Gina Carano vs. Cris Cyborg Press Conference – Watch more Funny Videos

As promised, here are some of the memorable moments from yesterday’s "Carano vs. Cyborg" press conference in New York. To summarize:

0:00-1:34: Gina Carano and Cris Cyborg are introduced and brought on stage. Cris gives Gina the cold shoulder when she tries to make eye contact.

1:35-3:09: Gina makes some opening remarks and talks about having Randy Couture as a mentor.

3:10-5:13: Cyborg makes some opening remarks, thanks her husband Evangelista for helping her train, and talks about what she expects in the fight.

5:14-5:51: Responding to a question about how the fight is being marketed with Gina’s beauty, Cyborg acknowledges that MMA writers have been referring to this fight as "Beauty and the Beast," but that doesn’t bother her because it won’t matter during the fight. Ouch. Sorry, Cris.

As you’ll learn by listening to this clip, Kit Cope is a total prick, and yet somehow, because the universe is not a fair place, he has had sex with Gina Carano and claims to have video evidence of it.  At least, that’s what he said in a recent appearance on an internet radio show.  Fortunately "King" Mo Lawal and our bud Ariel Helwani (we’re still cool, right?) were there to press him on it, whereupon Cope dug himself deeper and deeper.  Cope also indicated that Gina might have fake tits, definitely has a lot of ass, and is going to get that ass beat if she continues training at "Xtreme Fashion."  He also says he’s "smashed a lot finer than that," just in case you were worried that he was becoming too likable.

Basically, Cope managed to piss off a bunch of people who are all more important in the MMA world than he is, and impressively enough he did it all in a matter of minutes.  Thanks to the power of the internet, Shawn Tompkins has already issued a very appropriate response:

(Click all images for larger versions.)

The WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden hosted a press conference this afternoon to promote Strikeforce’s upcoming "Carano vs. Cyborg" mega-card in San Jose on August 15th. I was there pretending to be a journalist and snapping pics with my trusty PowerShot. Video highlights will come later, but first I’d like to share some photos of the two headliners, the bright ‘n’ shiny belt they’ll be fighting for, and the half-cage that Strikeforce set up outside the building for a public open workout. All I’ll say for now is that Gina had better come prepared, because Cristiane Santos is looking yoked.

If any of you Potato Heads live in New York and are either unemployed or have a job that allows you to skip out for a couple hours in the afternoon, keep next Tuesday free. Gina Carano and Cris Cyborg will be appearing at the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden to promote their cute little Strikeforce title fight on August 15th, and will be participating in a public workout outside the theatre directly following (weather permitting), with an actual cage set up on the corner of 33rd and 8th. Fans will be able to take photos and get body parts signed. I’ll be lurking around trying to get some time with the headliners, so holler at me via Twitter or email if you’ll be there.

(Props: BerlinFC via Fightlinker)

It’s like someone set our Eras of MMA and Greatest UFC Events of All Time features to music; the above compilation summarizes the UFC’s entire history from November ’93 until now, in just four-and-a-half minutes. If this doesn’t get you amped up for UFC 100 — T-minus five days, by the way — either you’re not a UFC fan, or you have something personal against David Bowie.

(Props: Round5MMA.com)

Images of Round 5‘s fourth series of MMA figurines have been released, and my God, would you check out the moose knuckle on Mauricio Rua. You gotta respect the attention to detail, but this might be the work of a vindictive figurine artist/Chuck Liddell fan who got pissed off after UFC 97 and thought, okay hot shot, now I’m going to make you look like a woman. Meanwhile, Gina Carano is wearing long, loose-fitting shorts. So I guess they didn’t use my concept art after all…

(Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Santos tosses around her 200-pound husband during a Showtime photoshoot. Click all images for larger versions. Photos courtesy of sports.sho.com via Fightlinker.)

MMA Junkie passes along some details on the August 15th Strikeforce title fight between Gina Carano (7-0) and Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Santos (7-1), informing us that the match is scheduled for five three-minute rounds, and will be contested at a weight of 145 pounds. So in other words, women can fight for 15 minutes just like the boys, as long as it’s in the context of a blockbuster title fight. (Yay, equality!)

Of course, that "145" is the more troubling number when it comes to these two. Cyborg famously came in seven pounds over the 145-pound limit for her last fight against Hitomi Akano, while Carano’s long history of scale fails include weighing in at 144.5 for a 140-pound fight against Kaitlin Young, and the infamous naked-behind-a-towel situation prior to her scrap with Kelly Kobold in October. While Cyborg blamed "woman problems" for missing weight, Carano probably should have been competing at 145 all along — though after a 10-month layoff, missing weight again is always a possibility. Good luck to both of these dangerous, water-retaining warriors.

"Carano vs. Cyborg" will be held at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California; tickets go on sale this Monday.

(Something tells me Cyborg is going to be played up as the villain in this one.)

After months of angling and negotiating, the highly anticipated bout between Gina Carano and Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Santos has been set for the main event of Strikeforce’s August 15th event in San Jose, as was announced during the broadcast of "Lawler vs. Shields." Now, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker has confirmed that the match will crown an official female champion for the organization:

Former Playboy model turned fighter LaTasha Marzolla won her MMA debut this weekend in Las Vegas, beating on Christy Tada until Tada’s corner called a stop to it after one round at Saturday night’s Tuff-N-Uff event.  Guess you do learn a thing or two being best buds with Gina Carano.  As you can see, Marzolla isn’t built like the typical female MMA fighter (NSFW photographic evidence here) but she’s still not worried about getting her pretty face smashed in, much to the surprise of Steve Cofield, who had her on his radio show last week.  Marzolla brought along her Xtreme Couture trainer, Shawn Tompkins, and Cofield proved that he really knows women, or at least how to make broad generalizations about what’s important to them with this write-up:

“It takes a unique woman to want to compete in mixed martial arts. So much of a female’s self-esteem is based on looks, to risk having your face disfigured takes some guts.”

Real nice, Cofield.  Everybody remember to tune in to next week’s show to find out what is universally important to your demographic.  After the jump, video of Marzolla from the bizarrely cheesy movie “Ring Girls” for you to watch while you contemplate whether Marzolla’s entrance into MMA means she’s a threat to steal Carano’s unofficial title of ‘hottest female fighter.’

(Props: Gina-Carano.org via TheGarv)

During their recent Maxim Hot 100 2009 Special, E! got Gina Carano to open up about her love of a good knockout, the infamous Yoko moment on Amercian Gladiators, as well as her appreciation for her own breasts (1:49-1:55). Anyway, thought you’d be interested. On a more serious note, Carano expects to formally sign with Strikeforce in the very near future, and will likely take on Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos in August.

(Carano with Lil’ Gina.  Neither of them will go out with you.)

Awww, having her own Round 5 MMA action figure makes Gina Carano smile like she hasn’t since she got naked behind a towel at a public weigh-in.  It’s just a prototype, but it looks like the Round 5 people went ahead and enhanced some of her feminine features.  This is not all that surprising.  Round 5 even managed to make Sean Sherk look like he had normal-length arms, so we know they have no problem presenting their own alternate version of physical reality.  At least Gina’s figure will give both little girls and creepy old dudes the hero they need so badly in their lives.

With his shot at DREAM’s middleweight title coming up on May 26th, it’s time for Jason Miller to take a break from bully beating and get down to business. This new documentary from AllElbows (with original music by Genghis Con) shows Miller haunted by his loss to Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza last June, and changing his training habits to ensure that things turn out differently during their rematch at DREAM.9. Is our little Mayhem growing up?

After the jump: Gina Carano — who took the #16 spot on Maxim’s Hot 100 list — teaches some goof how to fight, then beats the crap out of him.

(Looks like someone forgot to put her shirt on under her jacket when she left the house this morning.  Embarrassing!  Props: The Garv)

The people at YRB Magazine sure know what they’re doing.  First it was those Gina Carano pin-up shots.  Now it’s former UFC Octagon girl and current TV host Rachelle Leah.  Hey, remember when she was naked in Playboy?  So do these guys (NSFW, obviously).  This layout features far less skin, but it’s still worth a look.

Speaking of Gina Carano, MMA Fanhouse passes along the news that she’ll be featured in the top 20 of Maxim’s forthcoming "Hot 100."  With all this media exposure just for being a hot chick, who needs fighting?  A girl could mess up her pretty face that way.

A couple more Rachelle leah pictures are after the jump.

(Photos courtesy of YRB via MMAFightGirls. Click all pics for larger versions.)

“I fought it; it’s a label. If you are going to label me, label me as Gina Carano. Right now, I am just going to keep doing my thing, and if you want to call me this or that it’s fine. I know I am recognized, and I feel confident about the things I have done in the sport so far. I could stop today and show my kids someday, ‘Look at what I did.’ I’m not going to buy into the pressure…you’re like something one second and nothing the next second. I can’t put my value or weight in any of it.”
— Gina Carano on being called "the face of women’s MMA." Check out the rest of YRB Magazine‘s new profile on Gina here.

After the jump, we do some more stalking of Arianny Celeste’s twitpic account…

Tracy Lee of Combat Lifestyle recently uploaded a metric assload of pics she took at Kevin Randleman‘s wedding last Saturday. (Congrats, Monster!) Among the familiar faces from Hammer House and the requisite pics of old people dancing were some great shots of MMA sex symbol Gina Carano, who showed up to the festivities with grappling coach Scott Bieri on her arm. A few more of our favorite pics from the highly-entertaining set are after the jump. You can check out all of ‘em here.

(This pose yielded very different results during the Robbie Lawler shoot.)

Gina Carano and Ariel Helwani continued their star-crossed romance in an interview for MMA Fanhouse, mixing friendly banter with actual questions about when the hell we’ll see Carano fight someone.  Long story short, it’s going to be in Strikeforce, eventually, but they’re still working out the details.  One would assume that the major detail in question is money.  Carano was working extremely cheap for Elite XC, and now she has the chance to hold Scott Coker over the coals and really stack that paper, son.  Only Carano claims – get this – that money is not a big deal to her:

Frankly, I am absolutely unmotivated by money. And I know that maybe people take that and don’t understand what that means, but I am just not. What I am interested in is people that have respect. Not only respect for me, but people who have respect for women in MMA. So, the better that I can do for myself and the better I represent myself – which I have to work on all of this, by the way – the better it is for the sport.

Now I’m no business mastermind, but if I were to write a book about how to negotiate a contract the first chapter would be entitled: “Don’t Publicly Claim That You Aren’t Interested In Being Paid Lots of Money.”  The second chapter would be called: "The Power of Blackmail," so now you know why I’m not writing that book. 

But even if you’re willing to believe that Carano is the kind of idealist who doesn’t want to get paid as much as she possibly can for doing a dangerous and difficult job that has a very limited window of opportunity, then you have to find a way to reconcile that Gina Carano with this Gina Carano:

(From Sherdog via MMA Scraps)

Renato Sobral — possibly still upset at being called "one of the greatest light-heavyweights, of the night" at Affliction: Day of Reckoning — apparently had some words with Tito Ortiz at Saturday’s Strikeforce show, and had to be restrained by a handler, while Chuck Zito watched on in the background, just waiting for a chance to jump in and prove that he can still mix it up when shit goes down. Any lip readers in the house know what was being said? A Strikeforce fight between Ortiz and Sobral is a possibility for the future, but as Ortiz told Sherdog, “I might need a tuneup before Babalu.”

Before the show even went down, Nick Diaz and Frank Shamrock had a moment where Frank referred to Nick as a "faggot" (that damn word again!) and Diaz made it clear that he will slap you in your face, bitch. Check it out below.

There’s only one thing in the world that could have dispelled all these bad vibes…

("Y’know, I used to box a little myself. Say, do you party?" Photo courtesy of this great set on allelbows.)

If not for Cris Cyborg’s woman-problems fiasco, last night’s Strikeforce show would have been an unequivocal success. There were memorable knockouts, brilliant performances (we take back every bad thing we ever said about you, Nick), and one fight (Smith vs. Radach) that will probably make year-end lists as one of the best matches of 2009. Here are some of the stories coming out of the event…

— "Shamrock vs. Diaz" pulled in 15,211 fans for an estimated live gate of $750,000. Said Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker: "We scaled the tickets back for the economy to make it affordable…We tried to be considerate and make it affordable for everybody. Would we like to scale (up) the prices and bring in more revenue? There will be a time for that. We’ll keep building it."

— In the post-event press conference, Coker stated that he’d like to put together the much-anticipated bout between Gina Carano and Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos for Strikeforce’s August event, and said it would be for "our first Strikeforce female title belt." As for the ongoing contract talks with Gina Carano, Coker said, "We’re currently negotiating the final touches of this contract. Hopefully we’ll get it to bed here in the next two weeks or a week. I think we’re very close."

— Also during the press-conference, recent Strikeforce signee Fabricio Werdum said that he’d like to be a future opponent for Alistair Overeem; Werdum previously submitted Overeem via kimura at PRIDE Total Elimination Absolute in May 2006. Said Werdum: "I’m going to take the other arm home. And then the third time it’s going to be hard to fight with no arms at all." Overlooked once again, Brett Rogers said "Before everybody walks away, I mean I wouldn’t mind fighting Overeem. That would be nice right there." Awww, of course it would, big guy!

(Someone should tell Nick that in some cultures they consider that an insult.)

As Strikeforce’s Showtime debut closes in on us and we prepare to get our liveblog on (that’s right, so remember to stop on by tomorrow night) it’s time to debate the hell out of the merits of this fight card, its resemblance to a Zombie EliteXC here on Zombie Jesus weekend, and more.  Here it is, your Ben vs. Ben…

Is Diaz/Shamrock a completely meaningless, just-for-the-hell-of-it bout?  If so, does it matter, or do you need something more to get excited about it?  Who wins this, anyway?

BF: Of course it’s a meaningless fight.  I mean, it’s being contested at 179 pounds.  That’s not even a round number, let alone a weight class.  It’s not as if this is a fight to settle some longstanding grudge (unless you count the grudge Frank Shamrock has against anyone unwilling to admit that he’s the greatest fighter ever, or the grudge Nick Diaz has against the world).  It’s certainly not a fight to sort out the contenders from the pretenders in the 179-pound division.  Naw son, this is just for kicks.

Does it matter to me?  Not in this case.  It may be fighting for the sake of fighting, but it’s such a weirdly compelling match-up that I don’t care.  Diaz and Shamrock are always fun to watch, and they’re both absolutely insane in very different ways.  So why not make them fight each other?  It’s not as if either one of them is climbing to the top of any division at this point.

As for who’s going to win, the fact that I have to think about it a little only makes me more interested in seeing it.  Five years ago this is Shamrock’s fight all the way, but the ravages of age, as they say.  I’ll still take Shamrock via decision, based mostly on superior size and strength, but also based on his notorious in-fight antics, which will bait Diaz into fighting a stupid fight.  Not that that’s especially hard.

BG: I’m thinking the fight will end in a draw after Shamrock and Diaz spend fifteen minutes with their arms in the air, each trying to lure the other one into hitting them in the face. On the real though, yeah, probably Shamrock by decision, or a late TKO stoppage that Diaz will immediately complain about. It’ll be a much less nuanced fight than it could be. Both of these guys prefer to stand and bang, so that’s what’s going to happen. The deciding factor will be power, which Shamrock has and Diaz lacks.

(Rogers vs. Murphy at EliteXC: Primetime, 5/31/08)

With a proposed fight between Jake Shields and Joe Riggs scrapped from Strikeforce’s April 11th event due to Shields being tapped to headline their May show, there was a spot that needed to be filled on the "Shamrock vs. Diaz" supporting card. FiveOuncesofPain reports that EliteXC vet Brett Rogers has been asked to step in against an opponent to be named soon. Rogers’s return to competition will come nearly a year after his last fight — a 61-second knockout of Jon Murphy (see above) in the first live MMA fight on network television.

Following that match, the undefeated Team Bison product called out Kimbo Slice for his garbage-ass performance (which led to a brief Internet trash-talk war), and was supposed to take on Paul Buentello at an EliteXC event in November. Unfortunately, the promotion fell apart before that event could take place and Rogers has been inactive since. Whoever gets the Grim next month had better protect his neck — all eight of Rogers’s wins have come by stoppage due to strikes in the first round.

MMA Fanhouse adds that Randy‘s third wife Kim "Sugar Free" Couture will be returning to the Strikeforce cage for their May show, also against Unknown Fighter. When we last saw Kim, she was kicking the tar out of Lina Kvokov at Strikeforce: Destruction in November. It was later discovered that Kvokov was actually a spectator who had mistakenly entered the cage on the way to the bathroom. But hey, a win is a win, and Couture’s first-round TKO increased her pro-record to 1-1. As for the real star of women’s MMA, Gina Carano, she and Strikeforce are still in negotiations, with league boss Scott Coker recently comparing her to a contract hold-out at a pre-season training camp. That’s…encouraging?

(An excuse to post this picture again?  Why not.)

Round 5 sent out a press release today announcing Gina Carano as the newest addition to their stable of fighters willing to be made into disproportionate MMA action figures.  Carano is the first female fighter to sign on with Round 5, and they expect her figure to drop along with their fourth series this summer.

In the release Carano says the normal stuff about how excited she is to be a part of this, so on and so forth, and then there’s this: “When I was a little girl my dad always joked about making a ‘Gina doll’ and I smile when I think it has become a reality.”  

He joked about making a doll of his daughter?  As in, for her?  Or just, you know, to have around the house, in case anything happened to the original?  I don’t get it, but I find it vaguely troubling.

(Awww, that’s disturbing.)

Are you a huge Gina Carano fan looking for the perfect piece of memorabilia to let everyone know that your fascination with her has gone from strange to unsettling?  Then this is your lucky day.  Out friends at Fightlinker found someone on Ebay who is selling an autographed Gina Carano sports bra.  We don’t know what search the Fightlinker boys were doing when they stumbled upon this, but we can probably go ahead and assume it was weird.

This guy, however, takes weird to a whole new level.  He claims he got Gina to sign this at Xtreme Couture, and then he went and had it framed.  Which is, you know, what you do with ladies undergarments that have become collector’s items.  Now he’s giving you the chance to bid on it, starting at just $99.99 (plus shipping and handling).

Think of all the things you could do with it.  You could put it on your wall to scare off dates that you bring home.  You could lay it out on your bed and lie down next to it at night.  You could even give it as an entirely inappropriate gift to your girlfriend!  The possibilities are endless…

Sort of Related: Pieces of Rampage’s Tire For Sale

Not a bad way to start your morning: Gina Carano has taken advantage of her current unemployment by posing for a new set of pics in Maxim. Check out her "My First Times" interview here, in which Crush/Conviction discusses her first fight inside the ring, her first fight outside the ring, and her first kiss. ("It didn’t smell good.")

Previously: 
Gina Carano Strips Off: The Video
Tonya Evinger Is a Bad Influence

(Yeah, it’s a nice shirt, but you know what?  I’m just going to wait until it’s selling for three dollars at T.J. Maxx.)

On Strikeforce’s media conference call today Frank Shamrock confirmed that he would indeed be fighting Nick Diaz on April 11, and at a catch-weight  of 179 pounds.  One can’t help but imagine the fierce negotiations that landed them at that awkward figure, but one can imagine that Frank and Nick both acted totally sweet during said negotiations, refusing to meet at a round number.

Of Diaz, Shamrock said, “"He’s a guy who throws and talks trash.  And on April 11 I’m going to knock him out."

That’s pretty much a compliment from Shamrock.  He also said he’d like to fight more often than the once or twice a year plan he’s been on lately, and of course he also beat the old ‘I want to fight my brother’ drum yet again.

Other news coming out of the call…

(More headkicking in store for Shamrock in ’09?)

Ever since Strikeforce purchased “select assets” from Pro Elite we’ve been wondering a) which select assets, and b) what the hell does he plan to do with them?  In an interview with USA Today, Coker inched closer to answering those questions, saying he’s spoken with 10 Pro Elite fighters and only one of them has tried to renegotiate his deal (we assume this was Kimbo Slice insisting he take a pay cut and be place on the untelevised undercard).  

Coker also said he “would like to invite K.J. Noons to fight [Strikeforce lightweight champ]" Josh Thomson, and added that he’s in talks with Noons’ agent, Mark Dion, to make that happen. 

You’ll recall that Noons essentially turned his back on EliteXC when they tried to make him fight Nick Diaz on CBS and Noons was unhappy with the payscale and with rematching Diaz in general, who was slated to make more than him despite losing the first meeting due to a cut stoppage.  Thomson is a quality, name opponent, and if Noons decides he doesn’t want to fight him either, we in the MMA world would probably do well to forget about “King” Karl altogether and let him box his little heart out.

As for other fights on Coker’s mind right now…

This is a Pepsi commercial that will air during the Super Bowl.  From the looks of it, the goal is to show that each generation continues doing things that previous generations before them did, like drinking Pepsi!  

Gina Carano comes in around the 0:18 mark, right after Bruce Lee.  Before you get too worked up about the comparison, remember that this fun little SAT analogy game started by going from Bob Dylan to will.i.am, as if to prove that this generation is more superficial than every other one.  Still, MMA fighter in a Super Bowl ad.  Hooray.

(Photo courtesy of Esther Lin.)

AskMen.com released their Top 99 Women of 2009 list this morning, and sandwiched between "Paper Planes" rapper M.I.A. (#74) and Lost actress Yunjin Kim (#72) is the world’s best-looking mixed martial artist and former American Gladiator, Gina Carano. Hey, score one for the presence of our sport in mainstream media. "Conviction" earned her place on the annual list via a month-long voting period that saw over 10 million votes cast by readers, and her 73-spot puts her ahead of such well-known hotties as Elizabeth Banks, Sophie Monk, and Maria Sharapova. Here’s an excerpt from AskMen’s bio:

By now, you’re probably wondering who landed in the top ten. Well, get ready to start arguing:

1. Eva Mendes, actress and model
2. Megan Fox, actress
3. Marisa Miller, Victoria’s Secret model
4. Keeley Hazell, British model
5. Anne Hathaway, Golden Globe® Awards nominee actress
6. Alessandra Ambrosio, Brazilian model
7. Scarlett Johansson, newlywed and actress
8. Rihanna, GRAMMY® winning singer actress
9. Kristen Bell, screen actress
10. Kate Beckinsale, screen actress

People still like Eva Mendes? And all of a sudden, Anne Hathaway is hotter than Scarlett Johansson? Blasphemy. Clearly, the top ten should have gone down like this…

(It was going fine until the 1:57 mark. Then things get really uncomfortable.)

- Affliction can’t stop talking about how awesome they are. (Yahoo!)

- Thiago Silva is expecting a track meet against Lyoto Machida. (Tatame)

- Is the UFC phoning it in for UFC 93? (Fightlinker)

- Neil Grove to make UFC debut against Justin McCully. (Fighters Only)

- Tim Kennedy talks war and MMA. (Five Ounces of Pain)

- HIT Squad Dodgeball.  (Matt-Hughes.com)

- Rich Franklin trains for Dan Henderson. (MMA Mania)

- Gina Carano says she doesn’t get paid what you think. (AskMen.com)

- This is why you don’t run from the cops. (Break.com)

- 7 TV shows that really need to exist. (Screen Junkies)

- 10 things Tim Tebow should have put on his eye black. (Holy Taco)

- Skater owns bully. (Nothing Toxic)

- This is too adorable to ignore. (Hip to Code)

 
(Let’s remember the good times. Props: Old, Bald, & Irish.)

First EliteXC tanked, leaving Gina Carano without an organization to call home.  But if that wasn’t enough of a kick in the ovaries, American Gladiators has also been cancelled.  We can’t say we didn’t see it coming, but it’s sad nonetheless.  If only the new American Gladiators could have captured some this kind of magic from the old AG, maybe they’d still be around.  Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.  Not only does this mean we may never again see “Crush” tossing old ladies around in a unitard, it also means Hulk Hogan is being released back into the wild, so look out.  

But just when all Carano’s revenue streams look to be drying up, it sounds as if Dana White may actually be serious about getting her signed.  The UFC prez told Five Ounces of Pain’s Gary Herman that Carano, Robbie Lawler, and Jake Shields are all former EliteXC fighters he’d like to sign.  He also chastised fighters for signing with “fly by night companies,” saying they were “wasting their time.”

There you have it, young fighters not in the UFC.  Don’t sign with organizations other than the UFC or you’ll be wasting your time.  Just keep fighting one-offs in tiny regional shows for almost no money.  Then, after the UFC signs you and later cuts you, it won’t be so hard to re-adjust to your life of poverty and despair.  See?  Circle of freaking life.

Fighter of the Year: Anderson Silva


Okay, so all the headlines weren’t positive for "The Spider" this year, but when the worst complaint you can lodge against a guy is that he acted like a jerk in toying with an outclassed challenger, you don’t have that much to complain about.  He’s still the most dominant force in the MMA universe, and that doesn’t seem like it’s going to change any time soon.

Beatdown of the Year: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Tim Sylvia

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Tim Sylvia – Watch more free videos

Thirty-six seconds.  That’s all it took for Fedor to dispatch a former UFC heavyweight champ and earn himself a ride on “the big rollercoasters” in southern California.  A more satisfying and complete destruction you shall rarely see.

Best Pre-Fight Ritual: The Jackson Camp Nipple-Tweak

Yeah, you’re going to look like a creep if you do it.  You’re also going to look like a creep who just spent six weeks in Greg Jackson’s gym and is now fixing to kick some ass.  Rashad Evans claimed UFC gold without it, but given its track record this little ritual probably isn’t going anywhere.

Worst Event: EliteXC Primetime

"That ear popped!"  When this is your main event, you already know you’re bullshit.  When it ends like this on live network TV, the rest of the world knows it too.