(You know, I was a little concerned about the idea of standard fighter uniforms in the UFC…until this very moment. Photo via Eddie’s Instagram.)

We don’t mean to jump the gun here, but multiple sources are confirming that Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez is in talks to face Donald Cerrone at the already stacked UFC 178 card in September. To repeat: UFC 178. Eddie Alvarez. Donald f*cking Cer-ro-ne.

This potential meeting of top lightweights is heavily dependent, of course, on whether or not the UFC is able to acquire Alvarez from Bellator, as he is still under contract with his much maligned promotion. But Scott Coker is no Bjorn Rebney, and Alvarez is no Gina Carano, so expect to hear the official word of Alvarez’s signing any day now.

(Video related. / Self-props: The CP tumblr)

UPDATE: “20 minutes after Khabib-Cerrone fight was signed, Khabib blew his knee out and the fight is off UFC 178 card” — Kevin Iole. WHY MUST YOU MOCK US, GOD???

Feel free to stop reading at this point. An amazing fight was booked, and we were struck down for our hubris. End of story.

*****

According to a tweet by semi-retired MMA journalist Mike Chiappetta, lightweight gunslinger Donald Cerrone and Dagestani bear-wrestler Khabib Nurmagomedov will face off at UFC 178: Jones vs. Gustafsson 2, September 27th in Las Vegas.

Not only is it a fantastic matchup, it could potentially produce a title contender, as both men are currently hovering around the top of the 155-pound division. Cerrone’s knockout of Jim Miller on Wednesday was his fourth-straight victory, with all wins by stoppage (and all wins earning him a performance bonus).

Nurmagomedov is a perfect 6-0 in the UFC, and 22-0 (!) overall. He most recently out-pointed Rafael Dos Anjos in April, then decided to take the summer off due to Ramadan. After Cerrone’s win over Miller, Nurmy tweeted out the following:

(Props: UFC on FOX)

If you didn’t tune in to UFC Fight Night 45: Cerrone vs. Miller last night, slap yourself in the face. The Atlantic City event was chock full of wild battles, debilitating body shots, and freakish hematomas, and every fight on the main card ended by stoppage — all at the low, low price of $0.00 (assuming you have basic cable).

Headliner Donald Cerrone became the fifth UFC fighter in history to earn ten performance bonuses, thanks to his second-round knockout of Jim Miller, which netted him a $50,000 bump for Performance of the Night. Fun fact: Cerrone has earned $610,000 in bonus money during his three-and-a-half-year UFC career…and counting. Check out highlights from Cerrone vs. Miller in the video above. At the 0:38-0:41 mark, Jim Miller tries to recreate Scott Smith vs. Pete Sell and fails. But man, that would have been awesome.

Fight of the Night went to the John Lineker vs. Alptekin Ozkilic flyweight feature, which Lineker won by TKO with nine seconds remaining in the fight. Highlights from that match are after the jump, along with footage from Edson Barboza‘s body-kick TKO of Evan Dunham, Joe Proctor’s gritty win over Justin Salas, and Rick Story‘s squash match submission against Leonardo Mafra.

(“Uh, Jessamyn, we’re gonna need you to stop with the hand gestures while we take this x-ray.”)

Fight Night 45 was one of the most violent non-Fight for the Troops cards in UFC History, featuring an astounding nine finishes, 8 TKOs, and a six fight main card that not once required a judge’s input. My decision to spend most of the night ranting about Microsoft tech support notwithstanding, I thoroughly enjoyed what the card had to offer, from the prelim fights all the way up to the main event, which saw Donald Cerrone finish the damn-near unfinishable Jim Miller *twice* in their two round banger.

In one of those aforementioned prelim fights, Leslie Smith destroyed Ronda Rousey training partner (as she was introduced by Jon Anik) Jessamyn Duke in the first round, finishing her with a flurry of body shots, kicks, and knees that was Liddell vs. Ortiz-esque in terms of its volume. But it was only matter of time before the excuses started flying, and luckily, Duke’s training partner, Shayna Baszler, is here to jump on that grenade.

“For everyone asking, @jessamynduke broke her hand. Didn’t know what to do once Leslie turned it on when she couldn’t grab and circle off,” Baszler posted on Twitter shortly after the fight.

While I would disagree that Duke’s inability to circle off was less the cause of her demise than her inability to use her massive reach advantage to her…uh…advantage, the above photo posted to Duke’s instagram seems to indicate that her hand was indeed broken to shit. You can check out a few other photos of Duke’s hand over at the UG, but really, this comment by UG’er rrefs sums up Duke/Baszler’s excuse perfectly…

(Looks like McConaughey is still struggling to put that Dallas Buyers Club weight back on. Photo via Getty.)

‘Sup, Nation. Danga here. I’ll be handling liveblogging duties for tonight’s Fight Night 45: Cerrone vs. Miller card, and this is in no way influenced by the fact that I’ve been missing work the past couple of days due to a horrendous mix of consumption, rickets, and spina bifida (I have the same doctor as Tito Ortiz). Anyways, some of the fights on tonight’s card look entertaining enough. Some do not. I will be liveblogging the former. I’m not sure how many yet, but I’ll be sure to fill the dead air with whimsical musings and shower thought-worthy topics of discussion.

In the evening’s main event, veteran badasses Donald Cerrone and Jim Miller will likely engage in a Fight of the Night-earning effort. It will be described as both “sick” and “epic” by the experts on Twitter. Who you like in this fight may very well boil down to your stance on micro vs. mainstream beer — We all know Cerrone is a Budweiser fan, whereas Miller is not some shwill-sipping charlatan who lacks taste buds and therefore prefers his own brand of microbrew. Guess who I’m rooting for. Join me, maybe?

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

With some of the promotion’s most crowd-pleasing stars returning to action in the near future, the UFC has released a bunch of classic fights to hype up their appearances.

First up: Donald Cerrone‘s comeback knockout of Melvin Guillard at UFC 150 in August 2012, in which Cowboy gets battered around the cage for a minute before stunning Guillard with a head-kick and finishing the job with a right cross. The 76-second performance earned Cerrone an extra $120,000 in Fight of the Night/Knockout of the Night bonuses. He returns to the cage this Wednesday against Jim Miller at UFC Fight Night 45 in Atlantic City. Set your DVRs, folks.

Next we have the insane five-round battle between Mark Hunt and Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva from their December meeting in Brisbane, Australia — arguably the greatest heavyweight UFC fight of all time, despite the unfortunate testosterone suspension that came afterwards. If you’ve got a half-hour free this morning, give it a look. Bigfoot returns from his suspension on September 13th against Andrei Arlovski at UFC Fight Night 51 in Brazil, and Mark Hunt faces Roy Nelson a week later at UFC Fight Night 52 in Japan.

A couple more gems await you after the jump…

(Alistair Overeem wielding Mjolnir / Photo via Getty)

Sometimes fans need more to remember a fighter by than just a performance or a gimmick. They need an accessory to associate that fighter with–and the very best fighters understand this and know how to accessorize.

We brainstormed at Castle CagePotato as to what accessory was the greatest of all time. After several thought-sessions ended in magic ice cream binges and Martin Luther cosplay sessions, we decided to just list off all the best ones rather than just decide which one among them was the best:

1. Fedor Emelianenko’s sweater.

2. Donald Cerrone‘s cowboy hat.

3. Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s Dagestani hat.

4. David Rickels’ caveman club and dinosaur.

Get the rest after the jump!

(“I am not impress wit my performance” – Photo by Esther Lin for MMAFighting)

By Ryan Harkness

Schadenfreude is the German word for taking pleasure from the misfortune of others, and aside from scheisseporn it’s pretty much the best word to come out of Germany untranslated. The German fußball team gave us some textbook definition schadenfreude action when they crushed Brazil 7-1 in the World Cup earlier this week, and everyone on the internet delighted in watching the host nation weep like little bitches during the meltdown.

Evil pleasure aside, there’s something fascinating about seeing another human wallowing in sadness. And outside of a choking team’s arena or third world country, I’d argue there’s no better place to stare sadness in the face than at a UFC post-fight press conference.

While most of the defeated fighters on a card get to skip the conference and ruminate on their losses in private, the loser of the main event is expected to show up and answer sharp questions from our crack MMA media like “How do you feel right now?” and “What is next now that you’ve failed?”

The look on their faces as they struggle to answer will hit you right in the feels. Or trigger dat schadenfreude if you’re a dick. Since I am definitely a dick, allow me to be your sadness sommelier on this tour through the saddest sadfaces at UFC post-fight press conferences…

(Henderson and Cerrone clash for the first time at WEC 43. Photo via Getty.)

Throwback Thursday is a new recurring column that pays tribute to the stars of an upcoming UFC event by taking a look back at some of their earliest defining moments. For our second edition, we focus on Ben Henderson’s last fight to end in a finish ahead of his Fight Night 42 main event clash with Rustam Khabilov this weekend. 

Contrary to what he might tell you, former lightweight champion Ben Henderson does not actually finish fights. At least, not since making the leap from the WEC to the UFC back in April of 2010. Prior to his 9 fight, 8 decision run in the UFC, however, Henderson was a finishing machine, picking up submission victories over the likes of Jamie Varner and Anthony Njokuani and even a quick TKO over Shane Roller while making his name under the WEC banner.

His final finish (and final victory) in the WEC came at the now legendary WEC 48 over rival Donald “Go Get Some” Cer-ron-eyyy.

This might be hard to believe, but back at WEC 43, Henderson actually captured the promotion’s interim lightweight championship via a controversial unanimous decision over Cerrone (pictured above) that both fans and many media members felt should have gone the other way. I know right? Crazy times, those were.

Anyway, Cerrone would score a third round rear-naked choke over Ed Ratcliff in his rebound fight at WEC 45, and Henderson would unify the belts with a third round sub of his own over Jamie Varner at WEC 46, thusly setting up the epic rematch that fans had been begging for at WEC 48. You hear that, Jon Jones? THAT IS HOW IT’S SUPPOSED TO WORK.

Join us as we look back at Henderson vs. Cerrone 2, complete with a full fight video, after the jump. 

(Budweiser vs. Bass Pro Shops: A battle for the soul of America.)

Fresh off of their fantastic wins last month, lightweight crowd-pleasers Donald Cerrone and Jim Miller have been booked to face each other in the main event of UFC Fight Night 45, which goes down July 16th at the Revel Casino Hotel in Atlantic City. The match will be scheduled for five rounds, and will air on FOX Sports 1.

“Cowboy” has put together three consecutive stoppage victories since his decision loss to Rafael Dos Anjos last August, and most recently choked out Edson Barboza in the first round of their fight at UFC on FOX 11, picking up yet another performance bonus for his efforts. A week later, Miller scored his own first-round submission against Yancy Medeiros at UFC 172. The win gave Miller his 13th UFC victory, which ties him with Gleison Tubau for the most wins in the UFC lightweight division.

Every Donald Cerrone fight is a guaranteed show-stopper, but putting him against Miller is particularly inspired matchmaking. Not only is Miller a New Jersey native, he’s also one of the nastiest 155′ers in the world when he’s on his game (as he has been lately). At this point, the only other fight that’s been reported for the 7/16 event is a bantamweight match between Aljamian Sterling and Hugo Viana. We’ll keep you posted as the card fills up.