(Props: MMA Mania)

What: UFC 100
When/Where: July 11th at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
Why: Because it’s one of the most stacked UFC cards ever. In the above trailer, Joe Rogan calls the event "fucking insane," then implies that Steve Mazzagatti screwed up Brock Lesnar‘s first fight against Frank Mir. For Brock, this fight is all about revenge. Mir thinks that if Big Nog couldn’t last two rounds with him, Brock’s chances aren’t very good.

In the night’s other title fight, Georges St. Pierre battles for his legacy against the biggest, strongest, toughest test of his career — Thiago Alves, who wants to knock out GSP, take his belt, and become "the man." Also, Dan Henderson and Michael Bisping move out of the reality show set and into the Octagon. Hendo wants to beat Bisping up and shut his mouth a little bit; Bisping wants to be responsible for the first KO loss on Dan’s record. Only on pay-per-viewwww…

(Props: Round5MMA.com)

Images of Round 5‘s fourth series of MMA figurines have been released, and my God, would you check out the moose knuckle on Mauricio Rua. You gotta respect the attention to detail, but this might be the work of a vindictive figurine artist/Chuck Liddell fan who got pissed off after UFC 97 and thought, okay hot shot, now I’m going to make you look like a woman. Meanwhile, Gina Carano is wearing long, loose-fitting shorts. So I guess they didn’t use my concept art after all…

10. "I’m here to get paid and hurt people’s feelings, so…it’s time to do the man dance." — Damarques Johnson, offering his mission statement.

9. "You just gotta do what you gotta do whatcha can." — Dan Henderson, on the meaning of life.

8. “Oiiiieeeeehhhh!” — Michael Bisping, every time a Team U.K. fighter landed a shot on an American, and sometimes when they just came close.

7. "Put another shrimp on the barbie!" — Rob Browning, not the most worldly gentleman, tries to mock the Brits with a beloved Australian catchphrase.

Last night’s season finale of The Ultimate Fighter ended with each coach telling us exactly what he thinks of the other guy; basically, Dan Henderson thinks Michael Bisping‘s a douchebag, and Bisping thinks Henderson’s time has passed. And maybe they’re both right. But with three weeks left until they face each other at UFC 100, tensions aren’t exactly building. Here’s a highlight from a media conference call held earlier today, via MMA Fanhouse:

(Click above for the completed TUF 9 welterweight bracket. Props: Wikipedia.)

With the last welterweight semifinal coming up, Team U.S. comes together for one last barbecue. Frank Lester gets all swoony over Dan Henderson, telling Hendo "your eyes don’t look bad at all" and "I wouldn’t fuck with you because of your ears." This is what six weeks without women will do to a man.

Damarques Johnson does his best to build up Lester’s confidence for his fight against James Wilks. He says James can’t absorb as much damage as Frank and be okay with it. We never really got to see why Damarques hates James so much, but Damarques tells us that "James is just such a pompous prick, and I want Frank to hurt him badly." He also refers to James as a "pretty boy." Seriously. This James Wilks. I think it’s safe to say that Damarques has a different standard of beauty than the rest of us. Just another example of how the absence of females can distort your perceptions.

TUF 9.10, Osipczak vs. Johnson – Watch more Funny Videos

It’s time to pick TUF 9‘s semi-final matchups, and while this could have been another opportunity for an argument, Bisping and Henderson are pretty much on the same page. They’d like to see Cameron/Ross and Jason/Andre in the lightweight bracket, and James/Demarques and Nick/Frank for the welterweights. The fighters are asked who they want to take on. James wants Damarques and Damarques wants James. ("I want to hurt his feelings.") Nick wants Frankie and Frankie wants Nick. Ross wants Jason, but Jason wants Andre, and Andre is "happy to fight eeva."

Cameron breaks ranks and brings up his teammate Jason Dent as the guy he’d like to fight. He tries to backtrack, but the seed has already been planted in Dana’s head. DW suggests putting teammates against each other in the semis. "Fuck that, no way," Bisping says. Then, echoing the thoughts of every Internet message board conspiracy theorist: "What so you can guarantee one of each in the finals?…I think we have the stronger team and you’re worried that you’ll have an all-UK final."

(Relax, Mike — you can’t catch it just by touching him. Photo courtesy of myvegasscene.com.)

According to the Manchester Evening News, the coaches of The Ultimate Fighter: U.S vs. U.K. will be fighting for more than brgging rights during their clash at UFC 100.

(Please, guys, there are kids watching. Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

"I believe I won that fight. I’ll stand behind that for the rest of my life. On the feet, it’s clear I dominated the fight. I didn’t just win, I dominated on the feet. I did not get hit flush on the face or the body one time the whole fight. Dan took me down on several occasions, most of which I was able to stand back up. While I was on the ground, he was not capable of mounting any kind of damage…He had to resort to kneeing me on the back of my thigh because he had no other option and didn’t know what else to do…

Couple that with the fact I was head-butted twice and poked in the eye once. I would think that maybe the first one was incidental. I would assume that after you have a couple head-butts and then you poke me in the eye, perhaps as a referee you’d think about taking away a point. I don’t see how a judge should give him that decision."
— Rich Franklin, still salty about his split-decision loss to Dan Henderson at UFC 93.

("Back, and to the left…back, and to the left…")

With Jason Pierce pulled from the competition due to a combination of staph infection and bitchassness, Team USA needs to replace him with one of their eliminated welterweights. Mark Miller tells Dana White that he’s down to fight, but he has a broken nose ("It’s just a nose, I’m not getting any prettier"), and privately he wonders if he’s ready, since he hasn’t been able to train since his last fight. Frank Lester wants it bad, but his face is an absolute mess, with two black eyes, an aching nose, and a row of missing teeth.

Santino interrogates Pierce about why he isn’t fighting. Pierce claims that he totally tried to stay in the competition, but Dana looked at his leg and said he couldn’t fight — which is not exactly what happened, and the guys know it. Damarques thinks Pierce should be stripped of his TapouT gear. Lester furiously shadow-boxes.

The Ultimate Fighter 9 – Episode 6 Submissions – Watch more Funny Videos

When Michael Bisping went AWOL during Dean Amasinger’s fight against Damarques Johnson, the nation wanted answers. Had he been in a car wreck? Was he holed up in a motel room with a crack pipe? Did he finally get picked up on his outstanding buggery warrants? Nah, the dude just overslept. He was badly jet-lagged, and was sawing logs while Dean was getting his ass kicked. Not exactly the cliffhanger we were hoping for, and the whole thing was resolved in about 20 seconds. 

Other than that, last night’s episode was very satisfying, with two fights (I’m liking this trend) and some highly ironic tooth-loss thrown in at the end. To begin at the beginning…

The Ultimate Fighter 9 – Episode 5 Highlights – Watch more Funny Videos
(The ends of the Defranco/Winner and Johnson/Amasinger fights.)

Last Night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter treated us to two quarterfinal matches — as well as a total breakdown within Team U.S. and the mysterious disappearance of Michael Bisping. "Wiggity Wack" (the episode’s actual title, according to my DVR) began by showing us just how fractured the Americans were becoming. Jason Dent implores his team to be mature after their first loss in episode 4, and Cameron Dollar basically tells him to stuff it, then tells the team about the 70-80 girls he’s humped, including his friend’s wife. (Hope your friend knew about that before the show, player.) Meanwhile, Team U.S.’s Jason Pierce and Team U.K.’s David Faulkner bond in the hot tub over their shared nerdiness, with Pierce predicting they’ll be friends after the show.

("I also look cooler in me leather jacket." Photo courtesy of the-fight-site.com)

Okay, maybe he hasn’t said he’s better in bed. But Michael Bisping has been laying into his Ultimate Fighter rival coach Dan Henderson lately, for a number of other reasons. First there was this interesting bit in his new TUF blog for UFC.com:

TUF 9.4: Nick Osipczak KOs Mark Miller – Watch more Funny Videos
(Nick Osipczak puts Team U.K. on the board with his head-kick knockout of Mark Miller. Cheerio, bitches.)

In the battle of personal property defacement, Team U.S. is routing the Brits by a score of 2-0 — if only they could be that dominant in the Octagon. Last night’s episode of TUF 9 featured the show’s first quarterfinal match, with well-rounded beanpole Nick Osipczak drawing first blood for Team U.K., thanks to a highlight-reel knockout of the much scarier-looking Mark Miller.

The episode opened with the coaches introducing us to their assistants. Michael Bisping has flown in his own trainers at Wolfslair — Mario "Sucata" Neto (wrestling/submissions) and Dave Jackson (striking) — who will now be acting as his helpers. Dan Henderson is rolling a little deeper with Heath Sims (wrestling), Cyrille Diabate (Muay Thai), Ricardo Feliciano (jiu-jitsu), and Gustavo Pugliese (boxing).

Team U.S. is at a disadvantage because they just had to go through their elimination fights; Team U.K.’s took place two weeks prior. Hendo chooses the relatively unscathed welterweight Mark Miller to represent the Americans first against Nick Osipczak, who didn’t look like much in his elimination match against Tommy Maguire. "One to us," Bisping says of the pick.

The Ultimate Fighter 9: Episode 3 Stoppages – Watch more Funny Videos
(Last night’s stoppages. See you at the TUF 9 finale, Rob.)

To quote Sgt. Hartman, it looks to me like the best part of Rob Browning ran down the crack of his momma’s ass and ended up as a stain on the mattress. My God what a useless dipshit. He’s like the dumbest redneck in the world doing a bad impression of Junie Browning. Anyway, he’s gone now, after folding like a bitch at the first sign of pressure during last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter: U.S. vs. U.K., meaning UFC washout Jason Dent is now a full-fledged member of Team USA. The 8th American spot went to welterweight alternate Frank Lester who benefitted from Kiel Reid’s unfortunate self-knockout.  But before all that…

Both teams arrive at the TUF house, and everyone’s fairly cool with each other at first. But when nobody steps up to be Rob Browning’s drinking buddy — his Shane Nelson, if you will — he gets all butthurt and starts launching eggs at his housemates from a balcony. Then he pisses in a shower, and promptly gets in the face of the larger Jason Pierce (a recurring theme with these Browning brothers). Rob smashes an egg on Jason’s chest, and Jason shows tremendous restraint in not ripping him about five new assholes.

(Photo courtesy of NewMexicoBoxing.com.)

The UFC has officially announced five bouts for the supporting card of their historic UFC 100 event, which goes down July 11th at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas; tickets go on sale to the general public tomorrow at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT. Here’s what the lineup looks like so far, according to UFC 100′s fight card page on UFC.com:

Main Card
Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir (for unified heavyweight championship)
Georges St. Pierre vs. Thiago Alves (for welterweight championship)
Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping (MW)
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Alan Belcher (MW)

"May not be broadcast"
Jon Jones vs. Jake O’Brien (LHW)
Dong Hyun Kim vs. Jonathan Goulet (WW)
CB Dollaway vs. Tom Lawlor (MW)
Matt Grice vs. Shannon Gugerty (LW)

For some reason, the light-heavyweight match between Mark Coleman and Stephan Bonnar isn’t listed on UFC.com, even though Amir Sadollah confirmed the fight during an "Inside the Octagon" segment on Wednesday’s installment of The Ultimate Fighter. In addition, welterweights Jon Fitch and Paulo Thiago have reportedly agreed to meet at UFC 100, while a new report from MMA Weekly claims that a lightweight bout between Mac Danzig and Jim Miller will also be added to the card.

Team USA didn’t exactly get off to a promising start on the second elimination episode of The Ultimate Fighter: U.S. vs. U.K. last night. Welterweight Jason Pierce fainted during the show-opening lineup (but won his first fight anyway), making him the new Phillipe Nover. Lightweight John David Shackleford showed up with a damn herpe on his head (and was immediately dismissed), making him the new Paul Bradley. Welterweight Christian Fulgium was kicked off for not making weight, making him the new Jason Guida. And Steve Mazzagatti couldn’t decide if he wanted to stop fights early or late, so he decided to do both, making him the same old Steve Mazzagatti. Here’s how the elimination-round matches went down:

Mark Miller (WW) def. Kevin Knabjian via TKO, round 2

Richie "The Choking Tomato" Whitson (LW) def. Paul Bird via submission (rear-naked choke), round 1

Santino DeFranco (LW) def. Waylon Lowe via submission (rear-naked choke), round 2

Jason Pierce (WW) def. Steve "Red Nose" Berger via decision

Cameron Dollar (LW) def. Tom Hayden via submission (rear-naked choke), round 1

Damarques Johnson (WW) def. Ray Elbe via TKO (mount ‘n’ murder), round 1

The Ultimate Fighter: U.S. vs. U.K., episode 1 highlights – Watch more free videos
(Last night’s stoppages, not including David Faulkner’s heel-hook on James Bateman, because my DVR cut off before the last fight. Fuck a Time Warner Cable.)

The Ultimate Fighter: U.S. vs. U.K. kicked off last night with the elimination matches at Wolfslair Academy, where 16 British TUF hopefuls were whittled down to four lightweights and four welterweights. Here’s how the fights panned out…

Andre Winner (LW) def. Gary Kelly via KO, round 1

Jeff Lawson (LW) def. James Bryan via armbar, round 1

James Wilks (WW) def. Che Mills via heel-hook, round 1

Martin Stapleton (LW) def. Dan James via rear-naked choke, round 1

Ross Pearson (LW) def. A.J. Wenn via TKO, round 2

Nick Osipczak (WW) def. Tommy Maguire via TKO, round 1

Dean Amasinger (WW) def. Alex Reid via decision, round 3

David Faulkner (WW) def. James Bateman via heel-hook, round 1

Notes…

(Props: MMA Weekly)

Good news for Ultimate Fighter fans who have become increasingly turned off by the idiotic antics in the TUF house — and bad news for those who hoped that maybe this could be the season when the reality show savages literally burn the house to the ground. From MMA Weekly:

So nobody gets threatened with eviction for fighting or glass-throwing. (Pussies!) But don’t worry, because the show will still bring drama in other ways:

Be honest, Dana: Does Bisping stick Henderson’s toothbrush up his own ass and take a picture of it, or is it the other way around?

It’s weird, because there was a time when Americans and Brits were allies; now we fucking hate each other, apparently. Oh well. Get ready to root against those snaggle-toothed chavs tonight starting at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

Tito Ortiz was in Vicksburg, Mississippi talking with 8CountNews.com in this video interview, and it sounds like he’s changed his mind about fighting for Affliction, which is probably a good idea, considering their future plans.  Now Ortiz says he’s “going to pass” on an Affliction contract in the hopes that he can sign with Strikeforce to fight on CBS or Showtime, assuming they’re amenable to his famously ridiculous contract demands.

Honestly, is anyone out there really dying to see Ortiz back in action?  He has some name value and can still hype a fight with the best of them, but to hear him talk sometimes you’d think the whole MMA world was eagerly awaiting his return, as if he’s still a top-ten fighter and not someone who just got bounced out of the UFC.  Though to hear him talk you’d also think he did a good job commentating at the last Affliction show, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.  

After the jump, a little taste of what you can expect from the coaches in the next “Ultimate Fighter” season.  

(Props: MMA Fanhouse.)

I admit it, after watching the above promo video for season nine of Spike TV’s “The Ultimate Fighter,” I’m excited.  Maybe the hokey “It’s U.S. Against Them” tagline is working on me, or maybe (probably) I’m just a sucker for The Sex Pistols.  

Regardless, the part of me that wants to believe fighters when they blame positive steroid tests on totally legit nutritional supplements also wants to believe that TUF can be fun again.  And who knows, maybe exploiting nationalistic loyalties and hilarious cultural differences (just wait until the first time a Brit fighter talks about smoking fags) is the perfect solution for the stale formatting and predictable antic-heavy presentation.  With that in mind, here are the five things I’d like to see from “The Ultimate Fighter” this time around:

1. Don’t Make Me Feel Bad About Myself For Watching This

Look, Spike TV producers.  I’m a male between the ages of 18-34, but that doesn’t mean I want to watch grown men drink one another’s urine.  In fact, when I find myself watching a show that is ostensibly about fighting, and yet the bulk of the episode is dedicated to the ingestion of bodily fluids, I start to question some of the decisions I’ve made that have brought me to this point.  It’s the same with property destruction.  We’ve seen it.  There isn’t any new ground to break (pun intended).  Please, let’s grow up a little and move on.

(Boooooooo! U-S-A! U-S-A!)

Yahoo! Sports has revealed the 32 castmembers for the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter, which will pit a group of American fighters (coached by Dan Henderson) against a group of fighters from the U.K. (coached by Michael Bisping). Featuring welterweights and lightweights, "TUF 9" will premiere on April 1st, directly following UFC Fight Night: Condit vs. Kampmann. Here’s what Yahoo! dug up about the upcoming crop of UFC hopefuls.

After the jump: the rest of the American fighters, and Team Bisping.

(‘Whoa, guys, I just had the worst dream.  Dan Henderson poked me in the eye and head-butted me and I lost the decision anyway and then…why are you all looking at me like that?  Where am I?  And why do I suddenly have no depth perception?’)

It’s all fun and games until somebody gets poked in the eye.  Word from Rich Franklin’s official website is that he will not need Anthony Johnson-esque surgery to repair the eye that Dan Henderson got knuckle-deep into, which is always good news. 

In addition to the eye-poke injury, Franklin also needed stitches in his head on account of the Hendo head-butt that opened up a nasty cut on his forehead, as well as stitches on his shin to close a cut resulting from one of his many kicks in the fight.  Basically, it was a rough night.  At least he had his special pink travel pillow to comfort him on the long journey home.

More pics of the damage “Ace” suffered are after the jump.  Take a look at those and then ask yourself anew, ‘Do you want to be a f*cking fighter?!’

(Mark "Frankenstein" Coleman staggers into an uppercut.  Photo courtesy of NBC Sports.)

Thanks to our psychic abilities, we know exactly what two questions went running through your precious little head immediately after the curtain dropped on UFC 93: 1) How did I fare in the Cage Potato UFC 93 Pick-em Contest?, and 2) What will the Potato Index’s arbitrary numerical ratings system say about this event?

The answer to the first question is coming soon.  There are, after all, a lot of entries to sort through, and for that we thank you.  The answer to the second question begins…now!  Potato Index!!!!

Dan Henderson +23

He won the fight.  That’s the good news.  He didn’t look spectacular doing it, and we aren’t dying to see more of that particular style in the future, but a win is a win.  Now we have Hendo-Bisping to look forward to.  And that’s, you know, okay…

Rich Franklin -8

Honestly, this decision easily could have gone the other way (just ask the judge who scored it 30-27 Franklin), but it didn’t.  This loss isn’t a sign that Ace is washed up and he didn’t want to coach TUF anyway, so it’s not the end of the world.  It is, however, an indicator that he’s just treading water in the UFC for now, going neither up nor down.  There are worse fates.  At least this one pays.

Mark Coleman -54

Poor, poor Coleman.  Literally.  He says he didn’t have the money for a proper training camp, hence the non-existent cardio and an enthusiastic but misinformed Phil Baroni in his corner.  But what did we expect?  The man was great once, but nothing lasts forever, even cold November rain and explosive wrestling ability.  Please, either fight someone else in your age bracket, or call it quits.  We say this because we care.

("Wait a minute, *Dan* Henderson? I totally thought I was fighting someone else! Well good luck to you, sir!" Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle. More photos from the weigh-ins here.)

We’re coming up on 3 p.m. East Coast time, and I gotta tell you, it’s a little weird to be up this early on a Saturday. But no worries, because I’ve got a six of Guinness, a half-bottle of Jameson, Thin Lizzy blasting on the stereo, and I’m pretty much ready to liveblog the crap out of the UFC’s first event in Dublin. We may not all be Old and Bald, but just for one afternoon, can’t we all be a little Irish? Hit that "Read More" link and refresh the page every few minutes to get round-by-round updates and commentary for UFC 93. Sláinte… 

(Weigh-in video courtesy of the UFC via The MMA Post. Looks like Octagon Girl Edith will be making her return, joined of course by Arianny and Logan.)

All fighters hit their mark comfortably today at the UFC 93 weigh-ins in Dublin — quite comfortably, in fact. Dan Henderson came in a full three pounds under the 205-pound limit for his main event bout, while Rich Franklin weighed in at 203. More surprising was former middleweight Martin Kampmann, who weighed in at trim 168 for his first fight at welterweight. Mark Coleman was able to land within the one-pound allowance for his debut match at light-heavyweight, though if you check out the video above starting at around the 17:47 mark, you’ll see that the Hammer looks way thinner now that he’s a LHW, and might be a little jet-lagged. Check out the full results below, and don’t forget to come back to CagePotato.com tomorrow at 3 p.m. ET/noon PT for our thrilling liveblog of the fights. 

MAIN CARD
Rich Franklin (203) vs Dan Henderson (202)
Mark Coleman (206) vs Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (205)
Jeremy Horn (185) vs Rousimar Palhares (184)
Alan Belcher (186) vs Denis Kang (184)
Marcus Davis (169) vs Chris Lytle (171)

UNDERCARD
Alexandre Barros (170) vs Martin Kampmann (168)
Antonio Mendes (204) vs Eric Schafer (205)
Ivan Serati (204) vs Tomasz Drwal (203)
John Hathaway (171) vs Tom Egan (169)
Dennis Siver (155) vs Nate Mohr (156)

(All that hype couldn’t even get Davis and Lytle a spot on the poster.  What a shame.)

As the deadline nears to get your picks in for The Great Cage Potato UFC 93 Pick-em Contest (man, we have got to come up with a shorter name for that), we’ve been perusing the forums and checking out some of your entries.  Sometimes we’re impressed with what we see.  Sometimes we’re just confused (Cronk is taking Coleman, Horn, Belcher and Egan – now that’s a guy who loves underdogs), and sometimes we marvel at how lazy you can be (yeah, that’s a shot at you, Clever_Username).

Just for fun, we thought we’d go ahead and post our picks for this event.  No, we aren’t eligible for any of the awesome prizes, but at least you can see how you scored in relation to total bad-ass experts like ourselves.  And when you beat us by one point because you had enough of a lack of respect for Jeremy Horn to pick Palhares by first-round submission, Geriatric Peon, this will give you something to hold over our heads for years.  You jerk.

Our predictions are after the jump.  If you haven’t already, make sure you get yours in before Saturday at noon EST.  We ain’t playin’ about that deadline, either, so don’t come crying to us when your inability to follow instructions causes you to go without a t-shirt that is both stylish and an interesting conversation-starter at parties.

(Hold up, Chris.  You wore a t-shirt that says "Ireland" to the UFC 93 press conference in Ireland?  That’s cheap heat, bro.)

We know you’re excited about UFC 94 after the premiere of “Primetime” this week, and you’re also pretty pumped about the new season of “Rock of Love Bus” (it’s the same show, but on a bus!), though that’s no excuse for losing sight of more pressing matters, like UFC 93.  We haven’t.  We even have some questions swirling around in our heads, and our couples therapist keeps telling us we shouldn’t keep that stuff bottled up, so here we go…

Who wins the Dan Henderson-Rich Franklin bout and how?  Will the UFC make a big deal out of the victor being the TUF 9 coach, and will whoever it happens to be even pretend to be excited about the job?

BF: The more I think about it, the more I can’t see this fight ending in anything other than a decision.  Both these guys are tough to finish (unless you’re Anderson Silva, in which case, all the middleweight division is your playground), and neither of them is likely to be fighting with the kind of reckless desperation that would lead to a quick ending.

That said, I think Franklin is the better all-around fighter.  All he has to do is keep Henderson from taking him down and holding him there while peppering him with elbows, which is undoubtedly Hendo’s game plan.  “Ace” is going to end up on his back once or twice, but he’ll take over in the second and third rounds and start picking Henderson apart.  Franklin by unanimous decision, 29-28 on all three scorecards.

Afterwards, Rogan will make cursory mention of Franklin being the next TUF coach, and Rich will be unable to completely hide his total lack of enthusiasm, despite his best efforts to be polite.  The UFC will be anticipating this, so instead they’ll focus their attention on Michael Bisping’s grinning reaction to the proceedings.

BG: Tough, tough fight to call, but I agree with your assessment of the matchup. Dan Henderson is a little further past his prime than Rich Franklin is, and Ace’s striking is a little sharper. In fact, I say Franklin gives Henderson the first TKO loss of his career around the 3:30 mark of round three, after controlling the standup and stuffing a few takedowns in the first two rounds. Between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Wanderlei Silva, and Takanori Gomi, former PRIDE legends seem to be cursed lately, and Hendo will be the next to go down.

(High on the list of the last places you want to see Demian Maia: mounted on top of you.  Photo courtesy of NBC Sports.)

The UFC seems committed to offering the remaining “Ultimate Fighter” coaching spot to the winner of the Rich Franklin-Dan Henderson bout at UFC 93 this weekend, despite the fact that neither of them seem excited about getting the job, least of all Franklin.  That makes for not only an anti-climactic main event (just picture Franklin, if he wins, standing in the Octagon afterwards and making a face like your dad used to when you’d give him a tie for Christmas every year), but it’s also likely to carry over into making the inevitable season-ending coach fight into something of a bore.

The hell of it is, the solution to this problem is right in front of the UFC, and it’s Demian Maia.  He wants a shot at Michael Bisping, and probably wouldn’t mind the low pay and Vegas exile that comes with the coaching job.  What’s more, Bisping can’t seem to stop talking about Maia despite the fact that a fight with him isn’t on the horizon at the moment.  

Just check his comments to the UK’s Telegraph in a story published yesterday:

Rising star Damian Maia [sic], a submission expert with great striking skills, unbeaten in 10 fights, has been making loud noises within Bisping’s earshot.

“I don’t like the sound of those noises, and I will pacify him,” said Bisping. “Damian is a really nice guy, a gentleman and a sportsman. He wants to go as far as he can in this sport.  …A lot of people seem to want to call me out. I don’t want to sound arrogant but they get beaten or knocked out when they come up against me. Damian is a submission expert, but he won’t get me down, and he’ll get knocked out. He’ll just have to get to the back of the queue for now.”

(Anyone else feeling suddenly very uncomfortable?)

Odds for the five televised bouts at UFC 93 are out on all the big betting sites.  Since the undercard (with the possible exception of the Martin Kampmann-Alexandre Barros bout) is made up mostly of guys you don’t know well or at all, it’s probably best that the off-shore experts don’t entice you to guess your money away.  Then again, maybe you have a hot tip on Tom Egan that you’re just dying to act on.

The most favorable odds on the ‘net are compiled, as usual, from our friends at BestFightOdds.com.  

Rich Franklin (+115) vs. Dan Henderson (-125)
Mark Coleman (+320) vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (-336)
Alan Belcher (+275) vs. Denis Kang (-271)
Jeremy Horn (+275) vs. Rousimar Palhares (-455)
Marcus Davis (-131) vs. Chris Lytle (+121)

Thoughts…

UFC Primetime on Spike

If you’re watching this preview of "UFC Primetime" — the 24/7 type show that the UFC has put together to hype the Georges St. Pierre-B.J. Penn fight — and thinking that it looks like the best piece of MMA promo you’ve ever seen, you’re probably right.  Our good buddy Ariel Helwani has been working on it and he swears we’ll like what we see when the first episode premieres this Wednesday night, so don’t miss it.

UFC 93 video blog, episode 2 – Watch more free videos

Here’s the next installment in Dana White’s UFC 93 video blog, where the UFC prez and Rich Franklin commiserate over England’s shitty food, Dana confronts Dan Henderson on his perceived shit-talking, and more fun with the British TUF 9 tryouts.  Man, that Dana White sure loves his Guitar Hero, doesn’t he?  Guess you need something to do when you spend so much time traveling, and it’s either that or read fucking books.