("By my calculation this guy is number 12 right behind Chris Tuchscherer, Anthony Perosh and Mike Russow.")

Does anyone else get the feeling that whenever Dana White loses out on getting a fighter he has been coveting, he badmouths said fighter to help soften the blow to his ego?

Remember when he thought he was close to signing Fedor Emelianenko and he came around, admitting that "The Last Emperor" was a pretty good fighter, only to turn around and call the Russian "a mythological creature made up by the MMA media?"

Well, according to The Baldfather, apparently Alistair Overeem is now a piece of shit fighter who doesn’t deserve to be in the top ten of any media outlets’ heavyweight rankings, despite the fact that White has been courting the K-1 star for some time to sign with the UFC.

Here’s what Dana had to say to MMAJunkie about Overeem’s universally accepted top-ten ranking:

"Listen, I like Alistair Overeem. I see him all the time. Cool guy. But there’s no urgency on my part to get him into the UFC. I actually find it hilarious that he’s ranked in the top 10 by some of the websites. I find it hilarious. What has he done in MMA to be ranked in the top 10? I’d like somebody here to answer that question. We’ve got a lot of media guys here; what has Alistair Overeem done to be ranked in the top 10 of mixed martial arts’ heavyweight division? How do you figure? Because he’s such a good K-1 fighter (that) he can parlay that into being a mixed-martial-arts fighter? That’s what makes the mixed-martial-arts media fucking stupid – that they would even rank this guy in the top 10 because he’s fighting in K-1," White said. "That makes absolutely no fucking sense sense, and I would love to hear somebody make sense of this guy being ranked in the top 10. Has he fought anybody worth mentioning? Uh, yeah that would help. Guys that fight the top guys in the top 10, three times a year in mixed martial arts – those are the guys that are ranked in the top 10. How bout the fact that he’s fighting in K-1, where you just kick and punch? There’s no wrestling, there’s no this, and there’s no that. How does any credible fucking MMA guy put him in the top 10 in the heavyweight division? It’s hilarious."

("Read it? No, I *signed* it. We’re dealing with fight promoters here, I assumed they were on the level." Props: MMAConvert.com)

Well, this is embarrassing: As it turns out, UFC heavyweight contender Roy Nelson is allegedly still under contract to another fighting organization and has been during his entire UFC career, including three previous fights in the Octagon as well as his run to the championship of “The Ultimate Fighter” season 10. According to multiple internet reports, Nelson perhaps didn’t read all the fine print in the deal he signed with Roy Jones Jr.’s Square Ring, Inc., prior to his questionble decision loss to Jeff Monson in March, 2009. Now UFC President Dana White says “Big Country” will be on the shelf until the matter is resolved.     

See, this is what happens when fighters don’t have lawyers. Obviously, Nelson should’ve known his own contractual status but instead of just blaming the big guy, let’s be honest: This can only be considered a fuck-up of colossal proportions on the part UFC’s massive and notoriously aggressive legal team. It’s hard to fathom how they missed this, especially since legal documents obtained by The Fight Lawyer allege that UFC Vice President Marc Ratner knew about Nelson’s contract with Square Ring. Fortunately for Zuffa, The Fight Lawyer also assumes the company will just end up billing Nelson for any losses it incurs while sorting this mess out. Man, must be nice.

Fuck, that was fucking terrible. Last night we got an up-close-and-personal look at what happens when one of the UFC’s notoriously weak overseas cards doesn’t turn out to be better in practice than on paper. And Nation? It was not pretty. When these haphazard, garage-sale-style European stinkbombs don’t catch lightning in a bottle and don’t exceed our already low expectations, all you’re left with are a bunch of lackluster fights featuring guys nobody cares about. That might be fine for Strikeforce, but frankly we expect more from the UFC.

Oh, did we mention this bad boy was on tape delay? Yeah it was, so unless you were able to spend the day studiously avoiding all electronic media you knew who was going to win anyway, in which case you were probably better served to just stay up late to watch Manny Pacquiao beat up that dude with the Dave Navarro beard. Rumor has it that was pretty shitty too. Coupled with UFCs 119 and 120 it’s hard to remember the last time Our Fearless Leader did three shows this uninspiring in such quick succession. At this point, the supercharged midgets of the WEC can’t get here fast enough. Seriously, it’ll be nice to see a few fights where somebody shows a little urgency.

(Video courtesy YouTube/Kimura.se)

- Bob Reilly wins by 542 votes to retain NY Assembly seat (timesunion)

- Eagles to make Michael Vick longtime fixture at QB? (scoresreport)

– Faber wants to coach on TUF (bjpenn)

- Is Tom Hanks a nice guy or a total dick? (screenjunkies)

- Rampage on The Late Late Show (chicagosmma)

- Dana talks Mir and Anderson (youtube/kimura.se)

- Urijah talks Brittney and Arianny in Playboy (rawvegas)

 - Where to buy a golden shower (holytaco)

- Say no to Lesnar-Mir 3 (watchkalibrun)

- TV’s hottest news anchors (chickipedia)

- Stephan Bonner’s post-WEC job (neonbarfights)

- Artist’s electric chair experiment (doubleviking)

- Chuck is now engaged to Heidi Northcott (people)

- Frank Mir is a douchebag to his wife too (thedirty)

- Wanderlei wants to fight Vitor (lowkick)

- Facebook to launch email service (mademan)

(Ortiz and Liddell will settle their grudge once and for all on New Year’s Eve…OR WILL THEY?? / Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle)

One of my weekly MMA must-reads is the "Sunday Morning Rumor Mill" column on MiddleEasy, which features a bunch of juicy stories that just might be true. In homage to our pals, we’d like to start a similar feature on CagePotato — except ours will work a little differently. Of the eight items you see below, seven have been pulled directly out of our asses. The other one is absolutely, positively, 100% true, and has been confirmed by inside sources. Which one is it? We’d rather not say, due to legal reasons. You’ll have to figure it out yourself…

– Vinicius Quieroz wasn’t the only fighter who was caught by the UFC’s independent drug-testing at UFC 120. There was a second guy who pissed hot for the same steroid, but the company decided to let him off with a private (but very stern) warning. Hint: Main card, but not main event.

– Arianny Celeste has been dating a former UFC fighter for the past year, but has kept the relationship hidden from the public, in order to protect the fantasy that she’s "available" to her fans. We can’t reveal her boyfriend’s name, but his initials are Tiki Ghosn.

(War and his cellmate "Dana White" pose with a fellow inmate at the prison prom.)

Time sure flies when you’re not behind bars.

Here we are already at month four of War Machine’s county jail journey.

It seems like only yesterday, he was on the outside bar brawling and tweeting about his views of the world.

Now he spends his days reading, masturbating and playing scrabble with imaginary incarnations of UFC fighters and personalities.

Without giving away too much from the latest releases from his memoirs, War’s reaction to a victim of suicide he mentions in one of his two latest blogs was a bit off, but what else can be expected from a dude who tweets Dana White that he’s imagining him in his cell just before he rubs one out?

And we thought we were going to have a hard time getting back in The Baldfather’s good books.

Here’s what the new age philosopher formerly known as Jon Koppenhaver got into the past two weeks after the jump:

(Take a good look, people. It’s the last time you’ll be seeing stuff like this for free. PicProps: InsideHoops.com)

OK, wait just a goddamned minute. There’s some sleight of hand going on here, isn’t there? Ever since Dana White organized another of his can’t-miss, super-special, earth-shattering, blow-your-fuckin’-mind announcement conference calls yesterday to let us know that the insatiable goatsucker that is the UFC will soon devour the scared gazelle of the WEC, people have been blowing nonstop smoke up our asses about how great this is going to be. And yeah, in a lot of ways it will be great. Specifically, it’ll be great for the fighters – except most WEC lightweights, who’ll certainly be fired as soon as they lose their first UFC fights — since the little guys finally get the long overdue opportunity to be UFC fighters, get UFC groupies and bank UFC paychecks. That’s all fine and good. Seriously, those guys deserve it.

But what about us? What about the hardcore fans who have been religiously tuning in to the WEC over the last couple of years to see what have consistently been the best shows in the industry? I mean, we’re kinda getting screwed on this deal, right? Granted, we’re no mathematicians, but it’s unclear how Zuffa reducing its programming on Versus from nine shows during 2010 to four shows during 2011 means anything other than fewer free fights for the fans. And let’s be honest, the UFC is absorbing the WEC for one reason only: So it can charge us for something we used to get for free.

(Props: MMAFighting)

The cat’s out of the bag, and the "major announcement" turned out to be pretty damn major after all. Dana White announced during a media call today that the UFC is absorbing the WEC beginning in January 2011; the UFC will now feature seven championship weight classes. Here’s how it’ll work…

– Jose Aldo is automatically the UFC Featherweight Champion; he’ll defend his UFC featherweight title at UFC 125 on January 1st against a yet-to-be-determined opponent.

– WEC 53 (December 16th; Glendale, Arizona) will be the final WEC event. The winner of the bantamweight title fight between Dominick Cruz and Scott Jorgensen will become the UFC Bantamweight Champion. The winner of the lightweight title fight between Ben Henderson and Anthony Pettis will automatically face the winner of Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard at UFC 125.

It may have been a speculative remark fueled by an interview Dana White did with Broadcasting Cable this week in which the UFC president intimated that his promotion was considering starting its own television network, but to many MMA news sites, an eight-second conversation the hosts of ESPN’s Pardon The Interruption show had on the subject yesterday was enough to prompt speculation that this is the major announcement that will be made during today’s media conference call.

Here’s what White told BC’s Ben Grossman:

"A lot of people don’t realize we are in a half a billion homes around the world. You know all the things we’ve been through in the United States, but this sport travels well. Cricket will never be big here and the NFL will never be big around the world. But we are all human beings and fighting is in our DNA. We get it and we like it. So we are working on a couple moves now and should be in a billion homes around the world in the next couple months. Sports Business Journal just came out with a survey asking big names in the industry which sport could start its own network and 4 out of 5 said us. They are right. I agree. That will happen within the next couple years.You are starting to see now ESPN is starting to cover us more. I think this is one of those things ESPN will probably kick themselves in 10 years saying, ‘We could have fucking had that.’"

It is possible that if it is true that ESPN got wind of the news, considering they have a deal to broadcast UFC events and to produce satellite pre and post-event MMA Live programs, but it’s more likely that PTI is just throwing the scenario out there to create dialogue on the possibility.

(Cain Velasquez and George Lopez enjoy a PBJ and milk in honor of Brock Lesnar’s cracker-ass heritage. Props: fpvault)

– Five Lessons: UFC 121 Edition (Versus MMA Beat)

- Cesar Gracie Says Jake Shields Is the Guy to Beat GSP (FightMagazine)

– Dana White: Brock Lesnar Is Not Going Back to WWE (LowKick)

- Court McGee Not Entirely Pleased With Performance in UFC 121 Win (MMA Fighting)

– The IRS Put a Lien On James Toney’s UFC 118 Fight Purse (MMA Convert)

– Marquardt vs. Okami Winner Guaranteed Title Shot (Heavy.com/MMA)

– Bellator Finalizes Line-Up for Thursday Night’s Season-Ending Event (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Playboy Playmate LaTasha Marzolla Gets Her Arm Snapped in an MMA Bout (MiddleEasy)

– Herb Dean Talks Refereeing and Judging and His New Line of Condoms (MMA Scraps)

– UFC President Dana White Talks Jon Jones, Jose Aldo on the Fight Fix (SBNation.com/MMA)

("I know, dude. Twins. We’re feeling pretty fucking blessed right now.")

The UFC sent out a short but provocative notice to members of the press earlier today, declaring that UFC President Dana White will make a "major announcement" during a media conference call this Thursday at 10:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET. And that’s pretty much it; no hints as to the nature of this announcement were given whatsoever. Which means that, being responsible bloggers, it is now time to speculate wildly.

In a broadcastingcable.com interview published yesterday, White was pressed on his company’s upcoming television strategy, to which he responded "we are working on a couple moves now and should be in a billion homes around the world in the next couple months." A billion, you guys. Though he wouldn’t share details, he promised that the UFC would be on network television for the first time in 2011 — maybe on Fox, maybe on NBC, maybe both — and that the UFC could start its own network "within the next couple years."

(Kingmaker. Lip-licker.)

…at least according to our friends at AskMen who released their Top 49 Most Influential Men of 2010 list today. Although the UFC president placed a lot higher last year, White’s #32 ranking puts him ahead of such notable males as Justin Timberlake (#33) and Kobe Bryant (#45). Unfortunately, he’s still two spots behind the freaking Old Spice Dude.

To determine the rankings, over 500,000 votes were cast by AskMen readers, who were asked to decide "which male figures have made the biggest impact, and ultimately, shaped what it means to be a modern man in 2010." Of course, when you leave this sort of thing up to popular vote, the results always wind up a little disassociated from logic. For example, President Barack Obama is only the 21st most influential man this year (down from #3 last year). James Franco is #7. Sure. Why not.

To see this year’s full "Influential Men" list and find out who ended up at #1, click here.

(You like it? I’m having this airbrushed onto the hood of my Impala.)

As you’re all aware by now, Cain Velasquez became The First Mexican Heavyweight Champion in Fighting History™ on Saturday when he destroyed Brock Lesnar at UFC 121. The crowning of Velasquez should hopefully usher in a new wave of interest in the UFC from the Latino community — but the promotion still has a long way to go until it appeals to all demographics. If the UFC wants to achieve true mass appeal, they should work as hard as possible to check these categories off their list as well…

An African-American Lightweight Champion
Over the years, the UFC has awarded title belts to Maurice Smith and Kevin Randleman in the heavyweight division, and Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans at 205. And even though former welterweight champ Carlos Newton and middleweight king Anderson Silva aren’t American, they would certainly be described by my mother as "people of soul." But the history of the UFC’s lightweight division has been that of white dudes (see: Pulver, Sherk, Edgar) and a fiery Hawaiian warrior (come on, son.) What the division needs is an athletic and explosive champion at 155, who can serve as a role model for kids who are too short to make the basketball team. Do I have to spell it out for you? Okay, fine: A-N-T-O-N-I-O M-c-K-E-E, P-L-A-Y-E-R.

(Does this look like the face of a man who is pumped for Wrestlemania? PicProps: BloodyElbow)

Right on schedule, the Internets are in full-on meltdown mode this Monday morning concerning all things Brock Lesnar. Lesnar fans who talked him up as an unstoppable juggernaut as late as Friday afternoon are now backtracking, suddenly focusing more on his inexperience than his otherworldly physical prowess. Cain Velasquez supporters are getting their gloat on, as well they should, after Velasquez put a king sized beating on Lesnar at UFC 121. We blogging scumbags are attacking the former champ’s striking skills, his game plan and his training camp. Many of us are wondering aloud about Lesnar’s future in the sport, how he’ll rebound from this and what in the bejeezus is going to happen to our precious heavyweight rankings now.

For his part, UFC President Dana White is insinuating that the whitetail deer population of southwestern Minnesota might be a bit inflated come spring, since he believes Lesnar will cancel much of his planned time off in order to get back in the gym and back in the Octagon ASAP. Then there’s this goddamned Undertaker thing, which is threatening to take on a life of its own.

(VidProps: YouTube/UFC)

Big DW’s latest video blog finds him doing no shortage of totally weird shit leading up to UFC 121 this Saturday. First, we get a closer look at White stumping for senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) alongside – even weirder – Chuck Liddell at a rally in Reno. A bit later, Our Fearless Leader and a few of his faithful employees get dressed up like an R&B group out to shoot the cover of their Christmas album as part of a photo-op for Playboy. (Ed. Note: CagePotato will not, we repeat not, be publishing any poor quality digital stills of this spread. We’re still hoping to rollover at least a few of our weekend minutes.)

During the rallies, White makes sure to point out to the live crowd that he’s “not very political or politically correct” (No, really?) and that he’s just there to spread the word about the importance of voting. After all, there’s nothing more American than blindly appealing to all people to “get out there and vote.” This despite the cruel reality that people who are “not very political” and/or can’t be trusted to look after their own best interests actually shouldn’t vote. That’s how people like this win elections. To his credit, Dana advises us to “do our homework” before we take to the polls, so at least his heart is in the right place. Oddly, there is no footage here of “The Iceman” addressing the political rallies. His speeches much have been too long and too nuanced to edit neatly into a 12 minute blog.

(Video courtesy Fight!Magazine)

If a reporter were to ask Dana White who he was picking to win from an upcoming Strikeforce card, the UFC president would likely answer with something to the effect of, "Are you retarded? I don’t fucking watch Strikeforce. That show is garbage," before walking away in disgust.

It’s sad when pride and despising the competition gets in the way of being a fan of decent match-ups and it becomes the norm for reporters to pretend that other competing organizations don’t exist when talking to promoters.

Fight! Magazine’s Danny Acosta defied convention at the release party for the EA Sports MMA game this week and asked Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, commentator Frank Shamrock and fighters Dan Henderson and Fedor Emelianenko for their picks for UFC 121 on Saturday night.

Shamrock came off like his usual arrogant self, proclaiming that he won’t watch Jake Shields’ UFC debut and that he hopes Kampmann kills him, but the rest of the Strikeforce crew give thoughtful insight into which fighters and why they will win the main and co-main events of the card.

(Puts your hands on your hips, suck in your gut, and squint like you’re Clint Eastwood. It’s not rocket science, Harry. / Photos courtesy of Zimbio. Thanks to rusty balls for the tip.)
   

UFC president Dana White and former light-heavyweight champ Chuck Liddell played the role of enforcers yesterday during an early voting rally for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at the University of Nevada. A supporter of the UFC and a Nevada senator since 1986, Reid is currently trying to score a fifth term amid opposition from Republican Sharon Angle, who recently complimented a Hispanic audience by telling them they looked Asian.

The unholy White/Liddell/Reid triumvirate reunited today at a rally headlined by Vice President Joe Biden. According to this Reno Gazette-Journal report, "The crowd broke into a roar after Reid, the former boxer, said ‘I can fight a little bit too.’"

(I don’t do this for everybody, but I’m willing to drop my asking price to $250,000 and a 10% stake in the UFC. Have you seen my fight with Fedor?)

According to Ricardo Arona, he is only one win away from getting an invite to the UFC, but finding a promotion to fight for hasn’t been easy for the former PRIDE middleweight champion.

"That conversation with Dana White was basically about it, that I’d fight again in other event to recover my rhythm, and it’d be a good thing for me. I’d like to fight on UFC, I feel like I’m ready for it, but if I have to fight again first, there’s no problem with that, too," he recently told Tatame’s Guilherme Cruz. "[War on the Mainland] called me about fighting [at one of their] events, but there’re nothing set. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but I want to fight abroad, not in Brazil."

Some more on-the-scene videos from our good friends at kimura.se: First up, Michael Bisping promises that Yoshihiro "Ironhead" Akiyama would have eventually gone down if it were a five-round fight, but says there’s no shame in not being able to put him away. He calls Mark Kinney the best boxing coach he’s ever worked with, and feels that he’s finally putting Mark’s lessons into practice. As for his future, the Count still has his eyes on the prize. "I’ve been around for a long time now, I’m not getting any younger," Bisping says. "Now it’s time to do it, it’s time to put in a run for a title and hopefully get the gold."

After the jump, Dan Hardy reflects on his knockout loss against Carlos Condit, and our BFF Dana White discusses educating new markets on MMA, the question of "morality" that jackass politicians bring up around the world, and the new "GSP is bigger than Gretzky" talking point he’s been testing out recently. For lots more UFC 120 interviews, check out youtube.com/kimurase.

(We ain’t saying no names, but it looks like somebody’s ready for UFC 120. PicProps: SBNation. Vid Interview Props: YouTube/Kimurase. DanaVlog Props: YouTube/UFC)

While some CagePotato editors are lying low until the heat dies down, our trusted Swedish affiliates at Kimura.se were on the scene in London in the days leading up to UFC 120. See, we’ve got people everywhere. Mad props to Kimura for serving up the collection of semi-exclusive prefight interviews that are after the jump, especially since they slapped our logo on them and everything (right there next to OrcBite.com, which feels pretty special). Find out how Mike Pyle has embraced the role of heel against hometown favorite John Hathaway this weekend, how Greg Jackson prepared Yoshihiro Akiyama for Mike Bisping and what Travis Browne plans to do to Cheick Kongo. Also, hear from Cyrille Diabate, Paul Kelly (who fights Godzirra at UFC 123) and Jon Jones, who as of yesterday still sounded pretty sure he was going to fight Ryan Bader next.

For good measure, we even tossed Dana White’s third UFC 120 video blog on the bottom. Even in the worst of times, we still show love. Tune in to see Big DW get exasperated when his own fighters keep predicting a slew of decisions for tonight’s fight card. It ain’t always easy being the most powerful man in MMA, people …

 
(This wouldn’t be the last time Ben and Dana’s paths would cross…)

Chances are, if you’re an MMA media type like Ben, Chad or myself and you get a mid-afternoon call from Dana White on a Saturday, it’s not because he’s inviting you out for Pinkberry.

I won’t give away the surprise, but I will say, if nothing else, although I recommend you check out Ben’s interview with UFC welterweight contender Martin Kampmann, I suggest you listen to the first five minutes of the show to hear what "The Baldfather" had to say to our fearless leader.

All of the usual inane banter, terribly inaccurate predictions and somewhat expert analysis are all still included free of charge.

Instead of waiting with bated breath for us to post the latest episode of the show every other week, make your complicated lives easier by subscribing to The Bum Rush on iTunes HERE.

(“Hey, before we do this whole ‘speech’ thing, can we hit up Hot Topic? I need to pick up some age-appropriate clothing.” VidProps: YouTube/Ariel Helwani)

We figure all you academic types will be interested to know that UFC President Dana White got the chance to address the prestigious (at least that’s how everybody keeps describing it) Oxford Union Society at Oxford University this week while in jolly ol’ Londontown to promote UFC 120. We’ve been led to believe this is a pretty big deal, as such luminaries as Malcolm X, Mother Teresa and Ronnie Reagan have all given talks there. Plus, at one of the world’s most highly-regarded institutions of higher learning you’d think Big DW might face a gamut of thought-provoking queries about any number of interesting topics – i.e. the moral and sociopolitical implications of his work, the level of discourse in his field and the health and safety of the athletes he relies upon to build his fortune. Yeah … not so much.

Your first clue that White is in for a comfy, Larry King-style lovefest with his Oxford peeps is when he takes the stage and asks if the students in attendance are UFC fans and all of them but one raise their hands. Then some guy (an American, from the sound of it) stands up and asks a question that basically translates to, “Dana, how have you managed to make the UFC so awesome?” and we’re off and running.

Frankly, we expected a little more critical thinking from you, Oxford. After the jump, some highlights from DW’s fireside chat, plus he sits down with Ariel Helwani to talk about the criticism of UFC 120, why he’s still pissed about UFC 119 and how there can never be too much MMA on television.

(Video courtesy YouTube/UFC)

When I clicked on the latest episode of Dana White’s fight week video blogs, I was hoping to at least hear the UFC president mention the candid private conversation he had with Ben on Saturday afternoon about Arianny’s Playboy spread, but instead I was treated to the usual inside jokes and inane banter between The Baldfather and his homeboys.

For more on what Dana had to say to Ben (and trust me, you don’t want to miss it) tune into The Bum Rush Friday morning.

Let’s just say Dana makes Gus Johnson seem like a polite telemarketer.

(Video courtesy YouTube/WandFightTeam)

For the past several months fellow Brazilians have been rallying for Murilo "Ninja" Rua to be added to the UFC’s 185-pound roster.

Wanderlei Silva posted a video blog on YouTube last week asking UFC president, Dana White to sign the former PRIDE star to the organization.

Besides "The Axe Murderer," Ninja’s younger brother, UFC light heavyweight champion, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua as well as welterweight contender Paulo Thiago also appeared in the clip to express their support for Murilo, who is undefeated in his last four outings, being brought into the UFC’s middleweight mix.

Speaking with TATAME this week, Ninja says that the ultimate goal would be to join friends like Wand and Shogun in the UFC, but he isn’t banking on it happening without him proving that he deserves it.

“I see it from a positive perspective, but I’m fighting and doing my job. If one day I’ll fight for the UFC it’ll only be a consequence. I’ll wait and it’ll come," Rua explained. “[The UFC's middleweight division] is a great division; there are great fighters, it’s really hard, but I’ll try to be on my best to go for the belt. That’s my dream, my goal, and I want to deserve it. On the right time, I’ll join the UFC’s cast."

Don’t forget to check out the feed for today’s UFC 124 press conference live from Montreal here at 1:00 pm ET.

Scheduled to be in attendance are UFC welterweight champ, Georges St-Pierre, number one welterweight contender, Josh Koscheck, UFC Director of Canadian Operations, Tom Wright,  and UFC president, Dana White.

They will likely be announcing the remainder of the card that is rumored for the December 11 show.

UFC 124
December 11, 2010 7:00 pm ET
Bell Centre – Montreal, Quebec

Welterweight Championship Bout
Georges St-Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck

Thiago Alves vs. John Howard
Jim Miller vs. Charles Oliveira
Dan Miller vs. Joe Doerksen
Ricardo Almeida vs. TJ Grant
Mark Bocek vs. Dustin Hazelett
Jason MacDonald vs. Rafael Natal
Stefan Struve vs. Sean McCorkle
Matt Riddle vs. Anthony Waldburger

UFC media player is after the jump.

UFC Ultimate Insider Best of Joe Rogan – Watch more Funny Videos (Vid courtesy UFC.com)

Two of the most overlooked redeeming qualities of great interviewers are that they they are comfortable and that they make their subjects comfortable enough that they will open up to them.

Joe Rogan does both.

Thanks to his years of television and stand-up comedy experience, Rogan has been able to transition into the role of interviewer with relative ease, without coming off on the mic or behind the camera as a gushing 12-year-old fan like many MMA reporters do today.

(The face of an angel. PicProps: Boston Globe)

One of the more hilarious (and largely overlooked) aspects of the UFC’s response to the recent Chael Sonnen steroid fiasco was that whenever anybody asked Dana White about drug testing in MMA he basically threw his hands up and said the company couldn’t have anything to do with it, because “The Government” is in charge of that. For example, when White discussed the topic with Ariel Helwani before UFC 119 he took on a wide-eyed reverence that was so un-Dana it was clear he was just sticking to the company-approved talking points: “Everybody has this belief that, ‘Oh, Dana White has the commissions in (his pocket).’ Listen, the commission doesn’t give a shit what I think — what I think, what I say, nothing,” White said. “You’re dealing with the government, OK? That’s like thinking Dana White can tell the IRS what to do. It’s never gonna happen.”

Now, either DW is the only millionaire businessman in America who thinks “The Government” is doing a great job regulating his industry … or he’s bullshitting us. Obviously, his equating state athletic commissions with the IRS is laughable, but the assertion that a billion dollar company like the UFC couldn’t possibly get involved with “The Government” is also pretty clearly not true. In fact, according to reports out this week, Zuffa, LLC would very much like to take an active role in helping New York state pick its next governor, and this is certainly not the first time the UFC has dipped into its pockets to help sway “The Government” to its way of thinking.

(Video courtesy YouTube/UFC)

The UFC released the latest episode of its Ultimate Insider series today featuring some behind the scenes footage of UFC 119 and an exclusive interview with light heavyweight champion, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.

In addition to the Joe Rogan conducted Q&A session with Rua, in this edition of the series Frank Mir tries to excuse explain his lackluster UFC 119 performance against Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic and the rest of the time is filled with clips of the latest UFC gym grand opening that was attended by UFC president Dana White and a few other less famous stars like Chuck Liddell, BJ Penn, Vitor Belfort and UI host, Arianny Celeste.

(Two entirely appropriate responses to the judges’ verdict. PicProps: Our Man J-Dawg)

Besides an affinity for horrifying Oregon Ducks gear, there isn’t much to dislike about Evan Dunham. In fact, in the wake of UFC 119 you could say Dunham has positioned himself as sort of an “Anti-Frank Mir” in MMA circles, emerging from his split decision loss to Sean Sherk looking like a winner, while the former UFC heavyweight champion emerged from his KO win looking like a loser. Given the near-unanimous public sentiment that Dunham got the “No Vaseline” treatment at 119, it will be interesting to see if the UFC simply ignores the amazing incompetence of the ringside officials on Saturday night and keeps the kid full-speed-ahead on his rise to a title shot.

Signs point to yes, as the always subtle UFC President took to his Twitter immediately after the official verdict to announce Dunham had been “robbed!” Meanwhile, Dunham himself — if his recent postfight with MMA Junkie is any indication — seems to be taking a far pluckier approach to his first professional loss.

(If a fighter’s going to strut like that, Dana wants them to at least have something to strut about.)

To say Dana White is a bit upset with the two fighters from Saturday night’s UFC 119 main event would be a major understatement. A more appropriate statement would be that the UFC president is pissed right off with the lethargic performances put in by Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic and Frank Mir at the Conseco Field House in Indianapolis last weekend.

White spoke to ESPN today and took aim at one half of the duo that made up 119′s final fight — former heavyweight champion, Mir who he hinted that he hasn’t decided whether or not fans will see fight again in the Octagon.