On paper, this Saturday’s TUF 17 Finale card is dominated by wide mismatches. But which fights will actually be blowouts, and which ones will end in profitable upsets? Check out the betting lines below (via bestfightodds.com) and let’s see if we can win some cash off this thing.

MAIN CARD (FX, 9 p.m. ET)
Urijah Faber (-435) vs. Scott Jorgensen (+375)
Uriah Hall (-309) vs. Kelvin Gastelum (+325)
Cat Zingano (-115) vs. Miesha Tate (+106)
Travis Browne (-250) vs. Gabriel Gonzaga (+240)
Robert McDaniel (-166) vs. Gilbert Smith (+155)

PRELIMINARY CARD (FUEL TV, 7 p.m. ET)
Josh Samman (-445) vs. Kevin Casey (+370)
Luke Barnatt (-124) vs. Collin Hart (+115)
Jimmy Quinlan (+100) vs. Dylan Andrews (+105)
Clint Hester (-160) vs. Bristol Marunde (+150)

PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook, 5:30 p.m. ET)
Bart Palaszewski (-160) vs. Cole Miller (+155)
Daniel Pineda (-120) vs. Justin Lawrence (+109)
Maximo Blanco (-200) vs. Sam Sicilia (+195)

If you’re confused about what the numbers mean, read this. Otherwise, let’s proceed…

By Elias Cepeda

UFC featherweight Cole Miller (18-6) doesn’t mince words and isn’t initially open to reflection today. He’s on his way from Miami’s international airport to Los Angeles, where he will fight Nam Pham this Saturday, August 4th, on the preliminary card of UFC on Fox: Shogun vs. Vera.

Traveling is hardly ever any fun, and it must be less so for someone cutting weight, as Miller is. And when he’s asked what he may have learned from his last fight, a loss to Steven Siler in March, Miller is hard on himself.

“I wouldn’t say I learned anything from that fight. I just looked like shit,” he deadpans. “I moved backwards too much, I tried to counter too much, which is not really my game. I don’t know why I did that.”

Miller has never lost two fights in a row in his MMA career — and admits to a certain pride in that — but says that these days, losing at all is not acceptable. “When I was younger [losing two in a row] really meant that you didn’t learn from your previous mistake or didn’t work hard enough. Now its more of a, ‘losing sucks, period,’ feeling,” he says.

(What’s creepier: Ian McCall‘s mustache or Joseph Benavidez‘s pierced nipples? Video courtesy of YouTube.com/UFC)

UFC on FX 2 weigh-ins were held yesterday at the Allphones Arena in Sydney, Australia, with all 22 fighters successfully hitting their marks. No real surprises, although the bad blood between Cole Miller and Steven Siler was palpable. If you’ll recall, Siler scored a surprising submission against Cole’s brother Micah in the preliminary round of TUF 14, and it was clear yesterday that Cole — who’s making his UFC featherweight debut — is still upset about that. The two talked smack and got in each other’s faces until they had to be restrained by Joe Silva and Burt Watson. Also, Thiago Alves gained back nearly 30 pounds just three hours after hitting the scale, which is insane, but at least he made weight this time. The full weigh-in results are below…

Main Card
Thiago Alves (170.5) vs. Martin Kampmann (170.5)
Joseph Benavidez (125.5) vs. Yasuhiro Urushitani (125.5)
Demetrious Johnson (125.5) vs. Ian McCall (125.5)
Constantinos Philippou (185.5) vs. Court McGee (184.5)

Preliminary Card
Aaron Rosa (205.5) vs. James Te Huna (206)
Nick Penner (203.5) vs. Anthony Perosh (205)
Cole Miller (146) vs. Steven Siler (146)
Kyle Noke (185) vs. Andrew Craig (185)
Jake Hecht (171) vs. T.J. Waldburger (170)
Mackens Semerzier (146) vs. Daniel Pineda (146)
Shawn Jordan (245.5) vs. Oli Thompson (235)

After the jump: FUEL TV’s “UFC on FX 2″ weigh-in special, hosted by Jay Glazer and Stephan Bonnar.

By Elias Cepeda

(After making his UFC featherweight debut Friday, Miller will finally be able to put his embarrassing past fighting as a morbidly obese fat man [above] behind him.)

Cole Miller is in Sydney, Australia cutting weight for the first time in years. The young UFC fighter has competed at lightweight (155 pounds) since he entered the organization in 2007, but before that time he often fought at 145 pounds.

The UFC didn’t used to have a 145-pound division and even after it purchased the WEC – which did feature lighter weight classes – Miller says he was intent on staying in the promotion in order to take advantage of its larger fight bonuses (which, incidentally, he’s won several of), so he stayed at lightweight.

But now the promotion has lighter weight divisions and this Friday Miller will once again return to fighting where he says he belongs: at featherweight.

(Apparently Corassani treats tapping the same way he deals with flipping to the wrong page of a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Novel. Gif via ZombieProphet at IronForgesIron.)

This should come as no surprise, but none other than TUF 14 alum and all around jackwagon Akira Corassani has been booked to take on British striker Jason Young at the UFC’s inaugural trip to Sweden for its second UFC on FUEL event. Corassani, a Swedish born (the streets, specifically) Muay Thai striker, has trained with the likes of Siyar Bahadurzada, Frankie Edgar, and Eddie Alvarez, and made a name for himself on this past season of The Ultimate Fighter, bringing a combination of power punches and Jersey Shore-like swagger to the house before being choked into wonderland by eventual runner-up Dennis Bermudez in the semifinals.

Young, who has dropped a couple of close decisions to Dustin Poirier and Michihiro Omigawa in his octagon run, will likely be fighting for his job when he takes on Corassani. A word to the wise Jason: steer clear of the leg-locks on this one.

(NOW we get why Kyle’s friends often refer to him as “The Poke” Noke.) 

After collecting three straight stoppage victories in as many UFC contests, EliteXC and TUF 11 veteran Kyle Noke was quickly building up a reputation as one of the top up-and-comers in the middleweight division. Being one of the few successful Australian fighters to grace the UFC (sorry, Elvis), Noke carried a bit more pressure on his shoulders than the average TUF alum, especially when heading into his UFC Live 5 match against resurgent TUF 3 veteran Ed Herman. Unfortunately Noke (and therefore the Australian MMA community), would fall to a first round heel hook in that fight, placing all Aussie UFC hopes in the hands of a man nicknamed after an animal relative to Africa.

But fret not, ye Fosters enthusiasts, for Noke’s path to redemption will begin in the land from which he was birthed. Yes, “KO” recently announced that he will be taking on Jared Hamman at UFC on FX 2, which goes down at the Allphones Arena in Sydney, Australia. Hamman, whom we will forever be in debt to for knocking CB Dolloway out of the UFC, will also be looking to build up a win streak; he was most recently flattened in the first round by Constantinos Philippou at UFC 140. This match has yet to be confirmed by the UFC.

Join us after the jump for some juicy featherweight and bantamweight gossip…

In the early days of The Ultimate Fighter, simply spraying water on a sleeping person was considered a brilliant prank. But after 14 seasons, the bar has been steadily raised for in-house trickery, to the point where even the coaches are now gleefully stripping cars of their tires. We thought we’d pay tribute to the TUF prank tradition by running down the most infamous pranks of the show’s history. Enjoy, and let us know if we’ve left out any of your favorites…

The Pink Room (Season 10)

See, this is what I’m talking about. Any moron can piss on a bed — but it takes a man to spend all afternoon painting walls pink and arranging stuffed animals in vaguely sexual poses. The best moment is at the very end, when Rashad Evans comes to the realization that the pacifier he’d been sucking on had definitely been up Tiki’s ass at some point.

See also: The Chickenmobile, The Team Portrait

Ariel is *still* asking fighters about beefs. Some guys never learn. VidProps: Ariel Helwani

Donald Cerrone is one of those guys that will apologize for not kicking a guy’s ass thoroughly enough, even when no drunk frat guys are booing in the crowd. After failing to put away a one-legged Vagner Rocha, Cerrone was visibly disappointed with his performance. Knowing Cowboy, though, no one is in a hurry to give him a hard time about it, including our boy Ariel Helwani.

Helwani caught up with Cerrone to ask him about the fight, his feuds with Mac Danzig and Cole Miller, and who he’d like to fight next. Pretty standard stuff that we’ve covered before, until they start talking matchups. Cerrone hasn’t forgotten about Danzig, whom Cowboy had previously insinuated faked an injury to get out of fighting him. “I’m just talking shit, that’s what I do.” Cerrone says of Danzig. “I hope he’s not injured, I hope he can fight.”

(Props: Heavy)

The UFC handed out $40,000 performance bonuses to five fighters following UFC Fight Night: Marquardt vs. Palhares, including two separate "Submission of the Night" awards. The honorees are:

Knockout of the Night: Brian Foster, for his 67-second storming of Forrest Petz, which was the lone stoppage on the preliminary card. Petz now drops to 0-2 in his current UFC stint, and will most likely be shown the door.

Submission of the Night (1): Cole Miller, for dropping Ross Pearson with punches in the second round of their fight, then icing him with a rear-naked choke. Miller has scored the SotN award in three of his last five appearances, and officially enters the UFC Performance Bonus Leaderboard. 

Submission of the Night (2): Charles Oliveira, who pushed his record to 14-0 with a huge win over TUF 8 winner Efrain Escudero, secured via standing rear-naked choke in the third round. Though he had trouble getting Escudero to the mat in the first two frames, Oliveira showed off his tenacity in the victory, as well as some impressively unorthodox striking.

Fight of the Night: Kyle Kingsbury and Jared Hamman, for their fast-paced three-round brawl in the prelims. Despite a third-round rally from Hamman, Kingsbury’s domination and damage in the first two frames secured him 29-28 scores from all three judges.

Some other notes on the fights…

(Sometimes you forget how enormous Nate Marquardt is, and then you see him standing next to Chandella Powell and you’re like "damn, bro." / Photo courtesy of the UFN 22 Weigh In Pics gallery on CombatLifestyle.com)

What happens when you put two massively-jacked, notoriously aggressive middleweights in a cage together, one of whom is returning from a three-month suspension for his complete disregard of his opponents’ safety? Great things, we’re sure! Live play-by-play for tonight’s UFC Fight Night 22 event on Spike will be poppin’ off after the jump starting at 8 p.m. ET. Check your local listings before wading into spoilers, and refresh the page every few minutes to get all the latest results for Marquardt vs. Palhares, Efrain "El Gordo" Escudero vs. Charles Oliveira, Jim Miller vs. Gleison Tibau, and the outspoken Cole Miller vs. TUF 9 champ Ross Pearson. Be sure to stick around afterwards for the premiere of The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck — or just read our episode recap tomorrow morning.

("Wrestling should be a means to an end…You should be taking guys down so you can ground-and-pound the living piss out of them." Photo courtesy of the UFN 22 Weigh In Pics gallery on CombatLifestyle.com.)

If Cole Miller‘s match against Ross Pearson at tonight’s UFC Fight Night 22 event is boring, it won’t be Cole’s fault. The lightweight standout prides himself on being an exciting fight-finisher, and has stopped three of his last four opponents by submission. Miller was a guest on the latest installment of CagePotato’s Bum Rush Radio Show, and gave us an earful about the growing trend of point-fighting "underachievers" in MMA and why judging in the sport sucks so badly. Check out an excerpt from Miller’s segment below, and please subscribe to The Bum Rush Show on iTunes!

CAGEPOTATO.COM: I just saw your interview with BJPenn.com, where you referred to Frankie Edgar as a "bouncy wrestler type" who doesn’t try to finish, and is content to just stick and move and score the occasional takedown for points. Was Frankie dominating BJ Penn really not that impressive to you?
COLE MILLER: No, I thought it was very impressive. I don’t think you can say anything about his skill set. It’s just more like, I look back at his past fights — and it’s not so much Frankie Edgar, it’s just a trend with all weight classes and all these fighters — and it’s becoming more like boxing where these guys are just trying to do enough to win the round. "Let’s do just enough to get by. Let’s get that 10 points. And then let’s get that 10 points again. Oh, I’m up two rounds to none? Man, let’s just ride this out. Let’s just survive and do enough to just stay competitive, and man, I got that 29-28 at the very least."

It’s like, that’s really what you came here to do? And I’m not talking so much about Frankie [in] this second BJ fight. I’m just using him as an example because it was a recent fight and he’s a guy that has a lot of decisions on his record. Man the guy can really box, the guy’s got awesome boxing, he’s got good footwork, he definitely comes in shape, and he didn’t look like a slouch on the ground, he’s very well rounded, so to say that you’re not impressed with somebody, especially a champion, I think that’s kind of silly…it’s more like the mental approach to fighting. I just think that guys should have more of a finishing outlook on fights. Doing enough to just get by, that’s not something that’s looked well upon.

You look at boxing, why is MMA outdoing it on pay-per-view for the most part? It’s not because people can appreciate the takedowns and the ground game all that much more, even though the general population is becoming more and more educated, it’s because people like to see fights finished. Boxing was not getting the knockouts and you weren’t seeing these devastating knockouts like you used to, and people stopped buying the pay per views because the general public doesn’t want to see 36 minutes of two guys both trying to do enough to win the rounds and get that 10, and get that 10, and get that 10….

 
(007 373 5963 will take you right past our inane banter to Cole’s interview) 

Well it’s been a while, but The Bum Rush Radio Show is finally back from a short hiatus. Unfortunately, because of the UFC Fan Expo and a handful of weddings all of us were guilted into attending, our free time was very sparse the last few weeks, but we’re ready to start pumping this thing out on the regular again.

On the bright side we had a lot to talk about this episode.

Besides our usual kibitzing about upcoming match-ups and the week’s top stories, UFC lightweight, Cole Miller stopped by to talk to Ben and shared his thoughts on a plethora of subjects, including UFC lightweight champ Frankie Edgar, his disdain for Cecil Peoples, why he loves Ninja Turtles and how he sees his fight with TUF 9 winner Ross Pearson going down next week at UFC Fight Night 22.

(Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Though UFC 108 had a lot of great finishes and battles to choose from, the recipients of the traditional end-of-night bonuses should come as no suprise. Picking up the $50,000 bumps are:

– Knockout of the Night: Paul "Semtex" Daley, for the IED he detonated on Dustin Hazelett.

– Submission of the Night: Cole Miller, for his inverted triangle on Dan Lauzon; I know it’s early, but I’m sure we’ll be seeing that one on "Best of 2010" lists.

– Fight of the Night: Sam Stout and Joe Lauzon. After suffering through Lauzon’s takedowns and elbows in the opening minutes, Stout put on the striking performance of his life en route to a lopsided decision.

Other notes on the evening…

(Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

By Elias Cepeda for CagePotato

Losing is always miserable, but in a combat sport like MMA, getting beaten is no figure of speech. If you lose, you hurt; physically and badly. The risk and danger involved in MMA competition helps make it more exciting than other sports, but behind every highlight-reel knockout and submission is ugly and unfortunate pain — at least for the guy laid out.

Over four years as a pro and nearly twenty fights Cole Miller (15-4) had never been the guy on his back, unconscious after a fight. But there he was being revived and staring up at the lights last September after being dropped by Efrain Escudero.

The hardest part for Miller was not losing in and of itself, or the headache he had to deal with for a bit afterwards. He says it came down to having so much seemingly productive work and sacrifice be rebuffed so abruptly.

“Knowing that I trained that hard, sacrificed a lot in my personal life for the 10-12 weeks in camp all for three and a half minutes and it didn’t go my way. That was disheartening to say the least. Being able to let it go. Accepting that that kind of thing happens and happened for the first time and that it could happen again. Knowing that I’m just a man, you know? These were the hardest parts of dealing with that loss,” Miller says.

(Sonnen gives Paulo Filho an intervention, Team Quest-style. Photo courtesy of BaltimoreSun.com.)

Although initial reports claimed that Ed Herman would be stepping in for the injured Yushin Okami against Dan Miller at UFC 98 (May 23rd, Las Vegas), there’s been another change in plans. It seems that Herman has declined the fight — likely because he just competed at UFC 97 and the five-week turnaround would be too short — and Okami’s actual replacement will be Herman’s Team Quest teammate Chael Sonnen.

Sonnen was most recently submitted by Demian Maia in his UFC return fight in February, which dropped his overall Octagon record to 1-3. The WEC/Bodog vet was slated to face Wilson Gouveia at UFC 102 (August 29th; Portland, Oregon) and still hopes to take that fight if his scrap with Dan Miller goes well. Though considering Miller’s skill with submissions (and Sonnen’s tendency to get submitted), Sonnen may be out of a job by this summer.

In other news…

(As if this wasn’t humiliating enough, Jason was also forced to pay for his own rape kit. [What, too soon?] Photo courtesy of MMAWeekly.)

— Recent reports have indicated that middleweight Jason Day and welterwight Josh Burkman are the latest fighters to be canned by the UFC. Though Day won his UFC debut against Alan Belcher last April, he then lost back-to-back fights against Michael Bisping and Kendall Grove, both by first-round TKO. Burkman’s exit is even less surprising, as his loss to Pete Sell at UFC 90 was his third-straight Octagon defeat. Akihiro Gono was also cut last month after dropping two straight.

— After bumbling regional ref Rick Fike stopped their first fight way too early, lightweights Aaron Riley and Shane Nelson will get another chance to tangle at UFC 101 (August 8th, Philadelphia). Nelson was awarded a TKO victory at UFC 96 after knocking Riley to the mat in the first round, but Riley immediately invoked the "what the fuck is your problem?" rule and the crowd backed him up with chants of "Bullshit!"

(Carlos Condit vs. Martin Kampmann)

Last night’s "Condit vs. Kampmann" card brought in a live gate of $626,077, thanks to its 10,267 spectators — which made it the most well-attended Fight Night show in UFC history. $120,000 was re-distributed to the fighters in the form of $30,000 end-of-night bonuses. Taking home the extra cash were…

Fight of the Night: Tyson Griffin and Rafael Dos Anjos, as mentioned earlier. Don’t ask us why their sloppy slugfest got the nod over the technical back-and-forth battle of the main event.

Knockout of the Night: Aaron Simpson’s first-round stoppage of Tim McKenzie in the night’s opening bout turned out to be the only TKO on the card, so he scored the bonus by default.

Submission of the Night: Rob Kimmons earned the bump with his first-round guillotine choke victory over Joe Vedepo, which put Vedepo to sleep for the second time in his short UFC career. It was nice knowing you, buddy.

More videos from the main card after the jump…

(‘No, you let go!’ Photo courtesy of MMA Weekly)

Who’s up and who’s down on this Thursday morning?  Only The Potato Index knows.  Gather ‘round and listen closely as it whispers the answers to you via its arbitrary numerical ratings system.  Shhh, it’s starting…

Martin Kampmann +91

The Dane justified every positive thing that’s been said about him in the past week.  He proved to be well-rounded, resilient, and effective, even if he looked a little gassed in the final round.  If he improves his wrestling skills he could be a contender at 170 pounds.  You can argue the decision if you want, but the only judge who didn’t score it in his favor was Cecil Peoples.  What does that tell you?

Carlos Condit -34

No one wants to debut in the UFC with a loss, but it’s not like he got trampled by some nobody.  Condit acquitted himself well even in defeat, and once he gets a little more comfortable in the UFC he might prove to be a real threat.  He’s going to have to start near the bottom, though.

(It gets a little heated at the 1:30 mark, and believe it or not it’s Cole Miller who escalates things.)

Those of you who were looking forward to the Steve Steinbeiss/Ryan Jensen fight that you probably weren’t going to see aired on Spike TV anyway are sure going to be…disappointed, I guess?  According to Cage Writer, the fight was scrapped when Jensen tested positive for Adderall, the ADHD drug also known to help fighters who are trying to cut weight or cram for that biology midterm.  So that explains that.

In other Fight Night 18 weigh-in news, check Cole Miller getting all up in Junie Browning‘s business.  It looks like Miller’s mouth is working hard too, though we can only guess what he was saying (something about Junie setting a bad example for the impressionable youth of Kentucky, we assume).  Oddly, Browning is the one who appears to remain calm throughout the encounter.  He even gives Miller a friendly, go-get-em butt slap.  Such a nice boy he turned out to be.  So supportive.

Apparently Cole Miller’s mother never told him that if you don’t have something nice to say about someone, you shouldn’t say anything at all.  Talking to Steve Cofield (it doesn’t get remotely interesting until a little after the six-minute mark), Miller responds to a question about what he thinks of Junie Browning on a technical level by saying: “Nothing.  I don’t think he’s technical at all.”

Miller then goes on to point out that Browning has never tapped out or knocked out anyone who matters, before then comparing him to past opponents like Andy Wang and concluding that Browning is the worst fighter he’s faced in the UFC, next to Allen Berube (ouch!).  

So is Miller right about Browning?  Maybe.  We don’t really know for sure, since all we’ve really seen of him comes from his “Ultimate Fighter” antics and his submission victory over Dave Kaplan, who’s not exactly top-level competition.  But even if he is right, I’m not sure it’s such a great idea to go around talking about how almost-comically bad your next opponent is.  If you manage to get people to believe that he’s one of the worst fighters ever to step into the Octagon, then it’s not enough to just beat him.  You have to beat him quickly and effortlessly, otherwise you look like a punk.

(You didn’t think Martin Kampmann’s eyebrows always looked so perfect by accident, did you?)

When last we left the Gambling Addiction Enabler, a mathematical error had left him mistakenly believing that he suffered a net loss at UFC 96 rather than a gain of $30.  So now that he’s realized his error, you might be wondering, does that mean he has an extra thirty bones to throw around at UFC Fight Night 18?  Sadly, no.  That event was several weeks ago, so he’s already spent the money on a bunch of Snoop Dogg posters from Hot Topic.  That’s the bad news.  The good news is that his home office now looks straight-up gangsta.

But tomorrow night is a brand new opportunity to turn MMA knowledge and a taste for reckless financial risk into cold hard cash.  Here are the best lines on the internet, courtesy of BestFightOdds.com:

Carlos Condit (+102) vs. Martin Kampmann (-110)
Ryan Bader (-400) vs. Carmelo Marrero (+360)
Tyson Griffin (-385) vs. Rafael Dos Anjos (+355)
Junie Browning (+120) vs. Cole Miller (-125)
Gleison Tibau (-145) vs. Jeremy Stephens (+145)
Ricardo Almeida (-275) vs. Matt Horwich (+245)
Brock Larson (-450) vs. Jesse Sanders (+400)
Tim Credeur (-117) vs. Nick Catone (+110)
Jorge Rivera (-135) vs. Nissen Osterneck (+140)
Rob Kimmons (-255) vs. Joe Vedepo (+230)
Tim McKenzie (+145) vs. Aaron Simpson (-167)
Steve Steinbeiss (+165) vs. Ryan Jensen (-195)

Thoughts…

(Your daughter’s prom date is here…)

When I called Junie Browning to see how he was feeling a week before his first UFC fight since “The Ultimate Fighter” finale, he was out shopping for video games.  It might not seem like it at first, but this is apparently a sign of how much his life has changed since moving to Las Vegas to train at Xtreme Couture and getting serious about his fighting career.  Now he trains full-time.  Despite living in Sin City, he doesn’t go out much.  Instead he stays home and plays Killzone or Resident Evil 5 in between training sessions.  It occupies his time.  And it keeps him out of trouble.

“All I do is train now,” he said.  “I’m in awesome shape right now.  Better than I’ve ever been, training harder than I ever have.  I’ve done more for this than I have for any other fight.”

At next week’s Ultimate Fight Night in Nashville Browning takes on former TUF contestant Cole Miller, who has vowed to “expose” and “smash” him.  You’d think that kind of language would get a reaction out of the volatile kid from Kentucky we saw on TUF, but oddly, you’d be wrong.

(Another otherwise-lovely photo ruined by red-eye. Props to JunieBrowning.com.)

TUF 8‘s man-you-love-to-hate is close to finalizing his next Octagon appearance. Junie Browning and TUF 5 castmember Cole Miller have reportedly agreed to face each other at UFC Fight Night 18 (April 1st, Nashville). Still a perfect 3-0 as a professional, Browning most recently submitted Dave Kaplan via armbar at last month’s TUF 8 finale, and has been trying to get his game tightened up at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas. Miller (14-3) is an American Top Team member who last fought at UFC 86 in July, where he choked out Jorge Gurgel. Sounds like a solid step up in competition for "The Lunatik" — will he rise to the challenge?

In other fight-bookin’ news…

— UFC Fight Night 18 will also host a middleweight bout between Ricardo Almeida and Matt Horwich, who are both coming off losses. Almeida dropped a split decision to Patrick Cote at UFC 86, while former IFL champion Horwich lost a decision to Dan Miller in his Octagon debut at UFC 90. As accomplished and talented as both fighters are, the loser might find himself without a contract.

— Junie Browning’s Team Mir drinking buddy Shane Nelson, who clawed out a split decision victory over George Roop at the TUF 8 finale, is being brought back to take on Aaron Riley at UFC 96 (March 7th, Columbus). Just like Cole Miller, Riley’s last appearance was also a win over Jorge Gurgel, at UFC 91 in November. Poor Jorge Gurgel.

Get ‘em while they last…

(Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Justin McCully)

(Melvin Guillard vs. Dennis Siver)

The official judges’ tallies, from Dave Meltzer via Fightlinker:

Adalaide Byrd
Round 1: 10-9 Griffin
Round 2: 10-8 Griffin
Round 3: 10-9 Griffin
Round 4: 10-9 Jackson
Round 5: 10-9 Jackson

Nelson Hamilton
Round 1: 10-9 Jackson
Round 2: 10-8 Griffin
Round 3: 10-9 Griffin
Round 4: 10-9 Jackson
Round 5: 10-9 Griffin

Roy Silbert
Round 1: 10-9 Griffin
Round 2: 10-9 Griffin
Round 3: 10-9 Griffin
Round 4: 10-9 Jackson
Round 5: 10-9 Griffin

Personally, I don’t agree that Rampage was “robbed” in this decision whatsoever — I think Griffin clearly controlled rounds 1, 2, and 5 — but for all three judges to give round 3 to the challenger is very questionable; Rampage found his distance in that round and started landing his lead-fisted punch combos. But then again, all three judges gave round 4 to Jackson, which I saw as a very close frame that could have been scored for Griffin due to his triangle attempt, which came within a ball-hair of finishing the fight. I’m sure the argument will rage on, but there’s one thing we can all agree on: These judges are totally incompetent. Where’s Cecil Peoples when you need him?

As if there was any doubt, Rampage vs. Forrest won UFC 86′s Fight of the Night bonus, with both headliners picking up $60,000 for their event-saving performance. As mentioned earlier, Knockout of the Night went to Melvin Guillard for his 36-second destruction of Dennis Siver, and Submission of the Night went to Cole Miller for choking out Jorge Gurgel; those bonuses were also worth $60k. Full payout info to come as soon as we have it…