Everywhere you look, chicks are headlining fight cards these days. February had Rounda Rousey defending her world title in a UFC pay per view main event and now Invicta FC has announced their latest main event – a rematch between Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos and Dutch Marloes Coenen Pretty sweet, if you ask us.

Invicta always has a women’s bout as their headliner, of course, because they are an all Women’s MMA organization. As such, they’ve created new opportunities for female fighters to make a living and show how the females are not just the fairer sex, they might also be the fiercest.

Just as cool as what Invicta is doing, the formerly all-male MMA organization, the UFC, now has one women’s division and title, with more hopefully on the way. Last week, Meisha Tate and Cat Zingano tore down the house with their fight of the night on the UFC’s last Fuel TV card. That was on the heels of February’s UFC pay per view main event title bout between Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche.

Props: HDNetFights

The hope of a Ronda Rousey vs. Cristiane “Cris Cyborg” Santos superfight in the UFC may have just gone up in smoke, for good this time. According to Cyborg’s manager — a bespectacled fellow by the name of Tito “The Brain” Ortiz — the formerly-feared Brazilian striker has officially refused to drop to 135 pounds to compete in the Octagon, and she’ll now be seeking opportunities elsewhere. Here’s what Ortiz had to say last night on Inside MMA:

Right now, we’re actually waiting for [the] UFC to release [Cyborg]. We asked for them to release her, so Dana White actually talked to me yesterday. They gave an offer, I went to Cyborg and she said she didn’t want to do it—and we just asked for her release.

Since [the UFC] isn’t doing a 145-pound weight class, what else can they do? Now, she’s going to be released. Maybe we’ll go look somewhere else and you can see Cyborg crush another woman’s face in.

As Ortiz tells it, Cyborg was willing to drop to 140 to meet Rousey at a catchweight — though not until her fourth fight in the UFC for some reason — but cutting an additional five pounds would be physically impossible for Cyborg, and the UFC didn’t want to budge on the point. (Women carry less water-weight, and can’t cut as much weight as men, Dr. Ortiz explained.) Now, the only female MMA superfight available isn’t happening, which is also a serious blow for the future of women’s MMA in the UFC. How long will fans care about a division that only features one star?

(This belt means as much as the one Carlos Condit is carrying around. It’s funny how that works.)

By Jason Moles

In what comes as absolutely no surprise to anyone with a double-digit I.Q. or higher, Strikeforce will reportedly put the final nail in the coffin after their next event, which is currently scheduled for January 2013. Like any good friend, we tried to talk them out of their appointment with Dr. Kevorkian. Sadly, our friend just could not be reasoned with, leaving us no other options — we have to prepare for the funeral.

Here at CagePotato HQ (read: my desk at work when the boss is in the crapper), we feel it only necessary to start writing the eulogy now, while the memories are still vivid, in an attempt to bring comfort to the grieving family and friends when the time comes. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane, shall we, and look back fondly at the most memorable moments in Strikeforce’s storied mixed martial arts history.

Frank Shamrock Gets a Friendly Stockton Greeting From Nick Diaz

In the spring of 2009, Strikeforce served up a hot matchup between former UFC champion and MMA legend Frank Shamrock and the future Strikeforce Welterweight champion and world-renowned trash talker Nick Diaz. As you can glean from the above photo and the ensuing nut grab you can see on YouTube at roughly the 3:23 mark, these two were about as cordial as a Kentucky Derby winner who had just spotted Alistair Overeem waiting in the stable with a knife and fork.

The remarkable thing about the whole ordeal was that Diaz remained true to himself at the risk of coming across as a disrespectful punk, not willing to play nice simply to placate other people, even if they did sign his paycheck. In all of the press conferences that have been held over the years, fighters have generally been pretty calm and polite — so much so that you have to wonder if they realize that the guy they’re shaking hands with is the same guy who’s getting paid to cave his face in come fight night. Not the Stockton, Calif. native, though, whoe’s about as subtle as he is media friendly. You’ll never have to guess what the Cesar Gracie product is thinking. This classic photo by Esther Lin is a reminder of just that.

(WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE’S NO FOAMING OF THE MOUTH ALLOWED IN THIS ARENA?!)

You might recall that in the immediate aftermath of Ronda Rousey’s win over Sarah Kaufman last weekend, “Rowdy” called out former women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg. Unlike past Strikeforce events, Cyborg was not allowed to enter the ring and cause a full-fledged riot for our entertainment, and in fact was actually removed from her seat in the audience before the fight even started.

Why, you ask? Well, it turns out that the California State Athletic Commission has a rule declaring that any fighter under a current suspension is not allowed inside to be at a professional mixed martial arts event. Cyborg shared your current confusion while she was being removed form the audience, telling Tatame in a recent interview:

I watched all fights but on the last one, Ronda’s, a woman working on the event came to tell me I had to leave because the commission doesn’t accept suspended athletes on the shows. My manager talked to the guys at the commission and there’s really a law that says that.

I was upset for the way they treated me. They could’ve pulled me on a corner and told me, not in front of the fans. I was taking pictures and they interrupted me, saying I had to go. It was very disrespectful. I believe a champion deserves to be treated with respect. Everyone knows an athlete’s life isn’t easy, so all fighters deserve respect. When I was in Brazil I watched UFC and there was no problem.

An odd rule indeed, made all the more unusual by the fact that the commission decided to wait until the main event to inform Cyborg that she wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place, which is the equivalent of letting a homeless man wander into your dinner party uninvited and waiting until the nightcap to kick him out.

More news on the Cyborg/Rousey match is after the jump.

DISCLAIMER: This feature is purely a satirical piece- you know, like the title explicitly states. Any references to real people and events are purely for comedic effect. Nothing you are about to read is actual news, and no quotes used in this article are authentic quotes. In short, don’t take anything you are about to read as a real news story.

Anheuser-Busch respects women, and would never support sexism in any way.

The family-friendly Anheuser-Busch corporation has just been turned upside down. Former Bud Light mascot Spuds MacKenzie has been found guilty in the state of Nevada of sexually harassing multiple women while employed by Anheuser-Busch. Furthermore, Anheuser-Busch is being investigated for its role in MacKenzie’s crimes, as victims say that the harassment was not only encouraged by fellow employees, but that the victims were vehemently discouraged from filing complaints while they were employed by the company.

The charges against MacKenzie read like the sex-depraved fantasies of a thirteen year old boy. Among them include the complaints of Carol Grey, who played the role of “Hot Blond Chick” in many Bud Light commercials. Grey revealed that MacKenzie would repeatedly order her to smack him on the ass during commercial shoots, as well as force her to publically praise MacKenzie’s sexual conquests on numerous occasions.

Shocking videos of the harassment available after the jump.

(Video courtesy of Access Hollywood)

Access Hollywood was on hand at last week’s Haywire premiere in Hollywood and got the chance to speak with a few members of the film’s cast, including its star, Gina Carano.

Channing Tatum, Bill Paxton and Obi Wan Kenobi all had great things to say about first-time actress, Carano. Hopefully the buttering up they gave her doesn’t persuade her to turn her back on MMA forever in favor of craft services and private posh trailers.

Damn it! Why can’t any of MY supplements be tainted?!?

Well, that didn’t take long. Less than 24-hours after Cris Santos was fined and suspended by the California State Athletic Commission for failing her post-fight steroid test at “Strikeforce: Melendez vs Masvidal”, the now former Strikeforce women’s 145lb Champion has released a statement.

There are many hands a fighter can play after failing a PED test. There’s the ‘Bullshit Laboratory” defense, the “Recovering from an Injury” excuse, the “Poor Self Image” defense, and the increasingly popular “Deficient Testicles” defense. While some of these may have been invoked by “Cyborg”, she’s going with the tried and (possibly) true “Tainted Supplements” defense. It allows the busted fighter to admit that they are guilty of not closely monitoring their nutritional intake, but innocent of any deliberate wrong doing. And, if you’re keeping score, it’s been used by damn near every fighter ever busted for steroids.

But enough about what Santos could have said. Here she is, in her own words…

(“Don’t move, Gina. This is how we’ll get mainstream acceptance.”)

Strikeforce hasn’t announced when  Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos will next defend her belt, and according to the dominant women’s middleweight champion, it’s not because she isn’t ready. It’s because she doesn’t have a contract.

Cyborg told Tatame recently that her contract ran out after her last fight with Jan Finney last June and she hasn’t spoken with Scott Coker and company about re-signing with the recently Zuffa-acquired promotion in the nine months since the bout.

“Currently I don’t have a contract signed, but on my former contract there was something saying that for a year I’m connected to the [promotion] but we might sign a new one.  I believe the fact that the UFC bought Strikeforce is a good thing for women, because we have two years to do a good job and prove them our value —  to prove it to Dana White,” she explains. “I’m not anxious and I’m not worried. I’m happy and I keep on training.”

("I thought you said you were Mr. Cyborg?") 

Here we are with Strikeforce’s first major event of the 2011, or as we like to call it, their first shot at fucking up the good things they did last year.

Although rumor has it Gus Johnson won’t be in the broadcast booth tonight, he promises that he’ll bring his MMA-retarded rhetoric back in time for the first round of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix in February, despite the fact that HDNet has announced Michael Shiavello and Bas Rutten will be added to the announce team — at least for the prelims.

With no GuJo to screw up the broadcast and no feuds brewing between the Diaz’s and opponents they’ll likely never face, there’s a pretty good chance that this event could go off with out a hitch. The only thing that could knock this ship off course would be for Cyborg to upset Diaz and for Lawler to knock out Jacare.

And for the record, we WANT Strikeforce to succeed more than we want to see Justin Bieber fall down a flight of stairs, it’s just that they haven’t exactly given us a lot of indicators that they’re ready to go head-to-head with Zuffa’s Evil Empire (Just kidding, Dana. Ben doesn’t want to get fucked again.)

Let’s get this thing going. Spoilers after the jump. Refresh often.

(You don’t want any part of this, Nick. No part whatsoever. / Photo courtesy of ESPN.)

It’s official: Nick Diaz vs. Jason Miller ain’t happening, at least not in the near future. With both sides failing to come to an agreement on weight class, Strikeforce has decided to move on with their welterweight champion, reportedly booking Diaz to defend his belt against Chute Boxe veteran Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos. The fight is expected to take place on the January 29th San Jose card that will also feature the middleweight title fight between Ronaldo "Grappler" Souza vs. Robbie "Striker" Lawler.

Erin Toughill announced via Facebook Thursday afternoon that she isn’t going to be fighting for Strikeforce any longer, and she actually sounds pretty serious about the whole thing.  Now, I realize we’ve all written things we didn’t mean on Facebook from time to time.  For example, I do not actually believe that the MTV show "Teen Mom" is one long advertisement for abortion, contrary to what I may have written on my profile in the past.  But Toughill insists that this wasn’t a hasty decision on her part, and she even seems to be considering giving up the sport for good. 

You’ll recall that she was supposed to be next in line for a shot at "Cyborg" Santos in Strikeforce, but it doesn’t look like that’s happening now.  Her gripe is a familiar one among female fighters.  Even now that they have a major promotion to compete in, there just aren’t enough chances to fight.  Sure, Strikeforce has gotten into a good rhythm with women’s bouts, putting one on almost every event of late, but never more than one.  You factor in the various weight classes and the numerous female fighters under contract, and suddenly there aren’t that many chances to go out there and get paid.

Maybe that’s the source of Toughill’s beef, or maybe they’re jerking her around over the Santos fight.  Hopefully all this gets explained in future Facebook posts, which are accompanied by pictures of her and all her friends drinking margaritas at their local Chili’s.

("Cyborg" Santos proves that a female fighter can stop a punch just as good as a male one, and for less money too. Photo courtesy of Fight Magazine.)

While the rest of the nation might be slowly inching toward gender equality in the workplace, in MMA a woman still does a man’s job for pennies on the dollar. At least, that’s the situation for women not named Gina Carano, which is to say it’s the situation for all the women actively pursuing an MMA career at the moment. This, among other lessons, becomes clear once we take a good hard look at the official payouts from Saturday night’s Strikeforce event.

Nick Diaz: $100,000 (no win bonus)
def. Marius Zaromskis: $30,000

Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos: $35,000 ($15,000 win bonus and $5,000 "championship" bonus)
def. Marloes Coenen: $2,000

Herschel Walker: $600 (no win bonus)
def. Greg Nagy: $5,000

(Coenen vs. Yoko Takahashi I, 5/3/01)

After looking at the incredibly uneven betting odds on the "Cyborg" Santos-Marloes Coenen Strikeforce women’s lightweight title bout, we couldn’t help but wonder whether Coenen is walking into certain doom on Saturday night.  Since she’s fought mostly in Europe and Japan, we haven’t gotten the chance to see many of her fights until now (except this one), but come on, she can’t be that outmatched against "Cyborg," can she? 

In the interest of at least attempting to know what we’re talking about, we did a little research on Coenen.  What we learned is that her stand-up is decent, though not without some defensive holes, and she really knows her way around an armbar.  Seriously.  The fight you see above was Coenen’s fifth professional bout, and one of three meetings with Takahashi.  She won them all in the first round (two by armbar, one by TKO) and the fights only got more lopsided as Coenen improved over the years. 

What’s interesting is that Santos also fought Takahashi at EliteXC: Heat in 2008, where "Cyborg" won a decision.  So that’s got to be an encouraging sign, right?  Coenen totally owned a fighter who took Santos the distance.  Right?  Guys?

More of Coenen’s fights are after the jump, including her second meeting with Takahashi, her loss to Erin Toughill, and a video of what appears to be Coenen abusing some poor girl from the local middle school.  Seems more and more like either Coenen gets Santos to the mat early and submits her, or else she gets her lovely facial features rearranged.

(Wow. If that mug gets any meaner we might have to get a restraining order.)

Nick Diaz seemed a little out of sorts on today’s conference call to promote Strikeforce: Miami.  Or maybe that was completely in sorts for Diaz.  There’s no way to know for sure.  When asked to give an opening statement Diaz seemed a bit lost, replying, "Am I supposed to have something to say?"  Later, when asked to give an assessment of Marius Zaromskis‘ skills, Diaz shot back, "Why?  What is this shit?  I apologize.  I just woke up.  I didn’t even know this call was going down."  

Once Diaz got his bearings he managed to describe Zaromskis as "a good fighter," adding, "Anybody who’s going to be fighting at this level is a good fighter.  It’s like an oxymoron." 

It isn’t, actually, but no one was about to challenge Diaz on that after the struggle it took just to get any answer at all.  Fortunately, things got better from there.  Some notable moments:

(It’s odd that the smile seems like the most unnatural part of this picture.)

The tasteful pornographers at Playboy have thus far been unsuccessful in trying to convince Gina Carano to take her clothes off and pretend to wash a car, so they’ve gone one step lower.  Or higher, depending on how you think about it.  Cris "Cyborg" Santos says she’s been offered a spot in Playboy’s glossy pages, and she’s considering it.  There’s one thing, though.  As she puts it, "…only one man saw me naked in my entire life and I have to think deeply about that."

One man?  Really?  I don’t know whether to be impressed or concerned.  But regardless, it’s not like she’s got anything any of us haven’t seen before.  Unless she does.  Which would be kind of awesome and possibly scary.

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

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

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

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

(Villasenor puts on a brief left hook clinic. Photo courtesy of Strikeforce.)

Despite getting his leg tenderized with kicks for much of the fight, “Smokin” Joey Villasenor took a split decision victory over Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos in the main event of last night’s Strikeforce Challengers event in Kent, Washington.  Then he did what every Strikeforce middleweight is practically obliged to do: call out Cung Le.

In what was somewhat surprisingly the most exciting fight on the televised card, Jorge Gurgel and Connor Heun slugged it out almost entirely on the feet for three rounds.  Gurgel’s face may have looked like a poorly executed attempt at a jack-o-lantern after the fight, but he won the unanimous decision victory and afterward praised Heun’s toughness and impressive chin.  Full results are after the jump.

(It beats the hell out of welfare.)

In case you’ve forgotten, the Strikeforce Challengers event from Kent, Washington is on Showtime tonight, headlined by “Smokin” Joey Villasenor taking on the other “Cyborg” Santos.  You know, the dude one.  That’s all well and good and they even shoved each other at the weigh-in yesterday to add a little easy hype, but the story that’s being overlooked right now is just how much Nick “The Goat” Thompson obviously does not want to fight Army special forces bad-ass Tim Kennedy.  He’s not even pretending that this was his idea, or that he is anything but resigned to his fate at this point.  Just check out these quotes from Thompson, courtesy of Strikeforce:

(Props: MMA Opinion)

Is there any fighter who more closely resembles the animal for which he is nicknamed than Thiago "The Pitbull" Alves?  Just looking at his face makes me want to lock the door and call Animal Control.  He says in this video that he’s been working out at Wanderlei Silva’s new gym/daycare center in Las Vegas, and plans to return there the week before his title fight with Georges St. Pierre at UFC 100 to get his weight right.  Alves has had some weight issues in the past, and with a title fight he won’t get that extra pound allowance so he’d better be on point.  Something tells me that screwing up a title fight at UFC 100 would be a murderable offense in Dana White’s eyes.

Raw Vegas went by Xtreme Couture to talk with Kim Couture about her upcoming bout.  Am I the only one not buying it at all when she claims to be blissfully unaware of the criticism that suggests she’s only getting these opportunities because of who she’s married to?  Even if she doesn’t "go on the computer," the idea must have occurred to her that it’s not solely her 1-1 pro record that’s landing her on Strikeforce cards.  Whatever you think of Couture though, it’s nice to see a woman fighter slam "Cyborg" Santos’ woman trouble excuse.  It just doesn’t have the same force when we do it, for some reason.

After the jump, American Top Team boxing coach Howard Davis Jr. takes it to the gloves and shows us the hand speed.

(Few people can be terrifying while wearing a tiny bikini. Hats off to Cyborg.)

Cris “Cyborg” Santos isn’t going to let Josh Barnett get away with running around on MySpace, calling her unprofessional.  Facebook, maybe.  But MySpace?  Ain’t no way.  She responded to Barnett’s internet assault in a talk with Fighters Only, accusing the "Babyface Assassin" of being, in so many words, a hater, while continuing to use the old menstruation defense:

“I used the same diet that I used to fight Shayana and I made 140lbs, much less than this time. But I had a little problem that all women suffer every month. I had the menstrual period three days before the weigh-in and it put me in trouble.”

Oh, that pesky menstrual period.  Here’s the thing, I’ll admit to not knowing much about woman problems, but I did a little asking around in my social circle and what I learned is 1) women know we menfolk don’t know much about it, and on occasion they’ve been known to take advantage of our ignorance, and 2) they can look at the freaking calendar and know when it’s coming.  

(Alas, Shamrock’s pleas for Diaz to "mellow out" were all in vain.  Photo courtesy of SI.com)

Strikeforce’s first offering on Showtime yielded some pleasant surprises and some totally unpleasant non-surprises.  We turn now to the arbitrary numerical ranking system of the Potato Index to tell us who’s up and who’s down after this weekend.  Giddyup.

Nick Diaz +123
His biggest win in years proves that Diaz is a true main event fighter who deserves to be taken seriously.  He beat a slower, but still capable Shamrock in every aspect of the game, and even helped him up afterwards.  Now we await the results of his drug test.  Please Nick, tell us you didn’t screw that part up.

Frank Shamrock -68
“The Legend” showed a lot of heart, but not a whole lot of skill or endurance.  Maybe those surgeries and his advancing years are taking more of a toll than he let on, or maybe Diaz really is that good of a boxer.  Either way, if Shamrock can’t do better in the rematch with Cung Le he should seriously consider calling it a career.

(Photo courtesy of Esther Lin at AllElbows.com. You might also want to check out "Cyborg" Santos’s reaction to missing weight. Does that seem like a woman who is even a little bit sorry?)

The talking is done, the agreed upon weights have been ignored, and the Stockton Heybuddy’s have been thrown out.  That means there’s nothing left to do now but fight.  All you lovers of crazy antics needn’t worry though, because if there’s one thing that’s almost guaranteed in a bout between Frank Shamrock and Nick Diaz it’s poor sportsmanship.  

We’ll be liveblogging all the action tonight, so grab a cold one, make sure your CAPS LOCK key is disengaged (you know who are you are) and let’s all jump right in and have ourselves a time.  Remember to hit refresh often.  We’ll get started any minute now.

Josh Barnett Interview – Watch more Funny Videos

After all the drama at yesterday’s weigh-in and the madness that followed Hitomi Akano’s threat to pull out of the bout with Christianne "Cyborg" Santos due to the tremendous difference in weight, the bout is now apparently back on after Scott Coker smoothed everything over in late night/early morning negotiation sessions.  No one is saying exactly what sweetened the deal enough for Akano to jump back in, but we’re guessing it was lots of money and a giant teddy bear.

In the above video, Akano’s trainer, Josh Barnett, talks with Ariel Helwani about his Girlfight Monstrosity of a student, and about his own future.  On Aleks Emelianenko, Barnett again confirms that due to blood test-related issues, that fight could never happen…in a ring.

(Someone should tell Nick that in some cultures they consider that an insult.)

As Strikeforce’s Showtime debut closes in on us and we prepare to get our liveblog on (that’s right, so remember to stop on by tomorrow night) it’s time to debate the hell out of the merits of this fight card, its resemblance to a Zombie EliteXC here on Zombie Jesus weekend, and more.  Here it is, your Ben vs. Ben…

Is Diaz/Shamrock a completely meaningless, just-for-the-hell-of-it bout?  If so, does it matter, or do you need something more to get excited about it?  Who wins this, anyway?

BF: Of course it’s a meaningless fight.  I mean, it’s being contested at 179 pounds.  That’s not even a round number, let alone a weight class.  It’s not as if this is a fight to settle some longstanding grudge (unless you count the grudge Frank Shamrock has against anyone unwilling to admit that he’s the greatest fighter ever, or the grudge Nick Diaz has against the world).  It’s certainly not a fight to sort out the contenders from the pretenders in the 179-pound division.  Naw son, this is just for kicks.

Does it matter to me?  Not in this case.  It may be fighting for the sake of fighting, but it’s such a weirdly compelling match-up that I don’t care.  Diaz and Shamrock are always fun to watch, and they’re both absolutely insane in very different ways.  So why not make them fight each other?  It’s not as if either one of them is climbing to the top of any division at this point.

As for who’s going to win, the fact that I have to think about it a little only makes me more interested in seeing it.  Five years ago this is Shamrock’s fight all the way, but the ravages of age, as they say.  I’ll still take Shamrock via decision, based mostly on superior size and strength, but also based on his notorious in-fight antics, which will bait Diaz into fighting a stupid fight.  Not that that’s especially hard.

BG: I’m thinking the fight will end in a draw after Shamrock and Diaz spend fifteen minutes with their arms in the air, each trying to lure the other one into hitting them in the face. On the real though, yeah, probably Shamrock by decision, or a late TKO stoppage that Diaz will immediately complain about. It’ll be a much less nuanced fight than it could be. Both of these guys prefer to stand and bang, so that’s what’s going to happen. The deciding factor will be power, which Shamrock has and Diaz lacks.

(Yeah, it’s a nice shirt, but you know what?  I’m just going to wait until it’s selling for three dollars at T.J. Maxx.)

On Strikeforce’s media conference call today Frank Shamrock confirmed that he would indeed be fighting Nick Diaz on April 11, and at a catch-weight  of 179 pounds.  One can’t help but imagine the fierce negotiations that landed them at that awkward figure, but one can imagine that Frank and Nick both acted totally sweet during said negotiations, refusing to meet at a round number.

Of Diaz, Shamrock said, “"He’s a guy who throws and talks trash.  And on April 11 I’m going to knock him out."

That’s pretty much a compliment from Shamrock.  He also said he’d like to fight more often than the once or twice a year plan he’s been on lately, and of course he also beat the old ‘I want to fight my brother’ drum yet again.

Other news coming out of the call…

(GSP is not impressed. Props: MMA Mania.)

- Is Shonie Carter trapped in a foreign land? (Fightlinker)

- Talking WEC meltdown, Pro Elite antics, and more on internet radio. (MMA Rated)

- Matt Hughes is not a white supremacist. (Bloody Elbow)

- Randy Couture scoffs at your insults. (Las Vegas Sun)

- Gina Carano and “Cyborg” Santos to sign together as package deal? (Fighters Only)

- Gomi reloading to headline Sengoku 7. (MMA Junkie)

- Mike Massenzio looking to use CB Dollaway as a stepping stone. (Fight Hype)

- The 10 best bourbons you’ve never heard of. (Holy Taco)

- How the iPhone beat the Blackberry. (Wall Street Fighter)

- Milla Jovovich to play alcoholic stripper…finally. (Screen Junkies)

- Dry ice bomb owns dad. (Nothing Toxic)