(Bowles in happier times)

In case you missed it, nation, not all UFC 160 fighters passed their post-fight drug tests. Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) Executive Director Keith Kizer let us know yesterday that former champion Brian Bowles has some ‘splaining to do.

Regarding UFC 160, Kizer wrote in an email that “All athletes tested.  All results negative, except Brian Bowles tested positive for an elevated T/E ratio (> 20).  A complaint will be forthcoming.”

First off, let’s just highlight the fact that Kizer said that all fighters on the UFC 160 card were tested. Used to be that only a select few were ever tested following bouts, you might remember. For some time now, however, the NSAC has been testing all fighters on a given card. Ain’t no Canadian loopholes in Nevada, we suppose.

Back to Bowles – The failed test is just an extra bummer for him. He returned to action for the first time since 2011 at UFC 160 and lost via TKO to George Roop. No one seems to really be able to truly explain the precise significance of what elevated testosterone to epitestosterone ratios mean, but we do know that athletes can sure get in trouble for having them.

A complaint from the NSAC will soon be filed against Bowles and his license to fight is presumably temporarily suspended until he has a hearing before the regulatory body to explain himself and the test results. At that point, the commission could decide to do any number of things with Bowles from reinstating his license immediately to suspending him for a specific period of time and fining him a portion of his UFC 160 purse.

Bowles has now lost two in a row. Thus far, he hasn’t appeared to comment publicly on the test results.  We’ll keep you posted as more news develops.

- Elias Cepeda

(Cain doesn’t see an enormous head. He sees a big, beautiful, blood-piñata, just waiting to burst open and spill its bounty. / Photo via MMAFighting.com)

BG and Danga are back mahfuckas, baaaaaaaaaaaaam! [*cough*] Excuse me. What I meant to say was, UFC 160 goes down tomorrow night in Las Vegas, so CagePotato founding editor Ben Goldstein and staff writer Jared Jones have teamed up once again to discuss all the important themes surrounding the event. Which heavyweight fight on the main card is more likely to end in an upset? Should we write off KJ Noons as nothing more than UFC shark-bait? What’s a Nurmagomedov gotta do to get some respect around here? Read on, and throw down your own opinions in the comments section.

It seems pretty obvious that the UFC is trying to set up Dos Santos vs. Velasquez III, but who stands the better chance of throwing a wrench in their plans, Hunt or Silva?

Jared: ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THIS. The last I checked, Mark Hunt was riding high on the most unexpected win streak in UFC history, turned his last opponent’s jaw into mashed potatoes, and will now be harboring the kind of silent-but-deadly rage that can only be brought about by jet lag. “Bigfoot” is coming off an upset win over a sans testosterone-abusing Overeem, sure, but picking him over the man, the myth, the pseudo-Mexican who reenacted the rock scene from Cannibal Holocaust on him almost a year ago to the day? No thanks, my dude.

Ben: I hate to agree with this jackass — and how dare you try to persuade me by linking to a track from Primus’s underrated Rhinoplasty EP, Jared — so for the sake of argument, I’ll go ahead and say ARE *YOU* KIDDING *ME* WITH THIS?? Mark Hunt has built up a dubious win streak slinging haymakers against guys who allowed him to do so. Junior Dos Santos is far too disciplined to become another victim of the same old rock-’em-sock-’em Super Samoan routine. In a brawl, Hunt has a chance against anybody. But this won’t be a brawl — it’ll be boxing match, and JDS is about as good as they come in that department.

And sure, Hunt has scored a string of upsets against guys like Cheick Kongo and Stefan Struve. Meanwhile, Antonio Silva has scored far more unexpected and dramatic upsets against guys like Fedor Emelianenko and the aforementioned ‘Reem. Bigfoot has heart for days, and fists big enough to dummy up anybody in the heavyweight division on any given night, including the current champion. How many times are you gonna sleep on this guy? #BigfootEra

Gray Maynard vs. T.J. Grant: Who will earn the right to suffer a narrow split decision loss to Ben Henderson next?

(Word has it that Torres attempted to lure Bowles’ sister into his “surprise van” after the weigh-ins. Big mistake, bro. / Photo courtesy of Getty Images.) 

We’re pretty convinced the real Brian Bowles died in 2011. Following his submission loss to Urijah Faber at UFC 139, Bowles vanished from the MMA scene without a trace and no one seems to know why. Go ahead, try and find a Brian Bowles interview, injury update, photo, credit card receipt, Twitter update or Facebook wall post dated to 2012. You will not. Brian Bowles was as much alive in 2012 as Caylee Anthony.

But unlike the subject of that distasteful and completely unnecessary comparison, it seems Brian Bowles has been given a second chance at life. That, or the Mangalor that is wearing his face has decided to give this MMA thing a try. In either case, Bowles has been booked against fellow WEC vet George Roop at UFC 160, which transpires on May 25th in Las Vegas.

Roop didn’t have a much better 2012 than Bowles, suffering a mouthpiece-ejecting KO to Cub Swanson in his only octagon appearance. This year has already proved more successful for the TUF 8 alum, who was able to outpoint Reuben Duran at UFC 158. Although if history is any indication, Roop’s 2013 is about to get a lot worse.

Also booked for UFC 160…

(Photo courtesy of Getty Images)

Last month, Mark Hominick announced that “The Machine” has been unplugged. The Canadian striker ended his ten-year MMA career with a record of 20-12, including nine wins by KO/TKO, seven by submission, and three Fight of the Night awards during his stint in the WEC and UFC.

A former kickboxer, Hominick submitted Yves Edwards in his first Octagon appearance in 2006, and later collected victories over such notables as Jorge Gurgel, Bryan Caraway, Yves Jabouin, and Leonard Garcia. An impressive first-round TKO win over former Team Tompkins teammate George Roop in January 2011 was Hominick’s fifth win in a row, making him a fast-rising star in the UFC’s new featherweight division, and earning him a title shot against champion Jose Aldo.

After his five-round loss to Aldo at UFC 129, Hominick suffered the loss of his trainer, the great Shawn Tompkins, as well as his next three fights, the most recent of which came against Pablo Garza at UFC 154 in Montreal.

Today, Hominick is the proud father of a one-and-a-half-year-old daughter — he and his wife have another girl on the way — and he is putting his experience and skill to good use at the Adrenaline Training Center in London, Ontario, Canada. He and fellow Shawn Tompkins protégé Chris Horodecki started the gym about four years ago and are working closely with Adrenaline’s burgeoning pro fighters. Hominick says he is also excited about the possibility of working as part of UFC Canada.

Just a few weeks after hanging up his little gloves, Mark “The Machine” Hominick spoke with CagePotato.com about the very best opponents he faced across a number of categories…

Strongest: Jose Aldo. It was like he had two fists in one. When he hit with his right hand, he hit like a heavyweight. And his explosiveness, that was the biggest difference, I noticed. I’m normally good with distance and being able to fade from a shot, but he can close the distance with not just speed, but with power.

Fastest: Yves Jabouin. I fought him at WEC 49. It was Fight of the Night and one of the best fights of the year. It was just a back-and-forth battle. Speed is where I normally have the advantage, and I felt he almost matched me there. It was like I was fighting a mirror image.

(Well said.)

Twitter holds an interesting place in the MMA landscape. On one hand, it often comes across as little more than a medium for fighters to vent their frustrations with the foresight and competency of a middle school dropout, or to aid in the ongoing series of endless, needless arguments that constitute 90% of the internet nowadays. Seriously, I was on one of those porn sites that allow comments the other day and stumbled across a heated argument concerning what the woman fellating the donkey onscreen was probably thinking. My guess was that she was reconsidering her choice to forgo those online courses for some quick cash and a shot at Fame (which coincidentally was the horse’s name), but the two (probable) gentlemen involved in said dispute seemed to think she was trying to determine the ethnicity of said horse (if that’s a thing), and which race she likely decided upon. Did I mention she was blindfolded? She was blindfolded.

On the other hand, “The Twitter” has shown on several occasions that it can serve as more than a battleground for our petty arguments, and can actually be used as a tool to unite people from opposite ends of the planet over a given cause. Although it failed in the end, Twitter was almost solely responsible for giving Mark Hunt the opportunity of a lifetime, or bringing Tim Sylvia back to the UFC to dominate 85% of the promotion’s heavyweights like we all know he would (I mean, have you even seen his workout regimen?).

And one thing that the collective minds of Twitter seemed to reach an agreement on was that UFC 149, to put it professionally, sucked major donkey dick (see how I brought that all together? I’m less a writer, more a prophet). So in order to bid what will ultimately go down as one of the most disappointing main cards in UFC history adieu, we’ve collected some of the funniest tweets from around the Twittersphere, some from actual fighters, others from random jagoffs with the simple ability to hashtag UFC 149 after their comment, for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy.

(These UFC 149 posters may be getting a little grim, but at least their marketing department is being honest for once.) 

*Sigh*

At this point, UFC 149 is kind of like my dog, Zeus. You see, Zeus is one old-ass beagle, whose wrinkled, saggy countenance most closely resembles a wet bag of laundry or an old wicker chair dipped in mayonnaise. Zeus is so old, in fact, that he often trips over his testicles when shuffling his way across the room for a drink of water, or to bark at the ice cream truck as it makes its rounds. But just a few years ago, Zeus was a prime specimen, a real Westminster worthy creature. And as sad as it is to watch him basically devolve from Earl to Baby Sinclair, if you will, I have neither the heart nor the desire to place his fate in my hands and simply put him out of his misery. Plus, who in their right mind would deprive themselves of the endless entertainment that a dog tripping over it’s own testicles provides?

But where I am weak, the UFC brass needs to be strong. If they do not cancel UFC 149 right here and now and give the swindled saps who actually purchased a ticket to this event a full refund, then something terrible is going to happen. I can feel it, like Devon Sawa could feel that Volée Airlines Flight 180 was going to explode, or people with bum knees can feel when it’s going to rain. First it was Sexyama. Then it was Silva. Then Koch. Then Aldo. Then Bisping and even Big Nog. And now, it is being reported that George Roop has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled contest with Antonio Carvalho.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve taken a look at several unique knockouts in the world of mixed martial arts, and as Nick Diaz will tell you, now that we’re hooked, there’s no turning back. So today, we pay tribute to yet another aspect of the fight game, specifically, one that only happens on the rarest of occasions, like Halley’s Comet or Bob Sapp showing up to win. We’re talking, of course, about the moment in combat sports when a fighter delivers a shot with such force that it is able to dislodge the airtight mouthpiece from the opponent’s…mouth. It’s embarrassing, often causes a stop in the action, and doesn’t always end in a knockout, but it’s also hilarious, and that’s what we’re all about anyway. So with that in mind, here are some of the finest instances of the flying mouthpiece in MMA.

Forrest Griffin vs. Tito Ortiz – UFC 106

Rob McCullough vs. Olaf Alfonso – WEC 19

Swanson vs. Roop provided an early candidate for Side-Punchface of the Year. Props: UFC.com

Remember how last night, you invited your non-MMA fan friends over to introduce them to our sport? You spent the past week talking about how Chael Sonnen is one of the best trash talkers in professional sports, and how technical and talented these fighters were. You figured that after three fights that were guaranteed to be exceptional, your friends would be won over to MMA fandom. Then you’d continue to drink and be merry all night, and we’d all meet up here today for our traditional post-UFC event GIF party where we all high five over how awesome the fights were.

Well, it didn’t quite work out that way. Instead, you found yourself doing damage control as you watched three fights worth of sloppy brawling, wall and stall and Chael Sonnen’s blatant swaggerjacking of homage to “Superstar” Billy Graham. You tried to convince them that the fights are usually nothing like this, and that these guys gassing out and the end of the first round are world class athletes. Eventually, one of your friends said “I bet Pacquiao would destroy ANY of these guys” as the rest of your friends grabbed their coats and said they’d call you next time they wanted to watch the fights.

Okay, so last night sucked. But we’ve been planning this party all week, and we’ll be damned if we cancel it at this point. So grab an alcoholic beverage, put on your gaudiest Affliction shirt and join us for our traditional post-UFC event GIF Party.

As always, praise be to Zombie Prophet at IronForgesIron.com for the GIFS.

(Rashad Evans: He’ll put those hands on you worse than…well, you know. / Photo via MMAFighting.com)

The UFC returns to FOX this Saturday with a three-fight main card that could produce the next title contenders in two different divisions. It’s also packed with betting opportunities that will generously reward the risk-takers. And you’re not a chicken, are you? Huh? Bawk bawk bawwwwwk?? Yeah, that’s what we thought. So consider our UFC on FOX 2: Evans vs. Davis gambling advice after the jump, and be sure to come back for our liveblog, which kicks off at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. But first, the complete odds lineup, via BestFightOdds.com:

MAIN CARD (FOX)
Rashad Evans (-165) vs. Phil Davis (+175)
Chael Sonnen (-400) vs. Michael Bisping (+394)
Chris Weidman (-140) vs. Demian Maia (+128)

PRELIMINARY CARD (FUEL TV)
Evan Dunham (-314) vs. Nik Lentz (+300)
Shane Roller (-218) vs. Michael Johnson (+200)
Mike Russow (-150) vs. Jon Olav Einemo (+152)
Cub Swanson (-136) vs. George Roop (+125)
Charles Oliveira (-458) vs. Eric Wisely (+400)
Joey Beltran (-204) vs. Lavar Johnson (+183)

PRELIMINARY CARD (FACEBOOK.com/UFC)
Chris Camozzi (-170) vs. Dustin Jacoby (+160)

Let’s get started…

(Roop: seen here enforcing the theory that a straight shot to the head will kill any zombie.) 

Looking to rebound from his controversial decision loss to Hatsu Hioki at UFC 137, featherweight contender and TUF 8 alum George Roop has recently agreed to face Cub Swanson at UFC on Fox 2. Prior to the Hikoi loss, Roop scored a brilliant thrid round TKO over Josh Grispi at the TUF 13 Finale in June. Swanson, on the other hand, is coming off a less-than-controversial second round submission via arm triangle choke to Ricardo Lamas in his UFC debut at UFC on Fox 1. The Team Jackson product has dropped three of his last five and should need a win here if he wants to continue fighting under the Zuffa banner.

Fun fact: Roop hasn’t put together a win streak since 2007 and has gone loss-win in his past 9 bouts (excluding a draw with Leonard Garcia), so pure logic dictates that he will emerge victorious from this one. You can’t argue with that science, Potato Nation.

(Hey, it’s that thing from my nightmares! So weird seeing you during the daytime! / Photo via @bjpenndotcom)

It’s been a while since we’ve tried to convince you fine people of something totally ridiculous. But looking through Saturday’s UFC 137: Penn vs. Diaz card, I feel like playing devil’s advocate on a few things. So keep an open mind, and read on…

Donald Cerrone Should Drop to Featherweight

Donald Cerrone has recently claimed that he’d like to face Nam Phan in his next fight, because Phan beat up his best friend Leonard Garcia earlier this month then allegedly said that if Garcia’s coaches were any good they would have taught him how to throw straight punches. Now, the average observer might say, “Look Donald, you’re on a five-fight win streak — shouldn’t you be more concerned about challenging for the belt at lightweight than chasing personal rivalries with unranked dudes at 145?”

But I say screw it, Cowboy, you do you. Not for the revenge aspect, which is completely silly. But because the lightweight division has too many contenders to the throne, and the featherweight division doesn’t have enough.

Well, don’t act too excited.

When Japanese featherweight Hatsu Hioki officially joined the UFC, we all felt pretty cool for calling that one. We even suggested a first opponent for him in Kenny Florian. Well, turns out the UFC brass doesn’t see things the same way that we do. I’ll pause for you to add your own sarcastic comments.

Rather, Sherdog is reporting that George Roop will be Hioki’s first opponent in the UFC. This fight is scheduled to take place at UFC 137 in Las Vegas. So far, the only other fight to be announced for UFC 137 is the welterweight showdown between Strikeforce champion Nick Diaz and UFC champion Georges St. Pierre. George Roop is 2-1-1 under Zuffa as a featherweight, most recently punching out Josh Grispi at The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale back in June.

Pettis, and his hopes at a title shot, come crashing down (pic: MMAFightNews.net)

Judging from the sparse commentary throughout last night’s live blog, most of you were out sipping $20 Manhattans and discussing the latest issue of The New Yorker while a few of us sat on the couch watching free cage fights and loathing ourselves. It’s cool. You know what you did was wrong, and you came back home to us. We forgive you, and we’ll give you the gist of what went down.

It only took three minutes and fifty four seconds to send ten weeks of buildup crashing to the mat. The bout between Tony Ferguson and Ramsey Nijem was competitive, with both men finding a home for their hands, but Ferguson was able to employ his collegiate wrestling experience and the time spent with Lesnar’s camp after the show to dictate the fight and set the pace. Following a couple of successful takedowns, Ferguson flipped Ramsey’s switch with a left hook and Season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter crowned its asshole champion.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/JitsMagazine)

- 25 brutal paintball injuries (HolyTaco)

- UFC cannot condone sexual harassment (Yahoo!Sports)

- Even though ther’s still work to be done, secret meeting is good for the NFL (TheScoresReport)

- 5 reasons to watch the Stanley Cup (TheRugged)

- The every guy’s guide: drink ordering etiquette (Guyism)

- ‘Ninja’ Rua on retirement: “I wasn’t feeling that good” (Tatame)

- Made babe: Kate Upton (MadeMan)

- Jones says ‘Rampage’ is his next opponent (FightersOnly)

- Jon Fitch Road to Recovery parts 3&4 (MMAConvert)

- See the first set photos from the new Dark Knight movie (Screen Junkies)

- Pettis says his left high kick is better than Guida’s heart (ProMMARadio)

- George Roop used neck beard and call girls to prep for Josh Grispi (MMAFix)

- Get pumped for the Mundials this weekend (Dstryrsg)

Dammit, who are all you guys again?

Say what you will about The Ultimate Fighter (not like you need an invitation), but the finale shows tend to be pretty damn fun. This season, we actually have two fairly solid finalists, a dynamite co-main in Pettis-Guida, plus a handful of other matchups calibrated for striking showdowns and crowd amazement.

Here’s a quick and dirty rundown of the fights scheduled for this weekend, with a few of those fancy moving pictures that you like so much. Who ya got?

Ramsey Nijem

VS

Tony Ferguson

Well, either this fight is the one you’ve been waiting for, or you’re just wondering what these two nobodies are doing on your UFC card. Tune in to find out which guy gets a contract with the UFC. (Spoiler Alert: It’ll be both of them.)

(If Roop can kill a zombie, he has the potential to do the same to a grappler from Plympton, Mass. Still, this is Grispi’s fight to lose.)

According to a report by The Boston Herald, Josh Grispi’s booby prize for losing to Jose Aldo’s UFC 125 replacement, Dustin Poirier, will be the fighter current number one contender Mark Hominick recently beat to leapfrog “The Fluke” to a title shot.

(Video courtesy Sportsnet)

During last night’s episode of Sportsnet’s MMA Connected, the show’s host "Showdown" Joe Ferraro revealed that if Mark Hominick handily beats George Roop at UFN 23 and comes out of the fight without injury, he will fight Jose Aldo at UFC 129 in Toronto on April 30.

"If London, Ontario’s Mark Hominick can defeat George Roop and come out unscathed at UFC Fight Night 23, look for "The Machine" to earn a title shot versus featherweight champion Jose Aldo," Ferraro stated.

Hominick was supposed to fight Aldo for the newly-minted UFC featherweight strap at UFC 125, but he was forced to pull out of the bout when the broken hand he went into his WEC 51 fight with Leonard Garcia with didn’t heal in time for him to resume training. He was replaced by Josh Grispi on the card, but after Aldo bowed out of the fight with a neck injury, the 22-year-old lost his place in line for the title shot when he dropped a unanimous decision to the champ’s replacement, relatively unknown fighter Dustin Poirier.

A veteran of 27 MMA bouts, Hominick’s only losses in the past six years have come at the hands of three highly-touted fighters: Grispi, Rani Yahya and Hatsu Hioki. His second bout with Hioki, which he lost by a razor-thin majority decision and was contested under the TKO banner is widely regarded as one of the greatest featherweight fights in Canadian MMA history.

For an idea what Aldo-Hominick might look like, check out that fight after the jump.

(On the bright side, that pig was offered an immediate rematch in Arizona. Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.com)

Between Jose Aldo’s latest title defense/demolition, the off-the-chain Cerrone vs. Varner rematch, George Roop’s KO of the Year candidate, and the other violent stoppages from Torres and Zhang, last night’s WEC event delivered the goods. (LOL @ any poor bastard who decided to watch Bellator instead!) Here’s some things you might want to know with Aldo vs. Gamburyan in the books…

— $10,000 bonuses were handed out to the following fighters: George Roop (Knockout of the Night) for being the first guy to finish the Korean Zombie, which he did with a perfectly placed LHK; Miguel Torres (Submission of the Night) for beating Charlie Valencia to the mat and finishing him with a RNC; and Donald Cerrone/Jamie Varner for their three-round co-headlining battle that was totally OMFG.

(John Polakowski has the best bro-clinch in the game.)

In this week of The Ultimate Fighter it was the last fight before the semi-finals. We are getting down to the wire. The two guys who are fighting, John Polakowski and George Roop, are both real good friends of mine. Me and George go way back since the Arizona days; John is just a guy I met in the house but how can you not like him? He just loves life. Him and his hugs, and you gotta love his saying “FIRE THE CANNONS!!!!”

Before the fight everyone is expecting a prank but who would do it to which guy first? They decided to pull the prank on John and his Lucky Charms. That was a mistake!! I thought it was hilarious due to the fact that they took the time to remove every marshmallow from the box. After all, they are the best part. John was pissed. He announced no more hugs for the blue team — he means business. He is like a man possessed. During training I’d been working with John on his wrestling. I know George has some good ground game so I wanted to help out my teammate.

During George’s training with Team Mir, he got his hand caught up in the cage and it was fucked up. It looked like a surgical balloon had been blown up. George is a tough dude so I knew he would be out there anyway. I thought this would give a definite advantage to John. Closer to fight time John started to become his old self again, and decided that he and George would hug before the fight. This was hilarious — I personally wouldnt be able to do that, especially with the guy standing in the way of a six-figure contract to the UFC. But hey, that’s John for you.