(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…

(Hover-hands… making UFC fighters not seem like germophobes since 1993.)

We realized we haven’t had a good old fashioned caption contest in a while, so to make it up to you guys we figured we’d do three for the price of one. That way you can pick your favorite photo to mercilessly carve, rather than having us disappoint you by choosing one that dries out your creative juices. And you say that we never listen.

You know the drill. Come up with your best captions for these three Tracy Lee photos from last weekend’s “It Ain’t Chemo” fundraiser. Best one for each pic gets a CP devil horns or HOF T-shirt. One prize limit per entrant.

And….GO!

(How can you say no to that face?) 

Aside from its placement atop nearly every MMA fan’s “Favorite Fights” list, Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin‘s war at the first TUF Finale is widely considered to be the fight responsible for popularizing MMA into the near mainstream sport it is today. Well, believe it or not, that fight almost didn’t happen on account of Bonnar’s uncontrollable desire for bottom shelf alcohol, specifically, Mad Dog. Although Bonnar has told this story with a slightly different spin before, Dana White recently discussed the craziness that was the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, and how Bonnar almost got himself kicked off the show:

The first season of the ‘Ultimate Fighter’ was the longest season we’ve ever done. It was something like 8 weeks and those guys were losing their (expletive) minds. I almost kicked (Stephan) Bonnar off the show. 

Bonnar turned the shower on, climbed out the window and went to find a liquor store. Remember we took all the liquor out after that big fight? These idiots…we had been driving these guys around for six or seven weeks and the house is in the middle of nowhere. There was no liquor store near there. The guy was walking around for an hour and thirty minutes. So much crazy (expletive) happened that first season. Imagine if I had kicked off him off the show for going to a liquor store? Forrest (Griffin) and Stephan would have never happened. 

No Dana, we would not like to imagine a world in which Griffin/Bonnar never existed. We’d rather imagine one in which Motley Crue serenades our lovemaking sessions with Adriana Lima, thank you very much.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/HDNetFights)

HDNet only had to use one of six degrees of separation when adding “That 70′s Show” actress Laura Prepon to the Inside MMA guest list this week alongside former UFC light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin.

An avid MMA fan who is often seen on camera during pay-per-view events, Prepon is rumored to have dated former UFC and Bellator heartthrob Roger Huerta. Moving on.

In the segment above Fo-Griff and Donna take some reader questions about preparing for the apocalypse and who “The Red Dragon” would fight if she had to pick one of her former co-stars.

SPOILER: No, it wasn’t Mila Kunis.

(That moment when Punch face becomes Troll face.) 

As we all know, inspirational icon Tito Ortiz plans to call it a career after his next fight, or so he has claimed. He has also stated a desire for his final fight to take place on 4th of July weekend, and against either Forrest Griffin or Chuck Liddell. Talk about specific. And while Liddell can’t compete for obvious reasons (specifically, Jackrack commercials), Griffin has already come out in favor of a rubbermatch, and it seems the trilogy’s completion is all but inevitable at this point. On a recent episode of “Inside MMA,” Griffin received a surprise, but pre-recorded (for even more obvious reasons) video call-out from “The People’s Champ,” who all but begged Griffin for another rematch, as if FoGriff was somehow in charge of making those kinds of decisions:

Forrest, you know I deserve it, man. Step up. Let’s do this. It’s an awesome fight for you. I lost my last one. You lost your last one. Let’s do this — unless you’re scared!

Well, not to get technical Tito, but you’ve actually lost your last two, and six of your last eight. Anyway, join us after the jump for Forrest’s response.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/TUF)

Sure Anderson Silva has a date with Chael Sonnen the winner of Chael Sonnen and Mark Munoz this summer, but when you think about it, there really aren’t many fights left for the dominant UFC middleweight champion at 185, so why not have him move up?

Anderson has a plethora of reasons why he likely won’t fight at 205 and most of them concern loyalty to friends like Lil’ Nog and Jon Jones, but from a fan’s perspective, a move up in weight is the only one that makes sense for “The Spider.”

Look at how he toyed with Ryan Bader in the TUF sparring session, basically letting him punch him in the chin as hard as he wanted to. Granted, Bader has improved from his technique of charging forward with arm punches, but I really don’t see a match-up between the two going any differently now. Silva made one former UFC light heavyweight champ look stupid and he would likely do the same to most of the division’s top contenders, so why not have him step up?

We’ll tell you why.

(#FacesofDeath) 

You know, it’s rare that we come across a filmed street fight with a video quality above that of The Blair Witch Project, and even more rare that we see one with any sort of technique involved whatsoever. Sure, Eddie Bravo will straight choke you to death if you cross him on camera, but it’s fair to say that most of the fights we catch on the Youtubes often involve two drunken nightclub patrons attempting to knock the glitter covered dragons off each other’s Ed Hardy v-necks using a fighting style that can only be described as “Tasmanian Devil-esque.”

We’ve tried to persuade you from this kind of thing, while understanding that it is bound to happen nonetheless. So what we’re saying is, if you plan on following the path of Lionheart in the near to distant future, you should do two things:

1. Take a couple lessons away from the following video.

2. Pray to your God that Jorge Masvidal isn’t the one you find yourself against.

(Video courtesy of IronForgesIron)

When FUEL TV stated that it will be dedicating a lion’s share of its programming to UFC-related shows as a result of its parent company Fox’s new multi-year contract with the promotion, most of us wondered what the quality of said shows would be like.

If this UFC Champions Roundtable special is any indication, it’s going to be pretty decent.

Hosted by Jay Glazer, the half-hour program that debuted during FUEL’s 24-hour New Year’s UFC marathon, featured a handful of UFC champs — past and present — who reflected on the early days in the sport and how far it’s come since Bonnar fought Griffin on SPIKE TV back in 2006.

Some highlights after the jump.

(Video courtesy of UStream/MMAFightCornerRadio)

Forrest Griffin was on MMA Fight Corner Radio this weekend and when asked whether or not he would entertain a third fight with Tito Ortiz, the former UFC light heavyweight champ didn’t hesitate in answering.

“If people would pay to see that fight, I’ll get paid to fight that fight,” Griffin said. “I care more about where the fight is; I don’t travel well. If that fight [with Tito] happens in the continental United States, I’m down.”

(Torres following his unanimous decision loss to social media. / Photo via ESPN)

Update: Torres has released a statement about his release. Check it out at the bottom of this post.

Miguel Torres — former undisputed WEC bantamweight champion and die-hard fan of rape jokes — has been released by the UFC. Dana White confirmed the firing yesterday evening, telling SI.com, “his career with us now is over.”

The reason for Torres’s release was a tweet that reportedly read, “If a rape van was called a surprise van, more women wouldn’t mind going for rides in them. Everyone likes surprises.” Torres later removed the tweet and replaced it with an edited version. White was informed of the tweet second-hand by Michael Landsberg and made the decision to fire Torres shortly after.

So why is Torres being made an example of, when Forrest Griffin and Rashad Evans made similar off-color statements recently? Basically, it’s because he didn’t have a good enough explanation.

(I can’t see *why* they wouldn’t put him on the card. Video courtesy of YouTube/MMADigest)

It looks like the proposed light heavyweight bout between Stephan Bonnar and Quinton Jackson won’t be happening at UFC 144 in Japan as we previously predicted.

According to “Rampage,” who was told last month by UFC president Dana White that he would be on the February 25 card, he will not be fighting at the Saitama Super Arena that day and he’s not very happy about the news.

(Props: @roynelsonmma)

Look, I understand that a good deal of Roy Nelson‘s size is contained in his belly, which has been compared to the moon both for its shape and density. And I know that black is a slimming color in general. But check out this recent picture of Roy standing next to light-heavyweight Forrest Griffin and tell me that Big Country isn’t fighting way, way out of his natural weight class. I know, that’s not exactly a ground-breaking observation, but good Lord, those chicken legs.

After the jump, two more examples of Roy standing next to other fighters who look surprisingly large compared to him. Related question: Is Nelson really walking around near 265, or has he been trolling us, Semtex-style?

(Rashad gets booed. Forrest gets giddy.GIF courtesy of ZombieProphet)

We figured you could all use a little entertainment to help you through another case of the Mondays, so we’ve compiled a few of the weekend’s GIF-worthy moments for your viewing pleasure.

Enjoy more animated goodness after the jump.

Let’s be honest, there weren’t many of us out there biting our nails in anticipation of Mac Danzig vs. Matt Wiman Part II in the weeks leading up to it, but boy were we wrong. The rematch, which took home Fight of the Night Honors, was a back and forth, blood soaked brawl, and we loved every second of it. So it is in light of their triumph that we present you, Potato Nation, with five rematches, in no particular order, that we can expect to see as soon as Joe Silva starts returning our calls.

5. Carlos Condit vs. Rory Macdonald

Depending on how well Carlos Condit does in his upcoming title fight against GSP, the possibility of seeing these two welterweight brutes tangle again seems pretty high. Both have been on a tear as of late, and the first fight between them was nothing short of extraordinary.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/MMAInterviews.tv)

MMAInterviews.tv caught up with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua recently and had a chance to get the former UFC light heavyweight champion’s thought on a few subjects including his UFC 134 win over Forrest Griffin, a possible fight with Strikeforce light heavyweight champ Dan Henderson and who he would like to face if given the choice.

Shogun answered the questions himself utilizing his ever-improving English language skills, which he should be applauded for considering learning a completely different language than your native tongue is very difficult (ask Tito how hard it was to learn interview questions) and it will make him more marketable to those of us who aren’t old PRIDE fans.

Check out the transcription of the interview after the jump.

Forrest Griffin circa 2005 had the heart of a lion (and the face of a gremlin).

Forrest Griffin became a household MMA name after his run through the original Ultimate Fighter show. Goofily charming, Griffin had already amassed a record fitting a UFC fighter before appearing the show, with names like Dan Severn, Travis Fulton, Jeff Monson, Jermey Horn, and Chael Sonnen on his record. But it was Griffin’s gritty determination to fight and win that so impressed audiences back in 2005 that made him a fan favorite. His three round finale win over Stephan Bonnar, hailed as one of the most important fights in MMA history, was an instant classic not because Griffin thoroughly outclassed Bonnar, but because both fighters showed so much tenacity and desire in the fight. If you don’t mind me throwing the term around, Forrest Griffin won over fans because he showed a great deal of heart.  It was clear just by watching him that Griffin wanted to fight, more than anything.

Six years later, Griffin is still with us and still somewhere in the top tier of light heavyweights, with a rematch against Shogun Rua to prove that Griffin belongs in that tier. Griffin said in interviews prior to the fight that a second win over Shogun would “validate” him as an elite light heavyweight.

And then he lost.

Leading up to the fight, Griffin had been a bit less sanguine about his fight than usual. Oh, Griffin still had jokes — he’s always a guy that will crack off a one-liner at any given time — but reading between the lines, some wondered whether Griffin still had the competitive fire that once burned so brightly in him. And after a loss to Shogun in which he looked slow and disinterested, some have begun to seriously ask: has Griffin lost the heart to fight?

By Jason Moles

After a spectacular night of fights at UFC 134 in Rio, we’re going to try to make sense of it with a little game called ‘Buy, Sell, or Hold’. I’ll take a fighter and either buy, sell, or hold him like a stockbroker would. (It’s kind of like the real stock market, except you won’t want to throw yourself off a building afterwards.) Take my advice and you’ll end up with a nice MMA portfolio. Without further ado…

Anderson Silva: Buy! Buy! Buy!

‘The Spider‘ has everything you’d want from a blue chip stock: an x-factor that makes people want to see him fight, major corporate sponsors, and hilarious commercials. Oh yeah, and his fighting isn’t that bad either. Silva’s complete and utter domination of Yushin Okami at UFC 134 just reinforces what we already knew — we are witnessing the greatest fighter of all time every time he steps inside the Octagon™.

Yushin Okami: Dump it like your autographed picture of Carrot Top.

He is currently ranked as the #3 best Middleweight and yet it seems all for naught. Okami showed up to a gunfight with a pair of flip-flops and a bag of Skittles against Silva. Despite working with the only man to dominate the champion, he never once came close to showing a spark in Brazil. I have a feeling he’ll face the same fate as Jon Fitch while his stock becomes more cursed than Monster.

I get what he’s trying to say, but it’s a stretch to call his tilt with Okami a “date”

Perhaps it’s pointless to write an aftermath article for an Anderson Silva fight anymore. Not necessarily because he hasn’t lost since 2006, but rather, because Anderson Silva summed up his dominance of the middleweight division perfectly himself. After his victory over Yushin Okami last night, Kenny Florian asked Anderson Silva if there’s anyone out there he would like to fight next. His response? “My clone”.

If the idea of multiple Anderson Silvas wasn’t somehow reminiscent of the plot of Terminator, I’d agree with him. Other than a rematch with Dan Henderson (if the money is right) or a rematch with Chael Sonnen (if he can get past Brian Stann), who else is out there for him? Or rather, who else at middleweight?

This doesn’t mean that Yushin Okami doesn’t deserve credit for his performance. If Yushin Okami had any chance of beating Anderson Silva, it was going to involve getting Silva on his back and avoiding submissions. Okami started out well enough, pushing Silva into the cage and clinching with the far superior striker. The only problem was that Okami was completely unable to take Silva down. After eating a head kick at the end of the first round, it was only a matter of time before the gun-shy challenger got caught again.

(Image via soldierforever)

UFC 134 weigh-ins are scheduled to kick off at 3 p.m. today at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. You can watch all the staredowns (and potential scale-fails) live in the video player after the jump, and we’ll update the numbers below when they’re official. And remember to swing by CagePotato.com tomorrow night for our “Silva vs. Okami” liveblog!

(Is there anyone who dislikes Shogun?)

In a blog posting he made today on ESPN.com, former UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua spoke for the first time about what he feels led to him losing his belt to Jon Jones at UFC 128 in March.

In spite of insinuations that his knee was bothering him and that he didn’t train properly for the bout as he seemed out of shape, Rua says it was simply a case of having a bad night and the fight not going his way.

“Really, in the Jones fight, what happened was I got hurt early on and I was having some trouble finding the right distance in the fight. I was also getting tired, and throwing leg kicks spends a lot of energy which is why I didn’t throw so many of them, and there was also the risk of being taken down; it was a combination of factors which stopped me from performing at my best,” he explained. “But whatever I did wrong in training for that fight, it doesn’t take Jones’s merits away and he was the better fighter that night. Some people think I was out of shape and are worried about my knees still being hurt after I had so much trouble with them. That isn’t the case — there’s nothing wrong with my knees, and they were 100 percent ready for that fight, as it was all cleared by the doctor. We made the biggest effort in doing my rehab as perfectly as possible and the UFC was kind enough to let me come back on a date that was proper to do it, according to the doctors. I have no injury excuses.”

(Props: NaturalBornKillerMMA)

On August 27th, the UFC returns to Brazil for the first time since 1998, featuring a middleweight title fight — Anderson Silva gunning for his ninth belt-defense against Yushin Okami — and a collection of native fighters representing the sport’s past, present, and future. Watching the UFC 134 trailer, it’s clear that there are a lot of storylines swirling around the event that will add even more drama to the already-stacked lineup. So let’s run ‘em down, shall we?

Everybody loves a good rematch: Anderson Silva’s last official loss was due to a subtle rule in MMA that states you can’t kick a downed fighter in the head — even if that fighter is on top of you. Silva has always felt that Okami took the easy way out during their first meeting in January 2006, and UFC 134′s main event is his chance to set the record straight. If not for that oddball disqualification, Silva’s undefeated streak would extend all the way back to his freakish PRIDE loss to Ryo Chonan, six and a half years ago.

Meanwhile, Mauricio Rua will have a chance to even the score against Forrest Griffin, who choked him out in shocking fashion during Shogun’s UFC debut in 2007. Since that night, both men have won the light-heavyweight title and lost it. With consecutive wins over Tito Ortiz and Rich Franklin, Forrest Griffin is still very much a player at 205 — and Rua is coming off of the most lopsided beating he’s ever suffered in his entire career. Does Shogun deserve to be the favorite again? Will the story have a different ending on his home turf?

Brazil vs. The World: Good Lord, look at all those green flags…

(Goldie and Rogan get their groove on during the UFC 132 prelims. Props: atran416)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. (Welcome aboard, MMAPayout and FightOpinion!) E-mail feedback@cagepotato.com for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

- UFC 132: Payout Perspective (MMAPayout)

- Urijah Faber Considers Adapting His Fight Style Based on How MMA Judges Score Fights (FightOpinion)

- ‘Krazy Horse’ Bennett: “When I Got 22 Losses, I Realized That I Needed to Train” (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- This Guy Learns the ‘Tap or Snap’ Rule the Hard Way (MiddleEasy)

- Why Tito Ortiz Winning Is a Good Thing (MMA Convert)

- UFC 134: Overweight Forrest Griffin Wants to Go Hard for 15 minutes Against ‘Shogun’ Rua (MMA Mania)

- Brian Bowles Hand Not Broken in UFC 132 Win, Wants Dominick Cruz Next (MMA Fighting)

- Fistic Fireworks: Ten Moments in the UFC’s Fourth of July History (Five Ounces of Pain)

- 4th of July Treat: Miesha Tate at UFC 132 (LowKick)

- Melvin Guillard Puts Belt Before Brothers…And Mother (5thRound)

- A Day in the Life of Jeff Monson, Part 8: Jeff Gets a New Tattoo (TheFightNerd)

- UFC 132: Five Lessons Learned (NBC Sports MMA)

(“What? A businessman is never honest when it comes to money.”)

When Tito Ortiz revealed last week that he was taking “a big, big, big pay cut” to stay in the UFC to get one last kick at the cat against Ryan Bader at UFC 132, we almost felt bad for the former UFC light heavyweight champ, what with his child support payments and the custom made hats he has to have made and whatnot. Being Tito ain’t cheap. Well, it turns out “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” was just playin’ us. He actually made more for the bout than he did his last few fights.

According to the figures released by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (courtesy of MMAJunkie), Tito took home a $450,000 flat fee for his first-round submission win over Bader. He made $250,000 in his UFC 121 loss to Matt Hammil as well as his UFC 106 loss to Forrest Griffin.

Math, how does it work?

In his defense, maybe he used to receive a portion of the pay-per-view revenue and opted to forgo the percentage to keep his job. We’ll have to wait a couple years to read the details in his inevitable tell-all book.

Ortiz and Wanderlei Silva ($200,000) were the top earners on the card, accounting for 50.9 percent of the $1, 277,000 disclosed payroll.

Check out the full list after the jump.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/MMAInterviews)

- Stanley Cup Riot Gallery: The Faces of Vancouver’s Horrific Sportsmanship (WithLeather)

- Griffin Wants to Prove that Win Over Shogun Was No Fluke (Tatame)

- E3 Exclusive: 1 on 1 with Gears of War 3?s Cliff Bleszinski (TheRugged)

- Chad Griggs Plan Against Overeem: Forehead Down, Throw Bombs (MMAJunkie)

- An Important Message From Dave Chappelle (Clutch.MTV)

- How to Open a Beer With Anything (MadeMan)

- Strikeforce Enacts Same “Sponsor Tax” as UFC (FightersOnly)

- Holy Taco’s Guide to Writing a Good Cover Letter (HolyTaco)

- Second ’30 Seconds or Less’ Red-Band Trailer (ScreenJunkies)

- Rick Story Thinks He’s Knock Out Jon Fitch (FiveKnuckles)

- The WAGS of Wimbledon (FHM)

Just a friendly reminder that we will have the stream of the UFC 134 press conference for your viewing pleasure starting at 2:00 pm ET.

Here are a few of the faces you can expect to see at the event:

I may be way off, but why would the UFC fly in a bunch of fighters for a press conference for an event that will likely be a guaranteed sellout unless it was to announce an exciting ‘special’ addition to the card, like say Royce Gracie vs. Cris Cyborg or Eddie Bravo vs. Royler Gracie.

Let the baseless speculation begin. Best answer gets to slap ReX next time you see him.

Check out the presser stream after the jump.

(Look, we only have this at the top because we couldn’t find that clip of Krazy Horse telling kids to “stay in school, and don’t f*ck with drugs.”)

By Matthew “The Fight Nerd” Kaplowitz

The public service announcement has been part of American culture for decades. Popularized by the perpetually foxy Nancy Reagan in the ’80s, the PSA has taught us everything from not smoking crack to not dumping a pot of boiling oil on your face, and a whole bunch of other not’s. It has also served as a way to punish celebrities and athletes who did something incredibly stupid and got caught.

MMA fighters eventually began to get roped into this as the popularity of the sport rose; some are good, while others should be avoided as much as strangers in pick-up trucks who offer to let you see their puppy. That is why today I present to you the top eight public service announcements featuring MMA fighters. Why? Because knowing is half the battle…

8. Randy Couture VS Crystal Meth

Just say no to drugs! Randy Couture enters the battle against Methamphetamines in this PSA, because when you think crystal meth, think Randy Couture. For a video that is meant to appear sad and claustrophobic, it comes off like an amateur snuff film and loses its impact with the soft-spoken UFC veteran.

Couture has done plenty of these ads, so don’t be surprised if he pops back up on this list. Am I saying he will for sure? No, but if I did, would you stop loving me? I can’t handle any more rejection…oh man, sinking back into that pit of despair. I need some meth. But if I do that, then Randy won’t love me either. Argh, what a vicious cycle! But seriously kids, don’t do drugs. If you feel yourself losing power to your addiction, go punch a hobo instead. It’s much more fulfilling, but don’t take my word for it.

Oh, and I lied. Randy does not appear again on this list. That was the crystal meth talking.

(Either someone’s getting knocked the f*ck out, or someone’s getting decisioned into a living death.)

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will finally get his chance to settle the score with Forrest Griffin this summer.

A rematch of their September 2007 UFC 76 bout has reportedly been signed for UFC Rio in August.

GracieMag.com was the first to report the potential match-up that was confirmed with UFC president Dana White today by MMAFighting.com.

(In his next fight, Bader would like to face someone of great historical significance. Anybody got Kimo’s number? Pic: MMA Convert.)

Contrary to popular belief, the UFC middleweight division has not quite cornered the market on making strategically advantageous call-outs. While the world’s 185-pound fighters are lining up to let everybody know how much they’d all love to fight Michael Bisping – which is like so 2010 – their light heavyweight brethren are also making requests of UFC matchmaker Joe Silva. It seems that at least a couple of 205-pounders have been spending some time on the “Fighters” page over at UFC.com and thinking to themselves, “Let’s see here, who can I beat?”

Ryan Bader, for one, emerged this week from whatever dark room he’s been huddled in, rocking back and forth since UFC 126 to tell ESPN.com he’d very much like to fight Tito Ortiz. Cuz, why not? Sure, just a withered shell of his former self, Ortiz hasn’t won a fight since 2006, is barely clinging to his career and seemingly can’t make it to the cage without a serious back injury, cracked skull or giant laceration over his eye, but still … fighting him would mean A LOT to Bader. You know, on a personal level.

(Photos courtesy of RichFranklin.com)

Remember when Forrest Griffin and Rich Franklin tried to add some heat to their UFC 126 meeting by suggesting that the loser would have to get an embarrassing tattoo? As Griffin suggested, “I think the loser should have to get like a big, flaming dragon tattoo, or something just hideous.”

Franklin lost the fight by unanimous decision, and we quickly forgot about this silly business — except Franklin didn’t. An MMAFighting report came out Friday claiming that Ace had actually visited a tattoo shop to honor the bet that nobody thought was real. Responding to the news, Griffin said:

(Two very different ends of the agony/compensation spectrum. Images courtesy of MMAFighting.com)

The UFC shelled out over $1.6 million in disclosed salaries and bonuses to the fighters who competed at UFC 126, and damn, some of these dudes are making bank. Good to see it. The numbers are below, courtesy of MMAJunkie. Keep in mind that these salary totals don’t include additional income from sponsorships, undisclosed "locker room" bonuses, and (potentially, for some headliners) percentages of the pay-per-view revenue, or deductions for taxes, licensing fees, and insurance.

Anderson Silva: $275,000 (includes $75,000 Knockout of the Night bonus; no disclosed win bonus)
def. Vitor Belfort: $275,000

Forrest Griffin: $275,000 (includes $150,000 win bonus)
def. Rich Franklin: $75,000

Jon Jones: $215,000 (includes $70,000 win bonus, $75,000 Submission of the Night bonus)
def. Ryan Bader: $20,000