guards, and prohibits strikes to the head of a grounded opponent. The head of the FCL, Nathan Orand, says he’ll also be adding chest and stomach protectors for fighters younger than 14, allowing referees to stop a match if they see the danger of a joint injury, and switching from a cage to a ring. Sounds safe enough for our daughter!

— This Portfolio article on Chuck Liddell-as-accountant is notable for the following metaphor: “When I’m watching pre-fight tapes, I’m collecting all my receipts on my opponents, accumulating data,” [Liddell] says. “Once I step into the cage, it’s April 15. Everything is due.”

— MMAJunkie just put up an article evaluating the UFC performance of the 100 fighters featured on the first six seasons of The Ultimate Fighter. Junkie’s rather downbeat assessment: “[O]nly about 20 percent could be generously credited as UFC stars, or even serious contenders in their weight classes…more than half of the “TUF” contestants were unequivocal flops in that they failed to last more than two or three fights with the organization, if even that long.”

— Our buddy Ariel at JarryPark was recently named Editor-in-Chief of MMARated.com (mazel tov, brotha), and just put up a great audio interview with Cung Le, in which the new Strikeforce middleweight champ discusses Frank Shamrock’s trash-talk and his current contract situation with Strikeforce.

— Have a friend you don’t mind getting uncomfortably close with? Then these 10 “Ultimate Fighting” Exercises might be for you…

(Rampage: Stokin’ the Silva-Jackson III fire?)

Lotta’ trash talk floating around the past few days and here are some select dishes from today’s war of words.

— The Sun — which is apparently owned and operated by Chuck Liddell what with all the love they give him — has a piece today detailing The Iceman’s thoughts on Kimbo Slice. In a nutshell, Chuck doesn’t think Kimbo is worthy of the praise. The UFC light heavyweight fighter talks about how Kimbo has yet to be tested in MMA and mentions his first fight against Bo Cantrell — a guy who had already been KO’d twice before in under 30 seconds.

“So is that a real fight? I mean come on! The guy tapped before he hit the matt – he was tapping on the way down!”

“Gannon beat him didn’t he? And how long did Gannon last in the UFC?!!

“Kimbo’s one of those guys who doesn’t have any ground game. He’s training and he’s learning but he’s been built up as such a big star and that’s the thing that bothers me.

“People talk about him like he’s the next great thing when he really hasn’t done anything.

“He’s been built up because of the Internet and him beating a bunch of guys on the street.”

Using Kimbo’s loss to Sean Gannon in a ‘street fight’ as a prime example is something that a lot of people resort to. It’s also the same people that say Kimbo has no ground game. But mat work has nothing to do with Kimbo’s loss to Sean Gannon — that fight was a fist fight with an occasional lock-up. The only time it went to the ground was when both fighters were so gassed they collapsed on one another. And who fucking knows if Kimbo has a ground game or not. We’ve never seen him have to use one.

Chuck then talks about how he could make his own set of KO vids — although his plan would be to just go around punching people.

Our favorite author makes an appearance in the upcoming Owen Wilson flick, Drillbit Taylor. Blink and you’ll miss it. Seriously…

Wonder how many takes it took to get a coherent performance from Chuck?

(…or group-gropes.)

With the UFC’s heavyweight division utterly bereft of legitimate contenders to face Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, the organization may need to start thinking creatively. And if they need Chuck Liddell to bail them out, Liddell would be up for it.

On Fight Network Radio, Chuck said he’d be willing to fight Minotauro for the interim big-boy belt if the UFC requests it. “If they want to set it up. I’m willing to do it,” he said. “Honestly I would like to get my title back at light heavyweight and then talk about moving up, but if that came up, (that) too is a possibility.”

Though Liddell is aching for another crack at Quinton Jackson, a win over Rashad Evans technically shouldn’t put him any closer to a title shot, and Chuck probably wouldn’t fare any better in a third match with Rampage than he did in their first two fights. He had a great run as the light-heavyweight champ — instead of chasing past glory, why not shoot for a new accomplishment and take on Nog at heavyweight? Especially if we’re talking about an immediate title shot (well, after Chuck gets through Rashad Evans, of course). Big as he is, Nogueira is beatable. And Rampage has Chuck figured out. Simple math, people.

(A black & white photo makes it uber classy, no?)

The Iceman has spoken about who he wants to fight next (after UFC 85) and it includes the usual suspects, plus a new entry. Liddell thinks he should be the one to take down Fedor Emelianenko. Chuck spoke to The Sun recently and had this to say about a possible match-up with the Russian badass:

“Fedor’s someone I want to fight because he’s someone I match up well with. He’s a ground and pound guy that doesn’t have a great shot. He doesn’t have a great game plan.

“I think I could take him. I think I match up well with him.

“As far as I know he’s never knocked anyone out from his feet and I think he’d have a hard time taking me down.”

Liddell goes on to say he might consider a move up to the heavyweight division once he’s done with light heavyweight. By “done”, we assume he means beating Rampage, Jardine, Wanderlei Silva again, and successfully defending the belt against someone like Dana-favorite Sokoudjou.

(Yep, that’s Rashad Evans.)

Despite some of you suggesting that madman striker Houston Alexander should take on Chuck Liddell as a replacement for the injured Mauricio Rua — not a bad idea, and one we overlooked earlier — the UFC has gone with one of the safer options that we were expecting, booking Rashad Evans to face the Iceman. Sherdog confirmed last night that the undefeated Ultimate Fighter 2 winner will be meeting Chuck Liddell at UFC 85 on June 7th in London.

It seems like Evans was picked to fill-in because he’d be the least likely to make Liddell eat another loss. Chuck’s a banger, and if he stayed in the pocket with unpredictable brawlers like Alexander or Sokoudjou, he could easily catch a knockout punch. Thiago Silva would have been just as dangerous, as he’s a threat both standing and on the ground, and he’s won all but one of his fights by stoppage. But aside from the occasional head-kick, Rashad Evans sticks to takedowns and lay-and-pray, and it’s nothing that Chuck won’t be able to deal with. In fact, we see this one turning out a lot like UFC 82′s Arlovski/O’Brien farce.

I can’t imagine many people being psyched about this matchup. Evans has a reputation for dullness, and UFC fans aren’t going to want to see Liddell spend entire rounds on his back. And from a marketing perspective, it’ll be tough to sell — Rashad’s a much smaller name than Chuck, and there’s no personal rivalry between them. But it will give the Brits a chance to throw bottles at the man who edged out their beloved Michael Bisping in November. Let’s all hope for a quick and brutal knockout…

(One of the most hospitalized fighters in MMA is at it again.)

That’s the official word from the UFC:

Scheduled to make his return to the Octagon this June against Chuck Liddell at UFC 85 in London, light heavyweight star Mauricio “Shogun” Rua has instead been forced to withdraw from the bout due to a ruptured ACL in his left knee, the same injury he had surgery on to repair last October after his UFC 76 fight with Forrest Griffin.

Surgery on the injured knee will be scheduled shortly, and there is no word on when Rua will be cleared to return to the Octagon.

Liddell’s opponent for UFC 85, which will be held at London’s O2 Arena on June 7th, will be announced shortly.

Damn it, we were really looking forward to that one. All we can say to Rua is find a competent surgeon or find a new line of work; we’ve seen more pictures of you in a hospital bed than in a gym. And who knows who Liddell’s replacement opponent will be, because all of the UFC’s other top 205ers are already busy around that time. Check it…

Quinton Jackson, Forrest Griffin: fighting each other in July
Lyoto Machida, Tito Ortiz: fighting each other in May
Wanderlei Silva, Keith Jardine: fighting each other in May
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou: scheduled to fight Kazuhiro Nakamura in May
Thiago Silva, Rashad Evans: likely to fight each other in May

That doesn’t really leave anyone else that would give Chuck a serious challenge. We’d guess that either T. Silva, Evans, or Sokoudjou will be pulled off the match they were slated for to fight Chuck. Thiago and Sokoudjou might be interesting opponents, but a win for Chuck wouldn’t do much to prove he’s ready for another title shot, and a loss would sink him. Fucking Shogun — this kind of ruins everything.