By Elias Cepeda

This final episode of the TUF 15 season included perhaps more out-of-the-ring action than any prior episode. We got more of Cruz and Faber cracking wise at each other, but also legit blows thrown inside of the house and a surprise announcement or two.

The winning fighter and coach will each win a Harley Davidson motorcycle and so the guys are taken to a Harley super store to try bikes on and leather for size. They are hosted by Theo “Juice” Rossi, who has inexplicably still managed to survive cooperation with the government (Watch Sons of Anarchy to get the reference. And yes, I have trouble telling the difference between quality screenplay and reality.)

Back in the house, Tickle decides to throw a water bottle on the balls of a sleeping Daron. Daron, with weeks of pent up aggression from being eliminated, wakes up into a sprint like a Navy Seal or something, finds Tickle and fires off a punch and kick combination on the goofball.

Tickle acts outraged, like he doesn’t understand that getting awoken from slumber by getting hit in the balls absolutely deserves an ass-kicking. Daron worries that he might get kicked off of the show for fighting in the house because that’s what has happened in past seasons.

Naw, its cool, dawg, says UFC President Dana White. Well, not really. But he does announce to the guys in the gym, later that all of them will be fighting on next week’s finale in Vegas. All, except for Mike Rio, who busted his rib, and Andy Ogle, who is on medical suspension after his last KO loss.

The passionate Ogle is distraught at the idea that he won’t get to fight after making it so far. White assures him that he will “be back.” That isn’t good for everyone’s favorite warrior-poet, who literally runs after White as the Prez is leaving the building, wraps his arm around him and asks to be put on the Nottingham card in September.

By Elias Cepeda

We’ve got two quarter final match ups today so let’s jump right in. From Coach Dominick Cruz’ team we have Vinc Pichel taking on Coach Urijah Faber’s Chris Saunders. After that, Team Faber teammates Al Iaquinta and Andy Ogle lock up. At the end of the episode, injured Cruz’ replacement to face Faber at UFC 148 for the interim bantamweight title will also be announced.

(Tard face: For when punch face just doesn’t describe it.) 

It’s looking like Renan Barao might be getting a phone call from the UFC after all.

According to Dave Meltzer, bantamweight powerhouse Michael “Mayday” McDonald will not be the man to step up against Urijah Faber in Dominick Cruz’s absence, as he has suffered a hand injury that will keep him out of action for the unexpected future. Meltzer reported in his infamous publication, The Wrestling Observer, that the news came from none other than UFC President Dana White, although McDonald has yet to confirm it himself.

The news comes after the current bantamweight champion was forced to pull out of his heated trilogy match with Faber, scheduled for UFC 148, due to a torn ACL. Dana White announced during last week’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter 15 that Faber’s new opponent would be announced on tonight’s episode, and the general consensus was that it would be the Californian-born slugger, who is coming off a huge win over former WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres, would be the mystery opponent in question. The fact that the other most probable contender, Renan Barao, was already scheduled to face Ivan Menjivar at the same event only confirmed this notion.

If Barao is not the man to claim the empty spot, who else do you think could, Potato Nation? One thing’s for sure, we expect that tonight’s episode of TUF might finally bounce back from the ratings disaster it has been thus far.

We will have more on this story as it continues to develop.

-J. Jones

(Holy shit! That dude looks tough!) 

If the abysmal ratings of The Ultimate Fighter 15 are any indication (hint: they are), then most of you are likely not up to speed on the happenings of this season, and I’m no exception. For instance, I couldn’t even name one of the participants still competing (Steve Sicilia?), nor could I tell you which phase of the tournament we are currently in. I chalk up my lack of enthusiasm over TUF 15 to the show’s shift to Friday nights, because personally, I’d rather get bombed on a mixture of hand grenades and PBR and hit on a mid-30′s divorcee with lowered self-esteem then watch Team Faber strip down and get a good sweat on in Team Cruz’s locker room, not that there’s anything wrong with that. But this Friday’s episode may mark the first time in the season that you and I might actually want to hold off on the brain damage and sexual harassment lawsuits for the time being.

After it was revealed that Dominick Cruz had suffered an ACL injury and would be forced out of his trilogy fight with Urijah Faber in last week’s episode, Dana White announced that during this week’s episode, he would reveal Cruz’s replacement. The mystery opponent will square off against Faber at UFC 148 for the interim bantamweight title, because the UFC simply can’t have enough interim champs at one time.

Join us after the jump for more on this story. 

By Elias Cepeda

Coach Dominick Cruz and his coaches are giddy on how good they think James Vick will be. At one point they are off in a corner of the gym almost snickering at how no one but them knows how good the lanky young fighter is.

“He’s making it to the finals,” Cruz says.

Cruz says that Vick listens well and is an open book.

Dana White comes in and for some reason is the one to make the announcement that Cruz has torn his ACL and is out of the fight with Faber, though he will stay on as coach. We all knew at this point that Cruz had injured himself this week, but I guess I expected that this week’s episode would have footage and put a little more drama into it.

It is just as well because we need all the time we can get for tonight’s two matchups of Cruz’ James Vick vs. Joe Proctor and Justin Lawrence vs. Faber’s Mike Chiesa.

(The truth is, Ronda walked into the gym and Dominick’s knees buckled on their own. / Photo via @RondaRousey)

In light of the sly gamesmanship in that recent Urijah Faber video, UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz went on MMAFighting’s The MMA (After) Hour to explain how his knee injury came about, and that it wasn’t the result of being beat up by a girl. Here’s what he had to say, as transcribed by MMAMania:

“I was in training camp, I had just gotten done with TUF, and I usually get done about 11. I got to practice at 11:30 and I was sparring that day with kickboxing and takedowns and a guy got behind me in a scramble and he went for a trip, the trip, his hips went in on my knee and it just buckled my knee right then and there. I sat out the rest of the round, threw some ice on my knee, it was pretty painful. I was just kind of hoping for the best to be honest. I was hoping and praying that it was nothing crazy because it was a very, very loud pop. I kind of went into denial mode for the rest of that day saying ‘Oh, I’m fine, I’m fine.’ So I took some ibuprofen and that night I went in to get my normal workout in and I go to move around and get my shadowboxing going to warm up and me knee just pops right out. And I just knew right then and there that I needed to go get an MRI and get this checked out because me knee wasn’t stable and it kind of felt like I was walking on ice. I went in and got an MRI that day and got the bad results, the bad news…

Just to shut down some rumors that Faber thinks is funny to start and makes jokes about an Olympic bronze medalist and her taking out my knees. To me it’s not really funny, it’s just another way to know, for the world to know why me and Faber don’t get along. I wasn’t training with her at all. I brought her in to help my team on TUF…

(Former featherweight champion Urijah Faber will get another crack at the bantamweight title.)

UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz may be out of his UFC 148 fight with Urijah Faber on July 7th, but “The California Kid” will still get a title bout that night, according to UFC President Dana White. “So what’s going to happen is Urijah Faber will, he’s going to fight still. He’s going to fight on the same card. Now, I’m looking for the right opponent. The guy who deserves this shot at Urijah Faber,” White said on Tuesday’s episode of UFC Tonight, according to MMA Weekly.

Faber, who was also interviewed on UFC Tonight, said he imagines that either Renan Barao, Ivan Menjivar or Michael McDonald will get a crack at him but does not know for certain. Barao is riding a seven-year win streak and is currently slated to face Menjivar at UFC 148. McDonald knocked out former champion Miguel Torres last month.

Urijah Faber is a smooth media operator. After so many years being at the top of the sport, the “California Kid” knows how to handle himself in the public eye and promote himself.

Watch the above video for a case in point. Yesterday it was announced that bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz had torn his ACL and would be out of his July rubber match with Faber. In this reaction video released by Faber, he, almost at once, empathizes with the injured Cruz, dryly starts a rumor that a woman injured the champ, calls for an interim title bout between himself and somebody else, and plugs his new book. Hell, Faber even manages to offer his unsolicited ranking of the top three guys that deserve to fight him for the interim title.

(UFC bantamweight Dominick Cruz | Scott Hirano Low Kick)

Well, that sucks. Dana White has tweeted that Dominick Cruz is out of his UFC 148 title defense against TUF 15 opposing coach and arch nemesis Urijah Faber because of a torn ACL. “It’s true Cruz blew his ACL. Stay tuned for more info” White tweeted just a few minutes ago.

By Elias Cepeda

Mike Rio vs. Andy Ogle seems like a good enough fight for this week’s contest, but the Brit goes further in predicting what it will be like. “It’s going to be a very attractive fight,” Ogle jokes. “It’s going to be a sexy fight.”

But before we can get to that, we are shown Team Cruz’ Sam Sicilia being comforted in his locker room by Mike Chiesa, who is on Faber’s team but is Sam’s best friend from back home. Sam finished last week’s fight much stronger than Chris Saunders and its almost a crime that the fight didn’t go a third round.

In an interview, Sam is clearly devastated but hits the right note. “I’d rather lose that fight than have a killer day in sales,” he says.

That really is what The Ultimate Fighter is about for these guys – they are fighting to be able to spend their lives doing something they love.

Coaches’ Challenge

In past years we’ve seen TUF coaches compete for cash against one another in bowling and ping pong. This year turns out to be a tad different – Urijah Faber and Dominick Cruz are competing at firing hand guns, rifles and grenade launches.

Yes, really.

By Elias Cepeda

If Team Cruz’ Sam Sicilia was freaking out over the pressure of being a #2 pick, it may have intensified this week as he was set to face the last pick overall, Chris Saunders. At least Sam had an extra world champion along to help him prepare.

Dominick Cruz brought in Strikeforce 135 pound champion Ronda Rousey to the UFC training center to teach his team some of her devastating Judo techniques. Ronda admits to being nervous about going in to teach the guys but they all seem receptive, as they should be, to learning from the champ – even though she’s a girl.

Oh yeah, Chris Tickle says that Ronda damn near broke his ribs while demonstrating a throw on him. The chick is rough, for sure.

Dana White allows the fighters to watch Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans at the TUF mansion and Ronda joins them. Once more, her nervousness proves unfounded.

“There are going to be a lot of guys to fend off at once,” she laughs while being hot.

(Click for full-size version.)

“Two grudges will end” at UFC 148, you guys. After the main event, Chael Sonnen is going to pull Anderson Silva aside and personally apologize for that wife-groping steak-cooking stuff, in addition to his general lambasting of the Brazilian people, and Silva will be like, “I understand about the trash-talk, baby bubba, but we’re still friends.” And then Urijah Faber will catch up to Dominick Cruz backstage and explain that when Cruz signed his name over Faber’s face on a poster five years ago, it didn’t really bother him, because really, who would actually hold a grudge over something like that, you know? And then they’ll hug. And hug. And keep hugging. These are things that will happen.

By Elias Cepeda

This week’s episode essentially begins with Coach Dominick Cruz lambasting last week’s losing fighter Chris Tickle. Faber gloats after his team’s second consecutive win.

“Cruz is trying to hold it together but he’s a poor loser. I know. I beat him before.” Oh snap.

Sure enough, Cruz appears to be losing it. “We had one thing to do; stuff the takedown,” Cruz tells Tickle in the locker room immediately after his submission loss to Joe Proctor. “We were telling you in the corner, turn you back to the mat. He didn’t have the choke in…that loss shouldn’t have happened.”

Then Tickle tries to say something. Cruz responds, “shut up and listen.”

Cruz continues to lecture Tickle outside of their locker room. Faber notices this and shouts out to Chris, “Great job, Tickle. You did good. Don’t let anybody get you down. Don’t let anybody get you down.”

Cruz loses it. “Faber, nobody cares what you have to say. Just get out of here,” he says. Then Cruz proceeds to insult Faber’s fashion sense. Really.

On to this week’s matchup – Team Cruz’ Vinc Pincel vs. Team Faber’s John Cofer. Faber offers simple advice to the former division I wrestler Cofer. “Weather the storm. When he comes in hard, go for the takedown.”

Faber says that he feels that Pincel has terrible takedown defense. Let’s see if Pincel makes him a liar.

By Elias Cepeda

This week’s matchup between Joe Proctor and Chris Tickle seems to be a study in contrast. Proctor has been quiet thus far, with his nose to the grindstone in training. Tickle has been loud, full of bravado, while annoying his coaches by finding ways not to train during practices.

Similarly, both sides seem to agree that Proctor is the more technical fighter, with the ability to finish on the ground while Tickle is a powerful brawler that needs to avoid the ground. But before we can get to that fight, Tickle showed up drunk to last week’s.

After his teammate loses and he is selected to fight Proctor, we see Tickle giggling, talking smack and pushing his coach Dominick Cruz over the edge. We are told, and its not hard to believe, that Tickle got crunk prior to the bout.

Coach Cruz is in no mood for jokes after losing his second straight in the locker room and tells Tickle to “shut up. Shut up.” “What are you doing?” Cruz asks Tickle.

“Nothing,” Tickle replies. “I’m being me.”

Coach Cruz, and perhaps the viewing nation, simply replies, “why?”

Last week’s episode ended with Tickle getting in Urijah Faber and Proctor’s face when the match up was announced. Proctor teammate Al Iaqunita, fresh off his own win, believes that Tickle’s courage is liquid-based.

By Elias Cepeda

After the normal celebrating and gloating from last week’s winning Faber team, attention is turned to this week’s matchup of Team Cruz’ Jeremy Larsen and Team Faber’s Mike Chiesa. Remember when a few weeks back Mike’s father died just after seeing him fight and win on national television, and we learned that Mike and Sam Sicilia are best friends and training partners back home.

Well, on this year’s TUF, the two lightweights have found themselves on opposing teams, but are trying to find a balance between not betraying their team and not betraying one another. They call themselves “Team purple,” as in a combination of Faber’s blue team and Cruz’ red team. That’s adorable. Really.

By Elias Cepeda

Episode four opens with Team Cruz’ Myles Jury and Team Faber’s Al Iaqunita walking into the training center for their fight, set to take place in 42. Cruz chose this matchup, putting Jury, who he had trained with in San Diego, against Faber’s first pick, Al Iaqunita.

Cruz looks to be using a strategy of trying to take out some of Faber’s toughest guys early in the competition.

“There’s a strategy to everything that I’m doing,” he says. “I want to go straight for the jugular on these guys, take out every guy that could give them hope.”

That he says it in his typical little boy voice makes Cruz’ ruthlessness even more eerie.

Faber , for his part, seems to like the match up as well. “Thank you! Yes,” he says of Cruz’ matchup.

We’ve discussed this season’s new format of live fights and related changes, but the season’s new theme music might be the best change of all. Invoking a lil Stevie Wonder and Red Hot Chili Peppers with their rendition of “Higher Ground,” is a step up from typical MMA-related music and also hits the right thematic note for a bunch of fighters trying to reach the next level.

(Phil Davis: The UFC’s leading producer of new middleweights.)

By Ben Goldstein

“When in doubt, drop a weight class” — that’s been the mantra for many MMA fighters who have hit rough patches in their careers. Of course, shaving 10-20 pounds off your body is no guarantee of future success, and it occasionally leaves fighters worse off than when they started. Following a week that saw Demian Maia, Dan Miller, and Nik Lentz all decide to seek their fortunes against smaller opponents, we decided to round up a few notable fighters who revitalized themselves at a lighter weight, and a few that became cautionary tales for weight-dropping. Read on, and let us know which UFC fighters should consider taking the weight-class plunge…

The Good

Dominick Cruz

After racking up a 9-0 record — not to mention belts at lightweight and featherweight for the Total Combat promotion — Dominick Cruz challenged Urijah Faber for the WEC featherweight title in March 2007. Unfortunately, Cruz fell into a guillotine choke and tapped at the 1:38 mark of round 1. Cruz addressed the setback by dropping to bantamweight the following year, and has since gone on another 9-0 run at 135, collected the WEC and UFC bantamweight belts, and exacted revenge against his arch-nemesis, the California Kid. We’ll see if he can make it two in a row against Faber in June, but for now, it seems that dropping to bantamweight was the best move of Dominick’s career.

(It was like this, but even more terrifying.) 

It’s been a while since we’ve heard from former Strikeforce Women’s featherweight champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos. In the fallout of her sixteen second destruction of Hiroko Yamanaka and subsequent positive steroid test that saw her stripped of her title, “Cyborg” has been laying low, quietly awaiting her April 9th appeal and the chance to smash Ronda Rousey for her insolence.

In the meantime, it looks like the former champ has decided to broaden her training horizons, if you will, now incorporating a regular diet of Japanese game show hosts and comedians to satiate her overwhelming desire to kill. In fact, she recently appeared on the Japanese show Honoo no Taiikukai to demonstrate that she is just as strong without anabolic steroids coursing through her veins by taking on a…male Japanese comedian? Believe it or not, the match was surprisingly competitive for the most part, until Cyborg decided to go all Courtney Korpela on the poor bastard.

Join us after the jump for the full video, along with the Sergei Kharitonov/Mark Miller match from last weekend’s United Glory 15 card, and much more. 

By Elias Cepeda

This season’s TUF features live fights each week but everything before that are taped highlights of how the fighters and their teams and coaches have spent the past week. By the looks of what we saw on episode 3, a good amount of what Team Cruz did before getting ready for the next bout was making fun of how Dominick Cruz mind fucked the whole of Team Faber last week.

Cruz coach Lloyd Irvin gleefully recounted how, after choosing overall number one pick Justin Lawrence to fight this week, Dominick Cruz told Faber that he could choose who, from his team wanted to fight. Faber was shocked by Cruz giving up matchmaking power that he had earned after James Vick KO’s Daron Cruickshank and asked his team who wanted to fight.

No one raised their hands. And, as Irvin pointed out, many of them were all but looking up at the sky, whistling. A flustered Faber gave the pick back to Cruz, who chose the most accomplished fighter in the house, Cristian Marcello.

Faber lets us know, during an interview, that he really is trying to contain his rage at Cruz. “I’m doing my best to hold it together,” he says. “But, you know, I want to punch the guy right in the face,” bro. Ok, I added the “bro,” in. But no matter what Faber is saying, his surferspeak always makes it sound like he’s inviting you to go catch a few waves or telling you about the killer party he’s throwing next weekend, and could you please pitch in for the keg.

From the little we’d seen thus from Lawrence, the fact that he trains at Blackhouse, and Marcello’s pedigree and experience, this seemed more like a TUF Final than a first round bout.

But before we get to the fight itself – Chris Tickle’s annoying ass, ladies and gentlemen. Episode 3 featured the Team Cruz fighter, being a smart ass in teasing Team Faber members, acting all sensitive when teased him, trying to spar with ear rings in, destroying parking lot signs, using perhaps the most quickly passing case of diarrhea to avoid training and (yes, really) wearing a fucking gas mask during an interview.

Back in the house, Tickle worked hard to tell Team Faber members how stupid they looked in not raising their hands when their coach asked them who they wanted to fight. But Justin Lawrence made it clear that it wasn’t just Team Faber guys who were annoyed by Tickle.

As reels ran showing Tickle’s hilarious, totally disruptive and incredibly creative “prank” of pulling out Urijah Faber’s parking space sign out of the ground, Lawrence delivered the play by play with about as much excitement as one could imagine him having to describe clipping his own toe nails. Lawrence says Tickle is “obnoxious.”

(Don’t forget: Submissions for our Urijah Faber t-shirt design contest with Punch Buddies must be sent to contest@cagepotato.com by the end of today. Good luck! / California Kid action figure via Ben S.)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere…

- TUF 15: Number One Pick Justin Lawrence Looks to Back Up the Hype Against Cristiano Marcello (MMA Mania)

- Inside Dominick Cruz’s Training Camp for UFC 148 Fight With Urijah Faber (Video) (Lowkick.Blitzcorner.com)

- Dan Hardy Wants To Fight ‘That Blood Thirsty Kill Freak’ Matt Hughes (MMA Convert)

- Remember the Guy Who Got Choked Out by a Girl? Tosh.0 Is Giving Him a Shot at Redemption (MiddleEasy)

- Jon Jones On Rashad Evans Having His Number: ‘He Doesn’t Even Have My Area Code’ (FightLine)

- Bryan Caraway Wouldn’t Be First Guy Ronda Rousey Has Beaten Up (Video) (5th Round)

- Jose Aldo Says He Will Move to 155 Pounds If Frankie Edgar Doesn’t Drop Down (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- Josh Barnett Feels TRT Exemptions Don’t Make Sense (The Fight Nerd)

- Cameras Follow “Mayhem” Miller for Morgan Spurlock Documentary (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Hitman-TapouT Lawsuit Heating Up (MMA Payout)

- Mike Kogan Has Had Enough of Rampage’s UFC Complaints (Fight Opinion)

By Elias Cepeda

Jon Anik’s silky voice talks us in to episode two of The Ultimate Fighter 15, telling us we’re less than an hour away from tonight’s live fight. We’re about to see what happened this past week in TUFlandia but right now there are two hooded fighters warming up with their backs to the camera in their respective lock rooms.

Could it be? Yes…those two (at present) nameless and faceless fighters will fight each other tonight but we will have to wait and see who they are. Cheesy, but kinda cool. Another new element of this debuting hybrid taped/live TUF format. Also, there’s a fight clock on the bottom right hand of the screen, ticking down.

The 16 winning fighters from last week’s elimination round pull up to the TUF mansion and once again we see a new crop of young fighters enthusiastically explore their new digs with the type of giddiness that can only lead us to believe that they’ve never watched past seasons and thus don’t realize how completely miserable it can be to be locked in that house. Happens every season.

By Elias Cepeda

Over the better part of a decade, The Ultimate Fighter reality fighting competition show has seen a number of different format changes and gimmicks, from coaches set to fight for titles and nominally famous singer eye candy hosts, to veterans given a second chance in the UFC with title shots as the prizes. But three things have always stayed constant – the show airing on Spike, seasons being taped months before airing, and fighters in the house being treated to all you could drink liquor buffets while simultaneously being asked to maintain the UFC’s high standards of sober living.

We can only hope that the last item doesn’t change this year, but the first two already have. With the new season of TUF being aired on FX, the UFC has decided to try something new and air all fights live every Friday night. Friday night 32 UFC hopefuls, TUF head coaches Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber, Prez Dana White and a variety of other Nevada judges, referees and oddly placed celebrities in the crowd, gathered in the UFC training center in Las Vegas for 16 fights to determine who got to be in the TUF house for the next three months.

Here’s the action, tater nation, in the present tense, as fast as we could type it all.

(UFC 148 will settle the centuries old debate once and for all. Which is stronger, the widow’s peak or the Leno chin?) 

Though The Ultimate Fighter 15 is still a couple weeks away from airing, it seems that Urijah Faber has already begun the war of words with opposing coach, bantamweight champ, and long time rival Dominick Cruz. Set to square off for a third time at UFC 148 in June, the trash talking between these two has reached an all time high, with Faber recently setting the bar at a hole ‘notha level during a recent appearance on Inside MMA. Angered over comments that Cruz made regarding his fighting style, Faber was unrelenting in his analysis of the bantamweight champ:

That’s what fighting’s about, right? And that’s how I approach the fight. Let’s finish this fight! And he’s doing ‘point fighting.’ This isn’t a karate tournament. I mean, do you wanna take hits to the head away next? He’s alive right now because there’s rules in MMA and I had to release his neck and let him breathe! You’re welcome, Dominick Cruz, for giving you life and letting you live! Next time, I’m gonna do the same thing. I’m gonna let you live, but it’s gonna be painful. 

Something tells us that we’ll be in for more than “stank bref” jokes this season.

Join us after the jump for more interesting tidbits from around the MMA world.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/UFC)

The UFC announced the full roster for the inaugural season of The Ultimate Fighter Live on FX. Included in the 32-man lightweight and middleweight season, which features UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and former WEC featherweight champ Urijah Faber as coaches, are fighters from the U.S. UK, Ireland and Brazil.

“We’re producing ground-breaking television with The Ultimate Fighter Live and we can’t wait to kick this season off with FX. It’s going to be can’t-miss TV,” UFC president Dana White said of the upcoming season. “Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber are two amazing guys who also happen to be two of the best fighters in the world. They genuinely dislike each other and I expect this to make for the best season yet.”

Season 15 of TUF will run for 13-consecutive weeks and will feature live fights every show, including 16 qualifying bouts in the two-and-a-half-hour-episode on Friday, March 9 at 9:00 pm ET.

The championship bout will air live on June 1 during the three-hour finale on FX.

A second season of the show for the year will air this summer on FX.

“This is a historic moment,” remarked Wanderlei Silva in broken English when attempting to describe the groundbreaking, upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter set to take place entirely in Brazil. And indeed, it is pretty amazing to see how far the reality show, and therefore the UFC, has come in the past few years; UFC 144 really sent this notion home. A sport once considered a passing trend by its critics has now grown to the point that it can simultaneously broadcast two different reality shows from two different countries, folks, so let’s join in on the celebration.

Set to air on March 25th, The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil has already made huge waves in the Mecca of mixed martial arts, receiving overwhelming support from the country as documented in the above video. Set to coach opposite Vitor Belfort, “The Axe Murderer” recently made one of several appearances to plug the upcoming show, and was greeted with open arms and cries of “When are you going to kill Chael Sonnen?” by the legions of fans lined up around the block. Man, those dudes carry a grudge. Never a man of many words, Silva could only reply, “SOON.”

As we know, TUF Brazil will feature featherweight and middleweight classes doing battle (unfortunately, not against one another) over the course of a twelve episode season, with the rematch between Silva and Belfort to transpire on a separate PPV card, likely in June. Being that this season will feature up and coming Brazilian talent, we would imagine MMA fans will be paying especially close attention, because we are likely looking at future champions in their respective divisions.

Join us after the jump for some more TUF video hype.

Sweet ‘stache flash at 0:08. (Video: Youtube/UFC)

The UFC may have dropped the ball by only airing a single fight during their one-hour debut on FOX, but it’s safe to say they’re taking things in the opposite direction for The Ultimate Fighter 15 premier on FX. The two-hour episode will feature a daunting 16 live elimination bouts, leaving scant time for ‘DYWBAFF’ speeches and fake team lists.

A field of 32 lightweights and middleweights will throw down in real time for their right to make chicken salad see some titties piss in fruit trays choke a nurse enter the TUF house. At the helm this season are Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz and perennial challenger Urijah Faber. Will the set’s notoriously flimsy doors break before their notoriously flimsy fists?

Don’t forget that you, fair viewer, will decide the match-ups each week by texting in your vote, so you’re practically guaranteed the matches you want to see. The party gets started at 9 p.m. ET/PT, March 9^th. You bring the snacks, we’ll bring the smug.

Now show us all how smart you are and name all of the up-and-comers you recognize in the video.

(Hey Tito, do you mind taking a look at this fungus I’ve got growing on my foot? I figured if anyone could spot a bizarre infection, it would be you.) 

It’s looking like Tito Ortiz will be getting his wish to go out on a hotly contested decision like he’s always wanted. Though the event or location has yet to be determined, Lorenzo Fertitta announced to the Twittersphere last night that the rubber match between Ortiz and Forrest Griffin will in fact be happening, and, just like Ortiz requested, could transpire on Fourth of July weekend.

After saving his Zuffa career by submitting Ryan Bader at UFC 132, Ortiz has dropped two straight to Rashad Evans and Antonio Rogerio Nogueria, both coming by way of TKO. Griffin is also coming off a first round TKO loss, which he suffered in his rematch with fellow former Light Heavyweight champ Mauricio Rua at UFC 134.

Ortiz and Griffin first met way back at UFC 59 in the spring of 2006. At the time, Griffin was on a four fight win streak including his TUF 1 Finale victory over Stephan Bonnar. Ortiz had scored two straight after being knocked out by Chuck Liddell at UFC 47, and would follow his split decision victory over Griffin by beating the piss out of poor Ken Shamrock twice in a row. Their second meeting, which went down at UFC 106, saw Griffin emerge victorious by an equally controversial split decision.

Speaking of trilogies…

(Within 24 hours of touching that thing at a UFC Expo, Overeem will punch you in the face.)

Typically, UFC champions fight at least two to three times per year. This year, each strap was defended an average of 1.86 times because of a rash of injuries we chalk up to the UFC title curse.

13 title defenses for seven belts is a problem for any organization, especially one as big as the UFC. It’s tough to garner interest for your promotion’s champions when only a few are defending their titles more than once or twice a year.

(Days after Arianny presented Ali with theOctagon Girl
Championship belt, she was let go by the UFC. Coincidence?)

The question is, should there be a limit to the amount of time a champion can go without defending his or her leather and gold before an interim champ is declared?

Check out the breakdown of the 2011 UFC champion injury plague in order of lightest to heaviest weight class after the jump and judge for yourself if title fights are less interesting as a result of how infrequently they occur.

(I see trouble a brewin’ on the horizon.) 

Given their frequency within the sport, we oft discuss the rematch here at CagePotato: we’ve mentioned a few that we’d like to see, we’ve mocked the possible occurence of others, and we’ve even gone as far as to predict how future ones would go down. And with 2011 featuring over 10 in the UFC alone, we decided to take a look back at at a year that both showcased and disgraced the awesomeness that is the rematch. Join us on this trip down memory lane, won’t you?

The Ones We Needed to See 

#5 – Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami at UFC 134

(Silva v. Okami, though this image could be from just about any of Silva’s fights.) 

Why it had to happen: Because the first fight marked the last time Silva had lost…at anything, and even if it was by way of illegal upkick DQ, it was enough to convince some people that Okami had his number. Plus, Okami had earned his shot by this point, and we were getting pretty damned tired of debating this old issue.

How it happened: Absolute. Domination. In typical fashion, Silva toyed with Okami like he was wrestling with his 4 year old nephew, letting the audience know that the fight would end when he decided it would. A head kick that rocked Okami at the end of the first round reinforced this belief, and Silva mercifully finished him off in the second. Cut. Print. TKO.

What it proved: That, outside of Chael Sonnen, there are no threats left in the UFC’s middleweight division for Anderson Silva. As with Strikeforce women’s featherweight champion Christiane “Cyborg” Santos, Silva must journey to another weight class if he desires a true challenge. Even DW is coming around to the idea, sort of.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/FightersOnlyMagazine)

Heads up: last week’s Fighters Only World MMA Awards will air tomorrow night at 8pm (ET) on FSN. Judging by their selection of Chael Sonnen as this year’s host, the show’s producers are hoping to add a little heat to their event much like the Golden Globes did courtesy of host Ricky Gervais.

If you needed further evidence that somebody’s going to get all butthurt tomorrow, the above video featuring UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and light-heavyweight contender Phil Davis doesn’t pull any punches. As they climb through a storage unit, the duo take shots at Arianny Celeste, Jon Jones, Cecil Peoples, Wanderlei Silva, and more. It’s definitely worth a couple of minutes of your time.

Yesterday’s skit probably reminded you that a good chin doesn’t always equate to strong acting chops. Then again, there’s only so much you can do with the script you’re handed. Speaking of which, the comedic stylings of Frank Mir await you after the jump.