(Careful, Gegard. If he bites you, you become one of them. Photo courtesy of Esther Lin/Strikeforce)

According to a new report, former Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi could meet Mike Kyle at the promotion’s September 10th card (venue TBA).

The two fighters were originally scheduled to meet at the ‘Diaz vs. Daley’ card in April, but Kyle was forced to withdraw due to a broken hand; Mousasi wound up fighting to a disappointing draw against late-replacement Keith Jardine. The “Armenian Assassin” is already slated to defend his DREAM light-heavyweight belt against Hiroshi Izumi in Tokyo on July 16th.

(“By the way, my offer to piss in your mouth? I’m still down if you are.” Photo courtesy of JoshLBarnett.)

The UFC is holding its annual Fighter Summit this week in Las Vegas, bringing together the entire UFC and Strikeforce rosters for the purposes of education and camaraderie — pretty boring stuff, judging from Gegard Mousasi’s amazingly child-like doodles. But it did provide opportunities for old rivals to rub shoulders. Josh Barnett posted this photo yesterday evening with the note, “Pigs have now flown. Watch for Hell to freeze over next. Me and @danawhite together again.”

Barnett has publicly criticized the UFC and Dana White in the past, but when Zuffa bought Strikeforce in March, all of a sudden DW was a pretty fucking metal dude in Josh’s opinion. (That’s a compliment.) Barnett is scheduled to face Brett Rogers at Strikeforce’s “Overeem vs. Werdum” event on June 18th in Dallas. Whether he has a future in the company after that is still anybody’s guess, no matter how friendly he and Dana appear to be when somebody’s pointing a camera-phone at them.

(“My suit? No, it’s not Mr. Big and Tall, it’s Brooks Brothers. I got a Zuffa corporate card now.”)

The California State Athletic Commission today revealed the salaries from last weekend’s Diaz vs. Daly event in Stockton, and for the most part the fighters from the card were pretty well compensated.

The top money-earner of the night was welterweight champ Nick Diaz who netted $175,000 for his beatdown of Paul Daley. For his effort, Daley took home $65,000. Tied for second place in the night’s salary rankings are Strikeforce lightweight kingpin Gilbert Melendez and former light heavyweight champ Gegard Mousasi who both took home $150,000 for their efforts. The disparity between the take-home pay of Melendez and Mousasi’s opponents was interesting. Tatsuya Kawajiri picked up $97,612.50 for eating a handful of Melendez’s “hellbows” while Keith Jardine made just $25,000 for taking Mousasi the distance.

(I’m just saying, it’s a little ironic to wear a ‘Fight for Japan’ patch on your shorts while you’re personally contributing to the agony of Japanese people. Props: MMAFighting.com)

It might be a while before we get to see cross-promotional fights between UFC and Strikeforce talent. But what’s the harm in a little theoretical speculation? For this installment of the Armchair Matchmaker, we decided to pair up Saturday’s winners and losers with the UFC fighters they should face next, if that sort of thing was possible. And even if it’s a completely meaningless exercise, it’s still more interesting than talking about Diaz vs. Woodley and Melendez vs. the winner of Wilcox/Masvidal. (Ugh, reality. So tedious.) Let’s get started…

Nick Diaz: I know Georges St. Pierre is the obvious answer, but then I think about GSP out-wrestling Nick for five rounds and the dream-fight becomes a lot less dreamy. I’d actually be more interested in seeing Diaz try to avenge his 2005 decision loss to Diego Sanchez, another fighter who puts on a thrilling show every time he steps into a cage. Diaz has probably not forgotten his beef with Sanchez, and Diego has actually suggested that the two settle their rivalry as opposing coaches on TUF. Cosigned, homey.

It’s just as well. Frankly “011-44-115″ is harder to remember than “209″ (Pic: Strikeforce.com)

The first major Strikeforce event under the Zuffa/Forza banner delivered a full night of action and first round stoppages, with a little of the obligatory ‘Majority Draw’ bullshit mixed in for good measure. While it was a typical Strikeforce show from top to bottom, the UFC hardly tried to keep a low profile at the event. Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta were both in attendance, the cage floor advertised the upcoming GSP-Shields fight, and talk of cross-promotional bouts peppered the event from the commentator booth to the stupid text polls. Maybe it’s just us, but there are far more important issues to vote on.

After years of watching Nick Diaz win the stand-up battle against “better strikers”, is it now time for us all to admit that he is the better striker? In true Diaz fashion, he did exactly what he said he would do and exactly what the media and fans alike discouraged- stand up with a dangerous striker. Like a successful version of Jorge Gurgel, Diaz has built his mystique and fanbase upon his refusal to utilize his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt and his unquenchable thirst to punch dudes in the face. While victorious once again, that doesn’t mean he dominated the fight. Daley’s power was a known commodity headed into this bout, which made the both the risk and the reward to stand and bang with him all the greater for Diaz. The two exchanged heavily throughout the one-round fight, and twice “Semtex” dropped Diaz to the floor in what looked like the beginning of the end for the pride of Stockton.

(Well, that explains it.)

When message board commenters gush about how much better The Ultimate Fighter alumni are than the rest of the fighters in their respective division, we typically just give the little TUF noobs a proverbial pinch on the cheek and dismiss their uninformed opinions as being asinine as a result of the impeccable job the UFC and SPIKE did convincing them its true.

But when a so-called MMA expert like Franklin McNeil continually gives the edge to fighters who have appeared on the reality show in bouts against fighters who are widely considered more skilled and are thus ranked accordingly, it makes us shake our heads in disbelief that ESPN, the leader in sports coverage, gives this guy a forum to spew his skewed view of the sport under the guise of journalism. We may print a ton of opinion pieces here, but CagePotato isn’t proclaiming to be the CNN of MMA coverage and we’re clear in stating that editorials contain (sometimes cynically humorous) bias and are not to be taken as fact or even seriously in some cases. ESPN, however, is a different animal than CP.

Josh Gross, you have our sympathy.

(Pic: Tapology)

It’s hard to even know what to think about Paul Daley anymore. Given what we understand about the current MMA landscape, the ’60s radical in us wants to pump our fist and shout out a Hopper-esque “Right on, man!” every time Daley goes on record saying he’s not going to “kiss ass” for the UFC empire. Then again, Daley himself is so thoroughly detestable that it’s also hard not to hope Nick Diaz takes him down and chokes him out in like 45 seconds this weekend during their Strikeforce welterweight title match. Then, if Diaz, Daley, Brock Lesnar, Georges St. Pierre and BJ Penn joined hands in the cage, sang “We Shall Overcome” and announced they were filing a joint antitrust suit against Zuffa, LLC, well, that’d be about perfect … as long as one of them didn’t try to steal a bunch of beer from a riverboat casino later that night … but anyways …

Of the five betting websites we perused this morning, only one – Bookmaker.com – is offering lines on all four of Strikeforce’s scheduled televised bouts as well as a couple from the undercard. Most electronic bookies are steadfastly avoiding Gegard Mousasi vs. Keith Jardine, likely because they don’t want to be complicit in Jardine’s untimely demise. Not Bookmaker though, those brave motherfuckers are posting odds on that fight and somehow still allowing prop bets on the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix. A guy can still get Fab Werdum to win it all at +550 over there, if you’re interested. In order to stay focused on the here and now however, after the jump are the lines for Saturday night’s “Diaz vs. Daley” show courtesy Bookmaker, plus our picks.

(‘Diaz vs. Daley’ video hype, via ESPN)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail feedback@cagepotato.com for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

- Gegard Mousasi Speaks About Upcoming Fight with Keith Jardine (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- 40 of the Greatest Dana White F-Bombs in the History of the UFC (MiddleEasy)

- From Heavyweight to Bantamweight: Seven Future UFC Champions (LowKick)

- Paul Daley: “I’m Not a Kiss-Ass, I’m Not Really a Company Guy” (5thRound)

- Mayhem Miller Moves Past Nick Diaz Feud, Vows to ‘Beat the Brakes Off’ UFC Middleweights (MMA Fighting)

- The Tragedy of the Murder of Sergio Salcido (MMA Convert)

- Fabricio Werdum Eyeing UFC Title-Shot After Strikeforce Grand Prix (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Georges St. Pierre Pretty Damn Confident He’s Going to Beat Jake Shields (MMA-Scraps)

- ‘TUF’ Talk: How Important is Lesnar’s Stint on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’? (Versus MMA Beat)

- MMA Rankings: Alvarez & Wilcox Stay Put At Lightweight (Fight Magazine)

TROLL POWER!

While we were busy thinking of Strikeforce related April Fool’s Day pranks, it turns out that Strikeforce was busy finding a replacement for Mike Kyle. Due to the timing of the announcement, I’ve been skeptical to report it as real news. However, it appears that Keith Jardine will be stepping in for Mike Kyle on April 9^th to fight Gegard Mousasi.

Go figure.

(Yeah, now that you mention it, you never see Mike Kyle and Newark mayor Cory Booker in the same room together…)

Due to a broken hand suffered in training, Strikeforce light-heavyweight contender Mike Kyle has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled match against Gegard Mousasi at ‘Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley‘ (April 9th, San Diego). The Kyle/Mousasi match would have likely produced the next challenger to Dan Henderson’s 205-pound title. Strikeforce is currently looking for a replacement opponent for Mousasi, who has scored wins over Jake O’Brien and Tatsuya Mizuno while competing in DREAM since losing the Strikeforce light-heavyweight title to Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal last April.

The news of Kyle’s injury withdrawal comes just a day after we learned that Jon Fitch — who trains alongside Kyle at American Kickboxing Academy — would not be making his rematch date with BJ Penn because of a shoulder injury. Speaking of which, Carlos Condit is down to step in against BJ Penn…as soon as the UFC asks him to.

(Considering the mostly-negative response to our “MMAshed Potato” host candidates, we figured we’d bring in a professional. Excellent use of the green-screen, buddy. /// Update: Having problems with the embed at the moment…click the image to watch the video.)

UFC 127: Penn vs. Fitch Weigh-In Results, Streamed and Updated Live Beginning at 10 p.m. ET (Lowkick)

James Toney Talks About the IRS Confiscating His Entire UFC 118 Purse (MiddleEasy)

Gegard Mousasi vs. Roger Gracie In Talks for April 9 Strikeforce Card (MMAWeekly)

Exclusive Video: The Ultimate Fighter 13 Tryouts (CageWriter)

Manny Gamburyan Pulls Out of UFC 128 With Back Injury (MMAFighting)

The 10 Most Ridiculous MMA Tattoos Of All Time (MTV Clutch)

9 Badass TV and Movie Characters That Don’t Talk (Guyism)

True Sh*t: Ten Movies the 2011 Academy Award Nominees Don’t Want You to See (Bullz-Eye)

Gemma Merna Unleashes Giant Cleavage in Loaded Magazine (BustedCoverage)

Hangover 2 Exclusive Teaser Trailer (TheRugged)

50 Mind Blowing Facts (OnlineSchools.org)

Lacrosse Fight Ends in Devastating Knockout (NothingToxic)

What You Can Learn From Her Tattoo (MadeMan)

Charlie Sheen’s Philosophies Examined And Discussed (HolyTaco)

It seems like every MMA site and their brother has put out a ranking of hottest MMA wives and girlfriends. For this list, we’re more interested in the couples who would kick the most ass together in a street-fight — or in one of those freaky-ass tag-team MMA bouts. If we’ve left out any notable MMA couples, holler at us in the comments section…

#6: BRANDON AND KERRY VERA

Combined MMA record: 13-6
Status: Married since 2006
Tough cred: Brandon’s career skid in the UFC has culminated in three consecutive losses (though that last one might be overturned). On the bright side, his adorable wife Kerry is currently 2-0 as a mixed martial artist following a successful kickboxing career, including a first-round shellacking of Kim Couture in her Strikeforce debut.

#5. JORGE GURGEL AND ZOILA FRAUSTO

Combined MMA record: 23-8
Status: Just married
Tough cred: Like the Veras, the male half of this couple has had a tough go of it lately, losing four of his last five fights; Jorge will have a chance to redeem himself against Tyler Combs on the preliminary card of Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson on March 5th. Meanwhile, Frausto has established herself as one of the greatest female fighters in the world, grabbing Bellator’s 115-pound title and putting an end to Megumi Fujii’s 22-fight win streak. (She’ll also be returning to action on March 5th, against Karina Hallinan at Bellator 35.) Hopefully that isn’t a problem for Gurgel’s ego.

Vicious upkick KO – Watch more Funny Videos

This went down last Sunday at ProFC Union Nation Cup 13 in the Ukraine. Byakhtiyar Abbasov tries to set up a leg-lock off a scramble, and Igor Sliusarchuk axe-kicks him in the jaw not once, but twice. Even while unconscious, Abbasov refuses to let go of that mouthpiece. Sliusarchuck now joins the MMA Upkick Hall of Fame, alongside Renzo Gracie, Gegard Mousasi, and Anderson Silva.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/ShoSports)

It’s curious that whenever you see Fedor Emelianenko training, it always seems to be with younger, smaller, less skillful opponents and that he never seems to be going above 50% intensity. The fact that he’s talking about bringing in Shane Carwin to help him prepare for the later rounds of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix may be an indicator of the level of training partners he has to pick from in his gym since his brother Aleksander and Gegard Mousasi left the Red Devil team.

As you can see in the video above, Fedor had an OK training camp, but didn’t really seem to get pushed much in the clips we saw. It makes you wonder what kind of shape he would be in and whether or not he would have lost to Werdum if he had spent the last year training at, say, Xtreme Couture. They say when you’re the top dog in the gym, it’s time to find a new gym where you’re in the middle of the pack trying to work your way to the top.

(Somehow, screwing this guy over in a business deal would never cross our minds. PicProps: Top MMA News)

A couple years ago I interviewed UFC and Pride vet and all-around good guy Gary Goodridge as part of a project I was working on for another publication. At the beginning of our conversation I think I asked something innocuous like, “Hey Gary, how you doing?” to which Goodridge responded with an audible sigh and said: “Man, I’m broke as a joke and looking for a job.” I laughed. Nervously. During the course of our talk it became clear that “Big Daddy” wasn’t kidding. After  nearly 50 MMA fights and 40 kickboxing bouts, the 15-year fight vet was pretty much at loose ends. He’d morphed into a cautionary tale – and a particularly heartbreaking one because he is such a nice dude – for all the young fighters out there who are living like they think those paychecks are just going to keep coming forever.

For obvious reasons, it was not at all surprising when Goodridge agreed to take on Gegard Mousasi at K-1’s New Year’s Eve Dynamite!! 2009 show on kind of ridiculously short notice, was further depressingly predictable that he lost that fight by ugly TKO inside of two minutes and unbelievably ridiculous that FEG took more than a year to send Gary his paycheck. Since this was so clearly an example of an aging fighter taking a fight he had no business taking simply because he needed a payday, the whole “getting paid” stage was a pretty important part of the equation. So, it warms even the blackest heart to report that Goodridge finally got his bread this week. Well, most of it.

Although the promotion has only "officially" announced one of the match-ups for its annual New Year’s Eve extravaganza, the December 31 K-1 Dynamite! show, in Saitama, Japan, which may include at least two title fights, is looking pretty good so far.

K-1 announced today that DREAM featherweight champion Bibiano Fernandes will rematch Hiroyuki Takaya on the card and that it will be a five-round affair that will see the Brazilian defend his belt for the second time.

According to a Tatame story, Sengoku fetherweight champion Marlon Sandro is in negotiations to put his belt on the line against Japanese standout Hatsu Hioki at the event as well. Sandro says he has verbally agreed to the bout and is awaiting the contract to make it official.

("Want a Baby Ruth?")

MMAJunkie is reporting that a heavyweight tilt between K-1 star Jerome LeBanner and DREAM light heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi could be added to the K-1 Dynamite New Year’s Eve show December 31 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Mousasi says he has verbally agreed to the bout and is awaiting a contract to make the fight official.

"I don’t know if I’m fighting him yet," Mousasi said of Le Banner. "They haven’t confirmed. They asked me, and I said yes, so now if he said yes, the fight is on."

Although some question whether or not at 3-1 (1 NC) in MMA if LeBanner is experienced enough to pose a challenge for Mousasi, "The Dream Catcher" says he feels he will, especially standing.

"If I fight Jerome LeBanner in the U.S., [he] wouldn’t be considered a good MMA fighter," Mousasi said. "But in Europe because he’s a popular K-1 fighter, it’s fighting a big fight. It doesn’t matter if it’s MMA or K-1, so it’s good for me (and) my name in Europe if I could beat him. And he’s big and strong, so it’s a challenge for me to get him down. I know that once I can get him down, I can win. But that’s the challenge."

The fight will be only Mousasi’s second as a heavyweight. He defeated aging MMA veteran Gary Goodridge at last year’s year-end Dynamite! show.

He is currently walking around at 223 pounds and says he likely won’t go into the fight with his 260-pound opponent much bigger than he is now.

"It’s too short a time to put a lot of weight on, so maybe two or three kilos more, but that’s it," said Mousasi, who heard Satoshi Ishii also could be a potential opponent for the year-end DREAM event. "But I don’t consider weight to be that big of a deal. As long as my technique is better, it will make up for his strength."

As far as his next Strikeforce opponent, Mousasi revealed that Mike Kyle may be on tap for him in the New Year.

Check out some Lebanner and Mousasi highlights after the jump.

(Video courtesy YouTube/Middleeasy)

Remember when Gegard Mousasi was on a 15-fight win streak, was knocking and tapping fools out left, right and center and everyone was calling him the next Fedor? That was awesome.

Then King Mo came along, laid Mousasi on his back and peppered him with more non-committal shots to the face than Jenna Jameson took in her heyday for the majority of their 25-minute fight.

While he isn’t necessarily a better fighter, Mo, who is regarded by anyone who has spoken at length with him about the sport as an MMA savant, executed the perfect game plan to beat Mousasi. In his next fight against Rafael Cavalcante...not so much.

(VidProps: YouTube/evilbyte)

Give the DREAM bosses some credit, these guys sure know how to build suspense into what otherwise might be a fairly straightforward and pleasing night of MMA fights. As it turned out, there was no surprise run-in from Alistair Overeem and the Japanese promotion with the fly-by-the-seat-of-its pants matchmaking style never found a fight for Ricco Rodriguez. We hope it paid for the flight and the sushi, at least.  On the bright side, DREAM finally did manage to convince Gegard Mousasi to put in the 31 seconds of work it took to defeat an overweight Jake O’Brien and Shinya Aoki likewise bounced back from an embarrassing loss in Strikeforce a few months ago to put a quick and typically stoic beating on Tatsuya Kawajiri.

Like “Sweet and Sassy,” Aoki called it an early night, withstanding some heel kicks to the face as he locked up an Achilles lock that secured the tap and appeared to damage his Kawajiri’s leg in just one minute, 53 seconds. A couple of days after possibly declaring his bi-sexuality at the event’s weigh-in (we assume he was being ironical), Aoki ditched his trademark colorful tights for relatively conservative board shorts and rushed from the ring following his win to get some lovin’ from his (possibly female) fiancé.

After the jump, O’Brien vs. Mousasi, where it will take you all of the first 15 seconds to see why the American had a little trouble making weight …

(GerardM? DREAM may be onto something awesome)

It’s seeming more and more like Ricco Rodriguez’s inclusion on the DREAM 15 card just wasn’t meant to be.

After Twittering early this morning that he may be stepping in for fellow MMA Agents repped fighter Jake O’Brien to face Gegard Mousasi in the opening round of the DREAM four-man light heavyweight grand prix tournament, it appears that the fight has reverted back to its original match-up as Mousasi’s camp has agreed to fight O’Brien in spite of the American reportedly being 21 pounds over the required 205-pound weight limit.

(Ricco Rodriguez: From flab to fab.)

Two months after his beatdown of Brett Rogers at Heavy Artillery, Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem will return to competition at DREAM.15 (July 10th, Saitama), where he’ll take on former UFC heavyweight champ Ricco Rodriguez in a non-title bout. While that may sound like Alistair is getting back to his Japanese squash-match roots, keep in mind that Rodriguez is on a seven-fight win streak since last July (six of which came by stoppage), including victories over veterans Travis Fulton and Moise Rimbon. He also looks a lot better physically these days (see above), and competed in the 218-pound division at last year’s ADCCs.

Can Rodriguez use Overeem as a springboard to a career rebirth? No, probably not — but he could impress a lot of people just by giving Overeem a tough fight and not spitting on anybody. In a related story, Ricco is no longer listed for that 7/18 Impact FC fight against Jeff Monson, which is unfortunate because you can bet that Paulo Filho and Ken Shamrock will be dropping out at the last minute…

(Come on. Like you wouldn’t rock that. Props: Quik)

Rise and shine, Potato Nation. Here are some must-read stories to kickstart your bloodthirst…

- The Great Debate: Rampage vs. Rashad From a Technical Point of View (MMA Scraps)

- Dana White Thinks a Lot of UFC Main Eventers Are Nobodies (MMA Fighting)

- Dan Miller’s Back Is Against the Wall Against Michael Bisping at UFC 114 (BloodyElbow)

- Shaquille O’Neal is an unlockable character in UFC Undisputed 2010 (MiddleEasy)

– AKA and Greg Jackson look to expand their brands (FightMagazine)

– The Low Blow Episode 150: Takedown Town (Fightlinker)

- Gegard Mousasi Wants King Mo Rematch On New Year’s Eve (MMANews)

- Dominick Cruz: Champions will get younger and younger (FiveOuncesofPain)

– Don’t Mention Todd Duffee’s Dairy Queen Past (WatchKalibRun)

(King Mo tries, unsuccessfully, to get Mousasi to do something interesting.)

– Strikeforce: Nashville weigh-in results. (Heavy)

– Kurt Pellegrino’s guide to getting autographs from fighters. (UFC.com)

– Dana White, BJ Penn at odds over new book. (The Rumble)

– War Machine not fighting this weekend, and the promoter is pissed. (TMZ)

– Mousasi re-signs two-year deal with Strikeforce. (Sherdog)

– Ben Askren’s funky finish. (Fight Magazine)

– The first pictures of Shinya Aoki in EA Sports MMA. (Middle Easy)

– Shields ready to let his fighting do the talking. (Cagewriter)

– 10 fighters who could drop a weight class. (Bleacher Report)

– Phillies fan makes a great catch. (Total Pro Sports)

– 5 favorite GIFs for a Friday afternoon. (Maxim)

– Police officer in Roethlisberger case resigns. (Scores Report)

– Church erects Jesus painting with foot-tall penis. (Asylum)

– A detective film at its finest. (Ask Men)

– 25 insane book covers. (Holy Taco)

– 10 films begging for a sequel. (Screen Junkies)

– 6 literary heroes you should know. (Made Man)

– Samsung 500 odds. (All Left Turns)

– Crazy opening day fight at Dodgers-Marlins game. (Nothing Toxic)

Tango & Cash. Pancho & Lefty. Lee Harvey Oswald and the CIA. All great duos, and yet none can last forever. So it is with Cage Potato’s own Ben & Ben. But before we break up the team for good, we’re getting together one last time to go head-to-head on Strikeforce: Nashville picks in this week’s MMA FightPicker (Heavy Hitter Pool 10 #1517, stand up!). If you haven’t made your picks yet, get to it. Time waits for no man, and neither does the UFC/Pride prize pack.

Henderson vs. Shields @ Strikeforce: Nashville…
BG: I don’t think he’ll run away with it, but Dan Henderson clearly holds more advantages in this matchup and should be able to take the victory. Hendo has serious knockout power, and unlike Shields’s past opponents, he won’t be manhandled on the ground.
BF: Agreed. Shields isn’t going to submit him and definitely can’t hold him down for five rounds. It’s a bad, bad matchup for him.

It says a lot about the video production skills of allelbows.com that they can make a gum-flappin’ heel-in-training like Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal seem like a sympathetic character. Previously, we’ve seen AE document Mo’s professional debut and his squash match against Mark Kerr, but now the moneyweight contender approaches the biggest fight of his career — his first top-ten opponent, and his first shot at a title belt. Experience and hype are on the side of the champion, Gegard Mousasi, who has run through his last 15 opponents, 13 by stoppage. And yet, there doesn’t seem to be an ounce of doubt in Mo’s mind. He compares the fight to a video game, and one he plans on beating. Fittingly, the clip ends with a sequence of footage from EA MMA, with Mo and Mousasi throwing down. But how will it play out in real life?

LayzieTheSavage with King Mo Lawal – Watch more Funny Videos

While he was at Reign Training Center checking in with Jason Miller, LayzieTheSavage also bumped into Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal, who will be competing for Strikeforce’s light-heavyweight title at the Nashville show on 4/17. Mo has been calling out Gegard Mousasi since he put away Mike Whitehead in December, and now has an opportunity to prove the doubters wrong and get his belt. If that seems like a tall order, Lawal would like to point out that he’s used to being an underdog, and feels he has advantages in power, athleticism, hunger — and he’s a little bit smarter too. When asked what he’ll do to celebrate a victory next Saturday, King Mo gives an appropriately confident response: "I don’t celebrate victories…I expect to win, so what’s to celebrate?"

(Honestly, which would you rather watch: Chuck Liddell vs. Rich Franklin, or the stunning conclusion to this red-hot war of words? Video courtesy of MiddleEasy.)

Our condolences to anybody who was looking forward to a hastily thrown-together UFC card featuring a couple of old-timers and whoever else was available at the time. A Spike TV source has told MMAFighting.com that the UFC’s rumored Strikeforce counter-programming show on April 17th is no longer happening. This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, considering that no fights had been made official a month away from the date. (The UFC doesn’t seem to share the same "whatever happens happens" attitude as the Japanese when it comes to fight-booking.) And so, Strikeforce wins this particular standoff, and will instead be going heads-up against one of the UFC’s recent pay-per-views. Considering how those PPVs have been doing lately, that’s good news for Scott Coker.

Speaking of Strikeforce: Nashville, MMA Junkie reports that Bobby Lashley (5-0) is slated to appear on the card against an opponent to be named later; if there’s any justice in the world, Wes Sims will get the rematch that we all know he deserves. Lashley’s fight is expected to be part of the event’s preliminary card, but will be shown on the CBS broadcast unless all three title fights go long.

While the date of Fedor Emelianenko‘s return is still uncertain, Strikeforce is moving ahead with plans for a monster CBS card in Nashville on April 17th, which is expected to feature three title fights. Along with the headlining middleweight title scrap between Dan Henderson and Jake Shields, MMA Weekly has reported that Gegard Mousasi will defend his light-heavyweight belt against top contender Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal. Mousasi, who is riding a 15-fight win streak, hasn’t officially defended his Strikeforce strap since winning it from Renato Sobral last August, but has scored wins over Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (in a Strikeforce non-title fight) and Gary Goodridge (in a Dynamite!! 2009 squash match) since then. King Mo is 6-0 in his relatively short MMA career, and wrecked Mike Whitehead at his Strikeforce debut in December, but is facing a massive leap in competition against the Young Vagabond.

Also on the Shields vs. Henderson card, a lightweight title fight between Strikeforce champ Gilbert Melendez and DREAM champ Shinya Aoki has been booked, according to Sherdog; Aoki’s title will not be on the line. Melendez recently regained the Strikeforce belt in a rematch against Josh Thomson. Aoki became DREAM’s lightweight champ by submitting Joachim Hansen last October, then followed up that performance by breaking Mizuto Hirota’s arm.

Meanwhile, in the heavyweight division…

According to a report on Sherdog, Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi has ended his professional relationship with M-1 Global, the promotional outfit best known for handling the career of Fedor Emelianenko. As Mousasi wrote in an e-mail:

Mousasi added that he’d like to come back to the U.S. to train with Josh Thomson at American Kickboxing Academy; the two fighters recently became acquainted in Miami during the last Strikeforce show. So what spurred Mousasi’s split with M-1? Apparently, they wouldn’t keep him on the payroll for life. Mousasi’s former manager at M-1, Apy Echteld, told MMA Junkie that the Last Gypsy broke ties when M-1 refused to sign him into a long-term management deal that would give the Dutch-Armenian fighter "lifetime security" — a contract setup reportedly enjoyed by Fedor Emelianenko.

Mousasi is still under contract with Strikeforce for as many as seven fights, and plans to enter DREAM’s light-heavyweight grand prix later this year. His next match is rumored to be against Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal in April.

It’s not often that anyone in the MMA media gets to do a video interview that resembles a WWE promo, but this is probably the closest Ariel Helwani is ever going to get to feeling like Mean Gene Okerlund while on the job. Especially once Paul Daley comes on the scene, all Helwani is missing is a tuxedo and a sweet mustache, as well as perhaps a charmingly befuddled expression. Say what you will about “King Mo” Lawal and his chances against Gegard Mousasi, but the man is an entertainer. Anybody who spends that much time and energy thinking about and studying entrances is okay by us.

The only thing we could really do without is his fixation on his own “haters.” Maybe it’s his weak attempt to paint himself as a pro wrestling-style heel, but talking about how many people hate you is a little like going on a first date and talking about how many psycho exes you have. It doesn’t take long before that becomes an annoying personality trait, and one that doesn’t really achieve the desired end. 

If you really want to be a villain, do it the old-fashioned way.  Try talking some smack about the local sports teams in every city you visit, maybe disrespect a national icon or two.  Or, if you’re short on time, just manhandle Helwani during the interview, calling him a pencil-necked geek and threatening to show his wife what a real man looks like.  Trust me, Ariel has watched enough pro wrestling in his life to know exactly how to play along.