("I trust this dude so much, I’d let him be my chauffeur if he needed a job. We could make it into a reality show and call it ‘Driving Mr. Dana.’")

Dana White helmed a Q&A session at Fort Hood last week ahead of the Fight for the Troops II show Saturday night and the UFC president dropped a handful of interesting tidbits during the hour-long forum.

Perhaps most noteworthy was White’s proclamation that former UFC light heavyweight kingpin Quinton "Rampage" Jackson will likely get the next crack at the winner of the UFC 128 championship bout between current champ Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and Rashad Evans. White pointed to Jackson’s win over Lyoto Machida at UFC 123 — a fight many thought should have gone to "The Dragon" — as being the main factor in his title consideration. He also hinted that the winner of next month’s UFC 127 tilt between Ryan Bader and Jon Jones will likely get dibs on the winner of Jackson versus Evans or Rua.

"There are so many guys at 205. Rampage is probably next in line. Rampage is still in the mix. We’ve got Jon Jones and Ryan Bader fighting on the fifth [of February], which is going to be a great fight and catapults one of those guys to the top five.There’s so many great guys in the 205-pound division," White said. "The big problem has been ‘Shogun’s’ injury has been clogging up the division. Now he’s healthy and going to fight, and we’ll get everything rolling. [Shogun's] recovered now and back in training."

Surprisingly, White said that Machida, who just as easily could be sitting in Rampage’s place in line had the judges given him the split decision nod over Jackson, needs to win his upcoming UFC 129 bout in Toronto with Randy Couture, stopping short of saying that he could be on the chopping block if he loses.

"I didn’t think [Lyoto] was ever going to lose," White admitted. "Shogun beat him, and then he just lost to Rampage, too," he explained. "Now he’s fighting Randy Couture. It’s a must-win for him."

White also touched on several other topics, rumors and bout signings. Check the most pertinent ones out after the jump.

(No hard feelings? PicProps: AvantguardBJJ)

Shameless plug: Our man Pat Barry will appear on next week’s episode of the Bum Rush podcast and our interview with him – which taped yesterday – is reportedly pretty awesome. If you’re not already listening to the show (wait, you’re not already listening to the show???) next week would be a good time to buy a ticket for the Bum Rush express. Seriously, get on that shit.

But we digress, Barry also talked to some other “media outlets” this week about his upcoming fight with Joey Beltran at Fight for the Troops 2 next Saturday and the results are typically entertaining. Case in point: Barry’s interview with MMA Weekly, where it becomes clear that he’s been studying a lot of film to get ready for Beltran. George Romero films, mostly.

(Those hats that make it look like you have an arrow through your head? Comedy gold. Somehow, the same principle does not apply to the AK-47. PicProps: BrasilCombate.com)

Well, it’s not every day that both guys decide they’d rather not fight. That however seems to be the case with Mike Swick’s scheduled comeback fight against David Mitchell at the UFC’s “Fight for the Troops” event on Jan. 22 in Ford Hood, Tex. Swick, who has not fought since February, announced on his Facebook page recently that Mitchell was out with an injury (a shoulder, people are saying) and said that his own ongoing medical issues made the best option for the former “TUF 1” contestant to sit this one out too, rather than accept a replacement opponent. He sounded more relieved about it than anything else, if you want to know the truth. Here’s the original message from Swick himself, consider all his quotes in this story fully sic’d: 

"Not fighting on January 22nd," the fighter wrote. "I got the call yesterday that David Mitchell backed out due to an injury and considering my current situation we opted to put off the fight all together."

(Props: Cage Writer)

Dana White received the Armed Forces Foundation’s Humanitarian Award, which he undoubtedly earned with all the fundraising work he’s done on behalf of American troops.  I mean seriously, the UFC put on an event to help injured soldiers when our own government couldn’t seem to find the money to treat them.  Most people would have just gone up there and accepted the award while saying a few words about how much the sacrifices made by American servicemen and women mean to him.  But Dana White isn’t most people.

 
Our highlight-video-making buddy Facey has launched a new site called FightFace, where he’ll be compiling the best MMA moments of every month into a single convenient clip. As far as source material is concerned, it doesn’t get much better than December 2008, which is the subject of Facey’s first installment. See above for the craziest stoppages from the TUF 8 finale, UFC’s "Fight for the Troops," WEC 37, UFC 92, and Fields Dynamite!! 2008. It’s an awesome project so keep your eye on it and show some support.

Also: If you don’t think it’s too early in the day to watch bikini-clad chicks gyrate at an MMA ring girl competition, you may want to watch the clip after the jump.

(Hater Hurter, we hardly knew ye.  Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)

Johnny “The Hater Hurter” Rees will be released from his UFC contract after losing via submission to Steve “Hollywood” Bruno on last night’s F(2)T(2) card, reports Five Ounces of Pain.  It was the second loss in two UFC bouts for Rees (or, as I like to call him, THH), who was undefeated when he first signed with the organization. 

Just goes to show that a perfect record in the minor leagues doesn’t always guarantee success in the big show.  I don’t think I need to point out that Dana White should watch his back after cutting that dude, as he may now be officially dubbed a hater in Rees’ book.

There could be more roster cuts coming after last night, which isn’t surprising considering that the card was populated with so many inexperienced, unproven fighters.  Some of those who lost last night, such as Brandon Wolff, may just need more time to sharpen their skills.  Other guys who went down – say by a nasty arm break that was totally avoidable, for instance – might want to rethink their career path while they’re on the mend, or at the very least work on their tapping motion with the arm that’s not in a cast.

Some good news, via UFC.com, is that Yoshiyuki Yoshida was treated and released from the hospital, having suffered nothing more serious than a concussion in his knockout loss.  You hate to think of a concussion as the best case scenario, but after seeing the shot Yoshida took, I’d say that’s getting off kind of easy.

(Duuuuuuuude.  No.  Photo courtesy of our friends at Fight! Magazine.)

In addition to the nauseating injuries to Corey Hill (whose broken leg is seen from a different angle above) and Razak Al-Hassan (who, let’s be honest, brought it on himself, even if Cantwell was a dick about it afterwards), UFC’s "Fight For The Troops" could go down as the Gettysburg of UFC cards due to the sheer number and gruesomeness of the injuries.  That is sadly ironic when you consider that F(2)T(2) was a benefit show for injured soldiers.

Obviously Yoshiyuki Yoshida needed medical attention after being knocked out by Josh Kosheck, though there’s no word yet on how he’s doing this morning. 

CBS Sportsline reports that Jonathan Goulet was also taken to the hospital immediately after being knocked out by Mike Swick in order to undergo a brain scan.  He also may have torn his MCL when he crumpled up in an awkward position as a result of the blows, said his agent, Ken Pavia.

Then, of course, there’s Brandon Wolff, who received stitches for facial lacerations and definitely needed a series of rotating ice packs for that lump on his head.  Pavia, who is also his agent, in true Drew Rosenhaus fashion, said Wolff may have briefly lost vision in one eye early on in the fight after one of Saunders’ head kicks ended up sticking a toe in his eye.

Man, when the guy who gets out of there with only stitches, a messed up face, and an eyeball that’s been toe-poked is considered to be much, much better off than most of the other guys who suffered losses on the same card, you know it was a rough night.  Please UFC, for the sake of your fighters, no more benefit shows.  The roster just can’t take it.

(Don’t ask.  Don’t tell.  Courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)

That’s right, people.  It’s F²T² time (Fight For the Troops, get it?  Thanks to commenter Rxdrug for the assist on that one) and I am ready to go.  The card may not be star-studded, but it’s a lot of guys with something to prove in front of perhaps the most testosterone-fueled crowd in recent history, so I have a feeling something magical could happen tonight.  Or, worst case scenario, we see some free fights.

Remember to hit refresh to keep up with the action.  I’m all hopped up on tacos and high-powered gas station coffee, so you do not want to mess around and get left behind when this party train leaves the station.

(‘Whatever, bro.’ Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.  Check out the full weigh-in gallery.)

So it’s not the greatest fight card ever assembled.  That much is obvious.  But it’s on Spike TV, we’ll be liveblogging it, and you don’t have anything else happening in your life on Wednesday night besides some old “Roseanne” re-runs and a couple Hot Pockets that you’ll be too lazy to heat up all the way.  Given those grim prospects, this is actually a bright spot in your week, plus it’s for a good cause.

To see how the betting odds are shaping up, we turn to BestFightOdds.com.  For help figuring out what these numbers mean, you should turn here.   

Josh Koscheck (-215) vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida (+220)
Jonathan Goulet (+328) vs. Mike Swick (-358)
Razak Al-Hassan (+275) vs. Steve Cantwell (-294)
Matt Wiman (+117) vs. Jim Miller (-125)
Brodie Farber (+308) vs. Luigi Fioravanti (-325)
Johnny Rees (-109) vs. Steve Bruno (+105)
Brandon Wolff (+326) vs. Ben Saunders (-355)
Nate Loughran (+145) vs. Tim Credeur (-131)
Dale Hartt (+265) vs. Corey Hill (-277)
Justin McCully (+161) vs. Eddie Sanchez (-170)

Thoughts…

 
(Look out, "The Manic Hispanic" is off his meds again.)

You might not have noticed this – and no one would blame you if you didn’t – but way down on the bottom of tomorrow night’s “UFC Fight For The Troops” card is a wacky little match-up between Justin “The Insane 1” McCully and Eddie “The Manic Hispanic” Sanchez.  And I swear to you I am not making those nicknames up. 

Neither of these guys has set the UFC heavyweight division on fire, with Sanchez going 3-2 and McCully going 1-1 in the organization.  Considering that they’re both about as marketable as mud gum, in addition to being two heavyweights who can’t even get on the televised portion of Wednesday night Spike TV card, I smell a good old-fashioned loser-gets-fired match. 

What’s weird is, they may not even realize it. Our friends at Fightlinker kicked themselves for missing this article on McCully, wherein he talks as if he’s just one or two victories away from a title shot.  He even tries to tell himself that coming in and fighting first Antoni Hardonk and then Gabriel Gonzaga was “probably the two toughest fights I’ve ever seen anybody have in the UFC.”

Sanchez similarly told UFC.com that he hopes to be in title contention by the middle of 2009.  Which means at some point between now and then he’d have to jump ahead of guys like Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez and, hell, even Cheick Kongo.

I’m not saying it can’t happen for one of these guys, but they can’t both be contenders.  Whoever loses here is going to have a really hard time justifying his continued employment.  The only question is, who’s it gonna be?

(Simpler times.)

The fighters weighed in for tomorrow night’s “Fight For The Troops” event (I’m really starting to wish there was a good abbreviation for that) this afternoon, and it was so close to being flawless until Luigi Fioravanti and Brodie Farber both came in over the limit for their welterweight bout.  Farber was 174 and Fioravanti was 173.5, so they’ll fight at a catch weight of 173.  Real nice, fellas.

The important thing is that headliners Josh Koscheck and Yoshiyuki Yoshida both made weight — barely — for their fight.  I hope Yoshida is ready to struggle through a good "U.S.A.!" chant.  Pro wrestling has led me to believe that it really demoralizes foreign fighters, and can sometimes even help an American get out of a sleeper hold. 

The full results from today’s weigh-in, courtesy of UFC.com, are after the jump.  Be sure to keep it locked in on the Potato tomorrow night beginning at 9 pm EST, because we’ll be liveblogging the shit out of this thing.  And if you aren’t here to make clever quips in the comments section, who will?  Not Jon Lovitz.  Man, is he ever pissed at us.

("Boooooooooo!"  Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

The UFC’s benefit for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund goes down tomorrow night at the Crown Arena in Fayetteville, North Carolina; you can watch the action live on Spike TV, beginning at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. The full lineup is here. While we’ll see some familiar faces like Josh Koscheck, Mike Swick, Luigi Fioravanti, and Eddie Sanchez, three brave mixed martial artists will be stepping into the Octagon for the first time. Let’s give ‘em a look-see…

STEVE CANTWELL (LHW)
Experience: 6-1 record, with all wins by stoppage within the first two rounds. Sole career loss came via TKO at the hands of Brian Stann at WEC 26 in March ’07; Cantwell avenged the loss in August of this year, when he TKO’d Stann at WEC 35.
Will be facing: Razak Al-Hassan
Lowdown: Cantwell is probably the only one in this group of newcomers who you’ve actually seen fight, as he was a mainstay in the WEC and won its light-heavyweight title just before the league folded its 185- and 205-pound weight classes. The 22-year-old Las Vegas native was supposed to have a rubber-match against Brian Stann at "Fight for the Troops," but Stann injured his foot and had to pull out of the match. Cantwell is a skilled kickboxer and holds a brown belt in BJJ under Sergio Penha.

(Photo courtesy of Daniel Herbertson Photography.)

Many American fans may only know Yoshiyuki Yoshida as the guy who barely broke a sweat choking out the man now legally known as War Machine back at UFC 84, but on Wednesday the Japanese welterweight enters into his second UFC fight against Josh Koscheck at “Fight for the Troops” on Spike TV.  Not only is it a significant step up in level of competition, it’s also bound to be hostile territory for Yoshida, considering he’s facing an American (okay, it’s Koscheck, but still) in front of an audience of American military personnel.

In this exclusive Cage Potato interview, Yoshida (with the help of a translator) talks about what he’s expecting from Koscheck on Wednesday night, and where he sees himself in the UFC’s welterweight division.

CagePotato.com: Thank you for taking the time to talk with us.  Against a guy like Koscheck, who’s known for having great wrestling skills and good conditioning, how have you been preparing yourself for this fight?

I began training for this fight about two months ago.  I’ve been doing a lot of sparring and running in the mornings, and at night I usually work on my boxing, hitting mitts, and trying to improve my technical skills and my strength.  I’m in great shape for this fight, probably the best shape I’ve ever been in, and I’ll be ready for him.

What’s your strategy for dealing with Koscheck’s wrestling ability?

I understand he is a very good wrestler.  There is no question about that.  I’m not going to try and beat him that way, by outwrestling him.  But one of my strengths is my judo, so I plan on using his aggressiveness against him by implementing my judo skills when he looks for a clinch or a takedown.

Since the fight is a benefit for American soldiers, it’s probably safe to say that you will not be the crowd favorite in this one.  Does that enter into your mind at all, and what are your feelings on that?

On the latest episode of MMA Live, the always clued-in Franklin McNeil passes on an interesting tidbit regarding Josh Koscheck‘s appearance at next Wednesday’s "UFC Fight for the Troops" event (starting at the -27:05 mark):

"If he loses, and even if he wins, this may be his last fight he has in the UFC. As far as I know, he hasn’t signed the [video game] licensing agreement, and has no intention of signing it."

At the end of the episode, Kenny Florian disagrees with this assessment, arguing that a win over Yoshiyuki Yoshida will keep Koscheck in the UFC, regardless of the current contractual tension; McNeil feels that Kos’s days are numbered no matter what happens on Wednesday. Either way, it looks like he’s playing hardball with the UFC, and that usually ends with a shredded contract. And even though Josh Koscheck is one of the best welterweights in the world, the UFC may feel he’s expendable since he’s already proven that he can’t hang with Georges St. Pierre or Thiago Alves. In other words, if they let him go, they wouldn’t be losing a future champion. Plus, he’s never been a fan favorite. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out, but McNeil may be onto something.

As part of the UFC’s effort to help the Intrepid Fallen Heroes fund, they’re holding an auction to complement the "Fight for the Troops" event on Dec. 10.  Among the items you can bid on is what’s being billed in the video above as a "UFC VIP Experience." 

From the sound of it, you get to choose a fighter you want to hang with (don’t say Tito Ortiz) and the UFC will fly you to an event where he’s fighting, put you up in a hotel, and make you feel like you matter during a dinner with Dana White, Rachelle Leah, and some "UFC greats."  You also get to be part of your fighter’s entourage, which means walking out to the Octagon with him and shouting ‘represent!’ while the camera man motions frantically for you to get out of the shot.

The high bid at the moment is $5,000.  The cause is about as worthy as they come, so if any of you have that kind of coin, we encourage you to go for it.  We also encourage you to go to the strip club and make it rain, because that always sounded like a cool thing to do and we know it, much like this VIP experience, will forever be beyond our grasp.

If the VIP stuff sounds a little out of your league, you can also bid on a copy of the book "Octagon," a limited edition Alligator duffle bag (just cause), or one of the thirty tickets to "Fight for the Troops" that’s being made available to the public.  Or you can just sit at home and do nothing while your life slowly slips away.  Whatever seems more fulfilling.

(Guess who’s fixing to fight for some troops. Also, for money.)

It’s a busy day for the UFC’s PR staff, as they sent out one release officially announcing the December 10 “UFC Fight for the Troops” event in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and another to alert the state of New York to just how much money they’re losing by not legalizing MMA.

The “Fight for the Troops” card will air live on Spike TV and is headlined by Josh Koscheck vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida, and also includes Mike Swick-Jonathan Goulet and Frankie Edgar-Matt Wiman. From the press release:

The special live UFC fight card will raise funds to build a hospital for traumatic brain injuries for the brave men and women in the United States Armed Forces. Thousands of soldiers from nearby Fort Bragg, the proud home of the U.S. Airborne and Special Operations Forces, will be in attendance. More information about the facility, including ways to donate, can be found online at http://www.fallenheroesfund.org or by calling 1-800-340-HERO

The fight card also showcases five current UFC fighters who are all U.S. military veterans, including Luigi Fioravanti, Tim Credeur, Dale Hartt, Brandon Wolff, and Steve Bruno. An additional fight will be added to the main event and announced at a later date.

The day’s other UFC release serves as a not-so-subtle reminder to New York that they’re missing out on millions of dollars by keeping MMA away from their state. And it’s not just New York City that the UFC has their eye on.

(Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Photo courtesy of MMA Mania.)

The UFC’s “Fight for the Troops” event — which airs free on SpikeTV on Wednesday, December 10th, at 8 p.m. ET — got a proper main event today, as it was confirmed that Josh Koscheck will be facing off against Yoshiyuki Yoshida in a welterweight contest. Koscheck has gone 2-0 since losing to Georges St. Pierre at UFC 74, and most recently pounded all the blood out of Chris Lytle at UFC 86 in July. Yoshida (10-2) easily won his UFC debut against War Machine in May, and was supposed to fight Karo Parisyan last month at UFC 88 but Parisyan pulled out at the last minute due to a back injury.

“Fight for the Troops” will be held at the 8,500-seat Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, North Carolina, not at Fort Bragg as was originally reported. (Apparently the UFC announced the venue before getting official clearance from the U.S. Army; a medium-sized Fail.) The event is intended to raise funds for the construction of The National Intrepid Center of Excellence, and attendance will be free for members of the armed services. Other featured matches include Mike Swick vs. Jonathan Goulet, Frankie Edgar vs. Matt Wiman, Luigi Fioravanti vs. Brodie Farber, and Eddie Sanchez vs. Justin McCully.

One serviceman who won’t be fighting at the event is former Marine/WEC light-heavyweight champ Brian Stann, who was forced to pull out of his rubber match against Steve Cantwell due to a broken foot; no word yet on a replacement opponent for Cantwell. Luke Cummo is also out due to injury, and he will be replaced by Johnny “The Hater Hurter” Rees in his scheduled fight against Steve Bruno.

In other UFC news, MMA Training reports that the TUF 8 finale (December 13th, location TBA) will be headlined by a match between Clay Guida and Kurt Pellegrino, not Guida and Nate Diaz as was previously rumored.

(Cain Velasquez cracks Brad Morris at UFC 83. Photo courtesy of video.ufc.tv.)

As a couple of you pointed out yesterday, a match between Cain Velasquez and a foreigner with “a terrorist name” would have been perfect for UFC’s “Fight for the Troops” event on December 10th. Unfortunately, the Velasquez/Mustapha Al-Turk bout is in danger as the American fighter recently suffered a knee injury in training, and is currently recovering from arthroscopic surgery. According to MMAWeekly, a final decision on Velasquez’s status will be made in two weeks, but his fight will probably be rescheduled to UFC 92 (12/27) or 93 (1/31).

“Fight for the Troops” — which aims to raise millions for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund and the National Intrepid Center of Excellence — will be broadcast for free on Spike. So far, the card looks like this:

Mike Swick vs. Jonathan Goulet
Steve Bruno vs. Luke Cummo
Frankie Edgar vs. Matt Wyman
Luigi Fioravanti vs. Brodie Farber
Eddie Sanchez vs. Justin McCully
Dale Hartt vs. Corey Hill

Update: Al-Turk will now face Cheick Kongo on the main card of UFC 92 (December 27th, Las Vegas).