(Props: sports.sho.com)

With Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers just five days away, Showtime is spreading the word with an episode of their new half-hour hype-series, Fight Camp 360; the Fedor/Rogers installment debuts tonight at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT, so set your DVRs now. As you can see from the preview clip above, Emelianenko is being presented as a living embodiment of "fear of the unknown" — an immortal of MMA with no apparent weaknesses — while Brett Rogers is the man of little fear and great faith, who can create his own legend with a win on Saturday.

Fight Camp 360 will take viewers inside the training camps of both fighters, from Fedor’s remote compound in Stary Oskol, to Rogers’s home base in Minnesota. For a better idea of what you’ll be seeing tonight, check out MMA Fanhouse’s detailed recap of the show, and MMA Junkie’s exclusive photo set from Emelianenko’s camp (warning: shirtless Jerry Millen). Replay times are after the jump…

(Props: twitpic.com/photos/allelbows)

In an attempt to guard himself from all the stray bullets that continuously fly around Chicago, Fedor Emelianenko once again donned the Glorious Sweater of Absolute Victory during an appearance at the Bears/Browns game on Sunday. Emelianenko sustained no bullet wounds, and the Bears won — once again proving the fearsome power of the horizontally-striped invincibility cloak.

Speaking of the Last Emperor, Emelianenko just wrapped up a media conference call with Brett Rogers and Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker. Some highlights, via MMA Fanhouse:

(Might as well face it, she’s addicted to blood. Photo courtesy of twitter.com/ariannyceleste)

Now that our post-Halloween hangovers have almost completely subsided, it’s time to present the finalists for our MMA costume contest. Take a look at the best submissions after the jump, and please select your favorite costume via the poll on the right. Remember: $175 in MMA Warehouse gift cards are on the line, so vote thoughtfully.

(Props: TSGIGOR via Bloody Elbow)

Like a knight suiting up for battle, Fedor has thrown himself into his latest round of publicity obligations armored in what has become known as The Glorious Sweater of Absolute Victory. If you’ll remember, he lit up New York in the horizontally-striped number before his Affliction fight with Andrei Arlovski, and we all know how well that turned out. These photos were taken at a press conference held today somewhere in Russia — we just wanted to clarify that, because there’s an "M-1 Affliction Challenge" logo on the wall, and the word "Strikeforce" is nowhere to be seen. Anyway, Brett Rogers’s loud t-shirt just broke eye contact and pissed itself. Somebody may be paying you to wear that thing, Grim, but we highly doubt it wards off spells from jealous women…

(Props: TheFightNerd)

If you’ve ever wondered why Fedor Emelianenko throws his punches a little differently than the average dude, the above video should clear up some of the mystery. Combat Sambo’s "casting" punch is intended for easy transition into grappling, as well as flexibility in terms of range and impact area; as the host demonstrates, the Sambo puncher can make contact with anything from his wrist to the back of his hand. Hope you’re taking notes, Brett…

(Top image courtesy of facebook.com/easportsmma via Fightlinker; for comparison, a similar shot from UFC 2009 Undisputed is underneath.)

The first gameplay image from the upcoming EA Sports MMA video game has been released, showing Fedor Emelianenko armbarring some poor, faceless opponent. Compared to the UFC joint that came before it, facial realism seems to be a priority here, though there’s something unsavory about Fedor’s expression. Basically, it’s the same expression that John Mayer gets when it’s time for his guitar solo. I don’t think Fedor has ever made that face in his life, maybe not even while in the throes of church-sanctioned marital passion. But other than that, we’re intrigued. A preview of the game will air during "Fedor vs. Rogers," November 7th on CBS.

(Overeem, pictured here shortly after eating the 2003 version of himself.)

After winning his second meaningless fight via standing guillotine choke in as many weekends, Alistair Overeem voiced his desire to fight Fedor Emelianenko in April of 2010.  Beyond just the specificity of that request, what’s interesting is that he followed up by saying that if he had his choice he’d rather do the fight in Dream than in Strikeforce.  Not surprisingly, Dream’s Keiichi Sasahara would prefer that too, saying, “I’ll do what I can to make that happen in the near future.”

Wouldn’t that just be a kick in the pills for Scott Coker and his crew?  They go to all this trouble to sign and then promote Fedor through their CBS connections, and they spend over two years waiting for Overeem to come back and defend his heavyweight title, and then Strikeforce’s new partner threatens to swoop in and steal the fight. 

(The latest Fedor/Rogers video promo, courtesy of YouTube.com/CBS. Props to MMA Fanhouse for the tip.)

Just as HBO uses the 24/7 series to plug notable boxing matches, Showtime has launched its own behind-the-scenes hype series with Fight Camp 360, which debuted October 10th with a profile on the Super Six World Boxing Classic. But 360 won’t be limited to just boxing. According to Brett Rogers, Showtime is preparing an episode of the show to promote Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers, slated to air about a week before their November 7th fight.

Of course, that event will air on CBS, not Showtime. But Showtime is owned by CBS Corporation, and it’s the network outlet for most of Strikeforce’s events, so it’s in their best interest to pitch in with the promotional effort, which has taken a while to warm up. But hey, better late than never — and it’s great to see MMA fighters start to get the "all-access" treatment before big fights. Though if you’re one of the Showtime video producers who has to fly to Stary Oskol and freeze your ass off while shooting some B-roll of a new swingset being installed at Fedor’s training facility, our condolences…

Thursday we looked at CBS’ first efforts at promoting the November Strikeforce event featuring some bored-looking Russian guy named Fedor.  What that ad failed to mention, however, was that this Fedor character wouldn’t just be hitting tires and scowling at the camera on November 7 — he’d actually be fighting someone.  That someone is none other than Brett Rogers, but could a brother even get a Stephan Quadros quote about how good he is?  Not with Fedor hogging the spotlight, apparently.  Fortunately, there’s the internet, which never forgets anything that happens to anyone, ever.  Above, we start with Rogers’ first pro fight against Chris Clark, who looks suspiciously like D-Lo Brown with dreads.  Don’t worry, this won’t take long.

The journey continues after the jump.

(Props: MMA Fanhouse)

Here we are, three weeks away from the big Fedor Emelianenko-Brett Rogers Strikeforce fight in Chicago, and CBS is starting to put some of its promotional muscle behind the event.  But here’s the problem: how do you hype a guy who most Americans have never heard of when he doesn’t speak much English and you don’t own any of his fight footage?  You basically have two choices: you can show him working out while flashing various quotes about how great he is, or you can film a commercial where he fights an entire pride of lions in the big cement pit behind Vadim Finkelchtein’s house.  For reasons that I’ll never quite understand, CBS has decided to go with the first option.  Whatever.  They’re the ones who’ll have to live with that regret.

(It’s not a damn library, Mayhem. For the last time, buy something or get out.)

Strikeforce put Jake Shields and “Mayhem” Miller on a media conference call today in order to get one thing straight: you’d have to be a real jerk to miss their fight on the Nov. 7 Chicago event on CBS.  Okay, so they didn’t word it exactly like that, but Miller came close, saying that he can’t be blamed if MMA fans don’t watch because, “I’m Twittering, MySpacing and Facebooking. I’m out there. I might as well be spray painting about it on walls.”  When reached for comment about that last remark, Jeff Monson issued a prolonged, cold stare before slowly shaking his head and then disappearing into the night. 

This card also has that whole Fedor Emelianenko/Brett Rogers thing going on, but Strikeforce is drawing the heat where it can for right now.  Something about Fedor’s blank facial expressions and cryptic Russian phrases don’t translate well on conference calls, and Rogers is most likely trying not to give away any more vital parts of his game plan.  Instead, Scott Coker had to answer some hard questions about what’s going on with Strikeforce’s contracts, particularly with their champions (looking at you, Overeem).

("…moooooooorrrrrrrre brreeeeeaaaaaaasssssst miiiiiiiiilllllllk…")

Props to Fightlinker for unearthing this absolutely amazing baby picture of Brock Lesnar, proving once and for all that Lesnar arrived in this world enormous, ornery, and ready to consume everything in his path. (Not pictured: The tiny pacifier tattoo on his chest.) Check out that Krang-esque head-shape; my God, his poor mother. More awesome pics of MMA fighters as youngsters after the jump…

Fighting for a living is a lot like teasing a really mean dog: you can’t do it forever without something bad happening to you.  Even the great ones get to a point where their drive becomes sluggish and their bellies are too full for them to stay hungry, and that’s usually when a particularly bad beating takes what remaining fire they have and douses it with the fury of a God pissing on your dreams.  It doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll quit right then, even if they should, but it does mean that they’ll never be the same again.  Here now, in chronological order, are the most notorious breaking points in MMA history.

IGOR ZINOVIEV vs. FRANK SHAMROCK at UFC 16, 3/13/98

It’s hard to say that Igor Zinoviev was really on his way to being a legend of the sport, because he got stopped almost before he really got started.  The former Soviet Army commando was one of the first fighters in the early days of MMA to beat a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt when he TKO’d Mario Sperry, and he took out Enson Inoue the next year.  All this came after years of fighting underground brawls in Brooklyn warehouses following the fall of the Soviet Union, so his toughness was never in question.

When he joined the UFC the future was, as they say, wide open.  Then he came up against Frank Shamrock, who wasted no time in scooping him up and slamming him down so viciously that it shattered his collarbone and knocked him out cold.  It was Zinoviev’s first career loss, and he would never fight again after that.  We’re not saying the devastating finish served as the catalyst for Shamrock’s out of control ego over the next 10+ years, but we’re not saying it helped, either.

(Dana White and the UFC’s Chief Financial Officer, Bobo, share a laugh over M-1′s contract demands.)

One of the things you have to like about Dana White is that when he gets in front of a national audience, he really steps up his trash talk game.  When it’s just the MMA media, sure, he might recycle the same tired phrases and well-worn burns, but talking to ESPN’s Jim Rome today, he brought out some new material with regards to those M-1 Global jokers and their absurd demands during the UFC’s Fedor negotiations:

"Fedor’s not afraid to come over and fight or do any of that stuff.  He’s got nutty managers.  These guys are from Russia, coming to America trying to strong-arm us into some deal we won’t want to do.  Go do that to the butcher down the street in Russia.  It won’t work over here in the United States."

Please, tell me I’m not the only one who feels like launching into a U.S.A chant right now. So let’s see, instead of calling Fedor’s management a bunch of greedy, crazy Russians, they’ve now become "nutty" Russians who are trying to run some sort of MMA-themed protection racket.  Nice little paradigm shift, DW.  Just one more reason why it really sucks to be a Russian butcher.

(‘And now I join you in holy matrimony, for better or for worse, until one of you starves or is eaten by wolves.’)

Here’s how unconcerned Fedor Emelianenko is about fighting Brett Rogers on Strikeforce’s November 7 show on CBS: instead of training his ass off with a single-minded focus on destruction, he took some time out to get married this weekend.  Fedor took the plunge for the second time in his life (his first marriage ended in 2006), and he did it in a Russian Orthodox ceremony which involves a lot of awesome symbolism, such as being crowned the king of your own home.  The typical Orthodox wedding also usually involves a couple days worth of celebrating, but we’re hoping that Fedor postponed that, along with the honeymoon, so he could be back hitting tires with sledgehammers and sparring in public parks by Monday morning.

Seriously, it’s great that Fedor has entered once again into wedded bliss, and we’re very happy for him, but couldn’t this have waited until after the Rogers fight?  Judging by the pictures, his bride wasn’t eight months pregnant, so they could have conceivably put it off until after the fight if they wanted to.  At this point we have to assume that Fedor knows how to prepare for a fight, but these distractions are starting to take on a little bit of a “Rocky III” kind of feel, and – we’re just putting it out there – Brett Rogers and Clubber Lang have very similar haircuts.

In other Emelianenko family news…

Buy merchandise off the WWE website? That’s your best answer? Jesus Christ, Yahoo! Answers, where’s your quality control? (Not that I have a better suggestion. Personally, I would just duct-tape one of these to my body.) It seems that we have a long way to go in spreading awareness about our sport, and these uninformed jokers aren’t helping. I mean, check out these other "Best Answers"…

(In Russia, we don’t train with heavy bags, just gypsys. Photo courtesy of CanvasChronicle.)

As first reported by MMA Weekly, Strikeforce’s upcoming CBS event on November 7th will go down at the Sears Centre Arena, an 11,000-seat venue in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, near Chicago. Tickets for the event, which start at $35 and can be purchased at Ticketmaster and Strikeforce.com, go on sale to the general public this coming Monday at 10 a.m. CT. Besides the heavyweight headliner of Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers, the show will feature Jason Miller and Jake Shields fighting for Strikeforce’s newly-vacant middleweight title; Gegard Mousasi and Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Santos are also rumored to appear, against opponents to be named later.

In other Strikeforce news, Kim Couture and Kerry Vera have agreed to meet in a 135-pound bout at a proposed Strikeforce Challengers event on November 20th. Couture is 1-1 in professional MMA, and hasn’t competed since her first-round TKO win over a befuddled Lina Kvokov last November. Vera, who previously competed as a kickboxer and won the 2007 season of Fight Girls, won her MMA debut via unanimous decision over Leslie Smith at a Bellator event in May. Kim’s soon-to-be-ex-husband Randy and Kerry’s husband Brandon, are scheduled to fight one week earlier at UFC 105.

(Props: shosports)

According to a press release just sent out by Strikeforce, Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rogers will face each other on Saturday, November 7th, in a Strikeforce event that will be broadcast on CBS (9:00 PM, live ET/delayed PT). It was previously announced that the matchup would air on Showtime, which explains some of Strikeforce’s quietness over the last couple weeks — they were working out the details on this surprising change of plans. Now, Dana White won’t be able to crow about how his reruns outdraw Strikeforce’s live fights, and he probably won’t risk defeat by counter-programming Strikeforce with a live UFC event, especially considering the UFC already has events scheduled for the following two weekends.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned during our travels through this crazy world of mixed martial arts, it’s that you are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. There are only a few different types of MMA fans, and they tend to gravitate towards certain fighters. For example, let’s say your favorite fighter is…

ANDERSON SILVA

(That’s you on the left.)
You are without a doubt the hippest dude you know.  You were the first to start wearing skinny jeans and also the first to stop, proving your bona fides as a trendsetter.  You like to think that you appreciate the finer elements of striking technique more than most MMA fans, but really you just parrot things Joe Rogan has said (“ballet of violence”) while listing off all the ways that Silva is like a modern-day Bruce Lee.  You sometimes wear glasses you don’t really need and you pretend to like jazz.  You think of yourself as a good dancer.
Your favorite fight: Silva vs. Rich Franklin I

FEDOR EMELIANENKO

You’ve been watching MMA for years, and it’s important to you that people know that.  You have an extensive collection of ironic t-shirts and Pride DVD’s.  You work in the IT department of a moderately-sized company, where you used to feel bad for the people who pester you for help all day because, honestly, how did anyone even get that clueless?  Now you despise them and don’t go to very much trouble to hide it.  You are probably overweight, but you’re quick to tell people that it doesn’t necessarily mean you are out of shape or aren’t a good athlete.  You don’t date much but there’s this girl in Illinois who you have a thing with over the internet, which you refer to as ‘the web.’  Someone in a bar once asked you if you thought Fedor would stand a chance against Brock Lesnar.  You laughed out loud.  Okay, so they were talking to someone else and you overheard them, and when they noticed you laughing you pretended to be coughing, but still.  The ignorance of some people.
Your favorite fight: Fedor vs. Mirko Filipovic

(He thought that the throne would give him pleasure; the salesgirl at Pier 1 Imports specifically told him it would. But as he sunk deeper into the red velvet and began to watch the America’s Got Talent semi-finals, a tremendous ennui overtook him. Photo courtesy of Esther Lin/Showtime.)

Here we are, one month after Carano vs. Cyborg, and we still don’t know when Strikeforce is going to put on its next big event. October 10 has been floated as a tentative date for Fedor vs. Rogers, but it hasn’t been made official yet, and it would only give Strikeforce a month to promote the card. (Assuming Strikeforce starts promoting it today, hypothetically.) The hesitation is an unfortunate momentum-killer for Scott Coker & Co., but the reason for the delay is obvious: The longer Strikeforce waits, the more difficult it would be for the UFC to counter-program them with an impromptu live event. When you consider that Anderson Silva may not really be having elbow surgery and could potentially be unleashed at any time to headline a card on Spike TV, this is a very legitimate concern.

So yesterday, Michael Rome at Bloody Elbow had an eyebrow-raising solution: Strikeforce should schedule Fedor vs. Rogers on November 21st, the same night as UFC 106, which will of course feature Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin and Tito Ortiz vs. Mark Coleman. Why wait for the UFC to be the aggressor? After all:

("I must break you. Right after I get a few more of those doughnuts." Photo courtesy of ShoSports.)

Brett "The Grim" Rogers on his upcoming matchup with Fedor Emelianenko:

"I feel that I’m a different fighter for Fedor; Fedor hasn’t felt the power that he’s about to get. You see what I mean? It’s definitely gonna be a fun fight, man. He’s talented, but the same things he’s skilled in, I’m skilled in.* It’s just we just gonna see who’s more hungry.**

Basically, a fighter for his size, his weight, just the way his aggression, when he takes top he’s good at controlling the top position. So, I’ve been trying to work with guys that can kinda mock him***; he may have that, a couple pounds less than me… But if he’s expecting to take top, and hold top, it’s not gonna happen.**** I’m definitely gonna re-position myself whenever I get in danger and hopefully get back to the feet and finish it off." —

* Seriously, Brett? Are you really suggesting that you can draw as well as the Last Emperor?

** You mean who’s literally more hungry? Because you both come across as very hungry people. Big eaters, is all I’m saying. Come to think of it, a pie-eating contest between the two of you would probably be a lot more competitive than a cage-fight.

*** There’s only one guy who could possibly take on that job.

**** It might happen. It’s probably going to happen.

(Fight starts at the 4:22 mark. Props: MMA Linker)

As expected, Muhammed Lawal‘s pimpin’ ring entrance took longer than his actual fight against Mark Kerr last night at M-1 Breakthrough in Kansas City, with the flashy Team Quest product needing just 25 seconds to steamroll the fighter formerly known as "The Smashing Machine." King Mo pounced for a single-leg as Kerr tried to throw a leg kick, then took his 263-pound opponent to the canvas and started slugging him in the head until Kerr was knocked out. I guess the oddsmakers know how to do their jobs after all.

Also on the card, Fedor Emelianenko and Gegard Mousasi went through the motions with their "sparring exhibition," which never came close to looking anything like a real fight, except for the end when Fedor won by armbar. That video and complete results from the event are after the jump…

(Props: M1mixfight via MiddleEasy)

…and as you can see, the size difference is positively Couture/Lesnar-esque. Not that a size advantage helped Tim Sylvia against Fedor last July, but then again Sylvia is a clumsy oaf with doo-doo in his pants, and the Grim is an undefeated head-bussa with Ambien in his fists. Still no word on exactly when the Emelianenko/Rogers fight will go down, but the Strikeforce/M-1 crew is getting a head-start on filming promos for it, and arranged this face-off yesterday in New York. As for the Grim, he knows he’ll be The Man if he manages to score an upset against Fedor, telling MMA Fanhouse:

(Props: MMA Fanhouse)

Fedor Emelianenko doesn’t talk trash about his opponents, and he won’t be starting now. After his autograph session yesterday afternoon, Fedor told Ariel Helwani that he sees Brett Rogers as a great opponent with "very heavy knockout punch." And he doesn’t even get pissed off when Ariel brings up the argument that he signed with Strikeforce to duck the top competition in the UFC: "I do not read all the rumors and gossips which they publish on the Internet, but to tell the truth, the offer of the UFC was really not the worthy one, and if they are able to give us really good offer, we definitely would agree." Finally, Fedor rejects the notion that he has anything to prove against Rogers.

As for the Grim? He’s just enjoying the ride…

Fedor Emelianenko Open Workout in NYC – Watch more Funny Videos

As mentioned earlier, Fedor Emelianenko visited Fighthouse Gym in New York City today to hit pads for a few minutes and sign autographs for fans. The open-workout portion of the appearance was very brief: Fedor fired some punches at Fighthouse’s resident Muay Thai pro Brandon Levi, struggled with a bizarre piece of training equipment called a "jump rope," then threw more punches at a heavy bag before deciding to give it a rest and set up shop at a signing table. Video of the action is above.

Before the workout, Emelianenko took questions from the press in attendance. Some highlights, via his interpreter…

(Props: all elbows)

AllElbows.com‘s latest bit of King Mo-related video hype focuses on Mo’s last fight against Ryo Kawamura at Sengoku 7. It was the first time that Lawal wasn’t able to finish an opponent, and he explains that was because his knee was injured during the fight, not because he couldn’t destroy Kawamura if he wanted to. Blame Dean Lister. Now that Mo has gone through knee surgery and rehab, he’s ready to start knocking fools out again.

As you may recall, his next opponent will be Mark Kerr, the waaaaaaay-past-his-prime UFC/PRIDE old-schooler, who’s currently riding a four-fight losing streak. Kerr is a replacement for Don Frye, who disgraced himself by pulling out of the fight. The ridiculous squash match will headline M-1 Global’s "Breakthrough" event in Kansas City next Friday, which will be broadcast live on HDNet beginning at 9 p.m. CT. Other fights on the card include Karl Amoussou vs. John Doyle, and that weird sparring exhibition between Fedor Emelianenko and Gegard Mousasi. If you can find the motivation to DVR this thing at some point in the next week, congratulations — you are a hardcore MMA fan.

After the jump: A classic-rock soundtracked tribute to heavyweight fighters and the interconnectedness of all humanity.

(How do you say "Don’t be scared, homey" in Armenian? Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Following recent action in the UFC, Strikeforce, and Sengoku, we’ve updated the lightweight, welterweight, light-heavyweight, heavyweight, and pound-for-pound lists in our Power Rankings section. First, a word about the P4P top ten…

Can we all agree that Anderson Silva, Fedor Emelianenko, and Georges St. Pierre are the three best fighters in the world right now, and any attempt to rank them is completely subjective, and therefore meaningless? Instead of creating a three-way tie at the top (which I briefly considered), we’re going to do it like this until further notice: Whoever has the most recent awe-inspiring, damn-near-inhuman performance gets to be #1.

("…so I came to the point where I knew my life had become unmanageable, and if I was going to get well again, I had to turn my life over to a higher power. Nah, just fuckin’ with you, I hotboxed in the car on the way over here." Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.)

After Nick Diaz‘s love of the ganja screwed "Carano vs. Cyborg" out of a welterweight title fight, we wondered if Strikeforce would finally decide that the Stocktonite was too much of a liability to keep around. Well don’t worry, Diaz fans, because that little misunderstanding has been completely sorted out. As Scott Coker said during the "Carano vs. Cyborg" post-fight press conference:

(Props: PunishmentFilms.tv/dragonman34)

How happy is Tito Ortiz to be back in the UFC? So happy that he would engage in an illicit homosexual kiss with his boss and former rival, Dana White. WHY ISN’T TMZ COVERING THIS?? Later, Ortiz revealed that White "had a hairy lip," and White scrubbed his tongue with steel wool.

After the jump: A quick video profile on new Octagon Girl Natasha Wicks (she’s not just a piece of meat, you guys — she has thoughts, emotions, and she loves the outdoors), some footage of Lyoto Machida training for Shogun, and an underrated Fedor Emelianenko fight, just because.

(Props: solidsnakebite via Reggadi)

And all this time, we thought Fedor Emelianenko was a humble dude, without a bad word to say about anybody. Well, this is what happens when you push him too far. In the above clip, Fedor and his M-1 cronies tell us how they really feel about the UFC’s paper champion. But at least they can keep a sense of humor about it. If only Hitler shared the same attitude…