When James Irvin was asked about the four guys who turned down a match with Anderson Silva before he accepted it, he refused to name names. When Lyoto Machida was asked about the fighters who have reportedly been turning down fights against him, he refused to name names. Luckily there are straight shooters like Brandon Vera.

“They offered me Dan Henderson, Wanderlei Silva, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Lyoto Machida and then Reese Andy,” Vera told The Baltimore Sun. As Vera explains, Henderson, Silva, and Sokoudjou all said no to the matchup, and Vera himself wanted no part of Machida. Wanderlei Silva has said repeatedly that he has no interest in fighting anyone before the end of the year, so he gets a pass — but Hendo and Soko just got their spots blown up, so to speak.

We’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they probably balked at the short notice of the fight, and didn’t refuse it due to any sort of fear of the matchup. Whatever the case, Vera’s frank soundbite probably won’t win him many friends in the UFC. But what else would you expect from a guy nicknamed “The Truth”?

In an attempt to dispel the rumors that he may be a punk for avoiding Lyoto Machida, Brandon Vera claims he had good reasons for turning that fight down (he needs time to train with awkward kung fu enthusiasts) and insists that Wanderlei Silva and Dan Henderson both turned down fights against him. So now who’s the punk? Answer: everyone but Machida.

It’s all here in this MMA Rated video, where Vera goes on to say that he moved down to light heavyweight to take the fight against Reese Andy as “a favor”.

Seems like a lot of UFC fighters are doing favors in order to get this July 19 Anti-Affliction card off the ground. And you know what they say, fighters are like the mob when it comes to favors. One day — and that day may never come — they’ll call upon you and ask for a favor in return. That is what they say, right? If not, they should.

(Photo courtesy of DanHenderson.com)

MMA Weekly reports that Dan Henderson’s next Octagon appearance will be a middleweight bout against Rousimar Palhares at UFC 88 (September 6th, Atlanta). Palhares (8-1) is the Brazilian Top Team rising star who pwned Ivan Salaverry so hardcore during his Octagon debut at UFC 84 that Salaverry retired from fighting. Henderson is coming off of back-to-back title fight losses, to Quinton Jackson at UFC 75 and Anderson Silva at UFC 82. Palhares has serious potential, to be sure, but his relative lack of experience puts him at a great disadvantage against one of the most accomplished fighters in the world. Still, if Palhares can pull off an upset, he’ll put himself in the mix for a middleweight title shot.

In other UFC fight-booking news…

— Joe Lauzon has agreed to fight Kyle Bradley at UFC Fight Night 15 (September 17th; Omaha, Nebraska). Bradley, a Team Voodoo product and veteran of various regional leagues, made his Octagon debut as a welterweight at UFC 81, where he was destroyed by Chris Lytle in 33 seconds. He’ll now be fighting at his natural weight of 155.

— Rory Markham, a Bettendorf-based IFL standout who most recently submitted Jay Ellis at Adrenaline 1 on June 14th, will be making his UFC debut at UFC Fight Night 14 (July 19th, Las Vegas). His opponent will be Brodie Farber, a former Rage in the Cage middleweight champion who’s won his last six fights in the MMA Xtreme organization.

— Thomasz Drwal, the Polish light-heavyweight whose 13-fight win streak was snapped by Thiago Silva at UFC 75, will make his second Octagon appearance at UFC 87 (August 9th, Minneapolis) against 5-0 IFL veteran Andre Gusmao. Drwal was slated to fight David Heath in February, but was forced to pull out of the bout with a knee injury.

(The Crippler was rewarded handsomely for his blood-loss.)

The UFC paid out a chunky $932,000 in official salaries and bonuses on Saturday night, with Anderson Silva unsurprisingly coming out the big winner. The amounts are below; these figures don’t include any undisclosed “locker room bonuses” that are often given out to headliners and other fighters who put on noteworthy performances.

Anderson Silva — $260,000 ($70,000 to show, $70,000 to win, plus $120,000 in bonuses)
Dan Henderson — $160,000 ($100,000 to show, $60,000 for Fight of the Night bonus)
Andrei Arlovski — $170,000 ($105,000 to show, $65,000 to win)
Heath Herring — $140,000 ($70,000 to show, $70,000 to win)
Chris Leben — $110,000 ($25,000 to show, $25,000 to win, $60,000 for Knockout of the Night bonus)
Jon Fitch — $60,000 ($30,000 to show, $30,000 to win)
Diego Sanchez — $60,000 ($30,000 to show, $30,000 to win)
Cheick Kongo — $30,000
Yushin Okami — $28,000 ($14,000 to show, $14,000 to win)
Evan Tanner — $25,000
Josh Koscheck — $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 to win)
Alessio Sakara — $17,000
Luigi Fioravanti — $16,000 ($8,000 to show, $8,000 to win)
Luke Cummo — $16,000
Jorge Gurgel — $14,000 ($7,000 to show, $7,000 to win)
Dustin Hazelett — $12,000
Chris Wilson — $12,000
Jake O’Brien — $11,000
David Bielkheden — $8,000
John Halverson — $3,000

Underpaid: Josh Koscheck, who is still finishing out the indentured servitude of his Ultimate Fighter contract.
Overpaid: Luke Cummo, who didn’t do much that resembled work during his 15 minute grabass with Luigi Fioravanti.

(Props: MMA Mania)

Anderson Silva left the Nationwide Arena on Saturday night with the bank account of a champion, pulling in $120,000 in bonuses on top of his usual salary and win bonus (which were $60,000 each for his previous title defense at UFC 77). As announced in a press conference following the event, the UFC distributed its customary end-of-night bonuses like this:

Fight of the Night: $60,000 each for Anderson Silva and Dan Henderson.

Submission of the Night: $60,000 for Anderson Silva. It was the night’s only submission, unless you count the tapout-by-strikes that Diego Sanchez scored at the expense of David Bielkheden.

Knockout of the Night: $60,000 for Chris Leben.

So, another 1-for-3 performance on our bonus predictions, though we did call Arlovski for a KO/TKO in the second round. And Diego did technically win by submission. You know, I think we’ll just start predicting the outcomes from now on; we’d sound a lot smarter that way.

Take a look before it’s pulled…

Guest Liveblogger Ben Fowlkes of The Fighting Life here, all set and ready to go for UFC 82. I’m looking forward to a good night of fights, which I’m warming up for by watching Dana White swear through the countdown show. I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Click the “MORE” link and refresh the page every few minutes for round-by-round updates.

(Rampage, Randy, Hendo, and Trigg at the day job.)

— On the BetUS Radio show, Damon and I debated which news story was bigger: Kimbo Slice on CBS or Spuds McKenzie on the center of the Octagon.

— Bob Sapp defended his crown as the worst pound-for-pound fighter in MMA history.

— Joe Riggs busted his back and played a piss-prank on a paraplegic.

— A simple, innocent video list on illegal knockouts turned into a total fucking fiasco. In retrospect, we should have replaced Huerta/Halvorsen with Herring/Nakao/”I’m not gay.” Commenter Matt Tatt sincerely hoped we die for publishing such an inaccurate feature. Sounds like my last editor!

— Taking a last-minute fight against Jon Fitch at a reduced pay rate? Chris Wilson is crazy like a fox.

— During our UFC 82 preview coverage, we explained why Anderson Silva is still going to be the champion on Sunday morning, wondered if Josh Koscheck’s Octagon days are numbered, and took wild guesses at who’ll be walking around with a little more spending money.

— We saluted MMA’s style pioneers.

— Bill Goldberg currently leads Mike Goldberg 62% to 38% in our current poll on which Goldberg should never be allowed near a microphone again.

Don’t forget to watch the IFL’s season opener tonight, and come back here tomorrow night at 10 p.m. for our rip-roarin’ UFC 82 liveblog. Our prediction? PAIN.

(Andrei Arlovski could be one paid motherfucker tomorrow.)

Our monthly roundup in which we express fight predictions via the UFC’s customary “Of the Night” payouts. Last time didn’t go so hot, but we have a good feeling about UFC 82. Again, here’s the lineup:

MAIN CARD
Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson
Heath Herring vs. Cheick Kongo
Chris Leben vs. Alessio Sakara
Yushin Okami vs. Evan Tanner
Jon Fitch vs. Chris Wilson

PRELIMINARY CARD
Andrei Arlovski vs. Jake O’Brien
Luke Cummo vs. Luigi Fioravanti
Josh Koscheck vs. Dustin Hazelett
Diego Sanchez vs. David Bielkheden
Jorge Gurgel vs. John Halverson

Fight of the Night: How could it not be Silva vs. Henderson? It’s rare that the Octagon hosts this much combined talent. We see this one going into the championship rounds, with both men pounding the hell out of each other along the way. As you know, we’re leaning toward Silva.

Knockout of the Night: Andrei Arlovski. Other MMA pundits have said that the undefeated O’Brien will grind his way to a lay-and-pray victory, but Arlovski is coming into this fight with the combined rage of 10,000 insulted Soviets, and he’ll be looking to prove that undercards are beneath him. There’s a chance this could be his last fight for the UFC, so putting an exclamation point at the end of his Octagon career would be a priority; we’ll say KO/TKO, round 2. Dark horse: Jon Fitch. His fight against Chris Wilson may look like a mismatch, but Wilson’s ground skills are underrated. Still, we see Fitch putting Wilson out on his feet early.

Submission of the Night: Josh Koscheck. Speaking of mismatches…Koscheck’s recent performances haven’t been awe-inspiring, and he knows he needs a dramatic win against the gift-wrapped Dustin Hazelett, who’s never faced an opponent as skilled as Kos; it’s looking like a first-round armbar. Dark horse: Sanchez over Bielkheden. Same deal as with Koscheck — Bielkheden is being brought in for his UFC debut to build Sanchez’s confidence, and on paper, Sanchez’s ground game scores much higher. But if Ali Sonoma is still fucking with his concentration, we’ll stop short of saying this is a guaranteed win for Nightmare…

See it differently? Let us know in the comments…

Arguably the best fight from the best fight card of 2007: Dan Henderson’s romper-stomper against Wanderlei Silva for the middleweight title at PRIDE 33, last February 24th in Las Vegas. If you’re calling the Silva/Henderson match for Hendo, I have no beef with you; anyone who can put on a performance like this is capable of others like it. And that knockout punch was a thing of beauty…

Part 1

Part 2

MMA Betting Blog has the odds for Saturday’s UFC 82, and breaks down a few of the match-ups here. Their current numbers for the main card (favorites followed by underdogs) are:

Anderson Silva (-150) vs. Dan Henderson (+120)
Cheick Kongo (-175) vs. Heath Herring (+145)
Chris Leben (-165) vs. Alessio Sakara (+135)
Yushin Okami (-220) vs. Evan Tanner (+170)
Jon Fitch (-550) vs. Chris Wilson (+350)

I’ve flip-flopped on my prediction for the main event, which is one of the most evenly matched and toughest-to-call in UFC history. At first, I bought into the oft-repeated line of “Silva’s never faced as good of a wrestler as Henderson.” Which is absolutely true, but now I don’t think that will be the deciding factor in the fight. For me, it comes down to this: Which will each man’s strategy be, and how likely is the success of that strategy?

We’re starting to feel the UFC 82 adrenaline building and it’ll certainly be hitting on all cylinders by this Saturday. Check out these vids from ESPN of the two headliners dishing about their battle.

Anderson Silva doesn’t believe Dan Henderson is his toughest challenge.

Dan Henderson talking the style match-up and why he believes he will beat Anderson Silva.

(Future MMA heavyweight champ?)

Slower than molasses today. Here are some snippets for ya’:

— Jon Fitch talked to 5oz of Pain recently about who he thinks are the next big things in MMA coming from his camp, AKA (via MMA Fightline).

There are two guys that stick out the most. One is another Purdue wrestler that just graduated named Nathan Moore. He’s been training with me out here and he was also a team captain at Purdue. He fights at 185 (pounds). Tremendous ability. He’s more of an athlete than I am and a better wrestler than I am. He’s picking up the striking and jiu-jitsu very quickly so he’s a name to watch out for in the next couple of years.

And then the biggest one is Cain Velasquez. I like to call him “Sugar Cain.” He’s a heavyweight and he’s the biggest and baddest heavyweight you guys have ever seen. He’s going to turn the heavyweight world upside down in another year or two. Nobody is going to be talking about Kimbo. Nobody is going to be talking about Fedor or Randy. Everybody is going to be talking about Cain.

…he’s fought a couple of fights for Bodog. The problem is that we can’t find fights for him because won’t just take fights against him. I think what’s going to happen is that he’s going to fight at UFC 83. I think he’s got a fight and they’ve got him on that card. So he’ll be making his debut, I think, at UFC 83. I’m not 100 percent sure on that but he’s been training for that and I think that’s going to happen. He’s tough. He was an All-American at Arizona State. He’s just a tremendous athlete.

Bold statements. We’ll wait this one out.

— I was disappointed with Dan Henderson‘s appearance on “Rome Is Burning” this afternoon. Hendo may not be the greatest interviewee, but Rome mostly just stuck to softball questions that didn’t give us much new info or stoke the UFC 82 fires. There is to be a second appearance on “Rome” this week by Hendo, so maybe then we’ll get a better scoop.

— David Loiseau will be the headliner for “HCF: Crow’s Nest” when he faces Todd Gouwenberg on March 29th in Quebec. Loiseau’s nickname is “The Crow”. Get it…”Crow’s Nest”? Originally, “Cyborg” Santos was going to be in the fight, but Gouwenberg stepped in after Santos was dropped by HCF because he plans to fight in a World Victory Road show coming up. The Crow is 1-4 in his last five. Grouwenberg is 4-1 during that stretch.

With “Pride of a Champion” only five days away, it’s time to get in that Octagon mood again. To that end…

Dangerous Dan Henderson talks about his upcoming matchup with Anderson Silva and what he learned from his loss to Quentin Jackson:

(Parts 2-4 to this interview can be found here.)

Our platonic girl-buddy Joanne from the MMA Girls gives her rundown of 82′s fights. She’s calling it for Dan Henderson in a decision over Anderson Silva (partially on the basis of his clothing company’s name), Alessio Sakara over Chris Leben (based on women’s intuition), and Evan Tanner over Yushin Okami, but advises you not to bet money on her predictions.

— A new MMA rankings site called MMA Hitlist breaks down Pride of a Champion based on something called “Fighter Value.” According to their calculations, Anderson Silva will destroy Dan Henderson, while Koscheck and Arlovski will just barely come away with victories.

— “UFC 82 Countdown: Silva vs. Henderson” debuts tonight at 11 p.m. on SpikeTV, with replays next Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Or, you could just spring for DVR service like a civilized person.

— I’ll be flying out to Columbus on Saturday to attend the show. If you’ll be there too and you know of any afterparties with free booze, be a doll and let us know.

First off, Hendo has dentures? If anyone knows the story behind his tooth-loss — which we assume came suddenly and violently — please let us know in the comments.

(CombatLifestyle.com via BloodyElbow)

Also, if you know how this particular prom night ended, we’d love to hear about it.

— UFC Daily is reporting that UFC middie Chris Leben has inked a new deal with the organization that kicks his dough up to $25k to appear and $25k to win. That’s an increase of $15k per category. No word on how long the deal is for. The next fight for Leben is a mere week away – March 1st at UFC 82 versus Alessio Sakara. The colorful-haired fighter has been in the UFC since April ’05 and is 7-3 in the organization. He’s 17-4 overall.

— Dan Henderson spoke to the Orange County Register about seeing Anderson Silva in PRIDE and why he thinks he’ll win next Saturday at UFC 82:

“I think he is a tough guy and very skilled but I wouldn’t consider him the top pound-for-pound fighter, just because I’ve seen more of his past than what the U.S. crowd has in the UFC. The guys he’s fought in the UFC really complement his style. I expected him to walk through most of those guys. He’s very skilled on his feet. The guys he’s fought aren’t very good wrestlers.”

This is a valid point and we know Henderson is one of the best. This is a war we’re jonsein’ for and it’s destined to be a classic. And who does Henderson think is the best pound-for-pounder?

In an announcement that almost makes up for how weak “Validation” was, former PRIDE champ / current UFC contender Dan Henderson has decided to drop down a weight division and face Anderson Silva for the UFC’s middleweight title; the long-rumored fight will be the main event of UFC 82, which goes down March 1st at Columbus, Ohio’s Nationwide Arena.

Henderson’s last fight (and first UFC fight in nine years) was a unanimous decision loss to light-heavyweight champ Quinton Jackson. According to Henderson, “Dana wanted me to drop down to 185 pounds, so I’ll have a few fights in that division but I think I’ll eventually get back up to 205.”