("Please, Dan, I used to fuck guys like you in prison. Coincidentally, I used to fuck guys like you before I went to prison. The guys I fucked after I got out of prison were different from you in certain fundamental ways, but I don’t have time to get into that right now." Photo courtesy of the UFC 111: Weigh In Pics gallery on CombatLifestyle.com.)

Armpit of America? No, ladies and gentlemen, tonight New Jersey will be super classy. UFC 111 is now underway at Newark’s Prudential Center, and will culminate in two thrilling title fights: Heavyweights Frank Mir and Shane Carwin do battle for a make-believe belt, and welterweight king Georges St. Pierre tries to avoid a shock upset against massive underdog/red-eyed freak Dan Hardy. Live UFC 111 results from the Spike TV prelims and pay-per-view broadcast are after the jump; refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest.

(Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle’s UFC 111 weigh-in gallery, where you can also see a jacked Frank Mir and fine-looking Rachelle Leah.)

The only time weigh-in stories are ever not completely boring is when someone misses weight by a large margin or when something weird happens. The pushing and shoving that sometimes goes on? Even that has started to get somewhat commonplace, and more often it can be accurately described as ‘jostling.’ So what we truly need in order to have something to talk about is for someone to show up heavy, or possibly with red contact lenses. Fortunately, the UFC 111 weigh-ins had both.

Dan Hardy wore an ‘I Hate Dan Hardy’ t-shirt complemented by evil red vampire eyes, and Rory Markham came in six pounds over the upper limit for his welterweight bout with Nate Diaz. Markham will reportedly be fined $1,000 (or 12.5% of his show money) for his lack of carb-control, while Hardy somehow gets off free for treating the weigh-ins like a half-ass rave. I tell you, there’s no justice in this world.

Full weigh-in results are after the jump.

(This is either the line-up for a great game of MMA Fightpicker, or the worst folk music trio in history.)

It’s one thing for us to beat up on one another with our weekly MMA FightPicker game, but do we have what it takes to out-prognosticate an actual UFC fighter? To help us find out, “Ultimate Fighter” winner Roy “Big Country” Nelson, who will be taking on Stefan Struve at UFC Fight Night 21 next Wednesday, has graciously agreed to throw his hat into the virtual Octagon this week and go head-to-head with us on UFC 111 picks. For that we are indebted to him, and so we remind you to check out his official site as well as his Tapout signature t-shirt, and we also thank Superaction, Spike TV, and MMA Glory Talent.

Remember, this week’s FightPicker has changed some with the removal of Thiago Alves and the reshuffling of Ben Saunders, so don’t forget to adjust your picks accordingly before tonight’s 11:59 PM PST deadline. Now…it’s decision time.

St. Pierre vs. Hardy at UFC 111: Who will win?
BG: Georges St. Pierre. You’d have to be a grown retard to think otherwise.
BF: Seeing as how I am not a grown retard, I can’t disagree. Hardy has a tough night ahead of him.
RN: St. Pierre – He has shown himself to be more well-rounded, but Hardy does have the puncher’s chance.

(Video courtesy of ESPN.com)

You want to know how focused Georges St. Pierre is for his fight with Dan Hardy at UFC 111? Not only is he not even considering the possibility of a life that continues beyond this Saturday night, he hasn’t even bothered to pay attention to the passage of time.  He still thinks it’s January.  God knows what year he might believe we’re living in.  Doesn’t matter.  He’s only thinking about finishing Hardy and making it a "clean" victory.  Whether they’re fighting for gasoline and life credits in some futuristic hellscape, or whether they’ve traveled back to a time when Hardy’s post-fight wounds will be treated by a series of magic spells — the point is, GSP doesn’t care.  All he knows is he’s got a job to do on Saturday, playa.  Wouldn’t want to be Hardy right now, sitting around his hotel room and looking at the calendar like some chump.

After the jump, Frank Mir talks about Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin (who ESPN lists as 6’5"), and can’t help but get that old smirk on his face when the death threat comments get brought up.

(Photos contributed by Serafin Santiago Jr.)

In honor of the UFC throwing a card in Newark this weekend, the UFC hype-train made a big stop in New York City yesterday to hold a public press conference at the legendary Radio City Music Hall. Though the four headlining fighters were supposed to be in attendance taking questions and posing for pictures with fans, Shane Carwin was stuck in Long Island finishing up his medical licensing paperwork. Oddly enough, welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre seemed to get the least love from the raucous mass of NY/NJ fans. They loved Dan Hardy for being an underdog who trains with Matt Serra. They loved Frank Mir for embodying the Jersey Shore juicehead ideal, even though he’s a lifelong Las Vegas resident.* They swung off of Dana White’s nuts, uncomfortably.** If you live in the New York area but can’t make it to UFC 111, Radio City will be hosting a viewing party on Saturday night, featuring appearances by Chuck Liddell, Matt Serra, Stephan Bonnar, and a freakin’ ginormous screen. Some important notes from yesterday’s presser are after the jump…

(Nothing to see here but me yappin’ with Steve Cofield and Dave Farra about how to lose money most efficiently at UFC 111.)

For those of you lucky enough to snag tickets to UFC 111 before they sold out, you get to play an entirely different kind of betting game in Newark, New Jersey on Saturday night. We like to call it, ‘Mugged or Propositioned?’ It’s simple, really. You try and guess whether you will be mugged, or offered drugs and/or the services of a prostitute. Both are bound to happen eventually, but the key is to peg which one will happen first. You don’t win anything if you guess right. That’s why this game sucks.

As usual, the best odds on the internet come to us from BestFightOdds.com:

Georges St. Pierre (-650) vs. Dan Hardy (+638)
Frank Mir (-140) vs. Shane Carwin (+130)
Ben Saunders (-155) vs. Jake Ellenberger (+148)
Jon Fitch (+140) vs. Thiago Alves (-145)
Jim Miller (-332) vs. Mark Bocek (+310)
Nate Diaz (-275) vs. Rory Markham (+250)
Ricardo Almeida (-138) vs. Matt Brown (+135)
Kurt Pellegrino (-165) vs. Fabricio Camoes (+160)
Rodney Wallace (-120) vs. Jared Hamman (-103)
Rousimar Palhares (-237) vs. Tomasz Drwal (+211)
Matthew Riddle (-217) vs. Greg Soto (+190)

The breakdown…

(Now you see some incoherent scrawling, now you don’t.)

Whether you’re putting together a fight poster or the cover of Teen Vogue, airbrushing is just something you do.  I mean, you didn’t think Georges St. Pierre‘s cheekbones were really that breathtaking, did you?  But UFC 111 is the first time in recent memory that a fighter’s tattoos have been airbrushed out.  Above you see one version of the UFC 111 poster featuring Dan Hardy‘s Sanskrit tattoo of a Tibetan Buddhist prayer, and another version with his stomach looking as clean as the belly of a starless Sneetch.  So what gives?

According to what Dana White told fans at a Q&A session in Toronto today, it’s because he doesn’t want any trouble with the Chinese government, which, if you hadn’t heard, is kind of sensitive to anything having to do with Tibet.  As White explained:

"I’m trying to get into China. I don’t need anti-Chinese government stuff on my fighters."

In the March issue of Fight Magazine, Hardy explains that the tattoo — which reads "Om mani padme hum," and supposedly means, "Hail the jewel in the lotus" — serves two purposes.

(Props: KingHillerx)

In case you missed it, here’s last night’s installment of Spike’s UFC Primetime hype-series, which opens in a Long Island Hooters, where Dan Hardy can somehow smell Georges St. Pierre‘s fear over the pungent aroma of hot wings and urinal cakes. Hardy has come out to New York early to get acclimated with the time zone and funny accents of the American East Coast. Acting as his spirit guide is former UFC welterweight champ Matt Serra, who is helping Hardy work on the positions that he’ll surely be placed in against GSP, and lending him some of his lovable underdog magic. Back in Montreal, we learn a little more about Tristar Gym trainer Firas Zahabi, his obsessive work ethic, and his cute wife. Nate Marquardt and Kenny Florian stop by to add some star power to St. Pierre’s camp. (Ferrum Ferro Acuitur, bro.) Our buddies Ariel Helwani and Randy Gordon interview Hardy about training with monks; turns out Hardy really is a martial artist, even if he doesn’t walk out to the Octagon in his pajamas. Part 2 is after the jump. Give it a look before it’s pulled…

Now this is more like it.  Dan Hardy and Georges St. Pierre alone might lend themselves too easily to pre-packaged storylines, but Matt Serra is a born freakin’ entertainer over here.  This clip is forty seconds long and still he manages to do/say more interesting things than either Hardy or GSP managed in the entirety of the first episode.  You gotta love the guy for that.  It’s almost enough to make me want to watch this one live instead of on my DVR tomorrow morning while eating leftover Chinese food and nursing a severe hangover.  Almost.

Just in case this short clip isn’t enough entertainment to make the afternoon pass more swiftly, follow me after the jump for some totally gratuitous old school Wanderlei Silva ass-kicking action.  There’s no real reason for it.  Except that it’s awesome.

(Props: Fightlinker)

If you skipped Pacquiao vs. Clottey because you don’t have the patience to watch a lopsided 12-round boxing match — you and us both, brother — this is really the only thing you missed: Jim Lampley having a stroke in the eighth round and shouting like Emeril Lagasse on a crack binge. Who needs CompuBox when we have this loud jackass?

After the jump: Frank Mir describes the motorcycle wreck that nearly ended his career/life, and Georges St. Pierre gets fruity.

Rememer the "UFC Primetime" series that premieres tonight?  Well, in a continued effort to generate buzz before the first episode, the UFC has put out a couple clips of what they’re calling "unseen moments" from the show.  Of course, they’re not at all unseen now that the UFC has put them on their official YouTube page, but you get the point.  It’s footage they weren’t going to use anyway, and it’s supposed to make you want to watch the show, which is in turn supposed to make you want to buy the  UFC 111 pay-per-view or pay $25 to see it at a movie theater. 

Trouble is, this stuff is painfully boring.  We’re talking Jim Jarmusch levels of boring here.  As in, a two-minute clip of Georges St. Pierre talking about a bet he made with a friend for really uninteresting stakes, followed by him calling that friend and discussing those uninteresting stakes all over again.  We realize it’s throwaway footage, but damn.  I’m supposed to bump "16 and Pregnant" off my DVR queue for this?

After the jump, GSP does some push-ups and drills and stuff.  It’s exactly as interesting as that sentence makes it sound.

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

The welterweight title fight between Georges St. Pierre and Dan Hardy headlines this month’s UFC 111 card (March 27th, Newark), and both fighters will be featured in a new three-part weekly UFC Primetime special which kicks off tonight at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Spike. The UFC hasn’t put together a Primetime show since January 2009, when BJ Penn vowed to go "to the death." Hardy probably won’t get that dramatic with his trash-talk, but he will be landing his shots:

Primetime gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the fighters’ training camps — from Hardy’s Rough House team in Nottingham to St. Pierre’s home base in Montreal — as well as their personal lives. To promote it, the UFC’s YouTube account has posted a very short clip of GSP jumping over a bar. Hmm. Well, I wasn’t planning on spending $45 to watch Georges beat the crap out of a +500 underdog, but now? Now you’ve got my attention.

(Looks like somebody took a wrong turn on the way to the Cirque du Soleil show. Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.)

Don’t ask us to explain it, but whenever fighters and fans get together for a group photo, at least one person has to raise their fist like a tough guy. But instead of dropping the ban-hammer on this bizarre phenomenon, we decided to compile the most ridiculous, hilarious, and straight-up awesome MMA fighter fist-pose photos that we could find. If we left out any of your favorites, please shoot us some links in the comments section…

("Hey, hey, one at a time, I’m not that kind of boy.")

(Seriously, Guy-on-the-Right. What the hell have you been eating?)

(At least he’s got a sense of humor. That’s the second best thing to have in a fight with GSP. The first? Excellent takedown defense.)

At this point, we have to assume that Dan Hardy knows he won’t be the fan favorite heading into his title fight with Georges St. Pierre at UFC 111. As a 5-1 underdog, he won’t be the betting favorite either, but that doesn’t mean he can’t still have a little fun. The problem is, there’s really not that much trash you can talk to GSP. Not only are there very few evident weaknesses in his game, but as a person he’s almost painfully non-offensive (unless you happen to be B.J. Penn). So what does Hardy do? He goes after the people who say he hasn’t earned his shot at the champ. Fortunately for him, there is no shortage of them.

On his blog at ThisIsNottingham.co.uk, Hardy took aim at his critics and held absolutely nothing back.

On Mike Swick: “It’s funny Swick is now moaning that I didn’t deserve this shot. Swick should have kept his mind off me and on his last opponent, Paulo Thiago, and maybe he wouldn’t have been beaten again.”

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

You know what sucks? We have to wait three whole weeks until Jon Jones and Brandon Vera headline the UFC’s first event on Versus (March 21st; Broomfield, Colorado). What the hell are we going to do in the meantime?(And don’t say "Volunteer at a soup kitchen"; this is no time for jokes.) In the above hype-videos, Bones promises fireworks against Vera, and says he’ll give the Truth a striking war if that’s what he wants. He also makes a dig at Vera’s well-known hubris, saying he’s not the kind of guy to call out Chuck Liddell after winning his first UFC fight; Bones has a black belt in humility, apparently. Brandon Vera is aware that Jones has been blowing through his opponents, but feels that he’s never fought anybody on Brandon’s level, and his chin hasn’t been tested yet. ("It’s really easy to be the hammer, but it’s hard to be the nail.") Anybody see Vera winning this one? Anybody?

After the jump: Georges St. Pierre sweats alongside Michael Phelps in a new ad for Under Armour. Let’s be thankful this wasn’t an ad for Reebok.

(Props: letsfindjesus via Fightlinker)

As much as it seems that Joe Rogan has the world’s most kickass life, there are drawbacks to the kind of fame that comes from UFC color-commentary, stand-up comedy tours, and unconventional game shows. For instance, you sometimes have to deal with your genitals being stared at by sweaty, overweight teenagers, who are so brazen about their locker-room lust that even the presence of a video-camera doesn’t scare them away. Though let’s be honest, if Joe wasn’t a member of 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu, that creepy kid would probably be staring at some other guy’s dork, famous or not. But there is a ray of hope: According to a mole we have planted in the gym, Fatty Hogwatcher was recently banished from 10th Planet due to his meat-gazing and many other bizarre offenses. So rest easy, Mr. Rogan — unless this kid decides to move his stalking directly to your house, in which case you’re in for a world of hurt.

After the jump: Genghis Con’s look back at the rivalry between Shinya Aoki and Mizuto Hirota, which ended with Hirota suffering a broken arm and a middle finger in his face. Plus, GSP and Nate Marquardt throw down in the wrestling room at the University of Northern Colorado.

(Props: truplya777)

As we learn in the above video interview from Aaron Tru, Strikeforce moneyweight contender Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal doesn’t really know who or when he’ll be fighting next, while Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi says he’ll probably be fighting King Mo in April. As soon as the news reaches Lawal, he should be thrilled, considering he wants that belt and already has Mousasi figured out. Strikeforce’s 4/17 event on CBS is also rumored to feature Fedor Emelianenko vs. Fabricio Werdum, and Jake Shields vs. Dan Henderson.

Speaking of the Armenian Assassin, Mousasi has accepted Firas Zahabi’s invitation for him to train with UFC welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre. According to a report on Sherdog, Gegard and GSP have been working out together in Miami this week, helping St. Pierre get ready for his March 27th meeting with Dan Hardy. It’ll be the first time that Mousasi has been part of a training camp in the U.S.:

(Can one gym even hold that much badass?  Magic eightball says, ‘Outlook not so good.’)

As UFC welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre puts on more weight and continues to dominate every 170-pounder in his path, finding sparring partners who can push him is apparently becoming more of a problem.  In a talk with Heavy.com, Tristar Gym owner and longtime GSP trainer Firas Zahabi says that he can’t even put him up against other fighters his own size in training anymore, adding "It’s getting scary.  Georges is getting better and better, believe it or not." 

That’s why he’s looking to add a new face to St. Pierre’s training camp: Strikeforce light heavyweight champ Gegard Mousasi.

Since he mentioned it no less than twice in the interview, we’re assuming Zahabi is serious about getting "The Last Gypsy" in the gym with GSP.  If it happens, we can only hope that the cameras are there to capture it for "UFC Primetime."  Though who are we kidding, St. Pierre-Mousasi is a sparring session worthy of pay-per-view.  Maybe they should just film it and keep it in the can.  That way, if GSP runs through Dan Hardy too quickly, they can go ahead and add it to the broadcast to make the fans feel like they got their money’s worth.  As an added bonus, it seems like the kind of thing that would really, really piss off M-1 Global.

(‘Of course I’m wearing me bandana. I’m not going to walk around during flu season without taking the necessary precautions, now am I?’)

Ever since the first installment of "UFC Primetime" in the run-up to last January’s Georges St. Pierre-B.J. Penn fight blew our collective minds, we’ve been waiting for Spike TV and the UFC to get together on another collaboration of slow-mo walking and carefully crafted storylines.  Surely, we thought, they were waiting until they had an especially compelling title fight.  Or, as we learned in an email from Spike TV today, a title fight that most people expect to be a total squash match.

Beginning on Wednesday, March 10, Spike will run a three-part "Primetime" series to hype the UFC 111 main event bout between GSP and Dan Hardy.  Presumably this will be where they attempt to sell us on the idea that Hardy offers a considerable challenge to the welterweight champ, and that the oddsmakers who currently have St. Pierre pegged as a 6-1 favorite have no clue what they’re talking about.

The show is bound to be visually compelling with great production values, so it will still be worth watching.  But didn’t we already get all the backstory we needed on GSP last time?  And wouldn’t it be more fun to see this done for a future fight that seems a little more competitive?

(Props: MMA Share)

If you’re feeling a little down today and are considering taking a long hot bath with a clock radio to top off the evening, you aren’t alone.  Today is what many have come to call "Blue Monday."  It’s officially the most depressing day of the year.  In an effort to help you soldier through it, we found some fun videos that only sort of have to do with MMA. 

Those of you who read Neal Taflinger’s excellent profile piece on Fedor Emelianenko in the October ’09 issue of Fight Magazine may recognize this little scene on the M-1 Global tour bus.  Those of you who didn’t read it will have to live with that decision for the rest of your sad lives.  Taffy is the guy with the bright orange hair in the back of the bus trying to conduct an interview via Fedor’s interpreter.  Fedor is the Russian dude grinning from ear to ear after shoving some ice down the back of Gegard Mousasi‘s trousers.  Some things transcend all language and cultural barriers, and ice in somebody’s pants is undoubtedly one of those things. 

More MMA-related pick-me-ups await you after the jump.

(Props: MMA Fighting)

During the six-month layoff following his last title defense against Thiago Alves, Georges St. Pierre has been in the gym, getting even more jacked. Now walking around at 193 pounds of lean muscle, GSP is contemplating a move up to middleweight, and discusses what that would entail in the interview above. First off, he’d have to get even larger, and he’d do it through diet, not steroids, which is good to know. Also, the move would be permanent; he’s not interested in the back-and-forth weight-hopping done by guys like Anderson Silva and Dan Henderson. But like so many other UFC stars, he has no interest in fighting his friends and training partners, which include Nate Marquardt, Patrick Cote, and Denis Kang: "If I’m in mount position, and it’s time to land that big hellbow that will leave a scar on the forehead of my friend and knock him out cold with cerebral damage, if he’s my friend I will never do that." Good Lord, whatever happened to putting personal loyalties aside in the name of a paycheck?

Related: Diego Sanchez reportedly posted the message "Going back to 170" on his Facebook page last night, but it has since been removed. According to Sanchez’s manager, Jeff Clark, no decision has been made at this time regarding what weight class he will compete in next.

(Props: afflictionvideos)

You know, just once I’d like to be referred to as "God" by a long line of hot chicks. Anyway, here’s Georges St. Pierre signing some of his new 2010 calendars last weekend at the Affliction store at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. To quote Todd Duffee, the ladies want to romance him, and the boys want to bromance him. This video is particularly worth watching because it reveals Tom Atencio’s new role at Affliction — awkwardly stumbling through interviews with UFC stars. (It’s cool, because he says he’s drunk!) Later, Randy Couture shows up to tell Tom about his upcoming "Advil and Viagra" fight with Mark Coleman. Semi-related: According to Randy, reports of GSP’s Olympic wrestling bid have been blown way out of proportion.

Bonus, after the jump: The badass new trailer for Spike’s Best of PRIDE.

(From left to right: Focused, calm, stoic, and sleepy.)

To the unfamiliar, the above poster simply shows four shirtless white guys with eerily similar expressions. To us, it’s cause for celebration. As previously reported, UFC 111 (March 27, Newark) will be the first UFC event since #100 to feature two separate title fights on the same card; coincidentally, Georges St. Pierre and Frank Mir were part of that event as well. Tickets go on sale to Fight Club members this Thursday, newsletter subscribers on Friday, and to the general public on Saturday.

In a related story, Brock Lesnar‘s health status will be updated this week, which means we’ll soon find out whether he’ll be coming back this summer to fight the winner of Mir/Carwin, or if his career will be on ice for even longer — like, permanently. So basically, here are the possibilities we’re looking at, from most atractive to least attractive:

You didn’t think we were going to let another calendar year run out without paying homage to this year’s big winners and mocking the year’s biggest idiots, did you?  Naw son, that’s not our style.  2009 was an eventful year with plenty of ups and downs, but after casting our ballots and tallying up the votes (there’s only two of us, so it really shouldn’t have taken as long as it did, but there was a lot of yelling and a little crying) we have some awards to give out.  The envelopes please…

Fighter of the Year: Fedor Emelianenko

The year was not without disappointments for the sweatered one.  He missed a chance to fight Josh Barnett and walked away from another chance to sign on with the UFC.  All the same, he reinforced his status as one of MMA’s most dominant fighters with knockouts of Andrei Arlovski and Brett Rogers.  Meanwhile, Anderson Silva had one snoozer and one great fight out of his weight class, while GSP beat a lightweight and won a decision to retain his title.  Sorry boys, Fedor’s 2009 was way more fun.

Beatdown of the Year: Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin

"The Spider" didn’t just beat FoGriff, he straight-up violated him.  It’s one thing to do that against a woefully outmatched challenger in your own weight class, but quite another to do it to a former champ from the division above yours.  Never have we seen such a clear demonstration of the vast chasm between good and great as we did on that night.  You can hardly blame Griffin for running out of the Octagon after that.  We’re sort of amazed that he waited until the fight was over to do it.

(Photo courtesy of Sherdog)

By Elias Cepeda for CagePotato.com

Despite putting together perhaps his most impressive win ever at UFC 107, a second round submission of Clay Guida, Kenny Florian isn’t taking a break just yet. In fact, the lightweight contender tells CagePotato that he wants to fight again within three months.

“I want to get back in there within the next few months. I want to fight every three to four months. That’s when I’m at my best, that’s how I stay healthy and sharp. That’s the best time frame for me,” he says.

Florian (12-4) has yet to get word from his UFC bosses as to what is next for him and when, but hopes to hear something shortly and assumes he’ll be a part of the UFC’s first event in the state of Massachusetts. Florian is a Massachusetts native and resident and after professional MMA became legal and regulated there late last month, an August UFC card in the Boston area has been strongly rumored.

“I have heard nothing from the UFC as of right now but I’m hoping in the next couple weeks to find out. Right now I’m sure they are planning something for me for Boston but I’d like to do something before that and then fight again then. I’m getting right back into training [today] and will be plugging away the next couple of weeks until I hear a date,” Florian says.

(For reference: St. Pierre vs. Serra 1, UFC 69, 4/7/07.)

From an interview with #1 welterweight contender Dan Hardy on Sherdog:

(Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Following his four-round drubbing at the hands of Georges St. Pierre at UFC 94, the general consensus was that BJ Penn should return to the 155-pound division for good, and give up his pipe-dream of becoming the UFC’s welterweight champion. Penn did return to lightweight competition, and went on to completely demolish the division’s two top contenders, Kenny Florian and Diego Sanchez. He now finds himself in same position as his nemesis GSP, where no challenger to his title seems quite worthy enough. So will we be seeing the Prodigy make another run at welterweight next year? Dana White lays it out:

Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar are among the names of lightweight fighters who have enjoyed great success recently, and could be tapped as Penn’s next opponent. But good luck selling them as actual threats to the belt. If the UFC’s main-event-drought continues, they might be better off using Penn for exhibitions against tough welterweights like Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch, or Thiago Alves — at least until an undisputed #1 lightweight contender emerges. Few people are clamoring for Penn/GSP III at this point, but I think we all want to see Penn get an even greater challenge his next time out, even if it takes him out of his most effective weight class.

(Photo courtesy of myspace.com/rudyvhawaii)

By CagePotato.com contributor Elias Cepeda

The feelings behind BJ Penn’s notorious “gameface,” used to run deep. In the days and hours leading up to his fights he could be as dour and tense as his expression, and the anxiousness continued even as he ran to the Octagon to fight, a bundle of nervous energy.

But just before his UFC lightweight title defense last August in Philadelphia against top contender Kenny Florian, Penn’s head trainer Rudy Valentino saw a change in his fighter. “Just before we got out of the arena he was laughing and talking about, ‘I’m going to enjoy this fight, I’m going to go out and enjoy every fight from now on,’” the coach told CagePotato from Memphis, where Penn (14-5-1) will face Diego Sanchez (23-2) on Saturday night at UFC 107.

“That night BJ was just fighting to fight. It was the Florian fight where he began to turn it on.”

The idea that Penn may just now beginning to find his groove, mentally, is a scary one. Especially if his violent dismantling of Florian that night is any indication of what a more relaxed “Prodigy” can do.

(Don’t worry, buddy, Cory Booker has done wonders with the murder rate.)

If MMA Fanhouse is to be believed, Georges St. Pierre‘s next welterweight title defense against Dan Hardy won’t go down in Canada, Las Vegas, or the U.K. According to a source with knowledge of the situation, the scrap will instead go down in March at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. It would be the UFC’s first visit to Jerz since UFC 78. Fanhouse offers the only possible explanation:

Following UFC 105, Hardy told reporters "I’ll fight [GSP] in Canada, in Vegas, in the U.K., on the moon, in a phone box on the corner, in the car park. As long as he brings his belt along for me to take off, I don’t really mind. This is a great opportunity and I’ll fight him anywhere." He then added, "Well, anywhere but Newark, obviously. Good Lord, man, have you seen that place?"*

* Clarification: Hardy didn’t actually say this last bit. Our apologies to any Brick City residents who took this seriously…