(Image courtesy of MMAViewers.com)

By CagePotato contributor Jason Moles

Never before in the history of MMA has there been a more heavily anticipated fight than the one we may see in the not-too-distant future between UFC middleweight champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva and welterweight champ Georges “Rush” St. Pierre. This is the Ali vs. Frazier of our sport.

UFC President Dana White has said that should St. Pierre beat welterweight contender Jake Shields at UFC 129, he would put the two fighters in the Octagon to let them answer the question talking heads have debated for so long: Who is the pound-for-pound best mixed martial artist in the world?

Nevertheless, one has to wonder how likely it is that the super fight actually comes to fruition. Some would argue that there is too much money to be made for this not to happen. Yeah, go tell that to Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. Others would have you believe that if the fans want something, Uncle Dana gives it to them — like another fight on the free prelims after a thousand or so RT’s. We here at CagePotato don’t enjoy raining on your parade, but we do enjoy poking holes in your sails if it will keep you from inevitable heartbreak. With all of this in mind, know that for every reason this fight could and should happen, there are three more for why it cannot. Below is a quick rundown on the obstacles and potential problems facing the fight of the decade.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/Kimura.se)

Our friends at Kimura.se caught up with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira recently and among other things, asked the former PRIDE and UFC interim heavyweight champion his thoughts on the potential superfight between his student, friend and training partner, UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva and welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. Not surprisingly, Big Nog’ picked his homeboy to win the fight, but he was very complimentary of GSP, calling the French-Canadian the best wrestler in the sport.

Sure, I name all my Ferraris. This one? I call this one “Tuesday”.

The latest news surrounding ticket sales for the UFC’s debut in Toronto is staggering, particularly to those Americans under the impression that Canada’s economy still operates on the bartering system. After all 42,000 tickets for the April 30^th card, headlined by the Welterweight championship bout between Georges St. Pierre and Jake Shields, sold out on day one, the layout in the Rogers Center was reconfigured to accommodate additional seating. The results of that prompt adjustment are in, and the figures now being tossed around are better than Dana himself could have expected.

Interview starts @ 8:30, but why hurry past Arianny’s cleavage?

With Anderson’s Seagal-inspired KO of Vitor Belfort last week, we are officially halfway toward the long awaited GSP-Silva super fight. Only Jake Shields stands in the way of this epic battle, and since we don’t even want to think about him fucking this up for us, let’s get ahead of ourselves and listen in on renowned boxing trainer Freddie Roach as he chats with Joe Rogan about GSP’s progression in boxing and his take on the potential match-up between GSP and Silva.

(Please, Rampage. Your fist-pose means nothing here.)

For those of you who like to plan ahead in your MMA gambling, listen up: Several betting sites are already offering odds on Rashad Evans vs. Rampage Jackson at UFC 130 — a match that is completely unconfirmed at this point — and the purely hypothetical superfight between Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre, which would depend on a GSP victory over Jake Shields. The most favororable odds right now are…

Rashad Evans (-185) vs. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (+155)
Anderson Silva (-170) vs. Georges St. Pierre (+155)

(Take a good look at this photo lineup, MMA fans. Now, do you recognize the man who killed your dreams? PicProps: Flickr)

It goes without saying that there is a lot riding on Georges St. Pierre’s upcoming welterweight title defense against Jake Shields at UFC 129. More specifically, there is a lot riding on Shields not winning it. If the recently deposed Strikeforce middleweight champ were to actually pull off the upset – he was +400 as of this morning — it might be a huge financial windfall for the good people of NorCal (new tattoos for everybody!) but it would piss off absolutely everyone else in the industry.

Dana White, the Fertittas, Joe Silva, Ed Soares’ creditors, Steven Seagal, Canada and (last but certainly not least) the fans — we all have a significant interest in making sure things play out according to the odds for the next couple of months. So it begs the question: If Shields wins the UFC 170-pound title on April 30, does it make him the most hated man in all of mixed martial arts? We’re going to go out on a limb and say yes.

("I’ve killed more than 350 people in five different states. I’ve got to warn you though, some of the details are a little bit hazy." PicProps: MMA Mania)

As several astute MMA writers reminded us last week, UFC 126 was initially supposed to be Chael Sonnen’s second chance to not totally blow it against Anderson Silva. Then Sonnen’s life took a dramatic zag when we discovered his piss was pure testosterone and he was forced to turn stoolie to avoid jail time on a federal mortgage fraud beef. His UFC contract duly frozen, we haven’t heard much at all from the now former realtor as he prepares for sentencing. After Silva’s Seagal-inspired win over Vitor Belfort on Saturday night though, old school wrestler-turned-fighter-turned-commentator-turned-actor Paul Lazenby (official MMA record 1-6, according to the Dog) reached out to Sonnen for comment. Turns out, dude didn’t have anything nice to say at all.

"Thank you, Anderson, for revealing yet another weakness for me to exploit in our rematch,” Sonnen said, or emailed as it seems. “Beating that poor punching bag doesn’t impress Uncle Chael, guy. You tipped your hand like a chump poker player at a $5 table in Atlantic City. You may have beaten Vitor, but in the process, you LOST your edge. By beating that husk, you gave me the last page of your playbook. Revel in your time, (because) it ENDS the night you face me. I will mow you down like autumn wheat, AGAIN."

Yeah, at this point, Sonnen’s patter is starting to feel pretty desperate. He’s like a serial killer who just keeps confessing to made-up crimes because the thing that scares him most is that people will lose interest in him. Also, we already know that his opinions are as malleable as a Roman gladiator’s sexuality, but referring to Belfort as “that poor punching bag” and “that husk” constitutes a 180-degree turnabout from what he said about “The Phenom” almost a year ago to the day.

Jake Shields talks UFC 129 vs Georges St. Pierre – Watch more Funny Videos

By CagePotato contributor Brian J. D’Souza

The April 30th UFC event at the Rogers Centre in Toronto will play host to pound-for-pound king Georges St. Pierre, a French-Canadian superstar who helps move everything from action figures to videogames for his UFC bosses. Jake Shields hasn’t quite reached that level of mainstream acclaim, but when he faces off with GSP at UFC 129, he’ll be carrying a 15-fight win streak thanks to an arsenal of tools that could be the wildcard against an experienced champion who has yet to show any stylistic weaknesses nor signs of decline.

Catching up with Shields during a tour of Ontario, the friendly Cesar Gracie team member seems to effortlessly surmount a packed schedule of seminars, media appearances, interviews, photo shoots and autograph requests with a smile and his positive attitude. A former welterweight champion in Elite XC and middleweight champion in Strikeforce, Jake wants to add the most important belt to his collection — the UFC 170-pound title.

Shields won’t play into a war of words with St. Pierre in the grand tradition of B.J. Penn, Dan Hardy and Josh Koscheck. “He’s a great guy. I don’t know him that well, so I’d have no reason to suspect him as being fake,” Shields says.

As he once told FIGHT! magazine’s Danny Acosta, “When you’ve been in fights, fighting 10 people at once, people with knives and bats and guns and whatnot, it definitely takes fear away in the cage,” however, on this day, Shields shied away from elaborating too much on his tumultuous youth.

(“What can I say? My life is an embarrassment of riches.” PicProps: Las Vegas Sun)

UFC President Dana White said on Friday that the time might finally be right to promote the much-talked-about, long-debated superfight between middleweight champion Anderson Silva and welterweight titlist Georges St. Pierre, provided both guys take care of business in their upcoming fights. White reportedly made the admission as part of a private Q&A session with small group of soldiers at Fort Hood in Tex., the site of tonight’s Fight For the Troops show. The rap sesh was not open to the public, but MMA Fighting got one of its guys in. 

"If (Silva) wins that fight (against Vitor Belfort at UFC 126), then Georges St-Pierre needs to beat Jake Shields in Toronto (at UFC 129)," White told the guys in uniform. "If that happens, then we’re probably going to do that fight (between St-Pierre and Silva). If they both win, that fight makes all the sense in the world."

(“Think of this next right hand as my way of thanking you for the opportunity and expressing what an honor it was to meet with you here this evening.” PicProps: Las Vegas Sun)

OK, so maybe “calls out” is a little bit strong in reference to Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre, but the American-Hero-turned-mediocre-light-heavyweight-turned-newly-minted-middlweight-comer certainly didn’t shy away from candidly assessing his skills against both the UFC 185-pound and 170-pound champions while also mentioning his desire to fight Wanderlei Silva and Michael Bisping during a recent interview with the UK Telegraph. Read on to hear Brian Stann’s respectful, but classicly fighter-centric take of most of the rest of the middleweight division, and beyond. Also, be warned that we took the liberty of changing the British English spellings back to ’Merican, for obvious reasons.

Reasons like the Revolutionary War.

"Hopefully, my next fight will be Wanderlei Silva, who is obviously a legend in the sport, and it would be an honor to fight your guy from the UK, Michael Bisping, an amazing fighter who has truly distinguished himself in the weight class …” Stann tells the Telegraph’s Gareth Davies. “He has proved himself to be an exciting, all-round fighter and has the ranking. Guys like Michael Bisping and Wanderlei have what I want in the sport — the respect and the rankings, and that’s where I want to be.”

(Quit playing it so safe, Frenchy. PicProps: SBNation)

Uh-oh! We ain’t saying no names, but it looks like at least one aging UFC superstar might be a little bit jealous about Chuck Liddell’s new “job” as the UFC’s Executive Vice President of Business Development. We’ll give you a hint … let’s see here … it’s a guy who … ah fuck it, it’s Matt Hughes. Yeah, we were conducting our bi-monthly spin by Hughes’ blog this week to make sure we filled our quota for smug, semi-coherent unchristian Christian blather when we stumbled upon this gem. Country Breakfast’s latest entry, headlined simply “Chuck’s Retirement,” is so textbook Hughes that it makes you wonder if the former welterweight champ is really even still writing these things himself or if it’s just some computerized algorithm that will continue to publish blogs in Hughes’ name long after the human race has faced the wrath of his vengeful God.

In this case, the algorithm is something like: Act like a dick, act like a dick, holiday snapshot of the kid, Bible verse, end. It’s interesting to note here that in this entry ostensibly about Chuck’s retirement, Hughes spends just a couple short paragraphs on Liddell before segueing straight into an out-of-the-blue indictment of Georges St. Pierre’s “boring” performance against Josh Koscheck at UFC 124. Shit. Now, that’s just sour grapes, plain and simple. First the Liddell stuff …

(Video courtesy of GSPRUSHFIT. Props to our bud Brian D’Souza for the tip.)

One way or another, we all want Georges St. Pierre‘s body. (*cough*) So it was just a matter of time until GSP recognized the opportunity and put together his own home workout DVD series with trainer Erik Owings — conveniently released in December to hook as many pudgy New Year’s resolution-makers as possible.

But St. Pierre’s new RUSHFIT series is no Situation-style cash-in. The eight-week, 45-minute-per-day program focuses on high-intensity circuit training, with a nutritional component to go along with the workouts. In other words, it actually looks like it would produce results, assuming you have the motivation to stick with it. (Full disclosure: You don’t.) And all you need is a couple of dumb-bells and your own ever-increasing bodyweight.

You can order the RUSHFIT DVD set at gsprushfit.com for $60-$70. After the jump: A couple more preview clips, and some crucial information from the website’s FAQ…

(Shinya Aoki tries to hide his disgust next to kickboxer/cosplayer Yuichiro Nagashima, who he’ll be facing in a strange mixed-rules bout at Dynamite!! 2010. Though we suppose any match against Nagashima could be described as "strange, mixed-rules.")

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…

- Tito Ortiz vs. Lil’ Nog Will Now Headline UFC Fight Night 24 in Seattle (MMA Convert)

– ‘UFC 127: Penn vs. Fitch’ in Sydney Ties Sellout Record (Versus MMA Beat)

– WEC 53: Five Fights To Make (Heavy.com/MMA)

– Clay Guida: Livin’ in an RV Down by the River [VIDEO] (FightMagazine)

– While His Management Negotiates, Fedor Emelianenko’s Legacy Suffers (MMA Fighting)

– Keith Jardine Gets the Help of the US Secret Service to Prosecute Nemesis Fighting (MiddleEasy)

– Five Reasons Why Jake Shields Will Beat Georges St. Pierre (Or Not) (LowKick)

– Roxanne Modafferi Discusses Fight With Hitomi Akano at Sengoku’s New Year’s Event (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Eddie Bravo Breaks Down What Went Wrong in Dustin Hazelett’s Loss to Mark Bocek (MMA Scraps)

– The MMA Year In Review Part 1: Randy Couture, Herschel Waker, James Toney and More (SBNation.com/MMA)

("…three…two…one…Happy New Year! Damn, take it again, Brock had another stroke.")

By CagePotato.com contributor Jason Moles

2010 is in the books, and MMA fans and fighters alike have endured tremendous highs and lows. Who would have guessed that The Last Emperor, Brock Lesnar, BJ Penn and the WEC would all collapse this year? Who could imagine that Chael Sonnen would accuse Lance Armstrong of giving himself cancer, then test positive for a banned substance? Ironic? You bet. But enough about last year — a new decade is upon us. Here are ten predicitions that will sound ridiculous until they actually happen in 2011…

1. MMA will be sanctioned in New York.
While watching WEC bid adieu, I couldn’t help but notice the commercials for the PBR (Professional Bull Riding) at MSG (Madison Square Garden). Pro bull riding averages 1 to 2 deaths per year — that’s not including amateurs, sometimes children, participating at the county fair. Regardless of what Bob Reilly has to say, this is a no-brainer that only the likes of the M-1 management team could foul up. MMA will be sanctioned in New York in ’11, even if we have to blackmail a senator to make it happen.

2. GSP will relinquish his Welterweight title to change weight classes.
Jake Shields blah, blah, blah — Georges St. Pierre is indestructible and will wipe the floor with him, or at least dry hump him to death. With his ‘le-gacy’ secured, he can bump weight classes and test the waters in the process in becoming the best mixed martial artist from Canada with an extra ‘s’ in his name OF ALL TIME.

3. Dana White will coin a new phrase. 
"You want to be a %^&@$#! fighter?" and "Never leave it in the hands of the judges." will be replaced by something catchy like "Don’t cross the boss." Oh, wait, that one’s already taken. How about "Go big or go home," or "Suns out, guns out"? I never said it would be original — just catchy.

Anderson Silva at X-Gym – Watch more Funny Videos

I know. At first, you’re like "Whoa, CagePotato scored an interview with Anderson Silva in English? This is historic!" And then you’re like, "oh." CP’s Brazilian correspondent Brian D’Souza does his best, but it’s hard not to be disappointed when Anderson is fed a question about a potential superfight with Georges St. Pierre, and responds by saying that while GSP is the best welterweight in the world, BJ Penn is the best fighter in the world. (Does that mean he’d rather fight Penn? Aloha, brother.) Also: His training for Vitor Belfort is going well, moving back to light-heavyweight is not his decision, and Team Nogueira is more like Family Nogueira. Now let’s never speak of this again…

(Uncoachable? Who wouldda thunk it? PicProps: SBNation)

If we had to take a wild guess, we’d bet that the dudes from the American Kickboxing Academy have no problem being brutally honest with each other. Something about that particular facility’s blend of top-level MMA training and high concentration of amateur wrestlers leads us to believe this team as a whole will probably let you know when you need to clip your toenails, if the girl you’re dating ain’t all that or if you come to the gym wearing a faggy T-shirt. For that reason, we were not at all surprised that when MMA Junkie asked Javier Mendez this week about Josh Koscheck’s UFC 124 loss to Georges St. Pierre, the AKA trainer didn’t mince words.

"Josh fought crappy," Mendez told the Junkie. "He knows it. If we told him he fought great, we’d be lying. He didn’t do anything what he was supposed to do.”

(Pierson and Riddle’s three-round battle wasn’t enough to win FOTN, but Riddle did go home with the $100 Snot Rocket of the Night bonus. Photo courtesy of MMAFighting.com.)

The performance bonus payouts for Saturday’s UFC 124 event were notable for several reasons: For the first time ever, the UFC allowed fans to choose the "Fight of the Night" in an online vote. Update: The FOTN and Knockout bonuses were $100,000 apiece — the largest bumps since UFC 100 — and two separate [$50,000] Submission of the Night awards were handed out, which meant the total bonus money added up to $400,000, half of which arguably went to the wrong guys. Here’s how the UFC 124 bonuses shook out, in order of most deserving to least deserving…

Submission of the Night #1: Jim Miller, for surviving the relentless grappling offensive of Charles Oliveira, then ending the fight himself with a kneebar just shy of the two-minute mark. Submitting the young, formerly undefeated jiu-jitsu phenom is a major accomplishment for Miller, and should hopefully earn him a fight with a big name in his next outing.

Submission of the Night #2: Mark Bocek, for his first-round triangle choke of Dustin Hazelett (who’s no slouch on the ground either). The way that Bocek set up the triangle from the top then rolled underneath Hazelett to secure it was pretty freakin’ brilliant.

(Rub some dirt on it. PicProps: UFC.com)

Georges St. Pierre so totally outclassed Josh Koscheck at UFC 124 on Saturday night that it’s tempting to call his performance one of scariest five-round beatdowns of all time. Unfortunately, St. Pierre is too damn nice to ever be described as scary. In fact, one of the things that’s so great about GSP is that his very being invalidates all of the run-of-the-mill MMA clichés that so often lead us to refer to fighters as “savages” or “warriors” or some other such made-up bullshit. St. Pierre is a sportsman; a dude who has absolutely no qualms about beating your ass for as long as his job description requires, then sharing an awkwardly lengthy embrace with you inside the cage before getting on the mic and apologizing to the fans for not beating your ass even worse. Frankly, it’s impossible not to like the guy for it.

(Good ol’ Sean McCorkle. Trolling to the bitter end. / Photo courtesy of the UFC 124: Weigh In pics gallery on CombatLifestyle.com)

UFC 124: St. Pierre vs. Koscheck II goes down tonight at the Bell Centre in Montreal, and CagePotato will be liveblogging the pay-per-view broadcast beginning at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT.  To help get you in the proper spirit, Ben Goldstein and Doug "ReX13" Richardson have returned to squabble over all the important storylines. Does Josh Koscheck have any chance at an upset? Are UFC fighters becoming boring overall? Which of UFC 124′s lightweights are dead weight? Who gives worse gambling advice, Ben or Doug? Do us a favor and slog through this painfully long column, then let us know your own thoughts in the comments section.

Assuming we both think GSP is going to rout Josh Koscheck on Saturday, what does Koscheck need to do to earn your respect in this fight?

BG: Well, he’ll have to avoid getting finished, first of all–

RX: Word.

BG: –and he’ll have to win at least one of the five rounds. That doesn’t seem like a lot to ask–

RX: HA!

BG: –but nobody’s been able to take a round from GSP since — wait for it — Josh Koscheck kind-of won the opening frame of their first meeting at UFC 74, over three years ago. Seriously. If Kos can avoid a 50-45 shutout on all three judges’ cards or an ugly TKO loss, he will have done better than Matt Hughes, Matt Serra (in their rematch), Jon Fitch, BJ Penn, Thiago Alves, and Dan Hardy. That would be a hell of an accomplishment.

So how can he pull it off? Koscheck only holds one real advantage over the champ: Punching power, which he’s used to flatten guys like Yoshiyuki Yoshida and Frank Trigg. Kos just needs to stuff St. Pierre’s takedown once in a while, and then put his fist on Georges’s chin, as he so confidently promised on TUF. A hard shot, well-placed, will wobble GSP — maybe enough to allow Josh to score a takedown of his own. Obviously, I don’t see that happening consistently in the fight, but if it even happens once, I will lose my shit.

(Be sure to pick up Georges St. Pierre’s new training video: "How to Use Your Unbelievable Explosiveness and Superior Genetics to Win Any Fight." PicProps: MMA Mania)

File this under: Must be nice. You know that dude Georges St. Pierre? Yeah, the guy so naturally athletically gifted that he’s managed to teach himself to be one of the best wrestlers in MMA, despite having no formal background in it whatsoever? The most dominant welterweight fighter on the planet today? Turns out that guy doesn’t really think that lifting weights and/or doing cardio will help you in a fight. 

"I don’t believe in strength and conditioning,” St. Pierre tells stand-up comedian/color commentator/MMA political action director Joe Rogan this week on the UFC’s “Ultimate Insider” show. “I never do strength and conditioning. I do not believe that running on a treadmill or doing I don’t know what … I don’t believe that’s going to help you have better cardio for a fight.”

Huh. We’re going to assume that what St. Pierre means to say is that he prefers sport-specific training like sparring and grappling drills in order to build his MMA skills and endurance. Still, not to over-simplify the message here, but this sounds suspiciously like Georges St. Pierre is saying the way to succeed in MMA is just to be Georges St. Pierre. Also, let us say for the record that lifting weights and doing conventional cardio probably will help you if you are, you know, a normal person. If you’re a mild-mannered French Canadian cyborg whose three great joys in life are kicking ass, finely tailored suits and pool parties, well, maybe the laws of science and nature just don’t apply to you.

(We were going to make a joke about how we were not impressed by your pool party performance, but we can’t lie. Totally impressed. PicProps: The Dragon Zone)

As of this writing, Josh Koscheck is set to go off as a 3-1 underdog in the UFC 124 main event, according to most odds makers. Suffice it to say, the guy is not the popular pick among fans or media types to defeat Georges St. Pierre when they climb into the cage this Saturday. With good reason: We’ve already seen this fight once before at UFC 79. St. Pierre won in fairly dominant fashion and went on to amass a seven-fight win streak, erasing any doubt as to who is King Shit of Fuck Mountain at 170-pounds. We have no real reason to believe this bout will be any different. So why am I not 100 percent confident? Because I’m the kind of pessimistic son of a bitch who always fears worst, that’s why.

Also, there legitimately are some things that I find troubling just days before this fight. Here are five of them  …

This Saturday, after a season of TUF that saw Georges St. Pierre and Josh Koscheck grow to like each other even less than they already did, the two welterweight stars will square off in the main event of UFC 124. St. Pierre will be attempting to make his fifth-consecutive title defense; GSP has been involved in 10 title fights in his UFC career, but this is just the first for Koscheck.

As you’re probably aware, St. Pierre and Koscheck squared off once before, in the co-headlining match of UFC 74 back in August 2007. St. Pierre had just lost his belt to Matt Serra in a monumental upset. Koscheck was riding a five-fight win streak, and had out-pointed Diego Sanchez four months prior.

Since that night, George St. Pierre has been undefeated and untouchable in six contests, flawlessly sweeping out the 170-pound division. Koscheck has gone 6-2, taking out some tough opponents in impressive fashion, but getting smacked down by a couple of Brazilians. And now, St. Pierre and Koscheck are going at it again. Which means it’s time to re-watch their first fight and see if we can get any perspective on this thing. Let’s begin…

("This thing used to be alive! LMFAO!" More Brock Lesnar hunting photos at Sherdog.)

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…

- Five Lessons: Strikeforce vs. UFC (Versus MMA Beat)

- Georges St. Pierre: Emphasis in Camp Was on Finishing Josh Koscheck (MMA Fighting)

– "When the Pitbull Bites" – Thiago Alves Documentary/Highlight Video From KahL-One (MMA Scraps)

- Jim Miller Is Patiently Waiting For His Shot (Heavy.com/MMA)

– Maia, Bonnar Lead TUF 12 Finale Salary List (MMA Convert)

– James Toney Calls Out Rampage Jackson by Claiming He’s a ‘Black Redneck’ (MiddleEasy)

– Exclusive Interview: George Sotiropoulos ‘Moving in the Right Direction’ Heading Into Fight With Dennis Siver (LowKick)

– Season-Winner Jonathan Brookins Tops List of TUF 12 Finale Suspensions (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Behind the Lens: Vitor Belfort (FightMagazine)

– SB Nation Exclusive: Stefan Struve Talks Path To UFC, Sean McCorkle And St. Pierre vs. Koscheck (SBNation.com/MMA)

(Props: GollyIE)

…and just to get the taste of vomit out of your mouths, here’s the extended trailer for UFC 124: St. Pierre vs. Koscheck II (December 11th, Montreal). The supporting card looks very promising, but it’s sort of unfortunate that the other two fights being featured here are Thiago Alves vs. John Howard and Mac Danzig vs. Joe Stevenson — considering all four fighters are coming off losses. Meanwhile, UFC 124 will also host two fights featuring guys on the upswing: Jim Miller (five-fight win streak) vs. Charles Oliveira (undefeated wunderkind) and Sean McCorkle (mouthy Internet celebrity) vs. young veteran Stefan Struve, who he’s been beefing with for months.

Still, Thiago Alves gets the best line of the video: "When you’re fighting the Pitbull, it’s over. No afterparty for you." And GSP guarantees a stoppage victory. "Get in, get out, and leave," he says. "That’s what the crowd wanna see, and that’s what I wanna do."

(Jeez, Georges, casual Friday? Vid courtesy of 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…

– Helwani vs. Dundas: MMA Awards Edition (Versus MMA Beat)

– ‘Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu’ Media Conference Call Highlights (LowKick)

– UFC-WEC Merger Brings Excitement, Warning About Jobs on the Line (MMA Fighting)

– CSAC’s George Dodd Pokes Holes In Chael Sonnen’s Rumored Testosterone Defense (MMA Convert)

– Prodigimon: Which BJ Penn Will You Get on Fight Night? (MiddleEasy)

– Mike Swick and Frank Shamrock Engage in Online War of Words (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Anthony Pettis Discusses ‘Fast Track to a UFC Title’ (FIGHT! Magazine)

– Alistair Overeem Discusses Steroid Accusations With Michael "The Voice" Schiavello" (MMA Scraps)

– Sean McCorkle Addresses Internet Fame, Trash Talk, and Stefan Struve (Heavy.com/MMA)

– Joe Rogan Calls MMA Writer a ‘F*ggot’, Internet Explodes (SBNation.com/MMA)

(Kyle Watson, Michael Johnson, and John Danaher join host Stephan Bonnar to run down last night’s fights on the latest episode of "The Aftermath." Warning: Danaher drops a "retard" joke within the first 30 seconds of the interview. Anybody else getting a Lanny Poffo vibe from this guy?)

Michael Johnson is one of those dudes who can’t appreciate the sheer hilarity of being sprayed with water. When Sako (or was it Sevak? one of those guys) rigs the sink to blast the next person who uses it, MJ is on the losing end and freaks out. So immature, you guys! Michael is convinced that Alex Caceres is to blame, I guess because he saw Alex pull the same prank the day before. Their quarterfinal fight can’t come soon enough.

But first, Kyle Watson and Aaron Wilkinson will have to face off. GSP says Aaron is a better striker than Kyle, so Kyle needs to get the fight to the ground. Kyle’s plan is to take Aaron down from the clinch, rather than shooting in. Logically, Coach Koscheck advises "English" to keep the fight standing. After three fights in the house, Aaron’s right eye is looking rough. And it’s go-time already…

(Jonathan Brookins’s lateral drop even worked on Jose Aldo, back at WEC 36. No one is safe. Props: NHB USA)

We’ve officially entered the quarterfinals, and last night’s episode gave us two of ‘em: Sako Chivitchian vs. Jonathan Brookins, and Cody McKenzie vs. Nam Phan. But you already know what happens in the McKenzie/Phan fight, right?

At the house, Sevak Magakian explains to his bro Sako that he has to redeem the Armenian race and beat Brookins, who is representing the Fraggle race. "Sak you gotta do this bro," Sevak says. "You gotta beat him, whatever it takes. I couldn’t do it, now you have to do it…There’s not gonna be two Armenians gonna lose to the same guy…you’re gonna fuck him." Wow, that’s some threat. Magakian has clearly been studying at the Wanderlei Silva school of trash talk.

Coach GSP wants to train his quarterfinalists like he trains when he’s about to fight — one training session a day, no more hard sparring or hardcore workouts. The focus is tactical now. He wants to make the guys feel hungry, like they’re not training enough, and build up their aggression for the fight.

By CagePotato contributor Dan “siksik6” Teague

#8: Gray Maynard

When fans and fighters complain about wrestlers in MMA, they’re talking about Gray Maynard. He takes fighters down because that’s what he’s good at. In Maynard’s nine-fight UFC career, he has just one stoppage, a KO of Joe Veres over three years ago. He’s earned his title shot not because of his performances, but rather because what the hell else do you do with a guy who’s undefeated and has won eight straight fights, including one over the current champ? Cole Miller said it best: Taking people down should be a means to an end. Gray needs to start having some refs pull him off of people if he’s ever going to have any drawing power.

#7: Ben Askren

Ben Askren is just starting to make his way into mainstream MMA discussions. However, it’s not exactly a heralded arrival. The kid makes picking strawberries look like it belongs in the X Games. His last “stoppage” was a controversial sub over Ryan Thomas, who promptly and correctly displayed his best WTFIYP face. Before that it was a north-south choke over some guy you’ve never heard of in some organization you’ve never heard of back in August of ’09. For his last fight, in which he won the Bellator welterweight strap, he came about as close to finishing Lyman Good as I did. I was on the couch eating Mayfield Butter Pecan ice cream. It was delicious. As a title holder for an up-and-coming organization, Askren needs to show more of a killer instinct if he ever wants his fights to be broadcast by anyone other than Fox Sports South.

("Thank you for your opening statement, Mr. Miller. Mr. Diaz and Mr. Shields now have 30 seconds to present their rebuttal." PicProps: BuzzHollywood.com)

Even after a panel of world renowned experts weighed in last week to unanimously declare that Jake Shields still needs to prove himself worthy in the UFC’s 170-pound division, the company is not wavering in its plans to shoehorn him into a title shot against the winner of next month’s Georges St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck scrap. Shields now even says he’ll be cageside at UFC 124 in Montreal, pretty much ensuring that the UFC will tempt fate by having the Cesar Gracie jiu jitsu fighter enter the Octagon to confront the victor.

We all know what happened the last time the former Strikeforce middleweight champ was involved in a postfight altercation inside a cage. Bad things, man. Fortunately, if Shields decides to engage in a company-sponsored mean-mug competition after UFC 124 it will at least be at an event run by professionals, so the possibility of an encore performance of “Strikeforce: Nashville” is pretty slim. Especially since all parties involved will no doubt get a stern “Be cool, motherfuckers,” speech from Dana White prior to the show. Still, Shields was already teasing a heel turn during his recent interview with MMA Weekly …

(If you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t trying…)

The problem with GSP picking favorable matchups all season is that he’s eventually going to be stuck with one that isn’t so favorable. For the last match in the round-of-14, his #7 draft Dane Sayers will automatically be fed to Sako "Psycho" Chivitchian, a crazy Armenian with world-class judo skills. St. Pierre says he wanted Dane to fight last so they’d have more time to work with him. A few weeks might not be enough; Sayers snuck through the elimination round thanks to his heart, but didn’t show a whole lot of skills.

Two lucky losers will soon be getting picked for the wild card fight, and everybody’s jockeying for it, except for Spencer Paige, who’s out of action for three months with a broken hand. Bummer, brah. Aaron Wilkinson is all banged up from his war with Michael Johnson, but he still wants it, and he’s clearly the most deserving. Wilkinson doesn’t think Jeff "Waster" Lentz should get a second chance, since he’s just been sitting around drinking and chewing tobacco. Jeff vows to piss on Aaron’s bed.

Our hero J.C. Skarbowsky returns to advise Dane, "Good is not enough, you have to be perfect." Everybody is calling Dane "Red Horse" this episode. Red Horse is his Indian name; he’s part Blackfoot and Chippewa. (On his mother’s side, we would assume.) Says Skarbowsky: "Koscheck’s not from the States, [Dane's] from the States. Koscheck needs your permission to come here."